Selected Comments on the Psalms 1623–1643

"My lips will pour forth a hymn, when you teach me your statutes," etc. Belching generally happens to those who are full; for when we are filled, we belch out the quality of the food we have taken. The divine word, then, knows of a spiritual food; for the Word himself says he is bread: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live for ever." And the Word says that he has flesh, in: "Whoever eats my flesh has life in himself; for my flesh is true food." If, then, we are filled with this bread, which is the Word, we shall pour forth a hymn. And sometimes prayers too will pour forth; for the same must also happen through prayers, "when you teach me your statutes"; for unless I am taught your statutes, I cannot pour forth such an outpouring.

Of the same. As singing psalms belongs to the cheerful ("Is anyone among you cheerful? Let him sing psalms"), so hymning belongs to those who contemplate the principles of the statutes. But singing psalms suits men, hymning suits angels or those who have an angelic life. That is why the shepherds out in the fields did not hear angels singing psalms, but hymning and saying, "Glory to God in the highest," and so on. Cheerfulness, then, is the soul's freedom from passion, which comes to it from the commandments of God and from true doctrines; and a hymn is a doxology.

"My soul will live and praise you, and your judgments will help me," etc. He has shut the life of the soul up into the time to come: "For our life is hidden with Christ in God." Then it will hymn God in the proper sense.

"I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commandments," etc. The Lord turns back the soul that has gone astray first as righteousness, then also as wisdom, since the straying of the soul is vice and ignorance.

[Ps 119 LXX / 120] … calling blessed, because they have received back their own people and are with them; the tenth, as being in deep peace, when they say that they have often been warred against, but the enemies have never prevailed against them; the eleventh, as now at leisure for divine things and understanding their depths; the twelfth, as not being puffed up over what they have come to know; in the thirteenth they pray for the restoration of the Anointed; in the fourteenth for the restoration of the Church; in the fifteenth, that, having reached the house of God, they ought to stand in it and bless him, lifting up their hands to the holy places, so that they too may be blessed by the Lord.

"In my affliction I cried to the Lord, and he heard me," etc. God hears those afflicted for virtue's and knowledge's sake, in the affliction of the captivity and the hardship it brings. He calls the cry the return of a soul, broken and humbled, to the one who is able to rescue it; and God listens to it at once.

"Lord, rescue my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue," etc. Again and again he begs God for this: to be freed from such plots. And if one must flee the deceitful and the treacherous, much more must one flee the deceivers and those who instil wicked doctrines. One might say that unjust lips are above all those that harm virtue and lead to vice. For this reason this prophet asks that his soul too be rescued.

"The arrows of the mighty one, sharpened, with the coals of the desert," etc. Nothing so suits the opposing powers as the arrows of Christ, which are opposed to the fiery darts of the evil one, and the coals that consume wood, hay, and straw. And if there is an arrow of love, according to the bride in the Song ("For I am wounded by love," she says), there is also an arrow of righteousness and of courage and of temperance and of the other virtues; wounded by these arrows, the peoples fall beneath God.

Of the same. The one who says, "You have made me a chosen arrow," is a chosen arrow among many arrows, as he is a chosen son among many sons. God would not have a quiver for one arrow; and of it he says: "And in his quiver he hid me." So all the arrows of the mighty God are sharpened, being opposed to the arrows of the evil one.

"Woe is me, that my sojourning has been prolonged; I have dwelt with the tents of Kedar," etc. It does not belong to the same person to say, "Do not take me away in the half of my days," and, "Woe is me, that my sojourning has been prolonged." Or perhaps there he means the days that the fear of the Lord adds, according to Solomon,

those made by the sun of righteousness, in which Abraham too died full of days. But here he laments with regard to the sensible gift. For he too has "the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary" for the sake of those who benefit, since David, according to Luke in the Acts of the Apostles, or according to Paul, was sent "to serve his own generation."

Of the same. "Kedar" is interpreted "darkening." So, he says, I have dwelt with the tents of darkening, that is, of the body of death; and this soul of mine, he says, has often sojourned.

[Ps 120 LXX / 121] "I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where my help will come," etc. I, he says, lifted up my eyes to the mountains, the holy angels, as if I were to be helped by one of them; but my help came to me from the Lord, "who made heaven and earth." For he did not add "who made heaven and earth" without purpose. For if he himself made both heaven and earth, he says, he can give help everywhere, even in a foreign land, and stretch out his hand even among barbarians.

"Do not give your foot to be moved, and may he who keeps you not slumber," etc. Do not be overturned, he says, nor made to stumble, and then you will have God stretching out his hand; so the beginnings must come from us, and God is ready to stretch out his hand.

"The sun will not burn you by day, nor the moon by night," etc. This, I think, is the sun that rises upon the sown ground and dries it up; and the moon is the one in accordance with which "the fool changes like the moon."

