Exposition of Psalm 118 12.12.1–12.38.1
Latin text: CSEL 62 (Latin text: Schenkl/Petschenig, CSEL 62, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Exposition 12, chapter 12
12.12.1CSEL 62:257
Uerumtamen quia et in caelo fuit uitiis locus — nam utique non cecidisset inde aduersarius nisi in criminibus deprehensus; nam et stultus sicut luna mutatur et caelum ipsum tenebris obducitur —, uidetur utique non de elemento dictum, sed de uirtutibus potestatibusque caelestibus. sunt enim sanctae uirtutes in caelo, in quibus nihil lubricum atque terrenum sit.
Yet since there was room for vices in heaven too (for the adversary would surely not have fallen from there unless he had been caught in crimes; and “the fool changes like the moon,” and heaven itself is overcast with darkness), it seems that this was said not of the element but of the heavenly virtues and powers. For there are holy virtues in heaven in which there is nothing slippery or earthly.
Notes and citation
Summary: The “heaven” where the word abides is better taken as the holy heavenly powers than as the element.
- Sir 27:11.
Extrabiblical texts: Sir 27:11 (Sirach [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.12.1 (CSEL 62:257; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-12-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-12-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.12.2CSEL 62:257–258
sunt etiam in terris caeli qui enarrant gloriam dei. qui sunt isti caeli audi dicentem: sicut portauimus imaginem illius terreni, portemus et imaginem huius caelestis. isti igitur caeli sunt qui etiam in terris positi audent dicere: nostra autem conuersatio in caelis est.
There are also heavens on earth, which “tell the glory of God.” Hear who these heavens are from one who says: “As we have borne the image of the earthly one, let us also bear the image of this heavenly one.” These, then, are heavens, who though placed on earth dare to say: “But our citizenship is in heaven.”
Ps 19:1 (18:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:49 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 3:20 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Saints on earth who bear the heavenly image and live as citizens of heaven are “heavens.”
- Ps 19:1 (LXX 18:2); 1 Cor 15:49 (in the hortatory form “let us bear”); Phil 3:20.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): enarrant glorim dei → enarrant gloriam dei.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.12.2 (CSEL 62:257–258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-12-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-12-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.12.3CSEL 62:258
isti sunt caeli in quibus fides grauitas continentia doctrina uita caelestis. nam quemadmodum terra dictus est, qui lapsus ex illa praeuaricatione caelestis gratiae et in haec uitia terrena deiectus praeuaricationis suae uinculis se ligauit, ita e contrario caelum dicitur, qui uitam angelorum custodia integritatis exercet et corpus suum continenti sobrie-
These are the heavens in which there are faith, gravity, self-control, teaching, a heavenly life. For just as he was called “earth” who, fallen through that transgression from heavenly grace and cast down into these earthly vices, bound himself with the chains of his transgression, so on the contrary he is called “heaven” who practices the life of angels by keeping his integrity, and governs his body with continent sobri-
Gen 3:19 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Whoever lives the angelic life in integrity and self-control is called “heaven,” as the fallen one is called “earth.”
- The word sobrietate is divided between 12.12.3 and 12.12.4. Gen 3:19 is in view (“earth you are”).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): doctrina uita eaelestis → doctrina uita caelestis.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.12.3 (CSEL 62:258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-12-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-12-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.12.4CSEL 62:258
tate moderatur, mentem quoque suam miti tranquillitate componit, pecuniam pauperibus misericordi liberalitate dispensat. est ergo et in terris caelum in quo possunt uirtutes esse caelestes. caelum mihi thronus ego magis iusti affectum quam elementum intellego. illum puto caelum ad cuius animam uenit Christus et pulsat ianuam et, si aperueris, ingreditur. nec solus ingreditur, sed etiam cum patre, sicut ipse ait: ego et pater ueniemus et mansionem apud eum faciemus.
ety, also composes his mind in gentle tranquility, and distributes his money to the poor with merciful generosity. So there is a heaven on earth too, in which heavenly virtues can dwell. “Heaven is my throne”: I understand this rather of the disposition of the righteous than of the element. I think that one a heaven to whose soul Christ comes and knocks at the door, and if you open, he enters. Nor does he enter alone, but with the Father too, as he himself says: “I and the Father will come and make our dwelling with him.”
Isa 66:1 (quotation, high confidence) · Rev 3:20 (allusion, high confidence) · John 14:23 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The righteous soul is God’s heaven and throne, into which Christ and the Father enter when the door is opened.
- Isa 66:1; Rev 3:20; John 14:23 (in the form “I and the Father will come”).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): caeum mihi thronus → caelum mihi thronus.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.12.4 (CSEL 62:258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-12-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-12-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 13
12.13.1CSEL 62:258
Uides igitur quod uerbum deus et otiosum prouocat et dormientem excitat. qui enim uenit et ianuam pulsat, uult semper intrare. sed in nobis est quod non semper ingreditur, non semper manet. pateat aduenienti ianua tua; aperi ianuam tuam, expande gremium tuae mentis, ut uideat diuitias simplicitatis, thesauros pacis, suauitatem gratiae. dilata cor tuum, occurre soli lucis aeternae quae inluminat omnem hominem. et illud quidem uerum lumen omnibus lucet;
You see, then, that God the Word both rouses the idle and wakes the sleeping. For he who comes and knocks at the door always wants to enter. But it is our doing that he does not always enter, does not always stay. Let your door be open to him when he comes; open your door, spread wide the bosom of your mind, so that he may see the riches of simplicity, the treasures of peace, the sweetness of grace. Enlarge your heart, run to meet the sun of eternal light, which enlightens every man. That true light indeed shines on all;
Rev 3:20 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 6:13 (echo, low confidence) · John 1:9 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ knocks and wants to enter; we must open our hearts to the true light.
- Rev 3:20; 2 Cor 6:13; John 1:9.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.13.1 (CSEL 62:258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-13-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-13-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.13.2CSEL 62:258–259
sed si quis fenestras suas clauserit, aeterno lumine se ipse fraudabit. excluditur ergo et Christus, si tu mentis tuae ianuam claudas. etsi possit intrare, non uult tamen inportunus inruere, non uult inuitos cogere. ortus ex uirgine processit ex aluo, uniuersa totius orbis inradians, ut luceret omnibus. capiunt, qui desiderant fulgoris perpetui claritatem, quam nox nulla interpolat. soli enim huic quem cotidie cernimus nox tenebrosa succedit, sol autem iustitiae numquam occidit, quia sapientiae non succedit malitia.
but if anyone shuts his windows, he will cheat himself of the eternal light. So Christ too is shut out if you close the door of your mind. Though he could enter, he does not wish to burst in uninvited; he does not wish to force the unwilling. Born of a virgin, he came forth from the womb shining over the whole world, to give light to all. Those who long for the brightness of the perpetual radiance, which no night interrupts, receive it. For this sun that we see every day is followed by dark night, but the Sun of righteousness never sets, because wickedness does not succeed wisdom.
Mal 4:2 (3:20 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ does not force his way in; the Sun of righteousness never sets for those who receive him.
- Mal 4:2 (LXX 3:20); Wis 7:30.
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 7:30 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; allusion)
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.13.2 (CSEL 62:258–259; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-13-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-13-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 14
12.14.1CSEL 62:259
Beatus ergo ille cuius pulsat ianuam Christus. ianua nostra est fides quae totam domum, si fuerit robusta, communit. per istam ianuam Christus ingreditur, unde et ecclesia dicit in Canticis: uox fratris mei, pulsat ad ianuam. audi pulsantem, audi introire cupientem: aperi mihi, soror mea sponsa, columba mea, perfecta mea, quia caput meum repletum est rore et crines mei guttis noctis.
Blessed, then, is the one at whose door Christ knocks. Our door is faith, which, if it is strong, fortifies the whole house. Through this door Christ enters; hence the church also says in the Song of Songs: “The voice of my brother; he knocks at the door.” Hear him knocking, hear him longing to come in: “Open to me, my sister, my bride, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.”
Song 5:2 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Faith is the door at which Christ knocks, as in the Song of Songs.
- Song 5:2.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (words joined in the digital text): perfectamea → perfecta mea.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.14.1 (CSEL 62:259; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-14-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-14-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.14.2CSEL 62:259
considera quando maxime pulsat ianuam tuam deus uerbum: cum repletum est caput eius rore nocturno. in tribulatione etenim et temptationibus positos uisitare dignatur, ne quis forte succumbat uictus aerumnis. repletur ergo caput eius rore uel guttis, quando corpus eius laborat. tunc ergo uigilandum, ne, cum uenerit sponsus, recedat exclusus.
Consider when God the Word knocks at your door most of all: when his head is filled with the night dew. For he deigns to visit those placed in tribulation and temptations, so that no one may succumb, overcome by hardships. His head, then, is filled with dew or drops when his body labors. Then, therefore, one must keep watch, so that when the bridegroom comes he does not go away shut out.
Song 5:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 25:10 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ knocks most when his body, the church, suffers; we must watch so as not to shut him out.
- Song 5:2; Matt 25:10.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.14.2 (CSEL 62:259; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-14-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-14-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.14.3CSEL 62:259
si enim dormias et cor tuum non uigilet, discedit antequam pulset, si cor tuum uigilet, pulsat et aperiri sibi ianuam poscit. habemus ergo animae nostrae ianuam, habemus et portas de quibus dictum est: tollite portas, principes uestri, et eleuamini, portae aeternales, et introibit rex gloriae. est ergo et caelum in his in quibus portae sunt aeternales.
