Psalms 44
Old Testament · Brenton Septuagint with Greek parallel
Psalms chapter 44 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.
16 patristic excerpts are attached to this chapter, from Saint Augustine of Hippo. The translator's notes for this chapter (5) follow the text.
Psalms 44
1(45) For the end, for * alternate strains by the sons of Core; for instruction, a Song concerning the beloved.Εἰς τὸ τέλος, ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοιωθησομένων τοῖς υἱοῖς Κορὲ εἰς σύνεσιν, ᾠδὴ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ.
2My heart † has uttered a good matter: I declare my works to the king: my tongue is the pen of a quick writer.Ἐξηρεύξατο ἡ καρδία μου λόγον ἀγαθὸν, λέγω ἐγὼ τὰ ἔργα μου τῷ βασιλεῖ· ἡ γλῶσσά μου κάλαμος γραμματέως ὀξυγράφου.
3You are more beautiful than the sons of men: grace has been shed forth on your lips: therefore God has blessed you for ever.Ὡραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐξεχύθη χάρις ἐν χείλεσί σου, διὰ τοῦτο εὐλόγησέ σε ὁ Θεὸς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.
4Gird your sword upon your thigh, O Mighty One, in your comeliness, and in your beauty;Περίζωσαι τὴν ῥομφαίαν σου ἐπὶ τὸν μηρόν σου δυνατέ· τῇ ὡραιότητί σου, καὶ τῷ κάλλει σου,
5and bend your bow, and prosper, and reign, because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and your right hand shall guide you wonderfully.καὶ ἔντεινον, καὶ κατευοδοῦ, καὶ βασίλευε· ἕνεκεν ἀληθείας καὶ πρᾳΰτητος καὶ δικαιοσύνης, καὶ ὁδηγήσει σε θαυμαστῶς ἡ δεξιά σου.
6Your weapons are sharpened, Mighty One, (the nations shall fall under you) they are in the heart of the king's enemies.Τὰ βέλη σου ἠκονημένα δυνατὲ, λαοὶ ὑποκάτω σου πεσοῦνται, ἐν καρδίᾳ τῶν ἐχθρῶν τοῦ βασιλέως.
7✡ Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of your kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness.Ὁ θρόνος σου ὁ Θεὸς εἰς αἰῶνα αἰῶνος, ῥάβδος εὐθύτητος ἡ ῥάβδος τῆς βασιλείας σου.
8You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your fellows.Ἠγάπησας δικαιοσύνην, καὶ ἐμίσησας ἀνομίαν, διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέ σε ὁ Θεὸς ὁ Θεός σου ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου.
9Myrrh, and stacte, and cassia are exhaled from your garments, and out of the ivory palaces,Σμύρνα καὶ στακτὴ καὶ κασία ἀπὸ τῶν ἱματίων σου, ἀπὸ βάρεων ἐλεφαντίνων, ἐξ ὧν ηὔφρανάν σε
10with which kings' daughters have gladdened you for your honor: the queen stood by on your right hand, clothed in vesture wrought with gold, and arrayed in various colors.θυγατέρες βασιλέων ἐν τῇ τιμῇ σου· παρέστη ἡ βασίλισσα ἐκ δεξιῶν σου, ἐν ἱματισμῷ διαχρύσῳ περιβεβλημένη, πεποικιλμένη.
11Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear; forget also your people, and your father's house.Ἄκουσον θύγατερ καὶ ἴδε καὶ κλῖνον τὸ οὖς σου, καὶ ἐπιλάθου τοῦ λαοῦ σου, καὶ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου.
12Because the king has desired your beauty; for he is your Lord.Ὅτι ἐπεθύμησεν ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ κάλλους σου, ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Κύριός σου.
13And the daughter of Tyre shall adore him with gifts; the rich of the people of the land shall supplicate your ‡ favor.Καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν αὐτῷ θυγατέρες Τύρου ἐν δώροις, τὸ πρόσωπόν σου λιτανεῦσουσιν οἱ πλούσιοι τοῦ λαοῦ τῆς γῆς.
