Why read Psalm 37?
Read Psalm 37 as a prayer of repentance when suffering weighs heavily on you. The psalmist acknowledges his sins and loneliness, asking God not to abandon him.
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 37 (22 verses), from the Sixth Kathisma of the Psalter. The opening words — "O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger..." — are also the traditional "name" of the psalm: our grandmothers did not say "psalm 37", but called it by name, after its first words.
The text of Psalm 37
1. O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger, neither chasten me in Thy wrath.
2. For Thine arrows are fastened in me, and Thou hast laid Thy hand heavily upon me.
3. There is no healing in my flesh because of Thine anger; neither is there any peace in my bones because of my sins.
4. For mine iniquities are gone over my head; as a heavy burden they are pressed sore upon me.
5. My bruises are putrefied and corrupted through my foolishness.
6. I am troubled and bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
7. For my loins are filled with mockings, and there is no healing in my flesh.
8. I was afflicted and humbled exceedingly; I roared from the groaning of my heart.
9. O Lord, all my desire is before Thee, and my groaning is not hid from Thee.
10. My heart is troubled, my strength hath failed me, and the light of mine eyes also is not with me.
11. My friends and my neighbours drew near and sat around me; and those closest to me stood afar off.
12. Those who sought my soul strove against me; those who sought evil for me spoke vain things and devised deceits all the day long.
13. But as for me, like a deaf man I heard not, and as a mute that openeth not his mouth.
14. And I became as a man that heareth not, and that hath no reproofs in his mouth.
15. For in Thee, O Lord, have I hoped; Thou wilt hear me, O Lord my God,
16. For I said: Let mine enemies at no time rejoice over me; yea, when my feet were shaken, they magnified themselves against me.
17. For I am ready for scourges, and my sorrow is continually before me.
18. For I will declare mine iniquity, and I will take thought for my sin;
19. But mine enemies live and are made stronger than I, and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
20. They that render me evil for good slandered me, because I pursued goodness.
21. Forsake me not, O Lord my God; depart not from me;
22. Attend unto my help, O Lord of my salvation.
When Psalm 37 is read
- one of the great penitential psalms.
- At the end of each psalm, the tradition adds: "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen."
Neighbouring psalms
Read also
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
