Explanation of Twelve Psalms 61.4.1–61.26.1
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 61, chapter 4
61.4.1CSEL 64:379
Nonne deo subdita erit anima mea? suscepturus carnem hominis dominus noster Iesus, ut in se eam ipse mundaret, quid prius quam peccati ueteris primum debuit abolere contagium? nam quia per inoboedientiam culpa inrepserat, dum mandata diuina temerantur, oboedientiam utique prae ceteris debuit reformare, ut seminarium erroris excluderet.
“Will not my soul be subject to God?” Our Lord Jesus, about to take on the flesh of man so as to cleanse it in himself, what ought he to have abolished first but the contagion of the old sin? For since guilt had crept in through disobedience, while the divine commands were violated, he surely ought above all to restore obedience, so as to shut out the seedbed of error.
Ps 62:1 (61:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 5:19 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ, taking flesh, first restored the obedience lost by Adam’s disobedience.
- Ps 62:1 (LXX 61:2) in the Old Latin form (Hebrew “Truly my soul waits in silence for God”).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text): animamea → anima mea.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.4.1 (CSEL 64:379; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-4-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-4-1
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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.
61.4.2CSEL 64:379
fibra enim peccati inde manauerat et ideo sicut bonus medicus radices prius ulceris debuit amputare, ut medicamentorum salubre remedium uulneris ora sentirent. frustra enim cicatricem curaueris, si serpant interiora contagia, immo acerbatur uulnus, si foris clauditur, cum interius uirus exaestuat. nam quid proderat donasse peccatum, si peccandi maneret affectus?
For the fibre of sin had flowed from there, and therefore, like a good physician, he ought first to cut away the roots of the ulcer, so that the edges of the wound might feel the healthful remedy of the medicines. For in vain will you treat a scar if the inner infections creep on; rather the wound grows worse if it is closed outside while the poison seethes within. For what would it profit to have forgiven sin, if the disposition to sin remained?
Notes and citation
Summary: Like a good physician, Christ had to heal the root of sin, the disposition to sin, not only its outward effect.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.4.2 (CSEL 64:379; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-4-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-4-2
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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.
61.4.3CSEL 64:379–380
hoc erat non sanare cicatricem, sed claudere. uoluit itaque mundare uulnus, ut affectum sanaret, ne inoboedientiae sors ulla remaneret. suscepit ipse oboedientiam, ut nobis eam transfunderet. sic enim oportebat, ut, quoniam per inoboedientiam unius hominis peccatores constituti erant plurimi, per unius rursus oboedientiam iusti constituerentur multi.
That would be not to heal the scar but to close it. So he willed to cleanse the wound, so as to heal the disposition, lest any lot of disobedience remain. He himself took on obedience, so as to pour it into us. For it was fitting that, since through the disobedience of one man very many were made sinners, through the obedience of one in turn many should be made righteous.
Rom 5:19 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ took on obedience to pour it into us, so that by one man’s obedience many might be made righteous.
- Rom 5:19.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.4.3 (CSEL 64:379–380; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-4-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-4-3
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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 61, chapter 5
61.5.1CSEL 64:380
Unde ualde errare eos res indicat, qui carnem hominis a Christo aiunt esse susceptam, affectum negant, et contra ipsius domini Iesu uenire consilium, qui hominem ex homine tollunt, cum homo sine affectu hominis esse non possit; nam caro sine affectu et praemii immunis et culpae est. illud ergo suscipere debuit et sanare, unde
Hence the fact shows that those err greatly who say that the flesh of man was taken on by Christ but deny the human disposition, and go against the counsel of the Lord Jesus himself, they who take the man away from the man, since a man cannot be without the disposition of a man; for flesh without disposition is free of both reward and guilt. He ought, then, to take on and heal that from which
Notes and citation
Summary: Those who say Christ took flesh without a human soul and affections are wrong, for he had to heal the source of sin.
- The view rejected is that of the Apollinarians, who denied Christ a human mind. The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): camem → carnem.
Topics: Christology, Heresy, Incarnation
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.5.1 (CSEL 64:380; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-5-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-5-1
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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.
61.5.2CSEL 64:380
culpa manauerat, ut originem erroris et quasdam prorumpentis delicti fores clauderet. unde ego hodie hominem agnoscerem dominum Iesum, cuius carnem non uideo, affectum lego, unde, inquam, hominem eum agnoscerem, nisi esurisset, nisi sitisset, nisi fleuisset, nisi dixisset: tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem? denique scriptum est: et homo est, et quis cognoscet eum?
guilt had flowed, so as to close the origin of error and certain doors of bursting offence. For how would I today recognize the Lord Jesus as man, whose flesh I do not see but whose disposition I read of; how, I say, would I recognize him as man unless he had hungered, unless he had thirsted, unless he had wept, unless he had said: “My soul is sorrowful even to death”? Finally it is written: “And he is a man, and who will know him?”
Matt 4:2 (allusion, high confidence) · John 19:28 (allusion, high confidence) · John 11:35 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 26:38 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 17:9 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: We know Christ is truly man because he hungered, thirsted, wept and was sorrowful.
- Matt 4:2; John 19:28; 11:35; Matt 26:38; Jer 17:9 (LXX/Old Latin).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray line number in the digital text; word splits and stray hyphen in the digital text): delioti → delicti; fleuisset, 15 nisi → fleuisset, nisi; cog nos c-e t eum → cognoscet eum.
Topics: Christology, Incarnation
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.5.2 (CSEL 64:380; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-5-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-5-2
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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.
61.5.3CSEL 64:380
sed homo per ista cognoscitur, qui per opera diuina supra homines aestimatur. itaque ipse eo usque se hominem credi uolebat, cum deus esset, ut se appellaret hominem dicens: quid me quaeritis occidere, hominem qui ueritatem locutus sum uobis?, nec solum hominem, sed etiam filium hominis diceret, sicut ait: quid me dicunt esse homines filium hominis? unde ille summam tenere fidei pronuntiatus est, qui et dei filium cognouit et hominem non negauit.
But he who by divine works is reckoned above men is known as man through these things. So he himself wished to be believed a man to the point, though he was God, of calling himself a man, saying: “Why do you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you?”; and he called himself not only man but also Son of Man, as he says: “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?” Hence he was declared to hold the sum of faith who both recognized the Son of God and did not deny the man.
John 8:40 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 16:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 16:16 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ called himself man and Son of Man; true faith confesses him both Son of God and man.
- John 8:40; Matt 16:13–16.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray hyphen in the digital text; word spaces lost in the digital text; word split in the digital text): itaque-ipse → itaque ipse; f ilium → filium; hominesfiliumhominis → homines filium hominis; qui ot dei → qui et dei.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.5.3 (CSEL 64:380; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-5-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-5-3
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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.
61.5.4CSEL 64:380–381
ipse igitur utrumque unus, inseparabilis numero et agnoscendus operis distinctione, non uarietate personae. non enim alter ex patre et alter ex Maria, sed qui erat ex patre carnem sumpsit ex uirgine, affectum assumpsit ex matre, ut infirmitates nostras ipse susciperet. unde ait propheta et pro nobis dolet. quomodo dolebat meo dolore, si meum non gerebat affectum? homo, inquit, in plaga et sciens ferre infirmitatem.
He himself, then, is both in one, inseparable in number and to be recognized by the distinction of his works, not by a difference of person. For it is not one from the Father and another from Mary, but he who was from the Father took flesh from the Virgin, took on human disposition from his mother, so as to take on our infirmities himself. Hence the prophet says: “And he grieves for us.” How did he grieve with my grief, if he did not bear my disposition? “A man,” he says, “in affliction, and knowing how to bear infirmity.”
Isa 53:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 53:3 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is one person, from the Father and from Mary, who took our affections and so grieved for us.
- Isa 53:3–4 in the Latin form.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen and stray line number in the digital text; word split in the digital text): dole- 30 bat → dolebat; i n plaga → in plaga.
Topics: Christology, Incarnation
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.5.4 (CSEL 64:380–381; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-5-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-5-4
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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 61, chapter 6
61.6.1CSEL 64:381
Itaque quasi homo infirmatus est, quasi homo doluit et nos quasi hominem aestimauimus eum esse in doloribus; sed quasi uictor infirmitatum, non infirmitatibus uictus pro nobis, non pro se dolebat et infirmatus est non propter sua, sed propter nostra peccata, ut nos suo liuore sanaret. quid utique est homo in plaga et sciens ferre infirmitatem, nisi quia plagae habebat compassionem?
So as a man he was made weak, as a man he grieved, and we esteemed him as a man in sorrows; but as the conqueror of weaknesses, not conquered by weaknesses, he grieved for us, not for himself, and was made weak not because of his own sins but because of ours, so as to heal us by his bruise. What indeed is “a man in affliction and knowing how to bear infirmity”, unless that he had compassion in his affliction?
Isa 53:4 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 53:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 53:3 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ grieved and was weak as man, not for his own sins but ours, to heal us by his wounds.
- Isa 53:3–5.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.6.1 (CSEL 64:381; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-6-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-6-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.6.2CSEL 64:381
aut quomodo sciebat ferre infirmitatem, si sensum infirmitatis excluserat? quod enim portamus, hoc pro onere sustinemus. suscepit ergo peccata nostra, ut portaret, suscepit etiam, ut purgaret. denique scriptum est: et peccata eorum ipse purgauit. ideo ipse hereditate possidebit multos et fortium partietur spolia. ibi enim maior triumphus, ubi mens interna mundatur. quod portat igitur, ad remissionem pertinet, quod purgat, ad correctionem.
