Exegetical and theological studies of the Psalms generally use the Masoretic Hebrew text or derived translations as the basis for reading with little or no engagement with alternative traditions and the discipline of textual criticism. Psalm 18 is a special case that problematizes this working practice and demonstrates how textual criticism has the potential to significantly improve readings of biblical Psalms. Psalm 18 is also preserved in a parallel biblical passage in 2 Samuel 22—as well as multiple Dead Sea Scrolls and ancient Greek versions—which allows us to empirically test comfortable assumptions about the transmission of the Psalms, but also provides additional evidence for reconstructing earlier forms of the text.
Looking at several key examples in Psalm 18, I will: 1) illustrate the significant impact of the transmission process on the text of the Psalm; and 2) demonstrate how the practice of textual criticism greatly improves the reading of the Psalm, yielding better sense and coherence, leading to increased understanding of the Psalm as a whole. I will then discuss the implications of this test case for reading Psalms for which there are no biblical parallels. In the end, I conclude that reading the Psalms in the best recoverable form potentially has much added value for a wide range of exegetical and theological studies. Current projects like the Scriptura “Psalms: Layer by Layer” project and the Hebrew Bible: a Critical Edition series are making it easier to access this material, and it is incumbent on non-specialist readers to make optimal use of this work.