Psalms 18

Psalms 18:1

Arnobius the Younger: Let us ask the Lord and say, “Who is he who loves you?” He will respond to us through his Gospel and say, “He who hears my words and does them, this is the one who loves me.” — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18

Augustine of Hippo: Christ, then, and the Church, that is, whole Christ, the Head and the Body, says here, “I will love You, O Lord, My strength” [Psalms 18:1]. I will love You, O Lord, by whom I am strong. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Augustine of Hippo: Take care not to let trust in your own strength steal on you, for you are human, and “cursed be everyone who puts his hope in man.” But put your trust fully and with your whole heart in God, and he will be your strength; trust him lovingly and gratefully and say to him humbly and faithfully, “I will love you, O Lord, my strength,” because that very charity of God, when it is perfected in us, “casts out fear.” — LETTER 218

Diodorus of Tarsus: This psalm has a title consistent with the theme, as can be found also in [2 Samuel]. Blessed David uttered it in thanksgiving, in fact, toward the end of his life when reminding himself of all the favors he had been granted by God throughout his life. It is typical of pious people, you see, to keep constantly in mind God’s kindnesses done to them, and especially at the time of death it seems right to them to number them, both out of gratitude and also to teach those coming later how great is God’s providence and lovingkindness toward those hoping in him. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18

Diodorus of Tarsus: The phrase “I shall love” does not mean I shall love you from this point on since you always provided me with many things; rather, the tense has been changed, and the meaning is, my love and affection for you, my master, were always right and proper. I felt benevolence and longing for God, in fact, for he proved to be everything to me in time of need—strength in war, steadfastness in endurance, refuge in misfortune, rescuer from all the schemers. So while even the opening of the psalm sufficed as a perfect hymn of praise, anyone with love for God repeatedly adopts the same sentiments as an intense form of thanksgiving when occupied in recalling God’s graces. In a range of texts, in fact, he seems to recite and go over the same sentiments in the process of recalling every event from childhood to old age in which God provided him with help and support. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18

Eusebius of Caesarea: David has consecrated this hymn of triumph on the occasion of his victory over his enemies and opponents to the Author of all victories. David is called a victor, that is, “he is made a victor,” because he achieved victories.… The psalm is inscribed “for the end” chiefly because it is proclaimed in the last years of his life and after all his deeds that were accomplished in history; or because it announces the prophecy of things that are going to happen in the future age; or, third, because the reader is told about those things that happened in the last part of this hymn, at the end of which is the call of the Gentiles and a prophecy about Christ. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:1

Psalms 18:2

Augustine of Hippo: “O Lord, My stay, and My refuge, and My deliverer” [Psalms 18:2]. O Lord, who hast stayed Me, because I sought refuge with You: and I sought refuge, because You have delivered Me. “My God is My helper; and I will hope in Him.” My God, who hast first afforded me the help of Your call, that I might be able to hope in You. “My defender, and the horn of My salvation, and My redeemer.” My defender, because I have not leant upon Myself, lifting up as it were the horn of pride against You; but have found You a horn indeed, that is, the sure height of salvation: and that I might find it, You redeemed Me. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Eusebius of Caesarea: Christ is the rock. When David built his own house on the rock, he was like the wise man. … In such a way, he is made superior to all his enemies. He becomes faithful, not by hope or by training but by the help of God, established in all types of defenses and in the horn of salvation. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:2, 3

Jerome: Unless one has a horn with which to rout his enemies, he is not worthy to be offered to God. That is why the Lord is described as a horn to those who believe in him; and it was with the horns of the cross that he routed his enemies. On the cross he confounded the devil and his entire army. To be sure, Christ was crucified in his body, but on the cross, it was he who was crucifying there the devils. It was not a cross; it was a symbol of triumph, a banner of victory. His whole purpose in mounting the cross was to lift us up from earth. I think the cross of the Savior was the ladder that Jacob saw. On that ladder, angels were descending and ascending; on that ladder, that is, the cross, the Jews were descending and the Gentiles ascending.… Others may have many horns; I have only one. “But as for me, God forbid that I shall glory save in the cross of the Lord, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.” — HOMILY ON Psalms 91[92]

Psalms 18:3

Arnobius the Younger: He is my refuge, he is my liberator; as I praise and call on him I will be safe from my enemies. Let me say this in the present so that I may not doubt it in the future. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 18

Augustine of Hippo: “With praise will I call upon the Lord, and I shall be safe from Mine enemies” [Psalms 18:3]. Seeking not My own but the Lord’s glory, I will call upon Him, and there shall be no means whereby the errors of ungodliness can hurt Me. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Augustine of Hippo: There you have something you can do. Praising, call—but remember it is the Lord you praise and call on. Because if you praise yourself, you will not be saved from your enemies. Praising, call on the Lord, and you will be saved from your enemies. — SERMON 67:6

Nicetas of Remesiana: Praise issuing from a pure conscience delights the Lord, and so the same psalmist exhorts us, “Praise ye the Lord because a psalm is good; to our God be joyful and comely praise.” With this in mind, aware of how pleasing to God is this ministry, the psalmist again declares, “Seven times a day I have given praise to you.” To this he adds a further promise: “And my tongue shall meditate your justice, your praise all the day long.” Without doubt, he had experience of the good to be derived from this work, for he reminds us [in the psalm before us]: “Praising I will call on the Lord, and I shall be saved from my enemies.” It was with such a shield of praise to protect him that as a boy [David] destroyed the great power of the giant Goliath, and, in many other instances, came out victorious over the invaders. — LITURGICAL SINGING 8

