V. 1 A psalm of David to be sung on eight strings.
1. the octava or the zither of eight strings has been abundantly spoken of in the 6th Psalm.
V. 2. Help, Lord, the saints have diminished, and the faithful are few among the children of men. 1)
In this Psalm speaks the enraged love, which we call the zeal for God, as the apostle 2 Cor. 11, 2. says: "I am jealous over you with godly zeal." But he speaks against those who, among the people of God, preside over the ministry of the Word, and to the great destruction of souls teach their own instead of the Word of God, by abusing the power to teach, and by ignoring the pure and honest teaching of the
falsify the divine law. David suffered such people in his time and foresaw that they would be in the time of Christ's future. Christ attacks them in Matth. 23, 13. by saying: "Woe to you, Christian scholars and Pharisees, you hypocrites, who shut the kingdom of heaven in the face of men. You do not enter, and those who want to enter you do not let enter." And Luc. 11, 52: "Woe to you scribes, because you have the key of knowledge (that is, the power to teach). You do not enter in, and you forbid those who want to enter in."
(2) From this it is evident that this psalm does not speak of heretics or persecutors, except to declare heretics those who capture the souls of men with ceremonies and good works of their own invention, while faith in God (which alone is to be taught) is not to be considered heretics.
822 D- xx. 216-218. interpretations on the psalms. W. iv, looi-ioos. 823
is neglected. Such people are today (and there will be more of them when the world will stand longer) the jurists, the theologians, the monks and the bishops, who are corrupt in human wisdom and statutes, that is, both in what is before the eyes (speculabilibus), 1) and in their moral teaching, and lead to ruin. And not only is the prophet indignant that they are such exceedingly bad teachers, but that there are so many of them and they alone are the ones who teach, so that there is almost no one left who teaches what is right. Thus he indicates that this psalm refers to a very corrupt time, as it was in the time of Christ and is now in our time.
Therefore he begins with great vehemence and says: "Help, Lord, the saints have decreased!" as if he wanted to say with Micah, Cap. 7, 1-1: "Oh, I am like one who slackens in the vineyard, because there are no grapes to eat, and yet he would like to have the best fruit. The pious people are gone in this land, and the righteous are no longer among the people. They all lie in wait for blood; each one chases the other to destroy him; and they think they do well when they do evil. What the prince wills, the judge saith, that he may do him service again. The mighty counsel according to their will to do harm, and turn it as they will. The best of them is like a thorn, and the most upright like a hedge" etc.
(4) With these words he not only says what this psalm means, but at the same time punishes the beautiful reputation of those who adorn this wickedness and want it to be seen as something good, because he speaks in the spirit, which must be understood in faith alone. For here it is a matter of what is said in Proverbs 20:5: "The counsel in a man's heart is as deep waters; but a man of understanding can tell what he means." Many people today are called merciful (that is, holy, or gracious people, or merciful men, which they are not after all), but who can find a man who holds faith (fidelem) (that is, who by
1) Cf. Walch, St. Louis ed. vol. II, 954, 8 124.
faith and is just and merciful in truth)? Namely, the appearance reigns so completely, and so deep is this water of the council and their attitudes, that no one but the intelligent can exhaust it (that is, no one other than the truly righteous can see through them), because all others are deceived by the appearance and the crowd and the greatness. And this corruption of the great multitude torments the spirit of this prophet, so that he calls in such a way and begins without any preface or circumlocution, looking to God for the salvation of the people.
5 The Hebrew text has XXXXXX without further specification, that is, help, or give salvation, not [as the Vulgate has]: save me. But it is a much stronger expression, "Help" or: "Save" than: Errette mich. So also in our German language, when one is moved by the fact that he must perish or die, one says: "Hilf, du barmherziger GOtt!" (Help, you merciful God!), where one cries out and calls out in the strongest possible way in view of the threatening danger, without any preamble. So too, when the prophet is moved by the fact that the people are perishing, he cries out without preamble and implores God in a strong prayer for help.
6. "The saints" in this passage are XXXX, which Jerome translated Ps. 4, 4. by misericors: "The Lord leads His saints whimsically", that is, those who have obtained mercy [Ps. 4, § 32] or are justified by the grace of God, who are exalted by faith, not by works and their powers, or those of any men.
7. [Vulgate:) "The truths are diminished from the children of men", that is, there are not truths among men, that is, no faith (fidelitas). The Hebrew language can say in the plural: there are not faiths (fides) among men, so also: God of our salvation, where we say: God of our salvation, and: There is no more faith among men, as one says: Nowhere is right faith (Nusquam tuta fides). Also "truth" in the plural is not in use. I say this so that no one may understand it to mean that the truths have been diminished by the sons of men, as if the sons of men had made less of the truths, as if-
this is true; but the preposition "from" (a) must be interpreted by "under" or from - away (de) or out, so that the sense is like Isa. 57, 1: "The righteous perish, and there is no one who takes it to heart; and holy people are taken up, and no one pays attention to it. For the righteous are taken away from (a facie) calamity," and what we have quoted from Micah, Cap. 7, 2: "The godly people are taken away in (a facie) this land," etc. For he wants to say that there is no longer faith among the people (faith in Hebrew coincides with the word truth), and the men who are justified by grace have ceased, but everywhere are hypocritical works saints, who by their powers, their works, their laws and their merits corrupt themselves and others under the great title and name of salvation.
