Origen of Alexandria

In his own words on Psalms

• Psalms 1:1

  Generally there are three types: the first type is the one who does not acknowledge the truth at all, but, as chance has it, when he hands himself over to the vain and unsubstantiated musings of his own heart, he becomes like a wild beast, neither standing nor supported by anything, and accordingly, not sitting. This one, indeed, is said to walk in the counsel of the wicked.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 1:1

• Psalms 1:2

  [The blessed person] meditates on the law of the Lord day and night, not as one who entrusts the words of the law to his memory without works, but as one who by meditating performs works consistent with it, until through the disciplined meditation of the works that the law instructs, he is prepared for excelling in all the things that apply for living perfectly according to the law.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 1:2

• Psalms 1:2

  Certainly, even if I shall not have been able to understand everything, if I am, nevertheless, busily engaged in the divine Scriptures and "I meditate on the law of God day and night" and at no time at all do I desist inquiring, discussing, investigating, and certainly, what is greatest, praying God and asking for understanding from him who "teaches humankind knowledge," I shall appear to dwell "at the well of vision." … You too, therefore, if you shall always search the prophetic visions, if you always inquire, always desire to learn, if you meditate on these things, if you remain in them, you too will receive a blessing from the Lord and dwell "at the well of vision." For the Lord Jesus will appear to you also, "in the way," and will open the Scriptures to you so that you may say, "Was not our heart burning within us when he opened to us the Scriptures?" But he appears to those who think about him and meditate on him and live "in his law day and night."

  HOMILIES ON PSALMS 11:3

• Psalms 1:6

  God is ignorant of evil deeds, not because he is unable to understand everything or to grasp it with his own intelligence (for it is wrong to think this way about God) but because those deeds are unworthy of his contemplation.… God is ignorant of the way of the wicked, and he knows the way of the righteous. Further, who is the way of the righteous except the one who said, "I am the way" whom the Father knows? "No one has known the Son except the Father." The distinction between the knowledge and ignorance of God is referred to in the prophets as "the memory and forgetfulness" of God. Often it is said in prayer: "Be mindful of me" and "Why have you forgotten our poverty?" Just as God removes sinners from his own memory, so does he again receive the repentant and become mindful of them.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 1:6

• Psalms 2:1-2

  They rage, therefore, and dwell on worthless ideas and have gathered themselves and stand united together. Not only by their appearance have they moved the crowds against Christ, but whatever has been done by them is counted as if they had assailed the Father. So, it is said that these had turned against the Lord and his anointed.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 2.1-2

• Psalms 2:5

  These are words of destruction that are pronounced in anger. Moreover, the evils that God had said he was going to inflict, he promises that he will withdraw if the listeners will become penitent. God in his anger spoke through Jonah to the Ninevites, and since they repented in ash and sackcloth, they endured nothing of those things about which they had heard. Actually, God knew beforehand when he sent Jonah that they were going to repent if he sent Jonah for their deliverance. Right now he also is speaking deliverance to those sinners who are in his wrath. For it did not say, "He will punish those in his wrath even if they will repent."

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 2:5

• Psalms 2:7

  There is no evening of God possible and, I think, no morning, but the time, if I may put it this way, which is coextensive with his unoriginated and eternal life, is today for him, the day in which the Son has been begotten. Consequently neither the beginning nor the day of his generation is to be found.

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1:204

• Psalms 2:8

  It may perhaps be a dogma of some kind that no one receives a divine gift who does not request it. The Father, indeed, through the psalm, urges the Savior to ask that it may be given to him, as the Son teaches us when he says, "The Lord said to me, You are my son; ask from me, and I will give you the Gentiles as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession." And the Savior says, "Ask and it will be given to you … for everyone who asks receives."

