Homilies on the Psalms

Homilies on the Psalms

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Homily 44, on Psalm 131

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 Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness. Many suppose, from what is written in the Gospel — "Have mercy on us, Son of David," which the blind men who were sitting in Jericho said — that this David, whose name means "strong of hand," is referred to the Lord Savior. But if in this psalm we should choose to interpret it, as they judge, it does great harm to our understanding. For if this that is said, Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness, they refer to Christ, then how does Christ say, as though about someone else, "Until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob: behold, we heard of it in Ephrata, we found it in the fields of the wood"? And how is it said, "For the sake of David your servant, turn not away the face of your Christ"? The order does not stand. For if David, as they think, is Christ, then we begin to understand it thus: For the sake of Christ your servant, turn not away the face of your Christ. This I say against those who in this passage interpret David as Christ. Not that we deny that David may be interpreted as Christ according to the character of the passages: but in this passage the sense does not admit it. And I will tell you why they go astray: because it is written, Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness;

3 and the Lord says in the Gospel, "Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart" — with pious sense indeed, but in their error they here interpret David as Christ, and refer his meekness to Christ. Let us therefore interpret this psalm of David, so that he who is born of David may truly be understood as Christ. Then, see the order. For since the psalm is long, and we have already said many things, we ought briefly to touch upon the meanings, not to dispute at greater length: so that the prudent hearer may, from the things we have said, understand for himself even those things we do not say. 4 As he swore to the Lord, he vowed a vow to the God of Jacob. In the Hebrew it does not have cos, that is, "as," nor is that the sense; but it has os, that is, "who," and the sense is: Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness, who swore to the Lord, vowed a vow to the God of Jacob. And this I think was done not so much by a fault of the seventy translators as by an error of the copyists. If I shall enter into the tabernacle of my house. David says this: I seek no other rest but Christ, who is to be born of my seed, that is, whom you promised would be born of my loins.

5 If I shall give sleep to my eyes, and slumber to my eyelids, And rest to my temples, until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. Many think this is said of the Church: but to me it seems to be said not so much of the Church as of holy Mary. Then it is said: Behold, we heard of it in Ephrata, we found it in the fields of the wood. Let us read the holy Scriptures, and both by day and by night let us sift each single syllable and letter. Let someone say concerning Ephrata: here he said Bethlehem. For we read in Genesis: "He came into Bethlehem, this is Ephrata." This is said of Jacob, when his wife Rachel died, that is, in Ephrata. But let us see why Ephrata received its name. For it is written in Chronicles that Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, had for her husband Hur — not Ur, but Hur. And afterward the lineage is described, and it is said: "Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, this is Ephrata." This is written in the books of Chronicles: seek and you will find. And so this Ephrata too received its name from that Ephrata. Perhaps it seems to someone not to be true, because it is new: but I refer him to the authority of the book.

6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrata. In the Hebrew it does not have "it," but has "him": that is, that one who is to be born of the seed of David. We heard of him in Ephrata: which the sense is about Mary. But we can also understand it simply, since Ephrata is called Bethlehem, and Christ was born in Bethlehem. Happy therefore the place, which so long a time before was sung by the voice of the prophets. All holy places indeed are venerable, both where he was born, and where he was crucified, and where he rose again, and where he ascended a victor to the heavens; but this place is properly more venerable. See how great is the mercy of God. Here a little one is born, an infant is laid in a manger: "for there was no room for them in the inn." O monk, the Lord is born on earth, and has no cell of his own: there was no room for him in the inn. The whole human race had a place: and the Lord, who was to be born on earth, had no place. He found no place among men, he found none in Plato, none in Aristotle; but in a manger, among the beasts of burden and the dumb animals, and among all who are simple and innocent. Whence the Lord also says in the Gospel: "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air nests where they may rest: but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."

Homily 45, on Psalm 132

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 Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. He says two things: good and pleasant. Martyrdom is good, but it is not pleasant: for it has its tortures and punishments, and there is always pain in torments, and certainly in pain there is no pleasantness. Behold how good and how pleasant. Again, pleasure is pleasant. For example, to eat sweet foods seems to be pleasant: for it drives one to lust. Here therefore he has set down two things, and what seemed to him to be contrary — it is good and it is pleasant — he has joined in a single phrase: Behold how good and how pleasant. Pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity: brethren in mind, not in body. Esau and Jacob were brothers; and because they dwelt together, it was for them a cause of discord. Therefore what he says here, brethren, he does not say brethren in body, but spiritual brethren: the brethren of whom the Savior also spoke, and said to the women: 'Go, announce to my brethren'. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. This psalm properly suits communities and monasteries. For although it may be understood also of churches, yet there, because of the diversity of purpose, there seems not to be so great a concord. For what brotherhood is there there?

3 Surely one is hastening to go to his house, another to the circus, another in the church is thinking about interest on loans. But in a monastery, just as there is one purpose, so there is also one mind. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Truly good, truly pleasant. We have left one brother behind, and behold how many we have found. My worldly brother (what I say of myself, I say of each one) does not love me so much as he loves my property. But spiritual brethren, who indeed neglect what is their own, do not seek what belongs to others. So too we read in the Acts of the Apostles, that 'of the multitude of believers there was one heart and one soul. And, it says, they had all things in common'. Rightly did they have all things in common, because they possessed Christ in common. We have said much, but let us hasten on to the rest.

4 Like ointment upon the head, which runs down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron. Oh, if there were time for us to discuss each detail, a day could not suffice us. We read in Exodus how the priestly ointment is prepared; then we read how there was another ointment, with which the kings were anointed. There was also another ointment with which the prophets were anointed. And why do I say more? All the ointments had their own distinctions and mysteries. Do we marvel about holy persons? A leper, after he has been cleansed, after he has been sprinkled with hyssop and with the blood of a bird, and one bird is released into the wilderness, he too has his own proper ointment. Nothing is sanctified except through ointment. Therefore the young maidens also say in the Song of Songs: 'Thy name is ointment poured out. After thee we will run in the fragrance of thy ointments'. Like ointment upon the head, which runs down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron.

5 Beautifully did he say, upon the head. Which runs down upon the beard. The beard is a mark of manhood: for nature distinguishes woman and man by this sign. The beard therefore is a mark of manhood. The head then is called the divinity, that is, the Godhead; but the beard indicates the man. 'That, he says, we may arrive at the perfect man' who is Christ. See therefore what he says, like ointment. Like the blessing of ointment from the head, that is, from Hermon of the divinity, it ran down upon the beard, it ran down upon the perfect man, who is Christ; and from that beard, after the ointment itself had run down upon the hem of his garment, so the blessing and the dew of Mount Hermon ran down upon Mount Zion. Ointment therefore is here put for blessing. 'Thou hast loved, he says, righteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows'. See what he says. Thou hast loved, he says, righteousness, and hated iniquity. It is not enough to love righteousness, but on the contrary see what he says: And thou hast hated iniquity. For these virtues what did he receive? Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. This is said to Christ: therefore thou art anointed, that thou mightest anoint the others. Thou art anointed with the oil of gladness above thy fellows, that is, more than thy apostles.