Psalms 18:4

Augustine of Hippo: “The pains of death,” that is, of the flesh, have “compassed Me about. And the overflowings of ungodliness have troubled Me” [Psalms 18:4]. Ungodly troubles stirred up for a time, like torrents of rain which will soon subside, have come on to trouble Me. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:5

Augustine of Hippo: “The pains of hell compassed Me about” [Psalms 18:5]. Among those that compassed Me about to destroy Me, were pains of envy, which work death, and lead on to the hell of sin. “The snares of death prevented Me.” They prevented Me, so that they wished to hurt Me first, which shall afterwards be recompensed unto them. Now they seize unto destruction such men as they have evilly persuaded by the boast of righteousness: in the name but not in the reality of which they glory against the Gentiles. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:6

Arnobius the Younger: While the groans of death, the injustices, griefs, and snares, surround me, I called out to him in faith. He heard my voice from his holy temple, and my cry reached his ears. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 18

Augustine of Hippo: “And in Mine oppression I called upon the Lord, and cried unto My God. And He heard My voice from His holy temple” [Psalms 18:6]. He heard from My heart, wherein He dwells, My voice. “And My cry in His sight entered into His ears;” and My cry, which I utter, not in the ears of men, but inwardly before Him Himself, “entered into His ears.” — Exposition on Psalms 18

Diodorus of Tarsus: Having made his introduction to this point, from now on he recounts more descriptively how many dangers he encountered and how God against the odds rendered him always superior to the schemers. He also recounts the dangers in a very figurative manner, as also the help of God, the greater the difficulties, the greater the lovingkindness rescuing him from such awful dangers. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18

Eusebius of Caesarea: Stirred by the onrush of injustices and surrounded by the rest of the evils which are recounted above, when he realizes that he is beset by danger, he flees to the gate of his deliverance. He says, therefore, “In my distress I called on the Lord, and to my God I cried.” Thereby he teaches that one wanders least from the path when he is full of such faith, for “hope does not disappoint.” — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:5-7

Psalms 18:7

Augustine of Hippo: “And the earth was moved and trembled” [Psalms 18:7]. When the Son of Man was thus glorified, sinners were moved and trembled. “And the foundations of the mountains were troubled.” And the hopes of the proud, which were in this life, were troubled. “And were moved, for God was angry with them.” That is, that the hope of temporal goods might have now no more establishment in the hearts of men. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Diodorus of Tarsus: The effect of God’s hearkening and being moved to wrath was that everything together was reduced to alarm and confusion, their common master being enraged. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18

Eusebius of Caesarea: When the Son of God journeyed on the earth in the time of his incarnation, whoever worshiped the natural elements of this earth were shaken and trembled, and everywhere his reputation became familiar to the ears of Greeks and barbarians; and truly those things he called the foundations of the mountains have trembled and quaked.… The mountains were all the lofty thoughts that were directed against the knowledge of God, namely, certain adversarial powers that through the long span of the ages had led all who dwelled on the earth into error and the worship of multiple gods. “The foundations of the mountains,” that is, loftier plans and thoughts, when they had realized the strength of the Lord, “were disturbed and shaken because he is angry with them.” — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:8

Psalms 18:8

Augustine of Hippo: “There went up smoke in His wrath” [Psalms 18:8]. The tearful supplication of penitents went up, when they came to know God’s threatenings against the ungodly. “And fire burns from His face.” And the ardour of love after repentance burns by the knowledge of Him. “Coals were kindled from Him.” They, who were already dead, abandoned by the fire of good desire and the light of righteousness, and who remained in coldness and darkness, re-enkindled and enlightened, have come to life again. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Pseudo-Athanasius: In this and the following verses, he posits as a sign the smoke, which in his descent from heaven he made as darkness under his feet; it indicates the incomprehensibility of his dispensation. And in his ascension, he flew on the wings of the Spirit, as on cherubim, that is, the cloud that received him. And because in his church, which is his tabernacle, he mysteriously dwells and operates, he says, “He set darkness as his hiding place.” Again, because the remarks about him are made obscurely in the holy prophets, he writes, “Dark waters in the clouds of the airs,” which he showed to be clear and obvious when he openly came to earth. — EXPOSITION ON Psalms 18

Psalms 18:9

Augustine of Hippo: “And He bowed the heaven, and came down” [Psalms 18:9]. And He humbled the just One, that He might descend to men’s infirmity. “And darkness under His feet.” And the ungodly, who savour of things earthly, in the darkness of their own malice, knew not Him: for the earth under His feet is as it were His footstool. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Jerome: Because we are little and lowly and unable to lift ourselves up to him, the Lord stoops down to us and in his compassionate kindness deigns to hear us. In fact, because we are people and cannot become gods, God became man and inclined himself, as it is written: “He inclined the heavens and came down.” — HOMILY ON Psalms 114(116a)

