Breviarium In Psalmos

They have not known nor understood; they walk in darkness. Who? The wicked judges. Those whom I called gods, by their own fault were called wicked. They have not known me, nor understood my judgment: they walk in darkness. Because they have forsaken the light, therefore they walk in darkness. I said: You are the light of the world, and you have turned aside from the light, and have been made darkness. Since therefore they have done this, let us see what follows. All the foundations of the earth shall be moved. See, wicked princes, what kind of retribution they have. Because of wicked judges, the foundations of the earth are shaken. We have said this for now, first according to the letter: since the shaking of the whole world comes because of wicked princes. But let us say it also in another way: All the foundations of the earth shall be moved. I will overturn the wicked judges, who have set their foundations on earth and not in heaven: who ought to have Christ as their foundation, whom the architect Paul set, and they were unwilling, but set their foundations on earth.

I said, you are gods, and all sons of the Most High. Let Eunomius hear, let Arius hear, who say that the Son of God is a son in the same way that we are. That we are gods is not of nature, but of grace. For as many as received him, he gave them power to become sons of God (John 1). Therefore I made man, so that from men gods might be made. I said, you are gods, and all sons of the Most High. See how great is the dignity: we are called both gods and sons. I made you gods, just as I made Moses a god to Pharaoh (Exodus 7): so that after you have been gods, you may be made worthy sons of mine. Consider the divine Scripture: There is no respect of persons with God. He did not say: I said, you are gods, kings and princes, but all to whom I have equally given body, and soul, and spirit: equally I have bestowed both deity and adoption. Equally we are all born, both emperors and the poor; equally we die. For the condition is equal.

But you shall die like men. You see, therefore, that whoever is a man dies. For God does not die. And Adam, as long as he kept the commandment, was also a god and did not die. But after he tasted of the forbidden tree, he immediately died. Finally God says to him: On whatever day you shall taste, you shall surely die (Gen. 2). The Hebrew has it better: But you shall die like Adam. As he was cast out of paradise, so we too have been cast out. And like one of the princes you shall fall. Since he had said: All you are sons of the Most High, a son cannot be of the Most High unless he himself has been most high. I said, that all of you should be most high, as I am most high. But you shall fall like one of the princes. Because we were most high, therefore we are said to have fallen. Where are those who say that the devil was made a devil? Where are those who say that an evil nature was created by God? According to the Hebrew, two things are said here: But you shall die like Adam. As your father was unwilling to hear the commandment of the Lord, and fell, so you also shall die. Therefore that was said of Adam. But what follows: And like one of the princes you shall fall—who is this one of the princes who fell? If you wish to say Adam, it has already been said in the earlier verses: But you shall die like Adam. And at the same time observe the meaning of the phrase: But you shall die like Adam. Because Adam died, we too die. But the devil, who was a prince and fell, did not die.

For the angelic dignity cannot receive death, but only ruin. Therefore he said: You shall fall like one of the princes. How the morning star fell, which rose in the morning: and behold, here he fell, and there he fell. He fell for this reason, because he was always dwelling in the heavens. This is he to whom it is said in Ezekiel: You are the unsealing of the likeness (Ezek. 28). See what he says: The unsealing of the likeness. He did not say: You are the seal of the likeness, but the unsealing of the likeness. God had sealed you, and had made you like himself. But you afterward unsealed yourself from the likeness and image of God, though you were created. Finally it is said in that same prophecy: You were nourished in the midst of the Cherubim: you were among the stones of jasper and carbuncle in the paradise of God, and you fell, he says, and you were wounded from the mountain of God. This is the prince of Tyre from the time when he fell; since Tyre in the Hebrew tongue is called Sor, that is, tribulation. Therefore this prince also, who was first in heaven, has now been made the prince of Tyre, that is, of this tribulation of the world. You shall fall like one of the princes. When he says, like one, he shows that there are others also. Read the Apocalypse of John: when the dragon fell from heaven, he drew a third part of the stars with him (Rev. 12). Up to this point God has spoken to men, and again he speaks through the prophet.

Arise, O God, judge the earth. Arise, because our ship is battered by the waves. Arise: O God, judge the earth: for evil judges do not judge, but overturn your law and tear your sheep to pieces. Arise, you who are the true judge. Therefore, because evil judges have died like Adam and have fallen like one of the princes, arise, judge, save your creation. For the hired hand, when he sees the wolf, flees and abandons the sheep; he cannot grieve for another's flock as a father and mother grieve. Let us say it another way: Arise, you who suffered for us, who died for us: arise and save us. Let us say it another way: You who came humble and despised, come as a judge and avenge us. Arise, O God, judge the earth. Consider the meaning and the properties of the words. He did not say, judge heaven, but earth. Therefore the earth is judged, not heaven. If, then, the earth is judged and not heaven, then sins are not committed in heaven; but if sins were committed in heaven, he would have said: Arise, O God, judge the earth and heaven. And see the mercy of the prophecy. He did not say, kill the earth, but judge and save. He did not say, judge through angels, judge through your ministers. For if they judge, they cannot show mercy, because they are the executors of your sentence. But you, if you judge, can yourself show mercy. Arise, O God, judge the earth. An emperor can change his own sentence; a prefect cannot.

Therefore we beseech you as judge, not despising but entreating. For men and angels, compared with you, are cruel. You alone are the gentlest judge. Do you wish to know that God is a merciful judge, and that every man is cruel? While the householder slept, the enemy sowed weeds over the field. The servants wish to pull them up, and the father of the household says: Let them alone, that they may grow together, lest while you pull up the weeds from the wheat, you root up the wheat also (Matt. 13). For you shall inherit among all nations. Therefore we beseech you as judge, because you have had mercy on all nations. Why did he not say, You shall possess all nations, but, You shall inherit? Wherever inheritance is mentioned, death has gone before. Therefore we are called heirs and co-heirs. He said heirs of Christ, because he died for us. Co-heirs, because he will reign with us. You shall inherit: for you sent your servants; let us return to the apostles, one to the circumcision, another to the Gentiles. As long as you had sent Moses, as long as Isaiah, as long as Jeremiah, as long as the other prophets: God was known in Judea, his name was great in Israel. In a small land the knowledge of God's name was carried. You sent Peter the fisherman, who had left his net, who had a calloused hand from work. You did not send an orator, you did not send a philosopher: you sent a rustic man, a fisherman.

This fisherman, this rustic from Jerusalem, set out for Rome, and the rustic captured Rome, which the eloquent could not capture. Again the apostle Paul went forth, and from Jerusalem he preached as far as Illyricum, and he preached where the Gospel had not been preached, lest he should lay a building upon another man's foundation (Rom. 15). Then he says that from the city of Rome he would go to Spain. See Paul the persecutor, who had been a persecutor in Judea, preaching to the Gentiles. Where are those who proclaim Alexander the Great, emperor of the Macedonians, that in a short span of time he conquered so many nations? He had an army, he had also vast multitudes, and yet he could accomplish no such thing, but only something slight. But this Paul was once a persecutor, who said: Even if I am unskilled in speech, yet not in knowledge (1 Cor. 11). He who makes solecisms in speaking carries the cross of Christ, and as if triumphing, captures all. He subdued the whole world from the Ocean to the Red Sea. Let someone say: they did all this for the sake of gain. For this is what Porphyry says: Rustic and poor men, since they had nothing, by magical arts wrought certain signs. But it is not a great thing to perform signs. For the magi in Egypt performed signs against Moses (Exod. 7). Apollonius also did so, and Apuleius did so. Countless men have performed signs. I grant you, Porphyry, they performed signs by magical arts, so that they might receive riches from the wealthy little women whom they had led on; for this is what you say.

Why did they die? Why were they crucified? Others also performed signs by magical arts, but they did not die for a dead man, they were not crucified for a crucified man. Do these men know that a man is dead, and do they die without cause? Ours, then, is a blessed victory, which has been consecrated in the blood of the apostles. Our faith is not proved except through their blood. Let us therefore bless God, to whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen.

PSALM 82.

A song of a psalm of Asaph. This psalm contains the voice of the prophet praising God. He says therefore:

O God, who shall be like you? For there is none like you: we seek no other author but you. Be not silent, nor be restrained, O God. We are silent; do you speak for us. It is the voice of the just man that says: Nor be restrained, O God. He is secure in his own righteousness.

For behold, your enemies have made a noise. We can interpret this tropologically concerning the Church and the heresies. But we can interpret it literally concerning the people of the Jews, and concerning the other nations which besiege Judaea round about. For behold, your enemies have made a noise. He wished to call the voice and the detraction of the adversaries a noise. For behold, your enemies have made a noise. See what he says: They have made a noise, that is, like a tinkling cymbal, so have they made a noise in my ears. Properly a sound is spoken of when only a sound is heard, and the voice is not understood.

Therefore what he says is this: They indeed were speaking, and as it were wanted to accuse me; but I was hearing not as it were a voice, but as it were a sound. And those who hated you have lifted up their head. See what he says: Therefore the one who lifts up his head hates God. For the Lord resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. And those who hated you have lifted up their head. If you have a cause against someone: if your brother speaks ill of you, and you are humble for Christ's sake, and he is proud because of the devil, you imitate him who says: Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. But he who is lifted up imitates him who says: I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven, I will be like the Most High. And those who hated you have lifted up their head.

Against your people they have devised a wicked plan. It is enough for someone that he be God's people. They have thought against your saints. This needs no interpretation. To have read is to have understood.

They said, Come and let us destroy them from among the nations. And let there be no nation, because it is the people of God. And let the name of Israel be remembered no more. Let him not be remembered here, who with understanding sees God.

Because they thought together with one mind. Wretched are we: the people of God are wretched, for they cannot have such great concord in good as the wicked have in evil. Against you they have arranged a covenant: the tabernacles of the Edomites and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Agarenians, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, foreigners with the inhabitants of Tyre; for Assur also came with them, they have become a help to Lot. There are eleven who fight against the holy one. Therefore, because they fought against the saints, they could not come to the perfect number, that is, the twelfth. The tabernacles of the Edomites. They do not have a house for a foundation, but tabernacles which quickly pass away. Edom is interpreted in two ways, either bloody or earthly. See, therefore, those who fight against the saints: the tabernacles of the Edomites, that is, the earthly, and the Ishmaelites are interpreted as those obedient to themselves, that is, whatever their heart has willed, and an evil thought, they do at once. For this reason it is said in Ezekiel: Son of man, speak against the prophets who follow their own heart, and whatever thought impels them, they do (Ezek. xiii). But we ought not to follow our own thought, nor to be called Ishmaelites, that is, obedient to themselves, but Ishmael, that is, obedient to God. Moab, from the father, that is, those departing from God the Father. Agarenians, proselytes.

When they ought to have been inhabitants of God, they became proselytes. Gebal means "vain valley." Ge is called a valley; Bal, however, is interpreted as "vain." So these who are against the people of God are not from the mountain, but from the vain valley. And Ammon is interpreted as "turbulent people," that is, those who trust in multitude and not in simplicity. Amalec is interpreted as "licking the earth." For whoever fights against the people of God does not eat the heavenly bread, but licks the earth like a serpent. Foreigners. Where it says "foreigners," the Hebrew has Philistines. Philistines, however, are interpreted as "falling from drink," that is, those who have been made drunk from the cup of the devil, and having become drunk, have fallen. With the inhabitants of Tyre. Tyre in the Hebrew tongue is called Sor, which is interpreted as "tribulation and distress." Those who ought to have been strangers in this world have become inhabitants. So these who assault the people of God dwell in Sor, that is, in the distress and tribulation of their own soul. So let us see whom these so many nations that fight against the holy one have as their leader: the Savior, or the devil. What follows? For Assur also came with them. Assur is Nebuchadnezzar, the adversary of God, who led the people of God into captivity. Although he may seem to have very many nations fighting on his side, nevertheless they have Assur as their leader, that is, the devil. They became a help to the sons of Lot. Lot is interpreted as "turning aside.

The demons were formerly angels, and afterward they fell with the devil and became his attendants, as it is written in the Apocalypse of John: that the dragon fell and drew with him a third part of the stars (Rev 12). Therefore what does he say? Those who came with so many nations and conquered your people, and Assur came with them, and they have the devil as their prince, have become a help to the sons of Loi, that is, to the demons. Those who have turned away from you do the same work as the demons. You see that these places are very difficult; you see that they are obscure, and that in individual statements there are great mysteries, and we are compelled by necessity to linger longer over the Hebrew words, which are full of mysteries. For we are not now winnowing out a rhetorical commonplace, but we strive to interpret what was spoken by the Holy Spirit. For unless it is interpreted as we have said, what benefit is it for the churches of Christ to read the tabernacles of the Idumeans and the Ishmaelite, and the other names? Since, therefore, they came against your people, let us see what the Psalmist invokes against them.

