Psalm 13

Psalm 13:4-5, 6

#481 Weekday Year I Context (Wednesday of the 30th Week O)

R. (6a) My hope, O Lord, is in your mercy.

Look, answer me, O Lord, my God!
Give light to my eyes that I may not sleep in death
lest my enemy say, “I have overcome him”;
lest my foes rejoice at my downfall.
R. All my hope, O Lord, is in your loving kindness.

Though I trusted in your mercy,
Let my heart rejoice in your salvation;
let me sing of the Lord, “He has been good to me.”
R. All my hope, O Lord, is in your loving kindness.
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Commentary on Ps 13:4-5, 6

Psalm 13 is an individual lament. The singer, who is ill, asks the Lord for salvation so their enemies will not think the illness is a punishment from the Lord. Confident in God's abundant mercy, the selection is concluded with a witness to hope in the Lord.

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Psalm 13:6ab, 6c

#636 Proper of Saints Context (Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sep 8)

R. (Isaiah 61:10) With delight I rejoice in the Lord.

Though I trusted in your mercy,
let my heart rejoice in your salvation.
R. With delight I rejoice in the Lord.

Let me sing of the LORD, “He has been good to me.”
R. With delight I rejoice in the Lord.
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Commentary on Ps 13:6ab, 6c

Psalm 13 begins as an individual lament. However, the final strophe captures the hope in the mercy of God and the faith to accept his call. “The expression of confidence (13:6). The confidence is expressed within the tension which exists between past experience and future hope. The past experience of the psalmist has been one of trust in God’s 'lovingkindness,' namely the faithful covenant love of God which characterized all his dealings with his chosen people.” [1]

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[1] Peter C. Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 2nd ed., vol. 19, Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville, TN: Nelson Reference & Electronic, 2004), 143.

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