Psalm 3: Ego dormivi (v5)

Gustave Dore: Death of Absalom

This post continues my verse a day look at Psalm 3, drawing on the catechesis on prayer around this psalm given by Pope Benedict XVI, as well as the commentaries of the Fathers and Theologians.

Psalm 3: Domine quid multiplicati sunt

First a short reminder of what the psalm is about from St Benedict’s contemporary Cassiodorus, who puts it in a Christological perspective:

"When Absalom was cruelly attacking his father David, the speed of his mule caused him to collide with a thick oak-tree, and the branches wound round his neck so that he was suspended high in the air. This was a prefiguration of the Lord's betrayer...The deliver­ance of David fittingly signifies the Lord's resurrection, so that the minds of Christians may be strengthened and encouraged in con­stancy at times of adversity. The whole of this psalm is aptly attributed to the person of Christ the Lord. His person is the strength of the almighty Godhead and the humility of the humanity which he embraced; but the two do not mix through intermingling, but exist in indivisible unity. To begin with, He addresses the Father with chiding of His persecutors who were uttering impious words against Him. Secondly, the faithful people were instructed not to fear death, when He consoles them with the hope of most certain resurrection following the precedent of their Maker.”

And here is the whole of the psalm (with the translation of the verses we’ve already looked at by way of a reminder), with today’s verse highlighted:

Dómine quid multiplicáti sunt qui tríbulant me? * multi insúrgunt advérsum me.
Why, O Lord, are they multiplied that afflict me? many are they who rise up against me.

Multi dicunt ánimæ meæ: * Non est salus ipsi in Deo ejus.
Many say to my soul: There is no salvation for him in his God.

Tu autem, Dómine, suscéptor meus es, * glória mea, et exáltans caput meum.
But thou, O Lord art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head.

Voce mea ad Dóminum clamávi: * et exaudívit me de monte sancto suo.
I have cried to the Lord with my voice: and he hath heard me from his holy hill.

Ego dormívi, et soporátus sum: * et exsurréxi, quia Dóminus suscépit me.
I have slept and taken my rest: and I have risen up, because the Lord hath protected me

Non timébo míllia pópuli circumdántis me: * exsúrge, Dómine, salvum me fac, Deus meus.
Quóniam tu percussísti omnes adversántes mihi sine causa: * dentes peccatórum contrivísti.
Dómini est salus: * et super pópulum tuum benedíctio tua.

Verse : Ego dormivi

Here is a phrase by phrase literal translation:

Ego dormívi  =I, I have slept/laid down to rest

Note that the neo-Vulgate changes the verb here to 'obdormivi' (I have fallen asleep).

et soporátus sum = and gone to sleep/slept

et exsurréxi = and I have risen

quia Dóminus suscépit me = because the Lord protected me

‘I laid me down to rest, and slept’ – something hard to do when being hunted as David was, or when we are worrying about things! Pope Benedict XVI comments that:

“The divine response that hears his prayer totally reassures the Psalmist; even his fear is no more and his cry is soothed in peace, in deep inner tranquility. “I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the Lord sustains me. I am not afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about” (vv. 6-7). The praying person, even in peril, in the midst of battle, can sleep serenely in an unequivocal attitude of trusting abandonment. His foes have pitched camp around him, they are numerous, they besiege him, they rise up against him, taunting and trying to make him fall; instead he lies down and sleeps, calm and serene, sure of God's presence.”

It is worth noting though that sleep is also frequently used in the psalms as a figure for death, and thus the Fathers frequently also interpret this verse (as suggested by the quote from Cassiodorus above) as a reference to Our Lord’s death, descent into hell, and resurrection.

Key words

dormio, ivi or li, Itum, ire, to sleep, to lie down to rest.
soporor, atus sum, ari to go to sleep.
exsurgo, surrexi, surrectum, ere 3, to rise up, arise, i.e., to come to the aid of
quia, conj. for, because, truly, surely, indeed.
suscipio, cepi, ceptum, ere 3 to guard, protect, uphold, support; receive, accept; to seize.

And on to the next part in this series.

Mass propers: Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Ps 121)

This Sunday's propers in the Extraordinary Form are somewhat unusual in featuring not just one but two verses not from the psalter - the Introit is from Ecclesiasticus and the Offertory from Exodus. 

But the verse to the Introit, the first verse of Psalm 121, was considered so important to the overall theme of the Mass, namely that if we but ask, God will forgive our sins and grant us the privilege of heaven (the Gospel is the healing of the paralytic, and accusations of blasphemy against Our Lord for forgiving his sins), that it is repeated as the Gradual with the addition of verse 7, and so it is worth a quick look.

