Kiswahili

Theodoret of Cyrus

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500

1,374 passages across 50 books of the Bible · Who was this?

On Psalms

20 of 191
  1. Psalms 17:3
    Although many times [David had] Saul in his grasp, he refrained from doing away with him and instead rendered good for evil; hence he recalled even the night in which he did this, when by night he saved the sleeping Saul from death and allowed no one to deal him a lethal blow. Now, in a figurative manner he calls his disasters “nights” on account of the gloom of discouragement, as likewise he refers to the test as burning: “you examined me by fire,” he says, “and no wrong was found in me.” In other words, just as you would test gold of some sort, you found me unadulterated, O Lord; so far be it from me to harm the enemy that I even kept my tongue free of abuse against him, and what he continues to do I refrained from mentioning.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 17:2

  2. Psalms 17:8
    His prayer is to enjoy such protection as does the apple of the eye, which has eyelids as a kind of rampart and eyelashes for a palisade; it also has eyebrows as mounds, conducting the stream of sweat to the temples and warding off from the faculty of sight any harm from that source.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 17:3

  3. Psalms 19:1
    We learn three kinds of divine laws from blessed Paul. One unwritten kind he said was given to human beings in creation and nature: “From the creation of the world,” he says, “his invisible attributes have been understood and seen in created things”; and again, “For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, practice the obligations of the law instinctively, despite having no law they are a law to themselves.” … Another law was provided in writing through the mighty Moses: “The Law was added because of transgressions,” he says, “ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator.” He knew also a third one imposed after these, the law of grace: “For the law of the Spirit of life,” he says, “has set me free from the law of sin and death.” Blessed David in this psalm teaches human beings the harmony between these, following the same order: first, the one the Creator preaches in creation; then the one given through Moses, instilling a greater knowledge of the Creator to those willing to attend; after that, the law of grace, perfectly purifying souls and freeing them from the present dest…
    We learn three kinds of divine laws from blessed Paul. One unwritten kind he said was given to human beings in creation and nature: “From the creation of the world,” he says, “his invisible attributes have been understood and seen in created things”; and again, “For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, practice the obligations of the law instinctively, despite having no law they are a law to themselves.” … Another law was provided in writing through the mighty Moses: “The Law was added because of transgressions,” he says, “ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator.” He knew also a third one imposed after these, the law of grace: “For the law of the Spirit of life,” he says, “has set me free from the law of sin and death.” Blessed David in this psalm teaches human beings the harmony between these, following the same order: first, the one the Creator preaches in creation; then the one given through Moses, instilling a greater knowledge of the Creator to those willing to attend; after that, the law of grace, perfectly purifying souls and freeing them from the present destruction. This in fact is the reason the psalm also refers us “to the end,” naming the New Testament in the end.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 19:1

  4. Psalms 19:1
    If you observe a most mighty and magnificent building, you admire the builder; and if you see a skillfully and beautifully designed ship, you think of the shipwright; and at the sight of a painting the painter comes to mind. Much more, to be sure, does the sight of creation lead the viewers to the Creator.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 19:2

  5. Psalms 19:2
    The ordained succession of night and day illustrates the boundaries set by the Creator … the visible things are inanimate, being a kind of mask that teaches everyone to be led from visible things to the invisible God and to offer singing to him … by putting forth neither words nor verbal expressions but the norm, and demonstrating their own order, they summon all land and sea to the divine singing.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 19:3

  6. Psalms 19:7
    He calls the Mosaic law Law, testimony, judgments, command, decrees.… It is called Law in that it regulates and prescribes the best way of life; testimony in testifying against sinners and highlighting the punishment for transgression; judgments in teaching what is right, forbidding what is wrong and declaring virtuous people righteous; command in commanding what is to be done and giving orders authoritatively; decrees in revealing the divine verdicts and teaching what goods the observant will enjoy and to what punishments the transgressor will be consigned … the law of God, being free of every fault, corrects people’s souls and makes them faultless; the testimony gives wisdom to the immature and simple by frightening them; the judgments gladden the heart by revealing the basis of judgment; the command gives light to the mind’s eye, teaching what constitutes service to the God of all. While piety and the fear of God, in suggesting observance of these, procure enjoyment of the eternal good, it was right for him to speak of the fear of God as pure—that is, free from blame—for the reaso…
    He calls the Mosaic law Law, testimony, judgments, command, decrees.… It is called Law in that it regulates and prescribes the best way of life; testimony in testifying against sinners and highlighting the punishment for transgression; judgments in teaching what is right, forbidding what is wrong and declaring virtuous people righteous; command in commanding what is to be done and giving orders authoritatively; decrees in revealing the divine verdicts and teaching what goods the observant will enjoy and to what punishments the transgressor will be consigned … the law of God, being free of every fault, corrects people’s souls and makes them faultless; the testimony gives wisdom to the immature and simple by frightening them; the judgments gladden the heart by revealing the basis of judgment; the command gives light to the mind’s eye, teaching what constitutes service to the God of all. While piety and the fear of God, in suggesting observance of these, procure enjoyment of the eternal good, it was right for him to speak of the fear of God as pure—that is, free from blame—for the reason that human fear is blameworthy, being synonymous with dread. Now, he called the decrees true and justified on account of their conferring on people both honors and warranted punishments. In conclusion, he said these are worth more than gold and precious stones and sweeter than honey—not to all human beings, however, but to those truly human, whose life is not comparable with the brute beasts.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALM 19:5-6

