Showing posts with label Ps 7. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ps 7. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Psalm 7 (Prime, Tuesday) - Short summaries


File:Folio 88r - Psalm VII.jpg



Psalm 7: Dómine, Deus meus, in te sperávi 
Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
Psalmus David, quem cantavit Domino pro verbis Chusi, filii Jemini.
The psalm of David, which he sung to the Lord, for the words of Chusi, the son of Jemini.
Dómine, Deus meus, in te sperávi : * salvum me fac ex ómnibus persequéntibus me, et líbera me.
Lord, my God, in you have I put my trust; save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me.
2.  Nequándo rápiat ut leo ánimam meam, * dum non est qui rédimat, neque qui salvum fáciat.
Lest at any time he seize upon my soul like a lion, while there is no one to redeem me, nor to save.
3  Dómine, Deus meus, si feci istud. * si est iníquitas in mánibus meis :
O Lord, my God, if I have done this thing, if there be iniquity in my hands
Si réddidi retribuéntibus mihi mala, * décidam mérito ab inimícis meis inánis.
If I have rendered to them that repaid me evils, let me deservedly fall empty before my enemies.
5  Persequátur inimícus ánimam meam, et comprehéndat, et concúlcet in terra vitam meam, * et glóriam meam in púlverem dedúcat.
Let the enemy pursue my soul, and take it, and tread down my life, on the earth, and bring down my glory to the dust.
6  Exsúrge, Dómine, in ira tua : * et exaltáre in fínibus inimicórum meórum.
Rise up, O Lord, in your anger: and be exalted in the borders of my enemies.
7  Et exsúrge, Dómine Deus meus, in præcépto quod mandásti : * et synagóga populórum circúmdabit te.
And arise, O Lord, my God, in the precept which you have commanded: And a congregation of people shall surround you.
8  Et propter hanc in altum regrédere : * Dóminus júdicat pópulos.
And for their sakes return on high. The Lord judges the people.
9  Júdica me, Dómine, secúndum justítiam meam, * et secúndum innocéntiam meam super me.
Judge me, O Lord, according to my justice, and according to my innocence in me.
10  Consumétur nequítia peccatórum, et díriges justum, *  scrutans corda et renes Deus.
The wickedness of sinners shall be brought to nought; and you shall direct the just: the searcher of hearts and reins is God.
11 Justum adjutórium meum a Dómino, * qui salvos facit rectos corde.
Just is my help from the Lord; who saves the upright of heart
12  Deus judex justus, fortis, et pátiens : * numquid iráscitur per síngulos dies?
God is a just judge, strong and patient: is he angry every day?
13  Nisi convérsi fuéritis, gládium suum vibrábit : * arcum suum teténdit, et parávit illum.
Except you will be converted, he will brandish his sword; he has bent his bow, and made it ready.
14  Et in eo parávit vasa mortis : * sagíttas suas ardéntibus effécit.
And in it he has prepared to instruments of death, he has made ready his arrows for them that burn.
15  Ecce partúriit injustítiam : * concépit dolórem, et péperit iniquitátem.
Behold he has been in labour with injustice: he has conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity.
16  Lacum apéruit, et effódit eum : * et íncidit in fóveam quam fecit.
He has opened a pit and dug it: and he is fallen into the hole he made.
17  Convertétur dolor ejus in caput ejus : * et in vérticem ipsíus iníquitas ejus descéndet.
His sorrow shall be turned on his own head: and his iniquity shall come down upon his crown.
18  Confitébor Dómino secúndum justítiam ejus : * et psallam nómini Dómini altíssimi.
I will give glory to the Lord according to his justice: and will sing to the name of the Lord the most high.

You can listen to Psalm 7 being read aloud at Boston Catholic. and then listen to this version which alternates chant tones with a harmonised version (note antiphon first).



The overall theme of Tuesday in the Benedictine Office is Christ's public ministry, the preaching of the kingdom, and particularly of Our Lord as the true Temple.  

In this context, the psalms St Benedict set for Prime form a triptych that looks at our response to God’s call: in particular, they focus on God’s gift to us of free will, and the consequences thereof, both positive and negative.

This psalm, Psalm 7, is the plea of a man falsely accused and persecuted by a friend, asking for God to help him and to set things right.  In the psalm King David, asks the Lord to attest to his innocence of the charges made against him, while speaking of his anguish at the attacks on his integrity. The Fathers typically saw it as a prophesy of the rejection of Christ’s teaching by those who should have most welcomed his coming.