Psalms 18:10

Augustine of Hippo: “And He mounted above the cherubim, and did fly” [Psalms 18:10]. And He was exalted above the fullness of knowledge, that no man should come to Him but by love: for “love is the fulfilling of the law.” [Romans 13:10] And full soon He showed to His lovers that He is incomprehensible, lest they should suppose that He is comprehended by corporeal imaginations. “He flew above the wings of the winds.” But that swiftness, whereby He showed Himself to be incomprehensible, is above the powers of souls, whereon as upon wings they raise themselves from earthly fears into the air of liberty. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Eusebius of Caesarea: Secretly and with mysterious reckoning he represents his incarnation through [images of] darkness and thick clouds. At last he returns to the same place from whence he had set forth: and he ascends into the heavens with the cherubim and flies, although he had not descended with those cherubim, without the cherubim he himself bowed the heavens and descended. On his return it is said, “And he mounted on cherubs, and he flew,” with the body he had assumed. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:11-13

Psalms 18:11

Augustine of Hippo: “And has made darkness His hiding place” [Psalms 18:11]. And has settled the obscurity of the Sacraments, and the hidden hope in the heart of believers, where He may lie hidden, and not abandon them. In this darkness too, wherein “we yet walk by faith, and not by sight,” [2 Corinthians 5:7] as long as “we hope for what we see not, and with patience wait for it.” [Romans 8:25] “Round about Him is His tabernacle.” Yet they that believe Him turn to Him and encircle Him; for that He is in the midst of them, since He is equally the friend of all, in whom as in a tabernacle He at this time dwells. “Dark water in clouds of air.” Nor let any one on this account, if he understand the Scripture, imagine that he is already in that light, which will be when we shall have come out of faith into sight: for in the prophets and in all the preachers of the word of God there is obscure teaching. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Augustine of Hippo: When God wished to appear visibly to people and desired also to teach them in person what he had first laid down in the law, he tempered the force, the power of the divine, by taking on the human and “made the darkness his cover round about him,” when he concealed himself in the tent of the flesh. — SERMON 371:2

Jerome: [Daniel 2:22] “It is He who reveals deep and hidden things, and He knows what is placed in the darkness, and with Him is the light.” A man to whom God makes profound revelations and who can say, “O the depth of the riches of the knowledge and wisdom of God!” (Romans 11:33), he it is who by the indwelling Spirit probes even into the deep things of God, and digs the deepest of wells in the depths of his soul. He is a man who has stirred up the whole earth, which is wont to conceal the deep waters, and he observes the command of God, saying: “Drink water from thy vessels and from the spring of thy wells” (Proverbs 5:15). As for the words which follow, “He knows what is placed in the darkness, and with Him is the light,” the darkness signifies ignorance, and the light signifies knowledge and learning. Therefore as wrong cannot hide God away, so right encompasses and surrounds Him. Or else we should interpret the words to mean all the dark mysteries and deep things (concerning God), according to what we read in Proverbs: “He understands also the parable and the dark saying.” (Proverbs 1:6, LXX) This in turn is equivalent to what we read in the Psalms: “Dark waters in the clouds of the sky” (Psalms 18:11). For one who ascends to the heights and forsakes the things of earth, and like the birds themselves seeks after the most rarified atmosphere and everything ethereal, he becomes like a cloud to which the truth of God penetrates and which habitually showers rain upon the saints. Replete with a plenitude of knowledge, he contains in his breast many dark waters enveloped with deep darkness, a darkness which only Moses can penetrate and speak with God face to face (Exodus 33:11), of Whom the Scripture says: “He hath made darkness His hiding-place” (Psalms 18:11). — St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER TWO

Jerome: This verse suggests the ineffable dispensation of God and our inability to comprehend his wisdom. As with these eyes of ours we cannot look into an unfathomable depth, neither are we able to contemplate the majesty or the wisdom of God. — HOMILY ON Psalms 103[104]

Jerome: There is no doubt but that the clouds and darkness round about him were the body that the Lord Savior deigned to assume.… He appeared just as he willed to appear and not in accordance with his divine nature. “He made darkness the cloak about him.” If God is light, how is light able to dwell in darkness? In that passage, darkness represents our imperfect knowledge and our infirmity, for we cannot gaze on his majesty. If human eyes cannot, in fact, look on the rays of the sun of this world, a creature, our fellow slave, how much more are there shades and darkness round about the Sun of Justice that he may not be observed or looked on by us? — HOMILY ON Psalms 96[97]

Origen of Alexandria: It is said of God in the eighteenth psalm that “God made darkness his hiding place.” This is a Hebrew way of showing that the ideas of God that people understand in accordance with their merits are obscure and unknowable, since God hides himself as if in darkness from those who cannot bear the radiance of the knowledge of him and who cannot see him, partly because of the defilement of the mind that is bound to a human “body of humiliation,” partly because of its restricted capacity to comprehend God.… Moreover, our Savior and Lord, the Logos of God, shows the depth of the knowledge of the Father, and that, although a derived knowledge is possessed by those whose minds are illuminated by the divine Logos himself, absolute understanding and knowledge of the Father is possessed by himself alone in accordance with his merits, when he says, “No one has known the Son save the Father, and no one has known the Father save the Son, and him to whom the Son will reveal him.” Neither can anyone worthily know the uncreated and firstborn of all created nature in the way that the Father who begat him knows him; nor can anyone know the Father in the same way as the living Logos who is God’s wisdom and truth. By participation in him who took away from the Father what is called darkness, which he made “his hiding place,” and what is called his covering, “the great deep,” thus revealing the Father, anyone whatever who has the capacity to know him may do so. — AGAINST CELSUS 6:17

