Exposition of Psalms 100-150 144.1–147.1

(v. 1) "I will exalt you, my God, the King, and I will bless your name for ever and for ever and ever." The whole psalm is woven of the praise of God; and since the title of the psalm is headed "A praise of David," he is clearly shown to be proclaimed who according to the Godhead is the Lord and creator of David, and insofar as the Word became flesh is the son of David; and he is not a double person but one Christ, who is God over all, blessed for ever. His praise, then, which will remain in eternity, must be continued in the present time too; he who in this age is a stranger to this duty will not enter the future joys of God's praise. (v. 2) "Every day I will bless you, and I will praise your name for ever and for ever and ever." There is no doubt that God's praise pertains to the present life as well, since the blessing of God is appointed to be celebrated every day, the variety of changeable things not standing in the way; for whether the day is spent glad over prosperity or sad over adversity, one must never cease from God's praise. For he who is never tempted is never proved; and it is better to be exercised with tribulation than punished with prosperity. (v. 3) "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and of his greatness there is no end." His praise is closed by no end whose greatness has no limit, and in proclaiming whom whatever the one praising can think is not enough. He, then, who is always greater than all praise, let him be praised without end. From this very thing let man receive the hope of his own eternity, for he who does not cease to praise the Lord will never not be. (v. 4) "Generation and generation will praise your works, and they will proclaim your power." The repeated "generation" signifies the whole human race, which from its beginning to its end understands by reason the author of the universe through considering creatures; so that from the things it is possible to see, in which there is such great matter for wonder, the things that cannot be seen may be inferred, and he may surpass every gaze of the mind, of whom he thinks too little worthily who thinks that what he understands is enough. But by one generation the first life of mortals can be signified, and by the other generation the resurrection can be taken, because it too is called regeneration, according to what was said, "In the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits in his majesty." He is praised, then, in this age, and much more will he be praised in the future one. For if the fettered do this now, how will the crowned not do it more? (vv. 5–7) "They will speak the magnificence of the glory of your holiness, and they will tell your wonders. And they will speak of the power of your terrible acts, and they will tell your greatness. They will pour forth the memory of the abundance of your sweetness, and they will exult in your righteousness." The true praisers of God praise all his works and judgments; and they so marvel at all that is made that he who made it is more marvellous, because whatever praiseworthy is found in the creature runs back to the glory of him who works all things in all. Hence his terrible acts too are full of the honour of praise: for he does not only coax, he also threatens. If he did not threaten, there would be no correction. So the ministers of God's sayings will proclaim both his mercy and his justice; and as they will not keep silent about the eternal kingdom, so they will not about the perpetual fire: so that those set on the road that leads to repayment may know what they ought to choose and what to avoid. And how will they tell the greatness of God, which has no end, except because they will always proclaim this, that its end cannot be found? For no one is a more eloquent narrator of things unspeakable than he who confesses that what he speaks of cannot be unfolded. These narrators of your greatness, then, he says, will pour forth the memory of the abundance of your sweetness, because you have not forgotten us and you make us remember you. So sound doctrine pours forth this about the abundance of the divine sweetness, and makes others pour it forth: that all the good may know that they are ruled by God's grace, kept by God's grace, and granted through it the very ability to rejoice in it. (vv. 8–9) "The Lord is merciful and compassionate, long-suffering and of great mercy. The Lord is sweet to all, and his compassions are over all his works." God's mercy and grace, goodness and patience are declared through all things; and let no one despair, let no one presume. For as he is sweet in gentleness, so he is just in punishment; and nothing is lost to his long-suffering, whom the converted experiences as kind and the hardened as severe. For his compassions are over all his works, because in those who will be saved he