Augustine of Hippo — Commentary on Scripture

His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies.

"His heart is established, and will not shrink, until he see beyond his enemies" [Psalm 112:8]. His enemies wished to see good things here, and when invisible blessings were promised them, used to say, "Who will show us any good?" Let our heart therefore be established, and shrink not, until we see beyond our enemies. For they wish to see good things of men in the land of the dying; we trust to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.

Psalms 112:9 · 2 passages

He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.

But it is a great thing to have the heart established, and not to be moved, while they rejoice who love what they see, and mock at him who hopes for what he sees not; "what the Lord has prepared for them that love Him." [1 Corinthians 2:9] How great is the value of this which is not seen, and it is bought for so much as each man is able to give for it. On this account he also "dispersed abroad, and gave to the poor" [Psalm 112:9]: he saw not, yet he kept buying; but He was storing up the treasure in heaven, who deigned to hunger and thirst in the poor on earth. It is no wonder then if "his righteousness remains for ever:" He who created the ages being his guardian. "His horn," whose humility was scorned by the proud, "shall be exalted with honour."

So there is a good that can make [you] good, and there is a good with which you can do good. The good that makes [you] good is God, for only the one who is always good can make people good. In order that you, therefore, may be good, call on God. There is, however, another good with which you can do good, anything, that is, that you may have. It is gold, it is silver, it is good, not such that can make you good but such that you can do good with.You have gold, you have silver, and you are lusting for gold, and you are lusting for silver. You have it, and you are lusting for it, you are full, and you are still thirsty. It is a disease you have, not prosperity. There are people with a disease that makes them full of moisture and yet always thirsty; they are full of moisture, and they are thirsting for moisture! So how can you enjoy your prosperity when your lust for money suggests a bad case of dropsy? So you have gold, it is good; you have something to do good with but not something to be good with. "What good," you ask, "am I going to do with gold?" Haven't you heard the psalm, "He ha…

So there is a good that can make [you] good, and there is a good with which you can do good. The good that makes [you] good is God, for only the one who is always good can make people good. In order that you, therefore, may be good, call on God. There is, however, another good with which you can do good, anything, that is, that you may have. It is gold, it is silver, it is good, not such that can make you good but such that you can do good with.You have gold, you have silver, and you are lusting for gold, and you are lusting for silver. You have it, and you are lusting for it, you are full, and you are still thirsty. It is a disease you have, not prosperity. There are people with a disease that makes them full of moisture and yet always thirsty; they are full of moisture, and they are thirsting for moisture! So how can you enjoy your prosperity when your lust for money suggests a bad case of dropsy?
So you have gold, it is good; you have something to do good with but not something to be good with. "What good," you ask, "am I going to do with gold?" Haven't you heard the psalm, "He has distributed," it says, "he has given to the poor his justice abides forever and ever." This is the good, this is the good you are good with, justice. If you have the good you can be good with, do good with the good you are not good with. You have some money, disburse it. By disbursing your money, you increase your justice. "He has distributed," you see, he has disbursed, "he has given to the poor; his justice abides forever and ever." Notice what gets less and what increases; what gets less is money, what increases is justice. It is what you are going to say goodbye to that gets less, what you are going to leave behind that gets less; what increases is what you are going to possess forever.

Psalms 112:10 · 2 passages

The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

Dearly beloved, whether the Jews receive these divine testimonies with joy or with indignation, nevertheless, when we can, let us proclaim them with great love for the Jews. Let us not proudly glory against the broken branches; let us rather reflect by whose grace it is, and by much mercy, and on what root, we have been ingrafted. Then, not savoring of pride but with a deep sense of humility, not insulting with presumption but rejoicing with trembling, let us say, “Come and let us walk in the light of the Lord,” because his “name is great among the Gentiles.” If they hear him and obey him, they will be among them to whom Scripture says, “Come to him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be confounded.” If, however, they hear and do not obey, if they see and are jealous, they are among them of whom the psalm says, “The wicked shall see and shall be angry, he shall gnash with his teeth and pine away.” “But I,” the church says to Christ, “as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God for ever, yea forever and ever.”

