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.

Psalm 90 v2 - God our 'susceptor'

God the geometer, circa 1220-1230
Source: Wiki Commons

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.

Verse 2 of Psalm 90 reminds us of a key theme in Benedictine spirituality, namely our total dependence on God as the sustainer of both our physical and spiritual life.

Understanding the Latin

Key vocabulary for the verse is:

dico, dixi, dictum, ere 3,  to say, speak;  to sing;  in the sense of to think, plan, desire; to praise.

susceptor, oris, m.  upholder, sustainer, a protector, helper, defender, guardian;  a stay, support

refugium, ii, n. a refuge, a place of refuge; fortress, high tower, dwelling place, hiding place, etc.

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

A possible word by word translation is therefore:

Dicet (he will say) Dómino (to the Lord): suscéptor (upholder) meus (my) es (you are) tu (you), et (and) refúgium (refuge) meum (my): Deus (the God) meus (my) sperábo (I will hope) in (in) eum (him).

It is worth noting that in this verse the Hebrew Masoretic Text reverts back to the more familiar names (and trusting, less mysterious) of God, Yahweh, and Elohim.

God our sustainer and upholder

In verse 2, the psalm uses the word susceptor, or person who lifts up and protects to refer to God.  This is the root of the verb suscipe used in the profession ceremony (Psalm 118):

Ps 118:114 : Adjútor et suscéptor meus es tu: * et in verbum tuum supersperávi.	You are my helper and my protector: and in your word I have greatly hoped.
116: Súscipe me secúndum elóquium tuum, et vivam: * et non confúndas me ab exspectatióne mea.	Uphold me according to your word, and I shall live: and let me not be confounded in my expectation.

St Benedict deploys psalms with verses using this word at both the start of each day, in Psalm 3:

Psalm 3:4: Tu autem, Dómine, suscéptor meus es, glória mea, et exáltans caput meum.

But thou, O Lord art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head.

as well as again here at the end of each day:

Psalm 90:2 :  Dicet Dómino : Suscéptor meus es tu, et refúgium meum: * Deus meus sperábo in eum.

He shall say to the Lord: You are my upholder, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust.

The Latin meaning of susceptor (and the associated verb suscipere) is complex, and can imply both a giving and receiving.  In the context of Psalm 3, for example, St Augustine interprets it as a reference to Christ taking human flesh; elsewhere he suggests it was used in relation to a lawyer defending a client in court, and in relation to the Roman ceremony for the adoption of a child.  While the primary meaning here would seem to be defender or protector, it can also be interpreted as a reference to God’s ongoing work of sustaining our very existence.

Unfortunately, though, both twentieth century attempts at new versions of the Latin, the Pian and the neo-Vulgate, replaced the word, losing these connections:

2	VULGATE	Dicet dómino: suscéptor meus es tu, et refúgium meum: * Deus meus sperábo in eum.
	Neo Vulgate	Dicet Domino: “Refugium meum et fortitudo mea, Deus meus, sperabo in eum ”.
	Pian	Dic Domino: Refugium meum et arx mea, Deus meus, in quo confido.
	Jerome from the Hebrew	Dicens Domino, Spes mea et fortitudo mea, Deus meus, confidam in eo.
	(Septuagint	ἐρεῖ τῷ κυρίῳ ἀντιλήμπτωρ μου εἶ καὶ καταφυγή μου ὁ θεός μου ἐλπιῶ ἐ{P'} αὐτόν)

God's help: past, present and future

This verse develops just what the protection of God alluded to in the first verse of the psalm mean in practice.  St Robert Bellarmine's commentary describes this verse as setting out the three favours God grants to his faithful.

The first is that as the sustainer of our lives, God helps and guides us through the gift of grace, including giving us, as St Benedict suggests in the Prologue to the Rule, time to repent of our mortal sins and thus avoid hell.  Bellarmine summarises it thus:

The first favor is that unspeakable mercy of God, through which he supports man after falling into mortal sin, and rushing headlong to hell...

Secondly, God provides a refuge for us.  Here I think we need to consider those helps that keep us going from day to day: the Mass, the Office, moments when we can appreciate beauty in nature, or truth.  Bellarmine commented:

The second favor is one of the present time, and is contained in the expression, "and my refuge." For, when God protects anyone through the grace of justification, he does not, at once, take him up to heaven, but he places him in the line of his soldiers, who are fighting here below, but if he trust in the Lord, he will prove "a refuge" to him in every temptation and difficulty, and a most safe and secure refuge, as the Hebrew word for refuge implies.

The third 'favour' though, and the most important, is that the verse reminds us that we have the hope of heaven, where we will dwell forever with God.  As Bellarmine puts it:

The third favor is a future one, and the greatest of all, and is contained in the words, "my God," for God is the supreme good, and God is always God in himself, and, therefore, the supreme good; and he will be peculiarly so "when we shall see him as he is," for then we shall enjoy the supreme good.

What do we have to do to attain this protection?  The answer is to tell God firmly and clearly, in words and deed, of our total trust in his providence.

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 in this series here.