Originally published at https://arling.sk/notes/psalm-numbers-and-how-a-31-day-reading-plan-is-cut/

Psalm numbers, and how a 31 day reading plan decides where to stop

Two things quietly defeat a home made Bible reading plan. The first is that Psalms have two numbers. A Catholic book will print Psalm 22 where a Protestant book prints Psalm 23, both are correct, and a plan that mixes the two systems will send you to the wrong page about a hundred times in a year. The second is cutting: a plan has to end each day somewhere, and if it ends in the middle of a sentence or splits a Psalm in a place the Psalm does not want to be split, the reading feels like homework. This note explains the numbering in full, because it is a table and not an opinion, then shows the two rules a plan needs to cut well, with the counts they produce over a whole psalter and four Gospels.

Why Psalm 23 is also Psalm 22

The Douay-Rheims and the Vulgate number the Psalms differently from the Hebrew. Psalms 1 to 8 and 148 to 150 are the same in both. Vulgate 9 is Hebrew 9 and 10. Vulgate 10 to 112 is Hebrew 11 to 113. Vulgate 113 is Hebrew 114 and 115. Vulgate 114 and 115 together are Hebrew 116. Vulgate 116 to 145 is Hebrew 117 to 146. Vulgate 146 and 147 together are Hebrew 147.

So for most of the psalter the two systems differ by one, and they differ because two Psalms are joined in one system and split in the other, twice each way. A book can solve this by printing both numbers, which is what ours does: the Hebrew number first and the Vulgate number in brackets, for example Psalm 23 (22), Psalm 9-10 (9) where they merge and Psalm 116 (114) where they split. Verse numbers always follow the Douay-Rheims, and in that edition Psalm 118, the Hebrew 119, has 176 verses in 22 stanzas.

Where a day should end

A plan needs two rules, one for the Psalms and one for the Gospel, and they are not the same rule because the two kinds of text do not break the same way.

For the Psalms: a Psalm of up to 40 verses is one section, and a longer one is split into the smallest number of sections of up to 40 verses, with the cuts on stanza boundaries where there are any and on verse boundaries otherwise. Over the whole psalter that comes to 160 sections.

For the Gospels: a chapter is split into sections of 8 to 20 verses aiming at about 13, chosen so that as many cuts as possible land on a paragraph boundary. That gives 297 sections, of which 285 end on a paragraph or a chapter boundary. The twelve that do not are the honest cost of never letting a day run past twenty verses.

What 31 days actually come to

A day holds one Psalm section and one Gospel section. In the first book that works out at an average of 15.8 Psalm verses and 12.7 Gospel verses a day, and one day takes 5 to 10 pages once the text, the four steps and the evening page are laid out.

In content, the first book covers Psalms 1 to 31 in the Hebrew numbering and Matthew 1 to 12, with Psalm 18 spread over two days and Psalms 9 and 10 read on one day because the Vulgate counts them as a single Psalm. The text is printed on the page rather than referenced, from the Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision, American edition of 1899, which is in the public domain.

Dates, weekdays, and starting again

A plan tied to a calendar year is a plan you can fall behind. Ours is not tied to one: the days are numbered 1 to 31, with no year and no weekday, and each morning page has a line for your own date.

Days 7, 14, 21 and 28 are written for Sunday, the Lord's Day, each with a page for the week, and a fifth week page closes days 29 to 31. Start on a Monday and the Sunday pages fall on real Sundays; start on any other day and nothing breaks, and you can start again when you reach the end.

FAQ

Which number should I use when someone gives me a reference?

Ask which Bible they are reading from. For most of the psalter the Vulgate number is one lower than the Hebrew number, and a book that prints both, such as Psalm 23 (22), removes the question entirely.

Why is Psalm 9 longer in a Catholic Bible?

Because Vulgate 9 is Hebrew 9 and 10 joined, which is also why our first book reads it over a single day.

How long is a day's reading?

In the first book, an average of 15.8 verses of a Psalm and 12.7 verses of a Gospel, laid out over 5 to 10 pages. No day runs past twenty verses of Gospel, because that is the upper limit the cutting rule allows.

Where to look next

If you want to see a plan cut this way, days 1 to 7 are a free sample on the Morning Quiet page at https://arling.sk/morning-quiet/, with no account and no e-mail address. The first book is a digital download of three PDF files at 4.90 €, and it is a private aid to prayer rather than a liturgical book. Our other titles set on the same page size, including the ten printable puzzle books, sit next to it.

ARLing also publishes printable puzzle books.