Explanation of Twelve Psalms 40.6.1–40.29.1
Latin text: CSEL 64 (Latin text: Schenkl/Petschenig, CSEL 64, 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).
Explanation 40, chapter 6
40.6.1CSEL 64:233
Ut autem et ex aliis uocibus eius intellegamus, quia ipse se pauperem dixit, habemus alibi scriptum: pauper et dolens ego sum, hoc est quia pro nobis dolet, ut legimus; neque enim in se habuit quod doleret. sicut ergo pro nobis dolet, ut Esaias interpretatus est qui eum uidit in spiritu, pro nobis utique tristis erat, iuxta quod animam suam tristem appellauit usque ad mortem, tamen non propter mortem, et carnem dixit infirmam quae mortis subiacuit infirmitati, ut aculeum mortis infringeret, quo nos in die iudicii liberaret, quam non perfunctorie malam dixit.
And that we may understand from other sayings of his as well that he called himself poor, we have it written elsewhere: “I am poor and in sorrow”, that is, because he grieves for us, as we read; for he had nothing in himself to grieve over. As, then, he grieves for us, as Isaiah, who saw him in the Spirit, explained, so surely it was for us that he was sad, according to which he called his soul sorrowful even to death, yet not because of death; and he called the flesh weak which was subject to the weakness of death, so that he might break the sting of death, and so free us on the day of judgment, which not lightly he called evil.
Ps 69:29 (68:30 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 53:4 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 26:38 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 26:41 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 15:55 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 41:1 (40:2 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ called himself poor and sorrowful because he grieved for us, not for himself, in order to break death’s sting before the day of judgment.
- “I am poor and in sorrow”: Ps 69:29 (LXX 68:30). “He grieves for us”: Isa 53:4.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word split in the digital text): ha bemus → habemus; pauper e: dolens → pauper et dolens.
Topics: Christology, Death and burial
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.6.1 (CSEL 64:233; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-6-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-6-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 7
40.7.1CSEL 64:233–234
Sic enim subtexuit: in die mala liberabit eum dominus, quoniam amara uidetur quae plures adiudicat poenae. uia enim angusta uirtutis est, lata delicti; ideo rariores in uirtute ambulant, plures in flagitio uersantur. quo fit, ut inferior eorum sit numerus, qui praemia remunerationis accipient quam qui ob pretium grauium peccatorum sortem aduersam iudicii reportabunt. quasi dolens igitur dixit malam iudicii diem. nam si angeli in unius peccatoris absolutione laetantur, quanto magis homines in
For so he added: “In the evil day the Lord will deliver him”, since that day seems bitter which assigns many to punishment. For the way of virtue is narrow, that of sin broad; therefore fewer walk in virtue, more are engaged in wickedness. So it comes about that the number of those who will receive the rewards of recompense is smaller than of those who, as the price of grave sins, will carry away the adverse lot of judgment. As one grieving, then, he called the day of judgment evil. For if the angels rejoice at the absolution of one sinner, how much more will men
Ps 41:1 (40:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 7:13 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 7:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 15:10 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The day of judgment is called evil because it condemns many, for the way of virtue is narrow and few walk it.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): lib er ab it → liberabit.
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.7.1 (CSEL 64:233–234; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-7-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-7-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.7.2CSEL 64:234
tantorum condemnatione hominum macerabuntur! et bene dolet pro ea oue quam humeris suis reportauit et ad ouile suum reuocauit errantem. affectu nostro loquitur dei filius, quia nobis dies iudicii acerba est quam timemus. omnibus mala uidetur, quia plena terroris est, qua deus non solum forensia hominis, sed etiam occulta diiudicat, qua cogitur unusquisque aperire quod fecit aut quod sensit. ideoque multi damnantur, pauci coronantur. sed etiam ipsi qui coronantur dolebunt;
be grieved at the condemnation of so many men! And rightly he grieves for that sheep which he carried back on his shoulders and called back, as it strayed, to his fold. The Son of God speaks with our feeling, because the day of judgment is bitter to us, and we fear it. To all it seems evil, because it is full of terror, the day on which God judges not only the public acts of man but also his hidden ones, on which each is compelled to lay open what he did or what he thought. And therefore many are condemned, few are crowned. But even those who are crowned will grieve;
Luke 15:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 2:16 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 4:5 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 22:14 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ speaks of the day of judgment with our dread, for it lays open hidden things and condemns many.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): reuocaiit → reuocauit; filiue → filius; ncerba → acerba.
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.7.2 (CSEL 64:234; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-7-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-7-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.7.3CSEL 64:234
iusti enim coronabuntur, iustus autem quasi suam putat fratris aerumnam. et quis ego sum qui de illa iudicem, qua homo angelorum conciliis inseretur? ipsius domini audiamus sententiam: ueniet, inquit, hora in qua omnes qui in monumentis sunt audient uocem filii hominis et procedent qui bona fecerunt in resurrectionem uitae, qui mala fecerunt in resurrectionem iudicii. iudicabuntur ergo qui male egerunt et ideo mala dies et aspera ab ipso iudice nuncupatur, ut scias, quia ipse nobis compatitur in euangelio qui compassus est in prophetis.
for the righteous will be crowned, and the righteous man regards his brother’s misery as though it were his own. And who am I to judge of that day on which man will be set among the councils of the angels? Let us hear the sentence of the Lord himself: “The hour will come,” he says, “in which all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of Man, and those who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life, those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” Those, then, who have done evil will be judged, and therefore the day is called evil and harsh by the Judge himself, so that you may know that he who had compassion in the prophets has compassion on us in the gospel.
John 5:28 (quotation, high confidence) · John 5:29 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ himself, the Judge, calls the day of judgment evil out of compassion for those who will be condemned.
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.7.3 (CSEL 64:234; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-7-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-7-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 8
40.8.1CSEL 64:234
Sed etiam sic possumus accipere in die mala, est in tempore malo; mundus enim in malo positus est et ideo mali dies istius mundi et abundat diei malitia sua. non mediocre est, ut hic liberemur ab insidiis peccatoris. qui fuerit hic liber a crimine, ibi erit liber a poena et seueritatem iudicii subire non poterit.
But we can also take “in the evil day” in this way, that is, in an evil time; for the world is set in evil, and therefore the days of this world are evil, and the day has enough evil of its own. It is no small thing that we should be delivered here from the snares of the sinner. He who has been free from crime here will be free from punishment there, and will not have to undergo the severity of judgment.
1 John 5:19 (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 5:16 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 6:34 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The “evil day” may also be the present evil age, in which we must be freed from sin so as to be free from punishment hereafter.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.8.1 (CSEL 64:234; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-8-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-8-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 9
40.9.1CSEL 64:234–235
Et ideo uotis opus est et precibus cotidianis et aduocatione principis sacerdotum, de quo dicit Iohannes euangelista: aduocatum habemus ad patrem dominum Iesum, et ipse est deprecatio pro peccatis nostris. hic ergo aduocatus noster et deprecatio pro peccatis totius saeculi orat pro eo, qui intellegit et credit in Christum et dicit: dominus conseruet eum et uiuificet eum et beatum faciat eum. conseruet a periculis, uiuificet tamquam in mortis tenebris constitutum, beatum facere bonorum operum accessione dignetur.
And therefore there is need of vows and daily prayers and of the advocacy of the chief of priests, of whom John the evangelist says: “We have an advocate with the Father, the Lord Jesus, and he is the propitiation for our sins.” This our advocate, then, and propitiation for the sins of the whole world prays for him who understands and believes in Christ, and says: “The Lord preserve him and give him life and make him blessed.” May he preserve him from dangers, give him life as one set in the darkness of death, deign to make him blessed by the addition of good works.
1 John 2:1 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 John 2:2 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 4:14 (echo, low confidence) · Ps 41:2 (40:3 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ, our advocate, prays that the believer be preserved, given life and made blessed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): e u m. → eum..
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.9.1 (CSEL 64:234–235; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-9-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-9-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 10
40.10.1CSEL 64:235
Et emundet, inquit, in terra uitam eius. bene addidit in terra, quia, nisi hic mundatus fuerit, ibi mundus esse non poterit. uel certe hoc modo: emundet in terra; quomodo enim quis mundus in luto, cum terra obliniat? ergo domini manus est necessaria, quae fecit de terra corpus, ut ipsa mundare dignetur.
“And may he cleanse his life on earth,” he says. Rightly he added “on earth”, because unless he has been cleansed here, he cannot be clean there. Or certainly in this way: “may he cleanse on earth”; for how is anyone clean in mud, when earth smears him? So the hand of the Lord is needed, which made the body from earth, that it may deign itself to cleanse it.
Ps 41:2 (40:3 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 2:7 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: One must be cleansed on earth to be clean hereafter, and only the Lord who made the body from earth can cleanse it.
- “May he cleanse his life on earth” is the Old Latin reading of Ps 41:2 (LXX 40:3).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): emun d et → emundet.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.10.1 (CSEL 64:235; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-10-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-10-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 11
40.11.1CSEL 64:235
Et non tradat eum in manus inimici eius. quis est inimicus nisi leo ille qui circuit rugiens, quaerens quem deuoret? alii habent Graeci: et non tradat eum in animas inimicorum eius. animas pro manibus posuit, eo quod inimicorum animae bonis insidientur et cogitationibus suis iustum conentur euertere. dicuntur et animae pro hominibus: omnes animae septuaginta quae descenderunt in Aegyptum. ideo et Dauid maluit dei se committere potestati quam insidiis inimicorum, qui parcere sua uoluntate nescirent.
