Psalm 73 - The destruction of the true temple

Psalm 73: Thursday Matins I, 1 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Intellectus Asaph.	Understanding for Asaph.
Ut quid, Deus, repulísti in finem: * irátus est furor tuus super oves páscuæ tuæ?	God, why have you cast us off unto the end: why is your wrath enkindled against the sheep of your pasture?
2  Memor esto congregatiónis tuæ: * quam possedísti ab inítio.	2 Remember your congregation, which you have possessed from the beginning.
3  Redemísti virgam hereditátis tuæ: * mons Sion, in quo habitásti in eo.	The sceptre of your inheritance which you have redeemed: mount Sion in which you have dwelt.
4  Leva manus tuas in supérbias eórum in finem: * quanta malignátus est inimícus in sancto!	3 Lift up your hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.
5  Et gloriáti sunt qui odérunt te: * in médio solemnitátis tuæ.	4 And they that hate you have made their boasts, in the midst of your solemnity.
6  Posuérunt signa sua, signa: * et non cognovérunt sicut in éxitu super summum.	They have set up their ensigns for signs, 5 and they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top.
7  Quasi in silva lignórum secúribus excidérunt jánuas ejus in idípsum: * in secúri et áscia dejecérunt eam.	As with axes in a wood of trees, 6 they have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down.
8  Incendérunt igni sanctuárium tuum: * in terra polluérunt tabernáculum nóminis tui.	7 They have set fire to your sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of your name on the earth.
9  Dixérunt in corde suo cognátio eórum simul: * Quiéscere faciámus omnes dies festos Dei a terra.	8 They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land.
10  Signa nostra non vídimus, jam non est prophéta: * et nos non cognóscet ámplius.	9 Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more.
11  Usquequo, Deus, improperábit inimícus: * irrítat adversárius nomen tuum in finem?	10 How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke your name for ever?
12  Ut quid avértis manum tuam, et déxteram tuam, * de médio sinu tuo in finem?	11 Why do you turn away your hand: and your right hand out of the midst of your bosom for ever?
13  Deus autem Rex noster ante sæcula: * operátus est salútem in médio terræ.	12 But God is our king before ages: he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.
14  Tu confirmásti in virtúte tua mare: * contribulásti cápita dracónum in aquis.	13 You by your strength made the sea firm: you crushed the heads of the dragons in the waters.
15  Tu confregísti cápita dracónis: * dedísti eum escam pópulis Æthíopum.	14 You have broken the heads of the dragon: you have given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.
16  Tu dirupísti fontes, et torréntes * tu siccásti flúvios Ethan.	15 You have broken up the fountains and the torrents: you have dried up the Ethan rivers.
17  Tuus est dies, et tua est nox: * tu fabricátus es auróram et solem.	16 Yours is the day, and yours is the night: you have made the morning light and the sun.
18  Tu fecísti omnes términos terræ: * æstátem et ver tu plasmásti ea.	17 You have made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by you.
19  Memor esto hujus, inimícus improperávit Dómino: * et pópulus insípiens incitávit nomen tuum	18 Remember this, the enemy has reproached the Lord: and a foolish people has provoked your name.
20  Ne tradas béstiis ánimas confiténtes tibi, * et ánimas páuperum tuórum ne obliviscáris in finem.	19 Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to you: and forget not to the end the souls of your poor.
21  Réspice in testaméntum tuum: * quia repléti sunt, qui obscuráti sunt terræ dómibus iniquitátum.	20 Have regard to your covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.
22  Ne avertátur húmilis factus confúsus: * pauper et inops laudábunt nomen tuum.	21 Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise your name.
23  Exsúrge, Deus, júdica causam tuam: * memor esto improperiórum tuórum, eórum quæ ab insipiénte sunt tota die.	22 Arise, O God, judge your own cause: remember your reproaches with which the foolish man has reproached you all the day.
24  Ne obliviscáris voces inimicórum tuórum: * supérbia eórum, qui te odérunt, ascéndit semper.	23 Forget not the voices of your enemies: the pride of them that hate you ascends continually.

