The Book of Psalms
The Psalter by no means contains all the Hebrew Poetry to be found in the Bible, for not only are there psalms in several of the Books of the Old Testament, for example, Exodus 15; Deut. 32; Judges 5; 2 Samuel 22; Habakkuk 3, but many of the Books are themselves poetical in thought and form, for example, Job, the Canticle, Isaiah 40–66, and this thought and form flows over into the New Testament and supplies the basis for the earliest Christian Hymns. The Psalter has been called the Hymn Book of the Hebrews, but there is a difference between hymns and these Psalms. The word psalm (mizmor) means a composition set to music, and, in the first instance, speaks of the music rather than of the psalm. This Collection of Sacred Songs is divided into five Books, each of which, except the last, ends with a doxology of a liturgical character: Bk. 1, Psalms 1–41; Bk. 2, Psalms 42–72; Bk. 3, Psalms 73–89; Bk. 4, Psalms 90–111; Bk. 5, Psalms 107–150.