Selected Comments on the Psalms 1525–1545

"He who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit." At the same time we learn through these words the essence of the good God.

[Ps 73 LXX / 74] "Why, O God, have you rejected us to the end?" etc. In the literal sense, those in the captivity say these things. The Lord rejects some "according to the multitude of their impieties"; and some he rejects, as it is written, "exceedingly"; and some "to the end" and to the uttermost.

"Your anger was kindled against the sheep of your pasture," etc. The saying "He will go in and go out and find pasture" is useful for this.

"Remember your congregation, which you acquired from the beginning," etc. You will inquire from what beginning God acquired his congregation, and whether by foreknowledge or otherwise. The "why," addressed to God as a question, asks for an answer that teaches the cause of the rejection and of the anger; but "you were angry with the sheep" is said to propitiate the one who is angry, for he asks pardon for those who, senseless as sheep, have sinned in thought. Yet even if you have forgotten it because of the sins of the congregation, remember it, which became your possession from the beginning. How it was "from the beginning" is not made clear, not even if you understand it to have become God's possession from Egypt.

"You redeemed the rod of your inheritance, this Mount Zion in which you dwelt," etc. You will inquire, whether God acquired Mount Zion or redeemed it, how he acquired or redeemed it from the beginning. Inquire into it mystically.

"All the evil the enemy did in your holy place; and those who hate you boasted in the midst of your feast," etc. God belongs not to a place but to virtue. The mention of the place is for the sake of hope in his love for mankind; so he says that those who trampled the places consecrated to God receive this requital, that the wicked word, the enemy, is in the holy things. And now too the enemy does evil in the holy place, that is, in the Church. And if anyone falls away from the feasts of God, those who hate Christ and kill him boast, whether the people or the hostile powers.

"As in a thicket of trees they hewed down its doors with axes," etc. All these things were fulfilled at the capture of Jerusalem, as Josephus relates, describing each of the deeds done.

"They burned your sanctuary with fire; they profaned the dwelling of your name to the ground," etc. The dwelling of the name of God is the mind, which is profaned when it becomes earthly instead of heavenly.

"Why do you turn away your hand, and your right hand, from the midst of your bosom, to the end?" etc. If the hand and the right hand of God differ, I consider whether the hand does what is against the enemies of the people, and the right hand the good things for the people: as the hand, when God sent out of the midst of his bosom wrath and anger and affliction, a mission through evil angels, against the Egyptians on behalf of the Hebrews; just as formerly good things were given from the midst of the bosom by the hand of God, but later the divine hand turned away from taking good things from the midst of the bosom and giving them to the people. At the same time you will inquire whether the hand and the right hand of God are two.

"But God, our king before the ages, has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth," etc. The Son of Man spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Perhaps by "the midst of the earth" he means its centre, since it is spherical.

"You strengthened the sea by your power; you crushed the heads of the dragons upon the water," etc. So that the wind might no longer be against the disciples as they sailed, and when calm came they might reach the land to which they were going.

"Summer and spring you made," etc. Why did he leave out autumn and winter? They say that summer is the opposite of autumn and winter of spring; and spring is the season of coming to be, summer the season of completion.

"Remember this," etc. Remember this, that is, this creation. If you made the creation for men's sake, he says, give help to those for whom the creation came to be; or thus: this congregation "which you acquired from the beginning"; for it refers back to that too.

"Do not deliver to the beasts a soul that confesses you," etc. If the demons are called beasts, and anger prevails in beasts, then anger prevails in the demons. And in Job he says: "Wild beasts will be at peace with you."

"Look upon your covenant," etc. Remember your promises, which you promised to Abraham, to give his seed a land flowing with milk and honey.

"For the darkened ones of the earth are filled with houses of lawlessness," etc. A darkened mind is filled with lawlessness; for darkness concerns knowledge, and lawlessness concerns conduct.