  7. Psalms 19:14
    [The psalm] instructs us first on creation and providence; in the middle, on the Law; and finally, on grace.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 19:9

  8. Psalms 20:7
    They trusted in horses and chariots, he is saying, and enjoyed no benefit from them but were caught up in unseen entanglements and collapsed. We, by contrast, invoked divine assistance, and won salvation in visible manner and emerged superior to the adversaries.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 20:4

  9. Psalms 21:13
    Not for being lowly is God exalted, nor does he receive what he does not possess; instead, what he possesses he reveals … your exaltation is revealed in your ineffable power, which we shall continue to celebrate and sing, recounting your marvelous works.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 21:8

  10. Psalms 22:1
    Just as the one who was a fount of righteousness assumed our sin, and the one who was an ocean of blessing accepted a curse lying on us and scorning shame endured a cross, so too he uttered the words on our behalf.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 22:3

  11. Psalms 22:6
    I am like a worm, he is saying, seen to be worthless and become a laughingstock. Now, some claimed that by “worm” is suggested also the birth from a virgin, as it is not by intercourse that it comes into existence; but I believe only lowliness is indicated here.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 22:6

  12. Psalms 22:12
    The psalm describes in advance the attacks of the chief priests, the scribes and the Pharisees, who in imitation of the audacity of bulls and the frenzy of lions hemmed in Christ the Lord.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 22:8

  13. Psalms 22:16
    After the passion those former “dogs” took on the status of children through faith, whereas those who once had enjoyed the care shown to children received the name of dogs for raging against the Lord.… Blessed Paul cries out about them, “Beware of the dogs, beware of the evildoers. Beware of mutilation.”

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 22:10

  14. Psalms 22:27
    Not one nation or even two, but countless numbers of all those in the world will run to him, and will enthusiastically receive the rays of the knowledge of God.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 22:16

  15. Psalms 22:31
    We see none of this happening to David or to any of his successors. Only Christ the Lord, on the contrary, who is of David according to the flesh, God the Word who became man, who though of David’s line took the form of a slave; he filled all earth and sea with the knowledge of God, after all, and persuaded those who were once in error and offered adoration to idols to adore the true God instead of false gods.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 22:18

  16. Psalms 23:1
    Having said in the psalm before this, “The needy eat and will be filled, and those who seek him out will praise the Lord,” and again, “All the prosperous of the earth ate and adored him,” here he suggests the provider of such food and calls the feeder shepherd. This in fact is the name Christ the Lord also gave himself: “I am the good shepherd, I know my own, and I am known by my own.” It is also what he called himself through the prophet Ezekiel. So here, too, all who enjoyed the saving food cry out, “The Lord shepherds me, and nothing will be wanting for me”: this shepherd regales those shepherded by him with enjoyment of good things of all kinds.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 23:1

  17. Psalms 23:2
    He hints at the water of rebirth, in which the baptized person longs for grace and sheds the old age of sin and is made young instead of being old.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 23:2

  18. Psalms 23:4
    “Your rod and your staff comforted me”: with one he supports my weakness, with the other he guides toward the right way. You would not be wrong, however, to apply this to the saving cross: by its seal and remembrance we are rid of the hostile demons and guided to the true path. This is the meaning of “your rod and your staff comforted me”: the cross is assembled from two rods, with the upright staff confirming and directing those who believe in him and strengthening those who are weak, and using the crossbar as a rod against the demons.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 23:3

  19. Psalms 23:6
    Providing these good things is your ineffable lovingkindness, not awaiting our request but closely following us like fugitives, anticipating our needs, giving us a share in salvation, providing residence in the divine dwellings, one in the present life, one in the future.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 23:4

  20. Psalms 24:1
    He is Lord of the whole world. He is its Lord, however, not by wresting authority or by depriving anyone else of lordship but by personally creating it and leading it from nonbeing into being.

    COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 24:2

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