Psalm 6 — O Lord, rebuke me not

^6:1^ Unto the end, a psalm for David, for the octave. ^6:2^ O Lord, rebuke me not in your indignation, nor chastise me in your wrath.

^6:3^ Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. ^6:4^ And my soul is troubled exceedingly, but you, O Lord, how long? ^6:5^ Turn to me, O Lord, and deliver my soul. O save me for your mercy’s sake.

^6:6^ For there is no one in death who is mindful of you; and who shall confess to you in hell?

^6:7^ I have labored in my groanings; every night I will wash my bed, I will water my coverlet with my tears.

^6:8^ My eye is troubled through indignation; I have grown old among all my enemies.

^6:9^ Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity: for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. ^6:10^ The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord has received my prayer.

^6:11^ Let all my enemies be ashamed, and be very much troubled. Let them be turned back, and be ashamed very speedily.

35. In the preceding psalm, David asked that he might be conducted in the way of justice because of his enemies.

Here, however, he asks that, having fallen, he might be renewed.

And this psalm seems to express the feelings of a man who, castigated for his sins and given over into the hands of his enemies, obtains freedom through the penance he has completed.

And so this is the first of the seven penitential psalms.

These are seven because of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, through whom one repents; and they all begin in sadness and end in joy, since the kingdom of glory is reached through the mourning of penance. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matt 5:5).

The title is unto the end, a psalm for David, for the octave. Jerome translates it as, a song of David for the victor in psalms upon the octave.

From the title, it remains to see what he means by “octave.” For the other things have been explained already. Therefore, it should be known that the titles come from Ezra, partly from what was happening then, and partly from what followed.

For the history of Leviticus 23:6 says that in the seventh month the Jews held the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days, and the eighth day was the most festive of all. For it was the day of gathering and of the collections that took place for the things necessary for the divine worship and for the poor. And perhaps David wrote this psalm for that solemnity, and it was sung on the eighth day.

Now this feast belongs to the mystical sense, since by eight is signified the Resurrection, when all will be gathered together by the four winds, from the far reaches of the earth to the far reaches of heaven (Matt 13:31).

Or “octave” indicates the false opinion of those who say that the future resurrection will be after seven thousand years, when the Lord returns to judge. (Cf. Epistle of Barnabas 15 (Sources Chrétiennes, 172:183–89).) But this time is known to no one. It is not for you to know the times or moments (Acts 1:7). But of that day and hour no one knows, not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone (Matt 24:36).

Therefore, there is another reason why the octave signifies the resurrection: life in the present age has two aspects.

In one, man makes time for physical things;

in the other, for spiritual things.

The first life is signified by four, because it is a corporeal number, as Plato says, since it signifies the dimensions. (Plato, Timaeus 32c.) For among solid objects, the first physical number is the pyramid, as Boethius hands down in his Arithmetic. (Boethius, On Arithmetic 2.21 (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 63:1129).) Therefore, since the pyramid, which has a triangular base and rises to a point, is first, it follows that four is the first solid number; for example, if lines are raised up from the three angles on a triangle, and they are joined into angles at one middle point, a pyramid is made, the base of which is one triangle, and the sides are each triangles.

Now, the second kind of life, which is spiritual, is signified by three, for in plane figures, three is the first number that can exist on a surface. And Boethius likewise says this in the same book. For at first, the face of a triangle lacks any thickness.

The octave, namely the resurrection of bodies and souls, follows the group of seven, which is counted by adding four and three.

Now, another reason is given in the gloss: four belongs to the body, because it is made up of the four elements, and affected by four qualities (namely, dry and wet, hot and cold), and influenced by the four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, and winter). (Peter Lombard, Magna glossatura (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 191:103–4).)

Three belongs to the soul because of the three powers of the soul: reason, the irascible appetite, and the concupiscible appetite. But when both lives—namely, the physical and the spiritual—have been completed, the seven is accomplished, and the day of judgment will come, and justice will be given to each one according to his merit.

Or, in the same way, the resurrection is signified by the octave since it will be the eighth age. For the first age runs from Adam to Noah; the second, from Noah to Abraham; the third, from Abraham to David; the fourth, from David to the migration to Babylon; the fifth, from the migration to Babylon to Christ; the sixth, from Christ to the end of the world. The sixth and seventh ages run at the same time, namely, the ages of those at rest and of those laboring, and after these will come the eighth age of those rising.

