Psalm 90 v 11 - Our guardian angels

Quóniam Angelis suis mandávit de te: ut custódiant te in ómnibus viis tuis.

For he has given his angels charge over you; to keep you in all your ways.

Verse 11 of Psalm 90 attests to a key doctrine, namely that, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it:

From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their [angels] watchful care and intercession. "Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life." Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.

Looking at the Latin

The key vocabulary is:

quoniam,  for, because, since, seeing that, whereas.

angelus, i, m.an angel, spirit, messenger.

mando, avi, atum, are to enjoin, order,

de +abl from, away from, down from, out of; to indicate the thing with reference to which anything is done, with respect to, concerning (Lewis and Short).

custodio, ivi or ii, itum, ire, to guard, watch, keep, to maintain, to hold steadfastly.

omnis, e, all, each, every; subst., all men, all things, everything

via, ae f a way, road, path, street. God's way, way of life.

Accordingly a word by word translation is: 

Quóniam (for) angelis (angels) suis (his) mandávit (he has ordered) de (concerning/with respect to) te (you): * ut (in order that) custódiant (they may protect) te (you) in (in) ómnibus (all) viis (the ways/paths) tuis (your).

The English translations use a variety of tenses for the first phrase: For he has/hath given will/shall give his angels charge over you; the Latin is present subjunctive.

Monastic Diurnal	He hath given His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Brenton	For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
RSV	For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways.
Coverdale	For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
Knox	He has given charge to his angels concerning thee, to watch over thee wheresoever thou goest;
Grail	For you has he commanded his angels, to keep you in all your ways.

Each of the words of this verse are important, and it is worth drawing out some of the nuances.

The temptation of Jesus in the desert: even the devil can quote Scripture

The word angel is qualified, in the verse, by ‘his’ (God’s). 

This is a reminder that not all angels are good angels! 

Rather, some are demons, who seek to destroy us. 

Indeed, this verse is the classic example of Shakespeare’s axiom that even the devil can quote Scripture: in the Merchant of Venice he says: 

“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing holy witness Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, A goodly apple rotten at the heart. O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!”

This particular verse is used by the devil to tempt Our Lord, and thus serves as a warning to us of the danger of presumption: the New Testament tells of how the devil asks Jesus to throw himself down from a high place, knowing that the angles would preserve him. 

Jesus replies, also quoting Scripture, that “You shall not tempt the Lord your God”.  

For us, the temptation is to demand a miracle of God out of personal pride, or perhaps in a situation where God’s providential plan demands another outcome: to demand that God heal a friend or family member for example, or else we will not believe. 

Our guardian angels

A second key message in this verse is that the angels guard us because God commands them to.  St Robert Bellarmine commented that:

“…the reason why the angels take such care of us is, because God ordered them to do so, gave us in charge to them; for, though they guard us with right good will, loving us as they do, and though they have a horror of the evil angels, and wish the heavenly Jerusalem to be renewed as soon as possible; and though they know all this to be most agreeable to their King, Christ our Lord, still God's command is uppermost, is their ruling motive for the whole; for they are conscious of being God's servants, and there is nothing that he requires more strictly from his servants than prompt and implicit obedience.”

Everyone has a guardian angel.  Bellarmine, though, noted that special help is accorded by them to the just:

…God's providence extends to all, and that he has given a guardian angel to each and every human being; but still that he has a peculiar regard for the just, for those that confide in him; and, therefore, that he has given special orders to his angels to look "over thee," the just man, who trusts in his help, "to keep thee;" the charge God gave his angels regarding the just was to preserve him from his enemies, the evil angels; for man, by reason of the flesh that envelops him, can see nothing save through the eyes of the flesh, and, therefore, is no match for the evil spirits, unless he get help from someone more powerful.

The ways of man and God

St Robert Bellarmine argued that the plural of the last phrase is significant, since there is no one path that everyone follows:

for numerous are the ways of man, and in every one of them he needs the help of his guardian angel. The law is the way, according to Psalm 118, "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord;" and in the same Psalm, "I have run the way of thy commandments." The way also means the works, as in Prov. 8, "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before he made anything." Finally, this life is a way to a certain extent. The way of the law is varied, for there are many laws; the way of the works is equally so, for there are many works; the way of life is also varied, for there are many parts, ages, and states of life. We require assistance in every one of them, since we are liable to fall in every law, work, age, and state of our life.

