Psalms 87
Old Testament · Brenton Septuagint with Greek parallel
Psalms chapter 87 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.
11 patristic excerpts are attached to this chapter, from Saint Augustine of Hippo. The translator's notes for this chapter (5) follow the text.
Psalms 87
1(88) A song of a Psalm for the sons of Core for the end, upon Maeleth for responsive strains, of * instruction for Aeman the Israelite.Ὠδὴ ψαλμοῦ τοῖς υἱοῖς Κορὲ, εἰς τὸ τέλος, ὑπὲρ μαελὲθ τοῦ ἀποκριθῆναι, συνέσεως Αἰμὰν τῷ Ἰσραηλίτῃ.
2O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried by day and in the night before you.Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς τῆς σωτηρίας μου, ἡμέρας ἐκέκραξα καὶ ἐν νυκτὶ ἐναντίον σου.
3Let my prayer come in before you; incline your ear to my supplication, O Lord.Εἰσελθέτω ἐνώπιόν σου ἡ προσευχή μου, κλῖνον τὸ οὖς σου εἰς τὴν δέησίν μου, Κύριε.
4For my soul is filled with troubles, and my life has drawn near to Hades.Ὅτι ἐπλήσθη κακῶν ἡ ψυχή μου, καὶ ἡ ζωή μου τῷ ᾅδῃ ἤγγισε.
5I have been reckoned with them that go down to the pit; I became as a man without help;Προσελογίσθην μετὰ τῶν καταβαινόντων εἰς λάκκον, ἐγενήθην ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἀβοήθητος,
6free among the dead, as the slain ones † cast out, who sleep in the tomb; whom you remember no more; and they are rejected from your hand.ἐν νεκροῖς ἐλεύθερος, ὡσεὶ τραυματίαι ἐῤῥιμμένοι καθεύδοντες ἐν τάφῳ, ὧν οὐκ ἐμνήσθης ἔτι, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐκ τῆς χειρός σου ἀπώσθησαν.
7They laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, and in the shadow of death.Ἔθεντό με ἐν λάκκῳ κατωτάτῳ, ἐν σκοτεινοῖς καὶ ἐν σκιᾷ θανάτου.
8Your wrath has pressed heavily upon me, and you have brought upon me all your billows. Pause.Ἐπʼ ἐμὲ ἐπεστηρίχθη ὁ θυμός σου, καὶ πάντας τοὺς μετεωρισμούς σου ἐπήγαγες ἐπʼ ἐμέ· διάψαλμα.
9You have removed my acquaintance far from me; they have made me an abomination to themselves; I have been delivered up, and have not gone forth.Ἐμάκρυνας τοὺς γνωστούς μου ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ, ἔθεντό με βδέλυγμα ἑαυτοῖς· παρεδόθην καὶ οὐκ ἐξεπορευόμην.
10My eyes are dimmed from poverty; but I cried to you, O Lord, all the day; I spread forth my hands to you.Οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου ἠσθένησαυ ἀπὸ πτωχείας· καὶ ἐκέκραξα πρὸς σὲ Κύριε ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν, διεπέτασα πρὸς σὲ τὰς χεῖράς μου.
11Will you work wonders for the dead? or shall ‡ physicians raise them up, that they shall praise you?Μὴ τοῖς νεκροῖς ποιήσεις θαυμάσια, ἢ ἰατροὶ ἀναστήσουσι καὶ ἐξομολογήσονταί σοι;
12Shall any one declare your mercy in the tomb? and your truth in destruction?Μὴ διηγήσεταί τις ἐν τάφῳ τὸ ἔλεός σου, καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου ἐν τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ;
13Shall your wonders be known in darkness? and your righteousness in a forgotten land?Μὴ γνωσθήσεται ἐν τῷ σκότει τὰ θαυμάσιά σου, καὶ ἡ δικαιοσύνη σου ἐν γῇ ἐπιλελησμένῃ;
14But I cried to you, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent you.Κᾀγὼ πρὸς σὲ Κύριε ἐκέκραξα, καὶ τοπρωῒ ἡ προσευχή μου προφθάσει σε.
15Therefore, O Lord, do you reject my § prayer, and turn your face away from me?Ἱνατί Κύριε ἀπωθεῖς τὴν προσευχήν μου, ἀποστρέφεις τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ;
16I am poor and in troubles from my youth; and having been exalted, I was brought low and into ** despair.Πτωχός εἰμι ἐγὼ καὶ ἐν κόποις ἐκ νεότητός μου, ὑψωθεὶς δὲ ἐταπεινώθην καὶ ἐξηπορήθην.
17Your wrath has passed over me; and your terrors have greatly disquieted me.Ἐπʼ ἐμὲ διῆλθον αἱ ὀργαί σου, καὶ οἱ φοβερισμοί σου ἐξετάραξάν με.
18They compassed me like water; all the day they beset me together.Ἐκύκλωσάν με ὡς ὕδωρ, ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν περιέσχον με ἅμα.
