Psalm 53 v4 - The God who protects and sustains us

Verse 4 of Psalm 53 is a strong assertion of trust in God's help and protection.

Ecce enim Deus ádjuvat me: et Dóminus suscéptor est ánimæ meæ.

For behold God is my helper: and the Lord is the protector of my soul.

Looking at the Latin

The key vocabulary for verse 4 of Psalm 53 is:

adjuvo, juvi, jutum, are, to help, assist, support, give aid, animate

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

The most difficult of these words to translate is susceptor, since the word means not only protector, but also upholder and sustainer.  The verb related to it (suscipio) is a key part of the Benedictine profession ceremony.

A word by word crib for the verse runs:

Ecce (behold) enim (for) Deus (God) ádjuvat (helps) me: * et (and) Dóminus (the Lord) suscéptor (protector/sustainer) est (he is) ánimæ (of the soul) meæ (of me).

Confidence in God's help

At this point in the psalm, the tone suddenly changes, from that of humble petition, to a bold statement of confidence in God's protection, perfectly appropriate if the psalm is read as the voice of Christ.

In fact St Robert Bellarmine suggested that the change in tone goes back to the story of David’s escape from the betrayal of the Ziphites:

And, in fact, God’s interference was most sudden and unexpected; for, when Saul had so surrounded David with his army, that his escape seemed impossible, a messenger suddenly came to Saul, bringing news of the Philistines having come in a great body to ravage his kingdom; on hearing which he was obliged to give up the pursuit of David; who, in spirit, foresaw all this, and was, possibly, at the very moment pronouncing the words, “For behold, God is my helper; and the Lord is the protector of my soul.”

Similarly the Gospels set out numerous occasions when Christ eluded his persecutors, until that time when he chose to give himself up in order to fulfill his mission.

St Hilary of Poitier suggested it teaches us that we can be sure that God will indeed help us, even in the face of death:

Let pure religion, therefore, have this confidence, and doubt not that amid the persecutions at the hand of man and the dangers to the soul, it still has God for its helper, knowing that, if at length it comes to a violent and unjust death, the soul on leaving the tabernacle of the body finds rest with God its upholder.

The concept of God as our protector and upholder

The concept of God as not just our creator, but also our sustainer, both physically and spiritually is a key one, particularly for Benedictines, whose profession ceremony includes a plea for God to accept and uphold them.

The verse also has strong echoes, as St Thomas Aquinas pointed out, of a verse of Psalm 3, said daily at Matins in the Benedictine (but not Roman Office), namely ‘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).

For this reason it is perhaps a little surprising that St Benedict excluded this psalm from Prime and tempting perhaps to think that it was not part of the hour then, but rather added later by St Gregory the Great by way of a summary of St Benedict’s version of the hour…).

In what does God’s help consist?

Either way, what does this protection include?

St Benedict’s sixth century contemporary pointed to forgiveness of sins, and hence the preservation of our souls, as the key help:

When the Lord supports a person, He does not merely help him in his coils, but also pities and frees him from all sins. Note that he says: Of my soul, so that even if his body is exposed to hazards, the safety of his soul is preserved unharmed. He realised that the Lord protects it in a special way among His saints, for it is through the soul that at the Judgment He is believed to crown a person with abundant love.

St Augustine’s take on the verse, though, which emphasizes the spiritual joys we can enjoy in this life, seems to me more appealing, and a strong reason for inclusion in the Office each day:

For all holy men are helped by God, but within, where no one sees. For in like manner as the conscience of ungodly men is a great punishment, so a great joy is the very conscience of godly men. For our glory this is, says the Apostle, the testimony of our conscience. In this within, not in the flower of the Ziphites without, does glory that man that now says, For behold God helps me. Surely though afar off are to be those things which He promises, this day have I a sweet and present help; today in my heart's joy I find that without cause certain say, Who does show to us good things? For there is signed upon us the light of Your countenance, O Lord, You have put pleasantness into my heart. Not into my vineyard, not into my flock, not into my cask, not into my table, but into my heart. For behold God helps me. How does He help you? And the Lord is the lifter up of my soul.

