aka the Psalms Blog. A blog on Scripture in line with the "new exegetical movement" proposed by Pope Benedict XVI, with a particular focus on the psalms.
Juan Sánchez Cotán, after 1603, Granada Charterhouse
Today's verse of Psalm 141 can be seen as the continuation of the prayer of Christ on the cross, and sets before us the proper actions of a person in distress, namely one who turns immediately to God, and pours out his heart to him.
Text notes
The Latin and Greek translations
2
V
Effúndo in conspéctu ejus oratiónem meam, *
et tribulatiónem meam ante ipsum pronúntio
NV
Effundo in conspectu eius lamentationem meam, et
tribulationem meam ante ipsum pronuntio.
R
Effundam in conspectu eius orationem meam tribulationem
meam ante ipsum pronuntio
JH
Effundam in conspectu eius eloquium meum: tribulationem meam coram illo adnuntiabo.
Although the meaning is essentially the same in all the Latin versions, the variety of words used for prayer or entreaty is interesting: prayers (Vulgate), lamentations (neo-Vulgate) and words (St Jerome's from the Hebrew).
Word by word
Effundo (I pour out) in conspectu (in the presence/sight) ejus (his) orationem (the prayer) meam (my), et (and) tribulationem (trouble/distress/affliction) meam (my) ante (before) ipsum (him) pronuntio (I announce/declare)
effundo, fudi, fusum, ere 3 to pour out, pour forth, to shed; Of a sword, to draw, unsheathe; of one's steps, to slip.
conspectus, us, m.sight, presence
pronuntio, avi, atum, are, to announce, declare, proclaim
In his sight I pour out my prayer, and before him I declare my trouble:
Brenton
I will pour out before him my supplication: I will declare before him mine affliction.
MD
I pour forth my prayer in His sight, and before Him I declare my affliction
RSV
I pour out my complaint before him, I tell my trouble before him.
Cover
I poured out my complaints before him, and showed him of my trouble.
Knox
as I pour out my complaint before him, tell him of the affliction I endure.
Grail
I pour out my trouble before him; I tell him all my distress
In times of distress, turn to God
Today's verse provides a model for us to follow, in putting out trust in God in times of trouble.
Doing so, St John Chrysostom said, can make us both feed our fervour for God, make us more conscious of his presence in our lives, and even wipe out our sins:
Do you see a spirit freed of earthly concerns? I mean, he neither had recourse to human beings, nor looked for assistance from them, but for invincible help and grace from on high....From this we learn that tribulations also make no slight contribution to sound values....It has in fact two advantages: one, in making us more zealous and attentive; the other, in proving no insignificant reason to be heard...And everywhere in Scripture we find that those bearing their tribulations with gratitude not only expiate many of their sins but also obtain thereby no little confidence in God's presence.
Sharing our troubles with God
The verse also instructs on how to make our prayer.
First, we must pour out our hearts: we must pray intently, with our whole heart, mind and inner voice.
Secondly, we must set out all before God: while he knows all, we have to articulate it fully, and honestly acknowledge all its dimensions so that we can truly know it has been answered.
As St Jerome suggests:
Without the least reserve the prophet cries: I pour out my whole heart to the Lord, like a man who shows his wound to the physician and tells him of all his sufferings so he may prescribe a remedy.
Thirdly, we must pray to God alone: we should go into that inner, secret room and pray before God, not other people.
Psalm 141 (142): Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
Intellectus David, cum esset in spelunca, oratio
Of understanding for David, A prayer when he was in the cave.
1 Voce mea ad Dóminum clamávi: * voce mea ad dóminum deprecátus sum.
2 I cried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made supplication to the Lord.
2. Effúndo in conspéctu ejus oratiónem meam, * et tribulatiónem meam ante ipsum pronúntio
3 In his sight I pour out my prayer, and before him I declare my trouble:
3. In deficiéndo ex me spíritum meum: * et tu cognovísti sémitas meas.
4 When my spirit failed me, then you knew my paths.
4 In via hac, qua ambulábam, * abscondérunt láqueum mihi.
In this way wherein I walked, they have hidden a snare for me.