Psalm 90: Qui habitat 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Laus cantici David.	The praise of a canticle for David
Qui hábitat in adjutório Altíssimi, * in protectióne Dei cæli commorábitur.	He that dwells in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.
2  Dicet Dómino : Suscéptor meus es tu, et refúgium meum: * Deus meus sperábo in eum.	He shall say to the Lord: You are my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust.
3 Quóniam ipse liberávit me de láqueo venántium, * et a verbo áspero.	For he has delivered me from the snare of the hunters: and from the sharp word.
4  Scápulis suis obumbrábit tibi: * et sub pennis ejus sperábis.	He will overshadow you with his shoulders: and under his wings you shall trust.
5  Scuto circúmdabit te véritas ejus: * non timébis a timóre noctúrno.	His truth shall compass you with a shield: you shall not be afraid of the terror of the night.
6  A sagítta volánte in die, a negótio perambulánte in ténebris: * ab incúrsu et dæmónio meridiáno.	Of the arrow that flies in the day, of the business that walks about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
7  Cadent a látere tuo mille, et decem míllia a dextris tuis: * ad te autem non appropinquábit.	A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand: but it shall not come near you.
8  Verúmtamen óculis tuis considerábis: * et retributiónem peccatórum vidébis.	But you shall consider with your eyes: and shall see the reward of the wicked.
9  Quóniam tu es, Dómine, spes mea: * Altíssimum posuísti refúgium tuum.	Because you, O Lord, are my hope: you have made the most High your refuge.
10  Non accédet ad te malum: * et flagéllum non appropinquábit tabernáculo tuo.	There shall no evil come to you: nor shall the scourge come near your dwelling.
11  Quóniam Angelis suis mandávit de te: * ut custódiant te in ómnibus viis tuis.	For he has given his angels charge over you; to keep you in all your ways.
12  In mánibus portábunt te: * ne forte offéndas ad lápidem pedem tuum.	In their hands they shall bear you up: lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13  Super áspidem et basilíscum ambulábis: * et conculcábis leónem et dracónem.	You shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and you shall trample under foot the lion and the dragon.
14  Quóniam in me sperávit, liberábo eum: * prótegam eum quóniam cognóvit nomen meum.	Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he has known my name.
15  Clamábit ad me, et ego exáudiam eum : * cum ipso sum in tribulatióne : erípiam eum et glorificábo eum.	He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.
16  Longitúdine diérum replébo eum: * et osténdam illi salutáre meum.	I will fill him with length of days; and I will show him my salvation.

For the next part in this series, continue on here.

Psalm 90 v 10 - Under God's protection

Simon Marmion (Flemish, active 1450 - 1489) - The Beast Acheron
Ms 30, Getty Museum

Non accédet ad te malum: et flagéllum non appropinquábit tabernáculo tuo.

There shall no evil come to you: nor shall the scourge come near your dwelling.

Looking at the Latin

The key vocabulary is:

accedo, cessi, cessum, ere 3 to come to, approach, draw nigh

malus, a, um, adj., bad, evil, wicked; grievous, sore, severe; subst., malum, i, n., evil, sin; woe, harm, misfortune. 

flagellum, i, n. scourge, whip; a plague, affliction.

appropinquo, avi, atum, are , to draw near, approach

tabernaculum, i, n. a tent, pavilion, tabernacle

A word by word translation therefore runs:

Non (not) accédet (he will approach) ad (to) te (you) malum (substantive: evil/harm): et (and) flagéllum (scourge/plague) non (not) appropinquábit (it will approach) tabernáculo (to the tent) tuo (your).

The Douay-Rheims translates the verse as: ‘There shall no evil come to you: nor shall the scourge come near your dwelling’.  

The verse can be seen as a continuation of the response of the second choir started in the second half of the previous verse, viz ‘You have made the most High your refuge’ so that, ‘No evil shall befall thee: nor any plague come near thy dwelling'.

