Psalms 6

When we speak of God's wrath, we do not hold that it is an emotional reaction on his part but something that he uses in order to correct by stern methods those who have committed many terrible sins. That the so-called wrath of God and what is called his anger has a corrective purpose, and that this is the doctrine of the Bible is clear from the words of Psalm 6: "Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor correct me in your wrath."

Every fault arises from weakness because the spirit is always inclined to a wicked disposition, on account of which it flees to the Savior and Healer, namely, the Son of God. For when one comes to the word and reason of God, he gives up his unreasonable actions; as wisdom frees the spirit from foolishness, justice from injustice, truth from lying.

It is better to be punished and cleansed now than to be transmitted to the torment to come, when it is the time of chastisement, not of cleansing. For as he who remembers God here is conqueror of death (as David has most excellently sung), so the departed have not in the grave confession and restoration; for God has confined life and action to this world, and to the future the scrutiny of what has been done.

Treat me lovingly, not because I am worthy but because it becomes you to grant me this, such as I am.… Let this happen completely and quickly, since it becomes you to grant such a thing, merciful as you are, and to be ever mindful of me as a recipient of your kindness.

For he who has made the inheritance known has also mentioned the octave, which becomes both the boundary of the present time and the beginning of the age to come. Now the characteristic feature of the octave is that it no longer affords those who are in it opportunity to procure things good or bad, but one hands over instead the sheaves from whatever seeds he has sown for himself through his works. For this reason he prescribes here that the one who is exercised in the same victories effect repentance, as such zeal is idle in hades.

We may understand the word turn in two ways. Sometimes the sense is this: Since you have turned your face away from me, I ask that now you return that mercy and show it to me. Sometimes the significance is this: Since my spirit has turned away into evil, may you, returning and calling that soul back to you (as "You have turned who are given to turning away") redeem my soul from repeated sins and from the powers causing these evils.

The saints are not only mindful of God as they hold on to this life but even more so when they are separated from this perishable body. What, therefore, does he say? No one who is mindful of you falls into that death that sin brings forth, that is, that death that separates the sinning spirit from a life of virtue. I desire to be mindful of you by turning toward your kindness. Save me, lest I be consumed in death when my prevailing weakness has turned against me and my spirit is thoroughly distraught. For it is also said, he is not mindful of you who dies; but he who is mindful of you does not fall into that death about which the Savior said: "He who hears my word will not see death in eternity."

It is as if we saw someone about to fall down a cliff and stopped him with the words, "Fellow, where are you heading? A cliff lies in front of you," just so does this author demand that the evil people reverse their course. Likewise, too, unless you were quick to restrain a galloping horse, it would soon be lost. Likewise, too, when as frequently happens the poison of some serpent spreads through the whole of the body, physicians very promptly stop its spreading further, canceling its harmful effect. In exactly the same way do we behave, very promptly checking the evil in us lest it develop further and aggravate the ailment. The wounds of sin, you see, get worse when neglected, and the effects of disease and ill health do not stop short at wounds but even bring about undying death; similarly, if we dealt with small beginnings at the outset, greater consequences would not develop.… Accordingly, let us not be indifferent to the slightest sins but suppress them with great severity.

[When the psalmist says] "for in death there is no one to remember you," [he is] not implying that our existence lasts only as far as the present life: perish the thought! After all, he is aware of the doctrine of resurrection. Rather, it is that after our departure from here there would be no time for repentance. For the rich man praised God and repented, but in view of its lateness it did him no good. The virgins wanted to get some oil, but no one gave any to them. So this is what this man requests, too, for his sins to be washed away in this life so as to enjoy confidence at the tribunal of the fearsome judge.

Let those who have beds of silver listen to what the bed of the king was like: not jewel-encrusted or gilt but washed with tears. His were not nights of repose but nights of mourning and lamenting. Many cares would beset him at night, a time that all people devote to rest but that he would devote to confession, lamenting the more earnestly then. You see, while it is always good to weep, it is particularly so at night, when no one resists this wonderful experience, but given good will one is able to give free rein to it. Those who have tried what I speak of know the great elation stemming from such a flood of tears. Tears like this can extinguish an unquenchable fire, can stem the flood sweeping us to our condemnation. Hence Paul too wept night and day for three years, correcting unnatural passions. Far from correcting our own, we give ourselves over to merriment and indulgence and bury the night in utter stupor. Some are sunk in a sleep resembling death, while others pass sleepless nights more dire than death, devising fraud and usury and other schemes at that time. Not so are sober people, tending their souls' welfare, applying their tears like a shower, promoting the growth of virtue. The bed that receives tears like that gives no access to any evil or licentiousness. The person who sheds such tears places no value on things of the earth and instead frees the soul from any siege, rendering the mind clearer than the sun. Do not think I am directing these remarks only to monks; in fact, the exhortation is for people in the world as well, and for them more than the others, they after all being in particular need of the remedy of repentance. The one uttering groans like this will rise with spirit in better condition than a calm haven, expelling every passion; such a one, filled with great joy, will approach the house of God in confidence, will converse with neighbors pleasantly, no anger lurking within, after all no lust inflamed, no hankering after possessions, no envy, nothing else of this kind. All these passions, you see, like savage beasts lurking in their dens, those groans and tears in the night succeeded in taming.

When you hear of anger and rage in God's case, do not get the idea of anything typical of human beings; the words, you see, arise from considerateness. The divine nature, after all, is free of all these passions.

He constantly invokes this word Lord as though adducing some claim to pardon and grace. This, after all, is our greatest hope, his lovingkindness beyond telling, and the fact that he is such a one as to be ready to pardon.

Our life is a struggle, and our existence beset with countless foes who prove to be stronger when we fall into sin. Hence we should do everything to escape their clutches and never come to terms with them; this, after all, is the surest path to insecurity. Paul touches on the horde of those enemies in saying, "Our wrestling is not with flesh and blood but with the powers and the authorities and the cosmic rulers of darkness of this age." Since, then, the horde of enemies is of this kind, we must constantly be on the alert and avoid the assault of sin.

Unless he converts my soul, he can not deliver it from danger.

He prays not against his enemies but in their behalf so that they may be changed and may blush with shame at their sins; and they may blush not briefly but forcibly; not with delay but immediately.

While you are still in this world, I beg of you to repent. Confess and give thanks to the Lord, for in this world only is he merciful. Here, he is able to be compassionate to the repentant, but because there he is judge, he is not merciful. Here, he is compassionate kindness; there, he is judge. Here, he reaches out his hand to the falling; there, he presides as judge.

'For her that obtaineth the inheritance' — since in the fifth psalm we discussed, interpreting that the psalm had been sung in the person of the Church, which has obtained the inheritance of Christ. But the sixth pertains properly to the resurrection of the Lord, which is the eighth day. For we have both a first day and an eighth day. For on the eighth day we received the kingdom of heaven. The eighth day is after the sabbath, the first at the beginning. It would take long, if we now wished to speak about the number eight: how there are eight beatitudes in Matthew; how in the hundred and eighteenth psalm each letter has eight verses; how there are fifteen psalms of degrees, how they are seven and eight; how Ecclesiastes too says, 'Give a portion to seven, and give a portion to eight'; how the eastern gate in Ezekiel has seven steps and eight steps. It would take long to tell how David too was the eighth of the sons of Jesse, who received the kingdom. This is what is now said, 'For the octave': for on the eighth we received the kingdom of heaven. Whence he says: 'O Lord, rebuke me not in thy fury, neither chastise me in thy wrath.' But since we cannot interpret both psalms equally together, it is enough for us to have discussed the title of the sixth psalm.

"Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul" [Psalm 6:4]. Turning herself she prays that God too would turn to her: as it is said, "Turn ye unto Me, and I will turn unto you, says the Lord." [Zechariah 1:3] Or is it to be understood according to that way of speaking, "Turn, O Lord," that is make me turn, since the soul in this her turning feels difficulty and toil? For our perfected turning finds God ready, as says the Prophet, "We shall find Him ready as the dawn." Since it was not His absence who is everywhere present, but our turning away that made us lose Him; "He was in this world," it is said, "and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." [John 1:10] If, then, He was in this world, and the world knew Him not, our impurity does not endure the sight of Him. But while we are turning ourselves, that is, by changing our old life are fashioning our spirit; we feel it hard and toilsome to be wrested back from the darkness of earthly lusts, to the serene and quiet and tranquillity of the divine light. And in such difficulty we say, "Turn, O Lord," that is, help us, that that turning may be perfected in us, which finds You ready, and offering Yourself for the fruition of them that love You. And hence after he said, "Turn, O Lord," he added, "and deliver my soul:" cleaving as it were to the entanglements of this world, and suffering, in the very act of turning, from the thorns, as it were, of rending and tearing desires. "Make me whole," he says, "for Your pity's sake." He knows that it is not of his own merits that he is healed: for to him sinning, and transgressing a given command, was just condemnation due. Heal me therefore, he says, not for my merit's sake, but for Your pity's sake.

"Let all mine enemies be ashamed and vexed" [Psalm 6:10]. He said above, "depart from me all you:" which can take place, as it has been explained, even in this life: but as to what he says, "let them be ashamed and vexed," I do not see how it can happen, save on that day when the rewards of the righteous and the punishments of the sinners shall be made manifest. For at present so far are the ungodly from being ashamed, that they do not cease to insult us. And for the most part their mockings are of such avail, that they make the weak to be ashamed of the name of Christ. Hence it is said, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me before men, of him will I be ashamed before My Father." But now whosoever would fulfil those sublime commands, to disperse, to give to the poor, that his righteousness may endure for ever; and selling all his earthly goods, and spending them on the needy, would follow Christ, saying, "We brought nothing into this world, and truly we can carry nothing out; having food and raiment, let us be therewith content;" [1 Timothy 6:7-8] incurs the profane raillery of those men, and by those who will not be made whole, is called mad; and often to avoid being so called by desperate men, he fears to do, and puts off that, which the most faithful and powerful of all physicians has ordered. It is not then at present that these can be ashamed, by whom we have to wish that we be not made ashamed, and so be either called back from our proposed journey, or hindered, or delayed. But the time will come when they shall be ashamed, saying as it is written, "These are they whom we had sometimes in derision, and a parable of reproach: we fools counted their life madness, and their end to be without honour: how are they numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints? Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness has not shined into us, nor the sun risen upon us: we have been filled with the way of wickedness and destruction, and have walked through rugged deserts, but the way of the Lord we have not known. What has pride profited us, or what has the vaunting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow." [Wisdom 5:3-9] But as to what he says, "Let them be turned and confounded," who would not judge it to be a most righteous punishment, that they should have a turning unto confusion, who would not have one unto salvation? After this he added, "exceeding quickly." For when the day of judgment shall have begun to be no longer looked for, when they shall have said, "Peace, then shall sudden destruction come upon them." [1 Thessalonians 5:3] Now whenever it come, that comes very quickly, of whose coming we give up all expectation; and nothing makes the length of this life be felt but the hope of living. For nothing seems more quick, than all that has already passed in it. When then the day of judgment shall come, then will sinners feel how that all the life which passes away is not long. Nor will that any way possibly seem to them to have come tardily, which shall have come without their desiring, or rather without their believing. Although it can too be taken in this place thus, that inasmuch as God has heard, so to say, her groans, and her long and frequent tears, she may be understood to be freed from her sins, and to have tamed every disordered impulse of carnal affection: as she says, "Depart from me, all you that work iniquity, for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping:" and when she has had this happy issue, it is no marvel if she be already so perfect as to pray for her enemies. The words then, "Let all mine enemies be ashamed, and vexed," may have this meaning; that they should repent of their sins, which cannot be effected without confusion and vexation. There is then nothing to hinder us from taking what follows too in this sense, "let them be turned and ashamed," that is, let them be turned to God, and be ashamed that they sometime gloried in the former darkness of their sins; as the Apostle says, "For what glory had ye sometime in those things of which you are now ashamed?" [Romans 6:21] But as to what he added, "exceeding quickly," it must be referred either to the warm affection of her wish, or to the power of Christ; who converts to the faith of the Gospel in such quick time the nations, which in their idols' cause did persecute the Church.

"For the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping; The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord hath received my prayer" [Psalm 6:9]. The frequent repetition of the same sentiments shows not, so to say, the necessities of the narrator, but the warm feeling of his joy. For they that rejoice are wont so to speak, as that it is not enough for them to declare once for all the object of their joy. This is the fruit of that groaning in which there is labour, and those tears with which the couch is washed, and bed drenched: for, "he that sows in tears, shall reap in joy:" and, "blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."

"For in death there is no one that is mindful of You" [Psalm 6:5]. He knows too that now is the time for turning unto God: for when this life shall have passed away, there remains but a retribution of our deserts. "But in hell who shall confess to You?" [Luke xvi] That rich man, of whom the Lord speaks, who saw Lazarus in rest, but bewailed himself in torments, confessed in hell, yea so as to wish even to have his brethren warned, that they might keep themselves from sin, because of the punishment which is not believed to be in hell. Although therefore to no purpose, yet he confessed that those torments had deservedly lighted upon him; since he even wished his brethren to be instructed, lest they should fall into the same. What then is, "But in hell who will confess to You?" Is hell to be understood as that place, whither the ungodly will be cast down after the judgment, when by reason of that deeper darkness they will no more see any light of God, to whom they may confess anything? For as yet that rich man by raising his eyes, although a vast gulf lay between, could still see Lazarus established in rest: by comparing himself with whom, he was driven to a confession of his own deserts. It may be understood also, as if the Psalmist calls sin, that is committed in contempt of God's law, death: so as that we should give the name of death to the sting of death, because it procures death. "For the sting of death is sin." [1 Corinthians 15:56] In which death this is to be unmindful of God, to despise His law and commandments: so that by hell the Psalmist would mean that blindness of soul which overtakes and enwraps the sinner, that is, the dying. "As they did not think good," the Apostle says, "to retain God in" their "knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind." [Romans 1:28] From this death, and this hell, the soul earnestly prays that she may be kept safe, while she strives to turn to God, and feels her difficulties.

Wherefore he goes on to say, "I have laboured in my groaning." And as if this availed but little, he adds, "I will wash each night my couch" [Psalm 6:6]. That is here called a couch, where the sick and weak soul rests, that is, in bodily gratification and in every worldly pleasure. Which pleasure, whoso endeavours to withdraw himself from it, washes with tears. For he sees that he already condemns carnal lusts; and yet his weakness is held by the pleasure, and willingly lies down therein, from whence none but the soul that is made whole can rise. As for what he says, "each night," he would perhaps have it taken thus: that he who, ready in spirit, perceives some light of truth, and yet, through weakness of the flesh, rests sometime in the pleasure of this world, is compelled to suffer as it were days and nights in an alternation of feeling: as when he says, "With the mind I serve the law of God," he feels as it were day; again when he says, "but with the flesh the law of sin," [Romans 7:25] he declines into night: until all night passes away, and that one day comes, of which it is said, "In the morning I will stand by You, and will see." For then he will stand, but now he lies down, when he is on his couch; which he will wash each night, that with so great abundance of tears he may obtain the most assured remedy from the mercy of God. "I will drench my bed with tears." It is a repetition. For when he says, "with tears," he shows with what meaning he said above, "I will wash." For we take "bed" here to be the same as "couch" above. Although, "I will drench," is something more than, "I will wash:" since anything may be washed superficially, but drenching penetrates to the more inward parts; which here signifies weeping to the very bottom of the heart. Now the variety of tenses which he uses; the past, when he said, "I have laboured in my groaning;" and the future, when he said, "I will wash each night my couch;" the future again, "I will drench my bed with tears;" this shows what every man ought to say to himself, when he labours in groaning to no purpose. As if he should say, It has not profited when I have done this, therefore I will do the other.

In fear of which condemnation the Church prays in this Psalm, and says, "Reprove me not, O Lord, in Your anger" [Psalm 6:1]. The Apostle too mentions the anger of the judgment; "You treasure up unto yourself," he says, "anger against the day of the anger of the just judgment of God." [Romans 2:5] In which he would not be reproved, whosoever longs to be healed in this life. "Nor in Your rage chasten me." "Chasten," seems rather too mild a word; for it avails toward amendment. For for him who is reproved, that is, accused, it is to be feared lest his end be condemnation. But since "rage" seems to be more than "anger," it may be a difficulty, why that which is milder, namely, chastening, is joined to that which is more severe, namely, rage. But I suppose that one and the same thing is signified by the two words. For in the Greek θυμὸς, which is in the first verse, means the same as ὀ ργὴ, which is in the second verse. But when the Latins themselves too wished to use two distinct words, they looked out for what was akin to "anger," and "rage" was used. Hence copies vary. For in some "anger" is found first, and then "rage:" in others, for "rage," "indignation" or "choler" is used. But whatever the reading, it is an emotion of the soul urging to the infliction of punishment. Yet this emotion must not be attributed to God, as if to a soul, of whom it is said, "but Thou, O Lord of power, judgest with tranquillity." [Wisdom 12:18] Now that which is tranquil, is not disturbed. Disturbance then does not attach to God as judge: but what is done by His ministers, in that it is done by His laws, is called His anger. In which anger, the soul, which now prays, would not only not be reproved, but not even chastened, that is, amended or instructed. For in the Greek it is, παιδεύσῃς, that is, instruct. Now in the day of judgment all are "reproved" that hold not the foundation, which is Christ. But they are amended, that is, purged, who "upon this foundation build wood, hay, stubble. For they shall suffer loss, but shall be saved, as by fire." What then does he pray, who would not be either reproved or amended in the anger of the Lord? What else but that he may be healed? For where sound health is, neither death is to be dreaded, nor the physician's hand with caustics or the knife.

"And my soul is troubled exceedingly" [Psalm 6:3]. "And Thou, O Lord, how long?" Who does not see represented here a soul struggling with her diseases; but long kept back by the physician, that she may be convinced what evils she has plunged herself into through sin? For what is easily healed, is not much avoided: but from the difficulty of the healing, there will be the more careful keeping of recovered health. God then, to whom it is said, "And Thou, O Lord, how long?" must not be deemed as if cruel: but as a kind convincer of the soul, what evil she hath procured for herself. For this soul does not yet pray so perfectly, as that it can be said to her, "Whilst thou art yet speaking I will say, Behold, here I am." [Isaiah 65:24] That she may at the same time also come to know, if they who do turn meet with so great difficulty, how great punishment is prepared for the ungodly, who will not turn to God: as it is written in another place, "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and ungodly appear?" [1 Peter 4:18]

He proceeds accordingly to say, "Pity me, O Lord, for I am weak: heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled" [Psalm 6:2], that is, the support of my soul, or strength: for this is the meaning of "bones." The soul therefore says, that her strength is troubled, when she speaks of bones. For it is not to be supposed, that the soul has bones, such as we see in the body. Wherefore, what follows tends to explain it, "and my soul is troubled exceedingly" [Psalm 6:3], lest because he mentioned bones, they should be understood as of the body.

"My eye is disordered by anger" [Psalm 6:7]: is it by his own, or God's anger, in which he makes petition that he might not be reproved, or chastened? But if anger in that place intimate the day of judgment, how can it be understood now? Is it a beginning of it, that men here suffer pains and torments, and above all the loss of the understanding of the truth; as I have already quoted that which is said, "God gave them over to a reprobate mind"? [Romans 1:28] For such is the blindness of the mind. Whosoever is given over thereunto, is shut out from the interior light of God: but not wholly as yet, while he is in this life. For there is "outer darkness," [Matthew 25:30] which is understood to belong rather to the day of judgment; that he should rather be wholly without God, whosoever while there is time refuses correction. Now to be wholly without God, what else is it, but to be in extreme blindness? If indeed God "dwell in inaccessible light," [1 Timothy 6:16] whereinto they enter, to whom it is said, "Enter into the joy of your Lord." It is then the beginning of this anger, which in this life every sinner suffers. In fear therefore of the day of judgment, he is in trial and grief; lest he be brought to that, the disastrous commencement of which he experiences now. And therefore he did not say, my eye is extinguished, but, "my eye is disordered by anger." But if he mean that his eye is disordered by his own anger, there is no wonder either in this. For hence perhaps it is said, "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath;" [Ephesians 4:26] because the mind, which, from her own disorder, is not permitted to see God, supposes that the inner sun, that is, the wisdom of God, suffers as it were a setting in her.

Wherefore after the labour, and groaning, and very frequent showers of tears, since that cannot be ineffectual, which is asked so earnestly of Him, who is the Fountain of all mercies, and it is most truly said, "the Lord is near unto them that are of a broken heart:" after difficulties so great, the pious soul, by which we may also understand the Church, intimating that she has been heard, see what she adds: "Depart from me, all you that work iniquity; for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping" [Psalm 6:8]. It is either spoken prophetically, since they will depart, that is, the ungodly will be separated from the righteous, when the day of judgment arrives, or, for this time present. For although both are equally found in the same assemblies, yet on the open floor the wheat is already separated from the chaff, though it be hid among the chaff. They can therefore be associated together, but cannot be carried away by the wind together.

My heart of stone has no tears to summon.… Delicacies are my pleasure while my soul goes hungry. Who could furnish me with a spring for streams of tears, so that I might lament my deeds and days? For I need a river to lament the heavy strokes that I deserve for a life spent in sin. Break the stone that is my heart, saving Jesus, so that the inner me may be softened and a stream of devotion pour forth.

We have heard some people trying to excuse this most pernicious disease of the soul [anger] in such a way as to endeavor to extenuate it by a rather shocking way of interpreting Scripture: as they say that it is not injurious if we are angry with the brethren who do wrong, since, say they, God is said to rage and to be angry with those who either will not know him or, knowing him, spurn him, as here: "And the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people"; or where the prophet prays and says, "O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, neither chasten me in your displeasure"; not understanding that while they want to open to people an excuse for a most pestilent sin, they are ascribing to the divine Infinity and Fountain of all purity a taint of human passion.

According to the spiritual meaning, the bones are the companion virtues of a reasonable spirit that will draw one to discernment. There are steadfastness, discretion and the temperance that is strength according to God, justice, and, in short, absolutely every type of excellence, which, when they are not found in us (that is, properly provided and in order), it is inevitable that the spirit, since it does not have fitting strength, is thoroughly stirred up with those inordinate passions that are in it.

Now, it was appropriate for him to add "for your mercy's sake": I am not trusting in myself, he is saying, nor do I attribute your help to my own righteousness; instead, I beg to be granted it on account of your mercy.

Let those who do not see their own iniquities and yet ridicule my failings mock me no longer. I won divine favor, in fact, and am confident that through my entreaties he will overlook my faults and make me a beneficiary of his pardon.

It is not in death but in life that one recalls God. Likewise, confession and reform do not come to the departed in hades. God confined life and action to this life; there, however, he conducts an evaluation of performance. And in any case this is proper to the eighth day, giving no longer opportunity for preparation by good or bad deeds to those who have arrived at it; instead, whatever works you have sown for yourself you will have occasion to reap. For this reason he obliges you to practice repentance here, there being no practice of this kind of effort in hades.

He does not beg to be uncensured but rather not to be censured in anger, nor does he plead to avoid discipline but not to suffer it with wrath. Discipline me like a father, he asks, not like a judge; like a physician, not like a torturer. Do not fit the punishment to the crime; instead, temper justice with lovingkindness.

Under the influence of weakness, sin overcomes. After all, if the reasoning faculty within us were not weak, the passions would not rebel; to put it another way, provided the charioteer is firm and steers and controls the horses skillfully, there is no occasion for bucking.… He calls reasoning bones, since bones are naturally rather dense and support the body; speaking figuratively he gave the name "bones" to reasoning, by which the living being is steered. Disturbance in that faculty, he is saying, ruffled and shook me. Hence I beg to be allowed to enjoy your lovingkindness so as to receive healing through it.

In hell there is no amendment. No means of satisfaction can be given where no act of the will remains any longer, as David says in prophecy: "Since in death there is no one who remembers you, who will give you thanks in hell?" Let us flee harmful pleasures, dangerous joys and desires that perish right away. What fruit is there, what use is there, in wanting these things incessantly, things that we must abandon even if they do not abandon us? Let the love of ephemeral things be transferred to incorruptible ones. Let hearts called to lofty things find their enjoyment in heavenly delights.

Whosoever feareth sleepeth not, and if he sleepeth, he seeth in his dream the cause of his fear; he eateth not, and he drinketh not, and if the force of natural craving compel him, fear is mingled with his meat and drink. Everything which attacketh the man who is filled with the fear of God abideth outside him, for fear keepeth fast hold upon the place of his understanding, and upon all the places of ingoing and outgoing of the city of his soul. Like the watchmen who stand by the gates of the city, even so doth fear keep fast hold upon the places of ingoing and outgoing of the soul, and it permitteth no act or thought to enter in or to go forth which it examineth not; for it neither permitteth any internal thought whatsoever to go forth, nor any external act that is not seemly to go in. And moreover this Prophet maketh known in other places the fear of God; "My flesh contracteth through fear of Thee, and I am afraid of Thy judgments." And again he saith, "I am like a wine skin in ice, but I have not forgotten Thy commandments." And again he saith, "Sorrow is in my heart all the day long. How long, O Lord, wilt thou turn Thy face from me? How long wilt Thou forget me, for ever? How long wilt Thou set trouble in my soul?" And again he saith, "Heal me, O Lord, for my bones tremble, and my soul is greatly moved. I am weary with my groaning; every night make I my bed to swim; and I water my couch with my tears. Mine eye hath become sick because of Thine anger"; now it is evident that all these things arose from [his] fear of God.

Perhaps someone thinks that he has committed such grievous sins that he is beyond God's mercy. Let this be far from the thoughts of all sinners. Whoever you are, O man, you look at the multitude of your sins and do not see the almighty power of the divine Physician. Although God would like to show mercy because he is good, and he can because he is omnipotent, a person closes the door of divine mercy to his soul when he believes that God is either unwilling or unable to have pity on him. He does not believe that God is good or almighty. No one should despair of divine mercy after a hundred sins, nor even after a thousand. Rather, he should show his confidence by hastening to regain God's favor without any delay.… David, who through divine mercy became both a king and a prophet, … was overtaken to such an extent that he committed both adultery and murder. However, he did not wait to take refuge in the healing of repentance in his old age. Immediately covering himself with a hairshirt and sprinkling his head with ashes, he repented with loud groaning and lamenting. Thus was fulfilled what he had said in the psalms: "Every night I will wash my bed; I will water my couch with my tears."

Listen to the psalmist tell how anger clouds the eye of the heart: "My eyes are dimmed," he says, "with sorrow."

For in quarrels the very light of the soul, the light of good intent, is blocked. Whence the Psalmist says, "Mine eye is troubled because of anger." And what remains in us of well-doing, if we lose peace from the heart, without which we cannot see the Lord?

For there are many things which are allowed and legitimate, and yet we are to some extent defiled in the doing of them; as often we attack faults with anger, and disturb the tranquillity of our own mind. And, though what is done is right, yet it is not to be approved that the mind is therein disturbed. For instance, he had been angry against the vices of transgressors who said, "Mine eye is disturbed because of anger." For, since the mind cannot, unless it be tranquil, lift itself up to the light of contemplation, he grieved that his eye was disturbed in anger, because, though assailing evil doings from above, he still could not help being confused and disturbed from contemplation of the highest things. And therefore his anger against vice is laudable, and yet it troubles him, because he felt that he had incurred some guilt in being disturbed.

Prayer offered up at night possesses a great power, more so than the prayer of the day-time. Therefore all the righteous prayed during the night, while combating the heaviness of the body and the sweetness of sleep and repelling corporeal nature.… And for every entreaty for which they urgently besought God, they armed themselves with the prayer of night vigil, and at once they received their request.

So from all these and many other examples beyond count we learn the virtue of tears and repentance. Only the manner thereof must be noted—it must arise from a heart that hates sin and weeps, as the prophet David says.… Again the cleansing of sins will be wrought by the blood of Christ, in the greatness of his compassion and the multitude of the mercies of that God who says, "Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow."

And therefore he asks for help, saying, "Turn back," etc. And he touches upon three things: namely, conversion, rescue, and salvation. The eye of a person is not illuminated by the sun unless it has a direct orientation toward it; so too the soul, if it is to receive divine light, must have a direct gaze toward God. And such a direct gaze is always prepared on God's part; but a person turns away, and it is necessary that God convert him, inasmuch as he first turns to us by turning us to himself. And therefore he says, "Turn back." Lam. 5: "Turn us to you, Lord, and we shall be turned," etc. If someone in chains were being dragged to the gallows and saw someone in whom he trusted, he would earnestly ask and say, "Rescue me." In this manner the Psalmist prays, saying, "Rescue my soul"; as if to say: rescue me, dragged by sin, led to death. Prov. 24: "Rescue those who are led to death." Ps. 68: "Rescue me from the mire, that I may not be stuck fast," etc. Col. 1: "He has rescued us from the power of darkness." Likewise, "Save me." After you have freed me from evils, bring me to salvation. Ps. 62: "In him is my salvation"; and this not through my merits, but "on account of your mercy": Tit. 3: "Not by works of justice which we have done, but according to his own mercy he saved us."

Next, when he says "Let them be ashamed," he sets forth the fate of the enemies. As if it were said: you tell your enemies, "Depart." But what will become of them when they depart from you? Certainly, "Let them be ashamed," etc. These words can be explained in a good sense and in a bad sense. If in a good sense, then they are spoken in the manner of a prayer. Here he asks four things for them: namely, shame for their sins, because this is the beginning of the amendment of life; Sir. 4: "There is a shame that brings glory." Hence, "Let them be ashamed." Second, sorrow for their sins: "Let them be troubled": Ps. 59: "You have shaken the earth and troubled it," etc. For the penitent ought to have a greater intensity of sorrow than the pleasure he had in sin. Third, conversion to God; hence, "Let them be converted": Is. 31: "Return, as you had deeply withdrawn, O children of Israel." And fourth, shame: "Let them be ashamed and troubled exceedingly." Now shame is both the beginning and the end of amendment. But the reason can be given differently: namely, that at the beginning one is ashamed of the eyes of other people, and this grieves him, and he avoids evil; but in the end one is ashamed before the eye of his own reason and the eye of God: Rom. 6: "What fruit did you have then in those things, of which you are now ashamed?" Concerning the second, Lk. 18: "The tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven." And this should happen very quickly, so that there is no delay: Sir. 5: "Do not delay in turning to the Lord," etc. But if they are taken in a bad sense, then they should be understood as spoken in the manner of a prediction. As if to say: "Let them be ashamed," by the detection of their sin before all: Is. 1: "You shall be ashamed of the gardens you have chosen, when you shall be like an oak shedding its leaves," etc. "And let them be troubled," with an astonishing fear and sorrow: Wis. 5: "They shall be troubled with a horrible fear," etc. And therefore he says, "Exceedingly -- let all my enemies be converted," recognizing their own guilt and the glory of the saints: Wis. 5: "These are the ones whom we once held in derision and as a reproach; we, fools," etc. "And let them be ashamed," because this recognition will be to their confusion; and this "very swiftly": Is. 30: "Suddenly, when it is not expected, his destruction will come," etc. Job 21: "In a moment they go down to Hell." 1 Thess. 5: "The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. For when they shall say, peace and security," etc.

Next, when he says "For he has heard," he declares that he has been heard. Here it should be noted that above he had set forth three things: namely, prayer, when he said "Have mercy"; second, entreaty, that he might be freed: "Turn back"; third, lamentation: "I have labored," etc. And these three he says were heard in reverse order. And first the groaning, saying, "The Lord has heard," etc. The groaning of the saints has a voice before God: Sir. 35: "He will not despise the voice of the orphan, nor the widow if she pour forth her speech of groaning. Do not the widow's tears run down her cheek, and her cry go up against the one who caused them? From the cheek they ascend to heaven, and the Lord who hears will not take pleasure in them." And Gen. 4: "The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the earth." Therefore that holy lady Judith said, Jud. 8: "Let us seek his pardon with tears." Second, the entreaty; for entreaty, properly according to the Gloss of Cassiodorus, is for the removal of evils: Lk. 1: "Your entreaty has been heard." The Gloss says there, "By which you prayed for the liberation of the people." To show, therefore, that he has been freed from the evils for which he had prayed, saying "Turn back," etc., he adds here: "The Lord has heard my entreaty." Third, the prayer, namely that it might enter into his sight; and this is what he adds: "The Lord has received my prayer." And note that he says "Lord" three times here, to show that he has been heard by the whole Trinity: Ps. 66: "May God, our God, bless us; may God bless us."

Then when he says "For," he shows the imminent danger. And first, the danger of present death, namely natural death. Second, of eternal damnation, from which there is no return. Hence, "For there is none in death," that is, after death, "who is mindful of you," namely by thinking of your goodness, if he was not mindful of it in life. And this is so because the rational soul does not have flexibility of choice after death. Eccl. 11: "Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in whatever place it falls, there it will be." The second danger is that in Hell there is obstinacy, and there is no confession there -- that confession of which the Apostle speaks, Rom. 10: "With the mouth confession is made unto salvation." And therefore he says: "But in Hell, who will confess to you?" Or alternatively: "In death," that is, the death of sin, "who is mindful of you?" As if to say: I beseech you, rescue my soul lest I consent, because in my sin I will not be mindful of you. Dan. 13: "They turned away their eyes so as not to see heaven, nor to remember just judgments." "But in Hell," that is, in the depths of sins, "who will confess to you?" Prov. 18: "When the impious man comes into the depths of sins, he will show contempt."

Then when he says "I have labored," he sets forth the groaning of the penitent, where he seems to touch upon three things. First, sorrow of heart. Second, failure of reason, at "My eye is troubled." Third, weakness of strength, at "I have grown old." Sorrow of heart is indicated in three ways. First, by groaning and sighs. Second, by bodily restlessness. Third, by tears. As to the first, he says, "I have labored in my groaning," namely by sighing: Lam. 1: "Many are my groanings, and my heart is sorrowful," etc. Ps. 37: "I roared from the groaning of my heart." And he says "I have labored," because it is labor to fight against oneself, and yet this labor bears good fruit: Wis. 3: "Glorious is the fruit of good labors." As to the second, he says, "I will wash": here he mentions two things, namely the bed and the bedding; and although these two are taken for the same thing, we follow the proper meaning. Bedding refers to the coverings spread upon the bed. The bed is that which is placed underneath, and is called "lectus" from "choosing," namely the straw and similar materials from which the bed is made. By saying, therefore, "I will wash my bed every night," he gives us to understand that every night he would rise and, leaning beside his bed, weep. Jerome's text reads, "I will make my bed swim"; and it is a figurative expression. Or, "I will make it swim," that is, I will cause it to move as if swimming, from my restlessness upon it. He says moreover, "With my tears I will drench my bedding," because even while lying in bed, he would drench the bed coverings by weeping, as if with a flood of tears. Morally, the bed in which a person rests is the conscience; this a person washes through tears in penance: Jer. 4: "Wash your heart from wickedness." By the bedding are signified sins, which are spread over the conscience; and these must be washed away with tears, because tears wash away the offense that one is ashamed to confess. The Gloss says: Lam. 2: "My eyes have failed from weeping," etc. He says "every night," that is, for each sin. For a person ought to weep in penance for each sin. Here it is given to be understood that the penitent has alternating turns, because among the good things he did, he sometimes sinned, and he wept for each. Hence he does not say "for one night," but "for each night." Moreover, he says "I will drench" on account of the abundance of tears: Jer. 9: "Who will give water to my head and tears to my eyes," etc. Lam. 2: "Pour out tears like a torrent by day and night; let not the pupils of your eyes be silent."

In the preceding Psalm, David asked to be led in the way of justice on account of his enemies; here, however, he asks that his fall be repaired. And this Psalm seems to express the affections of a man who, having been chastised for his sins and delivered into the hands of his enemies, obtained liberation after doing penance. And therefore this is the first of the seven Penitential Psalms. They are seven on account of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, by whom one repents; and all begin with weeping and end in joy, because through the lamentation of penance one arrives at the kingdom of glory: Mt. 5: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." The title is as follows: "Unto the end, a Psalm of David, for the octave." Jerome translated it as: "For the leader, in psalms, upon the octave, a song of David." Concerning this title, it remains to be seen what is meant by the expression "for the octave." For the rest has been explained. It should be known, then, that the titles were composed by Ezra partly according to the things that were being done at the time, and partly according to things that had occurred. For it is found in the history of Lev. 23 that in the seventh month the Jews held the feast of tabernacles for seven days, and the eighth day was the most celebrated of all; for it was a day of assembly and collection, which was made for the necessities of divine worship and for the poor. And perhaps David composed this Psalm for that solemnity, and it was recited on the eighth day. Moreover, this feast pertains to a mystery, because by the number eight the resurrection is signified, when all will be gathered from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven, Mk. 13. Or the octave is so called because of the false opinion of certain people who said that after seven thousand years the resurrection would take place, with the Lord coming for judgment. But this time is known to no one: Acts 1: "It is not for you to know the times or the moments," etc. Mt. 24: "But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, but the Father alone." Hence another reason is given why the octave designates the resurrection: because in the present age there is a twofold life. One in which a person is occupied with bodily matters, the other with spiritual matters. The first life is signified by the number four, because it is the number of bodies, as even Plato says, because through it dimensions are signified. For among solids, the first bodily number is the pyramid, as Boethius teaches in his Arithmetic. Since, therefore, that pyramid is the first which, rising from a triangular base, extends into height, it follows that four is the first solid number. For example, if upon a triangle one erects lines above the three angles and joins the vertices at a single middle point, a pyramid is formed, whose base is one triangle and whose sides are triangles. But the second life, which is spiritual, is signified by the number three; for among plane figures, three is the first surface number. And the same Boethius says this in the same book. For the first surface is the triangle, entirely lacking in thickness. From the number seven, which is constituted from this four and three, the octave follows, namely the resurrection of bodies and souls. In the Gloss, however, another reason is assigned, so that it is said that the number four pertains to the body, because it consists of four elements and is affected by four qualities, namely dry and moist, hot and cold, and is governed by four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. But the number three pertains to the soul, on account of the three powers of the soul: namely, the rational, the irascible, and the concupiscible. When both lives have been completed, namely the bodily and the spiritual, as though the number seven having passed, the day of judgment will come, and to each person what is due will be rendered according to merit. Or the octave signifies the resurrection because it will occur in the eighth age. For the first age runs from Adam to Noah. The second from Noah to Abraham. The third from Abraham to David. The fourth from David to the Babylonian exile. The fifth from the Babylonian exile to Christ. The sixth from Christ to the end of the world. The sixth and seventh ages run simultaneously, namely the age of those at rest and those laboring, and after these will be the eighth age of those rising. This Psalm is divided into three parts. First, penance is treated. Second, the weeping of penance, at "I have labored," etc. Third, the fruit of both, at "Depart." But a person existing in sin suffers three disadvantages, from which he asks to be freed. The first is the perversity of action; the second is the wounding and weakness of nature; the third is the liability to imminent punishment. First, therefore, he asks to be freed from the first; and so he says, "Lord, not in your fury," etc. Second, against the second; and so he adds in prayer, "Have mercy on me," etc. Third, against the third; and so he subjoins, "But you, O Lord," etc. He says therefore: "Lord, not in your fury." Someone frees another from evil actions by rebuking with words and correcting with punishments; and God does both. But rebuke is sometimes given for correction, and this is in mercy: Ps. 140: "The just man will correct me," etc. Sometimes for condemnation, and this is of wrath. And therefore he says, "Lord, rebuke me," but "not in fury," because that belongs to vengeance, and this will happen in the judgment, when he will say, Mt. 25: "Depart from me, you cursed," etc. "For I was hungry," etc. Is. 30: "His fury is burning and heavy to bear," etc. But now he rebukes not in fury, because he rebukes for correction, not for condemnation; and this is what the Psalmist asks when he says, "Nor in your wrath correct me"; as if to say: correct me, but not in wrath or fury, but through temporal scourges. Augustine says: "Here burn, here cut, here do not spare, so that you may spare for eternity." Jer. 10: "Correct me, but with judgment."

Likewise, discernment is disturbed, inasmuch as it seems to the sinner that he acts rightly when he sins; and therefore he says: "And my soul is greatly troubled," because he has a perverted judgment about what should be done, so that he judges what is good to be evil, and conversely. Then when he says, "But you, Lord," he prays against the liability to damnation. Here he does three things. First, he shows the imminent danger. Second, he asks for the help of grace, at "Turn back." Third, he explains the imminent danger, at "For there is none in death," etc. He says therefore: "I am weak, I cannot rise by myself; but you, Lord, who can -- how long will you not hear me?" Ps. 12: "How long, O Lord, will you forget me utterly?" In this it seemed dangerous to him that he was not being converted. Sir. 5: "Do not delay in turning to the Lord, and do not put it off from day to day, for suddenly his wrath will come, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy you." Hab. 1: "How long shall I cry and you will not hear, shall I call out to you, a true father, and you will not heal?" etc. As if to say: how long shall I be in sin, and you will not give help so that I may rise?

Then when he says "Have mercy," he asks to be freed from the second, namely from the wounding and weakness of nature. And first he explains the infirmity in general; second in particular, at "Heal," etc. He says therefore, "Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak." Sin is a spiritual infirmity; for bodily infirmity occurs from the dissolution of the due proportion of humors. So when the affections of the soul are not proportionate, there is a spiritual sickness; and therefore he says, "I am weak." The Gloss says: "I am weak by nature and by vice, to such a degree that I cannot endure your justice." Ps. 115: "I am your servant and the son of your handmaid." Wis. 9: "A man who is weak and of short time, and lacking in the understanding of judgment and laws." Then when he says "Heal," etc., he explains in particular how he is weak, and this in two ways. First, because he has lost his strength; second, because he has lost his discernment, at "And my soul is greatly troubled," etc. He says therefore: "Heal me, Lord." Jer. 17: "Heal me, Lord, and I shall be healed," etc. Because if a person is free from sin, he is fit for retaining grace and the virtues, which are the person's strength. And therefore, "Heal me, Lord," and this I beg, "because my bones," that is, my strength, namely the virtue and fortitude of my soul, "are troubled."

Next, when he says "My eye is troubled," he sets forth the failure of reason. For sorrow is the cause of anger; and therefore one who is sorrowful easily grows angry. But anger always disturbs the eye of reason. And those who are disturbed foresee less well. And therefore he says: "My eye is troubled," that is, my reason, "but by the fury of others." For David was angry and troubled when he saw that Absalom his son and his counselors had risen against him. Or "by his own fury," because he was troubled against his own sins. For he recognized, in the state of that persecution, that he was justly afflicted on account of his sins; and this anger does not blind, but disturbs. But another kind of anger does blind. Or "by your fury," O Lord God, by which you punish me, as if provoked by me, because I have troubled you: Is. 38: "My eyes are weakened by looking upward": Job 16: "My face is swollen from weeping and lamentation," etc. Third, he shows the weakness of strength when he says, "I have grown old," etc. When someone in his youth was victorious and strong, but afterward suffers not only from a stranger but also from his own kin, he is considered to be growing old. So David, who in his youth had conquered all, but now was fleeing from his own son, says, "I have grown old," namely in the estimation of others, "among all my enemies," both open and hidden: Heb. 8: "But what grows old and ages is near to destruction." Or the sinner grows old by departing from the newness of Christ, of which the Apostle speaks, Rom. 6: "Let us walk in newness of life, that we may serve in newness of spirit." Rom. 7, the Gloss says: "Let us serve in the works of the new man, that is, of Christ, which we attain not by our own powers or by the law, but by the grace of the Holy Spirit." "Knowing that our old man was crucified together with him," Rom. 6, "so that the body of sin might be destroyed, that we might no longer serve sin." Through which servitude one is reduced to the oldness of sin, having become a member of the old man. For this reason the Apostle urges and persuades, Rom. 12: "Be reformed in the newness of your sense, or of your mind." "Be reformed," says the Gloss, "because in Adam you were deformed in newness," etc. The new man, namely Christ. That is, in imitation of this oldness and wretchedness of deformity, the prophet laments under a question, saying, Bar. 3: "What is it, O Israel, that you are in the land of your enemies? You have grown old in a foreign land," etc. And this agrees with what is said here, "I have grown old among all my enemies": whether demons, or all the sins to which I have consented. And so what he says, "I have grown old," in this sense is the matter of groaning; as if to say: therefore "I will wash," etc., because I have grown old, having imitated the old man, subjecting myself to all vices. And then what was said, "My eye is troubled," etc., is referred to the state of the penitent. Or it can be referred to the matter of justice, and this with regard to the state of sin; as if to say: therefore I have grown old, that is, I have sinned, because my eye, that is, my flesh, was troubled by fury, that is, by the impulse of passion: Ps. 57: "Fire," namely of concupiscence, according to Augustine's Gloss, "fell upon them, and they did not see the sun," namely of justice: Dan. 13: "Concupiscence subverted your heart." Likewise: "They burned with desire for her," etc., "so that they did not remember just judgments." From the impulse of passion, therefore, David says that the eye of reason was disturbed in him, so that he did not see heaven; and this was the concupiscence for Bathsheba, 2 Kgs. 11, whom he summoned to himself and knew. And afterward, having learned that she was pregnant, to the crime of adultery he added the crime of murder. Hence he ordered Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, to be treacherously killed; for which most grave sins, by the just judgment of God, he suffered persecution from his son.

"Depart." This is the third principal part, in which the fruit of penance is set forth. Hence here he shows himself to have been heard, and thereupon he rejoices. And concerning this he does three things. First, he repels his enemies from himself. Second, he confesses that he has been heard, at "For you have heard." Third, he foretells the fate of his enemies, at "Let them be ashamed." He says therefore, "Depart," etc. Suppose that someone has been afflicted on account of sin; after pardon has been given, he can taunt his enemies, whether those who led him into sin or those who persecute him bodily. According to the literal sense, Jerome says "Depart from me," to those who lead me into sin, "because I do not want your company": 2 Cor. 6: "Therefore separate yourselves, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you." Or, "Depart from me, all you who work iniquity," that is, you unjust workers who persecute me unjustly. "Depart," I say, "from me, because the Lord is with me as a mighty warrior": Jer. 20. Hence Ps. 26: "If armies encamp against me, my heart shall not fear." And through this is signified the future persecution and separation of the wicked from the good: Mt. 13: "They will separate the wicked from the midst of the just." Likewise Mt. 25: "They will separate them from one another, as a shepherd separates," etc. And further in the same chapter: "Depart from me, you cursed," etc.

It seems quite clear that in most parts of the Old Testament there is little or no belief in a future life; certainly no belief that is of any religious importance. The word translated 'soul' in our version of the Psalms means simply 'life'; the word translated 'hell' means simply 'the land of the dead', the state of all the dead, good and bad alike, Sheol. [...] In many passages this is quite clear, even in our translation, to every attentive reader. The clearest of all is the cry in 89:46: 'O remember how short my time is: why hast thou made all men for nought?' We all come to nothing in the end. Therefore 'every man living is altogether vanity' (39:6). Wise and foolish have the same fate (49:10). Once dead, a man worships God no more; 'Shall the dust give thanks unto thee?' (30:10); 'for in death no man remembereth thee' (6:5). Death is 'the land' where, not only worldly things, but all things, 'are forgotten' (88:12). When a man dies 'all his thoughts perish' (146:3). Every man will 'follow the generation of his fathers, and shall never see light' (49:19): he goes into a darkness which will never end.