Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.26.1–43.51.1
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 43, chapter 26
43.26.1CSEL 64:281–282
Tamen [ ut et ipsum sanctum Dauid interrogemus, (ut), quomodo dominus plebem suam non reppulerit, colligamus. nam cum sit deus appropinquans, non elonginquans: sicut habet scriptura ueteris testamenti, utique qui appropiat non repellit. est enim misericordiae diuinae, ut nulli causa sit mortis et omnes putet esse redimendos. sed uide ne ille repellatur, qui se elongat a domino, sicut dicit Dauid: quoniam ecce qui se elongant a te peribunt; perdidisti omnes qui fornicantur abs te. quid est abs te fornicantur? quia turpitudinis
Yet let us ask holy David himself, so that we may gather how the Lord did not cast off his people. For since he is a God who draws near, not one who withdraws, as the Scripture of the Old Testament has it, surely he who draws near does not cast off. For it belongs to the divine mercy to be the cause of death to no one and to think that all are to be redeemed. But see whether the one cast off is not he who withdraws from the Lord, as David says: “For see, those who withdraw from you will perish; you have destroyed all who go whoring from you.” What is “go whoring from you”? That with the mockeries
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Jer 23:23 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Tim 2:4 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 73:27 (72:27 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God, who draws near, casts off only those who withdraw from him and go whoring from him.
- The editor’s brackets in this sentence (a deleted “ut” and an added “(ut)”) do not affect the sense. “A God who draws near”: Jer 23:23. Ps 73:27 (LXX 72:27). The sentence continues in the next section.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.26.1 (CSEL 64:281–282; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-26-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-26-1
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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.
43.26.2CSEL 64:282
suae ludibriis te relinquunt et a te recedunt et a praeceptis tuis deuii sunt. denique alibi habes scriptum: adulteros autem iudicat deus disperdens eos a se, hoc est: alienando abs te perdidisti eos. ergo qui se a domino separat, ipse a domino separatur et qui non cognoscit dominum, a domino non cognoscitur et qui ignorat, ignoratur, sicut ipse dominus dixit: discedite a me omnes operarii iniquitatis. nescio uos, non enim scire dignatur iniustitiae ministros et iniquitatis auctores. peccator ergo non repellitur, quia ipse se repellit. hoc igitur genere dicit: nunc autem reppulisti et confudisti nos.
of their own baseness they leave you and depart from you and stray from your commandments. Finally you have it written elsewhere: “But adulterers God judges, destroying them from himself”, that is: by estranging them from you, you have destroyed them. So he who separates himself from the Lord is himself separated from the Lord, and he who does not know the Lord is not known by the Lord, and he who is ignorant is ignored, as the Lord himself said: “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; I do not know you”; for he does not deign to know the servants of injustice and the authors of iniquity. So the sinner is not cast off, because he casts himself off. In this sense, then, he says: “But now you have cast us off and put us to shame.”
Heb 13:4 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 14:38 (allusion, medium confidence) · Luke 13:27 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 7:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 44:9 (43:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The sinner is not cast off by God; he casts himself off, and God does not know those who do not know him.
- Heb 13:4; 1 Cor 14:38; Luke 13:27 (Matt 7:23). “Adulterers” here is figurative, of those unfaithful to God.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray period inside the word): piueceptis → praeceptis; omn.es → omnes; ucs, → uos,.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.26.2 (CSEL 64:282; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-26-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-26-2
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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.
Explanation 43, chapter 27
43.27.1CSEL 64:282
Quomodo tamen repellat deus, qui sequitur uersiculus exponit, quia non progredieris, inquit, deus, in uirtutibus nostris. deus quando non adiuuat, repellere uidetur; unusquisque enim, qui adiumenta non sentit diuinitatis sibi opitulatione conferri, repulsum se putat atque desertum. quid est autem quod ait: non progredieris, deus, et quid sibi uult, quod
How God casts off, however, the following verse explains, for “you will not go forth,” it says, “O God, with our forces.” When God does not help, he seems to cast off; for everyone who does not feel the help of the Godhead brought to him in aid thinks himself cast off and deserted. But what does he mean by “you will not go forth, O God”, and what does it mean that
Ps 44:9 (43:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God seems to cast off when he withholds his help; but what does it mean that God “goes forth”?
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray period and OCR slip in the digital text): deus. in uirtutibuo → deus, in uirtutibus; uulc → uult.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.27.1 (CSEL 64:282; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-27-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-27-1
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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.
43.27.2CSEL 64:282
deus interdum aut progredi dicitur aut egredi aut exurgere aut descendere? non enim corporaliter deus mouetur aut de aliquo loco exit aut ad alterum transit, qui supra omnia est, aut uere exurgit, quasi in aliquo iaceat cubili uel in aliqua sede corporaliter sedeat, sed haec dicuntur, ut tu intellegas, quando et ad quem egredi dicatur et ad quem exurgere; legimus enim in hoc ipso psalmo:
God is sometimes said to go forth, or to go out, or to rise up, or to come down? For God is not moved bodily, nor goes out of one place or passes to another, he who is above all; nor does he truly rise up, as though he lay on some bed or sat bodily on some seat. But these things are said so that you may understand when and to whom he is said to go out, and to whom to rise up; for we read in this very psalm:
Notes and citation
Summary: God does not move bodily; such expressions show when and for whom he acts.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word spaces lost in the digital text): egredidicatur etadquemexurgere → egredi dicatur et ad quem exurgere; pszlmo → psalmo.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.27.2 (CSEL 64:282; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-27-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-27-2
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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.
43.27.3CSEL 64:282–283
exurge; quare obdormis, domine? et considerandum, ne quando nostris improbabilibus actibus obdormire uideatur. ut in euangelio legimus, cum adhuc inperfecti essent apostoli, quod his Iesus Christus dormiebat. uerum ubi metu naufragii et timore percussi sunt, Christum excitauerunt dormientem. perfidis ergo dormit dominus Iesus, fidelibus uigilat.
“Rise up; why do you sleep, O Lord?” And it must be considered lest he seem at times to sleep because of our unworthy actions. As we read in the gospel, when the apostles were still imperfect, Jesus Christ was asleep for them. But when they were struck with fear and terror of shipwreck, they woke Christ as he slept. So for the faithless the Lord Jesus sleeps; for the faithful he keeps watch.
Ps 44:23 (43:24 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 8:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 8:25 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God seems to sleep because of our unworthy acts, as Christ slept in the boat; for the faithful he keeps watch.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost and stray period in the digital text): etconsiderandum. → et considerandum,.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.27.3 (CSEL 64:282–283; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-27-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-27-3
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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 43, chapter 28
43.28.1CSEL 64:283
Denique et qui fidelis est intrat ad deum et a neglegente deus uidetur exire atque discedere. certe inperfectos et adhuc infirmos attrahit ad se dominus, sicut legisti dicentes iuuenculas: attrahe nos; post odorem unguentorum tuorum curramus. at uero Moyses, qui iam fortior erat et electus a domino, et ascendere legitur et intrare ad dominum deum suum, sicut scriptum est: quia ascendit Moyses in montem et circumdedit lux montem. et descendit maiestas domini in montem Sina et cooperuit eum nubes sex diebus; et uocauit dominus Moysen die septimo de media nube. aspectus autem maiestatis domini tamquam ignis ardens super uerticem montis coram filiis Israel. et intrauit Moyses in mediam nubem.
Finally, he who is faithful goes in to God, and from the negligent God seems to go out and depart. Certainly the Lord draws to himself the imperfect and still weak, as you have read the young maidens saying: “Draw us; let us run after the fragrance of your ointments.” But Moses, who was now stronger and chosen by the Lord, is read both to go up and to go in to the Lord his God, as it is written: “Moses went up into the mountain, and light surrounded the mountain. And the majesty of the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and the Lord called Moses on the seventh day from the midst of the cloud. And the appearance of the majesty of the Lord was like a burning fire on the top of the mountain before the sons of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud.”
Song 1:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 24:15 (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 24:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 24:17 (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 24:18 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God draws the weak to himself, while the strong, like Moses, go up and enter into the cloud.
- Song 1:4 (LXX 1:3); Exod 24:15–18.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): fidelia → fidelis.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.28.1 (CSEL 64:283; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-28-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-28-1
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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.
43.28.2CSEL 64:283–284
sicut ergo hic Moyses intrabat in nubem, ubi primum ad montem uocatus a domino est, ita in posterioribus perfectior cum ipse intraret in tabernaculum suum, descendebat ad eum columna nubis et stabat in ostio tabernaculi. et stans totus populus adorauerunt unusquisque ad ostium tabernaculi. in nube autem dominus; posuit enim tenebras latibulum suum. ut scias autem, quia de domino dicit: et locutus est, inquit, dominus ad Moysen. quod autem extra castra tabernaculum Moysi positum esse commemoratur, ut occurreret deo, non uidetur esse contrarium; qui enim deum quaerit quasi ad deum intrat et tota mente ad cognitionem eius ingreditur
As, then, Moses here entered into the cloud when he was first called to the mountain by the Lord, so later, more perfect, when he went into his tabernacle, the pillar of cloud came down to him and stood at the door of the tabernacle; and all the people, standing, worshipped, each at the door of his tent. And the Lord was in the cloud; for he made darkness his hiding place. And so that you may know that it speaks of the Lord: “And the Lord spoke,” it says, “to Moses.” That Moses’ tabernacle is recorded as set outside the camp, so that he might meet God, does not seem contrary; for he who seeks God, as it were, goes in to God and enters with his whole mind into the knowledge of him.
