Breviarium In Psalmos

Even in ripe old age they shall be multiplied. Happy is he who grows daily, who grows old in years and grows old in virtues. These things we have said for now concerning the Psalter; we have spoken also a few things from the Gospel, and we have spoken also from the Apostle. Let us pray to the Lord that all that we have said, and what you have heard, we may fulfill in deed, and turn words into works: so that we who have been planted here in the house of the Lord may flourish in the court of Christ: to whom be glory for ages of ages. Amen.

PSALM XCII.

A song of praise for David himself, on the day before the sabbath, when the earth was founded. This psalm contains the voice of the prophet, singing of the power and majesty of the Lord.

The Lord has reigned, he has put on beauty. When, rising from the dead, he joined to himself the choir of the saints: The Lord has put on strength. Because he crushed the devil. And he has girded himself with power. When, surrounded by the multitude of angels, he returned to the Father.

For he has established the earth, which shall not be moved. For it would still be unstable and movable unless it had been established by his resurrection.

Your throne is prepared. In holy souls. For you chose them before the foundation of the world, that they might be a chosen race. And then you are from eternity. And before the resurrection of the world.

The rivers have lifted up, O Lord: the rivers have lifted up their voice. The apostles: whose streams of preaching irrigated the dry places of the nations. At the voices of many waters. Of the peoples speaking against them.

Wonderful are the swellings of the sea. In the waves of this world. The Lord is wonderful in the heights. Glorious, seated at the right hand of the Father.

Your testimonies, O Lord, have become exceedingly credible. Through your apostles. Holiness befits your house, O Lord, for length of days. Your Church, which you presented to yourself without spot or wrinkle, in which you deign to keep us clean and radiant (Eph. 5); and not to pollute the grace of baptism, through which we have been reborn in you unto life: for to you is with the eternal Father and the Holy Spirit honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

PSALM 93.

A Psalm of David for the fourth day of the week. We are always disputing about the title, so that from the title the psalm too may be understood. A Psalm of David for the fourth day of the week. The fourth day of the week is in the middle of the week, as it were in the heart of the week, that is, in the middle of the week. For it is the fourth day, and the fourth day has equal days on each side. For on one side it has the first, second, and third day, and on the other side it has the fifth, sixth, and seventh day. You see, then, that the fourth day, that is, the fourth day of the week, is strengthened on each side by a double trinity. And at the same time we must consider that the number four is in virtue the tenth. How? For if you count and make a series: one, two, three, four, the number ten is produced. You have seen, then, that the number four produces the tenth; and consider from this that the four Gospels are reckoned within the Decalogue, so that whatever was said in the Decalogue is fulfilled in the four Gospels, so that the old law does not disagree with the dignity of the Gospel. We have said this for now concerning the title; now let us come to the psalm.

God of vengeance is the Lord, the God of vengeance has acted freely. He who for so long lay hidden and did not appear among the people afterward acted freely. Because before he was unknown, afterward he triumphed on the cross. God of vengeance is the Lord. If God is the Lord of vengeance, and "vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord," why do you desire to avenge yourself, O man? You have God as your champion. The Apostle also says this: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in doing this, you will heap coals of fire upon his head." This does not seem to belong to piety but to cruelty. For if I do good to him so that God may do evil to him, this does not come from piety but from a cruel mind. For what the Apostle says—"If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink"—up to this point seems to be mercy. But what he adds—"For in doing this, you will heap coals of fire upon his head"—you see, then, that you give bread and give water to drink so that he may be tormented for ages. And does the Apostle say this, and does the preacher of mercy teach cruelty? Therefore it must not be taken this way, but in another sense. If your enemy strikes you, offer him the other cheek as well. If he does evil to you, do good to him. For if you do this, you will heap coals of fire upon his head. What he means is this: you will cleanse him from sin. For his cruelty is conquered by your patience.

If you shoot an arrow at a stone, and the stone is hard, the arrow is not only not fixed in it but rebounds. So too, if your enemy strikes you and is not struck back, he is overcome by your patience and is turned to better things.

How long, O Lord, will sinners, how long will sinners glory? Human impatience does not wish to have God's patience. Wretched are we, who wish God to be patient with us and impatient with our enemies. When we sin, we desire God to be patient. When another has sinned against us, we do not wish God to be patient with him. How long will sinners glory? It is not enough for them to sin, but they even glory in their sins. The first misfortune is to sin; the second misfortune, indeed the last, is not to do penance. These sinners, then, not only do not bow their neck, but freely glory in their sin after the sin.

They will speak and utter iniquity. Properly this is said of heretics. All who work iniquity will speak. See the sign: he who speaks must needs do evil. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Luke 6). Wherever the conscience is wounded, there one easily sins with the mouth.

They have humiliated your people, Lord. Always is God's people humiliated; God's people is oppressed: They have humiliated your people, Lord. Always is God's people the humiliated one, and it imitates God, who was humble and meek of heart.

They have killed the widow and the stranger, and they have slain the orphans: and they said, the Lord will not see. Although this is manifest according to the history—for always whoever needs protection is easily oppressed, and the more humble someone is, the more the one who oppresses him offends God—nevertheless let us also interpret it according to tropology; for I had said that this is spoken concerning heretics. They have killed the widow and the stranger. The widow, who has ceased to have God as her husband, is the soul of the sinner. The stranger is one who is not a dweller, that is, who does not dwell. He who had recently believed, suddenly scandalized, perishes. And they have slain the orphans, and they said: the Lord will not see. Do we wonder that orphans are mentioned where there is a widow? For just as the widow is the soul of the sinner, so he calls those orphans who have lost having God as Father.

And they said. What did they say? The Lord will not see, nor will the God of Jacob understand. This is said by everyone who oppresses the saints. While they say this, see what the Holy Spirit answers.

Understand, you who are foolish among the people: and you fools, at some point be wise: He who planted the ear, will he not hear? Or he who formed the eye, does he not consider? He who is a potter, does he not know his own vessel? He who makes another able to hear, will he himself therefore not hear? He who gave me eyes, does he himself therefore not see? He who is the author of my understanding, does he himself not understand? This passage works most of all against those who are Anthropomorphites, who say that God has members such as we also have. For example: let it be said that God has eyes: the eyes of the Lord look upon all things: the hand of God makes all things. And he heard, it says, Adam the sound of the feet of the Lord walking in paradise (Gen. 3). They hear these things simply, and refer human weaknesses to God's majesty. But I say that God is wholly eye: wholly hand: wholly foot. He is wholly eye: because he sees all things. He is wholly hand: because he works all things. He is wholly foot: because he is everywhere. Therefore see what he says: He who planted the ear, will he not hear? He did not say: he who planted the ear, therefore he himself does not have an ear. He did not say: therefore he himself does not have eyes. But what did he say? He who planted the ear, will he not hear? and he who formed the eye, does he not consider? He took away the members: did he give the effects?

He who chastises the nations, will he not rebuke? He who teaches others, does he himself therefore not know? He who teaches man knowledge. It is implied: does he himself therefore not have knowledge?

The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain. We read in a secular poet:

O the cares of men! O how much emptiness there is in things! Both the gentiles and the philosophers extol this little verse to heaven. And what do they say? Nothing could have been said more wisely. Behold, our Hebrew rustic spoke this so many ages ago. And what did he say? The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain. Do you wish to know that the thoughts of men are vain? A father and mother nourish their son; they promise themselves happiness concerning him; they send him to his studies, they instruct him; he comes even to adolescence, they arrange that he even serve as a soldier. When they have thought over all things for thirty years, one little fever comes and takes away all their thoughts. I have an enemy, and the day of judgment is thirty days away; by day and by night I think of nothing else but what I shall answer to him. I am on my bed, and my thought answers an absent enemy. You have no enemy, and your words answer an enemy. By day and by night I am in thought. But when the day of judgment has come, all those things which I had thought perish; and whatever God has said, this I speak. Therefore the Lord also says in the Gospel: When you stand before judges, do not think what you are to answer, because the Lord will give you in that hour what you are to answer (Luke 12).

The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain. There is one happy thought: to think of the Lord. Blessed is the man whom you have instructed, O Lord. Happy is he who has God as his teacher. And you have taught him from your law: that you may give him relief from evil days. See what he says: Blessed is the man whom you have instructed, O Lord, and have taught from your law: that is, from your Scriptures. But to what end is he taught from your law? That you may give him relief from evil days. Do you see, then, that knowledge, and practice, and works drawn from the Scriptures give us relief from evil days? Until a pit is dug for the sinner. When you have instructed him from the law of the Lord, one thing is divided for you into two. For to you it gives relief from evil days; and for the sinner it digs a pit.

Who will rise up for me against the malignant: or who will stand with me against those who work iniquity? These psalms are obscure, and they constantly change persons, and for that reason they are obscure, and it is a matter of very great difficulty to know who is speaking in each individual verse. Who will rise up for me against the malignant: or who will stand with me against those who work iniquity? The Savior speaks these verses: I am holy, I was lifted up on the cross: I died, I rose again, and as victor I ascended to the heavens. Who, do you suppose, among the saints will rise with me? Therefore what he says is this: For this reason I rose again, that others also might rise with me. Who will rise up for me? When he says Who, he stirs the others to rise.

For how do we read in Isaiah: "Whom shall I send to this people, and who will go for us?" (Isa. 6)? And so, just as Isaiah offers himself, so too the Lord challenges us, saying: "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?" Whoever rises up, rises up for me; he is of my army—against the evildoers, against the devil and his army. Or "who will stand with me?" Note the order: he did not say first "who will stand" and then "who will rise," but "who will rise" and "who will stand." For first we rise, then we stand. Or "who will stand with me against those who work iniquity?" As if a commander should stand and say: "Who comes into my army?"

Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul would almost have dwelt in hell. Therefore, O Lord, I rise again, because you went down to hell and rose again. My soul would have been held in hell, if your soul had not risen from hell.

If I said: "My foot has slipped." Considering my frailty and human weakness, I did not think my foot stood on firm ground; wherever I set my foot, I feared a fall. Again I thought on your name, and I stood with firm foot.

According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, your consolations have gladdened my soul. The Apostle says this very thing: that according to the labors and miseries which we suffer in this world, we have our reward with God in the heavens (1 Cor. 3). The greatness of tribulations is the greatness of rewards. As many wounds as we suffer, so many crowns do we earn. This is what he says: As often as I have done penance, so often have you consoled me. I poured out one tear: I merited one consolation. I poured out ten tears: I merited ten consolations. However great the weight of penance was, so great also was the number of consolations.

Who frames labor in the commandment. No one is crowned while sleeping; no one possesses the kingdoms of heaven in security; no one, with a full belly, can worthily dispute concerning fasts. You see, then, what he says: Who frames labor in the commandment. All the commandments of the Lord involve labor. Without labor we cannot possess the kingdoms of heaven. Do you wish to know that it is so? If you wish, he says, to be perfect, go, sell all that you possess, and give to the poor, and come, follow me (Matt. 19). Whoever wishes, he says, to attain the kingdoms of heaven, let him pray day and night, keep vigil, fast, lie in sackcloth, not in feathers, not in silk. Penance does not love delicacies. Because, he says, I have eaten ashes as if they were bread, and I mixed my drink with weeping (Ps. 101). Who frames labor in the commandment: they will hunt for the soul of the just man. See how this does not seem to be in harmony.

For what is the connection: "Who frames labor in the commandment: they will hunt for the soul of the just"? But what the ear of flesh does not understand, the spiritual ear will understand. What then does it say? "Who frames labor in the commandment." For this reason, it says, we labor in the commandments of the Lord day and night, we keep watch, we pray, we fast, because we have many adversaries who would seize the soul of the just. See what it says: they hunt the soul of the just; not of the unjust. For they do not wish to deceive those who have already been deceived, but the just. Whence it is said in Habakkuk: "His chosen foods" (Hab. 1). And they will condemn innocent blood. Some are accustomed to say: That man who was killed would not have been killed unless he were a fornicator, or had some sin. Ruin would not have overtaken him unless he were a sinner. Shipwreck would not have overwhelmed him unless he were a sinner. See therefore what holy Scripture says: "And they will condemn innocent blood." As long as we are in this world, we suffer all things in common. The just and the sinner are shipwrecked equally; they have equal flesh, and equal conditions of the flesh. The just and the sinner perish equally. The outcome is similar, but the just and the sinner have different rewards. One is led to Gehenna: the other is led to the kingdoms of heaven. "And they will condemn innocent blood." Your conscience, O just one, is sufficient for you. And if you have been condemned, let your blood be innocent, and it will cry out to the Lord.

