The Psalms are the prayer book of the Bible, and the part most people return to when things are hard. They are poems, written across centuries, collected for use in worship, and they cover a far wider emotional range than most modern religious language allows.

The main types

Lament is the largest group, which surprises people. Roughly a third of the collection is complaint: God is absent, enemies are winning, this is unjust. Most laments turn toward trust before the end, but not all of them do; Psalm 88 finishes in the dark.

Thanksgiving looks back at rescue. Praise looks at God without reference to circumstance. Wisdom psalms teach, and royal psalms concern the king and are read by Christians with Christ in view.

Why the angry ones are there

Some psalms call down disaster on enemies, and readers find them shocking. Three things are worth noticing.

They are prayers, not plans: the writer hands his rage to God rather than acting on it. They come from people suffering real violence, not from the comfortable. And they assume that justice matters enough to be demanded aloud.

Their presence in Scripture means you may bring the feelings you were told to leave outside. That is precisely why the collection is usable in the worst weeks of a life.

How to use them

Read one a day, in any order. When you have no words of your own, say the psalm as your own words, even the parts that do not fit; borrowed language carries you until yours returns.

Read them aloud if you can. They were composed to be sung, and they move differently in the mouth than in the eye.

Notice that they are addressed to God rather than about him. That is what makes reading them an act of prayer without any extra effort.

Where to start

Psalm 23 for comfort, 51 for repentance, 103 for gratitude, 139 for being known, 13 for the short sharp complaint, 121 for travelling, and 130 for waiting in the dark. If you want to read the whole collection, five a day finishes it in a month.

Our daily readings include Psalms regularly, and if you want to pray one alongside other people, the prayer wall is open.