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Psalms for Everyone: v. 1
Westminster John Knox Press is pleased to present the seventeen-volume Old Testament for Everyone series. Internationally respected Old Testament scholar John Goldingay addresses Scripture from Genesis to Malachi in such a way that even the most challenging passages are explained simply and concisely. The series is perfect for daily devotions, group study, or personal visits with the Bible.
In this volume, Goldingay explores Psalms 1-72. The psalms, Goldingay says, show us four ways to speak to God: in words of praise, thanksgiving, trust, and supplication. Goldingay provides brief commentary on each psalm and shows how each one can be relevant to contemporary life.
In this volume, Goldingay explores Psalms 1-72. The psalms, Goldingay says, show us four ways to speak to God: in words of praise, thanksgiving, trust, and supplication. Goldingay provides brief commentary on each psalm and shows how each one can be relevant to contemporary life.
248 pages, Paperback
First published August 23, 2013
43 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
John E. Goldingay
87 books67 followersJohn Goldingay is David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. An internationally respected Old Testament scholar, Goldingay is the author of many commentaries and books.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 8, 2014
Psalms has never been one of my favorite books of the Bible. I thought perhaps this book could make me love it. Unfortunately, it did not.
The book started out well in that it explained (in the Psalms) there are four ways of speaking to God that corresponds to ways humans speak to one another. They are:
1. (God) You are great!
2. (God) Help!
3. (God) I trust you.
4. (God) Thank you.
This is information that was new to me. There are a few other instances where I gained some insight from the book. I wished there had been more. After each section, the author tried to give a real life example of what had just been read in the Psalms. The examples were interesting and, for the most part, useful.
The Psalms as quoted in “Psalms for Everyone – Part 1” is shown as translated by the author. It is a bit different from what I am used to reading, but it really didn’t cause an issue in understanding.
There are two reasons that I didn’t give the book a better rating. The major reason is that I didn’t feel that I learned much more reading this book than I could have if I had just read the Psalms directly from the Bible. The second reason is that I felt I could detect some unfair (in my mind anyway) criticism of the United States. Here is an example:
We have noted that it is hard for the citizens of powerful countries such as Britain and the United States to evade responsibility for much bloodshed in the world. When we come to worship, we need to wash our hands in innocence, to repent of the blood on our hands, and commit ourselves to working for policies that do not keep staining our hands with blood. We can’t come to worship or pray the prayer if we intend to continue to stain our hands.
I do understand what the author was saying but I also understand that bloodshed is sometimes necessary for our defense and for those of other people who rely on us for help. When we talk about nations or leaders with blood on their hands, people like Hitler, Stalin, or any one of a multitude of others come to mind.
All in all, it was a somewhat beneficial book for me. Others readers may find it more useful. Therefore, I do recommend the book.
I was provided a free copy of this book for review from Westminster John Knox Press. I was under no obligation to provide a favorable review.
The book started out well in that it explained (in the Psalms) there are four ways of speaking to God that corresponds to ways humans speak to one another. They are:
1. (God) You are great!
2. (God) Help!
3. (God) I trust you.
4. (God) Thank you.
This is information that was new to me. There are a few other instances where I gained some insight from the book. I wished there had been more. After each section, the author tried to give a real life example of what had just been read in the Psalms. The examples were interesting and, for the most part, useful.
The Psalms as quoted in “Psalms for Everyone – Part 1” is shown as translated by the author. It is a bit different from what I am used to reading, but it really didn’t cause an issue in understanding.
There are two reasons that I didn’t give the book a better rating. The major reason is that I didn’t feel that I learned much more reading this book than I could have if I had just read the Psalms directly from the Bible. The second reason is that I felt I could detect some unfair (in my mind anyway) criticism of the United States. Here is an example:
We have noted that it is hard for the citizens of powerful countries such as Britain and the United States to evade responsibility for much bloodshed in the world. When we come to worship, we need to wash our hands in innocence, to repent of the blood on our hands, and commit ourselves to working for policies that do not keep staining our hands with blood. We can’t come to worship or pray the prayer if we intend to continue to stain our hands.
I do understand what the author was saying but I also understand that bloodshed is sometimes necessary for our defense and for those of other people who rely on us for help. When we talk about nations or leaders with blood on their hands, people like Hitler, Stalin, or any one of a multitude of others come to mind.
