Lord God of hosts, restore us;
light up Your face and we shall be saved.
12 Most Powerful Psalms to Pray During Advent
The Christian Year always begins with Advent and includes the four Sundays preceding Christmas. The word “Advent” means “coming” — the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. These weeks of Advent focus on the Church’s anticipation of the birth of our Messiah, as well as His future arrival. While Christ has already been born into the world, the Church invites us to renew our desire for the Lord in our everyday lives as well as His triumphant second coming.
In short, Advent is a time of preparation; a time to prepare for Christ and for Christmas, the memorial of Jesus being born of the Virgin to save the world. During this time, we are invited to enter more frequently into silence, prayer, and reflection; to read Scripture, pray the Psalms, and partake in the liturgical life of the Church in a more conscientious and meaningful way. The Catechism states that the goal of Advent is to make present for ourselves and our loved ones the “ancient expectancy of the Messiah … by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming.”
As you spend time in prayer this Advent season, spend extra time contemplating the greatness of our Lord and what He has done for mankind. In order to center your prayer in a more powerful way, take extra time each week to pray these 12 Most Powerful Psalms to Pray During Advent. After each psalm meditation, pray: “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and every shall be, world without end, Amen.” These Advent Psalms coupled with expectant faith are extraordinarily powerful. Be blessed as you prepare for the coming of the Lord.
12 Most Powerful Psalms to Pray During Advent
Psalm 80 — Advent I: Prayer to Restore God’s Vineyard
O Shepherd of Israel, lend an ear,
you who guide Joseph like a flock!
Seated upon the cherubim, shine forth
upon Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.
Stir up your power, and come to save us.
O God, restore us;
light up your face and we shall be saved.
Lord of hosts,
how long will you smolder in anger
while your people pray?
You have fed them the bread of tears,
made them drink tears in great measure.
You have left us to be fought over by our neighbors;
our enemies deride us.
O God of hosts, restore us;
light up your face and we shall be saved.
You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out nations and planted it.
You cleared out what was before it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
The mountains were covered by its shadow,
the cedars of God by its branches.
It sent out its boughs as far as the sea,
its shoots as far as the river.
Why have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
The boar from the forest strips the vine;
the beast of the field feeds upon it.
Turn back again, God of hosts;
look down from heaven and see;
Visit this vine,
the stock your right hand has planted,
and the son whom you made strong for yourself.
Those who would burn or cut it down—
may they perish at your rebuke.
May your hand be with the man on your right,
with the son of man whom you made strong for yourself.
Then we will not withdraw from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.
Lord God of hosts, restore us;
light up your face and we shall be saved.
Psalm 85 — Advent II: Prayer for Divine Favor
You once favored, Lord, your land,
restored the captives of Jacob.
You forgave the guilt of your people,
pardoned all their sins.
Selah
You withdrew all your wrath,
turned back from your burning anger.
Restore us, God of our salvation;
let go of your displeasure with us.
Will you be angry with us forever,
prolong your anger for all generations?
Certainly you will again restore our life,
that your people may rejoice in you.
Show us, Lord, your mercy;
grant us your salvation.
I will listen for what God, the Lord, has to say;
surely he will speak of peace
To his people and to his faithful.
May they not turn to foolishness!
Near indeed is his salvation for those who fear him;
glory will dwell in our land.
Love and truth will meet;
justice and peace will kiss.
Truth will spring from the earth;
justice will look down from heaven.
Yes, the Lord will grant his bounty;
our land will yield its produce.
Justice will march before him,
and make a way for his footsteps.
Psalm 98 — The Immaculate Conception: The coming of God
Sing a new song to the Lord,
for he has done marvelous deeds.
His right hand and holy arm
have won the victory.
The Lord has made his victory known;
has revealed his triumph in the sight of the nations,
He has remembered his mercy and faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the victory of our God.
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth;
break into song; sing praise.
