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Since the pioneering work of Hermann Gunkel, scholars have generally viewed the royal psalms of the Hebrew Bible to be analogous to royal hymns and prayers found throughout the ancient Near East. This important study demonstrates that the biblical royal psalms are in fact unique when compared to other royal epigraphic remains since they never include personal or regnal names. This deceptively simple but key observation demands a reassessment of the canonical purposes and tradition histories of the royal psalms, and in particular, their royal oracles. Starbuck argues that these royal oracles were recontextualized in order to democratize the essential elements of royal theology for all of Israel.