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 13:5

• Psalms 2:9

  It is necessary to consider how the Father gave the nations to the Son as an inheritance and the ends of the earth as a possession. He says to him, "You will break them like a clay pot." For who gives an inheritance so that it may be broken by the heir? It must be demonstrated from Scripture, therefore, how the contrition of certain people proved so beneficial. We find in the fiftieth psalm, "Having brought a spiritual sacrifice to God, a contrite and humble heart God will not despise." And it is said in another prophecy as instruction, "You will wail for the brokenness of your spirit." There is a spirit within us, therefore, that it is necessary to destroy in order that it may become a contrite sacrifice to God.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 2:9

• Psalms 3:2-3

  We readily accept this psalm as spoken from the person of David, as we have noted in its title. According to history, certain men were hurting David, many of whom as their number increased were joining themselves to Absalom.… Those who were oppressing the Savior were Jews who were shouting, "Away with him; away with him!" Judas the betrayer and Caiphas rose up against him. The ones who said that there was no deliverance of his life were the same ones passing by him at the time of his suffering who said, "Come down from the cross and we will believe you." … But, one may also understand this passage in this way: all the rulers and teachers of subjects that are foreign to the decrees of Christ who have come against him. The people who cling to them and follow their teaching cause him trial. Finally, they who, neither teaching contrary matters nor instructed by false teaching, believe that there is no divine nature in the teaching of Christ, they say there is no salvation of the soul in God. They say that there is not anything that promises salvation either in the word of his teaching or the historical signs that he relates concerning his advent.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 3.2-3

• Psalms 3:3

  Certainly, people place their glory in various places, some in their country, some in family line, some in beauty, some in the strength of their bodies and in their skill of competing in the contest, being very elated they have overcome these people or those by their physical struggling. And why is it necessary to recount all the things through which those unknown gods are glorified, "whose glory is in their shame," as the apostle said? God is the glory of the saint who trusts him, glory, I say, not blindly credited but credited through faith that is reckoned as righteousness, through which one is enabled to see the signs of a present God and participate in his strength. So, God was the glory of Moses who loved the prophet so much that he revealed himself to the point of showing his face both before all the Hebrew people and before the Egyptians. God was the glory of the prophet Elijah, who revived the son of the widow and begged for the rain to be held back, and who continually was heard. God was speaking truth, therefore, when he said, "I will only honor them honoring me." God is the glory of them who are magnified in their strength, which no one other than the Father places in them, who hand themselves over to him for sustaining their souls.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 3:4

• Psalms 3:6

  The verse clearly teaches that the one who comes to the greatest virtue, to very great security, comes on account of faith in God.… The Savior, recognizing that thousands of the people of the circumcision were going to demand that he be crucified and knowing his own spirit of fearlessness (I say these things speaking in terms of the flesh), is able to say even these words.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 3:7

• Psalms 4:1

  The one who calls on the Lord must have true righteousness. Since Christ is righteous, the just person, the partaker of righteousness, must be a partaker of Christ. Lest saying "God of my righteousness" should give birth to pride, we can say this also: He has been made wisdom and righteousness for us, and he is our Redeemer. Consequently, to say "God of my righteousness" would be as if you said, "God of my Lord."

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 4:1

• Psalms 4:1

  Invocation is not a matter of the voice, but it is posited … in solid faith.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 4:1

• Psalms 4:1

  The sense of joy and good cheer that comes to us in critical times from God by the cooperation and presence of the Word of God, who encourages and saves us, is called "room."

  ON PRAYER 30:1

• Psalms 4:3

  Here is the great cry that reaches up to God. It is not that cry people make resulting from some intense release of air, but it is the pure and untouched outpouring of the words of the inner mind, which extend even to God. It must be realized there is a certain voice in the innermost heart which is not used as an organ of the body, but which a person, after he has entered his bedchamber and settled himself, cries out beyond his own body from the hidden gate of his feelings to him who alone is able to hear a voice of this type. Even if we do not read that Moses cried out with an audible voice, nevertheless it is said by God in Exodus: "Why do you cry to me?" It is the voice of every exile who cries to God about having earthly and ever-changing affairs. The Savior excludes this cry for approaching the Father when he says: "Seek great things, and the small things will be added to you. Seek the heavenly, and the earthly will be added to you."

