The Numerical Structure of the Psalms
The Structure
Book I (1
- 41) Christ in the counsel of God the source of all blessing for His
people (Israel).
Book II (42 - 72) Their ruin, but redemption in the
latter days.
Book III (73 - 89) The holiness of God in His dealings
with them.
Book IV (90 - 106) The failed first man replaced by the
Second, and the world established under His hand.
Book V (107 - 150)
The moral conclusion as to the divine ways, in which God and man are found at
last together.
Acrostic Psalms: 9, 10, 25,
34, 37, 111, 112, 119, 145
Book I (1 - 41) Christ in the counsel
of God the source of all blessing for His people (Israel).
1 (1 - 8) Christ
ordained King in Zion, and, after rejection by His people, to wider rule as Son
of Man.
1. (1 - 2) The destined King, and the blessedness of obedience and
trust in Him.
2. (3 - 7) The education of faith in a day of rejection and
conflict.
3. PSALM 8 The Son of man in possession of His inheritance
glorifies Jehovah in all the earth.
2 (Ps 9 - 15) The remnant in relation
to the enemy and the transgressors in Israel.
1. (Ps 9 - 10) The theme: The
Supreme, and the Lawless one. 2. (11 - 15) In view of the evil and the
enemy.
3 (Ps 16 - 41) "In Him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and by
Him to reconcile."
1. (Ps 16 - 24) Christ the Source of Blessing.
Series 1 (Ps 16 - 18) Christ identifying Himself with the people, and
identified with them by God.
Series 2 (Ps 19 - 21) Faith embracing the
testimony of God, and laying hold upon Christ's salvation.
Series 3 (Ps 22
- 24) Atonement and its results.
2. (Ps 25 - 39) The Testimony of Faith in
this Salvation.
Series 1 (Ps 25 - 29) The grounds of confidence.
Series
2 (Ps 30 - 34) The detailed salvation.
Series 3 (Ps 35 - 39) The holiness
of God, whether in judgment or in grace.
3. (Ps 40 - 41) The manifestation
of the heart of Christ, and the hearts of men.
Book II (42 - 72)
Their ruin, but redemption in the latter days.
1 (42 - 51) The King in
Zion.
1. (42 - 49) Redemption by power.
2. (50 - 51) The testimony of
God and the confession of man.
2 (52 - 60) Steps on to Deliverance.
1.
(52 - 55) The identification of the man of sin.
2. (56 - 60) Confirmation
of faith.
3 (61 - 72) Christ the Restorer.
1. (61 - 68) The Head of
Blessing.
2. (69 - 72) Christ's service of salvation.
Book III
(73 - 89) The holiness of God in His dealings with them.
1 (73 - 83)
Holiness in Grace.
1. (73 - 77) The general principles.
2. (78 - 83)
The principles applied to Israel's history.
2 (84 - 89) The holiness of God
manifested by Christ as Mediator.
1. (84 - 85) Christ uniting the divine
attributes in the salvation of His people.
2. (86 - 87) The Servant and the
servants.
3. (88 - 89) Realization: "the holiness of truth."
Book IV (90 - 106) The failed first man replaced by the Second, and the
world established under His hand.
1 (90 - 93) Christ the uniting-bond of
Creator and creation.
2 (94 - 100) The Judgment - salvation of the
Earth.
3 (101 - 106) Salvation in its innermost realization.
Book V (107 - 150) The moral conclusion as to the divine ways, in which
God and man are found at last together.
1 (Ps 107 - 113) Principles.
1.
(107 - 108) Efficient Grace.
2. (109 - 110) Christ in humiliation and
rejection.
3. (111 - 113) Hallelujah!
2 (114 - 119) The attaching of
the soul to the God of salvation.
1. (114 - 117) One Jehovah: The Old
Testament Lesson.
2. (118 - 119) Christ and the New Covenant.
3 (120 -
136) The full blessing realized.
1. (120 - 134) Faithful to promise.
1. (120 - 122) Faithful to promise.
2. (123 - 125) Deliverance from
enemies.
3. (126 - 128) Jehovah displaying Himself for His people.
4.
(129 - 131) The lessons of experience.
5. (132 - 134) Immanuel.