Origen of Alexandria: The reasons of the divine dispensation and providence are most obscure. For “God made darkness his hiding place.” Those desiring audaciously and rashly to examine this darkness and appropriating for themselves one thing from another have fallen headlong into the dense “darkness” of errors. — HOMILIES ON Psalms 4:7

Psalms 18:12

Augustine of Hippo: “In respect of the brightness in His sight” [Psalms 18:12]: in comparison with the brightness, which is in the sight of His manifestation. “His clouds have passed over.” The preachers of His word are not now bounded by the confines of Judæa, but have passed over to the Gentiles. “Hail and coals of fire.” Reproofs are figured, whereby, as by hail, the hard hearts are bruised: but if a cultivated and genial soil, that is, a godly mind, receive them, the hail’s hardness dissolves into water, that is, the terror of the lightning-charged, and as it were frozen, reproof dissolves into satisfying doctrine; and hearts kindled by the fire of love revive. All these things in His clouds have passed over to the Gentiles. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Eusebius of Caesarea: He came down and then ascended with the cherubim after he thundered in the heaven.… Against the Egyptian sorcerers the Lord who flies on the cherubim sends forth hailstones and coals of fire. I think, also, that those vengeful acts against skillful wicked powers are called hailstones and coals of fire. Those acts, therefore, appointed for punishment and revenge and directed in the secret way of the will of God against the demons who had brought the superstition of multiple gods, were driving away all those demons. Therefore, all their oracles cease, their prophecies are denied, their temples are deserted, their sacred objects are robbed by invisible and hidden forces, as the Lord does all these things after his ascension into the heavens. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:14

Psalms 18:13

Augustine of Hippo: “And the Lord has thundered from heaven” [Psalms 18:13]. And in confidence of the Gospel the Lord has sounded forth from the heart of the just One. “And the Highest gave His voice;” that we might entertain it, and in the depth of human things, might hear things heavenly. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:14

Augustine of Hippo: “And He sent out His arrows, and scattered them” [Psalms 18:14]. And He sent out Evangelists traversing straight paths on the wings of strength, not in their own power, but His by whom they were sent. And “He scattered them,” to whom they were sent, that to some of them they should be “the savour of life unto life, to others the savour of death unto death.” [2 Corinthians 2:16] “And He multiplied lightnings, and troubled them.” And He multiplied miracles, and troubled them. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Evagrius Ponticus: When we compare spiritual things with spiritual things, we flash forth lightnings, indicating the knowledge advancing from them. — NOTES ON THE Psalms 17[18].15, 16

Psalms 18:15

Augustine of Hippo: “And the fountains of water were seen. And the fountains of water springing up into everlasting life,” [John 4:14] which were made in the preachers, were seen. “And the foundations of the round world were revealed” [Psalms 18:15]. And the Prophets, who were not understood, and upon whom was to be built the world of believers in the Lord, were revealed. “At Your chiding, O Lord:” crying out, “The kingdom of God has come near unto you.” [Luke 10:9] “At the blasting of the breath of Your displeasure;” saying, “Unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish.” [Luke 13:5] — Exposition on Psalms 18

Diodorus of Tarsus: He presents him as a general come to the aid of his own man, mentioning as arrows all the missiles indiscriminately—hail, coals, things that are naturally used as missiles.… In fear of the one appearing and the missiles and lightning flashes, the earth bared itself in all directions so as even to reveal its hidden secrets, springs, and anything else hidden in its depths. “At your rebuke, Lord.” The exclamatory remark emphasized nicely that creation has no one else to dread in this way except the author of creation himself. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18

Psalms 18:16

Augustine of Hippo: He has sent down from on high, and has fetched Me [Psalms 18:16]: by calling out of the Gentiles for an inheritance “a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle.” [Ephesians 5:27] “He has taken Me out of the multitude of waters.” He has taken Me out of the multitude of peoples. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:17

Augustine of Hippo: “He has delivered Me from My strongest enemies” [Psalms 18:17]. He has delivered Me from Mine enemies, who prevailed to the afflicting and overturning of this temporal life of Mine. “And from them which hate Me; for they are too strong for Me:” as long as I am under them knowing not God. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:18

Augustine of Hippo: “They have prevented Me in the day of My affliction” [Psalms 18:18]. They have first injured Me, in the time when I am bearing a mortal and toilsome body. “And the Lord has become My stay.” And since the stay of earthly pleasure was disturbed and torn up by the bitterness of misery, the Lord has become My stay. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:19

Augustine of Hippo: “And has brought Me forth into a broad place” [Psalms 18:19]. And since I was enduring the straits of the flesh, He brought Me forth into the spiritual breadth of faith. “He has delivered Me, because He desired Me.” Before that I desired Him, He delivered Me from My most powerful enemies (who were envious of Me when I once desired Him), and from them that hated Me, because I do desire Him. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Eusebius of Caesarea: “He will deliver me because he has pleasure in me”; indeed, it was not that I had repented, or had been convicted concerning my sin or had a prophet sent to me, but it was because he took pleasure to deliver me. And I know and I am absolutely persuaded that in the day of his judgment of the righteous no mention will be made of my sin and the crimes that I committed in the day of my misery. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:20-21

Symeon the New Theologian: Now, if someone does not wish, whether like the sinful woman to embrace the feet of Christ [Luke 7:38], or like the prodigal son to run back to Him with burning repentance [Luke 15:11ff], or like the woman with a hemorrhage and bowed with infirmity [Luke 8:43 and 13:11] even to approach Him, why does he then make excuses for his sins by saying, “Those whom He foreknew, them also“-and them alone!-“He called“?

