Psalm 108: A New Psalm from Two Old Ones

"O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people… For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth."

"That thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me. God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine… Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph. Who will bring me into the strong city?… Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies."

Two halves

Verses 1–5 are almost exactly Psalm 57:7–11, the confident ending of a lament; verses 6–13 are Psalm 60:5–12, an oracle after a defeat. Joined, they make a new psalm that begins in praise rather than lament: the earlier psalm's crisis (57:1–6; 60:1–4) is left out.

Literary reuse, not a copying error

Psalm 108 is the clearest example in the Psalter of a new psalm composed by combining existing ones, like 40:13–17 and Psalm 70, or Psalms 14 and 53. Small differences show adaptation: 60:8 "Philistia, triumph thou because of me" becomes 108:9 "over Philistia will I triumph." The site links the parallels instead of repeating them. The heading, "A Song or Psalm of David," differs from both sources.

Later use

No New Testament writer quotes Psalm 108; its importance lies in what it shows about how the Psalter's editors reused and recombined psalms.