Or how did he know how to bear infirmity, if he had excluded the sense of infirmity? For what we carry, we bear as a burden. So he took on our sins, to carry them; he also took them on, to cleanse them. Finally it is written: “And he himself cleansed their sins.” Therefore he will possess many as an inheritance and divide the spoils of the strong. For there is a greater triumph where the inner mind is cleansed. What he carries, then, belongs to forgiveness; what he cleanses, to correction.
Isa 53:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 53:12 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ carried our sins to forgive them and cleansed them to correct us.
- Isa 53:11–12 in the Greek and Latin form.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.6.2 (CSEL 64:381; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-6-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-6-2
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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.
61.6.3CSEL 64:381
suscepit itaque compassionem nostram, suscepit et subiectionem; quod enim subiecit sibi omnia suum est, quod subiectus est nostrum est. ideoque ait: nonne deo subdita erit anima mea? anima, inquit, subdita, non diuinitas, anima subiecta, non dei uirtus; uirtus enim dei non potestati subdita est, sed unitati, et consortio eius utitur potestatis. illa subiecta est, quae humanae condicionis fragilitate plerumque mutatur, non quae mutari non potest.
So he took on our compassion, he took on subjection too; for that he subjected all things to himself is his own, that he was subject is ours. And therefore he says: “Will not my soul be subject to God?” The soul, he says, subject, not the Godhead; the soul subjected, not the power of God; for the power of God is not subject to power but to unity, and enjoys the fellowship of his power. That is subjected which is often changed by the frailty of the human condition, not that which cannot be changed.
Ps 62:1 (61:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:27 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:28 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: It is Christ’s human soul, not his Godhead, that is subject to God.
- Ps 62:1 (LXX 61:2); 1 Cor 15:27–28.
Topics: Christology, Trinity
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.6.3 (CSEL 64:381; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-6-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-6-3
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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.
61.6.4CSEL 64:381–382
anima carni compatitur et animae caro, quae sibi quodam contubernio copulantur. illa subicitur quae tristis est, quia scriptum est: tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem; illa subicitur quae suscepta, non ex deo patre nata. quamquam ipsa subiectio non in specie quidem infirmitatis sit, sed in operatione uirtutis, dispensationis magis temporariae arbitra quam perpetuo seruitio mancipata. unde et ait: nonne deo subdita erit anima mea?
The soul suffers with the flesh and the flesh with the soul, which are joined to each other in a kind of shared dwelling. That is subjected which is sorrowful, because it is written: “My soul is sorrowful even to death”; that is subjected which was taken up, not born of God the Father. And yet that subjection itself is not in the appearance of weakness but in the working of power, the arbiter rather of a temporary dispensation than bound over to perpetual slavery. Hence he says: “Will not my soul be subject to God?”
Matt 26:38 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 62:1 (61:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The subjection is that of the assumed soul, a temporary dispensation, not perpetual slavery.
- Matt 26:38; Ps 62:1 (LXX 61:2).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray line number in the digital text): perpetuo 30 seruitio → perpetuo seruitio.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.6.4 (CSEL 64:381–382; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-6-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-6-4
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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 61, chapter 7
61.7.1CSEL 64:382
Cur dixit erit, si sempiterna subiectio est? sed quia filius dei qui loquebatur aeternus est, animam autem suscepit ex tempore, ideo futuram subiectionem animae suae dicit. per ipsam ergo ob-
Why did he say “will be”, if the subjection is everlasting? But because the Son of God who was speaking is eternal, but took on a soul in time, therefore he speaks of the subjection of his soul as future. Through it, then, came obedience,
Ps 62:1 (61:2 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: “Will be” shows that the subjection belongs to the soul taken on in time, not to the eternal Son.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray backslashes in the digital text): erit\\ si → erit, si.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.7.1 (CSEL 64:382; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-7-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-7-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.7.2CSEL 64:382
oedientia, per ipsam humilitas, quae tamen non ad infirmitatem potentiae suscepta sunt, sed ad magisterium disciplinae. ipse enim dominus Iesus, cum esset in dei forma, non rapinam arbitratus est esse se aequalem deo, sed semet ipsum exinaniuit formam serui accipiens, in similitudine hominum factus; in specie inuentus ut homo humiliauit semet ipsum factus oboediens usque ad mortem, sicut apostolus dicit, non iugem et perpetuam, sed temporalem subiectionem cu-
through it humility, which yet were taken on not for weakness of power but for the teaching of discipline. For the Lord Jesus himself, though he was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal to God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men; found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, as the apostle says, wishing to declare a subjection not continual and perpetual but temporal,
Phil 2:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 2:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 2:8 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s obedience and humility were taken on for our instruction, as Philippians 2 describes, a temporal subjection.
- Phil 2:6–8. The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): oboediEns → oboediens.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.7.2 (CSEL 64:382; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-7-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-7-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.7.3CSEL 64:382
piens declarare, qualis sit suscepta cum carne et deposita cum ipsius corporis seruitute. sic etiam ad Hebraeos scriptum est. nam cum proposuisset exemplum dicens: tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech, subiecit idem Paulus: qui in diebus carnis preces et supplicationes adhibuit ei qui posset liberare eum de morte cum magna uoce et lacrimis et exauditus ab illo metu, quamquam esset filius, didicit ex his quae passus est oboedientiam et consummatus obtemperantibus sibi causa factus est salutis aeternae,
such as was taken on with the flesh and laid aside with the servitude of that body. So too it is written to the Hebrews. For when he had set out the example, saying: “You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek”, the same Paul added: “Who in the days of his flesh offered prayers and supplications to him who was able to save him from death, with loud cries and tears, and was heard from that fear; although he was a Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered, and being made perfect he became the cause of eternal salvation to those who obey him,
Heb 5:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 5:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 5:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 5:9 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Hebrews shows the same: Christ in the days of his flesh learned obedience through suffering.
- Heb 5:6–9 in Ambrose’s Latin form. The quotation continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip and word splits in the digital text): ab i 110 metu → ab illo metu.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.7.3 (CSEL 64:382; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-7-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-7-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.7.4CSEL 64:382
uocatus a deo sacerdos secundum ordinem Melchisedech. nonne igitur euidenter clamauit apostolus, dicens oboedientiam illam et humilitatem non diuinitatis fuisse, sed carnis? quod enim discitur, temporale est. quasi homo ergo ex his quae passus est didicit oboedientiam, ut consummaretur in carne et per oboedientiae transfusam in nos successionem causa fieret nobis salutis aeternae, quibus ante per inoboedientiae hereditatem primus ille Adam causa factus est mortis.
called by God a priest after the order of Melchizedek.” Did not the apostle, then, clearly cry out, saying that that obedience and humility belonged not to the Godhead but to the flesh? For what is learned is temporal. So as a man he learned obedience from what he suffered, so as to be made perfect in the flesh and, through the succession of obedience poured into us, to become the cause of eternal salvation for us, for whom before, through the inheritance of disobedience, that first Adam became the cause of death.
Heb 5:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 5:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 5:19 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ learned obedience as man, to become the cause of our salvation, as Adam was the cause of death.
- Heb 5:10.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.7.4 (CSEL 64:382; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-7-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-7-4
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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 61, chapter 8
61.8.1CSEL 64:382–383
Subiectio ergo magisterium uirtutis humanae, non diuinae imminutio potestatis est. nam si illum minorem filium et inaequalem patri dicunt, quia erat subditus patri deo, numquid et matre ideo minor, quia erat subditus matri? lectum est enim de Ioseph et Maria: et erat subditus illis. sed pietas omnibus nobis non dispendio, sed incremento est, per quam omnibus nobis dominus Iesus fidem infudit et gratiam, ut nos spiritu fideli subditos patri faciat deo.
Subjection, then, is a teaching of human virtue, not a lessening of divine power. For if they call the Son less and unequal to the Father because he was subject to God the Father, is he therefore less than his mother too, because he was subject to his mother? For it is read of Joseph and Mary: “And he was subject to them.” But piety is not a loss but a gain for all of us, through which the Lord Jesus has poured faith and grace into all of us, so as to make us subject to God the Father with a faithful spirit.
Luke 2:51 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s subjection to the Father no more makes him lesser than his subjection to his mother.
- Luke 2:51. The argument is aimed at the Arians.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): nebis → nobis.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.8.1 (CSEL 64:382–383; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-8-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-8-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.8.2CSEL 64:383
et ideo nouo et profundo consilio apostolus ait, quod ipse patri erit subiectus in nobis, cum fuerit in omnibus plenitudo fidei et quaedam deuotionis unitas. nunc enim, quamdiu sententiis discrepamus, quodammodo regnum Christi minoramus, quia nondum ei subiecta sunt omnia cuius regnum unitas est; cum autem subiecta illi fuerint omnia, tunc et ipse subiectus erit illi qui sibi subiecit omnia, ut sit deus omnia in omnibus, sicut scriptum est.
And therefore with new and deep counsel the apostle says that he will be subject to the Father in us, when there is in all the fullness of faith and a kind of unity of devotion. For now, as long as we differ in opinions, we in a way lessen the kingdom of Christ, because not yet are all things subject to him whose kingdom is unity; but when all things have been subjected to him, then he too will be subject to him who subjected all things to himself, so that God may be all in all, as it is written.
1 Cor 15:28 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ will be subject to the Father “in us”, when all are united in faith and God is all in all.
- 1 Cor 15:28.
Topics: Trinity, Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.8.2 (CSEL 64:383; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-8-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-8-2
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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.
