[1]
Psalm 151 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
This psalm is ascribed to David as his own composition (though it is outside the number of 150), after he had fought in single combat with Goliath.
151 I
was small among my brothers
and the youngest in my father’s house;
I tended my father’s sheep.
2 My hands made a harp;
my fingers fashioned a lyre.
3 And who will tell my Lord?
The Lord himself; it is he who hears.
4 It was he who sent his messenger
and took me from my father’s sheep
and anointed me with his anointing oil.
5 My brothers were handsome and tall,
but the Lord was not pleased with them.
6 I went out to meet the foreigner,
and he cursed me by his idols.
7 But I drew his own sword;
I beheaded him and removed disgrace from the people of
Israel.
I ran into this Psalm 151, by accident, when looking something else up in Bible Gateway. Of course, everyone knows that there are 150 Psalms. So, ever curious, I Googled Psalm 151 and found that it is neither in the Testaments nor the Apocrypha, as accepted by the Roman Catholic church. Wikipedia claims that it is accepted by the Orthodox (Coptic, Eastern, and Syrian) and Armenian churches. The Orthodox Church includes it in a liturgy as a prophecy of the coming of Christ It has been included by several modern English translations including in the Common English Bible, Contemporary English Version, English Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Orthodox Study Bible, and Revised Standard Version, all published since 1977, and also in a number of less popular English translations now in the public domain.
I have always been interested in what writings are included in the sacred canon and what are omitted. The Jewish and Septuagint versions omit the New Testament. The Septuagint includes much of the Apocrypha, which the Hebrew versions tend to omit. The Christian church assembled the New Testament by the end of the fourth century AD. There were a number of other New Testament era gospel and epistle contenders that are rejected almost uniformly by all branches of Christianity.
I regard the question of what we regard as inspired text in the Bible as an important question. In John 5:39 Christ point out, 3 “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that testify on my behalf.” He recognized that His life was the very fulfillment of scripture.
After doing much research, I think I am willing to accept the Protestant Scriptures as the ones sufficient to teach me about Christ. However, I choose to remain open to this discussion.
Lord, thank You for giving us the Scriptures and encouraging us to search them since they surely testify about You.
[1] Armenian Scriptures 1666 https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/images/library/special_collections/armbible.jpg
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