Why We Should Follow the Traditional Catholic Numbering of the Psalms

The use of the Masoretic numbering betrays a misguided interreligious-ecumenical priority that dishonors the unanimous tradition of Greek & Latin Christendom AND falls foul of Hebrew tradition

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The Bible was not divided into chapters until the 13th century, and verses came along in the 16th century. There are obvious benefits to having numbers for chapter and verses, especially for scholars; however, it must be admitted that it leads to a cluttered appearance on the page. As some have pointed out, when you open a typical modern Bible that is printed as single volume, the appearance is busy, not to say daunting: two columns of fairly small and dense text, strewn with numbers and footnotes. It is hardly a “reader-friendly” experience.

That is why I much prefer a “reader’s Bible” for devotional purposes. I use the Bibliotheca Bible, which is distributed into five hardcovers, printed in one column with a comfortable font size, generous margins, and ribbons — and best of all, no chapter or verse numbers. It’s a “clean” text that enables me to concentrate 100% on what is being said. If I need to find out the numbers, I can look up a verse in two seconds online. I’ve written more elsewhere about the question of different translations and editions, and the benefits thereof.

Here, I would like to talk about the book of Psalms. Different from the other books that were not divided up into chapters until much later, the psalter carefully separates the poems of which it consists, often by the use of a title and some description (e.g., Ps 3:1 reads “The psalm of David when he fled from the face of his son Absalom,” and Ps 9:1, “Unto the end, for the hidden things of the Son. A psalm for David”). In St. Paul’s inaugural homily to the Jews of Pisidian Antioch we find the words: “This same [promise] God hath fulfilled to our children, raising up Jesus, as in the second psalm also is written: ‘Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee’” (Acts 13:33).

The psalm commentaries of Church Fathers plainly refer to psalms by number. Of the many examples that could be given, let it suffice to showcase this 9th-century codex with St. Augustine’s Enarrationes in Psalmos:

My gratitude to Robert Keim of Via Mediaevalis for sharing these images.

So far so good.

However, to the confusion of readers across the centuries, the Psalms come in two different numbering systems — and the use of one or the other bespeaks a worldview.