61.8.3CSEL 64:383
nunc enim potestate supra omnes est, sed opus est ut sit in omnibus uoluntate; uolet autem, cum omnia in nobis cognouerit sui plena et uacua delictorum. nondum igitur subiectus est patri, quia nondum omnia et in omnibus Christus; cum autem fuerit omnia et in omnibus Christus, erit omnia et in omnibus deus. unde colligitur unum esse regnum patris et filii et etiam spiritus sancti, quia qui filium receperit recipit et patrem, recipit et spiritum sanctum, quia una potestas, una gratia, una operatio trinitatis est.
For now he is above all by power, but he needs to be in all by will; and he will will it when he has known that all things in us are full of him and empty of offences. So he is not yet subject to the Father, because Christ is not yet all and in all; but when Christ is all and in all, God will be all and in all. From this it is gathered that the kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit too is one, because he who has received the Son receives also the Father, receives also the Holy Spirit, because there is one power, one grace, one working of the Trinity.
Col 3:11 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:28 (allusion, high confidence) · John 13:20 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: When Christ is all in all, God will be all in all; the kingdom of Father, Son and Spirit is one.
- Col 3:11; 1 Cor 15:28; John 13:20.
Topics: Trinity
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.8.3 (CSEL 64:383; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-8-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-8-3
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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 61, chapter 9
61.9.1CSEL 64:383
Meritoque addidit dominus: ab ipso enim salutare meum, quasi diceret: nolite turbari, quia dixi animam meam fore deo subditam: anima erit subdita quae uestri est portio, salutare autem meum ab ipso, hoc est quia a patre et in patre semper sum. a patre enim ueni in hunc mundum et si uidetis hominem, dei filium credite; cum uenerit autem paracletus quem ego mittam uobis a patre meo, spiritus ueritatis qui a patre meo procedit, ille testimonium perhibebit de me.
And rightly the Lord added: “For from him is my salvation”, as though he said: Do not be troubled because I said that my soul would be subject to God: the soul will be subject which is your portion, but my salvation is from him, that is, because I am always from the Father and in the Father. For from the Father I came into this world, and if you see a man, believe the Son of God; “but when the Paraclete comes, whom I will send you from my Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from my Father, he will bear witness to me.”
Ps 62:1 (61:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 16:28 (allusion, high confidence) · John 15:26 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: “From him is my salvation”: the Son is always from and in the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father.
- Ps 62:1 (LXX 61:2); John 16:28; 15:26.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): a b ipso → ab ipso.
Topics: Trinity
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.9.1 (CSEL 64:383; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-9-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-9-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.9.2CSEL 64:383–384
et filius a patre procedit et spiritus ab ipso procedit; de unitate ergo diuinitatis ambiguum nihil. ideoque concupiuit Dauid hoc salutare dei nobis dari, quia ipse est uita aeterna, si et patrem uerum deum cognoscamus et filium, quem pro nostra certum est salute uenisse, sed non rapinam arbitratus est esse se aequalem deo. assertionem suae diuinitatis sequestrat et dispensationis humanae repraesentat officium.
Both the Son proceeds from the Father and the Spirit proceeds from him; so there is nothing doubtful about the unity of the Godhead. And therefore David longed for this salvation of God to be given to us, because it is eternal life, if we know both the Father as true God and the Son, who certainly came for our salvation, but did not think it robbery to be equal to God. He sets aside the assertion of his divinity and presents the office of the human dispensation.
John 8:42 (allusion, high confidence) · John 17:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Phil 2:6 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Son and Spirit both proceed from the Father, so the Godhead is one; eternal life is to know the Father and the Son.
- John 8:42; 17:3; Phil 2:6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text; word split in the digital text): procedit;de → procedit; de; ar bitratus → arbitratus.
Topics: Trinity
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.9.2 (CSEL 64:383–384; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-9-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-9-2
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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 61, chapter 10
61.10.1CSEL 64:384
Ideoque adiunxit statim: etenim ipse est deus meus, adiutor meus, defensor meus; non mouebor amplius. haec utique quasi homo loquitur, quia in deo spem nostram debemus reponere, ne facile labamur; quamquam in eo quod locutus est: non mouebor amplius ostendat habere se diuinae insignia potestatis.
And therefore he added at once: “For he is my God, my helper, my defender; I shall be moved no more.” These things he certainly says as man, because we ought to place our hope in God, so as not to slip easily; though in saying “I shall be moved no more” he shows that he has the marks of divine power.
Ps 62:2 (61:3 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ speaks as man in trusting God, yet “I shall be moved no more” reveals his divine power.
- Ps 62:2 (LXX 61:3).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text): locutusest → locutus est.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.10.1 (CSEL 64:384; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-10-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-10-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.10.2CSEL 64:384
habes enim alibi dicentem: adhuc ego semel terram mouebo. mouit diluuio, quando praeter arcam Noe caro omnis interiit, mouit, cum Sodoma et Gomorra sacro igne consumptae sunt. haec supernae indignationis indicia sunt. sed quia elegit genus hominum dominus magis seruare quam perdere, non mouebitur amplius ad indignationem, qui uenit ad misericordiam, uenit, ut redimeret nos suo sanguine, non ut nostrum effunderet, uenit, ut se offerret pro nobis et quasi bonus negotiator mercem suam proprii corporis passione seruaret.
For you have elsewhere him saying: “Yet once more I will move the earth.” He moved it by the flood, when all flesh perished except Noah’s ark; he moved it when Sodom and Gomorrah were consumed by sacred fire. These are signs of heavenly indignation. But because the Lord has chosen rather to save the human race than to destroy it, he will no longer be moved to indignation who has come for mercy; he came to redeem us by his blood, not to shed ours; he came to offer himself for us and, like a good merchant, to save his merchandise by the passion of his own body.
Hag 2:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 12:26 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 7:23 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 19:24 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God once moved the earth in judgment, but in Christ he comes in mercy, to redeem us by his own blood.
- Hag 2:6 (Heb 12:26); Gen 7:23; 19:24.
Topics: Atonement
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.10.2 (CSEL 64:384; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-10-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-10-2
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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 61, chapter 11
61.11.1CSEL 64:384
Et cum hoc diceret, leuauit oculos suos et uidit hinc persecutores, inde nequitias spiritales in unum conuenire et ait: quo usque irruitis in hominem, interficientes uniuersos?, hoc est: quid delere genus festinatis humanum? nescitis me pro omnium redemptione uenisse? obtuli me pro cunctis, ut omnes mea oblatione protegerem. hominem ergo aut pro humana omni accipimus multitudine aut, si de uno accipimus, de ipso dictum intellegimus: irruitis, sed in hominem, quia supra deum irruere non potestis, sicut habes alibi:
And as he said this, he lifted up his eyes and saw on one side the persecutors, on the other the spiritual wickednesses coming together into one, and said: “How long will you rush upon a man, killing all?”, that is: Why do you hasten to destroy the human race? Do you not know that I have come for the redemption of all? I have offered myself for all, so as to protect all by my offering. “Man”, then, we take either for the whole human multitude or, if we take it of one, we understand it said of him: you rush, but upon a man, because you cannot rush upon God, as you have elsewhere:
Ps 62:3 (61:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Eph 6:12 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: “How long will you rush upon a man?”: the persecutors and evil spirits attack Christ’s humanity, who offered himself for all.
- Ps 62:3 (LXX 61:4) in the Old Latin form. The quotation follows in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray letter in the digital text; word split in the digital text): ponuenire → conuenire; interf icientes → interficientes; lquid → quid.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.11.1 (CSEL 64:384; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-11-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-11-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.11.2CSEL 64:384–385
quid me quaeritis occidere hominem? neque enim diuinitas morti poterat esse subiecta, sed humana susceptio. si ergo in me irruitis et me uultis tenere, quid eos qui mecum sunt uultis occidere? satis est uobis habere quem quaeritis. non quaero consortem passionis, qui ad salutem omnium adiutore non egeo. non requiro legatum, nuntium non praemitto, sed ipse me nuntius obtuli non quaerentibus, me tradidi non comprehendentibus, ut liberarem eos qui mortis laqueis fuerant comprehensi.
“Why do you seek to kill me, a man?” For the Godhead could not be subject to death, but the human nature taken on could. If, then, you rush upon me and wish to hold me, why do you wish to kill those who are with me? It is enough for you to have the one you seek. I do not seek a sharer in the passion, I who need no helper for the salvation of all. I do not seek an envoy, I do not send a messenger ahead, but I myself offered myself as messenger to those who did not seek me, I gave myself up to those who did not seize me, so as to free those who had been seized by the snares of death.
John 8:40 (quotation, high confidence) · John 18:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 65:1 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 18:5 (17:6 LXX) (allusion, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ, the man the persecutors sought, gave himself up alone so that his companions might go free.
- John 7:19; 8:40; 18:8; Isa 65:1.
Topics: Christology, Passion and death of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.11.2 (CSEL 64:384–385; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-11-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-11-2
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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.
61.11.3CSEL 64:385
irruitis igitur tamquam parieti inclinato et maceriae inpulsae, ignari quia ueni, non ut inclinarem parietem et maceriam inpellerem, sed ut soluerem. ueni enim pax, ut faciam utraque unum, et medium parietem maceriae soluens, qui carnem et animam diuidebat, ut unum sentire non possent. et ideo caro animae repugnabat et subdita imperio eius esse non poterat, quia obiecti parietis obstaculo gubernaculis eius parere non poterat.
