In this chapter Wenham first gives a brief overview of the history of the use of the Psalms in congregational worship. He also discusses the specific impact of setting the words of the Psalms to music. Wenham further notes a secondary use of the Psalms, as a resource for private meditation and devotion. He suggests that the book of Psalms is a deliberately organized anthology designed for memorization. Finally the author uses speech-act theory to explore what we are doing when we recite publicly or sing the psalms. His suggestion is that singing a psalm or hymn is like taking an oath: we commit and bind ourselves to a particular set of beliefs and a specific lifestyle.