The Psalms

You have turned my mourning into dancing;
You have taken off my sackcloth
And clothed me with joy

The Book of Psalms has an extraordinary place in many cultures. These enigmatic Hebrew verses, brought together millennia ago, have in the English language been for centuries a seemingly inexhaustible well of prayer, thought, inspiration, interpretation and mystery.

This fascinating new Penguin Classics edition gives the full text of the psalms in the New Revised Standard Version. Each psalm is followed by a short commentary exploring some of the ways in which the psalm can be understood – whether as ancient (and often unfamiliar) poetry or in terms of its influence on later writers. Sue Gillingham has spent many years studying these great, ageless texts and is an engaging and enlightening guide to their many wonders and mysteries. Her introduction is filled with fascinating material on the nature of the psalms, and their status as a religious and literary touchstone.