And the Lord became a refuge for me. This passage is directed against the Arians. For since they contradict the Lord Savior because he is said to have been made, behold, we say: The Lord became a refuge for me. No one doubts that we interpret this of the Father. But if it is said of the Father: The Lord became a refuge for me, it must be understood in this sense: the Lord who always was became a refuge for me. Thus also the Savior who always was became a Savior for me.

PSALM 94.

A song of praise for David himself. This psalm contains the voice of the prophet, exhorting men to turn to God with their whole heart.

Come, let us exult in the Lord: let us shout joyfully to God our Savior. Let us understand that he himself is the Lord, and that he himself by his death conferred salvation upon us.

Let us come before his face in confession. Before he grows angry with us, turning his face away, let us confess our sins. And let us shout joyfully to him in psalms. Singing in our hearts, giving thanks to God.

For God is a great Lord. For no one is equal to his greatness, that is, to his power. And a great king above all gods. For he himself rules all things.

For the Lord will not reject his people, whom he redeemed with his own blood.

For in his hand are all the ends of the earth. For with his fist, that is, with his power, he encloses the whole breadth of the earth. And the heights of the mountains are his. The apostolic preachings, which he himself inspires.

For the sea is his, and he himself made it. These things are to be understood both of the world and of that true sea, for the refutation of those who say that the waters were not created by God. For Solomon also, in the person of Wisdom, who is Christ, says: Before he brought forth the fountains of waters, I was (Prov. 3). And his hands formed the dry land. Whether fields or human bodies.

Come, let us worship and fall down and weep before the Lord who made us: for he himself is the Lord our God. To prostrate oneself before him, and to confess one's sins to him with weeping and tears, the prophet again and again urges, whom they know to be the God of all ages. And we are his pasture people and the sheep of his hand. By whose blood we are either redeemed or nourished.

Today, if you hear his voice, etc. The Apostle sets this forth most clearly in Hebrews, and we do not presume to interpose any other exposition. For he says thus: For some provoked him, but not all who set out from Egypt through Moses (Heb. 3). And with whom was he displeased for forty years? Surely with those who sinned, whose bodies also were laid low in the desert. And to whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest, except to those who were unbelieving? And we saw that they could not enter because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, when the promise of entering into his kingdom has been received, any one of us be reckoned to be lacking. For indeed the good news was announced to us, just as to them. Therefore let us show ourselves holy, that we may deserve to enter through severity into that rest which we hope to receive. Through Christ our Lord: to whom with the eternal Father and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

PSALM 95.

When the house was being built after the captivity, a song of David. This psalm is prefaced with this title. The whole mystery is in the title. The sacrament of our whole life, and salvation, is in the title. When the house was being built after the captivity, a song of David. The Jews understand this passage thus: that when, after the Babylonian captivity, the temple was rebuilt under Ezra and Zerubbabel and Jesus the son of Josedek, David knew in the spirit five hundred years beforehand that the temple was to be rebuilt. This is what they say. If this is so, O Jew, as you interpret it, what does what follows mean: Sing to the Lord a new song: and then: Proclaim his glory among the nations? What is this new song: what are these nations? You see, therefore, that according to the letter that kills it cannot stand at all. Therefore it must be interpreted mystically: when the house was being built after the captivity. Many of us have been captured: many have been led into Babylon: many have borne the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar on their necks: many have been sent into the furnace of fire, and have burned: many have lost the temple, and in them the house of God has been overthrown. Wretched Judas, when he was an apostle, was the house of God. The devil came, and took the morsel, and immediately Satan entered into him (John 13), and his house was overthrown, and was not restored: because he did not repent.

But if anyone does penance after sin, the house of this man is rebuilt after the captivity. Let us therefore also pray to the Lord, first indeed, that our house not be overthrown, lest the Chaldean and the Assyrian come and overthrow the temple of Christ in us. But if it has been overthrown, as if by shipwreck, we can be saved by a plank as a second consolation. When the house was being built after the captivity. Every day this house of Christ is built up in those who do penance. Finally he did not say: when the house was built: lest it seem to have been only a past event; but, it was being built, to show that this happens daily. We have said this for now about our soul. Otherwise we can also say it another way: when the Church of Christ was being built up after the ruin. Let us see therefore what follows after this title.

Sing to the Lord a new song. Happy penance: although you have fallen, yet if you have done penance you are called a new house of God. Sing to the Lord a new song. A new house deserves a new song. Sing to the Lord a new song. To whom is it sung? Sing to the Lord, all the earth. If this is said of the temple of Jerusalem, O Jew, how is all the earth provoked to praise? Sing to the Lord, all the earth. This passage conquers both the Jew and the Novatian. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Not Jerusalem, but the whole world. Here the Jew is slain. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. The Novatian is slain. How? For the Novatian says: There are certain sins for which we ought to do penance.

As if he were saying: concerning lying, concerning perjury, concerning theft. But he who has committed fornication, who has committed homicide—such a man cannot do penance. Hear what he says: Sing to the Lord, all the earth. But all the earth is both adulteress and murderer, and all sins are earthly. If, then, all sins are earthly, whatever sins you may have, do penance and you will be saved.

Sing to the Lord, and bless his name. The name of the Lord is Savior, from the fact that he was made so in us. Sing to the Lord. Proclaim his salvation from day to day. What does he mean to say: Proclaim his salvation from day to day? He who is simple understands it thus: Praise the Lord all your days, that is, let day succeed day, that is, you have praised today, praise also tomorrow. The sense seems indeed to be simple, but to me something of a mystery seems to lie hidden. Proclaim his salvation from day to day. The Savior cannot be praised except in the day. For he ought to have said: Praise the Lord day and night, if this were said of that day. For we ought to say this, if we understand it according to the letter. If, then, we praise the Lord in the day, can we not again praise him in the night? See, therefore, what he says: Whenever you praise the Lord, always praise him in the light: not in the darkness of sins, but in the light of virtues. Let the sun of Christ always rise in your soul, so that a new light may always be born in you. Proclaim his salvation from day to day.

Let us also say it in another way: there are two days, not three, not four, not five. There are two days: the Old Testament and the New. And in that one Christ shines, and in this one Christ shines. Do not praise him only in the Old Testament, lest you be Jews; do not praise him only in the New Testament, lest you be Manichaeans. Praise him from day to day, that is, in the Old and in the New Testament: these two days make one light. For this reason it is also written in Leviticus: Every animal that divides the hoof and chews the cud is clean. That is, if it has two hooves and chews the cud, it is clean. If therefore it has one hoof, it is not clean. The Jew has one hoof, and therefore he is unclean. The Manichaean has one hoof, and therefore he is unclean. And because he has one hoof, he does not chew his food: nor does he bring back out to the throat what he has once sent into the belly, and chew it and make it fine, so that what was coarse may again be sent fine into the belly: indeed, to speak this pertains to the divine sacraments. Every animal that divides the hoof and chews the cud is clean. The Jew has one hoof: for he believes in only one Testament, and does not chew the cud. For he reads only the letter, and considers nothing: he seeks nothing within. But the ecclesiastical man divides the hooves and chews the cud, that is, he believes in both Testaments, and in each Testament he often seeks. And whatever lies hidden in the letter, he brings forth in the spirit.

Why have I said all this? Because it is written: Proclaim his salvation from day to day. For this reason the apostles are sent out two by two; for this reason we have not one eye but two. For this reason we have two ears, for this reason two nostrils, for this reason two lips, for this reason two hands, two feet. We have nothing in us that is one, except what is shameful. And the members of our body bear witness to the sacraments of the two Testaments.

Bring to the Lord, you kindreds of the nations: bring to the Lord glory and honor. If this is said of the temple of Jerusalem, what does it now mean, Bring to the Lord, you kindreds of the nations: bring to the Lord glory and honor? The multitude of the nations is the calling of the nations, and the Church is their gathering. Bring to the Lord glory and honor. When we honor the Lord in our body, the Lord is glorified in us. Bring to the Lord glory to his name. The glory of the servant is the glory of the Lord. He who receives you receives me (Matt. 10). Blessed is the servant for whose sake the Lord is glorified.

Take up sacrifices, and enter into his courts. A holy, living sacrifice, pleasing to God. Take up sacrifices. Offer the sacrifices yourselves. What sacrifices? Be yourselves the sacrifices. Virginity is a holocaust of Christ. All chastity, whether in virginity, or in widowhood, or in continence, is a sacrifice of Christ. I speak of a new thing: the sacrifice of chastity carries itself. Take up sacrifices, and enter into his courts. Adore the Lord in his holy court. I see many courts; I see one court. Take up sacrifices, and enter into his courts. Behold, many courts. Again: Adore the Lord in his holy court: behold, one court. See therefore that one cannot come from one court to many courts, but from many courts one comes to one court. Do you wish to know this very mystery? Behold, in another place, that merchant who had very many pearls: he sold many, in order to buy one. And in Micah it is said: Stand, he says, in the ways of the Lord, and seek, he says, the way of the Lord. Unless we have stood in many ways, we cannot find the one way. What are these many pearls? What are the many ways? What are these many courts, so that we may find the one pearl, and the one way, and the one court? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Isaac, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the twelve Prophets, David, Solomon were courts, that is, they are our courts.

First we enter into those courts, then from those courts we come to the court of the Gospel, where Christ is found.

Let all the earth be moved at his face. See what he says: Heaven is not moved at the face of God; but whoever is earthly, he looks upon the Lord, and is moved, and trembles. Say to the nations that the Lord has reigned. Unless the earth has been moved, and has withdrawn from its earthly work, the Lord will not reign among the nations.

For he has corrected the orb of the earth, which shall not be moved. Nothing is ever corrected unless it was first upright and afterwards depraved. So therefore both we and every human race naturally understands God. For there are no nations that do not naturally understand their Creator. For although they worship stones and wood, yet they understand that something is greater than they themselves are, and in their error they show that they have wisdom—that is, there is no nation that does not naturally understand God. Finally the Gentiles worship idols—that is, they venerate stones and wood—and yet if perhaps they have made a quarrel, or if some oath has come up among them, they do not say, These stones see, the wood sees, but God sees, and God hears. See therefore what he says: For he has corrected the orb of the earth, which shall not be moved. Therefore Christ came and corrected the human race, which had before been depraved, so that it may not be moved forever. For his cross is the column of the human race. On that column his house has been built.

I mean the cross, not the wood, but the passion. Otherwise that cross is both in Britain and in India and in the whole world. Finally, what does the Lord also say in the Gospel? Unless you take up my cross and follow me daily (Luke 9). See what he says: Unless your soul has been prepared for the cross just as mine was for you, you cannot be my disciples. Blessed is the one who carries the cross, the resurrection, the place of Christ's birth, and the place of his ascension in his own breast. Blessed is the one who has Bethlehem in his heart: in whose heart Christ is born daily. Finally, what is Bethlehem called? The house of bread. Let us be to him the house of his bread, which came down from heaven. Daily Christ is crucified for us: we are crucified to the world: and Christ is crucified in us. Blessed is the one in whose heart Christ rises daily: if daily for his sins, even light ones, he does penance. Blessed is the one who ascends from the Mount of Olives to the kingdoms of heaven: where are the rich olives of the Lord, where the light of Christ is born: where are the olive groves of the Lord. For I am like a fruitful olive in the house of the Lord. Let us therefore also light our lamp from that olive, and at once with Christ we shall go to the kingdoms of heaven. For he has set right the world, which shall not be moved, which before was twisted for its sins. He will judge the peoples in equity. He spoke of this future judgment: in which he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Let the heavens be glad. The apostles, or the rest of the saints. Let the earth rejoice. Namely, the heavenly bodies. Let the sea be moved, and its fullness: the circle of the earth, and all who dwell in it. The age, certainly, that it may be changed for the better. The fields will rejoice, and all things that are in them. Holy souls, and especially virgins, who flourish with the diverse sweetnesses of flowers.

Then all the trees of the forests will exult at the face of the Lord. Because they are not subject to burning. For He has come. In His first coming, to redeem. For He has come to judge the earth. Again, to judge.

He will judge the circle of the earth in equity, and the peoples in His truth: that He may subject sinners to punishments and crown the just with eternal rewards. May He who grants us fear of His name deign to bring it about that in that dreadful time of judgment we may not be placed in the number on the left: we who confess that we have been redeemed by His blood, to Him be glory with the eternal Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

PSALM 96.

A psalm of David himself, when his land was restored to him. We read in the books of Kings and Chronicles that David was a warlike man, and subdued all the nations round about, and brought them under his power. For now let us understand this according to the letter in this way: a psalm of David which he sang to the Lord when, his adversaries having been conquered, he restored peace to his land, that is, to Judea. This according to history. But if David is interpreted as strong of hand: yet no one is strong of hand except he who conquered all nations, our David, to whom the demons cried out: Why have you come to torment us before the time, son of David (Matt 8)? This psalm was composed by him when the land was restored. And someone has said excellently: that this land which is restored is our bodies. For truly we ought to sing to the Lord at that time when our land has been composed. But let us also say it in another way: for it does no harm if we understand the same thing in two and three ways. For it is written in Solomon: Take, he says, them upon the tablet of your heart threefold (Prov 3 and 7). It does no harm to say something different, when it is said by one spirit: When his land was established. This land, before our David conquered all things, had no peace; but everywhere there was discord. One nation worshiped Jupiter, another Mercury, another Juno, and all the nations had different idols. The banner of the cross was raised up, and all the land was established.

The Lord has reigned, let the earth exult. Let the whole earth, and the entire world that had before been subject to demons and idols, rejoice now that our God reigns. The Lord has reigned. The Lord, the Creator who made us, he himself has reigned. O you who were once subject to the dominion of the devil, now you are subject to the Lord your Creator. Let the many islands rejoice. He has spoken well of our souls, which are battered by various thoughts as by various waves from every side. But let us also call the churches islands. Indeed, it is said elsewhere as well: Many islands will be converted to me. Do you wish to know that the churches are called islands? It was said in the prophet, in the person of the Lord: Speak, he says, to the inhabitants of this island. Let the many islands rejoice. For just as islands are situated in the middle of the sea, so too the churches are situated as it were in the middle of this sea of the world, and are thus battered by persecutions as by various waves. Yet these islands are battered daily, but they are not overthrown. They are indeed in the sea, but they have Christ as their foundation, who cannot be moved.

Clouds and darkness are round about him. I think that this cloud is the one of which it is said in the Gospel: And a bright cloud, it says, overshadowed them (Matt. 17). At that time when the Lord was transfigured and the apostles fell down, a bright cloud overshadowed them. I think that these are the clouds to which the Lord commanded that they should not rain rain upon Israel (Isa. 5). I think that these are the clouds of which it is said in another place: Your truth reaches even to the clouds (Ps. 36). That truth of the Lord which he speaks in the Gospel: I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14). The truth of God is Christ. The truth of the Lord reaches even to the clouds. The clouds are the apostles and the prophets: to these it was commanded that they should not rain rain upon Israel. For from the time when, according to the history which is written in the book of Judges, that fleece was dried (Judg. 6), the rain ran over the whole world. What is said is this: Israel was dried up, and the rain ran over the whole world. Clouds and darkness are round about him. The Lord came into Egypt upon a light cloud (Isa. 19). See what he says. The Lord came: the Lord and Savior came into this Egypt in which we are; into the place of darkness where Pharaoh is, the Lord came. He did not come except upon a light cloud. What is this light cloud? It seems to me to be holy Mary, burdened by no human seed. This light cloud came into the world and carries with it the Creator of the world. And what is said there in Isaiah?

The Lord came into Egypt upon a light cloud, and the idols of Egypt shall be broken. The Lord came, and the idols of Egypt were shaken, and dashed to pieces, and destroyed. That cloud destroyed Serapis in Alexandria—not a mortal emperor, but that cloud which came into Egypt. Clouds and darkness are round about him. We have spoken of the cloud; let us speak of the darkness. The Lord is in darkness. The Lord is either in light or in darkness. He is in light for beginners. For to beginners he speaks plainly; but to those who are perfect he speaks mystically. Finally, he did not speak to the apostles as to crowds, but spoke inwardly; and what does he say? He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Therefore what is this that he says: and darkness round about him? That is, and mysteries round about him. For this reason it is also said in Exodus: And all the people, it says, stood below; but Moses alone entered into Mount Sinai in the darkness. For not all the people of God could know the mysteries, which Moses alone could know. It is said of God: He made darkness his hiding place. Justice and judgment are the correction of his seat. What does he mean to say, the correction of his seat? He ought to have said the stability of his seat. Therefore when it is said, the correction of his seat, it is shown that whatever is corrected was crooked before it was corrected. Therefore the judgment of God, before it comes to judging, seems, as it were, crooked. Now the judgment seems unjust and crooked.

For when wicked men are enriched and the holy are poor, does it not seem that God's judgment is perverse? But when he comes to judge, to render to each according to his works, at that time his seat will be, as it were, set right. Finally, do you wish to know that this is said of the day of judgment?

Fire shall go before him. Let him who is holy fear this fire; let him who is a sinner fear it. This fire purges the holy; it consumes sinners. Fire shall go before him. Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a burning fire (Ps. 103). I think that these are the fires, that is, his angels. These angels, then, that is, his fire, shall go before him. Whom does this fire consume? Whoever is wood, hay, stubble. But he who is gold, silver, and precious stones is indeed cast into the fire, but is found the purer.

His lightnings shone upon the circle of the earth; the earth saw and was moved. The philosophers say that lightnings are generated from the collision of clouds. For unless the sound has first been heard, lightnings are not seen. This is said also of the fire-stone: unless it has been struck, the fire within does not come out. We say this according to the history, and as yet we speak as little children. We have therefore spoken of the nature of things, so that from the nature of things we may bring forth something spiritual. The stone commonly called fire-stone, if it is alone, cannot emit fire; but if it has been struck against another stone, the fire is struck out from within.

Make Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elijah to be a cloud for me; but a cloud also Paul and Peter, and the rest of the apostles. These clouds, then, when they have clashed against one another, send forth fire from their midst, and it shines upon the circle of the earth. His lightnings shone upon the circle of the earth; the earth saw and was moved. The lightnings of the apostles shone throughout the whole circle of the earth. It was moved. They were speaking, and the whole world was hearing the thunder of their voice. They had both a great voice and brilliant lightnings. These lightnings enlightened those who believed; they burned those who did not believe.

The mountains flowed like wax from the face of the Lord. These mountains seem to me to be the powers of demons. Or certainly the mountains are any proud men. That fire does not consume the humble, but whoever are mountain-like: finally, when the lightning is sent forth, it rarely strikes those who are in the valley, but always those who are on the mountain.

The heavens have declared his justice. These are the heavens of which it is also said in the eighteenth psalm: The heavens tell forth the glory of God. The heavens declare his justice; the earth does not declare it. Whoever is a heaven does not fear a just God. Whoever is of the heavens does not fear to declare his justice. Whoever is holy and is a heaven, he does not fear a just God. But the sinner seeks a merciful God.

The heavens have declared his justice—that is, the evangelists. And all the peoples have seen his glory. Because even those to whom nothing was announced concerning him understood that God had come in the flesh.

Let all be confounded who adore graven things, who glory in their idols. So that, while they are confounded in vain hope, they may be able to reach that true hope.

Adore him, all his angels. The heralds of his kingdom. Zion heard and was glad—the Church, which was beholding his glory.

And the daughters of Judah rejoiced. The souls of the confessors. Because of your judgments, O Lord. For they kept them.

For you are the Lord Most High over all the earth: you are exceedingly exalted above all gods. And not only above gods, but even above the heavens of heavens.

You who love the Lord, who alone is good; hate evil, the devil. The Lord guards the souls of his saints: he will deliver them from the hand of the sinner. Lest anything harm them.

Light has risen for the righteous. Christ shines forth in his heart. And joy for the upright in heart. Because they have deserved to behold him whom they were awaiting.

Rejoice, you righteous, in the Lord, and give thanks to the memory of his holiness. You who contemplate him in the light of an upright heart, praise him continually, or praise his holiness: because he has remembered you, to sanctify you: or praise his loving-kindness, by which he has taken you into his kingdom. May he deign to grant us that, with his light rising in our hearts, we may deserve to be rescued by him from present things: we who by baptism have been freed from harmful original things. To him be glory with the eternal Father and the Holy Spirit, for ages of ages. Amen.

PSALM 97.

A psalm of David. This psalm, containing the voice of the prophet, recounts the power of the Lord's name and might.

Sing to the Lord a new song. The new song is the Son of God crucified, which had never been heard. A new thing has a new song. Sing to the Lord a new song. It is a man who suffered, but you, sing to the Lord. He suffered indeed as a man, but he saved as God. Sing to the Lord a new song. The new song deserves the new name. Therefore it is said elsewhere also: And he shall be called, it says, by a new name (Isa. 62). A new name deserves a new song. And in the Apocalypse it is said: To him who conquers, it says, I will give a pebble, and I will write a new name upon him (Rev. 3). The new name is that of Christians. Sing to the Lord. Why? For what has he done? Why does he deserve a new song? Because he has done marvelous things. He performed signs among the Jews: he healed the paralyzed, cleansed the lepers, raised the dead. This the other prophets also did. He turned a few loaves into many, and fed an innumerable people. Elisha did this too. What new thing, then, did he do, that he should deserve a new song? Do you wish to know what new thing God has done? As a man he died, that men might live. The Son of God was crucified, that he might lift us up to heaven. Because he has done marvelous things. Do you wish to know that he has done marvelous things? The son of the widow lay in the upper room: Elisha came and stooped over him, and put mouth to mouth, and hands to hands, and feet to feet (4 Kings

iv). For if he had stretched himself out, he would not have been restored to that widow. Therefore he drew himself in, so that he might give life. Since he was in the form of God, therefore he took the form of a man (Phil. 2); therefore he drew himself in, so that he might make us higher.

His right hand has saved for himself. What he says is this: He has saved men, not another's work but his own, that is, what he made for himself, he himself has saved for himself. He had made man for salvation, who had perished by his own fault. This one died, so that by his right hand he might save man for himself. Here "right hand" is put for power, and "arm" for strength. And his holy arm. Although both the arm and the right hand are called Christ—The right hand of the Lord has wrought power, and the arm of the Lord, to whom has it been revealed? (Ps. 117)—nevertheless here it is said of Christ.

The Lord has made known his salvation. He did not say, he showed, but, he made known. What he says is this: that they had formerly known God, and by their own fault had forgotten him. Therefore God, coming, by his grace made manifest to them what they had lost. Therefore he says this: He whom Adam had known, whom Seth had known (Gen. 4), whom Enoch had known, who called upon the Lord and hoped in him, and had known Noah—and afterward the human race had forgotten—came again into the world, so that men who had afterward forgotten might again know him. The Lord has made known his salvation. In the Hebrew it reads: The Lord has made known his Jesus. For wherever "Savior" is said, in the Hebrew "Jesus" is put. In the sight of the nations he has revealed his righteousness.

Not in Judaea alone, but in the sight of the nations. For it was just that the Savior should save His own creation. He revealed His righteousness, which had been obscured by the unbelief of men.

He remembered His mercy. He shut up all things under sin, that He might have mercy on all (Rom. 11). And His truth to the house of Israel. He remembers mercy: He fulfills truth. He remembered His mercy, that is, among the people of the nations. And His truth to the house of Israel. Fulfilling by this work what He had promised to the patriarchs.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Not Israel alone saw, and Judah, but all the ends: and at the same time, according to the mystical understanding, the ends of the earth. As long as we are in the midst of the earth, we cannot see God. When, then, we as it were leave the earth and are on the summit, then we deserve to see God. Do you wish to know how the ends of the earth see God? We read in Ezekiel: And those wheels, he says, which are rolled, were called in Hebrew Gelgel, which is translated revolution (Ezek. 1). For gel is rolling: gelgel, revolution. Those wheels, therefore, hear, revolution. Since a wheel touches the earth, as it were, for a little space, and hastens wholly to heaven. Therefore it is said also in another place: Holy stones are rolled upon the earth (Zech. 9). And what is said in Ezekiel? Wherever, he says, the spirit went, there the wheels also followed. And let us follow the Holy Spirit, that we may be called wheels. And what is said there?

And, he says, they did not go backward, but always went forward. And at the same time consider what he says: They did not, he says, turn back, but always went forward. For they forgot the things that were past, and stretched themselves out to the things that were before (Philippians 3). And they were, he says, full of eyes. For all these wheels were full of the light of God. It is not for this time that we should dispute about the wheels, and the Cherubim, and the living creatures of Ezekiel.

Shout for joy to God, all the earth. Not only Judaea, but all the earth, shout for joy to the Lord. Send forth the signs of the victorious army. Sing, and exult, and make melody. Sing with the mind; make melody with the word, that is, with all your members. Let the hand make melody in almsgiving; let the foot make melody as it walks in good works.

Make melody to the Lord on the harp. Let all your strings be vocal. There cannot be a harp if one string is missing. What does it profit you if you are chaste, if you are generous in almsgiving, and yet you are envious? What does it profit you if you have six strings intact and one broken? If one string is missing, the full sound of the harp cannot exist. On ductile trumpets, and with the voice of the horn trumpet. We read in the book of Numbers that there are two kinds of trumpets: one kind is the ductile trumpet of silver; the other kind is the horn trumpet (Numbers 10). Therefore here both are mentioned: On ductile trumpets, and with the voice of the horn trumpet. What is it that is said, that is?

