Psalms that Sing
Translating from Oral to Text to Performance
Vision
All 150 psalms available in the languages and poetry of the world, and put to music.
Mission
We want to facilitate the creative translation of the psalms, with poets and musicians from within the communities as translators. The final outcome will be the whole Psalter translated and available in audio, video and print.

Motivations
01
There is an increased desire globally to see the Book of Psalms translated.
03
There is a need for more diverse and locally-sourced psalm products. This poetic translation process will not only facilitate an authorised translation for each psalm, in both oral and print, but also a range of adaptations and Scripture-based products for many performance expressions.
02
Most language groups of the world have rich traditions of poetry and oral verbal art. This can add cultural beauty into the translation of the original biblical poetry of the psalms.
04
Most communities are blessed with poets, songwriters and verbal artists. This pilot project aims to leverage such local skills in the translation of the psalms.
The Initial Plan:
to produce a workflow package that includes a new curriculum of training materials, consisting of translation guides for at least 60 psalms and exploration of local and biblical poetry, and a six-workshop plan to be followed over two years. Following our pilot phase we also aim to produce notes on the remaining 90 psalms for teams to use without workshop supervision.
The Dream:
that the psalms in poetic form will enhance the understanding and use of the psalms and biblical truths in different spheres. We dream that the translated psalms will be used even more in worship and teaching in the church, in community oral art events, and even on local media like radio.
Working Plan of the Pilot
2022
Pre-Pilot
Phase
20 to 25 psalms translated in four languages.
There were a couple of one-week and two-week workshops in three languages and two three-day workshops in poetry discovery in Cameroon, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa. The team drafted up to 40 psalm translation guides. The purpose of the pre-pilot phase was to test the methodology.
2023-2024
Pilot
Phase 1
At least 60 psalms
translated in six languages, with audio, video and print products.
One of the goals of the full pilot phase was to see if 60 - 80 psalms can be completed in two years (over 6 workshops). The trainers, consultants and local leaders tested and evaluated a range of things, such as how long a psalm takes to translate and community involvement opportunities. The team continued to draft another 60 psalm translation guides.​​
2025-2026
Pilot
Phase 2
Translation and performance of the whole psalter in a normal, ongoing project.
The goal of this phase is to complete the whole psalter. ​We are now seeing that we need to find a way to integrate the PtS methodology into regular, ongoing, week-by-week programs. The methodology we followed of 3-4 workshops a year will be continued in only a few languages.
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The long-term goal is to use this methodology for the poetic translation of all the psalms in different languages. It is foreseen that, as communities move into more Old Testament translation work, the other poetic books will also be translated using a similar method (like Job, Proverbs, Isaiah), taking advantage of the experience already gained through the psalms.