Unboxing and attempting to order my library gives me lots of chances to renew my acquaintances with “old friends.” I was really glad to find my ESV Psalter. While I don’t do it enough, praying through a couple them (out loud is better) really helps me through my day.

Think about what life would be like if we all had been raised knowing and chanting the Psalms. What sort of people would we be? How would we pray? How would we talk? What would our behavior be like?

The Psalms had disappeared in the medieval church because they were chanted in Latin. Luther loved the Psalms but his desire to give the people the Bible in their own language did not carry over into what he wanted them to sing. Academic ideals led him to endorse the continuation of the use of Latin Psalms–which meant that eventually no Psalms were sung at all as Latin died out even further.

The Reformed did well with metricized Psalm paraphrases. The Huegenots were hated for the way they would sing Psalms as they were burned at the stake. Their tormentors began trying to gag them but their victims would work them out and then, from the midst of the billowing smoke and flame, the verses of God’s triumph over all his enemies would be heard. Eventually they began cutting out their tongues before taking them to the stake.

But still, these were paraphrases. And if someone could paraphrase them, then Isaac Watts could paraphrase them more to “Christianize” them. Inevitably they gave way to hymns.

So here we are. But where would we be if both Calvin and Luther had simply promoted the chanting of true translations of the Psalms? I think we would be in a better place now.