5 Considerábam ad déxteram, et vidébam: * et non erat qui cognósceret me.
5 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, and there was no one that would know me.
6. Périit fuga a me: * et non est qui requírat ánimam meam.
Flight has failed me: and there is no one that has regard to my soul.
7. Clamávi ad te, Dómine, * dixi: Tu es spes mea, pórtio mea in terra vivéntium.
6 I cried to you, O Lord: I said: You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living.
8. Inténde ad deprecatiónem meam: * quia humiliátus sum nimis.
7 Attend to my supplication: for I am brought very low.
9. Líbera me a persequéntibus me: * quia confortáti sunt super me.
Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
10 Educ de custódia ánimam meam ad confiténdum nómini tuo: me exspéctant justi, donec retríbuas mihi.
8 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise your name: the just wait for me, until you reward me.
Key: V=Vulgate; NV=Neo-Vulgate; R=Romanus; JH - St Jerome's translation from the Hebrew.
The differences between the various Latin versions are minor, relating only to the tense of the verbs, and the use of Deus (God) instead of Lord in the Romanum.
Word by word translation and key vocabulary
Voce (voice) mea (my)
ad (to) Dominum (the Lord) clamavi (I have called), voce (voice) mea (my) ad (to)
Dominum (the Lord) deprecatus sum (I have entreated/made supplication).
clamo, avi, atum, are to call, cry out; to call to or upon
for aid.
vox, vocis, f., the voice of a person, or, the
sound of an instrument, etc.
deprecor, atus sum, ari, to entreat; to pray, make
supplication; to be entreated, supplicated.
Selected English translations
DR
I cried to the
Lord with my voice: with my voice I made supplication to the Lord.
Brenton
I cried to the
Lord with my voice; with my voice I made supplication to the Lord.
MD
Loudly I cry to
the Lord; with a loud voice I beseech the Lord for help
RSV
I cry with my
voice to the LORD, with my voice I make supplication to the LORD,
Cover
I cried unto the
Lord with my voice; yea, even unto the Lord did I make my supplication
Knox
Loud is my cry
to the Lord, the prayer I utter for the Lord’s mercy,
Grail
With
all my voice I cry to the Lord, with all my voice I entreat the Lord.
Christ prays for us
This verse can be read firstly as said in the mouth of Jesus, and can be seen as either his prayer on the Cross, or the night before in the Garden.
Its purpose, as Cassiodorus explains, is to obtain remission for our sins:
"In the holy person of His venerable incarnation, He says in His customary manner that He has cried to the Lord with his voice... How pure and sweet was the prayer poured out in the Father's sight, like a stream of clear water! Clearly it was issued not to sink to the depths but to reach the height of heavenly devotion...So the devoted advocate declares His troubles before the Father, so as to be able to obtain pardon for our sins."
This is, of course, a prayer we can also make our own, especially at times of trouble or temptation: although some today seem to think it is hypocritical to turn to God at the low points of our life, even on our deathbed, if we have neglected him at other times. Catholic tradition takes the diametrically opposite approach: our difficult times are meant to help us turn to God more intently, as St John Chrysostom pointed out:
From this we learn that tribulations also make no slight contribution to sound values....It has in fact two advantages: one, in making us more zealous and attentive; the other, in proving no insignificant reason to be heard...And everywhere in Scripture we find that those bearing their tribulations with gratitude not only expiate many of their sins but also obtain thereby no little confidence in God's presence.
The necessity of fervour
Many of the Fathers and Theologians also point out that the addition of the words 'with my voice' means we should not just mouth the words, but say them wholeheartedly, engaging body and mind: 'voice' here means our inner thought aligned to our external words.
