Reading the Psalms with Luther

Martin Luther had a great fondness for the Psalter. It was his daily prayer book as a monk, the initial subject of his lectures as a professor, and an important part of his devout life. The first book he proposed for publication was a translation and explanation of the seven penitential psalms (Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143). By the time he contemplated his translation of the Bible into German, he had already published six separate editions of the Psalter. This small book brings together several elements.

The text of the Psalms is from the New International Version of the Bible. The translation of Luther's Summaries of the Psalms is based on the Weimar Edition, vol. 38, and the St. Louis Edition, vol. 4. For the type of devotional presented here, some of Luther's references to the adversaries of his particular era have been omitted; and some of his brief summaries have had additional comments added from other of his writings.