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1 The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. 2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. 3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah. 7 Lift up your head, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.
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[AD 55] 1 Corinthians on Psalms 24:1
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth. Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. [Psalms 24:1] If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake. But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof: Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
[AD 395] Gregory of Nyssa on Psalms 24:1
The foolish person counts as his own possession that which never actually belongs to him, seemingly ignorant in his greed that “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof,” for “God is king of all the earth.” It is the passion of having that gives people a false title of lordship over that which can never belong to them. “The earth,” says the wise preacher, “abides forever,” ministering to every generation, first one, then another, that is born on it. But people, though they are so little even their own masters that they are brought into life without knowing it by their Maker’s will, and before they wish are withdrawn from it, nevertheless in their excessive vanity think that they are its lords; that they, now born, now dying, rule that which remains continually.

Source: ON VIRGINITY 4
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 24:1-2
"The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the compass of the world, and all they that dwell therein" [Psalm 24:1]; when the Lord, being glorified, is announced for the believing of all nations; and the whole compass of the world becomes His Church. "He has founded it above the seas." He has most firmly established it above all the waves of this world, that they should be subdued by it, and should not hurt it. "And has prepared it above the rivers" [Psalm 24:2]. The rivers flow into the sea, and men of lust lapse into the world: these also the Church, which, when worldly lusts have been conquered by the grace of God, has been prepared by love for the reception of immortality, subdues.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 24
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Psalms 24:1
He is Lord of the whole world. He is its Lord, however, not by wresting authority or by depriving anyone else of lordship but by personally creating it and leading it from nonbeing into being.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 24:2
[AD 9999] Pseudo-Athanasius on Psalms 24:1
This verse teaches about God’s kingdom to come, in which he will reign over all. And in order to make known that as maker and natural Lord he will reign over it, he said [in the next verse], “He is its foundations.”

Source: EXPOSITION ON PSALM 24
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Psalms 24:3
Where should you stand, you who seek sanctification from God? The writer says, “You have established my feet on the rock.” “Christ was the rock.” Let us learn about the one who follows these promises.

Source: SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 24:3
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 24:3
"Who shall ascend into the mount of the Lord?" Who shall ascend to the height of the righteousness of the Lord? "Or who shall stand in His holy place?" [Psalm 24:3]. Or who shall abide in that place, whither He shall ascend, founded above the seas, and prepared above the rivers?

Source: Exposition on Psalm 24
[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Psalms 24:3
After he taught briefly that everything which the Lord created belongs to him, he now embarks on the second section with a question; he answers by telling what sort of people they ought to be who desire to say that they are his.

Source: EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 24:3
[AD 223] Callistus I of Rome on Psalms 24:4
Let no one speak deceitfully to his neighbor. The mouth of the malevolent is a deep pit. The innocent person, while he believes easily, falls readily; but though he falls, he rises; and the shuffler, with all his arts, goes headlong to ruin, from which he can never rise or escape. Therefore let everyone weigh well his words, and let him not say to another what he would not say to himself.

Source: EPISTLE 2:5
[AD 399] Evagrius Ponticus on Psalms 24:4
Truly Judas ascended onto the mountain of the Lord, but he did not stand in his holy place. He was not innocent in hands or pure in heart, but a thief who was taking the money.

Source: NOTES ON THE PSALMS 23[24].4
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 24:4
"The innocent of hand, and the pure in heart" [Psalm 24:4]. Who then shall ascend there, and abide there, but the guiltless in deed, and pure in thought? "Who has not received his soul in vain." Who has not reckoned his soul among things that pass away, but feeling it to be immortal, has longed for an eternity steadfast and unchangeable. "And has not sworn in deceit to his neighbour." And therefore without deceit, as things eternal are simple and undeceiving, has so behaved himself to his neighbour.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 24
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Psalms 24:4
It is appropriate, he is saying, for him who desires to ascend that mountain both to purify his soul of idle thoughts and to keep his hands away from such pursuits. He put “hands” in place of pursuits, and by “heart” he implied desires: with the latter we form our intentions, and by the former we put them into action.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 24:4
[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Psalms 24:4
Truthful swearing is certainly not forbidden in the Old Testament, but since the cause of perjury often arises for human nature from the weakness of the mind, in the New Testament it states that it is more beneficial not to swear oaths at all.… One who is going to do something other than promised swears deceitfully, not believing that it is perjury to wickedly manipulate someone who makes the mistake of trusting him.