As St Jerome put it:
Without the least reserve the prophet cries: I pour out my whole heart to the Lord, like a man who shows his wound to the physician and tells him of all his sufferings so he may prescribe a remedy.
Let us then cultivate our inner conscience this Lent, reflect on our past sins, and thus stimulate our sense of the need for God's healing grace.
Psalm 141 (142): Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
Intellectus David, cum esset in spelunca, oratio
Of understanding for David, A prayer when he was in the cave.
1 Voce mea ad Dóminum clamávi: * voce mea ad dóminum deprecátus sum.
2 I cried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made supplication to the Lord.
2. Effúndo in conspéctu ejus oratiónem meam, * et tribulatiónem meam ante ipsum pronúntio
3 In his sight I pour out my prayer, and before him I declare my trouble:
3. In deficiéndo ex me spíritum meum: * et tu cognovísti sémitas meas.
4 When my spirit failed me, then you knew my paths.
4 In via hac, qua ambulábam, * abscondérunt láqueum mihi.
In this way wherein I walked, they have hidden a snare for me.
5 Considerábam ad déxteram, et vidébam: * et non erat qui cognósceret me.
5 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, and there was no one that would know me.
6. Périit fuga a me: * et non est qui requírat ánimam meam.
Flight has failed me: and there is no one that has regard to my soul.
7. Clamávi ad te, Dómine, * dixi: Tu es spes mea, pórtio mea in terra vivéntium.
6 I cried to you, O Lord: I said: You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living.
8. Inténde ad deprecatiónem meam: * quia humiliátus sum nimis.
7 Attend to my supplication: for I am brought very low.
9. Líbera me a persequéntibus me: * quia confortáti sunt super me.
Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
10 Educ de custódia ánimam meam ad confiténdum nómini tuo: me exspéctant justi, donec retríbuas mihi.
8 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise your name: the just wait for me, until you reward me.
Psalm 141 opens Friday Vespers in the Benedictine Office, and the placement is not random: it is also used at Vespers during the Triduum due to its allusions to the Passion and descent into hell.
It is perhaps most famous for being used by St Francis Assisi at the hour of his death.
The text of the psalm
You can hear the Vulgate version of the psalm read aloud here. The video above is of the neo-Vulgate, chanted.
Psalm 141 (142): Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi
Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
Intellectus David, cum esset in spelunca, oratio
Of understanding for David, A prayer when he was in the cave.
1 Voce mea ad Dóminum clamávi: * voce mea ad dóminum deprecátus sum.
2 I cried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made supplication to the Lord.
2. Effúndo in conspéctu ejus oratiónem meam, * et tribulatiónem meam ante ipsum pronúntio
3 In his sight I pour out my prayer, and before him I declare my trouble:
3. In deficiéndo ex me spíritum meum: * et tu cognovísti sémitas meas.
4 When my spirit failed me, then you knew my paths.
4 In via hac, qua ambulábam, * abscondérunt láqueum mihi.
In this way wherein I walked, they have hidden a snare for me.
5 Considerábam ad déxteram, et vidébam: * et non erat qui cognósceret me.
5 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, and there was no one that would know me.
6. Périit fuga a me: * et non est qui requírat ánimam meam.
Flight has failed me: and there is no one that has regard to my soul.
7. Clamávi ad te, Dómine, * dixi: Tu es spes mea, pórtio mea in terra vivéntium.
6 I cried to you, O Lord: I said: You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living.
8. Inténde ad deprecatiónem meam: * quia humiliátus sum nimis.
7 Attend to my supplication: for I am brought very low.
9. Líbera me a persequéntibus me: * quia confortáti sunt super me.
Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
10 Educ de custódia ánimam meam ad confiténdum nómini tuo: me exspéctant justi, donec retríbuas mihi.
8 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise your name: the just wait for me, until you reward me.
