(ד) וַיִּתֵּ֞ן לִפְנֵ֨י אֲר֧וֹן ה' מִן־הַלְוִיִּ֖ם מְשָׁרְתִ֑ים וּלְהַזְכִּיר֙ וּלְהוֹד֣וֹת וּלְהַלֵּ֔ל לַה' אֱלֹהֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (פ) (ה) אָסָ֥ף הָרֹ֖אשׁ וּמִשְׁנֵ֣הוּ זְכַרְיָ֑ה יְעִיאֵ֡ל וּשְׁמִֽירָמ֡וֹת וִֽיחִיאֵ֡ל וּמַתִּתְיָ֡ה וֶאֱלִיאָ֡ב וּבְנָיָהוּ֩ וְעֹבֵ֨ד אֱדֹ֜ם וִֽיעִיאֵ֗ל בִּכְלֵ֤י נְבָלִים֙ וּבְכִנֹּר֔וֹת וְאָסָ֖ף בַּֽמְצִלְתַּ֥יִם מַשְׁמִֽיעַ׃ (ו) וּבְנָיָ֥הוּ וְיַחֲזִיאֵ֖ל הַכֹּהֲנִ֑ים בַּחֲצֹצְר֣וֹת תָּמִ֔יד לִפְנֵ֖י אֲר֥וֹן בְּרִית־הָאֱלֹהִֽים׃
(4) And he [David] appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, and to celebrate and to thank and praise the LORD, the God of Israel: (5) Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, Yeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Yehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliav, and Benaiah, and Oved-Edom, and Yeiel, with psalteries and with harps; and Asaph with cymbals, sounding aloud; (6) and Benaiah and Yahaziel the priests with trumpets -- continually, before the ark of the covenant of God.
Only the psalm for the Sabbath, Psalm 92, is named (in the text of the Psalm itself) as a song for a particular day. Some texts of the Septuagint (LXX), dated as early as the second century BCE, do have titles that identify other daily psalms with the exception of those for Tuesday and Thursday. 4 Those that do bear titles in the LXX – for Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and the Sabbath – accord with the later rabbinic listing. This testifies that the tradition of reciting these particular psalms on set days must have been established at least as early as the period of the Second Temple.
From: "The Psalms of the Day" in Jewish Bible Quarterly, by Rabbi Dr. Raymond Apple, rabbi emeritus of the Great Synagogue, Sydney
(ד) השיר שהיו הלוים אומרים במקדש, ביום הראשון היו אומרים (תהלים כד) לה' הארץ ומלואה תבל ויושבי בה. בשני היו אומרים (שם מח) גדול ה' ומהלל מאד בעיר אלהינו הר קדשו. בשלישי היו אומרים (שם פב) אלהים נצב בעדת אל בקרב אלהים ישפט. ברביעי היו אומרים (שם צד) אל נקמות ה' אל נקמות הופיע [וגו']. בחמישי היו אומרים (שם פא) הרנינו לאלהים עוזנו, הריעו לאלהי יעקב. בששי היו אומרים (שם צג) ה' מלך גאות לבש וגו'. בשבת היו אומרים (שם צב) מזמור שיר ליום השבת, מזמור שיר לעתיד לבוא ליום שכלו שבת מנוחה לחה' העולמים.
(4) [These are] the songs that the Levites would say in the temple: On Sunday they would say, "To the Lord is the world and that which fills it, the inhabited land and its inhabitants" (Psalms 24). On Monday they would say, "Great is the Lord and very praised, in the city of God, Mountain of God's Holiness" (Psalms 48). On Tuesday they would say, "God stands in the divine, in the midst of the judges God judges" (Psalms 82). On Wednesday they would say, "God of vengeance, Lord God of vengeance appear" (Psalms 94). On Thursday they would say, "Sing for joy to God our strength, shout out loud to the God of Yaakov" (Psalms 81). On Friday they would say, "The Lord has reigned, wearing splendor etc." On Shabbat they would say (Psalms 92), "A Psalm, a Song for the Sabbath day"(Psalms 93).
