Arnobius the Younger

In his own words on Psalms

• Psalms 1:2

  The memory of the law of God overtakes [the blessed person's] own will. And day and night he models his behavior through meditation on divine law so that the life that Adam destroyed by his contempt, he himself may find by guarding it, remaining deep in the flowing water of the law, taking hold of the everlasting tree of life; so, finally, whatever he does will prosper.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 1

• Psalms 15:1

  All the defiled approach the tabernacle of the Lord, and there they are made undefiled. Jesus alone, undefiled, having entered the uncorrupted tabernacle, has freed us from the defilement of the flesh and has given us holiness.

  COMMENTARY ON PSALM 15

• Psalms 18:1

  Let us ask the Lord and say, "Who is he who loves you?" He will respond to us through his Gospel and say, "He who hears my words and does them, this is the one who loves me."

  COMMENTARY ON PSALM 18

• Psalms 18:3

  He is my refuge, he is my liberator; as I praise and call on him I will be safe from my enemies. Let me say this in the present so that I may not doubt it in the future.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 18

• Psalms 18:6

  While the groans of death, the injustices, griefs, and snares, surround me, I called out to him in faith. He heard my voice from his holy temple, and my cry reached his ears.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 18

• Psalms 18:23

  I will be blameless with him, with that very one who, himself blameless, suffered on the cross for our iniquities.

  COMMENTARY ON PSALM 18

• Psalms 18:25

  We agree with common opinion, "He will be like the one with whom he is joined." Indeed, this statement is very true, but it does not apply to the interpretation of the present verse. In this verse, if you wish to make the plain sense of the hymn, you will remember what the Lord said through the prophet to the people: If you walk upright in my sight, I will walk upright with you; if you walk turned from my ways, I will be turned from you. The psalmist speaks to this statement: With the holy, you will be holy; with the innocent, innocent, and et cetera.

  COMMENTARY ON PSALM 18

• Psalms 18:28

  Just as the eye is the lamp of the body, so the lamp of the soul is the mind, in which, unless Christ has poured the oil of his grace, there will not be light within. The prophet, therefore, proclaims that his lamp is lighted by the Lord.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 18

• Psalms 18:37

  Not only do we avoid the ones pursuing us as we flee, but we pursue our enemies, and we seize them, and we do not turn back until they fail.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 18

• Psalms 18:40

  We will see the backs of our enemies fleeing, not the faces of ones pursuing us.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 18

• Psalms 18:48

  All these things will happen to us through him who placed his arms on the cross as a bow in the sky, and daily he intercedes for us.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 18

• Psalms 19:4

  The Lord placed his own tabernacle in the sun. Not in that sun that, by arranging the days, directs the measure of the hours according to the seasons, but "the sun of righteousness," which, having been brought forth from the virginal womb in the splendor of eternal life has shone the true light to minds, and he has stepped forth from the Virgin just like the bridegroom from the bridal chamber. He rejoiced as a strong man running his course, and in every way he walked blameless on the way in the law of the Lord, having stepped forth from the highest heaven. Not from the seed of people, but from the word of the Father, who is in the highest of the heavens, his course is also the highest, not from the rising in the east, or as from the highest to the lowest points, but from highest to the highest and from excellence to excellence, and from the highest to the highest there will not be one who may hide himself from his heat.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 19

• Psalms 19:11

  In the guarding of the precepts of God there is so much reward, that "the sufferings of this time are not worth (comparing) to the future glory that will be revealed to us."

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 19

• Psalms 20:8

  We will rise upright as others are collapsing, because our King is saved, and arising from the dead he ascends into the heavens, and as he sits on the right hand of God the Father he hears us in the day we call him. To him be glory forever. Amen.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 20

• Psalms 21:4

  He sought life; he lived as a man. Having been limited in life, in death he received length of days not just to old age but to eternity.

  COMMENTARY ON PSALM 21

• Psalms 21:5

  Great is his glory. In what way is it great? Not in the assumption of deity but in the salvation of humanity.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 21

• Psalms 21:7

  For that reason you placed glory and great honor on him, and you gave him eternal blessing, because he hoped in the Lord and in his mercy he was not deeply disturbed.

