Augustine of Hippo — Commentary on Scripture

Proverbs 6:6

[The sluggard] has not imitated the ant. He has not gathered to himself grains while it was summer. What do I mean by “while it was summer”? While he had quietude of life, while he had this world’s prosperity, when he had leisure; when he was being called happy by all, while it was summer. He should have imitated the ant, he should have heard the Word of God, he should have gathered together grains, and he should have stored them within. But there came the trial of tribulation, there came upon him a winter of numbness, a tempest of fear, the cold of sorrow, whether it were loss, or any danger to his safety, or any bereavement of his family; or any dishonor and humiliation. In winter; the ant falls back upon that which in summer it has gathered together; and within its secret store, where no one can see, it is replenished by its summer toils. When for itself it was gathering together these stores in summer, every one saw it: when on these it feeds in winter, no one sees. What does this mean?See the ant of God. He rises day by day, he hastens to the church of God, he prays, he hears a…

[The sluggard] has not imitated the ant. He has not gathered to himself grains while it was summer. What do I mean by “while it was summer”? While he had quietude of life, while he had this world’s prosperity, when he had leisure; when he was being called happy by all, while it was summer. He should have imitated the ant, he should have heard the Word of God, he should have gathered together grains, and he should have stored them within. But there came the trial of tribulation, there came upon him a winter of numbness, a tempest of fear, the cold of sorrow, whether it were loss, or any danger to his safety, or any bereavement of his family; or any dishonor and humiliation. In winter; the ant falls back upon that which in summer it has gathered together; and within its secret store, where no one can see, it is replenished by its summer toils. When for itself it was gathering together these stores in summer, every one saw it: when on these it feeds in winter, no one sees. What does this mean?See the ant of God. He rises day by day, he hastens to the church of God, he prays, he hears a reading, he chants a hymn, he digests that which he has heard, he thinks to himself about all this, and inside he is storing up grains gathered from the threshing floor. You who hear those very things which even now are being spoken, do just this. Go forth to the church, go back from church, hear a sermon, hear a reading, choose a book, open and read it. All these things are seen when they are done. That ant is treading his path, carrying and storing up in the sight of those who see him. But in due time there comes the winter. For whom does it not come? There happens to be loss, or bereavement. Others perchance, who know not what the ant has stored up inside to eat, pity the ant as being miserable.

EXPLANATIONS OF THE PSALMS 67:3

Proverbs 8:22

The beginning of his ways is the head of the church, which is Christ incarnate, through whom there was to be given us an example of living, that is, a certain way by which we might reach God.… So the Word by which all things were made was created man in the beginning of his ways.

On Faith and the Creed 4:6

Proverbs 8:22

According to the form of God it was said, “Before all the hills he has begotten me,” that is, before all the most exalted creatures, and, “Before the morning star I have begotten you,” that is, before all the ages and temporal things. But according to the form of a slave it was said, “The Lord created me in the beginning of his ways.” Because according to the form of God he said, “I am the truth,” and according to the form of a slave, “I am the way.” For since he himself, “the firstborn of the dead,” has laid out the road for his church to the kingdom of God, to eternal life, of which he is the head even to the extent of giving immortality to the body. He was, therefore, created in the beginning of the ways of God for his works.

ON THE TRINITY 1:12.24

Proverbs 8:35

Man in paradise was capable of self-destruction by abandoning justice by an act of will; yet if the life of justice was to be maintained, his will alone would not have sufficed, unless he who made him had given him aid. But, after the fall, God’s mercy was even more abundant, for then the will itself had to be freed from the bondage in which sin and death are the masters. There is no way at all by which it can be freed by itself, but only though God’s grace, which is made effectual in the faith of Christ. Thus, as it is written, even the will by which “the will itself is prepared by the Lord” so that we may receive the other gifts of God through which we come to the Gift eternal—this too comes from God.

Enchiridion 28:106

Proverbs 9:1

[Wisdom said] to the unwise, “Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you.” In these words, surely, we recognize that the wisdom of God, the Father’s coeternal Word, has built a house for himself, namely, a body in the virgin’s womb. And to this body, as to the head, he has united the church as his members, has “slain” his martyrs as “victims,” set his “table” with bread and wine in allusion to the priesthood according to Melchizedek, and called the weak and unwise.

City of God 17.20

Proverbs 9:8

It happens regularly and it happens often that a man is cast down for a short time while he is being reproved, that he resists and fights back. But afterwards he reflects in solitude where there is no one but God and himself, and where he does not fear the displeasure of others by being corrected, but does fear the displeasure of God by refusing correction. Thereafter, he does not repeat the act which was justly censured but now loves the brother, whom he sees as the enemy of his sin, as much as he hates the sin itself.

LETTER 210

Proverbs 9:17

I came upon that brazen woman, empty of prudence, who, in Solomon’s obscure parable, sits on a seat at the door outside her house and says, “Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” This woman seduced me, because she found my soul outside its own door, dwelling externally in the eye of my flesh and ruminating within myself on such food as I had swallowed through my physical senses.

