Psalm 127 verse 4 - The bread of heaven and the oil of mercy

The Bride Church, from Sacro Speco

4	V/NV	Fílii tui sicut novéllæ olivárum: * in circúitu mensæ tuæ.
	JH	filii tui sicut germina oliuarum in circuitu mensae tuae.
		σου οἱ υἱοί σου ὡς νεόφυτα ἐλαιῶν κύκλῳ τῆς τραπέζης σου

Fílii (the sons/children) tui (of you) sicut (like) novéllæ (new) olivárum (of the olives trees): * in circúitu (around) mensæ (of the table) tuæ (your)

filius, ii, m. a son, child

novellus, a, m. young, new  

oliva, ae,  the olive tree.

circuitus, us,  Used chiefly in the phrase "in circuitu," round about.

mensa, ae, a table.

DR	Your children as olive plants, round about your table.
Brenton	Thy children as young olive-plants round about thy table.
MD	Thy children like young olive trees, round thy board.
RSV	Your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
Cover	Thy children like the olive branches round about thy table.
Knox	The children round thy table sturdy as olive-branches.
Grail	Your children like shoots of the olive, around your table.

It should be noted that the translations all use the term children, though strictly speaking filii means sons.  This follows a long line of interpretation though: Cassiodorus, for example, notes that the word sons should be viewed as inclusive, covering daughters as well:

When the psalmist says elsewhere: Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, it is not just the man that fears the Lord that is blessed; the woman too who fears the Lord is blessed. 

More generally though, while this verse could be seen as simply pointing to a happy family life, the fathers also see it as extending the metaphors relating to the image of the Church.  St Augustine, for example, cites St Matthew to demonstrate that the Church is both spouse and child of Christ.

In the words of the Lord, we find the Church to be both His brethren, and His sisters, and His mother.. ..For Mary was among the sides of His House, and His relatives coming of the kindred of the Virgin Mary, who believed on Him, were among the sides of His House; not in respect of their carnal consanguinity, but inasmuch as they heard the Word of God, and obeyed it....He added; For whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother.  Brother, perhaps, on account of the male sex whom the Church has: sister, on account of the women whom Christ has here in His members. How mother, save that Christ Himself is in those Christians, whom the Church daily brings forth Christians through baptism? In those therefore in whom you understand the wife, in them you understand the mother, in them the children...

The image of young olive trees, St Cassiodorus explains, reflects the traditional importance of this plant:

it is because they are greener, more vigorous, and extremely strong in every way, and they bear fruit more abundantly. This fruit provides stores of food, and kindles light, and relieves tired bodies.

He adds that the images of these two verses are closely related:

Do not imagine that the combination of olive and vine in these comparisons is accidental. We read that the man wounded by robbers in the gospel was healed by the application of wine and oil, for these two provide sacramental protection of our life. Wine contains the severity of justice, oil the gentleness of mercy; the first can match the Old Testament, the second the New. 

 The phrase around your table, Cassiodorus argues, alludes to the sacrament of the Eucharist:

So they surround the spiritual table which is the Lord's altar, for they are filled with the bread of heaven.

Psalm 127

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum.
1 Beáti omnes, qui timent Dóminum,* qui ámbulant in viis ejus.	Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways.
2  Labóres mánuum tuárum quia manducábis: * beátus es, et bene tibi erit.	2 For you shall eat the labours of your hands: blessed are you, and it shall be well with you.
3  Uxor tua sicut vitis abúndans: * in latéribus domus tuæ.	3 Your wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of your house.
4  Fílii tui sicut novéllæ olivárum: * in circúitu mensæ tuæ.	Your children as olive plants, round about your table.
5  Ecce sic benedicétur homo, * qui timet Dóminum.	4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that fears the Lord.
6  Benedícat tibi Dóminus ex Sion: *  et vídeas bona Jerúsalem ómnibus diébus vitæ tuæ.	5 May the Lord bless you out of Sion: and may you see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
7  Et vídeas fílios filiórum tuórum: * pacem super Israël.	6 And may you see your children's children, peace upon Israel.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.	As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

And for the next part in this series on Psalm 127, continue on here.

Psalm 127 verse 3 - The Church, the spouse of Christ, clinging to the walls of faith

Santa Maria in Trastevere: Christ and Maria Ecclesia enthroned

The third verse of Psalm 127 can of course be interpreted literally, as about the Christian family.  But in the context of the monastic Office in particular, the interpretation the Fathers give to it, as referring to Christ and his Church, is surely the interpretative key we should focus on.

