About the Psalms Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Septuagint

The Hebrew title of the book is sepher tehillim, or "book of praises." The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and there the book is first titled "Psalmoi." The term "Psalms" was therefore used for subsequent English translations.

Answer: Accompanied by musical instruments

In 370 A.D., Gregory of Nyssa defined the different types of Christian songs thus: "The psalm (PSALMOS) is the melody produced on the musical instrument (ORGANON). The song (ODE) is the utterance of melody (MELOS) through the mouth with words. Hymn (HUMNOS) is the praise offered to God" (For more on this subject, see http://www.kyowva.com/articles/apsalmis.htm)

Answer: Parallelism

The primary devices of English poetry (until the late 20th century) were rhyme and meter, but Hebrew poetry did not employ either of these devices. There are acrostic psalms, but not many. Every psalm, however, employs some form of set repetition, or parallelism.

Answer: 51

Popular praise songs and hymns have been created from this line in Psalm 51. Psalm 23 famously begins, "The Lord is my shepherd."

Answer: A musical interlude

The meaning of this term is obscure and debated, but most scholars have concluded that it is some kind of musical interlude. Some have argued otherwise, however. A Jewish music expert, Suzanne Haik-Vantoura, suggests that rather than being an instruction to the musicians, Selah was an actual spoken word, much like Amen. (Source: http://www.restoredcog.org/questions/p032.a.html)

Answer: An alphabetical acrostic

In an acrostic psalm, each line begins with a different (successive) letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, though not all are necessarily used in an acrostic psalm - but the ones that are used are in the order of the alphabet. Psalm 25 is another example of an acrostic psalm.

Answer: Mercy

This isn't the only place we are told that God's mercy endureth forever. See also 1 Chronicles 16:34, 2 Chronicles 5:13, Ezra 3:11, and Jeremiah 33:11.

Answer: 100

The Psalms are a frequent source of praise music. One is made from this song, and the chorus is taken from verse 4: "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise."

Answer: 46

The number of the Psalm (46) corresponds to the age Shakespeare would have been when the KJV was translated in 1611. Also, the 46th word from the beginning of the Psalm is "shake," and the 46th word from the end is "spear." Though an interesting theory, it is not one most scholars take seriously.

There is a list of the translators' names, and Shakespeare is not among them. Furthermore, Ben Jonson famously said that Shakespeare knew "little Latin and less Greek," so he would have had some trouble doing translations from the Septuagint and the Vulgate!

Answer: Horn

This Psalm has been turned into a popular English praise song with its chorus taken from verse 46: "The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted."

Answer: 22

It is a fitting psalm to quote, for it seems to describe his very crucifixion, with lines such as: "But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people"; "They pierced my hands and my feet"; and "They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture."

Answer: One

The 90th Psalm is ascribed to Moses, the leader of the Jewish people in the Exodus.

Answer: True

The Septuagint and the Hebrew translations of the Bible use a slightly different numbering system. Protestant Bibles follow the Hebrew numbering, Catholic Bibles the Septuagint. Both have a total of 150 Psalms, but they are divided differently. For instance, Psalm 147 in the Hebrew Bible is divided into Psalm 146 and 147 in the Septuagint, while Psalms 114 and 115 of the Septuagint are grouped together as Psalm 116 in the Hebrew.

There are some other Greek translations that add a 151st Psalm as well.

Answer: About one-third

48 of the 150 Psalms are anonymous. 73 are explicitly ascribed to David. Other authors include Solomon, Moses, Asaph, and Ethan the Ezrahite.

Answer: Babylon

Pslam 137:1-3: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. / We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. / For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion."