Psalm 121 - verses 1-3

c6th mosaic, Jordan

1	V	Lætátus sum in his, quæ dicta sunt mihi: *  in domum Dómini íbimus.
	NV	Laetatus sum in eo, quod dixerunt mihi:“ In domum Domini ibimus ”.
	JH	Laetatus sum eo quod dixerint mihi,  In domum Domini ibimus.
	Septuagint	ᾠδὴ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν εὐφράνθην ἐπὶ τοῖς εἰρηκόσιν μοι εἰς οἶκον κυρίου πορευσόμεθα

Text notes:   The opening line suggests that the speaker is a pilgrim.  According to Ladouceur, the second phrase (in domum Domini ibimus) is a formulaic way of announcing a pilgrimage.

laetor, atus sum, ari, (laetus), to rejoice, be joyful, take delight in, be glad.

hic haec hoc – demon pronoun – this

dico, dixi, dictum, ere 3, to say, speak;  to sing; in the sense of to think, plan, desire; to command; to praise.

domus, us, /. a house, structure; a house, abode, dwelling place; Temple

eo, Ivi or li, itum, Ire, to go, in the widest sense of the word, to walk, proceed, etc.

DR	I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord
MD	I rejoiced when they said to me: Let us go into the house of the Lord!
Brenton	I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.
Cover	I was glad when they said unto me, We will go into the house of the Lord.
Knox	Welcome sound, when I heard them saying, We will go into the Lord’s house!
Grail	I rejoiced when I heard them say: "Let us go to God's house."

The Fathers see this verse as expressing the joy we should have when invited 'to go in' both to worship God now, and to be with him forever.  Pope Benedict summarised these sentiments as follows:

"Beneath the vaults of this historic Cathedral, which witnesses to the ceaseless dialogue that God wishes to establish with all men and women...Providentially, the words of the Psalmist describe the emotion filling our souls with an exactness we could hardly have dared to imagine: “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’” (Ps 121,1). Laetatus sum in his quae dicta sunt mihi: the Psalmist’s joy, brimming over in the very words of the Psalm, penetrates our hearts and resonates deeply within them. 

We truly rejoice to enter the house of the Lord, since, as the Fathers of the Church have taught us, this house is nothing other than a concrete symbol of Jerusalem on high, which comes down to us (cf. Rev Ap 21,2) to offer us the most beautiful of dwelling-places. “If we dwell therein”, writes Saint Hilary of Poitiers, “we are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God, for it is the house of God” (Tract. in Ps 121,2). And Saint Augustine adds: “This is a psalm of longing for the heavenly Jerusalem … It is a Song of Steps, not for going down but for going up … On our pilgrimage we sigh, in our homeland we will rejoice; but during this exile, we meet companions who have already seen the holy city and urge us to run towards it” (En. in Ps 121,2)...

Alas, St John Chrysostom notes in words only too true of our times as much as his, that while people flock to popular entertainments, there is rather less enthusiasm when it comes to the Mass:

"But these days many people even have difficulty with the spoken word. If you invite them to attend the races or lawless spectacles, they will come running in vast numbers, whereas if it is to the house of prayer, few there are who do not hang back..."

2	V	Stantes erant pedes nostri, * in átriis tuis, Jerúsalem.
	NV	Stantes iam sunt pedes nostril in portis tuis, Ierusalem.
	JH	Stantes erant pedes nostri in portis tuis, Hierusalem ;
	Septuagint	ἑστῶτες ἦσαν οἱ πόδες ἡμῶν ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς σου Ιερουσαλημ

Text notes: The verb tense in the Hebrew (our feet were standing/our feet are standing; ie we were standing) is ambiguous, hence the different choices made here, with the Vulgate using imperfect past and the neo-Vulgate present tense; both in fact legitimate.  The Vulgate portrays the pilgrims as standing in the ‘courts’ or courtyard (atrium) outside the Temple; the neo-Vulgate puts them further back, just inside the gates, in line with the Masoretic Text.  Ladouceur suggests that the Septuagint choice may have been influenced by an Aramaic word which is open to both interpretations.  Certainly the word atrium was influential in the Christian tradition, becoming used for the area before a church.  It can also have spiritual interpretation, suggesting closeness to or union with God.

