Interpretation of the Psalms

Contents

Reading pages: 0–1.7 · 2.1–4.9 · 5.1–7.18 · 8.1–8.10 · 9.1–10.8 · 11.1–14.5 · 15.1–16.15 · 17.1–17.51 · 18.1–20.14 · 21.1–22.6 · 23.1–25.11 · 26.1–28.11 · 29.1–31.11 · 32.1–33.22 · 34.1–35.12 · 36.1–37.22 · 38.1–39.18 · 40.1–42.5 · 43.1–44.9 · 45.1–47.13 · 48.1–49.23 · 50.1–51.11 · 52.1–54.24 · 55.1–57.12 · 58.1–59.14 · 60.1–63.11 · 64.1–67.1 · 67.2–67.36 · 68.1–69.6 · 70.1–70.23 · 71.1–71.18 · 72.1–72.28 · 73.1–75.12 · 76.1–76.21 · 77.1–77.69 · 78.1–80.17 · 81.1–83.12 · 84.1–86.7 · 87.1–87.19 · 88.1–88.53 · 89.1–91.15 · 92.1–94.11 · 95.2–97.8 · 98.1–101.29 · 102.1–102.22 · 103.1–103.35 · 104.1–104.45 · 105.1–105.48 · 106.1–107.14 · 108.1–109.7 · 110.1–113.26 · 114.1–116.2 · 117.1–118.31 · 118.32–118.102 · 118.103–118.176 · 119.1–127.6 · 128.1–133.3 · 134.1–137.8 · 138.1–141.8 · 142.1–144.21 · 145.1–149.10 · 150.1–150.4

1. 0Theodoret explains why he comments on the Psalms, rejects both excessive allegory and purely Jewish-historical readings, and discusses the authorship of the psalms, their titles, the diapsalma, and their order.
2. 1.1Psalm 1:1 blesses the one who avoids the ungodly, sinners and the pestilent; Theodoret explains the missing title, the word "blessed," that women are included, and the three steps of walking, standing, and sitting.
3. 1.2Psalm 1:2–3: the one who meditates on God's law is like a well-watered tree; the water is the teaching of the Spirit, and God prospers those whose will agrees with his law.
4. 1.5Psalm 1:4: the ungodly are like chaff driven by the wind.
5. 1.6Psalm 1:5: the ungodly rise not to be tried but to be condemned, and lawless sinners will be far from the assembly of the righteous.
6. 1.7Psalm 1:6: God knows the way of the righteous without proofs, while the way of the ungodly is destroyed.
7. 2.1Psalm 2:1–2 foretells the plot of Herod, Pilate, the Jewish leaders and the Gentile soldiers against Christ, as Peter interprets it in Acts.
8. 2.3Psalm 2:3 is read as the believers' resolve to throw off the bonds of the Gentiles and the yoke of the law and to take up Christ's yoke.
9. 2.4Psalm 2:4: the crucified one, who is in heaven, shows the plot to be vain, and the Father punishes it.
10. 2.5Psalm 2:5 is fulfilled in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem; the psalm names two persons, the Lord and his Christ.
11. 2.6Psalm 2:6: Christ reigns over all creation as God by nature and is appointed king as man; his teaching went from Zion to the whole world.
12. 2.7Psalm 2:7: "today I have begotten you" refers to Christ as man, since his divine generation is before the morning star.
13. 2.8Psalm 2:8: as God Christ is Lord of all, as man he receives the nations; the prophecy is fulfilled in the Jewish believers through whom the nations were won.
14. 2.9Psalm 2:9: the iron rod is the Roman power that punished the Jews; or, of the nations, Christ breaks and remolds them through baptism and the Spirit.
15. 2.10Psalm 2:10: Christ is now king of all, not only of the Jews.
16. 2.11Psalm 2:11: we must rejoice in salvation while fearing God's justice, with compunction.
17. 2.12Psalm 2:12a: knowledge of God must be joined to practical virtue.
18. 2.13Psalm 2:12b: at the judgment the wicked kindle God's anger, while those who trust in him receive true blessedness.
19. 3.1The title of Psalm 3 refers to David's flight from Absalom, one of the calamities that followed his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah.
20. 3.2Psalm 3:1–2: David is grieved most by those who say God has abandoned him, but trusts God will not overlook him despite his sin.
21. 3.4Psalm 3:3: David trusts in God, not in his royal power.
22. 3.5Psalm 3:4: the "cry" is the eagerness of the soul, as with Moses' silent prayer; the "holy mountain" reflects the old belief that God dwelt in the tabernacle.
23. 3.6Psalm 3:5: sleep and night stand for calamity, and waking for deliverance by God's help.
24. 3.7Psalm 3:6–7a: God's presence alone can scatter the many enemies.
25. 3.8Psalm 3:7b: David asks God to save him as he has before; breaking the teeth means stripping enemies of strength.
26. 3.9Psalm 3:8: David hopes in God alone and asks the blessing of peace even for the rebels, caring for his son Absalom more than for victory.
27. 4.1The title of Psalm 4 is explained: "to the end" points to the resurrection; with the other translators it is a victory song after Absalom's defeat, teaching God's providence.
28. 4.2Psalm 4:1: God heard David's just request at once, and in affliction gave him comfort, as he did Paul.
29. 4.3Psalm 4:1b: the righteous never tire of prayer.
30. 4.4Psalm 4:2: from David's experience people should learn God's providence and give up vain thoughts.
31. 4.5Psalm 4:3–4: God made David's innocence famous by the victory; the heavy-hearted who doubt providence should not sin in their anger but examine themselves at night with compunction.
32. 4.6Psalm 4:5–6a: the sacrifice God wants is righteousness joined with hope in him; virtue without faith bears no fruit.
33. 4.7Psalm 4:6b–7a: those enlightened by God find comfort in hope even in calamity.
34. 4.8Psalm 4:7b: those who ask who will show them good things are ungrateful, since they enjoy grain, wine and oil.
35. 4.9Psalm 4:8: David will die in peace in hope of the resurrection; recompense for the wronged comes after death.
36. 5.1The title of Psalm 5, "for her who inherits," refers to the church and to each faithful soul, heirs of God's kingdom.
37. 5.2Psalm 5:1–2: the church and the faithful soul survive by constant prayer; God's ears and the "cry" are figures for his hearing and the soul's eagerness.
38. 5.4Psalm 5:3–5: the church stands before God at dawn with confidence, as Elijah did, because God rejects lawlessness.
39. 5.7Psalm 5:5–6: God abhors the unrepentant workers of evil, who are those who attack the church in vain.
40. 5.8Psalm 5:7: the church worships God in his house, trusting his mercy but never casting off fear.
41. 5.9Psalm 5:8–9a: the church asks, in humility and because of her enemies, to be led on a straight way; the enemies' mouths and hearts are full of falsehood.
42. 5.11Psalm 5:9b–10: the enemies' speech is foul and deceitful; the church asks God to judge them, since their war is against God himself.
43. 5.12Psalm 5:11–12: the faithful rejoice in God's indwelling and boast in him; his good will is both their shield and their crown.
44. 6.1The title of Psalm 6, "for the eighth," refers to the age to come; since repentance is impossible after death, David seeks healing now.
45. 6.2Psalm 6:1–2a: David asks to be corrected as by a father and physician, not punished in anger; sin prevails where reason is weak.
46. 6.4Psalm 6:2b–4: the troubled "bones" are the thoughts; David asks healing for the sake of God's mercy, not his own righteousness.
47. 6.6Psalm 6:5: there is no repentance after death, so healing must be sought now; our own effort must accompany God's mercy.
48. 6.7Psalm 6:6: David weeps continually over his sin and keeps washing the defiled bed with tears even after forgiveness.
49. 6.8Psalm 6:7–9: grief and the reproaches of enemies wear David down, but God has heard him and forgiven.
50. 6.11Psalm 6:10: the mockers should stop reproaching David and be ashamed of their own sins.
51. 7.1The title of Psalm 7 refers to Hushai (Chusi), whose counsel defeated Ahithophel's and saved David from Absalom.
52. 7.2Psalm 7:1–2: trusting in no human help, David asks God to save him from enemies who would tear him like a lion.
53. 7.4Psalm 7:3: David begins his oath of innocence.
54. 7.5Psalm 7:4–5: David swears he has not avenged himself even on Saul and calls down ruin on himself if he has done wrong to his enemies.
55. 7.7Psalm 7:6a: David asks God to end his long-suffering and punish the wrongdoers.
56. 7.8Psalm 7:6b–7: God should do what he commanded, defend the wronged, so that the peoples may acknowledge him as Most High.
57. 7.9Psalm 7:8: David asks to be judged on his innocence in the present case only, not on his past sins.
58. 7.10Psalm 7:9–10: God, who searches the thoughts ("kidneys"), gives just help to the wronged and will punish the wicked.
59. 7.12Psalm 7:11: God is patient, then threatens, and finally punishes those who persist in sin.
60. 7.13Psalm 7:12–13: the burnished sword and bent bow are threats meant to bring about repentance; the fiery arrows are for those who build with combustible sins.
61. 7.15Psalm 7:14 refers to Ahithophel, who armed Absalom against his innocent father.
62. 7.16Psalm 7:15–16: the plotter falls into his own trap.
63. 7.18Psalm 7:17: David will praise God for his just judgment.
64. 8.1The title of Psalm 8, "for the wine-presses," signifies the many churches and altars of the new covenant replacing the one altar of the old.
65. 8.2Psalm 8:1: God's name is now praised everywhere, his greatness having become known to all, as Habakkuk foretold.
66. 8.3Psalm 8:2: God overthrew the devil through simple men like babes, and the children's Hosanna fulfilled the verse, as Christ said.
67. 8.4Psalm 8:3: creation shows God's power, but his care for lowly humans shows his love even more.
68. 8.5Psalm 8:4–6: God remembers and visits frail humanity; made lower than angels by mortality, human nature was crowned with glory through the incarnation.
69. 8.8Psalm 8:6–8: humans rule the animals by God's gift, and in Christ's assumed humanity all creation, visible and invisible, is subjected to him.
70. 8.10Psalm 8:9 repeats the opening praise.
71. 9.1The title of Psalm 9, "the hidden things of the son," refers to Christ's death and victory over death, a mystery hidden even from the apostles.
72. 9.2Psalm 9:1–2: wholehearted praise belongs to those not divided between God and mammon, whose joy is the remembrance of God.
73. 9.4Psalm 9:3: humanity sings to its benefactor for the defeat of the devil; the psalm is spoken to Christ, not by him.
74. 9.5Psalm 9:4–6: God judged the devil, and through the apostles' rebukes of the nations idolatry perished and was forgotten.
75. 9.7Psalm 9:6–8: the devil is disarmed and his cities turned to true religion; God reigns for ever and will judge the world.
76. 9.10Psalm 9:9: God helped poor humanity at the right time, the fullness of time when he sent his Son.
77. 9.11Psalm 9:10: those who know God as maker will trust him, since he has saved them.
78. 9.12Psalm 9:11: the heavenly Zion; God's "deeds" are the great exchange by which enemies became friends and life came through death and the cross.
79. 9.13Psalm 9:12: God saw the devil's deadly deceit of humanity and came to help; the "cry" is the misery brought by sin.
80. 9.14Psalm 9:13a: humanity's lament was a plea for mercy.
81. 9.15Psalm 9:13b–14: God raises humanity from the gates of death; the churches are the gates of the heavenly Zion.
82. 9.16Psalm 9:15–16: the demons were caught in their own snare, the cross; or the persecuting nations, whose killing of martyrs spread the faith.
83. 9.18Psalm 9:17–18: the persecutors go to Hades without truly harming the faithful, whose endurance is rewarded.
84. 9.20Psalm 9:19–20: the lawgiver asked for is Christ, lawgiver of the nations, whose law teaches them to live as human beings.
85. 9.22Psalm 10:1–2 (Greek 9:22–23): the oppressed burn with despondency when God seems far off, and are harmed if they doubt his providence.
86. 9.24Psalm 10:3: the wicked are praised by flatterers.
87. 9.25Psalm 10:4: the wicked provoke God by saying he will not call them to account.
88. 9.26Psalm 10:4b–5: the wicked man ignores God and his judgments, yet prospers.
89. 9.27Psalm 10:6: the wicked man is sure he will never suffer harm.
90. 9.28Psalm 10:7: the wicked man's speech is full of deceit and plots against the poor.
91. 9.29Psalm 10:8: the wicked plot in councils against the innocent; a bracketed note applies it to the devil's plot against Christ.
92. 9.30Psalm 10:9–10: the wicked man hunts the poor like a lion but will fall and die; bracketed notes apply it to the devil's defeat.
93. 9.32Psalm 10:11: the wicked man thinks God has forgotten, but events will teach him otherwise.
94. 9.33Psalm 10:12: the prophet asks God to show by action that he has not forgotten the oppressed.
95. 9.34Psalm 10:13: whatever the wicked think, God sees.
96. 9.35Psalm 10:14: God sees the wicked and is the helper of the poor and the orphan.
97. 9.36Psalm 10:15: when God seeks out the sinner's sin, the sinner perishes.
98. 9.37Psalm 10:16: God reigns for ever and cares for his subjects; the lawless nations perish.
99. 9.38Psalm 10:17: God knows the desire of the poor.
100. 9.39Psalm 10:18: punishing the arrogant deters others; the psalm shows humanity's plight, Christ's healing, and judgment at his second coming.
101. 10.1The title of Psalm 11 (Greek 10): David's reply, when pursued by Saul, to those who advised flight.
102. 10.2Psalm 11:1: trusting God, David rejects the advice to flee like a bird.
103. 10.3Psalm 11:2: the wicked prepare to shoot the upright in the dark.
104. 10.4Psalm 11:3–6: God gave David the kingdom; from heaven he sees and weighs all deeds; the lover of injustice destroys himself, and the wicked will drink the cup of punishment like Sodom.
105. 10.8Psalm 11:7: God punishes the wicked because he is righteous and governs all with uprightness.
106. 11.1The title of Psalm 12 (Greek 11): against double-dealers who betrayed David to Saul; "the eighth" again refers to the final judgment.
107. 11.2Psalm 12:1: truth and good faith have nearly vanished, so David asks God to save him.
108. 11.3Psalm 12:2: friends speak deceitfully to one another.
109. 11.4Psalm 12:3: God will destroy deceitful and boastful tongues.
110. 11.5Psalm 12:4: like Pharaoh, Rabshakeh and Nebuchadnezzar, the arrogant deny God's lordship and will be punished.
111. 11.6Psalm 12:5: God will arise and give the oppressed a manifest salvation.
112. 11.7Psalm 12:6: God's words are pure; "seven times" means many times.
113. 11.8Psalm 12:7: God's grace guards the faithful now and for ever.
114. 11.9Psalm 12:8: the ungodly besiege the upright, but God from his height cares for them.
115. 12.1Psalm 13:1–2 (Greek 12): written in the war with Absalom after David's sin; God's delay is called forgetting, and David is torn between hope and despair.
116. 12.3Psalm 13:2b: believers attacked by the devil should pray like David.
117. 12.4Psalm 13:3: God's help is light that ends the sleep of despondency before it becomes death.
118. 12.5Psalm 13:4: David fears his enemies' gloating most of all.
119. 12.6Psalm 13:5–6: after his sin David trusts in mercy, not righteousness, and will praise God's name, which is enough though God's nature is ineffable.
120. 13.1Psalm 14:1 (Greek 13) is applied to Sennacherib and Rabshakeh, who denied God's protection of Jerusalem and were destroyed by an angel; a long bracketed note applies "there is no God" to the practical atheism of pagan life.
121. 13.2Psalm 14:2–3: God examined all and found them corrupt, as he did with Sodom.
122. 13.4Psalm 14:4–5a: the Assyrians who devoured God's people would flee in terror with no one pursuing; God's looking down is a human figure for his punishment from heaven.
123. 13.6Psalm 14:5b–6: God saved Jerusalem because of Hezekiah's virtue and trust, which the Assyrians mocked.
124. 13.7Psalm 14:7: a double prophecy of Jerusalem's deliverance and of Christ's saving appearance from Zion, with the return of the captives.
125. 14.1Psalm 15:1 (Greek 14): who may dwell with God, put as a question to be answered.
126. 14.2Psalm 15:2a: the one who dwells with God must be blameless and practice all virtue.
127. 14.3Psalm 15:2b–3: truth in heart and tongue, no harm to the neighbor, and sympathy instead of mockery.
128. 14.4Psalm 15:4: despise the wicked however prosperous, honor the God-fearing, and keep oaths.
129. 14.5Psalm 15:5: no usury, no bribes; the reward is God's help and eternal life, and these commands bind Christians still more.
130. 15.1Psalm 16:1–3 (Greek 15) is spoken by Christ as man: he asks as man and grants as God; what was made perfect was his human nature; the saints are the apostles.
131. 15.4Psalm 16:4: the apostles, though weakened by many attacks, finished their course quickly; their persecutors will be forgotten.
132. 15.5Psalm 16:5: Christ as man calls the nations his inheritance and his death his cup; he asks that human nature recover the life and lordship lost by the fall.
133. 15.6Psalm 16:6: for the sake of his inheritance, human salvation, Christ endures the plots against him.
134. 15.7Psalm 16:7: Christ was made wise and strengthened as man, while as God he is the source of wisdom.
135. 15.8Psalm 16:8–11, interpreted by Peter in Acts, foretells Christ's resurrection: as man he received immortality; the mention of his soul refutes Arius, Eunomius and Apollinaris.
136. 16.1Psalm 17:1 (Greek 16): pursued by Saul, David asks God to hear his just request, made sincerely.
137. 16.2Psalm 17:2: David asks God to judge his case, trusting God's justice.
138. 16.3Psalm 17:3–4: David, tested by God, spared Saul at night and would not even revile him, keeping God's hard commands.
139. 16.5Psalm 17:5: David asks God's support to keep his purpose steady.
140. 16.6Psalm 17:6–7: God has heard David before; his mercy to the wronged will make many praise him.
141. 16.8Psalm 17:8: David's enemies oppose God, who anointed him; he asks to be guarded as carefully as the eye.
142. 16.9Psalm 17:8b–10: God's wings are his swift providence; the enemies have shut up their "fat," all natural compassion.
143. 16.11Psalm 17:11: the enemies drove David from his land and hunt him with crooked minds.
144. 16.12Psalm 17:12: the enemies behave like beasts of prey.
145. 16.13Psalm 17:13–14: David asks God to stop his enemies and break up their alliance while they live, knowing God's stored-up punishment will reach their imitating descendants.
146. 16.15Psalm 17:15: while the enemies are punished, David will enjoy God's goodness.
147. 17.1The title of Psalm 18 (Greek 17): David's song of deliverance, also in 2 Samuel 22; David does not count Saul among his enemies; it foretells the calling of the nations.
148. 17.2Psalm 18:1–2: David repays God with love and turns the benefits he received into names for God.
149. 17.4Psalm 18:3: give thanks for past gifts and ask for what is still needed.
150. 17.5Psalm 18:4–5: deadly dangers, sudden massed attacks, and ambushes are described as pangs of death, torrents, and snares.
151. 17.7Psalm 18:6: God heard David from his "temple," meaning heaven, since Solomon's temple was not yet built.
152. 17.8Psalm 18:7–8: the earthquake and fire are figures for God's punishment of David's enemies, like the terrors at Sinai.
153. 17.11Psalm 18:9–14: God's "descent" signifies his manifestation, not motion, since he is everywhere; such storms of judgment have struck invaders in Theodoret's own day.
154. 17.16Psalm 18:15: earthquakes of Theodoret's time show God's power to punish, though he delays to allow repentance.
155. 17.17Psalm 18:16–17: the "many waters" are David's strong enemies, from whom God visibly rescued him.
156. 17.19Psalm 18:18–19: the day of affliction is Absalom's revolt after David's sin; God held him up and will do so again.
157. 17.21Psalm 18:20–22: God's care was just because David aimed to keep his commands; the point is to teach how to receive God's providence, not to boast.
158. 17.24Psalm 18:23: David will be blameless by avoiding his former sin, which he does not hide.
159. 17.25Psalm 18:24: God rewards good deeds and a pious mind.
160. 17.26Psalm 18:25–26: God's recompense matches each person's way of life.
161. 17.28Psalm 18:27: God saves the humble and humbles the proud.
162. 17.29Psalm 18:28: God's light ends affliction; the "lamp" is Christ's human nature, descended from David.
163. 17.30Psalm 18:29: by God's grace David escapes every ambush.
164. 17.31Psalm 18:30: God's way is blameless and his words true; he protects all who hope in him.
165. 17.32Psalm 18:31: there is no other God.
166. 17.33Psalm 18:32: God's strength enables David to walk straight.
167. 17.34Psalm 18:33: God makes David surefooted and superior to his enemies, as deer trample snakes.
168. 17.35Psalm 18:34: David's hands are trained for war by being stretched out in prayer.
169. 17.36Psalm 18:35: God's discipline corrected and restored David after his sin.
170. 17.37Psalm 18:36: God's comfort sustained David in affliction.
171. 17.38Psalm 18:37–38: David hopes to subdue his enemies by God's help.
172. 17.40Psalm 18:39: God gave David strength and hindered his enemies, as with Goliath, Saul and the men of Gath.
173. 17.41Psalm 18:40: God put David's enemies to flight and destroyed them.
174. 17.42Psalm 18:41: neither foreign gods nor the true God helped David's enemies.
175. 17.43Psalm 18:42: the enemies will vanish completely.
176. 17.44Psalm 18:43–44: David never ruled the nations, so the verse is fulfilled in Christ, son of David, whom the Gentiles obeyed at once.
177. 17.46Psalm 18:45: those once called sons became aliens by ingratitude and unbelief.
178. 17.47Psalm 18:46: against those who call the crucified one dead, the psalm proclaims that he lives, has ascended, and saves.
179. 17.48Psalm 18:47–48: God, who will do these great things later, rescues David now and keeps his people obedient.
180. 17.50Psalm 18:49: fulfilled in the churches everywhere where David's psalms are sung.
181. 17.51Psalm 18:50: since David's royal line ended after Zerubbabel, the eternal king from David's seed must be Christ.
182. 18.1Psalm 19 (Greek 18) teaches three laws in Paul's order: the law of creation, the law of Moses, and the law of grace.
183. 18.2Psalm 19:1: the beauty of the heavens leads to the Creator; the plural "heavens" does not mean many heavens, as with city names like Thebes.
184. 18.3Psalm 19:2: the ordered exchange of day and night proclaims God's providence; their "speech" is a personification.
185. 18.4Psalm 19:3–4: creation speaks without words, its order calling the whole world to praise.
186. 18.6Psalm 19:4b–6: the sun, set in the heavens, runs its course like a bridegroom and giant and warms all from afar.
187. 18.8Psalm 19:7–10: the law of Moses under its five names (law, testimony, ordinances, commandment, judgments) and what each does.
188. 18.12Psalm 19:11: keeping God's law brings great reward.
189. 18.13Psalm 19:12: weakness, ignorance and impure thoughts make cleansing from hidden faults necessary.
190. 18.14Psalm 19:13–14: the "aliens" are demons; the close of the psalm foretells baptism, forgiveness, and the gift of the Spirit in the new covenant.
191. 19.1Psalm 20 (Greek 19) foretells the people's prayer for Hezekiah when he spread Sennacherib's blasphemous letter before God.
192. 19.2Psalm 20:1–2: the people pray that Hezekiah's petition in the temple be heard.
193. 19.4Psalm 20:3: the people ask God to remember the king's sacrifices and grant peace for more worship.
194. 19.5Psalm 20:4: the people ask a reward fitting the king's pure heart.
195. 19.6Psalm 20:5–6: the king prays in the temple below and is helped from heaven above; God's right hand is his power.
196. 19.8Psalm 20:7–9: the Assyrians trusted chariots and fell; Judah called on God and stood.
197. 20.1Psalm 21 (Greek 20) celebrates Hezekiah's recovery and the fifteen years added to his life.
198. 20.2Psalm 21:1–2: God granted the king's prayer and more.
199. 20.4Psalm 21:3: God gave Hezekiah the kingdom unasked.
200. 20.5Psalm 21:4: Hezekiah received the life he asked for; "for ever" points also to eternal life.
201. 20.6Psalm 21:5: Hezekiah's fame from the Assyrians' defeat and the sun's return brought gifts from the king of Babylon.
202. 20.7Psalm 21:6: Hezekiah will be famous for ever and rejoice in God's favor.
203. 20.8Psalm 21:7: the king prevails because he trusts in God alone.
204. 20.9Psalm 21:8: God's power will overtake all his enemies.
205. 20.10Psalm 21:9–10: God can burn up his enemies and their descendants when he judges the time right.
206. 20.12Psalm 21:11: the Assyrian's blasphemy was an impossible plan to defeat the true God as he had defeated idols.
207. 20.13Psalm 21:12: survivors of the angel's blow will flee and spread the news, and God can still punish them.
208. 20.14Psalm 21:13: God's being "exalted" means his greatness is shown, not increased.
209. 21.1The title of Psalm 22 (Greek 21), "help at dawn," refers to Christ's appearing; the psalm foretells his passion, resurrection, and the calling of the nations.
210. 21.2Psalm 22:1: Christ's cry from the cross means not that the divinity left him but that it permitted the passion; the "transgressions" are ours, which he took up for us.
211. 21.3Psalm 22:2: Christ's prayer was not granted, but he understood the saving purpose of the passion.
212. 21.4Psalm 22:3: the wonder is that the passion happens while God dwells in this holy body.
213. 21.5Psalm 22:4–5: all the fathers who trusted God were helped.
214. 21.7Psalm 22:6: the "worm" signifies Christ's lowliness in the passion; some also saw in it the virgin birth.
215. 21.8Psalm 22:7–8 was fulfilled in the mockery at the cross recorded in the Gospels.
216. 21.10Psalm 22:9–10: Christ, formed and born under God's care, hoped in God from infancy, as Isaiah's Emmanuel prophecy shows.
217. 21.12Psalm 22:11: at the passion the disciples had fled.
218. 21.13Psalm 22:12–13: the bulls and calves are the priests, scribes and their followers who surrounded Christ.
219. 21.15Psalm 22:14–15: the scattered bones are the apostles who fled; the silent tongue is Christ's silence before his judges; the dust of death is his burial.
220. 21.17Psalm 22:16–17: the dogs are the Gentile soldiers; the pierced hands and feet were shown by the risen Christ to his disciples and Thomas.
221. 21.19Psalm 22:18–21: the dividing of the garments is in the Gospels; the dog, lion and unicorn are the devil, who unjustly brought death on the sinless Christ.
222. 21.23Psalm 22:22–25: Christ's "brothers" are believers, Jewish and Gentile; as God he is only-begotten, as man firstborn; the great assembly is the worldwide church.
223. 21.27Psalm 22:26: the poor who eat are believers fed with spiritual teaching and the mystical feast, awaiting eternal life.
224. 21.28Psalm 22:27–28: all nations will remember their forgotten Creator and turn to him, for God is God of the Gentiles too.
225. 21.30Psalm 22:29: those fed by the immortal food worship Christ, and after the resurrection all will bow to him, willingly or not.
226. 21.31Psalm 22:30: Christ's seed are the baptized who serve God; his own assumed nature, united with the divinity, shares its glory rather than serving.
227. 21.32Psalm 22:30–31: the coming generation is the people born to God through Christ, and the psalm cannot be fulfilled in David, as the Jews hold.
228. 22.1Psalm 23:1: the nations fed with the saving food call Christ their shepherd, who lets them lack nothing.
229. 22.2Psalm 23:2–3: the green pasture is the teaching of Scripture, the still water is baptism, and all is God's free gift.
230. 22.4Psalm 23:4: the rod and staff that comfort the believer are a figure of the cross, which drives off demons.
231. 22.5Psalm 23:5: the table, oil, and cup are the sacraments known to the initiated, given before the eyes of the defeated enemies.
232. 22.6Psalm 23:6: God's love pursues the unwilling and grants a dwelling in his house in this life and forever.
233. 23.1Psalm 24:1: the title in some copies points to the resurrection, and the psalm teaches that God, as creator, rules the whole world, not Palestine alone.
234. 23.2Psalm 24:2: God founded the dry earth among seas and rivers, showing his providence as well as his creation.
235. 23.3Psalm 24:3: the mountain of the Lord is the heavenly Zion, and the psalm now shows the road to it.
236. 23.4Psalm 24:4: the one who ascends must be pure in deed and thought, free of desire for perishable things, of deceit, and of false oaths.
237. 23.5Psalm 24:5: even the rewards of the righteous are mercy, since no human righteousness matches God's gifts.
238. 23.6Psalm 24:6: the generation that seeks God is the nations converted after the incarnation, and the psalm goes on to foretell the ascension.
239. 23.7Psalm 24:7–10: the angels' question and answer at the gates proclaim Christ's ascension, when human nature first entered heaven.
