The Book of Psalms

⭑ Catholic Public Domain Version 2009 ⭑

- Chapter 41 -

Blessed is he who cares for the poor

(John 13:18-30)

Unto the end. A Psalm of David himself.

Blessed is he who shows understanding toward the needy and the poor. The Lord will deliver him in the evil day.

May the Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth. And may he not hand him over to the will of his adversaries.

May the Lord bring him help on his bed of sorrow. In his infirmity, you have changed his entire covering.

I said, “O Lord, be merciful to me. Heal my soul, because I have sinned against you.”

My enemies have spoken evils against me. When will he die and his name perish?

And when he came in to see me, he was speaking emptiness. His heart gathered iniquity to itself. He went outside, and he was speaking in the same way.

All my enemies were whispering against me. They were thinking up evils against me.

They established an unjust word against me. Will he that sleeps no longer rise again?

For even the man of my peace, in whom I hoped, who ate my bread, has greatly supplanted me.

But you, O Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up again. And I will requite them.

By this, I knew that you preferred me: because my adversary will not rejoice over me.

But you have sustained me, because of my innocence, and you have confirmed me in your sight in eternity.

Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for all generations and even forever. Amen. Amen.(a)

Footnotes

(a)40:14 The words ‘fiat, fiat’ call to mind the words of the Virgin Mary in the Gospel of Luke: “Ecce ancilla Domini, fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.” The Latin ‘fiat’ in this Psalm is a translation of the Hebrew ‘Amen’ (which is also used in Aramaic). Fiat can be translated as ‘let it be’ or as ‘so be it.’ Amen can be translated in the same way, and also as ‘truly.’(Conte)