The second half of the psalm sets out God’s role in rendering judgment: God knows what is in our hearts and minds; based on that, he saves the righteous and punishes the sinner. St Benedict actually quotes verse 10 of Psalm 7, on God searching our hearts and minds, in his discussion of the first degree of humility (ch 7, line 14), urging us to be always consciously aware of the presence of God, who is watching us to see if we turning away from evil and doing good.

Because of the psalm's pleas for God’s redeeming power to be manifested, and emphasis on salvation through repentance, it is also said in the Office of the Dead at Matins.

St Augustine:
Now the story which gave occasion to this prophecy may be easily recognised in the second book of Kings (2 Samuel 15:34-37) For there Chusi, the friend of king David, went over to the side of Abessalon, his son, who was carrying on war against his father, for the purpose of discovering and reporting the designs which he was taking against his father, at the instigation of Achitophel, who had revolted from David's friendship, and was instructing by his counsel, to the best of his power, the son against the father. 
But since it is not the story itself which is to be the subject of consideration in this Psalm, from which the prophet has taken a veil of mysteries, if we have passed over to Christ, let the veil be taken away...The ruin then of that disciple, who betrayed Him, is rightly understood to be a brother's ruin, which we said is the interpretation of Achitophel. Now as to Chusi, from the interpretation of silence, it is rightly understood that our Lord contended against that guile in silence, that is, in that most deep secret, whereby blindness happened in part to Israel, when they were persecuting the Lord, that the fullness of the Gentiles might enter in, and so all Israel might be saved...Thus that great silence he does not so much discover by explanation, as he sets forth its greatness in admiration. In this silence the Lord, hiding the sacrament of His adorable passion, turns the brother's voluntary ruin, that is, His betrayer's impious wickedness, into the order of His mercy and providence: that what he with perverse mind wrought for one Man's destruction, He might by providential overruling dispose for all men's salvation.
...This Psalm can also be taken in the person of the Lord Man: if only that which is there spoken in humiliation be referred to our weakness, which He bore. 

Cassiodorus:
So the prophet hymned this psalm about the future mystery of the Lord, taking Chusi as a model, for just as David endured unjust persecution from his son Absalom whom he had begotten and raised, so the Lord bore the madness of the abominable arrogance shown by the people whom He had freed and nurtured....In the first section the psalmist speaks in his own person, begging the Lord to be set free from his persecutors through His strength....In the second section, the prophet also asks that the glory of His Resurrection should be made manifest and come to his aid.  The third section ushers in the Lord as Spokesman, asking in the lowly role he has assumed to be judged according to his justice and truth....In the fourth part the prophet again speaks, warning the Jews to abandon their intended wickedness from fear of future judgment...

St Thomas Aquinas:
The account in 2 Kings 17 tells that David fled from the presence of his son...Therefore, when David heard that message of Chusi, he sang this song to the Lord. In a mystical sense, this Psalm can be about the Church and against its persecutors…this psalm has three sections. First, a prayer is set forth. Second, there is a hearkening to the prayer at May the Lord judge, and third, an act of thanksgiving at I will praise the Lord." …First he prays that he would be set free from his enemies…he asks for mercy. Second, that his enemies would be weighed down, Second, he recounts his own innocence…
St Alphonsus Liguori:
Addressing himself to God, David represents to him his innocence and at the same time the anguish of his heart; this was at the time of the persecution that he had to endure from Saul or from Absalom more probably from Saul. The holy king exhorts at the same time his enemies to be converted, and predicts to them the chastisement of heaven if they are not converted. 
In the prophetical sense, says Bellarmine, David represents the person of Jesus Christ, and that of all the just who are calumniated and persecuted.

And a setting of the psalm to meditate to:




Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Introduction to Psalm 7

c1360
Speculum Humanae Salvationis,
Westfalen oder Köln,
ULB Darmstadt, Hs 2505, fol. 27r

I want to finish up, for the moment, this gap filling exercize on the Office of the Dead with introductory notes for the couple of psalms of that Office that I haven't previously posted on here at all, viz Psalms 7, 40, 41 and 64.  I'll come back with verse by verse notes on these later.  

Today, Psalm 7, which is also said on Tuesday at Prime in the Benedictine Office.

In the context of the Office of the Dead, Psalm 7 can, perhaps, be read above all as a prayer for final perseverance in the face of attack from the devil.

In the context of Tuesday Prime the three psalms set for the hour arguably form a triptych that looks at our response to God’s call: in particular, they focus on God’s gift to us of intellect and free will, and the consequences thereof, both positive and negative.

