Psalms 77:64
Their priests fell by the sword: and their widows did not mourn.
Open Psalms 77:64 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Sacerdotes eorum in gladio ceciderunt, et viduæ eorum non plorabantur.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- οἱ ἱερεῖς αὐτῶν ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ ἔπεσαν, καὶ αἱ χῆραι αὐτῶν οὐ κλαυσθήσονται.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 78:64
- כֹּ֭הֲנָיו בַּחֶ֣רֶב נָפָ֑לוּ וְ֝אַלְמְנֹתָ֗יו לֹ֣א תִבְכֶּֽינָה
Haydock's commentary
Priests. Ophni and Phinees, (1 Kings iv. 11.; Calmet) the origin of this calamity, (Haydock) and the high priest himself broke his neck. (Worthington)
Mourn, plorabantur, intimates rather that the people did not mourn for him. But the Hebrew has this meaning also, fleverunt, (Montanus) sunt fletæ. (St. Jerome) (Haydock)
The widow of Phinees died on hearing the sad news; and Eusebius seems to think that grief killed Ophni's widow likewise. (Calmet)
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
32. “God heard, and He despised:” that is, He gave heed and took vengeance. “And unto nothing He brought Israel exceedingly” ( ver. 60 ). For when God despised, what were they who by God’s help were what they were? But doubtless he is commemorating the doing of that thing, when they were conquered by the Philistines in the time of Heli the priest, and the Ark of the Lord was taken, and with great slaughter they were laid low. This it is that he speaketh of. “And He rejected the tabernacle of Selom, His tabernacle, where He dwelled among men” ( ver. 61 ). He hath elegantly explained why He rejected His tabernacle, when he saith, “where He dwelled among men.” When therefore they were not worthy for Him to dwell among, why should He not reject the tabernacle, which indeed not for Himself He had established, but for their sakes, whom now He judged unworthy for Him to dwell among. …