Commentarius magnus in Psalmos

Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, inscription of a history on the Psalter. Malachi, the prophet of God, who is rightly called angel, is shown using an evangelical trumpet, saying to him: "The sun of righteousness will rise for you who fear his name, and healing is in its wings," announcing to us and foretelling that the only-begotten son of God is to be seen on earth not in the substance of another but in his own, and through his own grace to illuminate all things, just as this perceptible sun is accustomed to be seen in its own substance and to illuminate all things through its own substance. Thus indeed the divine radiance, our Lord Jesus, having appeared on earth, has filled the entire inhabited world with eternal light. Reasonably, then, the aforementioned prophet proclaimed him the sun of righteousness. He has risen, therefore, so that we may clearly see with the eyes of our mind the hidden and obscure sayings of the divine scriptures, being guided by his rays, so that we too, singing with the blessed David, may say to him: "You have revealed to me the hidden and secret things of your wisdom"—wisdom not of the present age but of that concealed before the ages in the Father, but manifested in the last days not only in knowledge but also in form and person in a manner, so that those who believe in him may have strong assurance through the true testimony of those who saw him both before his passion and after the resurrection.

That one, having revealed himself to the world as the true sun of righteousness, has now also revealed his grace to us and through it has led us into the inscrutable wealth of the treasures of the knowledge of his words. For I am hopeful, brothers, that having revealed his own father to us, he will also make known to us his inexhaustible springs of realities, so that our winepresses may gush forth his grace to impart to those who are in need and willing, that in us may be fulfilled: "He who gives one of the small ones who believe in me a cup of cold water will not lose his reward." Therefore, taking courage, we are pleased to impart to you from his grace the crown woven and composed of various precious stones, I mean that of David, which the whole rational and intellectual creation is shown to bear by means of the ceaseless hymnody sent up to God, which the master of all brought forth on earth through his attested servant, concerning whom he said: "I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart." For in truth, using David as his own heart, he poured forth through him his divine doxology, our rational worship.

First, then, we shall begin the exposition with the authors before us, and having touched upon their prologue, we shall proceed thereafter to more opportune matters with the grace of our Lord; for I do not consider it right to pass over their preface. For some, as if employing great precision, thought it proper to bring the Hebrew text itself into the middle and to insist on this, that the book of Psalms belongs to many and various prophets and not only to David, as they are able to discern from the superscriptions placed over the psalms, saying that some are of David, others of the sons of Kore, others of Asaph, and Aitham the Israelite, others of Solomon, and one of them of Moses, others without superscriptions, others anonymous, and some with alleluia. And they added this also, taken from the Chronicles, that David, having selected four men of the tribe of Levi—Asaph, son of Kore, and Aiman, and Aitham, and Idithoum—stationed them before the sanctuary with various instruments, in the midst of whom David himself stood as chief of the chiefs of songs, holding the psaltery in his hands.

These things, as I said before, some of the authors have related, as indeed in some of the psalters these things are found inserted, having been published by them. As though having selected them from the Hebrew, they placed them there; but to me they seem not to have rightly appropriated such a lengthy narrative. For if, as they themselves have said, David stood in the middle of them, holding the psalter in his hands, how is the book of the Psalms not David's? But if they should say that he was recorded in the psalter as saying the things spoken by them, he is no longer found to be the ruler of them, but they are rulers of him, who imparted to him the things uttered through them. Likewise, their division concerning the Psalms does not seem to me to be reasonable. For they said, as I mentioned before, that some are of David, some of the sons of Kore, some of Asaph, another of Aitham the Israelite, some of Solomon, others of Aiman, one of Moses. It would have been necessary, therefore, as I think, that before all others the one of Moses should have been placed in the book of the Psalms, or that this one should be included in his books, just as his odes, one is set forth in Exodus, another in Numbers, another in Deuteronomy, and not in the book of the Psalms. Nor before all, but after Solomon and before David his father, the one psalm of Moses is said to be, according to the understanding of those who set it forth in this way.

Furthermore, I will also say this concerning the Psalms of Solomon: if they were entirely Solomon's, they would have been included in the books of Kings or Chronicles, or this very fact would have been made clear to us in those books themselves, just as it is said concerning him that he had five thousand songs, but divine Scripture nowhere mentions a psalm of his. But someone will say to me that the superscriptions of the psalms make this clear. However, the superscriptions of the psalms do not always present the persons of the names to us, but rather the interpretation and the meaning of what is said. What I mean is this: the superscription has "a psalm for David" and again "of David." And sometimes "of David" is interpreted as "despised," sometimes as "sufficient with the hand"; again it is interpreted as "alone," and there are times when it is interpreted as "I desired this" and "desired" and "this one is beloved." All these interpretations follow the name David. All these things, then, are allegorized. For when the superscription has "a psalm for David," and the psalm speaks about a people turning back from an evil path, then we understand "of David" as "despised." For it is written: "As the eyes of a maidservant are toward the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes toward the Lord our God, until he takes pity on us. For we have been greatly filled with contempt; our soul has been filled even more. You have despised all who apostatize from your ordinances, because their thought is unjust," and in another place it says, "Those who despise me will be despised.

As I said before, if the name of David is placed upon the psalm and the psalm sings about certain sinners who are returning, this inscription indicates that this psalm was spoken concerning those who were formerly despised because of their sins but afterwards return. If the psalm speaks about certain righteous persons, the name of David can also be interpreted in this way, as I said before. For the people of God are despised by the world, as the prophet says: "I am young and despised; I have not forgotten your testimonies." Similarly, if the psalm sings about the righteous, the name of David can be interpreted as "the one I longed for," that is, my chosen people, according to what is said in the Gospel: "Having loved his own, he loved them to the end." And the name of David can also be interpreted in another way concerning the righteous, I mean as "the one longed for," that is, the people of God who is longed for. Or if we give another interpretation of David (for it is said to be interpreted also as "longed for"), this too is to be taken for the people of the saints, for they are longed for by the Lord.

When the inscription says "a psalm to David," and the psalm is about the Son of God, we know that the name David is interpreted as "sufficient hand"; for it is written concerning him, "The Lord is mighty and powerful." Where the inscription is "of the Korahites," this inscription also indicates different things. For there were psalmists from among the sons of Korah, as we find in Chronicles. For it is written: "And the Levites from the sons of Kohath and from the sons of Korah arose to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a loud voice to the heights." So the psalmists were praising the Lord in the words of David, according to what is said in Chronicles: "The Levites with instruments of the Lord's songs, which David the king made to confess before the Lord, that his mercy is everlasting, in hymns of David by their hand." So the Korahites were the psalmists together with the Levites. Therefore, where the inscription is "of the sons of Korah," the psalm indicates either that the psalm is spoken concerning those pure in heart, or concerning the helpless, or concerning the contentious. For the name Korah is interpreted as "bald," and the bald one is pure according to the law, as it is written in Leviticus: "If someone's head becomes bald, he is bald, he is pure." Again, in the Prophets we find God in some places angry with Israel and saying, "And there shall be baldness on every head," as if to say, shame and reproach to every ruler of the people, when I take away my help from them. And it is clear that Korah himself became a cause of contention. Therefore, it is not concerning the sons of Korah that the psalms are.

As I said, the psalm speaks either about those pure in heart, or about those outside the protection of God, or about those who contradict the Gospel of God, concerning whom the apostle says, "Woe to them, because they perished by the contradiction of Kore," and in another place, "They contradicted the things said by Paul," and the proverbialist said, "Every wicked person stirs up contradictions." And concerning the inscription of the sons of Kore, we have thus made it clear to you. After the sons of Kore, they said that some psalms also belong to Asaph; but this name of theirs is shown to be weak. For the inscriptions of the psalms, where the name of Asaph occurs, do not have "a psalm of Asaph," so that one might say that the psalm was composed by him, but each inscription of his contains "a psalm to Asaph." This name, interpreted from Hebrew into Greek, as also the rest, indicates for what reason it is thus placed upon the psalm; for Asaph is interpreted as "gathering and collecting" or "assembly." Therefore, where it is inscribed "to the psalm," the psalm speaks either about God, who gathers all both in the present age and in the future, some to salvation, others to judgment, or about those who turn back and are gathered together from nations and Jews into the single assembly.

After Asaph, they said that there is also a psalm of Aetham the Israelite. Was Aetham alone an Israelite, then, or also David and the sons of Kore and Asaph and Solomon and Moses, whom the Hebrew text includes, as they say, because they composed the psalms? It is clear that they too are Israelites. Then, was only one Aetham born an Israelite among all the tribes? I do not think so. For if you take the genealogy of the twelve tribes in the Chronicles, you will find many called by this name, and all are clearly Israelites. What, then, is this inscription of the psalm? Let us come again to the interpretation of the name. Thus, then, the inscription reads: "Of Understanding, of Aetham the Israelite," that is, the psalm is either about the understanding of the saints who are lofty in mind, who are seed of God, where this title is placed, or about the Most High who sowed his own grace among the saints. For Aetham is interpreted as "lofty," and Israelite is interpreted as "sowing of God." These things, then, must be taken either as referring to the Son of God—and for this reason we know the psalm is spoken about him—or as referring to his saints, who are lofty in mind and have been sown with his divine grace.

After this one they have also said that there are two psalms of Solomon, which we find in none of his books as being transmitted, as I said before, neither in Kings nor in Chronicles, nor placed together, but in one place of the book of Psalms and in another, and both clearly speaking about the Son of God. For Solomon is interpreted as "most peaceful," which is our Lord Jesus, who is peace by nature; whence also he has bestowed this upon us by his own grace. Therefore, where the name of Solomon is placed over the psalm, it indisputably teaches us to say that the psalm speaks about the Son of God. They have also said that the 89th is of Moses, as they thought, having attended to the letter of the inscription and not to the power, or rather not even accurately to the inscription itself. For it does not have "Prayer of Moses, man of God," but "Prayer to Moses, man of God"; that is, this inscription is fitting for every man of God who hastens to the baptism of God. For Moses is interpreted as "removal of water," which is the baptism of God for each of those being baptized; for it is borne up from the divine streams of the saving water.

They have also said that some of the psalms are without inscription because they are so inscribed, and that for this reason these too are not of David. But the apostle Peter and all those with him ought to be more authoritative for us, saying in the Acts: "You are the God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all things in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, by the Holy Spirit said: 'Why did nations swell up and peoples devise vain things? The kings of the earth stood by and the rulers assembled together against the Lord and against his Christ.'" And for this reason they indicated that David spoke this psalm, one of the uninscribed ones. In the same manner, it is clear that he also spoke the one before it, I mean the first psalm; for this too seems to be among the uninscribed ones. For if David himself first established psalm-singers (as you will find in Chronicles, where it is written: "And David stationed before the ark of the covenant of the Lord the Levites serving and chanting to confess and praise the Lord God of Israel: Asaph the leader and his second Zacharias and Jeiel and Semiramoth and Jahael and Mattathias and Eliab and Banaiah and Ebdedidon, and Ozias with instruments and with nablas and with kinnoras, and Asaph chanting with cymbals, and Banaiah and Jezel the priests with trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God on that day").

Then David placed at the beginning of praising the Lord in the hand of Asaph and his brothers. Therefore, if he is the one who assigned each of the psalmists, it is clear that no one else began the first psalm except David, who is the leader of all these. So if the beginning of the uninscribed psalms and of the book of Psalms is shown to have been spoken by David—I mean the first and second psalms, which are said by them to be the first of the uninscribed—then necessarily the rest of the uninscribed psalms were also spoken by David, just as the ninety-fourth psalm, though written without inscription, is of David. There you will find the apostle saying to the Hebrews, "Someone appointing a day and speaking in David after such a time as was previously said, 'Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the provocation.'" And he clearly indicated that this uninscribed psalm also belongs to David and to no one else. Therefore, the rest of the uninscribed psalms also belong to him.

