Commentarius magnus in Psalmos

For he speaks thus: "The whole multitude fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul expounding all the signs and wonders that God had wrought among the Gentiles through them." For who in the clouds shall be made equal to the Lord? Concerning the angels, the powers stationed in the height. He shall be made like the Lord among the sons of God. Here he understood the comparison with reference to the saints; but nevertheless neither angel nor saint can be judged in comparison with the Creator who is over all. And he fittingly used "shall be made equal" in the case of the angels, since they too are incorporeal; but nevertheless they do not have equality with God, being in places and having circumscriptions, whence they also happen to be an infinite multitude; and in the case of the saints, "shall be made like." For even if they preserve the likeness which they received from God, guarding the image, yet this is partial and given by God; so that the comparison is also dissimilar in this respect. For how can the receiver be like the giver, when the giver has the power to take away what was given? God, being glorified in the council of saints, is great and fearful to all those around him.

2. For he greatly rejoices in the gathering of the saints and considers it his own glory; yet he is fearsome toward them. For these are around him because they draw near to the life of sanctification; but he is fearsome toward them when they sin, as one who grants no favor to the righteous; rather, he is fearsome even when they do not sin, so that Job says to him: "Remove your hand from me, and let your fear not trouble me." He inspires fear not from hatred, but from mercy. For blessed are all who fear the Lord. "God of powers, who is like you?" The prophet repeatedly utters this phrase not as a question, but in astonishment, describing the incomparability of God. Hence he addressed him not simply as Lord, but also as God of powers—that is, of angels, archangels, or any other powers hidden from us, each of which is ruled by God. How then can they be likened to the one who rules? "You are mighty, Lord, and your truth is around you." He spoke of God's transcendence over creation; behold, he also describes equality with the Son—lest you imagine the Son as unlike the Father, as some of the impious do, whom he called the truth of the Father, as proceeding from him; and he says that the Son is again around the Father, because the Son alone is capable of containing the Father. For, he says, "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me." And he is capable of containing as great of the great, as mighty of the mighty. For this reason, saying "You are mighty, Lord" to the Father, he then added: "And your truth is around you.

so that you may learn that the Father is greatest and powerful, and that no one is to be compared to him; yet the Son is equal to him, so that he is even said to be around him. You rule the power of the sea, and you calm the tossing of its waves. Having transferred the doxology of God from the invisible to the visible, he necessarily mentioned the sea as fearsome; over it you rule so greatly that you set sand as its boundary; you calm its tossing and still its waves, taking up the winds that blow upon it and raise it up. You humbled the proud one as a wounded man. He speaks of the devil; for he became wounded from pride, and because of this, having been cast down from the upper regions to the earth, he is humbled, so that he is even trodden upon and crushed by the feet of saints; just as Paul wrote to the Romans: The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet quickly. In the arm of your power you scattered your enemies. The arm of the power of God is Christ. For thus Isaiah says: Lord, who believed our hearing? and to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed? This one scattered the enemies of God, the Jews, concerning whom the prophet introduced him saying: They became enemies. He scattered them by destroying the place where their worship according to the letter took place. The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours. This is clear from the fact that he alone uses them as he wishes. You founded the inhabited world and its fullness. The fullness of the inhabited world is man.

For it is for his sake that it has fallen to be inhabited also by the other animals, brought in for the sake of our need. This, then, he established, giving it a natural law, which is the foundation of all human goods. So it is not shaken, if it keeps its own foundation intact. You created the north wind and the sea. The other interpreters have rendered "sea" as "south wind" or "right," hinting at the south wind through "right," since it is situated in the region lying to the right toward the east. Rightly, however, the sea is placed together with the north wind; for in the divinely inspired Scripture, this term is customarily understood of the western region. Hence the book of Numbers, when setting forth the tribes—some of which were stationed toward the east, some toward the south, and some toward the north of the tabernacle—indicated by this term those stationed toward the west: "The order of the camp of Ephraim by the sea with their forces." But now he has linked the west with the north wind for this reason, because each region is dark and wintry. And because some ascribe these parts of creation to an evil creator, dividing creation with an impious and blasphemous thought, wishing to refute their error, he testifies that these too were created by the common creator. Tabor and Hermon will rejoice in your name.

3. And why did he mention only these mountains, if not because Thabor, being a neighbor to Hermon, received the transformation of Christ? And for this reason it is said that each rejoices over it: the one as having been entrusted with so great a mystery; the other, as having obtained the blessing from its neighbor. Therefore he also gave it the blessing in another psalm; for he says: Like the dew of Hermon that descends upon the mountains of Zion. Is your arm with power? What power? That of the cross. For the word of the cross, as Paul says, is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. And what is the power? The turning back of our error; for through the cross the Son, the arm of the Father, accomplished this. And what follows indicates this: Let your hand be strengthened, let your right hand be raised. Let it be strengthened, not that it may receive strength—for it already had it—but that the completion of the mystery might be manifested, which Christ himself promised, saying, When I am raised, I will draw all to myself. For that the Only-Begotten is called the arm of the Father and the right hand has been sufficiently shown to us from what has preceded. And these things are said because through him the Father works everything as through a hand; for all things came to be through him, and without him not one thing that has come to be came to be. Righteousness and judgment are the preparation of your throne. Of what? Surely of the future; therefore he mentioned preparation. For from here, from the righteousness and judgment by which we live, our judge prepares for himself the way for that future judgment by his own action.

Mercy and truth will go before your face. Mercy arrives first, and truth follows fittingly. For if mercy does not take precedence, who will be able to withstand the truth of the judge? And how is truth shared with mercy? Because the judge does not show mercy to all, but only to those who, in regard to their sins, have accomplished mercy—either by repenting or by showing mercy to their neighbor. Blessed is the people who know the cry of victory; the cry of victory is the voice of soldiers who have prevailed in battle, it is said. Therefore, all those who, when they defeated the devil—either by practicing virtues or by repenting for their transgressions—know the cry of victory, and they have the blessing, some as those who will receive crowns, others as those who gain punishments, not an ordinary one. For you have learned not only, "Blessed are the blameless in the way," but also, "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been revealed." To these also the following words apply: "Lord, they will walk in the light of your face, and they will rejoice in your name all the day long." That is, they will walk their entire life in the light of God, that is, in the law. "Your law is a lamp for my feet, and a light for my paths." And they rejoice in his name, as those who take refuge in God, whose name is above every name, whose servitude is freedom, and whose belonging is to every lordly creation. "And they will be exalted in your righteousness"—the same ones. What is it that provides them with exaltation? That you are the boast of their power, and in your good will our horn will be exalted.

Jews boast in Moses and pride themselves on being descended from Abraham; Greeks trust in wood and stones, or pride themselves on the wisdom of the devil; but our strength is Christ, and the boast is the Father of our strength; and our horn is raised high in the Father’s good will; therefore it will not be broken; for who can undo the glory of God? In what way is it raised high? Through the Father’s good will, he says, by which we were called into adoption toward him, just as Paul wrote to the Ephesians; for he says concerning the Father: In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ into himself, according to the good will of his will. That the Lord’s support is also that of the holy Israel, our king. See how David together with Paul proclaims and says the same things: It is not irksome for me, but for you it is safe. For behold, in many successive verses he revolves the discourse about the Savior, calling him Lord and holy as God; and Israel and our king, as being from the seed of King David, and also called Israel according to the Spirit. Then you spoke in a vision to your sons. Then, when? In a vision to your sons; that is, in the vision concerning your sons. He calls sons of God those saved from the nations, to whom Paul said: Therefore you are no longer slaves, but sons.

When, therefore, he observed that those from the nations were suitably disposed toward salvation, and that by natural law they were groping for the lawgiver but not grasping him (for he was weak among them because of the error that had arisen), then he spoke the following: "And you said: I set help upon the strong one, I raised up an elect one from my people." Christ is the strong one, as he is also called the power of God. Upon him for us, that is, through him (for not through a lawgiver or through a prophet, but through his own Son) he set help and salvation for the nations. In what manner? The psalm itself clearly added: "I raised up an elect one from my people." He means Christ, you see. For he was raised up on the cross, and he drew the wandering ones to himself, being elect from the people of humanity. For he was chosen from among myriads, as it says in the Song of Songs; and he had many advantages over other men on account of his flesh: being born of a virgin, having no sins, and all such things. "I found David my servant; I anointed him with my holy oil.

Fourth. Having prophesied above concerning Christ, here he clearly hints at the word concerning the people according to Christ. Whence he says, "I found," as of one wandering and straying. For we were the lost and the roaming sheep, which the shepherd, leaving the ninety-nine, sought out. But indeed he also calls himself a slave, as no longer serving the idols; and also David, because of his kinship with Christ, and at the same time as "sufficient with the hand"; for David is interpreted as "sufficient with the hand." Sufficient with the hand is the people of the nations, who alone, having waged war against the idols, is thus anointed with the holy oil of baptism; concerning which John the Theologian wrote: "And you have an anointing from the Holy One. And you all know why one is anointed, so that he may strip eagerly for the contest"; for which he also needed the subsequent assistance. For my hand will help him, and my arm will strengthen him. For how could he, who was formerly appointed over them, fight against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness, unless he were empowered by the hand of God and the arm? Therefore he does not simply say, "will help him," but, "will help him together with him"; that is, to assist and to take hold, showing that he possesses the hand from above as a partner in the contests and sharing the labors. "An enemy will not prevail against him"—the devil, clearly; for he will not be able to turn us away from faith in Christ. "And a son of lawlessness will not add to harming him.

He speaks of the Antichrist, the one expected to come, concerning whom Paul also wrote to the Thessalonians: that unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, the adversary who exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, is revealed. This one will not harm those who believe in Christ; for they have instructions on how to avoid him and in what manner, and how to escape his deception—each of which is contained in the words of Christ concerning the consummation. "And I will cut down his enemies from before his face, and I will put to flight those who hate him." Enemies and those who hate us, as has often been said, are the demons. These he cut down in the first coming, and he rendered them wounded, as if pierced by a sword, by the cross; but in the second coming he will put them to flight completely, so that they no longer stand against our warfare. "And my truth and my mercy are with him, and his horn will be raised in my name." Everywhere he secures the faithful, wishing them to know how they were saved, whence the horn was raised, how he became stronger than the enemies. For it is through Christ for us, who is mercy from God and truth; and also the name of the Father; for in him as Son he is known, and each of the things mentioned came to be. "And I will place his hand in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers." Here he calls the sea baptism; for he says concerning the devil: "I will obliterate his face in the first sea"; rivers, the gifts of the Spirit; for Christ says:

The one who believes in me, rivers will flow from his belly of water. Then the writer of the Gospels added, wishing to interpret what was said: "These things he said about the Spirit, which those believing in him were about to receive." There, then, we have the hand and the right; for in them lies our power. He will call upon me: "You are my Father," not daring on his own, but being instructed by the Savior, who established us as his own brothers and conformed to him, and for this reason commanded us to say when praying: "Our Father who art in heaven." My Lord and supporter of my salvation. For even if he has become Father to us by grace, we will nevertheless not cease calling him God, and also supporter of our salvation. For finding us wronged by the devil, and as fleshly ones being attacked by the bodiless one, he took our side, setting our enemy as his own enemy, and taking our part. But these are the words of our invocation; what does he promise us in return? "And I will set him as firstborn." Therefore the Jew has been cast out of the birthright. For "I will set," he says, showing that we were not, but became later, just as Jacob, stealing the blessing of the elder people.

5. High among the kings of the earth. For all the righteous, who are truly called kings of the earth, marvel at the height of our mysteries, and consider us very lofty on account of these things; so that many have desired to see what we see, and to hear what we hear. I will keep my mercy for him forever, and my covenant is faithful to him. (Not from) the things said can the people of the Jews take pride; only the people of the nations can. For God keeps this mercy for him forever; since he ordained that our mystery stand unshaken until the consummation; and we possess the covenant of God as faithful, approaching him with faith, and contending for it even to the blood, as the struggles of the martyrs seal. And I will place his seed for eternity of eternity. Not as the children of the Jews receive their rewards here; for our seed knows how to bear fruit for us in the future, things which the eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, nor have they entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love him. And his throne like the days of the sky. Fittingly, since our citizenship is in the heavens. And a throne like the days of the sky. Understand the blessed way of life of the angels, or the endless time; since God is endless, being said to dwell in the heavens. If his sons abandon my law, and do not walk according to my judgments; if they profane my ordinances, and do not keep my commandments.

I will visit their lawless deeds with a rod, and their injustices with whips. They abandon the law of God, even if they depart only a little from what is written in it, and wish to perform the things of the law according to their own purpose, and not according to that of the lawgiver; nor do they walk by the judgments of God, those who are swayed by the rich man, or who pity the poor man, when they judge. God, however, does not act thus, but wishes the judgment to be equal for all. Again, those who feign virtue and insult the commandments by not following them purely profane his commandments. Hence they are said not even to keep them, since they transgress the intention of the one who gave them. He visits their lawless deeds with a rod and their injustices with whips. Therefore, when we are whipped, let us not accuse, nor blame, nor if we happen to practice fasting or some other such virtue, let us not think that we have been whipped for that reason; for certainly, just as we do good things, so also we have needed whips on account of this. Nevertheless, along with the discipline, he promised kindness. And my mercy I will not scatter from them, nor will I do injustice in my truth. He promises to treat us with great kindness: first, because he whips us when we sin; for the Lord disciplines whom he loves; and he whips every son whom he accepts. Then, he judges that those who have sinned are in no way worthy of rejection; hence he does not scatter mercy from us. How? Because he shows mercy to all after the whips. But he says he will not do injustice in his truth either. For what does his truth intend?

