praise is none other than the cultic sanctuary itself.1 Most likely when the psalmist urges the assembly of the righteous to praise God with him, we should understand the context as the temple. The cultic role of praise was appreciated by Gunkel and Begrich, two very important modern interpreters of the Psalter. They observed that the thanksgiving Psalms showed a striking similarity to epigraphic monuments of praise found in or near temples throughout the ancient Near East.2 Their work has received