Why read Psalm 130?
Psalm 130 encourages humility and a quiet heart. Its image of a child resting calmly beside its mother expresses freedom from pride and simple trust in God.
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.
Psalm 130 — “Lord, my heart has not grown proud,...” — is the prayer through which the Psalmist places the experience of an entire hour of life before God. It belongs to the 18th Kathisma and has 3 verses, which you will find in full below.
The text of Psalm 130
1. Lord, my heart has not grown proud, nor have my eyes been lifted up; I have pursued neither great things nor things beyond me.
2. On the contrary, I have humbled and quieted my soul, like a child weaned from its mother, as a reward for my soul.
3. Let Israel hope in the Lord, from now and for ever!
When Psalm 130 is read
- It belongs to the 18th 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.