Sing praise to the Lord with the lyre,
with the lyre and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
shout with joy to the King, the Lord.
Let the sea and what fills it resound,
the world and those who dwell there.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
the mountains shout with them for joy,
Before the Lord who comes,
who comes to govern the earth,
To govern the world with justice
and the peoples with fairness.
Extra Reading: See Luke I — Advent III
Psalm 89 — A Lament over God’s Promise to David: Advent IV (Christmas Vigil)
I will sing of your mercy forever, Lord
proclaim your faithfulness through all ages.
For I said, “My mercy is established forever;
my faithfulness will stand as long as the heavens.
I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn to David my servant:
I will make your dynasty stand forever
and establish your throne through all ages.”
Selah
The heavens praise your marvels, Lord,
your loyalty in the assembly of the holy ones.
Who in the skies ranks with the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the sons of the gods?
A God dreaded in the council of the holy ones,
greater and more awesome than all those around him!
Lord, God of hosts, who is like you?
Mighty Lord, your faithfulness surrounds you.
You rule the raging sea;
you still its swelling waves.
You crush Rahab with a mortal blow;
with your strong arm you scatter your foes.
Yours are the heavens, yours the earth;
you founded the world and everything in it.
Zaphon and Amanus you created;
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
You have a mighty arm.
Your hand is strong; your right hand is ever exalted.
Justice and judgment are the foundation of your throne;
mercy and faithfulness march before you.
Blessed the people who know the war cry,
who walk in the radiance of your face, Lord.
In your name they sing joyfully all the day;
they rejoice in your righteousness.
You are their majestic strength;
by your favor our horn is exalted.
Truly the Lord is our shield,
the Holy One of Israel, our king!
Then you spoke in vision;
to your faithful ones you said:
“I have set a leader over the warriors;
I have raised up a chosen one from the people.
I have chosen David, my servant;
with my holy oil I have anointed him.
My hand will be with him;
my arm will make him strong.
No enemy shall outwit him,
nor shall the wicked defeat him.
I will crush his foes before him,
strike down those who hate him.
My faithfulness and mercy will be with him;
through my name his horn will be exalted.
I will set his hand upon the sea,
his right hand upon the rivers.
He shall cry to me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock of my salvation!’
I myself make him the firstborn,
Most High over the kings of the earth.
Forever I will maintain my mercy for him;
my covenant with him stands firm.
I will establish his dynasty forever,
his throne as the days of the heavens.
If his descendants forsake my teaching,
do not follow my decrees,
If they fail to observe my statutes,
do not keep my commandments,
I will punish their crime with a rod
and their guilt with blows.
But I will not take my mercy from him,
nor will I betray my bond of faithfulness.
I will not violate my covenant;
the promise of my lips I will not alter.
By my holiness I swore once for all:
I will never be false to David.
His dynasty will continue forever,
his throne, like the sun before me.
Like the moon it will stand eternal,
forever firm like the sky!”
Selah
But now you have rejected and spurned,
been enraged at your anointed.
You renounced the covenant with your servant,
defiled his crown in the dust.
You broke down all city walls,
left his strongholds in ruins.
All who pass through seize plunder;
his neighbors deride him.
You have exalted the right hand of his foes,
have gladdened all his enemies.
You turned back his sharp sword,
did not support him in battle.
You brought to an end his splendor,
hurled his throne to the ground.
You cut short the days of his youth,
covered him with shame.
Selah
How long, Lord? Will you hide forever?
Must your wrath smolder like fire?
Remember how brief life is,
how frail the sons of man you have created!
What is man, that he should live and not see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?
Selah
Where are your former mercies, Lord,
that you swore to David in your faithfulness?
Remember, Lord, the insults to your servants,
how I have borne in my bosom the slander of the nations.
Your enemies, Lord, insult;
they insult each step of your anointed.
Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and amen!
Psalm 96 — God of the Universe: Christmas Night
Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his marvelous deeds.