Sto, steti, statum, are,  to stand, stand up, remain standing. Continue

pes, pedis, m.  the foot

atrium, li, n., a court,

DR	Our feet were standing in your courts, O Jerusalem
MD	Already our feet are standing at thy gates O Jerusalem.
Brenton	Our feet stood in thy courts, O Jerusalem.
Cover	Our feet shall stand in thy gates, O Jerusalem.
Knox	Within thy gates, Jerusalem, our feet stand at last;
Grail	And now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.

Cassiodorus suggests that this verse should not be interpreted overly literally, as it foreshadows the future only:

"Since the prophet had said that he was promised that eternal home, he now foreshadows the future, and says that he is standing in the house which he desired to attain with the utmost longing. This is to enable us to realise that holy men known to abide in the Lord's precepts are already in mind lodging in the Jerusalem to come. He is rightly said to be standing in them, because no-one falls there. Finally, observe his words: Our feet -were standing; they were standing in the place where they are always implanted with firm purpose. This stance does not waver, is not exhausted by any toil, but perseveres in its strength and is wearied by no fatigue."

St Ambrose provides a slightly different take on the problem of how literally to interpret the verse, telling us that it speaks of the soul, not the body:

"These are the feet that David washes in spirit when he teaches you how to keep them unsoiled, saying, "Our feet have been standing in your courts, O Jerusalem." Certainly, here "feet" is to be understood not as of the body but as of the soul. For how could a person on earth have his physical feet in heaven? Since Jerusalem, as Paul tells you, is in heaven, he also shows you how to stand in heaven when he says, "But our abode is in heaven": the "abode" of your behav­ior, the "abode" of your deeds, the "abode" of your faith. On virginity 9-59.3

3	V	Jerúsalem, quæ ædificátur ut cívitas: * cujus participátio ejus in idípsum.
	NV	Ierusalem, quae aedificata est ut civitas, sibi compacta in idipsum.
	JH	Hierusalem, quae aedificaris ut ciuitas cuius participatio eius simul;
	Sept.	Ιερουσαλημ οἰκοδομουμένη ὡς πόλις ἧς ἡ μετοχὴ αὐτῆς ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό

Text notes:  This is a difficult verse to translate, as can be seen in the wide variety of interpretations in the various English versions of it below.  

Quae aedificatur here means ‘you that are built’. Almost all of the translations give it as ‘as’ – ie Jerusalem which is built as a city.  Ladouceur suggests, however, that the phrase should be interpreted as, ‘Jerusalem is a truly city/is a real city’.  Participatio is something of an oddity: its usual meaning is, a sharing, participation, or partaking.  Hence, the phrase as a whole is literally, ‘of which (cujus) the compactness/being compact/sharing (participatio) [is] in itself (ejus in idipsum)’.  In this context it probably refers to the houses being built tightly together in a row, and structured to be defensible like a fortress.  But it might be interpreted metaphorically as well, as St Augustine’s commentary proposes, and the Coverdale translation most strongly suggests, of a city whose citizens are united spiritually.

aedifico, avi, atum, are to build

civitas, atis, . a city, state, commonwealth.

participatio, onis, a being compact.

DR	Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together.
Brenton	Jerusalem is built as a city whose fellowship is complete.
Cover	Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity in itself.
NETS	Ierousalem – being built as a city that is shared in common
Knox	Jerusalem, built as a city should be built that is one in fellowship.
Grail	Jerusalem is built as a city strongly compact.

