Ps 140 v7: Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us...

 Verse 7 of Psalm 140 is challenging to translate, but that should not deter us, since the Fathers start from the premise that God is giving us something that can be understood, and provide a number of plausible interpretations of it.

 Looking at the Latin

7	V	Quóniam adhuc et orátio mea in beneplácitis eórum: * absórpti sunt juncti petræ júdices eórum.
	OR	quoniam adhuc est oratio mea in beneplacitis eorum absorti sunt continuati petrae iudices eorum
	NV	quoniam adhuc et oratio mea in malitiis eorum. Deiecti in manus duras iudicum eorum
	JH	quia adhuc et oratio mea pro malitiis eorum. Sublati sunt iuxta petram iudices eorum,
	Sept	ὅτι ἔτι καὶ ἡ προσευχή μου ἐν ταῖς εὐδοκίαις αὐτῶν κατεπόθησαν ἐχόμενα πέτρας οἱ κριταὶ αὐτῶν

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

The Neo-Vulgate's decision to omit the word rock altogether seems unfortunate given the word's Christological connotations.

Phrase by phrase 

Quóniam adhuc et orátio mea in beneplácitis eórum: júdices eórum. absórpti sunt juncti petræ

For my prayer still shall be against  the things with which they are well pleased: Their judges have been swallowed up falling upon the rock

Word by word 

Quóniam (since) adhuc (as yet) et (even/ against) orátio (prayer) mea (my) in (by means of) beneplácitis (pleasing) eórum (them): * absórpti sunt (they have been swallowed up) juncti (united/joined to) petræ (the rocks) júdices (the judges) eórum (of them). 

Key vocabulary 

quoniam, for, because, since, seeing that, whereas.
adhuc, yet, as yet; even yet; even now.
et, conj. And; et = sed, adversative; et = vel; yea, even
in +abl = with, in, on among, by means of
beneplacitus, a, um well-pleasing, agreeable, acceptable
absorbeo, iii, ere 2, to swallow up, gulp down
jungo jungere junxi junctum (3) to join, unite
petra -ae f 1.  Rock,  place of safety
judex, icis, m.  a judge  

DR	For my prayer shall still be against the things with which they are well pleased: Their judges falling upon the rock have been swallowed up.
Brenton	for yet shall my prayer also be in their pleasures. Their mighty ones have been swallowed up near the rock
MD	For my prayer is still against their pleasure: their judges are dashed against the stones.
RSV	for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds. When they are given over to those who shall condemn them,
Cover	yea, I will pray yet against their wickedness. Let their judges be overthrown in stony places,
Knox	Their injuries I will still greet with a prayer.  My words have won their hearts, a people that had seen their chieftains hurled down the rock-face,
Grail	Let my prayer be ever against their malice. Their princes were thrown down by the side of the rock;

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

A prayer for our conversion or theirs?

The Fathers note that there were a number of text variants of this verse in circulation, in part accounting for slightly different takes on the verse. 

On one side of the spectrum, St Cassiodorus sees it as a prayer of a sinner whose conversion is not yet fully effected:

This short verse is dependent on the earlier sense. He says: The oil of the sinner shall not fatten my head, and follows this by adding: For my prayer is still in the things that please them. When he says that his prayer is still in the things that please them, he suggests that his conversion is not yet perfect, for in his prayer he was longing to attain the things to which they aspired. His entreaty was chat he should become a stranger to all such things, so that he should not anoint his head with the oil of the sinner, that is, with the flattery of evil persuasion. 

The majority of the Fathers, though, saw it as a prayer for the conversion of those committed to sin.

St Jerome, for example, suggested it means something alone the lines of, they continue to be committed to the madness of sin, but I continue to pray for their conversion. 

St John Chrysostom reads it rather more forcefully, saying:

Not only shall I shun their noxious charm, he is saying, and not choose their censure, but I shall take my stand against their desires; I  desist from opting for their mercy to the extent of even praying against their desires...

