Psalm 95: Overview

Psalm 95 is one of the Messianic psalms, foretelling the coming of Christ, and foreshadowing the establishment of his kingdom.   For this reason it features in the Commons of a most types of saints, as well as most major feasts.

The text of the psalm

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum ipsi David, quando domus ædificabatur post captivitatem.	A canticle for David himself, when the house was built after the captivity.

Psalm 95

Cantáte Dómino cánticum novum: * cantáte Dómino, omnis terra.	Sing to the Lord a new canticle: sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Cantáte Dómino, et benedícite nómini eius: * annuntiáte de die in diem salutáre eius.	Sing to the Lord and bless his name: show forth his salvation from day to day.
Annuntiáte inter gentes glóriam eius, * in ómnibus pópulis mirabília eius.	Declare his glory among the Gentiles: his wonders among all people.
Quóniam magnus Dóminus, et laudábilis nimis: * terríbilis est super omnes deos.	For the Lord is great, and exceedingly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.
Quóniam omnes dii Géntium dæmónia: * Dóminus autem cælos fecit.	For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.
Conféssio, et pulchritúdo in conspéctu eius: * sanctimónia et magnificéntia in sanctificatióne eius.	Praise and beauty are before him: holiness and majesty in his sanctuary.
Afférte Dómino, pátriæ géntium, † afférte Dómino glóriam et honórem: * afférte Dómino glóriam nómini eius.	Bring to the Lord, O you kindreds of the Gentiles, bring to the Lord glory and honour:  Bring to the Lord glory unto his name.
Tóllite hóstias, et introíte in átria eius: * adoráte Dóminum in átrio sancto eius.	Bring up sacrifices, and come into his courts: Adore the Lord in his holy court.
Commoveátur a fácie eius univérsa terra: * dícite in Géntibus quia Dóminus regnávit.	Let all the earth be moved at his presence. Say among the Gentiles, the Lord has reigned.
Etenim corréxit orbem terræ qui non commovébitur: * iudicábit pópulos in æquitáte.	For he has corrected the world, which shall not be moved: he will judge the people with justice.
Læténtur cæli, et exsúltet terra: † commoveátur mare et plenitúdo eius: * gaudébunt campi, et ómnia quæ in eis sunt.	Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad, let the sea be moved, and the fullness thereof: The fields and all things that are in them shall be joyful.
Tunc exsultábunt ómnia ligna silvárum a fácie Dómini, quia venit: * quóniam venit iudicáre terram.	Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice before the face of the Lord, because he comes: because he comes to judge the earth.
Iudicábit orbem terræ in æquitáte, * et pópulos in veritáte sua.	He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with his truth.

Glória Patri, et Fílio, * et Spirítui Sancto.	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, * et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.	As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Scriptural and liturgical uses of Psalm 95

Psalm 95 appears twice in Scripture: as well as in the book of psalms it can also be found in 1 Chronicles 16:23-33, where it was used as the thanksgiving chant after the transfer of the ark of the covenant to the Temple at Jerusalem.  This history, as well as the title of the psalm, account for its use in the Common for the Dedication of a Church.

St Augustine pointed out that the house of God being built here is not just a physical building though:

Possibly when its title was pronounced, some heard it with wonder. For the Psalm is inscribed: When the house was being built after the Captivity. This title having been prefixed, you were perhaps expecting in the text of the Psalm to hear what stones were hewn from the mountains, what masses were drawn to the spot, what foundations were laid, what beams were placed on high, what columns raised. Its song is of nothing of this kind....It is no such house that is in building; for behold where it is built, not in one spot, not in any particular region. For thus he begins...

Indeed, its Christological interpretation, and thus use of the psalm on Friday (at Matins in both the Roman and Benedictine Offices) would also seem to be ancient, as St Athanasius commented in his letter to Marcellus that it is particularly apt for that day since (through the Passion) 'God's House has been captured and destroyed and then re-built'.  

