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Psalm 16:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 16:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Psalm 16[a]
God the Supreme Good
1 A miktam[b] of David.
Protect me, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
Footnotes
- Psalm 16:1 A prayer for safekeeping, pleading for the Lord’s protection against the threat of death. It could also be called a psalm of trust. This psalm prepares the way for belief in an everlasting life with God. And it is easy to see how early Christian preachers could understand the final verses as a detailed prophecy of the Resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:24-28; 13:25).
This psalm is in a special way the prayer of those who have “chosen God” in one or other form of consecrated life. Rarely has the joy of a life lived in the presence of God been expressed with such enthusiasm. The wonder felt penetrates to the innermost being of the believer (that is, the “heart,” which for the ancients was the seat of one’s thoughts as well as desires and affections). - Psalm 16:1 Miktam: its meaning is unknown. Some translate it as “song” or “poem”; others suggest that it means “in a low voice.”
