PSALTERIVM

PSALMVS LVI — MISERERE MEI DEVS

Have Mercy on Me, O God

Miserere mei Deus is a psalm of confident trust amid persecution, with the refrain 'My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready.' Written when David hid from Saul in a cave, it transforms a place of hiding into a sanctuary of praise. In the 1962 Breviary it appears at Wednesday Matins. The shadow of God's wings (verse 2) echoes the protective cherubim over the Ark.

LATINE
Miserere mei, Deus, miserere mei: quoniam in te confidit anima mea.
Et in umbra alarum tuarum sperabo, donec transeat iniquitas.
Clamabo ad Deum altissimum: Deum qui benefecit mihi.
Misit de caelo, et liberavit me: dedit in opprobrium conculcantes me.
Misit Deus misericordiam suam, et veritatem suam, et eripuit animam meam de medio catulorum leonum.
Dormivi conturbatus. Filii hominum dentes eorum arma et sagittae: et lingua eorum gladius acutus.
Exaltare super caelos, Deus, et in omnem terram gloria tua.
Paratum cor meum, Deus, paratum cor meum: cantabo, et psalmum dicam.
Exsurge, gloria mea, exsurge, psalterium et cithara: exsurgam diluculo.
Confitebor tibi in populis, Domine: et psalmum dicam tibi in gentibus.
Quoniam magnificata est usque ad caelos misericordia tua: et usque ad nubes veritas tua.
Exaltare super caelos, Deus: et super omnem terram gloria tua.
ENGLISH
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me: for my soul trusteth in thee.
And in the shadow of thy wings will I hope, until iniquity pass away.
I will cry to God the most High; to God who hath done good to me.
He hath sent from heaven and delivered me: he hath made them a reproach that trod upon me.
God hath sent his mercy and his truth, and he hath delivered my soul from the midst of the young lions.
I slept troubled. The sons of men, whose teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory above all the earth.
My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready: I will sing, and rehearse a psalm.
Arise, O my glory, arise psaltery and harp: I will arise early.
I will give praise to thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing a psalm to thee among the nations.
For thy mercy is magnified even to the heavens: and thy truth unto the clouds.
Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth.
NOTA
FONS
Douay-Rheims (1609) / Vulgata
USUS
Morning prayer, Times of danger
CONTEXT
Psalm 57 in Hebrew numbering. The refrain 'Be thou exalted' (vv. 6, 12) structures the psalm. 'Paratum cor meum' (My heart is ready) became a motto of courage.