Psalms 37

It is right and holy therefore, men and brethren, rather to obey God than to follow those who, through pride and sedition, have become the leaders of a detestable emulation. For we shall incur no slight injury, but rather great danger, if we rashly yield ourselves to the inclinations of men who aim at exciting strife and tumults, so as to draw us away from what is good. Let us be kind one to another after the pattern of the tender mercy and benignity of our Creator. For it is written, "The kind-hearted shall inhabit the land, and the guiltless shall be left upon it, but transgressors shall be destroyed from off the face of it." [Proverbs 2:21-22] And again [the Scripture] saith, "I saw the ungodly highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon: I passed by, and, behold, he was not; and I diligently sought his place, and could not find it. Preserve innocence, and look on equity: for there shall be a remnant to the peaceful man." [Psalm 37:35-37]

Therefore it is right and proper, brothers, that we should be obedient to God rather than follow those who in arrogance and unruliness have set themselves up as leaders in abominable jealousy. For we shall bring on us no common harm, but rather great peril, if we surrender ourselves recklessly to the purposes of people who launch out into strife and seditions, so as to estrange us from that which is right. Let us be good one toward another according to the compassion and sweetness of him that made us.

But be thou meek, since the meek shall inherit the earth. Be long-suffering and pitiful and guileless and gentle and good and always trembling at the words which thou hast heard. Thou shalt not exalt thyself, nor give over-confidence to thy soul. Thy soul shall not be joined with lofty ones, but with just and lowly ones shall it have its intercourse. The workings that befall thee receive as good, knowing that apart from God nothing cometh to pass.

"In many portions and in many ways God spoke to the fathers in the prophets". Sometimes indeed he teaches us ineffable mysteries in the things he speaks; but sometimes he instructs us concerning the Savior and his coming; and at other times he corrects and amends our conduct. On this account we shall attempt to assign, throughout the several passages of divine Scripture, distinctions of this kind, and to discern where there are prophecies and something is said about things to come, where certain mystical things are indicated, and where the passage is moral. Beginning therefore the exposition of the thirty-sixth psalm, we find that this whole psalm is moral, and given as it were as a certain care and medicine for the human soul, since it reproves our sins and teaches us to live according to the law. But let us now see what sort of beginning the first verse gives us. "Be not", he says, "jealous among the malignant, neither be envious of those who work iniquity: for like grass they shall quickly wither, and like the green herbs they shall quickly fall away". There are indeed two things which he teaches us in these words that we ought not to do. First, that we should not be jealous among the malignant; second, that we should not envy those who work iniquity — because the consequence for the one who is jealous among the malignant is that he withers like grass, and this he will suffer not slowly but quickly; while the consequence for the one who envies those who work iniquity is that he falls away quickly like the green herbs. And according to the simple understanding of the letter, "not to be jealous among the malignant" seems to indicate this: that among evil and utterly wicked men one should not become a zealot of malice, that is, a leader and author of it, offering as it were to the rest a pattern of disgrace. But "to envy those who work iniquity" is this: if one imitates them, and learns to act unjustly. And this is what is said in both cases: that you neither offer to others an example of malice, nor yourself follow the examples of other evil men. But that we may more fully recognize what this saying contains within it as well, I think it fitting to bring in from the divine Scriptures, wherever we find this saying written, and to compare spiritual things with spiritual, so that what is indicated through these may appear more evidently. It is written in Deuteronomy: "They provoked me to zeal in what is not God, they roused me to anger in their idols, and I will bring them to zeal in what is not a nation". Here, where in Latin it is said, "they brought me to zeal, and I will bring them to zeal", in the Greek it is the very same word that was spoken at the beginning of the psalm, that is, "they were jealous of me, and I will be jealous of them". Although that Greek word itself, that is, παρεζήλωσαν, would seem to be more significantly expressed in Latin if we should say "they provoked me", yet it is the very same word. But in the Apostle also it is written: "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" And where we have "we provoke the Lord to jealousy", in certain copies it is written "we provoke the Lord". From all these testimonies it is indicated that to be jealous of someone is to provoke and to rouse him: so that, for example's sake, if we use such an illustration: there are certain shameless and worthless women who, if perchance they have caught men in the enticements of a stolen love, in the course of time, not content with hidden disgraces, wish also to make it known to the chaste wives that they are loved by their husbands, in order that by this they may stir up jealousy, and provoke, and disturb other households. If you have understood the force of the example — how a mistress rouses jealousy in a wife — this too you ought to observe: what it is to be jealous among certain people, that is, when incitements to some malice are offered them. Finally, since that saying of Deuteronomy, in which he says, "They brought me to zeal in what is not God", that is, παρεζήλωσαν, means this, it becomes more clearly manifest from this what is written elsewhere, that our God is called a jealous God. Now a husband is wont to be called jealous concerning his wife, when he cares for her chastity more anxiously and cautiously, and does not allow the chastity of his spouse to be defiled. Whence it follows that he who sins provokes and rouses to jealousy God, who is called jealous. But all these things are to be heard of God abusively, just as also those things which are said of the wrath of God, or of sleep, or of sorrow, through which is understood what each one of us deserves from God for his own deeds. Finally, thus he said in Deuteronomy, that "they brought me to zeal in what is not God, and exasperated me in their idols", that is, by worshiping idols they roused me to zeal. But what follows? "And I will bring them to zeal in what is not a nation, in a foolish nation I will provoke them". Whence even now the Jews are not stirred against the gentiles, against those who worship idols and blaspheme God, and they do not hate them, nor are they indignant against them; but against Christians they are borne with an insatiable hatred — Christians who indeed, having left idols behind, are converted to God. When therefore you see the Jews holding a Christian in hatred and lying in wait for him, understand that that prophecy is fulfilled which says: "And I will rouse them by what is not a nation". For we are "not a nation," we who believe a few from this city, and others from another, and nowhere does a whole nation appear to have been taken up from the beginning of belief. For it is not as the nation of the Jews was, or the nation of the Egyptians, that in like manner also the race of the Christians is one nation, or a whole one, but they are gathered scatteredly out of the several nations. He says therefore, that "I will bring them to zeal by what is not a nation, in a foolish nation I will provoke them". And therefore they are provoked against us, and hold us in hatred as a foolish nation, saying that they themselves are wise, since indeed to them first the oracles of God were entrusted, and, meditating on the law of God from boyhood even to old age, they did not attain to the law of God; but for this reason God chose the foolish things of this world, that he might confound the wise, and thus is fulfilled what is written: "In a foolish nation I will provoke them". But let us see also what the Apostle indicates when he says: "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" In that passage he said these things where he disputes about sacrifices and about the things offered to idols. "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy", he says, that is, do we rouse him to zeal by eating the things offered to idols, just as the Jews stirred his zeal in their idols? Do we too wish to act in a like manner? Therefore he says: "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" This is what he means. If indeed we rouse to jealousy someone who is inferior to us in strength, we can easily despise him; but if we rouse a strong one to jealousy, are we not contriving these things unto our own ruin? If therefore we feed on things offered to idols, and rouse the Lord's zeal against us, we provoke a stronger wrath against us, that is, unto our own destruction. Whenever therefore you see a worthless man, watch, and beware lest you rouse his jealousy against you, lest you do anything incautiously whereby wickedness may be roused. For example's sake, that what is said may become plainer through an illustration: the blessed David roused the malignant Saul to jealousy, when he went out before the army and slew Goliath, and there came forth choirs of girls and women saying: "Saul has struck down in his thousands, and David in his ten thousands". And this indeed, if David had done it by his own effort, he would have been jealous in the malignity of Saul. But now it was not by his own effort that it came about that the choirs of girls went out and sang a hymn of this kind, that David had struck down in ten thousands, and Saul in thousands. This therefore is what the psalm teaches us: that since the race of men is prone to jealousy, and is very easily inclined to this vice, you should observe not to do that which would provoke evil men to jealousy of you, and rouse them to lie in wait for you, or stir them up to hatred of you. And this is the whole of what is signified in all these things: that you neither yourself provoke the jealousy of the evil against you, nor envy the wickedness of another. How then does a man envy the wickedness of another? Without doubt when he does the same things. But what I say is this: If someone has been made rich from poor through iniquity, and there is a needy neighbor of his, and he sees him who rose up from the earth and ascended to the height of riches, and begins to envy so that he too may likewise grow rich from iniquity, this is to envy those who work iniquity. But also if anyone should wish to envy him who, whether by stealthy debaucheries or by unlawful ventures, seizes upon marriages, houses, riches beyond his own place and measure, he has envied those who work iniquity. And further, those who through diverse disgraces, or through unworthy and unlawful ambitions, have reached the undeserved heights of goods, and by iniquitous factions or bloody hands have seized honors not due to them — if anyone, seeing these, is inflamed to a like madness, he has envied those who work iniquity.

But after these things he added a certain mystical saying, which is beyond my hearing, and above my tongue, which exceeds my understanding. For he says, whether concerning all sinners, or concerning some one sinner — for he speaks in the singular: "Yet a little while, and the sinner shall not be". He says that there is indeed a little while yet from the present time up to the consummation of the age, or perhaps even beyond the consummation of the age, and until that avenging fire consume the adversaries. But if this comes to pass in some manner, the sinner shall not be; and by what reasoning it can come to pass that he be not a sinner, let him examine and inquire who can. "Yet a little while, and the sinner shall not be, and you shall seek his place and not find it". But not only shall the sinner not be, but neither shall there be a place of the sinner. And what is the place of the sinner, but these things which pass away? "Heaven", he says, "and earth shall pass away". Without doubt, therefore, together with the sin itself which has passed away, the place too of the sinner shall pass away. "Heaven", he says, "and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away". Let us strive, therefore, to do the words of God, which do not pass away, lest perchance we too perish together with those things which pass away. For if we do sin, which passes away, without doubt we too shall be reckoned with those things which pass away. But if we do righteousness, which does not pass away, neither shall we ourselves pass away, but we shall remain with the abiding righteousness, according to that which is written: "Is not my hand able to save? or have I made my ear heavy that I should not hear? But your sins separate between you and God". But also from the beginning of creation it is said that not without some mystical reason the firmament was made, which should separate between the waters and the waters, and divide the habitation of mortals from the seats and habitations of the angels. From this, therefore, this dry land, which the Lord also named earth, was assigned as a place for us sinners. But certain other places too are named waters, over which the Spirit of the Lord is said to be borne. And certain other places are named the abyss, over which darkness is reported to be laid. And of the waters indeed it is said in another Scripture, that "The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you, and were afraid". But of the abyss it says, that "the abyss was troubled"; without doubt because it has not peace, but has darkness laid over it. But the demons too in the Gospel are said to beg that they be not commanded to go away into the abyss, as into a certain place of punishment worthy both of themselves and of their deeds. Not only, therefore, shall the sinner not be, but even his place, whatever it is, shall be sought, and shall not be.

After these things he says: "The sinner considers", he says, "the righteous". The sinner considers and gazes upon the righteous, and it is grievous to him to behold, and therefore he considers him in order to deliver him to death: which those men without doubt did against the Savior who slew the prophets, and crucified God, and have persecuted us even now; and the people of God which is Christ's, that is, the disciples of righteousness, they consider and desire to deliver to death, and they seek to put them to death. But what does the righteous people of God and disciple of righteousness say? It uses the word of the Master, and says: "You would have no power over me, unless it were given you from above". This can also be fitted, in the time of the persecution of the Gentiles, to the holy martyrs and confessors. For the impious persecutors consider each single one of the righteous and seek to put him to death. But lest such an exposition make you unconcerned in a time of peace, remember that the righteous has a daily persecutor, the devil, and it is he who considers the righteous. For he lies in wait always, and like a roaring lion goes about seeking whom he may devour. But if you are full of faith and trust in the Lord, see what is promised: "But the Lord will not leave him in his hands", namely those of the sinner, "nor condemn him when he shall be judged with him". He understands this which he says, "when he shall be judged with him", in two ways: that is, either when the righteous is judged by God, or when God himself is judged together with the righteous. For frequently divine Scripture teaches that these things come to pass, saying that "the Lord himself will come into judgment". When therefore the righteous shall be judged together with the Lord, he shall not be condemned.

The expression "we have need" is applied to those things that are necessary for life. Consequently, applied to material things, it means that one does not need most things but only those of which Paul says, "but having food and clothing, we shall be satisfied with these things." Those things, [by contrast], that are accumulated in wealth and luxury are the result of abundance among those who live luxuriously. They are not considered to be necessary and absolutely essential but to be superfluous. So, therefore, there are also things that are necessary for us in the realm of divine matters, which bring us into life and cause us to be in the one who says, "I am the life." But what supersedes these things would be said to supersede need. It is said of such things, "Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the requests of your heart." These include all the things that are considered in relation to the paradise of luxury and in relation to wealth and glory, the things in the left hand of wisdom according to him who said, "For length of life and years of life are in her right hand, but in her left hand are wealth and glory." One would say that these go beyond necessity.

"Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the petitions of your heart". It is the custom of divine Scripture to introduce two men by ὁμωνυμίᾳ, that is, to name the one from the other by likeness of the other — that is, to apply the things which are of the outer man also to the inner. But what I say is this: The outer, corporeal man feeds on corruptible foods, and those suited to him. But there is also a certain food of the inner man, of which it is said that man lives in every word of God. There is a drink of the outer man, there is another of the inner. For we drink from the spiritual rock that follows, and we drink water which, as Jesus says, "whoever drinks, shall not thirst forever". There is also a garment of the outer man, there is also a garment of the inner man. And if indeed he is a sinner, he clothes himself with cursing like a garment. But if he is righteous, he hears: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ". And: "Put on the bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience". And what need is there to relate through particulars how the inner man is named by the homonymous appellations of the outer man? The outer man and the inner man have arms. He who wars according to the inner man is clothed with the arms of God, that he may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. But after many examples, let us come to what has been proposed. Let us see what is signified by that which was said: "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the petitions of your heart". It must first be known that this which I have said in Latin, "take delight in the Lord", in the Greek is said, "take your delights in the Lord". For this is what the Greek word indicates: which is κατατρύφησον. As therefore according to the outer man it is possible not only to use foods, but also to enjoy delights, and especially those who are rich enjoy delights; so likewise the inner man can not only use foods, but also enjoy delights. Which I think comes about in this way. If anyone hears only those words which invite him to the fear of God, this man takes only food from a word of this kind. But he who gives diligence to understanding the law, to searching through the prophets, to the resolutions of the parables of the Gospel, to the explanation of the apostolic words, and who in all things gives diligence to understanding and knowledge, this man enjoys delights. For he uses the food of the commandments not only for that which suffices him for life, but takes delight in all the acknowledgment of knowledge. This is what I think is indicated in that too, in that God is said from the beginning to have planted a paradise of delights, without doubt one in which we might enjoy spiritual delights. But also elsewhere: "A torrent", he says, "of delights you will give them to drink", namely the saints. But here too I know that in the Latin copies it is wont to be held "the torrent of your pleasure", but in the Greek is held τρυφῆς, which is "of delights". But also to all the saints a contempt of corporeal delights is enjoined, and a hope of spiritual delights is promised in return. Do you wish also to receive authority of the divine Scripture concerning this? There was a certain rich man, and Lazarus a poor man; the rich man was in corporeal delights, Lazarus was wasted with hunger. Each departed from the age, and Lazarus indeed was taken up by the angels into the bosom of Abraham, that there he might rest in delights; but that one who had been in corporeal delights went off into the gehenna of fire, as it is in the Gospel, and hears from Abraham, that "you have obtained good things in your life", that is, you have abused delights, "and Lazarus evil things: but now here he rests, while you are tormented". No one can have delights both in the flesh and in the spirit. But if anyone takes delight in the flesh, like that rich man, he will lack the bosom of Abraham and its delights. But he who in the present age feeds on the bread of affliction, like that poor man, when he has departed hence, will be in delights. "Take delight" therefore "in the Lord, and he will give you the petition of your heart". But if you wish still more fully to see how one takes delight in the Lord, perceive that the Lord is truth, and is wisdom, and is righteousness, and is sanctification. If therefore you abound in the riches of truth, if you abound in the understanding of wisdom, if you are copious in the acts of righteousness, then you take delight fully and entirely in the Lord. And when you have fulfilled these things, then you will also obtain that which follows. For "the Lord will give you the petitions of your heart". Yet necessarily he added "the petitions of your heart", when he could surely have said your petitions. But thus it can be more easily understood. For if a certain proper person of each of the members be imagined — for example's sake, if the eye had a voice, would it not say: I ask for light, that I may see those things which delight me to see? For I shun to see any horror, and everything that disturbs and saddens the sight. Similarly, if the hearing received a voice, would it not say: I ask for a sound composed with measured art, a delightful sound, but I shun to hear anything harsh and terrible? So if a voice were given to taste, and to touch, all our senses without doubt would ask for those things which suited their own sense. From these therefore let us pass over to the heart, in which is the mind, and the principal understanding, and let us see what the heart desires and what it asks, just as concerning the eye or the ears and the other senses we have shown in the foregoing. According to its own nature the heart without doubt demands understanding. As the eye demands sight, so the heart requires understanding. As the ear desires a sweet sound, so the heart takes delight in wise perceptions. As taste in a sweet savor, so the heart rejoices in prudent thoughts. As smell in the sweetness of fragrance, so the heart is glad in rational pursuits. As touch in soft and gentle things, so the heart takes delight in useful and excellent counsels. If therefore you take delight in the Lord, and enjoy the abundances and delights of wisdom, and of truth, and of righteousness, the Lord will give you the petitions of your heart, suited to the delights spoken of above.

"Turn aside from evil and do good, and dwell forever and ever". Hearing these things, he says, do what is good, thou shalt dwell forever — that is, if thou shalt act as thou hast been taught, thy dwelling shall be eternal. For if thou look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are not seen — since the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal — thou shalt dwell forever.

But now let us see what happens to those sinners who do these things, that is, who use the sword of the devil and the darts of the malignant one, what the divine word says again about them: "Their framea", it says, "let it enter into their own heart, and let their bow be broken". Framea is a kind of dart, called by this name. Therefore those speeches, which, at the inspiration of the devil, the unjust and sinners bring forth, it says, against the righteous, to slay the upright of heart, will be turned back against those very ones who bring them forth, so that they may return thither whence they had proceeded. For just as it is said to the righteous and holy apostles by the Lord: "Into whatever house you enter, say: Peace to this house; and if there be there a son of peace, your peace will come upon him; but if not, your peace will return to you"; so here too, on the contrary, the sword of the impious which is drawn to slay the upright of heart is said to return upon themselves, and to be plunged into their own heart, and their bow to be broken, while the Lord delivers the righteous from their ambushes.

"By the Lord", he says, "are the steps of a man directed". And elsewhere in this psalm he speaks of the steps of the righteous man in this way: "The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted". But also in the seventy-second psalm it is said: "My steps had almost been poured out". We therefore name "steps" (gressus) from "walking" (gradiendo), according to that which is written in Exodus, that Moses saw a flame of fire and an angel, when the bush indeed burned but was not consumed, and he said: "Stepping aside, or passing over, I will behold this great vision". From this passage, then, an occasion is given us for understanding the things we have in hand. Therefore concerning those things which we have recalled as written in Exodus — that is, "stepping aside I will behold this great vision" — I heard a certain one of the wise men before us saying, when he was explaining this passage, that it is not possible to see the great vision beforehand — that is, to gaze upon and to perceive the great mysteries — while one stands amid the converse and doings of this world; but that one must first pass over from these things, and transcend all worldly things, and our sense and mind must become free, and then arrive at the contemplation of great and spiritual things, and so at last see the great vision. This man, indeed, in explaining this passage, set forth what we have recalled above. But we, whose zeal it is, according to the admonitions of Scripture, to praise the words of the wise and to add to them, are able to add to what he said something of this kind. Everyone who journeys toward virtue advances by walking, so that little by little, through the many advances of the journey, he arrives at it. Journeying, then, and stepping as it were by certain paces, he always steps aside, and passes over the things he has unfolded, and leaving behind the things that are behind, he stretches himself out toward the things that are before. Stepping aside, then, he passes over the first place of malice, and thence advancing by paces and steps he passes over the other stakes of sins, then next the rugged crags of wickedness, and the slippery and precipitous places of the vices. But when he has escaped even these, always stretching himself out toward the things that are ahead, less of malice remains, and all that lies along the way of advance; if only in going he watches his steps more cautiously lest he slip, so that as he steps aside from each several place of malice, in such wise that he does not strike his foot against it, according to what is written in Exodus, he may be able to see the great vision. For no one who is still in malice, and does not step aside from it and pass over it, will be able to gaze upon this great vision of the secret things of God — that is, of His knowledge and wisdom. Great, then, is the vision, when God is seen with a pure heart. Great is the vision when with a pure heart the Word of God, and the Wisdom of God, who is His Christ, is acknowledged. Great is the vision, to acknowledge and to believe in the Holy Spirit. Great, then, is this vision — the knowledge of the Trinity. Nevertheless, even Moses was then seeing in Exodus the great vision, and he who was seen in the bush in the fire is called an angel, and he calls it a great vision. For he understood who it was in the angel. For immediately thereupon He says to God: "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob". See, then, how great this vision is — although this very thing also is great, to know that God makes "His angels spirits, and His ministers a burning fire". And now indeed to Moses, still pasturing the flocks of Jethro his father-in-law, and stepping or passing over from these, this vision is great, in which an angel is said to appear to him. But if he shall also have passed over the Red Sea, and the pillar of cloud has covered him, and he has adored the sacraments of the future baptism, then he will be able to see a still greater vision. For he will enter into the darkness and the whirlwind, where God Himself is said to be, where it is written that Moses alone drew near to God, but the others stood afar off. And Moses advances so far through these great visions, that he says to God: "If I have found", he says, "grace before Thee, manifest Thyself to me, that I may evidently see Thee". And then he hears from God: "I will set thee in the cleft of the rock" — and the rock was Christ — that through a very small opening thou mayest see My hinder parts, that is, that thou mayest acknowledge those things which in the last times shall be fulfilled through the assumption of the flesh: "But My face thou shalt not be able to see". But having stepped aside through very many visions, let us now return to what we proposed concerning the psalm, that "by the Lord", he says, "are the steps of a man directed". We have expounded above how one enters upon the journey toward virtue: for he who journeys toward virtue has many things to step aside from and to pass over. Therefore you also who tend toward Christ, who is the Virtue of God, step aside from luxury, harlots, adulteries; step aside from thefts, false testimonies; then next step aside also from avarice, and every desire of money and of the other evil things; step aside from lying; step aside from the sorrow of the world. Unless you shall have stepped aside from all these, you will not be able to see that great vision of the Lord. There are, then, certain steps and feet in us by which we make this journey; there are steps of the inner man by which we can walk along that way which says: "I am the way, the truth, and the life". In making this journey, then, we must use many steps, that we may pass over all those things which we said above, because the steps of a man are directed by the Lord. For a man who wishes to travel this journey, the will of his own purpose alone does not suffice, unless the Lord also has directed his steps: because it frequently happens to travelers that they walk, yet cannot keep the way straight, but fall into certain errors — as those who are engaged in the learning of philosophy seem indeed to be traveling the way of virtue, but because their steps are not directed by the Lord, they do not keep the straight way. But heretics also, no less, enter upon the way even themselves, but since they understand the Scriptures carnally, not spiritually, they turn aside to the left. But if they do understand spiritually, yet in that very spiritual understanding do not hold the apostolic rule of truth, they fall no less, even they, to the right — the devil, so to speak, not directing their steps, but twisting them aside from the straight way. Let us therefore, turning aside neither to the right nor to the left, enter upon the middle way, which is Christ the Lord, because in Him the Lord directs the steps of those who walk. "By the Lord", then, "shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall desire His way" — that way, namely, of which we spoke above. For he who is directed by God will desire Christ, and will long to abide always in Christ.

The Law, indeed, wishing us to open our mouth to the word of God, commanded, saying: "You shall speak", it says, "these things sitting in your house, and going by the way, and lying down, and rising up". But Solomon too in the Proverbs marks out something similar in a brief admonition, saying: "Open your mouth to the word of God". In like manner now also the Prophet teaches us, when he says: "The mouth of the righteous shall meditate wisdom". For truly nothing else ought to proceed from the mouth of the righteous except wisdom. Wherefore you also, whoever of you are the less instructed among the brethren, hearing the word of the Prophet, give diligence and take care, along with the works of righteousness, to bring forth also from your mouth the word of wisdom. And that this precept may not seem difficult to you, I will suggest to you a brief word of wisdom. The Apostle says that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. If therefore you always speak of Christ, if you always meditate upon his words, if you hold his precepts in your mouth, worthily will your mouth meditate wisdom. For this is not the only meditation of wisdom, if one is able to teach, or to dispute more broadly in the Church, or to refute those who contradict. This too is indeed a work of wisdom, but one man does more, another less. In one man, this very fact that he believes the wisdom of God is reckoned as wisdom; in another, this too, that he acquiesces to the wise and loves the sayings of the wise, is called wisdom; and in some, even merely to inquire about wisdom is reckoned as wisdom. Only observe this one thing, brethren, that none of you be found not only not to speak nor meditate wisdom, but even to hate and to oppose those who bear a zeal for wisdom. For the unlearned are wont to have, together with their other faults, also this worst one, that they think those who have given their labor to the word and to teaching to be empty and superfluous, and they embrace their own ignorance more than the studies and labor of those others; and, changing the names, they call the exercises of those men wordiness, but their own indocility or ignorance they call simplicity. Yet the best of all is he who proves wisdom by works, and who knows himself to be wise by the uprightness of his life. Blessed therefore is he who opens his mouth to the word of God, and, advancing in age according to Christ, shall advance also in wisdom. Certainly, if we cannot advance further in wisdom, let it at least not weary us to observe this: to open our mouth more frequently in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and in prayer or in the honor of God. For this too is no small meditation of wisdom, so that through it the mouth of the righteous may be found always to meditate wisdom. Yet it does not seem to me idle that he did not say, the mouth of the righteous meditates wisdom, which could at any rate look to the present time, but he said, "shall meditate wisdom"; which without doubt looks to the future time, in which too all the other interpreters, except one, agree. Lest therefore perhaps this tense designate something mystical, by which, namely, there is indicated some such future hope of the promise to come, and of grace, and of the inheritance, that the mouth of the righteous be filled not with food and drink, nor with delights and pleasures, not with feeding upon banquets, but with meditating wisdom. For beyond, there will not be anyone unlearned in the kingdom of God, none will remain indocile, none will be a stranger to the knowledge of things; we shall all be made, if only we shall be worthy, disciples of wisdom. If anyone placed here is imbued and instructed in those things which, placed in the flesh, he is able to attain, there, now illumined by more perfect disciplines, even those things which here were sought by study and labor will come to serve as an abridgment for the instruction to come. But he who here has not yet laid down the first rudiments, but still speaks as a little child and understands as a little child, there too shall be instructed as a little child, so that, having at length become a man through the advances of wisdom, he may lay aside the things that are of a little child. Or does not the Law also designate something of this kind, if it be understood spiritually, when it says: "You shall speak of them sitting at home, and going by the way, and lying down, and rising up"? Which we can understand thus: sitting at home and lying down, when in the Church, which is the house of God, we speak the word of God, being, namely, placed in this body; going by the way, in that way which says: "I am the way", we speak the word of God; and rising up, when we shall have risen from the sleep of death in the resurrection, then we speak those things which are perfect, rising up from the sleep of death, as Solomon too says of him who has made wisdom his friend and familiar, that "if you sit down, you shall be without fear, and if you sleep, you shall gladly take your sleep, and you shall not fear the terror that comes upon you, nor the assaults of the impious rushing upon you". Let these things suffice concerning that which is written: "The mouth of the righteous shall meditate wisdom", to which is added: "And his tongue shall speak judgment".

In a twofold manner is the tongue of the righteous understood to speak judgment: either for the reason that he speaks all the things he speaks with right judgment, and with deliberation and with counsel, and nothing through wrath, nothing to please men, nothing out of sadness, nothing out of fear — which things severally are wont, at any rate, not to preserve for men an intact judgment; or certainly because the righteous always speaks of the judgment to come, so as always to admonish either himself or those who hear him concerning the fear of the judgment to come, and concerning the punishments that have been prepared for sinners, concerning the future examination, but also concerning the promises of the saints which have been prepared for them by God — and so that he may both save himself and those who hear him. And in this manner will it be fulfilled that the tongue of the righteous shall speak judgment. But if it is fitting here too to observe the inflection of the future tense — since he did not say, speaks, but "shall speak" — we can also understand in this something of this kind: that now, however much it is that we can either speak or feel concerning the judgment of God, it is necessary for us to know that which the Apostle defines, saying: "How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" But if we shall be able to arrive at that perfection of which he says: "But then face to face", that is, when the things themselves shall become more evident to us, when we shall have begun to recognize the reason of each single thing which in this world either has been done or is being done — with what judgment they have been done, or what judgment God uses in each single case, by what dispensations of his providence; if anyone shall have been worthy to consider and to perceive how the judgments of God are a great deep; when we shall be able more fully to receive the grace of that Spirit which searches all things, even the deep things of God — then truly and completely, according to the distinction of the prophetic word, will the tongue of the righteous speak the judgments of God.

"And they shall not be confounded in the evil time". But the righteous shall not be confounded in the evil time. And the evil time here he names the time of judgment, because of the multitude of sinners, and of those whom savage torments shall receive. Then therefore, in the time of resurrection, when all have risen, and some shall rise into eternal life, others into eternal confusion, then, he says, the righteous shall not be confounded, because nothing worthy of confusion is found in their acts. But he adds: "And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied". First it must be inquired who are the days of famine. God threatens in a certain place through the prophet, and says: "Behold, the days come, says the Lord, and I will send a famine upon the earth, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but a famine for hearing the word of God. And they shall go about from the east even to the west, that they may hear the word of the Lord, and shall not find it". These, therefore, are the days, and this is the time of famine, when there are none who speak the word of God, as also there is now a famine among the Jews. For nowhere is there a prophet, nowhere a wise man, nowhere a prudent judge, nowhere a captain of fifty, nowhere a wise counsellor, nowhere an understanding hearer: God has taken away all things from Judea and Jerusalem. But in us too there is a huge fear, lest perhaps a famine threaten us as well. For just as those of whom we spoke above, by reading the law and not doing it, ran into this: that they suffered a famine of the word of God, and all the gifts of God which we mentioned above were taken away from them, and it was commanded to the clouds (namely the prophets) not to rain upon them the rain of the word of God, it is to be feared lest some such kind of correction be brought upon us too: but let us rather become not only hearers of the law, but also doers, so that the Lord may command his clouds, not one, nor two, but many, to rain upon us the rain, so that in the Church two or three prophets may speak, and the rest examine: and if it be revealed to one sitting, let the first be silent, so that there may be many workmen who need not be confounded, rightly handling the word of truth, so that each of the teachers and of those who preach the word of God may say, according to Paul: "I planted, and he watered, but God gave the increase". And these things will come to pass, if we who are watered by the clouds and have heard the word of God bring forth those fruits which the Apostle enumerates, that is, "the fruits of the spirit", which are "joy, charity, peace, patience, long-suffering", and other things like to these. And if we delay to bring forth these fruits, it is to be feared lest it be commanded to the clouds to withhold their showers from us, and each of the saints begin to do that which is written: "But he who understands shall in that time sit and be silent, because the time is evil". But we ought to remember the history of the ancients concerning the time of famine, how the righteous man is satisfied in the time of famine. A fitting famine, I think, there was in the times of Elijah the prophet, when heaven was shut for three years and six months. And then the people indeed were imperiled by famine, but Elijah did not suffer famine. And then indeed he was fed by an angel, when he also went in the strength of that food, and remained forty days and forty nights; but now he was fed by the ministering ravens, when they brought him bread in the morning and flesh in the evening, and again it is related that he drank water from the torrent Cherith, and came into Zarephath of the Sidonians to a widow woman in the time of famine, and, because he was righteous, he did not suffer the want of famine, but everywhere abundance was at hand for him; and at one and the same time there was famine for sinners; but Elijah, because he was righteous, knew no famine. So therefore, even if a famine come at some time—which the Lord may not grant to his Church!—yet if ever it happen, he who has understanding and exercise in the meditation of the word of God, and has resolved to meditate in his law day and night, and to exercise himself to grasp the spiritual understanding, will find in them that bread which came down from heaven, and the word of God will become to him abundant food, and overflowing drink; and not only food and drink, but if he be able to examine the deeper sacraments of mystical understanding, the words of God will be delights to him. It is possible also in another way in this place for a deeper sense to be opened. The Lord and Savior says: "The night will come when no one can work". And this he says of that time which will be after this age, the time in which each one shall receive punishments for his own evils. Then, therefore, he says that night will come, when now no one can work anything, but each one is then fed from his own works which, placed here, he wrought. When therefore it is night, no one works in that time: when sinners shall be afflicted with punishments, there will without doubt be famine for those who have gathered no fruits of good work. But in that time of famine, the righteous shall be satisfied, namely from the fruits of their own righteousness. For just as in the desert they gathered manna for six days, but on the sixth day they gathered not the measure of one day, but as much as would suffice for the morrow, and each one ate on the Sabbath day what he had gathered on the sixth day; so also now the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is to be reckoned as a kind of sixth day, and this time of his dispensation, which by his passion he procured in this age. And therefore, while we are in the sixth day, let us gather manna doubly, that it may be able to suffice us when the true observance of the Sabbath of the people of God shall have come. For if we do not gather double food, which may suffice us both in the present age and in the future, in the days of famine we shall not be satisfied. For thus, when the righteous shall be satisfied in the days of famine, "the sinners", it says, "shall perish; but the enemies of the Lord, as soon as they have been honored and exalted, failing shall fail like smoke". The divine word teaches us of what sort are the honors of this age. For when you see that man puffed up, having received the fasces of that province, another lifted up with consulships, another raised up with diverse magistracies, when therefore you see all this elation, consider that, failing, they shall fail like smoke: recall too how many you have seen in these honors, and how great the heights to which you remember them to have ascended even up to your own time, and see whether not all of them, well and truly, after they were exalted, thrown down again and prostrated, failed like smoke. "But the enemies of the Lord, as soon as they shall be honored and exalted, failing shall fail like smoke". But on the contrary the friends of the Lord, as soon as they have been despised and looked down upon and humbled by men, shall be exalted and raised up by God: since "everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted".

After these things there are added certain matters which need no small exposition, for he says: "The sinner shall borrow and shall not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and lends". Even this, if we take it according to the letter, will not seem true. For many sinners indeed receive money on loan and repay it with interest, so that they themselves sometimes have even taken profit from the money which they had received. But here the Prophet defines, saying: "The sinner shall borrow, and shall not pay". But if you understand who it is that lends, and who it is that receives the loan, and inquire who is the sinner that does not repay the money which he received, you will understand that what is written has consistency. For example, when Paul teaches and hearers stand by him, Paul is he who lends the Lord's money, but the hearers are those who receive from his mouth the money of the word on loan. And if indeed he be righteous who receives the money from him, he will repay the loan whole and say: "Five minas you gave me, behold I have gained another five". If he is righteous, he says: "Five talents you gave me, behold you have ten"; or, "Two talents you gave me, behold you have four". But if he is a sinner, having received the word of God, he does not work out of it the works of the commandment, and does not repay the interest, but consumes all that he received on loan. Behold, even now all you to whom I speak these things, you receive on loan my words as money; this money is the Lord's. Or if you doubt, hear the Prophet saying, that "The eloquences of the Lord are chaste eloquences, silver tried by fire, purged of earth, sevenfold". If, therefore, I teach badly, my money is reprobate, according to those to whom it was said, "your silver is reprobate". But if I teach well, the money or silver is not mine, but is the Lord's, and it is tried. It is lawful for me, therefore, to lend the Lord's money, but my own proper money it is not lawful, because the word of the Lord forbids human money to be lent at interest. What, then, is the human, and what the Lord's money? I think that the speech of Valentinus is human money and reprobate, and the money of Marcion and of Basilides is human and reprobate, and the speech of all the heretics is not tried money, nor does it have in itself entire the figure of the Lord, but an adulterate one, which, so to speak, has been so figured outside the mint, because it has been composed outside the Church. But if you should see someone speaking forth not his own words, but the words of God, who may truly dare to say: "Do you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me?", know that this man indeed lends, and lends not his own, but the Lord's money, and does that which is written: "All the day he shows mercy and lends", having authority to lend given to him by my very God Jesus Christ. For it is the Lord himself who, in the parable, when money has been given, says to the servants: "Go, do business until I return". And that servant who had scorned to multiply the money, he says, "You ought to have given my money to the money-changers, and I, coming, would certainly have exacted it with interest". This is the sinner who borrows and shall not pay: but the righteous repays the money received with interest, that is, he presents the received word of God together with works. You hear a discourse about chastity, you praise the teacher, you embrace the doctrine, you admire the teaching; through these you have received the money of chastity. And if indeed you are a sinner, having gone out from the Church you engage yourself in secular business, wantonness receives you, drunkenness follows, the faithless conversations of corrupt men, forgetting straightway all that you had received from the teacher, which you had praised, which you had admired, and you turn aside again to unchaste harlots, and you have become a sinner, who borrowed the word of chastity and do not repay the works of chastity. Likewise also, if you have heard the word of righteousness in the church, you have gone forth outside, there meets you a neighbor whose field you had coveted, and straightway forgetting the things that were said, that you may satisfy your desire, you invade what belongs to another, and thus, having borrowed the money of righteousness, you do not repay the interest, working the deeds of righteousness. So therefore, concerning each and every thing, "the sinner borrows and shall not pay, but the righteous shows mercy and lends". Not only, it says, does the righteous lend, that is, not only does he preach the word, that is, not only does he teach the unskilled, but he also has mercy on the weak. For he follows the example of the Lord who says: "I prefer mercy to sacrifice".