6 For thou didst have the fountain of ointment: they had drops. Like ointment upon the head. May the Lord also bestow upon us this ointment of the Godhead, which came upon the beard, that is, upon the perfect man Aaron, upon Aaron the priest. Now Aaron is interpreted 'mountain-man'. You see that this priest is not from the valleys, but is from the mountains. The beard, he says, of Aaron. That the ointment came from the head upon the beard, it came from the Word, God, to the man whom he deigned to take up. And what does this anointed beard, and this perfect man, profit us? Let us see what benefits he has. Which runs down upon the hem of his garment. If we are the garment of Christ, we clothe his nakedness with our faith. Behold, naked he hangs upon the cross, a scandal to the Jews, foolishness to the Gentiles; and yet by our faith and word and confession he is clothed. Noah lay naked in his house, and his shame appeared: the elder son mocked, and the younger covered him. And why do I say all this? To show that we are the garment of Christ. I tell you a new thing: rather, not new, but from the Scriptures. We are the garment of Christ: and when we have clothed him with our confession, we in turn put on Christ himself. For the Apostle also says that Christ is our garment. For when we are baptized, we put on Christ.

7 And we are clothed, and we clothe. Do you wish to know how we clothe the Lord? We read in Jeremiah: 'Take unto thee, he says, a girdle, and go, he says, to the Euphrates, and put it in a hole of the rock. And I did, he says, what the Lord had commanded me. And after some days I returned to the Euphrates, and behold, he says, the girdle had rotted, so that it was fit for no use. And the Lord spoke, he says, to me'. Attentively take heed. 'As, he says, thou hadst a girdle about thy loins, so also I had this people about me, saith the Lord'. Why have I said all this? To show that believers are the garment of Christ. Which runs down upon the hem of his garment: which runs down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron. There is not time to speak of the priestly garments. Indeed the high priest has eight kinds of garments. It is long now to speak of the ephod, of the tunic: it is long to speak of the breastplate, of the manifestations, of the little chains, of the girdle, of the breeches, of the fringes, of the pomegranates, of the little bells, with which virtues the priest ought to enter the temple of the Lord and into the holy of holies.

8 And we therefore, if we wish to be of this priestly garment, either we are the shoulder-piece, which is interpreted the ephod, that we may have good works, and may carry the commandments of Christ upon our shoulders; or surely we ought to be the inner tunic, which tunic is close-fitting, and clings to the body, is not loose, is not spread out, but clings wholly to the body. You see therefore that whoever is inward is also the inner tunic, and is joined more nearly to the body. But if anyone is the breastplate, which is called λόγιον (the rational thing), that one is nowhere else but upon the breast. Take heed to the order of Scripture: whoever is the breastplate, and is the λόγιον, and is reason, is set upon the breast. Yet it can happen that someone has prudence, that he has the λόγιον, and does not have speech. Whoever therefore is a true priest ought to have the λόγιον, ought to have the δηλώσεις, that is, the manifestations, that is, that whatever he has conceived in his mind he may bring forth, and may teach all. And all these things are in vain, if chastity be not guarded and adorned: therefore there is the girdle, and it girds the loins, binds tight and mortifies. Then it is said that he should have the breeches, so that whatever is shameful and filthy in us may, as it were by this girdle, be cleansed and mortified.

9 Then it is said that we ought to have the robe (podere), which adorns as it were our feet. And on that robe itself are various flowers: there are pomegranates there, there are also fringes there. I think that woman too who had an issue of blood touched this fringe, and was healed. Then consider this also, that at the very extremities of the feet, among the pomegranates, there were also the little bells; and the high priest did not enter into the holy of holies unless those little bells sounded. And those little bells and those pomegranates are the diversities of virtues, which each have their own voices; and the very going forth of the holy of holies is vocal. For whether we eat, or whether we drink, we do all things in the name of the Lord. We promised smaller things, and have said greater ones. 10 Like the dew of Hermon, which runs down upon Mount Zion. The dew of Hermon. We read a certain apocryphal book, that at the time when the sons of God descended to the daughters of men, they descended upon Mount Hermon, and there entered into a covenant, how they might come to the daughters of men, and join them to themselves. It is a most manifest book, and it is reckoned among the apocrypha, and the ancient interpreters have said some things about it: but we say this, not for authority, but for remembrance. Like the dew of Hermon, which runs down upon Mount Zion. I read in a certain man's book, who confirms his own heresy from this apocryphal book. For what does he say? The sons of God, he says, who were descending from the heavens, and came upon Hermon, and lusted after the daughters of men, are, he says, angels descending from the heavenly places, and souls that desired bodies: since indeed the bodies are the daughters of men. Do you see how, without your knowing it, the doctrine of the Manichees arises? For just as the Manichees say that souls desired human bodies, and were joined by the pleasure of the bodies: so these too, who say that the angels desired bodies, that is, the daughters of men, do they not seem to you to say the very thing that the Manichees also say? It is long now to speak against them:

11 but I wished only to point out from what volume, as it were, they confirm their doctrine by occasion of this text. Hermon in our tongue is interpreted ἀνάθεμα (anathema), that is, condemnation. The dew of the Lord therefore was formerly upon the people of the Jews, who were afterwards anathematized; and that blessing, which formerly descended upon the anathematized people, afterwards descended upon Mount Zion, that is, upon the Church. We, if indeed we are of the Church — and by Church I mean the truth of doctrines, the confession of Christ. We are in the building: and how many holy ones are in the desert, how many of us are not in the Church; and those who are not in the Church dwell within the Church of Christ — if therefore we are in the Church, if we have the faith of the Church, the faith of the apostles, the faith of Christ, the truths of the doctrines, we are mountains of Zion. We do not wish to be valleys of Zion, but mountains of Zion. For Zion has its valleys, it has also its plains. Whoever is a sinner is a valley of Zion, he is not a mountain of Zion. Someone may say: You are speaking from your own opinion.

12 Let us call Isaiah as a witness, at the time when Zion had sinned, after many visions, where it is said, A vision against Idumaea, a vision against Moab, a vision against Edom and the sons of Ammon, at the last is placed: 'A vision of the valley of Zion'. For because it had descended from the height of faith, therefore it collapsed from a mountain into a valley. We therefore, first let us flee the valleys of Zion, let us come to the plains, from the plains let us come to the hills, from the hills let us come to the mountains, let us follow Christ upon the mountains. For our cousin, like a roe and a fawn of the harts, leaps over the hills, and springs across the mountains. Whence also, according to the truth of the ascension, he did not ascend into the heavens after the resurrection from a valley, but from a mountain. Unless we are mountains in virtues, we cannot ascend to heaven. For there, that is, in the mountains of Zion, in the virtues, in the confession of faith, in the truth of the doctrines, there is the blessing and life for evermore. Our life is Christ. He who confesses Christ receives life unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Homily 46, on Psalm 133

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 Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord. This is the last psalm of the Song of Ascents. The first of the gradual psalms had been: 'To the Lord, when I was in tribulation, I cried, and he heard me.' In the second he had climbed higher: 'I lifted up my eyes to the mountains.' In the third: 'I rejoiced in the things that were said to me.' In the fourth: 'To you I have lifted up my eyes, you who dwell in heaven.' See how little by little he ascends through the steps, and arrives at loftier things. It would take long, if we wished to recite the openings of the individual psalms, that is, of the steps. He comes to the thirteenth psalm—nay rather, he comes to the twelfth—and after all the virtues he set humility. For in vain do we have virtues, if the virtues themselves are not crowned by the humility of the Lord. For what did he say? 'Lord, my heart is not exalted, nor are my eyes lifted up.' Since therefore he had shown himself to be humble, he asks for the coming of Christ. And what does he say? 'Remember, Lord, David, and all his meekness.' And again in another place: 'For the sake of David your servant, turn not away the face of your Anointed.' Since he had received Christ, after the faith of Christ he gathers the church.

