Psalms for Protection: Which to Pray and How to Pray Them

If you are in danger right now

Call for help before you read anything else. Each of these is for the country named.

• Emergency numbers: 911 in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia; 999 in the United Kingdom; 000 in Australia; 112 across the European Union.
• United States, if the danger comes from a partner or family member: the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-SAFE, or text START to 88788.
• United Kingdom: Refuge's National Domestic Abuse Helpline.
• Australia: 1800RESPECT.
• Spain: 016, the Ministry of Equality line, reachable by phone.

The psalm goes with you to the car, the door and the phone. It is prayed alongside the call, never in place of it.

Is Psalm 91 a prayer of protection, and which is the powerful psalm of protection?

Psalm 91 is the one named most often, so it comes first. Here it is in the World English Bible, the translation this site uses:

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of Yahweh, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.” 3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart. 5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day; 6 nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you. 8 You will only look with your eyes, and see the recompense of the wicked. 9 Because you have made Yahweh your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, 10 no evil shall happen to you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling. 11 For he will put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways. 12 They will bear you up in their hands, so that you won’t dash your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot. 14 “Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name. 15 He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him. 16 I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation.”

And in the King James Version, for readers who learned it that way:

1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. 4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; 6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. 8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. 9 Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; 10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. 13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. 14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. 15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. 16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

The Hebrew text names no author, and Jewish tradition associates the psalm with Moses. The voice moves as it goes. Verses 1 and 2 are a person speaking, verses 3 to 13 are spoken to a person, and verses 14 to 16 are God speaking, so you can join the psalm at whichever voice fits tonight.

The Hebrew behind its images is seter, the hidden place or shelter; tsel, shadow; machseh, refuge; metsudah, fortress; dever, pestilence; and pachad, terror. Its Jewish use is old. The Talmud at Shevuot 15 calls it a “song of disturbances,” and Sefaria's bedtime Shema records Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi reciting Psalm 91 and Psalm 3 “to protect him from evil spirits during the night.” Matthew Henry reads it as confidence in God's protection.

What it gives you is shelter described as wings, a shadow and a fortress, and at the very end God's own voice speaking to the one who calls:

He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him.

The night prayers of the churches, including the bedtime Shema, are read in psalms for sleep, and the moment Psalm 91 is quoted to Jesus in the wilderness is read in signs of spiritual attack.

Said at the door, before the keys.

What is Psalm 121 for protection?

Psalm 121 is short enough to carry in your head. In the World English Bible:

1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from Yahweh, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 Yahweh is your keeper. Yahweh is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 Yahweh will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul. 8 Yahweh will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forward, and forever more.

In the King James Version:

1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. 6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. 8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

The heading calls it a Song of Ascents, one of Psalms 120 to 134, and it can be read as a pilgrim's song on the road up to Jerusalem. Verse 1 asks where help comes from and verse 2 answers. Some translations and readers hear the opening as a statement instead of a question, and both readings have been prayed for a very long time.

The Hebrew root shamar, to keep, guard, preserve or watch, comes back in verses 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8. The whole psalm keeps saying that somebody is keeping watch. Jewish, Catholic and Protestant commentators read the sun by day and the moon by night as poetry that covers every hour.

For a parent or anybody setting out, verse 8 is words for the door:

Yahweh will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forward, and forever more.

It fits when a child drives off, starts a new job or leaves home. Verses 3 and 4, with their keeper who does not slumber, are for the person lying awake until they are back. One idea you could try: say verse 8 under your breath, with the person's name in it, as the car pulls away. Bible verses for panic attacks keeps verses 1 and 2 as a short line to hold.

Is Psalm 27 a prayer for protection, and why does Psalm 23 come up so often?

Psalm 27 holds confidence in verses 1 to 6 and a plea in verses 7 to 14. It asks twice whom the speaker should fear:

Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?

Commentators split on what the psalm is mainly about, and the two readings sit side by side. One hears protection in the enemies, armies and false witnesses it names. Another hears the heart of the psalm in verse 4, the wish to dwell in God's house, with safety as the setting. Its strength, as they describe it, is the move from confidence to pleading, and the wish to seek God while the danger is still there. Matthew Henry on Psalm 27 is one place to read more.

If you have a court date or a hearing, verse 12 names false witnesses, so the Bible has words for exactly that room. Verse 14 gives a way to wait:

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Psalm 23 comes up so often because it is short, it is headed A Psalm of David, and it walks through a whole day. In the World English Bible:

1 Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in Yahweh’s house forever.

And in the King James Version:

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

The shepherd moves from pasture and still water, through the valley, to a table spread in the presence of enemies. The valley stays in the story. If you have to sit across from a hostile person tomorrow, verse 5 gives you a table laid for you in that room. Bible verses for fear of death reads verse 4 at more length.

