Verses 3 & 4
If I was not humbly minded, but exalted my soul: As a child that is weaned is towards his mother, so reward in my soul.
Si non humiliter sentiebam, sed exaltavi animam meam; sicut ablactatus est super matre sua, ita retributio in anima mea.
The prophet is not content with telling God, who searches deep into hearts, that he has always abhorred every form of pride. He confirms this by swearing an oath so that everyone may have greater faith in his words. He therefore says: “If I was not humbly minded” about myself, “but exalted my soul;” or, as the original text says more meaningfully : If I did not happily place myself on an equal footing with others, but raised myself above them. “As a child that is weaned is towards his mother,” that is, just as an infant recently weaned remains on his mother’s lap, wailing and crying, because he has been deprived of the sweetness of her milk, which for a time was the source of his delight: “so (may be the) reward in my soul,” that is, so is my soul deprived of the sweetness of divine consolation, which is my entire and only delight. How great this punishment may be, which the Prophet most holy prays on himself, may be understood only by those who, filled with the same spirit, have tasted how sweet God is. For the Psalms, composed by David like so many canticles of love, bear visible witness to the fact that, compared with the sweetness of divine love, he considers
as nothing earthly attractions and delights, and his own royal status and majesty. “O how great,” says
Psalm XXX, “is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee!”
[1] and again
Psalm XXXIII : “O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet;”
[2] and
Psalm XXVI : “My heart hath said to thee: My face hath sought thee: thy face, O Lord, will I still seek. Turn not away thy face from me;”
[3] and
Psalm LXXVI : “My soul refused to be comforted: I remembered God, and was delighted;”
[4] and
Psalm LXXXV : “Give joy to the soul of thy servant, for to thee, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul. For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild:”
[5] and
Psalm CIII : “I will take delight in the Lord;”
[6] and
Psalm LXII : “I will rejoice under the covert of thy wings: My soul hath stuck close to thee;”
[7] finally,
Psalm LXXII : “For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth? For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever?”
[8] and in the same place, “But it is good for me to adhere to
my God,”
[9] as though he were to say : Others seek good things whatsoever, whether in heaven or on earth; “for me to adhere to my God,” is the highest “good,” He is the God of my heart, He is my share, my inheritance, my portion, my entire good, I am content with Him alone, and I shall be with Him for ever. When David, therefore, humble and simple like a tiny infant sucking milk from his mother’s breast, experienced his entire good in the milk of divine love, he could not wish a greater evil for himself than to become like an infant weaned off milk before his time, who could find no comfort when he saw he had been taken away from his mother’s breast. Concerning the words used, the phrase If I exalted my soul is translated from the Hebrew by St. Jerome as,
If I made my soul to be silent. But the Septuagint did not read the Hebrew as
to make silent but as
I have exalted: for two of the Hebrew letters are very similar; nor should we have any doubt that the books used by the Septuagint translators were more correct than what St. Jerome had. So, too, the words, “so reward in my soul,” were translated by St. Jerome from the Hebrew as,
so my soul is weaned. But the Hebrew word can mean both
reward and
weaned, with a small change of letters. The Septuagint, where it had
gamul, they read it as weaned, and where it had
gemul, they read it as reward. St. Jerome read both as
gamul; but the Septuagint reading, with which our Latin Vulgate edition is in agreement, is far better, firstly, because it is scarcely possible to understand what is meant by
so my soul is weaned to me; secondly, because according to the Septuagint reading, it has the most elegant allusion in Hebrew of the word
reward to the similar word
weaned.
[1] O how great is the multitude of thy sweetness, O Lord, which thou hast hidden for them that fear thee! Which thou hast wrought for them that hope in thee, in the sight of the sons of men. Quam magna multitudo dulcedinis tuae, Domine, quam abscondisti timentibus te! Perfecisti eis qui sperant in te, in conspectu filiorum hominum. [Ps. XXX 20]
[2] O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man that hopeth in him. Gustate, et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus; beatus vir qui sperat in eo. [Ps. XXXIII 9]
[3] My heart hath said to thee: My face hath sought thee: thy face, O Lord, will I still seek. Turn not away thy face from me; decline not in thy wrath from thy servant. Be thou my helper, forsake me not; do not thou despise me, O God my Saviour. Tibi dixit cor meum, exquisivit te facies mea; faciem tuam, Domine, requiram. Ne avertas faciem tuam a me; ne declines in ira a servo tuo. Adjutor meus esto; ne derelinquas me, neque despicias me, Deus salutaris meus. [Psalm XXVI 8-9]
[4] In the day of my trouble I sought God, with my hands lifted up to him in the night, and I was not deceived. My soul refused to be comforted: I remembered God, and was delighted, and was exercised, and my spirit swooned away. In die tribulationis meae Deum exquisivi; manibus meis nocte contra eum, et non sum deceptus. Renuit consolari anima mea; memor fui Dei, et delectatus sum; et exercitatus sum, et defecit spiritus meus. [Ps. LXXVI 3-4]
[5] Give joy to the soul of thy servant, for to thee, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul. For thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild: and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee. laetifica animam servi tui, quoniam ad te, Domine, animam meam levavi. Quoniam tu, Domine, suavis et mitis, et multae misericordiae omnibus invocantibus te. [Ps. LXXXV 4]
[6] Let my speech be acceptable to him: but I will take delight in the Lord. Jucundum sit ei eloquium meum; ego vero delectabor in Domino. [Ps. CIII 34]
[7] Because thou hast been my helper. And I will rejoice under the covert of thy wings: My soul hath stuck close to thee: thy right hand hath received me. Quia fuisti adjutor meus, et in velamento alarum tuarum exsultabo. Adhaesit anima mea post te; me suscepit dextera tua. [Ps. LXII 8-9]
[8] For what have I in heaven? and besides thee what do I desire upon earth? For thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away: thou art the God of my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever. Quid enim mihi est in caelo? et a te quid volui super terram? Defecit caro mea et cor meum; Deus cordis mei, et pars mea, Deus in aeternum. [Psalm LXXII 25-6]
[9] But it is good for me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God: That I may declare all thy praises, in the gates of the daughter of Sion. Mihi autem adhaerere Deo bonum est, ponere in Domino Deo spem meam; ut annuntiem omnes praedicationes tuas in portis filiae Sion. [Psalm LXXII 28]
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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