Psalms 34
Old Testament · Brenton Septuagint with Greek parallel
Psalms chapter 34 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.
21 patristic excerpts are attached to this chapter, from Saint Augustine of Hippo. The translator's notes for this chapter (2) follow the text.
Psalms 34
1(35) A Psalm of David. Judge you, O Lord, them that injure me, fight against them that fight against me.Τῷ Δαυίδ. Δικάσον, Κύριε, τοὺς ἀδικοῦντάς με, πολέμησον τοὺς πολεμοῦντάς με.
2Take hold of shield and buckler, and arise for my help.Ἐπιλαβοῦ ὅπλου καὶ θυρεοῦ, καὶ ἀνάστηθι εἰς βοήθειάν μοι.
3Bring forth a sword, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say to my soul, I am your salvation.Ἔκχεον ῥομφαίαν, καὶ σύγκλεισον ἐξεναντίας τῶν καταδιωκόντων με· εἰπὸν τῇ ψυχῇ μου, σωτηρία σου ἐγώ εἰμι.
4Let them that seek my soul be ashamed and confounded: let them that devise evils against me be turned back and put to shame.Αἰσχυνθείησαν καὶ ἐντραπείησαν οἱ ζητοῦντες τὴν ψυχήν μου, ἀποστραφείησαν εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω, καὶ καταισχυνθείησαν οἱ λογιζόμενοί μοι κακά.
5Let them be as dust before the wind, and an angel of the Lord afflicting them.Γενηθήτωσαν ὡσεὶ χοῦς κατὰ πρόσωπον ἀνέμου, καὶ ἄγγελος Κυρίου ἐκθλίβων αὐτούς.
6Let their way be dark and slippery, and an angel of the Lord persecuting them.Γενηθήτω ἡ ὁδὸς αὐτῶν σκότος καὶ ὀλίσθημα, καὶ ἄγγελος Κυρίου καταδιώκων αὐτούς.
7For without cause they have hid for me their destructive snare: without a cause they have reproached my soul.Ὅτι δωρεὰν ἔκρυψάν μοι διαφθορὰν παγίδος αὐτῶν, μάτην ὠνείδισαν τὴν ψυχήν μου.
8Let a snare which they know not come upon them; and the gin which they hid take them; and let them fall into the very same snare.Ἐλθέτω αὐτοῖς παγὶς ἣν οὐ γινώσκουσι, καὶ ἡ θήρα ἣν ἔκρυψαν, συλλαβέτω αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἐν τῇ παγίδι πεσοῦνται ἐν αὐτῇ.
9But my soul shall exult in the Lord: it shall delight in his salvation.Ἡ δὲ ψυχή μου ἀγαλλιάσεται ἐπὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ, τερφθήσεται ἐπὶ τῷ σωτηρίῳ αὐτοῦ.
10All my bones shall say, O Lord, who is like to you? delivering the poor out of the hand of them that are stronger than he, yes, the poor and needy one from them that spoil him.Πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ μου ἐροῦσι, Κύριε τίς ὅμοιός σοι; ῥυόμενος πτωχὸν ἐκ χειρὸς στερεωτέρων αὐτοῦ, καὶ πτωχὸν καὶ πένητα ἀπὸ τῶν διαρπαζόντων αὐτόν.
11Unjust witnesses arose, and asked me of things I new not.Ἀναστάντες μάρτυρες ἄδικοι, ἃ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον, ἐπηρώτων με.
12They rewarded me evil for good, and bereavement to my soul.Ἀνταπεδίδοσάν μοι πονηρὰ ἀντὶ καλῶν, καὶ ἀτεκνίαν τῇ ψυχῇ μου.
13But I, when they troubled me, put on sackcloth, and humbled my soul with fasting: and my prayer shall return to my own bosom.Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐν τῷ αὐτοὺς παρενοχλεῖν μοι, ἐνεδυόμην σάκκον· καὶ ἐταπείνουν ἐν νηστείᾳ τὴν ψυχήν μου, καὶ ἡ προσευχή μου εἰς κόλπον μου ἀποστραφήσεται.
14I behaved agreeably towards them as if it had been our neighbor or brother: I humbled myself as one mourning and sad of countenance.Ὡς πλησίον ὡς ἀδελφὸν ἡμέτερον οὕτως εὐηρέστουν, ὡς πενθῶν καὶ σκυθρωπάξων οὕτως ἐταπεινούμην.