What is the prayer in Psalm 140 for protection, and what can you pray about enemies at work?

Psalm 140 is for the person facing a hostile boss, colleague, neighbor or ex. It asks to be kept from the evil and violent man, and it names traps, snares and a sharpened tongue. In the World English Bible it opens:

1 Deliver me, Yahweh, from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent man; 2 those who devise mischief in their hearts. They continually gather themselves together for war. 3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. Viper’s poison is under their lips. Selah. 4 Yahweh, keep me from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent men who have determined to trip my feet. 5 The proud have hidden a snare for me, they have spread the cords of a net by the path. They have set traps for me. Selah.

In verses 9 to 11 it asks that the harm planned fall back on those planning it. It ends with a different note:

12 I know that Yahweh will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the needy. 13 Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name. The upright will dwell in your presence.

Psalms like this are called imprecatory psalms. They are in the Bible as honest prayer, and traditions handle them with care. C. S. Lewis, in Reflections on the Psalms (1958), treats them as morally difficult prayers and keeps the difficulty in view. The Catholic Liturgy of the Hours leaves some of these verses out while praying the Psalms every day.

Two shorter psalms of this kind give a line each. For being fought against, Psalm 35:1:

Contend, Yahweh, with those who contend with me. Fight against those who fight against me.

For being betrayed by somebody close, Psalm 55:16-22 has the speaker calling on God, describing the betrayal, and casting the burden on Yahweh:

16 As for me, I will call on God. Yahweh will save me. 17 Evening, morning, and at noon, I will cry out in distress. He will hear my voice. 18 He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, although there are many who oppose me. 19 God, who is enthroned forever, will hear, and answer them. Selah. They never change, who don’t fear God. 20 He raises his hands against his friends. He has violated his covenant. 21 His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. 22 Cast your burden on Yahweh, and he will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be moved.

What these give a person with a hostile boss, colleague or neighbor is a place to name the injustice before God in full, and to hand the outcome over, keeping the other person's fate with God. For the moment before walking in, here is wording of our own: “Keep me from the one who means me harm today, and keep me from becoming like them.”

What if my fear is bigger than any promise?

Some people read Psalm 91 and still cannot feel it. The passage Bible Nudge offers for fear is Psalm 56:3-4, and it starts where you are. Its heading places it when the Philistines seized David in Gath, and it is David's prayer while in danger from enemies, a psalm that moves between fear and trust. The two verses before it set the scene:

1 Be merciful to me, God, for man wants to swallow me up. All day long, he attacks and oppresses me. 2 My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me.

Then the lines themselves:

When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

These are words that begin by admitting the fear and then do something while still afraid. You can pray them on the way into the frightening thing with nothing to get right first. Read Psalm 56:3-4 in its setting, and hold one question: What are you afraid of right now, if you say it plainly?

The whole psalm is read in psalms for anxiety, and bible verses before surgery reads it for the night before an operation.

Packed for a night shift.

What is the strongest prayer for protection, and does a psalm break curses or work when said seven times?

If someone told you one psalm is the most powerful, or that it breaks curses, or that it has to be said seven times, the worry under that is usually whether you are praying it the right way. You are. The traditions name different psalms, and none sets one above the rest by its wording, its count or its hour.

The Catholic Catechism, in paragraphs 2111 and 2117, calls superstition “the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes,” and counts as contrary to religion any attempt “to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service.” In paragraphs 2585 to 2589 it says the Psalms express “the whole range of human emotions.”

Others describe the Psalms the same way. John Calvin's 1557 preface calls them “an anatomy of all the parts of the soul.” Athanasius, in his Letter to Marcellinus, describes a book in which readers find their own fear, repentance, praise and hope. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the Psalms the prayer book of the Bible.

Jewish practice recites Tehillim, the Psalms, for praise, repentance, protection, healing and a community's needs. Pentecostal and charismatic churches often speak of declaring Scripture over a situation, and they describe it as a confession of faith and a request. Each is a way of praying, and you can borrow whichever is yours.

As history, psalms, Psalm 91 among them, were written on amulets in Jewish and Byzantine settings. What an object carried and what a tradition teaches are separate questions.

Psalm 151 comes up in these searches too. It is in some Septuagint manuscripts and in Orthodox Bibles, headed with David and Goliath, and it is outside the Hebrew Psalter and most Protestant and Catholic Bibles, because each tradition keeps its own canon (Psalm 151). Some Catholic Bibles also number the psalms one lower in this stretch, so Psalm 91 appears as Psalm 90 and Psalm 121 as Psalm 120.

A new believer posted on Reddit, in r/TrueChristian, "New Christian, what psalms should I memorize to get rid of physical demonic oppression?" If that is close to your question, signs of spiritual attack reads it in full.