For if you sleep and your heart does not keep watch, he departs before he knocks; if your heart keeps watch, he knocks and asks that the door be opened to him. We have, then, a door of our soul; we also have gates, of which it is said: “Lift up your gates, you princes, and be lifted up, you everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall come in.” So there is a heaven also in those in whom there are everlasting gates.
Ps 24:7 (23:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul has a door and gates through which the King of glory enters.
- Ps 24:7 (LXX 23:7).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.14.3 (CSEL 62:259; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-14-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-14-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.14.4CSEL 62:259
si has fidei tuae portas uelis attollere, intrabit ad te rex gloriae triumphum portans propriae passionis. habet etiam iustitia portas. nam etiam de his legimus scriptum dicente domino Iesu per prophetam suum: aperite mihi portas iustitiae, et infra ait propheta Dauid: lauda, Hierusalem, dominum, lauda deum tuum, Sion, quoniam confortauit seras portarum tuarum.
If you are willing to lift up these gates of your faith, the King of glory will come in to you, bearing the triumph of his own passion. Righteousness also has gates. For of these too we read it written, the Lord Jesus speaking through his prophet: “Open to me the gates of righteousness”; and below the prophet David says: “Praise the Lord, Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion, for he has strengthened the bars of your gates.”
Ps 118:19 (117:19 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 147:12 (147:1 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 147:13 (147:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Faith and righteousness have gates through which Christ enters.
- Ps 118:19 (LXX 117:19), read as Christ speaking; Ps 147:12–13 (LXX 147:1–2).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.14.4 (CSEL 62:259; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-14-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-14-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 15
12.15.1CSEL 62:259–260
Est ergo anima quae habet ianuam, est quae habet portas. ad hanc ianuam uenit Christus et pulsat, pulsat et portas. aperi ergo illi; uult introire, uult sponsam inuenire uigilantem. noli bono amatori facere moras, cito recedit et tu somno torporis tui uideris exclusisse pulsantem. excludis enim eum, cum desidiosus es, cum piger, cum somnolentus; his repagulis Christus excluditur. etsi castus, etsi sobrius sis, caue ne sis neglegens; maiorem Christo facit iniuriam qui aduenientem repellit.
So there is a soul that has a door, and there is one that has gates. To this door Christ comes and knocks; he knocks at the gates too. Open to him, then; he wants to come in, he wants to find his bride awake. Do not keep a good lover waiting; he quickly withdraws, and you are seen to have shut him out as he knocked by the sleep of your sluggishness. For you shut him out when you are idle, when you are lazy, when you are drowsy; by these bolts Christ is shut out. Though you be chaste, though you be sober, beware of being negligent; he does Christ a greater injury who drives him back as he comes.
Song 5:2 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Sloth and drowsiness bolt the door against Christ, who seeks a watchful bride.
- Song 5:2–6 in view.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.15.1 (CSEL 62:259–260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-15-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-15-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 16
12.16.1CSEL 62:260
Nonnumquam etiam, si moraris, mittit manum suam per fenestram, sicut ait sponsa: frater meus misit manum suam de prospectu, et uenter meus conturbatus est super eum. exsurrexi ego aperire fratri-
Sometimes too, if you delay, he puts his hand through the window, as the bride says: “My brother put his hand through the opening, and my belly was stirred for him. I rose to open to my brother;
Song 5:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 5:5 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ sometimes puts his hand through the window, as in Song 5:4–5.
- Song 5:4–5. The last words are divided between 12.16.1 and 12.16.2 (fratri-|tri meo, “to my brother”).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.16.1 (CSEL 62:260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-16-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-16-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.16.2CSEL 62:260
tri meo, manus meae distillauerunt myrram, digiti mei myrra pleni. primum ergo tamquam a prospectu mittit manum suam, quando deus esse operibus aestimatur; unde ait: si mihi non creditis, uel operibus credite. deinde augetur amor et intimis uisceribus conceptus inolescit. inde intellegibili utero, in quo est receptaculum uerbi, seminibus eius infusis plenitudinem eius corporaliter inhabitantem haurire anima nostra desiderat. non enim turbatur uterus feminarum nisi quae fuerint aluo graues.
my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers full of myrrh.” First, then, he puts his hand through the opening, as it were, when he is judged to be God by his works; hence he says: “If you do not believe me, at least believe the works.” Then love increases, and once conceived it takes root in the inmost heart. Then, the seeds of the Word having been poured into the intelligible womb, in which is the receptacle of the Word, our soul longs to draw in his fullness dwelling bodily. For the womb of women is not stirred unless they are heavy with child.
Song 5:5 (quotation, high confidence) · John 10:38 (quotation, high confidence) · Col 2:9 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is first recognized as God through his works; then love grows and the soul conceives the Word.
- Song 5:5; John 10:38; Col 2:9.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.16.2 (CSEL 62:260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-16-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-16-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 17
12.17.1CSEL 62:260
Surgit igitur anima, ut aperiat dei uerbo. sed dum se expandit atque aperit, ut opera mundi huius uerbi receptione mortificet—sicut ille qui ait: mortificationem domini Iesu in corpore nostro circumferimus —, ergo dum aperit, transiuit sponsus. uult enim semper quaeri, frequentius inueniri,
So the soul rises to open to the Word of God. But while it spreads itself out and opens, in order to put to death the works of this world by receiving the Word (like the one who says: “We carry about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus”), while it opens, the bridegroom has passed by. For he wants always to be sought, and to be found more often;
2 Cor 4:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 5:6 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: As the soul opens to the Word, the bridegroom passes by, wishing always to be sought.
- 2 Cor 4:10; Song 5:6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word split in the digital text): mortiiicet → mortificet; in corpore no stro → in corpore nostro.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.17.1 (CSEL 62:260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-17-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-17-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.17.2CSEL 62:260–261
et si clausam ianuam inuenerit, pulsat, et si per moram fuerit exclusus, recedit. sed cito redit et iterum pulsat, ut uel postea sponsam inueniat praeparatam. potest quidem et sic accipi: frater meus transiuit, sicut legimus, quod penetrauit dilectae intima medullarum, et quemadmodum ad Mariam dictum est: et tuam ipsius animam pertransibit gladius, ut reuelentur multorum cordium cogitationes. denique addidit sponsa animam suam exisse in uerbo eius, quod fit quando anima peregrinatur a corpore et deo praesens est.
and if he finds the door shut, he knocks, and if he is shut out by delay, he withdraws. But he soon returns and knocks again, so that at least afterwards he may find the bride prepared. It can also be taken this way: “My brother passed through,” as we read that he pierced to the inmost marrow of his beloved, and as it was said to Mary: “And a sword will pierce through your own soul, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” Then the bride added that her soul went forth at his word, which happens when the soul is absent from the body and present with God.
Song 5:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 2:35 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 5:8 (allusion, medium confidence) · Heb 4:12 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ withdraws and returns; “passed through” may also mean he pierces the soul, as Simeon told Mary.
- Song 5:6; Luke 2:35; 2 Cor 5:8.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphens in the digital text; word split in the digital text): exclu--sus → exclusus; e t tuam ipsius → et tuam ipsius.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.17.2 (CSEL 62:260–261; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-17-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-17-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 18
12.18.1CSEL 62:261
Explanauimus igitur, ut potuimus, quid esset: in aeternum, domine, permanet uerbum tuum in caelo. possumus tamen et sic intellegere, quia in caelo magis permanet in aeternum, ubi angeli et archangeli, Cherubim et Seraphim, quoniam homines quamuis sancti sint, tamen affectus eorum saepe mutatur. nunc gaudemus, continuo maeremus irascimur ingemescimus.
We have explained, then, as well as we could, the meaning of “For ever, O Lord, your word abides in heaven.” Yet we may also understand it this way: that the word abides for ever rather in heaven, where the angels and archangels, the Cherubim and Seraphim are, since men, however holy, often change in their feelings. Now we rejoice, presently we mourn, we are angry, we groan.
Ps 119:89 (118:89 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Another reading: the word abides in heaven among the angels, whose feelings do not change as men’s do.
- Ps 119:89 (LXX 118:89).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.18.1 (CSEL 62:261; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-18-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-18-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.18.2CSEL 62:261
in ipsa paenitentia non uult nos satis contristari apostolus, ne tristitia absorbeamur. ubi ergo iracundia, ubi tristitia grauis, non permanet ibi uerbum. denique de solo domino Iesu dictum est a Iohanne, quia uidit spiritum descendentem de caelo sicut columbam et manentem super eum.
Even in repentance the apostle does not want us to be overly saddened, lest we be swallowed up by sorrow. So where there is anger, where there is heavy sorrow, the word does not abide there. In fact it was said by John of the Lord Jesus alone that he saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and remaining on him.
2 Cor 2:7 (allusion, high confidence) · John 1:32 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The word does not abide where anger and heavy sorrow are; the Spirit remained on Christ alone.
- 2 Cor 2:7; John 1:32–33.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.18.2 (CSEL 62:261; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-18-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-18-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.18.3CSEL 62:261
nam et prophetae non semper prophetabant, sed cum infunderet his spiritus gratiam prophetandi. denique nec Dauid praesciuit quid adnuntiaret Nathan missus a domino, et utique inferior Nathan propheta cognouit quod Dauid praestantior nesciebat, et alius dixit propheta: celauit me dominus.
