Ps 139 v10: Plots, lies and heresy

Verse 10 of Psalm 139 is the start of a section of the psalm dealing with the fate of those who plot evil, and is important in setting up a contrast between the appearance and behaviour of the evil man in this psalm, and the just man in the next.

Here are a selection of Latin (and Greek) versions of the text:

10	V	Caput circúitus eórum: * labor labiórum ipsórum opériet eos.
	OR	caput circuitus eorum labor labiorum ipsorum operiet eos
	NV	Exaltant caput, qui circumdant me; malitia labiorum ipsorum operiat eos.
	Pian	Extollunt caput qui me circumdant: Malitia labiorum eorum obruat eos.
	JH	Amaritudo conuiuarum eorum, labor labiorum eorum operiet eos.
	Sept	ἡ κεφαλὴ τοῦ κυκλώματος αὐτῶν κόπος τῶν χειλέων αὐτῶν καλύψει αὐτούς

[Key: V=Vulgate; OR=Old Roman; NV=Neo-Vulgate; JH=St Jerome's translation from the Hebrew; Sept=Septuagint]

Looking at the Latin 

If we focus first on the first version, the Vulgate, we can rearrange the Douay-Rheims translation slightly to get a phrase by phrase comparison: 

Caput eórum circúitus labor labiórum ipsórum opériet eos.

The head of them compassing me about: the labour of their lips shall overwhelm them.

Word by word: 

Caput (the head) circúitus (surrounding/around) eórum (of them): * labor (the work) labiórum (of the lips) ipsórum (their) opériet (it will overwhelm) eos (them).

The key vocabulary for the verse is as follows:

caput, itis, n. the head
circuitus, us, used chiefly in the phrase "in circuitu," round about.
labor, oris, m., work, labor, toil, effort; Labor, travail; mischief; trouble, difficulty
labium, ii, n., a lip; frequently stands for language, speech, thought, plan, design.
operio perui pertum ire to cover, cover over; pardon; overwhelm; clothe

DR	The head of them compassing me about: the labour of their lips shall overwhelm them.
Brenton	[As for] the head of them that compass me, the mischief of their lips shall cover them.
MD	They carried high their heads, they that surround me, the mischief of their lips shall overwhelm them.
RSV	Let the mischief of their own lips fall upon the head of them that compass me about.
Cover	Those who surround me lift up their head, let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!
Knox	They carry their heads high as they close in around me; let their conspiracy prove its own undoing
Grail	Those surrounding me lift up their heads. Let the malice of their speech overwhelm them.

 [Key: DR=Douay-Rheims Challoner; MD=Monastic Diurnal; RSV=Revised Standard Version; Cover=Coverdale]

Pride and humility

The Masoretic Tradition-based translations (Knox, Grail and Coverdale) set out below are actually useful in this case in making clearer that the reference to the head here implies the proud, those who keep their 'heads lifted up' rather than those who keep their eyes cast down and their heads bowed down out of humility as St Benedict instructs his monks to do in Chapter 7 of his rule.  

St Augustine makes the central point, following and building on St Ambrose's thinking, in asserting that pride is the basis of all sin: "But the head of their going about is pride, for pride is the beginning of every sin."  

Plots, heresy and lies

The circling about, or encompassing reference, Cassiodorus explains, can be seen as the way the devil roams around, looking for ways to attack us:

...the head of her enemies, the devil, embarks on a rotating detour, for he never attains the direct way, but is ever enfolding himself by doubling back on his tracks. The order of words is like this: Their head goes round. Peter likewise says of him: Your adversary as a roaring lion goes round, seeking whom he may devour.

The jist of the verse, then, is a plea or prophesy that those who plot against Christ and his Church will find their evil rebound against them. Theodoret for example comments that:

...may they fall foul of their own schemes, he is saying, and suffer what they devised against me, and may the savagery hatched against me completely envelop those employing it.  This resembles what is said in the seventh psalm: “He sank a pit and dug it out, and fell into the hole he had made.” 

St Jerome points the finger at heretics who twist the words of the philosophers to defend their positions, and argues that the proper response is orthodox teaching grounded in Holy Scripture:

...these heretics hide themselves in the winding utterances of Aristotle and the other philosophers and so shield and defend themselves. The man of the Church, however, with the cross as a staff unwinds the coil, discloses the head hidden within its recesses, and there strikes at it. In other words, he draws proof from the Sacred Scriptures and disseminates it'

 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem. Psalmus David.	Unto the end, a psalm of David.
1 Eripe me, Dómine, ab hómine malo: * a viro iníquo éripe me.	Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man.
2 Qui cogitavérunt iniquitátes in corde: * tota die constituébant prælia.	3 Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles.
3 Acuérunt linguas suas sicut serpéntis: * venénum áspidum sub lábiis eórum.	4 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips.
4 Custódi me, Dómine, de manu peccatóris: * et ab homínibus iníquis éripe me.	5 Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust men deliver me.
5 Qui cogitavérunt supplantáre gressus meos: * abscondérunt supérbi láqueum mihi:	Who have proposed to supplant my steps: 6 The proud have hidden a net for me.
6 Et funes extendérunt in láqueum: * juxta iter scándalum posuérunt mihi.	And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumbling block by the wayside.
7. Dixi Dómino : Deus meus es tu: * exáudi, Dómine, vocem deprecatiónis meæ.	7 I said to the Lord: You are my God: hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication.
8 Dómine, Dómine, virtus salútis meæ: * obumbrásti super caput meum in die belli.	8 O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation: you have overshadowed my head in the day of battle.
9 Ne tradas me, Dómine, a desidério meo peccatóri: * cogitavérunt contra me, ne derelínquas me, ne forte exalténtur.	9 Give me not up, O Lord, from my desire to the wicked: they have plotted against me; do not forsake me, lest they should triumph.
10 Caput circúitus eórum: * labor labiórum ipsórum opériet eos.	10 The head of them compassing me about: the labour of their lips shall overwhelm them.
11 Cadent super eos carbónes, in ignem dejícies eos: * in misériis non subsístent.	11 Burning coals shall fall upon them; you will cast them down into the fire: in miseries they shall not be able to stand.
12 Vir linguósus non dirigétur in terra: * virum injústum mala cápient in intéritu.	12 A man full of tongue shall not be established in the earth: evil shall catch the unjust man unto destruction.
13 Cognóvi quia fáciet Dóminus judícium ínopis: * et vindíctam páuperum.	13 I know that the Lord will do justice to the needy, and will revenge the poor.
14 Verúmtamen justi confitebúntur nómini tuo: * et habitábunt recti cum vultu tuo.	14 But as for the just, they shall give glory to your name: and the upright shall dwell with your countenance.

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