Now, this psalm is divided into three parts.

The first describes penance;

the second, the tears of penance, at I have labored;

the third, the fruits of both, at depart.

But a man living in sin suffers three difficulties from which he begs to be delivered.

The first is the disordered action;

the second is the wound and weakness of nature;

the third is the guilt of imminent punishment.

Therefore, he first begs to be delivered from the first, and so he says, O Lord, rebuke me not in your indignation.

Second, he prays against the second, and so he adds, praying, have mercy on me O Lord, for I am weak.

Third, he prays against the third, and so he adds, but you, O Lord, how long?

Thus he says: O Lord, rebuke me not. Sometimes, someone delivers another from evil actions by rebuking with words and by correcting with punishments, and God does both of these.

A rebuke sometimes leads to amendment, and this is in mercy. In mercy the just shall correct me (Ps 140:5).

Sometimes it will lead to condemnation, and this is of anger, and so he says, O Lord, rebuke me, but not in your indignation, since this belongs to vengeance, and will happen at the judgment when he will say, depart from me, you cursed . . . for I was hungry (Matt 25:41–2). His wrath burns, and is heavy to bear (Isa 30:27).

Now he rebukes in this way, but not in wrath, since he rebukes to bring about amendment, not condemnation, and he asks for this when he says, nor chastise me in your wrath, as if to say, “Correct me, not in anger or wrath, but through temporal stripes.” (Cf. ST I, q. 4, a. 2, ad 2.) Augustine says, here burn, here cut, here do not spare, but spare in eternity. (Cf. Peter Lombard, Magna glossatura (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 191:105).) Correct me, O Lord, but yet with judgment (Jer 10:24).

36. Then, when he says, have mercy, he asks to be delivered from the second thing from which the man in sin suffers, that is, from the wound and weakness of nature.

First, he describes the weakness in general;

second, in particular, at heal me.

Therefore, he says, have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak. Sin is spiritual weakness. Just as bodily weakness results from the loss of the proper proportion of the humors, so when the affections of the soul are not proportioned it brings about spiritual sickness, and so he says, I am weak. (Cf. ST I-II, q. 77, a. 3, resp.)

The gloss has, I am weak by nature and by vice, and so I cannot bear your justice. (Peter Lombard, Ps. PL 191:105.) I am your servant, and the son of your handmaid (Ps 115:16). A weak man, and of short time, and falling short of the understanding of judgment and laws (Wis 9:5).

Then when he says, heal me, he describes in particular how he is weak, and this is in two ways:

first, because he has lost his strength;

second, because he has failed in discernment, at and my soul is troubled.

He says, therefore, heal me, O Lord. Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed (Jer 17:14), since if a man is free from sin, he is disposed to retain grace and the virtues, which are the strength of man. So, heal me, O Lord, and I ask this because my bones, that is my fortitude—namely, the virtue and strength of my soul—are troubled.

Likewise, his discernment is troubled in that it seems to the sinner that he acts rightly when he sins, and so he says, and my soul is troubled exceedingly, because he has a perverted judgment regarding what is to be done, so that he judges what is good to be bad, and the reverse. (Cf. ST I-II, q. 77, a. 2, resp.)

Then when he says, but you, O Lord, he prays against the punishment of damnation.

Here he makes three points:

first, he shows that danger is imminent;

second, he asks for the help of grace, at turn to me;

third, he describes the imminent danger, at for there is no one in death.

He says, therefore, I am weak, I cannot rise up by myself, but you, O Lord, who have the power, how long will you not hear? How long, O Lord, will you forget me to the end? (Ps 12:1). He saw danger in the fact that he was not converted. Delay not to be converted to the Lord, and defer it not from day to day. For his wrath shall come on a sudden, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy you (Eccl 5:8–9). How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and you will not hear? Shall I cry out to you, true Father and you will not save? (Hab 1:2), as if to say, “How long will I remain in sin and you will not give me help to rise up?”

And so he asks for help, saying, turn to me. And he touches on three things, namely, conversion, seizing, and salvation.

