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Ordinary Time · Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time · Year B

Psalm 30:2+4, 5-6, 11-12a+13b (2a)

You Have Turned My Mourning into Dancing

Angel Musicians, Gaudenzio Ferrari
Angel Musicians, Gaudenzio Ferrari, c. 1535Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Saronno
A cupola at Saronno crowded with angels playing more than fifty different instruments, painted so accurately that it is used as evidence for how Renaissance instruments were held.Praise him with trumpet, lute and harp: the psalm lists instruments, and Ferrari answers with every one he could find.Gaudenzio FerrariA painter and sculptor of Lombardy (c. 1471-1546), who worked on the great pilgrimage sites of the Alpine foothills and is valued now as much by musicologists as by art historians.Santa Maria dei Miracoli, SaronnoA pilgrimage sanctuary north of Milan, whose domes were frescoed by Gaudenzio Ferrari and Bernardino Luini.Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Saronno

Overview & Insights

“You have turned my mourning into dancing… O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.” (Psalm 30:11–12)

Like other psalms that straddle two or more genres, Psalm 30 is sometimes classified as an individual psalm of thanksgiving, or, as Kraus advocates, a prayer song of the sick (30:1–3, 8–9).[1] The more traditional form-critical classification is an individual psalm of lament (it contains complaints against God [30:5a, 7] and against enemies [30:1c]),[2] which also borders on an individual psalm of trust, since the element of trust is so pervasive.[3] The psalmist laments the divine anger he has experienced (30:5, 7), perhaps looking back over a lifetime, and celebrates God’s deliverance (30:11–12).[4] Craigie proposes a cultic setting for the psalm, taking the form of a ceremony of thanksgiving, apparently held in the temple.[5] While the contents of the psalm do not mention sacrifice and the payment of vows, the reference to “saints” (30:4; NIV: “you his faithful people”) suggests a tabernacle/temple setting where the congregation part…

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Take it further: Psalm 30:2+4, 5-6, 11-12a+13b (2a)

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What is Psalm 30?

A thanksgiving for deliverance: weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning; the psalmist praises the God who lifted him from the pit.

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