Lord, why are you so distant and hidden in time of need?
1. there is (in my judgment) no psalm which has so actually, abundantly and clearly depicted the character, the manners, the works, the words, the meaning, the fortune (fortunam) of the ungodly, as this one, so that, if something has been said too little up to now, or should be said, one can obtain from this a perfect picture of ungodliness. So this Psalm is the image, the pattern, the figure, the most perfect representation (idea) of the ungodly and of godlessness, that is, of such a person who seems more excellent to himself and to other people than St. Peter, but is an abomination before God. This is what led St. Augustine and those who followed him to understand this Psalm of the Antichrist.
(2) But because this psalm is without a title, let us take it as a very general saying, and let us see in it (as I have said) a common pattern (ideam) of ungodliness, not that we deny the interpretation of those, but rather because we take it generally, we include the Antichrist.
(3) Yes, it would not be inconsistent if we were to associate this psalm in its order with the previous one in such a way that we understand it to mean that the prophet sang there of the converted ungodly and prayed for those who were yet to be converted, but that here he sings of the ungodly who are still left and still have the upper hand in their power over the weak of whom he either cannot hope or is uncertain whether they can be converted or not.
4) But behold, what a great zeal he has, almost quarreling with God Himself, "Lord, why are you standing so far away?" 1) For so over-
1) Quare, Domine, stas a longe? Vulgate: Ut quid, Domine, recessisti longe?
Jerome says, and this is the movement in which someone who is in the midst of a tribulation, and, moved by a very great indignation over a matter, cries out against the very unreasonable tyranny of the ungodly and for the cause of the very innocent saints, as one is also wont to say: How can God suffer this? Thus Habakkuk Cap. 1 begins his book with the same entrance [v. 2. 3.]: "Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? How long shall I cry unto thee for iniquity, and thou wilt not help? Why do you make me see toil and labor? Why dost thou show me robbery and iniquity about me? [Why then dost thou look upon the scornful, and holdest thy peace, that the wicked devour him that is more pious than he? And let men go like fish in the sea, like worms that have no master? [There is authority over justice. Therefore there is nothing but right, and no right thing can win; for the wicked overrules the righteous, therefore wrong judgments go."
5 Why do we wonder if we suffer injustice, since these men, who are full of the spirit, confess with such great emotion that they have suffered such things, and cry out that the law of God is torn asunder (laceratam), in which they obviously indicate the war of ungodliness against godliness, in which zeal is most inflamed? Who would not judge that Habakkuk was guilty of impatience at this point? But also later in the same chapter, v. 13 f., he says: "Thine eyes are pure, that thou canst not see evil, and thou canst not look on the affliction. Why then dost thou look upon the despisers, and hold thy peace, that the wicked devour him that is more pious than he? And let men go like fish in the sea,
*) In Latin, the superscription here is: Kalmus clseirnus, bebraica numerationo, sine titulo. In the Vulgate, however, this psalm is included in the ninth. Then the Vulgate remains against the Bible in the counting of the Psalms by one behind to the 147th Psalm. With Ps. 147, 12th: "Praise Jerusalem" then begins the 147th Psalm of the Vulgate. In between, the sequence is interrupted once again, in that the (Hebrew) 114th and 115th Psalm are drawn together into one, but the 116th Psalm is divided into two.
like worms that have no master?" In the same agitation Isaiah, Cap. 63, 1) 15. says: "Where is now your zeal, your power? Thy great hearty mercy keepeth hard against me." The same is found in Job, Cap. 21 very extensively.
6 The prophet also says here: "Lord, why do you stand so far away?" that is, you let us be oppressed and devoured, you do not hear and save us, you strengthen the hand of the wicked and promote their counsel. Yes, he seems to contradict himself, for he had said in the previous Psalm, v. 10: "A shelter in trouble", but here: "You hide yourself in the time of trouble", and he seems to tempt God, since he prescribes time and opportunity of help, and does not completely expect the hand of God.
(7) But under other emotions, one speaks differently and differently. For in this psalm the person of the afflicted and of him who afflicts him must be perfectly presented (formari). But the afflicted, though he suffers valiantly, is not without feeling, he has flesh and sensation; he breaks forth according to his nature, yea, according to his insurmountable weakness, and sighs, and cries, and becomes unwilling in impatience. Thus Christ says Matt. 26:41, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." And he himself also asked that the cup might pass from him, in that he suffered from natural weakness, which, however, he immediately made amends for and overcame, saying [Luc. 22:41.], "Yet not my will, but thine be done."
(8) So it is in the battle of the righteous with the wicked. Although they persevere, it is with difficulty and hardship; sometimes the spirit is willing and confident, sometimes the weak flesh groans. In this struggle, the weakness of the flesh is somewhat yielded to, so that it cries out and groans, when it should rather rejoice.
(9) All this is for our consolation, so that we may realize that the saints of God were human beings like us, and that we may realize that what is said about the suffering of the cross and death must be overcome by a love that bravely endures,
1) In the Latin editions: Isuias 43.
But that it could not or should not be borne by the willfulness of the flesh and of the human mind.
Thus this verse, indeed the whole Psalm, is the voice of the flesh and of the lowly and outward man in the saints crying out, while the spirit bravely endures and waits for God [who helps him in due time.
V. 2: Because the wicked is arrogant, the wretched must suffer. They cling to each other and devise evil deeds. 2)
11 Jerome has thus: In superbia impii ardet pauper, capiantur in sceleribus suis, quae cogitaverunt [Over the hopefulness of the wicked the poor burns; may they be caught in their shameful deeds which they have devised]. But this hopefulness is not that in which someone is puffed up with himself on account of himself and is puffed up in his conceit, but the outward show by which he subdues and oppresses another, since he has become higher before men than the latter, as it is said in Exodus 15:1, "I will sing to the Lord, for he has done a glorious deed" (gloriose enimhonorificatus est), instead of: He has shown very great hope, or: He has prevailed mightily, namely over the Egyptians. Thus it happens, while the Lord stands back and from afar, and hides himself in time of trouble, that in the meantime the ungodly rises above the godly and reigns over him by force, that is, is hopeful and triumphs over him. Therefore we may understand this word of pomp, grandstanding, triumphing, on which, as we see, a victor over the vanquished in the sight of men relies and defies, and is sure as if it were done for the vanquished, where then the party of the victor has only the task of destroying to the utmost all that is left of the vanquished. This is it that he says the wretch burns or is inflamed.
Reuchlin writes, however, that the Hebrew expression not only means to burn or ignite, but also to persecute, and here one must say: The wretch suffers persecution.
gung. But the meaning of conflagration or burning is very appropriate for this passage, indeed, it has a greater emphasis, because the prophet wants to be understood that the wretched, where the wicked triumphs, are completely reduced to dust and nothing, as when a house, consumed by fire and reduced to ashes, leaves no trace of itself. In this the prophet beautifully shows the intentions and desires of the wicked, for whom it is not enough that they proudly exalt themselves above the godly, but they also direct their attack to destroy from the bottom up all their goods and what belongs to them, by subjecting themselves to greater things than they are able. Thus Isaiah says of them Cap. 16, 6: "But we hear of the haughtiness of Moab, that it is almost great, that also their haughtiness, pride, and wrath are greater than their might." This passage contains the same word that means "arrogance" here. And Isa. 10, 7. it is said of the king of Assyria (Assyria): "Though he mean not so, neither think his heart so, but his heart standeth to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations." And again it is said of Moab, Jer. 48, 29. f.: "It has always been said of proud Moab that he is very proud, hopeful, haughty, defiant and arrogant. But the Lord saith, I know well his wrath, that he is not able to do so much; and presumeth to do more than is his ability." Again, almost nothing other than the word that is here so often repeated, by which this arrogance, rage and impetuous action of the wicked is described when he has the upper hand, namely, the arrogance and cruelty of the victor against the vanquished.
(13) He therefore speaks with great agitation against the wicked, who indeed do not conquer, although they do conquer: but because all clearly perceive with their senses that the conquered are exposed to their cruelty and insolence, the weak flesh complains that the wretched must suffer (incendi), while the wicked are boisterous.
14. for that which the wicked are subject to is so great that it seems as though they were
would in truth eternally retain the upper hand. By examples we will grasp this best. Imagine that in the times of Arius 1) the orthodox bishops, who were sent into exile, were singing this while the Arian impiety was running riot, then you will understand how the prophet felt. For God does not want any enemy to be overcome by our strength, but by His arm alone, so that the work and the glory may be His alone.
(15) Therefore, one must not deal sacrilegiously with the heretics and the ungodly, as the disputing philosophers are wont to do; they are not overcome by the power of proofs, they are not guided by reasons, nor are they won over by the reputation of others, but are hopeful against all this and retain the upper hand until the hand of the Most High changes them. To do this, one must not be presumptuous in trusting in one's talent, eloquence and learning, but one must approach God with humble cries, as the example of this verse teaches us. Thus we have quoted the words of Job 41:18, 20 about the wars which, as we have seen, have been waged against the heretics and the Turks for several centuries, because we have undertaken them presumptuously out of human strength and according to human suggestions: "He esteemeth iron as straw, and mocketh the quivering spear." Satan and the enemy of the Christians will not be overcome by our actions, but only by our suffering and crying.
16 [What in the Vulgate reads:] "They are caught in the plots which they devise," Jerome renders: "May they be caught in their deeds of shame which they have devised." But everywhere the same meaning remains, namely this: Since the wicked are overconfident and oppress the poor, they do not get along at all and realize their wickedness, that they rather flatter themselves with these their shameful deeds, are happy about it, get entangled in it, harden themselves, and become a part of it.
1) Instead of ^riavi in the Baseler, in the Weimarschen and in the Erlanger is to be read with the Wittenberger and the Jenaer ^.rinnis.
and become blind, and think that they are doing God a service. For this is by far the most pernicious kind of imprisonment, when someone is caught and blinded in his own counsel and works, by which only the wicked are to be punished, as Isaiah Cap. 5, 20. says: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn sour into sweet and sweet into sour.
17 Note, therefore, that the first destruction of the wicked is blindness, as Ecclesiastes tells Solomon, Cap. 4, 17. [1 Sam. 15, 22.] "Obedience is far better than the sacrifice of fools, for they know not what evil they do." "Whom God wills to punish, He will shut his eyes."
The Latin words do not reflect the emphasis that the Hebrew has. For the word comprehendi (to be seized) in this place does not denote a hostile capturing, but a sweet and friendly one, so that also Gen. 4, 21. is written of Jubal that he was the father of those who play (that is, who seize, handle, hold on to) on the zither and musical instruments, so that it means that the wicked flatter themselves in their wickedness, as it is also said in Proverbs 2, 14. 2, 14: "They rejoice in doing evil, and are glad in their wickedness," while they make themselves believe that they rejoice only in the very best things.