One may perhaps reasonably reply to the person so disposed that “God, Who is before eternity and Who knows all things before creating them, also knew you beforehand, knew that you would not obey Him when He called, that you would not believe in His promises and in His words, yet still, even while knowing this, He “bowed the heavens and came down” (Psalms 18:19) and became man, and for your sake has come to the place where you lie prone. Indeed, visiting you many times every day, sometimes in His own Person and sometimes as well through His servants, He exhorts you to get up from the calamity in which you lie and to follow Him Who ascends to the Kingdom of Heaven and enter it together with Him. But you, you still refuse to do it. - “Second Ethical Discourse”

Psalms 18:20

Augustine of Hippo: “And the Lord shall reward Me according to My righteousness” [Psalms 18:20]. And the Lord shall reward Me according to the righteousness of My good will, who first showed mercy, before that I had the good will. “And according to the cleanness of My hands He will recompense Me.” And according to the cleanness of My deeds He will recompense Me, who has given Me to do well by bringing Me forth into the broad place of faith. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:21

Augustine of Hippo: “Because I have kept the ways of the Lord” [Psalms 18:21]. That the breadth of good works, that are by faith, and the long-suffering of perseverance should follow after. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:22

Augustine of Hippo: “Nor have I walked impiously apart from My God.” “For all His judgments are in My sight” [Psalms 18:22]. “For” with persevering contemplation I weigh “all His judgments,” that is, the rewards of the righteous, and the punishments of the ungodly, and the scourges of such as are to be chastened, and the trials of such as are to be proved. “And I have not cast out His righteousness from Me:” as they do that faint under their burden of them, and return to their own vomit. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:23

Arnobius the Younger: I will be blameless with him, with that very one who, himself blameless, suffered on the cross for our iniquities. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18

Augustine of Hippo: “And I shall be undefiled with Him, and I shall keep Myself from Mine iniquity” [Psalms 18:23]. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:24

Augustine of Hippo: And the Lord shall reward Me according to My righteousness [Psalms 18:24]. Accordingly not only for the breadth of faith, which works by love; but also for the length of perseverance, will the Lord reward Me according to My righteousness. “And according to the cleanness of My hands in the sight of His eyes.” Not as men see, but “in the sight of His eyes.” For “the things that are seen are temporal; but the things that are not seen are eternal:” [2 Corinthians 4:18] whereto the height of hope appertains. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:25

Apostolic Constitutions: Therefore, O bishop, together with your subordinate clergy, endeavor rightly to divide the Word of truth. For the Lord says, “If you walk cross-grained to me, I will walk cross-grained to you.” … Walk therefore in holiness, that you may rather appear worthy of praise from the Lord than of complaint from the adversary. — CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 2:6.43

Arnobius the Younger: We agree with common opinion, “He will be like the one with whom he is joined.” Indeed, this statement is very true, but it does not apply to the interpretation of the present verse. In this verse, if you wish to make the plain sense of the hymn, you will remember what the Lord said through the prophet to the people: If you walk upright in my sight, I will walk upright with you; if you walk turned from my ways, I will be turned from you. The psalmist speaks to this statement: With the holy, you will be holy; with the innocent, innocent, and et cetera. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18

Augustine of Hippo: “With the holy You shall be holy” [Psalms 18:25]. There is a hidden depth also, wherein You are known to be holy with the holy, for that You make holy. “And with the harmless You shall be harmless.” For Thou harmest no man, but each one is bound by the bands of his own sins. [Proverbs 5:22] — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:26

Augustine of Hippo: “And with the chosen You shall be chosen.” [Psalms 18:26]. And by him whom You choose, You are chosen. “And with the froward You shall be froward.” And with the froward Thou seemest froward: for they say, “The way of the Lord is not right:” [Ezekiel 18:25] and their way is not right. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Clement of Alexandria: By perverse, he means he will chastise sinners. For his natural uprightness … and his goodness toward those who believe obediently are immovable and unshakable.… Therefore, he treats them severely in the hope that perhaps he might curb their impulse toward death. — The Instructor Book 3

Psalms 18:28

Arnobius the Younger: Just as the eye is the lamp of the body, so the lamp of the soul is the mind, in which, unless Christ has poured the oil of his grace, there will not be light within. The prophet, therefore, proclaims that his lamp is lighted by the Lord. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 18

Augustine of Hippo: “For you will light My candle, O Lord” [Psalms 18:28]. For our light is not from ourselves; but “You will light my candle, O Lord. O my God, You will enlighten my darkness.” For we through our sins are darkness; but “You, O my God, wilt enlighten my darkness.” — Exposition on Psalms 18

Augustine of Hippo: Examine human nature: it is born and increases, it learns these customs of people. What does [this nature] know except earth, of the earth? It speaks human things, it knows human things, it understands human things. Carnal itself, [this nature] judges carnally, it surmises carnally. Let the grace of God come, let it enlighten a person’s darkness, as [the psalmist] says.… Let grace take possession of the human mind and turn it to its own light; immediately it begins to say what the apostle says: “Yet not I, but the grace of God with me” and “And it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me.” — TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF John 14:6.2