This psalm is generally interpreted as dealing with the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, as evildoers and those who hate God plot to eliminate true worship of God.

Opinions are divided on just which particular destruction of the Temple this psalm refers to, but its role in kicking off the mini-Triduum in the Office each week is nicely explained by Cassiodorus, who follows St Augustine on this:

...In this psalm there is lamentation for the destruction of the city...The good Physician has done all he could, if the sick man wished to recover his health. Let us remember, however, that the authority of the Church relates that Jerusalem was ravaged in the days when the most cruel people of the Jews crucified Christ the Lord, so that there can be no doubt what temporal evil that obstinate transgression sustained.

Cassiodorus summarises the content of the psalm as follows:

The people of the Israelites, embracing in figure the most devoted synagogue, speaks throughout the psalm. In the first part she laments that she has been consigned to the Gentiles, so that the reckless behaviour of the enemy had polluted the Lord's sanctuary, and she mentions that the unrepentant hearts of certain Jews had provoked the judgment of the Lord; however, she prophesies that as the outcome of all this they will be converted at the end of the world. The second part states that at the coming of Christ human superstitions and acts of wickedness were destroyed, and recounts that He has done great and various deeds, incidentally asking that the erring Jews should be lent help. In the third section she asks that mindful of His promises He should rescue the seed of Israel from extinction, and that the arrogance of the Romans, who puffed themselves up insufferably, should mount to His sight. Let us listen to this psalm with attentive minds, for it is a wonderful lamentation for the destruction of Jerusalem.

Introduction to Psalm 138 Pt 2

I noted in a previous post that St Benedict divides Psalm 138 into two in his Office, and so here is a brief introduction to the second half of the psalm.

Whereas the first half of the psalm focuses primarily on God's omniscience, this section takes up the theme of God's presence everywhere and in all things, as Benedict XVI pointed out in his commentary on it:

On the other hand, the second part of our Psalm (cf. vv. 7-12) is dedicated to the divine omnipresence. The illusory desire of human beings to flee from that presence is vividly described in it. The whole of space is steeped in it:  there is first of all the vertical axis "heaven-hell" (cf. v. 8), which gives way to the horizontal dimension which extends from dawn, that is, from the East, and reaches as far as the Mediterranean "sea's furthest end", that is, the West (cf. v. 9). Every sphere of space, even the most secret, contains God's active presence. 

This leads naturally to his works as creator, and especially as saviour, Pope Benedict explained:

…After contemplating in the first part (cf. vv. 1-12) the omniscient and omnipotent God, the Lord of being and history, this sapiential hymn of intense beauty and deep feeling now focuses on the loftiest, most marvellous reality of the entire universe:  man, whose being is described as a "wonder" of God (cf. v. 14).  Indeed, this topic is deeply in tune with the Christmas atmosphere we are living in these days in which we celebrate the great mystery of the Son of God who became man, indeed, became a Child, for our salvation.  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. 

In fact, as for the first half of the psalm, St Benedict's contemporary Cassiodorus places the text on the lips of Christ during his prayer in the Garden, viewing it as in effect a meditation on the divine and human natures of Christ, particularly as he gets ready to confront those enemies who would cause his death.

Connections through the day?

It is worth noting, I think, that this psalm contains more than a few resonances with the opening psalm of Thursday at Matins, Psalm 73, setting the scene for many of the recurring ideas in the psalmody of the day.  Psalm 73, for example, says:

17  Tuus est dies, et tua est nox: * tu fabricátus es auróram et solem.

16 Yours is the day, and yours is the night: you have made the morning light and the sun.

Psalm 138 ponders on whether it is possible to hide from God in the darkness, but realises of course that day and night are alike to God:

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.

Similarly, Psalm 138 raises the difficult challenges posed by God's enemies for us:

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.