(18) Further, in consiliis, for which Jerome translated "in their shameful deeds," is ambiguous in Hebrew, and can mean both shameful deeds and deeds of plot, so that if it could be united into one meaning, we would understand the works that are done intentionally and deliberately. For the wicked do not consider themselves to be acting against the godly in an accidental or thoughtless manner, but with great and special deliberation and counsel, indeed, out of zeal for God.
(19) And this Hebrew word expresses most appropriately the frenzy which is the source of all evil, which I see they call nowadays a good intention and a well-formed precept (formatum dictamen) of sound reason. For it is to be wondered how
they trust in how bold they are, how presumptuous they are, how they please themselves, how irretrievably they are caught and blinded, especially the bishops and the monks, but among these especially the more learned and holier ones, as if it were necessary, as soon as they say: I have formed a good intention for the glory of God and the salvation of souls and hold on to it, that then nothing of an evil intention would be left with them and no more evil work could follow from it. Then they also add this ungodliness, that they form or fashion the same [the good intention] from the natural powers and light of the intellect (lumine intellectus, as they call it), seeking divine grace only after the good intention is formed, or not at all; and yet they presume without all fear not only to contend and strive for this intention, but also to fill the whole world with blood and murder, if God permits it. If you tell them that this intention is exceedingly evil if it is not produced by the Holy Spirit as Master, and that one must despair of natural powers because man, as a liar, can do nothing but lie, and if this intention is conceived in fear and humility, one must wait for the hand of God alone, they will cry out that you are harboring heretical sentiments because you deny free will and thus condemn godly intentions.
20 Therefore, for our time, this verse can be rendered thus: The wicked are caught and please themselves in their good intentions, for whose sake, as long as they have the upper hand, they inflict suffering on the wretched (incendunt). Now I would like to understand this in such a way that this is called by the apostle 1 Tim. 4, 2. [Vulg.]: "who have a branded conscience," that is, to whom by violence his form is given (formatam), and as it were to the by nature evil intention 1) the brand of this wrong (adulterinae) intention is expressed by the foolish zeal, as the brand of an evil-doer is expressed by the branding iron, by human endeavor and human strength, which is
1) We have adopted the reading of the Wittenberg and Weimar intmitioui, in the other editions:
! iutentionis.
750 D. xv, 14S-147. interpretations on the psalms. W. iv, "so-ssg. 751
is completely opposite to the natural form. Thus, even these completely blind people, who do not know the wickedness of human nature, strive to forcibly disfigure it through good intention, and since they have covered the natural lie of the human heart through this false intention, they are willing to submit to any cause for the glory of God, for the glory of the church, out of zeal for the faith and the salvation of souls.
(21) Furthermore, with regard to everything they have done, they have no doubt at all that it is exceedingly pleasing to God as a sufficient (merito condigni) and more than sufficient (super- erogationis [Luther: "exceeding merit"]). If you were to put them to the test, it remains to be seen whether they would allow their works to be compared to the merits of St. Peter. So great are the eyelids of this Behemoth [Job 41:9], so much are they caught by these their plots, the most wretched of men!
22 Now also the word "they devise" is more dainty and significant of this matter than any language could render, for in Hebrew it does not denote devising per se, but artificial and meaningful, as the finer artists are intent on a variety of their works. Ps. 52:4 [Vulg.], "All day long thy tongue thinketh upon iniquity." Hence Reuchlin says that from this verbum XXX theorica magistralis or mathematics has its name, and every art which investigates by reasoning (ratione) and proof. In this the spirit paints beautifully the thoughts of the godless. Since they do not surrender to the grace of God, that they might be governed by it, but please themselves in their good intentions, it is incredible how industrious and skillful they are, both to align their works and to fortify them well. "They are vain subtlety and loud cleverness." There is also another meaning of the word, namely, to esteem, to cherish, to hold in value, so that one can see that with the wicked there is nothing more delicious in their eyes than their counsels, their thoughts, their good intentions.
23) See, then, how the Holy Spirit, who alone is the best speaker, does not lack words.
He lacks the ability to describe the matter adequately, actually, clearly and fully. Who could describe the blindness of the wicked more appropriately in a long speech than he does here in these three words? If one is careful, he has described it with so few means in such a way that nothing can be added or taken away from it, because he has not only described the blindness, but also their attitude and their whole behavior and manner with so few words.
(24) Now if someone is offended by our Latin translation, where it says: Quibus cogitant instead of: Quae cogitaverunt, he can get out of the offence by taking cogitare as a verb without closer relation (absolutum), so that the sense is: Quibus cogitant, i.e., in which their thoughts are indulged, their art, their prudence is proved, by which they are delicious in their own eyes, and as it is commonly said: "Who think much of themselves in their counsels and deeds, which also deceives them most," that is, comprehenduntur. For this is the reason why the prophet cries out and complains that the Lord is so distant, because the wicked are also hardened more and more by their shameful deeds, so that there is no hope that they will be overcome by the patience of the wretched, if the Lord does not help.
V. 3. for the wicked boasts of his courage, and the miser blesses himself, and blasphemes the Lord. 1)
This and the following verse have been shamefully torn apart in the translations, because they begin the following verse like this: Exacerbavit Dominum peccator, while in Hebrew it begins with the nominative peccator, and what precedes: Exacerbavit Dominum, belongs to this verse. For Jerome also has it this way: Quia laudavit impius desiderium animae suae, et avarus applaudens sibi blasphemavit Dominum.
26. again the words trouble us here, peccator [the sinner is the ungodly XXX, the devil's saint. Desiderium animae ejus is: what pleases him. Iniquus
liavit Doininuin.
sder Ungerechtes, which Jerome translated by "the miser," is a general word that refers to a miser and such a person who does wrong to other people, since according to his will he hurts, harms, and does wrong to those he pleases, as the miser is wont to do. And our Latin translator has rendered it better by: "the unjust" than Jerome by: "the miser," since injustice and unrighteousness and wanton harm are on the one hand broader than miserliness, and on the other hand are more appropriate here, since he speaks of those who suppress godliness.
(27) This is the meaning: After the wicked has gained the upper hand and the wretched are disturbed, he is hardened and blinded in his evil deeds; to this he adds that he only praises, extols and glorifies his own, and strives to be such before men as he is in his own eyes. Therefore he strives that what pleases him, what he himself thinks, does and wants to be carried out against the godly, is approved by the consensus of all people as useful, holy, just, edifying, and that there is nothing in it that all do not praise; that, on the other hand, what the godly desire and hold should be just as unanimously condemned by all as harmful, ungodly, heretical, and, as in our time many such words have been used, 1) "vexatious, erroneous, seditious, offensive to Christian ears. And in these things the ungodly must have the upper hand, so that the speech and the sentiment expressed in this psalm would be appropriate in it.
28) Now the other destruction 2) of the wicked is that he goes so far in his wickedness that he boasts of his wickedness and that he can do harm, Ps. 52:3, so that the abomination stands in the holy place.
That which this verse says has been fulfilled by the tyranny of the [Roman] church for many years and will fulfill it even more in the future time. For here, because the name of Christ has become a cloak of wickedness, they have-.
1) Cf. Walch, St. Louiser Ausa., vol. XVIII, 932 ff. 2) Cf. s 17.
If anyone does not declare as heretics, rebels and blasphemers all that they have done to harm Christ's people according to their will, all that they have ordered, all that they have only liked, to be approved (benedixerit) and praised, so that the Scripture may be fulfilled, which says [2 Thess. 2, 11. 10, "Therefore God will send them strong errors, that they may believe the lie, for that they have not received the love of the truth, that they may be saved." For the Antichrist, who is depicted in this Psalm, must be worshipped and feared with his body under the name of Christ, as is required by what we have earned with our ingratitude.
(29) It is also not improper that Jerome translated "the miser" instead of "the unrighteous", only that the unrighteousness is more abominable than the miser. Then in the Scriptures these godless bishops and idols of the Antichrist are ascribed avarice even before all others, especially Isa. 5, 7. f. and Ps. 5, 10. where he compares their jaws to an open grave, and it [avarice] will then [at the time of the Antichrist] stand in its highest strength and power, that it has never been seen nor will be seen so great, so that with the end of the world an end must be put to it in the same way.
30 Exacerbavit, which Jerome translated by blasphemavit, indicates the third wickedness of the wicked, which is that they provoke, provoke, and blaspheme God, of which the 5th Psalm, v. 11, said: "Cast them out because of their great transgression, for they are contrary to You." But it is not to be understood in such a way that the ungodly and even the Antichrist himself blaspheme God publicly and in such a way that one could perceive it with the senses, since he will use the name of the Lord primarily for powerful errors [2 Thess. 2, 11.]. For just by this the wicked gain the upper hand over the wretched, that they boast like Rabshakeh Is. 36, 2. ff. that they came from the Lord, it is God's business what they say, do, want and order: therefore all those must necessarily be deceived.
3) Cf. § 17 and s 28.
Those who are not driven by the spirit of God.
This is blasphemy, that they not only do not recognize their ungodliness and unrighteousness, but also praise it as godliness and God's good deed, thereby ascribing to God the most shameful work and the most abominable name, which provokes God to anger, who is otherwise the most loving Father to those who confess their sin. Again, the word and work of God, which he has addressed to his wretched, they not only do not hold in honor and do not consider it worthy of the name of God, but they attribute it to evil and injustice, thereby depriving God of what is his and attributing it to the devil.
32 Thus the apostle 2 Thess. 2 says of the prince of the wicked, the Antichrist, that he will not simply exalt himself above God, but [v. 4. Vulg.] above that which is worshipped, or that which is called God, or, as it is said in the Greek, above all said God and worship, to indicate that nothing can be exalted above God as He is in His nature, but insofar as He is preached, worshipped, and worshiped, that is, above the service against God, that is, in the opinion and mind of men, with whom alone He is preached and served by the word and faith. I do not understand this in any other way than that the word of an ungodly man should one day be preferred to the word of God, and that a man who sits in God's place should be feared and served more than God. This seems to be the aim of those who doubt whether the Roman Pontiff is a pure man and prefer his words to the holy Gospel of Christ, which is truly the greatest blasphemy.
V. 4. The wicked is so proud and angry that he asks for no one; in all his wiles he thinks God is nothing. 1)
Jerome: Impius secundum altitudinem furoris sui non requiret, nec Deus in omnibus cogitationibus suis. There is first the
ira" 8UU6 non HuasrM, non est Oeus In conspectn ojns.
note how fierce is the spirit of this psalm, which so often restates and repeats the word "the wicked". Then Jerome, instead of "multitudinem irae suae," has more correctly: secundum altitudinem irae suae, that is, because of his hopefulness and elevation and his puffed-up raging. For the Hebrew word actually means the height or the hopefulness, as Ps. 101, 5. [Vulg.]: "With the hopeful eye and the insatiable heart, with that I have not eaten." And Ps. 131, 1. "O Lord, my heart is not hopeful, and my eyes are not proud." In my opinion they read 2 for 2 and translated: Secundum altitudinem or secundum multitudinem, while in altitudine should have been said. But that the famous fathers referred this "multitude of wrath" to God is due to the fact that the distinctive sign in this verse was not placed correctly, for it refers to the ungodly.
