Psalm 55 is a prayer of someone betrayed by a close friend: “For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it… But thou a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar.” Overwhelmed, the psalmist longs to escape, “Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?”, and finds the answer: “Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.” In the Douay-Rheims it is numbered Psalm 54. Below is the full Catholic text, what the psalm means, how the Church uses it, and a prayer.
Psalm 55 in the Douay-Rheims Bible
Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David.
Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication:
Be attentive to me and hear me. I am grieved in my exercise; and am troubled,
At the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner. For they have cast iniquities upon me: and in wrath they were troublesome to me.
My heart is troubled within me: and the fear of death is fallen upon me.
Fear and trembling are come upon me: and darkness hath covered me.
And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?
Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness.
I waited for him that hath saved me from pusillanimity of spirit, and a storm.
Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.
Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in the midst thereof are labour,
And injustice. And usury and deceit have not departed from its streets.
For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden myself from him.
But thou a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar,
Who didst take sweetmeats together with me: in the house of God we walked with consent.
Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell. For there is wickedness in their dwellings: in the midst of them.
But I have cried to God: and the Lord will save me.
Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice.
He shall redeem my soul in peace from them that draw near to me: for among many they were with me.
God shall hear, and the Eternal shall humble them. For there is no change with them, and they have not feared God:
He hath stretched forth his hand to repay. They have defiled his covenant,
They are divided by the wrath Of his countenance, and his heart hath drawn near. His words are smoother than oil, and the same are darts.
Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.
But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee, O Lord.
Psalm 55 or Psalm 54?
The Douay-Rheims Bible follows the numbering of the Latin Vulgate and the Greek Septuagint, while most modern Bibles follow the Hebrew. So the Douay’s Psalm 54 is Psalm 55 in the New American Bible and other modern translations. In Latin the psalm begins Exaudi, Deus, orationem meam. See how many psalms are there?
What the psalm means
- Anguish and fear: “Fear and trembling are come upon me: and darkness hath covered me.”
- Wings like a dove: the longing to escape from pain and find rest.
- Betrayal by a friend: the deepest wound comes from someone close. Christians hear Judas’s betrayal of Jesus.
- Prayer at every hour: “Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice.”
- Cast your care on the Lord: St. Peter repeats it: “Casting all your care upon him, for he hath care of you” (1 Peter 5:7).
How the Church uses Psalm 55
- For anyone hurt by betrayal, in marriage, friendship or the Church, as a prayer that brings the hurt to God.
- In anxiety: “Cast thy care upon the Lord.” See psalms for anxiety.
- In music, Mendelssohn’s anthem “Hear My Prayer” (1844), with its famous “O for the wings of a dove,” is based on this psalm.
A prayer with Psalm 55
Written for this page:
Lord, hear my prayer; do not hide from my plea.
When I am wounded by those I trusted, be my refuge.
I long for wings like a dove to fly away and be at rest,
but I cast my burden on you, for you will sustain me. Amen.
Frequently asked questions
Where is “Cast your burden on the Lord”?
Psalm 55:23 in modern Bibles (54:23 in the Douay-Rheims: “Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee”).
Where is “O that I had wings like a dove”?
Psalm 55:7 (54:7 in the Douay-Rheims: “Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?”).
More psalms and prayers
Texts and sources
- Scripture: Psalm 54 (55); 1 Peter 5:7, Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner), public domain.
- The prayer was written for this page.