ψαλμός

From the study of Luke 24:44

Range of meaning

Originally the plucking of a stringed instrument, then a song sung to such music. In Jewish and Christian Greek it means one of the songs of the biblical Psalter, and in the plural the book of Psalms (BDAG s.v. ψαλμός).

Against the English

English versions all say 'the Psalms'. The open question is whether Jesus means only the book of Psalms or uses it, as the first and largest book, to stand for the whole third group of Israel's writings (later called the Ketuvim, the 'Writings').

Used elsewhere in the period

Luke 20:42 and Acts 1:20 refer to 'the book of Psalms' (biblos psalmōn). The Psalms are Luke's main source for the passion and resurrection: Ps 118:22 (Luke 20:17), Ps 110:1 (20:42–43; Acts 2:34–35), Ps 31:5 (Luke 23:46), Ps 22:18 (23:34), Ps 69:21 (23:36), Ps 16:8–11 (Acts 2:25–28), Ps 2 (Acts 4:25–26; 13:33). Acts 2:30 calls David a prophet. Some other ancient witnesses name a third group without a fixed title: the Prologue to Sirach ('the other books'), Philo, On the Contemplative Life 25 ('hymns and the other writings'), Josephus' 'four books of hymns to God and precepts for life' (Against Apion 1.40), and the much-debated, partly reconstructed line of the Qumran letter 4QMMT ('the book of Moses and the books of the Prophets and David').

From the study of 1 Corinthians 14:26

Range of meaning

Originally the plucking of a stringed instrument, then a song sung to such accompaniment. In Jewish Greek it means a song of praise, especially one of the Psalms of David (the LXX uses it for Hebrew mizmor).

Against the English

KJV/BSB/WEB/NASB 'psalm'; NIV/ESV 'hymn'. 'Psalm' can make modern readers think only of the 150 biblical Psalms. 'Hymn' can suggest a fixed congregational song from a hymnal.

How it drifted

For many readers 'psalm' now means the book of Psalms. In Paul's churches the word could cover newly composed songs as well.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX Psalm titles; Luke 20:42 and 24:44 ('the book of Psalms'). Paul speaks of 'psalms, hymns and spiritual songs' (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16). He says 'I will sing praise (psalō) with the spirit and with the mind' (1 Cor 14:15). Philo describes the Jewish Therapeutae singing both old hymns and new compositions at their gatherings (On the Contemplative Life 80). Pliny, writing around 112 AD, reports Christians singing 'a song to Christ as to a god' (Letters 10.96).

From the study of Acts 1:20

Range of meaning

First the plucking of strings, then a song sung to a stringed instrument. In Jewish Greek it is the usual word for the songs of Israel's Psalter. 'Book of Psalms' means that collection.

Against the English

'Book of Psalms' in all major versions; accurate.

Used elsewhere in the period

Luke 20:42 ('David himself says in the book of Psalms'); Luke 24:44 ('the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms', meaning the Scriptures that speak of Jesus). The Greek Psalter was called Psalmoi. The Dead Sea Scrolls show the first part of the Psalter fixed by the 1st century, with some variation in the order of the later psalms (e.g. 11QPsa). Psalm 69 (in the second of the Psalter's five books) and Psalm 109 (in the fifth) were both part of this recognised collection.