The four major types of psalms (community hymns, thanksgiving hymns of individuals, laments of both individual and community), four minor types (royal, creation, wisdom, and enthronement), and poetic idioms (Hebrew acrostic and parallelism) are clearly introduced through representative passages. Helpful as this introduction is, it is the flow and history of an ever-changing relationship to God that rivets the reader to the book. Getting a taste of how traditions unfolded in the original storytelling sessions and how later retellings move beyond the original intentions of the writers toward the needs of