Super Psalmo 10
Psalm 10
In Domino confido
In the Lord I put my trust
10:1 In finem. Psalmus David. 10:2 In Domino confido; quomodo dicitis animae meae: ‘Transmigra in montem sicut passer?’ 10:3 Quoniam ecce peccatores tetenderunt arcum; paraverunt sagittas suas in pharetra, ut sagittent in obscuro rectos corde: 10:4a quoniam quae perfecisti destruxerunt;
10:1 Unto the end. A psalm for David. 10:2 In the Lord I put my trust; how then do you say to my soul, “Fly to the mountain like a sparrow?” 10:3 For, lo, the wicked have bent their bow; they have prepared their arrows in the quiver to shoot in the dark the upright of heart. 10:4a For they have destroyed the things which you have made,
10:4b justus autem, quid fecit? 10:5a Dominus in templo sancto suo; Dominus in caelo sedes ejus.
10:4b but what has the just man done? 10:5a The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven.
10:5b Oculi ejus in pauperem respiciunt; palpebrae ejus interrogant filios hominum. 10:6a Dominus interrogat justum et impium;
10:5b His eyes look on the poor man. His eyelids examine the sons of men. 10:6a The Lord tries the just and the wicked,
10:6b qui autem diligit iniquitatem, odit animam suam. 10:7 Pluet super peccatores laqueos; ignis et sulphur, et spiritus procellarum, pars calicis eorum. 10:8 Quoniam justus Dominus, et justitias dilexit: aequitatem vidit vultus ejus.
10:6b but he who loves iniquity hates his own soul. 10:7 He shall rain snares upon sinners; fire and brimstone and storms of winds shall be the portion of their cup. 10:8 For the Lord is just, and has loved justice; his countenance has beheld righteousness.
83. In praecedentibus psalmis posita est gratiarum actio pro liberatione ab hostibus; hic ostendit fiduciam ex hoc conceptam. Et loquitur ex persona hominis desiderantis Dei beneficia, qui consequitur securitatem.
83. In the preceding psalms, thanksgiving for deliverance from enemies was described; here he shows the trust engendered by it. And he speaks in the person of a man desiring the favors of God which come from such security.
Titulus, in finem psalmus David: Hieronymus habet, victor. Hoc supra expositum est.
The title is unto the end. A psalm for David. Jerome has, victor. This was explained above.
Hic psalmus potest exponi litteraliter de David: mystice autem de Christo, sive allegorice. Moraliter vero de viro justo, et haereticis, ut exponit glossa.
This psalm can be explained about David according to the literal sense, but in the mystical or allegorical senses it is about Christ. It can be explained according to the moral sense about the just man and the heretics, as the gloss explains it.
Primo ergo David proponit suam fiduciam, in domino confido: quasi liberatus per justum Dei judicium deprimens peccatores et exaltans pauperes: Hier. 17: beatus vir qui confidit in domino, et erit dominus fiducia ejus: Dan. 3: non est confusio confidentibus in te.
David first describes his trust: in the Lord I put my trust, as though he has been delivered through the just judgment of God, who humbles sinners and exalts the poor. Blessed be the man who trusts in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence (Jer 17:7). There is no shame for those who trust in you (Dan 3:40).
Secundo ponit fiduciae ejus impugnationem, quae fiebat verbis: quomodo dicitis et cetera. David enim fugienti consulebant quidam ut iret ad loca munita et montes; vel ut ibi latitaret ut passer est factus.
Second, he describes the attack on his trust, which elicits the words, how then do you say to my soul? For some counseled David, who was fleeing, to go to a fortified place in the mountains or to hide there like a sparrow would do.
Quomodo? Ecce peccatores et cetera. Et exponitur dupliciter.
How? For, lo, the wicked have bent their bow. And this is explained in two ways.
Primo ut sint verba non David, sed aliorum: quasi dicat: ideo transmigra, quia, tetenderunt arcum.
First, that the words are not David’s but others to him, as if to say, “Therefore, fly because they have bent their bow.”
Vel sint verba David, quasi dicat, in domino confido: quia tetenderunt arcum, paraverunt peccatores sagittas et cetera.
