John Chrysostom — Commentary on Scripture

Psalms 11:5

Wickedness, after all, is the soul’s enemy, its foe and ruination, and so the wicked person pays the penalty even before punishment is imposed. Do you see how he shows on every score that his adversaries … are hoisted on their own weapons by which they protect themselves, consumed by them and damaging themselves?

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 11:2

Psalms 12:3

Do you see the solicitude of the inspired author, how he prays for them? The remark is not against them, no, but on their behalf. He did not ask for them to be destroyed, note, but for the evil to be done away with. He did not say “the Lord will destroy them,” note, but the “deceitful lips.” Again, he asks for the destruction not of their being but of their tongue, their folly, their deceit, and for an end to be put to their arrogance.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 12:1-2

Psalms 12:4

“Our lips are our own; who is our master?” These are words of insane and deranged people. For this very reason Paul says the opposite to them in the words, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price,” and bids them not to live for themselves. Your lips are not yours, he is saying, but the Lord’s. He it was, in fact, who made them, who fitted you together, who breathed life into you. But you—what do you have? Not all that we have, by contrast, is ours; for even the possessions we have others have entrusted to us, and the land we lease others have given to us. Exactly so has God let these things out on lease to you, not for you to bear thorns but to convert the seed into something useful; not for you to make folly flourish by them, not for deceit but for humility, benediction and love. He gave you eyes, not to indulge in unrestrained gazing but to embellish them with temperance; and hands, not for striking but for giving alms.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 12:2

Psalms 13:1

Whence comes his knowledge that God had forgotten him, does the text say? Since he knew also when he remembered him, and he was wise enough to know what forgetting meant and what remembering. Not like the majority of people, who, when they are wealthy, when they enjoy a good reputation with people, when everything goes favorably for them, when they better their foes, then think God remembers them. Hence neither do they understand when it is God forgets them. They do not recognize the sign of God’s remembering, you see, nor do they grasp the sign of his forgetting.… Nothing, after all, brings remembrance by God so much as doing good, being sober and watchful, practicing virtue; likewise, nothing prompts forgetting so much as living in sin and giving oneself to greed and rapacity. So for your part, dearly beloved, when you are in trouble, do not say, “God has forgotten me,” but when you are living in sin and everything is going favorably for you. After all, if you knew this, you would quickly abandon evil things.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 13:1

Psalms 13:2

Just as the sailor on leaving port wanders in every direction and the person deprived of light bumps into many things, so too the one who encounters God’s forgetting is caught up constantly in worries and cares and sorrows.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 13:1

Psalms 13:3

Just as when God defends us and stands by us, everything damaging is removed from us, so when he keeps his distance and forgets us, our soul is cut in two, our heart plunged in sorrow, those who do harm fall on us and life becomes craggy and precipitous. Now, this is allowed to happen for our advantage, so that through the whole of it those more indifferent people may be goaded into becoming more zealous and return to the condition from which they fell. “Your falling away will instruct you, after all,” Scripture says, “and your wickedness censure you.” And so even abandonment by God is a form of providence. You see, when the one who exercises providence and care is slighted, he ignores and abandons us to some extent so that at that point indifference may be expelled and the negligent may turn more zealous.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 13:1

Psalms 13:4

What is the meaning of “I have prevailed over him”? That even if he is not absolutely strong, yet he has proved strong against me. Our defeat clothes him in strength, makes him look strong, powerful and invincible. Do you see that when we sin, not only do we shame and destroy ourselves and fall headlong into death, but also we declare to be strong and powerful the foes by whom we are defeated. And not only this: we also bring them to a state of joy and exultation. Bless me! What stupidity! What madness! To be of assistance ourselves to our enemies and make their soul rejoice and exult through the pain and distress they cause us! See how absurd it is. Whereas we should conquer the enemy (“His swords have finally failed,” remember, “and the godless has been destroyed”), whereas we should conquer, we are beaten; and not only this, but we make him appear powerful and strong. Nor does the extent of our madness and extreme derangement stop at this point: We prove the cause of bringing him to a state of joy and exultation. Sin in reality is the height of madness and extreme evil.… Let us ……