NT references	Rev 14:3 (1); 1 Cor 8:4-6 (5); Rev 12:12 (11); Rev 19:11(13)
RB cursus	Friday Matins
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	Nativity, Epiphany, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity, Christ the King, BVM, Common of Apostles, Common of Virgins. Common of the Dedication of a Church
Roman pre 1911	Friday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Tuesday Lauds . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Lent I Thursday, IN (1, 6), Passion Thursday GR (8), Easter Friday, AL (9); PP 18, CO (8)

Psalm 91 - God who soothes and caresses; chastens and scourges...

The Crucifixion and the Harrowing of Hell in a New Testament,
 Sicilian, late 1100s.
 The J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig I 5, fol. 191v

Psalm 91 (92): Bonum est confiteri Dominum - Friday Lauds

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Psalmus cantici, in die sabbati.	A psalm of a canticle on the sabbath day.
1 Bonum est confitéri Dómino: * et psállere nómini tuo, altíssime.	It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to your name, O most High.
2  Ad annuntiándum mane misericórdiam tuam: * et veritátem tuam per noctem	3 To show forth your mercy in the morning, and your truth in the night:
3  In decachórdo, psaltério: * cum cántico, in cíthara.	4 Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery: with a canticle upon the harp.
4. Quia delectásti me, Dómine, in factúra tua: * et in opéribus mánuum tuárum exsultábo.	5 For you have given me, O Lord, a delight in your doings: and in the works of your hands I shall rejoice.
5  Quam magnificáta sunt ópera tua, Dómine! * nimis profúndæ factæ sunt cogitatiónes tuæ	6 O Lord, how great are your works! your thoughts are exceeding deep.
6  Vir insípiens non cognóscet: * et stultus non intélliget hæc.	7 The senseless man shall not know: nor will the fool understand these things.
7  Cum exórti fúerint peccatóres sicut fœnum: * et apparúerint omnes, qui operántur iniquitátem.	8 When the wicked shall spring up as grass: and all the workers of iniquity shall appear:
8  Ut intéreant in sæculum sæculi: * tu autem Altíssimus in ætérnum, Dómine.	That they may perish for ever and ever: 9 But you, O Lord, are most high for evermore.
9  Quóniam ecce inimíci tui, Dómine, quóniam ecce inimíci tui períbunt: * et dispergéntur omnes, qui operántur iniquitátem.	10 For behold your enemies, O lord, for behold your enemies shall perish: and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
10. Et exaltábitur sicut unicórnis cornu meum: * et senéctus mea in misericórdia úberi.	11 But my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn: and my old age in plentiful mercy.
11  Et despéxit óculus meus inimícos meos: * et in insurgéntibus in me malignántibus áudiet auris mea.	12 My eye also has looked down upon my enemies: and my ear shall hear of the downfall of the malignant that rise up against me.
12  Justus, ut palma florébit: * sicut cedrus Líbani multiplicábitur.	13 The just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus.
13  Plantáti in domo Dómini, *  in átriis domus Dei nostri florébunt.	14 They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God.
14  Adhuc multiplicabúntur in senécta úberi: * et bene patiéntes erunt,  ut annúntient:	15 They shall still increase in a fruitful old age: and shall be well treated, 16 that they may show,
15  Quóniam rectus Dóminus, Deus noster: * et non est iníquitas in eo.	That the Lord our God is righteous, and there is no iniquity in him.

Christ our high priest

The title of this psalm indicates that it was said on Saturday (the Sabbath) in Jewish tradition: it was sung in the Temple on the Sabbath at the offering of the first lamb in the morning, when the wine was poured out.  It has retained that position in the Roman Office through several sets of reforms.

St Benedict, though, moved it to Friday for obvious symbolic reasons, as Patrick Reardon has pointed out:

"That liturgical setting of Psalm 91 in the ancient temple goes far to explain its traditional use in the Church. From times past remembering, the sixth-century Rule of St. Benedict testifies to the primitive Christian custom of chanting this psalm at daybreak on Friday, the true Pascha and Atonement Day, on which the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world. Thus, the "mercy" declared "in the morning" bears a most specific sense, for our Friday is both Yom Kippur and Passover, the day of that "darkness over the whole earth," the three hours of that ninth plague immediately prior to the atoning death of the Firstborn, the sprinkling of that paschal blood without which there is no remission.  Prayed on Friday mornings, as the ancient Western monastic rule prescribed, this psalm reminds the Church why it is no longer necessary to make the daily offering of lambs in the temple, for those sacrifices had only "a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things" (Heb. 10:1)." Christ in the Psalms, pg 181

The psalm reminds us that to secular man, the cross is a scandal, a senseless waste, not an atoning triumph:

Vir insípiens non cognóscet: * et stultus non intélliget hæc. The senseless man shall not know: nor will the fool understand these things.

Towards the Resurrection

One of the interesting features of the Benedictine Office, in my view, is that St Benedict doesn't actually dwell much on Christ's sufferings, but always places them in the context of the Resurrection and life to come: his main focus is Christ's divinity not his humanity.

On Sundays, for example, when we have a weekly celebration of the Resurrection, we also say the psalms Christ said on the cross (Psalms 20 forward); on Friday's, though there are multiple allusions to the Passion, his selection of psalms for this purpose all look forward to the future.

This may in part be something of a response to the heresies of his time: the Arian and monophysite heresies were rife in the early sixth century, and much effort was expended at this time to combat them and their many variants.

In our time, these heresies seem to be thriving once again, so it is useful to consider the messages embedded in the Office that can serve as a correction to these errors.  In the case of Psalm 91, for example, St Augustine reminds that:

We are not Christians, except on account of a future life: let no one hope for present blessings, let no one promise himself the happiness of the world, because he is a Christian: but let him use the happiness he has, as he may, in what manner he may, when he may, as far as he may. When it is present, let him give thanks for the consolation of God: when it is wanting, let him give thanks to the Divine justice. Let him always be grateful, never ungrateful: let him be grateful to his Father, who soothes and caresses him: and grateful to his Father when He chastens him with the scourge, and teaches him: for He ever loves, whether He caress or threaten: and let him say what you have heard in the Psalm.

The message then, it seems to me, is that though in this life we are called on to 'share by patience in the sufferings of Christ', this is not an end in itself; rather it is so that 'we may deserve to be partakers also of his kingdom'. (Prologue to the Rule of St Benedict).

How then do we share in the sufferings of Christ?  Cassiodorus' commentary on the psalms argues that the true sabbath is about 'rest' from sin:

The sabbath day denotes rest, by which we are schooled to desist from all vicious action, and by the holiness of heavenly deeds to give our minds a holiday from vices.

The psaltery and harp: word study

A little meme that recurs in several places in the psalms are references to the psaltery (psalterium, iin, a stringed instrument) and harp (cithara -ae f):

Psalm 42 (Tuesday): 

5  Confitébor tibi in cíthara, Deus, Deus meus:

To you, O God my God, I will give praise upon the harp:

Psalm 56 (Tuesday)

11  Exsúrge, glória mea, exsúrge psaltérium et cíthara: * exsúrgam dilúculo.

Arise, O my glory, arise psaltery and harp: I will arise early.

Psalm 91

3  In decachórdo, psaltério: * cum cántico, in cíthara.

4 Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery: with a canticle upon the harp.

And of course there are the references in the Laudate psalms said at Lauds each day:

Psalm 149

3  Laudent nomen ejus in choro: * in tympano, et psaltério psallant ei.

3 Let them praise his name in choir: let them sing to him with the timbrel and the psaltery.

Psalm 150

3  Laudáte eum in sono tubæ: * laudáte eum in psaltério, et cíthara.

3 Praise him with the sound of trumpet: praise him with psaltery and harp.

(See also Psalms 32, 48, 70, 80,107, 143 and 146).

In each case the verse can be read literally, presenting a contrast between the beautiful music of the just, and the bitter words of evil-doers.  But in each case the Fathers and Theologians also saw a spiritual level of meaning to the allusions.