St Augustine cites the numerous texts of the New Testament that deal with the formation of the spiritual  city in order to explain this verse.  Here is an extract from his exposition:

"Brethren, when David was uttering these words, that city had been finished, it was not being built. It is some city he speaks of, therefore, which is now being built, unto which living stones run in faith, of whom Peter says, You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house; 1 Peter 2:5 that is, the holy temple of God. What means, you are built up as lively stones? You live, if you believe, but if you believe, you are made a temple of God; for the Apostle Paul says, The temple of God is holy, which temple are you. 1 Corinthians 3:17 This city is therefore now in building; stones are cut down from the hills by the hands of those who preach truth, they are squared that they may enter into an everlasting structure...This, then, is the Jerusalem that is being built as a city: Christ is its foundation."

Psalm 121: Laetatus sum

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum.
1  Lætátus sum in his, quæ dicta sunt mihi: *  In domum Dómini íbimus.	I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.
2  Stantes erant pedes nostri, * in átriis tuis, Jerúsalem.	2 Our feet were standing in your courts, O Jerusalem.
3  Jerúsalem, quæ ædificátur ut cívitas: * cujus participátio ejus in idípsum.	3 Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together.
4  Illuc enim ascendérunt tribus, tribus Dómini: * testimónium Israël ad confiténdum nómini Dómini.	4 For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord: the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.
5  Quia illic sedérunt sedes in judício, * sedes super domum David.	5 Because their seats have sat in judgment, seats upon the house of David.
6  Rogáte quæ ad pacem sunt Jerúsalem: * et abundántia diligéntibus te:	6 Pray for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: and abundance for them that love you.
7  Fiat pax in virtúte tua: * et abundántia in túrribus tuis.	7 Let peace be in your strength: and abundance in your towers
8  Propter fratres meos, et próximos meos, * loquébar pacem de te:	8 For the sake of my brethren, and of my neighbours, I spoke peace of you.
9  Propter domum Dómini, Dei nostri, * quæsívi bona tibi.	9 Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have sought good things for you.

Introduction to Psalm 121

The third of the Gradual Psalms, and the last of Terce through the week, is Psalm 121, in which the pilgrims have finally decided to set out on their journey, and so look forward to the glories of the heavenly city, the Church Triumphant, to which they are headed.  Yet the psalm also reflects that tension between the promise of heaven, and foretaste of it we experience now in the liturgy, since for the Christian, the Church Militant is our Jerusalem.

Psalm 121: Laetatus sum

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum.
1  Lætátus sum in his, quæ dicta sunt mihi: *  In domum Dómini íbimus.	I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.
2  Stantes erant pedes nostri, * in átriis tuis, Jerúsalem.	2 Our feet were standing in your courts, O Jerusalem.
3  Jerúsalem, quæ ædificátur ut cívitas: * cujus participátio ejus in idípsum.	3 Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together.
4  Illuc enim ascendérunt tribus, tribus Dómini: * testimónium Israël ad confiténdum nómini Dómini.	4 For thither did the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord: the testimony of Israel, to praise the name of the Lord.
5  Quia illic sedérunt sedes in judício, * sedes super domum David.	5 Because their seats have sat in judgment, seats upon the house of David.
6  Rogáte quæ ad pacem sunt Jerúsalem: * et abundántia diligéntibus te:	6 Pray for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: and abundance for them that love you.
7  Fiat pax in virtúte tua: * et abundántia in túrribus tuis.	7 Let peace be in your strength: and abundance in your towers
8  Propter fratres meos, et próximos meos, * loquébar pacem de te:	8 For the sake of my brethren, and of my neighbours, I spoke peace of you.
9  Propter domum Dómini, Dei nostri, * quæsívi bona tibi.	9 Because of the house of the Lord our God, I have sought good things for you.

Liturgical uses of Psalm 121

Psalm 121 is a Vespers psalm in the Roman Office, but in the Benedictine Rite, it closes Terce.

It also features in the 'Common' for all of the types of women saints, including feasts of Our Lady.

