The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 21: Psalms

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73:14. Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon: thou hast given him to
be meat for the people of the Ethiopians.

73:15. Thou hast broken up the fountains and the torrents: thou hast
dried up the Ethan rivers.

Ethan rivers... That is, rivers which run with strong streams. This was
verified in Jordan, Jos. 3, and in Arnon, Num. 21.14.

73:16. Thine is the day, and thine is the night: thou hast made the
morning light and the sun.

73:17. Thou hast made all the borders of the earth: the summer and the
spring were formed by thee.

73:18. Remember this, the enemy hath reproached the Lord: and a foolish
people hath provoked thy name.

73:19. Deliver not up to beasts the souls that confess to thee: and
forget not to the end the souls of thy poor.

73:20. Have regard to thy covenant: for they that are the obscure of the
earth have been filled with dwellings of iniquity.

The obscure of the earth... Mean and ignoble wretches have been filled,
that is, enriched, with houses of iniquity, that is, with our estates
and possessions, which they have unjustly acquired.

73:21. Let not the humble be turned away with confusion: the poor and
needy shall praise thy name.

73:22. Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with
which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day.

73:23. Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate
thee ascendeth continually.

Psalms Chapter 74

Confitebimur tibi.

There is a just judgment to come: therefore let the wicked take care.

74:1. Unto the end, corrupt not, a psalm of a canticle for Asaph.

Corrupt not... It is believed to have been the beginning of some ode or
hymn, to the tune of which this psalm was to be sung. St. Augustine and
other fathers take it to be an admonition of the spirit of God, not to
faint or fail in our hope: but to persevere with constancy in good:
because God will not fail in his due time to render to every man
according to his works.

74:2. We will praise thee, O God: we will praise, and we will call upon
thy name. We will relate thy wondrous works:

74:3. When I shall take a time, I will judge justices.

When I shall take a time... In proper times: particularly at the last
day, when the earth shall melt away at the presence of the great Judge:
the same who originally laid the foundations of it, and as it were
established its pillars.

74:4. The earth is melted, and all that dwell therein: I have
established the pillars thereof.

74:5. I said to the wicked: Do not act wickedly: and to the sinners:
Lift not up the horn.

74:6. Lift not up your horn on high: speak not iniquity against God.

74:7. For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert
hills:

74:8. For God is the judge. One he putteth down, and another he lifteth
up:

74:9. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine full of
mixture. And he hath poured it out from this to that: but the dregs
thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink.

74:10. But I will declare for ever: I will sing to the God of Jacob.

74:11. And I will break all the horns of sinners: but the horns of the
just shall be exalted.

Psalms Chapter 75

Notus in Judaea.

God is known in his church: and exerts his power in protecting it. It
alludes to the slaughter of the Assyrians, in the days of king Ezechias.

75:1. Unto the end, in praises, a psalm for Asaph: a canticle to the
Assyrians.

75:2. In Judea God is known: his name is great in Israel.

75:3. And his place is in peace: and his abode in Sion:

75:4. There hath he broken the powers of bows, the shield, the sword,
and the battle.

75:5. Thou enlightenest wonderfully from the everlasting hills.

75:6. All the foolish of heart were troubled. They have slept their
sleep; and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands.

75:7. At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, they have all slumbered that
mounted on horseback.

75:8. Thou art terrible, and who shall resist thee? from that time thy
wrath.

From that time, etc... From the time that thy wrath shall break out.

75:9. Thou hast caused judgment to be heard from heaven: the earth
trembled and was still,

75:10. When God arose in judgment, to save all the meek of the earth.

75:11. For the thought of man shall give praise to thee: and the
remainders of the thought shall keep holiday to thee.

75:12. Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God: all you that are round
about him bring presents. To him that is terrible,

75:13. Even to him who taketh away the spirit of princes: to the
terrible with the kings of the earth.

Psalms Chapter 76

Voce mea.

The faithful have recourse to God in trouble of mind, with confidence in
his mercy and power.

76:1. Unto the end, for Idithun, a psalm of Asaph.

76:2. I cried to the Lord with my voice; to God with my voice, and he
gave ear to me.

76:3. In the days 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:

76:4. I remembered God, and was delighted, and was exercised, and my
spirit swooned away.

76:5. My eyes prevented the watches: I was troubled, and I spoke not.

76:6. I thought upon the days of old: and I had in my mind the eternal
years.

76:7. And I meditated in the night with my own heart: and I was
exercised and I swept my spirit.

76:8. Will God then cast off for ever? or will he never be more
favourable again?

76:9. Or will he cut off his mercy for ever, from generation to
generation?

76:10. Or will God forget to shew mercy? or will he in his anger shut up
his mercies?

76:11. And I said, Now have I begun: this is the change of the right
hand of the most High.

76:12. I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy
wonders from the beginning.

76:13. And I will meditate on all thy works: and will be employed in thy
inventions.

76:14. Thy way, O God, is in the holy place: who is the great God like
our God?

76:15. Thou art the God that dost wonders. Thou hast made thy power
known among the nations:

76:16. With thy arm thou hast redeemed thy people the children of Jacob
and of Joseph.

76:17. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: and they were
afraid, and the depths were troubled.

76:18. Great was the noise of the waters: the clouds sent out a sound.
For thy arrows pass:

76:19. The voice of thy thunder in a wheel. Thy lightnings enlightened
the world: the earth shook and trembled.

76:20. Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in many waters: and thy
footsteps shall not be known.

76:21. Thou hast conducted thy people like sheep, by the hand of Moses
and Aaron.

Psalms Chapter 77

Attendite.

God's great benefits to the people of Israel, notwithstanding their
ingratitude.

77:1. Understanding for Asaph. Attend, O my people, to my law: incline
your ears to the words of my mouth.

77:2. I will open my mouth in parables: I will utter propositions from
the beginning.

Propositions... Deep and mysterious sayings. By this it appears that the
historical facts of ancient times, commemorated in this psalm, were deep
and mysterious: as being figures of great truths appertaining to the
time of the New Testament.

77:3. How great things have we heard and known, and our fathers have
told us.

77:4. They have not been hidden from their children, in another
generation. Declaring the praises of the Lord, and his powers, and his
wonders which he hath done.

77:5. And he set up a testimony in Jacob: and made a law in Israel. How
great things he commanded our fathers, that they should make the same
known to their children:

77:6. That another generation might know them. The children that should
be born and should rise up, and declare them to their children.

77:7. That they may put their hope in God and may not forget the works
of God: and may seek his commandments.

77:8. That they may not become like their fathers, a perverse and
exasperating generation. A generation that set not their heart aright:
and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

77:9. The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot with the bow: they have
turned back in the day of battle.

77:10. They kept not the covenant of God: and in his law they would not
walk.

77:11. And they forgot his benefits, and his wonders that he had shewn
them.

77:12. Wonderful things did he do in the sight of their fathers, in the
land of Egypt, in the field of Tanis.

77:13. He divided the sea and brought them through: and he made the
waters to stand as in a vessel.

77:14. And he conducted them with a cloud by day: and all the night with
a light of fire.

77:15. He struck the rock in the wilderness: and gave them to drink, as
out of the great deep.

77:16. He brought forth water out of the rock: and made streams run down
as rivers.

77:17. And they added yet more sin against him: they provoked the most
High to wrath in the place without water.

77:18. And they tempted God in their hearts, by asking meat for their
desires.

77:19. And they spoke ill of God: they said: Can God furnish a table in
the wilderness?

77:20. Because he struck the rock, and the waters gushed out, and the
streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide a table for his
people?

77:21. Therefore the Lord heard, and was angry: and a fire was kindled
against Jacob, and wrath came up against Israel.

77:22. Because they believed not in God: and trusted not in his
salvation.

77:23. And he had commanded the clouds from above, and had opened the
doors of heaven.

77:24. And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them
the bread of heaven.

77:25. Man ate the bread of angels: he sent them provisions in
abundance.

77:26. He removed the south wind from heaven: and by his power brought
in the southwest wind.

77:27. And he rained upon them flesh as dust: and feathered fowls like
as the sand of the sea.

77:28. And they fell in the midst of their camp, round about their
pavilions.

