Psalm 54: Overview

St Alphonsus Liguori says on this psalm:

David, persecuted by his son Absalom, and imploring the help of God: such, in the literal sense, is the subject of this psalm. But St. Hilary and St. Jerome apply this psalm to Jesus Christ, betrayed by Judas and persecuted by the Jews. Generally speaking, it may be applied to all the just, persecuted in this life by men or devils.

St Augustine, however, in his discussion of the title of the psalm, focuses on the importance of seeking to become perfect:

Of this Psalm the title is: At the end, in hymns, understanding to David himself. What the end is, we will briefly call to your recollection, because you have known it. For the end of the Law is Christ, for righteousness unto every man believing.  Be the attention therefore directed unto the End, directed unto Christ. 

Wherefore is He called the end? Because whatever we do, to Him we refer it, and when to Him we shall have come home, more to ask we shall not have...Our end therefore ought to be our perfection, our perfection Christ. For in Him we are made perfect, because of Himself the Head, the Members are we. And he has been spoken of as the End of the Law, because without Him no one does make perfect the Law. When therefore you hear in the Psalms, At the end,— for many Psalms are thus superscribed — be not your thought upon consuming, but upon consummation.

He also insists on the need to praise God even when times are hard:

For whether we are troubled and are straitened, or whether we rejoice and exult, He is to be praised, who both in tribulations does instruct, and in gladness does comfort. For the praise of God from the heart and mouth of a Christian man ought not to depart; not that he may be praising in prosperity, and speaking evil in adversity; but after the manner that this Psalm does prescribe, I will speak good of the Lord in every time, always the praise of Him is in my mouth. Thou dost rejoice; acknowledge a Father indulging: you are troubled; acknowledge a Father chastening. Whether He indulge, or whether He chasten, He is instructing one for whom He is preparing an inheritance...Be we admonished when we hear, and let the Church understand: for there belongs to us great diligence to understand in what evil we now are, and from what evil we desire to be delivered, remembering the Prayer of the Lord, where at the end we say, Deliver us from evil. 

The text of the psalm

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem, in carminibus. Intellectus David.	Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David
1 Exáudi, Deus, oratiónem meam et ne despéxeris deprecatiónem meam: * inténde mihi, et exáudi me.	Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication: 3 Be attentive to me and hear me.
2  Contristátus sum in exercitatióne mea: * et conturbátus sum a voce inimíci, et a tribulatióne peccatóris.	I am grieved in my exercise; and am troubled, 4 at the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner.
3  Quóniam declinavérunt in me iniquitátes: * et in ira molésti erant mihi.	I am grieved in my exercise; and am troubled, 4 at the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner.
4  Cor meum conturbátum est in me: * et formído mortis cécidit super me.	5 My heart is troubled within me: and the fear of death is fallen upon me.
5  Timor et tremor venérunt super me: * et contexérunt me ténebræ.	5 My heart is troubled within me: and the fear of death is fallen upon me.
6  Et dixi: Quis dabit mihi pennas sicut colúmbæ, * et volábo, et requiéscam?	7 And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?
7  Ecce elongávi fúgiens: * et mansi in solitúdine.	8 Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness.
8  Exspectábam eum, qui salvum me fecit: * a pusillanimitáte spíritus et tempestáte.	9 I waited for him that has saved me from pusillanimity of spirit, and a storm.
9  Præcípita, Dómine, dívide linguas eórum: * quóniam vidi iniquitátem et contradictiónem in civitáte.	10 Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.
10  Die ac nocte circúmdabit eam super muros ejus iníquitas: * et labor in médio ejus, et injustítia.	11 Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in the midst thereof are labour, 12 and injustice.
11  Et non defécit de platéis ejus: * usúra, et dolus.	And usury and deceit have not departed from its streets.
12  Quóniam si inimícus meus maledixísset mihi, * sustinuíssem útique.	13 For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it.
13  Et si is, qui óderat me, super me magna locútus fuísset: * abscondíssem me fórsitan ab eo.	And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden my self from him.
14  Tu vero, homo unánimis: * dux meus, et notus meus.	14 But you a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar,
15  Qui simul mecum dulces capiébas cibos: * in domo Dei ambulávimus cum consénsu.	15 who took sweetmeats together with me: in the house of God we walked with consent.
16  Véniat mors super illos: * et descéndant in inférnum vivéntes :	16 Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell.
17  Quóniam nequítiæ in habitáculis eórum: * in médio eórum.	For there is wickedness in their dwellings: in the midst of them.
18  Ego autem ad Deum clamávi: * et Dóminus salvábit me.	17 But I have cried to God: and the Lord will save me.
19  Véspere, et mane, et merídie narrábo et annuntiábo: * et exáudiet vocem meam.	18 Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice.
20  Rédimet in pace ánimam meam ab his, qui appropínquant mihi: * quóniam inter multos erant mecum.	19 He shall redeem my soul in peace from them that draw near to me: for among many they were with me.
21  Exáudiet Deus, et humiliábit illos: * qui est ante sæcula.	20 God shall hear, and the Eternal shall humble them.
22  Non enim est illis commutátio, et non timuérunt Deum: * exténdit manum suam in retribuéndo.	For there is no change with them, and they have not feared God: 21 He has stretched forth his hand to repay.
23  Contaminavérunt testaméntum ejus, divísi sunt ab ira vultus ejus: * et appropinquávit cor illíus.	They have defiled his covenant, 22 they are divided by the wrath of his countenance, and his heart has drawn near.
24  Mollíti sunt sermónes ejus super óleum: * et ipsi sunt jácula.	His words are smoother than oil, and the same are darts.
25  Jacta super Dóminum curam tuam, et ipse te enútriet: * non dabit in ætérnum fluctuatiónem justo.	23 Cast your care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain you: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.
26  Tu vero, Deus, dedúces eos, * in púteum intéritus	24 But you, O God, shall bring them down into the pit of destruction.
27  Viri sánguinum, et dolósi non dimidiábunt dies suos: * ego autem sperábo in te, Dómine.	Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in you, O Lord

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

 

NT references	Rev 12:6 (7); Mt 26: 21-24; Jn 13:18-19 (14); Rev 19:20 (16-17); Mt 6:25, Lk 12:22, 1 Peter 5:7 (25)
RB cursus	Tuesday II, 3
Monastic feasts etc	AN 3363 (3)
Responsories	Epiphanytide Sunday v6, 6501 Epiphanytide Wed v8-9 Passion Sunday v4 (interpolation in Ps 34) 7419 (10, 11)
Roman pre 1911	Wednesday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Wednesday Terce  1970: Wednesday DP omitting v16
Mass propers (EF)	Thursday after AshWed, IN (1, 18, 20-21, 25), GR (25, 18-20); Lent 2 Tuesday, GR (25, 18-20); Lent 3 Monday OF (1); Lent 4 Tuesday IN (1-2); ?Passion Friday GR (4, 20); PP 10, IN (1, 18-20, 25)