De profundis — Psalm 129/130

Last tended: 8 June 2026

One of the gradual psalms, and one of the seven penitential. Sung for the dead, but its grammar is the grammar of waiting, not of grief — the soul set like a watchman who knows the morning is coming and cannot yet see it.

Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice.

The Latin de profundis is a place before it is a feeling. The psalmist does not say he is sad; he says where he is calling from. The depth is named, and naming it is already the first step up out of it.