Similarly, you will find concerning the anonymous psalms that they are by David himself. For one of the so-called anonymous psalms, I mean the 131st, when Stephen, the first martyr of God, took it to heart, he spoke thus to the rulers and the people of the Jews, saying concerning David that he found grace before the God of Jacob. Thus David himself is shown saying in the psalm, "If I give sleep to my eyes and drowsiness to my eyelids and rest to my temples, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the God of Jacob." Therefore, even if the beginning of the psalm seems to be spoken from the perspective of another, nevertheless the faithful witness Stephen instructs us that this psalm is David's, confessing with his own voice and teaching us to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. Concerning those psalms that have the inscription "alleluia," I will say how they were spoken by David. For it is written in the Chronicles that David said concerning them, when he brought up the ark of God together with the priests and the people, "alleluia.

Concerning the anonymous and untitled psalms, the inscriptions make this clear: that where a psalm is untitled, it is not in the name of a single nation, or the work it narrates did not occur among the Hebrews because of their insolence of unbelief. As for the anonymous ones, those having no name in the inscription, this is clear: that the psalm is spoken concerning the Lord and is sung universally against all together. This, then, is the manner of those that are inscribed as untitled or uninscribed among the Hebrews, or concerning the so-called anonymous ones. And concerning those that have an alleluia, this is indicated to you through the alleluia: that that psalm was spoken as a hymn and thanksgiving for certain gifts granted to us by God. The word alleluia itself is interpreted as praise and hymn to God. Behold, we have made the entire exposition concerning the divisions, having stated their clarity in the prologue. For the children of the Hebrews thought that not all were by David, but it has been demonstrated in various ways that all are by David; whence he himself appointed those around Asaph to sing all, having divided them and the utterances made by them in the book of Psalms. Therefore, those around Asaph are called prophets according to what is said about them in Chronicles: "And Asaph and Heman and Heman and Jeduthun, the prophets of the king." Nevertheless, it is not from these that they should be considered the inventors of these psalms, but rather psalm-singers and teachers appointed by the Lord through David the king.

For thus you will find that the psalmists even now have a pattern concerning Asaph and the sons of Korah and the Levites, because the things uttered about David in the assembly of the Lord, these they sing for the obedience of the people. And those around Asaph can be shown to be prophets and leaders and teachers appointed by David among the peoples to praise the Lord and to confess to him. And these things have been said by us in this way; concerning the remaining things that are found, should it happen, such as a diapsalma or an obelus or a lemniscus or something else, I will speak of the memory of each psalm, guided by the grace of the Lord and instructed by his power, and again also concerning these same things mentioned earlier, I will expound the discourse more fully in what follows, by the grace of the Lord. Psalm One. Blessed is the man. For it is necessary first to set right piety, and then to regulate the conduct of life. But there it commanded not to go, here it commanded not even to stand. So that we may guard against partaking of impiety even as much as in passing, or touching it; but of sin (even if some passage should occur to us who are set in motion) we nevertheless incline to stand in it, that is, to persist or to remain. And it calls plagues the ambiguous men, those who set right righteousness in appearance but pursue wickedness in deeds. For these men corrupt human life. For a seat of plagues is that of judges who betray justice; a seat of plagues is the throne of false teachers; a seat of plagues is the garment of hypocrites; a seat of plagues is the hypocrisy of priests.

In this [psalm] he commands not to sit down. And it will be like the chaff. But the Jews were cast off when a wind blew against the strong proclamation of the apostles, and just as chaff they were dissolved into nothing. For having neither city, nor worship, nor any other thing from the beginning, they were scattered over the whole earth, like chaff, their face dishonored. Psalm 6. Have mercy on me, Lord. He teaches in what manner one ought to pray, how one ought to humble oneself, and to invoke the mercy of God. Heal me, Lord, for my bones have been shaken. He says that his bones have been shaken, and furthermore his soul. And the bones might perhaps be understood, according to spiritual contemplation, as the rational powers of the soul, which also sustain it in intellectual vigor. For example: self-control, prudence, courage according to God, temperance, and justice, and simply every form of virtue, which, when not present in us in an orderly manner (that is, in due order) because they do not have their own strength, the soul is necessarily disturbed, with the passions being disordered within it.

Stand away from me, all of you. You see how, when we stand away from the workers of lawlessness (whether men or thoughts), then God readily accepts our supplications and prayer. PSALM 7. Arise, Lord, in your wrath. He calls for Christ to be raised up on the cross, for the sake of the consummation and annihilation of the demons. For when I am raised up, I will draw all to myself. And these things became the end and dissolution of the dominion of the intellectual enemies. PSALM 8. Lord, our Lord. The Church says, "Lord, our Lord." For after the recognition of Christ, having stood away from the slavery of idols, it began to call its Lord the one who is truly God and Lord. For the whole earth has always been truly filled with the wonders of God's creation, but even more so, from the time when his name, that is, the name of Christ, was marveled at among all, both Greeks and barbarians, through the faith in him. You have placed everything beneath his feet. He calls the birds of the heaven those who are occupied with theology, those who investigate the high and lofty doctrines; and the fish of the sea, those who swim in the affairs of this life, as if in waves. And salvation is laid up for these as well, when they travel paths no longer of the sea, but of seas, journeying through baptism and repentance.

For he had both the sensible things subject to him by the law of creation—cattle, oxen, and sheep. But we find that sheep, again, are intelligible, subject to Christ, being men who live in innocence; oxen, the workers of the commandments, concerning whom Moses the lawgiver said, "You shall not muzzle an ox treading out grain." Hence the Psalmist set forth not simply oxen, but all. For God is found by all who work virtue, even the chance kind. And he calls cattle the sinners, since they have their eyes turned downward to the earth. But even these, when they repent and are subjected, will be saved, when they receive Christ as rider through the evangelical polity. For, he says, "You will save men and cattle, Lord." PSALM 9. I will confess to you with my whole heart. But how do we confess with our whole heart? When we no longer return to that sin for which we seek forgiveness from God. Nations were fixed in the corruption which they made. Here he calls the throng of demons "nations." For these, having constructed the saving cross, fell from their tyranny through it, and in the snare which they hid, their foot was caught, and the sinner was caught in the works of his own hands.

Let the sinners be turned away. Many kinds of sinners are recognized, just as indeed also of the righteous. Here, however, he calls sinners the unbelievers, whom he also said suffer forgetfulness of God. Just as, then, those who believe in God live, even if they die—"For he who believes in me," says Christ, "even if he dies, shall live"—so those who disbelieve, even before dying, because of the sentence that lies upon them, are dead. Arise, Lord. He asks which sin of the impious—namely, of the devil, or also of the exceedingly impious man—God especially turns away from; then, having introduced the question himself, he resolved it. For he said in his heart, "He will not seek out." He slanders God, he says, as though he were allowing our affairs to be without providence and unfathomable; which is found to be an incitement to destruction for those who are deceived. Therefore he accordingly added: The poor man has been left to you. PSALM 12. How long, Lord, will you forget me? For forgetfulness of God is grievous, indeed, and temporary; but it brings about a complete and deathless death.

How long will the enemy be exalted? For the height of Satan is the humiliation of men. Just as God is exalted in our salvation, so the devil is said to be raised up in destruction. PSALM 14. Speaking truth in his heart. He wishes us first to be truthful in our heart, and then in our speech. For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. And in saying, "He did no evil to his neighbor," here he forbids not only murder but also every other sin. And he received no reproach. We shall understand those nearest, like ourselves, as sinners and weak, so that we sinners may not reproach others for sin, but rather admonish one another and teach. He glorifies those who fear the Lord. Even if they are weak, even if they are poor, even if they are barbarians, even if they are foreigners. For he who despises the wicked and glorifies those who fear the Lord turns many away from wickedness and urges them toward piety. PSALM 15.

You are my Lord. You see the Church’s gratitude. For she confessed both her own poverty and the bridegroom’s wealth at the same time. I said, she says, to the Lord, that is, to Christ, You are my Lord. You are not, she says, a mere man, but Lord, because you took a slave woman into the communion of marriage, even the outcast one. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup. Inheritance, she says, that is, of this mystery. For the Church possesses no inheritance in this age, except only God. He prepares for her the future lot; therefore the following verse is fittingly added: You are the one who restores the inheritance. I will bless the Lord. The Church blesses God, as having received from him the understanding of the mysteries and having turned aside from the error of the Jews. I kept the Lord before me continually. Do you see the equal honor of Son and Father? For sometimes the Son is said to stand at the right hand or to sit; now he assigns the right-hand place to the Father, so that you may learn that the power of the begotten and of the begetter is one, even if he now speaks humbly because of the flesh.

Psalm 16. Make your mercies wondrous, O you who save those who hope in you. What steps does the Prophet pray to be set in order on the paths of God, and what steps does he pray not to be shaken? We possess first steps, the movements of the soul, and he prays that these be set in order, that is, confirmed, on the paths of God, clearly meaning in the divine commandments. For when these are set in order, our other steps, that is, our actions, are not shaken; for sin cannot dislodge them. My enemies surround my soul. For the demons encircle our soul, and, like wild beasts, each one takes hold, wishing to ensnare it. The fat of the demons, and their rich nourishment, are those who sin, whom they confine while they enjoy pleasures, so that they may no longer escape. And what pride? The apostasy from God, the disbelief in the future, the rejection of judgment. For those who have set themselves to sin urge on the deceived.

Arise, Lord. He calls the justice of God a sword, cutting down all the battle lines of the demons like a blade. They were filled with sons. Here the Psalmist does not, as some suppose, denounce the food of the sons (for what enters the mouth does not defile a man), but rather denounces them as exceedingly ungrateful, because, receiving children from God in great number, they handed down to them not virtue, but the remnants of their own wickedness as an inheritance. PSALM 17. And he bowed the heavens, and came down. He bowed the heavens in order to unite the earth with the heaven, and to grant communion between those below and those above. This would not have happened, unless, having come down in this manner, he sojourned on the earth in a way that it could receive him, that is, in the flesh, which he called a cloud under his feet. PSALM 32. He loves mercy and judgment. He calls mercy philanthropy, which he placed before judgment for this reason, because God first employs philanthropy, and thereafter employs judgment against those who persist in sin.

Gathering like a wineskin the waters. He calls the abysses the multitudes of waters, which the Creator placed in hidden places under the earth, so that even in this his wisdom is to be admired. Thus he laid the dry upon the moist, and allowed the heavy to be supported by the lighter. A king is not saved by great might. So we care for the strength of the body in vain, and we vainly surround ourselves with power from relatives, friends, and wealth; for nothing else can save without the cooperation of that which is from above. Take Goliath and Pharaoh as examples. The one, being a giant and strong, was conquered by David, a simple boy; the other, who pursued Israel with a multitude of chariots, had the sea as his tomb. PSALM 33. Come, children, listen to me. He says "come" to those near and those far away, so that those far off may draw near, and those near may become nearer, bringing obedience to God as to a father, and learning divine fear, which provides deliverance from fear of demons, whence he adds: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Psalm 34. A psalm for David. The inscription of the psalm is clear; yet it is referred to the intelligible David, who also assumes the words of a prayer, which is to be reckoned not to this dignity of divinity, but to the humility of humanity. For if he humbled himself by taking the form of a servant, it is fitting that at the time of the passion he prays, at the same time teaching us to pray in afflictions. Judge, O Lord. He calls the unjust Jews, and the warring demons; those who through us warred against Christ. He wishes these to be warred against, that is, to be abolished. Let a snare come upon him which he does not know. This is said against Judas the traitor, but also against the people of the Jews, and further even against the devil himself. For Judas fell into the snare of the noose; the people of the Jews, thinking to ensnare, are themselves ensnared, and were caught in their own trap. Likewise the devil, having devised the snare of the cross, through the cross fell from his own kingdom.

