The Psalms raise many difficult and controversial issues. Who are the enemies in the Individual Lament Psalms? How many Royal Psalms are there and what was the role of the king in the cult? What happened at the Autumn Festival? What makes a Psalm a Wisdom Psalm? Why are the Psalms arranged as they are and how far is it possible to date them? Can we make sense of the often obscure Psalm headings? What light is shed on the Psalms by other ancient Near Eastern texts? These and many other issues are judiciously evaluated by John Day in a wide-ranging volume.