Customer Reviews

The Psalter: A Faithful and Inclusive Rendering from the Hebrew Into Contemporary English Poetry, Intended Primarily for Communal S

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After years and years of hearing the psalms in church and prayer, this wonderful new edition of the Book of Psalms truly brings them to fresh new life. Following scholarly guidelines that also attempt to convey the cadence and rhythm of what are essentially ancient songs of faith, this psalter is both well done and powerful. The artwork that is interspersed throughout the psalms is also very moving and meditative. Each psalm begins with a summary of the psalm that is helpful for prayer and meditation. The psalms are arragned for communal recitation, but they are also beautiful when prayed privately. From the forward and afterword, it seems that this particular version of the psalter is "experimental" with regard to ease-of-use for community prayer, and the authors encourage feedback about such use to help in a possible future "revision." If someone finds the psalms to be meaningful, heart-felt prayer, this psalter will only make them more so!

This translation of the Psalms is by the ICEL (International Commission on Enlish in the Liturgy). Their goal is to provide a translation suitable for use in liturgy and personal prayer. This book takes that text and makes it "user friendly". This is done in several ways - clear type with sufficient white space, simple colored diamond-shape separators for separating psalm sections, interspering excellent black and white photographs in keeping with the meditative quality of the Psalms. The afterward provides a brief, non-technical introduction to the Psalms, their liturgical use, and the concerns in translating for liturgical use.

This, together with the companion volume for Canticles is highly reocmmended.

This is my favorite wedding present. My husband and I have been reading a psalm to each other every night for almost 25 years. We've gone through a lot of translations in this way, and this book meets our three criteria: (1) a lyrical translation (2) a text which fits on the narrow headboard of the bed and be lifted easily with one hand while lying in bed (3) a physical text which honors these ancient words of God. (The Abbey Psalter, for example, meets criteria (1) and (3) but not (2).) I don't mean to be flippant; this is not only a physically beautiful book, but one suited to daily use. A rare and wonderful gift.

This is an amazing translation, rendering old and familiar psalms into vibrant and stunning language, with musical overtones, that arrest my heart, enabling me to hear afresh the wisdom of the psalms.

This is a great translation of the prayer book of our Jewish brothers and sisters and our brother Jesus. I read from this translation of the Psalms each morning. The food from God for the work of God. Thank you. D Aaker

Amazon was very helpful in forwarding the copies it had, Unfortunately, the book is out-of-print and, apparently, no longer available anywhere.