Psalm 16

Psalm 16
"Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust"
Psalm 16 in a Scottish metrical psalter
Other name
  • Psalm 15
  • "Conserva me Domine"
Textattributed to David
LanguageHebrew (original)

Psalm 16 is the 16th psalm in the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust."

In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate translations of the Bible, this psalm is Psalm 15. The Latin version begins "Conserva me Domine".[1]

The psalm is attributed to David and described as a Michtam of David.[2] Psalms 56-60 also share this title. Sarah Hoyt describes this term as "obscure".[3] Semitic scholar Paul Haupt suggests that it may mean "restricted by the meter", or "conformed to poetical measure".[3] The psalm forms a regular part of Jewish, Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox Church and Protestant liturgies. It has been set to music, including compositions by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and George Frideric Handel.

  1. ^ Parallel Latin/English Psalter / Psalmus 15 (16) Archived 2017-05-07 at the Wayback Machine medievalist.net
  2. ^ New King James Version: Psalm 16
  3. ^ a b Hoyt, S. F., The Holy One in Psalm 16, 10, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1912, Vol. 32, No. 2 (1912), pp. 120-125, accessed 6 October 2021