All in all, it was a somewhat beneficial book for me. Others readers may find it more useful. Therefore, I do recommend the book.
I was provided a free copy of this book for review from Westminster John Knox Press. I was under no obligation to provide a favorable review.
March 23, 2019
This is an ambitious book on the part of the author, and a serious, somewhat intricate study for the reader. This is not a quick, easy read; rather, you will need to spend significant time with this book to get the most out of it.
Author and Old Testament scholar John Goldingay, who is a British-born Anglican priest now living in the United States, has personally translated each of the psalms from the Hebrew. Following his translation, he offers commentary with a distinctly Christian focus that begins with a personal or timely story relevant to the psalm's intent and then continues on to a more theological explanation of the psalm.
While the commentaries are interesting to read—and some I would even deem fascinating—I really did not like Goldingay's translation of the psalms. The words were jarring, and the ancient poetry that makes me so attached to the psalms as a form of prayer was totally missing. It's such a shame, too, because there are many wonderful translations he could have used instead. I was so dismayed by his translations that instead of reading Goldingay's version of each psalm, I actually read each pslam from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (my favorite version of the psalms) and then switched back to the book for the commentary.
Here is just one translation example using Psalm 19.
In the Book of Common Prayer, the last verse is:
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, *
O LORD, my strength and my redeemer."
Goldingay translates this same verse as:
"May the word of my mouth be favorable to you, and may the talk of my mind come before you, Yahweh, my crag and my restorer."
If you're interested in studying the theological meaning behind the psalms, this book is a solid, serious resource but you'll need to devote fully-engaged reading time to get the most benefit.
Author and Old Testament scholar John Goldingay, who is a British-born Anglican priest now living in the United States, has personally translated each of the psalms from the Hebrew. Following his translation, he offers commentary with a distinctly Christian focus that begins with a personal or timely story relevant to the psalm's intent and then continues on to a more theological explanation of the psalm.
While the commentaries are interesting to read—and some I would even deem fascinating—I really did not like Goldingay's translation of the psalms. The words were jarring, and the ancient poetry that makes me so attached to the psalms as a form of prayer was totally missing. It's such a shame, too, because there are many wonderful translations he could have used instead. I was so dismayed by his translations that instead of reading Goldingay's version of each psalm, I actually read each pslam from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer (my favorite version of the psalms) and then switched back to the book for the commentary.
Here is just one translation example using Psalm 19.
In the Book of Common Prayer, the last verse is:
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, *
O LORD, my strength and my redeemer."
Goldingay translates this same verse as:
"May the word of my mouth be favorable to you, and may the talk of my mind come before you, Yahweh, my crag and my restorer."
If you're interested in studying the theological meaning behind the psalms, this book is a solid, serious resource but you'll need to devote fully-engaged reading time to get the most benefit.
May 22, 2021
The Psalms are difficult to me. This book always knows what each Psalm is about from one word.
October 22, 2013
This review, by Dr. Nicholson, has been provided courtesy of Desert Bible Institute (www.desertbibleinstitute.com).
It took me a little while to decide how I felt about John Goldingay’s book Pslams for Everyone: Part 1 due in part to the kinds of commentaries that I usually use to study. What I have become accustom to over the years is a verse-by-verse exposition on the individual psalms. If that is what you’re looking for, this isn’t the book for you. Goldingay, as the title suggests, has not written this book for a biblical scholar or an experienced pastor but the average person. One morning while I was having my coffee however I had an epiphany. I realized that this would be a great book for a morning devotional or a small group study for new believers. If that is what you’re looking for, keep reading, this might just be the book for you.
Goldingay is fond of using personal anecdotes to put a particular passage into context. He picks something from his, or someone close to his, life and touches on one of the predominate principles shared in the psalm. This is clearly done to make the passage accessible to the average reader. The poetic style of a psalm can make it seem unapproachable to a Western reader. It seems Goldingay is attempting to break through this wall in order to introduce his readers to the psalm.
Another common element is for Goldingay to choose a contemporary topic, issue, or trend and relate that same key idea to it. This has the added effect of taking an example from his life and applying it more broadly. It seems likely that through this he will make the topic being discussed seem more relevant to the reader. While the topic he chooses to focus on may or may not be at the heart of a given psalm, Goldingay undoubtedly puts his readers at ease and helps them understand that these Old Testament poems/songs relate to them in their daily lives.