The instruments themselves have particular resonances.  Revelation 5:8-10, for example describes those singing the 'new song' referred to in these psalms:

And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints; and they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals,for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth."

St Bede gives these verses a particularly Benedictine interpretation:

For by "harps," in which strings are stretched on wood, are represented bodies prepared to die, and by "bowls", hearts expanded in breadth of love.

Similarly, the ten-stringed instrument (decacordus a um or decacordum i n) of today's psalm:

In decachórdo, psaltério: * cum cántico, in cíthara. Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery: with a canticle upon the harp. (Ps 91)

and which also occurs in Psalm 143, said at Vespers tonight (Friday)

Deus, cánticum novum cantábo tibi: * in psaltério, decachórdo psallam tibi.  To you, O God, I will sing a new canticle: on the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings I will sing praises to you. 

can be seen as an allusion to the ten commandments.  St Thomas Aquinas, for example, in his commentary on Psalm 2, says:

Mystically speaking, however, by the ten strings of the psalterium is signified the law of God, which consists in ten commandments, and it is appropriate that it be touched with the hand, that is with good performance, and from above, because these commandments are to be satisfied according to the hope of eternal life, otherwise it would be touched from what is below.

St Augustine's commentary on a similar verse in Psalm 32 summarises the message as:

Praise the Lord with harp: praise the Lord, presenting unto Him your bodies a living sacrifice. Sing unto Him with the psaltery for ten strings let your members be servants to the love of God, and of your neighbour, in which are kept both the three and the seven commandments.

Cassiodorus builds on this to argue that:

Clearly the ten-stringed psaltery denotes the ten commandments of the Law, for they are strings which if we strum with the character of goodly deeds will play the tune of salvation and lead to the kingdom of heaven... He added: With canticle and harp; these represent the joy of good works, in other words, the pleasure shown in distributing alms. As Paul says: God loves a cheerful giver? Harp indicates active deeds which though achieved with toil and tension will bear the greatest fruit if fulfilled with the addition of joy. The man who performs good works without harsh melancholy is singing with the harp.

The psalm as a whole, Cassiodorus argued, urges us to good works that we may rest with God eternally:

...we must give thanks to the Godhead in all our actions; for psalm, as has often been stated, denotes spiritual works which rise upwards to the Lord Christ. In them we should sing and ever offer thanks, for by His kindness we are freed, whereas by our own efforts we were bound with the chains of sins. The person who devotes all his life to giving thanks is singing a psalm.   

Let us, then, gives thanks each Friday in particular, for Christ's saving sacrifice.

More on this psalm

The table below summarises the liturgical uses of the psalm.

 

NT references	Rom 11:33 (vs5)
RB cursus	Friday Lauds
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	Holy Sat Tenebrae Lauds; Common of a martyr An 4433 (6) AN 3547, IN 1096 (13-14) AN 4296 (14)
Responsories	Easter4&5 v2 (6256), 6021 (3) 7071 (13-14) Common of a martyr no 3, 7060 (14)
Roman pre 1911	Sat Lauds
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Sat Lauds . 1970: Lauds on Saturday of the second week of the year
Mass propers (EF)	Septuagesima Sunday OF (1, 6, 11-12) Lent 2 Sat, GR (1-2); PP14, 15 Grad (1-2); Birthday of John Baptist IN (1) Common of a dr IN (1) Common of a confessor not a bishop IN (2. 13, 14),  OF (13-14, 2, 3)

I've previously provided notes on this psalm both in the context of Friday in the Office and its use at Tenebrae of Holy Saturday.

The next part of this series is on the development of the festal Office of Lauds.

