This book is the first in my intended series of “words only” metrical psalters. How can you sing a song from the words without a musical score? Select a tune you already know in the specified meter and sing the song to that tune. It’s that simple. If desired, a more detailed explanation can be found in my book The Great Joy of Singing Psalms: Learn to Sing Any Psalm to Common Hymn Tunes.
I chose to publish The Psalms of David in Metre, more commonly referred to as The Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1650, as my first psalter because it is the most common metrical psalter and a faithful translation. A lot has changed over the last 400 years of psalm singing, but most of the changes have improved the musical quality and complexity of music at the expense of simplicity and faithfulness to scripture. The Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1650 is a simple and accurate translation. Other psalters have taken far more liberty with the translation to yield a more pleasing tune at the expense of translational accuracy.
I am not an expert of Biblical translation, but understanding historical context of The Scottish Metrical Psalter of 1650 is more straight forward. It did not descend down from heaven, but was written by particular men living in a specific historical context. It was created in the midst of a series of wars:
- The First English Civil War between King Charles I and an alliance of Parliament and the Scots lasted from 1642 until 1646 and ended with King Charles I in custody.
- The Second English Civil War took place in 1648 between Parliament and an alliance of King Charles I and the Scots; it ended in the defeat of the Scots and the execution of King Charles I.
- An English invasion of Scotland took place from 1650 to 1652 and was a preemptive strike on Scotland to prevent it from supporting Charles II in an invasion of England.
In 1643, near the beginning of this period of warfare, Parliament convened an Assembly of Divines at Westminster Abbey in London to advise Parliament on reforming the Church of England. English clergy made up the voting members, and a delegation of Scots attended as non-voting advisors. The assembly met from 1643 until 1653 and created the famous Westminster Confession of Faith, Westminster Larger Catechism, and Westminster Shorter Catechism. The assembly also recommended a psalm book for use by the church. The Scottish delegation brought this psalter back to Scotland where it was distributed to many Scottish pastors and laymen who revised it in order to make the translation simpler and more accurate to scripture. The final version was accepted for use in 1650.
The entire sequence of events took place during the aforementioned wars. During some periods of the Westminster Assembly the Scots were fighting against the Parliamentarians and during other periods the Scots were fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Parliamentarians. The members of the assembly had to work together regardless of which side of the conflict they were on.
This psalter was birthed in struggle as authors fought for their civil and religious liberty. The Scots’ chief object in these wars was to get England and Ireland to join them in the Solemn League and Covenant. The League was why the Scots switched back and forth between the King and Parliament. The League would have bound the three countries in a covenant to God and reformed their churches to conform to the Scots understanding of the Holy Scriptures. The Scots of this period are called the “Covenanters” because of their single-minded focus on the Solemn League and Covenant and because they made many Covenants with God personally and corporately.
Less than 30 years after The Psalms of David in Metre was published the Scots experienced a great time of persecution. From 1679 until 1688 the English tried to stamp out Presbyterianism in Scotland during “The Killing Time.” Many Scots died for their faith, and this was their psalter during this period of persecution. The Scots of the time were known for their love of psalm singing. To this day, the descendants of the Scots who never gave in to the English, the Reformed Presbyterians (RPCNA), practice exclusive psalmody and are widely known for their deep love of singing psalms. If you want to get a Reformed Presbyterian talking, ask him about the psalms.
In 1685 two Covenanter women from Wigtown were drowned because they refused to recant their beliefs. They were tied to stakes in the mudflats and drowned by the rising tide. Margaret McLachlan (in her 60s) was drowned first in an attempt to scare the younger Margaret Wilson (in her 20s) into recanting. Both held firm to the end. Margaret Wilson sang from the 25th Psalm while being martyred. The Psalms of David in Metre was baptized in the blood of martyrs.
Reference information has been included in the last pages of this book to aid in psalm singing. I chose to include these tables because I use them while psalm singing.
- The psalms in each musical meter
- Well known hymn tunes in the major meters
- Tune recommendations for each psalm
- An overview of the five books of psalms to explain the thematic progression through the psalter
- Collected thematic groupings within the psalms
- The psalms written by each known author
It is my prayer that this psalter will aid you in your spiritual walk. Christ’s Church is currently experiencing a psalm singing famine, and I hope that this psalter will play a role in satisfying its hunger.
Benjamin Leonard
January 2024
150 Songs 