"The Lord will keep your coming in and your going out, from now and for ever," etc. The going out is from vice to virtue; the coming in is from virtue to the knowledge of God.

[Ps 122 LXX / 123] Of the same. "God chose what is despised in the world"; therefore the despised must be seated in the Church. And this is something that can console the despised.

"Our soul has been filled exceedingly with the reproach of those who prosper, and the contempt of the proud," etc. See, these are sinners and prosperous. Symmachus renders thus: "Our soul has had its fill of many things, while those who prosper scoff and the proud make light of us." Aquila: "Our soul has been filled with much of the sneering of those who reproach, of the contempt of the proud."

[Ps 123 LXX / 124] "If the Lord had not been among us, let Israel now say," etc. It is likely that one of the priests, standing on one of the steps, said something like this to the people when they came to the temple at dawn: "Let Israel now say, If the Lord had not been among us"; then Israel, doing what was commanded, began with "The Lord was among us" and joined to it the rest of the psalm. Let "If the Lord had not been among us" be said, not by just anyone, but by the true Israel, who has a Lord and who said: "For us there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him"; as Paul also said: "For I too am an Israelite"; and: "They are Israelites, so am I." And it is likely that this psalm was said by the people at a priest's command, whenever the people, having been in danger in war or in some plot by the nations, had come through safely and defeated the enemies; especially if they returned after a valiant deed accompanied by some extraordinary manifestation. And let Israel also say, "Often they have fought against me from my youth," as is said in the hundred and twenty-eighth psalm.

"Then they would have swallowed us alive," etc. They swallowed Judas the traitor alive; for before the betrayal he had the Life that said, "I am the life." But those nurtured in vice from the beginning they swallow dead.

"Then the water would have drowned us," etc. By water he figuratively means the temptations that drown the soul; these same are called temptations and thoughts.

"Our soul has passed through a torrent," etc. By torrent again he means the thoughts, because they do not last long, but rush upon the mind all at once and then dry up again.

Of the same. "And the word of the Lord came to Elijah: Go from here eastward, and hide yourself by the torrent of Chorrath, which is east of the Jordan. And you shall drink water from the torrent, and I will command the ravens to feed you there. And

Elijah did according to the word of the Lord, and sat by the torrent of Chorrath, east of the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread in the morning and meat in the evening, and he drank water from the torrent. And after some days the torrent dried up, because there was no rain on the land."

"Our soul has been rescued like a sparrow from the snare of the fowlers," etc. We have been rescued from the snare of the demons who hunt us, since Christ crushed the devil and gave us power to tread upon snakes and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy, which has strength only against the careless. For we have received the grace of the Spirit, and we are nourished by the blood and body of Christ.

Of the same. The opposing powers hunt the soul of the righteous; their snares are those through whom they work, who provoke us and call us to sin, and all the material that invites us to sin. But a sparrow does not fall into a snare without the Father who is in heaven.

"The snare was broken, and we were rescued," etc. The Old Covenant breaks the snares of action, laying down: "You shall not commit adultery"; but the New destroys the snares of thought, commanding: "You shall not desire." In the case of Abimelech of Gerar he destroyed the snare of action, not allowing him to touch another man's wife; but in the case of Joseph, the snare of thought. For Scripture does not present him as having desired another man's wife. And blessed is he whose snare of action the Lord has broken, but more blessed he whose snare of thought he has destroyed, and in whose mouth no deceit was found.

[Ps 124 LXX / 125] "Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion," etc. Those who come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, bear the image of the heavenly one; and trusting in the Lord they become like that Mount Zion.

Of the same. If from trusting in the Lord someone becomes like Mount Zion, another might from something else become like Mount Horeb, and another like Mount Sinai; and from the opposite things someone might be like a mountain of Egypt, a mountain of Babylon, and such mountains as belong to the enemies. Or, as those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, so those who are lesser are like the mountains around it.

"Mountains are around it, and the Lord is around his people," etc. The mountains around Jerusalem are, I think, divine powers. "For the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him."

[Different], then, is the people of the Lord from those who fear the Lord; for "House of Israel, bless the Lord" is one thing, and "You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord" another.

"For the Lord will not leave the rod of sinners upon the lot of the righteous," etc. It is [the work] of the Lord, who is around his people, not to leave the rod of sinners upon the lot of the righteous. And the people of the Lord is righteous.

Of the same. If the lot of the righteous is the knowledge of God, he will not leave the righteous in ignorance.

"So that the righteous may not stretch out their hands to lawlessness," etc. Note "stretch out," because it happens in lawlessness. But if, by hypothesis, the rod of sinners were left upon the lot of the righteous, the righteous would stretch out their hands to lawlessness. We shall use these verses if in a persecution many deny God and sacrifice to idols, saying that, since those who deny were not righteous, the Lord left the rod of sinners upon their lot, so that they stretched out their hands to lawlessness: "For from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away."