The title of the psalm: A time to hide; a time to confront persecutors
The title of the psalm given in the Vulgate is Intellectus David, cum esset in spelunca, oratio, or 'Of understanding for David. A prayer when he was in the cave', thus pointing us to the story set out in 1 Kings 24: David was being hunted by King Saul, who on learning intelligence of where he was took out 3,000 men to find him, leaving virtually no place to hide.
David and his men found themselves forced to retreat to the inner part of a cave. Fortunately for David, Saul entered it by himself, making him vulnerable to him, and David even managed to cut off a piece of his clothing to prove it.
Rather than taking advantage of the situation and killing him though, he threw himself at the mercy of Saul, making it clear that he didn't attack Saul because he was the anointed king.
Cassiodorus explains the significance of this in relation to the meaning of the psalm as referring to Christ's avoidance of his persecutors until he had fulfilled his teaching mission:
David, the son of Jesse, fled from the prince Saul, and when he lay hidden in a cave he uttered a prayer which he revealed that the Lord Christ would make in the flesh before His passion. When understanding prefaces this prayer, the comparison is shown to refer to Him who avoided His persecutors as He prayed and hid himself by moving to various places. This was so that the Son of God could fulfil the promise which He had made about Himself through the prophets, and reveal the truth of the incarnation which He had assumed; for this psalm includes the words of the Lord Saviour when He sought to avoid the most wicked madness of the Jews. So the flight of David was rightly placed in the heading to point to the persecution by the Jews, for David, as we have often said, denotes both that earthly king and the King of heaven.
Psalm 141 and the Passion
Pope John Paul II summarised the traditional interpretation of this psalm as follows:
Christian tradition has applied Psalm 141 to the persecuted and suffering Christ. In this perspective, the luminous goal of the Psalm's plea is transfigured into a paschal sign on the basis of the glorious outcome of the life of Christ and of our destiny of resurrection with him.
The entire psalm is a passionate prayer, which can be interpreted as the prayer of Our Lord on the cross, with extensive references to his path to the cross; his abandonment by the disciples; and suffering.
Two particularly key verses are Verse 5, where the speaker finds himself alone and abandoned, is generally seen as a reference to the denial by St Peter and the Apostles who fled; and verse 8, as a plea to be freed from the prison of flesh, or alternatively from Hades, so that he might come to the Resurrection.
Cassiodorus explains that:
In the first section, the Lord Christ cries to the Father, recounting the wicked tricks of the persecution by the Jews. In the second, He prays to be delivered from the prison of hell, for the trust of all the faithful hung on His resurrection.
A treatise on prayer
St Augustine, in his commentary on Psalm 141, also treated this psalm as a treatise on prayer, and the key points of his exposition were nicely summarised and amplified by Cassiodorus, who, drawing also on Cassian, provides a commentary that echoes St Benedict's own instructions on prayer:
...We must especially follow the commandments, and signing our lips with the seal of the cross we must pray to the Lord that He may cleanse our mouths which are disfigured with human foulness; in Isaiah's words: I have unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people that have unclean lips.
Next we must pray in words not such as human longings prompt, but those which the Godhead Himself has granted as a remedy for our wickedness. Prayer itself must come from a humble, meek, pure heart; it must confess its sins without making excuses, and in the course of bitter tears show trust in the most sweet pity of the Lord. It must not seek earthly aims, but desire heavenly ones. It must be sequestered from desires of the body, and attach itself solely to the divine. In short, it must be wholly spiritual, bestowing nothing but tears on the flesh.
In so far as it is lawful, seek to behold in mental contemplation Him whom you entreat, and then you realise what sort of person you should be in offering yourself prostrate before Him. He is, as Paul says: the Blessed and only Mighty, King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality and inhabits light inaccessible, whom no man has seen nor can see. So such is the mighty Lord whom we should approach with all fear or love, directing our mental sight on Him in such a way as to realise that such splendour, brightness, brilliance and majesty as is conceivable to the human mind is all inferior to God, who with goodness beyond compare controls all His creatures.
