Psalm 90 v14 - Everything depends on grace

 

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.

In the last three verses of Psalm 90, the voice of the speaker changes again, with its eight promises reading as an oracular pronouncement by God himself.  

Looking at the Latin

A word by word crib the Vulgate runs as follows:

Quóniam (for/because) in (in) me (me) sperávit (he hoped), liberábo (I will free/deliver) eum (him): * prótegam (I will protect) eum (him) quóniam (because) cognóvit (he knew/has known) nomen (name) meum (mine).

The key word in this verse vocabulary-wise is cognosco (gnovi, gnitum, ere 3), which is usually translated as to know, see, learn, perceive, become acquainted with.  The Lewis and Short Dictionary, however, provides three strands of meaning, all of which are relevant to the various interpretations of the verse:

• To become thoroughly acquainted with, to learn by inquiring, to examine, investigate, perceive, see, understand, learn;
• To recognize that which is already known, acknowledge, identify; and
• To seek or strive to know something, to inquire into, to investigate, examine, with an implication of exertion.

Text variants

It is also worth noting that the Neo-Vulgate and other translations provide alternate readings of the verse. 

14	V	Quóniam in me sperávit, liberábo eum: * prótegam eum quóniam cognóvit nomen meum.
	PIAN	Quoniam mihi adhaesit, liberabo eum; Protegam eum, quia cognovit nomen meum.
	Neo-Vulgate	Quoniam mihi adhaesit, liberabo eum; suscipiam eum, quoniam cognovit nomen meum.
	Jerome from the Hebrew	Quoniam mihi adhaesit, et liberabo eum: exaltabo eum, quoniam cognouit nomen meum.
		ὅτι ἐμὲ ἤλπισεν καὶ ῥύσομαι αὐτόν σκεπάσω αὐτόν ὅτι ἔγνω τὸ ὄνομά μου

First, while the Vulgate uses speravit or ‘he has hoped’; the Neo-Vulgate changes the verb to adhaesit, which means clung to, cleaved or held fast to.  Many of the English translations use this verb as a cue to refer to the virtue of charity, whereas the translations reflecting the Vulgate put greater emphasis on the theological virtue of hope. 

There are curious variants in the second phrase too: the Vulgate says ‘I will protect him (protegam eum)’, which has a connotation of offering shelter, thus linking back to the first four verses of the psalm, and the hen or eagle guarding her young.  By contrast, the neo-Vulgate uses ‘suscipiam’. 

Douay-Rheims	Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he has known my name.
Monastic Diurnal	Because he hath put his trust in Me, I will deliver him; I will protect him because he hath known My Name.
Brenton	For he has hoped in me, and I will deliver him: I will protect him, because he has known my name.
RSV	Because he cleaves to me in love, I will deliver him;  I will protect him, because he knows my name.
Coverdale	Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him up, because he hath known my Name.
Knox	He trusts in me, mine it is to rescue him; he acknowledges my name, from me he shall have protection;
Grail	Since he clings to me in love, I will free him; protect you for he knows my name.

What does it mean to ‘know God’s name’?

The reference to knowing God’s name can be interpreted several ways.

St Jerome suggested that first and foremost it was a reference to Christ’s relationship to the Father:

If the entire psalm applies to the savior, just as you are interpreting it, O devil, then the words: ‘I will protect him because he acknowledges my name’ also apply to the Savior and mean, I, the Father, will protect My Son.

But it can also be applied to us. 

To know God’s name, St Cassiodorus, suggests, means acknowledging Christ’s divinity:

He knows the Father's name, and he considers the Son to be no less than the Father, not regarding Him as a created Being, as some wholly deranged persons do,' but rather with sound mind proclaiming Him Creator.

St Robert Bellarmine’s commentary suggested that those who know God’s name are those who have a personal relationship with him, and can call him friend and father:

They, too, are said "to know his name," who are on familiar terms with God, and know him as a pastor, a friend, and a father, speaking of which our Savior says, "I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep, and my sheep know me;" and, on the other hand, speaking of the others, he says, "I know you not;" and "In a flame of fire, giving vengeance to them who know not God." Wonderful altogether is God's kindness to man, when he speaks to him not only as a Lord but as a friend, and no wonder David should exclaim: "Lord, what is man that thou art made known to him?"

The twentieth century commentator Fr Boylan went a step further, pointing to the importance of knowledge of God:

he knows his names and hence how to rightly invoke the Lord and ask his help.  He knows the real character of God, is the possessor of special, revealed knowledge concerning him.  Knowledge necessarily affects conduct, for rightly to know God is to love him.  The one who knows God and therefore loves him keeps his commandments and must enjoy prosperity and honour.

In sum, then, this verse reminds us that ultimately everything depends on the grace of God and our graced response to him in the form of the virtues of charity, hope and faith, for which the phrase ‘knowing God’s name’ is a form of shorthand.

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.

And you can find the next part of this series here.