1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler,
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers.
Under his wings you will take refuge.
His faithfulness is your shield and rampart.
5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
nor of the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
and ten thousand at your right hand;
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes,
and see the recompense of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the LORD your refuge,
and the Most High your dwelling place,
10 no evil shall happen to you,
neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.
11 For he will put his angels in charge of you,
to guard you in all your ways.
12 They will bear you up in their hands,
so that you won’t dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and cobra.
You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.
14 “Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him.
I will set him on high, because he has known my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him.
I will be with him in trouble.
I will deliver him, and honor him.
16 I will satisfy him with long life,
and show him my salvation.”
1 The praise of a canticle for David. He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.
2 He shall say to the Lord: Thou art my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust.
3 For he hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters: and from the sharp word.
4 He will overshadow thee with his shoulders: and under his wings thou shalt trust.
5 His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night.
6 Of the arrow that flieth in the day, of the business that walketh about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee.
8 But thou shalt consider with thy eyes: and shalt see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because thou, O Lord, art my hope: thou hast made the most High thy refuge.
10 There shall no evil come to thee: nor shall the scourge come near thy dwelling.
11 For he hath given his angels charge over thee; to keep thee in all thy ways.
12 In their hands they shall bear thee up: lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
13 Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon.
14 Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he hath known my name.
15 He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.
16 I will fill him with length of days; and I will shew him my salvation.
What Psalm 91 Means
Psalm 91 — numbered Psalm 90 in the Vulgate and Douay-Rheims, which follow the Greek Septuagint — is the Bible’s great song of divine protection, and the Church has reached for it above every other psalm in seasons of danger. Its promises are extravagant: angels given charge, a shelter under God’s wings, deliverance from “the terror by night” and “the arrow that flies by day.” But the whole psalm turns on its first verb. It is the one who dwells in the shelter of the Most High who rests in his shadow — the Hebrew yashab, to settle and take up residence, not merely to visit in fear. The protection is the natural climate of a life lived close to God, not a charm that works on demand.
Saint Augustine read the psalm as a portrait of Christ and his members: the shadow of the Almighty is the shadow of the cross stretched over the believer, and the two wings that cover us are the two Testaments, Old and New. Cassiodorus heard in “dwelling” the soul’s settled choice of the City of God over the city of man. The Fathers were careful never to read the psalm as a guarantee against all suffering — Christ himself, tempted in the desert, heard the enemy quote verses 11 and 12 and refused to treat God’s protection as something to be put to the test (Matthew 4:5-7). Psalm 91 is not a spell against hardship; it is the confident prayer of those who have made the Lord their refuge, and who know that nothing can reach them except through the hands of the One who holds them.
Liturgical Use in the Catholic Church
The Church places Psalm 91 at the heart of Sunday Compline — the night prayer that closes the Lord’s Day in the Liturgy of the Hours — so that the faithful pray it at the hour when they are least able to defend themselves: as they lie down to sleep. It is also sung on the First Sunday of Lent, whose Gospel recounts Christ’s temptation in the desert and the enemy’s misuse of its very words. The psalm appears among the prayers of the Church’s Rite of Exorcism, prayed by priests in her name, and it is a traditional choice for the Commendation of the Dying and for funerals. Father Gabriele Amorth, for many years an exorcist of the Diocese of Rome, valued Psalm 91 and prayed it often; his published memoirs are his personal pastoral testimony rather than the magisterial teaching of the Church, but they belong to a long line of Catholics who have turned to these words in hard hours.
Praying Psalm 91 — A Simple Practice
Pray Psalm 91 slowly and, when you can, out loud — it was written to be spoken. The simplest place to keep it is at night: make it part of Compline, or pray it as the last words before sleep, entrusting the coming darkness to God the way the Church does every Sunday. In a moment of fear or spiritual pressure, pray it deprecatorily — asking God for his protection (“shelter me, deliver me, set your angels to guard me”), never addressing or commanding any evil spirit, which the Church reserves to her ordained ministers. You can pray it over your home and family, pausing at verse 11 to ask God to send his angels to watch over those you love. Let one line become a refuge you return to through the day: “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.”