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem, in carminibus. Intellectus David, 2 cum venissent Ziphæi, et dixissent ad Saul : Nonne David absconditus est apud nos?	Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David. 2 When the men of Ziph had come and said to Saul: Is not David hidden with us?
1 Deus, in nómine tuo salvum me fac: * et in virtúte tua júdica me.	3 Save me, O God, by your name, and judge me in your strength.
2  Deus, exáudi oratiónem meam: * áuribus pércipe verba oris mei.	4 O God, hear my prayer: give ear to the words of my mouth.
3  Quóniam aliéni insurrexérunt advérsum me, et fortes quæsiérunt ánimam meam: * et non proposuérunt Deum ante conspéctum suum.	5 For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes.
4 Ecce enim Deus ádjuvat me: * et Dóminus suscéptor est ánimæ meæ.	6 For behold God is my helper: and the Lord is the protector of my soul.
5  Avérte mala inimícis meis: * et in veritáte tua dispérde illos.	7 Turn back the evils upon my enemies; and cut them off in your truth.
6  Voluntárie sacrificábo tibi, * et confitébor nómini tuo, Dómine: quóniam bonum est :	8 I will freely sacrifice to you, and will give praise, O God, to your name: because it is good:
7  Quóniam ex omni tribulatióne eripuísti me: * et super inimícos meos despéxit óculus meus.	9 For you have delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye has looked down upon my enemies.

The next part in this series can be found here.

Psalm 53 v 3 - On being strangers to the world, the flesh and the devil

Verse 3 of Psalm 53 states the central problem of the psalm: people the psalmist doesn’t know are seeking to harm him, ignoring all thought of God. Theodoret of Cyr paraphrased it as follows:

I need your assistance and support, 0 Lord, he is saying, harassed as I am by impious men trusting in their great power, human though it is and dependent on this belief in many gods, and longing to dispatch me to death. They presume to make this attempt against me, however, since they are ignorant of your providence, or rather they even despise it.

Quóniam aliéni insurrexérunt advérsum me, et fortes quæsiérunt ánimam meam: et non proposuérunt Deum ante conspéctum suum

For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes.

Looking at the Latin

The key vocabulary for this verse is:

alienus i m strange, not one's own; a stranger in a hostile, unfriendly sense

insurgo, surrexi, surrectum, ere 3 to rise up against, revolt against;

adversus or adversum, prep, with ace against; in the presence of, over against, before.

fortis, e, strong, mighty, patient, long-suffering

quaero, sivi, situm, ere 3,  to seek, seek after; to will, desire, think upon.

propono posui positum ere 3 to set or place before; to prefer, give preference to

ante, +acc, before,

conspectus, us, m. sight, presence;

Accordingly, a word by word rendering of the verse is:

Quóniam (for/because) aliéni (strangers) insurrexérunt (they have risen up) advérsum (against) me, et (and) fortes (the strong) quæsiérunt (they seek) ánimam (the soul) meam (mine): * et (and) non (not) proposuérunt (they have set/placed) Deum (God) ante (before) conspéctum (the sight/presence) suum (their).

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

DR	For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes.
Brenton	For strangers have risen up against me, and mighty men have sought my life: they have not set God before them.
RSV	For insolent men have risen against me, ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before them.
Coverdale	For strangers are risen up against me; and tyrants, which have not God before their eyes, seek after my soul.
Knox	Scornful foes take arms against me, fierce foes that grudge me life itself, with no thought of God to check them.
Collegeville	For strangers have risen up against me, and the mighty have sought my soul; they set not God before their sight.
Grail	For proud men have risen against me, ruthless men seek my life. They have no regard for God.

Strangers or the proud and arrogant?

One of the key differences between the translations given above reflects the debate around the word alieni.

In the Scriptural story alluded to in the title of the verse, the strangers in question, the Ziphites, were Jews not gentiles, so the verse would seem not to be talking about foreigners.  

Some have argued, though, that in fact the Septuagint is a misreading of the original Hebrew, which should have been read as zedim (violent or arrogant ones), rather than zarim (strangers), and both the Pian and neo-Vulgate translations take this position.  

However, Jerome’s translation from the Hebrew, the Masoretic Text (which uses zuwr, Strong's H2114) and the Syriac all agree with the Septuagint in this case.

Vulgate	Quóniam aliéni insurrexérunt advérsum me, et fortes quæsiérunt ánimam meam: * et non proposuérunt Deum ante conspéctum suum.
Pian	Nam superbi insurrexerunt contra me, Et violenti quaesierunt vitam meam; Non proposuerunt Deum ante oculos suos.
Neo-Vulgate	Quoniam superbi insurrexerunt adversum me, et fortes quaesierunt animam meam et non proposuerunt Deum ante conspectum suum.
Jerome from the HebrewH	Quia alieni insurrexerunt adversum me, et fortes quaesierunt animam meam, et non posuerunt Deum in conspectu suo.
Septuagint	ὅτι ἀλλότριοι ἐπανέστησαν ἐ{P'} ἐμέ καὶ κραταιοὶ ἐζήτησαν τὴν ψυχήν μου οὐ προέθεντο τὸν θεὸν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν διάψαλμα

Who are strangers to us?

