PSALTERIVM

PSALMVS CXIX — AD DOMINVM

In My Trouble I Cried to the Lord

Ad Dominum cum tribularer clamavi is the first of the fifteen Gradual Psalms (119-133), Songs of Ascent sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem. In the 1962 Breviary, these appear at Vespers throughout the week. The pilgrimage imagery applies to the soul's journey toward the heavenly Jerusalem.

LATINE
Ad Dominum cum tribularer clamavi: et exaudivit me.
Domine, libera animam meam a labiis iniquis, et a lingua dolosa.
Quid detur tibi, aut quid apponatur tibi ad linguam dolosam?
Sagittae potentis acutae, cum carbonibus desolatoriis.
Heu mihi, quia incolatus meus prolongatus est! habitavi cum habitantibus Cedar:
Multum incola fuit anima mea.
Cum his, qui oderunt pacem, eram pacificus: cum loquebar illis, impugnabant me gratis.
ENGLISH
In my trouble I cried to the Lord: and he heard me.
O Lord, deliver my soul from wicked lips, and a deceitful tongue.
What shall be given to thee, or what shall be added to thee, to a deceitful tongue?
The sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals that lay waste.
Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged! I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar:
My soul hath been long a sojourner.
With them that hated peace I was peaceable: when I spoke to them they fought against me without cause.
NOTA
FONS
Douay-Rheims (1609) / Vulgata
USUS
Pilgrimage, Little Hours, Vespers
CONTEXT
Psalm 120 in Hebrew numbering. First Song of Ascents. Cedar refers to the nomadic Arabs east of Jordan—a symbol of exile among the godless.