Psalms 86:4
I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me. Behold the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Memor ero Rahab et Babylonis, scientium me ; ecce alienigenæ, et Tyrus, et populus Æthiopum, hi fuerunt illic.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- μνησθήσομαι Ῥαὰβ καὶ Βαβυλῶνος τοῖς γινώσκουσίν με· καὶ ἰδοὺ ἀλλόφυλοι καὶ Τύρος καὶ λαὸς Αἰθιόπων, οὗτοι ἐγενήθησαν ἐκεῖ.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 87:4
- אַזְכִּ֤יר רַ֥הַב וּבָבֶ֗ל לְֽיֹ֫דְעָ֥י הִנֵּ֤ה פְלֶ֣שֶׁת וְצ֣וֹר עִם כּ֑וּשׁ זֶ֝֗ה יֻלַּד שָֽׁם
Haydock's commentary
Rahab. Egypt, &c. To this Sion, which is the Church of God, many shall resort from all nations. (Challoner)
Christ gives his apostles command to preach to all, Matthew xxviii., and Luke xxiv. 27. (Worthington)
Some have supposed that Rahab, who received the spies, is here put, to signify the Chanaanites. But her name is written Reb; and the word before us is Rahab, (Haydock) signifying "pride," (Menochius) or Egypt; particularly the Delta, which is still called Rib. (Calmet)
Me. I will receive into my Church not only the Jews, but also the most abandoned nations. (Haydock)
Foreigners. Philistines, Psalm lxxxii. 8. (Menochius)
Were. Hebrew, "this man was born there." (Haydock)
In Christ there is no distinction of nations, Romans x. 12. The Jews will never shew us the completion of this prophecy any where but in the Church. (Calmet)
It is spoken of as past, to denote the certainty of the event. (Worthington)
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
5. “Very excellent things are said of thee, thou city of God” ( ver. 3 ). He was, as it were, contemplating that city of Jerusalem on earth: for consider what city he alludes to, of which certain very excellent things are spoken. Now the earthly city has been destroyed: after suffering the enemy’s rage, it fell to the earth; it is no longer what it was: it exhibited the emblem, and the shadow hath passed away. Whence then are “very excellent things spoken of thee, thou city of God”? Listen whence: “I will think upon Rahab and Babylon, with them that know Me” ( ver. 4 ). …
St Ambrose Exposition of the Christian Faith, Chapter X. The Arians openly take sides with the heathen in attacking the words: “He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me,” etc. The true meaning of the passage is unfolded; and to prevent us from believing that the Lord forbade us to have faith in Him, it is shown how He spoke at one time as God, at another as Man. After bringing forward examples of various results of that faith, he shows that certain other passages also must be taken in the same way
127. A harlot saw this; and she who in the destruction of the city lost all hope of any means of safety, because her faith had conquered, bound a scarlet thread in her window, and thus uplifted a sign of her faith and the banner of the Lord’s Passion; so that the semblance of the mystic blood, which should redeem the world, might be in memory. So, without, the name of Joshua was a sign of victory to those who fought; within, the semblance of the Lord’s Passion was a sign of salvation to those in danger. Wherefore, because Rahab understood the heavenly mystery, the Lord says in the Psalm: “I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon that know Me.”