The worship lyrics sung by members of a healthy church must be, above all other considerations, faithful to the whole counsel of God as expressed in the Scriptures. But worship leaders of such churches, if they lack access to a denominational Psalter, may struggle to find songs based on the Psalms themselves. Almost no commercial Scripture songs contains the full text of any Psalm, and many Psalms are not represented, even in part, among widely known worship songs.

While notable Psalters have been produced since the time of the Reformation, those with the most accessible combination of language and music for modern English speakers have often been heavily paraphrased. While paraphrase has proven adaptable to changing English poetic styles over the centuries, and without denying that it can promote reflection on the major themes of a Psalm, the practice can also lead to marked losses of original Biblical terminology, imagery, rhythm, scope, and tone.

In addition, although many English speakers consider rhyme a necessary element of poetry, such has not always been the case, as with the original Psalms themselves. While rhyme can serve as both a pleasing aesthetic and useful mnemonic device, its use in the paraphrased Psalms tends to even further restrict the simple, rich, vibrant, urgent, and deeply moving vocabulary of the Biblical text.

This Psalter is an attempt to strengthen such aspects of accessible psalmody by adorning the complete text of each Psalm with fitting music, to better equip churches to faithfully and joyfully sing, recite, meditate on, memorize, pray, discuss, and proclaim the glories of God revealed in his Word.

Churches hewing to the regulative principle of worship rooted in sola Scriptura recognize the vital role of the Psalms in ordering God-glorifying confession, petition, proclamation, and praise, yet two commonly sung musical treatments of Psalms--metrical paraphrases of the last five centuries, and Scripture songs of the last five decades--have not tended to preserve the full Biblical text of the Psalter.

By definition, the use of paraphrase produced movement away from the original terminology of the Psalms, and this tendency was frequently accelerated by the use of poetic meter and rhyme. During the long history of paraphrased Psalms, it became increasingly common to condense or even eliminate entire sections of certain Psalms. A comparison of several Psalm paraphrases in the widely-used The New Trinity Hymnal to their source texts consistently finds omitted verses and sections, and frequently only a moderate portion of shared terms. Sometimes one section of a Psalm may be poetically expanded while others are condensed or eliminated. Some Christians are able to associate, for example, Isaac Watts' Our God, Our Help in Ages Past with Psalm 90, but fewer may know that his vivid rendering draws primarily from only the first half of the Psalm, into which he introduces several images which, though reasonable poetic elaborations, are not present in the Biblical text. received her frame, rose from earth, busy tribes, lost in following years, all its sons, and the mower’s hand were added in place of the more concrete terms you had formed, man, brought to an end, and fades, and the biblical text's direct references to your anger, your wrath, our secret sins, and some petitions like satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love do not appear in the paraphrase.

The composers of Scripture songs, on the other hand, found ways to retain the literal text of some Psalms, but the difficulties of casting more than a few verses into melody resulted in very few entire Psalms actually being set to music (perhaps the most well-known being Charlotte M. Gaus' delightful setting of Psalm 100, Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord), and even those tended to use--presumably due to copyright restrictions--translations not now used in many reformed churches. In addition, a narrow musical palette in wide use at the height of the Scripture song movement was inadequate to reflect the emotional and theological spectrum present throughout the Psalms, which further reduced the number of Biblical texts the genre was able to support. One simply does not expect to sing a typical "praise chorus" setting of doctrines and images which permeate the Psalms, like "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" or "every night I flood my bed with tears" or "a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet".

But what if such texts are among those we most need--not only in our hearts and on our minds, but also on our lips and in our ears?

For churches committed to proclaiming the whole counsel of God as revealed in the Scriptures, such issues can pose challenges as to how our worship is to be informed and nourished. In response to these challenges, The Otter Creek ESV Psalter is our church's attempt to adorn the full texts of the Psalms with music for both corporate worship and private devotion, in accordance with the following principles:

Text: The text of choice is the widely used English Standard Version® (ESV); the full ESV text is present in each Psalm that has been set to music.