3	V	Uxor tua sicut vitis abúndans: * in latéribus domus tuæ.
	NV	Uxor tua sicut vitis fructifera in lateribus domus tuae;
	JH	Uxor tua sicut uitis fructifera in penetrabilibus domus tuae :
		ἡ γυνή σου ὡς ἄμπελος εὐθηνοῦσα ἐν τοῖς κλίτεσι τῆς οἰκίας

  

Uxor (the wife) tua (your) sicut (like) vitis (the grapevine) abúndans (abundant): * in latéribus (on the side) domus (the house) tuæ (your)

  

uxor, oris, a wife.

vitis, is, a vine, grapevine

abundans, overflowing, full, abounding, overflowing, abundant, more than enough

latus, eris, n.,  the side or flank of men or animals; The side or lateral surface of a thing.

domus, us,  a house, structure, abode, dwelling place. the inmates of a house, a family, household.

DR	Your wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of your house.
Brenton	Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine on the sides of thy house:
MD	Thy wife is like a fruitful vine on the walls of thy house.
RSV	Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house;
Cover	Thy wife shall be as the fruitful vine upon the walls of thine house
Knox	Thy wife shall be fruitful as a vine, in the heart of thy home,
Grail	The wife like a fruitful vine in the heart of your house;

The translations

The Vulgate (and neo-Vulgate), following the Septuagint, compare a good wife to a fruitful vine adorning the side of the house.  

A number of the early twentieth century commentaries, however, latched on to this verse as a kind of anti-feminist proof-text, and suggested that the Vulgate misrepresents the Hebrew word  יְרֵכָה (yĕrekah), which should be interpreted as ‘within the house’, since the ideal good fertile wife keeps seclusion, citing Proverbs 9:13-14 in support of the claim.  Both the RSV, Grail and Knox translations reflect this approach.

According to Ladouceur's notes on the verse, however, yerekah can mean side, rearside, and access at the rear as well as innermost part.  Moreover the other Scriptural uses of the word refer to the staves placed on the outside of the Ark (Exodus 25:14, 37:5) and someone addressing a person clearly outside the house (Amos 6:10).

The idea of the wife visibly adorning the house, in other words, is perfectly fine.

And this is one of those cases where changing the translation renders some of the Patristic translations incomprehensible.

The wife is the Church

This issue becomes all the more important when one considers that the traditional interpretation of the psalm proposed by the Fathers in fact interprets the wife in question not just as that of a normal family, but also as the Church, as the spouse of Christ.  St Augustine for example says:

Let us now come to the words, Your wife: it is said unto Christ. His wife, therefore, is the Church, His Church, His wife, we ourselves are.

Another possible interpretation, proposed by Cassiodorus is that wife here should be interpreted as a reference to holy wisdom:

Wife is used in the sense of sister; so we must interpret wife here as the wisdom of the blessed man. As Solomon says: He who has desired to take wisdom as his spouse, and elsewhere: Love her, and she will embrace thee.' So she is the wife of the just who grasps her husband in chaste embrace.

 Either way, the Fathers and Theologians were conscious of the dangers of an overly literal interpretation of this verse.  Cassiodorus says:

We must likewise avoid the literal interpretation here too, for you observe that numerous holy men do not have wives and children, and again that wicked men possess all these things. So how can you associate things often withdrawn from good men and assigned instead to the wicked with this aspect of blessedness which has been described?

Similarly St Robert Bellarmine, while noting the virtues and blessing of a large family goes on to comment that:

This, to be sure, is a blessing to a certain extent; but, to give us to understand that it is not so very great a blessing, God was pleased to withhold it from many of his most faithful and devoted friends in the married state, such as Abraham and Sara, Isaac and Rebecca, Zachary and Elizabeth; and he also inspired many with a resolution of observing holy virginity, such as it is credibly believed of the holy prophets Elias and Jeremias, and is well known of the Blessed Virgin, St John Baptist, St. Joseph, and hosts besides, who certainly would not have been deprived of the happiness had not virginity been a much superior gift.

With that, those saints who never mar­ried, or had no offspring, if they had no family in one sense they had in another, far and away beyond it. Christ, for instance, who is the head of all the saints, was never married, had no children in the flesh, yet he had the Church for his spouse, and children in the spirit, nearly innumerable. So with Abraham, who had only one child by Sara, and yet, by faith, was made the father of many nations; for all the faithful are called "children of Abraham" by the apostle.