"When he shall have fallen", he says, "he shall not be troubled". Having above said that his steps are directed by the Lord, here he speaks of his fall. See, then, that even to those who travel this journey it sometimes happens to fall, even to those who are directed by the Lord; but there is a great difference between the fall of the righteous and the fall of the unrighteous. The righteous man, he says, when he shall have fallen, is not laid prostrate; the unrighteous man, and he who has no hope placed in God, if he shall have fallen, is laid prostrate and does not rise — that is, if he has sinned, he does not repent and knows not how to amend his sin. But the righteous man, if he has offended in anything, if in a word — for it is the Apostle who says: "For in many things we all offend, and if any man offend not in word, this is a perfect man" — the righteous man therefore offends in word, perhaps also sometimes even in deed, but he knows how to amend, he knows how to correct: he knows how, who had said, "I know not the man", and a little after, when he had been looked upon by the Lord, to weep most bitterly; he knows how, too, who had seen the woman from the roof and had desired her, to say "I have sinned", because "against Thee only have I sinned and done evil before Thee". If, then, when the righteous man shall have fallen he is not laid prostrate, he will not remain in sin, but will leap forth quickly, like a roe from the nets, and like a bird from the snare. But the unrighteous man not only remains, but is even laid prostrate in his sins. But the righteous man, what does he do? "The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted". There he said that the steps of a man are directed by the Lord; here, that the steps of the righteous shall not be supplanted, "because the Lord", he says, "strengthens his hand". In another psalm, that is, in the seventy-second, he says: "But my feet were almost moved". In the same sense it seems to be understood likewise. For as we advance toward the virtues we use, as it were, a certain ascent; and in that ascent, if anyone slip and fall down, he loses the gain of his ascent. This man's steps, then, are poured out. But this happens when someone, after sin, has turned backward: as befell Lot's wife, who was entering in well as she went out from Sodom, and, fleeing the punishments of the wicked, was entering and ascending toward the mountain whither she was proceeding with the angel as guide; but because, against the commandment of God — that she had been ordered not to look back, nor to stand in all that region, but to ascend to the mountain and there be saved — when she, turned toward what was behind, looked back, there her steps were poured out, she lost all that she had before stepped aside from, and remained a completed little statue of salt. This is what the Lord says in the Gospel: "No one putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God". Do you wish me to show you also others whose steps were poured out? Recall those who passed through the Red Sea as through dry land, and, sinning in the desert, fell, and there their steps were poured out. But also now, if it should ever happen that someone has lived in continence for three or four years, and even longer, another has given his labor to the study of the word and of doctrine and to the labors of wisdom; then afterward, if this one is overcome, and either passes over to the luxury of the flesh, or turns aside to other sins, or transfers himself to the life of the world, or turns to the business and gains of corruptible life — do not hesitate to say of him that his steps have been poured out. Let us therefore beseech the Lord that He direct our steps, and guard our ways, so that our steps be not supplanted; that in the way we travel — that is, in Christ our Lord — our footsteps may be made firm as upon a stable rock, that we may in no way be able to be supplanted; through Him, namely, whose head we watch over, and He watches over our heel — to whom indeed we ought never to offer the bare sole, but we ought always to be "shod as to our feet in the preparation of the Gospel of peace", so that if the devil the supplanter comes, and finds our feet fortified and standing upon the rock, he may not be strong enough to supplant us thence. For although we said a little before that some fall and some slips can happen even to those who follow the way of virtue, yet it must be observed that there, where he said, "When he shall have fallen, he shall not be laid prostrate", above he had spoken not so much of the righteous man as of the pure man. For he says: "By the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall desire His way; when he shall have fallen, he shall not be laid prostrate". In this it is shown that there are some falls which nevertheless do not straightway indicate that he who has fallen is overcome and laid prostrate. For as it is wont to happen also in a contest, that of two wrestling together it befalls one to fall first, and, when he has fallen, to rise and to conquer: so also in our contest, which is for us against the prince of this world, if it perchance happens that one of us is overcome and falls into some sin, it is possible that after the sin someone should come to his senses, and rise up and shudder at the evil he has committed, and thereafter not only contain himself, but also make satisfaction to God, washing his bed every night, and watering his couch with tears, taking up the word of prophetic authority by which it is said: "Shall he that falls not add that he may rise again? or he that has turned away, shall he not turn back? Woe to those who have turned away with a shameless turning away", says the Lord. And this is he who was indeed able to fall, but could not be laid prostrate. But if you shall see someone fallen into some sin, and after the fall despairing of conversion, and saying: How now can I be saved, who have fallen? now there is no hope, my sins bind me up, how can I dare to draw near to the Lord? How to return to the Church? — and if with this despair such a one departs even from God, this man has not only fallen, but in his fall is laid prostrate and sunk down. And it is indeed to be wished that the athlete of piety and virtue should remain always immovable, so that he lose not even one bout, so to speak, that he be not once bent or supplanted. But if this cannot be, but it should befall him to fall, let him not lie down after the fall, lest he be laid prostrate, but let him rise up and amend his fault, let him purge by the satisfaction of his repentance what he has committed, lest even of him the Apostle should say: "And I should mourn many of those who sinned before, and did not do penance for the uncleanness and fornication and unchastity which they committed". Wherefore also the Apostle took up examples of the wrestling contest when he says: "No one is crowned unless he has striven lawfully", except that he wished us to know the strivings and contests of the law? — who also of himself says: "So I fight, not as one beating the air". And again: "I have fought the good fight". Since, then, a striving and contest is set before us, we ought also to know the contest of the law. There are athletes who conquer in all contests, and in all are crowned. Among the boys (paedas) they conquer, among the youths (agonios) they conquer, among the men (andras) they conquer. Others are conquered among the men, but are crowned among the youths, and sometimes conquer even among the men. Therefore some are crowned always, some a second or third time. Surely it is a wretched thing and of the utmost unhappiness, in all the contests, so various and diverse, not to merit even one crown. So therefore also the Christian, whose "striving is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and against the princes of this world of these darknesses, against the spiritual things of wickedness in the heavenly places", since he has adversaries so many and such, ought like a contestant to be watchful, if it can be, that he may always conquer as often as he engages, and straightway among the boys (paedas) — that is, among the children — seize the first crowns. Do you wish me to show you some who among the children — that is, straightway at the first milk — were crowned? Look upon the blessed Daniel, who from a boy merited both the grace of prophecy, and, convicting the wicked elders, as a boy obtained the crown of righteousness and chastity. Do you wish me to bring forth for you another crowned among the children? See Jeremiah, who, when he excused himself from prophesying on account of his youth, heard from the Lord: "Say not, I am a boy, for to all to whomsoever I shall send thee, thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall say to thee, thou shalt speak". But perhaps these ages seem to you already adult. I will give you an athlete who wrestled and conquered before he uttered his infant cries among men. Jacob, while still within the womb of his mother, wrestling with his brother Esau, supplanted him and conquered, whence also he received from his parent the blessings of the firstborn belonging to the supplanted and vanquished brother. For do not those children too seem to you to have been crowned in a childish contest, who at Bethlehem, of two years old and under, for the name of the Lord took the palm of martyrdom? You see how many examples of crowns among children we have. This concerning that of which we resumed the exposition — that verse which says: "When he shall have fallen, he shall not be laid prostrate". And why he is not laid prostrate, he added the cause, saying: "Because the Lord strengthens his hand". And see how consistently he speaks of each thing: Lest he fall, the Lord, he says, directs his steps; but if he shall have fallen, he is not laid prostrate: the Lord, he says, strengthens his hand. You see, then, that we always need the Lord's help. First, that we not fall; then next, even if we shall have fallen, that we may rise again.

And therefore he says: "Wait for the Lord"; that is, if you are afflicted, if you are in straits, if you are in persecutions, "wait for the Lord, and keep his way", and turn aside neither to the right hand nor to the left. For if you wait for the Lord without turning aside, you shall obtain that which follows: "And he will exalt you", he says, "that you may inherit the earth". Frequently have we spoken concerning the holy earth, and concerning the earth which is named as the inheritance of the heavenly promises, whose nature — even its situation — is designated a little more evidently in this verse. For this earth in which we now live is said to be below, according to that which is written: "But God is in heaven above, and you upon the earth below". But that earth which is promised to the righteous as an inheritance is promised to be not below, but above. Therefore to him who waits for the Lord and keeps his way, the word of the promise says: "He will exalt you, that you may inherit the earth". For unless one be exalted and ascend on high and be made heavenly, he cannot attain the inheritance of that earth. Whence I judge that, just as of this heaven — that is, of the firmament — the lower ground alone, this dry land in which we dwell, is called its earth: so also of that higher heaven which is principally called heaven, the lower ground in which those heavenly inhabitants dwell, and, so to speak, the very back of this firmament, deservedly, as I said, is called the earth of that heaven — but a good earth, a holy earth, a great earth, an earth of the living, an earth flowing with milk and honey; and therefore now the divine word says: "He will exalt you, that you may inherit the earth".

"All the day he has mercy and lends". The righteous man all the day has mercy, and all the day is said to lend: he is free for nothing else than to lend of that money which abounds to him. Shall this too here be thought, that the righteous man sits all the day at his table, and, having money before him, lends it to those suffering need? Perhaps this will be thought to be what was said through Moses: "And thou shalt lend to many nations, but thou thyself shalt not seek a loan". But it is certain that it is spoken of the Lord's money, which is commanded to be paid out to the money-changers, brought forth from the treasuries of the wisdom and knowledge of God, that we may make of five talents ten, of two four. And the more abundant money we have in our soul, so much the more shall we lend all the day. But even now, although I am not righteous, yet this which I speak, I lend you the Lord's money: but do you pray that I may be made righteous and may be able to lend you the money of righteousness, that not only by word, but also by the example of righteousness, I may teach righteousness. Therefore, just as there are unjust moneys, which are gathered unjustly and against the law through calumny and lies, and the diverse evils of avarice; and again there are moneys which are gathered justly and according to the law, that is, from one's own and just labors: so also in word and doctrine it is found to be. There are words gathered neither well, nor justly, nor lawfully — as are the words of heretics, and the doctrine gathered against the law of God — which we ought to shun as unjust and pestiferous money, and gathered from evil. Pray, therefore, that this our money which we lend you may be found wholly from just labors, wholly proceeding from the Lord's coin, that both you may sign over the interest entire, and we may not hear, "Thou oughtest to have given my money to the money-changers".

"I have been young, and now am old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread: all the day he has mercy and lends". In the passages above it is said that the sinner borrows and does not repay; here, that the righteous man all the day has mercy and lends. And see how, in contraries, they are matched. The sinner not only borrows, but also, when he has received, does not repay: but the righteous man not only does not borrow, but also lends: and not only once or twice, but all the day he lends — that is, lending through the whole time of his life he has mercy, whence also his seed shall be in blessing.

"Because those who bless him shall inherit the earth; but those who curse him shall be exterminated". Those who bless him, that is, those who bless the righteous, shall inherit the earth. Which earth?—that good earth, that abundant earth, that earth flowing with milk and honey, where are those good things which are truly good; that they shall possess who bless the righteous, but those who curse him shall be exterminated. And to you it sometimes seems a small thing to speak evil of the saints, and it is very light for you to say of the servants of God, "That one is such and such, that one dissembles, and that one loves the world, but that one is an impostor"—do you not hear that those who curse the righteous shall be exterminated? Or if this seems small to you, hear elsewhere God saying to the righteous: "I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will oppose your adversaries". You see how great a peril it is to be an enemy to the righteous, or to speak evil of the saints. For if we truly believe that which the Lord said of each one of his servants, that "I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat", and the things which he adds and says, that whoever did it to one of my least, did it to me, it is consequent that he say this too: You who cursed me, disparaged me, and spoke false things against me, and accused me. And if we shall say: Lord, when did we curse you, or when did we disparage you, or when did we speak false things against you? then he will say to us: "Amen I say to you, that what you did to one of my least, you did to me". For just as, giving to eat to one of these, you did it to me, and giving to drink to one of these, you gave to me, and just as, clothing one of these, you clothed me; so, cursing one of these, you cursed me, and if you blessed or honored one of these, you blessed me, and you honored me, as also elsewhere he nonetheless says: "He who receives you, receives me"; and: "He who spurns you, spurns me". Therefore let us restrain our tongue, and let us admire the servants of the Lord, and let us bless the righteous, and let us never disparage them, nor open our mouth to speak evil, lest perhaps we be exterminated, but let us bless, that we too may obtain a blessing through Christ our Lord, to whom be glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.

"When the sinners shall have perished, you shall see". Perhaps this will be first, that the righteous may see the sinners and the impious condemned. For to sinners first are decreed penalties and punishments: and when the righteous shall have seen these, and shall have recognized what difference there is between a good life and an evil one, and shall have understood from what great evils they have escaped by living well — so that those who are in punishments, seeing them in glory, say: "We fools thought their life madness" — after therefore they shall have seen how the sinners perish, then they themselves shall be exalted and borne up to heaven that they may inherit the earth. Now the word admonishes and applies a solace to this matter which frequently enough beats upon the heart of almost all men. For, because frequently we who are weak, seeing certain wicked and impious men passing their life in this world with all felicity and flourishing in prosperous successes, abounding in riches, honors, rejoicing in fruitful and entire offspring, floating in delights — we are scandalized and say in our hearts: Where is the justice of God? If things were governed by divine providence, would God permit this wicked and impious man to ascend to so great a felicity? Therefore now on this account the divine word says, in the person of the righteous: "I saw the impious" not only exalted, but "super-exalted and lifted up", not above trees of any kind whatever, but "above the cedars of Lebanon": so that the tree is exceedingly lofty, and the place upon the mountain higher than all; and yet, seeing all these things, "I passed by", he says, "and behold, he was not". What do you suppose that is which the righteous passes by, that this elevation may cease? If you remember, in the passages above, when we said that Moses passed over to see the great vision, you can also now know what it is that the righteous is said to pass by. When we see the impious exalted and growing into excessive pride, let us too pass over, in mind and understanding, from these things which are seen and are temporal, and let us transfer our sense to those things which are not seen and are eternal. Let us consider that these things which are seen exalted are temporal and of a few days. Let us gaze upon the day of judgment, and thus with our sense we shall discern that this man who is super-exalted and lifted up like a cedar of Lebanon, in the day of judgment shall be altogether not. For he who is not a partaker of Him who always is — that is, of Him who said: "I am who I am" — this man is said not even to be. And so sinners are not reckoned to be. Whence the Apostle too, concerning the calling of the Gentiles, said: "God has chosen the things that are not, that he may destroy the things that are". And in the book of Esther it is said: "Do not deliver, O Lord, your sceptre to those who are not". So long therefore as anyone admires the proud in their elevation, so long as anyone flatters sinners and the proud, it is certain that he does not pass over nor has he seen the things that are not, but that he remains in this present state, and on that account admires in them the present glory. But if he passes over in that manner which we said above — that is, in mind and sense transcends from things present and temporal to things future and everlasting — then truly he says of him whom he had seen lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon, that "I passed by, and behold, he was not"; since even heaven itself and earth shall pass away. With God all things which are to come are already held as done. Thus he said: "They gave gall for my food", which without doubt was still to come, and yet was said to be already done. "In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink", and he did not say: they will give to drink. Thus therefore with God the things which are to come are already said to be done. But if you too are an imitator of God, and you imitate Christ, you do not wait until this exalted man be humbled and extinguished, but with yourself and in your mind and soul you already discern those things to have passed away, if you yourself in sense and mind pass over from things present to things future. Take also an example for these things which we say. If you are sailing, placed in the ship you see lands and promontories and mountains passing by: not that they are continually moved, but because you, while the favorable wind blows, pass by, and they seem to withdraw and be borne away; so also in this, therefore, if — with the Holy Spirit breathing and blowing upon your mind — you sail with a favorable and prosperous course, you pass through in your sense all these things which are seen, because they are temporal, and you gaze upon those things which are eternal; without doubt you say that all these things which are seen already are not, because they are not even to come. "I saw" therefore "the impious super-exalted and lifted up above the cedars of Lebanon, and I passed by, and behold, he was not". Something further still moves me in this place. For I see also another impious one who is exalted above the cedars of Lebanon and lifted up. For when heretics feign for themselves some other God above God the Creator, and are exalted and lifted up in a word of falsehood, denying that God the Creator of all things is a good God, they are lifted up by their impious preachings above the cedars of Lebanon — that is, standing out among the adversary powers, by whose inspiration they have contrived such fabrications against God the Creator of all things, for the reason that, understanding the law only according to the letter, and being ignorant that it is spiritual, they were deceived in their thoughts. These men, therefore, if I see and pass by, they will no longer be. What do I pass by? If I pass by the letter, if I pass beyond the surface of the history, and arrive at the spiritual sense — since the law is spiritual — if I explain spiritually all those things in which they err and are deceived, their impious and iniquitous doctrines will no longer be. And thus it will be fulfilled that the impious man, exalted and lifted up, as I pass by will no longer be. But also, when his place is sought, it is not found. The place of the impious doctrine is the letter of the law, which letter kills. When therefore we pass over from the letter that kills to the spirit that gives life, not even the place of the impious doctrine, when the letter is repudiated, can be found. But how do we seek it? When we dispute against them and inquire together with one another, then we seek the place of that doctrine in the letter of the law of the history, and it is shown that, according to the history, it cannot stand: the letter being removed and cast off, nowhere at all, when we seek and discuss, is the place of the impious doctrine found.

After these things he says: "Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he himself will act". — "Everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light lest his works be reproved. But he who does the truth comes to the light". Since therefore he who does evil hates the light, and, as far as in him lies, hiding the evils which he does, and fearing lest he be reproved, veils and covers his way, and covers his acts as with a certain veil. For example's sake, if any of you — though I would not wish there to be any such person in this assembly — yet if anyone among you, whether a catechumen, or even some one of the many faithful, is conscious to himself that he has fornicated, and conceals the offense, does not this one seem to you to hide, and to cover the way on which he walks? But he who acts chastely, and is confident of the purity of his life, does not wish to cover over his way, but wishes it to be manifest — manifest, I say, not to men, lest perhaps he receive his reward from men, but he makes it manifest to God. On this account therefore it is said, "Reveal your way to the Lord". But also if you are conscious to yourself of any evils, do not conceal them, but through exomologesis, that is, confession, reveal them to the Lord, and hope in him, and he himself will act. That is, when you have confessed, and revealed to him your offenses, hope in him that you may be able to merit pardon from him, and he himself will act. What will he do? Without doubt he will make you whole. He will say to you: "Behold, now you have been made whole, sin no more, lest something worse befall you". These things he will do, if you reveal your offenses to him. But if your way is pure, and your conscience clean, and you reveal these to him, hope in him.

"Because the Lord loves judgment, and will not forsake His saints". How does the Lord love judgment? In that nothing is done with Him without judgment, nothing without reason. So therefore do thou also, knowing that the Lord loves judgment, do all things with just and true judgment, hearing Him who admonishes thee, saying: "Do all things with counsel, drink wine with counsel".

"The sinners have unsheathed the sword, they have bent their bow, that they may cast down the needy and the poor". Not that in every kind sinners have a bodily sword, but let us see whether perchance, just as there are certain arms of God, among which is said to be the breastplate of righteousness, and the sword of the spirit, and the shield of faith, so also there are arms of the devil, with which the sinful man is clothed. From contraries, therefore, let us understand contraries, and let us set up two armed soldiers, one a soldier of God, the other a soldier of the devil. And if indeed the soldier of God has the breastplate of righteousness, without doubt the soldier of the devil bears the breastplate of unrighteousness contrary to this. And if the soldier of God gleams in the helmet of salvation, on the contrary the sinner who is the soldier of the devil is clothed with the helmet of perdition. And if the feet of the soldier of Christ are ready for the course and preaching of the Gospel, on the contrary the feet of the sinner run swiftly to shed blood, and his sandals, that is his preparation, are fitted for evil. The soldier of God, therefore, has a certain shield of faith, and the soldier of the devil too has the shield of unbelief. So then there is a certain sword of the Holy Spirit in those who war for God; but there is also a sword of the malignant one in those who war for sin, which sword the sinners are now said to unsheathe. But how are the sinners to be thought to unsheathe the sword? While already shamelessly and without any veil of modesty they perpetrate their iniquities, and neither blush nor feel reverence, nor as it were in a sheath do they hide and cover their wickedness, but with a proud and haughty spirit they lay it bare like a certain sword. Likewise also they carry out that which follows, that is, "they have bent their bow". But the righteous too have a bow, they have arrows also. In fact even one arrow of theirs is the Lord Jesus, for he himself says: "And he set me as a chosen arrow". The righteous, therefore, have arrows, and the sinners have them too. The word is an arrow: and the word of the righteous, indeed, when it reproves and corrects the sinner, like an arrow pricks and pierces through his heart, that he may be converted to repentance and be saved. But the word of the sinner is one that has poison and shoots and wounds him who is not fortified with the arms of God. For then the words of the unrighteous prevail against us, when we are less cautiously guarded with the shield of faith. "They have bent, therefore, their bow, that they may cast down the needy and the poor". Sinners know that they cannot cast down the rich man, and therefore neither do they stretch snares for him, but all their snares are directed against the poor man, as it is also said elsewhere, that "he lies in wait like a lion in his den, he lies in wait to seize the poor man". And because "the ransom of a man is his riches", but the poor man is not able to endure threats, therefore we are made rich in spiritual goods, that is, in every word, and in all knowledge, in good works, casting away the riches of sin, looking not on the things which are seen, but on the things which are not seen. For the riches which are seen are temporal; but those which are not seen are eternal. And if we grow rich in such riches, we cannot be wounded by the arrows of the sinners. For they shall be quenched by the shield of faith, through Christ our Lord and Savior, to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.

In the preceding treatise we said certain things about the sword and bow of sinners, and about the arms of God, and that all men are armed; and where we said all men, I will now add what was lacking in what preceded, that is, all those who are already able to sin, or to abstain from sins. For infants can handle neither the arms of God nor the arms of the devil. But if any are already able, in word and act and thought, to know what is right and to avoid what is contrary, these are they who are said to have all the arms; and if indeed they sin, they have the arms of the devil and of iniquity; but if they act rightly, they will be said to be clothed with the arms of God. What then he said, "The sinners have drawn the sword, they have bent their bow", we explained, following the Apostle, who spoke from contraries: "And the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God", that the sword of sinners would be the wicked spirit that is in them, which inspires them to words of blasphemy, and of iniquity, and of foulness. For example, if you see the gentiles fighting against one another in disputes, and constructing against each other diverse impieties by the cunning tricks of the dialectic art, you can then fittingly say that the sinners have drawn the sword. But even I who am called faithful, if perhaps I have a quarrel with someone, and, provoked to anger, cast aside meekness and utter furious words, and dismiss the spirit with lies and swollen and venomous speeches, deservedly I too, as a sinner, am said to have drawn the sword. It is therefore good, first, not even to have the sword of sin; but the second best thing is at least not to draw it, but to hide it away in its sheath. For if the sword is not brought forth from the sheath, nor used, its edge is blunted and consumed by rust, and if it always rests from work it will be exterminated. For this the Lord also promises, that he will exterminate the sword, that is, sin, so that there may no longer be a sinner. But if indeed we anticipate this work by the word of God, and while placed in this life make sin to perish within us, so that never at all is the sword of sin brought forth from us, neither by thought, nor by work, nor by word, we shall not need the punishment of eternal fire, we shall not be condemned to the outer darkness, nor shall we lie under those torments which threaten sinners. But if in this life we despise the words of the divine Scripture that admonishes us, and refuse to be cured or amended by its corrections, it is certain that that fire remains for us which has been prepared for sinners, and we shall come to that fire in which "the fire will prove of what sort each one's work is". And, as I judge, it is necessary for us all to come to that fire. Even if one be a Paul or a Peter, still he comes to that fire. But such men as those hear: "Even if you pass through the fire, the flame will not burn you". But if anyone be a sinner like me, he will indeed come to that fire like Peter and Paul, but he will not pass through as Peter and Paul do. And just as the Hebrews came to the Red Sea, and the Egyptians came too, but the Hebrews indeed crossed the Red Sea, while the Egyptians were drowned in it: in this way we too, if indeed we are Egyptians, and follow Pharaoh the devil, obeying his precepts, shall be drowned in that river or fiery lake, when sins are found in us, which without doubt we chose from the precepts of Pharaoh. But if we are Hebrews, and have been redeemed by the blood of the spotless lamb, if we do not carry with us the leaven of wickedness, we too indeed enter the river of fire. But just as for the Hebrews the water was a wall on the right hand and the left, so too the fire will be a wall, if we do what is said of them, that they believed God and Moses his servant, that is, his law and his commandments, and so follow the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. These things we have set forth as an admonition, repeating the explanation of how the sinners have drawn the sword.

But neither should this be passed over idly, that they are also said to have bent their bow: which we resolved now not by the setting-alongside of a contrary, as we did in the other cases, but from things similar. In the tenth psalm it is written that "The sinners have bent the bow, they have prepared arrows in the quiver, to shoot in the dark at the upright of heart". Whence it appears that the heart of the impious is filled, as a quiver, with venomous arrows. There are therefore arrows of the impious: their most wicked counsels and thoughts; but their mouth and lips are a kind of bow, by which, when it is widened and drawn taut, the darts of the venomous heart are hurled. But what he says, "in the dark", is fittingly said. For such men do not walk in the day, that is, in the light of God, but they walk in the darkness, and lurk hidden in the obscurity of malice and of ignorance. And that they shoot at the upright of heart, that is, at the simple and those ignorant of their malice. But I think that this saying is spoken not so much of sinful men as of the contrary powers. For it is they who shoot in the dark at the upright of heart. Therefore let those who are upright of heart keep watch day and night, because those have indeed prepared their arrows. He did not say, they have shot, but "they have prepared arrows"; they did not shoot nor wound, but they prepare themselves to shoot. You see that we are admonished before we are wounded, so that we may defend ourselves from their wounds, and keep our heart with all guard.

I wish also, being placed in these passages, to open up something further, lest I always speak to you of lower things, but that sometimes we may knock at certain higher matters too. I consider, then, that just as the Savior is an arrow of God, as it is written: "He set me as a chosen arrow"; and without doubt, by a similar example, Moses too, in whom God spoke, is an arrow of God: and the other prophets and apostles of Christ, in whom Christ himself was speaking, it is certain that through the arrow of God they wounded and pricked the heart of those to whom they spoke the word of God, so that those who heard the word of God from them said, "I am wounded with charity"; so again, on the contrary, just as Christ is the chosen arrow of God, so also the Antichrist is the arrow of the devil. And just as all in whom Christ spoke, or speaks—according to this likeness the prophets and apostles were themselves also arrows of God, and whoever, being righteous and a preacher, speaks the word of God to accomplish the salvation of men, can be called an arrow of God: so also all sinners, in whom the devil speaks, can be called arrows of the devil. If therefore you should ever see yourself being wounded by the arrows of the devil through the mouth of a sinner, have pity indeed on him who offers himself to the devil as a minister for this work; but you, be mindful of yourself, and seize the shield of faith, that in it you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the malignant one. And not only in words, but in deeds are the darts of the devil aimed at us. For if you were to see a woman lying in wait for you, to deceive you, is not this too a fiery dart of the devil, when she so speaks to you as to stir up in you the fire of lust? Likewise also, if someone provoke you to anger with bitter and harsh words, is not this too a fiery dart of the malignant one, by which you are inflamed and kindled to fury? But also if someone provoke and instigate you to something else, which, bearing it impatiently, you fall into sin, understand more diligently, and observe that all these are fiery darts of the malignant one, by which he inflames the upright of heart, and wounds them unto sin. But what is more unhappy, I see few arrows of God, few are there who so speak as to inflame the heart of the hearer, and draw him away from sin, and turn him to repentance. Few so speak who, having struck the heart of the hearer, draw from his eye a tear of repentance, who, opening the light of future hope and the greatness of the age to come, and testifying to the glory of the kingdom of God, can persuade men to despise the things that are seen, and to seek the things that are not seen, to spurn the things that are temporal, and to seek the things that are eternal. Very few there are such, and these, if there be any, are few: by envy and spite it is so brought about that there be not even a few at all, that they may not be able even to profit anyone. But the arrows of the devil abound in all places, all the earth is filled with them. The peoples of the world, the military hand, are for the greatest part arrows of the malignant one—would that the enemy prevailed only there, and among those, so that he had those alone for arrows. But now I fear even those who are within, and I fear myself, lest perhaps the devil lead me into some scandal, and use me as an arrow against the soul of a man: for whoever gives scandal to anyone, whether in word or in deed, that man has become to the soul which he scandalized an arrow and a dart of the devil. And see what happens to us more unhappily. Sometimes we think to speak against someone, and incautiously bring forth speeches, while we act too contentiously, and are eager to win by whatever words; then the devil uses our mouth as a bow, through which he may aim arrows and shoot at the upright of heart—namely, those who hear us speaking those things in which they suffer scandal. And just as God set the bow in the clouds, that there be no flood, and that the tempest may cease: so on the contrary the devil sets his bow not to make it cease, but to stir up tempests, to disturb the serenity in the soul, to drive away peace, to set wars in motion, and to rouse whirlwinds and storms. For when you see someone agitated by vices and passions going about and disturbing all things, I would not have you doubt that he is an arrow of the devil, and that his mouth has set his bow, and that his words have bent the arrows to shoot at the upright of heart. But those who are fortified with the arms of God could not be wounded by such as these.

But what he added, "that they may slay the upright of heart", since he had said above, "that they may cast down the needy and the poor", he joined to the poor the upright of heart: whom, I think, the Lord likewise joins in the Gospels; for where he says the poor are blessed, there he also blesses the pure of heart, and I judge that there is no difference between the pure of heart and the upright of heart. And they are slain in this way. If anyone come with simple mind and desire to the Church, that he may make progress, that he may become better, this man, if he see us who have already stood in the faith for a long time either not acting rightly or speaking with offense, we become to him an occasion of falling into sin. And when he has sinned, he is slain, and the blood of his soul flows out, all vital power departs from him. And if you hear it said in Genesis that "I will require the blood of your souls from every brother and from every beast", do not think that it commands so greatly about this bodily blood, as about the blood of the inner man, that is, about the life of the soul and the spiritual blood. For the blood of a scandalized soul is poured out when it has fallen into sin, and therefore he said that his blood is required from the brother. And why also from the beast? If he who scandalized you is faithful, he is a brother, from whom your blood is to be required. For he is your brother who shed your blood, and therefore it is said, "From the hand of the brother I will require the blood". But when a contrary power, wild and wicked, presses upon a man, and he is unfaithful through whom it lies in wait, if it has been able to shed the blood of your soul, that is, to cast you down into sin, it is a beast through which the Lord requires your blood. But Ezekiel the prophet too, when he says that he is set as a watchman for the house of Israel, who, if he announce the coming sword, does not become guilty of blood, but if he does not announce it, is guilty of blood; and in the law, when it is said, if he do this and this, he will be innocent of blood; without doubt here too he designates the blood of the soul, which is poured out through sin. Therefore let us all fear, lest perhaps the blood of someone who is scandalized be required from us, as the prophet designates. These things it behooved us to repeat, that we might more fully show how the sinners have drawn the sword and bent their bow, and who was the poor man whom they cast down, and how the upright of heart are slain, or what is the blood of theirs that is poured out.

"For the arms of sinners shall be broken". How can this stand according to the letter, even if someone try to do violence to it through inexperience? There are many things so placed in the Scriptures which can move even him who is very brutish and snoring, nay, compel him, so that he must of necessity, the letter being abandoned, ascend to the spiritual understanding; as also now do these arms of the sinner, upon which he threatens the breaking to hang. But in another place too he says: "Break the arm of the sinner and of the malignant one". What then? shall we suppose that that bodily arm of the sinner and of the malignant one is to be broken? We do not see this easily come to pass. But if we consider how, when sinners have been lifted up into pride, and have prepared their bows, and have bent those arrows of theirs, of which we spoke above, against the righteous; when all this intention of theirs has been destroyed by the power of the Lord, so it is deservedly said that the arm of the sinner is broken. Or in another way, since the hand and the arm is an indication of work. If therefore you see the sinner not stretching out his hand to a good work, to a work of mercy, it will not be absurd to say that his arm is broken. But such a breaking must be believed to come not from God, but from the devil. For it is he who breaks and binds the arms of sinners, that they may not be stretched out to mercy. There comes to be, therefore, a certain breaking of sinners from God, when he destroys and frightens them as they lie in wait for the righteous; but a certain breaking from the devil, when he hinders the zeal for a good work, the arms of the unfaithful being as it were bound and broken. And there is another breaking, which is granted indeed by God, but fulfilled by the devil, that of which the devil was saying to the Lord: "But nevertheless put forth your hand and touch all that he has, unless he bless you to your face", and then he received him into his power. Whence Job himself also says: "For it is the hand of the Lord that has touched me".

"But the Lord upholds the righteous". Those who are weak and frail have need of one to uphold them. Where ruin and falling threaten, there support is sought. But every man, as far as regards human frailty, is both weak and prone to falling. And in this psalm indeed it is written that the Lord upholds the righteous, and in another he says: "The Lord upholds all who fall, and the Lord raises up all who are cast down". It is only for us to rouse ourselves at some time and to wake up, so that if ever through weakness some fall threatens, we may entreat the Lord to send us his word and his wisdom, which may uphold those about to fall and raise them up.

"But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord". But better does it say in the Greek: "But the salvation of the righteous is with the Lord". He did not say, in heaven is the salvation of the righteous, for this too passes away; not with any creature, because nothing is immovable or unchangeable: but with the Lord is the salvation of the righteous, who always remains, is always the same, is always immovable, nor anywhere can the salvation of man be more securely than with the Lord. Let that be for me the place, that for me the house, that for me the dwelling, that the rest, that the habitation. In fine, there is announced to us by holy Scripture not only the kingdom of heaven, but the kingdom of God. As I remember myself to have often said already, the kingdom of heaven is of those who are still in their advances; but the kingdom of God, of those who have already come to the perfect end. Whence now also the salvation of the righteous is said to be with God, when, at any rate, by the perfection of life he shall have deserved to arrive even unto the Lord himself. "And he is a protector in the time of tribulation". What is the time of tribulation, except this in which we are, when we walk through the strait and narrow way that leads to life? If indeed we walk through the narrow way that leads to life, and not through that broad and spacious one which is widened by riches and dissolved by luxury, which grows soft in the pleasures of the flesh, which loves present glory. Of these the protector is not God, but Mammon: but of those who are in tribulation and straits, God is the protector, because many are the tribulations of the righteous. For they are troubled, considering the time of judgment and examining themselves, lest perchance something be found in them that may be called to fault.

"The sinner shall watch the righteous, and shall gnash upon him with his teeth". For just as by nature light and darkness are contrary, so contrary to one another are the sinner and the righteous. And if you see the righteous man at any time held in hatred, do not hesitate to say of him who hates the righteous, that he is a sinner. If you see him who lives well suffering persecution, do not hesitate to say of him who persecutes, that he is not only a sinner, but wicked. The sinner, therefore, shall watch the righteous, and watching him shall gnash upon him with his teeth. As for what he says, "he shall gnash with his teeth", I know not whether it is to be taken of bodily teeth, although it be possible that this too be done by the sinner against the righteous. When he threatens him, when he rages against him, when he is silent in voice, and cries out in fury, when he contrives snares for the righteous, and devises every evil against him, then also is fulfilled bodily what is said: "He shall gnash upon him with his teeth". But when the sinner does these things against the righteous, "The Lord", he says, "shall laugh him to scorn, for he foresees that his day shall come". What day does the Lord foresee of the sinner? That one without doubt, when the sinner is sought, and shall not be.

After these things he admonishes concerning a vice by which almost all of us are troubled, and I know not whether anywhere anyone rare is found so perfect as to be without this disease. "Cease", he says, "from anger, and forsake indignation". There are many vices which are easily avoided by many. For example, the evil of unchastity. If anyone shall have devoted himself more earnestly to the labor of continence, he has cast off unchastity. Some have even subdued avarice, so that, although in other things they are not perfect, they seem nevertheless to avoid this evil, and some others as well. But the vice of wrath, hard and sharp, inflames and agitates even those who seem to be wise. Hence also Solomon says in the Proverbs: "Anger destroys even the prudent". That is, Do not, he says, wonder if wrath inflames the foolish, the evil, the unbelieving man, since frequently wrath agitates good and prudent men also. This sin, therefore, is also one of those which brings to the building wood, hay, and stubble, and it is necessary that materials of this kind, as it is written, be tried by fire, so that we remain in the fire so long, until there be consumed from us the wood of wrath, and the hay of indignation, and the stubble of words, namely of those which, agitated by vices of this kind, we have uttered. Therefore, for this reason, "cease from anger, and forsake indignation": that is, do not gratify your feelings when you have been stirred to wrath, but cease, forsake, despise. But we, when we receive these commandments, and on the contrary, when we have been stirred, cease not from wrath but from meekness, forsake not indignation but gentleness. But let us at least begin from this to amend ourselves, and gradually, softening wrath through continence and assiduous meditation, let us come even to this, that we no longer grow angry; and, blunting assiduously the assault of the indignation which is roused through fury, let us arrive even at this, that we be no longer troubled by the commotion of indignation. "Do not envy so as to do wickedly". Do not, he says, by provoking others to the rivalry of wickedness, become yourself also wicked; because the envy of evil ever strives to conquer another in malice.

Therefore on this account we are enlightened by the commandment of the Lord, so that, when the flame of unlawful jealousy has beaten upon our heart and mind, we, taught by the words, may say: If I should wish to be jealous among the malignant, or should envy those who work iniquity, see what follows: "Like grass", he says, "they shall quickly wither, and like the green herbs they shall quickly fall away". Do you wish also to be fortified by the authority of another prophet's admonitions concerning such men? Hear what Isaiah too pronounces concerning all carnal glory: "All flesh", he says, "is grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass". Do you wish also to see through particular cases how the glory of the flesh is the flower of grass? See who ruled thirty years ago, how his rule flowered: but straightway like the flower of grass it withered; then afterward another after him, then another and another, who thereafter were leaders and princes: and all their glory and honor not only withered like a flower, but even, like dry dust scattered by the wind, left not even a trace of itself. Others too, lifted up by riches and swollen with honors, striving either to be held praiseworthy through feigned goodness, or execrable through untamed cruelty. If anyone thinks their vain pursuits are to be envied, let him now go to the remains of their corpses, if indeed even these can be found; for to some not even this has been granted: and then he will find how "all flesh is grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass. The grass has withered and its flower has fallen away". But whoever does not love the little flowers of the flesh, nor lives carnally, but loves the word of God, and advances in it, hear what he may hope for: "The word", he says, "of the Lord abides forever". But this very thing also which he says, that "like grass they shall quickly wither", namely the malignant — I do not think it is idle why he compared them to grass, when surely there could be other material to which those who have acted maliciously might be compared. Grass is the food of dumb and irrational animals. Perhaps therefore, because all the foolish, and the untaught, and those who live against the reason and wisdom of God, follow those who are chief in malice, and are said to feed on their life and deeds, whom they also obey — for that reason he compared them to grass. For no prudent man takes an example from them. For, just as the prudent man who hears the words of the Lord and does them, this is the one who eats that bread which came down from heaven, and Jesus is food to him, because he is fed from his words and lives in his commandments: so likewise these who are eminent in malice are made as grass to those who submit to them, or who bear an envy of them unto wickedness. And similar things are also to be understood concerning the green herbs, to which are compared those who work iniquity, because they pass away swiftly. Yet we find in the divine Scriptures sometimes also praiseworthy herbs, which by the precept of the Apostle the weak are bidden to eat. But others are those, and contrary to these, of which it is said that the river of Egypt is water descending downward, and watering as a garden of herbs: whereby evidently the Egyptian is not called a tree, nor even named a vine, but herbs which quickly fail. And do you wish to see how quickly the Egyptian falls away? See what is said of them in Exodus. "But the Egyptians hastened," he says, "they unbound their axles, and quickly fled under the water." Like the green herbs, therefore, they shall quickly fall away. Finally, that iniquitous Ahab also, since he was preparing to plant such herbs in the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite — on account of which Naboth chose rather to die than to permit that, the Israelite vineyard being cut down, herbs should be planted. He did this therefore as a righteous man, that he might not permit the vineyard of righteousness to be cut down, whose fruit gladdens the heart of man when it is mixed in the mixing-bowl of wisdom, and herbs of iniquity to be planted, quickly growing green, but more quickly withering. I think therefore that in our hearts too, who believe in the Savior, there is some vineyard planted, just as he said: "A vineyard was made for the beloved on a horn, in a fertile place". But it was also said to those to whom the word of God came first, that "I planted you a wholly fruitful vine". There is therefore for us a certain vineyard from which we press out the fruit of knowledge, which gladdens the heart of man, through the gift of wisdom in the winepresses of the Scriptures, when we behold more perfectly and more broadly the divine mysteries of the law. But as we advance in our studies, and stretch from the Israelite eye toward the spiritual eye, there comes Ahab the iniquitous and impious, Ahab the enemy of our vineyard, and against these best pursuits of wisdom he rouses envy, stirs up tumult, contrives deceits and factions through Jezebel, that is, through carnal wisdom, and wishes this vineyard of spiritual understanding to be cut down, and herbs to be planted — that is, that what we read we should understand carnally: for all the grace of the flesh is like herbs, so that there may be fulfilled in us that which the Apostle censures, saying to the Galatians: "Are you so senseless that, having begun with the spirit, you are now made perfect in the flesh?" But that in the holy soul there are vineyards, and fields blessed by the Lord, hear also Isaac saying to his son Jacob: "Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field, which the Lord has blessed". It is better therefore for us to cultivate a vineyard in our soul, and to dig the winepress of the Scriptures, and to gather the clusters, and to press the wine from the vine of Sorek, and let us say to the Lord, that "How glorious is your inebriating cup!"

"The Lord knows the days of the spotless, and their inheritance shall be forever". According to the Scriptures, as we have observed in many places, the Lord does not know all things, but only those that are good; but he is said to be ignorant of evils, not that there is truly anything that lies hidden from his knowledge, but those things which are unworthy of his notice, he is said to be ignorant of. Which we have also shown from the Scriptures, when the Apostle says: "If anyone among you be a prophet, or spiritual, let him know the things that I write to you, that they are the Lord's". But if anyone is ignorant, he shall be ignored. And in the Gospel, where the Lord says to sinners: "I know you not, depart from me, workers of iniquity". For just as it is said elsewhere: "The Lord knows who are his"; so here the Lord is said to know not the days of the impious, but of the spotless. For the days of the spotless are worthy of the knowledge of the Lord. But even this I do not know whether it can be consistently expounded according to the letter. For how can there be days of the spotless which are not also of sinners? since the day of this age is one and the same for all, and in the same light both the righteous and sinners alike are engaged: as the Lord himself says of the Father, that "he commands his sun to rise upon the good and the evil". How then here is the Lord said to know the days of the spotless as though something excepted and set apart? But let us see whether perhaps each one makes for himself his own day. And if ever, casting away lying, we speak the truth with our neighbor, we are engaged in the day of truth and in the light of truth. Likewise also, when we withdraw ourselves from those who hate their brothers, and walk in darkness, and remain in the love of the brothers, we make for ourselves the day of charity. But also when we keep righteousness, and when, visiting widows and orphans in their tribulation, we keep ourselves spotless from this age, we make for ourselves days of the spotless. And these are the days which he is said to know, when he knows the days of the spotless. But if we wish to examine a still more sacred sense in this place, we can say that the days of this age are evil, according to what is written: "Because the days are evil". But there are other, good days, which are themselves also of the spotless, which the Lord knows, in which also their inheritance remains forever; then without doubt, when the righteous shall take the inheritance of eternal life, obtaining the things which "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ascended into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love him". Those are the days of the spotless, in which not this sun which the setting overtakes, and whose light the succeeding night destroys, but the sun of righteousness will shine, which knows no night, which is eternal light, as it is written, that "the Lord himself will be to them everlasting light".

