Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

The Lords is my shepherd, then and now -- In the beginning: Psalms sung in David's day -- Psalms from the north -- Psalms for the Temple of Solomon -- Hymns for the second Temple -- Steps toward the status of scripture: the Psalms are collected, annotated, and translated -- Psalms at the Dead Sea -- Text for the first Christians: the Psalms in the New Testament -- The Psalms for Jews, from the first century of the common era -- The Psalms for Christians: in the west until th Reformation, and in the east -- The Psalms for Reformation protestants -- The Psalms in the Roman Catholic church from the Council of Trent until the Second Vatican Council -- The Psalms across space and time: the nineteenth century -- The Psalms in the churches today: protestant and Roman Catholics -- Toughening texts: lament, recovery, and praise -- Censored texts -- What makes a translation? -- Psalms for whom? -- Through Jesus Christ our lord -- Epilogue: how the twenty-third Psalm became an American secular icon.

William L. Holladay offers an illuminating and informative overview of the Psalms--chanted, sung, and recited by so great a cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1) through the past three thousand years. He combines treatment of the origins of the Psalms with attention to their Jewish and Christian use through history. --from publisher description