Psalm 151
About this date: Dates are broad scholarly estimates of composition or final editing, not dates of the events narrated. Traditional attributions and scholarly assessments can differ.
Psalm 151 presents David's smallness, anointing, music, and victory over the Philistine in a compact first-person poem. Its Greek superscription places it outside the numbered collection of 150 psalms.
Historical context
The Greek poem and related Hebrew material from the Qumran Psalms scroll require textual comparison rather than an assumption that every surviving form is identical. Davidic voice is not a securely dated authorial signature.
Key points
- The poem makes the overlooked shepherd the recipient of divine choice.
- The superscription's outside-the-number language explains an arrangement, not one universal church ruling.
- This catalog lists Psalm 151 separately for discovery while not adding it to its representative Orthodox separate-book count.
Scripture
- Psalm 151:1-7 — The short Greek-form psalm moves from the youngest shepherd to anointing and victory.
- 1 Samuel 16:1-13 — Compare David's selection from among his brothers.
- 1 Samuel 17:41-51 — Compare the Philistine encounter with the poem's compressed retelling.
Sources and further reading
- Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles: canonical books and Apocrypha
- Catholic Catechism §120: canon and book list
- Israel Antiquities Authority: 11Q5 manuscript catalog
A manuscript identity for further investigation, not a claim that the Hebrew and Greek forms are word-for-word identical. - Orthodox Church in America: canon of Scripture
- Orthodox Church in America: Old Testament historical books
- Psalm 151: complete public-domain WEB text and superscription
- USCCB Bible introductions: historical and literary notes