Psalms 66:2
May God have mercy on us, and bless us: may he cause the light of his countenance to shine upon us, and may he have mercy on us.
Open Psalms 66:2 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Deus misereatur nostri, et benedicat nobis ; illuminet vultum suum super nos, et misereatur nostri :
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Ὁ θεὸς οἰκτειρήσαι ἡμᾶς καὶ εὐλογήσαι ἡμᾶς, ἐπιφάναι τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς. διάψαλμα.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 67:2
- אֱלֹהִ֗ים יְחָנֵּ֥נוּ וִֽיבָרְכֵ֑נוּ יָ֤אֵ֥ר פָּנָ֖יו אִתָּ֣נוּ סֶֽלָה
Haydock's commentary
Upon us, to grant our requests; or may the Messias come, Hebrews i. 3.
And may, &c., is in the Arabic, and in most copies of the Septuagint and Vulgate, though it is omitted in Hebrew, &c., "and we shall live." (Ethiopic) (Calmet)
Perhaps it may be given to express the sense of Selah, which seems to have been a term of approbation. It does not alter the sense. (Berthier)
God first forgives sins, and then bestows his manifold graces. (Worthington)
This was the form of solemn blessing, Numbers vi. 17. (Du Hamel)
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 Letter XCIII
35. Wherefore, my brother, refrain from gathering together against divine testimonies so many, so perspicuous, and so unchallenged, the calumnies which may be found in the writings of bishops either of our communion, as Hilary, or of the undivided Church itself in the age preceding the schism of Donatus, as Cyprian or Agrippinus; because, in the first place, this class of writings must be, so far as authority is concerned, distinguished from the canon of Scripture. For they are not read by us as if a testimony brought forward from them was such that it would be unlawful to hold any different opinion, for it may be that the opinions which they held were different from those to which truth demands our assent. …
St Augustine City of God, Of the Universal Way of the Soul’s Deliverance, Which Porphyry Did Not Find Because He Did Not Rightly Seek It, and Which the Grace of Christ Has Alone Thrown Open
This, then, is the universal way of the soul’s deliverance, the way that is granted by the divine compassion to the nations universally. And no nation to which the knowledge of it has already come, or may hereafter come, ought to demand, Why so soon? or, Why so late? for the design of Him who sends it is impenetrable by human capacity. This was felt by Porphyry when he confined himself to saying that this gift of God was not yet received, and had not yet come to his knowledge. For though this was so, he did not on that account pronounce that the way it self had no existence. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm LXVII
1. Your Love remembereth, that in two Psalms, which have been already treated of, we have stirred up our soul to bless the Lord, and with godly chant have said, “Bless thou, O my soul, the Lord.” If therefore we have stirred up our soul in those Psalms to bless the Lord, in this Psalm is well said, “May God have pity on us, and bless us” ( ver. 1 ). Let our soul bless the Lord, and let God bless us. When God blesseth us, we grow, and when we bless the Lord, we grow, to us both are profitable. He is not increased by our blessing, nor is He lessened by our cursing. He that curseth the Lord, is himself lessened: he that blesseth the Lord, is himself increased. First, there is in us the blessing of the Lord, and the consequence is that we also bless the Lord. That is the rain, this the fruit. Therefore there is rendered as it were fruit to God the Husbandman, raining upon and tilling us. …
Theodoret The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret, Of Artemius the Duke. Of Publia the Deaconess and her divine boldness
In those days there was a woman named Publia, of high reputation, and illustrious for deeds of virtue. For a short time she wore the yoke of marriage, and had offered its most goodly fruit to God, for from this fair soil sprang John, who for a long time was chief presbyter at Antioch, and was often elected to the apostolic see, but from time to time declined the dignity. She maintained a company of virgins vowed to virginity for life, and spent her time in praising God who had made and saved her. …