Psalms 30

Psalms 30:1

Augustine of Hippo: It is then whole Christ who speaks. “I will exalt You, O Lord, for You have taken Me up” [Psalms 30:1]. I will praise Your high Majesty, O Lord, for You have taken Me up. “You have not made Mine enemies to rejoice over Me.” And those, who have so often endeavoured to oppress Me with various persecutions throughout the world, You have not made to rejoice over Me. — Exposition on Psalms 30

Psalms 30:2

Ambrose of Milan: For as much as someone directs their intention towards the Lord, they elevate the Lord even more, and they themselves are elevated. Hence, he says: I will exalt you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up. For the holy person exalts the Lord, while the sinner humbles Him. — On Isaac and the Soul, Chapter VII, 57

Augustine of Hippo: “O Lord, My God, I have cried unto You, and You have healed Me” [Psalms 30:2]. O Lord, My God, I have cried unto You, and I no longer bear about a body enfeebled and sick by mortality. — Exposition on Psalms 30

Theodoret of Cyrus: Human nature did not beseech God and look for reprieve from destruction; rather, it constantly fell to wailing and weeping, with death in view and no expectation of resurrection. Accordingly, the psalmist made mention of the tears and laments that occur with the sick and dying to show the ineffable lovingkindness of God … [by which,] without being invoked and seeing only the wailing, he took pity on what was happening and gave a reprieve from death. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 30:2

Psalms 30:3

Augustine of Hippo: “O Lord, You have brought back My Soul from hell, and You have saved Me from them that go down into the pit” [Psalms 30:3]. You have saved Me from the condition of profound darkness, and the lowest slough of corruptible flesh. — Exposition on Psalms 30

Origen of Alexandria: No one is able to exalt God unless God has lifted him up. For we are lifted up on high through the cross of Christ, who said, “When I will have been lifted up, I will draw all to me.” We exalt the Lord who himself exalted the Father, and as much as he has been in him, he shows the Father to the ones who believe. He teaches that there are certain invisible enemies of the human spirit who envy the salvation handed over to them by God. They lie in wait, and they observe whether an error, fall or mishap should happen, which, if it would, straightway they mock that salvation as if joyful with the wrongdoing, against which mockery he bears up with strength if they will see that salvation illuminated by divine steps. He thanks God because God did not allow him to be cast away but corrected him from his fall. One who realizes this clearly exalts God and protects the worthy teaching that comes from God. Such a person lives a life of wisdom and keeps his spirit in all excellence. He exalts the one who lives within him. — SELECTIONS FROM THE Psalms 30:2

Psalms 30:4

Augustine of Hippo: “Sing to the Lord, O you saints of His.” The prophet seeing these future things, rejoices, and says, “Sing to the Lord, O you saints of His. And make confession of the remembrance of His holiness” [Psalms 30:4]. And make confession to Him, that He has not forgotten the sanctification, wherewith He has sanctified you, although all this intermediate period belong to your desires. — Exposition on Psalms 30

Basil of Caesarea: One does not sing to the Lord by simply uttering the words of the psalm with his mouth, but all who send up the psalmody from a clean heart and who are holy, maintaining righteousness toward God, these are able to sing to God, harmoniously guided by the spiritual rhythms. How many stand there, coming from fornication? How many from theft? How many concealing in their hearts deceit? How many lying? They think they are singing, although in truth they are not singing. For the Scripture invites the saint to the singing of psalms. “A bad tree cannot bear good fruit,” nor a bad heart utter words of life. Therefore, “make the tree good and its fruits good.” Cleanse your hearts, in order that you may bear fruit in the spirit and may be able, after becoming saints, to sing psalms intelligently to the Lord. — HOMILIES on the Psalms 14:3 (Psalms 30)

Evagrius Ponticus: All who are mindful of the mercy of God confess him. — NOTES ON THE Psalms 29[30].5

Psalms 30:5

Arnobius the Younger: The world was cursed by the death of Adam, but life is revealed in the rising from the dead. Weeping will tarry till evening.… But we will have joy in the morning. In the early rising, as the shadows of the earth are ended and the time of morning rising arrives, the beauty of our faith stands. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 30

Augustine of Hippo: “For in His indignation is wrath” [Psalms 30:5]. For He has avenged against you the first sin, for which you have paid by death. “And life in His will.” And life eternal, whereunto you could not return by any strength of your own, has He given, because He so would. “In the evening weeping will tarry.” Evening began, when the light of wisdom withdrew from sinful man, when he was condemned to death: from this evening weeping will tarry, as long as God’s people are, amid labours and temptations, awaiting the day of the Lord. “And exultation in the morning.” Even to the morning, when there will be the exultation of the resurrection, which has shone forth by anticipation in the morning resurrection of the Lord. — Exposition on Psalms 30