condemned what was foreign to them. (v. 10) "Let all your works confess you, O Lord, and let your saints bless you." Whatever things are in the universe, from the highest to the lowest, are certainly the works of God. And although only rational and intellectual creatures are moved by the affection of divine praise, yet not in vain are all his works roused to confess God, because nothing is so small and so far removed from sense that the Creator is not wonderful in it: while angels and men confess and praise him, the infinite parts of the world themselves, and the kinds and natures, always speak of their author, and by their usefulness and beauty give boundless matter to those who praise him; and things that are praiseworthy seem to praise, since what they cannot speak they cause not to be kept silent. (vv. 11–12) "They will speak of the glory of your kingdom, and they will tell of your power, to make known to the sons of men your power and the glory of the magnificence of your kingdom." Every form and power and beauty of creation is God's kingdom, because he is the author and Lord of all these different things. But from the things that are seen are distinguished also those that have not yet become known; and it is understood from the beauty of visible things how much those things excel, and in what glory they stand out, which are more specially named the kingdom of God. Hence we say daily, "Your kingdom come"; whose greatness, glory, and beauty no hearts can conceive; but since it is believed as it is promised, it is sought with most certain desire until it comes. (v. 13) "Your kingdom is a kingdom of all ages, and your dominion in every generation and offspring." The repetition of "generation" indicates both the present age and the future, because the resurrection too is called a generation, which creates the saints into the incorruption of blessed eternity. "The Lord is faithful in his words, and holy in all his works." The Lord has promised many and great things, and has fulfilled some that were believed, and has kept others to be kept: so that the expectation might be secure, to which so many things already fulfilled give strength. (v. 14) "The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are crushed." "The righteous falls seven times and rises again; but the ungodly will be weakened in evils." The saints fall in one way, the unbelievers in another; and mention is now made of those, none of whom is not upheld by the Lord. For they seem in a way to have fallen when they lack all temporal things, and, without honour and poor, are despised by the powerful of the world and counted among all that is cast off. But "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (v. 15) "The eyes of all hope in you, and you give them food in due season." As a good physician knows with what food and at what time a sick man is to be fed, so the Lord restores his servants opportunely with wholesome foods, and discerns with the kindness of ineffable knowledge what suits each: so that the submission of the faithful may profit from all that he has judged must be applied to it, whether harsh or gentle; so that the sick may murmur at nothing, but receive any kind of cure with equanimity from the author of their salvation, saying what the Saviour himself deigned to say for the instruction of our patience: "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. Father, your will be done." (v. 16) "You open your hand and fill every soul with blessing." Whatever of blessing anyone attains comes from God's generosity, because no one would desire it unless he opened the hand of his goodness to arouse the desire itself. (v. 17) "The Lord is just in all his ways, and holy in all his works." "All the ways of the Lord," he says, "are mercy and truth," whether he is more severe with us or milder; for he who even plans scourges chastises in order to spare. (v. 18) "The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth." Many call upon the Lord not in truth, desiring something from him other than himself; from them he is far, because what they desire is different from and remote from his will. But if they desire what the just and good one commands, he is altogether near to those whom he has inspired with these affections; and he does the will of those who fear him, because what was the Lord's will has begun to be the servant's too. (vv. 19–20) "He will do the will of those who fear him, and he will hear their prayers and save them. The Lord guards all who love him, and he will destroy all sinners." What "all sinners" but those who persevere in sins and daily argue against God? But the right-hand part, which has no fellowship with the left, because all God's judgments have always pleased it, professes what it will do for ever, and says, (v. 21) "My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and for ever and ever."