77:29. So they did eat, and were filled exceedingly, and he gave them
their desire:

77:30. they were not defrauded of that which they craved. As yet their
meat was in their mouth:

77:31. And the wrath of God came upon them. And he slew the fat ones
amongst them, and brought down the chosen men of Israel.

77:32. In all these things they sinned still: and they behaved not for
his wondrous works.

77:33. And their days were consumed in vanity, and their years in haste.

77:34. When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned, and
came to him early in the morning.

77:35. And they remembered that God was their helper: and the most high
God their redeemer.

77:36. And they loved him with their mouth: and with their tongue they
lied unto him:

77:37. But their heart was not right with him: nor were they counted
faithful in his covenant.

77:38. But he is merciful, and will forgive their sins: and will not
destroy them. And many a time did he turn away his anger: and did not
kindle all his wrath.

77:39. And he remembered that they are flesh: a wind that goeth and
returneth not.

77:40. How often did they provoke him in the desert: and move him to
wrath in the place without water?

77:41. And they turned back and tempted God: and grieved the holy one of
Israel.

77:42. They remembered not his hand, in the day that he redeemed them
from the hand of him that afflicted them:

77:43. How he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field
of Tanis.

77:44. And he turned their rivers into blood, and their showers that
they might not drink.

77:45. He sent amongst them divers sorts of flies, which devoured them:
and frogs which destroyed them.

77:46. And he gave up their fruits to the blast, and their labours to
the locust.

77:47. And he destroyed their vineyards with hail, and their mulberry
trees with hoarfrost.

77:48. And he gave up their cattle to the hail, and their stock to the
fire.

77:49. And he sent upon them the wrath of his indignation: indignation
and wrath and trouble, which he sent by evil angels.

77:50. He made a way for a path to his anger: he spared not their souls
from death, and their cattle he shut up in death.

77:51. And he killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt: the
firstfruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Cham.

77:52. And he took away his own people as sheep: and guided them in the
wilderness like a flock.

77:53. And he brought them out in hope and they feared not: and the sea
overwhelmed their enemies.

77:54. And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary: the
mountain which his right hand had purchased. And he cast out the
Gentiles before them: and by lot divided to them their land by a line of
distribution.

77:55. And he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tabernacles.

77:56. Yet they tempted, and provoked the most high God: and they kept
not his testimonies.

77:57. And they turned away, and kept not the covenant: even like their
fathers they were turned aside as a crooked bow.

77:58. They provoked him to anger on their hills: and moved him to
jealousy with their graven things.

77:59. God heard, and despised them, and he reduced Israel exceedingly
as it were to nothing.

77:60. And he put away the tabernacle of Silo, his tabernacle where he
dwelt among men.

77:61. And he delivered their strength into captivity: and their beauty
into the hands of the enemy.

77:62. And he shut up his people under the sword: and he despised his
inheritance.

77:63. Fire consumed their young men: and their maidens were not
lamented.

77:64. Their priests fell by the sword: and their widows did not mourn.

77:65. And the Lord was awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty
man that hath been surfeited with wine.

77:66. And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts: he put them to an
everlasting reproach.

77:67. And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph: and chose not the tribe
of Ephraim:

77:68. But he chose the tribe of Juda, mount Sion which he loved.

77:69. And he built his sanctuary as of unicorns, in the land which he
founded for ever.

As of unicorns... That is, firm and strong like the horn of the unicorn.
This is one of the chiefest of the propositions of this psalm,
foreshewing the firm establishment of the one, true, and everlasting
sanctuary of God, in his church.

77:70. And he chose his servant David, and took him from the flocks of
sheep: he brought him from following the ewes great with young,

77:71. To feed Jacob his servant and Israel his inheritance.

77:72. And he fed them in the innocence of his heart: and conducted them
by the skilfulness of his hands.

Psalms Chapter 78

Deus, venerunt gentes.

The church in time of persecution prayeth for relief. It seems to belong
to the time of the Machabees.

78:1. A psalm for Asaph. O God, the heathens are come into thy
inheritance, they have defiled thy holy temple: they have made Jerusalem
as a place to keep fruit.

78:2. They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the
fowls of the air: the flesh of thy saints for the beasts of the earth.