“And may he not deliver him into the hands of his enemy.” Who is the enemy but that lion who goes about roaring, seeking whom he may devour? Other Greek copies have: “And may he not deliver him into the souls of his enemies.” It has put “souls” for “hands”, because the souls of enemies lie in wait for the good and try to overthrow the righteous by their designs. “Souls” is also used for men: “All the seventy souls who went down into Egypt.” Therefore David too preferred to commit himself to the power of God rather than to the snares of enemies, who would not know how to spare of their own will.
Ps 41:2 (40:3 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Pet 5:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 1:5 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 46:27 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Sam 24:14 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The enemy is the devil; the Greek reading “into the souls of his enemies” points to their plotting minds.
- David’s choice: 2 Sam 24:14 (1 Chr 21:13).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): e t non tradat → et non tradat.
Topics: The devil and demons
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.11.1 (CSEL 64:235; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-11-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-11-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 12
40.12.1CSEL 64:235
Sequitur: dominus opem ferat illi supra lectum doloris eius, uniuersum stratum eius uersasti in infirmitate eius. quis est lectus doloris nisi caro infirmitatis? et bene lectus doloris, quia corpus est mortis, de quo se liberari apostolus deprecatur, ut tamquam de tumulo quodam possit assurgere, in quo aegra iacet anima et quasi quodam decumbit in lectulo. Symmachus lectum miseriae dixit, Aquilas grabatum miseriae, expressius Septuaginta uiri lectum doloris putauerunt esse dicendum.
There follows: “May the Lord bring him help upon the bed of his pain; you have turned all his bedding in his sickness.” What is the bed of pain but the flesh of weakness? And rightly the bed of pain, because it is the body of death, from which the apostle prays to be freed, so that he may rise as though from a tomb, in which the sick soul lies and reclines as on a little bed. Symmachus said “bed of misery”, Aquila “pallet of misery”; the Seventy thought more expressly that it should be called “bed of pain”.
Ps 41:3 (40:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 7:24 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The “bed of pain” is the weak flesh, the body of death in which the soul lies sick.
- Symmachus and Aquila are the later Greek translators of the Old Testament; the Seventy are the Septuagint.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word splits and OCR slip in the digital text): uniu er s um stratum eius uersaeti → uniuersum stratum eius uersasti.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.12.1 (CSEL 64:235; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-12-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-12-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.12.2CSEL 64:235–236
his ergo uersiculis utendum est apud eos, qui diutius infirmitate corporis detinentur, ut habeant medicinam dei,. quo sani esse mereantur. lectus ergo animae caro infirma est, cuius aegritudini anima nostra compatitur, quae si habeat adiutorem dominum, dicit ei: surge, tolle lectum tuum et uade in domum tuam.
These verses, then, should be used with those who are long held by bodily sickness, that they may have the medicine of God by which they may be found worthy to be healed. The bed of the soul, then, is the weak flesh, with whose sickness our soul suffers; and if it has the Lord as helper, he says to it: “Rise, take up your bed and go into your house.”
Mark 2:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 9:6 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: These verses are fit for the long sick; the Lord says to the soul, “Rise, take up your bed.”
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen and stray line number in the digital text): uer- 30 siculis → uersiculis.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.12.2 (CSEL 64:235–236; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-12-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-12-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.12.3CSEL 64:236
quo confortatus dei uerbo qui aeger erat surgit et tollit lectum suum in quo iacebat et redit in statum pristinum sanitatis. hoc est in domum suam regredi, ut habitet in domicilio robustissimae ualitudinis. qui habitat regit, qui regit uirtutis habet sibi gratiam suffragantem. sed etiam stratum omnem uersat dominus in infirmitate languentis, cui adesse dignatur. quod uersatur, statum mutat aut ex sanitate in aegritudinem aut ex aegritudine ad sanitatem. hic ergo, qui aegrotat, uersat se ad remedium sanitatis.
Strengthened by this word of God, he who was sick rises and takes up the bed on which he lay and returns to his former state of health. This is to go back into his house, so as to dwell in the home of the most robust health. He who dwells rules; he who rules has the grace of virtue supporting him. But the Lord also turns all the bedding in the sickness of the one who languishes, to whom he deigns to be present. What is turned changes its state, either from health to sickness or from sickness to health. So the one who is sick here turns himself toward the remedy of health.
Mark 2:12 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 41:3 (40:4 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The healed soul returns to its “house” of health; the Lord turns the sick man’s bedding from sickness toward health.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips and word space lost in the digital text): domieiIioTobustissimae → domicilio robustissimae; sanitat s. → sanitatis..
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.12.3 (CSEL 64:236; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-12-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-12-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 13
40.13.1CSEL 64:236
Sic ergo dominus Iesus, etsi uulneratus est propter peccata nostra, tamen non in illa infirmitate permansit, sed se ipse uersauit in melius ad uniuersorum salutem. itaque passione infirmitas est soluta, mors resurrectione. sicut ergo se ipse uersauit ad populorum redemptionem nec sensit aculeum mortis aut uulneris infirmitatem,
So, then, the Lord Jesus, though he was wounded for our sins, yet did not remain in that weakness, but turned himself for the better, for the salvation of all. And so weakness was undone by his passion, death by his resurrection. As, then, he turned himself for the redemption of the peoples and did not feel the sting of death or the weakness of the wound,
Isa 53:5 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:55 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ, wounded for our sins, turned his weakness into salvation through his passion and resurrection.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Topics: Christology, Passion and death of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.13.1 (CSEL 64:236; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-13-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-13-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.13.2CSEL 64:236
sic eum, qui in se credit, etsi grauiter aegrotantem, ut a morte liberet, uersat ad uitam. omnem ergo stratum; hoc est uniuersorum hominum infirmitatem in sua infirmitate uersauit. suscepit enim infirmitates omnium in sua carne, erexit se in crucem et uersauit omnium infirmitates in sui corporis infirmitate. unde dicit Esaias: liuore eius nos sanati sumus. habent hoc luctatores, ut se subiciant his quibus congrediuntur atque luctantur, ut opprimi posse uideantur, et subito, cum superati aestimantur elidi, quadam arte se uersant, ut effundant superiorem; cadit qui portabatur et is qui portabat superior inuenitur, ut sternat urgentem.
so he turns toward life the one who believes in him, even when gravely ill, to free him from death. “All the bedding”, then: that is, he turned the weakness of all men in his own weakness. For he took on the weaknesses of all in his flesh, raised himself onto the cross, and turned the weaknesses of all in the weakness of his own body. Hence Isaiah says: “By his bruise we are healed.” Wrestlers have this practice: they put themselves under those with whom they are engaged and wrestling, so that they seem able to be pinned, and suddenly, when they are thought to be overcome and thrown, they turn themselves by a certain art so as to throw off the one on top; the one who was being carried falls, and the one who was carrying is found on top, so as to lay low the one pressing on him.
Ps 41:3 (40:4 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 8:17 (allusion, medium confidence) · Isa 53:5 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ turned the weakness of all men in his own body on the cross, like a wrestler who lets himself be pinned and then throws his opponent.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): superio inuenitur → superior inuenitur.
Topics: Christology, Passion and death of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.13.2 (CSEL 64:236; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-13-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-13-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.13.3CSEL 64:236–237
spiritali itaque palaestra dominus Iesus onera nostra suscipiens in illa se passionis suae congressione subiecit et infirmitatis specie, ut eum aduersarius hominem parem ceteris iudicaret quem facile posset opprimere, diuinitatis arma deposuit, humanitatis tegmen assumpsit. securus uictoriae propius temptator accessit, in costa eum telo militis uoluit uulnerare, reputans et hunc sicut Adam per costam posse prosterni.
So in the spiritual wrestling-school the Lord Jesus, taking up our burdens, put himself underneath in that bout of his passion, and in the guise of weakness, so that the adversary might judge him a man like the rest whom he could easily pin, he laid aside the arms of divinity and took up the covering of humanity. Sure of victory, the tempter came closer and wished to wound him in the rib with the soldier’s spear, thinking that he too, like Adam, could be laid low through a rib.
John 19:34 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 2:21 (allusion, high confidence) · Phil 2:7 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: In the contest of the passion Christ hid his divinity, and the devil, thinking him a mere man, struck at his side as he had at Adam’s rib.
Topics: Christology, Passion and death of Christ, The devil and demons
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.13.3 (CSEL 64:236–237; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-13-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-13-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.13.4CSEL 64:237
sed uulneratus latere dominus Iesus uitam produxit e uulnere, euacuauit omne peccatum, deiecit aduersarium, cui mortem latronis eripuit, et in illa morte, in illa sui corporis sepultura, cum aestimaretur oppressus elisus, sua se uirtute uersauit, cecidit aduersarius, dominus resurrexit.
But the Lord Jesus, wounded in the side, brought forth life from the wound, made void all sin, cast down the adversary, from whom he snatched the death of the thief; and in that death, in that burial of his body, when he was thought pinned and thrown, he turned himself by his own power: the adversary fell, the Lord rose again.
John 19:34 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 23:43 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 10:18 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: From his wounded side Christ brought forth life and, by his own power, rose while the adversary fell.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): dominus esus → dominus Iesus.
Topics: Christology, Resurrection and ascension of Christ, The devil and demons
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.13.4 (CSEL 64:237; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-13-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-13-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 14
40.14.1CSEL 64:237
Sequitur: ego dixi: domine, miserere mei; sana animam meam quoniam peccaui tibi. potest et ex persona Dauid regis hoc dici, qui uidens in spiritu tantam uictoriam et gratiam Christi petit, ut in illa remissione peccatorum omnium et sui misereatur, quoniam et ipse, si legibus quasi rex non teneretur humanis, deo tamen obnoxium se pro peccatis suis esse cognoscit. confitetur ergo peccatum suum, ut accipiat remissionem et generalis indulgentiae munus inueniat. potest et ex persona saluatoris hoc exprimi, qui nobis misericordiam dei postulat et peccasse se dixit, quia pro nobis peccatum factus est.
