Choose a Psalm Jump to Section

Welcome to Psalms: Layer by Layer

Welcome to Psalms: Layer by Layer, created by Scriptura. Whether you are an artist, translator, scholar, pastor, or simply a lover of the psalms, we hope our extensive resources will be a doorway into discovering for yourself the breathtaking beauty and power of these ancient poems.

This User’s Guide provides introductions and explanations for all of our resources, along with video tutorials. To learn more about the background and work of Scriptura and the Psalms: Layer by Layer project, click here.

Start Here: The Psalm Home Page

How to use the Psalm Home Page

Every psalm has a Home Page where you will find the resource map of everything we offer for that psalm. The home page also has:

A piece of artworkWe are currently in the process of replacing all stock/AI-generated artwork with human-generated art. inspired by the psalm
A title for the psalm
A few words inviting you into the unique atmosphere of the psalm.

Resource Map

The resource map provides links to six sections.

Text

Listen to audio recordings and read the psalm with different text views.

Overview

Orientation to the psalm as a whole including message, structure, background and participants.

Layers

Explore the psalm through 11 different layers of analysis: Grammar, Lexical, Phrasal and Verbal semantics, Story Behind the Psalm, Participants, Macrosyntax, Speech Act, Emotional Analysis, Poetic Structure, and Poetic Features.

Verses

Explore the psalm verse-by-verse and section-by-section, more similar to a traditional commentary-style walkthrough.

Exegetical Issues

Top three tough questions for each psalm, explaining different scholarly interpretations and offering our perspective.

Translation

Translation Aids and Resources written by translation experts, reframing all of our resources to meet the specific needs of translators, including performance notes.

Text: Listen & Read

Encounter the Hebrew and English text of each psalm, with informational overlays that unpack its structure and discourse.

How to use the Text: Listen & Read Page

Overview

Get oriented to the psalm's background, themes, and structure.

How to use the Overview Page

Layers

Here, we dive into each psalm via multiple layers of analysis.

How to use the Layers page

Semantics

Grammar, Lexical, and Phrase-Level Semantics

How to use the Grammar, Lexical and Phrase-Level layers

Verbal Semantics

How to use the Verbal Semantics layer

Story Behind the Psalm

How to use the Story Behind Page

Discourse

Participant Analysis

Participant Analysis focuses on the characters in the psalm and asks, “Who are the main participants (or characters) in this psalm, and what are they saying or doing?

How to use the Participant Analysis Page