They repaid me with evil. For he reckoned to himself the barrenness of the Jews, as a householder and a farmer. As a neighbor, and as a brother. He speaks of the sympathy toward Judas, how he permitted him both to carry the purse and even only to dip into the dish, as a brother and a neighbor. A brother who is well-pleasing, that is, pleasing to him, and behaving well in all things. They tempted me, they mocked me with mockery. Perhaps they even gnashed their teeth from savagery, all but wanting to devour Jesus. Yet the gnashing of teeth is also spoken of as the malice in words. Therefore he wished the Father to be a witness against those blaspheming him. Hence he adds: Lord, when will you look upon it? Psalm 35. The lawless one says of sinning. The psalm does not simply posit a lawless man, but the hypocrite and deceitful one, the one having much filth of lawlessness in his soul, and because of this saying to himself that he is laying aside sinning. And why does it say, in himself? Because he ponders these things which he either fears or is ashamed to say openly.

They will be intoxicated with the richness of the house. The house of God is his body; the richness is the blood and water poured from his side, from which all we faithful have been intoxicated with a saving intoxication. For the sufferings of Christ are a winter torrent of delight. A winter torrent, because it occurred at the height of the winter of our sin, when every virtue, and especially love for God, having grown cold, had become deadened. So that the prophet Zechariah says concerning the day of the cross: On that day there will be no light; there will be cold and frost; it is a great day. And it was fittingly called a torrent of delight. For Christ greatly delighted in his sufferings on our behalf, both mocking the devil and rejoicing over the salvation of men. He mystically gives us this winter torrent of delight to drink. For the passion of the Master has become a martyrdom for the servants. PSALM 36. I was younger. He well reminds us of the judgment, so that, having observed the confusion here, we may not neglect virtue, seeing those who are virtuous enduring dishonor among men and hardships. For God will not abandon them, that is, he will not overlook them; but he preserves them for the future age, where the giving of good things is unending.

A Psalm of David for a memorial concerning the Sabbath. What Sabbath? Not an ordinary one. Hence the psalm does not speak about the sacrifices of the legal Sabbath, but about the sufferings of Christ. So this prophecy contains a memorial of that Sabbath concerning which John the Theologian said: "Then the Jews, since it was the Preparation, so that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath—for that Sabbath day was a great day—asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down." Lord, do not convict me in your wrath, nor discipline me in your anger. It has often been said to us that Christ, just as in the sufferings, so also in the prophecy, takes upon himself the person of humanity, from which he now speaks these things: wishing that nature be convicted, but not in anger, and that it be disciplined, but not in wrath. What kind of conviction, then? That which is for salvation. Likewise, he also wishes discipline in peace, which could not happen otherwise unless Christ took upon himself the conviction that is upon us and the discipline, himself both convicting and being convicted: as God, convicting; as man, being convicted on our behalf. Therefore, having then brought together the person of both the one convicting and the one being convicted, he uttered such things through the prophecy of Isaiah: "If your sins are like crimson, I will whiten them like snow; if they are like scarlet, I will whiten them like wool." And likewise concerning the discipline, about which the same prophet speaks: "The discipline of our peace is upon him; by his wound we were all healed.

Because your arrows have been fixed in me, and you have set your hand upon me. Not in vain, then, does Christ pray these things to his father on behalf of the human race, but because he says the arrows against them—that is, as many blows as came upon the common nature because of Adam—were fixed in me. For since I have taken upon myself the sins of the race, I necessarily also undergo the punishments for them. Therefore you have also set your hand upon me, your corrective hand, concerning which Job said: "The hand of the Lord is what has touched me." There is no healing in my flesh from the face of your wrath. He shows that he justly declines the wrath, not as unjust, but as having no healing. For what remedy for the wrath of God will be found? But observe the precision of the words. For he did not say, "There is no healing for me," but "There is no healing in my flesh"—evidently these things are said from the perspective of humanity, and the sufferings on our behalf are spoken. Lest we ever consider the wrath of the just judge unjust, he makes clear from where it was brought in the following and establishes it.

There is no peace in my bones from the face of my sins. Again he calls his own humanity “bones”; and he himself makes this clear when he said to the disciples after the resurrection, when he wished to confirm the economy of the flesh: “Touch me and see that a spirit has no flesh and bones as you see me having.” From the face, then, of my sins, which he bore on our behalf, he had no peace but disturbance in his bones, that is, in his humanity; for the divinity was kept free from every disturbance. And you will learn this also from the Only-begotten himself saying, “Now is my soul disturbed?” For through the soul he indicated the humanity. Jesus adds the reason for the disturbance in him: “And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but I came for this hour,” that is, I am anxious in the flesh in vain, since as God I am superior to death, and I came with flesh for this and bore the sins of the race in order to redeem them all by my own death.

Because my lawless deeds have overtopped my head. As a heavy burden they have weighed heavily upon me. Here he clearly indicated that he does not possess the sins as his own; rather, he took upon himself those of others, and for this reason a multitude is heaped upon the head of the Lord's flesh. For it is customary to carry heavier burdens in this way, which is why his head was also crowned with thorns. My wounds have become foul and have festered from the face of my folly. And what wounds of Christ have become foul? For his flesh did not see corruption. And what folly did Wisdom itself have? But he calls Judas his own folly; as a teacher appropriates the fault of a disciple, the wounds of wickedness have become foul in expectation. For what was more foul-smelling than that sin in which the creature handed over the creator to death? And they festered when he hanged himself; for then he was utterly despaired of, just as festering wounds are despaired of by physicians. I have been afflicted and bowed down to the end.

He suffered not only on the cross but also before the cross, enduring much like a farmer in order to cleanse our field. And he was bent down to the very end, when he endured death for us; for he who is higher than all creation was bent down to the very earth, wishing to raise up the fallen one from there. All day long I went about with a gloomy face. And for what reason the joy of the world was gloomy, the following verses teach. Because my loins were filled with mockeries, and there is no healing in my flesh. He calls the sufferings at the cross mockeries, since the children of the Jews, mocking, inflicted these things; he says he was filled with them, having intended to heal the sins of men. But for the Jews there is no healing in my flesh, that is, in the sufferings of my flesh; for they stumble at the cross, on which alone salvation is present for sinners. Therefore he was naturally gloomy. I was ill-treated and humbled exceedingly. I was ill-treated by being falsely accused, I was humbled by answering nothing to my accusers. And I was humbled so exceedingly, when the high priest adjured me: If you are the Christ, I did not say yes, but you say it, not wishing to glorify myself even in this, even if they, compelled by the truth, took the ambiguous answer as confirmation.

I was roaring from the groaning of my heart. He says "I was roaring" to show the magnitude of the groaning, and that just as a lion seeking prey, when it does not yet find it, roars, so also he groaned when the prey of the salvation of the Jews did not approach. And the following words confirm this statement. Lord, before you is all my desire. And what is the desire of Christ? To complete the Passover for us; for this reason he said to the apostles: "I have earnestly desired to eat the Passover with you before I suffer." Not simply the Passover, but that in which, the type having passed, the truth was accomplished. And why "with you"? Because the Jews do not wish to share in the mystery, at which he naturally groaned. And the Father, as foreknowing, was aware of this groaning of his; whence Paul, imitating him to the best of his ability, said: "Grief is great and incessant pain in my heart; for I myself prayed to be an anathema from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen by blood, who are Israelites.

My heart was troubled, my strength abandoned me, and the light of my eyes is no longer with me. How then was his heart troubled? It is said because the Jews were not being saved. He calls Peter "strength" because of the confession of faith: "For you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades, it is said, will not prevail against it." This man abandoned him, having denied him. And "light" refers to all the apostles, to whom he said: "You are the light of the world." These were the light of the eyes of the two testaments, the Law and the Gospel; for they illuminate for us the Old and the New in the light of Jesus, who at the time of the cross were not with Christ; for, fearing the Jews, they fled. My friends and my neighbors drew near opposite me and stood, and those nearest to me stood far off. He calls the rest, perhaps the Jews, "friends" and "neighbors"—friends not as loving Jesus, but as loved by him. For as a creator loves his own creation, and as a shepherd loves the lost sheep of Israel. He calls them "neighbors" because of the kinship of the flesh. Closer than these, indeed nearest, were the apostles because of their faith in him. Therefore, the Jews, whom he called friends and neighbors, with great shamelessness, standing not far off but close by, plotted against Jesus.

Those who were nearest, that is, the closest ones—and we have said that these are the saints—stood at a distance at the time of the passion, not plotting themselves but being wary of those who were plotting. And those who sought my life pressed hard. What did they press for? The opinion concerning him. For plotting out of envy, they wished to appear zealous for the law. The following verse makes this clearer. And those who sought my evils spoke vanities. What these vanities are, Luke tells: they began to accuse him, saying, "We found this man perverting our nation and preventing the payment of tribute to Caesar," even when Jesus, upon being questioned by the Herodians and Pharisees, said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." But I, like a deaf man, did not hear, and like a mute, I did not open my mouth. What happens to mutes, who are naturally impaired in their senses, he himself suffered by choice: when reviled, he was not moved to anger. For it is characteristic of the deaf not to become angry when reviled, since they do not hear the insults against them. Moreover, when slandered, though able to refute the slanderers, he did not open his mouth—this being characteristic of mutes, who are prevented by nature from speaking. That he was neither deaf nor mute but emulated these in his humility, Isaiah makes clear: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearer, speechless, so he does not open his mouth in his humility." With this the psalmist, speaking in the person of the Savior, now agrees.

And I became like a man not hearing and having no reproaches in his mouth. Therefore he did hear, but pretended not to hear, and he had many words for reproach and confirmation, but he feigned being at a loss and having none. The reason for this is shown by what follows. Because I hoped in you, Lord. For trusting in the Father as a true and impartial witness concerning whom he himself said, "There is one who bears witness about me, the Father who sent me, whom you do not know," he paid no heed to those bearing false witness. You will hear, Lord my God, because I said, "May my enemies never rejoice." What does he say? That the Father should hear the prayer which he made so that the enemy might not rejoice, that is, the opposing powers. He prayed for the apostles: "Holy Father, keep them in your name, whom you gave me, that they may be one as we are." And again: "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one." For if this prayer had not been fulfilled, the chorus of apostles would not have been preserved, and the devil, the true enemy, and those with him would have rejoiced.

And when my feet were shaken, they spoke boastfully against me. The feet of Christ are the disciples, for he is their head; therefore he did not deem it unworthy even to wash their feet. So when, because of the cross, the disciples were shaken for a short time, the Jews spoke boastfully against Christ, as though he were stripped of everything and unable to keep even the disciples with him. That I am ready for scourges. For this reason he endured coming into the world in the flesh, as he himself said while praying: What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but I came for this hour. And my pain is before me continually. That is, clearly, his compassion toward us, on account of which he has the constant remembrance of his own passion; for from what he has suffered, as Paul says, having himself been tried, he is able to help those who are tried. That I will proclaim my lawlessness. And indeed he had no lawlessness, yet he proclaims it as though our things were his own, and for this reason he said while praying: I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. For even if confession is here understood as thanksgiving, still he has made the thanksgiving for the redemption of our sins, when he reproached the Jews who blasphemed him as a friend of sinners and a tax collector.

And I will be anxious about my sin. He calls the sin of our race his own, as one who has become the firstfruits of the human lump, wishing to refashion the old Adam in himself as a new Adam, on whose account he is anxious about the manner in which the sin might be cleansed. For it was characteristic of one who was anxious, the words he uttered in the Gospels: I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what would I have wished if it had already been kindled, he says. For that fire consumed our thorns. And my enemies live and have grown stronger than I, and those who hate me unjustly have multiplied. He speaks of the Jews, over whom he grieved because they live in wickedness, but also that they were stronger than he, evidently in pride. For he humbled himself for our sake, as Paul says, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, and death by the cross. They, being ignorant of the reason for his humiliation, employed pride against him, whence also those who hated him unjustly increased in number, seeing the arrogance of the high priests spreading. And who were those who hated him unjustly?