15Yet they rejoiced against me, and plagues were * plentifully brought against me, and I knew it not: they were scattered, but † repented not.Καὶ κατʼ ἐμοῦ εὐφράνθησαν, καὶ συνήχθησαν, συνήχθησαν ἐπʼ ἐμὲ μάστιγες καὶ οὐκ ἔγνων· διεσχίσθησαν καὶ οὐ κατενύγησαν.
16They tempted me, they sneered at me most contemptuously, they gnashed their teeth upon me.Ἐπείρασάν με, ἐξεμυκτήρισάν με μυκτηρισμὸν, ἔβρυξαν ἐπʼ ἐμὲ τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτῶν.
17O Lord, when will you look upon me? Deliver my soul from their mischief, my only-begotten one from the lions.Κύριε πότε ἐπόψῃ; ἀποκατάστησον τὴν ψυχήν μου ἀπὸ τῆς κακουργίας αὐτῶν, ἀπὸ λεόντων τὴν μονογενῆ μου.
18I will give thanks to you even in a great congregation: in an abundant people I will praise you.Ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι καὶ ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ πολλῇ, ἐν λαῷ βαρεῖ αἰνέσω σε.
19Let not them that are my enemies without a cause rejoice against me; who hate me for nothing, and wink with their eyes.Μὴ ἐπιχαρείησάν μοι οἱ ἐχθραίνοντές μοι ματαίως, οἱ μισοῦντές με δωρεὰν, καὶ διανεύοντες ὀφθαλμοῖς.
20For to me they spoke peaceably, but imagined deceits in their anger.Ὅτι ἐμοὶ μὲν εἰρηνικὰ ἐλάλουν, καὶ ἐπʼ ὀργῇ δόλους διελογίζοντο.
21And they opened wide their mouth upon me; they said Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it.Καὶ ἐπλάτυναν ἐπʼ ἐμὲ τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν, εἶπαν, εὖγε, εὖγε, εἶδον οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ ἡμῶν.
22You have seen it, O Lord: keep not silence: O Lord, withdraw not yourself from me.Εἶδες Κύριε, μὴ παρασιωπήσῃς, Κύριε μὴ ἀποστῇς ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ.
23Awake, O Lord, and attend to my judgment, even to my cause, my God and my Lord.Ἐξεγέρθητι Κύριε, καὶ πρόσχες τῇ κρίσει μου, ὁ Θεός μου καὶ ὁ Κύριός μου εἰς τὴν δίκην μου.
24Judge me, O Lord, according to your righteousness, O Lord my God; and let them not rejoice against me.Κρῖνόν με Κύριε κατὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην σου Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, καὶ μὴ ἐπιχαρείησάν μοι.
25Let them not say in their hearts, Aha, aha, it is pleasing to our soul: neither let them say, We have devoured him.Μὴ εἴποισαν ἐν καρδίαις αὐτῶν, εὖγε, εὖγε τῇ ψυχῇ ἡμῶν· μηδὲ εἴποιεν, κατεπίομεν αὐτόν.
26Let them be confounded and ashamed together that rejoice at my afflictions: let them be clothed with shame and confusion that speak great swelling words against me.Αἰσχυνθείησαν καὶ ἐντραπείησαν ἅμα οἱ ἐπιχαίροντες τοῖς κακοῖς μου· ἐνδυσάσθωσαν αἰσχύνην καὶ ἐντροπὴν οἱ μεγαλοῤῥημονοῦντες ἐπʼ ἐμέ.
27Let them that rejoice in my righteousness exult and be glad: and let them say continually, The Lord be magnified, who desire the peace of his servant.Ἀγαλλιάσαιντο καὶ εὐφρανθείησαν οἱ θέλοντες τὴν δικαιοσύνην μου, καὶ εἰπάτωσαν διαπαντὸς, μεγαλυνθείη ὁ Κύριος, οἱ θέλοντες τὴν εἰρήνην τοῦ δούλου αὐτοῦ.
28And my tongue shall meditate on your righteousness, and on your praise all the day.Καὶ ἡ γλῶσσά μου μελετήσει τὴν δικαιοσύνην σου, ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν τὸν ἔπαινόν σου.
