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Preces Quotidianae

God's Anger is Brief, His Mercy Enduring

The psalmist and prophet testify that God's anger lasts only a moment, but His mercy gathers and restores.

Psalm 30. 5.1 His anger lasts only a moment. Isaiah 54. 8.✦ For a brief moment I left you; with great mercies I will gather you.✦2

Mercy in the Midst of Anger and Stumbling

Habakkuk and the psalmist affirm that God remembers mercy even in anger and lifts up those who stumble.

Hab. 2. 2. Even in his anger he remembers mercy—and readily, and only a little.✦34 Ps. 94. 18. If I said, "My foot has slipped," your mercy, Lord, will lift me up.

Confession and Divine Forgiveness

Through confession, God forgives iniquity, as seen in David's repentance and the prophet Joel's call to return to a merciful God.

I said, "I will confess my injustice against myself to the Lord," and You have forgiven the iniquity of my sin.5 It is as nothing for us; God said, "for my own sake."✦6 2 Samuel. 11.7 13. David said, "I have sinned, Lord." Nathan answered, "The Lord has also taken away your sin, so that you will not die." Joel.✦

The Lord's Merciful Character

Joel declares that the Lord is merciful, kind, patient, and ready to relent from evil.

ii.✦8 13. The Lord is merciful, kind, and patient, of great mercy, and ready to relent over evil.✦9

God Waits to Show Mercy

Isaiah proclaims that God waits expectantly to be gracious and have mercy on His people.

Is.✦10 30:18.✦11 God waits so that he may have mercy on us.✦

God's Tender Compassion and Readiness to Hear

From compassion to the tender mercy of the Most High, God hears even those who have despised Him in prosperity.

4. Compassion. For even though we deserve it, he still grieves over our calamity.✦12 Luke 1. 78.✦ These are called the tender heart of his mercy.✦13 Jer. 5. 11. In this aspect God is merciful and compassionate.14 Ps. 106. 47. Yet when he saw their misery, he had compassion on them.15 He not only hears sinners, but also, on the day of trouble, those who in a time16 of peace despised Him.17

Read the original Latin

Psal. xxx. ὅ. Momentum est ira Ejus. Is. liv. 8. Ad punctum in modico reliqui te, in miserationibus magnis congregabo te.

Abac. ii. 2. In ipsa ira recordatur misericordim, et facile et exigue. Psal. xciv. 18. Si dicebam motus est pes meus, misericordia Tua, Domine, sublevabit me.

Dixi, Confitebor adversum me injustitiam meam Domino, et ΤῸ remisisti iniquitatem peccati mei. Quasi nihil est nobis, propter memetipsum dixit Deus. 2 Sam. xi. 13. Dixit David, Peccavi, Domine. Respondit Nathan, Dominus quoque transtulit peccatum tuum, ne morieris. Joel.

τι. 13. Dominus misericors, benignus, patiens, multe misericordie, prswstabilis super malitia.

ds. xxx, 18. Exspectat Deus, ut misereatur nostri.

4. Compassio. Etsi enim merito, tamen condolet calamitati nostrze. Luc. 1. 78. Dicuntur viscera tenera suz misericordiz. Jer.

v. 11. Qua specie Deus est misericors et miserator. Psal. cvi. 47. Attamen cum videret miserlam eorum, compassus est eis. Qui non solum peccatores audit, sed et die tribulationis eos qui in tempore

pacis spreverunt Eum.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Isa.54.7 — For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you.
  2. ↩Isa.54.7 — For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you.
  3. ↩Hab.3.2 — LORD, I have heard your report; I stand in awe, LORD. Your work—revive it in the midst of the years; in the midst of the years make it known. In wrath remember mercy.
  4. ↩Isa.43.25 — I, I am the one who blots out your transgressions for my sake, and your sins I will not remember.
  5. ↩Joel.2.13 — Tear open your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and he relents from sending disaster.
  6. ↩Joel.2.13 — Tear open your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and he relents from sending disaster.
  7. ↩Joel.2.13 — Tear open your hearts, not your garments, and return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and he relents from sending disaster.
  8. ↩Isa.30.18 — Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you; therefore he rises to show you mercy, for the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him.
  9. ↩Isa.30.18 — Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you; therefore he rises to show you mercy, for the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him.
  10. ↩Isa.30.18 — Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you; therefore he rises to show you mercy, for the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him.
  11. ↩Isa.30.18;Luke.1.78 — Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you; therefore he rises to show you mercy, for the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him. Luke.1.78 — because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from on high
  12. ↩Luke.1.78 — because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from on high
  13. ↩Luke.1.78 — because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from on high

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Source reading is the Greek character ὅ., not a normal verse numeral. Rendered as 5. because the following Latin matches the common Psalm wording about the Lord’s anger lasting only a moment (often Ps 30:5 / Vulgate Ps 29:6).
  2. 2 ↩Latin is nearly Isaiah 54:7 (ad punctum in modico… congregabo te), though the section cites 8. Source has reliqui rather than Vulgate dereliqui and omits et before in miserationibus.
  3. 3 ↩Source misericordim is almost certainly corrupt for misericordiae/misericordiam with recordatur (he is mindful of mercy). Translated that intended sense.
  4. 4 ↩et facile et exigue is terse; rendered as describing how lightly and readily the anger is held/passed in view of mercy (parallel to the preceding brief-wrath texts). Alternative: both adverbs modify the remembering itself.
  5. 5 ↩Source has Greek ΤῸ between et and remisisti; treated as corrupt OCR for Latin tu (standard Vulgate Ps 31:5 / Eng. Ps 32:5 reading).
  6. 6 ↩Compressed or possibly damaged line: Quasi nihil est nobis may mark the practical effect of forgiveness (guilt treated as nothing for us), while propter memetipsum dixit Deus echoes the divine motive 'for my own sake' (cf. Isaiah 43:25).
  7. 7 ↩Citation reads xi (11), but the following David–Nathan dialogue is 2 Samuel 12:13, not 11:13; likely intended xii.
  8. 8 ↩Source reads Greek τι.; in context after Joel. and before 13., the most plausible intended citation fragment is Roman-numeral ii. (Joel 2).
  9. 9 ↩Normalized corruptions: multe misericordie → multae misericordiae; prswstabilis → praestabilis (Joel 2:13 cadence).
  10. 10 ↩Source reads "ds."; treated as a corrupted book label for Isaias/Isaiah, because the following lemma matches Is 30:18.
  11. 11 ↩Source "xxx, 18." read as Roman numerals XXX, 18 = chapter 30, verse 18.
  12. 12 ↩Normalized reading takes nostrze as OCR corruption of nostrae ('our'). Subject of condolet is supplied from neighboring context (God).
  13. 13 ↩Normalized reading takes suz as suae and misericordiz as misericordiae. Latin viscera is the biblical idiom for the inward seat of compassion (cf. Luke 1:78), rendered here as 'heart' rather than literal 'bowels'.
  14. 14 ↩Latin pairs misericors (merciful by nature) with miserator (one who actively shows mercy/pity); rendered as 'merciful and compassionate' to keep both the quality and the active pity without archaism.
  15. 15 ↩Source 'miserlam' is almost certainly a corruption of 'miseriam' (misery); translated from that corrected reading.
  16. 16 ↩Sentence is truncated mid-clause; the next section continues '...pacis spreverunt Eum' ('of peace spurned Him').
  17. 17 ↩Section-final fragment completing the prior clause: 'eos qui in tempore pacis spreverunt Eum' — 'those who, in time of peace, despised Him.'

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