14All her glory is that of the daughter of the king § of Esebon, robed as she is in golden fringed garments,Πᾶσα ἡ δόξα αὐτῆς θυγατρὸς τοῦ βασιλέως Ἐσεβὼν, ἐν κροσσωτοῖς χρυσοῖς περιβεβλημένη, πεποικιλμένη·
15in embroidered clothing: virgins shall be brought to the king after her: her fellows shall be brought to you.ἀπενεχθήσονται τῷ βασιλεῖ παρθένοι ὀπίσω αὐτῆς, αἱ πλησίον αὐτῆς ἀπενεχθήσονταί σοι.
16They shall be brought with gladness and exultation: they shall be led into the king's temple.Ἀπενεχθήσονται ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ καὶ ἀγαλλιάσει, ἀχθήσονται εἰς ναὸν βασιλέως.
17Instead of your fathers children are born to you: you shall make them princes over all the earth.Ἀντὶ τῶν πατέρων σου ἐγενήθησάν σοι υἱοὶ, καταστήσεις αὐτοὺς ἄρχοντας ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν.
18They shall make mention of your name from generation to generation: therefore shall the nations give thanks to you ** for ever, even for ever and ever.Μνησθήσονται τοῦ ὀνόματός σου ἐν πάσῃ γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ, διὰ τοῦτο λαοὶ ἐξομολογήσονταί σοι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος·
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. 1†Lit. eructavit.
- v. 6✡Heb 1:8-10
- v. 12‡Gr. face.
- v. 13§Alex. ἔσωθεν, within, so Heb.
- v. 17**Gr. to the age of the age.
The Fathers on Psalms 44
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 44:2Saint Augustine of Hippo4. “Mine heart hath uttered a good word” (ver. 1). Who is the speaker? The Father, or the Prophet? For some understand it to be the Person of the Father, which says, “Mine heart hath uttered a good word,” intimating to us a certain unspeakable generation. Lest you should haply think something to have been taken unto Him, out of which God should beget the Son (just as man takes something to himself out of which he…
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On Psalms 44:3Saint Augustine of Hippo7. Lo! now then that Word, so uttered, Eternal, the Co-eternal Offspring of the Eternal, will come as “the Bridegroom;” “Fairer than the children of men” (ver. 2). “Than the children of men.” I ask, why not than the Angels also? Why did he say, “than the children of men,” except because He was Man? Lest you should think “the Man Christ” to be any ordinary man, he says, “Fairer than the children of men.” Even…
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On Psalms 44:4Saint Augustine of Hippo10. “Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most Mighty” (ver. 3). What is meant by “Thy sword,” but “Thy word”? It was by that sword He scattered His enemies; by that sword he divided the son from the father, “the daughter from the mother, the daughter-in-law from the mother-in-law.” We read these words in the Gospel, “I came not to send peace, but a sword.” And, “In one house shall five be divided against each other;…
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On Psalms 44:5Saint Augustine of Hippo11. What does he mean to express by the “thigh”? The flesh. Whence those words, “A prince shall not depart from Judah; and a lawgiver from his thighs”? Did not Abraham himself (to whom was promised the seed in which “all the nations of the earth were to be blessed”), when he sent his servant to seek and to bring home a wife for his son, being by faith fully persuaded, that in that, so to speak, contemptible seed…
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On Psalms 44:6Saint Augustine of Hippo14. “Thine arrows are sharp, are most powerful” (ver. 5); words that pierce the heart, that kindle love. Whence in the Song of Songs it is said, “I am wounded with love.” For she speaks of being “wounded with love;” that is, of being in love, of being inflamed with passion, of sighing for the Bridegroom, from whom she received the arrow of the Word. “Thine arrows are sharp, are most powerful;” both piercing, and…
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On Psalms 44:7Saint Augustine of Hippo15. “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever” (ver. 6). Because God has “‘blessed Thee’ for ever,” on account of the “grace poured over Thy lips.” Now the throne of the Jewish Kingdom was a temporal one; belonging to those who were under the Law, not to those who were under “grace:” He came to “redeem those who were under the Law,” and to place them under “Grace.” His “Throne is for ever and ever.” Why? for that…
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On Psalms 44:8Saint Augustine of Hippo16. “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity” (ver. 7). See there “the rod of direction” described. “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity.” Draw near to that “rod;” let Christ be thy King: let Him “rule” thee with that rod, not crush thee with it. For that rod is “a rod of iron;” an inflexible rod. “Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron: and break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”…