And what is more wonderful, these holy men are not only the fathers, but they are even the mothers of those whom they have brought to the faith, or to penance; for they are their fathers by reason of their preaching to them by word and example, and they are their mothers by reason of their praying and sighing for them. The same apostle calls himself father when he says, "I write not these things to shame you, but I admonish you as my dearest children; for, if you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel;" and he calls himself their mother in another place, where he says, "My little children, of whom I am in labor again."

The fruitful vine 

If we interpret the wife as the Church though, how do we reconcile the verse with the often very tarnished public image of the Church?  St Augustine tackles this issue head on, arguing that even when the vine withers in places, it is fruitful in others:

But in whom is the vineyard fruitful? For we see many barren ones entering those walls; we see that many intemperate, usurious persons, slave dealers, enter these walls, and such as resort to fortune-tellers, go to enchanters and enchantresses when they have a headache. Is this the fruitfulness of the vine? Is this the fecundity of the wife? It is not. These are thorns, but the vineyard is not everywhere thorny. It has a certain fruitfulness, and is a fruitful vine; but in whom?

Nonetheless, even when all too many in the Church are thorns rather than fruitful, when even the highest in it are given over to scandalous behaviour, she remains the source of grace through the sacraments.  Accordingly, Cassiodorus argues:

The vine is the begetter of grapes, pouring forth sweet wine and reviving our hearts; in the same way this wife, which is wisdom, contributes glad fruits and brings joy to us with sweet delight.

The house we cling to is Christ

The Fathers made considerable play on the either that the walls of the Church hold us up, hold the vine and train it to  go where it should.  Cassiodorus for example suggests that:

The walls of this house are the two Testa­ments, affording the pious mind the strength and solidity of outside walls.

St Augustine reminds us of the fundamental point though:

Not all are called the sides of the house. For I ask what are the sides. What shall I say? Are they walls, strong stones, as it were? If he were speaking of this bodily tenement, we should perhaps understand this by sides. We mean by the sides of the house, those who cling unto Christ....

  
Psalm 127

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum.
1 Beáti omnes, qui timent Dóminum,* qui ámbulant in viis ejus.	Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways.
2  Labóres mánuum tuárum quia manducábis: * beátus es, et bene tibi erit.	2 For you shall eat the labours of your hands: blessed are you, and it shall be well with you.
3  Uxor tua sicut vitis abúndans: * in latéribus domus tuæ.	3 Your wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of your house.
4  Fílii tui sicut novéllæ olivárum: * in circúitu mensæ tuæ.	Your children as olive plants, round about your table.
5  Ecce sic benedicétur homo, * qui timet Dóminum.	4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that fears the Lord.
6  Benedícat tibi Dóminus ex Sion: *  et vídeas bona Jerúsalem ómnibus diébus vitæ tuæ.	5 May the Lord bless you out of Sion: and may you see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
7  Et vídeas fílios filiórum tuórum: * pacem super Israël.	6 And may you see your children's children, peace upon Israel.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.	As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

And for the next part in this series, continue on here.

Psalm 127 verse 2 - Labour now to build the Church

Labourers in the vineyard

The second verse of Psalm 127 takes to one of those key recurrent themes in St Benedict's Rule, namely the value of work.

The Rule famously makes an important place for manual work and work in service of the community.  But while St Benedict generally prescribes work as a remedy against idleness and boredom, it is 'the Work of God', the liturgy that builds up the Church, that takes pride of place in the Rule.

And the reference in the Prologue of the Rule to God calling for workers in his vineyard is surely linked in large part to this, given the connection between the hours at which the Master calls for workers, and the hours of the Office, a connection pointed out by St John Cassian.

The recitation of this verse on weekdays, then, can be seen as a reminder of this key aspect of the Benedictine charism.

2	V	Labóres mánuum tuárum quia manducábis: * beátus es, et bene tibi erit.
	NV	Labores manuum tuarum manducabis, beatus es, et bene tibi erit.
	JH	Laborem manuum tuarum cum comederis, beatus tu, et bene tibi erit.
		τοὺς πόνους τῶν καρπῶν σου φάγεσαι μακάριος εἶ καὶ καλῶς σοι ἔσται

  

Labóres (works/labours) mánuum (of the hands) tuárum (your) quia (which/for) manducábis (you will eat): * beátus (blessed) es (you are), et (and) bene (well) tibi (to you) erit (it will be).

  

labor, oris, m.,  work, labor, toil, effort; also the results of one's labor, produce, possessions, etc.

manus, us, /., the hand

manduco, avi, atum, are to eat.

bene, adv.  well; rightly, uprightly.