For the prophets too did not always prophesy, but only when the Spirit poured into them the grace of prophesying. In fact not even David knew beforehand what Nathan, sent by the Lord, would announce; and surely the lesser prophet Nathan knew what the greater David did not know. And another prophet said: “The Lord has hidden it from me.”
2 Sam 12:1 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Kgs 4:27 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The prophets prophesied only when the Spirit gave it; David did not know what Nathan would announce.
- 2 Sam 12:1–14; 2 Kgs 4:27 (Elisha).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.18.3 (CSEL 62:261; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-18-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-18-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.18.4CSEL 62:261
unde et plerique accipiunt in caelo permanere dei uerbum in potestatibus caelestibus, in quibus non sunt affectuum uarietates. aliqui autem de ipsa accipiunt trinitate, quae sola inmutabilis sit. et ideo in caelo permanet uerbum, id est in patre, quia uerbum dixit: ego in patre et pater in me.
Hence many take the word of God abiding in heaven to mean in the heavenly powers, in whom there are no variations of feeling. Others, however, take it of the Trinity itself, which alone is unchangeable. And so the Word abides in heaven, that is, in the Father, because the Word said: “I am in the Father and the Father in me.”
John 14:10 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Some take “heaven” as the heavenly powers, others as the unchangeable Trinity: the Word abides in the Father.
- John 14:10.
Topics: Trinity
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.18.4 (CSEL 62:261; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-18-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-18-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 19
12.19.1CSEL 62:261–262
In generationem et generationem ueritas tua. multi sunt qui dicuntur dii, sed non sunt. ergo in gentibus mendacium est, in ecclesia ueritas. hanc tamen ueritatem habuit primo synagoga, quae habebat eloquia dei; est enim ueritas et in ueteri testamento, quae fuit ante in populo Iudaeorum; notus enim in Iudaea deus. deus autem ueritas est, ergo in Iudaea ueritas. fuit igitur ueritas in patribus, Moyse et Iesu Naue, in
“Your truth is from generation to generation.” There are many who are called gods, but are not. So among the nations there is falsehood, in the church truth. Yet the synagogue first had this truth, since it had the oracles of God; for there is truth in the Old Testament too, which was formerly among the Jewish people; for “God is known in Judah.” But God is truth; therefore in Judah there was truth. So truth was in the fathers, Moses and Joshua son of Nun, in
Ps 119:90 (118:90 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 8:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 3:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 76:1 (75:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 14:6 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Truth was first in Israel, which had God’s oracles, and is now in the church.
- Ps 119:90 (LXX 118:90); 1 Cor 8:5; Rom 3:2; Ps 76:1 (LXX 75:2). Ambrose’s view of the Jewish people is translated as written.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (letter-spaced lemma split in the digital text): In generationem et g ene r at ionem ueritas t u a. → In generationem et generationem ueritas tua..
Topics: The church and Israel
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.19.1 (CSEL 62:261–262; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-19-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-19-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.19.2CSEL 62:262
Samuhel, in Dauid, Helia, Heliseo et in illis septem milibus uirorum, qui non curuauerunt genua Baal. sed quia posterior suboles Iudaeorum a patrum moribus deuiauit, recessit ab illis ueritas et ad ecclesiam uenit. recessit enim ab illis, quando dixerunt de domino Iesu: tolle tolle, crucifige eum; tradiderunt enim ueritatem et elegerunt iniquitatem. omnes ergo aliae generationes ueritatis exsortes, omnium haereticorum generationes non tenent ueritatem.
Samuel, in David, Elijah, Elisha, and in those seven thousand men who did not bow the knee to Baal. But because the later offspring of the Jews strayed from the ways of the fathers, truth withdrew from them and came to the church. For it withdrew from them when they said of the Lord Jesus: “Away with him, away with him, crucify him”; for they handed over the truth and chose iniquity. So all other generations have no share in the truth; the generations of all the heretics do not hold the truth.
1 Kgs 19:18 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 11:4 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 19:15 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Truth passed from the later Jews, who rejected Christ, to the church; heretics do not hold it.
- 1 Kgs 19:18; Rom 11:4; John 19:15. Polemic against the Jews and heretics translated as written.
Topics: Heresy, The church and Israel
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.19.2 (CSEL 62:262; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-19-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-19-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.19.3CSEL 62:262
sola ecclesia ueritatem pio affectu possidet, quia generatio Iudaeorum, quae ante eam possidebat, amisit. populus ergo Iudaeorum prior fidei generatio et ideo infantior et infirmior, qui lubrico adulescentiae stare non potuit. populus autem christianus fidei secunda generatio, ideo robustior et uenerabili maturior senectute. illa generatio legis, haec gratiae. unde et alibi ait: in generationem et generationem adnuntiabit ueritatem tuam.
The church alone possesses the truth with devout affection, because the generation of the Jews, which possessed it before her, lost it. So the Jewish people was the first generation of faith, and therefore more childish and weaker, which could not stand in the slipperiness of youth. But the Christian people is the second generation of faith, and therefore sturdier and riper with venerable age. That was the generation of the law, this of grace. Hence he also says elsewhere: “From generation to generation he will announce your truth.”
Ps 89:1 (88:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 119:90 (118:90 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The two generations of the verse are the people of the law and the Christian people of grace.
- Ps 89:1 (LXX 88:2), here in the third person. Translated as written.
Topics: The church and Israel
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.19.3 (CSEL 62:262; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-19-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-19-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 20
12.20.1CSEL 62:262–263
Sequitur uersus tertius: fundasti terram et permanet. dispositione tua permanet dies. quomodo fundauerit deus terram, scriptura nos docuit dicente propheta: deus sapientia fundauit terram, parauit autem caelos in intellectu. terra ergo tamquam fundamentum est, in qua consistimus, licet ipsam uel in hemicyclio caeli esse et is qui foris est sermo concelebret et scriptura significare uideatur dicente Iob: suspendens terram in nihilo. includitur ergo orbe caelesti et ideo sol noctibus non uidetur, quia gyrando in inferiore inuenitur orbis parte caelestis. sed non est cura sanctis axem caeli et elementorum spatia philosophico more numerosque describere — quid enim hoc prodest saluti? —, quia sancti spiritalibus semper intendunt et uitae aeternae profutura uel cognoscere gestiunt uel docere.
The third verse follows: “You founded the earth, and it abides. By your ordering the day abides.” How God founded the earth Scripture has taught us, the prophet saying: “God by wisdom founded the earth, and prepared the heavens by understanding.” So the earth is like a foundation on which we stand, although the teaching of those outside celebrates it as set in the hemisphere of heaven, and Scripture too seems to indicate this, when Job says: “Hanging the earth on nothing.” So it is enclosed by the heavenly sphere, and therefore the sun is not seen at night, because in its circuit it is found in the lower part of the heavenly sphere. But the saints are not concerned to describe the axis of heaven and the spaces and numbers of the elements after the manner of philosophers (for what does this profit salvation?), because the saints always attend to spiritual things and are eager either to learn or to teach what will benefit eternal life.
Ps 119:90 (118:90 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 119:91 (118:91 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 3:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Job 26:7 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God founded the earth by wisdom; the saints do not busy themselves with cosmology but with what profits salvation.
- Ps 119:90–91 (LXX 118:90–91); Prov 3:19; Job 26:7. “Those outside” are pagan philosophers.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word split in the digital text): orbis parte eaelestis → orbis parte caelestis; fundasti terram e t permanet → fundasti terram et permanet.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.20.1 (CSEL 62:262–263; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-20-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-20-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 21
12.21.1CSEL 62:263
Denique hunc locum pulchre nobis aperuit Ecclesiastes spiritalem esse, non materialem, dicens: quae abundantia homini in omni labore suo quo laborat sub sole? generatio uadit et generatio uenit et terra stat in saeculum, hoc est: quae abundantia spiritali homini laboranti sub sole iustitiae? et subiecit: generatio uadit et generatio uenit. uadit generatio, quia diuites eguerunt et esurierunt.
In fact Ecclesiastes has beautifully opened this passage to us as spiritual, not material, saying: “What profit has a man from all his labor at which he labors under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, and the earth stands for the age.” That is: what profit has the spiritual man who labors under the Sun of righteousness? And he added: “A generation goes and a generation comes.” A generation goes, because “the rich have become poor and hungry.”
Eccl 1:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Eccl 1:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Mal 4:2 (3:20 LXX) (echo, medium confidence) · Ps 34:10 (33:11 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Ecclesiastes shows the passage is spiritual: one generation goes as the rich become poor.
- Eccl 1:3–4; Mal 4:2; Ps 34:10 (LXX 33:11).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.21.1 (CSEL 62:263; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-21-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-21-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.21.2CSEL 62:263
qui ante abundabant gratia, postea tamen propter perfidiam suam egere coeperunt. qui autem pauperes erant populi nationum, iam per fidem Christi satiantur et abundant, sicut scriptum est: edent pauperes et saturabuntur. audierunt enim dicentem: abundantes in omni bono, non in pecuniis utique, non in auro et argento, sed in omni uerbo, inquit, et cognitione, et alibi ait: in diuitiis simplicitatis.
those who once abounded in grace, but afterwards, because of their faithlessness, began to be in want. But the peoples of the nations, who were poor, are now filled and abound through faith in Christ, as it is written: “The poor will eat and be satisfied.” For they have heard one saying: “abounding in every good thing,” certainly not in money, not in gold and silver, but “in every word,” he says, “and in knowledge”; and elsewhere he says: “in the riches of simplicity.”