Tabernaculum

The substitution of 'dwelling' for 'tent', though common to pretty much all of the English translations, loses I think, some important nuances.  

First, as Dom Britt pointed out in his commentary on the psalm, it is a possible allusion to the protection the Israelites enjoyed from the plagues inflicted on Egypt at the time of the Exodus.  The Hebrew Masoretic Text is certainly more explicit than the Septuagint-Vulgate text tradition in suggesting that the evil being protected from is a plague, and St Jerome’s version from the Hebrew made this more explicit by using the word ‘lepra’ instead of flagellum in the second phrase, while the Pian translation used ‘plaga’.

The tabernacle of God

The verse can also be seen, though, as an allusion to the tabernacle of the Lord, that travelled with the Israelites, and signifying the presence of heaven on earth.

St Augustine took up this idea, seeing it as an allusion to the Church as the city of God, to which we are guided both by the Gospels and the example of Christ: 

The Holy City is not the Church of this country only, but of the whole world as well: not that of this age only, but from Abel himself down to those who shall to the end be born and believe in Christ, the whole assembly of the Saints, belonging to one city; which city is Christ's body, of which Christ is the Head. There, too, dwell the Angels, who are our fellow citizens: we toil, because we are as yet pilgrims: while they within that city are awaiting our arrival. 

Letters have reached us too from that city, apart from which we are wandering: those letters are the Scriptures, which exhort us to live well. Why do I speak of letters only? 

The King himself descended, and became a path to us in our wanderings: that walking in Him, we may neither stray, nor faint nor fall among robbers, nor be caught in the snares that are set near our path...

Reconciling the scourges of life and God's protection

This verse deals with the benefits that come to those who make God their refuge, continuing the thought from the previous verse.  But how can we reconcile the promise of freedom from evil (sin),  scourges or plague (punishment) with what we actually experience?

St Cassiodorus explained the seeming contradiction by applying it to Christ:

Here is powerfully recounted the blessed state of the humanity He assumed; for he says that though the Lord endured both taunts and scourges from the Jews in this world, no evil could approach His dwelling, that is, His holy body. He spoke rightly, for the scourge is divine vengeance, which is wont to restrain human crimes. As we read elsewhere: Many are the scourges of sinners." 

So the scourge is said with the greatest truth not to have visited Him, for He was known to live a spotless life; the scourge mentioned here is that which punishes sins and exacts vengeance for wicked deeds, so by mention of the scourge, there is a denial that sin drew near to the Lord Christ...

St Robert Bellarmine, however, suggests two more direct lines of response for our consideration.  The first is that while even those who trust in God can fall into sin, and suffer punishments in this life, such events are ultimately providential for us, in that God brings good out of the evil resulting in an increase in our sanctity, as it did in the case of the great penitent saints like King David himself, St Mary Magdalene and St Peter:

…their very sins will tend to their improvement, making them more humble and caution and more inflamed by the love of God, in proportion to extent they are indebted to his grace and mercy.

The second line of response is that the promise relates to our future life in heaven, not this fleeting one.