The eye of a man is not illuminated by the sun unless he is directly in the path of its light; so also, if the soul is to receive the divine light, it must view God directly. This direct view is always prepared by God, but man turns himself away, and then it must be God who turns him back, inasmuch as he first turns to us by turning us to him. And so he says, turn to me. Turn us, O Lord, and we shall be turned to you (Lam 5:21).

If someone, bound and being dragged away to be killed, sees someone he trusts, he calls urgently and says, “Deliver me.” This person prays in this way, saying, deliver my soul, as if to say, “Deliver me, who, dragged away by sin, am lead to my death.” Deliver those who are led to death (Prov 24:11). Draw me out of the mire, that I may not stick fast (Ps 68:15). Who has delivered us from the power of darkness (Col 1:13).

Also, O save me. After you have delivered me from evils lead me to safety, for from him is my salvation (Ps 61:2), and this is not through my merits, but for your mercy’s sake. Not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us (Titus 3:5).

37. Then when he says, for there is no one, he shows imminent danger.

And first, he shows the danger of the immediate death, namely, natural death,

but second, of eternal damnation, from which there is no return.

Hence, for there is no one in death, that is, after death, who is mindful of you, by thinking about your goodness, if he was not mindful of it during life. And this is so because the rational soul does not have the variability of choice after death. (Cf. SCG IV, chs. 92–95.) If the tree fall to the south, or to the north, in whatever place it shall fall, there shall it be (Eccl 11:3).

A second danger is that in hell there is obstinacy and no confession, that confession about which the Apostle says, but with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10:10). And so he says, and who shall confess to you in hell?

Or likewise, in death, that is, the death of sin, who is mindful of you? as if to say, “I pray you, snatch my soul away, so that I do not consent, since in my sin, I will not remember you.” They turned away their eyes that they might not look to heaven, nor remember just judgments (Dan 13:9). And in hell, that is, in the depth of sins, who shall confess to you? The wicked man, when he is come into the depth of sins, contemns (Prov 18:3).

38. Then when he says, I have labored, he describes the penitent’s groans, where it seems that he touches on three things:

first, sadness of heart;

second, a defect in reason: my eye is troubled;

third, a diminishment in strength: I have grown old.

Sadness of heart is indicated in three ways.

First, through moans and sighing;

second, through restlessness of body;

and third, through tears.

In regard to the first, he says, I have labored in my groanings, that is, by sighing. For my sighs are many, and my heart is sorrowful (Lam 1:22). I roared with the groaning of my heart (Ps 37:9). For he says, I have labored, since it is labor to fight against oneself, and yet this labor brings forth good fruit. For the fruit of good labors is glorious (Wis 3:15).

In regard to the second, he says, I will wash. Here he names two things, his bed and his coverlet, and although these can be the same thing, we will nevertheless pursue their proper qualities.

A coverlet is that which is spread to cover a bed. The bed is what is put underneath, and it is called “chosen,” from choosing the straw and other things from which a bed is made. Therefore, by the expression, every night I will wash my bed, he gives us to understand that every night he rose up and cried, leaning against his bed.

The text of Jerome says, I will make my bed swim, and this is a figure of speech. Or, I will swim, that is, I will act like a swimmer in my disquietude. For he says, I will water my coverlet with my tears, since, even lying upon my bed, I drenched the covers of the bed by crying, as though watering it with tears.

Morally, the bed upon which man rests is his conscience, which a man washes through tears in repentance. Wash your heart from wickedness (Jer 4:14). Now the coverlet designates the sins that are stretched over the conscience. Indeed, they must be washed by tears, since tears wash away guilt, because there is shame in confessing, as the gloss says. My eyes have failed with weeping (Lam 2:11).

He says, every night, that is, for every sin. For a man should cry in repentance for every sin. Now it is given to understand that the one repenting has vices interspersed, since among the good things which he did, he sometimes sinned. And he weeps for each one, so he does not say, “for one night,” but every night.

Now, he says, I will water, with the inundation of tears. Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? (Jer 9:1). Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: give yourself no rest, and let not the apple of your eye cease (Lam 2:18).