In the Mass, it is used in both the Gradual and Communio for the fourth Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday), which focuses heavily on the theme of Jerusalem, as well as on the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

The pilgrimage sets off

Although some modern commentators seem to read this psalm very literally, suggesting that the pilgrims have now arrived at Jerusalem, the more traditional explanation of it is that the pilgrims are actually only just setting off on their journey, and are here contemplating where they are headed.  In the previous two psalms, we've been getting ready to go: in the first, realising that it is time; and in the second, considering the help we can hope for along the way.  In this psalm, the pilgrims are finally ready to set out, for the first verse of Psalm 121 is a formulaic way of announcing that one is going on a pilgrimage.

Where are they headed?  The courts of Jerusalem (or gates in the Hebrew Masoretic Text) of verse 2 can be seen as a looking forward to our final destination of heaven, with the towers and abundance of verses 6&7 referring to the promise of safe haven and eternal happiness that is enjoyed by the Church Triumphant.

Yet there is a sense in which we are already standing in the courts of heaven, at least when we worship, for the Jerusalem of the psalm can also be read as a reference to the Church in the here and now, the Church Militant.

From this perspective, the compactness of the city that makes it easily defensible is a reminder that the culture we must embrace is not the secularist one that surrounds us, but rather that which comes from Christ.  Dom Gueranger’s commentary, in his Liturgical Year, on this psalm on the context of its use as an Introit explains this dual meaning:

"...celebrate once more the joy felt by the Christian people at hearing the glad tidings, that they are soon to go into the house of the Lord. That house is heaven, into which we are to enter on the last day, our Lord Jesus Christ leading the way. But the house is also the temple in which we are now assembled, and into which we are introduced by the representatives of that same Lord of ours, that is, by His priests."

The peace of Christ

The second half of the psalm is intended to excite our desire for heaven, for it speaks of that very Benedictine virtue, the pursuit of a truly Christian peace.

In a General Audience on this psalm, Pope Benedict XVI drew on Pope St Gregory the Great to explains what this should mean for us:

"Pope St Gregory the Great tells us what the Psalm means for our lives in practice. He tells us that we must be a true Jerusalem in the Church today, that is, a place of peace, "supporting one another" as we are; "supporting one another together" in the joyful certainty that the Lord "supports us all". In this way the Church will grow like a true Jerusalem, a place of peace."

Psalm 138 pt 2 verses 3-6

The next set of verses deal with the creation of man, but can also be interpreted as speaking of the new man, the new Adam that is Christ.

	V	Quia tu possedísti renes meos: * suscepísti me de útero matris meæ.
	NV	Quia tu formasti renes meos, contexuisti me in utero matris meae.
	JH	Quoniam tu possedisti renes meos, orsusque es me in utero matris meae.
	Sept	ὅτι σὺ ἐκτήσω τοὺς νεφρούς μου κύριε ἀντελάβου μου ἐκ γαστρὸς μητρός μου

[Key: V=Vulgate; NV=Neo-vulgate; JH=St Jerome from the Hebrew; Sept=Septuagint]

Quia (but) tu (you) possedisti (you have possessed) renes (the reins/mind) meos (my); suscepisti (you have supported/guarded) me (me) de (from) utero (the womb) matris (mother) meæ (my). 

Bird suggests that the proper sense of the Hebrew underlying possideo here is to create, form, as reflected in the translations offered by the MD, Knox, RSV and Grail.  'Reins' means innermost being - heart and mind.  The use of suscipio, to sustain or uphold, rather than contexo (to weave or entwine) possibly reflects a difference in the underlying text traditions, but also perhaps the underlying theology of the Septuagint (see notes on Ps 3, 45, 118:116). The Hebrew of the MT can be translated as to weave together, but Bird points out an alternative possible Hebrew origin word would be to overshadow, recalling  Lk 1:35.

possideo sedi sessum ere 2 to possess, get possession of, acquire; save, preserve; to inherit

ren, renis, m., pi. renes, renum lit:  the kidneys, reins. Mind, seat of perception, conscience

suscipio, cepi, ceptum, ere 3  to guard, protect, uphold, support;  receive, accept; to seize.

venter, tris, m. lit., the belly, the body, the bowels, the breast, heart. Womb

DR	For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast protected me from my mother' s womb.
Brenton	For thou, O Lord, hast possessed my reins; thou hast helped me from my mother’s womb.
RSV	For thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit me together in my mother's womb.
Cover	For my reins are thine; thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
Knox	Author, thou, of my inmost being, didst thou not form me in my mother’s womb?
Grail	For it was you who created my being, knit me together in my mother's womb.