"Arise, O God, judge your cause; remember the reproaches against you from the fool all the day," etc. "Arise, O God,"

[Ps 73 LXX / 74, continued] … "all the day." He did not say "my cause" but "your cause." For I, he says, endure these things justly; but they have dared many blasphemies against you. He rouses God to punish those who deceived the people. Or thus: Remember your covenant, granted to them through Christ. For even if some have indeed become darkened in understanding, and those who did not receive your Christ are filled with houses of lawlessness, yet you at least, as God, do not turn away from the supplications of your poor. Since it is not we who have been wronged but you (for the enemy reproached you, and a foolish people provoked you), for this reason "arise and judge your cause."

Of the same. He now names the devil "the fool."

[Ps 74 LXX / 75] "For the end; do not destroy; a psalm of a song, for Asaph," etc. It is written in the first book of Kingdoms: "And David said to Abishai: Do not destroy him," that is, Saul. See whether this is useful for the title.

"We will confess to you, O God, we will confess, and will call upon your name," etc. The Church in Christ speaks the two verses.

"I will tell all your wonders. When I receive the time," etc. Symmachus: "When I receive the congregation." When, he says, we return and are gathered into your holy temple, then we will hymn you lawfully and teach your benefits to those who do not know them; for that time will allow us to do this. Having thus taught what the captives in Babylon ought to say, he shows God answering in reply to the promises made and saying: "I will judge uprightness." See, then, whether through these words the Saviour teaches his own activities, setting out the theology of the Father. He says: "I will tell your wonders, O God, when I receive the congregation"; for he promises, when he has taken a suitable time, to tell all the wonders of the Father. And it is the work of justice and uprightness to admit not the Jews only, but to make the choice of those who are saved out of all the nations.

"The earth melted, and all who dwell in it," etc. He calls the rational nature the earth, which melted from the spiritual fire that the Saviour came to cast upon the earth. Melting is the separation of the soul from vice; and the intelligible fire is the spiritual teaching of the Saviour, which destroys vice and ignorance.

"I have made firm its pillars," etc. "And when they knew the grace," says the Apostle,

"given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars."

"For a cup is in the hand of the Lord, full of unmixed wine, of mixture; and he tilted it from this to that; yet its dregs were not emptied out; all the sinners of the earth will drink," etc. Now punishments are brought to sinners mixed; but in the age to come they will be brought unmixed and, as it were, full of dregs. Or thus: The cup, he says, is in the hand of the Lord; into it he presses out, as it were, the fruits of each man, both the good and the evil, and, mixing the good with the evil, makes it full. Then those whose dregs are not poured out, that is, in whom the sins remain, will drink it to the bottom and be made drunk with their own evils; as also …

[Ps 75 LXX / 76] "God is known in Judea; his name is great in Israel; and his place came to be in peace," etc. The place of God that is in us by nature, which formerly was not in peace, has come to be peace. At the coming of Christ, then, God was known, when the Son revealed him, in the Jerusalem above. Or God is known in the Judea above, where his true [dwelling] is, and not his typical glory; for now God is known through a mirror and in a riddle. And it is not in Israel according to the flesh, but in Israel according to the spirit, that his name is great. The "place" of God, which they give him within themselves, is in the Judea above, in which "it came to be in peace"; to this corresponds "the dwelling" of God "in Zion," of which it is said: "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem"; where there is peace for this reason, that in it "the powers of the bows, shield and sword and war" were broken.

Of the same. The place of God is a pure soul; the dwelling of God is a contemplative mind.

"There he broke the powers of the bows, shield and sword and war," etc. He now names the demons "bows," from whom the fiery darts are shot. A fiery dart is a passionate thought; and the same thing is also called shield and sword.

"You give light wonderfully from the everlasting mountains," etc. That is, you teach us through the holy powers.

"All the senseless in heart were troubled," etc. To be troubled belongs to the senseless; for the wise are not troubled.

"They slept their sleep, and all the men of wealth found nothing in their hands,"

etc. Therefore the wise Solomon rightly exhorts, saying: "Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids, that you may be saved like a gazelle from the noose and like a bird from the snare."

Of the same. "Men of wealth" as "men of blood"; for men who have the passions are named after those passions.