2. (135
- 136) The testimony of history confirmed.
4 (137 - 145) The testing of man
and things, which makes Jehovah all.
1. (137 - 139) "Truth in the inward
parts."
2. (140 - 142) The setting aside of human help.
3. (143 - 145)
Raised up out of the depth.
5 (146 - 150) A summary of Praise.
The Subjects
Book I (Ps 1 - 41) Christ in the counsel of God the source of all
blessing for His people (Israel).
1 (Ps 1 - 8) Christ ordained King in
Zion, and, after rejection by His people, to wider rule as Son of Man.
1.
(Ps 1 - 2) The destined King, and the blessedness of obedience and trust in
Him.
PSALM 1 The Blessedness of Obedience.
PSALM 2 Christ rejected by
the banded nations.
2. (Ps 3 - 7) The education of faith in a day of
rejection and conflict.
PSALM 3 The sufficiency of the unchanging God.
PSALM 4 Confidence in Jehovah's distinguishing care.
PSALM 5 The holiness
of God's presence.
PSALM 6 The trial at its deepest felt as divine
displeasure against sin, and the need realized of mercy.
PSALM 7 A pleading
for righteous judgment upon the persecutors of the innocent.
3. PSALM 8 The
Son of man in possession of His inheritance glorifies Jehovah in all the
earth.
2 (Ps 9 - 15) The remnant in relation to the enemy and the
transgressors in Israel.
1. (Ps 9 - 10) The theme: The Supreme, and the
Lawless one.
PSALM 9 The throne of righteousness.
PSALM 10 The wicked
one, and the deliverance.
2. (Ps 11 - 15) In veiw of the evil and the
enemy.
PSALM 11 Jehovah on the throne, and ordering all for blessing.
PSALM 12 Man's lying words contrasted with Jehovah's pure ones.
PSALM 13
Brought up from the gates of death.
PSALM 14 The universality of evil and
its folly: God's experience of man.
PSALM 15 The character of those who
dwell with God.
3 (Ps 16 - 41) Christ in the midst of the people,
manifesting God for them, and sanctifying them to God.
1. (Ps 16 - 24)
Christ the Source of Blessing.
Series I (Ps 16 - 18) Christ identifying
Himself with the people, and identified with them by God.
PSALM 16 The
all-Obedient One
PSALM 17 An appeal against the enemy: on the ground of
perfection of Christ, the Intercessor for the people.
PSALM 18 God
manifesting Himself for His Anointed.
Series II (Ps 19 - 21) Faith
embracing the testimony of God, and laying hold upon Christ's salvation.
PSALM 19 The power of creation and of the law.
PSALM 20 Christ and His
salvation.
PSALM 21 Christ appearing in His glory.
Series III (Ps 22 -
24) Atonement and its Results.
PSALM 22 The concord of divine righteousness
and grace through the work of a Unique Sufferer.
PSALM 23 Salvation in
progress.
PSALM 24 The Dwellers in Jehovah's house, and Jehovah entering
it.
2. (Ps 25 - 39) The Testimony of Faith in this Salvation.
Series I
(Ps 25 - 29) The grounds of confidence.
PSALM 25 Righteousness in
grace.
PSALM 26 Separaation from sinners.
PSALM 27 The heart's desire
after Jehovah's house and face.
PSALM 28 The test of experience.
PSALM
29 The judgment-storm with which God comes into the world, to give it the
"expected end."
Series II (Ps 30 - 34) The detailed Salvation.
PSALM 30
Whatever the changes, an unchanging God.
PSALM 31 Deliverance from the
enemy.
PSALM 32 The soul cleansed and God its sanctuary.
PSALM 33 This
God the God of the whole earth.
PSALM 34 Jehovah with us, and its
consequences in divine government.
Series III (Ps 35 - 39) The holiness of
God, whether in judgment of in grace.
PSALM 35 The appeal of the righteous
for righteous judgment upon the persecutor.
PSALM 36 The alienation of the
wicked from God con- trasted with Him in whom the sons of men take refuge.
PSALM 37 The manifestation of God for the righteous in their possession of the
earth.
PSALM 38 The trial of the righteous which is the result of sin in
them.
PSALM 39 Man's frailty seen in the light of divine government.
