Psalms 88:3
For thou hast said: Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens: thy truth shall be prepared in them.
Open Psalms 88:3 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quoniam dixisti : In æternum misericordia ædificabitur in cælis ; præparabitur veritas tua in eis.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ὅτι εἶπας Εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἔλεος οἰκοδομηθήσεται, ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἑτοιμασθήσεται ἡ ἀλήθειά σου·
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 89:3
- כִּֽי אָמַ֗רְתִּי ע֭וֹלָם חֶ֣סֶד יִבָּנֶ֑ה שָׁמַ֓יִם תָּכִ֖ן אֱמוּנָתְךָ֣ בָהֶֽם
Haydock's commentary
For thou. Hebrew, "I." Yet St. Jerome agrees with the Septuagint, (Berthier) though he is quoted by Calmet as conformable with Aquila, &c., Dixi.
Heaven and earth shall pass away sooner than God's word. (Haydock)
If we do not see how his promises are accompanied we must confess our ignorance, or throw the blame on the sins of the nation: but never call in question the divine mercy. (Calmet)
Truth. I will perform what I have promised to thee. (Menochius)
The apostles, represented by the heavens, have, by their preaching, established by the Church for ever. (Worthington)
In them, is not in the Septuagint, St. Augustine, &c. (Calmet)
Houbigant would remove Dixisti, "for thou," &c., to ver. 4. (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 LXXXIX
3. “For Thou hast said, Mercy shall be built up for ever” ( ver. 2 ). It is this that I sing: this is Thy truth, for the making known of which my mouth serveth. In such wise Thou sayest, I build, as not to destroy: for some Thou destroyest and buildest not; and some whom Thou destroyest Thou dost rebuild. For unless there were some who were destroyed to be rebuilt, Jeremiah would not have written, “See, I have this day set thee to throw down and to build.” And indeed all who formerly worshipped images and stones could not be built up in Christ, without being destroyed as to their old error. …
Theodoret Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus, The Immutable
Orth. Listen now how the prophet praises God at the very beginning of the Psalm. He saw with his prophetic eyes the future iniquity of his people, and the captivity that was in consequence foredoomed; yet he praised his own Lord for unfailing promises. “I will sing,” he says, “of the mercies of the Lord forever, with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations, for thou hast said, Mercy shall be built up for ever, Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens.”
Rufinus A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed, Section 31. He Ascended into Heaven, and Sitteth on the Right Hand of the Father: from Thence He Shall Come to Judge the Quick and the Dead
31. He Ascended into Heaven, and Sitteth on the Right Hand of the Father: from Thence He Shall Come to Judge the Quick and the Dead . These clauses follow with suitable brevity at the end of this part of the Creed which treats of the Son. What is said is plain, but the question is how and in what sense it is to be understood. For to “ascend,” and to “sit,” and to “come,” unless you understand the words in accordance with the dignity of the divine nature, appear to point to something of human weakness. …
St Jerome Against the Pelagians, Book II
Ps. lxxxix. 2 . Mercy shall be built up forever.