In this thorough commentary, Professor Kraus takes each Psalm in turn, offers a fresh translation, a bibliography, linguistic notes, discussion of the form and origin of the passage, a verse-by-verse commentary, and a summary of the particular Psalm's main theological points. In addition, Professor Kraus discusses the poetic form and titles of the Psalms, the relation of the Psalms to the history of Israel, and the Masoretic Text and the ancient translations. Indices of biblical references and names and subjects are included. Psalms 1-59 is translated from the German Biblischer Kommentar series. The reader and student of the Hans-Joachim commentary on the Psalms is surely impressed with the penetrating and wide-ranging scholarship of the author, but the translator is form page one obsessed with the fear that many of Dr. Kraus's observations and interpretations can be stated adequately only in German. Hans-Joachium Kraus has held professorships at the universities of Bonn, Hamburg, and Gottingen and is an internationally respected Old Testament scholar.