Ps 22:26 (21:27 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 9:8 (quotation, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 1:5 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 8:2 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The nations, once poor, are now enriched through faith in Christ with spiritual riches.
- Ps 22:26 (LXX 21:27); 2 Cor 9:8; 1 Cor 1:5; 2 Cor 8:2.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): sed i n omni uerbo → sed in omni uerbo.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.21.2 (CSEL 62:263; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-21-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-21-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.21.3CSEL 62:263
hae diuitiae sunt salubres; nam copiae saeculares salutem adferre non possunt. qui autem habuerit abundantiam spiritalem, huius terra fructifera stat in saeculum bene fundata radice uirtutum, uel anima utique bonos germinans fructus uel caro uel is cupiditatibus mobilis ad prolapsionem.
These riches bring salvation; for worldly wealth cannot bring salvation. But whoever has spiritual abundance, his fruitful earth stands for the age, well founded on the root of the virtues, whether it is the soul bearing good fruits, or the flesh, which is moved by its desires toward falling.
Eccl 1:4 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Spiritual riches make the soul a fruitful earth that stands firm.
- The last clause is obscure in the printed text and is translated by sense.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.21.3 (CSEL 62:263; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-21-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-21-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 22
12.22.1CSEL 62:263–264
Hanc terram circuit sol iustitiae salutaris, de quo scriptum est: et oritur sol et occidit et in locum suum trahit; ipse oriens illuc uadit ad austrum et gyrat ad aquilonem; gyrando gyrat spiritus et in gyros eius conuertitur spiritus.
Around this earth circles the saving Sun of righteousness, of whom it is written: “And the sun rises and sets and draws to its place; rising, it goes there toward the south and circles toward the north; circling, circling goes the wind, and the wind returns on its circuits.”
Eccl 1:5 (quotation, high confidence) · Eccl 1:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Mal 4:2 (3:20 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Sun of righteousness circles the earth, as Ecclesiastes describes the sun.
- Eccl 1:5–6; Mal 4:2. Latin spiritus is both “wind” and “spirit,” which Ambrose exploits.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): in gyros eiu conuertitur → in gyros eius conuertitur.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.22.1 (CSEL 62:263–264; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-22-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-22-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.22.2CSEL 62:264
oritur sol iustis, occidit autem iniustis; oritur tranquillitati piae mentis, occidit iracundiae. unde ait: sol non occidat super iracundiam uestram. hinc potest colligi, quia isdem oriatur et occidat, quorum et uitia sepeliat et inluminet gratiam. mortuus est enim peccato, ut deo uiueret, hoc est: peccato sumus in illo mortui, ut deo in perpetuum uiueremus. uide ipsum mysterium praenuntiatum: et
The sun rises for the righteous and sets for the unrighteous; it rises on the tranquility of a devout mind and sets on anger. Hence he says: “Let not the sun go down on your anger.” From this it can be gathered that it rises and sets for the same people, burying their vices and lighting up grace. For he died to sin, that he might live to God; that is, in him we died to sin, that we might live to God for ever. See the mystery itself foretold: “And
Eph 4:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 6:10 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 6:11 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The sun sets on vice and rises on grace; in Christ we died to sin to live to God.
- Eph 4:26; Rom 6:10–11. The quotation continues in 12.22.3.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): praenuntiatum: e t → praenuntiatum: et.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.22.2 (CSEL 62:264; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-22-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-22-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.22.3CSEL 62:264
oritur inquit, sol et occidit et in locum suum trahit. hoc est quod ait dominus: cum exaltatus fuero, omnia traham ad me ipsum. traxit enim ad se omnium studia, ut uel peccata nostra crucifigeret uel bonum ingenium ad iustitiam prouocaret. aduerte quemadmodum trahat ad se: pater, uolo ut ubi ego sum et isti sint mecum, et ad latronem ait: hodie mecum eris in paradiso. aduerte quomodo omnia trahat: exaltatus est cruce et totus credidit mundus.
the sun rises,” he says, “and sets and draws to its place.” This is what the Lord says: “When I am lifted up, I will draw all things to myself.” For he drew to himself the desires of all, either to crucify our sins or to call a good disposition to righteousness. Notice how he draws to himself: “Father, I will that where I am these also may be with me”; and to the thief he says: “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Notice how he draws all things: he was lifted up on the cross and the whole world believed.
Eccl 1:5 (quotation, high confidence) · John 12:32 (quotation, high confidence) · John 17:24 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 23:43 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The sun “draws to its place” as Christ, lifted on the cross, draws all to himself.
- Eccl 1:5; John 12:32; John 17:24; Luke 23:43.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.22.3 (CSEL 62:264; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-22-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-22-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 23
12.23.1CSEL 62:264
Ipse oriens, inquit, uadit ad austrum et gyrat ad aquilonem, ille utique oriens, qui ait: oriens nomen est mihi, qui semper oritur piis, numquam occidit. ipse oriens populo Hebraeorum ad austrum iuit, ad molliorem populum luxuria magis feruentis corporis lubricum quam impietatis inmanitate praedurum, aut certe ad nobiliorem plebem, quae erat genus electum uindicans sibi patriarcharum prosapiam. sed quia perseuerabat in uitiis nec emendabat errorem, ideo sol iustitiae gyrauit ad gentes, quae ante eloquiis caelestibus defraudatae inmanes et ignobiles habebantur;
“Rising,” he says, “it goes toward the south and circles toward the north”: surely that Rising One who says, “Rising is my name,” who always rises for the godly and never sets. Rising, he went to the Hebrew people toward the south, to a softer people, given more to the slipperiness of a body heated by luxury than hardened by the savagery of ungodliness; or at least to a nobler people, a chosen race claiming the lineage of the patriarchs. But because it persisted in its vices and did not amend its error, the Sun of righteousness therefore circled round to the nations, who before, deprived of the heavenly oracles, were held savage and ignoble;
Eccl 1:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Zech 6:12 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Pet 2:9 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ the Rising One went first to the Hebrews (the south), then turned to the nations (the north).
- Eccl 1:6. “Rising (Oriens) is my name” recalls Zech 6:12 (LXX and Vulgate: “the Rising is his name”). 1 Pet 2:9. Translated as written.
Topics: Mission and the spread of the gospel
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.23.1 (CSEL 62:264; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-23-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-23-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.23.2CSEL 62:264–265
aquilo enim grauis uentus ut populus nationum. sed qui erant graues ante perfidia, nunc super aquilas leuiores facti sunt fide atque pietate, posteaquam uenit qui diceret: ab aquilone adduc, et in euangelio: uenient ab oriente et occidente et ab aquilone et austro et recumbent in regno dei. et ecce sunt nouissimi qui erant primi, et sunt primi qui erant nouissimi. denique et ipse psalmista ait: mons Sion, latera aquilonis, ciuitas regis magni, hoc est: qui erant aquilonis latus, populus factus est regis aeterni qui solus magnus est dominus.
for the north wind is heavy, like the people of the nations. But those who before were heavy with faithlessness have now been made lighter than eagles by faith and godliness, after he came who would say: “Bring from the north”; and in the Gospel: “They will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south, and will recline in the kingdom of God.” And see, those are last who were first, and those are first who were last. In fact the psalmist himself says: “Mount Zion, the sides of the north, the city of the great king”; that is, those who were the side of the north have become the people of the eternal King, who alone is the great Lord.
Isa 43:6 (quotation, medium confidence) · Luke 13:29 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 8:11 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 20:16 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 48:2 (47:3 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The heavy northern nations have become light through faith and now belong to the eternal King.
- Isa 43:6; Luke 13:29 (with Matt 8:11); Matt 20:16; Ps 48:2 (LXX 47:3).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.23.2 (CSEL 62:264–265; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-23-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-23-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 24
12.24.1CSEL 62:265
Sed forte dicas: quomodo in Canticis est: exsurge, aquilo, et ueni, auster? plerique enim accipiunt, quasi proiciatur aquilo et inuitetur auster. quodsi ita accipiunt, exturbatur ab ecclesia perfidiae glacialis asperitas, ne fiat fuga nostra hieme uel sabbato, et inuitatur australis uerna temperies.
But perhaps you say: How is it, then, that in the Song of Songs we have: “Arise, north wind, and come, south wind”? For many take it as though the north wind were cast out and the south wind invited. If they take it so, the icy harshness of faithlessness is driven out of the church, so that our flight may not be in winter or on the sabbath, and the spring mildness of the south is invited.
Song 4:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 24:20 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: On Song 4:16: the north wind of faithlessness is driven out, the mild south wind invited.
- Song 4:16; Matt 24:20.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.24.1 (CSEL 62:265; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-24-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-24-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.24.2CSEL 62:265
aut certe exsurge, aquilo hoc est: surge qui dormis et exsurge a mortuis; populus nationum, qui diu ante dormisti, euigila aliquando, et inlucescet tibi Christus. postremo omnes inuitantur ad ecclesiam, et synagogae populus et gentilium, sed prius synagogae, quia priores ex Iudaeis apostoli crediderunt, per ipsos postea nationum populi congregati sunt.