Augustine of Hippo: We weep only until that morning of resurrection gladness, looking to the joy that blossomed in advance in the early-morning resurrection of the Lord. — EXPOSITION 1 OF Psalms 30:6

Evagrius Ponticus: In the same way that wrath arises from the indignation of God, so even life is generated from his will. If “life” indicates knowledge, … then wrath denotes lack of knowledge. Death is a turning from life. Wrath, then, indicates death, a deprivation of contemplation. — NOTES ON THE Psalms 29[30].6

Pseudo-Athanasius: In God’s wrath is anger, but in his will is life, because his will is life.… He is led to anger because of our sin. And although mourning will continue all night, in the morning he makes for us a rejoicing, when through repentance we strip off the burden of evil. — EXPOSITION ON Psalms 30

Theodore of Mopsuestia: By “wrath” he refers to punishment and retribution, by “wrath” the divine Scripture meaning not only the initial response but also lasting anger. So by “wrath” he refers to the awful process of vengeance, and by “anger” the effect it rightly has on sinners, the terms being interchanged as usual.… He takes vengeance when angered and is beneficent by purpose and intention. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 30:6

Theodoret of Cyrus: Now, things turned out like this both in the case of Hezekiah and in the case of the salvation of everyone. After the Assyrians applied those awful threats and moved the city to weeping, they sustained the blow at night, and in the morning they filled with good cheer those whom they had forced to weep. The divine Isaiah brought Hezekiah the sentence of death in the evening, and towards morning brought him in turn the good news of life. And it happened likewise in the case of the salvation of everyone: the sacred apostles and the believers along with them lamented the passion of the Lord, but toward morning the women came and brought the joy of the resurrection. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 30:3

Psalms 30:6

Augustine of Hippo: “But I said in my abundance, I shall not be moved for ever” [Psalms 30:6]. But I, that people which was speaking from the first, said in mine abundance, suffering now no more any want, “I shall not be moved for ever.” — Exposition on Psalms 30

Basil of Caesarea: As the prosperity of a city is dependent on the supply of goods for sale in the market, and as we say that a country is prosperous that produces much fruit, so also there is a certain prosperity of the soul when it has been filled with works of every kind. It is necessary first for it to be laboriously cultivated and then to be enriched by the plentiful streams of heavenly waters, so as to bear fruit thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold and to obtain the blessing that says, “Blessed shall be your barns and blessed your stores.” One, therefore, who is conscious of his own constancy, will say with sure confidence and will strongly maintain that he will not be turned away by any opponent, like a full field that the Lord has blessed. — HOMILIES on the Psalms 14:5 (Psalms 30)

Psalms 30:7

Augustine of Hippo: “O Lord, in Your will You have afforded strength unto my beauty” [Psalms 30:7]. But that this my abundance, O Lord, is not of myself, but that in Your will You have afforded strength unto my beauty, I have learned from this, " You turned away Your Face from me, and I became troubled;" for You have sometimes turned away Your Face from the sinner, and I became troubled, when the illumination of Your knowledge withdrew from me. — Exposition on Psalms 30

Basil of Caesarea: They who are engaged in the examination of the reason for virtues have said that some of the virtues spring from contemplation and some are noncontemplative … beauty and strength are noncontemplative virtues since they follow from the contemplative.… But, for this, namely, that beauty may exist in the soul and also the power for the fulfillment of what is proper, we need divine grace.… For I was beautiful according to nature but weak, because I was dead by sin through the treachery of the serpent. To my beauty, then, which I received from you at the beginning of my creation, you added a strength that is appropriate for what is proper. Every soul is beautiful that is considered by the standard of its own virtues. But beauty, true and most lovely, that can be contemplated by him alone who has purified his mind, is that of the divine and blessed nature. One who gazes steadfastly at the splendor and graces of it receives some share from it, as if from an immersion tingeing his own face with a sort of brilliant radiance.… Moses also was made resplendent in face by receiving some share of beauty when he held converse with God. Therefore, one who is conscious of his own beauty utters this act of thanksgiving: “O Lord, in your favor, you gave strength to my beauty.” — HOMILIES on the Psalms 14:5 (Psalms 30)

Basil of Caesarea: God is said to turn away his face when in times of troubles he permits us to be delivered up to trials, in order that the strength of him who is struggling may be known.… We pray always for the face of God to shine on us, in order that we may be in a state becoming to a holy person, gentle and untroubled in every way, because of our readiness for the good. “I am ready,” he says, “and am not troubled.” — HOMILIES on the Psalms 14:6 (Psalms 30)

Pseudo-Athanasius: Without your power I cannot rise from my fall. Bring it to pass that the grace of my soul shine out again, not averting your face as previously. — EXPOSITION ON Psalms 30

