Psalms 86:1
For the sons of Core, a psalm of a canticle. The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains:
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Filiis Core. Psalmus cantici. Fundamenta ejus in montibus sanctis ;
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Τοῖς υἱοῖς Κόρε ψαλμὸς ᾠδῆς. Οἱ θεμέλιοι αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν τοῖς ἁγίοις·
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 87:1
- לִבְנֵי קֹ֭רַח מִזְמ֣וֹר שִׁ֑יר יְ֝סוּדָת֗וֹ בְּהַרְרֵי קֹֽדֶשׁ
Haydock's commentary
Mountains. So far the Jews extend the title, supposing that the subject of this canticle was concerning Sion, Moria, &c. Others think that, thereof, refers to a part of the psalm which has been lost, (Calmet) or to the temple or city which occupied the prophet's thoughts; or it is sufficiently explained by the word Sion, which follows, as the relative sometimes comes first. (Du Hamel) See Proverbs xiv. 3.
This psalm might be composed (Berthier) by some of the Corites, during, or after the captivity, when Jerusalem received strangers within her walls, as a figure of the Christian Church; (Isaias ii. 2., and Zacharias viii. 20.; Calmet) or David (Berthier) might write it when he had removed the ark to Sion, which was to be the seat of the true religion. (Ferrand)
Mountains. The apostles and prophets; (Ephesians ii. 20.; Challoner) on which the Church is founded. (Haydock)
The city was styled holy, from the temple built on Moria. Several other mountains were included within its walls. (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 LXXXVII
2. “Her foundations are upon the holy hills” ( ver. 1 ). The Psalm had as yet said nothing of the city: it begins thus, and says, “Her foundations are upon the holy hills.” Whose? There can be no doubt that foundations, especially among the hills, belong to some city. Thus filled with the Holy Spirit, and with many thoughts of love and longing for that city, as if after long internal meditation, that citizen bursts out, “Her foundations are upon the holy hills;” as if he had already said something concerning it. …
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, Paula and Eustochium to Marcella
4. You have long been anxious to break forth into speech; the very letters we have formed perceive it, and our paper already understands the question you are going to put. You will reply to us by saying: it was so of old, when “the Lord loved the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob,” and when her foundations were in the holy mountains. Even these verses, however, are susceptible of a deeper interpretation. But things are changed since then. The risen Lord has proclaimed in tones of thunder: “Your house is left unto you desolate.” With tears He has prophesied its downfall: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent un to thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. …
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Eustochium
9. To make a long story short, leaving on her left the mausoleum of Helena queen of Adiabene who in time of famine had sent corn to the Jewish people, Paula entered Jerusalem, Jebus, or Salem, that city of three names which after it had sunk to ashes and decay was by Ælius Hadrianus restored once more as Ælia. And although the proconsul of Palestine, who was an intimate friend of her house, sent forward his apparitors and gave orders to have his official residence placed at her disposal, she chose a humble cell in preference to it. Moreover, in visiting the holy places so great was the passion and the enthusiasm she exhibited for each, that she could never have torn herself away from one had she not been eager to visit the rest. …
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).