[Key: DR=Douay-Rheims Challonner; RSV=Revised Standard Version; Cover=Coverdale]

Cassiodorus provides us with the Christological interpretation of this verse:

Reins denotes physical strength...So he rightly says that His reins are possessed by the Father, who resides in the strength of heavenly justice and knows nothing of the sin lying in a frail body.  From my mother's womb means from the bounds of the synagogue, because through the flesh which he assumed he was begotten of the synagogue, for we know that he was circumcised on the eighth day according to the Jewish rite.  He relates that He was taken by the Father's divinity or by His own for the two are one.  If you were to interpret the phrase as meaning merely from the Virgin's womb, He is known to have been taken up by the Lord not only when he came forth, but also when he was conceived by the Holy Spirit...All this is understood as emanating from his human nature, and is recounted in honour of his holy Father.  As the words of the gospel show, it was his planned purpose to proclaim the Father, to fulfill His will, to drink the cup which he received from him, and in no sense to distance himself from the Father's dispensation.

But the verse can also be taken more literally, to also apply to the creation of each one of us, as Pope Benedict XVI explains:

After pondering on the gaze and presence of the Creator that sweeps across the whole cosmic horizon, in the second part of the Psalm on which we are meditating today God turns his loving gaze upon the human being, whose full and complete beginning is reflected upon. He is still an "unformed substance" in his mother's womb:  the Hebrew term used has been understood by several biblical experts as referring to an "embryo", described in that term as a small, oval, curled-up reality, but on which God has already turned his benevolent and loving eyes (cf. v. 16). To describe the divine action within the maternal womb, the Psalmist has recourse to classical biblical images, comparing the productive cavity of the mother to the "depths of the earth", that is, the constant vitality of great mother earth (cf. v. 15). First of all, there is the symbol of the potter and of the sculptor who "fashions" and moulds his artistic creation, his masterpiece, just as it is said about the creation of man in the Book of Genesis:  "the Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground" (Gn 2: 7). Then there is a "textile" symbol that evokes the delicacy of the skin, the flesh, the nerves, "threaded" onto the bony skeleton. Job also recalled forcefully these and other images to exalt that masterpiece which the human being is, despite being battered and bruised by suffering:  "Your hands have formed me and fashioned me.... Remember that you fashioned me from clay...! Did you not pour me out as milk and thicken me like cheese? With skin and flesh you clothed me, with bones and sinews knit me together" (Jb 10: 8-11). The idea in our Psalm that God already sees the entire future of that embryo, still an "unformed substance", is extremely powerful. The days which that creature will live and fill with deeds throughout his earthly existence are already written in the Lord's book of life.  Thus, once again the transcendent greatness of divine knowledge emerges, embracing not only humanity's past and present but also the span, still hidden, of the future. However, the greatness of this little unborn human creature, formed by God's hands and surrounded by his love, also appears:  a biblical tribute to the human being from the first moment of his existence. 28 December 2005.

   

4/ 13	V	Confitébor tibi quia terribíliter magnificátus es: * mirabília ópera tua, et ánima mea cognóscit nimis.
	NV	Confitebor tibi, quia mirabiliter plasmatus sum; mirabilia opera tua, et anima mea cognoscit nimis.
	JH	Confitebor tibi quoniam terribiliter magnificasti me : mirabilia opera tua, et anima mea nouit nimis.
		ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι ὅτι φοβερῶς ἐθαυμαστώθην θαυμάσια τὰ ἔργα σου καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου γινώσκει σφόδρα

Confitebor (I will confess/give praise) tibi (to you), quia (for) terribiliter (fearfully) magnificatus es (you are magnified); mirabilia (marvellous) opera (the works) tua (your), et (and) anima (the soul) mea (my) cognoscit (it knows) nimis (exceedingly). 

terribiliter fearfully

magnifico, avi, atum, are to praise, glorify, extol, magnify

mirabilis, e wonderful, marvelous;  wonders, wonderful works, marvellous things.

cognosco, gnovi, gnitum, ere 3, to know, see, learn, perceive, be come acquainted with.

nimis, , exceedingly, greatly, beyond measure.

