The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 357

For them that shall be changed... A psalm for Christian converts, to remember the pa.s.sion of Christ.

68:2. Save me, O G.o.d: for the waters are come in even unto my soul.

The waters... Of afflictions and sorrows. My soul is sorrowful even unto death. Matt. 26.38.

68:3. I stick fast in the mire of the deep and there is no sure standing. I am come into the depth of the sea, and a tempest hath overwhelmed me.

68:4. I have laboured with crying; my jaws are become hoa.r.s.e, my eyes have failed, whilst I hope in my G.o.d.

68:5. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head, who hate me without cause. My enemies are grown strong who have wrongfully persecuted me: then did I pay that which I took not away.

I pay that which I took not away... Christ in his pa.s.sion made rest.i.tution of what he had not taken away, by suffering the punishment due to our sins, and so repairing the injury we had done to G.o.d.

68:6. O G.o.d, thou knowest my foolishness; and my offences are not hidden from thee:

My foolishness and my offences... which my enemies impute to me: or the follies and sins of men, which I have taken upon myself.

68:7. Let not them be ashamed for me, who look for thee, O Lord, the Lord of hosts. Let them not be confounded on my account, who seek thee, O G.o.d of Israel.

68:8. Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.

68:9. I am become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to the sons of my mother.

68:10. For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up: and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

68:11. And I covered my soul in fasting: and it was made a reproach to me.

68:12. And I made haircloth my garment: and I became a byword to them.

68:13. They that sat in the gate spoke against me: and they that drank wine made me their song.

68:14. But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Lord; for the time of thy good pleasure, O G.o.d. In the mult.i.tude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

68:15. Draw me out of the mire, that I may not stick fast: deliver me from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

68:16. Let not the tempest of water drown me, nor the deep water swallow me up: and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

68:17. Hear me, O Lord, for thy mercy is kind; look upon me according to the mult.i.tude of thy tender mercies.

68:18. And turn not away thy face from thy servant: for I am in trouble, hear me speedily.

68:19. Attend to my soul, and deliver it: save me because of my enemies.

68:20. Thou knowest my reproach, and my confusion, and my shame.

68:21. In thy sight are all they that afflict me; my heart hath expected reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort me, and I found none.

68:22. And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

68:23. Let their table become as a snare before them, and a recompense, and a stumblingblock.

Let their table, etc... What here follows in the style of an imprecation, is a prophecy of the wretched state to which the Jews should be reduced in punishment of their wilful obstinacy.

68:24. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not; and their back bend thou down always.

68:25. Pour out thy indignation upon them: and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.

68:26. Let their habitation be made desolate: and let there be none to dwell in their tabernacles.

68:27. Because they have persecuted him whom thou hast smitten; and they have added to the grief of my wounds.

68:28. Add thou iniquity upon their iniquity: and let them not come into thy justice.

68:29. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; and with the just let them not be written.

68:30. But I am poor and sorrowful: thy salvation, O G.o.d, hath set me up.

68:31. I will praise the name of G.o.d with a canticle: and I will magnify him with praise.

68:32. And it shall please G.o.d better than a young calf, that bringeth forth horns and hoofs.

68:33. Let the poor see and rejoice: seek ye G.o.d, and your soul shall live.

68:34. For the Lord hath heard the poor: and hath not despised his prisoners.

68:35. Let the heavens and the earth praise him; the sea, and every thing that creepeth therein.

68:36. For G.o.d will save Sion, and the cities of Juda shall be built up.

And they shall dwell there, and acquire it by inheritance.

Sion... The catholic church. The cities of Juda, etc., her places of wors.h.i.+p, which shall be established throughout the world. And there, viz., in this church of Christ, shall his servants dwell, etc.

68:37. And the seed of his servants shall possess it; and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

Psalms Chapter 69

Deus in adjutorium.

A prayer in persecution.

69:1. Unto the end, a psalm for David, to bring to remembrance that the Lord saved him.

69:2. O G.o.d, come to my a.s.sistance; O Lord, make haste to help me.

69:3. Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek my soul:

69:4. Let them be turned backward, and blush for shame that desire evils to me: Let them be presently turned away blus.h.i.+ng for shame that say to me: 'Tis well, 'tis well.