Commentarius In LXXV Psalmos [Attributus]

I will cry to God Most High. He commends our God to us when he says "Most High," so that by his example he may stir us to cry out—namely, because he is Most High, because he is most powerful, because he is above all. But our crying out to God is our desire. The more each one desires, the more he cries out. He says "Most High," and he also says "kind," when he adds: God who has done good to me. Hear how great are the benefits, so that you may love God more and cry out more devoutly.

He sent from heaven—that is, from on high, or from his secret place. And he delivered me; he gave me over as a reproach to those who trample on me. They have been scattered through all the nations (from Augustine), having stability nowhere, a sure seat nowhere. But the reason they are still Jews is so that they may carry the books to their own confusion. Attend to what book they are in: the Jew carries the codex, from which the Christian may believe. They have become our book-copyists. Then what God sent from heaven, or from whom he delivered him, he clearly intimates when he adds: God sent his mercy and his truth. Of this sending Paul says: After the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son into the world, etc. (Gal 4). Christ, then, is the mercy of God, because he forgives sins. Christ is the truth (Jn 1), because he fulfills what he promised. Attend to the mercy sent to you, and turn from your sins. Attend to the truth, and be secure concerning the promises.

And he delivered my soul from among the lion's cubs. Who are the lion's cubs? The people wickedly led astray by the chief priests. Those were the lions, these the lion's cubs. All raged. All surrounded him, from the midst of whom the soul was delivered, but the body was killed. Hence he also adds: I slept troubled. Do not, says the Lord, fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul (Matt. 10). For what harm can they do to the good, merely by killing the body? Indeed they help, in that they send them more swiftly to the kingdom. But plainly he says, I slept. For death was a sleep to him, because just as anyone can easily be roused from sleep, so easily was it for our Lord to rise again from death. Hence he himself says: I have power to lay down my soul, and to take it up again (John 10). I slept, he says, first troubled in the passion. They were troubled, he slept. Great humility of the one troubled. Great power of the one sleeping. Nor could they trouble him except as much as he willed. Who were those troublers? The sons of men, that is, the Jews, who ought to have been imitators of the patriarchs and prophets who lived reasonably. How did they kill, who had no iron? Their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. The teeth signify biting utterances, with which, as with weapons and arrows—now at close range, now from afar, now openly, now secretly—they strove to wound. Do not look at their unarmed hands, but at their armed mouth.

From there the sword went forth, by which Christ was to be killed, just as from the mouth of Christ [went forth the sword] by which the Jews were to be killed. For he has a sharp sword, and it struck them, so as to make them his faithful ones. They had a bad sword, he a good one; they had bad arrows, he good ones—namely, good words, with which he pierces the faithful heart so that it may be loved. When, then, did they strike, except when they cried out: Crucify, crucify? And what did they do to you, O Lord? Here the Prophet exults: he saw in the spirit the Lord humiliated, scourged, crowned with thorns, hung on the wood. Them raging, but him enduring. Them exulting, him as though conquered. And after so great a humiliation he knew that he would rise again, and that all those things which the raging Jews did were done in vain; lifted up with joy as though he saw it happening, he exclaims and says:

Be exalted above the heavens, O God. Man on the cross, God above the heavens. Let the raging ones remain on earth; be you in heaven, judging. And in all the earth be your glory. For since the Lord is seated in heaven at the right hand of the Father, the glory of his resurrection and divinity has been preached everywhere in the lands. We do not see the Lord exalted in heaven, but we believe it. But in all the earth we not only believe his glory, but also see it. Then he returns to the words of the passion, and says in the person of the Lord:

They prepared a snare for my feet, that is, they held out deception before my actions, by the likeness of a bird that is caught by the feet in a snare. And they bowed down my soul—as far as their own opinion was concerned. For they thought it had been bowed down so that it would no longer be able to return to the body and rise again. But what is said here of our Redeemer is daily done against us by malignant spirits. For they prepare a snare for our feet, because they hold out hidden temptations before our good actions, so as to hinder them. But the soul is bowed down when it is turned back from good to evil. The soul is bowed down as often as it is entangled in earthly desires. Hence the Prophet says of unclean spirits: Who said to the soul: Bow down, that we may pass over (Isaiah 51). For the soul stands upright when it desires heavenly things and is in no way bent toward the depths. But malignant spirits, when they see it standing in its uprightness, cannot pass through it. For to pass through is for them to scatter their unclean desires upon it. They say, then, Bow down, that we may pass over: because if the soul does not cast itself down to desire the depths, their perversity prevails against it in no way, and they cannot pass through it, which they dread as rigid against them in the intention of heavenly things. Therefore, most beloved brothers, we ourselves give a way to the malignant spirits within us when we covet earthly things, when we are bent down to desire temporal things.

Let them be ashamed, then, to desire earthly things and to offer their backs to the adversaries who ascend against them. They dug a pit before my face, and they fell into it. They prepared death for me, but they killed themselves more grievously. No one sins against another before sinning against himself. The sinner's pit is an evil conscience. There all the wicked must necessarily fall. Do you think that he has not fallen into the pit, who has lost the light of Christ and been struck with blindness? If he had not fallen into the pit, he would see what is before him. He does not know where he is going. How does one who walks on the way, when he has fallen into a pit, lose the way? Does the wicked man afflict you? He prepares a pit for you, that you may perish. You are in distress; he rejoices. The iniquity of the one who does it is itself the pit. Whoever has fallen there loses his eyes; he loses even his life through an evil conscience. And well does he say, before my face, because it did not escape him. Knowing, he was handed over; willing, he was killed. From these words the true patience of our Lord is made known to us. Hence it is also added:

My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready. They prepared death, and my heart is ready to endure all things with a willing spirit. Therefore he repeats it, to mark perseverance in patience. For one could endure for an hour and afterward fail. The repetition of the word, then, is a confirmation. But the patience of the good, by the preparation of the heart, receives the will of God and glories in tribulations, saying: My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready. They (from Augustine) prepared a pit to overwhelm, but I will prepare my heart to endure. For this reason they fell into it: but I will sing and chant a psalm. Singing refers to the gladness of the soul; a psalm to good works. To the praise of almighty God, singing with a psalm ought to be in harmony, so that what is brought forth by the mouth may be commended also by deed. Then, the passion completed, he declares that his flesh will be raised, when he adds:

Arise, my glory, arise, psaltery and harp. By commanding he says, Arise, as one having power to lay down his life and to take it up again (John 10). He calls his flesh his glory, because of immortality and divinity. For it was a great glory for Christ to rise and sit at the right hand of the Father. He also declares the hour of his resurrection, when he adds: I will arise at dawn. For the Lord Jesus rose at early dawn on the first day of the Sabbath (Mark 16). And from the same source whence one flesh rose, two instruments arose: namely the psaltery and the harp.

The psaltery sounds from the upper part, the cithara from the lower. Through his flesh the Lord wrought two kinds of deeds: namely, miracles and sufferings. The miracles were from above, the sufferings from below. The miracles he performed were divine, but he performed them through the flesh. Therefore the flesh working divine things is the psaltery; the flesh suffering human things is the cithara. Let the blind be enlightened, the sick healed, the dead raised—this is the sound of the psaltery. Let him hunger, thirst, sleep, be scourged, be killed, be buried—this is the sound of the cithara. You have, then, in one flesh both the psaltery and the cithara. And these two kinds of deeds fulfilled the Gospel, and they are preached to the Gentiles. And this is the fruit of his passion and resurrection.

I will confess to you among the peoples—that is, I will acquire for you confessors among the Jews; and I will sing a psalm to you among the Gentiles—that is, I will acquire among the Gentiles such as will sing a psalm, that is, will do good works. Or: to you—that is, to your honor—I will confess and sing a psalm, that is, I will proclaim praise and good works, not only among the Jews but also among the Gentiles. Note that the Son of God himself, from such great deeds of righteousness, does not seek his own glory but the glory of him who sent him, so that no flesh may glory in itself, but he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. And rightly: I will confess to you and sing a psalm:

For your mercy has been magnified even to the heavens, and your truth even to the clouds. By "the heavens" in this place we understand the angels, archangels, and the other heavenly powers. By "the clouds," however, we understand the preachers of truth, men who bear this dark flesh; from these God thunders with precepts and flashes with miracles. In heaven they praise God, seeing the very beauty of truth without any darkness of vision. There is truth; and mercy is not needed above, where no one is wretched. Here, however, in our misery, mercy is certainly necessary. It might therefore have seemed more fitting to say, "For your truth has been magnified even to the heavens, and your mercy even to the clouds." But if it is considered carefully, what is said is far more excellent and wonderful: both "mercy even to the heavens" and "truth exalted even to the clouds." For almighty God, through his mercy, has raised sinful men even to the angels. Hence it is now said: "For your mercy has been magnified even to the heavens." And because the truth that prevails among the angels has come to men, it is rightly added, "And your truth even to the clouds." Glory to our God, because he has not abandoned us to make us blessed by mercy, nor has he defrauded us of truth, but has healed the eye of our heart, so that we may afterward be able to see him face to face (1 Cor. 13). For such great joy and benefit the Psalmist repeats the verse that he has already spoken:

Exult above the heavens, O God, and your glory above all the earth. This is perhaps repeated because the intention and usefulness of the psalm centers especially on this verse.

TITLE OF PSALM 57.

Unto the end, do not destroy, David, in the inscription of the title. This psalm aims at the end, that is, Christ. It warns you not to destroy David, that is, not to dishonor Christ in the inscription of the title, which has been altered by certain people—namely, that you not diminish the kingdom of Christ, drawing yourself away from his kingdom, but that through the King of the Jews you confess Christ. And this is the intention, as in another psalm: do not destroy Christ. The subject matter is the Jews, by way of contrast, because Christ must be the principal focus. We are admonished in this psalm not to withdraw ourselves from the kingdom of Christ, that is, from the fellowship of the saints. And Christ brings this about by setting before us the blindness of the Jews, their local dispersion, and their future damnation, so that, having seen the damnation of the deeds of the wicked, we may be terrified away from imitating them. He also sets before us the joy of the righteous, which they have in the hope of future glory, so that, having seen the joy of these men, he may draw us to imitate them. The voice of the prophet:

PSALM 57.

If indeed you speak justice, judge rightly, you sons of men. As if he were saying: You Jews, who are sons of men, who ought to be imitators of your fathers the prophets, who lived rationally: if you truly speak justice in the law and the prophets (which indeed you do), judge rightly, that is, discern and believe that Christ our Lord is himself God. For the justice of your law commends and prophesies him to you. Or, Judge rightly, that is, live, discerning good from evil, according to the justice that you speak. For to speak good things and to do evil things is a judgment of condemnation. Whence also Truth itself says to the Pharisees: Hypocrites, how can you speak good things, when you are evil (Matt. 12)?

For in your heart you work iniquities, in the earth. To work iniquities in the heart is to harbor an evil will. For a depraved will is reckoned by God as a deed. And he says well, In the earth, that is, clinging to earthly things. For when the heart is fixed in the earth, iniquity is generated from there in the heart. Your hands devise injustices. That is, your evil actions agree with your depraved wills. Or, to devise injustices with the hands is to join unjust actions to unjust actions. According to what is said elsewhere through the Psalmist: Add iniquity upon their iniquity, and let them not enter into your justice (Ps. 68). And according to John: He who is filthy, let him be filthy still (Apoc. 22).

Then he turns to his hearers and shows their error and hardness of heart, so that each hearer may take care lest, erring in the same way, he perish in the same way. He says therefore:

The sinners are estranged from the womb, that is, from the very act of coming forth; they have gone astray from the belly, that is, from the very conception. They have spoken false things, having abandoned the truth. This is not to be understood as though we should think that they erred in their mother's womb; for a child cannot then be capable of sense or understanding. But it is to be understood thus: that almighty God, from the very womb, before they are born, foreknows those who will sin and will remain in error and falsehood. Hence it is that while Rebecca was still pregnant and carried twins in her womb, it was said: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated (Gen. 23; Rom. 9). There the judgment of God is hidden, and therefore all the more to be feared. In another way the little ones are born within the womb of the Church: it is good that they come forth formed, lest they slip from their beginning. Let your mother bear you, not miscarry you. Be patient until you are formed. Let the mother's womb hold you until the teaching of truth is made certain in you. But if through impatience you shake the mother's womb, she will indeed cast you out with pain, but to your harm rather than hers. He who has been instructed in the teaching and does not believe, or lives badly, comes forth from the womb as one formed, but is rejected as an alien.

Whoever begins to be instructed and, not yet fully taught, departs from the fellowship of the saints: this one is cast out like an abortion from the womb of mother Church. Since, therefore, the Jews, from the time they came to know the Law, withdrew from the faith and righteousness of that Law which is their mother, it is rightly said of them now: The sinners have erred from the womb. But because certain ones among that same people, being less capable, scorned to be instructed, it is said of them: They have erred from the womb. And because they have become estranged and have erred, therefore they have spoken false things. For whoever abandons the truth must necessarily speak falsehood. Behold to what great madness those who err have come.

Their fury is according to the likeness of a serpent. Their error turns into fury, not human fury, but serpentine and venomous. For there was the venom of envy in their fury. Hear whose serpent's fury was in them. Like that of the deaf asp, and of one stopping up its ears—therefore deaf, because it stops up its ears.

