Psalm Prayers
The Psalms are the church's prayer book and cover the full emotional range — praise, thanks, rage, grief, fear, confidence.
They are here as prayers rather than as study texts. Find one that matches where you actually are, not where you think you should be.
36 prayers
- Prayer of a Penitent Heart (Psalm 103)
Drawn from Psalm 103, the great psalm of David on the mercy of God. Where Psalm 51 is the cry of the sinner, Psalm 103 is the answer:…
- Psalm 1 — Blessed Is the Man
The psalter opens with a wisdom psalm contrasting two ways of living: the life rooted like a tree by rivers of water, and the life blown…
- Psalm 100 — Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord
The Jubilate, sung at Anglican Morning Prayer as an alternative to the Te Deum and set countless times by church composers. Six verses of…
- Psalm 103 — Bless the Lord, O My Soul
A psalm of David and one of Scripture's fullest meditations on divine mercy. It is prayed daily at Orthodox Matins as one of the "Typica"…
- Psalm 116 — I Love the Lord, Because He Hath Heard My Voice
Part of the Hallel sung at Passover — very likely among the psalms Jesus and his disciples sang after the Last Supper. Its question, 'What…
- Psalm 118 — His Mercy Endureth For Ever
The great Easter psalm, with the stone the builders rejected becoming the head of the corner. Luther called it his own beloved psalm and…
- Psalm 123 — Unto Thee Lift I Up Mine Eyes
A short Song of Ascents, the prayer of servants watching their master's hand, prayed by the contemptuously treated and the overlooked. Part…
- Psalm 126 — They That Sow in Tears Shall Reap in Joy
A psalm of return from exile, when the mouth was filled with laughter. Its promise about sowing in tears is prayed by those in a long…
- Psalm 131 — A Quieted Soul
One of the fifteen Songs of Ascents sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem, and among the shortest psalms. Teresa of Ávila and John of the…
- Psalm 134 — Bless Ye the Lord, All Ye Servants of the Lord
The last Song of Ascents, and the shortest night prayer in scripture: three verses for those who stand by night in the house of the Lord.…
- Psalm 137 — By the Rivers of Babylon
The exiles' lament, refusing to sing the Lord's song in a strange land. Its closing verses are among the hardest in scripture and are…
- Psalm 143 — Hear My Prayer, O Lord, Give Ear to My Supplications
The seventh and last penitential psalm, prayed at Lauds on Fridays and at the burial of the dead. 'Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in…
- Psalm 145 — I Will Extol Thee, My God, O King
An alphabetical hymn of praise; the verse 'The eyes of all wait upon thee' became the standard Christian grace before meals. In Jewish…
- Psalm 146 — Praise the Lord, O My Soul
The first of the closing Hallelujah psalms, warning against putting trust in princes and naming God as the helper of the oppressed, the…
- Psalm 150 — Let Every Thing That Hath Breath Praise the Lord
The doxology that ends the psalter: six verses naming every instrument in the temple. It closes Lauds on feast days and is the traditional…
- Psalm 16 — Preserve Me, O God
A psalm of confidence in which the believer takes God as his portion and cup. St. Peter quotes it at Pentecost as a prophecy of the…
- Psalm 19 — The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
Two psalms in one: creation's wordless testimony, then the perfection of God's law, closing with the line every preacher prays before…
- Psalm 22 — My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me
The psalm Jesus prayed from the cross. It moves from utter desolation to a vow of praise before the whole assembly, and the Church reads it…
- Psalm 25 — Unto Thee, O Lord, Do I Lift Up My Soul
An alphabetical psalm of penitence and guidance, asking God to show his ways and to remember mercy rather than the sins of youth. It is…
- Psalm 27 — The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation
A psalm of David that moves from confident praise to urgent petition and back to trust — a pattern that has made it a favorite of…
- Psalm 32 — Blessed Is He Whose Transgression Is Forgiven
One of the seven penitential psalms, and St. Augustine's favourite — he had it written on the wall beside his deathbed. It describes the…
- Psalm 34 — I Will Bless the Lord at All Times
Written, the title says, when David feigned madness before Abimelech and escaped. Its line 'O taste and see that the LORD is good' entered…
- Psalm 35 — Plead My Cause, O Lord
One of the psalms of contention, in which the psalmist hands his defense entirely over to God rather than taking it up himself. The Church…
- Psalm 40 — He Brought Me Up Also Out of an Horrible Pit
A psalm of rescue and of glad obedience — 'Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me' — quoted in Hebrews of Christ's…
- Psalm 43 — O Send Out Thy Light and Thy Truth
Once joined to Psalm 42, this short plea to be led to God's holy hill was for centuries prayed by the priest at the foot of the altar…
- Psalm 46 — God Is Our Refuge and Strength
Psalm 46 inspired Martin Luther's hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" (1529) and has been prayed through plagues, wars, and natural…
- Psalm 62 — My Soul, Wait Thou Only Upon God
A psalm of stillness and unhurried trust, insisting that God alone is rock and refuge while power and riches are a breath on the scales.…
- Psalm 63 — My Soul Thirsts for You
From the earliest centuries Psalm 63 was the psalm of Christian morning prayer; St. John Chrysostom records that the Church decreed no day…
- Psalm 71 — Cast Me Not Off in the Time of Old Age
The prayer of a believer growing old, asking not to be abandoned when strength fails and promising to declare God's power to the next…
- Psalm 8 — How Excellent Is Thy Name
A night psalm of wonder: David looks at the moon and stars and asks what man is that God should be mindful of him. The letter to the…
- Psalm 84 — How Amiable Are Thy Tabernacles
A pilgrim's psalm, longing for the courts of the Lord and blessing those who pass through the valley of weeping and make it a well. Sung at…
- Psalm 86 — Bow Down Thine Ear, O Lord, Hear Me
A plain, unadorned cry of a poor and needy servant, weaving together lines from across the psalter. Its request for an 'undivided heart'…
- Psalm 88 — Lord, God of My Salvation
The darkest psalm in the psalter: it ends without resolution, with darkness as the psalmist's only companion. The Church prays it at…
- Psalm 90 — Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Dwelling Place
Attributed to Moses, the oldest psalm in the book, measuring human years against God's eternity and asking him to teach us to number our…
- Suscipe Me, Domine (Prayer of Monastic Profession)
The verse from Psalm 119 sung three times by a monk or nun lying prostrate at solemn profession, prescribed in chapter 58 of the Rule of…
- The De Profundis for the Dead
Psalm 130 has been the Church's psalm for the dead since the earliest Roman funeral rites, prayed at gravesides, at the tolling of the…