Do to them as to Madian and Sisara, as to Jabin. You have read in the book of Judges: this is Madian, whom Gedeon defeated (Judg 7–8). Jabin and Sisara are those whom Debbora and Barach defeated (Judg 4). In the torrent Cison they perish in Endor. Debbora and Barach killed Sisara, the commander of the army. Therefore, as for what he says, see what it means: Lord, how great is their pride! For they come with so great an army, for they have Nabuchodonosor as the prince of the Assyrians; for they have become a help to the sons of Lot; for they do what the demons do; for their pride is lifted up even to you; therefore I beseech you that, to their shame, they be conquered not by a man but by a woman. They have become like the dung of the earth. Who? Madian, and Sisara, and Jabin. These three have become like the dung of the earth. Madian is interpreted as “forsaking judgment”: whoever fights against my people does not think that judgment is to come. Sisara is interpreted as “vision of a horse.” Those who fight against your people are not of your flock and of your cattle, but of the horses that rage after women. These horses, then, are always ready for battle. As for Jabin: Jabin is interpreted as “understanding.” Those who trust in their own wisdom and not in the glory of God. They have become like the dung of the earth.

Those who boasted in their army, who had Assur as their prince, and said, "I will ascend into heaven," not only fell to the earth, but on the earth they became dung.

Set their princes. Whose? Those who fight against your people. As Oreb and Zeb, and Zebee and Salmana. All their princes. I think you have read the history in the book of Judges: that Gedeon, who is called by another name Jerobaal, fighting for the people of God, conquered and killed these four kings (Judg 6–7).

See what kind of princes the Madianites had, who abandoned the judgment of God: Oreb, and Zeb, and Zebee, and Salmana. What does he think are the mysteries of the Savior in these words? The philosophers read this, and they mock. The rhetoricians read it, and they think it is nonsense. But not only the rhetoricians, but also the Jews do not have the key of knowledge, because a veil is placed before their eyes. Oreb is interpreted as a hole, into which the serpent enters. Zeb is interpreted as a wolf. See the names of the princes who are adversaries of Christ. Zebee, a victim, that is, those whom the wolf has strangled. And Salmana, perfect in warfare. See, therefore, the sacraments of the names.

Those who said, "Let us possess the sanctuary of God as an inheritance." They said it, but they did not accomplish it, because the Lord was fighting for his people.

My God, set them like a wheel. See the prophet's mercy: he does not pray against them, but for them. See what he says: My God, who are God of all, my God in a peculiar sense. My God, set them like a wheel. Those who have, as it were, a foundation in wickedness: let them have no foundation, but let them totter, and not stand in wickedness. Like stubble before the face of the wind, like fire that burns up the forest. Like stubble: not like grain, but stubble; what he means is this: if there is stubble and chaff in them, let it perish. Like fire that burns up the forest. He did not say fruit-bearing trees, but forest, which has no fruits. If anyone, then, is stubble and has no grain; if anyone is forest and has no fruits, let him perish here. Like a flame burning up the mountains. Let pride in them perish.

Thus you will pursue them in your tempest and in your wrath. What then? Will you kill them? No: rather, You will trouble them. So that they may be saved.

Fill their faces with shame. So that they may be confounded. Why this? So that they may seek your name, O Lord. You see, then, that he does not pray against them, but for their salvation. Finally, see also in what follows what he says:

Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever, and let them be confounded and perish. Let them perish according to what is evil in them, and let what is good be saved. Finally, see that here perdition does not mean abolition, but salvation. What follows next.

And let them know that your name is Lord: you alone are the Most High over all the earth. Let him who wishes to be raised up raise himself up. Let us say: You alone are the Most High over all the earth. However much anyone may be exalted, let us hold to God, to whom belongs a name more exalted, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

PSALM 83.

For the end, for the winepresses, for the sons of Korah, and a Psalm. There are three psalms that are inscribed for the winepresses: the eighth, the eightieth, and the eighty-third. The eighth is inscribed to David; the eightieth is inscribed to Asaph; the eighty-third to the sons of Korah. I give you a rule, so that you may know what you ought to observe in the Scriptures. Whatever psalm is inscribed to the sons of Korah has nothing sad in it, but always signifies joyful things.

For because Korah, Dathan, and Abiram acted against Moses and were punished by the Lord, the sons of Korah who did not follow their father were blessed with eternal joy. Now since Korah is interpreted as "Calvaria" (Skull), and it is manifest that the Skull signifies the place of the resurrection, whoever is a son of Korah is a son of the resurrection; and whoever is a son of the resurrection can have nothing that is sorrowful.

How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord. Then it is said: Blessed are those who dwell in your house. See that there are three things: tabernacles, courts, and finally the house. How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! What are these tabernacles? Let us see whether the Gospel offers us some meaning. The Lord speaks and says: Make for yourselves friends from the unrighteous mammon, so that when you fail, they may receive you into eternal tabernacles (Luke 16). You see, then, that unrighteous mammon fails in this world. Yet consider that this unrighteous one prepares righteousness. Mammon in the Hebrew tongue means riches—not gold, as some think. "From unrighteous mammon." True also is a certain saying of the philosopher: "Every rich man is either unrighteous or the heir of an unrighteous man." Therefore the Lord and Savior says that the rich enter the kingdom of heaven with difficulty (Matt. 19). Let someone say: How did Zacchaeus, who was rich, enter the kingdom of heaven?

But he gave up riches, and at once exchanged riches for the kingdom of heaven. He did not say, "Whoever are rich shall not enter the kingdoms of heaven," but he said that it is difficult for the rich to enter the kingdoms of heaven. How lovely are your tabernacles, Lord of hosts! Others desire possessions, others the riches of this world, others to preside in the Churches of this world and to have some glory among men; my only desire is to see the eternal tabernacles. Those tabernacles are lovely to me, where there is a gathering of virtues, not of vices. My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord: this is my only desire, this my only love, that I may see your courts. See the order. First he desires the tabernacles: tabernacles that have no foundation, tabernacles that are quickly changed. For a tabernacle is always being changed and moved hither and thither. But the courts are not indeed a house, yet they have some foundations, and from the court we enter into the house. So this man first desires the tabernacles, and afterward faints and wastes away with love that he may see the courts, and when he has been in the court, then he says: Blessed are those who dwell in your house.

My heart and my flesh have exulted in the living God. It is difficult for anyone's heart and flesh to be in agreement together. For if, according to the Apostle, the spirit fights against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit (Gal. 5), how does he say here, "My heart and my flesh have exulted"? This no one can say except the one who is wholly fixed in the love of God. "My heart and my flesh." This is what he says also in another place: "My soul has thirsted for you; how much more my flesh for you" (Ps. 62)! This is the flesh that desires the Lord, of which it is said in another place: "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Isa. 40). But that flesh of which it is said, "All flesh is grass" (Sir. 14), does not desire the Lord. "My heart and my flesh." Look at some abstinent man for me, who reckons the death of his flesh to be the gain of his soul. For these are the fastings of the flesh, and injuries. Finally, what does the Apostle also say? "Whom I have delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved" (1 Cor. 5). Unless the flesh has died, the spirit cannot be brought to life. Therefore the Apostle also says: "When I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12). Let each one consider himself when he is worn out and exhausted by fasting: how the soul flourishes, how the mind considers nothing else but God, how he always says, "How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!

For even the sparrow has found a home for itself, and the turtledove a nest for itself where she may lay her young. Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. For now let us interpret simply. See what he says: I long, O Lord, for your eternal tabernacles; my soul desires and faints for the courts of the Lord. I desire to have some seat and little nest for my soul and for my body. Birds that wander freely here and there—yet after they have flown, they have a place and little nests where they may rest: how much more ought my soul and my flesh to prepare a place for themselves where they may rest! Now let us ascend to something higher. In the Lord I trust: how do you say to my soul, Transmigrate to the mountains like a sparrow? See, then, that no one transmigrates to the mountains except the one who is a sparrow. And the turtledove a nest for herself. This is the turtledove of whom it is said in the Song of Songs: The voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land (Cant. ii). The turtledove a nest for herself. The turtledove is an animal of chastity. The turtledove does not dwell in low places, but always makes nests for herself in the highest trees. Just as, therefore, the sparrow and the turtledove, most chaste birds, make nests for themselves in the higher places: so then the tabernacles, and courts, and houses are not in this lowly earth, but in the highest place, that is, in the kingdoms of heaven. Finally, see what he says.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house. We do not dwell in the tabernacle, but we are pilgrims. And as long as we are in the court, we do not dwell, but we are pilgrims. For from the courts we pass into the house. But when we have come into the house, what is said? Blessed are those who dwell in your house: a house that has a foundation. For it is not permitted for us to go out from the house, but from the courts it is permitted.

Blessed is the man whose help is from you. We indeed desire your tabernacles and courts and house, but that we may be able to attain this very thing is not of our own virtue, but of your help. He has disposed ascents in his heart. Who has disposed ascents in his heart? Blessed is the man whose help is from the Lord: he has disposed ascents in his heart. Whoever is holy is daily stretched out toward what lies ahead, and forgets what is past. For this reason there are also in the Psalter fifteen psalms of degrees, and the first is called: To the Lord, when I was in tribulation, I cried out. And in the second: I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where help will come to me. And in the third: I rejoiced in those things which were said to me, and he always proceeds, and advances, and ascends to higher things. What he says is this: He has disposed ascents in his heart: happy is the one who daily advances, who does not consider what he did yesterday, but what he may do today, so that he may advance. The holy man places ascents in his heart, the sinner descents. Just as the one who is holy daily advances, so the one who is a sinner daily declines.

Blessed is the man who sets ascents in his heart. Observe the sequence of the Scriptures. In the valley of tears, in the place which he set. Where it says "in the valley," it is necessary that we understand the opposite, the mountain, as well. Therefore, whoever sets ascents in his heart, where is he placed? In the valley of tears. Let us consider that we are in a valley, not on a mountain, not in paradise; nor in the height of paradise, but in the lowliness of the earth, the cursed earth, cursed because it brings forth thorns and thistles for us, which is the food of the serpent, of which it is said to Adam: Earth you are, and to earth you shall go. Therefore, as long as we are in the valley of tears, we ought not to laugh, but to weep. For this reason the Lord also says: Blessed are those who weep, for they shall laugh (Matthew 5). In the meantime, therefore, while we are in the valley of tears, this world is a world of tears, not of joy. We ought not to laugh, since this world and this time is of tears, that one of joy. In the valley of tears, in the place which he set. What is it that is said: in the place which he set? In the place, that is, in the valley of tears. In the place which he set. God has placed us for the contest, that we may always fight in this. Therefore this place, that is, the valley of tears, is not of peace, not of security, but of contest and of wars.

For indeed the Lawgiver will give blessings. Let someone say: In the valley of tears, in the place where he was able, for the contest, that is, for the struggle—why did he set it for the contest? Why did he wish us to fight? The Psalmist answers himself and says: For this reason he wished us to fight in that place, so that he might be able to bestow crowns. For indeed the Lawgiver will give blessings. This Lawgiver, that is, our agonotheta, for this reason wished us to fight, so that he might be able to bless us. See the sequence. But what are the blessings of this agonotheta? They will go from virtue to virtue. Here they conquer, so that there they may be crowned. If here one has appeared a strong man, there he becomes stronger; they will go from virtue to virtue. Therefore unless we have had virtue here, we cannot have greater virtue there. For he did not say, They will go from weakness to virtue, but, They will go from virtue to virtue. Do you wish to be strong there? First be strong here. Do you wish to be crowned there? Fight here. They will go from virtue to virtue. We can also say otherwise: Christ, the virtue of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1). Whoever has had virtue here will also have that very virtue there. They will go from virtue to virtue. What profit will they have when they have gone from virtue to virtue? What reward will they have? The God of gods will be seen in Zion. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5). It is enough for the victors, it is enough for those who have fought, to see the face of Christ. To see God is an infinite crown. The God of gods will be seen in Zion.

How great is the joy, how great the happiness, to go from virtue to virtue, and to have this very thing as our reward—that we may be counted worthy to see Christ!

Look upon us, O God our protector, and look upon the face of your Christ. See what he says: And look upon the face of your Christ. A man pleads that the Father look upon the face of his Son. But see what he says. For the Apostle said: Or do you seek a proof of him who speaks in me, Christ? And again the Savior himself said: Whoever receives you receives me. So this is what he says: look upon us. For in us you look upon your Son, who dwells in us.

Because one day is better in your courts. See what he says: One day. Someone thinks it should be understood thus: it is better for me to have a little in the kingdom of heaven than everything here, that is, in this world. This understanding is indeed not bad. But let us say: if it could happen that someone were one day in the kingdom of heaven and afterward were cast down, he would rightly say: One day is better in your courts. But as it is, what he says—one day—is what he says—in the kingdom of heaven. That one day has no night and no darkness, but is always light. Therefore whoever has been one day in the kingdom of heaven is there forever.

I chose to be an outcast in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners. This is what the Savior also says concerning John: Amen, amen I say to you, that among those born of women there is no one greater than John the Baptist (Matt. 11). Then he said: because he is an angel. And then he said: But he who is lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. The sense there is this: John is the greatest among all men. And if you wish to know, he is an angel. But this one who is an angel on earth is the last in the kingdom of heaven, that is, he is lesser than the angels. But he who is the least in the kingdom of heaven, that is, an angel, is greater than this one, who is the greatest of all on earth. This, then, is what the prophet now says: I chose to be an outcast in the house of my God, that is, I wished to be less in the kingdom of heaven than to be first in this world. I chose to be an outcast in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners. Tents have no foundation, but they pass away. Yet he who is a sinner never inhabits the earth, but dwells in it and possesses it.

