Psalms 101
Old Testament · Brenton Septuagint with Greek parallel
Psalms chapter 101 is given here in full, verse by verse, in Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), with the Greek text of the Septuagint set beneath each verse. The text follows the Septuagint tradition received throughout the Orthodox Church.
26 patristic excerpts are attached to this chapter, from Saint Augustine of Hippo. The translator's notes for this chapter (4) follow the text.
Psalms 101
1(102) A Prayer for the Poor; when he is deeply afflicted, and pours out his supplication before the Lord.Προσευχὴ τῷ πτωχῷ, ὅταν ἀκηδιάσῃ, καὶ ἐναντίον Κυρίου ἐκχέῃ τὴν δέησιν αὐτοῦ.
2Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come to you.Κύριε εἰσάκουσον τῆς προσευχῆς μου, καὶ ἡ κραυγή μου πρὸς σὲ ἐλθέτω.
3Turn not away your face from me: in the day when I am afflicted, incline your ear to me: in the day when I shall call upon you, speedily hear me.Μὴ ἀποστρέψῃς τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ· ἐν ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ θλίβομαι, κλῖνον πρὸς μὲ τὸ οὖς σου· ἐν ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ ἐπικαλέσωμαί σε, ταχὺ εἰσάκουσόν μου.
4For my days have vanished like smoke, and my bones have been parched like a stick.Ὅτι ἐξέλιπον ὡσεὶ καπνὸς αἱ ἡμέραι μου, καὶ τὰ ὀστᾶ μου ὡσεὶ φρύγιον συνεφρύγησαν.
5I am blighted like grass, and my heart is dried up; for I have forgotten to eat my bread.Ἐπλήγην ὡσεὶ χόρτος, καὶ ἐξηράνθη ἡ καρδία μου, ὅτι ἐπελαθόμην τοῦ φαγεῖν τὸν ἄρτον μου.
6By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bone has cleaved to my flesh.Ἀπὸ φωνῆς τοῦ στεναγμοῦ μου, ἐκολλήθη τὸ ὀστοῦν μου τῇ σαρκί μου.
7I have become like a pelican of the wilderness;Ὡμοιώθην πελεκᾶνι ἐρημικῷ, ἐγενήθην ὡσεὶ νυκτικόραξ ἐν οἰκοπέδῳ.
8I have become like an owl in a ruined house. I have watched, and am become as a sparrow dwelling alone on a roof.Ἠγρύπνησα, καὶ ἐγενήθην ὡσεὶ στρουθίον μονάζον ἐπὶ δώματι.
9All the day long my enemies have reproached me; and they that praised me have sworn against me.Ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ὠνείδιζόν με οἱ ἐχθροί μου, καὶ οἱ ἐπαινοῦντές με κατʼ ἐμοῦ ὤμνυον.
10For I have eaten ashes as it were bread, and mingled my drink with weeping;Ὅτι σποδὸν ὡσεὶ ἄρτον ἔφαγον, καὶ τὸ πόμα μου μετὰ κλαυθμοῦ ἐκίρνων,
11because of your anger and your wrath: for you have lifted me up, and dashed me down.ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς ὀργῆς σου καὶ τοῦ θυμοῦ σου, ὅτι ἐπάρας κατέῤῥαξάς με.
12My days have declined like a shadow; and I am withered like grass.Αἱ ἡμέραι μου ὡσεὶ σκιὰ ἐκλίθησαν, κᾀγὼ ὡσεὶ χόρτος ἐξηράνθην.
13But you, Lord, endure for ever, and your memorial to generation and generation.Σὺ δέ Κύριε εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μένεις, καὶ τὸ μνημόσυνόν σου εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεάν.
14You shall arise, and have mercy upon Sion: for it is time to have mercy upon her, for the set time is come.Σὺ ἀναστὰς οἰκτειρήσεις τὴν Σιὼν, ὅτι καιρὸς τοῦ οἰκτειρῆσαι αὐτὴν, ὅτι ἥκει καιρός.
15For your servants have taken pleasure in her stones, and they shall pity her dust.Ὅτι εὐδόκησαν οἱ δοῦλοί σου τοὺς λίθους αὐτῆς, καὶ τὸν χοῦν αὐτῆς οἰκτειρήσουσι.
16So the nations shall fear your name, O Lord, and all kings your glory.Καὶ φοβηθήσονται τὰ ἔθνη τὸ ὄνομά σου Κύριε, καὶ πάντες οἱ βασιλεῖς τὴν δόξαν σου.