You rush, then, as on a leaning wall and a tottering fence, not knowing that I came not to make the wall lean and push the fence, but to break it down. For I came as peace, to make both one, and breaking down the middle wall of the fence, which divided flesh and soul so that they could not think as one. And therefore the flesh fought against the soul and could not be subject to its rule, because, through the obstacle of the wall set between, it could not obey its government.
Ps 62:3 (61:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Eph 2:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 5:17 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ came as peace to break down the dividing wall between flesh and soul.
- Ps 62:3 (LXX 61:4); Eph 2:14 (Ambrose applies it to flesh and soul).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text): inpelleremsed → inpellerem, sed.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.11.3 (CSEL 64:385; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-11-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-11-3
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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 61, chapter 12
61.12.1CSEL 64:385
Lex igitur carnis legi mentis aduersabatur. hunc parietem ueterum inimicitiarum uelut murum sustulit dominus Iesus et peruios fecit esse conuentus mentis et carnis, ut in unum coeuntes id quod erat utrique salutare sequerentur. paries ergo quaedam eminentia delictorum est, unde ad pontificem Iudaeorum dicit Paulus: percutere te incipiet deus, paries dealbate; paries enim luto caementisque construitur.
So the law of the flesh was opposed to the law of the mind. This wall of old enmities the Lord Jesus took away like a rampart, and made open meetings of mind and flesh, so that, coming together into one, they might follow what was saving for both. The wall, then, is a kind of prominence of offences; hence Paul says to the high priest of the Jews: “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall”; for a wall is built of mud and rubble.
Rom 7:23 (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 2:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 23:3 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ removed the wall between mind and flesh; the “wall” is the heaped-up prominence of sins.
- Rom 7:23; Acts 23:3.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): paiies → paries; caementiaque → caementisque.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.12.1 (CSEL 64:385; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-12-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-12-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.12.2CSEL 64:385
hinc aedificabant Aegyptii ciuitates, quando Iudaei lateres facere cogebantur. in Aegypto lutum conficiebatur et populus dei peccatum illic operabatur; ideo gemebat, ideo exauditus et liberatus est a peccato: ideo lex data, promissa gratia, ut lex peccatum ex parte resecaret, gratia omne donaret.
From this the Egyptians built cities, when the Jews were forced to make bricks. In Egypt clay was prepared, and the people of God worked sin there; therefore they groaned, therefore they were heard and freed from sin; therefore the law was given, grace promised, so that the law might cut away sin in part, grace might forgive it all.
Exod 1:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 1:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 2:23 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 2:24 (allusion, high confidence) · John 1:17 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Israel’s brickmaking in Egypt figures the building of sin, from which God freed them by the law and grace.
- Exod 1:11–14; 2:23–24.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphen in the digital text): exauditus- et → exauditus et.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.12.2 (CSEL 64:385; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-12-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-12-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 61, chapter 13
61.13.1CSEL 64:385
Et cum haec nobis conferret, haec pro nobis subiret, nos pretium eius repellebamus, unde ait: uerumtamen pretium meum cogitauerunt repellere, quando referente Iuda pretium proditore Iudaei in loculum mittere noluerunt dicentes: non licet nobis mittere in loculum, quia pretium sanguinis est. damnatur hic iudicio suo proditor, qui refudit pretium quod accepit, infirmus ad sacri muneris testimonium, sed ualidus sceleris sui testis; unusquisque enim grauior accusator est sui et inexcusabilem in se fert ipse sententiam.
And when he was conferring these things on us, undergoing these things for us, we were rejecting his price; hence he says: “Yet they thought to reject my price”, when, as Judas the traitor brought back the price, the Jews would not put it into the treasury, saying: “It is not lawful for us to put it into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.” Here the traitor is condemned by his own judgment, who paid back the price he had received, weak in testimony to the sacred gift, but strong as witness of his own crime; for each one is his own more grievous accuser and brings an inexcusable sentence on himself.
Ps 62:4 (61:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 27:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 27:6 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The rejection of Christ’s “price” was fulfilled when the Jews refused Judas’s silver as blood money; Judas condemned himself.
- Ps 62:4 (LXX 61:5) in the Old Latin form; Matt 27:3–6.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip and stray period in the digital text; stray period inside the word): ueru.mtamen → uerumtamen; s<tnguinis → sanguinis; esi. sui → est sui; inexcmwbilem → inexcusabilem.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.13.1 (CSEL 64:385; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-13-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-13-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.13.2CSEL 64:385–386
principes synagogae suo condemnant se iudicio; profitentur enim pretium esse sanguinis quod dederunt, dum arguunt refundentem. nam si recipiendum non fuit, nec soluendum fuit. atque utinam aut non dedissent aut, quia dederant, nec recepissent! repudiarunt enim quod in loculum mittere noluerunt et emerunt inde agrum in sepulturam peregrinorum. merito ergo gentiles, quibus agri eius, qui morte emptus est Christi, sepultura profecit, iam non sunt aduenae atque peregrini, sed ciues sanctorum facti sunt et domestici dei, quia consepeliuntur dei filio; Iudaei
The chiefs of the synagogue condemn themselves by their own judgment; for they confess that what they gave was the price of blood, while they rebuke the one who pays it back. For if it was not to be received back, neither was it to be paid. And would that they had either not given it or, since they had given it, had not received it back! For they rejected what they would not put into the treasury, and from it they bought a field for the burial of strangers. Rightly, then, the gentiles, whom the burial in the field bought by the death of Christ has profited, are no longer strangers and foreigners, but have become fellow citizens of the saints and members of God’s household, because they are buried with the Son of God; but the Jews,
Matt 27:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 2:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 6:4 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The chiefs condemned themselves; the field bought for strangers figures the gentiles, buried with Christ and made citizens of God.
- Matt 27:7; Eph 2:19; Rom 6:4. The sentence continues in the next section.
Topics: Baptism
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.13.2 (CSEL 64:385–386; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-13-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-13-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.13.3CSEL 64:386
autem, qui passionis eius pretium repudiarunt, peregrinantur a Christo. tolerabilior illis uel in hoc proditor, quod confitetur errorem, illi autem crimen suum excusando acerbant; uerecundior est enim confessio post delictum. impudenter igitur refellebant commune sacrilegium confitentem dicentes: quid ad nos? tu uideris; quid enim dicebat proditor nisi hoc: peccaui quod tradiderim sanguinem iustum? quod erat crimen tradentis, quomodo suscipientis non poterat esse peccatum, cum scelus sceleri sit adiunctum, ut quem scelerate emerunt sceleratius trucidarent?
who rejected the price of his passion, are strangers to Christ. The traitor is more tolerable than they even in this, that he confesses his error; but they make their crime worse by excusing it; for confession after an offence is more modest. So they shamelessly rejected the one who confessed the common sacrilege, saying: “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” For what was the traitor saying but this: “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood”? How could what was the crime of the one who betrayed not be the sin of those who received him, since crime was joined to crime, so that they more wickedly slaughtered the one they had wickedly bought?
Matt 27:4 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas at least confessed; the chiefs who bought Christ shared his guilt and added worse crime.
- Matt 27:4. The polemic is Ambrose’s; translated as written.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.13.3 (CSEL 64:386; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-13-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-13-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 61, chapter 14
61.14.1CSEL 64:386
Cucurri, inquit, in siti. uerum est quidem quod dominus noster Iesus sitiuit. beata domini sitis, quia sitiuit pro nobis et maxime in passione; denique dixit: sitio. tunc itaque sitiebat, quando de latere suo restinctura sitim omnium uiuae aquae fluenta fundebat. denique scriptum est: flumina de uentre eius fluent aquae uiuae.
“I ran,” he says, “in thirst.” It is true indeed that our Lord Jesus thirsted. Blessed the Lord’s thirst, because he thirsted for us, and most of all in the passion; finally he said: “I thirst.” So he thirsted then, when from his side he poured out streams of living water to quench the thirst of all. Finally it is written: “Rivers of living water will flow from his belly.”
Ps 62:4 (61:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 19:28 (quotation, high confidence) · John 19:34 (allusion, high confidence) · John 7:38 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: “I ran in thirst”: Christ thirsted for us on the cross, when living water flowed from his side.
- Ps 62:4 (LXX 61:5) in the Old Latin form; John 19:28, 34; 7:38.
Topics: Passion and death of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.14.1 (CSEL 64:386; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-14-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-14-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.14.2CSEL 64:386–387
sed in Graeco medie positum est, quia ἔδραμον et singularem et pluralem numerum significat. ergo quia cucurri et cucurrerunt iuxta Graecum possumus intellegere — diximus autem quid exprimat cucurri, hoc est festinaui sitim omnium suscipere, ut uniuersos perpetui fontis ubertate satiarem; cui enim dedero aquam, non sitiet nec hic nec in futurum, sicut dictum est ad Samaritanam —, nunc dicamus, quid significet: cucurrerunt in siti, hoc est festinauerunt, ut perfidiae suae aestu fontem uiuum negantes aeterna fauces suas ariditate siccarent, sicut ipse dominus ait: me dereliquerunt fontem aquae uiuae et fecerunt sibi contritos lacus.
But in the Greek it is put ambiguously, because edramon signifies both singular and plural number. So, since according to the Greek we can understand both “I ran” and “they ran” — we have said what “I ran” expresses, that is, I hastened to take up the thirst of all, so as to satisfy all with the richness of the everlasting fountain; for to whom I give water, he will not thirst either here or in the future, as was said to the Samaritan woman —, now let us say what “they ran in thirst” means, that is, they hastened, so that, denying the living fountain in the heat of their faithlessness, they dried up their throats with everlasting drought, as the Lord himself says: “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have made for themselves broken cisterns.”
