Psalm 139 verse 2: We are at war

Verse  2 of Psalm 139 is a reminder that we are constantly called upon to wage spiritual warfare, since the enemy never ceases planning his assaults on us.

Looking at the Latin

Phrase by phrase, using the Douay-Rheims:

Qui cogitavérunt iniquitátes in corde tota die constituébant prælia.

Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles.

Tota die (all day long) here really means ceasely, or continually (as the Revised Standard Version suggests, see below), or always (as in the Knox translation).

Praelia literally means battles, and the whole psalm serves as a reminder that in this world we must always conisder ourselves soldiers of Christ, contending against the world, the flesh and the devil.  All the same, in the context of the psalmists complaints about slander and eother evil words, the translation of the word as 'strife' or perhaps 'trouble' also works.

The verb cogitaverunt (they thought, planned) is important, as it recurs in various forms through the psalm, and its repetition - rather than use of other synonmyms  - can be seen as setting in contrast the total knowledge and Providential plan of God reflected on in Psam 138, and the knowledge of faith of the good person, with the twisted and evil thoughts of evildoers.

Word by word:

Qui (who) cogitavérunt (pf: they have thought/planned) iniquitátes (evil) in corde (in the heart): * tota (all) die (the day) constituébant (they were devising/designing/planning) prælia (battles/war).

The key vocabulary for the verse is:

cogito, avi, atum, are to think, plan, devise, take counsel.

iniquitas, atis, f iniquity, injustice, sin.

cor, cordis, n., the heart, regarded as the seat of the faculties, feelings, emotions, passions; the mind, the soul.

totus a um all, the whole

dies, ei, m. and f fem.  a day, the natural day

constituo, stitui, tutum, ere 3  to set, place, put, appoint; o make, create; build, found; devise, design; fix, mark out.

praelium, ii, n., war, battle, contention, disputes

The various translations below provide more of the sense of the verse, with the Knox perhaps providing the most poetic rendering, describing those who devote their entire day to stirring up trouble:

DR	Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles.
Brenton	Who have devised injustice in their hearts; all the day they prepared war.
MD	Who devise evil in their hearts and daily stir up strifes.
RSV	who plan evil things in their heart, and stir up wars continually.
Cover	who imagine mischief in their hearts, and stir up strife all the day long.
Knox	always plotting treachery in their hearts, always at their quarrelling,
Grail	from those who plan evil in their hearts and stir up strife every day;

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

The key Latin translations of this verse vary mainly in the synonyms used for evil doers:

2	V	Qui cogitavérunt iniquitátes in corde: tota die constituébant prælia.
	OR	qui cogitaverunt malitias in corde tota die constitubant proelia
	NV	Qui cogitaverunt mala in corde, tota die constituebant proelia.
	Pian	Ab iis qui cogitant mala in corde, Omni die excitant lites,
	JH	quia cogitaverunt malitias in corde; tota die versati sunt in proeliis.
	Sept	οἵτινες ἐλογίσαντο ἀδικίας ἐν καρδίᾳ ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν παρετάσσοντο πολέμους

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

The Pian (Bea), though, changes the tense of the verb in the opening phrase from perfect (ie they are/have  always/continuously been plotting), to present (they are plotting), a rather substantial change in meaning on the face of it.  It also changes proelia (battles, combat, war) to the noun lis (a strife, dispute, quarrel, altercation), rather softening the sense of the verse.

The heart of good and evil

The three psalms of Thursday Vespers focus heavily on our inner dispositions.  In Psalm 138, the speaker invites God to search our heart and mind, lest we have fallen into evil ways; in Psalm 140 that follows this one, the psalmist asks God's help to not let his heart incline to evil words, or to make excuses for sins.

By contrast, the wicked man has no such desire for insight or correction, but rather acts as if God doesn't exist, thinking that his secrets remain just that.

St Augustine saw this verse as directed against those who plot in secret:

For easy is it to avoid open enmities, easy is it to turn aside from an enemy declared and manifest, while iniquity is in his lips as well as his heart; he is a troublesome enemy, he is secret, he is with difficulty avoided, who bears good things in his lips, while in his heart he conceals evil things. 

And contrary to the interpretation of the Bea Psalter, St Augustine was clear that what is being talked about here is a continuous state of outright war:

Be it sedition, be it schism, be it heresy, be it turbulent opposition, it springs not save from these imaginings which were concealed, and while they spoke good words with their lips, all the day long did they make war. You hear words of peace, yet making war departs not from their thoughts. For the words, all the day long, signify without intermission, throughout the whole time. 

God though, knows the innermost thoughts of everyone, hence our total dependnece on him as St Robert Bellarmine commented:

He assigns a reason for having said, “Deliver me,” and the reason is because he was assailed through thought, word, and deed; and so repeatedly, that they might be called daily, without intermission or truce; and the Apostle, therefore, justly exhorts us “to put on the armor of God,” or, as the Greek has it, all sorts of armor, to wit, the helmet, coat of mail, shield, and sword, to enable us to offer the necessary resistance, and to stand perfect in every respect...They never ceased arranging the plans of battle they had previously decided on. 

Bellarmine's commentary goes on to suggest that the plural used for those plotting makes clear that the evil man of the first verse is not just a particular individual:

Who have devised iniquity in their hearts.” This proves that the expression, “the evil man,” in the first verse, is not intended for an individual, such as Saul, but for a lot of evil men, be they demons or men;

He also suggested, though, that the enemy can mean that which operates within us:

All this may, possibly, refer to the interior struggle within us, in respect of bad thoughts the prince of darkness turns up to us; such as unchaste thoughts, temptations, infidelities to grace, scruples, and mental perplexities; all the source of much annoyance and trouble.

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 on Psalm 139, continue on here.