"Those who rode on horses slumbered," etc. The demons sit upon horses and mules, which have no understanding, compelling them to act like irrational animals. Horses and mules are passionate men, carried irrationally toward what they ought not, and neighing after their neighbours' wives.

"All who are around him will bring gifts to the fearful one, who takes away the spirits of rulers, fearful among the kings of the earth," etc. The one who is fearful to the kings of the earth takes away the spirits of rulers. The spirit of rulers is in those ruled by the rulers of this age. And the spirit of the ruler of this age was also in Judas, who betrayed Jesus. The Saviour, who has become fearful to these spirits, takes them away from those in whom they are at work, at the time he himself knows, so that they may repent. So also he is fearful among the kings of the earth, of whom it is said: "The kings of the earth stood up."

[Ps 76 LXX / 77] "With my voice I cried to the Lord, and my voice to God, and he attended to me," etc. When all our voice is according to God, then, whenever our voice goes up to him, he attends to us, since our voice is undefiled.

"In the day of my affliction I sought out God," etc. Through the practical life in the present age we seek out God.

Of the same. It belongs to a saint not to be [troubled] in difficulties but to seek out God.

"My soul refused to be comforted; I remembered God," etc. Or a soul that does not grieve at all at temptations refuses to be comforted, as not needing comfort.

Of the same. Nothing comforts a soul so much as the remembrance of God.

"My eyes anticipated the watches," etc. This is a sign of much wakefulness.

"I was troubled and did not speak," etc. One who is stirred by anger or grief or the other passions, but masters himself and says nothing out of anger or grief or any of the passions, could say: "I was troubled and did not speak."

"I considered the days of old and remembered the eternal years," etc. He who has come to know the unseen and hidden things of God has also the memories of the past ages, and of the years in them, and of the ancient days of which these are made up.

"By night I communed with my heart, and searched my spirit," etc. As if he said: I communed with my mind and with my spirit.

"Will he cut off his mercy for ever?" etc. As if he cuts off his mercy for some, it is said elsewhere: "Extend your mercy to those who know you."

"And I said: Now I have begun; this is the change of the right hand of the Most High," etc. He had never [truly] begun, though he had cried out to God, sought him in the day of affliction without being deceived, and rejoiced in remembering God, while his eyes anticipated the watches. The right hand of the Most High is the Saviour, who changed himself, taking the form of a servant; through him we began in the New [Covenant], having been prepared beforehand for the types to cease and the truth to begin.

Of the same. Here he calls "change" the return from vice and ignorance to virtue and knowledge.

"O God, your way is in the holy place; who is a great god like our God?" etc. Either the way of God is in every holy one, or his word is in Christ; for he who said, "I am the way," is in the holy place.

Of the same. See whether by these words he rejoices that there are some gods, yet none is great like our God; and whether one may use for this: "As there are many gods," etc.

"You made known your power among the peoples," etc. That is, Christ; for Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

"The depths were troubled," etc. The depths signify the subterranean powers, which were troubled at the coming of Christ.

"The voice of your thunder was in the wheel," etc. The wheel signifies either this age, or the sensible world, or the pure and eternal soul, since vice lurks by the corner.

"Your lightnings shone on the world," etc. Though the thunder comes first in the air, the lightning is seen first.

"Your way is in the sea, and your paths in many waters, and your footsteps will not be known," etc. It was said above: "O God, your way is in the holy place." The way of God was in the

Red Sea, and his paths in many waters at the Jordan, under Joshua and Elijah. But also "his ways are past tracing out"; therefore "his footsteps will not be known" as he journeys in the sea and has paths in many waters, by which he led his people through the Red Sea.

[Ps 77 LXX / 78] "And that they might seek out his commandments," etc. Those who seek out the commandments of God do not become blameworthy, as their fathers did.

"They turned back in the day of war," etc. He turns his back to the enemies who does not keep the law of God.

"And they went on still sinning against him," etc. How grievous it is to sin after knowledge!