34 And that our Latin translation has said: In conspectu ejus, and Jerome: In omnibus cogitationibus suis, does not hurt your understanding much; but in Hebrew is the same expression, which they have translated above [in the Vulgate] in the second verse by in consiliis, and Jerome in sceleribus, so that the reader can see that I have above [§ 19 ff.], and that by this word I have understood the abomination and hypocrisy of the wicked, which they call "the good intention," a godly zeal and love of the truth. For the spirit of this psalm is against this hypocrisy, by which they do not appear to blaspheme God, but think that they praise Him most highly; nor are they hopeful, nor do they harm the wretched, but persecute proud and godless people; nor are they caught in their schemes and deceived in them, but are driven by the completely free and certain truth. Thus they are exceedingly sure that God is with their counsels and their good intention; and in general everything that is laid to their charge in this Psalm: Psalm is so far from them that they consider it a disgrace and a blasphemy. They hope to protect the sacred truth and the glory of God and the
The church's fame is highly deserved when they fight against it with all blasphemies, tricks, artifices, and with all their strength, and [think] that this is rather found in those who persecute them.
35 Thus it is that the blindness of the wicked is the first evil, the cause of all this war and all misfortune. There are plenty of examples of this in Christ, in the apostles, in the martyrs; among the confessors, the bishop Athanasius and (his opponent, the Arian Lucius, 1) who even persecuted the orthodox with drawn sword and armed crew, as we read in the eleventh book of church history. The like, if it has not yet happened, will happen in future times by the bishops and monks for their benefices, rights and liberties, so that they may complete the measure of their fathers.
The fourth virtue 2) now of the most holy and learned men (that is, of the ungodly) is "the height of wrath", that is, hopefulness, exaltation, pomposity, pride of heart, of which the apostle also prophesied in 2 Tim. 3:2, saying, "There shall be men hopeful, glorious" etc. And see the meaning and emphasis of the words. He ascribes to them not merely wrath, but a hopeful wrath (superbiam irae), because, as exceedingly hopeful despisers, they blow themselves up, exalt themselves, boast themselves against the godly because of their wrath and rage, as if they were the highest merits: so much is lacking in this, that they should have mercy on the wretched and be sorry for their wickedness, with which they rage. The cause of this iron neck and iron forehead (as Isaiah chap. 48, 4. calls it) is this, that they do not fight for money nor for other bodily things, but for God, for truth and righteousness (that is, for their motives, of which they are captives), in which nothing can happen that would be too much according to their judgment.
37 Therefore the prophet says rightly, "Impius secundum altitudinem seu multitudinem irae suae non quaeret." "He asks for no one." For it has the verbum quaeret no closer
1) Compare Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. XX, 2127, §44.
2) Cf. 17. 28. 30.
Relationship (est absolutum) and denotes what I have already said in German: "He pays no attention to it, he asks nothing about it", he makes no inquiries, he does not care about it, he is not careful. For he who asks about something is careful, he stands in fear, he takes care. This one, however, goes about his head and neck, hopeful, without fear, sure of wherever his good intention takes him, nor does the hopefulness of his anger allow him to consider, ponder or investigate what he is doing. For he indicates this hasty carelessness when he says: "Because he is so proud and angry, he does not inquire of anyone," for not only does he not shy away from men, but he also does not have God in all of his proposals or before his eyes.
38. does this not mean to paint the wicked with the right colors, and to hit his attitude and his whole manner so surely that not a hair is missing from it? as Judges. 20,3 ) 16. is said of the children of Benjamin.
(39) If one pays attention to all of these diatribes, and which persons he attacks, namely the powerful, the princes, the authorities, the priests, the saints, the sages, who are something far different in the eyes of men and in their own eyes, one will have to say that the spirit of the prophet is heretical, vituperative, carries on slander, is angry, seditious, insulting to Christian ears.
(40) And so this verse has three colors of the wicked: hopefulness or proud anger, abrupt heedlessness, and contempt and neglect of God, but in such a way that (as I said) they do not allow anyone to be praised or glorified before them for their modesty, prudence, and godliness. For the wicked, as the manner of their life is quite peculiar, must be what they are not, and not be what they are.
V. 5 He continues in his doings forever; your judgments are far from him; he acts defiantly with all his enemies. 4)
3) In the Latin editions: ludieuin 18. The Weimar one has Richt. 19, 22. ff. in the margin.
4) Vulgate: Inqninatas sunt vias iUius in onini tsruporu, uukkruntur judieia tun u taeis ejns, omnium iniruieoruin snoruin donnnalzitur.
41. instead of inquinatae sunt [they are stained] Jerome and the Hebrew text have: they give birth, and it could seem that a Latin scribe instead of inquietae [restless] wrote: inquinatae, as if the interpreter had rendered the suffering of the one giving birth by "restlessness" (inquietudinem), if Augustine and the copies of the ancients as well as the Greeks did not stand against it. For Augustine reads: Contaminantur viae ejus [His ways are defiled]. So the sense of our [Latin] text will be: Though the ungodly may appear pure in his ways, yet, because he himself is defiled, his ways are at all times defiled, as it is said in Proverbs 30:12-14: "A kind that thinketh itself pure, and yet is not washed from its dung; a kind that carryeth up its eyes, and holdeth up its eyelids; a kind that hath swords for teeth, that eateth with its molars, and devoureth the wretched of the land, and the poor of the people." With these words, the same wicked one is described as in this Psalm.
(42) Of course, the wicked also have such presumption that, when they suffer something or their actions have gone badly, they boast of the crown of patience; indeed, they never have any other opinion of themselves than the best. Against these he says: "Forever" (in omni tempore, that is, both in fortune and in misfortune), whether they have performed something happily or have suffered misfortune, it is impure and defiled. As if to say with the apostle, Tit. 1, 16. [Vulg.], "Since they are an abomination in the sight of God, and untrustworthy, and unfit for any good work." And again [v. 15.], "To the pure all things are pure, but to the unclean and unbelieving nothing is pure, but unclean is both their heart and conscience."
43) Since the wicked, who set their righteousness on works, and are guided by their counsels, cannot be such men as are free from all times, from all works, from all things, and are indifferent to them, but cleave unto certain things, in which they trust, for whose sake they also make war: therefore he saith.
1) The original edition has correctly after the Vulgate: inersüikilsk, that is, which one cannot believe. All editions have changed this to: inoMÜuü, except the Weimar one.
that their ways are at all times defiled, by which he means that this takes place most at the time when they seem to themselves to be most pure. And this passage applies to those who count morally good works among the works that should not be evil, because of the natural power of the free will for good. But the judgment stands firm: "His ways are defiled at all times."
(44) The Hebrew text is not far from this meaning, for to give birth is to be troubled and in pain, indicating that the deeds of the wicked, however good they may be, are not done out of a cheerful and willing heart, but out of a troubled, sad and sorrowful heart. For since they do not have the anointing of the Spirit, they do good only with hatred of the law and with difficulty; but difficulty and unwillingness also make the conscience sad. And this is what defiles all their good works, because they do them out of a restless, rebellious, unwilling, and sorrowful heart; or if they do them gladly, they are defiled by a still finer (subtiliori) defilement, because they do them out of a desire for benefit. And therefore, in truth, they always walk in defiled ways, whether they are compelled by threats or enticed by benefits, since they never do them out of love for God and an inclination toward righteousness. O what a mighty word this is! How many people are affected by it today, and it is not grasped, because, since they do as much as is in them and are concerned about moral virtues, they do not pay attention to this defilement of their hearts.
45 In Hebrew, the "everlasting" is connected with what follows: "Thy judgments are far from him," and it is simply said, "His ways are defiled or lie in birth pains," as if to say: All that he doeth good, that also is laborious, and yet at the same time defiled. And, as we have said above in the first Psalm, v. 1.
he calls them "ways," when in fact they are errors, because outwardly their works seem good to men, since they walk in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they [the wicked] are ravening wolves, because they are defiled.
760 XV, 1S4-IS". Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 10, 5. W. IV, sos-sos. 761
46 To this quite unfortunate name of the wicked, because their exceedingly beautiful glittering life is declared to be defiled before God, this is added, that the judgments of God are far from them. With this he expresses what he said, v. 4: "He regards God as nothing," wanting to show how they are without fear of God. Your judgments (he says), with which you will finally stand up for the wretched, and judge, and make all guilty who are hopeful, are so far from them that they are quite sure they will never come upon them. To these same people Isaiah Cap. 10, 3. says: "What will you do in the day of visitation and calamity that comes from afar?"
47. See then, since the godly Job fears because of all his works [Job 9:28, Vulg.], even though they are pure, the judgments of God are so near to him, because no living man is righteous before him when he enters into judgment with him, Ps. 143:2. But even though all the ways of the wicked are defiled, he never fears because of his works, so far are the judgments of God from him. Yes, in his pride he has something by which he expects to make God his debtor, namely, by the works to which eternal life is due according to their worthiness (condignis), then also by the works of equity (congruis) and the superfluous good works (supererogationis), as the school theologians (magistri) of our time have taught, who ascribe such merit to an act done in a moment that it is worthy of eternal glory. What Turk could believe that these things are taught in our country!
48 [Vulg.:] "He will rule over all his enemies" (dominabitur). Jerome: "He despiseth (despicit) all his enemies." I do not yet know with certainty what the real meaning of this word is. For Ps. 12, 6. he [the Latin interpreter translates thus: fiducialiter agam in eo. Habak. 2, 3: Et apparebit in finem. But Proverbs 14, 1) 5: Profert mendacium testis dolosus. Now how does this correspond to each other: despicere, dominari,
1) In the Basel, Jena and Erlangen: krovsrd. 13.; in the Wittenberg: krovsrk. 41.
fiducialiter agere and proferre? Our Latin translator, of course, seems to have remained the same in that he understood by dominari [to rule] the same as by fiducialiter agere [to act confidently], which Jerome expressed more clearly by despicere [to despise]; for he who despises acts confidently and rules, as it were, as a superior over a conquered.
49 Johann Neuchlin says that the most knowledgeable Hebrews understand this word to mean: to think about something in oneself, to prepare something in oneself silently, to arrange something, to speak secretly in oneself. Let us follow this for the time being, so that the meaning would be: the wicked are so proud and despise everything in their lives so much that they also defiantly despise all who afflict them or their adversaries, and speak against them with contempt, as if they could do them no harm. If the Latin interpreter had translated [the word XXXXX] by a word that expresses a thing (neutrum), or by one that does not designate a person (impersonale), 2) the sense would have been clearer, and would have agreed with both the preceding and the following quite nicely, in this way: He despises all his tribulations, that is, he is so sure, so far away are the judgments of God from him, that he also scoffs when the future punishments of his sins are announced to him, since he thinks that they do not concern him; therefore he thinks and speaks contemptuously about them.