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. 15*The Gr. is repeated, by a Hebraism.
- v. 15†See Acts 2:37.
The Fathers on Psalms 34
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 34:1–2Saint Augustine of Hippo2. “Judge Thou, O Lord” (saith he), “them that hurt me, and fight Thou against them that fight against me” (ver. 1). “If God be for us, who can be against us?” And whereby doth God this for us? “Take hold” (saith he) “of arms and shield, and rise up to my help” (ver. 2). A great spectacle is it, to see God armed for thee. And what is His Shield, what are His Arms? “Lord,” in another place saith the man who here…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:3Saint Augustine of Hippo3. “Pour forth the weapon, and stop the way against them that persecute me” (ver. 3). Who are they that persecute thee? Haply thy neighbour, or he whom thou hast offended, or to whom thou hast done wrong, or who would take away what is thine, or against whom thou preachest the truth, or whose sin thou rebukest, or whom living ill by thy well living thou offendest. There are indeed even these enemies to us, and…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:4Saint Augustine of Hippo4. And what follows? “Let them be confounded and put to shame, that seek after my soul” (ver. 4): for to this end they seek after it, to destroy it. For I would that they would seek it for good! for in another Psalm he blameth this in men, that there was none who would seek after his soul: “Refuge failed me: there was none that would seek after my soul.” Who is this that saith, “There was none that would seek…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:5–6Saint Augustine of Hippo6. What of others? For all are not so conquered as to be converted and believe: many continue in obstinacy, many preserve in heart the spirit of going before, and if they exert it not, yet they labour with it, and finding opportunity bring it forth. Of such, what followeth? “Let them be as dust before the wind” (ver. 5). “Not so are the ungodly, not so; but as the dust which the wind driveth away from the face of…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:7Saint Augustine of Hippo7. But wherefore these so great evils? By what desert? Hear by what desert. “For without cause have they hid for me the corruption of their trap” (ver. 7). For Him that is our Head, observe, the Jews did this: they hid the corruption of their trap. For whom hid they their trap? For Him who saw the hearts of those that hid. But yet was He among them like one ignorant, as though He were deceived, whereas they were…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:8Saint Augustine of Hippo8. But yet what is to be done? “Without a cause have they hid for me the corruption of their trap.” What meaneth, “Without a cause”? I have done them no evil, I have hurt them not at all. “Vainly have they reviled my soul.” What is, “Vainly”? Speaking falsely, proving nothing. “Let a trap come upon them which they know not of” (ver. 8). A magnificent retribution, nothing more just! They have hidden a trap that I…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:9Saint Augustine of Hippo9. This then for the wicked that would hurt me: what for me? “But my soul shall rejoice in the Lord” (ver. 9); as in Him from whom it hath heard, “I am thy salvation;” as not seeking other riches from without; as not seeking to abound in pleasures and good things of earth; but loving freely the true Spouse, not from Him wishing to receive aught that may delight, but Him alone proposing to itself, by whom it may…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:10Saint Augustine of Hippo10. “All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto Thee” (ver. 10). Who can speak anything worthily of these words? I think them only to be pronounced, not to be expounded. Why seekest thou this or that? What is like unto thy Lord? Him hast thou before thee. “The unrighteous have declared unto me delights, but not after Thy law, O Lord!” Persecutors have been who have said, Worship Saturn, worship Mercury. I…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:11–12Saint Augustine of Hippo13. Let then our Head say, “False witnesses did rise up, they laid to My charge things that I knew not” (ver. 11). But let us say to our Head, Lord, what knewest Thou not? Didst Thou indeed know not anything? Didst Thou not know the hearts of them that charged Thee? Didst Thou not foresee their deceits? Didst Thou not give Thyself into their hands knowingly? Hadst Thou not come that Thou mightest suffer by them?…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:13Saint Augustine of Hippo14. “But I, when they troubled me, clothed myself with sackcloth, and humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer shall return into mine own bosom” (ver. 13)…Brethren, if for some little space with pious curiosity we lift the veil, and search with the intent eye of the heart the inner part of this Scripture, we find that even this the Lord did. Sackcloth, haply He calleth His mortal flesh. Wherefore Sackcloth?