All 150 Psalms Categorized

As part of my class, Read the Bible for Yourself, I went through all 150 psalms and broke them into 15 categories. I searched online for such a list but couldn’t find anything helpful. Chat GPT likewise failed to produce any useful results. So, I bit the bullet and went through all 150 psalms, one at a time, and generated categories for them.

I employed an inductive process, adding new categories as needed. Some of the psalms defy unique categorization so I sometimes applied two categories to a single psalm. The first 8 categories fit with Walter Brueggemann’s type of orientation (i.e. happy psalms). Categories 8 through 13 are psalms of disorientation (i.e. sad psalms). And category 14 are psalms of reorientation (i.e. thanksgiving psalms). The last category includes psalms of various types that focus on Zion’s greatness or pilgrimage to visit there.

The best way for you to use these psalms is to ask yourself how you’re feeling. What are you going through? Are you in desperate need for deliverance? Read the psalms of petition. Are you sad and looking to boost your confidence? Read the psalms of trust. Are you just seeking to expand your praise vocabulary? Look for psalms in the praise or enthronement categories. Are you having an existential crisis and asking why God doesn’t help you? That’s what the psalms of complaint are for. You get the idea. My prayer is that these tables will empower you to find the right psalm for your situation.

For a more thorough explanation, watch my video teaching: “How to Read the Psalms.”

Here is the same data, listed by psalm. This way you can see which psalms I gave which categories to, and which ones received multiple categories.