3 And what does he say? 'Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.' But since the brethren are gathered together in unity, and the church of the Lord is gathered, what does the very last psalm say? Behold now, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord. Since it is good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity, and you are gathered together as one: Behold now, bless the Lord. Now bless, after the coming of Christ, because you are gathered in him: now bless, in the last psalm of the steps, because you are gathered at the summit of the virtues. Therefore before you reached the fifteenth step, that is, the height, you could not bless the Lord. So now I say to you, behold now, bless the Lord. When 'behold' is said, in a way the thing is pointed out with the finger. Behold now, bless the Lord. Who are to bless the Lord? All you servants of the Lord: you who are not servants of sin, but servants of the Lord. Do we think it a small thing to say, 'I am a servant of the Lord'? It is the highest virtue to deserve this. Just as a man claims a kind of rank who says, 'I am a servant of the emperor,' and no one dares approach the emperor's servant: so it is an infinite dignity to say that one is a servant of the Lord.

4 And so the apostle too glories in the servitude of the Lord, and writes at the beginning of his epistles: 'Paul, a servant of Christ.' And of Moses it is said: 'And not as Moses my servant, to whom I spoke face to face.' See what he says. To the rest I spoke in a vision and in a riddle: but not as to Moses my servant, to whom I spoke face to face. Let us take an example. Let us suppose there is some very rich master: he has a household, he also has servants who wait upon him: surely the servants who are out on the country estates do not have as much confidence as those who serve him daily? Great is the dignity of the one who sees the master's face and serves him. In short, the other servants, who do not see their master's face, if they wish to obtain something, ask a fellow-servant. Why have I said all this? Our Lord Jesus Christ himself also has a large household: he has those who serve him, as it were, before his face, and he has others out in the fields. Monks and virgins I take to be those who serve their Lord before his face; but the laity, who are as it were in the field, belong to the household. In short, those who are in the fields ask these others to entreat the master, if they have any need.

5 As great, therefore, as is the dignity of those who daily see the master's face, so great is their punishment, if they neglect the master's service. For bad servants, when they are in the field, are wont to fear the master more, because they do not see him: but if they begin to see him daily, they grow contemptuous, and familiarity breeds pride. And so we too ought not, out of habit, to despise the goodness of our Lord. Bless the Lord therefore, all you servants of the Lord, you who are not servants of sin, but servants of the Lord: all you servants of the Lord, who have the Lord alone as God: all you servants of the Lord, over whom anger does not command, over whom lust does not reign, over whom other sins do not reign. Those over whom the vices have no dominion are ruled by the Lord. All you servants of the Lord.

6 It seems to have stopped here: but see the increase. It is not enough only to be a servant of the Lord, unless the servants themselves also stand. For there are some who stand, others who fall, others who sit, others who lie down. Therefore those who fall, who sit, who lie down—they cannot praise the Lord: you who stand, praise him. But someone may say: Others stand too, there are many churches, there are many congregations. Who then stand? Do the Arians stand? They name Christ—the Eunomians too, and the other heresies: do they then stand? So then, lest he should seem to grant them license to praise the Lord, see what he says. You who stand in the house of the Lord. So that, as the apostle says: 'until I come,' he says, 'that you may know how you ought to order the house of God, which is the church.' The church does not consist in walls, but in the truth of doctrines. The church is there, where the true faith is. Yet fifteen and twenty years ago the heretics possessed all the walls of the churches. For twenty years ago the heretics possessed all these churches. But the true church was there, where the true faith was. Therefore bless the Lord, you who are servants of the Lord. 'Praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner.' Therefore praise, you who are servants of the Lord: you who both are servants, and stand.

7 You who stand. 'He set,' he says, 'my feet upon a rock.' And to Moses: 'But you, stand here with me.' 'God stood in the assembly of the gods.' And you who stand, not just anywhere, but in the house of God. 'In the courts of the house of our God' is not found in the Hebrew volumes: but it is in the following psalm. For how does it run in that psalm? 'Praise the name of the Lord, praise the Lord, you servants: you who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.' Since therefore this psalm has, 'You who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God,' for this reason someone thought that in the psalm which precedes as well, at 'You who stand in the house of the Lord,' he ought to add, 'in the courts of the house of our God.' But what 'in the courts of the house of our God' signifies, and what the difference is between the house and the courts, will be discussed when the following psalm is read.

8 In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. 'This world is set in the power of the evil one,' and 'our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of these darknesses.' Whence the apostle also says: 'The night is past, and the day is at hand.' Therefore this present age is the night: but the age to come is the day. Whence the apostle says: 'The night is past, and the day is at hand. Let us walk honestly, as in the day,' he says. As we are to live in the day, that is, in the age to come, so let us now live. In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. Whether we will or not, we are in the nights: as long as we are in this age, we are in the nights. The night has darkness: and the nights of these darknesses are the sins of men. See, therefore, what he says: In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. 'While,' he says, 'you are in this age and are in the nights, lift up your hands.' Do not let them down, but lift them up: lift them up with Moses. If you lift up your hands, Amalek is conquered: but if you let them down, Joshua is overcome. And at the same time consider the mystery. If we lift up our hands, Jesus conquers. If we lift up our hands in good works, through our good works Christ overcomes the devil.

9 And hands are interpreted as works. Whence it is written: 'The word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai,' 'The word which came by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.' Surely the word of the Lord does not come by the hand, but comes in the mouth. But see the mysteries of Scripture. God does not come to speech, except to good works. For a murderer too confesses Christ, and yet the Lord does not come to him, because his hands do not deserve the Lord's coming. Whence it is written in another place: 'In the hand of the tongue are death and life.' Does the tongue then have a hand? Tell me, why is it said, 'In the hand of the tongue are death and life'? See what he means. God does not hear the tongue, not words, but works: so that whoever says something may also do it. It is commanded us, therefore, in the last psalm of the steps, In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. 'Lift up,' he says, 'your hands, because Jesus too lifted his up on the cross.' In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. Why did he wish to add, and to say, 'unto the holy place'? Heretics too seem to lift up their hands, and pagans seem to lift up their hands, and Jews seem to lift up their hands. For they too give alms: if they see a poor man, they hold out their hand.

10 When a Jew gives alms, does he not seem to you to lift up his hand? He does indeed lift up his hand, but he does not lift it up unto the holy place, because he does not confess Christ. But you who are in the house of the Lord, you who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God: you who are servants of the Lord, to whom I had said, 'Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity': lift up your hands in such a way that you lift them up in the holy, that is, that you confess Christ, and that whatever you do, you do for Christ. Good deeds differ according to the character of the one doing them. For example, a Christian gives alms, a pagan also gives, a Jew also gives, and another Christian, a holy man, gives too. You may find some among Christians who give alms for this reason, that they may be praised by the people. Whenever a poor man asks, they look about this way and that; and unless they see a witness, they give no money. If he is alone, the hand is more closed; he does not give willingly. O you Christian, a poor man asks you to give him money: why do you not give in secret, but give in public? If you seek God as your witness, why do you look for human eyes?