The one who believes in him, even if he dies, will live—that is, even if he sins, he is saved through conversion. Hence the other interpreters have rendered "faith" instead of "truth." So he disciplines the faithful for this reason, that they may be saved by turning back, and that the promise made concerning faith may in no way be found false. This is made clearer by what follows: "And I will not profane my covenant"—that is, I will not annul it—"and what goes forth through my lips I will not set aside." He clearly sets forth what is promised in the Gospels concerning the faithful. Therefore, since he mentioned a covenant, lest you think it is the one through Moses or the other prophets, he added: "What goes forth through my lips I will not set aside," so that you may understand these things which we have just set forth as uttered by Christ through his own tongue. "I have sworn once in my holy one, if I will lie to David." An oath of God is called his promise, as inviolable. Hence elsewhere David represents God as speaking thus: "As I swore in my anger, if they will enter into my rest," calling the promise an oath—for by whom would he swear, when all swear by him? And what is it that he promised David and does not lie? That his seed remains forever, and his throne is like the sun before me, and like the moon established forever; and the witness in heaven is faithful.

6. Who is this? Clearly Christ, for he was in the heavens counseling the Father when these things were spoken. Concerning him also Isaiah said: "Be my witnesses; and I am a witness, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen." He was fittingly called a faithful witness, because he brought the faith from works to words. But at that time God made a promise to David, when he planned to build a house for the ark; for he speaks thus: "And I will raise up your seed after you, who is from your womb, and I will prepare his kingdom. He himself will build a house in my name; and I will set up his throne forever," calling Christ the seed of David on account of the flesh. Therefore Matthew also wrote the prologue of the Gospels thus: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham." And Paul also says concerning Christ: "Concerning his son who was born from the seed of David according to the flesh." His throne is like the sun, for he possesses his kingdom in light. But so that you might imagine nothing small about him, he added, "Before me," that is, equal to mine. For the prophet understood "Before" here not as opposite, but as equivalent. Yet indeed, as a day, it has been established for eternity. He calls "eternity" the present life, as we have often said; into which it has been established not as the sun, but as the moon. For just as the moon has certain eclipses and risings, so also the glory of Christ in the present time is eclipsed among some, being manifest to the impious, but among the pious it is exalted.

And at times he yields to the persecutors and allows those who believe in him to be handed over to bonds, prisons, and death—which is considered an eclipse of his glory. But at other times he suddenly casts down the persecutors and so raises his own glory that those who have testified for him are worshipped by kings. For this reason, the kingdom of Christ in the present life is likened to the moon. Therefore the prophet has necessarily added a diapsalma, especially since, after having set forth the words from the person of God up to this point, he now introduces his own discourse to God. But you have thrust away and despised. The change of persons astonishes the more simple-minded, yet it is customary for David, since a stage is fitting for such a one, which he set up through singing and playing the cithara. Nevertheless, the promises concerning the nations (for they are not concerning the Jews) are indicated by what has now been said; for it says that he thrust away the people of the Jews and despised them, that is, made them of no account and considered them worthy of nothing. In what manner? Hear the following: You have delayed your Christ. For he postponed his arrival for a time, because they were not fit to receive him. Not only this delay and the disparagement of the Jews, but also what is said next sets it forth. You have overturned the covenant of your servant. And what covenant, or with whom, or did he overturn it entirely with the Jews? By destroying all the ordinances concerning them and overturning their laws.

Those whom he now calls slaves, not as serving the commandments of God, but wishing to draw God into sympathy; and at the same time hinting at the lazy slave who hid the talent, having the image of the people of the Jews. You have profaned his sanctuary to the ground. This needs no clarification; for in everyone's eyes the once sanctuary of the Jews is profane, trampled not only by all men, but also by unclean beasts. You have cast down all his fences. He speaks of the legal precepts, necessarily called fences because of the curse upon them, which holds the place of thorns. You have made his fortifications cowardice. For in what they formerly trusted as fortified, in these now, with their polity changed, they are afraid, daring to perform no lawful act—neither to sacrifice, nor to celebrate, nor anything else. All who pass along the road plundered him. You will therefore call life a road; for Christ says in the Gospels: "Be well-disposed toward your opponent, as long as you are on the road with him." Those who have believed in Christ travel along this road, passing through life casually and as it happens, claiming nothing in it, but also hastening to pass through quickly, by whom the people of the Jews have been plundered of law and prophets, their true wealth. He became a reproach to his neighbors. We are necessarily called neighbors of the Jews; and we necessarily consider them reproachful, because although salvation comes from them, they do not wish to be saved. You have raised the right hand of those who oppress him.

7. Observe, he speaks of those who hold the Roman empire; for it is evident that they oppress it. But indeed they were also raised up in the right hand, that is, in dominion, having acquired a broader empire, from the time they ravaged the lands of the Jews. You gladdened all his enemies. If he means the nations as enemies, he gladdened them not by the means by which he harmed those, but by the means he granted to us. But if he means the demons as enemies, he gladdened them because he stripped the Jews of their own hand and gave them over to lie open to anyone who wished for their destruction. You turned away the aid of his sword. The sword of a pious man is surely the command of God; for by it we turn back the opposing powers. Therefore Paul also said: "For the word of God is living, and effective, and sharper than any two-edged sword." The particular sword of the Jews was the law of Moses. He turned away its aid; for he invalidated its use in the literal sense. And did you not assist him in the war? In which? In the war against us; for often they engage us from the law and the prophets. But God does not provide them, but rather grants us the understanding of the writings, drawing all the written things to accusation of them and to advocacy for us. You dissolved from his purification. In what manner? By legislating the true purification, baptism. For when a complete purification was proclaimed, the partial purifications of the Jews were necessarily abolished. Hence, instead of "You dissolved," the sixth edition of the translators rendered "You sank." You dashed his throne to the ground.

Throne, whether you call it royal, or magisterial, or priestly, all those of the Jews were shattered, and for this reason they are said to have been broken to the ground, where their kings, priests, and teachers also held their pride. You have shortened the days of his time; you have poured shame upon him. For their polity has not remained in its entirety, nor has it been legislated like that of the nations until the consummation; and for this reason they are fittingly said to have shame poured upon them. For it is evident that because of lawlessness the time of their polity was shortened; and this is made clear by what God ordained to Solomon concerning the temple: "If you turn away, you and your children, from me, and worship other gods, I will uproot Israel from the land I gave them; and this house, which I have consecrated in my name, I will cast away from my presence." A diapsalma necessarily followed the prophecy, since, having left aside the person of the Jews, he brought forward an intercession on behalf of all humanity. "How long, O Lord, will you turn away to the end?" He calls "turning away to the end," that is, the complete delay, the arrival of the Savior. For the Creator was not otherwise going to be moved to compassion toward our race, except by taking up the firstfruits of the mixture into himself. "Your anger will be kindled like fire"; that is, it will consume those who gathered him. For this is a property of fire. But why does he not say, "It has been kindled," but, "It will be kindled"?

Since we have sinned, God is angered, as a father, but also shows forbearance, until we add sin to sin, and kindle against ourselves a more vehement impulse toward punishment at the time of Gehenna. Remember what my substance is. It is rotten, he says, and cheap; for we are from earth, and we return to earth; and for this reason we need your providence for re-creation. The following verse makes this clear: For did you not create all the sons of men in vain? That is, your work of creating humans was not a trivial matter, merely to be seen, like the other animals, and then to vanish; but rather so that it might be preeminent among all creations, and through its appearance the necessity of creation might be shown. But now the matter has turned to the opposite, with death being extinguished; for this the prophet lamented in the following verses. Who is the man who will live and not see death, who will deliver his soul from the hand of Hades? The decree of death prevails over all, he says; the souls of all, even of the righteous, are held in Hades; and the dignity of the image within us has been corrupted by the tyranny of death. The prophet has used these words everywhere, hastening the coming of the Savior. For no one can deliver himself from death, nor lead his own soul up from Hades, before the one who conquers death by death comes. A diapsalm, and now again he inserts it, since he has turned the prophecy back to the people of the Jews. Where are your ancient mercies, Lord, which you swore to David in your truth? That is, of your truth.

He speaks of Christ, who is truth. For what he swore to David, he himself elsewhere, having sung, has recorded: "The Lord swore to David truth, and he will not annul it; from the fruit of your womb I will set upon your throne." 8. Therefore, he calls the promise to come, since it hints at the coming of Christ, in which for us is every form of mercy, every occasion of philanthropy; and these mercies are ancient, because the mystery concerning them was contemplated by God before the ages. Whence also Paul says: "The mystery hidden before the ages and before the generations for our glory." And Isaiah called it an ancient and true counsel. "Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants, which you promised to bear in the bosom of me of many nations." He calls his own prophecy "bosom." For in it, as in a bosom, he stored the true reproach, the intelligible one. Yet more, David calls the prophecy concerning the Lord "bosom" to inhabit, since from his own bosom he was about to come forth in the flesh. Therefore, many reproaches from the nations, as if the prophecy concerning Christ were delayed and for this reason thought to be false, were endured not only by David but also by all the prophets, whom he indeed called servants of God; and he besought to take their reproach into remembrance, so that, out of regard for the reputation of the prophets, he might manifest the incarnation of the Lord. That these things are so, learn from what follows: "Whom they reproached, the exchange of your Christ." Do you see that it was because of Christ that those who reproached did so? Not only those from the nations, but also the people of the Jews reproached.

Therefore Paul rightly said: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Above, then, he said that the prophets, whom he also calls slaves, are reproached by many nations; but here, the exchange for Christ, namely the Church (for he exchanged this for the synagogue), endures reproaches from the enemies of God, from the Jews, concerning whom this David said: "The enemies of the Lord lied to him." And he fed them with the fat of wheat, and from a rock he filled them with honey. Why, then, do these reproach the Church? Because she was expected through faith, as Hosea says, to be betrothed; and he speaks thus: "And I will betroth you to myself in faith, and you will know the Lord," speaking as to the Church ignorant of God, since she had received neither law nor prophets. But before Christ came, the proclamation of faith had no place. "Blessed is the Lord forever, may it be, may it be." The prophet placed a good seal on the words. For he doubles the blessing to Christ, blessing him with these same words that Paul also used: "From whom Christ is according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed forever, amen." Hence the other interpreters have rendered "May it be, may it be" as "Amen, amen." And why did he double the blessing? Because when God over all came, he put an end to both the reproach of the prophets and that of the Church. And do not be unaware that the third book of the interpreters here reaches its end and is sealed.

You recall that it was said earlier that the prophetic psalmody is divided into five books, and that each is completed by a psalm which has a doxology bearing "Amen" at its end. A prayer to Moses, the man of God. Psalm 89. 1. The Spirit devised a noble title for Moses. For since we have divided ourselves, and some of us, having sided with the enemy, have become attached to sin, while others, preserving the creature intact for the Creator, the man of God called Moses "man of God," so that you might learn that the righteous man is a special possession of God. But why did he dedicate this psalm to Moses? For Moses is not found to have composed it himself; or for what reason did he not hand it down like the odes? Therefore, learn the cause, which holds truth and reasonableness. The psalmist mentioned the creator of the world in the prologues, wishing to devise a fitting beginning for the fourth book of the psalter. But it is a special prerogative of Moses to discourse about the generation of the world; hence the psalmist allotted this part of his own lyre to him. "Lord, you have become a refuge for us in generation and generation." The prophet indicates the continuity of God's care, saying "generation and generation," not two things, but all generations. For since the intellectual enemy, beginning from the deception concerning the serpent, has remained warring against our race in every time and polity, we necessarily needed to take refuge in God. For we are not saved otherwise unless, against the one who seems to be powerful, we enlist the one who is truly powerful.

Before the mountains came to be, and the earth and the inhabited world were formed, and from eternity and unto eternity you are God. The psalmist here establishes two things for us: that the world is created, since some suppose it to be uncreated. Therefore the mountains came to be by the word of creation, and the earth likewise he brought forth as being formed; and at the same time he makes God their maker, as being before all things and having become a beginning to all for this reason. Having said "the earth," he added "the inhabited world" not in vain, but by this term he calls man and the other animals into the midst, from which it happens to be inhabited, lest we ever refer the wild beasts or the reptiles or any of the other animals to another creator. And rightly, "From eternity and unto eternity," that is, of the future, he says that God is absolutely and Maker and Creator (for all these are pre-understood of the essence of God), but he contends against all the contrary opinions at once; for there are those who depict one God of the present life and another of the future, whose blasphemous opinion he overturned by the words spoken. Do not turn a man to humiliation. What kind? For many forms of humiliation are spoken of in the God-inspired Scripture; and sometimes it means the moderation that comes from intention: "Learn," says Christ, "that I am meek and humble in heart"; sometimes, that which comes from discipline for our correction, for which reason David says, "It is good for me that you humbled me"; sometimes, that which comes from punishment, from which the punished one becomes reproachful, as when it says concerning the devil, "You humbled him as a proud wounded man.

He deprecates this humiliation for man, so that he too may not be cast off from God, just as that one has been cast off; for this reason Symmachus has rendered "condemnation" instead of "humiliation." And the prophet, having prayed these things, accordingly adds the following, with God responding: "And you said, 'Return, sons of men.'" For if we return, we do not turn back to humiliation, like one who has contracted an incurable vice. "For a thousand years in your eyes, Lord, are like yesterday, which has passed, and like a watch in the night." He clearly sets forth the patience of God, on account of which he commanded men to return, a thousand years being like a single day, the hour already past; and not even like a single day, but also like a watch in the night—a time much shorter than the day [...] for they divide the night into four watches. Therefore God does not grow weary in being patient throughout each person's entire life, because he reckons a thousand years as the shortest time, and not the present, but that which has already passed. "Their abominations will be years." Of whom? Of sinners; for concerning them he also discusses the following: even if they possess long-lasting and protracted abominations, they do not possess eternal ones. For he calls the prosperities of wicked men "abominations," who boast and take confidence in nothing that is proper, but rather in beauty, perhaps, or wealth, or bodily strength, which, being temporary, are worthy of no account, and for this reason are called abominations.

