Psalm 90 v6 - The delusions and distortions that stalk us at night

Ceiling Painted Dome Cupola Angels Fighting Demons in Vatican Museums
Livioandronico2013
Source: Wikicommons

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.

The reference to the midday demon in this verse is traditionally viewed as a reference to Our Lord's temptation in the desert, and accounts for the psalm's use at this time in a number of Eastern forms of the Office.

Looking at the Latin

The Vulgate of the verse is:

A sagítta volánte in die, a negótio perambulánte in ténebris: ab incúrsu et dæmónio meridiáno.

Key vocabulary

sagitta, ae, f., an arrow

volo, avi, atum, are, to fly as a bird. fly, to move swiftly, to speed as an arrow or on the wings of the wind.

negotium, ii, n. business, occupation; anything difficult or unpleasant; a plague, pestilence.

perambulo, avi, atum, are, to pass through, go about, traverse. fig., to walk, live, conduct one’s self.

tenebrae, arum, f  darkness; night, Sheol; misfortune, danger; horror, shuddering.

incursus, us, m.  assault, attack

daemonium, ii, n. a devil, demon, evil spirit.

meridianus, a, um, midday, noonday.

Word by word then: 

A (from) sagítta (the arrow) volante (flying, speeding) in (in) die (the day), a (from) negótio (business, pestilence, things) perambulánte (traversing, walking about) in (in) ténebris (darkness, night): ab (from) incúrsu (attack) et (and) dæmónio (from the demon) meridiáno (midday).

This verse needs to be joined up with the previous one, thus, ‘You will not fear the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day (A sagita volante in die)’.  Negotium means business, occupation or anything unpleasant;  but it can also mean plague or pestilence; neo-Vulgate follows the Hebrew Masoretic Text in making this more explicit by substituting ‘a peste’ for negotio.  The idea that the disease here is a result of demonic influences.

The second phrase also refers back to the previous verse, that is, to make sense of it you need to add back ‘You will not fear’ to ‘the attack/assault of the noonday demon.  The Hebrew Masoretic Text omits the reference to the noonday demon, an omission that may have been deliberate given the Christian application of this psalm to Our Lord’s temptation in the desert.

 A selection of English translations of the verse are set out below.

DR	Of the arrow that flies in the day, of the business that walks about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
MD	Nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the plague that prowleth in the dark, nor the noonday attack of the demon.
Brenton	nor of the arrow flying by day; nor of the evil thing that walks in darkness; nor of calamity, and the evil spirit at noon-day.
RSV	nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
Coverdale	Nor for the arrow that flieth by day; for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the sickness that destroyeth in the noonday.
Knox	from the arrow that flies by day-light, from pestilence that walks to and fro in the darkness, from the death that wastes under the noon.
Grail	nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the plague that prowls in the darkness nor the scourge that lays waste at noon.

The dangers of the day and night

St Robert Bellarmine points out that the simplest explanation of this verse is straightforward: ‘You will have no dangers to fear, either by day or by night’.

In the light of the New Testament, one could interpret this verse particularly as a promise of protection in the face of demonic temptation.

The patristic commentators though, give day and night here a more allegorical explanation and these are worth considering.

Sinning by day, St Augustine suggests, means sinning in the full knowledge of what we are doing; sinning by night means sinning out of ignorance of the truth:

When any man sins in ignorance, he sins, as it were, by night: when he sins in full knowledge, by day. The two former sins then are the lighter: the second are much heavier; but this is obscure, and will repay your attention, if, by God's blessing, I can explain it so that you may understand it. He calls the light temptation, which the ignorant yield to, terror by night: the light temptation, which assails men who well know, the arrow that flies by day. What are light temptations? Those which do not press upon us so urgently, as to overcome us, but may pass by quickly if declined…

Both of course, must be avoided, the first by rejecting the temptation; the second by ensuring we are properly instructed in our faith.

St Cassiodorus proposes another interpretation equally useful to consider: arrows in the day refers, he suggests, to open persecution of the type experienced by Christians in many countries; but the night refers to the subtle distortions and delusions that can blind us, such as heresy and the temptation to conform to the values of the society around us:

The arrow that flieth by day is open persecution by tyrants. The business in the dark is the debased study by which the mental eye of right believers is blinded. The noonday devil is the massive danger ignited by the heat of persecution, in which destruction is often feared and human weakness overcome

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.

You can find the next part of this series here.

Psalm 90 v5 - Truth as a shield

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.

The key word in verse 5 of Psalm 90 is truth: God’s truth, that is revealed doctrine, protects us from the errors of heresy and thus the fear of hell (the terrors of the night), and this is why we must believe it ‘firmly and truly, at all times’.

Understanding the Latin

The Vulgate of the verse is:

Scuto circúmdabit te véritas ejus: * non timébis a timóre noctúrno.

The key vocabulary is:

scutum, i, n. a shield, buckler.

circumdo, dedi, datum, are,  to surround, beset, encompass with a hostile intent; to gather round

veritas, atis,  truth. grace, kindness ,goodness, fidelity to promises, Faithfulness

timeo, ere 2, to fear, be afraid of.

timor, oris, m.  fear, terror; an object of fear.

nocturnus a um by night, nighly

Accordingly, a word by words translation runs:

Scuto (with a shield) circúmdabit (he will encompass) te (you) véritas (truth) ejus (his): non (not) timébis (you will fear) a (+ablative = by, from) timóre (fears, terrors) noctúrno (by night).

The Douay-Rheims therefore translates it as ‘His truth shall compass you with a shield:

you shall not be afraid of the terror of the night’.

Although the reference to truth is in St Jerome’s translation from the Hebrew (‘scutum et protectio veritas eius, non timebis a timore nocturno’), the word doesn’t appear in the Hebrew Masoretic Text (which instead refers to a shield and buckler), so a number of the modern translations (though not, on this occasion, the neo-Vulgate) have either dropped out the reference altogether (Grail), or changed it from truth to ‘faithfulness’ (Pian, RSV, Knox).

The terror of the night

The reference to the darkness of night is one of the key reasons for assigning this psalm to Compline, but it is of course meant metaphorically as well as literally.

First, we are all, as Isaiah's reference to the people who walked in darkness, and the first chapter of St John's Gospel make clear, a people who walk in the darkness of sin and error, in danger of the seductions of the devil.

As St Jerome puts it:

The devil always lurks in darkness, 'shooting from ambush', Scripture says, 'at the innocent man.'  

But Christ's light, manifested to us by the truth of the Incarnation shines in the darkness, keeping us safe from all evil.

How does he seduce and attack?

One of the most obvious ways is doctrinal error, as St Cassiodorus explained:

The terror of the night, then, is the cloudy persuasion of heretics. 

Another key tactic, St Augustine suggested, is to work on our pride:

One is a sinner, and the other a sinner: but suppose one that presumes upon himself is a despiser, confesses not his sins, and he will say, if my sins displeased God He would not suffer me to live. But another dared not even raise his eyes, but beat upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.  Both this was a sinner, and that: but the one mocked, the other mourned: the one was a despiser, the other a confessor, of his sins. But the truth of God, which respects not persons, discerns the penitent from him who denies his sin, the humble from the proud, him who presumes upon himself from him who presumes on God. 

Sleep as the little death

Secondly, the terrors of the night can be seen as a reference to our natural fear of death  - and judgment: our journey to sleep each night foreshadows our eventual journey into the next life.

But here too, God offers hope to us, as St Robert Bellarmine pointed out:

The truth of faith protects us like a shield also when it gives us a certainty that eternal happiness is prepared for the just, and torments everlasting for the sinner after this life; and that judgment will be held on the last day, when all men shall have to render the most exact account of all their deeds, words, thoughts, desires, omissions; in short, of every idle word, however brief, they may have uttered. 

Using truth as a shield

St Augustine interprets the verse as assuring us 'that He will not confound those whose trust is in themselves with those who hope in God'.

But in order to ensure we truly trust in God and not ourselves, we have to lift up the shield which God gives us.  St Robert Bellarmine suggested that the means of doing this lie in daily scrutiny of our sins, and meditation on the truth of the faith, arguing that reflections on the truths of the faith:

would easily protect us from all temptations, 'both in adversity and prosperity, if we would daily use them as a shield; that is, if we daily and faithfully meditate on these truths of our religion. Who is he that would not bravely bear up against any terror whatever, by reflecting seriously on those words of our Lord? "And fear not those that kill the body, and cannot kill the soul; but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell." And who is there that will not despise the empty pleasures of this world, and the occasions of wronging their neighbor, when they seriously reflect on the following words of our Divine Master? "For what doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" 

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.

You can.a find the next part of this series here.

Psalm 90 verse 4 - The protection of his wings

Scápulis suis obumbrábit tibi: et sub pennis ejus sperábis.

He will overshadow you with his shoulders: and under his wings you shall trust.

Verse 4 of Psalm 90 presents us with a challenge: rely on God, not ourselves, but rather to heed the message of the Gospel, and conform ourselves with it.

On the one hand, it speaks of the protection God offers to those who place his trust in him; but on the other, Our Lord’s citation of it in his lament before entering the city of Jerusalem for the last time reminds us how often we reject God’s help and those he sends to teach us, and trust in ourselves instead.

Looking at the Latin

The key vocabulary for the verse is:

scapulae, arum, f, the shoulders

obumbro, avi, atum, are, to overshadow, shield, protect, with dat.

penna, ae, feather,  wing.

spero, avi, atum, are, to hope or trust in

Accordingly, a word by word translation might be:

Scápulis (by/with the shoulders) suis (his) obumbrábit (he will protect/shield) tibi (you): * et (and) sub (under) pennis (the wings/feathers) ejus (his) sperábis (you will hope).

Strong's concordance for the Hebrew Masoretic Text gives the two key words as ebrâh, meaning feather or wing, and kânâph, meaning an edge or extremity, a wing, feather or border.  

The literal meaning of scapulis, though, is shoulders, reflecting the Greek.  

Given the use of pennis in the second phrase, the words is often translated less literally, implying a reference to the image of the eagle of Deuteronomy 32:11:

Like an eagle that rouseth its nest, And poiseth o'er its young ones, He spread out His wings, and took it.  And bore it on His pinions. He carried Israel, like an eagle, on His wings’

or the hen guarding her chicks of Matthew 23:37:

 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 

Most of the the twentieth century Latin and English translations chose to strengthen the reference to the protection of an eagle: the Neo-Vulgate renders it as ‘Alis suis obumbrabit tibi, et sub pennas eius confugies.  

But the Septuagint/Vulgate version could equally be read, as St Jerome acknowledged, as an allusion to the New Testament image of a hen guarding her chicks (cf Mt 23:37), which St Augustine preferred.  

Both the Coverdale and Knox translations hint at this alternative imagery:

DR	He will overshadow you with his shoulders: and under his wings you shall trust.
MD	With His pinions will He shelter thee, and under His wings though shalt be secure.
Brenton	He shall overshadow thee with his shoulders, and thou shalt trust under his wings:
RSV	he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge;
Coverdale	He shall defend thee under his wings, and thou shalt be safe under his feathers;
Knox	His wings for refuge, nestle thou shalt under his care,
Grail	he will conceal you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge.

The protection of God's shoulders and wings

The allegory of God's shoulders and wings can be interpreted in a number of ways.

St Augustine pointed to the most important meaning, in the offer of God's protection:

The expression, between His shoulders, may be understood both in front and behind: for the shoulders are about the head; but in the words, you shall hope under His wings, it is clear that the protection of the wings of God expanded places you between His shoulders, so that God's wings on this side and that have you in the midst, where you shall not fear lest anyone hurt you: only be thou careful never to leave that spot, where no foe dares approach.

The key message of this verse, he suggests, is that we need to trust in God's grace, rather than rely on our own abilities:

He says this, that your protection may not be to you from yourself, that you may not imagine that you can defend yourself; He will defend you, to deliver you from the hunter's snare, and from an harsh word...If the hen defends her chickens beneath her wings; how much more shall you be safe beneath the wings of God, even against the devil and his angels, the powers who fly about in midair like hawks, to carry off the weak young one? For the comparison of the hen to the very Wisdom of God is not without ground; for Christ Himself, our Lord and Saviour, speaks of Himself as likened to a hen...If you consider other birds, brethren, you will find many that hatch their eggs, and keep their young warm: but none that weakens herself in sympathy with her chickens, as the hen does. We see swallows, sparrows, and storks outside their nests, without being able to decide whether they have young or no: but we know the hen to be a mother by the weakness of her voice, and the loosening of her feathers: she changes altogether from love for her chickens: she weakens herself because they are weak. Thus since we were weak, the Wisdom of God made Itself weak, when the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us, John 1:14 that we might hope under His wings.

St Cassiodorus takes this idea a level further, linking the imagery more explicitly to the use of the text in the Gospels:

The Lord's shoulders are enactments of miracles, by means of which the divine power is demonstrated as though by the shoulders. His wings are the prophets' warnings, which if accepted with pure minds lead faithful souls ever to heaven.

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.

You can find the next part of this series here.

Psalm 90 v3 - Honey mixed with bile and the snares of the devil

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.

Verse 3 of Psalm 90 promises us protection from the traps and harsh words set by those who hate us for pursuing the good.

Understanding the Latin

The key vocabulary for verse 3 of Psalm 90 is:

libero, avi, atum, are (liber), to free, set free, deliver
laqueus, ei, m., a noose for capturing animals; a snare, trap, net
venor, atus sum, ari, to hunt; venatium = part pl pres
verbum, i, n.,word, command, edict, also a promise; saying, speech; Law, the Eternal Son.
asper, era, erum, rough. Of speech, harsh, bitter, abusive.

A literal, word by word rendition of it is:

Quóniam (or) ipse (he, himself) liberávit (he has freed) me (me) de (from) láqueo (the trap) venántium (of the hunters), et (and) a (from) verbo (the word) áspero (abusive, harsh).

St Jerome and the Neo-vulgate make the verb (liberare, to free), future tense rather than perfect though, so the Collegeville translators of the Monastic Diurnal translated it as:

For He will rescue thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the sharp word.

The phrase verbo aspero  - harsh or abusive word, slander or calumny - is a rare case where the twentieth experts agreed that the Septuagint Greek is to be preferred to the Masoretic Text’s Hebrew literalism which translates as ‘from the destroying pestilence’, though the Pian translation, true to form, followed the Hebrew Masoretic Text, making it instead 'A peste perniciosa'.

Hunters of souls

St Jerome pointed out that hunters are pretty much never portrayed positively in Scripture:

There are many hunters in this world that go about setting traps for our soul.  Nemrod the giant was a 'mighty hunter before the Lord.' Esau, too, was a hunter, for he was a sinner. In all of Holy Writ, never do we find a hunter that is a faithful servant; we do find faithful fishermen...the devil is the hunter, eager to lure our souls unto perdition. The devil is master of many snares, deceptions of all kinds. Avarice is one of his pitfalls, detraction is his noose, fornication is his bait. 

St Augustine's advice in the face of this, more important than ever in this age when hurt feelings are deemed more serious than physical injuries, is that we should not let mere words hurt us, or worse, turn us aside from the right path:

The devil has entrapped many by a harsh word: for instance, those who profess Christianity among Pagans suffer insult from the heathen: they blush when they hear reproach, and shrinking out of their path in consequence, fall into the hunter's snares. And yet what will a harsh word do to you? Nothing. Can the snares with which the enemy entraps you by means of reproaches, do nothing to you? Nets are usually spread for birds at the end of a hedge, and stones are thrown into the hedge: those stones will not harm the birds. When did any one ever hit a bird by throwing a stone into a hedge? But the bird, frightened at the harmless noise, falls into the nets; and thus men who fear the vain reproaches of their calumniators, and who blush at unprovoked insults, fall into the snares of the hunters, and are taken captive by the devil...

The gift of grace

In order to do this, we must, of course, trust in God's gift of grace, as St Robert Bellarmine explains:

...he alludes to two favors conferred on him, one temporal, the other spiritual. The temporal blessing consists in immunity from snares, stratagems, and frauds of the wicked, the source of much temporal injury; the frauds being designat­ed by the "snares of the hunters," and the "sharp word" implies the injuries consequent on the frauds. And, as frauds and strat­agems are generally effected through the tongue, Ecclus says, "Thou hast preserved me from the snare of an unjust tongue." God, then, in his singular providence, has caused, and always will cause, the frauds and schemes of the wicked to do no harm to the just, who confide in the aid of the Most High. Another favor, and a much greater one, is an exemption from the temptations of the evil spirits; for such is their craft, that men, however prudent they may be, when compared with them, may be looked upon as half fools. 

Honey mixed with bile

What then are the harsh or abusive words we should be on the look out for?

Some are obvious, but St Cassiodorus' commentary warns of some particularly modern sounding dangers, that take the form of crafty ambushes:

The sharp word is every statement uttered against the divine commands and served like a lethal drink. It is true that we are diverted from goodly purposes by sustain­ing injuries or derision, but it is the word which is especially sharp and wholly harsh in its bitterness. Then again if we hear fawning words seasoned with honey but mixed with bile, we must regard them with hostility for they are known to be against the divine commands. Often statements uttered in the softest words are more deceitful. 

So the Lord delivers us from this most grievous sharpness and bitter sweetness when we advance along His path without branching off to left or right, where we know that the devil has laid snares; he has not dared to set them on the path, that is, in Christ Himself, for he cannot wound the faithful there.

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.

You can find the next part of this series here.