Psalms
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Psalms. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
BOOK OF, a book of the Old Testament. It was the praise book or psalter of the Hebrew temple or synagogues. In the present Hebrew Bibles it is usually placed just after the Prophets at the head of the Hagiographa, and in Luke xxiv: 44, is generally supposed to stand for that division of the Old Testament books. The 150 psalms are arranged in Hebrew in five books, each terminating with a doxology, in some cases closing with "Amen and amen." The revised version prints them separately. All but 34 psalms have titles in the Hebrew Bible; the latter were called by the rabbis orphan psalms. In the Septuagint all but two have titles. Though not as a rule accepted as part of Scripture, they are ancient, and worthy of high respect. They attribute all book 1 to David, except Ps. i., ii., x., and xxxiii. The name of the Supreme Being used in this book is chiefly Jehovah. Book 2 assigns Psalms to David, to Korah, to Asaph, and to Solomon, leaves others anonymous. The name for the Supreme Being in this book is ELOHIM (q. v.). Book 3 ascribes Psalms to David, to Korah, to Asaph, to Ethan, and to Heman the Ezrahite. Elohim and Jehovah are about common in the book, the former 4 ascribes apparently preferred. Psalm not anonymous to xc David. to Moses. Book, the 5 many psalms anonymous, attributing others to David. The Hebrew Bible, but not the Septuagint, ass assigns Ps. cxxvii. to Solomon. This volume contains the Songs of Degrees. The book was evidently brought together from many sources. The book of Psalms is quoted or alluded to as an inspired composition by Our Saviour and His apostles at least 70 times ; no Old Testament book is more frequently quoted. Its canonical thority has never been seriously doubted. It has become the psalter of the Christian Church.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
. See David
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 reports the traditional headings at face value, assigning most of Book 1 to David and Psalm xc to Moses. Scholars now read the Hebrew superscription le-David as a dedication or genre marker rather than a claim of authorship, and date most psalms to the monarchy and after, some to the post-exilic temple. The largest new evidence is physical: the Dead Sea Scrolls, found from 1947 onward, include some three dozen psalms manuscripts, among them a large scroll from Qumran Cave 11 whose psalms stand in a different order from the received 150 and which includes compositions outside the Hebrew canon. Ugaritic tablets excavated at Ras Shamra from 1929 also gave scholars a body of Canaanite poetry that explains much of the imagery and parallelism the 1921 account simply describes.
Written for this edition, 2026.