Psalms:

Bk 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

Bk 2: 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

Bk 3: 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89

Bk 4: 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106

Bk 5: 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119a 119b 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132
133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150

Additional Psalms: 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 Samuel Chronicles

Essays: Intro - Music - Form & Language

Manuscript of 11Q5 Col. XXVIII (Psalm 151A and B)

But of course there is no Psalm 151 - the Psaltery ends at 150.

And yet there is - and on until 155, and then several more elsewhere in the Tanach, and even the suggestion that there may be as many as 160 altogether.

Even before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (in November 1962, in Cave Eleven at Qumran), versions were known in Greek, Syriac and Old Latin translations (but not in Jerome, who used the Masoretic Yehudit version). The Greek version was in the Septuagint, the translation made by and for the Jewish community in Alexandria, who had ceased to use Yehudit as a spoken language, had mostly not learned Aramaic, which by then had replaced Yehudit as the official language of the homeland, and were accustomed to conducting their daily lives in the Egyptian dialect of Greek (the one that is mostly residual in Coptic to this day).

The version that then turned up in the Qumran claypots was longer than the one in the Septuagint, and with some variations in the text.

This Psalm is not to be found in other Jewish versions, nor in most Roman Catholic or Protestant translations, though it can be found in some Eastern Orthodox Bibles, because these followed the Septuagint rather than the Masoretic version.

According to James A. Sanders (source here), the American scholar who was given the task of translating the Qumran "Psalm Scroll":

"Greek translations of the biblical Psalter in antiquity included Psalm 151 even before the early churches adopted Psalms as their (First or) Old Testament hymn book, but Greek Psalm 151 (and its Syriac translation) was, we now know, a combination of two original poems."

Psalm 151 is, logically enough, the last column of the "Psalms Scroll", and it comes in the two parts that Sanders mentions:

"Psalm 151A appears in its entirety, and celebrates in poetry David's selection as king by the prophet Samuel from among the sons of Jesse in Bethlehem. That is the story we read in 1Sam 16. The fragmentary Psalm 151B celebrated the young David’s victory over Goliath the Philistine (as told in the following chapter 17). The early Greek translation combined the two psalms into one, whose first five verses reflect chapter 16 of 1 Samuel, and the last two chapter 17."

Click here for 1 Samuel 16.

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Transcription of 11Q5 Col. XXVIII (Psalm 151 A and B)

My transliteration of the above transcription is based on the Kahane "Ta'am" edition, which you can find at the Sefaria website, by clicking here. I have, however, retained the Sanders' translation (adding my own in green on the three occasions when he offers none), even though its verse-structure is not consistent with the Yehudit (which explains why a couple of the verses below are split in two):

151.1 οὗτος ὁ ψαλμὸς ἰδιόγραφος εἰς Δαυιδ καὶ ἔξωθεν τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ ὅτε ἐμονομάχησεν τῷ Γολιαδ μικρὸς ἤμην ἐν τοῖςἀδελφοῖς μου καὶ νεώτερος ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ πατρός μου ἐποίμαινον τὰ πρόβατα τοῦ πατρός μου

I do not know Greek, and am therefore unable to explain why there appears to be rather more text in the Greek than in the Yehudit, but I am presuming that it is the title and opening two verses combined.

151:1 MIZMOR LE DAVID ACHAREY HILCHAMO ET GAL-YAT

מִזְמ֣וֺר לְדָוִ֑ד אַחֲרֵ֥י הִ֝לָּחֲמ֗וֹ אֶת־גׇּלְיָֽת

BN: A Mizmor of David, after he had fought with Gal-Yat.

MIZMOR: See my Introduction to the Psalms for an explanation of this term.

GAL-YAT: Normally he is GOL-YAT in Yehudit, Goliath in English. The Battle of Sochoh, which was never actually fought because David answered Gol-Yat's challenge successfully, can be found at 1 Samuel 17.

151:1a TSA'IR HAYITI BETOCH ACHAI VE NA'AR BE VEIT AVI

צָעִ֗יר הָ֭יִֽיתִי בְת֣וֹךְ אָחָ֑י וְ֝נַ֗עַר בְּבֵ֥ית אָבִֽי

I was small among my brothers
And the youngest in my father's house.

Sanders does not retain the "traditional" layout, superimposed upon the Tanach in two stages. First by the needs of the sophers, the men who wrote the scrolls by hand, and who used no punctuation at all, except for paragraph breaks at the ends of parashot and sedrot, leaving the rest of the text as one unbroken continuation. Then by the Christian translators, who needed to make syntactical sense of this, and invented chapters and verses to do so. Sanders' layout reflects the form of the Psalm itself, a set of caesuraed lines with a complex rhythmic pattern.

