Psalms 17

Psalms 17:1

Augustine of Hippo: “Hear My righteousness, O God, consider My supplication.” “Hearken unto My prayer, not in deceitful lips:” not going forth to You in deceitful lips. — Exposition on Psalms 17

Cassiodorus: Although some psalms contain prayers combined sporadically with other diverse material, this psalm is almost entirely a supplication in its composition. Therefore it is appropriately designated as such from the start, since its purpose is entirely focused on zeal for prayer. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 17:1

Eusebius of Caesarea: We speak fully and clearly when we use words taken from divine Scripture.… The righteous person alone cleanses his tongue, lips and the voice itself from using more common words, as one acquainted with that verse: “You will give an account of every careless word on the day of judgment.” The ears of God do not hear words offered from lying lips, but they receive any word offered from a cleansed tongue accustomed to meditating on divine words. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 17:1

Psalms 17:2

Augustine of Hippo: “Let My judgment from Your countenance go forth.” From the enlightening of the knowledge of You, let Me judge truth. Or at least, let My judgment go forth, not in deceitful lips, from Your countenance, that is, that I may not in judging utter anything else than I understand in You. “Let My eyes see equity:” the eyes, of course, of the heart. — Exposition on Psalms 17

Psalms 17:3

Augustine of Hippo: “You have proved and visited Mine heart in the night-season” [Psalms 17:3]. For this Mine heart has been proved by the visitation of tribulation. “You have examined Me by fire, and iniquity has not been found in Me.” Now not night only, in that it is wont to disturb, but fire also, in that it burns, is this tribulation to be called; whereby when I was examined I was found righteous. — Exposition on Psalms 17

Diodorus of Tarsus: Even before I make the request, my predicament does not escape you, nor are you ignorant of all the designs in my heart that I experience in the night and ponder by day. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 17

Eusebius of Caesarea: Who can with confidence say, “I am pure from sins”? Christ alone is truly and properly able to say these words.… When gold is tested by fire, it remains pure and shining. According to Isaiah, out of all people since the beginning of the age, Christ alone “did not sin, nor was there any deceit found in his mouth.” — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 17:3

Theodoret of Cyrus: Although many times [David had] Saul in his grasp, he refrained from doing away with him and instead rendered good for evil; hence he recalled even the night in which he did this, when by night he saved the sleeping Saul from death and allowed no one to deal him a lethal blow. Now, in a figurative manner he calls his disasters “nights” on account of the gloom of discouragement, as likewise he refers to the test as burning: “you examined me by fire,” he says, “and no wrong was found in me.” In other words, just as you would test gold of some sort, you found me unadulterated, O Lord; so far be it from me to harm the enemy that I even kept my tongue free of abuse against him, and what he continues to do I refrained from mentioning. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 17:2

Psalms 17:4

Augustine of Hippo: “That My mouth may not speak the works of men” [Psalms 17:4]. That nothing may proceed out of My mouth, but what relates to Your glory and praise; not to the works of men, which they do beside Your will. “Because of the words of Your lips.” Because of the words of Your peace, or of Your prophets. “I have kept hard ways.” I have kept the toilsome ways of human mortality and suffering. — Exposition on Psalms 17

Augustine of Hippo: What the Lord has commanded seems hard and harsh, that any who wish to follow him should deny themselves. But nothing can be hard and harsh that is commanded by one who helps us to do what he commands. You see, both these things are true, both what is said to him in the psalm: “Because of the words of your lips I have kept to hard ways”; and what he himself said, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” The fact is, whatever is hard in the commandments is made easy by charity. — SERMON 96:1

Cassiodorus: When sins are avoided, the path is hard, and the ascent is always difficult. But when we slip toward vices, the road is easy and downhill. But the Lord Christ appeared before us in this world and demonstrated the laws of meekness and self-control. So he rightly says that through the commands of the Lord he walked the hard ways of people with undefiled feet. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 17:4

Psalms 17:5

Augustine of Hippo: “To perfect My steps in Your paths” [Psalms 17:5]. That the love of the Church might be perfected in the strait ways, whereby she arrives at Your rest. “That My footsteps be not moved.” That the signs of My way, which, like footsteps, have been imprinted on the Sacraments and Apostolical writings, be not moved, that they may mark them who would follow Me. Or at least, that I may still abide fixedly in eternity, after that I have accomplished the hard ways, and have finished My steps in the straits of Your paths. — Exposition on Psalms 17