Exod 33:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 33:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 33:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 18:11 (17:12 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 33:11 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Moses, more perfect, met the Lord in the cloud at the tabernacle; whoever seeks God enters into him.
- Exod 33:7–11; Ps 18:11 (LXX 17:12).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word split in the digital text): e s t, → est,; intiat → intrat.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.28.2 (CSEL 64:283–284; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-28-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-28-2
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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.
Explanation 43, chapter 29
43.29.1CSEL 64:284
Iustus ergo intrat ad dominum, sicut Moyses intrabat in nubem; in nube autem deus. denique ecce uenit dominus in nube leui. et in euangelio habes scriptum: cum autem oras, intra in cubiculum tuum et clauso ostio ora patrem tuum in abscondito; et pater tuus qui uidet in abscondito reddet tibi.
The righteous man, then, goes in to the Lord, as Moses went into the cloud; and God is in the cloud. Finally: “See, the Lord comes on a light cloud.” And in the gospel you have it written: “But when you pray, go into your room and, shutting the door, pray to your Father in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”
Isa 19:1 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 6:6 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The righteous enter into God as Moses into the cloud, and pray to the Father in secret.
- Isa 19:1; Matt 6:6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word spaces lost in the digital text; word split in the digital text): Movscs → Moyses; aut em → autem; leuietin → leui. et in; cim → cum; efc → et.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.29.1 (CSEL 64:284; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-29-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-29-1
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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.
43.29.2CSEL 64:284
ergo intus quasi in cubiculo tuo deus est. audi etiam alibi quia intus est deus: ecce, inquit, dominus procedet de loco suo et descendet et ascendet super excelsa terrae et mouebuntur montes sub eo et ualles liquescent. scriptura hoc dicit et iam tunc significabat, quod desereret populum Iudaeorum et transiret ad gentes. denique et in psalmo hoc inuenimus expressum, cum dicit Dauid: et ipse tamquam sponsus procedens de thalamo suo, exultauit tamquam gigans ad currendam uiam.
So God is within, as in your room. Hear elsewhere too that God is within: “See,” it says, “the Lord will go forth from his place and come down and go up upon the heights of the earth, and the mountains will be moved under him and the valleys will melt.” Scripture says this, and already then it signified that he would leave the people of the Jews and pass over to the gentiles. Finally we find it expressed in the psalm too, when David says: “And he, like a bridegroom going forth from his chamber, exulted like a giant to run his way.”
Mic 1:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Mic 1:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 19:5 (18:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God “goes forth” from his place, as when he passed from the Jews to the gentiles and as the bridegroom of Psalm 18 (19).
- Mic 1:3–4; Ps 19:5 (LXX 18:6).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word cut short in the digital text; word space lost in the digital text): etualles → et ualles; currendam ui. → currendam uiam..
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.29.2 (CSEL 64:284; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-29-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-29-2
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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 43, chapter 30
43.30.1CSEL 64:284
His igitur generibus repperimus egressum dei aut eius ingressum, sicut et dominus dicit Iesus, quia ad uirum timentem ueniat: ecce, inquit, sto ad ianuam et pulso; et si quis audierit uocem meam et aperuerit ianuam, intrabo ad eum et cenabo cum illo et ipse mecum. haec igitur diximus propterea, quod ait propheta: reppulisti nos et non progredieris, deus, in uirtutibus nostris.
In these ways, then, we have found God’s going out or his going in, as the Lord Jesus too says that he comes to the man who fears him: “See,” he says, “I stand at the door and knock; and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him and he with me.” We have said these things because the prophet says: “You have cast us off, and you will not go forth, O God, with our forces.”
Rev 3:20 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 44:9 (43:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God goes out from and comes in to men as Christ knocks and enters for the one who opens.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphen in the digital text): et-aperuerit → et aperuerit.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.30.1 (CSEL 64:284; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-30-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-30-1
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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 43, chapter 31
43.31.1CSEL 64:284–285
Similiter autem et illud accipiamus, quia deus progressus est in uirtutibus Iudaeorum, quando Iesus Naue ducem militiae caelestis adorauit et ideo sine ferro uicit et sine ulla obsidione destruxit urbem Iericho, quae habebat ualidissimos muros. quando enim progressus est in uirtutibus seruorum suorum deus, uictoria consecuta est; nam progressus est angelus ad Ezechiae preces et strauit innumeras copias Assyriorum.
Likewise let us take this too: that God went forth with the forces of the Jews when Jesus son of Nave worshipped the leader of the heavenly army, and therefore conquered without iron and destroyed without any siege the city of Jericho, which had very strong walls. For when God went forth with the forces of his servants, victory followed; for an angel went forth at the prayers of Hezekiah and laid low countless troops of Assyrians.
Josh 5:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Josh 6:20 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 19:35 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 37:36 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God went forth with Israel’s forces at Jericho and against the Assyrians, giving victory.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.31.1 (CSEL 64:284–285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-31-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-31-1
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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.
43.31.2CSEL 64:285
sed interdum et quos uult in certamine coronari dominus ueluti derelinquit ad tempus, ut fide uincant nec rebus secundis et prosperis deuotio remittatur. denique saepe, qui prosperorum cursu et secundorum usurpatione ceciderunt, corriguntur aduersis. ideo frequenter inuenimus Iudaeos post uictoriam lapsos, post seruitium correctos, quia precibus et deplorationibus deum ad se redire fecerunt.
But sometimes the Lord, as it were, leaves for a time those whom he wishes to be crowned in the contest, so that they may conquer by faith and their devotion may not slacken in success and prosperity. Indeed, those who have fallen through a course of prosperity and the enjoyment of success are often corrected by adversity. Therefore we often find the Jews fallen after victory and corrected after servitude, because by prayers and laments they made God return to them.
Judg 2:18 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God at times leaves those he would crown, so that adversity may correct and strengthen them.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): uinnant → uincant.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.31.2 (CSEL 64:285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-31-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-31-2
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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 43, chapter 32
43.32.1CSEL 64:285
U"lld" et illud, quod secundum hominem dictum est et hominis affectum, huic sententiae non repugnat. quia dixit dominus: deus deus meus, respice me; quare me dereliquisti? non quod derelictus sit dominus, qui ait alibi: quoniam solus non sum, quia pater mecum est, sed quia secundum carnem hominis et affectum, qui in certamine graui est constitutus, derelictus uidetur a domino. denique non otiose ait scriptura, quia post temptationem primam discessit ab eo diabolus usque ad tempus, hoc est usque ad certamen; ubi enim magnum certamen sacrae passionis aduenit, iterum aduersarius ad temptamenta successit.
And that too which was said according to man and the feeling of man is not opposed to this view: that the Lord said, “God, my God, look upon me; why have you forsaken me?” Not that the Lord was forsaken, who says elsewhere: “For I am not alone, because the Father is with me”, but because, according to the flesh and feeling of man, which is set in a grave contest, he seems forsaken by the Lord. Indeed, Scripture does not idly say that after the first temptation the devil departed from him until a time, that is, until the contest; for when the great contest of the sacred passion came, the adversary came on again to tempt.
Ps 22:1 (21:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 27:46 (allusion, high confidence) · John 16:32 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 4:13 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s cry of forsakenness expresses human feeling in the contest of the passion, not real abandonment.
- The first word is garbled in the digital text and is translated by sense. Ps 22:1 (LXX 21:2); John 16:32; Luke 4:13.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word split in the digital text): q u oniam → quoniam; gru.ui → graui.
Topics: Christology, Passion and death of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.32.1 (CSEL 64:285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-32-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-32-1
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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.
43.32.2CSEL 64:285
homo autem, quando uelut in ambiguo constitutus est, putat se a suo deo esse desertum. sed quemadmodum hoc secundum carnis affectum accipimus, quia sibi homo uisus est derelictus, cuius processum operatus est Christus in corpore suo, ita etiam diuinitate sciebat se numquam derelinqui a patre, quia ipse dixit: ego in patre et pater in me et solum non esse signauit.
But man, when he is set as it were in uncertainty, thinks he has been deserted by his God. But just as we take this according to the feeling of the flesh, because the man seemed to himself forsaken, whose advance Christ worked in his own body, so too by his divinity he knew that he was never forsaken by the Father, because he himself said: “I am in the Father and the Father in me”, and indicated that he was not alone.