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 4:4

• Psalms 4:4

  By these words he seems to teach that anyone lying on his bed ought to seek the reason within himself for those things that he has done throughout the day, and in light of those acts he has done against reason he ought to expose them and disapprove of them and feel their sting, for if this is done correctly from his bed he will not be drawn away from honest deeds.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 4:5

• Psalms 4:5

  If you wish to explain what it is to hope in everything, we are going to say that it is nothing other than to become an heir of the kingdom of heaven, to receive comfort, to be called the children of God, to see God, to be satisfied by the righteousness for which one hungers and thirsts, to enjoy his abundant mercy and to live in all the things which the true God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ promised.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 4:5

• Psalms 4:6

  Indeed, in the same way the rays of the sun touch the face of one who looks at it, and in fact it is impossible for one who stands near to the sun not to feel it, so also it must be understood that the individual who is fully a partaker of God is the one who has meditated on the law of the holy word and who has surrendered his mind to understanding God. Which, I believe, the prophet indicates in this place when he says, "The light of your countenance is manifested toward us, O Lord." The representation of the light that shines in your countenance is imprinted on us as it comes to us, and that very light is the expression of your countenance, so that one who is able to see the sign of the divine light that is manifested, immediately recognizes that God's light is made in us. I think that this mystery is also declared in Exodus when the face of Moses, as he is speaking intimately with God, is glorified to the point that the people of Israel are not able to turn toward his glory, and after he puts on a veil the servant of God makes a speech to the people. Thus every spirit that is drawn totally to God and that yields to his truth that is unknown to many is made a partaker of his divine nature; he advances beyond the comprehension of many so that as he puts on the veil he guides the less knowledgeable by offering to them the things that are for their understanding. Moreover, it is obvious from the words of Psalm 66 that the face of God, about which is spoken and that illumines the mind of the one who is able to receive its rays, is the reason for our understanding: "God have mercy on us, and bless us and let your face shine over us, so that we may know your way in the land, the salvation among all nations."

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 4:7

• Psalms 4:7

  The meaning of this little verse is consistent with the verses that precede it. For what else is the light of the countenance of the Lord over his righteous ones than a heart full of joy? That very thing which we feel through the sensation of joy becomes a partaker of his divinity when it contemplates God.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 4:7

• Psalms 5:7

  Since evil and iniquity may not dwell with you, nor may they remain in your sight, I will enter into your house by your mercy. Then I will be able to say, "Early in the morning I will stand before you, and you will see me." And since I enter into your house by no other way than by your mercy, with great reverence that is called your fear [i.e., the fear of God], I will worship you, having walked in spirit and truth.

  SELECTIONS FROM the PSALMS 5. 8-9

• Psalms 5:8

  One who wishes to know and to act rightly has many adversaries. There are people and demons full of envy whom the good deeds of those acting uprightly torment. The prophet, when he understood this, did not allow himself to fight by his own strength against those who rose up against him, but he called on God to extend his hand by which he could escape unharmed from so many enemies, saying, "You, O Lord, lead me in your righteousness; then it will happen that my path may be directed in your sight."

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 5:11

• Psalms 6:1

  When we speak of God's wrath, we do not hold that it is an emotional reaction on his part but something that he uses in order to correct by stern methods those who have committed many terrible sins. That the so-called wrath of God and what is called his anger has a corrective purpose, and that this is the doctrine of the Bible is clear from the words of Psalm 6: "Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor correct me in your wrath."

  AGAINST CELSUS 4:72

• Psalms 9:5

  The expression "you have rebuked" indicates correction: "You have blotted out his name." God blotted out the name Abram, making it Abraham, and Sarai, calling her Sarah, and Simon, naming him Peter. And thus it follows, the name of those are blotted out whom he has rebuked.… Observe, however, that it is not said, You have blotted out their names from the book of the living … but from the pledges that had been signed in the book of debtors or in the book of the dead among the household of the wicked; thus he inscribes the dead, and he registers their names on the earth. The Savior will inscribe the names of his disciples in the heavens.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 9:6

• Psalms 9:14

  In the Psalms the prophet gives thanks saying, "He who lifts me up from the gates of death that I may declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion." And from this we learn that it is never possible for anyone to be fit to declare the praises of God, unless he has been lifted up from the gates of death and has come to the gates of Zion.