DR	I will praise thee, for thou art fearfully magnified: wonderful are thy works, and my soul knoweth right well.
Brenton	I will give thee thanks; for thou art fearfully wondrous; wondrous are thy works; and my soul knows it well.
MD	I praise Thee for awful is Thy greatness, marvelous are Thy works, my soul knoweth it full well
Cover	I will give thanks unto thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.
Knox	I praise thee for my wondrous fashioning, for all the wonders of thy creation. Of my soul thou hast full knowledge,
Grail	I thank you for the wonder of my being, for the wonders of all your creation. Already you knew my soul

Cassiodorus continues:

He passes to the third section, in which He praises the Father who has revealed such wonders to Him.  The Father became fearfully wonderful when following the Lord Christ's passion, darkness ensued, the earth shook, rocks split, tombs gaped open, the dead rejoiced in resurrection; and Christ Himself was again seen at the holy resurrection in the same body, when he passed into His disciples through closed doors, and mounted to the heavens before men's eyes.  Though he achieved these things by his own divinity, he attributed them after his fashion to the powers of the Father, to make clear the unity of their sacred cooperation...It was inevitable that he should recognise His Father as wonderful, for his human nature, filled with the brightness of divine light, beheld him as the most devoted distributor of great blessings.  As he says in the gospel: No one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal to him....I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.  One who is externally distinct cannot have such knowledge.  This knowledge is beyond reckoning, unique, beyond understanding, for they are known to abide in each other. 

 

	V	Non est occultátum os meum a te, quod fecísti in occúlto: * et substántia mea in inferióribus terræ.
	NV	Non sunt abscondita ossa mea a te, cum factus sum in occulto, contextus in inferioribus terrae.
	JH	Non sunt operta ossa mea a te,  quibus factus sum in abscondito, imaginatus sum in nouissimis terrae.
		οὐκ ἐκρύβη τὸ ὀστοῦν μου ἀπὸ σοῦ ὃ ἐποίησας ἐν κρυφῇ καὶ ἡ ὑπόστασίς μου ἐν τοῖς κατωτάτοις τῆς γῆς

 Non (not) est occultátum (it is hidden) os (bone/frame) meum (my) a te (from you), quod (that/which) fecísti (you have made) in occúlto (in secret): * et (and) substántia (substance) mea (my) in inferióribus (the lower parts/depths) terræ (of the earth).

Britt suggests that inferioribus terrae refers to the womb of verse 3.

occulto are avi atum to hide, conceal

os, ossis, n., a bone,  a member of the body, or, the members, one’s whole being, one's spirit, strength

occultus, a. um  hidden, secret

subtantia ae f substance, being, existence

inferior, oris,  the nether world, the grave; depths, lower parts

DR	My bone is not hidden from thee, which thou hast made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth.
Brenton	My bones, which thou madest in secret were not hidden from thee, nor my substance, in the lowest parts of the earth.
MD	My frame was not hid from Thee, which thou hast formed in darkness, or in the depths of the earth, my substance
Cover	My bones are not hid from thee, though I be made secretly, and fashioned beneath in the earth.
Knox	and this mortal frame had no mysteries for thee, who didst contrive it in secret, devise its pattern, there in the dark recesses of the earth.
Grail	my body held no secret from you when I was being fashioned in secret and molded in the depths of the earth.