Those who repay me with evils instead of goods. That is, the relatives or fellow citizens or neighbors of the blind who regained sight and the lame who were straightened brought slanders against him instead of gratitude. And for what reason they did this, the following makes known. They slandered me because I pursued goodness. My philanthropy and goodness, he says, they took as a cause for slander, and they called me lawless and godless, because on the Sabbath he healed their sick. Do not abandon me, Lord my God, do not depart from me. These things he uttered not on his own behalf but on behalf of the Church. Yet rather on his own behalf; for the Church is one with him as a bride is known with her bridegroom, and this we will learn from what follows. Attend to my help, Lord of my salvation. He calls the Church his help, wishing to save the image of Adam and in this respect. For to him the woman was given as a help. For let us make, God says, a helper for him like himself. Therefore Paul interpreted the words concerning Adam and Eve with reference to Christ: instead of this, a man will leave his father and his mother and will cleave to his wife, and the two will be one flesh. Then what did he add to these? This mystery is great, but I say it is with reference to Christ and the Church.

He therefore wishes to incline and look toward this father, not because he is weak in the church for defense, but because he desires to show the father how great the middle is between the synagogue and the church of the nations, and how, although many proclaimed him and Christ himself was added, they were not saved, while the nations, having heard only the voice of the Savior, were immediately saved. Therefore he accordingly added: Lord of my salvation, again calling the salvation of the nations his own salvation. For if he has made our sins his own, how much more does he consider our salvation his own? Psalm 38. I said: I will guard my ways. This is fitting for every prophet and teacher: to guard his own ways, that is, the paths and courses of his actions, so as not to deviate into evil, nor to sin in speech by doing the opposite of his own words. For he truly sins with his tongue who in word accuses evil, but in deed establishes it, by the very things he practices, and falsifies his own teaching by his conduct.

I was deafened, and I was humbled. You see that first through disobedience he was deafened, and having been deafened, he was humbled. For nothing humbles a person so much as insensibility, and disobedience after that. Or also for this reason he fell silent, having ceased from good things, namely the study of the law, the good teacher. Hence the pain of sin was naturally renewed; for the wound that befalls us from sin is heavier when we separate ourselves from the study of the law. It also happens that, as if no remedy from the divine commandment is applied, the festering persists. Therefore he did not persist in silence, but having recovered from it, he cast it off as soul-destroying. Indicating this, he therefore added: My heart grew warm. Psalm 39. I proclaimed righteousness. He speaks of a great Church, not only one that has a populous assembly, but much more one capable of receiving the lofty and magnificent doctrines of theology. And the lips of the Church, and the eyes, would be taken figuratively as the most renowned apostles, and all the teachers after them, whom the rest of the body of the Church not only does not hinder Christ from proclaiming righteousness itself, but rather urges him on, providing them with proportionate cooperation.

Psalm 40. To the end. Although the Prophet often inscribed the psalms "to the end," one must nevertheless consider that he does not place this title on each psalm in vain. What, then, is the reason now? Because he speaks of matters near the end of the economy of Christ, whom not only this prophet David, but also another called, namely Hosea, said: "After these things," he said, "the sons of Israel will return and seek their Lord God and David their king"—even though David had died many generations before this prophet; for he set forth his prophecy in the days of King Hezekiah. But he speaks of the new David, to whom those who were saved returned. The Lord help him. The truth of the prophetic promise has been found often up to the present. For many who were ill and grievously suffering, then having emptied their wealth upon the poor and needy, were immediately changed for the better. For if even concerning the future day mercy boasts over judgment, what wonder is it if here also abundant mercy overturns the expected death and changes it to restoration? But there is also a sickness of the soul, taken according to the inner man, in which it has slack hands, that is, the practical powers. The knees are found to be paralyzed, and because of this unable to travel the road that leads to life. At that time, when the soul is, as it were, held by a grievous disease of indolence and therefore hastens toward the death of sin, almsgiving to the poor heals and changes it. Therefore he immediately added: "I said"—

Lord, have mercy on me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you. You, Lord, have mercy on me. He does not say this because he suffered death at their hands, desiring to repay them with punishment (for he himself said at the time of the cross, "Father, forgive them their sin"); but because he saw the impartial and just judgment of the Father being passed against the murderers, for this reason, as one who works together with God the Father, he said: "And I will repay them," in order to show a single energy in both. For the Son cannot do anything on his own, he says; what he sees the Father doing, the Son likewise does, thus confirming the identity of will and identity of action in both. Psalm 41. To the end, for understanding, for the sons of Korah. These are also psalm-singers, borrowing psalms from David, which he himself prophesied. The psalm is inscribed "for understanding" perhaps because their ancestor Korah had become lawless, the one who rose up against Moses with Dathan and Abiram. But these certainly did not emulate their ancestor, nor did their fathers; hence, while the entire assembly of Korah perished, those who, as is likely, separated themselves from the wickedness of Korah were saved. For at that time, Moses also gave orders to the other people so that they would not perish. But the truer reason the psalm is inscribed "to the end for understanding" is that it prefigures baptism, which was legislated at the end and after the Jewish purifications. To advance to this is truly wisdom and understanding.

Psalm 44. Gird on the sword. He calls the cross a sword; for using it as a sword, he destroyed two enemies, the devil and death. And by "thigh" he means the flesh, speaking of the whole from a part, as in, "not even coming from his thighs." Therefore, he exhorts the one who is truly powerful in beauty and comeliness—that is, in divinity and humanity—to gird the cross in the flesh, so that by the one he may endure the sufferings concerning us, and by the other he may overcome the passions as one who is impassible. Or we might understand beauty and comeliness as philanthropy. For nothing is so becoming to God as saving his own creation. And string the bow against the enemies, and prosper among the faithful, and reign over both, so that you may subdue the enemies on the one hand, and crown the faithful on the other. For this is proper to a judge and a king. But also for the sake of truth, Christ exposed the hypocrisy of the Jews, and for the sake of gentleness, he endured while being tempted. But also the Father is the right hand of the Son, just as the Son is of the Father. Therefore, Christ is led by the Father, not because he needs a guide, but because the economy concerning us is a common path of the Father and the Son, which the Son travels (for he is the one who works the mystery), while the Father guides, because it was done by his consent.

Psalm 49. Fire shall be kindled before him. But what is more violent than that storm or that tempest, when we are scourged by our own conscience, and accused by our thoughts, or even buffeted like waves by those that defend us? He will summon the heaven. He calls "heaven" those who think on heavenly things, concerning whom Paul said: "Just as we wore the image of the earthly, let us also wear the image of the heavenly." He calls "earth" those who think on earthly things, those who serve clay and brick. He promises, then, to bring these together, so that he may separate his own people and render to each according to his works. Gather to him his holy ones. Here he speaks concerning the people of the Jews; for he calls them "holy ones" on account of the fathers, who define the covenant of God by legal sacrifices, not knowing that God is pleased by one sacrifice, the rational one, not by the many irrational ones. Therefore he also commanded them to come together, so that they might be taught this.

I will not reprove you for your sacrifices. The children of the Jews perhaps disbelieved these things when they heard them, and were at a loss as to whether it could happen at all; but now the word has been seen as deed. For their sacrifices are no longer effective, the temple having been dissolved, the altar having fallen, and the entire polity upon it having been destroyed—and indeed the city as well, where alone the sacrifices according to the law were to be performed. "I have no need," he says, "of irrational sacrifices," for what prevents the offering of wild beasts and cattle? Perhaps, however, he calls the nations wild beasts and cattle. He calls "oxen" those from the people of the Jews who have believed; having acquired their offering, he no longer accepts those from the people of the Jews as superfluous. For concerning them the following words are also spoken. "Birds of the sky" understand as those who practice virginity or continence, since they fly high, around the sky, philosophizing like the angels. He calls the Church itself the "beauty of the field," that is, of the world; for it became comely by the grace of baptism. Hence he did not say, "it is with me," but "it is with me," as a bride with a bridegroom; for the Church is considered to be of Christ.

Offer to God a sacrifice of praise. Become, he says, a rival to the angels; imitate the Seraphim in doxology; proclaim, as the heavens do, the glory of God; offer the sacrifice which all creation continually offers in glorifying. Perhaps he also calls the virtues a sacrifice of praise, through which God is praised, that is, spoken well of and glorified; especially because he said to the apostles: Let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Understand affliction as the trial, whether from men or from Satan. If then we call upon God, he will deliver us, just as he once delivered Susanna; and fittingly we glorify him when extraordinary things are arranged for us. Understand these things, you who are forgetful. He describes the day of death, on which each person is summoned and snatched away swiftly. So it is necessary to look to the anointing of sins, while time for repentance is abundantly given to us.

The sacrifice of praise will glorify me. What is this, and what kind of way? It is the communion of the Lord's body and blood, which he himself first inaugurated for us in Zion and thus revealed. Since, then, it is given to those who receive it for the remission of sins, it is fittingly a saving act of God; and fittingly also a way, showing how to journey to heaven for those who pray in the proper manner. PSALM 50. For the end, a psalm for David when the prophet Nathan came to him, at the time he went in to Bathsheba. The book of Kings contains the history more clearly. For David, seeing Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, bathing from the rooftop at that time, then becoming enamored, summoned her and lay with her. When she conceived, being ashamed, he arranged for Uriah to fall in battle, having Joab the general station Uriah as a front-line fighter, and thus he was killed by the foreigners. Angered by these things, God sent the prophet Nathan to him, threatening him for the murder and the adultery. David, turning to repentance, wrote the following psalm, not ashamed to publicize his wound, in order to demonstrate to sinners the remedy of repentance. He wishes the lawlessness to be erased, so that not only the wound be healed, but not even a scar remain, for which reason he also sets forth the multitude of mercies. For a sinner cannot be saved by a single mercy, that is, by forgiveness for one transgression, but we need many mercies for many things, so as to escape the threat and the punishment.

Not simply to wash, but he entreated more earnestly, that the cleansing might be proportionate to the transgression. For just as a garment that is moderately soiled is easily washed and cleansed, while one that is excessively and repeatedly soiled requires a more diligent and laborious washing, so too in the same way a soul that has sinned once and moderately is cleansed by proportionate repentance; but when many and grievous sins have occurred in it, repentance must not be a casual matter, but with much toil and good works. For by this God washes away our transgressions. And he rightly called sin "lawlessness," wishing to show that it was not permitted even to him to transgress the law, even if he happened to be a king. For he offended a king higher than all. That I myself know my lawlessness. Blessed is it when one is aware of one's own sin, and keeps the transgressions always before one's eyes. For he who knows, and remembers, and contemplates with the eyes of his soul the wounds of his own transgressions, is ashamed, is pricked in his soul by the memory, and, compelled by shame, comes to repentance. But he who has suffered forgetfulness is led again into other sins (as if no evil had been done by him).

Only to you have I sinned." Not that it escaped all people, as some suppose; for not even Bathsheba, the woman who was seduced, nor even those who had summoned her, could the drama of the adultery escape. And Joab, having cooperated with the king in the murder, likewise knew of it. But neither did he himself consider the sin permissible because of his royal authority. For this was unworthy of a prophet and a king, as was fitting for a pious one. But "only to you have I sinned," he said, since it concerns only God that we not sin, as the Creator who spares his creation. Perhaps also, "And I have done evil before you," because while all others, as before a king, gratify and conceal the sin by silence, God sent Nathan and exposed the deed as evil, and for what purpose this was done, the following verses show. "For behold, I have been conceived in iniquities." These words are spoken not only on account of the filth derived from Adam; for because of him we are considered to become defiled, so that even before reaching the age of discretion that distinguishes good and evil, we require purification as having been defiled from our fathers. For we will find this also said in Job: "Who," he says, "will boast of being clean from filth? Not even an infant, even if its life is but one day." In addition to this, inspired Scripture is accustomed to call desire the mother of sin. And again, the offspring of each is death, and James bears witness, saying: "Desire, when it conceives, gives birth to sin, and sin, when completed, brings forth death." So when we sin, we are conceived in sins.