There follows: “I said: Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.” This can also be said in the person of King David, who, seeing in the Spirit so great a victory and grace of Christ, asks that in that forgiveness of all sins he may have mercy on him too; since he himself, even if as king he was not held by human laws, yet knows that he is answerable to God for his sins. He confesses his sin, then, that he may receive forgiveness and find the gift of the general pardon. It can also be expressed in the person of the Saviour, who asks God’s mercy for us and said that he had sinned because he was made sin for us.
Ps 41:4 (40:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 51:4 (50:6 LXX) (echo, low confidence) · 2 Cor 5:21 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: “I have sinned against you” may be David’s confession, or the Saviour’s words, who was made sin for us.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): n*iserere → miserere.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.14.1 (CSEL 64:237; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-14-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-14-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.14.2CSEL 64:237
simul nos docet, cum in aliquo sumus aduersus inimicos dei certamine constituti, ut dei imploremus auxilium, ipsi peccata nostra fateamur et tunc maxime, cum urgemur et terimur, cum dolore et amaritudine nos prosternamus, ne tacuisse uideamur, quo medicina citius nostris uulneribus deferatur, ut sanati aduersario resistamus. quomodo enim potest congredi uulneratus? unde discimus, quia peccatorum nostrorum aculeis uulneramur. uulnus medicum quaerit, medicus confessionem exigit.
At the same time he teaches us that, when we are set in some contest against the enemies of God, we should implore God’s help and ourselves confess our sins, and most of all when we are pressed hard and crushed, we should prostrate ourselves with grief and bitterness, lest we seem to have kept silent, so that medicine may be brought the sooner to our wounds and, healed, we may resist the adversary. For how can a wounded man join battle? From this we learn that we are wounded by the stings of our sins. A wound seeks a physician; the physician demands confession.
Jas 4:7 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: In spiritual combat we must confess our sins, since the physician demands confession before he heals.
Topics: Prayer, Repentance
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.14.2 (CSEL 64:237; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-14-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-14-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 15
40.15.1CSEL 64:237–238
Hinc quoque magis ac magis aperire saluator sacramentum suae incipit passionis, quod cum euangelio concordare non dubium est. nam maledicebant ei Iudaei, mortem eius expetebant, insidiabantur, urgebant, crescentem cotidie gloriam eius operis non ferentes. hoc ergo prophetia annuntiat, quod in euangelio completum est: inimici mei dixerunt mala mihi: quando morietur et peribit nomen eius?
From here too the Saviour begins to lay open more and more the mystery of his passion, which without doubt agrees with the gospel. For the Jews cursed him, sought his death, laid snares, pressed him, unable to bear the glory of his work, which grew daily. This, then, the prophecy announces, which was fulfilled in the gospel: “My enemies spoke evil against me: When will he die, and his name perish?”
Ps 41:5 (40:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 11:53 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The psalm’s “When will he die, and his name perish?” was fulfilled in the hostility of Christ’s enemies.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): ept. → est..
Topics: Prophecy and fulfilment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.15.1 (CSEL 64:237–238; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-15-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-15-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.15.2CSEL 64:238
amentes, qui uitae auctorem mori posse credebant! sed uota eorum ecclesia destruebat, credens quod etiam mortuus secundum corporis condicionem suum nomen augeret. et ideo psallebat ei dicens: memor ero nominis tui in generatione et generatione, repetebat: unguentum exinanitum est nomen tuum.
Fools, who believed that the author of life could die! But the church was destroying their hopes, believing that even when dead according to the condition of the body he was increasing his name. And therefore it sang to him, saying: “I will remember your name in generation and generation”; it repeated: “Your name is ointment poured out.”
Acts 3:15 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 45:17 (44:18 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Song 1:3 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The church answered their hope by proclaiming that Christ’s name grows even through his death.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.15.2 (CSEL 64:238; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-15-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-15-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.15.3CSEL 64:238
monentur illi qui te mori posse praesumunt, non moriar ego quae te noui uitae arbitrum, salutis auctorem. nouimus enim, quod tempore passionis et resurrectionis orabant discipuli congregati, quando eis Magdalena resurrexisse dominum nuntiauit et quando eis clausa ianua dominus se in corpore resurrectionis ostendit, quando Thomas uulnera eius uidit et credidit.
Let those be warned who presume that you can die; I shall not die, I who have known you as the arbiter of life, the author of salvation. For we know that at the time of the passion and resurrection the disciples were gathered in prayer, when Magdalene announced to them that the Lord had risen, and when, with the door shut, the Lord showed himself to them in the body of the resurrection, when Thomas saw his wounds and believed.
Acts 1:14 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 20:18 (allusion, high confidence) · John 20:19 (allusion, high confidence) · John 20:27 (allusion, high confidence) · John 20:28 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The church, who knows Christ as the author of life, recalls the disciples at prayer when the risen Lord appeared to them.
- The first sentence is spoken in the church’s voice.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): praepumunt → praesumunt.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.15.3 (CSEL 64:238; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-15-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-15-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.15.4CSEL 64:238
insultabant ergo Iudaei quasi mortuo, sed dominus uiuentem se apostolis reuelabat. cum ergo dicerent Iudaei: ecce mundus totus post eum abiit, cum dicerent, quia mirabilibus operibus suis seducit populum, quid aliud dicebant nisi: quando morietur et peribit nomen eius? et ideo in eius passione clamabant: tolle tolle a terra talem hunc, crucifigatur crucifigatur. factum est quod petebant, sublatus a terra est, surrexit, ad caelum ascendit et regnum suum de nobis paradisi sedibus reformauit.
The Jews, then, mocked him as one dead, but the Lord was revealing himself alive to the apostles. When the Jews said: “See, the whole world has gone after him”, when they said that he was leading the people astray by his wonderful works, what else were they saying but: “When will he die, and his name perish?” And therefore at his passion they cried out: “Away, away with such a man from the earth; let him be crucified, let him be crucified.” What they asked for came about: he was taken up from the earth, he rose, he ascended to heaven and restored his kingdom from us to the seats of paradise.
John 12:19 (quotation, high confidence) · John 7:12 (allusion, medium confidence) · Acts 22:22 (quotation, high confidence) · John 19:15 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 23:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 1:3 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s enemies wished his name to perish, but he was lifted from the earth, rose, ascended and restored his kingdom.
- “Away … from the earth”: Acts 22:22 joined with John 19:15 and Luke 23:21.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray line number in the digital text): opeiibus → operibus; reformauit. 23 → reformauit..
Topics: Resurrection and ascension of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.15.4 (CSEL 64:238; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-15-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-15-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 16
40.16.1CSEL 64:238–239
De Iuda quoque proditore euidens prophetia subtexitur in his uersiculis qui secuntur: et ingrediebatur ut uideret, uana locutus; cor eius congregauit iniquitatem sibi. et egrediebatur foras et loquebatur. sic distinctum Graecis in codicibus inuenimus. ingrediebatur ergo ludas quaerens prodere saluatorem, ut uideret quid ageret quidue loqueretur, ut eum caperet in sermone et Iudaeis annuntiaret; sed nihil inueniebat qui nihil intellegebat.
A clear prophecy about Judas the traitor too is added in the verses that follow: “And he came in to see; he spoke vain things; his heart gathered iniquity to itself. And he went out and spoke.” So we find it divided in the Greek copies. Judas, then, came in seeking to betray the Saviour, to see what he was doing or what he was saying, so as to catch him in his words and report to the Jews; but he who understood nothing found nothing.
Ps 41:6 (40:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 22:15 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The verses about the man who comes in to see and goes out to speak are a prophecy of Judas the traitor.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word split in the digital text; word splits and OCR slips in the digital text; word splits in the digital text): e tin g red i e bat u rut uider et → et ingrediebatur ut uideret; congr eg auit → congregauit; egredieb atur f or as et loqueb atur → egrediebatur foras et loquebatur; capeiet → caperet.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.16.1 (CSEL 64:238–239; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-16-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-16-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.16.2CSEL 64:239
bene ait scriptura, quia intus cum Iesu non erat qui de doctrina eius recesserat et institutiones eius reliquerat. uolebat intrare, sed penetrare non poterat, quia eum sua excludebat perfidia; omnis enim inpudicus aut auarus aut inmundus, quod est idolorum seruitus, non habet hereditatem in regno Christi et dei. non solum ergo ingredi moliebatur et non ingrediebatur, sed etiam uolebat uidere et non uidebat. denique loquebatur Iesus in parabolis, sed non audiebat ludas.
Scripture rightly says it, because the one who had withdrawn from his teaching and abandoned his instructions was not inside with Jesus. He wanted to enter but could not penetrate, because his faithlessness shut him out; for “every unchaste or covetous or unclean person, which is the service of idols, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” So not only was he trying to come in and did not come in, but he also wished to see and did not see. Finally, Jesus spoke in parables, but Judas did not hear.
Eph 5:5 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 13:13 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas, though among the disciples, was never inside with Jesus, being shut out by his faithlessness and greed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word spaces lost in the digital text): autinmundus, quodestidolorum → aut inmundus, quod est idolorum.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.16.2 (CSEL 64:239; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-16-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-16-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.16.3CSEL 64:239
denique diuina non uidebat mysteria; non enim omnes audiunt uerbum dei qui sibi uidentur audire. nam si omnes audirent, non diceret Iesus: qui habet aures audiendi audiat. et ideo, quia non audiebat neque uidere poterat, loquebatur uana pro ueris et putabat quod Iesum falleret dicens: potuit hoc uenundari et dari pauperibus, cum furtis suis, non pauperibus prouideret, appellans rabbi atque doctorem a cuius magisterio deuiabat cuiusque cor, in quod se immiserat, diabolus congregabat sibi et augebat iniquitates.