Psalm 90: Qui habitat 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Laus cantici David.	The praise of a canticle for David
Qui hábitat in adjutório Altíssimi, * in protectióne Dei cæli commorábitur.	He that dwells in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.
2  Dicet Dómino : Suscéptor meus es tu, et refúgium meum: * Deus meus sperábo in eum.	He shall say to the Lord: You are my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust.
3 Quóniam ipse liberávit me de láqueo venántium, * et a verbo áspero.	For he has delivered me from the snare of the hunters: and from the sharp word.
4  Scápulis suis obumbrábit tibi: * et sub pennis ejus sperábis.	He will overshadow you with his shoulders: and under his wings you shall trust.
5  Scuto circúmdabit te véritas ejus: * non timébis a timóre noctúrno.	His truth shall compass you with a shield: you shall not be afraid of the terror of the night.
6  A sagítta volánte in die, a negótio perambulánte in ténebris: * ab incúrsu et dæmónio meridiáno.	Of the arrow that flies in the day, of the business that walks about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
7  Cadent a látere tuo mille, et decem míllia a dextris tuis: * ad te autem non appropinquábit.	A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand: but it shall not come near you.
8  Verúmtamen óculis tuis considerábis: * et retributiónem peccatórum vidébis.	But you shall consider with your eyes: and shall see the reward of the wicked.
9  Quóniam tu es, Dómine, spes mea: * Altíssimum posuísti refúgium tuum.	Because you, O Lord, are my hope: you have made the most High your refuge.
10  Non accédet ad te malum: * et flagéllum non appropinquábit tabernáculo tuo.	There shall no evil come to you: nor shall the scourge come near your dwelling.
11  Quóniam Angelis suis mandávit de te: * ut custódiant te in ómnibus viis tuis.	For he has given his angels charge over you; to keep you in all your ways.
12  In mánibus portábunt te: * ne forte offéndas ad lápidem pedem tuum.	In their hands they shall bear you up: lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13  Super áspidem et basilíscum ambulábis: * et conculcábis leónem et dracónem.	You shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and you shall trample under foot the lion and the dragon.
14  Quóniam in me sperávit, liberábo eum: * prótegam eum quóniam cognóvit nomen meum.	Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he has known my name.
15  Clamábit ad me, et ego exáudiam eum : * cum ipso sum in tribulatióne : erípiam eum et glorificábo eum.	He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.
16  Longitúdine diérum replébo eum: * et osténdam illi salutáre meum.	I will fill him with length of days; and I will show him my salvation.

For the next part in this series, go here.

Psalm 90 v 9: Hope for the Resurrection?

Quóniam tu es, Dómine, spes mea: Altíssimum posuísti refúgium tuum.

Because you, O Lord, are my hope: you have made the most High your refuge.

Verse 9 of Psalm 90 functions as a reminder of our hope of heaven, and echoes the last verse of Psalm 4, said before it at Compline.

Looking at the Latin

Key vocabulary:

quoniam, for, because, since, seeing that, whereas

spes, spei, f, hope;  the object of hope; the thing hoped for; security

altissimus i m the Most High

pono, posii, itum, ere 3,  to put, place, lay, set.

refugium, ii, n. a refuge, a place of refuge; fortress, high tower, dwelling place, hiding place, etc.

Accordingly, a word by word translation runs:

Quóniam (For) tu (you) es (you are), Dómine (Lord), spes (the hope) mea (my): * altíssimum (the most high) posuísti (you have set) refúgium (the refuge) tuum (your).

An interjection from the sidelines?

The voice of the speaker(s) suddenly changes in this verse – the psalmist was being spoken to in the previous verse, in the first phrase he becomes the speaker again. 

The second phrase, though, jumps back again, and reads as an answer to the first by a second choir or speaker, hence the change in tense from present (es) to perfect (posuisti).  

St Robert Bellarmine notes the seeming disconnection of this verse from what comes before and suggests that it should be read as a kind of ‘oorah’ interjection – yes, its all true!

The table below provides a selection of the English translations so you can get a flavour of the possible nuances of interpretation.  Note that the Monastic Diurnal (MD) has expunged the distinction of tenses, and made the entire thing perfect tense.

DR	Because you, O Lord, are my hope: you have made the most High your refuge.
MD	Because thou hast made the Lord thy hope, and the Most High thy refuge
Brenton	For thou, Lord, art my hope; thou hast set thine house of defence very high.
RSV	Because you have made the LORD your refuge, the Most High your habitation
Coverdale	For thou, Lord, art my hope; thou hast set thine house of defence very high
Knox	He, the Lord, is thy refuge; thou hast found a stronghold in the most High.
Grail	you who have said: "Lord, my refuge!" and have made the Most High your dwelling.

God our hope

One of the intriguing things about the ancient Compline psalms is the way they link to each other so neatly.  

We have already seen this in relation to verse 7 of Psalm 90, which echoes verse 7 of Psalm 3, and this verse builds on that link.

The first and most obvious link relating to today's verse is to Psalm 4, which precedes it at Compline:

Ps 90:9 Quóniam tu es, Dómine, spes mea: altíssimum posuísti refúgium tuum.

Ps 4:10 Quóniam tu, Dómine, singuláriter in spe constituísti me.

