Hide not your face far from me; put not your servant away in anger: you have been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
9. "Turn not away Thy face from me" (ver. 9): that I may find what I seek. "Turn not aside in anger from Thy servant:" lest, while seeking Thee, I fall in with somewhat else. For what is more grevous than this punishment to one who loveth and seeketh the truth of Thy countenance? "Be Thou my Helper." How shall I find it, if Thou help me not? "Leave me not, neither despise me, O God my Saviour." Scorn not that a mortal dares to seek the Eternal for Thou, God dost heal the wound of my sin.
Decline not. Hebrew, "put not away. "(Protestants) But the Vulgate seems preferable.
Forsake. Septuagint (Complutensian and Aldine) me aposkorakises, "send me not to the crows "an expression borrowed from profane authors, who said, "to the crows "when they held a person in sovereign contempt. (Theodoret; Berthier)
Grabe substitutes this word, though the Alexandrian and Vatican manuscripts agree with us. (Haydock)
There seems to be a gradation in the condition of the reprobate here observed. God hides his countenance, withdraws, abandons, and despises them; and they only perceive their misery, when it is too late. (Berthier)
David implores aid in this life, and deprecates the divine anger, looking upon himself as an orphan, whom God takes under his special protection. (Worthingtonn)
