Psalms 152 to 155 are additional

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

found in two

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

biblical manuscripts A biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. Biblical manuscripts vary in size from tiny scrolls containing individual verses of the Jewish scriptures (see ''Tefillin'') to huge polyglot codices (multi-ling ...

to date and several manuscripts of 's "Book of Discipline", first identified by the orientalist librarian

Giuseppe Simone Assemani Giuseppe Simone Assemani (Classical Syriac : ܝܵܘܣܸܦ ܒܲܪ ܫܸܡܥܘܿܢ , ( ar, يوسف بن سمعان السمعاني ''Yusuf ibn Siman as-Simani'', en, Joseph Simon Assemani, la, Ioseph Simonius Assemanus; July 27, 1687–January 13 ...

in 1759. Together with

Psalm 151 Psalm 151 is a short psalm found in most copies of the Septuagint (LXX), but not in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. The title given to this psalm in the Septuagint indicates that it is supernumerary, as no number is affixed to it. The psal ...

they are also called the Five Apocryphal Psalms of

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

or the "Five Syriac Psalms".

Psalms 152-155

Psalm 152

"Spoken by David when he was contending with the lion and the wolf which took a sheep from his flock."Wright, W. (1887),
Some Apocryphal Psalms in Syriac
, ''Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology'', 9, 257–266 This text has survived only in

James H. Charlesworth with James A. Sanders, ''More Psalms of David (Third Century B.C.-First Centiry A.D.). A New Translation and Introduction'', in James H. Charlesworth (1985), ''The Old Testament Pseudoepigrapha'', Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company Inc., Volume 2, (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2), p. 609 although the original language may have been

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. The text has six verses, the tone is non-rabbinical, and it was probably composed in Israel during the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

(c. 323–31 BC).

Psalm 153

"Spoken by David when returning thanks to God, who had delivered him from the lion and the wolf and he had slain both of them." This text has survived only in

. Date and provenance are like Psalm 152. It is listed as the fifth of the apocryphal psalms by Wright.

Psalm 154

This Psalm survived in Syriac biblical manuscripts and also was found in

, in the

Dead Sea scroll The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nor ...

11QPs(a)154 (also known as ''11Q5'' –

The Great Psalms Scroll The Great Psalms Scroll, also referred to as 11Q5, is the most substantial and well preserved Dead Sea Scrolls Psalms manuscript of the thirty-seven discovered in the Qumran caves, six of which were discovered in Cave 11. Description The scroll ...

), a first-century AD manuscript. It is listed as the second of the apocryphal psalms by Wright who calls it "The Prayer of Hezekiah when enemies surrounded him".

Psalm 155

This psalm is extant in

and was also found in the

Dead Sea Scroll The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nor ...

11QPs(a)155 (also called ''11Q5'' –

), a first-century CE

manuscript. The theme of this psalm is similar to

Psalm 22 Psalm 22 of the Book of Psalms (the hind of the dawn) or My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? is a psalm in the Bible. The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In the ...

, and due to the lack of peculiarities it is impossible to suggest date and origin, save that its origin is clearly pre-Christian.

References

External links

5 Apocryphal Psalms of David
1st-century BCE texts 2nd-century BCE texts 3rd-century BCE texts 4th-century BCE texts Dead Sea Scrolls Jewish apocrypha Jewish texts in Aramaic Jewish texts Old Testament pseudepigrapha Psalms Texts in Hebrew Texts in Syriac Works attributed to David {{Hebrew-Bible-stub