The Book of Psalms — Liber Psalmorum
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Psalm 54
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Douay-Rheims><Vulgate><Knox Bible
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Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David.
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In finem, in carminibus. Intellectus David.
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(To the choir-master. For stringed instruments. A maskil. Of David.)
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Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication:
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Exaudi, Deus, orationem meam, et ne despexeris deprecationem meam:
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Give audience to my prayer, O God; do not spurn this plea of mine;
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be attentive to me and hear me. I am grieved in my exercise; and am troubled,
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intende mihi, et exaudi me. Contristatus sum in exercitatione mea, et conturbatus sum
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hear and grant relief. No rest I find in my distress,
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at the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner. For they have cast iniquities upon me: and in wrath they were troublesome to me.
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a voce inimici, et a tribulatione peccatoris. Quoniam declinaverunt in me iniquitates, et in ira molesti erant mihi.
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daunted ever by the hue and cry of godless enemies, whose malicious spite would compass my ruin.
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My heart is troubled within me: and the fear of death is fallen upon me.
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Cor meum conturbatum est in me, et formido mortis cecidit super me.
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My heart is full of whirling thoughts; the fear of death stands over me;
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Fear and trembling are come upon me: and darkness hath covered me.
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Timor et tremor venerunt super me, et contexerunt me tenebræ.
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trembling and terrified, I see perils closing round me.
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And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?
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Et dixi: Quis dabit mihi pennas sicut columbæ, et volabo, et requiescam?
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Had I but wings, I cry, as a dove has wings, to fly away and find rest!
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Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness.
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Ecce elongavi fugiens, et mansi in solitudine.
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Far would I flee; the wilderness should be my shelter,
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I waited for him that hath saved me from pusillanimity of spirit, and a storm.
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Exspectabam eum qui salvum me fecit a pusillanimitate spiritus, et tempestate.
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so I might find speedy refuge from the whirlwind and the storm.
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Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.
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Præcipita, Domine; divide linguas eorum: quoniam vidi iniquitatem et contradictionem in civitate.
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Plunge them deep, Lord, in ruin, bring dissension into their councils! Do I not see, already, violence and sedition in the city?
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Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in the midst thereof are labour,
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Die ac nocte circumdabit eam super muros ejus iniquitas; et labor in medio ejus,
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Day and night they make the round of its walls, and all the while there is wrong and oppression at the heart of it,
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and injustice. And usury and deceit have not departed from its streets.
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et injustitia: et non defecit de plateis ejus usura et dolus.
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its treacherous heart; cruelty and cunning walk ever in its streets.
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For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden my self from him.
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Quoniam si inimicus meus maledixisset mihi, sustinuissem utique. Et si is qui oderat me super me magna locutus fuisset, abscondissem me forsitan ab eo.
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Had some enemy decried me, I could have borne it patiently; some open ill-wisher, I could have sheltered myself from his attack.
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But thou a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar,
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Tu vero homo unanimis, dux meus, et notus meus:
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But thou, my second self, my familiar friend!
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Who didst take sweetmeats together with me: in the house of God we walked with consent.
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qui simul mecum dulces capiebas cibos; in domo Dei ambulavimus cum consensu.
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How pleasant was the companionship we shared, thou and I; how lovingly we walked as fellow pilgrims in the house of God!
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Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell. For there is wickedness in their dwellings: in the midst of them.
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Veniat mors super illos, et descendant in infernum viventes: quoniam nequitiæ in habitaculis eorum, in medio eorum.
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May death overtake them, may the abyss swallow them up alive, their homes, their hearts so tainted with evil!
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But I have cried to God: and the Lord will save me.
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Ego autem ad Deum clamavi, et Dominus salvabit me.
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Still I will call upon God, and the Lord will save;
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Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice.
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Vespere, et mane, et meridie, narrabo, et annuntiabo; et exaudiet vocem meam.
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still at evening and morn and noon I will cry aloud and make my plea known; he will not be deaf to my appeal.
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He shall redeem my soul in peace from them that draw near to me: for among many they were with me.
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Redimet in pace animam meam ab his qui appropinquant mihi: quoniam inter multos erant mecum.
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He will win my soul peace, will rescue me from attack, when many take part against me.
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God shall hear, and the Eternal shall humble them. For there is no change with them, and they have not feared God:
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Exaudiet Deus, et humiliabit illos, qui est ante sæcula. Non enim est illis commutatio, et non timuerunt Deum.
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He, the God who reigned before time was, will listen to me, will bring them low. Never a change of heart, never the fear of God;
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he hath stretched forth his hand to repay. They have defiled his covenant,
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Extendit manum suam in retribuendo; contaminaverunt testamentum ejus:
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not one but will turn against his friend, break his pledged word.
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they are divided by the wrath of his countenance, and his heart hath drawn near. His words are smoother than oil, and the same are darts.
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divisi sunt ab ira vultus ejus, et appropinquavit cor illius. Molliti sunt sermones ejus super oleum; et ipsi sunt jacula.
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Smooth as butter their looks, when their hearts are all hatred; soft as oil their speech, yet never was drawn sword so deadly.
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Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.
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Jacta super Dominum curam tuam, et ipse te enutriet; non dabit in æternum fluctuationem justo.
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Cast the burden of thy cares upon the Lord, and he will sustain thee; never will he let thee stumble, his servant if thou be.
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But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee, O Lord.
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Tu vero, Deus, deduces eos in puteum interitus. Viri sanguinum et dolosi non dimidiabunt dies suos; ego autem sperabo in te, Domine.
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These, O God, thou wilt sink in a pit of ruin; the blood-thirsty, the treacherous, will not live out half their days; but I, Lord, will put my trust in thee.