Sprinkle me with hyssop. Just as we in the gift of baptism are washed by the water, so we are illumined by the spirit. You will pierce me with exultation. The bones of the soul, that is, its powers, are humbled by sin and crushed; but saved by repentance, they blossom again and return to their former joy. Turn away your face. For if our faults are not overlooked, we cannot be saved. How is this accomplished? When we practice good deeds and virtues, so as to divert the judge's eye to them; for in this way we can also turn him away from the contemplation of our sins. And blot out all my iniquities. Not one, but all; for even one is enough to consign to Gehenna. Therefore let us not neglect any sin that comes our way. For if our garment is found stained with any filth, we cannot enter the king's bridal chamber or tread his court. Paul, sealing this, said: Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor effeminate men, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor plunderers will inherit the Kingdom of God.

Create a pure heart in me. Not that he might change its nature (for it had acquired nothing base), but that he might cleanse the reasoning of the soul and correct it, which has become filthy through pleasures and the machinations of the devil; for in divine Scripture "to create" is often said for "to correct." And renew a right spirit. You see that the prophet does not ask to change nature, but that grace may come, so that he prays for it to help the weary nature, which has grown old through sin. For "right spirit" does not mean this vital spirit in us, but the Spirit of God himself, about whom he sang in another psalm: "Your good Spirit will lead me in a straight land." He wishes this to be renewed in the inmost parts, that is, in the essential and most vital parts of the soul, inasmuch as even before this it dwells in us perfectly, yet not resting upon us because of our weakness, by which we were not capable of receiving the grace entire. Therefore he prays that it be renewed, so that it may be fully completed in us; for a house that is completed is that which is renewed. It is bad for a servant to lose the face of his master; likewise for a son, that of his father, and for a soldier, that of his king; for such a one is found to be an exile; but in the case of God, this brings destruction to the sufferer. For God is not only Father and Master and King to us, but everything you might name that contributes to our life and salvation.

Thus, when he turns his face away from us, we are immediately destroyed, being deprived of the Holy Spirit, in whom lies the whole provision of our goods. And why, instead of saying, "Do not take away the Spirit," did he set down, "Do not take it away again"? Because once we have experienced the activity of the Spirit within us through the disobedience of Adam, and through prophetic grace, or through practical virtue, those who keep God's commandments have received it. He fittingly prayed that it not be taken away again, so that he might not undergo a second removal of it. I will teach your ways to the lawless. He had taught the ways of God even before, but perhaps not to the lawless, nor did he place such emphasis on teaching through prayer before sin; but then, after he had sinned and repented, he did so all the more. For just as one who has himself been ill and experienced the remedy is believed most when speaking about healing, so also those saved through repentance become a door of return and salvation for other sinners, so that Paul cries out with boldness: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. If you disbelieve the proclamation," he says, "which proclaims the salvation of sinners, learn from me, the proclaimer, that though I was a persecutor, I was entrusted to become a servant of the Gospel.

Lord, you will open my lips. You see that David's lips were closed because of sin, but again they are opened by repentance, and he recounts the praise of God. And the beginning of the hymns, containing the conversion of the sinner, commences. It sets forth that humility is a sacrifice pleasing to God, and that the Spirit is the one who declares: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And how do we break our spirit for the sake of humility? When, having done good, we do not become arrogant, but keep a constant remembrance of our own sins. And it calls the incarnation of the Only-Begotten "good will." This is clear from what Paul wrote to the Ephesians; he speaks thus: "Having revealed to us the mystery of his will and his good will which he set forth in himself for the economy of the fullness of the times." In this, then, Zion rejoices, because of the mystery of the divine supper accomplished for her, and many other things that have been done and miracles that have proceeded from her.

Psalm 51. Why do you boast in evil? The introduction is that of one who marvels and is at a loss, as is natural: that some have advanced so far in evil that they boast about things over which they ought to mourn. Yet the history contains Doeg, while the Psalmist alludes to Judas the betrayer, who became exceedingly powerful in evil, so as to betray his benefactor, provider, and teacher, and to be ashamed neither of the constant reproofs nor of the exhortations. All day long, lawlessness. When Judas said to the Pharisees, "What do you wish to give me, and I will deliver him to you?" And they set for him thirty pieces of silver, and from then on he sought an opportunity to betray him. So he remained all day long meditating on the sin of betrayal, until night fell, in which he carried out the deed. Your tongue devised injustice. And this like a razor, that is, cutting without feeling. For what is sharper than that deceit which he contrived with his tongue of betrayal to those who seized Jesus: "Whomever I kiss, he is the one; seize him"?

You loved evil more than goodness. Evil is the devil, who wishes all evil things for everyone. Goodness is Christ, for goodness belongs to God by nature. Therefore Judas, having abandoned Christ who was his own, loved Satan. But he also chose injustice over speaking justice. For it was possible for him to receive true justice and, along with the rest of the apostles, to proclaim the Gospel; but he cast himself into the injustice of betrayal. The same thing happens to everyone who delights in accusation and reviles his brother, speaking injustice—that is, falsehood—more sweetly, and remaining silent about justice, that is, the virtue which the neighbor possesses. For this reason God will cast you down. These words are spoken to every deceitful person, but much more to the traitor. For God cast him down utterly, and removed him from the tent—that is, from the place of discipleship—and plucked out the root, as of a thorny plant, from the land of the living, from the field of the apostles. I hoped in the mercy of God.

These words are fitting for Peter, who comes to remember his own denial. He, like an olive tree laden with fruit, standing perpetually in the house of God—that is, in faith—even if for a short time he endured the scorching heat of denial, nevertheless was not dried up. For with the tear of repentance he watered the root. Therefore he says, "I will confess to you, because you have done." What have you done? Mercy, kindness, compassion. That you made the denier a herald of the mysteries, that you established the shaken one as a pillar, and that you made the wanderer a shepherd of the lambs. "Good" is not for Jews, nor for those sick with idolatry, but is opposite for the holy ones, for those justified by grace and joy. For among them his name is good. For what is more good than the name Jesus? "I endure"—why? Because the one who endures to the end will be saved. PSALM 52. The fool said in his heart. For whose was this to say, but a fool's? Concerning whom Isaiah said: "The fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will think vain things." What are these? That doing some base and improper things, and seeing God's forbearance toward them, they ought to give thanks and glorify him as good and forbearing, but they turn to madness, not thinking that God oversees human affairs, but that things are carried on without judgment and spontaneously.

They were corrupted and became abominable. The spread disease of blasphemy causes others to be corrupted in lawlessness and to be abominable to the Creator, suffering such inactivity of virtue that they accomplish nothing good. But through the fool, it hints at the madness of the idolaters. For, saying in their heart that there is no God, they made idols of wooden and stone gods. And through lawlessness, which was transgression of the law, it hints at the Jews, whom God abominated, corrupted as they were by unbelief. God leaned down from heaven. For God is so desirous of truth that, although he knows all our affairs precisely, he nevertheless leans down, as if from some window of his condescension toward us, wishing to discern human matters accurately. But clearly it speaks of Christ's visitation, who leaned down from heaven when he dwelt among us in the flesh. For just as one who leans over from a high place, remaining above, becomes below in activity, so also Christ, remaining in the bosom of the Father, dwelt on earth through the flesh. For what purpose? To see if there is anyone who understands or seeks God. Therefore, he did not come down so much to examine the deeds of men as to see whether they have any knowledge of God at all, whether they seek God in faith.

Not all will know. All those who wrong the poor and seize the possessions of their neighbor are fittingly said to eat the people of God as a meal of bread; for they have injustice toward them as the food of their own greed. But you would think especially that the teachers of the Jews are meant. For while seeming to defend the law out of ignorance, they worked lawlessness by insulting the lawgiver; these ate the people of God as a meal of bread, showing favoritism for the sake of fullness and gluttony, and transgressing the law in their teaching. He speaks concerning the Jews; for they did not call upon the true God, Christ, and they feared a superfluous fear where there was no fear, when they said to one another: "If we let this man go, the Romans will come and take away our place and our nation." Yet this would not have happened if they had kept faith in him. Likewise also all people who are negligent in calling upon God do not fear the fear that ought to be feared, through their disbelief in God. But they vainly fear the threats of men and the powers of enemies, not knowing that these things harm us nothing when we have the goodwill of God. He speaks about these things as a pleaser of men; for they always wish to please men rather than God, whose bones—that is, whose tribes—God scattered. They were put to shame. For the one whom they call dead is the one by whom they are pursued. And the same things happen to any chance pleasers of men; for their bones, that is, their wealth and glory, are scattered by God.

Why does the Prophet pray for salvation from Zion, and not from heaven, not from the temple, not from the ark, not from the holy places? Because there Christ restored to us the ancient breath. This he made clear by adding: When the Lord returns. For Satan had taken captive our communion of the Spirit through deceit, but Christ restored it in Zion through the breath of the apostles. And why does Jacob rejoice first, and then Israel be glad, though they are one? Because Jacob is interpreted as "supplanter," and Israel as "mind seeing God." We need first to become supplanters, that is, of the devil, and then our discerning mind rejoices in the contemplation of God according to his power. PSALM 53. O God, in your name. Not through deeds, he says, for I have none worthy of credit, nor through the nobility of my fathers (for one person cannot save another), but in your name; for this salvation stands perpetual and inviolable. For if some, falling among robbers or barbarians, then utter the name of a ruler, as if they were his household, and thus escape the dangers, how much more are we saved in the name of God from every plot of demons?

And judge me in your power. Judgment, not that we be condemned, but so that we may be freed from the one who tyrannizes, he intends; therefore he prayed to be judged in power, so that when the adversary, whether perceptible or intelligible, is subdued by the power of God, we may become strangers to those who assail us. O God, hear my prayer. For we have no weapon against enemies stronger than prayer, only if we pray for things worthy of God, which the Prophet, knowing this of himself, wishes God to hear the words of his mouth, so that, discerning that he seeks nothing human, he will accept the sacrifice of prayer. That strangers have risen up. Strangers are all who do not think the things of God, even if they happen to be relatives, friends, or brothers. Therefore they plot against us as strangers against strangers, and even being relatives, they often are not ashamed. For those who have estranged themselves from God, how much more do they become strangers to the law of nature? He calls strong those who are powerful in wickedness, who have acquired such strong and unyielding evil that they contrive to plot against the soul itself, preparing not only perceptible but also intelligible death for us.

I will confess to your name. For God does not accept an involuntary sacrifice; it is never credited to the one offering, but to the one compelling the offering. Knowing this, the apostle Paul also said: Not from grief or from necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And understand the voluntary from the occasion as well. For often, having fallen into distress, we become more reverent toward ourselves. But it is necessary that when the distress has changed, we be found similarly. Having beheld the destruction of the enemies, he called the thanksgiving a confession; for the achievement in it is good; for the one who thanks the benefactor makes him more ambitious in subsequent matters; and the deliverance from the sins he has and from those to come works for him a closeness to God, hope of future goods, release from every distress, so that life is transformed into blessedness for such a one. PSALM 54. For the end, in hymns of understanding, to David. The psalm that follows has the same purpose; for it describes the man being tested in trials; therefore he promises to hymn with understanding the one able to free from trials. And the prophecy of the Lord's passions is also clearly present.

Hearken, O God, to my prayer. After Christ prayed these things, let us also pray, and let us slaves imitate the Master, and the poor the rich; he wishes our prayer to be heard, and the supplication for the salvation of the race not to be overlooked, since he is the firstfruits of those things for which he intercedes. At the same time, wishing to show in what manner one must pray, he says, Hearken, and do not overlook. For often, having heard our prayer, he overlooks and dismisses it as superfluous and unworthy of his hearing. I was grieved in my meditation. Consider, he says, who this one praying is, that he is the Son of the Father, a consubstantial king, but bearing the form of a slave, in order to save our creation. He calls meditation the distraction in contemplation, which the Lord endured, reflecting on our affairs, at which he was also troubled, because we have advanced so far in folly as to trip up the one running on our behalf, and to place obstacles before the one who came to save. These things both Caiaphas and Judas and their accomplices did, concerning which he fittingly added: From the voice of the enemy, and from the oppression of the sinner; calling Caiaphas the enemy, as one who dared to utter such a voice against the Savior at the time of the trial: He has blasphemed; what more do you seek? And the sinner, Judas. For how is not a sinner the one who betrays the teacher? At which he is also greatly distressed, as both a disciple and a traitor, he adds the following.