151:1b RO'EH BE TSON AVI NOHEG EDRO VA MIDBAR

רֺ֭עֶֽה בְּצֺ֣אן אָבִ֑י נוֹהֵ֖ג עֶדְר֥וֹ בַמִּדְבָּֽר

I tended my father's flock
driving his herd in the wilderness

151.2 αἱ χεῖρές μου ἐποίησαν ὄργανον οἱ δάκτυλοί μου ἥρμοσαν ψαλτήριον

YADAI ASU UGAV ETSBE'OTAI KONANU NAVEL

יָדַ֗י עָ֭שֽׂוּ עוּגָ֑ב; אֶ֝צְבְּעוֹתַ֗י כּ֥וֹנֲנוּ נָֽבֶל

My hands made a musical instrument
and my fingers fashioned a lyre.

NAVEL: Or more commonly NAVEL. See the link.

151.3 3 καὶ τίς ἀναγγελεῖ τῷ κυρίῳ μου αὐτὸς κύριος αὐτὸς εἰσακούει

U MI YAGID LA YHVH YHVH HU YISHM'A

י֝הו֗ה ה֥וּא יִשְׁמָֽע וּמִ֣י יַגּׅ֣יד לַיהו֑ה

And who shall proclaim for my Lord?
The Lord himself, he hears everything.

That first letter in the Greek is confusing; but apparently it is not the number 3; rather the conjunction "and"; and then doubly confusing, because there is no equivalent conjunction in the Yehudit.

LORD: The Yehudit, on this and several following occasions in thisd Psalm, does not say "Lord", which would be "Adon" (אדון); it says YHVH (י֝הו֗ה), which is a very precise and specific name for the deity.

151:4 αὐτὸς ἐξαπέστειλεν τὸν ἄγγελον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἦρέν με ἐκ τῶν προβάτων τοῦ πατρός μου καὶ ἔχρισέν με ἐν τῷ ἐλαίῳ τῆςχρίσεως αὐτοῦ

151:4a HU SHALACH MAL'ACHO VA YIKACHENI ME ACHAREY TSON AVI

ה֭וּא שָׁלַ֥ח מַלְאָכ֑וֹ וַ֫יִּקָּחֵ֥נִי מֵאַ֣חֲרֵי צֹא֣ן אָבִֽי

He himself sent his messenger
and took me from my father’s sheep,

MAL'ACHO: I have no doubt at all that King James, and others, would have translated this as "angels"; but the word means "messenger", and though it is used for the light radiated by the stars which the superstitious like to perceive horoscopally, the messenger in this case was anyway the Prophet Shemu-El, an entirely earthly delegate.

151:4b VA YIMSHACHANI BE SHEMEN MISHCHATO VA YETSAVANI NAGID AL AMO

וַ֭יִּמְשָׁחַֽנִי בְּשֶׁ֣מֶן מִשְׁחָת֑וֹ וַיְּצַוַּ֖נִי נָגִ֣יד עַל־עַמּֽוֹ

BN: and anointed me with his anointing oil, and instructed me to go out and lead my people.

151.5. οἱ ἀδελφοί μου καλοὶ καὶ μεγάλοι καὶ οὐκ εὐδόκησεν ἐν αὐτοῖς κύριος

ACHAI TOVIM U GEDOLIM VE LO VAHEM CHAPHETS YHVH

חָפֵ֥ץ יהוֽה אַחַ֗י טוֹבִ֣ים וּגְדוֹלִ֑ים; וְלֺ֥א בָ֝הֶ֗ם

My brothers were handsome and tall,
but the Lord was not pleased with them.

LORD: As above, this is not ADON = "Lord", but specifically YHVH.

151.6 ἐξῆλθον εἰς συνάντησιν τῷ ἀλλοφύλῳ καὶ ἐπικατηράσατό με ἐν τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτοῦ

YATSA'TI LIKRA'T HA PELISHTI VA YEKALALENI VA ELILAV

יָצָ֖אְתִי לִקְרַ֣את הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֑י וַ֝יְּקַלֲלֵ֗נִי בָאֱלִלָֽיו

I went out to meet the Philistine,
and he cursed me by his idols.

ELILAV: "In the names of his gods" would be rather more generous to the faith of the Pelishtim. From the same root EL that gives ELOHIM in the Yehudit and al-Lah in the Moslem.

7. ἐγὼ δὲ σπασάμενος τὴν παρ’ αὐτοῦ μάχαιραν ἀπεκεφάλισα αὐτὸν καὶ ἦρα ὄνειδος ἐξ υἱῶν Ισραηλ

VA ANOCHI SHALPHTI CHARBO VA ECHROT RO'SHO ME ALAV VA ASIR CHERPAH MI BENEY YISRA-EL

וְאָנֹכִ֤י שָׁלַ֗פְתִּי חַרְבּ֥וֺ; וָאֶכְרֺ֣ת רֹאשׁ֣וֹ מֵעָלָ֑יו; וָאָסִ֥יר חֶ֝רְפָּ֗ה מִבְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל

But drawing his sword from him
and cutting off his head
I removed shame from the sons of Israel.