Or at least “Arise, north wind” means: “Rise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead”; people of the nations, who slept so long before, wake up at last, and Christ will shine on you. Finally, all are invited to the church, both the people of the synagogue and that of the gentiles, but the synagogue first, because the apostles from among the Jews believed first, and through them afterwards the peoples of the nations were gathered.
Song 4:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Eph 5:14 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Or “Arise, north wind” calls the sleeping nations to wake; Jews first, then gentiles, are invited to the church.
- Song 4:16; Eph 5:14.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): e xsurge, aquilo → exsurge, aquilo.
Topics: The church and Israel, Mission and the spread of the gospel
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.24.2 (CSEL 62:265; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-24-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-24-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 25
12.25.1CSEL 62:265
Uide ergo uenientem solem nostrum ad austrum postea gyrantem ad aquilonem. Hierusalem Hierusalem — uenit utique ad eam quam etiam uocare dignatus est, sed haec Hierusalem terrena est, quae occidit prophetas, hoc est synagoga Iudaeorum —, quotiens, inquit, uolui congregare filios tuos sicut gallina pullos suos, et noluisti. ecce relinquetur uobis domus uestra deserta.
See, then, our Sun coming toward the south and afterwards circling toward the north. “Jerusalem, Jerusalem” (he certainly came to her, whom he even deigned to call; but this is the earthly Jerusalem, which kills the prophets, that is, the synagogue of the Jews), “how often,” he says, “I wished to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks, and you would not. Behold, your house will be left to you desolate.”
Matt 23:37 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 23:38 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ came first to earthly Jerusalem, which refused him.
- Matt 23:37–38. Translated as written.
Topics: The church and Israel
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.25.1 (CSEL 62:265; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-25-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-25-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.25.2CSEL 62:265–266
gyrauit igitur se ad gentes, gyrando autem gyrauit spiritus dei et in gyros suos conuersus est, ut fieret deus omnia et in omnibus. ideo sanctus caelum dicitur, quia uicinior eum claritas solis semper inlustrat; habet splendorem suum domesticum, ut tenebras noctis non sentiat. ideo ecclesia et caelum dicitur et mundus, quod habeat
So he turned round to the nations; and circling, circling went the Spirit of God and returned on his circuits, so that God might be all in all. That is why a saint is called heaven, because the brightness of the Sun, being nearer, always lights him up; he has his own household splendor, so that he does not feel the darkness of night. That is why the church is called both heaven and world, because it has
Eccl 1:6 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:28 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ turned to the nations so that God may be all in all; the church is called both heaven and world.
- Eccl 1:6; 1 Cor 15:28.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.25.2 (CSEL 62:265–266; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-25-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-25-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.25.3CSEL 62:266
sanctos angelis et archangelis conparandos, habeat etiam plerosque terrenos. dicitur et orbis terrarum, qui est fundatus super maria et super flumina praeparatus. denique quasi orbis terrarum dicit ecclesia: nolite aspicere me, quoniam fusca sum, quia non respexit me sol, eo quod uelut pruinis hiemalibus geluque constrictam gentilis erroris congregationem gentium
saints comparable to angels and archangels, and also has many earthly members. It is also called the world, which “is founded on the seas and prepared upon the rivers.” In fact the church, as the world, says: “Do not look at me, because I am dark, for the sun has not looked upon me,” because the Sun of righteousness for a long time judged the congregation of the nations, bound as by winter frosts and the ice of pagan error,
Ps 24:2 (23:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Song 1:6 (1:5 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The church, as the world, says she is dark because the Sun long passed over the frozen nations.
- Ps 24:2 (LXX 23:2); Song 1:6 (Vulgate 1:5). The sentence continues in 12.25.4.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.25.3 (CSEL 62:266; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-25-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-25-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.25.4CSEL 62:266
sol iustitiae diu indignam aestimauerit quam serena uultus sui luce lustraret. nonne tibi uidebatur hiberni rigor temporis, quando notus erat in Iudaea tantummodo deus? nunc autem plenitudo lucis fulget aestiuae, quando omnia et in omnibus Christus. nonne terra domini et plenitudo eius? et uere orbis terrarum in ecclesia, in qua non Iudaeus tantummodo aut Graecus, non barbarus aut Scytha, non seruus aut liber, sed omnes in Christo unum sumus. sol omnibus fulget, dies omnibus lucet.
unworthy to be lit by the serene light of his face. Did it not seem to you the rigor of a wintry season when God was known only in Judah? But now the fullness of summer light shines, when Christ is all and in all. Is not “the earth the Lord’s and its fullness”? And truly the whole world is in the church, in which there is not only Jew or Greek, not barbarian or Scythian, not slave or free, but we are all one in Christ. The sun shines for all; the day gives light to all.
Ps 76:1 (75:2 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Col 3:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 24:1 (23:1 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 3:28 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Once God was known only in Judah; now in the church Christ is all in all and the light shines for every people.
- Ps 76:1 (LXX 75:2); Col 3:11; Ps 24:1 (LXX 23:1); Gal 3:28.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.25.4 (CSEL 62:266; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-25-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-25-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 26
12.26.1CSEL 62:266
Ideoque ait: dispositione tua permanet dies. nam nisi ita accipias, quomodo permanet dies, cum post breue momentum diei sequatur occasus et fiat noctis successio? sed sunt quibus semper dies est, illis utique quibus adest Christus, qui dicit: ambulate dum lucem habetis. habetis quem uidit Abraham, dies remissionis peccatorum, de quo legis: hic est dies quem fecit dominus; exultemus et laetemur in eo. sunt ergo sancti quibus sol numquam occidit, quia dominus lux eorum est, sicut scriptum est: et erit illis dominus lumen aeternum.
And therefore he says: “By your ordering the day abides.” For unless you take it so, how does the day abide, when after a brief moment of daylight sunset follows and night comes in its turn? But there are some for whom it is always day, namely those with whom Christ is present, who says: “Walk while you have the light.” You have the one whom Abraham saw, the day of the forgiveness of sins, of which you read: “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” So there are saints for whom the sun never sets, because the Lord is their light, as it is written: “And the Lord will be an everlasting light to them.”
Ps 119:91 (118:91 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 12:35 (quotation, high confidence) · John 8:56 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 118:24 (117:24 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 60:19 (quotation, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The day that abides is Christ, the light of the saints, for whom the sun never sets.
- Ps 119:91 (LXX 118:91); John 12:35; John 8:56; Ps 118:24 (LXX 117:24); Isa 60:19.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.26.1 (CSEL 62:266; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-26-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-26-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 27
12.27.1CSEL 62:266–267
Et expressit causam permanentis diei atque subtexuit: dispositione, inquit, tua permanet dies, quoniam uniuersa omnia seruiunt tibi. uidetur itaque significare futurum illud, quando nox non erit amplius et non indigebitur lucernae uel solis lumine, quoniam dominus inluminabit eos.
And he expressed the reason for the abiding day and added: “By your ordering,” he says, “the day abides, for all things serve you.” So he seems to signify that future time when there will be night no more, and there will be no need of lamp or light of sun, because the Lord will enlighten them.
Ps 119:91 (118:91 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rev 22:5 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The abiding day points to the future when God himself will be the light and night will be no more.
- Ps 119:91 (LXX 118:91); Rev 22:5.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (letter-spaced lemma split and OCR slip (0 for o) in the digital text): q u 0- niam uniuersa omni a → quoniam uniuersa omnia.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.27.1 (CSEL 62:266–267; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-27-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-27-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.27.2CSEL 62:267
qui sint illi, supra ait dicens: et serui eius seruient ei, hoc est: domini facient uoluntatem. nunc enim non omnes seruimus; cum autem tradiderit regnum deo et patri, tunc erunt subiecta omnia ei qui sibi uniuersa subiecit, adquirens omnium fidem per unigeniti passionem. subiectio igitur mentium facit sedulam seruitutem.
Who they are he has said just before: “And his servants will serve him,” that is, they will do the Lord’s will. For now we do not all serve; but when he has handed over the kingdom to God the Father, then all things will be subject to him who subjected all things to himself, gaining the faith of all through the passion of the Only-begotten. So the subjection of minds makes service diligent.
Rev 22:3 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:24 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:28 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: At the end, when the kingdom is handed over to the Father, all will serve God.
- Rev 22:3; 1 Cor 15:24, 28.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray full stop in the digital text): fidem per. unigeniti → fidem per unigeniti.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.27.2 (CSEL 62:267; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-27-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-27-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.27.3CSEL 62:267
ergo cum omnes crediderint in dominum Iesum, tunc uniuersa deo seruient, ut sit deus omnia et in omnibus. nunc autem non omnes serui dei, quia plerique serui peccati; qui enim peccatum facit, seruus est peccati. dominus autem non uult cum aliis consortium habere dominatus; permanet ergo dies praesentibus. potuit dicere permanebit, sed prophetis futura pro praesentibus praesto esse uidentur in spiritu.
So when all have believed in the Lord Jesus, then all things will serve God, so that God may be all in all. But now not all are servants of God, because many are servants of sin; for whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And the Lord does not wish to share his lordship with others. So the day abides for those present. He could have said “will abide,” but to the prophets future things seem present in the Spirit, as though they were here now.
1 Cor 15:28 (quotation, high confidence) · John 8:34 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Now many serve sin, but when all believe, all will serve God; the prophet speaks of the future as present.