How do you pray these psalms for a family, a house, a shift and the night?

Psalm 46 is a psalm in the plural, and it is made for a household. God is refuge and strength while the earth gives way and the mountains shake:

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas; 3 though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah.

A river makes the city of God glad, and the same refrain closes verses 7 and 11:

Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Selah, which marks the psalm three times, is a musical or liturgical direction whose meaning is uncertain, often taken as a pause. Luther's hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God draws on its refuge and fortress language. It gives a household words to say together on a night when everything seems to move.

Psalm 34 is headed for the time David pretended to be insane before Abimelech, so the speaker is a man running for his life. Verse 7:

Yahweh’s angel encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.

The Catechism, in paragraphs 328 to 336, says the angels “protect every human being.” Traditions differ on whether the angel language is literal guardianship, a description of God's care, or both.

Then there are blessings to say over people by name. Numbers 6:24-26 is the priestly blessing:

24 ‘Yahweh bless you, and keep you. 25 Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. 26 Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.’

Say it with a hand on a child's head and the child's name in it. The Jewish Friday-night blessing of children begins, “May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh,” and is followed by that same blessing (Sefaria). The Catholic Book of Blessings has blessings for children, homes and travel.

For the start and end of a day, Luther's morning prayer in the Small Catechism says: “I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would protect me this day also from sin and every evil.” The Greek Orthodox prayer before sleep asks: “Shelter me under the protection of your wings that I may lie down in peace and sleep.” Luther's prayer reads well before a night shift or a dangerous job.

Psalms for sleep and Bible verses for nightmares read the night prayers of the churches.

A light left on for someone coming home.

Here is how the six psalms sit side by side:

What if you prayed these psalms and were hurt anyway?

The Bible keeps this experience in the same book as Psalm 91. Psalm 44 is a community saying it had kept faith with God and was defeated anyway. It asks:

Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?

Psalm 88 ends in darkness, with no turn at all:

You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.

Stephen was stoned, and Herod killed James with the sword. Walter Brueggemann, in The Message of the Psalms (1984), calls psalms like these psalms of disorientation, honest speech from a place where the old order no longer seems to hold. C. S. Lewis wrote A Grief Observed (1961) after his wife died, including the sense of God seeming absent.

What they give is permission to bring the harm itself to God, in words the Bible already holds. If you recognize something you once said, or something someone said to you, you are in good company.

People are often handed one of these lines, and each has a kinder line beside it below. The kinder lines are our own wording.

• Instead of “If you had prayed it, this would not have happened” or “You lacked faith,” try: “I'm so sorry. Nothing you prayed or left unprayed caused this.”
• Instead of “You are under attack” or “You are cursed,” try: “This is hard enough already. What do you need this week?”
• Instead of “Psalm 91 guarantees your safety,” pray it, and buckle the seat belt, lock the door and keep the doctor's appointment.
• Instead of “Stay and keep praying” to somebody in a dangerous home, try: “Let's get you somewhere safe, and I'll pray with you there.”

Questions people ask

Is Psalm 91 or Psalm 121 better for a child who is on the road? Psalm 121 is often the one parents reach for, because verse 8 speaks of the going out and the coming in. Psalm 91 suits a longer prayer at home. Either can be said before the trip and again when they are back.

Can I pray an imprecatory psalm like Psalm 140 about a coworker? Psalm 140 is a prayer to God, naming harm and asking for justice. It is a place to say the injustice out loud and hand the outcome over, and the coworker's fate stays with God.

Does it matter which translation I use? The World English Bible and the King James Version both appear above. Pray the one whose words you can say without stumbling, since the point is that you can say them.

What if I do not know what I believe? Psalm 56:3-4 begins with “When I am afraid,” and you need nothing else to start. Many people come to these psalms with a frightening week and not much more.

Where to go next

If the night turns to thoughts of ending your life, reach a person now. In the United States, call 988 or text 988 through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline; chat is at 988lifeline.org/chat. In Canada, the 9-8-8 Suicide Crisis Helpline takes calls and texts. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Samaritans is on 116 123. In Australia, Lifeline is 13 11 14. Anywhere else, Find A Helpline lists services by country.

For danger around you, the emergency numbers are 911 in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia, 999 in the United Kingdom, 000 in Australia and 112 across the European Union. For danger from a partner or family member, the National Domestic Violence Hotline serves the United States, Refuge the United Kingdom, 1800RESPECT Australia and 016 Spain.

Your next step is small. Choose one psalm for the frightening thing in front of you, say it once aloud with the name of the person you are praying for, and do the practical thing too.

If you would like a single passage for what you are carrying, describe it to Bible Nudge and it will offer one with the verses around it. Find a passage.