The Psalms in Common Meter

The Psalms in Common Meter is a rendering of all 150 Psalms into the specific rhythmic form known as "common meter." This metrical form is of the pattern in which each verse is converted into four lines of syllable count 8-6-8-6, with a rhyme on the last syllable of the second and fourth lines. So, for example, Psalm 100:1 has been rendered: O shout for joy unto the Lord, and praise Him with your voice;O come now people of the earth be grateful and rejoice.The Psalms in Common Meter hearkens back to an earlier time when rhymed psalters were often used as a principal worship text. Although the Psalms in their original Hebrew are poetry, they are of a form based more on imagery, concentration of ideas, and parallelism than the standard measures and rhyming that are the essence of metrical psalters. While entre Psalms in meter are largely out of favor in our day, many metered verses live on in contemporary worship songs.A goal of this translation is to provide a rhythmic version of the Psalms in an easily understood and hopefully enjoyable form. The decision to use common meter in a verse-by-verse translation was arbitrary. However, common meter rests gently on the ear, and is a metrical form familiar to churchgoers in many of the great hymns of the faith such as Amazing Grace and O Little Town of Bethlehem. The choice of a specific meter imposes a nonnegotiable in the translation, which therefore necessitates license in interpretation of individual verses. Beyond the constraint of metrical form, care has been taken to be faithful to the meaning of the text - applying principles of dynamic equivalence while retaining original structure as much as possible. The intent is to make each Psalm clear without losing the flavor of the more familiar and cherished verses.