"Esto mihi in rupem praesidii et in domum munitam..."

Question

I have a question about a translation of the phrase mentioned in the title, which comes from Psalm 30 (31) as it appears in "The Office of Compline, Latin and English" from the Saint Louis Antiphonary for the Hours, Ignatius Press.

The Latin text with its context:

In te, Domine, speravi, non confundar in aeternum; in iustitia tua libera me.
Inclina ad me aurem tuam, accelera, ut eruas me.
Esto mihi in rupem praesidii et in domum munitam, ut salvum me facias.
Quoniam fortitudo mea et refugium meum es tu et properter nomen tuum deduces me at pasces me.

The English translation for the line in question:

Be a rock of refuge for me, a mighty stronghold to save me.

However, in my simplicity, it seems to me the Psalmist is asking God to be in the rock of refuge and in the mighty stronghold, in the sense of occupying these defensive places. This seems quite different in meaning from the provided English translation, which carries the sense of identification with these defensive places.

So, my question is: Is this a known Latin idiom that corresponds closely with the English translation, or is this a case where the Latin really means what I think it means, and the translator took the liberty of changing one sense into another?

Answer 1

This is most certainly a Hebraism. Compare to 2 Sam 7:14:

ego ero ei in patrem et ipse erit mihi in filium

In the Hebrew, we have:

אֲנִי֙ אֶהְיֶה־לּ֣וֹ לְאָ֔ב וְה֖וּא יִהְיֶה־לִּ֣י לְבֵ֑ן

Note the duplication of the "לּ֣" preposition, which is alternatively translated with a dative and with in + accusative. I am not an expert in Hebrew, and cannot comment on the niceties of this construction, but it appears to mirror the Latin double dative, i.e. "I will be to him as a father."

This same duplication of the "ל־" preposition occurs in the Psalm verse you cite:

הֱיֵ֤ה לִ֨י׀ לְֽצוּר־מָ֭עוֹז לְבֵ֥ית מְצוּד֗וֹת לְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנִי

This is an almost identical construction (again, though, I am not an expert) translated in the same way: dative and in + accusative. By extrapolation, the English interpretation is entirely clear.