We must not with false presumption within ourselves form some mental picture of Him, for the hidden substance of God who made all things cannot be grasped in its essence by the knowledge which creatures possess. God has no shape, no outline; His nature cannot be assessed, nor His power grasped, and His devotion is unique. As has been most aptly remarked of Him, we can say what God is not, but we cannot grasp what He is. So we are to pray to Him who is almighty and without beginning or end, who traverses and fills all parts of the universe and every creature, but in such a way that He is wholly within Himself everywhere.
He forsakes evil men not by His presence but by the power of His grace. Father Augustine when writing to Dardanus explained this at greater length. The words of the prophet warn us in salutary fashion to make haste: Come, let us adore and fall down before the Lord: let us lament before God (then he added, so that we should not be left wholly floundering and trembling) who made us; so that once we recognise that we have been created by Him, we may pray with confidence to our Maker.
Then the humble plea which we are to utter in divine praise we virtually realise as we pray, for we gain a merciful hearing from the Lord, provided that what we ask for is in our interest. No-one is rebuffed coldly from heaven's generosity if grace is lent him to entreat with a simple and a committed heart, for a person feels that he has gained pardon to the degree that he knows that he has shed devoted tears.
There is this further mark of our progress: the more a person realises that he loves and fears God, the more necessary he finds it to crawl near to divine help. Thus by the Lord's kindness all the devil's guile is defeated, and by His pity our sins are overcome.
We have said as much about prayer as our mean intelligence and the nature of the occasion have demanded. If anyone desires to gain the fullest abundance of satisfaction on this subject, he must read the most eloquent Cassian, who in his ninth and tenth conference has discussed the types of prayer with such power and quality that the holy spirit seems clearly to have spoken through his mouth.
Liturgical and Scriptural uses of the psalm
NT references
-
RB cursus
Friday Vespers+AN 4316 (6)
Monastic feasts etc
Triduum Vespers
AN 1891 (5), 3724 (8)
Roman pre 1911
Friday Vespers
Responsories
6622 (5, 8)
Roman post 1911
1911-62: Friday Vespers . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)
-
Notes on the notes
The verse by verse notes that follow are also intended to assist those who wish to learn to pray the Office in Latin, particularly since there is no officially approved English version of the traditional Benedictine Office, and the translations that are included for study purposes in editions such as the Farnborough Monastic Diurnal do not always mirror the Latin Vulgate.
In general, the English translations of the psalms themselves (unless otherwise indicated) are from an updated version of the Douay-Rheims (previously on the New Advent site), since this is generally the most literal translation from the Latin Vulgate. Text comments will often focus on the reasons for variations in the translations most commonly used for reference purposes for those saying the Office, viz Coverdale and the early twentieth century Collegeville translation used in the Farnborough edition of the Monastic Diurnal, as well as variations adopted by the 1979 Neo-Vulgate (used in the Novus Ordo Divine Office).
The vocabulary lists are generally derived from Dom Matthew Britt, A Dictionary of the Psalter (Preserving Christian Publications 2007 reprint of Benziger Brothers, 1928), supplemented by others sources such as Cassell's Latin Dictionary and Lewis and Short.
Where other translations are provided (note that the selection is limited by copyright considerations), the abbreviations used are as follows:
R =Psalterium Romanum Sept =Septuagint (available on the New Advent website) DR =Douay-Rheims (generally the version previously on the New Advent website) MD =Monastic Diurnal published by Farnborough Abbey (Collegeville translation) Brenton =Sir Lancelot Brenton's translation from the Septuagint NETS =New English Translation from the Septuagint, available here RSV =Revised Standard Edition Cover =Coverdale Knox =Ronald Knox's translation available from the New Advent site Grail =Grail Psalter
The Hebrew, with links to Strong's Concordance, can be found (along with numerous other translations) at Blue Letter Bible.
The word by word translations, text notes and commentary are my own, but draw heavily on the commentaries of the Fathers and Theologians (on whom overview notes can be found elsewhere on this blog), Magisterial teaching, and other psalm commentaries.
