{"id":152,"date":"2025-02-24T08:42:17","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T08:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gksaportaal.co.za\/worship\/?page_id=152"},"modified":"2026-06-08T10:45:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T10:45:43","slug":"psalms","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gksaportaal.co.za\/worship\/psalms\/","title":{"rendered":"Psalms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

GKSA Members Only BSW Resources (Words, Sheet Music, Indices)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Book of Psalms for Worship<\/em>\u00a0is an excellent (the best available) modern English metrical translation of the Psalms. It was produced by consulting both the Old Testament Hebrew as well as various English Bible translations of the same (e.g. NASB,\u00a0ESV, NIV, NKJV). It comes from the Scottish\u00a0Presbyterian Psalm-singing tree and it does not contain many Genevan melodies. As a result, the Psalms can be sung using several different tunes and melodies, thereby affording greater flexibility and ease of use.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meter and Melody<\/strong>
Melodies and meter are two fundamental aspects of music that work together to create a cohesive and engaging experience. The melody refers to the tune\/musical arrangement of notes. Meter refers to the rhythmic organisation of music. It provides a framework for the melody. To illustrate the relationship between them, consider the well-known hymn \u2018Amazing Grace.\u2019 Amazing Grace is composed in Common Meter (8.6.8.6.) and often sung on the melody \u2018NEW BRITAIN.\u2019 It can also be sung using other melodies as long as they are also in Common Meter (8.6.8.6.). The syllables of each line will shift between 8 and 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \u2013 Ma \u2013 Zing \u2013 Grace \u2013 How \u2013 Sweet \u2013 The \u2013 Sound (8)
That \u2013 Saved \u2013 A \u2013 Wretch \u2013 Like \u2013 Me (6)
I \u2013 Once \u2013 Was \u2013 Lost \u2013 But \u2013 Now \u2013 I\u2019m \u2013 Found (8)
Was \u2013 Blind \u2013 But \u2013 Now \u2013 I \u2013 See (6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numbering<\/strong>
Most of the Psalms in the BSW are followed by a letter. This is generally done to distinguish between different parts of a Psalm. For example, 18A is a translation of Psalm 18:1-6 and 18B covers Psalm 18:7-16. The lettering is also used when one Psalm has two or more complete metrical translations (e.g. 1A and 1B) or different recommended melodies (e.g. 11A and 11B).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital Resources<\/strong>
The Book of Psalms for Worship<\/em> is available to download as an app on iPhone<\/a> and Android<\/a>. Our GKSA Worship and Liturgy website also has links to find sheet music and lyrics. For each Psalm we have also written an introduction that can be used to help you understand how the Psalm relates to Jesus Christ and how we are to sing it today as Christian believers. Finally, the website also includes various other resources related to Psalm singing: links to audio recordings, recommendations for books, a summary of GKSA history and decisions regarding Psalms, and tools for selecting Psalms to sing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afrikaans Psalms and the BSW<\/strong>
There are a few Psalms from the BSW that can be sung using the same melodies as those found in the Afrikaans Psalter for that particular Psalm (see list<\/a>). There are also a number of melodies from the Afrikaans Psalter that can be used to sing Psalms from the\u00a0Book of Psalms for Worship<\/em> (see melodies<\/a>). The majority of Afrikaans Psalms however are set on a Genevan meter. Psalmboek.nl<\/a> includes the English lyrics of Psalms that work on Genevan melodies. They have uploaded the text of the Book of Praise: Anglo-Genevan Psalter<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BSW Links<\/strong>
BSW Psalm Sampler<\/a>
Familiar hymn tunes in the BSW<\/a>
BSW Audio Recordings: Amazon Music<\/a>, Apple Music<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, YouTube Music<\/a>, YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GKSA Members Only BSW Resources (Words, Sheet Music, Indices) The\u00a0Book of Psalms for Worship\u00a0is an excellent (the best available) modern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"protect_children":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-152","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gksaportaal.co.za\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gksaportaal.co.za\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gksaportaal.co.za\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gksaportaal.co.za\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gksaportaal.co.za\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/gksaportaal.co.za\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3621,"href":"https:\/\/gksaportaal.co.za\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/152\/revisions\/3621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gksaportaal.co.za\/worship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}