"The ungodly shall see it, and he shall be angered" [Psalm 112:10]: this is that late and fruitless repentance. For with whom rather than himself is he "angered," when he shall say, "Our pride, what has it profited us? The boastfulness of our riches, what has it given us? [Wisdom 5:8] " seeing the horn of him exalted with honour, who "dispersed abroad, and gave to the poor." "He shall gnash with his teeth, and consume away:" for "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." For he will no more bring forth leaves and bloom, as would happen if he had repented in season: but he will then repent, when "the desire of the ungodly shall perish," no consolation succeeding. "The desire of the ungodly shall perish," when "all things shall pass away like a shadow," [Wisdom 5:8-9] when the flower shall fall down on the withering of the grass. "But the word of the Lord that endures for ever," [Isaiah 40:8] as it is mocked by the vanity of the falsely happy, so will laugh at the perdition of the same when truly miserable.

Psalms 113:1

Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.

...When ye hear sung in the Psalms, "Praise the Lord, you children" [Psalm 113:1]; imagine not that that exhortation pertains not unto you, because having already passed the youth of the body, you are either blooming in the prime of manhood, or growing gray with the honours of old age: for unto all of you the Apostle says, "Brethren, be not children in understanding; howbeit, in malice be children, but in understanding be men." What malice in particular, save pride? For it is pride that, presuming in false greatness, suffers not man to walk along the narrow path, and to enter by the narrow gate; but the child easily enters through the narrow entrance; and thus no man, save as a child, enters into the kingdom of heaven.

Psalms 113:2

Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.

"Praise the Name of the Lord."...Let Him therefore be always proclaimed: "Blessed be the Name of the Lord, from this time forth for evermore" [Psalm 113:2].

Psalms 113:3 · 2 passages

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised.

Now follows what concerns us: In the holy church. The holy church is what we are; but I do not mean "we" in the sense of just those of us who are here, you who are listening to me now; as many of us are by the grace of God Christian believers in this church, that is in this city, as many as there are in this region, as many as there are in this province, as many as there are also across the sea, as many as there are in the whole wide world, since "from the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is praised." Such is the catholic church, our true mother, the true consort of that bridegroom.

Let Him be proclaimed everywhere: "From the rising up of the sun unto the going down of the same, praise ye the Name of the Lord" [Psalm 113:3].

Psalms 113:4

The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.

"The Lord is high above all heathen" [Psalm 113:4]. The heathen are men: what wonder if the Lord be above all men? They see with their eyes those whom they worship high above themselves to shine in heaven, the sun and moon and stars, creatures which they serve while they neglect the Creator. But not only "is the Lord high above all heathen;" but "His glory" also "is above the heavens." The heavens look up unto Him above themselves; and the humble have Him together with them, who do not worship the heavens instead of Him, though placed in the flesh beneath the heavens.

Psalms 113:5-6

Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high,

"Who is like the Lord our God, that has His dwelling so high; and yet beholds the humble?" [Psalm 113:5]. Any one would think that He dwells in the lofty heavens, whence He may behold the humble things on earth; but "He beholds the humble things that are in heaven and earth" [Psalm 113:6]: what then is His high dwelling, whence He beholds the humble things that are in heaven and earth? Are the humble things He beholds His own high dwelling itself? For He thus exalts the humble, so as not to make them proud. He therefore both dwells in those whom He raises high, and makes them heaven for Himself, that is, His own abode; and by seeing them not proud, but constantly subject to Himself, He beholds even in heaven itself these very humble things, in whom raised on high He dwells. For the Spirit thus speaks through Isaiah: "Thus says the Highest that dwells on high, that inhabites eternity; the Lord Most High, dwelling in the holy." He has expounded what He meant by dwelling on high, by the more full expression, "dwelling in the holy."...