John 4:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Jer 2:13 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Greek can mean “I ran” or “they ran”: Christ ran to quench our thirst, his enemies ran to their own drought.
- The Greek word is garbled in the digital text and is restored (ἔδραμον). John 4:14; Jer 2:13.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Greek word garbled by font encoding in the digital text; OCR slip; word split and OCR slip in the digital text; word split in the digital text): edgafwv → ἔδραμον; sic- sct carent → siccarent; m e dereliquerunt → me dereliquerunt; «ontritos → contritos.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.14.2 (CSEL 64:386–387; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-14-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-14-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.14.3CSEL 64:387
nec mirum, si sitierunt qui aquam fontis aeterni tenere non poterant; lubrici perfidiae suae rimis. sitierunt ergo, quia se potu priuauerunt spiritali quem hauserant de consequenti petra. unde et Symmachus ait: owe d oxei, hoc est placuit illis in mendacio, cum obicerent falsa pro ueris. omne mendacium sitim habet, ueritas ubertatem quae in perpetuum perseuerat.
No wonder if they thirsted who could not hold the water of the eternal fountain, through the cracks of their slippery faithlessness. They thirsted, then, because they deprived themselves of the spiritual drink which they had drawn from the rock that followed. Hence Symmachus too says: “They were pleased …”, that is, it pleased them in falsehood, when they cast up false things instead of true. Every falsehood has thirst; truth has richness, which lasts for ever.
1 Cor 10:4 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 62:4 (61:5 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Those who rejected the eternal fountain thirsted; falsehood brings thirst, truth abundance.
- Symmachus’s Greek is garbled in the digital text (owe d oxei) and is translated by Ambrose’s explanation. 1 Cor 10:4.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): nee mirum → nec mirum; pro neris → pro ueris.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.14.3 (CSEL 64:387; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-14-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-14-3
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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 61, chapter 15
61.15.1CSEL 64:387
Et quam cito probauit quia cucurrerunt in mendacio: ore suo, inquit, benedicebant et corde suo maledicebant. misera perfidorum sitis, qui aliud tenebant corde et ore aliud loquebantur. ubi autem fidei exundat ubertas, corde creditur ad iustitiam, ore confessio fit ad salutem. quomodo autem benedixerint ore et corde maledixerint, series passionis ostendit, cum dicerent: descendat de cruce et credimus ei — stulti! de morte surrexit et non crediderunt: quomodo, si de cruce descenderet, credidissent? —, sperauit in domino, eripiat eum; liberet nunc eum, quoniam uult eum, quia illudentes potius quam optantes ista dicebant et interrogabant, utrum esset dei filius, uerbis pacifica loquentes, corde accusationem sacrilegii cogitantes.
And how quickly he proved that they ran in falsehood: “With their mouth,” he says, “they blessed, and with their heart they cursed.” Wretched the thirst of the faithless, who held one thing in their heart and spoke another with their mouth. But where the richness of faith overflows, one believes with the heart unto righteousness, confession is made with the mouth unto salvation. How they blessed with the mouth and cursed with the heart the course of the passion shows, when they said: “Let him come down from the cross and we will believe him” — fools! He rose from death and they did not believe: how would they have believed if he had come down from the cross? —, “He hoped in the Lord, let him rescue him; let him deliver him now, since he wants him”, because they said these things mocking rather than wishing, and asked whether he was the Son of God, speaking peaceable words, but in their heart planning the charge of sacrilege.
Ps 62:4 (61:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 10:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 27:42 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 27:43 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 26:63 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s enemies blessed with their mouths and cursed in their hearts, mocking him at the cross.
- Ps 62:4 (LXX 61:5); Rom 10:10; Matt 27:42–43.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip and stray hyphen in the digital text): cord-j → corde.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.15.1 (CSEL 64:387; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-15-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-15-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 61, chapter 16
61.16.1CSEL 64:387–388
Sed haec mystica; ueniamus ad moralia. etenim quoniam non semel appetitur Christus — appetitus est semel in suo corpore quod suscepit in uirgine, appetitus est frequenter in eo corpore quod est ecclesia, nos enim sumus corpus Christi et membra, appetitur et in singulis sanctis suis et innocentibus qui domino se dicarunt —,
But these are mystical things; let us come to moral ones. For since Christ is attacked not once — he was attacked once in his own body which he took from the Virgin; he is attacked often in that body which is the church, for we are the body of Christ and its members; he is attacked also in each of his saints and the innocent who have dedicated themselves to the Lord —,
1 Cor 12:27 (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 9:4 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is attacked not only in his own body but in his church and in each of his saints.
- 1 Cor 12:27; Acts 9:4. The sentence continues in the next section.
Topics: Persecution
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.16.1 (CSEL 64:387–388; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-16-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-16-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 61, chapter 17
61.17.1CSEL 64:388
recordemur aliquem proxime ab omnibus appetitum, a suis destitutum ac proditum; qui dudum in suggestu locatus imperii subito egens omnium ab ipsis, quorum hereditarium fuerat sortitus obsequium, coepit urgeri ingruentibus in exitium, inferentibus mortem.
let us remember one recently attacked by all, abandoned and betrayed by his own; who, lately set on the high seat of empire, suddenly, in need of everything, began to be pressed by those very men whose hereditary allegiance had fallen to his lot, as they rushed in to destroy him and brought death upon him,
Notes and citation
Summary: Ambrose applies the psalm to a recent victim, an emperor betrayed by his own men.
- The reference is to the emperor Gratian, betrayed by his troops and killed at Lyons in 383 during the usurpation of Maximus; Ambrose does not name him. The sentence continues in the next section.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.17.1 (CSEL 64:388; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-17-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-17-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.17.2CSEL 64:388
nullo auxiliatore, nullo iam socio sui, nullo comite. quid aliud melius dixerit quam quod ex ipso cui se deuouit acceperat: nonne deo subdita erit anima mea? hoc est: quid persequimini, quid furitis, quid insultatis? carnem potestis interficere, animam non potestis. uitam istam corporis potestis eripere, meritum non potestis extinguere; scriptum est enim: nolite timere eos qui possunt occidere carnem, animam autem non possunt; sed potius eum timete qui potest animam et corpus perdere in gehennam.
with no helper, no ally of his own left, no companion. What better could he say than what he had received from the one to whom he had devoted himself: “Will not my soul be subject to God?” That is: Why do you persecute, why do you rage, why do you insult? You can kill the flesh, you cannot kill the soul. You can snatch away this life of the body, you cannot extinguish merit; for it is written: “Do not fear those who can kill the flesh but cannot kill the soul; but rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Ps 62:1 (61:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 10:28 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The betrayed emperor could say with the psalm that his soul was subject to God, whom alone he feared.
- Ps 62:1 (LXX 61:2); Matt 10:28.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): possu.ut → possunt.
Topics: Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.17.2 (CSEL 64:388; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-17-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-17-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.17.3CSEL 64:388
anima ergo quae deo subdita est non est humanae subdita potestati; ab ipso enim uitae fructum sperat aeternae et perpetuae salutis auxilium. ille ergo, cui me tradidi, et necatum tuebitur et mortuum resuscitabit et ulciscetur occisum. raptus est iustus, ne malitia mutaret cor eius. mors ergo ista magis peccati fuga quam morientis est detrimentum.
So the soul that is subject to God is not subject to human power; for from him it hopes for the fruit of eternal life and the help of perpetual salvation. He, then, to whom I have given myself, will protect me when slain, will raise me when dead, and will avenge me when killed. The righteous man was snatched away, lest wickedness should change his heart. So this death is rather a flight from sin than a loss for the one who dies.
Rom 12:19 (allusion, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul subject to God is free of human power; for the righteous, death is an escape from sin.
- Wis 4:11.
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 4:11 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Topics: Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.17.3 (CSEL 64:388; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-17-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-17-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 61, chapter 18
61.18.1CSEL 64:388
Etenim ipse est deus meus, adiutor meus, defensor meus; non mouebor amplius. qui labitur, commouetur, eo quod de integritatis et innocentiae suae quadam statione defluat. semel enim in petra Christi locatus lubricum non debet habere uestigium, sed tenere status proprii firmamentum;
“For he is my God, my helper, my defender; I shall be moved no more.” He who slips is moved, because he slides from a certain standing-place of his integrity and innocence. For one once placed on the rock of Christ ought not to have a slippery footing, but to hold the firmness of his own standing;
Ps 62:2 (61:3 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 7:24 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: He who stands on the rock of Christ is not moved but keeps a firm footing.
- Ps 62:2 (LXX 61:3).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): commouctur → commouetur.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.18.1 (CSEL 64:388; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-18-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-18-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.18.2CSEL 64:388–389
unde immobilis dicitur qui seruat Immobilem uoluntatem et propositum aliquod intentione animi fidelis exequitur. nam et dei immobilem uoluntatem legimus, sicut habes ad Hebraeos: in quo amplius deus ostendere nolens heredibus repromissionis immobilitatem uoluntatis suae interposuit ius iurandum. recte ergo immobilis uoluntas dei quae nullius peccati mouetur illecebris; homines mobiles, lubrici ad delinquendum, faciles ad errandum. denique de Iudaeis dictum est: transeuntes autem blasphemabant eum mouentes capita sua, et ipse dominus in psalmo ait: omnes qui uidebant me aspernabantur me et locuti sunt labiis et mouerunt caput.
hence he is called immovable who keeps an immovable will and carries out a purpose with the intention of a faithful mind. For we read of the immovable will of God too, as you have in Hebrews: “In which God, wishing to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immovability of his will, interposed an oath.” Rightly, then, the will of God is immovable, which is moved by the enticements of no sin; men are movable, slippery to offend, easy to err. Finally it was said of the Jews: “Those who passed by blasphemed him, shaking their heads”, and the Lord himself says in the psalm: “All who saw me despised me, and spoke with their lips and shook their heads.”
Heb 6:17 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 27:39 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 22:7 (21:8 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God’s will is immovable; men are easily moved, as those who passed the cross shook their heads.
- Heb 6:17; Matt 27:39; Ps 22:7 (LXX 21:8).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word spaces lost in the digital text; word split in the digital text): i n quo → in quo; recteergoimmobilis → recte ergo immobilis.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.18.2 (CSEL 64:388–389; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-18-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-18-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.18.3CSEL 64:389
caput omnium Christus est; melius est igitur ut maneat Christus in nobis quam aliqua nostri commotione moueatur. unde Iudaei mouentes capita sua dicebant: tolle a terra talem hunc, Geraseni rogabant, ut de finibus eorum recederet, ecclesia autem tenuit eum nec dimisit eum. ideo illa quae tenuit eum possidet, illi qui mouerunt tenere non possunt. pulchre autem ait euangelista, quia transeuntes mouebant capita sua, transeuntes, non stantes. stamus in atriis sanctis, praeterimus in plateis. sacerdos praeteriit.
Christ is the head of all; it is better, then, that Christ should remain in us than be moved by any movement of ours. Hence the Jews, shaking their heads, said: “Away with such a man from the earth”; the Gerasenes begged him to depart from their borders; but the church held him and did not let him go. Therefore she who held him possesses him; those who moved him cannot hold him. Beautifully the evangelist says that those passing by shook their heads — passing by, not standing. We stand in the holy courts; we pass by in the streets. The priest passed by,
1 Cor 11:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 22:22 (quotation, high confidence) · Mark 5:17 (allusion, high confidence) · Song 3:4 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 27:39 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 10:31 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ must remain in us; those who “passed by” rejected him, while the church holds him fast.
- 1 Cor 11:3; Acts 22:22; Mark 5:17; Song 3:4; Luke 10:31.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphen in the digital text; word spaces lost in the digital text): euange-lista → euangelista; capita suatranseuntesnon stantes → capita sua, transeuntes, non stantes.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.18.3 (CSEL 64:389; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-18-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-18-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.18.4CSEL 64:389
leuita pertransiuit, stetit ille qui uulnera inflicta curauit. et ideo illi non dixerunt qui transibant uiam: benedictio domini super uos, benedicimus uos de domo domini; stantes enim, non transeuntes sunt pedes benedicentium. denique et uineam, cuius soluta munitio est, transeuntes uindemiant, non manentes; transeuntes sibilant, sicut in Threnis Hieremiae legimus: tenuerunt super te manus omnes transeuntes per uiam, sibilauerunt et mouerunt caput suum super filiam Hierusalem.
the Levite passed by; he stood who healed the wounds inflicted. And therefore “those who passed by the way did not say: The blessing of the Lord be upon you; we bless you from the house of the Lord”; for the feet of those who bless are standing, not passing by. Finally those who pass by, not those who remain, pluck the grapes of the vineyard whose fence has been broken down; those who pass by hiss, as we read in the Lamentations of Jeremiah: “All who pass by the way have clapped their hands over you; they have hissed and shaken their heads over the daughter of Jerusalem.”
Luke 10:32 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 10:34 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 129:8 (128:8 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 80:12 (79:13 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Lam 2:15 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The passers-by, like the priest and Levite, give no blessing; they plunder the vineyard and mock Jerusalem.
- Luke 10:32–34; Ps 129:8 (LXX 128:8); Ps 80:12 (LXX 79:13); Lam 2:15.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): transibant. uiam → transibant uiam.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.18.4 (CSEL 64:389; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-18-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-18-4
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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.
61.18.5CSEL 64:389–390
Ideo sacerdos non potuit coronari, leuita non potuit, quia transierunt et tamquam umbra praeterierunt; Stephanus autem martyrio coronatus est, quia stantem uidebat dominum Iesum immobilem, non praetereuntem. immobilis ergo fide Stephanus immobilem Christum uidebat, nullo erat mortis timore commotus; non mouit se Stephanus, non mouit et Christus. commoti sunt filii proditoris, de quibus dicitur: commoti amoueantur filii eius et mendicent; eget enim medico qui mouetur. inops peccator, diues est iustus, quia nullo bono deficit qui dominum semper inquirit.
Therefore the priest could not be crowned, nor the Levite, because they passed by and went by like a shadow; but Stephen was crowned with martyrdom, because he saw the Lord Jesus standing immovable, not passing by. So Stephen, immovable in faith, saw the immovable Christ, and was moved by no fear of death; Stephen did not move himself, nor did Christ move. The sons of the traitor were moved, of whom it is said: “Let his sons be moved away and beg”; for he who is moved needs a physician. The sinner is poor, the righteous man is rich, because he lacks no good who always seeks the Lord.
Acts 7:55 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 7:56 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 109:10 (108:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 34:10 (33:11 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Stephen, immovable in faith, saw Christ standing and was crowned; the moved are poor, the righteous rich.
- Acts 7:55–56; Ps 109:10 (LXX 108:10); Ps 34:10 (LXX 33:11).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): ldeo sacerdos → Ideo sacerdos; dominum legum immobilem → dominum Iesum immobilem.
Topics: Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.18.5 (CSEL 64:389–390; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-18-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-18-5
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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 61, chapter 19
61.19.1CSEL 64:390
Et quia inde tractus est sermo, quia dixit: non mouebor amplius, quod moueri ad culpam sit, ostendit ipse Dauid dicens: qui posuit animam meam ad uitam et non dedit commoueri pedes meos. unde et sancto dicitur a domino deo nostro:
And since the discussion has been drawn from his saying, “I shall be moved no more”, that to be moved is to fall into guilt David himself shows, saying: “Who has set my soul to life and has not let my feet be moved.” Hence it is also said to the saint by the Lord our God:
Ps 62:2 (61:3 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 66:9 (65:9 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: To be “moved” is to fall into sin, as David shows.
- Ps 66:9 (LXX 65:9). The quotation follows in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): traotus → tractus.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.19.1 (CSEL 64:390; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-19-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-19-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.19.2CSEL 64:390
tu autem hic sta mecum, quoniam qui deo proximus est lapsui non potest esse uicinus. omnis enim culpa uelut aduersario nisu de loco deicere et de proprio statu mentem mouere consueuit; quod uel ab hoste uel ab luctamine tractum uidetur. perturbat ira, incendit libido, stimulat inuidia, excruciat auaritia, timor deicit, maeror affligit. et Petro dictum est a domino Iesu: ueni retro post me. non dixit: ueni retro — hoc enim diabolo soli dixit —, sed: ueni retro post me;
“But you, stand here with me”, since one who is near to God cannot be near to falling. For every fault, as by a hostile effort, is accustomed to throw the mind from its place and move it from its proper standing; which seems drawn either from an enemy or from wrestling. Anger disturbs, lust inflames, envy goads, avarice torments, fear casts down, grief afflicts. And to Peter it was said by the Lord Jesus: “Come back behind me.” He did not say “Come back” — for that he said to the devil alone —, but “Come back behind me”;
Deut 5:31 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 16:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 4:10 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: He who stands with God does not fall; every passion tries to move the mind, but Peter was told to come behind Christ.
- Deut 5:31; Matt 16:23 (compare Matt 4:10).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): s ta mecum → sta mecum.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.19.2 (CSEL 64:390; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-19-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-19-2
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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.
61.19.3CSEL 64:390
non est enim retro qui post Christum est. sed quia errabat Petrus, sicut dominus ipse ait ad ipsum: quia non sapis, inquit, quae dei sunt sed quae sunt hominum, ideo post me ueni, ut incipias non humana, sed diuina sentire. ideo et hic iustus rapiendus e terris ait: non mouebor amplius; dissolui enim et cum Christo esse multo melius. non enim labi poterit qui coeperit esse cum Christo, quia mors iusto non naturae finis, sed culpae est.
for he is not behind who is after Christ. But since Peter was in error, as the Lord himself says to him: “For you do not savour,” he says, “the things of God but the things of men”, therefore come behind me, so that you may begin to think not human but divine things. And therefore this righteous man too, about to be snatched from the earth, says: “I shall be moved no more”; for to be dissolved and to be with Christ is much better. For he cannot slip who has begun to be with Christ, because for the righteous death is the end not of nature but of guilt.
Matt 16:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 62:2 (61:3 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 1:23 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Following Christ, Peter learns divine things; for the righteous, death with Christ is the end of sin, not of life.
- Matt 16:23; Ps 62:2 (LXX 61:3); Phil 1:23.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): culpae ept. → culpae est..
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.19.3 (CSEL 64:390; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-19-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-19-3
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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 61, chapter 20
61.20.1CSEL 64:390
Inter has uoces subito uidet agmina persequentium et inter pericula positus non de se sollicitus, sed de his, quos liberare cupiebat, ait: quo usque irruitis in hominem, interficientes uniuersos? si me quaeritis, cur alios uultis occidere?
Amid these words he suddenly sees the troops of pursuers and, set amid dangers, anxious not for himself but for those he wished to free, he says: “How long will you rush upon a man, killing all? If you seek me, why do you wish to kill others?”
