Psalms in the Catholic Bible

The Catholic Bible has the same 150 psalms as other Bibles, but older Catholic Bibles number most of them differently. The Douay-Rheims and the Latin Vulgate follow the Greek numbering, where most psalms from Psalm 10 to Psalm 147 carry a number one lower. So Psalm 23 is Psalm 22 there, and Psalm 51 is Psalm 50. Every psalm page on this site prints the Douay-Rheims and the Latin Vulgate under their Catholic numbers, beside the World English Bible and the King James Version.

Modern Catholic Bibles in English often use the Hebrew numbers instead. The Bible on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, for example, calls the Miserere Psalm 51. The table below gives both numbers for every psalm.

There are two ways of numbering the psalms. One follows the Hebrew text, and it is used by Protestant translations and by this site. The other follows the Greek Septuagint, and the Latin Vulgate took it over. The difference comes from psalms that are joined or split. Psalms 9 and 10 are one psalm in the Greek, and so are Psalms 114 and 115. Psalm 116 is split into two there, and so is Psalm 147. Both systems still end with 150. Psalms 1 to 8 and 148 to 150 have the same number in both. A quick rule: for Psalms 11 to 113 and 117 to 146, subtract one to find the Douay-Rheims number. Modern Catholic translations often use the Hebrew numbers and note the Greek ones.

The Douay-Rheims is an English translation made from the Latin Vulgate. Its New Testament was published at Rheims in 1582, and its Old Testament followed in two volumes in 1609 and 1610, the second running from Psalms to 2 Maccabees. Bishop Richard Challoner revised it between 1749 and 1752. This site prints the 1899 edition, which is in the public domain. Its wording is often different from the King James. Psalm 23, which is Psalm 22 there, has the line "The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing." It also includes the headings in its verse numbers, and it gives Psalm 91 a heading, "The praise of a canticle for David," that the World English Bible and the King James do not have.

The Latin text on each psalm page is the Clementine Vulgate. It was printed in 1592 under Pope Clement VIII and was the official Bible of the Catholic Church until 1979, when the Nova Vulgata replaced it. For the Book of Psalms it uses the Gallican Psalter, not the version translated from the Hebrew. On this site's Psalm 51 page, the Latin line "Miserere mei, Deus" stands where the English reads "Have mercy on me, God," and the bishops' own Bible heads the same psalm "The Miserere." Like the Douay-Rheims, the Vulgate includes headings in its verse numbers, so that line is verse 3.

The Bible on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops uses the Hebrew numbers, so its psalm numbers match this site. It also numbers the heading, which is why its Psalm 51 opens "Have mercy on me, God" at verse 3 while the World English Bible has it at verse 1. The same website gives the Mass readings for each day, and each day includes a Responsorial Psalm. That text comes from the Lectionary for Mass, which is under copyright, so this site cannot print it. To read today's Catholic psalm, use the bishops' daily readings page, then open the psalm here to read it in full with notes.