Cassiodorus: “In the paths,” that is, “in your commandments”; for if we are devoted followers on the ways that are truly the right ones, then we will obtain the rewards of our heavenly fatherland. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 17:5

Evagrius Ponticus: Even if now [the way] is full of pain and without joy, later it will bear the fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained in it. — NOTES ON THE Psalms 16[17].3, 4

John Cassian: Never by our sole diligence or zeal or by our most tireless efforts can we reach perfection. Human zeal is not enough to win the sublime rewards of blessedness. The Lord must be there to help us and to guide our hearts toward what is good. Every moment we must join in the prayer of David: “Direct my footsteps along your paths so that my feet do not move astray” and “He has settled my feet on a rock and guided my footsteps”—all this so that the invisible guide of the human spirit may direct back toward love of virtue our free will, which in its ignorance of the good and its obsession with passion is carried headlong into sin. — CONFERENCES 3:12

Psalms 17:6

Augustine of Hippo: “I have cried out, for You have heard Me, O God” [Psalms 17:6]. With a free and strong effort have I directed My prayers unto You: for that I might have this power, You have heard Me when praying more weakly. “Incline Your ear to Me, and hear My words.” Let not Your hearing forsake My humiliation. — Exposition on Psalms 17

Cassiodorus: Human weakness is not strong enough to reach the Father on its own. For when he hears, he graciously shows his indulgence, and he bestows his mercy in advance so that he is able to accept the prayers of those who implore him. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 17:6

Psalms 17:7

Ambrose of Milan: It becomes Christians to pray for peace and quiet but not to abandon steadfast faith and truth even at the peril of death. For the Lord is our Leader, “who will save them that put their hope in him.” — LETTER 20:14

Augustine of Hippo: “Make Your mercies marvellous” [Psalms 17:7]. Let not Your mercies be disesteemed, lest they be loved too little. “Who savest them that hope in You from such as resist Your right hand:” from such as resist the favour, whereby You favour Me. — Exposition on Psalms 17

Pseudo-Athanasius: He teaches us that even if we are virtuous, we should trust not in ourselves but in God, and that we should pray to him that like the pupil of the eye he protect the mind—our soul’s eye—from evil of the opposing powers. — EXPOSITION ON Psalms 17

Psalms 17:8

Augustine of Hippo: “Keep Me, O Lord, as the apple of Your eye”: which seems very little and minute: yet by it is the sight of the eye directed, whereby the light is distinguished from the darkness; as by Christ’s humanity, the divinity of the Judgment distinguishing between the righteous and sinners. “In the covering of Your wings protect Me.” In the defence of Your love and mercy protect Me. — Exposition on Psalms 17

Cassiodorus: The Father’s protection is compared to wings. Mercy and love are, so to speak, the wings of the Father with which he asks to be protected. This comparison is drawn from the example of birds who guard their own dear offspring by spreading out their wings. — EXPLANATION OF THE Psalms 17:8

John Chrysostom: The written words say that God has wings.… But we will not on that account say that God’s spiritual and indestructible essence is winged.… What, then, are we to understand by the wings? The help, security, shelter, defense and unconquerable aid that God gives us. — AGAINST THE ANOMOEANS 8:4

Leo the Great: This should be the careful consideration of wise people, that since the days of this life are short and the time uncertain, death should never be unexpected for those who are to die. Those who know that they are mortal should not come to an unprepared end. Therefore this, which has been proclaimed by the voice of the prophet, should be taken up in the hearts of those praying, so that it may be said, not with the lips only but also with the heart.… For we are always in need of divine help. This is the unconquerable courage of human devotion, that we always have a protector without whom we are not able to be brave. — SERMON 90:4.1

Theodoret of Cyrus: His prayer is to enjoy such protection as does the apple of the eye, which has eyelids as a kind of rampart and eyelashes for a palisade; it also has eyebrows as mounds, conducting the stream of sweat to the temples and warding off from the faculty of sight any harm from that source. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 17:3

Psalms 17:9

Augustine of Hippo: “From the face of the ungodly who have troubled Me.” — Exposition on Psalms 17

Psalms 17:10

Augustine of Hippo: “Mine enemies have compassed about My soul;” “they have shut up their own fat” [Psalms 17:10]. They have been covered with their own gross joy, after that their desire has been satiated with wickedness. “Their mouth has spoken pride.” And therefore their mouth spoke pride, in saying, “Hail, King of the Jews,” [Matthew 27:29] and other like words. — Exposition on Psalms 17