In what sense then, are the Ziphites strangers to David (and Christ's betrayers to him)?

The first and most obvious meaning of stranger in this verse is simply people we don’t personally know.

David’s persecution by Saul was unjust, but he did at least know him, as St Robert Bellarmine notes:

Saul’s persecution was entirely grounded on his fears that David would, at one time come to the throne; and, therefore, sought to have his life at any risk; for though he knew him to be innocent, yet, so blinded was he by the desire of keeping the sovereignty in his own family, that he looked upon as fair and honorable, what, in reality, was the height of injustice..

What though is the motivation of the Ziphites?  St Thomas Aquinas suggests three: their inherent dispositions and desires, or what St Cassiodorus describes as the malevolence of their deranged minds; a desire for and trust in secular power wealth; and a contempt for God.

But the verse is applicable to Judas too, the Fathers argued, because we become strangers to God when we reject him through our action: strangers, St Cassiodorus argues, means ‘those who have become foreign to the Lord through their works’.

The problem of practical atheism

Although the title to the psalm talks specifically about individuals who betrayed David (and hence Christ), the Fathers also interpreted strangers to refer to the temptations that also assail us all, such as a desire for wealth, pleasure and power.

St Augustine, for example, warned that the mighty men who seek our souls can take the form of the world, the flesh and devil, and that by succumbing to these sources of temptation, we can become strangers to Christ.

Interestingly, the psalm’s reference to those who act as if God doesn’t exist is also a key theme that runs through the Benedictine version of Prime.

Many of the psalms St Benedict sets for Prime (Ps 1-2, 6-19) mirror the opening verses of Psalms 53’s plea for God to hear our prayer and vindicate the speaker; many are pleas for help in the face of persecution by enemies.  

And the proud, and arrogant who act as if God does not exist are the key target of the psalmists woes in this group of psalms.

On Monday for example, St Benedict sets Psalm 2, which deals with the kings of the earth – usually interpreted as Herod and the Jewish leaders – conspiring against Christ; on Wednesday, the section of Psalm 9 set for the hour uses almost the same words as Psalm 53 (Non est Deus in conspectus eius) to complain of the sinner who oppresses the poor seemingly without fear of consequences; and on Thursday Psalm 13 opens with the verse, The fool says in his heart, there is no God’.

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem, in carminibus. Intellectus David, 2 cum venissent Ziphæi, et dixissent ad Saul : Nonne David absconditus est apud nos?	Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David. 2 When the men of Ziph had come and said to Saul: Is not David hidden with us?
1 Deus, in nómine tuo salvum me fac: * et in virtúte tua júdica me.	3 Save me, O God, by your name, and judge me in your strength.
2  Deus, exáudi oratiónem meam: * áuribus pércipe verba oris mei.	4 O God, hear my prayer: give ear to the words of my mouth.
3  Quóniam aliéni insurrexérunt advérsum me, et fortes quæsiérunt ánimam meam: * et non proposuérunt Deum ante conspéctum suum.	5 For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes.
4 Ecce enim Deus ádjuvat me: * et Dóminus suscéptor est ánimæ meæ.	6 For behold God is my helper: and the Lord is the protector of my soul.
5  Avérte mala inimícis meis: * et in veritáte tua dispérde illos.	7 Turn back the evils upon my enemies; and cut them off in your truth.
6  Voluntárie sacrificábo tibi, * et confitébor nómini tuo, Dómine: quóniam bonum est :	8 I will freely sacrifice to you, and will give praise, O God, to your name: because it is good:
7  Quóniam ex omni tribulatióne eripuísti me: * et super inimícos meos despéxit óculus meus.	9 For you have delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye has looked down upon my enemies.

And you can find the next post in this series on Psalm 53 here.

Psalm 53 v2 - Why do we need to keep asking?

At first glance the two phrases of verse 2 of Psalm 53 seem to say the same thing, using words frequently repeated in the psalter.  

The Fathers and Theologians though, drew out several important nuances in its wording, including the distinction between making our plea, and it being heard and granted; and between mental and aural prayer.

Looking at the Latin

Deus, exáudi oratiónem meam: áuribus pércipe verba oris mei.

O God, hear my prayer: give ear to the words of my mouth.

