PSALTERIVM

PSALMVS LXXVI — VOCE MEA

I Cried to the Lord With My Voice

Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi is a psalm of spiritual desolation, questioning whether God has forgotten His people, yet resolving in meditation on His mighty deeds of old. In the 1962 Breviary it appears at Thursday Matins. The honest expression of doubt followed by deliberate remembrance models authentic prayer in times of darkness.

LATINE
Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi: voce mea ad Deum, et intendit mihi.
In die tribulationis meae Deum exquisivi, manibus meis nocte contra eum: et non sum deceptus.
Renuit consolari anima mea: memor fui Dei, et delectatus sum, et exercitatus sum, et defecit spiritus meus.
Anticipaverent vigilias oculi mei: turbatus sum, et non sum locutus.
Cogitavi dies antiquos: et annos aeternos in mente habui.
Et meditatus sum nocte cum corde meo: et exercitabar, et scopebam spiritum meum.
Numquid in aeternum proiiciet Deus? aut non apponet ut complacitior sit adhuc?
Et dixi: Nunc coepi: haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi.
Memor fui operum Domini: quia memor ero ab initio mirabilium tuorum.
ENGLISH
I cried to the Lord with my voice; to God with my voice, and he gave ear to me.
In the day of my trouble I sought God, with my hands lifted up to him in the night, and I was not deceived.
My soul refused to be comforted: I remembered God, and was delighted, and was exercised, and my spirit swooned away.
My eyes prevented the watches: I was troubled, and I spoke not.
I thought upon the days of old: and I had in my mind the eternal years.
And I meditated in the night with my own heart: and I was exercised and I swept my spirit.
Will God then cast off for ever? or will he never be more favourable again?
And I said, Now have I begun: this is the change of the right hand of the most High.
I remembered the works of the Lord: for I will be mindful of thy wonders from the beginning.
NOTA
FONS
Douay-Rheims (1609) / Vulgata
USUS
Spiritual desolation, Night prayer
CONTEXT
Psalm 77 in Hebrew numbering. Model for the 'dark night of the soul.' The psalmist's method—remembering God's past deeds—is the traditional remedy for spiritual dryness.