Finally, he did not see the divine mysteries; for not all hear the word of God who think they hear. For if all heard, Jesus would not say: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” And therefore, because he did not hear and could not see, he spoke vain things instead of true, and thought that he was deceiving Jesus when he said: “This could have been sold and given to the poor”, though he was providing for his thieving, not for the poor; calling him rabbi and teacher, from whose teaching he was straying, and whose heart, into which he had entered, the devil was gathering to himself and increasing its iniquities.
Matt 11:15 (quotation, high confidence) · John 12:5 (quotation, high confidence) · John 12:6 (allusion, high confidence) · John 13:2 (allusion, high confidence) · John 13:27 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 41:6 (40:7 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas spoke vain words about the poor while thinking of his theft, and the devil filled his heart with iniquity.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word spaces lost in the digital text): potuithocuenundari → potuit hoc uenundari.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.16.3 (CSEL 64:239; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-16-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-16-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.16.4CSEL 64:239–240
sibi enim erat iniquus, sibi iniustus, sibi delinquebat, qui intra se dolum meditabatur qui latere non poterat. non enim circumueniebatur Iesus, qui prodebatur uolens et testificabatur: unus ex uobis tradet me. denique confessus est ludas dicens: numquid ego sum, rabbi? et dominus ait: tu dixisti. nec sic intellexit ludas quod cognosceretur; nam si intellexisset, non prodidisset.
For he was unjust to himself, wicked to himself, sinning against himself, he who was devising within himself a deceit that could not be hidden. For Jesus was not deceived, who was betrayed willingly and testified: “One of you will betray me.” Finally Judas confessed, saying: “Is it I, Rabbi?” And the Lord said: “You have said it.” Not even so did Judas understand that he was known; for if he had understood, he would not have betrayed him.
Matt 26:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 26:25 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jesus was not deceived by Judas, whom he named as his betrayer, though Judas did not understand that he was known.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): doium → dolum.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.16.4 (CSEL 64:239–240; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-16-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-16-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 17
40.17.1CSEL 64:240
Sed nihilominus et egrediebatur foras et loquebatur. aptus uersiculus aduersum eos qui secretum alicuius produnt. pulchre ait: egrediebatur foras; foris enim lupi, foris praedones. intus Moyses in nube cum Iesu, foris Iudaei; intus Zacharias sacerdos in templo, foris multitudo; intus spiritus sanctus in cordibus nostris clamat ad patrem, foris aduersarius noster sicut leo peruigilat ad rapinam;
But nonetheless “he went out and spoke”. A fitting verse against those who betray anyone’s secret. Beautifully he says: “He went out”; for outside are the wolves, outside the robbers. Inside is Moses in the cloud with Jesus, outside the Jews; inside is Zechariah the priest in the temple, outside the multitude; inside the Holy Spirit in our hearts cries to the Father, outside our adversary like a lion keeps watch for prey;
Ps 41:6 (40:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 24:13 (allusion, low confidence) · Exod 24:18 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 17:5 (allusion, low confidence) · Luke 1:9 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 1:10 (allusion, high confidence) · Gal 4:6 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Pet 5:8 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: “He went out”: outside are the wolves and the adversary, inside are Moses, Zechariah and the Spirit crying to the Father.
- “Moses in the cloud with Jesus”: Moses with Joshua on the mount (Exod 24:13–18), or Moses with Christ at the Transfiguration (Matt 17:3–5).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): Tudaei → Iudaei.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.17.1 (CSEL 64:240; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-17-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-17-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.17.2CSEL 64:240
foris infideles, intus fideles. et ideo eos qui foris sunt deus iudicabit, eos autem qui intus sunt Christus absoluet. egrediebatur igitur ludas et loquebatur. egrediebatur de fide, egrediebatur de consilio et numero apostolorum, egrediebatur de conuiuio Christi ad latrocinium diaboli, egrediebatur de gratia sanctificationis ad laqueum mortis, qui uana ad perfidos loquebatur,
outside are the unbelievers, inside the faithful. And therefore God will judge those who are outside, but Christ will absolve those who are inside. Judas, then, went out and spoke. He went out from faith, he went out from the council and number of the apostles, he went out from Christ’s supper to the devil’s brigandage, he went out from the grace of sanctification into the snare of death, he who spoke vain things to the faithless;
1 Cor 5:13 (allusion, high confidence) · John 13:30 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas went out from faith, from the apostles and from Christ’s supper into the devil’s service.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): ldeo → ideo; ludicabit → iudicabit; laLrocinium → latrocinium.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.17.2 (CSEL 64:240; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-17-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-17-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.17.3CSEL 64:240
egrediebatur foras, qui uitae interna mysteria relinquebat, egrediebatur, qui scripturae interiora non nouerat. si enim scisset, intellexisset dicentem: numquid qui dormit non adiciet ut resurgat? intellexisset etiam illud: tu uero, homo unanimis, dux meus et notus meus, qui semper mecum dulces capiebas cibos, in domo domini ambulauimus cum consensu. non intellexit ergo hunc psalmum, non centesimum atque octauum, non alios, non alia testimonia scripturarum. de quo bene euangelista dicit Iohannes et ceteris infidelibus: ex nobis exierunt, sed non erant ex nobis; si enim ex nobis fuissent, nobiscum mansissent.
he went outside, who left behind the inner mysteries of life; he went out, who did not know the inner meaning of Scripture. For if he had known it, he would have understood the one who says: “Will he who sleeps not rise again?” He would also have understood this: “But you, a man of one mind with me, my guide and my familiar friend, who always took sweet food with me; in the house of the Lord we walked in harmony.” So he did not understand this psalm, nor the hundred and eighth, nor others, nor other testimonies of the Scriptures. Of him and the other unbelievers John the evangelist rightly says: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us.”
Ps 41:8 (40:9 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 55:13 (54:14 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 55:14 (54:15 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 109:1 (108:1 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 John 2:19 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas went out because he did not understand the Scriptures that foretold Christ’s rising and his own betrayal.
- Quotations: Ps 41:8 (LXX 40:9); Ps 55:13–14 (LXX 54:14–15); Ps 109 (LXX 108); 1 John 2:19.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word space lost in the digital text; word split in the digital text): u t resurgat → ut resurgat; notus merus → notus meus; ceterisinfidelibus → ceteris infidelibus.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.17.3 (CSEL 64:240; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-17-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-17-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 18
40.18.1CSEL 64:240–241
Non manebat ergo cum apostolis proditor, qui foras exiebat et cum perfidis susurrabat. quo uerbo usa est scriptura diuina demonstrans sine auctoritate esse perfidiam, quae timet quod loquitur deprehendi. fideli autem dicitur: exalta uiribus uocem tuam. en quo deciderat apostolus ludas, qui missus erat fidem gentibus pleno auctoritatis praeconio praedicare, ut in aurem insusurraret insidiatoribus magistri sui quod timeret audiri. nonne iudicio suo se ipse damnauit?
So the traitor did not remain with the apostles, he who went outside and whispered with the faithless. Divine Scripture used that word to show that faithlessness is without authority, since it fears that what it says will be found out. But to the faithful it is said: “Lift up your voice with strength.” See to what the apostle Judas had fallen, who had been sent to preach the faith to the gentiles with the full authority of a herald: to whisper into the ear of his master’s plotters what he feared to have heard. Did he not condemn himself by his own judgment?
Ps 41:7 (40:8 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 40:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 10:5 (allusion, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas, sent to proclaim the faith openly, sank to whispering with plotters, condemning himself.
- The “word” is the psalm’s “whispered” (Ps 41:7, LXX 40:8), which Ambrose anticipates here. “Lift up your voice with strength”: Isa 40:9.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.18.1 (CSEL 64:240–241; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-18-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-18-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.18.2CSEL 64:241
sed erubescebat audiri quod facere non timebat; erubescebat, quia aduersus uitae suae: sanctificationis et honoris auctorem cogitabat mala nec gratiam beneficiis rependebat, sed mala pro bonis bono referebat magistro, quod etiam saeculi homines damnare consuerunt; erubescebat ingratus deprehendi, erubescebat auarus uideri, cum pro pecunia auctoris sui salutem proderet; erubescebat uideri perfidus.
But he was ashamed to have heard what he was not afraid to do; he was ashamed, because he was planning evil against the author of his life, his sanctification and his honour, and did not repay his benefits with gratitude, but returned evil for good to a good master — a thing even men of the world are accustomed to condemn; the ungrateful man was ashamed to be found out, the avaricious man was ashamed to be seen, since for money he was betraying the salvation of his author; he was ashamed to be seen as faithless.
Ps 109:5 (108:5 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 26:15 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas was ashamed to be found out, for he repaid good with evil and sold his master for money.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text): quiaaduersus → quia aduersus.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.18.2 (CSEL 64:241; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-18-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-18-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.18.3CSEL 64:241
similiter et Iudaei, qui aduersus fidei magistrum falsos testes perfidi subornabant, ut dicerent, eo quod praedicasset templum dei quod Salomon condidit destruendum, cum ille de templo sui corporis significasset: soluite hoc templum, et in triduo suscitabo illud, uere foris erant, qui a cognitione erant uerbi caelestis exclusi.
Likewise the Jews too, who faithlessly suborned false witnesses against the teacher of the faith, to say that he had preached that the temple of God which Solomon built was to be destroyed, when he had signified the temple of his body: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” — they were truly outside, who were shut out from the knowledge of the heavenly word.