Quotes from the Fathers and Theologians are taken from their commentaries on the psalms using the translations recommended in my separate posts on these here and here, unless otherwise specified.
As well as these, the text notes draw mainly on the following sources:
TE Bird, A Commentary on the Psalms 2 vols, (London: Burns, Oates and Washbourne, 1927) Msgr Patrick Boylan, A Study of the Vulgate Psalter in the Light of the Hebrew Text, 2 vols (Dublin: M H Gill and Son, 2nd ed 1921) David J Ladouceur, The Latin Psalter Introduction, Selected Text and Commentary (London: Bristol Classical Press, 2005),
The first part of Psalm 144 concludes Friday Vespers in the Benedictine Office, and moves us on, perhaps from the suffering of the Passion, to its purpose, in this hymn of praise for the greatness of God's works.
It is an alphabetic psalm, and case where the Septuagint/Vulgate textual tradition is clearly the better, since in the Massoretic Text one of the Hebrew letters is missing.
St Alphonsus Liguori commented that:
The psalmist here exalts the perfection of God, and especially his goodness and mercy...Verses 1-2 announce the subject: praise of our Lord, God and King; 3-10, his grandeur, power, glory, justice, goodness, mercy, meekness, considered in his works...
Pope Benedict XVI on the psalm
Pope Benedict XVI gave a General Audience on the psalm which is worth a read:
We have just prayed
Psalm 145[144], a joyful song of praise to the Lord who is exalted as a tender
and loving King, concerned for all his creatures. The liturgy presents this
hymn to us in two separate parts that also correspond to the two poetical and
spiritual movements of the Psalm itself. We now reflect on the first part,
which corresponds to verses 1-13.
The
Psalm is raised to the Lord who is invoked and described as "King"
(cf. Ps 145[144]: 1), a depiction of the divine that is also dominant in
other psalmic hymns (cf. Ps 47[46], 93[92]; 96[95]-99[98]). Indeed, the spiritual centre of our canticle
is constituted precisely by an intense and passionate celebration of the divine
kingship. The Hebrew wordmalkut,"reign", is
repeated in it four times, almost as if to indicate the four cardinal points of
being and of history (cf. Ps 145[144]: 11-13).
We know that this royal symbolism, which was
also to be central in Christ's preaching, is the expression of God's saving
project: he is not indifferent to human history; on the contrary, he
desires to put a plan of harmony and peace for human history into practice with
us and for us. The whole of humanity is
called together to implement this plan in order that it comply with the divine
saving will, a will that is extended to all "men", to "all generations",
from "age to age". It is a
universal action that uproots evil from the world and instils in it the
"glory" of the Lord, that is, his personal, effective and
transcendent presence.
The prayerful praise of the Psalmist, who makes himself
the voice of all the faithful and today would like to be the voice of all of
us, is directed to this heart of the Psalm, placed precisely at the centre of
the composition. The loftiest biblical prayer is in fact the celebration of the
works of salvation, which reveal the Lord's love for his creatures. In this
Psalm the Psalmist continues to praise the divine "name", that is,
the person of the Lord (cf. vv. 1-2), who manifests himself in his historical
action: indeed, his "works", "splendour",
"wonderful works", "mighty deeds", "greatness",
"justice", "patience", "compassion",
"grace", "goodness" and "love" are mentioned.
It
is a prayer in the form of a litany which proclaims God's entry into human events
in order to bring the whole of created reality to a salvific fullness. We are
not at the mercy of dark forces nor alone with our freedom, but rather, we are
entrusted to the action of the mighty and loving Lord, who has a plan for us, a
"reign" to establish (cf. v. 11).
