Psalms 120:7
The Lord keepeth thee from all evil: may the Lord keep thy soul.
Open Psalms 120:7 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Dominus custodit te ab omni malo ; custodiat animam tuam Dominus.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Κύριος φυλάξει σε ἀπὸ παντὸς κακοῦ, φυλάξαι τὴν ψυχήν σου.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 121:7
- יְֽהוָ֗ה יִשְׁמָרְךָ֥ מִכָּל רָ֑ע יִ֝שְׁמֹ֗ר אֶת נַפְשֶֽׁךָ
Haydock's commentary
Keepeth. Hebrew also, "shall or may." The words of a prophet are always true, and the tenses are varied at pleasure by St. Jerome, &c. (Berthier)
Soul, or spiritual life. (Worthington) (1 Peter i. 4.)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm CXXI
8. “For the Lord shall preserve thee from all evil” ( ver. 7 ). From offences in the sun, from offences in the moon, from all evil shall He preserve thee, who is thy defence upon the hand of thy right hand, who will not sleep nor slumber. And for what reason? Because we are amid temptations: “The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. The Lord preserve thy soul:” even thy very soul. “The Lord preserve thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth for evermore” ( ver. 8 ). Not thy body; for the Martyrs were consumed in the body: but “the Lord preserve thy soul;” for the Martyrs yielded not up their souls. The persecutors raged against Crispina, whose birthday we are to-day celebrating; they were raging against a rich and delicate woman: but she was strong, for the Lord was her defence upon the hand of her right hand. He was her Keeper. …