17For the Lord shall build up Sion, * and shall appear in his glory.Ὅτι οἰκοδομήσει Κύριος τὴν Σιὼν, καὶ ὀφθήσεται ἐν τῇ δόξῃ αὐτοῦ.
18He has had regard to the prayer of the lowly, and has not despised their petition.Ἐπέβλεψεν ἐπὶ τὴν προσευχὴν τῶν ταπεινῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἐξουδένωσε τὴν δέησιν αὐτῶν.
19Let this be written for another generation; and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord.Γραφήτω αὕτη εἰς γενεὰν ἑτέραν, καὶ λαὸς ὁ κτιζόμενος αἰνέσει τὸν Κύριον.
20For he has looked out from the height of his sanctuary; the Lord looked upon the earth from heaven;Ὅτι ἐξέκυψεν ἐξ ὕψους ἁγίου αὐτοῦ, Κύριος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἐπέβλεψε,
21to hear the groaning of the fettered ones, to loosen the sons of the slain;τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι τοῦ στεναγμοῦ τῶν πεπεδημένων, τοῦ λῦσαι τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν τεθανατωμένων,
22to proclaim the name of the Lord in Sion, and his praise in Jerusalem;τοῦ ἀναγγεῖλαι ἐν Σιὼν τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου, καὶ τὴν αἴνεσιν αὐτοῦ ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ·
23when the people are gathered together, and the kings, to serve the Lord.ἐν τῷ συναχθῆναι λαοὺς ἐπιτοαυτὸ, καὶ βασιλεῖς τοῦ δουλεύειν τῷ Κυρίῳ.
24He answered him in the way of his strength: tell me the fewness of my days.Ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ ἐν ὁδῷ ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ, τὴν ὀλιγότητα τῶν ἡμερῶν μου ἀνάγγειλόν μοι·
25Take me not away in the midst of my days: your years are ✡ through all generations.μὴ ἀναγάγῃς με ἐν ἡμίσει ἡμερῶν μου, ἐν γενεᾷ γενεῶν τὰ ἔτη σου.
26In the † beginning you, O Lord, did lay the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of your hands.Κατʼ ἀρχὰς τὴν γῆν σὺ Κύριε ἐθεμελίωσας, καὶ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σου εἰσὶν οἱ οὐρανοί.
27They shall perish, but you remain: and they all shall wax old as a garment; and as a vesture shall you fold them, and they shall be changed.Αὐτοὶ ἀπολοῦνται, σὺ δὲ διαμένεις· καὶ πάντες ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωθήσονται, καὶ ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ἑλίξεις αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται.
28But you are the same, and your years shall not fail.Σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ, καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσιν·
29The children of your servants shall dwell securely, and their seed shall ‡ prosper for ever.Οἱ υἱοῖ τῶν δούλων σου κατασκηνώσουσι, καὶ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατευθυνθήσεται.
Translator's Notes
These notes come from the printed edition of Sir Lancelot Brenton's classic English translation of the Septuagint (LXX), and record where the Greek differs from the English rendering or admits more than one reading.
- v. 16*Or, then shall be.
- v. 24✡Heb 1:11,13
- v. 25†Gr. plural.
- v. 28‡Or, be directed aright.
The Fathers on Psalms 101
Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on this chapter. Each excerpt below is drawn from the full text held in the Fathers Library; follow the link on any entry to read the whole work.