Lastly, Goldingay picks some key words or phrases to explore in each psalm. Some of these are meant to introduce the reader to biblical terminology. Others are used to show the connotation or denotation of a particular word. On occasion, the word or phrase he chooses helps the reader understand the context of what is being said. All of these ideas are simple, brief, and straight-forward. Clearly, his point here is to simply introduce the book rather to dig in deep.
The book ends up being a very casual, largely narrative, examination of Psalms that will prove useful to those trying to understand it for the first time. It will likely prove useful in encouraging readers to study the book further getting a deeper and relevant understanding of the book as they grow in their biblical understanding.
Trent Nicholson, Ph.D., D.Min.
Desert Bible Institute, President
Dr. Nicholson reviews academic, Christian living, and fiction books for a variety of publishers in an array of formats. He is never paid for any of his reviews. He writes these strictly as a courtesy to his students at Desert Bible Institute and for any other readers that might find his insights valuable. For more reviews or information, visit Dr. Nicholson’s blog at drtnicholson.wordpress.com.
It took me a little while to decide how I felt about John Goldingay’s book Pslams for Everyone: Part 1 due in part to the kinds of commentaries that I usually use to study. What I have become accustom to over the years is a verse-by-verse exposition on the individual psalms. If that is what you’re looking for, this isn’t the book for you. Goldingay, as the title suggests, has not written this book for a biblical scholar or an experienced pastor but the average person. One morning while I was having my coffee however I had an epiphany. I realized that this would be a great book for a morning devotional or a small group study for new believers. If that is what you’re looking for, keep reading, this might just be the book for you.
Goldingay is fond of using personal anecdotes to put a particular passage into context. He picks something from his, or someone close to his, life and touches on one of the predominate principles shared in the psalm. This is clearly done to make the passage accessible to the average reader. The poetic style of a psalm can make it seem unapproachable to a Western reader. It seems Goldingay is attempting to break through this wall in order to introduce his readers to the psalm.
Another common element is for Goldingay to choose a contemporary topic, issue, or trend and relate that same key idea to it. This has the added effect of taking an example from his life and applying it more broadly. It seems likely that through this he will make the topic being discussed seem more relevant to the reader. While the topic he chooses to focus on may or may not be at the heart of a given psalm, Goldingay undoubtedly puts his readers at ease and helps them understand that these Old Testament poems/songs relate to them in their daily lives.
Lastly, Goldingay picks some key words or phrases to explore in each psalm. Some of these are meant to introduce the reader to biblical terminology. Others are used to show the connotation or denotation of a particular word. On occasion, the word or phrase he chooses helps the reader understand the context of what is being said. All of these ideas are simple, brief, and straight-forward. Clearly, his point here is to simply introduce the book rather to dig in deep.
The book ends up being a very casual, largely narrative, examination of Psalms that will prove useful to those trying to understand it for the first time. It will likely prove useful in encouraging readers to study the book further getting a deeper and relevant understanding of the book as they grow in their biblical understanding.
Trent Nicholson, Ph.D., D.Min.
Desert Bible Institute, President
Dr. Nicholson reviews academic, Christian living, and fiction books for a variety of publishers in an array of formats. He is never paid for any of his reviews. He writes these strictly as a courtesy to his students at Desert Bible Institute and for any other readers that might find his insights valuable. For more reviews or information, visit Dr. Nicholson’s blog at drtnicholson.wordpress.com.
November 20, 2013
I finished reading The 30-Day Praise Challenge on a high and thought that I’d like to continue this praise by reading through the book of Psalms. At first, I was just going to wade in myself and see how I go but then I came across this title on NetGalley: Psalms for Everyone. I thought this would mean that the target audience of the book will be the average Joe (or Jane) and will probably be within my brain capacity.
The Bible translations I would normally read would either be NIV or ESV and I couldn’t find or even tell which version of the Bible is being used in this book. I read back to front and I must’ve been blind to completely miss it but I did. In any case, I found it fairly hard to get my head around this translation of the Psalms and it caught me off balance. In addition to having had to read an unusual version of the Psalms, I also found it very difficult to read through Goldingjay’s commentaries on the chapters. He wrote approximately a page commentaries per chapter (for some long chapters, the chapters are divided).