Psalms 30:8

Augustine of Hippo: “Unto You, O Lord, will I cry, and unto my God will I pray” [Psalms 30:8]. And bringing to mind that time of my trouble and misery, and as it were established therein, I hear the voice of Your First-Begotten, my Head, about to die for me, and saying “Unto You, O Lord, will I cry, and unto My God will I pray.” — Exposition on Psalms 30

Diodorus of Tarsus: I acknowledge the one responsible and shall not be reluctant to admit that all the good things I have are from you. — COMMENTARY ON Psalms 30

Psalms 30:9

Ambrose of Milan: It first predestined, then called; and those whom it called, it also justified; and those whom it justified, it also glorified. Will it be able to abandon those whom it has supported with such great benefits up to rewards? Among so many benefits of God, should we fear any accusations or traps from an accuser? But who would dare to accuse those chosen by divine judgment? Surely God the Father, who granted them, can revoke his gifts; and those whom he has adopted, can he cast them aside from the grace of paternal affection? But there is fear that the judge may be more severe. Consider who the judge is. Indeed, the Father has given all judgment to Christ. Therefore, can that very one condemn you, whom he redeemed from death, for whom he offered himself, and whose life he knows to be the reward of his own death? Will he not say: What is the benefit in my blood if I harm the one whom I myself saved? Then you consider the judge, but do not consider the advocate. Can he not pronounce a harsher sentence, who does not cease to intercede so that the grace of paternal reconciliation may be bestowed upon us? — On Jacob and the Blessed Life, Book I, Chapter VI, 26

Athanasius of Alexandria: The Lord’s descent to earth was not useless, for it gained the whole world! Nevertheless, even after his coming in the flesh, sinners would rather be without his flesh than profit by it. You see, he took pleasure in our salvation and thought of it as a distinctive victory for himself. [By contrast], he considered our destruction a sad loss.… He praised those who doubled the grace he gave, both the one who made ten talents from five and the one who made four talents from two. Both of them had done the right thing and had profited from it. But he threw out the one who hid the talent. — FESTAL LETTERS 6:4-5

Psalms 30:10

Augustine of Hippo: “The Lord has heard, and had mercy on Me, the Lord has become My helper.” Nor did “He suffer His holy One to see corruption” [Psalms 30:10]. — Exposition on Psalms 30

Psalms 30:11

Augustine of Hippo: “You have turned My mourning into joy to Me” [Psalms 30:11]. Whom I, the Church, having received, the First-Begotten from the dead, [Revelation 1:5] now in the dedication of Your house, say, “You have turned my mourning into joy to me. You have put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness.” You have torn off the veil of my sins, the sadness of my mortality; and hast girded me with the first robe, with immortal gladness. — Exposition on Psalms 30

Basil of Caesarea: The joy of God is not found in just any soul but, if someone has mourned much and deeply his own sin with loud lamentations and continual weepings, as if he were bewailing his own death, the mourning of such a one is turned into joy.… The mourning garment, which he put on when bewailing his sin, is torn, and the tunic of joy is placed around him and the cloak of salvation, those bright wedding garments, with which if one is adorned, he will not be cast out from the bridal chamber. — HOMILIES on the Psalms 14:7 (Psalms 30)

Evagrius Ponticus: Mourning turns to joy and the understanding of God to action. — NOTES ON THE Psalms 29[30].12

Psalms 30:12

Augustine of Hippo: “That my glory should sing unto You, and I should not be pricked” [Psalms 30:12]. That now, not my humiliation, but my glory should not lament, but should sing unto You, for that now out of humiliation You have exalted me; and that I should not be pricked with the consciousness of sin, with the fear of death, with the fear of judgment. “O Lord, my God, I will confess unto You for ever.” And this is my glory, O Lord, my God, that I should confess unto You for ever, that I have nothing of myself, but that all my good is of You, who art “God, All in all.” — Exposition on Psalms 30

Basil of Caesarea: When you granted me pardon because of my repentance and led me back into glory, taking away the shame of my sins, for this I shall give praise to you for all eternity. In fact, what space of time could be so great, that it could produce in my soul forgetfulness of such mighty benefits? — HOMILIES ON THE Psalms 14:8 (Psalms 30)

Theodoret of Cyrus: We have a basis of high repute in the evidence given by the God of all of his great affection for us: “God so loved the world,” Scripture says, “that he has given his only-begotten Son so that all who believe in him may not perish but have eternal life.” “O Lord my God, I shall confess to you forever”: not only in the present life but also after the resurrection I shall offer hymns to you, constantly recounting your extraordinary and ineffable gifts. — COMMENTARY ON THE Psalms 30:6