John 14:10 (quotation, high confidence) · John 8:29 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: As man Christ felt forsaken; as God he knew he was never left by the Father.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.32.2 (CSEL 64:285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-32-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-32-2
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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 43, chapter 33
43.33.1CSEL 64:285–286
Substituit etiam uersiculum istum: auertisti nos retrorsum prae inimicis nostris. non est bene qui retrorsum auertitur, quia nemo mittens manum in aratrum respiciens retro habilis est regno dei. denique uxor Loth, quia retro respexit, ad uerticem montis, hoc est ad superiora peruenire non potuit, sed in salem conuersa est, quae species cito soluitur nec potest usum habere diuturnum. sic sunt qui temporalia secuntur et non secuntur aeterna: et hic infatuantur a stultitia sua et futurorum gratiam habere non possunt.
He also adds this verse: “You have turned us back before our enemies.” It is not well with the one who is turned back, because “no one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Finally Lot’s wife, because she looked back, could not reach the top of the mountain, that is, the higher things, but was turned into salt, a substance that quickly dissolves and cannot last long. So are those who follow temporal things and do not follow eternal ones: they are made foolish here by their own folly and cannot have the grace of the things to come.
Ps 44:10 (43:11 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 9:62 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 19:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 19:17 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Turning back is perilous, as for the ploughman and Lot’s wife, figures of those who follow temporal things.
- Luke 9:62; Gen 19:17, 26.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word split in the digital text): isium → istum; d e i. → dei..
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.33.1 (CSEL 64:285–286; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-33-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-33-1
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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.
43.33.2CSEL 64:286
sunt tamen qui retro positi obliuiscuntur superiorum et ad priora se extendunt, ut ad brauium ualeant peruenire. et Petro dicitur: uade retro me, satana, ut melius prouocetur, et in numeris prior est qui post Christum est. ideo ergo prae inimicis, quia illi nos affligunt et illi insectantur, retrorsum nos esse uoluisti, ut extendamus nos ad superiora, ut semper ante nos attendamus, persequentes inimicos nostros et eorum locum transire cupientes.
Yet there are those who, set behind, forget what is behind and stretch forward to what lies ahead, so as to be able to reach the prize. And to Peter it is said: “Get behind me, Satan”, so that he may be better spurred on; and in the reckoning he is first who is behind Christ. So, therefore, “before our enemies”, because they afflict us and they pursue us, you wished us to be behind, so that we may stretch forward to higher things and always look ahead of us, pursuing our enemies and desiring to pass their place.
Phil 3:13 (allusion, high confidence) · Phil 3:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 16:23 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Being “behind” can be good: like Paul we stretch forward, and like Peter we follow behind Christ.
- Phil 3:13–14; Matt 16:23.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): retio → retro; affhgunt → affligunt.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.33.2 (CSEL 64:286; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-33-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-33-2
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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 43, chapter 34
43.34.1CSEL 64:286
Denique Theodotion sic habet quomodo Septuaginta uiri, hoc est quomodo iste uersus expositus est. Aquilas habet: auertisti nos retro ab affligente, Symmachus: ordinasti nos nouissimos ab omni aduersario. contraria nobis quae sunt nisi uoluptaria istius saeculi et plena deliciarum atque lasciuiae et quae sunt incentiua luxuriae? uxor Loth decepta est, quia post se habebat luxuriam Sodomitanorum et eius regionis inlecebras. unde decepta est? quia post se respexit.
Finally Theodotion has it as the Seventy do, that is, as this verse has been explained. Aquila has: “You turned us back from the one who afflicts”; Symmachus: “You set us last before every adversary.” What things are contrary to us but the pleasures of this world, full of delights and wantonness, which are incitements to luxury? Lot’s wife was deceived because she had behind her the luxury of the Sodomites and the enticements of that region. How was she deceived? Because she looked back.
Ps 44:10 (43:11 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 19:26 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Aquila and Symmachus render the verse differently; what is “contrary” to us are worldly pleasures, which deceived Lot’s wife.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): nersup → uersus.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.34.1 (CSEL 64:286; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-34-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-34-1
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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.
43.34.2CSEL 64:286–287
et tu ergo ne ad inimicos tuos respicias, posuit te deus nouissimum in saeculo; uel: qui humilitate se ultimum facit, non conuertitur retro, sed semper ante respicit. ut scias autem, qui sint inimici tui, audi dicentem: audi, Israel; quid est quod in terra es inimicorum? pollutus es in mortuis. quis tamen tam inimicus et hostis tuus quam princeps istius mundi et eius socii, qui persecuti sunt usque ad crucem dominum Iesum, eius potentiam nescientes? si enim cognouissent, numquam dominum maiestatis crucifixissent.
So do not you look back to your enemies; God has set you last in the world. Or: he who makes himself last by humility does not turn back but always looks ahead. And so that you may know who your enemies are, hear him saying: “Hear, Israel; why is it that you are in the land of your enemies? You are defiled among the dead.” Yet who is so much your enemy and foe as the prince of this world and his associates, who persecuted the Lord Jesus even to the cross, not knowing his power? For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of majesty.
John 12:31 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 2:8 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Our true enemies are the prince of this world and his associates, who crucified the Lord in ignorance.
- Bar 3:9–10; John 12:31; 1 Cor 2:8.
Extrabiblical texts: Bar 3:10 (Baruch [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.34.2 (CSEL 64:286–287; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-34-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-34-2
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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.
43.34.3CSEL 64:287
ergo tu, etsi nouissimus es, noli inimicos tuos sequi, sed sequere dominum Iesum et crucem eius leua et insiste uestigiis eius. qui enim Christum sequitur, post se non respicit, id est ad luxurias atque inlecebras peccatorum, et ideo potest dicere cum sanctis: non recessit retro cor nostrum. unde intellegitur, quod et is, qui ante inimicos suos est, corde fit nouissimus atque postremus, si ad illos respiciat et carnalibus potius quam spiritalibus affectu mentis intendat.
So you, even if you are last, do not follow your enemies, but follow the Lord Jesus, and lift up his cross and keep to his footsteps. For he who follows Christ does not look behind him, that is, to the luxuries and enticements of sins; and therefore he can say with the saints: “Our heart has not turned back.” From this it is understood that even he who is before his enemies becomes last and lowest in heart, if he looks back to them and attends with the affection of his mind to carnal rather than spiritual things.
Matt 16:24 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Pet 2:21 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 44:18 (43:19 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The follower of Christ does not look back; one who looks back to the flesh becomes last in heart.
- Ps 44:18 (LXX 43:19).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): et ideo. potest → et ideo potest.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.34.3 (CSEL 64:287; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-34-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-34-3
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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.
43.34.4CSEL 64:287
potest etiam, qui nouissimus est, corde prior esse, si ea quae in caelo sunt consideret et non quae in terris. audi, quia nouissimus in saeculo inter primos sit apud Christum: puto quia deus nos apostolos nouissimos ostendit sicut morti destinatos, ut spectaculum simus huic mundo et angelis et hominibus. nouissimum se dixit et idem tamen quod primus esset ostendit, cum dicit: nostra autem conuersatio in caelis est.
He who is last can also be first in heart, if he considers the things that are in heaven and not those on earth. Hear that one who is last in the world is among the first with Christ: “I think that God has shown us apostles last, as men appointed to death, so that we are a spectacle to this world, both to angels and to men.” He called himself last, and yet he showed that he was first, when he says: “But our citizenship is in heaven.”
Col 3:2 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 4:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 3:20 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The apostles, last in the world, are first with Christ, for their citizenship is in heaven.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.34.4 (CSEL 64:287; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-34-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-34-4
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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 43, chapter 35
43.35.1CSEL 64:287
Sequitur: et qui oderant nos diripiebant sibi; dedisti nos tamquam oues escarum et in nationes dispersisti nos. miraris forsitan, quod, cum in posterioribus, ut diximus, summam habeant fidei constantiam qui locuntur, hic dicant, quod ab his qui oderant eos diripiebantur; sed non te ista perterreant; multi enim hic diripiuntur et tamen mentes eorum a Christo non queunt separari.
There follows: “And those who hated us plundered for themselves; you have given us like sheep for food and scattered us among the nations.” You are perhaps surprised that, while those who speak have, as we have said, the highest constancy of faith in what follows, here they say that they were plundered by those who hated them; but let these things not frighten you. For many are plundered here, and yet their minds cannot be separated from Christ.
Ps 44:10 (43:11 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 44:11 (43:12 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Even the faithful are plundered here, yet their minds cannot be separated from Christ.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): diripicbant → diripiebant; menta eorum → mentes eorum.
Topics: Persecution
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.35.1 (CSEL 64:287; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-35-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-35-1
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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.