After he said that those who work iniquity fall away quickly like the green herbs, and forbade being jealous among the malignant, and imitating those who work iniquity: then he says what we ought to do. "Hope", he says, "in the Lord, and do goodness". Having despised, that is, all those things which were censured above — honors, riches, and all carnal glory, and all the goods of the age — hope, he says, in the Lord. But hoping in the Lord, do not be idle; but doing goodness, hope in him. But what this goodness is, let us see. It is one of those springs which the Apostle enumerates as being fruits of the Holy Spirit. "Now the fruit of the spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness and righteousness". Do goodness therefore, as if he were speaking to a field, saying, Bear this fruit or that: so now to you, the hearer of the divine Scriptures, the divine word speaks as to a field. "Do goodness, and inhabit the earth, and you shall be fed in its riches". Do not be like withering grass, do not become like the green herbs, which will quickly fail, but hope in the Lord, and do goodness, and inhabit the earth. What earth does he bid us inhabit if we have done goodness? Surely, if he were speaking of this earth which we inhabit — both those who do goodness and those who do not do it inhabit this earth. The commandment therefore seems to be superfluous if this earth is understood. But let us see whether perhaps he means that earth of which it is written, that other seed fell upon the good earth, which bore fruit — in which the earth now seems to signify the heart of the hearer. This therefore we are bidden to inhabit, that is, not to wander farther off, not to run to and fro beyond and short of it, but to dwell, and to abide within the bounds of our soul, and to consider it more diligently and become its farmer, just as Noah was, and to plant in it a vineyard, and to till the earth which is within us, to renew the fallow ground of our soul, and not to sow upon thorns: namely, when we purge our soul from vices, and cultivate our uncultivated and rough manners toward the meekness of the imitation of Christ, and so at last are fed from the riches of the virtues. For it is not to be thought that we are commanded to seek earthly riches, which we are bidden to despise and spurn. He says therefore: "Inhabit the earth". This is therefore: attend always to your soul, there abide always, and cultivate your earth, so that, when you have begun to abound in the fruits of righteousness, then you may be fed in its riches. But what is it to be fed in its riches? Because "whatever a man has sown, this also he shall reap". And: "He who sows in the flesh, from the flesh shall reap corruption. But he who sows in the spirit, from the spirit shall reap eternal life". But if you inhabit your earth, and have sown it in the spirit and not in the flesh, you shall be fed in its riches, like those sheep which are said to be fed in a green place, of which the divine word says: "In a green place, there he settled me". Whence it is established that each one of us himself prepares within himself a green place, in which he is fed by the Lord, when he cultivates the fields of his soul, and, sowing in the spirit, always brings it to the gladness of spiritual cultivation.

Since the commandment enjoins, saying, "Be subject to the Lord", it seems necessary to examine what it is to be subject to the Lord, and what it is not to be subject. For just as "not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven", so not everyone who says that he is subject to the Lord is subject to him, but he who is in fact subject to him; because that one is truly subject to the Lord whom not the word of profession but the work of subjection shows to be so. And what we say is more fully understood in this way: Our Lord Jesus Christ is righteousness. Therefore no one who acts unrighteously is subject to Christ, who is righteousness. Christ is truth. No liar is subject to Christ, who is truth, whether he speaks falsehood in deeds or in doctrine. The Lord Jesus Christ is sanctification. No one is subject to sanctification while he is defiled and impure. The Lord Jesus Christ is peace. No one contentious and turbulent is subject to Christ, who is peace, but that one is subject to him who says: "With those who hated peace, I was peaceable". Hence also in another psalm the Prophet says to his own soul: "Nevertheless be subject to God, O my soul, for from him is my patience". But the Apostle too signifies things great and mystical concerning subjection when he says: "But when all things shall be made subject to him, then shall the Son himself also be made subject to him who subjected all things to himself". Hear then what he says, that it is necessary that all things be subject to Christ, and that then he himself is subject, by that subjection, namely, which it is fitting to understand of the spirit. Meanwhile it is necessary that all things be subject to Christ, so that then at last, when all things are fulfilled and made perfect through subjection, he himself, as it were bearing back this palm of his victory to the Father, is said to be about to be made subject. And unless this be understood mystically, it is believed without doubt to indicate something impious to those who do not attend. For it is not to be supposed that the Son of God is now indeed in no way subject to the Father, but that in the last times, when all things shall have been made subject to him, then he too shall be made subject; but rather, because he takes up into himself all that is ours, and says that it is he who hungers in us, and he who thirsts in us, and is naked and sick, and a guest and thrust into prison, and testifies that whatever has been done to one of his least ones has been done to himself; consequently and deservedly, when each one of us is fully and perfectly made subject to God, so that in nothing at all does he show himself disobedient, he protests that he himself is made subject. But in yet another way what we say is more fully understood. If we suffer pain in some member of the body, although our soul be sound, and all our remaining members be healthy, nevertheless, because by the pain of one member the whole man is afflicted, we do not say that we are well, but that we are ill. For example, we say: That man is not well. Why? Because his feet pain him, or his loins, or his stomach. And no one says that he is well if his stomach pains him, but he is not well because his stomach pains him. If you have understood the example, let us now return to what was proposed. The Apostle says that we are the body of Christ, and members in part. Christ, therefore, whose body is the whole race of men — nay, perhaps the whole universe of all creation — and each one of us is a member in part: if some one of us who are called his members is sick, and labors under some disease of sin, that is, if he is branded with the stain of some sin, and is not subject to God, rightly is that one said not yet to be subject, whose members are those who are not subject to God. But when he shall have all those who are called his body and members sound, so that they have labored under no disease of disobedience, all the members being sound and subject to God, deservedly does he say that he is subject to him, we, his members, obeying God in all things. But if you wish to examine yourself, and to see whether you are already subject to God, or whether you still remain disobedient, sift yourself in this way: If there is nothing contrary to God in you, you are subject to him. And we speak of what is contrary in this manner: God is charity; if there is no hatred in you, you have not that which is contrary to God. God is truth; see that there be not in you falsehood, which is contrary to truth. For if there is falsehood in you, you are not subject to God, but to him who is the father of falsehood. And if there is unrighteousness in you, you are subject to the father of unrighteousness rather than to God, who is righteousness. If you shall detect in yourself the remaining vices also, know that so long you are subject not to God but to the devil. For it is certain that in the time of fornication we are subject to the spirit of fornication, being opposed to the spirit of chastity. And in the time of wrath, or of fury, we obey the spirit of anger, resisting the spirit of meekness. Therefore, seeing that our whole life bears a certain contest of obedience, whether to Christ or to those who are contrary to Christ, let us strive, through the religious discipline of prayer and of instruction, so to act that we may never be found obeying the devil or his malice, but that our every act, and every word, and every thought may be found in subjection to Christ. But if perchance you say, What does it profit if I am now subject, when I have already sinned before and been overtaken in offenses? — without doubt, when we offended, we were not subject to God, but when we ceased from offenses, then we received the beginning of subjection. When, therefore, subject to the fear of God, we cease to sin, then also we receive confidence to ask pardon for our former offenses. But so long as we remain in offenses, in vain do we ask pardon for our offenses. Hence I remember that I have frequently said to you that we worthily ask pardon of our offenses when, placed far from sin, we can say that word: "Remember not our old iniquities". He did not say those which we do, but those which we did at some time. Be subject, therefore, to the Lord, and being subject, do not sin. Then beseech him for your past and old offenses.

"Do not envy him who prospers in his way, in the man who works iniquity". He describes those things which befall men. For frequently, if we see the unrighteous man in prosperous successes, and placed in that happiness of life which they lead, we are scandalized, and we incur peril of faith, and in our heart we complain against divine Providence, saying: What does it profit to act righteously? Behold, the righteous are afflicted, here the unrighteous man acts prosperously. He is unrighteous, and he arrives at the highest riches, he ascends to the lofty summit of honors and powers; perhaps it is better to be unrighteous than righteous. These things weak and frail souls, even if they do not utter them with the mouth, nevertheless speak in their heart, when they have seen the unrighteous acting in prosperous successes in their way. And therefore the healing of this commandment comes to our aid, that, when we have seen these things, we may not envy, that is, that we may not provoke the Lord against ourselves by speaking such things in our hearts: but we ought to reflect that the present age belongs to those who have no hope of future blessedness. And therefore let us patiently bear that they act in these prosperous successes, that they receive their good things in their life, until that also which is ours may come, to which we have been invited, and whose good things have been promised to us, upon which we look, into which we hope, whose good things do not pass away like a shadow as in this age, but remain forever. But it is impossible both to obtain good things in the present age and in the future. For it is necessary that it be said to one, that you have obtained good things in your life; and to another, that you have obtained evil things; and that the one receive good things for evil, and the other evil things for good, as those two are an example, the rich man and Lazarus. Therefore: "Do not envy him who prospers in his way, in the man who works iniquity".

"But the meek shall inherit the earth". Against the Valentinians and the other heretics, who think that my Savior says in the Gospel things which are not in the ancient Writings, this verse is to be brought forward, just as we too have learned from a certain presbyter to bring these things forward for the convincing of them. For what was said in the Gospel: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth", see how it was already said before by the Holy Spirit through David: nay, Christ himself now says in the Gospels: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth by inheritance". The Prophet indeed adds even something more than we read in the Gospel, saying: "And they shall delight in the multitude of peace". Here too the Greek uses that very word of which we spoke above also, κατατρυφήσουσιν, that is, they shall take delight rather than they shall be delighted. Therefore the meek shall take delight, or be delighted, in the multitude of peace. If there are any carnal men, they are delighted in foods which shall be destroyed together with their belly, just as the Apostle also says: "Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods, but God shall destroy both this and these". But the saints despise and disdain these delights too: but they have their delights in the multitude of peace. And the multitude of peace is said to be in the days of Christ. For thus it is written: "And there shall be a multitude of peace in his days, until the moon be taken away". Whoever, therefore, ceases from anger, and has forsaken indignation, and neither is his mind provoked to wrath, nor does he use wrathful speech, is wholly in peace, not only outwardly but also inwardly, and neither yields to one provoking him to wrath, nor himself provokes another to wrath, but has peace in himself, and in others, if perchance any are at variance, keeps to loving meekness, which is the most faithful guardian of peace, which governs all things. This man takes delight, or is delighted, in the multitude of peace.

Those therefore who on this account are troubled and anxious, God will be their protector in the time of tribulation, in the time of judgment, when the impious shall be delivered to punishments: then the Lord will both help them in the time of tribulation, and deliver them, and take them away from sinners — not only from sinful men, but also from the contrary powers, or certainly at that time when the soul is separated from the body, and there meet it the sinful demons, the adverse powers, the spirits of this air, who wish to detain it and recall it to themselves if they shall have recognized in it anything of their own works and deeds. For to each soul as it goes forth from this world there comes the prince of this world, and the aerial powers, and they inquire whether they may find in it anything of their own; if they shall have found avarice, it belongs to their part; if wrath, if luxury, if envy, and each single one of the things like these, if they shall have found it, it belongs to their part, and they claim it for themselves, and drag it to themselves, and turn it aside to the portion of sinners. But if anyone has imitated Him who said: "Behold, the prince of this world will come, and in me he has nothing", if anyone has so guarded himself, these sinners indeed come, and, seeking in him the things that are theirs, and not finding them, they will nevertheless attempt violently to wrench him aside to their part, but the Lord will deliver him from sinners. And perhaps on this account we are bidden, with a certain mystery, to ask also in prayer, saying: "But deliver us from evil". But the cause by which the Lord delivers his righteous ones from sinners — whether in the time of departure, or in the time of judgment, when that day shall have come which, according to the Prophet, is a day of necessity and of straitness, a day of darkness and of destruction, the day of judgment — then therefore he subjoins the cause by which they deserve to be delivered, and says, that "they hoped in him". Hoping therefore in himself, he will deliver them both from tribulation and from necessity. But how one ought to hope, I wish to show you from the holy Scriptures. Just as "no one can serve two masters", so no one can hope in two masters. No one can hope in the uncertainty of riches, and in the Lord. No one can hope in princes, and in God. No one can hope in the strength of a horse, and in Him. No one can hope in the world, and in God. For unless you hope in God alone, and God see that your hope has been turned unto the world eternal, and that you bear no other hope at all except in Him who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not as though they were, you will not be able to be delivered from sinners. For He alone is the one who saves those who hope in Him, through Christ our Lord, to whom is glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.

"But the iniquitous shall be exterminated together", that is, all alike shall be exterminated, because there shall be one end for them, Gehenna. "The remnants of the impious shall perish", then when he who has the power shall give over both body and soul, destroyed, into Gehenna.

"Better is a little to the righteous than the many riches of sinners". According to the letter, this is straightway a useful admonition even for any of the simpler sort, of which it must be spoken first, although it has also something deeper, which, if anyone is able to grasp it, let him grasp it. What, then, the letter teaches us, let us see. In this world both the righteous and the unjust bear the common solicitude of life, that they may have the things necessary for sustenance. But the righteous indeed are not so inclined toward solicitude for sustenance as they earnestly bear the care of righteousness, so that even if the things necessary for sustenance are to be sought by them, they are sought without injustice, so that their very gain, which is necessary for daily use, is made with all righteousness. But the unjust care nothing about righteousness, but expend all their care on this: how they may acquire; in this is all their zeal, to seize gains in whatever way and of whatever sort: they do not consider whether they acquire well, whether with righteousness: they are not solicitous that at the judgment of Christ their possessions may be found to have been sought with righteousness. How can those do these things, who join field to field, and bring farm near to farm, that they may take something from their neighbor? Since therefore one of two things must necessarily be done, that is, either to acquire much with injustice, or a little with righteousness, "Better is", it says, "a little to the righteous, than the many riches of sinners". And truly, as by some special title, many riches are reckoned as being in iniquity. Whence I too judge that our Lord and Savior pronounced the Mammon of iniquity to be, as it were, truly a god and lord, when he says: "Make for yourselves friends of the unrighteous Mammon". These things according to the letter. Let us now see whether the word contains anything secret as well. There are many and diverse studies of letters in this world, so that you may see very many, beginning with the grammarians, learning by heart the poems of the poets, and the fables of the comedies, the fictitious or laudatory narrations of the tragedies, the long and diverse volumes of histories, then afterward passing on to rhetoric, and there seeking every dye of eloquence, after these coming to philosophy, examining dialectic, inquiring into the knots of syllogisms, testing the measures of geometry, scrutinizing the laws of the constellations and the courses of the stars, and not omitting music either; and thus, having been instructed through all these so diverse and various disciplines, in which they have learned nothing of the will of God, they have gathered riches, many indeed, but riches of sinners. But you may see one from the Church, unskilled indeed in word and in erudition, but filled with faith and the fear of God, who, because of the fear of God, dares in nothing to transgress, but altogether fears to open his mouth, lest perhaps an evil word proceed from his mouth, and takes care not to transgress even in the least matters, in which that man who is rich in the wisdom of this world cannot take care of himself. Comparing these, therefore, with each other, the divine word says: "Better is a little to the righteous, than the many riches of sinners". As are the riches of sinners, the wisdom of this world, in which they are rich and abounding in eloquence, nor yet are they able through these to restrain themselves from sin. But the little of the righteous is that of him who has faith like a mustard seed, little, but living and vehement, through which he strengthens and restrains himself from sin. Better, therefore, is this little of the faith of the righteous than the many riches of sinners, which they have in the eloquence and wisdom of this age, which is destroyed. Yet if anyone were able both to have riches, and not to have the riches of sinners; but to gather some things from the treasures of Moses the lawgiver, to acquire others also from the wealth of the prophets, from Isaiah, from Jeremiah, from Ezekiel, to examine also the secrets of Daniel, and to penetrate the hidden and obscure treasures of the rest of the prophets; this man is now not compared with the wise of this world, so as to be called better than they, but is rather set on a level with those who were saying, "that you have been made rich in all word and in all knowledge"; and who, destroying the wisdom of this world, and having become as it were its conquerors, say that they are ready to take captive every understanding that exalts and raises itself against the knowledge of Christ. Even if indeed he be the one whom we spoke of above, unskilled and an idiot, but faithful and fearing God, "better is that little" of faith to this "righteous man than the many riches of sinners", which they have gathered along with the wisdom of this age. But above both of these is he who is rich in the word of God and the knowledge of the truth, that is, who, according to Paul, is rich in all word and in all knowledge, and is nonetheless rich in good works. But if you wish to know what it is to be rich in all word, I will teach you briefly. Begin to examine from the first word of Genesis, thence in the word of Exodus, after these in the word of Leviticus, in Numbers, in Deuteronomy; grow rich from Joshua the son of Nun, grow rich from all the judges together, and thence onward, in sequence, from each and every of the books of divine Scripture, until you arrive at the evangelical and apostolic riches. For, by way of example, if anyone should give his labor to the one word of the Psalms, and when he wishes sing the whole psalter, he is rich indeed, but not in all word and all knowledge, but is rich in the word of the Psalter alone. Or if anyone give his zeal to the evangelical and apostolic reading, and exercise himself in the commandments of the New Testament, this man too is rich, but not in all word, except only the evangelical and apostolic. But if he were able to learn thoroughly the New and the Old Testament with equal zeal, and to be instructed out of all its erudition, so that he be ready to give an account of each and every of the things that are written, and to fit his life according to the word of the truth which is contained in the Scriptures; this man indeed is rich in all word and in every good work. And these, I think, are the riches of which it is said: "The redemption of a man's soul is his own riches". "Better", therefore, "is a little to the righteous than the many riches of sinners".

What he will do, learn from what follows: "He will bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your judgment like noonday". Your righteousness, which you have done in secret, and have revealed only to God, this God will bring forth like the light, and will show you righteous, illumined by the sun of righteousness, to heaven and earth, and to all who are in heaven he will show the light of your righteousness, and, if it may be so said, he will boast of you as of a son, as of one who has received the spirit of adoption. He will bring forth therefore your righteousness like the light, because he who is righteous according to the commandment of the Lord does his righteousness thus, as he himself commanded, saying: "But you, when you do your righteousness, let your left hand not know what your right hand does". This righteousness therefore, which is done in such a way that it does not appear to men, nor so as to capture human glory, but is done in secret, so that the Father who sees in secret may repay openly in his own time — it is brought forth by God like light. "And your judgment like noonday". For all the judgments of the righteous man, whatever he has judged, will be not only like light, but like the noonday light, which surely is the clearest and most splendid. For the fullness of light is designated at the noonday time. If therefore you are righteous and good, God will bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your judgment like noonday. Or certainly, in judgment when your case is examined, God will make the righteousness of your case manifest like light, and the judgment which he also decides he will make manifest like noonday. Knowing these things will be so, let us beseech the mercy of God, that he may grant us to become such, that we may be held worthy, those whose light of righteousness God himself may bring forth into the midst, and our judgment like noonday clear and bright, having the true light in itself, our Lord himself, to whom be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.

"And the Lord will not forsake His saints, they shall be preserved forever". As he says that he shall dwell forever, so also they shall be preserved forever. Both of which look to the future time, or age, for which the saints shall be preserved, that thereafter they may endure in eternity. "The unjust shall be punished, and the seed of the impious shall perish; but the righteous shall inherit the earth". We have already said above of what sort is the seed of the impious, when we referred it to word and doctrine: and how it shall be exterminated, while every lie is put to flight by the light of truth as darkness. "But the righteous shall inherit the earth". And of this too we have already spoken above, how, whether the righteous or the meek, they attain the inheritance of that good and great land, and how they dwell in it forever and ever — not only forever, but forever and ever. See how great is the Lord's recompense. For the labor of thirty or forty, or at the very most fifty years, a man receives not only the recompense of this age, but forever and ever. But if anyone remains in the word of God, and clings to His wisdom, and persists in the eternity of light, he will attain even to this, that he may render to God glory forever and ever. Amen.

"Keep innocence, and behold equity". The word of God commands us to keep innocence. To such a degree has the corruption of morals advanced among men, that among very many innocence is judged as folly: but Scripture judges this to be the work of the highest virtue, because it judges that to be innocence which harms no one, injures no one. When therefore he says: "Keep innocence", this is what he commands us to observe, that we injure no one, harm no one. And this we obtain if always, with an intent and vigilant mind, we behold equity. Equity therefore in this place I take thus, as truth, as righteousness, as life, which is Christ. For by beholding these things, we shall at the same time also behold God. "Keep" therefore "innocence, and behold equity, for there are remnants for the peaceable man". I ask what these remnants are which are reserved for the peaceable man? We are wont to speak of remnants when the spirit is separated from the body, as though, the greater part of the man being reckoned in the spirit, the part of the body that remains over is named the remnants. If therefore we believe the words of the Apostle, saying that the body "is sown in corruption", namely at the time of death, "and shall rise in incorruption", when the time of the resurrection shall have come, when this corruptible also shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then there shall be remnants for the peaceable man. But there the remnants of the peaceable man shall be in peace and in rest. For the Lord too says of the peaceable, that they also "shall be called sons of God". "Father, I will that where I am, these too may be with me". There are therefore, with Christ, the remnants of the peaceable man.

They can never be oppressed by the fasting of famine whose bread is that "they should do the will of the Father who is in heaven" and whose soul that "bread that comes down from heaven" nourishes.

"I have been young, and now am old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. All the day he has mercy and lends, and his seed shall be in blessing". Those who say that the words of the divine Scripture are to be taken simply and according to the history, will say without doubt that in this passage David is affirming that, the age of his youth being passed, when he had now come even to the time of his old age, in all this time he had never seen the righteous man so forsaken as to lack bread. And what do we make of Paul the Apostle, who, enumerating and expounding the lives of the prophets, says that they, needy, tribulated, wandered in goatskins through the caverns of the rocks and through the caves; and, recalling of himself, frequently says, in hunger and in thirst? And when we learn from the histories of the Scriptures that the righteous frequently suffer these things, how now is it to be thought that David says this according to the simple understanding? But let us see whether perhaps there are certain ages of our inner man, after the likeness of the outer and bodily age. Whence also sometimes it is said of men already of mature age that they are children, and of others that they are old, and of others that they are young — and this surely does not fittingly apply to bodily age. In fine, when very many before Abraham had lived six hundred and five hundred, at the least three hundred years, of none of them was it said that he was aged and full of days, save of Abraham only. From which it is to be understood that this was designated not of the age of the body, but of the maturity of the inner man. Whence we also ought to wish to be called elders and seniors not for the age of the body, nor for the office of the presbyterate, but for the perfect sense of the inner man and the gravity of steadfastness — as also Abraham was called an elder, nourished in a good old age. There is, then, a certain childish age according to the inner man, and there is also a youthful age, and there is an aged age, according to what the Apostle said: "When I was a little one, I spoke as a little one, I was wise as a little one, I thought as a little one; but when I became a man, I did away with the things that were of a little one". I understand these things to be said by the Apostle not of bodily age, but because, when in the beginning he had believed, he was a little one lately born, desiring the reasonable and guileless milk; then he understood the Scriptures as a little one, was wise concerning the Gospel as a little one, thought as a little one; but after this, advancing in age after the likeness of Christ — of whom it is written that "He advanced in age and wisdom and grace with God and with men" — he laid aside the things that were of a little one: and therefore he said, "When I became a man, I laid aside the things that were of a little one". So therefore is David also to be understood to say: "I have been young, and now am old"; as if he said, When I was a little one according to the inner man, now I am already grown old. For unless he had grown old, he would not be a prophet. For it belongs to the aged to prophesy. Even if you should sometimes see a youth prophesying, do not hesitate to say of him that according to the inner man he has grown old, and therefore he is a prophet: in fine, Jeremiah, when he had heard: "Before I formed thee in the womb I knew thee, and before thou camest forth from the womb I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet among the nations", answered: "I am a youth, and I know not how to speak". But He who granted him the grace that he should not be a boy, but should be an elder according to the inner man, said to him: "Say not, I am a youth". Otherwise, unless these things be so understood, what reason would there be that it should be said to a boy, whose age is youthful and untrained, "Say not, I am a youth"? — that is to say, do not say what is true. He was therefore a youth according to the age of the body: but since the Lord had given His words in his mouth, by which he should root up and overthrow and scatter, and again build and plant — which virtue of the words, illuminating and sanctifying his soul, did not allow it to be childish — therefore rightly it is said to him: "Say not, I am a youth". Similarly, then, this also which David says: "I have been young, and now am old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread", is to be perceived according to what we said above concerning the youthful or aged age of the inner man; otherwise, according to the outer man, if the righteous man is to be thought forsaken by God when sickness of body comes, when tribulation, when poverty and each several trouble of this life is engendered — these things are especially wont to happen to the righteous, for whom it is customary even to suffer persecution for the name of God, but they are not forsaken when, suffering and enduring all these things, they say: No one shall separate us from the charity of God, which is in Christ Jesus, neither tribulation, nor hunger, nor distress, nor nakedness, nor sword, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature. In fine, the prophets, who went about in the desert through the caverns of the rocks and the caves, needy, tribulated, afflicted, though they wandered in the deserts and were forsaken by men, yet a multitude of angels surrounded them. So likewise Elisha, when he was forsaken by men, was surrounded by a heavenly host, according to what is written: Open the eyes of this boy, that he may see that there are more with us than with them. And he saw the whole mountain full of horsemen and chariots. For the righteous man is never alone, but is supported not by the fellowship of only one, or of two, or of three angels only, but a host of the heavenly powers is at hand for him. But if there is need yet of more testimonies, take up also another. Jacob, so long as he was in the house of his parents and with his brother Esau, was not with the host of angels; but when he had withdrawn to the solitude of the desert, and journeyed alone toward Mesopotamia, he slept in a certain place, and rising he says that this place is called παρεμβολή, which is "camp," for the reason that he saw there not one, but several camps of God. These things we say concerning the fact that the righteous man is by no means said to be forsaken — in spiritual goods, at least. For in bodily goods, see what the righteous man said, in which things also he glories: "Even to this", he says, "hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and we labor working with our hands". And again: "We are cursed and we bless, we suffer persecution and endure it, being blasphemed we entreat". But because such a one was not forsaken in spirit, he said: "Wherefore I please myself in my infirmities, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ". In two ways, then, is he forsaken who is forsaken. Bodily indeed in this manner, in which we said above that all the saints suffer, and are not harmed. But those are forsaken in spirit of whom it is said: "Since they did not approve to have God in knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, that they should do the things that are not fitting, being filled with all iniquity, wickedness, avarice, full of envy, murders, contention, guile, whisperers, detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty", and the other evils of this kind, for which they merited also to be forsaken. Which things, since they are alien to the righteous man, therefore he says, "I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread". Again, if you hear "his seed," will you return to bodily seed? And how will you find this true, that the seed of the righteous does not seek bread, when you see that Ishmael, born of the seed of Abraham, when his mother, fleeing her mistress Sarah, carried him in the desert, both sought water indeed and bread? But also Esau, coming from the way, was failing from want of food, and to such a degree was he cast headlong by the rage of hunger, that he sold away his birthright for a food of lentils. It behooves us, then, according to what we said above, to understand also the seed of the righteous spiritually. And what else is the seed of the righteous worthy to be thought, save the disciple of the righteous man, who, having received from him the seed of the word of God, is begotten unto eternal life? For example's sake, if by your prayers I should merit to be righteous, and to receive from the Lord grace in the word of wisdom and of knowledge, so that I could, according to the grace which I myself had merited from the Lord, minister to you also the word of God, and sow it in your souls; then afterward the word of God, having entered into your souls and clinging in your heart, would form your minds according to the form of the word itself — that is, that you would will this and do this which the word of God wills, and through this Christ Himself would be formed in you — then you would truly be made the seed of the righteous, which does not seek bread, having namely always in you that bread which descended from heaven. But if you answer me and say: How many heard Peter and Paul, who surely were most righteous teachers, and yet sinned — and how then shall they be called the seed of the righteous? But see whether perhaps, just as not all who are from Abraham are also called the seed of Abraham, to whom it is said, "If you were the sons of Abraham, you would surely do the works of Abraham"; so also those who heard Peter and Paul, and did not do the things that Peter or Paul had taught, were not their seed, because the seeds of the word received from them they cast off and poured out from their soul as by a kind of abortion. In fine, also in this very psalm he says in another place: "The seed of the impious shall be exterminated". But it is certain that the bodily seed of the impious will not be exterminated. Job, in fine, was of the seed of Esau, the seed of an impious man, and yet he is not exterminated, but is manifested as righteous by the Lord, and is shown to be a prophet, and merits to be praised by God above all the righteous. But this is what we said above, that as the seed of the righteous is his word and doctrine — which word so feeds and refreshes souls that they are denied to lack bread, because Christ is their bread — so on the contrary the doctrine and word of the impious is their seed, which is said to be exterminated, because it is composed of falsehood, and, when the light of truth comes, it is certain that the darkness of the lie will be put to flight.

"The law of his God is in his heart". Not only in his mouth will the righteous meditate wisdom, and with his tongue speak judgment, but in his heart also he bears the law of God; for the law, set like a certain root in the depth of the heart, germinates words of righteousness, words of holiness, which the righteous man brings forth from his heart — and not only word, but also acts and deeds. The Jews almost unceasingly meditate the law of God with their mouth and their lips, but they do not have it fixed in the depth of the heart, and therefore it is said to them: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me". We therefore, if according to what we read we meditate wisdom with our mouth, and with our tongue speak judgment, and the law of God be in our hearts, shall obtain that which follows: "And his steps shall not be supplanted". I think we remember those things which a while ago we discussed concerning the steps, and it is needful for us to call to memory what was said, that we may see how certain persons, as they walk, are supplanted and their steps are poured out. But if you keep these things in memory and retain them more diligently, you ought to know that if you meditate the wisdom of God in your mouth, and your tongue speaks judgment, and the law of God be in your hearts, your steps shall never be supplanted.

"Because those who act wickedly shall be exterminated; but those who wait for the Lord, they shall possess the earth by inheritance". It appears that wickedness is indeed another kind of evil, distinct from the other sins. Hence here too the divine word describes one man a sinner, and another wicked, just as there also it uses a similar distinction when it says: "Break the arm of the sinner and of the malignant", that is, the wicked. But the Lord too in the Gospel called the devil not merely a sinner, but malignant, or evil, and when he teaches in prayer, he says: "But deliver us from evil". And elsewhere: "An evil man has done", or a malignant one. Some define πονηρίαν, that is, wickedness, to be spontaneous or voluntary malice. For it is one thing to do evil through ignorance, and to be overcome by evil; it is another to do evil by will and by zeal, and this is wickedness. Hence also deservedly the devil is called by this name πονηρός, that is, malignant, or wicked. But the Savior too, reproaching us, said: "If then you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children". And now, therefore, he says: "Since those who act wickedly shall be exterminated; but those who wait for the Lord, they shall possess the earth by inheritance". There is also a certain other earth, that of which Scripture says, flowing with milk and honey, which the Savior in the Gospels promises to the meek, saying: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth". This earth of ours which we inhabit is by its proper name called the dry land, just as also that heaven which we behold is properly called the firmament. But from the appellation of the other heaven this firmament too received the name of heaven, as the Scripture of Genesis teaches. What then is it? In the present life indeed we use these visible heaven and earth, in which of the true heaven and the true earth we find nothing else but the names: but I judge that they are so named here for this reason, that, when these are so named, those things which are true and great may come to the desire and remembrance of those who name them. But who are they who shall possess the earth by inheritance? "They who wait", he says, "for the Lord". We wait for the Lord, because he himself is our expectation and our patience, as it is written: "And now what is my expectation? is it not the Lord?" Just as, therefore, the Savior is wisdom and peace and righteousness, so also he is expectation, or patience. And just as by participation in his righteousness we are made righteous, and by participation in his wisdom wise, so also by participation in his patience we are made patient. He is, therefore, as it were a certain perennial fount, from which we can draw both patience, and righteousness, and wisdom, and all whatsoever are the goods of the virtues; if only we bring good, worthy, and pure little vessels of ours to the fount. He says therefore: "But those who wait for the Lord, they shall inherit".

If, by the prudent use of reason, you could cut away the bitter root of indignation, you would remove many other vices along with this, their source. Deceit, suspicion, faithlessness, malice, treachery, rashness, and a whole thicket of evils like these are offshoots of this vice.… It is a malady on the soul, a dark mist over the reason. It brings estrangement from God, forgetfulness of the ties of kindred, cause for a strife, a full measure of disaster. It is a wicked demon coming to birth in our very souls, taking prior possession of our interior, like a shameless tenant, and barring entrance to the Holy Spirit.

Being human, we are all irked by the prosperity of the affluent, especially when they are dishonest. So from the outset he immediately gives this exhortation: Do not imitate evildoers, even if they are rich, nor lawbreakers, even if from their wickedness they amass wealth. Why not? Because … though flourishing for a time, such people have a rapid end. He did well to compare them with flowers: they also delight the eye for a time but are unable to bear the heat and dry up at once.

The wicked not only grows rich but even plots against the righteous, God's permission causing both developments to go ahead; but let it not alarm you. God in his foreknowledge [is] aware of the fate of the wicked and [sees] the righteous person's endurance.… God looks ahead to [the wicked person's] fate and mocks his threats and his frenzy, aware as he is of the future. Thus in many cases when the wicked think they have gotten the better of the righteous, then it is that sudden ruin overtakes them when unexpected punishment is inflicted on them by God.

Be sincere in pursuing good, not pretending to be honest while being evil; instead, be good openly and as it were without disguise so that God may openly repay you with good.

"Knows" means makes his own, as in the first psalm, "Because the Lord knows the ways of the righteous," that is, makes them his own.

The Greek puts it more forcibly, showing that where a person appears honored and exalted, there, by his very own failure, he is brought to a halt. It is rather like the current of a river: you think that it flows past you more swiftly than it came and that, while you are waiting for the waters to flow toward you, they have already rushed past you even as you waited.

(Verse 20.) They are gone like smoke that is gone. The Greek 'ἐξέλιπον' means, they have failed. You see someone suddenly come to power and receive honors; you regard them as lofty. You see another succeed them; don't you say about them: Where is the one who was honored and exalted? They have failed. Therefore, the Greek adds more; because where someone is believed to be honored and exalted, there they are surpassed by their own downfall; so that you may understand that the passing of rivers has passed sooner than it has come; and while you wait for what is to come, the currents have already flowed by. On the contrary, the humble and meek, while being subjected and oppressed by the rich, were exalted by their humility and suddenly shone forth. Therefore, Paul took pleasure in weaknesses, not in virtues.

But let us consider, lest anyone think that he has boasted in revelations; and let us repeat them, so that he may defend himself as the teacher of humility. I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago, whether in the body I do not know, or outside of the body I do not know, God knows, who was caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor. XII, 2). He says that it was revealed to him fourteen years ago, and yet he kept and suppressed the revelation for so long; he would not have said it unless he had judged it useful for us to hear; lest we be exalted by revelations. For if Paul did not boast in such great grace, neither should we boast. Did the young man himself boast, should the old man boast? Then he could not deny being caught up to the third heaven; and yet he testified that he did not know whether he was caught up in the body or out of the body. Therefore, he does not boast about knowledge; but about ignorance, and he proclaims God's grace towards him. What belongs to knowledge, he denies; what belongs to charity, he confesses: for knowledge puffs up, but charity builds up. And again, he said of such a person who was caught up: in what way he was caught up, whether in the body or outside the body, he himself was uncertain. See the scale of wisdom. He established himself as one in Christ, and the other as himself, who says: I do not know. What is foreign, he exalts. What is his own, he humbles. And he heard, he says, unutterable words (1 Corinthians 12:4). He did not say: I heard, but he did not deny that another heard. Therefore, he preferred to indicate himself as a modest witness rather than a prophet, and he refused to appear as the arbiter of heavenly secrets. For it is the testimony of truth, not to shrink from boasting in deserved exaltation. Therefore, it is said: 'For this I will boast; but for myself, I will not boast.' (Ibid., 5).

But what is it that he says he heard, a man, and that man in Christ, which is not lawful for a man to speak? How does this agree, that it was not lawful for a man to speak, which was lawful for a man to hear? If it is not lawful for the man who heard to speak, how was he trusted to hear what was not permitted to speak? What is this difference? If it was to another man who was external, how could a man know what it was not lawful for a man to hear? It seems that the grace of speaking did not fail that man who was in Christ, to whom it did not fail; but it failed in those who were listening, because they lacked the place, the time, and the merit. For he heard it in heaven; and therefore it was judged inappropriate for him to speak on earth what he had heard in heaven; for in this very earth is such a distinction, that what is sung in one region is not sung in another, as it is written: 'How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?' (Psalm 136:4) Finally, the Hebrews did not sing in the land of captivity, which they were accustomed to singing in their own country. This land of captivity is different from the land of liberty; the former is a land of sin, while the latter is a land of eternal peace. The former is earthly, while the latter is heavenly. Therefore, Paul now proclaims in heaven what he could not proclaim on earth; for the secrets of wisdom are to be spoken among the perfected.

However, what does the mention of this revelation accomplish, except to teach that in revelations there should be no boasting, but in weaknesses; for weakness is both the medicine of revelation and the exercise of virtue? On the other hand, revelation is the slippery slope of pride; for the apostle Paul himself, who was caught up to the third heaven, received a thorn in the flesh, lest he should be exalted by the greatness of the revelation. Therefore, weakness comes to the rescue, lest grace should be turned into danger. Therefore, weakness is more useful than grace. This same weakness is also the workshop of virtue; as the Lord testified to the Apostle himself, because strength is perfected in weaknesses (II Cor. XII, 9). Finally, after the revelation, he asked for the remedy of health and did not obtain it; but in weakness, he did not seek a remedy, but completed his course and found the crown.

Not infrequently good people, seeing others arrive at riches and honors by fraud and trickery, become green with jealousy and want to imitate them. They, too, are tempted to attain riches and fame by similar tricks and malpractices.… Do not be an imitator of wrongdoing and fraud. Rather, be an imitator of apostolic doctrine, of prophetic grace and of the virtue of the saints. Then you will bear fruit and reap the harvest of your good deeds.

(Verse 10.) But because he did not want to be redeemed through these means, and he believes he should persist in sin, of him the Prophet says: 'And yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: and thou shalt seek his place, and shalt not find it.' For how can he exist in the future, when the place of sin cannot endure? For this is the earth that opened its mouth to receive the blood of the innocent. And therefore in this earth is the place of sinners. The earth passes away, how then can the place of the sinner be found? I believe that the reason why God commanded there to be a firmament between the waters and the waters (Gen. I, 6) is so that He may discern sins from virtues; and the upper water, which praises the Lord, would remain free from error, while the lower water would be subject to sin. Indeed, the former sees God, but the latter does not: what is above the heavens sees Him; what is in the abyss does not. Hence it is also said: The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and trembled; the depths were troubled, the multitude of waters made a noise (Psal. LXXVI, 17). The abyss is disturbed by the deserving ones, upon which the deformed darkness lies, and therefore they cannot have peace. Hence, the legion of demons asked to be sent into the abyss, and they threw themselves into the waves with a great tumult (Matthew 8:31); in order to strangle the herd of pigs they had found. Therefore, sinners seek the abyss, where the darkness of shadows is.

(Vers. 32, 33.) The more righteous someone is, the more their enemy plots against them; and therefore Scripture says: The sinner considers the just person and seeks to destroy them. But the Lord will not abandon them into their hands, nor will He condemn them when He judges. Therefore, when the sinner sees that the just person speaks in their mouth and meditates on wisdom in their heart, because they speak judgment on their tongue, because they keep the law of the Lord in their heart; the sinner tries to bring death of sin upon them, but the Lord protects them. And therefore we do not fear the snares of the sinner, for God is for us. If God is for us, who is against us? Therefore, God will not abandon his just one, nor will he condemn him when he is judged. For he is a true judge, and therefore justice cannot be in jeopardy. Hence, Aquila said: He will not condemn him when he is judged. Symmachus: He will not condemn when the just one is being judged.