240. 24.1Psalm 25:1–5: David, beset by enemies, entrusts himself to God, distinguishes weakness from deliberate lawlessness, and asks to be taught God's ways.
241. 24.6Psalm 25:6–7: David asks God to remember his own mercy rather than the psalmist's sins, and to judge with compassion rather than strict justice.
242. 24.8Psalm 25:8: Scripture everywhere teaches that God is both just and loving.
243. 24.9Psalm 25:8–9: God shows sinners the way of repentance rather than punishing at once, and teaches the meek discernment.
244. 24.10Psalm 25:10: all God's dealings join mercy for the penitent with truth in rewarding the virtuous and punishing the impenitent.
245. 24.11Psalm 25:11–13: God gives each person who fears him laws fitted to his own way of life, whether monastic or in the world, and promises blessing.
246. 24.14Psalm 25:14: God reveals his secrets and the aim of Scripture to those who fear him, and makes them strong.
247. 24.15Psalm 25:15: the eyes of the mind fixed on God trust him to rescue from the enemies' snares.
248. 24.16Psalm 25:16–18: alone and besieged, David asks God to weigh his sufferings against his sins and forgive.
249. 24.19Psalm 25:19: if not for his own sake, David asks God to help him because his enemies hate him without cause.
250. 24.20Psalm 25:20: though he has sinned, David has not left God's care, and asks to be guarded.
251. 24.21Psalm 25:21: virtue shuns the wicked and keeps the upright as friends.
252. 24.22Psalm 25:22: as a good king, David prays for the whole people, whose civil wars would end with his victory.
253. 25.1Psalm 26:1: written while David fled Saul among the Philistines, the psalm asks God to judge his innocence.
254. 25.2Psalm 26:2: David, still innocent, asks to be tested, showing the psalm predates his sin.
255. 25.3Psalm 26:3: trusting God's mercy, David asks to be refined like gold.
256. 25.4Psalm 26:4–5: living among the Philistines, David avoided their gatherings and shared neither their impiety nor their lawlessness.
257. 25.6Psalm 26:6–10: David, shunning the Philistines' superstition, longs for God's tabernacle and asks not to perish with the wicked.
258. 25.11Psalm 26:8, 11–12: David asks to stand firm in innocence and foresees that his psalms will bless God in the churches of the whole world.
259. 26.1Psalm 27:1: the title "before he was anointed" refers to David's second anointing, at Hebron; the psalm was spoken when he fled Saul and was helped at the tabernacle.
260. 26.2Psalm 27:2: David's enemies, though they hunted him like beasts, fell, as Saul did, while David twice spared him.
261. 26.3Psalm 27:3: having experienced God's help, David fears no army.
262. 26.4Psalm 27:4–5: David asked not for power but to dwell near God's house, and received it when he brought up the ark and set up the choirs.
263. 26.6Psalm 27:6: Aquila shows the verse is future: David will triumph and offer, through the churches, the sacrifice of praise rather than the sacrifices of the law.
264. 26.7Psalm 27:7: David asks for mercy, which in his case is also just.
265. 26.8Psalm 27:8: David's seeking of God is sincere and will continue.
266. 26.9Psalm 27:9: David asks God not to turn away in anger; the Septuagint's "cast to the crows" comes from a Greek curse.
267. 26.10Psalm 27:10: separated from his parents in his flight, David finds God enough.
268. 26.11Psalm 27:11–13: David asks God to guide him, says the slanders of his enemies recoiled on them, and trusts to see God's good things in the life to come.
269. 26.14Psalm 27:14: courage overcomes the passions and awaits God's promises, which soul and body will inherit in the land of the living.
270. 27.1Psalm 28:1: David, betrayed by informers while fleeing Saul, begs God not to be silent and leave him to death.
271. 27.2Psalm 28:2: David prays toward the tabernacle as Daniel prayed toward Jerusalem, not because God is confined there.
272. 27.3Psalm 28:3: David asks not to share the fate of hypocrites who speak peace but plot evil.
273. 27.4Psalm 28:4: the request for recompense is not a curse but a just verdict that the plotters fall into their own snares.
274. 27.5Psalm 28:5: the future tense shows that David is foretelling the downfall of those who refused to learn God's works, not cursing them.
275. 27.6Psalm 28:6–7: David blesses God for swift help won by hope and offers him willing praise.
276. 27.8Psalm 28:8: God strengthens both people and king, whom David calls his anointed.
277. 27.9Psalm 28:9: David prays for the people even while they side with Saul against him, foreseeing their change.
278. 28.1Psalm 29:1–2: the psalm fits Hezekiah's victory over the Assyrians as a type, and in truth Christ's sending of the apostles to bring the nations to God.
279. 28.3Psalm 29:3: the voice upon the waters is the Father's voice at Christ's baptism, and the many waters are the baptismal waters of the whole world.
280. 28.4Psalm 29:4: the voice in strength is the Spirit given at Pentecost, which made the lowly apostles powerful.
281. 28.5Psalm 29:5: the broken cedars of Lebanon are the lofty but fruitless shrines of the idols.
282. 28.6Psalm 29:6: as Moses ground the golden calf, all the world's idols will be ground fine, and the believing people, worshiping one God, will be invincible.
283. 28.7Psalm 29:7: the fire of the Spirit enlightened the apostles without burning them; in the age to come fire will enlighten the virtuous and burn the wicked.
284. 28.8Psalm 29:8: the desert God shakes is the nations, made holy and brought to bear the fruit of salvation.
285. 28.9Psalm 29:9: the deer are the apostles, given power over demons, who cleared the fruitless thickets of idolatry and planted churches.
286. 28.10Psalm 29:10: God will rebuild the world drowned in lawlessness as a new creation and reign forever.
287. 28.11Psalm 29:11: the verse foretells the persecutions, the martyrs' victory, and the peace that followed for the churches.
288. 29.1Psalm 30, title: the dedication of the house is the renewal of human nature by Christ's death and resurrection, foreshadowed in Hezekiah's recovery.
289. 29.2Psalm 30:1: by taking up human nature, Christ saved it from the demons' triumph.
290. 29.3Psalm 30:2–3: God, moved by humanity's laments though not invoked, brought human nature up from death.
291. 29.5Psalm 30:4–5: God wills life, not death; the evening weeping and morning joy fit Hezekiah's deliverance and the women's news of the resurrection.
292. 29.7Psalm 30:6: the overconfidence of prosperity was Adam's in paradise and Hezekiah's after victory.
293. 29.8Psalm 30:7–9: both Hezekiah and Adam lost God's protecting grace through pride; human nature cries that only the living can praise God.
294. 29.11Psalm 30:10–12: God turns mourning into joy, so Christians, who hope for the resurrection, should not grieve the dead as some do in sackcloth.
295. 30.1Psalm 31, title: "of ecstasy" hints at David's sin with Uriah; the psalm was spoken when he fled Absalom.
296. 30.2Psalm 31:1: David, ashamed of his sin, asks God to judge by his pursuers' lawlessness and rescue him.
297. 30.3Psalm 31:2–3: David asks God, his rock, for help not for his own virtue but for God's name, like the house built on the rock.
298. 30.5Psalm 31:4: the hidden snare is Ahithophel's counsel against David.
299. 30.6Psalm 31:5: having been rescued often, David commits his soul to God's providence.
300. 30.7Psalm 31:6–8: unlike those who trust in vain reasonings, David hoped in God, who often freed him from snares, as from Saul and from Gath.
301. 30.10Psalm 31:9: having provoked God by his sin, David weeps, and his thoughts, called his belly, are troubled.
302. 30.11Psalm 31:10: David's life was spent in grief, and in his flight he lacked even food, as the history records.
303. 30.12Psalm 31:11: David's acquaintances shun him for fear of his enemies.
304. 30.13Psalm 31:12: David is forgotten like the dead or a cheap lost vessel.
305. 30.14Psalm 31:13–15: amid Shimei's abuse and plots against him, David trusts God, who allots every change of fortune.
306. 30.17Psalm 31:16: God's appearing dispels the psalmist's gloom.
307. 30.18Psalm 31:17: David distinguishes his own sin from the impiety of the ungodly.
308. 30.19Psalm 31:18: the silenced deceitful lips foretell the death of Ahithophel, who incited Absalom against his father.
309. 30.20Psalm 31:19: God keeps hidden the great rewards of those who fear him, though at times he shows them to encourage his athletes.
310. 30.21Psalm 31:20: God hides his own from danger, as he hid David from Saul and blinded the Syrians around Elisha.
311. 30.22Psalm 31:21: God's love surrounded David like the wall of a fortified city.
312. 30.23Psalm 31:22: David's sin was an "ecstasy," a stepping out of his usual path, and God still heard his humble prayer.
313. 30.24Psalm 31:23: God bears with ordinary pride but punishes boundless arrogance.
314. 30.25Psalm 31:24: those who hope in God should take courage and follow him as their helmsman.
315. 31.1Psalm 32:1–2: David, suffering for his sin, foresees and calls blessed those who receive forgiveness without toil through baptism.
316. 31.3Psalm 32:3: David hid his sin until Nathan rebuked him, and his silence wasted him.
317. 31.4Psalm 32:4: God's heavy hand is just discipline, and sin is a thorn that grows instead of fruit and keeps pricking.
318. 31.5Psalm 32:5: when David confessed, God remitted the death he deserved under the law but healed him with measured discipline, as Nathan said.
319. 31.6Psalm 32:6: in the new covenant all believers pray David's words, and those who pray earnestly are kept above the floods of misfortune.
320. 31.7Psalm 32:7: David asks to be freed from the evils his sin brought on, and God answers.
321. 31.8Psalm 32:8: God promises to lead the repentant David back to the straight road and look on him with favor again.
322. 31.9Psalm 32:9: those who will not heed like rational beings will be curbed like horses by discipline.
323. 31.10Psalm 32:10: sinners meet many scourges, while those who hope in God are surrounded by mercy, since even the virtuous are saved by grace.
324. 31.11Psalm 32:11: the righteous should boast in God, not in their own achievements.
325. 32.1Psalm 33:1: the untitled psalm is framed as Hezekiah calling the people to praise after the Assyrians' destruction.
326. 32.2Psalm 33:2–3: the instruments of the law's worship are, spiritually understood, ourselves, made an instrument to praise God with every sense.
327. 32.4Psalm 33:4: God's works are to be received in faith, not probed with curiosity.
328. 32.5Psalm 33:5–6: we should imitate God's mercy and judgment; the Word and Spirit by whom the heavens were made are, in true theology, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who together made heaven and the invisible powers.
329. 32.7Psalm 33:7: God keeps the waters in their places and draws them up into the clouds at will.
330. 32.8Psalm 33:8–9: the earth and its inhabitants, as God's works, are called to fear him, which the world did after Christ's incarnation and resurrection.
331. 32.10Psalm 33:10–11: God foiled both Sennacherib's plans and the nations' attacks on the apostles; the two generations point to both events.
332. 32.12Psalm 33:12: the blessed nation chosen as God's inheritance was once Israel and is now the people called from the nations.
333. 32.13Psalm 33:13–14: God looks down on all humankind from heaven.
334. 32.15Psalm 33:15: God, who made each heart, knows all its movements and looks down as judge.
335. 32.16Psalm 33:16–17: Sennacherib's fate shows that neither armies, strength, nor horses save.
336. 32.18Psalm 33:18–19: piety draws God's providence, which saved the besieged of Jerusalem from death and famine.
337. 32.20Psalm 33:20–21: the delivered people place firm hope in God and ask for mercy measured to their hope.
338. 32.22Psalm 33:22: asking mercy in proportion to hope is bold, but Christ taught that God measures as we measure.
339. 33.1Psalm 34, title: David "changed his face" when he hid his flight from the priest at Nob; the holy bread he received foreshadowed the sacrament open to all believers.
340. 33.2Psalm 34:1: David praises God in every fortune.
341. 33.3Psalm 34:2–4: David calls the meek to praise God with him, since God answered him in his afflictions.
342. 33.6Psalm 34:5: those who come to God in faith are enlightened, as Moses' face shone.
343. 33.7Psalm 34:6: David offers his own rescue as proof that God hears the poor.
344. 33.8Psalm 34:7: Scripture often shows angels sent to guard and help those who fear God.
345. 33.9Psalm 34:8: the deeper sense of "be enlightened" and "taste" is baptism and the Eucharist, which show the Savior's goodness.
346. 33.10Psalm 34:9–10: the baptized should fear God and look to him alone, for wealth changes, as the unbelieving Jews lost what the believing nations received.
347. 33.12Psalm 34:11–12: David offers the prize of a happy life to spur his hearers to the struggle of virtue.
348. 33.14Psalm 34:13–14: guard the tongue, shun evil, do good, and above all pursue peace, which sums up love of neighbor.
349. 33.16Psalm 34:15: God watches over the righteous and grants their prayers.
350. 33.17Psalm 34:16: God sees evildoers and sentences them to destruction.
351. 33.18Psalm 34:17–18: God hears the righteous and is especially near the humble.
352. 33.20Psalm 34:19–20: God lets the righteous be trained by afflictions but strengthens their thoughts, the soul's bones.
353. 33.22Psalm 34:21–22: the wicked meet an evil end, while God redeems those who serve and hope in him.
354. 34.1Psalm 35:1: spoken while David fled Saul, the psalm recalls Doeg and the Ziphites and asks God first to judge, then to punish.
355. 34.2Psalm 35:2–3: the armor is an image to frighten the wicked; God needs only a word to punish and to save.
356. 34.4Psalm 35:4: David asks that his enemies' schemes fail and bring them shame.
357. 34.5Psalm 35:5: the wicked will be like chaff before the wind, as Psalm 1 says.
358. 34.6Psalm 35:6–7: the angels pursue the wicked, as they struck the Assyrians and Egypt's firstborn, for they plotted against David without cause.
359. 34.8Psalm 35:8: the plotters will be caught unawares in their own nets.
360. 34.9Psalm 35:9–10: David will praise God as the only God, who defends the poor against the strong.
361. 34.11Psalm 35:11: envious informers slandered David to Saul.
362. 34.12Psalm 35:12: Saul repaid David's victory over Goliath and his healing music with persecution meant to blot out his memory.
363. 34.13Psalm 35:13: David met his troubles with sackcloth, fasting, and prayer, and received what he asked.
364. 34.14Psalm 35:14: David served Saul like a brother and humbled himself before him, as the history shows.
365. 34.15Psalm 35:15: David's enemies attacked him by surprise and, though scattered, did not repent.
366. 34.16Psalm 35:16: the enemies tried both deceit and open fury against David.
367. 34.17Psalm 35:17a: David's "how long" is a cry of longing for help, not a complaint.
368. 34.18Psalm 35:17b: David's enemies are lions, and his "only one" is his soul, left without any human help.
369. 34.19Psalm 35:18: the great assembly is the churches of the whole world, where David's psalms praise God.
370. 34.20Psalm 35:19: those who pretended friendship while inciting Saul are meant.
371. 34.21Psalm 35:20: David's enemies hid their anger behind friendly words.
372. 34.22Psalm 35:21: once discovered, the enemies openly gloated over David's troubles.
373. 34.23Psalm 35:22–23: David asks the all-seeing judge to give his verdict quickly.
374. 34.25Psalm 35:24–25: if God delays judgment, the enemies will gloat over David's ruin.
375. 34.27Psalm 35:26: shame is the fitting lot of those who mock their neighbors.
376. 34.28Psalm 35:27: David's well-wishers will praise God when he obtains peace.
377. 34.29Psalm 35:28: David's prayers against enemies belong to the law, not the Gospel, and are predictions, not curses; he himself spared Saul and mourned him, and is no warrant for cursing.
378. 35.1Psalm 36, title: David spoke this psalm after sparing the sleeping Saul and hearing his false repentance; it mixes theology and prophecy.
379. 35.2Psalm 36:1: the wicked sin in secret because they do not fear the God who sees all.
380. 35.3Psalm 36:2: the wicked man deceives himself, willingly refusing to examine and hate his own sin.
381. 35.4Psalm 36:3–6: the wicked plot without loathing evil, while God's mercy, truth, and righteousness are immense and his judgments unsearchable.
382. 35.8Psalm 36:7: God's love extends to the animals for humanity's sake, and the future tense foretells the turning of humankind to God after the incarnation.
383. 35.9Psalm 36:8: the torrent of delight is the teaching and the mystical food of the church, flowing only for a season, so that all must come now.
384. 35.10Psalm 36:9: the spring of life with the Father is the Son, and the light in which we see light is the Spirit; the verse reveals the Trinity.
385. 35.11Psalm 36:10: mercy and righteousness are asked for the same people, who join true doctrine with good deeds.
386. 35.12Psalm 36:11–12: David asks not to be turned aside by the proud, for those who fall on the road of iniquity cannot rise again.
387. 36.1Psalm 37:1: taught by experience, David urges all not to envy the prosperity of the wicked.
388. 36.2Psalm 37:2: the wicked wither quickly like grass, as Isaiah also says.
389. 36.3Psalm 37:3–4: those who hope in God and delight in him will enjoy what he provides.
390. 36.5Psalm 37:5–6: entrust yourself to God, who as judge will vindicate you openly.
391. 36.7Psalm 37:7–11: do not envy prospering evildoers; wait for their end, while the meek will inherit the land and the peace of a pure conscience.
392. 36.12Psalm 37:12–13: God laughs at the raging of the wicked, foreseeing their swift end.
393. 36.14Psalm 37:14–15: the plots of the wicked will turn back on themselves.
394. 36.16Psalm 37:16: a little with righteousness is better than unjust wealth.
395. 36.17Psalm 37:17: the power of the wicked will be broken, while grace holds up the righteous.
396. 36.18Psalm 37:18–19: God provides for the blameless in hard times; the famine is the famine of God's word threatened in Amos.
397. 36.20Psalm 37:20: sinners and God's enemies are the same, and their brief glory vanishes like smoke.
398. 36.21Psalm 37:21: like Saul toward David and the Jews toward the apostles, the wicked repay good with evil, while the righteous keep giving.
399. 36.22Psalm 37:22: as God promised Abraham, those who bless the righteous are blessed.
400. 36.23Psalm 37:23–24: no one walks the road of virtue without God's grace, which works together with human effort and lifts up those who slip, as it lifted David.
401. 36.25Psalm 37:25–26: God cares for the righteous and their descendants, and the righteous man's mercy is a loan to God.
402. 36.27Psalm 37:27: knowing the wages of virtue and vice, all should shun evil and do good.
403. 36.28Psalm 37:28–29: God's just judgment keeps the holy and uproots the lawless.
404. 36.30Psalm 37:30–33: meditation on God's law keeps the righteous steady, and God rescues them from plots, as he did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
405. 36.34Psalm 37:34: those who wait for God and keep his law will be exalted and see the end of the wicked.
406. 36.35Psalm 37:35–36: David had seen the proud fall, Saul, Absalom, Nahash, and Goliath, and vanish like felled cedars.
407. 36.37Psalm 37:37: the peaceable should look past present troubles to the reward to come.
408. 36.38Psalm 37:38: at the judgment the lawless will perish together.
409. 36.39Psalm 37:39–40: God saves and defends the righteous who hope in him.
410. 37.1Psalm 38, title: David recalls his sin and the disciplines it brought, Amnon's murder, Absalom's revolt, Ahithophel, and Shimei.
411. 37.2Psalm 38:1: David asks for the physician's gentle discipline, not the judge's wrath.
412. 37.3Psalm 38:2: David feels God's discipline as arrows and a heavy hand.
413. 37.4Psalm 38:3: punishment recalls David's sin, and its memory brings him lament and affliction.
414. 37.5Psalm 38:4–6: the burden and festering wounds of sin, contracted through folly, keep David bowed in grief.
415. 37.8Psalm 38:7: the loins signify desire, whose misuse caused David's troubles.
416. 37.9Psalm 38:8: David's desire brought him grief, and so he turned it to serve God's will.
417. 37.10Psalm 38:9–10: David dedicates his desire to God, who sees his grief; the lost light of his eyes is both despondency and the loss of God's care.
418. 37.12Psalm 38:11: some friends, like Ahithophel, turned against David and others stood aloof, as Israel and Judah sided with Absalom.
419. 37.13Psalm 38:12: seeing David friendless, his enemies plotted his death.
420. 37.14Psalm 38:13–14: David bore Absalom's intrigues and Shimei's abuse in silence.
421. 37.16Psalm 38:15–16: David, enduring, left his cause to God and asked not to become a joy to his enemies.
422. 37.18Psalm 38:17: David accepts punishment as the cure for his sin.
423. 37.19Psalm 38:18: David accuses himself and seeks the healing of his soul.
424. 37.20Psalm 38:19–20: David sinned against God alone, but Absalom and the ungrateful people repaid his benefits with hatred.
425. 37.22Psalm 38:21–22: David begs God not to withdraw his care.
426. 38.1Psalm 39, title: the psalm is David's, given to Jeduthun to sing, and was spoken when Absalom pursued him and Shimei cursed him.
427. 38.2Psalm 39:1–2: the psalm matches David's silence under Shimei's curses, which reminded him of his sin and the discipline it brought.
428. 38.4Psalm 39:3: remembering his sin, David burned with grief.
429. 38.5Psalm 39:4–5: David, longing for death, contrasts the span-length of human life with God's eternity; all human striving is vanity.
430. 38.7Psalm 39:6: human beings are as fleeting as painted images and amass wealth for unknown heirs, as David learned when Absalom seized his treasures.
431. 38.8Psalm 39:7: renouncing all else, David waits for God alone.
432. 38.9Psalm 39:8: David sees Shimei's reproach as permitted by God because of his sins.
433. 38.10Psalm 39:9: David was silent before Shimei, seeing God's discipline behind him.
434. 38.11Psalm 39:10–11: David asks God to end his discipline, which like surgery heals while it hurts, and sees all human anxiety as vain.
435. 38.13Psalm 39:12–13: David, though a king, calls himself a sojourner on earth and asks for a little respite before death.
436. 39.1Psalm 40, title: the psalm fits David as a type, but refers truly to human nature raised by Christ, as Hebrews shows.
437. 39.2Psalm 40:1–2: God answered David's prayer, raised him from the pit of danger, and set his feet on a rock, the rock on which Christ builds his church.
438. 39.4Psalm 40:3: the new song fits David as a type, but truly human nature, raised from the pit of death and the mire of sin by the incarnation.
439. 39.5Psalm 40:4: blessed is the one who despises vain things and hopes in God.
440. 39.6Psalm 40:5: God's countless wonders culminate in the salvation of all nations and the replacement of the law's worship with rational worship.
441. 39.7Psalm 40:6–7: in place of the law's sacrifices God seeks our bodies; Hebrews rightly applies the words to Christ, who as firstfruits of our nature speaks for us.
442. 39.9Psalm 40:8: delight in God's will replaces the law's sacrifices, so the psalm fits David only as a type and truly the saved nations.
443. 39.10Psalm 40:9–10: David and the saved nations proclaim God's righteousness in the great assembly, the church gathered from the whole world.
444. 39.12Psalm 40:11–12: the saved church still needs God's help and, like the saints, confesses sins; since it is one body containing the weak, it speaks with one voice.
445. 39.14Psalm 40:13–14: the church asks God to rout those who seek its eternal death.
446. 39.16Psalm 40:15: the mockers will reap shame.
447. 39.17Psalm 40:16: lasting joy is asked for those whose love of God is constant.
448. 39.18Psalm 40:17: David, foreseeing the promised salvation, calls himself poor and asks that it come quickly.
449. 40.1Psalm 41, title: since Christ applied this psalm to himself, it must not be referred to David or Hezekiah.
450. 40.2Psalm 41:1: the poor one is Christ, who became poor for us; whoever understands his poverty will be rescued on the day of judgment.
451. 40.3Psalm 41:2: the one who understands Christ's poverty is cared for in this life as well.
452. 40.4Psalm 41:3: God will turn sickness into health; the psalm now lets the poor one himself speak.
453. 40.5Psalm 41:4: the sinless Christ speaks for sinful human nature as its firstfruits; Symmachus reads "even if I have sinned."
454. 40.6Psalm 41:5: the enemies who wished his death are the Jewish leaders who plotted against Christ.
455. 40.7Psalm 41:6: the visitor with a false heart is Judas, who went out to bargain with the priests.
456. 40.8Psalm 41:7–8: the enemies conspired and falsely accused Christ before Pilate, but the one who sleeps in death will rise.
457. 40.10Psalm 41:9: the friend who ate Christ's bread and lifted his heel is Judas; the heel means a tripping deceit, as with Jacob and Esau.
458. 40.11Psalm 41:10–11: Christ prays to be raised as man, in the assumed nature that suffered, as in his Gospel prayers.
459. 40.13Psalm 41:12: the sinless human nature assumed by the Son was upheld and established forever in an indivisible union.
460. 40.14Psalm 41:13: the closing doxology after the passion shows that the one foretold is also eternal God.
461. 41.1Psalm 42, title: the psalm speaks for the pious captives in Babylon, like Daniel and the three young men, long before the exile.
462. 41.2Psalm 42:1: like deer that thirst after eating snakes, the captives among the Babylonians thirst for God.
463. 41.3Psalm 42:2: the captives long to worship the living God in Jerusalem, the only place the law allowed, in contrast to Babylon's lifeless idols.
464. 41.4Psalm 42:3–4: mocked in captivity, the exiles weep, but the psalm foretells their festive return to the temple, as Isaiah also describes.
465. 41.6Psalm 42:5–6: the soul, urged to hope, answers that the memory of the homeland moves it to tears.
466. 41.8Psalm 42:7: the deeps and waves are the hostile armies God sent on Israel as punishment.
467. 41.9Psalm 42:8: the exile praises God day and night for his constant mercy and prays to receive it.
468. 41.11Psalm 42:9–10: the tortured exiles ask why God has withdrawn his care, since their captors mock him as weak; God's "forgetting" means withholding providence.
469. 41.12Psalm 42:11: the soul is urged not to despair, since God is its Savior.
470. 42.1Psalm 43:1: the exiles ask God to judge between them and the cruel Babylonians and their king.
471. 42.2Psalm 43:2: the pious exiles, innocent of the others' sins yet sharing their fate, pray for all.
472. 42.3Psalm 43:3: the exiles ask for God's light and truth, his just intervention, to lead them back to Zion and the temple.
473. 42.4Psalm 43:4: the exiles long to praise God with the lyre at his altar, having hung up their instruments in Babylon because the law forbade worship elsewhere.
474. 42.5Psalm 43:5: the shared refrain shows Psalms 42 and 43 are one, urging hope in God's certain salvation.
475. 43.1Psalm 44:1: the psalm foretells the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes and is spoken for the Maccabees, who recall God's ancient wonders.
476. 43.3Psalm 44:2–3: Israel won the land not by its own strength but by God's help and favor.
477. 43.5Psalm 44:4: God is unchanged and needs only a word to save his people.
478. 43.6Psalm 44:5: God's name is Israel's horn and weapon against its enemies.
479. 43.7Psalm 44:6–7: trusting not in weapons but in God, who has already given victory.
480. 43.9Psalm 44:8: Israel will boast in God and praise him always.
481. 43.10Psalm 44:9: now God no longer leads Israel's armies, and they live in shame.
482. 43.11Psalm 44:10: without God's care Israel flees and is plundered.
483. 43.12Psalm 44:11: Israel is devoured like shepherdless sheep and sold among the nations.
484. 43.13Psalm 44:12: God sold his people for nothing, that is, handed them over for their sins, as Isaiah and Paul also say.
485. 43.14Psalm 44:13: Israel became a laughingstock to the surrounding peoples.
486. 43.15Psalm 44:14: Israel's sufferings have become a proverb and a sight that makes people shake their heads.
487. 43.16Psalm 44:15–16: the faithful under Antiochus suffer daily shame from mockers and enemies.
488. 43.18Psalm 44:17–19: under great suffering the faithful kept the covenant, though God let them be humbled and brought near death.
489. 43.21Psalm 44:20–22: the Maccabean martyrs, the seven brothers, their mother, and Eleazar, kept faith to death; the shift from "God" to "you" hints at two persons.
490. 43.23Psalm 44:23: God's patience is called sleep, and his move to punish, arising.
491. 43.24Psalm 44:24: God seems to turn away and forget his people's need.
492. 43.25Psalm 44:25: the people are bowed to the dust under their enemies.
493. 43.26Psalm 44:26: the Spirit taught the Maccabees beforehand how to pray, and by such prayer they won back their people's freedom.
494. 44.1Psalm 45, title: the psalm is about the beloved Son and the nations changed through baptism, called flowers and lilies by the other translators.
495. 44.2Psalm 45:1: the prophet speaks of the King, Christ, and his tongue is only the pen with which the Spirit writes.
496. 44.3Psalm 45:2: the King's beauty, which surpasses all, is that of his sinless humanity and virtue, not bodily beauty, so it does not contradict Isaiah 53.