43.35.2CSEL 64:287–288
rapiebantur apostoli, caedebantur uirgis, in carcerem trudebantur, separabantur a se, et tamen cum Christo manebant, immo hoc ipso, quod rapiebantur a perfidis, eorum merita crescebant et gratia in caelestibus augebatur; non enim statim, qui ab hominibus diripitur, etiam uincitur. uide apostolum Paulum gratulatum in periculis suis, uide gloriantem, quod per fenestram in sporta demissus sit. uide quemadmodum sanctus Hieremias, sanctus Ezechiel, sanctus Danihel in captiuitatem deducti et ab Assyriis direpti nullam tamen captiuitatem propriae fidei pertulerunt nec in testamentum domini deliquere, qui seruarunt in captiuitate etiam legis praecepta diuinae nec de interdictis cibis putauerunt contra institutionem maiorum aliquid usurpandum.
The apostles were seized, beaten with rods, thrust into prison, separated from one another, and yet they remained with Christ; indeed, by the very fact that they were seized by the faithless, their merits grew and their grace in heaven was increased; for not everyone who is plundered by men is at once also conquered. See the apostle Paul rejoicing in his dangers, see him glorying that he was let down through a window in a basket. See how holy Jeremiah, holy Ezekiel, holy Daniel were led into captivity and plundered by the Assyrians, yet suffered no captivity of their own faith, nor sinned against the covenant of the Lord, for they kept even in captivity the precepts of the divine law and did not think that anything should be taken from forbidden foods against the teaching of their elders.
Acts 5:18 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 5:40 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 16:22 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Cor 11:33 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 12:10 (allusion, medium confidence) · Dan 1:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Ezek 1:1 (allusion, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The apostles and the prophets in exile were plundered in body but kept their faith unconquered.
- 2 Cor 11:23–33; Dan 1:8.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): SDorta → sporta.
Topics: Persecution
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.35.2 (CSEL 64:287–288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-35-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-35-2
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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 43, chapter 36
43.36.1CSEL 64:288
Unde bene Theodotion dixit: et qui oderant nos exultabant super nos; insultatio enim inimicorum non affert praeiudicium bonis mentibus, sed nec direptio inimicorum. ideoque sanctus dicit, qui certus est quod direptio sibi obesse non possit: quis nos separabit a caritate Christi? tribulatio an angustia? et cetera. sed in his omnibus superamus et superuincimus per eum qui dilexit nos, scientes quod neque mors neque uita neque angelus neque potestates neque praesentia neque futura separare nos
Hence Theodotion rightly said: “And those who hated us exulted over us”; for the insults of enemies bring no prejudice to good minds, nor does the plundering of enemies. And therefore the saint, who is sure that plundering cannot harm him, says: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation or distress?” and the rest. “But in all these we overcome and more than conquer through him who loved us, knowing that neither death nor life nor angel nor powers nor things present nor things to come can separate us
Rom 8:35 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 8:37 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 8:38 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The insults and plundering of enemies cannot harm the saint, whom nothing can separate from Christ’s love.
- Rom 8:35–39 in Ambrose’s form; the quotation continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray letters in the digital text): super er nos → super nos; obcsee → obesse.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.36.1 (CSEL 64:288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-36-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-36-1
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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.
43.36.2CSEL 64:288
possint a caritate dei quae est in Christo Iesu domino nostro. ergo, qui talis est, non separatur a Christo. unde, etiamsi corporaliter diripiatur, spiritaliter tamen liber est et non solum direptioni obnoxius non est, sed etiam rapinam sibi laudabilem quaerit, sicut illi, de quibus scriptum est: a diebus Iohannis Baptistae regnum caelorum cogitur et cogentes diripiunt illud. uictor est itaque, qui in terrenis positus captiuus perfidiae esse non nouit; nec solum ei non diripitur quod praeclarum est, sed magis ipse diripit quod aeternum est.
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So he who is such is not separated from Christ. Hence, even if he is plundered in body, yet in spirit he is free, and not only is he not liable to plundering, but he even seeks for himself a praiseworthy plunder, like those of whom it is written: “From the days of John the Baptist the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent plunder it.” So he is a victor who, set among earthly things, does not know how to be a captive of faithlessness; and not only is what is glorious not plundered from him, but rather he himself plunders what is eternal.
Rom 8:39 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 11:12 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The faithful, though plundered in body, are free in spirit and themselves seize the kingdom of heaven.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word space lost and OCR slip in the digital text): adiebus lohannis → a diebus Iohannis; es?e → esse.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.36.2 (CSEL 64:288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-36-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-36-2
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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 43, chapter 37
43.37.1CSEL 64:288–289
Sunt etiam qui fiant oues escarum. bonus dominus noster Iesus Christus, quia factus est ouis epulationis nostrae. quaeris, quomodo factus sit? audi dicentem: pascha nostrum immolatus est Christus et considera, quemadmodum parentes nostri in figura diripientes agnum manducabant, significantes domini Iesu passionem, cuius cotidie uescimur sacramento.
There are also those who become sheep for food. Good is our Lord Jesus Christ, because he became the sheep of our feast. You ask how he became so? Hear the one who says: “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed”, and consider how our fathers in a figure tore the lamb and ate it, signifying the passion of the Lord Jesus, whose sacrament we eat daily.
Ps 44:11 (43:12 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 5:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 12:8 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ became the sheep of our feast, the Passover lamb, whose sacrament we eat daily.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): con?idera → considera.
Topics: Eucharist
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.37.1 (CSEL 64:288–289; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-37-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-37-1
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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.
43.37.2CSEL 64:289
per ipsam igitur ouem facti sunt greges escarum, sicut Aquilas dixit, uel greges in escas, sicut Theodotion locutus est, uel pascua edentium, sicut Symmachus dixit. sed bona epulatio non solum non est metuenda sanctis, sed etiam concupiscenda. aliter enim ad regnum caelorum non potest perueniri, cum ipse dominus dixerit: nisi manducaueritis carnem meam, non habebitis uitam aeternam. probatum est igitur, quod dominus noster sit epulatio uel alimentum edentium, sicut ipse ait: ego sum panis uiuus qui de caelo descendi.
Through that very sheep, then, they became flocks for food, as Aquila said, or flocks for eating, as Theodotion put it, or pasture of eaters, as Symmachus said. But a good feast is not only not to be feared by the saints but even to be desired. For otherwise the kingdom of heaven cannot be reached, since the Lord himself has said: “Unless you eat my flesh, you will not have eternal life.” It is proved, then, that our Lord is the feast or the food of those who eat, as he himself says: “I am the living bread who came down from heaven.”
John 6:53 (quotation, high confidence) · John 6:51 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is the food of those who eat; without eating his flesh no one reaches eternal life.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; word spaces lost in the digital text): ipRam jgitur → ipsam igitur; concupiscerda → concupiscenda; cumipsedominusdixerit → cum ipse dominus dixerit; dst → est.
Topics: Eucharist
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.37.2 (CSEL 64:289; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-37-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-37-2
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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 43, chapter 38
43.38.1CSEL 64:289
Et ut scias, quia haec omnia propter nos facta sunt, ex quo ille descendit, ex illo sanctus ait: nos omnes unus panis sumus. non ergo timeamus, quia facti sumus oues escarum. sicut enim domini caro et sanguis ipsius nos redemit, ita etiam Petrus pro ecclesia multa tolerauit; multa etiam sanctus apostolus Paulus et ceteri apostoli pertulerunt, cum caederentur uirgis, cum lapidarentur, cum in carcerem truderentur.
And so that you may know that all these things were done for our sake, from the time he came down, from then the saint says: “We all are one bread.” Let us not fear, then, that we have become sheep for food. For as the flesh of the Lord and his blood redeemed us, so Peter too endured much for the church; much also did the holy apostle Paul and the other apostles suffer, when they were beaten with rods, when they were stoned, when they were thrust into prison.
1 Cor 10:17 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 11:25 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 5:18 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: As Christ’s flesh and blood redeemed us, so the apostles endured sufferings for the church.
Topics: Persecution
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.38.1 (CSEL 64:289; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-38-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-38-1
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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.
43.38.2CSEL 64:289
illa enim tolerantia iniuriarum et usu periculorum domini fundatus est populus et ecclesia incrementum est consecuta, cum ceteri ad martyrium festinarent, uidentes per illas passiones nihil apostolorum decessisse uirtutibus, sed etiam propter hanc breuem uitam inmortalitatem illis esse quaesitam.
For by that endurance of injuries and the experience of dangers the Lord’s people was founded and the church obtained its increase, while the others hastened to martyrdom, seeing that through those sufferings nothing had been taken from the virtues of the apostles, but that for this short life immortality had been gained for them.
Notes and citation
Summary: The apostles’ sufferings built up the church and moved others to hasten to martyrdom.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): lniunarum → iniuriarum; uidcntes → uidentes.
