psalm, they typically open with an invocation of God, followed by the lament itself and pleas for help, and often ending with an expression of confidence. Individual thanksgiving psalms In individual thanksgiving psalms, the opposite of individual laments, the psalmist thanks God for deliverance from personal distress. In addition to these five major genres, Gunkel also recognised a number of minor psalm-types, including: communal thanksgiving psalms, in which the whole nation thanks God for deliverance; wisdom psalms, reflecting the Old Testament wisdom literature; pilgrimage psalms, sung by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem; entrance and prophetic liturgies; and a group of mixed psalms which could not be assigned to any category. Composition Origins The composition of the psalms spans at least five centuries, from psalm 29 to others clearly from the post-Exilic period (not earlier than the fifth century BC.) The majority originated in the southern kingdom of Judah and were associated with the Temple in Jerusalem, where they probably functioned as libretto during the Temple worship. Exactly how they did this is unclear, although there are indications in some of them: "Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar," suggests a connection with sacrifices, and "Let my prayer be counted as incense" suggests a connection with the offering of incense. According to Jewish tradition, the Book of Psalms was composed by the First Man (Adam), Melchizedek, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Heman, Jeduthun, Asaph, and the three sons of Korah. According to Abraham ibn Ezra, the final redaction of the book was made by the Men of the Great Assembly. Influences Some of the psalms show influences from related earlier texts from the region; examples include various Ugaritic texts and the Babylonian Enūma Eliš. These influences may be either of background similarity or of contrast. For example Psalm 29 seems to share characteristics with Canaanite religious poetry and themes. Not too much should be read into this, however. Robert Alter points out that the address to "sons of God" at the opening "are best thought of the flickering literary afterlife of a polytheistic mythology" but that "belief in them...is unlikely to have been shared by the scribal circles that produced Psalms". The contrast against the surrounding polytheistic religion is well seen in Psalms 104:26 where their convention of a monstrous sea-god in fierce conflict, such as the Babylonian Tiamat, Canaanite Yam and the Leviathan which