11 Your almsgiving seems to be almsgiving among the ignorant, but before God it is an injury: for you do an injury to your brother, since you wish to put the beggar on display while others look on. When, therefore, we give, let us not give as if from what is our own, but from what is Christ's: we ought not to give as to a beggar, but as to a brother. We give carnal things, he gives spiritual things: the poor man gives more than he receives. We give bread, which is consumed that very day; he for the bread will repay us the kingdoms of heaven. So this is what I say: that whatever we do, we should do in the holy; that what we do, we should do for Christ's sake. Moreover there are many pagans who give alms: if they see someone with a hand cut off, if they see him with a cancerous and rotten foot, at once their soul grieves: the human soul is overcome by natural pity. And what does such a one say? 'Look, if I were like this, wretch that I am, what would I do? And it may happen that I become like this: who will give to me? So I too ought to give to this man: so that someone may give to me as well, if I become like him.' This man indeed gives the poor man bread; but in the poor man he pities himself, not the other.

12 This mercy is not the mercy of Christ, but mercy for oneself. Everything, therefore, that we do, let us do for Christ's sake, let us do in the holy. 'Whether we eat or whether we drink, let us do all things in the name of Christ.' We read the Scriptures, we learn the psalms by heart, we hold fast the gospels, we expound the prophets: we ought not to do this in such a way as to boast among the brethren, but so as to please Christ, so that his word may resound in our mouth. Men are wont, and monks are wont, and even poor little women are wont to have this rivalry among themselves, to learn more of the Scriptures by heart; and they think themselves the better in this, if they have learned more by heart. He has learned more who does more: for what you learn by heart, I do: my works retain the Scriptures more than your speech, which resounds emptily. In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place. Lift up your hands, lift up the banner of the cross. In the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place: and when you have lifted them up unto the holy place, and have done the things that are holy, let Christ be, as it were, the healing balm of your good works. And bless the Lord. Whence the apostle too says: 'In every place lifting up pure hands.' And bless the Lord. Whatever you do, refer it to the Lord.

13 Let the hands be lifted, let the mouth resound with Christ. In the nights lift up your hands: give alms to the poor man. And bless the Lord: give thanks to the Lord, who gave to you the means from which you might give to your brother. You should give thanks to Christ more, when you have given, than the brother who received from you gives thanks to you. The poor confer a great benefit on us. Our sins, which we can no longer wash away in any other way, almsgiving extinguishes. For what is written? 'As water extinguishes fire, so almsgiving extinguishes sins.' Almsgiving accomplishes the same as baptism. As baptism forgives us our sins, so almsgiving too forgives us our sins. As water extinguishes fire, so almsgiving extinguishes sins. For the fires of gehenna are prepared for sins: but almsgiving extinguishes them. 14 May the Lord bless you out of Sion, he who made heaven and earth. You bless the Lord, and the Lord blesses you. Out of Sion: from the watchtower, from the church, from true doctrines, from pious faith. May the Lord bless you out of Sion. These little verses the Holy Spirit speaks, or certainly the prophet speaks in the Spirit. And what does he say? O you who through the fifteen steps have climbed to the last, who have done this and that, who bless the Lord, who in the nights lift up your hands unto the holy place and bless the Lord—receive, you too, your reward. May the Lord bless you out of Sion. What you have given, receive back. You gave alms, you performed good deeds: from God you obtain a reward and a blessing. May the Lord bless you out of Sion. Out of Sion: from the heavenly Jerusalem, in the mother of the firstborn, where the joys to come are, where the archangels are, where the other powers are, where the apostles, where the prophets, where the saints, where the martyrs, where the multitudes of angels and of saints follow, wherever the Lamb goes. In short, John too saw the holy city let down from heaven, built up with gems, having twelve gates. It was all golden: it had golden walls, and it had streets of various gems. In this city Christ reigns, in this city the inhabitants themselves are both inhabitants and gates, they themselves are both houses and inhabitants.

15 Do you wish to know that they are houses? Christ dwells in them, Christ walks about in them. 'I will dwell,' he says, 'in them, and I will walk about.' See how great the holy soul is: it contains Christ, whom heaven does not contain. See what he says. 'I will dwell,' he says. But it can happen that someone dwells in cramped quarters. 'I will dwell, and I will walk about in them.' Wherever he walks about, surely the house is spacious, where there is room to walk. 'You are,' he says, 'the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwells in you.' Let us prepare our temple, that Christ may come and dwell in us: that our soul too may be Sion, that it may be a watchtower, that it may be set upon the heights, that it may be above, not below. We read in the prophet Zechariah: 'And the angel,' he says, 'who spoke in me, said to me.' If an angel spoke in the prophet, how much more does he who dwells in us have us both as his houses and as his conversation-partners?

16 May the Lord bless you out of Sion, he who made heaven and earth. If you are holy, hear what he says, 'who made heaven': if you are a sinner, 'who made earth.' He made both heaven and earth. For the moment let us speak according to the letter. He said this to distinguish God from the idols. 'The gods,' he says, 'who have not made heaven and earth, let them perish from the earth.' 'But the Lord made the heavens.' This he says to distinguish God from the idols. This much for now according to the letter. But according to the spiritual understanding, just as it is said to the sinner, 'You are earth and unto earth you shall go,' so also to the holy one it is said, 'You are heaven and unto heaven you shall go.' Why have I said all this? To prove that the saints are heaven. 'The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the works of his hands.' 'And let the waters that are above the heavens praise the name of the Lord.' 'The heavens of heavens are the Lord's.' Who made heaven and earth. Although we are earthly, although we walk upon the earth, yet our citizenship is in the heavens: there we have our commonwealth. Who made heaven and earth. Although you are a sinner, do not despair: the Lord is almighty. Many from earth become heaven, and many from heaven become earth. Unhappy Judas was heaven, and became earth.

17 The apostle Paul, at the time when he was persecuting the church, was earth: he confessed, and became heaven. Neither should he who is heaven be complacent; nor should he who is earth despair of life. Jacob, at the time when he was fleeing his brother into Mesopotamia, came to Luz: and there, it says, he placed a stone for himself at his head. Under his head the stone was Christ. He never placed a stone at his head, except at the time when he fled his persecutor. When he remained in his father's house, as long as he was in his father's house and had the comforts of the flesh, he did not have a stone at his head. He departed from his home naked, he departed with a staff; and at once, that very night, he found a stone, and placed it at his head. Because he had such a pillow on which to take his rest, see his vision. 'He saw,' it says, 'a ladder reaching from the earth to heaven; and he saw,' it says, 'angels descending and ascending.' He saw angels coming from heaven to earth, and others ascending from earth to the heavens. Do you wish to know that that stone, which was at Jacob's head, was Christ the cornerstone? 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.' That stone which is written of in the book of Kingdoms, Ebenezer. That stone is Christ.

18 And Ebenezer is interpreted 'stone of help.' 'Jacob arose,' it says, 'in the morning.' And what did he say? 'This,' he says, 'is the house of God.' And what did he do? 'He took,' it says, 'oil, and anointed the stone.' Unless we understand the mysteries of the Scriptures, what reason was there that he should anoint the stone with oil?

Homily 47, on Psalm 135

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). Confess to the Lord, for he is good. And yet, even though heretics say that there is no repentance, still the prophet urges us to confess our sins. For God is good. Blessed, therefore, is he who confesses his sins, just as the apostle also says: "I who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God." If an apostle confesses, how much more the sinner? And again: "The just man is his own accuser at the beginning of his speech." If, then, the just man is, how much more the sinner? Confess to the God of gods. He means these gods, of whom it is written: "I have said, you are gods." And again: "God stood in the synagogue of the gods." Those who cease to be men, and abandon their vices, and are made perfect: these are gods, and sons of the Most High.

2 Confess to the Lord of lords. This is referred to the Son, and "to the God of gods" to the Father. To the Father, then, and to the Son we confess: for the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father. Who alone does great wonders. First he said, "Confess to the God of gods"; and again, "to the Lord of lords." And since he named two persons, now he says, "Who alone does great wonders," so that he may not speak of two gods. For it is written: "One God, from whom are all things; and one Lord Jesus, through whom are all things, and we through him." Who made the heavens with understanding. These are the heavens which "declare the glory of God," who have put on the image of the heavenly One: and there are heavens who have not put on the image of the earthly one. With understanding, in wisdom: for Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, just as Wisdom herself also says in Proverbs: "When he made the heavens, I was with him," and the rest.

3 Who established the earth upon the waters. Although the earth is said to hang upon the waters, that is, to hang in the sea, yet he founded and established our earth in baptism. He did not say, "he lifted up," or "he exalted," or "he made it ascend into the heavens." For baptism forgives sins, and frees us as if from prison: but it cannot grant the kingdoms of heaven. For unless someone enters through works and faith, he cannot be secure. Who made the great lights. According to the letter he speaks of the stars. Although we behold them as small, yet they are great. For just as with us, if we climb a high mountain, and see a man in the valley below, he seems to us as if something small: so also the stars are great, but from their height they seem small to us. For the star that is seen in Britain appears everywhere as well. But he says this to those to whom he said: "You are the light of the world."

4 Who divided the Red Sea into divisions. The Hebrews say that the sea was divided into twelve divisions, that is, one way for each tribe. And it is called "Red" from the blood. And he shook off Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. Well did he say, "he shook off": for he shook off his sins, and he did not do penance; therefore he died. Just as he also says to Jerusalem: "Shake off your dust." Who struck the great kings. First he struck Pharaoh, who is understood to be the devil, and thus his army. For in our humility he was mindful of us. He did not say, "in wisdom": he did not say, "in riches": he did not say, "in learning"; but, "in humility he was mindful of us." For although these too are virtues; yet unless someone has humility, he is not received by God. "For God resists the proud, but to the humble he gives grace."

5 And he redeemed us from our enemies. He did not say, "he freed," but "he redeemed," that is, with his own blood. Who gives food to all flesh. Consider for me the elephant, the camel, the ox, the stag, and these great four-footed beasts, how each one has on its face eyes, nostrils, mouth, feet. But consider also the tiny creatures, that is, the fly, the ant, the flea and the rest, and in these tiny ones consider also the eyes, and the nostrils, and the mouth, and the feet, and all things in like manner as in the greater ones, and glorify the Lord: and to all these he furnishes food. Otherwise, as it is written: "And I will take away from them the heart of stone, and I will give them a heart of flesh," that is, a soft one, with which they may be able to receive the law of God. For unless someone turns from his hardness, and becomes soft, he cannot receive food, and the bread which came down from heaven, so that he may be able to say: "Give us this day our supersubstantial bread," that is, the bread which is of your substance. In the Hebrew Gospel according to Matthew it has thus: "Give us this day our bread for tomorrow," that is, the bread which you are going to give us in your kingdom, give us today.

Homily 48, on Psalm 136

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 Super flumina Babylonis illic sedimus et flevimus, cum recordaremur Sion — "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Sion." If someone is not sick, he does not know how much health is worth. And again, a lame man does not know how much he is worth who is sound of foot. Likewise the blind man does not know the one who sees. All this has been said because the psalm says: "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Sion." Babylon is interpreted as "confusion": therefore Babylon is this world. So the sinner who fell from paradise, and came into the valley of tears — that is, into Babylon, into this world — says (or rather the prophet, in the person of the one who fell, says): "By the rivers of Babylon." Now, the rivers of Babylon. When you see someone who is beautiful for a moment, and being sick he loses his beauty, and his flower withers — this passes like a river, and the waters that follow one another, coming and receding, perish, and again others rise up, and these too perish: so also in this world, because for a moment or for some short time we are either enriched, or we are strong, or we are beautiful, and after a little while it passes like water, and perishes. There, then, we sat down and wept, when we remembered Sion. Granted that it was indeed by our own fault that we fell from paradise, nevertheless we call to mind our former happiness, and we do not forget it. And that man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho — which is interpreted "moon," that is, that which is always changing (and this is understood to mean this world) — fell among robbers, and the Samaritan takes him up, and heals him with oil and wine, mingling severity with mercy.

3 In salicibus in medio eius suspendimus organa nostra — "On the willows in the midst of it we hung up our instruments." The willow has such a nature: it is indeed a barren tree, and it is said that if anyone takes a drink from it or eats of it, he does not beget children. There, then, we hung up our instruments. Now the instrument is the body of man. For just as an instrument is put together out of many pipes, yet sends forth one melody by its tuning, so too we have our instrument, the sense of touch: through it, that is, through works, we render back to God melody and song and hymn. Likewise through hearing, and through smell, and through taste, and through sight, and through all these faculties, as though from one instrument, we render back hymn and song to the Lord. It is said, again, that the willow has no root; but if a branch is cut off, and is planted beside the water, it at once grows green. So too the sinner, although he has sinned, although he has fallen: nevertheless, if he is beside the waters — that is, if he reads the holy Scriptures, and hears the divine word from a holy man — his soul grows green, and is turned to repentance.

4 Quia illic interrogaverunt nos qui captivos duxerunt nos verba canticorum — "For there they that led us away captive asked of us the words of songs." The demons, who deceived us and led us away captive, now, as though mocking us and boasting, say to us: "Give us back a word about your faith, and just as when you were in Jerusalem, sing a hymn to God." Quomodo cantabimus canticum Domini in terra aliena? — "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" They answer, those who have sinned and been deceived, and they say: "How shall we sing you the Lord's song in a strange land, set as we are in our sins, we who have fallen from Jerusalem into Babylon?" Therefore no one can praise the Lord unless he is holy. For the sinner ought not to sing to the Lord, but to mourn his sins.

5 Si oblitus fuero tui Hierusalem, oblivioni detur dextera mea — "If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand be given over to forgetfulness." Therefore, because he has sinned and fallen, he calls to mind his former way of life and Jerusalem, and he sets before himself this resolve: that unless I shall always be mindful of you, and always hold you in mind, let my right hand be given over to forgetfulness — that is, my works. He did not say the left hand, but the right: for the left hand is always in forgetfulness. Do you wish, then, always to be in remembrance of the Lord? Do works of the right hand. Adhaereat lingua mea faucibus meis, si non meminero tui — "Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember you." That is, let me have neither works nor speech, if the memory of you is not continually turned over in my heart.