3.
(Ps 40 - 41) The manifestation of the heart of Christ, and the hearts of
men.
PSALM 40 The one obedience by which many are made righteous.
PSALM
41 The cross as seen by faith and by unbelief.
Book II (42 - 72)
Their ruin, but redemption in the latter days.
1 (17 - 51) The King in
Zion.
1. (42 - 49) Redemption by power.
1 (42,43) The cry of the
solitary.
a PSALM 42 God the one need of the soul.
b PSALM 43
Deliverance sought from Antichrist and his adherents.
2 PSALM 44 Faith
building on the testimony of past deliverances, and sustained, though in
contrasted circumstances.
3 PSALM 45 The glory of the Messiah, united to
His people.
4 PSALM 46 The test of experience,-the God of Jacob.
5
PSALM 47 "The peoples of the God of Abraham."
6 PSALM 48 The victory over
the last confederacy.
7 PSALM 49 completed histories.
2. (50 - 51) The
testimony of God and the confession of man.
PSALM 50 A righteous God
requiring righteousness.
PSALM 51 The confession of blood-guiltiness
(nationally of the blood of Christ, under which they yet find salvation)
2
(52 - 60) Steps on to Deliverance.
1. (52 - 55) The identification of the
man of sin.
PSALM 52 The strong man who made not God his strength.
PSALM 53 The progress of evil and the throwing off of God.
PSALM 54 God
realized as manifesting Himself according to His Name.
PSALM 55 The
apostate.
2. (56 - 60) Confirmation of faith.
PSALM 56 God's
faithfulness His people's strength.
PSALM 57 Faith's present shelter and
final deliverance.
PSALM 58 God manifested in judgment.
PSALM 59 The
visitation of the Gentile world.
PSALM 60 The presence of God with His
people after disciplinary dealings.
3 (61 - 72) Christ the Restorer.
1.
(61 - 68) The Head of Blessing.
PSALM 61 The King's vows.
PSALM 62 God
his dependence for deliverance from men, his enemies.
PSALM 63 Breathing
after the Sanctuary.
PSALM 64 The vanity of evil-doers.
PSALM 65
ImmanuEl.
PSALM 66 The discipline of God.
PSALM 67 Complete blessing
and rest.
PSALM 68 Under the new Head.
2. (69 - 72) Christ's service of
salvation.
PSALM 69 The source of salvation.
PSALM 70 Contrasted
Consequences.
PSALM 71 The Revival of Israel.
PSALM 72 Salvation for
the Earth.
Book III (73 - 89) The holiness of God in His
dealings with them.
1 (73 - 83) Holiness in Grace.
1. (73 - 77) The
general principles.
PSALM 73 Consistency of divine holiness with the
sufferings of the righteous.
PSALM 74 The enemy being God's enemy a plea
for deliverance.
PSALM 75 Christ the Interpreter of God in the day of
manifestation.
PSALM 76 The prostration of the creature.
PSALM 77 God'
way in the sea and in the sanctuary.
2. (78 - 83) The principles applied to
Israel's history.
PSALM 78 The consistency of God's ways, in which His
grace is sovereign.
PSALM 79 The plea against the invasion of the
enemy.
PSALM 80 Revival sought and restoration of the glory of God through
the Revived Branch, the Man of His right hand.
PSALM 81 The new ways that
go with the new experience.
PSALM 82 God judging among the judges.
PSALM 83 Victory over the last assault of evil.
2 (84 - 89) The holiness of
God manifested by Christ as Mediator.
1. (84 - 85) Christ uniting the
divine attributes in the salvation of His people.
PSALM 84 Jehovah supreme
and sufficient for the soul; and Christ the foundation.
PSALM 85 "Things
that accompany salvation."
2. (86 - 87) The Servant and the servants.
PSALM 86 Adonai.
PSALM 87 His testimony to His servants.
3. (88 - 89)
Realization: "the holiness of truth."
PSALM 88 The outcome as to man, in
righteousness.
PSALM 89 Help in Another.
Book IV (90 - 106)
The failed first man replaced by the Second, and the world established under
His hand.
1 (90 - 93) Christ the uniting-bond of Creator and creation.
PSALM 90 The first man.
