Psalms 77:53
And he brought them out in hope, and they feared not: and the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
Open Psalms 77:53 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- et deduxit eos in spe, et non timuerunt, et inimicos eorum operuit mare.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ὡδήγησεν αὐτοὺς ἐν ἐλπίδι καὶ οὐκ ἐδειλίασαν, καὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτῶν ἐκάλυψεν θάλασσα.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 78:53
- וַיַּנְחֵ֣ם לָ֭בֶטַח וְלֹ֣א פָחָ֑דוּ וְאֶת א֝וֹיְבֵיהֶ֗ם כִּסָּ֥ה הַיָּֽם
Haydock's commentary
Not, after they saw the Egyptians destroyed, whom they had feared greatly before. In the desert they enjoyed rest, while their enemies were in the utmost confusion, (Berthier) having lost their king. (Haydock)
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 LXXVIII
29. The Psalm proceedeth then after the commemoration of the plagues of the Egyptians ( ver. 51 ) and saith, “And He took away like sheep His people, and He led them through like a flock in the desert” ( ver. 52 ). “And He led them down in hope, and they feared not, and their enemies the sea covered” ( ver. 53 ). This cometh to pass to so much the greater good, as it is a more inward thing, wherein being delivered from the power of darkness, we are in mind translated into the Kingdom of God, and with respect to spiritual pastures we are made to become sheep of God, walking in this world as it were in a desert, inasmuch as to no one is our faith observable: whence saith the Apostle, “Your life is hidden with Christ in God.” But we are being led home in hope, “For by hope we are saved.” Nor ought we to fear. …
St Basil De Spiritu Sancto, Against those who assert that the Spirit ought not to be glorified
It is the Spirit which says, as the Lord says, “Get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them.” Are these the words of an inferior, or of one in dread? “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” Does a slave speak thus? And Isaiah, “The Lord God and His Spirit hath sent me,” and “the Spirit came down from the Lord and guided them.” And pray do not again understand by this guidance some humble service, for the Word witnesses that it was the work of God; “Thou leddest thy people,” it is said “like a flock,” and “Thou that leadest Joseph like a flock,” and “He led them on safely, so that they feared not.” Thus when you hear that when the Comforter is come, He will put you in remembrance, and “guide you into all truth,” do not misrepresent the meaning.