Psalm 91

Bonum est confitéri Dómino: * et psállere nómini tuo, Altíssime.	It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to your name, O most High.
Ad annuntiándum mane misericórdiam tuam: * et veritátem tuam per noctem.	To show forth your mercy in the morning, and your truth in the night:
In decachórdo, psaltério: * cum cántico, in cíthara.	Upon an instrument of ten strings, upon the psaltery: with a canticle upon the harp.
Quia delectásti me, Dómine, in factúra tua: * et in opéribus mánuum tuárum exsultábo.	For you have given me, O Lord, a delight in your doings: and in the works of your hands I shall rejoice.
Quam magnificáta sunt ópera tua, Dómine! * nimis profúndæ factæ sunt cogitatiónes tuæ	O Lord, how great are your works! your thoughts are exceeding deep.
Vir insípiens non cognóscet: * et stultus non intélliget hæc.	The senseless man shall not know: nor will the fool understand these things.
Cum exórti fúerint peccatóres sicut fenum: * et apparúerint omnes, qui operántur iniquitátem:	When the wicked shall spring up as grass: and all the workers of iniquity shall appear:
Ut intéreant in sǽculum sǽculi: * tu autem Altíssimus in ætérnum, Dómine.	That they may perish for ever and ever: But you, O Lord, are most high for evermore.
Quóniam ecce inimíci tui, Dómine, † quóniam ecce inimíci tui períbunt: * et dispergéntur omnes, qui operántur iniquitátem.	For behold your enemies, O lord, for behold your enemies shall perish: and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
Et exaltábitur sicut unicórnis cornu meum: * et senéctus mea in misericórdia úberi.	But my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn: and my old age in plentiful mercy.
Et despéxit óculus meus inimícos meos: * et in insurgéntibus in me malignántibus áudiet auris mea.	My eye also has looked down upon my enemies: and my ear shall hear of the downfall of the malignant that rise up against me.
Iustus, ut palma florébit: * sicut cedrus Líbani multiplicábitur.	The just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus.
Plantáti in domo Dómini, * in átriis domus Dei nostri florébunt.	They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of the house of our God.
Adhuc multiplicabúntur in senécta úberi: * et bene patiéntes erunt, ut annúntient:	They shall still increase in a fruitful old age: and shall be well treated, that they may show,
Quóniam rectus Dóminus, Deus noster: * et non est iníquitas in eo.	That the Lord our God is righteous, and there is no iniquity in him.
Glória Patri, et Fílio, * et Spirítui Sancto.	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, * et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen.	As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Psalm 75 - The earth trembled

c9th Stuttgart Psalter

 Psalm 75 - Lauds Friday

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem, in laudibus. Psalmus Asaph, canticum ad Assyrios.	Unto the end, in praises, a psalm for Asaph: a canticle to the Assyrians.
Notus in Judæa Deus: * in Israël magnum nomen ejus.	2 In Judea God is known: his name is great in Israel.
2  Et factus est in pace locus ejus: * et habitátio ejus in Sion.	3 And his place is in peace: and his abode in Sion:
3  Ibi confrégit poténtias árcuum: * scutum, gládium, et bellum.	4 There has he broken the powers of bows, the shield, the sword, and the battle.
4  Illúminans tu mirabíliter a móntibus ætérnis: * turbáti sunt omnes insipiéntes corde.	5 You enlighten wonderfully from the everlasting hills. 6 All the foolish of heart were troubled.
5  Dormiérunt somnum suum: * et nihil invenérunt omnes viri divitiárum in mánibus suis.	They have slept their sleep; and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands.
6  Ab increpatióne tua, Deus Jacob, * dormitavérunt qui ascendérunt equos.	7 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, they have all slumbered that mounted on horseback
7  Tu terríbilis es, et quis resístet tibi? * ex tunc ira tua.	8 You are terrible, and who shall resist you? From that time your wrath.
8  De cælo audítum fecísti judícium: * terra trémuit et quiévit.	9 You have caused judgment to be heard from heaven: the earth trembled and was still,
9  Cum exsúrgeret in judícium Deus, * ut salvos fáceret omnes mansuétos terræ.	10 when God arose in judgment, to save all the meek of the earth.
10  Quóniam cogitátio hóminis confitébitur tibi: * et relíquiæ cogitatiónis diem festum agent tibi.	11 For the thought of man shall give praise to you: and the remainders of the thought shall keep holiday to you.
11  Vovéte, et réddite Dómino Deo vestro: * omnes, qui in circúitu ejus affértis múnera.	12
12  Terríbili et ei qui aufert spíritum príncipum, * terríbili apud reges terræ.	To him that is terrible, 13 even to him who takes away the spirit of princes: to the terrible with the kings of the earth.

