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Psalm 68

Christ in his passion declares the greatness of his sufferings, and the malice of his persecutors the Jews; and foretells their reprobation.

Does this psalm differ from what you were expecting? Don't be confused. There are two systems for arranging the psalms: the Septuagint and the Masoretic. We use the Septuagint system here. In the Masoretic system, which is used in most modern Bible translations, this psalm is called Psalm 69, and the previous psalm is known as Psalm 68.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 Unto the end, for them that shall be changed; for David. For them that shall be changed... A psalm for Christian converts, to remember the passion of Christ.

2 Save me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my soul. The waters... Of afflictions and sorrows. My soul is sorrowful even unto death. Matthew 26:38.
3 I stick fast in the mire of the deep and there is no sure standing. I am come into the depth of the sea, and a tempest hath overwhelmed me.
4 I have laboured with crying; my jaws are become hoarse, my eyes have failed, whilst I hope in my God.
5 They are multiplied above the hairs of my head, who hate me without cause. My enemies are grown strong who have wrongfully persecuted me: then did I pay that which I took not away. I pay that which I took not away... Christ in his passion made restitution of what he had not taken away, by suffering the punishment due to our sins, and so repairing the injury we had done to God.
6 O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my offences are not hidden from thee: My foolishness and my offences... which my enemies impute to me: or the follies and sins of men, which I have taken upon myself.
7 Let not them be ashamed for me, who look for thee, O Lord, the Lord of hosts. Let them not be confounded on my account, who seek thee, O God of Israel.
8 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.
9 I am become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to the sons of my mother.
10 For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up: and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
11 And I covered my soul in fasting: and it was made a reproach to me.
12 And I made haircloth my garment: and I became a byword to them.
13 They that sat in the gate spoke against me: and they that drank wine made me their song.
14 But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Lord; for the time of thy good pleasure, O God. In the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.
15 Draw me out of the mire, that I may not stick fast: deliver me from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.
16 Let not the tempest of water drown me, nor the deep water swallow me up: and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
17 Hear me, O Lord, for thy mercy is kind; look upon me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
18 And turn not away thy face from thy servant: for I am in trouble, hear me speedily.
19 Attend to my soul, and deliver it: save me because of my enemies.
20 Thou knowest my reproach, and my confusion, and my shame.
21 In thy sight are all they that afflict me; my heart hath expected reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none: and for one that would comfort me, and I found none.
22 And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
23 Let their table become as a snare before them, and a recompense, and a stumbling block. Let their table, etc... What here follows in the style of an imprecation, is a prophecy of the wretched state to which the Jews should be reduced in punishment of their wilful obstinacy.
24 Let their eyes be darkened that they see not; and their back bend thou down always.
25 Pour out thy indignation upon them: and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.
26 Let their habitation be made desolate: and let there be none to dwell in their tabernacles.
27 Because they have persecuted him whom thou hast smitten; and they have added to the grief of my wounds.
28 Add thou iniquity upon their iniquity: and let them not come into thy justice.
29 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; and with the just let them not be written.
30 But I am poor and sorrowful: thy salvation, O God, hath set me up.
31 I will praise the name of God with a canticle: and I will magnify him with praise.
32 And it shall please God better than a young calf, that bringeth forth horns and hoofs.
33 Let the poor see and rejoice: seek ye God, and your soul shall live.
34 For the Lord hath heard the poor: and hath not despised his prisoners.
35 Let the heavens and the earth praise him; the sea, and every thing that creepeth therein.
36 For God will save Sion, and the cities of Juda shall be built up. And they shall dwell there, and acquire it by inheritance. Sion... The catholic church. The cities of Juda, etc., her places of worship, which shall be established throughout the world. And there, viz., in this church of Christ, shall his servants dwell, etc.
37 And the seed of his servants shall possess it; and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 In finem, pro iis qui commutabuntur. David.

2 Salvum me fac, Deus,
quoniam intraverunt aquæ usque ad animam meam.
3 Infixus sum in limo profundi et non est substantia.
Veni in altitudinem maris, et tempestas demersit me.
4 Laboravi clamans, raucæ factæ sunt fauces meæ;
defecerunt oculi mei, dum spero in Deum meum.
5 Multiplicati sunt super capillos capitis mei
qui oderunt me gratis.
Confortati sunt qui persecuti sunt me
inimici mei injuste;
quæ non rapui, tunc exsolvebam.
6 Deus, tu scis insipientiam meam;
et delicta mea a te non sunt abscondita.
7 Non erubescant in me qui exspectant te, Domine, Domine virtutum;
non confundantur super me qui quærunt te, Deus Israël.
8 Quoniam propter te sustinui opprobrium;
operuit confusio faciem meam.
9 Extraneus factus sum fratribus meis,
et peregrinus filiis matris meæ.
10 Quoniam zelus domus tuæ comedit me,
et opprobria exprobrantium tibi ceciderunt super me.
11 Et operui in jejunio animam meam,
et factum est in opprobrium mihi.
12 Et posui vestimentum meum cilicium;
et factus sum illis in parabolam.
13 Adversum me loquebantur qui sedebant in porta,
et in me psallebant qui bibebant vinum.
14 Ego vero orationem meam ad te, Domine;
tempus beneplaciti, Deus.
In multitudine misericordiæ tuæ,
exaudi me in veritate salutis tuæ.
15 Eripe me de luto, ut non infigar;
libera me ab iis qui oderunt me, et de profundis aquarum.
16 Non me demergat tempestas aquæ,
neque absorbeat me profundum,
neque urgeat super me puteus os suum.
17 Exaudi me, Domine, quoniam benigna est misericordia tua;
secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum respice in me.
18 Et ne avertas faciem tuam a puero tuo;
quoniam tribulor, velociter exaudi me.
19 Intende animæ meæ, et libera eam;
propter inimicos meos, eripe me.
20 Tu scis improperium meum, et confusionem meam, et reverentiam meam;
21 in conspectu tuo sunt omnes qui tribulant me.
Improperium exspectavit cor meum et miseriam:
et sustinui qui simul contristaretur, et non fuit;
et qui consolaretur, et non inveni.
22 Et dederunt in escam meam fel,
et in siti mea potaverunt me aceto.
23 Fiat mensa eorum coram ipsis in laqueum,
et in retributiones, et in scandalum.
24 Obscurentur oculi eorum, ne videant,
et dorsum eorum semper incurva.
25 Effunde super eos iram tuam,
et furor iræ tuæ comprehendat eos.
26 Fiat habitatio eorum deserta,
et in tabernaculis eorum non sit qui inhabitet.
27 Quoniam quem tu percussisti persecuti sunt,
et super dolorem vulnerum meorum addiderunt.
28 Appone iniquitatem super iniquitatem eorum,
et non intrent in justitiam tuam.
29 Deleantur de libro viventium,
et cum justis non scribantur.
30 Ego sum pauper et dolens;
salus tua, Deus, suscepit me.
31 Laudabo nomen Dei cum cantico,
et magnificabo eum in laude:
32 et placebit Deo super vitulum novellum,
cornua producentem et ungulas.
33 Videant pauperes, et lætentur;
quærite Deum, et vivet anima vestra:
34 quoniam exaudivit pauperes Dominus,
et vinctos suos non despexit.
35 Laudent illum cæli et terra;
mare, et omnia reptilia in eis.
36 Quoniam Deus salvam faciet Sion,
et ædificabuntur civitates Juda,
et inhabitabunt ibi, et hæreditate acquirent eam.
37 Et semen servorum ejus possidebit eam;
et qui diligunt nomen ejus habitabunt in ea.

Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition