De Profundis
Out of the Depths (Psalm 129)
Psalm 129, the great penitential cry from the depths, prayed above all for the holy souls in purgatory.
De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine;
Domine, exaudi vocem meam.
Fiant aures tuae intendentes
in vocem deprecationis meae.
Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine,
Domine, quis sustinebit?
Quia apud te propitiatio est;
et propter legem tuam sustinui te, Domine.
Sustinuit anima mea in verbo eius:
speravit anima mea in Domino.
A custodia matutina usque ad noctem,
speret Israel in Domino.
Quia apud Dominum misericordia,
et copiosa apud eum redemptio.
Et ipse redimet Israel
ex omnibus iniquitatibus eius.
Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord:
Lord, hear my voice.
Let thy ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplication.
If thou, O Lord, wilt mark iniquities:
Lord, who shall stand it?
For with thee there is merciful forgiveness:
and by reason of thy law, I have waited for thee, O Lord.
My soul hath relied on his word:
my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
From the morning watch even until night,
let Israel hope in the Lord.
Because with the Lord there is mercy:
and with him plentiful redemption.
And he shall redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.
Translation source: fisheaters.com/prayers.html
About this prayer
De Profundis, "Out of the depths," is the hundred and twenty-ninth psalm, one of the seven Penitential Psalms and one of the fifteen Gradual Psalms, the songs of ascent the pilgrims sang going up to Jerusalem. From the depths of his misery and sin the psalmist cries to the Lord, owning that if God should mark iniquities none could stand, yet trusting in the merciful forgiveness and the plentiful redemption that are with Him.
Though a prayer of penance for the living, the Church has long made it her chief psalm for the dead, praying it for the souls in purgatory who wait in the depths for the dawn of God's mercy, and joining to it the versicle "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord." It is sung at the Office of the Dead, at burials, and whenever the faithful pass a graveyard or call their departed to mind. The Sovereign Pontiffs have enriched its recitation with indulgences applicable to the holy souls.