PSALTERIVM

PSALMVS CXXXIX — ERIPE ME DOMINE

Deliver Me, O Lord, From the Evil Man

Eripe me Domine ab homine malo is an imprecatory psalm petitioning deliverance from violent men whose tongues are sharpened like serpents. The imagery of snares and nets describes the plots of the wicked. In the 1962 Breviary it appears at Vespers on Fridays. The final confident assertion 'The just shall give glory to thy name' affirms hope in vindication.

LATINE
Eripe me, Domine, ab homine malo: a viro iniquo eripe me.
Qui cogitaverunt iniquitates in corde: tota die constituebant praelia.
Acuerunt linguas suas sicut serpentis: venenum aspidum sub labiis eorum.
Custodi me, Domine, de manu peccatoris: et ab hominibus iniquis eripe me.
Qui cogitaverunt supplantare gressus meos.
Absconderunt superbi laqueum mihi: et funes extenderunt in laqueum: iuxta iter scandalum posuerunt mihi.
Dixi Domino: Deus meus es tu: exaudi, Domine, vocem deprecationis meae.
Domine, Domine, virtus salutis meae: obumbrasti super caput meum in die belli.
ENGLISH
Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man: rescue me from the unjust man.
Who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all the day long they designed battles.
They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: the venom of asps is under their lips.
Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the wicked: and from unjust men deliver me.
Who have proposed to supplant my steps.
The proud have hidden a net for me. And they have stretched out cords for a snare: they have laid for me a stumblingblock by the wayside.
I said to the Lord: Thou art my God: hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication.
O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation: thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle.
NOTA
FONS
Douay-Rheims (1609) / Vulgata
USUS
Little Hours, Against enemies
CONTEXT
Psalm 140 in Hebrew numbering. St. Paul quotes v. 3 in Romans 3:13 on universal sinfulness. The snare imagery pervades the psalm.