  COMMENTARY ON PSALM 21

• Psalms 21:8

  From the place [of exaltation] the Father says to his Son, "Let your hand be found by all your enemies; let your right, which received the nails on the cross, find those who hated you; discard them as earthen vessels in a fire in the time of your appearance. Then in your wrath you will throw them into disorder, and the fire will devour them."

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 21

• Psalms 22:14-15

  As much as his brokenness seems without cure, so much more praiseworthy then is his recovery. And, likewise, the more the work of the potter is fired, the better and more solid will the work be found.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 22

• Psalms 23:1

  We have in the previous psalm the tribulation of the passion. In this one let us receive the joy of the resurrection.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 23

• Psalms 23:2

  The Lord leads me. That is the word of the one who the church, settled in a place of pasture and drawn from the water of reflection, has received, the one who is made complete from the suffering of the Lord. When the stream flows, it pours forth from deep veins, there freshness, there pleasantness, there renewal. These things will happen to me because he has transformed my soul through his suffering.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 23

• Psalms 23:6

  What he now has, let us look within the church. He has a rod with which he warns the delinquent ones. He has a staff by which he succors the penitent. He has a table where he gives bread to the believing. He has oil with which he anoints the head of those being present for freedom of conscience. He has a cup from which he will drink preaching the word in such a way that when it is the third hour of the day he is thought to be drunk in his preaching. He has mercy that follows him all the days of his life so he may dwell the length of his days in the house of the Lord, praising the Lord Jesus Christ who rules forever. Amen.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 23

• Psalms 24:7

  Now it is said to that one: Open the gates for your leaders. Cast away the example of Adam who is your leader according to the flesh, and lift up the eternal doors holding the powerful and mighty king of glory, powerful in battle, overcoming faults and their offsprings, worthless of spirit. Therefore, lift up the gates for your leaders. "Just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the heavenly man."

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 24

• Psalms 24:10

  Who is the King of glory? Christ, the Son of God, he is the King of glory, casting off the prince of shame. He lifts high the eternal gates of the holy universal church, having cast down the temple of idols just as the gates of their prince the devil. If you should ask, "Who is that King of glory?" the apostle will answer, "The King of all for their salvation, Christ, Son of God, who rules forever."

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 24

• Psalms 25:1

  From all earthly profit, from all the things of this world that seem good, raising my spirit, let me come to you, Lord; I have been lifted up, now not trusting in money, or house, or business, or military might or in my abilities, but I search while trusting in you, so that I will not be ashamed when I depart from this body.… I have lifted my spirit to you so that my spirit may dwell on good things.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 25

• Psalms 25:5

  Since as you lead, Lord, your ways to life are found, which you have walked, make them known to me, so that through those very ways I may walk, and teach me your paths so that I may proceed on them. And as I do this very thing you direct me in your truth and lead me, because you are my God of salvation.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 25

• Psalms 26:1

  Two things give faith to the Christian, that he has the mercy of God before his eyes and that he accepts the truth of the universal faith.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 26

• Psalms 27:8-9

  In this place, the lover of God, not seeking any other type of purity but desiring the beauty of Christ alone, in those words which lovers are accustomed to say to those whom they love, cries out in the heart, "My heart says to you, as to your face, do not turn your face from me or turn away your servant in anger." I have done such things by which you, rightly angered, have turned away from me, having been justly angered by my desires, but be my merciful helper, do not turn away from me or look down on me, God of my salvation.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 27

• Psalms 27:11

  Give the law to me concerning your way, show what you wish, what you do not wish, what you love, what you hate. I will offend if I do not learn what I ought. And since my enemies are eager for nothing other except that I would offend you, I ask this, that you direct me on the right way on account of my enemies.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 27

• Psalms 28:8

  All that he suffered, he suffered by his own will, as he said, "I have the power to lay down my spirit and to take it back."And he also said, freely I will confess him. He himself is the strength of his own people because he fulfills his words by his deeds. He said that he was going to suffer and he suffered, that he was going to die and he died, that he was going to arise and he arose from the dead, overcoming weakness of fear and giving strength to a most eager will. Because he is the protector of the salvation of his own anointed, because without a doubt he is "God in Christ, reconciling the World to himself,"27saving his own people by bringing deliverance to spirit and body, and by blessing the nations, his own inheritance, by freeing them from demonic subjection, so that the Son of God, with the Father and Holy Spirit, may extol them and rule forever.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 28

• Psalms 29:3

  When Jesus was baptized, after the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit came down as a dove, the Father spoke over the waters saying, "You are my Son." The God of majesty thundered, that is, he spoke profoundly over the waters, that is, over the nations so that they would be made complete in virtue and in the magnificence of Christ Jesus. And each one stood apart from the rebellious and rejoiced.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 29

• Psalms 29:10

  The Lord lives in the flood, that is, in water that washes away faults, and in that same water, the King sits forever. There he gives strength to the people, the ones believing him. He blesses his people in peace.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 29

• Psalms 30:5

  The world was cursed by the death of Adam, but life is revealed in the rising from the dead. Weeping will tarry till evening.… But we will have joy in the morning. In the early rising, as the shadows of the earth are ended and the time of morning rising arrives, the beauty of our faith stands.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 30

• Psalms 31:2

  God rescues and frees the one who puts his hope in him. He bends his ear to them, and he snatches them … so that they are saved.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 31:3

• Psalms 31:20

  Although the just suffer trials in this age, a greater sweetness awaits them, if they persevere to the future, which the Lord hides meanwhile for those who fear him. He does not wish to show it in this age, so he may complete it for the ones hoping in him in the presence of those who mock them. Now he hides them in the secret of his presence from the vexation of people.… Then he magnifies his mercy when he prepares a fortified city, which angels surround, the mother city of holy Jerusalem.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 31

• Psalms 31:24

  There will be a judgment in which the Lord will require truth and he will repay the haughty. Be strong; flag not; let your heart be comforted. Be secure, you who hope in the Lord.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 31

• Psalms 32:9

  He gives instruction to us, and thus he teaches us on the way by which we walk so that he may fix his eyes upon us and so that we do not become as a horse or a mule. Those reluctant to draw near will have their jaws restrained with a rein of tribulation and a curb of judgment.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 32

• Psalms 32:10

  Many are the punishments of sinners, but those who hope in the Lord, he will surround with his mercy.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 32

• Psalms 32:11

  You of good will come to the Lord. Rejoice and exalt in the Lord, you righteous ones, and glorify our Lord Jesus Christ in a right heart.

  COMMENTARY ON PSALM 32

• Psalms 33:17

  You will not be safe any more than the man who trusted in his own horse, of whom it was sung, "He cast the horse and its rider into the sea." The horse failed to save him. And so even if you are a giant in courage you are not safe in your own strength.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 33

• Psalms 33:18

  For the eyes of the Lord are not looking on those trusting in their own strength but those hoping in his mercy. He will snatch their spirits from death and shelter them.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 33

• Psalms 33:21

  Even in this hour, we are hungry and thirsty and naked, yet our spirits act patiently and are not disturbed, for the Lord sustains us. He is our helper and protector, and, as it says in the heading of the psalm, we are commanded to "rejoice in the Lord, righteous ones, let your heart be joyful in him, and hope in his holy name." He brings his mercy over us as we hope in him.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 33

• Psalms 34:6

  Draw near to him who is pure of heart, draw near and be enlightened. Let your faces not be ashamed in their poverty. If you remember the wealth of the Lord of heaven and earth was made poor for the sake of your poverty, tried for the sake of our tribulation, you will not be ashamed, nor will you fail. For that poor one cries from the cross. Who is this poor one? He who, although rich, was made poor: "Made obedient even to the cross" so that he could free you from crosses. He shouted, and the Lord heard. He sent his angels to guard his body and removed the stone and snatched him from the tomb.

  COMMENTARY ON PSALM 34

• Psalms 34:8

  Taste the body of life and see how sweet is the Lord. He has life in himself who eats his flesh and drinks his blood, and then he will be blessed.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 34

• Psalms 34:9

  Fear the Lord, all his saints, because the ones fearing him lack nothing—nothing of excellence in the present, nothing of perfection, nothing of future joy.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 34

• Psalms 34:10

  The rich dwell in uncertainty concerning the things the world gives. The riches that God gives do not fail, but they remain because these riches arise in the fear of the Lord.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 34