50) In favor of this sense is the fact that he has foreshadowed that the judgments of God are despised, by which the tribulation is inflicted and imposed on the wicked; then that not enemies, but his oppressors (tribulatores) means, namely, those who oppress and afflict him, as is said in the third and sixth Psalm [Ps. 3, § 18. Ps. 6, § 67]. Scripture everywhere attributes this contempt of punishment to the ungodly. Amos 9, 10.: "All the sinners among my people shall fall by the sword, they that say, There shall not so near be calamity, neither shall it befall us." Isa. 28, 15.: "For ye say, We have met with death.
2) Luther thinks that instead of iniiaioos, or more correctly triürUatorss, it should have been said: tridulatiouos. According to our way of speaking, we would say: an abstractum instead of a concretum.
We have made a covenant with them and a covenant with hell; if a flood comes, it will not hit us. Micah 2:6: "They say that we should not be put to the sword, for such a sword does not 1) strike us; we shall not be put to shame like it, says the house of Jacob." So the word in this place does not mean to speak alone, but to speak defiantly and contemptuously, like a lord and superior. This is how the word Proverbs 14:5 [§ 48] can be understood.
become: Profert mendacium testis dolosus, that is, defiantly and contemptuously he speaks lies, not fearing the punishment of lying. But also the following verse indicates that this is the meaning of this piece, saying:
V. 6. He says in his heart, "I will never lie down; there will be no need for anything. 2)
See how he despises the future distress and the judgments of God! The Latin interpreter has not expressed the Hebrew, and has given the opposite meaning, which the text does not have. For it reads, as if the wicked man always intends to do evil, since he will never be moved by any misfortune. Therefore we will render both the distinction and the sense according to the Hebrew word for word, namely, thus: He saith in his heart, I will not lie down; 3) in generation and generation, that [I] be not in calamity. So also Jerome has it, who, of course, distinguishes differently: He says in his heart: I will not lie down from generation to generation, I will be without misfortune, by adding the verbum substantivum "I will be", which is self-evident in Hebrew.
52. it is therefore the manifest sense that the
1) The original edition has correctly according to the Vulgate: istos. All editions except Weimar's have changed this to sustos.
2) Vulgate: vixit euiiu in wr<le suo: Aon movel>or a ^euerutioue in heuern tiouem sink mulo.
3) It seems necessary to us that a punctuation mark is put here, because Luther promised to put the distinctive signs as they are in Hebrew; but there an athnach is put. Without this punctuation mark, what Luther says of Jerome's translation would not apply either: sliter äistinAueus. - Basel edition: in ^eueratione instead of: in Aknsrationkln in the other editions.
The man who is ungodly speaks contemptuously against the tribulations that are proclaimed to him, saying, "I will not lie down forever, and I will be without calamity throughout all generations. So in both parts of the verse there is the same opinion by repetition of the same thing (per tautologiam). And there is in the verbum movebor [XXXX] a meaning (idiotismus) peculiar to the Hebrew language, as Ps. 15, 5.: "He that doeth this shall abide well" (non movebitur), and Ps. 125,4 ) 1.: "They that hope in the Lord shall abide forever (non commovebitur), as Mount Zion." For by this is signified the fear and fleeing of the conscience, whereof it is said in Isa. 28:16, "He that believeth shall not flee," and Ps. 1:4, "But such are not the wicked, but as chaff which the wind scattereth."
V. 7. His mouth is full of cursing, falsehood and deceit; his tongue causes trouble and labor. 5)
Jerome has it thus: Maledictione os ejus plenum est, et dolis et avaritia, sub lingua ejus dolor et iniquitas. First of all, it is clear from the Hebrew language that our Latin interpreter erred in the word amaritudo, and instead Jerome correctly translated: et dolis. For so it is also translated Ps. 24,6 ) 4. [Vulg.]: "He who does not swear falsely (in dolo) to his neighbor," since the word amaritudo [bitterness in its root has no X, like this [XXXXX]. What
our Latin translation here by dolus [deceit], Jerome by avaritia [avarice], translate it elsewhere by usura [usury], Ps. 72, 14. [Vulg.]: "He delivereth their souls from usury and iniquity." And Ps. 55, 12. both expressions are thus translated [Vulg.], "Usury and falsity let not from their lane."
54. I know that this verse is treated in many ways, and yet quite darkly.
4) Erlanger: 124.
5) Vulgate: Oufus luuleäietioue os Plenum est, et amarituäine et <lolo, sud lin^ua efus ludor et äolor.
6) In the Basel and original editions, correctly according to the Vulgate count: ks. 23. In the Erlanger, the incorrect improvement is: "s!5.^", which is also found in the Wittenberg and Jena editions.
764 xv, 158-iso. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 10, 7. w. iv, gio-N4. 765
has left. It is my conviction that, because he punishes the [wrong] use of the mouth and tongue, he is speaking of those who work on the word, that is, of the priests, the bishops, the teachers and the ministers of the word among the people, therefore he cannot be understood by those who privately rage with curses and abuse, but by the cursing that takes place in teaching and harms the people under the appearance of blessing. For when the word of God is preached in truth, grace and blessing are preached, as it is said in Rom. 1:16: "The gospel is the power of God, which makes blessed everyone who believes in it." This blessing was promised to Abraham a long time ago, Gen. 12:3. But even though I have abundantly treated the meaning of this verse in the 5th Psalm, v. 10, where it says: "In their mouth there is nothing certain," it is still worth the effort to treat it more often, because an ungodly teacher is such a powerful monster that can do much harm.
55 First of all, like everything else, he speaks this verse out of a fierce spirit, calling their teaching cursing and cursing, which they persuade the people is a blessing. Of these people the apostle says Rom. 16, 18.: "Who by sweet words and glorious speeches (benedictiones) deceive the innocent hearts." Isa. 3, 12.: "My people, thy comforters deceive thee." But the apostle also foretold in the Epistle to Timothy [2 Ep. 4, 3.] that teachers would be after their ears itched. These flattering sermons he now calls (as they are in truth) curses, as also Malachi Cap. 2, 2. says: "I will curse your blessings."
56 Then how great a spirit is in the word, "His mouth is full. It would have been easier if his mouth spoke the curse; but now it is full; he speaks nothing else, but whereby the people are cursed by God. This verse would also have moved me to understand the Psalm of the Antichrist, if I did not see that today the great ones of the Church and the elect in Israel, entangled in the same ungodliness by human statutes and earthly worldly wisdom, have nothing else to do with than to put their teachings (that is, their curses) into the
People drive after the gospel of Christ (as they speak) is put under the bank.
For if I were to expound the administration of the church, as it is done today by the clergy and rulers of the church, in a proper, skillful, adequate, detailed and perfect speech, I would recite this psalm. For it has come to this with the impudent godlessness of our time, that if you asked them why they would not hear the gospel? they would answer you: they would have to pay for it; much of their income and their tyranny would go, then also many quite unreasonable laws would be abolished, and what is most terrible, the church and the clergy would have to be reformed. Then, however, the pomp, the pride, the dominion and the dealings of the world would also fall, and one would have to devote oneself to the service of the Word and to prayer, and live in poverty according to the example of the apostles, and stand in danger of one's life for the sake of the truth. So that this does not happen [they say], we would rather preach everything, even if the souls of the people may obtain the curse through it, or something else more annoying.
(58) Thus it comes about that I do not dare to say that the Antichrist has already come, but I also cannot deny that everything that is going on rhymes completely with the Antichrist. And it troubles me not a little that almost all saints and our predecessors unanimously, as if the Holy Spirit had been their teacher, have drawn this psalm to the Antichrist, and we must nevertheless, if we do not want to deny the meaning, necessarily admit that this psalm is fulfilled today down to the smallest tittle and letter.
59 [Vulg. "Full of bitterness and deceit" or more correctly: "Full of falsehood and avarice" or: Full of usury and deceit. We have in the 5th Psalm
125 ff.] said that the ungodly teachers teach in such a way that they deceive the people and act falsely only to fill their belly, as also Paul says 1 Tim. 6, 5. "Those who think that godliness is a trade," and again Rom. 16, 18. "For such serve their belly" [Ps. 5, 10.:] "whose jaws are an open grave." It may have been the Holy Spirit
He wanted to say "simony", but he foresaw that extremely astute gloss-makers would come who would invent that simony is human right. Therefore, he rather said avarice, or fraud, or usury, which are divine rights that they cannot deny. Whoever does not recognize this, let him take heed of the decrees, decrees, and distinctions of our school theologians, 1) in which, as they themselves confess, hardly anything other than avarice, fraud, and tyranny is manifested. For by this example we shall the more easily understand this verse, because the matter is brought home to us and set before our eyes.
60. the word [in the Vulgate] "bitterness," which has not been accepted without God's will for so long a time and by common usage, I do not wish to reject, because flattery and human statutes, as much as they are gentle and pleasing to the carnal sense, will nevertheless afterwards embitter the conscience, since, not knowing Christ, they begin to be judged according to their works.
(61) "Toil and labor" (that is XXX and XXX we have treated in the 7th Psalm [§ 85], and said that XXX actually means toil (dolorem), which the Latin translator has translated here by labor, and that labor (laborem) means what he has rendered here by dolor. Here he praises the teachings of man quite excellently. For what does man have from all these but a troubled, miserable and tormented conscience? It is really and truly toil and labor under their tongues. And, alas, innumerable such people have been brought to ruin in the last three hundred years from the right and from scholastic theology. For thus we speak of the example half: Whether 2) it can be possible that another Antichrist comes, who will make it even worse? And it happens rightly that they, as much as they are tickled by heart by the doctrine of ungodliness, by means of which they have been
1) In the original edition and in the Basel edition, the text reads: RÄÜotkeuu, but in the Wittenberg and Jena editions: Lla^istros nostros.
2) In the Basel: sie instead of: si, probably a misprint.
They prepare an easy access to heaven, yet inwardly, being without faith, they are tormented by the unhappy presumption of leading a good life, and labor very much, but labor in vain, so that with their generation, as it is said in the Book of Wisdom Cap. 5, 7 [Vulg.], "grow weary in the way of corruption and iniquity, and walk in difficult paths," and as Ps. 13, 3. [Vulg.] will be said [Rom. 3, 17. 16.], "know not the way of peace, and in their ways is vain accident and heartache," and as he said above [v. 5.], their ways are full of pain (parturiant [§ 41. 44]). This is the people of Ammon, the people of sorrow, 3) who were born through the abuse of their father, that is, through the drunken and corrupt teaching of the law. Although the law gives testimony of the righteousness that is valid before God, which comes from faith in Christ, they draw it to their own righteousness through their human opinions, and place it in free will.
(62) Behold, therefore, what it is to teach the people without Christ. For what he says here, "His mouth is full of cursing," he expressed above in the 5th Psalm [v. 10, Vulg.] thus, "For in their mouth is not truth," or what is right and good; and what is given here by "falsehood" or "bitterness" is there called, "Their inwardness is heartache," or their heart is vain. Here it is given by "avarice" or "usury" or "deceit"; there, "Their jaws are an open grave"; here: "His tongue sets up toil and labor"; there, "With their tongue they flatter" [Ps. 5, § 139 ff.] or, "With their tongues they dissemble." For here he says, not in vain, "under their tongue," indicating that, according to the tongue or the appearance, where it falls on the senses, the speech seems to be good in the eyes of those [who hear it], for their tongue is then flattering and smooth, but underneath and in fact there is toil and labor. So even this verse agrees with that verse in all things, but also the vehemence of the spirit is not dissimilar in both places, as has been shown in the emphasis and meaning of the words in both psalms.
3) Cf. Walch, St. Louiser Ausg., Vol. Ill, 319 ff, § 23 ff.
V. 8. he sitteth and lieth in wait in the courts, he slayeth the innocent in secret, his eyes keep upon the poor. 1)
Jerome has it thus: Sedet insidians juxta vestibula, in occultis interficit innocentem, oculi ejus robustos circumspiciunt. Therefore I wonder from what spirit our Latin interpreter said "cum divitibus" [with the rich), since in Hebrew there is neither the preposition cum [Vulg.], nor juxta [Hieron.], nor ut, and the expression XXXXX is simply put, which means a homestead (villam) or a forecourt, as Neuchlin says. Jerome also indicates this by translating vestibula [Vorhalten]. Should this perhaps have happened because the forecourts or porches of the rich tend to be besieged by a large crowd of people? or because forecourts and porches are actually found only among the rich? Furthermore, I do not like at all that Jerome translated "the strong" instead of: "the poor".
(64) Putting aside for the moment what others have said in this place, I will present my view. It seems to me that the prophet continues with the description of the shameful understanding and the way of the wicked, which they have in teaching. For he had said in the previous verse what their teaching was and what fruits it brought, namely cursing, avarice, deceit, sadness and labor. Now in this verse he describes how they behave against the godly teachers who teach what goes against them. For a teacher must not only teach his own thing, but also refute that which is strange, which the wicked diligently seek to do and do. But since they cannot do this on good grounds and in truth (as they cannot do it in truth), they turn to the last recourse of their virtue, namely, to force and cunning, that they forbid anyone to contradict or teach otherwise; then, if anyone contradicts, they kill him for no other cause than that he has taught contrary to their prohibition; finally, that they set up everywhere people who observe such teachers, since they are the ones who teach contrary things.
1) Vulgate: Lsäst in insiäiis onna äivitidus in oooultis, ut intertieiut innooentern, oeuli ssus in ^Luperern respioiunt.
by delivering the same to them, and so they extinguish the gospel of Christ, and only the doctrine of men reigns.
How beautifully I could cite an example 2) that falls into our days, if I did not fear that they would only become worse through the truth. And certainly, not to mention the Turk, if our heretical judges and interpreters of human scripture have not fulfilled or are not fulfilling this verse already for a long time, they nevertheless give a very strong prelude to the Antichrist, and make the meaning of it clear to us by their example, which I want to have said with their kind permission.
First, the Antichrist will arrogate to himself alone the right to interpret the Scriptures as the Turk began, and will force the mind of all others to submit to his own; indeed, he will not allow anyone to doubt that his voice is the voice of Christ. One must not say to him, "Why are you doing this?" even if one argues with a thousand apostles against him. And this ungodliness of his will favor very many, and especially those who are something important in this life, namely the great ones, the teachers, the clergy. For he will not take away the gospel freely and openly, but by these deceitful artifices and covertly working violence.
Therefore St. Augustine says in this passage: The first persecution of the church was done with violence by the princes of the world; the second with deceit by the heretics; the third will happen at the same time with violence and deceit, because the worldly and spiritual rulers will come together in one person against the Lord and His anointed. This is what he says: "He sitteth and lieth in wait," that is, he is a deceitful and pernicious teacher, as it is said in Ps. 1:1: "He sitteth not where the scoffers sit." For he does not teach Christ, but in the most cunning way and with all artifices deals with the fact that he alone sits, that all hear him alone, that he alone assumes mastery (magisterium) over all, that he is the arbiter of everything that happens in the church.
2) Luther undoubtedly has Silvester Prierias in mind, which is also indicated by the immediately following nostri pravitati8 in^uisitores. Cf. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XVIII, introduction p. 16 ff.
He wants to condemn and approve whatever he likes, especially what is important against or for his tyranny, because he will not care much about anything else.
(68) But this deceitful power to teach, he will fix by force and power; otherwise the deceit would not last long, if it were not fixed by force, if good men were left free to judge, to dispute, to doubt about its reputation and its doctrine. Therefore, in order that instead of the articles of faith his opinion (be it as it may) may prevail, he will freely and publicly fortify before all the world his deceitful sitting in the courts next to the porches or (as the Holy Spirit has not badly let our Latin translator err in the word) "with the rich. For why did he not mean to say "in the court," but in the majority "in the courts," or in the porches? This was done for no other reason than that in all churches, schools, universities, consistories, and in general in all places where either divine things are handled, or where God's word is delivered, or human things are dealt with, the sitting, the standing, the teaching, the commandment of this [Antichrist] is approved, strengthened, and worshipped, not only by the rude rabble, but by the mighty, the rich, the wise, and the priests. For the courts or porches certainly denote in Scripture an outward place where people can gather, which is separate from the holy of holies (adytis) and the altars and the choir of the priests, as is evident from the 2nd book of Moses [Cap. 40] and other passages.
If I could take something out of the Hebrew language, I would translate this part of the verse like this: He sits in the ambush of the courts, since for itself (absolute) is put without a closer indication and without any more precise designation, so that the sense is: The courts, which are taken with art and deceit, or prepared to execute his wiles and deceits, will be his chair, and in all things he alone will be the master, since we have said in the first Psalm [§ 10] that
The word "fitzen" means to be a master or a teacher, because through these courts he will strengthen his reputation in the most deceitful way. For who should dare to contradict all the churches, schools, and courts? since it is an exceedingly apparent ground of proof, taken from the multitude and greatness of men, and from the length of times, by which alone he will probably have enough ambush to sit and rule securely. Now if someone wants to understand by the ambush of the courts the deceitfulness of the rich (because they have courts and large possessions), he would perhaps not protect our Latin translator in an unrighteous way, who seems to speak of the wealth, splendor and pride of the churches and bishops, by which the wicked Antichrist will fortify his seat.
Secondly: "He strangles the innocent secretly", that is, every man who, according to his judgment, is heretical, rebellious, disobedient, rebellious, offensive to Christian ears, because he has confessed the truth of the Gospel, and has also been guilty of insulting the majesty and dishonoring the seat of the Antichrist. But he will kill him secretly, 1) because even the deception fortified by force is not sufficiently safe from the light of the evangelical truth, if he would allow it to be implanted in the hearts of men. Therefore, the innocent must be killed in such a way that the righteousness of his cause is not revealed, must also be overcome not by the prestige of the Word of God, but by the prestige of the deceitful chair of the courts. Just as John the Baptist in prison exemplified it by his bodily death, so the voice of the gospel, without the matter being investigated or accounted for, must be hushed in secret, and he who preaches it must be killed or even burned. For what is "killing secretly" (as some martyrs were killed, namely Gervasius and Prothasius) other than killing without cause or for a false cause, in that an uprising among the people
1) In the Baseler, in the Wittenberger and in the Weimarschen: intorüciat instead of: iutsrÜLiet.
is feared if the true facts were to come to light? For as it is said of one who has been killed secretly: One does not know where and how he perished, so the same can be said of the unjustly killed.
(71) But the Spirit says "secretly," so far as it is from the eyes of godly men, that is, from their own, 1) since the thing in which they innocently perish is unknown to them. By the way, the wicked, who is hardened in his tyranny, boasts that the matter is quite evident, because he has been contradicted. Therefore no one [that is, no godless one] dares to say that someone was killed by him secretly, but he did everything in the light of the revealed truth. About these secret things one says in German in the proverb: "Es geht zu unter dem Hütlein" [It happens under the little hat], so that one must understand the secret here, not of the body or things, but of the tricks, processes, judgments, by which not the sensual perception, but the understanding is deceived, "that one makes a nose", where outwardly a thing is pretended, and inwardly, secretly, no thing is. Whether nowadays only the Turk does such abominations, I leave to the insightful reader.
Thirdly: "His eyes are on the poor. Namely, the deceiver is so utterly fearful that he fears even the poor, even though he sits with the rich and is fortified by all the mighty, because his evil conscience knows very well the favor that truth has and its power. As soon as it is revealed
vorko ant opere onin oapiant st duinnsnt, Huoü sidl iMotnrn psnitusHus ooenltnrn With 6886 äarnnadile. Uixiinns sniin s§ 71^ oaaultnin sta." It follows that the reading of the original edition: icl sst, snis and in the second following sentence: oooisnm u 86 and: a ss Msta is correct. It is also entirely appropriate to the context. In the editions, snis is changed to: iUorunr; the first u 86 to: ah 60; the second L 86 to: ad iUo. Only in the Wittenberg has u 86 been left in the last place <probably by mistake). Under the N6INO is of course, as under the 86, "the godless" zn understood, because the godly would not be able to say: irr Inas apsrta vsritatis omnin usi illo Zesta sv88tz]. - The Weimar has the correct reading.
it pulls the hearts of all people to itself, and leaves the deception naked and disgraced. Therefore it is not enough for the antichrist tyranny that it has fortified itself by the power of kings, princes, sages, teachers, so-called saints (sancticulorum) and the rich, it is not enough for it that it has killed the innocent, but a guard of the Philistines 2) must also be posted, and everywhere there must be laureates and guards on standby, who must watch the poor man so that he may not muckle and give new trouble to the seat of the deceitful courts.
73. And so he imitates the customs of the universities, in which it is sworn that no one should recite doctrines that are against the holy church and against some articles of men, who may be taken for the eyes of the church, but not for the ears of Christ, since they, deaf to the gospel everywhere, pay such sharp attention to what is said against the opinions and propositions of men that Christ himself, who penetrated through the closed doors, could not escape the sharpness of these eyes, so keenly attentive to what is brought forward against the opinions and statutes of men, that Christ himself, penetrating through the closed doors, could not escape the sharpness of these eyes, nay, in many things would be found to be a heretic and to have spoken against the holy see. Therefore the word respiciunt does not denote a bad look, but one that is done with close observation and care, as the watchmen in the guardhouse take care and look closely, so that the enemies do not do anything [unobserved]. Hence a watchman (speculator) is the one whom the Greeks call έπίσχοπος [bishop]. Ezek. 3, 17. reads, "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman over the house of Israel." The emphasis that lies in this word indicates the fearfulness of godless tyranny in this passage. No less do the words: "his eyes" and "the poor", namely, that he is directed with all care to it and with the eyes (which are capable of much before the other members) has attention to it, that danger does not break in for him from another side.