[Ps 125 LXX / 126] "When the Lord turned back the captivity of Zion, we became like those comforted," etc. The apostles are prophesied as going to say these things about themselves and those among the nations. And after this he declares about sowing and reaping.

Of the same. Captivity is the passing of the rational nature from virtue and knowledge to vice and folly.

"Then our mouth was filled with joy, and our tongue with exultation," etc. The mouth was filled with joy and the tongue with exultation, from which joy and exultation flow. When this has happened, those of the nations who are taught say: "The Lord has done great things for them." And about themselves they say, giving thanks: "The Lord has done great things for us; we became glad." "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept"; but "when the Lord turned back the captivity of Zion, our mouth was filled with joy." When we do "I set a guard on my mouth," and "The mouth of the righteous meditates wisdom," and "Open your mouth with the word of God," and things like "Our mouth is open to you, Corinthians," then we shall speak truly when we say: "Our mouth was filled with joy."

"Then they will say among the nations: The Lord has done great things

for them," etc. "After this he appeared on earth and lived among men."

"Turn back our captivity, Lord, like torrents in the south," etc. Above, the two verses were spoken as though the return from captivity had already taken place; but now the Prophet says these things as though in captivity: the former, I think, prophesying about the apostles; the latter speaking in the person of the nations. For the words from "The Lord has done great things for them" to "like torrents in the south" belong to those among the nations.

"Those who sow in tears will reap in exultation," etc. Those who work at the practical life with toil and tears sow in tears; but those who share in knowledge without toil reap in exultation.

[Ps 126 LXX / 127] "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it have laboured in vain; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman has kept watch in vain," etc. The verse should be used against thoughts of pride. Unless the Lord builds through his cooperation, those who build have laboured in vain.

Of the same. First "the Lord built the rib that he took from Adam into a woman." Since he did not build with Cain when Cain built a city in the name of his son Enoch, Cain the builder laboured in vain. And those too who moved from the east and said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower," laboured in vain in building, since the Lord did not build with them. And the Hebrews in Egypt groaned, I think, as labouring in vain at their building, since the Lord was not building with them.

Of the same. Those who built the house in Jerusalem laboured in vain; that is why it was destroyed. It would not have been destroyed if the Lord had built it. But the house of God, which is his Church, the apostles of Christ who build it, and the teachers appointed by him, have not laboured in vain; for the Lord built it. And in another way the heterodox build a house without the Lord, doing harm to the Church; therefore they have laboured in vain. So too the Jews.

Of the same. Insofar as the soul is a house, it has God within it as master of the house; but if it becomes a temple, it has Christ within it as being God. Through the practical life it acquires him as master of the house, through natural contemplation as king, and again through theology as God. And upon the

third the other two follow of necessity, as the first follows upon the second; but upon the first the second and the third do not follow of necessity.

"It is in vain for you to rise early; rise after you have sat down, you who eat the bread of pain, when he gives sleep to his beloved," etc. As sleep withdraws us from sensible things, so also the contemplation of God withdraws us from them.

Of the same. As when we sleep we do not even know that we are sleeping, so also when we contemplate we do not even know that we have come into contemplation.

Of the same. If the practical life has the role of bread, and sleep that of knowledge, then sleep is rightly given us after the eating of the bread of pain; for only the knowledge of God can by nature loosen the weariness of the practical life.

Of the same. If sleep usually warms the body, knowledge is rightly called sleep; for it makes all who possess it fervent in spirit.

Of the same. As sleep, by digesting food, nourishes the body through the juices, so also knowledge nourishes the soul, teaching it the principles of the practical life.

"Behold, the inheritance of the Lord is sons, the reward of the fruit of the womb," etc. The inheritance of the Lord is not daughters but sons, who are the reward of the fruit of the womb. Such are the righteous sons. Therefore they will appear three times a year before the Lord God. No unrighteous son is a reward or the inheritance of the Lord.

[Ps 127 LXX / 128] "You will eat the labours of your fruits," etc. The more labours of fruits there are, the more food there will be in the age to come. By labours he means [the works] of the members in the hands, which are named fruits. Good, then, and nourishing are the labours of the fruits, from which we go up to the living bread.

"Your wife will be like a flourishing vine on the sides of your house; your sons like young olive shoots around your table," etc. No one who is a stranger to God has these things; for the things of which this is said are not bodily but spiritual. When the vineyards and olive groves of the righteous are blessed, the saying must be taken either figuratively of wife and sons, or word for word. Or else the wife is wisdom, and the sons are deeds. A wife who is a good portion, or the valiant woman in Solomon, is a flourishing vine, especially when she is a good keeper of the house. But a wife who is not such is of the vine of Sodom; and it might be said to a wife who changes for the worse: "How have you turned to bitterness, alien vine?"

Of the same. The wife of the mind is wisdom: "Love her," it says, "and she will keep you; honour her, that she may embrace you; and you will acquire from her wise words." "Say that wisdom is your sister"; he names her sister because she too is from the Father of all. And one should remember how Abraham called his own wife sister, teaching anyone who wishes what wisdom is.

"Behold, so shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord," etc. The one called a man, because he fears the Lord, has a field; and he has his wife as a vine on the sides of his house, and his sons as young olive shoots around his table.

"And may you see your sons' sons," etc. Solomon too says: "A good man will inherit sons' sons."

[Ps 128 LXX / 129] "Often they have fought against me from my youth, let Israel now say," etc. One who has contended from childhood will say this, having conquered his enemies though often warred against; and so will the one who says: "God who has fed me from my youth."

"They lengthened their lawlessness," etc. Useful for this is: "Woe to those who draw sins as with a long rope, and lawlessness as with the strap of a heifer's yoke." And as far as one lengthens his lawlessness, so far he puts himself at a distance from God.

"Let them be like grass on the housetops, which withers before it is plucked up," etc. The teaching

[Ps 128 LXX / 129, continued] of the heights raised up against the knowledge of God is grass on the housetops, which withers before it is plucked up, filling neither the hands with good deeds nor the bosom with knowledge; and about it those who pass by do not speak like the one who said: "I will turn aside and see this great sight."

[Ps 129 LXX / 130] "Out of the depths I have cried to you, Lord," etc. Not from the surface, but from the depths within himself he has cried to the Lord. And "I have cried to you," which differs from "I have cried toward you," can signify: I have spoken of God greatly and with a great voice (great, that is, in an intelligible sense). The base man honours the Lord with his lips while his heart is far from him; but the blessed man, because the Spirit cries out in his heart, has cried out of the depths to the Lord.

Of the same. Whoever searches out the depths of God cries out of the depths to the Lord.

"Let your ears be attentive," etc. He calls the Lord's power of hearing prayers his ears.

"If you mark iniquities, Lord, Lord, who will stand?" etc. If the sins of thought, by making the mind impure, separate it from the knowledge of God, no man will be counted worthy of knowledge. "For who will boast of having a pure heart? Or who will be bold to say that he is clean from sins?" "And no one," he says, "is clean from filth, not even if his life is but one day."

"For with you is propitiation," etc. The propitiation for iniquities that is with the Lord is Christ: "For he is the propitiation for our sins."

"For your name's sake I have waited for you, Lord," etc. Endurance for the sake of God's name is better than endurance for anything else. And the soul that has come to the word of the Lord endures in a praiseworthy way.

"My soul has waited for your word; my soul has hoped in the Lord," etc. Hope arises by nature from proven character, proven character from endurance, endurance from affliction, and affliction from self-control and temptations. The cause of these is the fear of God, which is joined to right faith. And faith is assent to things not yet grasped.

"And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities," etc. The mind is freed from the sins or iniquities of thought at the time when it is counted worthy of knowledge; for

the practical life does not take away the thoughts of the heart, but the passionate thoughts.

[Ps 130 LXX / 131] "Lord, my heart was not lifted up, nor were my eyes raised high," etc. These are the words of a righteous man who, in great and wonderful gifts, is not puffed up, nor exalted, nor conceited, but even in these is humble-minded.

"If I was not humble-minded, but exalted my soul, as a weaned child upon its mother, so you will repay my soul," etc. As Isaac and Samuel were weaned, so was this man too, imitating them and those like them. The soul of the weaned child is exalted not by someone exalting it, but it is exalted to its own mother, of whom it is said: "But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother," and so on.

Of the same. To the soul of the weaned child the Lord renders a reward for its ascent so far.

"Let Israel hope in the Lord from now and for ever," etc. In the song before this it is said: "From the morning watch let Israel hope in the Lord"; and in this one, until when? "From now and for ever." For after that one enjoys what is hoped for.

[Ps 131 LXX / 132] "Remember, Lord, David and all his meekness," 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 if the Lord remembers meekness, there is need of much freedom from anger for anyone to receive the Lord. For meekness is the untroubled state of the irascible part, which arises from being deprived of corruptible pleasures.

Of the same. For "meekness" Aquila rendered "ill-treatment," Symmachus "affliction," and the Fifth edition "humiliation."

"Until I find a place for the Lord," etc. The place of the Lord is a pure mind.

"We found it in the fields of the forest," etc. He speaks prophetically of wisdom, which is Christ.

"Your priests will be clothed with righteousness, and your holy ones will exult," etc. As one is clothed with righteousness, so also with temperance and courage and love and patience, and the other virtues.