Friday, September 22, 2017

Deus Misereatur

For those who pray Evening Prayer using John Wesley's The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America, the response to the New Testament lesson is Psalm 67, also known as the Deus misereatur.  (For those who use other forms of the Book of Common Prayer, this is one of the choices for the New Testament response, but in Wesley's brevity, he did not provide multiple choices!)

Since my pattern has been to read through the Old and New Testaments, along with the Psalms, during Morning and Evening Prayer without following a lectionary, there have been times when I end up reading the very Psalm that I would otherwise use for a response to the Old or New Testament lesson.  This morning, however, I read the 67th Psalm (which I will read as a response in Evening Prayer).

One of the striking things, when this happens, is the difference in language between Wesley's Prayer Book and the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (which is what I usually use).  And so, I thought I would post both versions on my blog.  -  For what it's worth, I would confess that, while I pray using Wesley's Prayer Book, if I were to hold a public service, I almost always would use a modern English version (e.g., the new ACNA texts).  The problem with that is the desire at a couple of points to make the kind of editing changes that Wesley made when providing The Sunday Service for the Methodist people.

Here are the two versions of the Psalm.  First will be the version as it appears in the Office of Evening Prayer in The Sunday Service:

God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and shew us the light of his countenance, and be merciful unto us.
That thy way may be known upon earth; thy saving health among all nations.
Let the people praise thee, O God: yea, let all the people praise thee.
O let the nations rejoice and be glad; for thou shalt judge the folk righteously, and govern the nations upon earth.
Let the people praise thee, O God: yea, let all the people praise thee.
Then shall the earth bring forth her increase; and God, even our own God, shall give us his blessing.
God shall bless us: and all the ends of the world shall fear him.

And now, the version found in the NRSV.

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us,
that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, has blessed us.
May God continue to bless us; let all the ends of the earth revere him.

 
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be:
world without end.
Amen.

1 comment:

onegodonemaster said...

Fascinating! The differences in the two translations, particularly in the last two lines, is quite clear.

On a somewhat tangential note, however, when you wrote that "[t]he problem with [using a modern (I presume Anglican) Daily Office] is the desire at a couple of points to make the kind of editing changes that Wesley made when providing The Sunday Service for the Methodist people," what changes exactly did you have in mind?

I am familiar with the greater emphasis on sanctification in the 1966 Methodist Hymnal's Communion liturgy when compared to the original 1662 BCP prayers, e.g. in the last line of the Prayer of Humble Access -- was that the sort of thing that you were referring to?