English · KJV

Theodoret of Cyrus

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 1,374 passages across 50 books

Commentary

981–1,000 of 1,374
Psalms 3:3

But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

Many, in fact, are the enemies of every kind who assail me from all sides, but more numerous are those who trouble me by their mockery and their claims that I am bereft of your providence. Yet I know that you would not persist in ignoring me, despite my many failings. On the contrary, you will raise up the one who now humbles himself for the sin he committed and make him appear stronger than his foes.… I have confidence neither in kingship nor in sovereignty; instead, I trust in you to be my glory, and I expect to be quickly raised up by your right hand.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 3:2

Psalms 3:7

Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

The phrase “breaking the teeth of sinners,” that is to say, depriving them of all strength, is by comparison with wild beasts, which when bereft of their teeth are quite undaunting and open to attack.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 3:4

Psalms 4:1

To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

Righteous people never have enough of prayer; instead, being in need and taking advantage of goodwill, they reap the fruit of prayer and continue offering supplication, realizing as they do the benefit coming from it.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 4:2

Psalms 4:3

But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.

You see, he will not simply free me from the troubles that befall me but will also render me conspicuous and distinguished in victory; this, you see is the meaning of “made an object of wonder.”

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 4:3

Psalms 5:1

To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.

On all sides the church of God is buffeted by many huge waves, as likewise is each soul that embraces the devout life, but each survives and breasts the billows by constantly invoking the divine aid. This in fact is what the inspired Word also teaches, instructing us how it behooves us both to entreat and implore the God and King of all.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 5:2

Psalms 5:9

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.

When graves are filled in they keep the stench within, but when opened they release the awful smell. These people are like that, … spewing out words redolent of utter impiety and evil smells. Now, … these words … suggest blasphemy against God and lewd and licentious speech.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 5:7

Psalms 6:1

To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David. O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

He does not beg to be uncensured but rather not to be censured in anger, nor does he plead to avoid discipline but not to suffer it with wrath. Discipline me like a father, he asks, not like a judge; like a physician, not like a torturer. Do not fit the punishment to the crime; instead, temper justice with lovingkindness.

COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 6:2

Psalms 6:2

Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.

Under the influence of weakness, sin overcomes. After all, if the reasoning faculty within us were not weak, the passions would not rebel; to put it another way, provided the charioteer is firm and steers and controls the horses skillfully, there is no occasion for bucking.… He calls reasoning bones, since bones are naturally rather dense and support the body; speaking figuratively he gave the name “bones” to reasoning, by which the living being is steered. Disturbance in that faculty, he is saying, ruffled and shook me. Hence I beg to be allowed to enjoy your lovingkindness so as to receive healing through it.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 6:3

Psalms 6:4

Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake.

Now, it was appropriate for him to add “for your mercy’s sake”: I am not trusting in myself, he is saying, nor do I attribute your help to my own righteousness; instead, I beg to be granted it on account of your mercy.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 6:4

Psalms 6:5

For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

It is not in death but in life that one recalls God. Likewise, confession and reform do not come to the departed in hades. God confined life and action to this life; there, however, he conducts an evaluation of performance. And in any case this is proper to the eighth day, giving no longer opportunity for preparation by good or bad deeds to those who have arrived at it; instead, whatever works you have sown for yourself you will have occasion to reap. For this reason he obliges you to practice repentance here, there being no practice of this kind of effort in hades.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 6:5

Psalms 6:10

Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.

Let those who do not see their own iniquities and yet ridicule my failings mock me no longer. I won divine favor, in fact, and am confident that through my entreaties he will overlook my faults and make me a beneficiary of his pardon.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 6:8

Psalms 7:8

The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.

In these words the divine David has not left a testimony to his own righteousness: we hear him protesting the opposite, “because I acknowledge my lawlessness, and my sin is always before me”; and, “I said, ‘I shall declare my lawlessness against myself to the Lord,’ ” but he calls it justice in the matter before us. I committed no wrong, in fact, he is saying, against Absalom, or Ahithophel or those arrayed in battle with them against me. So I beg to be judged in the light of this righteousness and innocence and not in the light of the faults previously committed by me. I ask for judgment on these current grounds and not for a payment of penalty at this time for other sins.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:5

Psalms 7:11

God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

“God is a righteous judge, … who does not give free rein to his wrath every day.” Instead, he also shows lovingkindness, by which he bears people’s faults for a longer time. For whenever he sees people not reaping profit from it, he gives them further opportunity with the addition of threats, putting the punishments off; but if they scorn the opportunity and persist in sinning, he immediately brings on their ruin in keeping with justice.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:6

Psalms 7:12-13

If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.

These are not words of punishment, note, but of threat: he said wield, not inflict; bent his bow, not fired the arrow. And to teach us against whom he will fire the arrows, he immediately attached the words “he made his arrows into flaming shafts,” that is, those taking combustible material of sin, building with wood, hay and stubble, as the divine apostle says, will be struck with these fiery arrows.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 7:7

Psalms 8:6

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

And this is a precise demonstration of your lovingkindness and power, he is saying, imbuing the lowly nature of human beings with wisdom so that they might have control over not only the land creatures but also those that fly and that swim and that do both, use their skills to hunt those in the heights and in the depths, and keep under control those that pass through the air and those hidden in the water.… Uncreated nature alone, you see, is separate from this subjection as something free. The nature that receives existence from it, however, is subject whatever it be—visible or invisible—to Christ the Lord, both as God and as man. Such is the honor human nature received from the God of all. Hence, as a conclusion he used the same verse as at the beginning: “O Lord, our Lord, how wonderful is your name in all the earth!”

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 8:6-7

Psalms 9:1

To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben, A Psalm of David. I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

It is characteristic of the perfect to dedicate their whole heart to God and to consecrate their whole mind to him. “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart,” Scripture says, “with your whole soul, with your whole strength and with your whole mind.” Those who divide their thoughts between mammon and God, between Christ and gold, between the present and the future life, cannot truthfully say, “I shall confess to you, O Lord, with all my heart.”

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 9:2

Psalms 9:6

O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.

[The godless one] was stripped of his own weapons, having no supporters of his godlessness; instead, those who appointed themselves his instruments have now changed sides and taken up the fight against him. With the overthrow of godlessness practiced in them in former times, the cities took on the building up of true religion; it would have been impossible for them to develop true religion had not they overthrown godlessness first.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 9:5

Psalms 9:11

Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.

A drastic alteration of circumstances took place in reality: ancient enemies became friends, those distant became close, slaves became sons, those ignorant became knowledgeable, those in darkness came to be in light, the dead in hope of life the poor became heirs of the kingdom of heaven, Jews came to be far away and Gentiles close at hand, sons became dogs, dogs sons. In short, the Savior’s devices took on a divine seemliness: the gift of immortality was given through mortality, life through death, honor through dishonor, blessing through curse, salvation through a cross—these are the devices, these the exploits of our God.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 9:8

Psalms 10:4

The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

The unbeliever and the sinner never keeps God before his eyes; instead, each day and at every moment he soils and sullies his paths, not believing there is any judgment. Well, what is the reason for this?… He completely despises your laws; he spends all his time in lawlessness. The unbeliever, in fact, belittles and vilifies the commands of God.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 10:2

Psalms 10:14

Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.

Even if those living in impiety claim countless times, he is saying, that you are not looking at human affairs, we know that you are studying and considering their crimes and requiring due penalty of them.

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 10:6

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