Ps 62:3 (61:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 18:8 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The betrayed emperor, seeing his pursuers, is anxious not for himself but for those with him.
- Ps 62:3 (LXX 61:4); compare John 18:8. The application is again to Gratian.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.20.1 (CSEL 64:390; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-20-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-20-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.20.2CSEL 64:390–391
offero me ipse pro multis, quia pro omnibus solus se ille potuit offerre qui auctor est omnium. ipsius ergo quem sequebatur imitator ait: si me quaeritis sinite hos abire, ut impleatur sermo quem dixit Iesus: quia non perdidi ex ipsis quemquam praeter unum — hoc enim in alio libro sententia domini comprehendit — qui tamen sua magis periit uoluntate quam mea, inquit, seueritate punitus est.
“I offer myself for many”, because he alone who is the author of all could offer himself for all. So the imitator of him whom he followed says: “If you seek me, let these go”, so that the word which Jesus spoke might be fulfilled: “That I have lost none of them except one” — for the Lord’s sentence includes this in another book —, who yet perished rather by his own will than, he says, was punished by my severity.
John 18:8 (quotation, high confidence) · John 18:9 (quotation, high confidence) · John 17:12 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Imitating Christ, who asked that his disciples go free, the emperor offered himself for others.
- John 18:8–9; 17:12.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray mark in the digital text): comprehendit —> → comprehendit —.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.20.2 (CSEL 64:390–391; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-20-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-20-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.20.3CSEL 64:391
et cum ego me sponte offeram, irruitis et incumbitis tamquam parieti inclinato et maceriae inpulsae, hoc est: apex dudum nobilis sedis Augustae et circumfusi toto orbe Romano ualidus quondam murus imperii sicut paries inclinatus aut maceries inpulsa collabor.
“And though I offer myself of my own accord, you rush and press upon me as on a leaning wall and a tottering fence”, that is: I, lately the noble summit of the August seat and once the strong wall of the empire spread over the whole Roman world, collapse like a leaning wall or a pushed fence.
Ps 62:3 (61:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The emperor, once the wall of the Roman empire, collapses like a leaning wall.
- Ps 62:3 (LXX 61:4).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.20.3 (CSEL 64:391; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-20-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-20-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 61, chapter 21
61.21.1CSEL 64:391
Sed esto, ad mortem me usque appetierunt, quaesierunt ad necem dicentes: tollamus iustum, tollamus misericordem, quia grauis est nobis etiam ad uidendum: sed etiam existimationem meam, castimoniam meam sauciandam falsis calumniis putauerunt. hoc est enim: pretium meum cogitauerunt repellere, quia pretium nostrum pudicitia est, quae nos separat a pecudibus, angelis iungit; pretium nostrum misericordia est, quae nos, dum confertur inopibus, redimit a morte; pretium nostrum fides est, quae omnes homines gentili errore et seruitute depressos Christo adquisiuit; pretium nostrum bona existimatio est, qua uniuscuiusque nostrum meritorum series aestimatur; pretium nostrum munditia atque simplicitas est, quia scriptum est: possessio pretiosa uir mundus; nihil enim pretiosius uiro simplici.
“But be it so: they attacked me even to death, they sought me for slaughter, saying: Let us take away the righteous, let us take away the merciful, because he is burdensome to us even to look at. But they also thought my reputation, my chastity, should be wounded by false accusations.” For this is: “They thought to reject my price”, because our price is chastity, which separates us from beasts and joins us to angels; our price is mercy, which, when it is given to the needy, redeems us from death; our price is faith, which has gained for Christ all men weighed down by gentile error and slavery; our price is good reputation, by which the course of each one’s merits is valued; our price is purity and simplicity, because it is written: “A pure man is a precious possession”; for nothing is more precious than a simple man.
Ps 62:4 (61:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 20:6 (allusion, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The enemies sought to destroy not only the emperor’s life but his good name; our true “price” is chastity, mercy, faith, reputation and simplicity.
- Wis 2:12, 15 (“let us lie in wait for the righteous … he is grievous to us even to behold”); Ps 62:4 (LXX 61:5); Prov 13:8? / Tob 12:9 (alms redeem from death). The source of “A pure man is a precious possession” is uncertain (compare Prov 20:6).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text): quaenos → quae nos; est:possessio → est: possessio.
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 2:12 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation); Tob 12:9 (Tobit [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; allusion)
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.21.1 (CSEL 64:391; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-21-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-21-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.21.2CSEL 64:391–392
unde apostolus pulchre: abundauit, inquit, in diuitiis simplicitatis suae. quid enim simplicitate ditius, quae sicut bonus pater familias satis sibi abundat et sua puritate contenta non quaerit alienum nec abrodit, sed de se ceteris fundit? innocens enim credit omni uerbo nec se in artes uarias saepe commutat sicut astutia, quae, ut sit cauta, timet omnia nec se consiliis suis credit, uersat suas ipsa sententias; simplicitas autem timere nil nouit. hoc igitur genere pretium iusti repellere temptauerunt, etsi possit et illud intellegi, quia aurum eius manibus accipiebant, corde intimo repellebant, praedam tenentes, fidem negantes.
Hence the apostle beautifully says: “It abounded,” he says, “in the riches of their simplicity.” For what is richer than simplicity, which, like a good householder, abounds sufficiently for itself and, content with its own purity, does not seek another’s nor gnaw at it, but pours from itself to others? For the innocent man believes every word and does not often change himself into various arts, like cunning, which, to be cautious, fears everything and does not trust its own counsels, but turns its opinions over and over; but simplicity knows no fear. In this way, then, they tried to reject the price of the righteous; though that too can be understood: that they received his gold with their hands and rejected it in their inmost heart, holding the booty, denying the faith.
2 Cor 8:2 (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 14:15 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Simplicity is rich and fearless, unlike cunning; the enemies took the emperor’s gold but rejected his faith.
- 2 Cor 8:2; Prov 14:15.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphen in the digital text; word splits and OCR slip in the digital text): a b un d a uit, mqujt → abundauit, inquit; i-nnocens → innocens.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.21.2 (CSEL 64:391–392; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-21-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-21-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 61, chapter 22
61.22.1CSEL 64:392
Unde et ait: cucurri in siti, eo quod fidem quaereret et inuenire non posset, destitutus a sociis, a propriis derelictus. sic dominum Iesum legimus in euangelio et esurisse et sitisse, cum esuriret fidem nostram, sitiret opera nostra, quaerere uideretur aliena. aut, ut ad sitim corporis referamus, quanta indignitate dicit: cucurri in siti! hoc est: ego sitiebam, cum alii mea uina ructarent, et ex illo suggestu sublimis imperii opulentiaque regali ad extrema sitis plebeia quadam uilitate deductus sum.
Hence he also says: “I ran in thirst”, because he sought faith and could not find it, deserted by his allies, abandoned by his own. So we read in the gospel that the Lord Jesus both hungered and thirsted, when he hungered for our faith and thirsted for our works, and seemed to seek what belonged to others. Or, to refer it to bodily thirst, with what indignity he says: “I ran in thirst”, that is: I was thirsting, while others were belching my wine, and from that lofty seat of empire and royal wealth I was brought down to the extremes of thirst with a kind of common baseness.
Ps 62:4 (61:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 4:2 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 19:28 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: “I ran in thirst”: the emperor sought faith and found none, and was reduced from royal wealth to thirst.
- Ps 62:4 (LXX 61:5); Matt 25:35; John 19:28.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word splits in the digital text): dominum legum legimus → dominum Iesum legimus; c ucurri in siti! hocest → cucurri in siti! hoc est.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.22.1 (CSEL 64:392; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-22-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-22-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 61, chapter 23
61.23.1CSEL 64:392
Et quia Graecus habet ἔδραμον, quod significat et cucurri singulariter et cucurrerunt pluraliter, potest et sic intellegi: cucurrerunt in siti, quorum fauces aestu nimio fundendi mei sanguinis aruerunt. sicut enim est sitis fidei, ita est et perfidiae. sitim illam iustus sitit, qui ait: sitiuit anima mea ad te, deus, istam perfidi, quorum lingua prae siti aruit; quam sitiuit
And since the Greek has edramon, which means both “I ran” in the singular and “they ran” in the plural, it can also be understood thus: “They ran in thirst”, whose throats were dried up by the excessive heat of shedding my blood. For as there is a thirst of faith, so there is one of faithlessness. That thirst the righteous man thirsts, who says: “My soul has thirsted for you, O God”; this one the faithless, whose tongue has dried up for thirst; with which he thirsted
Ps 62:4 (61:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 63:1 (62:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 41:17 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: “They ran in thirst”: the murderers thirsted for blood, as the righteous thirst for God.