19You have put far from me †† every friend, and my acquaintances because of my wretchedness.Ἐμάκρυνας ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ φίλον, καὶ τοὺς γνωστούς μου ἀπὸ ταλαιπωρίας.
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. 5†Alex. om. ἐῤῥιμμένοι, cast out.
- v. 10‡See Heb.
- v. 14§Heb. and Alex. soul.
- v. 15**See 2 Cor 4:8.
- v. 18††Alex. friend and neighbor.
The Fathers on Psalms 87
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 87:2–3Saint Augustine of Hippo2. “O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before Thee” (ver. 1). Let us therefore now hear the voice of Christ singing before us in prophecy, to whom His own choir should respond either in imitation, or in thanksgiving. “O let my prayer enter into Thy presence, incline Thine ear unto my calling” (ver. 2). For even our Lord prayed, not in the form of God, but in the form of a servant; for in this…
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On Psalms 87:4–5Saint Augustine of Hippo3. “For my soul is filled with evils, and my life draweth nigh unto hell” (ver. 3). Dare we speak of the Soul of Christ as “filled with evils,” when the passion had strength as far as it had any, only over the body?…The soul therefore may feel pain without the body: but without the soul the body cannot. Why therefore should we not say that the Soul of Christ was full of the evils of humanity, though not of human…
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On Psalms 87:6Saint Augustine of Hippo4. “Free among the dead” (ver. 5). In these words our Lord’s Person is most clearly shown: for who else is free among the dead but He who though in the likeness of sinful flesh is alone among sinners without sin?…He therefore, “free among the dead,” who had it in His power to lay down His life, and again to take it; from whom no one could take it, but He laid it down of His own free will; who could revive His own…
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On Psalms 87:7Saint Augustine of Hippo5. “They laid Me in the lowest pit” (ver. 6), that is, the deepest pit. For so it is in the Greek. But what is the lowest pit, but the deepest woe, than which there is none more deep? Whence in another Psalm it is said, “Thou broughtest me out also of the pit of misery.” “In a place of darkness, and in the shadow of death,” whiles they knew not what they did, they laid Him there, thus deeming of Him; they knew…
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On Psalms 87:7Saint Augustine of Hippo6. “Thy indignation lieth hard upon Me” (ver. 7), or, as other copies have it, “Thy anger;” or, as others, “Thy fury:” the Greek word θυμὸς having undergone different interpretations. For where the Greek copies have ὀργὴ, no translator hesitated to express it by the Latin ira; but where the word is θυμὸς, most object to rendering it by ira, although many of the authors of the best Latin style, in their…
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On Psalms 87:9–10Saint Augustine of Hippo7. “Thou hast put Mine acquaintance far from Me” (ver. 8). If we understand by acquaintance those whom He knew, it will be all men; for whom knew He not? But He calls those acquaintance, to whom He was Himself known, as far as they could know Him at that season: at least so far forth as they knew Him to be innocent, although they considered Him only as a man, not as likewise God. Although He might call the…
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On Psalms 87:11Saint Augustine of Hippo9. But as His good works profited only the predestined to eternal salvation, and not all men, nor even all those among whom they were done, he adds, “Dost thou show wonders among the dead?” (ver. 10). If we suppose this relates to those whose flesh life has left, great wonders have been wrought among the dead, inasmuch as some of them have revived: and in our Lord’s descent into Hell, and His ascent as the…
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On Psalms 87:12Saint Augustine of Hippo10. “Shall one show Thy loving-kindness in the grave, or Thy faithfulness in destruction?” (ver. 11). The word “show” is of course understood as if repeated, Shall any show Thy faithfulness in destruction? Scripture loves to connect loving-kindness and faithfulness, especially in the Psalms. “Destruction” also is a repetition of “the grave,” and signifies them who are in the grave, styled above “the dead,” in the…
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On Psalms 87:13Saint Augustine of Hippo11. “Shall thy wondrous works be known in the dark, and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten?” (ver. 12), the dark answers to the land of forgetfulness: for the unbelieving are meant by the dark, as the Apostle saith, “For ye were sometimes darkness;” and the land where all things are forgotten, is the man who has forgotten God; for the unbelieving soul can arrive at darkness so intense,…
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On Psalms 87:14Saint Augustine of Hippo12. But that those prayers, the blessings of which surpass all words, may be more fervent and more constant, the gift that shall last unto eternity is deferred, while transitory evils are allowed to thicken. And so it follows: “Lord, why hast Thou cast off my prayer?” (ver. 14), which may be compared with another Psalm: “My God, My God, look upon me; why hast Thou forsaken me?” The reason is made matter of…
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On Psalms 87:16–19Open Psalms 87 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 Hippo13. For this purpose he briefly sketches in what follows the troubles of Christ’s body. For it is not in the Head alone that they took place, since it is said to Saul too, “Why persecutest thou Me?” and Paul himself, as if placed as an elect member in the same body, saith, “That I may fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh.” “Why then, Lord, hast Thou cast off my soul? why hidest…
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