• Psalms 35:17

  So you will apply this to the suffering of the Lord so that then you may draw out the logic of the explanation having begun, because the passion of the Lord happens so that we may be built up. The more you cling to God, the more the demons beset you with floggings. They tempt you, mock you and gnash their teeth. You call out: Lord, look down and restore my spirit from their evil deeds, my very self from the lions. Our spirit is one in number and disposition. When, therefore, you restore it in good will and you free me from their evil deeds, then I will confess you in the great assembly and the great throng of people, not by summoning solemn processions or by playing roles, but by guarding your respect amongst serious people; in this there will be constant attention by me, and I will praise you before those same people. Therefore, let them not triumph, the evil ones who turn against me, who hate me and wink with indulgent eyes. As I have said, apply these things to the suffering of the Lord so that you do not thoroughly overlook the message of your edification.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 35

• Psalms 35:20

  Daily the demons speak peacefully to us. This peace is the fruit of lust, but through anger they devise deceits, just like sweet food on a hook in our sight—it is deadly to eat. They open wide their mouths against me, and lovers of this age daily commit unspeakable crimes, and nothing is thoroughly denounced by anyone.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 35

• Psalms 36:1

  There is no fear of God in the sight of one who sins against himself that he may find his own iniquity and hate it. He praises injustice as the unjust one is praised. He does not wish to understand good actions by which he will be made worthy in the recesses of his own heart. He meditates on evil as he draws near to the way that is not good, and he does not abhor evil.

  COMMENARY ON THE PSALMS 36

• Psalms 36:6

  The truth is Christ, whose justice is just like the mountains of God, whose judgments are an abyss, who saves people and beasts by his advent, that is, both Jews and Gentiles. For people who, being without hope, standing in the sin of Adam, hope in the protection of his wings, that is, in the expanse of his hands fixed on the cross.

  COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 36

• Psalms 37:12

  Be careful, for daily the devil considers you and gnashes his teeth over you; but [as it says in the next verse] the Lord mocks him because he knows his day will come.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 37

• Psalms 37:34

  The law of God is in the heart [of the righteous person], and his step is not supplanted. The devil considers him and desires to humiliate him, but God does not abandon him or curse him when he is judged. Await the Lord and guard his ways so you may inherit the land; in time you will see sinners perish.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 37

• Psalms 37:38

  The wicked will perish when salvation comes to the just from God, their protector in time of tribulation. The Lord helps and frees them and snatches them from sinners and saves them since they hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 37

• Psalms 38:4

  "Our head is Christ." When we do something against his precepts, our iniquities go over our head, and we are pressed as a heavy burden on us.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 38

• Psalms 40:7

  That is, it is written about me in the beginning of the Psalter: "Blessed is the man," so I may do your will.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 40

• Psalms 41:10

  O Lord, as you have raised your Son from death, so lift me from sin. Lift me, and I will repay them. In this I know that you suffered for me so that my enemies may not rejoice over me. You have not refused even to die for me. I feared you lying in the tomb, but since you have arisen my enemy will not rejoice over me. You have sustained me on account of my innocence. The church speaks in the apostles and prophets because the farmers and fishermen raised up by God, not the philosophers and teachers, have built the church that God has confirmed in his sight forever.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 41

• Psalms 41:12

  Be not offended, careful reader, that we draw a mystical matter from a moral explanation. For just as the Pharisees beset Judas to betray the Lord by offering him his own safety to turn him over, so also unclean spirits beset my outer man which eats my bread and offer to it now money through greed, now luxury through desire, by which, if it accepts, it fails, and when it fails they drive him "to hang himself in a noose," that is, so that he despairs that he is able to be freed by repentance. But he says to them: He who sleeps, will he not arise?… Let us cease to harm ourselves, and let us be made innocent so that each one may say rightly to God: On account of my innocence you have sustained me, and you who had cast me away from your countenance because of sin, now through repentance strengthen me in your sight forever.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 41

• Psalms 42:5

  Do not be sad, spirit, but hope in the Lord because I confess to him. He is the Savior of my countenance, that is, my God is the restorer of his own image.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 42

• Psalms 42:7

  When deep calls deep, the Son calls the Father from the depth of land and river, and you have opened the cataracts of heaven. As the Holy Spirit descends, the Father addresses the Son from the height of the heavens. When he calls from the deep to deep, the glory of the Lord comes to me.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 42

• Psalms 43:3

  Send your light and overcome my shadows. Send your truth and conquer my lying. Your light and truth lead me to your holy mountain and into your tabernacle. When I draw near, you lead me to the altar of God, where, although old, I become as a youth.

  COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 43