Bible / Psalms
Psalm 45 [Douay 44]
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 45 in modern numbering
1 My heart overflows with a noble theme. I recite my verses for the king. My tongue is like the pen of a skillful writer.
2 You are the most excellent of the sons of men. Grace has anointed your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever.
3 Strap your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and your majesty.
4 In your majesty ride on victoriously on behalf of truth, humility, and righteousness. Let your right hand display awesome deeds.
5 Your arrows are sharp. The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies.
6 Your throne, God, is forever and ever. A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom.
7 You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
8 All your garments smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia. Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made you glad.
9 Kings’ daughters are among your honorable women. At your right hand the queen stands in gold of Ophir.
10 Listen, daughter, consider, and turn your ear. Forget your own people, and also your father’s house.
11 So the king will desire your beauty, honor him, for he is your lord.
12 The daughter of Tyre comes with a gift. The rich among the people entreat your favor.
13 The princess inside is all glorious. Her clothing is interwoven with gold.
14 She shall be led to the king in embroidered work. The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to you.
15 With gladness and rejoicing they shall be led. They shall enter into the king’s palace.
16 Your sons will take the place of your fathers. You shall make them princes in all the earth.
17 I will make your name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore the peoples shall give you thanks forever and ever.
1 Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the sons of Core, for understanding. A canticle for the Beloved.
2 My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the king: My tongue is the pen of a scrivener that writeth swiftly.
3 Thou art beautiful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever.
4 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty.
5 With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously, and reign. Because of truth and meekness and justice: and thy right hand shall conduct thee wonderfully.
6 Thy arrows are sharp: under thee shall people fall, into the hearts of the king’s enemies.
7 Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness.
8 Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
9 Myrrh and stacte and cassia perfume thy garments, from the ivory houses: out of which
10 The daughters of kings have delighted thee in thy glory. The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety.
11 Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: and forget thy people and thy father’s house.
12 And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord thy God, and him they shall adore.
13 And the daughters of Tyre with gifts, yea, all the rich among the people, shall entreat thy countenance.
14 All the glory of the king’s daughter is within in golden borders,
15 Clothed round about with varieties. After her shall virgins be brought to the king: her neighbours shall be brought to thee.
16 They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing: they shall be brought into the temple of the king.
17 Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee: thou shalt make them princes over all the earth.
18 They shall remember thy name throughout all generations. Therefore shall people praise thee for ever; yea, for ever and ever.
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 45:2 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“… the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in those who believe in Him." There are also some [of them] who declare, "Thou art fairer than the children of men;”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Psalm 45:3 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“… Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows;" and, "Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Most Mighty, with Thy beauty and Thy fairness, and go forward and proceed prosperously; and rule Thou because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Psalm 45:4 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“… Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows;" and, "Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Most Mighty, with Thy beauty and Thy fairness, and go forward and proceed prosperously; and rule Thou because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Psalm 45:6 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of Thy kingdom: Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity: therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter LVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“Hearken, O daughter, and behold, and incline thine ear, and forget thy people and the house of thy father; and the King shall desire thy beauty: because he is thy Lord, and thou shalt worship Him.”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter LXIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter VI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Psalm 45:7 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of Thy kingdom: Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity: therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter LVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“we have also proved, inasmuch as the word says: Therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.”
Quoted in Dialogue with Trypho, St. Justin Martyr (c. AD 160), Chapter LXXXVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
“… glorified in His saints, and to be admired in those who believe in Him." There are also some [of them] who declare, "Thou art fairer than the children of men;" and, "God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows;”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Psalm 45:11 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“His hand fashioned thy substance; He will cover thee over [too] within and without with pure gold and silver, and He will adorn thee to such a degree, that even "the King Himself shall have pleasure in thy beauty.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXIX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Psalm 45:16 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“But our Lord is Himself the resurrection, as He does Himself declare, "I am the resurrection and the life." But the fathers are His children; for it is said by the prophet: "Instead of thy fathers, thy children have been made to thee.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter V. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Psalm 45:17 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“And the prophet, too, indicates the same, saying, "instead of fathers, children have been born unto thee.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1