Psalms 113:7-8

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;

"He takes up the destitute out of the dust, and lifts the poor out of the mire" [Psalm 113:7]; "that He may set Him with the princes, even with the princes of His people" [Psalm 113:8]. Let not then the heads of the exalted disdain to be humble, beneath the Lord's right hand. For though the faithful steward of the Lord's money be placed together with the princes of the people of God, although he be destined to sit on the twelve seats, and even to judge angels; [Matthew 19:28] yet he is taken up destitute from the dust, and lifted from out of the mire. Was not he possibly lifted up from the mire, who "served various lusts and pleasures"?...

Psalms 113:9

He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.

What then, brethren, if we have already heard of those humble things which are in heaven, lifted up from the mire, that they might be set with the princes of the people; have we by consequence heard nothing of the humble things which the Lord beholds on the earth? For those friends who will judge with their Lord are fewer, while those whom they receive into everlasting habitations are more in number. For although the whole of a heap of grain compared with the separate chaff may seem to contain few in number; yet considered by itself, it is abundant....The Church then speaks thus in that sense, wherein she seems to bear no offspring among those crowds who have not given up all things, that they might follow the Lord, and might sit upon the twelve thrones. [Matthew 19:28] But how many in the same crowd, who make unto themselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, [Luke 16:9] shall stand on the right hand through works of mercy? He not only then lifts up from the mire him whom He is to place with the princes of His people; but also, "Makes the barren woman to keep house, and to be…

What then, brethren, if we have already heard of those humble things which are in heaven, lifted up from the mire, that they might be set with the princes of the people; have we by consequence heard nothing of the humble things which the Lord beholds on the earth? For those friends who will judge with their Lord are fewer, while those whom they receive into everlasting habitations are more in number. For although the whole of a heap of grain compared with the separate chaff may seem to contain few in number; yet considered by itself, it is abundant....The Church then speaks thus in that sense, wherein she seems to bear no offspring among those crowds who have not given up all things, that they might follow the Lord, and might sit upon the twelve thrones. [Matthew 19:28] But how many in the same crowd, who make unto themselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, [Luke 16:9] shall stand on the right hand through works of mercy? He not only then lifts up from the mire him whom He is to place with the princes of His people; but also, "Makes the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children" [Psalm 113:9]: He who dwells on high, and beholds the humble things that are in heaven and earth, the seed of Abraham like the stars of heaven, holiness set on high in heavenly habitations; and like the sand on the sea shore, a merciful and countless multitude gathered together from the harmful waves, and the bitterness of impiety.

Psalms 114:1-6

When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;

"When Israel came out of Egypt, and the house of Jacob from among the strange people" [Psalm 114:1], "Judah was His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion" [Psalm 114:2]; "the sea saw that and fled, Jordan was driven back" [Psalm 114:3]. Think not that past deeds are related unto us, but rather that the future is predicted; since, while those miracles also were going on in that people, things present indeed were happening, but not without an intimation of things future....Some things he has related differently to what we have learned and read there: that he might not truly be thought to be repeating past acts rather than to be prophesying future things. For in the first place, we read not that the Jordan was driven back, but that it stood still on the side nearest the source of its streams, while the people were passing through; next, we read not of the mountains and hills skipping: all which he has added, and repeated. For after saying, "The sea saw that, and fled; Jordan was driven back:" he added, "The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like young sheep" [Psalm 114:4]…

