Psalm 53 v 1 - The vindication of Christ

Bibliotheca Bodmeriana C 74 -
St. Cecilia in Trast. f. 58v. Einsiedeln, Stiftbibliothek 121 f. 150

Verse 1 of Psalm 53 calls on God to save the speaker, and then to vindicate him:

Deus, in nómine tuo salvum me fac: et in virtúte tua júdica me

Save me, O God, by your name, and judge me in your strength

Looking at the Latin

The key vocabulary for the verse is:

nomen, mis, n. name; God himself; the perfections of God, His glory, majesty, wisdom, power, goodness,

in+abl = with, in, on among, by means of

salvus, a, um, safe, saved,  salvum facere, to save, keep safe, preserve from harm.. 

virtus, utis, f   strength, power, might; an army, host; the angels.; the heavenly bodies

judico, avi, atum, are to judge,  rule,  punish,  do justice to, to relieve from wrong

It is worth noting that although the neo-Vulgate follows the Vulgate in this case, St Jerome’s translation from the Hebrew (JH) and the Pian psalter offer quite different versions of the second phrase:

1	V/NV	Deus, in nómine tuo salvum me fac: * et in virtúte tua júdica me.
	Pian	Deus, in nomine tuo salvum me fac, Et virtute tua age causam meam.
	JH	Deus, in nomine tuo salua me, et in fortitudine tua ulciscere me.
	Sept	ὁ θεός ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί σου σῶσόν με καὶ ἐν τῇ δυνάμει σου κρῖνόν με

  

The various English translations offer a variety of shades of meaning for ‘judica’:  .

DR	Save me, O God, by your name, and judge me in your strength.
Brenton	Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy might.
RSV	Save me, O God, by thy name, and vindicate me by thy might.
Cover	Save me, O God, for thy Name’s sake, and avenge me in thy strength.
Knox	Lord, by the virtue of thy name deliver me, let thy sovereign power grant me redress;
Collegeville	O God, by Your name save me, and judge me by Your might.
Grail	O God, save me by your name; by your power, uphold my cause.

The Christological interpretation

As noted in the introduction to the psalm, the Father’s generally took their cue from the title of this psalm, which put it in the context of David’s betrayal when he attempted to find refuge in the desert and woodlands of Ziph, and saw David as a type of Christ. St Hilary of Poitiers, for example, commented that:

The suffering of the Prophet David is, according to the account we have given of the title, a type of the Passion of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ is, in this verse, providing us with a model of how to pray, St Hilary argued:

This is why his prayer also corresponds in sense with the prayer of Him Who being the Word was made flesh: in such wise that He Who suffered all things after the manner of man, in everything He said, spoke after the manner of man; and He who bore the infirmities and took on Him the sins of men approached God in prayer with the humility proper to men.

The power of God’s name

But these are verses equally applicable to all Christians, hence its regular use in Prime in the older form of the Roman Office.  St Cassiodorus for example commented that:

Earlier he asked that he should experience healing in this world by the name of the Lord; now he begs that at the judgment to come he should be freed by His strength, for just as here the Lord came in the guise of weakness of body, so there He will appear with the power of His majesty. So in the one verse these two aims, which religious persons should seek before all else, are fulfilled. The words are rightly uttered by each and every believer; they are rightly spoken by the Christian people.

God’s justice

The second phrase’s call for judgment can be interpreted in a number of ways, but the most obvious interpretation is in the sense of reward, recompense or vindication for our actions.  In the case of Christ, St Hilary argued: 

For now as the reward for His humility in emptying Himself and assuming the form of a servant, in the same humility in which He had assumed it, He was asking to resume the form which He shared with God, having saved to bear the Name of God that humanity in which as God He had obediently condescended to be born…For a right award is the essential result of judgment, as the Scripture says: Becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the Cross.

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem, in carminibus. Intellectus David, 2 cum venissent Ziphæi, et dixissent ad Saul : Nonne David absconditus est apud nos?	Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David. 2 When the men of Ziph had come and said to Saul: Is not David hidden with us?
1 Deus, in nómine tuo salvum me fac: * et in virtúte tua júdica me.	3 Save me, O God, by your name, and judge me in your strength.
2  Deus, exáudi oratiónem meam: * áuribus pércipe verba oris mei.	4 O God, hear my prayer: give ear to the words of my mouth.
3  Quóniam aliéni insurrexérunt advérsum me, et fortes quæsiérunt ánimam meam: * et non proposuérunt Deum ante conspéctum suum.	5 For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes.
4 Ecce enim Deus ádjuvat me: * et Dóminus suscéptor est ánimæ meæ.	6 For behold God is my helper: and the Lord is the protector of my soul.
5  Avérte mala inimícis meis: * et in veritáte tua dispérde illos.	7 Turn back the evils upon my enemies; and cut them off in your truth.
6  Voluntárie sacrificábo tibi, * et confitébor nómini tuo, Dómine: quóniam bonum est :	8 I will freely sacrifice to you, and will give praise, O God, to your name: because it is good:
7  Quóniam ex omni tribulatióne eripuísti me: * et super inimícos meos despéxit óculus meus.	9 For you have delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye has looked down upon my enemies.

And for the next part in this series, continue on here.