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| Walters Ms. W.721, Book of Hours, fol. 86v, c1450 Offices for Each Day of the Week, Friday: Cross Digitilised Walter Manuscripts |
Psalm 16 (17):
Exaudi Domine justitiam meam
Vulgate
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Douay-Rheims
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Oratio David
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The prayer of David.
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Exáudi, Dómine, justítiam meam:
* inténde deprecatiónem meam.
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Hear,
O Lord, my justice: attend to my supplication.
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2 Auribus pércipe
oratiónem meam, * non in lábiis dolósis.
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Give
ear unto my prayer, which proceeds not from deceitful lips.
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3 De vultu
tuo judícium meum pródeat: * óculi tui vídeant æquitátes
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Let my judgment come forth from
your countenance: let your eyes behold the things that are equitable.
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4 Probásti cor
meum, et visitásti nocte: * igne me examinásti, et non est invénta in me
iníquitas.
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You
have proved my heart, and visited it by night, you have tried me by fire: and
iniquity has not been found in me.
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5 Ut non
loquátur os meum ópera hóminum: * propter verba labiórum tuórum ego custodívi
vias duras.
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That my mouth may not speak the
works of men: for the sake of the words of your lips, I have kept hard ways
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6 Pérfice
gressus meos in sémitis tuis: * ut non moveántur vestígia mea.
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Perfect
my goings in your paths: that my footsteps be not moved.
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7 Ego clamávi,
quóniam exaudísti me, Deus: * inclína aurem tuam mihi, et exáudi verba mea.
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I
have cried to you, for you, O God, have heard me: O incline your ear unto me,
and hear my words.
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8 Mirífica
misericórdias tuas, * qui salvos facis sperántes in te.
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Show
forth your wonderful mercies; you who save them that trust in you.
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9 A
resisténtibus déxteræ tuæ custódi me, * ut pupíllam óculi.
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From
them that resist your right hand keep me, as the apple of your eye.
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10 Sub umbra alárum
tuárum prótege me: * a fácie impiórum qui me afflixérunt.
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Protect me under the shadow of
your wings. From the face of the wicked who have afflicted me.
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11 Inimíci mei
ánimam meam circumdedérunt, ádipem suum conclusérunt : * os eórum locútum est
supérbiam.
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My
enemies have surrounded my soul: They have shut up their fat: their mouth has
spoken proudly.
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12 Projiciéntes
me nunc circumdedérunt me: * óculos suos statuérunt declináre in terram.
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They
have cast me forth, and now they have surrounded me: they have set their eyes
bowing down to the earth.
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13 Suscepérunt
me sicut leo parátus ad prædam: * et sicut cátulus leónis hábitans in
ábditis.
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They
have taken me, as a lion prepared for the prey; and as a young lion dwelling
in secret places.
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14 Exsúrge,
Dómine, prǽveni eum, et supplánta eum: * éripe ánimam meam ab ímpio, frámeam
tuam ab inimícis manus tuæ.
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Arise,
O Lord, disappoint him and supplant him; deliver my soul from the wicked one;
your sword from the enemies of your hand.
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15 Dómine, a paucis
de terra dívide eos in vita eórum: * de abscónditis tuis adimplétus est
venter eórum.
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O Lord, divide them from the few
of the earth in their life: their belly is filled from your hidden stores.
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16 Saturáti sunt
fíliis: * et dimisérunt relíquias suas párvulis suis.
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They
are full of children: and they have left to their little ones the rest of
their substance.
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17 Ego
autem in justítia apparébo conspéctui tuo: * satiabor cum apparúerit glória
tua.
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But as for me, I will appear
before your sight in justice: I shall be satisfied when your glory shall
appear.
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Psalm 16 can be read as a meditation on
the Passion, hence its particular appropriateness for Friday in the Benedictine
Office.
In the first part (verses 1-5)
the speaker asks for justice in the face of persecution and suffering, since
his cause is just and he is without sin.
Our Lord is of course the only person who can truly say these verses
without reservation, yet through the grace given to us in the sacraments he instituted
we too can claim to be justified in the sight of God.
In the second part (verses 7-13) he asks
for help in standing firm in the face of the enemy – and St Thomas Aquinas interprets
the reference to wings as a symbolic allusion to the two arms of Our Lord
stretched out on the Cross. Verses 10-13
are explicitly interpreted for us in Matthew 23, when Our Lord castigated the
Pharisees for their unfortunate habit of killing the prophets God sends to
them.
In the third part (verses 14-17) the
speaker asks for justice and the punishment of the enemy. Note though, that, according to the last
verse, the justice asked for here is above all the revelation of the glory of
God, revealed in the Resurrection.
You can hear the psalm read aloud here.
St Augustine:
This prayer must be assigned to the Person of the Lord, with the addition of the Church, which is His body
St Robert Bellarmine:
This psalm arises from prayer because in the midst of tribulations, prayer is an unparalleled refuge; Psalm 108: "Instead of making me a return of love, they detracted me: but I gave myself to prayer." This psalm, then, is divided into two parts. In the first, he prays for his own endurance. In the second, he asks for deliverance from evil, at I have cried....St Alphonsus Liguori:
The just man prays to God to be delivered from the persecutions to which he sees himself exposed. Motives of his confidence: his innocence and rectitude, the mercy and justice of God, the malice and iniquity of the wicked.Fr Pasch:
Battle in the Kingdom - After seeing the lines drawn up, friend and foe, we see the battle itself. Innocency and justice fight with sin. It is a fierce struggle, but God is the mighty champion. The temptations of the devil are vividly portrayed. This is the Psalm that St. Lawrence prayed while he was being martyred.
Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm
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NT
references
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1 Pet 1:7 (v4), Mt 23:37
(v11- the Lord upbraids the scribes and Pharisees and castigates the
persecution of God’s prophets and saints), 1 Jn 3:2, Rev 22:4 (v17 – shall
behold his face)
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RB
cursus
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Friday Prime
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Monastic/(Roman)
feasts etc
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-
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Roman
pre 1911
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: Sunday matins
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Roman
post 1911
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1911-62:
Monday Matins . 1970:
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Mass
propers (EF)
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Lent I Thurs, GR (3, 9);
Lent wk II Friday, IN (1,
17),
Lent III, Tues, IN (1, 7, 9); PP 6 OF (6-8),
PP 10 GR (3, 9)
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