The ductile trumpet of silver is the word of God, and the utterances of the Lord are chaste utterances: silver tried by fire, purified sevenfold. Again, in the voice of the trumpet of horn, the man of God is introduced here as reigning. In the Scriptures, "horn" is properly used for kingdom and for power, as it is written there: He has raised up a horn of salvation for us. And in another place it is written: In you we shall scatter our enemies with the horn. Therefore see what he says here: Have two trumpets, both the silver one and the horn one. The silver one, that you may have the word; the horn one, that you may have power. Do you wish to know that "horn" is always used in a good sense? We read in Leviticus: Let no animal be offered except whatever is horned. Three kinds of animals are offered: the ox, which has a horn, and the ram, which has a horn, and the goat, which has a horn. Do you think it is said without reason that no animal be offered except what is horned? We therefore, as long as we have a horn, deserve to be a victim of God. But if our horn has been struck off, we are as it were weak, and we cannot come among the priests of God. Let the sea also be moved, and its fullness. Let the sea be moved, and let the bitter waters be changed into sweet. Finally, Mara too was changed and made into a sweet taste. Nothing else made that bitter water sweet except the wood of the cross, which was thrown into it. It seems to me that the bitter sea is the law of Moses. This is what is called mara, that is, bitter.

This is the bitter water of the old law; it received the wood of the cross and was made sweet.

The rivers shall clap their hands together. Let us ask the Jews, who understand according to the letter: rivers have a belly; rivers have voices; rivers have feet; rivers have hands. Let someone say: It is not written concerning a belly, concerning feet. But I say to you: from one member we understand the rest as well. For we cannot understand hands without feet, without a belly, without the other members. The rivers shall clap their hands together—the rivers that have drunk from the fountain of Jesus. "Me," he says, "they have forsaken, the fountain of living water" (Jeremiah 2). Those very rivers run from the fountain of Christ. He is the fountain; we are the rivers—if indeed we deserve to be rivers. Christ is the fountain; the saints are the rivers. But those who are lower are brooks. Others, however, are torrents. Who are the torrents? Those who have waters for an hour, and when temptation comes, are dried up. The rivers shall clap their hands together. It is not one river; there are many rivers. As many saints as there are, so many rivers are there. But these rivers do not have dissension among themselves. Because they are rivers of Christ, therefore they have concord among themselves. The rivers shall clap their hands together. They shall clap, because the works of the saints are the praise of God. Christ is praised not by voice but by work. He does not hear the voice, but the works. The rivers shall clap their hands together. Therefore he also says in the Gospel: "If anyone thirsts, let him come and drink, and rivers," he says, "shall flow from his belly" (John 7).

The mountains will exult in the sight of the Lord. Why does he speak of rivers and mountains alike? But because he is speaking of the perfected saints, he did not say, The brooks shall clap their hands together; but, The rivers shall clap their hands together. See the order: Let the sea be moved, and the whole world. The rivers shall clap their hands together. The mountains likewise, which have reached the summit of righteousness. I shall put it another way: let the sea be moved, which before had been unmoved; let it be moved at the coming of Christ. Let the sea be moved—we have already said this means the law of Moses. The rivers shall clap their hands together, that is, the prophets. The mountains will exult in the sight of the Lord, that is, the apostles, For he has come to judge the earth. By no means has he come humble only in the flesh, but he has come glorious in his majesty. For he has come to judge the earth. He did not say, to destroy, but, to judge. He has come to judge, that he may separate the tares from the wheat (Matthew 15). He has come to separate the bad little fishes from the good.

He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in equity. Righteousness is set down, and equity. First righteousness is set down, and afterwards equity, which is properly so called as that which makes the crooked straight. He has come, then, to judge in his own righteousness, so that what is crooked may be made straight in him. To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

PSALM 98.

A Psalm of David. This psalm contains the voice of the prophet, the priest of the Lord, admonishing us to give thanks for the grace of God Almighty.

The Lord has reigned; let the peoples be angry. Three psalms have the same beginning: the ninety-second, the ninety-sixth, and the ninety-eighth. But though they have the same beginning in their verse, they are different in their ending. For when it is said in the ninety-second: The Lord has reigned, he is clothed with beauty; but in the ninety-sixth: The Lord has reigned, let the earth exult; and in the ninety-eighth: The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry: the order seems, as it were, contrary to itself. For it ought first to say: The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry; and afterwards to say: The Lord has reigned, let the earth exult; and lastly: The Lord has reigned, he is clothed with beauty. But the different order gives us some hint of understanding. The Lord has reigned, he is clothed with beauty. The Lord has reigned, and he is clothed with the patriarchs, and the prophets, and the believing people. He is clothed with beauty, because the patriarchs and prophets were, as it were, Christ's garment. That is the loincloth which is written in Jeremiah: that is the loincloth which Jeremiah had about his loins. Do you wish to know that the saints are, as it were, a loincloth, the garment of God (Jeremiah 13:11)? Therefore God himself speaks to Jeremiah: As you, he says, put this loincloth about your loins, so I also have joined my people to me.

For just as a garment is around a man, so is the people around God. But because this loincloth, because this ornament with which the Lord had been clothed, was set out beyond the Euphrates in a hole of the rock, and there it rotted, and was led into captivity by the Assyrians: what does the Lord do? He is not naked, he cannot be without a loincloth, and he cannot be without a garment; the former people having been lost, he makes for himself a garment from the people of the Gentiles. And what is said: The Lord has reigned, let the earth exult. Let the whole earth exult, that is, the people of believers. Finally, do you wish to know that the second loincloth is spoken of from the people of the Gentiles? The Lord, it says, has reigned, let the earth exult: let many islands be glad. Not one island, Judaea, but many islands, that is, the whole world. Let someone say to me: Give me an example from the Scriptures where Judaea alone is called an island. Everything we say, we ought to affirm from the holy Scriptures: for in the mouth of two and three witnesses every word shall stand (Deut. 17:6). The word of the speaker does not have as much authority as the command of the Lord. We read in the prophet Ezekiel: And you, it says, son of man, speak to the inhabitants of this island (Ezek. 27), that is, of Judaea. Since, therefore, one island has been sent away, now it is said: Let many islands be glad. Therefore the loincloth is spoken of in the former people: The Lord has reigned, he is clothed with beauty.

In the second people gathered from the nations: The Lord has reigned, let the earth exult; let the many islands rejoice. Now in the third it is said: The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry. Whether they are from the Gentiles or from the Jews: whoever does not believe, let them be angry. Why have the nations raged, and the peoples meditated empty things? The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry. The Lord suffered; the Lord was crucified; the Lord died; the Lord rose again; the Lord ascended to heaven as victor. The Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry. Who are these peoples? Let us give an example from the Gospel: A certain householder went to receive for himself a kingdom from afar. What is farther than heaven from earth? He left the earth; he went to the heavens, to receive for himself a kingdom. And his citizens, he says, who hated him, sent an embassy, saying: We do not wish him to reign over us. But he received the kingdom, and came to the worst citizens. He came to those who did not wish to have him as king. And now the Holy Spirit says to the wicked citizens: Whether you wish it or not, the Lord has reigned, let the peoples be angry. O clemency of the Holy Spirit: he did not say, let them perish, but, let them be angry. He wished to signify the fault, not the punishments. They are angry, and the Lord pleads. And what does he say? Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened. I have received the kingdom from the Father; indeed, as man whom I took up, I give as God, I receive as man. You who sit above the Cherubim, let the earth be moved.

As long as the earth is unmoved, it cannot be healed. He is not speaking of the earthquake by which we see lands shaken and every kind of mortal afraid, but of our earth. As long as it has been unmoved, it cannot be healed. But when it has been ground down and has trembled, then it will receive health. "Upon whom," he says, "shall I rest, unless upon the humble and quiet, and upon those who tremble at my words" (Isaiah 66)? Because the trembling earth has been shaken, therefore he who sits above the Cherubim begins to sit upon the trembling earth. Blessed is he who is the throne of God. Blessed is he in whom God always sits. The postures are different. For we either sit, or stand, or walk, or lie down. Unhappy is the one for whom God lies down; for he lies down with the one lying down. Just as he mourns with the mourner and laughs with the one laughing, so too he lies down with the one lying down. Just as he thirsts with the one thirsting, and hungers with the one hungering, and is naked with the naked, so too he lies down with the one lying down. Therefore the one who has been wounded and lies down—he too is said in some manner to lie down with him. But the one who walks—he too walks with him. The one who walks seems indeed to be better than the one who lies down, yet he has not yet come to the happiness of the one who stands. Finally, even Adam, when he hid himself from the face of God, God was walking with him in the afternoon (Genesis 3). Let someone say: If Adam had sinned and had been cast out of paradise, then the happiness of anyone with whom God walks is imperfect.

And I say: If Adam had been utterly slain, and no place of repentance had been given him, God would have lain against him. But now, because a place of repentance is given him, therefore God walks with him.

The Lord is great in Zion, and exalted above all peoples. Ascending to the heavens, he has become higher than all: whence he watches over us and our deeds each single day.

Let them confess to your great name: for it is terrible and holy. Let the saints prepare themselves to confess to your name, which is holy, since you have said: Be holy, for I am holy (Leviticus 19 and 20). And the honor of the king loves judgment. A man ought first to judge himself, and by his own judgment condemn his evils, and so honor God the eternal king.

You have prepared loves among the peoples. But by their own fault they have been depraved. Judgment and justice you have done in Jacob. Not only in the patriarchs, but also in the Christian people, who have deserved the firstborn's rights of the elder.

Exalt the Lord our God, that he may be exalted in your hearts. And adore the footstool of his feet, for it is holy. There are many opinions concerning the footstool, but here the prophet speaks of the Lord’s body, in which the majesty of the Godhead stands as upon a footstool. For we have often taught that he is called holy. And that he ought to be adored, the apostles taught when, after adoring, they returned to Jerusalem (Acts 1). But these things are also to be referred to the Lord’s cross and to his holy soul.

Moses and Aaron among his priests. Although the one holds the rule of the law and the other of the priesthood, yet each announced the Lord’s coming with a priestly proclamation, whether in the legal trumpets or in the bells. And Samuel among those who call upon his name. Samuel holds the rule of the Levitical order, which that linen and white ephod figured (2 Kings 6), showing that one can become white who, calling upon the Lord’s name through repentance, has washed away the blackness of sin with tears.

They were calling upon the Lord—the apostles—and he himself was hearing them; he spoke to them in a pillar of cloud. The Lord spoke from the cloud to the children of Israel; but afterward he also addressed the apostle from the veil of the flesh he had assumed, in which the veiled divinity lay hidden.

They were keeping his covenant, and the commandment that he gave them. They brought none of these things to nothing.

Lord our God, you were hearing them; God, you were propitious to them, and avenging upon all their devices. For all the things they strove to do, you brought to perfection, because they were pleasing to you.

Exalt the Lord our God, and adore on his holy mountain, for holy is the Lord our God. Show yourselves holy in his Church, as he himself showed her holy, not having spot or wrinkle. May he who deigns to grant us this, that we who hold the order of the priesthood with perfect holiness may deign to bring to effect the good things we strive to do.

PSALM 99.

A psalm for confession. This psalm contains the voice of the prophet, who urges the faithful to exercise themselves unceasingly in the praises of the Lord.

Shout for joy to God, all the earth; serve the Lord in gladness. For you, having shaken the yoke of the law from your necks, exult not in the sorrow of old servitude but in the freedom of the new man.

Enter into his presence with exultation. Do not dissolve into shameful jests, but whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.

Know that the Lord himself is God; he made us, and not we ourselves. For we are from him, made not only in the body but also recreated into a new man. And this is not by our merit but by his gift.

And we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. He is the good shepherd who laid down his soul for his sheep (John 10). But we are the sheep who follow him and have heard his voice. Enter his gates in confession. For just as he himself is the gate of the Father when he says, "If anyone enters through me, he will be saved" (ibid.), so too the apostles are his gates, through which one comes to him; and no one can enter them unless he has purified himself by confessing his sins. In his courts, confess to him with hymns. Bring to him minds enlarged with spiritual hymns and songs.

Praise His name, for the Lord is sweet. For He has nothing harsh in Him: His mercy endures forever. Because He has redeemed us and continually saves us. And unto generation and generation His truth. By which He will judge the peoples. May He deign to grant us, who were made by Him and redeemed by Him, that we may merit also to sing together a shout of exultation with thanksgiving in eternal gladness. To Him be glory with the eternal Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

PSALM 100.

A psalm of David himself. This psalm contains the voice of the prophet declaring the mercies of God.

