Where Jesus is in this book
Jesus in Psalms
Psalms is the prayer and songbook of God's people, one hundred fifty poems of praise, lament, thanks, and trust. It gives voice to every human emotion before God. Many psalms speak of a coming King, a suffering righteous one, and an eternal priest, and the New Testament quotes them of Jesus more than any other book.
The book in brief
The Psalms gather five books of Hebrew poetry composed across centuries, many by David, covering the full range of life with God. There are hymns of praise, desperate laments, songs of thanksgiving, wisdom meditations, and royal psalms tied to David's throne. They teach worshipers how to rejoice, grieve, confess, wait, and hope, always turning the heart Godward. Certain psalms rise above their moment to speak of an anointed King who rules the nations, a righteous sufferer forsaken and vindicated, and a priest-king in the order of Melchizedek. The collection opens by contrasting two ways, the blessed and the wicked, and builds toward relentless praise. The Psalms have shaped Jewish and Christian prayer for millennia, and Jesus himself prayed them, even from the cross.
A moment that points to Him
Psalm 22 opens with the cry my God, my God, why have you forsaken me, and goes on to describe pierced hands and feet and gamblers dividing the sufferer's clothing. Jesus prayed its first line from the cross, and the Gospels record its details unfolding at Calvary. Written long before crucifixion was practiced, this psalm gives startling voice to the suffering of the Messiah, and its turn from anguish to triumphant praise foreshadows the resurrection that followed the cross. What David could only pray in his own distress became a window into the very hour of Christ's dying and rising.
Where Jesus is in this book
The Psalms point to Christ by direct prophecy in places and by pattern throughout, and the distinction matters. Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 present God's anointed King and a priest-king forever in the order of Melchizedek, both applied straight to Jesus in the New Testament, the latter being the most quoted verse there. Psalm 22 and Psalm 69 voice the suffering of the righteous one in ways the Gospels see fulfilled at the cross. Psalm 16 foretells one whose body would not see decay, cited of the resurrection. Beyond these, David as the anointed king becomes a type of the greater Son of David. Jesus himself said the Psalms testified about him. Honestly, not every psalm predicts Christ, but the collection is saturated with him.
Questions people ask
which Psalms are about Jesus
Several psalms speak directly of the Messiah. Psalm 2 and Psalm 110 present God's anointed King and eternal priest-king, both applied to Jesus in the New Testament. Psalm 22 and Psalm 69 voice the suffering fulfilled at the cross, and Psalm 16 foretells a body that would not decay, cited of the resurrection. Jesus said the Psalms testified about him.
did Jesus quote the Psalms
Yes, Jesus knew and prayed the Psalms deeply. From the cross he prayed Psalm 22:1, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me, and Psalm 31:5, into your hands I commit my spirit. He cited Psalm 110 about the Messiah's lordship and Psalm 118 about the rejected stone, showing the Psalms pointed to himself.