"Will God be able to prepare a table in the desert?" etc. Our Saviour made the soul of Matthew the tax collector, which had been a desert, into a table that feeds the souls of men through the Gospel.

"And fire was kindled in Jacob, and wrath went up against Israel," etc. Fire is kindled against the practical man, wrath goes up against the contemplative.

"And he opened the doors of heaven," etc. By the doors of heaven he means rational natures moved to spiritual teaching.

"Man ate the bread of angels," etc. The Saviour says: "I am the bread that came down from heaven." This bread, then, the angels ate before, but now men also. "To eat" here means "to know." For the mind eats what it knows, and does not eat what it does not know.

"And he rained flesh upon them like dust," etc. He named the quail "flesh."

"And he remembered that they are flesh," etc. That is, carnal.

"He sent among them the dog-fly, and it devoured them," etc. The Hebrews say that the dog-fly is various and mixed beasts.

"The firstfruits of all their labour in the tents of Ham," etc. Having thus chastised those, he led his own people into the desert, imitating a shepherd who goes before his flock.

"And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary," etc. The mountain of the sanctuary is the knowledge of God.

"And he made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents," etc. "For I will dwell in them," he says, "and walk among them."

"And they tempted and embittered God the Most High," etc. A soul that sins embitters knowledge; one that does right sweetens it.

"They were turned into a crooked bow," etc. A crooked bow is a perverted soul; its arrows are evil thoughts.

"And he rejected the tent of Shiloh," etc. The …

"And he disregarded his inheritance," etc. Here he has called the heirs "inheritance."

"Fire devoured their young men," etc. Perhaps the fire is the fiery darts of the evil one.

"And he chose the tribe of Judah," etc. "For it is evident that our Lord sprang from Judah," says the Apostle.

[Ps 78 LXX / 79] "For we have become very poor," etc. Being deprived of the wealth of knowledge, we became poor.

[Ps 79 LXX / 80] "Stir up your might," etc. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

"You will feed us with the bread of tears," etc. Through these words he presents a most bitter repentance.

"And show your face, and we shall be saved," etc. Here he has named Christ "face": "for he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation."

"You brought a vine out of Egypt," etc. He now calls the twelve tribes of Israel the vine.

"And its tendrils [covered] the cedars of God," etc. The tendrils are the contemplatives.

"Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand," etc. He calls Christ the man of the right hand, who is also Son of Man.

"You will give us life, and we will call upon your name," etc. No one can give us life except him who said: "I am the life."

[Ps 80 LXX / 81] "He heard a tongue that he did not know," etc. Of the law …

"There shall be no new god among you," etc. A new god is one who can bring nothing into being.

"Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it," etc. He now calls the mind the mouth, which is made bright by right conduct and true doctrines.

"And I sent them away according to the pursuits of their hearts," etc. "For this reason," says Paul, "God gave them up to dishonourable passions."

[Ps 81 LXX / 82] "You die like men, and like

one of the rulers you fall," etc. "I planted," he says, "a fruitful vine, wholly true; how have you turned to bitterness, alien vine?"

[Ps 82 LXX / 83] "They said: Come, let us destroy them from being a nation, and let the name of Israel be remembered no more," etc. From this we learn that the demons call one another to the destruction of a soul.

"Who said: Let us take the sanctuary of God as an inheritance for ourselves," etc. An unclean soul is the inheritance of demons; a pure soul is the inheritance of God.

"My God, make them like a wheel," etc. A wheel touches the earth only a little.

"Fill their faces with dishonour," etc. This face is that of the old man, corrupted according to the desires of deceit; when it is destroyed, the mind seeks out the name of the Lord.

"Let them be put to shame and troubled for ever and ever, and let them be confounded and perish," etc. This destruction signifies the destruction of vice and ignorance.

[Ps 83 LXX / 84] "Blessed are those who dwell in your house," etc. David himself longs to enter the courts of the Lord, and he calls blessed those who dwell in the house of the Lord.

[Ps 84 LXX / 85] "You forgave the iniquities of your people; you covered all their sins," etc. Through holy baptism the Lord removes sins; through bitter repentance he covers sins.