Hence Daniel also said to Nebuchadnezzar, "The Most High rules the kingdom of men, and to whomever he wishes, he will give it, and he will raise up the abasement of men over it." In the morning it passes like grass, in the morning it blooms and passes; in the evening it falls off, hardens, and withers. 2. He calls the present life "morning," not in comparison with the future, but because when the present life ceases, the darkness of death comes. Therefore Jeremiah says, "Woe to us, for the day has declined, and the shadows are fading," he himself calling the present life "day," and "shadows" the conduct in it, as it holds for a short time. In the present life, then, the prosperity of men passes: one like grass, another like a flower, that is, it comes in the middle; but one falls off like a flower, because of its very brief duration; the other, even if it remains verdant for some time, nevertheless later hardens, heated by the sun of righteousness, and withers, and being grass, it is shown to be fit for the oven and burning. So it very much coincides with what the prophet Isaiah, and indeed also James, set forth for our admonition, saying, "All flesh is grass, and all glory of man is like the flower of grass; the grass withered, and its flower fell off; and the comeliness of his face perished." But the prophet utters these things not as a prayer, but declaring and being angry. For even if he says, "Let it pass," he does not speak the word in the manner of a prayer; Theodotion makes this clear, for instead of "Let it pass," he has rendered "It passes.

Yet that when God brings the penalty upon sinners at the proper time, the present comeliness, once corrupted, is exposed, as the following shows: "That we have perished in your wrath, and in your anger we were troubled." The prophet himself is accustomed to present anger as milder than wrath. You will know this especially when you come upon this verse of his: "Lord, do not reprove me in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath." For he assigned reproof to anger, and discipline after reproof, that is, punishment, to wrath. Hence also now he says that we perish from wrath, that is, are destroyed, and are troubled from anger. But one who is troubled is not necessarily destroyed; if, coming to his senses, he turns back, he escapes the wrath and the perishing from it, just as one who is reproved, if he changes, will be able to avoid the discipline. "You have set our lawless deeds before you." First, because as a righteous one he regards sins with hostility and opposition; then, as a judge, he has before his eyes both the right actions and the transgressions. "Our lifetime is for the illumination of your face." For nothing in it escapes God, and therefore it is said to be for illumination, that is, to be revealed to his face. And it is for the illumination of the face of God, that is, of Christ, needing to be illuminated by him. "For all our days have perished." How? Learn from what follows: "We have perished in your wrath.

For when God became angry, at the time when Adam in paradise disobeyed, we ourselves perished, and all our days, that is, our entire life, perished, the judge having condemned us to death. "Our years meditated like a spider's web." For it was fitting for the prophet to meditate and philosophize on such things, and to conceive of human life as a spider's web, continually reflecting on this concerning himself; for from this he was about both to endure grievous things and to despise things that seem pleasant, as having a rotten substance. "The days of our years among them are seventy years." "Among them," that is, of some; for few reach the number of years mentioned. "But if in powers, eighty years." He calls "power" the robustness of the body. Symmachus, instead of "in powers," has rendered "in a paradox," showing that it is not easy even for the robust to advance to such an age. "And the greater part of them is toil and pain." Therefore, then, he called life a spider's web, human life; this, on the one hand, as lasting for a brief time; for weakness is characteristic of the spider; this, on the other hand, as having toil and pain for something useless; for with much toil and labor the spider also composed its web because of the extreme fineness of the threads; but nevertheless the labor on them is useless; for it turns out to be of no use.

And why did he limit the number of human years to seventy, even though many reach one hundred years and more, or at any rate exceed the number eighty, which he did not deign to count at all, as being superfluous for life, driving them into an overdue old age, which renders them almost like the dead? Because gentleness came upon us, and we shall be disciplined. He calls gentleness the sentence passed upon us by God: "You are earth, and to earth you shall return." For God, wishing to soften the previous punishments (I mean, "In the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread," and "The earth shall bring forth thorns and thistles for you"), finally devises for us this death, by which we shall be severely disciplined, not so much punished as benefited; for by the hope of death we avoid many of the evils here. Who knows the power of your wrath, and from your fear to count out your anger? 3. Here the prophet took "Who" not as indicating impossibility, but rarity; as in, "Who will go up to the mountain of God?" and "Who is the man who desires life?" For he shows these to be both rare and blessed, having expressed perplexity. Just as also here: for knowing the power of God's wrath, and from his fear, that is, on account of his fear, to count out his anger—that is, to investigate and calculate—produces abstinence from sins and the achievement of virtues. "Make your right hand known to me in this way, and those instructed in heart in wisdom." He calls the right hand of God the Christ.

those trained in heart in wisdom, that is, in Christ (for Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God), the apostles; for he did not say, trained in tongue, but in heart, which is proper to the apostles as God-bearers, who also have the mind of Christ, just as Paul also said. To be made known, therefore, that is, for Christ and the apostles to be revealed, since from there salvation is mediated for us who are sinning. But after saying, Make known in this way, then not adding how, he evidently intended to state the manner in which he prays for Christ to be revealed, whether in height, for instance, or in lowliness, but was at a loss as to which it was fitting to choose. For height makes him inaccessible to men, while lowliness makes him contemptible; therefore Christ has chosen the middle of each, healing the lowliness of the passions with the wonders. Turn back, Lord (until when), and be comforted over your servants. He does not entreat God himself to turn back, but for us to turn back, that is, to be corrected. Or he also wishes God to turn back, so that, having turned back as a shepherd, he may look upon the wandering sheep, over which he also wishes this same God to be comforted because of the error. And he says until when not as accusing, but as deeply lamenting God’s delay, and wishing to show that our affairs require haste. We were filled in the morning with your mercy, Lord; and we rejoiced and were gladdened in all our days. The prophet has not yet completed the prayer; for he still adheres to it in the following verses.

And although he was heard, he nevertheless uttered the present words, in which he boasts of being filled with the mercy of God, that is, of enjoying it abundantly. "To be filled" in the morning, that is, speaking of the time of the Savior's resurrection, which happened very early, as Mark says; or also of the present life, in which Christ, the mercy of God, came among men; and we were filled with his many goods; at which we rejoiced and were glad all the days, which once happened to the people of the Jews when they were ruling for a time and then again falling under enemies and serving; for you will find this frequently recorded in the book of Judges. "We were glad" instead of "the days in which you humbled us, the years in which we saw evils." What days? Or does he allude to those days which we spent under the slavery of idols, in which he humbled us by allowing us to serve our own creations? Then we saw many and various evils, not only blaspheming against the Creator, but also ignorant of the rights of nature; for we sacrificed our sons and daughters to the demons. "And look upon your servants and upon your works, and guide their sons." Do you see again how he resumed the prayer? And what does he pray for at all? That God may look upon us and upon our works. And he will look upon us and will have us as his own servants when we obey his own law (for this is proper to servants); then he will deign to oversee us and our works as good.

He will guide us and our sons, both those of the flesh and indeed also those of the spirit, as those taught good things from good teachers and, having beheld what is fitting through the hand-guiding from God. And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us, and direct the works of our hands upon us. For if we partake of the brightness of God, that is, the illumination of the Spirit, of which the saints, having partaken, themselves also possess their own brightness (for it says: "In the brightness of your saints; from the womb before the morning star I have begotten you"): The works of our hands, that is, the actions, you will say, are directed by God upon us, that is, for us, being performed according to the law from him, in such a way that it is said to us what was said to the apostles: "Thus let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." And direct the work of our hands. Therefore the psalmist hints at almsgiving; for this is the exceptional work of our hands. For this reason he separated it from the many works which he mentioned in the preceding verses, wishing to assign a special dignity to almsgiving, by the direction of which we gain not ordinary things, but mercy from God and compassion; for blessed are the merciful, because they themselves will be shown mercy.

A praise-song for David, without superscription among the Hebrews. Psalm 90. 1. The other interpreters have the psalm without a superscription. Nevertheless, it was not fitting for the superscription to be rejected on this account; rather, it should be assigned to it. For it is from the Seventy, who through their mutual agreement manifested the provision of the Spirit that came to them, by which they necessarily inscribed the present psalm as a praise-song for David, that is, a hymn of praise. For one must especially attend to this melody of his, as it contains great and wondrous things. He who dwells in the help of the Most High will be lodged in the shelter of the God of heaven. The help of the Most High is the legislation from him; for it has been given to us as an alliance against invisible enemies. Therefore, he who lives according to the purpose set forth in it dwells in this help. This one will be lodged in the shelter of the God of heaven, according to the future, which is clear; for he will be a co-dweller with God and will inhabit the same abodes as the maker of heaven, or rather, he will be sheltered by God himself, not by any of the created things. He will say to the Lord: You are my protector and my refuge, my God, and I will hope in him. Fittingly; for he who lives according to the commandments of God, this one speaks boldly as one hoping in him, and he will have him as a protector, standing spiritually against the intelligible wars; but if he is also weak, not because the help of God has been defeated, but because he himself has become weaker through negligence, he will say to God: You are my refuge. And you would not err in saying this, speaking boldly from the life that has preceded.

That he himself will rescue me from the snare of hunters and from a disturbing word. A snare of hunters, and indeed also a disturbing word, is every counsel that urges toward base things and muddies the souls of the deceived with pleasures, thus educating them. From this, God, when we take refuge in him, rescues us; for we can no longer be ensnared by pleasures, finding nothing in the world comparable to God when all things are set beside him. In his back he will overshadow you, and under his wings you will hope. And for what reason, having taken upon his own person the things that have gone before, does the prophet now speak as if addressing another? Or surely, because he now arranges what has been said for the people from the nations, instructing them in what manner they will be able to overcome the tyrannizing demons. And what alliance does God promise them? He says, first, from the law and the prophets; for these are the back of God, since in them, as in a back, he has deposited his own knowledge. In these he overshadows the one who approaches him, not allowing him to be burnt by the burning heat of the devil. For this reason Paul also set forth the law as a shadow. The wings are the Gospel; since the one who lives according to these, having become as if winged, is lifted from earth to heaven. Under these, then, one must hope, that is, to have such hope in God as the evangelical commandment ordains, so as not to hope in God and mammon, but in God alone; for thus we will be able to be harmed by nothing, whether from sensible or intelligible enemies. His truth will surround you with a weapon.

The truth is a strong weapon of the one who does not lie; but indeed the truth of God is Christ, as we have often said; his weapon is the cross, by which, when we are surrounded, we dare every battle, we turn back every enemy; the following things make this clear. You will not be afraid of a nocturnal fear, nor of a flying arrow by day. Nocturnal fear is that of the pleasures of the flesh; for it attacks especially in darkness; a flying arrow by day is greed; for this is their time for flight, that is, for activity, opportune. Yet understand each in the context of the assault of demons; for these are accustomed to frighten us at night, with darkness cooperating with them for terrors; by day they fly; for they are aerial; they do not rest, but like arrows they attack the unwary and those naked of the weapons of the flesh. From a thing that travels in darkness, from a mishap and a noonday demon. Do you see that he has spoken about demons also in what has preceded? Since there happen to be many differences among them (for many divisions of deceit run beneath them), "From a thing," he says, "that travels in darkness," that is, from whatever has its action and course in darkness. For having said this universally, he recalled the opposing powers, which delight in darkness and have no communion with light because of wickedness; whence they are also about to be led away into the outer darkness; but indeed they also pursue the noonday part of the day; for most people are accustomed to rest at that time.

Being thieves and robbers, they fear the constant watchfulness of people, dreading the trustworthiness of our image; hence they busy themselves, for the most part, around tombs and filth, and other places deserted by people. For this reason they also dare to fall upon us and meet us in the middle of the day. A thousand will fall from your left side, and ten thousand from your right, but they will not approach you. The apostle Paul taught us the weapons of righteousness on the right and left: glory and dishonor, ill repute and good repute, and the things that follow from these. In these the opposing powers are fought and fall; but on the left side fewer, on the right side more. Therefore, "From your side" (by which the prophet understood the left part, as is clear from his distinguishing it from the right) he says a thousand enemies will fall; from the right, ten thousand. And do not be surprised; for the beginning of the fall of the demons is the sufferings of the pious—of martyrs, as it were, and of all who have emulated the martyrs' struggles. The sufferings are assigned to the weapons on the left; hence he previously counted those on the left as falling.

2. Yet most of the powers of the idols were overthrown by the later honors of those who are pious toward Christ. And thus he says that the night and the overthrow of the enemies are accomplished without effort, so that they do not even approach us in a body, being cautious to fight. But with your eyes you will perceive, and you will see the retribution of sinners. Even if, he says, they fight from afar and invisibly as unseen beings, nevertheless with your eyes you will observe the trophies raised against them, and the retribution inflicted upon them by those who were deceived. For those who formerly fashioned idols now destroy idols; those who formerly built temples now burn temples; those who formerly deified the works of their own hands now cast them down with their own hands. And hear how these things have been accomplished: the prophet set the face of humanity as the respondent, saying: Because you, Lord, are my hope. The words are of both gratitude and truth. For by hope in God we accomplished the war against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of darkness, we who are fleshly beings otherwise unable to prevail over the bodiless ones. You have set the Most High as your refuge. Evil will not approach you, and a scourge will not come near your dwelling. The prophet introduced a fine personification; for having accepted that the victorious man attributed the cause of the victory to God, he also made it easy to anoint him with the present words. For he says not only that evils do not prevail over him, but that they do not approach at all, through fear of the God who dwells within and protects.

He made it his own Refuge or Dwelling Place, as the other interpreters have rendered it. So great a good is it to take refuge in God. Therefore Jeremiah also said: Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and the Lord will be his hope. For how is he not blessed, to whom evils do not approach at all, and a scourge will not come near his tent, that is, his body? For Paul also called it thus: For we who are in the tent groan, being weighed down, because we do not wish to take it off, but to put it on, so that the mortal may be swallowed up by life. But why will a scourge not come near? Because being scourged is characteristic of sinners; but he who has taken refuge in God will not be among sinners, and so is not scourged. That he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up on their hands, so that you never strike your foot against a stone. Therefore, he who takes refuge in God is found to be a son of God; for such is the worth of what has now been said. The Adversary interpreted these things as referring to Christ, when he sought to cast him down from above, attempting to throw him. And you see yourself that he does not say that God commands one angel, but many, concerning him who has taken refuge in him, so that they guard all his ways and lift him up on their hands, that is, carry him. So angels not only guard, but also guide by the hand those who are pious, so that they do not strike their feet; and he ordained that the one below be served by the powers above, in honor of the image which the one below bears.

