About the Songs of Ascent

Authors and date

King David is the traditional author of many (or most) Psalms. And his name appears as the author of 4 Songs of Ascent: Psalms 122, 124, 131 and 133. David’s son, King Solomon, appears as the author of Psalm 127. David chose the place for the temple (God’s house in Jerusalem); and Solomon’s workmen built it.

Bible students are not sure that the titles are part of the original Psalms. But we do know that people were travelling to Jerusalem to *worship during Solomon’s life. Soon after his death, the kings of northern Israel tried to stop this (1 Kings 12:27). And after that, people from northern Israel did not often travel to Jerusalem for the sacred holidays (2 Kings 23:22-23).

If David and Solomon wrote the Songs of Ascent, then they are about 3000 years old. But some people have thought that the correct date may be about 500 years later, during the life of Ezra. Ezra taught the people to obey God’s rules about the sacred holidays again (Nehemiah 8:13-17). But people did not go long journeys to *worship then. The *Jewish people who were in Israel lived only in a few towns near Jerusalem.

Next part: The Songs of Ascent today

See the word list for explanation of words with a *

Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. You can download all our articles if you go to the download page for our free 450 page course book.