Because God loves mercy and truth. God loves two things: mercy and truth. If He were only merciful, He would provoke us all to sin. If He loved only truth, no one would have hope of repentance. Therefore He seeks the two, so that by the one He may temper the other. If you are a sinner, hear that God is merciful, and do not despair, but do penance. But if you are righteous, do not be negligent, because God is clement: for God is also just, and He loves truth. The Lord will give grace and glory. He did not say, He will give glory and grace; but he said, The Lord will give grace and glory. First He forgives sins, and afterward He crowns.

He will not deprive of good things those who walk in innocence. The Hebrew has it better: in perfection. For innocence is not a perfect virtue; since one who is innocent, unless he has prudence, is not of perfect and consummate virtue. Therefore it is also said in the Gospel: Be prudent as serpents, and simple as doves (Matt. 10). O Lord of hosts. See what he says: O Lord of hosts. Therefore when we have some sins in us, God, who is the Lord of hosts, is not our Lord; because the Lord is not of sinners, but of the righteous. Blessed is the man who hopes in you. He hopes in the Lord who has no consciousness of sins, who lifts free eyes to heaven. That man hopes who knows that he has not offended his Lord; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

PSALM LXXXIV.

Unto the end, for the sons of Korah. A psalm is prefixed with this title. I have often said that wherever the title "sons of Korah" appears, nothing is sad, but always joyful. For the father's sorrow is consoled by the sons' joy. In short, read the psalms carefully, and wherever you find the title "sons of Korah," you will find nothing sad. I have often said that Korah is interpreted as the place of the Skull: it must signify something joyful. In short, who is this Korah? He who was going up from Jericho to Bethel. Bethel means the house of God. Pay careful attention. Whoever is in Jericho and wishes to go to the house of God must go up. Therefore our Korah, that is, Elisha, went up from Jericho to the house of God in Bethel, and there came out of Bethel, that is, out of the house of God, that is, out of the synagogue where the house of God had previously been, forty-two boys came out and mocked Elisha, that is, our Korah, and said: "Go up, baldhead; go up, baldhead." He came to his own house and was mocked by the little children of Bethel. But that most patient Elisha, who had come to Bethel precisely in order to save, looked back upon himself at last: he looked back and ordered two bears to come out of the forest, and they killed the forty-two boys (2 Kings 2). So too our Lord, that is, our Korah, when he had come to Bethel and wished to go up, was mocked by the little children, and he ordered two bears to come out, that is, Vespasian and Titus, and they killed the forty-two boys.

Who are these forty-two boys? From the ascension of Christ to the destruction of Jerusalem there are forty-two years. Look carefully, and so you will find it. And so he gave them a place of repentance for forty-two years after his resurrection, when he was going up to Bethel. But because they were mocking: "Go up, Baldhead; go up, Baldhead," two bears came out and killed them.

You have blessed, O Lord, your land. This is said of the Savior's coming. This is properly according to history. But according to tropology, when we have spoken of the history, we will speak afterward. You have blessed, O Lord, your land. This we have said of the Savior's coming. The land that had offended you, that had been defiled with idolatries, was saved when you came. You have blessed, O Lord, your land. The sinner speaks afterward, having obtained pardon. You have blessed, O Lord, your land. Although it brought forth thorns and briars, nevertheless it is your creature, and therefore it was saved. You have turned away the captivity of Jacob. Of those who believed in Christ. You have turned away the captivity of Jacob. Whoever is in sins is held captive.

You forgave the iniquity of your people. Not because of their works, but because of your mercy you saved your people. And you covered all their sins. The psalm speaks to the end concerning the coming of the Savior, as he said, mercy and truth. Nevertheless, his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. For truly the glory of God has dwelt in our land, and thereafter justice looked down from heaven. For the Lord will give kindness. What kindness? Our land has given its fruit. Mary, our land, our flesh, has given her fruit. Justice walked before him. The virgin land gave just fruit. We have indeed said this according to the history; now let us speak according to tropology: You forgave the iniquity of your people. No one forgives except what is owed. You covered all their sins. You covered them with virtues, and therefore their sins do not appear. As if he were saying: You covered iniquity with justice; you covered unchastity with chastity; you covered blackness with whiteness.

You have mitigated all your anger: you turned away from the anger of your indignation. Convert us, God of our salvations, etc. See what he says: You, as far as was in you, turned away from anger because of your mercy. Convert us, God. You turned away from anger, and you turned us away from sins. Convert us, God of our salvations. Why did he not say, of our salvation, but of our salvations? If we sinned once, we would need one salvation. We have sinned many times: therefore we need many salvations.

God, you, being turned, will give us life. For as long as the Lord is not turned toward us, we are dead.

Show us, Lord, your mercy, and grant us your salvation. That the Savior descended is the mercy of God. The physician would not have come, unless many were sick. Because many were sick, therefore the physician came. Because we needed mercy, therefore the Savior came.

I will hear what the Lord God speaks in me. Many think that when Moses speaks and says: thus says the Lord, and Isaiah, and the others, and when it is said: The word of the Lord came to Isaiah, or to Ezekiel the prophet; that the word comes from outside, and the prophet hears through these ears what is spoken by the Lord: it is not so. Finally, what does our Lord say to the Pharisees and Jews? He who has ears to hear, let him hear (Luke 8). And Isaiah says: The Lord has added to me an ear (Isa. 5). See what he says: The Lord has added to me an ear.

Because I did not have that ear which is in the heart, he added it to me so that I might be able to hear the words of God. And now therefore whatever the prophet hears, he hears in the heart. For when we cry out in our hearts, Abba, Father, that cry is one of silence, and the silence is heard by the Lord; so too the Lord speaks to our heart, which cries out, Abba, Father. Therefore the prophet now says: I will hear what the Lord God speaks in me. The prophet Habakkuk says something similar: I will stand upon my watch, and I will see what the Lord will answer me, and what I should answer him (Hab. 2). And I will hear what the Lord God speaks in me. Therefore also in this that he says: I will hear what the Lord God speaks in me: he speaks in the heart, he speaks in the mind. Do you wish to know what kind of cry the heart's cry is? Do you wish to know that the cry before God is not of the voice, but of tears? It is said in the Lamentations of Jeremiah: My eye's pupil did not keep silent (Lam. 2). For he will speak peace to his people. This is said properly of the people of the Jews, who are to believe in Christ. This concerns the coming of Christ. It is said concerning the faith of the Jewish people, that is, concerning the apostles, and whoever believed the apostles. For he will speak peace to his people. Peace is not spoken of except when there is no war.

And upon his holy ones, and upon those who are converted to the heart. That is, those who at first followed the flesh, and afterward are converted to the heart. So that you may know that this verse is spoken on behalf of the Jews, that is, concerning those who believed in the Savior: see the examples we have given. Make a Jew read Leviticus to me, and all those sacraments which are written, and how the leper enters the synagogue, how the little bird is taken and its neck twisted. Then it is said of the blood how it is sprinkled; it is said of the water; it is said of the hyssop; it is said also how his garments are torn, and so that man who had been a leper enters the synagogue. If we read according to the letter, what does it profit us to have read? But if we have been converted to the heart, we shall understand spiritually: we shall see that the leper cannot enter among the people of God unless his garments are torn, unless whatever was closed is revealed. Finally, see that this leper does not enter the synagogue except through blood and water and hyssop. Therefore you also, who have been a leper until today—your leprosy did not appear before you came to the priest. But because you have come to the priest, the priest has torn your garments, and what seemed covered and sound he has shown to be leprous. All your sins and your leprosy he has set before your eyes, and therefore he leads you back into the synagogue of God through blood and water.

Through the blood, through the passion of Christ, and through the water, through baptism. Therefore after leprosy you cannot be healed, except through the passion of Christ and through baptism. And when you have done this, that also is said: You shall sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be cleansed: you shall wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow (Ps. 50). Even today you are in Egypt: as long as you have not come to the blood and to the water, you cannot be saved. Do you wish that the destroyer who killed Egypt not kill you? Take hyssop, dip it in the blood, sprinkle your doorposts. When the destroyer sees the blood on your forehead, he will not be able to approach. Why have I said all this? Because it is written: And upon those who are converted to the heart. Therefore God will not be able to speak peace to his people, except to those who are converted to the heart.

Yet his salvation is near to those who fear him. I show the way of salvation, I give mercy, although you have not yet been converted to the heart: nevertheless I wait, I give room for repentance. And all this, what is it for? That glory may dwell in our land. For this reason he calls you to repentance: so that you who were a leper may have Christ as your guest.

Mercy and truth have met each other; justice and peace have kissed. O what splendid friendship! Mercy and truth have met each other. You are a sinner: hear what mercy says. You are holy: hear what truth says. Do not despair, then, if you are a sinner; do not be proud if you are righteous. Let us put it another way: there are two peoples of believers, one from the people of the Gentiles and the other from the people of the Jews. To the Jews it was promised that the Savior would come; but to us, who were strangers to the law of God, it was not promised. Mercy, then, is in the people of the Gentiles, truth in the people of the Jews: because what was promised has come, that is, what was promised to the fathers is fulfilled in the children. Justice and peace have kissed. See what he says: Justice and peace have kissed. This is the same as what he said above: Mercy and truth. Mercy is the same as peace; truth is the same as justice. For whatever belongs to peace belongs also to mercy, and whatever belongs to truth belongs to justice. See, then, what he says: Justice and peace have kissed, that is, mercy and truth have made friendship, that is, both the people of the Gentiles and the people of the Jews are under one shepherd, Christ.

Truth has sprung from the earth. I am the way, and the life, and the truth (John 14). He who says, I am the truth, has sprung from the earth. What is this truth that has sprung from the earth? There shall come forth a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall come forth from his root (Isaiah 11). And in another place: For God has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth (Psalm 74). What do you say, Manichaean, who deny that the Savior had flesh? Behold, the truth, that is, the Savior, has sprung from the earth, that is, from Mary. And justice has looked down from heaven. For it was just that the Savior should have mercy on his people. See what he says: O just judgments of God, and his ways past finding out! Truth has sprung from the earth, that is, the Savior. And again: And justice has looked down from heaven. Justice is the Savior himself. How has he sprung from the earth? How has he looked down from heaven? He has sprung from the earth, in that he was born as a man; he has looked down from heaven, because God is always in the heavens, that is, he was indeed born from the earth, but he who was born from the earth is always in heaven, that is, he so appeared on earth as not to leave heaven. For God has looked down everywhere, since while we were sinning he turned his eyes away from us. What he says is this: It is just that the potter should have mercy on his works, that the shepherd should have mercy on his flock. We are his people, we are his creature. Therefore he has sprung from the earth and has looked down from heaven, that he may fulfill his justice and have mercy on his work.

Finally, so that you may know that justice does not mean cruelty but mercy, see what he says:

For the Lord will give goodness. For this reason he looked down from heaven, that he might have mercy on the works of his hands. And our earth will give its fruit. Truth has indeed sprung from the earth. This is said of the past. Now it is said of the future: And our earth will give its fruit. Do not despair: what was once born of Mary is born daily also in us. And our earth will give its fruit. We too can give birth to Christ, if we are willing. And our earth will give its fruit, from which heavenly bread is made, of which it is said: I am the bread that came down from heaven (John 6). All these things we have indeed said about the Lord's mercy, because for this reason he came, that he might save the human race. Nevertheless we must know that he himself will judge the living and the dead; he himself will come to judgment.

Justice will walk before him, and he will set his steps in the way. Do not be negligent. Justice will walk before him, and he will set his steps in the way. See what he says: his steps—where there are no stones, where there are no thorns and briers, where the way is level, where he can walk, where he cannot stumble. And so let us also make in our heart a way for the Lord; it was of this way that John labored and cried out in the wilderness, that we should make a way for the Lord (Matthew 3). Therefore even now it is said: And he will set his steps in the way. Where he finds a way, he walks.

Although we previously had thorns and thistles, although we also had stones, it is said to us in Isaiah: And cast the stones out of the way (Isa. 57). But he says this for this reason: lest, when he wishes to walk in our way, he strike his foot. The stones that are in the way, and are commanded to be cast out, are our sins. Christ does not walk in our heart; if any sin is there, he immediately strikes against the stones. And he will place his steps in the way. Let us make a way, and Jesus will place his steps in the way, to whom be glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.

PSALM 85.

A prayer of David. This psalm contains the voice of our Mediator coming to his passion. But at the end it holds the prayer of the prophet himself.

Incline, O Lord, your ear, and hear me: for I am holy. According to the frailty of the body he assumed, he pours out prayer to the Father. But according to his divinity he calls himself holy, as he had once said to Moses: Be holy, for I am holy (Lev. 19 and 20). Save your servant, my God, who hopes in you. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to you all day. He took the form of a servant, which he prays may be saved at all times in this present life. For he knows that even if the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.

Make glad the soul of your servant, sorrowful because of present tribulations. For to you, Lord, I have lifted up my soul: believing it will be raised up to you.

For you, Lord, are sweet and gentle, and of great mercy to all who call upon you. To those who call upon you with a pure heart, you show yourself gentle, and you grant them abundant mercy.

Give ear, Lord, to my prayer, etc. For I ask for just things.

In the day of my tribulation. That is, in the day of my passion. I cried to you. From the cross. For you heard me. So that you would restore to yourself the spirit entrusted to you.