Note that the final verse changes form, becoming a triplet.

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Why are there different versions of Psalm 151?

According to Sanders:

"Greek Psalm 151 was not a simple combination of the two psalms we now see in the scroll but an edited version. It lacks some essential elements that are in the original Hebrew and rearranges a few phrases in the Greek version verses 4 and 5. You can see this by comparing the psalm to the story in 1 Samuel. Psalm 151 shortens the story of Samuel's choosing David in order to merge the two poems.

But the most interesting change is that the Greek version omits six phrases from the original Hebrew. (Consequently, the Old Latin and Syriac translations also lack them.) The six phrases, omitted in the Greek translation, appeared in the original between verses 2 and 3 to read:

Thus have I rendered glory to the Lord
thought I within my soul.
The mountains do not witness to him,
nor do the hills proclaim;

The trees have cherished my words
and the flock my works.

"The six phrases in the original made up one and a half verses and depict David as being as gifted and talented a musician as the Greek god, Orpheus. So the original psalm offered a Jewish response to Greek influence of the time by bragging: our David could beat Orpheus in music any day! It was a typical Jewish response of the time to foreign influence - not by adopting Orphism, but by refuting it in terms that could be understood. Mountains and hills cannot praise God, the phrases claim, but trees and flocks cherished David's music that praised God so beautifully.

"Jewish arguments of this sort were common in Hellenistic Jewish literature and this same argument showed up later in mosaics depicting David as Orpheus wearing the Orphic headdress and strumming a lyre. The reason they were omitted in the Greek version was because orthodox Jewish communities out in the Greco-Roman world where Orpheus was still worshipped might have been offended. Numerous efforts to read the phrases differently have not been convincing.

"Whichever version one reads, Psalm 151 lifts in relief the moving story of David's selection by Samuel and his victory over the Philistines as epitomized in his slaying Goliath. That victory anticipates his reign over the United Kingdom of northern Israel and southern Judah in the tenth century BCE. Whether in two parts or amalgamated, the psalm comes last in the various Psalters in which it appears. Perhaps it gained its place at the climax of the Psalter because of the growing belief at the time that David was responsible for the entire Psalter, whether he actually composed all of the psalms or not."

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If you search for this Psalm on the Internet, you will find a somewhat different version, or actually versions plural, at Biblegateway.com - these are the Syriac texts referred to above, as well as the Qumran and Septuagint versions. It is, therefore, much fuller than the Sanders, but alas I am unable to provide either a Greek or Yehudit text (if someone can tell me where to locate one, I will happily add it here, and even transliterate it). I have pasted the whole of their page below:

Psalm 151 Common English Bible (CEB)

151A [Hebrew]

A hallelujah of David, Jesse’s son.

1 I was the smallest of my brothers,
the youngest of my father's sons.
He made me shepherd of his flock,
ruler over their young.

2 My hands made a flute,
my fingers a lyre.
Let me give glory to the Lord,
I thought to myself.

3 The mountains
cannot witness to God;
the hills cannot proclaim him.
But the trees have cherished
my words,
the flocks my deeds.

4 Who can proclaim,
who can announce,
who can declare the Lord's deeds?
God has seen everything;
God has heard everything;
God has listened.

5 God sent his prophet to anoint me;
Samuel to make me great.
My brothers went out to meet him,
handsome in form and appearance:

6 Their stature tall,
    their hair beautiful,
    but the Lord God
    did not choose them.

7 Instead, he sent and took me
from following the flock.
God anointed me with holy oil;
    God made me leader for his people,
    ruler over the children
    of his covenant.

151B [Hebrew and Syriac]

At the beginning of David's power after the prophet of God anointed him.

1 I went out to attack the Philistine,
who cursed me by his idols.

2 But after I uncovered his own sword,
        I cut off his head.
    So I removed the shame
    from the Israelites.

Psalm 151 [Greek]

This additional psalm is said to have been written by David when he fought Goliath in single combat.

1 I was small among my brothers,
and the youngest of my father's sons.
I was shepherd of my father's sheep.

2 My hands made a musical instrument;
my fingers strung a lap harp.

3 Who will tell my Lord?
The Lord himself, the Lord hears me.

4 The Lord himself sent his messenger,
    and took me away
    from my father's sheep.
    He put special oil on my forehead
    to anoint me.

5 My brothers were good-looking and tall,
but the Lord didn't take
special pleasure in them.

6 I went out to meet the Philistine,
who cursed me by his idols.

7 But I took his own sword out of its sheath
    and cut off his head.
    So I removed the shame
    from the Israelites.

Considerably more information about these Syriac versions, with illustrations and exegesis, can be found by clicking here for a Jewish version, or here for a Jewish-Christian one.

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Further background information on Psalm 151 can be found at:

https://www.biblewise.com/bible_study/apocrypha/psalm-151.php

https://www.biblicalaudio.com/text/psalm151-160.pdf presents 151a and 151b as follows