Why do some Bibles number the psalms differently from one another?

[Crobins]

I was reading a book that quoted a verse in Psalms. I wanted to read the rest of the Psalm so I went to my bible only to find that verse was totally different. Do different translations of bibles number Psalms differently? The verse is, “The Lord is the keeper of the little ones” from Psalm 116:4 in a book by Clarence Enzler.

 

[Fr.Eric_Filmer]

Hello Crobins.

Yes, there can be a difference between how the psalms are numbered between different versions of the Bible, and, yes, this can be very confusing for those who engage in Scripture study. For an explanation of this phenomenon, please see Jimmy Akin’s article: Why are the Psalms Numbered Differently?.

However, in the case you mentioned, it seems that the confusion stemmed from a typo in Enzler’s book. The verse in question is from either Psalm 114:6 or Psalm 116:6, depending on the version of the Bible being consulted. The Douay-Rheims is one of the Bibles that has it at Psalm 114:6 and translates it as “The Lord is the keeper of little ones”, so perhaps the reference in Enzler’s book accidentally got two of the numbers switched (i.e., instead of “114:6” it ended up being “116:4”, an easy mistake to make).

As a side note, many other Bibles translate this verse as “The Lord preserves the simple” (or similar words).