James A. Sanders
"Our longtime friend and colleague Samuel Terrien, who recently passed into the divine presence, has willed us a legacy that is rich and well worth studying for years to come. The crown of that legacy is his magnum opus on the Psalter, completed before he left. Terrien's profound study of Psalms shows that the spacings and accent markings of the Masoretic text are far more attuned to the form and structure of the psalms themselves than most modern efforts at poetic analysis have seen. Honoring the text in its integrity, Terrien offers wise observations on the genres and strophic structures of each psalm and on the theology that underlies them all. With his trenchant understanding of the presence/absence of God to which the Bible as a whole witnesses, Terrien probes the understanding of God that underlies each poem and presents it in the language of today. This commentary on Psalms, rich in treasures for scholars and students alike, reflects a mind gifted with sharp intellect and a heart attuned to the cadences of the human and the divine."
Review of Biblical Literature
"The fruit of a lifetime of research, this monumental tome is vintage Terrien: erudite, ecumenical, lyrical, and deeply religious. . . The flair for rhetorical expression, together with familiarity with the intellectual tradition of the West, make reading a pleasure, and the sense of divine presence in the cult and beyond turn study into worship."
John A. Gettier
"I have always stood in awe of Samuel Terrien's erudition and theological insight. As in all of his work, he is able in this commentary to marry the sensitivities of a believer to the rigors of scholarly analysis in ways that are rich, insightful, and provocative. For the scholar, his careful and contextual reading of these Hebrew songs allows them to be heard with fresh integrity, echoing the concerns, questions, and convictions of that ancient world in which they were sung. For the layperson, his own honesty and language speak to the heart as well as to the mind and invite engagement and response. Terrien's work provides an extraordinary example of how the finest scholarship on texts that are both familiar and foreign can open 'doors of perception' for modern spirituality. This commentary is a tour de force in contemporary Psalms scholarship and a fitting monument to one of the outstanding biblical scholars of the twentieth century."
Hebrew Studies
"This one-volume commentary . . . can indeed be regarded as the magnum opus of an illustrious Old Testament scholar."
