Why read Psalm 114?
Psalm 114 offers thanksgiving for help and a prayer for renewed peace. After describing danger and tears, it calls the soul to rest by remembering God's goodness.
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.
In the 16th Kathisma of the Psalter, Psalm 114 awaits its reader with 9 verses of prayer arising from a real experience. It begins with “I loved the Lord, for He heard...” — and from there onwards, everything is a dialogue between the human being and God.
The text of Psalm 114
1. I loved the Lord, for He heard the voice of my prayer,
2. For He inclined His ear towards me, and in my days I will call upon Him.
3. The pains of death surrounded me, the dangers of hell found me; I found distress and pain
4. And called upon the name of the Lord: “O Lord, deliver my soul!”
5. The Lord is merciful and righteous, and our God shows mercy.
6. The Lord is the One who guards infants; I was humbled and was delivered.
7. Return, my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has done good to you;
8. For He brought my soul out of death, my eyes out of tears and my feet away from falling.
9. I will be pleasing before the Lord in the land of the living.
When Psalm 114 is read
- It belongs to the 16th Kathisma — the psalms are read in full within the cycle of kathismata, at Matins and Vespers.
- 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.