Which does not hear the voice of the charmer, and of the enchanter charming wisely. Here a certain comparison is given concerning the Marsian. He who charms, to draw the asp out of its dark cavern, surely wishes to draw it out into the light. But that one, loving its own caverns, in which it hides itself coiled up, is said—since it refuses to come out—to shrink from hearing those voices by which it feels itself compelled, and to dash one ear against the earth and to stop the other with its tail. And so, avoiding those voices as much as it can, it does not come out to the charmer. The Spirit of God said that certain people are like this: not hearing the word of God, and not only not doing it, but altogether unwilling to hear, lest they do it. So these, when they are preached to—those who wish to draw them out of the pit, that is, out of the depth of their vices, and to draw out from them the poison, that is, their sins (whence it was said to Peter: Slay and eat)—themselves unwilling to obey the truth, but remaining in their pit, unwilling to aspire to the true light, stop one ear of the heart against the earth, that is, against present delight; but the other they stop with the tail, that is, with the memory of past delights. Therefore (from Augustine) it does not say wisely in order to praise the enchantment, but it is of value for the comparison. This happened also in the first times of the faith. Stephen the martyr was preaching the truth.

and as if chanting to dark minds, to bring them out into the light. When he came to the mention of Christ, whom they were wholly unwilling to hear, what does Scripture say of them? They stopped (it says) their ears. But what did they do afterward? The account of Stephen's passion declares it. They were not deaf, but they made themselves deaf. They, I say, spoke false things, but what will God do? Hear what follows.

God will crush their teeth in their own mouth. That is, he will destroy their biting questions in their own answer, as it is written concerning the tribute to Caesar. What is in their mouth? That with their own mouth they might proclaim against themselves. For he compelled them to give sentence with their own mouth, whereby their teeth were crushed. For when they said that the image of Caesar was on the coin, and the Lord had commanded that what is Caesar's be paid to Caesar, and what is God's to God, they had nothing to answer, whereby they might bite, because their teeth were crushed in their own mouth. So too, when questioned about John's baptism, they did not know what to answer. The Jews, then, were asps when they lay in wait for Christ, striving to hiss and inject their venom; but their teeth were crushed in their own mouth. Later they cried out, Crucify, crucify. Now it is not the tongue of the asp, but the roar of the lion. But the Lord will break the molars of the lions.

Just as by "teeth" we understand biting questions, so by "molars" we understand the stronger and sharper persuasions concerning the death of Christ. At first they tried to deceive in secret like vipers; afterward they began openly to gnash their teeth against the death of Christ like lions. He was crucified, He rose again, He ascended into heaven, He was glorified, He was adored by men, by kings. Therefore the molars of the lions are broken, that is, the accusations and false testimonies, which now they can no longer bring forth against Christ. Concerning these it is added further:

They shall come to nothing, like water running down. All the proud and the impious, resounding against the rocks of their own pride, run down like water and come to nothing. Consider the persecutors of the martyrs: they resounded for a time like a torrent; they ran in streams as much as they could; the streams have dried up, and scarcely is their memory kept. And it is not they alone, but this whole world for a time makes a din, runs like water. It flows in vices and lusts, seeking whom it may draw along. Therefore let not the wicked be feared: they cannot endure. Of necessity (from Augustine) they run down to their own place, to their own end. And yet God drank from that torrent (Ps. 109). And because He drank, therefore He lifted up His head; because He suffered, therefore He rose again. If He had been unwilling to drink from the torrent on the way, He would not have died, would not have risen, would not have been glorified. Therefore He drank from the torrent on the way, and therefore He lifted up His head.

Our head has now been exalted; let his members follow him by drinking from the torrent. Let them not fear the roaring waters, the peoples threatening and persecuting, because God: He has bent his bow until they are weakened. The bows of God are the threats of God, which do not cease. The bow is bent, not yet does it strike. Many have been weakened, terrified by the bending of his bow. For hence that man was weakened who said: What do you command me to do? I am (he says) Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting (Acts 9). He who was crying out from heaven was bending the bow. Many therefore who were enemies were weakened and converted. They were unwilling long to raise their necks against the perseverance of the bent bow. For that man too was weakened who said: When I am weak, then I am strong (1 Cor 12). And when he prayed that the thorn of the flesh be taken from him, it was answered him: Power is perfected in weakness. Or to bend the bow is to prepare vengeance; until they are weakened, that is, utterly deprived of their own strength, so that they may no longer prevail to harm the good. For God permits the wicked to rage against the good only so far as he knows it profits the good, either for the correction of morals or the increase of virtues, as it is written: God is faithful, who does not permit you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but also makes a way out of the temptation (1 Cor 10). Hence there is still added concerning the reprobate:

Like wax that melts, they shall be taken away. He did not say "they shall be turned," but "they shall be taken away." For the heat of their vices consumes them, as fire consumes wax. They are dissolved of all constancy of virtue, going into their lusts, loose and flowing. Of such people the Apostle says: God handed them over to the desires of their heart, to uncleanness, so that they do things that are not fitting (Rom. 1). Then he enumerates the many evils into which the dissolute flow like wax; and afterward he adds: Because those who do such things are worthy of death (Ibid.). Whence this follows, and he says: Fire has fallen upon them, and they have not seen the sun. One fire is that of avarice, another of luxury, another of pride, another of envy, another of anger. Such a fire is smoky and dark; upon whomever it falls, he will not see the sun. I do not mean that sun which the Lord made to rise upon the good and the evil (Matt. 5), but I mean that one of which they will say in judgment: And the sun has not risen for us (Wis. 5). All those things have passed away like a shadow: we have wandered from the way of truth, and the light of justice has not shone for us. Therefore, brothers, fear the fire of concupiscence, if you do not wish to be melted like wax before the face of God. And it must be noted that the punishment of the wicked has two kinds: one in the present, the other in the future. One is the fire of concupiscence, the other the eternal fire. The Spirit of God commends this punishment of concupiscences to us, up to the end of the psalm.

Let us beware of this, and we shall not fall into that terrible one. Carnal delight, indeed, is born with a man, but he who is well instructed quickly sees his enemy, and attacks, and struggles, and quickly conquers. But he who neglects to conquer that concupiscence with which he was born from the propagation of sin, and stirs up and exercises many more lusts besides, overcomes them with difficulty, and, divided against himself, is burned up by his own fire. And lest they should understand that this is done only in the future, turning to them to make them more attentive, he determines thus: Fire has fallen upon you, O Jews,

Before your thorns could understand the rhamnus. That is, before your sins could make you understand that they are like the rhamnus. The rhamnus is a plant soft at first, but afterward, when it matures, it has very sharp thorns. So are sins: at first they are soft and delightful, but afterward they sting most grievously. Temporal delight is followed by the deceits and compunctions of torments. Then there will also be the compunction of penitence, but late and fruitless, like the sterility of thorns. The penitence of this time is a medicinal sorrow. The penitence of that time is a penal sorrow. Those who love this transitory pleasure do not understand this: because Fire has fallen upon them, and they have not seen the sun. This fire. As the living, as in wrath he absorbs them. That is, he will swallow and lay waste.

Why does he not say "the living," but "as if living," except that the life of the wicked is false? For he does not truly live who is separated from the Lord. And why not "wrath," but "as if in wrath," except that God does this in tranquility? As it is written: "But you, Lord of hosts, judge with tranquility" (Wisdom 5). Or "as if in wrath," and these things are not to be spoken of as truly [wrath] in comparison with that which is to come in judgment. But from the very source whence the wicked are punished, thence the good advance toward righteousness. For it is added:

The just man shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He will not rejoice for this reason, that the vengeance of the wicked is a cause of joy to the just man. But he will rejoice for this reason, that he himself will not be a partaker of their punishment. Consider the punishment of the wicked even in this world, even amid their pleasures. Behold, while one man desires to possess certain things, he desires certain other things, which he is unable to attain. For the things he does not have, he is tormented by desire; for the things he has, he is tormented either by weariness or by fear. Behold, that man seethes with avarice, another burns with lust, another is set aflame with anger, another is inflamed by the torches of envy. Thus does almighty God in the present take vengeance on the wicked, and scourge them by their own desires and vices. This vengeance, when the just man has seen it, he will rejoice: since, aided by the Lord's pious grace, he is not entangled in such things. In this also, by living, he will wash his hands in the blood of sinners, that is, he will make his actions clean from the defilement of the vengeance of the reprobate.

When I have seen the punishment of the sinner, it profits me, and the death of another is of value for his own life. Attend, therefore, to the wicked man perishing, and purge yourself from sins. Thus in a certain manner you will wash your hands in the blood of the sinner.

And a man will say, If indeed there is fruit for the righteous: indeed there is a God judging them on the earth. Truly he is called a man who uses his own reason. Here he will say, Indeed there is fruit for the righteous. Even in this life, before eternal life comes. In faith there is fruit, in temptation and tribulation there is fruit, in patience there is fruit, in love there is fruit for the righteous. But if it is so, then indeed there is a God judging, that is, reckoning the wicked worthy of damnation, not yet on the last day, not yet in eternal fire, not yet among the dead below: but here on the earth. He proves it from the opposite, as if he briefly said: If there is fruit for the righteous in this earth, in that he is righteous, then likewise there is a judgment of damnation for the wicked in this earth, in that he is wicked. For contraries agree with contraries. Let the discerning man therefore attend and judge. For thus the psalm admonishes: Judge rightly, you sons of men. Let him distinguish the good from the wicked, and by their example let him flee those who perish, lest he himself perish along with them. But those who are saved, let him strive to imitate, so that he too, with the Lord's help, may be able to attain the same salvation.

TITLE OF PSALM 58.

2. As (according to Augustine) the Scripture of the Psalms is accustomed to place the mysteries in the titles, and to adorn the front of the psalm with the sublimity of a sacrament, so that we may know what we are about to enter, when we have read, as it were, above the doorpost what is being done within, or whose house it is, or who indeed is the possessor of that estate: so also in this psalm a title is written concerning [the same]. For it has, [Verse 1]: Unto the end, destroy not David, in the inscription of the title, when Saul sent, and he kept watch over his house, that he might kill him (1 Kings 18 and 19). This psalm tends to the end, that is, to Christ. Warning, lest you, whoever you are, destroy David, that is, Christ, in the inscription of the title—this is what I said, a title concerning a title. For what the inscription of this title is, which he forbids to be corrupted, the Gospel indicates. For when the Lord was being crucified, a title was inscribed by Pilate and set up: King of the Jews (Matthew 27), in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin—which languages excel most greatly throughout the whole world. Therefore, if the King of the Jews was crucified, and the Jews crucified their own king, by crucifying him they also made him king of the Gentiles, rather than killed him. And indeed, as far as was in them, they destroyed Christ, but for themselves, not for us. And he died for us and redeemed us by his blood, and the title was not corrupted, because he is king not only of the Gentiles, but also of the Jews themselves.

Therefore "do not corrupt" is spoken most excellently and prophetically, since those Jews also suggested this to Pilate at that time, and said: Do not write "King of the Jews," but write that he himself said he was king of the Jews. For this title (they say) will confirm to us that he is king. And Pilate said, What I have written, I have written (John 19). And it was fulfilled, "Do not corrupt," I mean of the title confirmed at that time, when Saul, that is, the Jewish people, sent guards and guarded the house, that is, his tomb. But what is it that he adds, "to kill him"? Was Jesus not already killed when he was placed in the tomb? But there was something else in him that they sought to kill, namely his name and reputation. Therefore they also guarded the tomb, lest his disciples steal his body and say, He has risen from the dead (Matt. 27). The Jewish people therefore guarded Christ's tomb, to kill him, that is, to extinguish his reputation. This is truly to wish to kill Christ, to extinguish the name of his resurrection, so that a lie might be preferred to the Gospel. But just as Saul did not accomplish that, to kill David, so neither could the kingdom of the Jews accomplish this, so that the testimony of sleeping guards should prevail more than that of watchful Apostles. Christ is the subject matter, of which he thus treats. In the first part, he asks for deliverance and exaltation.

In the second part he shows the conversion of the Gentiles, which proceeds from that exaltation and deliverance of Christ; and it begins there: They shall be converted at evening. In the third part, the conversion of the Jews, which begins there: And from the curse and the lie. In the fourth part he sets forth the praise which the whole Christ offers concerning him, namely for his deliverance and for the conversion of the Jews and the Gentiles, which begins there: But I will sing. The intention is, Do not destroy David, as in the others. Christ shows in this psalm that by his passion the Gentiles were to obtain the grace of conversion, and that by their example the Jews were to be converted at the end. But those who persist in unbelief are to be punished without mercy: he intends, that is, to admonish us by these examples, that avoiding their perfidy and conforming in ourselves to the faith of the converted, we should not withdraw ourselves from his kingdom, but strive to be subject to it. The voice of Christ:

PSALM LVIII.