You, however, understand the God-bearing angels, those who have knowledge of God and in all our ways, that is, in our modes of life, guard and guide us, so that we may not stumble against the stone of stumbling and the rock of scandal. For that God has established for us angels who teach and proclaim his knowledge, listen to Malachi saying: The lips of a priest will guard knowledge, and they will seek the law from his mouth, for he is an angel of the Lord Almighty. You will tread upon the asp and the basilisk, and you will trample the lion and the dragon. It hints at the evil powers through the aforementioned thoughts, in which the venom of wickedness is stored, as in reptiles. Whence also the Lord said: Behold, I have given you the authority to tread upon snakes and scorpions and upon every power of the enemy. Therefore, he who tramples anger tramples a lion; for the animal is irascible. Hence Solomon also says: The threat of a king is like the anger of a lion. Likewise, he who tramples pleasures and the rest of wickedness tramples the asp, the basilisk, and the dragon. For the pleasures of the flesh and all the wickedness of life are necessarily compared to reptiles that crawl on the ground. Perhaps, however, one tramples the basilisk properly when he tramples envy, which rules as king in wickedness; for the basilisk also has its venom in its eye, just as the envious are said to. Because he hoped in me, and I will rescue him; I will shelter him, because he knew my name.

Since the psalmist has uttered great things, but small and incredible—that such wicked and powerful forces, which are compared to a lion, a dragon, an asp, and a basilisk, more dangerous than all beasts, are trampled by us—behold, he has presented God confirming what was said, and showing us an invulnerable weapon: hope in him, by which we are delivered from enemies, if we come to be under him; and we are sheltered, so that we are no longer plotted against by them, only if we recognize the name of God, that is, if we worship him gratefully in deed and word, with tongue and intention, with thoughts and actions. For he does not recognize as king one who has only heard by ear, but one who approaches him as one ought to approach a good king. He will cry out to me, and I will hear him. And what is more blessed than this, to have God ready to help, prepared to oppose the enemies? I am with him in distress, I will deliver him and glorify him. Therefore, distress is no longer distress, but joy and glory because of the one who dwells with and shares in it, and the purpose of those who cause distress is turned to the opposite. Just as with Nebuchadnezzar, when he threw the youths into the furnace of fire as if to destroy them; but they not only were lifted above the threatened destruction, but were worshipped by the threatening tyrant. I will fill him with length of days—that is, the enjoyment of the future age; for the life of humans here, however long it may be, is very small in comparison to that. And I will show him my salvation.

You will call it "Savior," because it is the salvation by which those who have trusted in God are saved in that judgment; but you will especially call it Christ, who is the Savior of the Father, for in him he saved our race. He therefore promised to show him to us; for the hope of the pious is to see him face to face, just as Paul set forth to the Corinthians. A Psalm of a Song for David for the Day of the Sabbath-Eve, 91. 1. The psalm is anonymous, but not without an inscription; it has an inscription that reveals the subject, but it has hidden the name of the one who composed it. And the inscription shows the reason. For since this psalm happened to be assigned to the day of the Sabbath, as all the psalmists were singing, it is reasonable that it is ascribed neither to David, nor to Asaph, nor to the sons of Korah, nor to any other (for it was common), it being clear that the prophecy differed for David as for the rest of the psalms. It is good to confess to the Lord, and to sing to your name, O Most High. For how is it not good to confess to the one who is good and who deals kindly with those who confess, but does not punish at all? For knowing our affairs, he nevertheless gladly learns them from those who confess, wishing to cut off the accusation of the enemies against us, and to justify us through the confession. For a just man is his own accuser in the first statement. But he commanded that one must first confess, and then sing, since it is necessary to hymn God from a pure heart. But how else is one purified of sins except through confession? What then? Is singing good?

That is, beneficial and useful. He commands the study of God day and night: to proclaim your mercy in the morning and your truth at night. For by saying "morning," he indicated the day. But he assigned the study of truth to the night, instilling in us fear and compunction at that time, so that, since most people misuse the night for pleasures and plans, they may, upon remembering God's truth, which is fearful to sinners, cease from every improper deed and unlawful thought; and if they do commit some offense, when morning comes—that is, when day breaks—they may by no means despair, but, having studied God's mercy, turn to repentance, by which alone sinners can be pitied. Then, how ought we to sing, how ought we to proclaim? On a ten-stringed psaltery, with song on a cithara. He intends the study of mercy and truth for the singer to be from each Testament, the evangelical and the legal. For this reason he mentioned the psaltery and the cithara. But by calling the psaltery here "ten-stringed," he alluded to the legal Testament; for there are ten commandments in the law. And since he assigned the song to the cithara, which is surely the New Testament—concerning which this same psalmist said in another part of the prophecy, "O God, I will sing a new song to you, I will play for you on a ten-stringed psaltery"—he therefore alludes to the evangelical Testament. And why does he use two instruments for melody? Because "You have delighted me, Lord, in your creation, and I will rejoice in the works of your hands." I have twofold goods, he says.

For this reason I have made the instruments of doxology double for me. For we rejoice in the work of God, in the beauty of the sky, in the variety of the stars, in the good things from the earth, in the working of the sea. For by this expression divine Scripture is accustomed to characterize this whole visible world. And Solomon makes this clear in Ecclesiastes, saying: I gave my heart to every work that has been made under the sun. Works of the hands of God, we ourselves are. Your hands made me and formed me, he says in another psalm. And Isaiah says: And now, Lord, you are our father; we are clay, and you are our molder; we are all works of your hands. Therefore we rejoice in creation, as having its enjoyment; but in ourselves we exult—which is greater than rejoicing, and quite reasonably so, because, being made of clay, we have such a great possession for enjoyment; and moreover we are called sons of the Maker. How great are your works, Lord! Your designs have been greatly deepened.

2. The works of God have been magnified, not because they have advanced in size, but because we have advanced in our knowledge concerning them, and have been able, as far as is possible, to comprehend their magnitude; or rather, have been able to know concerning them that they are beyond comprehension. But indeed, his thoughts also, that is, his counsels concerning us, which he administers and devises on our behalf, have been deepened to such an extent that Paul says: O the depth of the wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable are his ways! But just as the righteous glorify God for these things and marvel at him exceedingly in themselves, so the sinners, on account of their folly, and indeed also on account of the offense arising from folly, stumble; the following makes this clear: A foolish man will not know, and a senseless man will not understand these things. For it is characteristic of a fool not to yield to the wisdom of God, nor to know that he governs everything with justice, administers with equity, and manages with advantage, even if we for a time are ignorant of the causes of what happens. Whence, however, the stumbling of the senseless arises, he made known afterwards: When sinners spring up like grass, and all who work lawlessness appear, so that they might be destroyed forever and ever. For the rising of sinners, that is, has a temporary comeliness.

He called it “rising” not because of its brightness, but so that you might learn that even it is followed by misfortunes. It deceives the foolish and senseless, and leads them to reason about God as having left the world without providence, not paying attention that even if sinners rise up, they are like grass, which withers as soon as it blooms. Nevertheless, by their success all who practice impiety emerge. For they show themselves, emboldened; and their boldness is found to be the cause of eternal ruin—for to be emboldened in doing evil is more grievous than the evil itself. But you are the Most High forever, Lord. Often this prophet in particular calls the present life “forever,” in which he says that God is the Most High, that is, incomprehensible—for this is hinted at by the height—always being so, but now even more so. For in the future, even if not the whole, yet much, compared to present knowledge, of God’s judgments we will comprehend. Therefore Paul also says: “We know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, then the partial will be abolished. Now I know in part, then I will fully know, just as I have been known.” —“For behold your enemies, Lord, for behold your enemies will perish, and all who work lawlessness will be scattered.” For this reason, he says, we cannot now comprehend God’s judgments, because his enemies—that is, the sinners—perish in the future age; and then all who work lawlessness are scattered.

So now, when they are gathered together and standing, and have not yet met the destruction owed to sinners, some deceive them and lead them astray, as if they will not pay the penalty—those for whom even here the penalty is sufficient, that they are called enemies of God. And the greatest threat is not only to be destroyed, but also to be scattered. Therefore they vainly gather for themselves kinships and friendships formed in wickedness, not knowing that none of these will be able to stand for long, since God scatters every gathering of lawless men. "And my horn will be raised like that of a unicorn, and my old age in rich mercy." Unicorns are the righteous, and Christ preeminently, who used one horn, the cross, against the opposing powers. This horn has been given to us as faith in him against those arrayed against us; it has height analogous to the Lord's horn, that is, the cross. For just as the cross was glorified through sufferings, so also the faith of the pious is raised through persecutions and glorified through sufferings. And indeed our old age, that is, the final times, is raised in rich mercy. For in the last times he has met us abundantly and generously with mercy, so that he invites sinners and tax collectors into his own kingdom. "And my eye has looked upon my enemies; and my ear will hear those who rise up against me and do evil.

Since the Word has often defined the demons as our enemies, our eye has seen in these things the fall of the idols, the burning of the temples, the demolition of the altars, by which they ensnared us to death. Against these, our ear has also heard all that Jesus threatened would happen to them in the future; for thus we have beheld them. And what are these things? That the eternal fire has been prepared for the devil and his angels. And he has well called them rebels, showing that we differ from them as much as masters from servants. But if we become negligent, seeing them weakened or even entirely sleeping, in the way that servants rise up against masters who are weak or asleep. The righteous man will flourish like a palm tree, he will be multiplied like a cedar in Lebanon. 3. Not in vain does he compare the righteous man to a palm tree, but because a small part of it is in the earth, while the whole is above the earth; and moreover, the fruit is impossible for the beasts to harvest because of the plant's inaccessibility and height. In addition, the palm tree has nothing worthless, but everything is useful. Taking each of these and applying it to the righteous man, you will marvel at the unaltered and genuine character of the image. Moreover, palm branches are given to those who contend or run as a symbol of victory; so that we cannot be crowned in the future otherwise than through righteousness. Hence Paul also said: "Henceforth the crown of righteousness is laid up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day." And why, you will say, "He will be multiplied like a cedar in Lebanon"?

Since Lebanon of the nations is a character and symbol because of the barrenness of its cedars, yet even among the nations the justice of God abounds. For many prophets, many patriarchs, and other God-bearing and righteous men came from Israel, but the martyrs who emerged from the nations surpassed their number, among whom the justice of God advanced in multitude. But learn how it abounded in what follows: Or because the palm tree has a white flower and keeps its fruit hidden until it is unripe; but when it wishes to nurture it, it displays it outwardly. So also the righteous man, while striving to conceal his virtues at first, when he reaches perfection, they reveal themselves. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will blossom in the courts of our God. Instead of "Planted," other interpreters have rendered "Transplanted," so that it is clear that it is not the cedars simply, but those transplanted from error into the house of God, about which Paul wrote to Timothy: "That you may know how one ought to conduct oneself in the house of God," which is the Church of the living God. Or because Lebanon, being a mountain of idolatry, as long as it has its cedars there, Scripture disparages them; but when they are transferred to the constructions of a holy temple, it praises them. For Solomon took from these for the temple of the Lord. They will blossom in the courts of our God, that is, in the individual churches. For it called the house of God comprehensively the universal Church.

Or also the law is the house of God, into which those from the nations, transplanted from the lawlessness that had been their polity, were allotted to bloom and bear fruit in the courts of God, that is, in the commandments. They will be multiplied in rich old age. It is not, he says, that their abundance is temporary. Lest anyone should suppose this concerning the nations because of their blooming; but in rich old age they are multiplied and advance; for as time progresses, the piety of the nations increases. And being in good condition, they will be to proclaim that the Lord our God is straight, and there is no injustice in him. You see that from being in good condition, that is, from being vigorous and at their peak, they advance to zeal. Or also being in good condition will be said properly of the faithful, to suffer readily for that in which they have believed. Therefore they proclaim the straightness of God in their good condition, and that there is no injustice in him. For as he is straight and just, he crowns those who suffer for him, and bestows upon them exceptional rewards. Nevertheless, let us also, knowing the straightness of God, become straight both toward him and toward our neighbor, neither practicing virtues in hypocrisy nor working deceit against our brother; for there is no injustice in him, our judge, but he administers judgment to each according to his action.

A praise-song for David for the day of the Sabbath-eve, when the land was settled. Psalm 92. Among the Hebrews this psalm is without a title; but it is titled by the Seventy, who wished to interpret it as referring to the true David, the one capable with his hand, that is, Christ (for this is what "David" means). Since the contents of the prophecy that follows are composed for the praise of Christ, and also as a song. For the prefatory elements of the title are not found in the more accurate copies; hence we thought it unnecessary to add an interpretation of them. The Lord has reigned, he has put on comeliness; the Lord has put on power, and has girded himself. And when, you will say, did God, the king before the ages, begin his reign? And what comeliness did he put on at all, when he himself is comeliness? For if the heaven is so beautiful as to be insatiable, and the same is true of the stars and the remaining elements of creation, how is not the one who created such comeliness surpassingly and essentially comely? But clearly it prophesies the Lord's incarnation. For his flesh is rightly called comeliness: first, as having his image; next, as sinless; in addition, because the mystery concerning us was fitting for him as good and philanthropic; whence the Spirit in another psalm addressed him as beautiful in form beyond the sons of men. This he not only called comeliness, but also power, not because the powerful one acquired power from it, but because through it he manifested his own power, which was unknown to the world.

But he also necessarily added "girding" to "clothing," indicating that he not only assumed the form of a servant, but girded himself with such ineffable reason, that is, he united and bound fast the humanity, so that the Word and the flesh are one; for this reason he is said to have become flesh. For what purpose was the mystery intended? For he strengthened the inhabited world, which will not be shaken. Behold, he says, the reason for the incarnation of the Word: for the inhabited world, being shaken by error, he settled by his presence, so that no further disturbance of it is to be expected. You will also call the Church the inhabited world (for it is inhabited by angels and by God himself; hence it is also called his house), which will not be shaken. For even if many plot against it, it is built upon the rock, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it, that is, the mouths of the heretics. Your throne is ready from then; from eternity you are. He calls the humanity of Christ not only beauty and power, but also his throne, concerning which another prophet said: "And a throne will be established with mercy, and a righteous king will sit in the tent of David judging." The psalmist, prophesying thus about Christ, says: "His throne is like the sun before me." The mystery of the Lord's incarnation, therefore, was prepared from then; "from then," he says, meaning from eternity; that is, from the beginning of the creation of the visible world. For then, when he created man, he fashioned him in his own image, placing a royal character upon him; for he knew that he was going to assume him.

