PSALTERIVM

PSALMVS XVI — EXAVDI DOMINE

Hear, O Lord, My Justice

Exaudi Domine iustitiam meam is a prayer of one unjustly persecuted, containing the beloved petition to be kept 'as the apple of thine eye' and protected 'under the shadow of thy wings.' In the 1962 Breviary it appears at Wednesday Matins. The 'apple of the eye' refers to the most tender and carefully guarded part of the body.

LATINE
Exaudi, Domine, iustitiam meam: intende deprecationem meam. Auribus percipe orationem meam, non in labiis dolosis.
De vultu tuo iudicium meum prodeat: oculi tui videant aequitates.
Probasti cor meum, et visitasti nocte: igne me examinasti, et non est inventa in me iniquitas.
Ut non loquatur os meum opera hominum: propter verba labiorum tuorum ego custodivi vias duras.
Perfice gressus meos in semitis tuis: ut non moveantur vestigia mea.
Ego clamavi, quoniam exaudisti me, Deus: inclina aurem tuam mihi, et exaudi verba mea.
Mirifica misericordias tuas, qui salvos facis sperantes in te.
A resistentibus dexterae tuae custodi me, ut pupillam oculi. Sub umbra alarum tuarum protege me.
ENGLISH
Hear, O Lord, my justice: attend to my supplication. Give ear unto my prayer, which proceedeth not from deceitful lips.
Let my judgment come forth from thy countenance: let thy eyes behold the things that are equitable.
Thou hast proved my heart, and visited it by night, thou hast tried me by fire: and iniquity hath not been found in me.
That my mouth may not speak the works of men: for the sake of the words of thy lips, I have kept hard ways.
Perfect thou my goings in thy paths: that my footsteps be not moved.
I have cried to thee, for thou, O God, hast heard me: O incline thy ear unto me, and hear my words.
Shew forth thy wonderful mercies; thou who savest them that trust in thee.
From them that resist thy right hand keep me, as the apple of thy eye. Protect me under the shadow of thy wings.
NOTA
FONS
Douay-Rheims (1609) / Vulgata
USUS
Matins, Prayer against persecution
CONTEXT
Psalm 17 in Hebrew numbering. 'Apple of thy eye' (pupilla oculi) became a proverbial expression.