(1. Cor. 3. 8). *O Lord God of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in thee.* With this, the prophet has placed a beautiful seal upon the Psalm, setting hope in God, to whom it is a blessing to cling. For even though one is still being tossed in the storm, this is an unshakable wall. And he who trusts in God trusts in nothing present, but prefers his hope in God above the whole world.
On the end, for the sons of Core, Psalm LXXXIV.
It is necessary, even now, that the Psalm be inscribed *For the end*, or, according to others, *Triumphal*. It contains mysteries regarding the completion of the ages, which are truly triumphal against the devil. 2. *Lord, thou hast been favorable to thy land, thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.* What happens to man and to the earth is common. For when the land prospers, man prospers; and when it is disciplined, he is disciplined with it, as he is from it and nurtured by it. Whence what is said here by the prophet can be taken in common; since also the creation, of which the earth is an element, according to Paul, awaits the redemption of our human nature (Rom. 8. 19-22), which the prophet called *favor*, a term taken in general for man, which has been often declared; specifically, however, it refers to those who turned from the Jewish people to Him, whom the prophet called the *captivity of Jacob*. 3. *Thou hast forgiven the iniquities of thy people, thou hast covered all their sins.* Indeed, we reflect upon ourselves in this; for He has forgiven us not one iniquity, but all; and He has covered all our sins through His own philanthropy, just as a physician covers wounds with medicines. He mentioned *iniquities* and *sins* not because he wished to be tautological, but to show that God has forgiven not only the Jews, whose transgressions are called iniquities, as they were under the Law of Moses, but also the Gentiles, whose lapses are called sins, since while they were failing, they sinned by turning their heavenly thoughts toward folly. *Diapsalma* is placed here as a rest for the melody, not without reason, but because the prophet had set forth matters so great that the mind, exhausted by the magnitude of these revelations, needed to rest, both for the sake of a more accurate contemplation of these things. 4. *Thou hast stayed all thy wrath; thou hast turned away from the anger of thy fury.* He stayed the fury not in part, but entirely; not so as to postpone it for a time, but so as to wipe it out completely, leaving no memorial of it—wherefore it is also said that He turned away from the *anger of his fury*; and having turned away from anger, it is clear that He inclined toward philanthropy. But since he set forth things to come as if they were present, using a prophetic character, observe how he turned the prophecy into a prayer, showing that these things have not yet come to pass, but exist in hope. *Convert us, O God of our salvation, and turn away thy anger from us.* Wrath, therefore, is not a passion in God, but a threat made for our benefit. Wherefore, if we repent, He Himself also turns away from wrath and ceases, setting our salvation at great price, so that He even devised many ways and paths for it; and for this reason He is called God of salvation. *Wilt thou be angry with us for ever, or wilt thou extend thy wrath from generation to generation?* It is fearful even now for God to be angry with men, but since for the present He uses long-suffering, the coming wrath is necessarily more fearful. Do not, therefore, let God be angry with us for the whole of this present age, nor transfer the wrath against us from this generation to that which is to come; but let it be extinguished by philanthropy, he prays. And how this happens, and in what way, when we are slow to repent, the following shows. 7. *O God, thou shalt turn and keep us alive, and thy people shall rejoice in thee.* You might say the *turning* of God is the turning He works in us, but strictly, it is that which He Himself turned on our behalf; for he says, *O God, thou shalt turn and keep us alive.* This came to pass clearly when, having become incarnate and having become man, He offered Himself for us, and the turning of us which He wrought for Himself, doing and suffering everything for us, through which He made us alive, and now has prepared His own people—that is, those who believe in Him—both to rejoice and to hold a festival in Him. *Show us, O Lord, thy mercy, and grant us thy salvation.* You see how the Psalmist speaks as a prophet and a servant; for as a prophet he declared the future; but again he prays as a servant for what he as a prophet had reached to respond to. And what does he pray for? That the mercy of God and the salvation might be shown to men, that is, the God Word appearing in the flesh
which salvation Symeon testifies is called by that name; for when he had received Him in the temple, giving thanks he said: "Now Lord, you dismiss your servant according to your word in peace: for my eyes have seen your salvation" (Luke 2:29-30). That He Himself is called mercy, the same prophet declares a little later. But from the matters themselves he has obtained both of these. 9. "Because He will speak peace to His people, and upon His saints, and to those who turn their heart to Him." Admirable is the prophet in his faith: for immediately after casting the seed of his prayer, he receives the fruit from it; and since he knew to whom he was supplicating, he prepared himself for the hearing of peace; that peace, indeed, which Christ gave to His people, that is, to those who were piously believing in Him, through the choir of the apostles: these are they who, having been converted in heart, are rightly called holy, and who have consecrated themselves entirely to Christ, and have turned themselves to Him with their whole heart from all worldly affairs; so that they seek neither parents, nor kin, nor trade anymore, but say with confidence: "Behold, we have left all, and followed You: what therefore shall we have?" (Matt. 19:27). "For I," He says, "am the truth and the life" (John 14:6). He is likewise called "Righteousness" by Paul, who says of Christ: "Who was made unto us righteousness by God" (1 Cor. 1:30). The prophet continues, explaining the mystery: 13. "For the Lord shall give graciousness"; the Father, His Son. Therefore other interpreters say, "He shall give good." For you know that He Himself said, "No one is good, except God alone" (Luke 18:19). "And our earth shall give its fruit"; the flesh that germinated from Mary: for from both of these the mystery of Christ consists. 14. "Righteousness shall walk before Him." The righteousness of which he spoke above: "Righteousness has looked down from heaven": for the divinity walks before the human nature, as Habakkuk also says: "The Word shall go before His face" (Hab. 3:5); and then regarding the human nature: "And He shall go forth unto discipline at His feet" (Ibid.): saying things consonant with those which are carried in the Psalms. For behold, it is added: "And He shall set His steps in the way," because the divinity preceding, that is, leading its own flesh, directs the steps toward the way of the economy or incarnation, so that it might not wander from human things, and that nothing might be lacking.
Prayer of David. Psalm LXXXV.
And he delivered it to the sons of Core to be sung; but he himself strikes the lyre in prayer to God, not from himself alone, but bearing before him the person of all men.1. "Incline, O Lord, Your ear, and hear me, for I am needy and poor." Every man is needy and poor, the person of whom the prophet now assumes. For we are needy through sin, and because of Adam, who sent poverty to us for an inheritance. Therefore, he asks God to incline His ear, that, though He is rich, He might nevertheless indulge the poor, and as a physician cure the infirm. And why? Because we often ask God for things that are not fitting; but He, as a physician, deigns indeed to hear the petition, but grants only those things which are opportune. 2. "Guard my soul, for I am holy." And how can he be holy who is needy and poor in virtue? Truly, because he has confessed his poverty, he has already become holy by confession: or he calls man holy, because before the transgression he had that dignity in paradise. "Save Your servant, my God, hoping in You." The words of the prophet are apt for moving mercy. For because the Lord can in no way turn away His servant when he hopes in Him, but protects him on account of his hope in Him, even if he be liable to other offenses; he professes servitude, so that he might draw God to us, lest He lose His own possession. 3. "Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I shall cry unto You all the day." Do you know how we are able to obtain mercy? By crying to God the whole day, not praying to Him in one way and moving Him to anger by our deeds in another; neither holding assemblies now in the church of God, and now in the gathering of iniquitous men, of whom David says: "I have hated the church of the malignant" (Ps. 25:5). 4. "Gladden the soul of Your servant, for I have lifted my soul to You." From You, he says, I seek gladness, to whom I have lifted up my soul from the earth, bearing it light and carrying it by the hope of divine things, so that it might not pant after human things. Therefore, do You gladden it. For I do not want gladness from men, as it is harmful and fleeting. 5. "For You, O Lord, are sweet and mild, and of much mercy to all who call upon You." Not in vain have I lifted up my soul to You. But because You are moved to compassion as being sweet, and offer a hand to the fallen as being mild, You have mercy on them not in one way, but You indulge them in many and various ways on account of the love of the poor: You have mercy on account of tears, You have mercy on account of good works, You have mercy on account of faith, not of some, but of all who call upon You. Therefore, those who do not call upon God cannot obtain mercy; thus, prayer is for us a weapon, and a harbor, and the gate of salvation. 6. "Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer, and attend to the voice of my supplication." Give ear, that is, judge it worthy of Your ears. Attend, moreover, to the voice, that you might offer the petition.