Psalms 64:2
A Hymn, O God, becometh thee in Sion: and a vow shall be paid to thee in Jerusalem.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion, et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Σοὶ πρέπει ὕμνος, ὁ θεός, ἐν Σιών, καὶ σοὶ ἀποδοθήσεται εὐχή.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 65:2
- לְךָ֤ דֻֽמִיָּ֬ה תְהִלָּ֓ה אֱלֹ֘הִ֥ים בְּצִיּ֑וֹן וּ֝לְךָ֗ יְשֻׁלַּם נֶֽדֶר
Haydock's commentary
Hymn. Or Hebrew, "Praise is silent," (Haydock) "waiteth," (Protestants) or "silence is praise for thee, O God." (Pagnin) Favete linguis. (Horace) (Grotius)
"We worship Him with pure silence." (Porphyrius, Abst. iii.) (Zacharias ii. 13.) (Haydock)
In Jerusalem, is not in Hebrew, &c., though Houbigant thinks it was originally. (Berthier)
"Only the vows of ecclesiastical religion are useful." (St. Hilary)
Praises of those who are out of the Church, are not acceptable to God. (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 LXV
3. “For Thee a hymn is meet, O God, in Sion” ( ver. 1 ). That fatherland is Sion: Jerusalem is the very same as Sion; and of this name the interpretation ye ought to know. As Jerusalem is interpreted vision of peace, so Sion Beholding, that is, vision and contemplation. Some great inexplicable sight to us is promised: and this is God Himself that hath builded the city. Beauteous and graceful the city, how much more beauteous a Builder it hath! “For Thee a hymn is meet, O God,” he saith. But where? “In Sion:” in Babylon it is not meet. …
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter X. What is seemly is often found in the sacred writings long before it appears in the books of the philosophers. Pythagoras borrowed the law of his silence from David. David's rule, however, is the best, for our first duty is to have due measure in speaking
30. We are instructed and taught that “what is seemly” is put in our Scriptures in the first place. (In Greek it is called πρέπον .) For we read: “A Hymn beseems Thee, O God, in Sion.” In Greek this is: Σοί πρέπει ὕμνος ὁ θεὸς ἐν Σιών . And the Apostle says: “Speak the things which become sound doctrine.” And elsewhere: “For it beseemed Him through Whom are all things and for Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter XLV. On what is noble and virtuous, and what the difference between them is, as stated both in the profane and sacred writers
230. In our writings this is put somewhat more plainly. For David says: “The Lord reigneth, He is clothed with splendour.” And the Apostle says: “Walk honestly as in the day.” The Greek text has ευσχημόνως, and this really means: with good clothing, with a good appearance. When God made the first man, He created him with a good figure, with limbs well set, and gave him a very noble appearance. He had not given him remission of sins. But afterwards He, Who came in the form of a servant, and in the likeness of man, renewed him with His Spirit, and poured His grace into his heart, and put on Himself the splendour of the redemption of the human race. …