497. 44.5Psalm 45:3–5: Christ's beauty is his truth, meekness, and righteousness, which are also his weapons; with them he wounded the demons and won the peoples.
498. 44.7Psalm 45:6: here the psalm calls the King God, eternal and without beginning or end.
499. 44.8Psalm 45:7: Christ was anointed with the Spirit as man, not as God, with whom the Spirit is consubstantial; his partners are the believers.
500. 44.9Psalm 45:8–17: the King's fragrant garment is his body and passion; the queen is the church from the nations, told to forget her idolatrous ancestry, adorned within by the Spirit's gifts; her sons are the apostles and martyrs who rule the world.
501. 45.1Psalm 46, title: the psalm foretells the persecutions of the church, God's help, and the peace that followed, not Gog, Ahaz, or Hezekiah.
502. 45.2Psalm 46:1–2: the church, attacked at the beginning of the preaching, did not fear, since God was its wall; the mountains cast into the sea are the demons' shrines brought low.
503. 45.4Psalm 46:3: the roaring waters and shaken mountains are the uproar the demons stirred in the cities against the apostles' preaching.
504. 45.5Psalm 46:4–5: the river whose channels gladden God's city is the Gospel preaching spread to every nation; God dwells in the church and helps it swiftly.
505. 45.7Psalm 46:6: at God's voice, his truth and wonders, the hostile kingdoms bowed to the saving yoke.
506. 45.8Psalm 46:7: the God of Jacob, who protected Jacob and through him foretold the calling of the nations, is the church's helper.
507. 45.9Psalm 46:8–11: the end of wars to the ends of the earth fits not Gog or Ahaz but the Roman peace under Christ, which opened the world to the apostles, and figuratively the peace given to the church.
508. 46.1Psalm 47, title: the psalm foretells the nations' salvation and victory over the enemies.
509. 46.2Psalm 47:1–2: the apostles call all nations to celebrate the victory of God, now known as king to all humanity.
510. 46.4Psalm 47:3–5: the nations subjected to the apostles honor their tombs; the shout and trumpet are the angels' cries at Christ's ascension.
511. 46.7Psalm 47:6–8: the nations are called to praise God the King, enthroned as Hebrews says, and to sing with understanding.
512. 46.10Psalm 47:9: the nations' rulers joined the God of Abraham as promised, through the apostles, the shields who defended the believers.
513. 47.1Psalm 48, title: the psalm foretells the same victory and the strength of God's city.
514. 47.2Psalm 48:1: God's city is the church, made conspicuous by its lofty doctrines like a city on a hill.
515. 47.3Psalm 48:2: the church is firmly founded on the apostles and prophets and on Christ, and guarded from the evil of the north by mountains, the apostles, prophets, and angels.
516. 47.4Psalm 48:3: the palaces are the many local churches throughout the world, which make up the one catholic church united in true doctrine.
517. 47.5Psalm 48:4–5: the kings who came to attack the church were astonished at its invincibility.
518. 47.7Psalm 48:6–7: the attackers, seeing the church unshaken, trembled like storm-tossed sailors and began to proclaim its power.
519. 47.9Psalm 48:8: the former enemies see the church's permanence fulfilled, as Christ promised.
520. 47.10Psalm 48:9: the saved receive God's mercy, trusting Christ's promise to be with them always.
521. 47.11Psalm 48:10: unlike false gods, God's works match his name, so the whole world praises him.
522. 47.12Psalm 48:11: Mount Zion is the teachers of theology and the daughters of Judea are the churches founded by the Jewish apostles.
523. 47.13Psalm 48:12–14: the church's towers are the ascetics, and its palaces the local churches, which the preachers are to divide among themselves and hand on from generation to generation under Christ the one good shepherd.
524. 48.1Psalm 49, title: the apostles exhort the nations to join virtue to faith, teaching the vanity of wealth and worldly wisdom and foretelling the judgment.
525. 48.2Psalm 49:1: the call to all nations belongs to the apostles, sent to disciple every nation.
526. 48.3Psalm 49:2: the earthborn are the rough peoples of the countryside and desert; the exhortation is for everyone, rich and poor alike.
527. 48.4Psalm 49:3–4: the speakers utter not their own words but God's wisdom; an added passage applies the verse to the apostles, who understood Christ's parables and explain them to others.
528. 48.6Psalm 49:5: the speaker fears the evil day of judgment, when the deceit of his life will surround him, as Paul also calls it the day of wrath.
529. 48.7Psalm 49:6: the rich trust in passing wealth and give no thought to the judgment.
530. 48.8Psalm 49:7–11: no one can buy salvation after death; the toiler for virtue lives, while the worldly wise and the rich perish, leave their wealth to others, and lose even the names on their lands.
531. 48.13Psalm 49:12–13: humans who ignore the honor God gave them become like beasts, and their repentance after death profits nothing.
532. 48.15Psalm 49:14: the wicked are shepherded by death, and the upright they wronged will rule over them, as in the parable of Lazarus and the rich man.
533. 48.16Psalm 49:15: the speaker trusts God to redeem his soul from Hades.
534. 48.17Psalm 49:16–17: the poor should not fear the rich, whose wealth stays behind at death.
535. 48.19Psalm 49:18: true praise lasts beyond death and belongs to one who uses wealth to do good, since kindness to others returns to the giver.
536. 48.20Psalm 49:19–20: the rich man dies like his fathers and loses eternal light, because he chose a beastlike life over the honor God gave him.
537. 49.1Psalm 50:1: the psalm of Asaph foretells the judgment and the new covenant; the "gods" are those entrusted with judging, or properly those who keep God's image undefiled.
538. 49.2Psalm 50:2–3: Christ, whose beauty was shown in Zion, will come again openly as judge, surrounded by fire as Daniel saw.
539. 49.4Psalm 50:4: God calls heaven and earth as witnesses, as at the giving of the law, to make his hearers fear.
540. 49.5Psalm 50:5–6: God gathers the priests of the law to show that sacrificial worship, fit for infants, gives way to perfect teaching.
541. 49.7Psalm 50:7: the God who gave the old law and the new is the same, despite the difference of the laws.
542. 49.8Psalm 50:8: God does not fault Israel for neglecting sacrifices but for making them the measure of righteousness.
543. 49.9Psalm 50:9–11: God, maker of every creature, needs no sacrifices, and names all kinds of offerings to end that worship.
544. 49.12Psalm 50:12: the owner of the world does not need human food.
545. 49.13Psalm 50:13: God gave the sacrifices for an infant people and now opens the new covenant.
546. 49.14Psalm 50:14–17: the sacrifice of praise belongs to the new covenant, and the threefold naming hints at the Trinity; God rebukes those who teach the law but break it.
547. 49.18Psalm 50:18–20: the hypocrite who preaches the law joins thieves and adulterers and slanders his own brother.
548. 49.21Psalm 50:21: those who take God's patience for approval will face the harsher cure of rebuke, as Romans 2 says.
549. 49.22Psalm 50:22: those who forget God must repent before death seizes them like a lion.
550. 49.23Psalm 50:23: praise must go with an ordered life; the shift between "me" and "God" again hints at two persons.
551. 50.1Psalm 51, title: written after Nathan's rebuke for the sin with Bathsheba, the psalm shows David kept the Spirit's grace, and foretells the exile, offering a medicine for all who sin.
552. 50.3Psalm 51:1: a great sin needs great mercy, and David's sin was a double breach of the law.
553. 50.4Psalm 51:2: though forgiven through Nathan and disciplined, David asks to be washed further from the stain of sin.
554. 50.5Psalm 51:3: though forgiven, David keeps his sin before his eyes, as God bids sinners do through Isaiah.
555. 50.6Psalm 51:4: David wronged Uriah and his wife, but chiefly sinned against God his benefactor; "so that you may be justified" states a result, not a purpose.
556. 50.7Psalm 51:5: the verse does not condemn marriage but traces human proneness to sin to Adam's transgression, which brought mortality and the passions; sin is not natural, and the will can conquer.
557. 50.8Psalm 51:6: David, given prophetic knowledge of Christ and of baptism's forgiveness, asks to share the grace he foretells.
558. 50.9Psalm 51:7: only baptism cleanses as the psalm asks; the hyssop of the Passover was a type of Christ's blood and cross, since the law gave murderers and adulterers no cleansing but punishment.
559. 50.10Psalm 51:8: David asks to hear the promise of full cleansing so that his afflicted body may rejoice.
560. 50.11Psalm 51:9: David asks God to look at his repentance rather than his sins.
561. 50.12Psalm 51:10: the right spirit is not the Holy Spirit but the renewed impulse of reason, as in Ezekiel's promise to the exiles.
562. 50.13Psalm 51:11: David asks not to lose the Holy Spirit, showing he had not lost it.
563. 50.14Psalm 51:12: David asks back the joy and boldness he lost through pleasure, and that his reason, the governing spirit, rule his passions again.
564. 50.15Psalm 51:13: forgiven, David will be a pattern of repentance for sinners.
565. 50.16Psalm 51:14: David still remembers the murder of Uriah and promises to proclaim God's mercy.
566. 50.17Psalm 51:15: sin silences the mouth, and forgiveness restores the boldness to praise.
567. 50.18Psalm 51:16: as the previous psalm said, God does not want animal sacrifices, so David will offer what pleases him.
568. 50.19Psalm 51:17: a humble, contrite heart is the sacrifice God wants, as the three young men in Babylon learned and offered.
569. 50.20Psalm 51:18–19: the prayer for Zion's walls fits the exiles longing to sacrifice again in Jerusalem, and prophetically the new Zion with its rational sacrifices, whose perfect forgiveness David longed for.
570. 51.1Psalm 52, title: written after Doeg's slander caused the slaughter of the priests, the psalm also foretells the blasphemous Rabshakeh.
571. 51.3Psalm 52:1: the mighty man boasting of evil is Doeg, and also the Rabshakeh.
572. 51.4Psalm 52:2: the slanderer's lying tongue cuts like a razor.
573. 51.5Psalm 52:3: the slanderer preferred evil and lies to good and truth.
574. 51.6Psalm 52:4: the drowning words are lies that destroy utterly, as Doeg's destroyed the priests' city and the Rabshakeh's failed to.
575. 51.7Psalm 52:5: God will uproot the slanderer, to the profit of those troubled by the success of the wicked.
576. 51.8Psalm 52:6: the righteous will see the slanderer's fall and fear God.
577. 51.9Psalm 52:7: the righteous, seeing God judge the man who trusted in riches, will laugh at the fruitlessness of wickedness.
578. 51.10Psalm 52:8: the righteous man, firm in hope, is a fruitful olive tree in God's house.
579. 51.11Psalm 52:9: David will praise God forever for his vindication; God's name is good to those who know him.
580. 52.1Psalm 53, title: "Maeleth" means a dance; like Psalm 14, the psalm denounces Sennacherib's blasphemy and foretells his army's destruction.
581. 52.2Psalm 53:1: the fool who denies God is the Rabshakeh, who blasphemed the true God along with the false gods; lawless living produces such impiety.
582. 52.3Psalm 53:2: the God they disbelieve looks down to examine human deeds.
583. 52.4Psalm 53:3: God found all the impious turned aside to every kind of evil.
584. 52.5Psalm 53:4: the evildoers who devour God's people will learn that he avenges.
585. 52.6Psalm 53:4–5: the Assyrians feared an unseen blow when the angel destroyed them and God scattered their bones; the Rabshakeh, a Hebrew who blasphemed to please them, was a men-pleaser.
586. 52.7Psalm 53:6: the delivered pray for the return of the captives already deported, teaching us to share others' joys and sorrows.
587. 53.1Psalm 54, title: David praised God after Saul, informed by the Ziphites, broke off his pursuit to meet a Philistine raid.
588. 53.3Psalm 54:1: God's name suffices to save, as the apostles worked wonders by Jesus' name.
589. 53.4Psalm 54:2: David asks God to hear his prayer kindly.
590. 53.5Psalm 54:3: David needs God's help against powerful foes who ignore his providence.
591. 53.6Psalm 54:4–5: God helps David and will turn his enemies' evils back on them.
592. 53.8Psalm 54:6–7: delivered, David will offer the willing sacrifice of praise, the rational worship Paul describes.
593. 54.1Psalm 55, title: written when David fled Saul, the psalm foreshadows Christ betrayed by those he had helped; its lowly words fit the incarnate Lord who bore every insult.
594. 54.2Psalm 55:1–3: David, troubled by the plots of an enemy he had benefited, begs God to hear him.
595. 54.5Psalm 55:4–5: David's fear of death is not surprising, since Christ too was troubled and sweated blood in his human nature before the passion.
596. 54.7Psalm 55:6–7: David fled to the desert, as Christ often withdrew; his wish for a dove's wings shows longing for the Spirit who came as a dove.
597. 54.9Psalm 55:8: amid the storm, David waits for God's help.
598. 54.10Psalm 55:9–11: the lawless city foretold is the Jerusalem that rejected the Savior; both Gospel and law condemn usury along with deceit and injustice.
599. 54.13Psalm 55:12: an open enemy's insults can be borne or escaped.
600. 54.14Psalm 55:13–14: the close friend who turned enemy is Judas, who shared Christ's table and mysteries; an added passage laments communicants who betray one another.
601. 54.16Psalm 55:15: the sudden death foretold is Judas's hanging and the Jews' death in the Roman war; the present life is a sojourn.
602. 54.17Psalm 55:16: the psalmist cried to God and was heard; an added note sees prayer to both Father and Son.
603. 54.18Psalm 55:17: the psalmist prays at evening, morning, and noon.
604. 54.19Psalm 55:18: God answers continual prayer by delivering from many enemies.
605. 54.20Psalm 55:19: the eternal God will humble the impenitent who do not change or fear him.
606. 54.21Psalm 55:20: the friend who turned his hand against one at peace with him is Saul toward David and Judas toward Christ, who broke the law of love.
607. 54.22Psalm 55:21: smooth words hiding hostile hearts were Saul's to David and Judas's kiss to Christ.
608. 54.23Psalm 55:22: those who entrust their cares to God will not be shaken, since he gives a way out of every trial.
609. 54.24Psalm 55:23: the bloodthirsty and deceitful are cast into the pit of punishment and die early, while the psalmist hopes in God.
610. 55.1Psalm 56:1–2: written after David's first danger at Gath, the psalm also fits the captives in Babylon; he does not fear his enemies' passing prosperity.
611. 55.4Psalm 56:3: the psalmist sets trust in God against fear.
612. 55.5Psalm 56:4: trusting God, the psalmist fears no mere flesh.
613. 55.6Psalm 56:5: the enemies reject every word of defense and plot constantly.
614. 55.7Psalm 56:6: the enemies gather secretly and watch the psalmist's steps.
615. 55.8Psalm 56:7: God can overthrow the wicked effortlessly and punishes all the lawless.
616. 55.9Psalm 56:8–9: God knows all the psalmist's life and, as the law promises, hears the tears of the wronged and turns back his enemies.
617. 55.11Psalm 56:10–11: the psalmist adorns every word with God's name and fears no human plot.
618. 55.12Psalm 56:12–13: rescued from death, the psalmist pays his vows and will live to please God, words that fit David, the exiles, and us.
619. 56.1Psalm 57, title: "Do not destroy" records David's resolve not to kill Saul, the Lord's anointed, when he had him in his power in the cave.
620. 56.2Psalm 57:1: shut in the cave with his enemies, David trusts in God's protection until the danger passes.
621. 56.3Psalm 57:2: experienced in God's help, David cries to him again.
622. 56.4Psalm 57:3–4: God sent mercy and truth to rescue David from Saul's lionlike men, among whom he lay; Saul was shamed when David showed he had spared him.
623. 56.6Psalm 57:5–6: God's glory fills the earth, and David's enemies fell into the pit they dug for him.
624. 56.8Psalm 57:7: seeing God's providence, David no longer fears and is ready to praise.
625. 56.9Psalm 57:8–9: David, the Spirit's instrument, will lead the nations' praise when Christ, the true light, dawns.
626. 56.11Psalm 57:10–11: the clouds that carry God's truth are the prophets and apostles, through whom he is praised in all the earth.
627. 57.1Psalm 58, title: the psalm recounts Saul's wickedness and broken oaths, and "Do not destroy" recalls that David twice spared him.
628. 57.2Psalm 58:1: David bids Saul, who broke his oath, judge his own deeds justly.
629. 57.3Psalm 58:2: Saul's words of peace hide wicked plans, so he cannot judge justly.
630. 57.4Psalm 58:3: "from the womb" refers to God's foreknowledge, which, as with Jeremiah and Pharaoh, does not cause good or evil.
631. 57.5Psalm 58:4–5: Saul, unmoved by David's appeals, is like the asp that stops its ears to the charmer; an added passage applies the verse to the Arian, Eunomian, and Macedonian heretics and their baptism and doxologies.
632. 57.7Psalm 58:6: God will break the lions' teeth, undoing the enemies' slanders.
633. 57.8Psalm 58:7: the wicked will vanish like spilled water as God strikes them until they are powerless.
634. 57.9Psalm 58:8: the wicked will melt like wax and die without seeing the sun.
635. 57.10Psalm 58:9: before Saul's sin could grow into a full bramble, God's blow took him away in the Philistine war.
636. 57.11Psalm 58:10: the righteous rejoice at God's justice, and washing their hands "in" the sinner's blood means declaring themselves innocent of it.
637. 57.12Psalm 58:11: the punishment of the wicked makes all confess that God rewards the righteous and judges on earth.
638. 58.1Psalm 59, title: written when Michal helped David escape Saul's guards at night, the psalm foretells the guarding of Christ's tomb, his resurrection, the calling of the nations, and the dispersion of the Jews.
639. 58.2Psalm 59:1: David justly asks to be freed from unjust enemies.
640. 58.3Psalm 59:2: the enemies are murderous though David has done them no harm.
641. 58.4Psalm 59:3a: powerful men hunt David without having been wronged.
642. 58.5Psalm 59:3b–4a: the claim of innocence fits Christ, who alone was sinless, and David only as a type, since he had not wronged Saul.
643. 58.6Psalm 59:4b–5: David foresaw the Jews' rejection of Christ and asks that God's care pass to the nations, abhorring their impiety even as Christ prayed for them.
644. 58.7Psalm 59:6: like hungry dogs at night, the Jews will lack all spiritual food, prophecy, and priesthood.
645. 58.8Psalm 59:7: the sword on their lips is the cry "crucify him," by which the Jews killed Christ as if no one were watching.
646. 58.9Psalm 59:8: God laughs at the plotters and can easily overcome all the nations.
647. 58.10Psalm 59:9: God is the keeper of David's strength.
648. 58.11Psalm 59:10: God's mercy anticipates prayer, and the Savior's enemies are David's enemies.
649. 58.12Psalm 59:11: David asks that the Jews not be destroyed, since many will repent, but be scattered over the world for their conspiracy.
650. 58.13Psalm 59:12–13: the sin of their mouth is the Jews' cry for Christ's crucifixion; for it they were scattered, enslaved to Rome, and deprived of temple, priesthood, and prophecy, while the crucified one rules the world.
651. 58.15Psalm 59:14–15: the Jews, once sons, have become like hungry dogs seeking spiritual food they cannot find, while the nations have become sons.
652. 58.17Psalm 59:16–17: David will praise God's mercy at the dawn of Christ, the sun of righteousness, and keeps his promise through the praise of the pious.
653. 59.1Psalm 60, title: after his victories over Syria and Edom, David foresaw Israel's future sin, captivity, and return, and wrote of them beforehand.
654. 59.3Psalm 60:1: God cast off his people for their sins in the captivity, then had mercy after the punishment.
655. 59.4Psalm 60:2: the earthquake is the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions, and the psalmist asks God to heal the land.
656. 59.5Psalm 60:3: the misfortunes stunned the people like strong wine.
657. 59.6Psalm 60:4: the sign given to the God-fearing recalls Ezekiel's mark on the foreheads, a type of the sign Christians receive by grace.
658. 59.7Psalm 60:5: God guards his beloved by the sign, and his right hand, which the added note identifies with the Son, raises the fallen.
659. 59.8Psalm 60:6: God promises to bring the captives back and divide the land among them so full that they would measure it out.
660. 59.9Psalm 60:7–8: God promises the returned tribes their land and rule under Zerubbabel, with Moab, Edom, and Philistia subject; an added passage reads the cauldron as the baptismal font and the shoe as the apostles.
661. 59.11Psalm 60:9–10: the prophet longs to see Jerusalem walled again and its foes subdued, and asks God, who cast them off, to lead their armies again.
662. 59.13Psalm 60:11: only God can deliver, since human help is vain.
663. 59.14Psalm 60:12: with God the people will prevail, for his providence alone overcomes their enemies.
664. 60.1Psalm 61, title: the psalm continues the previous one, teaching the captives how to pray.
665. 60.2Psalm 61:1: the captives ask God to hear their prayer, words fit for anyone in trouble.
666. 60.3Psalm 61:2–3: the exiles, as at the ends of the earth, cried to God, who became their rock and tower and will bring them home.
667. 60.5Psalm 61:4: returned to Jerusalem, God's tent, the people will attend his temple continually.
668. 60.6Psalm 61:5: the restored land given to the returning exiles is a type of the true inheritance, eternal life.
669. 60.7Psalm 61:6–7: the prayer for the king fits Zerubbabel only in part and truly Christ, his descendant, whose years are eternal; Zerubbabel's return from exile is a type of Christ's restoration of captive human nature.
670. 60.9Psalm 61:8: the psalmist will praise God daily and keep his vows.
671. 61.1Psalm 62, title: David's psalm, sung by Jeduthun, foretells the Maccabees' trials under Antiochus Epiphanes.
672. 61.2Psalm 62:1-2: the faithful under Antiochus, forced to sacrifice to idols and eat pork, urge their souls to serve God, who alone saves.
673. 61.4Psalm 62:3: the persecutors attack the faithful as if pushing over a leaning wall, but God is their helper.
674. 61.5Psalm 62:4: the enemies seek to strip the faithful of God's providence, the honor of the pious, by flattering words that hide destruction.
675. 61.6Psalm 62:5: the soul is urged to stay in God's service and endure by his help.
676. 61.7Psalm 62:6: knowing God as true God and savior, the faithful will not desert his service for impiety.
677. 61.8Psalm 62:7: the repeated names of God are taken (in a bracketed addition) to point to the three hypostases of the Trinity; the faithful call God their helper against impiety.
678. 61.9Psalm 62:8: the faithful urge their kinsmen to trust God alone with undivided hearts.
679. 61.10Psalm 62:9: human things are as fleeting as vapor and a tilting scale, yet people trust in them and love injustice.
680. 61.11Psalm 62:10: do not trust in injustice or set the heart on wealth that flows in like a river.
681. 61.12Psalm 62:11-12: God has declared the certain judgment, punishing the wicked and showing mercy to the pious, as in the law and (in an addition) the Gospel's last judgment.
682. 62.1Psalm 63, title: David wrote the psalm in the desert after fleeing Saul, Ahimelech, and Achish.
683. 62.2Psalm 63:1-2: David longs for God in body and soul in the desert and worships as if at the tabernacle; an addition applies the verse to the church's sacrifice.
684. 62.4Psalm 63:3: God's mercy is better than any kind of life.
685. 62.5Psalm 63:4: David will bless God and lift his hands in prayer all his life.
686. 62.6Psalm 63:5: praising God and studying his words feed the soul like rich food.
687. 62.7Psalm 63:6-7: David meditates on God through the night watches under the shelter of his wings; an addition makes the wings the two Testaments.
688. 62.9Psalm 63:8: David's soul clings to God, and God's right hand upholds him.
689. 62.10Psalm 63:9: those who seek David's life without cause will go down to death.
690. 62.11Psalm 63:10: David's enemies will fall by the sword of the neighboring foreigners and lie unburied.
691. 62.12Psalm 63:11: David as king will rejoice in God's providence, and after Saul's death people will freely honor him.
692. 63.1Psalm 64, title: the psalm recounts Saul's plots and foretells deliverance.
693. 63.2Psalm 64:1: David asks God to hear him and free him from fear of the enemy.
694. 63.3Psalm 64:2: David asks to be sheltered from the wicked who conspire together.
695. 63.4Psalm 64:3-4: David's enemies aim slanders at him like arrows from ambush, though he is blameless.
696. 63.6Psalm 64:4-5: the plotters ambush the righteous, thinking no one sees or judges them.
697. 63.7Psalm 64:6: David's enemies search out every scheme against him; an addition applies the verse to persecuted saints hiding in caves.
698. 63.8Psalm 64:7-8: God sees the hidden schemes and turns the plotters' weapons back on them like children's arrows.
699. 63.10Psalm 64:9: seeing God's care, people fear and proclaim his works.
700. 63.11Psalm 64:10: those who keep God's laws will rejoice and be honored; an addition names the martyrs.
701. 64.1Psalm 65, title: Theodoret rejects the added title naming Jeremiah and Ezekiel and assigns the psalm to the captives in Babylon.
702. 64.2Psalm 65:1-2: the captives long to praise God in Zion, and the psalm foretells that all nations will come to the true God.
703. 64.4Psalm 65:3: the captives confess that their servitude is punishment for impiety and ask God's pardon.
704. 64.5Psalm 65:4-5: blessed is the people that dwells in God's courts; God is the hope of the ends of the earth, as Jacob foretold of the expectation of nations.
705. 64.7Psalm 65:6-8: God's power, figured as a belt, steadies mountains and stills the sea; the apostles' preaching troubled the nations, then Christ gave peace and the world praises God morning and evening.
706. 64.10Psalm 65:9: God waters the whole world through the apostles, the channels of the Spirit's grace, so that it bears the fruit of virtue.
707. 64.11Psalm 65:10: the watering of the furrows foretells the teaching that will make the nations bear fruit.
708. 64.12Psalm 65:11-12: the year of goodness is the age after the incarnation, foretold by Isaiah; the hills once given to idols now hold monks who hymn God.
709. 64.14Psalm 65:13: the clothed rams are the rich and powerful who come to baptism; Theodoret rejects readings of the psalm as the post-exilic harvests or a future restoration of Jerusalem.
710. 65.1Psalm 66, title: written for the captives returning from Babylon, the psalm also foretells the salvation of the nations.
711. 65.2Psalm 66:1-2: the returning captives call all people to praise, since their release prefigures all humanity's release from the devil.
712. 65.3Psalm 66:3: God's works are so great that the impious disbelieve them, and when the world turns to piety even unbelievers will feign faith.
713. 65.4Psalm 66:4: the whole earth's worship foretells the present age, when Christ is called Most High by all nations.
714. 65.5Psalm 66:5: God's fearful works and counsels guide mankind toward salvation.
715. 65.6Psalm 66:6: God parted the sea and the Jordan for Israel; additions apply the crossings to baptism, where the believer is renewed and the devil drowned.
716. 65.7Psalm 66:7: God rules forever and watches the nations; the few pagans who refuse the gospel should not pride themselves, for they provoke the just judge.
717. 65.8Psalm 66:8: the nations are called to bless God and make his praise known to others.
718. 65.9Psalm 66:9: the pious among the captives, like Daniel, Ezekiel, and the three youths, speak of God keeping them steadfast.
719. 65.10Psalm 66:10: God let the faithful be tested like silver to show their piety; an addition applies it to the martyrs.
720. 65.11Psalm 66:11-12: the snare, fire, and water recall the furnace and the lions' den, from which God delivered his faithful.
721. 65.13Psalm 66:13-14: the returned captive will pay in the temple the vows made in distress.
722. 65.15Psalm 66:15: God should be honored with the best offerings, as the law required and Malachi insisted, unlike Cain.
723. 65.16Psalm 66:16: the psalmist tells God's benefits to those who fear God, as holy things are shared only with the faithful.
724. 65.17Psalm 66:17: God answered at once, and the psalmist's tongue broke into thanksgiving.
725. 65.18Psalm 66:18: the psalmist's prayer was heard because he harbored no plan of injustice.
726. 65.19Psalm 66:19: God heard the psalmist because his intentions were pure.
727. 65.20Psalm 66:20: the psalmist blesses God for hearing his prayer and showing mercy.
728. 66.1Psalm 67, title: the psalm plainly foretells the incarnation of God the Word and the salvation of the nations.
729. 66.2Psalm 67:1: the prophet prays for the saving appearance of God, which an addition identifies with God the Word born of the Virgin without change.
730. 66.3Psalm 67:2: God's way and salvation are to be known among all nations, not only in the land of the Jews.
731. 66.4Psalm 67:3-5: all peoples should praise God, the just judge and guide of the nations; the repeated line is meant to stir the hearers.
732. 66.7Psalm 67:6-7: the earth's fruit is the nations' piety toward God, who appeared on earth; Theodoret rebukes heretics who deny the Son is God from God.
733. 67.1Psalm 68, title: David prays for the Savior's appearance and is shown the salvation of mankind and the defeat of its enemies.
734. 67.2Psalm 68:1: "Let God arise" means both the end of God's patience and Christ's resurrection, which scatters the enemies.