78:3. They have poured out their blood as water, round about Jerusalem
and there was none to bury them.

78:4. We are become a reproach to our neighbours: a scorn and derision
to them that are round about us.

78:5. How long, O Lord, wilt thou be angry for ever: shall thy zeal be
kindled like a fire?

78:6. Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that have not known thee: and
upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.

78:7. Because they have devoured Jacob; and have laid waste his place.

78:8. Remember not our former iniquities: let thy mercies speedily
prevent us, for we are become exceeding poor.

78:9. Help us, O God, our saviour: and for the glory of thy name, O
Lord, deliver us: and forgive us our sins for thy name's sake:

78:10. Lest they should say among the Gentiles: Where is their God? And
let him be made known among the nations before our eyes, By the
revenging the blood of thy servants, which hath been shed:

78:11. Let the sighing of the prisoners come in before thee. According
to the greatness of thy arm, take possession of the children of them
that have been put to death.

78:12. And render to our neighbours sevenfold in their bosom: the
reproach wherewith they have reproached thee, O Lord.

78:13. But we thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture, will give thanks
to thee for ever. We will shew forth thy praise, unto generation and
generation.

Psalms Chapter 79

Qui regis Israel.

A prayer for the church in tribulation, commemorating God's former
favours.

79:1. Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, a testimony for
Asaph, a psalm.

79:2. Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like
a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, shine forth

79:3. Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses. Stir up thy might, and
come to save us.

79:4. Convert us, O God: and shew us thy face, and we shall be saved.

79:5. O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the
prayer of thy servant?

79:6. How long wilt thou feed us with the bread of tears: and give us
for our drink tears in measure?

79:7. Thou hast made us to be a contradiction to our neighbours: and our
enemies have scoffed at us.

79:8. O God of hosts, convert us: and shew thy face, and we shall be
saved.

79:9. Thou hast brought a vineyard out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the
Gentiles and planted it.

79:10. Thou wast the guide of its journey in its sight: thou plantedst
the roots thereof, and it filled the land.

79:11. The shadow of it covered the hills: and the branches thereof the
cedars of God.

79:12. It stretched forth its branches unto the sea, and its boughs unto
the river.

79:13. Why hast thou broken down the hedge thereof, so that all they who
pass by the way do pluck it?

79:14. The boar out of the wood hath laid it waste: and a singular wild
beast hath devoured it.

79:15. Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and see, and
visit this vineyard:

79:16. And perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted: and upon
the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.

79:17. Things set on fire and dug down shall perish at the rebuke of thy
countenance.

Things set on fire, etc... So this vineyard of thine, almost consumed
already, must perish, if thou continue thy rebukes.

79:18. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand: and upon the son
of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.

The man of thy right hand... Christ.

79:19. And we depart not from thee, thou shalt quicken us: and we will
call upon thy name.

79:20. O Lord God of hosts, convert us and shew thy face, and we shall
be saved.

Psalms Chapter 80

Exultate Deo.

An invitation to a solemn praising of God.

80:1. Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for Asaph himself.

For the winepresses, etc... Torcularibus. It either signifies a musical
instrument, or that this psalm was to be sung at the feast of the
tabernacles after the gathering in of the vintage.

80:2. Rejoice to God our helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob.

80:3. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel: the pleasant psaltery
with the harp.

80:4. Blow up the trumpet on the new moon, on the noted day of your
solemnity.

80:5. For it is a commandment in Israel, and a judgment to the God of
Jacob.

80:6. He ordained it for a testimony in Joseph, when he came out of the
land of Egypt: he heard a tongue which he knew not.

80:7. He removed his back from the burdens: his hands had served in
baskets.

80:8. Thou calledst upon me in affliction, and I delivered thee: I heard
thee in the secret place of tempest: I proved thee at the waters of
contradiction.

In the secret place of tempest... Heb., Of thunder. When thou soughtest
to hide thyself from the tempest: or, when I came down to mount Sina,
hidden from thy eyes in a storm of thunder.

80:9. Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee: O Israel, if thou
wilt hearken to me, 10 there shall be no new god in thee: neither
shalt thou adore a strange god.

80:11. For I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of
Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

80:12. But my people heard not my voice: and Israel hearkened not to me.

