Psalm 13

How long wilt thou turn thy face from me? (Ps. 13:1)

"He asks for the appearance of Christ...for that face deigned to save the world. In this way both his longing for God's love was shown and his charity toward his neighbor was clearly fulfilled, since he continually begged for what he knew was beneficial to all. Both are joined in partnership with each other; God cannot be loved without neighbor, nor neighbor without God." (Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms)

Psalm 12

"Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,

I will now arise," says the Lord.

"I will place him in the safety for which he longs."

The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure...

(Psalm 12:5-6)

Catholics and Protestants now seen to be following the same numbering system, but what is Psalm 12 to us was Psalm 11 to Cassiodorus (c.487-c.580):  "It is certain that the sons of men can be freed by the power of the Lord. Then, since the strength of the number eleven, to which this psalm is assigned, is acknowledged as revealing to us a sign of the gospel, let us beg the Father of the household in His great mercy to admit us into the vineyard even at the eleventh hour, so that He may deign to bestow on our actions a reward not due to us, but gratuitous." (Cassiodorus, Explanation of the Psalms)