ABSTRACT
The world of prayer in the psalms is a world shaped by many conversations. A word, phrase, verse, or section from a psalm can become the focus for prayer. This allows the prayer to explore matters well outside the domain of the actual psalm. In this case the psalm acts as a foil for such thoughts, as a way of examining them, questioning them, or probing them further. Dietrich Bonhoeffer suggested people should pray several psalms a day in order to go more deeply into them. Praying the psalms in their canonical order, even if only one per day, has the advantage of not letting our own preferences determine our praying. Besides praying the psalms in their numerical order, other lists of psalms for prayer have been developed. As prayers the psalms also have a place in pastoral care. In prayers of intercession, as in pastoral care, the psalms do not have to be used in their entirety.
