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What Is the Psalter?

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The Psalter is another name for the Book of Psalms — 150 prayers, songs and laments that have been the prayer book of Israel, of Jesus, of the apostles, and of the Christian Church ever since. Praying through it has shaped saints for three thousand years.

What's inside

The Psalter has every voice the human heart raises to God: joy, terror, gratitude, doubt, anger, awe, repentance. Some psalms celebrate; others wail; a few even argue with God. That range is the gift — there's a psalm for every state of your soul.

Five books in one

The 150 psalms are arranged in five books (Psalm 1-41, 42-72, 73-89, 90-106, 107-150) — a deliberate echo of the five books of Moses. Each book ends with a doxology.

Why Christians have always prayed it

Jesus prayed the Psalms from the cross ("My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me" — Psalm 22). The early church chanted them. Monks pray the whole Psalter every week or two. Reformers like Luther called it "a little Bible." The Psalter teaches us to pray honestly, in our own voice.

How to start

Three simple ways to begin:

The Psalter in Quiethaven

Quiethaven gives you the whole Psalter — KJV, Russian Synodal, and more — bundled for offline reading. Pair a psalm with a short prayer timer for the simplest possible daily practice. See the Bible app →

About the author

The Quiethaven Editorial Team — The Quiethaven editorial team writes about Bible reading, prayer and the Christian year, with theological review across Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

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