Texts from their published editions. Guidance on what this tradition does at this moment is on the occasion page, and background on the tradition is at /traditions/catholic.
Texts from their published editions
Each text below comes from the edition named under it and was checked twice, independently, before it appeared. Neither check was a person. Where the two disagreed by even one character, the text is not shown here. That is a claim about wording only: these are not selected or endorsed for any particular situation, and nobody credentialed in the tradition has signed them. Older spelling is kept as the edition prints it. The full record, including the texts we held back because the two transcriptions disagreed, is at the verification record.
One of the seven penitential psalms and the psalm most associated in Catholic practice with prayer for the dead, said at funerals, in the Office of the Dead, and privately after a death. Catholic English editions follow Vulgate numbering, so it appears as Psalm 129 in Douay-Rheims and Psalm 130 in most other Bibles.
Wording and scope vary between editions and between communities, so this entry is tied to one named edition and makes no claim about which form is right in a given setting.
A psalm for David. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing.
He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment:
He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for his own name's sake.
For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me.
Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which inebreateth me, how goodly is it!
And thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.
Challoner revision. John Murphy Company, Baltimore, 1899. Published 1899, before 1929, US public domain. Source
Out of copyright in the United States on the basis stated here, and free to reuse there. Please keep the citation with it.
Wording and scope vary between editions and between communities, so this entry is tied to one named edition and makes no claim about which form is right in a given setting.
Content last changed 6 October 2026. Dates come from this page’s own revision history, not from the last time the site was deployed.
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