Psalm 91 Meaning: The Full Text, the Latin and What It Actually Promises
Sixteen verses about the shadow of the Almighty, angels with orders, and a dragon under your feet. Also the only psalm the devil ever quoted.
Psalm 91, King James Version
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
Psalm 91 or Psalm 90?
Both. Catholic Bibles that follow the old Latin numbering, like the Douay-Rheims, call it Psalm 90, because the Greek and Latin tradition counts the psalms a little differently from the Hebrew. Most modern Bibles, Catholic ones included, now use the Hebrew number, 91. Same sixteen verses either way.
What Psalm 91 means
The psalm is a conversation with three voices. First someone describes the man who lives in the "secret place," the shelter of God. Then that man answers for himself: He is my refuge. Then, in the last three verses, God speaks in the first person and signs off on the whole thing: I will deliver him, I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble. Notice that last part. Not "he will have no trouble." With him in it. The psalm does not promise a life where nothing comes at you. It promises that the arrows, the plague and the terror by night do not get the last word over the man who has made God his home.
The angels and the dragon
Verse 11 is where the guardian angel tradition leans hard: he shall give his angels charge over thee. Charge, as in orders. They are on assignment. Verse 13 goes further: the lion, the adder, the young lion and the dragon, all under your feet. Christian art has read that verse as Christ trampling the devil for well over a thousand years, and it is the same picture as St. Michael with his foot on the dragon and St. George with his lance in one. That is why this psalm sits so close to the saints on our Saints Go Hard tee.
The only psalm the devil quoted
When Satan tempts Jesus in the desert, he takes Him to the top of the Temple and quotes verses 11 and 12: jump, because it is written that the angels will catch you (Matthew 4:6, Luke 4:10-11). Jesus answers with Deuteronomy: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. It is the clearest commentary on Psalm 91 there is. The protection is real, but it is not a dare. You do not jump off buildings to make God prove it. The man in the psalm is safe because he lives in God, not because he is testing Him.
Psalm 91 in Latin
Qui habitat in adiutorio Altissimi, in protectione Dei caeli commorabitur
He that dwelleth in the aid of the Most High shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven.
That is the first verse in the Vulgate, where it is Psalm 90. Verse 11 in Latin is Quoniam angelis suis mandavit de te, ut custodiant te in omnibus viis tuis, and verse 13 is Super aspidem et basiliscum ambulabis, et conculcabis leonem et draconem: upon the asp and the basilisk thou shalt walk, and thou shalt trample the lion and the dragon.
Where Catholics pray it
Psalm 91 is a night psalm. The Church prays it at Night Prayer, Compline, the last hour of the Liturgy of the Hours before sleep, because of verse 5: thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night. If you have ever sung "On Eagle's Wings" at a funeral, you have sung Psalm 91. Michael Joncas wrote that hymn on it in 1979, straight from verse 4: he shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.
Psalm 91, the song
Infinite Underground, the artist behind our Vade Retro Satana song, made a track out of it. Psalm 91 comes out November 20. If you want the prayer that goes with this psalm, the St. Michael Prayer is the one we keep coming back to, and the Armor of God is the New Testament version of the same idea.
"For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."Psalm 91:11