…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:14Saint Augustine of Hippo17. “As a Neighbour, as our Brother, so I pleased Him: as one mourning and sorrowful, so I humbled myself” (ver. 14). Now looketh He back to His Own Body: let us now look to this. When we rejoice in prayer, when our mind is calmed, not by the world’s prosperity, but by the light of Truth: (who perceiveth this light, knoweth what I say, and he seeth and acknowledgeth what is said, “As a Neighbour, as our Brother,…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:15Saint Augustine of Hippo18. “And against Me they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together” (ver. 15), against Me only: they rejoicing, I sorrowful. But we heard just now in the Gospel, “Blessed are they that mourn.” If they are blessed that mourn, miserable are they that laugh. “Against Me they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: scourges were gathered together against Me, and they knew not.” Because they laid to My charge…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:16Saint Augustine of Hippo19. “They tempted Me, and mocked Me with mocking” (ver. 16). That is, they derided Me, they insulted Me; this of the Head, this of the Body. Consider, Brethren, the glory of the Church which now is; remember its past dishonours, remember how once were Christians everywhere put to flight, and wherever found, mocked, beaten, slain, exposed to beasts, burned, men rejoicing against them. As it was to the Head, so it…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:17Saint Augustine of Hippo20. “Lord, when wilt Thou look on? Rescue My Soul from their deceits, My Darling from the lions” (ver. 17). For to us the time is slow; and in our person is this said, “When wilt Thou look on?” that is, when shall we see vengeance upon those who insult us? When shall the Judge, overcome by weariness, hear the widow? But our Judge, not from weariness, but from love, delayeth our salvation; from reason, not from…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:18Saint Augustine of Hippo21. Lastly, wouldest thou know what is that Darling? Read the words following: “I will confess unto Thee, O Lord, in the great Congregation; in a weighty people will I praise Thee” (ver. 18). Truly saith He, “I will confess unto Thee:” for confession is made in all the multitude, but not in all is God praised: the whole multitude heareth our confession, but not in all the multitude is the praise of God. For in…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:19–21Saint Augustine of Hippo22. “Let not them that are Mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over Me:” for they rejoice over Me because of My chaff. “Who hate Me without a cause;” that is, whom I never hurt; “winking with their eyes” (ver. 19): that is, pretending hypocrites, “For they spake indeed peace to Me” (ver. 20). What is, “winking with their eyes”? Declaring by their looks, what they carry not in their heart. And who are these “winking…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:22Saint Augustine of Hippo23. “This Thou hast seen, O Lord; keep not silence” (ver. 22). What is, “keep not silence”? Judge Thou. For of judgment is it said in a certain place, “I have kept silence; shall I keep silence for ever?” And of the delaying of judgment it is said to the sinner, “These things hast thou done, and I kept silence;” “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.” How keepeth He silence, who speaketh…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:23Saint Augustine of Hippo24. “Arise, Lord, and attend to My judgment” (ver. 23). To what judgment? That Thou art in tribulation; that Thou art tormented with labours and pains? Do not even many wicked men suffer the same? To what judgment? Therefore art Thou righteous, because Thou sufferest these things? No: but what? “To My judgment.” What followeth? “Attend to My judgment; even to My cause, My God, and My Lord.” Not to My punishment,…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:24Saint Augustine of Hippo25. “Judge me, O Lord, according to My righteousness” (ver. 24); that is, attend to My cause. Not according to My punishment, but “according to My righteousness, O Lord, My God,” that is, according to this judge Thou Me. “And let them not rejoice over Me;” that is, Mine enemies.
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:25–26Saint Augustine of Hippo26. “Let them not say in their heart, Aha, aha, so would we have it” (ver. 25); that is, We have done what we could, we have slain him, we have taken him away. “Let them not say:” show them that they have done nothing. “Let them not say, We have swallowed him up.” Whence say those Martyrs, “If the Lord had not been on our side, then they had swallowed us up quick.” What is, “had swallowed us up”? Had passed into…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →
On Psalms 34:27–28Open Psalms 34 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 Hippo27. What sayest thou now, the Head with the Members? “Let them shout for joy and be glad that favour My righteous cause:” who cleave to My Body. Yea, let them say “continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of His servant” (ver. 27). “And my tongue shall speak of Thy righteousness, and of Thy praise all the day long” (ver. 28). And whose tongue endureth to speak the praise of…
Read Expositions on the Psalms →