There is none like you among the gods, Lord, and there are no works like yours. There is not found among the idols of the nations one who can work as you do.

All the nations, as many as you have made, will come and adore before you, Lord, etc. For through my passion they will know the greatness of your power. Hence the prophet speaks.

Lead me, Lord, in your way, and I will walk in your truth. For if you lead me to your Christ, who is the way, no deceit will hold me back. Let my heart rejoice that it may fear your name. When I have been snatched from the sorrow of my sins, then I will rejoice in you with spiritual gladness.

I will confess to you, Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever, etc. Why he confesses to the name of the Lord, or honors him, the following verse explains, saying:

You have snatched my soul from the lower hell. Not that there are two hells, but he called the upper hell sin; the lower, however, which is the true hell, is where sinners are damned. He praises the Lord's mercy, therefore, for this reason: that he has been rescued from the punishment of the lower hell.

O God, the wicked have risen up against me, and the synagogue of the powerful have sought my soul. Of vices, or of demons. The prophet does not speak these things in the person of Christ, but it is understood concerning the Jews. They did not set God before their sight. Their wickedness had blinded them.

And you, Lord God, merciful and compassionate, patient and of great mercy and true. Merciful, when you forgive; patient, when you wait for the sinner to be converted; true, when you restore what was promised.

Look upon me and have mercy on me: give your authority to your servant. To struggle against the hostile powers. And save the son of your handmaid. The Church, in which I have been reborn.

Make a sign with me for good, that those who hate me may see and be confounded: for you, Lord, have helped me and consoled me. May I be fortified by the sign of your cross, which when the hostile powers see, may they flee confounded and depart from me. For the prophet asks this on behalf of our people. But we also pray, Lord, that, protected by the sign of your cross and guarded by its protection, we may be found worthy to be freed from all the snares of the devil: for to you is honor and glory with the eternal Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

PSALM 86.

A Psalm of a Song for the sons of Korah. What the difference is between a psalm and a song, I have often said: a psalm is spoken from the Psaltery; a song, however, is brought forth by the voice. A psalm refers to the hands, that is, to works; a song to contemplation.

His foundations are in the holy mountains. He did not say beforehand whose; and he said: His foundations are in the holy mountains. The one who speaks is the prophet. They are the sons of Korah. What Korah means I have often said: Calvary, that is, the sons of the resurrection. His foundations, whether of God, or certainly of the Church. But what are the foundations, except the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit? These foundations, therefore, are not in the valleys, but are in the mountains, and not in any mountains whatsoever, but in the holy mountains. Paul speaks: As a wise master builder I laid the foundation (1 Cor. 3), that is, the faith of the Trinity. Finally he says, and in another place: For they were waiting for a city having foundations: whose architect and builder is God (Heb. 11): His foundations are in the holy mountains. Therefore he said in the holy mountains: because there are also other mountains that are not holy. Finally it is said in Isaiah: Raise a sign upon a dark mountain (Isa. 13). And in another place it is said: Who are you, corrupt mountain (Zech. 4)? It is said also in Jeremiah: Give glory to the Lord your God, before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains (Jer. 13). You see, therefore, that there are also dark mountains, and it is said to us by Jeremiah, that we should give glory to God, before our feet stumble upon the dark mountains. For if our feet have struck against those mountains, we cannot give glory to the Lord. His foundations are in the holy mountains. Whom can we call the foundations? The apostles.

In them were the foundations: there the faith of the Church was first laid, and there the foundations were laid. And because each one builds upon the foundation—one gold, another silver, another precious stones—the Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. He loves those gates which we see have fallen. He loves those gates, and he loves that Zion which has been plowed like a field. And see what he says: The Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. See what he says: above all the cities of Jacob, that is, of Judah—only that city does he love. And how is it that we see the others standing in part, and that one utterly fallen? Let us read the Apocalypse of John, let us read Isaiah as well. Where the city of Jerusalem is built, and its twelve gates are said to be constructed of precious stones, and the city itself comes down from heaven, and its walls are said to be golden, and its streets are said to be paved with emerald, and the individual gates are said to be made each of a single precious stone. These are the riches of the Lord's gates, and does the Lord love what men also love? He forbids us from greed, and does he himself build a city out of greed? Therefore, the Lord loves the gates of Zion. Those twelve gates of Zion—it is manifest that he wrote of the apostles. Above all the tabernacles of Jacob, above all the ancient saints. This we have said for now according to one figure. But let us speak also in another way: The Lord loves the gates of Zion.

The gates of Zion seem to me to be the virtues. For just as the gates of death are vices and sins, so the gates of Zion seem to me to be the virtues. Finally he says in another place: "You who exalt me from the gates of death" (Psalm 9). But if the gates of death are sins, then the gates of Jerusalem are virtues. "Above all the tabernacles of Jacob." See how Jacob, that is, the old people, has no foundation, nor a house set upon foundations, but tabernacles that quickly pass away.

"Glorious things are spoken of you, city of God." Therefore what was said, "Her foundations are in the holy mountains," we can also say concerning God. But we can also say this: "Glorious things are spoken of you, city of God." What is this city of which glorious things are spoken? In all the prophets it was spoken of this city. Isaiah says: "Arise, arise, Jerusalem, put on the strength of your arm" (Isaiah 52). Again the same Isaiah: "I am a strong city, a city that is not attacked." David also says: "The rush of the river gladdens the city of God" (Psalm 46). And in another place: "Lord, in your city you will destroy their images" (Psalm 73). And the Savior spoke glorious things of this city. "A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden" (Matthew 5).

I will remember Rahab and Babylon, those who know me. For since he said, "Glorious things are spoken of you, city of God," and yet we understand that city itself to be the Church gathered from the nations, therefore now it is said concerning the calling of the nations: I will remember Rahab and Babylon, those who know me. Whoever is a sinner, let him be secure. The Lord remembered Rahab. I said "secure" if he returns to the Lord. Otherwise, security without tears has no remedy. I will remember Rahab—that harlot who received the spies of Joshua, who was in Jericho, where Joshua had come, and he sent two spies to Jericho (Joshua 2). This world, which is overthrown in seven days, wants to kill the spies. And though it desires to kill the spies, the harlot Rahab alone received them. And she received them not in a lower place, but in an upper room. Let us therefore speak first according to what is commonly said—for we ought not to omit that interpretation either. And she received them not in a lower place, but in an upper room. In the house, that is, in the height of her faith, and she hid them in flax, that is, in the tow of flax. For the present we have said this according to the history, and you see how from that history itself we gradually ascend to the mystical sacraments. Joshua the leader, who led the people out of Egypt; Joshua the leader, which is interpreted "Savior," after Moses had died and been buried in the land of Moab, in the land of Arabia—that is, with the Law dead—desires to lead his people into the Gospel.

He sends two spies to Jericho. Two spies: one for the circumcision, the other for the Gentiles—Peter and Paul. Jericho wanted to kill them; that harlot received them, the Church gathered from the Gentiles. She believes in Jesus, and those whom Jericho wished to kill, she herself saves in her house. And she places them in her house, in her exalted faith, and hides them in the stalk of flax. Although she is a harlot, nevertheless she places them in flax. Flax comes to whiteness through much labor and diligence. You yourselves know that flax is born from the earth, and when it has been born in the earth it is black: it has no beauty, no use. First, then, it is taken from the earth, it is broken, then it is twisted, afterward it is washed, then it is beaten, then it is woven, and with much care and labor it scarcely comes to whiteness. So this is what is said: that this harlot indeed received the spies in her flax, so that those spies might turn her flax into whiteness. What then? She gives them counsel, and thus says: Wait for three days. It was not one day, not two, but three days. See what she says: Wait for three days. She does not name three nights, but three days, because she had an enlightened heart. And then she says after three days. And what does she say? Do not, she says, go through the plains, but go up into the mountains. For the faith of the Church is not set in the valleys, but on the mountains. Jericho, therefore, is afterward overthrown by Jesus, and that harlot alone is preserved unharmed.

Therefore this is what is said: I will remember Rahab, that is, her who received my spies, and I will remember her on the day of judgment. I will remember Rahab. What does Rahab mean? We have spoken according to history; let us also speak according to the interpretation of the name. According to the anagogical sense, Rahab is interpreted in two ways. Either it is interpreted as breadth, or certainly it is interpreted as pride. Therefore see what he says. She who once walked on the broad and spacious way that leads to death (Matt. 7); she who was proud and had an impulse toward ruin, afterward was turned to humility. I will remember Rahab, and of Babylon. Babylon is interpreted as confusion. See what he says: Not only will I remember Rahab, but also Babylon: every soul that is confused by vices and sins. And of Babylon of those who know me. See what he says: Although someone has been a Rahab, although he has been a Babylon, nevertheless I will remember whoever has known me. Therefore if we have been Rahab and Babylon, we ought also to be secure and to say: God has said: I will remember Rahab and Babylon. But see what follows: Of those who know me. They were Rahab and Babylon, but afterward they were converted to me. I will remember Rahab and Babylon of those who know me. She who was once in the breadth of sins afterward ascended to the memory of God. Up to this point he has spoken as if through a riddle; but now he speaks more openly concerning the calling of the Gentiles. For see what he says:

Behold, the foreigners and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there. He calls them foreigners to distinguish them from Israel. For we are foreigners, and Tyre. Tyre is interpreted as tribulation, that is, sorrow; and the people of the Ethiopians are black, and wrapped up in the filth of sins. And the people of the Ethiopians. This is what is said: Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands to God. Behold, the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians. What is said is this: those who were formerly strangers, they were in tribulation, who were placed in the heart of the sea. For it is said of Tyre: Tyre is placed in the heart of the sea. Those, therefore, who were formerly in the sea and were beaten by the waves, were afterward found in the Church. And the people of the Ethiopians. We were once Ethiopians, Ethiopians in vices and sins, since sins had made us black, but afterward we heard: Wash yourselves, be clean. And we said: You shall wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow. We, therefore, Ethiopians have been turned to whiteness. Behold, the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there. Where were they? Where glorious things are spoken of you, city of God.

Will a man say of Sion, and a man is born in her? The Seventy interpreters translated it thus: Will a man say of Sion? Many therefore despised it, nor understood what it is, and added and read otherwise. And they say this for this reason: because it follows: and a man is born in her. They also hoped it ought to be said thus: Mother Sion, a man shall say, since the son is said to be born: therefore they err in the word "mother." Let us therefore say first according to what is commonly said—for we ought not to dismiss that interpretation either. Let us therefore also say: Mother Sion, a man shall say, and a man is born in her. Those who were born in the Church—the foreigners, Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians—these are they who are born in the Church: they believe in the Church, and are born in the Church. For unless they have been baptized, they will not be sons of the Church. But those who have been baptized in the Church call the Church their mother. Let us also say according to the Hebrew truth: Will a man say of Sion, and a man is born in her? What he says is this: who will be able to announce to Sion? who among men will be able to announce to her that a man shall be born in her, and he himself will save her? That is, no man can announce to her that Sion will be saved in the man who is born in her. And a man is born in her. Who is this man? And the Most High himself founded her. Let the Arians answer, since they say that the Most High is the Father alone: behold, here it is said of the Son: And the Most High himself founded her.

He did not say: The Son of God, who was in the beginning with the Father. But what did he say? A man is born in her, and the Most High himself founded her. If moreover he is called the Most High, how much more the Word of God!

The Lord will tell in the writing of the peoples, and of their princes who were in her. He did not say, who are in her, but who were in her. The Lord will tell: and how will he tell? Not by a word, but by a writing. In whose writing? In that of the peoples. It is not enough that it be in that of the peoples, but he also says of the princes. And of which princes? Who are in her. He did not say this, but who were in her. See therefore how full of sacraments the holy Scripture is. We read the apostle Paul; we read Peter, and we read him saying: Do you seek a proof of him who speaks in me, Christ? And what Paul speaks, Christ speaks. For he who receives you, receives me. Our Lord therefore and Savior tells us and speaks to us in the writings of his princes. The Lord will tell in the writings of the peoples: in the holy writings. Which writing is read to all peoples, that is, so that all may understand. What he says is this: As the apostles wrote, so also the Lord himself, that is, through his Gospels, spoke, not so that a few might understand, but so that all might. Plato wrote in a writing, but he did not write for the peoples, but for a few. For scarcely three men understand him.

These indeed, that is, the princes of the Church and the princes of Christ, did not write to a few, but to the whole people; and of the princes, that is, of the apostles and evangelists, of those who were in her. See what he says: who were, not who are—so that, with the apostles excepted, whatever else is said afterward may be cut off and have no authority afterward. Therefore, although someone after the apostles be holy, although he be eloquent, he has no authority. For the Lord recounts in the scripture of the peoples, and of these princes who were in her.

As of all who rejoice, the dwelling place is in you. The prophet speaks to the Church and says to her: As of all who rejoice, the dwelling place is in you. Why did he not say, The dwelling place of all who rejoice is in you, but said, As of all who rejoice? It is said in another psalm: When the Lord turned back the captivity of Zion, we became like those who are consoled, and he did not say, consoled. So also in this place he says: As of all who rejoice, the dwelling place is in you. Why did he say this whole thing? Because in the present age, however holy someone may be, however much he renounce the world, he does not have perfect victory. Finally it is said in the Gospel: Blessed are those who mourn, for they themselves shall be consoled. But if it was said, Blessed are those who weep, for they themselves shall laugh, it is manifest that in the present age there is no certain joy; therefore our joy is, as it were, joy. The dwelling place is in you.