6 Memor esto Domine filiorum Edom, in diem Hierusalem — "Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem." Edom is interpreted as "earthly" and "bloody." Who then is this, if not the devil? See, then, what he says. This is spoken in the person of Adam: "Lord, remember how the serpent, the devil — who is understood to be Nebuchadnezzar — deceived me and dragged me off, and cast me out of paradise. Remember and repay him, and let him feel the punishment which he by his own malice brought upon me, dragging me and leading me into Babylon and to the Assyrians." Filia Babylonis misera — "Wretched daughter of Babylon." The daughter of Babylon is the soul which is always in motion and in confusion, and has no stability, but is in vices and in sins — which is truly wretched. "Blessed is he who shall repay you your recompense which you have repaid to us." Blessed is he who shall repay her what she herself has done. For example: she cast me out of paradise; I, through abstinence, bring her back there. She deceived me into fornication; I, through chastity, bring her back into Jerusalem, and out of vices into virtue. Therefore I do this not as an enemy, but as a friend.

7 Beatus qui tenebit, et allidet parvulos tuos ad petram — "Blessed is he who shall take hold of and dash your little ones against the rock." The "little ones" are said to be thoughts. For example: I have seen a woman, I have desired her: at once, if I do not cut off that desire, and, as it were, take it by the foot and dash it against the rock while the desire is small, it cannot afterwards be cut off when it has grown. Blessed, then, is he who cuts it off at once, and dashes it against the rock. And the Rock is Christ.

Homily 49, on Psalm 137

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). I will confess to you, O Lord, with my whole heart. As the wounds are, so too is the poultice. For just as the body has various wounds, so too the soul has its passions and its wounds; and against sin we ought to perform a corresponding repentance. If someone confesses for all his sins, that man confesses to the Lord with his whole heart. For example, someone has committed fornication, and he confesses for the fornication: but since he is either greedy, or wrathful, or a slanderer, or a blasphemer, and has very many vices, that man does not confess with his whole heart. But if someone performs repentance for all the vices and passions of his soul, that man can say: I will confess to you, O Lord, with my whole heart. For you have heard all the words of my mouth. This little verse is not found in the Hebrew. But as for what it says, this is the meaning: Therefore I will confess to you, O Lord, with my whole heart — that is, for all my vices and sins, since I have confessed to you not for one vice alone, and you have heard me.

2 And in the sight of the angels I will sing psalms to you. See the advancement of the penitent, that after confession and repentance he is counted worthy to sing psalms with the angels. But he who sings psalms no longer performs repentance, but gives thanks, and blesses. I will worship toward your holy temple. If this is the temple which now is seen to be deserted, in which one ought to worship: then the Jews ought not to worship, since the temple has been overthrown. But by "temple" he means the holy and heavenly Jerusalem. Upon your mercy and your truth. Let the sinner hear "mercy," but let the just and proud man hear "truth." You will multiply strength in my soul. You will multiply: that is, that the soul is subject to many anxieties. Let all the kings of the earth confess to you, O Lord. The kings of the earth are those who reign in sin. Therefore let those very ones confess, who reign in sin. For he is not speaking of the kings of this world. For it is written: "The heart of the king is in the hand of God." Do you suppose that the heart of the most impious Julian was in the hand of God? God forbid. Or of Nero, or of the persecutors Maximian and Decius? God forbid. But he is speaking of those who reign in sin, because those who conquer the vices and passions of the soul and reign over sin, their heart is in the hand of God. Because they have heard all the words of your mouth: because they have kept your commandments.

3 And let them sing in the ways of the Lord. The philosophers of this world did not sing in the ways of the Lord, but we sing in the ways of the Lord, that is, in Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah: and from these ways we come to that way which says, "I am the way."

Homily 50, on Psalm 139

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). Snatch me away, O Lord, from the evil man. The devil cannot deceive us so much by himself as he can through the instrument of a man; and it is from this that the prophet prays to be delivered. Who have devised iniquities in their heart. He is speaking about the heretics. The venom of asps is under their lips. For they seem to have words of friendship, yet they are full of death-dealing poison. Beside the path they have set a stumbling-block for me. That is: by bringing forward testimonies from the Scriptures, which seemed to have some semblance of reason, they were trying to deceive me. I said to the Lord: You are my God. Unless a man is holy, he cannot say this little verse; he who is not reigned over by sin, he it is who says, 'The Lord is my portion.'

2 Do not hand me over, O Lord, from my desire to the sinner. Scripture says that 'if anyone looks upon a woman to lust after her, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' So this is what the prophet is saying: Because of my concupiscence, do not hand me over to the devil; rather, it is well for me to be judged in the deed, and not in the thought. The head of their compassing about, the labor of their own lips shall cover them. Just as a serpent, when it sees someone coming to strike it, makes a coil of its whole body and hides its head in the middle, where it knows its life resides: so too these heretics, by the discourse of the philosophers and of Aristotle and the rest, seem to hide themselves, and as it were to shield and defend themselves. But the man of the Church, as it were with a rod — that is, with the cross — unwinds the coil, and finds the hidden head, and strikes it there; that is, he brings forth a testimony from the Scriptures.

3 The upright shall dwell with your countenance. And what is the countenance of God, if not Christ? 'Who thought it not robbery to be equal with God.'

Homily 51, on Psalm 140

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). O Lord, I have cried to you, hear me. Moses was standing with the people, and Pharaoh was pursuing behind his back, and on every side there was distress for him. At that time he wept to God, and immediately God said to him: 'Why do you cry out to me?' While he was praying in silence, he was heard; yet Scripture does not record that he spoke, but only that he wept. And the blood of the martyrs always cries out to the Lord, and it is heard. And the Lord spoke to Cain: 'The blood of your brother cries out to me.' And in the Apocalypse of John the souls of the righteous beneath the altar were saying to the Lord: 'How long, O Lord, will you not vindicate us?' And at the same time let us consider that the souls of the righteous are an altar to the Lord. Attend to my voice, when I have cried out to you. That is, see and consider, O Lord, what I ask of you: for I do not ask of you a bodily desire, or gold, or any such thing of this world, but that I may obtain mercy. Therefore he says, attend, that is, listen carefully, because I ask nothing that is foreign.

2 Let my prayer be directed as incense in your sight. That is, let my prayer come straight to you, having no filth or faults or diabolical thoughts. Now incense is the prayers of the saints. And this we know from the Apocalypse, when the twenty-four elders held censers and said: 'These are the prayers of the saints.' The lifting up of my hands an evening sacrifice. The lifting up of the hands points to the Lord, and in the lifting up of the hands we behold the Creator. But notice that he did not say, the stretching out of my hands. For stretching out is not lifting up; but one stretches out both behind his back and to the side, that is, into faults, just as the Lord too says: 'When you stretch out your hands to me, I will not hear you.' The evening sacrifice, of the eleventh hour: that is, in the Gospel I lift up my hands. And again the Apostle: 'Lift up your hands to prayers.' And when Moses lifted up his hands, Jesus was winning; but when he lowered them, he was being beaten. If I understand the Scriptures according to the history and according to the letter, Moses holds his hands downward: but if spiritually, he lifts his hands on high.