735. 67.3Psalm 68:2: at God's coming the enemies of mankind will vanish like smoke and melt like wax.
736. 67.4Psalm 68:3: the righteous rejoice when the demons who war against mankind are routed.
737. 67.5Psalm 68:4-5: the apostles prepare the way for Christ among the nations, the "west" darkened by error; God's coming does not mean he changes place, for the divine nature is uncircumscribed.
738. 67.7Psalm 68:6: God houses the single-minded and frees sinners bound by sin, like Matthew and Zacchaeus, even the most impious.
739. 67.8Psalm 68:7-8: the earth shook at the crucifixion and heaven dripped grace at Pentecost; the God of Sinai is the one who did these things.
740. 67.10Psalm 68:9: the voluntary rain is the teaching of grace freely received; God strengthened his inheritance, the nations, when it was weakened by persecution.
741. 67.11Psalm 68:10: God's living creatures are the apostles, who still dwell among the nations through their relics and writings.
742. 67.12Psalm 68:11: the Lord gave his word to the apostles, humble men who became teachers of philosophers.
743. 67.13Psalm 68:12: the beloved kings are the apostles, who as teachers of the army of believers divided among themselves the nations taken from the devil.
744. 67.14Psalm 68:13: the dove's silver wings and golden back are the Spirit's grace, giving simple and deep teaching through the two Testaments to those who stay with them.
745. 67.15Psalm 68:14: the kings made white as snow are the apostles, who received the Spirit at Pentecost in Jerusalem, called Selmon.
746. 67.16Psalm 68:15: the rich mountain of God is the apostles, who feed the flocks with the richness of grace.
747. 67.17Psalm 68:16: the mountain God chose is the church, where he dwells forever; the Jews and the heretical assemblies should not contend with it.
748. 67.18Psalm 68:17: God's chariot, the countless saints of the new covenant, is driven by the same Lord who appeared at Sinai.
749. 67.19Psalm 68:18: Christ's ascent presupposes his descent; he freed the captives and, receiving faith, gives grace, making even the disobedient his dwelling.
750. 67.20Psalm 68:19: God deserves constant praise and will smooth the way of those he saved.
751. 67.21Psalm 68:20: God, the spring of salvation, has opened the way out of death's prison.
752. 67.22Psalm 68:21: the devil, who handed sinners over to death, unjustly put the sinless Christ to death and so lost his power.
753. 67.23Psalm 68:22: God will bring his people back from Bashan, meaning shame, the fruit of sin, and from the depths of distress.
754. 67.24Psalm 68:23: the image of blood and dogs depicts God's victory over his enemies, as in Isaiah's winepress.
755. 67.25Psalm 68:24: God's goings are his saving dispensations, and the holy place is the human nature from David's seed that he assumed.
756. 67.26Psalm 68:25: the rulers are the apostles who founded the churches, and the young women are the consecrated virgins who sing to God.
757. 67.27Psalm 68:26: the many churches replace the one temple and praise God from the springs of Israel, the prophetic and apostolic writings.
758. 67.28Psalm 68:27: Benjamin the younger is Paul, and the rulers of Judah, Zebulun, and Naphtali are the other apostles, from Judah and Galilee.
759. 67.29Psalm 68:28-29: believers ask God to confirm his grace because of the temple he assumed from them, the humanity of Christ seated above every power; kings will bring him gifts.
760. 67.31Psalm 68:30: the bulls are the Jews who opposed the first believers from the nations, tested like silver; God will scatter the warlike nations who persecuted the saints.
761. 67.32Psalm 68:31: Egypt and Ethiopia's turning to God was fulfilled at Pentecost and in the Ethiopian eunuch.
762. 67.33Psalm 68:32: all the kingdoms of the world are called to praise God.
763. 67.34Psalm 68:33: Christ ascended above the heavens, and the voice of power is the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost.
764. 67.35Psalm 68:34: God's majesty was shown through the apostles of Israel, and the teachers after them are clouds that rain the Spirit's teaching.
765. 67.36Psalm 68:35: God is glorified through his saints; as he strengthened Jacob he will strengthen his new people; an addition explains the divine names as belonging to the undivided Trinity.
766. 68.1Psalm 69, title: spoken for the exiles in Babylon, the psalm also prophesies the passion of Christ and the ruin that came on the Jews because of it.
767. 68.2Psalm 69:1: the pious exiles cry to God, flooded by misfortunes.
768. 68.3Psalm 69:2: images of sinking in the deep sea express the exiles' overwhelming evils.
769. 68.4Psalm 69:3: the exiles are worn out with crying to God and waiting for his help.
770. 68.5Psalm 69:4: the exiles' enemies hate them without cause and punish them for wrongs they did not do toward them.
771. 68.6Psalm 69:5: the exiles confess that they have sinned against God's laws, though not against their captors.
772. 68.7Psalm 69:6: the psalmist asks that his fate not shame others who hope in God.
773. 68.8Psalm 69:7: the enemies mock the exiles' servitude as God's weakness.
774. 68.9Psalm 69:8: as captives the exiles were separated from their kin.
775. 68.10Psalm 69:9: the exiles grieve over the desolate temple and the blasphemies their fall has caused.
776. 68.11Psalm 69:10-11: the exiles' fasting and sackcloth became a cause of mockery.
777. 68.13Psalm 69:12: the exiles' misfortunes are mocked in councils and at banquets.
778. 68.14Psalm 69:13: the exiles pray that the time of punishment end and God show mercy.
779. 68.15Psalm 69:14: the exiles ask rescue from their enemies and the evils they inflict.
780. 68.16Psalm 69:15: the exiles beg God not to close the door of rescue on them.
781. 68.17Psalm 69:16: the exiles appeal to God's goodness, not their own worth.
782. 68.18Psalm 69:17: the exiles ask God not to turn away and to answer quickly.
783. 68.19Psalm 69:18: though their sins are great, the exiles ask rescue because their enemies are impious.
784. 68.20Psalm 69:19-20: God sees the exiles' shame; they find no one to share their grief.
785. 68.22Psalm 69:21: the captors made even the exiles' food bitter.
786. 68.23Psalm 69:22: the exiles pray that their oppressors' gladness turn into punishment.
787. 68.24Psalm 69:23: the exiles pray that their oppressors be darkened and bent in slavery.
788. 68.25Psalm 69:24: the prayer asks for punishment both swift (anger) and lasting (wrath).
789. 68.26Psalm 69:25: the curse was fulfilled on Babylon and, Theodoret says, on the Jews, who gave gall and vinegar to Christ and suffered what they had once prayed against their oppressors.
790. 68.27Psalm 69:26: the captors, God's instruments of punishment, went beyond his command, as God says in Isaiah.
791. 68.28Psalm 69:27-28: the oppressors are to receive due punishment and be excluded from the book of the living, as in Psalm 1 and Daniel.
792. 68.30Psalm 69:29: the title's "change" refers to two opposite changes: the return from Babylon and, after the passion, the Jews' final subjection.
793. 68.31Psalm 69:30: the delivered will repay God with songs of praise.
794. 68.32Psalm 69:31: praise pleases God more than sacrifice, which Theodoret says the Jews failed to see.
795. 68.33Psalm 69:32: the afflicted take hope from the exiles' deliverance and are urged to seek God.
796. 68.34Psalm 69:33: God heard the needy and freed the captives he himself had handed over.
797. 68.35Psalm 69:34: all creation is called to praise God, since human tongues are not enough.
798. 68.36Psalm 69:35: the exiles foresee Zion saved and the cities of Judea rebuilt and inhabited.
799. 68.37Psalm 69:36: only those who love God's name will dwell in Zion; after the crucifixion the remnant of believers took the place of those who rejected Christ.
800. 69.1Psalm 70, title: David spoke it when pursued by Absalom, stung by the memory of his sin.
801. 69.2Psalm 70:1: David asks God to hurry to help him.
802. 69.3Psalm 70:2: David prays that those who seek his life fail in shame.
803. 69.4Psalm 70:3: those who gloat over David's troubles will be shamed by his recovery.
804. 69.5Psalm 70:4: those who seek God are to rejoice and magnify him.
805. 69.6Psalm 70:5: poor in virtue, David asks God, his helper, to come without delay.
806. 70.1Psalm 71, title and verse 1: Theodoret corrects the added title about the Rechabites and assigns the psalm to the exiles in Babylon; an addition applies it to Christians freed from idols.
807. 70.2Psalm 71:2-3: the exiles ask God to judge justly between them and the Babylonians and to be their fortress.
808. 70.4Psalm 71:4: the exiles ask to be freed from the power of the wicked.
809. 70.5Psalm 71:5-6: Israel's youth and birth are the exodus from Egypt, as Ezekiel shows; an addition makes the new people's youth its rebirth in baptism.
810. 70.7Psalm 71:7: Israel's fall made it a portent to many, yet it waits on God's help.
811. 70.8Psalm 71:8: the exiles ask God to change their lot so they can praise him daily.
812. 70.9Psalm 71:9: as Israel's youth was the exodus, its old age is the captivity, when it asks not to be forsaken.
813. 70.10Psalm 71:10-11: the enemies think God has forsaken the exiles and close in on them.
814. 70.12Psalm 71:12: God's being far means withholding his help, not his presence, for he is everywhere.
815. 70.13Psalm 71:13: the exiles pray that their slanderers be shamed.
816. 70.14Psalm 71:14: seeing God act, the exiles will hope in him and multiply his praise.
817. 70.15Psalm 71:15-19: unable to count God's works, the psalmist will praise him as far as human nature allows; Israel's old age is the end of the law, and the generation to come is the church of the nations after the incarnation.
818. 70.20Psalm 71:20: the return from exile is like a return to life, as Ezekiel's opened graves show; an addition applies it to Christ raising human nature.
819. 70.21Psalm 71:21: God's care for the restored exiles will show his goodness.
820. 70.22Psalm 71:22: the psalmist will praise God among the peoples, who were saved after the incarnation through Jewish heralds.
821. 70.23Psalm 71:23-24: the psalm foretells Babylon's fall to Cyrus and the exiles' joyful return.
822. 71.1Psalm 72, title and verses 1-2: the psalm cannot fit Solomon but fits Christ, the true Peaceable One, who is king as God and receives judgment as man.
823. 71.3Psalm 72:3: the mountains receiving peace are fulfilled in the monks on the heights who pray for mankind.
824. 71.4Psalm 72:4: the false accuser is the devil, who slandered God and Job, and whom Christ humbled.
825. 71.5Psalm 72:5: the king, begotten of the Father before the moon, has neither beginning nor end; the sun is an image of his lasting being.
826. 71.6Psalm 72:6: rain falling silently on a fleece pictures the quiet, mysterious conception of Christ, which even Joseph did not perceive.
827. 71.7Psalm 72:7: after the incarnation righteousness spread and the one Roman empire brought peace that helped the preaching of the gospel.
828. 71.8Psalm 72:8: Christ rules to the ends of the earth, beginning from the Jordan where he was baptized and began to preach.
829. 71.9Psalm 72:9-10: Ethiopians, Carthaginians, Arabs, and islanders represent all nations worshiping Christ, while the demons, his enemies, lick the dust like the serpent.
830. 71.11Psalm 72:11: all kings will worship Christ, some willingly now and all after the resurrection; every nation has heard the gospel.
831. 71.12Psalm 72:12-13: Christ rescued poor human nature from the devil's tyranny and by his laws restrains the powerful.
832. 71.14Psalm 72:14-15: Christ will free people from greed; all nations will bring him gifts and, through him, pray to and praise the Father.
833. 71.16Psalm 72:16: Christ will raise up believers like cities on mountains and their teaching above Lebanon; unbelievers will wither like grass.
834. 71.17Psalm 72:17: Christ is older than sun and moon; in him, Abraham's seed, all tribes are blessed, and the nations call him blessed as God.
835. 71.18Psalm 72:18-20: the prophesied king is the God of Israel and Master of all; the prophet prays that the whole earth be filled with his glory.
836. 72.1Psalm 73, title and verse 1: the psalm answers the exiles' doubts about providence when they saw the wicked Babylonians prosper; God is good to the upright in heart.
837. 72.2Psalm 73:2: the psalmist nearly lost his sound thoughts about God.
838. 72.3Psalm 73:3: the psalmist burned with envy at the peace of the wicked.
839. 72.4Psalm 73:4: the wicked do not despair even in danger, and their troubles are brief.
840. 72.5Psalm 73:5: the wicked escape the troubles and chastisements of other people.
841. 72.6Psalm 73:6: unpunished, the wicked grew proud and wrapped themselves in injustice.
842. 72.7Psalm 73:7-9: the prosperous wicked grew insolent and blasphemed God, his people, and his temple.
843. 72.10Psalm 73:10: God promised the exiles return and a full life span; the word "here" shows the psalm is spoken after the return.
844. 72.11Psalm 73:11: the wicked Babylonians denied that God sees or knows what happens.
845. 72.12Psalm 73:12: the wicked enjoy unchanging prosperity in this life.
846. 72.13Psalm 73:13: the psalmist wondered whether keeping himself innocent had been in vain.
847. 72.14Psalm 73:14: the righteous psalmist is afflicted every day.
848. 72.15Psalm 73:15: the psalmist wondered whether God had broken his covenant with his sons, Israel.
849. 72.16Psalm 73:16-17: the psalmist understood that his hardships were punishment, that he would return to the temple, and that the wicked would meet an evil end.
850. 72.18Psalm 73:18-20: the Babylonians' sudden fall under Cyrus shows that the prosperity of the wicked is a passing dream.
851. 72.21Psalm 73:21: burning at the wicked's lawlessness, the psalmist nearly abandoned his pious thoughts.
852. 72.22Psalm 73:22-24: the psalmist resolves to follow God's providence without prying, like a beast led by its master; God led him home like a father.
853. 72.25Psalm 73:25: the psalmist has no God but the Lord in heaven or on earth.
854. 72.26Psalm 73:26-27: God is the psalmist's portion; the unfaithfulness that God destroys is idolatry, called sexual immorality and adultery, as in Jeremiah.
855. 72.28Psalm 73:28: the returned exile clings to God and proclaims his praises in Jerusalem, the daughter of Zion.
856. 73.1Psalm 74, title and verses 1-2: the psalm foretells not Antiochus's or Babylon's sack but the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; the people recall that God made them his inheritance.
857. 73.3Psalm 74:3-6: the enemy's outrages in the temple foretell the Roman siege under Titus at Passover, the standards and emblems set over Jerusalem, and the abomination Christ foretold.
858. 73.7Psalm 74:7: the enemies burned and profaned the temple.
859. 73.8Psalm 74:8-9: the enemies sought to abolish the law and its feasts when Israel had no more signs or prophets, unlike every earlier crisis.
860. 73.10Psalm 74:10: the people ask how long God will endure the enemy's blasphemies.
861. 73.11Psalm 74:11: the people ask why God withholds the good things of his bosom.
862. 73.12Psalm 74:12: God, King from of old, worked salvation for his people openly.
863. 73.13Psalm 74:13-14: the dragons crushed in the sea are Pharaoh and his commanders (an addition adds the devil); afterward Egypt fell easily to the Ethiopians.
864. 73.15Psalm 74:15: the springs from the rock and the dried-up rivers recall the wilderness and Sodom; the exodus is a type of baptism, and the rock is Christ, who waters the nations.
865. 73.16Psalm 74:16-17: God is creator of day and night, sun and seasons, and the shape of the earth.
866. 73.18Psalm 74:18: the people ask God to remember his congregation and the enemies' blasphemies.
867. 73.19Psalm 74:19: the prayer is for those who confess God (an addition: the Crucified as consubstantial God) against the beasts, and for the poor in spirit.
868. 73.20Psalm 74:20: those who loved darkness rather than God's light are filled with lawlessness and its punishment.
869. 73.21Psalm 74:21: the humbled ask not to be turned away, and promise praise.
870. 73.22Psalm 74:22: the people ask God to judge his own cause, since the enemies blasphemed him.
871. 73.23Psalm 74:23: the people ask mercy because of the enemies' pride, not their own merit.
872. 74.1Psalm 75, title: "Do not destroy" urges readers to keep pious thoughts uncorrupted; the psalm foretells God's just judgment.
873. 74.2Psalm 75:1-2: the exiles promise to praise God when gathered again in the temple; God answers that he will judge justly between them and Babylon.
874. 74.4Psalm 75:3: God, judge and creator of the earth, foretells punishment so that offenders may reform.
875. 74.5Psalm 75:4: God warns sinners against both sin and pride in it.
876. 74.6Psalm 75:5: the proud are told not to raise their horn or speak against God.
877. 74.7Psalm 75:6-9: no one escapes God's judgment; the cup of his wrath passed from Israel to Babylon, which drank the dregs, while the returned exiles praise God without gloating.
878. 74.11Psalm 75:10: the returned exiles will defeat the nations that attack them; the righteous one may be Zerubbabel.
879. 75.1Psalm 76, title: the psalm foretells Sennacherib's defeat and the destruction of his army.
880. 75.2Psalm 76:1: God made himself known when his angel struck down the Assyrian army in one night.
881. 75.3Psalm 76:2: after the Assyrian defeat Jerusalem had peace, and the survivors spread word of God's power.
882. 75.4Psalm 76:3: before Jerusalem's walls God made the Assyrians' weapons useless.
883. 75.5Psalm 76:4: God's victory on Judea's mountains made him manifest to all.
884. 75.6Psalm 76:5: the Assyrian warriors slept and woke no more, their strength useless.
885. 75.7Psalm 76:6: at God's rebuke the Assyrian horsemen died as easily as falling asleep.
886. 75.8Psalm 76:7: no one can withstand God, who patiently delayed punishing the blasphemers.
887. 75.9Psalm 76:8-9: God's judgment from heaven silenced the earth and saved the meek.
888. 75.11Psalm 76:10: the delivered devote all their thoughts to praising God.
889. 75.12Psalm 76:11-12: Israel should pay its vows, as even the neighboring nations, terrified, brought gifts to God.
890. 76.1Psalm 77, title: the psalm voices the exiles' troubled thoughts in Babylon and their prayer, as told after the return.
891. 76.2Psalm 77:1: the psalmist cried to God and was heard.
892. 76.3Psalm 77:2-3: in affliction the psalmist prayed through the night, refused comfort but in God, and grew faint in his musings.
893. 76.5Psalm 77:4: the psalmist lay awake through the night watches, troubled and silent.
894. 76.6Psalm 77:5-6: at night the psalmist recalled God's past favors to Israel and asked why he now seemed to overlook them.
895. 76.8Psalm 77:7-8: the psalmist feared that God had cast Israel off for good.
896. 76.10Psalm 77:9: the psalmist comforts himself that God will not forget to show pity.
897. 76.11Psalm 77:10: the psalmist recognizes that his sin caused the change from God's blessing to chastisement.
898. 76.12Psalm 77:11-12: remembering God's wonders from the beginning, the psalmist keeps his hope.
899. 76.14Psalm 77:13-15: God, holy and incomparable, showed his power by redeeming Israel from Egypt.
900. 76.17Psalm 77:16-18: the sea, clouds, and thunder at the Red Sea showed God's power, which filled the nations with fear, as Rahab said.
901. 76.20Psalm 77:19: God, being incorporeal, led his people through the sea leaving no footprints.
902. 76.21Psalm 77:20: God led Israel through Moses and Aaron; the exiles recall it to ask the same care.
903. 77.1Psalm 78, title and verse 1: as the law commanded, the psalm teaches later generations God's benefits and their fathers' ingratitude.
904. 77.2Psalm 78:2: the history of the fathers is told as a parable bearing hidden benefit.
905. 77.3Psalm 78:3-4: the fathers handed down the story of God's wonders from generation to generation.
906. 77.5Psalm 78:5: God gave the law and the tabernacle of testimony and commanded the fathers to teach their sons.
907. 77.6Psalm 78:6: each generation was to pass on the memory of God's deeds to the next.
908. 77.7Psalm 78:7: the purpose of the teaching is hope in God and obedience to his commandments.
909. 77.8Psalm 78:8: the children are to learn from their fathers' ingratitude and unfaithfulness so as not to imitate them.
910. 77.9Psalm 78:9: Ephraim, though skilled archers, fled in battle; the psalm foresees their later idolatry and the schism of the northern tribes.
911. 77.10Psalm 78:10: Israel freely chose not to keep God's covenant and law.
912. 77.11Psalm 78:11: Israel forgot God's benefits and wonders.
913. 77.12Psalm 78:12: they forgot the wonders done before their fathers' eyes in Egypt.
914. 77.13Psalm 78:13: God held the divided sea in place by his word, as if in a wineskin.
915. 77.14Psalm 78:14: the same cloud shaded them by day and gave fire by night.
916. 77.15Psalm 78:15: water from the rock was enough for the whole multitude.
917. 77.16Psalm 78:16-18: after the water from the rock, Israel still sinned, testing God by demanding food as if he could not provide it.
918. 77.19Psalm 78:19-20: Israel doubted that God, who gave water, could also give bread in the desert.
919. 77.21Psalm 78:21: God, angered by their unbelief, delayed the gift of the land and punished them, sparing their children.
920. 77.22Psalm 78:22: they were punished for unbelief, yet God still fed them.
921. 77.23Psalm 78:23-27: God opened heaven's doors and rained manna, the bread of angels supplied through angels, and then quails by the winds.
922. 77.28Psalm 78:28-31: God gave the quails they craved but struck them while the food was in their mouths, showing he can both give and punish.
923. 77.32Psalm 78:32-33: despite everything they kept sinning, and their lives ended in futility.
924. 77.34Psalm 78:34-37: punishment drove them to seek God, but their love was only on their lips, not in their hearts.
925. 77.38Psalm 78:38: in his compassion God often held back his anger and did not destroy them.
926. 77.39Psalm 78:39: God remembered that they were frail and short-lived.
927. 77.40Psalm 78:40-41: Israel repeatedly provoked God in the desert, with the calf, Baal-peor, rebellion against Moses, and refusal to enter the land.
928. 77.42Psalm 78:42: they forgot God's power that freed them from Egypt.
929. 77.43Psalm 78:43: the plagues were done at Tanis, seat of Pharaoh's palace.
930. 77.44Psalm 78:44: the first plague turned all Egypt's waters to blood.
931. 77.45Psalm 78:45-46: flies, frogs, blight, and locusts afflicted Egypt.
932. 77.47Psalm 78:47: hail and frost killed Egypt's vines and trees.
933. 77.48Psalm 78:48: Egypt's cattle died by hail or pestilence and became food for birds.
934. 77.49Psalm 78:49: the "evil angels" are the angels who carried out the punishments, evil only in the harm they inflicted.
935. 77.50Psalm 78:50-51: God let his punishment run its course, killing Egypt's cattle and firstborn in the land of Ham.
936. 77.52Psalm 78:52: God led Israel through the desert like a shepherd.
937. 77.53Psalm 78:53: God gave Israel grounds for confidence, and the sea that let them pass drowned their enemies.
938. 77.54Psalm 78:54-55: God brought Israel into the promised land and divided it to them by lot, as Joshua records.
939. 77.55Psalm 78:55: the tribes settled in the land, where new lawlessness followed.
940. 77.56Psalm 78:56: even in the land they tested God and broke his commandments.
941. 77.57Psalm 78:57: like a warped bow, Israel turned God's benefits into harm, imitating their fathers.
942. 77.58Psalm 78:58: Israel served idols on the high places.
943. 77.59Psalm 78:59-60: for their idolatry God handed Israel to its enemies in the time of the Judges and abandoned Shiloh in Eli's day.
944. 77.61Psalm 78:61: the ark, Israel's strength and beauty, was captured and set before Dagon.
945. 77.62Psalm 78:62: God gave his own inheritance over to the sword for their lawlessness.
946. 77.63Psalm 78:63-64: the young men, virgins, and priests perished unmourned; Hophni and Phinehas fell carrying the ark.
947. 77.65Psalm 78:65: the Lord roused himself like a sleeper against Israel's enemies.
948. 77.66Psalm 78:66: God struck the Philistines with the affliction of tumors; his sleep is long-suffering and his waking from wine is just anger.
949. 77.67Psalm 78:67: God rejected Ephraim, home of the future schismatic Jeroboam, moving the ark from Shiloh to Jerusalem.
950. 77.68Psalm 78:68: God chose Judah for the shoot of Jesse, Christ, and named Zion to forestall the other tribes' envy.
951. 77.69Psalm 78:69-72: the one temple suits the one God; God took David from following the ewes to shepherd Israel with innocence and understanding, a model for Christians.
952. 78.1Psalm 79, title and verse 1: the psalm foretells Antiochus Epiphanes' desecration of the temple, voiced by the pious of that time.
953. 78.2Psalm 79:1-2: the persecutors laid Jerusalem waste and left the bodies of God's servants to birds and beasts.
954. 78.3Psalm 79:3: the pious were slaughtered and left unburied.
955. 78.4Psalm 79:4: Israel's hostile neighbors mocked its misfortunes.
956. 78.5Psalm 79:5: the people ask how long God's jealousy, as the law describes it, will burn; an addition explains "one God" as the essence of Father, Son, and Spirit.
957. 78.6Psalm 79:6: the people ask God to turn his anger on the nations that do not know him.
958. 78.7Psalm 79:7: the enemies, unprovoked, devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling, the temple.
959. 78.8Psalm 79:8-10: the pious Maccabees ask forgiveness for past sins without mentioning their own virtue, and ask God to act for his name's sake and avenge his servants' blood.
960. 78.11Psalm 79:11: the people pray for the prisoners and for the children of the slain.
961. 78.12Psalm 79:12: "sevenfold" means a full punishment for the neighbors' blasphemy.
962. 78.13Psalm 79:13: God's people promise to praise him and hand the record of his deliverance to future generations.
963. 79.1Psalm 80, title: the psalm foretells the exile and teaches the exiles to pray, and also foretells salvation for all through Christ.
964. 79.2Psalm 80:1: the people call on God who shepherded Joseph and who appeared above the cherubim of the mercy seat.
965. 79.3Psalm 80:2: the tribes of Joseph's family stand for the whole people, who ask God to rouse his power; an addition applies it to the nations too.
966. 79.4Psalm 80:3: the exiles ask God to restore them; his shining face is enough to save.
967. 79.5Psalm 80:4: the people ask how long God will be angry at their prayers.
968. 79.6Psalm 80:5: God fed the exiles with tears in a measure fitting their sins, as Christ and Zechariah's measure teach.
969. 79.7Psalm 80:6: the neighbors mocked Israel, yet the people did not abandon God.
970. 79.8Psalm 80:7: the refrain asks God to restore his people; additions apply the shining face to Christ's coming in the flesh.
971. 79.9Psalm 80:8-19: Israel, the vine brought from Egypt, flourished under David and Solomon and was ravaged by the Assyrians and Babylon; the exiles ask God to spare it for the sake of the Son of Man, Christ, the true vine who would spring from it.
972. 80.1Psalm 81, title: the psalm foretells the Jews' return and later estrangement, and the nations' calling, whose fruit is offered in the churches as in winepresses.
973. 80.2Psalm 81:1: the returned exiles urge one another to praise God with shouts of victory.
974. 80.3Psalm 81:2: the choirs are urged to praise God with their various instruments, as in Chronicles.
975. 80.4Psalm 81:3-4: the trumpets of the feasts recalled the trumpet at Sinai and now celebrate the return.
976. 80.6Psalm 81:5: God gave Israel, called Joseph, his law when he brought them from Egypt, and they heard his voice for the first time.
977. 80.7Psalm 81:6: God freed Israel from the brickmaking of Egypt; then God himself speaks, recalling his benefits and foretelling their disobedience.
978. 80.8Psalm 81:7: God heard Israel's groaning in Egypt, delivered them invisibly by his plagues, and tested them at the bitter waters.
979. 80.9Psalm 81:8-9: God solemnly warns Israel to have no new or foreign god.
980. 80.11Psalm 81:10: echoing the first commandment, God forbids a new or foreign god, which Theodoret turns against Arius and Eunomius, who make the Son not consubstantial and not eternal.
981. 80.12Psalm 81:11: Israel would not listen to God's counsel.
982. 80.13Psalm 81:12: God left disobedient Israel to its own counsels; Theodoret sees this fulfilled in the Jews' dispersion.
983. 80.14Psalm 81:13-14: had Israel obeyed, God would easily have destroyed their enemies.
984. 80.16Psalm 81:15: the Lord's enemies broke their Sinai promise and crucified Christ; their "time," meaning misfortune, will last forever.
985. 80.17Psalm 81:16: God had fed Israel with water sweet as honey from the rock and with the produce of the land.
986. 81.1Psalm 82, title and verse 1: the "gods" are Israel's judges, called so because they share God's office of judging, and God rebukes them for injustice.
987. 81.2Psalm 82:2: the judges favor the powerful and neglect the wronged poor.
988. 81.3Psalm 82:3: the judges must defend the orphan, the poor, and the needy.
