Psalms 85:13
For thy mercy is great towards me: and thou hast delivered my soul out of the lower hell.
Open Psalms 85:13 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- quia misericordia tua magna est super me, et eruisti animam meam ex inferno inferiori.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ὅτι τὸ ἔλεός σου μέγα ἐπ᾽ ἐμέ, καὶ ἐρρύσω τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐξ ᾅδου κατωτάτου.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 86:13
- כִּֽי חַ֭סְדְּךָ גָּד֣וֹל עָלָ֑י וְהִצַּ֥לְתָּ נַ֝פְשִׁ֗י מִשְּׁא֥וֹל תַּחְתִּיָּֽה
Haydock's commentary
Hell of the damned, (Worthington) according to the Fathers: or out of captivity and dangers. (Berthier)
If it be understood of Christ, it must refer to limbo. (Bellarmine) (Menochius)
It seems equivalent to the lower pit, Psalm lxxxvii. 7. (Haydock)
The Jews admit seven regions in hell, (Genebrard) and our theologians four: 1. Of the damned; 2. of unbaptized infants; 3. of purgatory; and 4. of the saints in Abraham's bosom. St. Augustine mentions the first and last here: but he speaks clearly of purgatory in other places. (De Gen. contra Manch. ii. 17. in Psalm vi.) (Calmet)
David was rescued from the most imminent dangers, and Christ came out of limbo, (Psalm xv. 10.; Du Hamel) by his own power. (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 LXXXVI
16. “I will confess unto Thee, O Lord my God, in my whole heart, and I will glorify Thy name for ever” ( ver. 12 ): “for great is Thy mercy toward me, and Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell” ( ver. 13 ). Do not be angry, brethren, if I do not explain what I have said as though I were certain. For I am a man, and as much as is granted to me concerning the sacred Scriptures, so much I venture to speak: nothing of myself. Hades I have not yet seen, nor have you: and there will be perhaps another way for us, and not through Hades. These things are uncertain. …