Psalm 141: Overview

Psalm 141 opens Friday Vespers in the Benedictine Office, and the placement is not random: it is also used at Vespers during the Triduum due to its clear allusions to the events of the Passion, and Christ's descent into hell (the prison of the last verse).

Psalm 141 and the Passion

Pope John Paul II commented, for example, that:

Christian tradition has applied Psalm 142[141] to the persecuted and suffering Christ. In this perspective, the luminous goal of the Psalm's plea is transfigured into a paschal sign on the basis of the glorious outcome of the life of Christ and of our destiny of resurrection with him. This is also what St Hilary of Poitiers, a famous fourth-century Doctor of the Church, says in his Treatise on the Psalms. 

The original historical context is suggested by the title "The understanding of David: a prayer when he was in the cave", as Cassiodorus explained:

David, the son of Jesse, fled from the prince Saul, and when he lay hidden in a cave he uttered a prayer which he revealed that the Lord Christ would make in the flesh before His passion. When understanding prefaces this prayer, the comparison is shown to refer to Him who avoided His persecutors as He prayed and hid himself by moving to various places. This was so that the Son of God could fulfil the promise which He had made about Himself through the prophets, and reveal the truth of the incarnation which He had assumed; for this psalm includes the words of the Lord Saviour when He sought to avoid the most wicked madness of the Jews. So the flight of David was rightly placed in the heading to point to the persecution by the Jews, for David, as we have often said, denotes both that earthly king and the King of heaven....

 In the first section, the Lord Christ cries to the Father, recounting the wicked tricks of the persecution by the Jews. In the second, He prays to be delivered from the prison of hell, for the trust of all the faithful hung on His resurrection. 

Verse 5 is generally seen as a reference to the denial by St Peter and the Apostles who fled; verse 8 as a plea to be freed from the prison of flesh so that he might come to the Resurrection.

A treatise on prayer

St Augustine, in his commentary on it, also treated this psalm as a treatise on prayer, and the key points of his exposition were nicely summarised and amplified by Cassiodorus, who, drawing also on Cassian, provides a commentary that echoes St Benedict's own instructions on prayer:

This marks the conclusion of the line of psalms prefaced with the heading: A prayer, so now at the end of them we must make some summary observations so that through the Lord's help we may obtain a salutary stimulus to hasten to the remedy appointed to us. 

We must especially follow the commandments, and signing our lips with the seal of the cross we must pray to the Lord that He may cleanse our mouths which are disfigured with human foulness; in Isaiah's words: I have unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people that have unclean lips. 

Next we must pray in words not such as human longings prompt, but those which the Godhead Himself has granted as a remedy for our wickedness. Prayer itself must come from a humble, meek, pure heart; it must confess its sins without making excuses, and in the course of bitter tears show trust in the most sweet pity of the Lord. It must not seek earthly aims, but desire heavenly ones. It must be sequestered from desires of the body, and attach itself solely to the divine. In short, it must be wholly spiritual, bestowing nothing but tears on the flesh. 

In so far as it is lawful, seek to behold in mental contemplation Him whom you entreat, and then you realise what sort of person you should be in offering yourself prostrate before Him. He is, as Paul says: the Blessed and only Mighty, King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality and inhabits light inaccessible, whom no man has seen nor can see.  So such is the mighty Lord whom we should approach with all fear or love, directing our mental sight on Him in such a way as to realise that such splendour, brightness, brilliance and majesty as is conceivable to the human mind is all inferior to God, who with goodness beyond compare controls all His creatures. 

We must not with false presumption within ourselves form some mental picture of Him, for the hidden substance of God who made all things cannot be grasped in its essence by the knowledge which creatures possess. God has no shape, no outline; His nature cannot be assessed, nor His power grasped, and His devotion is unique. As has been most aptly remarked of Him, we can say what God is not, but we cannot grasp what He is. So we are to pray to Him who is almighty and without beginning or end, who traverses and fills all parts of the universe and every creature, but in such a way that He is wholly within Himself everywhere. 

He forsakes evil men not by His presence but by the power of His grace. Father Augustine when writing to Dardanus explained this at greater length. The words of the prophet warn us in salutary fashion to make haste: Come, let us adore and fall down before the Lord: let us lament before God (then he added, so that we should not be left wholly floundering and trembling) who made us; so that once we recognise that we have been created by Him, we may pray with confidence to our Maker. 

Then the humble plea which we are to utter in divine praise we virtually realise as we pray, for we gain a merciful hearing from the Lord, provided that what we ask for is in our interest. No-one is rebuffed coldly from heaven's generosity if grace is lent him to entreat with a simple and a committed heart, for a person feels that he has gained pardon to the degree that he knows that he has shed devoted tears. 

There is this further mark of our progress: the more a person realises that he loves and fears God, the more necessary he finds it to crawl near to divine help. Thus by the Lord's kindness all the devil's guile is defeated, and by His pity our sins are overcome.  

We have said as much about prayer as our mean intelligence and the nature of the occasion have demanded.  If anyone desires to gain the fullest abundance of satisfaction on this subject, he must read the most eloquent Cassian, who in his ninth and tenth conference has discussed the types of prayer with such power and quality that the holy spirit seems clearly to have spoken through his mouth.

The text of the psalm

Psalm 141 (142): Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Intellectus David, cum esset in spelunca, oratio	Of understanding for David, A prayer when he was in the cave.
1 Voce mea ad Dóminum clamávi: * voce mea ad dóminum deprecátus sum.	2 I cried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made supplication to the Lord.
2. Effúndo in conspéctu ejus oratiónem meam, * et tribulatiónem meam ante ipsum pronúntio	3 In his sight I pour out my prayer, and before him I declare my trouble:
3. In deficiéndo ex me spíritum meum: * et tu cognovísti sémitas meas.	4 When my spirit failed me, then you knew my paths.
4  In via hac, qua ambulábam, * abscondérunt láqueum mihi.	In this way wherein I walked, they have hidden a snare for me.
5 Considerábam ad déxteram, et vidébam: * et non erat qui cognósceret me.	5 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, and there was no one that would know me.
6. Périit fuga a me: * et non est qui requírat ánimam meam.	Flight has failed me: and there is no one that has regard to my soul.
7. Clamávi ad te, Dómine, * dixi: Tu es spes mea, pórtio mea in terra vivéntium.	6 I cried to you, O Lord: I said: You are my hope, my portion in the land of the living.
8.  Inténde ad deprecatiónem meam: * quia humiliátus sum nimis.	7 Attend to my supplication: for I am brought very low.
9.  Líbera me a persequéntibus me: * quia confortáti sunt super me.	Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
10 Educ de custódia ánimam meam ad confiténdum nómini tuo: me exspéctant justi, donec retríbuas mihi.	8 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise your name: the just wait for me, until you reward me.

Liturgical and Scriptural uses of the psalm

NT references	-
RB cursus	Friday Vespers+AN 4316 (6)
Monastic feasts etc	Triduum Vespers AN 1891 (5), 3724 (8)
Roman pre 1911	Friday Vespers
Responsories	6622 (5, 8)
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Friday Vespers  . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	-

Psalm 144 (Pt 2): Overview

The second half of Psalm 144 opens Saturday Vespers in the Benedictine Office.

It helps give the hour the flavour of first Vespers of the Resurrection rather than the close of the week in my view.

Pope Benedict on Psalm 144:

Pope Benedict XVI gave a General Audience on vers3s 14-21 of the psalm on 8 February 2006, entitled "The Lord is faithful in all his words':

Following the liturgy that divides it into two parts, let us return to a wonderful hymn in honour of the Lord, a loving King who is attentive to his creatures. Let us now meditate upon the second part of the Psalm:  they are verses 14 to 21, which take up the fundamental theme of the hymn's first part. In them are exalted the divine compassion, tenderness, fidelity and goodness which are extended to the whole of humanity, involving every creature. 

The Psalm now focuses on the love that the Lord reserves particularly for the poor and the weak. Divine kingship is not, therefore, detached and haughty, as can be the case in the exercise of human power. God expresses his sovereignty by bending down to meet the frailest and most helpless of his creatures. Indeed, he is first and foremost a father who supports those who falter and raises those who have fallen into the dust of humiliation (cf. v. 14). Consequently, living beings are reaching out to the Lord like hungry beggars and he gives them, like a tender parent, the food they need to survive (cf. v. 15). 

At this point the profession of faith in justice and holiness, the two divine qualities par excellence, emerges from the lips of the person praying:  "The Lord is just in all his ways and loving in all his deeds" (cf. v. 17). In Hebrew we have two typical adjectives to illustrate the Covenant between God and his People:  saadiq and hasid. They express justice that seeks to save and to liberate from evil, and the faithfulness that is a sign of the Lord's loving greatness. 

The Psalmist takes the side of those who have benefited, whom he describes in various words: in practice, these terms portray true believers. They "call on" the Lord in trusting prayer, they seek him in life with a sincere heart (cf. v. 18); they "fear" their God, respecting his will and obeying his word (cf. v. 19), but above all "love" him, certain that he will take them under the mantle of his protection and his closeness (cf. v. 20). 

Then, the Psalmist's closing words are the ones with which he opened his hymn:  an invitation to praise and bless the Lord and his "name", that is, as a living and holy Person who works and saves in the world and in history. Indeed, his call is an assurance that every creature marked by the gift of life associates himself or herself with the prayerful praise:  "Let all mankind bless his holy name for ever, for ages unending" (v. 21). This is a sort of perennial hymn that must be raised from earth to heaven; it is a community celebration of God's universal love, source of peace, joy and salvation. 

To conclude our reflection, let us return to that sweet verse which says:  "[The Lord] is close to all who call him, who call on him from their hearts" (v. 18). This sentence was particularly dear to Barsanuphius of Gaza, an ascetic who died in the mid-sixth century, to whom monks, ecclesiastics and lay people would often turn because of the wisdom of his discernment. Thus, for example, to one disciple who expressed his desire "to seek the causes of the various temptations that assailed him", Barsanuphius responded:  "Brother John, do not fear any of the temptations that come to test you, for the Lord will not let you fall prey to them. So, whenever one of these temptations comes to you, do not tire yourself by endeavouring to discern what is at stake, but cry out Jesus' Name:  "Jesus, help me!'. And he will hear you, for he "is close to all who call on him'. Do not be discouraged, but run on with enthusiasm and you will reach the destination in Christ Jesus, Our Lord" (Barsanuphius and John of Gaza, Epistolario, 39:  Collana di Testi Patristici, XCIII, Rome, 1991, p. 109). 

And these words of the ancient Father also apply to us. In our difficulties, problems, temptations, we must not simply make a theoretical reflection - where do they come from? - but must react positively; we must call on the Lord, we must keep alive our contact with the Lord. Indeed, we must cry out the Name of Jesus:  "Jesus, help me!". And let us be certain that he hears us, because he is close to those who seek him. Let us not feel discouraged, but let us run on with enthusiasm, as this Father says, and we too will reach the destination of our lives:  Jesus, the Lord.

The text of the psalm

Psalm 144(pt 2): Confiteantur tibi Domine 

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
1  Confiteántur tibi, Dómine, ómnia ópera tua: * et sancti tui benedícant tibi.	10 Let all your works, O lord, praise you: and let your saints bless you.
2  Glóriam regni tui dicent: * et poténtiam tuam loquéntur	11 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom: and shall tell of your power:
3  Ut notam fáciant fíliis hóminum poténtiam tuam: * et glóriam magnificéntiæ regni tui.	12 To make your might known to the sons of men: and the glory of the magnificence of your kingdom.
4  Regnum tuum regnum ómnium sæculórum: * et dominátio tua in omni generatióne et generatiónem.	13 Your kingdom is a kingdom of all ages: and your dominion endures throughout all generations.
5  Fidélis Dóminus in ómnibus verbis suis: * et sanctus in ómnibus opéribus suis	The Lord is faithful in all his words: and holy in all his works.
6  Allevat Dóminus omnes qui córruunt: * et érigit omnes elísos.	14 The Lord lifts up all that fall: and sets up all that are cast down.
7  Oculi ómnium in te sperant, Dómine: * et tu das escam illórum in témpore opportúno.	15 The eyes of all hope in you, O Lord: and you give them meat in due season.
8  Aperis tu manum tuam: * et imples omne ánimal benedictióne.	16 You open your hand, and fill with blessing every living creature.
9 Justus Dóminus in ómnibus viis suis: * et sanctus in ómnibus opéribus suis.	17 The Lord is just in all his ways: and holy in all his works.
10  Prope est Dóminus ómnibus invocántibus eum: * ómnibus invocántibus eum in veritáte.	18 The Lord is near unto all them that call upon him: to all that call upon him in truth.
11  Voluntátem timéntium se fáciet: * et deprecatiónem eórum exáudiet: et salvos fáciet eos.	19 He will do the will of them that fear him: and he will hear their prayer, and save them.
12  Custódit Dóminus omnes diligéntes se: * et omnes peccatóres dispérdet.	20 The Lord keeps all them that love him; but all the wicked he will destroy.
13  Laudatiónem Dómini loquétur os meum: * et benedícat omnis caro nómini sancto ejus in sæculum, et in sæculum sæculi.	21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: and let all flesh bless his holy name forever; yea, for ever and ever.

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	1 Tim 1:17, Rev 11:15 (13); Mt 6:25ff (16-17); Acts 14:17 (17); Rev 15:3, 16:5 (18); Acts 17:27 (19); Jn 9:31 (20)
RB cursus	Saturday Vespers+AN 4600
Monastic feasts etc	AN 3546 (17), 2085 (20)
Roman pre 1911	Saturday Vespers
Responsories	7591 (Several Martyrs, OSB All Saints: 10-11)
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Saturday Vespers 1970: Vespers of Friday of the 4th Week
Mass propers (EF)	Advent IV GR (17, 21) Holy Name, AL (13=21); Lent 3 Thursday, (GR 7-8=15-16); Corpus Christi GR (7-8); PP20 GR (7-8=15-16) Mass of several martyrs in Eastertime, IN [1], 10, 11

Psalm 145: Overview

Psalm 145 (146) is said at  Saturday Vespers in the Benedictine Office, and, according to the Patristic commentators, is intended to orient us to the next world.

Cassiodorus, for example, commented that:

Alleluia. Once again divine authority resounds in our ears, and Alleluia knocks at the doors of our hearts, bidding us not to absorb ourselves vainly in empty thoughts, since it does not befit a soldier of Christ to be on furlough. The tongue too has its fruits, for a most abundant harvest is gathered if it is roused to the Lord's praise by an unsullied mind. The tongue is a spiritual member when it serves the Creator; it also commends the soul when it speaks the truth. So let us fill the air with the sweetest sounds, for this music of salvation not only charms mens' ears but also delights the understanding of angels. 

Division of the Psalm: The prophet is eager that the Lord's praises be sung wholeheartedly. Initially he says that we must put no trust whatever in men, to prevent our making lukewarm entreaty of the Lord through belief that some other can grant our request. Secondly, he proclaims that all our hope must be placed in the almighty Lord. Since He is our Lord, a most beautiful definition of Him is presented from His deeds, so that the Gentiles may be convinced by such reiterated reasoning, and may abandon their errors with faithful devotion... 

Conclusion Drawn From the Psalm: The prophet through the benefit of contemplation takes his position, so to say, in the earth's last days, when we know that the world's wantonness is to be condemned. He has taught the whole creation to busy itself with the Lord's praises to avoid seeking the transient desires which are undoubtedly soon to be ended. When that future time is proclaimed to us, he clearly refers to our own day. We are at the world's close when we abandon it, and embrace death after no long extent of time. All passing desires should leave us; worldly enticements must depart. We must instead desire what we know is eternal.

Pope John Paul II on the psalm

Pope John Paul II presented a General Audience on this psalm in July 2003:

Praise the Lord, O my soul! Psalm 146[145] that we have just heard is an "alleluia", the first of five which complete the entire collection in the Psalter. The Jewish liturgical tradition formerly used this hymn as a morning song of praise; it culminates in the proclamation of God's sovereignty over human history. Indeed, the Psalm ends with the declaration: "The Lord will reign for ever" (v. 10). From this follows a comforting truth: we are not left to ourselves, the events of our days are not overshadowed by chaos or fate, they do not represent a mere sequence of private acts without sense or direction. 

From this conviction develops a true and proper profession of faith in God, celebrated in a sort of litany in which the attributes of his love and kindness are proclaimed (cf. vv. 6-9).  God is the Creator of heaven and earth who faithfully keeps the covenant that binds him to his people; it is He who brings justice to the oppressed, provides food to sustain the hungry and sets prisoners free. It is He who opens the eyes of the blind, who picks up those who have fallen, who loves the just, protects the foreigner, supports the orphan and the widow. It is he who muddles the ways of the unjust and who reigns sovereign over all beings and over all ages. 

These are 12 theological assertions which, with their perfect number, are intended as an expression of the fullness and perfection of divine action. The Lord is not a Sovereign remote from his creatures but is involved in their history as the One who metes out justice and ranks himself on the side of the lowliest, of the victims, the oppressed, the unfortunate.

 Man, therefore, finds himself facing a radical choice between two contrasting possibilities: on one side there is the temptation to "trust in princes" (cf. v. 3), adopting their criteria inspired by wickedness, selfishness and pride. In fact, this is a slippery slope, a ruinous road, a "crooked path and a devious way" (cf. Prv 2: 15), whose goal is despair. Indeed, the Psalmist reminds us that man is a frail, mortal being, as the very word 'adam implies; in Hebrew, this word is used to signify earth, matter, dust. Man - the Bible constantly states - is like a palace that crumbles [to dust] (cf. Eccl 12: 1-7), a spider's web that can be torn apart by the wind (cf. Jb 8: 14), a strip of grass that is green at dawn but has withered by evening (cf. Ps 90[89]: 5-6; 103[102]: 15-16). When death assails him, all his plans disintegrate and he returns to dust: "When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish" (Ps 146[145]: 4). 

However, there is another possibility open to man, and the Psalmist exalts it with a beatitude: "Happy is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God" (v. 5). This is the path of trust in God, eternal and faithful. The amen, which is the Hebrew word for faith, precisely means being based on the steadfast solidity of the Lord, on his eternity, on his infinite power. Above all, however, it means sharing his choices, on which the profession of faith and praise described above has shed light. We must live in consistency with the divine will, offer food to the hungry, visit prisoners, sustain and comfort the sick, protect and welcome foreigners, devote ourselves to the poor and the lowly. In practice this corresponds exactly to the spirit of the Beatitudes; it means opting for that proposal of love which saves us already in this life and will later become the object of our examination at the last judgment, which will seal history. Then we will be judged on our decision to serve Christ in the hungry, the thirsty, the foreigner, the naked, the sick, the prisoner. "As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me" (Mt 25: 40): this is what the Lord will say at that time.  

Let us conclude our meditation on Psalm 146[145] with an idea for reflection which is offered to us by the Christian tradition that followed. When Origen, the great third-century writer, reaches verse 7 of our Psalm which says: "[the Lord] gives food to the hungry, the Lord sets the prisoners free", he finds in it an implicit reference to the Eucharist: "We hunger for Christ and he himself will give us the bread of heaven. "Give us this day our daily bread'. Those who say these words are hungry; those who feel the need for bread are hungry". And this hunger is fully satisfied by the Sacrament of the Eucharist, in which man is nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ (cf. Origene-Gerolamo, 74 Omelie sul Libro dei Salmi, Milan 1993, pp. 526-527). 

The text of the psalm

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Alleluja, Aggæi et Zachariæ
1  Lauda, ánima mea, Dóminum, laudábo Dóminum in vita mea: * psallam Deo meo quámdiu fúero.	Praise the Lord, O my soul, in my life I will praise the Lord: I will sing to my God as long as I shall be.
2  Nolíte confídere in princípibus: * in fíliis hóminum, in quibus non est salus.	Put not your trust in princes: 3 In the children of men, in whom there is no salvation.
3  Exíbit spíritus ejus, et revertétur in terram suam: * in illa die períbunt omnes cogitatiónes eórum.	4 His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his earth: in that day all their thoughts shall perish.
4. Beátus, cujus Deus Jacob adjútor ejus, spes ejus in Dómino Deo ipsíus: * qui fecit cælum et terram, mare et ómnia, quæ in eis sunt.	5 Blessed is he who has the God of Jacob for his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God: 6 Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.
5. Qui custódit veritátem in sæculum, facit judícium injúriam patiéntibus: * dat escam esuriéntibus.	7 Who keeps truth for ever: who executes judgment for them that suffer wrong: who gives food to the hungry.
6  Dóminus solvit compedítos: * Dóminus illúminat cæcos.	The Lord loosens them that are fettered: 8 The Lord enlightens the blind.
7  Dóminus érigit elísos: * Dóminus díligit justos.	The Lord lifts up them that are cast down: the Lord loves the just.
8  Dóminus custódit ádvenas, pupíllum et víduam suscípiet: * et vias peccatórum dispérdet.	9 The Lord keeps the strangers, he will support the fatherless and the widow: and the ways of sinners he will destroy.
9  Regnábit Dóminus in sæcula, Deus tuus, Sion, * in generatiónem et generatiónem.	10 The Lord shall reign for ever: your God, O Sion, unto generation and generation.

Scriptural and liturgical uses

NT references	Acts 4:24, 17:24 (4); Lk 4:17-31 (5-6); Mt 9:30; Jn 9:7 (6) Lk 13:13, (7)
RB cursus	Sat Vespers+AN 3583 (2)
Monastic feasts etc	AN 3413 (10)
Responsories	-
Roman pre 1911	Saturday Vespers
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Wednesday Lauds. 1 970: Wednesday lauds wk 4
Mass propers (EF)	Eastertide3, OF (1); Pent Ember Fri OF (1)

Psalm 108: Overview

Psalm 108 is a imprecatory psalm, and thus has been omitted altogether from the modern Liturgy of the Hours.

St Alphonsus Liguori provided a summary of the debate as to who the imprecations are directed at:

Interpreters have given various explanations of this psalm. Some apply it to Saul giving vent to his anger against Doeg and those that resemble him. Others to David predicting in form of imprecation the chastisements reserved for Doeg and Achitophel, his enemies. Others, as Xavier Mattel, Mark Marius, and Louis Mingarella suppose that the imprecations are uttered against David and Jesus Christ by their enemies. But commonly the Fathers and the other interpreters regard these imprecations as pronounced against Judas and the other enemies of our Lord. This interpretation, which we follow, agrees especially with that of St. Augustine.

The Navarre Commentary provides a useful discussion of the interpretation of the psalm:

Set as it is here, Psalm 108 rounds off the entreaty made for the people (cf. Ps 107:6) with a plea for the psalmist's own salvation (Ps 108:26). God is extolled for saving both people and the person (cf. Ps 107:5; 108:31). As in Psalm 101 which is the counterpart of Psalm 108 in the group, Psalm 108 asks God to show mercy to a distressed member of the chosen people (cf. Ps 101:13; 108:26).

It begins with an appeal to God made by someone unjustly accused and despised (vv. 1-5). He calls on God to punish the wicked (vv. 6-15) and spells out what they have done wrong (vv. 16-20). Then the psalmist, who is poor and needy, asks the Lord to show him mercy (vv. 21-25). The psalm ends with a plea for help for the psalmist and vengeful punishment for his enemies (vv. 26-29)—and a promise to praise the Lord (vv. 30-31). 

One way to understand this psalm and its structure is to take it that the desires expressed in vv. 6-19 have to do with the false accusations levelled against the psalmist, and that v. 20 contains his response. This interpretation avoids attributing to the psalmist the sentiments expressed in those first verses. But one can also interpret it by taking vv. 6-15 as an accusation against the psalmist brought before a tribunal by some enemy (cf. vv. 2,4, 28-29) and that the psalmist is responding to this (w. 16-20) by exposing the wickedness of his accuser. In the latter case the words of the psalmist, which include standard expressions about forms of divine punishment, and which are a chilling imprecation, belong to a time when the fullness of Revelation lay in the future (with Christ) and the law of retaliation/vengeance was the order of the day.

 Persecution of an innocent person— someone, indeed, who loves his enemies (vv. 3,4)—was experienced at its worst by our Lord Jesus Christ; it caused him to cry out, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death" (Mt 26:38). But our Lord's attitude to his persecutors shows what the new law of love involves: he asks God to forgive them, for they don't realize what they are doing (cf. Lk 23:34).

The text of the psalm

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem. Psalmus David.	Unto the end, a psalm for David.
1 Deus, laudem meam ne tacúeris: * quia os peccatóris, et os dolósi super me apértum est.	O God be not silent in my praise: for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me.
2  Locúti sunt advérsum me lingua dolósa, et sermónibus ódii circumdedérunt me: * et expugnavérunt me gratis.	3 They have spoken against me with deceitful tongues; and they have compassed me about with words of hatred; and have fought against me without cause.
3  Pro eo ut me dilígerent, detrahébant mihi: * ego autem orábam.	4 Instead of making me a return of love, they detracted me: but I gave myself to prayer.
4  Et posuérunt advérsum me mala pro bonis: * et ódium pro dilectióne mea.	5 And they repaid me evil for good: and hatred for my love.
5  Constítue super eum peccatórem: * et diábolus stet a dextris ejus.	6 Set the sinner over him: and may the devil stand at his right hand.
6  Cum judicátur, éxeat condemnátus: * et orátio ejus fiat in peccátum.	7 When he is judged, may he go out condemned; and may his prayer be turned to sin.
7  Fiant dies ejus pauci: * et episcopátum ejus accípiat alter.	8 May his days be few: and his bishopric let another take.
8  Fiant fílii ejus órphani: * et uxor ejus vídua.	9 May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
9  Nutántes transferántur fílii ejus, et mendícent: * et ejiciántur de habitatiónibus suis.	10 Let his children be carried about vagabonds, and beg; and let them be cast out of their dwellings.
10  Scrutétur fœnerátor omnem substántiam ejus: * et dirípiant aliéni labóres ejus.	11 May the usurer search all his substance: and let strangers plunder his labours.
11  Non sit illi adjútor: * nec sit qui misereátur pupíllis ejus.	12 May there be none to help him: nor none to pity his fatherless offspring.
12  Fiant nati ejus in intéritum: * in generatióne una deleátur nomen ejus.	13 May his posterity be cut off; in one generation may his name be blotted out.
13  In memóriam rédeat iníquitas patrum ejus in conspéctu Dómini: * et peccátum matris ejus non deleátur.	14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered in the sight of the Lord: and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
14  Fiant contra Dóminum semper, et dispéreat de terra memória eórum: * pro eo quod non est recordátus fácere misericórdiam.	15 May they be before the Lord continually, and let the memory of them perish from the earth: 16 Because he remembered not to show mercy,
15  Et persecútus est hóminem ínopem, et mendícum, * et compúnctum corde mortificáre.	17 but persecuted the poor man and the beggar; and the broken in heart, to put him to death.
16  Et diléxit maledictiónem, et véniet ei: * et nóluit benedictiónem, et elongábitur ab eo.	18 And he loved cursing, and it shall come unto him: and he would not have blessing, and it shall be far from him.
17  Et índuit maledictiónem sicut vestiméntum, * et intrávit sicut aqua in interióra ejus, et sicut óleum in óssibus ejus.	And he put on cursing, like a garment: and it went in like water into his entrails, and like oil in his bones.
18  Fiat ei sicut vestiméntum, quo operítur: * et sicut zona, qua semper præcíngitur.	19 May it be unto him like a garment which covers him; and like a girdle with which he is girded continually
19  Hoc opus eórum, qui détrahunt mihi apud Dóminum: * et qui loquúntur mala advérsus ánimam meam.	20 This is the work of them who detract me before the Lord; and who speak evils against my soul.
20  Et tu, Dómine, Dómine, fac mecum propter nomen tuum: * quia suávis est misericórdia tua.	21 But you, O Lord, do with me for your name's sake: because your mercy is sweet.
21  Líbera me quia egénus, et pauper ego sum: * et cor meum conturbátum est intra me.	Deliver me, 22 for I am poor and needy, and my heart is troubled within me.
22  Sicut umbra cum declínat, ablátus sum: * et excússus sum sicut locústæ.	23 I am taken away like the shadow when it declines: and I am shaken off as locusts.
23  Génua mea infirmáta sunt a jejúnio: * et caro mea immutáta est propter óleum.	24 My knees are weakened through fasting: and my flesh is changed for oil.
24  Et ego factus sum oppróbrium illis: * vidérunt me, et movérunt cápita sua.	25 And I have become a reproach to them: they saw me and they shaked their heads.
25  Adjuva me, Dómine, Deus meus: * salvum me fac secúndum misericórdiam tuam.	26 Help me, O Lord my God; save me; according to your mercy.
26  Et sciant quia manus tua hæc: * et tu, Dómine, fecísti eam.	27 And let them know that this is your hand: and that you, O Lord, have done it.
27  Maledícent illi, et tu benedíces: * qui insúrgunt in me, confundántur: servus autem tuus lætábitur.	28 They will curse and you will bless: let them that rise up against me be confounded: but your servant shall rejoice.
28  Induántur qui détrahunt mihi, pudóre: * et operiántur sicut deplóide confusióne sua.	29 Let them that detract me be clothed with shame: and let them be covered with their confusion as with a double cloak.
29  Confitébor Dómino nimis in ore meo: * et in médio multórum laudábo eum.	30 I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth: and in the midst of many I will praise him.
30  Quia ástitit a dextris páuperis, * ut salvam fáceret a persequéntibus ánimam meam.	31 Because he has stood at the right hand of the poor, to save my soul from persecutors.

Liturgical and Scriptural uses of the psalm

NT references	Acts 1:20 (7); Mt 27:39; Mk 15:29-30 (24); 1 Cor 4:12 (28)
RB cursus	Saturday matins II, 6
Responsories	Palm Sunday v2
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	-
Roman pre 1911	Saturday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Saturday None. 1970: omitted because of imprecatory character
Mass propers (EF)	Lent 3 Wednesday OF (20)