What is the meaning of “I have prevailed over him”? That even if he is not absolutely strong, yet he has proved strong against me. Our defeat clothes him in strength, makes him look strong, powerful and invincible. Do you see that when we sin, not only do we shame and destroy ourselves and fall headlong into death, but also we declare to be strong and powerful the foes by whom we are defeated. And not only this: we also bring them to a state of joy and exultation. Bless me! What stupidity! What madness! To be of assistance ourselves to our enemies and make their soul rejoice and exult through the pain and distress they cause us! See how absurd it is. Whereas we should conquer the enemy (“His swords have finally failed,” remember, “and the godless has been destroyed”), whereas we should conquer, we are beaten; and not only this, but we make him appear powerful and strong. Nor does the extent of our madness and extreme derangement stop at this point: We prove the cause of bringing him to a state of joy and exultation. Sin in reality is the height of madness and extreme evil.… Let us … give thought and expend effort lest we puff the enemy up, lest we show him to be strong, lest we give him joy; instead, let us do the opposite, make him humble, lowly, weak, dejected, gloomy. You see, if he were to see sinners reforming, all these things would happen together.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 13:1-2

Psalms 13:5

Do you see a hope-filled soul? He asked, and before receiving he gives thanks as though having received, sings praise to God and achieves all that had been anticipated.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 13:2

Psalms 13:6

Hope in God’s mercy, have no doubts, and you will gain your request completely; once gained, however, do not prove ungrateful for the favor and unappreciative but make a record of the kindness and offer it as a thanksgiving song to the Lord.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 13:3

Psalms 17:8

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

AGAINST THE ANOMOEANS 8:4

Psalms 19:1

How … do they declare it? Voice they have none; mouth they possess not; no tongue is theirs! How then do they declare? By means of the spectacle itself. For when you see the beauty, the breadth, the height, the position, the form, the stability thereof during so long a period; hearing as it were a voice, and being instructed by the spectacle, you adore him who created a body so fair and strange! The heavens may be silent, but the sight of them emits a voice that is louder than a trumpet’s sound, instructing us not by the ear but through the medium of the eyes, for the latter is a sense which is more sure and more distinct than the former.

HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 9:4

Psalms 19:1

Nevertheless, many have stumbled at it and in contrary directions to one another. And some have admired it so much above its worth as to think it God, while others have been so insensible of its beauty as to assert it to be unworthy of God’s creating hand and to ascribe the greater share in it to a certain evil matter. And yet God provided for both points by making it beautiful and great that it might not be deemed alien from his wisdom, yet defective and not sufficient to itself that it might not be suspected to be God.

HOMILIES ON 2 CORINTHIANS 21:4

Psalms 19:4

The Scythian, barbarian, Indian, Egyptian and everyone who walks on the earth shall hear this voice; for not by means of the ears but through the sight, it reaches our understanding. And of the things that are seen, there is one uniform perception; and there is no difference, as is the case with respect to languages. On this volume the unlearned, as well as the wise, shall be alike able to look; the poor person as well as the rich person; and wherever anyone may chance to come, there looking upward toward the heavens, he will receive a sufficient lesson from the view of them.

HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 9:5

Psalms 19:4

The providence of God is clearer than the sun and its rays. On every occasion and in every place you will see clear and abundant evidence of this providence—in the desert, on cultivated and uncultivated land, on land and sea, wherever you go. This evidence is old and new. Voices are raised from every side that sound more clearly than the voices of our reason, and they tell of God’s care to one who wishes to hear.… Our tongue is known only to those who share our language, not to those of other tongues; but the voice of creation is audible to all peoples who dwell in the inhabited world. Those of good judgment regard as sufficient God’s proclamation, without the demonstration of deeds. It reveals not only his providence but also his abundant love for us; for he does not merely take thought for us but is also our lover, and he loves us boundlessly with an inconceivable love. It is a love that knows no emotion, but it is most warm and intense, noble, insoluble, unquenchable.