Or they are words of David, as if he says, “In the Lord I put my trust . . . for they have bent their bow; the wicked have prepared their arrows.”
Et facit tria.
And he makes three points.
Primo ponit eorum pravam solicitudinem.
First, he describes their depraved concern;
Secundo perversam intentionem, ut sagittent.
second, their perverse intention: to shoot;
Tertio injustam operationem, quoniam quae perfecisti.
and third, their unjust action: for they have destroyed the things which you have made.
Mystice de Christo sic: ego Christus in domino confido: quomodo ergo vos Pharisaei dicitis, transmigra in montem, id est ad legis observantias datas in monte Sinai: Deut. 33: dominus de Sinai venit, et de Seir ortus est nobis; et nisi hoc feceris, ecce peccatores intenderunt arcum et cetera id est paraverunt se ad occidendum te et discipulos tuos; et hoc, quoniam quae tu perfecisti destruxerunt, id est occiderunt.
Mystically it applies to Christ in this way: I, Christ, trust in the Lord; how, therefore, do you Pharisees say, “Fly to the mountain,” that is, to the observation of the law given on Mount Sinai? The Lord came from Sinai, and from Seir he rose up to us (Deut 33:2). And unless you do this, lo, the wicked have bent their bow, that is, they have prepared themselves to kill you and your disciples: for they have destroyed, that is, they have killed, the things which you have made.
Vel moraliter dicit fidelis haereticis, secundum glossam, in domino confido, tenens ejus fidem: quomodo ergo vos haeretici, dicitis, transmigra, ad nos, in montem, id est Christum quem crediderunt habere haeretici? Isa. 2: erit praeparatus mons domus domini in vertice montium: 2 Reg. 1: montes Gelboe, nec ros nec pluvia veniant super vos, neque sint agri primitiarum quia ibi abjectus est clypeus fortium,
Or, in the moral sense, the faithful one says this about the heretics, according to the gloss. In the Lord I put my trust, holding to his faith; how, therefore, do you heretics say to my soul, “Fly, to us, to the mountain,” that is, Christ, whom the heretics believed they had? The mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains (Isa 2:2). You mountains of Gilboa, let neither dew, nor rain come upon you, neither be they fields of first fruits, for there was cast away the shield of the valiant (2 Sam 1:21).
id est Judaeorum, vel magnorum haereticorum: Hier. 51: ecce ego mons pestifer, qui corrumpo universam terram.
It is the mountain of the Jews or of the great heretics. Behold, I come against you, you destroying mountain, which corrupts the whole earth (Jer 51:25).
Vel mons altitudo intellectus quem fingunt se habere. Sed si hoc facerem, essem passer levis, non mansionarius.
Or it is the mountain of the height of the intellect which they pretend to have. But if I should do this I would be a flighty sparrow, not a house sparrow.
Quoniam ecce peccatores, id est haeretici, intenderunt arcum, id est ad se traxerunt sacram Scripturam, sicut qui tendunt arcum: paraverunt sagittas, venenosa eloquia, in pharetra, id est memoria vel scientia: Hier. 5: pharetra ejus quasi sepulcrum patens.
For, lo, the wicked, that is, the heretics, have bent their bow, that is, they have warped the Sacred Scriptures to their own meaning, like those who bend a bow: they have prepared arrows, poisoned speech, in the quiver, that is, in memory or knowledge. Their quiver is as an open sepulcher (Jer 5:16).
Hieronymus habet, sagittas suas super nervum, id est chordam: intentio perversa, ut sagittent rectos corde, id est justos, in obscuro, id est dolose: Hier. 9: sagitta vulnerans lingua eorum.
Jerome has, their arrows are over the bowstring, that is, the string, with a perverse intention, to shoot the upright of heart, that is, the just, in the dark, that is, deceitfully. Their tongue is a piercing arrow (Jer 9:8).
Vel, in obscuro, id est subtilitatibus sacrae Scripturae.
Or it is in the dark, that is, with the subtleties of Sacred Scripture.