2) The expression 8tatio I>üi1i8tänoruiu is probably due to Richt. IN, 9. 12. where what Luther translated by: "One held upon him" in the Vulgate is expressed by: Dat6ntipo8 iusiüim and iu8iäii8 prusparuti8 [there was an ambush laid^.
V. 9: He lurks in secret, like a lion in the den, lurking to catch the wretch, and he catches him when he draws him into his net.
All this is one verse in the Hebrew, what with us [in Latin] is divided into three verses. This erroneous way of speaking: Rapere pauperem ["and heal him"] is sufficiently censured by many, since it should have been said: Rapiet pauperem ["and heal him"]: Rapiet pauperem. But this verse is easy to understand from the three virtues of tyranny mentioned before, which are interpreted in the previous verse 66. 70. 72]. For he goes on to say what his eyes do while they are on the poor. Namely, just as a lion, greedy to rob and devour, lies in wait on his camp for the opportunity to see if a beast will strike him unawares and fall into his hands through his safety, so in the time of the Antichrist there will be people who not only forbid the poor to hear even a sound of the Gospel, but also watch over him in this way, but will also lie in wait for him in such a way that, if he should say or do anything unawares, which they can twist by force or trickery, and point forcibly to such a meaning as is contrary to the holy seat of that beast, they will immediately cry out after the manner of our people [the papists]: Into the fire! while the one who said it either never thought of such a meaning, or never wanted to put it forward. Yes, even if he has spoken something so carefully that he can fear no danger, it will still be the task of those people to slander what has been spoken exceedingly correctly, to catch Christ in his speech with the Jews, and to find poison in an innocent syllable, like the spider in the rose.
75 But they do not do this out of foolish advice, since they certainly know and are taught by experience that the rule of tyranny is not at all secure and happy if it only destroys those who, either convicted of a right cause or suspected by a pretended cause, can be put aside (traduci), but also, as an example and to the horror of all others, those must be plagued who have walked simply and calmly.
and feared nothing less than that they might one day fall into this trap: so that there is no one who need not fear the tyrant, even if he relies on his good conscience and is not aware of any plot against the tyrant. Thus it is said in Micah 2:8 [Vulg.], "Those who walked in evil and righteousness, you have put in distress of war."
Through these attacks it will happen that not only none of the wretched will dare to protest or even make a sound for the gospel, but such a security will be prepared for tyranny that all will necessarily accept as Christ's voice under the name of Christ what they always want to teach, set, change or change again for their opinions and inclinations. Then they will also rage in such a way for their own sake, so that their office will not be idle and they will gain too little honor among men. For if it were to perish through disuse and rust, it is to be feared that the teachers and protectors of truth would be deprived in the future life of the crown of honor due them by merit of dignity (merito condigni). So that this does not happen, they must ensure that they torture even the most innocent for the sake of sacred truth.
Now see what it means "that those lurk in secret, like a lion in a cave, to catch the wretch," namely, that with the intention of ruining him, they create an opportunity to catch the wretch, that they catch and condemn him in such a word or work, of which it was unknown to him and entirely hidden, that it would be damnable. For we have said [§ 71] that "the secret thing" in this place is that which is concealed by artifice and skill, by pretending to something, other, on account of which the wretch is accused, than is inward in truth, on account of which he could not be accused, yea, for which he ought to be commended, or, as Christ says [John 3:20.], they hate the light, and the apostle [1 Tim. 4. 2.], "They are in glibness liars." Of this more will be said in the following Psalms. But the lion's rage, which aims at the fortification of tyranny, needs these arts for its robbery.
Therefore, at the time of the Antichrist, no one will be safe in public, nor will they dare to confess Christ, just as they do not today before the heretic court. And this is perhaps what is so often foretold by visions and prophecies, that the Christians will flee into the caves of the rocks and the deserts of the forests. For who can be sure when those are in danger who do not even think of speaking against the Antichrist, and, because they may have spoken something unawares and without knowing it, are forced to deny and recant Christ, and to worship the holy treacherous throne in its courts?
Then he sufficiently indicates that the princes, kings, priests, monks and everything that has a great name will be on the side of the Antichrist, since he mentions that only the poor and oppressed will suffer. It would not be a great deception and tyranny worthy of Antichrist if he had not drawn the nobler and better part of the church into his plots. For he shall reign in Babylon and in Rome itself, and all the precious vessels, the king and the queen, and the cut ones, the royal boys, he shall lead into his captivity, as the Babylonian captivity of Israel exemplifies.
80 What follows: "He catches him when he draws him into his net" seems to be said for explanation, so that no one understands the catching of the wretch differently than it is said, that is, they will catch him in his speech, if they cannot find anything else by which they would like to prove that he has obviously spoken against the holy chair of the Antichrist. For he does not speak here of a bodily catch, of which the following verse will be about, but (as I have said) of a spiritual one, which they have prepared in secret by means of the reenactments; and these reenactments he calls a net or a rope. We could prove this quite nicely with examples, if these were not already abundant by themselves in our time.
V. 10: He crushes, and presses down, and violently pushes the poor to the ground. 1)
1) Vulgate: Hurnilialüt ouiu, inclinaüit se, et "aäet cmin äoininatus tuerit xunpEruin.
The confusion both in the division and in the interpretation has caused that everywhere this verse is understood of the fall of the Antichrist. But Jerome translates it thus: Et confractum subjiciet, et irruet viribus suis valenter [and he will subdue the broken one, and with all his powers will fall upon him mightily]. And our Latin translator has not translated the first part badly, because the pronouns eum and se are omitted, which are not in Hebrew, and the connective word et (although it is not in Hebrew according to the peculiarity of the language) is placed between both verba, namely thus: Humiliabit et inclinabit, namely the wretched. For the former verb means to crush, to break, to smash; the latter to bow down, to bend, to throw to the ground, as Renchlin says.
The second part reads like this in Hebrew: And he shall fall in his strength upon the poor; which the Latin interpreter has almost rendered according to the sense, because "to fall in his strength" or "to fall upon someone with all his strength" is as much as to have the upper hand and to rule (dominari); only that Johann Reuchlin thinks that instead of the "poor" in a compound word 2) is said, the assembly of the suffering and oppressed, where Jerome has placed the adverbium valenter, as he has translated above [§ 63] in a similar expression "the strong" for the poor. But he may have had another word in mind.
So the meaning is: If the Antichrist and his lurkers have drawn the wretch into their net and caught him in his speech, there is no mercy at all, and it must be a lesser sin to have denied God and His works and His word than to have attacked this chair of deceit. Here the wretch is crushed and made to nothing, here one throws oneself with all power on the oppressed people. To this frenzy of the Antichrist (however it may stand about the Turk) the satellites and flatterers of the church have long since arrived according to their power and their representation 3), since
2) In Keri:
3) virtuulis r6pru686ntAtivu6 "ccl^sias. These are expressions of which Silvester Prierias makes use in his
7782- xv, 172-174. interpretations on the psalms. W. iv, [3o-s3s. 779
They laugh at the sins committed against God and no longer consider them sins: so much is lacking that they should fall upon them, or that they should be careful here, that they should use even the thousandth part of their office or their powers here.
By the way, if you doubt his statutes and whether he is a mixed god and man, whether he is an earthly lord of the world, if you should also fail me in one syllable, then you will be pulled into the net and crushed, and they will fall upon you with all their might. They are not satisfied with the sword and the thunderbolts of the verdict with so many curses that you are hardly able to read through them, but they also call on the help of the worldly arm and the power of the whole world; so much is at stake to protect the tyrannical chair, so that it seems to me that the prophet has with these words: "He pushes to the ground (the poor) with violence", wanted to indicate this tyranny of ours (the papists), whether for the antichrist or in the antichrist. Although we all see that this tyranny only seeks its own with the most shameful attacks and neglects what is God's in the most despicable way, we do not dare to protest against it.
Therefore humiliabit ("he breaks") and inclinabit ("he presses down") are not understood from the person of the Antichrist, but from his tyrannical procedure against the poor, just as also the [Vulg.]: "He will fall upon them, when he will rule", indicates likewise his violence. For from this violence in falling upon someone "the giants" 1 Mos. 6, 4. have their name XXXXX, that is, the falling ones, or those who fall upon someone, because (so it is said) they were mighty in the world and famous people, that is, tyrants, who by their own power fell upon the poor and oppressed them, as also of Nimrod 1 Mos. 10, 8. f.: "He began to be a mighty (that is, a violent) lord on earth, and a mighty hunter before the Lord."
Dialogue and elsewhere served. Virtnnlis soolssia is namely the Roman Church and the Pope; rsprnssenMtivÄ eeolösin the Cardinals - Collegium. Cf. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. XVIII, 314. 429. - Cf. 8 65.
V. 11. He says in his heart: God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.
Again, the wicked do not say this (as some think), that they believe that God is not an avenger of evil, or that they do not care about the affairs of men, since they do everything under the name of the Lord, as Christ predicted Matt. 24:5. foretold, "Many shall come under my name," but [it is said] that they are so sure, and so utterly without fear of God, that they make themselves think that God has forgotten the poor, and stands for them against the poor, as the following verse indicates, where it is said: "Forget not the wretched," and He has not only forgotten them, but has also hidden His face from them and turned away from them, so that He will never look after them in eternity, although in truth there are exceedingly many today who do not believe that the soul is immortal and that there will be retribution in the future judgment.
This exceedingly great obstinacy and stubborn presumption of the wicked he punishes in this verse, because by it they provoke the godly to blasphemy against the spirit, as they said to Christ on the cross [Matth. 27, 43]: "If he is the Son of God, save him now, lusts for him. For they are not content with corrupting the godly, but also blaspheme and reproach them for despairing of God's help, or at least presume to do so, as is more fully described in the third Psalm [§ 16 f.]. And here is the end and the highest of what the wicked are capable of. Therefore now follows the second part of the psalm, in which the prophet prays and prophesies for the godly against the wicked, saying:
V. 12. Arise, Lord God, lift up your hand, do not forget the wretched.
88. the wicked say that you forget the wretched, but rise up and raise your power, by which you destroy what is and raise up what is not, and they may be delivered to their wickedness. We have often remembered that through this we can
be taught that we should put away vengeance and leave it to God, and seek help through prayer alone, despairing of our strength.
89. I believe that it is known of this expression "to raise the hand" or increase that it stands for: to show and exercise the power, which is spoken about in the 4th Psalm, v. 7 [§ 66].
has been, and we shall have the same mode of speech more often afterward, as [Ps. 74:3. Vulg.], "Lift up thy hands upon their hope," and Isa. 49:22, "Behold, I will lift up mine hand unto the Gentiles."