Therefore he added, "You are," almost saying, the one now incarnate, "You are" the one who from eternity created man according to what seemed good to you to be fitting. The rivers lifted up, Lord, the rivers lifted up their voices. Understand the rivers as the energies of the Spirit; for Christ says, "He who believes in me, as Scripture said, rivers will flow from his belly of living water"; which the evangelist, interpreting, added, "This he said concerning the Spirit, which those believing in him were about to receive." These gifts of the Spirit, then, lifted up their own voices, that is, raised them; for they were manifested everywhere on earth, as if borne from the height of heaven. They lifted them up through the tongue of the prophets, who prophesied beforehand, clearly. The rivers will lift up their grindings. Using what instruments? The apostles, clearly; since he now mentioned a future time, in which through the apostles the gifts of the Spirit were raised, especially they also raised their own grindings, that is, their elevations; or you may understand grindings as the depths, as Symmachus rendered; or as humiliation, for the fifth and sixth editions have transmitted it thus; whether the depths of the intelligible rivers, that is, the hidden mysteries of the gifts of the Spirit; or the humiliation; for the glory of the Spirit is humble among the many, escaping most people; through the apostles these things are raised and made manifest.

From the sounds of waters […] is missing […] Psalm 93. 1. The prosperity is temporary. But he, as if lamenting over them, uttered the present words, being indignant that time is being spent while God is patient with them, so that they even boast about things for which they ought to be reverent and ashamed. And what is their boast? They will utter and speak injustice; all who work lawlessness will speak. For those who have not spared evil deeds, how will they spare words? Therefore they always speak and urge others to slip. At one time they say, "Let us do evil so that good may come"; at another, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die"; again, "The Lord does not oversee the earth," and all such things for which they are found condemned by the prophets. Your people, Lord, they have humbled, and your inheritance they have maltreated, doing each by deeds and by words. For one humbles the people of God and maltreats his inheritance, that is, humanity, not only by plundering, striking, reviling, and judging unjustly, but also by giving base advice and presenting lawlessness as beneficial. Concerning whom it is said, "Evil communications corrupt good manners." Or did not the spies sent from the wilderness humble the people of God by advising them to turn back to Egypt? They killed a widow and an orphan, and they murdered a proselyte. Not that they necessarily used a sword or other instruments of war against them.

He destroys the proselyte and the widow, the one who takes the only field they have, who deprives them of their daily food, who seizes the house that alone shelters them, who corrupts the judgment that is theirs; these things happen now and often at the hands of many. How great their sin is, learn from what follows. And they said, "The Lord will not see, nor will the God of Jacob understand." Even if the plunderers and lawless do not say this with their tongue, they say it in their intention. For they would not have dared to plunder or murder orphans, whose father is God, nor widows, whose judge He is Himself, nor proselytes, whom He loves, as Moses the lawgiver wrote, unless they had fallen to such a degree of arrogance as to inscribe in their reasoning that they can escape the notice of the Creator, that He has ordered the world without providence, that the Judge does not oversee human affairs. To these, mocking them, he added what follows: "Understand, then, you foolish ones among the people, and you fools, at last be wise." It is the custom of this prophet to call those who think blasphemous things about God "fools"; concerning whom he says, "The fool said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" Such are some of those who transgress against widows, orphans, and proselytes, or who commit other lawlessness. To them, rebuking them, through the first verse he commands them to understand; in the second he says, "At last be wise," showing that if they do not now become wise by repenting, later they will not be able to: "For in Hades, who will make confession to you?" Therefore he also called them fools, because they waste the time of conversion in idleness; this is characteristic of fools, not to know how to use times appropriately or to deal with matters.

but not even to understand what is agreed upon by all; the following are the consequences: He who planted the ear, does he not hear, or he who formed the eye, does he not perceive? Through the instruments he also indicated the senses in them, hearing and sight; for God, having created these and the other senses for us, we possess them. How then, he says, will they say that God is insensible to our affairs, he who has given us even the capacity to perceive, and would not have given it if he did not know that what he gave was good? And everything, if it is good, is established in the first rank with God, who is the cause of all goods. He who instructs nations, will he not reprove, he who teaches man knowledge? He asks these things too, not as if they were doubtful, but as agreed upon, and through the questions they bring shame to those who contradict. For if he instructs many nations, that is, humanity, how will he not reprove those who sin individually? And how does he instruct the nations? By teaching knowledge, he says; what knowledge? Clearly the discernment of good and evil, of what harms and what benefits. For he taught us these things not through some tutors or teachers, but through natural concepts. So also for this reason he will reprove those who sin, that is, he will judge. For it is not possible for us to plead ignorance of injustice or justice before God, having been taught the mean of each through the natural law. The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain. This the psalmist has now not inserted in vain.

Let us not suppose that God endures human beings while being ignorant of how greatly they err in their reasonings and how many vain thoughts they conceive that touch upon blasphemy against Christ. He is not ignorant, therefore, but knowing, he stores up for the future time the judgment against them—not the judgment against all, for he already chastens some, concerning whom the following is said: “Blessed is the man whom you, Lord, will discipline and whom you will teach from your law.” 2. In many ways the one disciplined by God is called blessed. First, because he becomes better and more self-controlled, so that he no longer lives a brutish life, nor, having become rational, is he ranked among the irrational. Then, having been disciplined by God, he is struck as by a father; hence he is said not to be punished but to be disciplined. For punishment is proper to judges, but discipline to teachers. Therefore he added, “You will teach him from your law,” showing that God does not discipline in anger but makes the one disciplined learned in the law. And what is the benefit? To soften him from evil days until the pit is dug for the sinner. This prophet considers the deliverance from future punishment a great blessing; therefore in another psalm he says: “Blessed is the one who understands concerning the poor and needy; in an evil day the Lord will deliver him.

Thus it is reasonable that he has now also placed the blessed one who is disciplined by God as blessed, since through the disciplines here he escapes future terrors and enjoys gentleness in the evil days—that is, during the times when those being punished experience torments, in which also for the truly sinful one, namely the devil (concerning whom Paul said, "So that sin might become sinful to an extreme degree through the commandment"), a pit is dug. For the future punishments are prepared for him, which he necessarily called a pit, since from them he will never be able to emerge, but remains in them, being buried like a pit. Yet it is worth observing this: that David did not call the same day "evil day" and again "evil days"; but that one is the day on which the judgment occurs, from which he rescues the merciful one, granting him complete freedom; these are the times of the torments. Hence, having spoken of them as a plurality of "days," he did not render them as "day," in which for the one disciplined he soothes—that is, lightens the tortures, proportionally to the disciplines or to the conversion and correction that may result from the discipline. That the Lord will not reject his people, and will not abandon his inheritance. The psalmist has added the reason why he disciplines those who are here called blessed. For, sparing his own people and his own inheritance, he disciplines some, so that they themselves may be saved by turning back, and so that they may become an occasion and example of conversion for the others.

If he had wished to thrust away his own people when they sinned, or to abandon his own inheritance to the spiritual enemies, he would not have disciplined us, so that we might advance to the worse through injustice. For that abandonment is a sign of great anger, you will hear God saying to the Jews: "I will not look when their daughters-in-law commit adultery, and when their daughters fornicate." And again: "I have abandoned my house, I have left my inheritance; my inheritance has become to me like a lion in the thicket, until justice returns to judgment, and all who are upright in heart cling to it." Not that God will thrust away his own people or his own inheritance when justice returns to judgment; but because he has presented the disciplines as proof that he is not negligent of his own inheritance, he wishes to teach you by these words how long there is need of them. For when Christ, who is truly justice, returns to judgment, and having left off being patient, turns to judging, and all who are upright in heart—that is, the righteous—cling to it, that is, not being judged in it, but standing around it, as bodyguards of the one who judges (for which reason the other translators have rendered "behind him" instead of "cling to it"), then the individual disciplines cease; for the judgment of God is not a matter of reminder, but of requital. He added a diapsalma for this reason, because he changed the common discourse into a personal address. "Who will rise up for me against those who do evil, or who will stand by me against those who work iniquity?

A strong and very intense war the prophet hints at, the evil powers, and almost says what Paul says: "The struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil." Against these he asks and seeks alliance. Who, rising up against them, is able to assist us, to fight alongside us? So do not take pleasure in those who do evil, nor delight in those who work lawlessness, against whom the prophet is not only prepared to fight, but also seeks a fellow combatant, whom indeed he has brought forward. "If the Lord had not helped me," my soul would have nearly dwelt in Hades. We need only the alliance of God, he says; only He is able to defend us against such a battle array. But did he, remembering the incident of the transgression concerning Bathsheba, compose these present words? For if at that time God, sending Nathan, had not helped David, rousing him through that one's words to repentance, his soul would have been in danger of dwelling in Hades, that is, in the death of sin.

3. If a righteous person who is negligent dwells near death, the impious person dwells in it and inhabits it; for there is no reprieve for him in death, since, as Solomon says, having fallen into a depth of evils, he despairs. If I said, "My foot has slipped," your mercy, Lord, helped me. For whoever recognizes and confesses his own sin, and having slipped neither becomes negligent nor despairs, but comes to awareness, this person immediately perceives the divine inclination and mercy for help. According to the multitude of my pains in my heart, your consolations gladdened my soul. This also belongs to a skilled physician: to apply remedies proportionate to the wounds. By "pains in the heart" you might mean either the griefs over one's own sins arising from repentance and compunction, or those over the prosperity of sinners, or the afflictions unjustly brought upon us; to all these God provides consolation proportionally. For those unjustly plotted against have a new consolation, this beatitude of Christ: "Blessed are those persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs." And those groaning over their own sins are also greatly blessed: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be consoled." Again, as many as groan over the prosperity of the lawless, when destruction befalls them, then they perceive their own glory: "For the righteous will rejoice when he sees vengeance." And if you call sins "pains of the soul," such as sufferings and wounds, there is much consolation for these from Christ.

Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest; and again, I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. Let not the throne of lawlessness be with you, the one who fashions toil upon command. The throne of lawlessness is fittingly called the devil; for whether you call the throne a kingdom, or a resting place, or some seat, lawlessness both reigns and rests in the devil. Moreover, he has also been named a judge of injustice, not as one condemning injustice, but as one judging unjustly. This one fashions toil upon command, that is, upon the command of God. For he makes the divine law burdensome for us, setting forth pleasure and ease. But God endures this, wishing to increase the reward for those who work his law, since each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. This one will not be with God, that is, he will never stand alongside him at the time, clearly of judgment; for the angels will stand with God as he judges, but this one will not stand with him, because although he has substance, he has fallen from his rank. Why will he not stand with him? Because God judges philanthropically, but this one is exceedingly misanthropic, as the following shows; for concerning him and those who sit and serve with him it is said: They will hunt for the soul of a righteous man, and they will be condemned for innocent blood. He has clearly set forth the reason why he will not stand at the future tribunal: because they will not hesitate to hunt for the soul of a righteous man, taking as an occasion even a transgression committed in ignorance or unintentionally.

But they will also condemn innocent blood, if any authority to condemn should be given to them. Hence God does not permit them to accuse or bear witness against us when our faults are judged, but calls our own reasonings accusers, and summons the conscience to witness. For Paul says: With our conscience bearing witness, and with our reasonings accusing or defending one another among themselves—for thus are our hidden things judged by God. And the Lord became my refuge, and my God became the helper of my hope. Who became? Let the other interpreters have set forth, so that the saying is understood of the advent of the Only-begotten; for he has become a refuge for us when we are pursued by existing enemies; he has also become a helper of hope when it is already in danger; for we were in despair because of the multitude of impiety. But he dissolved the despair by saying: The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. And the Lord will give them back their lawlessness; and according to their wickedness, the Lord God will destroy them. This is the act of a just judge, to give back the lawlessness to those who have given the cause of it. And hearing "lawlessness," understand the punishment prepared for it. Therefore the fifth and sixth books of the editions say, "Their pains." For the wicked undergo this greatest punishment, when they themselves and their works are removed from the midst; when they are no longer nourished by the differences and offenses of men. He will therefore destroy them, not by annihilating their substance; for he wishes them to remain perpetually punished.

Hence the fire prepared for them is called eternal; but He makes it vanish from the midst, abolishing their power, no longer permitting them to be between us. For now, since we are contending in order to be crowned, it has the position of an adversary; and for this reason it is allowed to act. But the coming age is not one of contest, but of reward; not of struggle, but of the crown. Therefore Paul says concerning the present life: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith"; and concerning the future: "Henceforth the crown of righteousness is laid up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day." So it is fitting that the enemies, when the deception toward them has ceased, vanish. A praise of a song for David; without inscription among the Hebrews. Psalm 94. 1. Even if the psalm is without inscription among the Hebrews, as the subject in it is common, yet the Seventy assign a necessary inscription to it, inscribing it "A praise of a song," since doxology is mixed with prophecy; and it is the custom for psalms that are so constituted to be inscribed thus. Come, let us rejoice in the Lord; let us shout aloud to God our savior. "Come"—to whom does he say this? For you see, he did not add; but setting forth the call without a person, he permits all to approach as if called. And what this is and on what account he taught, the following reveals. Let us anticipate his face in confession, and in psalms let us shout aloud to him. Do you see that he announces deliverance from sins? For this is clearly indicated by confession. Therefore to rejoice at this and to shout aloud, that is.

He enjoins a cry of victory, as though the invisible enemies have been defeated, of necessity. To raise the alalagmos and to exult in God; for the defeat of the enemies is His work, as is the forgiveness of our transgressions. Hence His person is set before us to anticipate and meet Christ. For this is the person of the Father, urging us through confession. Since sinners cannot otherwise come before the Judge, but by anticipating and hastening to declare our own transgressions, we are able. For He says: Speak your sins first, so that you may be justified. When we have confessed, then we are able to raise the alalagmos in psalms. For a victory ode, which is an alalagmos, is not fittingly uttered from a defiled heart and profane tongue; but when both have been purified by declaration, the ode becomes a sacrifice, and the psalm is found to be an alalagmos for us. For God is a great Lord, and a great King over the whole earth. Do not, He says, attribute the victory to yourself, nor, raising the alalagmos, boast as though you yourself have accomplished the routing of the enemies. For how could you, being below, have conquered those who fight from above? Or how could you, being fleshly, have conquered the incorporeal? Yet you have conquered, because God, who has taken our part, is a great Lord and a great King; as a great Lord, He not only frees those who have served Him well, but also calls them to adoption; as a great King, He makes those who have served in good zeal not simply rulers, but also partners in His kingdom. Over whom is He great? Over all the gods, that is, the righteous. For the magnitude of God is unknown to the impious.

It is known to the pious. For it is not because the blind are ignorant of the light that the glory of the sun is thereby diminished; nor, because the impious misjudge the power of God, should the pious think little of His power. Indeed, he even called them gods, since the righteous have been appointed gods by God over the impious. Hence he says to Moses: I have set you as a god to Pharaoh. Because in His hand are the ends of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are His. Having called God great, he fittingly describes His greatness, not as it is, but as we are able to comprehend from the visible creations; and he sets forth words in harmony with the prophecy of Isaiah. For that one says: He who holds the circle of the earth in His fist; and again: Who set the mountains by measure, and the glens by balance? That the sea is His, and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. Having mentioned the elements, he necessarily revealed what is in the elements. Therefore, whether we travel the sea or till the earth, knowing whose creations and possessions these are, let us give thanks that He brought forth such great things for our use, offering Him not doxology in words alone, but that which comes from deeds. And what is this? Come, let us worship and fall down before Him, and weep before the Lord who made us. Let us worship as servants, let us fall down as those in need of aid from Him; let us weep as sinners, who will obtain His intercession in no other way than through compassion. And none of the things said should cause us shame.

It is against the one who made us, that is, the one who brought us forth from non-existence, that it occurs; and the one who brought us forth from non-existence is the cause of every benefaction. 2. Who then is ashamed to worship or even to weep beseeching the one who has benefited him even a little, let alone so much? So very consistently he added what follows: That he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Even if God is established as maker, nevertheless, because of the care and providence he has toward us, we are the people of his pasture, that is, pasturing on him and having him as food. And we are also the sheep of his hand, since God has been established as shepherd of the human race. And how does he shepherd us? By his hand, that is, by the humanity. For in it, which is proper to a shepherd, having given his soul for the flock, he showed. Therefore Isaiah also says: As a shepherd will shepherd his flock, and with his arm he will gather lambs. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the embitterment on the day of trial in the desert, where your fathers tested me. That "Today" is not indicative of a single day, nor of the present age, Paul taught us, writing to the Hebrews; for he says: Exhort yourselves each day, until the "today" is called, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceit of sin. If, therefore, we hear his voice in the present age (for we have heard).

My sheep hear my voice and follow me. Let us not harden our hearts, nor emulate the people of the Jews, called in the prophets a house of provocation and a hard-hearted people; who often tempted God in the desert and provoked him; but especially when, having conquered the Canaanite, when they ought to have given thanks, they slandered God, blaming the exodus from Egypt; at which time he sent serpents that killed them; so that even Paul says: Let us not tempt the Lord, as some tempted him and perished by the serpents. Therefore he enjoins, when the spiritual enemy is put to flight and the voice of God becomes audible through the advent of the Only-begotten (for then the prophet was not some prophet, nor a mediator of the law, but God himself was speaking), not to slander where one ought to give thanks, which the children of the Jews did, calling him a deceiver and a transgressor of the law; for which reason those who slander perish by the spiritual serpents. They tested me and saw my works for forty years. Place a stop here, and after this let the following be sung: I was disgusted with that generation; since Paul also, citing this psalm testimony, placed a stop. They tested me, and saw my works for forty years; he added: Therefore I was disgusted with that generation, using the necessary distinction and reasonably; since for forty years in the desert God was tested by them. He was tested by the display of signs, when they said:

Since he struck a rock and waters flowed, can he not also give bread or prepare a table for his people? But he himself rained down manna for them to eat, and rained upon them flesh like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the seas. For these things were sung by the Spirit in the seventy-seventh psalm. At these things he was offended at that generation, which remained thankless and faithless after so many signs, not temporarily but continually. Hence he did not even add a time. However, instead of "I was offended," the other translators have said "I was displeased," that is, I was vexed and not at all pleased. And I said, "They are always wandering in heart. But they did not know my ways." Reasonably, God remained displeased with the people of the Jews, since they have a continual wandering, not a temporary one. But he who continually wanders, when will he return? Moreover, they wander not in tongue but in heart, which is most grievous; for when this is deceived, the disease is incurable. Hence he reproached them through the prophecy of Isaiah: "This people honors me with their lips, but in heart they are far from me." And what did the wandering of the heart cause? Ignorance of the ways of God, that is, of the commandments, which those who practice them know not so much as those who work at them. So now he called ignorance idleness. For true knowledge is that through actions; since we all know the sea from hearsay or from distant sight, but those who work at it know true knowledge. "As I swore in my anger, if they will enter into my rest." The word "as" here is not some comparison, but a confirmation of the statement.

That is: "I truly swore." Just as when he says: "How good the God of Israel is to those upright in heart," and again: "How your works are magnified, Lord; you made everything in wisdom." Understand the oath as the irrevocable threat of God. For since it is not permitted for us to change our minds after swearing, whatever God promises or threatens and no longer alters, he is said to swear. What then did he swear? That the people of the Jews would not enter into his rest—which came to pass for those who provoked him in the wilderness. For they fell in the wilderness and did not receive the lot of the promised land. The prophet also mentioned this concerning the true rest of the future age. For he would not have taken up the discourse about it, which had already reached its conclusion, unless, as Paul says, he was recalling some other rest reserved for those who will obey, in which God has given rest from all present works. A hymn of a song for David, when the house was built after the captivity; without inscription among the Hebrews. Psalm 95.

1. This psalm is not inscribed among the Hebrews, but only among the Seventy; the Jew naturally rejected their inscription, for he is refuted by it, because the psalm is clearly inscribed to the people. Since David, to whom the psalm is a song, is much earlier than the captivity after which the inscription says the house was built. So that captivity is the one about which Paul also sets forth: "Having gone up into a height, he took captivity captive, he gave gifts among men." And the building of the house he calls the incarnation of God. For he himself says about his own flesh: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it." Therefore, the building of this house has been accomplished after our captivity, that is, the one caused by the devil. For Christ, wishing to free us from this, became incarnate. Concerning this, David himself in another part of the prophecy set forth such things: "You went up into a height, you took captivity captive. Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name." Why did he command all the earth, not only Judea, to sing a new song, if not because of new wonders? And David, almost anticipating Paul, proclaims the gospel: "If in Christ there is a new creation, the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." What then is the "new song," or from whom do we learn it? For the prophet has set forth many songs for us, but now saying "new song," he hints at something else novel beyond these. And Isaiah sang a song.

For I will sing," he says, "a song to the beloved one, to my beloved, to my vineyard." A vineyard became for the beloved one on a horn, in a fertile place, and the things that follow from these. But it is not fitting that the whole earth should sing these things, but only Judea, to which the singing is said to belong. Therefore, it is in relation to the song of the angels recorded by Luke. For that song was new. And the prophet sent the whole earth away, since this evangelist mentions such things as having been sung by the angels: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men." And when were these things said? When the house was built, that is, when Christ was incarnated. For at his birth, angels, leaping in Bethlehem, sang these things. And having commanded to sing a third time, he names the Lord a third time, wishing the Trinity to be glorified in Christ. For through him we have come to know both the Spirit and the Father. Hence he appropriately added, "Bless his name," whether you speak of the Father, or of the Son, or of the Holy Spirit; for the name of the Trinity is God, which the angels who revealed the new song blessed, having sent up glory to God in the highest in the prooemia. "Proclaim from day to day the salvation of our God." For as time advances, so does the Gospel advance, and the knowledge concerning Christ expands as time expands; the following things make this clear. "Announce among the nations his glory, among all peoples his wonders." Can the people of the Jews claim these things for themselves?

For how will he proclaim the glory of God among the nations, he who is not permitted to read the law outside his own boundaries? For this is what the prophet Amos reproached them for: "And they read the law outside, and they invoked covenants. Proclaim that the sons of Israel loved all these things, says the Lord God." And what is the punishment? "I will give you a grinding of teeth in all your cities." Thus David clearly received the evangelical covenant: first by saying, "Proclaim the good news"; then by ordering, "Announce to the nations and to all peoples the wonders of God." And what are these? That we who are born through blood and flesh into death are reborn through water and baptism into life. For God commanded the disciples to deliver these wonders to the nations: "Go, disciple all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you." Concerning this name, that is, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, see what the prophet added next: "That the Lord is great and very praiseworthy, and he is fearsome over all the gods." That he is great as God is superfluous to say, for this is agreed upon by the conceptions of all. But he calls him very praiseworthy for this reason, because, although he is very great, he descends to the humble, and, being just, he tolerates the salvation of sinners. And to us he is kind, but fearsome to the demons. For he here called them gods, not because they are gods, but because they are so named by some.

Paul bears witness, saying: We know that there is no idol in the world, and that there is no God except one; for even if there are so-called gods either in heaven or on earth. From whom they are so called, learn from what follows. That all the gods of the nations are demons. It is customary for divine Scripture to call evil spirits demons; the Gospels frequently use the term in this sense. The children of the Greeks, even if they speak solemnly of the name, claiming that demons are so called as daemones, that is, as knowing and wise, in the very things they praise, they show ignorance by disparaging. For being knowing of evil, they bear a reproachful appellation. But Symmachus rendered "Demons" as "Non-existent," because they pursue insubstantial evil; Aquila as "Fictitious," for they acquired a false and fabricated name of gods. 2. All the gods of the nations, then, are demons. For even if they consider some small and others greater, all are nevertheless of the opposing and evil power. How is this clear? The Lord made the heavens. That is, the demons would not have been cast down from the heavens if they had not, through wickedness, fallen away from the one who created the heavens. But instead of these, see whom and for what the heavens received. Confession and beauty before him; holiness and magnificence in his sanctuary. Through confession he indicated those who confess, and through holiness the saints. For God took these up into the heavens in place of the demons that were cast down.

And he joined beauty to confession, since whoever declares his own sin before God is found comely from uncomeliness, and becomes before him what he previously was not. For from sinners, until they confess having repented, he turns away his face, so that this psalmist cries to him: Do not turn your face away from me, when he came to an awareness of his sin. And he joined magnificence to holiness. For nothing is more magnificent than the holy one—neither prophet, nor priest, nor king—since God, being holy, reposes among the holy. Therefore he does not have them before him as he does those who confess, but he has taken them into his own sanctuary, and has made them tent-mates and partakers of his own glory and kingdom. Understand that the following words are spoken to these: Bring to the Lord, O families of the nations, bring to the Lord glory and honor, bring to the Lord glory in his name. Not in vain did he command to sing a new song in the preludes of the psalmody; but because the calling of the present psalm is something new, the proclamation upon it is new. For nations, as you see these being called, we require a rational offering—not calves, or rams, or any other such sacrifices—but glory and honor, glory as to God. For it is proper to him to be glorified. Hence even the Cherubim offer him such a hymnody: Blessed is the glory of the Lord from his place. Honor as to a Father. For it is ordained by the law: Honor your father and your mother. But the nations received God as Father through the inspiration of the Spirit.

Hence we were taught by the Savior to say to him, "Our Father, who art in the heavens." Since after speaking of glory and honor, he mentioned another glory again; for he says, "Bring to the Lord glory in his name," so he hints at the cross through the second glory, which he wishes to be offered to Christ, as being his glory. Therefore the other interpreters have rendered it "glory of his name." How then do we offer the cross to him? If we crucify ourselves to the world. For he says, "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." But you, pay attention to how he wishes God to be glorified in the Trinity. For this reason he commands to bring the offering to him three times, and he also names the Lord himself three times. "Take up sacrifices, and go into his courts." What courts? Clearly the churches throughout the whole world, which he called one, lest we ever think that the many are divided from each other. For what did he add? "Worship the Lord in his holy court." Therefore they are many in number, and one in power, which is also called holy, as the body of the holy one among the saints. For he commands to offer not sacrifices in blood, but those in doxology; and he clearly indicated this by saying, "Worship the Lord." "Let the whole earth be shaken from before him." For what reason? So that it may change its ancient state, and become more firmly founded and established by Christ.

3. The earth was shaken, therefore, at the time of the cross and the resurrection, each of which is a person of the Only-Begotten. For in the cross and the resurrection we still behold his power as of a single person. Say among the nations that the Lord has reigned. Among the nations, why? Because the children of the Jews cannot bear to listen. Hence Paul and Barnabas said to them, "It was necessary for the word of God to be spoken first to you. But since you reject it and do not judge yourselves worthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the nations." What then is the sign of the Lord's kingdom? For he has set right the inhabited world, which will not be shaken. Therefore he calls the kingdom of God our submission; for through this he set right the inhabited world, having subjected the disobedient and unsubmissive man to the knowledge of God. And why will it no longer be shaken, if not because he, by his advent, removed the shakers, that is, the demons, from the scene? He will judge peoples in uprightness, that is, in righteousness. For we cannot plead ignorance, nor can we blame the judgment of God as if we were ignorant of his law, since the Gospel of Christ has reached every part of the earth. Yet this can be applied much more to the people of the Jews; for he will judge them in uprightness, because he came to his own, and his own did not receive him, as John says. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth exult. And what is the cause of the joy? The arrival of the Savior, as the following verses will teach more clearly.