Psalm 7: Dómine, Deus meus, in te sperávi
Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
Psalmus David, quem cantavit Domino pro verbis Chusi, filii Jemini.
The psalm of David, which he sung to the Lord, for the words of Chusi, the son of Jemini.
Dómine, Deus meus, in te sperávi : * salvum me fac ex ómnibus persequéntibus me, et líbera me.
Lord, my God, in you have I put my trust; save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me.
2.  Nequándo rápiat ut leo ánimam meam, * dum non est qui rédimat, neque qui salvum fáciat.
Lest at any time he seize upon my soul like a lion, while there is no one to redeem me, nor to save.
3  Dómine, Deus meus, si feci istud. * si est iníquitas in mánibus meis :
O Lord, my God, if I have done this thing, if there be iniquity in my hands
Si réddidi retribuéntibus mihi mala, * décidam mérito ab inimícis meis inánis.
If I have rendered to them that repaid me evils, let me deservedly fall empty before my enemies.
5  Persequátur inimícus ánimam meam, et comprehéndat, et concúlcet in terra vitam meam, * et glóriam meam in púlverem dedúcat.
Let the enemy pursue my soul, and take it, and tread down my life, on the earth, and bring down my glory to the dust.
6  Exsúrge, Dómine, in ira tua : * et exaltáre in fínibus inimicórum meórum.
Rise up, O Lord, in your anger: and be exalted in the borders of my enemies.
7  Et exsúrge, Dómine Deus meus, in præcépto quod mandásti : * et synagóga populórum circúmdabit te.
And arise, O Lord, my God, in the precept which you have commanded: And a congregation of people shall surround you.
8  Et propter hanc in altum regrédere : * Dóminus júdicat pópulos.
And for their sakes return on high. The Lord judges the people.
9  Júdica me, Dómine, secúndum justítiam meam, * et secúndum innocéntiam meam super me.
Judge me, O Lord, according to my justice, and according to my innocence in me.
10  Consumétur nequítia peccatórum, et díriges justum, *  scrutans corda et renes Deus.
The wickedness of sinners shall be brought to nought; and you shall direct the just: the searcher of hearts and reins is God.
11 Justum adjutórium meum a Dómino, * qui salvos facit rectos corde.
Just is my help from the Lord; who saves the upright of heart
12  Deus judex justus, fortis, et pátiens : * numquid iráscitur per síngulos dies?
God is a just judge, strong and patient: is he angry every day?
13  Nisi convérsi fuéritis, gládium suum vibrábit : * arcum suum teténdit, et parávit illum.
Except you will be converted, he will brandish his sword; he has bent his bow, and made it ready.
14  Et in eo parávit vasa mortis : * sagíttas suas ardéntibus effécit.
And in it he has prepared to instruments of death, he has made ready his arrows for them that burn.
15  Ecce partúriit injustítiam : * concépit dolórem, et péperit iniquitátem.
Behold he has been in labour with injustice: he has conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity.
16  Lacum apéruit, et effódit eum : * et íncidit in fóveam quam fecit.
He has opened a pit and dug it: and he is fallen into the hole he made.
17  Convertétur dolor ejus in caput ejus : * et in vérticem ipsíus iníquitas ejus descéndet.
His sorrow shall be turned on his own head: and his iniquity shall come down upon his crown.
18  Confitébor Dómino secúndum justítiam ejus : * et psallam nómini Dómini altíssimi.
I will give glory to the Lord according to his justice: and will sing to the name of the Lord the most high.

Scriptural context


Because the titles of the psalm given in the Septuagint ('The psalm of David, which he sung to the Lord, for the words of Chusi, the son of Jemini') and Hebrew Masoretic ('A shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush the Benjaminite') texts differ, and are both in any case obscure, there are competing views as to which particular incident in King David’s life is referred to in this psalm.  The most likely reference seems to be to the rebellion of David’s son Absalom, aided by David’s trusted adviser Achitophel (Chusi .  Others however see it as a reference to Saul’s persecution of David much earlier in his career.

Either way, the psalm can be interpreted as presenting David as a ‘type’ of Our Lord, representing all who are calumniated and persecuted, including the Church itself.  The psalm is the plea of a man falsely accused and persecuted by a friend, and asks God to help him and to set things right.

The psalmist asks the Lord to attest to his innocence of the charges made against him, while speaking of his anguish at the attacks on his integrity.

The second half of the psalm sets out God’s role in rendering judgment: God knows what is in our hearts and minds; based on that, he saves the righteous and punishes the sinner.