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God: and from those who rise up against me set me free. Deliver me from those who work iniquity: and from men of blood save me. In these two verses four kinds of Christ's persecutors are designated. For some so opposed Christ as to conceal hatred in their heart. Others so, as to rise up against him and with open voice resist the truth. Therefore in the first verse he asks both to be delivered from enemies and to be set free from those who rise up against him. Some besides commit wicked deeds, to such an extent that they seized the Savior himself with their hands, dragged him, and scourged him: some raged to such an extent that they hung him on the cross, fixed nails in his hands and feet, pierced his side with a lance, and, having shed his blood, killed the author of life. Therefore he prays in the second verse, that he may both be delivered from those who work iniquity and saved from men of blood. And it is necessary that you deliver:

Because behold, that is, openly they have taken my soul. He has put a part for the whole. For they could not have held the soul of Jesus without the body. They have taken, he says, my soul: and this they did with a certain avid and disordered and ruinous assault. Hence it is also added: The strong have rushed in upon me. Diligently it must be considered who these strong ones are. First, the Lord called the devil himself strong. No one, he says, can enter into the house of the strong man, and plunder his vessels, unless he first bind the strong man (Matt. 12). For he bound the strong man with the chains of damnation, and plundered his vessels, that is, souls, and made them his own. There are also among men certain strong ones with a reprehensible strength, who presume upon temporal felicity. Such the Spirit of God rebukes in another psalm, saying: Why do you glory in malice, you who are mighty in iniquity (Ps. 51)? Again, there are other strong ones who presume not upon vices but upon their own righteousness. Such strength (from Augustine) hindered the Jews. For when they seemed to themselves righteous and whole, they refused the medicine, they killed the physician. That strength is not soundness but insanity. For this purpose, then, came the teacher of humility, made a partaker of our frailty, that he might teach us to be weak and to confess our sins: that we may be strong not in ourselves but in God. Having shown the necessity of his deliverance, he shows that they are worthy to be delivered, when he adds:

Neither my iniquity nor my sin, O God. Iniquity as it pertains to neighbor, sin as it pertains to myself. Or iniquity in graver matters, sin in lighter ones. It can be understood that the strong, that is, the proud, rushed upon me, but they found no guilt, but rather: Without iniquity I ran, that is, I performed good works, and I directed others to do good by preaching and by example. To run and to direct without iniquity is to live perfectly without any admixture of evil, and to show a good example to others. For those things cannot please God that are mixed with evils. And note that he did not say, I walked, but I ran: because not only must one do good, but one must hasten with the very step of the good work. According to what is written: Whatever your hand can do, do it promptly, because neither work nor reason are among the dead where you are hastening. And the Apostle says: So run that you may obtain. Or the running of our Redeemer is to accomplish the obedience of the Father freely and without any hindrance, just as it is written elsewhere: He exulted like a giant to run his course. And again: All things whatever he shall do shall prosper. And lest this should seem to be attributed to his own strength, therefore, praying, he adds:

Arise to meet me. As if he were saying: Help me in the advancement of virtues, by giving me resurrection: and see. That is, make me to be seen equal to you. This was said from that figure by which also that was said to Abraham: Now I know that you fear God, that is, now I have made you to know. For everyone is unknown before the questioning of temptation. Arise therefore, and see, that is, make others see and know my exaltation: so that those who saw me cast down may see me exalted. And you, Lord God of hosts, God of Israel, attend to visiting all nations. That those who are weak and burdened with sins, you may deign to visit, by giving the grace of healing, and by sending your preachers: so that just as you are God of hosts, that is, of the angels, and God of Israel, that is, of the Israelite people, so you may deign also to be God of the nations, inasmuch as you make them partakers both of the angels and of the faithful Israelites. But it is greatly to be feared, what is added: Do not have mercy on all who work iniquity. For who is without iniquity? But he wishes this to be understood of those who persevere in iniquity. Therefore let us punish our sins, if we seek the mercy of God. For if we do not punish them, he does not have mercy but punishes. Because every iniquity, whether great or small, must necessarily be punished, either by God himself judging, or by man himself repenting. And truly you will attend to visiting all nations: because, with him inspiring, we shall be converted.

This is what he adds next:

They shall be converted at evening: and they shall suffer hunger like dogs, and shall go round about the city. This has already happened, and it continues to happen. For, having abandoned idolatry, at evening—in this last age—they are converted to the worship of God, and by hungering and thirsting for righteousness they suffer hunger like dogs, as sinners do. Under the name of dogs the Gentiles are designated because of the uncleanness of sin. Of these was that Canaanite woman to whom the Lord said: It is not good to take the bread of the children and cast it to the dogs. Recognizing this, she humbly answered: Yes, Lord. But because she would suffer hunger like a dog, she immediately added: But even the little dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters. The Lord therefore turned to visit her because of her faith and humility, and said to her: O woman, great is your faith: let it be done to you as you wish (Matthew 13). Such dogs do not cease to go round about the city of God, investigating with keen mind the life and customs of the holy fathers, from whom the city of God is built. Or the dogs can be understood as the holy preachers, who in the assertion of truth against thieves and robbers gave great barking, so to speak. They suffered hunger, desiring all to be incorporated and united to themselves through faith, and they went round about the city, that is, the world, preaching the gospel everywhere. Hence he also adds:

Behold, they shall speak—that is, they shall openly proclaim—with their mouth, that is, in a manner suited to themselves. For what they speak in word, they will confirm by deed and by example. Or, with their mouth, that is, freely, boldly, with authority. And a sword is in their lips. A sword twice sharpened, of which the Apostle said: And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. 6). Why twice sharpened? Because it strikes from both testaments. By this sword were slain those to whom it was said to Peter: Slay and eat (Acts 10). But they shall be indignant, because many will be those who will not hear with a hearing ear. And this is what is added: For who has heard? Hence it is that the prophet says: Who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed (Isa. 53)? We preach (says the Apostle) the wisdom of God in a mystery hidden (1 Cor. 2), which the world did not know. Also in the time of the martyrs, rarely was one found who would hear the word of God. I said, do not be merciful to all who work iniquity: and so it shall be. Hence he also adds:

And you, O Lord, will laugh them to scorn—that is, you will show them to be worthy of mockery. This will happen in the judgment, when he will say to them: Go into the eternal fire (Matt. 25). From this it is also evident that the Gentiles will be converted, since you will bring all the Gentiles to nothing. Everyone who is converted to God must first be brought to nothing. Hence the Truth says: Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself (Luke 9). He denies himself who, by changing for the better, ceases to be what he was and begins to be what he was not. Paul had been brought to nothing when he said: I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2). Hence he also says: If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself (Gal. 6). Abraham had been brought to nothing when he said: I will speak to my Lord, though I am dust and ashes (Gen. 18). Thus each person, first failing in himself, begins to be strong in God. He recognizes himself as such when he immediately adds:

I will keep my strength from you. For those strong men who rushed upon me fell for this reason: because they did not keep their strength from you, but presumed on themselves. But I will keep my strength from you: because if I withdraw, I fall; if I draw near, I become stronger. See what is in the human soul. It does not have light from itself; it does not have strength from itself; but everything that is beautiful in the soul is virtue and wisdom. But neither is it itself light to itself, nor is it itself strength to itself. There is a certain origin and fount of virtue and wisdom: God, from whom the soul, when it withdraws, is darkened, and when it draws near, is enlightened. Therefore I will keep my strength from you; I will not withdraw from you, I will not presume on myself: and rightly, Because you are my protector, O God. You have taken up my humanity, joining it to your divinity: you have taken me up to heal me, as a physician takes up a sick man, my God, who created me.

His mercy will go before me. Where was I lying? To what was I raised up? Behold why I ought not to presume on myself: because my merits did not go before, but the riches of his mercy went before me, so that I might be justified. It should not disturb us that he frequently changes persons. For such is the usage of prophecy. At one time he turns himself to the familiar speech of the Lord, from whom he receives the revelation of prophecy; at another he turns himself to his hearers, to build them up from those things which he has come to know by the Lord's revealing; at another he speaks in his own person; at another in the person of the members; at another in the person of Christ. Hence now it is added: God has shown to me concerning my enemies. How great mercy he had toward me, he showed me in those in whom he did not have it. For unless the debtor is suspended, he gives less thanks to whom the debt is forgiven. What of the enemies themselves? Do not kill them, lest at some time they forget my people. Those very enemies who killed me, do you not kill. Not without cause, when Cain had killed his brother, God placed a sign on him, lest anyone kill him (Gen. 4). This is the sign that the Jews have. They hold the remnants of their law, they are circumcised, they observe the sabbath, they eat unleavened bread. Therefore they are Jews, they have not been killed. They are necessary for believers, so that God might show us his mercy over our enemies. In the branches of pride cut off, he shows his mercy to the wild olive grafted in.

Behold where those who were proud lie; behold, you who were lying down have been grafted in there. And do not be proud, lest you deserve to be cut off. Therefore, so that the faithful peoples may not forget the grace of God, the blinded Jews live before their eyes, so that from their blindness they may always recollect how great thanks they ought to give to almighty God for their own enlightenment. Scatter them in your power. This was fulfilled by Titus and Vespasian, who took the people of the Jews captive. And yet this must not be ascribed to their power, but to God, who gave them the ability to be able to do this. For all power is from God (Rom 13). For this reason it was not said, Scatter them in the power of enemies, but, in your power: because (as has been said) all power is from God. And not only scatter, but, O Lord, you who protect and defend me, cast them down from the fear of pride. This is what he adds: And cast them down, my protector, O Lord. Then he shows what he wishes to be cast down in them.

The offense of their mouth, the speech of their lips. He destroyed the offense of their mouth and the speech of their lips when they said of Christ: "He has a demon"; "He is guilty of death," and other things of this kind (John 7 and 19). But this offense, therefore, he calls the speech of their lips, because they spoke such insults openly and proclaimed them publicly. Such an offense, such speech, cast down and destroy, and take it away from their mouth and lips. In this I wish you to cast them down, not according to nature, but according to guilt. They tried to kill me. But you, by raising Christ again, whom they wished to destroy, have killed the offense of their mouth, the speech of their lips. For the one whom they cried out should be destroyed, they feared to see alive; and the one whom on earth they despised, they marveled to see worshiped in heaven by many nations. Thus let their offenses be blotted out: And let them be caught in their pride. And truly they were caught. For he whom by their pride they killed, rose again; and their deed came to nothing, but the sin remained. Since, therefore, the deed was made void, but the sin remained upon those who did it: They were caught in their pride, they were convicted of having acted wickedly and proudly. It remained, therefore, that they should confess their sin, and that he should forgive who had come to loose sins (John 3). This has already been done by some. Later it will be done by many.

Therefore there follows: And from cursing and lying they shall be announced in the consummation. Concerning the fact that they cursed the Lord, and lied that his body was stolen (Matthew 28), led out from there through repentance and confession, they shall be announced in the consummation, that is, they shall be proclaimed to be perfect. From the very magnitude of their sin they will be humbled the more, and will deserve to be raised up by a greater humility, and they will be the more perfect because they will grieve that they committed so accursed a sin. And this will be.

In the wrath of consummation, and they shall not be. All vengeance of God is called wrath. But often God avenges for this purpose, that he may perfect, as it is written: He scourges every son whom he receives (Proverbs 3; Hebrews 12). Often he avenges for this purpose, that he may condemn, as he will say to the reprobate: Go into eternal fire (Matthew 25). The wrath, therefore, of consummation is the wrath of correction, when God in fatherly wrath avenges faults in this world, that he may amend and perfect. They shall be announced, therefore, consummations in the wrath of consummation, that is, in such wrath as will consume them and perfect them. And they shall not be—that is, understood—such as they had been before: namely, proud, cursing, lying. In this manner it is said elsewhere: Turn the wicked aside, and they shall not be (Proverbs 12). And they shall know that the Lord will rule over Jacob, that is, over the Jewish people. And over the ends of the earth, that is, over the Gentiles throughout all lands. Then they shall acknowledge that the same God is both of the Jews and of the Gentiles.

Before, the righteous seemed to themselves to be righteous, because they had received the law, because they had kept God's commandments. It was shown to them that they did not keep them, because they did not understand Christ in them. They will see that the Gentiles ought not to be despised. For all have sinned and need the grace of God (Rom. 3). They will lay aside their pride, and they will not envy the salvation of the Gentiles, because they will recognize their own weakness and that of the Gentiles as equal; and joined together in the cornerstone (Eph. 2), they will adore God together. Therefore it is said concerning the Jews what was said above concerning the Gentiles:

They will be converted at evening, that is, at the end of the age. For the remnant will be saved. And they will suffer a famine of the word of God like dogs, that is, as sinners. And they will go around the city, that is, the Church of the saints, investigating its life and customs; or they will go around the city, that is, the world, by evangelizing. Hence it is plainly added:

They themselves will be scattered to eat, that is, to incorporate others into themselves in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But if they have not been satisfied, that is, if the preaching has not borne fruit according to their desire, they too, like the Gentiles, will murmur, just as it was said above: Lord, who has heard? But now let the psalm be concluded. See (from Augustine) the exalted corner, now rejoicing from both walls. The Jews were proud, they have been humbled. The Gentiles were despairing, they have been raised up. Let them come to the corner. Let them assemble there: those from circumcision, these from uncircumcision. But in the corner let them hold themselves.

And let us hear what the whole Church now adds. But I will sing of your strength, and in the morning I will exult in your mercy. The holy Church of the elect sings of the strength by which he conquered the devil, by which he overcame death, by which he despoiled hell; and of his mercy by which he redeemed the human race and forgave sins. All these things the Church will sing and exult in: and this in the morning, that is, in the resurrection, when the darkness of this world has passed away, the sun of righteousness will appear, and the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. For now she cannot perfectly sing the song of the Lord in a foreign land, as long as she sits and is set upon the waters of Babylon, among these courses of this present life. But when she has passed over to the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God, then she will be heard in the voice of exultation and praise. Whence it is said elsewhere: Blessed are those who dwell in your house, O God; they will praise you forever and ever. And he gives the reason why she ought to sing and exult, when he adds:

Because you were made both my receiver and my refuge in the day of tribulation. In the present life, in which everyone who lives justly is troubled, you have been made my receiver by that very tribulation, and a safe refuge from threatening dangers. For unless you had received and saved me, there would be no one who could stand firm amid so many and such great evils. Therefore he still adds:

My helper, I will sing to you. The works which I have performed with your inspiration and aid, I will ascribe to you. And rightly so. Because you are God, my receiver. Not a man as receiver, but God as receiver, who even deifies the one he has received. My God, who created me. My mercy, who saved me. Considering all good things, whatever we can possess, whether in nature or in conversion, in faith, in hope, in charity, in good morals, in justice, in the fear of the Lord, that the whole is nothing except from him who is good: thus he concluded, My God, my mercy. Filled with good things, he found nothing by which to call God his own except his mercy. O sweet name, under which no one must despair, consoling all, inviting all to conversion! If indeed he had only forgiven us our sins, he could rightly be called merciful. But now, because he both forgave sins and in addition added gifts, and (what was incredible) even granted heavenly glory to undeserving sinners, he is not only now called merciful, but is worthily called mercy itself. Let the Church therefore say this with voice and heart.