But because the Seventy men have thus set forth: When he shall be judged; we think that he refers to something else, because it is written: For the Lord himself shall come to judgment (Isaiah 3:14). But to what judgment? Hear him saying: Against you, you alone have I sinned, and done evil in your sight; that you may be justified in your words, and overcome when you are judged (Psalm 50:6). Therefore the Lord offers himself to be heard, that he may be judged by himself, so that he may overcome even more. How have I treated you? Hear, my people, what have I done to you? Or how have I made you weary? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery (Micah 6:3-4). And elsewhere: I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins; but you, remember me, and let us argue our case together (Isaiah 43:25-26).

It is a serious judgement when the Lord demands to be judged by man. For what can you answer to Him, who has given you everything, who has placed you in charge of everything; who subjected the Egyptians to you, to whom you came as a guest, and afterwards drowned them in the sea. He destroyed your enemies and overthrew them, He created and established you, He redeemed you with His own blood; and yet you betray yourself to serve His enemy! He has forgiven you all your sins, and yet you commit even worse ones! He calls you, you will come to judgment, what will you answer to him, who unless he gives to you again, you are lost? And so, seeing this, the holy David, with this certain moral teaching, avoids judgment, and pleads for mercy, saying: And do not enter into judgment with your servant; for no one who lives will be justified in your sight (Ps. CXLII, 2). He confesses that he is placed in darkness like one dead of the world. Carefully, he said like one dead of the world, not dead; for those who die in Christ are not dead of the world; but those are dead of the world, who place their entire life that they lived in the world in destruction and death. And so, as if desperate for a remedy, he turns to saying: 'Hear me quickly, Lord; for my spirit has failed' (Ibid., 7). For such a judgment has failed in the offering presented to it, in which the truth should be examined rather than mercy conferred.

However, the Lord is so merciful that even though no one is justified in His sight while living (for even the most righteous person is not free from sin; or whose life is such that it is deemed worthy of God's likeness?), nevertheless, one must be made in the image and likeness of God, just as God, who is without sin, is so too the one who is in His image, must be without sin. Therefore, what punishment is worthy for someone who has lost such great grace of the Lord's work and the likeness of divine beauty? But because he is merciful, even if he subjects himself to judgment; he does not judge the just, but the unjust. He spares the just, as if they were sinning due to the fragility of their condition: he punishes the unjust, as if he detests the ungrateful. Furthermore, even if you have many works of justice, do not be impatient and arrogant, so that you do not consider the rewards of justice in this age to be demanded, or lament that any adversity has befallen you undeservedly. For as long as you live, the struggle is owed to you, not the reward.

(Verse 4.) Therefore, he says: Delight in the Lord, and he will grant you the desires of your heart. Why did he not say 'your desires' but 'the desires of your heart'? For the desires of the external and internal man are not the same and not all of them are approved by Christ; because the law of the flesh often opposes to the rules of the spirit. But those desires that belong to the interior man, who is renewed by the Spirit, the Lord grants them to the petitioner with effect. Hence, he says elsewhere: May the Lord grant you according to your heart, and may he confirm all your desires (Psalm 19:5). He says to follow the heart, not the desire of the flesh; and he says that he should strengthen those desires which come from the deepest part of the heart, not those which are directed by the enticement and pleasures of the flesh.

The sinner cannot stand the just person who speaks wisdom with his mouth and meditates on it in his heart. He sees this one keeping the law of the Lord in his heart, and he does all in his power to make him sin mortally. But the Lord watches over the just. We need not fear the snares laid for us by the sinner, because God is for us.

Turn away from evil and do good; and dwell forever. These verses demonstrate that we belong to the Lord, and that he is the judge of our thoughts and actions, considering the merits of each individual. He does not act without judgment, but discerns between good and evil deeds. Therefore, it must be avoided and good must be done. Do not confuse good and evil; first, you must be free from sin; then, you must bear the fruits of innocence, so that you can be eternal.

(Verse 15.) And therefore the spear of sinners will enter into their hearts, and their bow will be broken. Just as peace returns to the servants of God from those who do not receive the blessed peace, so too the wickedness of sinners, with which they try to harm the righteous, will turn back to their own destruction; so that they may be killed by their own weapons and wounds. For often the javelins are thrown back upon those who threw them. This also happened in a recent war, when the unbelievers and sacrilegious attacked someone who trusted in the Lord and tried to take away his kingdom, threatening the churches of the Lord with cruel persecutions; so that suddenly a wind arose, which stripped the shields from the hands of the unbelievers, and turned the weapons and missiles against the army of the sinner. The enemy was still missing, and now they could not withstand the battles of the winds, and they were struck by their own spears. And what is worse, those wounds were not of the body, but of the mind; for they were losing heart, as they realized they were fighting against God. So they went out as provocateurs, and from the quiver of their own hearts they brought forth poisoned arrows of treachery against the Christian people; but their impiety turned back upon their own heads. Finally, they themselves are undone by their own treachery, and the Lord has dispersed the traps prepared for the faithful; so that not only could they not harm the pious, but they were exposed by their own resources and turned their weapons against the enemy. How much better would it have been if they had not drawn their sword from its sheath, that is, if they had not uttered impious words at all? For if everyone must give an account for idle talk, how much more will they atone for words of sacrilege with severe punishments?

You have tested us with fire, says David (Ps. XVI, 3). Therefore, we will all be tested by fire. And Ezekiel says: Behold, the Lord Almighty is coming; and who will endure the day of his coming, or who will stand when he appears to us? For he will come like the fire of a refiner and like the lye of a launderer; and he will sit refining and purifying like gold and silver: and he will purify the sons of Levi and pour them out like gold and like silver, and they will offer sacrifice to the Lord in righteousness (Malachi III, 2 and 3). Therefore, the sons of Levi will be purified by fire, by the fire of Ezekiel, by the fire of Daniel. But although they will be tested by fire, they will still say: We have passed through fire and water (Ps. 65:12). Others will remain in the fire: the fire will rain on them, like the Hebrew boys who were thrown into the fiery furnace; but the avenging fire will consume the ministers of wickedness. Woe to me if my work should burn, and I suffer loss from this labor! And if the Lord will save His servants, we will be saved by faith, yet saved as if by fire; and even if we are not consumed, still we will be burned. However, how some remain in fire, others pass through, the divine Scripture teaches us in another place. Indeed, in the Red Sea the people of the Egyptians were submerged (Exod. XIV, 22 et seq.), but the people of the Hebrews passed through; Moses passed through, Pharaoh was precipitated: for graver sins had submerged him. In this manner sacrilegious individuals will be cast into the lake of burning fire, who have hurled proud insults at God. Let us therefore follow the pillar of fire placed here, which illuminates us while we are placed in this body, and shows us the way; so that in the future the cloud may cool the heat of the night for us: that we may be able to relieve the savage fires.

But let us see what the Scripture says: 'Let the Lord break the bow of the wicked. But He placed His own bow in the clouds, so that the floods would cease and peace would be restored.' Therefore, let us believe that the adversary and wicked one extends his bow in order to disturb peaceful hearts, stir up storms, and incite winds. Let us pray, then, that our Lord God dissolve the bow of wickedness; let Him be present to His poor and needy, who, out of fear of God, have led themselves to believe that wealth should not be desired, the property of the less fortunate should not be seized, and the widows should not be robbed of their inheritance left by their ancestors.

The just, when he speaks God's judgment or when he himself utters opinions that are just and full of wisdom, never speaks in an angry, passionate way. He does not speak in bitterness of soul; he does not speak from anguish, grievance or any passion. He simply speaks out the truth and states what is honest, just and fair. He weighs things not according to personal feelings but according to truth. He carefully considers what things should be said and what should not be said. He is like the one of whom it is said, "The lips of the wise shall be bound by good sense." All that the wise say will be seen to accord with sound common sense; and such people, guided by their own prudence, understand well when they ought to remain silent. Matters that ought to be kept silent they keep confined to their own bosom and imprisoned, so to speak, by tightly closed lips. But when something ought to be said, then they loosen the bonds of their lips and come out with what they must say. Therefore the prophet aptly said, "The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom."

Let us speak the Lord Jesus, for he is wisdom. He is the Word, the very Word of God. Does not Scripture say, "Open your mouth to the word of God"? Echo his speech, meditate his words, and you will breathe Jesus. When we speak of wisdom, it is he.… When we speak of truth and life and redemption, it is he.

(Verse 21.) The sinner borrows and does not repay; but the righteous shows mercy and gives. This also applies to the person of Paul, because the righteous shows mercy and gives. See how he divides the Lord's words, see how he lends the Lord's silver. He received one mina and returned two; he received two and returned four; he received five and returned ten. He did not tie up in a handkerchief what he had received, but he spent it on moneylenders; and what he had spent, he received back with interest. And so he freed the one receiving from the greatest sin, lest the money of the Lord would perish with him; and he redeemed himself to be appointed over ten cities. Look in the letters for which are the ten cities that he mentions; although the apostles are not bound by a prescribed number, to whom it was said: Go throughout the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). Therefore, he distributed the money of the Lord from Jerusalem through the East, Illyricum, and Italy. And lest anyone think that he was lending his own money, he testified that it was the Lord's money, saying: But to those who are joined in marriage, I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband (1 Corinthians 7:10). And elsewhere: Do you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me? (2 Corinthians 13:3). Finally, the king himself said this, in which he represents the Lord: You should have entrusted my money to the bankers. He said, 'my money', not yours. Therefore, he shows mercy and gives. How he gives, you may hear him saying: I teach through all the churches. But the sinner borrows and does not repay (I Cor. VII, 17). See the rich man lending, and not returning: the poor man receiving, and immediately rewarding, so that he may not be in another's debt for long. These are moral teachings.

Now behold the mystic poor, that is, the simple and God-fearing one, who hears the word of chastity and keeps it; who hears of mercy and practices it; who hears of meekness and does not become angry. But that rich one, arrogant and proud, hears indeed, but rejects the words of God; who hears of the condemnation of lust and indulges in it even more. In the end, the Church fulfills what it has received, but the Synagogue does not fulfill it. Know the Church to be freed: (Jesus) says, 'They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word' (John 17:6). And elsewhere: 'For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me' (John 16:27). Therefore, the Church returned the money of charity that it received from the Lord, but the Synagogue did not return it. Therefore, it is said of the Jews: 'If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin' (John 15:24); because they have certainly heard and not believed. Therefore, it is proven that sinners have borrowed and not paid back. Thus, the sinner is always in need, while the righteous person abounds and gives, whose conscience is rich. Therefore, the Jews became poor in their wealth: The wealthy became poor and hungry (Psalm 33:11); However, the Christians have not lacked in the wealth of their simplicity.

(Verse 34.) Therefore, wait either for a helper or for the Lord as a reward: And keep His ways; that is, to wait and to keep the commandments of the one whom you think you need to wait for. Even if you are worn out, even if you are troubled, even if you lose strength due to sickness, still wait for the Lord, and your hope will not be in vain.

The Lord will come and exalt you, that you may possess the land as an inheritance. It is clear that the land is superior, not this earthly valley; but that which is the promise of eternity, in which whoever is established is exalted by the Lord.

But you will see when sinners perish; then indeed there will be a reward for the righteous, when judgment is made about the wicked's merits. However, sinners do not perish in the same way. They perish for you beforehand, if you do not marvel at their power and wealth: if it does not move you when you learn that they abound in honors, children, and friends. For these things are of the world, and the world is subject to worldly malice: and the prince of the world favors those who serve him, according to that: 'All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me' (Matth. IV, 9). What do you seek for those things to be given to you, when the very impious one who gives cannot himself abide in them for long? He himself also passes away, so how can the things he has conferred not also pass away? Just maintain a steady mind, hold on to justice, let no one sway you, and you will see that there is nothing impious.

There is money lent out at interest, and there is money lent in kindness. But the Lord expects a return. Money gets interest paid in cash. The grace of kindness wins an increase of faith. Lend out your faith generously to the Gentiles, and your grace will be multiplied. Do not go about borrowing like a pauper. Act like someone really rich and lend out so as to make great profit. Peter lent; Paul lent; John the Evangelist lent; and certainly they were not in want. What they lent was Christ's money; they were not charging high rates of interest. So lend and do not grow weary.

(Verse 26.) But how can he be in need who has mercy and lends all day? What is it that the righteous person lends? Not bronze, not iron, not lead, but silver purified by fire. He brings this to the table of the Lord, and distributes it to those who seek it: to one person, to two, to five minas daily he distributes, and it never runs out. But we have heard that lending at interest is condemned in the Law, with Moses saying: You shall not lend at interest (Deuteronomy 23:19). There is a twofold division: one of money, the other of grace. Divide both; for it is written: If you offer rightly, but do not divide rightly, you have sinned: be still (Genesis IV, 7). And you divide rightly, so as not to sin. Let Moses himself teach you to divide, who admonished to divide rightly; that you may follow what Abel did, who divided rightly: and flee from what Cain the murderer did, who did not know how to divide rightly. Therefore the Holy Spirit divides divisions, who, dividing all things, gives to each according to his will: He as He wills, you as you are able, as you are capable with your talent. Divide when the Law speaks about money, and when it speaks about grace. For it is said to you: You shall lend to nations, whose Lord demands interest: but you shall not borrow (Deuteronomy XV, 6). There is both money of interest, and grace, whose Lord demands interest; money of interest has material wealth, grace bestows faith. Lend therefore faith to nations, so that grace may abound to you: but you, do not borrow as if needy, but as if rich and wealthy, lend with interest. Peter lent, Paul lent, John the Evangelist lent, both lent, and they did not need; that is, they lent Christ's money, they did not lend money for interest. So lend, and do not cease to lend. Do you hear what Scripture says: All day long he is gracious and lends. The righteous man lends during the day, the greedy person at night; for grace is of the light, but greed is of the darkness. And therefore, the seed of the lender's faith will be in blessing, surely having the reward of blessings.

(Verse 22.) Therefore, the righteous is good; and for this reason, Scripture adds: For those who bless him shall possess the land; but those who curse him shall be destroyed. How does the righteous possess the land, or what land, when Scripture says: Will you alone dwell on the earth? (Isaiah 5:8) And elsewhere: Woe to those who dwell on the earth (Revelation 8:13), which is a word of rebuke and curse. Therefore, whose blessed possession is the land? Not of that which is hidden in darkness and filled with bitterness: but of that which flows with honey and milk, that is, has the grace of sweetness, and the radiance of eternal light. Receive the sweetness of good honey; indeed, above honey: Pain and groaning and sadness will flee away (Isaiah 35:10); for the sweetness of grace will exclude the bitterness of human frailty. And elsewhere: And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, nor mourning (Revelation 21:4). They will also receive the brightness of milk. And they will not need a lamp, nor the light of the sun; for the Lord himself will illuminate them, and they will reign forever and ever. Amen (Rev. XXIV, 5).

There is also the mystical just one, who shows mercy and grants, who has given us all the words that He received from the Father, and has forgiven us the debt of our sins, and has paid for our debts with His own blood; so that we would not be in debt to another, but that the good creditor would have us in His own debt. And there is also that sinner who has gathered what he did not produce, and has borrowed what he did not possess, and does not want to give back what he received. Listen, for the devil has borrowed: 'To you,' he says, 'I will give all this power and their glory (because they have been given to me, and I give them to whom I want) if you will fall down and worship me' (Luke 4:6). Most wicked one, you have accepted for temptation, not for death; that is, you have accepted for the testing of God's servants, not for their annihilation; you have accepted for the worship of God, not for his denial; you have accepted secular things, why do you take away things that are eternal? you have accepted things of this world, why do you want to take away things that are of Christ? Give those things to whom you want, we do not envy. Why are the things we desire envied by you? You want to be worshipped, who are more wicked than all, and yet unworthy of service yourself.

(Verse 35.) Finally, listen to him saying: I saw the wicked one exalted and raised above the cedars of Lebanon. And I passed by, and behold, he was not. I saw him in this age, I saw with the eyes of the body; I also saw him boasting and exalting himself with his words, considering himself to be something, who is nothing. How does he exalt himself? I will set my throne above the clouds, and I will be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:14). He exalts himself so that you may see him exalted like the towering cedars of Lebanon: and they themselves are tall, and they are on the highest mountain. Therefore, those who are exalted are deservedly exalted, and the wicked, who establishes himself on that mountain about which it is written: If you have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain: Be lifted up and thrown into the sea (Matt. XVII, 19). To whom? To the devil, he says, from whom this man was possessed and oppressed, whom you marvel at being healed. Therefore, he has more love in Christ than power in the devil. You see the cedar on the highest mountain exalted; but it is broken by the wind, it is burned by fire, it is dissolved by age: so it is with the rich person in the world. It shines indeed with a certain brilliance of secular grace, like Mount Lebanon. It leans on the power of the world, rejoicing in wealth and riches. Something seems to be to you, before you say: \"I will go over and see\" (Exodus 3:3). For just as Moses passed over material things with his soul and mind, and saw God, so too, if you pass from here, lifting the footprint of your mind to the grace of God, you will see that He is nothing who seemed most powerful to himself in this land. Therefore, God, the Word, says to your soul, says to your mind: Come here from Lebanon, my bride, come here from Lebanon: you will pass over and go through. If you pass over worldly things, you will go through to paradise. Listen to the one passing by, Remember me, Lord, when you come into your kingdom. Listen again to the one passing through: Truly, truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

What is: Behold, it was not. In the beginning, indeed, the Word was. And whoever sees the Word, who is a partaker of the Word, indeed he himself is; because the Word of God always is, and the speech which is from Him is not: It is and it is not; but: It is; and it remains in the one who follows God. But whoever does not know the Word, he is not, because he does not adhere to Him who said: I am who I am (Exod. III, 14). But whoever adheres to Him, is one spirit. Wherever the spirit is, there is also life. Therefore Scripture says of God: 'Who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist' (Rom. 4:17); this means, he calls the nations that did not exist as his own people; for our ancestors were chosen by God. And elsewhere it is said: 'The Lord knows those who are his' (2 Tim. 2:19); he does not know those who are not his. And Esther says: 'Do not give your scepter to those who do not exist' (Esther 14:11). Therefore, the righteous man says rightly: And I passed by, and behold he was not; that is, I saw him exalted in the world before I considered that the world is nothing. But when I passed above the world in my mind, I saw that he who was before exalted in this world was no longer.

And you, if you are just, pass from present things to those things which are to come, and present things will pass away from you. Heaven and earth will pass away; but my words will not pass away (Matt. XXIV, 35). Therefore, all things pass away for the just. The wicked passes away, similar to vanity, and his days pass like a shadow. Not only do present things pass away from the just; but also when they intend to reach those things which are to come, those present things already pass away. See how present things have passed away from the just. Indeed, in the time of the prophet David, there was the Synagogue, but there was not yet the Church from the Gentiles. And he speaks of the future as if it were present, saying: Bless our God, O nations (Psalm 65:8). Furthermore, he says: God has ascended in jubilation (Psalm 47:6). The times of deceit will pass, not by age, but by mindset. And he celebrated the resurrection of the Lord, which would come many centuries later, with devout faith, saying: Sing to our God, sing; sing to our King, sing (ibid., 7). As though it were of interest to Christ himself and the sacraments of the wedding union of the Church, it leaps and rejoices. It also expressed the reason for the celebration, saying: The Lord has reigned over all the earth (Ibid., 8). Therefore, if we pass by, and those things which are to come seem to have passed by us; just as if you pass by land while sailing, you also see it pass by, and as if it were departing from you. Often sailors, especially in a storm, flee from land; and yet when they flee from it, it seems rather to flee from the sailors. And if you flee from this world, it too will flee from you; if you pass by this earth, it too will pass by you. And you sail in this sea, and in this age you fluctuate; flee the earth, it has rocks, it has stones; as it is written: Cast stones from the path (Isaiah 62:10). If you hasten through this airy abyss to the port of divine will, you will see that all these things have passed by you. For what difference does it make whether they have passed by, or whether you judge that you have passed them by?

There is another wicked one who appears exalted and elevated above the cedars of Lebanon; but if you pass by, he will not be, nor will you find his place. See to me a Jewish scribe returning the series of the old Scriptures, but not following; you hear that he gives it back with his lips, you wonder how learned he is. You ask what he believes: he answers according to the letter, he goes through the history. He seems to you to be exalted and elevated, if you consider the letter. Pass on to spiritual understanding, because the Law is spiritual; you see that he is nothing, then you say: I saw the wicked one exalted. ...and I passed by, and behold, he was not there; and I searched for him, and the place of him was not found. I searched for him where he should have been, where life is: I did not find him. He was not there, where life was; for he was dead, and therefore the place of him was not found. For what is the place of the dead, who was not, nor ever was? For he was not, who was in the letter; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Therefore, I sought him, that I might find him: he did not present himself, that he might be found; that is, I wanted to convert him: he did not want to present himself to me, that he might be converted. I did what a seeker would do: he fled from that which should have returned. Finally, the soul that desires to be converted, seeks the Word; and when it finds it, it says: I have taken hold of him, and I will not let him go (Song of Solomon 3:4). That is, the Son of God, the Word of God. But the unjust person who refused to be healed, I sought him, and I did not find him; and therefore, do not imitate him.

(Verse 30 and following) When he established the just moral disciplines, to teach you what kind you ought to be, and what would be the perfect form of justice; he wants his mind to rise to wisdom and theorems; and arouse his intention, so that he may look at heavenly things with an attentive heart, and revolve the divine oracles within himself, and direct his affection towards those things which please God: let him meditate on the Law, and let no commandments of the Lord escape him; let him recognize the movement of the divine Sacrament. Finally, I saw in the teachings that the holy Prophet arose: The mouth of the just man will meditate wisdom, and his tongue will speak judgment. The law of God is in his heart; the Lord will not condemn him when he is judged. Wait for the Lord and keep his way; and he will exalt you to possess the land: when sinners are destroyed, you will see. I saw the wicked man exalted and lifted up above the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed by, and behold, he was no more; and I sought him, but his place was not found. Superior moral things, these are intelligible. For what is the just mouth that will contemplate wisdom, if not the inner man? For there are two men in each person: one inner, the other outer; the inner one thinks about things of the mind, speaks about things of the mind; the outer one about things of the body. However, the coming Lord united both; and he established two in one person; so that they would not oppose each other with conflicting movements, but rather be united to each other by the unity of their wills. Therefore, the mouth of the righteous will meditate wisdom. For now even the outer man of the righteous is transformed into the discipline of the inner man, and is conformed to its nature, and performs its duties, so that the flesh may meditate on what is of the inner mind. But lest this seem incredible to you, listen to the Apostle saying (Philippians 3:21) that the Lord Jesus transfigured the body of our lowliness, so that it would be conformed to the body of his glory. Who would dare to say that the flesh, assumed from the Virgin, generated by the Spirit of God coming upon Mary, was without sin, which in no way differed from the teachings of wisdom, and was devoid of the virtues of the inner man, and could not pass into his uses; since it was above man that the sick were healed by touching it, the blind had their sight restored, and the dead were raised? Therefore, it is fittingly written: the mouth of the righteous will meditate on wisdom; because the whole man is spiritual, not earthly: for as earthly, so also are earthly; and as heavenly, so also are heavenly. Therefore, let the earthly be absent, let the heavenly remain. And so, referring to the times of the Redeemer, the Prophet meditates, saying: although one out of many, he meditates and writes. And it does not deviate from sense; for the spirits of the prophets are close to the future as well as the present. Others think that the mouth speaks instead of the mind. But Solomon has beautifully explained this to us, saying: The account of the righteous is always wisdom; but the fool is like the moon that changes (Sirach 27:12); that is, he often varies and does not persist in his opinion, and seems to shed light in darkness but cannot hold it.


Therefore, let the meditation of wisdom always be in your heart and on your lips, and let your tongue speak judgment, may the law of your God be in your heart. Therefore, Scripture says to you: Speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you rise up (Deut. VI, 7). Let us therefore speak of the Lord Jesus; for He is Wisdom, He is the Word and the Word of God. For it is also written: Open your mouth with the word of God. He breathes it out, who resonates His words, and meditates on them. Let us always speak. When we speak of wisdom, He is: when we speak of virtue, He is: when we speak of justice, He is: when we speak of peace, He is: when we speak of truth, and life, and redemption, He is. Open your mouth to the word of God, it is written: you open, He will speak. Therefore David said: I will hear what the Lord will speak in me (Ps. LXXXIV, 9). And the Son of God Himself says: Open your mouth, and I will fill it (Ps. LXXX, 11). But not all can perceive the perfection of wisdom like Solomon; not all like Daniel. However, the spirit of wisdom is poured out on all according to their capacity, but on all who are faithful. If you believe, you have the spirit of wisdom; therefore, the Wise One says: 'I believed, therefore I spoke' (Ps. 116:10). When you believe, you will receive the grace of speaking. And the one who believes is redeemed; and the one who prays is redeemed: if they devoutly apply themselves to prayers, and are constant in prayer, let them precede the day, frequent the night, be the first to meet the morning sun, so that they may be enlightened by Christ himself before the earth by the rising of the sun; and the one who sings is redeemed; and the one who is contrite is redeemed.


Therefore, always meditate, always speak of the things of God, sitting in the house. We can take the Church as our home, we can receive an interior home within ourselves, so that we may speak within ourselves. The judges sit in Jerusalem; the seats have been set in judgment; the council of judges also sat, and the books were opened. The prophecy says: And you, with counsel, do everything (Sirach 32:24). Judge with counsel about your actions, drink wine with counsel, speak with counsel; so that you may avoid sin, lest you fall through speaking too much. Speak while you are sitting, as if you were a judge: speak on the way, so that you may never be vacant. On the way, speak if you speak in Christ, for Christ is the way. Speak to yourself on the way, speak to Christ. Listen to how you speak to them. I want, he says, men to pray in every place, lifting up pure hands without anger and argument (I Tim. II, 8). Speak, O man, while you are sleeping, so that the sleep of death does not creep upon you. Listen to how you speak while sleeping: If I give sleep to my eyes and slumber to my eyelids; until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob (Ps. CXXXI, 4 and 5). Conquer nature by diligence, exclude bodily sleep. We cannot shape nature, but we can shape diligence. David was a man who indulged in some sleep during the night, but he excluded sleep by washing his bed every night and watering his couch with tears. Therefore, he was always mindful of his Lord on his bed, and he meditated on Him. He would rise early in the morning, and Christ would shine upon him in the darkness, saying: Rise, you who are sleeping (Ephesians 5:14). Not in all things is this grace, but it can be in many things with diligence. Therefore, do not expect Christ to awaken you; but rather awaken Christ. He awakens himself who thinks about him while sleeping. If you awaken him, he will also awaken you from sleep, resurrect you from death, saying to you: Rise from the dead (Ibid.). Therefore, when you rise or when you resurrect, speak to him, so that you fulfill what you are commanded. Hear how Christ awakens you. Your soul says: The voice of my brother knocks at the door (Song of Songs, 5:2); and Christ says: Open to me, my sister, my bride. Listen to how you awaken Christ. The soul says: I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, if you awaken and revive charity (Song of Songs, 3:5). Charity is Christ. Also listen to how you speak while sleeping: I sleep, but my heart keeps watch (Song of Songs, 5:2). These things collectively: raise your mind a little higher now.


Speak while sitting in the house, in this earthly house of this habitation, which is dissolved, in which we are pilgrims from the Lord. For in this body we are placed, while we desire to put on more rather than to strip off, we are exiled from Christ, and we groan heavily. Therefore, sitting in this, confess your sins; because you sat, and did not stand, and did not say: Our feet were standing in your courts, O Jerusalem (Psalm 122:2). Speak more, and do not hide your sins; speak while sitting, so that you may hear the one speaking: 'Arise after you have sat, you who eat the bread of sorrow' (Psalm 126:2). Speak while walking on the way, that is, following the course of this life. Speak here, lest you remain silent there, as he remained silent who did not believe the angel of Christ at first; afterwards, however, when he believed, he regained his voice. Speak while sleeping and be at rest, buried in Christ; so that you may rise again with him in the newness of life. Speak even when buried in a tomb; as the souls of the saints spoke, seeking vengeance from the author of death. How long, O Lord, holy and true, will you not judge and avenge our blood (Rev. 6:10)? Speak finally when you rise; as he taught who said: I have slept and have rested and have risen; for the Lord will receive me (Psalm 3:6). And there, therefore: The mouth of the righteous will meditate on wisdom, until he reaches the higher secrets of the heavenly tabernacle, full of sacred joy and gladness; just as Scripture has taught us, with David saying: I have remembered these things, and I have poured out my soul upon myself; for I will enter into the place of the admirable tabernacle, even to the house of God. In the voice of exultation and confession the sound of feasting (Psalm 41:5). Therefore, both while sitting in this earthly house and when we go out and walk along the way, if we are worthy, we shall meet Christ when we are caught up and even speak while asleep.

Take the third lifting up, by which the soul elevates itself to justice. For there is a certain spiritual sleep to be understood, about which Solomon says: 'If you sit down, you will sit without fear; if you sleep, you will rest sweetly, and you will not fear the terror that will come upon you, nor the attacks of the wicked that will come upon you' (Prov. III, 24 et seq.). You will rest sweetly and not fear the terror or the attacks of the wicked; if your tongue speaks the judgment of God, and you always keep that before your eyes; so that you leave no place for sin, and know that the price of sin is paid by the retribution of punishment. For he himself interpreted this in the ninetieth Psalm, saying: "You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow flying by day, nor the business wandering in darkness, nor the encounter and the midday demon. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. Only with your eyes shall you consider, and you shall see the retribution of sinners" (Psalm 90, 5 and following). For when the just person speaks of the judgment of God, or when he speaks of what is just, and is full of true judgment, he does not speak with anger, nor with the affliction of a grieving soul, nor with sorrow, nor with any passion; but he speaks with truth, he speaks with equity, so that he does not lean towards affection, but rather weighs with a true examination what he speaks: for he judges what should be said, or not proclaimed. To what is that similar: The lips of the wise are bound by understanding (Prov. 15:7); because everything they say seems to correspond to true understanding, and by the prudence of their own understanding, they know what they ought to speak or be silent about: so that what should be kept silent is restrained by a certain confinement and binding of the lips; but in those things which ought to be spoken, the bonds of the lips are loosened. Therefore, he appropriately adds: The mouth of the righteous meditates wisdom; for through prolonged meditation, it will be able to have full judgment, which the righteous person will speak at the appropriate time; since he has seen face to face those things which are perfect. For now we cannot speak of those things which we do not comprehend. Nor did Paul presume to speak, who, caught up into paradise, heard secret things of heaven: but willing not to err in what he would say, he said: How incomprehensible are the judgments of God, and unsearchable his ways! (Rom. 11:33) But now, being freed from the body, perhaps he comprehends the kinds of unsearchable ways, and the judgments of God which are as deep as an abyss.

You see a cedar raised to a great height on the loftiest peak, yet it can be shattered by the wind; it can be burned down by fire; it can grow old and decay. Such are the rich in this world. They make a grand display and shine, with a worldly sort of splendor, like Mount Lebanon. They are propped up by the powers of this world and positively exult in their money and their riches. To you the rich person seems to be something, that is, until you are able to say, "Passing over, I shall see." For just as Moses passed over, in mind and soul, material things and saw God; you, too, if you will only pass over from this place and lift up the footsteps of your mind to God's grace, will see that the rich person is nothing. Yes, nothing, even though in this world he appeared so high and mighty.

What is the sword of the wicked? It is the absolute opposite to the sword of the Holy Spirit.… God's Word is the sword of the Holy Spirit. But the sword of the wicked is the evil word.… Stupid and petulant speech issues from their mouths as from a scabbard, and would it not have been better to restrain it and bury it? In like manner the Word of the Lord is brought forth as a sword; so, too, the speech of the sinner, and the bow that they bend is their mind. The arrow that they shoot is the venomous word. Our arrow is Christ, the Word of God.

(Verse 14.) Moreover, he adds: Behold, they have unsheathed the sword, sinners have bent their bow, to cast down the needy and the destitute. What is the sword of the sinner, if not the opposite of the sword of the Holy Spirit? Scripture has taught me this sword; the Apostle taught it, saying that we have the breastplate of righteousness, and the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:14 et seq.). Therefore, the word of God is the sword of the Holy Spirit. On the contrary, indeed, the sword of the most wicked spirit is the evil word. With this sword, the Apostle Peter struck Ananias and Sapphira with his words as if with a certain sword; with this sword, Paul took away the sight of Elymas who opposed his arguments and filled him with the darkness of blindness. Now consider to me, you sinning quarrelers, boasting in bitter insolence, and bringing forth reproaches of accusations; if you hear them, will you not say: Sinners have drawn their swords; when foul speech is brought forth from the mouth as if from a wanton sheath, which should have been restrained and hidden? Similarly as the sword is called the word of God, and the same is the speech of the sinner: so also the bow which sinners stretch, is their mind; and the arrow which they shoot, is a poisoned word. For as Christ is an arrow, who is the Word of God, of whom it is said: I have set thee as a chosen arrow (Isaiah 49:2), which is brought forth out of the quiver of God: so the arrows of the treacherous are, which being shot from a certain bow of wickedness, wound the unsuspecting innocent, unless their fiery darts are repelled by the shield of faith. And therefore, as a soldier, you must be anxious in battle; because the fight is not only against flesh and blood, but also against the spiritual wickedness that cannot be seen. May you have strong weapons from God, so that you can easily draw the arrows you want: so that the enemy cannot oppress you as a poor and unarmed person. Be strong in God, be rich in God, so that it can be said of you: The redemption of a man's soul, his riches (Prov. XIII, 8). With an abundance of the treasure of wisdom, be rich in word and good works, so that you may be fortified. Avoid the wealth of the sinner, lest they find a way to harm you. Be merciful, so that you may remain invulnerable or be able to heal yourself if you are wounded. There is also the poor person whom your adversaries want to wound, from that number of whom the Savior said: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3).

(Verse 17.) For the arms, he says, of the sinners will be broken. So that their actions cannot bring any impediment to the righteous; so that the rod of the sinners is not left over the lot of the righteous. And Paul says: May God crush Satan under your feet (Rom. XVI, 20). For if his arm has been broken, he himself will be completely crushed, and his comments will be trampled upon, like the venom of a serpent.

But the Lord strengthens the righteous, with the arm of the adversary broken. And therefore the righteous says: And you have confirmed your hand upon me (Ps. 37:3). And Job says: The hand of the Lord has touched me (Job 19:21). So the Lord sent his hand upon his servant, and he broke the hand of the sinner that he had sent against him with power. Thus the devil was deceived by his own words, who said: Stretch forth your hand against him, and let us see if he will not bless you to your face (Job 2:5). For he did not dare to say curses, but he left this to be understood. God sent his hand, and Job was strengthened. He began to bless, who was believed to curse; for he heals the righteous, when the divine hand touches, it does not harm. He sent his hand, and every spot of leprosy fled; he touched the eyes of the blind, and the blindness was removed, and the light of the eyes shone forth. Therefore, always seek to be strengthened, for even you who stand, see lest you fall. We must stand in order to be strengthened by the Lord. The world is slippery, we swiftly slide. Therefore, let us pray that the Lord deems us worthy to establish and strengthen us.

To God alone, who remains forever, I entrust; to God alone who can forgive sins, I entrust my salvation. He will be my protector in time of trouble and will help and deliver me. He will snatch me away from sinful people when the hour comes for him to give judgment. He will save me because in him I have hoped. Only in him have I hoped. For he does not wish that we should serve both him and another. The one who serves God alone is set free; for God's is the praise and the glory. He alone is eternal. To him all honor and power from the beginning of the ages, and now, and always, and to all ages of ages. Amen.

The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; not from the world, not from an element. Heaven and earth will pass away. I do not entrust my salvation to heaven; because it too will pass away, for it is said of many heavens: They will perish, but you will remain. I entrust myself only to God, who remains, who can forgive sins; that He may be my protector in times of tribulation, that He may help me and deliver me, and snatch me from the sinners in the time of His judgment, and make me safe, for I have hoped in Him. In Him alone I have hoped; for He does not desire us to serve both Himself and others. He who serves Himself alone is liberated; for to Himself belongs praise, glory, and eternal power, both now and forever, and unto all ages of ages.

(Vers. 12, 13.) It follows: The sinner will observe the just and will gnash his teeth over him. But the Lord will deride him; for He sees that his day is coming. It is customary for one who is angry and seething to gnash his teeth: but the heart of the wicked also has its teeth, which are not accustomed to merely making noise, but to tearing. The sinner's traps, schemes, and wickedness are his teeth. Therefore, the sinner lies in wait for the just, because he envies him; for the life of the just rebukes the sinner, whom it silently condemns with greater authority than if it were to speak with a loud voice. But the righteous should not fear the clamor of the sinner, for wickedness cannot be everlasting. Temporary are the snares, but eternal are the fortresses of virtue. Death dissolves all power and deceit of the sinner.

Anger destroys not just the ordinary run of people, but even the wise. David warns the wise, saying to them, "Cease from anger," for once that fire is set alight it will not cease until its flames have consumed you. "Leave aside," he says, "your rage." Here is his meaning: nature catches hold of you, it stirs up your feelings, you get excited about some fault, some slight that has offended you, you begin to rage but not to the point where you cannot stop. Drop it. Put an end to it, or it will drag you into sin.

(Vers. 8). If you have overcome the previous passions, anger follows; and therefore Scripture says to you: Cease from anger, and forsake indignation. There are many vices that creep in upon the foolish. Anger is a heavy passion: it often ignites the unwilling; and it drags the willing into madness, so that he may destroy whom he thought to restrain. Stirred up, he often stabs the innocent with a sword. Many have killed friends and brothers out of indignation. Therefore, the wise man says: Anger destroys even the wise (Prov. XV, 1). It is the saying of Solomon, that anger not only destroys any men from among the crowd, but even the wise themselves. And David advises the wise man, saying: Cease from anger; lest when you are inflamed by it, it does not cease until its flame consumes you. Leave, he says, indignation; that is, nature carries you away, emotions move you, someone's fault or offense provokes you to be angry; but not always, so that you do not know how to control it: leave it, set a limit to it, lest it draw you into sin. This is what he said above: Be angry, and do not sin (Psalm 4:5). For he does not encourage you to be angry, but yields to the passion for a time; however, he provides a remedy so that the force of the wound does not spread for too long. Be angry, he says, for it is of your passion. For a physician does not immediately apply medicines to weakness; if pain is burning, he applies soothing remedies to alleviate the pain; if fever is raging, he waits for the right time for a remedy and often withholds drink from those who are thirsty. He does not say: Do not be feverish when the vapors of illness are boiling; but he says: Wait, the fever will cease, the agitation will subside. So also the Prophet could not say to man, whose flesh is excited by various diseases and passions of agitation: Do not be angry; but he says: Cease from anger, and leave off indignation, lest you sin; for anger is a great instigator of sin. Another physician also says: Let not the sun set upon your anger (Ephesians 4:26); lest while you delay for a long time, that one who is accustomed to arouse the heated body with sleep should come, and stir you up, and insert thoughts into you, and immerse himself in the secrets of your heart, saying: Take revenge for your injury, recognize yourself as a man: it belongs to feminine weakness, not to take vengeance. Therefore, the servant ought to have scorned you, the brother deceived you, the friend mocked you; and yet you do not avenge your own insult? It is necessary to proscribe, it is necessary to rise with a sword, and to resolve your pain with the death of your adversary. That man was brave who killed his enemy, deservedly he is praised; because he avenged himself in such a way that another who was ignorant of it might hear, and would not dare to inflict injury on him. By these goads he is further incited, further moved; so that what is written may be fulfilled: Anger destroys even the wise.

The Lord knows the days of the immaculate, for by the grace of His immaculate innocence and fullness, He has mercy, He does not have mercy on the erring. They do not have a day, for they flee from the light, of whom it is beautifully said: Their days pass like a shadow. Therefore, knowledge of God is a matter of worthiness, not of vision. His eyes are light: those whom He looks upon, He illuminates; and therefore, His eyes are the days of the just.

(Verse 3.) Therefore the Prophet rightly says: Hope in the Lord, and do good; and you shall inhabit the land, and shall be fed with its riches. What is the land that he advises to inhabit, if not your soul, which you should cultivate well, frequently plowing it with spiritual plows, so that it does not become overgrown with weeds? For a good farmer works his field with daily activity and diligent care, and protects his own fields; lest a wild boar from the forest devastate them, and a cunning thief snatch away the ripe fruits. Therefore, prepare your land so that when he comes who sows the word, he may find your soul ready; lest the seed fall upon the uncultivated soil of your heart and the birds of the sky come and devour what has been sown. So, listen to what is said: 'Behold, the sower went out to sow his field.' And as he sowed, some fell beside the path, some fell on rocky ground, and some fell on good soil... What falls on good soil are those who, with a good heart, hear the word and retain it, and produce fruit through patience. May your heart be a clean world, may your soul be clean, so that you can bring the fruit of goodness, that is, spiritual grace. For goodness is the fruit of the Holy Spirit; as it is written: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22). These are the fruits we are nourished by and satisfied with their abundance. On this earth, the righteous Noah planted that fruitful vine and drank from its fruit, and his heart was freed; when he clothed himself in the garment of admirable piety, his posterity was doubled by the virtue of his own deeds. Moreover, in another place the holy prophet demonstrated to us those riches in which he was rich in Christ, and which abounded in everything that leads to eternal life. And truly, who could be richer than one who is rich in the Lord, so that he can say: I have delighted in the way of your decrees as much as in all riches (Psalm 119:14)? For what could be lacking to a man who was enriched by heavenly oracles? And therefore, this psalm urges us to seek that eternal treasure and to find delight in its acquisition.

(Verse 18, 19.) Do not think that the Lord does not know your way. If you are righteous, He knows. Believe what the Prophet says: The Lord knows the ways of the blameless; and their inheritance will be blameless. They will not be put to shame in times of trouble. Those who know the Lord are known by the Lord. He knows the righteous, He does not know the unjust; therefore He will say to the unjust: Depart from me, all you who practice iniquity: I do not know you (Matthew 7:23); that is, because you are unworthy of divine knowledge. I do not know you; because you yourselves desired not to know me. Your works do not know me, your deeds do not know me; even if you say that you know me, your sins convict you. Every sin is from evil: but whoever does not sin remains in me, this is written by John (1 John 3:6). What shall I say about the Lord, because he despises the wicked to know? Paul despises those who said: If anyone among you is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize what I write to you: but whoever does not recognize, shall not be recognized (1 Corinthians 14:37-38). And elsewhere it is written: The Lord knows those who are his (2 Timothy 2:19). Let us therefore be of the Lord, so that the Lord may recognize us, and let every one who invokes the name of the Lord turn away from iniquity.

The Greek has: The Lord knows the days of the immaculates. For there are the days of Elijah, there are the days of Nebuchadnezzar; therefore the Gospel has: In the days of Elijah, when the heavens were closed (Luke IV, 25). It was a night for the faithless, but it was light for Elijah; the heavens were closed for the faithless, but they were open for Elijah; there was hunger for the faithless, but abundance for Elijah; for he could not hunger, to whom heavenly food was provided; nor did he hunger, who himself fed others. Therefore, for him it is a just day in darkness; because even light shines in darkness. And Joseph was in Egypt, and midday shone upon him; as it is said below: But to the sinner God said: why do you recount my justices (Ps. XLIX, 16)? Justice is light, because you have above: And he will bring forth your justice as the light (Ps. XXXVI, 6). Therefore, you have what may shine in you, if you follow justice. The day shines for you, the night shines for you; because to the faithful even the night will be illuminated like day. Therefore, the Lord knows the just, because he enlightens every man coming into this world (John 1:9), that is, the one who lives according to the image and likeness of God; the one who recognizes himself as a human being, in order to avoid the lust of horses, the madness of wild animals, the fear of rabbits, the deceit of foxes, the rapacity of wolves; the man who acts as if he has come into this world; who is not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. So you have come, do not stay, do not cling to earthly things. In order to know that the days are good, listen to what Abraham said: . . . he saw my day, and was glad (John 8:56) . Good is the day for those who know the good Son of God, and confess the Lord. And again he warns us to be careful, because there are evil days (Ephesians 5:16) . What are evil days? Those in which evil is certainly recognized, which comes from evil. Or perhaps the days of this age are evil; because the age is in the power of the evil one. But we also read after a hundred years, the day of evil: In the evil day the Lord will deliver him (Ps. 40:2), that is, on the day of judgment, evil indeed on account of the punishments of many. For it is necessary that the unjust be tormented, and the just suffer with them; because even the angels rejoice when one sinner is saved from death. Therefore, they suffer with him when he is punished; although elsewhere we have read: The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge (Ps. 57:11), which I reserve for its proper place; although frequently you may have heard why he rejoices; but let us not insert one occupation into another.


The Lord knows the days of the immaculate, for by the grace of His immaculate innocence and fullness, He has mercy, He does not have mercy on the erring. They do not have a day, for they flee from the light, of whom it is beautifully said: Their days pass like a shadow (Psalm 143:4). Therefore, knowledge of God is a matter of worthiness, not of vision. His eyes are light: those whom He looks upon, He illuminates; and therefore, His eyes are the days of the just.

Therefore, their inheritance will be eternal; because they sought eternal goods, not the fleeting benefits of inheritance. And they will not have anything to be ashamed of in the time of evil, that is, the celestial judgment: and in days of hunger they will be satisfied; because man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God (Matthew 4:4). But who is this man? I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2). Therefore, that person who is in Christ, who does not know himself to be in the flesh, who does not walk in the flesh but in the spirit; that person who is caught up not only to heaven, but even to the third heaven, is caught up to paradise, and hears secret words that are not lawful for a man to utter; who does not boast in his own virtues, but in his weaknesses: he does not live on bread alone, but on every word of God. For the Word of God is life, because the Word became flesh. Whereas the Evangelist excellently said: That which was made in him, is life. (John 1:14).

The Alexandrians and Egyptians indeed read: All things were made through him, and without him, nothing was made that was made (John, 1); and with a distinction added, they subject: In him is life (John, 5). Let that distinction be preserved for the faithful: I am not afraid to read: What was made in him, is life; and the Arian has nothing to hold onto, because I do not consider his poisons, but recognize the custom of sacred reading. For He did not say: The Word was made before all beginning. He did not say: The Word was made; but if you desire to hear what He did say: The Word, He says, was with God. The Word was with God, which worked with Him, which ruled with Him. He did not say: The Word was made; but He said: God was the Word: and God is not made, but is the Maker and Creator. Open your ears, and hear: All things were made by Him, and without Him was made nothing. Do you learn to be the Son, in whom the fullness of divinity is? Open your ears a little more and listen to what he says: What has been made in him is life. In him, he says, it was made: the Word of God was not made. Or if this moves you to calumny, because he said: in him it was made; do you also calumniate God the Father, because the Son of God said: But whoever does the truth comes to the light, that their works may be manifested, because they are done in God (John 3:21)? But because David said, I will confess to you, O Lord, because you have heard me, and have become my salvation (Psalm 117:21); that is, you have turned to me for salvation, you have worked for my salvation. I could use other examples, but I do not want you to believe me; lest you think these are the arguments of cleverness, not the testimonies of truth.

He himself is the thundering son, he himself who reclined on Christ's breast, he himself to whom the Lord did not keep his secrets silent, to whom Peter hinted to inquire about the Lord, and he inquired, and the Lord revealed; let him himself explain what he thought about what he said: That which was made in him is life. Therefore, listen to the interpreter, because he already guarded against your calumnies, Ariane: That which was from the beginning; and what we have heard, and seen with our eyes; what we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life, and life appeared (1 John 1:1). Therefore, the flesh that appeared in Christ, or Christ in the flesh, is our life in all things. His divinity is life; His eternity is life; His flesh is life; His passion is life. Hence Jeremiah also says: 'In His shadow we shall live' (Lamentations 4:20). The shadow of His wings, the shadow of the cross, is the shadow of His passion. His death is life; His wounds are life; His blood is life; His burial is life; His resurrection is life for all. Do you want to know that death is its own life? In death, he says, we are baptized with him... so that we may walk with him in the newness of life (Rom. VI, 3 and 4). And he himself said: Amen, amen I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit (John XII, 4 and 5). He himself, the grain, was loosened from us and died, so that he might bring forth much fruit in us. Therefore, death is the fruit of life. Whatever is done in him, is life. Flesh is made in him, is life; infancy is made in him, is life; judgment is made in him, is life; death is made in him, is life; forgiveness of sins is made in him, is life; wound is made in him, is life; illusion is made in him, is life; division is made in him, is life; burial is made in him, is life; resurrection is made in him, is life. See how great in Him there were made things which are the conversion of our life, so that what perished might be restored. At last, a sale was made in Him, it is life: a redemption was made in Him, it is life. For death He was sold by Judas, bought by the Jews for death, so that we might be redeemed by His precious blood unto life. This is the life which was made, this is the life which appeared, this is the life which we heard, this is the life which was with the Father; because He Himself, who was in the beginning, after, was born of a Virgin, so that He might be life to those who are to die.


Let us explore this proposed place. What is a human in Christ? It is being made in Christ, in whom everything is made, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Colossians 1:16-17), that is, in his power. Therefore, a human in Christ is one who is made in his image and likeness: a human in Christ is one who is entirely in Christ. For just as God, through the unity and fullness of divinity, the Father is the whole God in the Son, and the Son in the Father; so through intention and the affection of piety (as if for example, not for comparison), the whole man is in Christ; for whoever clings to the Lord is one spirit. Therefore, the man in Christ is not the earthly one, not the one of sin; but the man of Christ. What then moves: That which was done in him is life; if also the especially inner man, was made in him, crucified in him, renewed in him, buried in him, and buried with him, raised up in him? What moves, as I have said, is that it is written: That which was done in him, is life; when a man says: In God we will do our virtue (Psalm 59:14). If you ask what life is, if it is moved by what was done in him, understand. Indeed, life is the Church. It was done in him, in his side, Eva was resurrected in him. Eva, however, is life, that is, what was done; because Eva, who had perished, was saved through the Church, that is, through the generation of her children, as it is written (1 Timothy 2:15); because the heritage sobriety of the previous disobedient woman has repaired the offence. And even Paul himself was caught up to life, who before was a persecutor unto death.

We have wandered too long, so that we may speak about that man who delivered not only bread, but also every word of God. Let us return to the psalm: Therefore the blameless shall not be put to shame on the day of judgment, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

(Verse 7.) Be subject to the Lord and beseech Him. Not only should you be subject to God, but also beseech the Lord, so that you can fulfill your desire for submission, as it also says above: Reveal your way to the Lord and hope in Him. It is not only fitting to reveal your way; but also to hope in the Lord. However, submission should not be abject, lowly, but glorious and exalted; for he is subject to God who does the will of the Lord. Finally, who is ignorant that the wisdom of the mind is superior to the wisdom of the flesh? Indeed, the wisdom of the mind is subject to the law of God; the wisdom of the flesh is not subject. And the Apostle added: For it cannot be subject. (Rom. VIII, 7). Therefore, be subject, that is, draw near to Christ, so that you may fulfill the Law. Finally, Christ fulfilled the Law by doing the will of the Father. And therefore, the end of the Law is love, and the fullness is charity; because by loving the Father, he applied his entire affection to His will. Wherefore, for the glory of God, the Apostle said: When, however, all things shall have been subjected to Him, then shall He Himself also be subject to Him who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all (1 Cor. XV, 28). And of Himself He saith: For my soul hath been subject to God; for from Him is my salvation (Ps. LXI, 2). Moreover, for piety's sake Joseph and Mary were subject to His parents, not indeed through infirmity, but of their own will. But the greatest glory of Christ is that He should pour Himself into the hearts of all men, so that He may bring them back from impiety and infidelity to Himself, and make them subject unto Him. But when he has subjected all things to himself, when the fullness of the Gentiles has entered, and when all Israel has been saved, and when the whole world becomes one body in Christ; then he himself will be subject, offering his gift to God the Father, and acting as the high priest of all, and as if offering his body on heavenly altars, so that faith may be the sacrifice of all. Therefore, this subjection is an act of piety, because the Lord Jesus will be subject in his body, of which we are the body and members. Therefore, let man be subject to Christ, that is, subject to the wisdom of God, subject to the word, subject to justice, subject to virtue; for all these things are Christ. Let every man submit himself to God; for he teaches not one, but all, to subject their heart, to subject their soul, to subject their flesh, so that God may be all in all. Therefore, he is subject who is full of grace, and receives the yoke of Christ, and diligently and unwaveringly carries out the commands of the Lord; but without subjection, he who proudly exalts himself in vain, inflated with the feeling of his own flesh, insolent, deviating from the humble obedience and pious observance of the servitude that we owe by right to the eternal Author of nature. Finally, whoever is without sin is subject to Christ, for he has been redeemed by the Lord; but whoever is in sin cannot be called free, but rather a slave, whom heavy chains of sin hold fast.

(Verse 7.) It follows: Do not be envious of him who is prospering on his way, doing wickedness. Clearly, here he is indicating what he previously understood: that we should not incite evil by being envious, nor imitate those who do wickedness. For it is not wickedness, but prosperous things that happen to those who do wickedness, that often tempt us to think that we should imitate them, saying that we can achieve their successes: Behold, they are sinners and abound in the world, they have obtained riches. And I said: So I have justified my heart in vain, and washed my hands among the innocent. And I was scourged all the day long (Psalm 72:12 et seq.). Therefore, if David was scourged, we must beware lest we also be scourged; and let it be said to us that riches, honors, power, seem to be arranged for this generation, as if the uncertain works of money, and the means of injustice, not as any rewards of virtue; and therefore let them come as a dream, and when you arise from the dream, let them fail you. When the athletes win, it is certain that they will be crowned, not before they win. We are in a struggle with the world. Win before the world, so that you may seek the crown. No one is crowned before completing the contest. Those who run in a race, do they receive a prize before they have run the race? How many in the front fall at the finish line and are cheated of their speed? Are you more acceptable to God than Paul? He, the vessel of election, the teacher of the Gentiles, never dared to demand a crown for himself in this world. Finally, listen to him saying: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day (2 Timothy 4:7-8). That same Paul, caught up to the third heaven, who heard things that cannot be told, whether in the body or out of the body, he does not know, God knows, and he testified as much (2 Corinthians 12:2). So, Paul says that on that day the crown will be given to him; are you here insisting that it be given to you? Therefore, prepare yourself for the contest. An athlete does not struggle only once, nor does a soldier fight only once, in order to fulfill their duties; and for you, the struggle is not with just one passion.

It is their right to possess the land, for in them God finds rest. We see this from the words of divine prophecy spoken by Isaiah: "On whom shall I rest, if not on those who are poor and little and who tremble at my word?" Who are the meek? They are those not easily roused to wrath, not quick to quarrel. Anger does not trouble them, fierceness does not drive them mad, raging cruelty does not enflame them. While still in the body they loved the peace of the Lord better than wine, banquets and riches. They thought to give up bodily pleasures and delights to gain instead eternal grace; these are the people who "shall delight in abundance of peace."

(Verse 11.) But the meek shall possess the land, and shall delight in the abundance of peace. They rightfully possess the land in which God himself rests; as was revealed by the divine oracle through Isaiah, saying: Upon whom shall I rest, if not upon the humble and quiet, and those who tremble at my words (Isaiah 66:2)? Who are the meek, if not those whom no stimulus of discord agitates, no anger disturbs, no cruelty inflames with rage? And therefore, because they loved not wines, nor feasts, nor riches, but the peace of the Lord, being established in the body; for that pleasure of bodily delights, which they thought themselves to be defrauded of, that they might obtain eternal grace, they shall be delighted in the multitude of peace, which our Lord Jesus bestowed on the human race in His days; as the prophecy, which has not lied, comprehends, asserting: In His days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace, until the moon be taken away (Psalm 71:7). Therefore, what is the peace by which the people of all the churches have multiplied, if not the peace about which the Lord said: My peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you (John 14:27)? He gave peace, who calmed the wars of the souls.

(Verse 1) He says, 'Do not envy among the envious, nor have you imitated those who do evil.' First, let us learn what it means to imitate; the power of this word is less in Latin than in Greek. For we read both good imitation and bad imitation. Finally, the Apostle says, 'It is good to imitate good always' (Galatians 4:18). And he himself said above, 'They envy you not well, but they want to exclude you so that you may imitate them' (Ibid., 17). And again, he says: Covet earnestly the best gifts (I Cor. XII, 31). And to the Romans, you have. Therefore I say, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid; but their fall is the salvation of the Gentiles, that they may be provoked to emulation (Rom. XI, 11). And further: For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office, if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them (Ibid., 13); that is, I may provoke my flesh. Finally, the Greek has jealousy. For even here: do not be jealous of those who do evil; do not envy those who commit lawlessness; that is, do not stir up the wicked to jealousy, because they strive not for good, but for evil.

What is it to stir up jealousy? For example, if we are able, let's open it up. There are certain intemperate women who disturb the hearts of other men's wives: when they have subjected them to their custom and shame, not satisfied to keep their own mistake a secret, they strive to publicly flaunt their disgrace before their spouses; so as to stir them up and inflame them with jealousy, seizing a certain triumph from the pain of their proven minds and the agitation. Not able to tolerate the shame of their husband's infidelity, they dissolve the bonds of marriage with satisfaction, or they argue in daily quarrels; and from competition comes discord, from disagreement comes division, whereby the entire household is disturbed. Therefore, learn from the example of a brazen woman, those are the most wicked and detestable tricks, to move one's soul with wicked jealousy: and know that jealousy is one thing, but envy is another. For this is a perverse emulation, which enters into the affection of good things: whereby also the Jew erred, who by a false and evil emulation departed from the right way of Evangelical discipline, as the Apostle says of himself (Phil. III, 6), that he persecuted the Church of Christ according to the emulation of the Law.

Therefore, although our God was frequently offended by the ungrateful desires and complaints of the Jews, he nevertheless did not abandon the people he had once chosen and elected for himself; but the insolent harlot, the Synagogue, began to provoke him to bitter jealousy, mingling herself in the sacrileges of transgression. Finally, she said to the priest Aaron: Make gods for us to worship (Exodus 32:1); and they began to worship the head of a calf. And through a great song Moses, the Lord spoke in his mouth, saying: They have provoked me to jealousy with that which is not God, they have angered me with their vanities: and I will provoke them to jealousy with those which are not a people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation (Deut. XXXII, 21). Behold, how the Lord condemns the harlotry of the Synagogue, in order to turn their craftiness against them; and those who had been chosen by their Lord God, they refuted with grave sacrilege, choosing gods for themselves to worship: assuming for themselves the Church of the profane, which the people of the Jews, without Law and without grace, would lament over; and to that extent, they would be more provoked to jealousy by their actions being considered more base. Before, when that people did not have the Law, they only considered themselves chosen by the Lord. But when he noticed that a people gathered from the nations, who claimed the Law of the Lord, the oracles of the prophets, and the new Testament of the Lord, then he began to be tormented with excessive affection, after he realized that he had been rejected. Lastly, if he sees the ceremonies of the Gentiles, he is not moved; if he hears of the progress of the Church, he is tormented and tortured by miserable envy. Therefore, it is accomplished in Judea: And I will provoke them to jealousy in a nation that is not a nation.

Moreover, the more severe torture is added to this distress, namely, that sinners from among the gentiles themselves seem to be preferred, who do not even elevate the name of any tribe or nation. For every congregation is accustomed to claim the name of its own region, like the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Syrians, Jews, Arabs, who prefer the name of their own province or territory: we, being gathered from diverse peoples, cannot claim the name of a single nation; and therefore, because we did not have a name on earth, we received one from heaven, that we should be called the people of Christ. But the Gentile thinks this is foolishness, while the Jew thinks it is disgraceful. Therefore, it is true what is written, that God has avenged His own insult by seeking a Church for Himself from a non-nation, and by preferring it to a foolish nation, an ancient and royal people. And what is that foolish nation that has been preferred? Listen to him who says: 'For God has chosen the foolish of the world to put to shame the wise' (1 Corinthians 1:27). And again: 'If any among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise' (1 Corinthians 3:18). Therefore, the Lord did not bring about a sharing of envy, in order that it might not be in the form of imitation, but rather in the punishment of wickedness.

Finally, the Latin interpreter, wishing to make a distinction between the emulation of virtue and the emulation of offense, says: Are we emulating the Lord? (I Cor. X, 20) ? That is, are we causing offense to the Lord through our emulation, by consuming things that have been sacrificed to idols; just as the Jews, when they sacrificed to idols, provoked Him? But if the intention of stirring up emulation offends among humans, and often the person who is provoked is found to be superior, it is known that the incentive of emulation is for the sake of deception; it is foolishness to provoke divine majesty and to incur the offense of emulation, when there is no difficulty in seeking revenge.

Therefore, we ought not to provide malicious opponents with stings to attack us, who, even when unprovoked, are incited by the goads of envy to harm us. Just as Cain killed his brother because his sacrifice was more acceptable than what Cain himself thought should have been offered. In this, Abel did not provoke Cain, but Cain, driven by wicked parricide, pursued the grace of preeminence. For Cain did not desire to overshadow his brother's sacrifice, but rather to preserve the discipline of sacrifice, so that he would not delay offering the first fruits through any laziness, nor violate them by appropriating them for his own use. Saul also attempted to kill David, the prophet and savior of the Israelites, who was exalted above himself in the conversation of young girls, with treacherous plots and a prepared spear; and he had almost shed the innocent blood of his own kin, if David had not evaded the blow with a twist of his bent body. How wicked was it, then, if the young girls said: 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands' (1 Samuel 18:7)? And how cruel was the envy of King Saul, who turned the innocent mistake of words into the destruction of the innocent!

'Nor should you, he says, have been jealous of those who do evil. He did not repeat what he had said, but changed it: it is one thing to be covetous, another to be jealous: covetousness has cunning, jealousy has simplicity. But even prudence itself must be simple and cautious, so that it knows what to beware of. For it was not said in vain: Be wise as serpents, and simple as doves (Matt. X, 16). Therefore, spiritual wisdom should be cautious, preserving salvation, unaware of deceit.' Spiritual simplicity must exist. However, it seems that Scripture has also made a distinction between emulation in another place, as it says: 'And Ephraim's envy shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim' (Isaiah 11:13). But elsewhere you have: 'Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church' (1 Corinthians 14:12). It uses 'emulators' for good things and imitators of good things, and 'emulator' for the crooked and envious.

(Verse 2) First, do not provoke the wicked to the malice of envy; secondly, do not imitate those who do evil. For often, when the righteous see that some have sought wealth by deceit and cunning, and have attained to honors, they desire to follow their ways with deformed envy; so that they may attain wealth and honors by similar means, or defraud young girls in contracting marriage. For what profit is it, when wealth itself and all secular glory quickly wither like hay, and like the flowers of herbs they fade away in their very beauty? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is like the flower of the grass. Therefore, do not greatly desire things that cannot last forever, do not be envious and deceitful; do not be contentious and argumentative in zeal. Hence, the Eagle said: Do not contend with the wicked. Symmachus said: Do not strive. Also, do not be an imitator of wickedness and deceit; but be an imitator of the apostolic doctrine, the prophetic grace, and the virtue of the saints; so that you may bear fruit and store up a harvest of goodness, like Joseph, who by the abundance of grain excluded the hunger of prolonged barrenness: like Habakkuk, who, by bringing a meal to the reapers, was lifted up by an angel and travelled along an aerial path, and upon returning to the earth, amidst the fierce roars of lions, served a sweet feast to the godly prophet.

(Verse 23.) The steps of a man are established by the Lord. The Greek word διαβήματα means 'steps' or 'transitions'. And therefore it is said to you: If you pass through water, rivers will not stop you (Isaiah 43:2). Therefore, cross over, do not hesitate; like a good traveler, when he comes to a sign on the road, he does not stop, but passes through; and you are on a journey, as long as you are in this course. If Paul had stopped, he would not have completed his race. See that he does not say: And you who stand, be careful not to fall (1 Corinthians 10:12). For surely the one who passes by cannot fear to fall. I saw, he said, the wicked exalted and lifted up above the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed by, and behold, he was no more (below verse 35). Therefore, seeing the wicked exalted, who did not stand, he did not stumble: if he had stood and marveled at him, and had followed him, he would have stumbled and fallen like a wicked person. Thus, when Moses saw the bush burning but not consumed, he said: I will go and see this great sight as I pass by (Exodus III, 3). He who passes from this world sees a great sight: he who breaks the chains of this bond by which we are bound to this body sees a great sight. Moses, as it is read in Exodus, sees many miracles: not so great does another see who is not in Exodus. The same Moses passed over: the people of the fathers also passed over, for they came out of the land of captivity. Therefore, their steps were directed by the Lord, to whom by night a pillar of fire shone, and by day a cloud; so that neither the heat of the day afflicted the travelers, nor did the darkness of the night bring hindrance to those journeying.

And you deserve by your deeds and prayers that your steps may be directed by the Lord, and that your feet may not be moved; for it is written: As for me, my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped (Psalm 73:2). It is also necessary to be careful not to forsake the straight path, and not to be deceived by the byways of crooked ways; therefore it is said: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths (Isaiah 40:3). Let us therefore prepare the way for the Lord our God in our minds; let us make straight the paths of our souls, so that we may not stumble; let not our steps be poured out like the steps of Lot's wife, who looked behind her and could not keep her steps, but they were poured out, when suddenly she was turned into salt; let them not be poured out like the Egyptians, whose steps were swallowed up by the waves of the sea. Those Hebrews who were with Moses, because they sinned in the desert, fell the footprints, lest they enter the land of resurrection.

Is it not also nicely said about these things, because their efforts have been wasted, the hopes of which have been dashed, their wishes have been abandoned. Consider, for example, someone who for several years has had a desire for righteousness, a commitment to chastity, an attentiveness to a more disciplined life, a devoted intention to servitude, and a diligent observance of duty; suddenly, however, they have changed, have departed from the monastery, have bid farewell to fasts, have renounced abstinence, have indulged in pleasures, and have pursued luxury. They recently left the monasteries and are now masters of luxury, spreaders of incontinence, inciters of impudence, detractors of modesty. Don't you nicely say about them: Their steps have been poured out, those whom it repented to have directed well? Therefore, they perform repentance of a new kind for virtues, and they do not act for sins. But they have gone out from us, says John, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us (I John II, 19). Therefore, they have condemned their own way, to whom it is fitting to say: O you who have forsaken the straight paths, by going into the ways of darkness; and you who rejoice in evil, and delight in wickedness, whose paths are crooked, and whose course is winding, like their slippery and winding master; why have you begun to hate the straight way, and forsaken the just counsel? (Prov. II, 13 et seq.) Has not the Lord directed you: but the one whom the Lord directs, will desire his way, as it is written, and will delight in his paths.


Nevertheless, both can be understood: in this way there is a middle ground, namely that the person who is guided by the Lord will desire the Lord's way; because with Him as the guide, all labor is lightened, all obstacles are removed, incentives are provided: and the Lord Himself does not reject, but willingly accepts the path of the man whom He Himself has directed to virtue. Indeed, the steps of the man are beautifully said to be directed by the Lord; because it is not of one who is unwilling or running, but of one who is merciful, to keep the path without stumbling. For the one who plants and waters is nothing, but God who gives the increase. To Him alone belongs the glory of virtues.

Finally, even the righteous person sometimes falls; but if they are truly righteous, when they fall, they will not be disturbed. Whatever pertains to condition falls; what pertains to righteousness rises again: because God does not forsake the righteous, but strengthens their hand. Why did he say hand and not foot? Unless perhaps because someone who falls does not slip more with their foot, but rather a weak person is often deceived on a slippery surface or stumbles upon a rock; but understand here the fall of the righteous person, that is, of the stronger one. Finally, concerning the people who struggle, if they bend a knee or stumble with a foot, they are considered defeated; but an athlete who has skill in wrestling, and wrestles for a crown, even willingly plants a knee in order to win; and if they stumble, they are not excluded; and if someone superior to them presses upon them, while still supporting themselves with their hands, they have the right to fight; and their prize is not taken away, unless they are thrown on their belly or stretched out by a bond of the arms. Hence frequent contests arise; because there are many types of falls that are both numerous and unknown to most. For their conditions are properly called ruins, for they are called πτώματα in Greek. Therefore, when it is squeezed and pressed, it often turns over and becomes above what it was below, and while the higher one rises, it knocks down the higher one: which the Scripture seems to signify when it says: You have turned all his bed in his sickness (Psalm 40:4). Therefore, it is said of him: When a good athlete falls, he will not be disturbed; for many want to be held back, so that they may conquer earlier, who presume about art. But even if someone, as I will use the very word, has been assigned both the first and second, he is not excluded; although it is sometimes possible for him to repair the struggle, and it often happens that he who has overcome in the second contest yields. Therefore, even if a just person has stumbled and fallen into an offense, let him not abandon the pursuit of devotion and faith, let him hold onto sobriety, let him practice repentance, let him often repair himself. Therefore, Peter asks: 'If my brother sins against me, how many times shall I forgive him? Up to seven times?' (Matthew 18:21-22). And the Lord replied: Not just seven times, but seventy-seven times. But so that you may know that we are athletes and are propelled, and others rush forward, and many are thrown down, listen to the one who says: The Lord upholds all who fall, and lifts up all who are cast down (Psalm 145:14). Therefore, David himself, or the one who spoke in the Prophet, says about himself: I was pushed hard, so that I was falling; but the Lord helped me (Psalm 118:13); for Jesus did not fall, but was pushed. For when he Himself raised the dead, how could He Himself be hindered? And indeed, when the just man falls, Scripture testifies that he can rise again, saying: Does not the one who falls, add that he may rise again; or the one who turns away, will he not return? Woe to those who turn away with shameless turning, says the Lord (Jeremiah VIII, 4 and 5).

Indeed, may the champion of Christ be inescapable and unbeatable, and glorious in every age, in every kind of virtue, as he himself says: But in all things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us (Rom. VIII, 37). What does 'in all things' mean? There are athletes who are called boys, youths, men; that is, παῖδες, ἐφήβοι, πύκται. Scripture also recognizes these ages in wrestlers, as David says: Do not turn your face away from your servant (Psal. LXVIII, 18); and I was young, and now I am old (Later in verse 25). And John also says: I write to you, children; because you have known the Father: I write to you, young men; because you have overcome the evil one: I write to you, fathers; because you have known him who is from the beginning. (1 John 2:12 et seq.) And writing to the fathers, he designates those who are mature in the process of faith and devotion. Therefore, these are virtues, not ages of weakness; for even a child is not without virtue, who has known the Father God of virtues. From that boy, these are the boys who, before knowing how to call their father or mother, received the virtue of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria. He himself is the boy who was born to us, the son who was given to us, whose authority is upon his shoulders. He taught us that childhood is a virtue, saying: Allow the children and do not hinder them from coming to me (Luke XVIII, 16). And elsewhere: Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like this boy, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew XVIII, 3). Moreover, it is often the case that boys surpass men in physical strength. And especially if we consider the age of boyhood, a boy cannot either know all the uses or withstand the force of resistance. Nevertheless, we know that frequently boys, whom they were not able to carry, they have conquered. Such is the strength of the soul that it excludes the weakness of age.

However, as the boys are, so are the adolescents, that is, spiritual. The Scripture knows the young man Paul, now near to conversion (Acts VII, 57); it also knows Eutychus, a young man who, while listening attentively to Paul's speeches, fell asleep, fell from the third floor, and rose again (Acts XX, 9); it also knows John, the young man who reclined on Christ's chest (John XIII, 23), who was so brave that he did not fear persecution and overcame evil. Here is the boy who left his earthly father (Matthew 4:20), following the Father whom he knew to be eternal; as a young man, clothed in a linen garment, he followed the Lord during his Passion, having left behind everything that was his own (Mark 14:51); as he grew older, he came to know that the Word of God was always and forever in the beginning (John 1:1-2), and he proved it by remaining in Him.

Scripture also teaches us about spiritual men, as the prophet Agabus says: 'This man, whose belt this is, the Jews will bind in Jerusalem' (Acts 21:11). And Festus says: 'There is a certain man left by Felix in custody' (Acts 25:14). Before his passion, Paul is said to be a young man, but in his passion he is referred to as a man who has finished the race and is now close to the crown.

We have known the ages striving for faith and devotion, let us also understand the various types of individual contests. Let this also be taught to us by the content of Scripture.In this secular struggle, there are some who engage in a simple and legitimate kind of wrestling and contend only with the restraints of the body, not knowing how to strike, and are called wrestlers; others who mix the throwing of punches with the entanglement of limbs, with every right to strike themselves: these are called pammacharians, because they have power over every dispute and fight against them; others who contend against each other with gloves and whose heads are torn apart, are tormented: these are called boxers.


Paul the Apostle underwent all these struggles, as he himself demonstrates. Therefore, he says: Because our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and authorities, and (to use a summary) against spiritual wickedness (Ephesians VI, 12). In most Latin texts, the word used is 'colluctatio', while in all Greek texts it is written as 'πάλη', which in Greek means 'wrestling' and in Latin means 'struggle'. And truly it is a struggle; because flesh and blood, and spiritual wickedness, are overcome through patient endurance and bodily self-control, and through the moderation of the mind. Anger, rage, slaughter, weapons are the devils. Also, elsewhere it signifies that when he says: In more than enough afflictions, frequently in deaths (2 Corinthians 11:23). But in Jerusalem he was struck with fists; where when the soldiers intervened, the Jews sometimes stopped striking Paul, the high priest Ananias ordered those standing by to strike him on the mouth, to which the Apostle replied: God will begin to strike you, you whitewashed wall. And do you, sitting in judgment, judge me according to the law, and order me to be struck outside the law? Surely he knew how to answer, who struck the high priest with a heavier blow; for he himself was physically struck: he reported that he was struck in the soul by Christ. Also, writing in his first letter to the Corinthians, he says: Therefore I so run, not as uncertainly: so I fight, not as one beating the air. What he said in Latin, 'I fight,' he says in Greek, πυκτεύω. And truly, like a good athlete, he beat not the air but the aerial powers and the leaders of the Jews, because they did not have Jesus the Lord as their leader. In every struggle, therefore, the Apostle is proven, who also received the crown of completing the race. Hence, he himself says: I can do all things in him who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).

And Christ also has those who, in their youth, conquer those who are older; just as Daniel, a young boy filled with spirit, rebuked the elders of the Jews and threw them down to death. And he also has others who, before they were born, struggled in their mother's womb. Finally, Jacob supplanted his brother Esau and overcame evil; and thus he came out of the womb of his mother, showing the emblem of victory and turning the foot of the defeated elder brother. Jeremiah was sanctified and approved in the womb of his mother. John the Baptist knew that the Prince of human struggle and the rewarder of those who wrestled had not yet come, and leaping forth from the womb of his mother, he deserved the prize of devout confession. He was rightly designated for the crown even then, who before all others had offered his name to the struggle of faith in Christ and had proclaimed the virtue of his name. A good proclaimer, who stirred others to the contest. And truly a good proclaimer; who shouted with such a loud voice that the secrets of heaven echoed in response to his sound. What more can be said? He moved the earth, filled the heavens. And for this reason, He received the name of Voice, because the Sacred Word of God preceded, just as He Himself taught us, saying: I am the voice of one crying in the desert (John 1:23). Isaiah the prophet said this about Himself: He strengthened this proclamation (Isaiah 40:3). We have heard what the herald said: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight (John 1:23). This is a unique and singular voice, so resounding that it is heard by all; so sweet that it soothes the hearts of all. Therefore, the Lord strengthened these athletes to win; for He never abandons His own and leaves them behind.

But the unjust will perish together; the remnants of the wicked will be destroyed. The remnants of the righteous are virtues; the remnants of the wicked are wickedness and the sin of treachery. They will be wiped away, so that they will not exist.

A person might be rich in disputation, as are certain irreligious philosophers of this world. They can discourse on the movement of the heavenly bodies, of the stars, of Jupiter and Saturn, on the generation of humankind, on the cult of idols, on geometry and dialectics. Those philosophers are therefore rich in eloquence, but in faith they are poor, and in truth they are needy. On the other hand, very often the Lord's priests are simple people. They are poor in eloquence but sublime in abstinence and virtue. Those philosophers utter falsehood to the multitude; these priests preach the faith to the few. Those others lose priests every day; but this poor priest adds whole peoples to the number of believers and to the church. Anyone who hears and sees the quality of their works will say, "Better is a little to the just than the great riches of the wicked."

(Vers. 16.) It is better to be a little just, than to have many riches from the sins of the wicked. Therefore, riches are not condemned, but the riches of sinners; unless perhaps because a sinner said: All these things have been delivered to me, and I give them to whomever I wish (Luke 4:6). Furthermore, since riches inflame the torch of greed more, and each person desires greater things, they do not turn away from the paths of sin. Hence, the Savior said: Make friends for yourselves with the mammon of wickedness (Luke 16:9). For the census of wickedness is the one who is in the power of the devil, to whom he wants to give it. It can also be understood: It is better for the unjust to have little than for the wealthy sinners to have many riches; because there is one who is rich in words, like the philosophers of this world who discuss sacrilege, the movement of the stars, the star of Jupiter and Saturn, the generation of humans, the worship of idols, geometry, and dialectic. Therefore, philosophers are rich in speech, poor in faith, devoid of truth. And there are many simple priests of the Lord, poor in speech but exalted in abstinence and virtue. They speak deceit to many, while only a few affirm the faith; they lose their own priests daily, while this one gains the poor people for the Church, with a significant number of believers. Therefore, whoever hears these (priests) and sees the quality of their works, says: It is better to have little with righteousness, than great riches with many sins. Hence, Solomon derived that saying which he seemingly put forth as his own: From much talking, you will not escape sin (Proverbs 10:19). Therefore dialectic flows with an abundance of words, while piety preserves the fear of God. Thus, one should be sparing in words, rich in spirit, and more inclined to fear than to boast empty words. For fear is the discipline of wisdom: loquacity is the shipwreck of innocence and virtue, and an incentive to falling and fault.

God brings [justice] out into the light. He does not permit judgment to lie hidden. He reveals the good that you have chosen to do and the evil that you have refused to do. Not only does he make your judgment shine, but also he makes it shine like the sun at midday.

For the Lord loves justice, and will not forsake his saints: they will be preserved forever. But the wicked will be punished, and the seed of the wicked will perish. The righteous will inherit the land, and dwell forever upon it. Do not think that your sins go unnoticed by God; for many fall in this way. He himself sees and condemns all things, and exterminates the seed of the wicked; indeed, the seed is not of physical generation, but of internal mind and succession of impiety (Job 1:1). For certainly Job, born of the seed of Esau, is testified in the Scripture. How then did the seed of Esau perish in Job, when he was such a great man, foreseeing the coming of the Lord to the earth, who would subdue the prince of this world, the devil? Therefore, this is questioned, lest evil be transferred to future generations. Christ works this through the sacrament of baptism, so that each person may put off what they were born with and put on what they are reborn with: so that they may become heirs not of their family, but of grace; so that they may acquire for themselves an eternal dwelling place. But whoever deserves to dwell in the world of ages, he himself shall honor God in the ages of ages.

(V. 37.) Keep innocence, and see equity. Whoever keeps innocence, sees equity; for whoever is pure sees God, whose staff is upright, and upright is his justice; to turn away from those who turn to the pursuit of wickedness. Blessed is innocence, which sees God. Finally, others have added: Keep perfection; for he is perfect who knows no evil, nor does he know deceit. Therefore, it says: Keep perfection; for there are remnants for a peaceful man. Relics are said to be from the body of the dead, from his remains. They are called relics because after the death of a person, they appear to survive; for what remains are preserved for resurrection. Indeed, it is necessary for this corruptible to put on incorruption, and for this mortal to put on immortality. Therefore, relics are more so the hope of resurrection for a person, and the faith of conversion, and the grace of love; since the wicked do not rise to judgment; but the life of the Just is known to God, and is proven by the judgment of the Lord. To this place it beautifully applies, 'According to the election of grace, the remnant has been saved.' (Rom. 11:5).

If you take it at face value, the meaning is obvious: in his own lifetime, David never saw the just forsaken. But a lifespan is brief, and the statement is moreover incredible. We have seen plenty of just people in this world who have been forsaken by people as soon as those just ones are persecuted by people in power. No one dares to go near them so long as they are subject to fear and injury. Remember what Job said: "My brothers have departed far from me, they recognize strangers more than they recognize me; my friends have become merciless and those who knew me once have forgotten even my name." As for David, not only was he deserted, but also he was even attacked by his friends and those closest to him by family ties: "My friends," he says, "and my neighbors have advanced against me." How, I ask, can David state that which is the exact opposite of this? We can only understand it in this sense: the just person, even if forsaken by the world, is not abandoned by the Lord. Even Job on his dunghill was not deserted by the Lord. In the council of the angels, the Lord had praised Job with his own voice; and he allowed him to be tempted only so that he might win the crown. He allowed Job's body to undergo severe testing, but he spared his life.

(Verse 25.) And therefore the Prophet added: I was young, and I grew old: so the Latins have it; but some according to the Greeks have it: I was young, and indeed I grew old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. Clearly, for those who want to understand, the meaning is evident, that during his lifetime David did not see the righteous forsaken. But this is both a short time and incredible; for we see many righteous people in the world being abandoned by others, when they are persecuted by some of the powerful; and no one dares to approach them, when they see them in fear or in injury. Where Job says: My brothers have gone far from me; they have ignored me more than strangers. My friends have become merciless; those who knew me have forgotten my name (Job 19:13). David also not only laments being abandoned, but also being attacked by his friends and neighbors: My friends and neighbors draw near against me, he says (Psalm 38:12). Therefore, if the righteous are found forsaken in this world, how can David say the opposite? Unless you understand that even though the righteous may be abandoned in the world, they are not abandoned by the Lord. For Job, even when he was in the dirt (Job 2:3), was not abandoned by the Lord, whom the Lord himself praised with his own voice in the council of angels, whom he allowed to be tested, so that he might be crowned; but the temptation was given to his body, and denied to his soul. Nor was David, to whom the kingdom was given to rule over the chosen people, abandoned: whom, driven away from the boundaries of his kingdom by murderous battles, he restored to the rights of victory. Likewise, Jacob, Elijah and Elisha, and John the Baptist, and others who wandered around in goat skins in deserts, and mountains, and caves, and holes in the earth, even though they seem to have endured many jeers and bitter tortures; nevertheless, they were not abandoned. Indeed, when Jacob fled with his brother and wandered alone through the desert, he fell asleep and upon waking saw a multitude of heavenly hosts. It is said: 'This place is called the camp of angels' (Genesis 32:2). It was not enough to call it a camp; but camps that would be fitting for such a multitude. Therefore, you see that he thought he was alone, and the camps of the heavenly army followed him; just as in the time of our fathers and Moses, so that they would not thirst in the desert, a rock (as it is written) followed them. For when we read in Exodus (Exod. XVII, 6) that when the people were thirsty, Moses struck the rock with his staff, and water flowed out, and the people of God drank; again we read in Leviticus, or in Numbers, that Moses again touched the rock with his staff (Num. XX, 11), and water gushed out for the fathers to drink; the Apostle has interpreted this brilliantly, saying: They drank from the rock that followed them; and the rock was Christ (I Cor. X, 4). Therefore, the Lord did not abandon those who were complaining, murmuring, and transgressing, but He followed them. What should I say about Elijah and Elisha, to whom horses and fiery chariots came from heaven as they were journeying through the desert? How was Elijah abandoned, who was invited by Christ (Matt. 17:3)? How was he abandoned on earth, but taken up to heaven? How was he needy, naked, and empty, but left the disciple with a double portion of the spirit; so that with one melody he gifted a river, made the Jordan flow backwards, fed the army of kings in the desert, and ministered to those who were thirsty? According to his will, cups flowed from the sky, and the dead rose again on earth. How was Elisha abandoned, who, surrounded by the Syrian army, was about to be taken captive to the king? But when his servant Gehazi said, 'Oh, my master, what shall we do?' Elisha replied, 'Don't be afraid, for there are more with us than with them.' And he said, 'Lord, open his eyes so that he may see.' And his eyes were opened, and he saw the mountain, full of countless horses and chariots of fire, surrounding them (2 Kings 6:16-17). Paul also, who said that he was tossed about by dangers at sea and dangers in the wilderness (2 Cor. XI, 26), nevertheless he himself testified, saying: If God is for us, who can be against us (Rom. VIII, 31)? Therefore, if he was abandoned and forsaken by men, he abounds and flourishes before God. For even Elijah was forsaken, so that he said: Lord, take my life (3 Kings XIX, 4); and yet he thrived before God, so that he was formidable in strength to those very kings.


How could a young man like David come to understand this? For young men are more concerned with temporal things than with eternal things, because youth tends towards vice. But there are some who are old in their youth, and others who are young in their old age. Indeed, there are men whose minds are esteemed for the wisdom of the elderly, in whom old age is an untainted life, in whom gray wisdom flourishes: such was Jeremiah, who, when he mentioned his youthful age and excused himself for appearing unfit for the duty of preaching, the Lord said to him: Do not say: 'I am young'; for you shall go to all to whom I shall send you, and you shall speak (Jerem. 1, 7). So he did not consider him a young man whom he judged suitable for the grace of prophecy. Such was the young man David, who was renewed and blossomed again, as he himself said (Ps. 102:5), like the youth of an eagle. Therefore, it must be understood in this way: I was young; but sanctified, but placed as a prophet among the nations, so that I could already know the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom and consider the true rewards of justice: but I have not seen the righteous forsaken. Moreover, strengthened by experience and duty, I acquired the fruits of wisdom. The same grace seemed to stay with me in regards to justice.

We have explained, as best we can, how he said: I was young; but how he added: Indeed, I have grown old, let us consider. Youth is good, but old age is better; for whoever perseveres until the end, he will be saved. Hence, it was not said lightly of the patriarch Abraham (Gen. XXV, 8) that he was nourished in good old age. And the old John began to write the Gospel, or the Epistles, who, when he refused to write as an apostle, wrote as an elder (Epist. II and III); nor is he esteemed any less, to whom a certain swan-like grace of old age is abundant. Writing to Philemon, he says: Since you are such a person as Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus, I beseech you for my son whom I have begotten in my chains, Onesimus (Philem. 9-10). Therefore, willing to do the utmost for him, he compared him to the old man Paul, not to the young man; and there he gloried in being an old man, where he is now held in chains. And see the difference; the young man is spoken of in the sufferings of another, the old man in his own (Acts VII, 57). There, like a young man, he kept the Jewish garments; here, as an old man, he took off the garments of his body. In the end, Peter is said to be an old man there, where the struggle of his passion is: 'When you were younger,' he said, 'you used to dress yourself and go wherever you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.' He said this, indicating by what kind of death he would glorify God (John 21:18). Before the contest, a young man is called a young man, but in the contest an old man, who has fulfilled every contest. Therefore, David, that warrior in his youth, says this, peaceful in his old age: 'I was young, but I do not want you to still consider me young. For indeed, I have grown old and have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.'

What is the seed of the just? The promises were made to Abraham and his seed; not to seeds, as in many; but as in one: And to thy seed, which is Christ (Galatians III, 16). Hear the seed of the just. My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you (Galatians IV, 19). And now, if any one coming from the Gentiles hears our word and the Lord should vouchsafe to help him, so that Christ be formed in his soul, where the birth of faith may be carried on, Christ shall be his seed. There, in both. Therefore Abraham was both the father of a generation according to the flesh, and he who first poured forth the word of the Lord in the hearts of the just. And therefore this seed of Abraham does not require these loaves which provide bodily nourishment, because it has the bread of justice, which descends from heaven (John 8:39). For just as those who do not do the works of Abraham are denied to be his children, so are they the seed of Abraham and are received among his children who perform his work. Indeed, the seed of Abraham was Elijah, to whom an angel provided nourishment, and he walked in the power of that food for forty days. He did not require the nourishment of this body, but the seed of Abraham, to whom bread was brought down from heaven. Finally, ravens provided him with daily feasts. Thus, he was in need of everything, having nothing of his own, and he was sent to give food to others. Indeed, the seed of Daniel, who, placed among lions, had bronze dishes filled with the meals of harvesters carried to him by the prophet Habakkuk. Therefore, this is the bread of angels, which humans have eaten; for it is written: 'Man ate the bread of angels' (Psalm 78:25). This is the bread about which David said: 'The Lord feeds me, and I lack nothing; he has placed me in a green pasture. He has led me to the water of refreshment' (Psalm 22:2). Good David taught me the bread of angels, and he himself taught me the water of refreshment. This spiritual refreshment is rest for the internal mind. Good water, which washes away sin, cleanses the inner being. Let us hear what this water is. If anyone is thirsty, let them come to me, and let them drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from within them. But he was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who were going to believe in him were about to receive. Therefore, the righteous person does not need this bread, nor water for refreshment, for the Holy Spirit is their rest and refreshment.

(Vers. 31.) Justice is still described and increased in form, as the Scripture says: The law of God is in his heart, and his steps will not be supplanted. In the heart of the righteous is the law of God. What law? Not written, but natural; for the law is not imposed on the just, but on the unjust. In his heart is the law, not superficially, as in the lips of the Jews; for it is believed in the heart for righteousness. He who believes, speaks; but he who speaks does not always believe. Finally, the people did not believe, of whom it is said: This people honors me with their lips; their heart, however, is far from me (Isaiah 29:13). Therefore, if the nations do what the law requires, they themselves are the law, knowing what they should follow or avoid. How much more faithful and just is the person who lives in the image and likeness of God, knowing how to discern the beautiful and the honorable, and using a legitimate guide of natural wisdom, so that its traces are not supplanted; just like Esau, whom his brother supplanted and made him fall due to his greed, and his traces were spilled unto death.

(Vers. 5, 6.) Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in Him, and He will act. And He will bring forth your righteousness like the light, and your justice like the noonday. This single verse declares what kind of person you should be. For who reveals their way, except those who confess to God, the arbiter of their hidden secrets within their heart? Reveal, blessed one, this is, open your conscience, so that it may not be burdened by the shadow or flesh of this world. For seeds, when they burst forth, if they are shaded, they become weak; exposed to the sun, they thrive. But what about the seeds themselves? The woody shade itself inhibits the young plants from reaching upward and prevents their branches from spreading out. Beautifully said: Disclose your way to the Lord, for the inclination of human nature covers our minds like a kind of veil; that we may not confess our sins to the Lord, who can heal our wounds: so that one may be ashamed to ask for medicine with his own mouth, lest his disgrace be exposed before others. Therefore, conscience presses upon itself, since it cannot hide; and it delays as long as the wound festers, so that it is revealed not by the healthiness of faith, but by the unhealable atrocity of the ulcer. 'Reveal,' he says, 'your way to the Lord'; that is, open your way, do not hide it, as Cain desired to hide; for everyone who does evil hates the light. David revealed his way, who said: 'I declare my works to the King' (Psalm 44:2). Open your mind, so that there is nothing to be afraid of being condemned. Paul also revealed: I am not aware of anything against me (I Cor. IV, 4). Let your actions, your life be such that your way may shine before your Father who is in heaven.

But because the condition of every human being is subject to fragility, and it is not within our power to direct our own path at will; therefore, it says to you: Hope in the Lord, and He Himself will act; that is, to open your way, and not allow you to be such that you flee from the light while you are afraid to come forward, and love darkness so that you can hide your own wickedness, saying: Darkness covers me, who knows if the Most High sees (Eccli. XXIII, 6)? For how can one who is planning adultery, not seek out a suitable night for his temptations? And who thinks to employ a false witness to his deceit, who seeks to corrupt the judge in order to oppress the innocent, does he not explore the secret of wickedness? The thief lurks in the darkness of solitude, awaiting the shadows of the night to carry out his wickedness. Therefore, wickedness is darkness: God is light. Even if you wish to conceal your justice, God will bring it forth into the light; He does not allow judgment to remain hidden by which you have chosen what is good and rejected what is evil. Not only does your judgement shine; but it shines like midday. When the sun pours out its whole brightness, it is midday. It was midday when Joseph feasted with his brothers, not seeking revenge, but forgetting the wrong.

(Verse 9.) Therefore, do not listen to him, so that you do not act wickedly. For those who act wickedly will be exterminated. Those who do not have roots will be exterminated, like vegetables or hay. Let the weak eat vegetables, but you must plant a vine in your field, establish a vineyard. And if Ahab comes to you and says, 'Give me your vineyard so that I can plant vegetables', do not agree with him, so that he does not sow perishable things by your consent and cut off eternal things. Therefore, Nabuthe is considered among the saints because he believed that the inheritance of his ancestors should not even be given to the king; and he chose to be stoned rather than give his vineyard to plunder. The inheritance of our ancestors is true faith. There arose Arians, supported by royal power, who thought that the temple of the Lord should be handed over to them, threatening harsh punishments; but far be it from the mind of the Lord's servant to be more swayed by the fear of punishment than by the beauty of piety. Perfidy did not prevail, because faith resisted. There is also a certain vineyard in the hearts of the faithful, of which Isaiah says: The beloved has become a vine in a fruitful horn (Isaiah 5:1). The Lord planted this vineyard in our hearts; and therefore we read God saying: I have planted you a fruitful vine, all true (Jeremiah 2:21). Therefore, let no one take away this vine from the field of our soul, because it is blessed. Therefore, it is said of the saints: By the fruit of wheat, wine, and oil, they have multiplied (Psalm 4:8). It is good, therefore, to have within you wine overflowing; so that wine may flow into your vessel from the vineyard of Sorech, that intoxicating cup how splendid! For the vineyard of Sorech is the vineyard of new beginnings and new righteousness. Hence it is said to us: Sing to the Lord a new song, its beginning, magnify His name from the ends of the earth (Isaiah 42:10). May this vineyard, therefore, produce grapes and not iniquity. Therefore, the vineyard of the Jews has been abandoned because they have committed iniquity, as it is written (Isaiah 5:7), and not justice. Therefore, let us bear fruit in Christ, that we may deserve to endure.

For those who sustain the Lord will possess the land: certainly the land of the living. There is a certain heavenly land, which bears fruit for the heavenly beings, of which it says: I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm XXVI, 13). This earthly land provides sustenance to the stomach with much human labor; that land of the Lord produces fruit without any effort, in which the possession of the righteous is lasting and the inheritance of a pious mind. And it says rightly: But those who sustain the Lord will possess the land by inheritance. For this is the land that does not pass away; for heaven and earth will pass away, but the words of the Lord will not pass away. And therefore neither that intelligible land, in which those who preserve the words of the Lord are, will be able to pass away from paradise. Adam was placed in this land, in order to receive the fruit of eternal life; but because he did not want to preserve the words of the Lord, he did not deserve to remain in the possession that he had received. But whoever keeps the words of the Lord confidently says: I have waited with expectation for the Lord, and he has looked upon me. (Psalm 39:2) But Adam, since he did not wait for the Lord (for how could he wait who fled and was afraid to offer himself), therefore, the Lord did not deem him worthy to see him; for the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous. But he did not want to see him to the extent that he would ask, saying: Adam, where are you (Gen. III, 9)? One who is sought is considered absent. It is faith that presents us to God, and treachery that causes the wicked to be exiled. Therefore, no one is absent from God, except the one who has made himself absent. And so He says: Let it be done to you according to your faith (Matt. IX, 29); for he who does not know, will not be known. Therefore, Adam, as a sinner, could not keep his place. He was expelled from paradise and relegated to a castle, to do penance. He received a delay, so that he would not perish completely; so that Eve could be saved through the generation of children, the faith of holy Abel, the grace of the prophets, and the posterity of the Church.

When one of the enemies approaches to wound you and you want to "turn his own sword back against his heart," according to the Scripture text, then do as we tell you. Distinguish within yourself the thought he has launched against you, as to what it is, how many elements it consists of and among these what sort of thing it is that most afflicts the mind.… As you engage in this careful examination, the thought will be destroyed and dissipate in its own consideration, and the demon will flee from you when your intellect has been raised to the heights by this knowledge.

Nothing else is destroyed but that which is cut off from God.

[Daniel 4:10] "'I saw, and behold there was a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was very great...'" It was not only of Nebuchadnezzar, King of the Chaldeans, but also of all impious men that the prophet says: "I beheld the impious man highly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon" (Psalm 37:35). Such men are lifted up, not by the greatness of their virtues, but by their own pride; and for that reason they are cut down and fall into ruin. Therefore it is good to follow the teaching of our Lord in the Gospel: "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). But as for the fact that, according to Theodotion, he mentions his kutos or height - or else his kureia, as he himself later renders it, that is to say, his dominion (a word we have translated as "his appearance") - those same detractors of the historicity of this passage slanderously assert that Nebuchadnezzar's dominion never possessed the entire world. He did not rule over the Greeks or barbarians, or over all of the nations in the north and west, but only over the provinces of the East; that is to say, over Asia, not over Europe or Libya. Consequently all these slanders require to be understood as attributable to the devil, for actually we ourselves should accept all this as spoken by way of hyperbole, having in view the arrogance of the impious king, who in Isaiah (chap. 14) makes as great a boast as this, claiming that he possesses the very heaven itself, and the whole earth besides, as if it were a nest full of birds' eggs.

Even if the sinner tries to plot against the righteous person and is bent on carrying it through in every way, do not then grind your teeth at his going unpunished. God will spit on his plot, knowing that he will suffer sometime and that it is he who will sustain harm from his plot against the righteous.

Since, then, God does not allow the righteous, even if vulnerable to sinners, to be subject completely to their verdict, do not be despondent if ever you fall foul of disaster; instead, expect help from God by observing his decrees and commands, being attentive to his good pleasure and not withdrawing from virtue on account of the hardships besetting you. "And he will exalt you to inherit the land": if you do this, he will shelter you, even if vulnerable to the sinner, and make you exalted by ensuring you secure occupancy of the land. "In the destruction of sinners you will see": not only will you be freed from their scheming, but also you will see them destroyed.

Do not consider blessed those people for being in a position even to do whatever they wish, nor with your eyes on their suffering no harsh fate decide to attempt at any time in your own case to do some wrong. "Because the evildoers will be wiped out": those guilty of wickedness will some day pay the full penalty and perish.

"For the wicked shall perish. But the enemies of the Lord, when they shall begin to glory, and to be lifted up, immediately shall consume away utterly, even as the smoke" (ver. 20). Recognise from the comparison itself the thing which he intimates. Smoke, breaking forth from the place where fire has been, rises up on high, and by the very act of rising up, it swells into a large volume: but the larger that volume is, the more unsubstantial does it become; for from that very largeness of volume, which has no foundation or consistency, but is merely loose, shifting and evanescent, it passes into air, and dissolves; so that you perceive its very largeness to have been fatal to it. For the higher it ascends, the farther it is extended, the wider the circumference which it spreads itself over, the thinner, and the more rare and wasting and evanescent does it become. "But the enemies of the Lord, when they shall begin to glory, and to be lifted up, immediately shall consume away utterly even as the smoke." Of such as these was it said, "As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the Truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith." But how is it that they resist the Truth, except by the vain inflation of their swelling pride, while they raise themselves up on high, as if great and righteous persons, though on the point of passing away into empty air? But what saith he of them? As if speaking of smoke, he says, "They shall proceed no farther, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, even as theirs also was."...

"But how long is the sinner to flourish? How long shall I have to endure?" Thou art impatient; that which seems long to thee, will soon come to pass. It is infirmity makes that seem long, which is really short, as is found in the case of the longings of sick men. Nothing seems so long as the mixing of the potion for him when athirst. For all that his attendants are making all speed, lest haply the patient be angry; "When will it be done? (he cries). When will it be drest? When will it be served?" Those who are waiting upon you are making haste, but your infirmity fancies that long which is being done with expedition. Behold ye, therefore, our Physician complying with the infirmity of the patient, saying, "How long shall I have to endure? How long will it be?"

"Yet a little while, and the sinner shall not be" (ver. 10). Is it certainly among sinners, and because of the sinner, that thou murmurest? "A little while, and he shall not be." Lest haply because I said, "They that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the land," thou shouldest think that waiting to be of very long duration. Wait "a little while," thou shalt receive without end what thou waitest for. A little while, a moderate space. Review the years from Adam's time up to this day; run through the Scriptures. It is almost yesterday that he fell from Paradise! So many ages have been measured out, and unrolled. Where now are the past ages? Even so, however, shall the few which remain, pass away also. Hadst thou been living throughout all that time, since Adam was banished from Paradise up to this present day, thou wouldest certainly see that the life, which had thus flown away, had not been of long duration. But how long is the duration of each individual's life? Add any number of years you please: prolong old age to its longest duration: what is it? Is it not but a morning breeze? Be it so, however, that the Day of Judgment is far off, when the reward of the righteous and of the unrighteous is to come: your last day at all events cannot be far off. Make thyself ready against this! For such as thou shall have departed from this life, shalt thou be restored to the other. At the close of that short life, you will not yet be, where the Saints shall be, to whom it shall be said, "Come, ye blessed of My Father: inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world." You will not yet be there? Who does not know that? But you may already be there, where that beggar, once "covered with sores," was seen at a distance, at rest, by that proud and unfruitful "rich man" in the midst of his torments. Surely hid in that rest thou waitest in security for the Day of Judgment, when thou art to receive again a body, to be changed so as to be made equal to an Angel. How long then is that for which we are impatient, and are saying, "When will it come? Will it tarry long?" This our sons will say hereafter, and our sons' sons will say too; and, though each one of these in succession will say this same thing, that "little while" that is yet to be, passes away, as all that is already past hath passed away already! O thou sick one! "Yet a little while, and the sinner shall not be. Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and thou shalt not find him."...

"Delight thyself in the Lord" (ver. 4). As if thou hadst put the question, and hadst said "Show me the riches of that land, in which thou biddest me dwell", he says, "Delight thyself in the Lord."

"And He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Understand in their proper signification, "the desires of thine heart." Distinguish the "desires of thine heart" from the desires of thy flesh; distinguish as much as thou canst. It is not without a meaning that it is said in a certain Psalm, "God is" (the strength) "of mine heart." For there it says in what follows: "And God is my portion for ever." For instance: One labours under bodily blindness. He asks that he may receive his sight. Let him ask it; for God does that too, and gives those blessings also. But these things are asked for even by the wicked. This is a desire of the flesh. One is sick, and prays to be made sound. From the point of death he is restored to health. That too is a desire of the flesh, as are all of such a kind. What is "the desire of the heart"? As the desire of the flesh is to wish to have one's eyesight restored, to enable him, that is, to see that light, which can be seen by such eyes; so "the desire of the heart" relates to a different sort of light. For, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Delight thou thyself in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

"The wicked watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him" [Psalm 37:32]. For he says, what it was foretold in the book of Wisdom that he should say, "He is grievous unto us, even to behold; for his life is not like other men's." [Wisdom 2:15] Therefore he "seeks to slay him." What? Does the Lord, who keeps him, who dwells with him, who departs not from his lips, from his heart, does He forsake him? What then becomes of what was said before: "And He forsakes not His Saints"?

"The wicked therefore watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. But the Lord will not leave him in his hands" (ver. 33). Wherefore then did He leave the Martyrs in the hands of the ungodly? Wherefore did they do unto them "whatsoever they would"? Some they slew with the sword; some they crucified; some they delivered to the beasts; some they burnt by fire; others they led about in chains, till wasted out by a long protracted decay. Assuredly "the Lord forsaketh not His Saints." He will not "leave him in his hands." Lastly, wherefore did He leave His own Son in "the hands of the ungodly"? Here also, if thou wouldest have all the limbs of thy inner man made strong, remove the covering of the roof, and find thy way to the Lord. Hear what another Scripture, foreseeing our Lord's future suffering at the hands of the ungodly, saith. What saith it? "The earth is given into the hands of the wicked." What is meant by "earth" being "given into the hands of the ungodly"? The delivering of the flesh into the hands of the persecutors. But God did not leave "His righteous One" there: from the flesh, which was taken captive, He leads forth the soul unconquered. ...

"The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when there shall be judgment for him" (ver. 33). Some copies have it, "and when He shall judge him, there shall be judgment for him." "For him," however, means when sentence is passed upon him. For we can express ourselves so as to say to a person, "Judge for me," i.e. "hear my cause." When therefore God shall begin to hear the cause of His righteous servant, since "we must all" be presented "before the tribunal of Christ," and stand before it to receive every one "the things he hath done in this body," whether good or evil, when therefore he shall have come to that Judgment, He will not condemn him; though he may seem to be condemned in this present life by man. Even though the Proconsul may have passed sentence on Cyprian, yet the earthly seat of judgment is one thing, the heavenly tribunal is another. From the inferior tribunal he receives sentence of death; from the superior one a crown, "Nor will He condemn him when there shall be judgment for him."

Observe therefore what follows, and be not slothful. "Depart from evil, and do good" [Psalm 37:27]. Do not think it to be enough for you to do, if you dost not strip the man who is already clothed. For in not stripping the man who is already clothed, you have indeed "departed from evil:" but do not be barren, and wither. So choose not to strip the man who is clothed already, as to clothe the naked. For this is to "depart from evil, and to do good." And you will say, "What advantage am I to derive from it?" He to whom you lend has already assured you of what He will give you. He will give you everlasting life. Give to Him, and fear not! Hear too what follows: "Depart from evil, and do good, and dwell for evermore." And think not when you give that no one sees you, or that God forsakes you, when haply after you have given to the poor, and some loss, or some sorrow for the property you have lost, should follow, and you should say to yourself, "What has it profited me to have done good works? I believe God does not love the men who do good." Whence comes that buzz, that subdued murmur among you, except that those expressions are very common? Each one of you at this present moment recognises these expressions, either in his own lips, or on those of his friend. May God destroy them; may He root out the thorns from His field; may He plant "the good seed," and "the tree bearing fruit"! For wherefore are you afflicted, O man, that you have given some things away to the poor, and hast lost certain other things? Do you see not that it is what you have not given, that you have lost? Wherefore do you not attend to the voice of your God? Where is your faith? Wherefore is it so fast asleep? Wake it up in your heart. Consider what the Lord Himself said unto you, while exhorting you to good works of this kind: "Provide yourselves bags which wax not old; a treasure in the heavens that fails not, where no thief approaches." [Luke 12:33] Call this to mind therefore when you are lamenting over a loss. Wherefore do you lament, thou fool of little mind, or rather of unsound mind? Wherefore did you lose it, except that thou did not lend it to Me? Wherefore did you lose it? Who has carried it off? You will answer, "A thief." Was it not this, that I forewarned you of? That you should not lay it up where the thief could approach? If then he who has lost anything, grieves, let him grieve for this, that he did not lay it up there, whence it could not be lost.

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and he delighteth in His way." That man may himself "delight in the Lord's way," his steps are ordered by the Lord Himself. For if the Lord did not order the steps of man, so crooked are they naturally, that they would always be going through crooked paths, and by pursuing crooked ways, would be unable to return again. He however came, and called us, and redeemed us, and shed His blood; He hath given this ransom; He hath done this good, and suffered these evils. Consider Him in what He hath done, He is God! Consider Him in what He hath suffered, He is Man! Who is that God-Man? Hadst not thou, O man, forsaken God, God would not have been made Man for thee! For that was too little for thee to requite, or for Him to bestow, that He had made thee man; unless He Himself should become Man for thee also. For it is He Himself that hath "ordered our steps;" that we should "delight in His way."

Now if man were to be through the whole of his life in toil, and in sufferings, in pain, in tortures, in prison, in scourgings, in hunger, and in thirst, every day and every hour through the whole length of life, to the period of old age, yet the whole life of man is but a few days. That labour being over, there is to come the Eternal Kingdom; there is to come happiness without end; there is to come equality with the Angels; there is to come Christ's inheritance, and Christ, our "joint Heir," is to come. How great is the labour, for which thou receivest so great a recompense? The Veterans who serve in the wars, and move in the midst of wounds for so many years, enter upon the military service from their youth, and quit it in old age: and to obtain a few days of repose in their old age, when age itself begins to weigh down those whom the wars do not break down, how great hardships do they endure; what marches, what frosts, what burning suns; what privations, what wounds, and what dangers! And while suffering all these things, they fix their thoughts on nothing but those few days of repose in old age, at which they know not whether they will ever arrive. Thus it is, the "steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in His way." This is the point with which I commenced. If thou dost "delight in the way" of Christ, and art truly a Christian (for he is a Christian indeed who does not despise the way of Christ, but "delighteth in" following Christ's "way" through His sufferings), do not thou go by any other way than that by which He Himself hath also gone. It appears painful, but it is the very way of safety; another perhaps is delightful, but it is full of robbers. "And he delighteth in His way."

"The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom" (ver. 30). See here is that "bread." Observe with what satisfaction this righteous man feedeth upon it; how he turns wisdom over and over in his mouth. "And his tongue talketh of judgment."

"The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again." He receiveth, and will not repay. What is it he will not repay? Thanksgiving. For what is it that God would have of thee, what doth He require of thee, except that He may do thee good? And how great are the benefits which the sinner hath received, and which he will not repay! He hath received the gift of being; he hath received the gift of being a man; and of a being highly distinguished above the brutes; he hath received the form of a body, and the distinction of the senses in the body, eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, the nostrils for smelling, the palate for tasting, the hands for touching, and the feet for walking; and even the very health and soundness of the body. But up to this point we have these things in common even with the brute; he hath received yet more than this; a mind capable of understanding, capable of Truth, capable of distinguishing right from wrong; capable of seeking after, of longing for, its Creator, of praising Him, and fixing itself upon Him. All this the wicked man hath received as well as others; but by not living well, he fails to repay that which he owes. Thus it is, "the wicked borroweth, and payeth not again:" he will not requite Him from whom he hath received; he will not return thanks; nay, he will even render evil for good, blasphemies, murmuring against God, indignation. Thus it is that he "borroweth, and payeth not again; but the righteous showeth mercy, and lendeth" (ver. 21). The one therefore hath nothing; the other hath. See, on the one side, destitution: see, on the other, wealth. The one receiveth and "payeth not again:" the "other showeth mercy, and lendeth:" and he hath more than enough. What if he is poor? Even so he is rich; do you but look at his riches with the eyes of Religion. For thou lookest at the empty chest; but dost not look at the conscience, that is full of God....

"Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholdeth his hand." See what it is "to delight in" Christ's "way." Should it happen that he suffers some tribulation; some forfeiture of honour, some affliction, some loss, some contumely, or all those other accidents incident to mankind frequently in this life, he sets the Lord before him, what kind of trials He endured! and, "though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth his hand," because He has suffered before him. For what shouldest thou fear, O man, whose steps are ordered so, that thou shouldest "delight in the way of the Lord"? What shouldest thou fear? Pain? Christ was scourged. Shouldest thou fear contumelies? He was reproached with, "Thou hast a devil," who was Himself casting out the devils. Haply thou fearest faction, and the conspiracy of the wicked. Conspiracy was made against Him. Thou canst not make clear the purity of thy conscience in some accusation, and sufferest wrong and violence, because false witnesses are listened to against thee. False witness was borne against Him first, not only before His death, but also after His resurrection...

"Wait on the Lord" (ver. 34). And while I am waiting upon Him, what am I to do?-"and keep His ways." And if I keep them, what am I to receive? "And He shall exalt thee to inherit the land." "What land"? Once more let not any estate suggest itself to your mind:-the land of which it is said, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." What of those who have troubled us, in the midst of whom we have groaned, whose scandals we have patiently endured, for whom, while they were raging against us, we have prayed in vain? What will become of them? What follows? "When the wicked are cut off, thou shall see it."...

"They shall not be ashamed in the evil time" (ver. 19). In the day of trouble, in the day of distress, they shall not be "ashamed," as he is ashamed whose hope deceives him. Who is the man that is "ashamed"? He who saith, "I have not found that which I was in hopes of." Nor undeservedly either; for thou didst hope it from thyself or from man, thy friend. But "cursed is he that putteth his trust in man." Thou art ashamed, because thy hope hath deceived thee; thy hope that was set on a lie. For "every man is a liar." But if thou dost place thy hopes on thy God, thou art not made "ashamed." For He in whom thou hast put thy trust, cannot be deceived. Whence also the man whom we mentioned just above, the now "strengthened" righteous man, when fallen on an evil time, on the day of tribulation, what saith he to show that he was not "ashamed"? "We glory in tribulation; knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; but hope maketh not ashamed." Whence is it that hope "maketh not ashamed"? Because it is placed on God. Therefore follows immediately, "Because the love of God is spread in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us." The Holy Spirit hath been given to us already: how should He deceive us, of whom we possess such an "earnest" already? "They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied."...

"He is always merciful, and lendeth." "Foeneratur" is used in Latin indeed, both for him who lendeth, and for him who borroweth. But in this passage the meaning is more plain, if we express it by "foenerat." What matters it to us, what the grammarians please to rule? It were better for us to be guilty of a barbarism, so that ye understand, than that in our propriety of speech ye be left unprovided. Therefore, that "righteous man is all day merciful, and (foenerat) lendeth." Let not the lenders of money on usury, however, rejoice. For we find it is a particular kind of lender that is spoken of, as it was a particular kind of bread; that we may, in all passages, "remove the roof," and find our way to Christ. I would not have you be lenders of money on usury; and I would not have you be such for this reason, because God would not have you. ...Whence does it appear that God would not have it so? It is said in another place, "He that putteth not out his money to usury." And how detestable, odious, and execrable a thing it is, I believe that even usurers themselves know. Again, on the other hand, I myself, nay rather our God Himself bids thee be an usurer, and says to thee, "Lend unto God." If thou lendest to man, hast thou hope? and shalt thou not have hope, if thou lendest to God? If thou hast lent thy money on usury to man, that is, if thou hast given the loan of thy money to one, from whom thou dost expect to receive something more than thou hast given, not in money only, but anything, whether it be wheat, or wine, or oil, or whatever else you please, if you expect to receive more than you have given, you are an usurer, and in this particular are not deserving of praise, but of censure. "What then," you say, "am I to do, that I may 'lend' profitably?" Consider what the usurer does. He undoubtedly desires to give a less sum, and to receive a larger; do thou this also; give thou a little, receive much. See how thy principal grows, and increases! Give "things temporal," receive "things eternal:" give earth, receive heaven! And perhaps thou wouldest say, "To whom shall I give them?" The self-same Lord, who bade thee not lend on usury, comes forward as the Person to whom thou shouldest lend on usury! Hear from Scripture in what way thou mayest "lend unto the Lord." "He that hath pity on the poor, lendeth unto the Lord." For the Lord wanteth not aught of thee. But thou hast one who needs somewhat of thee: thou extendest it to him; he receives it. For the poor hath nothing to return to thee, and yet he would himself fain requite thee, and finds nothing wherewith to do it: all that remains in his power is the good-will that desires to pray for thee. Now when the poor man prays for thee, he, as it were, says unto God, "Lord, I have borrowed this; be Thou surety for me." Then, though you have no bond on the poor man to compel his repayment, yet you have on a sponsible security. See, God from His own Scriptures saith unto thee; "Give it, and fear not; I repay it. It is to Me thou givest it." In what way do those who make themselves sureties for others, express themselves? What is it that they say? "I repay it: I take it upon myself. It is to me you are giving it." Do we then suppose that God also says this, "I take it on Myself. It is unto me thou givest it"? Assuredly, if Christ be God, of which there is no doubt, He hath Himself said, "I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat." And when they said unto Him, "When saw we Thee hungry?" that He might show Himself to be the Surety for the poor, that He answers for all His members, that He is the Head, they the members, and that when the members receive, the Head receiveth also; He says, "Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these that belong to Me, ye have done it unto Me." Come, thou covetous usurer, consider what thou hast given; consider what thou art to receive. Hadst thou given a small sum of money, and he to whom thou hadst given it were to give thee for that small sum a great villa, worth incomparably more money than thou hadst given, how great thanks wouldest thou render, with how great joy wouldest thou be transported! Hear what possession He to whom thou hast been lending bestows. "Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive"—What? The same that they have given? God forbid! What you gave were earthly things, which, if you had not given them, would have become corrupted on earth. For what could you have made of them, if you had not given them? That which on earth would have been lost, has been preserved in heaven. Therefore what we are to receive is that which hath been preserved. It is thy desert that hath been preserved, thy desert hath been made thy treasure. For consider what it is that thou art to receive. Receive—"the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." On the other hand, what shall be their sentence, who would not "lend"? "Go ye into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." And what is the kingdom which we receive called? Consider what follows: "And these shall go into everlasting burning; but the righteous into life eternal." Make interest for this; purchase this. Give your money on usury to earn this. You have Christ throned in heaven, begging on earth. We have discovered in what way the righteous lendeth. "He is alway merciful, and lendeth."

"And his seed is blessed." Here too let not any carnal notion suggest itself. We see many of the sons of the righteous dying of hunger; in what sense then will his seed be blessed? His seed is that which remains of him afterwards that wherewith he soweth here, and will hereafter reap. For the Apostle says, "Let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore time," he says, "let us do good unto all men." This is that "seed" of thine which shall "be blessed." You commit it to the earth, and gather ever so much more; and dost thou lose it in committing it to Christ? See it expressly termed "seed" by the Apostle, when he was speaking of alms. For this he saith; "He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth in blessings, shall also reap in blessings."...

"Behold" (you say), "I do long after it, I do ask for it, I do desire it. Shall I then accomplish it?" No. Who shall then? "Reveal your way unto the Lord: trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass" [Psalm 37:5]. Mention to Him what you suffer, mention to Him what thou dost desire. For what is it that you suffer? "The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh." [Galatians 5:17] What is it then that you desire? "Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" [Romans 7:24] And because it is He "Himself" that "will bring it to pass," when you shall have "revealed your ways unto Him;" hear what follows: "The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord." What is it then that He is to bring to pass, since it is said, "Reveal your way unto Him, and He will bring it to pass"? What will He bring to pass?

"I have seen the ungodly lifted up on high, and rising above the cedars of Libanus" [Psalm 37:35]. And suppose him to be "lifted up on high;" suppose him to be towering above the "rest;" what follows?

Then follow these words: "The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth" (ver. 12): "But the Lord shall laugh at him" (ver. 13). At whom? Surely at the sinner, "gnashing upon" the other "with his teeth." But wherefore shall the Lord "laugh at him"? "For He foreseeth that his day is coming." He seems indeed full of wrath, while, ignorant of the morrow that is in store for him, he is threatening the just. But the Lord beholds and "foresees his day." "What day?" That in which "He will render to every man according to his works." For he is "treasuring up unto himself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the just judgment of God." But it is the Lord that foresees it; thou dost not foresee it. It hath been revealed to thee by Him who foresees it. Thou didst not know of the "day of the unrighteous," in which he is to suffer punishment. But He who knows it hath revealed it to thee. It is a main part of knowledge to join thyself to Him who hath knowledge. He hath the eyes of knowledge: have thou the eyes of a believing mind. That which God "sees," be thou willing to believe. For the day of the unjust, which God foresees, will come. What day is that? The day for all vengeance! For it is necessary that vengeance should be taken upon the ungodly, that vengeance be taken upon the unjust, whether he turn, or whether he turn not. For if he shall turn from his ways, that very thing, that his "injustice is come to an end," is the infliction of vengeance....

"The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright heart" (ver. 14). "Their weapon shall enter into their own heart" (ver. 15). It is an easy thing for his weapon, that is, his sword, to reach thy body, even as the sword of the persecutors reached the body of the Martyrs, but when the body had been smitten, "the heart" remained unhurt; but his heart who "drew out the sword against" the body of the just did not clearly remain unhurt. This is attested by this very Psalm. It saith, Their weapon, that is, "Their sword shall," not go into their body, but, "their weapon shall go into their own heart." They would fain have slain him in the body. Let them die the death of the soul. For those whose bodies they sought to kill, the Lord hath freed from anxiety, saying, "Fear not them who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul."...

"The righteous shall inherit the land." Here again let not covetousness steal on thee, nor promise thee some great estate; hope not to find there, what you are commanded to despise in this world. That "land" in the text, is a certain "land of the living," the kingdom of the Saints. Whence it is said: "Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of the living." For if thy life too is the same life as that there spoken of, think what sort of "land" thou art about to inherit. That is "the land of the living;" this the land of those who are about to die: to receive again, when dead, those whom it nourished when living. Such then as is that land, such shall the life itself be also: if the life be for ever, "the land" also is to be thine "for ever." And how is "the land" to be thine "for ever"?

"And they shall dwell therein" (it says) "for ever." It must therefore be another land, where "they are to dwell therein for ever." For of this land (of this earth) it is said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away."

"For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His Saints." When the Saints suffer affliction, think not that God doth not judge, or doth not judge righteously. Will He, who warns thee to judge righteously, Himself judge unrighteously? He "loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His Saints." But (think) how the "life" of the Saints is "hid with Him," in such a manner, that who now suffer trouble on earth, like trees in the winter-time, having no fruit and leaves, when He, like a newly-risen sun, shall have appeared, that which before was living in their root, will show itself forth in fruits. He does then "love judgment, and doth not forsake His Saints."...

..."For the arms of the wicked shall be broken" (ver. 17). Now by "their arms" is meant their power. What will he do in hell? Will it be what the rich man had to do, he who was wont "to fare sumptuously" in the upper world, and in hell "was tormented"? Therefore their arms shall be broken; "but the Lord upholdeth the righteous." How does He "uphold" them? What saith He unto them? Even what is said in another Psalm, "Wait on the Lord, be of good courage; and let thine heart be strengthened. Wait, I say, on the Lord." What is meant by this, "Wait on the Lord"? Thou sufferest but for a time; thou shalt rest for ever: thy trouble is short; thy happiness is to be everlasting. It is but for "a little while" thou art to sorrow; thy joy shall have no end. But in the midst of trouble does thy "foot" begin to "slip"? The example even of Christ's sufferings is set before thee. Consider what He endured for thee, in whom no cause was found why He should endure it? How great soever be thy sufferings, thou wilt not come to those insults, those scourgings, to that robe of shame, to that crown of thorns, and last of all to that Cross, which He endured; because that is now removed from the number of human punishments. For though under the ancients criminals were crucified, in the present day no one is crucified. It was honoured, and it came to an end. It came to an end as a punishment; it is continued in glory. It hath removed from the place of execution to the foreheads of Emperors. He who hath invested His very sufferings with such honour, what doth He reserve for His faithful servants?...

"Cease from anger, and forsake wrath." Wherefore art thou wroth? Wherefore is it that, through that passion and indignation, thou dost blaspheme, or almost blaspheme? Against "the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass, cease from anger, and forsake wrath." Knowest thou not whither that wrath tempts thee on? Thou art on the point of saying unto God, that He is unjust. It tends to that. "Look! why is that man prosperous, and this man in adversity?" Consider what thought it begets: stifle the wicked notion. "Cease from anger, and forsake wrath:" so that now returning to thy senses, thou mayest say, "Mine eye is disturbed because of wrath." What eye is that, but the eye of faith? To the eye of thy faith I appeal. Thou didst believe in Christ: why didst thou believe? What did He promise thee? If it was the happiness of this world that Christ promised thee, then murmur against Christ; yes! murmur against Him, when thou seest the wicked flourishing. What of happiness did He promise? What, save in the Resurrection of the Dead? But what in this life? That which was His portion. His portion, I say! Dost thou, servant and disciple, disdain what thy Lord, what thy Master bore? ...

..."The Lord knoweth the ways of the spotless ones" (ver. 18). When they suffer ills, they are believed to be walking ill ways by those who are ignorant, by those who have not knowledge to discern "the ways of the spotless ones." He who "knoweth those ways," knoweth by what way to lead His own, "them that are gentle," in the right way. Whence in another Psalm he said, "The meek shall He guide in judgment; them that are gentle will He teach His way." How, think you, was that beggar, who lay covered with sores before the rich man's door, spurned by the passers by! How did they, probably, close their nostrils and spit at him! The Lord, however, knew how to reserve Paradise for him. How did they, on the other hand, desire for themselves the life of him who was "clad in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day!" But the Lord, who foresaw that man's "day coming," knew the torments, the torments without end, that were in store for him. Therefore "The Lord knoweth the ways of the upright."

"And their inheritance shall be for ever." This we hold by faith. Doth the Lord too know it by faith? The Lord knoweth those things with as clear a manifestation, as we cannot speak of even when we shall be made equal to the Angels. For the things that shall be manifest to us, shall not be equally manifest to us as they are now to Him, who is incapable of change. Yet even of us ourselves what is said? "Beloved, now are we the sons of God: and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." There is therefore surely some blissful vision reserved for us; and if it can be now in some measure conceived, "darkly and through a glass," yet cannot we in any way express in language the ravishing beauty of that bliss, which God reserves for them that fear Him, which He consummates in those that hope in Him. It is for that destination that our hearts are being disciplined in all the troubles and trials of this life. Wonder not that it is in trouble that thou art disciplined for it. It is for something glorious that thou art being disciplined. Whence comes that speech of the now strengthened righteous man: "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us"? What is that promised glory to be, but to be made equal to the Angels and to see God? How great a benefit doth he bestow on the blind man, who makes his eyes sound so as to be able to see the light of this life. ...What reward then shall we give unto that Physician who restores soundness to our inward eyes, to enable them to see a certain eternal Light, which is Himself?...

What should you do then? "Trust in the Lord" [Psalm 37:3]. For they too trust, but not "in the Lord." Their hope is perishable. Their hope is short-lived, frail, fleeting, transitory, baseless. "Trust thou in the Lord." "Behold," you say, "I do trust; what am I to do?"

"And do good." Do not do that evil which you behold in those men, who are prosperous in wickedness. "Do good, and dwell in the land." Lest haply you should be doing good without "dwelling in the land." For it is the Church that is the Lord's land. It is her whom He, the Father, the tiller of it, waters and cultivates. For there are many that, as it were, do good works, but yet, in that they do not "dwell in the land," they do not belong to the husbandman. Therefore do thou your good, not outside of the land, but do thou "dwell in the land." And what shall I have?

"And you shall be fed in its riches." What are the riches of that land? Her riches are her Lord! Her riches are her God! He it is to whom it is said, "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup." In a late discourse we suggested to you, dearly beloved, that God is our possession, and that we are at the same time God's possession. Hear how that He is Himself the riches of that land.

"What should I do then?" Hear what thou shouldest do. "Submit thee to the Lord, and entreat Him." Be this thy life, to obey His commandments. For this is to submit thee to Him; and to entreat Him until He give thee what He hath promised. Let good works "continue;" let prayer "continue." For "men ought always to pray, and not to faint." Wherein dost thou show that thou art "submitted to Him"? In doing what He hath commanded. But haply thou dost not receive thy wages as yet, because as yet thou art not able. For He is already able to give them; but thou art not already able to receive them. Exercise thou thyself in works. Labour in the vineyard; at the close of the day crave thy wages. "Faithful is He" who brought thee into the vineyard. "Submit thee to the Lord, and entreat Him."

"See! I do so; I do 'submit to the Lord, and I do entreat.' But what do you think? That neighbour of mine is a wicked man, living a bad life, and prosperous! His thefts, adulteries, robberies, are known to me. Lifted up above every one, proud, and raised on high by wickedness, he deigns not to notice me. In these circumstances, how shall I hold out with patience?" This is a sickness; drink, by way of remedy. "Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way." He prospereth, but it is "in his way:" thou sufferest, but it is in God's way! His portion is prosperity on his way, misery on arriving at its end: yours, toil on the road, happiness in its termination. "The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; and the way of the ungodly shall perish." Thou walkest those ways which "the Lord knoweth," and if thou dost suffer toil in them, they do not deceive thee. The "way of the ungodly" is but a transitory happiness; at the end of the way the happiness is at an end also. Why? Because that way is "the broad road;" its termination leads to the pit of hell. Now, thy way is narrow; and "few there be" that enter in through it: but into how ample a field it comes at the last, thou oughtest to consider. "Fret not thyself at him who prospereth in his way; because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass."

"But the meek shall inherit the land" (ver. 11). That land is the one of which we have often spoken, the holy Jerusalem, which is to be released from these her pilgrimages, and to live for ever with God, and on God. Therefore, "They shall inherit the land." What shall be their delight? "And they shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." Let the ungodly man delight himself here in the multitude of his gold, in the multitude of his silver, in the multitude of his slaves, in the multitude, lastly, of his baths, his roses, his intoxicating wines, his most sumptuous and luxurious banquets. Is this the power thou enviest? Is this the glory that delights thee? Would not his fate be worthy to be deplored, even if he were to be so for ever? What shall be thy delights? "And they shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." Peace shall be thy gold. Peace shall be thy silver. Peace shall be thy lands. Peace shall be thy life, thy God Peace. Peace shall be to thee whatsoever thou dost desire....

"Be not envious because of evil-doers, neither be envious against the workers of iniquity" (ver. 1). "For they shall soon wither like the grass, and shall fade like the herbs of the meadow" (ver. 2). That which to thee seemeth long, is "soon" in the sight of God. Conform thou thyself to God; and it will be "soon" to thee. That which he here calls "grass," that we understand by the "herbs of the meadow." They are some worthless things, occupying the surface only of the ground, they have no depth of root. In the winter then they are green; but when the summer sun shall begin to scorch, they will wither away. For now it is the season of winter. Thy glory cloth not as yet appear. But if thy love hath but a deep root, like that of many trees during winter, the frost passes away, the summer (that is, the Day of Judgment) will come; then will the greenness of the grass wither away. Then will the glory of the trees appear. "For ye" (saith the Apostle) "are dead." even as trees seem to be in winter, as it were dead, as it were withered. What is our hope then, if we are dead? The root is within; where our root is, there is our life also, for there our love is fixed. "And your life is hid with Christ in God." When shall he wither who is thus rooted? But when will our spring be? When our summer? When will the honour of foliage clothe us around, and the fulness of fruit make us rich? When shall this come to pass? Hear what follows: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." And what then shall we do now? "Be not envious because of the evil-doers, neither be envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon wither like the grass, and fade like the herb of the meadow."

"But the transgressors shall be destroyed in the self-same thing" (ver. 38). What is meant by, "in the self-same thing"? It means for ever: or all together in one and the same destruction.

"The remainder of the wicked shall be cut off." Now there is "(a remainder) for the man that maketh peace:" they therefore who are not peace-makers, are ungodly. For, "Blessed are the peace-makers: for they shall be called the children of God."

"And their bows shall be broken." What is meant by, "And their bows shall be broken"? Their plots shall be frustrated. For above He had said, "The wicked have drawn out the sword and bent their bows." By the "drawing out of the sword" he would have understood open hostility; but by the" bending of the bow," secret conspiracies. See! His sword destroys himself, and his laying of snares is frustrated. What is meant by frustrated? That it does no mischief to the righteous. How then, for instance (you ask), did it do no mischief to the man, whom it thus stripped of his goods, whom it reduced to straitened circumstances by taking away his possessions? He has still cause to sing, "A little that a righteous man has, is better than great riches of the ungodly" [Psalm 37:16].

"And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light" (ver. 6). For now, "thy righteousness" is hid. Now it is a thing of faith; not yet of sight. You believe something that you may do it. You do not yet see that in which you believe. But when thou shall begin to see that, which thou didst believe before, "thy righteousness will be brought forth to the light," because it is thy faith that was thy righteousness. For "the just lives by faith."

"And He shall bring forth thy judgment as the noon-day." That is to say, "as the clear light." It was too little to say, "as the light." For we call it "light" already, even when it but dawns: we call it light even while the sun is rising. But never is the light brighter than at mid-day. Therefore He will not only "bring forth thy righteousness as the light," but "thy judgment shall be as the noon-day." For now dost thou make thy "judgment" to follow Christ. This is thy purposé: this is thy choice: this is thy "judgment."...

"Keep innocency" (ver. 37); keep it even as thou usedst to keep thy purse, when thou wert covetous; even as thou usedst to hold fast that purse, that it might not be snatched from thy grasp by the thief, even so "keep innocency," lest that be snatched from thy grasp by the devil. Be that thy sure inheritance, of which the rich and the poor may both be sure. "Keep innocency." What doth it profit thee to gain gold, and to lose innocence?

"Keep innocency, and take heed unto the thing which is right." Keep thou thine eyes "right," that thou mayest see "the thing which is right;" not perverted, wherewith thou lookest upon the wicked; not distorted, so that God should appear to thee distorted and wrong, in that He favours the wicked, and afflicts the faithful with persecutions. Dost thou not observe how distorted thy vision is? Set right thine eyes, and "behold the thing that is right." What "thing that is right"? Take no heed of things present. And what wilt thou see?

"For there is a remainder for the man that maketh peace." What is meant by "there is a remainder"? When thou art dead, thou shall not be dead. This is the meaning of "there is a remainder." He will still have something remaining to him, even after this life, that is to say, that "seed," which "shall be blessed." Whence our Lord saith, "He that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live;" -"seeing there is a remainder for the man that maketh peace."

"I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread" [Psalm 37:25].

If it is spoken but in the person of one single individual, how long is the whole life of one man? And what is there wonderful in the circumstance, that a single man, fixed in some one part of the earth, should not, throughout the whole space of his life, being so short as man's life is, have ever seen "the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread," although he may have advanced from youth to age. It is not anything worthy of marvel; for it might have happened, that before his lifetime there should have been some "righteous man seeking bread;" it might have happened, that there had been some one in some other part of the earth not where he himself was. Hear too another thing, which makes an impression upon us. Any single one among you (look you) who has now grown old, may perhaps, when, looking back upon the past course of his life, he turns over in his thoughts the persons whom he has known, not find any instance of a righteous man begging bread, or of his seed begging bread, suggest itself to him; but nevertheless he turns to the inspired Scriptures, and finds that righteous Abraham was straitened, and suffered hunger in his own country, and left that land for another; he finds too that the son of the very same man, Isaac, removed to other countries in search of bread, for the same cause of hunger. And how will it be true to say, "I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread"? And if he finds this true in the duration of his own life, he finds it is otherwise in the inspired writings, which are more trustworthy than human life is.

"The law of his God is in his heart" [Psalm 37:31]. Lest haply you should think him to have that on his lips, which he has not in his heart, lest you should reckon him among those of whom it is said, "This people honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." [Isaiah 29:13] And of what use is this to him?

"And none of his steps shall slide." The "word of God in the heart" frees from the snare; the "word of God in the heart" delivers from the evil way; "the word of God in the heart" delivers from "the slippery place." He is with you, Whose word departs not from you. Now what evil does he suffer, whom God keeps? Thou settest a watchman in your vineyard, and feelest secure from thieves; and that watchman may sleep, and may himself fall, and may admit a thief. But "He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." "The law of his God is in his heart, and none of his steps shall slide." Let him therefore live free from fear; let him live free from fear even in the midst of the wicked; free from fear even in the midst of the ungodly. For what evil can the ungodly or unrighteous man do to the righteous? Lo! see what follows.

"I passed by, and, lo, he was not! I sought him, and his place could nowhere be found!" (ver. 36). Why was he "no more, and his place nowhere to be found"? Because thou hast "passed by." But if thou art yet carnally-minded, and that earthly prosperity appears to thee to be true happiness, thou hast not yet "passed by" him; thou art either his fellow, or thou art below him; go on, and pass him; and when thou hast made progress, and hast passed by him, thou observest him by the eye of faith; thou seest his end, thou sayest to thyself, "Lo! he who so swelled before, is not!" just as if it were some smoke that thou wert passing near to. For this too was said above in this very Psalm, "They shall consume and fade away as the smoke." ...

"Behold" (you say), "I do long after it, I do ask for it, I do desire it. Shall I then accomplish it?" No. Who shall then? "Reveal thy way unto the Lord: trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass" (ver. 5). Mention to Him what thou sufferest, mention to Him what thou dost desire. For what is it that thou sufferest? "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh." What is it then that thou dost desire? "Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" And because it is He "Himself" that "will bring it to pass," when thou shall have "revealed thy ways unto Him;" hear what follows: "The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord." What is it then that He is to bring to pass, since it is said, "Reveal thy way unto Him, and He will bring it to pass"? What will He bring to pass?

"And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light" (ver. 6). For now, "thy righteousness" is hid. Now it is a thing of faith; not yet of sight. You believe something that you may do it. You do not yet see that in which you believe. But when thou shall begin to see that, which thou didst believe before, "thy righteousness will be brought forth to the light," because it is thy faith that was thy righteousness. For "the just lives by faith."

"And He shall bring forth thy judgment as the noon-day." That is to say, "as the clear light." It was too little to say, "as the light." For we call it "light" already, even when it but dawns: we call it light even while the sun is rising. But never is the light brighter than at mid-day. Therefore He will not only "bring forth thy righteousness as the light," but "thy judgment shall be as the noon-day." For now dost thou make thy "judgment" to follow Christ. This is thy purposé: this is thy choice: this is thy "judgment."...

"But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord, and He is their strength in the time of trouble" (ver. 39). "And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the sinners" (ver. 40). At present therefore let the righteous bear with the sinner; let the wheat bear with the tares; let the grain bear with the chaff: for the time of separation will come, and the good seed shall be set apart from that which is to be consumed with fire. The one will be consigned to the garner, the other to "everlasting burning;" for it was for this reason that the just and the unjust were at the first together; that the one should lay a stumbling-block, that the other should be proved; that afterwards the one should be condemned, the other receive a crown. ...

"For evil-doers shall be cut off" [Psalm 37:9]. "But I see their prosperity." Believe Him who says, "they shall be cut off;" Him who sees better than thou, since His eye anger cannot cloud. "For evil-doers shall be cut off. But those that wait upon the Lord,"— not upon any one that can deceive them; but verily on Him who is the Truth itself—"But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the land." What "land," but that Jerusalem, with the love of which whosoever is inflamed, shall come to peace at the last.

In everything he taught the benefit of hope in God: the person hoping in God, he says, and fed by him will enjoy the goods supplied by him while those who find delightful constant converse with him will most of all attain them.

Saul was like that, ever the object of kindness at the hands of the divine David but reluctant to repay kindness with kindness; blessed David …, in imitation of his Lord, who makes his sun rise on wicked and good, continued showing kindness.

It is impossible for anyone to travel blamelessly the way of virtue without God's grace. He works in association with those who have this intent: for the acquisition of virtue there is need of human zeal and divine assistance at one and the same time. Thus, you see, even if the one traveling this path should slip, he will gain divine support. Likewise, when blessed David stumbled and ran the risk of coming to grief, he was borne up by divine grace.

Those choosing a blameless life enjoy providence completely; even if they encounter disasters, they will emerge superior to them; and when need becomes endemic, they will receive sufficiency from God, and in addition will enjoy everlasting goods.

Offer up to God, he is saying, both yourself and your actions, and expect grace from him; for his part he will bring forth a just verdict like a judge, will extol you and make you famous to the extent of being known to everyone, like the light at midday.

Even if you see one choosing wickedness and not deviating from his purpose but being borne downstream, do not be worried and concerned that no one is in control of the world.

Those who practice righteousness … will enjoy divine aid and attain salvation, and by reason of placing complete hope in him, they will prevail over those endeavoring to wrong them.

It is fitting, the psalmist says, to carry around the divine sayings both on one's tongue and in one's mind and constantly give attention to them; learning in this way how to behave, the lover of virtue remains intrepid and unmoved, proof against efforts at overthrow.

Instead of considering their prosperity, await their end, and you will see their ruin.

Be careful, for daily the devil considers you and gnashes his teeth over you; but [as it says in the next verse] the Lord mocks him because he knows his day will come.

The law of God is in the heart [of the righteous person], and his step is not supplanted. The devil considers him and desires to humiliate him, but God does not abandon him or curse him when he is judged. Await the Lord and guard his ways so you may inherit the land; in time you will see sinners perish.

The wicked will perish when salvation comes to the just from God, their protector in time of tribulation. The Lord helps and frees them and snatches them from sinners and saves them since they hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the hermits said, 'Unless you first hate, you cannot love. Unless you hate sin, you cannot live sinlessly. As it is written, "Depart from evil and do good" (Ps. 37:27). But perseverance is needed for this. Adam, even though he was in Paradise, disobeyed God's command while Job, who was living on a dung hill, kept it. It seems that God requires from us a good intention, that is, that we should fear him always.'

God gives a new heart so that we may walk in his justifications that pertain to the beginning of a good will. He also gives that we may observe and do his judgments that pertain to the doing of good works. Thus we know both the will to do good and the ability to do good from God. David agrees completely with this, showing that by the command of divine generosity the grace of a good will is granted.

When the wicked person sees someone working on developing good character, he feels convinced that he is being indicted personally. He gnashes his teeth and becomes outraged. If he cannot corrupt someone's character, then he immediately attempts to do away with his life.

The way in which consolation is offered to us is amazing, for who should delight himself in the pompous display of one whose audacity he knows will soon perish? If we would rather not be disturbed by jealousy, then let us follow what the Lord does. Let us laugh at him whose downfall we foresee; let us regard the unhappy things which we possess as things that will perish in time. Let us believe these things with all tenacity, since they have been promised to us in truth. It will happen in the way described, that the sinner will depart under derision, although he once boasted in a happiness that was not to last.

You observe here that what destroys a person itself perishes and only those things last which cause him to remain in the kingdom of God.

He says the meek will possess the Jerusalem to come, a city about which much has already been said; it is a city constantly filled with the sweetness of good things where its inhabitants do not earn their living through trade, but feed on delight in God. There no one works to live, but in quietness receives all that the blessed soul desires. There the eye of the heart is fattened by a blessed hunger. There the soul is restored by sight alone, since whatever pertains to its desire is granted to it in the contemplation of the Lord's face.

Free to Hope. Cassiodorus: He also adds the reason for the liberation: it is because "they have hoped in him"—not because they have not sinned, but because they have placed their hope in the Lord's compassion. This can also be applied to the judgment, when he will deign to present an eternal reward to his saints.

One passes out of this world in two ways, either when it is left through a person's superior way of life, or when it is forsaken in the end by the dead. So the one who has passed on to God with a most holy way of life no longer sees a sinner as a powerful individual, since he sees everything in which humans boast as powerless.… This world is known as the place of sinners where they both carry out their wicked deeds and where their wealth, with all its transitory joy, is piled high. But this place is destroyed along with their prosperity, when the glory of the entire corruptible world is brought to an end.

Therefore, however much one may be illuminated by the light of nature and acquired knowledge, one cannot enter into oneself so as within oneself to delight in the Lord, except through the mediation of Christ, who says: I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and shall find pastures. But to this door we do not draw near unless we believe in him, hope in him, and love him. It is necessary, therefore, if we wish to re-enter into the enjoyment of Truth as into paradise, that we enter through faith, hope, and charity in the mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ, who is as the tree of life in the midst of paradise.

"The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment." A just judge is one who is moved by just zeal, approves all good things and condemns evil things: but he who does not have right zeal cannot judge well. Love and hatred pervert judgment. If you hate me, you cannot judge me rightly: and why? Because it seems to you that all things that are in me are evil.

However much knowledge a man may have of the New and Old Testament, it is still necessary that he consult the Lord. The Psalm says: 'Reveal your way to the Lord, and he himself will give you the petitions of your heart. Be subject to the Lord.' I do not say that he should have a special conversation with him, but it is necessary that the Lord bring forth truth for him as light. In this are reproved certain ones who wish to be governed by their own knowledge.

If long and healthful life: there is sound eternity and eternal soundness, because the just shall live forever, and: The salvation of the just is from the Lord. If fullness: they shall be satisfied, when the glory of God shall appear.

The Psalm: I have not seen the just man forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread: therefore he who seeks bread is neither just nor the seed of the just.

To that which is objected from the Psalm: I have not seen the just man forsaken, etc.; it must be said that bread is twofold, namely bodily and spiritual; but that word is not understood of bodily bread, but of spiritual bread. And that this is true appears from the Gloss on the same passage: Nor his seed seeking bread, the Gloss says: "spiritual bread, that is, to lack the bread of the word of God, because the word of God is always with him." The text can also be construed so that it is understood: I have not seen the just man forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread have I seen forsaken: because, according to what is said in the last chapter of Hebrews on that text: I will not leave you nor forsake you, the Gloss says: "He would be forsaken who perished from hunger." The Prophet therefore means to say that he saw neither the just man nor the seed of the just man dead from hunger, and this does not call one back from poverty, but rather invites to it.

"And." Where first he promises glory; second, he shows how one arrives at it, at "Be subject to the Lord." Regarding the first he does two things. First, he promises the glory that one obtains. Second, he shows the manner of obtaining it, at "And your judgment." He says therefore, "And he will bring forth," etc. The saints conceal their righteousness. Mt. 6: "Take heed that you do not perform your righteousness before men, to be seen by them." But nothing is hidden that will not be revealed. Lk. 12. Hence God reveals it either here or in the future; and therefore he says, "He will bring forth," that is, he will lead forth. Job 28: "He searched the depths of the rivers and brought hidden things to light." According to Origen, it is like this: if someone having a faithful servant whom he intends to free, he glories in him. Is. 49: "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will glory." And this will be in the judgment; hence it follows, "And your judgment like the noonday," that is, the judgment by which you will be judged will have no darkness. Now two things are required of one wishing to arrive at the glory that is promised. The first is humility. Job 22: "He who is humbled will be in glory"; hence he says, "Be subject to the Lord": 2 Macc. 9: "It is just to be subject to God, and a mortal should not think things equal to God," etc. The second is prayer, through which one arrives at God, who is the glory of our blessedness; and therefore he adds, "And pray to him." Jas. 5: "The continual prayer of a just man avails much."

Then when he says "And," he assigns the reason on the part of the wicked; and regarding this he does two things. For he had said, "Do not be envious of the one who prospers in his way, of the man who commits injustices." First, therefore, he assigns the reason that their prosperity is not to be envied. Second, that their injustice is not to be envied, at "The sinner will watch." Regarding the first, he does two things. He proposes first the danger threatening the wicked. Second, the fruit of the just, at "The meek," because the opposite is better known through its opposite. Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he announces their destruction as regards themselves. Second, as regards their place, at "And you will seek." He says therefore, as regards themselves, "Yet a little while, and the sinner will not be." If he will not be, then he will not suffer eternal punishments. I respond: he will not be in the glory in which he now is, but in hell: Job 7: "He who descends to hell will not ascend, nor will he return again to his house, nor will his place know him anymore," because it is but a little while. It happens indeed that sinners are cast down in a short time: Eccl. 10: "Every dominion is a brief life." But even if they are in prosperity for the entire time of their life, still that time compared to eternity is nothing and is but a little: Hag. 2: "Yet one little while, and I will move heaven and earth." As for the place, he says, "And you will seek his place, and you will not find it." This "place" is expounded in three ways. First, the place means the opportunity. For someone is said to have a place when he could have an opportunity somewhere. Now the sinner has a place in this world, because it provides at least an opportunity for the testing of the just. But when this testing ceases, then he will have no place; and therefore he will be taken away from the just. Second, because sometimes someone does not cease sinning, and yet his place remains. But finally even his place will not remain, nor will it be found. Where is now the king of the Assyrians? Where is Nero? And finally all the kingdoms of the world will be emptied: 1 Cor. 15: "Then the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has destroyed every principality and power and might." Third, according to Origen, the place of the sinner is that in which he rests, where temporal and earthly things are. Therefore his place is this world. But this will pass away: Lk. 21: "Heaven and earth will pass away," etc. And therefore, if we place our resting place in them, it will not endure.

"The sinner watches." Here he treats of the scheming of the wicked. And first he sets forth the thoughts of the wicked against the good. Second, the defense of the good. He says therefore, "The sinner watches the just man," namely treacherously, looking for how he might harm him. Ps. 21: "But they watched." Prov. 24: "Do not lie in wait and seek wickedness in the house of the just." "And he seeks to kill him." Here his cruelty or intention is shown. Prov. 1: "His feet run to evil, and he makes haste," etc. Wis. 2: "Let us condemn him to a most shameful death." But the just are defended. First, because they escape their persecution; hence he says, "But the Lord will not leave him in his hands," because although for a time the wicked have power over the just, it is not forever. Ps. 124: "The Lord will not leave the rod of sinners over the lot of the just," etc. Second, because they are freed by divine judgment. Hence he says that not only are they freed here, but they will not even be condemned. "When he is judged," that is, for the just man, that is, for the benefit of the just man. Or, "for him," that is, the sinner, he will be condemned. Mt. 12: "They will rise up in the judgment," that is, for condemnation.

"He will watch." Above he set forth one reason why the men of God ought not be indignant over the sinner, namely because his prosperity is not stable; here he sets forth another, namely that sinners cannot harm the just. And regarding this he does two things. First, he proposes the malice that they devise in their heart against the just. Second, their outward effort, at "They have drawn the sword." Regarding the first, he does two things, inasmuch as their interior malice is twofold. First, he shows that the wicked lie in wait for the good. Second, that they are disturbed against them, at "And he will gnash." He says therefore, "The sinner will watch the just man," to see if perhaps he might find something against him: Lk. 14: "And they were watching him." So sinners watch the good, lying in wait for them and perverting their holy endeavors. Those who turn the goods of the Church into evils lie in wait, etc. But against this it is said, Prov. 24: "Do not lie in wait, and do not seek wickedness in the house of the just," etc. Second, they are disturbed against the just man. For they say, Wis. 2: "His life is unlike that of others," etc. Hence, "He will gnash his teeth at him," that is, they will be moved to anger. He speaks after the manner of boars: Ps. 111: "The sinner shall see, and shall be angry": Acts 7: "They gnashed their teeth at him."

Then when he says, "They will not be confounded," he shows how the just are protected against evils. And this in two ways: for there is one kind of evil that is contrary to the good, and another kind of evil through the lack of good, at "And in the days of famine." He says therefore, regarding the first, "They will not be confounded in the evil time," that is, in the time of adversity: Am. 5: "The prudent man in that time will be silent, because it is an evil time." For the time is evil in two ways: either in the present -- and this is the time of adversity, which is evil; hence they will not be confounded in the evil time, that is, in the time of adversity. For the wicked are confounded in the time of adversity, not the good. For someone is confounded when he loses that in which he hopes; but when that in which he hopes remains, he is not confounded. In adversity, however, temporal things are lost, in which the good do not hope; and therefore they are not confounded in the time of adversity. Or regarding the future, on the day of judgment, on which the wicked will be confounded by the shame of their sins: Ps. 6: "Let them be confounded and greatly ashamed very quickly." But the just will be honored: Rom. 2: "To those who by patience in good works seek glory and honor," etc. Regarding the second evil, which is through the lack of good, he adds, "And in the days of famine they shall be filled." This is expounded in three ways. Literally, this can be expounded of temporal famine: for sometimes God provided that there was famine among the unfaithful, but abundance among the faithful, because the faithful shared with one another what they could have. Sometimes also God provides for the faithful so that they do not lack: Job 5: "In devastation and famine you shall laugh." So also Elijah was satisfied in the time of famine, 1 Kgs. 17. Yet for our testing, the necessity of famine is sometimes shown to have overtaken the servants of God. Hence the apostle says of himself, 2 Cor. 11: "In hunger and thirst," etc. Or because the servants of God, content with little, are satisfied: Phil. 4: "I know both how to be humbled and how to abound; in everything and in all things I have been instructed both to be satisfied and to hunger, both to abound and to suffer want." But the wicked want much and seek much; and therefore in the days of famine they will not be satisfied. This may also be expounded of the famine of the word of God. And in those days the just are satisfied with this: Mt. 5: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied." Or third, it is expounded of the famine that will be in the future life, where the just will be satisfied and the unjust will hunger: Is. 65: "My servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry." Origen, in the Gloss on Ex. 16: he who did not gather manna on the sixth day went hungry on the seventh day. Now is the sixth day; and therefore he who does not gather now will hunger then. Next, when he says, "For sinners will perish," he shows how the arms of sinners will be broken. And he sets forth three things. First, the fall of the wicked. Second, the order of falling, at "The enemies." Third, the manner, at "Like smoke." He says therefore, "For sinners will perish"; as if to say, therefore the just are preserved, because destruction is due only to sinners, but salvation to the just: Job 3: "He will crush many and innumerable, and will make others stand in their place." The order of falling is that they are raised on high so that they may fall more forcefully: Job 30: "You lifted me up, and as if setting me upon the wind, you dashed me mightily." And therefore he says, "But the enemies of the Lord, as soon as they are honored and exalted": Ps. 72: "You cast them down when they were lifted up." The manner is like smoke, because if it is scattered, it is not repaired. And this is what he says, "Failing like smoke they shall fail": Jas. 4: "What is your life? It is a vapor appearing for a little while."

"Delight." And regarding this he does two things, inasmuch as the joy of this delight consists in two things: namely, in attaining one's desire and in fulfilling one's purpose; the second is at "Reveal." He says therefore of the first, "Delight," etc. Prov. 13: "A desire fulfilled delights the soul." If you cling to God, your desire is fulfilled. But because for this it is required that the desire be just -- for God is not the author of injustice -- therefore he first sets forth the root of just desire, namely that a person should delight in God through love; hence he says, "Delight in the Lord," that is, let all your love be in God. Phil. 4: "Rejoice in the Lord always." In the Greek it reads "take your delight," as if to say: do not be content with what is necessary for salvation, but seek superabundant and exquisite things, just as delicate persons are not content with common foods. Job 22: "Then you shall abound in delights over the Almighty." And then, "He will give you the petitions of your heart" -- he does not say "of your flesh." For the petitions of the heart, according to Origen, are what the heart desires: for example, according to him, if the eye could ask, it would desire beautiful colors, and hearing would desire sweet sounds. So the heart's object, since it is truth and justice, these are desired by it. And these, he says, "he will give you." Mt. 7: "Ask and it shall be given to you." Or he says "of the heart," that is, when they are petitions of the heart, God hears them before one cries out. Is. 65: "Before they cry out, I will hear them." Regarding the second he says, "Reveal," etc. For when one's purpose is fulfilled, then one rejoices. To fulfill this, two things are prerequisites. First, that one turn to God. Second, that one have confidence in him; and thus, third, it is fulfilled. He says therefore, "Reveal your way to the Lord," namely your purpose, as for the first. But does not God know, he who knows the thoughts of men? The Psalmist speaks by way of a simile, "Reveal to the Lord," etc., that is, turn to him for the fulfillment of your purpose, and this in prayer. Ps. 118: "I declared my ways to you," etc. For every undertaking should begin with prayer, as even Plato says, and as Scipio used to do. But to your petition add hope; and therefore he says, "Hope in him," as for the second. And thus, third, your petition will be fulfilled. And this is what he adds, "And he himself will act," that is, he will fulfill your ways. Or otherwise, "Reveal your way to the Lord," that is, your sins. Job 13: "I will argue my ways in his sight, and he himself will be my savior." And therefore he rightly says, "Hope in him," namely for the forgiveness of sins, "and he himself will act," that is, he will remit your sins.

"The sinner will borrow." Above he showed that the few goods of the just outweigh the many goods of the wicked by reason of stability; here he shows the same by reason of usefulness. And first he shows that the goods of the just are fruitful, but those of the wicked are the opposite. Second, he shows this by experience, at "I was young." Third, he draws his principal conclusion, at "Turn away." Regarding the first, he does two things, inasmuch as a twofold fruit comes to a person: one from goods possessed, another from works performed. Hence first he shows that the good are fruitful with regard to the first. Second, with regard to the second, at "Before the Lord." Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he sets forth the fruitfulness of the good and the opposite of the wicked. Second, he assigns the reason, at "Those who bless." Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he shows the unfruitfulness of the wicked. Second, the fruitfulness of the good, at "But the unjust." He says therefore, "The sinner will borrow." Let it be read first according to the surface of the text. There are two signs that someone is failing in temporal goods. One is when he needs to borrow: Deut. 28: "He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him." And therefore he says, "The sinner will borrow," that is, he will take a loan. The other sign is when someone has used up the loan and cannot repay it; hence he says, "And will not pay back": Sir. 29: "Hardly will he return half." And conversely, one sign of abundance is that one has enough to give freely; hence he says, "But the just man has mercy," that is, by mercy he freely assists those in need: Job 31: "From my infancy compassion grew with me," etc. The other sign is when a person is ready to repay what he owes; hence he says, "And will repay," namely his debt: Rom. 13: "Render to all what is due." But what is this that he says? Do the just always abound in earthly goods, and the wicked not? Indeed, the contrary seems true: Jas. 2: "Has not God chosen the poor of this world?" But God, according to this exposition, speaks according to the condition of the old testament, in which temporal goods are promised to those who keep the law, and evils to transgressors, so that at least through temporal things they might be drawn to spiritual ones. Yet in those goods certain spiritual promises are signified; and therefore it is necessary to expound it also with regard to those who in the old testament pertained to the new testament. It is therefore necessary to expound this more deeply: "He will borrow," etc. And it can be referred to a twofold loan. For a person borrows something from God, and something from the minister of God, namely from another person. Now every human being is called a sinner. He says therefore, "He will borrow," namely from God, because "What do you have that you have not received?" 1 Cor. 4. And this is like a loan, because God gives us all goods for this purpose: that through them we may grow in those things that pertain to the honor of God: Lk. 19: "And when I came, I would have exacted it with interest." And thus we repay him through thanksgiving. But God gave the sinner natural goods, and sometimes bestows temporal and spiritual goods; but the sinner does not repay through spiritual progress and thanksgiving: Is. 1: "I have nourished and raised up children, but they have despised me." From the minister of God, a person receives a loan. For prelates and teachers are like money-changers. Likewise, Lk. 19: "He called ten servants and gave them ten minas, and said to them, 'Trade until I come.'" Therefore they are merchants. The teacher therefore gives the people doctrine like money: Ps. 11: "The words of the Lord are pure words, silver tested by fire," etc. But he gives the words of the Lord, not his own. Now the good repay, because they do what they hear; but the wicked do not, because they do not fulfill by obedience: Ezek. 33: "They hear your words, and they do not do them." But the just man, whatever he has received from God, whatever it may be and in whatever way, expends it on another: 1 Pet. 4: "As each one has received grace, let him minister it to one another." And thus he will have mercy. Likewise, he gives thanks to God, and thus will repay: Ps. 115: "What shall I return to the Lord?" etc. The reason is assigned: "For those who bless." Here there are three senses according to the Gloss. Those who bless him, namely God, giving thanks in all things and following his commands, "shall inherit the land," namely of the living: 2 Cor. 9: "He who sows in blessings shall reap from blessings eternal life." Or according to the letter, "They shall inherit the land," that is, the promised land. And he speaks to the carnal people: Is. 1: "If you are willing and hear me, you shall eat the good things of the land." On the contrary, those who curse God -- not only in word, but in deed, or by giving occasion -- "shall perish": Ps. 1: "The way of the wicked shall perish." Origen expounds it differently: "Those who bless him," namely the just man, shall be blessed. For whatever is done to the just man, God accepts as done to himself: Lk. 10: "He who despises you, despises me." And Mt. 25: "What you did to one of the least of mine, you did to me." "They shall inherit the land" due to the just man: Mt. 10: "He who receives a just man in the name of a just man," etc. But "those who curse him," namely the just man, "shall perish": Gen. 27: "He who curses you, let him be cursed." But Jerome has it differently: "The sinner will fail, so as not to pay; but the just man has mercy and will repay. Those who are blessed by God shall inherit the land": Prov. 10: "The blessing of the Lord makes one rich." But the unjust, who are cursed by God, that is, punished, "shall perish"; and therefore they are barren: Gen. 3: "Cursed is the ground because of your work."

"Wait." The Psalmist has said much in the foregoing to commend the just and to bring down the wicked; and he has directed all of this to the end that we may follow justice and turn away from evil. Here, however, he introduces an exhortation to justice. Justice is observed in two areas: namely, in those things that concern God, and in those that concern one's neighbor. Regarding this he does three things. First, he proposes the exhortation; second, he shows the reward, at "And he will exalt you"; third, he proves something he proposed, at "I saw the wicked." He directs the exhortation toward God. First, through expectation; second, through obedience. He says therefore, "Wait for the Lord," where he says two things. First, that if you suffer some trouble, do not immediately despair or be disturbed against God, but wait until he comes to your aid. Ps. 39: "Waiting I waited for the Lord, and he attended to me." And thus he exhorts to patience. Second, he exhorts to long-suffering; as if to say, if you have not yet been rewarded for your good deeds, do not be broken, but wait for the reward. Hab. 2: "If it delays, wait for it," etc. Jas. 5: "The farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, bearing it patiently." "And keep his ways." Expectation is in the midst of evils; keeping is in the midst of goods. Therefore keep his ways, namely of charity and of the commandments, and guard them with diligence. Prov. 4: "With all watchfulness, guard," etc. Job 23: "My foot has followed in his steps; I have kept his way." Ps. 118: "I will search out your law," etc. "And he will exalt you." Here the reward or fruit is set forth. This is the fruit of the good, that they be exalted by him. Sir. 15: "He will exalt him among his neighbors." Wis. 19: "In all things you have honored your people." And for what purpose? "That you may inherit the land." It is remarkable what he says: since the earth is the lowest thing, how will he exalt, so that you may take it? And it must be said that the land of which he speaks is the land of the living; and this is on high, as it were the stability of eternal and spiritual goods. And one does not reach it as long as the mind lies in the depths; rather, one must be exalted. Is. 58: "I will raise you up above the heights of the earth." Or it can also be understood of this earth. Therefore those inherit the earth who have dominion over the earth; and such are those who have their heart raised above the earth, because they do not have their heart pressed down to the earth, as do the slaves of the earth and those possessed by the earth. And therefore, in order to inherit it, they must be exalted. Prov. 4: "You will be glorified by her when you embrace her," etc. "When sinners perish, you will see." They will rejoice over the destruction of the wicked. Ps. 17: "The just man will rejoice when he sees the vindication," etc. Job 22: "The just will see and rejoice." But not on account of the destruction of the wicked, because God does not rejoice in it. Wis. 1: "He does not rejoice in the destruction of men"; but over divine justice. Is. 66: "They shall go out and see the corpses of the men who transgressed against me." Likewise over the divine mercy shown to them, by which they were freed from evils, or from the punishments of the damned. And to see this, one must also be exalted, because if you are caught below, you will not see their destruction. Ps. 72: "This is a labor before me," namely the deeds of sinners, "until," etc.

"I saw the wicked." Here he proves two things regarding the destruction of sinners. First, he sets forth their prosperity; second, their destruction. Hence he says, "I saw the wicked," that is, any sinner, "highly exalted," that is, above the condition of his status and above other people in worldly standing. Job 21: "Why do the wicked live, grow strong, and increase in riches?" etc. "And raised up like the cedars of Lebanon." Here there is a double reading. Either "above the cedars of Lebanon," which among all trees has the greatest height; as if to say: I saw him excellently above others. Eccl. 10: "The fool" -- that is, the sinner -- "placed in high dignity." Am. 2: "His height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong like the oaks." But why do the wicked live? There is a twofold reason. One, because sometimes the wicked are raised up on account of the sins of the people. Job 34: "He makes a hypocrite to reign on account of the sins of the people." And therefore the wicked are, as it were, scourges of God upon the people when they rule. Is. 10: "Woe to Assyria, the rod of my fury, and the staff itself." Another reason is that the wicked, when they rule, may perish more grievously. Job 30: "You lifted me up, and as if setting me upon the wind, you dashed me mightily." Hence sometimes in the very thing they most desire, they are most cast down. Another reason is for the instruction of the just, so that they may not greatly esteem these temporal things, which both the good and the wicked have, as Augustine says. Job 21: "Yet their goods are not in their hands," as are the goods of the soul. "I do not care about them." Likewise, so that they may be justly condemned who abuse the goods given to them. Is. 1: "I have nourished and raised up children," etc. Or this can be referred to the heretic, who is raised up in his own opinion. And finally he says, "And I passed by." Here first he shows the downfall of the sinner; second, he shows the destruction of his place. He says, moreover, "I passed by." He does not say, "He passed by," but as if to say, I myself passed by through contemplation. Ex. 3: "I will go over and see." As long as a person fixes his eye on the things of the world, it seems to him that the wicked are powerful; but when he passes in mind to spiritual things and the judgments of God, he counts them as nothing. Hence, "I passed by," through conversion, because as long as someone is worldly in affection and body, the things of the world please him; but when in affection he passes beyond them, he counts as nothing those who abound in worldly things. Ps. 14: "He is reduced to nothing," etc. And therefore holy men are considered proud, because they do not esteem or regard people on account of riches or dignities, if virtues do not accompany them. Hence it follows, "And behold, he was not," even in the present, because the just man counts as nothing the glory of sinners, which seems to be something. 1 Macc. 2: "The glory of a sinful man is dung and worms; today he is exalted and tomorrow he will not be found." Jer. 4: "I looked upon the earth," that is, upon earthly glory, "and behold, it was empty and nothing." Or according to Origen, "he was not," because when a person is elevated to divine things, he is conformed to the divine intellect, and things that are future are to him as though present. Hence he who sees that the time of this life is short sees the damnation of the wicked as though present. 1 Cor. 1: "God chose the things that are not, to destroy the things that are." Hence he says, "I sought him, and his place was not found," that is, his dignities, or his household and his home. As if to say: not only he himself, but everything that pertains to him, is destroyed. Job 20: "The eye that had seen him will see him no more, nor will his place behold him any longer." Or "his place," that is, the world in which he rests, because the world passes away and the desire of it. 1 Cor. 7: "For the form of this world is passing away."

"The mouth of the just shall meditate." Here he shows that the goods of the just are greater with regard to the exercise of virtue, because the unjust have a mouth prone to evil. First, therefore, he treats of the spiritual goods of the just. Second, of the perversity of the wicked, at "He watches." Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he sets forth the spiritual goods in which the just excel. Second, he sets forth the fruit of those goods, at "His steps will not be supplanted." Spiritual goods consist in two things: namely, as they are in the mouth and as they are in the heart. In the mouth of the just there is nothing but good and truth: Eph. 4: "Putting away falsehood, speak the truth." Now there is a twofold truth, and both yield rewards for the just man. The first concerns divine things. The second concerns human things. Regarding the first he says, "The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom." But this does not seem well said, because to meditate is an act of the heart, not of the mouth. The response is that "he shall meditate," that is, he will speak what he has meditated, or he will chant. And some meditate on wisdom in various ways. Some meditate on Christ, who is the wisdom of God the Father, at least by believing: Deut. 4: "This is your wisdom and understanding before the peoples." Some by learning with the intelligent: Sir. 6: "If you love to listen, you will be wise." Some by singing psalms about it: Col. 3: "Singing in your hearts to the Lord": Prov. 31: "She opened her mouth to wisdom, and the law of clemency is on her tongue." But the mouth of the just man will meditate on wisdom by teaching: 1 Cor. 2: "We speak wisdom among the perfect." Now Origen says: the unskilled have a most wicked fault, in that they call superfluous those who devote their efforts to learning; imitating the vocabulary of things, they despise their study, approving their own loquacity, sloth, and ignorance. Regarding the second he says, "And his tongue." This is expounded in three ways. "His tongue will speak judgment," that is, he will utter speech with judgment and discretion: Ps. 111: "He will arrange his words in judgment": Sir. 21: "The words of the prudent will be weighed on the scale." In another way, as it refers to judges: because the judge, or the mouth of the just, or the tongue of the judge, speaks just judgment in sentencing. Or the tongue of the just man will speak of the judgments of God and will convert sinners to repentance from the consideration of divine judgment: Job 19: "Flee from the face of the sword, for the sword is the avenger of iniquities." But why does he speak in the future tense, "will meditate" and "will speak"? The response is that he speaks in the future to designate the continuity of the meditation; as if to say, he continually speaks and meditates. Or he says this about the future because now we can speak only a little about wisdom, but in the future we will be able to meditate on great things about wisdom and to speak more about the judgments of God. But it happens that someone does not have in his heart what he speaks with his mouth: Mt. 15: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." Not so with the just man: but as he speaks, so he has in his heart, because he has the law of God fixed in his memory through meditation and in his will through love. For this reason he says, "The law of his God is in his heart," that is, he speaks and meditates on the law and judgment. And therefore, "His steps will not be supplanted." And here he sets forth the fruit of good works, that they will not fail or be defrauded, because he who has Sacred Scripture and the law of God in his heart is not deceived by the devil: Ps. 118: "In my heart I have hidden your words, that I might not sin against you." For the law is a lamp; and therefore those who know it do not stumble.

"Turn away from evil." Above, the Psalmist showed that the goods of the just are better with regard to fruit; here he breaks forth into an exhortation to pursue them. Regarding this he does two things. First, the exhortation is set forth. Second, the fruit is set forth, at "The Lord loves judgment." Justice has two parts: turning away from evil and doing good. And therefore he says, "Turn away from evil, and do good." These two parts of justice correspond to the precepts of the law; for justice is regulated by the law. In the law there are certain affirmative precepts, which are fulfilled by doing good; and there are certain negative precepts, which are fulfilled by turning away from evil. Likewise, through these two the natural inclination of the appetite is perfected, which has two objects: namely, the good and the evil, because the appetite naturally tends toward the good and shrinks from false evil. But he says, "Turn away from evil." Now there is a twofold evil. One that makes people evil, and this is truly called evil. Another evil that does not make people evil, namely the evil of punishment. The first is sin; and of this it is understood when he says, "Turn away from evil," that is, from sin: Eccl. 9: "Do not be jealous of a man in his sin." And he does not say that one should merely not do evil, because in this there is only negation; but rather "Turn away from evil," so that one may not even have the will to do it. Is. 1: "Cease to do wickedly; learn to do well." These two are frequently introduced in Sacred Scripture. Sometimes, however, the good is placed first, as in Ps. 44: "You have loved justice and hated iniquity." Sometimes the avoidance of evil is placed first, as in Is. 7: "That he may know to reject evil and choose good." And the reason is that there is a twofold order. One is the order of intention; and according to this order, the good should always be placed before the avoidance of evil, because one avoids evil in order to do good. The other is the order of execution; and according to this order, avoiding evil is commanded first, because we are all born children of wrath, and we cannot become just unless we expel evil. "And dwell forever and ever." Here the fruit of justice is set forth; as if to say, if you turn away from evil and do good, you will dwell -- but he does not say explicitly where, only for how long, "forever and ever." But the meaning is, "dwell," as it were, "dwell within." Sensible things are called exterior goods, because they are grasped by the exterior sense. Interior goods are spiritual and intelligible. When therefore he says "dwell," he means that you will dwell within the possession of spiritual goods: Song 1: "The king led me into his storerooms." And he says, "forever and ever," that is, in perpetuity: Ex. 15: "You will bring them in and plant them," etc. "For the Lord loves judgment." Here the reason is given why one should dwell forever and ever; as if to say, therefore one will dwell, because this has been established by divine judgment. He proves this, namely that one dwells always and willingly, because "the Lord loves judgment": Is. 61: "I am the Lord who loves judgment." And what is said here is introduced for a twofold reason: because it is thus the reason for what he says, "Turn away from evil," etc., namely, so that you may be an imitator of God, because the Lord loves judgment; and this is to turn away from evil and to do good. Or it is referred to this: "Dwell forever and ever," because this is just. And God loves judgment. For it is just that if a person does not wish to leave God, he should not be left by God, who is eternal. And therefore the just, who wish to be with him, will not be left by him. And therefore he says, "He will not forsake his saints." And from this it follows that "they will be preserved forever," because he is eternal and powerful: Ps. 11: "You, O Lord, will keep us and guard us," etc. Is. 33: "The ropes will not be broken."

Then when he says, "But the Lord," he shows that this malice of theirs does not have its intended effect, because they are mocked by God. And regarding this he does two things. First, he sets forth the mockery. Second, its reason, at "For he foresees." He says therefore, "The Lord shall laugh at him," that is, he makes him or considers him laughable. And the reason is that the Lord sees him attempting great things, and yet knows that he is about to die immediately; and therefore he adds, "For he foresees that his day will come," namely at hand; and this is the day due to him, namely the day of condemnation: Job 21: "The wicked man is reserved for the day of destruction, and he will be led to the day of wrath." He speaks of this day here. Therefore you ought not be disturbed against them, says the Psalmist, because they cannot prevail against you.

Next, when he says, "The sword," he adds about the outward effort of the wicked; and regarding this he does three things. First, he shows their effort. Second, their intended goal, at "To deceive." Third, the outcome of this effort, at "Their sword." Regarding the first, he does two things, inasmuch as their effort against the good is twofold. First, he shows their effort through open persecution. Second, through fraudulent accusation, at "They have bent their bow." He says therefore, regarding the first, "Sinners have drawn the sword." By the sword is understood every kind of open persecution in deed: Lk. 22: "Shall we strike with the sword?" Persecution by word is also called a sword: Ps. 56: "Their tongue is a sharp sword." And this sword is the sword of the devil, who through the tongue of man kills many. This sword is in its sheath as long as it is in the heart; but when it is uttered, it is as though already drawn. One must therefore be on guard, first, that we not have it. Second, even if we have it, that we not draw it. Because if it is kept in the sheath, it first contracts rust, and eventually it is consumed and the hatred and the will to do harm grow cold. Regarding the second he says, "They have bent their bow." The bow strikes from afar, and the one drawing it is not seen, as the one striking with the sword is seen; and therefore the bow signifies treacherous persecution. Next he shows what they intend, when he says, "To deceive." Regarding this he does two things, inasmuch as they intend two things. First, they intend to deceive. Second, to kill, at "To slaughter." He says therefore, "That they may deceive," etc. To deceive is to act through a treacherous act: Job 12: "He himself knows both the deceiver and the one who is deceived." But, "the poor and needy." The poor man is one who has little; the needy man is one who lacks help. Or according to the Gloss: the poor man is one who does not suffice for himself; the needy man is one who is not sustained by another's help. And he says this because such persons have no one to come to their aid. The killing is designated by the sword, whether bodily or spiritually: Heb. 11: "They died by the slaying of the sword." The outcome of their effort, however, is that it will return upon their own head. And first he shows this regarding the sword, saying, "Their sword," etc. You draw the sword against another, and perhaps you do not strike him, because perhaps you cannot harm him; yet by that very act you are spiritually struck yourself: Prov. 1: "They themselves lie in wait against their own blood," etc. Second, regarding the bow; hence he says, "And let their bow be broken": Ps. 75: "There he broke the powers of the bows, the shield, the sword, and the battle." This will happen when their treachery is destroyed so that they cannot complete what they began: Job 5: "He frustrates the plans of the malicious, so that they cannot," etc.

Then when he says, "For," he proves that it is better. The reason for this is threefold. First, from the perspective of durability. Second, of usefulness, at "He will borrow." Third, of virtue, at "The mouth of the just." Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he proposes the crushing of the wicked. Second, the stability of the good. He says therefore, "For the arms," etc. As if to say: therefore the few goods of the just are better than the many goods of the wicked, because they are stable, while the others are not. And this is what he says, "For the arms." The names of bodily members designate the powers or acts of those members. Therefore by the name "arm" is designated the operative power of a person; hence, "The arms of sinners will be broken," that is, their operative power will be destroyed: Job 38: "The lofty arm will be broken." But this arm is broken sometimes by God, sometimes by the devil, sometimes by both together. By God it is broken when one intends to harm the just and is impeded in his purpose: Job 5: "He frustrates the plans of the malicious, so that their hands cannot accomplish what they had begun." By the devil, however, when a person proposes to do good and is impeded by Satan: 1 Thess. 2: "We wished to come to you, but Satan hindered us" -- just as when someone proposes to give alms and is drawn back by greed. By both together -- by God indeed through authority, to test; and by the devil through execution: Job 1 and 2. Second, when he adds, "But the Lord strengthens," etc., he shows that the just are enduring, firm, and stable. He says therefore, "But the Lord strengthens the just." Although justice is a virtue and firmness of soul, it is nevertheless not in a person from himself; hence 1 Cor. 1: "Let no flesh glory in his sight; but of him you are in Christ Jesus," etc., up to "let him glory in the Lord." For a person in himself has been made weak: Ps. 6: "Have mercy on me, God, for I am weak." And therefore he needs to be strengthened by someone, especially by God, by whom he is indeed strengthened -- sometimes in temporal things, insofar as it is expedient for the just man's salvation; but in spiritual things, always, and this by interior grace. Likewise, by good words. Likewise, by good examples. Regarding the first: Rom. 1: "Of spiritual grace, to strengthen you." 2 Thess. 2: "May he encourage your hearts in grace and strengthen," etc. Ps. 50: "With a princely spirit strengthen me." Regarding the second: Ps. 118: "Strengthen me in your words": Acts 15: "With many words they consoled the brothers and strengthened them." Regarding the third: Lk. 22: "When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers": 1 Pet. 2: "Christ suffered for us," etc. And 1 Pet. 4: "Since Christ therefore suffered in the flesh," etc. Hence in 1 Pet. 5: "He himself will perfect, strengthen," etc. They are strengthened through the example of the cross, of which it is said: for the cross is finished in punishment, but it endures in glory. From places of execution it has passed to the foreheads of emperors. Yet he who gave honor to his sufferings -- what will he do for his faithful?

Next, when he says, "The Lord knows," he makes his proposition clear. And first he speaks of the stability of the just. Second, of the crushing of the unjust, at "For sinners." Now the just are strengthened by God in two ways: first, their goods are made stable; second, they are cured of evils, at "They will not be confounded." But there is a twofold good, namely the good of the way and the good of the end; and in both the just are made stable. Regarding the first he says, "The Lord knows." Regarding the second he says, "And their inheritance." He says therefore, "The Lord knows": Heb. 4: "All things are naked and open to his eyes." But especially what is akin and familiar to him: 2 Tim. 2: "The Lord knows those who are his," and those whom he approves. And thus it is said here, "The Lord knows," that is, approves, "the days of the blameless." But Job 15 says: "Who is man that he should be blameless, and that he should be just?" etc. The response is that it is true that of himself no one is blameless, if by "blemish" is understood mortal sin; but through grace, they are. If, however, by "blemish" is understood original sin, then no one is blameless. These "days" can be understood in three ways. First, as the days of the present life; and although they are common to good and evil, yet the good make good use of them: Gen. 25: "He died in a good old age, advanced in years and full of days." But the wicked make bad use of them: Ps. 54: "Men of blood and deceit will not live out half their days." And because the days of the just are full and therefore approved, while those of the wicked are cut short and therefore not approved. Likewise, these days are evil and few, yet God knows them. Others are the works of virtue: Rom. 13: "Let us walk honestly as in the day"; and these are approved by God. Others are the days of eternity and justice; and these are the days of the just, known to God alone: Is. 64: "Eye has not seen, apart from you, what you have prepared for those who wait for you." The good of the end he shows when he says, "And their inheritance will be forever." That is called an inheritance in which there is the establishment and end of someone. The just have their end in an eternal thing: Ps. 15: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance": Lam. 3: "My portion." And therefore their inheritance cannot fail. But the wicked place their end in worldly things: Wis. 2: "This is our portion," etc., and therefore it does not endure. And of these it is said, 1 Pet. 1: "Unto an inheritance preserved in heaven."

"Hope in the Lord." And because temporal prosperity consists in three things -- namely, in riches, pleasures, and honors (1 Jn. 2: "All that is in the world," etc.) -- therefore, inasmuch as spiritual prosperity also consists in three things, he does three things. First, riches are set forth; second, pleasures, at "Delight"; third, glory, at "He will bring forth," which God promises to those who hope in him. Regarding the first, he does three things. First, he shows the manner of acquiring spiritual riches; second, where they are to be sought, at "And dwell in the land"; third, he promises them abundantly, at "And you will be fed." Regarding the first, he does two things, inasmuch as two things are required for acquisition. First, the end is proposed; second, the effort toward the end is set forth, at "And do good." He says therefore, "Hope in the Lord," that is, hope that you will have the goods of the Lord, that is, the Lord himself. Ps. 15: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance," etc. 1 Pet. 1: "He has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible," etc. And this is the intended end. Or, "Hope in the Lord," that is, concerning God, namely concerning the help of the Lord. Sir. 2: "You who fear God," etc. Second, he says that one should strive to acquire the end by doing good works; and therefore he adds, "And do good," that is, all works of virtue. Ps. 33: "Turn away from evil, and do good." Then when he says, "And dwell in the land," he shows where these riches are to be sought. This cannot be understood of the material land, because even the unjust inhabit it; but it is expounded of a fourfold land. And first, of the land of the living, which is the land of glory. Ps. 26: "I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living," which you should inhabit by desire. Phil. 3: "Our citizenship is in heaven." Likewise, of your soul. Lk. 8: "But that which fell on good ground," etc., and you should inhabit this by continually returning to your conscience. Wis. 8: "Entering into my house, I shall find rest with her." The third land is the Church militant. Ps. 64: "You have visited the land and watered it," etc., and you should inhabit this by the confession of faith, not departing from the Church. The fourth land is that of one's own flesh. Gen. 3: "Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you," and you should inhabit this by uprooting vices and planting virtues. Next he shows that these riches will be granted abundantly, when he says, "And you will be fed with its riches" -- whether of the heavenly homeland, or of the Church, or of delight, or of the abstinence of the flesh. Jerome has, "Sojourn in the land, and feed on faith," that is, be like a pilgrim, not regarding earthly things, and feed on faith, by faith possessing invisible things.

"Do not be envious." Above he set forth two reasons why one should not be envious nor zealous over sinners: and one was on the part of the sinners, whose happiness is brief; the other was on the part of the good, because better things are promised to them. Here, however, he explains in particular. And first, what pertains to the first; second, what pertains to the excellence of the just -- yet both are intermingled, at "A little is better." Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he reiterates the statement and explains the reason he intends to assign; second, he assigns the reason, at "Cease from anger." He says therefore, "Do not be envious of him." Here he repeats the teaching he set forth above and explains what he had said: "Do not be envious of the malicious." Now someone might ask what in them he forbids us to envy. I say that it is their temporal prosperity; and therefore he says, "Do not be envious," that is, do not be indignant "at the one who prospers in his way," etc. This can be understood conjointly thus: "Do not be envious," etc., as if to say: he who does injustice prospers, which even the just envy. Ps. 72: "I was jealous of the wicked," etc. It can also be read separately, and thus there are two reasons why one might be indignant against them. One, because all things succeed according to their wishes; and therefore he says, "At the one who prospers," that is, if you see them prospering. Prov. 1: "The prosperity of fools will destroy them." Likewise, if you see that they prevail over the just, do not be indignant. Thus Baruch 4 says: "Be of good courage, O people of God, memorable Israel. The harmful ones will perish who have afflicted you; and those who rejoiced in your ruin will be punished." And therefore he says, "And at the man who commits injustices."

Then when he says, "The meek," he sets forth the fruit of the just. This is twofold. Hence first he sets forth the fruit of riches. Second, of pleasures, at "And they will delight." For this is what people desire in this world, and both are promised to the just. He says therefore, "The meek," etc. By the meek he designates the just: for those are just who possess their heart in purity. And because nothing draws a person outside himself as much as anger, and meekness tempers it, therefore he calls the just "the meek." Jerome says "the gentle": Mt. 5: "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall possess the land," that is, the land of the living shall be given to them as a possession. Augustine, against Valentinus, says that Christ received nothing from the old testament with respect to promises -- which is evident from Mt. 5. In the old testament, however, temporal and earthly things were promised. Literally, the meek do inhabit this land, because those who attack others are themselves attacked. But the meek attack no one. Therefore they ought not rightly to be attacked by others. But specifically they will inherit that land of the living, as has already been said. Second, their delights are set forth, when he says, "And they will delight in the abundance of peace." For this peace is exceedingly delightful. He says, moreover, "in abundance," because there the peace is manifold; but here there are wars. For there is one kind of war against other people; but this will not exist there, because all will be at peace with one another: Is. 32: "My people shall sit in the beauty of peace," etc. Likewise, here there is war against the flesh, which desires against the spirit: Gal. 5: "The flesh desires against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other," etc. But then they will have peace with each other: Job 5: "You shall know that your tent is at peace." Likewise, the will is divided against itself by various desires; but then it will not be divided, but united in the Lord: Ps. 75: "In peace his place has been made." Likewise, here there is war against God on account of sins: Is. 59: "Your sins or iniquities have made a division between you and your God"; but there all will have peace with him: Job 22: "Submit to him, and be at peace with him," etc.

Above, the Psalmist sought divine help against sinners and showed their malice; here, however, he teaches that their prosperity is to be despised. The title is not new. The intention of this Psalm is to show that the prosperities of the wicked should not be esteemed. Regarding this, the Psalmist does three things. First, he sets forth the intention of the Psalm. Second, he offers reasons in general, at "For like grass." Third, he explains in particular, at "Do not be envious of him." Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he removes from the good any rivalry with the wicked. Second, jealousy, at "nor be zealous." He says therefore, "Do not be envious." Here he puts one thing on the part of the sinners by way of designation. And from this he puts "the malicious" and "those who do iniquity." Another thing he puts on the part of the good by way of prohibition, and he puts two things: namely, "Do not be envious," and "nor be zealous." Now he designates sinners first with respect to their wicked intention, because they are "malicious": for malice pertains to the heart; hence one is called malicious, as it were, an evil fire, namely when someone does something from a wicked intention -- that is a malicious plan. Second, with respect to the execution of wickedness; hence he says, "those who do iniquity." But to every just person he says, "Do not be envious," etc. According to the Philosopher, in Ethics 2, four things pertain to the same genus: namely, mercy, envy, zeal, and nemesis. And all of these involve sadness over the fortunes of others; but mercy and envy concern what happens to the good, while the other two concern what happens to the wicked. For envy is sadness over the prosperity of the good, while mercy is sadness over the misery of the good. Zeal properly is when someone is saddened by another's good -- not because the other has the good, but because he himself does not have it. Nemesis is sadness over goods that come to the undeserving. But because he speaks here of the wicked, he makes no mention of the first two. It should be noted here, however, that if someone is indignant or envious over the prosperity of the wicked, he is not blamed according to the philosophers, who treated of civic prosperity, in which some things can seem great when considered in themselves, without reference to eternal things. But if they are compared to spiritual things, since no temporal good, however great, can be compared to spiritual goods, in such matters there is no place for rivalry; and therefore the wicked are not to be envied for such goods that come to them. Hence the theologians, attending to divine providence in those goods which come indiscriminately to good and evil, to the deserving and the undeserving, do not grieve when they come to the undeserving. For they consider that by the just ordinance of God they are disposed either for their correction or for their condemnation, and that such goods are as nothing in comparison to the future things that are reserved for the good. And therefore such sadness is forbidden; hence he says, "Do not be envious," that is, do not be indignant "at the malicious" because they flourish. Prov. 3: "Do not envy the unjust man," etc. Likewise, "nor be zealous of those who do iniquity"; as if to say: do not be saddened if you do not have what they have, because better things are reserved for you. Eccl. 9: "Do not be zealous of the glory of the sinner. For you do not know," etc. "For like grass." Here he gives reasons in general. And first, why one should not be envious; second, why one should not be zealous: "Hope in the Lord." He says therefore, "For like grass"; as if to say, one should not be envious of the malicious, because what they have is small and transitory. And therefore he says, "Like grass they will quickly wither," etc. For he gives the example of things that bloom and bear fruit and quickly fall away: so it is with a person, who flourishes and is green and quickly falls. Ps. 89: "In the morning let him pass away like grass," etc. And these two similes are given for the same thing, namely for greater clarity. Or otherwise, there are two things in a person that seem great. The first is beauty, when people seem to live in joys. Wis. 2: "Let no meadow," etc. And therefore he says, "Like grass." Or otherwise, because the beauty of joy quickly fails. Job 20: "The joy of the hypocrite lasts but a moment." Ps. 128: "Let them be like the grass upon the housetops, which withers before it is plucked up." Is. 40: "All flesh is grass, and all its glory like the flower of the field." The second is the loftiness of secular power, designated by the herbs of the vegetable garden, which grow, yet it all passes away. And therefore he says, "Like herbs." Or by "grass" are understood the greater, and by "herbs" the lesser. Therefore one should not be indignant over their goods. Likewise, one should not be zealous over those who do iniquity, because greater things are promised to you.

Then when he says, "Before," he shows the fruitfulness of the good with regard to works. In works, two things are shown. First, their prosperity. Second, their recovery, at "When he falls." But because prosperity comes from God's election, first it is shown that it comes from God who loves. Second, that it comes on the part of the beloved person, at "And he will desire his way." He says therefore, "Before the Lord the steps of a man will be directed," that is, by God the course of a person will be directed so that the person aims directly at the ultimate end. For this is not from the person himself: Jer. 10: "The way of man is not his own, nor is it for a man to walk and direct his steps"; but it is from God: Prov. 16: "It is for man to prepare his mind, and for the Lord to govern his tongue; all the ways of men are open to his eyes": Ps. 16: "Perfect my steps in your paths, so that my footsteps may not be moved." Now God directs the steps of a person in the way of truth to be known, so that he does not slip into error: Ps. 24: "Direct me in your truth, and teach me," etc. Likewise, in the way of justice, so that he turns from evil and does good: Ps. 26: "Direct me in a straight path," etc. Regarding the second he says, "And he will desire his way." This can be understood in two ways: so that it is said first: and the person directed by God will desire his way, namely God's way; as if to say, God so directs a person that he does not compel him, but makes him rightly choose the good and what is of God. Phil. 2: "He who works in us both to will and to accomplish." Or otherwise: and the Lord will desire, that is, accept and reward, his way, that is, our good works: Prov. 4: "What is on the right the Lord knows." Next, when he says, "When he falls," he shows the fruitfulness of the good in works with regard to their recovery; and regarding this he does two things. First, he sets forth the recovery itself. Second, he assigns its cause and reason, at "Because the Lord supports his hand." He says therefore, "When he falls." The direction of a wayfarer is such that sometimes he falls; but it belongs to the one who has reached the goal not to fall. Yet the wayfarer, even if he should happen to fall, God repairs him; and this is what he says, "He will not be dashed." Now this can be understood of a second fall, namely that of temporal adversity: 2 Sam. 1: "How the mighty have fallen! Do not announce it in Gath," etc. And thus the just man, if he falls, will not be dashed, because he bears it patiently: Jas. 1: "Patience has a perfect work," etc. But the sinner, when he falls, is dashed, because he is impatient. Or regarding the fall of venial sin, because there is no one who does not sometimes commit such a sin: Jas. 3: "In many things we all offend." And thus the meaning is: if he falls by this fall, he will not be dashed so as to sin mortally; hence it is said, Prov. 24: "The just man falls seven times a day and rises again." But if it is referred to the fall of mortal sin, by which the just man sometimes falls -- as David through adultery and homicide, and as Peter by denying Christ -- so sinners are dashed by their fall when, despairing, they refuse to return to repentance. Hence Eph. 4: "Despairing, they have given themselves up," etc. 2 Cor. 12: "I mourn many of those who sinned before and have not done penance," etc. But the just man is not dashed by despair, but returns to repentance; hence David says, "I have sinned against the Lord"; and it was said to him, 2 Sam. 12: "The Lord has taken away your sin." Likewise, Peter wept bitterly, Mt. 26. Mic. 7: "Do not rejoice, my enemy, because I have fallen; I shall arise." The reason that he is not dashed is that "the Lord supports his hand," namely the hand of strengthening grace: Ezek. 3: "The hand of the Lord was with me, strengthening me": Ps. 138: "And your right hand shall hold me."

Next he sets forth the condemnation of the wicked. The wicked have two things. First, they themselves perish; second, they leave nothing behind them. Therefore he says, "But the unjust will perish." Job 4: "Because no one understands, they will perish forever." "And together the remnants of the wicked will be destroyed." 1 Cor. 2: "Which will perish with them in Gehenna." Or "remnants," that is, all that they had -- namely, riches that perish, fame that rots, offspring that will perish. Job 22: "Has not their prosperity been cut off, and will not fire devour their remnants?"

"Better." Above, the Psalmist assigned the reason why we should not envy the wicked and their prosperity, drawn from their downfall; here, however, he assigns one drawn from the side of the just. And first he shows the dignity of the just. Second, he adds an admonition to pursue justice, at "Wait." Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he proposes his point. Second, he makes his proposition clear, at "For the arms." He says therefore, "A little is better," etc. His intention is to prove that the goods of the just surpass the goods of sinners. And thus those who have less do not envy those who have more; hence he says, "Better," etc., as if to say: it happens that the just man has little and the sinner has much. But which is better? He answers that the little of the just man is better: Prov. 16: "Better is a little with justice than great revenues with iniquity." The reason for this is that things that have the character of a good have it solely from the fact that they are useful for the end, and not for any other reason: for they are good only insofar as they are useful. But when they begin to be harmful, they are not good -- just as with medicine: if you take more than is necessary for health, it is no longer good. Now the things of the world are good insofar as they serve instrumentally for virtue. When therefore you have enough of them that they suffice for virtue, they are good; but if they lead away from virtue, they are evil. And therefore it is better to have a little of them with justice, because this is good, than much with injustice, because this is evil. And this is also to be understood of all other spiritual riches, namely, a little wisdom with justice, and so of the rest.

Then when he says, "I was young," he shows by experience that the goods of the just are fruitful, but not those of the wicked. And he sets forth this long experience regarding two things. First, regarding the immunity of the good from evils. Second, regarding their progress in good, at "All day long." Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he shows their immunity from evil with respect to the just man himself. Second, with respect to his offspring, at "Nor his offspring." Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he sets forth the length of the experience. Second, the experience itself, at "I have not seen." He says therefore, "I was young." As if someone were to say to him: from where do you have all these things that you say about the goods of the just? etc. He answers: from experience, "I was young," etc. This can be expounded in two ways. First, regarding bodily age, according to which a person first flourishes in youth and afterward becomes old: Ps. 89: "In the morning let him flourish and pass away." But against this Augustine says: you, David, were always in your own land; and if in that land a just man was not forsaken, it is still not surprising if elsewhere one was forsaken. And therefore Augustine wishes that he speak in the person of the Church. And the Church has the age of childhood in Abel, of youth in the patriarchs, of maturity in the apostles, and of old age at the end of the world. He omits the two middle ages and sets forth the extremes; and thus it has been from the beginning of the world and will be until the end. And this distinction is set forth in Gal. 4. Or it can be understood of spiritual maturity, because as long as a person delights in childish and vain things, he is a child in mind; but when he delights in mature things, he becomes old. And this distinction is set forth in 1 Cor. 13: "When I was a child, I spoke," etc. "But when I became a man," etc. And therefore he says: whether in the state of childhood or in the state of old age, I judged this, namely that the just man is immune from evils, both as regards himself and as regards his offspring. Therefore he shows this, saying, "I have not seen the just man forsaken," as regards himself. If this is referred to temporal goods, it does not seem true, because of the just it is said, Heb. 11: "Destitute, afflicted," etc. I respond: it must be said that although temporal goods are withdrawn from them, they are nevertheless not deserted by God, because all of this works to their good, either for the sake of goods or to remove the cause of some evil, as Augustine says: Mt. 6: "Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things," namely spiritual things, "will be added to you." This is true, but only if God sees it expedient for our salvation. Regarding his offspring he says, "Nor his offspring seeking bread": Ex. 20: "I am a jealous God, showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments": Lk. 1: "His mercy is from generation to generation upon those who fear him." And therefore, just as they themselves are not forsaken, so neither is their offspring. And this can be referred to temporal bread, with respect to the old testament; but according to the spiritual understanding, this bread is understood as participation in Christ, namely truth, wisdom, and justice: Jn. 6: "I am the living bread," etc. This is the bread that gives delights to kings, Gen. 49. And he says "seeking bread," because this bread is readily available to those who seek it. But against this: Abraham was just, and Isaac; but Ishmael and Esau, who were sons of the just, do not have spiritual bread. I respond: the Apostle resolves this, that the children of the promise are counted as the children of the just. Therefore the offspring is the one who imitates him. Hence both carnal children who imitate their fathers in good, and disciples who imitate their teacher, are spiritual offspring -- namely, those who imitate their teaching in practice. "All day long." Here he shows another sign of experience, or another piece of evidence, and says that another thing he has observed about the just man is that all day long, that is, throughout his entire life, he has mercy on the miseries of others, and lends, namely spiritual and temporal things: Ps. 111: "Happy is the man who has mercy and lends," whether in act or in readiness. And therefore, "His offspring will be in blessing": Gen. 22: "I will multiply your offspring like the stars of heaven," etc.

"The unjust." Here the form of the judgment is set forth, which will be for the good and the wicked. First, therefore, he sets forth what will be given to the wicked in judgment. Second, what to the good, at "The just." Upon the wicked he will send punishment, because "the unjust will be punished": Sir. 21: "In the end of them," namely of sinners, "are hell and darkness and punishment": 2 Thess. 1: "They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction." Likewise, extermination, because "the offspring of the wicked will perish." Here he speaks according to the estimation of people. For the wicked, when they die, believe that at least they live on in their children. But he says that their offspring will perish, that is, either carnal children who properly imitate their wickedness, or followers of the false teaching of certain ones, like the offspring of Arius. But to the just he will render two things: against punishment he will give reward; hence he says, "But the just shall inherit the land," as if possessing it by inheritance: Ps. 68: "They shall acquire it by inheritance," etc. 1 Pet. 1: "He has regenerated us unto a living hope." Against extermination, an inheritance, because "they shall dwell upon it forever and ever," that is, in this land of the living they will always be.

"Guard innocence, and see equity." Here he exhorts to the justice that is toward one's neighbor; and regarding this he does three things. First, he sets forth the exhortation; second, the reward, at "For there are"; third, he expounds what he said, at "Salvation." A person should do two things for his neighbor: first, not harm him; second, render what is due. Regarding the first he says, "Guard innocence," harming no one. Job 22: "The innocent man will be saved; he will be saved by the cleanness of his hands." "And see equity." Another reading has "straightness," that is, rectitude and justice; "see," that is, judge: Job 6: "Judge what is just." "For there are remnants for the peaceful man" -- this is the reward of the just. Origen says that when the spirit is separated from the flesh, the bones of a person are called remnants; and so when the soul departs, what remains, namely the body, is called remnants. And therefore not only will he be rewarded in soul, but his body also will be brought to immortality. 1 Cor. 15. Or "remnants" means whatever remains for a person after this life, which are many; as if to say: it will not end in this life, but even at the end of life there are other goods. Hence another reading has, "The end of his life is peace."

Then when he says, "Cease," he assigns the reason for the aforementioned admonition, and this is twofold. One on the part of the one to whom the admonition is given; another on the part of sinners, at "Yet a little while." Regarding the first, he does two things. First, he shows the present danger if one does not heed the admonition; second, the future danger, at "Do not be envious so as to do evil." Where first he puts the danger of sin; second, of punishment, at "For those who do evil." Regarding the danger of punishment, he does two things. First, he sets forth the punishment of the offenders; second, the reward of those who endure, at "But those who wait for the Lord." He says therefore, "Cease from anger." Behold the present danger, because indignation is anger, and anger itself is evil. Eph. 4: "Let all bitterness and anger and indignation and clamor and blasphemy be taken away from you, with all malice." And therefore he says, "Cease from anger": Jas. 1: "The anger of man does not work the justice of God." "And abandon fury." Anger and fury are the same thing; but they differ in degree, because fury is nothing other than anger inflamed: Prov. 27: "Who can bear the rush of an agitated spirit?" Therefore, "Cease from anger" in the heart, "and abandon fury" in deed. "Do not be envious so as to do evil." Behold the future danger of sin. For when someone is indignant over the prosperity of others, he sometimes departs from justice; and therefore he says, "Do not be envious so as to do evil," that is, lest it perhaps lead you into injustice: Mal. 3: "It is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his commandments?" "For those who do evil." Behold the future danger of punishment. Note that all sinners do evil. For when someone sins either from weakness or from ignorance, he does not act with malice; but when he sins from deliberate choice, then he acts with malice. The first are easily corrected, but the third with difficulty: Eccl. 1: "The perverse are corrected with difficulty." And therefore he says, "They will be cut off," that is, placed outside the boundaries of justice and goodness: Job 18: "He will drive him from light into darkness, and will remove him from the world." So those who act with malice will be cut off. But "those who wait for the Lord," that is, who are not so indignant as to act with malice, but wait for the future -- they themselves "will inherit the land," namely of the living. For they will possess it by hereditary right, as heirs: Rom. 8: "If children, then heirs." Now that heavenly homeland is called "land" on account of its stability: Eccl. 1: "The earth stands forever." And as Augustine says, just as our earth relates to the heavens, so the higher life of the blessed relates to the higher heaven, namely to God, by whom it is illuminated and made fruitful: Rev. 21: "The glory of God will illuminate it."

"But the salvation of the just." He proves that the remnants of the just are saved. And first he shows in general what they are; second, he shows the order of obtaining them; third, the cause of this salvation. There are two things in the remnants: salvation in goods and deliverance from evils. Regarding the first he says, "But the salvation of the just is from the Lord" alone, in whom they hope, and from no other. Origen says, "with the Lord"; as if to say, in no created thing, but in God alone. Is. 45: "Israel is saved in the Lord with an eternal salvation." Regarding the second he says, "And he is their protector in the time of tribulation," namely the present time, so that they may not even be physically crushed. 1 Cor. 10: "He will also provide with the temptation a way of escape, so that you may be able to endure," whether on the day of judgment or at death. Nah. 1: "The Lord is good and strengthening in the day of tribulation, and he knows those who hope in him." The order is fourfold. First, he assists them in doing good. Hence, "He will help them," that is, he will cooperate. Ps. 120: "My help is from the Lord." Is. 28: "All our works you have wrought in us." "And he will free" them, namely from evils, "and deliver them from sinners," either as regards the present state, when the just are freed and do not follow the ways of sinners. Ps. 1: "Blessed is the man who has not walked," etc. Or on the day of judgment, when he will separate the sheep from the goats. Or from the demons at the death of each person, because then the demons come seeking whether they may find something of their own. Jn. 14: "The prince of this world comes." And the final salvation, because "he will save them." And the cause is "because they have hoped in him," because this salvation is due to those who hope.