In the Office of the Dead

The psalm's place in the Office of the Dead is surely due to its pleas for God’s redeeming power to be manifested, and emphasis on salvation through repentance.

The persecutors of the psalm can be read not just as people opposed to the psalmist, but also as referring to purely spiritual enemies, the temptations that we all face.  In particular, the image of the lion, who threatens to seize his soul (verse 2) is one that frequently is frequently used to refer to the devil (cf for example 1 Peter, used at Compline).

Similarly, the sword of justice (verse 13) symbolises the punishment at our deaths and at the final judgment, but which the psalmist points out can yet be avoided by repentance.

In the context of Tuesday Prime

Tuesday in the Benedictine Office is, I have argued elsewhere, is focused on the public ministry of Jesus, and particularly how his instruction and example can aid us in making progress in the pursuit of perfection, symbolised most obviously by the use of the Gradual psalms on this day.

This psalm sets out several important points to meditate on as we contemplate this ascent to the temple of heaven.

First, the psalm stresses his absolute trust and sense of dependence on God alone as the source of redemption and salvation.  The key takeout message is that instead of looking first to our own efforts to defeat attacks on us (whether from actual people, or in the form of temptations), we should rather ask God for help.

Secondly, St Benedict quotes verse 10 in his chapter on humility as a reminder that nothing can be hidden from God: God searches the ‘hearts and reins’ of a person, our hearts and minds; he knows all our inner thoughts.

Thirdly, the psalm reminds us that the struggle for perfection is not an easy one.  In this world, as we all know all too well, injustice frequently prevails, due to the effects of original sin and free will.  Those who do nothing wrong, nothing but stand up for the good, often face lies spread about them and other forms of persecution, as the lives of the saints.  Why does God allow this, allowing even his Son to be persecuted and die on the Cross?  The Church teaches that such events are the result of God allowing us to make our own decisions - to exercise our free will - about whether to do what is good, or to choose evil.  But we are also taught that even when we choose to do evil, God arranges events so as to bring good out of it.  Consider for example, St Benedict, who was forced to leave Subiaco due to the envy of a local priest.  Yet his move to Monte Cassino marked the start of a new missionary endeavour that was to have lasting consequences for Western civilization; and of course the Cross is the means of our redemption.

Fourthly we should be motivated by the fact that justice will ultimately prevail.  Those who suffer now from unfair attacks are able to bear it now secure in the knowledge that they will be rewarded in the next life; and because we know that in the end, God’s justice will catch up with the Hitler’s, Bin Laden’s and their petty imitators on a much smaller scale.  The psalmist makes the point that sin rebounds on the sinner one way or another (verse 16).

Finally we are enjoined to remember that mercy is always possible, at least as long as we live.  As in many psalms, the speaker asks God for vengeance on enemies.  This should not, however, be read too literally: what the psalmist actually wants, as he makes clear in the second half of the psalm, is for his persecutors to repent of their actions and be converted.  David says of himself in verse 4 that he actually tried to repay the evil done to him with good, as the Sermon the Mount urges Christians to do.  He also notes that God is patient (verse 12), and that although his punishments are prepared, they are conditional, applying only if the sinner rejects the chances God offers for conversion (verses 13-14).

St Alphonsus Liguori goes a step further, suggesting that the punishments David asks for in this context, are not eternal punishments but temporal ones, designed to persuade the sinner to change course before it is too late.  Some of the greatest sinners, after all, as St John Chrysostom points out in relation to the verse 12’s praise of God’s patience, strength and justness, have gone on to become the greatest saints.  And though David plead his innocence in this particular instance, he was certainly guilty of serious sins later on in his life!  All of us sin, all of us need to heed this call to conversion.

And it is to this call to strive to do better that the Psalm enjoins us.

Liturgical and Scriptural uses of the psalm

NT refs

Rev 2:23 (v10);

Lk 13:3 (v13);

James 1:15 (v15)

RB cursus

Tuesday Prime+2172 (12)

Monastic

feasts etc

All Souls,

Matins of Dead

AN 2334 (2),

3875 (3),

2173 (9, 12),

4494 (11)

3530, 4831, 2172 (12)

Responsories

6490 (2)

Holy Week Tues no 3-7747 (4, 8, 10)

Roman pre 1911

Sunday matins

Roman post 1911

1911-62: Sunday Compline. 1970:

Mass propers (EF)

Ember Sat Lent CO (2),

Post Pentecost 2 (AL, 2), (CO,18)

Post Pent. 3 (AL, 12)

? OF: (2-3), OF Triplex pg 185

Im Heart of Mary GR (18)