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 12:13

• Psalms 9:17

  They are shut off, he said, in that they, since they are turned in the opposite direction within, do not see the spirit of Jesus ascending and descending.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 9:18

• Psalms 11:7

  The ultimate justice itself is Christ, "who was made wisdom for us from God, and justice, and sanctification and redemption." The justice in each person, however, is formed from that justice, so that many justices come into existence in those who are saved; wherefore it has also been written, "The Lord is just and has loved justice."

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6:40

• Psalms 12:3

  When the Lord wipes out those things that are base, he will destroy those very things, so that when those things that have come on a person unexpectedly have been destroyed, the foremost creation of God whom the baser things had overtaken may take up the higher things.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 12:4

• Psalms 12:6

  Although they may be beautiful, the words of those who stand apart from Christ are not pure but interspersed with innumerable lies; the words of the Lord alone are pure, in which there is no lie mixed, and they are true as silver purged and proven in the furnace. When anything is declared with them, it is never to be rejected in doubt.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 12:7

• Psalms 13:2

  At first this one makes many plans in his soul, but in the end [see v. 5], he rests in the great plan of God for everyone, whose spirit is in the root of Jesse.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 13:2

• Psalms 13:3

  Is God a light to enlighten the eyes of the body or the eyes of the intellect? The prophet says of the latter, "Enlighten my eyes lest I sleep in death." I think it is clear to everyone that we would not say that God performs the work of the sun and assigns to another the task of enlightening the eyes of those who will not sleep in death. God, therefore, enlightens the mind of those whom he judges to be worthy of personal enlightenment. But if God illuminates the mind according to the statement "The Lord is my light," then we must assume that he is apprehended by the intellect and is invisible and incorporeal, because he is the light of the mind.

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 13:135-37

• Psalms 16:9

  "My flesh will rest in hope." The Lord Jesus Christ says these words, whose flesh is the first to rest in hope. Crucified, made the first fruit of the dead and having been taken into heaven after the resurrection, he carried the earthly body with him so that even the heavenly powers were awestruck and terrified seeing the flesh ascending into heaven. Concerning Elijah it was written that he was taken up into heaven; and about Enoch, that he was translated. Now, however, it is said that Jesus ascended into heaven. Let him be offended who so wishes at our word. I, however, guard it will all faith because just as Christ is the first fruit from the dead, so also he is the first to carry his flesh to heaven.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 16:9

• Psalms 18:11

  The reasons of the divine dispensation and providence are most obscure. For "God made darkness his hiding place." Those desiring audaciously and rashly to examine this darkness and appropriating for themselves one thing from another have fallen headlong into the dense "darkness" of errors.

  HOMILIES ON PSALMS 4:7

• Psalms 18:11

  It is said of God in the eighteenth psalm that "God made darkness his hiding place." This is a Hebrew way of showing that the ideas of God that people understand in accordance with their merits are obscure and unknowable, since God hides himself as if in darkness from those who cannot bear the radiance of the knowledge of him and who cannot see him, partly because of the defilement of the mind that is bound to a human "body of humiliation," partly because of its restricted capacity to comprehend God.… Moreover, our Savior and Lord, the Logos of God, shows the depth of the knowledge of the Father, and that, although a derived knowledge is possessed by those whose minds are illuminated by the divine Logos himself, absolute understanding and knowledge of the Father is possessed by himself alone in accordance with his merits, when he says, "No one has known the Son save the Father, and no one has known the Father save the Son, and him to whom the Son will reveal him." Neither can anyone worthily know the uncreated and firstborn of all created nature in the way that the Father who begat him knows him; nor can anyone know the Father in the same way as the living Logos who is God's wisdom and truth. By participation in him who took away from the Father what is called darkness, which he made "his hiding place," and what is called his covering, "the great deep," thus revealing the Father, anyone whatever who has the capacity to know him may do so.