- 1 Cor 15:28; John 8:34.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.27.3 (CSEL 62:267; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-27-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-27-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 28
12.28.1CSEL 62:267
Sequitur uersus quartus: nisi quia lex tua meditatio mea est, tunc forsitan perissem in humilitate mea. lucebat propheta ut dies, cui meditatio lex erat; etenim oleum luminis accipiebat ex lege. denique ne corpore mortis lux diei posset extingui, ambulabat in lege et ideo ambulabat in lumine. alioquin perissem, inquit, in humilitate mea.
The fourth verse follows: “Unless your law had been my meditation, I should perhaps have perished in my humiliation.” The prophet shone like the day, for the law was his meditation; for he received the oil of his light from the law. In fact, so that the light of day might not be put out by the body of death, he walked in the law and so walked in the light. “Otherwise,” he says, “I should have perished in my humiliation.”
Ps 119:92 (118:92 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 7:24 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The prophet’s meditation on the law was the oil of his light.
- Ps 119:92 (LXX 118:92); Rom 7:24.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.28.1 (CSEL 62:267; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-28-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-28-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.28.2CSEL 62:267
humilitas non semper uirtutis est, sed est etiam adflictionis, hoc est non semper uoluntaria, sed quae etiam ex necessitate suscipitur, quando aliqua adflictione temptamur. alioquin nemo perit in humilitate, quae magis seruare consueuit. ergo quando in adflictionis tempore sumus et quatimur aduersis, meditatio nobis in lege sit, ne inparatos procella temptationis adfligat.
Humility does not always belong to virtue; it belongs also to affliction, that is, it is not always voluntary but is also undergone from necessity, when we are tried by some affliction. Otherwise no one perishes in humility, which usually rather preserves. So when we are in a time of affliction and are shaken by adversities, let our meditation be in the law, so that the storm of temptation may not strike us unprepared.
Notes and citation
Summary: Humiliation can be affliction, not virtue; meditation on the law prepares us for it.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.28.2 (CSEL 62:267; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-28-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-28-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.28.3CSEL 62:267–268
athleta nisi exercitio palaestrae prius fuerit adsuefactus, non audet subire certamen. ungamus igitur oleo lectionis nostrae mentis lacertos. sit nobis tota die ac nocte exercitii usus in quadam caelestium scripturarum palaestra artusque animorum nostrorum salubris spiritalium ferculorum esca confirmet, ut, cum aduersarius adsistere coeperit et puluere-
An athlete does not dare to enter a contest unless he has first been accustomed by the exercise of the wrestling school. Let us therefore anoint the arms of our mind with the oil of our reading. Let us practice all day and night in a kind of wrestling school of the heavenly Scriptures, and let the wholesome food of spiritual dishes strengthen the limbs of our souls, so that when the adversary begins to stand against us and has sprinkled us with the dust
Ps 1:2 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Like athletes we must train daily in the Scriptures to be ready for the adversary.
- The word puluere is divided between 12.28.3 and 12.28.4.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.28.3 (CSEL 62:267–268; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-28-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-28-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.28.4CSEL 62:268
uere nos suae temptationis asperserit, stemus intrepidi, nitamur non ut in incertum nec ut aera caedentes. melius percutimus uerberati, si percutienti maxillam alteram praebeamus, si uindictam non requiramus, sed ei, qui dixit: mihi uindictam, ego retribuam, causam uindictae integram reseruemus. caedimus aerias potestates, si nos ipsos castigare nouerimus. castigabat carnem
of his temptation, we may stand undaunted, and strive not as uncertainly, nor as beating the air. We strike better when struck, if we offer the other cheek to him who strikes us, if we do not seek vengeance, but reserve the whole cause of vengeance for him who said: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” We strike the powers of the air if we know how to chastise ourselves. Paul chastised his flesh
1 Cor 9:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 5:39 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 12:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Eph 2:2 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: We fight best by turning the other cheek, leaving vengeance to God, and disciplining ourselves.
- 1 Cor 9:26; Matt 5:39; Rom 12:19; Eph 2:2.
Topics: Ethics, Love of enemies and forgiveness of wrongs
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.28.4 (CSEL 62:268; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-28-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-28-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.28.5CSEL 62:268
suam Paulus, ut aduersarios uerberaret, et seruituti redigebat corpus suum, ut dominaretur inimicis. exerceamur igitur indefesso meditationis usu, exerceamur ante certamen, ut simus certamini semper parati, et cum frequentior aduersarii ictus ingruerit nunc inopia nunc rapina nunc orbitate nunc corporis aegritudine nunc maerore animi nunc terrore mortis et acerbitate poenarum, dicat unusquisque nostrum qui potuerit sustinere ac perpeti: nisi quia lex tua meditatio mea est, tunc forsitan perissem in humilitate mea.
in order to beat his adversaries, and brought his body into subjection in order to master his enemies. Let us therefore train in tireless practice of meditation; let us train before the contest, so that we may always be ready for the contest, and when the adversary’s blows fall more thickly, now by want, now by robbery, now by bereavement, now by bodily sickness, now by grief of mind, now by the terror of death and the bitterness of punishments, let each of us who has been able to endure and bear them say: “Unless your law had been my meditation, I should perhaps have perished in my humiliation.”
1 Cor 9:27 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 119:92 (118:92 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Trained by meditation, the believer can endure every kind of adversity and repeat the psalm’s words.
- 1 Cor 9:27; Ps 119:92 (LXX 118:92).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray full stop in the digital text): ac perpeti:. nisi → ac perpeti: nisi.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.28.5 (CSEL 62:268; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-28-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-28-5
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 29
12.29.1CSEL 62:268–269
Quanta simul coaceruata sunt, ut illa adflictione Iob sanctus periret! sed quia patriarcharum moribus informatus oraculorumque caelestium et naturalis legis erat institutione formatus, ideo in temptationibus tantis perire non potuit. denique cum amisisset tam amplas subito facultates, carissimos filios, quasi is, cui meditatio cotidiana esset in lege diuina, ait: nudus exiui de uentre matris meae, nudus ibo eo. dominus dedit, dominus abstulit; sicut domino placuit, ita factum est; sit nomen domini benedictum. perfusus etiam corporis totius ulceribus cum temptaretur uxoris alloquiis, qui meminisset Adam sic esse deiectum, dum propriae credit uxori, respondebat: sicut una ex insipientibus mulieribus locuta es. quodsi illam quasi sapientem uoluisset audire, ipse sapiens non fuisset. temptatus etiam diuersis alloquiis amicorum cum fidei stabilis inmobilisque patientiae praemia meruisset a domino, nonne dicebat: nisi quia lex tua meditatio mea est, tunc forsitan perissem in humilitate mea?
How many things were heaped together at once to make holy Job perish in that affliction! But because he had been shaped by the ways of the patriarchs and formed by instruction in the heavenly oracles and the natural law, he could not perish in such great temptations. In fact, when he had suddenly lost such ample means and his dearest sons, he said, like one whose daily meditation was in the divine law: “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, naked I shall go there. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it has been done; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Covered with sores over his whole body, when he was tempted by his wife’s words, he remembered that Adam had been cast down by trusting his own wife, and he answered: “You have spoken like one of the foolish women.” Had he been willing to listen to her as though she were wise, he himself would not have been wise. Tried also by the various speeches of his friends, when he had earned from the Lord the rewards of steadfast faith and unshaken patience, did he not say: “Unless your law had been my meditation, I should perhaps have perished in my humiliation”?
Job 1:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Job 2:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 3:17 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 119:92 (118:92 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Job, formed by the law of God, did not perish under his losses, sickness, his wife’s advice and his friends’ speeches.
- Job 1:21 (LXX form); Job 2:10; Gen 3:6, 17; Ps 119:92 (LXX 118:92).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphen in the digital text): sic-ut una → sicut una.
Topics: Patience
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.29.1 (CSEL 62:268–269; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-29-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-29-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 30
12.30.1CSEL 62:269
Quam grate hoc dicit hodie qui in martyrio plurima flagella sustinuit eculeo et ungulis, plumbo, lamminis ardentibus, gladio conprobatus! potuit enim perire, nisi meditatus in lege grauiora praesentibus futura supplicia credidisset.
How gratefully does one say this today who in martyrdom has endured very many lashes, tested by the rack and the hooks, by lead, by red-hot plates, by the sword! For he could have perished, had he not, meditating in the law, believed that the future punishments are heavier than the present ones.
Ps 119:92 (118:92 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The martyr endures torture because meditation on the law teaches that future punishments are worse.
Topics: Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.30.1 (CSEL 62:269; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-30-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-30-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 31
12.31.1CSEL 62:269
Quanta sanctus Ioseph pertulit, quam acerba, quam dura! primum fratrum odia, degeneris seruitutis aerumnas, parentibus defraudatus, ablegatus exilio, negotiatorum uernula et Aegyptii ignobilis uile mancipium. quae potuit nobilis prosapiae puero grauior esse temptatio, quam ut tanto familiae splendore deiectus seruiret apud Aegyptios?
How much holy Joseph endured, how bitter, how hard! First the hatred of his brothers, the hardships of degrading slavery; robbed of his parents, banished into exile, a home-born slave of merchants and the cheap chattel of an obscure Egyptian. What temptation could be heavier for a boy of noble lineage than to be cast down from such a splendid family to serve among the Egyptians?