St Augustine focusing on the meaning of 'bone' here, suggesting it means spiritual backbone:

But because as Christians we are speaking in the Name of the Lord to Christians, now we find what bone is of this kind. It is a sort of inward strength; for strength and fortitude are understood to be in the bones. There is then a sort of inward strength of the soul, wherein it is not broken. Whatever tortures, whatever tribulations, whatever adversities rage around, that which God has made strong in secret in us, cannot be broken, yields not. For by God is made a certain strength of patience, of which is said in another Psalm, But my soul shall be subjected to God, for of Him is my patience.. ..Wherein do you glory? In tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience. Romans 4:5 See how that strength is fashioned within in his heart: because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. So is fashioned and made strong that hidden bone, that it makes us even to glory in tribulations. But to men we seem wretched, because that which we have within is hidden from them. And my substance is in the lower parts of the earth. Behold, in flesh is my substance, yet have I a bone within, which You have fashioned, such as to cause me never to yield to any persecutions of this lower region, where still my substance is. For what great matter is it, if an Angel be brave? This is a great matter, if flesh is brave. And whence is flesh brave, whence is an earthen vessel brave, save because in it is made a bone in secret?

Cassiodorus interprets it spiritually as a reference to the Church:

Who can see a man's bones when the flesh clothes them, and the skin is drawn over them?  spiritually:  When at the world's creation Eve was fashioned from Adam's rib, her husband said: This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh.  When Paul speaks to married people, he explains the point of this mystery with the words: This is a great sacrament, but I speak in Christ and in the Church.  So it is clear that here bone must be understood as the Lord's Church.  So that we can associate these words more fully to the illustration quoted, before the Lord's coming some of the sacraments of the Church were not visible, such as baptism, Christ's body and blood, and the others which became clear in the fullness of time.  He added: And my substance in the lower parts of the earth.  The lower parts of the earth were the foul religious practices of the Gentiles, which at that time differed greatly from the Jewish religion.  But the substance of the Lord saviour became known to them when they grasped the presence of the divine Word in Him, and with devoted minds accepted this through the apostles' teaching.  Though the different nations were the lower parts of the earth because of their superstitions, they were set higher than the Jews when they took to heart the salvific rules of the Christian religion. 

 

6/ 15	V	Imperféctum meum vidérunt óculi tui, et in libro tuo omnes scribéntur: * dies formabúntur, et nemo in eis.
	NV	Imperfectum adhuc me viderunt oculi tui, et in libro tuo scripti erant omnes dies: ficti erant, et nondum erat unus ex eis.
	JH	Informem adhuc me uiderunt oculi tui, et in libro tuo omnes scribentur; dies formatae sunt, et non est una in eis.
		τὸ ἀκατέργαστόν μου εἴδοσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ βιβλίον σου πάντες γραφήσονται ἡμέρας πλασθήσονται καὶ οὐθεὶς ἐν αὐτοῖς

Imperfectum (imperfect/incomplete/embryonic) meum (my) viderunt (they saw) oculi (the eyes) tui (your), et (and) in libro (the book) tuo (your) omnes (all) scribentur (it will be written). Dies (the days) formabuntur (they will be fashioned/formed/shaped), et (and) nemo (nobody) in eis (in them).  

imperfectum i n something imperfect, incomplete, unfinished

video, vidi, visum, ere 2,  to see, behold; consider; experience, undergo, suffer, realize; keep watch, look for, meditate on

oculus, i, the eye..

liber libri m a book, the book of life in which God inscribes the names of men

scribo ere scripsi scriptum to write, to write down, record; to enroll

dies, ei, m. and f fem.  a day, the natural day

formo are avi atum to give shape to something, to form or fashion

nemo neminis m no man, no one, nobody

DR	Thy eyes did see my imperfect being, and in thy book all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them.
Brenton	Thine eyes saw my unwrought substance, and all men shall be written in thy book; they shall be formed by day, though there should for a time be no one among them.
Cover	Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in thy book were all my members written, which day by day were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
Knox	All my acts thy eyes have seen, all are set down already in thy record; my days were numbered before ever they came to be.
Grail	Your eyes saw all my actions, they were all of them written in your book; every one of my days was decreed before one of them came into being.

