Fragments on the Psalms

Contents

Fragments on the Psalms for which Migne prints Greek.

Reading pages: 8–45 · 50–51 · 52–65 · 67–74 · 76–90 · 97–102 · 103 · 104 · 112–118

1. 8Hesychius reads Psalm 8 of the Church confessing Christ as Lord and of the classes of believers, and Psalm 9 of the demons caught by the cross and of unbelievers as dead before death.
2. 14Comments on Psalm 12 (God’s forgetting and the devil’s exaltation) and on Psalm 14 (truth in the heart, not reproaching others, honouring those who fear the Lord).
3. 15Hesychius reads Psalm 15 as the Church, Christ’s bride, confessing him as Lord and her only inheritance, and Psalm 16 of the soul’s steps made firm against the demons.
4. 17Comments on Psalms 17, 32, 33 and 34: the descent of Christ in the flesh, God’s mercy before judgment, the vanity of human power, and the passion foretold, with Judas, the Jews and the devil caught in their own snares.
5. 35Comments on Psalms 35–37: the hypocrite’s hidden intent, Christ’s side and passion as the torrent of delight, God’s care for the virtuous, and Christ bearing the arrows meant for fallen humanity.
6. 38Comments on Psalms 38–41: a teacher’s life must match his words, the Church proclaims Christ, almsgiving heals body and soul, the Son’s activity is one with the Father’s, and the sons of Korah point to baptism.
7. 44Hesychius reads Psalm 44:4–5 of Christ girding on the cross as a sword in his flesh, conquering the devil and death, and of the Father and the Son sharing one work of salvation.
8. 45Hesychius reads Psalm 49 of the judgment, of the end of the temple sacrifices, of virgins as the birds of heaven and the Church as Christ’s bride, and of the Eucharist as the sacrifice of praise and the way to heaven.
9. 50Hesychius explains Psalm 50 as David’s repentance after his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah: repentance in proportion to sin, sin inherited from Adam, the Spirit’s indwelling, and the incarnation and the Last Supper in Zion.
10. 51Hesychius applies Psalm 51 to Doeg and above all to Judas the betrayer, destroyed and uprooted, and contrasts Peter, the olive tree restored by tears of repentance.
11. 52Hesychius reads Psalm 52 of idolaters, the unbelief of the Jews and Christ’s coming, Psalm 53 of salvation by God’s name and willing sacrifice, and Psalm 54 at length as a prophecy of Christ’s passion, Judas’s betrayal, Peter’s denial and the resurrection.
12. 55Hesychius reads the title of Psalm 55 spiritually of the nations brought near in Christ, the new David, and the psalm of the war of demons and the hostility of the Jews; a note on Psalm 64 rejects a literal reading of its harvest.
13. 65Hesychius illustrates Psalm 65 from Josephus’s account of Gentiles feigning Judaism in Mordecai’s day, and reads Psalm 66 of the Son as the face and image of the Father and the way to him.
14. 67Hesychius reads Psalm 67 of Christ, the Rising, who comes to sinners and empowers the nations, and Psalm 68 as Christ’s own prayer in the passion, rejected by his own people, given gall, and praised by the Church.
15. 69Hesychius reads Psalm 69 as an urgent prayer for God’s help against demons and flatterers, with Christ as the Father’s salvation and the ransom of the nations.
16. 70Hesychius reads Psalm 70 as a prayer for deliverance from the devil and from sinful friends and enemies, and finds God’s greatness in his condescension in the incarnation.
17. 71Hesychius reads Psalm 71 of the Word’s descent into the Virgin, the Mother of God, the subjection of all nations to Christ, the honour of the Christian name, and the end of the world when the earth is filled with his glory.
18. 72Hesychius reads Psalm 72 of the believer tempted by the prosperity of sinners, who learns that sinners do not share the discipline of God’s sons, accepts reproof, and takes God as his portion.
19. 73Hesychius reads Psalm 73 of the Jews’ attack on faith in Christ and on his saving work, Christ crushing the dragons’ heads in the water, and the order of creation as witness to the Creator.
20. 74Hesychius reads Psalm 74 of a twofold confession in word and deed, of the final judgment reserved for the age to come, and of God testing some by wealth and others by poverty.
21. 76Comments on Psalms 76–88 (Septuagint numbering): contemplation by night, Christ the Father’s right hand and good shepherd, Israel’s unbelief in the wilderness, the Church as the true Judah and Zion, the vine laid waste, and the incarnation foretold in the oath to David.
22. 90Hesychius reads Psalm 90 of the man who hopes wholly in God, bears all things like Job, and is not deceived by the devil’s false light, the “noonday demon.”
23. 97Hesychius reads Psalm 97 of the Son as the Father’s right hand saving the nations, the Old Testament and the Gospels as lyre and trumpets, and Psalm 98 of Christ’s kingship, of Golgotha as the footstool to be worshipped, and of the faithful who make God their own.
24. 99Hesychius reads Psalm 99 of Christ’s flock and of mercy now and truth at the judgment, and Psalm 100 as a rule for the whole of life: keeping the commandments, shunning the crooked, the slanderer and the proud, and loving the faithful.
25. 101Hesychius reads Psalm 101 of the soul withering without the bread of God’s word, of the solitary life, of Christ’s mortal flesh and undying Godhead, and of Zion, rebuilt by the mysteries, as mother of the nations.
26. 102Hesychius reads Psalm 102 of God forgiving and crowning the merciful, fulfilling humanity’s desire to be like God through baptism, renewing us like the eagle, and being blessed by his creatures in every place.
27. 103Hesychius reads Psalm 103 as a hymn to the incarnate Creator: the waters of baptism, the apostles as spirits and fire, the prophets as mountains, the mystical bread and wine, Christ the sun who knew his setting in the passion, and the Spirit sent to renew the nations.
28. 104Comments on Psalms 104–111 (Septuagint numbering): the wonders of the exodus and Israel’s ingratitude, the Church gathered from the nations and its baptismal waters, Judas’s betrayal and Christ’s passion in Psalm 108, the Son’s equal rank with the Father in Psalm 109, and the merciful righteous man of Psalm 111.
29. 112Comments on Psalms 112–116 (Septuagint numbering): the barren Church made a joyful mother, the exodus as a figure of baptism and repentance, Christ as God’s mercy and truth, love passing beyond fear, and the sacrifice of praise offered in Christ’s name.
30. 117Hesychius reads Psalm 117 of confession as the remedy of sinners, the name of Christ as the shield of the righteous, faith as the gate of the Lord, and the incarnation as God appearing to us.
31. 118Comments on Psalm 118 (the nations cleansed by keeping God’s words, slumber of the soul, God taking away the reproach of the righteous), followed by Hesychius’s preface to his line-by-line edition of the Twelve Prophets.