3 Set, O Lord, a guard to my mouth. 'Death and life are in the hands of the tongue.' And again: 'Amen I say to you, that for every idle word which you have spoken, you shall render an account on the day of judgment.' This therefore the prophet asks, that everything he speaks may not be idle, but holy and worthy of God. And set a door of enclosure to my lips. He asks for a door of enclosure like a wall around the whole house, so that he may be overcome in nothing. For Jeremiah says: 'Death has entered through your windows.' Now we have five windows: that is, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. If therefore I have looked at a woman to lust after her, I have already committed adultery with her in my heart; and death has entered through my window, that is, through sight. If the lyre or the organ or the reed-pipe as it were dissolves me, death has entered through my hearing. But if I touch something soft, and am unstrung by the softness of the body, death has entered through my touch, and the rest likewise. Therefore this the prophet begs for, a door of enclosure, that is, that his whole house may be fortified, so that the adversary may have no place by which to enter and to lord it over men. For it is said in the epistle of St. Peter: 'Our adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.' The devil does not quickly fight against anyone by great faults, but by small ones; so that he may somehow or other enter, and lord it over the man, and afterward drive him into greater faults. Not through fornication, not through avarice, but through lesser faults does he enter.

4 Incline not my heart to words of malice, to make excuses for excuses in sins. O most wretched human race, who excuse our sins, saying, I was overcome by nature: when it is in our power both to sin and not to sin. We always excuse ourselves, and say: I did not want to sin, my flesh overcame me. That woman came to me, she sent for me, she touched me, she said that to me, she called me; and instead of doing penance and saying, Lord, I have sinned, we make excuses and join sins to sins. We all have an equal body, but different labors. 'God is no respecter of persons.' Do you wish to know that we and the saints have an equal body? Paul the Apostle says: 'But I see another law fighting against the law of my mind, and taking me captive in the law of sin.' And again after this: 'Therefore I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest, preaching to others, I myself should be found reprobate.' And again: 'Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' We have, therefore, different labors; and as much as each one labors, so much reward also does he receive.

5 With men that work iniquity. From the common sense it is understood: Incline not my heart with men that work iniquity. And I will not communicate with their chosen ones. Just as the Lord has his chosen saints, so the devil too has his own chosen ones. Understand for me the leaders of the heretics, and you do not doubt about their chosen ones. For if he had said the chosen ones, and not with the qualification 'their,' he would now be excluding the chosen of God. 'I will communicate' is understood in two ways: either I will consent, or I will become a second, that is, unclean. For you know that Scripture calls two things unclean. The Apostle says: 'That he might create both, that is, two men into one new man': two, the interior and the exterior; that is, making the unclean holy. And again Noah brought into the ark with him seven and seven of the clean, but two and two of the unclean.

6 The just shall correct me in mercy, and shall rebuke me. 'Whom the Lord loves he corrects, and he chastises every son whom he receives.' Blessed is he who is corrected here: 'the Lord will not requite twice for the same thing.' It is a great wrath of the Lord, when here he is not angry with us: for he reserves us like a calf for the slaughter. For to Jerusalem he says: 'Many are your sins and many your iniquities, therefore I will not be angry with you.' That is, when you were only an adulteress, I was jealous over you as one who loves you; but when you had many lovers, I despised you, and I will not be angry with you. Just as a man is jealous over his wife when he loves her; but if he is not jealous, he hates her, and does not attain to the words of him who says: 'I will visit their iniquities with a rod.' And again: 'And I will not visit their daughters when they have committed fornication.' The just shall correct me in mercy, and shall rebuke me. Set here some teacher, or father, or physician. If a physician sees rotten flesh in a body, and says, What is that to me? know that he is cruel. But if he cuts it away, and applies the cautery, he is merciful: because he saves the man. Likewise a teacher too, if he lets the boy go, and does not demand discipline of him, he hates him.

7 But if he demands it, and like a physician heals him; what is thought to be harshness is clemency. And Ahab is reproved by the Lord concerning Naboth, when he killed him, and took his vineyard, and shed innocent blood. Elijah the prophet was sent to him, who said: 'You have killed, and moreover you have taken possession.' At once, stricken in conscience, he bowed down his neck and his eyes: and this an impious king, and clothed in purple. And afterward Scripture says that he went and put on sackcloth beneath the purple. And God, seeing this, said: 'Because Ahab has reverenced me, I will not bring evil upon him.' See therefore how much the sackcloth availed, and the fasting, and how much blood a little tear washed away. So then one ought to wear sackcloth and to fast in such a way that no one sees. 'Shall correct' is understood in two ways: either he will reprove, or he will teach.

8 But let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head. 'My people, they who call you blessed lead you astray.' The praise of heretics and their oil, with which they anoint the heads of men and promise them the kingdoms of heaven, fattens the head. Now every fat thing Scripture reproves, as it says: 'And Jacob ate, and was filled, and the beloved kicked back, he grew thick, he grew fat, he grew broad.' But the manna of the angels is thin. For my prayer also is still in their good pleasures. This he says: They indeed were raging; but I was praying for them, that they might be converted. Their judges have been swallowed up, joined to the rock. As elsewhere he says: 'Blessed is he who shall take hold of and dash your little ones against the rock.' 'And the rock was Christ.' Now the little ones are the lesser and small thoughts before they grow up. And now these very heretics, although through Aristotle and Plato they seem to despise the simplicity of the Church, yet when they have come to the Scriptures they are at once swallowed up by the rock, that is, by Christ, and are converted to him. For 'swallowing up' is said for victory, as the Apostle says: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? where, O hell, is your sting?' Now he calls that very swallowing up a victory, the victory which it had in swallowing.

9 They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed. The Lord himself says: Those who have come to me have been overcome, and have been delighted by my words, and have been converted to me in my Church. As the thickness of the earth. Everything thick is near to the earth: and the soul that sins clings to the earth. For the Lord from the beginning made all things thin. By his own fault, therefore, each one is made thick, and is drawn down to the earth. Let us give an example. As a wound in the body, swelling, is thick, and is full of pus, when the physician comes he cuts it, and heals it and makes it thin, then it is brought back to its own nature, as it was also created. Therefore he says: As the thickness of the earth has been broken up over the earth.

10 And the Savior — Our bones are scattered beside hell — in the twenty-first psalm says: 'All my bones are scattered.' If we understand according to the letter, it does not stand: since he was only crucified. When you see Arius, Eunomius outside the Church, understand the bones of the Lord to be scattered beside hell. The bone, which is strong: those very greater ones, who seem to be something through their much talking and philosophy and contention, are led astray by the heretics. 11 Keep me from the snare which they have set for me. Always either heretics or demons stretch snares for us. For faults are near to virtues. They have set a snare for me in almsgiving, if I stretch out my hand so that men may see, and, as though doing a good deed, I come into a fault and into sin. But if I give a tunic to a brother so that another may see, they have set a snare for me. Always nets are stretched for stags and snares are set, where the hunter has caught their tracks. Now the stag is taken for the saints: because it is lofty, and has great horns, and kills serpents. Therefore it is said elsewhere: 'Who made my feet like those of stags.' For it is said to be of such power that with the breath of its nostrils it draws serpents out of their caverns and thus devours them. Those very serpents, therefore, that is, the demons, set stumbling-blocks for us in our very tracks where we walk: in the virtues, in almsgiving, that we may do it before men for the sake of vainglory: in fasting, in prayer, in wearing sackcloth, and showing it to men. For he who wears sackcloth ought to mourn his sins, not to boast and show it to men. And from the stumbling-blocks of them that work iniquity. That is, that I may not stumble.