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On Psalms 44:9Saint Augustine of Hippo20. “Out of Thy garments is the smell of myrrh, amber, and cassia” (ver. 8). Out of Thy garments is perceived the smell of fragrant odours. By His garments are meant His Saints, His elect, His whole Church, which he shows forth, as His garment, so to speak; His robe “without spot and wrinkle,” which on account of its spots He has “washed” in His blood; on account of its “wrinkles” extended on His Cross. Hence the…
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On Psalms 44:10Saint Augustine of Hippo22. What a nuptial song! Behold in the midst of songs full of rejoicing, comes forth the Bride herself. For the Bridegroom was coming. It was He who was being described: it was on Him all our attention was fixed. “Upon Thy right hand did stand the Queen” (ver. 9). She which stands on the left is no Queen. For there will be one standing on “the left” also, to whom it will be said, “Go into everlasting fire.” But…
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On Psalms 44:11Saint Augustine of Hippo23. The Prophet addresses this Queen (for he delights in singing to her), and moreover each one of us, provided, however, we know where we are, and endeavour to belong to that body, and do belong to it in faith and hope, being united in the membership of Christ. For it is us whom he addresses, saying, “Hearken, O daughter, and behold” (ver. 10), as being one of the “Fathers” (for they are “daughters of kings”),…
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On Psalms 44:12Saint Augustine of Hippo24. “For the King hath greatly desired thy beauty” (ver. 11). What “beauty” is that, save that which is His own work? “Greatly desired the beauty”—Of whom? Of her the sinner, the unrighteous, the ungodly, such as she was with her “father,” the devil, and among her own “people”? No, but hers of whom it is said, “Who is this that cometh up made white?” She was not white then at the first, but was “made” white…
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On Psalms 44:13Saint Augustine of Hippo25. “And the daughters of Tyre shall worship Him with gifts” (ver. 12). It is that selfsame “King, who is thy God,” that the daughters of Tyre shall worship with gifts. The daughters of Tyre are the daughters of the Gentiles; the part standing for the whole. Tyre, a city bordering on this country, where the prophecy was delivered, typified the nations that were to believe in Christ. Thence came that Canaanitish…
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On Psalms 44:14Saint Augustine of Hippo27. “All the glory of her, the King’s daughter, is from within” (ver. 13). Not only is her robe, outwardly, “of gold, and of divers colours;” but He who loved her beauty, knew her to be also beautiful within. What are those inward charms? Those of conscience. It is there Christ sees; it is there Christ loves her: it is there He addresses her, there punishes, there crowns. Let then thine alms be done in secret;…
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On Psalms 44:16Saint Augustine of Hippo28. “With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought and shall be led into the Temple of the King” (ver. 15). The “Temple of the King” is the Church itself: it is the Church itself that enters into “the Temple of the King.” Whereof is that Temple constructed? Of the men who enter the Temple? Who but God’s “faithful” ones are its “living stones”? “They shall be led into the Temple of the King.” For there are…
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On Psalms 44:17Saint Augustine of Hippo29. “Instead of thy fathers, children are born to thee” (ver. 16). Nothing can be more manifest. Now consider the “Temple of the King” itself, for it is on its behalf he speaks, on account of the unity of the body that is spread throughout all the world: for those very persons who have chosen to be virgins, cannot find favour with the King unless they be led into the Temple of the King. “Instead of thy fathers,…
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On Psalms 44:18Open Psalms 44 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 Hippo30. “They shall be mindful of thy name in every generation and generation; therefore shall the peoples confess unto Thee” (ver. 17). What does it profit then to “confess” indeed and yet to confess out of “the Temple”? What does it profit to pray, and yet not to pray on the Mount? “I cried,” says he, “unto the Lord with my voice: and He heard me out of His holy hill.” Out of what “hill”? Out of that of which it is…
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