As it is a psalm set for Wednesday in the Benedictine Office, I thought I'd provide this introduction to the psalm set for Lauds in the Office of the Dead, Psalm 64, on this day and come back to the remaining psalms of Matins thereafter.
Psalm 64 is a prayer filled with hope at the coming of Our Lord, and at the prospect of our return to our heavenly home.
Psalm 64 is a prayer filled with hope at the coming of Our Lord, and at the prospect of our return to our heavenly home.
On Holy Wednesday, Our Lord said that first the seed must die
before it can spring up anew: this psalm takes up that thought and tells us that Christ’s suffering is necessary
for an abundant harvest.
Vulgate
|
Douay-Rheims
|
In finem.
Psalmus David, canticum Jeremiæ et Ezechielis populo transmigrationis, cum
inciperent exire.
|
To the end,
a psalm of David. The canticle of Jeremiah and Ezechiel to the people of the
captivity, when they began to go out.
|
1 Te decet
hymnus, Deus, in Sion: * et tibi reddétur votum in Jerúsalem.
|
A hymn, O God,
becomes you in Sion: and a vow shall be paid to you in
|
2 Exáudi
oratiónem meam: * ad te omnis caro véniet.
|
3 O hear my prayer: all flesh
shall come to you.
|
3 Verba
iniquórum prævaluérunt super nos: * et impietátibus nostris tu propitiáberis.
|
4 The words of the wicked have
prevailed over us: and you will pardon our transgressions.
|
4 Beátus
quem elegísti et assumpsísti: * inhabitábit in átriis tuis.
|
5 Blessed is he whom you have
chosen and taken to you: he shall dwell in your courts.
|
5 Replébimur
in bonis domus tuæ, sanctum est templum tuum: * mirábile in æquitáte.
|
We shall be
filled with the good things of your house; holy is your temple, 6 wonderful in justice.
|
6 Exáudi
nos, Deus salutáris noster: * spes ómnium fínium terræ et in mari longe.
|
Hear us, O God
our saviour, who is the hope of all the ends of the earth, and in the sea
afar off
|
7 Præparans
montes in virtúte tua, accínctus poténtia: * qui contúrbas profúndum maris
sonum flúctuum ejus.
|
7 You who prepares the
mountains by your strength, being girded with power: 8 Who
troubles the depth of the sea, the noise of its waves.
|
8 Turbabúntur
Gentes, et timébunt qui inhábitant términos a signis tuis: * éxitus matutíni,
et véspere delectábis.
|
The Gentiles
shall be troubled, 9 and they that dwell in the
uttermost borders shall be afraid at your signs: you shall make the outgoings
of the morning and of the evening to be joyful.
|
9 Visitásti
terram, et inebriásti eam: * multiplicásti locupletáre eam.
|
10 You have visited the earth,
and have plentifully watered it; you have many ways enriched it.
|
10 Flumen
Dei replétum est aquis; parásti cibum illórum: * quóniam ita est præparátio
ejus.
|
The
|
11 Rivos
ejus inébria multíplica genímina ejus: * in stillicídiis ejus lætábitur
gérminans.
|
11 Fill up plentifully the
streams thereof, multiply its fruits; it shall spring up and rejoice in its
showers.
|
12 Benedíces
corónæ anni benignitátis tuæ: * et campi tui replebúntur ubertáte.
|
12 You shall bless the crown
of the year of your goodness: and your fields shall be filled with plenty.
|
13 Pinguéscent
speciósa desérti: * et exsultatióne colles accingéntur.
|
13 The beautiful places of the
wilderness shall grow fat: and the hills shall be girded about with joy,
|
14 Indúti
sunt aríetes óvium et valles abundábunt fruménto: * clamábunt, étenim hymnum
dicent.
|
14 the rams of the flock are
clothed, and the vales shall abound with corn: they shall shout, yea they shall
sing a hymn.
|
The theme of Wednesday in the Benedictine Office, I would suggest, is man's malice and betrayal of God, most importantly typified by Judas' betrayal on 'Spy Wednesday' of Holy Week.
The first of the variable psalms of Lauds on Wednesday, Psalm 63, dwells directly on the theme of betrayal, and serves to remind us that we are all Judas's at heart, and must repent wholeheartedly for as St Peter did. Psalm 64 however takes a rather more upbeat approach, focusing on the necessity of Christ's death in order for
his people to come home, as indeed must we!
One of the features of St Benedict’s
construction of Lauds is that he always gives it an upbeat note, consistent
with the association of the hour itself with the resurrection/rising sun. Where the first variable psalm of Lauds is
darker, as for Wednesday to Friday, the second psalm is invariably more upbeat
in its take on the events of Holy Week.
In this he perhaps takes his cue from this psalm, for amidst the
warnings of coming disturbances and signs, the psalmist points firmly to the
promise of good things to come, and notes that God ‘shall make the outgoings of
the morning and of the evening to be joyful’.
The seed must die...
Some have suggested that today’s psalm was originally
a hymn used for the harvest festival. In
Christian usage, however, that harvest has become the heavenly one, for verses
1 and 2 are used in the Introit of the Requiem Mass.