Cassiodorus comments: 

The human nature which in the gospel stated that He did not know this world's end, and which said: My soul is sorrowful even unto death and such things, attests that the Father has gazed on His imperfect being.  His being is indeed imperfect, because the Church continues to gather till the end of the world; not until that resurrection will He give the promised rewards to the blessed, and then He will be all in all.  But the godhead has already seen these events which are still reserved for the distant future; the next words make it clear that this is said with reference to the blessed, for he added: and in my book all will be enrolled, precisely those who will rejoice in eternal blessedness.  Just as what is written in a book is preserved because contained in writing, so what is kept in the Lord's memory remains fixed much more firmly.  Next follows...that is, the blessed ones mentioned earlier will be strengthened by daylight, filled with perfect radiance of light from the true Sun, so the words of Scripture are fulfilled: As star differs from star in glory, so also will be the resurrection of the dead.  Note that He did not say They shall be brightened by daylight but they shall be strengthened by daylight; if he had said brightened this could perhaps have been interpreted as merely for a short time, whereas by saying...he attests that the blessing will abide fore ever.  He adds further, And none among them - we must supply 'shall be weakened', for at that stage all our flesh's frailty will be expelled and will depart, and all our mortality will be consumed and disappear.

Psalm 138/2 (139) – Et dixi: forsitan 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
1  Et dixi: Fórsitan ténebræ conculcábunt me: * et nox illuminátio mea in delíciis meis.	11 And I said: Perhaps darkness shall cover me: and night shall be my light in my pleasures.
2  Quia ténebræ non obscurabúntur a te, et nox sicut dies illuminábitur: * sicut ténebræ ejus, ita et lumen ejus.	12 But darkness shall not be dark to you, and night shall be light all the day: the darkness thereof, and the light thereof are alike to you.
3  Quia tu possedísti renes meos: * suscepísti me de útero matris meæ.	13 For you have possessed my reins: you have protected me from my mother's womb.
4  Confitébor tibi quia terribíliter magnificátus es: * mirabília ópera tua, et ánima mea cognóscit nimis.	14 I will praise you, for you are fearfully magnified: wonderful are your works, and my soul knows right well.
5  Non est occultátum os meum a te, quod fecísti in occúlto: * et substántia mea in inferióribus terræ.	15 My bone is not hidden from you, which you have made in secret: and my substance in the lower parts of the earth.
6  Imperféctum meum vidérunt óculi tui, et in libro tuo omnes scribéntur: * dies formabúntur, et nemo in eis.	16 Your eyes did see my imperfect being, and in your book all shall be written: days shall be formed, and no one in them.
7  Mihi autem nimis honorificáti sunt amíci tui, Deus: * nimis confortátus est principátus eórum.	17 But to me your friends, O God, are made exceedingly honourable: their principality is exceedingly strengthened.
8  Dinumerábo eos, et super arénam multiplicabúntur: * exsurréxi, et adhuc sum tecum.	18 I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand, I rose up and am still with you.
9  Si occíderis, Deus, peccatóres: * viri sánguinum, declináte a me.	19 If you will kill the wicked, O God: you men of blood, depart from me:
10  Quia dícitis in cogitatióne: * Accípient in vanitáte civitátes tuas.	20 Because you say in thought: They shall receive your cities in vain.
11  Nonne qui odérunt te, Dómine, óderam? * et super inimícos tuos tabescébam?	21 Have I not hated them, O Lord, that hated you: and pined away because of your enemies?
12  Perfécto ódio óderam illos: * et inimíci facti sunt mihi.	22 I have hated them with a perfect hatred: and they have become enemies to me.
13  Proba me, Deus, et scito cor meum: * intérroga me, et cognósce sémitas meas.	23 Prove me, O God, and know my heart: examine me, and know my paths.
14  Et vide, si via iniquitátis in me est: * et deduc me in via æterna.	24 And see if there be in me the way of iniquity: and lead me in the eternal way

You can find the next part in this series here.