  AGAINST CELSUS 6:17

• Psalms 19:1

  If someone, hypothetically, should seem to believe in Jesus but should not believe that the God of the law and of the gospel is one, whose glory the heavens declare, since they were made by him, and the work of whose hands the firmament proclaims, since it is their work, this person would be deficient in the greatest article of faith.

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 32:190

• Psalms 19:1

  Any who are perfect, who have been made heavenly or have become [part] of heaven, "declare the glory of God," as it says in the psalm. For this reason in brief also the apostles who were of heaven were sent to declare the glory of God and received the name of Boanerges, "which is the sons of thunder," that by the power of thunder we might believe them truly to be heavens.

  HOMILIES ON PSALMS 1:13

• Psalms 19:4

  Behold the Lord's greatness. "The sound of his teaching has gone out into every land." Our Lord Jesus has been spread out to the whole world, because he is God's power.… The power of the Lord and Savior is with those who are in Britain, separated from our world, and with those who are in Mauretania and with everyone under the sun who has believed in his name. Behold the Savior's greatness. It extends to all the world.

  HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 6:9

• Psalms 22:14-15

  [We know] that even if … all the bones of Christ appear to be scattered in persecutions and afflictions by the plots of those who wage war against the unity of the temple by persecutions, the temple will be raised up and the body will arise on the third day.

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10:229

• Psalms 23:4

  To walk in the midst of the shadow of death is not the same as to sit in the shadow of death; one who sits in the shadow of death is firmly fixed in that shadow and strengthened in evil. On account of this, he is in darkness and lacks mercy so that the light may rise for him. He who does not sit, but who passes or walks through the midst of the shadow of death, not standing and hurrying across, does not walk alone because the Lord goes through with him.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 23:4

• Psalms 23:4

  Scripture is a witness that "rod" speaks of punishments and scourges. If you have sinned and you see the rod of God threatening you, know that the mercy of God will not be far from you.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 23:4

• Psalms 23:5

  This bread that God the Word declares is his body is the word that feeds souls, word proceeding from God the Word and bread from heavenly Bread. It has been placed on the table about which was written, "You have prepared a table in my sight against those who afflict me." And this drink that God the Word declares is his blood is the word that gives drink and wonderfully intoxicates the hearts of those who drink. This is the cup concerning which was written, "and your intoxicating cup, how glorious it is!" Also, this drink is the fruit of the true Vine, who said, "I am the true vine," and it is the blood of that Grape that produced this drink when it was cast into the winepress of the passion, just as the bread too is the word of Christ, made from that Wheat that "falling into the earth … produces much fruit." For God the Word was not saying that the visible bread that he was holding in his hands was his body, but rather the Word, in whose mystery the bread was to be broken. He was not saying that the visible drink was his blood, but the Word, in whose mystery the drink was to be poured out. For what else could the body and the blood of God the Word be except the Word that nourishes and the Word that "makes glad the heart"?

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 26:26-28

• Psalms 23:5

  Just as certain rewards are given to the contender in mighty contests, so also in any trial, when that which afflicts is nearby and the powers of the adversaries bring tribulation, know that a spiritual and intellectual table is prepared on account of this trial. Therefore, however many times you will be afflicted, equally many times a spiritual table is placed before you. Fix firm your eyes attentive only to my tables, and, giving thanks, you may say with the apostle, "Not I alone, but we are made glorious in tribulation."