On the face of it, these verses seem to run counter to the Gospel injunction to love our enemies.  The Fathers provide a number of solutions for this, the most compelling being to interpret it as meaning hate the sin even while loving the sinner.  Psalm 73, though, perhaps helps explains the context for these lines, for it is a lament for the destruction of Jerusalem, and above all, of the desecration of the Temple and attempts to suppress true religion.  Both psalms can be read as referring to those who plotted the death of Christ the true Temple, and remained unrepentant, and so condemned themselves.

Psalm 138, though, ends in a confident affirmation of salvation, and can be read as taking us back to Psalm 73's central verse:

13  Deus autem Rex noster ante sæcula: * operátus est salútem in médio terræ.

12 But God is our king before ages: he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.

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

Liturgical uses of the Psalm

NT references	Rom11:33 (16-17)
RB cursus	Thurs Vespers+AN 2367 (1)
Monastic feasts etc	2 Vespers of Apostles (+John the Baptist, St Benedict, St Joseph) AN 1881 (17)
Roman pre 1911	Friday Vespers
Responsories	7457 (alt verse) Aug Wisdom (10), 7215 (17);
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Friday Vespers  . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Vigil of SS Peter and Paul, OF (16); St Thomas GR (17-18)

You can find the first set of verse by verse notes on this part of the psalm here.

Tenebrae psalms/7 - Psalm 73: Judas' in the Church today

Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Folio 147v
- Judas Hangs Himself the Musée Condé, Chantilly.

Today's psalm deals with the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, as evildoers and those who hate God plot to eliminate true worship of God.

The destruction of the Temple

Opinions are split on just which particular destruction of the Temple this psalm refers to, but its role in this Nocturn is nicely explained by Cassiodorus' note on the three psalms of this second Nocturn of Maundy Thursday:

"Psalm 71 promised that the Lord's incarnation would come. In 72 Asaph [the psalms' author] put his transgressions behind him, and chose the course to follow. In this psalm there is lamentation for the destruction of the city, so that the Jews' extreme hardness of heart should at least feel fear at the disasters to their city. The good Physician has done all he could, if the sick man wished to recover his health. Let us remember, however, that the authority of the Church relates that Jerusalem was ravaged in the days when the most cruel people of the Jews crucified Christ the Lord, so that there can be no doubt what temporal evil that obstinate transgression sustained."

In the context of Maundy Thursday, the psalm is a plea to God to preserve the faithful remnant of his people in the face of pride and persecution.

The evil within the Church

More generally, as Fr Pius Pasch explains in words so very pertinent to the state of the Church today, it is an instruction not to lose hope, even in the fgace of those Judas' who pretend to be priests and bishops:

"The destruction of the temple was one of the saddest phases of Jewish history, and pre-figured both the death of Christ on the Cross, and in these latter days the destruction of our churches by the enemy within. In the midst of the Church's apparent destruction, its humiliation by enemies who pretend to be our shepherds, we cry out in our impatience that God will put a stop to this madness.  But we never lose our trust in God.  These verses remind us not to lose faith―God is our powerful Saviour."

Psalm 73 (74)

1 Ut quid, Deus, repulisti in finem, iratus est furor tuus super oves pascuæ tuæ? 

2 Memor esto congregationis tuæ, quam possedisti ab initio. 

3 Redemisti virgam hæreditatis tuæ, mons Sion, in quo habitasti in eo. 

4 Leva manus tuas in superbias eorum in finem : quanta malignatus est inimicus in sancto!

5 Et gloriati sunt qui oderunt te in medio solemnitatis tuæ; 

6 posuerunt signa sua, signa: et non cognoverunt sicut in exitu super summum. 

7 Quasi in silva lignorum securibus exciderunt januas ejus in idipsum; in securi et ascia dejecerunt eam. 

8 Incenderunt igni sanctuarium tuum; in terra polluerunt tabernaculum nominis tui. 

9 Dixerunt in corde suo cognatio eorum simul: Quiescere faciamus omnes dies festos Dei a terra. 10 Signa nostra non vidimus; jam non est propheta; et nos non cognoscet amplius. 

