Do I need a commentary before I start?
No. Read the psalm first. A commentary is a second conversation. The historical-context guide says what that second conversation is for.
Practice
How to read a psalm out loud
Reading a psalm out loud is the practice. The psalm is already a prayer or a song. You do not need to translate it into advice first. Read the superscription if it has one, read the body once without stopping, then read it again and mark who is speaking. Many psalms move from trouble toward trust. Some are mostly praise. Some stay in protest. Let the one in front of you be that one.
One sitting
Pick a single psalm, not a range you will rush. Psalm 23, Psalm 51, and Psalm 121 are short enough to read twice. Psalm 119 is a long acrostic. Treat a stanza of it as the sitting, and say which stanza.
Read at speaking speed. A psalm read at scanning speed is a different text. If a line is bitter, read it bitter. Do not sand it down so it sounds like a greeting card.
What to notice
Who is addressed. God, the congregation, enemies, and the self are not the same listener.
What is asked, if anything is asked. A psalm that only praises is finished when the praise is finished. Do not force a request onto it.
Where it ends. The last verse is the landing the poet chose. Your journal line can be that landing, in your words.
Using it with a sermon study
If this week’s sermon cites a psalm, read that psalm in full before you read the study note. The note is about the sermon’s use of the passage. The psalm is longer than the quote.
Scripture Journey’s sermon pages point at the passage. They are not a replacement for opening the psalm.
Questions
What if I do not feel the emotion in the psalm?
Read it anyway, as words that belong to the speaker in the poem. You do not have to perform the feeling to finish the reading.