Music: The music is composed for congregational singing, mostly in unison, but members who prefer to sing parts will often be able to do so; the structures of the texts are accommodated by a variety of musical forms, including melody, refrain, chant, repetition, antiphony, and canon; the tonal colors of the texts are reflected by rich and varied harmonic and modal palettes; in nearly every Psalm, the text has been cast to music in conformity with the natural rhythm heard in public reading and recitation.

Accessibility: The music is capable of being quickly learned and sung by musically untrained members; the musical accompaniment is simple and straightforward, and allows room for enhancement at an accompanist's discretion; musical directives for the congregation, such as repeated lines, melismatic syllables, and the movement of chanted tones, are annotated within the lyrics.

This Psalter contains the full text of the English Standard Version®, which our church uses for public reading, and its music is being newly composed at the Bronx Household of Faith, employing approaches with roots in varied traditions. Depending on its length, internal structure, type, and tone, a given Psalm might be set to melodic stanzas, lines of accompanied chant in the natural rhythm of public recitation, or a combination of these approaches, sometimes including a melodic refrain as well:

Melodic Stanza Example (from Psalm 2):

Accompanied Chant Example (from Psalm 51):

Melodic Refrain Example (from Psalm 23):

In most of the Psalter's songs, the musical rhythms tend to reflect those of natural speech more than those of common poetic meters. Since the lyrics are those of the ESV text, the poetic device of rhyme also does not appear. Rather, a diverse palette of melodic, harmonic, and textural approaches highlights moods of the texts, inviting worshipers to more deeply echo the varied responses of the Psalmist to the covenant faithfulness of his Lord and theirs.

Although our church's members love to sing the great realities of the Gospel to God and each other, not all of us are able to read music, so every effort is being made to compose musical settings which are not only historically and culturally catholic and aesthetically rich, yet are also not prohibitively complex to learn, sing, and remember. In chanted sections, typographical aids in the printed text serve as reminders of musical tones:

Typographical Aids Example (from Psalm 4):

As the Psalter grows, recordings and music copies of each new Psalm are being placed on this site in order to aid familiarity with the music of both musically trained and untrained members.