Topics: Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.38.2 (CSEL 64:289; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-38-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-38-2
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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 43, chapter 39
43.39.1CSEL 64:289–290
Quod ostendit etiam qui sequitur uersiculus, quia dixerunt: inter gentes dispersisti nos. similiter Theodotion dixit; Aquilas autem et Symmachus: in gentibus aut inter gentes uentilasti nos. missi sunt enim apostoli sancti ad gentes et dispersi sunt inter gentes sicut et prophetae sancti, de
This the following verse also shows, for they said: “You have scattered us among the nations.” Theodotion said the same; but Aquila and Symmachus: “In the nations” or “among the nations you have winnowed us.” For the holy apostles were sent to the nations and were scattered among the nations, as were the holy prophets, of
Ps 44:11 (43:12 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The scattering among the nations is the sending of the apostles.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Topics: Mission and the spread of the gospel
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.39.1 (CSEL 64:289–290; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-39-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-39-1
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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.
43.39.2CSEL 64:290
quibus supra diximus, ut in illa dispersione fructus plurimi nascerentur. ut enim dominus noster Iesus Christus sicut granum cecidit in terram et mortuus est, ut multum fructum afferret, ita etiam dispersi sunt apostoli sancti, ut bonum inter gentes semen afferrent, quo ad eorum similitudinem fructus gentium pullularet. denique scriptura hoc dicit dixisse dominum: quia propterea uos misi, ut uos eatis et fructum plurimum afferatis et fructus uester maneat.
whom we spoke above, so that in that scattering very much fruit might be born. For as our Lord Jesus Christ fell into the ground like a grain and died, so as to bear much fruit, so too the holy apostles were scattered, so as to bring good seed among the nations, by which the fruit of the nations might spring up in their likeness. Finally, Scripture says that the Lord said this: “For this reason I have sent you, that you may go and bear much fruit, and that your fruit may remain.”
John 12:24 (allusion, high confidence) · John 15:16 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Like Christ the grain of wheat, the apostles were scattered to sow good seed among the nations.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text): uestermaneat → uester maneat.
Topics: Mission and the spread of the gospel
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.39.2 (CSEL 64:290; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-39-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-39-2
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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.
43.39.3CSEL 64:290
factus est ergo dominus sicut semen, secundum quod dictum est ad Abraham: et semini tuo, quod est Christus. semen ergo omnium Christus et ideo cadere se passus est et spargi, ut conforme corpori suo transfiguraret corpus humilitatis nostrae. hoc ergo semen salutare omnibus hominibus pullulauit et ex illo ad eius imaginem figurati quasi semina apostoli sancti missi sunt per diuersa atque
So the Lord became like seed, according to what was said to Abraham: “And to your seed, which is Christ.” Christ, then, is the seed of all, and therefore he allowed himself to fall and be scattered, so as to transform the body of our lowliness to be conformed to his body. This saving seed, then, sprang up for all men, and from it, shaped to his image, the holy apostles were sent like seeds to different places and
Gal 3:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 3:21 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is the seed of all, scattered so as to transform our bodies; from him the apostles were sent out as seeds.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.39.3 (CSEL 64:290; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-39-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-39-3
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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.
43.39.4CSEL 64:290
dispersi, ut in agrum ecclesiae gentes congregatae diuersis fructibus refulgerent toto orbe terrarum. isti ergo dispersiones dicuntur, sicut etiam in posterioribus idem Dauid dicit: aedificans Hierusalem dominus et dispersiones Israel congregans. dispersi sunt enim, ut nouos fructus facerent et postea ueluti triticum nouum ecclesiae horreis inueheretur.
scattered, so that the nations gathered into the field of the church might shine with various fruits throughout the whole world. These, then, are called the dispersions, as the same David says further on: “The Lord builds Jerusalem and gathers the dispersions of Israel.” For they were scattered so as to bear new fruit and afterwards be brought, like new wheat, into the barns of the church.
Ps 147:2 (146:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 13:30 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The apostles were scattered to bear new fruit, to be gathered like wheat into the church.
- Ps 147:2 (LXX 146:2).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): refulgenent → refulgerent.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.39.4 (CSEL 64:290; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-39-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-39-4
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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 43, chapter 40
43.40.1CSEL 64:290
Haec autem dispersio non in inferioribus fit, hoc est non in terra, sed in caelo. denique legis hoc praecepta confirmant, per quam dicit dominus: si fuerit dispersio tua a summo caelo usque ad summum caeli, inde congregabo te, dicit dominus. quae est dispersio a summo caelo usque ad summum caelum? quis iste tantus, qui sic potuerit disseminari?
But this scattering does not take place in the lower regions, that is, not on earth, but in heaven. Finally, the precepts of the law confirm this, through which the Lord says: “If your dispersion is from the highest heaven to the highest heaven, from there I will gather you, says the Lord.” What is the dispersion from the highest heaven to the highest heaven? Who is so great that he could be sown in this way?
Deut 30:4 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The law speaks of a dispersion “from the highest heaven to the highest heaven”: who could be scattered so?
- Deut 30:4 (compare Neh 1:9).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text): caeliinde → caeli, inde.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.40.1 (CSEL 64:290; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-40-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-40-1
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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.
43.40.2CSEL 64:290–291
si homo in terra natus est, ab imo, non a summo coepit. si ista te mouent atque perturbant, redi ad superiora istius sancti prophetae et audi, quis ille sit tantus, qui huiusmodi in terris segetes fecundauit, ut fructus earum ad caelestia receptacula perueniret. est autem ille sponsus, qui quasi gigans percucurrit hanc uiam totam inuiam aliis, sibi peruiam; et ex illo coepit peruia iam esse mortalibus, ita tamen, ut isti ascenderent, solus tamen ille ipse ante descenderet, ut postea sancti eius mererentur ascendere.
If a man is born on earth, he began from below, not from the top. If these things trouble and disturb you, go back to the earlier words of this holy prophet and hear who is so great that he made such harvests fruitful on earth that their fruit reached the heavenly storehouses. He is the bridegroom who like a giant ran this whole way, impassable to others, passable to himself; and from him it began to be passable now to mortals, yet so that, for these to ascend, he alone first came down, so that afterwards his saints might be found worthy to ascend.
Ps 19:5 (18:6 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 4:10 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Only the bridegroom, Christ, ran from the height of heaven, opening a way for mortals to ascend.
- Ps 19:5 (LXX 18:6).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): mOItalibus → mortalibus.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.40.2 (CSEL 64:290–291; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-40-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-40-2
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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.
43.40.3CSEL 64:291
audi ergo, quomodo disseminatio fuerit de caeli summo ad caeli summum: a summo, inquit, caelo egressio eius et occursus eius usque ad summum eius. cui homini hoc possit attribui? Moyses uix in uerticem Sina montis ascendit et hoc quia uocatus a domino est et hortatus est uoce caelesti.
Hear, then, how the sowing was from the highest heaven to the highest heaven: “From the highest heaven,” he says, “is his going out, and his meeting to its highest point.” To what man could this be attributed? Moses scarcely went up to the top of Mount Sinai, and that because he was called by the Lord and urged by a heavenly voice.
Ps 19:6 (18:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 19:20 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The psalm’s “from the highest heaven” cannot be said of any man; even Moses only climbed Sinai at God’s call.
- Ps 19:6 (LXX 18:7).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): cius → eius.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.40.3 (CSEL 64:291; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-40-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-40-3
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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.
43.40.4CSEL 64:291
a summo caelo quis descenderet nisi Christus, qui et cum descendit in terras manebat in caelo? nemo enim ascendit in caelum nisi qui descendit de caelo, filius hominis qui est in caelis. uides ergo, quia et cum descenderet et ascenderet ipse erat et manebat in caelo. ipse enim dixit: caelum et terram ego compleo, dicit dominus; ipse est qui est in caelo. haec de dispersione satis dicta sint.
Who would come down from the highest heaven but Christ, who even when he came down to earth remained in heaven? For “no one has ascended into heaven but he who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven.” You see, then, that both when he came down and when he went up he was the same and remained in heaven. For he himself said: “I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord”; he it is who is in heaven. Let this suffice about the dispersion.
John 3:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 23:24 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ alone came down from the highest heaven while remaining in heaven, filling heaven and earth.
- John 3:13; Jer 23:24.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): caelum et terram. ego compleo → caelum et terram ego compleo.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.40.4 (CSEL 64:291; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-40-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-40-4
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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 43, chapter 41
43.41.1CSEL 64:291
Ceterum quod ait: uentilasti nos, etsi uerbo distat, sensu congruit. sicut enim illi qui dispersi sunt probati, ita etiam qui uentilati sunt ad probationem peruenire meruerunt. sicut enim triticum uentilatur et a paleis separatur et mundum est, si autem uentilatum non fuerit mundum esse non poterit, sed extat paleis concretum atque permixtum, ita etiam homo, nisi temptationibus fuerit uentilatus, fragilia quaeque uel paleas a se non potest separare.
As for his saying, “You have winnowed us”, though it differs in word it agrees in sense. For as those who were scattered were proved, so those who were winnowed were found worthy to reach approval. For as wheat is winnowed and separated from the chaff and is clean, but if it has not been winnowed it cannot be clean, but remains stuck together and mixed with chaff, so too a man, unless he has been winnowed by temptations, cannot separate from himself whatever is frail, or his chaff.