For great is the Lord and highly to be praised,
to be feared above all gods.
For the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and power go before him;
power and grandeur are in his holy place.
Give to the Lord, you families of nations,
give to the Lord glory and might;
give to the Lord the glory due his name!
Bring gifts and enter his courts;
bow down to the Lord, splendid in holiness.
Tremble before him, all the earth;
declare among the nations: The Lord is king.
The world will surely stand fast, never to be shaken.
He rules the peoples with fairness.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them.
Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice
before the Lord who comes,
who comes to govern the earth,
To govern the world with justice
and the peoples with faithfulness.
Psalm 97 — The Divine Ruler of All: Christmas Dawn
The Lord is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many islands be glad.
Cloud and darkness surround him;
justice and right are the foundation of his throne.
Fire goes before him,
consuming his foes on every side.
His lightening illumines the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his justice;
all peoples see his glory.
All who serve idols are put to shame,
who glory in worthless things;
all gods bow down before him.
Zion hears and is glad,
and the daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments, O Lord.
For you, Lord, are the Most High over all the earth,
exalted far above all gods.
You who love the Lord, hate evil,
he protects the souls of the faithful,
rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
Light dawns for the just,
and gladness for the honest of heart.
Rejoice in the Lord, you just,
and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
Psalm 98 — The Coming of God: Christmas Day
Sing a new song to the Lord,
for he has done marvelous deeds.
His right hand and holy arm
have won the victory.
The Lord has made his victory known;
has revealed his triumph in the sight of the nations,
He has remembered his mercy and faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the victory of our God.
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth;
break into song; sing praise.
Sing praise to the Lord with the lyre,
with the lyre and melodious song.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
shout with joy to the King, the Lord.
Let the sea and what fills it resound,
the world and those who dwell there.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
the mountains shout with them for joy,
Before the Lord who comes,
who comes to govern the earth,
To govern the world with justice
and the peoples with fairness.
Psalm 128 — The Blessed Home of the Just: The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Blessed are all who fear the Lord,
and who walk in his ways.
What your hands provide you will enjoy;
you will be blessed and prosper:
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your home,
Your children like young olive plants
around your table.
Just so will the man be blessed
who fears the Lord.
May the Lord bless you from Zion;
may you see Jerusalem’s prosperity
all the days of your life,
and live to see your children’s children.
Peace upon Israel!
Psalm 105 — God’s Fidelity to the Promise
Give thanks to the Lord, invoke his name;
make known among the peoples his deeds!
Sing praise to him, play music;
proclaim all his wondrous deeds!
Glory in his holy name;
let hearts that seek the Lord rejoice!
Seek out the Lord and his might;
constantly seek his face.
Recall the wondrous deeds he has done,
his wonders and words of judgment,
You descendants of Abraham his servant,
offspring of Jacob the chosen one!
He the Lord, is our God
whose judgments reach through all the earth.
He remembers forever his covenant,
the word he commanded for a thousand generations,
Which he made with Abraham,
and swore to Isaac,
And ratified in a statute for Jacob,
an everlasting covenant for Israel:
“To you I give the land of Canaan,
your own allotted inheritance.”
When they were few in number,
a handful, and strangers there,
Wandering from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another people,
He let no one oppress them;
for their sake he rebuked kings:
“Do not touch my anointed ones,
to my prophets do no harm.”
Then he called down a famine on the land,
destroyed the grain that sustained them.
He had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, sold as a slave.
They shackled his feet with chains;
collared his neck in iron,
Till his prediction came to pass,
and the word of the Lord proved him true.
The king sent and released him;
the ruler of peoples set him free.
He made him lord over his household,
ruler over all his possessions,
To instruct his princes as he desired,
to teach his elders wisdom.
Then Israel entered Egypt;
Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
God greatly increased his people,
made them more numerous than their foes.
He turned their hearts to hate his people,
to treat his servants deceitfully.
He sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron whom he had chosen.
They worked his signs in Egypt
and wonders in the land of Ham.
He sent darkness and it grew dark,
but they rebelled against his word.
He turned their waters into blood
and killed their fish.
Their land swarmed with frogs,
even the chambers of their kings.
He spoke and there came swarms of flies,
gnats through all their country.
For rain he gave them hail,
flashes of lightning throughout their land.
He struck down their vines and fig trees,
shattered the trees of their country.
He spoke and the locusts came,
grasshoppers without number.
They devoured every plant in the land;
they devoured the crops of their fields.
He struck down every firstborn in the land,
the first fruits of all their vigor.
He brought his people out,
laden with silver and gold;
no one among the tribes stumbled.
Egypt rejoiced when they left,
for fear had seized them.
He spread a cloud out as a cover,
and made a fire to light up the night.
They asked and he brought them quail;
with bread from heaven he filled them.
He split the rock and water gushed forth;
it flowed through the desert like a river.
For he remembered his sacred promise
to Abraham his servant.
He brought his people out with joy,
his chosen ones with shouts of triumph.
He gave them the lands of the nations,
they took possession of the wealth of the peoples,
That they might keep his statutes
and observe his teachings.
Hallelujah!
Psalm 67 — Harvest Thanks and Thanksgiving: Mary, the Mother of God
May God be gracious to us and bless us;
may his face shine upon us.
Selah
So shall your way be known upon the earth,
your victory among all the nations.
May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you!
May the nations be glad and rejoice;
for you judge the peoples with fairness,
you guide the nations upon the earth.
Selah
May the peoples praise you, God;
may all the peoples praise you!
The earth has yielded its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.
May God bless us still;
that the ends of the earth may revere him.
Psalm 72 — A Prayer for the King: Epiphany of the Lord
O God, give your judgment to the king;
your justice to the king’s son;
That he may govern your people with justice,
your oppressed with right judgment,
That the mountains may yield their bounty for the people,
and the hills great abundance,
That he may defend the oppressed among the people,
save the children of the poor and crush the oppressor.
May they fear you with the sun,
and before the moon, through all generations.
May he be like rain coming down upon the fields,
like showers watering the earth,
That abundance may flourish in his days,
great bounty, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
from the river to the ends of the earth.
May his foes kneel before him,
his enemies lick the dust.
May the kings of Tarshish and the islands bring tribute,
the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.
May all kings bow before him,
all nations serve him.
For he rescues the poor when they cry out,
the oppressed who have no one to help.
He shows pity to the needy and the poor
and saves the lives of the poor.
From extortion and violence he redeems them,
for precious is their blood in his sight.
Long may he live, receiving gold from Sheba,
prayed for without cease, blessed day by day.
May wheat abound in the land,
flourish even on the mountain heights.
May his fruit be like that of Lebanon,
and flourish in the city like the grasses of the land.
May his name be forever;
as long as the sun, may his name endure.
May the tribes of the earth give blessings with his name;
may all the nations regard him as favored.
Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
who alone does wonderful deeds.
Blessed be his glorious name forever;
may he fill all the earth with his glory.
Amen and amen.
Psalm 29 — The Lord of Majesty Acclaimed: Baptism of the Lord
Give to the Lord, you sons of God,
give to the Lord glory and might;
Give to the Lord the glory due his name.
Bow down before the Lord’s holy splendor!
The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over the mighty waters.
The voice of the Lord is power;
the voice of the Lord is splendor.
The voice of the Lord cracks the cedars;
the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon,
Makes Lebanon leap like a calf,
and Sirion like a young bull.
The voice of the Lord strikes with fiery flame;
the voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
the Lord shakes the desert of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord makes the deer dance
and strips the forests bare.
All in his Temple say, “Glory!”
The Lord sits enthroned above the flood!
The Lord reigns as king forever!
May the Lord give might to his people;
may the Lord bless his people with peace!
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