PSALTERIVM

PSALMVS CXLIII

Blessed Be the Lord Who Teaches My Hands to Fight

Benedictus Dominus Deus meus is a royal psalm of David celebrating God as his rock, fortress, and deliverer in battle. The meditation on human transience - 'Man is like to vanity; his days pass away like a shadow' - precedes the petition for victory. In the 1962 Breviary it appears at Vespers on Saturdays. The martial imagery suits the tradition of spiritual warfare.

LATINE
Benedictus Dominus, Deus meus, qui docet manus meas ad praelium, et digitos meos ad bellum.
Misericordia mea, et refugium meum: susceptor meus, et liberator meus: protector meus, et in ipso speravi: qui subdit populum meum sub me.
ENGLISH
Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war.
My mercy, and my refuge: my support, and my deliverer: my protector, and I have hoped in him: who subdueth my people under me.
NOTA
FONS
Douay-Rheims (1609) / Vulgata
USUS
Before Battle, Spiritual Combat
CONTEXT
Psalm 144 in Hebrew numbering. Central to the spirituality of Christian knighthood and spiritual warfare.