The aggressive tone of the psalms that deal with violence is often viewed as in direct opposition to Jesus' command to love one's neighbor. Erich Zenger, a preeminent international scholar, offers to Christians a new understanding of these powerful, albeit disquieting, psalms. To Zenger, these psalms are laments that cry out against violence and injustice in the world and have great relevance to people of faith today. Readers will appreciate Zenger's forthright discussion of how to use these psalms in modern prayer.

In this "meticulous" commentary, "brilliantly" translated by Linda M. Maloney (Review of Biblical Literature), Hossfeld and Zenger provide for each psalm a relevant bibliography of scholarship, a fresh translation, text-critical and philological details, and commentary on historical context, theological significance, literary structure, and reception (in Septuagint, Targums, and New Testament), engaging a wide range of scholarship as they proceed. Line drawings help to illustrate the Ancient Near Eastern context.

This newest contribution to the acclaimed Hermeneia series provides in-depth analysis of Psalms 51-100. It is volume 2 of a three-volume work; volume 3 (Psalms 101-150) will come next, followed by volume 1 (Psalms 1-50), which will include the comprehensive introduction.