Ps 44:11 (43:12 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 3:12 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Winnowing, like scattering, means testing: temptation separates our chaff from the wheat.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.41.1 (CSEL 64:291; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-41-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-41-1
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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.
43.41.2CSEL 64:291–292
unde etiam ad Petrum dictum est: Simon, ecce satanas expostulauit ut uentilet uos sicut triticum; ego autem rogaui patrem meum, ut non deficiat fides tua. uide quid dicit et intellege: uentilatur Petrus; ut Christum negare cogatur. incidit temptationes, quaedam locutus est quasi plena palearum, sed locutus est uerbo, ut fundatior esset affectu.
Hence it was also said to Peter: “Simon, see, Satan has demanded to winnow you like wheat; but I have asked my Father that your faith may not fail.” See what he says and understand: Peter is winnowed, so that he is driven to deny Christ. He fell into temptations; he spoke certain words as though full of chaff; but he spoke in word, so as to be more firmly grounded in affection.
Luke 22:31 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 22:32 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 26:70 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Peter was winnowed by Satan and denied Christ in word, but was grounded the more firmly in heart.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): fides t u a. → fides tua..
Topics: Temptation
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.41.2 (CSEL 64:291–292; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-41-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-41-2
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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.
43.41.3CSEL 64:292
denique fleuit et paleas suas lauit et illis temptationibus meruit, ut pro se Christus interueniret. quanto maius est patrocinium quam perturbationis illius temptamentum! et ideo plus quam passus est adquisiuit; adquisiuit enim Christum sibi patrocinantem. cogitur autem aduersarius sanctos domini ad sua damna temptare; dum enim temptat, meliores reddit, ut qui temptatur possit et alios instituere, qui sibi ipse inualidus uidebatur.
Finally he wept and washed his chaff, and by those temptations he was found worthy to have Christ intercede for him. How much greater is the patronage than the trial of that disturbance! And therefore he gained more than he suffered; for he gained Christ as his patron. And the adversary is compelled to tempt the saints of the Lord to his own loss; for while he tempts, he makes them better, so that the one who is tempted, who seemed weak to himself, can also train others.
Matt 26:75 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 22:32 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Peter’s tears washed his fault, and the temptation won him Christ’s intercession; the devil’s temptations make the saints better.
Topics: Temptation
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.41.3 (CSEL 64:292; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-41-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-41-3
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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.
43.41.4CSEL 64:292
denique Petrus ecclesiae praeponitur, postquam temptatus a diabolo est. ideoque ante significat dominus, quid sit illud, quod postea eum pastorem elegit dominici gregis. nam hic dixit: tu autem conuersus confirma fratres tuos. conuersus est ergo sanctus apostolus Petrus ad bonam frugem et uentilatus est sicut triticum, ut esset ipse cum sanctis domini unus panis, qui nobis esset alimentum. dum enim Petri actus legimus, Petri praecepta cognoscimus, fit nobis uitae aeternae et salutis alimentum.
Finally, Peter is set over the church after he was tempted by the devil. And therefore the Lord signifies beforehand what that is, that afterwards he chose him as shepherd of the Lord’s flock. For here he said: “But you, when you have turned, strengthen your brothers.” So the holy apostle Peter turned to good fruit and was winnowed like wheat, so that he himself might be with the saints of the Lord one bread, which would be food for us. For while we read the acts of Peter, we learn the precepts of Peter, and it becomes for us food of eternal life and salvation.
Luke 22:32 (quotation, high confidence) · John 21:17 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 10:17 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: After his testing Peter was set over the church as shepherd, to strengthen his brothers and become food for us.
Topics: Church office, Rome and Peter
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.41.4 (CSEL 64:292; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-41-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-41-4
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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 43, chapter 42
43.42.1CSEL 64:292
Uendidisti, inquit, populum tuum sine pretio. emendi et uendendi uidetur aequalis quidam esse contractus; sed tamen, si ementis et uendentis affectum consideres, unusquisque sibi uiliorem uendit et complacitum emit. ut enim praeter id genus hominum loquamur, qui negotiationem uendendis mancipiis exercent, non facile quisquam uendit nisi eum, qui sibi displiceat et quem usui suo inhabilem putet, et iterum unusquisque emere desiderat eum, quem utilitati uel ministerio accommodum iudicauerit. sed et ipsi, qui in uendendis mancipiis sumptum exercent suum et sectantur lucra, utique ita uiles habent eos quos uendunt, ut eis uiliores sint quam pecunia, et saepe etiam ipsi, quos negotiationi suae magis habiles aestimauerint, malunt tenere quam uendere.
“You have sold your people,” he says, “without price.” There seems to be a kind of equal contract of buying and selling; but if you consider the disposition of the buyer and the seller, each sells what is of less value to him and buys what pleases him. For, to speak apart from that class of men who carry on a trade in selling slaves, no one easily sells anyone except one who displeases him and whom he thinks unfit for his use; and again each desires to buy one whom he has judged suitable for his advantage or service. But even those who spend their outlay on selling slaves and pursue gain certainly hold those they sell so cheap that they are worth less to them than money; and often they prefer to keep rather than sell those whom they have thought more suited to their business.
Ps 44:12 (43:13 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: In buying and selling, each sells what he values less and buys what he values more.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip and word split in the digital text; stray paragraph number in the digital text; word split in the digital text): preti o. → pretio.; emenl is → ementis; 2 sed et ipsi → sed et ipsi.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.42.1 (CSEL 64:292; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-42-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-42-1
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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 43, chapter 43
43.43.1CSEL 64:292–293
Ita ergo et deus uiliorem uendidit, potiorem emit. uendidit populum Iudaeorum non inclementia dei, sed sua culpa, quibus recte dicitur: ecce peccatis uestris uenditi estis et propter iniquitates uestras dimisi matrem uestram. hoc itaque genere uenditus populus Iudaeorum, emptus est populus Christianus, ille peccato uenditus, hic emptus sanguine. unde Petrus ait:
So too, then, God sold what was of less worth and bought what was better. He sold the people of the Jews, not through God’s harshness but through their own fault, to whom it is rightly said: “See, you have been sold for your sins, and for your iniquities I have put away your mother.” In this way, then, the people of the Jews was sold and the Christian people bought, the one sold by sin, the other bought with blood. Hence Peter says:
Isa 50:1 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God “sold” the people that was sold by its own sin and bought the Christian people with blood.
- Isa 50:1. The application to the Jewish people is Ambrose’s; translated as written. The sentence continues in the next section.
Topics: Atonement
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.43.1 (CSEL 64:292–293; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-43-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-43-1
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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.
43.43.2CSEL 64:293
non corruptibilibus, argento uel auro, empti estis, sed pretioso sanguine. qui est sanguis pretiosus nisi agni illius inmaculati, hoc est domini nostri Iesu Christi? ergo sine pretio populus Iudaeorum, pretiosus autem populus Christianus; ille pretium non habet, quia peccatum habet, iste in pretio est, cui peccatum remissum est.
“You were bought not with corruptible things, silver or gold, but with precious blood.” What is the precious blood but that of the spotless Lamb, that is, of our Lord Jesus Christ? So the people of the Jews is without price, but the Christian people is precious; the one has no price because it has sin, the other has value because its sin has been forgiven.
1 Pet 1:18 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Pet 1:19 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christians were bought with the precious blood of the spotless Lamb.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): PI Pulus → populus.
Topics: Atonement
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.43.2 (CSEL 64:293; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-43-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-43-2
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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.
43.43.3CSEL 64:293
unde recte ecclesiae filiis dicitur: pretio empti estis; nolite fieri serui hominum. si tibi dicitur, ne seruus fias hominum et perdas propriam libertatem, multo magis dicitur tibi, ne seruus fias peccati, et iterum, ne seruus fias serpentis inimici et aduersarii, sed seruias soli domino, qui propria te redemit caritate, quia ipse est suorum redemptio seruulorum.
Hence it is rightly said to the sons of the church: “You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.” If you are told not to become a slave of men and lose your own freedom, much more are you told not to become a slave of sin, and again not to become a slave of the serpent, the enemy and adversary, but to serve the Lord alone, who has redeemed you by his own love, because he is the redemption of his servants.
1 Cor 7:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 6:17 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Bought with a price, Christians must not be slaves of men, of sin or of the serpent, but serve the Lord alone.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word splits in the digital text): hom i num → hominum.
Topics: Atonement
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.43.3 (CSEL 64:293; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-43-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-43-3
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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 43, chapter 44
43.44.1CSEL 64:293
Non uendit ergo dominus nisi seruum malum, non uendit utique bonum. nam etsi Ioseph uenditus est, non dixit tamen propheta: a domino uenditus est Ioseph, sed: in seruum uenditus est Ioseph, quem fratres proprii uendiderunt, quem dominus tamen in figura propriae passionis redemit a seruitute, renouauit ad gratiam.