12 The sinners shall fall into his net. Above he said, Keep me from the snare which they have set for me, concerning many; but now concerning one, The sinners shall fall into his net. Just as the Lord casts a net, and catches a multitude of fish, and has the apostles as fishermen gathering and bringing to him, that is, those who believe through them: so also the devil has demons, who are subject to him, who both deceive men and bring them to him. I am alone until I pass over. Jeremiah says: 'I sat alone, for I was filled with bitterness.' That is, I was in penitence. Alone: clean, not a second. And Moses says: 'Passing over, I will see this great vision.' Unless he passes over, that is, all the faults, he cannot see the great vision. Now the vision was great, because the bush was burning, and was not consumed: the thorns were burning, that is, the sins. By this fire Isaiah too is cleansed: for this is the coal which touched his lips, which was upon the altar. Of this coal the prophet David also makes mention: 'The sharp arrows of the mighty one with desolating coals.' This coal is a desolator: it makes solitude, and purges of sins.

Homily 52, on Psalm 141

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). The intelligence of David when he was in the cave, a prayer. This title is prescribed according to history, indeed, when David was fleeing from the face of Saul in the desert of Engaddi, hidden in a cave; and Saul entered, unaware, as if on his own account. But since it has in its heading "The intelligence of David," we ought to understand the psalm spiritually. This psalm is indeed taken also as referring to the Lord, the true David; and Saul is understood as the devil, the cave as this world, and the fact that the devil does not send anything good into this world, but dung, and whatever is rotten. Now this world is understood as a cave, because it does not have perfect light in comparison with what is to come; but the Lord, coming into this world, shone forth like some light. Therefore the Apostle also says: "Who is the light of his glory." Therefore, just as David entered into the cave, hiding himself from Saul, so too the Lord entered into this world, and suffered persecution.

2 I pour out my prayer in his sight. He said it more expressively: I pour out my whole heart in the sight of the Lord — just as someone might confess his wound to a doctor, and tell him all the sufferings he has, so that the doctor may thus apply the cure to him. I declare my tribulation before him. This is the tribulation which the Apostle enumerates, which, when counted with the rest, produces hope, and hope does not confound. When my spirit was failing within me. If the evil spirit that was choking Saul does not fail from us, the Lord cannot know our paths. And what are the paths of the righteous? Righteousness, good works, an upright life, chastity, self-restraint, and other things like these. In this way in which I was walking, they have hidden a snare for me. The vices are near to the virtues. In whatever way anyone wishes to walk, in that way they set snares: whether in fasting, or in almsgiving, or in the other virtues.

3 I looked to the right hand and saw: and there was no one who knew me. If we make this psalm refer to the Lord, the Lord himself is speaking. All my disciples abandoned me, and fled. One had remained, Peter, who had promised himself, saying, "If I must die for you, I will not abandon you": and he too denied me. Therefore he said, I looked to him on the right hand, and he did not say on the left, because Peter did penance. Flight has perished from me. When he was seized by the Jews. And there is no one who seeks after my soul. For they all were shouting: "Crucify, crucify." Attend to my supplication, for I have been humbled exceedingly. Unless someone has been humbled, he is not heard by the Lord. For what does it profit anyone to pray with words and to keep his neck held erect? But if we understand it of the Lord: "Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart."

4 Deliver me from those who persecute me, for they have been made stronger than I. Those who fight against us are stronger than we are, that is, the princes of this world. Bring my soul out of custody, that it may confess to your name. That is, out of this body. To confess, that is, to glorify, as he says: "I confess to you, Father." The righteous await me, until you reward me. The Lord says: The apostles await me, until I rise again from the dead.

Homily 53, on Psalm 142

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). O Lord, hear my prayer. The words of a humble man, full of humility and mercy. Give ear to my supplication in your truth. These are the words of one who trusts. In your truth, that is, in your Christ. 'I am the way and the life and the truth.' Hear me in your justice. Here too, in your Christ. That is, I do not trust in myself, but I ask for your truth and your justice, that it may have mercy on me. And enter not into judgment with your servant. See, he has shown most plainly that he awaits the mercy of Christ, saying: And enter not into judgment with your servant. Here it is as though someone judges between God and the prophet, just as it is also written in the fiftieth psalm: 'That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.' And God enters into judgment for this reason, that he may punish justly. Something of this sort was done also by Cyrus, king of the Persians and Medes, to the king of the Armenians, when he had violated his friendship. He conquered him, and took him captive; and he made that man's own kinsmen, and his wife, and his sons judge between them, so that he might justly either show mercy or punish. For in your sight shall no living man be justified. 'The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: the God of the living, and not of the dead.' Therefore not even the patriarchs themselves will be justified in the sight of God. 'For the stars are not clean in his sight.'

2 For the enemy has persecuted my soul. This needs no interpretation: no one doubts that it is the devil. He has humbled my life on the earth. This is what he means. Before this I had wings, and I flew: but now the enemy has persecuted me and seized me, and bound my feet and my hands; just as a bird is caught by a man, and seems as it were to be dead, because it does not have the free use of its wings to fly. So too, he says, the enemy has bound me with the awareness of my sins. He has placed me in dark places, like the dead of the world. Like the dead of the world: not yet dead. Why? Because he stands in repentance. But if anyone who sins does not do penance, this man is dead to the world, and not like one dead, but perfectly dead. This, then, the enemy supposed—that I would not do penance for my sins, which he himself suggested to me that I should commit. And my spirit was in anguish over me. 'Do you first tell your sins, and you shall be saved.' And again: 'If you only sigh for your sins, you shall be saved.'

3 My heart within me was troubled. Because of my conscience, because I sinned. I was mindful of the days of old. I was mindful of my former days, how I used to have confidence: but now it is night for me. I stretched out my hands to you. Bound by the enemy, I can do nothing else except do penance, and lift up my hands to you. My soul is as earth without water to you. As earth without water thirsts and seeks the rain, so too my soul longs for and thirsts after you, its God. Hear me speedily, O Lord, my spirit has failed. My soul has failed, my flesh has failed: my spirit alone remained in me, and it too has failed: but hear me speedily, and have mercy on me. Make known to me the way in which I should walk. Make your Christ known to me, who said, 'I am the way.'

4 Your good Spirit shall lead me into the right land. Here the most impious Arians set before us and say: 'Good Master, what good shall I do, that I may be saved? And he says: Why do you call me good? No one is good, except God alone.' Therefore if the Son is not good, but the Father is, the Father is greater than the Son. Therefore according to your reasoning, most impious Arian, who is greater, the Son or the Holy Spirit? You certainly say, the Son. Here, then, he says: Your good Spirit shall lead me into the right land. Therefore if the Spirit, who is lesser, is good, as you say: how much more is the Son good, who is greater, Christ. But the Gospel has it thus: 'And one of the scribes coming and tempting him said: Good Master. And he said, Why do you call me good' and do not confess it? Just as if someone tempting his bishop, whom he despises, should say to him, Bishop; and the other should answer, I am no bishop to you, depart from me. But have you not read elsewhere: 'The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep'? But what is better than the Son, who put on flesh for our sake and suffered, was nine months in the womb of the Virgin, and coming down from his majesty was in blood, was in the cradle, suffered to grow little by little, and to be beaten, and to be struck on the cheek, and to be crucified? What is better than this?