Psalms Of David In Metre Introduction

The

Psalms Of David

In Metre

According To

The Version

Approved By

The Church Of Scotland

And Appointed To Be Used In Worship.

I found this information online:

Often referred to as "The Scottish Psalter of 1650" because the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland approved the text of this Psalter for use by the church in 1650. This Psalter has been in continuous use since its initial publication, and has remained unaltered, except for some modernized spelling, from its original wording during all that time.

The text of the 1650 Psalter was originally the work of Francis Rous, who completed his text around 1644. But before the text was finally approved for use in the Scottish church it was subjected to six years of scrutiny and revision by two different groups of highly learned and devout leaders of the church. Literally every word and phrase was carefully weighed for faithfulness to the original Hebrew texts.

The work that resulted from these revisions contained only a small part of Rous's original text. Instead, what emerged was a composite of the work of the review committees plus lines taken from several other Psalters that were in circulation at the time.

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These Psalms of David were taken from an old King James Bible that I found. They were paraphrased so as to be sung in church. Even so, I still found them to be faithful to the text of the King James Bible, which is always good to know. This Bible also contained an old hymnary (containing over 600 hymns and other paraphrased portions of Scripture to be sung). Because I love poetry, and especially poetry based on the Word of God, I fell in love instantly with this book. Now I have an opportunity to share these Psalms and metrical passages with others. Feel free to read your favourite Psalms, and read some not so familiar ones. I hope these Psalms are as much a blessing to you as they are to me.

Jerry Bouey
http://www.EarnestlyContending.com

Reading in Psalms
  What a book,
Thought I would just
  Take a look.

I took a look
  And what did I find,
Help for my soul
  And all mankind.

Such gracious words
  Man could not proclaim,
No, they were penned by the prophets
and from God they came.

Food for the soul
Strength for the heart
Wisdom and lovingkindness
Fill every part.

When I need a refuge
Oh, the troubles never seem to cease -
But I turn to the Psalms
And there find sweet peace!

August 21st, 2003
Steve Yoakum and Jerry Bouey

The Psalms Of David In Metre By The COS Table Of Contents