Through The Psalms With Derek Prince

Working Through Derek Prince's Psalms Study

Derek Prince was a Bible teacher who lived from 1915 to 2003. He produced a considerable amount of teaching material, including a study called Through The Psalms With Derek Prince. It's not a single book you pick up at a normal bookstore — it's primarily a collection of his sermons and teaching sessions arranged around each psalm, released across multiple volumes or tapes over the years. If you're looking for a structured way to work through the Psalms using his approach, here's how to actually find and use it. The resource covers all 150 Psalms in sequence. Prince tends to treat each Psalm with a combination of historical context, key Hebrew word studies, and practical application. His style is methodical. He reads the text, breaks it down phrase by phrase when he thinks it matters, and then ties it back to broader biblical themes. That's useful if you want something that doesn't skip over the hard parts. You can find this material in a few different formats. The original release was on audio cassette and VHS. Those are still available used through sites like eBay and Amazon Marketplace, though condition varies widely. Digital versions exist too. Derek Prince Ministries, now operating under the name Derek Prince Legacy Ministry, has made much of his library available for purchase or download through their website. Some materials may require creating a free account first. There are also third-party sites that host the content, but I wouldn't recommend those unless you've verified they have proper licensing. It's not worth the ethical compromise.

If you're after the complete set, expect to spend roughly $60 to $120 depending on whether you go digital or physical. The digital packages tend to be cheaper and come with searchable transcripts, which saves time. Here's the practical part. When I first went through this material, I ran into a problem with the older audio versions. The cassette recordings of certain psalms were poorly sequenced. Psalms 42 through 48 would jump around in a way that made no logical order, and some segments repeated content from adjacent sessions. I figured out the workaround by checking the printed study guide that came with the DVDs. The guide has the correct psalm breakdown listed in order, and I used it to navigate the audio files manually. Cross-reference the guide's table of contents with whatever format you're using. Don't trust the auto-play sequencing on the older physical media. One thing people often miss about Prince's approach is that he doesn't treat the Psalms as a single genre. He distinguishes between royal psalms, imprecation psalms, messianic psalms, and wisdom psalms, and he adjusts his interpretive method accordingly. The impromptu ones — Psalms like 58 and 137 — get the shortest treatment because Prince acknowledges they resist neat moralizing. A common mistake beginners make is trying to force every Psalm into a devotional framework. Prince explicitly says some of these texts are meant to confront you, not comfort you. That's not a subtle point in his teaching, but it gets lost if you're just casually listening in the background.

Another nuance is his use of Hebrew. Prince was trained in the original languages and brings that into his Psalms study, but he doesn't overwhelm you with transliterations. He'll note a key word like chesed — often translated as lovingkindness or steadfast love — and explain why the English falls short. If you're working through this material, keep a simple Hebrew word list nearby. The Derek Prince Legacy Ministry site occasionally posts supplementary word studies that complement the main content. Using those alongside the core sessions adds clarity without requiring a seminary degree. There are downsides to this resource. The teaching style is dense. A single session on one Psalm can run 45 minutes to over an hour. Prince tends to circle back to points he's already made, sometimes three or four times in one session. If you're watching or listening at normal speed, budget about two to three hours per Psalm for the full set. That's a significant time commitment. Also, his theological framework is rooted in a dispensational hermeneutic. If you come from a covenant theology background, you'll notice him interpreting certain prophetic passages in the Psalms through a future-fulfillment lens that won't align with your tradition. That's not a flaw in the material itself, but it's worth knowing upfront so you don't encounter confusion later. For those who find Prince's pace too slow or his dispensational leanings a mismatch, consider pairing this with a more concise commentary like William Coles's The Book of Psalms or the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series. Those move faster and offer different theological perspectives. But if you want someone who takes the text seriously and walks through it carefully, Prince's Through The Psalms study remains one of the more thorough resources available. Just plan your time accordingly and use the study guides to keep yourself on track.