Psalm 43 is said at Monday Matins in the Benedictine Office.
For the sons of core...
St Augustine provided an extended commentary on the psalm's title, which he saw as linking it to the Passion:
St Alphonsus Liguori provides the following summary for this psalm:
The text of the psalm
Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm
For the sons of core...
St Augustine provided an extended commentary on the psalm's title, which he saw as linking it to the Passion:
This Psalm is addressed to the sons of Korah, as its title shows. Now Korah is equivalent to the word baldness; and we find in the Gospel that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified in the place of a skull. It is clear then that this Psalm is sung to the sons of His 'Passion.' Now we have on this point a most certain and most evident testimony from the Apostle Paul; because that at the time when the Church was suffering under the persecutions of the Gentiles, he quoted from hence a verse, to insert by way of consolation, and encouragement to patience. For that which he inserted in his Epistle, is said here: For Your sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Let us then hear in this Psalm the voice of the Martyrs; and see how good is the cause which the voice of the Martyrs pleads, saying, For Your sake, etc....
The title then is not simply To the sons of Korah, but, For understanding, to the sons of Korah. This is the case also with that Psalm, the first verse of which the Lord Himself uttered on the Cross: My God, My God, look upon Me; why have You forsaken Me? For transferring us in a figure to what He was saying, and to His own Body (for we are also His Body, and He is our Head), He uttered from the Cross not His own cry, but ours. For God never forsook Him: nor did He Himself ever depart from the Father; but it was in behalf of us that He spoke this: My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? For there follows, Far from My health are the words of My offenses: and it shows in whose person He said this; for sin could not be found in Him....
A psalm for times of tribulation
St Alphonsus Liguori provides the following summary for this psalm:
What dominates in this psalm is the expression of the sentiments which should animate the just amid the afflictions of the present life. The psalmist, therefore, proposes to us a prayer that we should address to God in the time of tribulation. The holy Fathers regard this psalm as prophetic. It is the people of God that speak: groaning under oppression, they represent to the Lord the benefits that they once received from his bounty; then they describe their present miseries, and ask the help that they need.
The text of the psalm
Psalm 43
Vulgate
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Douay-Rheims
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In
finem. Filiis Core ad intellectum.
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Unto the end, for the sons of Core,
to give understanding.
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1 Deus, áuribus nostris
audívimus: * patres nostri annuntiavérunt nobis.
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We have heard, O God, with our ears: our
fathers have declared to us,
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2 Opus, quod operátus es
in diébus eórum, * et in diébus antíquis.
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The work you have wrought in
their days, and in the days of old.
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3 Manus tua gentes
dispérdidit, et plantásti eos: * afflixísti pópulos, et expulísti eos.
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3 Your hand destroyed the Gentiles, and you
planted them: you afflicted the people and casted them out.
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4 Nec enim in gládio
suo possedérunt terram, * et bráchium eórum non salvávit eos:
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4 For they got not the
possession of the land by their own sword: neither did their own arm save them.
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5 Sed déxtera tua, et
bráchium tuum, et illuminátio vultus tui, * quóniam complacuísti in eis.
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But your right hand and your
arm, and the light of your countenance: because you were pleased with them.
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6 Tu es ipse Rex meus
et Deus meus: * qui mandas salútes Jacob.
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5 You are yourself my king
and my God, who
commands the saving of Jacob.
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7 In te inimícos
nostros ventilábimus cornu: * et in nómine tuo spernémus insurgéntes in
nobis.
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6 Through you we will push
down our enemies with the horn: and through your name we will despise them that rise
up against us.
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8 Non enim in arcu
meo sperábo: * et gládius meus non salvábit me.
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7 For I will not trust in
my bow: neither shall my sword save me.
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9 Salvásti enim nos
de affligéntibus nos: * et odiéntes nos confudísti.
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8 But you have saved us
from them that afflict us: and have put them to shame that hate us.