"When Israel came out of Egypt, and the house of Jacob from among the strange people" [Psalm 114:1], "Judah was His sanctuary, and Israel His dominion" [Psalm 114:2]; "the sea saw that and fled, Jordan was driven back" [Psalm 114:3]. Think not that past deeds are related unto us, but rather that the future is predicted; since, while those miracles also were going on in that people, things present indeed were happening, but not without an intimation of things future....Some things he has related differently to what we have learned and read there: that he might not truly be thought to be repeating past acts rather than to be prophesying future things. For in the first place, we read not that the Jordan was driven back, but that it stood still on the side nearest the source of its streams, while the people were passing through; next, we read not of the mountains and hills skipping: all which he has added, and repeated. For after saying, "The sea saw that, and fled; Jordan was driven back:" he added, "The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like young sheep" [Psalm 114:4]: and then asks, "What ails you, O thou sea, that you fled, and thou, Jordan, that you were driven back?" [Psalm 114:5]. "You mountains, that you skipped like rams; and you little hills, like young sheep?" [Psalm 114:6].

Psalms 114:3

The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.

But, again, listen to another excellent steward of God, whom I reverence as a father, for in Christ Jesus he begat me through the gospel, and from this servant of Christ I received the laver of regeneration. I speak of the blessed Ambrose, whose grace, constancy, labors, dangers, whether in works or in speech, for the catholic faith, I myself have experienced, and together with me the Roman world does not hesitate to proclaim them. When this man was explaining the Gospel according to Luke, he said, “The Jordan turned backwards” signified the future mysteries of the laver of salvation, through which infants who are baptized at the beginning of their natural life are reformed from badness.

Psalms 114:7

Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;

"Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob" [Psalm 114:7]. What means, "at the presence of the Lord," save at the presence of Him who said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." [Matthew 28:30] For the earth trembled; but because it had remained slothful, it was made to tremble, so that it might be more firmly fixed at the presence of the Lord.

Psalms 114:8

Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

"Who turned the hard rock into standing waters, and the flint stone into springing wells" [Psalm 114:8]. For He melted Himself, and what may be called His hardness to water those who believe in Him, that He might in them become "a fountain of water gushing forth unto everlasting life;" [John 4:14] because formerly, when He was not known, He seemed hard. Hence they who said, "This is an hard saying, who can bear it?" [John 6:60] were confounded, and waited not until He should flow and stream upon them when the Scriptures were revealed. The rock, that hardness, was turned into pools of water, that stone into fountains of waters, when on His resurrection, "He expounded unto them, commencing with Moses and all the prophets, how Christ ought to suffer thus;" [Luke 24:26-27] and sent the Holy Ghost, of whom He said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink." [John 7:37]

Psalms 115:1 · 2 passages

Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.

"Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Your Name give the praise" [Psalm 115:1]. For that grace of the water that gushed from the rock ("now that rock was Christ" [1 Corinthians 10:4]), was not given on the score of works that had gone before, but of His mercy "that justifies the ungodly." [Romans 4:5] For "Christ died for sinners," that men might not seek any glory of their own, but in the Lord's Name.

When Jesus was entrusting Peter with his sheep, he was entrusting him with us. When he was entrusting Peter with us, he was entrusting the church with his members. So, Lord, entrust your church to your church, let your church entrust itself to you. After all, we say, “Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give the glory.” I mean, what are we without you? Only Peter when he denied you three times. To show up Peter to himself, that is to show up Peter to Peter, the Lord turned his face away from him for a while—and Peter denied him. He turned his face toward him when he looked around—and he wept. Peter washed away his fault with his tears; he poured water from his eyes and baptized his conscience.

Psalms 115:2

Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?

"For Your loving mercy, and for Your truth's sake" [Psalm 115:2]. Observe how often these two qualities, loving mercy and truth, are joined together in the holy Scriptures. For in His loving mercy He called sinners, and in His truth He judges those who when called refused to come. "That the heathen may not say, Where is now their God?" For at the last, His loving mercy and truth will shine forth, when "the sign of the Son of man shall appear in heaven, and then shall all tribes of the earth cry woe;" [Matthew 24:30] nor shall they then say, "Where is their God?" when He is no longer preached unto them to be believed in, but displayed before them to be trembled at.