Fear and trembling came upon me. This is characteristic of those in trials and afflictions, who are not only seized by fear and trembling but also by darkness, as their soul is cast down. But Christ, as a true and genuine shepherd, was fearful and trembled for his own flock; for it was not unfitting for him, who was distressed and grieved, to fear and tremble, since he suffers all our experiences without sin; thus darkness also covered him, our darkness. Rather, he speaks of that darkness which covered the world at the time of the cross, occurring from the sixth hour until the ninth. And I said: Who will give me wings? He calls the apostles wings; for in them the mystery of Christ flew over the whole world, and it settled in churches as in nests. He desires these, like the wings of a dove, that is, full of the supply of the Spirit. The word "who" here does not indicate one in doubt, but rather one who desires and urges strongly. I awaited the one who saves me from faintheartedness and squall. He calls faintheartedness reviling, and squall the peak of trial, violence, and vehemence; from each of these one must receive help from God. Christ does not pray this for himself, but for the apostles who were fainthearted at the time of the passion; so that, rebuking them, he said: Thus? Were you not able to keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray, that you may not enter into trial. If agreement for evil is terrible, then conversely, the dissolution of those who agreed for evil is a great good.

And those who were of one mind, at least, concerning the tower-building, to have one voice and one lip, were all hindered, confounded by the greatest impiety, so as no longer to have unanimity. When evil is divided against itself, we who are warred upon by it have security; for the plots that come from it are no longer trusted. Therefore, when Christ was working wonders, the tongues of the Jews were divided; and some said, "This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath"; others said, "How can a sinful man perform such signs?" And there was a division among them. Because they saw lawlessness and contradiction. When Christ was being judged unlawfully, a contradiction arose among the judges, namely Pilate and the Jewish high priests; the one saying, "I find nothing culpable in this man"; the others saying, "We have a law, and we know that according to our law he ought to die." Day and night it will encircle her upon her walls, lawlessness and toil in her midst.

By day, according to the time of the cross; by night, according to the time of the betrayal; upon the walls, that is, upon the priests—for they are the walls of the people—strong when they live according to the law of the priesthood, but rotten and fallen when they do things alien to their office. Lawlessness and toil in its midst, and injustice, he calls the servitude to the letter: lawlessness, because they did not keep the law spiritually; injustice, because having received so many benefactions from the Father, they handed over the physician and nurturer to the cross. Nor did usury and deceit cease from its streets. Perhaps he also denounces the love of money of the Jews, who, although the law itself forbids lending at interest, by deceit gained interest through other contrivances. Yet the usury of deceit is hypocrisy; this, with deceit, never left the streets of Jerusalem, for they boasted greatly about these as if about virtues. But let us also be on guard, and let us endure neither by day nor by night having lawlessness upon our walls, that is, our virtues, nor any contradiction at all; but let us have neither usury nor deceit in our streets. For the streets are the straight roads, in which transgressions lead not to life, but to destruction.

That if an enemy reproached me. The reproaches of enemies are considered bearable because they are open, and it is easy to guard against them. But those who seem to be friends, while thinking the thoughts of enemies, are not bearable; for mixing venom with honey, they escape notice and contrive death. Christ reproached Judas with this through the present prophecy. To make this clearer, the Prophet added the following: But you, man of like soul. "Of like soul," because of the love which the Lord showed toward his own disciples, so that he said to the Father: "Holy Father, keep them in your name, those whom you have given me, that they may be one, just as we are." "Leader," because he himself carried the money box, and perhaps held authority over the administration. "Known," for he revealed everything to him as a disciple. "Who sweetened my food for me at the same time." For he alone dipped into the dish with Jesus. "We went into the house of God in concord." He calls Zion the house of God; for there Christ celebrated the Passover meal with the disciples in concord. But Judas did not keep the mystery of the meal; for going out from there, he carried out the betrayal. So the Spirit of God uttered these reproaches to the traitor even many generations beforehand.

Let death come upon them. This has been fulfilled in the case of Judas, for his betrayal was succeeded by the noose. It has also been fulfilled in the case of the other Jews: for having Christ, the true life, they impiously turned against him and came under the terrible curse of death. Human life is called a sojourn. For we cannot dwell here for long, but like sojourners, when the master of the house commands, we are immediately cast out. Since the Prophet spoke of many sojourns instead of one, he hints at the many differences among people in life. For some pursue, say, poverty, others farming, others the ministry in divine things. But in all these things the children of the Jews acted wickedly; for not only the common people, but also their preeminent ones, whether rulers or priests, having taken wickedness as their middle, as it were, they practiced it. I cried out to God. Christ says these things as well; for he cried out to his own Father, God, and the Lord heard him. Whether you say the Spirit (for the Lord is the Spirit) or the Lord himself hearing himself, it is clear from this that Christ prays, wishing to keep the law of humanity, but nevertheless he hears himself; for he himself accomplishes his own prayer, fulfilling as God what he prays as man.

Evening, and morning, and midday. Either he announces the mysteries that were accomplished at the said times. In the evening, how Joseph buried him and Nicodemus tended to his funeral; and again, how, when the gates of Zion were closed, he entered a second time. In the morning, how he was brought to Pilate’s praetorium, and how, having risen from the dead, he manifested himself to the women. At midday, how he was crucified and shook creation, not wishing to destroy it, but to renew and set it right. And why did he undertake to narrate these things? Because they happened to be comprehensive of the remaining wonders of the Only-begotten. Hence he says that even the Father will hear his voice, rejoicing at the narration of the said mysteries. He will ransom my soul in peace. Either of the soldiers who surrounded his tomb; or of the false witnesses who, slandering him, stood around at the time of the trial; or of the powers in Hades, which, at once amazed at him and also guarding him, so that he might not lead up the entire captivity of the dead.

He stretched out his hand in giving back. It is worthy to marvel at the precision of the prophecy. For this is apprehended in the very deeds concerning Judas, when, wishing to return the silver of betrayal to the high priests, he necessarily stretched out his hand. His words were softened more than oil. Words, he says, the Jews had that were soft, and surpassing every seeming kindness, with which they tested the wisdom of God; just as sailors test the sea with sounding leads—yet they did not reach it. For what can a sounding lead do in an abyss? And the wisdom of God is an abyss, concerning which Paul also said: O depth of the wealth of wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and inscrutable his ways! And this same Prophet says: Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are a great abyss. But some of the manuscripts have: His words were softened. So that the prophecy is directed toward Judas; for he softened his own words through the idols, at one time pretending to care for the poor, in order to steal the money box; at another time, through a kiss and an embrace, ironically mocking Christ.

Cast your care upon the Lord. We believe that these words are also spoken to us; for if we cast our own concerns upon God, we will find him to be our nourisher and support, so that we are in no way shaken. But it seems to me that the Prophet, having mentioned Judas, necessarily also alluded to Peter, in order to show the difference between an involuntary error and a voluntary transgression. For encouraging Peter on account of the error of his denial, and urging him toward repentance, he exhorts him to cast upon God the care for these things, being able to turn the disciple by means of forgiveness, and not allowing a disturbance to come to the righteous one forever; but even if he endures for a time, he immediately changes this into calm. But I, Lord, will hope in you. Let the faithful one say this; for hope in God grants freedom from evils and the presence of all good things. Psalm 55. For the end, concerning the people who have been removed from the holy things, etc. The words seem somehow to be contrary to the superscription. For David sojourned in Gath when he fled from Saul; but the foreigners did not detain the prophet, but rather drove him away, since he pretended to be out of his mind and deranged, playing the cithara at the gates and spitting saliva from his mouth, as the book of Kings shows. But we will not find, according to the history, some people removed from the holy things, on whose account David wrote the psalm. Therefore it is necessary to receive these things spiritually, just as indeed they were written by the Spirit.

For the Prophet composed the psalm on behalf of the people of the nations, who were far removed from the saints; for they had no communion with patriarchs or prophets. But nevertheless, those far off became near, as Paul says, when the Philistines seized the new David in Geth, that is, in the winepress (for Geth is interpreted as winepress); and the Church is also called a winepress, because of God, who treads the mystery in it, as is found through the prophecy of Isaiah, crying out, "I alone have trodden the winepress," so that the powers of the heavens respond to him in the same prophecy: "Why are your garments red, and your clothes, as from a full trodden winepress?" Have mercy on me, O God, for he has trodden upon me. Often our own man also undergoes this grievous war, being warred against all day by Satan and trodden upon by him. For even if the psalm mentioned a man, yet it hints at Satan himself, so often named in Holy Scripture, or one of those who serve under him. Moreover, it is fitting for the people of the nations to chant these things, having been deceived by Satan for a long time and having endured his war through the machinations of demons, whom he more clearly hinted at in what follows.

They have trampled me, my enemies. He does not mean a single day, but the entire interval of time that has elapsed, during which our spiritual enemies, warring against us from on high and trampling us, have not ceased. And how did they trample? Through idolatry and pleasures, tripping others up, and then stepping upon those lying prostrate. Let us not, therefore, be tripped up to the ground, that is, to earthly things; and no one will be able to trample us. But let us not even allow our enemies to become higher, but ascending the ladder of virtues, let us make the plotters lower than ourselves. I will not fear the day. For if, he says, we walk in the light, and in the day, as Paul says, we walk becomingly, we naturally fear none of the plotters, using faith in God and hope as a weapon against them. I will praise in God. Since every word that contains knowledge of God is worthy of praise and acclamation, let us, he says, offer it to him as the one who supplies the praises; and whatever we speak in him is successful and naturally becomes worthy of acceptance. We will often find that "flesh" refers to carnal passions and pleasures; as when Paul says: "For I know that no good dwells in me," that is, in my flesh; but often it also refers to the human being, just as David said: "To you every flesh will come." Therefore, hope in God both restrains pleasure, and hobbles the enemy human, and gives us fearlessness from both.

All day long my words. Clearly, even now, he alludes to the Jews; for they abhorred the words of the faithful, as having a refutation of their own unbelief, at all times. Therefore, from morning until evening, while Paul was orating to them, they, having abhorred the truth of the word, were discordant, as Luke says. All their deliberations withdrew against me for evil. For the children of the Jews consider nothing good concerning the nations (since every wicked man brings forth wickedness), and they try to deceive us in every way. Nothing, then, is clearer than this prophecy. For the children of the Jews, having been cast out of Jerusalem, and having become sojourners of the whole earth because of the sin against Christ, when asked the cause, conceal it, and put forward other sins, keeping silent about the one concerning Christ. And yet they neither worship idols now, nor murder prophets. Why do they conceal it? So that the confession from them may not be a confirmation of our faith. They will watch my heel, he says. For the Jews investigate even a chance fault of ours; and thus you will understand what God said to the serpent: He will watch your head, and you will watch his heel. But we are commanded to watch his head, that is, idolatry, before all else, yet also to guard against the remaining sins, even if they happen to be last, even if they seem trivial, so as to be considered a heel; since the enemy watches these, to slander us to the judge, and through even chance things, wishing to do so.