Gen 37:28 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 37:36 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Joseph endured his brothers’ hatred, slavery and exile.
- Gen 37:4, 28, 36.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.31.1 (CSEL 62:269; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-31-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-31-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.31.2CSEL 62:269
est consolabilis seruitus seruire uel iustis; aequitate domini leuatur iniuria seruitutis. tanto igitur genere deiectus satis gratum habebat, si ministro regio suum obsequium probaretur. ne hoc quidem satis fuit ad temptationis acerbitatem. redit aduersarius ad suas artes notasque uires suas omni fraude commouit, ut per mulierem laqueos innoxiae necteret conscientiae.
Slavery is consolable when one serves at least the righteous; the injury of slavery is lightened by the fairness of the master. So, cast down from so great a family, he was content enough if his service was approved by a royal officer. Not even this was enough for the bitterness of temptation. The adversary returned to his arts and set all his known powers in motion with every fraud, to weave snares for an innocent conscience through a woman.
Gen 39:1 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Joseph served Potiphar faithfully, but the devil set a woman’s snare for him.
- Gen 39:1–6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): consolabilis seraitus → consolabilis seruitus.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.31.2 (CSEL 62:269; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-31-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-31-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.31.3CSEL 62:269–270
concitauit in eum libidinis stimulis uxorem domini sui, quae adulterinos a seruulo concubitus flagitaret, ut, si adquiesceret, crimen impleret, si recusaret, incideret offensam, nexum calumniae non euaderet. denique trusus in carcerem et innocens inter noxios aestimatus ab eo amplius coepit urgeri, cui fidem suam cum periculis praestitisset. sed quia contumeliae uirum frangere nequiuerunt, mutata est temptatio, longe asperior specie prosperorum;
He stirred up against him with the goads of lust his master’s wife, who demanded adulterous intercourse from the young slave, so that if he consented he would commit the crime, and if he refused he would incur her displeasure and not escape the trap of slander. In fact, thrust into prison and counted innocent among the guilty, he began to be pressed harder by the one to whom he had kept his faith at his own risk. But because insults could not break the man, the temptation was changed into one far harsher, under the appearance of prosperity;
Gen 39:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 39:20 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Potiphar’s wife tempted Joseph to adultery and had him imprisoned; then prosperity tempted him.
- Gen 39:7–20.
Topics: Ethics, Temptation
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.31.3 (CSEL 62:269–270; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-31-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-31-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.31.4CSEL 62:270
plurimos enim subplantauerunt secundae res, quos supplicia acerba non fregerant. producitur e carcere nutu regio, interpretatur somnium, eligitur ut honore praestantior esset omnibus Aegyptiis, regi secundus esurientibus populis alimenta diuideret. obiciuntur ei fratres, qui eum ad seruitutis iniuriam non fraterno amore uendiderant, ut uel contumeliae
for good fortune has tripped up very many whom bitter punishments had not broken. He is brought out of prison at the king’s nod, interprets the dream, is chosen to be preeminent in honor above all the Egyptians, second to the king, to distribute food to hungry peoples. His brothers are thrown in his way, who had sold him into the injury of slavery with no brotherly love, so that, tempted both by the pain of the insult
Gen 41:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 41:43 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 42:6 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Joseph is raised to power, and his brothers who sold him come before him.
- Gen 41:14–43; 42:6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): subplantauemnt → subplantauerunt.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.31.4 (CSEL 62:270; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-31-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-31-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.31.5CSEL 62:270
et adpetitae salutis dolore temptatus excuteret germanitatis affectum. sed uir iustus oblitus est contumeliam, cumulauit gratiam; eo se magis fratrem uoluit exhibere quo fratres ipse non fuisset expertus. denique hoc munere et patrem recepit et fratrem pia fraude quaesiuit. quid igitur aliud melius diceret sanctus Ioseph quam istud ad dominum: nisi quia lex tua meditatio mea est, tunc forsitan perissem in humilitate mea?
and by the threat once made against his life, he might cast off the affection of kinship. But the righteous man forgot the insult and heaped up kindness; he wished to show himself all the more a brother the less he himself had found them brothers. In fact by this gift he both recovered his father and sought his brother by a holy deceit. What better, then, could holy Joseph say to the Lord than this: “Unless your law had been my meditation, I should perhaps have perished in my humiliation”?
Gen 45:4 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 44:2 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 119:92 (118:92 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Joseph forgave his brothers and could rightly say the psalm’s words.
- Gen 44–45; Ps 119:92 (LXX 118:92).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (words joined in the digital text): quia lextua meditatio → quia lex tua meditatio.
Topics: Love of enemies and forgiveness of wrongs
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.31.5 (CSEL 62:270; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-31-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-31-5
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 32
12.32.1CSEL 62:270
Fertur prophetae cuidam — et plerique ferunt quod Esaiae in carcere posito —, cum mole inminentis urgeretur exitii, dixisse diabolum: dic quia non a domino locutus es quae dixisti, et omnium in te mentes affectusque mutabo, ut, qui indignantur iniuriam, absolutionem conferant. sed ille gratius iudicauit pro ueritate supplicium quam pro adulatione beneficium. quod utique non fecisset, nisi meditatione legis fuisset exercitatus.
It is told of a certain prophet (and many tell it of Isaiah when he was in prison) that, when he was pressed by the weight of impending death, the devil said to him: “Say that what you said, you did not speak from the Lord, and I will change the minds and feelings of all toward you, so that those who resent the injury will grant you release.” But he judged punishment for the truth more welcome than reward for flattery. He would surely not have done this, had he not been trained by meditation on the law.
Notes and citation
Summary: A tradition tells that Isaiah, tempted by the devil to recant, chose death for the truth.
- The story is close to the Ascension of Isaiah 5.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip (die for dic)): diabolum: die quia → diabolum: dic quia.
Extrabiblical texts: Ascen. Isa. 5 (Ascension of Isaiah; allusion)
Topics: Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.32.1 (CSEL 62:270; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-32-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-32-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 33
12.33.1CSEL 62:270–271
Sit nobis ergo cotidiana lectio pro exercitio, ut quae legimus meditemur imitari. in hac desudemus uirtutum palaestra, ut, cum increpuerint temptamenta, non tamquam inexercitatos, non tamquam expertes ciborum spiritalium et adtenuatos ieiunio lectionis temptationum tempus inueniat. quodsi athleticis epulis pastam animam nostram potuerit inuenire, si sit euangelicus sucus in nobis, si apostolicis escis maturitas nostrae mentis toros, animae robusta solidauerit, si frequenti meditatione memoria tenax praeceptorum caelestium parata ad tempus exempla deprompserit, nulla temptationum poterit nos perturbare congressio.
Let daily reading, then, be our exercise, so that we meditate on imitating what we read. Let us sweat in this wrestling school of the virtues, so that when temptations crash about us, the time of temptation may not find us untrained, without spiritual food, and wasted by a fast from reading. But if it can find our soul fed on an athlete’s fare, if the juice of the Gospel is in us, if apostolic food has made firm the muscles of our mind and the strength of our soul, if memory, made tenacious of the heavenly precepts by frequent meditation, can bring out examples ready for the moment, no encounter with temptation will be able to throw us into confusion.
Notes and citation
Summary: Daily reading of Scripture is the soul’s training and food against temptation.
- “toros, animae robusta” is obscure in the printed text and is translated by sense.
Topics: Scripture and canon, Temptation
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.33.1 (CSEL 62:270–271; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-33-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-33-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 34
12.34.1CSEL 62:271
Sequitur uersus quintus: in aeternum non obliuiscar iustificationum tuarum, quoniam in ipsis uiuificasti me. lex secundum apostolum paedagogus est paruulorum, donec ad perfectae fidei maturiorem quandam ueniamus aetatem. in lege autem mandata sunt, iustificationes, testimonia, iustitiae, praecepta; uiuificamur ergo in lege, unde apostolus ait: lex autem non est ex fide, sed qui facit illam uiuet in ea.
The fifth verse follows: “I will never forget your statutes, for in them you have given me life.” The law, according to the apostle, is a tutor of little children, until we come to a riper age of perfect faith. And in the law there are commandments, statutes, testimonies, judgments, precepts; so we are given life in the law, whence the apostle says: “But the law is not of faith; but he who does it shall live in it.”
Ps 119:93 (118:93 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 3:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Gal 3:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Lev 18:5 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The law is a tutor giving life to those who keep it until faith matures.
- Ps 119:93 (LXX 118:93); Gal 3:24; Gal 3:12 (Lev 18:5).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (letter-spaced lemma split in the digital text): iustificationum u m tuar u m, quoniam in ip s i s u i ui ficast i m e → iustificationum tuarum, quoniam in ipsis uiuificasti me.
Topics: The law of Moses
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.34.1 (CSEL 62:271; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-34-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-34-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.34.2CSEL 62:271
sed quia idem supra ait: quoniam in lege nemo iustificatur, intellegis utique quia iustificatio legis species est et imago, non ueritas. secundum ueritatem ergo et perfectionem nemo iustificatur in lege, secundum speciem iustificatur. ergo sanctus propheta, qui adhuc in legis iustificatione uiuebat, uidebat autem fulgorem euangelii, quasi memor ueteris disciplinae legi tamquam paedagogo utili gratiam reseruabat. considera aliquem excedentem ex ephebis in diuitiis et honoribus constitutum paedagogo suo honorificentiam reseruantem, cuius officiis informatum se esse cognosceret, ut maturiorem regere posset aetatem.