On Psalms 101:2–3Saint Augustine of Hippo3. “Hear my prayer, O Lord: and let my crying come unto Thee” (ver. 1). “Hear my prayer, O Lord,” is the same as, “Let my crying come unto Thee:” the feeling of the suppliant is shown by the repetition. “Turn not Thy face away from me.” When did God turn away His Face from His Son? when did the Father turn away His Face from Christ? But for the sake of the poverty of my members, “Turn not away Thy face from me:…
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On Psalms 101:4Saint Augustine of Hippo4. “For my days are consumed away like smoke” (ver. 3). O days! if days: for where day is heard of, light is understood. “My days,” my times; wherefore, “like smoke,” unless from the puffing up of pride?…See smoke, like pride, ascending, swelling, vanishing: deservedly therefore failing, and not stedfast. “And my bones are scorched up as it were in an oven.” Both my bones, and my strength, not without…
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On Psalms 101:5Saint Augustine of Hippo5. Look back to Adam, whence the human race sprung. For how but from him was misery propagated? whence but from him is this hereditary poverty? Let him then, who in his own body was at one time in despair, now that he is set in Christ’s body, say with hope, “My heart is smitten down, and withered like grass” (ver. 4). Deservedly, since all flesh is grass. But how did this happen unto thee? “Since I have forgotten…
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On Psalms 101:6Saint Augustine of Hippo6. “For the voice of my groaning, the bones cleave unto my flesh” (ver. 5). For many groan, and I also groan; even for this I groan, because they groan for a wrong cause. That man hath lost a piece of money, he groaneth: he hath lost faith, he groaneth not: I weigh the money and the faith, and I find more cause for groaning for him who groaneth not as he ought, or doth not groan at all. He committeth fraud, and…
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On Psalms 101:7Saint Augustine of Hippo7. “I am become like a pelican in the wilderness, and like an owl among ruined walls” (ver. 6). Behold three birds and three places: the pelican, the owl, and the sparrow; and the three places are severally, the wilderness, the ruined walls, and the house-top. The pelican in the wilderness, the owl in the ruined walls, and the sparrow in the house-top. In the first place we must explain, what the pelican…
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On Psalms 101:8Saint Augustine of Hippo8. …Let us not pass over what is said, or even read, of this bird, that is, the pelican; not rashly asserting anything, but yet not passing over what has been left to be read and uttered by those who have written it. Do ye so hear, that if it be true, it may agree; if false, it may not hold. These birds are said to slay their young with blows of their beaks, and for three days to mourn them when slain by…
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On Psalms 101:9Saint Augustine of Hippo9. “Mine enemies revile me all day, and they that praised me are sworn together against me” (ver. 8). With their mouth they praised, in their heart they were laying snares for me. Hear their praise: “Master, we know that Thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest Thou for any man. Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not?” And whence this evil repute, except because I came to make…
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On Psalms 101:10Saint Augustine of Hippo10. “I have eaten ashes as it were bread: and mingled my drink with weeping” (ver. 9). Because He chose to have among His members these kinds of men, that they should be healed and set free, thence is the evil repute. Now at this day what is the character of Pagan calumny against us? what, brethren, do ye conceive they tell us? Ye corrupt discipline, and pervert the morality of the human race. Why dost thou…
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On Psalms 101:11Saint Augustine of Hippo11. “And that because of thine indignation and wrath: because thou hast taken me up, thou hast cast me down” (ver. 10). This is thy wrath, O Lord, in Adam: that wrath in which we were all born, which cleaveth unto us by our birth; the wrath froth the stock of iniquity, the wrath from the mass of sin: according to what the Apostle saith, “We also were once the children of wrath, even as others.” For He saith not,…
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On Psalms 101:12Saint Augustine of Hippo12. “My days have declined like a shadow” (ver. 11).…He had said above, “My days are consumed away like smoke;” and he now saith, “My days have declined like a shadow.” In this shadow, day must be recognised; in this shadow, light must be discerned; lest afterward it be said in late and fruitless repentance, “What hath pride profited us? or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us? All those things are…
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On Psalms 101:13Saint Augustine of Hippo13. For not because I have fallen, hast Thou grown old: for Thou art strong to set me free, who hast been strong to humble me. “But Thou, O Lord, endurest for ever: and Thy remembrance throughout all generations” (ver. 12). “Thy remembrance,” because Thou dost not forget: “throughout all generations,” forasmuch as we know the promise of life, both present and future.
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On Psalms 101:14Saint Augustine of Hippo14. “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Sion: for it is time that Thou have mercy upon her” (ver. 13). What time? “But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law.” And where is Sion? “To redeem them that were under the Law.” First then were the Jews: for thence were the Apostles, thence those more than five hundred brethren, thence that later multitude, who…
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On Psalms 101:15Saint Augustine of Hippo15. Here therefore what saith he? “For thy servants take pleasure in her stones” (ver. 14). In whose stones? In the stones of Sion? But there are those there that are not stones. Not stones of what? What then followeth? “and pity the dust thereof.” I understand by the stones of Sion all the Prophets: there was the voice of preaching sent before, thence the ministry of the Gospel assumed, through their preaching…
