PSALTERIVM

PSALMVS XCI — BONVM EST CONFITERI

It Is Good to Give Praise

Bonum est confiteri Domino is a Sabbath psalm of praise, celebrating the delight of contemplating God's works. The imagery of the ten-stringed psaltery and the deep thoughts of God create a tone of reflective worship. In the 1962 Breviary it appears at Sunday Lauds. The Fathers see in the Sabbath theme a foreshadowing of eternal rest.

LATINE
Bonum est confiteri Domino: et psallere nomini tuo, Altissime.
Ad annuntiandum mane misericordiam tuam: et veritatem tuam per noctem.
In decachordo, psalterio: cum cantico, in cithara.
Quia delectasti me, Domine, in factura tua: et in operibus manuum tuarum exsultabo.
Quam magnificata sunt opera tua, Domine! nimis profundae factae sunt cogitationes tuae.
Vir insipiens non cognoscet: et stultus non intelliget haec.
Cum exorti fuerint peccatores sicut faenum: et apparuerint omnes, qui operantur iniquitatem:
Ut intereant in saeculum saeculi: tu autem Altissimus in aeternum, Domine.
Quoniam ecce inimici tui, Domine, quoniam ecce inimici tui peribunt: et dispergentur omnes, qui operantur iniquitatem.
Et exaltabitur sicut unicornis cornu meum: et senectus mea in misericordia uberi.
Et despexit oculus meus inimicos meos: et in insurgentibus in me malignantibus audiet auris mea.
Iustus ut palma florebit: sicut cedrus Libani multiplicabitur.
Plantati in domo Domini, in atriis domus Dei nostri florebunt.
Adhuc multiplicabuntur in senecta uberi: et bene patientes erunt, ut annuntient: Quoniam rectus Dominus, Deus noster, et non est iniquitas in eo.
ENGLISH
It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to thy name, O most High.
To shew forth thy mercy in the morning, and thy truth in the night:
Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery: with a canticle upon the harp.
For thou hast given me, O Lord, a delight in thy doings: and in the works of thy hands I shall rejoice.
O Lord, how great are thy works! thy thoughts are exceeding deep.
The senseless man shall not know: nor will the fool understand these things.
When the wicked shall spring up as grass: and all the workers of iniquity shall appear:
That they may perish for ever and ever: but thou, O Lord, art most high for evermore.
For behold thy enemies, O Lord, for behold thy enemies shall perish: and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
But my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn: and my old age in plentiful mercy.
My eye also hath looked down upon my enemies: and my ear shall hear of the downfall of the malignant that rise up against me.
The just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus.
They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God.
They shall still increase in a fruitful old age: and shall be well treated, that they may shew, that the Lord our God is righteous, and there is no iniquity in him.
NOTA
FONS
Douay-Rheims (1609) / Vulgata
USUS
Sabbath (Saturday), Lauds
CONTEXT
Psalm 92 in Hebrew numbering. Traditional psalm for the Sabbath/Sunday. The palm and cedar images appear throughout church iconography.