But since he said above too, “for in the law no one is justified,” you surely understand that the justification of the law is an appearance and an image, not the truth. So according to truth and perfection no one is justified in the law; according to the appearance one is justified. So the holy prophet, who still lived in the justification of the law but saw the brightness of the Gospel, as though mindful of the old discipline, kept his gratitude for the law as for a useful tutor. Consider someone who has left the ranks of youths and is established in wealth and honors, keeping respect for his tutor, by whose services he knows he was formed so that he could govern a riper age.
Gal 3:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 10:1 (echo, medium confidence) · Gal 3:24 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The law justifies only in appearance, yet the prophet keeps gratitude to it as to a useful tutor.
- Gal 3:11; Heb 10:1.
Topics: The law of Moses, Justification
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.34.2 (CSEL 62:271; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-34-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-34-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 35
12.35.1CSEL 62:271–272
Monet siquidem etiam ipsa lex, ut his, qui nobis aliquando profuerint, nequaquam esse debeamus ingrati. nam sicut habemus in ueteri testamento, pascha celebratum est in Aegypti finibus, cum adhuc sub rege Pharao positi patres nostri deplorarent miserae seruitutis iniuriam, et postea liberati rursus in terra repromissionis pascha celebrarunt, superius ad commonitionem, posterius ad
For the law itself admonishes us that we must by no means be ungrateful to those who once did us good. For as we have in the Old Testament, the Passover was celebrated in the territory of Egypt, when our fathers, still under King Pharaoh, were lamenting the injury of their wretched slavery; and afterwards, set free, they again celebrated the Passover in the land of promise: the first time as an admonition, the second as a
Exod 12:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Josh 5:10 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Israel kept the Passover in Egypt and again in the promised land, the first to admonish, the second to remember.
- Exod 12; Josh 5:10.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.35.1 (CSEL 62:271–272; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-35-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-35-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.35.2CSEL 62:272
recordationem. si quis ergo interogat Hebraeum, qua ratione in Aegypto celebratum est, respondebit: quia regi Pharao adhuc seruitutis uinculo obnoxii tenebamur, ille agnus patrum populum liberauit, ille agnus uocauit ad libertatem, ille agnus maris profunda solidauit, ut Aegyptum transire possemus. quotiens ergo pascha celebramus, meminisse debemus ueteris seruitutis et nouae libertatis, quid fuerimus et quid acceperimus. non enim potest plene quis intellegere quid acceperit, nisi meminerit ante quid fuerit.
remembrance. So if anyone asks a Hebrew why it was celebrated in Egypt, he will answer: Because we were still held bound to King Pharaoh by the chain of slavery; that lamb freed the people of our fathers, that lamb called us to liberty, that lamb made firm the depths of the sea so that we could pass out of Egypt. So whenever we celebrate the Passover we must remember the old slavery and the new liberty, what we were and what we have received. For no one can fully understand what he has received unless he remembers what he was before.
Exod 12:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 14:22 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Passover recalls slavery and liberty; one only grasps what one has received by remembering what one was.
- Exod 12:26–27; 14:21–22.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.35.2 (CSEL 62:272; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-35-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-35-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 36
12.36.1CSEL 62:272
Non ergo obliuiscamur, quia dominus Iesus, agnus dei, mundi hostia, soluit nos grauium nexibus delictorum, quibus Pharao
Let us therefore not forget that the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God, the sacrifice for the world, loosed us from the bonds of grievous sins, by which that Pharaoh
John 1:29 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ, the Lamb of God, has freed us from the bonds of sin.
- John 1:29.
Topics: Christology, Atonement
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.36.1 (CSEL 62:272; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-36-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-36-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.36.2CSEL 62:272
ille taeterrimus, non unius Aegypti, sed saeculi istius princeps, uinculo seruitii grauis nos tenebat adstrictos. non obliuiscamur in aeternum, ut, cum uenerimus in illam uere terram repromissionis, ubi est regio uiuorum, meminerimus quanta hic nobis Pharao dirus intulerit, quot perpessi in hoc simus saeculo, quibus tandem erepti malis, et agamus gratias eripienti nos domino Iesu, qui perturbatorem omnium fecit esse captiuum.
most foul, prince not of Egypt alone but of this world, held us tied with the chain of grievous slavery. Let us never forget, so that when we come to that truly promised land, where the region of the living is, we may remember how much the cruel Pharaoh inflicted on us here, how much we suffered in this world, from what evils we were at last rescued, and may give thanks to the Lord Jesus who rescues us, who made the troubler of all a captive.
John 12:31 (echo, medium confidence) · Ps 27:13 (26:13 LXX) (echo, medium confidence) · Eph 4:8 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: We must remember our slavery to the devil so as to thank Christ, who made him captive.
- John 12:31; Ps 27:13 (LXX 26:13); Eph 4:8.
Topics: Atonement
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.36.2 (CSEL 62:272; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-36-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-36-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 37
12.37.1CSEL 62:272
Sequitur uersus sextus: tuus sum ego, salua me, domine, quoniam iustificationes tuas exquisiui. facilis uox et communis uidetur, sed paucorum est. satis rarus est enim qui potest dicere deo: tuus sum. ille enim dicit, qui adhaeret deo totis sensibus, qui aliud cogitare non nouerit. ille hac uoce utitur, qui potest dicere:
The sixth verse follows: “I am yours; save me, O Lord, for I have sought your statutes.” It seems an easy and common phrase, but it belongs to few. For he is rare enough who can say to God: “I am yours.” He says it who clings to God with all his senses, who knows how to think of nothing else. He uses this phrase who can say:
Ps 119:94 (118:94 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Few can truly say to God “I am yours”: only those wholly given to him.
- Ps 119:94 (LXX 118:94).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; letter-spaced lemma split in the digital text): tuus sum ego, s alu a me → tuus sum ego, salua me; cogitare non noueric → cogitare non nouerit.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.37.1 (CSEL 62:272; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-37-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-37-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.37.2CSEL 62:272–273
ostende nobis patrem, et sufficit nobis. numquid hac uoce utitur auidus pecuniae honoris potestatis? multis non est satis deum scire, et quidem pluribus. tanti populi, tantae nationes, tanti diuites paupertatem putant domino seruire et qui supra omnes est, illis exiguus et angustus est, illis non est satis dei filius in quo sunt omnia.
“Show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Does a man greedy for money, honor and power use this phrase? For many it is not enough to know God, indeed for most. So many peoples, so many nations, so many rich men think it poverty to serve the Lord; and he who is above all is small and narrow to them; the Son of God, in whom are all things, is not enough for them.
John 14:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Col 1:17 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The greedy do not find God enough; only those content with God can say “I am yours.”
- John 14:8; Col 1:16–17.
Topics: Wealth and poverty
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.37.2 (CSEL 62:272–273; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-37-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-37-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
12.37.3CSEL 62:273
denique ille diues in euangelio, cui dictum est: si uis perfectus esse, uende omnia quae habes et da pauperibus, deum sibi non sufficere iudicauit. denique et contristatus est, quasi quod plus esset relinquere iuberetur, quod minus esset eligere. ille ergo dicit: tuus sum, qui dicere potest: ecce omnia reliquimus et secuti sumus te.
In fact that rich man in the Gospel, to whom it was said, “If you wish to be perfect, sell all that you have and give to the poor,” judged that God was not enough for him. In fact he was even saddened, as though he were being told to leave what was more and choose what was less. So he says “I am yours” who can say: “See, we have left all things and followed you.”
Matt 19:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 19:22 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 19:27 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The rich young man found God not enough; the apostles, who left everything, could say “I am yours.”
- Matt 19:21–22, 27.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): ecce omnia r eliquimus → ecce omnia reliquimus.
Topics: Ethics, Wealth and poverty
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.37.3 (CSEL 62:273; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-37-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-37-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 12, chapter 38
12.38.1CSEL 62:273
Apostolorum itaque uox ista est, nec omnium tamen apostolorum; nam et ludas apostolus fuit et in conuiuio Christi inter apostolos recumbebat. dicebat et ipse: tuus sum, sed uoce, non corde. uenit et introiuit in eum satanas et coepit dicere: non est tuus, Iesu, sed meus est. denique ea quae mea sunt cogitat, quae mea sunt, in pectore suo uoluit. tecum epulatur et mecum pascitur, a te panem accipit, a me pecuniam, tecum bibit et mihi tuum sanguinem uendit; tuus est apostolus et meus est mercennarius.
So this is the voice of the apostles, and yet not of all the apostles; for Judas too was an apostle and reclined among the apostles at Christ’s supper. He too said “I am yours,” but with his voice, not his heart. Satan came and entered into him and began to say: “He is not yours, Jesus, but mine. In fact he thinks on what is mine; what is mine he turns over in his breast. He feasts with you and feeds with me; from you he receives bread, from me money; he drinks with you and sells me your blood; he is your apostle and my hireling.”
John 13:27 (allusion, high confidence) · John 13:26 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 26:15 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas said “I am yours” with his lips, but Satan entered him and claimed him.
- John 13:2, 26–27; Matt 26:15.
Topics: The devil and demons
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 12.38.1 (CSEL 62:273; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-38-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/12-38-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.