The Becker Psalter is a German metrical psalter

Metrical psalter

A metrical psalter is a kind of Bible translation: a book containing a metrical translation of all or part of the Book of Psalms in vernacular poetry, meant to be sung as hymns in a church. Some metrical psalters include melodies or even harmonizations...

 published in two collections in 1628 and 1640 by the Leipzig theologian Cornelius Becker

Cornelius Becker

Cornelius Becker Orthodox Lutheran pastor in Leipzig. He prepared the Becker Psalter, some of which Heinrich Schütz set to music. Bach used his version of Psalm 23 for his cantata Du Hirte Israel, höre, BWV 104.- References :...

. This publication was without melodies and meant to be sung on other well-known Lutheran

Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

 hymns. Becker included in his Psalter earlier Lutheran paraphrase

Paraphrase

Paraphrase is restatement of a text or passages, using other words. The term "paraphrase" derives via the Latin "paraphrasis" from the Greek , meaning "additional manner of expression". The act of paraphrasing is also called "paraphrasis."...

s of psalms

Psalms

The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...

, such as Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir

Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir

Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir , BWV 38, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig in 1724 in his second annual cycle for the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 19 October 1724...

, Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein

Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein

Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein , BWV 2, is a church cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig for the second Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 18 June 1724...

, Erbarm dich mein, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" is the best known of Martin Luther's hymns. Luther wrote the words and composed the melody sometime between 1527 and 1529. It has been translated into English at least seventy times and also into many other languages...

.

Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Schütz

Heinrich Schütz was a German composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach and often considered to be one of the most important composers of the 17th century along with Claudio Monteverdi...

welcomed the theological intentions of this new metrical version, and composed the melodies, which he published twice during his lifetime (1628, 1661 (revised and enlarged)), together with four-part musical settings. Outside Dresden only a few of these Psalms have become popular.