80:13. So I let them go according to the desires of their heart: they
shall walk in their own inventions.

80:14. If my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways:

80:15. I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on
them that troubled them.

80:16. The enemies of the Lord have lied to him: and their time shall be
for ever.

Their time shall be forever... Impenitent sinners shall suffer for ever.

80:17. And he fed them with the fat of wheat, and filled them with honey
out of the rock.

Psalms Chapter 81

Deus stetit.

An exhortation to judges and men in power.

81:1. A psalm for Asaph. God hath stood in the congregation of gods: and
being in the midst of them he judgeth gods.

81:2. How long will you judge unjustly: and accept the persons of the
wicked?

81:3. Judge for the needy and fatherless: do justice to the humble and
the poor.

81:4. Rescue the poor; and deliver the needy out of the hand of the
sinner.

81:5. They have not known nor understood: they walk on in darkness: all
the foundations of the earth shall be moved.

81:6. I have said: You are gods and all of you the sons of the most
High.

81:7. But you like men shall die: and shall fall like one of the
princes.

81:8. Arise, O God, judge thou the earth: for thou shalt inherit among
all the nations.

Psalms Chapter 82

Deus, quis similis.

A prayer against the enemies of God's church.

82:1. A canticle of a psalm for Asaph.

82:2. O God, who shall be like to thee? hold not thy peace, neither be
thou still, O God.

82:3. For lo, thy enemies have made a noise: and they that hate thee
have lifted up the head.

82:4. They have taken a malicious counsel against thy people, and have
consulted against thy saints.

82:5. They have said: Come and let us destroy them, so that they be not
a nation: and let the name of Israel be remembered no more.

82:6. For they have contrived with one consent: they have made a
covenant together against thee,

82:7. The tabernacle of the Edomites, and the Ishmahelites: Moab, and
the Agarens,

82:8. Gebal, and Ammon and Amalec: the Philistines, with the inhabitants
of Tyre.

82:9. Yea, and the Assyrian also is joined with them: they are come to
the aid of the sons of Lot.

82:10. Do to them as thou didst to Madian and to Sisara: as to Jabin at
the brook of Cisson.

82:11. Who perished at Endor: and became as dung for the earth.

82:12. Make their princes like Oreb, and Zeb, and Zebee, and Salmana.
All their princes,

82:13. Who have said: Let us possess the sanctuary of God for an
inheritance.

82:14. O my God, make them like a wheel; and as stubble before the wind.

82:15. As fire which burneth the wood: and as a flame burning mountains:

82:16. So shalt thou pursue them with thy tempest: and shalt trouble
them in thy wrath.

82:17. Fill their faces with shame; and they shall seek thy name, O
Lord.

82:18. Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever: and let them
be confounded and perish.

82:19. And let them know that the Lord is thy name: thou alone art the
most High over all the earth.

Psalms Chapter 83

Quam dilecta.

The soul aspireth after heaven; rejoicing in the mean time, in being in
the communion of God's church upon earth.

83:1. Unto the end, for the winepresses, a psalm for the sons of Core.

83:2. How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!

83:3. my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart
and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God.

83:4. For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest
for herself where she may lay her young ones: Thy altars, O Lord of
hosts, my king and my God.

83:5. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: they shall
praise thee for ever and ever.

83:6. Blessed is the man whose help is from thee: in his heart he hath
disposed to ascend by steps,

In his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps, etc... Ascensiones in
corde suo disposuit. As by steps men ascended to the temple of God
situated on a hill; so the good Christian ascends towards the eternal
temple by certain steps of virtue disposed or ordered within the heart:
and this whilst he lives as yet in the body, in this vale of tears, the
place which man hath set: that is, which he hath brought himself to:
being cast out of paradise for his sin.

83:7. In the vale of tears, in the place which he hath set.

83:8. For the lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall go from virtue
to virtue: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion.

83:9. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob.

83:10. Behold, O God our protector: and look on the face of thy Christ.

83:11. For better is one day in thy courts above thousands. I have
chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in
the tabernacles of sinners.

83:12. For God loveth mercy and truth: the Lord will give grace and
glory.

83:13. He will not deprive of good things them that walk in innocence: O
Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

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