---
title: "Psalm 55 (56) – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/psalms/55/
description: "Psalm 55 (Psalm 56 in Hebrew numbering) in the CPDV, with the Latin Vulgate. Miserere mei, Deus. A prayer of David in danger and distress."
---

# Psalm 55 (56)

Psalm 55 in the Vulgate numbering Bless follows is Psalm 56 in Hebrew numbering (the NABRE, RSV and KJV). Here are all 13 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Miserere mei, Deus. A prayer of David in danger and distress.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Psalm 55 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. Unto the end. For the people who have become far removed from the Sacred. Of David, with the inscription of a title, when the Philistines held him in Gath.
2. Have mercy on me, O God, because man has trampled over me. All day long, he has afflicted me by fighting against me.
3. My enemies have trampled over me all day long. For those who make war against me are many.
4. From the height of the day, I will be afraid. But truly, I will hope in you.
5. In God, I will praise my words. In God, I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can do to me.
6. All day long, they curse my words. All their intentions are for evil against me.
7. They will dwell and hide themselves. They will watch my heel, just as they waited for my soul;
8. because of this, nothing will save them. In your anger, you will crush the people.
9. O God, I have announced my life to you. You have placed my tears in your sight, and even in your promise.
10. Then my enemies will be turned back. On whatever day that I call upon you, behold, I know that you are my God.
11. In God, I will praise the word. In the Lord, I will praise his speech. In God, I have hoped. I will not fear what man can do to me.
12. My vows to you, O God, are in me. I will repay them. Praises be to you.
13. For you have rescued my soul from death and my feet from slipping, so that I may be pleasing in the sight of God, in the light of the living.

## Psalm 55 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. In finem, pro populo qui a sanctis longe factus est. David in tituli inscriptionem, cum tenuerunt eum Allophyli in Geth.
2. Miserere mei, Deus, quoniam conculcavit me homo; tota die impugnans, tribulavit me.
3. Conculcaverunt me inimici mei tota die, quoniam multi bellantes adversum me.
4. Ab altitudine diei timebo: ego vero in te sperabo.
5. In Deo laudabo sermones meos; in Deo speravi: non timebo quid faciat mihi caro.
6. Tota die verba mea execrabantur; adversum me omnes cogitationes eorum in malum.
7. Inhabitabunt, et abscondent; ipsi calcaneum meum observabunt. Sicut sustinuerunt animam meam,
8. pro nihilo salvos facies illos; in ira populos confringes.
9. Deus, vitam meam annuntiavi tibi; posuisti lacrimas meas in conspectu tuo, sicut et in promissione tua:
10. tunc convertentur inimici mei retrorsum. In quacumque die invocavero te, ecce cognovi quoniam Deus meus es.
11. In Deo laudabo verbum; in Domino laudabo sermonem. In Deo speravi: non timebo quid faciat mihi homo.
12. In me sunt, Deus, vota tua, quæ reddam, laudationes tibi:
13. quoniam eripuisti animam meam de morte, et pedes meos de lapsu, ut placeam coram Deo in lumine viventium.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 990: "I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body" ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## The saints

- “I trust I shall not fear, since the Lord will not let my fear overcome me.” — St. Thomas More, Letter to Margaret Roper from the Tower, 1534 (On this theme: verse 3)

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 4: “The height of the day” … That is, even at noonday, when the sun is the highest, I am still in danger.
- Verse 5: “My words” … The words or promises God has made in my favour.
- Verse 8: That is, since they lie in wait to ruin my soul, thou shalt for no consideration favour or assist them, but execute thy justice upon them.

## Read at Mass (US)

- Thu, Jan 20, 2028 (computed): Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time — Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 56:2-3, 9-10a, 10b-11, 12-13
- Sat, Sep 23, 2028 (computed): St. Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest — Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 56:10c-12, 13-14

Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish. Mass citations number the Psalms in the Hebrew way.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).