Psalm 53 v 5 - Censored!

Domenico Pagliarolo, c15th
http://www.themorgan.org/collection/medieval-and-renaissance/manuscript/113118?id=409
Source: Wiki Commons

Today’s verse of Psalm 53 is one of those deemed to ‘difficult’, or un-PC in its sentiments, for modern minds to cope with, and so was excised altogether from the Liturgy of the Hours.  We should not, however, shy away from the lessons Scripture places before us for our instruction.

Avérte mala inimícis meis: et in veritáte tua dispérde illos.

Turn back the evils upon my enemies; and cut them off in your truth.

Looking at the Latin

The key vocabulary for the verse is:

averto, verti, versum, ere 3, to turn away, avert; to bring back.

malum, i, n., evil, sin; woe, harm, misfortune.

inimicus, i, m., a foe, enemy

veritas, atis,  truth. grace, kindness ,goodness, fidelity to promises, faithfulness

disperdo, didi, ditum, ere 3, to destroy, destroy utterly.

Word for word then:

Avérte (turn back, imp) mala (the evils) inimícis (to the enemies, dat/abl pl) meis (to me): * et (and) in veritáte (the truth) tua (your) dispérde (destroy) illos (them).

Given the modern difficulties with this verse, it is not surprising to find that the neo-Vulgate version in particular attempts to often its tone:

Vulgate	Avérte mala inimícis meis: et in veritáte tua dispérde illos.
Pian	Retorque malum in adversarios meos, Et pro fidelitate tua destrue illos.
Neo-Vulgate	Converte mala super inimicos meos et in veritate tua disperde illos.
Jerome from the Hebrew	Redde malum insidiatoribus meis in veritate tua disperde eos.
Septuagint	ἀποστρέψει τὰ κακὰ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς μου ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ σου ἐξολέθρευσον αὐτούς

The English translations, however, make clear that the literal meaning of the verse is that evil will rebound on those who seek to harm others:

DR	Turn back the evils upon my enemies; and cut them off in your truth.
Brenton	He shall return evil to mine enemies; utterly destroy them in thy truth.
RSV	He will requite my enemies with evil; in thy faithfulness put an end to them.
Cover	He shall reward evil unto mine enemies; destroy thou them in thy truth.
Knox	Let the blow recoil on my persecutors; ever faithful to thy word, do thou overthrow them.
Collegeville	Turn back the evil, against my foes, and in Your truth destroy them.
Grail	Let the evil recoil upon my foes; you who are faithful, destroy them.

How to read imprecatory verses

Given modern struggles with this verse, it is worth first taking the advice of the Fathers and Theologians on how to read this and other similar verses. 

Noting that it seems at first blush to contradict Christ’s instruction to pray for our enemies, St Thomas Aquinas suggested that the verse is first and foremost a prediction more than a request.

St Thomas saw it also though, as a prayer for the world to be conformed to divine justice.

The first phrase of the verse can certainly be read as a plea for karma, as it were, to prevail: for the harm intended to the psalmist to rebound on the one seeking to do him harm.  

In this light, St Augustine portrayed the verse as a warning to us not to be diverted from the right path by the lures of the ephemeral:

Because to wit they flourish now, because to wit they spring up like grass: do not thou be a man unwise and foolish, so that by giving thought to these things thou perish for ever and ever. For, Turn Thou away evil things unto mine enemies…These men flourish in the felicity of the world, perish in the virtue of God.

Confronting sinners with the truth: a prayer for conversion

Aquinas, though, interpreted the verse as a prayer for the conversion of sinners.

In particular, the first phrase of the verse can also be interpreted as a call for the evil intention to be removed from the person seeking to the speaker harm, as St Cassiodorus suggested:

Since the prophet knew that he had been freed by the Lord's pity from the persecution of his enemies, he is seen to offer this sacrifice of good-will. He strives on behalf of his enemies by every means to offer the prayer which the divine love is wont gladly to accept. So he prays that ill-will be removed from his enemies, for he knew that they would be weighed down by it.

This interpretation of the verse particularly flows from the second phrase though, for it presents the key to the conversion of sinners as being confrontation with the truth:

When evil men approach the truth, they abandon their earlier intention; if a man does not forsake his wicked plan, he will not take part in goodly actions. So the psalmist prays that the men of Ziph may fail to betray his hidden person, and that Saul may fail to persecute him in his innocence.

I am the way, the truth and the life

The key application of the verse, is of course, to the Resurrection of Christ, as St Hilary of Poitiers explained:

Truth confounds falsehood, and lying is destroyed by truth. We have shown that the whole of the foregoing prayer is the utterance of that human nature in which the Son of God was born; so here it is the voice of human nature calling upon God the Father to destroy His enemies in His truth. What this truth is, stands beyond doubt; it is of course He Who said: I am the Life, the Way, the Truth. And the enemies were destroyed by the truth when, for all their attempts to win Christ's condemnation by false witness, they heard that He was risen from the dead and had to admit that He had resumed His glory in all the reality of Godhead.

And, he explained, that while many converted after the Resurrection and lived, there was indeed a price to pay for those who did not heed the message:

Ere long they found, in ruin and destruction by famine and war, their reward for crucifying God; for they condemned the Lord of Life to death, and paid no heed to God's truth displayed in Him through His glorious works. And thus the Truth of God destroyed them when He rose again to resume the majesty of His Father's Glory, and gave proof of the truth of that perfect Divinity which He possessed.

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, go here.