Verse 5 of Psalm 140 is a prayer for help against the temptations offered by the world we live in.
5 |
V |
Cum hominibus operantibus iniquitatem: et non
communicabo cum electis eorum. |
OR |
cum hominibus operantibus
iniquitatem et non conbinabor cum electis eorum |
|
NV |
cum hominibus
operantibus iniquitatem; et non comedam ex deliciis eorum. |
|
|
JH |
cum uiris operantibus
iniquitatem comedere in deliciis eorum. |
|
Sept |
ἀνθρώποις ἐργαζομένοις ἀνομίαν καὶ οὐ μὴ
συνδυάσωμετὰ τῶν ἐκλεκτῶν αὐτῶν |
[Key: V=Vulgate; OR=Old Roman; NV=Neo-Vulgate; JH=St Jerome's translation from the Hebrew; Sept=Septuagint]
Phrase by phrase
Cum hominibus operantibus iniquitatem: et non
communicabo cum electis
eorum. |
With men that work iniquity: and I will not communicate with the choicest of them. |
Word by word
Cum (with) hominibus (men) operantibus (having worked) iniquitatem (wickedness): et (and) non (not) communicabo ( will share/participate) cum (with) electis (the delights/pleasures) eorum (of them/their).
The Douay-Rheims notwithstanding, this verse is a somewhat ambiguous, and can have two meanings at the literal level: 'electis' could be a reference to the 'elect' of the band of evildoers; alternatively it can be read as concerning attending their gatherings and participating in their particular pursuits.
Key vocabulary
homo, inis, m
man, a human being; mortal man as compared with God; person,
individual.
opero are avi atum – form of operor, to work;
operantium= participle
iniquitas,
atis, f iniquity, injustice, sin.
communico are avi atum to partake, share,
participate in
electa orum f; chosen, elect; dainties, choice bits, pleasures
Selected translations
DR |
With men that work iniquity:
and I will not communicate with the choicest of them. |
Brenton |
with me who work iniquity: and let me not
unite with their choice ones. |
MD |
With men that work iniquity: I will not
partake of their delights. |
RSV |
deeds in company with men who work
iniquity; and let me not eat of their dainties! |
Cover |
let me not be
occupied in ungodly works with the men that work wickedness, lest I eat of
such things as please them. |
Knox |
never let me take part with the
wrong-doers, and share the banquet with them. |
Grail |
[Key: DR=Douay-Rheims Challoner; MD=Monastic Diurnal; RSV=Revised Standard Version; Cover=Coverdale]
The dangers of peer pressure
Although often unavoidable, and even sometimes commendable (when done for example, for the purpose of converting them), associating with those committed to doing evil has obvious dangers.
St Jerome commented that 'just as the Lord has His chosen saints, so does the devil have his elect'.
It is all too easy to be seduced by pleasures and sins, the Fathers consistently suggest, if we freely associate with those who carry them out without any sign of repentance.
St John Chrysostom points us to the opening words of the first psalm of the book of psalms as the proper model to follow: Blessed is the man who has not lived by the counsel of the godless, or stood in the path of sinners, and has not sat on the seat of pestilent people.
We should therefore, he argues, avoid eating with sinners, avoid parties and gatherings lest we be lead astray:
Here he gives the apostolic advice, that their luxuries and parties are to be shunned, where the practice of sin is especially on the increase, where incaution waxes strong. Now, this is no little sign of virtue, no insignificant path to correction, shunning such parties and gatherings, not being beholden to friendship, not diminishing the strength of the spirit through becoming a slave to the belly and thus weakening the quality of our sound values. That is the way that many people, being beholden to friendship, were cast headlong into the billows of drunkenness, that is the way they fell victim to immorality, and kindled the fire of pleasure, chasing parties and spectacles characterised by extreme iniquity.
Treasure in heaven
Who, then, are the workers of iniquity referred to here?
The Fathers offer a number of possibilities, and it is not hard to come up with a long list!
But the worst group, St Augustine argues, is who believe only in their own righteousness, and despise others, and thus refuse to help the poor.
Yet our alms, he notes, drawing on Scripture, are translated directly to the treasure house of heaven: 'we cleanse thereby that bread, and transmit it into the treasure-house of the heavens'.
Vulgate |
Douay-Rheims |
Psalmus
David. |
A psalm of David. |
1 Dómine, clamávi ad te, exáudi me: * inténde voci meæ,
cum clamávero ad te. |
I
have cried to you, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to you. |
2 Dirigátur
orátio mea sicut incénsum in conspéctu tuo: * elevátio mánuum meárum
sacrifícium vespertínum. |
2 Let my prayer be directed as incense in your
sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice. |
3 Pone,
Dómine, custódiam ori meo: * et óstium circumstántiæ lábiis meis. |
Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: and a door
round about my lips. |
4 Non
declínes cor meum in verba malítiæ: * ad excusándas excusatiónes in peccátis. |
4 Incline not my heart to evil
words; to make excuses in sins. |
5 Cum homínibus operántibus iniquitátem: * et non
communicábo cum eléctis eórum |
With
men that work iniquity: and I will not communicate with the choicest of them |
6 Corrípiet
me justus in misericórdia, et increpábit me: * óleum autem peccatóris non impínguet
caput meum. |
5 The just man shall correct
me in mercy, and shall reprove me: but let not the oil of the sinner fatten
my head. |
7
Quóniam adhuc et orátio mea in beneplácitis eórum: * absórpti sunt
juncti petræ júdices eórum. |
For my prayer shall still be against the things
with which they are well pleased: 6 Their
judges falling upon the rock have been swallowed up. |
8 Audient verba mea quóniam potuérunt: * sicut
crassitúdo terræ erúpta est super terram. |
They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed: 7 As when the thickness of the earth is broken up
upon the ground: |
9
Dissipáta sunt ossa nostra secus inférnum: * quia ad te, Dómine, Dómine,
óculi mei: in te sperávi, non áuferas ánimam meam. |
Our bones are scattered by the side of hell. 8 But to you, O Lord, Lord, are my eyes: in you have
I put my trust, take not away my soul. |
10 Custódi
me a láqueo, quem statuérunt mihi: * et a scándalis operántium iniquitátem. |
9 Keep me from the snare,
which they have laid for me, and from the stumbling blocks of them that work iniquity.
|
11 Cadent
in retiáculo ejus peccatóres: * singuláriter sum ego donec tránseam. |
10 The wicked
shall fall in his net: I am alone until I pass. |