Source: EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 24:4
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 24:5
"This man shall receive blessing from the Lord, and mercy from the God of his salvation" [Psalm 24:5].

Source: Exposition on Psalm 24
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Psalms 24:5
Now, it was quite appropriate for him to associate mercy with blessing: even what are thought rewards are given to human beings only on account of divine lovingkindness. I mean, all the righteousness of human beings is not nearly sufficient for gifts bestowed by God and certainly not for those yet to come, which even surpass human imagining.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 24:4
[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Psalms 24:5
The one who will judge is the very one who blesses; the one who could have issued a sentence of incommutable damnation declares innocence. Therefore he wanted the value of the kindness to be acknowledged because of the worthiness of the one who overlooks offenses.… The blessing of acquittal follows mercy so that this blessing might be perceived to have come not through merits, but through the Lord’s kindness. For there is no one who does not have need to be shown mercy. Transgressions are forgiven so that a crown may come, just as freedom will not be able to be granted until slavery has first been removed. Our savior is the Lord Christ by whom blessedness is bestowed and sins are loosened. What he said earlier should not disturb us: “He will receive blessing from the Lord”; later he added, “And mercy from God his savior,” while in the order of things he pardons our sins first, and afterwards the gifts of his blessings follow. You often find that the order is varied so that mercy is placed first.… This figure is called anastrophe or an inversion, when we express a thought in a reversed order.

Source: EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 24:5
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Psalms 24:6
No one seeking the face of God will see his face and live, … unless he or she has been changed.

Source: SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 24:6
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 24:6
"This is the generation of them that seek the Lord" [Psalm 24:6]. For thus are they born that seek Him. "Of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob. Diapsalma." Now they seek the face of God, who gave the pre-eminence to the younger born. [Romans 9:12]

Source: Exposition on Psalm 24
[AD 165] Justin Martyr on Psalms 24:7
Solomon was not the Lord of hosts. But, when our Christ arose from the dead and ascended into heaven, the heavenly princes chosen by God were ordered to open the gates of heaven that the King of glory might enter and sit at the right hand of the Father until he makes his enemies his footstool. Now, when these heavenly princes saw that he was in appearance without beauty, honor or glory, and not recognizing him, they asked, “Who is this King of glory?” And the Holy Spirit, either in his own name or in the Father’s, answered, “The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory.” But I am sure that everyone will admit that none of the gatekeepers of the temple at Jerusalem ever said of Solomon (though he was ever so glorious a king) or of the ark of testimony, “Who is this King of glory?”

Source: Dialogue with Trypho 36
[AD 220] Tertullian on Psalms 24:7
God spared not his own Son for you, letting him become a curse for us; for “cursed is he who hangs on a tree”;31 … that he might redeem us from our sins. The sun was darkened on the day of our redemption; hell lost its right to us, and we were enrolled for heaven. The eternal gates were lifted up that the King of glory, the Lord of might, might enter in, and humankind, born of the earth, destined for hell, was purchased for heaven.

Source: ON FLIGHT IN TIME OF PERSECUTION 12:2
[AD 235] Hippolytus of Rome on Psalms 24:7
He comes to the heavenly gates: angels accompany Him: and the gates of heaven were closed. For He has not yet ascended into heaven. Now first does He appear to the powers of heaven as flesh ascending. Therefore to these powers it is said by the angels, who are the couriers of the Saviour and Lord: "Lift up your gates, ye princes; and be lifted up, ye everlasting doors: and the King of glory shall come in.

Source: Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Psalm XXIII. Or XXIV.
[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on Psalms 24:7
It was not the Word himself that needed an opening of the gates, being Lord of all; nor were any of his works closed to their maker; but we it was that needed it, whom he carried up by his own body. For as he offered it to death on behalf of all, so by it he once more made ready the way up into the heavens.

