When it is said
It is the last of the Six Psalms that open Matins, the Church’s morning service. The reader then repeats two of its lines, ending on “Thy good Spirit shall lead me into the land of righteousness.”
Later in the same service, the choir sings two of its verses in the Great Doxology. Anyone can pray these four verses at home before a choice.
Where it comes from
Author by tradition
A psalm of David
In its Hebrew heading it is a psalm of David, and the Greek Bible sets it at the time “when his son pursued him.” In the psalm an enemy has crushed him and left him in darkness. He remembers what God did in the days of old and stretches out his hands to Him, thirsting for God like dry ground.
The Book of Psalms, the King James Version (ebible.org); The Septuagint in Brenton’s translation (ebible.org)
A psalm for asking
St Athanasius of Alexandria wrote a letter to a man named Marcellinus about which psalm to pray in each need. He named Psalm 5 and this one for anyone who wants to make a request of God and pray. His Greek Bible numbered this one Psalm 142.
St Athanasius, Letter to Marcellinus, the Greek, on Documenta Catholica Omnia
The Scripture in it
O LORD, hear my prayer. In Your faithfulness, give ear to my plea; in Your righteousness, answer me.
Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.
Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.