Psalm 130

Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Folio 70r - De Profundis, the Musée Condé, Chantilly.

Psalm 130 (Septuagint numbering: Psalm 129), traditionally De profundis from its Latin incipit, is one of the Penitential psalms.

Commentary

This lament, a Penitential Psalm, is the De profundis used in liturgical prayers for the faithful departed in Western liturgical tradition. In deep sorrow the psalmist cries to God (1-2), asking for mercy (3-4). The psalmist's trust (5-6) becomes a model for the people (7-8).

v1. the depths: mMakim here is a metaphor of total misery. Deep anguish makes the psalmist feel "like those who go down to the pit" (Psalm 143:7). Robert Alter points out that '..."the depths" are an epithet for the depths of the sea, which in turn is an image of the realm of death'. Other Bible passages (Creation, the dwelling of Leviathan, Jesus stilling the storm) also resonate with imagery of fear and chaos engendered by the depths of the sea.

v3. our sins. A temporary shift from singular (personal) to the plural (communal); this plurality (the nation, Israel) again appears in the final two verses.

v4. and so you are revered. The experience of God's mercy leads one to a greater sense of God.

Musical settings

This psalm has been frequently set to music, as part of musical settings for the Requiem, especially under its Latin incipit De profundis:

• Johann Sebastian Bach, as part of the cantata Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131
• Nicolaus Bruhns
• Lili Boulanger
• Hell (Blasphemy And The Master, from 2011 'Human Remains' album
• Marc Antoine Charpentier
• Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis
• Michel-Richard Delalande
• Josquin des Prez (two settings)
• John Dowland
• Andrea Gabrieli, as part of his Psalmi Davidici
• Christoph Gluck
• Sofia Gubaidulina
• G.F. Handel
• Arthur Honegger
• Alan Hovhaness
• Orlando di Lasso, as part of his Penitential Psalms
• Franz Liszt
• George Lloyd
• Leevi Madetoja
• Felix Mendelssohn
• Thomas Morley
• W.A. Mozart
• Vitezslav Novak
• Arvo Pärt
• Henry Purcell
• Georg Reutter (a setting once attributed to Mozart)
• Pedro Ruimonte
• John Rutter, as part of Requiem, in English
• Marc Sabat
• Antonio Salieri
• Johann Schein
• Arnold Schoenberg
• Heinrich Schütz
• Roger Sessions
• Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
• Virgil Thomson
• Vangelis

Some other works named De profundis, but containing texts not derived from the psalm include:

• Frederic Rzewski based on the text of Oscar Wilde
• Dmitri Shostakovich, in his Fourteenth Symphony op. 135 to texts of Federico García Lorca translated to Russian

In German

Main article: Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir

Martin Luther paraphrased Psalm 130 to the hymn Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, which inspired several composers, including Bach (cantataAus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, BWV 38), Mendelssohn and Reger.

In literature

The title "De Profundus" was used as the title of a poem by Spanish author Federico García Lorca in his Poema del cante jondo.

A long letter by Oscar Wilde written to his former lover Lord Alfred Douglas near the end of Wilde's life while he was in prison also bears the title "De Profundis" (though it was given the title after Wilde's death), as do poems by Alfred Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Charles Baudelaire, Christina Rossetti, C. S. Lewis, Georg Trakl and Dorothy Parker.

In Judaism

• Psalm 130 is recited as part of the liturgy for the High Holidays, sung responsively before the open Torah ark during the morning service from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur. The custom of reciting this psalm during these times had long lay dormant until it was revived in the Birnbaum and Artscroll siddurim in the 20th century.
• Is recited following Mincha between Sukkot and Shabbat Hagadol.
• Is recited during Tashlikh.
• It is also among those psalms traditionally recited as a prayer for the sick.
• In some synagogues, it is said on every weekday. In Hebrew, it is often called "(Shir HaMa'alot) MiMa'amakim" after its initial words.
• Verses 3-4 are part of the opening paragraph of the long Tachanun recited on Mondays and Thursdays.

Words

Latin version of the Septuagint text:
[Canticum graduum]
De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine;
Domine, exaudi vocem meam. Fiant aures tuæ intendentes
in vocem deprecationis meæ.
Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine, Domine, quis sustinebit?
Quia apud te propitiatio est; et propter legem tuam sustinui te, Domine.
Sustinuit anima mea in verbo ejus:
Speravit anima mea in Domino.
A custodia matutina usque ad noctem, speret Israël in Domino.
Quia apud Dominum misericordia, et copiosa apud eum redemptio.
Et ipse redimet Israël ex omnibus iniquitatibus ejus.

Latin translated:
[A Canticle in steps]
From the depths, I have cried out to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplication.
If you, Lord, were to mark iniquities, who, O Lord, could persevere?
For with you is forgiveness; and because of your law, I persevered with you, Lord.
My soul has persevered in his word.
My soul has hoped in the Lord.
From the morning watch, even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord.
For with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Translation of the Hebrew text:
[A Song of ascents]
From the depths I have cried out to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplication.
If you, Lord, mark iniquities, who, O Lord, can stand?
But with you is forgiveness, that you may be revered. I trust in the Lord;
My soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the Lord,
more than watchmen wait for the dawn. More than watchmen wait for the dawn, let Israel wait for the Lord.
For with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption.
And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

See also

• Death
• Funeral
• Penitential Psalms
• Requiem

References

• Kuttner, Henry (1953), "De Profundis (also known as The Visitors)", Science Fiction Quarterly .
• Leinster, Murray (1945), "De Profundis", Thrilling Wonder Stories .
• Oracz, Michal (2001), De Profundis: Letters From The Abyss, Redhill, Surrey: Hogshead Publishing, http://www.hogshead.demon.co.uk/newstyle/ns_deprofundis.htm . ISBN 1-899749-35-7

External links

• The King James version at wikisource
• De Profundis - excerpted text of Wilde's De Profundis (1905 version?)

• "De Profundis". Catholic Encyclopedia. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04738b.htm.  - From the 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia this short article talks about the hymn's origins, its Jewish use and (pre Vatican II) Roman Catholic usage.
• De profundis at the Internet Movie Database
• "Translation of BWV 131: Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir". http://www.emmanuelmusic.org/notes_trans/transl_cantata/bwv131.htm.