Psalm 121 (122 in the Hebrew Masoretic Text version) is of course the third of the Gradual psalms, or 'Songs of Ascent’ the pilgrim songs sung on the way to Jerusalem for the major Jewish feasts, sung as the people climbed the steps to the Temple, and early taken into the Christian repertoire as symbolically representing our progress towards heaven.

The text

Here is the text of the Gradual for the eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost with a translation from the Douay-Rheims:

Lætátus sum in his, quæ dicta sunt mihi: in domum Dómini íbimus. Fiat pax in virtúte tua: et abundántia in túrribus tuis.

I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.
Let peace be in your strength: and abundance in your towers.

And here is an ‘interlinear’, fairly literal translation:

Lætátus sum (I rejoice) in his (in this), quæ (that) dicta sunt (they said) mihi (to me): in domum (into the house) Dómini (of the Lord) íbimus (we will go). Fiat (let there be made) pax (peace) in virtúte (in strength) tua (yours): et (and) abundántia (abundance) in túrribus (in the towers) tuis (yours).

A pilgrim Church

The first verse is a formulaic way of announcing that one is going on a pilgrimage; symbolically it refers to the pilgrimage towards heaven that all Christians are on throughout their lives. The towers and abundance refer to the promise of safe haven and happiness in heaven. Dom Gueranger’s commentary from, the Liturgical year for the day comments:

"In the Gradual, the Church repeats the Introit-verse, to celebrate once more the joy felt by the Christian people at hearing the glad tidings, that they are soon to go into the house of the Lord. That house is heaven, into which we are to enter on the last day, our Lord Jesus Christ leading the way. But the house is also the temple in which we are now assembled, and into which we are introduced by the representatives of that same Lord of ours, that is, by His priests."

You can listen to it here:

Commentaries on the Psalms: St Thomas Aquinas

By way of a brief interlude from Psalm 3, I wanted to continue today with my series of notes on key commentaries on the psalms by the Fathers, Saints and Theologians, looking at the commentaries by St Thomas Aquinas.

St Thomas Aquinas is a saint who either needs no introduction or a lot - and indeed Pope Benedict XVI has devoted no less than three General Audiences to the Doctor Angelicus, including:

• an introduction to his life, given on 2 June 2010;
• a talk on the importance of his teaching for current day theological formation, given on 16 June 2010; and
• an introduction to the Summa Theologica and other key works of the saint, given on 23 June 2010.

St Thomas' Commentaries on the Psalms

But his psalm commentaries, which include a general introduction to the psalms and commentaries on Psalms 1-54, are amongst the less well-known of his works.  Indeed, no complete translation of them in English is yet available (there is one in French), though work on a complete set of translations is in progress through the De Salles University Aquinas Translation Project.  Some additional psalms are also available in translation through the Dominican Priory website.

St Thomas' writing style in these commentaries just begs for the modern invention of dots and dashes, paragraphs and sub-paragraphs - he constantly enumerates points and sub-points in a way that can be rather laborious to read through.  But it is well worth the effort, for as with so much of the saints work, the commentaries are theologically and spiritually dense.

Given the reproduction restrictions the Translation Project puts on its material, I don't think I can reproduce a suitable extract here, but I do highly recommend, as a useful starting point a read of St Thomas' Introduction to the book of Psalms.  And if you are working on or interested in a particular psalm, do take the time to read what  St Thomas has to say on it.

Psalm 3 - Latin Study Hints Part B - Present indicative verbs

Now that we are half way through Psalm 3, I thought I would pause for a moment to allow you to take stock, and as promised provide some links between the psalm and the grammar covered in the excellent Simplicissimus course (see the sidebar) either by way of a refresher or for those actually sittng down and learning Latin for the first time.  Others should skip on quickly past this post...

Unit One of this quick introduction to reading Latin course focuses primarily on verbs in the four conjugation in the present indicative active tense, and the present tense of the verb to be.  So let me point out examples of these in the psalm...

Present tense verbs...

Here is the first part of the psalm with the present tense verbs in the four basic paradigms (conjugations) highlighted:

Dómine quid multiplicáti sunt qui tríbulant (tribulare = first conjugation, third person plural = they harass) me? * multi insúrgunt (insurgere = third conjugation, third person plural = they rise up)advérsum me.
Multi dicunt (dicere = third conjugation, third person plural = they say) ánimæ meæ: * Non est salus ipsi in Deo ejus.

Present of 'to be'

And here is the whole psalm with the uses of the present tense of the verb to be (sum, esse) highlighted.
But note that there is a bit of a trick here - there are two uses in this psalm of words that look like the present tense of to be, but in fact sum and sunt are being used to form the passive tense of another verb, viz multiplicati sunt and soporatus sum.