See what he says, that no one should ever withdraw from the Church. We must know that what we have interpreted concerning the Church can also be understood of our soul. For if Sion is interpreted as a watchtower, and our soul considers nothing other than things always more sublime, the true Church, the true temple of Christ, is nothing other than the human soul. The Church of Christ is nothing other than the soul of those who believe in Christ. You, he says, are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you (1 Cor 3). Her foundations are in the holy mountains, that is, God's foundations are nothing other than in the holy mountains, in the doctrines of the believing soul. The Lord loves the gates of Sion. Our Sion has very many gates; if we open them, the bridegroom enters to us and sleeps with us. Finally he himself says: Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone opens to me, I will enter and dine with him (Rev 3). Glorious things are spoken of you, city of God. A city is not one building, but consists in many buildings. So too our Sion, unless it has many virtues, will not be the city of God. I will remember Rahab and Babylon among those who know me. She who once was in the breadth of sins later ascended into the remembrance of God. Will a man say of Sion, and a man was born in her? I speak to you a wondrous thing, but a true one.

Our Sion, in which there have sometimes been foreigners, and Tyre, and Ethiopians: that watchtower, that harlot, that Rahab, that Babylon, that woman who spread her feet to every passerby, according to Ezekiel: that harlot, if she wishes, is suddenly made a virgin. She becomes a virgin, and conceives the Son of God, and gives birth. By fear of you, Lord, we have conceived, and we have been in labor, we have brought forth the spirit of your salvation upon the earth. See, therefore, that that harlot has conceived from God and has given birth to the Savior: we have brought forth the spirit of your salvation upon the earth. Therefore our soul, that Rahab, that harlot, can conceive and give birth to the Savior. And a man is born in her. If we will it, Christ is born daily. Through each of the virtues Christ is born. For if Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, whoever does a virtue generates virtue. And the Most High himself founded her. He who is born in you: he himself gives a foundation to your Sion. The Lord will tell in the writing of the peoples. It is manifest that what the Lord speaks in Scripture, he speaks to none as he speaks to Sion. And yet when all these things have come to pass, when Christ has been born in her, the victory is not certain and secure, but we are always in danger. As of all who rejoice, their dwelling is in you. He who is glad is, from that very cheerfulness, secure. But he who is secure is quickly deceived. But he who dreads snares can quickly escape, with the Lord providing, to whom be glory for ages of ages.

Amen.

PSALM 87.

A Canticle of a Psalm for the sons of Korah: unto the end, for Mahalath, to answer for understanding, of Heman the Israelite. This psalm contains the sacraments of the Lord's passion, bringing forth those things even unto the consummation which the same Lord, having suffered for the salvation of the world, spoke to the Father.

O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried out in the day. Abiding in that brightness with you which I have always had; repentance for the peoples. And in the night before you. Among the darknesses of the Jews.

Let my prayer enter into your sight: incline your ear to my supplication. Which, placed in this body, I pour forth deeply.

Because my soul is filled with evils. With the sins of a perishing people. And my way has drawn near to hell. When for those who perish, I am handed over.

I am counted with those who go down into the pit. As they have judged me, like the rest of sinners, to be brought to death: nor have they believed that I would rise again. I have become like a man without help. Since there is no companion of my freedom in hell: nor a helper to deliver. Free among the dead. No one bound me in hell: but I, by my own power, have loosed the chain of the bound.

Like the wounded sleeping in tombs, whom you remember no more; like those sated with the riches of the world and buried in debaucheries and obscenities, who are not remembered by you—so I too was torn from the heart of the Jews. And they themselves, driven from your hand, go forth, separated from your power.

They placed me in the lowest place, with robbers and sinners liable to punishment, in darkness and in the shadow of death, in the straits of hell, in which death alone shall hold sway.

Your fury was confirmed over me, and you brought all your floods upon me—the wrath and the storm of the slaughter of your fury, which you were about to pour out upon the nations, you brought upon me, who took up their sins; as it says elsewhere: For the sins of my people I struck him (Isa. 53).

You made my acquaintances far from me—angels or apostles—so that no one would offer help. For I too could have asked you, Father, to furnish me with more than twelve legions of angels (Matt. 26), but I was silent, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. They made me an abomination to themselves—not my acquaintances, but the Jews.

I was handed over to death, and I was not going out. I was not separated from the Father's divinity, but neither did I come forth from the tomb at once, so that the delay of the resurrection might prove the reality of death. My eyes grew weak because of want—that is, my senses through their feebleness, when the apostles, leaving him, either fled or denied him, because they did not know that he would rise again, as that beloved disciple did not. For he did not yet know the Scriptures, that he must rise from the dead.

I cried to you, O Lord, saying: Eli eli lamma azabthani. All the day I stretched out my hands to you—stretched out on the cross.

Will you work wonders for the dead? Not for those who are dead while living, but for me who live in you. Or will physicians raise them up, and will they confess to you? Not the physicians' spices, but you, Father, raise me up. And not they, but I will confess to you among the peoples.

Will anyone declare your mercy in the tomb, and your truth in perdition? The one buried in the riches of the world will not praise you, nor will he who dwells in the perdition of sin.

Will your wonders be known in the darkness, and your justice in the land of oblivion? For everyone who commits sin hates the light, and from the body weighed down by earthly vices, your justice is hidden.

For I have cried out to you, Lord. In the secret place of prayer. And in the morning my prayer will come before you. Because you will glorify me in the morning resurrection.

Why, Lord, do you reject my prayer: do you turn your face away from me? So that this cup may not pass.

I am poor and in labors from my youth. From the time the flesh was assumed. But exalted. On the cross. I was humbled. In the tomb. And troubled. In death.

Your wrath has passed over me. They passed over, and did not persist. And your terrors have troubled me. Those very terrors which I declared above that I would pour out upon the nations.

They surrounded me like water all day long. The Jews in the waves of persecutions. They surrounded me together. The Pharisees with the priests: Pilate with the princes, and the peoples.

You have taken my friend and neighbor far from me. The neighbor is the one who shows mercy, who was not found with me; and my acquaintances, from misery. Because of the confusion of his passion, even the apostles themselves were taken far from me. Hence, now descending to hell, carrying off spoils from the hand of the strong man bound, his work anticipated the Father in the morning: when rising early in the morning he appeared to many. We suppliants beseech him, that he deign to strengthen by his might the people freed from the snare of hell by his passion, and to release them from the bonds of the second death: so that, unencumbered and free, we may deserve to be joined to his kingdom. To him be glory and dominion with the eternal Father and the Holy Spirit throughout all ages of ages. Amen.

PSALM 88.

The understanding of Ethan the Israelite. This psalm is contained in many voices. For it has the voice of the Father to the Son, of the Son to the Father: of the Church, and of the prophet himself, or of the apostles. From the prophetic voice, therefore, it begins thus to the Father:

I will sing forever of the mercies of the Lord. Those mercies by which you deigned to visit man, dead in sin, through your Son.

From generation to generation. From the old to the new Testament. I will proclaim your truth. Your Christ. In my mouth. In which confession is made unto salvation.

For you have said: Mercy will be built up forever. For your compassion is always exalted, and is never destroyed. Your truth will be prepared in the heavens. It is predestined in the apostles. Hence the voice of the Father:

I have disposed my testament for my chosen ones. For the teachers of the Churches, that the peoples acquired through grace they may either teach or instruct: I have sworn to David my servant. For God's swearing is the confirmation of his promise. To David my servant, that is, to Christ the Lord: who took flesh from the line of David. Forever I will prepare your seed. In those who believe in the Church.

And I will build your throne in generation and generation. That is, the Church herself in which, as a king, you will sit forever. Again the prophet says:

The heavens will confess your wonders, O Lord: for your truth is in the church of the saints. For the apostles will preach Jesus Christ, and the things you work through him in the congregation of the saints.

For who in the clouds shall be compared to the Lord? In the prophets, surely. Or who shall be like the Lord among the sons of God? Many are sons of God by adoption: but no one can be likened to the only-begotten Son, true God.

God, who is glorified in the council of the saints. The Paraclete, that is, who was to be adored in the apostolic congregation, is proclaimed equal to the Father and the Son. For the Lord Jesus Christ also, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, subsists in one omnipotence. Great and terrible above all those who are around him. Who have merited to draw near to him through the innocence of their life.

O Lord God of hosts, who is like you? In power and strength. You are powerful, O Lord, and your truth is around you. My God, of whom you yourself who are the truth say: Father, I will that where I am, they also may be with me (John 17).

You will rule over the power of the sea: over the powers of this world. But you calm the movement of its waves: the temptations that they stir up against your servants. You have humbled the proud one like one wounded: the devil, who, wounded by the nails of your cross, has been humbled in the spoils. In the strength of your arm you have scattered your enemies: his satellites.

The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours: the apostles, or the rest of the saints, who, placed on earth, lead a heavenly life. The world and its fullness you have founded. There is no doubt that the fullness of this world was created by you. But also that land of the living, in which is the fullness of holiness, you have prepared for your elect, that they may dwell in it under your guidance. The north and the sea you have created. By the north Antichrist is understood, of whom God says to Jeremiah: From the north evil shall be opened over all the inhabitants of the earth (Jer. 1).

Tabor and Hermon will exult in your name. Hermon, I say, is interpreted anathema, as we explained in the forty-first psalm. But Tabor means "coming light," or "let light come." Therefore he who is proclaimed to come either by way of wish or by way of prophecy as light is understood as the Old Testament. But he who brings forth anathema, that is, perdition, shows the New Testament, in which sins are commanded to be anathematized, as the Lord says: Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Therefore let both rejoice in the name of the Lord: whether he who foretells that the light of the world is coming, or he who shows by signs and wonders that it already shines in the world itself. Your arm with power. Your strength with that efficacy which you will, shall prevail.

Let your hand be strengthened. The works which you do in the world. And let your right hand be exalted. Your majesty, or the Church acquired among the nations. Justice and judgment are the preparation of your throne. Unless one has first done justice and judgment, your throne cannot be established.

Mercy and truth go before your face. For where mercy and truth accompany, there also the beholding of your face is turned. Blessed is the people that knows jubilation. Spiritual jubilation, certainly, through which the wickednesses of the world are dashed together: as once at the jubilation of Jesus and the priests, Jericho fell, holding the figure of the world (Joshua).

Lord, in the light of your countenance they shall walk. In the illumination, certainly, of the Holy Spirit. And in your name they shall rejoice all the day. In that new name which is blessed on the earth, that is, Christian. And in your justice they shall be exalted. Following and keeping it.

For you are the glory of their strength. For in you they glory, and not in another. And in your good pleasure our horn shall be exalted. For just as your commandments were pleasing to them, so it is pleasing to you that their strength be exalted in you.

For our taking up is the Lord's. Of the flesh, surely. And of the Holy One of Israel our king. Of our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who reigns in the Church. Hence again the prophet speaks to the Father:

Then you spoke in vision to your holy ones. To the prophets, and the rest of the elect. And you said, I have set help. For the people, surely. Upon the mighty one. That is, over the devil, who would oppress his pride. And I have exalted the chosen one from my people. Christ the Lord. Who is therefore said to be chosen from the people: because he took flesh from man.

I have found David my servant. He found him: he chose him, surely, so that from his lineage he might take flesh. But that he said servant, the Apostle explains: He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but took the form of a servant (Philippians 2). With my holy oil I have anointed him. Not with mournful and corrupt oil, but with one full of gladness and holiness.

For my hand will help him, and my arm will strengthen him—in the body he took up.

The enemy will gain nothing against him—that is, the devil. And the son of iniquity will not add to harm him—Judas the traitor, who is rightly called the son of iniquity, that is, of the devil, because the devil entered into his heart to betray Christ.

And I will cut down his enemies before his face—the Jews, surely, who, often put to confusion by the Lord as if cut down by swords, departed from his sight. And those who hear him I will turn to flight. He speaks of the wicked demons, who fled before him very often, crying out: Why have you come before the time to torment us? We know that you are the Son of God (Matthew 8).

And my truth and my mercy are with him. Truth, because what he heard from me he speaks. Mercy, because he heals the sick, both in mind and in body. And in my name his horn will be exalted—the strength of the Church redeemed by his blood.

And I will place his hand in the sea. I will show his works to the world. And his right hand in the rivers. Over the principalities and powers of the world.

He himself will call upon me, You are my Father: my God and the sustainer of my salvation. That he quite often called God his Father, we read in the Gospels: as that passage is: Father, glorify me with yourself (John 17). And again: Father, into your hands I commend my spirit (Luke 23). My God. But he calls him God when he says: God, my God, why have you forsaken me? and many other things.

And I will make him the firstborn, exalted above the kings of the earth. For the Lord Jesus is the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1): as the Apostle says: Made exalted, ascending into the heavens: subjecting all the kingdoms of the world.

Forever I will keep my mercy for him, and my covenant faithful to him. In the Church, which he redeemed through mercy and the covenant of his commandments, these things are preserved in her perpetually.

