Psalm 4 (1928 BCP)
Psalm 4 (1928 BCP) is a prayer that moves from distress and an appeal for mercy to gladness and peaceful rest in God. The 1928 Book of Common Prayer places it in the first morning's portion of the Psalter, although its words about the chamber and sleep have an especially evident evening resonance.
Text of the Psalm
The Prayer Book gives the Latin opening Cum invocarem. Its asterisks mark divisions for reading or chanting. The complete psalm in the 1928 Psalter reads:
HEAR me when I call, O God of my righteousness: * thou hast set me at liberty when I was in trouble; have mercy upon me, and hearken unto my prayer.
2 O ye sons of men, how long will ye blaspheme mine honour, * and have such pleasure in vanity, and seek after falsehood?
3 Know this also, that the LORD hath chosen to himself the man that is godly; * when I call upon the LORD he will hear me.
4 Stand in awe, and sin not; * commune with your own heart, and in your chamber, and be still.
5 Offer the sacrifice of righteousness, * and put your trust in the LORD.
6 There be many that say, * Who will show us any good?
7 LORD, lift thou up* the light of thy countenance upon us.
8 Thou hast put gladness in my heart; * yea, more than when their corn and wine and oil increase.
9 I will lay me down in peace, and take my rest; * for it is thou, LORD, only, that makest me dwell in safety.
Distress, truth, and trust
The opening holds remembrance and petition together: the speaker recalls God's past deliverance from trouble and asks to be heard now. The address to the “sons of men” turns from prayer to a challenge against dishonour, vanity, and falsehood. The assertion that God hears does not remove the need for prayer; it gives the psalmist confidence to call.
The summons to reverence and self-examination leads to a positive response: offer righteousness and trust the LORD. Augustine, commenting on the Greek and Latin form of the psalm, connects the “sacrifice of righteousness” with repentance and with the life that follows it:
Or are righteous works after repentance the sacrifice of righteousness? For the interposition of Diapsalma not unreasonably perhaps intimates even a transition from the old life to the new life: that on the old man being destroyed or weakened by repentance, the sacrifice of righteousness, according to the regeneration of the new man, may be offered to God; when the soul now cleansed offers and places itself on the altar of faith, to be encompassed by heavenly fire, that is, by the Holy Ghost.
Augustine offers an interpretation of the sacrifice, not a claim that the psalm abolishes Israel's sacrificial worship. For him repentance and renewed conduct belong together. His text also renders the fourth verse “Be angry, and sin not”; the 1928 Psalter instead has “Stand in awe, and sin not.” The Authorized Version of Ephesians uses the former wording in an appeal to communal truthfulness and a warning against sin:
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.
The different English renderings should not be silently equated: Ephesians follows the Greek form of the psalm, whereas the Prayer Book's familiar wording calls the worshipper to awe and inward examination. In both settings the warning against sin has ethical force; in Ephesians it is applied to life among neighbours. Thiago Bitencourt interprets the Ephesians passage as a call to confront what threatens the unity of the community, and relates it to the Greek Psalm 4.[4]
The light of God's countenance
To the anxious question “Who will show us any good?” the psalm answers with a request for the light of God's countenance. That request echoes the priestly blessing in Numbers:
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
In each text light and the divine face speak of God's gracious favour, while peace is a gift sought from God. The psalm's gladness exceeds the joy of an abundant harvest; it need not deny that food and prosperity are good, but locates the speaker's deepest security in God's presence. Anglican priest John Mason Neale traces the movement through the last three verses:
In opposition to such vain inquiries after good, in this and the two following verses, we have the three sources whence the servants of God obtain it. In this verse, light, in the 8th, gladness, in the 9th, peace.
Neale reads these as gifts sought from God in answer to the question about good. His sequence helps explain how the psalm moves from a shared petition (“upon us”) to the psalmist's personal gladness and rest.
Prayer Book use
The monthly arrangement places Psalm 4 between Psalm 3 and Psalm 5 in the first day's Morning Prayer, not in that day's evening portion. The 1928 office also permits a selection of psalms; the psalm's words about lying down make it apt for reflection at day's end without changing its printed appointment.[7]
The Evening Prayer Collect for Aid against Perils asks for light and protection in language that can be prayed alongside the psalm:
LIGHTEN our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The collect is a plea for protection, while the psalm closes with confidence that God grants rest. Neither text requires a worshipper to pretend that danger is absent: both direct fear and hope toward the God who hears.
See Also
- Book of Common Prayer (1928)
- The Psalter (1928 BCP)
- Daily Office (1928 BCP)
- Psalm 3 (1928 BCP)
- Collect for Aid against Perils
External Links
- The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus
- Augustine's exposition of Psalm 4, New Advent
References
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, First Day, Morning Prayer, Psalm 4, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 4, §7, anonymous translation in Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, first series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), revised by Kevin Knight, New Advent transcription.
- ↑ The Holy Bible, King James Version, Ephesians 4:25–27, Bible Gateway.
- ↑ Thiago Bitencourt, “Righteous or Dangerous? An Investigation of Ὀργίζεσθε in Ephesians 4:26,” Southeastern Theological Review 13, no. 1 (Spring 2022), pp. 25–39, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
- ↑ The Holy Bible, King James Version, Numbers 6:24–26, Bible Gateway.
- ↑ John Mason Neale, A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers, vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 4, p. 113, digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, First Day, and The Order for Daily Morning Prayer, rubric following the Venite, Psalter and Morning Prayer, Society of Archbishop Justus transcriptions.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Order for Daily Evening Prayer, Collect for Aid against Perils, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.