The Role of Orality in the Development of the Doublet Psalms 14 and 53

The divergences between the ‘twin’ Psalms 14 and 53 have typically been explained either by appeal to textual corruption in transmission or to editorial redaction associated with the canonical shaping of the Psalter. In this article, however, I argue that both the text-critical and redaction-critical approaches fail to take serious account of the role of orality in the development of biblical, and especially psalmic, literature. Drawing from the work of scholars such as Susan Niditch and David Carr, while also pointing to ancient and modern examples of textual divergence due to oral performance and memory variance, I make the case that the most significant differences between Psalms 14 and 53 are likely due to these psalms’ diverging development in distinct contexts of oral performance and liturgical use. I conclude with several reflections on what this inference might tell us about the development of a Psalter that contains both psalms, each with Davidic superscriptions and each given without harmonization toward the other.