Matt 26:59 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 26:61 (allusion, high confidence) · John 2:19 (quotation, high confidence) · John 2:21 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Those who suborned false witnesses about the temple were truly outside, not understanding that Christ spoke of his body.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.18.3 (CSEL 64:241; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-18-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-18-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 19
40.19.1CSEL 64:241
Uerbum, inquit, iniquum proposuerunt aduersum me, id est: inlicitum et contra ius et fas sermonem proposuerunt mihi, facientes de humano sanguine pactiones, quem sceleratissime uendidit ludas, Iudaei quoque emendum non minore scelere crediderunt, uanissimi homines, quasi, qui dormiat, num quid non adiciat ut resurgat. quid sit adiectio. consideremus.
“An unjust word,” he says, “they set forth against me”, that is: they set forth against me an unlawful word, contrary to right and justice, making bargains over human blood, which Judas most wickedly sold and which the Jews with no lesser wickedness thought fit to buy — most vain men, as though he who sleeps would not rise again. What the “adding” is, let us consider.
Ps 41:8 (40:9 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 26:15 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 27:6 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The “unjust word” is the bargain over Christ’s blood, made as if he who sleeps would not rise again.
- “Rise again” translates adiciat ut resurgat, literally “add so as to rise”, which Ambrose explains in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text; word splits in the digital text): U erbum → Uerbum; aduer sum m e → aduersum me.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.19.1 (CSEL 64:241; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-19-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-19-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 20
40.20.1CSEL 64:241–242
Naturale est omnibus terrenis animantibus et uolatilibus caeli et piscibus maris nasci et mori; homini, quem pretiosiorem ceteris terrae animantibus deus fecerat, hanc praecipue contulit gratiam, ut mortuus reuiuescat. haec dicitur ad renouationem uitae superioris adiectio. denique et Ezechiae regi cum praescripsisset dominus, quod uitae suae tempus implesset, et per Esaiam mandasset, ut ordinaret domum suam, quia moriturus esset, atque ille orasset ad dominum et fleuisset fletu magno, miseratus dominus mandauit ei:
It is natural to all earthly animals and to the birds of the sky and the fishes of the sea to be born and to die; to man, whom God had made more precious than the other animals of the earth, he gave this grace above all, that when dead he should live again. This is called the “adding” for the renewal of the former life. So too, when the Lord had decreed for King Hezekiah that he had completed the time of his life, and had commanded him through Isaiah to set his house in order, because he was going to die, and he had prayed to the Lord and wept with great weeping, the Lord took pity and sent word to him:
Gen 1:26 (echo, low confidence) · Isa 38:1 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 38:3 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 20:1 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The “adding” is the grace given to man to live again after death, as years were added to Hezekiah.
Topics: Eschatology, Resurrection of the body
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.20.1 (CSEL 64:241–242; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-20-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-20-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.20.2CSEL 64:242
ecce adicio ad tempus tuum annos quindecim. et alibi Dauid sanctus ait: dies super dies regis adicies annos eius. inuentum ergo homini quod addatur, deo autem addi nihil potest, quia scriptum est: non est adicere neque minuere in quo perfecta et plena sunt omnia. etsi Christus resurrexit, utique in eo quod assumpserat resurrexit, in quo plenitudini diuinitatis eius nihil uel decedere potuit uel accedere. deus enim incorporeus et
“See, I add fifteen years to your time.” And elsewhere holy David says: “Days upon days of the king; you will add to his years.” Something, then, is found that may be added to man; but nothing can be added to God, because it is written: “There is no adding or taking away” in him in whom all things are perfect and full. Even if Christ rose again, he certainly rose in what he had assumed, in which nothing could either go from or come to the fullness of his Godhead. For God is incorporeal and
Isa 38:5 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 61:6 (60:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Col 2:9 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Something may be added to man, but nothing to God; Christ rose in the humanity he had assumed.
- “There is no adding or taking away” echoes Sir 18:6 (and 42:21) of God’s works. The sentence continues in the next section.
Extrabiblical texts: Sir 18:6 (Sirach [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Topics: Christology, Resurrection and ascension of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.20.2 (CSEL 64:242; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-20-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-20-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.20.3CSEL 64:242
inmortalis est, cuius summa natura et plenitudo uirtutum sine ulla carnis accessione signatur. caro autem dispensationis in Christo est, quam miserationis titulo et pietatis iure suscepit, ut captiuam redimeret, ablueret contaminatam, mortuam resuscitaret. et pulchre ait:numquid qui dormit non adiciet ut resurgat? non dixit non adicitur, sed non adiciet ut resurgat, eo quod ipse se dei filius resuscitauit, sicut supra diximus dixisse eum Iudaeis:
immortal, whose highest nature and fullness of powers is marked without any addition of flesh. But the flesh in Christ belongs to the dispensation, which he took on by the title of compassion and by the right of mercy, to redeem it as a captive, to wash it when defiled, to raise it when dead. And beautifully he says: “Will he who sleeps not add so as to rise again?” He did not say “will it not be added”, but “will he not add so as to rise again”, because the Son of God raised himself, as we said above that he said to the Jews:
Ps 41:8 (40:9 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 10:18 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The flesh belongs to Christ’s saving dispensation; the psalm’s active verb shows that the Son of God raised himself.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): ut repurgat → ut resurgat.
Topics: Christology, Resurrection and ascension of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.20.3 (CSEL 64:242; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-20-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-20-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.20.4CSEL 64:242
soluite hoc templum, et in triduo suscitabo illud. adiectionem accepit caro quasi sumpta de homine, suscepta de uirgine, sed quasi deus adiectionem ipsam operatus est, qui uirtute propria resurrexit, ut esset suae resurrectionis operator. cum legas, quod et pater filium et filius ipse se resuscitauerit, agnosce operationem illam diuinae fuisse uirtutis, quia patri et filio una uirtus, communis operatio, quandoquidem una atque eadem substantia trinitatis est.
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The flesh received the adding, as taken from man, assumed from the Virgin; but as God he himself worked the adding, who rose by his own power, so that he was the worker of his own resurrection. When you read that both the Father raised the Son and the Son raised himself, recognize that that work was of divine power, because the Father and the Son have one power, a common work, since the substance of the Trinity is one and the same.
John 2:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 1:1 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 10:17 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The flesh received resurrection, but Christ as God worked it by his own power, the one power of Father and Son.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): iri triduo → in triduo.
Topics: Trinity, Christology, Resurrection and ascension of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.20.4 (CSEL 64:242; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-20-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-20-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 21
40.21.1CSEL 64:242–243
Sed quid ego ceteros arguo? dicit dominus Iesus; quid mirum si populus me non cognouit et cruci adiudicauit, cum apostolus meus mercedem proditionis exegerit, cum conuiua meus mortem meam uendiderit? etenim homo pacis meae, in quem speraui, qui edebat panes meos, ampliauit super me supplantationem. aliqui ludam excusandum putant, quia refudit pecuniam quam pro mercede emptionis acceperat.
“But why do I accuse the others?” says the Lord Jesus. “What wonder if the people did not know me and condemned me to the cross, when my apostle demanded the price of betrayal, when my table companion sold my death?” “For the man of my peace, in whom I hoped, who ate my bread, has magnified his tripping up against me.” Some think that Judas is to be excused, because he paid back the money which he had received as the price of the sale.
Ps 41:9 (40:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 13:18 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 27:3 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s own apostle and table companion betrayed him; some excuse Judas because he returned the money.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray backslashes in the digital text): supplantationem\\ aliqui → supplantationem. aliqui.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.21.1 (CSEL 64:242–243; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-21-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-21-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.21.2CSEL 64:243
sed ecce quia ultra Iudaeorum condemnatur infidelitatem; cui enim plus datum est, plus exigitur ab eo. quid, inquit, de aliis querar? homo pacis meae, Cui pacem meam dederam, pacem meam relinquere uolueram, persecutoribus deductis me tradidit et fefellit me in quem speraui. numquid ignorauit proditorem sui futurum, de quo ante praedixit: unus ex uobis me tradet?
But see, he is condemned beyond the unbelief of the Jews; for from him to whom more has been given, more is required. “Why,” he says, “should I complain of the others? The man of my peace, to whom I had given my peace, to whom I had wished to leave my peace, led the persecutors and betrayed me, and deceived me, in whom I hoped.” Was he ignorant that he would be his betrayer, of whom he had foretold: “One of you will betray me”?
Luke 12:48 (quotation, high confidence) · John 14:27 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 41:9 (40:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 18:3 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 26:21 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas is more guilty than the others, since he had received more, even Christ’s peace.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): nutnquid → numquid.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.21.2 (CSEL 64:243; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-21-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-21-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.21.3CSEL 64:243
[hoc autem dicebat de luda, sicut scriptum est in euangelio.] non utique. sed quo amplius condemnaret eum, de fide eius sperasse se dixit. Aquilas confisus eram dixit, Symmachus posuit confidebam. plus enim grauamus eum in quo plurimum spei uel fiduciae habuisse nos dicimus, si postea spem nostram opinionemque destituit.
Certainly not. But to condemn him the more, he said that he had hoped in his faithfulness. Aquila said “I had trusted”, Symmachus put “I was trusting”. For we weigh more heavily against the one in whom we say we had very much hope or confidence, if afterwards he has disappointed our hope and opinion.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ said he had hoped in Judas to make his guilt the heavier.