The harvest theme is appropriate though,
for it is on Holy Wednesday that Our Lord is traditionally said to have
prophesied his death to his disciples, reminding them that the seed has to die
in order for new life to grow (Jn 12: 24).
Similarly this psalm tells us that the Lord
has ‘visited the earth, and have plentifully watered it; you have many ways
enriched it’, such that the streams are full, and everything is set for a ripe
harvest. St John Chrysostom interprets
the rain provided here as Christ’s teaching, and Cassiodorus’ interpretation of
verse 7 complements this, suggesting that the ‘prepared mountains’ here refers
to the apostles,
“So we fittingly interpret allegorically
the prepared mountains as the apostles who were chosen to proclaim the word.
They had strength of faith and height of sanctity; they were lowly in style of
life, but deservedly ranked higher. The Lord prepared them by His strength
because He performed great miracles through them, so that by the greatness of
the Word they could convert unbelievers, and admiration at their deeds could
soften the hardest hearts."
The title of the psalm in the Septuagint
however that perhaps points us most clearly to the interpretation of the psalm
St Benedict had in mind, for it recalls the ending of the Babylonian captivity:
‘To the end, a psalm of David. The canticle of Jeremiah and Ezechiel to the
people of the captivity, when they began to go out’. Cassiodorus, following St Augustine, notes
that “when the Jewish people because of their disobedience were led captive by
the Chaldean nation, the prophets Jeremiah and Ezechiel said that they would return
to their native land seventy years later, and that they would restore Jerusalem
to a better state after it had been overturned by the enemy.”
Today we contemplate the end of those years
of captivity, and our coming freedom, for despite the fact that ‘The words of
the wicked have prevailed over us’, God ‘will pardon our transgressions’, for ‘Blessed
is he whom you have chosen and taken to you’.
For his sake, ‘We shall be filled with the good things of your house’,
for ‘holy is your temple’.
In his Psalmi iuxta Hebræos" St Jerome renders the beginning of verse two as "Tibi silens laus". This is sometimes, though unaccountably, given as "Silentium tibi laus", by such as Fr Augustine Baker and Fr Mark Kirby.
ReplyDeleteIt is a compelling rendition, no less for silence's place in St Benedict's Rule or as a prefigurement of Our Lord's silence during His passion. "Silens" could seemingly be given as "the silent one/man".
Does this non-liturgical rendering have a history in scholarly or monastic circles?
Dear Matthew,
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Fr Kirby's commentary (perhaps you can point me to the relevant post) on this one?
I guess my general reaction would be that it is possible for multiple legitimate interpretations to co-exist, just as there are of course many surviving Latin variants of many of the psalms, and although I'm not sure of the origin of this particular one (doesn't seem to be the Vetus Latina).
So far as the earlier origins of it though, I can find, most of the early Patristic commentaries follow the Vulgate tradition on this verse, not the Hebrew (which twentieth century commentators generally thought to have been a case of faulty transmission). St Augustine and St Cassiodorus for example both make a lot of the appropriateness of hymns being sung aloud in Jerusalem (which of course stands for heaven).
My guess would be that Fr Baker and later commentators takes reflect the post Reformation view that the Hebrew 'original' must be superior (though of course the version that has come down to us is actually a medieval one, albeit a reasonably accurate transmission of a particular text tradition), but that is just a guess.
The traditional chronology of Holy Week, o course, reproduced in the Benedictine order of the psalter has Monday to Wednesday devoted to Christ's preaching: the cleansing of the Temple, the eschatological dialogues, and the prediction of his death rather than silence; though the main emphasis of Wednesday is usually on Judas' betrayal.
Regarding silence and His passion, passages like Isaias liii:7 were in mind. Yes, the rendering does not fit well in the Benedictine schema of Holy Week.
ReplyDeleteThe "Tibi silens laus", version is given in the Stuttgart Biblia Sacra Vulgata, Psalmi Iuxta Hebræos.
St Augustine, as would be expected, comments on the Vulgate version. It is just curious where this non-standard resurfaces in the relatively recent history. Probably as you say due to Post Reformation interest in the Masoretic text contra the Vulgate.
Happy to stay with the Vulgate. Just one of those bits which stick out in reading.
Below are Fr Kirby's passing references.
http://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2018/06/seven-times-in-the-day-have-i-given-praise-to-thee-xvi/
http://vultuschristi.org/index.php/2013/02/silentium-tibi-laus/
Yes it was the Silencium tibi laus whose origin I was wondering about. I have a database of variants on each of the verses of most of the psalms including the Vulgate, Jerome's from the hebrew, Neo-Vulgate and Vetus Latina but it isn't any of those, nor is it in the Pian. A little search suggests it seems to come from a c16th translation by Jacques L'Estaples Quincuplex Psalterium, which fits with my post-Reformation theory.
ReplyDeleteThe early commentaries actually do often draw on variants other than the Vulgate - St Augustine typically uses the Vetus Latina; Cassiodorus often cites both from the Hebrew and the Vulgate. But not in this particular case...
Gratias tibi ago
ReplyDelete