In Psalm 4, the speaker of the psalm called us to repentance, and spoke of the process of repentance, and the aids we receive along the way in the sacraments.

In this psalm too, we are being urged to stand firm in the spiritual warfare, and put our trust in God.

There is another thematic link to Psalm 3 here as well though: in the last verse of Psalm 90 were were told that sinners would in the end be punished, since God sees all and judges it.  Psalm 3 puts it rather more bluntly:

90: 7 Cadent a látere tuo mille, et decem míllia a dextris tuis: ad te autem non appropinquábit.	3:7 Non timébo míllia pópuli circumdántis me:  exsúrge, Dómine, salvum me fac, Deus meus.
90: 8  Verúmtamen óculis tuis considerábis: et retributiónem peccatórum vidébis.	3:8  Quóniam tu percussísti omnes adversántes mihi sine causa: dentes  peccatórum contrivísti.
90: 9  Quóniam tu es, Dómine, spes mea: Altíssimum posuísti refúgium tuum.

Hope of the resurrection

The context of the verses makes it clear that the psalmist in these three psalms (ps 3, 4&90) is speaking not of our hope for protection in the here and now: God does not promise that we will not be persecuted!

Rather, the psalmist is reminding us that our true hope lies in the Resurrection of Christ, as St Robert Bellarmine makes clear:

When the Lord rose again, the other members which lay in the death of sin gained the hope of resurrection. What the rest of the body needed to hope for was anticipated by the Head. But the holy man conceived this hope of resurrection because the Lord Saviour Himself by His death is seen to have set His refuge in the most High. 

Psalm 90: Qui habitat 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Laus cantici David.	The praise of a canticle for David
Qui hábitat in adjutório Altíssimi, * in protectióne Dei cæli commorábitur.	He that dwells in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.
2  Dicet Dómino : Suscéptor meus es tu, et refúgium meum: * Deus meus sperábo in eum.	He shall say to the Lord: You are my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust.
3 Quóniam ipse liberávit me de láqueo venántium, * et a verbo áspero.	For he has delivered me from the snare of the hunters: and from the sharp word.
4  Scápulis suis obumbrábit tibi: * et sub pennis ejus sperábis.	He will overshadow you with his shoulders: and under his wings you shall trust.
5  Scuto circúmdabit te véritas ejus: * non timébis a timóre noctúrno.	His truth shall compass you with a shield: you shall not be afraid of the terror of the night.
6  A sagítta volánte in die, a negótio perambulánte in ténebris: * ab incúrsu et dæmónio meridiáno.	Of the arrow that flies in the day, of the business that walks about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
7  Cadent a látere tuo mille, et decem míllia a dextris tuis: * ad te autem non appropinquábit.	A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand: but it shall not come near you.
8  Verúmtamen óculis tuis considerábis: * et retributiónem peccatórum vidébis.	But you shall consider with your eyes: and shall see the reward of the wicked.
9  Quóniam tu es, Dómine, spes mea: * Altíssimum posuísti refúgium tuum.	Because you, O Lord, are my hope: you have made the most High your refuge.
10  Non accédet ad te malum: * et flagéllum non appropinquábit tabernáculo tuo.	There shall no evil come to you: nor shall the scourge come near your dwelling.
11  Quóniam Angelis suis mandávit de te: * ut custódiant te in ómnibus viis tuis.	For he has given his angels charge over you; to keep you in all your ways.
12  In mánibus portábunt te: * ne forte offéndas ad lápidem pedem tuum.	In their hands they shall bear you up: lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13  Super áspidem et basilíscum ambulábis: * et conculcábis leónem et dracónem.	You shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and you shall trample under foot the lion and the dragon.
14  Quóniam in me sperávit, liberábo eum: * prótegam eum quóniam cognóvit nomen meum.	Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he has known my name.
15  Clamábit ad me, et ego exáudiam eum : * cum ipso sum in tribulatióne : erípiam eum et glorificábo eum.	He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.
16  Longitúdine diérum replébo eum: * et osténdam illi salutáre meum.	I will fill him with length of days; and I will show him my salvation.

For the next part in this series, continue on here.