- The editor deletes as a gloss the sentence “This he said of Judas, as it is written in the gospel” (in square brackets in the text); it is left out.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.21.3 (CSEL 64:243; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-21-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-21-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 22
40.22.1CSEL 64:243
Simul ostendit, quanta uis diuinae sanctificationis sit, quae excludat malitiam et deprauatum emendet ingenium, si forma propositi melioris accedat. quantos scimus esse conuersos! mutatus est Zachaeus ille publicanus et ad quaestum auaro intentus affectu, qui postea quadrupla redhibitione soluit errorem, condemnauit in se auaritiam, temporis superioris abiurauit lucra, compensauit in paupere, si deesset exactor.
At the same time he shows how great is the power of divine sanctification, which shuts out malice and corrects a depraved character, if the pattern of a better purpose comes in. How many we know to have been converted! Zacchaeus, that tax collector, intent on gain with an avaricious disposition, was changed; afterwards he paid for his error by fourfold restitution, condemned avarice in himself, forswore the gains of his former time, made it up to the poor if the one he had exacted from was not there.
Luke 19:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 19:8 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Divine sanctification can convert the depraved, as Zacchaeus the tax collector shows.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray accent in the digital text): cóndemnauit → condemnauit.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.22.1 (CSEL 64:243; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-22-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-22-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.22.2CSEL 64:243
latro ipse nequitiam suam proposito meliore mutauit, agnouit in cruce Christum, confessus est dei filium, regem uoce propria nuncupauit. quo tempore iusti plerique nutabant, ipsi certe latebant apostoli, carnifex ipse Centurio non negauit. quid de tempore euangelii loquor?
The thief himself changed his wickedness with a better purpose, recognized Christ on the cross, confessed the Son of God, and called him king with his own voice. At a time when many of the righteous were wavering, and the apostles themselves certainly lay hidden, the executioner himself, the centurion, did not deny him. Why do I speak of the time of the gospel?
Luke 23:42 (allusion, high confidence) · Mark 15:39 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 27:54 (allusion, high confidence) · Mark 14:50 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The thief and the centurion confessed Christ at the cross when even the apostles hid.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): naeliore → meliore.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.22.2 (CSEL 64:243; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-22-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-22-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.22.3CSEL 64:243–244
Raab meretrix erat, quae perfidiae atque intemperantiae se alebat stipendiis?. tamen ubi exploratores uidit, quos miserat Iesus Naue, fidem induit et periculo imminente iustitiam reseruauit nec susceptos prodidit, sed fideli humanitate protexit. ideo ergo sperasse se dicit, quasi iure praesumpserit, ut apostolus superiora deponeret, meliora sequeretur
Rahab was a harlot, who fed herself on the wages of faithlessness and intemperance. Yet when she saw the spies whom Jesus son of Nave had sent, she put on faith, kept righteousness when danger threatened, and did not betray those she had received, but protected them with faithful kindness. Therefore, then, he says that he had hoped, as though he had rightly presumed that the apostle would put off his former ways and follow better ones,
Josh 2:1 (allusion, high confidence) · Josh 2:4 (allusion, high confidence) · Heb 11:31 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 41:9 (40:10 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Rahab the harlot was converted to faith; so Christ could rightly hope that his apostle would turn to better ways.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slips): Kaab meretnx → Raab meretrix.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.22.3 (CSEL 64:243–244; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-22-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-22-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.22.4CSEL 64:244
et, qui sanctificandi alios munus acceperat, ipse in se sanctitatis gratiam custodiret et sinceritatis inhaereret officiis. bene ait speraui, quia homini dedit eligendi arbitrium, quid sequatur. posui, inquit, ante te bonum et malum. si malum elegeris, non natura delinquit, sed eligentis affectus. si unusquisque hominum condemnatur qui malum elegerit, quid de Iuda dicimus, qui prodidit eum cui copulabatur suauitate conuiuii?
and that he who had received the office of sanctifying others would himself keep the grace of holiness in himself and cleave to the duties of sincerity. Rightly he says “I hoped”, because he gave man the power to choose what he will follow. “I have set before you,” he says, “good and evil.” If you choose evil, it is not nature that sins but the disposition of the one choosing. If every man who chooses evil is condemned, what shall we say of Judas, who betrayed him to whom he was joined in the sweetness of the shared table?
Deut 30:15 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Man is free to choose good or evil; Judas, who betrayed his table companion, chose evil.
- “I have set before you good and evil”: Deut 30:15 (compare Sir 15:17).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.22.4 (CSEL 64:244; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-22-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-22-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 23
40.23.1CSEL 64:244
Qui edebat, inquit, panes meos, ampliauit super me subplantationem. quid est quod addidit panes meos? potuit dicere: qui edebat panes mecum, nisi illam intellegas, quae specialis est Christi, hoc est uerbi caelestis alimoniam; non enim in solo pane uiuit homo, sed in omni uerbo dei.
“He who ate my bread,” he says, “has magnified his tripping up against me.” Why did he add “my bread”? He could have said “he who ate bread with me”, unless you are to understand that food which is Christ’s own, that is, the nourishment of the heavenly word; for man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
Ps 41:9 (40:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 4:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 8:3 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: “My bread” means the nourishment of the heavenly word, which belongs to Christ.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word space lost in the digital text): panes mcos → panes meos; omniuerbo → omni uerbo.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.23.1 (CSEL 64:244; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-23-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-23-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.23.2CSEL 64:244
denique alibi dicit: qui semper mecum dulces capiebas cibos. quibus uersiculis bene utimur aduersum eos, qui necandos esse crediderint cum quibus uidentur epulati. gentiles hoc custodire memorantur, hostes plerumque, latrones etiam, ut parcant his cum quibus recumbunt. [ipsa pabulorum societate mitescunt unde propter huiusmodi
Finally elsewhere he says: “You who always took sweet food with me.” We rightly use these verses against those who have thought that those with whom they are seen to have feasted may be killed. The gentiles are said to observe this, enemies very often, even robbers: that they spare those with whom they recline at table. They grow gentle through the very fellowship of food. Hence, because of such a feeling
Ps 55:14 (54:15 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Even gentiles, enemies and robbers spare those they have eaten with, which makes the betrayal of a table companion the worse.
- A square bracket opens before “They grow gentle …” in the digital text and is not closed; since the extent of any deletion is unclear, the clause is translated. The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text): sempermecum → semper mecum.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.23.2 (CSEL 64:244; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-23-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-23-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.23.3CSEL 64:244–245
affectum gratiae conuiualis, si uerba consideremus, non otiose dulces cibos dixit. quomodo enim dulces qui cito corrumpuntur? sed uide ne dulces cibos dixerit uerba uitae; hos enim cibos nulla amaritudo corrumpit,, nulla mortis corruptela contaminat. unde et semper dixit. non enim semper edere quis poterit, semper autem uerbo dei possumus inhaerere et noctibus et diebus, si in lege dei die et nocte meditemur.
of the grace of the shared table, if we consider the words, he did not idly say “sweet food”. For how are foods sweet which quickly spoil? But see whether by sweet food he did not mean the words of life; for no bitterness spoils these foods, no corruption of death defiles them. That is why he also said “always”. For no one can always be eating, but we can always cleave to the word of God, nights and days, if we meditate on the law of God day and night.
Ps 55:14 (54:15 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · John 6:68 (echo, low confidence) · Ps 1:2 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The “sweet food” always shared is the word of life, on which we can meditate day and night.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray accent in the digital text): potèrit → poterit.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.23.3 (CSEL 64:244–245; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-23-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-23-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 24
40.24.1CSEL 64:245
Quid est etiam ampliauit? Graecus ἐμεγάλυνεν dixit, hoc est magnificauit. utrumque nobis exposuit dominus quod mouere nos posset, dicens in euangelio: qui manducat mecum panem leuauit super me calcaneum. unde assumptus hic sermo sit, consideremus: fuimus, inquit, increduli, errantes, seruientes desideriis et uoluptatibus. fateamur errorem, ut diluamur. et ego uidi aliquem puer athletam, cum elisisset aduersarium, frontem ei percussisse calcaneo, quod signi fuit, eo quod insultauerit uicto.
And what is “has magnified”? The Greek said emegalynen, that is, “has made great”. The Lord explained to us both words that might trouble us, saying in the gospel: “He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.” Let us consider where this expression is taken from. “We were,” he says, “unbelieving, going astray, serving desires and pleasures.” Let us confess our error, that we may be washed. I too as a boy saw an athlete who, when he had thrown his opponent, struck his forehead with his heel, which was a sign that he was insulting the vanquished.
Ps 41:9 (40:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 13:18 (quotation, high confidence) · Titus 3:3 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Greek and the gospel’s “lifted up his heel” describe the insolence of a victor striking a fallen opponent.
- The Greek word is garbled in the digital text and is restored (ἐμεγάλυνεν). “We were unbelieving …”: Titus 3:3.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Greek word garbled by font encoding in the digital text): efxeyalvvev → ἐμεγάλυνεν.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.24.1 (CSEL 64:245; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-24-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-24-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.24.2CSEL 64:245
hoc est quod ait: magnificauit super me subplantationem, quo uerbo insultantis iactantiam declarauit. leuauit ergo et ludas super Christum calcaneum suum, cum proderet eum, sed non leuauit inpune. adhuc Adam calcaneum leuat quod a serpente est uulneratum. et utique ei pedes lauerat Christus, audierat dicentem: qui lotus est non indiget nisi ut pedes lauet, sed est mundus totus. sed quod lauit gratia, inquinauerat perfidia. ludas ergo calcaneum leuauit ad uulnus. uere non tenuit caput qui calcaneum super Christum leuauit.