Let each faithful soul say: My God, my mercy.

TITLE OF PSALM 59.

And 2. *God, you have rejected.* [Verse 1.] Unto the end, for those who will be changed, an inscription of the title, to David himself, for instruction. [Verse 2.] When he set fire to Mesopotamia of Syria and Syria Sobal, and Joab turned back and struck Edom in the Valley of Salt, twelve thousand (2 Kings 8 and 10; 1 Chronicles 18). When Saul was dead, after David obtained the kingdom, he set fire to Mesopotamia—that is, a part of Syria—and Syria Sobal, another part of Syria; and Joab his enemy came to him, and he struck Edom, that is, the Idumean people, because that people was from the land of Idumea (Genesis 25), which was so called from Esau its inhabitant, who was called Edom because he loved earthly things. Through these victories David understood the victories of Christ, which he was to accomplish among the Jews and among the Gentiles. The title is thus: This psalm was appointed for these, that is, to the honor of those who will be changed unto the end, that is, into Christ, or into perseverance. He shows two changes of the just man: one in this life, which is from sin to righteousness; the second in the other life, which is from mortality to immortality. And that change will be made by the inscription of the title received through faith—namely, because they believe Christ to be the King of the Jews.

By the inscription, I say, made to David himself—that is, to Christ—by going into instruction, that is, into his precepts, by subjecting oneself to the law of Christ himself, so that they may work according to that law. Because faith without works is dead (James 2). They will be changed, I say, when he has set on fire—that is, by this very act of setting on fire with the fire of God—Mesopotamia of Syria, that is, the Jews, whom by calling he raised to a high dignity, who previously were lofty, that is, singularly proud concerning the knowledge of God. For Mesopotamia means "high calling," but Syria is interpreted as "lowly." And the same Christ set on fire Syria of Zobah, that is, the very Jews, lofty and proud concerning vain antiquity, that is, concerning carnal observances of the law. For Zobah means "vain antiquity." And he converted from idolatry to his faith Joab, that is, the enemy—namely, the people of the Gentiles, who had no knowledge of God. And he struck—that is, he moved from unbelief to faith—Edom, that is, the people of the Gentiles, devoted to earthly things, or to the blood of sin. For Edom means "earthly" or "bloody." He struck the earthliness of the Gentiles, so that they would no longer seek earthly things. By this he converted Joab, that is, the Gentile people; and so he struck them, so that they might be in the Valley of Salt. They were in the valley, that is, in humility, which is the mother of virtues and the seasoning of all things, like salt of foods. Because whoever gathers virtues without humility carries dust into the wind.

I say he struck down twelve thousand, that is, all those in the four parts of the world who confess the faith of the holy Trinity. By the thousand, perfection is understood. The matter is the Jews themselves who are to be changed, and the Gentiles converted to the faith through the sufferings of Christ. The method: in the first part he shows, by many reasons and by the authority of God himself, that they must be changed from sin to righteousness. In the second part, which begins, Save me from the earth, he shows that through that same change they come to another change, namely from mortality to immortality. The intention is that no one despise these strikings, but that they bear patiently the adversities of this world, because through them they will have both changes. The voice is that of those converted to the faith through the victories of Christ. And because they were going to say that they are shown first, whence they are changed, when it is said:

PSALM 59.

O God, you have driven us away—from the joys of paradise, from the contemplation of the inmost vision. And you have destroyed us—by the corruption of passibility and mortality. You were angry because of our sins, but because of your goodness you have had mercy on us. Hence it is said elsewhere: When you are angry, you will remember mercy (Ps. 39). A great approach to God is the knowledge of one's own unhappiness. It is very useful for the soul to weigh whence it has fallen, to see where it lies, to lament its destruction from the loss of righteousness, and in these things to fear the anger of the judge. Whoever does this will obtain the mercy of the Lord.

You are Italus, he says, and you have had mercy on us. As if he were saying: You are angry to this end, that you may have mercy; you are angry in the present, that you may have mercy in the future. Your very anger is mercy. And he explains how he has had mercy, as follows:

You have shaken the earth, that is, earthly men, with the plowshare of preaching; and you have thrown it into confusion, unto repentance. And as you have begun, Lord, so bring it to completion. Heal its contritions, that is, remove from it the miseries which it endures, or the sins for which it has a contrite heart. And it is fitting that you heal it, because it has been shaken. And to your grace that shakes it, it has consented through free will. By such steps indeed the sinful soul, with God inspiring it, begins to draw near to health. First it is shaken by the fear of the Lord. Then it is thrown into confusion by grief for sin. It fears lest it perish; it grieves that it has sinned. But when, placed between fear and grief, while conscience accuses and guilt torments, it begins to repent and in its hard anxiety to crush and torture its heart, and thus through contrition it returns to health. It has been preached to us: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 4). Behold whence the earth has been shaken and thrown into confusion. The sinful soul has heard; perhaps it is not moved, and is not worthy to be healed. It has heard (from Augustine) other things; it is moved, it is goaded, it beats its breast, it pours out tears. Heal, Lord, its contritions, because it has been shaken.

Thus, when your earthly nature has been struck down, the old self set aflame, and the human being changed for the better, hard and harsh things follow: hence it is added:

You have shown your people hard things. Not only through vision, but also through experience, whence it is written: All who wish to live devoutly in Christ suffer persecution (2 Tim 3). For through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14). Hence the Lord said to his disciples: In the world you will have distress (John 16). You have given us to drink the wine of compunction. You have made us delight in the cup of suffering. For just as wine delights when it is drunk, and even that which stings is a delight to the one drinking: so the sufferings and tribulations of this world are a delight to the servants of God. Hence it is that Paul glories in tribulations (Rom 5). And the apostles went rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were counted worthy to suffer insult for the name of Jesus (Acts 5). This cup the Lord was offering to the sons of Zebedee when he said: Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink (Matt 20)? Or, You have given us to drink the wine of compunction, that is, the sweetness of tears and of penitence, and of confession. The first labor, then, is that a person be displeasing to himself, that he fight against his sins, that he be changed for the better. The second labor is, for the sake of what he has imitated, to bear the tribulations and temptations of this world, and to persevere among them even to the end. And note that he did not say, of destruction, but of compunction.

For this drink of suffering does not destroy but is a medicine that burns. Hence it is further added:

You have given a sign to those who fear you. That is, these tribulations signify and make known to them, that they may flee from the face of the bow. That is, from the face of the future and threatening judgment. By temporal tribulations, he says, you have signified to your people that they should flee from the wrath of eternal fire. From this let each one consider what awaits sinners afterward, if even the righteous are so severely scourged here. Hence Peter says: It is time that judgment begin from the house of the Lord; and, If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the impious and the sinner appear? (1 Peter 4). How will he spare those with whom he is angry, if he allows those in whom he delights to be afflicted thus? Rightly, moreover, is judgment designated by the bow: for just as an arrow is shot from a bow, so from judgment a sentence will be brought forth. The string is drawn backward when the arrow is about to be shot; and the greater its extension backward, the greater the force with which it flies forward. So the more judgment is delayed, the greater the force with which it will come. Therefore let us give thanks to the Lord for temporal things, because he has given his people a sign, that they may flee from the face of the bow. Why this?

That your beloved may be delivered. For indeed the signs of present evils are given for this purpose, that the Lord's beloved may be delivered from eternal evils. And that this may come to pass, he entreats suppliantly, saying: Save me by your right hand. That is, in your better goods, in perpetual blessedness. So save me that I may stand at your right hand. I do not seek temporal salvation; concerning this, your will be done: I seek eternal things, which you command me to seek. And therefore hear me. Hence he turns to his hearers, to strengthen them, saying:

God has spoken in his holy one. From this I know that he will save by his right hand: because God the Father has spoken in the holy one, that is, in his Son. Hence Paul says: God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself (2 Cor 5). And again: In these last days he has spoken to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things (Heb 1), in whom he promised this salvation. Of which speaking I, the faithful people, will rejoice and will divide Shechem, and will measure out the valley of tabernacles. When Jacob was returning from Laban his father-in-law, with all his people, Rachel hid the idols in Shechem, which his father had had in Syria. But Jacob made tabernacles there for his sheep and herds, and he called that place Tabernacles (Gen 31). And these, says the Church, I will measure out. What is signified by Shechem, where idols are hidden, but the Gentiles, the worshipers of idols? I will divide Shechem, that is, I will divide the nations. For faith is not of all.

To him they believe, others do not believe. And even of those who believe, some live well, others badly. Of those also who live well, some will persevere, others will fall and perish. Therefore let not those who believe be afraid among those who do not believe, nor those who live rightly among those who resist with depraved ways. They are divided now by faith and by conduct; they will be divided in judgment, the sheep to the right, the goats to the left (Matthew 25). Now Shechem is interpreted as "shoulder." According to the interpretation of the name, shoulders are divided, so that some are burdened by their own sins, while others take up the burden of Christ, as he himself admonishes us, saying: Take my yoke upon you. For my yoke is sweet and my burden light (Matthew 11). The valley, he says, of tabernacles I will measure out. Perhaps on account of the sheep of Jacob, the valley of tabernacles is understood as the gathering of the Jews; and it too is divided. For those who believed have passed over from there; the remnants have remained outside. This division is now demonstrated when it is added:

Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, Ephraim is the strength of my head. Gilead is interpreted as a heap of testimony. Thus the pile of stones was called which Jacob and Laban made as a sign of covenant. By the heap of testimony the multitude of martyrs is designated. For martyrs in Greek are called witnesses in Latin. Gilead is mine, the heap of testimony is mine, the number of martyrs is mine, that is, it belongs to my fellowship. Manasseh is interpreted as forgetfulness. He who forgets his former state is likewise mine. Hence it is said elsewhere: Forget your people and your father's house, and so the king will desire your beauty (Isaiah 44). Ephraim is called fruitfulness. These are those who bear good fruits. They are the strength of the head, that is, of Christ. By these are chiefly understood the teachers of the Church, who bear fruit in themselves and in others. To such the Lord says in the Gospel: I have chosen you, that you should go and bear fruit (John 15). These are the strength of the head, because they sustain the weaker members of Christ.

Judah is my king. Those who confess their sins and spiritually govern themselves are mine. For Judah is interpreted as confession. Or Christ, who is to be born from the tribe of Judah (Matthew 1), will be my King. Moab is the pot of my hope. Moab is interpreted as "from the father," because he was born from the father and the daughter. By Moab is understood the people of the Gentiles, born from sin, from the daughters of Lot, who lay with their father when he was drunk, misusing their father (Genesis 19). In this, those are signified who misuse the law. For the Apostle says: The law is good (1 Timothy 1), if one uses it lawfully. But those daughters of Lot did not lawfully use their father. For just as good works are born when each person uses the law well, so evil works are born when each person uses the law badly. Accordingly, those who misused their father—that is, who misused the law—begot the Moabites, through whom evil works are signified. From this comes the tribulation of the Church, from this the boiling pot. Of this pot it is said elsewhere through the Prophet: A pot set burning in the north (Jeremiah 1). From where, if not from the side of the devil, who said: I will set my throne in the north (Isaiah 14)? Tribulations, therefore, arise against the Church especially from none other than those who misuse the law. But just as food is in the pot, so the saints are refined in tribulation.

But plainly it is said, O pot of my hope: because the hope of the saints comes from tribulation, as the Apostle testifies, who says: Tribulation works patience, patience probation, probation hope (Rom. 5). The pot of iniquity burns, but greater is the flame of love. Do not fear the Moabites, that is, the evil works of those who use the law badly. Judah your king has gone before. Do you not know that the Jews, using the law badly, killed your king? Therefore hope, and follow where your king has gone before. Having been established in this pot of tribulation, let us hear how great a hope the Church has. For it follows: In Idumaea I will stretch out my shoe. Idumaea is interpreted as earthly, or bloody. By shoe is understood the Gospel. Whence it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce peace, who announce good things (Isa. 52)! And feet shod in preparation of the Gospel of peace (Eph. 15). Let the pot boil as much as it can, let the world rage as much as it is able. I in Idumaea, that is, even to the earthly and bloody, will stretch out my shoe, that is, my preaching. Or even into Idumaea the shoe is stretched out, when God is preached to the Gentiles in a human way. For our mortal flesh was, so to speak, the shoe of divinity. To me the foreigners are subject. Even those who do not belong to my race, to my inheritance, are subject to me.

For many come to the faith who do not attain to the inheritance, as it is written: For many are called, but few are chosen (Matt. 20). How many worship Christ who will not reign with Christ. And lest he seem to attribute this to his own strength, he commends the grace of God that leads him, when he adds:

Who will lead me into the fortified city of the saints, that is, into the heavenly Jerusalem? Who will lead me even into Idumaea? that is, into the Gentile world, so that many from the Gentiles may be incorporated into me, and by the fellowship of members the city may be enlarged. Or this city is understood as Judaea, which is rightly called fortified, namely by the patriarchs and prophets, by the laws also, and by various institutions. To this city Christ was first sent. To this city the Apostles were first led. To this city the Gospel was first preached. Let the primitive Church therefore say: let the apostolic voice say: Who will lead me into the fortified city, that is, into Idumaea? Who will lead me even into Idumaea, that is, into the whole Gentile world.