Source: On the Incarnation of the Word 25
[AD 373] Athanasius of Alexandria on Psalms 24:7
The Word, being the image of the Father and immortal, took the form of a servant, and as man he underwent death for us in his flesh, that thereby he might offer himself for us through death to the Father. Likewise also, as man, he is said because of us and for us to be highly exalted, that as by his death we all died in Christ, so again in Christ himself we might be highly exalted, being raised from the dead and ascending into heaven, “where the forerunner Jesus has entered for us, not into the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” But if no Christ has entered into heaven itself for us, even though he was previously and always Lord and Framer of the heavens, then it is for us, therefore, that the present exaltation is written. And as he himself, who sanctifies all, also says that he sanctifies himself to the Father for our sakes, not that the Word may become holy but that he himself may in himself sanctify all of us, in like manner we must take the present phrase, “He highly exalted him”—not that he himself needed to be exalted, for he is already the highest, but that he may become righteousness for us, and that we may be exalted in him and may enter the gates of heaven, which he has also opened for us, the forerunners saying, “Lift up your gates, O you rulers, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.” For here also the gates were not shut on him who is the Lord and Maker of all, but because of us this too is written, to whom the door of paradise was shut. And therefore in a human relation, because of the flesh that he bore, it is said of him, “Lift up your gates,” and “shall come in,” as if a man were entering; but in a divine relation on the other hand it is said of him, since “the Word was God,” that he is the “Lord” and the “King of glory.” Such our exaltation the Spirit foreannounced in the eighty-ninth psalm, saying, “And in your righteousness shall they be exalted, for you are the glory of their strength.” And if the Son is Righteousness, then he is not exalted because he himself was in need, but it is we who are exalted in that Righteousness, which is he.

Source: Discourses Against the Arians 1.41
[AD 390] Gregory of Nazianzus on Psalms 24:7
If he ascend up into heaven, ascend with him. Be one of those angels who escort him or one of those who receive him. Bid the gates be lifted up, or be made higher, that they may receive him, exalted after his passion. Answer to those who are in doubt because he bears up with him his body and the tokens of his passion, which he did not have when he came down, and who therefore, inquire, “Who is the King of glory?” that it is the Lord strong and mighty, as in all things that he has done from time to time and does, so now in his battle and triumph for the sake of humankind. And give to the those who doubt the question the twofold answer. And if they marvel and say as in Isaiah’s drama who is this that comes from Edom and from the things of earth? Or how are the garments red of him that is without blood or body, as of one that treads in the full winepress? Set forth the beauty of the array of the body that suffered, adorned by the passion and made splendid by the Godhead, than which nothing can be more lovely or more beautiful.

Source: ON HOLY EASTER, ORATION 45:25
[AD 410] Prudentius on Psalms 24:7
Learn what our temple is, if you would know;
It is one that no artisan has built,
A structure not of riven fir or pine,
Nor reared with blocks of quarried marble fair.
Its massive weight no columns high support
Beneath the arches of a gilded vault.
By God’s Word it was formed, not by his voice,
But by the everlasting Word, the Word made flesh.
This temple is eternal, without end,
This you attacked with scourge and cross and gall.
This temple was destroyed by bitter pains.
Its form was fragile from the Mother’s womb,
But when brief death the Mother’s part dissolved,
The Father’s might restored it in three days.
You have beheld my saving temple rise
On high, surrounded by an angel throng.
The everlasting gates uphold its roof;
Through lofty towers the glorious stairs arise,
And at the top appears a shining path.

Source: THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 518-36
[AD 420] Jerome on Psalms 24:7
As our Lord ascends to the Father in triumph, he issues commands to the angels saying, “Open to me the gates of justice; I will enter them and give thanks to the Lord.” These are the gates of which in the twenty-fourth psalm the angels were speaking while they were preparing for the entrance of the Lord: “Lift up, O gates, your lintels; reach up, you ancient portals, that the King of glory may come in!” Aptly are the gates commanded to lift up high and raise aloft their portals, since, in accordance with the dispensation and mystery of the flesh and in conformity with the victory of the cross, he reenters heaven mightier than he had come down on earth. “This gate is the Lord’s; the just shall enter it.” Through this gate, Peter has entered, and Paul, and all the apostles and martyrs, and today the saints continue to go in; through this gate, the thief was the first to pass with the Lord. Have faith, therefore, and be hopeful for your own entrance.

Source: HOMILY 94, ON EASTER SUNDAY
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 24:7
"Take away your gates, you princes" [Psalm 24:7]. All you, that seek rule among men, remove, that they hinder not, the entrances which you have made, of desire and fear. "And be lifted up, you everlasting gates." And be lifted up, you entrances of eternal life, of renunciation of the world, and conversion to God. "And the King of glory shall come in." And the King, in whom we may glory without pride, shall come in: who having overcome the gates of death, and having opened for Himself the heavenly places, fulfilled that which He said, "Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." [John 16:33]

Source: Exposition on Psalm 24
[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Psalms 24:7
Let no one wonder, I ask you, on hearing of the ignorance of the invisible powers: they have neither advance knowledge nor complete knowledge—only the divine nature has that knowledge. Angels and archangels, however, and the other companies of the invisible powers know as much as they are taught, for which reason the divine apostle also, speaking of them, said, “So that to the principalities and authorities in the heavenly places the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known through the church.” Now, if they came to learn the divine wisdom more precisely through the life of the church, there is nothing out of order for the powers on high to be ignorant even of the mystery of Christ’s ascension when they see the human nature and do not perceive the divinity concealed in it.… No human being had ever passed through [the eternal gates]; but when God the Word became human and took up our first fruits, he both led the way up to heaven and took his place at the right hand of majesty in the highest places, above every principality, authority, dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 24:6-7
[AD 460] Arnobius the Younger on Psalms 24:7
Now it is said to that one: Open the gates for your leaders. Cast away the example of Adam who is your leader according to the flesh, and lift up the eternal doors holding the powerful and mighty king of glory, powerful in battle, overcoming faults and their offsprings, worthless of spirit. Therefore, lift up the gates for your leaders. “Just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the heavenly man.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 24
[AD 220] Tertullian on Psalms 24:8
Christ must be understood to be an exterminator of spiritual foes, who wields spiritual arms and fights in spiritual strife.… It is of such a war as this that the psalm may evidently have spoken: “The Lord is strong, the Lord is mighty in battle.” For with the last enemy death did he fight, and through the trophy of the cross he triumphed.

Source: AGAINST MARCION 4.20
[AD 339] Eusebius of Caesarea on Psalms 24:8
Lord of Sabaoth is translated “Lord of powers.” And he is the captain of the powers of the Lord, whom also the divine powers salute as Lord of Sabaoth in Psalm 24, foretelling his return from earth to heaven.… In the Hebrew he is here again called Lord of Sabaoth. And since he is the King of glory, and by his sojourn here the whole earth would be filled with his glory, both in the psalm and in the prophecy the fulfillment is rightly placed in the present: in the prophecy in the words, “The whole earth is full of his glory,” in the psalm at the beginning where it says, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all that dwell therein.”

Source: PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 7:1.311-12
[AD 420] Jerome on Psalms 24:8
[Daniel 8:16-17] "And I heard the voice of a man in the midst of the Ulai, and he cried out and said: 'Gabriel, make this vision intelligible (Vulgate: make this man to understand the vision).' And he came and stood near to where I was standing." The Jews claim that this man who directed Gabriel to explain the vision to Daniel was Michael. Quite appropriately it was Gabriel, who has been put in charge of battles, to whom this duty was assigned, inasmuch as the vision had to do with battles and contests between kings and even between kingdoms themselves. For Gabriel is translated into our language as "the strength of, or the mighty one of, God." And so at that time also when the Lord was about to be born and to declare war against the demons and to triumph over the world, Gabriel came to Zacharias (Luke 1:11-20) and to Mary (Luke 1:26-27). And then we read in the Psalms concerning the Lord in His triumph: "Who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle; He is the King of glory" (Psalm 24:8). But whenever it is medicine or healing that is needed, it is Raphael who is sent, for his name is rendered as "the healing of," or "the medicine of God" - that is, if one cares to accept the authority of the Book of Tobias (Tobit 12:11-15). And then, when favorable promises are made to the people, and hilasmos, which we might render as "propitiation" or "expiation," is the thing required, then it is Michael who is directed to go, for his name means, "Who is like God?" Of course the significance of the name indicates the fact that the only true remedy is to be found in God.

"And he said to me: 'Son of man, understand that in the time of the end the vision shall be fulfilled.'" Inasmuch as Ezekiel and Daniel and Zechariah behold themselves to be often in the company of angels, they were reminded of their frailty, lest they should be lifted up in pride and imagine themselves to partake of the nature or dignity of angels. Therefore they are addressed as sons of men, in order that they might realize that they are but human beings.

Source: St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER EIGHT
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 24:8
"Who is this King of glory?" Mortal nature is awe-struck in wonder, and asks, "Who is this King of glory?" "The Lord strong and mighty." He whom you deemed weak and overwhelmed. "The Lord mighty in battle" [Psalm 24:8]. Handle the scars, and you will find them made whole, and human weakness restored to immortality. The glorifying of the Lord, which was owing to earth, where It warred with death, has been paid.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 24
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Psalms 24:9
But after he had destroyed his enemies through his passion, the Lord, who is mighty in battle and strong, … goes, bearing victory and trophies, with the body that arose from the dead.… Certain powers say, “Who is this that is coming from Edom, with scarlet garments from Bosra, so beautiful?” And those escorting him say to those stationed at the gates of heaven, “Lift up your gates, and the King of glory will come in.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6:287-88
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 24:9
"Take away your gates, you princes." Let us go hence straightway into heaven. Again, let the Prophet's trumpet cry aloud, "Take away too, you princes of the air, the gates, which you have in the minds of men who 'worship the host of heaven.'" [2 Kings 17:16] "And be lifted up, you everlasting gates." And be lifted up, you doors of everlasting righteousness, of love, and chastity, through which the soul loves the One True God, and goes not a-whoring with the many that are called gods. "And the King of glory shall come in" [Psalm 24:9]. "And the King of glory shall come in," that He may at the right hand of the Father intercede for us.

Source: Exposition on Psalm 24
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 24:10
"Who is this King of glory?" What! Do you too, prince of the power of this air, [Ephesians 2:2] marvel and ask, "Who is this King of glory?" "The Lord of powers, He is the King of glory" [Psalm 24:10]. Yea, His Body now quickened, He who was tempted marches above you; He who was tempted by the angel, the deceiver, goes above all angels. Let none of you put himself before us and stop our way, that he may be worshipped as a god by us: neither principality, nor angel, nor power, separates us from the love of Christ. [Romans 8:39] It is good to trust in the Lord, rather than to trust in a prince; that he who glories, should glory in the Lord. [1 Corinthians 1:31] These indeed are powers in the administration of this world, but "the Lord of powers, He is the King of glory."

Source: Exposition on Psalm 24
[AD 430] Augustine of Hippo on Psalms 24:10
Now this is said twice in one and the same psalm … in a way that might be thought superfluous and unnecessary. But in the repetition of the same words pay attention to how they end, and notice why it is said twice. It is as if, you see, to the one who rises again once and ascends once, gates are opened twice, both those of hell and those of heaven. It is a new thing, after all, God present in hell; it is a new thing, a man taken up into heaven. At each moment, at each point, princes are terrified: “Who is this King of glory?” How can we tell this? Listen to the reply given to each. The first questioners are told, “The Lord, the valiant and mighty, the Lord mighty in war.” What sort of war? Undergoing death for mortals, suffering alone for all, the Almighty not resisting and yet conquering death in dying. Great indeed, then, is the King of glory, even in the netherworld. This is also repeated to the heavenly powers.… But because he lifts up a man also with him to heaven, it is as if he is not recognized there either, and they ask, “Who is this king of glory?” But there, because he is no longer a contender but the winner, because he is not fighting but celebrating his triumph, the reply here is not “The Lord mighty in war,” but “The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.”

Source: SERMON 377:1
[AD 460] Arnobius the Younger on Psalms 24:10
Who is the King of glory? Christ, the Son of God, he is the King of glory, casting off the prince of shame. He lifts high the eternal gates of the holy universal church, having cast down the temple of idols just as the gates of their prince the devil. If you should ask, “Who is that King of glory?” the apostle will answer, “The King of all for their salvation, Christ, Son of God, who rules forever.”

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 24
[AD 585] Cassiodorus on Psalms 24:10
He is the king of glory who makes glorious those who glorify him, as it is said by the Lord: “Those who glorify me, I will glorify.” He allots power and strength and other gifts to each one as he desires.

Source: EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 24:9
[AD 735] Bede on Psalms 24:10
With the report of his resurrection, already accomplished, going ahead of him, the Lord of hosts and the King of glory himself at length appeared and made clear with what great might he had overcome the death he had temporarily tasted.

Source: Homilies on the Gospels 2:9