Confessions 3.6.11

Proverbs 9:17

Bread is used in a good sense in “I am the living bread which came down from heaven,” but in a bad sense in “hidden bread is more pleasant.” Many other things are used in the same way. Those examples that I have mentioned create little doubt as to their meaning, for things ought not to be used as examples unless they are clear. There are, however, instances in which it is uncertain whether the signification is to be taken in a good sense or in an evil sense.

CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION 25:36

Proverbs 10:19

I know that it is written, “In much speaking you shall not escape sin.” Would that all my speaking were only the preaching of your word and the praise of you! Then I would not only escape sin, no matter how many words I spoke, but also obtain a good reward. For it could not have been sin that a man blessed of you commanded upon his own son in the faith, to whom he wrote, “Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season.” In him who neither in season nor out of season kept back your word, none can say that there was not much speaking. And yet it was not much, when so much was needed. [But] deliver me, O God, from the multitude of words within my own soul.

ON THE TRINITY 15:51

Proverbs 13:7

It is simply not to be credited that holy Scripture is concerned to advise us on these riches which the proud get such swollen heads about. I mean these visible, earthly riches, of course, as though we should either think they are very important or fear not to have them. “After all,” someone will say, “what good does a man get from pretending to be rich when in fact he has nothing?” Scripture has taken note of such a person and found fault with him.… It is not improper, nor is it unseemly or useless that the holy Scriptures should wish to commend rich people to us for being humble. The thing really to be afraid of with riches, you see, is pride. In fact, the apostle Paul has advice on this point for Timothy: “Command the rich of this world,” he says, “not to have proud thoughts.” It wasn’t riches he went in dread of but the disease of riches. The disease of riches is great pride. A grand spirit it is indeed, that in the midst of riches is not prone to this disease, a spirit greater than its riches, surpassing them not by desiring but by despising them. Great then indeed is the rich p…

It is simply not to be credited that holy Scripture is concerned to advise us on these riches which the proud get such swollen heads about. I mean these visible, earthly riches, of course, as though we should either think they are very important or fear not to have them. “After all,” someone will say, “what good does a man get from pretending to be rich when in fact he has nothing?” Scripture has taken note of such a person and found fault with him.… It is not improper, nor is it unseemly or useless that the holy Scriptures should wish to commend rich people to us for being humble. The thing really to be afraid of with riches, you see, is pride. In fact, the apostle Paul has advice on this point for Timothy: “Command the rich of this world,” he says, “not to have proud thoughts.” It wasn’t riches he went in dread of but the disease of riches. The disease of riches is great pride. A grand spirit it is indeed, that in the midst of riches is not prone to this disease, a spirit greater than its riches, surpassing them not by desiring but by despising them. Great then indeed is the rich person who doesn’t think he is great just because he is rich. But if that is why he does think he is great, then he is proud and destitute. He’s a big noise in the flesh. In his heart of hearts he’s a beggar. He has been inflated, not filled. If you see two wineskins, one filled, the other inflated, they each have the same bulk and extent, but they don’t each have the same content. Just look at them, and you can’t tell the difference; but weigh them, and you will find out. The one that has been filled is hard to move; the one that has been inflated is easily removed.… I am not telling you to do away with your wealth but to transfer it, because there are many people who have refused to do this and have been very sorry indeed that they did not obey, when they not only lost their wealth but on account of it have lost themselves too. So, command the rich of this world not to have proud thoughts, and there will happen in them what we have heard in Solomon’s proverb: “There are those who humble themselves though they are rich.” It can happen even with these temporal riches. Let him be humble. Let him be more glad that he’s a Christian than that he’s rich. Don’t let him be puffed up or become high and mighty. Let him take notice of the poor man his brother, and not refuse to be called the poor man’s brother. After all, however rich he may be, Christ is richer, and he wanted all for whom he shed his blood to be his brethren.

SERMON 36:1-2, 5

Proverbs 13:24

“He that spares the rod hates his son.” For, give us a person who with right faith and true understanding can say with all the energy of his heart, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” For such a person there is no need of the terror of hell, to say nothing of temporal punishments or imperial laws, seeing that with him it is so indispensable a blessing to cleave to the Lord that he not only dreads being parted from that happiness as a heavy punishment but can scarcely even bear delay in its attainment. But yet, before the good sons can say they have “a desire to depart, and to be with Christ,” many must first be recalled to their Lord by the stripes of temporal scourging, like evil servants, and in some degree like good-for-nothing fugitives.

THE CORRECTION OF THE DONATISTS 6:21

Proverbs 14:26

“The fear of the Lord is the hope of courage.” When you fear the punishment that is threatened, you learn to love the reward that is promised; and thus through fear of punishment you keep on leading a good life, and by leading a good life you acquire a good conscience, so that finally through a good conscience you don’t fear any punishment. Therefore, learn how to fear, if you don’t want to be afraid.

