Psalm 140 v 11: Christ in his Passion

 The final verse of Psalm 140 reminds of the certainty of God's justice. 

Looking at the Latin

11	V	Cadent in retiáculo ejus peccatóres: * singuláriter sum ego donec tránseam.
	OR	cadent in retiaculo eius peccatores singulariter sum ego donec transeam.
	NV	Cadent in retiacula sua peccatores simul, ego autem ultra pertranseam.
	JH	Incident in rete eius impii simul: ego autem transibo.
	Sept	πεσοῦνται ἐν ἀμφιβλήστρῳ αὐτοῦ ἁμαρτωλοί κατὰ μόνας εἰμὶ ἐγὼ ἕως οὗ ἂν παρέλθω

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

St Jerome's translation captures the Masoretic Text sense of the text, that once they have been caught in their own traps, I can pass on.  The Septuagint version, though, which says I am alone until I pass, was given a Christological interpretation by the Fathers, so should not lightly be dismissed.

 Phrase by phrase

Cadent in retiáculo ejus peccatóres singuláriter sum ego donec tránseam.

[they] shall fall in his net: The wicked I am alone until I pass.

 Word by word 

Cadent (they shall fall) in retiáculo (in the net) ejus(their) peccatóres (sinners): singuláriter (alone) sum (I am) ego (I) donec (until) tránseam (I have passed on by [safely]) . 

Key vocabulary 

cado, cecidi, casum, ere 3  to fall, esp. in battle; to bow down, fall down, prostrate one's self; to happen, fall, befall.
retiaculum i n a net
singulariter, adv.  alone, only
donec, conj., till, until
transeo, ivi and ii, itum, ie,  pass by, on, or away visit, to go to a place; to pass over as waves; to go through, 

Selected translations 

DR	The wicked shall fall in his net: I am alone until I pass.
Brenton	Sinners shall fall by their own net: I am alone until I shall escape.
MD	Let the sinners be caught in their own net: whilst I alone shall pass unharmed.
RSV	Let the wicked together fall into their own nets, while I escape.
Cover	Let the ungodly fall into their own nets together, and let me ever escape them.
Knox	Into their own net, sinner upon sinner, may they fall, and I pass on in safety.
Grail	Let the wicked fall into the traps they have set while I pursue my way unharmed.

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

God's net

The first half of the verse is a statement that justice will ultimately prevail.  As Theodoret put it:

The sinners will fall in his net, that is, God's: those who set traps for others will be caught up in divine retribution like a kind of netting, will have to bear whatever they commit, and will suffer what they inflict on others. 

There is in this life, though, always hope of conversion, and so St John Chrysostom interprets the net to be more all-encompassing:

Whose net will they fall into? God's very own. That is to say, they will be snared, they will be caught: the righteous, to the point of correction and awakening their sound values; sinners, suffering incurable ailments as they are, to the point of punishment and retribution. 

Preserving our souls until we reach our true home

The sense of the second half of the verse is, according to St Robert Bellarmine, that by observing the precepts listed out in the psalm - shunning worldly gatherings, and keeping guard of heart, mind and words and so forth - we will eventually pass over into our true home, heaven:

 I will keep aloof from the whole world, until I should have passed all snares and stumbling blocks. Though I may be kept an exile for a time in this world, I will not belong to it. “I am alone,” until I shall have passed to my country, where I shall have no shares or stumbling blocks to encounter.

Christ reopens the way 

The final phrase, though, surely refers above all to Christ in his Passion, as St Augustine pointed out: 

Pascha, as they say who know, and who have explained to us what to read, means Passover. When then the Lord's Passion was about to come, the Evangelist, as though he would use this very word, says, When the hour had come that Jesus should pass over to the Father.  We hear then of Pascha in this verse, I am alone, until I pass over. After Pascha I shall no longer be alone, after passing-over I shall no longer be alone. Many shall imitate me, many shall follow me...Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit...

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.