[citation needed] The Psalms of Solomon were referred to in early Christian writings, but lost to later generations until a Greek manuscript was rediscovered in the 17th century.
There are currently eleven known 11th- to 16th-century manuscripts of a Greek translation[2] from a lost Hebrew or Aramaic original, probably dating from the 1st or 2nd century BC.
[2] The earliest historical evidence of "Eighteen Psalms of Solomon" is in the list at the beginning of the Codex Alexandrinus (fifth century).
[3] Some of the psalms are messianic, in the Jewish sense (referring to a mortal that seems to be divinely assisted, much like Moses), but the majority are concerned less with the world at large, and more with individual behavior, expressing a belief that repentance for unintended sins will return them to God's favor.
There have been attempts to link the text both to the Essenes of Qumran, who separated themselves from what they saw as a wicked world, and alternatively to the Pharisees in opposition to the Sadducees who generally supported the Maccabees.