Psalm 11 - Wednesday Prime No 3

Saltiri anglocatalà (Biblioteca Nacional de França, Lat. 8846),
detall del foli 117, c12th

Wednesday – Psalm 11 (12): Salvum me fac, Dómine

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem, pro octava. Psalmus David.	Unto the end: for the octave, a psalm for David
Salvum me fac, Dómine, quóniam defécit sanctus: * quóniam diminútæ sunt veritátes a fíliis hóminum.	Save me, O Lord, for there is now no saint: truths are decayed from among the children of men.
2  Vana locúti sunt unusquísque ad próximum suum : * lábia dolósa, in corde et corde locúti sunt.	They have spoken vain things, every one to his neighbour: with deceitful lips, and with a double heart have they spoken
3  Dispérdat Dóminus univérsa lábia dolósa, * et linguam magníloquam.	May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things.
4  Qui dixérunt : Linguam nostram magnificábimus, lábia nostra a nobis sunt, * quis noster Dóminus est?	Who have said: We will magnify our tongue: our lips are our own: who is Lord over us?
5 Propter misériam ínopum, et gémitum páuperum, * nunc exsúrgam, dicit Dóminus.	By reason of the misery of the needy, and the groans of the poor, now will I arise, says the Lord
6  Ponam in salutári : * fiduciáliter agam in eo.	I will set him in safety: I will deal confidently in his regard.
7  Elóquia Dómini, elóquia casta : * argéntum igne examinátum, probátum terræ purgátum séptuplum.	The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried by the fire, purged from the earth, refined seven times.
8 Tu, Dómine, servábis nos : et custódies nos * a generatióne hac in ætérnum.	You, O Lord, will preserve us: and keep us from this generation for ever.
9  In circúitu ímpii ámbulant : * secúndum altitúdinem tuam multiplicásti fílios hóminum.	The wicked walk round about: according to your highness, you have multiplied the children of men.

St Augustine:

It has been said on the sixth Psalm, that the eighth may be taken as the day of judgment. For the eighth may also be taken for the eternal age; for that after the time present, which is a cycle of seven days, it shall be given to the Saints.

Cassiodorus:

After the psalmist has condemned those who proposed shedding the Lord's blood, he comes to the second section in which he promises the Lord Saviour's resurrection in the prophetic voice of the Father...

St Thomas Aquinas:

In the first decade the Psalmist treats of the beating that he suffered from his son Absalom, by which the persecution which Christ was to suffer from Juda was figured; but, in the second decade, just as is apparent from the title of some of its Psalms, he speaks of the persecution that he suffered from Saul, by which the persecution that Christ was to suffer by the High Priests was figured.

And that decade is divided into two parts. In the first, he asks to be freed from enemies. In the second, now freed, he prays that he be raised up (at Psalm 19: May the Lord hear thee), which fits with the history of David, on the one hand, because upon the death of Saul he was promoted to king, and on the other hand, to the mystery through Christ, whose kingdom was confirmed through his death - Philipians 2: For which cause, namely because he was made obedient to the Father even unto death, God also hath exalted him.

St Alphonsus Liguori:

The confidence that we should have in the mercy of God and the fear that we should always have of his justice form the twofold subject of this psalm.

Fr Pasch:

A Godless generation.  This Psalm is like a mighty cry of the higher man against the consequences of original sin.  In the soul and in the world there is nothing but sin, deceit and self-seeking.  The psalmist looks for refuge in the Word of God, the only truth and purity and nobility that he can ever find. Verses1-2 - Man's ways are corruption; 3-4 - Man's overbearing pride; 5-7 - Divine assistance; 8-9 - Prayer for protection

Other Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	Rom 16:18 (v2);
RB cursus	Wednesday Prime
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	-
Roman pre 1911	Sunday Matins
Maurist	Thurs Compline
Thesauris schemas	A: ; B: ; C: ; D:
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Tues Compline . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Lent 2 Friday, CO (8);