39. Afterwards, when he says, my eye is troubled, he describes a defect in reason. For sadness is a cause of anger, and so a sad person is easily angered. (Cf. ST I-II, q. 25, a. 2, resp.) Anger always disturbs the eye of the reason. (Cf. ST II-II, q. 158, a. 1, ad 1 and ad 2.) Now, persons who are disturbed see less, and so he says, my eye, that is, my reason, is troubled, but by the fury of another. For David was made angry and disturbed when he saw his son Absalom and his counselors rise up against him.

Or he can be troubled by his own fury when he is disturbed by his own sins. For in his state of persecution by Absalom, he recognized that he was justly afflicted on account of his sins, and this kind of anger does not blind but disturbs. But another type of anger blinds.

Or by your fury, Lord God, by which you punish me as if provoked by me, since I have disturbed you. My eyes are weakened looking upward (Isa 38:14). My face is swollen with weeping and lamenting (Job 16:17).

Third, he shows his diminishment in strength when he says, I have grown old. When anyone who was victorious and strong in his youth suffers afterwards, not only from strangers but also from his own, he is said to have aged. So David, who conquered everyone in his youth but was now fleeing from his son, says, I have grown old, namely, in the repute of others: among all my enemies, those manifest and hidden. That which decays and grows old is near its end (Heb 8:13).

Or the sinner ages, falling away from the newness of Christ, about which the Apostle speaks: so we also may walk in newness of life . . . so that we should serve in newness of spirit (Rom 6:4; 7:6).

The gloss says, let us serve the works of the new man, that is, of Christ, which we can accomplish neither by our own strength, nor by the law, but by the grace of the Holy Spirit. (Peter Lombard, Super Rom 6 (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 191:1415).) Romans 6:6 says: knowing that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer. Through this servitude, someone is reduced to the old age of sin, made a member of the old man, on account of which the Apostle warns and urges, be reformed in the newness of your senses, or of your mind (Rom 12:2). Be reformed in newness, says the gloss, imitating the new man (namely, Christ), since in Adam you were deformed. (Peter Lombard, Super Rom 12 (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 191:1497).)

The prophet interrogatively laments those imitating this oldness and the misery of deformity, saying, How did it happen, O Israel, that you are in your enemies’ land? You have grown old in a strange country (Bar 3:10–11). And this fits with what is said here: I have grown old among all my enemies—either the demons or all the sins to which I consented. And then I have grown old indicates the matter for groaning, as if to say, “I have labored in my groanings . . . every night I will wash my bed, because I have grown old imitating the old man, subjecting myself to all the vices.” And then my eye is troubled refers to the state of repentance.

Or it can refer to the matter for justice, and this in relation to the state of sin, as if to say, “I have grown old, that is, I have sinned, since my eye, that is, my flesh, is troubled through indignation, that is, through the force of passion.” Fire has fallen on them (Ps 57:9), namely that of concupiscence, according to Augustine’s gloss, and they have not seen the sun, namely, of justice. (Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms 57.19 (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, 39:725).) Lust has perverted your heart (Dan 13:56). Again, they were inflamed with lust . . . that they might not . . . remember just judgments (Dan 13:8–9).

Therefore, it is from the force of this passion that David says that the eye of his reason is so disturbed that he does not see heaven, and this was desire for Bathsheba, whom he knew carnally after having called her to himself (2 Kgs 11). And after a little while, when he recognized the gravity of what he had done, he added the crime of murder to the crime of adultery. So he ordered Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, to be killed by being thrust forward, for which very serious sins he suffered persecution from his son by the just judgment of God.

40. Depart from me. This is the third principal part, in which the fruit of penance is described. So here he shows that he has been heard, and therefore is grateful, and he makes three points concerning this.

First, he thrusts his enemies away from himself.

Second, he confesses that he has been heard, at for the Lord has heard.

Third, he announces what will befall his enemies, at be ashamed.

Therefore, he says, depart. It is granted that someone who was afflicted because of sin, after having been given pardon, is able to jeer at his enemies, or those leading him to sin, or those persecuting him physically.

Jerome speaks according to the literal sense: depart from me, you who are leading me into sin, since I do not desire your company. (Jerome, Commentarioli in Psalmos 6.9 (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, 72:188).) Wherefore . . . be separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you (2 Cor 6:17–18).