I believe that just as the previous psalm, which has almost the same content, described the times of the martyrs, so this psalm describes the times until the end of the world, so that it not only deals with the Antichrist, but also with all the godless tyrants in the church after the time of the martyrs and the teachers, who raged until the end of the world. Of these the apostle 2 Tim. 3, 5. foretold that they are people who have the appearance of a godly being, but deny his power, which no one can improve or reform but he who will put an end to the wicked by the appearance of his future [2 Thess. 2, 8.]. In the meantime, the wicked will become more and more wicked until the end.
That is why I have almost certainly despaired of a general reformation of the Church. For, I beg you, with how many councils has a reformation of the church been attempted after the times of the martyrs and teachers! What has been promoted by the Council of Constance, what by the Council of Basle, to say nothing of the play of the last Council 1)? Who then is the Holy Spirit, who, where a lawful (as they boast) synod has been assembled, cares nothing for the betterment of his church, but only spoils with ceremonies all the days of the council?
Therefore, I think that this verse calling on the Lord to arise and show His power refers to the Day of Judgment, which is also confirmed by what follows. Therefore, there is no doubt,
1) The Lateran Council in 1512.
that in our time, indeed, for more than three centuries, what this psalm speaks of is going on and has been going on in full swing.
V. 13. Why should the wicked blaspheme God and say in his heart: You do not ask for it? [Vulg.: non requiret.]
93. Namely, blasphemy or mockery hurts the most, so the prophet deals with it first and foremost and accuses it. For if the afflictions are borne in good conscience toward God, they are not at all severe; but if a conscience is tormented with the thought that God is against him, then they are unbearable.
But in this verse he reproduces and rejects what the wicked had said [v. 11]: "He has hidden his face and will never see it," as he had rejected the forgetfulness of God in the previous verse. For by these spiritual verses we must admonish ourselves when blasphemy and despair in tribulations torment our conscience. For then, according to the counsel and example of this verse, we must push back and turn back the blasphemy to the one who instigates it and to his head, just as those who are well taught and experienced in these things have taught.
95. For it is indeed blasphemy to say that God forgets the poor and hides His face and does not inquire after them, since He commanded in the first commandment that one believe in Him and hope in Him, and in the second that one call upon His name, and in the third that one wait for His work 2). Why then does the wicked provoke God, ascribing to Him that He forgets the poor, contrary to the express commandment in which He makes His will known?
96. this is something trifling, that in the Hebrew it is said in the second person, "You do not ask for it" (in the Vulgate: non requiret; only that [by the Hebrew] a more ardent movement of heart is indicated thereby, and a stronger encouragement against the spirit of blasphemy, since he confidently turns to God, accuses the devil, and abhors him.
2) In Greif's translation "his word". Cf. Luther's hymn: "These are the Holy Ten Commandments" in the third commandment: "That God may have His work in you.
shuns, justifies God and His commandments, and thus seeks His benevolence, and arouses the hatred of God's adversary; not as if God needs these things in order to be moved, but we are to arm ourselves and strengthen ourselves with such art, so that we do not succumb in faith and hope.
V. 14: You see, for you see the misery and distress, it is in your hands; the poor command you, you are the helper of the fatherless. 1)
97. He says without further specification (absolute): "You see", in order to raise confidence against the blasphemy of the wicked, as if he wanted to say: Thou art seeing and an overseer of all things; thou hast not forgotten us, neither hast thou turned against us, as the wicked man imputes to us. Therefore thou also lookest, and art mindful of toil and labor (laborem et dolorem); for so accurately dost thou see that thou also dost take heed, let alone that thou shouldest hide thyself and forget.
Most people refer "toil and labor" (laborem et dolorem) to the wretched, Augustine also to God. In my opinion, it is to be referred to the wicked. For labor is here what is said above [§ 61] [v. 7. 1: "Under his tongue is labor." But instead of dolor, the Hebrew text has "raging," as Jerome also translated, and Augustine reads "wrath" in his text, which caused him to think of the weighting (labore) and wrath of God. Therefore, in my opinion, the prophet here calls "work" the futile and exceedingly laborious undertaking to prepare reenactments and to practice treachery, by which (as we have said) he brings about his own, but "toil" or "raging" the violence and impetuosity with which he fortifies his treacherous tyranny, as if the Spirit wanted to say: You are most attentive to both the wickedness and the violence of the ungodly; to his wickedness in words (to use Augustine's words), to his violence in rule, with which he opposes your saints.
1) Vulgate: Viäes, Huorüam tu ladoreru et äoloreiu eousiäerus, ut traäas eos in ruaiius tua". Hdi äereliotus est pauper, orxUano tu eris aäjutor.
and with much work he protects his pursuers.
For the false and deceitful have need of violence; indeed, falsehood is so powerless that it cannot help but rage and use violence when it begins to be revealed. For this is how the princes of darkness, after they had possessed the world with many powerful errors and falsehoods with long-lasting idolatry, flared up fiercely and began to rage against the apostles and martyrs who set out to expose this falsehood. This is what every wicked person does to protect his falsehood, as the examples of our time also show.
Therefore the Spirit encourages us so that the presumption of the wicked will not make us fainthearted, and teaches us that both the deceit and the violence of the wicked are not hidden from God, whatever artifice they use against the saints.
101 And "he looks" in such a way that it should not end with the looking, and the wicked should go unpunished, but [Vulg.] "that you deliver them into your hands. Jerome has more appropriately: that he be delivered into thy hand. For the pronoun "they" is not in the text, and he speaks of the ungodly in the singular. But: "Terrible it is to fall into the hands of the living God," as the apostle Hebr. 10, 31. speaks in thunder sounds, because there is no one who could snatch him out, as it is said in Ps. 50, 22: "Mark this, you who forget God, that I do not even snatch, and there is no more Savior." Speaking in the same way it is also said in Ps. 21, 9: "Your hand will find all your enemies." And this seems to be taken from the Law of Moses and other books of the Old Testament (instrumenti), in which we very often read that the enemies are given into the hands of the children of Israel, and again, the children of Israel into the hands of the enemies, as often as we read that vengeance is taken, or should be taken.
Therefore, also here "to be delivered into the hands of God" means to be punished by God as an avenger who punishes with eternal vengeance. From this we understand what I
I have said that the prophet in this psalm speaks of those who will be seized at the end of the world in the last judgment, after their ungodliness in the whole world has become so rampant that one must despair of their correction. For those who can be corrected he does not deliver into his hands, but as is said in the 89th Psalm, v. 33. "I will punish their sin with a rod, and their iniquity with plagues." Of these he now says:
103 [Vulg.:] "On you the poor is dependent." Here Jerome translates again [XXXX, as § 63 and § 82] "the strong." Of the many words by which the sacred language names the poor (so much does it lend itself to holiness and poverty), three are set in this psalm: XXXX, which signifies a poor man par excellence, XXX, which signifies more a sufferer and afflicted one, and XXXX, which actually signifies one oppressed and suffering violence. Besides these, there is also the one in the preceding Psalm, v. 10: "And the Lord is the shelter of XX", that is, of the poor; likewise XX and XX and XXXX. The difference of all these words is perhaps not necessary, even here not at the place.
104 But the Hebrews are able to do this very well, if they pay attention to the descent. For come from crushing and breaking; XX from making small and drying up;
XX from the sorrow and sadness of the heart; XXXX from wanting or desiring, because someone lacks what he desires; from the storehouses and containers, because he has none; XX from going to ruin and getting into misery.
105 And in this Psalm especially XXXX is repeated, which Jerome translates from XXX, which signifies strength, as "the strong one". Others want it to be a compound word from the same XXX or XX, which signifies an army or assembly, and XXX,1 ) which denotes sorrow and sadness, and understand, as it were, an assembly of mourners and sorrowful ones, which pleases me very well, since the prophet here actually speaks of
1) Thus is to be read without doubt after tz 82. In the Baseler, the Wittenberger and the Jenaer it is found; in the Erlanger: 282; in the Weimarschen: "Oaü".
Those who suffer violence and treachery from the wicked under the pretense of the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord is not to be resisted, and yet the thing undertaken brings great tribulation, and so they suffer in secret. This is what happened to the apostles at the Lord's Supper, who, although they did not dare to punish Judas, were martyred by his treachery, which Christ displayed. More fortunate was the situation of the martyrs and the doctrine, as they fought against the idols and the pagans and the strangers. But the Antichrist will make use of our bishops and spiritual rulers, as he has begun to do in the matters concerning heresy. Since one must obey them in all things in Christ's stead, it will be very dangerous not to obey them; again, there will be the same danger if one obeys them, since here even the elect can be led into error.
Therefore, when we hear that the poor depend on God alone, we must undoubtedly understand this to mean that the great and the rulers will both stand against them in the spiritual and temporal regiment. Since this thing pleases the people and is something great in the eyes of the great multitude, it will easily bring about that the whole world will become subservient to the Antichrist, and they will not take the proof of the truth from the Gospel, but from the fact that there are many of them and the people hold with them, as also some do today.
The same is indicated by the word: "You are the helper of the orphans. It does not matter whether we say "of the orphans" (pupillo, as the Latin translator translates later [v. 18]) or "of the orphans" (orphano). He understands one who is on earth without a father, whose father is in heaven. Thus, at the time of the Antichrist, no one among all men will protect a preacher of the Gospel, but God alone. This is very frightening.
108 For anyone can easily see that the bishops and the great ones in the churches will not be among the number of "underage" as they are nowadays in chariots, on horses and in arms, unless they are first restored to the position in which
But they will necessarily, for the sake of their temporal goods and the patrimony (patrimoniis) of Christ and the saints, according to their most holy rights, cling to the Antichrist against the poor and the orphans.
V. 15. Break the arm of the wicked, and seek the evil, and his wickedness shall never be found. 1)
The Latin translator has said "sinner" and "sin" instead of "the wicked" and "wickedness," as Jerome more correctly offers: Break the arm of the ungodly and the wicked; one will look for his ungodliness and not find it. In Hebrew, the division seems to be this: Break the arm of the wicked, and search for the wicked, and one will not find his wickedness; so that malignum [wickedness] must be taken as a neuter for malitia [wickedness], and the two pieces, "the arm" and "the wickedness" of the wicked must be put together (but not the wicked and the wicked [malignum)); the one is to be broken, the latter is to be sought, that is, to be demanded in judgment, so that the sense is: Destroy the power and might of Antichrist, and seek malignity, or put it on trial, that his deceitfulness and unworthiness may be revealed and condemned, of which his impiety makes use as instruments. But after his power is destroyed and his wickedness is investigated, and he is thus stripped of both his power and his lift, you will cause his wickedness also to cease completely; wickedness will be disarmed and destroyed. This is it that he says, "His ungodliness will never be found"; not that it is not, but that it is not able to speak in the same way as Deut. 32:26 says, "I will say, Where are they? I will lift up their remembrance among men," and Isa. 14:4: "How is the driver so utterly finished, and there is an end of interest!" For so of those who have perished it is also generally asked and scornfully said, Where are they? Where have they gone?