Dómine quid multiplicáti sunt qui tríbulant me? * multi insúrgunt advérsum me.
Multi dicunt ánimæ meæ: * Non est (there/he/she/it is no) salus ipsi in Deo ejus.
Tu autem, Dómine, suscéptor meus es (you s. are), * glória mea, et exáltans caput meum.
Voce mea ad Dóminum clamávi: * et exaudívit me de monte sancto suo.
Ego dormívi, et soporátus sum: * et exsurréxi, quia Dóminus suscépit me.
Non timébo míllia pópuli circumdántis me: * exsúrge, Dómine, salvum me fac, Deus meus.
Quóniam tu percussísti omnes adversántes mihi sine causa: * dentes peccatórum contrivísti.
Dómini est (he is) salus: * et super pópulum tuum benedíctio tua.

Psalm 3: Voce mea ad Dominum (v4)

Continuing the verse a day approach to looking at Psalm 3, we have reached the half-way mark with verse 4.

The Fathers and Theologians generally treat this verse as something of a mini-treatise on prayer, encouraging us to engage in prayer that engages the whole body in intense, internal and vocal prayer of the heart. No doubt this is part of the reason Pope Benedict XVI chose this psalm for his own series on the psalms and prayer!

Psalm 3

The psalm so far, with today's verse highlighted:

Dómine quid multiplicáti sunt qui tríbulant me? multi insúrgunt advérsum me.
Multi dicunt ánimæ meæ: Non est salus ipsi in Deo ejus.
Tu autem, Dómine, suscéptor meus es, glória mea, et exáltans caput meum
Voce mea ad Dóminum clamávi: et exaudívit me de monte sancto suo.

The Douay-Rheims translates verse 4 as: "I have cried to the Lord with my voice: and he hath heard me from his holy hill."

Phrase by phrase

Voce mea=with my voice

The word voce perhaps implies that vocal prayer is meant here, but the verb clamavi (I have cried out) below suggests something intense, engaging the whole body.

ad Dóminum clamávi= to the Lord I have cried out

We must cry out with our voice: here it means inner voice, the true voice of our heart, coming from that inner room of our body. Secondly it must be devout, intent.

et exaudívit me=and he heard me

We need also to remember that prayer is a dialogue, and leave room for God to reply to us. The Pope adds that:

"Man is no longer alone, his foes are not invincible as they had seemed, for the Lord hears the cry of the oppressed and answers from the place of his presence, from his holy hill. The human being cries out in anguish, in danger, in pain; the human being calls for help and God answers. In this interweaving of the human cry and the divine response we find the dialectic of prayer and the key to reading the entire history of salvation. The cry expresses the need for help and appeals to the other’s faithfulness; crying out means making an act of faith in God’s closeness and in his willingness to listen."

de monte sancto suo = from his holy mountain(ie Mt Sion, Jerusalem, or heaven).

The Pope comments that:

"Thus the Psalmist, who feels besieged by death, professes his faith in the God of life who, as a shield, surrounds him with an invulnerable protection; the one who believed he was as good as lost can raise his head because the Lord saves him; the praying person, threatened and mocked, is in glory, because God is his glory."

Vocab list

vox, vocis, /., the voice of a person, or, the sound of an instrument, thunder.
clamo, avi, atum, are to call, cry out; to call to or upon for aid.
exaudio, ivi, Itum, ire, to hear, hearken to, listen to, give heed to; to regard, answer.
mons, montis, m., a mountain (mons sanctus = Zion)
sanctus, a, um, holy.

This series continues here.

Psalm 3: Tu autem Domine (v3)

Continuing on with this series on Psalm 3, we are now up to verse 3:

Dómine quid multiplicáti sunt qui tríbulant me? multi insúrgunt advérsum me.
Multi dicunt ánimæ meæ: Non est salus ipsi in Deo ejus.
Tu autem, Dómine, suscéptor meus es, glória mea, et exáltans caput meum.

The Douay-Rheims translates the verse as: "But thou, O Lord art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head.

The one God repels many enemies...

This verse is an emphatic contradiction of the previous verse (many say to me, God will not help him), as Pope Benedict XVI's commentary makes clear

"Thus in our Psalm the person praying is called to respond with faith to the attacks of the wicked: his foes — as I said — deny that God can help him; yet he invokes God, he calls him by name, “Lord”, and then turns to him with an emphatic “thou/you” that expresses a solid, sturdy relationship and implies the certainty of the divine response: “But you, O Lord are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cry aloud to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy hill” (vv. 4-5). The vision of the enemies then disappears, they have not triumphed because the one who believes in God is sure that God is his friend. Only the “thou/you” of God is left. Now only One opposes the “many”, but this One is far greater, far more powerful, than many adversaries. The Lord is help, defence and salvation; as a shield he protects the person who entrusts himself to him and enables him to lift his head in the gesture of triumph and victory."