PSALM 91 The Second man.
PSALM 92 Sanctuary -
praise.
PSALM 93 The creature in the creature place.
2 (94 - 100) The
Judgment-salvation of the Earth.
PSALM 94 The appeal of righteousness to
power.
PSALM 95 The two-fold testimony of judgment and salvation.
PSALM
96 Jehovah manifested.
PSALM 97 The earth subject.
PSALM 98 God with
man.
PSALM 99 Victory over evil.
PSALM 100 The Final Praise.
3 (101
- 106) Salvation in its innermost realization.
PSALM 101 The King of
righteousness.
PSALM 102 Christ in His humiliation, uniting God and
men.
PSALM 103 The praise of the restored people.
PSALM 104 Nature's
tribute to Jehovah.
PSALM 105 The story of His ways as with His people.
PSALM 106 God's discipline of the people for their evil.
Book V (107
- 150) The moral conclusion as to the divine ways, in which God and man are
found at last together.
1 (Ps 107 - 113) Principles.
1. (107 - 108)
Efficient Grace.
PSALM 107 Constant and harmonious.
PSALM 108 The
incoming Salvation.
2. (109 - 110) Christ in humiliation and rejection.
PSALM 109 Enmity self-caused.
PSALM 110 The confirmation of the
King-Priest.
3. (111 - 113) Hallelujah!
PSALM 111 Jehovah!
PSALM
112 Praise for the security of those that fear Him.
PSALM 113 The glory of
Jehovah's Name.
2 (114 - 119) The attaching of the soul to the God of
salvation.
1. (114 - 117) One Jehovah: The Old Testament Lesson.
PSALM
114 The power of Jacob's God.
PSALM 115 In contrast with the idols of
men.
PSALM 116 The God of resurrection, and the recall of Israel's heart to
Him.
PSALM 117 The whole earth summoned.
2. (118 - 119) Christ and the
New Covenant.
PSALM 118 The Head of the Corner.
PSALM 119 Faith's
testimony to the Word, in love and service.
3 (120 - 136) The full blessing
realized.
1. (120 - 134) Faithful to promise.
1. (120 - 122) Faithful
to promise.
PSALM 120 Solitary!
PSALM 121 The Preserver.
PSALM 122
The restored House and the City!
2. (123 - 125) Deliverance from
enemies.
PSALM 123 God only sufficient.
PSALM 124 The deliverance.
PSALM 125 Compassed round.
3. (126 - 128) Jehovah displaying Himself for
His people.
PSALM 126 The grace and faithfulness of His ways.
PSALM 127
The necessary dependence of all upon Jehovah.
PSALM 128 The portion of the
man that fears Jehovah.
4. (129 - 131) The lessons of experience.
PSALM
129 An over-ruling Hand.
PSALM 130 Redemption from sin.
PSALM 131 The
moral result.
5. (132 - 134) Immanu-el.
PSALM 132 Zion and the
King.
PSALM 133 The Priestly Mediator' service.
PSALM 134 In the
Sanctuary.
2. (135 - 136) The testimony of history confirmed.
PSALM 135
The summons to render it.
PSALM 136 The confirmation.
4 (137 - 145) The
testing of man and things, which makes Jehovah all.
1. (137 - 139) "Truth
in the inward parts."
PSALM 137 Zion the one controlling object for the
solitary (as cut off from Jehovah's presence.)
PSALM 138 The deliverance of
the lowly, magnifying the the word of God.
PSALM 139 Manifest in the
presence of God, with the moral result of this.
2. (140 - 142) The setting
aside of human help.
PSALM 140 Jehovah the sole sufficiency.
PSALM 141
Separation from the workers of iniquity.
PSALM 142 Jehovah the refuge and
portion.
3. (143 - 145) Raised up out of the depth.
PSALM 143 The plea
of righteousness where Jehovah alone is righteous.
PSALM 144 The Helper of
Israel.
PSALM 145 Messiah's praises.
5 (146 - 150) A summary of
Praise.
PSALM 146 The Mighty One of Jacob.
PSALM 147 In relation to His
people.
PSALM 148 The full praise of heaven and earth.
PSALM 149 The
yielding of the nations.
PSALM 150 Praise according to full capacity.
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