Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

Resources for Application

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Table 2: Sample Uses of Psalms in the Gospels and Acts Jesus provides a second example of how to use Psalms for personal prayer and public ministry. The Gospels record Jesus quoting a psalm from memory while teaching some fourteen times. We often see snapshots of Jesus praying from the Psalms. When Jesus was at his most difficult moments, the Psalms provided his prayers. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus quoted from Psalm 42:6 (Matt 26:38; Mark 14:34). On the cross, Jesus twice prayed from the Psalms, first from Psalm 22 (Matt 27:46) and then Psalm 31:5 (Luke 23:46). Jesus’s personal and public ministry were shaped by regular engagement with the Psalms. The table below provides a sample of the frequent use Jesus and the Apostles made of the Psalms.

Psalm

NT Quotation

2:1−2

Acts 4:25−26

2:7

Acts 13:33

6:3

John 12:27

6:8

Matt 7:23; Luke 13:27

8:2

Matt 21:16

16:10

Acts 2:28–31; 13:35

22:1

Matt 27:46; Mark 15:34

22:7–8

Matt 27:39, 41–43

22:15

John 19:28

Matt 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34; John 19:23–24

22:18

31:5

Luke 23:46

34:20

John 19:36