Alia littera habet in obscura luna. Luna est Ecclesia: Cant. 6: pulchra ut luna, propter ejus claritatem, et propter ejus obscurationem. Claritas lunae est a sole; sic claritas Ecclesiae est a Christo: Jo. 1: erat lux vera quae illuminat et cetera. Item medius lunae globus est clarus, et medius obscurus; sic in Ecclesia aliqui sunt clari, aliqui obscuri.
Another text has, in the dark moon. The moon is the Church, fair as the moon (Song 6:9) because of its brightness and because of its darkness. As the brightness of the moon is from the sun, so the brightness of the Church is from Christ. That was the true light, which enlightens every man (John 1:9). Also, just as half of the circle of the moon is bright and half is dark, so in the Church some are bright and some are dark.
Obscuratur autem luna, secundum glossam, quandoque per revolutionem, et sic fit obscura: quandoque per eclypsim, et tunc in sanguinem convertitur: quandoque per interpositionem nubis, et tunc fit nigra. Sic Ecclesia fit obscura in novitate, quando non sunt in ea praedicatores et doctores; sanguinea per persecutionem tyrannorum; nigra per nubes, id est per seductionem haereticorum; et tunc vult sagittare.
Now, according to the gloss, the moon is sometimes darkened by its revolving, and then it is dark; sometimes it is darkened by an eclipse, and then it is turned to blood; and sometimes it is darkened by being blocked by clouds, and then it is black. So the Church was dark in its beginning because the preachers and doctors were not yet in it; it is bloody red through persecution by tyrants; and black because of clouds (that is, the seduction of heretics), and then he desires to shoot.
Hic ponitur injusta actio eorum, quoniam quae perfecisti destruxerunt. Alia littera, quoniam quem perfecisti; sed prima melior est, et secundum Hieronymum, quoniam leges quas perfecisti destruxerunt: Isa. 48: scio quod praevaricans praevaricatus es, et transgressorem ex utero vocavi te: Hier. 2: a saeculo fregisti jugum, rupisti vincula; dixisti, non serviam: quasi dicat: destruent legem tuam, quam tu praecepisti servari. Exod. 23: innocentem et justum non condemnabis; sed isti volunt eum occidere: Ps. 118: dissipaverunt iniqui legem tuam;
Here their unjust action is described: for they have destroyed the things which you have made. Another text has, whom you have made, but the first is better. And according to Jerome it is: for they have destroyed the laws which you have made. I know that transgressing you will transgress, and I have called you a transgressor from the womb (Isa 48:8). Of old time you have broken my yoke, you have burst my bands, and you said, “I will not serve” (Jer 2:20), as if to say, “They have destroyed your law, which you commanded us to obey.” The innocent and just person you shall not put to death (Exod 23:7), but they desire to kill him. The wicked have dissipated your law (Ps 118:126).
et Deus perfecit eam, quia dedit eam: Ps. 147: non fecit taliter omni nationi: Matth. 5: non veni solvere legem, sed adimplere.
And God made it, since he gave it. He has not made in like manner for every nation (Ps 147:9). I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it (Matt 5:17).
Si dicatur, quem perfecisti destruxerunt, sic intelligitur de Christo, quem tu perfecisti.
If it says, they have destroyed whom you have made, it should be understood about Christ, whom you have made.
84. Justus. Hic ponitur ratio fiduciae.
84. But what has the just man done? Here he puts down the reason for trust.
Et primo ponitur quaestio.
First, he gives the question;
Secundo solutio, ibi, dominus in templo et cetera.
second, the solution, at the Lord is in his temple;
Tertio solutionis ratio, quoniam justus dominus, et justitias dilexit.
third, he gives the reason for the solution, at the Lord is just, and has loved justice.
Dicit ergo, sic faciunt isti; sed justus dominus auctoritate videns hoc, quid facit? Hier. 33: hoc est nomen quod vocabunt eum dominus justus noster. Solvit quaestionem, et ponit quid facit hic justus.
Therefore, he says, they act in this way; but what does the just Lord do with authority when he sees this? This is the name that they shall call him: the Lord our just one (Jer 33:16). He answers the question and describes what the just one does here.
Et primo ejus judiciariam potestatem, vel conditionem judicis.
First, he explains his power of judging or the situation of the judge;