I will sing of mercy and judgment to You, O Lord. Let sinners who despair of their salvation, who are in penitence, hear of mercy. Let the contemptuous hear of judgment, who say: The Lord is merciful: let us sin, He will pardon us. I will sing and understand in the blameless way. That each one may understand what he sings, and his mind may contemplate the psalm, so that his mind does not wander abroad, and while he seems in body to sing, his mind be without fruit. In the blameless way: that walking in this world I may act justly and have no stain.

When will you come to me? When I have received a mind of understanding and have acted justly, then with confidence I say to the Lord: When will you come to me? But "you will come" must be understood of His second advent.

I walked in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of my house. Nothing pleases God so much as simplicity and innocence. Indeed, the Holy Spirit was not well pleased with other birds but with the dove, on account of its simplicity, and among four-footed beasts with the sheep, on account of its gentleness.

I did not set an unjust thing before my eyes. I did not set anything before the Lord, nor did I consent to iniquity, but I was wholly toward God.

I hated those who commit transgression. Whether it was my father, or my mother, or my brother, or my sister, or my friend, yet if he had turned aside from the fear of the Lord, I held him in hatred and did not approach him at all. I did not set kinship or friendship before devotion to the Lord.

A perverse heart did not cleave to me. There was nothing difficult in me, nor anything crooked, but equity and justice. The malignant one who turned aside from me I did not know. That is, if there was a friend or neighbor there, or a bishop or a presbyter, or one established in whatever dignity, yet if he was perverting his ways, I fled from him so that I made no memory of him at all.

Him who slandered his neighbor, I persecuted. One ought not to agree with a slanderer to such an extent that, as far as lies in us, we even persecute such a person, providing for the benefit in both respects: that we neither listen willingly nor permit him to sin. For so great is the difference between a fornicator and a slanderer that the one who fornicates kills only himself, whereas the one who slanders plunges both himself and the one who listens into ruin.

With the proud of eye and the insatiable of heart, with this one I did not eat. If anyone was proud or greedy, with this one I did not eat at all.

My eyes are upon the faithful of the land, that they may sit with me. He did not say the rich, or emperors, or bishops, or presbyters, or deacons, but the faithful: with these I sat. A holy man, even a bishop, can say this: that I did not ordain that presbyter who was obedient to me, or my relative, but the one whom I knew to be faithful. And again the same man can say: that I held all my clerics and laymen to be faithful. This verse can be spoken in the person of the Lord: He who walks in the blameless way, this one ministered to me. For I did not ordain those who were related to me, but the just and the faithful.

He who speaks wicked things has not set them before my eyes. For I turned aside so far from the one who slandered his neighbor that I neither believed him nor listened to such a person.

In the morning I was killing all the sinners of the earth—he rightly said, the sinners of the earth. For sinners are earthly. This is what he means: that the devil's suggestions which he was putting into me, I was casting out of my heart and not receiving. For when evil thoughts are cast out, demons are killed. The Jews, hearing this verse and following the letter that kills, and desiring to shed blood, kill anyone who has transgressed the law. Indeed, they were not content with the killing of the prophets, but they even crucified the Lord himself. That I might destroy from the city of the Lord all who work iniquity. Would that we too might destroy from the city of the Lord those who work iniquity. The city of the Lord is the Church of the saints, the assembly of the righteous. I destroy—that is, I rebuke, I reprove the one who sins, so that he may repent and destroy iniquity from his heart. For he did not say that he should be cast out, but that he should be saved.

PSALM 101

The prayer of the poor man when he was anxious, and poured out his plea in the sight of the Lord. This psalm contains at its beginning the voice of the prophet in the person of the sinner; yet praise of the Lord's name is contained in it.

Lord, hear my prayer, etc. Because it is brought forth from the whole heart.

Do not turn your face away from me. If anyone prays with a clean heart, and is not accused by his own conscience, he can say this. For a sinner does not dare to say, Do not turn your face away from me, but rather says, Turn your face away from my sins. On whatever day I am in trouble, incline your ear to me: on whatever day I call upon you, hear me swiftly. He prays concerning present pressures, that by divine contemplation he may be snatched away from them.

For my days have failed like smoke. As if he were saying: I was a little infant, and while I did not know it, I came into the age of youth, and again into full maturity, and while I did not know it, I grew old. And my days have failed like smoke. But some think themselves to be everlasting, and persist in their sin. And my bones have dried up like a hearth-stone. By bones he means strength itself. If, then, what is strong in me has dried up and become weak, how much more the flesh, which is weak by nature?

I am struck down like grass, and my heart has withered. As it is written elsewhere: Man, his days are like grass. For so the life of men flourishes and quickly dries up. Because I forgot to eat my bread. He did not say, I did not desire to eat, or I scorned to eat. So greatly did the memory of my sins come upon me, and such penitence did I perform, that I even forgot to eat, having a longing for God and considering him alone.

From the voice of my groaning: my bone has clung to my flesh. Let those who do penance learn how they ought to do penance. For I so dried myself up that I was without flesh, and my skin clung to my bones. He said flesh for skin.

I have become like a pelican of the wilderness. Two kinds of these birds are said to exist. One is in the waters, and its food is fish; and one is in the wilderness, and its food is venomous animals, that is, serpents, and crocodiles, and lizards. These birds are called in Latin onocrotali. I have therefore become like that one which is in the wilderness, which eats venomous animals; that is, my food was as it were poison to me. I have become like a night raven in the dwelling. We know that the raven is black, and has nothing white in it. He wished to say by hyperbole: Because I have become like a night raven. So then, it is black in the day; how much more in the night? So then I have become, because of my sins, considering myself.

Because I have eaten ashes like bread. I dipped my bread in ashes, and so I ate it. If therefore the prophet says this, what are we to do? And I mixed my drink with weeping. Nothing was sweet to me, neither bread nor drink, but I desired only the heavenly bread, that is, Christ.

Because of the anger of your indignation. And I was doing all these things, considering your coming and the future judgment. Because you lifted me up and cast me down. Let those say this who were once holy and have fallen. For being exalted in virtues, they afterwards fell. Indeed the saints say: because you lifted me up, you held me.

My days have declined like a shadow. If the days, how much more the nights? That is, if the light, how much more the darkness? And I have dried up like grass. For as grass, so man passes away and is dried up.

You will arise and have mercy on Zion. From this verse it is clear that this psalm was spoken in the person of Zion, and not in the person of the prophet. Now Zion is she who is placed on a watchtower, and who looks out ahead at those things that come from afar. This Zion, therefore, who is placed on high, has fallen from the heights. Therefore let him who stands take heed lest he fall (1 Cor. 10). Because the time has come for showing her mercy: because the time has come. Either because of repentance it is a time for showing mercy, or it signifies according to the coming of the Savior. Let him therefore who does repentance have confidence, because the time of salvation has come. For the Lord is merciful (Ps. 77 and Eccl. 2).

For your servants have been pleased with its stones. The stones are holy. But the earth, that is, sinners, stand in need of the Lord's mercy. And they will have mercy on its earth, so that it may yield the fruit of holiness.

The nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth your glory. Those who formerly feared idols and called upon the names of demons now revere and fear your name.

Because the Lord will build Zion, his Church, upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets; and he will be seen in his glory, when he has glorified his whole body after the likeness of the image of his glory.

And he looked upon the prayer of the humble, and did not despise their supplications. But by his coming he visited the world, which had long been desired.

Let these things be written for another generation, in the New Testament. And the people who will be created will praise the Lord—the Christian people, surely, who, once dead in sins, have been recreated in him.

Because he has looked down from his holy height: the Lord looked from heaven upon the earth. That he might hear the groaning of those in chains: that he might loose the sons of the slain. He looked down that he might have mercy. He descended that he might release the bonds by which we were bound.

That they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord, and his praise in Jerusalem. Always a good messenger, he brings new joys: as the Angel to Mary: The Holy Spirit, he says, will come upon you (Luke 1). And again to the shepherds: Behold, I announce to you today a great joy: for a Savior has been born to you (Ibid., 2). So also now in Zion or in Jerusalem it is announced: that he has been born on earth who would bring life to the world, dead in sins.

When the peoples gather together: and kings, that they may serve the Lord. They will gather in one faith, that they may serve the Redeemer.

He answered him in the way of his strength: tell me the fewness of my days. The Lord answered Jerusalem in the day of his strength, that is, when he was approaching his passion: and he declared the fewness of his days, saying: For the days will come when you will be surrounded by enemies, and you will be uprooted (Luke 19), and the rest.

And do not call me back in the midst of my days: in generation and generation are your years. The wicked do not halve their days (Ps. 54). But this man prays that he not be called back from the midst of his days, namely that, coming to perfection, he may enjoy the Lord with the everlastingness of times.

In the beginning you, Lord, founded the earth, and the works of your hands are the heavens. For just as you created these things in the beginning, so also now you either restore the earth of our body into a new man, or compose our minds with the dignity of the heavens. But concerning the former heavens it says:

They themselves will perish, but you remain. According to that: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away (Matt. 23, and Mark 13). And all things will grow old like a garment. And like a covering you will change them, and they will be changed: but you yourself are the same, and your years will not fail. That is, you who were in the heavens show yourself the same on the earth. The same in the womb of the virgin: the same descending into hell. The same rising again from the dead: the same you have returned into heaven.

The children of your servants will dwell. Because they have been reborn for you through the apostles. And their seed will be directed forever. Either their preaching or their virtue is spread abroad among every people. But let us beseech the Lord, that he may hear the prayers of suppliants, and implant his light in our minds: so that, recounting his magnificence, we may be made worthy to become companions of his saints in the heavenly kingdoms. To whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

PSALM 102.

A psalm of David. This psalm dwells especially upon the goodness and mercy of God: for it says:

Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. It is said also in another place: And know that the Lord himself is God (Ps. 99). And now it is said: And all that is within me, bless his holy name. If we say, Bless the Lord, O my soul: and the Lord is Lord: what name does the Lord seek here? If he is called Lord, Lord: why does he say: And all that is within me, bless his holy name? The coming of the Son is the name of the Father. Before the coming of Christ, God was known: the Father was unknown. Finally he himself says in the Gospel: Father, I have revealed your name to men (John 17). We cannot linger over individual verses, since the psalm is long: but we ought to fit brief sentences to individual verses, expounding the sense rather than weaving together the words.

Bless the Lord, O my soul: and do not forget all his recompenses. The Lord has bestowed many recompenses upon us: he has bestowed great benefits upon us: because he made heaven, because he made earth, because he made all the elements for our sake.

Who is propitiated for all your iniquities. So that he may blot them out as a cloud. Who heals all your infirmities. The sins by which you are made weak. Our soul has many infirmities. As many sins, so many infirmities. Finally, that woman also in the Gospel, who for eighteen years had a spirit of infirmity, and could not raise her head upward (Luke 13). See what he says: When anyone has a spirit of infirmity, he is bent down, he looks downward, he gazes at the earth, he cannot see heaven.

Who redeems your life from destruction. You have been redeemed, he says, at a price: do not become slaves of men (1 Cor 6 and 7). What price is greater than that the Creator should shed his blood for the creature he made? Who crowns you in mercy and compassion. With mercy going before, he gives victory, he grants the palm.

Who fills your desire with good things, joining you to the saints in the heavenly Jerusalem.

Your youth will be renewed like the eagle's, so that you may be changed from the old man into the new.

Who does the mercies of the Lord, and judgment for all who suffer wrong, so that, when the wicked are put down, he may raise up his poor.

He made his ways known to Moses: his wills to the children of Israel—to him who understands the law spiritually, or to him who contemplates him with the eyes of the mind.

The Lord is merciful and compassionate: patient and very merciful, because he is quickly moved to mercy.

He will not be angry forever, nor will he threaten for eternity, etc. For he has granted better things than we deserved.

For according to the height of heaven from the earth he has strengthened his mercy upon those who fear him. Heaven is far distant from the earth; but divine mercy continually both protects and strengthens its own.

As far as the east is from the west, he has made our iniquities far from us. Where God draws near, delights are removed far off: so that, according to the Apostle, where sin abounds, grace may superabound in it (Rom. 5).

As a father has mercy on his sons, so the Lord has mercy on those who fear him. A father has mercy on his son when he beats him to correct him. So too the Lord sometimes chastises us to save us; yet he does not abandon us forever to destroy us.

For he himself knew our frame. For the prophet knows that the human race was formed like the potter's clay from mud, adopted to the honor of sons; and therefore, considering that the judgment of death draws near to it because of its sins, he speaks, imploring mercy:

He remembered that we are dust; man's days are like the grass. As if he were saying: You will not be angry so as to crush us; but you remember that we are the potter's vessels, which, once broken, cannot be repaired, but at once fall away and dry up. Like the flower of the field so will he flourish. For a time.

For the spirit has passed through him, and he does not endure; and he knows his place no more. But when the spirit passes, all the pleasantness of his greenness is given over to oblivion.

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him. For when he reproves sinners, he shows mercy to the righteous.