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10 In Deo laudábimur
tota die: * et in nómine tuo confitébimur in sæculum.
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9 In God shall we glory all the day long:
and in your name we
will give praise for ever.
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11 Nunc autem repulísti
et confudísti nos: * et non egrediéris, Deus, in virtútibus nostris.
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10 But now you have cast us
off, and put us to shame: and you, O God, will not go out
with our armies.
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12 Avertísti nos retrórsum
post inimícos nostros: * et qui odérunt nos, diripiébant sibi.
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11 You have made us turn
our back to our enemies: and they that hated us plundered for
themselves.
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13 Dedísti nos
tamquam oves escárum: * et in Géntibus dispersísti nos.
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12 You have given us up
like sheep to be eaten: you have scattered us among the
nations.
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14 Vendidísti pópulum
tuum sine prétio: * et non fuit multitúdo in commutatiónibus eórum.
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13 You have sold your
people for no price: and there was no reckoning in the exchange of them.
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15 Posuísti nos
oppróbrium vicínis nostris, * subsannatiónem et derísum his, qui sunt in
circúitu nostro.
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14 You have made us a reproach
to our neighbours, a scoff and derision to them that are round about us.
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16 Posuísti nos in
similitúdinem Géntibus: * commotiónem cápitis in pópulis.
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15 You have made us a
byword among the Gentiles:
a shaking of the head among the people.
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17 Tota die
verecúndia mea contra me est, * et confúsio faciéi meæ coopéruit me.
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16 All the day long my
shame is before me: and the confusion of my face has covered me,
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18 A voce
exprobrántis, et obloquéntis: * a fácie inimíci, et persequéntis.
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17 at the voice of him that
reproaches and detracts me: at the face of the enemy and persecutor.
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19 Hæc ómnia venérunt
super nos, nec oblíti sumus te: * et iníque non égimus in testaménto tuo.
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18 All these things have
come upon us, yet we have not forgotten you: and we have not done wickedly in your
covenant.
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20 Et non recéssit
retro cor nostrum: * et declinásti sémitas nostras a via tua:
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19 And our heart has not
turned back: neither have you turned aside our steps from your way.
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21 Quóniam humiliásti nos in loco afflictiónis, * et coopéruit nos umbra mortis. |
20 For you have humbled us in the place
of affliction: and the shadow of death has covered us.
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22 Si oblíti sumus
nomen Dei nostri, * et si expándimus manus nostras ad deum aliénum:
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21 If we have forgotten the
name of our God, and if we have
spread forth our hands to a strange god:
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23 Nonne Deus
requíret ista? * ipse enim novit abscóndita cordis.
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22 Shall not God search out these
things: for he knows the secrets of the heart.
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24 Quóniam propter te
mortificámur tota die: * æstimáti sumus sicut oves occisiónis.
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23 Because for your sake we
are killed all the day long: we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
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25 Exsúrge, quare
obdórmis, Dómine? * exsúrge, et ne repéllas in finem.
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24 Arise, why are you
sleeping, O Lord?
Arise, and cast us not off to the end.
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26 Quare fáciem tuam
avértis,* oblivísceris inópiæ nostræ, et tribulatiónis nostræ?
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25 Why do you turn your
face away? And forget our want and our trouble?
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27 Quóniam humiliáta
est in púlvere ánima nostra: * conglutinátus est in terra venter noster.
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26 For our soul is humbled down to the
dust: our belly cleaves to the earth.
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28 Exsúrge, Dómine,
ádjuva nos: * et rédime nos propter nomen tuum.
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27 Arise, O Lord, help us and redeem us for your name's sake
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Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm
NT references |
Romans 8: 36 (13, 23) |
RB cursus |
Matins Monday II, 5 |
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc |
- |
Roman pre 1911 |
Tuesday Matins |
Roman post 1911 |
1911-62: Tuesday None . 1970: |
Mass propers (EF) |
Sexagesima IN (2, 24,
26) |
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