Phrase by phrase

Now let's take a look at the Latin phrase by phrase:

Tu (you) autem (but) Domine (O Lord) = But you O Lord

suscéptor (protector/defender/helper) meus (my) es (you are) = you are my protector

It is worth noting that the Masoretic Hebrew Text here, which the Neo-Vulgate uses as its basis (and the English version of Pope Benedict's talk quotes using the RSV translation), is rather more vivid and anthropomorphic than the Vulgate, suggesting that 'God is a shield about me'.

glória (the glory) mea (my)= my glory

This could perhaps be expanded out as ‘the one I glory in’.

et (and) exáltans (lifting up) =and lifting up

caput (head) meum (my) =my head

‘exaltare caput’, while literally meaning lifting up my head really means to give confidence.

Reflection on the verse

St Augustine comments on this verse in the City of God (Bk I, ch 28), putting it in the context of the choice we must all make for or against God:

"Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men; but the greatest glory of the other is God, the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own glory; the other says to its God, “Thou art my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.” In the one, the princes and the nations it subdues are ruled by the love of ruling; in the other, the princes and the subjects serve one another in love, the latter obeying, while the former take thought for all. The one delights in its own strength, represented in the persons of its rulers; the other says to its God, “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.”

Vocabulary list

Here's the word list for the verse:

tu- you
autem – but
dominus i m – Lord
susceptor, oris, m. a protector, helper, defender, guardian; a stay, support
meus mea meum – my, mine
gloria, ae, glory, honor, majesty
et - and
exsulto, avi, atum, are to spring, leap, or jump up; to exult, to rejoice exceedingly
caput, itis, n. the head, caput exaltare, to lift up the head of another is to honor or exalt him

For the next part in this series, go here.

Psalm 3 - Multi dicunt (v2)

Yesterday I looked briefly at verse 1 of Psalm 3:

Dómine quid multiplicáti sunt qui tríbulant me? * multi insúrgunt advérsum me.

I want to continue today the examination of Psalm 3, with a look at verse 2:

Multi dicunt ánimæ meæ: * Non est salus ipsi in Deo ejus.

Psalm 3: David as a type of Christ

First a reminder of the overall focus of the psalm, from St Alphonsus Liguori:

"This psalm has for its title: David flying before his son Absalom. It was therefore to David fleeing from the persecutions of the unfortunate Absalom that is commonly applied the literal sense of this psalm. But in the mystical sense, according to St. Jerome, St. Augustine, Bede, Theodoret, and others, David here represents Jesus Christ considered in his Passion and in his resurrection. We would here once more remark on the subject of the enemies from whom the royal prophet endured persecution, that all the psalms when they speak literally are to be understood mystically of all the internal and external enemies, especially of our most powerful and most dangerous enemies, I mean the devils who are plotting against our eternal salvation."

Verse 2

The Vulgate is: “Multi dicunt ánimæ meæ: non est salus ipsi in Deo ejus."

The Douay-Rheims translates this as ‘Many say (multi dicunt) to/in reference to my soul (animae meae): There is no (non est) salvation (salus) for him (ipsi) in his God (in Deo ejus)’.  

The Coverdale translation (from the Hebrew Masoretic Text) makes it: "Many one there be that say of my soul, There is no help for him in his God."

In sum, the psalmist’s friends and enemies are all saying that God has abandoned him. 

Perseverance in faith

Pope Benedict comments on the verse:

"The Psalm opens with an invocation to the Lord: A multitude threatens him and rises against him, generating fear that magnifies the threat, making it appear greater and even more terrifying; but the praying person does not let this vision of death prevail, he keeps intact his relationship with the God of life and turns to him first in search of help.  However his enemies attempt to break this bond with God and to injure their victim's faith. They insinuate that the Lord cannot intervene, they say that not even God can save him. Hence the attack is not only physical but involves the spiritual dimension too: “there is no help for him in God”, they say, targeting the central principle of the Psalmist's mind.  This is the extreme temptation to which the believer is subjected, the temptation to lose faith, to lose trust in God’s closeness. The righteous pass the final test, remain steadfast in faith, in the certainty of the truth and in full trust in God; in this way they find life and truth. It seems to me that here the Psalm touches us very personally: beset by many problems we are tempted to think that perhaps God does not save me, that he does not know me, perhaps he is not able to; the temptation to lose faith is our enemy's ultimate attack and if we are to find God, if we are to find life, we must resist it."

Vocab list

multus, a, um, much; many, numerous; much, great.
dico, dixi, dictum, ere 3, to say, speak; to sing; in the sense of to think, plan, desire; to praise.
anima, ae,  Equivalent to a personal pronoun: Untranslated:. Life, soul, and heart
meus a um – my mine
non – not
est – he/she/it/there is
salus, utis, /. help, deliverance, safety, salvation.
ipse ipsa ipsum – him, her -self,
in+abl=in, on,by means of, with
deus god
ejus – from is ea id, he, she ,it, that

And now, on to the next verse...