SERMON 348:1

Proverbs 16:1

Assuredly, as to what is written, “The preparation of the heart is man’s part, and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord,” they are misled by an imperfect understanding, so as to think that to prepare the heart—that is, to begin good—pertains to people without the aid of God’s grace. Be it far from the children of promise thus to understand it!

AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS 2:19

Proverbs 16:32

The Scriptures offer the example of a woman of astounding fortitude and oblige me now to speak of her. This woman chose to give over to the tyrant and executioner every one of her seven sons rather than to utter a single word of sacrilege. And after fortifying them with her exhortations, at the same time suffering cruelly in their tortures, she herself had to undergo what she had called upon them to endure. Could any patience be greater than this?Yet what marvel is it that the love of God pervading her inmost soul should have withstood the tyrant and the executioner, and bodily pain, and the weakness of her sex, and her own human emotions? Had she not heard the words: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”? Had she not heard, “The one who is patient is better than the one who is the mightiest”?… She most assuredly knew these and many other divine precepts on fortitude written in the books of the Old Testament (which were the only ones then in existence) by the same Holy Spirit who wrote those in the New Testament. THE CATHOLIC AND MANICHAEAN WAYS OF LIFE 1:23…

The Scriptures offer the example of a woman of astounding fortitude and oblige me now to speak of her. This woman chose to give over to the tyrant and executioner every one of her seven sons rather than to utter a single word of sacrilege. And after fortifying them with her exhortations, at the same time suffering cruelly in their tortures, she herself had to undergo what she had called upon them to endure. Could any patience be greater than this?Yet what marvel is it that the love of God pervading her inmost soul should have withstood the tyrant and the executioner, and bodily pain, and the weakness of her sex, and her own human emotions? Had she not heard the words: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”? Had she not heard, “The one who is patient is better than the one who is the mightiest”?… She most assuredly knew these and many other divine precepts on fortitude written in the books of the Old Testament (which were the only ones then in existence) by the same Holy Spirit who wrote those in the New Testament. THE CATHOLIC AND MANICHAEAN WAYS OF LIFE 1:23.43.
CONQUER YOURSELF BY PATIENCE. GREGORY THE GREAT. Taking cities is a smaller victory because the places we conquer are outside of ourselves. A greater [victory] is won by patience, because a person overcomes himself and subjects himself to himself, when patience brings him low in bearing with others in humility.

FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 35

Proverbs 18:3

Confession dies with a dead man, but is always possible for one who is alive. There is this saying, “When a sinner shall have come into the depth of evil things, he despises [them].” For it is one thing to long for, another thing to fight against righteousness. It is one thing to desire to be delivered from evil, another thing to defend one’s evil doings rather than to confess.

EXPLANATIONS OF THE PSALMS 68:7

Proverbs 18:18

“The lot suppresses contentions and determines even between the mighty.” For it is better for God to decide in uncertainties of this kind than for people, whether he deigns to call the better ones to a share in his passion and to spare the weak, or to strengthen the former to bear these evils and to withdraw from this life those whose survival cannot be as beneficial to the church as theirs would be. It will be an unusual thing to proceed in this matter by drawing lots, but, if it is done, who will dare to judge it adversely? Surely, everyone but the envious or those ignorant of this appropriate quotation will praise it.

LETTER 228

Proverbs 19:3

Grace is not bestowed according to human merits; otherwise grace would be no longer grace. For grace is so designated because it is given gratuitously.

ON GRACE AND FREE WILL 21:43

Proverbs 19:5

There are true martyrs and false ones, because there are true and false witnesses. But Scripture says, “The false witness shall not go unpunished.” If the false witness will not escape punishment, neither will the true witness be denied a crown. And it was, indeed, easy to bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ and the truth, because he is God; but to do so to the death, that was a great work.

SERMON 286:1

Proverbs 19:21

What lies hidden in the designs of God I confess I do not know—I am only a man—but this I know with full certainty, that, whatever it is, it is more just, more wise, and more solidly based on incomparable perfection than all the judgments of people.

LETTER 104

Proverbs 20:24

Do they suppose, accordingly, that God moves the wills of those whom he has wished to the creation of earthly kingdoms but that he does not move them to the attainment of a heavenly kingdom? But I think that it was in reference to the kingdom of heaven, rather than to an earthly kingdom, that it was said … “The steps of a man are guided by the Lord, but how does a mortal understand his own ways?” Let them hear, “Every man seems just to himself, but the Lord directs the hearts.” Let them hear, “As many as were ordained to life everlasting believed.” Let them hear these words, and whatever others I have not quoted, by which it is shown that God prepares and converts people’s wills also for the kingdom of heaven and for eternal life. And think how strange it would be for us to believe that God moves people’s wills for the establishment of earthly kingdoms but that for the attainment of the kingdom of heaven people move their own wills.

PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS 20:42