St Augustine's take on the verse depends on a variant text along the lines of  'For still shall My word be well-pleasing to them', and thus interprets it as a prophesy of a time when they will repent:

Wait awhile: now they revile Me, says Christ. In the early times of the Christians, the Christians were blamed on all sides. Wait as yet; and My word shall be well-pleasing to them. The time shall come when they shall conquer thousands of men, who shall beat their breasts, and say, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Even now, how many remain who blush to beat their breasts? Let them then blame us: let us bear it. Let them blame; let them hate, accuse, detract; still shall My word be well-pleasing to them; the time shall come when My word shall please them....

 Dashing our sins on the rock that is Christ

The key part of the verse though, I would suggest, is the second half.

At the literal level, the reference to the judges being swallowed up after falling on a rock probably  refers to a method of executing criminals, namely throwing them off a high cliff  (see 2 Chron 25:12), a fate Our Lord nearly suffered himself (Luke 4.29). 

St Augustine interprets the rock as meaning Christ (an explanation relevant to a number of other psalms most notably Psalm 136):

What is, swallowed up beside the Rock? That Rock was Christ. They have been swallowed up beside the Rock. Beside, that is, compared, as judges, as mighty, powerful, learned: they are called their judges, as judging about morals, and laying down their opinions...  Set them beside the Rock, compare their authority to the authority of the Gospel, compare the proud to the Crucified. Say we to them You have written your words in the hearts of the proud; He has planted His Cross in the hearts of kings: finally, He died, and rose again; you are dead, and I will not ask how ye rise again. 

In short, St John Chrysostom, suggests, 'the influential, the shakers and the movers will all perish'.

St Augustine saw the text as applying to us as well, since no matter how committed a Christian we may be, we will inevitably fall, and thus must heed the message of this psalm, dash our sins on the rock that is Christ, and pray for his forgiveness:

For all these daily sins then what is our hope, save to say with humble heart in the Lord's Prayer, while we defend not our sins, but confess them, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; Matthew and to have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, that he may be the propitiation for our sins? 

In the context of the events of the Passion alluded to earlier in the psalms though, one could, perhaps also see this verse as a prophesy of the ultimate fate of the Jewish authorities who condemned Christ, in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem that followed forty years later.

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Psalmus David.	A psalm of David.
1 Dómine, clamávi ad te, exáudi me: * inténde voci meæ, cum clamávero ad te.	I have cried to you, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to you.
2  Dirigátur orátio mea sicut incénsum in conspéctu tuo: * elevátio mánuum meárum sacrifícium vespertínum.	2 Let my prayer be directed as incense in your sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice.
3  Pone, Dómine, custódiam ori meo: * et óstium circumstántiæ lábiis meis.	Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: and a door round about my lips.
4  Non declínes cor meum in verba malítiæ: * ad excusándas excusatiónes in peccátis.	4 Incline not my heart to evil words; to make excuses in sins.
5  Cum homínibus operántibus iniquitátem: * et non communicábo cum eléctis eórum	With men that work iniquity: and I will not communicate with the choicest of them
6  Corrípiet me justus in misericórdia, et increpábit me: * óleum autem peccatóris non impínguet caput meum.	5 The just man shall correct me in mercy, and shall reprove me: but let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head.
7  Quóniam adhuc et orátio mea in beneplácitis eórum: * absórpti sunt juncti petræ júdices eórum.	For my prayer shall still be against the things with which they are well pleased: 6 Their judges falling upon the rock have been swallowed up.
8  Audient verba mea quóniam potuérunt: * sicut crassitúdo terræ erúpta est super terram.	They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed: 7 As when the thickness of the earth is broken up upon the ground:
9  Dissipáta sunt ossa nostra secus inférnum: * quia ad te, Dómine, Dómine, óculi mei: in te sperávi, non áuferas ánimam meam.	Our bones are scattered by the side of hell. 8 But to you, O Lord, Lord, are my eyes: in you have I put my trust, take not away my soul.
10  Custódi me a láqueo, quem statuérunt mihi: * et a scándalis operántium iniquitátem.	9 Keep me from the snare, which they have laid for me, and from the stumbling blocks of them that work iniquity.
11  Cadent in retiáculo ejus peccatóres: * singuláriter sum ego donec tránseam.	10 The wicked shall fall in his net: I am alone until I pass.

For the next part in this series, continue on here.