Psalm 140: v1 - The agony of Christ in the garden

 Psalm 140, I noted in the overview, is something of a manual on prayer, and this first verse is an important start on this.

 Looking at the Latin

First, a selection of Latin translations, and the Septuagint version, which provide several different ways to make the same basic plea! 

1	V	Domine, clamavi ad te, exaudi me: * intende voci meæ, cum clamavero ad te.
	OR	Domine clamavi ad te exaudi me  intende voci orationis meae dum clamavero ad te
	NV	Domine, clamavi ad te, ad me festina; intende voci meae, cum clamo ad te.
	JH	Domine, clamaui ad te; festina mihi : exaudi vocem meam clamantis ad te.
	Sept	κύριε ἐκέκραξα πρὸς σέ εἰσάκουσόνμου πρόσχες τῇ φωνῇ τῆς δεήσεώς μου ἐν τῷ κεκραγέναι με πρὸς σέ

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

Phrase by phrase (Vulgate and Douay Rheims)

Breaking down the Vulgate on a phrase by phrase basis using the Douay Rheims translation gives us:

Domine, clamavi ad te, exaudi me:  intende voci meæ, cum clamavero ad te.

O Lord, I have cried to you hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to you.

 Word by word

The key vocabulary for the verse is:

clamo, avi, atum, are to call, cry out; to call to or upon for aid..
exaudio, ivi, itum, ire, to hear, hearken to, listen to, give heed to; to regard, answer.
intendo, tendi, tentum, ere 3 to give heed to, pay attention to; to regard, look upon
vox, vocis, f., the voice of a person, or, the sound of an instrument, thunder. 
cum conj when, as soon as, as often as.

And word by word:

Dómine (O Lord), clamávi (I have cried) ad (to) te (you), exáudi (hear) me (me): inténde (give heed) voci (of the voice) meæ (of my), cum (when) clamávero (I cry) ad (to) te (you)

Verb tenses

If is worth noting the several different verb tenses utilised in this verse, as more than one commentary draws on this to tease out the meaning of the verse.  The first, clamavi is the past (perfect) tense, for completed actions.  Exaudi and intende are present imperatives.  Note that although most modern grammars will suggest that 'cum clamvero' is properly translated as 'when I cry', the temporal clause using cum and the future indicative tense has a subtlely different character that the English translation cannot readily convey, as several of the commentaries noted below draw out: it is referring to a future event, not our current prayer.

A selection of English translations:

DR	I have cried to you, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to you.
Brenton	O Lord, I have cried to thee; hear me: attend to the voice of my supplication, when I cry to thee.
MD	I cry unto Thee O Lord hear me.  Hearken unto my voice, when I call upon thee.
RSV	I call upon thee, O LORD; make haste to me! Give ear to my voice, when I call to thee!
Cover	Lord, I call upon thee; haste thee unto me, and consider my voice when I cry unto thee.
Knox	Come quickly, Lord, at my cry for succour; do not let my appeal to thee go unheard.
Grail	I have called to you, Lord; hasten to help me! Hear my voice when I cry to you.

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

Fervent prayer is our best weapon

Many of the psalms contain verses pleading for God to hear us in times of trouble, or in aid of a just cause, and we should take these as our model, and not be ashamed to do likewise!   

St Jerome, for example, commented that:

Moses was standing his ground in the midst of his people, and Pharaoh, marching in pursuit, was almost upon him; on all sides he was straitened. It was then that he cried out to God and instantly God said to him: 'Why are you crying out to me?' All the while that Moses was praying in silence, God was hearing him. Scripture, however, does not record what he said, only that he cried. 

The blood of martyrs, too, constantly cries out to the Lord and He listens graciously. 

The Lord declared to Cain: 'The voice of your brother's blood cries to me'; and in the Apocalypse of John, the souls of the just that were under the altar were crying to the Lord: 'How long, O Lord, dost thou refrain from avenging our blood?'' 

