Why do the Psalms have different titles?
Many of the 150 canonical psalms have superscriptions or titles, like: “Of David,” “For the choirmaster,” and “According to the lilies.” Are these superscriptions in the psalms original? Or were they added at a later time? In this excerpt adapted from Bible Study Magazine , Peter J. Gentry explores the evidence in the manuscripts, the meaning of the most common superscription, whether we should consider the titles part of inspired Scripture—and how we can benefit from the titles in our interpretation of the psalms. 1 Most English Bibles display the superscriptions in fine print. This suggests to the modern reader that these superscriptions are secondary in some way. But this is not what we find in our best manuscripts. As far back as the famous and respected Aleppo Codex (ca. AD 930), carefully written Hebrew Bibles display poetry in couplets—that is, pairs of lines separated by spacing or accents. Although the psalm superscriptions sometimes appe...