The mystery of this is therefore common to heaven and earth. For the one who bent the heavens and descended is himself said to rise again from the earth because of the flesh. Let the sea be shaken, and its fullness—not a turbulent swell, but one of joy and leaping. By its fullness you will mean the rivers and the lakes, since all gatherings of waters have been called by the name of the sea by the God who created them: for, it says, God called the collections of waters "seas." What then do the waters contribute to the mystery of the Only-Begotten? Surely that it is baptism. The plains will rejoice, and all things in them. Since after mentioning the sea he also recalled its fullness, he now necessarily added the plains, that is, the fields, and the things with them, wishing to represent the fullness of the earth through these. But why did he command these to rejoice? Then all the trees of the forest will exult. When, and why? At the presence of the Lord, because he is coming. The prophet proclaimed a special joy to the trees at the arrival of Christ because of the cross; and not to ordinary trees, but to those of the forest, that is, the fruitless ones. For it is clear that he cut down not a fruit-bearing plant, but a fruitless one, for the construction of the cross. Yet all things from the earth shared in the joy, just as the verse set forth beforehand. But you, understand the trees of the forest, because of their fruitlessness, as the sinners; concerning whom Isaiah said: Let the eunuch not say, "I am a dry tree," that is, barren. But even these the presence of the Lord caused to rejoice.

That he comes, that he comes to judge the earth, to judge the inhabited world in righteousness, and the peoples in his truth. Not in vain does he double the phrase, "He comes." For wishing to indicate each of his two comings, above he clearly proclaimed the first advent of Christ. For that reason he wrote it without judgment; for he did not then come to judge the world, but to save the world. Here, however, he indicates the second coming, in which he will judge the earth and the inhabited world—that is, the human being, who is fittingly so called as being from the earth; and the inhabited world, as having become a dwelling-place of God. For the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And not only did he call him earth and inhabited world, but also "peoples," not "people," because of the difference of languages and of the constitutions concerning the opinion about God, and of many other things that separate the human being from communion with one another in essential matters. But if he will judge the inhabited world in righteousness, and the peoples in truth, it is said as though the inhabited world were not something other than the peoples. For if there were no peoples, of whom would there be an inhabited world? Thus neither is righteousness something other than truth; for each is inclusive of the other. And there is neither righteousness without truth, nor truth without righteousness; whence Christ is called both.

A Psalm for David, when the earth was established for him; without title among the Hebrews. Psalm 96. 1. This psalm, like those without title, has been counted among the Hebrews. The Seventy, however, devised a title for it fitting to the prophecy. For since the matters now sung by the prophet concern the kingdom of Christ and the achievements that proceed from it, he necessarily ascribes it to the spiritual David. And he says, "When the earth was established for him," that is, when humanity came into a state of order; for previously it had been out of its right mind, bereft of sober reason. The Lord has reigned; let the earth rejoice, let many islands be glad. God has always reigned, as creator and lord of the whole inhabited world; but because for a time, having turned away from the human race, he allowed it to be tyrannized by the spiritual enemies, and now he has both subdued those enemies and liberated this people, he fittingly says, "The Lord has reigned," calling the abolition of error and the destruction of idols the kingdom of God, at which the earth rejoices, seeing also the freedom of those for whom it previously groaned together with the rest of creation. And many islands are glad, the Churches of the nations; for the abolition of error has made an entrance for them. But why does he call the Churches islands, if not because, just as islands are inhabited in the midst of waters, so also the Churches are in baptism? And he wrote well that many islands are glad, not all, showing that there are other islands, the Churches of the heretics, which also boast of the water of baptism.

It is not fitting for them to rejoice, since by their impiety toward the Divine they reject the grace of baptism. A cloud and darkness surround him; that is, the one who reigned. For he speaks of Christ, whose body is a cloud; because of its fineness it is called unstained. But with the cloud darkness is also joined, which Symmachus wrote as mist. For the flesh, like mist, turned away the eyes of the majority from recognizing the dignity of the Only-begotten's divinity; so that elsewhere the psalmist says this: He placed darkness as his concealment around him, his tent. Righteousness and judgment are the establishment of his throne. For these the kingdom of God has established. And it is clear from the fact that we were unjustly freed from those who enslaved us, while they were condemned. But let us also accomplish righteousness and judgment, if we wish to reign with him. Fire will go before him, and will flame around his enemies. Clearly here he recalls the coming judgment. Therefore he does not say concerning the fire, It goes before, but, It will go before, which will flame his enemies, that is, the sinners; for they are enemies of God, since when he called they did not obey, when he exhorted they were not persuaded, when he offered reconciliation they did not wish it. And Paul bears witness, saying: We intercede for Christ, as God exhorts through us. We beseech for Christ, be reconciled to God. And it will flame around his enemies; that is, all. For it will not cease circling and running until it seizes all who are liable.

This fire Daniel also mentioned, as the judge's forerunner. They were watching, he says, until the thrones were set, and the Ancient of Days sat down; and his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool. His throne was a flame of fire, and his wheels were blazing fire. A river of fire flowing forth drew before him. His lightnings shone upon the inhabited world. We shall understand his lightnings as his radiances, which do not await the future age but already from here illuminate the inhabited world. So you see a difference of fire. For that which is his own, this illuminates; but that which is not his own, but runs contrary to him, this burns; for this indeed it is appointed. So he calls his lightnings the apostles, since having partaken of the true light, they themselves are appropriately called light; whence the Lord said to them: You are the light of the world. — He saw, and the earth was shaken. For it is beneficial for that which is badly standing to be shaken, so that it may receive a more stable position, since also the children of carpenters, whenever they find rotten walls, shake them, wishing to transfer them to something better. Therefore also the earth, that is, humanity, has been shaken by the vision of the apostles, so that those in Thessalonica say about Paul and Silas: Those who have upset the inhabited world, these are also present here; so that it may become more stable in itself. The mountains melted like wax from the face of the Lord, from the face of the Lord of the whole earth.

Just as the mountains of the earth are higher, so the prophets are higher than other men, and for this reason they are called mountains. Naturally, therefore, at the sojourn of the Only-Begotten, who is clearly Lord of humanity, having taken the firstfruits of which he became Lord of the whole lump, the prophets melted like wax. For their prophecy was previously compressed in the letter, so as to be unintelligible to those who encountered it. When the Only-Begotten sojourned, it melted, that is, it became pliable, so that all might use it for the colors of the mystery of the Only-Begotten, and through it, as through some wax heated by fire, fashion the Lordly images. For it melted, it says, from the face of the Lord, that is, from the energy of the Spirit. Since here it names the face of the Lord twice, it is clear that it calls the Son the face of the Father, and the Spirit the face of the Son; so that the prophetic wax was dissolved not only by the sojourn of the Only-Begotten, but also by the supply of the Spirit. For even when Christ had sojourned, they were not able to understand the prophecies concerning him unless the Spirit gave them the supply. And the Lord indicates this to them, saying: O foolish and slow of heart to understand all that the prophets spoke. The heavens announced his righteousness, and all the peoples saw his glory; even if often the heavens announced the righteousness of God, that is, Christ; for a voice was borne from them: This is my beloved Son; not only at the baptism, but also on Mount Tabor.

And again, when Christ cried out to the Father, "Father, glorify your Son," a voice was borne from the heavens: "I have glorified, and I will glorify again." But nevertheless, the heavens that announce the righteousness of God are properly the apostles; for they were not earthly, but heavenly, and therefore they are called heavens. 2. When these announce, all the peoples of Christ beheld the glory, seeing unlettered men speaking as rhetoricians, and demons driven out by the shadows of the apostles. Let all who worship graven images, who boast in their idols, be put to shame. Not only those who received a written law are right to be ashamed of hand-made idols, but also those who possess the natural law. For to whom is it not evident that making is proper to God? How then is God named that which is made by another? Therefore, whether one worships or does not worship, but boasts as if he himself has made what is worshipped by another, this one too is worthy of shame, having brought a grievous obstacle to our life. "Worship him, all his angels." Necessarily here he added the worship of the angels, so that we might not be ashamed to worship God, whom the angels worship. And at the same time, we may know that we who worship God ascend to the rank of angels; in addition, that worship is proper to angels, not being worshipped. Therefore, the demons, having fallen and lost the dignity of angels, will not be able to be worshipped. Zion heard and rejoiced, and the daughters of Judea exulted because of your judgments, Lord.

He called the daughters of Judea the Churches throughout the whole earth, since confession is practiced in them; for this is what Judea means. But he placed Zion first as the firstborn Church. She, he says, heard and rejoiced; she heard the shame of the idolaters, and also the adoration of the angels, which they offer to God; and she rejoiced fittingly, revering one God, the father of creation, as worshipped. Her daughters of Judea (which we say are the Churches), having shared in the joy, rightly exulted. These are the judgments of God, to which joy is justly ascribed. Since, then, they have shame, worshipping graven images and boasting in idols, condemned by God, learn how these things were accomplished from what follows. That you, Lord, are most high over the whole earth, you were exceedingly exalted above all the gods. Since he sets forth the punishment accomplished through the cross, and the height of the Only-Begotten is the cross; for he says, "When I am raised up, I will draw all to myself"; lest anyone think that Christ was not high before, he proclaimed him not only high, but also most high over the whole earth. And having said "earth," he called the whole creation by a part. But nevertheless, he was exalted through the cross above all the gods, that is, the falsely named; since, overthrown by the cross, they have learned by experience how high God is, so that through his supposed weakness he overcame those thought to be powerful. Those who love the Lord, hate evil.

Having found pure love, she will accept her lovers as true and genuine; as when someone says he loves God but is attached to wickedness and any chance thing, or loves something of this life, he deceives himself. For friendship with this world is enmity toward God, says James. The Lord guards the souls of his holy ones; he will rescue them from the hand of the sinner. See what great benefits we enjoy from pure love toward God. For we become holy, and we have God as guardian of the greatest possession, our soul, so that it does not fall under the hand of the enemy; and if it should happen, he does not overlook it, but rescues it, tripping up the real sinner and the root of sin, the devil, and gives us a hand so that we may flee the one who unjustly rose against us. Light has dawned for the righteous, and joy for those upright in heart. The law of God has become a lamp and a light for the righteous. Therefore David says elsewhere: "Your law is a lamp for my feet, and a light for my paths." And the same is joy for those upright in heart, that is, for those who walk straight; for it shows them the path they pray for, and anoints them toward the virtues which they eagerly pursue from themselves. But understand also the light that has dawned as the Only-Begotten, about whom John the Theologian wrote: "All things came into being through him, and without him nothing came into being that has come into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of men." Hence Malachi also called him the sun, and set him to dawn, as David did, for the righteous; for he says: "A sun of righteousness will dawn for you who fear the Lord, and healing in its wings.

Rejoice, righteous ones, in the Lord. Blessed are the righteous, fittingly, for their joy. For they do not rejoice in any of the temporal goods of life, but in God, in whom every good gift and every perfect bestowal is from above, as you have learned from the Epistle of James. And confess the memory of his holiness. Confession you may call either thanksgiving or the declaration of faults; for this is also fitting for the righteous, since there is no one who lives and does not sin. It is necessarily offered upon the memory of the holiness of God, that is, upon the recollection. For one must give thanks to him that he has shared sanctification even with men; and one must also declare oneself a sinner. For however righteous someone may be, when compared with the holiness of God, he is found to be a sinner; so that Isaiah says: "All our righteousness is like a rag of a menstruous woman before you." To David. Alleluia. Psalm 97. 1. Not in vain is the psalm inscribed to David; but because it prophesies the mysteries concerning Christ, and the prophet Ezekiel understands this one as David, the Spirit rather has made it so concerning him; for he says: "And I will raise up for you a shepherd, my servant David." And yet he had died many generations before; but he calls Christ David, not only as from David and as king, but servant, as having taken the form of a servant. For this reason even now the psalm is not inscribed "of David," but "To David." Sing to the Lord a new song. For what reason? Because he has done wonderful things.

This, then, is the subject of the new song: that God has done wondrous things, or even portents, as Symmachus set forth. And what are these? His right hand saved him, and his holy arm. And what wonder does this have, except that the man was utterly given up because of an excess of wickedness? So that Isaiah says: Every head is in pain, and every heart in grief. From feet to head, there is no wholeness in him, neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering sore. There is no plaster to apply, nor oil, nor bandages. And David says thus: All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, not even one. For this reason the right hand and the arm of God were necessarily needed, namely his Only-Begotten. For each of the said terms characterizes him; concerning whom Isaiah also says: As a shepherd he will shepherd his people, and with his arm he will gather lambs; whom the psalmist did not call holy in vain, but wishing to show him in his own hypostasis. So then, the lost creation itself he saved; for he did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. And that the prophet hints at the coming of the Only-Begotten (for this alone saves the human race), Isaiah makes clear, saying: Not an ambassador, nor an angel, but the Lord himself will come and save us; and the following verses also make it clear. The Lord made known his salvation, before the nations he revealed his righteousness. The discourse has often shown through the preceding passages that Christ is called both salvation and righteousness.

Here, then, the precision of the prophetic words is manifested: how it says that he was first made known, and later revealed. For he first made himself known to the prophets, who were entrusted with the knowledge of him, through the contemplation of the Spirit; so that the Lord says: "Abraham, our father, rejoiced to see my day; and he saw and rejoiced." But he was revealed later through the flesh, and indeed also through the apostolic miracles, which laid bare the power of the Only-Begotten. Before the nations. For these, having believed, received the manifestation of Christ. Moreover, since the destruction of the idols is a clear proof of the presence of the flesh, the Only-Begotten can necessarily be revealed before the nations. He remembered his mercy to Jacob, and his truth to the house of Israel. Why, having said "Jacob," was he not satisfied, but also added "the house of Israel"? Is it not to show completely that the one who did what is now prophesied was the one who named Jacob "Israel"? For this reason he also wrestled with him, wishing to prefigure the mystery of the incarnation; for wrestling and embracing are proper to the flesh. He remembered, then, what pertained to Jacob and Israel, and by grace he fulfilled the mystery toward him. How is this? Clearly, he came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, not dispensing mercy to them (for they were not worthy), but to Jacob, from whom the race was descended.