Therefore, this verse is to be understood not only concerning the Jews, but also concerning the true enemies, the demons, in accordance with which it is fitting that what follows also be added. You have placed my tears before you. Blessed are those whose tears God receives; for he comforts their sufferings, just as he promised through his own proclamation. And what is the proclamation? Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. PSALM 64. You will bless the crown of the year. It should be known that some of the writers said that after the return from Babylon there was prosperity, and an abundance of rains, and the Jordan flowed greatly, which they said was called the river of God; although these things happened in the greatest poverty, as Ezra taught, and the calling of the nations requires the rest of the psalm to follow accordingly. But some say mythically that these things will happen after the final recall of the Jews, when Jerusalem is rebuilt. PSALM 65. Say to God: How fearful. For by the magnitude of the things happening concerning you, you will make those who belong to you conspicuous, so that many even of the adversaries pretend, falsely claiming your servitude; and this happened when many of the adversaries submitted to circumcision, pretending Judaism. And Josephus is a witness to this in the eleventh book of his Antiquities, narrating the events concerning Mordecai, and speaking thus: So the horsemen who were carrying the letters, having set out immediately, completed the journey before them; and Mordecai, having put on the royal robe, and placed the golden crown and the necklace, went forth.

When the Jews who were in Susa saw him so honored by the king, they considered the good fortune to be common to them. And as the king’s letters were published, bringing joy and a saving light, they detained both the Jews in the city and those in the countryside, since many of the other nations, out of fear of the Jews, were circumcising their private parts, thereby procuring safety for themselves. That you have tested us, O God. For, wishing to show to all the unadulterated character of our piety, you permitted us to suffer these things. Psalm 67. May God have mercy on us. It asks that the foreknown manifestation of the Savior come more quickly, so that we may reap the blessing from it. And the face of the Creator of all appears, which fills us with blessing and mercies, when the character of his hypostasis is manifested to us, and he reveals himself to those who are worthy; for since he is an image of the invisible God, he who approaches him with a pure mind sees the Father. For he who has seen me, he says, has seen the Father. Then he has mercy on those who are benefited, and blesses them with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

When your face appeared, the road that leads to you, the Father, is known—He who said, "I am the way; and no one comes to the Father except through me." And He Himself will also be a saving sign among all nations, when the saying is fulfilled, "Every flesh shall see the salvation of God." You might also call His commandments a way, according to the verse, "I ran the way of your commandments"; and correspondingly, salvation, which He has come to provide, so that your salvation to us becomes clear to all. PSALM 67. As smoke vanishes. The fall of sinners is easy, even if they think they are very confident in themselves. For what is more fragile to be dissolved than smoke? And what than wax, when it is heated by a more intense fire? The Prophet compared sinners to these; for when the fire of Gehenna is fanned, all the illusion about them is immediately dissolved. Sing to God. Indeed, Christ is accustomed to be called "East" among the prophets: "Behold a man; East is his name"; and beneath him, "He will rise." And again: "The Sun of righteousness will rise for you who fear my name; and healing is in its wings." But even if He happens to be the East because of His own light, He mounted upon the West, making sinners who turned to Him His own vehicle; to whom He said, "Take my yoke upon you, for it is gentle, and my burden, for it is light." David commands these to prepare the way for God through repentance; for these, having not only obtained forgiveness before Him but also become intimate, are about to rejoice.

In the churches, bless the Lord. "Church" is also said of the domestic gathering of the pious; so also Paul says: "Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, together with the church in their house." He wishes the Lord and God to be glorified from the springs of Israel, the prophets and apostles; so that in the manner they set forth, we also may glorify concerning God. The God of Israel will give strength. The God of Israel is Christ; for concerning him Isaiah says: "That you are our God, and we did not know; the God of Israel is the Savior." He grants strength and power to the people from the nations, so that they may abandon error and turn to him; who, as his people, are called Christians because of Christ. Psalm 68. I have come into the depths of the sea. And how does one who hopes in God have his eyes fail, and not rather become strengthened and more powerful? But he calls his own eyes the apostles; concerning whom he says in the Song of Songs: "Your eyes are like doves, over the fullness of waters," for the gift of baptism; for there he provided the participation of the Spirit to those who believe. Thus at the time of the passion they failed and were scattered, seeing Christ hoping in God the Father, his own, and saying: "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani"; for they did not know that God was contracting his own power, so that there might be occasion for the sufferings.

They multiplied beyond the hairs. He calls the faithful his own hairs. For just as the head is adorned by the hairs, so also Christ is glorified by the faithful. I became estranged. He became a stranger at the time of the Passion, when all his disciples abandoned him and fled. By "mother" you will understand the Synagogue of the Jews, and the entire fleshly kinship of those of the circumcision; by her "sons," those who denied him and said, "But we do not know where this man is from." And they considered him a stranger, saying, "Do we not speak rightly, that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?" Thus he became a stranger to the sons of his mother. And I put on sackcloth as my garment. For truly he put on sackcloth, the roughness of our sin. They gossiped against me. He speaks of the Jewish rulers. For it was the custom for the Jewish council of elders to sit at the gate, as we will find from the history set forth concerning Ruth and Boaz. And those who were drinking sang against me.

What wine? The mystical wine. For they were not babbling, but were singing, uttering the prophetic hymns concerning Christ as God. He speaks further concerning the Jews, who hated him because he exposed their hypocrisy to their face; but in the depth they possessed the water of wickedness, so that at one time they would address him as Rabbi, at another as a true man from God, concealing their wickedness in the depth of their heart. Hear me, O Lord. And what need has the Only-begotten to be heard, being equal and of equal honor with the Father? He himself gives the reason: Because your mercy is kind. That is, For this reason I need to be heard, because I have become man through your love for humanity, and on behalf of all men, being God by nature, I undergo these things. Pay attention to my soul. What, pay attention? See, he says, it, that it is not merely the soul of a man, but of the incarnate God; that it endured sufferings not for itself, but for the common freedom. That I have authority to set it down, and I have authority to take it up. Yet to you I pray on its behalf because of the submission of the flesh. For I endured these things not for myself, but for the whole of human nature; having its sins, I necessarily also bore the shame that comes from them.

And they put gall into my food. At the time of the cross we will also find this fulfilled: for the Jews then offered him vinegar and gall. Let them be erased from the book of the living. For even if they were enrolled first, he says, because of their fathers who lived before God, as if the promises were given to them as well, yet having dared such things, let them be erased, and let them not be enrolled with the chosen righteous, he says, who are worthy of life with him, since they rejected the leader of salvation. I am poor and suffering. He calls praise the doxology which is offered to him by the whole creation, which glorifies him with natural movements. The Church, therefore, promises not only to offer doxology together with creation, but to glorify with song, that is, to offer spiritual and intellectual hymnody. For this is what it truly means to sing in relation to God. I will praise the name of my God with song. For rational praise is more pleasing to God than legal worship.

Psalm 69. O God, for help. Blessed is one who prays to God with such boldness as to even urge him to come to our aid. First, he prayed that God would pay attention, and after that, that he would hasten; for if he pays any heed to what kind or what sort of help we need, he is immediately moved to compassion; and having been moved to compassion, he hastens and does not delay. Let them be shamed, and let them be put to confusion. Those who seek to destroy our souls are especially the demons; but also people who, by inciting us to base actions and improper pleasures, seek to do so. Yet neither of these can succeed unless they receive from us the betrayal against ourselves, unless we bind the hands of the soul and thus follow them. These, then, are shamed when they see us far superior to their plot and succeeding. Let them be turned back at once. At once, that is, immediately and without delay. Whom does he wish to be put to shame quickly? Those who say, "Well done, well done"—that is, those who mock, those who flatter, those who deceive, those who accept as good what is harmful and deadly. However, he prays that the intelligible enemies be shamed and turned back only, but that the sensible ones be dealt with quickly; for these are easier, as they are brothers by nature, of the same race, and of the same people.

Let them exult and rejoice. Christ is called the salvation of the Father; for in him the salvation of the human race has been accomplished. Hence also Simeon, taking Christ in his arms, said: Now you release your servant, O Master, according to your word, in peace; for my eyes have seen your salvation. Therefore those who love this salvation continually magnify God, that is, glorify him; because, having abandoned the idols, they loved God, who truly saves and delivers. You are my helper and my deliverer. For when we fall short of all human assistance, then we find God in place of all. Perhaps also these words are spoken from the perspective of the people of the nations; to whom the whole psalm is fitting, as he entreats and hastens Christ’s help, and beseeches that the spiritual enemies, namely the demons, who have tyrannized for a long time, be put to shame against us. This people is poor and needy: poor on account of sin, needy on account of impiety. Helper, as one strong; deliverer, as one who himself gave himself as a pledge for us to death for a short time, so that our captivity might be ransomed. Do not delay. For the sick person has been given up by all physicians. Hence also Habakkuk said: Yet a little while, as he who is coming will arrive, and will not delay, hastening the arrival of the Savior.

Psalm 70. In your righteousness, deliver me. Well does this follow "may I not be put to shame," in your righteousness. For even if I have sinned against you, yet in your righteousness you will justly release me from these things; because they have no knowledge of your power, and because they wrong us in vain. Incline your ear to me. That is, condescend to me as to one who is weak. Incline your ear to me as to a sinner, and to one unable to pray with confidence; or, more truly, draw near. For we are not able to approach God unless he, who is present everywhere, becomes near to us through compassion. Be for me a protecting God. He calls the devil a sinful, lawless, and unjust one; and he prays to be delivered from his hand (that is, from the sin which he has in the machinations of pleasures). But if he says he is to be delivered from sinful men, this too is blessed. For if the sinner is an enemy, he does not spare; if a friend, he is burdensome even so; for whatever he himself advises, he urges upon friends and incites them. Let us also pray to be delivered from a sinner, both enemy and friend: from the one through friendship, from the other through power, each unjustly and lawfully harming.

Let my mouth be filled with praise. No one is able to hymn God or the things of God unless he is filled by him with wisdom and praise. And what does he wish to hymn? The glory and magnificence of God; that is, the great and exceedingly glorious wonders of God, concerning which he said: How great are your works, O Lord! You have made all things in wisdom. How I may hymn your glory. The Spirit calls it magnificence; for in it the great wonders and achievements of God take place. And the whole day means our whole life. Because my enemies said to me. The demons watch over our souls, not for good but for evil, lying in wait to ensnare them; for these, when they see that we have been caught through sin and have become weak for good works, as if we were seized by God, they wish not only to pursue us in harmony but also hasten to overtake us; for they think there is no one to deliver us. My God, do not distance yourself from me.

And how is God magnified over all and in all, except when we act unworthily of his presence? As he said through the prophetic tongue to the Jews: Your sins separate between you and God. You have multiplied greatness upon me. The greatness of God is his condescension toward us; for as the greatest, he remains great, and descends to the small. And how did he multiply his condescension toward us? When, clearly, having become man, and having thus turned us from error, he did not frighten us as slaves, but exhorted us as sons. For I will confess to you. Not so much with the senses as with a pure heart, with a temperate tongue, and uttering nothing foreign to holiness. For these are truly called vessels of the psalm rightly. PSALM 71. It will descend like rain upon a fleece. He speaks of the descent of the Only-begotten into the God-bearing Virgin; and he rightly called her womb a fleece, since it received the sojourn of the Word of God quietly and without sound, just as a fleece receives the rain. And you will say the same concerning the drops.

Before him the Ethiopians will fall. Now willingly, but in the future also unwillingly. For not yet, according to the Apostle, do we see all things subjected to him. But then every knee of the heavenly, earthly, and subterranean beings will bend to him. And his enemies, licking the dust, are those who honor the pleasures of the flesh. From usury and from injustice. Therefore, he says, he will persuade those who delight in injustice and greed to employ mercy and philanthropy. And this was what the Gospel Scripture indicated when it said: These twelve Jesus chose, whom he also named apostles. And their name is honored. What name? Christ, from which we are called Christians. For so honored has his name become before those saved and believing through him, that some have despised wealth, others rank, and others even life itself, so as not to endure denying the name of Christians. And they will pray for him. For not only in churches, but also in marketplaces and in homes, the blessing of Christ, that is, the doxology, is continually proclaimed by those who have believed in him.