ON PROVIDENCE 5:2

Psalms 19:5

The sun renders the day brighter, shedding its rays like flashing lights and day by day revealing its own beauty in full bloom: as soon as it appears at dawn, it awakes the whole human race to the discharge of their respective duties.… Do you see how [in the psalm] he revealed to us both the sun’s beauty and its speed of movement? That is, in saying, “Its span extends from one corner of heaven right to the other corner of heaven,” it indicated to us how in one moment of time it traverses the whole world and scatters its rays from end to end, making its great resources available. It not only supplies heat to the earth but also dries it up, and not only dries it up but enkindles it and supplies us with many different resources, so marvelous a body is it, quite beyond one’s power to describe adequately. I mention this to you and sing the praises of this heavenly body so that you may not stop short there, dearly beloved, but proceed further and transfer your admiration to the Creator of the heavenly body. After all, the greater the sun is shown to be, so much the more marvelous is the re…

The sun renders the day brighter, shedding its rays like flashing lights and day by day revealing its own beauty in full bloom: as soon as it appears at dawn, it awakes the whole human race to the discharge of their respective duties.… Do you see how [in the psalm] he revealed to us both the sun’s beauty and its speed of movement? That is, in saying, “Its span extends from one corner of heaven right to the other corner of heaven,” it indicated to us how in one moment of time it traverses the whole world and scatters its rays from end to end, making its great resources available. It not only supplies heat to the earth but also dries it up, and not only dries it up but enkindles it and supplies us with many different resources, so marvelous a body is it, quite beyond one’s power to describe adequately. I mention this to you and sing the praises of this heavenly body so that you may not stop short there, dearly beloved, but proceed further and transfer your admiration to the Creator of the heavenly body. After all, the greater the sun is shown to be, so much the more marvelous is the revelation of the Creator.

HOMILIES ON PSALMS 6:10-11

Psalms 19:10

[The words of God, the prophet says,] are “desirable above gold and a very precious stone, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb,” but they are so only to those in sound health. Therefore he added, “For your servant keeps them.” And elsewhere again, after saying that they are sweet, he added, “to my palate.” “How sweet to my palate,” he says, “are your promises.” And he goes on to insist on their excellence by the words “sweeter than honey and the honeycomb to my mouth,” because he was in very sound health. Well, then, let us not on our part approach these words in ill health, but let us receive nourishment from them, after having restored our souls to health.

HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1

Psalms 22:18

Now, the soldiers divided his garments among themselves, but not his tunic. Notice how they frequently caused prophecies to be fulfilled by their wicked deeds. I say this for this detail had been foretold of old. Furthermore, even though there were three crucified, the prophecy was fulfilled only with reference to Christ. Why, indeed, did they not do this in the case of the other two, but only with regard to this One alone? Kindly notice, too, the exactness of the prophecy. The prophet declared not only that they divided the garments among themselves but also that they did not divide them. Thus, the soldiers divided some of Christ’s garments into parts, but they did not divide the tunic; on the contrary, they settled its possession by lot.

HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 85

Psalms 33:15

Only [God] can cure our hearts, he who alone created our hearts and perceives all our deeds. He alone has the power to enter into our conscience, touch our thoughts and comfort our soul. And if he does not console our hearts, all that people may do is superfluous and unprofitable. Just as when God comforts and pacifies us again, even if people greatly disturb us with myriad troubles, they will be unable to injure us in anything, for when he strengthens our heart, no one is able to shake it.

HOMILIES ON REPENTANCE AND ALMSGIVING 4:3.17

Psalms 34:13

Let us train therefore our tongue to speak good words. For “refrain,” it is said, “your tongue from evil.” For God gave it not that we should speak evil, that we should revile, that we should calumniate one another, but to sing hymns to God, to speak those things that “give grace to the hearers,” things for edification, things for profit.

ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 1:4

Psalms 36:8

The word for drunkenness, dearly beloved, is not always used in sacred Scripture for that failing only, but also for satiety.… Listen, after all, to David’s words: “They will become intoxicated from the richness of your house,” that is, they will be filled. [By contrast], those who give themselves up to drunkenness never have their fill; the more wine they imbibe, the more they burn with thirst, and indulgence proves to be a constant fueling of their thirst; by the time all that remains of the pleasure has disappeared, the thirst proves to be unquenchable and leads the victims of drunkenness to the very precipice.

HOMILIES ON PSALMS 29:12