Voicing God's Psalms

This poignant volume, along with its finely produced audio CD, will help people hear the voice of God speaking through fresh verse translations of the biblical psalms.

Calvin Seerveld has rendered forty of the psalms into idiomatic English and structured his verses as singable melodies based on Genevan, Reformation German, and Welsh tunes. The selected psalms are clustered around these themes: Torah (God's law), Melchizedek (the rule of gentle justice), enemies, repentance and forgiveness, wrestling with the Lord, comfort, trusting God, God-promises, and Hallelujah! An introduction and an afterword set the Psalms in historical context, highlight the rough and tender quality of God's psalms, and offer concrete suggestions for helping the Psalms come alive in our prayers and public worship today.

The audio CD, which comes packaged with the book, features oral readings of Seerveld's psalm translations. Superb recorder solos back many of the readings, demonstrating how even simple melodic lines can make the psalms come alive. One blues melody is also played to catch the tenor of a psalm of lament.

Used together, the book and CD will help worship leaders and music directors prepare liturgies and will inspire many believers in their personal devotions. 

Also purchase Genevan Psalmody for Today, a separate cd produced by Seerveld.

"A wonderful intersection of listening and learning, history and song, as the Genevan Psalter is framed in this interplay between Seerveld's inspiring teaching and varied psalm compositions beautifully sung. This CD will delight, and even more, invite interdisciplinary conversations about history, theology, music, and worship--all rooted in the gift of the Psalms."

Emily R. Brink

Senior Research Fellow,Calvin Institute of Christian Worship

This resource is no longer in print by the publisher