So the Lord sells only a bad servant; he certainly does not sell a good one. For although Joseph was sold, the prophet did not say: “Joseph was sold by the Lord”, but: “Joseph was sold as a slave”, whom his own brothers sold, whom yet the Lord, as a figure of his own passion, redeemed from slavery and renewed to grace.
Ps 105:17 (104:17 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 37:28 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God sells only the bad servant; Joseph was sold by his brothers, not by the Lord, and redeemed.
- Ps 105:17 (LXX 104:17).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.44.1 (CSEL 64:293; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-44-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-44-1
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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.
43.44.2CSEL 64:293
uendiderunt itaque eum fratres et acceperunt pecuniam, sed dominus eum non solum libertati reddidit, sed etiam dignitate cumulauit. figuram autem in eo fuisse domini Iesu ostendit scriptura, quae dicit: filius meus zelo appetitus, ad me reuertere, et alibi: primogenitus tauri decus eius, eo quod exaltauerit deus pater cornu christi sui.
So his brothers sold him and took money, but the Lord not only restored him to freedom but also loaded him with dignity. That he was a figure of the Lord Jesus Scripture shows, which says: “My son, sought out in envy, return to me”, and elsewhere: “The firstborn, the beauty of a bull is his”, because God the Father exalted the horn of his Christ.
Gen 41:40 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 49:22 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 33:17 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Sam 2:10 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Joseph, sold and then exalted, is a figure of Christ.
- Gen 49:22 (Old Latin form); Deut 33:17; 1 Sam 2:10.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.44.2 (CSEL 64:293; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-44-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-44-2
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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 43, chapter 45
43.45.1CSEL 64:293–294
Qui ergo uenditur, uilis et sine pretio est, quasi qui magis non sit quam qui sit. unde et Aquilas dixit: tradidisti populum tuum, ut non esset, et Symmachus: tradidisti populum tuum sine substantia. non sunt enim qui repudiantur a Christo; sunt autem qui eliguntur a domino, quoniam dominus uocauit quae non sunt tamquam quae sint et electae sunt gentium nationes, ut destrueretur perfidia Iudaeorum. in nihilum ergo traditus est ille populus, quia peccato suo uenditus est; nullam enim habet culpa substantiam.
He who is sold, then, is cheap and without price, as one who rather is not than is. Hence Aquila too said: “You handed over your people, so that it should not be”, and Symmachus: “You handed over your people without substance.” For those who are rejected by Christ are not; but those who are chosen by the Lord are, since the Lord called the things that are not as though they were, and the peoples of the nations were chosen, so that the faithlessness of the Jews might be destroyed. That people was handed over into nothing, then, because it was sold by its own sin; for guilt has no substance.
Rom 4:17 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 1:28 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: To be sold is to become as nothing; sin has no substance, while those chosen by God are.
- Rom 4:17; 1 Cor 1:28.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): auiem → autem.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.45.1 (CSEL 64:293–294; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-45-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-45-1
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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 43, chapter 46
43.46.1CSEL 64:294
Unde dictum puto: et non fuit multitudo in commutationibus eorum, hoc est: gratis nos dispersisti per nationes. neque enim tu quicquam per commutationem accipis, ut animam tradas hominis; nihil enim tibi gratius est animae conuersione. sed si conuerti detractat, ipsa se tradit in nihilum, ut peccato et flagitio mancipetur. ideo tu sine pretio et sine commutatione degenerem populum uendidisti. unde in posterioribus ait: non enim est illis commutatio. quare non est illis commutatio? quia non timuerunt, inquit, deum.
Hence I think it was said: “And there was no abundance in their exchanges”, that is: you scattered us freely among the nations. For you receive nothing by exchange in handing over the soul of a man; for nothing is more pleasing to you than the conversion of a soul. But if it refuses to be converted, it hands itself over into nothing, so as to be made the property of sin and wickedness. Therefore you sold the degenerate people without price and without exchange. Hence he says further on: “For there is no exchange for them.” Why is there no exchange for them? “Because,” it says, “they did not fear God.”
Ps 44:12 (43:13 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 55:19 (54:20 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ezek 33:11 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God gains nothing by giving up a soul; the soul that refuses conversion hands itself over to sin.
- Ps 55:19 (LXX 54:20).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word splits in the digital text): com m uta t ion i bus → commutationibus; acoipis → accipis.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.46.1 (CSEL 64:294; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-46-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-46-1
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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 43, chapter 47
43.47.1CSEL 64:294
Duplex autem intellectus, quare commutationem non habuerit populus erroris, quia non potest homo argento uel auro uel possessionibus redimere animam suam. quam enim dabit commutationem animae suae, cum illa temporalia uel caduca sint, anima autem permaneat uel ad praemium uel ad poenam? non fuit autem etiam illa commutatio in impiis quae est in resurrectione, de qua dicit apostolus:
But there is a twofold understanding of why the people of error had no exchange: because a man cannot redeem his soul with silver or gold or possessions. For what exchange will he give for his soul, since those things are temporal and perishable, while the soul remains, either for reward or for punishment? Nor was there in the ungodly that exchange which is in the resurrection, of which the apostle says:
Matt 16:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 49:7 (48:8 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: No possessions can buy back the soul, and the ungodly have no share in the change of the resurrection.
- Matt 16:26; Ps 49:7–8 (LXX 48:8–9). The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period inside the word): tempor.alia → temporalia.
Topics: Resurrection of the body
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.47.1 (CSEL 64:294; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-47-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-47-1
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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.
43.47.2CSEL 64:294–295
omnes resurgemus, non omnes immutabimur. potest quoque et sic intellegi, quia, etsi pauci redempti immutari meruerunt ut Abraham Isaac Iacob Moyses, non tamen ad omnes commutatio ipsa peruenit. est etiam illud, ut non sit multitudo in commutationibus grauium peccatorum, secundum quod scriptum est, quia quorundam hominum peccata manifesta sunt praecedentia in iudicium, quosdam autem et subsecuntur. quae grauia sunt atque manifesta praecedunt et sine ulla dubitatione merguntur, quae autem leuiora sunt bonis operibus saepe releuantur; beati enim quorum remissae sunt iniquitates et quorum tecta sunt peccata. ubi autem iniquitas propendit, nulla bonorum operum commutatione reuocatur.
“We shall all rise, but we shall not all be changed.” It can also be understood thus: that although a few redeemed were found worthy to be changed, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, yet the change itself did not reach all. There is also this: that there may be no abundance in the exchanges of grave sins, according to what is written, that the sins of some men are evident, going before them to judgment, but those of others follow after. Those that are grave and evident go before and are sunk without any doubt; but those that are lighter are often relieved by good works; for “blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.” But where iniquity outweighs, it is not recalled by any exchange of good works.
1 Cor 15:51 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 5:24 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 32:1 (31:1 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Not all will be changed at the resurrection; lighter sins may be relieved by good works, but grave sins have no exchange.
- “We shall all rise, but we shall not all be changed” is the Latin reading of 1 Cor 15:51 Ambrose follows. 1 Tim 5:24; Ps 32:1 (LXX 31:1).
Topics: Eschatology, Good works and merit
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.47.2 (CSEL 64:294–295; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-47-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-47-2
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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 43, chapter 48
43.48.1CSEL 64:295
Ergo et si quis est redemptus de populo Iudaeorum, non ideo redemptus, quia multam habuit aestimationem sui nec quia multitudinem habuit in commutatione sua, sed redemptus est gratis, quod te docet apostolus dicens: reliquiae secundum electionem gratiae saluae factae sunt. ubi autem gratia, non utique merito operum nec iustificatione uirtutum, sed liberalitate donantis, electione redimentis.
So even if anyone of the people of the Jews is redeemed, he is not redeemed because he had a great estimation of himself, nor because he had abundance in his exchange, but he is redeemed freely, as the apostle teaches you, saying: “A remnant according to the election of grace has been saved.” Where there is grace, it is certainly not by merit of works nor by justification of virtues, but by the generosity of the giver, by the choice of the redeemer.
Rom 11:5 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Whoever is redeemed is redeemed freely by grace, not by the merit of works.
Topics: Grace, Justification
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.48.1 (CSEL 64:295; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-48-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-48-1
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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.
43.48.2CSEL 64:295
quod aeque scriptura te docuit dicente apostolo Paulo: si autem gratia, iam non ex operibus; alioquin gratia iam non est gratia. quid ergo? quod quaerebat Israel, hoc non est consecutus. quare non sit consecutus agnosce: quia se iustificare cupiebat, quia operum suorum iactantiam requirebat, quia fidem non detulit nec gratiam recognouit. et ideo electio consecuta quae uocantem audiuit, aduenientem suscepit.
This Scripture has likewise taught you, the apostle Paul saying: “But if by grace, it is no longer from works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.” What then? What Israel sought, it did not obtain. Learn why it did not obtain it: because it wished to justify itself, because it sought the boasting of its own works, because it did not offer faith nor recognize grace. And therefore the election obtained it, which heard the one who called and received the one who came.
