Bible / Psalms
Psalm 141 [Douay 140]
World English Bible, Catholic edition, in plain modern English. About the translations
Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision, the traditional Catholic English Bible. About the translations
Psalm 141 in modern numbering
1 LORD, I have called on you. Come to me quickly! Listen to my voice when I call to you.
2 Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
3 Set a watch, LORD, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips.
4 Don’t incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. Don’t let me eat of their delicacies.
5 Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness; let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head; don’t let my head refuse it; Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds.
6 Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock. They will hear my words, for they are well spoken.
7 “As when one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.”
8 For my eyes are on you, LORD, the Lord. I take refuge in you. Don’t leave my soul destitute.
9 Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, from the traps of the workers of iniquity.
10 Let the wicked fall together into their own nets while I pass by.
1 I have cried to thee, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to thee.
2 Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice.
3 Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: and a door round about my lips.
4 Incline not my heart to evil words; to make excuses in sins. With men that work iniquity: and I will not communicate with the choicest of them.
5 The just man shall correct me in mercy, and shall reprove me: but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. For my prayer shall still be against the things with which they are well pleased:
6 Their judges falling upon the rock have been swallowed up. They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed:
7 As when the thickness of the earth is broken up upon the ground: Our bones are scattered by the side of hell.
8 But to thee, O Lord, Lord, are my eyes: in thee have I put my trust, take not away my soul.
9 Keep me from the snare, which they have laid for me, and from the stumblingblocks of them that work iniquity.
10 The wicked shall fall in his net: I am alone until I pass.
This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church
Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text. The Catechism uses modern verse numbers and psalm numbers (one higher than Douay-Rheims for most psalms), so these are listed by chapter.
- Psalm 141:5 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“… yet hath not given me over to death." "For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." "The righteous," saith it, "shall chasten me in mercy, and reprove me; but let not the oil of sinners make fat my head.”
Quoted in First Letter to the Corinthians, St. Clement of Rome (c. AD 96), Chapter LVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1