That is what he says: “He has magnified his tripping up against me”, by which word he declared the boasting of one who insults. Judas, then, also lifted his heel against Christ when he betrayed him, but he did not lift it with impunity. Adam still lifts the heel that was wounded by the serpent. And surely Christ had washed his feet; he had heard him saying: “He who has been washed needs only to wash his feet, but is clean all over.” But what grace had washed, faithlessness had defiled. Judas, then, lifted his heel to his own wounding. Truly he did not hold to the head, who lifted his heel against Christ.
Ps 41:9 (40:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 3:15 (allusion, high confidence) · John 13:5 (allusion, high confidence) · John 13:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Col 2:19 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas lifted his heel against Christ, defiling the feet Christ had washed, and so did not hold to the head.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.24.2 (CSEL 64:245; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-24-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-24-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.24.3CSEL 64:245
-Adam super se leuauit, hic super Christum, et ideo eum serpens grauius quam ceteros uulnerauit. leuauit calcaneum suum qui fraudulentum osculum porrigebat, quo subplantaret auctorem, ideoque scriptum est in propheta: ampliauit super me subplantationem. Esau quoque ait de fratre suo: bis me iam subplantauit. qui subplantat, dolum facit, quo aduersarium elidit aut uulnerat. ideo et ludas subplantasse dicitur, quia osculo suo uulnus infixit, quo inuadendi saluatoris signum persecutoribus demonstrauit.
Adam lifted it against himself, this man against Christ, and therefore the serpent wounded him more gravely than the rest. He lifted his heel who offered the deceitful kiss by which to trip up his author, and therefore it is written in the prophet: “He has magnified his tripping up against me.” Esau too said of his brother: “He has tripped me up twice now.” He who trips up uses a trick to throw or wound his opponent. Therefore Judas too is said to have tripped him up, because by his kiss he inflicted a wound, and by it showed the persecutors the sign for seizing the Saviour.
Ps 41:9 (40:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 27:36 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 26:48 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas tripped Christ up by the treacherous kiss, as Jacob tripped up Esau.
- Esau’s words: Gen 27:36 (the name Jacob is read as “he trips up”).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): fratre siro → fratre suo.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.24.3 (CSEL 64:245; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-24-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-24-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.24.4CSEL 64:245–246
subplantauit ergo quasi serpens, qui suo ore uenenum infundit et uulnerat dente calcaneum; et hic enim non diuinitatem Christi, sed corporis extremum calcaneum uulnerauit. leuauit etiam ludas calcaneum quasi luctator insolens et superbus, in quo caput percuteret saluatoris. sed caput Christi ferire non potuit, quia caput Christi deus. suum sane caput informis laquei nodo ligauit, ut remedium sibi salutis auferret.
He tripped him up, then, like a serpent, which pours in poison with its mouth and wounds the heel with its tooth; for here too he wounded not the divinity of Christ but the lowest part of the body, the heel. Judas also lifted his heel like an insolent and proud wrestler, with which to strike the Saviour’s head. But he could not strike the head of Christ, because the head of Christ is God. Indeed he bound his own head with the knot of a shameful noose, so as to take from himself the remedy of salvation.
Gen 3:15 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 11:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 27:5 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Like the serpent, Judas wounded only Christ’s “heel”, his body, not his head, which is God; and he hanged himself.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray periods in the digital text; word space lost in the digital text): caputChristi → caput Christi; ligauit.ut. → ligauit, ut.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.24.4 (CSEL 64:245–246; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-24-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-24-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 25
40.25.1CSEL 64:246
Uide si pie potes illud aptare, quod in Genesi dixit sanctus patriarcha Iacob, cum de filiis prophetaret: Dan iudicabit populum suum tamquam unam tribum in Israel, et: fiat Dan sicut serpens sedens in uia et in semita, mordens calcaneum equi, et
See whether you can piously apply here what the holy patriarch Jacob said in Genesis when he prophesied about his sons: “Dan will judge his people like one tribe in Israel”, and: “Let Dan be like a serpent sitting in the way and in the path, biting the horse’s heel, and
Gen 49:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 49:17 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jacob’s prophecy of Dan as a serpent biting the horse’s heel may be applied here.
- The quotation continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): trilrum → tribum.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.25.1 (CSEL 64:246; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-25-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-25-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.25.2CSEL 64:246
cadet eques retrorsum salutem expectans a domino. legimus quidem, quod Samson de tribu Dan iudex fuerit in Israel, sed alius hic significatur futurus, qui ex ea tribu progressus populum suppliciis sacrilegae impietatis affliget, antichristus ille
the rider will fall backward, awaiting salvation from the Lord.” We read indeed that Samson of the tribe of Dan was a judge in Israel; but here another is signified as to come, who, coming forth from that tribe, will afflict the people with the torments of sacrilegious impiety: that Antichrist
Gen 49:17 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 49:18 (quotation, high confidence) · Judg 13:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Judg 16:31 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Dan’s prophecy points beyond Samson to the Antichrist, who will come from that tribe.
- The tradition that the Antichrist will come from Dan is older (Irenaeus, Haer. 5.30.2; Hippolytus). The sentence continues in the next section.
Extrabiblical texts: Irenaeus, Haer. 5.30.2 (Against Heresies; echo)
Topics: Eschatology, Antichrist
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.25.2 (CSEL 64:246; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-25-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-25-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.25.3CSEL 64:246
qui sedebit in templo tamquam sit deus, uere iudicium, quod habet interpretatio; Dan enim iudicium significatur. et pulchre dixit, quia populum suum iudicabit, qui perpetuae poenae fiet obnoxius; qui enim non credit iam iudicatus est, qui autem credit non iudicabitur, quia credit in dei filium suae animae redemptorem. et ideo tamquam iudicii liber dicit: qui diiudicat me dominus est. iudicaturus est ergo populum impietatis, non plebem fidei; illi enim iudicantur qui cadunt ruina perfidiae, non qui resurgunt fidei libertate.
who will sit in the temple as though he were God — truly judgment, as the interpretation has it; for Dan means “judgment”. And beautifully he said that he will judge his people, he who will become liable to everlasting punishment; for he who does not believe has already been judged, but he who believes will not be judged, because he believes in the Son of God, the redeemer of his soul. And therefore, as one free of judgment, he says: “He who judges me is the Lord.” He is to judge, then, the people of impiety, not the people of faith; for those are judged who fall in the ruin of faithlessness, not those who rise in the freedom of faith.
2 Thess 2:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 30:6 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 3:18 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 4:4 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Dan (“judgment”) points to the Antichrist, who will judge only the people of impiety; the believer is not judged.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): indicaturus → iudicaturus.
Topics: Eschatology, Antichrist
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.25.3 (CSEL 64:246; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-25-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-25-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 26
40.26.1CSEL 64:246–247
Sedebit igitur in uia et insidiabitur in semita sicut serpens, ut uulneret transeuntes et mordeat equi nostri calcaneum; animam enim fidelium non poterit uulnerare. in qua autem uia sedebit et in qua semita nisi ex quibus Christus dominus, ut legimus, nationum populum uocauit ad cenam suam dicens: exi in uias et circa saepes et compelle ut intrent, ut impleatur domus mea?
He will sit, then, in the way and lie in wait in the path like a serpent, to wound those who pass by and to bite the heel of our horse; for he will not be able to wound the soul of the faithful. And in what way will he sit, and in what path, unless those from which Christ the Lord, as we read, called the people of the nations to his supper, saying: “Go out into the ways and along the hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled”?
Gen 49:17 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 14:23 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The serpent lies in wait in the ways from which Christ called the nations to his supper, but cannot wound the souls of the faithful.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen and stray line number in the digital text): im-30 pleatur → impleatur.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.26.1 (CSEL 64:246–247; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-26-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-26-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.26.2CSEL 64:247
et quia similiter ludas amplificasse super Christum legitur subplantationem, uidetur hoc loco ipse signari, quod mordere haberet calcaneum equi quo Christus dominus uehebatur. unde dictum est: equitatus tuus salus, quod caro eius mundi totius erat susceptura peccatum, ut salus pro exitio et uita aeterna pro morte succederet.
And since likewise Judas is read to have magnified his tripping up against Christ, he himself seems to be signified in this place, as one who was to bite the heel of the horse on which Christ the Lord was carried. Hence it was said: “Your horsemanship is salvation”, because his flesh was to take up the sin of the whole world, so that salvation might follow instead of destruction and eternal life instead of death.
Ps 41:9 (40:10 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Hab 3:8 (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:29 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas is the serpent biting the heel of the “horse”, Christ’s flesh, which bore the world’s sin.
- “Your horsemanship is salvation”: Hab 3:8 (LXX/Old Latin).
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.26.2 (CSEL 64:247; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-26-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-26-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.26.3CSEL 64:247
uulneratus est ergo equus non mendax solus ad salutem, uulneratus est equus qui mundi totius peccata suscepit et onera nostra portauit et non fuit fatigatus, uulneratus est equus qui ad furorem concubitus adhinnire nesciuit. et ideo fortassis Iohanni euangelistae caelum apertum et albus equus est demonstratus, super quem sedebat habens in capite diademata et in femore suo nomen scriptum: rex regum et dominus dominantium. albus erat qui erat inmaculatus, qui nulla peccati inquinamenta cognouerat. nam si libido tenebrosa est, recte sanctimonia relucet et splendet.
So the horse was wounded, not the horse that is vain for safety; the horse was wounded that took up the sins of the whole world and bore our burdens and was not wearied; the horse was wounded that did not know how to neigh in the frenzy of lust. And therefore perhaps to John the evangelist heaven was shown opened and a white horse, on which sat one with diadems on his head and on his thigh a name written: King of kings and Lord of lords. He was white who was spotless, who had known no defilements of sin. For if lust is dark, rightly holiness shines and gleams.