And I will establish his seed forever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. For the congregation of the saints which is in the Church, in which God sits as on a throne, shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father.

But if his sons forsake my law, etc. That those who forsake the law, forget judgments, profane justifications, and transgress the commandments are corrected with the rod, that is, with the discipline of God, and that divine mercy is not taken away: this is shown, so that no one may be shut out from the Church without hope of recovery: for just as divine severity terrifies, with justice reproving, so piety restores, with clemency moderating.

Once I have sworn in my holy one. In that man of the Lord. If David should lie. For God is circumscribed by no lie: as the evangelist says: One iota or one tittle shall not pass from the law until all things be fulfilled (Matt. 5). His seed shall remain forever. The people acquired. And his throne as the sun in my sight. That the Church herself remains in the brightness of future blessedness, he promises again and again. And as the moon perfect forever. Wholly bright, wholly perfect: containing nothing of darkness in herself. And a faithful witness in heaven. Christ the Lord himself, who gave faithful testimony concerning the work of the Father in the world, is to be raised up into the heavens. Hence the apostolic voice to the Father.

But you have rejected and despised him. Because we are separated from our king while he suffers. You have deferred your Christ, by handing him over to his enemies.

You have turned away the covenant of your servant, by which he had promised that we would reign with him. You have profaned his sanctuary on the earth. For you had promised that you would not give your holy one to see corruption, and now he is already covered in the tomb.

You have led away all his hedges—the words of the Law and the Prophets, by which he was held fast. You have set his firmament as a terror—we who were with him when he heard him as he taught the crowds.

All who pass by on the way have plundered him. For they pass by him who said: I am the way, and the truth, and the life (John 14), when they either divide his garments or pierce his body with nails and the point of a sword. He has become a reproach to his neighbors—to the Jews and the chief priests, who were saying: Ah! you who destroy the temple of God and rebuild it after three days: come down from the cross (Matt 27).

You have exalted the right hand of those who oppress him, when you bring him low to death. You have made all his enemies glad: Pilate with the Gentiles and the Jews.

You have turned away the help of his sword, when the word of his preaching did not profit the Jews. And you did not aid him in battle—in the conflict, that is, of his passion.

You have destroyed him from cleansing. For if his purity had been bound fast, his garments would certainly not have been defiled by our crimes; as he himself says: Their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have defiled all my raiment (Isa. 53). For he was also reckoned among the wicked, and crucified with robbers. And you have dashed his seat to the ground—the souls of the saints upon whom he rested, which were troubled at his death.

You have shortened the days of his time. His days were diminished, that he might return more swiftly to the Father. You have poured him out in confusion—in the confusion, that is, of death. These things the apostles were saying, not knowing that he must rise again from the dead. And that they did not know this, the evangelist records. For concerning the beloved disciple he says: For he did not yet know the Scriptures, that he must rise again from the dead (John 20). And to Peter the words of this resurrection seemed as if they were ravings. But Thomas said: Unless I see, I will not believe (Ibid.). Therefore the apostles spoke such things as though reproaching the Father, because they did not know that he would return from hell. To these things, then, succeeding, the Church says:

How long, O God, will you be angry, even to the end? Will your wrath blaze up like fire? How long will you be angry, so that you do not call back those who depart from death?

Remember, O Lord, what my substance is. I have no substance of life except in him whom I await to return from Tartarus. For have you established all the sons of men in vain? For if you established them not in vain but truly in the hope of resurrection, how much more ought you to raise up your Son!

Who is the man who will live and not see death, or who will deliver his soul from the hand of the underworld? I know that no man of flesh escapes death, nor will he preserve his soul from the underworld. But I know that God lay hidden beneath the veil of flesh, whom death and the underworld ought not to hold.

Where are your ancient mercies, O Lord, as you swore to David in your truth? If he is not raised up here?

Remember, O Lord, the reproach of your servants, who await him, which I have kept in my bosom concerning many nations, whom I gathered as it were into my bosom, into one house of faith.

What your enemies have reproached, O Lord. The Jews; the Pharisees and Sadducees. What they have reproached. What have they reproached? The changing of your Christ. When he, changing away from them, said to the Gentiles: Behold, your house shall be left to you desolate (Luke 13). I _

Blessed be the Lord forever, amen, amen. Behold the blessed one, behold the glorious one when he returns from the underworld: when he shows himself to his disciples, when he restores to the Church her vows and holy desires, saying to the saints: Behold, I am with you all days even to the consummation of the age (Matthew, last chapter). May he who deigns to change us from evil deeds into good, and having made us worthy by his mercy, filled with the Holy Spirit, establish us in his kingdom by his accustomed compassion. For to him is glory and dominion with the eternal Father and the Holy Spirit for ages of ages. Amen.

PSALM 89.

The prayer of Moses the man of God. a There are four psalms that are prefaced with the title "prayer": the sixteenth, the eighty-fifth, the eighty-ninth, and the hundred-first. In the hundred-first it is said: The prayer of the poor man when he was distressed, and poured out his prayer in the sight of God. This one is, The prayer of Moses the man of God. We read the song of Moses, which in Exodus, at that time when the people crossed the Red Sea, and Pharaoh with all his army was drowned, Mary sang with Moses (Exodus 15). Then we also read in Deuteronomy that he had written that song in Deuteronomy (chapter 32).

If, then, these psalms and these canticles are Moses', why are they not contained in their own volumes? We have therefore said how the hundred and first psalm is inscribed, A prayer of the poor man, and that another is he who wrote concerning him, and that poor man who intercedes for us is the Lord, who, though he was rich, became poor for our sake, and the rest (II Cor. viii). So too here Moses, since from the beginning of the human race he himself wrote the history: for he himself wrote how heaven and earth were made, how man too was made, concerning the condition of man. And this psalm speaks of the condition of man: what man is, and why he was born. He therefore who in Genesis wrote of the condition of men is himself also now brought in by the Holy Spirit to dispute what man is.

Lord, you have been made a refuge for us in generation and generation. He who seeks a refuge either seeks it from excessive heat and burning, or a beast pursues him, or enemies pursue him to kill him. And so we too are in the heat of this world, and a beast pursues us, of which we say: Do not hand over to beasts the soul that confesses to you (Ps. lxxiii). And enemies pursue us: therefore we have fled for refuge beneath your wings. In generation, and generation. Both in the past, and in the present, and in the future. Otherwise: In generation, and generation. Both in the old people of the Jews, and in the new of the Christians.

Before the mountains were made, and the earth and the world were formed. Here heresy creeps in. If he became a refuge for us before the mountains were made and the world was formed, then souls existed before the world was made. For what does Scripture say? Lord, you have become a refuge for us, in generation, it says, and generation. From the beginning of the world: before the beginning of the world. That is what they say. And lest you think that I am saying, before the mountains were made and the earth and the world were formed, you, it says, have become a refuge for us. But if he was our refuge before the world was made, then souls existed before the world was made. You divide wrongly, heresy. Why do you slander the Holy Spirit? Speak as the Holy Spirit has spoken. So then it must be read thus: Lord, you have become a refuge for us, in generation and generation, up to this point the division. Again another beginning: Before the mountains were made, and the earth and the world were formed, from age and even to age you are God. You are God before the mountains were made; you are God before the earth and the world were formed. From age and even to age you are God. You are always, you are eternal.

Do not turn man away into humiliation, and you said, "Return, you children of men." O Lord, that we might dare to ask this and say: Do not turn man away into humiliation—you yourself gave us confidence, saying: "Return to me, children, you who are returning, and I will heal your contritions" (Ezekiel 18; Hosea 14). And you said, "Return, you children of men."

For a thousand years before your eyes are like one day that has passed. And their years will be as a watch in the night, which are reckoned as nothing. According to the historical sense we ought to know that the night is divided into four watches. Hence it is also said in the Gospel: "And in the fourth watch" (Matthew 14; Mark 4). One watch, then, is three hours. The night, therefore, is divided into four watches. Finally, soldiers have four stations, when they keep watch and stand guard and serve. See, then, what he says. O our brief eternity! That Adam, our progenitor, who lived nine hundred and thirty years—even that Methuselah, who lived nine hundred and sixty-five years (Genesis 5)—suppose he had lived a thousand; compared with your eternity, however great it was, it is brief. For what can be great that has an end? Our thousand years, before we offended, were one day with you. Why do I say one day? One watch. See what he says: You deigned to descend for our salvation; you poured out your blood for us; do not suffer us to perish and to die in humiliation.

You yourself said: "When I am lifted up, I will draw all things to myself" (John 12). You have been lifted up and you have lifted us up: do not abandon us, lest we be drawn down.

In the morning let it pass like grass: in the morning let it flower and pass away: in the evening let it fall, grow hard, and wither. O the mysteries of the Scriptures! In the morning let it pass like grass. Our Lord and Savior speaks in the Gospel of the hay that springs up in one day and withers in one day (Matt. 6). As the grass that is green and flowering is seen in the morning as though it were a flower and green; but when the sun has come and parched it, toward evening it withers away, as it were, and falls—so too all our life is seen to be like a flower, when it is green and when it withers. You saw a young man ten years ago. Nothing was more beautiful than he; he ran hither and thither. If you look at him now, he seems as though dead in old age. Although he lives in old age, nevertheless his youth has perished. In the morning let it pass like grass—that is, our youth; for that very thing is the morning. Let it pass like grass: in the morning let it flower and pass away. We flower in youth; we wither in old age. In the evening let it fall, grow hard, and wither.

For we have failed in your anger, and in your fury we are troubled. Nine hundred and thirty years ago we were living, and we had come nearly to a thousand. Behold, our life has been contracted into a brief span.

You have set our iniquities in your sight. Nothing is hidden from you—that is, our sins—neither does night conceal them, nor do darknesses keep them wrapped. All things shine before you. Our age is in the illumination of your worship. It is better rendered in Hebrew: Our life is in the illumination of your face. Whatever we do, whatever we think we have done in secret, lies open in your eyes.

For all our days have failed. Our age has run its course; and while we do not know it, we perish grievously. And this very thing that we speak is a matter of death, and we do not understand.

Our years shall meditate like a spider. See what he says. Just as a spider, as it were, sends out threads and runs hither and thither, and weaves all day long, and the labor is indeed great, but the result is nothing, so also the life of men runs hither and thither. We seek possessions, we desire riches, we beget children, we labor, we are raised up into kingdoms, and we do all things, and we do not understand that we have woven the web of a spider.

The days of our years are in those same seventy years. Where are the thousand years? We have been contracted into seventy years. But if much, eighty. But if we have lived longer, it is no longer life, but death.

But if in strength, eighty years. For whom will you find to be eighty years old and healthy? The Greek sentence also says: old age itself is a disease. And beyond that, their labor and pain. Whatever has been pious is not life, but pain. We have said this for now according to the history. Otherwise let us speak according to the anagogy. And indeed every psalm receives tropology, and I could now run through each little verse and speak the spiritual understanding in each one, but we are excluded by the hour. Nevertheless, from one little verse I give you, as it were, a taste of spiritual understanding, so that whatever I have passed over here, you may consider to have been said there. The days of our years are in those same seventy years. Seventy years are seven decades, and eighty years are eight decades. See therefore how the seventh and eighth number are proclaimed. And how we have said: you have become a refuge for us in generation and generation, both in the old and in the new Testament: for this reason he now sets down both the seventh and the eighth number. This he says in Ecclesiastes: Give a portion to seven, and give bread to eight (Eccles. 11).

Therefore there are also fifteen gradual psalms, that is, seven and eight; fifteen alike lead us to the kingdoms of heaven. Finally, after the seventh gradual psalm has been completed, what is said in the scripture of that same psalm? "A psalm," it says, "of Solomon, who had built the old house." And what does it say? "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it have labored in vain" (Ps. 126). What then does Solomon himself say, who is named in the title itself? "Therefore I have built the temple, but unless the number eight has built it, the house is built in vain." We read also in the Gospel according to Matthew: "Blessed are the poor; blessed are the meek; blessed are those who hunger and thirst," and the rest, and there are eight Beatitudes (Matt. 5). Therefore our Lord concluded the Gospel with the number eight. Finally, nowhere do we find eight Beatitudes together except in the Gospel. By the number eight, that is, on the day of resurrection. "The days of our years are in those same seventy years." Do you wish me to show you that the seventh and eighth numbers contain very many mysteries? Let us read Ezekiel, and in one gate it is said: "And let him enter," it says, "through the gate of the east into the temple that is being built." In Ezekiel, at the very end: "And the priest shall go up first," it says, "through seven and eight steps." And it could have been that in that gate there were both seven steps and eight. But see what it says: the eastern gate, from which the light comes, is our Lord and Savior.

There is indeed one gate, and no one enters it except the high priest. And what is said there? This gate shall always be closed. But it is opened only to the priest (Ezek. 44). So therefore both the New and the Old Testament were always closed; it was not opened except to the Savior. For he is the one who has the key, who opens and no one shuts; who shuts and no one opens. One gate therefore has seven and eight steps. And in the Old Testament indeed are the sacraments of the Gospel, and in the New Testament are the sacraments of the Law. Hear greater mysteries. At that time when Solomon, that is, our peaceable one (who says (John 14): My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you: for he is our peace, and the peace which surpasses all understanding) he himself built a temple to God. And see there what the Scripture says. And there were, it says, seventy thousand stonecutters, and of those who carried, eighty thousand (3 Kings 5). See the number. The stonecutters who cut stones, who prepare, as it were, the foundations of buildings, who lift stones from the earth to be built into the temple of God, are placed in the seventh number, in the prophets, in the patriarchs. For they, casting out the human race as it were from the earth, prepared them for the temple of the Lord. But these, that is, the eighty thousand: the Apostolic and Evangelical preaching: these who with God the Savior and Solomon himself were carrying the heavy sins of the nations. Up to this point the mystery seems to have been finished. Hear greater mysteries.