The late tractate Soferim (18:1) confirms that the psalms of the day were transferred to the post-Temple liturgy; reciting biblical texts at the appropriate time was "regarded (by God) as though one had built a new altar and offered a sacrifice upon it." Thanks to this interpretation, elements of the Divine service, including the psalms, compensated for the lack of a Temple, although Judaism continued to hope for the restoration of the Sanctuary. The daily psalms, thanks to our baraita, could now be seen in a universalistic spiritual and ethical sense. This interpretation helped towards reconstructing Judaism and responding to the new events and challenges of the struggle against the Romans. Other Temple rituals were also transferred to the synagogue and sometimes reshaped, e.g., sounding the shofar on Rosh Ha-Shanah (now no longer done on the Sabbath) and performing the Sukkot processions around the reading desk while carrying the Four Species. The idea of instituting practices to recall Temple times, zekher la-mikdash, is well known.
From: "The Psalms of the Day" in Jewish Bible Quarterly, by Rabbi Dr. Raymond Apple, rabbi emeritus of the Great Synagogue, Sydney
רבי יהודה אומר משום ר"ע בראשון מה היו אומרים (תהלים כד, א) לה' הארץ ומלואה על שם שקנה והקנה ושליט בעולמו בשני מה היו אומרים (תהלים מח, ב) גדול ה' ומהולל מאד על שם שחילק מעשיו ומלך עליהן בשלישי היו אומרים (תהלים פב, א) אלהים נצב בעדת אל על שם שגילה ארץ בחכמתו והכין תבל לעדתו ברביעי היו אומרים (תהלים צד, א) אל נקמות ה' על שם שברא חמה ולבנה ועתיד ליפרע מעובדיהן בחמישי היו אומרים (תהלים פא, ב) הרנינו לאלהים עוזנו על שם שברא עופות ודגים לשבח לשמו בששי היו אומרים (תהלים צג, א) ה' מלך גאות לבש על שם שגמר מלאכתו ומלך עליהן בשביעי היו אומרים (תהלים צב, א) מזמור שיר ליום השבת ליום שכולו שבת.
It has been taught: ‘R. Judah said in the name of R. Akiba: On the first day of the week what [psalm] did the Levites say?
The one that starts "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof," because God took possession and gave possession and was sole ruler in the universe. On the second day what did they say? "Great is the Lord and highly to be praised," because God divided the works and reigned over them like a king. On the third day they said, "God stands in the congregation of the Divine", because God revealed the earth in wisdom and established the world for the community. On the fourth day they said, "O God of vengeance," because God created the sun and the moon and will one day punish those who serve them. On the fifth day they said, "Sing aloud to the God of our strength," because God created fishes and birds to praise God's name. On the sixth day they said, "The Lord reigns, clothed in majesty," because God completed the work and reigned over the creatures. On the seventh day they said, "A psalm, a song for the Sabbath day," to wit, for the day which will be all Sabbath.
In a fascinating piece of later homiletics, the Zohar moves the daily psalms onto a broad historical plane (though to our eyes it rather minimizes the last two millennia). It declares that the seven psalms represent seven 1000-year periods. 10 The first period, called a day because Psalm 90:4 says a thousand years in Your [God's] sight are like yesterday, is the first millennium up to the Flood, represented by Psalm 24; the second is the period in which Mount Moriah was chosen, symbolized by Psalm 48; the third is the one in which the Torah was given, suggested by Psalm 82; the fourth, represented by Psalm 94, is the era in which the Temple was destroyed; the fifth, indicated by Psalm 81, is the historic period when Judaism survived without a Temple; the sixth is the millennium in which God resumes His rule, symbolized by Psalm 93; the seventh is the messianic future, indicated by Psalm 92.
From: "The Psalms of the Day" in Jewish Bible Quarterly, by Rabbi Dr. Raymond Apple, rabbi emeritus of the Great Synagogue, Sydney