Or: depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, that is, you who are working iniquity by persecuting me unjustly. Depart from me, I say, since the Lord is with me as a strong warrior (Jer 20:11). So if armies in camp should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear (Ps 26:3). And this signifies the future persecution and the separation of the evil from the good. They shall separate the wicked from among the just (Matt 13:49). He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (Matt 25:32). And, depart from me, you cursed (Matt 25:41).

Next, when he says, for the Lord has heard, he announces that he has been heard.

It should be noticed that he set forward three things above:

prayer, when he said, have mercy;

second, his petition to be delivered: turn to me;

and third, his grieving: I have labored in my groanings.

And he speaks in reverse order of how these three have been heard.

First, he mentions his groanings, saying, the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The groaning of the saints has a voice before God. He will not despise the prayers of the fatherless nor the widow, when she pours out her complaint. Do not the widow’s tears run down the cheek, and her cry against him who causes them to fall? For from the cheek they go up even to heaven, and the Lord who hears will not be delighted with them (Sir 35:17–19). And, the voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the earth (Gen 4:10). Therefore, a holy lady said, with many tears let us beg his pardon (Jdt 8:14).

Second, he mentions his petition, because according to the gloss of Cassiodorus, petition is properly made for the removal of evils. (Peter Lombard, Magna glossatura (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 191:109).) Your prayer is heard (Luke 1:13).

Here the gloss says it is the prayer by which you prayed for the deliverance of the people. (Glossa ordinaria in Lucam (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 113).) Therefore, he says this to show that he has been freed from the evils about which he prayed, saying, turn to me, O Lord, and deliver my soul. He adds, the Lord has heard my supplication.

Third, he mentions the prayer that he might enter into his sight, and so he adds, the Lord has received my prayer.

And notice that he says Lord here three times to show that he was heard by the whole Trinity: may God, our God bless us, may God bless us (Ps 66:7–8). (Cf. Cassiodorus, Exp. in Ps. 6.10. CCL 97–77.)

41. Next, when he says, let all my enemies be ashamed, he describes the outcome for his enemies, as if to say, “You say to your enemies, depart.” But what awaits those departing from you? Certainly let them be ashamed.

These words can be explained in relation both to good and to evil. If in regard to good, then they are said as a prayer where he asks four things for them:

shame for sin, since this is the beginning of amendment of life. (Cf. ST II-II, q. 144, a. 1, resp.; III, q. 85, a. 1, ad 2.) There is a shame that brings glory (Sir 4:25). So, let them be ashamed.

Second, sorrow for sins: let them be very much troubled. Psalm 59:4 says: you have moved the earth, and have troubled it**. For the penitent should have deep sorrow, more than he had enjoyment in sin.

Third, conversion back to God; hence, let them be turned back. Return as you had deeply revolted, O children of Israel (Isa 31:6).

And fourth, shame: let all my enemies be ashamed, and be very much troubled. For shame is the beginning and end of amendment.

But the structure of this passage can be explained another way: in the beginning, someone is ashamed before the eyes of men, and then is sad, and avoids evil; in the end, he is ashamed before the eye of his reason and that of God. What fruit did you have in those things, of which you are now ashamed? (Rom 6:21). About the second: the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven (Luke 18:13). Now this should be done very speedily, so that there is no delay. Do not delay to be converted to the Lord (Sir 5:8).

But if let them be ashamed is taken in relation not to good but to evil, then it must be understood as a foretelling, as if to say, they shall be ashamed about the unveiling of their sin before all. You shall be ashamed of the gardens which you have chosen when you shall be as an oak with the leaves falling off, and as a garden without water (Isa 1:29).

And they shall be very much troubled with incredible fear and sorrow. They shall be troubled with terrible fear (Wis 5:2). And so he says, let all my enemies be very much troubled, by recognizing their guilt and the glory of the saints. These are those whom we had some time in derision, and for a parable of reproach (Wis 5:3).

And let them be ashamed, since this understanding that results in shame will come to them, and this very speedily. Their destruction shall come on a sudden, when it is not looked for (Isa 30:15). In a moment they go down to hell (Job 21:13). The day of the Lord shall so come, as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, “Peace and security,” then shall sudden destruction come upon them (1 Thess 5:2–3).