According to Jewish tradition, David wrote seventy-three Psalms. Asaph wrote twelve; the Son of Korah wrote nine; Solomon wrote two and Hernan (with the sons of Korah), Ethan, and Moses each wrote one; and fifty-one psalms are anonymous. The New Testament ascribes two of the anonymous psalms (Psalm 2 and 95) to David (see Acts 4:25; Hebrews 4:7). The book of Psalms was written between the time of Moses (about 1440 B.C.) and the Babylonian captivity (586 B.C.)

Throughout our life, we all experience a wide range of emotions, such as joy, anger, peacefulness, frustration, despair, happiness, and anxiety. These feelings don't typically obey carefully scripted creeds. Music and poetry often seem to be the only way to express them fully. The book of Psalms speaks to this part of human experience through the poetic words of people who offered their feelings to God. Are you angry about something? The book of Psalms includes several prayers that express this same emotion (see Psalm 35). Are you afraid? So was David when he wrote Psalm 2. Are you frustrated by injustice? Psalm 79 laments this same situation. Likewise Psalm 19 and Psalm 104 celebrate the incredible power of God as it is revealed in his creation. This collection of hymns and prayers seems to touch every corner of the human soul. As with the psalm writers themselves, these honest expressions of feeling will draw you closer to the God who made you. And so the Purpose of the Psalms is to provide poetry for the expression of praise, worship, and confession to God.

The Lord Jesus has prayed out of Psalm 22 when he was on the cross: ?My God, my God, why have you forsaken me'? (see Matthew 27:46). The longest Psalm is Psalm 119 which consists of 102 verses. Altogether we find 150 Psalms in the Bible.