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 23:5

• Psalms 24:3

  Where should you stand, you who seek sanctification from God? The writer says, "You have established my feet on the rock." "Christ was the rock." Let us learn about the one who follows these promises.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 24:3

• Psalms 24:6

  No one seeking the face of God will see his face and live, … unless he or she has been changed.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 24:6

• Psalms 24:9

  But after he had destroyed his enemies through his passion, the Lord, who is mighty in battle and strong, … goes, bearing victory and trophies, with the body that arose from the dead.… Certain powers say, "Who is this that is coming from Edom, with scarlet garments from Bosra, so beautiful?" And those escorting him say to those stationed at the gates of heaven, "Lift up your gates, and the King of glory will come in."

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6:287-88

• Psalms 26:2

  If need be, we will not only partake of the blessings of life but bear its appointed sorrows as a trial to our souls. For in this way is divine Scripture accustomed to speak of human afflictions, by which, as gold is tried in the fire, so the human spirit is tried and is found to be worthy either of condemnation or of praise.… We are therefore prepared and are ready to say, "Try me, O Lord, and prove me; purge my reins and my heart."

  AGAINST CELSUS 8:56

• Psalms 27:1

  Christians have nothing to fear, even if demons should not be well-disposed to them; for they are protected by the supreme God, who is well pleased with their piety and who sets his divine angels to watch over those who are worthy of such guardianship, so that they can suffer nothing from demons. He who by his piety possesses the favor of the Most High, who has accepted the guidance of Jesus, the "angel of the great counsel," being well contented with the favor of God through Christ Jesus, may say with confidence that he has nothing to suffer from the whole host of demons.

  AGAINST CELSUS 8:27

• Psalms 27:3

  You see steadfastness and vigor of the soul that keeps the commandments of God and has the confidence of uncreated liberty.

  HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 16:6.1

• Psalms 27:3

  It may be that these words are spoken by the prophet of no one else but the Savior, who feared no one because of the light and salvation given from the Father and who was afraid of no one because of the protection with which God shielded him. And his heart was not at all fearful when the entire host of Satan encamped against him. His heart, filled with sacred teachings, hoped in God when war rose up against him.

  EXHORTATION TO MARTYDOM 29

• Psalms 28:1

  Frequently, in Scripture, the righteous are said to have called out to God. Each one tries to beseech God with a cry, and I may say with an unusual cry. He goes to his bedroom closet, locks the door and calls out to God: "Do not be silent before me." It was written of Moses, Aaron and Joshua the son of Nun. Indeed, they were the worthy ones to whom God spoke. He spoke through the prophets whenever the people stood before God. Let us not think that God speaks to us externally, for those righteous thoughts that are in our hearts are the words we speak and the voice through which God speaks to us. Understand this when Scripture says that God spoke to this one or that. Thus Scripture testifies, "Blessed is the one whose help is from you.…" We have this help through which the word of God is received. Holy is that one … who hears the word of the Lord and does it.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 28:1

• Psalms 28:2

  Often, we communicate by the lifting of hands, as when Moses' arms were lifted up and Israel was victorious. When his hands were down, the Amalekites won.… Our hands are our deeds of piety. If we store treasures in heaven, we have hands lifted to God and overcome the enemy. When, therefore, I raise my hands to God, I lift my spirit to him through my uplifted hands. Amalek is conquered by me. So, it is needful to lift your hands to God. The temple of God is his glory.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 28:2

• Psalms 30:3

  No one is able to exalt God unless God has lifted him up. For we are lifted up on high through the cross of Christ, who said, "When I will have been lifted up, I will draw all to me." We exalt the Lord who himself exalted the Father, and as much as he has been in him, he shows the Father to the ones who believe. He teaches that there are certain invisible enemies of the human spirit who envy the salvation handed over to them by God. They lie in wait, and they observe whether an error, fall or mishap should happen, which, if it would, straightway they mock that salvation as if joyful with the wrongdoing, against which mockery he bears up with strength if they will see that salvation illuminated by divine steps. He thanks God because God did not allow him to be cast away but corrected him from his fall. One who realizes this clearly exalts God and protects the worthy teaching that comes from God. Such a person lives a life of wisdom and keeps his spirit in all excellence. He exalts the one who lives within him.

  SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 30:2

• Psalms 32:5

  People had evil thoughts. They were revealed to bring them into the open and destroy them. Once they had been killed and are dead, they would cease to exist. He who died for us would kill them. For, as long as such thoughts were hidden and not brought out into the open, it was quite impossible to kill them. Thus, if we ourselves have sinned, we ought to say, "I made my sin known to you, and I have not hidden my iniquity. I said, "Against myself shall I proclaim my injustice to the Lord.' "

  HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 17:8

• Psalms 33:6

  Nothing in the Trinity can be called greater or less, for there is but one fount of deity, who upholds the universe by his word and reason and sanctifies "by the spirit of his mouth" all that is worthy of sanctification.

  ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1:3.7

• Psalms 33:15

  When we fail to remember the one who formed each one of us in the womb, and formed all our hearts individually and understands all our works, we do not perceive that God is a helper of those who are lowly and inferior, a protector of the weak, a shelterer of those who have been given up in despair and Savior of those who have been given up as hopeless.

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 13:168

• Psalms 36:6

  Human beings, being ignorant of the judgments of God, which are "a great abyss," are accustomed to complain against God and to say, Why do unjust people and unjust robbers and impious and wicked ones suffer nothing adverse in this life but everything yields prosperity to them, honors, riches, power, health, and the health and strength of the body even serves them. On the contrary, innumerable tribulations come on the innocent and pious worshipers of God; they live rejected, humble, contemptible, under the blows of the powerful. Sometimes even more severe diseases dominate them in their body. But as I said, the ignorant complain about what order there is in the divine judgments. For however much more severely they want those to be punished whose power and iniquities they lament, there is that much greater necessity that the penalties be differed, that if they are not differed, … it is certain that they will be eternal and last forever. On the contrary, therefore, if they wanted good things to be given to the just and innocent in the present age, the good things themselves would also be temporal and would have to come to a quick end; but the more they are deferred into the future, by so much the more will they be perpetual and not know an end.

  HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 14:4.5

• Psalms 36:9

  What other light of God can we speak of, in which a person sees light, except God's spiritual power, which when it lightens a person causes him either to see clearly the truth of all things or to know God, who is called the truth? Such then is the meaning of the saying, "In your light shall we see light"; that is, in your word and your wisdom, which is your Son, in him shall we see you, the Father.

  ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1:1.1

• Psalms 37:3

  The "land" here indicates the heart of the listener and his soul. We are ordered, therefore, to indwell this land, that is, not to stray far from it, not to run to and fro, far and near, but to dwell and to stand firm within the bounds of our spirits and to consider the land very carefully and to become its tiller just as Noah was and to plant in it the vine and till the land that is within us, "to renew the fallowed ground of our spirits and sow not among the thorns." Namely, let us purge our spirit from faults, and let us refine rough and harsh ways with the gentleness and the imitation of Christ, and thus finally we may feed from its wealth.

  HOMILY 1 ON PSALMS 37:3

• Psalms 37:4

  The expression "we have need" is applied to those things that are necessary for life. Consequently, applied to material things, it means that one does not need most things but only those of which Paul says, "but having food and clothing, we shall be satisfied with these things." Those things, [by contrast], that are accumulated in wealth and luxury are the result of abundance among those who live luxuriously. They are not considered to be necessary and absolutely essential but to be superfluous. So, therefore, there are also things that are necessary for us in the realm of divine matters, which bring us into life and cause us to be in the one who says, "I am the life." But what supersedes these things would be said to supersede need. It is said of such things, "Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the requests of your heart." These include all the things that are considered in relation to the paradise of luxury and in relation to wealth and glory, the things in the left hand of wisdom according to him who said, "For length of life and years of life are in her right hand, but in her left hand are wealth and glory." One would say that these go beyond necessity.

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 32:106

• Psalms 37:25

  They can never be oppressed by the fasting of famine whose bread is that "they should do the will of the Father who is in heaven" and whose soul that "bread that comes down from heaven" nourishes.

  HOMILIES ON PSALMS 16:3