Why read Psalm 27?
Read Psalm 27 when you feel unheard and need to ask for support. The opening plea develops into gratitude for God's help and a prayer for the whole community.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
The full text of Psalm 27 (12 verses), from the 4th Kathisma of the Psalter. The opening words — “To You, Lord, I cried, my God...” — are also the psalm’s traditional “name”: our grandmothers did not say “psalm 27”, but called it by name, using its first words.
The text of Psalm 27
1. To You, Lord, I cried, my God, pay heed! For if You do not hear me, I shall be like those who go down into the grave.
2. Hear the voice of my prayer when I pray to You, when I lift my hands towards Your holy dwelling.
3. Do not drag my soul away with sinners, and do not destroy me with those who work injustice,
4. With those who speak peace to their neighbour, but have evil in their hearts.
5. Give them according to their deeds and the deceitfulness of their thoughts.
6. Give them according to the work of their hands; repay them according to their deeds,
7. For they did not understand the works of the Lord and the deeds of His hands; You will tear them down and not build them up.
8. Blessed is the Lord, for He has heard the voice of my prayer.
9. The Lord is my helper and my defender; my heart hoped in Him, and He helped me.
10. And my body blossomed, and of my own will I shall praise Him.
11. The Lord is the strength of His people and the defender of the salvations of His anointed.
12. Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; shepherd them and lift them up for ever.
When Psalm 27 is read
- It belongs to the 4th Kathisma and may be read daily alongside the prayer rule (see the morning and evening prayers).
- At the end of each psalm, tradition adds: «Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.».
Adjacent psalms
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
