Psalms V: 120–150

Berlin’s commentary is outstanding for its literary sensitivity and clarity. She pays close attention to speakers, scenarios, poetic structure, repetition and rhetorical effect, often illuminating familiar psalms through observations that are both simple and genuinely fresh. Her treatment of the Songs of Ascents is particularly valuable because she resists forcing the collection into an overly neat progressive pilgrimage narrative while still recognising meaningful local connections between neighbouring psalms. The Jewish perspective also makes the volume especially useful alongside Christian commentaries, since the text is allowed to speak first within its own literary and theological world rather than being quickly assimilated to later Christian interpretation. Coverage is limited to Psalms 120–150, but within that range Berlin is one of the most perceptive commentators available.