989. 81.4Psalm 82:4: the judges must rescue the poor from the wicked.
990. 81.5Psalm 82:5: the unjust judges walk in darkness, and the world is shaken by evils.
991. 81.6Psalm 82:6: God honored the judges with his own name and called them his sons.
992. 81.7Psalm 82:7: the unjust judges will fall like the devil, who misused the rule entrusted to him, and die like all men.
993. 81.8Psalm 82:8: the prophet calls on Christ, heir of the nations, to judge the earth and take the nations as his inheritance.
994. 82.1Psalm 83, title: the psalm foretells the coalition of neighboring nations against the returned Jews, defeated under Zerubbabel, as Joel, Ezekiel, Micah, and Zechariah also foretold.
995. 82.2Psalm 83:1-3: the nations plotted against God's "hidden one," Christ, who was to come from Judah; like the blessed grape in Isaiah, he preserved the vine until he was taken, after which the vineyard was left to the beasts.
996. 82.5Psalm 83:4: the nations sought to wipe Israel's name from memory.
997. 82.6Psalm 83:5-6: the allies against Israel were Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab, and the Hagarenes.
998. 82.8Psalm 83:7-8: the coalition included Gebal, Ammon, Amalek, the Philistines, Tyre, and "Assur," meaning the Samaritan colonists, led by Moab and Ammon.
999. 82.10Psalm 83:9-10: the people ask God to destroy their enemies as he did Midian, Sisera, and Jabin through Barak and Deborah.
1000. 82.12Psalm 83:11-12: the people pray that the enemy chiefs fall like Oreb, Zeeb, Zebah, and Zalmunna before Gideon, since they sought to seize the rebuilt temple.
1001. 82.14Psalm 83:13: the people ask God to whirl their enemies like a wheel and scatter them like stubble.
1002. 82.15Psalm 83:14-15: like a forest fire kindled by the trees themselves, the enemies are to be destroyed by one another and their own lawlessness.
1003. 82.17Psalm 83:16: shamed in defeat, the enemies will come to know God's power.
1004. 82.18Psalm 83:17-18: the people pray that their enemies' shame lead them to know the one true God.
1005. 83.1Psalm 84, title: the psalm foretells both the Jews' return and the world's salvation; the winepresses are the churches.
1006. 83.2Psalm 84:1-2: the longing for God's dwellings fits the exiles and above all the church, with its many altars; soul and body rejoice in the living God, who gives the hope of resurrection.
1007. 83.4Psalm 84:3: like birds that find a nest, believers have found God's altars, where they and their children receive spiritual food.
1008. 83.5Psalm 84:4: blessed are those who dwell in God's house, a type for the exiles and a reality for Christians.
1009. 83.6Psalm 84:5: blessed is the one helped by God, whose heart rises to him in pious thoughts.
1010. 83.7Psalm 84:6: the valley of weeping, typically Bochim, is truly this present life, where even the saints mourn and await God's blessing.
1011. 83.8Psalm 84:7: the godly, like ascetics, go from strength to strength; God the Word appeared first in Zion.
1012. 83.9Psalm 84:8-9: the "face of your Christ" is the saved people, the body of Christ.
1013. 83.11Psalm 84:10: one day in God's courts is worth thousands elsewhere; better a doorkeeper there than a dweller among the wicked.
1014. 83.12Psalm 84:11-12: God loves mercy and truth and gives every good thing to the innocent; blessed is the one who hopes in him alone.
1015. 84.1Psalm 85, title: Israel's deliverances are a shadow of the salvation of all mankind from the devil, which the psalm also foretells.
1016. 84.2Psalm 85:1-2: God's favor ended the exile and forgave Israel's sins, and also freed all mankind, as Christ announced from Isaiah in the synagogue.
1017. 84.4Psalm 85:3-4: God has ended his anger; the people ask him to complete their restoration.
1018. 84.6Psalm 85:5-6: even the forgiven should fear and pray that God's anger not last, trusting him to give them life.
1019. 84.8Psalm 85:7: after Cyrus permitted the return, the exiles ask God for speedy deliverance.
1020. 84.9Psalm 85:8: God speaks peace to those who turn their hearts to him; an addition applies it to Christ's gift of peace to the apostles.
1021. 84.10Psalm 85:9: salvation is near those who fear God, and the exiles will see their homeland's glory again.
1022. 84.11Psalm 85:10: God's mercy met human truth and his peace answered righteousness; an addition sees the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth, carrying Christ and John.
1023. 84.12Psalm 85:11: truth from the earth and righteousness from heaven; additions apply it to Christ born of the Virgin and to the Father's witness at his baptism.
1024. 84.13Psalm 85:12: God gives goodness and the people yield the fruit of virtue.
1025. 84.14Psalm 85:13: Christ leads the way of righteousness by his own example (an addition makes the righteousness that goes before him John the Baptist).
1026. 85.1Psalm 86, title and verse 1: David's prayer, which also foretells Hezekiah's plight and the nations' calling, opens humbly, confessing human poverty.
1027. 85.2Psalm 86:2: the psalmist is poor in virtue by himself but holy compared with his unjust enemies, and asks God to save him.
1028. 85.3Psalm 86:3: the psalmist cries daily for God's mercy.
1029. 85.4Psalm 86:4: the psalmist asks God to gladden the soul lifted up to him.
1030. 85.5Psalm 86:5: God is good, gentle, and rich in mercy to all who call on him.
1031. 85.6Psalm 86:6: the psalmist asks the good God to hear his prayer.
1032. 85.7Psalm 86:7: the psalmist prays confidently because God has answered him before.
1033. 85.8Psalm 86:8: against Rabshakeh's boast, Hezekiah confesses that no god is like the Lord, whose works match his name.
1034. 85.9Psalm 86:9-10: the prophecy that all nations will worship God was fulfilled after the passion, when the apostles made disciples of all nations.
1035. 85.11Psalm 86:11: the psalmist asks to walk in God's truth and to find gladness in fearing him.
1036. 85.12Psalm 86:12-13: the psalmist thanks God for rescue from the depths, which also points to the Word's descent to raise the dead to immortality.
1037. 85.14Psalm 86:14: David's and Hezekiah's enemies were lawless and powerful and did not reckon with God.
1038. 85.15Psalm 86:15-16: appealing to God's mercy and truth, the psalmist, God's servant by birth, asks for strength and salvation.
1039. 85.17Psalm 86:17: the psalmist asks for a sign of salvation that will shame his enemies; an addition names the cross as the good sign.
1040. 86.1Psalm 87, title and verse 1: the foundations on the holy mountains are the divine teachings laid on the apostles, as Paul and Christ's words to Peter show.
1041. 86.2Psalm 87:2: Zion is the heavenly Jerusalem, and its gates are the churches on earth, which God loves more than the dwellings of Jacob.
1042. 86.3Psalm 87:3: the glorious things said of God's city surpass anything fitting the earthly Zion.
1043. 86.4Psalm 87:4: Rahab, Babylon, the Philistines, Tyre, and Ethiopia, the most impious peoples, stand for the nations who would become citizens of God's city after the incarnation.
1044. 86.5Psalm 87:5-6: all will call Zion mother; the man born in her is the Most High who founded her, the Lord who enrolls her citizens in heaven.
1045. 86.7Psalm 87:7: the heavenly city is a dwelling of pure, everlasting joy.
1046. 87.1Psalm 88, title: the psalm, for Heman's choir, laments the Jews' captivity and the sufferings of all mankind after sin.
1047. 87.2Psalm 88:1-2: the psalmist cries day and night to the God of his salvation.
1048. 87.4Psalm 88:3: the psalmist, full of evils and near death, asks for help.
1049. 87.5Psalm 88:4: the psalmist is like one fallen into a pit, without help.
1050. 87.6Psalm 88:5: the psalmist, though alive, counts himself among the slain in the grave whom God no longer remembers.
1051. 87.7Psalm 88:6: the pit of darkness fits the exiles and all mankind, fallen into countless sorrows through disobedience.
1052. 87.8Psalm 88:7: God's anger falls on the psalmist like storm waves on the shipwrecked.
1053. 87.9Psalm 88:8: the captives, scattered from kin and friends, are loathed by their enemies and find no way out.
1054. 87.10Psalm 88:9: the psalmist's eyes waste with weeping as he stretches out his hands to God all day.
1055. 87.11Psalm 88:10: the psalmist asks for God's help while alive, since no physician raises the dead.
1056. 87.12Psalm 88:11: no one praises God's mercy from the grave.
1057. 87.13Psalm 88:12-13: since the dead cannot see God's wonders, the psalmist prays at dawn for deliverance in this life.
1058. 87.15Psalm 88:14: the psalmist asks why God rejects him.
1059. 87.16Psalm 88:15: Israel since the exodus and mankind since Eden have suffered; both fell from honor into humiliation.
1060. 87.17Psalm 88:16-17: God's wrath and terrors overwhelm the psalmist like a flood.
1061. 87.19Psalm 88:18: bereft of friends, the psalmist laments; the prayer fits all who suffer, since Scripture was written for our instruction.
1062. 88.1Psalm 89, title: the psalm recalls God's promises to David of an eternal kingdom through his seed, Christ, as Nathan, Peter, and Paul show; the exiles appeal to these promises.
1063. 88.2Psalm 89:1: the people sing of God's mercy and long to see his promises to David fulfilled.
1064. 88.3Psalm 89:2: the people remind God that he promised to build up his mercy to David's seed forever.
1065. 88.4Psalm 89:3-5: God swore to David to establish his seed and throne forever; the heavenly assembly praises God's faithfulness.
1066. 88.7Psalm 89:6: no heavenly being or so-called god compares with the Lord.
1067. 88.8Psalm 89:7: the true God is glorified and feared by the assembly of the saints.
1068. 88.9Psalm 89:8: no one compares with the Lord of hosts, whose power matches his will and whose truth is sure.
1069. 88.10Psalm 89:9-10: God, master of the sea, humbled Pharaoh at the Red Sea, a figure of the destruction of the devil's hosts in baptism.
1070. 88.12Psalm 89:11: heaven, earth, and all in them belong to God their creator.
1071. 88.13Psalm 89:12: God made north and south; as he defeated Egypt in the south he can defeat Assyria in the north, and the land of Tabor and Hermon will rejoice.
1072. 88.14Psalm 89:13: God's hand is unconquered against enemies and his right hand exalted to save his people.
1073. 88.15Psalm 89:14: the exiles ask God, whose throne rests on justice, to judge Babylon and show mercy and truth to them.
1074. 88.16Psalm 89:15-16: blessed is the people that knows the victory shout; it foretells the church in every land, enlightened (an addition says: by baptism).
1075. 88.18Psalm 89:17: God is the strength of his people, by whom their horn will be raised.
1076. 88.19Psalm 89:18: the people's help comes from the Holy One of Israel, their king.
1077. 88.20Psalm 89:19-20: God spoke through the prophets, choosing and anointing David as king.
1078. 88.22Psalm 89:21: God promised to support and strengthen David.
1079. 88.23Psalm 89:22: God promised that David's enemies would not prevail.
1080. 88.24Psalm 89:23-25: God promised David victory, steadfast love, and rule over sea and land.
1081. 88.27Psalm 89:26: the one who calls God "my Father" and "my God" is Christ, as his words in Gethsemane and after the resurrection show.
1082. 88.28Psalm 89:27: the firstborn higher than all kings cannot be David or Solomon but is Christ, only-begotten as God and firstborn as man.
1083. 88.29Psalm 89:28-29: the everlasting seed and throne of David cannot be found among the Jews but only in Christ, seated at God's right hand, as Hebrews, Psalm 110, and Isaiah 9 show.
1084. 88.31Psalm 89:30-33: if David's descendants sin, God will punish them but will not break his promise to David.
1085. 88.35Psalm 89:34: God will not break his covenant but will fulfill his promises (an addition: in the incarnation of the eternal Son from David).
1086. 88.36Psalm 89:35: God's oath to David stands firm.
1087. 88.37Psalm 89:36-37: David's throne will last like the sun and moon, fulfilled in Christ, whose seed are believers.
1088. 88.39Psalm 89:38-39: God seemed to cast off David's line when Jeconiah and Zedekiah were taken captive and the temple destroyed.
1089. 88.41Psalm 89:40: God broke down David's defenses and turned confidence into fear.
1090. 88.42Psalm 89:41: the surrounding nations plundered and mocked David's line.
1091. 88.43Psalm 89:42: God made Israel's enemies stronger and let them rejoice.
1092. 88.44Psalm 89:43: without God's care Israel's weapons were useless.
1093. 88.45Psalm 89:44: the captives could not perform the temple purifications, and the kingdom was destroyed.
1094. 88.46Psalm 89:45: the kingdom was cut short and its last kings, Zedekiah and Jeconiah, put to shame.
1095. 88.47Psalm 89:46: the people ask how long God will hide and let his anger burn.
1096. 88.48Psalm 89:47: the people ask God, who made them out of goodness, to remember their frailty.
1097. 88.49Psalm 89:48: since all must die, the people ask for God's love while they live.
1098. 88.50Psalm 89:49: the people ask where God's sworn mercies to David have gone.
1099. 88.51Psalm 89:50: the people bear the reproach of many nations, which is really blasphemy against God.
1100. 88.52Psalm 89:51: the reproached kings of David's line are the "footsteps" of Christ, his forefathers, and the people ask relief for Christ's sake.
1101. 88.53Psalm 89:52: the psalm ends in hopeful praise, trusting God to keep his promises.
1102. 89.1Psalm 90, title and verse 1: whether by Moses or David, the psalm speaks for Israel and all mankind; God has always been the refuge of both, not changing his mind about the nations.
1103. 89.2Psalm 90:2: God exists eternally, before all creation, without beginning or end.
1104. 89.3Psalm 90:3: the people ask God not to leave man in the lowliness decreed for Adam, trusting that he calls them to return.
1105. 89.4Psalm 90:4: human life is brief and painful, while to the eternal God a thousand years are like a night watch.
1106. 89.5Psalm 90:5-6: like grass that flowers in the morning and withers by evening, the Jews flourished under God's care and lost it after the crucifixion.
1107. 89.7Psalm 90:7: both the Jews and all mankind have suffered God's anger, falling into pits of their own making.
1108. 89.8Psalm 90:8: God set his people's sins before his face and punished them.
1109. 89.9Psalm 90:9: sin led to anger, anger to punishment, and punishment to a life of pain.
1110. 89.10Psalm 90:9-10: human life is fragile as a spider's web, seventy or eighty years of toil, and even God's mild punishment brings many evils.
1111. 89.11Psalm 90:11: if God's mild indignation is so heavy, no one can grasp the punishment of his full anger, eternal punishment.
1112. 89.12Psalm 90:12: the psalmist asks to know God's gifts and imitate those made wise by his grace.
1113. 89.13Psalm 90:13: the people ask God to return and have pity on his servants.
1114. 89.14Psalm 90:14: the people ask God to satisfy them in the morning of deliverance with his mercy, not for their merit.
1115. 89.15Psalm 90:15: the people ask for joy in return for their years of affliction.
1116. 89.16Psalm 90:16: the people, God's own creatures, ask him to look on them and guide their children.
1117. 89.17Psalm 90:17: the brightness of God is the incarnation of the Word; God prospers the work of the virtuous, though the fruit is theirs.
1118. 90.1Psalm 91, title and verse 1: foreseeing Hezekiah's trust and the Assyrian defeat, David teaches that whoever trusts in God dwells under his shelter.
1119. 90.2Psalm 91:2: the one who trusts God calls him helper and refuge.
1120. 90.3Psalm 91:3: God frees those who trust him from hidden snares and slander, as with Joseph and Susanna.
1121. 90.4Psalm 91:4: God shields the faithful like a front-line soldier and like a bird with its wings, as in Deuteronomy and Christ's lament over Jerusalem.
1122. 90.5Psalm 91:5-6: God's truth shields the faithful from enemies seen and unseen, by night and at noon.
1123. 90.7Psalm 91:7-8: thousands may fall around the faithful while God protects them, as at the Assyrian defeat and in the days of Gideon, Jonathan, Jehoshaphat, and Elisha.
1124. 90.9Psalm 91:9: whoever makes the Most High his refuge receives his care; Theodoret notes the elliptical construction.
1125. 90.10Psalm 91:10: God guards the faithful from the devil, as he fenced Job's house, and crowns them when tested.
1126. 90.11Psalm 91:11: God guards the faithful through his angels, as Scripture shows with Jacob and Abraham's servant.
1127. 90.12Psalm 91:12: the angels guide and help the faithful so that no harm befalls them.
1128. 90.13Psalm 91:13: trust in God gives mastery over every evil, as Daniel with the lions, Paul with the viper, Noah with the beasts, and desert monks show.
1129. 90.14Psalm 91:14-15: God himself promises to rescue, shelter, hear, accompany, and honor the one who hopes in him.
1130. 90.16Psalm 91:16: God gives long life and salvation to those who trust him, as Hezekiah received fifteen more years.
1131. 91.1Psalm 92, title: the Sabbath, a rest from bodily labor for spiritual work, figures the rest of the life to come, when the just are honored and the unjust punished.
1132. 91.2Psalm 92:1-2: it is good to praise God day and night for his mercy to his people and his truth against the wicked.
1133. 91.4Psalm 92:3: God is to be praised with instruments and song.
1134. 91.5Psalm 92:4: God's works and dispensations fill the psalmist with joy.
1135. 91.6Psalm 92:5: God's works are great and his wisdom unfathomable.
1136. 91.7Psalm 92:6: the foolish neither know nor wish to learn God's works.
1137. 91.8Psalm 92:7: the wicked flourish like grass only to be destroyed forever.
1138. 91.9Psalm 92:8-9: God reigns forever while his enemies perish.
1139. 91.11Psalm 92:10: like the unicorn's single horn, the faithful worship one God (an addition: the horn of the cross); their old age will flourish like an olive.
1140. 91.12Psalm 92:11: the Septuagint's past tense expresses the certainty of prophecy; the righteous will see and hear of the downfall of their enemies.
1141. 91.13Psalm 92:12: the righteous, unlike the short-lived wicked, grow slowly but lastingly like the palm and the cedar.
1142. 91.14Psalm 92:13: the righteous are planted by God in his house as in a paradise.
1143. 91.15Psalm 92:14-15: the fruitful old age of the righteous is the perfection of the life to come, when God's justice will be manifest.
1144. 92.1Psalm 93, title and verse 1: God is always king by nature, but after Christ's incarnation and ascension his majesty became manifest and the world was established in the knowledge of God.
1145. 92.2Psalm 93:2: Christ's kingdom is eternal, not newly given, as Psalms 45 and 102 show, applied to him in Hebrews.
1146. 92.3Psalm 93:3-4: the rivers are the apostles, whose preaching stirred the bitter sea of the world into a storm that Christ has since calmed.
1147. 92.5Psalm 93:5: God's prophecies have proved true; holiness befits his house, the church, forever, and believers must keep themselves holy for him.
1148. 93.1Psalm 94, title and verse 1: the psalm, foreseeing the injustice of Judah's rulers denounced by Isaiah, Habakkuk, and Jeremiah, calls on the God of vengeance to appear.
1149. 93.2Psalm 94:2: the judge of the earth is asked to repay the proud.
1150. 93.3Psalm 94:3-4: the psalmist asks not for the destruction of the wicked but that they lose power to do injustice.
1151. 93.5Psalm 94:5-7: the unjust rulers oppress widows, orphans, and strangers, thinking God does not see.
1152. 93.8Psalm 94:8: the foolish are urged at last to understand.
1153. 93.9Psalm 94:9: the maker of eye and ear must himself see and hear.
1154. 93.10Psalm 94:10: God, who disciplines even the nations without the law and gives men knowledge, will surely reprove his own people.
1155. 93.11Psalm 94:11: God knows the vain thoughts of those who deny his providence.
1156. 93.12Psalm 94:12: those disciplined by God and taught his law are blessed, not wretched.
1157. 93.13Psalm 94:13: discipline now spares the righteous in the judgment, while the wicked fall into the pit of eternal punishment.
1158. 93.14Psalm 94:14: God will not abandon his people and inheritance (an addition: especially the church of the nations, refashioned in baptism).
1159. 93.15Psalm 94:15: God's care for the Jews lasts until they deny Christ, the righteousness of God; the upright in heart follow him, as the apostles did.
1160. 93.16Psalm 94:16: without human help, the psalmist has God as his helper.
1161. 93.17Psalm 94:17: without God's help the psalmist would have died.
1162. 93.18Psalm 94:18: when the psalmist confessed his weakness, God's mercy held him up.
1163. 93.19Psalm 94:19: God's comfort matches the psalmist's pains, as Paul also says.
1164. 93.20Psalm 94:20: God has no fellowship with unjust judges who decree against his law.
1165. 93.21Psalm 94:21: the unjust judges plot against the righteous and condemn the innocent.
1166. 93.22Psalm 94:22: God became the psalmist's refuge.
1167. 93.23Psalm 94:23: the wicked will reap the fruit of their wickedness; the lesson is for all people.
1168. 94.1Psalm 95, title and verse 1: the psalm foresees Josiah's reform and his call to the people to repent; it opens with a shout of victory over idolatry.
1169. 94.2Psalm 95:2: the people are urged to repent and praise God before judgment falls.
1170. 94.3Psalm 95:3: the Lord is the true God and great king, exposing the false gods.
1171. 94.4Psalm 95:4-5: God made and holds all things, even the mountain heights where the demons' shrines stood.
1172. 94.6Psalm 95:6: the people are called to worship and weep before their maker, as Josiah and the people wept at the reading of the law.
1173. 94.7Psalm 95:7: God is his people's shepherd; an addition recalls Christ the good shepherd.
1174. 94.8Psalm 95:8-10: the people are warned not to harden their hearts, a free choice, as their fathers did in the desert and were kept out of the land forty years.
1175. 94.11Psalm 95:11: the rest God swore the disobedient would not enter is the promised land, where the tabernacle came to rest.
1176. 95.2Psalm 96, title and verses 1-2: the added title about the rebuilt temple fits only the surface; the psalm calls the whole world to a new song for Christ's two comings and the salvation of the nations.
1177. 95.3Psalm 96:3: God's glory is to be proclaimed to every nation.
1178. 95.4Psalm 96:4: the Lord's greatness exposed the false gods.
1179. 95.5Psalm 96:5: the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens; additions recall the crucified Lord of glory and the cosmic signs at his passion.
1180. 95.6Psalm 96:6: the sanctuary is the human nature Christ assumed, through which his majesty shines and draws all to worship.
1181. 95.7Psalm 96:7-9: the nations are called to bring the rational sacrifices of the new covenant in the churches, as Malachi foretold, and to travail and bring forth piety.
1182. 95.10Psalm 96:10: the nations are to proclaim the eternal kingship of God, made manifest when the world was turned from error; he will judge with justice.
1183. 95.11Psalm 96:11: heaven and earth rejoice at the conversion of mankind, as angels rejoice over a repentant sinner; the roaring sea pictures the stir of the gospel.
1184. 95.12Psalm 96:12: the rejoicing fields and trees are a personification for the people in them; the trees recall the saving wood of the cross.
1185. 95.13Psalm 96:13: the Lord's two comings: the first brought knowledge of God, the second will bring just judgment.
1186. 96.1Psalm 97, title and verse 1: the added title is not prophetic; the psalm foretells Christ's two comings, and "the Lord has reigned" means his eternal kingship made known.
1187. 96.2Psalm 97:2: cloud and darkness show God's invisible nature, as at Sinai, while his righteousness shows his power at work.
1188. 96.3Psalm 97:3: the fire before God belongs to his second coming in judgment, as Daniel saw.
1189. 96.4Psalm 97:4: God's fire lights the saints and burns the wicked; Christ's coming will be like lightning, and the earth will tremble at the judgment.
1190. 96.5Psalm 97:5: the mountains melting are the powerful, who will fear the judgment most because they must give the greatest account.
1191. 96.6Psalm 97:6: the heavens, meaning the angels, proclaimed God's righteousness at Christ's birth and will do so again at his second coming.
1192. 96.7Psalm 97:7: idol-worshipers are shamed while the angels worship God, a verse Hebrews applies to Christ.
1193. 96.8Psalm 97:8: Zion is the one church and the daughters of Judea are the many local churches founded by the Jewish apostles, rejoicing at God's judgments.
1194. 96.9Psalm 97:9: all rejoice at knowing the true God, exalted over the false gods; faith must be joined by good works.
1195. 96.10Psalm 97:10: those who love God must hate evil, and God will guard them.
1196. 96.11Psalm 97:11: Christ, the Sun of righteousness, shines on all, but only the upright accept his light.
1197. 96.12Psalm 97:12: the righteous are to rejoice and give thanks to God.
1198. 97.1Psalm 98, title and verse 1: the new song celebrates Christ's coming; God saved "for himself," counting human salvation his own gain.
1199. 97.2Psalm 98:2: God made his salvation and righteousness known to the nations.
1200. 97.3Psalm 98:3: God kept his promises to Israel by sending Christ from their seed, but made him a light to the nations, who received salvation by faith.
1201. 97.4Psalm 98:4: freed from the devil, the church shouts God's victory hymn, especially at the time of the mysteries.
1202. 97.5Psalm 98:5: the church praises God with the living lyre of the body, mind, and tongue, which pleases him more than lifeless instruments.
1203. 97.6Psalm 98:6: the trumpets are a figure for teaching; as the Jews' lamb gave way to the Lamb of God, their trumpets give way to the living trumpets, the apostles, prophets, and teachers.
1204. 97.7Psalm 98:7: the roaring sea is fulfilled in the crowds singing in the churches of the great cities, and the shaking in mankind's conversion.
1205. 97.8Psalm 98:8-9: the teachers clap like rivers and the lofty-minded rejoice like mountains at Christ's coming; his first coming brought mercy, his second will bring just judgment.
1206. 98.1Psalm 99:1: the psalm foretells the return from Babylon, Christ's appearing, and Jewish unbelief; God's 'sitting' on the cherubim is a figure, since his nature is bodiless.
1207. 98.2Psalm 99:2: God's greatness was shown in the rebuilt temple, and above all when the crucified one was proclaimed Master of the world by the apostles.
1208. 98.3Psalm 99:3: all should praise God's name and his benefits rather than pry into his ineffable nature.
1209. 98.4Psalm 99:4: God rules as a just king, freeing Israel from its captors and the nations from the devil, and fulfilling his promise to Abraham's seed.
1210. 98.5Psalm 99:5: God's footstool, once the Jerusalem temple, is now the churches throughout the world.
1211. 98.6Psalm 99:6–7: Moses, Aaron, and Samuel are named because the people rebelled against them as later against the Savior; God heard these men because they kept his law.
1212. 98.8Psalm 99:8: God, who favored Moses and Samuel, punished those who rebelled against them: Korah's company by fire and the earth, and Israel under Saul.
1213. 98.9Psalm 99:9: the holy mountain, once Zion, is now the height of the knowledge of God, as Isaiah, Micah, and Hebrews show.
1214. 99.1Psalm 100 title: the prophet calls all people to praise God the Savior.
1215. 99.2Psalm 100:1–2: all people are called to serve God gladly, since his rule, unlike the devil's tyranny, is gentle.
1216. 99.3Psalm 100:3: Christ the Master is the God of all and our maker, as Paul taught at Athens; we are his people and the sheep he cares for.
1217. 99.4Psalm 100:4–5: the gates and courts are the churches, where God is thanked for fulfilling his promises of salvation through the cross.
1218. 100.1Psalm 101:1: David foresaw King Josiah's reform and just rule and wrote this psalm as a pattern of perfection.
1219. 100.2Psalm 101:2: Josiah longed for God's presence and lived the same blameless life at home as in public.
1220. 100.3Psalm 101:3: Josiah rejected not only lawless deeds but lawless thoughts, and turned from those who despised God's laws.
1221. 100.4Psalm 101:4: Josiah kept company with the just and did not miss the wicked who left him.
1222. 100.5Psalm 101:5: Josiah refused secret slanderers and would not eat with the proud and greedy.
1223. 100.6Psalm 101:6: Josiah chose faithful counselors and virtuous servants.
1224. 100.7Psalm 101:7: Josiah kept the proud from his house and refused unjust counsel and slander.
1225. 100.8Psalm 101:8: Josiah put the idolatrous priests to death and purified Jerusalem; readers are urged to imitate him.
1226. 101.1Psalm 102 title: the psalm foretells the Babylonian exile and return and the calling of the nations, and fits anyone in distress who seeks God's help.
1227. 101.2Psalm 102:1: the psalmist begs God to hear his plea.
1228. 101.3Psalm 102:2: the prayer is a prophecy, since in David's time the people were prospering; the prophet prays in the person of the future exiles.
1229. 101.4Psalm 102:3: in the prophetic manner, future sufferings are told as past: life consumed like smoke, the body burned dry by grief.
1230. 101.5Psalm 102:4–5: the exile's grief wasted his body; an added passage reads the forgotten bread as the word of God, without which the soul withers.