Are you not God, who have rejected us? You yourself who have rejected us will lead us down. You yourself, who are angry, will have mercy. For you will not hold back your mercies in your anger. And will you not go forth, O God, in our virtues? The world is going to serve; there is going to be a heap of testimony, with the blood of the martyrs poured out; the pagans are going to say: Where is their God (Ps. 41)? And then you will not go forth, O God, in our virtues; you will not appear against them. You will not display your power such as you showed in Moses, in Joshua the son of Nun, in David, and in the others, when the nations yielded to their strength, and when slaughter had been made, you led your people into the land which you promised. Certainly when the martyrs were led in chains, when they were slain by the sword, when they were burned by fire, when they were tortured with various torments, they were despised as if forsaken, as if without a helper. Was it therefore because God was not going forth in their virtues that he was abandoning them? Did he not rather, by not going forth in their virtues, lead the Church all the way into Idumea? For if the Church wished to wage war and to use the sword, she would seem to fight for this present life. Therefore because she despised the present life, she became a heap of testimony concerning the life to come. You therefore, O God, who will not go forth in our virtues, because you will not give temporal aid, give everlasting aid. And this is what he adds:

Give us eternal help out of tribulation—that is, because of the tribulation which we endure here. And therefore we do not ask for this human salvation, because it is vain and transitory. Hence he immediately adds: And the salvation of man is vain. Whence Solomon says: Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity (Eccles. 1). And again he said: I saw all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and affliction of spirit (Ibid.). Deservedly, therefore, the Church adds:

In God we shall do valiantly. Not in the sword, not in horses, not in breastplates, not in the might of an army: And he himself will bring to nothing those who afflict us. This has been done (according to Augustine): the martyrs were trampled down by suffering, by persevering, they did valiantly in God. And he himself did what follows. He brought to nothing those who afflict us. Where are the persecutors? Where are those who raged, dragged, killed? Who among them is even remembered? The savagery of the persecutors has been brought to nothing: the virtue and glory of the saints flourishes. Let us also do valiantly in the Lord, that we may deserve to be free from every tribulation and temptation. For if God is for us, who is against us (Rom. 8)? Let our strength, then, be in God: and no adversities shall prevail to harm us.

TITLE OF PSALM 60.

The following Psalm is entitled in this way: Unto the end, in hymns of David. This Psalm directs us unto the end, being set in the hymns of David, that is, in the praises of Christ. In this Psalm the whole people from all parts of the world throughout all successions is shown to cry out to Christ. It is shown also that through Christ that people will come to the same inheritance which Christ himself has. The subject matter is the faithful people who speak here. And it shows itself in the first part of the Psalm crying out to Christ, as has been said. In the second part, which begins: For In, my God, you have heard my prayer, it is shown that they possess the inheritance of Christ. The intention is to exhort us, that by his example we pray, and hoping for future goods through the obtaining of present goods, we persevere in praises even unto the end. And this intention is perceived at the end of the Psalm, where it is said: So. I will sing a psalm to your name, etc. He sets before us, moreover, a form of praying, saying thus.

PSALM 60.

Hear, O God, my supplication: attend to my prayer. God attends to our prayer when he graciously receives what we pray. Sometimes he hears certain people in anger, not so much unto salvation as unto condemnation. And therefore, after he said "Hear," he straightway added "attend": namely, that he may deign to hear graciously and profitably. It can also be distinguished thus: "Hear my supplication," in the avoiding of evils; "attend to my prayer," in the desiring of good things. For some make this distinction between supplication and prayer, that it is to supplicate God when we seek that he turn away evils from us, and it is to pray when we ask that he bestow good things. And because the Church is spread over the whole circle of the earth, she intimates that she cries out from every side, when she adds:

From the ends of the earth I have cried to you. Our cry to God is our desire. The more devoutly each one desires, the more he cries out. And he adds the reason why: While my heart was in anguish. He shows that she is throughout all the nations in great glory, yet not without great temptation. For all who wish to live piously in Christ suffer persecution (2 Tim 3). Moreover, our advancement is made through temptation, nor does anyone become known to himself unless he is tempted; nor can he be crowned unless he has conquered (2 Tim 2); nor can he conquer unless he has striven; nor can he strive unless he has an enemy and temptation.

This man, therefore, is anxious, crying out from the ends of the earth, but he is not abandoned; because it is added: You have exalted me upon a rock. Now the rock was Christ. This same Truth says: Upon this rock I will build my Church. He is exalted upon the rock who is founded in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. And well does it say, You have exalted me: because the just man who lives by faith transcends all temporal things, and his conversation is in heaven. And because he who gives faith advances his own to action and hope, and confirms them in that very thing, lest anyone, when tempted, fail, it is rightly added: You have led me from virtue to virtue, from good to better:

Because you have become my hope, a tower of strength against the face of the enemy. He—if he had not become our hope, he would not lead us. He leads as a guide, and leads into himself as the way, and leads through to himself as the homeland. Whence is our hope? Because he suffered, because he rose again. For what do we say when we read these things? God does not lose those for whom he sent his Son to be tempted, crucified, to die, to rise again. God does not despise us, for whose sake he did not spare even his own Son, but delivered him up for us. So then he has become our hope. In him you see your labor and your reward: labor in the passion, reward in the resurrection. We have two lives: one in which we are, the other which we hope for. The one in which we are is known to us.

What we hope for is unknown to us. Endure where you are, and you will possess what you do not yet possess. How do you endure? Do not be conquered by the tempter through those trials—by his temptations, by his death he has shown you the life in which you are; by his resurrection he has shown you the life in which you will be. Therefore he became your leader. Your own Creator suffered, so that you need not fear to suffer. He died, so that you need not fear to die. He rose again in your flesh, so that you too may hope to rise again. For in hope we have been saved (Rom 8). He himself who is our hope has also become for us a tower of strength from the face—that is, from the presence—of the enemy. Such a fortification is God for us, in which we can both be safe from the enemy and shoot arrows at the enemy himself. Christ is before you. Remember Christ, and enter into the tower. Whatever you suffer, consider that he suffered first; and consider with what end he suffered—namely, that he might die and rise again. Hope for such an end as preceded in him; and you have entered into the tower by not consenting to the enemy. For if you have consented to the enemy, the attacker's dart has reached you. Rather, shoot your weapons at him, by which he may be struck and conquered. What are these weapons? The words of God, your faith, your hope, good works. Now I say this: be in that tower so as to be at leisure there, and let it be enough for you that the enemy's darts do not reach you. Do something there; let your hands not be idle. Your good works are swords that kill the enemy.

Strengthened, then, by such a fortification, he promises that he will persevere, when he adds:

I will dwell in your tabernacle forever. Because the Church will be such as to serve God until the end of the world, I will remain in concord, I will fight in the unity of faith until the end. For it is not the one who has begun, but the one who perseveres to the end, who will be saved (Matt. 24). But from what source will you persevere? What are your strengths amid so many scandals, amid so many battles? There follows, and he says: I will be protected in the covering of your wings, that is, in the protection of the virtues. Whence it is said to the blessed Virgin by the angel: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you (Luke 1). Behold why we are secure amid so many temptations, until the end of the world comes and the eternal ages receive us: because we are protected in the covering of his wings. Great is the heat of vices, but great is the shadow under the wings of God. And therefore I am certain concerning the protection,

For you, O God, have heard my prayer, concerning the good things to be received. You have given an inheritance to those who fear your name. But benefits conferred are a proof of things to come. Here we are admonished not to cease praying, as long as it is the time of temptations. Pray (says the Lord) that you do not enter into temptation. Prayer, following [this], removes the darts of the devil. This is the first virtue against the assaults of temptations. Nothing more useful can a servant of God do in this world than to pray to God. Prayer calms the heart, draws it away from earthly things, cleanses it from vices, raises it up to heavenly things, makes it more capable and more worthy to receive spiritual goods. Let us therefore persevere in prayer and in the fear of the name of God, so that we may be able to merit the heavenly inheritance. Then he explains what inheritance God will give, saying:

You will add days upon the days of the king: his years even to the day of generation and generation. You will add (according to Augustine) eternal days upon the temporal days of our king Christ, so that Christ may reign not only in these passing days in his Church, but the saints may reign with him in those days which have no end. The eternity of God is called both days and years (Dan. 7), yet improperly. Hence in another psalm it is said: And your years shall not fail (Ps. 101). As years, so days, so one day. Whatever you wish to say, you say less than eternity. But for this reason it is necessary to say something, so that there may be that from which you may think what cannot be said.

And because he could have added two or three days or years, he says: You shall add until the day of the present generation and of the generation to come, or of the carnal generation and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal. And the king himself, with his generation, endures forever in the sight of God. But this is the reward of the saints: the glory of the vision of God. Hence the Apostle says: We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is (1 John 3). And because God's recompense is so great and the blessedness so great: who will seek out his mercy and truth? It is called mercy because God does not look to our merits but to his own goodness, so as to forgive us our sins and promise eternal life. But it is truth because he does not fail to render what he promised. Let us recognize this here in ourselves, and let us act so that, just as he has shown us mercy by forgiving sins and truth by giving what he promised, so we too should practice mercy here toward the needy, toward the sick, and even toward our enemies; and truth by not sinning, and not adding sin upon sin. Therefore he speaks by way of a question, as though inviting us: Who will seek? Because although this good is ineffable, few there are who seek it, or who persevere in seeking it. So great is human misery, and iniquity has so abounded, that many are found seeking vanity and falsehood, but few in seeking the truth.

But let us strive to be among these few, so that with the elect we may say what follows:

So I will sing a psalm to your name forever and ever, that I may render my vows from day to day. Placed in this hope, because I hope that you will give me an inheritance in the future and that it will endure forever in your sight. So I will sing a psalm to your name, that is, so I will work well for the honor of your name, pressing on into the age that follows this age, that I may render my vows, that is, myself, whom I have devoted, from day to day, that is, continually; or from day to day, that is, from virtue to virtue. Or, so I will sing a psalm, that I may render my vows, that is, so I will sing praise with my voice, that the voice of the mouth may agree with the devotion of the mind. For the voice of those who sing praise to God ought to be in harmony with the heart, so that that saying of the Apostle may be fulfilled: I will sing praise with the spirit and with the mind (2 Cor 14). For the praise of those is not pleasing to God of whom it is said: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me (Isa 29; Matt 15). But our psalmody is then acceptable to God, when we so sing praise with the mouth that we are set aflame in the heart; when in the praise of God tongue, life, and conscience come together. Such praise, such vows let us strive to pay to the Lord God forever and ever, from day to day.

TITLE OF THE SIXTY-FIRST PSALM.

Unto the end, for Idithun (1 Chronicles 25), a psalm of David. The psalm belongs to David and to the other righteous, composed for Idithun, that is, for those who leap across; running unto the end, that is, unto Christ. The subject matter is those who leap across—such people, because they cannot be hindered by any tribulation or persuasion, who, having let go of earthly things, press toward heavenly things alone. In the first part he shows that he cannot be hindered, because he completes his leap, rebuking the wicked who wish to hinder him, whether by persuasions or by tribulations. In the second part (which begins: But to God) he admonishes himself and others to be subject to God. In the third part (which begins: But the vain) he rebukes the wicked for their wickedness, and says that one must not trust in earthly things. The intention is to admonish us that we not be hindered by any tribulation from passing from earthly things to heavenly things. Hence now, in the voice of any perfect person, it is said against the envious:

PSALM 61.

Will not my soul be subject to God? For he knew (from Augustine) that whoever exalts himself will be humbled; and, fearful lest by leaping across he become proud, he was not elated by the things beneath him, but humble before God, who is above, and as though to the envious who threatened him with ruin, who grieved that he had leaped across them, he answered: Will not my soul be subject to God, that is, obedient and observing his commandments? My soul, I say, that is, of my own power; for although the body is under your power, yet the soul will never be anything but mine. However much I draw near, however much I ascend, however much I leap across, I shall be under God, not against God. I shall be secure in transcending all other things, when he keeps me beneath himself, who is above all things. And it is just that I be subject to him, for from him, that is, from God the Father, is my salvation, that is, my being saved. And this is proved:

For he himself is my God, who created me, and my Savior, who saved me. My upholder, who received me from death to life, from punishment to glory. And therefore, I shall not be moved any more. Although at one time I was moved, now I have been received and healed by my author and Redeemer. No further shall I be moved. And it must be noted that there is a difference between Savior and salvation. For by the name Savior, Christ is understood. By salvation, however, it is understood that salvation has been accomplished through him. And since indeed I have such a Savior, by whom I shall no more be moved: therefore, O foolish ones,

How long do you rush upon him—that is, how long do you make your assault irrationally? Upon man—the outer man. For though you may afflict the body, you cannot reach the soul. To us, indeed, there is no harm. But as for you, in that which you do, consider your own destruction. For you kill all of yourselves. Whoever strive to turn the good from their purpose, whether by dissuading or by persecuting, you kill yourselves inwardly in this. You condemn your own souls; but you rush upon us like a leaning wall—that is, just as a leaning wall is prone to collapse, so you judge us easy to fall, as though we were destitute of all help. And like a battered fence—that is, just as a fence without mortar is fragile, and if it is struck down, easily falls, so you think we are without binding together and prone to ruin; but it is not so.

Nevertheless, the wicked do not cease on this account, but they have thought to repel my prize from me—that is, my God and the glory which I hope for, and to take from me the reward of my labor. Therefore I cried out in thirst—not as one lazy and squeamish, but as one thirsting and desiring to die for righteousness. For I was eager for the passion. For blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Between this course and this thirst, with their mouth they blessed—so as to deceive me with words of flattery. And with their heart they cursed—plotting iniquity and death.

The wicked and deceitful do this when they do not dare to pursue honors openly. With a deceitful mouth they speak good, but within, in the heart, poison lies hidden. But although they do this, although they devise these things, although they drive on, lie in wait, persecute, and slander: I nonetheless, fixed in God, will remain. Therefore amid so many dangers he adds, for the exhortation of his own soul:

Nevertheless, O my soul, be subject to God. As you began, acknowledge that you have received from him the good things that you have. Humble yourself before him as much as you can. And in truth you will do so: For my patience is from him. Or because Christ himself was made an example of patience, as the Apostle says: Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow his footsteps (1 Peter 2). Or because he himself makes one strong and patient in tribulations. For no one could endure so many wars, whether open or hidden snares, among open enemies and false brothers, unless almighty God granted the strength to endure. Again he gives another reason why the soul ought to be subject to God, saying: For he is my God, who calls me. And my Savior, who redeems me. My helper. For doing good: and therefore, I will not depart. He already set this verse before us above. But because there he admonished his hearers in this matter, now he has repeated the same verse for the exhortation of himself.

But it is a useful counsel to remember our God and Savior and helper in all things, so that we may be able to depart from him through no temptations. Hence he further adds:

In God is my salvation. That is, through God I have salvation. For the whole salvation of the just must be referred to him who justifies the ungodly. And my glory: so that (according to the Apostle) whoever glories, may glory in the Lord (1 Cor. 10). Or because through him the glory of eternal life is granted, meanwhile now amid temptations and scandals, amid open attacks and deceitful words, God is my helper. For he gives help to those who strive. And my hope is in God. Hope (from Augustine) lasts as long as that which has been promised is not yet, and what is not seen is believed. But when it has come, there will be salvation and glorification. Yet while those things are deferred, we are not deserted. For God is my helper, and my hope is in God. Now by his example he exhorts the rest, as one running in thirst, desiring all to be saved. For it is just that those who by living well run to God should hasten to draw with them to him as many as they can. He says therefore:

Hope in him, all the congregation of the people—all you who are gathered together in the unity of faith. And so that you may be able to hope in him worthily, pour out your hearts before him. That is, empty them of all filth, so that they may be before him, that is, in his good pleasure; for one who does not have a heart clean from evil, if he hopes, his is not hope but presumption. Therefore do not keep your hearts within your hearts; pour them out before him by lamenting, confessing, and entreating. For God is our helper forever. There is no other helper like God, as man is. For men help in temporal matters; God helps even unto the granting of eternity. God, I say, is our helper forever.

But truly the children of men are vain. These things they do not attend to, but they are vain, that is, devoted to vanities. He calls the children of men those who imitate those who live carnally. The children of men are also liars in the balances, that is, in the scale of justice, in the deliberation of good and evil, when they weigh evil above good. This was said from the likeness of those who deceive buyers with balances, in which justice seems to reside. Hence he also adds: so that they themselves may deceive from vanity into the very same thing. What he says, into the very same thing, signifies that although there are diverse frauds, diverse errors, and diverse doctrines, all tend toward one vanity, toward one kingdom of destruction and perdition. Therefore he strives to dissuade them from vanity of this kind, when he adds:

Do not hope in iniquity. And he sets forth this iniquity part by part, when he adds: And do not desire robberies. This was said perhaps to the poor, who might be about to seize something out of necessity. Let the rich also hear: If riches abound, if they flow forth like a fountain, do not set your heart upon them. Do not put your confidence in riches. Do not presume; do not hope. Let it not be said: Behold the man who did not set God as his helper, but hoped in the multitude of his riches and prevailed in his vanity. But blessed is the man whose Lord God is his hope, and who did not look upon vanities and false insanities. Behold, the one has nothing, the other has much. Let the one not seek by robbery what he does not have. Let the other not set his heart upon what he has; let him not fix it there, but rather fear. Command, says Paul, the rich of this world not to be proud, nor to hope in the uncertainty of riches. Therefore do not desire fraud, do not desire robbery. Do not place your hope in the things you have. And to dissuade them more strongly from vanity, he sets before them two things: one of which deters, the other soothes, saying:

God has spoken once; I have heard these two things, because power belongs to God, and to you, Lord, mercy: for you will render to each one according to his works. If you despise the voice of a man, attend, because God himself has spoken: and this once, that is, immutably; or once, that is, in his only Word. For God the Father has one Word, the only-begotten God (Hebr. 1). In him are all things, because all things were made through the Word (Joan. 1). There all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden (Coloss. 2). He has one Word: God has spoken once. These two things which I am about to say to you, I heard there. I do not speak from myself. Perhaps he heard many other things, but there is no need for them to be told to us. For the Lord himself says: I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now (Joan. 16). Leaping over all creation, he came to the only-begotten Word of God, by whose revelation he heard these two things, very necessary for us, because power belongs to God. For all power is from God (Rom. 13); and to you, Lord, mercy. Nearly all of Scripture is contained in these two things. For the sake of these two things, the Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Law, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostles. For the sake of these, all proclamation and celebration of the word in the Church. Fear his power; love his mercy. And do not so presume upon his mercy as to despise his power. Nor so fear his power as to despair of his mercy.

To his power it belongs to punish the wicked for their depraved deeds. To his mercy it belongs to reward the righteous for their good deeds. Therefore he says, Because you will render to each one according to his works: namely good things to the good, and evil things to the evil. So before this comes to pass, let us strive to turn away from evil and to do good. Let us strive to pass from this world to God, from vice to virtue. This is the fruit of this psalm, and the intent of the one who leaps over.

TITLE OF PSALM 62.

Unto the end, a psalm that was in the desert of Idumaea (2 Kings 2(?)). David, fleeing historically from Saul, came into the desert of Idumaea. And he understood in this figure the Church placed in the desert of this life: of which signification he sings in this psalm. This psalm befits David the prophet, and all the righteous, since the Church herself is in the desert of Idumaea, that is, of this life, where there is nothing but earthliness. The subject matter is the Church placed in the desert of this life. In the first part he shows that she, admonished by the desert of this life, hastens to God with every desire. In the second part (which begins, If I have been mindful of you) he shows that she has security in this desert through God himself. The intent is to admonish that they choose God alone for themselves: or to teach how they should conduct themselves in the midst of a depraved nation. The voice of the whole Church.

PSALM 62.

O God, my God, I watch for you from the light. O God of all creation, my God according to a preeminent and singular love, I watch—that is, I am diligently devoted and careful to win you and to carry out your wills. And this from the light, that is, through the purity of a good conscience. Of this watching it was said in the Gospel: Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he comes, finds watching (Matthew 24). He calls a pure conscience light. Thus, on the contrary, we call a bad conscience darkness, according to the Apostle: You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord (Ephesians 5). Or: I watch for you from the light—that is, from the time I had knowledge of you, which is the cause of my watching. The sleep of the soul is to forget God. Paul rouses such a one, saying: Rise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you (ibid.). Christ enlightens souls and makes them watch. Therefore our life and our conduct ought, through Christ, to be watchful toward God. But he shows the cause of this watching when he adds: My soul has thirsted for you; in how many ways my flesh has thirsted for you. Everyone who wishes something to be granted him in the ardor of desire—that very desire is the thirst of the soul. But there are diverse desires in the hearts of men. One thirsts for gold, another for silver, another for a possession, another for an inheritance, one for this, another for that. Scarcely is one found who thirsts for God.

But the soul that is holy rejects all things that are of this world as bitter, and with all its desires burns for that ineffable sweetness which is in God. It longs to be inebriated from the abundance of the house of God, where is the fountain of life and the origin of wisdom. And my flesh, he says, has thirsted for you (Ps. 33), namely that in that resurrection and immortality it may appear before you, as you have promised. And this in how many ways—that is, for how many more reasons—than the soul: for it is subject to more numerous miseries. For the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matt. 26). And although the soul feels many temptations and many disturbances, yet it does not fail as the flesh does. For (from Augustine) from the corruption of the flesh, if we do not eat, we fail and are hungry. If we do not drink, we fail and are thirsty. If we eat and drink for a long time, that very long refreshment is a failing. If we sleep for a long time, we fail, and therefore we keep watch. If we keep watch for a long time, we fail, and therefore we sleep. If we stand for a long time, we are fatigued, and therefore we sit. If we sit for a long time, we are fatigued there too, and therefore we rise. There is therefore no fixed state of our flesh. Now it passes from infancy to childhood, from childhood to adolescence, from adolescence to youth, from youth to old age, from old age to senility, from senility to death. Our age does not stand still: everywhere fatigue, everywhere corruption.

Therefore the flesh, in proportion as it is wearied in many ways, so in many ways does it thirst from God for unfailing incorruption. Where does it thirst?

In a desert land, impassable and waterless. That is, in this world, which is a desert land, having in itself, as far as it is concerned, no way of truth from any good, nor any refreshment of true salvation. But the Lord has taken pity on us in this desert. Truth has sprung up from the earth, and our earth has given its fruit. Our Lord Jesus Christ has become the way. He has given us water in the desert, sending his preachers filled with the Holy Spirit, so that in them there may be a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life. These things we have here. But I am not of the desert. Therefore the psalm first commended the character of the desert, so that you too, when you had heard in what condition you are, if you could have any consolations here, fruits, or a way, or water, might not attribute them to the desert, but to him who deigned to visit you in the desert. Unless a person first thirsts in that evil in which he is, he never arrives at the good, which God is. Thus in the holy place I have appeared before you, that is, I have shown myself such as you ought to desire: namely, through this, that they are in holy desire, or purpose: so that I might see your power and your glory. That is, so that I might understand your Son, in whom is the power of omnipotence (because through him all things were made [John 1]) and the glory of divinity.

This virtue and glory those who have a sanctified heart now see through faith; afterward they will see through sight. He gives yet another reason why he has kept watch and thirsted, saying:

For your mercy is better than lives. There are many human lives, but God promises one life. And he does not give it to us because of our merits, but because of his mercy. One man chooses for himself a life of trading, another of money-lending, another of farming, another of soldiering, one this life, another that. The lives are diverse, but your mercy is better than our lives. What you give to the corrected is better than what the perverse love. You grant one life, which is set before all our lives, whatever lives we have been able to choose in the world. Or otherwise: there are many lives of the saints in this age. One serves God in marriage, another through continence, another through the common life, another through the solitary life, another through the active life, another through the contemplative life, different people in different ways, according to the measure of grace that has been given to each by God (Rom. 12). However perfectly anyone may live, however holily and purely he may serve God, nevertheless he is not brought to the heavenly kingdom unless divine mercy is joined to his good works. Therefore let it rightly be said: For your mercy is better than lives; therefore my lips will praise you, that is, I will proclaim you as praiseworthy to others.

For we must not be ungrateful for the great mercy of the loving Lord; we ought to render praises and thanksgivings as we are able. Hence he adds further:

5. So will I bless you in my life, and in your name I will lift up my hands. What is "so"? That I attribute my life, in which I praise you, to your mercy, not to my merits. Or "so" shall my lips praise you, that I may even bless you in my life, that is, throughout my whole life. For each person worthily praises God when he is in harmony with his lips. But to lift up the hands is, with regard to the heavenly fatherland, to practice good works. "In your name," he says, that is, to the honor and glory of your name. According to what is said elsewhere: Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory (Ps. 113). And so that he may be able worthily to praise with his lips and to bless God by living rightly and doing good, he asks to be made fat with the gift of his grace, when he adds:

As with fat and richness let my soul be filled: and with lips of exultation my mouth shall praise. "Adeps" properly denotes that richness which is within, around the vital organs. It signifies the love of God poured out in our hearts through the Spirit who has been given to us (Rom. 5). The richness which is in the outer members designates the eagerness of the soul itself, which makes the body act eagerly in doing good. For a lean soul is not pleasing to God, just as a lean victim was not said to be pleasing in the old sacrifice.

Therefore it is set down, namely, so that we may understand this to have been said figuratively—that is, that he is not asking for carnal fat but spiritual. Not that which is in the flesh, but that which is in the soul. So then the soul is filled with fat and richness when both love is in the mind and affection is outwardly shown, and a spiritual cheerfulness appears in action. For God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9). Hence he declares that God is praised also with lips of exultation, because in the Lord's service and in his praise there ought to be not sadness but joy. For this reason the Holy Spirit admonishes us elsewhere in the psalm: Serve the Lord in gladness (Ps. 100). Nor ought the praise of God be only in the mouth, but also in meditation and in deed; hence it is added:

If I remembered you upon my bed, in the morning watches I will meditate on you. He calls his bed his rest. Often when men are at rest, through rest they are dissolved and forget God; but this holy soul in its rest remembers God. Hence it is clear that even in its actions it will meditate on God. If I remembered you upon my bed—that is, when I was at rest—I will meditate on you, that is, in the works of light. For we ought to perform works worthy of the light, as being in the light, because we are not of the night nor of darkness, but children of God and of light (1 Thess. 5). Hence the Apostle admonishes us to walk honestly as in the day (Rom. 13).

And the Lord in the Gospel says: Let your light shine before men, that seeing your good works they may glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5). Moreover, he commends the grace of God when he adds:

Because you have been my helper. For unless the Lord helps our good efforts, they cannot be fulfilled by us. Behold, the Church now shows that she is secure in the desert through the help of God's grace. Hence, exulting, she says: And in the shadow of your wings I will exult. I rejoice in your good works, because above me is the covering of your wings—that is, the refreshment and protection of the virtues. And not only will I exult, but already in affection and desire.