1) Vulgate: Konter" dravüinm peeeatoris et wnHnaeretnr ^eeeutum illinü et non invenietui'.
Therefore one must pay attention to the words that are most appropriately shredded: The arm is broken, wickedness is sought, and both are abolished; but ungodliness remains, only that, where these weapons, power and cunning, are taken from it, it is no longer healthy, that is, it is brought to ruin with the ungodly. This sense (as I have said) is impressed upon me by the division in the Hebrew. But our Latin text can also be drawn to the same meaning in both pieces: "His sin will be searched for, but it will not be found," that is, one will mock the wicked who has been brought to ruin, and one will ask him and say: Where then is he who broke in with his power and deceived 2) with his cunning.
This verse also shows that in this psalm the work of the last judgment is sung about and invoked, because in that time the wicked will be crushed and converted, but in that time their power and wickedness itself will be destroyed. By the way, the wicked remains in his wickedness, and he will not be found, because the Lord will take him away.
112 And the prophet appropriately attaches the right statement to each individual thing: "Break the arm", "search out the evil"; because the apparent power does not need judgment and investigation, it is already judged by the breaking of which it is worthy. But the deceit and the wicked cunning must first be made manifest; the investigation of it itself is its downfall. For as soon as the cunning is recognized, it is immediately without power and already no longer a cunning, but its own disgrace. But if the power is also recognized, it does not therefore cease; nay, if it is recognized, it is strongest, therefore it must be crushed and broken; and the cunning must be disgraced in itself by being made manifest. Then it will be said to the naked, weak, and disgraced wicked: Where is now, you wicked, your wretched wickedness?
2) In the original edition of the Erlanger: kattedat; in the other editions: vatedat.
V. 16. the Lord is king forever and ever, the heathen must perish from his land. 1)
Jerome and the Hebrew text: The Lord is King forever and ever; the Gentiles have perished from his land. But it is the same sense by which we are admonished not to doubt that Christ is King forever, who makes us blessed and destroys the ungodly, however much the ungodly hope the opposite and impose the same on us. Knowing this is most necessary towards the end of the world, when everything will be arranged by the Antichrist in such a way that he will persuade the whole great multitude (as we have said enough) that whatever he does against the godly is done by command and in the name of God.
114. Therefore we are sufficiently warned, and have been abundantly told before, that we should not immediately accept everything that is promised or threatened to us under the prestige of Christ, his apostles Peter and Paul, whether it emanates from the apostolic see at Rome or from any bishop, nor immediately believe it to be true or wholesome, however much it may be strengthened by the applause of the multitude and greatness of the wise and mighty, but look solely to the gospel of Christ as judge and guide, according to the words of Paul 1 Thess. 5:21: "Test all things, and keep that which is good." For if the disciples of the apostles, when the apostles were alive, were subject to this, or fell [so far] as to lead men astray to their opinions, what should not be feared of their successors, after they are dead, and now for so many centuries faithlessness and the wisdom of the flesh have increased? Edom once fell away under King Joram, so as not to be under Judah [2 Kings 8:20], while Isaac had long before subjected it to Jacob [Gen. 27:29]; what wonder, then, if this example be fulfilled in the church, that the world should fall away from Christ?
1) Vulgate: Vominu8 regnuditin neternuiii et in SLMuIum 8L66UÜ, periditis x6nt68 06 t6riA illius.
(115) But if thou shalt be subject to any thing in this matter, thou shalt not long be accounted a Christian and a righteous man. Therefore, in the meantime, your only comfort will be the day of judgment and the faith in which you believe that your Lord is King forever, and that all the wicked will finally perish. For if you do not overcome and see it through this faith, the beautiful appearance of the present things, which is with the ungodly, will soon overthrow you by the false conscience and the vain terror of ungodliness, which accuses you of having offended the majesty of God and man.
116. "From his country." What then is "his"? For [Ps. 115:16.] "the heavens all around are the Lord's, but the earth he hath given to the children of men." The meaning and the intention can perhaps be seen from the word "his", as if he wanted to say: Ye ungodly do so upon the earth, as if ye alone were the gods and lords thereof; ye look not to God, nor to his dominion, though the earth and all things are not yours, but his, who is the King for ever and ever. Since he is king, you shall know that you will finally perish from this land of his. Thus it is said in Job 12:6: "The huts of the spoilers are full, and rage against God, though God hath delivered it into their hands." And Ezek. 29, 3.: "Behold, I will be upon thee, Pharaoh, thou king of Egypt, thou great dragon, which liest in thy waters, saying, The river is mine, and I have made it for myself" etc.
The wicked also have their being on earth without the fear of God, as if they had made themselves and everything was theirs. He threatens them with the last judgment, that they shall perish from the land of God, which they have subjected themselves to with the most hopeless impiety. Peter also says in 2 Peter 3:7 that heaven and earth will be spared and kept for fire on the day of the condemnation of ungodly men, speaking in the same way as this verse.
2) In the original edition according to the Vulgate: reservuti; Baselxr: reservato; Erlanger: reservuri.
Perhaps also the word "the Gentiles" has the emphasis and contains a certain indignation of the spirit or a diminishing speech, in this way: You, who should be the people of God and the chosen Israel, have now degenerated to your greatest shame into Gentiles, and are now no longer the people, but the enemies of God, and will perish. With this way of speaking, Moses very often foretold the Jews that they would soon perish from the land they were entering if they did not keep the commandments of God [Deut. 4:2]. Therefore, by the Gentiles in the land of God must be understood those Christians who confess Christ outwardly, but in reality are Gentiles, for they deny Him with their deeds and possess His land unworthily.
V. 17. You hear the desire of the wretched, Lord; their heart is sure that your ear hears it. 1)
Jerome: You hear the desire of the wretched, O Lord; you have prepared that their heart may hear, or that your ear may hear. It is the same expression "desire" which is put in the beginning of this psalm [v. 3] [Vulg.]: "For the sinner boasts of that which is pleasing to his soul" (in desideriis). Therefore it must be interpreted in the same way. "The preparation" (praeparationem) our Latin translation attributes to the heart of the wretched, but Jerome and the Hebrew GOtte. Yet, on both sides, the immeasurable willingness of God to hear the wretched is indicated in this way: So ready and willing art thou to hear, that even before they cry out, thou hearest the desire of their heart alone; yea, thou art more impatient of delay to hear than they are to cry out, and desirest that they cry out, that thou mayest have opportunity to hear them; so much doth thy will to hear forestall their desire to cry out, and is ready. Thus it is said in Isa. 65:24: "And it shall come to pass, before they cry, that I will answer; while they yet speak (that is, while their cry or speech is not yet ended), that I will answer them.
1) Vulgate: Ve8iäeriulu pauperuru exauclivit vomiuu8, praeparationeru eordis eoruru auäivit au1Ü8 tua.
hear." [Isa. 58:9. "Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer thee: when thou shalt cry, he shall say, Behold, here am I," for I am merciful, the Lord thy God [Jer. 3:12.]
By these words we are not only commanded to hope for an answer when we pray, but we are also provoked to pray when we are negligent, since they show us how willing God is to hear us. And although they are cold to him to whom they are not said in the right place and at the proper time (that is, to a secure and sated soul), they are at the same time highly necessary and extremely comforting to the soul of the wretched and afflicted (as he says here). For then everything that is contrary to this is predetermined by the attacks of the godless and blasphemous tyrant and is also felt in this way. Therefore, this is far beyond our reason and comprehension, and it is spoken and understood in the very loud faith of that which one does not see and can only hope for; then one must also despise everything present, as I have often said that the Psalter is a training school of faith and spirit, so that he who reads without faith reads only darkness and cold, and remains without light, without warmth. Faith, however, can only blossom in suffering, and the more severe it is, the more glorious it becomes.
V. 18: That thou mayest do right to the fatherless and to the poor, that man should no longer be ashamed on earth. 2)
Others have already criticized that the Latin interpreter used Greek idiom and said judicare instead of: ut judices. 3) He also calls here the one "underage" (pupillo), whom he called above [v. 14.] an "orphan", and humilis is the broken one, the XX [§ 103 f.], whom he called above in the
9. Psalm, v. 19, "the poor", but Jerome calls here "the oppressed", so that we understand the abandoned and with suffering overwhelmed people of Christ. The Hebrew text divides thus: That thou mayest do right to the fatherless and to the poor; no more shall it go forth.
2) Vulgate: luäieare Pupille ei duuiili, ut non appouat ultra rua^iiiüeare se üouio super terraru.
3) Erlanger: juelleet.
792 L. xv, 186-iss. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 10, 18. 11, 1. w. iv, ssn-sse. 79Z
have (non addet ultra) (or: not eternally), that the man of the earth inspires terror (ad magnificandum). There the verbum addet or apponat seems to me to stand without closer relation (absoluto statu), in this way: Non addet, that is, nothing will be added, it will not increase, but here it will stand still and have an end, it will no longer be that man from the earth be strong and terrible.
And the words in Hebrew have something very beautiful and wonderful grace. First, it is called man, who, according to the origin of this word, is miserable, forgotten and despairing, as we said in the 8th Psalm [§ 58]. With the same is put together in a wonderful contrast and contradiction that lies in the things, that is, that he inspires terror, as if he abhors the impropriety of the thing, that the XXXX, the unhappy man, could presume something so great in this world, that he wants to be considered great, strong, terrible and glorious against the godly by tyrannical violence.
123. after that there is a beautiful play on words in the words "instill terror" [XXX] and "from the earth" [XXX], XXXXXXX XXXX XXXX, and.
it includes a great contradiction that it is unseemly that the man who is XXXX about that he is born from the earth and will return to the earth, on the earth
and that he is so hopeful of the earth, as if he were speaking the word of Sirach [Sir. 10:9], "Why does the poor earth and the ashes rise up?"
124) Also the word "defy" (magnificare) [XXX]) is ambiguous in the Hebrew, in that it means (as Reuchlin says): to be frightened, to be afraid, to be terrified, as the strong and great tyrants are feared, and from this fear, taken passively, they are designated with the other meaning as the fearful and great, the proud and the strong, so that we could not unrhymedly translate this verse also in this way: It will no longer be that he (namely, the underage and poor) fears the man from the earth. In this sense Zacharias speaks Luc. 1, 74. f.: "That we, delivered out of the hand of our enemies, may serve him without fear all our days, in holiness and righteousness pleasing to him." And both understanding and meaning we want to summarize in one and understand the whole verse in this way: Therefore thou, O Lord, hast heard their heart, that thou mightest avenge the cause of the fatherless and afflicted, and that there might be an end at last to the tyrants themselves, the wicked men, with their hopefulness and defiance of the poor; again, the poor, delivered at last, because thou hearest them, and art their judge, henceforth shall not fear, nor be terrified, nor be oppressed by men of the earth. So you see that this psalm sets its goal from the end of the world and the day of judgment.