DR	For you shall eat the labours of your hands: blessed are you, and it shall be well with you.
Brenton	Thou shalt eat the labours of thy hands: blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee.
MD	Thou shalt enjoy what thy hands earned: blessed art thou, it shall be well with thee!
RSV	You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.
Cover	For thou shalt eat the labours of thine hands; O well is thee, and happy shalt thou be.
Knox	Thyself shall eat what thy hands have toiled to win; blessed thou art; all good shall be thine.
Grail	By the labor of your hands you shall eat. You will be happy and prosper;

Living from our own work

At the literal level, the second verse of Psalm 127, which speaks of us being blessed by being able to live on the results of our own work, which can apply to all, but has a particular connotation for monastics, for St Benedict speaks early in the Rule of God calling us to be labourers in his vineyard, and later reminds his monks that:

 And if the circumstances of the place or their poverty should require that they themselves do the work of gathering the harvest, let them not be discontented; for then are they truly monastics when they live by the labor of their hands, as did our Fathers and the Apostles.

St Robert Bellarmine teaches us that it is appropriate for us to seek what is adequate and necessary, but we should reject riches:

Here we should reflect that the Prophet does not make happi­ness to consist in great riches, but in such as have been acquired by the labor of one's hands, and they are, generally speaking, moderate. Great riches either come by inheritance, or from plunder or usury, or some other bad source. St. Jerome quotes an old saying, and a true one, "The rich man is either a rogue or the heir of a rogue;"...Holy David then addresses not only the Jews, but all Christians, when he makes happiness to consist not in great riches, but in a sufficiency; the having wherewithal to live by one's just labor; and he censures two extremes — one, that of those who live on the others entirely; and the other, that of those who will not touch the labor of their hands, but, in a spirit of avarice, put it aside to increase their riches. 

But what about when we can't earn a living?  

We have to be careful about reading this verse too literally, however: God does not guarantee us properity in this life, as St Robert Bellarmine reminds us:

It may happen, however, that some "who fear God," and "walk in his ways," may not be able to eat of the "labors of their hands," and have to endure hunger and thirst, by reason of their having been despoiled, or defrauded of their labor; but that will not bar the promise made in this passage; for if God sometimes lets his friends down so low that they would be glad to satisfy the cravings of their hunger with the fragments that fall from the table of the rich, as was the case with Lazarus, he will certainly give them some­thing better, far better, instead; and that is joy from tribulation...This is peculiarly applicable to the pil­grims, who "rejoice in the tribulation" of want and difficulties; "for they know tribulation worketh patience, and patience trial, and trial hope, and hope confoundeth not, because the charity of God is poured out into our hearts."

 The promise of the verse, he argues, relates to the hereafter.

 The eternal fruits of our labour

Indeed, our true work in this world is not about earning the necessities of life, but rather the work of of building up the Church.  Cassiodorus for example says:

But by labours he wished to denote good works carried out in this world to yield a sweet banquet as the reward to come; for eating means being refreshed by some food, and rejoicing in its abundance. So these labours which consist of good works are apprehended at the resurrection when these words are heard: Come ye, blessed of my Fa­ther, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. A blessed banquet this, which is not digested by the stomach, but is maintained in eternity unconsumed.

Psalm 127

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum.
1 Beáti omnes, qui timent Dóminum,* qui ámbulant in viis ejus.	Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways.
2  Labóres mánuum tuárum quia manducábis: * beátus es, et bene tibi erit.	2 For you shall eat the labours of your hands: blessed are you, and it shall be well with you.
3  Uxor tua sicut vitis abúndans: * in latéribus domus tuæ.	3 Your wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of your house.
4  Fílii tui sicut novéllæ olivárum: * in circúitu mensæ tuæ.	Your children as olive plants, round about your table.
5  Ecce sic benedicétur homo, * qui timet Dóminum.	4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that fears the Lord.
6  Benedícat tibi Dóminus ex Sion: *  et vídeas bona Jerúsalem ómnibus diébus vitæ tuæ.	5 May the Lord bless you out of Sion: and may you see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
7  Et vídeas fílios filiórum tuórum: * pacem super Israël.	6 And may you see your children's children, peace upon Israel.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.	As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

And for the next part in this series, continue on here.

Psalm 127 verse 1 - Walking in the way of Christ

Morgan Library

The first verse of Psalm 127, as I noted in the introductory post, is something of a recapitulation of the key message of St Benedict's ladder of humility, reminding us also that we need both faith and good works. 