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On Psalms 101:16Saint Augustine of Hippo16. “The heathen shall fear Thy Name, O Lord; and all the kings of the earth Thy Majesty” (ver. 15). Now that Thou hast pitied Sion, now that Thy servants have taken pleasure in her stones, by acknowledging the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets; now that they have pitied her dust; so that man is formed, or rather re-formed, in life out of dust; hence preaching hath increased among the heathen: let the…
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On Psalms 101:17Saint Augustine of Hippo17. “For the Lord shall build up Sion” (ver. 16). This work is going on now. O ye living stones, run to the work of building, not to ruin. Sion is in building, beware of the ruined walls: the tower is building, the ark is in building; remember the deluge. This work is in progress now; but when Sion is built, what will happen? “And He will appear in His glory.” That He might build up Sion, that He might be a…
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On Psalms 101:18Saint Augustine of Hippo18. “He hath turned Him unto the prayer of the poor destitute, and despised not their desire” (ver. 17). This is going on now in the building of Sion: the builders of Sion pray, they groan: He is the one poor, because the poor are many; because the thousands among so many nations are one in Him, because He is the unity of the peace of the Church, He is one, He is many: one, through love: many, on account of His…
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On Psalms 101:19Saint Augustine of Hippo19. “Let these things be written for those that come after” (ver. 18). When these words were written, they profited not so much those among whom they were written for they were written to prophesy the New Testament, among men who lived according to the Old Testament. But God had both given that Old Testament, and had settled in that land of promise His own people. But since “Thy remembrance is from generation to…
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On Psalms 101:20–21Saint Augustine of Hippo20. “Out of the heaven did the Lord look down upon the earth” (ver. 19): “that He might hear the mournings of such as are in fetters, and deliver the children of such as are put to death” (ver. 20). We have found it said in another Psalm, “O let the sorrowful sighs of the fettered come before Thee;” and in a passage where the voice of the martyrs was meant. Whence are the martyrs in fetters?…But God had bound…
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On Psalms 101:22Saint Augustine of Hippo21. “That the name of the Lord may be declared in Sion” (ver. 21). For at first, when the fettered were appointed unto death, the Church was oppressed: since these tribulations the Name of the Lord has been declared in Sion, with great freedom, in the Church herself. For she is Sion: not that one spot, at first proud, afterwards taken captive; but the Sion whose shadow was that Sion, which signifieth a…
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On Psalms 101:23Saint Augustine of Hippo22. And how is it declared? “In the nations gathering together in one, and the kingdoms, that they may serve the Lord” (ver. 22). How is this accomplished, unless by the blood of the slain? How accomplished, but by the groans of the fettered? Those therefore who were in tribulation and humility have been heard; that in our times the Church might be in the great glory which we see her in, so that the very kingdoms…
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On Psalms 101:24Saint Augustine of Hippo23. “She answered Him in the way of His strength” (ver. 23).…The preceding words show, that either “His praise,” or “Jerusalem,” answered: for it was said, “And His praise in Jerusalem; in the nations gathering together in one, and the kingdoms, that they may serve the Lord. Respondit ei.” We cannot say, “the kingdoms answered,” for he would have said responderunt. Respondit ei. We cannot say, “the nations…
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On Psalms 101:25Saint Augustine of Hippo27. Let not therefore heretics flatter themselves against me, because I said, “the shortness of my days,” as if they would not last down to the end of the world. For what hath he added? “O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days” (ver. 24). Deal Thou not with me according as heretics speak. Lead me on unto the end of the world, not only to the middle of my days; and finish my short days, that Thou mayest…
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On Psalms 101:26Saint Augustine of Hippo29. “Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth: and the Heavens are the work of Thy hands” (ver. 25).…God laid the foundation of the earth, we know: the heavens are the works of His hands. For do not imagine that God doth one thing with His hand, another by His word. What He doth by His word, He doth by His hand: for He hath not distinct bodily members, who said, “I Am That I Am.” And…
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On Psalms 101:27Saint Augustine of Hippo30. “They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure” (ver. 26). The Apostle Peter saith this openly: “By the word of God the heavens were of old,” etc. He hath said then that the heavens have already perished by the flood: and we know that the heavens perished as far as the extent of this atmosphere of ours. For the water increased, and filled the whole of that space in which birds fly; thus perished the heavens that…
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On Psalms 101:28Saint Augustine of Hippo31. Perhaps by the heavens we here may understand, without being far-fetched, the righteous themselves, the saints of God, abiding in whom God hath thundered in His commandments, lightened in His miracles, watered the earth with the wisdom of truth, for “The heavens have declared the glory of God.” But shall they perish? Shall they in any sense perish? In what sense? As a garment. What is, as a garment? As to the…
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On Psalms 101:29Open Psalms 101 in the interactive reader Switch translations, hear the chapter read aloud, tap any verse for its patristic commentary, and study the Greek word by word.Saint Augustine of Hippo32. “The children of Thy servants shall dwell there: and their seed shall stand fast for ages” (ver. 28): for the age of ages, the age of eternity, the age that abideth. But, “the children,” he saith, “of Thy servants:” is it to be feared lest we be the servants of God, and our children, and not ourselves, dwell there? Or if we are the children of the servants, inasmuch as we are the Apostles’ children, what are…
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