Psalm 90 v 9: Hope for the Resurrection?

Quóniam tu es, Dómine, spes mea: Altíssimum posuísti refúgium tuum.

Because you, O Lord, are my hope: you have made the most High your refuge.

Verse 9 of Psalm 90 functions as a reminder of our hope of heaven, and echoes the last verse of Psalm 4, said before it at Compline.

Looking at the Latin

Key vocabulary:

quoniam, for, because, since, seeing that, whereas

spes, spei, f, hope;  the object of hope; the thing hoped for; security

altissimus i m the Most High

pono, posii, itum, ere 3,  to put, place, lay, set.

refugium, ii, n. a refuge, a place of refuge; fortress, high tower, dwelling place, hiding place, etc.

Accordingly, a word by word translation runs:

Quóniam (For) tu (you) es (you are), Dómine (Lord), spes (the hope) mea (my): * altíssimum (the most high) posuísti (you have set) refúgium (the refuge) tuum (your).

An interjection from the sidelines?

The voice of the speaker(s) suddenly changes in this verse – the psalmist was being spoken to in the previous verse, in the first phrase he becomes the speaker again. 

The second phrase, though, jumps back again, and reads as an answer to the first by a second choir or speaker, hence the change in tense from present (es) to perfect (posuisti).  

St Robert Bellarmine notes the seeming disconnection of this verse from what comes before and suggests that it should be read as a kind of ‘oorah’ interjection – yes, its all true!

The table below provides a selection of the English translations so you can get a flavour of the possible nuances of interpretation.  Note that the Monastic Diurnal (MD) has expunged the distinction of tenses, and made the entire thing perfect tense.

DR	Because you, O Lord, are my hope: you have made the most High your refuge.
MD	Because thou hast made the Lord thy hope, and the Most High thy refuge
Brenton	For thou, Lord, art my hope; thou hast set thine house of defence very high.
RSV	Because you have made the LORD your refuge, the Most High your habitation
Coverdale	For thou, Lord, art my hope; thou hast set thine house of defence very high
Knox	He, the Lord, is thy refuge; thou hast found a stronghold in the most High.
Grail	you who have said: "Lord, my refuge!" and have made the Most High your dwelling.

God our hope

One of the intriguing things about the ancient Compline psalms is the way they link to each other so neatly.  

We have already seen this in relation to verse 7 of Psalm 90, which echoes verse 7 of Psalm 3, and this verse builds on that link.

The first and most obvious link relating to today's verse is to Psalm 4, which precedes it at Compline:

Ps 90:9 Quóniam tu es, Dómine, spes mea: altíssimum posuísti refúgium tuum.

Ps 4:10 Quóniam tu, Dómine, singuláriter in spe constituísti me.

In Psalm 4, the speaker of the psalm called us to repentance, and spoke of the process of repentance, and the aids we receive along the way in the sacraments.

In this psalm too, we are being urged to stand firm in the spiritual warfare, and put our trust in God.

There is another thematic link to Psalm 3 here as well though: in the last verse of Psalm 90 were were told that sinners would in the end be punished, since God sees all and judges it.  Psalm 3 puts it rather more bluntly:

90: 7 Cadent a látere tuo mille, et decem míllia a dextris tuis: ad te autem non appropinquábit.	3:7 Non timébo míllia pópuli circumdántis me:  exsúrge, Dómine, salvum me fac, Deus meus.
90: 8  Verúmtamen óculis tuis considerábis: et retributiónem peccatórum vidébis.	3:8  Quóniam tu percussísti omnes adversántes mihi sine causa: dentes  peccatórum contrivísti.
90: 9  Quóniam tu es, Dómine, spes mea: Altíssimum posuísti refúgium tuum.

Hope of the resurrection

The context of the verses makes it clear that the psalmist in these three psalms (ps 3, 4&90) is speaking not of our hope for protection in the here and now: God does not promise that we will not be persecuted!

Rather, the psalmist is reminding us that our true hope lies in the Resurrection of Christ, as St Robert Bellarmine makes clear:

When the Lord rose again, the other members which lay in the death of sin gained the hope of resurrection. What the rest of the body needed to hope for was anticipated by the Head. But the holy man conceived this hope of resurrection because the Lord Saviour Himself by His death is seen to have set His refuge in the most High. 

Psalm 90: Qui habitat 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Laus cantici David.	The praise of a canticle for David
Qui hábitat in adjutório Altíssimi, * in protectióne Dei cæli commorábitur.	He that dwells in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.
2  Dicet Dómino : Suscéptor meus es tu, et refúgium meum: * Deus meus sperábo in eum.	He shall say to the Lord: You are my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust.
3 Quóniam ipse liberávit me de láqueo venántium, * et a verbo áspero.	For he has delivered me from the snare of the hunters: and from the sharp word.
4  Scápulis suis obumbrábit tibi: * et sub pennis ejus sperábis.	He will overshadow you with his shoulders: and under his wings you shall trust.
5  Scuto circúmdabit te véritas ejus: * non timébis a timóre noctúrno.	His truth shall compass you with a shield: you shall not be afraid of the terror of the night.
6  A sagítta volánte in die, a negótio perambulánte in ténebris: * ab incúrsu et dæmónio meridiáno.	Of the arrow that flies in the day, of the business that walks about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
7  Cadent a látere tuo mille, et decem míllia a dextris tuis: * ad te autem non appropinquábit.	A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand: but it shall not come near you.
8  Verúmtamen óculis tuis considerábis: * et retributiónem peccatórum vidébis.	But you shall consider with your eyes: and shall see the reward of the wicked.
9  Quóniam tu es, Dómine, spes mea: * Altíssimum posuísti refúgium tuum.	Because you, O Lord, are my hope: you have made the most High your refuge.
10  Non accédet ad te malum: * et flagéllum non appropinquábit tabernáculo tuo.	There shall no evil come to you: nor shall the scourge come near your dwelling.
11  Quóniam Angelis suis mandávit de te: * ut custódiant te in ómnibus viis tuis.	For he has given his angels charge over you; to keep you in all your ways.
12  In mánibus portábunt te: * ne forte offéndas ad lápidem pedem tuum.	In their hands they shall bear you up: lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13  Super áspidem et basilíscum ambulábis: * et conculcábis leónem et dracónem.	You shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and you shall trample under foot the lion and the dragon.
14  Quóniam in me sperávit, liberábo eum: * prótegam eum quóniam cognóvit nomen meum.	Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he has known my name.
15  Clamábit ad me, et ego exáudiam eum : * cum ipso sum in tribulatióne : erípiam eum et glorificábo eum.	He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.
16  Longitúdine diérum replébo eum: * et osténdam illi salutáre meum.	I will fill him with length of days; and I will show him my salvation.

For the next part in this series, continue on here.