Psalms 17:11

Augustine of Hippo: “Casting Me forth they have now compassed Me about” [Psalms 17:11]. Casting Me forth outside the city, they have now compassed Me about on the Cross. “Their eyes they have determined to turn down on the earth.” The bent of their heart they have determined to turn down on these earthly things: deeming Him, who was slain, to endure a mighty evil, and themselves, that slew Him, none. — Exposition on Psalms 17

Psalms 17:12

Evagrius Ponticus: Through impure thoughts our adversary like a lion overcomes our mind. — NOTES ON THE Psalms 16[17].12

Hesychius of Jerusalem: The demons surround our mind and try to entangle it like a wild beast, … and the richest baits are sinners who themselves have been allured by desires. — LARGE COMMENTARY ON Psalms 17:9

Psalms 17:13

Augustine of Hippo: “Arise, O Lord, prevent them, and cast them down” [Psalms 17:13]. Arise, O Lord, Thou whom they suppose to be asleep, and regardless of men’s iniquities; be they blinded before by their own malice, that vengeance may prevent their deed; and so cast them down. — Exposition on Psalms 17

Eusebius of Caesarea: That sword will be the “word of God living and more active than any double edged sword,” here in the place of a straight sword, which is entrusted to my spirit for driving out the enemies. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 17:13, 14

Pseudo-Athanasius: The soul of each of the righteous—clearly of those who pull sinners from impiety to piety—is as a sharpened sword against the spirits of evil. This sword, O our Lord, which you sharpened against your enemies, save from the enemies of your hand. — EXPOSITION ON Psalms 17

Psalms 17:14

Diodorus of Tarsus: Since I do not know how to ask for manifest punishment of them, whereas you are aware, having as you do hidden treasuries of wisdom, inflict on them the punishments you best know. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 17

Hesychius of Jerusalem: Here the psalmist is not criticizing the children’s food, as some would think (for those things that enter the mouth do not make a person unclean), but he regards those to whom God has given many offspring unwise when they leave behind them not excellence but their evils as an inheritance. — LARGE COMMENTARY ON Psalms 17:14

Psalms 17:15

Augustine of Hippo: “But I shall appear in Your righteousness in Your sight” [Psalms 17:15]. But I, Who have not appeared to them that, with their filthy and darkened heart, cannot see the light of wisdom, “I shall appear in Your righteousness in Your sight.” — Exposition on Psalms 17

Augustine of Hippo: Why talk about those treasures of wisdom and knowledge, about those divine riches, if not because they are what suffices us? And why talk about that multitudinous sweetness, if not because it is what satisfies us?… In one of the psalms somebody, one of us, or in us, or for us says to him, “I will be satisfied when your glory is revealed.” … He will convert us and show us his face, and “we shall be saved”; we shall be satisfied, and it will suffice us. — SERMON 194:3

Augustine of Hippo: When shall we be satisfied?… “When your glory is revealed.” Now though, the glory of our God, the glory of our Christ, is concealed; and with it is concealed ours also. But “when Christ appears, your life, then you too will appear with him in glory.” — SERMON 255:5

Augustine of Hippo: What this future glory will be like, however, how richly it will flourish, with what splendor it will blaze out, while we can sing its praises, we cannot possibly explain. Why not? Because we read, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it come up into the human heart, what things God has prepared for those who love him.” So if that is what has to be said about the eternal good things of heaven, … what must God himself be, who has prepared such great and wonderful things? What, I repeat, must almighty God be like? What but unfathomable, inexpressible, incomprehensible, surpassing all things, beyond all things, apart from all things? He excels, after all, every one of his creatures; he goes far beyond everything he has made; he surpasses the whole universe. I mean, if you are looking for greatness, he is greater; if for beauty, he is more beautiful still; if for delightfulness, he is still more delightful; if for splendor, he is more brilliant; if for justice, he is more just; if for strength, he is stronger; if for fatherly care, he is kinder. Reason, after all, in no way allows us to equate the thing made with its maker or the work with its craftsman. — SERMON 384:1

Bede: In the [present] life we need the light of the sacred Scriptures and the refreshment of the heavenly sacraments, but in the future we shall have no need of such aids. According to the word of the psalmist, whoever appears there will be fully satisfied with justice when the glory of the Lord is made manifest. — Homilies on the Gospels 2:25