And those who were over these works and the temple, he says, were three thousand. They cannot be greater. And who are over the works, except those who preach the Trinity? The days of our years are in those seventy years. There are many things we might say, but we are cut off by the hour.

Make your right hand thus known, and those fettered in heart in wisdom. In some manuscripts it is said, "the learned"; in others it is said, "the fettered." "Learned" signifies one thing, "fettered" another. What then does he say: Make your right hand known. Why do you draw back your right hand so long? God, why do you turn away your hand into your bosom? it is said in another psalm. What is said? That is, we are placed in sickness, we lie in sins: send forth your right hand, and lift us up. Why do you keep your right hand in your bosom so long? Let your heart bring forth a good word: send forth your right hand, and free us. Make known to us the mystery which was hidden from the generations. Make your right hand known. Why do you creep in, Arius? He did not say, "Make your right hand." For God was never without his right hand. But what did he say? Your right hand, which always was, and was in your bosom, make known. Since we cannot know him as he remains in his divinity: let him assume a man, and so let us understand him. Make your right hand thus known, and those fettered in heart in wisdom. Those who have the fetters of wisdom, that is, who are fettered in heart through your wisdom. Let it not be troublesome to you that the passage is obscure.

The prophets had wisdom: but that very wisdom held them bound; they could not fly without Christ. See, then, who says: Send forth your right hand, that is, your Son. Make him known to us: so that the prophets too, who prophesied as it were a shadow, may begin to proclaim the Lord more plainly.

Turn, O Lord, how long. We have sinned greatly; you turn away your face: our sins are not worthy to be seen by your eyes. Therefore we beseech you, turn, O Lord, how long. Behold, already so many ages have flowed by: the prophets have always proclaimed to the nations that you would come, and still you have not come. And direct the sons of men. We who are crooked, let us be directed by you. And direct the sons of men. Therefore direct them, because they are sons of men. For if they were your sons, they would have been directed. For you said: I said, you are gods, and all sons of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. And in another place: My spirit shall not remain in these men: because they are flesh. Since they are men, therefore they are flesh. Therefore because they are sons of men, and we have lost being sons of God, and have become crooked: therefore direct us, and let us again be made your sons.

And let the splendor of the Lord our God be upon us. The Apostle also says to the Hebrews: For the Lord and Savior is the splendor of the Father's glory (Hebr. i). And let the splendor of the Lord our God be upon us. This is what is also said in another place: The light of your countenance is sealed upon us, O Lord (Psal. iv). The sign of the cross is our banner. These things we have said for now concerning the psalm, and, as I reckon, we have lingered longer than we ought. We understand that we have said far more than we should have said: but we cannot keep silent the words of our Lord, we cannot leave the psalm once begun. Nothing that profits the soul is much: nothing good is enough, if indeed it is good. Let us therefore ask our Lord and Savior, that his splendor may shine in our hearts, that he may cast out from us the assaults of darkness and filthy thoughts, and drive away all sins from our hearts, that he may enlighten our darkness, that the darkness may flee, and the splendor of light may dwell in our hearts. May the temple of the Lord, and the tabernacle, and the Holy of Holies, always have a burning lamp: may the lamp always shine forth in the house of the Lord. For if the lamp has been extinguished, the Lord does not dwell in darkness. Let us therefore also say: Your word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord (Psal. cxviii): to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

PSALM XC.

This psalm has no title, because it is sung concerning the head and the members. The head in heaven, the members on earth. And it is properly understood concerning the fast and that temptation in the wilderness. The prophet foresaw that Christ was to come in the flesh, so as to be tempted by the devil (Matt. 4).

He who dwells in the help of the Most High. "Help" is interpreted as Ezra. Indeed, the prophet is called Ezra. This is he who led the people back from the captivity of Babylon and brought them into the land of promise. Therefore he who dwells in Ezra dwells in Jesus. Meanwhile, according to tropology: He who built the house without hands, according to the Apostle—that house which the Lord had also built for the midwives in Egypt (Exod. 1). He shall abide in the protection of the God of heaven. He shall say to the Lord: You are my sustainer, and my refuge, my God. For many enemies pursue me; therefore you are my refuge, my God. I shall hope in the Lord, for he himself will deliver me from the snare of the hunters. He did not say, "I hope," but, "I shall hope." For as long as we sin, we do not hope. If we cease to sin, we hope. For he himself will deliver me from the snare of the hunters. There are many hunters in this world who try to hunt our soul. Indeed, that giant Nimrod was a great hunter in the sight of God (Gen. 10), and Esau was a hunter (Gen. 27), because he was a sinner; and we find altogether no holy man a hunter in the Holy Scriptures. We find holy fishermen.

Because he himself will deliver me from the snare of the hunters. Our soul like a sparrow has been snatched from the snare of the hunters. The snare has been broken, and we have been set free (Ps. 123). What is this snare that has been broken? The Lord, it says, will crush Satan under our feet quickly; and the Apostle says: That you may be delivered from the snare of the devil (Rom. 16). You see, then, that he is a hunter who desires to hunt our souls to destruction. The devil has many snares, and he has various snares. Avarice is the devil's snare: anger, detraction, etc. And from a harsh word. As long as we are in holiness, our soul is tranquil. But when our soul begins to think about sins, it is disturbed, and as if shaken by certain waves.

With his shoulders he will overshadow you. But these things are according to that passage of Deuteronomy: The Lord protects us like his chicks with his wings like an eagle (Deut. 32). For it is said there that he protects his chicks like an eagle. Although, then, we can say this, that God protects us like a father, and like a hen protects her chicks, lest they be seized by the hawk (Matt. 23). Nevertheless we can also say something else: With his shoulders he will overshadow you. He will be lifted up on the cross, he will stretch out his hands, and he will protect us. And under his wings you will hope. Looking, it says, at his crucified hands, even if a serpent has bitten you, you will be healed (Num. 21).

Though you walk in the desert of this world, if the scorpion strikes you, if the basilisk, if the asp, if the other venomous creatures, be secure concerning your health: the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness.

His truth will surround you with a shield. Our shield is round, that is, it encloses us on every side. It is not only a shield, but also a wall. Lord, as with the shield of your good will you have crowned us. Some he crowns with a shield. See what he says: Lord, as with the shield of your good will you have crowned us (Ps. 5). What does he say? You will protect us; and you will make us conquer, and after the victory you will crown us. His truth will surround you with a shield. Since he had said, from a harsh word, and a harsh word, we can understand this of the heretics and the philosophers and the Jews, and this, as it were, harsh word is not true, but is a lie. For it is turbulent for this reason, because it is a lie. It is turbulent for this reason, because it disturbs our souls through its lie. The Lord therefore, who is truth, and says: I am the truth (John 14), surrounds us with the shield of his truth, lest we be struck by the burning arrows of the devil. Therefore Christ, who is truth, puts his shield beneath us, so that by the shield of truth he may overcome the lie. You will not fear the terror of the night. For the devil is always in darkness; that he may strike, he says, the innocent in secret (Ps. 9 and 63). You see therefore that he who is simple is innocent, and is always struck in secret. You will not fear the terror of the night.

What he says is this: even if you have been in error, which is night, nevertheless you will not fear, because you have the shield of truth.

From the arrow flying in the day. The flying arrow of the devil seems to me to be the speech of heretics and philosophers. For they too promise the light of knowledge, and claim to have the day; and they cannot deceive unless they promise light. But that light which they promise is from burning arrows. And therefore it is said: From the arrow flying in the day, from the business walking about in the darkness. The arrow indeed flies as if in the day, but the business is what walks about in the darkness. From the incursion and the noonday demon. It is better to say in Greek that "eventus" is called a sudden occurrence, that is, when we do not expect it, and something new has happened. Or it is said when many fall at once. See therefore what he says: although many unlearned have been, nevertheless you who are holy, do not be led in. I give an example, so that the simpler sort may understand what is said: If you, a monk, have gone alone into the city, and begun to walk about, and heard a shout in the circus, and someone has said to you, come and watch: it is the circus; and you have begun to say to him, it is not permitted; I cannot go. If he has shown you countless thousands of men, and said to you: two hundred thousand men are there: therefore are all those going to perish; and will you alone be saved? You ought to understand that it is a symptom of the devil, that is, you ought to know that many fall. And from the noonday demon.

Many indeed say that there are demons and noonday demons, and this is commonly said. But I say simply that a demon has power over us at the time when we sin. Whether we have sinned in the morning, a demon enters into us; whether in the evening or at night, at whatever hour we have sinned, a demon enters into us. You see, therefore, that what is commonly said is frivolous. What then does he mean by "the noonday demon"? Because Abraham received angels at midday, and Joseph invited his brothers to a meal at midday (Gen. 18 and 43). For they were holy, both Abraham and Joseph, and therefore their banquet was in clear light and at full sun. Therefore they feed at midday. And I, if I have the full knowledge of the Scriptures, even if it is the third hour, nevertheless I feed you at midday. Finally, the bride also says in the Song of Songs: "Where you feed, where you lie down? At midday" (Cant. 1). You see that the bridegroom does not feed, does not recline at the third hour, but at midday. Where you feed, where you lie down, where I find you, where you enjoy delights, where I can find you, O my bridegroom? Do you wish me to find you? At midday, in perfect knowledge, in good works, in clear light. Since, therefore, we have our midday, for this reason the devil also transforms himself into an angel of light (II Cor. 11), and he himself pretends to have light, to have midday.

When heretics promise, as it were, certain mysteries—when they promise the kingdoms of heaven, when continence, when fastings, when holiness, when renunciation of the world—they promise the noonday. But because the light is not Christ's, it is not noonday, but a noonday demon.

A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. Each word of the Scriptures is a mystery. These words, which are thought rustic by the men of the world, are full of mysteries. For we have this treasure in earthen vessels (II Cor. 4). The treasure—the divine meaning—we have in the vilest words. A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. At the side of whom? Of him to whom it had been said: His truth shall surround you with a shield: you shall not be afraid of the terror by night. Who is this? Of whom it was said above: He who dwells in the help of the Most High, in the protection of the God of heaven he shall abide. Therefore by him who dwells in the help of the Lord, a thousand shall fall at his side, and ten thousand at his right hand. The right hand of the saint is spoken of; the left is not spoken of, but the side. For see what is said: And ten thousand at your right hand. And how had you said: A thousand shall fall at your side? For when the right hand is spoken of, and the left is not named, in place of the left, the side is named. For it could not be just that a just man should have a left. Whoever, he says, strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other also.

He did not say "and the left hand," for it is not the left that is offered, but the other right. Therefore I say plainly: the righteous man has two right hands. Indeed, even that Ajoth who is written of in the book of Judges is said to have two right hands for this reason: because he was righteous, and he killed that exceedingly fat king. A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. There are more who lie in wait for our right hand, and there are not more who lie in wait for the left. Therefore a thousand shall fall at the side, and ten thousand at the right. For where the battle is greater, the victory is greater. Few lie in wait for the side; more lie in wait for the right hand.

For he has given his angels charge over you, that they may keep you in all your ways, etc. The devil interpreted this passage as applying to the Lord, for at the time when he tempted the Lord he said: If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down (Matt. 4). For it is written of you, He has given his angels charge over you, that they may keep you in all your ways. In their hands they will bear you up, lest perhaps you strike your foot against a stone. The devil said nothing more than this: For he has given his angels charge over you, that they may bear you up in their hands, lest perhaps you strike your foot against a stone. He omitted the middle part. For here it is said: For he has given his angels charge over you, that they may keep you in all your ways. He did not say this, "that they may keep you," for he knew it was against himself.

For the Lord could have answered him: If the Lord guards me in all my ways, then I too am guarded by you. So he was silent about what he knew was against himself, and set down what was in his favor. Truly the devil, as a devil, interprets concerning the Savior what is not concerning the Savior. For if the whole psalm is concerning the Savior, as you interpret it, O devil, and it is concerning him that this is said:

I will protect him, because he has known my name. That is, I the Father will protect my Son. If it is interpreted thus, O devil, as you understand it: let us see whether the sense holds: I will protect him, because he has known my name: that is, I the Father will protect my Son.

He cried out to me, and I will hear him. That is on the day of the cross. I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him and glorify him. That is, I will make him rise again.

With length of days I will fill him. That is, he will live forever. And let us understand this of the Son of God. With length of days I will fill him. How does what follows hold in the Savior? And I will show him my salvation. The salvation of God is the Son of God. If, then, it is said of the Son, how can it hold: that the salvation of God is the Son of God? You see, therefore, that you have interpreted badly, O devil. But suppose it is interpreted as you say. You have said: For he has commanded his angels concerning you, that they may bear you in their hands, lest perhaps you strike your foot against a stone. Say what follows. Why are you silent?