The personal anecdotes were ones I loved as they shared of author’s real experiences in life and spiritually. The page length commentaries, however, were quite choppy. The ideas did not flow smoothly from one paragraph to the other. I was actually getting really anxious as to whether I was losing my mind since I was struggling really badly with these commentaries that I asked my non-reading husband to read a chapter or two. His view was that Goldingjay had tried to fit in too many points in one page so that the effect was that we get superficial thoughts over numerous ideas / points. There were instances that I found I didn’t agree with the author though I wonder whether that was a case of misunderstanding (miscommunication).
This book is, unfortunately, not one I’d be recommending to my friends. I think there needs to be some serious editing before it really is for everyone.
Thank you, Westminster John Knox Press for copy of eARC via NetGalley
The Bible translations I would normally read would either be NIV or ESV and I couldn’t find or even tell which version of the Bible is being used in this book. I read back to front and I must’ve been blind to completely miss it but I did. In any case, I found it fairly hard to get my head around this translation of the Psalms and it caught me off balance. In addition to having had to read an unusual version of the Psalms, I also found it very difficult to read through Goldingjay’s commentaries on the chapters. He wrote approximately a page commentaries per chapter (for some long chapters, the chapters are divided).
The personal anecdotes were ones I loved as they shared of author’s real experiences in life and spiritually. The page length commentaries, however, were quite choppy. The ideas did not flow smoothly from one paragraph to the other. I was actually getting really anxious as to whether I was losing my mind since I was struggling really badly with these commentaries that I asked my non-reading husband to read a chapter or two. His view was that Goldingjay had tried to fit in too many points in one page so that the effect was that we get superficial thoughts over numerous ideas / points. There were instances that I found I didn’t agree with the author though I wonder whether that was a case of misunderstanding (miscommunication).
This book is, unfortunately, not one I’d be recommending to my friends. I think there needs to be some serious editing before it really is for everyone.
Thank you, Westminster John Knox Press for copy of eARC via NetGalley
August 31, 2014
The next in the series of For Everyone commentaries, covering Books I and II of the Psalms.
As is consistent with the series, each section (most often each individual psalm, although a few psalms are broken up into multiple sections) is begun with the author's translation, followed by some story or modern example, and then the text is interpreted first in light of its most likely original context and then some suggested applications are made.
Goldingay has otherwise written a massive commentary on Psalms in a scholarly way focusing on the literary-analytical method; he does not approach the For Everyone commentary in the same way. He does well at getting to what is most likely the essential nature/purpose of each psalm and makes appropriate applications. His personal experience of grief and renewal means Goldingay is quite sensitive to the reversals experienced or given voice by the Psalter and addresses them well.
A good introduction to the basic meaning and value of Psalms 1-72.
**--book received as part of early review program
As is consistent with the series, each section (most often each individual psalm, although a few psalms are broken up into multiple sections) is begun with the author's translation, followed by some story or modern example, and then the text is interpreted first in light of its most likely original context and then some suggested applications are made.
Goldingay has otherwise written a massive commentary on Psalms in a scholarly way focusing on the literary-analytical method; he does not approach the For Everyone commentary in the same way. He does well at getting to what is most likely the essential nature/purpose of each psalm and makes appropriate applications. His personal experience of grief and renewal means Goldingay is quite sensitive to the reversals experienced or given voice by the Psalter and addresses them well.
A good introduction to the basic meaning and value of Psalms 1-72.
**--book received as part of early review program
August 6, 2014
This is a commentary on Psalms 1-72 written in the same style the rest of the For Everyone series is written. The passage (in this case, the Psalm or half a Psalm if it is long) is given in the author's plain modern English translation, and then he gives a brief 2-4 page explanation of what this meant to the original audience and an application for today. I found this For Everyone book unique in that Goldingay used a lot of current events to relate the Psalm to modern readers and how the principles, especially models of prayer and worship, apply to modern readers in modern circumstances. Usually Goldingay and Wright (the authors of this series) use more general stories to relate the principles, but though the current events may be dated in a few years, I think it did help me better grasp the past understanding and the heart of the Psalmists to read it through the lens of current tragedies, messes, and triumphs.
May 1, 2024
I really appreciate The Old Testament for everyone series. Each of these books breaks down the scriptures with commentary that explain concepts and historical significance. Highly recommend this series!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews