Homilies on the Psalms

Homilies on the Psalms

continued

Homily 18, on Psalm 86

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). A psalm of a canticle, for the sons of Korah. The difference between a psalm and a canticle I have often stated. A psalm is spoken from the psaltery, but a canticle is uttered from the voice. A psalm has to do with the hands, that is, with works; a canticle with contemplation (theoria). 2 Its foundations are in the holy mountains. He did not say beforehand whose, yet he said, Its foundations are in the holy mountains. The one who speaks is the prophet: the sons are of Korah. What Korah means, I have often stated: a skull, that is, the sons of the resurrection. Its foundations: whether of God, or certainly of the Church. And what are the foundations, if not the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? These foundations, then, are not in the valleys, but are in the mountains: and not on any mountains whatever, but on the holy mountains. Paul says: 'As a wise architect I have laid the foundation'—that is, faith in the Trinity. Then he also says in another place: 'For he was awaiting the city having foundations, whose builder and maker is God.' Its foundations are in the holy mountains. He said, In the holy mountains, because there are also other mountains that are not holy. Then it is also said in Isaiah: 'Upon the dark mountain lift up a sign.' And in another place it is said: 'Who are you, corrupt mountain?' It is also said in Jeremiah: 'Give glory to the Lord your God, before your feet stumble against the dark mountains.' You see, then, that there are also dark mountains: and it is said to us by Jeremiah that we should give glory to God before our feet stumble against the dark mountains. For if our feet strike against those mountains, we cannot give glory to the Lord. Its foundations are in the holy mountains. Whom can we call the foundations? The apostles. In them were the foundations: where the faith of the Church was first laid, there too the foundations were laid.

3 And because each one builds upon the foundation—one gold, another silver, another precious stones—The Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. Does he love those gates which we see have collapsed? Does he love those gates, and does he love that Zion, which has been plowed like a field? And see what he says, The Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. See what he says: above all the cities of Jacob, that is of Judea, he loves this city alone. And how is it that we see the others in part still standing, while this one has utterly collapsed? Let us read the Apocalypse of John, let us also read Isaiah, where the city of Jerusalem is built, and its twelve gates are said to be constructed of precious stones, and the city itself descends from heaven, and its walls are said to be of gold, and its streets are said to be paved with emerald, and each of the gates is said to be constructed of a single precious stone. These are all the riches of the Lord, and does the Lord love these the way men do too? He forbids us from avarice, and does he himself build a city out of avarice? Therefore the Lord loves the gates of Zion, those twelve gates of Zion: it is clear that he wrote of the apostles. Above all the tabernacles of Jacob: above all the ancient saints.

4 This much we have said so far according to one figure. But let us speak also in another way. The Lord loves the gates of Zion. To me the gates of Zion seem to be the virtues. For just as the gates of death are the vices and sins, so the gates of Zion seem to me to be the virtues. Then he says in another place: 'You who lift me up from the gates of death.' But if the gates of death are sins, then the gates of Jerusalem are virtues. Above all the tabernacles of Jacob. See that Jacob, that is the old people, has no foundation, nor a house set upon foundations, but tabernacles which quickly pass away. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Therefore that which was said, Its foundations are in the holy mountains, we can also say of God. But we can also say this. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. What is this city? Where were glorious things spoken? In all the prophets it was spoken of this city. Isaiah says: 'Arise, arise, O Jerusalem, put on the strength of your arm.' Again Isaiah himself: 'I am the strong city, the city that is besieged.' David too says: 'The rushing of the river gladdens the city of God.' And in another place: 'O Lord, in your city you will bring their images to nothing.' And the Savior spoke glorious things of this city: 'A city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden.'

5 I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me. Since he said, Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God, and yet we understand that very city as the Church gathered from the nations: therefore now it is said concerning the calling of the nations, I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me. Whoever is a sinner, let him be secure: the Lord was mindful of Rahab. I said secure, if he returns to the Lord: for otherwise security without tears has no remedy. I will be mindful of Rahab: of that harlot Rahab, who received the spies of Jesus, who was in Jericho, where Jesus had come, and he sent two spies. Jericho, this world, which is overturned in seven days, wishes to kill the spies. And while it desires to kill the spies, the harlot Rahab alone received them. And she received them, not in a lower place, but in an upper room, on the housetop, that is, in the height of her faith, and she hid them in flax, that is, in tow of flax.

6 This much we have said so far according to the historical sense, and you see how from the history itself we gradually ascend to the mystical sacraments. Jesus the leader, who had led the people out of Egypt: Jesus, who is interpreted as Savior, after Moses had died and been buried in the land of Moab, in the land of Arabia, that is, after the Law was dead, desires to lead his people into the gospel, and sends two spies to Jericho: two spies, one to the circumcision, another to the nations, Peter and Paul. Jericho seeks to kill them; that harlot receives them, the Church gathered from the nations. She believes in Jesus, and those whom Jericho wished to kill, she herself saves on her housetop. And she places them on the housetop, in her lofty faith, and hides them in the flax of the reed. Though she is a harlot, yet she places them in flax. Flax comes to whiteness through much toil and diligence. You yourselves know that flax is born from the earth, and when it has been born in the earth, it is black, has no beauty, no use. First then it is taken from the earth, it is broken, then it is twisted, afterward it is washed, then it is beaten, then it is combed, and with much care and toil it scarcely comes to whiteness. Therefore this is said, that this harlot indeed received the spies in her flax, so that those spies might turn her flax into whiteness. What then?

7 She gives them counsel, and says: 'Wait here three days.' It was not one day, not two, but three days. See what she says, Wait three days. She does not name three nights, but three days, because she had an enlightened heart. And then she says, and after three days: and what does she say? 'Do not,' she says, 'go through the plains, but climb up into the mountains.' For the faith of the Church is not established in the valleys, but in the mountains. Jericho then is afterward overturned by Jesus, and this harlot alone is preserved unharmed. Therefore this is said. I will be mindful of Rahab: that is, of her who received my spies, and I on the day of judgment will be mindful of her. 8 I will be mindful of Rahab. What does Rahab mean? We have spoken according to the history: let us speak also according to the interpretation of the name and according to the anagogy. Rahab is interpreted in two ways: either it is interpreted as breadth, or certainly it is interpreted as pride. So see what he says. She who once walked in the broad and spacious way that leads to death, she who was proud and had a rush toward ruin, was afterward converted into humility. I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon. Babylon is interpreted as confusion. See what he says. Not only will I be mindful of Rahab, but also of Babylon, whatever soul is confounded by vices and sins. And of Babylon among those who know me. See what he says. Though someone may have been Rahab, though he may have been Babylon: yet I will be mindful, whoever will have known me. Therefore if we have been Rahab and Babylon, we too ought to be secure, and to say: God said, I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon. But see what follows. Among those who know me. They were Rahab and Babylon, but afterward they were converted to me. I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me. She who once was in the breadth of sins, afterward ascended into the remembrance of God.

9 Thus far he has spoken as if through riddles: but now he speaks more openly of the calling of the nations. For see what he says. Behold, the foreigners and Tyre and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there. He calls them foreigners to distinguish them from Israel: for we are the foreigners. And Tyre. Tyre is interpreted as tribulation, that is, sor. And the people of the Ethiopians: black, and wrapped up in the filth of sins. And the people of the Ethiopians. This is what is said: 'Ethiopia will stretch out her hand before God.' Behold, the foreigners and Tyre and the people of the Ethiopians. What is said is this: Those who before were strangers, those who before were in tribulation, who were set in the heart of the sea (for it is said of Tyre 'Tyre set in the heart of the sea'): those, then, who first were in the sea, and were beaten by the waves, were afterward found in the Church. And the people of the Ethiopians. We were once Ethiopians, Ethiopians in vices and sins. Why? Because sins had made us black. But afterward we heard 'Wash yourselves, be clean,' and we said 'You will wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.' We Ethiopians, then, were turned into whiteness. Behold, the foreigners and Tyre and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there. Where were they? Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. These were there: that is, in the city of God.

10 Will a man say to Zion, and a man is born in her? The Seventy translators rendered it thus: Will a man say to Zion? Many, then, expected, and did not understand what μήτη Σιὼν is: and they added a ρ, and they read μήτηρ Σιὼν ἐρεῖ ἄνθρωπος (mother Zion will a man say). And they say this because there follows, And a man is born in her: they expect that it also ought to be said in this way, Mother Zion will a man say. Because a son is said to be born, therefore they err in the word "mother." Let us then speak first according to what is commonly said (for neither ought we to dismiss that interpretation), let us then say also ourselves: Mother Zion will a man say, and a man is born in her. These are they who had been born in the Church, the foreigners, Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians: these are they who are born in the Church. They believe in the Church, and are born in the Church. For unless they have been baptized, they will not be sons of the Church. But those who have been baptized in the Church, they call the Church mother.

11 Let us also speak according to the Hebrew truth. Will a man say to Zion, and a man is born in her? What he says is this. Who will be able to announce to Zion, who will be able to announce to her of men, that a man will be born in her, and he himself will save her? That is, no man can announce to her that Zion will be saved in the man who will be born in her. And a man is born in her. Who is this man? He himself, the Most High, founded her. Let the Arians answer: for they say that the Father alone is the Most High. Behold, here it is said of the Son, And he himself, the Most High, founded her. He did not say, The Son of God who was in the beginning with the Father. But what did he say? A man is born in her, and he himself, the Most High, founded her. But if he is called the Most High, how much more the Word of God?

12 The Lord will tell in the writing of the peoples and of the princes, of these who have been in her. He did not say, who are in her; but, who have been in her. The Lord will tell. And how will he tell? not by word, but by writing. In whose writing? in that of the peoples. That is not enough, but he also says, of the princes. And of which princes? who are in her? He did not say this; but, who have been in her. See, then, how holy Scripture is full of sacraments. We read the apostle Paul, we read Peter, and we read him saying 'Do you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me?' And what Paul speaks, Christ speaks. 'For whoever receives you, receives me.' Therefore our Lord and Savior tells us and speaks in the writings of his princes. The Lord will tell in the writing of the peoples, in the holy Scriptures: which Scripture is read to all peoples, that is, so that all may understand. What he says is this. So the apostles wrote, so the Lord himself spoke in his gospels, not so that few might understand, but that all. Plato wrote in writing: but he did not write among the peoples, but among the few. For scarcely three men understand him. But these, that is the princes of the Church and the princes of Christ, did not write for the few, but for the whole people.

13 And of the princes, that is, of the apostles and of the gospels. Of these who have been in her. See what he says, Who have been, not who are: so that, apart from the apostles, whatever else is said afterward may be cut off, may have no authority thereafter. Therefore, however holy someone may be after the apostles, however eloquent he may be, he has no authority: because the Lord tells in the writing of the peoples and of the princes, of these who have been in her. 14 As it were the dwelling of all who rejoice is in you. The prophet speaks to the Church, and says to her: As it were the dwelling of all who rejoice is in you. Why did he not say, The dwelling of all who rejoice is in you, but said, As it were of those who rejoice? It is said in another psalm: 'When the Lord turned back the captivity of Zion, we became as those who are consoled'; and he did not say, consoled. So also in this place he says, As it were the dwelling of all who rejoice is in you. Why did he say all this? Because in the present age, however holy someone may be, however much he renounces the world, he does not have perfect victory. Then it is said in the gospel: 'Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be consoled.' But if it was said 'Blessed are they who weep, for they shall laugh': it is clear that in the present age there is no certain joy. Therefore our joy is as it were joy. The dwelling is in you. See what he says: that someone may never withdraw from the Church.

15 We ought to know that what we have interpreted of the Church can be understood also of our soul. For if Zion is interpreted as a watchtower, and our soul in no other way but always considers higher things: the true church, the true temple of Christ is nothing other than the human soul. The Church of Christ is nothing else but the souls of those who believe in Christ. 'You,' he says, 'are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you.' Its foundations are in the holy mountains: that is, the foundations of God are nowhere but in the holy mountains, in the doctrines of the believing soul. The Lord loves the gates of Zion. Our Zion has very many gates: which, if we open them, the bridegroom enters in to us, and sleeps with us. Then he himself says: 'Behold, I stand before the door and knock: if anyone opens to me, I will enter and dine with him.' Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. A city is not one building, but consists of many buildings: so the Church and our Zion, unless it has many virtues, will not be the city of God. I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon among those who know me. She who once was in the breadth of sins, afterward ascended into the remembrance of God. Will a man say to Zion, and a man is born in her? I speak to you a wondrous thing, but a true one.

16 Our Zion, in which at times there are foreigners, and Tyre, and the Ethiopian: that watchtower, that harlot, that Rahab, that Babylon, she who spread apart her feet to everyone passing by, according to Ezekiel: that harlot, if she wills, suddenly becomes a virgin. She becomes a virgin, and conceives the Son of God, and gives birth. 'From the fear of you, O Lord, we conceived and were in labor; we brought forth the spirit of your salvation upon the earth.' See, then, that the harlot conceives from God and gives birth, and brings forth the Savior. We brought forth the spirit of your salvation upon the earth. Therefore our soul, that Rahab, that harlot, can conceive and bring forth the Savior. And a man is born in her. If we will, Christ is born daily: through each single virtue Christ is born. For if 'Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God,' whoever does a virtuous deed generates virtue. And he himself, the Most High, founded her. He who is born in you, he himself gives the foundation to your Zion. The Lord will tell in the writing of the peoples. It is clear that what the Lord speaks in Scripture, he speaks to no one as he does to Zion. And yet, when all these things have come to pass, when Christ has been born in her, the victory is not certain and secure, but we are always in danger. As it were the dwelling of all who rejoice is in you.

17 He who is joyful, from that very cheerfulness is secure: but he who is secure is quickly deceived. But he who dreads ambushes can quickly escape: with the Lord granting it, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Homily 19, on Psalm 89

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). A prayer of Moses, the man of God. There are four psalms that are headed with the title "prayer": the sixteenth, and the one that follows it, and the eighty-ninth, and the hundred and first. In the hundred and first it says: "A prayer of the poor man, when he is downcast, and pours out his prayer in the sight of God." This one: A prayer of Moses, the man of God. We read the song of Moses in Exodus, at that time when the people crossed the Red Sea, and when Pharaoh and all his army had been drowned, Miriam and Moses sang. Then we read one in Deuteronomy also, since he had written that song in Deuteronomy. If therefore these psalms and these songs belong to Moses, why are they not found in his own books? So we have already explained how the hundred and first psalm is inscribed, A prayer of the poor man: and it is another who wrote about him, and that poor man who intercedes for us is the Lord, "who, though he was rich, became poor for our sake," and the rest. So too here is Moses, since from the very beginning of the human race he himself wrote the history: for he himself wrote how heaven and earth were made, how man too was made, about the creation of man; and this psalm speaks about the creation of man, what man is, and why he was born. He therefore who in Genesis wrote about the creation of men, is now himself also brought in by the Holy Spirit to discourse on what man is.

2 Lord, you have been made a refuge for us from generation to generation. He who seeks a refuge, seeks it either from excessive heat and scorching, or because a beast is pursuing him, or because enemies are pursuing him, to kill him. We too, then, are in the heat of this world; and a beast pursues us too, of which we say, "Do not hand over to the beasts a soul that confesses to you"; and enemies pursue us too; and therefore we flee for refuge under your wings. From generation to generation: both in the past, and in the present, and in the future. In another sense, From generation to generation: both in the old people of the Jews, and in our own people of Christians. 3 Before the mountains were made, and the earth and the world were formed. At this place a heresy creeps in: If he was made a refuge for us before the mountains were made and the earth and the world were formed, then souls existed before the world came to be. For what does Scripture say? Lord, you have been made a refuge for us: from generation, it says, to generation: from the beginning of the world, before the beginning of the world. This is what they say. And do not think, he says, that I am the one saying it. Before the mountains were made, and the earth and the world were formed, you, he says, have been made a refuge for us. But if you were our refuge before the world was made, then souls existed before the world came to be. You divide the sentence wrongly, O heresy. Why do you slander the Holy Spirit? Speak in the way the Holy Spirit spoke. It should therefore be read thus: Lord, you have been made a refuge for us from generation to generation: and the pause is up to this point. Then another fresh beginning: Before the mountains were made, and the earth and the world were formed, from age to age you are God. You are God before the mountains were made, you are God before the earth and the world were formed, from age to age you are God, you always are, you are eternal.

4 Do not turn man away into humiliation. And you said: Turn back, sons of men. O Lord, that we might dare to ask this, that we might say, Do not turn man away into humiliation, you have given us confidence by saying: "Return to me, sons, as you turn back, and I will heal your afflictions." And you said: Turn back, sons of men. For a thousand years before your eyes are like a single day that has passed by: do not turn man away into humiliation. And a watch in the night. What did he mean to say by this, And a watch in the night? We ought also to know this according to the literal history: the night is divided into four watches. Indeed in the Gospel too it is said: "But in the fourth watch." One watch, then, is three hours: so the night is divided into four watches. Indeed soldiers have these four stations, when they keep guard and relieve one another. See, then, what he says. All of our eternity: that Adam our forefather, who lived nine hundred and thirty years; even that Methuselah, who lived nine hundred and sixty-five years; suppose he had lived a thousand: in comparison with your eternity, what was great is short. For what can be great that has an end? Our thousand years, before we had committed offense, was one day in your sight. Why do I say, one day? one watch of the night. Do not turn man away into humiliation. See what he says: You deigned for our salvation to come down, you poured out your blood for us: do not allow us to perish, and to die in humiliation. You yourself said: "When I have been lifted up, I will draw all to myself." You have been lifted up, and you have lifted us up: do not abandon us, so that we be dragged down.

5 In the morning let it pass like grass, in the morning let it flower and pass away: in the evening let it fall, harden, and wither. O the mysteries of the Scriptures! In the morning let it pass like grass. Our Lord and Savior also speaks in the Gospel about the hay, which springs up in one day and withers in one day. Just as grass that is green and flowers seems in the morning to be, as it were, a flower and green: yet when the sun comes and scorches it, toward evening it wilts, as it were, and falls; so too all our life seems to be, as it were, a flower while it is green, and it withers. Ten years ago you saw a young lad: nothing more beautiful than he, he ran this way and that. If you look at him now, he seems in old age to be, as it were, dead. Though he lives in old age, yet his youth has perished. In the morning let it pass like grass, that is, our youth: for that is the morning. Let it pass like grass, in the morning let it flower and pass away. We flower in youth, we wither in old age. In the evening let it fall, harden, and wither. For we have failed in your anger, and in your wrath we have been troubled. Formerly we used to live nine hundred and thirty years, we had reached up to a thousand: behold, our life has been contracted to a brief span.

6 You have set our iniquities in your sight. Nothing is hidden from you: that is, neither does night hide our sins, nor do shadows envelop them: all things shine bright before you. Our age in the illumination of your countenance. It stands better in the Hebrew: "Our faults in the illumination of your countenance. Whatever we do, whatever we think we are doing in secret, lies open in your eyes. For all our days have failed. Our lifetime has run its course: and while we are unaware, it slips away, we perish; and this very thing that we are speaking is part of death, and we do not understand. Our years will be pondered like a spider. See what he says. Just as a spider casts out its threads, as it were, and runs this way and that, and weaves all day long, and the labor indeed is great, but the result is nothing: so too the life of men runs this way and that. We seek possessions, we prepare riches, we beget sons, we labor, we are raised up to kingdoms, and we do everything: and we do not understand that we are weaving a spider's web. The days of our years in themselves are seventy years. Where are the thousand years? We have been contracted into seventy years: but if more, eighty. But if we live longer, it is no longer life, but death. But if among the powerful, eighty years. For whom will you find to be an eighty-year-old and to be healthy?

7 The Greek saying also says: "Old age is itself a disease. And what is beyond them is toil and sorrow. Whatever is more is not life, but sorrow. 8 This much we have said for the time being according to the literal history: but now let us speak according to the anagogical sense. And indeed every psalm admits of a figurative interpretation; and I could now run through it verse by verse, and give the spiritual understanding in each: but the hour shuts us out. Let me at least give you in a single verse, as it were, a taste of the spiritual understanding, so that whatever I here leave unspoken, you may consider to have been spoken here. The days of our years in themselves are seventy years. Seventy years are seven decades, and eighty years are eight decades. See, then, how the seventh and the eighth number is proclaimed. And just as we said, You have been made a refuge for us from generation to generation, both in the old and in the new testament: therefore now too he sets down both the seventh and the eighth number. This he says also in Ecclesiastes: "Give a portion to seven, and give a portion to eight. Therefore there are also fifteen Psalms of Degrees, that is, seven and eight: which fifteen together lead us to the kingdom of heaven. And indeed, after the seventh Psalm of Degrees has been completed, what does Scripture call that psalm itself? "A psalm," it says, "of Solomon," who had built the old house. And what does it say? "Unless the Lord builds the house, in vain have they labored who built it.

9 What then does Solomon himself say, who is prefixed in the very title? I built the temple: but unless the eighth number builds, the house is built in vain. We read also in the Gospel according to Matthew: Blessed are the poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst, and the rest, and there are eight beatitudes. Therefore our Lord enclosed the Gospel in the number eight. Indeed nowhere do we find eight beatitudes together except in the Gospel. In the number eight, that is, on the day of the resurrection. The days of our years in themselves are seventy years. Do you wish that I should meanwhile show you that the seventh and the eighth number contain very many mysteries? Let us read Ezekiel, and at one gate it is said: "And let him enter," it says, "through the gate of the east into the temple that is being built. In Ezekiel, in the last part. "And the high priest shall go up," it says, "by seven and eight steps. And could it be that at that gate there were both seven steps, and eight? But see what he says. The eastern gate, from which the light comes. Our Lord and Savior. There is indeed one gate, and no one enters through it except the high priest. And what is said there? "This gate shall always be shut. And it is not opened except to the priest. So therefore both the new and the old testament was always shut:

10 it was not opened except to the Savior. For he is the one "who holds the key, who opens and no one shuts, who shuts and no one opens. So one gate has both seven and eight steps. And in the old testament indeed there are evangelical mysteries, and in the new testament there are mysteries of the law. Hear greater mysteries. At that time when Solomon, that is, our peacemaker who says, "My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you": for "he himself is our peace," and "the peace that surpasses all understanding," he himself built a temple to God. And see there what Scripture says. "And there were," it says, "seventy thousand stonecutters, and eighty thousand of those who carried burdens. See the number. The stonecutters who cut the stones, who prepare, as it were, the foundations of the buildings, who lift up the stones from the earth to build in the temple of God, are placed in the seventh number, in the prophets, in the patriarchs. For they, drawing out the human race, as it were, from the earth, prepared them for the temple of the Lord. But these others, that is, the eighty thousand, are the apostolic and evangelical preaching, these who together with the Lord the Savior and Solomon himself carried the heavy sins of the nations. Up to this point the mystery seems to be finished: hear greater mysteries. "And those who were in charge," it says, "of these works and of the temple, were three thousand.

11 There can be none greater, even among those who preside over the works, than those who preach the Trinity. The days of our years in themselves are seventy years. There are many things that might be said, but the hour shuts us out. 12 Make known your right hand, and those fettered in heart in wisdom. In some manuscripts it says "the learned," in others it says "the fettered." "Learned" means one thing, "fettered" means another. What then does he say: Make known your right hand? Why so long do you draw back your right hand, O God? "Why do you turn away your hand into your bosom?" it says in another psalm. What is being said is this: We are laid low in sickness, we lie in sins: send forth your right hand, and lift us up. Why so long do you keep your right hand in your bosom? Let your heart pour out your good Word: send forth your right hand, and set us free. Make known to us the mystery which was hidden from the generations. Make known your right hand. What are you stealing away by stealth, O Arius? He did not say, make your right hand: for God was never without his right hand. But what did he say? Your right hand, which always existed, and was in your bosom, make it known. Since we cannot know him remaining in his deity, let him take on manhood, and thus let us understand him. Make known your right hand thus, and those fettered in heart in wisdom: those who have the fetters of wisdom, that is, who are fettered in the heart through your wisdom. Do not let it trouble you that the passage is obscure. The prophets had wisdom: but that very wisdom, as it were, fettered them; they could not fly without Christ. See, then, what he says: Send forth your right hand, that is, your Son, and make him known to us; and let the prophets, who prophesied, as it were, the shadow, begin to preach the Lord more manifestly.

13 Turn back, O Lord, how long? We have sinned much, you turn away your face, our sins are not worthy to be seen by your eyes, and therefore we pray: Turn back, O Lord, how long? Behold, now so many ages have flowed by: the prophets have always proclaimed to the nations that you would come, and still you have not come. And direct the sons of men. We who are crooked, may we be set straight by you. And direct the sons of men. Well did he say, direct the sons of men. Direct them for this reason, because they are sons of men. For if they were your sons, they would have been set straight. For you yourself said: "I said: you are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and shall fall like one of the princes." And in another place: "Sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart?" And in another place: "My spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh." Since they are men, therefore they are flesh. So because we are sons of men, and we have lost the state of being sons of God, and we have become crooked: therefore direct us, so that we may again be made your sons.

14 And let the splendor of the Lord our God be upon us. The Apostle also says to the Hebrews that the Lord and Savior is the splendor of the glory of the Father. And let the splendor of the Lord our God be upon us. This is what is said also in another place: "The light of your countenance has been sealed upon us, O Lord." The sign of the cross is our banner. This much we have said for the present about the psalter, and I reckon we have lingered longer than we should have. We realize that we have said much more than we ought to have said; but we cannot keep silent about the words of our Lord, we cannot leave a psalm we have begun. Whatever profits the soul is not too much; nothing is enough of what is good, if indeed it is good. Let us therefore ask our Lord and Savior that his splendor may shine forth in our hearts, that it may cast out all our darkness, that it may drive away from our hearts the dark thoughts and those of all sins, that it may illumine our darkness, that the shadows may flee, and that his splendor may dwell in our hearts. The temple of the Lord and the tabernacle and the holy of holies always had a burning lamp, always a lamp was shining in the temple of the Lord. For if the lamp is extinguished, the Lord does not dwell in darkness. Let us therefore say, we too: "Your word, O Lord, is a lamp to our feet."

Homily 20, on Psalm 90

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). Who dwells in the help of the Most High. "Help" is what Ezra means. Indeed, the prophet Ezra is called βοηθός (boēthos), "helper." This is the one who led the people back from the captivity of Babylon and brought them into the land of promise. Whoever, therefore, dwells in Ezra, whoever dwells in Jesus (for the moment according to the tropological sense), who built for himself a house without hands, as the apostle says — that house which the Lord had built even for the midwives in Egypt: he shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven. He shall say to the Lord: You are my upholder and my refuge, my God. For many enemies pursue me: therefore you are my refuge. I will hope in him, for he himself will free me from the snare of the hunters. He did not say, "I hope"; but, "I will hope." For as long as we sin, we do not hope: if we cease to sin, we hope. For he himself will free me from the snare of the hunters. There are many hunters in this world, who try to hunt down our soul. Indeed even that giant Nimrod was a great hunter in the sight of the Lord: and Esau was a hunter, because he was a sinner; and nowhere in the holy Scriptures do we find any holy hunter. Fishermen we find to be holy.

2 For he himself will free me from the snare of the hunters. "Our soul, like a sparrow, has been snatched from the snare of the hunters: the snare has been broken, and we have been set free." What is this snare that has been broken? "The Lord," he says, "will crush Satan under our feet speedily." And the apostle says: "That you may be freed from the snare of the devil." You see, therefore, that this is a hunter, who desires to hunt our souls to their destruction. The devil has many snares, and he has diverse snares. Greed is a snare of the devil, slander is a snare of the devil, fornication is a snare of the devil. And from the harsh word. As long as we are in holiness, our soul is tranquil; but when we begin to think about sins, our soul is troubled, and is shaken as though by certain waves.

3 With his shoulders he will overshadow you. But this is according to that passage of Deuteronomy: The Lord protects us with his wings like his own chicks, as an eagle does. For it is said there that he protects his chicks like an eagle. Although, therefore, we can say this, that God protects us like a father, and protects us like a hen protecting her chicks, lest they be seized by the hawk: nevertheless we can also say something else. With his shoulders he will overshadow you: he will be lifted up on the cross, he will stretch out his hands, and will protect us. And under his wings you shall hope. You shall look, he says, upon his crucified hands, and if the serpent bites you, you shall be healed. Although you walk in the desert of this world: if a scorpion strikes you, if a basilisk, if an asp, if the other venomous creatures, be secure concerning your healing: the serpent has been lifted up in the wilderness.

4 His truth shall surround you with a shield. Our shield is round, that is, it hedges us in on every side. Not only is it a shield, but it is also a wall. "Lord, as with a shield of your good will you have crowned us." Does someone crown with a shield? See what he says: Lord, as with a shield of your good will you have crowned us. What does he say? You will protect us, and make us conquer, and after the victory you will crown us. His truth shall surround you with a shield. Since he had said "from the harsh word," and by the harsh word we can understand also that of the heretics, and of the philosophers, and of the Jews, and this, as it were, harsh word is not true, but is false. For it is turbid precisely because it is false; it is turbid precisely because it disturbs our souls through its lie. The Lord therefore, who is truth, and says "I am the truth," his truth surrounds us with a shield, lest we be struck by the burning arrows of the devil. Therefore Christ, who is the truth, sets his shield against them, so that by the shield of truth he may overcome the lie. You shall not fear the terror of the night. The devil is always in darkness: "that he may strike," he says, "the innocent in secret." You see, therefore, that whoever is simple and innocent is always struck in secret. You shall not fear the terror of the night. What he says is this: Although you may be in terror, which is night, nevertheless you shall not fear, because you have the shield of truth.

5 Of the arrow that flies by day. To this sense there seems to be, as it were, a contradiction: Of the arrow that flies by day. The flying arrow of the devil seems to me to be the discourse of the heretics and philosophers. For these too promise the light of knowledge, and say that they have day; and they cannot deceive unless they promise light. But that light which they promise is from burning arrows. And therefore it is said, Of the arrow that flies by day. Of the business that walks about in the darkness. The arrow indeed flies as though by day, but the business is one that walks about in darkness. 6 Of the assault and the noonday demon. It is better said in Greek, ἀπὸ συμπτώματος (apo symptōmatos). Symptosis means either an occurrence, that is, when we do not expect it, and something new happens. Or it is called symptoma, when many fall at the same time. See therefore what he says. Although many have been led astray, nevertheless you, who are holy, are not to be led astray. I give an example, so that the simpler ones may be able to understand what is said. If you go into a city as a monk alone, and begin to walk about, and hear a shout in the circus, and someone says to you: Come and watch, it is the circus; and you begin to say to him, It is not permitted, I cannot go: if he shows you countless thousands of men, and says to you, Two hundred thousand men are there: are all those then going to perish, and you alone will be saved? — you ought to understand that it is a symptoma of the devil; that is, you ought to know that many are falling. And the noonday demon. Many indeed say that there are also noonday demons, and this is said among the common folk. But for my part I say plainly that a demon has power over us at the time when we sin. Whether we sin in the morning, the demon enters into us: whether at evening, whether at night, at whatever hour we sin, the demon enters into us.

7 But if we do not sin at noon, he does not enter into us. You see, therefore, how frivolous is what is said among the common folk. What then does he say, Of the noonday demon? Because Abraham received the angels at noon, and Joseph invited his brothers to a meal at noon. For both Abraham and Joseph were holy, and therefore their banquet was in clear light and full sun, therefore they feed at noon. And I too, if I have full knowledge of the Scriptures, although it be the third hour, nevertheless I feed you at noon. Indeed even the bride in the Song of Songs says: "Where do you feed, she says, where do you lie down at noon? You see that the bridegroom does not feed, does not recline at the third hour, but at noon. Where do you feed, where do you lie down, where do I find you, where do you take your delight, where can I find you, O my bridegroom? Do you wish to find me? At noon, in perfect knowledge, in good works, in clear light. Since therefore we have our noon, therefore the devil too transforms himself into an angel of light, and he himself pretends that he has light, that he has noon. When the heretics promise, as it were, certain mysteries, when they promise the kingdom of heaven, when continence, when fasts, when holiness, when renunciation of the world, they promise noon.

8 But since it is not the light of Christ, it is not noon, but the noonday demon. 9 A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. The individual words of the Scriptures are individual mysteries. Those rustic words which are thought so by the men of the world are full of mysteries. "For we have this treasure in earthen vessels": we have the treasure of the divine meaning in the most worthless words. A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. At whose side? At the side of him to whom it had been said, His truth shall surround you with a shield, you shall not fear the terror of the night. Who is this? He of whom it was said above, Who dwells in the help of the Most High, he shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven. From him, therefore, who dwells in the help of the Lord, a thousand shall fall at his side, and ten thousand at his right hand. The right hand of the holy man is spoken of: the left is not spoken of, but the side. For see what is said: And ten thousand at your right hand. And how had you said it? A thousand shall fall at your side. For when the right hand is spoken of and the left is not named, in place of the left the side is named. For it could not be just that the just man should have a left hand. "Whoever," he says, "strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well.

10 He did not say, "and the left": for it is not a left cheek that is offered, but another right one. Therefore I say plainly that the just man has two right hands. Indeed even that Ehud, who is written of in the book of Judges, is said to have two right hands for this reason, because he was just, and he killed that very fat king. A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. There are more who lie in wait for our right hand, there are not more who lie in wait for the left: therefore at the side a thousand shall fall, and at the right hand ten thousand. For where the greater battle is, the greater victory. Few lie in wait for the side, more lie in wait for the right hand. 11 For he has given his angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. This passage the devil interpreted concerning the Lord. For at the time when he tempted the Lord, "If," he says, "you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. For it is written concerning you, that he has given his angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone. The devil said nothing more than this: For he has given his angels charge concerning you, that in their hands they may bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone. He left out the middle part. For here it is said, For he has given his angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. This he did not say, To guard you in all your ways: for he knew it was against himself. For the Lord could have answered him: If the Lord guards me in all my ways, then I am guarded from you too. He was silent, therefore, about what he knew was against himself, and set down what was in his favor. Truly the devil, like a devil, interprets concerning the Savior what is not concerning the Savior. For if the whole psalm is about the Savior, as you interpret it, O devil, then it is about him too what is said: I will protect him, because he has known my name.

12 That is, I the Father will protect my Son. Let me interpret it, devil, as you understand it. Let us see whether the sense holds. I will protect him, because he has known my name: that is, I the Father my Son. He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: that is, on the day of the cross. I am with him in tribulation, I will rescue him and glorify him: that is, I will make him rise again. With length of days I will fill him. That is, he shall live forever. And let us understand this concerning the Son of God, With length of days I will fill him. But this that follows, how does it hold with respect to the Savior, And I will show him my salvation? The salvation of God is the Son of God. If therefore it is said about the Son, how can it hold? For the salvation of God is the Son of God. You see, therefore, that you have interpreted badly, O devil. But grant that it be interpreted as you say. You said, For he has given his angels charge concerning you, that in their hands they may bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone. Say also what follows. Why are you silent? Upon the asp and the basilisk you shall walk, and you shall trample under foot the lion and the dragon: Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

Homily 21, on Psalm 91

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). 2 The ninety-first psalm is prefaced with this title: A psalm of a song for the sabbath day. No one can keep the sabbath day unless he has first passed through six days. For six days we labor; on the seventh day we rest. Therefore we cannot sing to the Lord except on the sabbath day. As long as we do the works of this world, that is, during the six days, we cannot sing to the Lord. And so it is said in Leviticus: "You shall do no servile work on the sabbath day." Whoever, then, is in the sabbath and in the Lord's rest ought not to do servile work, that is, work that pertains to this world; but he ought to do that work which pertains to the sabbath. Do you want to know that on the sabbath the priests work in the temple of the Lord? On the sabbath no one is permitted to cut wood. Indeed, one man who was found doing so in the wilderness was stoned and killed. Likewise it is not permitted to kindle a fire, nor even to do any work at all. But you see that all these things, which no one in the world is permitted to do on the sabbath, are permitted to the priests alone: for they both cut wood, and lay on the fire, and perform other ministries, and offer up sacrifices. Why have I said all this? To show that it is written in the law that we too must cease even on the sabbath day from the works of the world, and do those things that pertain to God. So then, it is a psalm of a song for the sabbath day, when we do not work for the world, but work for God. Let us see, therefore, what we ought to sing on the sabbath, when we cease from the works of the world.

3 It is good to give praise to the Lord, and to sing to your name, O Most High. He did not say, it is good to sing, and afterwards to give praise; but see the order: It is good to give praise, and it is good to sing. First do penance and wipe away your sins with tears, and afterwards sing to the Lord. It is good to give praise to the Lord: not to men, but to God: confess your sins to him who is able to heal. And to sing to your name, O Most High. 4 To proclaim your mercy in the morning, and your truth throughout the night. Understand carefully what is said: To proclaim your mercy in the morning and your truth throughout the night. Each little verse refers to a corresponding one. It is good to give praise to the Lord — to proclaim your mercy in the morning. If you give praise to the Lord, you proclaim in the morning the mercies of the Lord. And to sing to your name, O Most High. Refer this verse to the one that follows: And your truth throughout the night. For when we give praise to the Lord, we hope for mercy; but when we sing, we practice the virtues. To proclaim your mercy in the morning. Where are those who understand the scriptures according to the letter? Can we not proclaim the mercy of God at midday? And surely it belongs above all to Christians and monks to confess their sins in the night. And how does he now say, To proclaim your mercy in the morning? What he says is this. We cannot give praise to the Lord and obtain his mercy unless a bright light has begun to shine in our heart. Unless the darkness has gone before and the morning has come, we cannot obtain the mercy of the Lord. But then you proclaim the mercy of the Lord in the morning, when the sun of righteousness has risen in your heart. And your truth throughout the night. The truth of the Lord is not proclaimed except toward the night:

5 in the day it cannot be proclaimed. For the weak cannot bear things that are great, nor can they endure things that are precious. Hence it is said also in another place concerning God: "He made darkness his hiding place" — that is, the Lord made darkness his hiding place. And so the truth of the Lord is proclaimed in the night: it is wrapped up, as it were, in a certain darkness of words. It is spoken in riddle and in parables: that those who see may not see, and those who hear may not hear. We read in Hosea, and it is said to the prophet: "Go and take to yourself a wife, a wife of harlotry. The Jews hear it and the gentiles, and they laugh. Why do they laugh? Because the truth is placed in the night, not in the day. Do you want to know that the truth of God is in the night, and, as it were, in darkness, and is set in parables? Moses went up onto Mount Sinai: and he entered, it says, into the whirlwind and into the gloom and into the darkness, and there he spoke with the Lord. For the people of Israel could not see the mysteries of God, because it had not entered into the gloom of God.

6 On the ten-stringed psaltery, with a song upon the harp. I say it plainly: as often as we lift up our hands without wandering thoughts and disputings, we sing to the Lord on the ten-stringed instrument. On the ten-stringed psaltery, with a song upon the harp. Our harp is body and soul and spirit: they are composed of all the strings. 7 For you have delighted me, O Lord, in your making, and in the works of your hands I will exult. A Christian, whatever he sees, is always built up. Nothing tears down a monk except sin. Whatever you look upon is your own edifice. You see the sky, you see the sun, you see the stars, you see the moon: this builds you up. For you ought to think and say: If the sun and the moon and the sky and the stars serve God, why should I not serve? You see the earth, you see the animals and all the things that are upon the earth: bring this too to bear upon your soul, and build yourself up, and say to your soul: All things run in their own season; consider indeed spring and summer, autumn and winter — do these seasons ever change? No, according to the ordinance of God all things serve. The sky serves, and the earth serves: and I, unhappy man, do not serve. Let us come to the little animals: I leave aside now the elephants, I leave aside the lions, I leave aside the various animals, I come to the little animals. Look at the bee, look at the ant: see the body, and search out the wisdom. The wisdom is greater than the size of the body. Bees and ants consider that winter is coming: and the monk and the Christian do not consider that judgment is coming.

8 Those creatures consider that they may be endangered by hunger, if they have not labored in the summer to have something to live on in the winter: we do not consider that without work we will be tormented in hell. Why have I said all this? Because it is now written, For you have delighted me, O Lord, in your making. Whatever I look upon delights me: for I understand the maker, and I bless God. And in the works of your hands I will exult. I see a tree, and I consider how the bark of the tree is, as it were, clothed like a tunic, how it grows green like a bud. Then I see how there is, as it were, a blossom, how the blossom falls, and the blossom itself turns into fruit. I see nature little by little, through each single day and into each single season, working for me and growing into my food. I see how God in all things labors for me, so that nothing may be lacking to me: and therefore I exult in you, O Lord.

9 How magnified are your works, O Lord. At this point Marcion and Manichaeus burst out. For what do they say? If God made all things, and made them for the benefit of men, what need was there to make the bedbug and the flea? I answer you briefly: so that your frailty, O man, might be shown. For you who place your thought in heaven — look, you are bitten by a bedbug and you shudder. Why are you lifted up into heaven, and why does your thought soar into heaven? Behold, you are wounded by a bedbug. How magnified are your works, O Lord. Small bodies indeed, but great design. Each has its own uses. I marvel at the Lord in the elephant just as much as in the ant; I proclaim him in the camel just as much as in the gnat. Look at the gnat, how it is like the point of some tiny body, and yet see how in that very point of a tiny body all its members are distinct. It has six feet, it has two eyes, it has a mouth and a belly, it has also a trumpet of voice, it has wings too. If you look at the members, you do not find the body; and yet God is magnified, because without a body there are all these members.

10 Your thoughts have been made exceedingly deep. Whatever I may think, I cannot find it out. "Your judgments are an abyss." "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God." I too will say with Ecclesiastes: "I said, I will become wise: and it was made far from me, much farther than it was; and it is deep — who can find it out?" What Ecclesiastes says is this: Before I put my thought to the work, I did not see the magnificence of God. I said, I will become wise, that is, I said, I ought to seek out the reasons of the individual causes; and it was made far from me, much farther than it was, that is, the wisdom which before, not searching, I was ignorant of, afterwards I began to seek, and I could not find it out. The foolish man does not know, and the stupid man does not understand these things. Whoever is not a Christian, and in the works does not understand the creator, that man is foolish.

11 When sinners spring up like grass. You have seen emperors, you have seen prefects, you have seen armies, you have seen victories and triumphs. Yesterday it was, and today it is not. And all who work iniquity have appeared, that they may perish forever and ever. Yesterday it appeared like a flower, today the flower itself does not appear. Yesterday the grass was green, today it is dried up. Where is that beauty? Nothing is good except what is eternal: nothing is good except what is everlasting. Whatever has an end is not even to be counted among good things. For what does it profit me, if yesterday I was fed, and today I die of hunger? For what does it profit me, if a few days ago I was a king, and today I die in prison? Everything that is past and has an end is nothing. Each one of us has come from the world to this life. One left his mother behind, another his sons, another his wife, another his parents. Let us remember our infancy, let us remember our youth; let us remember that we once had riches, and each one according to his means had what he could. Behold, we have passed over to this life. Where are all those things? Thought about, they cause pain rather than pleasure. Nothing therefore is good except what is everlasting.

12 But you, O Lord, are the Most High for evermore. For behold your enemies, O Lord, for behold your enemies shall perish, and all who work iniquity shall be scattered. If they perish, how shall they be scattered? For he who has once perished cannot be scattered. He ought to have said: Behold, they shall be scattered, and they shall perish. What he says, then, is this: Your enemies, O Lord, shall perish; when all things have been made subject to you, everyone who was your enemy afterwards becomes a friend, that is, the man will not perish, but the enemy will perish. He who was an enemy will be a friend, and thus the enemy will perish. For behold your enemies shall perish, and all who work iniquity shall be scattered. Just as, when the saints are together, it is pleasing; so, if sinners are together, it is, as it were, a most wicked gathering. For the more of them there are together, the worse they are. Indeed, at the time when the tower was being built against God, they were scattered for their own benefit. Their agreement was evil: but the scattering profited even those very ones who were scattered.

13 And my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn. The horn is always set in the kingdom. "In you we will toss up our enemies with the horn." Indeed, no animal is offered in sacrifice to the Lord in the temple except one that has a horn. Three things are offered to the Lord in the temple: the bull is offered, the ram is offered, the he-goat is offered. Three are offered, and all are horned. For unless someone has a horn with which to toss up his enemies, he is not worthy to be offered to God. For this reason the Lord too is called a horn by those who believe in him; and on the horns of his cross he tossed up his enemies. There he confounded the devil, and all his army. Christ indeed was crucified in the body, but there in truth he was crucifying the demons. It was not a cross: but it was a triumph, it was a battle-standard. For this reason he mounted upon the cross, that he might lift us up from earth on high. I think that this cross of the Savior is the ladder which Jacob saw. On that ladder the angels were descending and ascending; on that ladder, that is, the cross, the Jews descend, and the gentiles ascend. And my horn shall be exalted like that of the unicorn. Let others have many horns: I have one horn alone. "But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of the Lord: through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world."

14 And my old age in plentiful mercy. Our old age needs the oil of God. For just as our bodies, when they grow weary (I speak rather plainly for the sake of the simpler brothers, who cannot understand more loftily) — just as our bodies, when they grow weary, are not restored except by the anointing of oil; just as the light that is in a lamp, unless you put in oil, is extinguished: so also the light of my old age needs the oil and mercy of God in order to grow. Indeed the apostles too go up onto the Mount of Olives, so that, because they were weary and their lamps needed the oil of the Lord, they might be illumined by the oil of the Lord. Hence the righteous man also says: "But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God. And in another place it is said: "Your sons are like young olive shoots around your table. Was there no other mountain from which the Lord might ascend to the kingdoms of heaven, except the Mount of Olives? Was there not a loftier mountain in Galilee, Tabor? What need was there for the Lord to ascend into the kingdoms of heaven from the Mount of Olives? But see what the scripture teaches you. Unless you put oil into yourself and into your lamps, you will not be able to ascend into the kingdoms of heaven. You ought to be on the Mount of Olives:

15 not in the valley of the Olives, but on the Mount of Olives. Let someone say: What is this valley of the Olives? The devil too has his olive trees: he has philosophers, he has heretics; they too have oil, and they too promise the light of knowledge. But those olive groves lead down into the valley: "But let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. Let us, then, ask the Lord that our old age and all our toil and all our darkness may be illumined by the oil of the Lord. I attend carefully in the scriptures to where I may first read of old age. Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years, and yet he is not called old. Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he is not called old. I come all the way to the flood, and after the flood through nearly three thousand years: and I find no one who is called old. Abraham is the first to be called old, and he was certainly of much less age than Methuselah; but he is called old for this reason, that his old age had been anointed with plentiful oil. Indeed it is written there: "And Abraham died," it says, "nourished in a good old age; full," it says, "of days. For this reason in a good old age, because he was full of days: for all the time of his life was days, and not night.

16 This very thing that is said of Abraham is said also of Isaac, is said also of Jacob. For those who had served the Lord together are rightly called together the old men of the Lord. 17 Like the cedar of Lebanon he shall be multiplied: a sweet-smelling wood, the wood with which the roofs of the temple are covered. Like the cedar of Lebanon he shall be multiplied: a wood that does not rot. Planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God they shall flourish. In one place we are planted, in another we flourish: here we are planted, in the kingdom of heaven we shall flourish. "I," he says, "planted, Apollos watered, but the Lord gave the increase." Planted in the house of the Lord, that is, in the church, not in the walls, but in the doctrines: "For the kingdom of God," he says, "is within you": whoever has been planted in the house of the Lord, who has sent forth his roots here, there brings forth flowers. Planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God they shall flourish. These are the eternal tabernacles. What are these courts? The various dwellings in heaven. And at the same time see what he says: Planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God they shall flourish. Here is the house, there is the court. Surely, according to the order, he ought to have said first the court, and so the house. But see what he says. Here we may seem to be in the house: but when we have migrated to the kingdoms of heaven, in comparison with the angels and the other powers, we are not in the house, but we are in the court: we are at the beginning, not in perfection. For we shall not be angels, but as it were angels. Do not let it seem to you too small a thing, O man, if you shall be like an angel.

18 They shall still be multiplied in a plentiful old age. Happy is he who grows daily, who grows old in age, and grows old also in virtues. These things we have said for now concerning the psalm: we have spoken also a few things concerning the gospel, we have said something too concerning the apostle. Let us pray the Lord that all we have said — both what we have said and what you have heard — we may fulfill in deed, and turn the words into works: that we who here are planted in the house of the Lord may flourish in the court of Christ. To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Homily 22, on Psalm 93

1 Latin source: Germanus Morin (ed.), Sancti Hieronymi Presbyteri Tractatus sive Homiliae in Psalmos, Anecdota Maredsolana III (Maredsoli, 1897) — public domain. Psalm numbering follows the Septuagint/Vulgate (Morin). We are always discussing the title, so that from the title the psalm too may be understood. "A psalm of David, on the fourth day of the week." The fourth day of the week is in the middle of the week, as if in the heart of the week — that is, in the middle of the seven days. For it is the fourth day, and the fourth day has an equal number of days on either side. For on one side it has the first, second, and third day; and on the other side it has the fifth, sixth, and seventh day. You see, therefore, that the fourth day — that is, the fourth day of the week — is made firm on either side by a double trinity. And at the same time it must be considered that the fourth number, in its power, is the tenth. How so? For if you count and make an ordered sum — one, two, three, four — the number ten is produced. You see, therefore, that the fourth number produces the tenth. And consider from this that the four Gospels are reckoned within the Decalogue, so that whatever was said in the Decalogue is fulfilled in the four Gospels, so that the old Law is not at variance with the dignity of the Gospel. So much, for the moment, we have said about the title; now let us come to the psalm.

2 "The Lord is the God of vengeances; the God of vengeances has acted freely. He who for so long lay hidden and did not appear among the people, afterward acted freely. He who before was unknown, afterward triumphed on the cross. "The Lord is the God of vengeances. If the Lord is the God of vengeances ("Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, says the Lord"), why do you, O man, desire to avenge yourself? You have the Lord as your avenger. The Apostle says this too: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink: for in doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head. This does not seem to belong to kindness, but to cruelty. For if I do him good so that God may do him evil, this does not come from kindness, but from a cruelty of mind. For what does the Apostle say? "If your enemy is hungry, feed him. A dutiful utterance. "If he thirsts, give him drink. Up to this point it seems to be mercy. But what he adds — "for in doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head" — does not seem to belong to mercy, but to cruelty. For you seem to give bread and to give water to drink for this reason: that he may be tormented for ages. And does the Apostle say this — does the preacher of mercy teach cruelty? It must therefore not be taken so, but in another sense.

3 If your enemy strikes you, offer him the other cheek as well; if he does you evil, do him good: for if you do this, you will heap coals of fire upon his head. What he says is this: you will cleanse him from sin; for his cruelty will be overcome by your patience. If you aim an arrow at a stone, and the stone is hard, not only is it not driven in, but it rebounds: so your enemy, if he has struck you and has not been struck back, overcome by your patience will return to better things. 4 "How long, O Lord, the sinners — how long shall the sinners glory?" Human impatience does not want God to have patience. Wretched are we, who want God to be patient toward us and impatient toward our enemies. Whenever we sin, we desire him to be patient; but whenever someone offends against us, we do not want God to be patient toward that man. "How long shall the sinners glory?" It is not enough for them to sin, but they even glory in their sins. The first misfortune is to sin; the second misfortune, or rather the last, is not to do penance. These sinners, therefore, not only do not bend the neck, but freely glory after their sin. "They will utter and speak iniquity." He speaks of this properly concerning the heretics. "All who work iniquity shall speak." See the sign: he who speaks evil must necessarily do evil. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Wherever the conscience is wounded, there sin is easily committed in the mouth.

5 "They have humbled your people, O Lord." Always the people of God are humbled, the people of God are oppressed. "They have humbled your people, O Lord." The people of God are humbled, and imitate God who was humbled and meek of heart. "They have slain the widow and the stranger, and murdered the orphans: and they said, The Lord shall not see." Although this is plain according to the literal history — for always whoever needs protection is easily oppressed, and the more lowly anyone is, the more does the one who oppresses him offend God — nevertheless let us also interpret it according to the tropology. For I had said that this is said of the heretics: "They have slain the widow and the stranger." That widow — that is, the soul of the sinner, which has ceased to have God as its husband. A stranger is one who is not a resident — that is, one who does not dwell. He who had recently believed, being suddenly scandalized, perishes. "And they murdered the orphans; and they said, The Lord shall not see." Do we wonder that they are called orphans, where there is a widow? For just as the widow is the soul of the sinner, so he calls those orphans who have lost having God as their father. "And they said." What did they say? "The Lord shall not see, nor shall the God of Jacob understand." This everyone says who oppresses the saints. As they say this, see what the Holy Spirit answers.

6 "Understand, you who are foolish among the people, and be wise at last, you fools. He who planted the ear, shall he not hear?" He who is a potter, is he ignorant of his own vessel? He who makes another hear, shall he then himself not hear? He who gave me eyes, shall he then himself not see? He who is the author of my understanding, shall he himself not understand? This passage tells especially against those who are Anthropomorphites, who say that God has the members that we too have. For example, God is said to have eyes: "The eyes of the Lord look upon all things"; "the hand of God makes all things." "And Adam heard," it says, "the sound of the Lord's feet walking in paradise." These things they hear simply, and refer human weaknesses to the majesty of God. But I say that God is wholly eye, wholly hand, wholly foot. He is wholly eye, because he sees all things; wholly hand, because he works all things; wholly foot, because he is everywhere. So see what he says: "He who planted the ear, shall he not hear?" He did not say, "He who planted the ear, does he then himself not have an ear?" He did not say, "Does he then himself not have eyes?" But what did he say? "He who planted the ear, shall he not hear? He who formed the eyes, does he not consider?" He took away the members, he bestowed the functions.

7 "He who chastises the nations, shall he not reprove?" He who teaches others, does he then himself not know? "He who teaches man knowledge." It is understood: does he then himself not have knowledge? 8 "The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain." We read in a secular poet: "O the cares of men, O how much emptiness there is in things!" Both the Gentiles and the philosophers lift this little verse to heaven. And what do they say? Nothing could be said more prudently. Behold, our rustic Hebrew, so many ages before, spoke this. And what did he say? "The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain." Do you want to know that the thoughts of men are vain? A father and mother rear their son: they promise themselves happiness from him, they send him to his studies, they educate him, he comes all the way to young manhood, they arrange that he should even serve in the army. When they have thought of everything over thirty years, one little fever comes and carries off all their thoughts. I have an enemy, and the day of judgment is thirty days off; by day and by night I think of nothing else except what I shall answer him. I am on my bed, and my thought is answering my absent enemy. The enemy is not there, and my words are answering the enemy: by day and by night I am wrapped in thought. But when the day of judgment has come, all those things that I had thought perish, and whatever God has said, that I speak. For this reason the Lord too says in the Gospel: "When you stand before the judges, do not think what you shall answer: for the Lord will give you in that hour what you shall answer." "The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are vain." One thought alone is happy: to think about the Lord.

9 "Blessed is the man whom you shall instruct, O Lord." Happy is he who has God as his teacher. "And whom you shall teach out of your law: that you may soften for him the evil days." See what he says. "Blessed is the man whom you shall instruct, O Lord, and whom you shall teach out of your law" — that is, out of your Scriptures. But of what use is this, that he should be taught out of your law? "That you may soften for him the evil days." You see, therefore, that knowledge and practice and works drawn from the Scriptures soften for us the evil days. "Until a pit be dug for the sinner." When you are instructed out of the law of the Lord, one thing is divided for you into two: for it softens for you the evil days, and it digs a pit for the sinner.

10 "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?" The psalms are obscure, and they are always changing the speakers; and for this reason they are obscure, and it is of exceeding difficulty to know in each verse who is speaking. "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand with me against those who work iniquity?" These verses the Savior speaks. "I am holy, I was lifted up on the cross, I died, I rose again, and I ascended a victor to the heavens. Who, do you suppose, among the saints, is there who will rise again with me?" So what he says is this: For this reason I rose again, that others too might rise with me. "Who will rise up for me?" When he says "Who," he provokes the rest to rise. For just as we read in Isaiah, "Whom shall I send to this people, and who will go for us?" — as Isaiah himself offers himself, so the Lord too provokes us, saying, "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?" Whoever rises again, will rise for me, is of my army. "Against the evildoers": against the devil and his army. "Or who will stand with me?" See the order: he did not say first "who will stand," and "who will rise"; but "who will rise," and "who will stand." For first we rise, then we stand. "Or who will stand with me against those who work iniquity" — as a general might stand and say, "Who is coming in my army?"

11 "Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul had almost dwelt in hell." For this reason, O Lord, I rise again, because you were among the dead and rose again. My soul would have been held fast among the dead, if your soul had not risen again from the dead. "If I said, My foot has slipped." Considering my frailty and human weakness, I did not think my foot stood on firm footing: wherever I set my foot, I feared a fall. Again I thought of your name, and I stood with firm foot. "According to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, your consolations have gladdened my soul." This very thing the Apostle too speaks of, namely that according to the labors and miseries which we suffer in this world, we have a reward with God in the heavens. The greatness of the tribulations is the greatness of the rewards. As many wounds as we suffer, so many crowns do we also deserve. This is what he says: The more I did penance, so many times did you console me. I shed one tear, I deserved one consolation: I shed ten tears, I deserved ten consolations. However great the weight of penance was, so great also was the number of consolations.

12 "He who fashions toil in the commandment. No one is crowned while sleeping, no one at ease possesses the kingdom of heaven, no one with a stuffed belly can worthily discourse about fasting. You see, then, what he says: "He who fashions toil in the commandment. All the commandments of the Lord have toil: without toil we cannot possess the kingdom of heaven. Do you want to know that it is so? "If you wish," he says, "to be perfect, go, sell all that you possess, and give to the poor, and come, follow me. He who wants, he says, to attain the kingdom of heaven, let him pray day and night, keep vigil, fast, lie on a rush mat, not on a feather cushion, not on silk. Penance does not love luxuries. "For I ate ashes," he says, "like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping. "He who fashions toil in the commandment: they will hunt the soul of the righteous. See how it seems not to be consistent. For what is the logical connection: "He who fashions toil in the commandment: they will hunt the soul of the righteous"? But what the fleshly ear does not understand, the spiritual ear understands. What then does he say? "He who fashions toil in the commandment": therefore, he says, we toil in the commandments of the Lord day and night, we keep vigil, we pray, we fast, because we have many adversaries who hunt the soul of the righteous. See what he says:

13 they hunt the soul of the righteous, not of the unrighteous. For they do not want to deceive those who have been deceived, but the righteous. Whence it is said in Habakkuk: "His food is choice. "And they shall condemn innocent blood. Some are accustomed to say: That man who was killed would not have been killed, unless he were a fornicator, or had had some sin; the collapse would not have overtaken him, unless he had been a sinner; the shipwreck would not have overwhelmed him, unless he had been a sinner. See, then, what holy Scripture says: "And they shall condemn innocent blood. As long as we are in this world, we suffer all things in common. The righteous man and the sinner are shipwrecked alike, they have equal flesh, and equal conditions of the flesh. The righteous man and the sinner perish alike: the righteous man and the sinner have a similar end, but different rewards. One is led to Gehenna, another is led to the kingdom of heaven. "And they shall condemn innocent blood. Your conscience is enough for you, O righteous man: and even if you are condemned, let your blood be innocent, and it will cry out to the Lord.

14 "And the Lord has become a refuge for me." This passage tells against the Arians. For since they contradict the Lord the Savior, because he is said to be "made," behold, we say, "The Lord has become a refuge for me." No one doubts that this is interpreted of the Father. But if it is said of the Father, "The Lord has become a refuge for me," it must be understood in this sense: the Lord who always was, has become a refuge for me. So too the Savior who always was, has become a Savior for me.