He will walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and he will trample the lion and the dragon: Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

PSALM 91.

A psalm of a song for the day of the sabbath. This psalm is prefaced with this title. No one can keep the day of the sabbath unless he has passed through the six days. For six days we labor, and on the seventh day we rest. Therefore we cannot sing to the Lord unless we are in the day of the sabbath—as long as we do the works of this world, that is, during the six days, we cannot sing to the Lord. Hence it is said in Leviticus: On the day of the sabbath you shall do no work at all (Lev. 23). Whoever, then, is in the sabbath and in the Lord's rest ought not to do servile work—that is, work that belongs to this world—but ought to do the work that belongs to the sabbath. Do you wish to know that on the sabbath the priests work in the temple of the Lord? It is not permitted on the sabbath for just anyone to cut wood (Num. 5). Indeed, the one man who was found doing so in the wilderness was stoned and killed. Indeed, it was not permitted to kindle a fire; it was not permitted even to do any work at all. But you see that all these things which no one in the world is permitted to do on the sabbath are permitted to the priests alone. For they both cut wood and kindle fire and perform other ministries and offer sacrifices. Why have I said all this? To show that it is written in the law that we ought to cease even on the day of the sabbath from the works of the world, and to do those things that pertain to God.

The psalm, then, of a song is for the day of the sabbath: when we do not labor for the world, and we labor for God. Let us see what we are to sing on the sabbath, when we cease from the works of the world.

It is good to confess to the Lord, and to sing to your name, O Most High. He did not say: it is good to sing, and afterward to confess; but see the order: it is good to confess, and it is good to sing. First do penance, and wipe away sins with tears, and afterward sing to the Lord: it is good to confess to the Lord; not to men, but to God; confess your sins to him who can heal. And to sing to your name, O Most High.

To announce in the morning your mercy, and your truth through the night. Understand diligently what is said: To announce in the morning your mercy, and your truth through the night. The individual verses are referred to individual [clauses]. It is good to confess to the Lord: to announce in the morning your mercy. If you confess to the Lord, you announce in the morning the mercies of the Lord. And to sing to your name, O Most High. He refers this verse to the one that follows, and your truth through the night. For when we confess to the Lord, we hope for mercy. But when we sing, we practice the virtues. To announce in the morning your mercy. Where are those who understand the Scriptures according to the letter? Can we not announce the mercy of God at midday? And certainly it is the mark of Christians and monks, especially in the nights, to confess their sins.

And how does he now say: To announce your mercy in the morning? What he says is this: We cannot confess the Lord and attain his mercy unless a clear light has begun to shine in our heart. Unless darkness has come first and emptiness has been made, we cannot attain the Lord's mercy. But then you announce the Lord's mercy in the morning, when the sun of righteousness has risen in your heart. And your truth through the night. The Lord's truth is not announced except at night; in the day it cannot be announced. For the weak cannot bear great things, nor can they sustain precious things. Hence it is also said in another place concerning God: I have placed darkness as his hiding place, that is, the Lord has placed darkness as his hiding place. And so the Lord's truth is announced in the night: it is, as it were, wrapped in a kind of darkness of words. It is spoken in an enigma and in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. We read in Hosea, and it is said to the prophet: Go, and take for yourself a wife, a wife of fornication: Jews and gentiles laugh. Why do they laugh? Because the truth has been placed in the night, not in the day. Do you wish to know that God's truth is in the night, and is placed as it were in darkness and in parables? Moses went up onto Mount Sinai, and he entered, it says, into the whirlwind, and the mist, and the darkness, and there he spoke with the Lord.

For the people of Israel could not see the mysteries of God, because they had not entered into the darkness of God.

With the ten-stringed psaltery, with song and lyre. I say simply: whenever we lift up our hands without thoughts and disputings, we sing psalms to the Lord on the ten-stringed instrument. With the ten-stringed psaltery, with song on the lyre. On our lyre, both body and soul and spirit are composed with all their strings.

Because you have delighted me, Lord, in your work, and in the works of your hands I will exult. Whatever a Christian sees, he is always edified; nothing destroys a monk except sin. Whatever you have looked upon is your building. You see heaven, you see the sun, you see the stars, you see the moon—this edifies you. For you ought to think and say: If the sun and the moon and the heaven and the stars serve God, why do I not serve? You see the earth, you see the animals, and all things that are on the earth, and compare this with your soul, and it edifies you, and say to your soul: All things run in their own time. Indeed spring and summer, autumn and winter, these seasons never change, but according to the Lord's arrangement all things serve. Heaven serves, and earth serves, and I, wretched man, do not serve. Let us come to the tiny animals: I now set aside the elephants, I set aside the lions, I set aside the various beasts, I come to the tiny animals. Look at the bee, look at the ant: see the body, and inquire into the wisdom (Prov. 6 and 30).

Greater is wisdom than bodily size. The bees and the ants think that what is to come will come; and the monk and the Christian do not think that judgment is to come. They think, because I may be endangered by hunger if they have not labored in summer for that by which I may live in winter; we do not think, because without work we shall be tormented in hell. Why have I said all this? Because it is now written: For you have delighted me, Lord, in your making. Whatever I have looked upon delights me. For I understand the maker, and I bless God. And in the works of your hands I will exult. I see a tree, and I consider how the bark of the tree is like a tunic with which it is clothed, and like a bud it grows green. And then I see how the flower is made: how the flower falls, and the flower itself is turned into fruit. I see little by little, through individual days, through individual seasons, nature working for me, and growing into my food. I see how God labors for me in all things, so that nothing may be lacking to me. Therefore I exult in you, Lord.

How magnificent are your works, O Lord! At this passage Marcion and the Manichaeans burst forth. For what do they say? If God made all things, and made the uselessness of men, what need was there to make the bug and the flea? I answer you briefly: so that your frailty, O man, might be shown. For you who set your thought in heaven, look: you are bitten by a bug and you tremble. Why are you lifted up to heaven, and your thought passes beyond into heaven? Behold, you are wounded by a flea. How magnificent are your works, O Lord! Small indeed in body, but great in reason. Each one has its own uses. I marvel at the Lord in elephants in the same way as in the ant; I proclaim him in the camel in the same way as in the gnat. See the gnat, how it is, as it were, the point of some tiny body, and yet see in that very point of a tiny body that all the members are separately formed. It has six feet, it has two eyes, it has a mouth, it has a belly, it has also the trumpet of its voice, it has also wings. If you consider the members, you do not find the body, and yet God is magnified, because all the members exist without a body. Your thoughts have been made exceedingly deep. Whatever I have thought, I cannot find it out. Your judgments are a deep abyss. O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. I too will say with Ecclesiastes: I said, I will become wise, and it was made farther from me: much farther than it was. And who can find out deep things (Eccles. vii)?

What Ecclesiastes says is this: Before I put my thought into action, I did not see the magnificence of God. I said, I will become wise—that is, I said, I ought to seek the reasons for each individual cause—and it was made far from me, much farther off than it was, that is, the wisdom which I did not seek before, I did not know; afterward I began to seek it, and I could not find it.

The foolish man does not know, and the stupid man does not understand these things. Whoever is not a Christian, and does not understand the Creator in his works, that man is foolish.

When sinners have sprung up like grass. You have seen emperors; you have seen prefects; you have seen armies; you have seen victories and triumphs. Yesterday he was, and today he is not. And all who work iniquity have appeared, that they may perish for ever and ever. Yesterday he appeared like a flower; today the flower itself does not appear. Yesterday the grass was green; today it is dried up. Where is that beauty? Nothing is good except what is eternal. Nothing is good except what is everlasting. Whatever has an end is not even to be counted among good things. For what does it profit me if yesterday I was a prefect and today I die of hunger? For what does it profit me if the day before I was a king and today I die in prison? Everything that is past, and has an end, is nothing. Each one of us has come from the world into this life. One has left his mother, another his children, another his wife, another his parents.

Let us remember our infancy, let us remember our youth, let us remember that we once had riches, and each one had what he could according to his strength. Behold, we have passed into this life. Where are all those things? The thoughts bring more pain than pleasure. Therefore nothing is good except what is everlasting.

But you, O Most High, endure forever, O Lord, for behold, your enemies, O Lord, for behold, your enemies shall perish, and all who work iniquity shall be scattered. If they perish, how shall they be scattered? For one who has once perished cannot be scattered. He ought to have said: Behold, they shall be scattered and shall perish. What he says, then, is this: your enemies, O Lord, shall perish, when all things have been made subject to you; everyone who has been your enemy will afterward become your friend—that is, the man will not perish, but the enemy will perish. He who was an enemy will be a friend, and thus the enemy will perish. For behold, your enemies shall perish, and all who work iniquity shall be scattered. Just as when the saints are together it is pleasing, so when sinners are together it is, as it were, a most wicked gathering (Gen. 18). For the more there are together, the worse they are. Finally, at the time when the tower was being built against God, they were scattered for their own benefit. Their agreement was evil, but the scattering profited even those very ones who were scattered.

My horn shall be exalted like the horn of a unicorn. A horn is always placed in a kingdom. In you we shall scatter our enemies with a horn (Ps 43). Finally, no animal is sacrificed to the Lord in the temple unless it has a horn. Three were sacrificed to the Lord in the temple: a bull was sacrificed, a ram was sacrificed, a goat was sacrificed. Three were sacrificed, and all are horned. For unless someone has a horn with which to scatter enemies, he is not worthy to be sacrificed to God. Therefore the Lord is also called a horn to those who believe in him: and in the horns of his cross he scattered the enemies. There he confounded the devil and all his army: Christ was indeed crucified in the body, but truly he was crucifying the demons there. It was not a cross but a triumph, but a standard. Therefore he ascended the cross, that he might lift us from the earth on high. And I think that this cross of the Savior is that ladder which Jacob saw. On that ladder angels were descending and ascending (Gen 32). On that ladder, that is, the cross, Jews descend and gentiles ascend. And my horn shall be exalted like the horn of a unicorn. Let others have many horns: I have only one horn. But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of the Lord, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal 6).

And my old age in abundant mercy. Our old age needs the oil of God. For just as our bodies, when we labor (I speak more simply for the sake of the simpler brothers, who cannot understand more sublime things)—just as our bodies, when they labor, are not refreshed except by the anointing of oil; just as the light that is in a lamp, unless you supply oil, is extinguished: so too the light of my old age needs the oil and mercy of God, that it may grow. Finally, the apostles also go up to the Mount of Olives, so that, since they were weary and needed the oil of the Lord for their lamps, they might be enlightened by the oil of the Lord. Hence the righteous man also says: But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of the Lord (Ps 51). And in another place it is said: Your children are like shoots of olive trees around your table (Ps 127). Was there any other mountain from which the Lord ascended to the kingdoms of heaven, except the Mount of Olives? Was there not a higher mountain in Galilee, Tabor? Why was it necessary for the Lord to ascend to the kingdom of heaven from the Mount of Olives? But see what Scripture teaches you: unless you supply oil for yourself and your lamps, you cannot ascend into the kingdoms of heaven. You must be on the Mount of Olives, and not in the valley of olives, but on the Mount of Olives. Let someone say: What is this valley of olives? The devil has his own olives: he has his philosophers; he has his heretics; they too have oil.

And they themselves promise the light of knowledge, but those olive groves they lead to perdition: But the oil of the sinner shall not fatten my head (Ps. 140). Let us therefore ask the Lord that our old age, and all our labor, and all our darkness may be illuminated by the oil of the Lord. I attend diligently in the Scriptures, where I first read of old age. Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years, and yet he is not called old: Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he is not called old. I come down to the flood, and after the flood for nearly three thousand years, and I find no one who is called old. Abraham is the first to be called old: and certainly he was of much lesser age than Methuselah. But for this reason he is called old, because his old age was anointed with abundant oil. Finally it is written there: And Abraham died, nourished in good old age: full, it says, of days (Gen. 25). Therefore in good old age, because full of days. For every time of his life was days, and not night. This very thing that was said of Abraham was said of Isaac and of Jacob. For those who served the Lord together are rightly together called old men of the Lord. As the cedar of Lebanon shall be multiplied: a wood of good fragrance, the wood with which the roofs of the temple were covered. As the cedar of Lebanon shall be multiplied: an imperishable wood.

Planted in the house of the Lord: in the courts of our God they shall flourish. Elsewhere we are planted; in the kingdom of heaven we shall flourish. I indeed planted, Apollos watered, but the Lord gave the increase (1 Cor. 3). Planted in the house of the Lord, that is, in the Church: not in walls, but in doctrines. For the kingdom of God, he says, is within you (Luke 17). Whoever has been planted in the house of the Lord, if he has cast roots here, bears flowers there. Planted in the house of the Lord: in the courts of our God they shall flourish. These are the eternal tabernacles. What are these courts? The various mansions in heaven. At the same time see what he says: Planted in the house of the Lord: in the courts of our God they shall flourish. Here is the house; there is the court. Surely he ought first to have spoken according to order, the court, and so the house. But see what he says. Here, although we seem to be in the house, when we have passed over to the kingdoms of heaven, in comparison with the angels and the other powers, we are not in the house but in the court; we are at the beginning, not in perfection. For we shall not be angels, but as angels (Matt. 22). Let it not seem to you as a small thing for a man, if you have been as an angel.