He also recalled the truth of the house of Israel, the blessing which Israel, as an inheritance, assigned to his own children for the tribe of Judah while prophesying, bringing it to fulfillment and making it truth. This blessing was: "A ruler will not cease from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until the one for whom it is reserved comes, and he himself is the expectation of the nations." Thus the following verses are exceedingly fitting: "All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God." For he sojourned among the Jews as his own people. But when they closed their eyes (for Isaiah says, "They shut their eyes so as not to see"), instead of them, the ends of the earth, that is, the nations, beheld the salvation of God, even though they had not seen before. 2. This is what the prophet now marvels at, the same thing at which the Lord, expressing wonder, said: "I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." "Shout aloud to the Lord, all the earth." Fittingly, since the blessings are common; for the mystery accomplished is no longer that of a single region, such as Judea, or of a single nation, but of all humanity, on account of which he wishes them to shout as if they had conquered a common war. For he called the universal man "earth," as is said more clearly in what follows. "Sing, and rejoice, and play the harp." Therefore, it is not about the element of dry land that he intends to speak, but about human beings. Hence he addresses them as a multitude; and he commands first to sing, then to rejoice, and afterwards he added playing the harp, so that we may have the glorification of God as both the beginning and the end of his joy.

Play to the Lord with the cithara, with the cithara and the voice of a psalm, with beaten trumpets, and with the voice of a horn trumpet. Shout aloud before the king, the Lord. Even if at one time they used these instruments for the glorification of God, yet let us understand the cithara as the harmony of the virtues, which is accomplished not otherwise than when we mortify the flesh, so that, like strings, the sound of the virtues is produced in them, and the voice of a psalm pleasing to God is sent up to heaven. Since after the cithara he mentioned the trumpet, he therefore calls the cithara the Old Testament, in which he commanded to play (for psalmody comes from it); and the trumpets the Gospels, in which we are commanded to shout aloud before the king, the Lord, that is, Christ, as having conquered the enemies through the evangelical polity, we are fittingly commanded. He mentioned many trumpets and one trumpet for this reason, because the Gospel, being one in power, has become four on account of the evangelists who set it forth. Observe the precision of the prophetic expression. For the trumpets, which are spoken of in the plural and are understood as referring to the persons of those who composed them, he calls beaten, that is, forged; for the tongues of the evangelists were forged by the provision of the Spirit. And the trumpet he calls horn; for this is the evangelical word and the mystery upon it, because it has Christ as its head, who is necessarily called a horn; for in him we have received the power to gore the enemies.

To this Gospel, then, he necessarily assigned the voice, saying "with the voice of a horn trumpet," because, although he set forth the history of many, yet the voice of one Gospel is heard through all, since they wrote the mystery in harmony. Let the sea and its fullness, the inhabited world, and all who dwell in it be shaken. That the sea and its fullness (by which he means the creatures in it) are shaken for the sake of a dance, we have said previously. But also you will understand that it is necessarily shaken by fear of the wonders performed in it by the Lord. For it received not only the Lord, but also Peter walking; and at the command of Jesus, it brought forth a fish holding a stater. The same you will say concerning the inhabited world and those dwelling in it. For the wonders wrought by Christ and the prophets were sufficient to astonish and shake it, so that even when they prayed, as Luke records, many things were shaken. Rivers will clap their hand at the same time. You will speak of the energies of the Spirit, which were said to clap their hand as if coming together at the time of Christ's advent; concerning which he said: "He who believes in me, as the Scripture said, rivers will flow from his belly of living water." You will also say that the perceptible rivers clap their hand and dance when the Jordan received Christ being baptized. For this was a common joy of the rivers and the waters. The mountains will rejoice at the face of the Lord, because he is coming. We have said that "mountains" are the prophets, on account of the height of their contemplation.

These will rightly rejoice at the presence of Christ, since their prophecy is being fulfilled. For even if you speak of sensible things, these also rightly rejoice, because the people of the Jews were accustomed to sacrifice to idols on the high places, as is said in the book of Kings; then this was abolished by the presence of Christ. That he has come to judge the earth. He will judge the inhabited world in righteousness, and the peoples in uprightness. And how does he say that the same one has come, or is it clear that, being a prophet, he saw as present what he foretold as future? Moreover, the former speaks of the first presence in the flesh, which also happened first; the latter speaks of the second, in which he comes as judge. But he says the first is coming, welcoming the good things from it; he considered the second to be already present through fear of the judgment. It is very beneficial to have the fearful things before one's eyes, and to see them as imminent, so that we may be checked from sinning thereby. And what is the economy of the judgment? Righteousness and uprightness. Therefore, let us flee injustice, let us avoid crooked things; let us not trust in deceit, let us not pursue greed. For these are contrary to the judgment of God and lead those who pursue them to condemnation.

To David; without superscription among the Hebrews. Psalm 98. 1. All the others have published the psalm without superscription; but the Seventy attributed it to David, as prophesying concerning the intelligible David, Christ. The Lord has reigned; let the peoples be enraged. He speaks of the peoples of the Jews; for the reign of Christ has moved these to anger and wrath, so that they say to Pilate: Do not say that he is king of the Jews; and again: We have no king except Caesar. He who sits upon the Cherubim, let the earth be shaken. He again hints at Judea. For when the Magi came from the east saying, Where is the born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and we came to worship him; Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And what did he who sits upon the Cherubim do? The following verses make clear. The Lord in Zion is great, and high above all the peoples. For entering Zion when the doors were closed, he manifested his own greatness, and clearly showed through that miracle that he is the one who sits upon the Cherubim. And for this reason, the things that have come to be from the maker of all creation are superior to our nature. Then he was shown to be high above all the peoples, having given to the apostles the gift of the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed his height not to one people, but to all and everywhere. Let them confess to your great name, because it is fearful and holy. Every name of God is great; for the names are conceived proportionally to the glory concerning him.

Since even if He is called Master, He is not so to us in the same way; even if He is called King, the dignity of kingship is understood in a distinctive sense concerning Him. Nevertheless, the name of God is great, which He Himself named when Moses said, "Behold, I will go to the sons of Israel and say to them: The Lord God of the Hebrews has sent me to you. And if they ask me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" He answered him, "You will say to the sons of Israel, 'The One who is has sent me to you.'" The prophet commanded that confession be made to this fearful and holy one. For the temporal ruler, even if he is powerful, is not exceedingly fearful, since, when a certain time has passed, his dominion ceases; but the one who always is and is eternal is reasonably fearful, for there is no hope that he will be changed or cease. Since it says that the aforementioned name is holy and fearful, you will understand it as fearful to enemies, clearly to demons, whence they flee even its invocation; holy to the faithful, for they have sanctification in no other way than through the naming of Christ. And the honor of a king loves judgment. For what is the work of judgment? To release the innocent, to expose the guilty; therefore the honor of a king, that is, his rule and authority, loves judgment. Hence the other translators have rendered "honor" as "strength" or "power." You have prepared straightnesses. How did He prepare? By sending the law beforehand, in which He arranged the commandments as straightnesses. For it is possible to cut straight the path of life by walking according to them. You have made judgment and righteousness in Jacob. In what manner? It is clear from what has been said.

The law given in Jacob (he means the race of Israel) brought condemnation as judgment upon those who sin, and pointed out righteousness to those who live virtuously, according to which one must conduct oneself. And for what reason did he set these things forth now? Wishing to secure our hearing and to bear clear witness that the one who accomplished these things is the one who endured the cross for us; the following makes this clear: "Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at the footstool of his feet, because he is holy." And why does he command to worship not rather at the throne of God, but at the footstool? And what footstool at all? Is it the earth? For "the heaven," he says, "is my throne, and the earth is the footstool of my feet." 2. And yet it is not lawful for us to worship the elements. But he means this place, which he set forth more clearly through another psalm, saying, "Let us worship at the place where his feet stood"; he means Golgotha. For that place truly came under the feet of his flesh at the time of the cross. Hence, having said "footstool," he was not satisfied, but says, "at the footstool of his feet." And yet it is clear to everyone that the footstool is the footstool of the feet. But here he calls the humanity of Christ "feet," since he calls the divinity "head." Golgotha, then, came under the feet of the humanity, where the worshiper exalts Christ. For he considers his sufferings his own height, since through them he accomplished our salvation. Therefore he said to Nicodemus:

Just as Moses raised up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be raised up. He is rightly called holy, having such a presence of holiness that he makes even sinners holy through his participation. Moses and Aaron are among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name. They called upon the Lord, and he heard them. Since they were called holy, priests, and prophets, and one ought not to worship at the footstool of these holy ones, he named them, wishing to show how great a difference he had from the other holy ones. For he himself was the holy of holies. For this reason he mentioned Moses as lawgiver, Aaron as high priest, and Samuel as leader of the prophets, who were indeed holy. But nevertheless they called upon the name of God, and what they did they did not by their own power, but by that of the one called upon, as he makes clearer in what follows. He spoke to them in a pillar of cloud. Because they kept his testimonies and his commandments, which he gave them. These, he says, advanced in virtue from keeping the law of God and correctly fulfilling the ordinances given by him. And when they were deemed worthy of a vision of God, they saw God in a pillar, not being able to behold his essence. But Christ is not so; rather, he has the Father in himself, and he himself is in the Father; nor did he advance from progress to dignity. For see, when Pilate asked, "Are you a king?" how he turned aside from this inquiry: "You say that I am a king; I was born for this.

That is, I possess a kingdom without time, just as I possess a birth without time. To this the psalmist added the following without any ambiguity. Lord our God, you used to hear them. Our God—of whom? Of those who have served him through faith and have acquired the God over all as their own through the adoption of baptism. For that God is called, in a special sense, the God of those who have believed in him, Thomas teaches: "My Lord and my God," calling the Lord and God his own, he cried out to the God over all. This one, then, in whom we have believed, was not unknown even to the righteous who came before; therefore, when they prayed, he used to hear them; and the following verses bear witness. God, you became propitious to them, and you exact vengeance for all their practices. You see that he speaks about Christ; for it is his own property to be propitious to our sins not only now but also long ago; concerning this Paul also says: "Whom God set forth as a propitiatory through faith in the blood, as an indication of his righteousness." He himself exacts vengeance for all the practices of the righteous. For since those men undertook many practices to save the human race, but the spiritual enemy opposed them, the cross exacted vengeance, at once establishing the practices of the righteous and at once overthrowing whoever rendered their labors useless. At this Jeremiah cried out: "Woe is me, mother! Why did you bear me as a man who judges and is judged in the whole earth? I neither helped, nor did anyone help me; my strength failed among those who curse me." Exalt the Lord our God. And what need has the exalted one to be exalted?

How will he who is in the heavens be exalted by men? But, he says, think lofty thoughts about him. In what manner? And worship at his holy mountain. Therefore, the exaltation of God the Word is worship in the holy place. For just as trophies in war are glory for a king, so also for Christ is the achievement through sufferings, which took place on the holy mountain that received the cross. He calls the mountain holy not from itself, but from the visitation of the crucified one. For this reason he added: Because the Lord our God is holy. If he is holy, whatever receives his visitation is sanctified. For David, for confession. Psalm 99. The psalm is anonymous, but not for this reason alien to the prophecy of David; rather, perhaps he did not have time to play it on the cithara in the temple, nor did he entrust it to other psalmists. From there the prophecy set it forth without a name. Nevertheless, we will necessarily understand confession here as thanksgiving. For this is what the purpose of the following prophecy intends. Therefore Aquila says, "For thanksgiving," and Symmachus says, "Blessing." For the fifth edition has handed it down as "For praise." Shout to the Lord, all the earth; serve the Lord with joy. Even now, the order of the prophecy is found to be great for those who examine it accurately. For it intends that all the earth shout as if we have conquered our common enemy, and knowing that God is the cause of the victory, serve him with joy. Just as Paul said.

So that we may all rejoice, let us pray unceasingly, let us give thanks in everything, knowing to whom and for what we are slaves, from what slavery we have been delivered, and to what we have been called, what kind of yoke we have exchanged for what kind, the extremely light for the very heavy. Enter before him with exultation; that is, with joy. But he does not posit this temporary joy. For just as to men the joy of children is laughable, since they rejoice and pride themselves on things worth nothing, so the joy of sinners is shameful to the righteous; for they rejoice over blind wealth and wealth from plunder, and other such things over which it is not fitting to rejoice when we are about to stand before the fearful judge. But in the opposite circumstances, when we are seized, when we are slandered, over these things we will be able to enter before God with exultation. And the Lord's words make this clear: "Blessed are you when they revile you, and persecute you, and speak every evil word against you, lying, for my sake. Rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in the heavens." Know that the Lord himself is our God; he made us, and not we ourselves. You see that the Spirit campaigns against every heretical tongue. For since some, wishing to cut up the Trinity and to belittle the dignity of the Only-begotten, say that he is called Lord in the God-inspired Scripture, but God is the Father, and they introduce a difference between Lord and God that does not exist, and they drag the apostolic saying—"One God, the Father, from whom are all things and we to him"—into blasphemy for their own evil.

And one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things; and they say the Son is lesser than the Father as Lord, for they do not indeed call him God when named; so that it is fitting concerning him, following the apostolic expressions. But knowledge is not in all things. The prophet, wishing to demolish their subtle argumentation, says, "Know that the Lord himself is our God," so that we may no longer attempt to separate Lord from God, nor Son from Father. He himself made us, and not we ourselves. For we did not subsist of ourselves, as some suppose; we are his creations, created in Christ Jesus for good works, as Paul wrote; but it is proper to ascribe a creator to oneself. And we are his people, and sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates in confession, into his courts in hymns. Learn whose sheep we are, from the Only-begotten saying, "My sheep hear my voice." We are also his people, who also said to us through the prophetic tongue, "And you shall be to me a people, and I shall be to you a God." Therefore the Lord himself is God; for each is Son, just as the Father is named. He commanded to enter his gates in confession, and his courts in hymns. So it is necessary first to confess, and after that to hymn. For just as the gates are placed before the courts, and one could not be inside the court without coming through the gate, so before we confess, we will not be able to hymn, since there is need of a pure heart, a tongue that has put away the filth from sins, if God is to be pleased with the sacrifice of our hymns.