• Is there a charge for use of the Psalter?	⮞	There is no charge for use of the Psalter.
• Is the Psalter complete?	⮞	The Otter Creek ESV Psalter was begun in earnest in late 2016, and is not yet complete. Presently, the music for 93 Psalms (62% of the total) has been composed to the point of final editing. Efforts are underway to complete the writing in a timely fashion; please visit this site regularly to gauge the progress of that effort, as well as to hear recordings and download materials for the latest additions to the website.
• Does your church believe that only Psalms are to be sung in corporate worship?	⮞	No, the Bronx Household of Faith tends to sing about a dozen songs every Lord's Day, and these are drawn from a wide variety of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
• Does your church intend to replace its other Psalm settings with only those from this Psalter?	⮞	No, we will certainly continue to sing songs we have long sung, including other settings of Psalms as those fit the appropriate Scripture passage. Having the ESV Psalter settings, however, will make us increasingly able to have at least one song for every Psalm that is read on a given Sunday.
• This website frequently uses the term "reformed", but my church is not part of that tradition. Will I still be able to use this Psalter?	⮞	Several principles and practices that were emphasized during the Reformation influenced the decision to begin writing this Psalter, but since its lyrics consist solely of the ESV text, its songs may be used by churches or individuals of any tradition which understands the value of singing the Psalms.
• Shouldn't my church's music be focused more on the person and work of Jesus Christ than on Old Testament passages?	⮞	Apart from the prominence of quotations from the Psalms in the New Testament, a reformed consensus takes Jesus' own testimony in Luke 24 as the strongest indicator that the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms all testify of him. We sing them, therefore, not only to learn from other believers how to respond to God through the seasons of life, but primarily to be strengthened by rehearsing what Christ himself felt, and accomplished, and suffered, and gained, on our behalf, and so strengthened, better equipped to love God and our neighbors.
• Can these songs be sung by church members who cannot read music?	⮞	Every musical and textual consideration is being made to ensure that musically untrained members will be able to comfortably sing these songs, including the application of advanced training in Music Theory and Composition to craft melodies which are well-fitted to the words of each Psalm. A church which intends to incorporate any of these Psalms is encouraged to give its members access to the recordings, as well as opportunities for learning the tune in a smaller setting prior to larger settings. While we recommend having the singing led by those who can guide the weaker singers of a congregation, these Psalms are not meant to be sung only by musicians, but rather owned by as many as are willing to lift up their voices in song.
• I would love to see our church doing more Psalm-singing, but we have no one to play the piano or teach us the tunes.	⮞	While instrumental accompaniment and trained musicians can assist a singing congregation, the tunes in this collection may still be edifyingly sung by those who have learned to sing along with the recordings. We would encourage you to try this with a small number of Psalms, whenever a handful of people have become familiar with their tunes; the accompaniment is not so integral that it would be required. Even in the event of short interludes between verses, and starting tones for the chanted lines, those could be vocalised or even hummed by one leader as others prepare to sing the following stanza.
• The absence of rhyme may make the lyrics hard to remember.	⮞	Rhyme is a pleasing poetic device which can also aid the memory of words at the end of lines. But it has not always been an integral part of poetry--either during some phases of the English language, or in the original Hebrew of the Psalms themselves. This Psalter uses the exact words of the ESV Bible, which skillfully weaves a faithful translation of the Hebrew text into lines that are cadenced for reading--or singing--aloud. This style retains the vigor of the Hebrew technique of parallelism, an aspect of poetry which the Lord doubtless chose for its ability to transcend translation, and which itself provides a strong aid to memorization. The music of the ESV Psalter is intended to reflect the poetic structure present in the text in a way that embeds its natural spoken rhythm in the singer's mind and lips. That feature has sometimes been lost in poetry, when unusual word orderings have been employed primarily to obtain a rhyme; note the comparison of several rhymed verses with their settings in the ESV Psalter: Psalm Reference Traditional Rhymed Setting ESV Psalter Setting 9:10 All they, O Lord, that know your name their confidence in you will place, for you have ne'er forsaken them who earnestly have sought your face. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you. 19:8b-9 The Lord's commands are pure, they light and joy restore; Jehovah's fear is clean, enduring evermore; his statutes, let the world confess, are wholly truth and righteousness. the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, [are true,] and righteous altogether. 23:3 My soul he doth restore again; and me to walk doth make within the paths of righteousness e'en for his own name's sake. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 46:8-10 O come, behold what wondrous works Jehovah's hand has wrought; come, see what desolation great he on the earth has brought. To utmost ends of all the earth he causes war to cease; the weapons of the strong destroyed, he makes abiding peace. Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. 121:3-4 He will not suffer that thy foot be moved: safe shalt thou be. No careless slumber shall his eyelids close, who keepeth thee. Behold our God, the Lord, he slumb'reth ne'er, who keepeth Israel in his holy care. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