"Mercy and truth have met; righteousness and peace have kissed," etc. It is impossible for peace to be joined to righteousness unless truth has met mercy; for mercy begets righteousness, and truth begets peace. Righteousness and peace are understood of practice and contemplation.

"Righteousness will go before him," etc. Righteousness is the ruler of the practical virtues, and from it men too are called righteous.

[Ps 85 LXX / 86] "Save your servant, my God, who hopes in you," etc. The knowledge of God is the salvation of the soul.

"And an assembly of the mighty has sought my soul," etc. He has named the order of the demons "an assembly of the mighty."

[Ps 86 LXX / 87] "Mother Zion will say: A man, and a man

was born in her," etc. The child Jesus is born in Bethlehem, but the man in Zion, because practice is born in the soul, but wisdom is begotten in the mind.

"As of all who rejoice is the dwelling in you," etc. All who rejoice in knowledge dwell in wisdom; and all who dwell in wisdom rejoice in knowledge, as in wisdom.

[Ps 87 LXX / 88] "And my life has drawn near to Hades," etc. If you take Hades as death, you will know how death destroys a man's life. Here he names the devil Hades, and himself life.

"Like the wounded sleeping in a tomb, whom you remember no more," etc. The Lord remembers the one in whom he comes to be, and does not remember the one in whom he does not come to be.

"And they were thrust away from your hand," etc. Here he calls the knowledge of God "hand," which by nature helps those who are under attack.

"Upon me your wrath has rested," etc. Christ halted the wrath of God, which had rushed against all men. For "all have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is none who does good."

"Will you work wonders for the dead?" etc. Those deprived of life cannot see the wonders of the Life that said, "I am the life."

"Will anyone tell of your mercy in the tomb, and of your truth in destruction?" etc. As there is no truth among those who have perished, so there are no wonders among those who are darkened.

"And your righteousness in a land that is forgotten?" etc. A forgotten land is a rational soul deprived of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

"Your terrors have troubled me," etc. He calls certain unclean and turbulent powers terrors,

[Ps 88 LXX / 89] "And in your good pleasure our horn will be exalted," etc. Here he names the mind "horn"; and the mind is exalted through knowledge of God.

"Then you spoke in a vision to your sons," etc. Then you spoke through the holy prophets.

"With my holy oil I anointed him," etc. The holy oil signifies the knowledge of God, or rather it indicates essential knowledge.

"The enemy will gain no advantage over him," etc. If we give our enemies an advantage when we sin, and Christ did not sin, then Christ gave his enemies no advantage.

"And I will set his hand in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers," etc. The hand of Christ is set in the sea, his right hand in the rivers. But the sea, if it wills, becomes a river; and again the river, if it does not keep the river of living water flowing from its belly, becomes a sea.

"And his throne as the days of heaven," etc. When the will of God is done on earth as in heaven, then the throne of Christ too will be as the days of heaven.

"And if they do not keep my commandments," etc. Whoever does not keep the commandments of God falls from being a throne of God: "For wisdom will not enter a soul that devises evil, nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin."

"I will visit their lawless deeds with a rod," etc. "For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and scourges every son whom he receives."

"You have cast his throne down to the ground," etc. The mind that has become earthy instead of heavenly is cast down from heaven to the ground.

"You have shortened the days of his time," etc. Through abandonment our virtues and our knowledge diminish; for these are the days of the rational nature.

"Who is the man who will live and not see death, who will rescue his soul from the hand of Hades?" etc. The growth of virtue and knowledge follows on the gradual diminishing of all the vices and of ignorance. Vice and ignorance are the death of the rational soul, and virtue and knowledge its life.

"Which I bore in my bosom, of many nations," etc. Here he names the soul "bosom," because the knowledge of God is also called good things, and good things are naturally put into the bosom: "For I believe," he says, "that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living."

"The exchange of your Christ," etc. Perhaps the Lord's man.

[Ps 89 LXX / 90] "Their years will be things of no account," etc. Their life will be brought to nothing.