Friday has of course always had an association with the Crucifixion in Christian piety, and for this reason it was the second fast day of the week (and still is, at least in theory, a day of abstinence or other penance).

Psalm of the Passion

St Benedict’s Office can certainly be seen as reflecting this association: the day opens at Matins with Psalm 85, which the Fathers interpreted as the prayer of Christ poured out in his Passion.

At Lauds Psalm 75 depicts an earthquake, surely that which occurred at the moment of Our Lord’s death, rending the temple veil in two, with the verse 'De caelo auditum fecisti judicium: terra tremuit et quievit (From heaven you have pronounced your judgment: the earth trembled and was still).  Though we mostly associate this verse with the Resurrection by virtue of the Easter Sunday Offertory, the verse surely works equally well in the context of Good Friday.

Indeed,, the Fathers often associated the Crucifixion, and the ‘sixth day’ (of the week) with the description of the opening of the sixth seal in Revelation 6: 12-14:

When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale; the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

The Old Testament historical context for the psalm (suggested by the title) is the victory over the king of the Assyrians, Sennacherib described in 2 Kings 19: 35; Isaiah 37:36 (and Psalm 74). The language of fear and awe is an appropriate reaction to the scene described there:

And it came to pass that night, that an angel of the Lord came, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when he arose early in the morning, he saw all the bodies of the dead.

Festal Lauds and Psalms 75&91

That Benedictines have long understood that the two variable psalms of Friday are particularly appropriate to the day is indirectly attested to in the rubrics of Matins.

On most days of the week, if the variable psalms are displaced by the festal in the modern Office they are not said at all in that particular week.  On Fridays alone, however, they are slotted into the Matins sequence, replacing Psalms 92 and 99 there.

One possible explanation for this might be to avoid repetition of psalms on the same day.

But that explanation doesn't seem to hold up, as the table below illustrates.  In reality many of the sets of special psalms used on particular feasts, as well as the 'Commons' as they now stand can potentially or invariably involve repetition of a psalm on the same day: pretty much all of Matins Commons include psalms said at Prime, and several also include Psalm 4, said every day at Compline.  Most of them also Lauds psalms, though the repetition will generally be avoided by use of the festal psalms.

Psalm repetitions on the same day in the Office

Psalms said at Matins in the Common of…	Potentially repeated at Lauds	Potentially repeated at Prime	Repeated as Compline
Apostles	63,	18
Martyrs (during Eastertide)	5, 63, 64, [91*]	1, 2, 8, 10, 14	4
Martyrs (outside Eastertide)	63	1,2, 10, 14, 15,
Confessor bishops	5	1,2,8,10, 14	4
Virgins and holy women**		8,18
Dedication of a church	5, 87	10,
BVM**		8, 18

*Not repeated due to special provision in the rubrics

**These two Offices also include potential repetitions between Vespers and Terce and None, through the use of Psalms 121 and 126

 Judgment and our entry to heaven

Yesterday I pointed out that the first group of Lauds variable psalms talk about our entry to heaven, following Christ, with a pause on Thursday for a reflection on the necessity of the suffering of Christ and the harrowing of hell.

This psalm arguably returns to the other side of the theme of the sequences, since both Isaiah and this psalm imply that the attack of Sennacherib foreshadows the dawning of the Messianic era, reminding us of God’s stupendous power: Tu terríbilis es, et quis resístet tibi? ex tunc ira tua’, or You are terrible, and who shall resist you? From that time your wrath (verse 8).

Heaven, we are reminded here, in this ‘Song of Sion’, is the place where God dwells in peace, and evil has no domain.

The path to peace, though, lies through the spiritual warfare.

The Lord as a warrior

The image of God as a mighty warrior, an all-conquering figure whose anger is to be feared exceedingly, features in the canticles set both for Thursday and Friday at Lauds.  On Thursday, he have the story of the Pharaoh's army being thrown into the seas; in the canticle set for today, as in this psalm, it is the earth itself that trembles in fear.