And all the tribes of the earth will be blessed in him. For all tribes, all tongues and regions, previously dwelling in error, have now received the blessing in harmony; hence they will also call him blessed. What blessing, if not the one found in the Gospels: "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you suckled"? Blessed is the Lord God of Israel. Why does he double the phrase "Let it be"? Because he wishes to hasten our freedom and the hope of the righteous. For when the earth is filled with the glory of Christ, then the present world will come to an end, and the kingdom of heaven will appear. Psalm 72. How good is God to Israel. Calling the practical courses and the movements of the mind "feet" and "steps," as he himself taught us in another part of the prophecy of the Psalms, saying, "Your law is a lamp to my feet, and light to my paths." And again: "Direct my steps according to your word." He did not shake his feet—that is, he did not turn his conduct for the worse—nor did he scatter his steps; for he did not turn the impulses of his soul toward profligacy.

That there is no denial in death. For there is no denial from the death of sin, and those who suffer clearly experience what is said in Proverbs: The impious man, having fallen into depths of evils, despises. They do not even endure human sufferings. You see how great a power for clarity even a single word added to the matter can have. For instead of saying, "They are not in labors," "In the labors of men," he added. And here understand "man" as one who preserves the dignity of the rational being, one who is in virtues; or one who, when he stumbles, is corrected through the repentance brought by God. Sinners are not in these labors of theirs, nor are they scourged along with men; that is, they do not toil and work with the righteous; and concerning whom it is said: Each will receive his own reward and his own labor. Nor are they scourged along with those who have slipped and have hope of salvation; concerning whom it is written: Whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; and he scourges every son whom he accepts. They clothed themselves with injustice.

On account of which they ought to be ashamed, they boast, so that they use their transgressions as coverings and shelter. And he has fittingly joined these transgressions together; for from pride men for the most part fall into injustice and into greed. But the words of heretics or blasphemers cannot prevail for long; they pass through the land, harming only a few in passing. The faithful, understanding this, even if they happen to be led astray, turn back; concerning whom the Psalmist sang the following. And I said: Then have I justified in vain. That is, Then have I purified my thoughts in vain, my actions in vain, and justified my heart, reckoning nothing unjust in it; and washed my hands in innocent deeds, that is, in good actions which do not have the life that comes from sin. That is, I did not reckon loss; for sin is truly a loss of the soul, depriving it of the friendship of God, the most beautiful of goods. And I became scourged.

For he who scourges himself for his transgressions, and places his own self-examination in the mornings, that is, in the light and not in the dark, this man is pure in his thoughts and deeds. But he is examined in the light who grants freedom of speech to those who examine him, who observes that wise saying spoken in Proverbs: "Examine a wise man, and he will love you." But in the dark is he who flees from those who reprove him; to him the second verse of the Proverb is fitting: "Examine a fool, and he will add to his hatred of you." Because my heart was kindled. I am despised, he says, and I myself; that is, I have come into lowliness, because my heart was kindled for greed; clearly also my kidneys were altered; understand this for pleasures. For when someone, deceived by the prosperity of sinners, is incited to imitate them, he is immediately despised and degraded, having fallen from his own rank. And he has very fittingly added, "I did not know," since most are ignorant of the lowliness that befalls them from their sins; some as priests, others as rulers, being deceived by the outward appearance they wear.

I became brutish in your sight. For it is characteristic of a beast to wander, and then again from its wandering to be redirected by a stick or a bridle. And he added "in your sight" and "with you" at the opportune moment, securing the argument, since there are some who follow the devil like senseless beasts, concerning whom it is said, "He was compared to senseless beasts and became like them." But how can one who has had his impulse, even if temporary, entirely toward the worse, be always with God? Or is it clear that he did not sin in intention, but suffered from being deceived, and therefore, checked by the bridle of the law, he immediately turned back? For what do I have in heaven? My heart and my flesh have failed, that is, from worldly and human affairs. For when they fail from there, that is, when they withdraw and cease from them, then they will have God as their portion for eternity; and he becomes the special possession of the heart, so that God is said to be its possession and dwelling.

Psalm 73. Like a thicket of trees. You will understand the blasphemous tongues of the Jews as axes, and these same as an axe and a chisel; and it is nothing remarkable, for elsewhere he called them a sharp sword. These, then, he says, cut down and shattered its doors, that is, the entrances to faith in Christ. And the Son is the name of the Father, as he himself makes the Father known and is made known through him. They profaned his tabernacle (he means the incarnation) on earth with passions; for he remained glorified in heaven even at the time of the sufferings. They said in their heart. And what festivals? Clearly those that were hoped for from the advent of the Savior, such as healings of infirmities, deliverance from error, entrance into knowledge of God. For these are truly festivals of God, providing man with unceasing joy and perpetual celebration. These, then, they imagined they would abolish through the plot against him. You strengthened in your power.

He calls every opposing power a dragon in general: on the one hand, because it has a lethal poison; on the other hand, as a reminder of the event that took place in Paradise, when the enemy, having entered by means of the serpent, deceived the first-formed man. Christ crushed the heads of these in the water, both by being baptized himself and by handing down to men the practice of being baptized. The head of the spiritual dragons is sin. You have broken forth springs and torrents. For just as he himself works the gifts through the Holy Spirit, so he dries up and destroys the works of the deceiver, which indeed he fittingly called the rivers of Etham. For Etham is interpreted as "bramble." This plant is disparaged in divine Scripture for its worthless fruits. The day is yours, the night is yours. He reminds the Creator of his own creation—not that he has ever forgotten it—but wishing it to be acknowledged by all as his own creation, possessing such great order and variety, that day gives way to night, spring yields to summer, and the earth is measured by boundaries, although it seems immeasurable because of its size. Each of these shows God to be the Creator, who has arranged them with knowledge.

Do not deliver me over to the beasts. He calls the poor sinners, those who have no wealth of righteousness, but have consumed all their ancestral inheritance; God is naturally thought to have forgotten these, being patient and postponing judgment upon them. PSALM 74. We will confess to you, O God. Observe clearly that while confessing belongs to many, recounting your wonders, O God, belonged to one among many, who was confessing and invoking; therefore the former are in the plural person. But also, those who are about to offer a double confession to God need to invoke him: one confession in words, the other in deeds; in words through prayer, in deeds by withdrawing from those things for which we say we confess and repent. For in this way God accepts our invocation, as we have been purified. He also permits us to recount his own wonders, as many as are contained in the divinely inspired Scriptures. When I take the opportunity. He calls the opportunity the future age. For now our judgment has no opportunity, since many are sinners and many are righteous, changing into the opposite.

That neither from the exits. From the testing and judgment of God, he says, who raises up and humbles whom he wishes; for the Lord makes poor and rich, humbles and exalts, not without reason; but he tests some through wealth, others through poverty. PSALM 76. My eyes anticipated the watches. The time of night is best for contemplation, since neither hearing nor sight draws one to other things, each of which distracts the mind to itself, drawing it away from contemplation. In this time, then, he was engaged in study, occupied with contemplative movements. For we have previously shown that "adoleschia" is used here in this sense. And now his spirit was digging; that is, it was distressed, not yet able to comprehend these matters. The present life, through ignorance, is night, in which, he says, I did not give myself over to sleep as some others do (for those who sleep, sleep at night; and those who get drunk, get drunk at night); but being sober, I conversed with the law about what must be done. For having learned that present things are temporary and will have an end, I grasped the surrounding evils. And in a farming manner, I was digging my spirit, so that by sowing in it I might reap eternal life. For he who sows into the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit. Above, then, he called the spirit the soul; here, the spirit of the human being within him, with which the soul digs and studies; for the body certainly does not do this with the soul. So the soul of the human being properly studies with the mind, and digs the spirit yoked to the mind. For I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the mind.

This is the alteration of the right hand of the Most High. The right hand of the Father is the Only-Begotten directly, just as he changed us for the better. I recalled the works of the Lord. The wonders of God are many concerning creation and other things; but it is exceptional that, taking dust, he placed a rational living being and established it as his own image. These are the wonders of God concerning us from the beginning, which he wrought for our sake; for he appears to have planted a paradise, then again to have closed it off, bringing a flood, through which he both punishes and saves, having confounded our mixture of those who built the tower of tongues. But also for our sake he appears, upon the natural law, to have found a written law, and upon this, prophecy. For these are the devices of God, contriving to save our race; in which the prophet dwells, in these seeking at length and reasoning, what of the things said saves man. Finding another thing beyond these, he immediately added this: Who is great like our God? He does not speak by way of comparison (for the infinitely great admits no comparison), but hymning and marvelling; since he is truly great both in might, and great in condescension, great through power, great through philanthropy, as the following shows.

You led the people like sheep. It is not in vain that he used the image of sheep here; but because these are guided by the staff of the shepherds, just as we are shepherded by Christ with the cross. Hence he also made mention of Moses and Aaron, who bore a staff as a type of the cross, pregnant with wonders in Egypt and in the desert. For just as they used the staff against enemies for the benefit of Israel, so Christ uses the cross against demons for the sake of our conversion. PSALM 77. For understanding, for Asaph. 1. The superscription is brief; for the psalm is occupied with the length of the prophecy. But he entitles it "For understanding" so that we may guard against the evils that befell the Jews from folly; and the prologue of what follows makes clear: "Pay attention, my people, to my law; incline your ear to the words of my mouth." Do you see what great authority the Spirit bestows on the prophet, wishing to exhort us [...] to the prophecy? For he calls the people of God "his people," and the law of God "his law," since prudent and faithful servants [...] possessions to their masters, just as God said to Moses: "Your people, whom you led out of the land of Egypt, have sinned." What is "Pay attention to my law"? Do not handle it contemptuously; examine it attentively, and then incline your ear to obedience. For one who hears the law of God carelessly considers it either superfluous or burdensome, and therefore his ear will not be able to hear.

The one who studies attentively perceives that the yoke from him is gentle and the burden light, and he inclines his ear to the words of the prophecy, that is, he offers the whole prophecy to them out of love for them, and sets aside the Spirit from which everything is energized. I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter problems from the beginning. As many things as we have heard and known them, and our fathers have narrated to us. Even if, he says, I am about to speak parables of the times above and ancient problems, nevertheless I am trustworthy in speaking about these things; for I have learned them by hearing and knowledge, which not the fathers of the flesh, but priests and prophets have handed down. And he does well not only to have heard, nor to have known, but to show with more, saying, As many things as we have heard and known them, since such knowledge and hearing of the prophets has become common to all. He calls them parables and problems because he has mixed teaching with history, which is proper to parables in the divine Scriptures and to problems; in which, he says, he opens his own mouth, so that we also may emulate what is said, always beginning with God as with every fruit, and so also with the lips, and not moving the tongue before those things speak with which he is pleased. Moreover, you will say that the prophet has taken up the person of the Lord; his people are humanity, his law the ancient ordinances. Concerning him Matthew says: So that what was said through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying:

I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world. But what did he now add? As many things as we heard and knew, and our fathers narrated to us. These things are fitting for humanity. And to show that his own things are like and in harmony with those through the prophets: It was not hidden from their children into another generation. Proclaiming the praises of the Lord and his powers and his wonders which he performed. Who are those who [...] concerning whom they said earlier, Our fathers narrated to us, but beyond [...] having placed this in the prophecy itself. 2. It was not hidden from their children into another generation. He calls the nations another generation, concerning which he also says elsewhere: The coming generation will be announced to the Lord. And these same ones are also called children of the true Israel, as if they inherited from them piety toward God. Whence also Paul said, Those whose adoption, and worship, and covenant, and legislation, and whose fathers. These then proclaimed to us as sons of the Lord the praises. For we would not know in what manner it is necessary to praise God, unless the prophets, anticipating us, taught us to say, Bless all the works of the Lord, the Lord; and again, Praise the Lord from the heavens; and again, Holy, holy, holy Lord Sabaoth, and all things similar to these. From these we have learned the powers of God and the wonders which he performed: powers, such as those he displayed against Pharaoh, for instance, or against Nebuchadnezzar, or against the giants, and other such beings.