Psalm 7 (1928 BCP)
Psalm 7 (1928 BCP) is a prayer for deliverance from persecution and for judgment by the righteous God. Its speaker protests innocence in a particular dispute, asks God to bring wickedness to an end, and closes with thanksgiving. The 1928 Book of Common Prayer places it in the first day's evening portion of the Psalter, where its appeal to justice becomes part of the Church's common prayer.
Text of the Psalm
The Prayer Book gives the Latin opening as Domine, Deus meus. The asterisks mark the verse divisions used in reading or chanting:
O LORD my God, in thee have I put my trust: * save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me;
2 Lest he devour my soul like a lion, and tear it in pieces, * while there is none to help.
3 O LORD my God, if I have done any such thing; * or if there be any wickedness in my hands;
4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that dealt friendly with me; * (yea, I have delivered him that without any cause is mine enemy;)
5 Then let mine enemy persecute my soul, and take me; * yea, let him tread my life down upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust.
6 Stand up, O LORD, in thy wrath, and lift up thyself, because of the indignation of mine enemies; * arise up for me in the judgment that thou hast commanded.
7 And so shall the congregation of the peoples come about thee: * for their sakes therefore lift up thyself again.
8 The LORD shall judge the peoples: give sentence with me, O LORD, * according to my righteousness, and according to the innocency that is in me.
9 O let the wickedness of the ungodly come to an end; * but guide thou the just.
10 For the righteous God * trieth the very hearts and reins.
11 My help cometh of God, * who preserveth them that are true of heart.
12 God is a righteous Judge, strong, and patient; * and God is provoked every day.
13 If a man will not turn, he will whet his sword; * he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
14 He hath prepared for him the instruments of death; * he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
15 Behold, the ungodly travaileth with iniquity; * he hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
16 He hath graven and digged up a pit, * and is fallen himself into the destruction that he made for other.
17 For his travail shall come upon his own head, * and his wickedness shall fall on his own pate.
18 I will give thanks unto the LORD, according to his righteousness; * and I will praise the Name of the LORD Most High.
Refuge and appeal to judgment
The opening places trust in God before describing the enemy as a lion. Verses 3–5 ask God to consider the speaker's conduct: the claim concerns the alleged wrong and treatment of an enemy, not an assertion that the speaker has never sinned. The prayer accepts judgment if the accusation is true, and then asks God to rise in judgment for the sake of the gathered peoples. The Prayer Book's “peoples” in verses 7–8 widens the scene beyond a private quarrel. The transcription records that the earlier American text had “people” and that the parentheses around the claim to have delivered an enemy in verse 4 were introduced in 1928.[2]
God's testing of “hearts and reins” reaches beyond appearances to inward life. In the commentary published by the Anglican priest John Mason Neale, a passage marked “Ay.” relates the description of the judge to both hope and accountability:
And hereby are we stirred up both to hope and to fear. Patient, or who could hope to escape? and yet righteous, to execute justice on the impenitent: and strong, for “mighty men shall be mightily tormented.”
This commentary does not separate patience from judgment: the possibility of turning matters in verse 13. Augustine, reading the appeal to righteousness alongside the speaker's treatment of enemies, also attributes the worshipper's goodness to God:
By which addition he shows that this very thing, that the soul is righteous and harmless, she has not by herself, but by God who gives brightness and light.
Augustine's exposition interprets righteousness as a gift, rather than independent human merit. His text's “harmlessness” reflects the translation of the psalm on which he comments; the 1928 Psalter reads “innocency.”
Wickedness and the response to enemies
The sword and bow in verses 13–14 portray the danger of refusing to turn. The following images change from weapons to birth and a dug pit: mischief produces falsehood, and the person who prepares destruction falls into it. The 1928 wording of verse 15 also differs from the earlier American text: it describes the ungodly person as conceiving mischief and bringing forth falsehood.[5] These images expose the self-destructive course of wickedness; they do not authorize the congregation to inflict the imagined punishment. The final verse returns to thanksgiving for God's righteousness, not celebration of personal revenge.
The New Testament places suffering and righteous judgment together in its account of Christ:
Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
The resemblance to Psalm 7's appeal to the righteous judge offers a Christian way of praying the psalm in the light of Christ's suffering; it does not erase the psalmist's own urgent cry for protection. Paul's teaching makes the consequence for the believer's conduct explicit:
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
The appeal for divine justice can therefore coexist with refusing retaliation and caring for an enemy. It gives words to those facing wrongdoing without requiring them to pretend that wrongdoing is harmless.
Evening Prayer
Psalm 7 follows Psalm 6 in the first day's evening portion. The 1928 Evening Prayer rubric directs a portion of psalms and provides for the Gloria Patri at the end of the whole portion or selection, with the Gloria in excelsis as an alternative.[8] When the confession is used in that office, the congregation also prays:
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.
The office thus permits worshippers to plead against a particular injustice while also confessing their own need of mercy. The psalm's conclusion in praise and the office's doxology direct the congregation's attention to God rather than leave it fixed on an adversary.
See Also
External Links
- The 1928 Psalter, Psalms 1–50, Society of Archbishop Justus
- Augustine's exposition of Psalm 7, New Advent
References
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, First Day, Evening Prayer, Psalm 7, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, Psalm 7:4, 7–8 and textual notes, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ John Mason Neale, A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediæval Writers, vol. 1, 2nd ed. (London: Joseph Masters, 1869), Psalm 7, p. 136, digitized edition at BiblicalStudies.org.uk.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 7, §8, 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 Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, Psalm 7:15 and textual note, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Holy Bible, King James Version, 1 Peter 2:22–23, Bible Gateway.
- ↑ The Holy Bible, King James Version, Romans 12:19–21, Bible Gateway.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Psalter, First Day, and The Order for Daily Evening Prayer, psalm rubric, Psalter and Evening Prayer, Society of Archbishop Justus transcriptions.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1928), The Order for Daily Evening Prayer, A General Confession, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.