But this image also takes in again the destruction of earthly forces, symbolised by the bow (arcus, us, m), arrows (sagitta, ae, f., an arrow; sagitto, avi, atum, are, to shoot with arrows), shield (scutum, i, n. a shield, buckler; defense, protection), sword (gladius, ii, m., a sword) and other warlike appurtenances (bellum, i, n. war, battle; war-equipment of every sort):

3  Ibi confrégit poténtias árcuum: * scutum, gládium, et bellum.

4 There has he broken the powers of bows, the shield, the sword, and the battle.

Consider also some of the other such references in the Lauds psalms and canticles:

Psalm 56 (Tuesday)

6  Fílii hóminum dentes eórum arma et sagíttæ: * et lingua eórum gládius acútus.

The sons of men, whose teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

Psalm 63 (Wednesday)

3  Quia exacuérunt ut gládium linguas suas: * intendérunt arcum rem amáram, ut sagíttent in occúltis immaculátum.	For they have whetted their tongues like a sword; they have bent their bow a bitter thing, to shoot in secret the undefiled.
4  Súbito sagittábunt eum, et non timébunt: * firmavérunt sibi sermónem nequam.	They will shoot at him on a sudden, and will not fear: they are resolute in wickedness.

8  Sagíttæ parvulórum factæ sunt plagæ eórum: * et infirmátæ sunt contra eos linguæ eórum.

The arrows of children are their wounds: And their tongues against them are made weak

Canticle of Anna (Wednesday)

6  Arcus fórtium superátus est, * et infírmi accíncti sunt róbore.

4 The bow of the mighty is overcome, and the weak are girt with strength.

The most important treatment of this theme though comes in today's Canticle:

4  Deus ab Austro véniet: * et sanctus de monte Pharan.	3 God will come from the south, and the holy one from mount Pharan:
9   Aspéxit, et dissólvit Gentes : * et contríti sunt montes sæculi.	He beheld, and melted the nations: and the ancient mountains were crushed to pieces.
10   Incurváti sunt colles mundi, * ab itinéribus æternitátis ejus.	The hills of the world were bowed down by the journeys of his eternity.
12  Numquid in flumínibus irátus es, Dómine? * aut in flumínibus furor tuus? vel in mari indignátio tua?	8 Were you angry, O Lord, with the rivers? Or was your wrath upon the rivers? Or your indignation in the sea?
14  Súscitans suscitábis arcum tuum: * juraménta tríbubus quæ locútus es.	9 You will surely take up your bow: according to the oaths which you have spoken to the tribes.
15  Flúvios scindes terræ : vidérunt te, et doluérunt montes: * gurges aquárum tránsiit.	You will divide the rivers of the earth. 10 The mountains saw you, and were grieved: the great body of waters passed away.
16  Dedit abyssus vocem suam: * altitúdo manus suas levávit.	The deep put forth its voice: the deep lifted up its hands.
17  Sol, et luna stetérunt in habitáculo suo, * in luce sagittárum tuárum, íbunt in splendóre fulgurántis hastæ tuæ.	11 The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation, in the light of your arrows, they shall go in the brightness of your glittering spear.
32  Et super excélsa mea dedúcet me victor * in psalmis canéntem.	and he the conqueror will lead me upon my high places singing psalms.

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

 

NT references	Rev 6:13; Lk 17: 20-24 (8)
RB cursus	Lauds Friday+AN 3246 (2)
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	Maundy Thurs Tenebrae, III, 2; Holy Sat Tenebrae, III, 2; Easter, Transfiguration AN 3264 (3);
Responsories	6605, 7661 (Holy Sat, 3)
Roman pre 1911	Thurs Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Thurs None . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Easter Day OF 8-9, 2-4 (Terra tremuit) PP17 CO (11-12),

You can find my previous notes on the psalm here and here (in the context of Tenebrae).

And the next part of this series is on Psalm 142.