Eusebius of Caesarea: “I will bring forth a horn to David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.” The lamp is prepared for Christ, having arisen from the seed of David, for who other could it be than the offspring who has come forth from the succession of David according to the flesh; in what way does Christ who came into the womb of David become the ray of his own excellence and the light shining brightly for all people? Why in the aforesaid words does David speak prophetically: “Because you will light my lamp, Lord”? He says, “You yourself, Lord, who are the true light, having been united with the lamp coming forth from me in a certain mysterious way, are going to light that very lamp. Even the shadows with which I was once covered you will scatter entirely so that their memory does not enter my mind. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:29, 30

Theodorus of Tabennese: Let us not allow what is according to the flesh to persecute what is according to the spirit; neither let us, using the body as a pretext, quench the lamp that has been lit in us. We must therefore not contradict to the point of thinking or of speaking contrary to the faith in the holy Scriptures. But “those whom he loves, God chastises”; he afflicts and puts them to the test in everything to see “whether they will keep his commandments or not.” Yet, what God is looking for in us are “the fruits of the Holy Spirit”; we must not be negligent concerning them, for it is about them that we shall be questioned. — INSTRUCTIONS 3:40

Psalms 18:29

Abba Poemen: A person’s will is a brazen wall and a stone hurled between himself and God. If one puts it aside, he can say the words of the psalm: “In my God I shall go over a wall” and “as for my God, his way is undefiled.” If righteousness assists the will, then a person does good. — SAYINGS OF THE FATHERS 10:60

Augustine of Hippo: “For by You shall I be delivered from temptation” [Psalms 18:29]. For not by myself, but by You, shall I be delivered from temptation. “And in my God shall I leap over the wall.” And not in myself, but in my God shall I leap over the wall, which sin has raised between men and the heavenly Jerusalem. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Desert Fathers: He also said, ‘The will of man is a wall of brass, and a stone barrier between himself and God. If he puts it aside, he can say the words of the psalm, “By the help of my God I shall leap over the wall” and, “as for my God, his way is undefiled” (Ps. 18:29–30). If good conduct helps the will, then a man will do good.’ — The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

Eusebius of Caesarea: Truly I have known that I am going to cross over that heavenly wall built by your strength and power; and then situated in a safe place, I will receive salvation from you. Or, in this way: I, whom they try to close out by surrounding me in order to stop me, will cross and leap over all the fortifications of the enemies, both fence and wall. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:29-30

Psalms 18:30

Augustine of Hippo: “My God, His way is undefiled” [Psalms 18:30]. My God comes not unto men, except they shall have purified the way of faith, whereby He may come to them; for that “His way is undefiled.” “The words of the Lord have been proved by fire.” The words of the Lord are tried by the fire of tribulation. “He is the Protector of them that hope in Him.” And all that hope not in themselves, but in Him, are not consumed by that same tribulation. For hope follows faith. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Eusebius of Caesarea: What, moreover, do those oracles tried in the fire of the Lord teach? That he himself is the protector of all the ones hoping in him and that there is no God except our Lord, and there is none strong except our God; and rightly is it said that he is the protector of all hoping in him since none is able to be found who is able to stand against such and so great a protector. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:31-32

Psalms 18:31

Augustine of Hippo: “For who is God, but the Lord?” [Psalms 18:31] whom we serve. “And who God, but our God?” And who is God, but the Lord? Whom after good service we sons shall possess as the hoped-for inheritance. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:32

Augustine of Hippo: “God, who has girded me with strength” [Psalms 18:32]. God, who has girded me that I might be strong, lest the loosely flowing folds of desire hinder my deeds and steps. “And has made my way undefiled.” And has made the way of love, whereby I may come to Him, undefiled, as the way of faith is undefiled, whereby He comes to me. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Eusebius of Caesarea: He builds me up with his own strength and weapons, and he affirms by his grace my mortal and human strength; just like one having his limbs undergirded by his own strength, I will stand against my enemies. But as it is said above, “My God, his way is perfect,” so also wishing me to be likened to his own image, he has made my way blameless by teaching, admonitions and discipline of whatever type he wishes, and he has refined and perfected my way or settled life. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:33-34

Psalms 18:33

Eusebius of Caesarea: The same deer is swift in course as are also the righteous of God who look heavenward, not earthward, who seek the sublime; and this from a single love of the celestial kingdom. David ascribes his likeness to that of the righteous, strengthened by the grace of God, when he adds “and setting me on high places.” Although there are others who try to draw us into the valleys of iniquity and lead us away, our God, like an overseer of our struggles, when he has determined that we are good runners, stirs us to suitable excellence, and his grace fulfills that very thing. Not in our excellence are we established in our high places; but truly by its very nature the celestial is the abode for the soul; and those high places are not foreign but are peculiar to us. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:33-34

Psalms 18:34

Augustine of Hippo: “Who teaches my hands for battle” [Psalms 18:34]. Who teaches me to work for the overthrow of mine enemies, who strive to shut the kingdom of heaven against us. “And You have made mine arms as a bow of steel.” And You have made my earnest striving after good works unwearied. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:35