A word by word crib for the verse is:

Deus (God, voc), exáudi (hear, 2nd sg pres imperat act) oratiónem (prayer) meam (my): áuribus (with the ears) pércipe (hear/understand) verba (the words) oris (of the mouth) mei (of me).

exaudio, ivi, itum, ire, to hear, hearken to, listen to, give heed to; to regard, answer.

oratio, onis, f. prayer, supplication

auris, is, f the ear.

percipio, cepi, ceptum, ere 3 to perceive; to take wholly, seize entirely, take possession of, seize, occupy.

[Auribus percipe, hear, hearken, give ear to. ]

verbum, i, n.,word, command, edict, also a promise; saying, speech; Law, the Eternal Son.

os, oris, n., the mouth. 

Mental vs aural prayer

St Cassiodorus sees the verse as reflecting two types of prayer, that of our mind, and the audible prayers:

…because God could hear even a silent prayer, he added: Take in the words of my mouth, so that He should hear not merely the impulse of his heart but also the words of his mouth: The expression, take in, is notable, for the correct sense of take in is that we store things in the hidden depths of the mind.

St Augustine hinted at the same point when he said:

To You may my prayer attain, driven forth and darted out from the desire of Your eternal blessings: to Your ears I send it forth, aid it that it may reach, lest it fall short in the middle of the way, and fainting as it were it fall down. 

Listening vs answering

At the very least, the verse is a plea to grant the help asked for in the previous verse.  

St Robert Bellarmine, for example, commented:

Having acknowledged the power of the Lord, he now begs of him to apply his power to himself. “O God, hear my prayer;” I know you can do anything but I pray that you may wish to do it. I, therefore, ask that you may hear the prayer I put up to you, to exercise your power in saving me. He repeats it, “Give ear to the words of my mouth;” that is, turn not away your ears, and do not despise my prayer.

But St Thomas Aquinas introduced another nuance, pointing to a distinction between whether the prayer was heard and whether it was answered:

There are two things in his prayer, namely, that which is asked for, and the petition itself. When God hears the cause that is asked for, but not however, the petition itself, this is because that which is asked for is gotten by somebody out of grace and pity; and these are given by God. But the very same petition can be made by a sinner; and thus this is not heard, since it is not acceptable to God. So, he asks precisely that his prayer or petition be fulfilled when he says: O God, hear my prayer, and that his words be heard by [His] ears, Give ear to the words of my mouth, which takes place when God accepts and approves of his words; Psalm 5: Give ear, O Lord, to my words.

Why do we need to demand that God hear us?

Both St Hilary and St Augustine note that this psalm is intended to provide a model for us, encouraging us to keep on praying even when God seems to reject our petitions.  

St Augustine pointed to the example of St Paul, who three times had his prayer for freedom from temptations rejected, being told instead, ‘My Grace suffices for you’; St Hilary pointed to the model we are given in Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The bottom line, according to St Augustine, is that we must seek to pray for the things that we need for our own good, and be open to God's prescriptions for us: 

… brethren, we admonish and exhort you in the Lord, that you ask not anything as if it were a thing settled, but that which God knows to be expedient for you. For what is expedient for you, you know not at all. Sometimes that which you think to be for you is against you, and that which you think to be against you is for you. For sick you are; do not dictate to the physician the medicines he may choose to set beside you.

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
In finem, in carminibus. Intellectus David, 2 cum venissent Ziphæi, et dixissent ad Saul : Nonne David absconditus est apud nos?	Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David. 2 When the men of Ziph had come and said to Saul: Is not David hidden with us?
1 Deus, in nómine tuo salvum me fac: * et in virtúte tua júdica me.	3 Save me, O God, by your name, and judge me in your strength.
2  Deus, exáudi oratiónem meam: * áuribus pércipe verba oris mei.	4 O God, hear my prayer: give ear to the words of my mouth.
3  Quóniam aliéni insurrexérunt advérsum me, et fortes quæsiérunt ánimam meam: * et non proposuérunt Deum ante conspéctum suum.	5 For strangers have risen up against me; and the mighty have sought after my soul: and they have not set God before their eyes.
4 Ecce enim Deus ádjuvat me: * et Dóminus suscéptor est ánimæ meæ.	6 For behold God is my helper: and the Lord is the protector of my soul.
5  Avérte mala inimícis meis: * et in veritáte tua dispérde illos.	7 Turn back the evils upon my enemies; and cut them off in your truth.
6  Voluntárie sacrificábo tibi, * et confitébor nómini tuo, Dómine: quóniam bonum est :	8 I will freely sacrifice to you, and will give praise, O God, to your name: because it is good:
7  Quóniam ex omni tribulatióne eripuísti me: * et super inimícos meos despéxit óculus meus.	9 For you have delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye has looked down upon my enemies.

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