In finem. Psalmus David.

(To the choir-master. Of David. A psalm.)

Unto the end, a psalm for David.

Deus, laudem meam ne tacueris, quia os peccatoris et os dolosi super me apertum est.

God that guardest my renown, do not leave me unbefriended; there are malicious lips, treacherous lips, that decry me;

O God, be not thou silent in my praise: for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful man is opened against me.

Locuti sunt adversum me lingua dolosa, et sermonibus odii circumdederunt me: et expugnaverunt me gratis.

whispering against me, hedging me about with a conspiracy of hatred, in unprovoked attack.

They have spoken against me with deceitful tongues; and they have compassed me about with words of hatred; and have fought against me without cause.

Pro eo ut me diligerent, detrahebant mihi; ego autem orabam.

On their side, all calumny in return for love, on mine all prayer;

Instead of making me a return of love, they detracted me: but I gave myself to prayer.

Et posuerunt adversum me mala pro bonis, et odium pro dilectione mea.

kindness is repaid with injury, love with ill will.

And they repaid me evil for good: and hatred for my love.

Constitue super eum peccatorem, et diabolus stet a dextris ejus.

An ill master let him have, and an accuser ready at his side;

Set thou the sinner over him: and may the devil stand at his right hand.

Cum judicatur, exeat condemnatus; et oratio ejus fiat in peccatum.

let him leave the court of judgement a doomed man, pleading with heaven in vain.

When he is judged, may he go out condemned; and may his prayer be turned to sin.

Fiant dies ejus pauci, et episcopatum ejus accipiat alter.

Swiftly let his days come to an end, and his office be entrusted to another;

May his days be few: and his bishopric let another take.

Fiant filii ejus orphani, et uxor ejus vidua.

orphancy for the children, widowhood for the wife!

May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

Nutantes transferantur filii ejus et mendicent, et ejiciantur de habitationibus suis.

Driven from a ruined home, to and fro let his children wander, begging their bread,

Let his children be carried about vagabonds, and beg; and let them be cast out of their dwellings.

Scrutetur fœnerator omnem substantiam ejus, et diripiant alieni labores ejus.

while eager creditors eye his goods, and strangers divide the fruits of his toil.

May the usurer search all his substance: and let strangers plunder his labours.

Non sit illi adjutor, nec sit qui misereatur pupillis ejus.

May no friend be left to do him a kindness, none to have pity on his defenceless kin;

May there be none to help him: nor none to pity his fatherless offspring.

Fiant nati ejus in interitum; in generatione una deleatur nomen ejus.

a speedy end to his race, oblivion for his name before a generation passes!

May his posterity be cut off; in one generation may his name be blotted out.

In memoriam redeat iniquitas patrum ejus in conspectu Domini, et peccatum matris ejus non deleatur.

Still may the sin of his fathers be remembered in the Lord’s sight, his mother’s guilt remain indelible;

May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered in the sight of the Lord: and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

Fiant contra Dominum semper, et dispereat de terra memoria eorum:

still may the Lord keep it in mind, and wipe out their memory from the earth.

May they be before the Lord continually, and let the memory of them perish from the earth:

pro eo quod non est recordatus facere misericordiam,

Did he himself keep mercy in mind,

because he remembered not to shew mercy,

et persecutus est hominem inopem et mendicum, et compunctum corde, mortificare.

when he persecuted the helpless, the destitute, the grief-stricken, and marked them down for death?

But persecuted the poor man and the beggar; and the broken in heart, to put him to death.

Et dilexit maledictionem, et veniet ei; et noluit benedictionem, et elongabitur ab eo. Et induit maledictionem sicut vestimentum; et intravit sicut aqua in interiora ejus, et sicut oleum in ossibus ejus.

Cursing he loved, upon him let the curse fall; for blessing he cared little, may blessing still pass him by. Let cursing wrap him about, sink like water into his inmost being, soak, like oil, into the marrow of his bones!

And he loved cursing, and it shall come unto him: and he would not have blessing, and it shall be far from him. And he put on cursing, like a garment: and it went in like water into his entrails, and like oil in his bones.

Fiat ei sicut vestimentum quo operitur, et sicut zona qua semper præcingitur.

Let it be the garb he wears, cling to him like a girdle that he can never take off.

May it be unto him like a garment which covereth him; and like a girdle with which he is girded continually.

Hoc opus eorum qui detrahunt mihi apud Dominum, et qui loquuntur mala adversus animam meam.

So, in their own coin, may the Lord repay them, my accusers that defame me so cruelly.

This is the work of them who detract me before the Lord; and who speak evils against my soul.

Et tu, Domine, Domine, fac mecum propter nomen tuum, quia suavis est misericordia tua.

But do thou, my Lord and Master, take my part, to defend thy own honour; no mercy is so tender as thine.

But thou, O Lord, do with me for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is sweet. Do thou deliver me,

Libera me, quia egenus et pauper ego sum, et cor meum conturbatum est intra me.

Deliver me in my helpless need; my heart is pierced through with anguish.

for I am poor and needy, and my heart is troubled within me.

Sicut umbra cum declinat ablatus sum, et excussus sum sicut locustæ.

Like a tapering shadow I depart, swept away like a locust on the wing.

I am taken away like the shadow when it declineth: and I am shaken off as locusts.

Genua mea infirmata sunt a jejunio, et caro mea immutata est propter oleum.

My knees are weak with fasting, my strength pines away unnourished.

My knees are weakened through fasting: and my flesh is changed for oil.

Et ego factus sum opprobrium illis; viderunt me, et moverunt capita sua.

They make a laughing-stock of me, toss their heads in derision as they pass by.

And I am become a reproach to them: they saw me and they shaked their heads.

Adjuva me, Domine Deus meus; salvum me fac secundum misericordiam tuam.

Help me, O Lord my God; deliver me in thy mercy;

Help me, O Lord my God; save me according to thy mercy.

Et sciant quia manus tua hæc, et tu, Domine, fecisti eam.

prove to them that my woes are a visitation from thee, sent by no hand but thine.

And let them know that this is thy hand: and that thou, O Lord, hast done it.

Maledicent illi, et tu benedices: qui insurgunt in me confundantur; servus autem tuus lætabitur.

Bless me, thou, and let them curse as they will; disappoint my adversaries, and grant thy servant relief.

They will curse and thou wilt bless: let them that rise up against me be confounded: but thy servant shall rejoice.

Induantur qui detrahunt mihi pudore, et operiantur sicut diploide confusione sua.

Let these, my accusers, be covered with shame, wrapped in the mantle of their own confusion.

Let them that detract me be clothed with shame: and let them be covered with their confusion as with a double cloak.

Confitebor Domino nimis in ore meo, et in medio multorum laudabo eum:

Loudly will I give the Lord thanks, praise him before multitudes that listen;

I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth: and in the midst of many I will praise him.

quia astitit a dextris pauperis, ut salvam faceret a persequentibus animam meam.

the Lord who has stood at the right hand of the friendless, brought redress to an innocent soul misjudged.

Because he hath stood at the right hand of the poor, to save my soul from persecutors.