- The Greek word is garbled in the digital text and is restored (ἔδραμον). Ps 63:1 (LXX 62:2); Isa 41:17. The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Greek word garbled by font encoding in the digital text; stray letter in the digital text; word split in the digital text): edga/xov → ἔδραμον; c ucurrerunt → cucurrerunt; deus s, → deus,.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.23.1 (CSEL 64:392; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-23-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-23-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.23.2CSEL 64:392
ille, qui inter conuiuii dapes et pocula constitutus innocentis conuiuae necem moliebatur Augusti. nonne tibi uidebatur, impie, cum manducares, caedem parares, quod humana sub dentibus tuis ossa crepitarent? cum uinum biberes et parricidium cogitares, quod illis poculis sanguinem tibi innocentis infunderes? ita prorsus alienus non solum ab imitatione, sed etiam a lectione diuina, ut non tibi ueniret in mentem uersiculus ille psalmorum: tu uero, homo unanimis, dux meus et notus meus, qui simul mecum dulces capiebas cibos, atque ille alius, cuius meminit in euangelio ipse dominus Iesus: qui edebat mecum panem leuauit super me calcaneum suum?
who, set amid the dishes and cups of a banquet, was plotting the death of the innocent Augustus, his table companion. Did it not seem to you, wicked man, while you ate and prepared the slaughter, that human bones were cracking under your teeth? While you drank wine and plotted parricide, that you were pouring yourself the blood of the innocent in those cups? So utterly a stranger were you not only to imitation of divine Scripture but even to reading it, that that verse of the psalms did not come to your mind: “But you, a man of one mind with me, my guide and my familiar friend, who took sweet food with me”, and that other, which the Lord Jesus himself recalls in the gospel: “He who ate bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.”
Ps 55:13 (54:14 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 55:14 (54:15 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 13:18 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Ambrose rebukes the murderer who plotted the emperor’s death at a banquet, like Judas at the supper.
- The emperor (Augustus) is Gratian; the murderer at the banquet was Andragathius, the agent of Maximus (in 383). Ambrose does not name them. Ps 55:13–14 (LXX 54:14–15); John 13:18.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.23.2 (CSEL 64:392; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-23-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-23-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 61, chapter 24
61.24.1CSEL 64:392–393
Quid tibi faciam, Ephraim? quid tibi faciam, Iuda? plures reliquisti nobis proditionis tuae et fraudis heredes; hoc enim etiam ad proditorem ludam potest per apostropham deriuari. prodidisti uitam, regnum domino. sed Iesus dominus semel in se, frequenter in seruulis suis proditur; quod enim uni horum minimorum fecistis, mihi, inquit, fecistis. tu commissos tibi loculos et pecunias pauperum suscepisti, iste prouincias sibi creditas; tu apostoli honorem, ille militiae dignitatem, administrationis infulas. numero honores eius, ut crimen exaggerem.
“What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah?” You have left us many heirs of your betrayal and deceit; for this too can be turned by apostrophe to Judas the traitor. You betrayed life, the kingdom, to the Lord. But the Lord Jesus is betrayed once in himself, often in his servants; for “what you did to one of the least of these, you did to me,” he says. You received the purse entrusted to you and the money of the poor, this man the provinces entrusted to him; you the honour of an apostle, he the dignity of military command, the insignia of administration. I count his honours, so as to heap up his crime.
Hos 6:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 25:40 (quotation, high confidence) · John 12:6 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas has many heirs; the emperor’s betrayer, entrusted with provinces and command, betrayed Christ in his servant.
- Hos 6:4; Matt 25:40; John 12:6. “This man” is the general who betrayed Gratian.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; punctuation lost in the digital text): facjam → faciam; hereJes → heredes; proditur quod → proditur; quod.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.24.1 (CSEL 64:392–393; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-24-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-24-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.24.2CSEL 64:393
conuiuii uiolastis uterque consortium; tu tamen de conuiuio ad proditionem surrexisti, iste ad necem; hoc est: tu, licet in scelere, uerecundior, qui negasti, quod inferendam necem credideris domino quem prodebas, qui pretium refudisti, ne residere apud te merces parricidii uideretur; iste non solum tenuit acceptam, uerum etiam extorsit non oblatam mercedem proditionis, iste non solum deceptus non est alieno mendacio, sed fefellit suo, et fefellit ut occideret.
Both of you violated the fellowship of the table; yet you rose from the supper to betrayal, this man to murder; that is: you, though in crime, more modest, who denied that you believed death would be brought on the Lord whom you betrayed, who paid back the price, lest the wages of parricide seem to remain with you; this man not only kept the wages of betrayal he received, but even extorted those not offered; this man not only was not deceived by another’s lie, but deceived by his own, and deceived so as to kill.
Matt 27:3 (allusion, high confidence) · John 13:30 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Judas at least returned the money; the emperor’s betrayer kept and extorted his wages and deceived in order to kill.
- Matt 27:3.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): conuiun uiolastis → conuiuii uiolastis; teIWit → tenuit.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.24.2 (CSEL 64:393; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-24-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-24-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.24.3CSEL 64:393
et cum ille conuiuium recusaret qui se uideret esse perimendum, iste sacramentum obtulit, ne qua periret sibi cumulandi pars criminis. postremo superioris proditoris pecunia profecit ad sepulturam peregrinorum, iste sepulturam integram suo principi denegauit.
And when the one who saw he was to be killed refused the banquet, this man offered an oath, lest any part of heaping up the crime should be lost to him. Finally, the money of the former traitor served for the burial of strangers; this man denied burial altogether to his prince.
Matt 27:7 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The betrayer swore an oath to lure the emperor, and then refused him burial.
- “Oath” renders sacramentum (here a sworn pledge). Matt 27:7.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.24.3 (CSEL 64:393; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-24-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-24-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 61, chapter 25
61.25.1CSEL 64:393
Nec defuit qui manus lauaret dicens: innocens sum a sanguine iusti huius; in quo se Pilatus non diluit, sed inquinauit et implicauit, non exuit. nam etsi nullum pondus in perditorum iudiciis, tamen uinculum maius in confessionibus. iustos enim non aliena absoluit sententia, sed sua uita; iniusti se ipsos uehementius suis uocibus alligant, qui alios alligare non possunt. tamen, ne huic quoque deesse confessio propria uideretur;
Nor was there lacking one to wash his hands, saying: “I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man”; by which Pilate did not wash himself clean but defiled and entangled himself, did not free himself. For though there is no weight in the judgments of the lost, there is yet a greater bond in confessions. For it is not another’s sentence that absolves the righteous, but their own life; the unjust bind themselves more strongly by their own words, who cannot bind others. Yet, lest this man too should seem to lack his own confession,
Matt 27:24 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: As Pilate washed his hands in vain, so the emperor’s murderers condemned themselves by their own words.
- Matt 27:24. The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word splits in the digital text): h u ius → huius; be ipsos → se ipsos.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.25.1 (CSEL 64:393; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-25-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-25-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.25.2CSEL 64:393
iurauit, ut peiuraret, lauit manus, cum euangelium tangeret, ne quid deesset exemplo, lauit aqua manus, ut sceleratius inquinaret innocentis sanguine. nec Herodes defuit, cui alter Pilatus se placiturum credidit, si captum principem destinasset.
he swore so as to perjure himself, he washed his hands while touching the gospel, so that nothing should be lacking to the example; he washed his hands with water, so as to defile them more wickedly with innocent blood. Nor was Herod lacking, to whom another Pilate believed he would be pleasing if he sent the captured prince.
Matt 27:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 23:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 23:12 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The murderer perjured himself on the gospel, and another “Pilate” sent the captured emperor to a “Herod”.
- Luke 23:7, 11–12. The “Herod” is the usurper Maximus.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): penuraret → peiuraret; lauit manuc → lauit manus.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.25.2 (CSEL 64:393; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-25-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-25-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
61.25.3CSEL 64:393–394
quid illud quoque dicam, quod is quoque uestem dealbatam indutus est ad illudendum, postea quoque regia ueste donatus est ad moriendum, ne amisisse honorem debitum uideretur? nam etsi scelere interiit, ius tamen collatae sibi potestatis etiam mortuus reseruabat eorum ipsorum, a quibus negabatur; uel ministerio uel assensu.
Why should I mention that too, that he too was dressed in a white robe for mockery, and afterwards was given a royal robe for dying, lest he seem to have lost the honour due to him? For although he perished by crime, he yet kept, even when dead, the right of the power conferred on him from those very men by whom it was denied, either by their service or by their assent.
Luke 23:11 (allusion, high confidence) · John 19:2 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Like Christ mocked in a white robe, the emperor was mocked, yet kept even in death the dignity of his power.
- Luke 23:11; John 19:2.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.25.3 (CSEL 64:393–394; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-25-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-25-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 61, chapter 26
61.26.1CSEL 64:394
Addebatur huic tanto sceleri pompa feralis, nisi is, qui inpatienter ista deflebat, cognitis quae parabantur iusto commotus dolore increpasset uictorem superbum tyrannis illa, non regibus inferri solere. sic horrore flagitii excitus deposuit taeterrimi sceleris apparatum. nec petitor igitur sepulturae defuit, etsi Ioseph ille qui iustus dicebatur defuit. sed longe Maximus saeuior denegabat quod Pilatus ipse auferre non potuit. in quo parricidae humanitas defuit, innocenti tamen non defuit gratia et ad tempus assumpta patientia uindicta paululum comperendinata est.
A funeral procession would have been added to this great crime, had not the one who was bitterly lamenting these things, on learning what was being prepared, moved by just grief, rebuked the proud victor, saying that such things were usually inflicted on tyrants, not on kings. So, stirred by the horror of the deed, he put aside the apparatus of that foulest crime. Nor was there lacking one to ask for burial, even though that Joseph who was called righteous was lacking. But Maximus, far more cruel, denied what Pilate himself could not take away. In this the parricide lacked humanity, but grace did not fail the innocent, and, patience having been taken up for a time, vengeance has been postponed a little.
Matt 27:57 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 27:58 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 23:50 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Maximus, crueller than Pilate, refused the emperor burial, but God’s vengeance is only postponed.
- Ambrose names the usurper Maximus here. Matt 27:57–58 (Joseph asks Pilate for Jesus’s body).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 61.26.1 (CSEL 64:394; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-26-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/61-26-1
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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.