Augustine of Hippo: “And You have given me the defence of my salvation, and Your right hand has held me up” [Psalms 18:35]. And the favour of Your grace has held me up. “And Your discipline has directed me to the end.” And Your correction, not suffering me to wander from the way, has directed me that whatsoever I do, I refer to that end, whereby I may cleave to You. “And this Your discipline, it shall teach me.” And that same correction of Yours shall teach me to attain to that, whereunto it has directed me. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Evagrius Ponticus: He who sits on the right of the Father corrects us with discipline, and accordingly he teaches us. For he directs the spirit with a right foundation; true understanding leads one into fullness. — NOTES ON THE Psalms 17[18].36

Psalms 18:36

Augustine of Hippo: “You have enlarged my steps under me” [Psalms 18:36]. Nor shall the straits of the flesh hinder me; for You have enlarged my love, working in gladness even with these mortal things and members which are under me. “And my footsteps have not been weakened.” And either my goings, or the marks which I have imprinted for the imitation of those that follow, have not been weakened. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Eusebius of Caesarea: “You have made room for my steps under me,” the steps, namely, by which I cross from iniquity to moral excellence, from things perceived by my senses to those perceived by my mind, from the present to the future age, the steps that from the beginning seemed arduous and narrow to me because I was walking in a crooked way; but having progressed beyond them, I took notice of the widened places. For one who advances with every step and attains the end, having been drawn to the wide space, will not feel that narrowness, labor and grief that he had known in his advance.… He who follows Jesus follows hard his footsteps because he progresses on the worn and oft traveled way from Jesus Christ. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:37

Psalms 18:37

Arnobius the Younger: Not only do we avoid the ones pursuing us as we flee, but we pursue our enemies, and we seize them, and we do not turn back until they fail. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 18

Augustine of Hippo: “I will follow up mine enemies, and seize them” [Psalms 18:37]. I will follow up my carnal affections, and will not be seized by them, but will seize them, so that they may be consumed. “And I will not turn, till they fail.” And from this purpose I will not turn myself to rest, till they fail who make a tumult about me. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Eusebius of Caesarea: This is done for me through your grace, so that my feet are not ensnared nor am I cut off by the nets of my enemies or by the offenses that they had cast. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:38

Evagrius Ponticus: If you pray against your passions or the demons that assail you recall to mind [this verse].… You are to say this at the appropriate moment, thus arming yourself against your adversary with humility. — CHAPTERS ON PRAYER 135

Jerome: The mind must not through disbelief in the promised blessings give way to despair; and the soul once marked out for perdition must not refuse to apply remedies on the ground that its wounds are past curing.… Lo, I hear his promise: “I will pursue mine enemies and overtake them; neither will I turn again till they are consumed,” so that I, who was once your enemy and a fugitive from you, shall be laid hold of by your hand. Cease not from pursuing me till my wickedness is consumed. — LETTER 122.1

Psalms 18:38

Augustine of Hippo: “I will break them, and they shall not be able to stand” [Psalms 18:38]: and they shall not hold out against me. “They shall fall under my feet.” When they are cast down, I will place before me the loves whereby I walk for evermore. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:39

Augustine of Hippo: “And You have girded me with strength to the war” [Psalms 18:39]. And the loose desires of my flesh have You bound up with strength, that in such a fight I may not be encumbered. “You have supplanted under me them that rose up against me.” You have caused them to be deceived, who followed upon me, that they should be brought under me, who desired to be over me. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Evagrius Ponticus: If fighters find themselves being assailed and assailing in return, and if the demons fight against us, then they too when they assail us will be assailed by us in return. Scripture says, “I will assail them, and they will not be able to stand”; and again, “Those who assail me and are my enemies, they have weakened and fallen.” — PRAKTIKOS 72

Psalms 18:40

Arnobius the Younger: We will see the backs of our enemies fleeing, not the faces of ones pursuing us. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 18

Augustine of Hippo: “And you have given mine enemies the back to me” [Psalms 18:40]. And you have turned mine enemies, and hast made them to be a back to me, that is, to follow me. “And You have destroyed them that hate me.” But such other of them as have persisted in hatred, You have destroyed. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:41

Augustine of Hippo: “They have cried out, and there was none to save them” [Psalms 18:41]. For who can save them, whom You would not save? “To the Lord, and He did not hear them.” Nor did they cry out to any chance one, but to the Lord: and He did not judge them worthy of being heard, who depart not from their wickedness. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:42

Augustine of Hippo: “And I will beat them as small as dust before the face of the wind” [Psalms 18:42]. And I will beat them small; for dry they are, receiving not the shower of God’s mercy; that borne aloft and puffed up with pride they may be hurried along from firm and unshaken hope, and as it were from the earth’s solidity and stability. “As the clay of the streets I will destroy them.” In their wanton and loose course along the broad ways of perdition, which many walk, will I destroy them. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:43

Augustine of Hippo: “You will deliver Me from the contradictions of the people” [Psalms 18:43]. You will deliver Me from the contradictions of them who said, “If we send Him away, all the world will go after Him.” — Exposition on Psalms 18

Eusebius of Caesarea: He truly sees with his mind’s eye that all the peoples throughout the whole world of the human race, whether barbarians or Greek, or of whatever accent or language, carry David respectfully in their memory, and they all speak his name with honor, who lift up his words through all the churches of Christ; and does anyone not assert the truth in these very words, if he attentively considers the people gathered from the nations, known by no sign to David, as they perform their duties of service with Davidic hymns and canticles, and as they hear the song repeated and recite it, receiving the psalms entrusted by him that were written from the long ages back. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:44-46

