POET Psalms brings together insights from 30 years of translating the Psalms and teaching others how to do so. It values the linguistic structures of Hebrew and English, while balancing faithfulness to semantics and communicative intent, with freedom of poetic expression. Boerger pays attention to Hebrew wordplays with the goal of reflecting them in English and translates the Biblical acrostics following the English alphabet. This leads to a translation which is at the same time clear and linguistically appealing. Most psalms are set to tunes for use in personal, small group, and corporate worship.

The book is also a Psalms study resource, with over 800 footnotes discussing source text, translation, and poetic issues. The structure of the Psalter is explored, not just in the five book divisions, but also in psalm cycles and partner psalms. A glossary of over 120 entries, plus three appendices add to the value of POET Psalms for in-depth study, either alone or alongside a more traditional translation. To maintain the Hebrew flavor of the Psalms, Boerger transliterates several names of the Lord, and maintains common terms like shalom, noting their meanings in the footnotes and glossary.