Rom 11:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 11:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 10:3 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Israel did not obtain what it sought because it sought to justify itself by works; the elect, who received grace, obtained it.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): grastia → gratia; aduenientcm → aduenientem.
Topics: Justification, Grace
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.48.2 (CSEL 64:295; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-48-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-48-2
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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 43, chapter 49
43.49.1CSEL 64:295–296
Merito ergo in persona populi illius dicitur: posuisti nos in obprobrium uicinis nostris, inlusionem et derisum his qui sunt in circuitu nostro. qui sunt isti finitimi et quemadmodum ad uiciniam Israelitae populi pertinuisse uideantur, non est facile discernere. si spiritalis uicinia requiratur, abest quoddam lumen cognitionis ad inuestigandum mysterium Christi, praesertim cum in ipso libro Salomonis qui inscribitur Ecclesiastes didicerimus, quia, quo magis quaeritur sapientia, eo profundior iudicetur. sic enim scriptum est: dixit: sapientiam requiram, et ipsa longe facta est a
Rightly, then, it is said in the person of that people: “You have made us a reproach to our neighbours, a mockery and derision to those around us.” Who these neighbours are, and how they seem to have belonged to the neighbourhood of the Israelite people, is not easy to discern. If a spiritual neighbourhood is sought, some light of knowledge is lacking for investigating the mystery of Christ, especially since in that very book of Solomon which is entitled Ecclesiastes we have learned that the more wisdom is sought, the deeper it is judged. For so it is written: “He said: I will seek wisdom, and it went far from
Ps 44:13 (43:14 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Eccl 7:23 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Who the hostile neighbours are is hard to discern, for wisdom grows deeper the more it is sought.
- Eccl 7:23–24 (LXX/Old Latin). The quotation continues in the next section.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.49.1 (CSEL 64:295–296; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-49-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-49-1
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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.
43.49.2CSEL 64:296
me, longe magis quam erat, et in profundo altitudinem quis inueniet eius? unde diffidentia oboritur mihi scrutari diuinitus spirantis scripturae mysteria et eius examinare sermones, quod ille digne potuit qui inter perfectos sapientiam loquebatur. ego perfectos uideo nec inmerito perfectos dixerim, cum uideam uos sensus exercitatos habere ad discretionem boni et mali; sed et ipse tamen, qui sciebat solidiores capere cibos, adiumenta quaerebat, ut in eo uerbum domini curreret. nec iste quoque sine precatione hoc potuit usurpare, ut laudatio eius iocunda fieret deo; non enim usurpantis, sed precantis assertio est.
me, much farther than it was, and in the depth, who will find its height?” Hence distrust comes over me in searching the mysteries of the divinely inspired Scripture and examining its words, which he could worthily do who spoke wisdom among the perfect. I see that you are perfect, and not undeservedly would I call you perfect, since I see that you have your senses trained for the discernment of good and evil; but even he who knew how to take more solid food sought help, that the word of the Lord might run in him. Nor could this one either claim this without prayer, that his praise might be pleasing to God; for it is the assertion not of one who claims but of one who prays.
Eccl 7:24 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 2:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Heb 5:14 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Thess 3:1 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 104:34 (103:34 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Ambrose confesses his diffidence before Scripture’s mysteries; even Paul sought help that the word might run.
- Eccl 7:24; 1 Cor 2:6; Heb 5:14; 2 Thess 3:1; Ps 104:34 (LXX 103:34). Ambrose addresses his hearers as “perfect”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): pfecatione → precatione.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.49.2 (CSEL 64:296; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-49-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-49-2
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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 43, chapter 50
43.50.1CSEL 64:296
Tamen ne penitus refugisse uideamur, consideremus qui uicini tribubus fuerint Iudaeorum. nam ut uetera recenseamus, Philistienses tribus Iudae finitimi habebantur; ex alio latere idem tribui Ruben appropinquabant. Ammanitae quoque in deserto erant et, qui erant in finibus Tyri et Sidonis, Galilaeae copulabantur, hoc est tribui Zabulon et tribui Neptalim quae erant in Galilaea, sicut Esaias dixit:
Yet, lest we seem to have shrunk back altogether, let us consider who were neighbours of the tribes of the Jews. For, to review the old things, the Philistines were held to border the tribe of Judah; on another side they also came near the tribe of Reuben. The Ammonites too were in the desert, and those in the borders of Tyre and Sidon were joined to Galilee, that is, to the tribe of Zebulun and the tribe of Naphtali, which were in Galilee, as Isaiah said:
Notes and citation
Summary: Ambrose lists the historical neighbours of Israel’s tribes.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.50.1 (CSEL 64:296; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-50-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-50-1
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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.
43.50.2CSEL 64:296
terra Zabulon et terra Neptalim, uiam maris trans Iordane. unde potest quis colligere, quae proprietas uniuscuiusque singularum fuerit tribuum, ut certis quibusque finitimis iungerentur, quo paulatim etiam gentibus infunderetur cognitio caelestium sacramentorum. quod utique potest intellegi de illa muliere Chananaea, quae exiuit de finibus suis, ut domino Iesu occurreret transeunti et posthabitis simulacris suis adoraret uerum salutis auctorem; cui testi-
“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan.” From this one can gather what was the particular character of each of the tribes, so that they were joined to certain neighbours, through whom the knowledge of the heavenly sacraments might gradually be poured into the nations too. This can certainly be understood of that Canaanite woman who went out from her borders to meet the Lord Jesus as he passed, and, putting aside her idols, to worship the true author of salvation; to whom
Isa 9:1 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 4:15 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 15:21 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 15:22 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Through Israel’s neighbours the knowledge of God reached the nations, as with the Canaanite woman.
- Isa 9:1; Matt 4:15; Matt 15:21–22. The sentence continues in the next section.
Topics: Mission and the spread of the gospel
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.50.2 (CSEL 64:296; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-50-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-50-2
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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.
43.50.3CSEL 64:296–297
monium dedit dominus noster Iesus Christus, quod magna esset fides eius. resplendebat quidem iam gratia euangelii et praesentiae lumen augustae; sed tamen, quia sponte exiuit et misericordiam postulauit et dominum pia uoce confessa est et quasi fastidio habita in clamore petitionis propriae perseuerauit, non mediocrem praerogatiuam accepit istiusmodi mulier, quae prima exiuit de gentium nationibus et perseueranti obsecratione tantum domini testimonium meruit reportare.
our Lord Jesus Christ bore witness that her faith was great. The grace of the gospel and the light of his august presence were already shining; yet, because she went out of her own accord and asked for mercy and confessed the Lord with a devout voice and, as though disdained, persevered in the cry of her petition, this woman received no small privilege, she who first went out from the nations of the gentiles and by persevering entreaty was found worthy to carry away so great a testimony from the Lord.
Matt 15:28 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 15:23 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Canaanite woman, first of the gentiles to come out to Christ, won his praise of her great faith by her persevering prayer.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): perseucranti → perseueranti.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.50.3 (CSEL 64:296–297; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-50-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-50-3
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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 43, chapter 51
43.51.1CSEL 64:297
In quo quidem loco uelut quosdam dubitasse cognoui, quid sit quod ait: non sum missus nisi ad oues quae perierunt domus Israel, quasi nobilitatem generis electi ad saluandas animas dominus quaesisse uideatur, qui uenit, ut omnes redimerentur. sed ostendere dignatus propositum, quod eos, quos primo elegerat, nequaquam refutare cupiebat et saepe deuios et errantes tamen paterno quodam reuocare quaerebat affectu. sed ubi ipsi auctorem proprium reliquerunt, sciens se deum montium esse, non uallium et regnum caelorum non a fastidientibus, sed a cogentibus diripi, paulatim conuersus ad gentes est, ut et nationum plus probaretur affectus et illorum merito pertinacia condemnaretur.
In this place I have learned that some have, as it were, doubted what it means that he says: “I was sent only to the sheep that have perished of the house of Israel”, as though the Lord, who came so that all might be redeemed, seemed to have sought nobility of chosen race for saving souls. But he deigned to show his purpose: that he in no way wished to reject those whom he had first chosen, and often sought, with a kind of fatherly affection, to call back those who strayed and wandered. But when they left their own author, knowing that he was a God of the mountains, not of the valleys, and that the kingdom of heaven is seized not by the disdainful but by the violent, he gradually turned to the gentiles, so that both the affection of the nations might be the more proved and their stubbornness deservedly condemned.
Matt 15:24 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Kgs 20:28 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 11:12 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 13:46 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s mission first to Israel shows his fatherly will not to reject them; when they rejected him, he turned to the gentiles.
- Matt 15:24; 1 Kgs 20:28; Matt 11:12.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word spaces lost in the digital text): quidsitquodait → quid sit quod ait; nisiadoues → nisi ad oues.
Topics: The church and Israel, Mission and the spread of the gospel
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.51.1 (CSEL 64:297; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-51-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-51-1
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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.