Editing Song of Ascents (section)

==History==
Many scholars believe the title indicates that these psalms were sung by worshippers as they ascended the road to [[Jerusalem]] to attend the [[Three Pilgrimage Festivals]]<ref name=Zenger>{{cite book |last1=Hossfeld |first1=Frank-Lothar |last2=Zenger |first2=Erich |date=2011 |title=Psalms 3: A Commentary on Psalms 101-150 |url=https://archive.org/details/psalms3commentar0000unse/page/293 |location=Minneapolis |publisher=Fortress Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/psalms3commentar0000unse/page/293 293–294] |isbn=978-0800607623 }}</ref> ({{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|16:16|HE}}). Others think they were sung by the [[Levite]] singers as they ascended the fifteen steps to minister at the [[Temple in Jerusalem]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Liebreich |first=Leon |date=1955 |title=The Songs of Ascents and the Priestly Blessing |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=74 |issue=1 |pages=33–34 |doi=10.2307/3261952 |jstor=3261952 }} {{Citation |last =Nassar | first =Seraphim | year =1938 | publication-date=1979 | title =Divine Prayers and Services of the Catholic Orthodox Church of Christ | edition=3rd | pages =1086–7 | place =Englewood NJ | publisher =[[Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America]]}}</ref> One view says the Levites first sang the Songs at the dedication of Solomon's temple during the night of the fifteenth of Tishri 959 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mitchell |first=D.C. |date=2015 |title=The Songs of Ascents: Psalms 120 to 134 in the Worship of Jerusalem's Temples |url=https://www.sites.google.com/site/brightmorningstar624/home/the-songs-of-ascents |location=Newton Mearns |publisher=Campbell-Bright Morning Star |isbn=978-1508745358 |access-date=7 May 2015 |archive-date=18 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150618101159/https://sites.google.com/site/brightmorningstar624/home/the-songs-of-ascents |url-status=dead }}</ref> Another study suggests that they were composed for a celebration after [[Nehemiah]]'s rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls in 445 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goulder |first=Michael Douglas |date=1998 |title=The Psalms of the Return (Book V. Psalms 107-150) |location=Edinburgh|publisher=Bloomsbury T & T Clark |isbn=978-1850758662}}</ref> Others consider that they may originally have been individual poems which were later collected together and given the title linking them to pilgrimage after the [[Babylonian captivity]].<ref name=Zenger />

They were well suited for being sung by their poetic form and the sentiments they express. "They are characterized by brevity, by a key-word, by [[Glossary of rhetoric terms|epanaphora]] [''i.e.'', repetition], and by their [[epigram]]matic style.... More than half of them are cheerful, and all of them hopeful."<ref>{{cite web|title=Easton's Bible Dictionary|last=Easton|first=M. G.|url=http://eastonsbibledictionary.org/1007-Degrees_Song_of.php|date=1897|access-date=3 February 2015|publisher=T. Nelson and Sons}}</ref> As a collection, they contain a number of repeated formulaic phrases, as well as an emphasis on Zion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Crow |first=Loren D. |date=1996 |title=The Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120-134): Their Place in Israelite History and Religion |location=Atlanta |publisher=Scholar's Press |pages=26–27 |isbn=978-0788502194 }}</ref>

The [[Great Psalms Scroll]] (11Q5), one of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] written between {{CE|30-50}}, contains a set of psalms partially coincident with the canonical Psalms. Most of the canonical psalms it contains are in a different order than in Psalms, but the Songs of Ascents are included in full in their canonical order.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls|last = Schiffman|first = Lawrence|publisher = Oxford UP|year = 2000|location = New York}}</ref>