Ps 33:17 (32:17 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 53:4 (allusion, medium confidence) · Jer 5:8 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rev 19:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Rev 19:12 (allusion, high confidence) · Rev 19:16 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The wounded “horse” is Christ’s spotless flesh, the white horse of the Apocalypse.
- Ps 33:17 (LXX 32:17), “a horse is a vain thing for safety”; Jer 5:8, the neighing of lust; Rev 19:11–16.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.26.3 (CSEL 64:247; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-26-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-26-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.26.4CSEL 64:247
hic ergo equus est uulneratus, sed non retardatus. denique cum ipso uulnere de tumulo resurrexit, cucurrit ad caelum supra omnes angelos et archangelos, uelocior omni equitatu militiae caelestis inuentus, supra equos etiam illos igneos de quibus Helias raptus est. et merito uelocior, qui super omnes caelos et supra caelum caelorum ad sedem dei omnipotentis ascendit et sedet, ut scriptura nos docuit dicens: uidebitis abhinc filium hominis sedentem ad dexteram uirtutis.
This horse, then, was wounded but not slowed. Finally, with that very wound he rose from the tomb, ran to heaven above all angels and archangels, found swifter than all the cavalry of the heavenly army, above even those horses of fire by which Elijah was carried off. And rightly swifter, who ascended above all the heavens and above the heaven of heavens to the seat of God almighty and sits there, as Scripture has taught us, saying: “From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power.”
2 Kgs 2:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 4:10 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 26:64 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The wounded “horse” rose and ascended above all heavens to sit at the right hand of power.
Topics: Christology, Resurrection and ascension of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.26.4 (CSEL 64:247; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-26-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-26-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 27
40.27.1CSEL 64:247–248
Hic itaque equus in figura et ante est demonstratus tempore Machabaeorum, quem sedebat dux ille militiae caelestis aureis armis refulgens, qui Heliodorum depeculatorem illum depositi uidualis ceterorumque, quae sacrae fuerant commendata custodiae, strauit perculit et postea exoratus Oniae precibus sacerdotis
This horse, then, was shown beforehand in a figure too, in the time of the Maccabees, on which sat that leader of the heavenly army, gleaming in golden armour, who threw down and struck Heliodorus, the plunderer of the widows’ deposit and of the other things that had been entrusted to sacred keeping, and afterwards, entreated by the prayers of Onias the priest,
Notes and citation
Summary: The horse ridden by the heavenly warrior against Heliodorus is a figure of Christ.
- The sentence continues in the next section. Heliodorus: 2 Macc 3:24–34 (outside the 66 books).
Extrabiblical texts: 2 Macc 3:25 (2 Maccabees [in RC, EO canons]; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.27.1 (CSEL 64:247–248; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-27-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-27-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.27.2CSEL 64:248
uitali usui reformauit. unde uere in eo arma aurea refulserunt, quia solus equum hunc sedit et uicit in quo nullus culpae immunis euasit, non Enoch, qui raptus est, ne malitia mutaret cor eius, non Abraham, non Isaac, non Iacob, non Moyses. omnes enim sub peccato, omnes sub morte. denique regnauit mors ab Adam usque ad Moyse. solus iste est qui peccatum non fecit, solus est Christus qui peccatum abstulit mundi, qui dixit morti: ubi est, mors, uictoria tua? ubi est, mors, aculeus tuus?
restored him to the use of life. Hence truly golden armour gleamed on him, because he alone sat this horse and conquered, the horse on which no one escaped free of guilt: not Enoch, who was carried off lest wickedness should change his heart, not Abraham, not Isaac, not Jacob, not Moses. For all are under sin, all under death. Finally, death reigned from Adam to Moses. He alone is the one who did no sin; Christ alone is he who took away the sin of the world, who said to death: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
Gen 5:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 3:9 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 5:14 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Pet 2:22 (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:29 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:55 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ alone rode this “horse”, the flesh, without sin and conquered death.
- “Lest wickedness should change his heart”: Wis 4:11, said of Enoch.
Extrabiblical texts: 2 Macc 3:33 (2 Maccabees [in RC, EO canons]; allusion); Wis 4:11 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.27.2 (CSEL 64:248; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-27-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-27-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 28
40.28.1CSEL 64:248
Quomodo ergo amplificauit super hunc subplantationem suam ludas et cecidit eques retrorsum? quod in Iuda est, dolum fecit, quod in Christo, uolens passus est. saepe uidemus fortiorem uelle percuti, ut acrior lacessitus insurgat, uehementius excitetur. momordit ergo serpens calcaneum equi, uirus suae fraudis euomuit;
How, then, did Judas magnify his tripping up against him, and the rider fall backward? What was in Judas was a trick; what was in Christ was willing suffering. We often see the stronger man willing to be struck, so that, being provoked, he may rise up the more fiercely and be roused more vehemently. So the serpent bit the horse’s heel and spewed out the venom of its deceit;
Gen 49:17 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 41:9 (40:10 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas’s trick was matched by Christ’s willing suffering, as a strong man lets himself be struck.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.28.1 (CSEL 64:248; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-28-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-28-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.28.2CSEL 64:248
uolens eques se ipse deiecit, uolens cecidit, ut nos leuaret. quid est tamen quod ait scriptura: et cadet eques retrorsum? cur retrorsum nisi ut retro regeret se sequentes? retrorsum erat Petrus, cui dixit: uade retro post me, retro erant apostoli et ceteri discipuli. ideo retrorsum cecidit, quia super quos cadit saluat. omnis enim qui super hunc lapidem, inquit, ceciderit, conquassabitur, supra quem ceciderit autem, mundabit eum.
the rider willingly threw himself down; willingly he fell, to raise us. Yet why does Scripture say: “And the rider will fall backward”? Why backward, unless so as to guide from behind those who follow him? Peter was behind, to whom he said: “Go back behind me”; the apostles and the other disciples were behind. Therefore he fell backward, because he saves those on whom he falls. For “everyone,” he says, “who falls on this stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will cleanse him.”
Gen 49:17 (quotation, high confidence) · Mark 8:33 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 20:18 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 21:44 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The rider fell backward willingly, onto those who followed him, to save those on whom he fell.
- “It will cleanse him” is the reading Ambrose has of Luke 20:18 (Matt 21:44); the next section gives others.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.28.2 (CSEL 64:248; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-28-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-28-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.28.3CSEL 64:248
alii habent: uentilabit eum, alii: comminuet. qui enim uentilat frugem, mundat a paleis, qui comminuit aliquid, in puluerem redigit, ut mollitia pulueris uel poculo salubri uel reliquo medicinae proficiat. unde colligimus cauendum, ne quis semel per baptismum susceptus a Christo ex eius deerret corpore, hoc est excutiatur ab ecclesia;
Others have “it will winnow him”, others “it will crush him”. For he who winnows grain cleans it of chaff; he who crushes something reduces it to powder, so that the softness of the powder may be of use either in a healthful drink or in some other medicine. From this we gather that we must take care that no one who has once been received by Christ through baptism should stray from his body, that is, be shaken out of the church;
Luke 20:18 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 3:12 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The stone that falls on us cleanses and heals; anyone once received in baptism must not stray from Christ’s body, the church.
Topics: Baptism
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.28.3 (CSEL 64:248; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-28-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-28-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
40.28.4CSEL 64:248–249
ipsa est enim mortis ruina perpetuae. Illum autem, qui uenit crediturus in Christum, ut eum mors eius inueniat, crux eius assumat, clauus infigat, sanguis infundat, sepultura quoque eius inuoluat,. gratia resurrectionis attollat, de somno suscitet, a morte uiuificet, illum, inquam, a saeculo liberat, a peccato mundat, sanat a uulnere, a duritia impietatis inflectit, ad mansuetudinem pietatis emollit, ut circumciso corde suauem illum et inconprehensibilem hauriat spiritum, bibat poculum salutis aeternae. cecidit ergo eques retrorsum.
for that is the ruin of everlasting death. But the one who comes to believe in Christ, so that his death may find him, his cross take him up, his nail pierce him, his blood pour into him, his burial too enfold him, the grace of the resurrection lift him up, raise him from sleep, give him life from death — that one, I say, he frees from the world, cleanses from sin, heals of his wound, bends from the hardness of impiety, softens to the gentleness of piety, so that with circumcised heart he may draw in that sweet and incomprehensible Spirit and drink the cup of eternal salvation. So “the rider fell backward”.
Rom 6:4 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rom 2:29 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 116:13 (115:4 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 49:17 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s death, cross, burial and resurrection free, cleanse and heal the one who comes to believe in him.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): lllum → Illum.
Topics: Passion and death of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.28.4 (CSEL 64:248–249; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-28-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-28-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 40, chapter 29
40.29.1CSEL 64:249
Accipe et aliud, cur retrorsum cecidit. post ipsum omnes, nemo ante ipsum. cecidit ergo non sibi, sed omnibus, ut duritiam cordis nostri super nos cadendo molliret. cecidit super Adam, quem quaerebat, ut inueniret. retro eum quaesiuit, ut supra umeros suos bonus pastor inponeret secumque paradiso in illius redemptione latronis inueheret.
Take also another reason why he fell backward. After him come all, no one before him. He fell, then, not for himself but for all, so that by falling upon us he might soften the hardness of our heart. He fell upon Adam, whom he was seeking, in order to find him. He sought him behind, so that as the good shepherd he might put him on his shoulders and carry him with himself into paradise in the redemption of that thief.
Luke 15:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 23:43 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ fell backward onto those behind him, seeking Adam like the good shepherd to carry him into paradise.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): inponeiet → inponeret.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 40.29.1 (CSEL 64:249; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-29-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/40-29-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.