This "kingdom" does not consist of power and might, triumph
and oppression, as unfortunately is often the case with earthly kingdoms;
rather, it is the place where compassion, love, goodness, grace and justice are
manifested, as the Psalmist repeats several times in the flow of verses full of
praise.Verse 8 sums up this divine portrait: the Lord is "slow to
anger, abounding in love". These words are reminiscent of God's
presentation of himself on Sinai when he said: "The Lord, the Lord,
a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and
faithfulness" (Ex 34: 6).
We have here a preparation for the profession of faith in God of St John the
Apostle, who simply tells us that he is love: "Deus caritas
est" (cf. I Jn 4: 8, 16). Our attention, as well as being fixed on
these beautiful words that portray to us a God who is "slow to anger"
and "full of compassion", always ready to forgive and to help, is
also fixed on the very beautiful verse 9 which follows: "How good is
the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures". These are words to
meditate upon, words of consolation, a certainty that he brings to our lives.
In this regard, St Peter Chrysologus (c. 380 c. 450) says in his Second
Discourse on Fasting: "Great are the works of the Lord';
but this grandeur that we see in Creation is surpassed by the greatness of his
mercy. Indeed, after the Prophet has said, "Great are the works of God',
in another passage he adds: "His compassion is greater than all his
works'.
Mercy, brothers and sisters, fills the heavens, fills the earth....
That is why the great, generous, unique mercy of Christ, who reserved every
judgment for a single day, allotted all of man's time to the truce of
penance.... That is why the Prophet who did not trust in his own justice
abandons himself entirely to God's mercy; "Have mercy on me, O God', he
says, "according to your abundant mercy' (Ps 51[50]: 3)" (42,
4-5: Sermoni 1-62bis, Scrittori dell'Area Santambrosiana, 1,
Milan-Rome, 1996, pp. 299, 301). And so, let us too say
to the Lord, "Have mercy on me, O God, you who are great in your
mercy".
The text of the psalm
Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
Laudatio
ipsi David.
Praise, for David himself.
Exaltábo te, Deus
meus, rex: * et benedícam nómini tuo in sæculum, et in sæculum sæculi.
I will extol you, O God my king:
and I will bless your name for ever; yea, for ever and ever.
2 Per
síngulos dies benedícam tibi: * et laudábo nomen tuum in sæculum, et in
sæculum sæculi.
2 Every day will
I bless you: and I will praise your name for ever; yea, for ever and ever.
3 Magnus
Dóminus, et laudábilis nimis: * et magnitúdinis ejus non est finis.
3 Great is the Lord,
and greatly to be praised: and of his greatness there is no end
4 Generátio et
generátio laudábit ópera tua: * et poténtiam tuam pronuntiábunt.
4 Generation and generation
shall praise your works: and they shall declare your power.
5 Magnificéntiam
glóriæ sanctitátis tuæ loquéntur: * et mirabília tua narrábunt.
5 They shall
speak of the magnificence of the glory of your holiness: and shall tell your
wondrous works.
6 Et virtútem terribílium
tuórum dicent: * et magnitúdinem tuam narrábunt.
6 And they shall
speak of the might of your terrible acts: and shall declare your greatness.
7 Memóriam abundántiæ
suavitátis tuæ eructábunt: * et justítia tua exsultábunt.
7 They shall
publish the memory of the abundance of your sweetness: and shall rejoice in
your justice.
8 Miserátor, et
miséricors Dóminus: * pátiens, et multum miséricors.
8 The Lord is
gracious and merciful: patient and plenteous in mercy
9 Suávis Dóminus
univérsis: * et miseratiónes ejus super ómnia ópera ejus.
9 The Lord is
sweet to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works
Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm
NT references
Rom 11:33 (3);
RB cursus
Friday Vespers+AN 2266 (2)
Monastic feasts etc
Roman pre 1911
Sat Vespers
Responsories
7117 (Trinity Sunday no 7), v3
Roman post 1911
1911-62: Sat Vespers
1970: Vespers of Friday wk
4
Mass propers (EF)
Mass
of several martyrs in Eastertime, IN 1, [10, 11]
