Psalm 103 is the 103rd psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Bless the , O my soul". The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book of the Christian Old Testament. In Latin, it is known as "Benedic anima mea Domino". The psalm is a hymn psalm. In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 102. The first verse (the sub-heading in most English translations) attributes the psalm to King David. The psalm forms a regular part of Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant liturgies. The psalm has been paraphrased in hymns, and has often been set to music. Background and themes Baptist preacher and biblical commentator Charles Spurgeon suggests that the psalm was written in David's later life, as seen by the psalmist's focus on the frailty of life and his "higher sense of the preciousness of pardon, because a keener sense of sin". Spurgeon divides the psalm into three sections: Verses 1–5: The Psalmist's personal experience of God's compassion; Verses 6–19: The attributes of God as seen in his interactions with his people; Verses 20–22: The Psalmist's call to all creatures to join him in blessing God. Lutheran minister Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg notes that the number of verses in the psalm parallels the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and that the concluding words repeat the opening words, "finishing" and "rounding off" the psalm into a complete whole. Nonconformist minister Matthew Henry also notes this circular form, stating: "Blessing God and giving him glory must be the alpha and the omega of all our services". The Midrash Tehillim offers several explanations of the first verse, among them: Rabbi Levi said in the name of Rabbi Hama: A sculptor makes a statue; the sculptor dies, but his sculpture endures. It is not thus with the Holy One, blessed be He. The Holy One made man, and man dies, but the Holy One lives and endures. … Another comment: A sculptor makes a statue, but cannot make a soul or vital organs. But the Holy One made a statue, man, and within him made a soul and vital organs. Therefore, David offered praise, "Bless the , O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name".