What is the key to both seeing and hearing the ancient poetry of the 150 Psalms?
Seeing the Psalter is a detailed examination of patterns of repeated words and sounds in each psalm and between psalms. The obvious surface soundscape is generally obscured by translations from the Hebrew. The translation in this book preserves the sounds of repeated words and their patterned sequences so that readers can hear this primary technique of the ancient writers.
It is true that parallelism is an important concept, but it is partially subjective, whereas repeated sounds are objective if they are preserved. It is also true that there is a third important factor, the music embedded in the Hebrew text itself. This translation includes an introduction to the music.
These poems of the Psalter are among the most beloved of all poetry. Now they can be read in English paying attention to the patterns of word usage in the Hebrew.
Dr. Black believes each of these things should characterize our twenty-first century churches as well. And that is the challenge. How can we apply these principles in our own lives and church congregations? This brief book won’t answer all your questions. What it will do is point you toward the right way to find the answers. Ultimately, Dave Black believes that “the more we understand the Scriptures, the more we understand our responsibility to submit our lives and our futures to its radical teachings.”
