Psalms 30:17
Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; save me in thy mercy.
Open Psalms 30:17 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Illustra faciem tuam super servum tuum ; salvum me fac in misericordia tua.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐπίφανον τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἐπὶ τὸν δοῦλόν σου, σῶσόν με ἐν τῷ ἐλέει σου.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 31:17
- הָאִ֣ירָה פָ֭נֶיךָ עַל עַבְדֶּ֑ךָ ה֖וֹשִׁיעֵ֣נִי בְחַסְדֶּֽךָ
Haydock's commentary
Shine propitiously, so as to free me from this storm. (Calmet)
Make me acquainted with the right path, and deliver me. (Worthington)
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 XXXI
17. “Make Thy Face to shine upon Thy servant” ( ver. 16 ). Make it known to men, who do not think that I belong unto Thee, that Thy Face is bent upon me, and that I serve Thee. “Save me in Thy mercy.”
St Gregory Nazianzen Funeral Oration on the Great S. Basil, Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia
72. Joseph was a provider of corn, but in Egypt only, and not frequently, and of bodily food. Basil did so for all men, and at all times, and in spiritual food, and therefore, in my opinion, his was the more honourable function. Like Job, the man of Uz, he was both tempted, and overcame, and at the close of his struggles gained splendid honour, having been shaken by none of his many assailants, and having gained a decisive victory over the efforts of the tempter, and put to silence the unreason of his friends, who knew not the mysterious character of his affliction. “Moses and Aaron among His priests.” Truly was Moses great, who inflicted the plagues upon Egypt, and delivered the people among many signs and wonders, and entered within the cloud, and sanctioned the double law, outward in the letter, and inward in the Spirit. …
St Ambrose Exposition of the Christian Faith, Chapter VIII. Christ, so far as He is true Son of God, has no Lord, but only so far as He is Man; as is shown by His words in which He addressed at one time the Father, at another the Lord. How many heresies are silenced by one verse of Scripture! We must distinguish between the things that belong to Christ as Son of God or as Son of David. For under the latter title only must we ascribe it to Him that He was a servant. Lastly, he points out that many passages cannot be taken except as referring to the Incarnation
108. Learn, then, what this means: “He took upon Him the form of a servant.” It means that He took upon Him all the perfections of humanity in their completeness, and obedience in its completeness. And so it says in the thirtieth Psalm: “Thou hast set my feet in a large room. I am made a reproach above all mine enemies. Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant.” “Servant” means the Man in whom He was sanctified; it means the Man in whom He was anointed; it means the Man in whom He was made under the law, made of the Virgin; and, to put it briefly, it means the Man in whose person He has a mother, as it is written: “O Lord, I am Thy Servant, I am Thy Servant, and the Son of Thy hand-maid;” and again: “I am cast down and sore humbled.”