When it is said
Anyone may pray it, at any hour. This page gives the whole psalm.
St Athanasius of Alexandria, who died in AD 373, gave it for when the schemes of enemies drag on. Do not lose heart, he wrote, as though God had forgotten you. Call on the Lord by singing this psalm.
In the Greek Psalter that the Orthodox Church uses, it is Psalm 12.
Where it comes from
Author by tradition
Four times “How long?”
The psalm’s heading names David. He asks “How long?” four times. The English preacher Charles Spurgeon called it the “How Long Psalm”. Then David stops asking how long. He asks God to look and answer, and he ends by singing.
The Holy Scriptures, Jewish Publication Society (1917), on Mechon Mamre; Wikipedia, Psalm 13
Prayed in East and West
Around AD 530, St Benedict set it in his Rule for monks, for the early morning prayer called Prime on Thursdays. The Coptic Orthodox Church prays it in its book of hours, at Prime and in its midnight prayers. Johannes Brahms set it to music for a choir of women’s voices.
What the words mean
“Hide Your face”
God gave Aaron and his sons a blessing to speak over Israel: “The LORD make His face shine upon thee … The LORD lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” So when the psalm asks how long God will hide His face, it is asking for that blessing back.
The Scripture in it
How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long must I wrestle in my soul, with sorrow in my heart each day? How long will my enemy dominate me? Consider me and respond, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death, lest my enemy say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes rejoice when I fall. But I have trusted in Your loving devotion; my heart will rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for He has been good to me.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.