My soul has clung to you. Not so as to go before you, like Peter, when he said to the Lord: Be favorable to yourself; let this not happen. Therefore, being rebuked, he heard: Get behind me, Satan. For you do not savor the things of God, but the things of men (Matthew 16); but she has clung in such a way that she is behind you—that is, that she may follow you continually and obey you. And because she has thus clung, your right hand has received me—that is, your power and grace has raised me from the low estate in which I was because of sin to great dignity; or your grace has received me to be placed at your right hand. Or perhaps this may be understood especially of our head, who after the resurrection and ascension has been placed at the right hand of the Father. In whose person it is further added:

But they in vain sought my soul. The Jews sought to destroy the soul of Christ (John 11), but in vain, because they could not accomplish what they willed. Hence the punishment that is foretold as coming upon them is added: They shall go into the lower parts of the earth; they shall be delivered into the hands of the sword; they shall be portions for foxes. For they were led into captivity as far as the inner lands, they were conquered by enemies, and handed over into the power of warriors—that is, divided into portions by secular kings and princes, who because of their cunning and craftiness are called foxes. This is why the Lord himself calls King Herod a fox: Go, he says, and tell that fox (Matthew 13). But with these thus scattered, let us hear what he adds concerning our King:

But the King shall rejoice in God. He who is to be called king from his salvation is the one who is King of kings and Lord of lords, who rules us according to good morals and virtues, whose kingdom shall have no end (Revelation 1 and 19). Such a King shall rejoice in that unchangeableness which is in God—that is, in the paternal divinity. All who swear in him shall also be praised—that is, all who promise and keep faith in God shall appear praiseworthy through him, because they vow their souls to him and render them. Great indeed will be the praise of the saints when they hear from the Lord himself in judgment: I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink, and other things of this kind.

And again: Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world (Matthew 25). So then, with the King reigning together with his soldiers in great joy, the opposing party will be confounded, concerning which it is also added: Because the mouth of those who speak iniquity is stopped. How many iniquities the Jews spoke! How many evils the pagans spoke, who persecuted Christians on account of idols! When they thought that Christians could be destroyed, they increased, and they themselves were destroyed. Their mouth is stopped. Now they do not dare to speak against Christ. Yet this will be more perfectly fulfilled in the judgment, when they see our King reigning. And they will not be able to deny God, when they see the saints standing with great constancy against those who oppressed them; when they see those whom they once held in derision counted among the sons of God (Wisdom 5). For then surely the mouth of the wicked will be stopped, when they will no longer have anything they are able to say. Let us therefore strive to keep watch for God from the light, and in this dry desert to thirst for the fountain of life. Let our heart be in holy desire. Let our lips, our life, our works praise and bless God. Let there be the richness of charity in the heart, cheerfulness in action. Let us be mindful of God evening and morning. Let our joy be in him.

Let our soul cling to him with all desire; let us beware of the example of the wicked, who perish, so that with our King Jesus Christ we may rejoice and reign in the heavenly kingdom. This is the benefit of the psalm.

TITLE OF PSALM LXIII.

The title of the following psalm is: Unto the end, a psalm of David. This psalm belongs to David, that is, to Christ, who speaks here, directing himself unto the end. Christ is the subject matter, having suffered and been glorified. For briefly he speaks of his passion and glorification. In the first part he describes the malice of the Jews and prays to be delivered from them. And he affirms what follows. In the second part (which begins, The snares of little ones) he sets forth the mockery of their folly. He shows in this psalm his constancy in the passion, intending to instruct us, namely, by his example, how we ought to conduct ourselves among enemies, and how, praying, we ought to persevere in tribulations, attending to this in particular: that the harsher and more unjust our tribulation has been, the greater profit we shall have in the future, while they will have the greater loss. But here Christ prays that he not yield to his enemies in the passion, although he knew most certainly that he would never fail; but he does this for the instruction of the faithful, so that if he, who foreknew the future, wished to pray, much more should those who are uncertain diligently devote themselves to prayer. And so he begins:

PSALM 63.

Hear, O God, my prayer when I make supplication. Now I beseech you, Father. Now hear my prayer. But that Christ asks to be heard must be understood not according to his divinity but according to his humanity. For in that part in which he was man, he was weak and mortal and capable of suffering. In this part, therefore, he sought mercy, since he needed mercy. But what this prayer is is declared in what follows. For he says: From the fear of the enemy deliver my soul. The servant prays in the psalm what the Lord commands in the Gospel: Do not, he says, fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul (Matthew 10). Let it be prayed, therefore, that he may grant what he commands. Nor does he pray that he not be killed, but that he not fear the killer, lest perhaps by fearing he succumb. Nor does the Lord Christ ask this because he could be broken by any fear, but so that he may give to weak members a form of praying and constancy in suffering. And that he is secure concerning being heard is shown by the following words. For he says:

You have protected me from the assembly of the malignant, that is, from the gathering of those who think evil of me, and also from the multitude of those who work iniquity, that is, from the many who wrought that singular iniquity, namely the crucifixion, against me. For he was protected—as Augustine says—by God protecting himself, by the Son himself protecting his own flesh. For what could the enemies do? They killed the body, but they could not kill the soul. It would have been a small thing for the Lord to exhort his martyrs by word, had he not strengthened them by example. Hear, he says—and it is necessary that you hear. Why?

Because they sharpened their tongues like a sword, they bent the bow, a bitter thing: that they might shoot in secret at the immaculate one. As a sword is sharpened so that it may cut more deeply, so they most keenly devised what worse thing they might say against him. This was the sharpness of the Jews. This they sought as a great thing, that if they killed him, they might not appear as murderers. Therefore they bent the bow, that is, they prepared ambushes. They fought both with the sword and with the bow—with the sword of the tongue, with the bow of deceit. With the sword one fights hand to hand. He who sends an arrow deceives, so as to strike. And well does he call this bow, this deceit, a bitter thing. For what is so bitter as that I should kill Christ? To this end, surely, they bent it, that they might shoot at the immaculate one, that is, kill the innocent, and this in secret, that is, in hiding. To this end they sought how he might be betrayed by a disciple (Matthew...).

he was condemned by the Roman judge, he was crucified by the Romans themselves. This was the sting of the tongue, this the bow, this the arrows. Thus they shot Christ through with arrows. Thus they killed him with the sword of their own tongue. Hence it is also added:

Suddenly they will shoot him, and they will not fear: they have established for themselves a wicked word. He says "suddenly," as if unexpectedly. Now three things from this verse are commended by the perversity of the Jews. First, the cruelty of the deed, where he says, They will shoot him. Second, the perversity of the mind, where he says: And they did not fear. Third, the stubbornness of insane speech, where he adds: they have established for themselves a wicked word. These words insinuate to us that in all things—that is, in word, deed, and thought—they were corrupt. O hard and impenitent heart! That man was handed over to the judge. The judge trembles, and those who handed him over to the judge do not tremble. The power trembles, and the savagery does not tremble. He wishes to wash his hands, and they defile their tongues. But why? They have established for themselves a wicked word. Crucify, crucify. Truly indeed wicked: than which no more wicked thing could exist. The repetition is a confirmation of the malignant word. But they established this, not for the Lord, but for themselves—that is, for their own damnation. For how is it not for themselves, when they say: His blood be upon us, and upon our children? And because he who sins in secret desires to sin not in public, it is rightly added:

They told of it in order to hide their snares—that is, how they might secretly seize and kill Christ: by betraying him through a disciple, by judging him through a Roman governor, by putting him to death through his soldiers (Matt. 26). Such was the hiding of the snares, of which it is also said, They said, Who will see them? For they thought this could not be detected by anyone, but it did them no good. For it follows:

They searched out iniquities: by which they might refute Christ in his words, or because they set up false witnesses against him (Ibid.). But those who searched out their searchings failed—that is, in that subtle and repeated inquiry they could accomplish nothing. This is shown in passing when it is added:

A man will draw near to a deep heart: and God will be exalted. To a deep heart—that is, to a hidden heart, to a divine heart—not showing what he knew, not showing what he was. They, thinking that the whole of him was what was seen, kill the man in the deep heart. God will be exalted, in the divine heart. From the very source where he is humbled, from there he is more greatly exalted. For Christ died, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, sent his preachers into the world. God was believed in. He was magnified and exalted—not that, as far as he himself is concerned, he could ever be exalted, but as far as concerns him in whom a greater knowledge of God is held. Hear how God was exalted, and those who persecuted him were humbled;

The arrows of little children became their wounds; their tongues were weakened against them. All who saw them were troubled. And every man feared. Those who were shooting arrows and did not fear are now struck by the arrows of little children, and being troubled they are greatly afraid. And those who established for themselves an evil word—now their tongues are weakened against them. Their threats and blasphemies have ceased. They have come to know that their scrutinies avail nothing, and from such a clamor of words they have fallen silent. Such is the change wrought by the right hand of the Most High. For not by the powerful arms of strong warriors, but by the humble arrows of simple children, did almighty God lay low enemies so great and so fierce. For God chose the weak things of the world to confound the strong. For who are these little children, if not those to whom it was said in the Gospel: Unless you are converted and become like this little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven? All were therefore troubled unto repentance—that is, men of every kind. And every man feared—that is, every man who uses reason, to understand the things that had been done. The fear of the Lord submitted itself; they announced the works of God—namely, his birth, passion, resurrection, humanity, and divinity, and his powers and wondrous deeds. And they understood his works—namely, that our redemption and salvation were accomplished by God. And therefore it follows:

The righteous man will rejoice, not in himself, not in the world, but in the Lord, and he will hope in him for eternal life. And all who are upright of heart will be praised. That is, all will appear praiseworthy who believe rightly and live well. Those are upright of heart who, having abandoned their own will, submit themselves wholly to the divine will. Let us therefore pray to God that he give us constancy, that we not fear the assembly of the malignant, nor the swords of tongues, nor the bows of deceits. Let us draw near to God with a humble heart, and therefore a lofty one, so that we may deserve to be gladdened in him. Let us fear with a chaste fear, let us keep his works, so that, being justified through him, we may always be able to rejoice in him. This is the benefit of the psalm.

TITLE OF PSALM 64.

The title of the following psalm is this: Unto the end, a psalm of David, a canticle of Jeremiah and Haggai concerning the word of the pilgrimage, when they begin to set forth (Jer. 5, 50, 52; Hag. 1 and 2). The people of Israel was taken captive (from Augustine): from the city of Jerusalem they were led into the servitude of Babylon. But the holy Jeremiah prophesied that after seventy years the people would return from captivity and would restore the city of Jerusalem itself, which, having been conquered by enemies, he had lamented. But Haggai did not prophesy the captivity, but succeeded Jeremiah, who died while the Jews were in captivity. And Haggai himself prophesied the return and was present at the return, because when Nebuchadnezzar died another king succeeded, who, fearing God, released the people of God.

But since, as the Apostle says, these things happened to them in figure, and were written for our sake, upon whom the ends of the ages have come, we too ought first to know our captivity, and then our liberation. We ought to know the Babylon in which we are captives, and the Jerusalem for whose return we sigh. These two cities are made by two loves. Jerusalem is made by the love of God; Babylon is made by the love of the world. Let each one therefore ask what he loves, and he will find where he is a citizen. If he finds himself a citizen of Babylon, let him root out cupidity and plant charity. If he finds himself a citizen of Jerusalem, let him endure captivity and hope for freedom. Some place Ezekiel in the title, in place of Haggai, who was in the Babylonian captivity. And where it is said here concerning the word of pilgrimage, some say, From the people of transmigration. Although the words differ there, the meaning does not disagree. But now let us see the exposition of the title. This psalm befits David the prophet and the others returning. This psalm is the song of Jeremiah and Haggai. For it sets forth to us that over which Jeremiah and Haggai, or Zechariah, or Ezekiel, who were from the people of transmigration, rejoiced. A song, I say, composed concerning the word of pilgrimage, that is, concerning the revelation which was made to them by God on behalf of the pilgrimage of the captives: when they began to set out, that is, to return from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Their exultation prefigured ours, which we have when we begin to set out spiritually from this pilgrimage. And not fixing our attention on this Babylon, we set our attention on loving God. For the conception of love is the beginning of setting out. He begins to go out who begins to love. The feet of those going out are the affections of the heart. Even if in body they are still mingled with the sons of Babylon, yet in holy desire they are set apart. Those who speak here are themselves the returning material. In the first part they proclaim God worthy of praise. They pray that they may return from captivity, they declare their misery, they tell that God is favorable and that the one whom he has chosen is blessed. They commend his house and dwelling and his goods. In the second part (where it is said: The hope of all the ends of the earth) it treats of the power of the Savior, of the virtue and grace of the preachers, of the fear and change of the converted, of the gift of the Holy Spirit, of the multiplication of the faithful, of their fruit. In the third (where it is said: You will bless the crown of the year) is commended the blessing and blessedness which God through his grace will give to his saints in the future, to each according to his merits. For all these things, at the end, as at the beginning, he declares that a hymn must be sung to God. The voice of the Church to Christ:

PSALM 64.

To you, O God, a hymn is due in Zion. O God, who are our Redeemer, a hymn is due to you not in Babylon, not in the confusion of sinners, but in Zion, that is, in the contemplation of the virtues. For praise is not becoming in the mouth of a sinner, but it is fitting for the upright to praise. When each person begins to be renewed and to be raised up in mind to heavenly things, then first it is fitting that he praise God. And because we ought so to praise God as to devote ourselves to him, beginning this in the newness of life but completing it in eternal peace, there is rightly added: to you a vow shall be repaid in Jerusalem, that is, in the vision of peace. Here in this Zion, where we see through a mirror and in an enigma, but not yet face to face, we begin to pay our vow to God; but we cannot fulfill it entirely, as long as there is in us what the Apostle says: to will is present with me, but to accomplish the good I do not find. For our good works will then be perfected, when the flesh has so consented to the spirit that it cannot lust against it. This we desire as often as we desire the perfection of righteousness. Therefore it was said: to will is present with me. But because this is in no way fulfilled in this corruption, therefore it is immediately added: but to accomplish the good I do not find. For the perfection of good is where there is no desire of evil. Then, therefore, it shall be repaid in that heavenly peace, when there will no longer be any evil, but the highest good.