And his justice is upon the children of children of those who keep his covenant, and remember his commandments to do them. In good works, surely: by which the commandments of God are continually remembered, that they may be kept by them.

The Lord has prepared his seat in heaven, and his kingdom shall rule over all. He foretells the Lord's Ascension, which was accomplished after the restoration of man: through which Christ the Lord subjected all the ends of the world to his dominion.

Bless the Lord, his angels. Messengers of truth. Mighty in strength, doing his word. Fulfilling whatever he has spoken. To hear the voice of his words. That is, to understand what he has commanded.

Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers who do his will. Who, strengthened by his power, minister the word to the Churches.

Bless the Lord, all his works. You surely who live in him. For every work that was made is life in him (John 1). In every place of his dominion. For nothing is found where he does not rule. He contains all things, and diffuses himself everywhere. Bless, my soul, the Lord. But the prophet says these things not only of his own soul, but also to our souls, that they may continually bless him who bestows good things, who is propitious to sins, who redeems from destruction; who fulfills every desire in good things; who now deigns to have mercy on us as a father on his sons, our heavy sins being here forgiven; to whom with the eternal Father and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory for ages of ages. Amen.

PSALM 103.

A psalm of David. This psalm contains the voice of creation itself praising and blessing God. But we ought to attend to this very thing spiritually.

Bless, my soul, the Lord. That while you bless him, you may be blessed by him. The prophet provokes himself in blessing God. But to bless the Lord is this: he who praises the Lord blesses himself. O Lord my God. You are indeed God and Lord to all; but properly to me, because I am not a servant of sin. You are greatly magnified. Either in me, or in your other saints. You who are the God of all, are especially my God: because I am not a servant of sin, because I have merited to be called your servant. You are greatly magnified.

You have clothed yourself with confession and beauty. You have clothed yourself with confession, saying: I confess to you, Lord, Father of heaven and earth (Matthew 11). You have clothed yourself with beauty, when he answered from the bright cloud: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased: listen to him (Matthew 17). Confession is understood in two ways: either in penitence, or in the glory of God—that is, you have clothed yourself with glory, just as in the Gospel the Savior himself says: I confess to you, Father—that is, I glorify you—or because we confess our sins to the Lord. For in that we confess our sins to God, we glorify him. And you have clothed yourself with beauty. See the order. First someone confesses, and thus receives loveliness and beauty, and afterward light. For this follows: Clothed with light as with a garment. This verse seems contrary to that one which says: He made darkness his hiding place; or to that one which says: Clouds and darkness are round about him. But it must be known that these things are said of hidden mysteries; for from the fullness of this light the whole earth shines.

Extending the heaven like a skin. For after the manner of a certain book or volume, the heaven, when the majesty of God wills it, is either extended or folded up, as the faith of the Gospel testifies. You who cover its upper parts with waters. The upper parts of heaven, according to Genesis, are covered with waters (Gen. 1), because he says that the waters were placed above the firmament, which we understand as the multitude of angels, according to that saying: The waters that are above the heavens, let them praise the name of the Lord (Ps. 148).

You who make the clouds your ascent. For the Lord Jesus, when the disciples had been blessed, was lifted up, and a cloud received him, and they watched him going into heaven (Acts 1). You who walk upon the wings of the winds. The Lord walks upon all the swiftness of the winds. But also upon the souls of the saints that strain toward heavenly things, he both walks and rests.

You who make your angels spirits. That they may inspire men to do his will, because the carnal man does not grasp the things that are of God. And your ministers a burning fire. That in some they may pour in the light of truth, in others consume sins.

You who founded the earth upon its own stability, etc. These words seem to disagree with that passage where it says: Heaven and earth will pass away. But this visible earth passes away; yet the earth of the body, which brings forth the fruit of holiness, is wrapped in the cloak of heavenly mysteries.

The waters will stand upon the mountains. Upon lofty pride the foolish peoples dwell. At your rebuke they will flee: at the voice of your thunder they will be afraid. For it is your voice when you say: Repent: the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3). But like thunder, so that they may fear, when you threaten, when you say: Unless you repent, you will all perish together (Luke 13).

They all ascend. The saints advance into spiritual understanding. And the fields descend. The peoples subject to their teachings, so that they may be filled with the flowers of virtues. To the place which you founded for them. Into the assembly of the Church.

You have set a boundary which they will not cross. The Catholic faith, certainly, which they keep even to the boundary of the present life. Nor will they turn back to cover the earth. In the shameful deeds in which they had formerly lived.

You send forth springs in the valleys. Among the wildernesses of the nations, he bestows the grace of baptism. In the midst of the mountains. That is, of the churches. The waters shall pass through. Of that same washing, or of the teacher: by irrigating the people with heavenly gifts.

And all the beasts of the field shall drink, the wild asses shall wait in their thirst. That this grace may be ministered equally to all: as Paul says: I am a debtor to the wise and to the foolish (Rom 1).

Over these the birds of heaven shall dwell. Those who have merited a loftier understanding. From the midst of the rocks. That is, of the churches. They shall give forth their voice. To praise God.

Watering the mountains. That is, the apostles. From his high places. From the heavenly places, pouring out the Holy Spirit upon them. The earth shall be satisfied with the fruit of your works. With the benefits of your bounty.

Bringing forth grass for the beasts of burden, and herb for the service of men. Granting to each one according to his own need.

That you may bring forth bread from the earth, and wine may gladden the heart of man. From the field of the earthly body which he assumed from us, bringing forth the mystery of the heavenly bread and the saving cup, by which the Church is refreshed.

That he may make his face cheerful with oil. For the face of the righteous is made cheerful before God with the oil of mercy. And bread strengthens the heart of man. That same bread strengthens our very hearts: which, descending from heaven, gives life to the world.

The trees of the field shall be satisfied. Whether rational or irrational men, as we explained above concerning the beasts and the wild asses. And the cedars of Lebanon. The saints, more exalted in merit. Which he planted. In the unity of the ecclesiastical faith. There the sparrows shall build their nests. The wise build.

The house of the heron is their leader. The heron is greater than all birds, which conquers the eagle and eats it. Therefore such a man, who dwells in the house of God, should provide leadership for conquering the devil, because the eagle is often put for the devil. The high mountains for the deer. This animal kills serpents, and eats them. Therefore he dwells well in the mountains, who kills the intelligible serpent: who was wiser in paradise than all the beasts, who deceived Eve (Gen. 3). The rock is a refuge for the hedgehogs. He who is fearful has the rock for a refuge: but the rock is Christ.

He made the moon in its season. They say that when the moon waxes, all fruits grow, and when it wanes, the fruits wane again. Therefore he spoke well: He made the moon in its season. Or else let us understand the moon as the Church. For as the Church makes progress, we too make progress with her; and when she suffers persecution and is diminished, we too are diminished with her and suffer persecution. The sun has known its going down. If the sun sets, do we think that we ourselves are everlasting? But in this we must marvel: how such great light and such brightness, which covers the whole world with its light, goes down in a moment. But let us pray that the sun of righteousness may not go down upon us.

You have set darkness and night was made; in it all the beasts of the forest will pass through. And according to the letter it has its order: for night was made for this reason, that men might rest from their works, and the beasts might go out to feed. But according to the tropological sense: when the sun of righteousness has set for us, all things are dark to us, and then the beasts pass through against us: even the roaring lion, wanting to seize and devour us.

The young lions roaring, to seize and to seek from God food for themselves. Then he said, from God: because he desires to deceive the saints: as if he were saying, Judas, David, Solomon, Peter: as it is written: his choice foods (Habakkuk 1).

The sun has risen, and they have gathered together. Let not the one who has fallen be sad, but let him do penance. For him the sun of justice rises, and all the beasts and sins flee from him, and he is made such as he was before. For again the sun of justice has risen.

Man shall go forth to his work and to his labor until evening. But after the sun of justice has risen: again we go forth to our work until evening, that is, until the consummation. Therefore we ought at all times to work justice.

How magnificent are your works, Lord. The prophet came into an excess of mind. Not finding in what manner he might praise the Lord, he said: How magnificent are your works, Lord. Your works exceed human understanding. You have made all things in wisdom. In our Lord Jesus Christ. For he himself is the wisdom of God, according to the Apostle who says: that in him all things were created (Romans 11). The earth is filled with your possession. And truly all the works of the Lord are full of wisdom. For when we see the ant know when winter comes; and store up food for itself, and again the gnat, so tiny, to have eyes, a belly and all members just as we have them, and a thumb and other things.

But we see that the elephant, so great a beast, has eyes, nostrils, feet, and belly just as we do, in those same places. And likewise the bee, how it makes honey and wax. Are not these things worthy of wonder, and full of wisdom?

This great and spacious sea, in their hands: there the creeping things whose number is not to be counted. Small creatures with great. Is this not of wondrous wisdom, how in the sea there are creeping things whose number is not to be counted? And fish both greater and smaller: how they are in the deep, and from there recover their life, where if a man should fall, he dies, and if they themselves come onto the land, they die? There the ships shall pass through. Who among us is a strong ship, who can flee this world and not be submerged or strike against the rock: but let him have a pilot to steer him, that he may be able to be saved.

That dragon whom you formed to mock him. The Jews say that God made a great dragon, who is called Leviathan, and is in the sea: and when, they say, the Ocean withdraws, the dragon is turned. But let us say: This is the dragon who was cast out of paradise, who deceived Eve: he was given into this world to mock us. For how many monks and clerics has he cast down! All things wait upon you, that you may give them food in due season, etc. Because all things live by the will of God.

You will take away their spirit and they will fail, and they will return to their dust. He signifies the consummation of the world: when by the command of God all things are destroyed, as it is written: Dust you are and to dust you shall go (Gen. 3).

Send forth your spirit and they will be created. On the day of consummation. If the Spirit creates, therefore he is God. For he creates just as the Father does.

Let the glory of the Lord be for ever. Therefore we too who glorify him will be eternal. The Lord will rejoice in his works. For it is the Lord's joy when we, his creation, bless him on the day of resurrection.

He who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble. For our earth will tremble on the day of judgment. But he signifies earthly sinners. He who touches the mountains and they smoke. If the mountains smoke, how much more the earth? The saints smoke: since we shall all be saved through fire. For they would not have smoke unless there were fire.

I will sing to the Lord in my life: I will sing psalms to my God as long as I am. Just as he also said elsewhere: Let me be, that I may be refreshed before I go hence, and be no more (Ps. 38). Let me be for a little time, that I may do penance for my sins: since in hell there is no one who can confess his sins.

Let my speech be pleasing to him. Let it be pleasing to him, so that one may rightly praise and bless God. He spoke in the optative mood, not the imperative. But I will delight in the Lord. Blessed are those who say this after the judgment.

Let sinners fail from the earth. He did not say that sinners should perish, but sin itself, so that it may not appear. But when sin does not appear, surely they are no longer sinners; rather, all will be found righteous. And the wicked will be as though they were not—that is, the wicked, but the righteous.

PSALM 104.

Alleluia. This psalm recounts at length the history of the fathers, but it must be understood spiritually. For all things that happened in ancient times happened as a figure, so that we might be instructed (2 Cor. 10).

Give thanks to the Lord, and call upon his name. Give thanks and say: for we are sinners. But you are merciful, and you have mercy on us. And call upon his name—so that we do not fashion idols in our hearts, but call upon our Lord, and he himself will be our redemption. Declare his works among the nations. Let the Jews be ashamed, who say that his wonders and his works were done only in Israel.

Sing to him, and make music, and. Whoever understands the holy Scriptures and meditates continually on the law of the Lord, and whose mind contemplates heavenly things—this one sings to God. But whoever has all the virtues within himself, that is, is a worker of good works—this one, as it were, tuning a lyre of the virtues, makes music to the Lord. Tell all his wondrous deeds. In the one hundred sixth psalm he says: Those who go down to the sea in ships, doing business in many waters. They themselves saw the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. If in our bodily ship we have passed through unharmed, and no storm has ever overwhelmed us, nor have we struck a rock and wrecked our ship, we can tell the wondrous deeds of God. And truly it is a great wonder to pass through this world without stain. Be praised in his holy name. For he prophesies concerning the people of the Gentiles. That is, that we may be and be called Christians, from the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Let them be glad: for the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. If it is those who seek—how much more those who find him? For those who find him are immovable. Seek the Lord and be strengthened. Before we sought the Lord, we were weak. But now, seeking, we are firm and strong. And if we have also found him—how much more perfect shall we be? Seek his face always. For it was written for the Hebrews that they should appear before the Lord three times a year (Exod. 13). And what righteousness was this—what great thing were they doing, to appear in the sight of God three times a year? There he spoke to little ones; but here the prophet says to those who believe in God: seek him always, just as it is also written in the Gospel: Pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5).