11  Usquequo, Deus, improperábit inimícus: * irrítat adversárius nomen tuum in finem?

12  Ut quid avértis manum tuam, et déxteram tuam, * de médio sinu tuo in finem?

13  Deus autem Rex noster ante sæcula: * operátus est salútem in médio terræ.

14  Tu confirmásti in virtúte tua mare: * contribulásti cápita dracónum in aquis.

15  Tu confregísti cápita dracónis: * dedísti eum escam pópulis Æthíopum.

16  Tu dirupísti fontes, et torréntes * tu siccásti flúvios Ethan.

17  Tuus est dies, et tua est nox: * tu fabricátus es auróram et solem.

18  Tu fecísti omnes términos terræ: * æstátem et ver tu plasmásti ea.

19  Memor esto hujus, inimícus improperávit Dómino: * et pópulus insípiens incitávit nomen tuum.

20  Ne tradas béstiis ánimas confiténtes tibi, * et ánimas páuperum tuórum ne obliviscáris in finem.

21  Réspice in testaméntum tuum: * quia repléti sunt, qui obscuráti sunt terræ dómibus iniquitátum.

22  Ne avertátur húmilis factus confúsus: * pauper et inops laudábunt nomen tuum.

23  Exsúrge, Deus, júdica causam tuam: * memor esto improperiórum tuórum, eórum quæ ab insipiénte sunt tota die.

24  Ne obliviscáris voces inimicórum tuórum: * supérbia eórum, qui te odérunt, ascéndit semper.

The translation:

God, why have you cast us off unto the end: why is your wrath enkindled against the sheep of your pasture? 

2 Remember your congregation, which you have possessed from the beginning. 

The sceptre of your inheritance which you have redeemed: mount Sion in which you have dwelt. 

3 Lift up your hands against their pride unto the end; see what things the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary. 

4 And they that hate you have made their boasts, in the midst of your solemnity. 

They have set up their ensigns for signs, 5 and they knew not both in the going out and on the highest top. 

As with axes in a wood of trees, 6 they have cut down at once the gates thereof, with axe and hatchet they have brought it down. 

7 They have set fire to your sanctuary: they have defiled the dwelling place of your name on the earth. 8 They said in their heart, the whole kindred of them together: Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the land. 

9 Our signs we have not seen, there is now no prophet: and he will know us no more. 

10 How long, O God, shall the enemy reproach: is the adversary to provoke your name for ever?

11 Why do you turn away your hand: and your right hand out of the midst of your bosom for ever? 12 But God is our king before ages: he has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth. 

13 You by your strength made the sea firm: you crushed the heads of the dragons in the waters. 

14 You have broken the heads of the dragon: you have given him to be meat for the people of the Ethiopians. 

15 You have broken up the fountains and the torrents: you have dried up the Ethan rivers. 

16 Yours is the day, and yours is the night: you have made the morning light and the sun. 

17 You have made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the spring were formed by you. 18 Remember this, the enemy has reproached the Lord: and a foolish people has provoked your name. 19 Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to you: and forget not to the end the souls of your poor. 

20 Have regard to your covenant: for they that are the obscure of the earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity. 

21 Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and needy shall praise your name. 22 Arise, O God, judge your own cause: remember your reproaches with which the foolish man has reproached you all the day. 

23 Forget not the voices of your enemies: the pride of them that hate you ascends continually.

Tenebrae of Holy Thursday

Nocturn I: Psalms 68, 69, 70

Nocturn II: Psalms 71, 72, 73

Nocturn III: Psalms 74, 75, 76

Lauds: 50, 89, 35, [Ex 15], 146

Other Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	Acts 17:26 (v18)
RB cursus	Thursday Matins I, 1
Monastic feasts etc	Maundy Thurs Tenebrae, II, 3
Roman pre 1911	Thursday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Thursday Sext . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Lent 4 Thurs GR 20, 21, 23; PP13: IN, Grad: 19, 20, 22

And for the next part in this series, go here.