Psalms – Chapter 57

Old Testament12 Verses

1Unto the end, destroy not, for David, for an inscription of a title.

2If in very deed ye speak justice: judge right things, ye sons of men.

3For in your heart you work iniquity: your hands forge injustice in the earth.

4The wicked are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray from the womb: they have spoken false things.

5Their madness is according to the likeness of a serpent: like the deaf asp that stoppeth her ears:

6Which will not hear the voice of the charmers; nor of the wizard that charmeth wisely.

7God shall break in pieces their teeth in their mouth: the Lord shall break the grinders of the lions.

8They shall come to nothing, like water running down; he hath bent his bow till they be weakened.

9Like wax that melteth they shall be taken away: fire hath fallen on them, and they shall not see the sun.

10Before your thorns could know the brier; he swalloweth them up, as alive, in his wrath.

11The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge: he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.

12And man shall say: If indeed there be fruit to the just: there is indeed a God that judgeth them on the earth.

Reflection for Today

Sacred Scripture presents Psalms Chapter 57 as a unique stage in salvation history, not merely as background to other books.

St. Thomas Aquinas and other Fathers of the Church meditated on texts like this one, seeing in them instruction for the spiritual life. the Psalms are the prayer book of the Church, prayed daily in the Liturgy of the Hours (CIC 2585-2589). The passage calls believers to grasp that God invites us to bring all our emotions to Him.

May your reading of Psalms Chapter 57 become true lectio divina: read the words, meditate on their meaning, respond in prayer, and rest in God's presence. Ask the Holy Spirit to show how God invites us to bring all our emotions to Him applies to your life today.

💡Catholic Reflection • Church Teachings

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