Psalms 27:1
A psalm for David himself. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord: O my God, be not thou silent to me: lest thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
Open Psalms 27:1 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Psalmus ipsi David. Ad te, Domine, clamabo ; Deus meus, ne sileas a me : nequando taceas a me, et assimilabor descendentibus in lacum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Τοῦ Δαυείδ. Πρὸς σέ, Κύριε, ἐκέκραξα, ὁ θεός μου, μὴ παρασιωπήσῃς ἐπ᾽ ἑμοί· μή ποτε παρασιωπήσῃς ἐπ᾽ ἐμοὶ καὶ ὁμοιωθήσομαι τοῖς καταβαίνουσιν εἰς λάκκον.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 28:1
- לְדָוִ֡ד אֵ֘לֶ֤יךָ יְהוָ֨ה אֶקְרָ֗א צוּרִי֮ אַֽל תֶּחֱרַ֪שׁ מִ֫מֶּ֥נִּי פֶּן תֶּֽחֱשֶׁ֥ה מִמֶּ֑נִּי וְ֝נִמְשַׁ֗לְתִּי עִם י֥וֹרְדֵי בֽוֹר
Haydock's commentary
Himself. The Hebrew and Septuagint (Roman and Alexandrian) have simply "of David."
Ledavid. (Haydock)
The psalm appears to be a sequel of the preceding, and we may adopt the rule of the Jews, who refer the psalms which have no title, to the same author and events as those which go before. It may relate to the captives, (Calmet) or to David under persecution, though the Fathers explain it of Christ suffering, &c., and rising again.
My God. Hebrew, "rock." This term is so often applied to God, that it might be added to his other ten titles. (Berthier)
Lest....to me, is not in the Roman psalter. (Euthymius, &c.)
Pit, grave; though it also denote "a prison." (Calmet)
St. Jerome has "be not deaf to me," &c. (Menochius)
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 Book XII, Chapter XVI
23. With such as grant that all these things which Thy truth indicates to my mind are true, I desire to confer a little before Thee, O my God. For let those who deny these things bark and drown their own voices with their clamour as much as they please; I will endeavour to persuade them to be quiet, and to suffer Thy word to reach them. But should they be unwilling, and should they repel me, I beseech, O my God, that Thou “be not silent to me.” Do Thou speak truly in my heart, for Thou only so speakest, and I will send them away blowing upon the dust from without, and raising it up into their own eyes; and will myself enter into my chamber, and sing there unto Thee songs of love, groaning with groaning unutterable in my pilgrimage, and remembering Jerusalem, with heart raised up towards it, Jerusalem my country, Jerusalem my mother, and Thyself, the Ruler over it, the Enlightener, the Fa …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm XXVIII
2. “Unto Thee, O Lord, have I cried; My God, be not silent from me” ( ver. 1 ). Unto Thee, O Lord, have I cried; My God, separate not the unity of Thy Word from that which as Man I am. “Lest at any time Thou be silent from me: and I shall be like them that go down into the pit.” For from this, that the Eternity of Thy Word ceaseth not to unite Itself to Me, it comes that I am not such a man as the rest of men, who are born into the deep misery of this world: where, as if Thou art silent, Thy Word is not recognised. “Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication, whist I pray unto Thee, whilst I hold up my hands to Thy holy temple” ( ver. 2 ). Whilst I am crucified for their salvation, who on believing become Thy holy temple.