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The text in question is an end-note to the Book of Psalms in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Thanks to a friend whose Hebrew is fluent (mine is not), I learned that the meaning is quite straightforward. It simply summarizes the number of verses and sections:

  • sum of the verses of [the] book

  • two thousands and five hundred

  • and twenty and seven

  • and sections 19

My question is "what are these 19 sections?" My friend says it refers to a reading schedule but I can't find a schedule that divides it this way.

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The sedarim are divisions of the Tanakh into smaller chunks (remember: chapter breaks are medieval Christian creations). For the Prophets and Writings, these are commonly understood to be a study cycle. There are some who still use this cycle (although the use wasn't continuous — they created a new learning cycle based on the sedarim), like Tanach Yomi.

These sedarim are marked in a Koren Tanakh on the side with a ס. More practically, Tanach Yomi helpfully provides a list which includes the 19 sedarim for Psalms, with starting points at: 1:1, 11:7, 20:10, 29:11, 35:28, 41:14, 49:19, 57:12, 67:8, 72:20, 78:38, 84:13, 90:17, 101:1, 105:45, 111:10, 119:72, 128:6, and 140:14.

Note that I've seen some disagreement about some sedarim in Tanakh, but I don't remember to what extent, and whether it touches on Psalms.

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  • Thanks very much for clarifying this. I took the liberty to share part of your answer at the BH.se site, where a translation question prompted my inquiry. Jul 16 at 13:26

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