(v. 2) "Praise the Lord, O my soul; I will praise the Lord in my life; I will sing psalms to my God as long as I am." The holy and spiritual soul exhorts itself to praise the Lord: by the more excellent part of itself it rouses the lesser parts within it. For it is not one thing that speaks and another to which it speaks; nor is this the voice of the flesh, which receives both life and sense from the soul, and without the soul can neither will nor not will anything. But since the soul's actions are twofold, and by one duty it is raised to the Lord, by another it bends toward the flesh, if it serves the spirit well, it presides well over the flesh; and through that part of it which clings to God it invites even that which clings to the body to higher affections: so that by rational rule it grants its subjects as much as is enough for health, lest, if it is not subject to God, it be diminished. So the mind, a kind of highest part of the soul, rousing itself in all its efforts, says, "Praise the Lord, O my soul": not because it does not do this as far as it can, but because what it can do in the weakness of the corruptible body is little, it desires to advance to that perfect and eternal praise; and mindful of its present condition, in which it does not find the strength of its desire, it answers how much it will do this by itself, saying, "I will praise the Lord in my life; I will sing psalms to my God as long as I am." For now, although we are strengthened by faith, hope, and love, we are not without tribulations, stumbling blocks, and sorrows; and amid the countless obstacles of mortality we are not filled with the duties of eternal life. For "the body which is corrupted weighs down the soul, and the earthly dwelling presses down the mind that ponders many things." So in my life, which no sickness weakens and no want makes restless, I will praise the Lord with all my freedom and strength; and "I will sing psalms to my God as long as I am," because, as being will be eternal for me, so my praise in the Lord will be eternal. (v. 3) "Do not trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation." Those who glory in the defence of princes and the protection of men trust in vanity. For God alone is the one from whom salvation is to be hoped; and it is well awaited from him who has no need of anything. For what a son of man is, is briefly shown in what follows. (v. 4) "His spirit will go forth, and he will return to his earth; on that day all their thoughts will perish." Everything, then, that is done in this world is temporal and passing; and no one truly promises another what he cannot provide for himself, for he is mortal: when his spirit has been sent forth and his earthly flesh returns to its earth, whatever he arranged, whatever he thought, perishes. (vv. 5–6) "Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them." Blessed, he says, is the man whose helper is God: not the one whom human ignorance fashions for itself, but the God of Jacob, who made that Jacob Israel, so that by faith and understanding he might see the author of the universe. (v. 6–7) "Who keeps truth for ever, who executes judgment for those who suffer wrong." He has commended God both as to be feared and as to be loved: to be feared, because he has condemned those who do wicked things by his truth; to be loved, because he has crowned by his mercy those who labour for righteousness. (vv. 7–9) "He gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets free the fettered. The Lord makes the blind wise. The Lord raises up the crushed; the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord guards the strangers." God's providence indeed establishes and provides nourishment for all living things; but to men it gives not only earthly but also spiritual food, which those receive who desire it, to whom it is said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Such too is the release of the fettered, who will escape the fetters of mortality through the eternity of adoption. Such also is the enlightenment of the blind, who become wise from foolish. Such too is the raising up of the crushed, who, laid low by voluntary humility, are carried up to the height of heavenly things. For the Lord loves the righteous, since he himself is their righteousness; and he guards the strangers, he who makes all nations one in Christ and turns stony hearts into sons of Abraham. (vv. 9–10) "He will take up the orphan and the widow, and he will destroy the way of sinners. The Lord will reign for ever, your God, O Zion, from generation to generation." God indeed helps those orphans who are left undefended when their fathers die, and God protects all widows; but here we better understand those orphans and those widows who have no protection and no consolation in this age, but whose hope is in the Lord their God. The soul, then, which does not trust in temporal goods but is a stranger to this world, longing for the Father above and the mother above, is rightly called an orphan and a widow; for until it sees both its Father and its bridegroom, it now seems far off. And the way of sinners will be destroyed when the doings of all iniquities have failed, and the vanity of those who walk in the broad way is plunged into eternal punishments. And when the wicked rush to this end, what will the city of Zion hear, what will the city of God attain? "Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." For you, O Zion, in the church, will be the eternal kingdom of the Lord your God, and with him reigning you will reign without end.

(v. 1) "Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good; to our God let there be pleasant praise." It is good to praise the Lord, to sing psalms to the glory of God: not only with the voice, which cannot sing unceasingly, but much more with the melody of a rational life, which is to be left off at no time; for in the way of life of God's spiritual servants, whatever is done at home and abroad is his praise, by whose teaching and gift one so lives that no action is not worthy of God's praise, as the apostle says, "Whether you eat or drink or do anything else, do all to the glory of God." Those who do this are never silent from God's praises, and from their good works there is always pleasant praise to God. (v. 2) "The Lord builds up Jerusalem, and he will gather the dispersed of Israel." The construction of Jerusalem, which is built as a city, rises by peace: peace gathers all Israel into the solidity of unity. So the voice ought not to be out of tune with the works, nor the works with the voice; and the praise that is uttered by the voice should be brought forth from a good conscience: for the framework is not firm if, in the duty of praise, the sound of heart and voice is not one. (v. 3) "Who heals the broken in heart and binds up their wounds." See how the dispersed of Israel are gathered, so that they may be healed with contrite heart; for God will not despise a contrite and humbled heart; so that humility may heal what pride wounded. And by the binding up of wounds is signified the variety of remedies which the supreme physician applies with mercy and knowledge; for there is not one cure for many bruises. (v. 4) "Who counts the multitude of the stars and calls them all by name." It is not a great thing in God's praises to have the stars of heaven counted, for him by whom the hairs of the head are counted. This is more worthily understood, then, of those stars who in the church of God shine with the example of good conduct and the light of heavenly teaching, to comfort the night of the present time; to whom the apostle says, "In this crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding the word of life." These stars, then, God counts, chosen beforehand for eternal glory and called by name from all nations. For "the Lord knows those who are his"; with them will not be counted those to whom it is said, "Depart from me, workers of iniquity; I do not know you." (v. 5) "Great is the Lord, and great his power, and of his wisdom there is no number." Many things in nature are great, and great is the power of many natures. But in comparison with God nothing is truly called great, nothing truly called mighty; and in him is true greatness and great power. All excellences have their limits, and each nature subsists within the measure set for it; but God by the greatness of his glory exceeds all things, and the almightiness of his wisdom is comprehended by no number. "For from him and through him and in him are all things." (v. 6) "The Lord takes up the meek, but humbles sinners to the ground." None come to the knowledge of God but the humble and meek, who believe even what they do not yet understand and wait for the revelation of hidden things. These the Lord takes up to be taught and makes capable of his teaching, whose desires he has exercised and kindled by enlarging them. But sinners he humbles to the ground: those sinners, namely, who lack meekness for deserving the understanding of the Scriptures and despise as superfluous and vain what they cannot see into. Their stubbornness God sinks into earthly things, when he hands them over to folly, so that those who spurned the grace of illumination may undergo the punishment of blindness. (v. 7) "Sing first to the Lord in confession; sing psalms to our God on the harp." Those who desire understanding of the sacraments must begin from confession, so that, accusing themselves and ascribing their darkness and slowness to themselves, they may receive a ray of the light from above. And let their confession not be idle, but let them sing to God on the harp, that is, in a certain consciousness of good actions: so that the mercy they seek by confessing they may deserve by doing, and what they rightly offer they may rightly divide. (v. 8) "Who covers the heaven with clouds," and comes down to the thirsty earth with the rain of graces. For God obscured the prophetic sayings for this purpose, that the overshadowing might prepare the rain, and the rain both bring forth fruit and cover the clear sky. "Who brings forth grass on the mountains, and herbage for the service of men." The usefulness of the spiritual rain makes fruitful not only the valleys but also the minds. The mountains are understood as all the loftier men of the world, who are often so enriched from above that the heights of the mountains too become fertile from the same source from which the valleys are fruitful. So God's grace brings forth grass on the mountains: and the powerful and rich, having received the seed of love, provide what will benefit the poor, and minister herbage to the service of men, who pay the service of their devotion to God and the church. (v. 9) "He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young of ravens that call upon him." By the name of beasts and cattle is signified the multitude of the people, which is not cheated of necessary food; and while it is a partaker of spiritual things, it becomes a minister of carnal things, so that the apostle's word is fulfilled, "Who tends a flock and does not get some of the milk of the flock?" The dispensation of God's mercy, then, pertains not only to the race of Israel but also to the offspring of all nations. For the fathers who venerated idols bore the figure of ravens, pursuing dead and unclean things; and their young, that is, their sons, call upon the true God and are fed with the nourishment of the Holy Spirit; for, while the parents did not call upon God but remained in their hardness, the descendants believed what antiquity did not know. (vv. 10–11) "He will not take delight in the strength of the horse, nor is the tents of a man his good pleasure. The Lord's good pleasure is upon those who fear him, and in those who hope in his mercy." In the might of the horse is indicated the elation of pride, which is always hateful to God. Lofty and magnificent tents too show the swelling of riches, in which God approves nothing, who resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. For none please him but the meek and the poor in spirit, fearing the Lord in such a way as to hope in his mercy. For that fear is useful which is raised by hope, not that which is sunk by despair.

(v. 12) "Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion." Since the names of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah are set at the head of the psalm's title, who without doubt were taken captive in Babylon with their people, and foresaw the restoration of that city Jerusalem and announced it as it came to pass, the exhortation of the psalm is understood to pertain to the whole church: so that all the citizens and sons of Jerusalem may recognize that in the present life they are bound in a kind of captivity, and may receive consolation from the hope of future freedom. For none of the saints can spend the present time without labours and troubles; and they feel themselves to be in a kind of captivity when, as stumbling blocks arise and discords remain between the spirit and the flesh, they do not do everything they wish and suffer many adversities. Rightly, then, does the prophetic voice exhort Jerusalem itself, in the hope of future goods, to the praise and glory of God, that it may exult in the joys of eternal peace with the holy angels, whose undivided fellowship it attains. (v. 13) "For he has strengthened the bars of your gates." The enclosing of Jerusalem and the strengthening of its bars indicates the security of unchangeable joys, because there will be no entrance for any evil to the good things, nor will any of the righteous fear to be shut out from there. "He has blessed your sons within you." Outside Jerusalem there is no blessing, because no one is sanctified unless he is united to the church, which is the body of Christ. (v. 14) "Who has made your borders peace, and fills you with the fat of wheat." No wars trouble that city, which is fenced by the boundaries of peace; nor does it suffer anything restless, in which nothing is at variance with God's will. And lest the tranquillity of that peace be disturbed by any necessity of want, the fat of unfailing bread is supplied to it, so that the food of righteousness may be in the banquet which was in the desires. "For blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." (v. 15) "Who sends forth his word to the earth; his speech runs swiftly." The sending of the Word is the incarnation of Christ; as his gospel runs through all the earth, the calling of all nations takes place, the grace of God going before the faith of believers. Nothing is swifter than the knowledge and works of God, who has both known and made the things that are to be, and with whom things not yet done are already arranged. (v. 16) "Who gives snow like wool; he scatters mist like ashes." These indeed serve to enrich the earth, according to the surface of the letter, since falling snows have the appearance of fleeces, and the dew of mists is scattered just like ash, and the earth grows fat from it. But in these the works of God's grace are perceived more loftily: by the fleeces of snow is figured the calling of the gentiles, which flows together into one to make the garment of Christ, which is the church, and is woven wholly into the selfsame, having neither spot nor wrinkle, but remaining in that purity which shines with eternal glorification, and is in that framework of which it is said, "The Lord clothed with light as with a garment." To signify this belongs the fact that we read that the garment of Christ, transfigured on the mountain, shone like snow. And by the mist is indicated the darkness of ignorance, which takes refuge in the ashes of repentance. For no one can be called righteous before his calling, since the Son of Man did not come to choose the righteous, but to save sinners and the ungodly. (v. 17) "Who sends his crystal like morsels of bread; who will stand before the face of his cold?" Snows long hardened turn into crystal: by this are signified the stony hearts of unbelievers, which, bound by the frost of excessive age, have received no warmth of the Holy Spirit. But the grace of God is so powerful that it makes such aged ice boil with fire from above, and by its breath makes those who had been hardened with crystalline cold grow warm; so that even those who did not know the food of life begin to minister the bread of the word: as was done in the blessed Paul, who, when he was a persecutor of believers, was made a preacher of the gospel. And who will be able to stand whom Christ has not freed from this cold, who came to send fire on the earth and to rouse to the fervour of faith what had grown numb with the frost of unbelief? (v. 18) "He will send forth his word and melt them; his Spirit will blow, and the waters will flow." By the word of gospel preaching the hardness of unbelievers is dissolved, so that what is said elsewhere comes to pass: "He broke open the rock, and waters flowed." And when the Spirit blows, the warmth of love is sent forth, so that rivers water the thirsty land and a spring of water welling up to eternal life arises in dry hearts. (v. 19) "Declaring his word to Jacob, his righteousness and judgments to Israel": giving, namely, understanding to the called and justified; for all the chosen from any nations are called Jacob and Israel; and they learn that all God's judgments are just, and that nothing is done by him for which human ignorance could blame him; for causes for punishment would abound even in the case of the righteous, if he did not temper his justice with mercy. (v. 20) "He has not done so for every nation, and he has not shown them his judgments." God willed that the depth of the riches of his wisdom should be clear to no nation, nor have the secrets of his judgments lain open to any people. But out of all nations there is one nation, one people, which understands that it is freed from eternal perdition not by its own merits but by God's grace; and each of the faithful is a minister of God's mercy, so that what has been done in them may be done also in others, and the whole dispersion may flow together into unity.