There we shall be whole, that is, complete—not only in soul, but in the flesh itself, in the resurrection of the righteous. Peace shall conquer, and war shall be ended; death shall be destroyed, and life shall be forever. Then our desire shall be fulfilled. Then shall come to pass what is now prophesied: And to you a vow shall be paid in Jerusalem. For this the Church sighs; and therefore she prays suppliantly, saying:

Hear, O God, my prayer—that in that heavenly Jerusalem I may pay my vow. For I know that not only souls, but all flesh shall come to you. Here the prophet openly announces the resurrection. Hence the Apostle says: All of us, whether good or evil, shall stand before the tribunal of Christ (Rom. 14). And elsewhere: As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess (2 Cor. 5; Isa. 45). And he adds the reason why it is necessary that he be heard, when he says:

The words of the wicked—that is, of the devil and of Eve, who persuaded Adam—have prevailed over us, because they plunged us into sin. And yet you, O Lord, will be propitious to our impieties, by pardoning them. The first sin was committed through a word, and through a word many evils are done daily. Hence the Apostle, describing the evil of the tongue, says: The tongue is an restless evil, full of deadly poison (James 3). And elsewhere it is said: In the hands of the tongue are life and death (Prov. 29). Therefore the evil of the tongue must be guarded against, lest we speak what harms, and lest we be corrupted by the words of the wicked. And if we sin in this, let us be corrected.

For we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins (1 John 2). By his propitiation he commends the chosen and saved man, when he adds:

Blessed is the one whom you have chosen, that is, whom you have separated from the mass of the lost by converting him to the faith, and you have taken him up to dignity. Therefore he is blessed, because he will dwell in your courts, that is, in the heavenly Jerusalem, which he calls courts because of its vastness. Christ took up into himself a certain blessed man, and although he has taken up many, it is not said of many but of one. He commends, therefore, the unity that he took up. For he has rejected heresies and schisms. But those who remain in the joining of Christ are also his members. He makes them, in a certain way, one man, of whom the Apostle says: Until we all attain to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4). And because this one man consists of many, he again returns from the singular number to the plural, and shows another reason for blessedness, saying: We shall be filled with the good things of your house. What are the good things of the house of God? Marvelous and ineffable ones. For what the eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, God has prepared for those who love him (Isa 64; 1 Cor 2). It is fitting, then, that we now hunger and thirst for these things, so that afterward we may deserve to be filled with such great good things. Behold, great are the good things of the house of God, and blessed is the one who is filled with his good things. Now let us hear what this house is.

Your temple, he says, is holy, marvelous in equity. The holy Church of the elect is called a house, because it is inhabited by God; a temple, because it is sanctified by God. Hence the Apostle says: The temple of God is holy, which you are (1 Cor 3 and 6). This holy temple of God is called marvelous, not in columns, not in marbles, not in gilded roofs, but in equity. What is equity? What you do not wish to be done to you, do not do to another. And whatever you wish men to do to you, do you also to them (Luke 6). In these two precepts is equity and justice. When just men observe these things—men who are the house and temple of God—they appear marvelous in equity, in justice, in holiness, in conduct, in actions, in virtues. To obtain this equity, then, he humbly prays, saying: Hear us, O God our savior. When he said God, he immediately added Savior, so that he might more plainly declare him whom he called God. For properly Jesus Christ is called Savior, through whose incarnation we have been saved. He himself, the mediator of God and men, intercedes for us (1 Tim 2), as man, and hears us, as God. In God is our salvation and our hope. Not of one corner only of Judea, not of the East alone or of the West, but the hope of all the ends of the earth. For in him they hope even who dwell in the farthest parts of the earth.

Nor do those alone hope in him who are not solid earth, but also those who dwell in the most remote islands. This is what he adds: And in the sea afar. But how he has been made so far off, the hope is shown when it is added:

Preparing the mountains in your strength. The Apostle calls mountains also the preachers, who by the height of their life transcend all earthly things. These Almighty God has prepared, and prepares, by calling, justifying, forming them by grace, teaching, and conduct. And well you can prepare them, because you are girded with power. The Lord and our Redeemer according to his humanity is said to be girded with power. Hence the Psalmist says elsewhere to him: Gird your sword upon your thigh, most mighty (Ps. 44). And again: The Lord is clothed with strength and has girded himself (Ps. 92). But in that he is the Word with the Father, he is neither clothed with strength nor girded with power. Rather, he himself is strength and power and wisdom (1 Cor. 1). The incarnate Lord, therefore, because he is surrounded on all sides by his divinity and fortified on all sides, is not undeservedly said to be girded with power. Girded, moreover, as one ready for battle against the devil and the world. Hence he immediately adds:

You who stir up the deep of the sea, the sound of its waves. The bottom of the sea, according to Augustine, is the heart of the wicked. For just as from the bottom all things are more violently stirred, and the bottom contains all things, so whatever has proceeded through the tongue, through the hands to the persecution of the Church, has proceeded from the bottom. For if the root of iniquity were not in the heart, all those things would not proceed against Christ. He stirred up the bottom, perhaps in order to drain the bottom dry; for in certain evils he drained the sea from its bottom and turned the sea into a desert. Another psalm says this: Who turns the sea into dry land. All the wicked, like the pagans who have believed, were the sea; they have been made earth: at first barren of salty fruits, afterward fruitful with the fruit of righteousness. He stirs up the sound of the waves when he scatters the threats of the proud. Or he stirs up the sound of the waves when God rouses the tumult of thoughts in the hearts of the wicked. Thoughts rise up in the heart when they recall their own depravities to memory. The sea is stirred up, because the bitterness of penitence trembles; and what is in it is brought to the surface, when the evil that lay hidden in the heart is laid open by the mouth of confession. Who does this in the heart of a sinner, except the mighty power of the Redeemer? Concerning which it is further added:

The nations will be troubled, and those who dwell on the earth will fear, at your signs. For this reason the Lord and his disciples were performing such great signs and wonders (Mark 16), so that peoples who did not have faith might be ashamed for their sins, and might fear God, and believing might be saved. And because in the way of God one begins with fear (Prov. 1 and 9), but is perfected in love, it is still rightly added: You will delight the goings forth of the morning and of the evening. Morning (according to Augustine) signifies prosperity, evening tribulation: because the morning is joyful, the gloom of night having passed. But the darkness is sad, when evening comes. Therefore God delights, that is, he makes his servants to be delighted, in the goings forth of morning and evening, that is, that they may go forth from the prosperity and adversity of this world. They are not lifted up by prosperity, not broken by adversity. They pass through all things with a strong mind, joyful and eager they hasten to the end. Such was Paul, when he said: I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ (Phil. 1). But the order of the words must be noted: first the disturbance of fear is placed, then delight in the good. Fear excludes vices; love despises earthly things. Magnificently, therefore, he set down: You will delight the goings forth. For if it does not delight you, you do not labor to go out. Delight in the Lord, and the world will be a loathing to you. But to what was said before, Preparing the mountains in your strength, this verse which is added seems to look back:

You have visited the earth and inebriated it; you have multiplied to enrich it. You sent your clouds to rain down the preaching of the truth. The earth has been inebriated—that is, earthly hearts have been filled with the heavenly rain of wisdom, so as to bring forth the fruit of life in manifold ways. Almighty God visits the earth whenever he breathes upon a sinner through his grace. He inebriates it, moreover, when it is filled with such great love of him that its life and conduct are changed for the better. For inebriation is accustomed to change the senses of those who drink. Hence it is that concerning the elect it is said elsewhere: They will be inebriated from the abundance of your house (Ps. 33), because they are filled with such great love of almighty God that in their mind they seem to themselves to be strangers to themselves. For a certain kind of inebriation it seems to be: to despise riches, to love poverty, to hold oneself in contempt, to rejoice in tribulations, to love death more than life, to pant with such desires after things that do not appear. In this way the inebriated earth cannot be barren. It is enriched in manifold ways by God with spiritual gifts. Hence Paul says: To one is given the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, to another kinds of tongues, to another the grace of healings. And after enumerating certain others, he says: All these things are worked by one and the same Spirit, distributing to each one as he wills (1 Cor. 12). And because God thus enriches his earth, it is rightly said: You have multiplied to enrich it.

But he declares this Spirit of manifold grace when he adds: The river of God is filled with waters. What should be understood by the river of God, the Lord himself suggests to us, where he says: He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water shall flow from his belly (John 7). This (says the Evangelist) he said of the Spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive (Ibid.). And just as many waters gather in the lowest part of a river, so in one Spirit many divisions of graces consist. Therefore the Holy Spirit is called a river, because he comes with force and cleanses from the filth of sins the mind into which he pours himself. Therefore he is called water, because he gives the mind to drink and refreshes it from the heat of carnal desires. But since we have heard about the drink, let us now hear what he adds about the food of the soul: You have prepared their food, for so is its preparation. What food? Surely the one of which he himself says: I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever (John 6). How did he prepare this food for us? Because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1). And well is it said, You have prepared, because he acted with much zeal and much labor, so that he might refresh the minds of the elect from himself. Hence he fittingly says: For so, that is, through you, is its preparation.

For neither the apostle, nor the prophet, nor the angel could have prepared such food, except only the mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There is also sacred Scripture, food prepared for us by the Lord, by which we refresh ourselves daily, lest we fail in the desert of this pilgrimage. Whence it is written: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Behold, the food is prepared; behold, the river is prepared: but fragile man cannot receive these things unless the goodness from on high deigns to help him. Therefore he entreats, saying:

Watering its streams, multiply its offspring. He calls the streams of his river the apostles and teachers, through whom the Holy Spirit runs down into the hearts of those who hear. Whence it is written: For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit who speaks in you. When the apostles received this Spirit sent from the Father from heaven, they were imbued with such fullness of him that, when they spoke the mighty works of God in various tongues, they were thought by some to be drunk. And in truth they were drunk, but spiritually, not carnally. But from the very source where God makes the preachers drunk, he multiplies the faithful. Multiply, he says, its offspring. Those are called offspring who are regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit. And he does not say their offspring, but its: because, as a certain stream, drunk, says: Neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

3.) And because within the holy Church there bears fruit to God not only overflowing wisdom, but even the lowly and small teaching, rightly it is added: In its droppings the sprouting one will rejoice. To the little ones (from Augustine) and still weak, certain things concerning the sacraments are dripped, because they cannot grasp the fullness of truth. Hear how Paul drips to certain less capable ones: I could not (he says) speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, as to little ones in Christ (ibid.). In the droppings, therefore, the sprouting one rejoices, when he who has been newly exhorted in faith cannot yet grasp great things, but nevertheless gladly receives the few things he hears, and strives to bring forth the fruits of good works and virtues for those whom he prevails upon. In this present life you will give these benefits which have been spoken of; in the future, what? It follows and says:

You will bless the crown of the year of your kindness. That is, having rewarded your saints, who as a crown of palm and of victory will stand around you, and will be a sign of victory to you. Or otherwise: where you hear "crown," the glory of victory is designated. Conquer the devil, and you will have a crown. But the year, because it is a perfect time, signifies the span of eternal life. The crown of the year, therefore, is perfect glory, pertaining to eternal life, which God will give to his saints after the struggles of this life: not from their merits, but from his blessing and grace.

Hence he will also say: Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world. And therefore he set down "of kindness," so that the grace of God may be commended, so that no one may glory in his own inert works. But this blessing of the crown, which he set forth beforehand, he carries out in detail, when he adds: And your fields will be filled with abundance.

The beautiful places of the desert will grow fat: and the hills will be girded with exultation. [Verse 14.] The rams of the sheep are clothed, and the valleys will abound with grain. What is meant by fields, except the righteous who bear fruit? What by the desert, except that he wished to designate sinners, barren in sin? Paul suggests certain righteous men, as it were fields, where he says: You are God's agriculture. Consider how great are the tender mercies of divine mercy. For on account of the fields he does not abandon the desert. On account of the righteous he does not reject sinners. Those he will fill with abundance, that is, with eternal refreshment, as it has already been promised: They will be inebriated with the abundance of your house. These he will make fat with the sweetness of his grace, so that where sin abounded, grace may superabound. And note that he did not say, The desert will grow fat, but the beautiful places of the desert: because God will not save the whole mass of sinners, but only those who go out from the filth of vices; and they become beautiful by faith, by honesty of conduct, and by the adornment of virtues. Or by the beautiful places of the desert the churches of the Gentiles can be figured, which will then grow fat, when they will have all things perfectly.

For God will be all things in all things (Eph. 1), and the gifts of the Holy Spirit will not be divided. By the hills, however, the holy martyrs can be understood, who surpass the plains—that is, the righteous—by the virtue of their passion. These are they who have come out of the great tribulation (Rev. 7). Therefore they will deservedly be girded—that is, on every side, both in soul and in body, they will be surrounded with exultation. As a kind of belt, everlasting joy will be theirs, surrounding them on every side, holding them on every side, clinging to them inseparably. Hence the Lord says to certain ones: I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you (John 16). Then too they will be girded with exultation, when they have been surrounded and filled with the Godhead itself. Then too the Lord will clothe the rams of the sheep—that is, the leaders of souls—with the robe of gladness and the garment of immortality. Or they will be clothed with exultation, because they will rejoice together with their flock in eternal peace. Exultation will be as a kind of garment for them, when no part of trouble will remain, neither in soul nor in body. For the Lord will wipe away every tear from the eyes of the saints: and death will be no more, neither mourning, nor crying, nor any pain, for the former things have passed away (Rev. 21). And the valleys will abound with grain, because obedient and humble souls will be refreshed with heavenly food. The Lord himself will be their grain. For he himself is the true food of souls (John 12 and 6).