1	V	Beáti omnes, qui timent Dóminum,* qui ámbulant in viis ejus.
	NV JH	Beatus omnis, qui timet Dominum, qui ambulat in viis eius.
		μακάριοι πάντες οἱ φοβούμενοι τὸν κύριον οἱ πορευόμενοι ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ

  

Beáti (Blessed) omnes (all those), qui (who) timent (they fear) Dóminum (the Lord),* qui (who) ámbulant (walk) in viis (the ways) ejus (his).

beatus, a, um  happy, blessed ,fortunate.

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

timeo, ui, ere 2 fear, be afraid of

ambulo, avi, atum, are  to walk

via, ae, a way, road, path, street ; fig., God's way; way of life, action, or conduct

DR	Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways.
Brenton	Blessed are all they that fear the Lord; who walk in his ways
MD	Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways.
RSV	Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!
Cover	Blessed are all they that fear the Lord, and walk in his ways.
Knox	Blessed thou art, if thou dost fear the Lord, and follow his paths!
Grail	O blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways!

Fear of the Lord

The opening phrase takes us back to the first step of humility (St Benedict's Rule chapter 7), fear of the Lord.  The psalm is not, I think, talking just of fear of hell here (though that is sufficient), but rather filial fear based on our acknowledgement that he is God.  Cassiodorus explains it as follows: 

In his first words he has distinguished fear of the Lord from the terror of this world. His words: Blessed are all they that fear the Lord, reveal that those who with troubled mind are apprehensive of the world's dangers in loss of temporal possessions are not blessed. These dangers make men wretched, torturing them with empty fear, so that they experience no growth but a diminution, no ascent but a headlong fall. By contrast, fear of the Lord is the offspring of love, is born of charity, is sprung from sweetness. What devoted fear, consoling the timorous, refreshing the afflicted, experiencing no absence of joy unless the benefit of such fear is laid aside!

Many or one?

The Vulgate puts ‘beatus’ (happy, blessed, fortunate) in the plural, implying many fear the Lord, and follow ‘the way’.  The version from the Hebrew however makes it singular rendering the translation of ‘omnis’ a little more complex.  The RSV preserves the sense quite well with ‘blessed is everyone, but other versions just ignore the ‘all’.  The logic of the latter translation is perhaps to match the next verse, which is in the singular, but St Augustine provides an interpretation that explains the reason for the distinction that is worth considering: 

He speaks to many; but since these many are one in Christ, in the next words he speaks in the singular: For you shall eat the labours of your fruits....When I speak of Christians in the plural, I understand one in the One Christ. You are therefore many, and you are one; we are many, and we are one. How are we many, and yet one? Because we cling unto Him whose members we are; and since our Head is in heaven, that His members may follow....Let us therefore so hear this Psalm, as considering it to be spoken of Christ: and all of us who cling unto the Body of Christ, and have been made members of Christ, walk in the ways of the Lord; and let us fear the Lord with a chaste fear, with a fear that abides forever....

Walking in the way

The second phrase, on walking in’ the way’ (the term the early Christians used to describe our faith) brings us back to the pilgrim theme of this set of psalms.  It is an important reminder that our faith is not true faith if it is not put into practice – even the devil, after all, believes in Christ, hence: 

Not everyone that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But in every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh justice, is acceptable to him. (Matthew 7:21)

 What is required then, Cassiodorus instructs us, is that we love God with all our heart and soul, and keep his commandments with devoted minds.  In fact St Hilary of Poitiers tells us, fear of the Lord and working in his ways is really the same thing: 

For us, fear of the Lord is a part of love; and its expression is the practice of perfect charity: obey the counsels of God, hold fast to his commandments, trust in his promises.

Psalm 127

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Canticum graduum.
1 Beáti omnes, qui timent Dóminum,* qui ámbulant in viis ejus.	Blessed are all they that fear the Lord: that walk in his ways.
2  Labóres mánuum tuárum quia manducábis: * beátus es, et bene tibi erit.	2 For you shall eat the labours of your hands: blessed are you, and it shall be well with you.
3  Uxor tua sicut vitis abúndans: * in latéribus domus tuæ.	3 Your wife as a fruitful vine, on the sides of your house.
4  Fílii tui sicut novéllæ olivárum: * in circúitu mensæ tuæ.	Your children as olive plants, round about your table.
5  Ecce sic benedicétur homo, * qui timet Dóminum.	4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that fears the Lord.
6  Benedícat tibi Dóminus ex Sion: *  et vídeas bona Jerúsalem ómnibus diébus vitæ tuæ.	5 May the Lord bless you out of Sion: and may you see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
7  Et vídeas fílios filiórum tuórum: * pacem super Israël.	6 And may you see your children's children, peace upon Israel.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.	As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

And for the next part in this series go here.