Remember his marvelous works which he has done. In Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the desert.

The seed of Abraham his servant: the sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. If anyone is a seed, he is not already a son, according to what is written in the Gospel: If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of your father (John 8). Therefore, what they boast of, they are not, even if they are seed. They are servants placed under fear: not having perfect love, which casts out fear (1 John 4). We are sons of Jacob, of him who supplanted his brother and took his birthright. For many are called, but few are chosen.

And they passed from nation to nation. Many think that he is speaking of the captivity of the Jews. It is not so. For he is speaking of Abraham. He went out from the land of the Chaldeans and came into Mesopotamia, and from Mesopotamia into the land of promise, and again into Egypt. And from one kingdom to another people. We pass through many kingdoms, that we may arrive at the land of promise.

He did not permit a man to harm them. Pharaoh, so that he might not harm Abraham in Sarah, nor Abimelech Isaac in Rebecca (Genesis 12 and 20). And he rebuked kings for their sake. And he says the same thing, Pharaoh and Abimelech.

Do not touch my anointed ones, and do not speak evil against my prophets. He says this of the patriarchs themselves: Let the Jews therefore be ashamed, who say that unless someone is anointed with royal ointment, he cannot be called Christ. For they say this because our Lord is not the Christ, since he was not anointed with royal ointment. Behold, before the law the patriarchs, not anointed with royal ointment, are called Christs; but they are Christs who are anointed with the Holy Spirit. Therefore our Lord too is rightly called Christ—which they deny, going against the Scriptures.

And he called a famine upon the land. It often happens that things which are thought to be contrary come about by God's providence for our benefit. For unless Joseph's brothers had been jealous of him, unless they had sold him, how would he have gone down into Egypt? If the famine had not occurred, how would the patriarchs have gone down into Egypt and been recognized by their brother? How would Pharaoh have been struck with ten plagues? How would they have gone out of Egypt? How would waters have come out of the rock in the wilderness, and how would we understand spiritually the mysteries that were done in the desert as a figure? If Judas had not betrayed the Lord, how would we be saved? If the Jews had not crucified him and been unbelieving, how would we believe? Joseph therefore went into Egypt to prepare a lodging and food for his brothers.

He sent a man before them. This refers to Joseph himself. Joseph was sold into slavery. A man well-born and holy is sold.

They humbled his feet in fetters. Because he refused to consent to the Egyptian woman. They humbled his feet in fetters, but they could not humble his righteousness; for when he was sixteen years old, he was loved by the woman, and though established at such an age, which is more given over to pleasure, he refused to consent to iniquity, but rather feared the danger to his soul. Iron passed through his soul. He calls the sin itself iron, which kills the soul. Otherwise: because he was in danger, accused by the woman of such a crime. For the woman burned for him, as it is written: All adulterers, like an oven, their hearts (Hosea 7). Until his word came. He speaks of the word of the Lord himself, who freed him.

The word of the Lord inflamed him. For unless he had been inflamed by the Holy Spirit, he could not have conquered lust. For the Spirit of the Lord inflamed him, and extinguished the fire of lust. The king sent and released him. According to the letter, Pharaoh sent and released him. Otherwise: if anyone is tempted by lust, unless the Lord appears and releases him, he cannot escape sin. The king sent and released him: the prince of the peoples, and he let him go. King and prince are understood as the Father, as that: A great king over all the earth, and that: The Lord is our prince; the Lord is our judge (Psalm 46).

He therefore sent his angel who rolled back the stone from the entrance of the tomb and loosened the burial cloths of his funeral (Mark 15). He too, by the Father's power, having conquered death, was sent back from hell. Nothing here should be thought or judged carelessly, as though he were raised up by angels. For he was made a little lower than the angels, when as man he underwent death (Psalm 8). For in his resurrection, as true God, he used the ministry of angels. This kingdom will belong neither to principalities nor to Pharaoh, who is the destroyer, nor to that one who is only the chief of cooks.

He made him lord of his house. Of his Church, acquired by his blood. And prince of all his possession. Which he drew away from the devil's power.

That he might instruct his princes like himself, and teach his elders prudence. The princes and elders of the peoples were the apostles, and his own, so called from ownership, not from rank, whom he himself instructed in the sacred eloquence. For he also, teaching the very princes of the priests and the elders of the peoples quite often, instructed them in the temple, when he opened the divine Scriptures to them.

And Israel entered into Egypt, and Jacob was a sojourner in the land of Cham. Everyone who begins to see God with the mind, or to supplant vices, descends into tribulation and dwells among hostile nations.

And he increased his people exceedingly, and strengthened them against their enemies. For they went down into Egypt in seventy-five souls, and six hundred thousand came out of Egypt (Deut 10). See the mystery. Those who once were few in number are now said to have been increased and strengthened. But the righteous are increased and confirmed by the Lord, lest the adverse powers prevail against them.

He turned their heart to hate his people, and to deal deceitfully with his servants. That is, that they might contemplate their iniquities.

He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he chose. That is, the Law and the priesthood.

He placed in them the words of his signs and of his wonders in the land of Cham. Attend, O Jew, who understand what is said according to the letter: was it in the land of Cham that Moses and Aaron received the command concerning the signs, and not rather in the land of Midian? Or did they work wonders in the land of Cham, and not in Egypt? But so that you may understand that these things are done through the Law and the priesthood even to this day among unbelieving nations, the prophet therefore set down the land of Cham.

He sent darkness and obscured them. They began to expound to him the hidden secrets of God's mysteries, and the brightness of worldly wisdom was obscured. For so it is elsewhere: I will catch the wise in their craftiness (2 Cor 1). And he made his words bitter. Because they were hard for them: just as the Gospel reports that certain people said: This is a hard saying: who can hear it (John 6)?

He turned their waters into blood. So that those who by seducing had shed the blood of little ones might thereafter drink gore in place of waters. But this verse especially regards heretics. And he killed their fish. Those who amid the surging prosperities of this world thought that the kingdom was here.

And he gave their land frogs in the inner chambers of their kings. By frogs are designated the poems of poets, who, differing from the catholic rule, fill the hearts of earthly kings with the fables of their deceptions.

He spoke, and the dog-fly came. In the dog-fly, that is, the canine fly, which wallows in filth and dung, luxury is indicated: which, once checked, generally breeds again. As Peter, the apostle, says: The dog returned to its vomit, and the sow washed from the filth of dung (2 Pet 2). And gnats in all their borders. In the gnat, the sting of the dialectical art is understood: which, although it seems to have a small sting of seduction, nevertheless wounds human minds most grievously.

He made their rains hail, so that they might be rebuked by divine blows. A burning fire in their land—not one that gives light, but one that burns; for the holy fire enlightens the righteous and scorches sinners.

And he struck their vines and their fig trees, and shattered every beam of their borders. In the vines and fig trees and the remaining wood, he shows that the whole human race was struck by heavenly blows for the sake of correction.

He spoke, and the locust came and the grasshopper, whose number was not. And it devoured all the hay in their land, and devoured all the fruit of their land. In the hay and the rest of the fruit of the land, he teaches human chastisement. For power is given to the adverse party to harm men who are unwilling to repent, as the Apocalypse teaches (Rev. 9).

And he struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, the firstfruits of all their labor. The principal things are cheap: those which men loved as firstborn.

And he brought them out with silver and gold, and there was no one feeble among their tribes. By these blows he strikes Egypt—that is, either this world or human flesh. But souls are brought out in the silver of confession, shining bright, and in the gold of purity, splendid, with every weakness of sin removed.

Egypt rejoiced at their departure, because fear of them fell upon them. For while the grove dwelt among them, they could not carry out the works of darkness, since everyone who does evil hates the light (John 3).

He spread out a cloud for their protection, and fire to give them light through the night. By the cloud and the fire he means the Holy Spirit, who defends us from the heat of the day and enlightens us in the darkness of night.

They asked for flesh, and the quail came. For Israel, sated with this quail, grows sick of it. Therefore we must beware, lest one who feels himself freed from Egypt and enlightened by the Holy Spirit should again desire the pots of Egypt—that is, the desires of the flesh, which breed folly or vices in him. For no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9). He satisfied them with the bread of heaven. For just as they were refreshed by manna flowing from heaven, so we today in the Church are refreshed by receiving the body of the Lamb.

He split the rock, and waters flowed out, and rivers went forth in the dry land. For that precious cornerstone was struck, yet it brought forth for us immense fountains, which wash away our errors and irrigate our dry places.

For he remembered his holy word which he had spoken to Abraham his servant. For he fulfilled his promise not through seeds, but through his seed, that is, through Christ. For God born of a Virgin: by his death he conquered death; through which what had been promised to Abraham in hope, the Church has now received in reality.

And he brought out his people in exultation, and his chosen ones in gladness. For always as victors and free, they celebrate the song in gladness and exultation; like Moses, Miriam, or Deborah.

And he gave them the regions of the nations, and they possessed the labors of the peoples. Holy souls and bodies, in which sin had previously reigned.

That they may keep his justifications, and seek after his law. That they may live with justice, and diligently understand the mysteries of the law. And let us beseech the Lord, that with the harmful nations blotted out before our face, he himself may become the guide of our journey: so that, exulting in him continually, we may be worthy to be led into the land of promise, and gathered into his kingdom, may we be able to rejoice with his saints in everlasting gladness: for to him is with the eternal Father and the Holy Spirit honor and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

PSALM 105.

Alleluia, alleluia. This psalm strengthens the penitent, reproves the negligent, and promises mercy again. We ought to hold to this rule: wherever two Alleluias are written at the head of a psalm, we should know that one belongs to the end of the preceding psalm and the other to the one that follows.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. O you who sin grievously and despair of your salvation, and think that because of the greatness of your sins you cannot obtain pardon: I, that is, the prophet, command you: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. Your sins are great, but great is the Lord who has mercy on you. Give thanks, therefore, to the Lord. Do penance; do not despair of your salvation: the Lord is kind. Give thanks to the Lord, you who have great sins. Do not trust in your own virtue, but in the mercy of the Lord. For his mercy endures forever. See what he says: forever. But in hell who will give thanks to the Lord (Ps. 6)? For there is no one who can do penance in hell. While you are in this world, I urge you to do penance. Give thanks, therefore, to the Lord, for he is merciful only in this world. Here he can be merciful to the penitent, because there he is a judge, not merciful. Here he is merciful, there he is a judge. Here he extends his hand to the fallen; there he sits as judge. Now I have said all this to those who claim that there is penance in hell.

Who will speak of the powers of the Lord. No one is worthy to proclaim the powers of the Father except the Son. No one can speak of the power of the Father except he who is himself also powerful; the powers of the powerful, he who is powerful can himself proclaim and speak. He will make all his praises heard. Before our Lord preached in the Gospel, the praises of the Father had not been heard in the world. Everything that is written in the old Law, if it is understood spiritually, can be understood concerning the Father.

Blessed are they who keep judgment, and do righteousness at all times. David could rightly say this, and he himself had done judgment and righteousness; but because he did not do it at all times, therefore he sang it. For what does he say? Blessed are they who keep judgment, and do righteousness at all times. For what does it profit anyone to be in continence for twenty years, and afterward to fall? According to what is written in the prophet: the righteousness of the righteous shall not profit him in whatever way he has erred; it shall not deliver him, nor shall it save him (Ezek. 33). And the sin of the sinner shall not harm him on whatever day he turns and does penance. Neither should the righteous be secure, nor should the sinner despair of his salvation. For in both of them there is both fear and hope. Who does righteousness. Our Lord is righteousness. For the righteousness of the Lord, our Lord and Savior, is spoken of. Blessed therefore is he who does righteousness, that is, who does Christ. How then do we do Christ, that is, righteousness?

If we act justly, justice is conceived in us, and justice is born from us, and we are the mother of justice. Happy and blessed is the one who at all times is both father and mother of justice.

Remember us, Lord, in the good pleasure of your people. What blessed David says is this: I know, Lord, the old law: perfect blessedness is not in the old Law, but in the Gospel. I know that the former people offended you, and a new people is created, which will serve you. I know that your Son will come, and will save all the human race, and those who will be chosen will believe in him. Therefore I ask, since I was born first under the old Law, that you may reckon the reward to me together with the new people. This seems to be our meaning. Let us read the verses themselves, and we will find that the meaning is the one we have stated. Visit us in your salvation. That is, in your Son, when he comes.

To see in the goodness of your elect. That is, grant us a share with the apostles. For we indeed came before them in time, but they come before us in spiritual things: that is, that we may see your goodness, which you will show to your elect. To rejoice in the joy of your nation. We are the Lord's nation; if indeed we are his nation. To the people, he says, who will be born, whom the Lord has made. That we may be praised together with your inheritance. That is, that together with the Gospel we too may have a share, who were made under the old law (John 8). For Abraham our father saw your day, and rejoiced.