Irenaeus: We are not all the children of God: those only are so who believe in him and do his will. And those who do not believe and do not obey his will are sons and angels of the devil, because they do the works of the devil. And that such is the case he has declared in Isaiah: “I have begotten and brought up children, but they have rebelled against me.” And again, he says that these children are aliens: “Strange children have lied unto me.” According to nature, then, they are [his] children, because they have been so created; but with regard to their works, they are not his children. — AGAINST HERESIES 4:41.2

Tertullian: “A people,” he says.… But what is the “people” that was ignorant of God, but ours, who in days bygone knew not God? And who, in the hearing of the ear, gave heed to him, but we, who forsaking idols, have been converted to God? — AN ANSWER TO THE JEWS 3

Psalms 18:44

Augustine of Hippo: “You shall make Me the head of the Gentiles. A people whom I have not known have served Me.” The people of the Gentiles, whom in bodily presence I have not visited, have served Me. “At the hearing of the ear they have obeyed Me” [Psalms 18:44]. They have not seen Me with the eye: but, receiving my preachers, at the hearing of the ear they have obeyed Me. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:45

Augustine of Hippo: “The strange children have lied unto Me.” Children, not to be called Mine, but rather strange children, to whom it is rightly said, “You are of your father the devil,” [John 8:44] have lied unto Me. “The strange children have waxen old” [Psalms 18:45]. The strange children, to whom for their renovation I brought the new Testament, have remained in the old man. “And they have halted from their own paths.” And like those that are weak in one foot, for holding the old they have rejected the new Testament, they have become halt, even in their old Law, rather following their own traditions, than God’s. For they brought frivolous charges of unwashen hands, [Matthew 15:2] because such were the paths, which themselves had made and worn by long use, in wandering from the ways of God’s commands. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:46

Augustine of Hippo: “The Lord lives, and blessed be my God.” “But to be carnally minded is death:” [Romans 8:6] for “the Lord lives, and blessed be my God. And let the God of my salvation be exalted” [Psalms 18:46]. And let me not think after an earthly fashion of the God of my salvation; nor look from Him for this earthly salvation, but that on high. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:47

Augustine of Hippo: “O God, who givest Me vengeance, and subduest the people under Me” [Psalms 18:47]. O God, who avengest Me by subduing the people under Me. “My Deliverer from My angry enemies:” the Jews crying out, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him.” [John 19:6] — Exposition on Psalms 18

Psalms 18:48

Arnobius the Younger: All these things will happen to us through him who placed his arms on the cross as a bow in the sky, and daily he intercedes for us. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 18

Augustine of Hippo: “From them that rise up against Me You will exalt Me” [Psalms 18:48]. From the Jews that rise up against Me in My passion, You will exalt Me in My resurrection. “From the unjust man You will deliver Me.” From their unjust rule You will deliver Me. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Eusebius of Caesarea: Just as David after the advent of our Savior is able to be presented just as if he were alive and living among people, and he sings praises to the God of the universe among all the peoples through his own writings, canticles and hymns, so also he who has come from his seed, to whom these words refer that we now explain, with like reasoning when he overcomes the ones lying in wait for him, he may rightly say, “You will exalt me above the ones rising against me.” And he leaves them behind, and he shares his own truth and grace to all peoples; even now he himself, being present everywhere on the earth and in the midst of them resting their hope in him, is made known through his church. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18:50-51

Psalms 18:49

Augustine of Hippo: “For this cause will I confess to You among the Gentiles, O Lord” [Psalms 18:49]. For this cause shall the Gentiles confess to You through Me, O Lord. “And I will sing unto Your Name.” And You shall be more widely known by My good deeds. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Romans (15:7-13): Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. [Psalms 18:49] And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Psalms 18:50

Augustine of Hippo: “Magnifying the salvation of His King” [Psalms 18:50]. God, who magnifies, so as to make wonderful, the salvation, which His Son gives to believers. “And showing mercy to His Christ:” God, who shows mercy to His Christ: “To David and to His seed for evermore:” to the Deliverer Himself strong of hand, who has overcome this world; and to them whom, as believers in the Gospel, He has begotten for evermore. What things soever are spoken in this Psalm which cannot apply to the Lord Himself personally, that is to the Head of the Church, must be referred to the Church. For whole Christ speaks here, in whom are all His members. — Exposition on Psalms 18

Diodorus of Tarsus: Since by the Holy Spirit he understood that God’s promises were not confined to him alone but would pass also to his offspring, so he spoke in this way here with particular reference to Christ’s life. The outcome, in fact, showed that David’s offspring, blessing and sanctifying the nations, referred to no one other than the Lord of all. The blessing affected the offspring without restriction, after all, and following David, remember, there were many famous descendants of his in each generation (Christ himself thought to be the one proven to be famous and great)—first Solomon, then Uzziah, then Hezekiah, then Josiah—yet none emerged as more precisely realizing the force of the promise than Christ alone, and after him there was no one, nor is there anyone to whom the blessing of the promises would be thought to refer. After all, with Judah in captivity and the tribes intermingled, and no clarity as to who was descended from whom, it is now obvious that the fulfillment of the promise rested with Jesus himself, to whom in this case as well both the prayer and the prophecy allude, “To David and his offspring forever.” I mean, those of the company of Hezekiah, even if they seemed to enjoy some grace from God, did not do so forever, death befalling each one with the result that they were not the subject of blessing forever. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 18