1231. 101.7Psalm 102:6–7: the comparisons with solitary birds express the exile's fear and desolation.
1232. 101.9Psalm 102:8: the once-admired people became a byword used in oaths.
1233. 101.10Psalm 102:9–10: the exile's grief pervades even his meals, because God, who had exalted the people, has cast them down.
1234. 101.12Psalm 102:11: the sufferer's life is fading like an evening shadow and drying like grass ready for reaping.
1235. 101.13Psalm 102:12: unlike frail humanity, the eternal God can easily change the people's misfortune.
1236. 101.14Psalm 102:13–14: the time of mercy is the end of the seventy years of exile, as Daniel reckoned; the exiles love even Zion's ruins.
1237. 101.16Psalm 102:15: the nations' fear of God was truly fulfilled not after the return, when the neighbors made war, but after the incarnation, and will be completed when every knee bows to Christ.
1238. 101.17Psalm 102:16: the rebuilding of Zion shows God's glory to those who took the exile for divine weakness.
1239. 101.18Psalm 102:17: God heard the captives' prayer and freed them.
1240. 101.19Psalm 102:18: the 'people being created' are the Gentiles who become a new creation in Christ and praise God, as Psalm 22 also foretells.
1241. 101.20Psalm 102:19–21: God, who oversees all, heard the captives and decreed their return to rebuild Jerusalem and worship there.
1242. 101.23Psalm 102:22–24: after the return, amid the nations' wonder, the people will ask the eternal God for long life.
1243. 101.26Psalm 102:25–26: the unchanging Creator will renew the aging creation and make it incorruptible, as Paul teaches.
1244. 101.28Psalm 102:27: Hebrews applies these words to the Son; since Father and Son act alike, they share one nature and the Trinity has one operation.
1245. 101.29Psalm 102:28: the enduring seed is Christ, whose flesh, united to God the Word, is indestructible and gives life to believers.
1246. 102.1Psalm 103:1: though it may continue the previous psalm's theme of return, the psalm fits all who are freed from sin's slavery; the soul and all its thoughts should bless God.
1247. 102.2Psalm 103:2: the soul must shake off forgetfulness and remember God's benefits.
1248. 102.3Psalm 103:3: God forgives sins and heals, as Christ did for the paralytic, the sinful woman, the thief, and the tax collectors.
1249. 102.4Psalm 103:4: God redeems us from corruption by the hope of resurrection and crowns us by grace, not merit, as Paul and Isaiah teach; the bride brings only faith.
1250. 102.5Psalm 103:5: God fulfills good desires, and renews us like the eagle through baptism, restoring the royal image that sin had dimmed.
1251. 102.6Psalm 103:6: God saved us by mercy through baptism, and judged the devil who had wronged us.
1252. 102.7Psalm 103:7: God planned salvation from the start; the sea, the rock, and the manna in Moses' time foreshadowed baptism, the living water, and the heavenly food.
1253. 102.8Psalm 103:8: God's boundless goodness and mercy are the cause of these benefits.
1254. 102.9Psalm 103:9–10: God did not punish in proportion to our sins nor stay angry long.
1255. 102.11Psalm 103:11–12: the psalmist uses the greatest distances humans know to express the infinity of God's mercy.
1256. 102.13Psalm 103:13: God shows his servants a father's tender love.
1257. 102.14Psalm 103:14: the Creator knows our frailty and our origin in dust.
1258. 102.15Psalm 103:15: human life is as brief as grass and flowers.
1259. 102.16Psalm 103:16–19: after death the body decays beyond recognition, but God's mercy lasts for generations to those who keep his covenant, as with Jehu and David's line; his throne is in heaven, yet he rules all.
1260. 102.20Psalm 103:20: the angels, free from passions, are called to join the praise that human nature cannot give worthily.
1261. 102.21Psalm 103:21: the many heavenly ranks are summed up as angels, who carry God's commands, and powers, who are able to fulfill them.
1262. 102.22Psalm 103:22: praise 'in every place' belongs to Christians, not to the exiles who could not sing the Lord's song abroad, since Christ taught worship in spirit and truth everywhere.
1263. 103.1Psalm 104:1: the Spirit teaches how to praise the Creator; God is not 'magnified' by growth but is great by nature, shown to the pious as far as they can grasp.
1264. 103.2Psalm 104:2: God's light, like the darkness around him, expresses his invisibility; he stretched out the heavens as easily as a tent.
1265. 103.3Psalm 104:3: the waters above the firmament, and God riding on clouds and winds, show his providence and presence everywhere; Scripture often shows God appearing in a cloud.
1266. 103.4Psalm 104:4: God created the invisible angels too; 'spirits' and 'fire' express their swiftness and power, including their role in punishment.
1267. 103.5Psalm 104:5: God settled the earth upon itself and keeps it unmoved as long as he wills.
1268. 103.6Psalm 104:6–8: the sea surrounds the earth like a garment, but by God's providence its mountain-high waves fear their appointed limit.
1269. 103.9Psalm 104:9: the sea is held back at the sand by God's boundary as by a bridle.
1270. 103.10Psalm 104:10: God sends springs through the mountain valleys.
1271. 103.11Psalm 104:11–12: the springs provide for animals and birds as well as people, a great proof of providence.
1272. 103.13Psalm 104:13: God waters the earth from above by the clouds as well as from springs below.
1273. 103.14Psalm 104:14: God feeds the cattle and ripens the crops, all for the sake of human beings.
1274. 103.15Psalm 104:15: God sends rain so that bread may nourish, wine gladden, and oil both feed and brighten human beings.
1275. 103.16Psalm 104:16: the uncultivated trees too are 'the Lord's,' planted by his word, and serve human needs.
1276. 103.17Psalm 104:17: the same trees give timber to people and nesting places to birds.
1277. 103.18Psalm 104:18: providence gives even small animals their shelters.
1278. 103.19Psalm 104:19: the moon marks the months, and the sun, though not alive or rational, keeps its appointed course.
1279. 103.20Psalm 104:20–21: night gives rest to people and feeding time to wild beasts, which God also provides for.
1280. 103.22Psalm 104:22–25: day and night are ordered for beasts and people; all God's works are full of wisdom, and in the sea small creatures live alongside great ones.
1281. 103.26Psalm 104:26: ships allow the exchange of goods; the dragon is the great sea monster, though an allegorical reading of it as the devil, as in Isaiah and Job, is also allowed.
1282. 103.27Psalm 104:27: all creatures, even unknowing, receive their food from the Creator.
1283. 103.28Psalm 104:28: God gives good things as easily as one opens a hand.
1284. 103.29Psalm 104:29: when God turns away, creatures are troubled, and at his will the soul leaves the body, which returns to dust.
1285. 103.30Psalm 104:30: the sending of the Spirit foretells the resurrection, foreshadowed when Elijah and Elisha raised children by breathing on them.
1286. 103.31Psalm 104:31: God will rejoice when people, freed from error, come to know him, not because he is worshiped but because they are saved.
1287. 103.32Psalm 104:32: God, who could shake the earth and set the mountains smoking, as at Sinai, needs nothing from worship but wishes to save.
1288. 103.33Psalm 104:33: praise must be given in this life, for after death it is too late, as the foolish virgins found.
1289. 103.34Psalm 104:34: the psalmist prays that his hymn may please God and expects to rejoice in him.
1290. 103.35Psalm 104:35: the prayer that sinners vanish asks chiefly for their conversion, though it can also be read as a curse like Paul's anathema.
1291. 104.1Psalm 105:1: the psalm recalls God's promises to the patriarchs and his benefits to Israel, so that all may learn from Israel's ingratitude and its punishment; God's works are to be told among the nations.
1292. 104.2Psalm 105:2: praise God and tell others of his wonders.
1293. 104.3Psalm 105:3: one should boast not in wealth or strength but in God, as Paul and Hannah teach.
1294. 104.4Psalm 105:4: God's help must be sought throughout life, as Christ promised to those who ask and seek.
1295. 104.5Psalm 105:5: the 'judgments' are God's just wonders in Egypt, whose justice the psalm teaches beforehand.
1296. 104.6Psalm 105:6: Israel, Abraham's seed and Jacob's sons, was chosen as God's people.
1297. 104.7Psalm 105:7: the Lord of the whole earth made Israel his own people.
1298. 104.8Psalm 105:8: the covenant with Abraham lasts for ever because his seed is Christ, whose kingdom is eternal; 'a thousand generations' means for ever.
1299. 104.9Psalm 105:9–10: God's oath to Abraham, renewed to Isaac and Jacob, was fulfilled through Moses, Joshua, and finally Christ.
1300. 104.11Psalm 105:11: God promised Canaan to the patriarchs as their measured inheritance.
1301. 104.12Psalm 105:12: God's promise to a few sojourners showed his power.
1302. 104.13Psalm 105:13: the patriarchs lived as wanderers.
1303. 104.14Psalm 105:14: God protected the patriarchs and rebuked kings for them.
1304. 104.15Psalm 105:15: God protected the patriarchs from Pharaoh, Abimelech, and Laban; they are 'anointed' as chosen, and Abraham is called a prophet.
1305. 104.16Psalm 105:16: God sent the famine to correct a lawless age, while caring for his servants.
1306. 104.17Psalm 105:17: God did not cause the brothers' sin in selling Joseph but used it to make him ruler and to bring Israel into Egypt, where his wonders would make him known.
1307. 104.18Psalm 105:18: after the false charge of adultery Joseph was imprisoned in chains and in danger of death.
1308. 104.19Psalm 105:19: Joseph was tested like gold, not for God's knowledge but as an example for others.
1309. 104.20Psalm 105:20–21: Pharaoh freed Joseph and made him ruler of his house.
1310. 104.22Psalm 105:22: Joseph used his authority to lead the Egyptians to the knowledge of God by word and example.
1311. 104.23Psalm 105:23: Egypt is called the land of Ham after Ham's son Mizraim; Jacob received the name Israel from God.
1312. 104.24Psalm 105:24: Israel multiplied in Egypt despite oppression.
1313. 104.25Psalm 105:25: God did not cause the Egyptians' hatred but permitted their free choice, and preserved Israel through their plots.
1314. 104.26Psalm 105:26–27: God sent Moses and Aaron with power to work wonders for Israel's freedom.
1315. 104.28Psalm 105:28: Moses and Aaron obeyed and brought on Egypt three days of darkness that could be felt.
1316. 104.29Psalm 105:29: the water turned to blood killed all the fish.
1317. 104.30Psalm 105:30: the plagues of blood and frogs came from the river in which the Hebrew infants had been drowned.
1318. 104.31Psalm 105:31: the flies and gnats came at God's word and struck only Egypt.
1319. 104.32Psalm 105:32–33: in the hail, fire and water worked together against the Egyptians, punishing their cruel enslavement of fellow human beings.
1320. 104.34Psalm 105:34–35: after the hail ruined the trees, the locusts devoured all the crops and grass.
1321. 104.36Psalm 105:36: the death of the firstborn, the last plague, struck what the hardened Egyptians loved most and made them urge Israel to leave.
1322. 104.37Psalm 105:37: Israel's taking of Egyptian gold and silver was a just wage for their slavery; none of them was struck by the plagues.
1323. 104.38Psalm 105:38–39: the terrified Egyptians were glad to see Israel go; the cloud shaded Israel by day and became fire by night.
1324. 104.40Psalm 105:40: God gave the quail and the manna from heaven.
1325. 104.41Psalm 105:41: God quenched Israel's thirst with water from the rock.
1326. 104.42Psalm 105:42–43: all this fulfilled God's promises to Abraham.
1327. 104.44Psalm 105:44: God justly gave Israel the Canaanites' land, waiting four hundred years until the Amorites' sins were complete rather than punishing on foreknowledge.
1328. 104.45Psalm 105:45: God gave Israel the land so that they might keep his law.
1329. 105.1Psalm 106:1: the psalm recalls God's benefits and Israel's ingratitude and punishments, in the voice of the pious who ask for mercy.
1330. 105.2Psalm 106:2: no words can adequately praise God.
1331. 105.3Psalm 106:3: those who know their sin call blessed the one who practices righteousness continually.
1332. 105.4Psalm 106:4: 'your people' is the new people, the Church of the nations, in whose salvation the Jews are taught to seek a share.
1333. 105.5Psalm 106:5: the speakers ask to share the joy of God's new nation.
1334. 105.6Psalm 106:6: the people inherited sin from their fathers, meaning the generations after the patriarchs.
1335. 105.7Psalm 106:7: at the Red Sea the Israelites forgot God's wonders and blamed Moses, yet God saved them.
1336. 105.8Psalm 106:8–10: God dried up the sea and led Israel through it as easily as across open desert.
1337. 105.11Psalm 106:11: the same sea saved Israel and drowned the Egyptians.
1338. 105.12Psalm 106:12: after the crossing Moses and Miriam led Israel's song of praise.
1339. 105.13Psalm 106:13–14: in the wilderness Israel quickly forgot God's works and, instead of asking, reviled his servants.
1340. 105.15Psalm 106:15: though they grumbled rather than asked, God gave them meat, manna, and water.
1341. 105.16Psalm 106:16: Korah sought the priesthood and Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses.
1342. 105.17Psalm 106:17–18: the earth swallowed Dathan and Abiram and fire burned Korah's company, but the people did not learn.
1343. 105.19Psalm 106:19: Israel made the calf at the very mountain where God had appeared in fire and given the law.
1344. 105.20Psalm 106:20: Israel exchanged the wonder-working God for the image of a grass-eating calf, a lifeless copy of an animal made to serve humans.
1345. 105.21Psalm 106:21–22: Israel forgot all of God's saving deeds in Egypt and at the sea.
1346. 105.23Psalm 106:23: Moses' intercession after the calf turned away God's wrath.
1347. 105.24Psalm 106:24–25: Israel refused to enter Canaan from fear, a plain sign of unbelief after so many wonders.
1348. 105.26Psalm 106:26–27: God wished to destroy the unbelieving people but punished them only in part.
1349. 105.28Psalm 106:28–29: Israel joined the Moabite women in worshiping Baal of Peor and was punished; 'sacrifices of the dead' are libations to the dead or to the lifeless gods.
1350. 105.30Psalm 106:30–31: Phinehas' zeal in killing Zimri and the Midianite woman stopped the plague and was counted to him as righteousness.
1351. 105.32Psalm 106:32–33: at Meribah Moses, grieving and provoked, spoke with doubt and was barred from the land; God did this so that Israel would not deify him and to show that the law was temporary.
1352. 105.34Psalm 106:34–36: Israel disobeyed God's command not to mix with the nations and learned their idolatry.
1353. 105.37Psalm 106:37–39: the height of Israel's impiety was sacrificing their children to idols; their idolatry is called fornication because they were joined to God.
1354. 105.40Psalm 106:40–42: as Judges and Kings show, God handed Israel over to its neighbors to discipline it.
1355. 105.43Psalm 106:43: God repeatedly delivered Israel, but they repaid him with disobedience.
1356. 105.44Psalm 106:44: in distress Israel prayed and God heard them.
1357. 105.45Psalm 106:45: God's 'repentance' means the ending of discipline, since he is not subject to changes of mind.
1358. 105.46Psalm 106:46: God moved Cyrus to free the captives.
1359. 105.47Psalm 106:47: the hoped-for gathering of the Jews is their future conversion to Christ, foretold by Paul and linked by Theodoret with Elijah's coming, not the restoration of Jerusalem and the law.
1360. 105.48Psalm 106:48: 'So be it, so be it' is the Hebrew 'Amen, amen,' the origin of the people's Amen to the priest's doxology in church.
1361. 106.1Psalm 107:1: following Psalms 105–106, this psalm foretells the return from captivity, but its prophecy of salvation fits Christians more than the Jews.
1362. 106.2Psalm 107:2: both the Jews freed from Babylon and Christians freed from the devil should praise God.
1363. 106.3Psalm 107:3: the gathering from every direction was fulfilled only faintly in the Jews' return, but fully in the Church gathered from all nations.
1364. 106.4Psalm 107:4: both the exiles in Babylon and the nations before Christ wandered in a spiritual desert, unable to find the way to the city of godly life.
1365. 106.5Psalm 107:5: both the exiles, without priests and worship, and the nations, without God's law, suffered a famine of divine teaching, as Amos foretold.
1366. 106.6Psalm 107:6: the pious exiles such as Daniel and his companions prayed for mercy, and God also pitied the groaning nations who did not know to ask him.
1367. 106.7Psalm 107:7: God led the Jews home through Cyrus and the nations to the heavenly city through the apostles.
1368. 106.8Psalm 107:8: those who have received God's mercy must praise him; the salvation of the world is a greater wonder than the Jews' release, and it comes by mercy through baptism.
1369. 106.9Psalm 107:9–10: God freed the starving exiles and gave all humanity the light of knowledge, the hope of resurrection, and release from the bonds of sin.
1370. 106.11Psalm 107:11–12: sin caused both the Jews' captivity and the toil laid on all humanity after Adam; only God could release them.
1371. 106.13Psalm 107:13–14: God pitied both, freeing the exiles from misfortune and the nations from ignorance.
1372. 106.15Psalm 107:15–16: the bronze gates and iron bars express inescapable bondage, which only God's mercy broke, for the exiles and for humanity under death.
1373. 106.17Psalm 107:17: both the Jews and humanity suffered justly for their sins, yet God saved them.
1374. 106.18Psalm 107:18: the exiles lost all appetite, and the nations rejected even their own philosophers, killing Socrates and others; yet God gave them the food of life.
1375. 106.19Psalm 107:19: they cried to God and were saved.
1376. 106.20Psalm 107:20: the 'word' sent is God the Word made man, sent as man though present everywhere as God, who heals sinners and renews the baptized.
1377. 106.21Psalm 107:21–22: the saved must praise God and teach others; the 'sacrifice of praise' replaces the animal sacrifices of the law.
1378. 106.23Psalm 107:23–24: the seafarers who see God's power in rescue from storms are a parable of the exiles' release and of humanity's salvation.
1379. 106.25Psalm 107:25–30: the storm calmed at God's word pictures human misfortunes that only he can end, the exiles' release, and above all Christians brought to the harbor of his will by knowledge of him.
1380. 106.31Psalm 107:31–32: in every church, with the clergy presiding, the whole people praises God, fulfilling the call to praise him among the people and the elders.
1381. 106.33Psalm 107:33–34: the land once watered by the prophets, Israel, has been made dry because of its wickedness.
1382. 106.35Psalm 107:35: the once-barren nations are now flooded with the waters of teaching.
1383. 106.36Psalm 107:36: God settled the spiritually hungry nations by the rivers of teaching.
1384. 106.37Psalm 107:37: the sowing and planting are figures for the apostles and later teachers who sowed the gospel and brought God the fruit of righteousness.
1385. 106.38Psalm 107:38: the blessing and the multiplied flocks are the growth of the Church, whose members Christ calls his sheep.
1386. 106.39Psalm 107:39: the nations who believed were blessed, while the Jews, deprived of the prophets, were scattered and Jerusalem depopulated.
1387. 106.40Psalm 107:40: the Jewish leaders are now despised; God does not cause error but leaves the disobedient to wander by their own reasoning.
1388. 106.41Psalm 107:41: the once-poor nations gained spiritual wealth, and God cares for them as his flock and kin.
1389. 106.42Psalm 107:42: the upright rejoice at God's works, while the wicked are silenced.
1390. 106.43Psalm 107:43: only the wise who ask God to open their eyes understand his merciful dispensations.
1391. 107.1Psalm 108 title: the psalm foretells the Jews' return and the nations' salvation and repeats parts of Psalms 57 and 60.
1392. 107.2Psalm 108:1: the psalmist's 'glory' is the gift of prophecy, and his heart is ready to receive God's grace.
1393. 107.3Psalm 108:2–3: the prophet is the Spirit's instrument; the 'dawn' is the incarnation, after which David's psalms are sung by all nations.
1394. 107.5Psalm 108:4: God's mercy exceeds the heavens; the 'clouds' are the prophets, apostles, and teachers through whom truth reaches people.
1395. 107.6Psalm 108:5: 'be exalted' means 'be shown to be supreme,' as Habakkuk and Psalm 8 also say.
1396. 107.7Psalm 108:6: the salvation of God's own will show his power; his 'right hand' is his good action.
1397. 107.8Psalm 108:7–8: God promises to resettle the land after the return, with Judah leading the united tribes under Zerubbabel; properly, Christ from Judah reigns over all.
1398. 107.10Psalm 108:9: God will make his people master their neighbors; the verse is explained more fully on Psalm 60.
1399. 107.11Psalm 108:10–12: the prophet longs to see Jerusalem rebuilt and Edom subdued, which God alone can bring about, since human help is vain.
1400. 107.14Psalm 108:13: only by God's providence can the enemies be overcome.
1401. 108.1Psalm 109 title: the psalm foretells Christ's passion and Judas' betrayal, as Peter shows in Acts; its curses are predictions in the form of wishes, not contrary to Christ's command to bless persecutors.
1402. 108.2Psalm 109:1–2: Christ speaks as man and calls his passion his 'praise,' as in John; the deceitful mouth is Judas.
1403. 108.3Psalm 109:2–4: the council hated Christ without cause, repaying his kindness with slander, while he prayed for them on the cross.
1404. 108.5Psalm 109:5: Christ's benefits were repaid with hatred.
1405. 108.6Psalm 109:6: the devil at Judas' right hand is fulfilled when Satan entered him after the morsel; Judas had already opened himself to him by choice.
1406. 108.7Psalm 109:7: Judas has no defense; having heard Christ and worked miracles by his authority, his prayer only adds to his guilt.
1407. 108.8Psalm 109:8: Judas died at once by hanging, and Matthias took his office.
1408. 108.9Psalm 109:9: the curse also fell on the unbelieving Jews when, a few years after the cross, their men were killed and their families enslaved.
1409. 108.10Psalm 109:10: the houses were burned and the people killed or taken captive.
1410. 108.11Psalm 109:11–12: the Roman emperors as exactors seized the Jews' property, and no one helped them.
1411. 108.13Psalm 109:13: within forty years of the cross the Jewish nation lost its self-government, its city, and its temple worship.
1412. 108.14Psalm 109:14: fathers' virtue can benefit erring children, but fathers' wickedness adds to the guilt of children like them; Theodoret applies this to the Jews and Jerusalem, citing Matt 23:35.
1413. 108.15Psalm 109:15: the change from 'his' to 'their' shows that the psalm speaks of all who disbelieved, not only Judas.
1414. 108.16Psalm 109:16: Christ is the poor and meek one persecuted to death, as Paul's and Christ's own words show.
1415. 108.18Psalm 109:17–18: here the psalm openly predicts that those who loved cursing will receive it, penetrating and lasting like water and oil.
1416. 108.19Psalm 109:19: the curse will cover and bind them like clothing and a belt.
1417. 108.20Psalm 109:20: these punishments are the harvest of those who slandered Christ as an enemy of God, and of Judas.
1418. 108.21Psalm 109:21: Christ prays humanly, having taken on all human things except sin, including a birth both natural and virginal.
1419. 108.22Psalm 109:22: Christ's troubled heart corresponds to his words before the passion in John 12.
1420. 108.23Psalm 109:23: the fading shadow is Christ's death, and the wind-blown locusts his homeless wandering.
1421. 108.24Psalm 109:24: Christ lived austerely, as the barley loaves and the plucked grain show.
1422. 108.25Psalm 109:25: fulfilled when the onlookers wagged their heads at Christ on the cross.
1423. 108.26Psalm 109:26–27: Christ went to the cross willingly, by God's plan, to free humanity from passion.
1424. 108.28Psalm 109:28: the Jews' curses have only spread the gospel; 'your servant' is Christ in his assumed human nature, a term of nature, not of rank.
1425. 108.29Psalm 109:29: Christ's opponents remain clothed in shame.
1426. 108.30Psalm 109:30: as head of the Church, Christ calls its praise his own.
1427. 108.31Psalm 109:31: the divine nature, inseparably united to the human, stood by it yet let it suffer for the world's salvation, then made it immortal and glorified it.
1428. 109.1Psalm 110:1: as Christ and Peter show, David calls his descendant 'Lord,' proving Christ's divinity and shared substance with the Father; he sits at the right hand as man, having eternal power as God; 'until' does not set a limit to his reign.
1429. 109.2Psalm 110:2: the rod of power is the cross, planted in Zion; the apostles, though besieged, conquered and brought their opponents to Christ.
1430. 109.3Psalm 110:3: Christ's power will be shown at his second coming when the saints shine; 'from the womb before the morning star' teaches his eternal begetting and consubstantiality with the Father.
1431. 109.4Psalm 110:4: Christ's priesthood, confirmed by oath, is eternal; like Melchizedek's, it is for all nations and uses bread and wine; it began at the Last Supper, replaces the Levitical priesthood, and is exercised through the Church, which offers the symbols of his body and blood.
1432. 109.5Psalm 110:5: Christ will judge resisting rulers; the psalm alternates sayings fitting his humanity and his divinity, and 'the Lord at your right hand' signifies the divinity inseparably united to his humanity.
1433. 109.6Psalm 110:6: Christ will punish the ungodly at the judgment, and disciplines them even in this life.
1434. 109.7Psalm 110:7: literally Christ's simple life; more deeply, drinking from the winter brook is his suffering at the hands of the Jews, whose grace was temporary; his exaltation, as in Philippians, belongs to him as man.
1435. 110.1Psalm 111:1: the psalm is Jehoshaphat's hymn after God destroyed the invading Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites (2 Chr 20); 'Alleluia' means 'Praise the Lord.'
1436. 110.2Psalm 111:2: all God's works are great and full of wisdom.
1437. 110.3Psalm 111:3: all God's works, in creation and redemption, deserve praise, and all are just.
1438. 110.4Psalm 111:4–5: Jehoshaphat's victory recalled and confirmed God's earlier wonders; the 'food' or 'prey' is the enemy's spoil, given because God remembers his covenant.
1439. 110.6Psalm 111:6–7: God justly gave Judah the wealth of enemies who had attacked without cause.
1440. 110.8Psalm 111:7–8: God's promises to those who keep his commandments are reliable, as Judah's victory proved.
1441. 110.9Psalm 111:9: God's covenant promises are lasting; his name is holy to believers and fearful to the lawless.
1442. 110.10Psalm 111:10: fear of God is the first step, love the mark of the perfect; knowledge must be joined to action; the psalm is alphabetic in Hebrew.
1443. 111.1Psalm 112:1: the one who fears God delights to fulfill his commandments.
1444. 111.2Psalm 112:2: God promised mighty descendants to the godly and gave them for the sake of Abraham, David, and Israel.
1445. 111.3Psalm 112:3: promises of wealth suit the imperfect; Christ teaches the perfect to renounce possessions, yet God still gives such gifts, as to Solomon.
1446. 111.4Psalm 112:4: God allows trials for training but brings light to the righteous, as with Joseph, Abraham, and Jacob.
1447. 111.5Psalm 112:5–6: the good man imitates God by pity and lending, expecting repayment from God, and acts with judgment and firmness.
1448. 111.7Psalm 112:6–7: the righteous man is remembered for ever and, hoping firmly in God, fears no bad news.
1449. 111.8Psalm 112:8–9: the godly man fears no enemy and gives generously like a sower expecting harvest; his strength and honor will be raised.
1450. 111.10Psalm 112:10: the wicked will envy the righteous, but their schemes will fail.
1451. 112.1Psalm 113:1–2: the paides called to praise are servants, as the Hebrew and the other translators show; creatures should praise God's name even without knowing his nature.
1452. 112.3Psalm 113:3: praise from east to west was fulfilled when, after the incarnation, the gospel reached all nations, as Malachi foretold the pure sacrifice among them.
1453. 112.4Psalm 113:4: all nations have learned that God is supreme and praised by the angels.
1454. 112.5Psalm 113:5–6: Scripture repeatedly teaches that God is beyond compare; though enthroned on high, he cares for all things.
1455. 112.7Psalm 113:7–8: as Hannah sang, God raises the lowly, as with David, Joseph, Moses, the nations, and human nature exalted in Christ above every power.
1456. 112.9Psalm 113:9: God gave children to barren women from Sarah to Elizabeth, and above all made the once-barren Church a mother of countless children.
1457. 113.1Psalm 114:1–2: this hymn on the exodus mocks the idols and suits Gentile converts; God freed Israel and made Judea his sanctuary.
1458. 113.3Psalm 114:3–4: the sea, the Jordan, and the mountains are personified as responding in awe to God at the exodus, the crossing of the Jordan, and Sinai.
1459. 113.5Psalm 114:5–6: the psalmist questions the sea and mountains and answers for them.
1460. 113.7Psalm 114:7–8: all these wonders, including water from the rock, happened at the presence and command of the Creator.
1461. 113.9Psalm 115:1–2: Israel prays that God act for his own name's sake, lest the nations take their captivity for God's weakness.
1462. 113.11Psalm 115:3: God is in heaven and does whatever he wills, unlike the idols.
1463. 113.12Psalm 115:4: idols are made, not makers, owing their value to metal and their form to craftsmen.
1464. 113.13Psalm 115:5–7: idols have the shapes of senses but no sensation, and so are lower than gnats and flies.
1465. 113.16Psalm 115:7: idols cannot speak; the demons behind them spoke their oracles through human beings or signs.
1466. 113.17Psalm 115:8: idol-makers and worshipers deserve to become as senseless as their idols.
1467. 113.18Psalm 115:9–10: Israel and the priests of Aaron's house, who trust in the true God, enjoy his protection; the priests are named separately in honor.
1468. 113.20Psalm 115:11–13: 'those who fear the Lord' are a third group beside Israel and the priests, such as proselytes and now the believing nations, Abraham's children by faith; God blesses all of them, small and great.
1469. 113.23Psalm 115:14: a prayer for the increase of those who hope in God.
1470. 113.24Psalm 115:15: those blessed by the Creator will surely receive the blessing.
1471. 113.25Psalm 115:16: God dwells, without being contained, in the heaven above the visible heaven among the angels, and gave the earth to all humanity, whom he cares for.
1472. 113.26Psalm 115:17–18: the 'dead' are idol-worshipers and the 'living' worshipers of the living God, who must praise him while they live.
1473. 114.1Psalm 116:1–2: the psalm foretells the faithful Jews' courageous resistance to Antiochus Epiphanes and God's help to them.
1474. 114.3Psalm 116:3–4: the Maccabean faithful, brought near death and fleeing to the desert, sought God's help with tears and were heard.
1475. 114.5Psalm 116:5: mercy is named twice and justice once, because God's love outweighs his justice.
1476. 114.6Psalm 116:6: God cares even for unborn and newborn infants, beginning his benefits before any merit; much more does he save those who call on him.
1477. 114.7Psalm 116:7: the faithful encourage themselves that death for piety leads to the 'rest' of a painless life.
1478. 114.8Psalm 116:8–9: 'the land of the living' is the life to come, free of pain and sin, which encourages the faithful to despise death.
1479. 115.1Psalm 116:10–11: the Hebrew joins this to the previous psalm; faith reveals the land of the living, and 'every man is a liar' means human prosperity is fleeting, as Psalm 39 and Ecclesiastes say.
1480. 115.3Psalm 116:12: amid life's changes God gives his help and comfort, as Paul and Psalm 94 say, so that the psalmist does not know how to repay him.
1481. 115.4Psalm 116:13: the 'cup of salvation' is death for piety, as Christ calls his passion a cup; the Maccabean martyrs offer it as their return to God.
1482. 115.5Psalm 116:14–15: the death of God's saints is precious to God and should be venerated by all.
1483. 115.7Psalm 116:16: whether by martyrdom or victory, the faithful will glory in being God's servants by inheritance, the greatest honor.
1484. 115.8Psalm 116:17–19: the faithful will offer the sacrifice of praise, preferred even under the law to animal sacrifice; both psalms fit the Maccabean and the Christian martyrs. The section ends with the opening comment on the next psalm.
1485. 116.1Psalm 117:1: 'all nations' are the Gentiles evangelized by the apostles, from India to Spain; 'all peoples' are the dispersed Jews, many of whom also believed.
1486. 116.2Psalm 117:2: salvation is by God's mercy alone, as Paul repeatedly teaches, and fulfills his promises through the prophets, so that Jewish and Gentile believers praise him together.
1487. 117.1Psalm 118:1: the hymn of the returned Jews after their enemies were destroyed fits still better the Gentile Christians who triumphed over persecution.
1488. 117.2Psalm 118:2–3: Israel and the priests are called separately to praise God.
1489. 117.4Psalm 118:4: Israelites, priests, and Gentile converts alike are called to praise the one God of all.
1490. 117.5Psalm 118:5: God allowed the dangers but quickly relieved them, as Psalm 4 also says.
1491. 117.6Psalm 118:6–7: with God as helper, the psalmist fears no enemy.
1492. 117.8Psalm 118:8–9: God is good and able, while humans and rulers are changeable, weak, and short-lived, so God's help is to be preferred.
1493. 117.10Psalm 118:10: 'all the nations' is an exaggeration for Jerusalem's enemies but literally true of the Church persecuted in every nation; both conquered by trusting God.
1494. 117.11Psalm 118:11: repeated attacks were repelled by calling on God's name.
1495. 117.12Psalm 118:12: the enemies tried to rob the faithful of piety and expected an easy victory, but were defeated by trust in God.
1496. 117.13Psalm 118:13: both the Jews and the Christians would have fallen without God's support.
1497. 117.14Psalm 118:14: God is the source of strength, victory, and praise.
1498. 117.15Psalm 118:15–17: the victors credit God's 'right hand,' not their own strength, and vow to make his works known.
1499. 117.18Psalm 118:18: God disciplined his people like a father but did not let them perish.
1500. 117.19Psalm 118:19: the gates of righteousness are the forms of virtue, through which God is rightly praised.
1501. 117.20Psalm 118:20: the gate is virtue and the commandments, and Christ, who called himself the door.
1502. 117.21Psalm 118:21: thanks to God who heard and saved.
1503. 117.22Psalm 118:22: the rejected stone is Christ, who joined Jewish and Gentile believers into one Church as a cornerstone joins two walls; Isaiah, Paul, and Daniel's stone cut without hands point to him.
1504. 117.23Psalm 118:23: God is the author of this grace.
1505. 117.24Psalm 118:24: the day the Lord made is the day of the resurrection, the first day of the week, on which God also created light.
1506. 117.25Psalm 118:25: a prayer for continued salvation and an easy way to God.
1507. 117.26Psalm 118:26: the children's acclamation and 'Hosanna' fulfill this verse; Christ came in the Father's name; the 'house of the Lord' is his humanity, the temple of God the Word.
1508. 117.27Psalm 118:27: Christ is called God and Lord; the crowded festival celebrates salvation.
1509. 117.28Psalm 118:28–29: the victors praise God and call others to do so; knowing that the Savior would come from them strengthened the besieged Jews.
1510. 118.1Psalm 119:1: David gathered prayers from all the changes of his life into this psalm, which teaches virtue and doctrine and suits every condition; the blameless walk the royal road of the law through life.
1511. 118.2Psalm 119:2–3: Theodoret recalls the distinction of law, commandments, ordinances, judgments, and testimonies; blessed are those who seek God wholeheartedly, unlike the lawless who make their own road.
1512. 118.4Psalm 119:4: all Scripture commands that God's commandments be kept with all care.
1513. 118.5Psalm 119:5: the psalmist asks that his life be ruled straight by God's law.
1514. 118.6Psalm 119:6–7: keeping God's commandments frees one from shame, and pure praise follows learning and living by his judgments.
1515. 118.8Psalm 119:8: God sometimes withdraws briefly for our benefit, as with Elijah, Peter, and David, but total abandonment ruined Judas and Saul; so the psalmist prays not to be forsaken utterly.
1516. 118.9Psalm 119:9–10: the divine word bridles and guides unstable youth; the lover of God seeks him with an undivided heart.
1517. 118.11Psalm 119:11: virtue, like treasure, should be hidden from vainglory, and the divine words should not be thrown to the unworthy.
1518. 118.12Psalm 119:12: because God is good, the psalmist asks to learn his ordinances.
1519. 118.13Psalm 119:13: what he learns from God he will teach others.
1520. 118.14Psalm 119:14: the hard road of virtue is delightful to the perfect, more desirable than every kind of wealth.
1521. 118.15Psalm 119:15: continual meditation on God's commandments.
1522. 118.16Psalm 119:16: the psalmist will never forget God's words.
1523. 118.17Psalm 119:17: only one with a clear conscience can ask God for recompense; God's help gives life and escape from sin.
1524. 118.18Psalm 119:18: only those enlightened from above see the wonders of Scripture; as Paul says, the veil is removed by turning to the Lord.
1525. 118.19Psalm 119:19: we are only sojourners on earth, and the one who knows it prays to know God's commands.
1526. 118.20Psalm 119:20: the psalmist longs for God's judgments constantly, not intermittently.
1527. 118.21Psalm 119:21: the proud who despise God's laws are punished, as Absalom, Saul, Pharaoh, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar were; the law itself curses transgressors.
1528. 118.22Psalm 119:22: David asks God to remove the undeserved reproaches of Nabal and the Philistines, which came before his sin, unlike Shimei's.
1529. 118.23Psalm 119:23: while powerful men reviled David, he meditated on God's ordinances.
1530. 118.24Psalm 119:24: God's precepts are the psalmist's only counselors.
1531. 118.25Psalm 119:25: in deep humiliation the psalmist asks for a life lived according to God's law.
1532. 118.26Psalm 119:26: having laid all his ways open to God, the psalmist asks to be taught.
1533. 118.27Psalm 119:27: divine understanding is needed so that virtue is practiced for its own sake, not for praise.
1534. 118.28Psalm 119:28: constant temptation produces spiritual listlessness (akedia), which leads to the 'sleep' and 'death' of sin; the psalmist asks for strength.
1535. 118.29Psalm 119:29–30: we need God's help to turn from unrighteousness and choose truth.
1536. 118.31Psalm 119:31: 'cleaved' expresses unbroken attachment to God's testimonies.
1537. 118.32Psalm 119:32: virtue requires both human eagerness and divine help; God's 'enlarging' is the ease he gives.
1538. 118.33Psalm 119:33: the psalmist needs God's continual guidance to know and walk his way.
1539. 118.34Psalm 119:34: searching the Scriptures, as Christ commanded, requires light from God.
1540. 118.35Psalm 119:35: the psalmist shows his desire for the path he asks God to guide him on.
1541. 118.36Psalm 119:36: since the devil opened the way to sin, human nature runs downhill like water, so the psalmist asks God to incline his heart toward his testimonies.
1542. 118.37Psalm 119:37: the pleasures of life are vanity, as Ecclesiastes shows; the psalmist asks to look away from them and live by God's laws.
1543. 118.38Psalm 119:38: the fear of God keeps the psalmist firm in his words.
1544. 118.39Psalm 119:39: the reproach is that of David's sin; he appeals not to his own obedience but to God's good judgments, which promise salvation to the penitent.
1545. 118.40Psalm 119:40: the psalmist longs for a righteous life.
1546. 118.41Psalm 119:41–42: even the most virtuous need God's mercy; his promised salvation will let the psalmist answer his mockers.
1547. 118.43Psalm 119:43: we should love truth and ask God for it.
1548. 118.44Psalm 119:44: 'for ever and ever' refers to the life to come, where God's laws will be kept perfectly.
1549. 118.45Psalm 119:45–46: a lawful life gives boldness before kings, as with David before Saul (but not after his sin), Elijah, Daniel, Paul, and the martyrs.
1550. 118.47Psalm 119:47–49: the psalmist joins action to meditation, since God's kingdom is in deeds and doers of the law are justified; he asks God to remember his promises.
1551. 118.50Psalm 119:50: hope in God's word comforted the psalmist in misfortune.
1552. 118.51Psalm 119:51: the proud are Saul, Absalom, and the Ammonite king who abused David's envoys; the martyrs can say the same of their persecutors.
1553. 118.52Psalm 119:52: recalling how God tested and then glorified Abel, the patriarchs, Job, and Moses gave the psalmist comfort.
1554. 118.53Psalm 119:53: the psalmist grieved to see many break God's law without fear.
1555. 118.54Psalm 119:54: the psalmist's 'sojourning' is his whole earthly life, spent singing God's ordinances.
1556. 118.55Psalm 119:55–56: the saints pray at night, but 'night' here is the time of trial, when remembering God is most needed.
1557. 118.57Psalm 119:57: God is the portion of those who seek perfection, as of the Levites and as in Psalm 16.
1558. 118.58Psalm 119:58: the psalmist prays wholeheartedly and asks mercy 'according to God's word,' leaving the manner to God, who like a physician may heal through discipline, poverty, or sickness.
1559. 118.59Psalm 119:59: reading 'my ways' with the Hebrew, the psalmist examined his life and turned to God's testimonies.
1560. 118.60Psalm 119:60: preparedness kept Daniel, the three youths, the Maccabees, and the martyrs unshaken, as Christ commands watchfulness.
1561. 118.61Psalm 119:61: the 'cords' are the plots of demons and men, which did not make the psalmist forget God's law.
1562. 118.62Psalm 119:62: the psalmist praised God even at midnight, as Paul and Silas did in prison.
1563. 118.63Psalm 119:63: the psalmist chose God-fearing friends, as in Psalm 139.
1564. 118.64Psalm 119:64: God's patient mercy extends to all, even to adulterers, murderers, and blasphemers; the psalmist asks for the mercy of knowing God's ordinances.
1565. 118.65Psalm 119:65: having known God's kindness, the psalmist asks for it again.
1566. 118.66Psalm 119:66: discipline comes from God's kindness and produces knowledge, as Jeremiah's prayer and a patient seeking surgery show.
1567. 118.67Psalm 119:67: sin brought discipline, and discipline led to keeping God's law, like illness, surgery, and recovery.
1568. 118.68Psalm 119:68: trusting God's goodness, the psalmist asks to know his ordinances.
1569. 118.69Psalm 119:69: the psalmist is not provoked by the plots of the proud.
1570. 118.70Psalm 119:70: the wicked have hardened their own hearts, as Isaiah and Exodus describe, while the psalmist is softened by God's law.
1571. 118.71Psalm 119:71: the psalmist thanks God for the harsh remedy of humiliation that healed him.
1572. 118.72Psalm 119:72: though driven out by Absalom, David regained through discipline God's law, worth more than riches.
1573. 118.73Psalm 119:73: God 'fashioned' humanity with special care, though bodiless; the psalmist asks his Maker for understanding.
1574. 118.74Psalm 119:74: the godly will rejoice to see the psalmist's hope fulfilled.
1575. 118.75Psalm 119:75: the psalmist gratefully acknowledges that God's chastisement was just.
1576. 118.76Psalm 119:76: after chastisement comes the time of mercy, which God promised to the repentant through Isaiah and the prophets.
1577. 118.77Psalm 119:77: without God's favor the psalmist counts himself dead and asks to be revived.
1578. 118.78Psalm 119:78: the psalmist prays that the proud be shamed for their own salvation, not as a curse.
1579. 118.79Psalm 119:79: after his sin David asks to be restored to the fellowship of the godly who had turned from him.
1580. 118.80Psalm 119:80: a blameless heart is free of shame, as the psalm's opening blessing says.
1581. 118.81Psalm 119:81: 'fail' expresses the intense longing of those who wait for God's delayed help.
1582. 118.82Psalm 119:82: 'saying' means both God's promise and Scripture; longing for the meaning of Scripture is also a kind of 'failing,' and finding it brings comfort.
1583. 118.83Psalm 119:83: as a wineskin stiffens in frost, the body is subdued by ascetic hardship, as Paul says; David, harmed by the ease of peace, humbled his body and renewed his obedience.
1584. 118.84Psalm 119:84: life is short, as Psalm 90 says, so the psalmist asks God to judge his persecutors soon.
1585. 118.85Psalm 119:85: David rejected advice to kill his enemies; Christians must likewise reject pagan myths, Jewish unbelief, and heretical doctrines.
1586. 118.86Psalm 119:86–87: God's commandments are true; though persecutors nearly killed him, the psalmist did not abandon them.
1587. 118.88Psalm 119:88: the psalmist humbly asks for life as a gift of mercy, not a reward.
1588. 118.89Psalm 119:89–100: God's word upholds heaven and earth; meditation on his law kept Joseph, Daniel, the three youths, the martyrs, and David from perishing; only those freed from sin can call themselves God's servants; human power ends but God's commandment is eternal; true lovers keep the law from love; young David surpassed old King Saul in wisdom.
1589. 118.101Psalm 119:101: one cannot walk the roads of vice and virtue at once.
1590. 118.102Psalm 119:102: knowing God gave the law, the psalmist embraced it.
1591. 118.103Psalm 119:103: meditating aloud on God's words delights the soul more than honey delights the tongue.
1592. 118.104Psalm 119:104: understanding God's will led the psalmist to hate every evil way.
1593. 118.105Psalm 119:105: the law is a lamp that lit one nation, while Christ, the sun of righteousness, enlightens the world; John was a lamp, the apostles light from Christ's light.
1594. 118.106Psalm 119:106: the 'oath' is the soul's firm resolve.
1595. 118.107Psalm 119:107: though king, prophet, and victor, David counted all his gifts as grace and asked for a life ruled by God's law.
1596. 118.108Psalm 119:108: as some sacrifices were obligatory and others freewill, so the gospel requires temperance and justice, while virginity, continence in marriage, poverty, and monastic life are voluntary offerings beyond the law.
1597. 118.109Psalm 119:109–110: guarded by God, the psalmist kept the law despite the snares of men and demons.
1598. 118.111Psalm 119:111: God's testimonies are an eternal inheritance and joy.
1599. 118.112Psalm 119:112: the mind tips the balance of the soul toward good by pious thoughts, seeing the reward of obedience.
1600. 118.113Psalm 119:113: rejecting lawless thoughts, the psalmist loved God's law.
1601. 118.114Psalm 119:114: the psalmist's obedience depended on God's help.
1602. 118.115Psalm 119:115: the psalmist rejects evil counsel and thoughts and resolves to search out and fulfill all God's commandments.
1603. 118.116Psalm 119:116: the psalmist asks God to fulfill his promise so his hope is not shamed.
1604. 118.117Psalm 119:117: once saved, the psalmist will meditate on God's ordinances in word and deed.
1605. 118.118Psalm 119:118: seeing transgressors disgraced makes the psalmist more eager to obey.
1606. 118.119Psalm 119:119: the psalmist, like God, counts sinners as dross and so loves God's testimonies.
1607. 118.120Psalm 119:120: the psalmist asks that fear of God nail down the rebellious body, as Paul speaks of putting members to death and being crucified with Christ.
1608. 118.121Psalm 119:121–122: few can claim such a clear conscience as Paul did; the psalmist asks God to be guarantor of his promise and to spare him false accusation, as Christ teaches us to pray against temptation.
1609. 118.123Psalm 119:123: the psalmist's eyes 'fail' with longing for God's promised salvation.
1610. 118.124Psalm 119:124: though virtuous, the psalmist asks for mercy, not wages.
1611. 118.125Psalm 119:125: all are God's servants by nature, but the godly by choice; the psalmist asks for understanding.
1612. 118.126Psalm 119:126–127: God bears long with sin but at last acts; while others trample his law, the psalmist loves it more than gold and gems.
1613. 118.128Psalm 119:128–129: love of God's commandments makes one embrace the straight road; his testimonies are wonderful and inspire love.
1614. 118.130Psalm 119:130: God's word enlightens the ignorant as it enlightened the psalmist.
1615. 118.131Psalm 119:131–132: the open 'mouth' is the eager mind that draws in the Spirit's grace; the psalmist asks for the mercy God shows those who love him.
1616. 118.133Psalm 119:133: when our eagerness meets God's help, sin cannot rule.
1617. 118.134Psalm 119:134: Christ called the slandered blessed but taught us to pray against temptation, so the prayer agrees with the gospel.
1618. 118.135Psalm 119:135: Scripture speaks of God's 'face' in human terms; its shining means relief and blessing.
1619. 118.136Psalm 119:136: the psalmist weeps for the sins of others, as Paul says that all members suffer together.
1620. 118.137Psalm 119:137–138: God governs justly, gives his law with warnings and promises, and keeps his promises.
1621. 118.139Psalm 119:139: the psalmist burns with zeal for God, like Phinehas, Elijah, Stephen, and Paul.
1622. 118.140Psalm 119:140: God's word is refined and pure, and the psalmist loves it.
1623. 118.141Psalm 119:141: David recalls that though young and despised, he was chosen and anointed by Samuel, and so is eager to keep God's ordinances.
1624. 118.142Psalm 119:142: unlike human laws, God's law is wholly just and rewards obedience with eternal life.
1625. 118.143Psalm 119:143: trials accompany virtue, and God's commandments teach courage to bear them.
1626. 118.144Psalm 119:144: God's testimonies bring eternal goods, and his enlightenment gives true life.
1627. 118.145Psalm 119:145: the 'cry' is the soul's eagerness, as with Moses, who cried to God in silence.
1628. 118.146Psalm 119:146: saved by God, the psalmist will keep his laws.
1629. 118.147Psalm 119:147: though a busy king and warrior, David prayed even before dawn.
1630. 118.148Psalm 119:148: David meditated at dawn, a reproach to those who, though free of cares, sleep through the night and morning without praise.
1631. 118.149Psalm 119:149: even the virtuous psalmist asks for mercy in accordance with God's beneficial judgment.
1632. 118.150Psalm 119:150: those who attack the righteous are far from God's law, for God counts their enemies as his own.
1633. 118.151Psalm 119:151–152: God fills the world and is near, as Jeremiah and Paul say; heaven and earth, his 'witnesses,' show his ordered providence.
1634. 118.153Psalm 119:153: humility, which Christ blessed, crowned David's virtues and grounds his plea for help.
1635. 118.154Psalm 119:154: the psalmist recalls God's promises and asks him to judge his cause.
1636. 118.155Psalm 119:155: sinners deprive themselves of salvation by refusing to learn God's law.
1637. 118.156Psalm 119:156–157: God's mercy is rich and his judgment just; these words date from Saul's persecution, before David's sin.
1638. 118.158Psalm 119:158–159: the psalmist grieves over the disobedient, as Paul, Christ, and Jeremiah did, and shows his love for God's law by naming it constantly.
1639. 118.160Psalm 119:160: the 'beginning' of God's words is his promise to Abraham, fulfilled in Israel's growth and in the blessing of all nations through Christ.
1640. 118.161Psalm 119:161–162: fear of God's law, not of enemies, kept David from killing the sleeping Saul and made him spare Absalom; God's words delight him more than spoil.
1641. 118.163Psalm 119:163: love of God's law brings hatred of injustice.
1642. 118.164Psalm 119:164: 'seven times' may mean 'very often'; either way it shows untiring praise.
1643. 118.165Psalm 119:165–168: those who love God's law have peace even when attacked, as Paul and the apostles did; the psalmist waited for God's salvation and kept his commands, knowing God sees all.
1644. 118.169Psalm 119:169: the psalmist asks that his prayer be accepted and that he receive understanding of God's word.
1645. 118.170Psalm 119:170: the psalmist varies his words in pleading with God.
1646. 118.171Psalm 119:171: what the psalmist learns from God overflows in praise to him.
1647. 118.172Psalm 119:172: the psalmist will devote his tongue to God's words.
1648. 118.173Psalm 119:173: God's 'hand' is his saving action.
1649. 118.174Psalm 119:174: the psalmist longs for God's salvation.
1650. 118.175Psalm 119:175: the psalmist is confident of life and praise from God.
1651. 118.176Psalm 119:176: the lost sheep is David after his sin and all humanity, which Christ the good shepherd sought and found; readers are urged to apply the psalm to their own ills.
1652. 119.1Psalm 120:1: the Songs of Ascents foretell the exiles' return from Babylon, each a different stage, in the voice of the saints of that time; the first tells of distress and God's answer.
1653. 119.2Psalm 120:2: the deceitful tongues are like those who plotted against Daniel and accused his three companions.
1654. 119.3Psalm 120:3–4: God's punishments of deceivers are like sharp arrows and desolating coals, a comfort to their victims.
1655. 119.5Psalm 120:5: the seventy years of exile seemed long as a lifetime; Kedar, Ishmael's son, whose descendants live near Babylon, recalls the old enmity of Ishmael and Isaac.
1656. 119.6Psalm 120:6–7: the Babylonians attacked the peaceable exiles without cause.
1657. 120.1Psalm 121:1: the exiles in Babylon look all around for help.
1658. 120.2Psalm 121:2–3: only the Creator can help; if the people keep firm hope, he will guard them unsleeping.
1659. 120.4Psalm 121:4: God never sleeps, but if his people waver he may leave them to their enemies, which is a kind of 'slumber.'
1660. 120.5Psalm 121:5: God at one's right hand shelters and guards, as in Psalm 16.
1661. 120.6Psalm 121:6: God protects by day and night, as when the cloud shaded Israel from the sun after the exodus.
1662. 120.7Psalm 121:7–8: God's all-embracing providence protects from visible and invisible enemies.
1663. 121.1Psalm 122:1: the returning exiles rejoice above all at going to God's house.
1664. 121.2Psalm 122:2: in anticipation the exiles already stand in the temple courts.
1665. 121.3Psalm 122:3: the desolate city will be rebuilt, compact and walled.
1666. 121.4Psalm 122:4: the tribes divided since Rehoboam will again go up together to Jerusalem, as the law commands.
1667. 121.5Psalm 122:5: after the return Jerusalem will again be the seat of justice for all the tribes, as in David's day.
1668. 121.6Psalm 122:6: those who love Jerusalem will enjoy peace and delight.
1669. 121.7Psalm 122:7: David prays for peace on Jerusalem's walls, palaces, and houses.
1670. 121.8Psalm 122:8–9: David, long dead by the return, prays for Jerusalem's peace for his kinsmen's sake and for God's house.
1671. 122.1Psalm 123:1: the righteous look to God alone; he 'dwells' in heaven not as confined to a place but as delighting in the angels.
1672. 122.2Psalm 123:2: the people look to God as servants and maids look to their masters, waiting without limit for his mercy.
1673. 122.3Psalm 123:3–4: the exiles, mocked by the proud Babylonians, plead for mercy as the despised and ask God to turn the tables.
1674. 123.1Psalm 124:1–3: after the return the neighbors and barbarian allies attacked Jerusalem, as many prophets foretold, but God destroyed them; the people must credit God, not themselves.
1675. 123.4Psalm 124:4–5: the enemy coalition, gathered from many nations, was like a flash flood, but God destroyed it.
1676. 123.6Psalm 124:6: God saved his people from enemies cruel as beasts.
1677. 123.7Psalm 124:7: the weak people escaped like a bird when God broke the enemy's snare.
1678. 123.8Psalm 124:8: the Creator's name alone suffices for salvation.
1679. 124.1Psalm 125:1: those who trust God are as firm as Mount Zion; stability is promised to those who live by the laws of Jerusalem.
1680. 124.2Psalm 125:2: as mountains ring Jerusalem, God's care surrounds his faithful people for ever.
1681. 124.3Psalm 125:3: God uses nations like Assyria as a rod of discipline, but will not let the wicked oppress the righteous for long, lest the righteous lose faith in his providence.
1682. 124.4Psalm 125:4: the psalmist justly asks good for the good, as Christ taught measure for measure.
1683. 124.5Psalm 125:5: the crooked will perish with the wicked; 'Israel' means those who share Jacob's piety, not merely his descendants.
1684. 125.1Psalm 126:1: when Cyrus allowed the return, only the pious went back; they rejoice and pray for their kinsmen still in exile.
1685. 125.2Psalm 126:2–3: the nations marveled at the return, and the returned exiles must praise God even more.
1686. 125.4Psalm 126:4: the returned pray that the rest of the exiles may stream home like torrents swollen by the south wind; 'the south' is Jerusalem.
1687. 125.5Psalm 126:5–6: tears in prayer, like seed, yield a joyful harvest.
1688. 126.1Psalm 127:1: 'Solomon' stands for Zerubbabel, his descendant who rebuilt the temple amid opposition; without God, building and guarding are vain.
1689. 126.2Psalm 127:2: all effort to guard and build is vain without God; the anxious should hope in him, who gives rest to his beloved.
1690. 126.3Psalm 127:2–3: God's 'sleep' is rest from fear; under his care the returned will build in safety and have many children, as promised to Abraham.
1691. 126.4Psalm 127:4: the weakened exiles will become many and strong, like arrows in a warrior's hand.
1692. 126.5Psalm 127:5: hope in God makes his people victorious and confident before enemy envoys at the gates. The section ends with the introduction to the next psalm, on the fear of God and a godly life.
1693. 127.1Psalm 128:1: blessedness belongs not to Abraham's descendants as such but to all who fear God, as Peter said, and the sign of that fear is walking in his ways.
1694. 127.2Psalm 128:2: the godly will enjoy the fruit of their own labor; 'fruits' here means 'wrists,' as Symmachus shows.
1695. 127.3Psalm 128:3: the promised fruitful wife and olive-like children suited the hopes of the time; the olive image recalls the righteous in Psalms 52 and 1.
1696. 127.4Psalm 128:4: God judges by conduct, not descent, as with Job, Abimelech, the Ethiopian eunuch, Cornelius, and all nations.
1697. 127.5Psalm 128:5: the blessing from Zion reflects the belief of that time; the returned longed to see Jerusalem prosper.
1698. 127.6Psalm 128:6: long life and grandchildren were blessings suited to that age, but Isaiah shows that godliness is better than children; true peace is peace with God, which fleshly Israel has lost.
1699. 128.1Psalm 129:1–2: Israel was attacked from its 'youth' in Egypt but preserved by God; this fits even more the Church, which overcame its persecutors and won them over.
1700. 128.3Psalm 129:3: the plowing of the back is the scourging of martyrs, as suffered by Daniel's companions and the Maccabees.
1701. 128.4Psalm 129:4: God cut the nooses and collars the wicked prepared for the saints, and cut down the wicked themselves.
1702. 128.5Psalm 129:5: a prayer that Zion's enemies fail and flee.
1703. 128.6Psalm 129:6–8: the enemies' schemes should wither like rooftop grass that never yields a harvest or a passerby's blessing.
1704. 129.1Psalm 130:1: 'out of the depths' means prayer from the heart, unlike the lip-service condemned by Jeremiah and Isaiah.
1705. 129.2Psalm 130:2: God's 'ears' are a human way of speaking; in God hearing and seeing are one.
1706. 129.3Psalm 130:3: if God judged strictly, no one could survive, as the three youths acknowledged in confessing the people's sins.
1707. 129.4Psalm 130:4–5: God's mercy outweighs his justice; knowing this, the psalmist waits in hope for his promise to the penitent.
1708. 129.5Psalm 130:6: hoping 'from the morning watch until night' means all day long.
1709. 129.6Psalm 130:6–7: the righteous urge all Israel to share their hope in God.
1710. 129.7Psalm 130:7: God is merciful and saves the repentant.
1711. 129.8Psalm 130:8: the redemption from sin foretells Christ, the Lamb of God, named Jesus because he saves his people from their sins.
1712. 130.1Psalm 131:1: the psalm teaches humility; pride harms even saints like Hezekiah, and the humble call God to witness that they did not reach beyond their measure.
1713. 130.2Psalm 131:2: the psalmist calls on God to repay him if he was not as humble and submissive as a weaned child before its mother.
1714. 130.3Psalm 131:3: the humble speak of their virtue only to stir all Israel to the same hope.
1715. 131.1Psalm 132:1: like Psalm 89, this psalm is the exiles' plea based on God's promises to David, and it foretells Christ, David's descendant; they ask God to remember David's meekness.
1716. 131.2Psalm 132:2–5: David's vow to find a place for the Lord; though Nathan forbade him to build, he gathered materials for Solomon's temple, as Chronicles relates.
1717. 131.6Psalm 132:6: two temples are meant: Christ's body, the living temple woven by the Spirit in Bethlehem (Ephrathah), which was heard of in prophecy, and Solomon's temple on the site where David stopped the plague, which they 'found.'
1718. 131.7Psalm 132:7: the people worship in the temple honored by God's presence; his 'feet' are a figure, since God is bodiless and unbounded.
1719. 131.8Psalm 132:8: God's 'rest' is the lawful worship he accepted, not needed; the ark is mentioned as the place of his self-manifestation, though God is not contained by any temple.
1720. 131.9Psalm 132:9: with the temple restored, priests and pious laity alike will rejoice.
1721. 131.10Psalm 132:10: for David's sake the exiles ask that his royal line not perish.
1722. 131.11Psalm 132:11: God's oath that David's descendant would sit on his throne was fulfilled in Solomon's line and completed in Christ, as Isaiah foretold.
1723. 131.12Psalm 132:12: the conditional promise was broken by the kings' sins, beginning with Solomon, so that the tribes were divided and later lost David's kingdom.
1724. 131.13Psalm 132:13: God chose Zion above all cities.
1725. 131.14Psalm 132:14: God's promise to dwell in Zion is fulfilled in the holy places of the cross, resurrection, and ascension in Jerusalem, to which pilgrims come from everywhere.
1726. 131.15Psalm 132:15: God promises abundance to Zion and bread for its poor.
1727. 131.16Psalm 132:16: salvation is the fruit of the righteousness promised to the priests, and the godly will rejoice.
1728. 131.17Psalm 132:17: the 'horn' cannot be Zerubbabel, whose rule was brief, but Christ born of David, as Peter taught; the 'lamp' is Christ's humanity, the temple that received the light of the divinity.
1729. 131.18Psalm 132:18: Christ's enemies are shamed, while his holiness flourishes in the churches throughout the world, his body.
1730. 132.1Psalm 133:1: the psalm foretells the reunion of the divided tribes after the exile; brotherly concord is the greatest delight.
1731. 132.2Psalm 133:2: concord is like the compound anointing oil, whose blended fragrance ran from Aaron's head to his collar, as concord's benefit spreads from rulers to subjects.
1732. 132.3Psalm 133:3: concord is like the abundant dew of Hermon; the blessing in Zion is the Holy Spirit's descent on the apostles, giving eternal life to believers.
1733. 133.1Psalm 134:1: praise belongs to God's faithful servants (sinners should rather weep and seek mercy); though prayer is fitting everywhere, it is especially due in consecrated places.
1734. 133.2Psalm 134:2: night, with its quiet, is the right time for praise with uplifted hands.
1735. 133.3Psalm 134:3: God blesses from Zion but, as Creator of heaven and earth, is not confined to it.
1736. 134.1Psalm 135:1: since God's nature is invisible, we praise his name and do not pry into what may not be seen.
1737. 134.2Psalm 135:2: the returned exiles in the temple courts are to praise God.
1738. 134.3Psalm 135:3: God's goodness is the reason for praise, and praise benefits the singers.
1739. 134.4Psalm 135:4: God chose Israel as his special people while caring for all, as Deuteronomy 32 says.
1740. 134.5Psalm 135:5: experience has shown that the nations' gods, which do not exist, cannot compare with the God who is.
1741. 134.6Psalm 135:6: God's works are measured by his will, not by his power, which could do far more; 'seas' is plural because the one sea forms many seas.
1742. 134.7Psalm 135:7: God raises clouds from the sea, sends lightning in the rain without the fire being quenched, and his will is the 'treasury' of the winds.
1743. 134.8Psalm 135:8: the death of the firstborn, which won Israel's freedom, is mentioned first.
1744. 134.9Psalm 135:9: the plagues struck Pharaoh and his servants alike, from the king's firstborn to the slave's.
1745. 134.10Psalm 135:10–11: God destroyed Sihon and Og through Moses and the kings of Canaan through Joshua.
1746. 134.12Psalm 135:12: God gave Israel the land of the ungodly kings as its inheritance.
1747. 134.13Psalm 135:13: God's wonders made his name known, and his benefits will be remembered for ever.
1748. 134.14Psalm 135:14: God will vindicate his people mercifully; the psalm then turns to mock the nonexistent gods.
1749. 134.15Psalm 135:15: idols, unlike God the Creator, owe their form to human craft.
1750. 134.16Psalm 135:16–17: idols have the shapes of senses but no function, not even the breath that animals have.
1751. 134.18Psalm 135:18: idol-makers and worshipers deserve the senselessness of their idols.
1752. 134.19Psalm 135:19: Israel and, separately, the priests are called to bless the true God.
1753. 134.20Psalm 135:20: the Levites are named apart from the priests, recalling Korah's rebellion; 'those who fear the Lord' are proselytes, showing that God prefers kinship in conduct to kinship by blood.
1754. 134.21Psalm 135:21: we bless God with words and he blesses us with deeds; he 'dwelt' in Jerusalem by his manifest presence, not by being contained.
1755. 135.1Psalm 136:1: a further hymn of thanks for God's good gifts and endless mercy.
1756. 135.2Psalm 136:2: the 'gods' are not idols but those honored as God's sons, priests and rulers, as in Exodus, Isaiah, and Psalm 82.
1757. 135.3Psalm 136:3: kings, rulers, and the angelic Dominions are lords by God's gift, but Christ is the one Lord of all, as Paul teaches.
1758. 135.4Psalm 136:4: the miracles of Moses, Joshua, Elijah, and the apostles are really God's, so he alone works great wonders.
1759. 135.5Psalm 136:5: the heavens show God's wisdom by their size, beauty, and permanence.
1760. 135.6Psalm 136:6: the earth set firm amid the waters is a wonder; the refrain on mercy shows that God created everything out of love, not need.
1761. 135.7Psalm 136:7: human lights cannot match one star, and the sun outshines them all.
1762. 135.8Psalm 136:8–9: God divided day and night between the sun and the moon and stars.
1763. 135.10Psalm 136:10: the slaying of the firstborn was mercy because God, pitying the oppressed, punishes the oppressors.
1764. 135.11Psalm 136:11: God's mercy to Israel and punishment of Egypt were both just.
1765. 135.12Psalm 136:12: God's 'hand' and 'arm' are his action and strength revealed in saving Israel.
1766. 135.13Psalm 136:13: the 'divisions' of the sea are its two parts, not twelve paths for the twelve tribes as a Jewish legend held.
1767. 135.14Psalm 136:14–15: Israel's easy crossing and Pharaoh's drowning both show God's power.
1768. 135.16Psalm 136:16: sustaining Israel so long in the desert proves God's power.
1769. 135.17Psalm 136:17–18: God defeated great kings, as already explained.
1770. 135.19Psalm 136:19–20: Sihon and Og are named because their famed strength made God's victory over them memorable; Og's iron bed was nine cubits long.
1771. 135.21Psalm 136:21–22: God gave the conquered kings' land to Israel.
1772. 135.23Psalm 136:23–24: God remembered Israel in its affliction in Egypt and again in captivity.
1773. 135.25Psalm 136:25: God feeds all living things, as Christ said of the birds.
1774. 135.26Psalm 136:26: God is 'God of heaven' as served by sinless angels. The section ends with the introduction to the next psalm: its title 'through Jeremiah' is spurious, since Jeremiah went to Egypt, not Babylon; the returned exiles recount their captivity.
1775. 136.1Psalm 137:1: the exiles wept by Babylon's rivers, remembering desolate Zion.
1776. 136.2Psalm 137:2: the instruments were useless in exile, since the law allowed worship only in one place.
1777. 136.3Psalm 137:3: the captors demanded Zion's songs only to mock the exiles.
1778. 136.4Psalm 137:4: the exiles refused to sing God's songs abroad, a reproof to Jews who practice the law's rites outside the appointed place.
1779. 136.5Psalm 137:5–6: the exiles vow never to forget Jerusalem, so that hope of return keeps them from their captors' impiety.
1780. 136.7Psalm 137:7: the Edomites, keeping Esau's enmity, gloated over Jerusalem's destruction.
1781. 136.8Psalm 137:8: the psalm foretells Babylon's ruin and repayment.
1782. 136.9Psalm 137:9: the dashing of Babylon's infants is foretold as a just repayment; 'blessed' is Cyrus, who punished Babylon and freed the Jews, rewarded by God for his good deed though not truly pious.
1783. 137.1Psalm 138:1: after defeating the nations that attacked them following the return, the Jews thank God and imitate the angels' praise.
1784. 137.2Psalm 138:2: in the temple the people praise God's mercy to them and justice to their enemies, which made his name revered.
1785. 137.3Psalm 138:3: the psalmist asks God to answer quickly and strengthen his soul.
1786. 137.4Psalm 138:4: kings marveled at God's victory then, but after the incarnation they hear the gospel and praise the Creator.
1787. 137.5Psalm 138:5: all will praise God's ways, that is, his dispensations.
1788. 137.6Psalm 138:6: the transcendent God cares for the lowly and foresees and treats the powerful.
1789. 137.7Psalm 138:7: faith trusts God for life amid trouble; his 'hand' punishes the enemies and his 'right hand' saves his own.
1790. 137.8Psalm 138:8: humans cannot repay God's gifts, but the Lord, by becoming man, would pay their debt, as Paul says of the canceled bond.
1791. 138.1Psalm 139:1–2: the psalm foretells King Josiah, who rejected his fathers' idolatry; prosperity as well as hardship tests virtue, and God knows all one's life.
1792. 138.3Psalm 139:3–4: God foresaw Josiah's deeds and thoughts generations before his birth; the 'measuring line' is the uprightness of his deeds.
1793. 138.4Psalm 139:4: God foresaw Josiah and even named him in advance to Jeroboam.
1794. 138.5Psalm 139:5: God knows past and future; the One who formed Josiah in the womb cannot be unaware of anything in his life.
1795. 138.6Psalm 139:6: God's knowledge is too great for the psalmist to praise worthily.
1796. 138.7Psalm 139:7: no one can flee God; since God and the Holy Spirit have one operation, they have one power and one nature.
1797. 138.8Psalm 139:8: God fills height and depth, resting among the angels in heaven yet present everywhere, as Paul said at Athens.
1798. 138.9Psalm 139:9–11: God's presence fills every direction, as Jonah found; neither distance nor darkness can hide anyone from him.
1799. 138.12Psalm 139:12: to God, the light of the mind, darkness is as bright as day.
1800. 138.13Psalm 139:13: the 'kidneys' are the thoughts; God guided Josiah from birth.
1801. 138.14Psalm 139:14: God's wonderful works move the psalmist to constant praise.
1802. 138.15Psalm 139:15: God, who formed him in the hidden 'workshop' of the womb, knows everything about him.
1803. 138.16Psalm 139:16: God saw Josiah before he was formed and recorded all his days; God's 'books' are his all-embracing knowledge and memory.
1804. 138.17Psalm 139:17–18: Josiah honored the faithful priests and raised the poor; under him the godly multiplied, as later the worshipers of God multiplied everywhere after the incarnation; the psalmist resolves to stay awake to God.
1805. 138.19Psalm 139:19–20: the godly shun the company of the wicked, who reject good counsel.
1806. 138.20Psalm 139:20: the wicked dwell in God's cities without profiting from his laws, and so are justly punished.
1807. 138.21Psalm 139:21–22: the psalmist hates God's enemies as lawless yet pities and mourns them as fellow humans.
1808. 138.23Psalm 139:23–24: the psalmist asks God, the physician of souls, to examine and correct him; the psalm was spoken by David, foretold of Josiah, and offered to all.
1809. 139.1Psalm 140:1: David, pursued by Saul, asks rescue from the unjust and ungrateful king.
1810. 139.3Psalm 140:2: Saul turned his evil plans into deeds every day.
1811. 139.4Psalm 140:3: Saul's broken oaths and friendly words hid deadly venom.
1812. 139.5Psalm 140:4: David prays for his own safety, not his enemies' ruin; driven by Saul among the ungodly Philistines, he kept his piety.
1813. 139.6Psalm 140:5: the snares are Saul's various plots and ambushes.
1814. 139.7Psalm 140:6: David trusts in God alone.
1815. 139.8Psalm 140:7: God shielded David in his fight with Goliath and the Philistines.
1816. 139.9Psalm 140:8–9: David asks God not to grant Saul his murderous wish, and foretells that his enemies will fall into their own plots, as in Psalm 7.
1817. 139.11Psalm 140:10: God's wrath consumed Saul, who died in battle with the Philistines.
1818. 139.12Psalm 140:11: the slanderers of David, like Doeg and the Ziphites, will fail, and evil overtook Saul.
1819. 139.13Psalm 140:12: God defends the helpless and punishes the unjust.
1820. 139.14Psalm 140:13: the righteous praise God and live as in his presence, as in Psalm 16.
1821. 140.1Psalm 141:1: David, pursued by Saul, cries to God, the 'cry' being the soul's eagerness, as with Moses.
1822. 140.2Psalm 141:2: prayer joined to good deeds (the raised hands) should rise like incense; the 'evening' sacrifice reflects David's dark circumstances.
1823. 140.3Psalm 141:3: David asks for a guard on his tongue; even under persecution he never spoke against Saul, but called him the Lord's anointed and punished his killer.
1824. 140.4Psalm 141:4: David asks that his thoughts be guarded too, so he would not justify killing Saul by the old maxim 'hate your enemy,' but live by the gospel; he refuses fellowship with the prosperous wicked.
1825. 140.5Psalm 141:5: the psalmist prefers the rebukes of the righteous to the flattery of sinners, and prays for the sinners' conversion through adversity.
1826. 140.6Psalm 141:6: the powerful wicked will soon vanish, and then they will learn the truth of the psalmist's words.
1827. 140.7Psalm 141:7: the wicked will be broken by death like plowed clods, their bones scattered in the grave.
1828. 140.8Psalm 141:8: the psalmist trusts God alone and asks not to be deprived of his help.
1829. 140.9Psalm 141:9: the snares are the plots against him, as in the previous psalm.
1830. 140.10Psalm 141:10: the wicked will be caught in God's net, while the psalmist keeps apart from them all his life.
1831. 141.1Psalm 142 title: David's prayer in the cave where he hid from Saul.
1832. 141.2Psalm 142:1: hiding in the cave, David could not shout; his 'cry' was the eagerness of his mind.
1833. 141.3Psalm 142:2: David poured out his distress before God.
1834. 141.4Psalm 142:3: as Saul laid ambushes on David's paths, the devil sets traps suited to each virtue, such as vainglory for the almsgiver and pride for the virgin.
1835. 141.5Psalm 142:4: David saw no friend or way of escape.
1836. 141.6Psalm 142:5–6: God alone is David's portion and help against stronger enemies.
1837. 141.8Psalm 142:7: trapped in the cave as in a prison, David promises praise; his deliverance will encourage the righteous.
1838. 142.1Psalm 143:1: the added title about Absalom, though not in the Hebrew, fits; David, punished for his sin, still asks God to judge justly between him and the wicked Absalom.
1839. 142.2Psalm 143:2: David appeals not to his own righteousness, since no one could stand God's strict judgment or repay his gifts.
1840. 142.3Psalm 143:3: David asks God to judge between him and Absalom, who drove him from his kingdom to wander like the dead.
1841. 142.4Psalm 143:4: David's soul was weary and his thoughts troubled.
1842. 142.5Psalm 143:5: remembering how God rescued the patriarchs comforted David.
1843. 142.6Psalm 143:6–8: David thirsts for God's help like dry land for rain, fears death if God turns away, and asks for quick mercy and guidance.
1844. 142.9Psalm 143:9: God is David's refuge from his enemies.
1845. 142.10Psalm 143:10: David asks to do God's will; the 'good Spirit' who guides, called good as God is good, shows the Spirit's divine dignity.
1846. 142.11Psalm 143:11–12: David asks for life for God's name's sake, lest his fall bring blasphemy; destroying the oppressor is mercy to the oppressed, as a farmer uproots thorns.
1847. 143.1Psalm 144:1: the added title 'Against Goliath' is spurious; the psalm foretells God's defeat of the nations that attacked the returned exiles, as in Ezekiel 38; for Christians, the hands fight by righteous works and the fingers by signing the forehead with the cross.
1848. 143.2Psalm 144:2: each title of God reflects what he did for his people; the leader who speaks is Zerubbabel or Jeshua.
1849. 143.3Psalm 144:3: the psalmist marvels that the Creator cares for frail humanity.
1850. 143.4Psalm 144:4: human life vanishes like vapor and shadow, yet God cares for it.
1851. 143.5Psalm 144:5: 'come down' is human speech for God's intervention; his touch makes mountains smoke, as at Sinai.
1852. 143.6Psalm 144:6: the wish foretells God's destruction of the attacking nations, as Ezekiel prophesied.
1853. 143.7Psalm 144:7: the 'many waters' are the hordes of enemies, called 'foreign' because ungodly.
1854. 143.8Psalm 144:8: the enemies blaspheme with their mouths and do wrong with their 'right hands.'
1855. 143.9Psalm 144:9–11: the people promise new songs to God, who saved the kings of David's line for his covenant's sake; the repeated charge against the enemies introduces the problem of the wicked's prosperity.
1856. 143.12Psalm 144:12: the wicked prosper in sons and in daughters adorned like idol temples, with a courtesan's finery.
1857. 143.13Psalm 144:13–14: the wicked enjoy overflowing barns, herds, and untroubled streets, as Psalm 73 also describes, but the psalmist goes on to resolve the problem.
1858. 143.15Psalm 144:15: worldly people call the rich blessed, but the wise call blessed the people whose God is the Lord, as Christ's beatitudes teach.
1859. 144.1Psalm 145:1: this alphabetic hymn foretells the nations' knowledge of God; 'exalting' God means making his height known, as Christ 'glorified' the Father and was glorified with the glory he already had.
1860. 144.2Psalm 145:2: the psalmist vows daily praise.
1861. 144.3Psalm 145:3: God's greatness is not physical size but infinite and incomprehensible.
1862. 144.4Psalm 145:4: the 'other generation' that will praise God is the Church from the nations.
1863. 144.5Psalm 145:5: the psalmist piles up titles because no name is adequate to God; the coming generation will proclaim them.
1864. 144.6Psalm 145:6: 'wonders' are miracles of blessing and 'fearful acts' miracles of punishment, as in Egypt and the wilderness, and as Paul distinguishes gifts of healing from works of power, such as Elymas's blindness and Ananias's death.
1865. 144.7Psalm 145:7: like Paul, the psalmist heaps up words because God's goodness exceeds language; the future generation, fed on God's words, will overflow in praise.
1866. 144.8Psalm 145:8: God's creation, patience with sinners, forgiveness, and gift of his Son call forth many names for his mercy.
1867. 144.9Psalm 145:9: God's goodness extends to all people and all creatures.
1868. 144.10Psalm 145:10: creatures 'praise' God through the rational beings who see his wisdom in them.
1869. 144.11Psalm 145:11–12: prophets, apostles, and later preachers proclaim God's eternal kingdom to all humanity.
1870. 144.13Psalm 145:13: God's kingdom is eternal, his words true and confirmed by his just deeds.
1871. 144.14Psalm 145:14: God supports the wavering and raises sinners who have fallen.
1872. 144.15Psalm 145:15: 'hope' here means that every creature, even unknowingly, receives its food from God.
1873. 144.16Psalm 145:16: God provides for every creature as easily as one opens a hand.
1874. 144.17Psalm 145:17: God's justice shines in all his dispensations, which are his 'ways.'
1875. 144.18Psalm 145:18: God, present everywhere, is 'near' in relationship to those who call on him sincerely and do his will.
1876. 144.19Psalm 145:19: God does the will of those who fear him because they first do his will and want nothing against it.
1877. 144.20Psalm 145:20: God's justice gives each his due, guarding those who love him and punishing the wicked.
1878. 144.21Psalm 145:21: 'all flesh' is called to praise, a prophecy fulfilled as God is praised among all nations.
1879. 145.1Psalm 146 title: the ascription to Haggai and Zechariah is not in the Hebrew or the Hexapla; 'Alleluia' calls to praise.
1880. 145.2Psalm 146:1–3: we must praise God while we live; rulers deserve no trust, since their power is temporary, often unjust, and they themselves are mortal.
1881. 145.3Psalm 146:3: humans, frail as vanity and grass, cannot save.
1882. 145.4Psalm 146:4: at death the soul departs and the body returns to dust, and all human plans perish, as Christ's parable of the rich fool teaches.
1883. 145.5Psalm 146:5: blessed is the one who, like Jacob, hopes in the God who cared for him.
1884. 145.6Psalm 146:6: God made all things visible and invisible, unlike mortal rulers, and cares for what he made.
1885. 145.7Psalm 146:7: God keeps his promises, defends the wronged, and feeds the hungry; the verses that follow foretell the benefits of the incarnation.
1886. 145.8Psalm 146:8–9: freeing prisoners and giving sight to the blind foretell Christ's works, as Isaiah prophesied; the 'proselytes' God guards are the Gentiles brought near, as Paul says; God cares for orphans and widows.
1887. 145.10Psalm 146:10: Zion's God, now thought hers alone, reigns over all for ever.
1888. 146.1Psalm 147:1: 'Alleluia' means 'Praise the Lord'; the psalm foretells the return and Zerubbabel's rebuilding of Jerusalem, not a future rebuilding as the Jews expect; God delights in the worshipers' salvation, not in their hymns as such.
1889. 146.2Psalm 147:2: God rebuilt Jerusalem and summoned all the exiles home through Cyrus; those who stayed showed their own perversity.
1890. 146.3Psalm 147:3: God frees captives and heals the wounds of sin.
1891. 146.4Psalm 147:4: God's 'counting' and 'naming' the stars mean his knowledge of their order; the stars' names come from human pagan myths.
1892. 146.5Psalm 147:5: God's greatness is beyond measure, yet we praise as we can.
1893. 146.6Psalm 147:6: God exalts the meek and humbles the wicked, so the apostles and martyrs are celebrated while their persecutors are forgotten.
1894. 146.7Psalm 147:7: knowing God's goodness and power, the people are to begin his praise.
1895. 146.8Psalm 147:8: the clouds and rain show God's power and goodness; he waters even the mountains to feed the cattle that serve humanity.
1896. 146.9Psalm 147:9: the young ravens' cry is like a prayer God answers, which is why Christ pointed to the ravens.
1897. 146.10Psalm 147:10–11: God delights not in strength or speed but in reverence, and also in penitent sinners who hope in his mercy.
1898. 147.12Psalm 147:12–13: the psalm foretells the victory after the return and the apostles' swift preaching; Jerusalem's people are to praise God, who protected and multiplied them.
1899. 147.14Psalm 147:14: God gave the returned exiles peace and plenty; Theodoret says the Jews lost these blessings after rejecting the Savior, and the psalm turns to the salvation of the nations.
1900. 147.15Psalm 147:15: God's swift-running word is the gospel, which the apostles quickly carried to all nations.
1901. 147.16Psalm 147:16–17: God turns the one substance of water into snow, mist, and ice, and changes heat to cold.
1902. 147.18Psalm 147:18: as melting snow flows down to water other lands, God's gifts came first to the Jews and, when they refused them, flowed through the apostles to the nations.
1903. 147.19Psalm 147:19: Israel received both law and grace but proved unworthy of both.
1904. 147.20Psalm 147:20: only Israel received the law and prophets, but proved ungrateful, while the nations, taught by the apostles, came to know their Creator.
1905. 148.1Psalm 148:1: all creation is summoned to praise, inanimate things by giving rational beings cause; the two heavens of Genesis hold angelic choirs; since the Son and Spirit are never among those who praise but are praised, they are not creatures.
1906. 148.2Psalm 148:2: the angels and powers, messengers able to do God's will, are called first to praise.
1907. 148.3Psalm 148:3: light, made on the first day, is named apart from the luminaries of the fourth day; creation's 'praise' is our praise of God's wisdom in it.
1908. 148.4Psalm 148:4: God set the waters above the firmament and the fire of the stars together without either destroying the other; 'heavens' is plural by Hebrew idiom, as Psalm 115 says 'heaven of heaven.'
1909. 148.5Psalm 148:5: creation should praise the One who made it by his word.
1910. 148.6Psalm 148:6: all creation keeps God's laws, the sea its bounds and day and night their measures; only rational humanity breaks them.
1911. 148.7Psalm 148:7: God made the great sea creatures and confined them to the open ocean, showing both power and goodness.
1912. 148.8Psalm 148:8: the elements of the weather obey God's will without having life or reason.
1913. 148.9Psalm 148:9: mountains and trees, by their size and usefulness, move us to thank God.
1914. 148.10Psalm 148:10: wild and tame animals, swimming and flying creatures all have a purpose; after them, as in creation, humanity is called to praise.
1915. 148.11Psalm 148:11: kings, peoples, rulers, and judges are all called to praise.
1916. 148.12Psalm 148:12: young and old, men and women, all are to praise God.
1917. 148.13Psalm 148:13: the false gods are forgotten and only the true God's name is honored.
1918. 148.14Psalm 148:14: now the whole earth knows God; he makes his people strong and renowned; Israel had this glory when it drew near to God, but it has passed with piety to the nations.
1919. 149.1Psalm 149:1: the psalm is a victory hymn of the returned exiles and foretells the Maccabees' deeds.
1920. 149.2Psalm 149:1: praise belongs to the holy.
1921. 149.3Psalm 149:2: God was in a special sense Israel's king, as he told Samuel when they asked for a human king.
1922. 149.4Psalm 149:3: praise with every instrument the law allowed.
1923. 149.5Psalm 149:4: God delights in his people and exalts the meek.
1924. 149.6Psalm 149:5: the holy will enjoy glory and rest.
1925. 149.7Psalm 149:6: the faithful praise God with their mouths and bear swords in their hands.
1926. 149.8Psalm 149:7: the vengeance on the nations foretells the Maccabees' victories over their neighbors and the Macedonian kings.
1927. 149.9Psalm 149:8: the Maccabees' captures of kings and nobles fulfilled this prophecy.
1928. 149.10Psalm 149:9: the Maccabees' just deeds were written down and their glory endures, for holiness brings renown.
1929. 150.1Psalm 150 title: a victory hymn foretelling the knowledge of God among all people.
1930. 150.2Psalm 150:1: the saints, from the apostles and martyrs to present ascetics, are the greatest reason to praise God; his power alone is firm and eternal.
1931. 150.3Psalm 150:2: God's mighty deeds through his saints and his infinite greatness call for unceasing praise.
1932. 150.4Psalm 150:3–6: God allowed instrumental worship to wean Israel from idols, not because he delights in music; 'every breath' calls all peoples to praise with body and soul, as is now seen everywhere. Theodoret closes the commentary asking his readers' indulgence and prayers.