Let us therefore also see, and rejoice with your inheritance.

We have sinned with our fathers. As children we have followed our fathers; we have done what our fathers also did. For he has shut all things under sin, that he might have mercy on all (Gal. 3). We have acted unjustly; we have committed iniquity. Carefully note what he says: We have sinned with our fathers, we have acted unjustly, we have committed iniquity. Did he say, we have acted impiously? It is one thing to be a sinner and unjust, another to be impious. A sinner is often overcome by the weakness of the body; but the impious man denies God. Therefore, because I am not impious but a sinner, for that reason I dare to ask for my sins.

Our fathers in Egypt did not understand your wondrous works. They saw, and they did not see. They saw with carnal eyes, and with spiritual eyes they did not see. He did not say, they did not see, but, they did not understand. For they saw the wondrous works, and did not understand them. For they were not contemplating them with spiritual insight. And they were not mindful of the multitude of your mercy. How you snatched them from the hands of their enemies. But today also you do wondrous works, Lord, when you deign to enlighten us, snatched from the darkness of the world.

And they provoked him, going up into the Red Sea: and he saved them, etc. For these things were done in Israel. But it must be noted that what was a shadow there has been fulfilled as truth in the Church. Therefore baptism, or the cross of Christ, is foolishness to those who are perishing. God is therefore provoked by these when they do not understand. But the learned will then know the power of God. Now the sea has two meanings: namely, baptism and the world.

He rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up. The stormy world ceases before the people of God, when it has come to know the fountain of life. And he led them out in the deeps as in the desert (Exod. 14). As if they were walking through the dry places of the desert, so are they beset by no waves.

And he saved them from the hand of those who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. The liberation and redemption of man has been accomplished through the passion of Christ.

And the water covered those who troubled them: not one of them remained (Ibidem). So also now it happens in our baptism. Man is washed in the waters, and the devil perishes with his companions.

And they believed in his words, and they praised his praise. Because they were victors.

Soon they did this, they forgot his works. For many in the Church, by living badly and by not thinking rightly about God, lose the grace of baptism. They did not endure his counsel. That they might guard the life which they had first chosen.

And they lusted after their lusts in the desert. In the solitude of this world. And they tempted God in the waterless place. For dryness was upon them, because they did not know the irrigation of the Holy Spirit, in the pillar of cloud which went before them.

And he gave them their petitions, and sent satiety into their souls. That they might be refreshed with spiritual food and drink.

And they provoked Moses in the camp, and Aaron the holy one of God. The foolish provoke the law, that is, and the priesthood: when they do not hear the precepts of God, announced through them.

The earth was opened, and swallowed Dathan, and covered over the congregation of Abiron, and fire blazed up in their synagogue, and flame burned up the sinners. These things were done according to the letter. But even now the earth devours them and fire blazes up against those who savor earthly things and withdraw from the commandments of God, whom the grace of the Holy Spirit does not enlighten; but the blasts of sin kindle them.

And they made a calf in Horeb, and adored the graven image, and they changed their glory into the likeness of a calf that eats hay. For their glory ought to have been in God; but having abandoned him, giving glory to a mute and deaf idol, they said: These are your gods, Israel (Exod. 32). So even now, if anyone, having abandoned the Church, consults lots and the spirits of the dead, his glory is changed, and he becomes like a beast: as once Nebuchadnezzar did (Dan. 4).

They forgot God who saved them: who worked great deeds in Egypt. So that, having struck it with plagues, he might free the people. And wonders in the land of Cham. When, having abandoned the nations, he planted them in their land. And terrible things in the Red Sea. So that, with Pharaoh destroyed, he might provide a dry crossing for the peoples (Exod. 14).

He said that he would destroy them if Moses his chosen one had not stood in the breach before his face, etc. Pay attention to these things, O priest: for the people would have perished, unless Moses had broken the wrath of almighty God, and you, when you see the people of God sinning, sound the trumpet: announce their offenses to them, and stand in the breach before God, so that his fury may be turned away from them.

And they regarded the desirable land as nothing, because they loved this transitory one. And they did not believe in his words, in which he promised the kingdoms of heaven.

And they murmured in their tents. For the Apostle teaches concerning murmuring, saying: Do not murmur as some of them murmured, and perished by serpents (I Cor. 10). Let us not murmur, therefore, lest the demons wound and devour us with venomous bites.

He lifted up his hand over them: to cast them down in the wilderness, and to cast down their seed among the nations, and to scatter them in the regions. For the Jews were scattered among various peoples. But that man too is scattered through diverse things, who is carried about by every wind of doctrine, and does not stand firm in God with a fixed station.

And they were initiated into Beelphegor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. Those who ought to have consecrated themselves to God were consecrated to an idol. And those who ought to have hungered for the living bread ate the sacrifices of the dead.

And they provoked him with their own inventions, because they were perverse. And their ruin was multiplied among them. Ruin is when the walls of houses fall down; which is then multiplied when they have been overturned from the foundations. Therefore these men were destroyed together with their foundation, that is, with the very letter of the law in which they thought they stood, because they were not established upon the rock.

Phinehas stood and appeased him, and the plague ceased. And it was reckoned to him for righteousness, etc. Above he said that Moses stood in the breaking: but here he says that Phinehas entreated (Num. 25). Hear this diligently, O priest, to whom souls have been entrusted: unsheathe the sword: slay the fornicators, that is, bring forth the word, be instant out of season, in season; reprove, rebuke, entreat with all patience and doctrine (2 Tim. 4): that it may be reckoned to you for righteousness. For whoever brings forth the precious from the vile shall be as my mouth, says the Lord God.

And they provoked him at the waters of contradiction, and Moses was vexed because of them, because they embittered his spirit. The waters of contradiction are understood as the waters of baptism, to which the devil and his works are opposed. After these, if anyone defiles himself with vices, the priest is vexed, because he has embittered the Spirit of God through whom he preaches, as Paul was saying: Who is burned, and I am not burned? Concerning this Spirit he also testified, saying: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed on the day of redemption.

And he distinguished with his lips, that he might continually plead for them. They did not destroy the nations which the Lord had told them. Idolatry or various crimes.

And they were mingled among the nations and learned their works, and served their graven images, and it became a stumbling block to them. For just as it is reckoned to the priest as righteousness when he prays for the people, so to those who were turned toward frenzied desires, it became a stumbling block.

And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons—their senses and their souls.

And they shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the carved images of Canaan. For then is the blood of the soul shed: when a man devoted to idols has departed from the worship of God.

The land was slain in bloodshed, and defiled by their works, and they committed fornication in their own inventions. For it is infected by the corruption of iniquity: when a man's body is polluted by various fornications. Therefore also the wrath of God rages against the impious; whence it follows:

And the Lord was angry with fury against his people, and abhorred his inheritance. Because he left them. And what had once been the people of God became a mob of the devil.

And he delivered them into the hands of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them. And their enemies afflicted them, and they were humbled under their hands. But you will say, O man: The way of the Lord is not right, since he allows us to be bowed down in such great evils. But, I ask, consider: that sinners are bowed down for their own crimes, and God is endowed with such great loving-kindness that he always deigns to bestow his protection: as it is said: He has often delivered. He is always delivering, and are you not corrected? The blow already inflicted still stands at the doors: and are you not amended?

But they provoked him with their own counsel—which they had, that, having forsaken him, they might follow idols. And they were humbled in their iniquities. Now these are humbled not by God but by their own sins. But his accustomed mercy runs ahead, as the prophet says:

And he saw when they were troubled, and he heard their prayer. For he teaches you also that if, being converted, you groan, at once the prayers of your humility come near to his lofty ears.

He was mindful of his testament. Which he established with Abraham as the beginning of our faith. And he repented according to the multitude of his mercy, and he gave them into mercies in the sight of all who had taken them captive. For over those who repent God repents of the evil which he had spoken that he would do, and did not do it, setting you in the bosom of Abraham your father, whose faith you have followed. Therefore the prophet also, exulting, says:

Save us, O Lord our God. Let not vices rule over us. And gather us from the nations. Because the race of the Hebrews is dispersed in the regions.

That we may confess to your holy name and glory in your praise—in the Son, surely, because the name of the Son is your praise.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, from age to age, etc. Rightly is he blessed through the ages, through whom the ages were made, and not only made but also redeemed. May he deign even now to remake us in his salvation, that is, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom with him and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory for ages of ages. Amen.

PSALM 106.

Alleluia. This psalm is recognized as recounting every circumstance of the human condition, which it took up either by sinning or received by repenting, and the multitude of God's mercies (as it says here: who is wise, and will keep these things; and then he will understand the mercies of the Lord); but it also most clearly discloses the rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Therefore confess your sins to him, because he is good and forgives sins. But if he were not good, he would not say to you, "Confess"; and, "Confess to him, for his mercy endures forever." This is mercy; otherwise it is justice. For his mercy endures forever. As long as you are in the world, confess.

Let them say who have been redeemed by the Lord, whom he redeemed from the hand of the enemy. He speaks properly of the calling of the Gentiles. For this psalm contains the sacrament of those who were redeemed in the Lord's passion. Let them say who have been redeemed. For he himself is Savior and Redeemer and price. Let them say who have been redeemed. He himself redeemed; he himself gives the price, his own blood. But why did he give the price, his own blood? That he might redeem us from the hand of the enemy. For we were held captive in the hand of the devil. Therefore he came and redeemed us, that he might free us from the devil's hand. Whom he redeemed from the hand of the enemy, that he might destroy the enemy and defender. The enemy man sowed weeds over. But the enemy is the devil. He is himself both enemy and possessor. Therefore he holds us in his hand: not because he loves, but because he hates. Whom he redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Great is the majesty and great the power of the Lord's blood, which loosens the hand of the devil. For just as there are certain animals that constrict something enclosed within themselves—as both physicians and natural philosophers say—so that unless it has been broken, it is not separated from them, nor do they let go of what they hold shut within: but if oil is poured on, it is immediately dissolved, and what had been constricted is scattered and divided into parts: so also the blood of Christ loosens the devil's most hardened hand. The devil was unwilling to let us go. The Lord poured out his blood like the oil of mercy, and through it he freed us. From the regions he gathered them.

See how great is the hand of the devil. Those whom he redeemed from the hand of the enemy. But those whom he redeemed from the hand of the enemy were held in the hand of the enemy in all regions. From the regions he gathered them. In the whole world the hand of the devil possessed us.

From the rising of the sun and from its setting, from the north and from the sea. He seems indeed to have named four zones: the East, the West, the South, and the North; these are the four zones of the world. But the psalm does not hold it so. For here it has: From the rising of the sun and from its setting: behold, two zones. From the north, that is, from the septentrion: behold, three zones. And from the sea. The sea is certainly in the west. Therefore see that he has named the west by these words, and the south not even once. Why then did he name three zones, and refuse to call upon one? We read in Habakkuk: God will come from the south (Hab. 3). It is said of the Savior: that God was born in the south. For by its location Bethlehem is situated to the south of Jerusalem. Therefore it is said, God will come from the south. But if God will come from the south: how is it now said, From the rising of the sun and from its setting, and from the north? The south and the southwest wind are left unspoken. From the rising of the sun and from its setting. Amen, amen I say to you, that many will come from the east and the west, and will recline in the bosom of Abraham: but the sons of this generation will be far off (Matt. 8). From the rising of the sun and from its setting: certainly foreigners. And from the north. The north is a very harsh wind: but by name it is called the right hand. From the north, he says, evils will blaze forth upon the earth (Jer. 1).

The sea is read of in Numbers, and in Exodus, and in all holy Scripture, and wherever you hear of the sea, according to the regions it is always understood as the west. For from the situation of Jerusalem, this great sea, as it is called, lies in the west. See, therefore, the mystery of the Scriptures. In this place the west is named twice, and not even once is it known. Why is this said? Because the people of the Jews is not written in this psalm as being called, but only that of the Gentiles. Finally, what does it say?

They wandered in the wilderness in a waterless place: they found not the way of a city of habitation. Hungering and thirsting. And that you may know that this is written properly concerning the calling of the Gentiles, and concerning the expulsion of the Jews, it is written in the following verses of this same psalm: He turned rivers into a desert, namely of the Jews. They wandered in the wilderness in a waterless place. We have said what the waters were, we have said what the rivers were. They found not the way of a city of habitation, hungering and thirsting. Let us explain how the people of the Gentiles was in the desert, where there were no waters, that is, in a waterless place, and how they found not the way of a city of habitation, hungering and thirsting. Concerning those of whom it is said, they found not, it is manifest that they sought the way of a city of habitation, but did not find it. They sought, therefore, the way by which they might come to the city: hungering they sought and thirsting. Their soul fainted in them. They fainted searching with search.