• The chanted settings may remind some of our members too much of higher litugical traditions in churches whose doctrines they reject.	⮞	While not dismissing your concern, we would encourage you to remind such members that various chanting approaches have been used throughout biblical and church history, and need no more be associated with non-reformed theology than are the reading of the Scriptures, water, bread, wine, prayer, and preaching, some forms of which are normative in all churches.
• Some of the tunes and harmonies sound dark or dissonant compared to more familiar settings.	⮞	Many Psalms refer openly to ominous realities about the nature of sin and evil in ourselves and in the world, as well as the certainty of death and judgment; darker musical shadings are sometimes used to reflect the tone of such passages.
• Many of the tunes do not sound as emotionally gripping as those of much contemporary Christian music.	⮞	With several notable exceptions, reformed and evangelical Christian music of the last 500 years, of whatever genre, has consisted of settings of metric poetry. This feature has given musicians the benefit of being able to write a single melody which could suffice for multiple stanzas of lyrics, since the regularity of the meter would cause their stressed syllables to fall on the same notes of a melody from stanza to stanza. More recently, as it has become popular for composers to write their own lyrics, some have begun using far shorter lyric lines than in the past, to make it easier to fit them into an engaging tune more easily. Sometimes this can produce lyrics which are hard to understand when read apart from the music, or which do not logically fit the contour of a melody--in such cases, the beauty of the music may have overwhelmed the need for us to sing with both mind and heart engaged. This Psalter project, however, is based on a different textual principle: to set the full and original text of each ESV Psalm to music, using no lyrical alteration other than occasional repetition. Since the ESV text is poetic but almost never metrical, its musical settings will not always conform to more predictable patterns of popular genres--to which some members may have long emotional attachment--but it is intended that they will assist those who sing them to own and express the exact words of Scripture in God-glorifying ways.
• Many of the vocal settings and accompaniments sound basic in comparison with performances of much contemporary Christian music.	⮞	These musical settings are intended for use in congregational and private worship by local church bodies and their members rather than public performances, so they are intended to lie within the musical capabilities of the members and musicians belonging to most such bodies. However, that intent is not intended to restrict the use of more advanced techniques; as long as the full texts are retained and the musical structure remains recognizably intact, users are encouraged to arrange them in ways which more fully assist their congregations. Nearly all of these settings contain elements which may suggest such enhancement to musically trained members and musicians, including frequent opportunities for vocal harmonization, elaboration of accompaniments, and rhythmic reinforcement by percussion. The composer's sole request is that any such arrangements only enhance, and never supplant, frustrate, undermine, or overwhelm, the clear singing of the Word of God by a congregation.
• Why are the recordings not of professional, studio quality?	⮞	The recordings provide examples of what the Psalms may sound like as sung, with very little preparation, by a small group of members of diverse musical levels, but who love to sing. Our hope is that these simple recordings will encourage others to become familiar enough with these settings to make them their own, in both personal and corporate settings, for the glory of God in Christ.
• Why are pronouns referring to deity not capitalized?	⮞	This psalter uses the full text of the English Standard Version® of the Holy Bible, which does not capitalize such pronouns. The Preface to the English Standard Version | ESV.org offers this explanation: "[I]t is sometimes suggested that Bible translations should capitalize pronouns referring to deity. It has seemed best not to capitalize deity pronouns in the ESV, however, for the following reasons: first, there is nothing in the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts that corresponds to such capitalization; second, the practice of capitalizing deity pronouns in English Bible translations is a recent innovation, which began only in the mid-twentieth century; and, third, such capitalization is absent from the KJV Bible and the whole stream of Bible translations that the ESV carries forward."
• Why is the word "blessed" sung as one syllable rather than two?	⮞	This psalter attempts to uphold a principle which undergirded the sixteenth-century Reformation, that the Scriptures be accessible in the common language of all peoples. There was a time when "blessed", along with "dressed" or "confessed", was spoken using a syllable for "-ed". But that usage long ago receded from spoken English, and lingers today only in two words, a habit strengthened by old musical, poetic, and theatrical settings: "blessed" and "beloved". Our decision to remove the voicing of "-ed", however, reflects the practice of our public reading of the Scriptures, rather than continuing a practice not used in the common language as spoken.

* Licensing and Copyright *

The Otter Creek ESV Psalter is being written by an elder of Whiting Community Church, a reformed church in Whiting, Vermont, and is being distributed solely through this website under the terms of a license agreement between Whiting Community Church and Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, an Illinois not-for-profit corporation. The Otter Creek flows past several Vermont churches which have remained faithful to the Biblical doctrines of grace, including the sponsors of the annual Rediscovering the Reformation Conference.

Terms of Use and Psalm-specific copyright information appear on the individual Psalm pages.