Melody D. Knowles argues for a fresh interpretation of Psalm 132, focusing on how the text makes important political and theological claims regarding the significance of Jerusalem, the role of the king, and the efficacy of prayer. Taking an interdisciplinary approach that includes text-critical and manuscript studies, history of the book and visual presentations of ideology, Knowles sets out the different ways that Jewish and Christian communities throughout time have leveraged this psalm to navigate political and religious disruption.

Knowles first thoroughly examines Jewish communities in and around Jerusalem and Egypt in the Second Temple Period, then moves to early Christians in Africa and the Mediterranean basin, early Protestants in Tudor England, and finally to enslaved and enslaving communities in Africa, Europe, and America. She explores how each of these communities read Psalm 132 in different languages and in formats ranging from scroll to hymnal, engaging the same psalm in their separate contexts and leveraging the text to promote very different political and theological agendas. Knowles thus demonstrates the vital and elastic ways that Psalm 132 has been interpreted and appropriated by communities across the globe for over 2,000 years.