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Chapter 271PrecesPriv.1.271

Preces Quotidianae

The Cry from the Depths

The psalmist laments that no one in death or hell can praise God, pleading for deliverance.

Psalm 30 11 For what good is there in my blood, if I go down into hell?1 6 5 Will anyone among the dead praise You?2 or will there be anyone in hell who remembers You?

Wonders in Darkness

Citing Psalm 88, Isaiah 38, and Psalm 118, the prayer asks whether God's wonders and justice can be known in the darkness of the grave.

87.3 12. Will your wonders be known in the darkness, or your justice in the land of oblivion?✦ Isaiah 38. 18. Surely the underworld will not give you thanks, nor will Death praise you; those who go down into the pit will not look for your truth. The living, the living—he will give you thanks, as I do today.✦4 Psalm 118.5

I Will Not Die but Live

The prayer turns from despair to hope, declaring that the speaker will live and declare the works of the Lord.

17. I will not die, but live, and I will declare the works of the Lord.

Mercy for the Undeserving

The prayer reflects on God's nature: good to the good, gracious to strangers, and merciful to the wicked, concluding that God forgives for His own sake.

6. Indeed, if I know You well, Lord, and Your nature: You are good to the good and to those who have deserved well; gracious to strangers and the undeserving; merciful to the wicked and to those who have deserved ill.6 I take my stand on this last point.7 Js.8 xhi.9 24. Since you can't forgive sins for anyone's sake, and not for anything else, but for Your own sake —✦10 You are so ready to forgive.

The Law of Mercy

Citing Psalm 119 and Exodus 34, the prayer affirms that God's own law declares Him merciful, patient, and abundant in compassion.

7. Indeed, David the prophet dared to pray like this—Psalm 119. 29. — Have mercy on me according to your law; as if the law itself declares you gentle.11 And truly you are so; your law from your own mouth speaks just like this. Exodus 34. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful,✦ and kind, patient in abundant compassion,✦

Read the original Latin

Psal. xxx. 11. Qui enim utilitas in sanguine meo, si descendero in infernum ? vi. 5. Numquis in mortuis confitebitur 'lTibi? aut in inferno erit, qui memor sit Tui?

ln. 12. Numquid cognoscentur in tenebris mirabilia 'Tua, aut justitia Tua in terra oblivionis? Is. xxxviii. 18, Certe Infernus non confitebitur Tibi, neque Mors laudabit Te, non exspectabunt qui descendunt in lacum veritatem Tuam; Vivens, vivens, ipse confitebitur Tibi, sicut ego hodie. Psal. exviii.

17. Non moriar, quin vivam, et

narrabo opera Domini.

6. Quin si bene Te novi, Domine, et Indolem Tuam, Bonus es, bonis et bene meritis, gratiosus, peregrinis et immerentibus, misericors malis, et male merentibus. In ultimo hoc 1nsisto. Js. xhi. 24. Cum propter neminem potes, Cum propter nihil, propter Temetipsum dimittis peccata,

Adeo facilis ad veniam.

7. David vero propheta sic ausus est precari, Psal. cxix. 29. — Miserere mihi de lege Tua; quasi lex ipsa Te mitem pr:edicet. Et vere sic es; Lex Tua ex Tuo Ipsius ore sic sonat. Exod. xxxiv.

Dominator Dominus Deus misericors,

et clemens, patiens in multa miseratione,

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.88.12 — Will your steadfast love be declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Abaddon?
  2. ↩Isa.38.18-Isa.38.19 — For Sheol cannot thank you, death cannot praise you; those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. Isa.38.19 — The living, the living one—he shall praise You, as I do this day; a father makes known to his children Your faithfulness.
  3. ↩Isa.43.25 — I, I am the one who blots out your transgressions for my sake, and your sins I will not remember.
  4. ↩Exod.34.6 — And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, 'The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.'
  5. ↩Exod.34.6;Num.14.18 — And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, 'The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.' Num.14.18 — The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, yet by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Latin reads Qui with feminine utilitas; most plausible intended reading is Quae enim utilitas (What good, then / For what good).
  2. 2 ↩Surface 'lTibi is treated as OCR/type noise for Tibi. Numquis read as Num quis (Is there anyone who…?).
  3. 3 ↩Source reads 'ln.', which is not a valid Latin word or Roman numeral. Given the following verse (Vulgate Ps 87:12 / Hebrew Ps 88:12) and the citation pattern of this chapter, the intended chapter is almost certainly lxxxvii (87).
  4. 4 ↩Infernus here is the realm of the dead (Sheol-sense in Isaiah 38), not necessarily eternal damnation; rendered 'the underworld' for that reason. confitebitur kept as 'give thanks/acknowledge' to distinguish it from laudabit 'praise'.
  5. 5 ↩Source reads 'exviii.', which is not a standard Roman numeral. Most plausible correction is cxviii (118); the next section begins with verse 17 of the 'I shall not die, but live' psalm (Hebrew/English Ps 118 / Vulgate Ps 117).
  6. 6 ↩indolem Tuam rendered as 'Your nature' (character/disposition), not a physical trait.
  7. 7 ↩Normalized reading treats '1nsisto' as OCR/corruption of 'insisto'.
  8. 8 ↩Likely a truncated or abbreviated scripture citation marker (possibly Is./Js.), not continuous Latin prose.
  9. 9 ↩Corrupt fragment; possibly a chapter numeral such as xxi or xliii in a scripture citation string with neighboring Js. and 24.
  10. 10 ↩potes is elliptical; dimittere is supplied from dimittis peccata. The sentence is open-ended (trailing comma) and continues in the next section.
  11. 11 ↩Normalized reading takes pr:edicet as praedicet ('declares/proclaims'); the colon looks like a print/OCR break, not a separate word.

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