Psalter Resources and FAQs
Crown & Covenant offers many resources to help you and your church use our psalters to the fullest and to sing psalms with greater confidence and understanding.
Resources include tune players, part-singing helps, recordings, slide projection, study helps, and more.
Psalter.org
Psalter.org is the most comprehensive source for The Book of Psalms for Singing, The Book of Psalms for Worship, The Trinity Psalter, and the ARP Psalter. This free site allows you to search through the text of lyrics for key words, play audio of each selection, use a digital pitch pipe, and sort through information on composer, meter, and more. The full sheet music with lyrics, along with choir recordings, are available with a premium subscription for $9/year.
Digital Psalm Slides
Digital slides that can project psalm lyrics and music from The Book of Psalms for Worship are available at singpsalms.org by an affordable subscription. The subscription fee is based on your congregation or group’s size. If you already own physical psalter books for more than 50% of your members, the annual subscription is only $40.
Psalm Recordings
Choral a cappella recordings of the psalms are available on all popular streaming services, like Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora, YouTube, and iTunes. To listen, search for “Crown & Covenant.”
Recordings are also available for purchase at our webstore.
Phone App
A phone app for The Book of Psalms for Worship is available for Apple and Android phones. The app offers full sheet music, a lyric-only view, search capabilities for topics and key words, a tune and parts player (iPhone only) and linked access to your library of any purchased psalm recordings.
Familiar Hymn Tune Lists
Sometimes it is easier to learn a new psalm to a tune you already know. We offer free downloadable lists so you can find selections that have tunes that are familiar to you. Download the lists below.
- Familiar hymn tunes in The Book of Psalms for Worship.
- Familiar hymn tunes in The Book of Psalms for Singing.
- Familiar hymn tunes in The ARP Psalter.
Psalm Studies
Interested in studying the psalms? This free printable, Arranging the Psalter in Your Head, should be used with the book 150 Questions about the Psalter by Bradley Johnston: The exercise will help you visualize the structure and balance of the psalter.
Crown & Covenant also carries various books to help you study the psalms through commentary and devotional helps.
Psalm Selection Guide
If you are interested in recording your progress in singing through the psalter, download The Book of Psalms for Worship Selection Guide. Here you will find a convenient way to keep track of what you have sung so far.
Other Support Materials
Crown & Covenant offers a variety of other helps for psalms singing, including
- a cantata of psalms and scripture readings for a group or congregation called The Life of Christ in the Psalms,
- a downloadable booklet with descants to 20 of the psalms in The Book of Psalms for Worship,
- discounted starter kits with a variety of materials to help you begin using a psalter.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
You have several different psalters on this site. What's the difference?
Good question! All of the psalters we publish are metrical (singing-friendly) renditions of the Book of Psalms found in the center of the Bible. The psalters offer every verse of every psalm. Sometimes a psalm is broken up into several musical settings.
- The Book of Psalms for Worship is the most recent and very popular psalter that offers 21st century English translations set to familiar tunes, new arrangements, new compositions, and some international tunes.
- The Book of Psalms for Singing, first published in 1973, is a well beloved psalter that includes some older language (like "Thee" and “Jehovah") and some more modern translations. It also offers several chants. The music is predominantly familiar hymn tunes but also offers some unique arrangements and compositions.
- The Trinity Psalter, a joint publication of the Presbyterian Church of America and the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, contains only one lyrical option for each psalm selection. The pew edition is words only, but a music edition is available.
- The ARP Psalter, a joint publication of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, includes some selections from The Book of Psalms for Worship and some psalm selections from the ARP 1930’s Bible Songs.
Can you show me the difference between The Book of Psalms for Singing (1973) and The Book of Psalms for Worship (2009)?
Both psalters strive to remain as close as possible to the original Hebrew, in which the psalms were written. Both contain many common hymn tunes, are written for four-part congregational singing, and have approximately the same number of selections.
However, The Book of Psalms for Singing contains some chants and uses older language (like "Thee" and "Jehovah") in some selections. The Book of Psalms for Worship does not include chants and uses modernized language (except in historic selections such as Psalms 23B, 24B, and 100A). It also contains some new compositions and international tunes. Approximately 1/4th of the tunes differ from The Book of Psalms for Singing. Below is a comparison between the phrasing in the two psalters.
The Book of Psalms for Singing | The Book of Psalms for Worship | |
---|---|---|
Psalm 5:7 | To Thy house will I repair | To Your house will I draw near |
Psalm 18:14 | The deadly arrows He sent forth Dispersed His foes in wild retreat. The flaming lightnings He shot out Made their discomfiture complete. |
He shot His arrows at His foes, And made them scatter in retreat. He made abundant lightning flash, And sent them fleeing in defeat. |
Psalm 36:1-2 | Transgression to the wicked speaks; Deep in the heart it lies. There surely is no fear of God At all before his eyes, Because himself he flatters so In his own blinded eyes, That he in his iniquity Sees nothing to despise. |
About the sin of wicked men, My heart within me cries: There surely is no fear of God At all before his eyes. With flattery he views himself As good in his own eyes; His sin he's certain no one will Discover and despise. |
Psalm 39:6 | Each man doth surely walk in empty show; They heap up wealth and vex themselves for naught, Nor know to whom their garnered riches go. |
Man, like a shadow, wanders to and fro. Surely an uproar he creates in vain, He never knows to whom his riches go. |
Psalm 133:1 | Behold how good a thing it is, And how becoming well, When those that brethren are delight In unity to dwell. |
Behold how very good it is, A pleasant thing to see; When brothers join to live as one In peace and unity. |