Let us not fail in passing to consider that the souls of the just are an altar to the Lord. 'Hearken to my voice when I call upon you.' Take note, 0 Lord, of what I am asking of You. 

I am not begging for carnal pleasure, nor for gold, nor for the things of this world, but I am pleading for mercy; wherefore the prophet says: Hearken, do not let my plea go unheard; I am not asking anything amiss.

St John Chrysostom similarly urges us to use prayer as a weapon against the devil, when undertaken with zeal and properly directed, taking the Apostles as our model:

In my crying to you: do you see how he wishes us also to call with zeal, with enthusiasm? Then it is in particular, remember, that the devil lies in wait: since he knows that prayer is the greatest weapon, and even if we are sinful and disgraced we nevertheless achieve great favors by praying assiduously and in keeping with God's laws, then is the time he is anxious to drive us into indifference and incline our thinking so as to make us give up prayer without result. 

Aware of this, then, we should throw up against him our zeal, and never pray against our enemies, but rather imitate the apostles. They suffered countless calamities, remember, then were thrown into prison, and after risking the ultimate fate they had recourse to prayer in the words, "Have regard to their threats." And then what? Surely they did not say, "Smash them," or "Kill them," as many people frequently say in calling down curses? By no means. Instead, what? "Allow your servants to speak your word with confidence." 

If we pray in this way, he says, our prayers will be answered:

If your prayer is like that, and you call on God with zeal, even before your prayer is finished you will be heard. This is what the psalmist also asks for in saying, Heed the sound of my appeal in my crying to you. God's own promise says, after all, "While you are still speaking I shall say, Lo, here I am."

Past, present and future prayer for forgiveness of sins

Prayer, the Fathers argued, must be constant.  If you look back at the Latin text above, you can see that the verse contains several different verb tenses.  St Cassiodorus interpreted this as a call to continuous prayer, both for our past and future sins and faults: 

The prophet in his desire to inject into the human race a mood of uninterrupted prayer, seems to have combined two different times. He says of the past: I have cried, denoting a prayer completed. Then he says again: As I shall cry to thee, clearly denoting the future. So just as no time is free of faults, so there is no time unoccupied by pious prayers, for the saving remedy against unceasing sins is continual entreaty to the devoted Lord. 

What point will there be in forgiveness of past sins, if future ones are seen to bind us? So a goodly end is being sought for the Christian, so that when in his final hours the pardon granted him is past, the last stage of his life may not be one of guilt. 

Our key prayer he argues here, must be for forgiveness of our sins: 

Observe that here and in the following verse he renewed his prayers fourfold, for the holy man could not be sated with so great a request; for the prayer which frees us from faults wins the heart of the Judge and wipes away sins, and mercy cannot be withheld from one who makes entreaty, for humility fires us to pray unceasingly for forgiveness. All this is achieved by the devoted Lord, for He does not wish to condemn those whom He forewarns. The Creator of the world cries out: I desire not the death of the sinner, but that he be converted, and live.'

The prayer of Christ in the Garden

Above all though, the perfect model for fervent prayer is of course Christ, and St Augustine interpreted this verse as being the prayer of Christ on the night before his crucifixion, a prayer so ardent that not only sweat, but also blood ran down from his body:

This not I alone say: whole Christ says it. But it is said rather in the name of the Body: for He too, when He was here and bore our flesh, prayed; and when He prayed, drops of blood streamed down from His whole Body. So is it written in the Gospel: Jesus prayed earnestly, and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood. (Luke 22:44).

 And Christ's prayer, past, present and future, is above all for us:

What is this flowing of sweat from his whole body, but the suffering of martyrs from the whole Church? Listen unto the voice of my prayer, while I cry unto you. You thought the business of crying already finished, when you said, I have cried unto You. You have cried; yet think not yourself safe. If tribulation be finished, crying is finished: but if tribulation remain for the Church, for the Body of Christ, even to the end of the world, let it not only say, I have cried unto you, but also, Listen unto the voice of my prayer. 

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 notes on the next verse of the psalm, continue on here.