Psalms 39:13
For evils without number have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I was not able to see. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head: and my heart hath forsaken me.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quoniam circumdederunt me mala quorum non est numerus ; comprehenderunt me iniquitates meæ, et non potui ut viderem. Multiplicatæ sunt super capillos capitis mei, et cor meum dereliquit me.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ὅτι περιέσχον με κακὰ ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀριθμός, κατέλαβόν με αἱ ἀνομίαι μου, καὶ οὐκ ἠδυνάσθην τοῦ βλέπειν· ἐπληθύνθησαν ὑπὲρ τὰς τρίχας τῆς κεφαλῆς μου, καὶ ἡ καρδία μου ἐνκατέλιπέν με.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 40:13
- כִּ֤י אָפְפ֥וּ עָלַ֨י רָע֡וֹת עַד אֵ֬ין מִסְפָּ֗ר הִשִּׂיג֣וּנִי עֲ֭וֺנֹתַי וְלֹא יָכֹ֣לְתִּי לִרְא֑וֹת עָצְמ֥וּ מִשַּֽׂעֲר֥וֹת רֹ֝אשִׁ֗י וְלִבִּ֥י עֲזָבָֽנִי
Haydock's commentary
My iniquities. That is, the sins of all mankind, which I have taken upon me. (Challoner) (Calmet)
The sins even of those who believe, are so numerous, that they cannot be seen in particular. We may faint at the sight of so many sins committed by Christians. (Worthington)
Forsaken me in the agony. (Calmet)
Christ had all the sins of mankind laid upon him. (Berthier)
He did not suffer to release those who were already damned; though they had received sufficient graces, in consequence of the merits of his future death. (Haydock)
Christ knew the number and enormity of sin. (Menochius)
But he would not disclose his knowledge. (Haydock) (Mark vi. 5.) (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 Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm XL
“Innumerable evils have compassed me about” ( ver. 12 ). Who can number sins? Who can count his own sins, and those of others? A burden under which he was groaning, who said, “Cleanse Thou me from my secret faults; and from the faults of others, spare Thou Thy servant, O Lord.” Our own are too little; those “of others” are added to the burden. I fear for myself; I fear for a virtuous brother, I have to bear with a wicked brother; and under such burthen what shall we be, if God’s mercy were to fail? “But Thou, Lord, remove not afar off.” Be Thou near unto us! To whom is the Lord near? “Even” unto them that “are of a broken heart.” He is far from the proud: He is near to the humble. …
St Gregory the Great The Book of Pastoral Rule, How the silent and the talkative are to be admonished
( Admonition 15.) Differently to be admonished are the over-silent, and those who spend time in much speaking. For it ought to be insinuated to the over-silent that while they shun some vices unadvisedly, they are, without its being perceived, implicated in worse. For often from bridling the tongue overmuch they suffer from more grievous loquacity in the heart; so that thoughts seethe the more in the mind from being straitened by the violent guard of indiscreet silence. And for the most part they overflow all the more widely as they count themselves the more secure because of not being seen by fault-finders without. Whence sometimes a man’s mind is exalted into pride, and he despises as weak those whom he hears speaking. And, when he shuts the mouth of his body, he is not aware to what extent through his pride he lays himself open to vices. …
St Gregory the Great Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great, To Theoctista, Sister of the Emperor
With how great devotion my mind prostrates itself before your Venerableness I cannot fully express in words; nor yet do I labour to give utterance to it, since, even though I were silent, you read in your heart your own sense of my devotion. I wonder, however, that you withdrew your countenance, till of late bestowed on me, from this my recent engagement in the pastoral office; wherein, under colour of episcopacy, I have been brought back to the world; in which I am involved in such great earthly cares as I do not at all remember having been subjected to even in a lay state of life. For I have lost the deep joys of my quiet, and seem to have risen outwardly while inwardly falling down. Whence I grieve to find myself banished far from the face of my Maker. …