The vehemence of the excitement leads him to exaggerate (hyperbolize), because at all times there are saints and believers in Christ on earth, and yet he [Vulg.] says: "The saints have ceased", it has come to an end with the righteous, with those who are pleasing to God, it is over. In such a figure of speech, everyone complains, even today, that there is no faith among men, and that everything is done fraudulently. This unfaithfulness is a testimony and a proof that the inner faithfulness has gone out; thus the tree is recognized from the fruits. For he who is faithful to God is also faithful to men; for without faith and without the grace of God it is impossible for a man not to seek what is his (that is, to be unfaithful even to men). Therefore, Micah, in the 7th chapter, after saying that the righteous are no longer among the people [v. 2], immediately adds the fruit of the evil tree, and says [v. 5]: "No one believes his neighbor, no one relies on princes; keep the door of your mouth from the one who sleeps in your arms (see, this is how he describes the wife). For the son despises the father, and the daughter sets herself against the mother, the cord is against the in-law, and a man's enemies are his own household." And even though the wicked are such people, they do not want to be anything less than that, nor to be regarded as such.
V. 3: One talks to the other about useless things, and pretends, and teaches from a divided heart. 1)
The division of the verse in Hebrew is after dolosa. Therefore the question arises, where according to the grammatical order labia dolosa belong. For if the division of our Latin text should be maintained, then not: Labia dolosa locuti sunt should have been said, but locata sunt, unless you want to say: Locuti sunt labia dolosa (in the accusative) stands figuratively for: Locuti sunt verba dolosa, namely for that which is brought forth with the lips. It could have been translated thus: They speak with false lips. I think that the ambiguity also brings the freedom that we can divide the verse into three parts by rendering the Hebrew in this way: They speak useless things; every man hath hypocritical lips against his neighbor; they speak sometimes out of one heart, sometimes out of another; that is, every teacher teaches useless things, and every man hath flattering lips against his neighbor, and they speak out of discordant (duplici) hearts.
(10) First, "they speak useless things," that is, vain things, which do not serve salvation, but which (as we have often said) are very useful to them, and which alone seem very salutary to them. For that he is not speaking here of private useless talk and gossip, but of the ministry of the word, will be clear from what follows, where he opposes the word of the Lord to these useless talkers of souls.
(11) And this word [Vulg.], "Every man against his neighbor false lips," is spoken after a manner of speech quite common in the Hebrew, as in the Song of Songs Cap. 3, 7. 8: "Around the bed of Solomon stand sixty strong men; one man, his sword on his hip," where we say, "And every man's sword is on his hip. So also here: They speak useless things, one man against his neighbor a lip of flattery, where we must say: And every man's tongue is against his neighbor.
1) Vulgate: Vana iocuti sunt, unusqui^uo aü proxiwum sunni ladia üotosa, in eorüs 6t eoräs locuti sunt.
826 L- xv, 220-222. interpretations on the psalms. W. iv, looe-ioos. 827
is flattering, that is, each one flatters his neighbor by not telling him the word of the cross in truth; otherwise they would not be able to persuade them of useless things, if they did not speak flattering things to them, and which pleased them. For what is written here: dolosa, and Ps. 5, 10.: "They pretend" (dolose agebant), Jerome translated there: And their tongue they make smooth, that is, soft, kosend, schmeichlerisch.
12] These are the ones who prick men's ears [2 Tim. 4:3], of whom Paul predicted, according to the example of this Psalm, that not only would there be some, but that they would come in multitudes, 1) that is, that there would be many of them, so that even the saints would fall away, of which there is abundant mention in the 5th Psalm, 31 ff.] is abundantly spoken of. And yet not enough can be said about this, because the inclination of nature is so fundamentally evil, especially in these spiritual things and in what concerns God, because the carnal mind is not subject to God, nor is it able to be, as the apostle says in Romans 8:7.
13 [Vulgate] "From one heart and from another heart" (corde et corde) can be referred to the same person, so that [in Latin] he is said to speak from a double (duplici) heart who means it differently than he pretends, and I allow that it may be so taken here. But I refer it to different persons. For just as Christ, by the word of God, makes "men of one mind dwell in one house" [Ps. 68:7, Vulg.], and "brethren dwell together in one accord" [Pf. 133:1], and "the multitude of the faithful are one heart and one soul in the Lord" [Apost. 4, 32], for it is "One faith, One Lord" [Eph. 4, 5]: so on the other hand with the ungodly, because of the lack of right and united faith, it is impossible that they should be of one heart, but there must necessarily be many factions and divisions among them. For no sect has ever arisen from which others have not soon sprung up. Thus the synagogue at the time of Christ had the
1) In the Vulgate: Ooueervuiumt sidl rua^istros. Luther: "They themselves will charge them teachers."
Pharisees, the Sadducaeans and the Essaeans. The Arians produced the Eunomians, 2) and the Macedonians; the Donatists the Maximinianists, and today Aristotle the Scotists, the Thomists, the Occamists. Thus the apostle Hebr. 13, 9. says: "Do not be carried away with various and strange doctrines", who elsewhere [Eph. 4, 14. 1 writes, "that they are weighed and swayed by all kinds of wind of doctrine", and [2 Tim. 3, 7.] "are always learning and can never come to the knowledge of the truth". In all these there is never one heart, though they agree in this, that they all speak useless things, and every one flatters his party, and fastens his opinions and doctrines. Therefore, I think that by the separation of the heart, this separation of the sects is to be understood, as Daniel Cap. 11, 27. describes the heart of two kings, who speak falsely with each other at one table.
14 Therefore he also speaks in the plural, so that it is not understood that he is speaking of one sect alone, while in the 10th Psalm he speaks of the Antichrist in the singular, and there is an emphasis in the words "in the heart and in the heart" (in corde et corde), because they sometimes seem to agree, namely against the truth. Thus Ps. 2:2 [Vulg.] says: "The kings of the land are rebellious, and the princes are become one against the Lord and his anointed," who were yet quite different among themselves, Pharisees, Sadducees, Romans, Gentiles and others.
(15) Samson showed this [Judges 15:4] with the foxes, whose tails he tied together, while their faces were turned in different directions. For the face of the foxes is the character of the wicked before God, and how it is known in the spirit: there they are divided into exceedingly many parties; the tail is the last end, and indicates what standing they have before the eyes of men: there they become one in the fire of persecution, to destroy the seeds of the land, that is, to lay waste the doctrine and the works of faith or of the spirit. Hosea also speaks of these Cap.
2) In the Erlanger, in the Weimarschen and in the Baseler: Limomiauo". Equally following in all Latin editions: OeeLuiktss.
10, 2.: "Her heart is cut in pieces, now she will find her guilt", since he had said before: "The vine of Israel, as much fruit as it had, as many altars it had made", that is, it was cut in sects.
This is what prompted the prophet to exclaim that the saints had declined because there were many sects, and yet they all stood against the truth of the faith and devoured the people of God. Who can resist all of them, since hardly any of them can be resisted? This is how it is with the church today, since new sects are invented every day and the old ones have increased, so that it is divided into the smallest parts, and in the meantime the unity of love is completely neglected.
V. 4. May the Lord cut off all hypocrisy and the tongue that speaks proudly.
17) Namely, if God does not exterminate the locusts, the caterpillars and these things, as Joel 1) Cap. 1, 4. calls it, then the diligence of the saints fights in vain. And the interpreter (since he could have done it according to the Hebrew word [XXX]) would have said [instead of disperdat in the Vulgate] more appropriately: The Lord may cut out (excidat), because tongues and lips are used to be cut out. Otherwise (as Jacobus [Cap. 3, 8.] says) no man can tame the tongue. But here he wishes them a spiritual cutting out, which consists of the ungodly changing (or being removed from office) and teaching something else, namely the right wisdom of the cross.
Why was it not enough to say "hypocritical lips" (that is, smooth and flattering), but he adds "all"? Only because he has seen the multitude of divisions, he asks that not only the lips of one party, but the lips and the flatteries of all be eradicated, since all speak useless things.
19. the Latin interpreter rightly added the connective et ["and"], which is not in the Hebrew: "And the tongue that speaks proudly," which in the Hebrew is represented by two
1) In the Erlanger: sso. 1"; in the Basel: "^oan", in the Weimar: "lod.,
This is understood not only of great things (as the ungodly are wont to boast), but also of the arrogance in which they are wont to contemptuously suppress godly doctrine and raise up their own with glory. This might be interpreted as a fox's tail, as it were, which is large and hairy (but has a very small thickness and little flesh), more than is fitting for the whole body, especially the head: so the ungodliness is greater in outward appearance and show than in fact. "It is a fox's tail."
(20) This animal [the fox], which is distinguished by cunning and craftiness, is not in vain taken in Scripture as a simile for the exceedingly cunning and crafty craftiness of the flesh, which in holy things and the ministry of the Word commits all the abominations foretold in Scripture.
V. 5 Those who say, "Let our tongue have the upper hand; it is our duty to speak; who is our Lord? 2)
(21) He explains what this magniloquent tongue is and what it speaks, namely, such a tongue that speaks most hopefully and most contemptuously against the doctrine of the godly. First of all, it says: "We want to magnify" (magnificemus), that is, we want to strengthen, fortify, make strong our doctrines, on the other hand, we want to break their bands and throw off their ropes; we want to destroy what the godly build, we want to weaken and dampen their tongue, we want to draw the peoples and the princes of the people to us. Not as if they thought they were acting against godly people, but they make themselves think that they are doing God a service by strengthening their boastful and false tongue and propagating it to many, as if it were a sincere and humble one, so that God alone must be the judge here.
Secondly, it is said: "Our lips are of us", which Jerome translates: are with us, and Augustine: are with us. I would say: "Our lips are ours", so that the emphasis would be on the last pronoun "our", so that the capital "our" would be connected with their "our".
2) Vulgate: tzulüixeruut: I^inAuauniostram raaZuiüeadimus, ladia nostra a nobls 8uM, yuis nvktsr äomiuus 68t?
The key of knowledge is to be understood as if they were speaking: No one hears anyone but us; We are the teachers of the nations, ours must be heard, and (as the puffed-up popes and the bulls of the popes puff up in the church) it is ours to interpret the Scriptures, it is ours to give laws, it is ours to approve and condemn every man's speeches and writings, By the power of the keys alone, so that the pronoun "our" indicates the godless in such a way that they take away from everyone the power to teach, to judge, to speak, and only usurp it and ascribe it to themselves, even if they are the most unlearned and most godless.
(23) I would also attribute this to the people of our time, if they did not lack the beautiful appearance and the fox's tail. For their ignorance and godlessness is evident to all, and there is not a hair of that tail to be seen, that is, there is no knowledge and no holiness, except that they have the name and the rabble think highly of them: yet they trust in it more than any people have done who have shone with the most respectable knowledge and the most beautiful holiness. Therefore, in our time, the church is in a much worse state than this verse says, since the godly are forbidden to speak (labia esse piorum) merely by force and tyranny, without any pretense.
(24) So they said to Christ when he was teaching, Matt. 21:23, "By what authority do you do this?" as if to say: The lips are not yours, but ours; the authority to teach is ours. So it says Apost. 5:28: "We have earnestly commanded you, 1) that ye teach not in this name." This is what the priests did to Jeremiah in Anathoth, to Isaiah in Ahaz, to Amos in Amaziah, and to all the prophets, forbidding them to speak as if they had no lips and no power to teach. Since the true prophets did not deny to them that they had power, but said that they were mistaken and taught falsely, the same ones put
1) In the editions (except the Weimar one): praeeivimus, but according to the Vulgate xraeoepimus should be read.
The priests could not err in the law, nor the wise men fail in counsel, nor the prophets teach falsely," Jer. 18:18.
25 This is exactly the same way they conclude today from the quantity of teachers, from the size of the audience, from the length of time, from the immutability (indefectibilitate) of Peter's faith, from the custom of the whole church (that is, of those who hear theirs). Puffed up by all these things, they say: The lips are ours and have the upper hand. With these exceedingly apparent and plausible reasons they can easily capture the minds of the people, as before ages these three things captured the people: The law is with the priests, the counsel with the wise men, the preaching with the prophets.
26. "Who is our Lord? This is what the wicked say, not as if they wanted to deny that they have God as their Lord, since they praise him only against the godly, and adorn their own with his name and blaspheme the cause of the godly, but because they do not want the godly to be preferred to them and to be heard, since they alone have arrogated to themselves the authority to teach. And this questioning has in it a very special and exceedingly pompous vehemence, by which they strongly persuade themselves and their own that they are acting rightly, and accuse the godly of a great sacrilege, in this way: Behold, we are set by God to be shepherds of the people, and have to give account for them; we alone have the power to teach and to judge what anyone has said. All the people must hear us, but we hear no one, for where the rulers (majoritas, as they call it) are, there is the power to command; but the others must necessarily obey. But this one is a new prophet; what he speaks must have been spoken from heaven [Ps. 73:9], and in setting out to instruct us, he diminishes our authority and is disrespectful to his superiors (that is how we speak today). He is not satisfied with neither hearing nor obeying us, nor is he satisfied with taking others away from us, but even wants to
head and make us his disciples and rule over us completely.
27 Shall we then tolerate this? Shall we suffer this one to rule over us? Shall he give us laws and make regulations? And as the Jews said Joh. 9, 34. to the born blind man: "You teach us?" and Ps. 4, 7.: "How should this one teach us what is good?" and Gen. 37, 8. the brothers of Joseph said to him: "Should you become our king and rule over us?"With such horribly pompous and detestable pride, I say, this Moab accuses the humblest efforts of the godly for God's word of arrogance and sacrilegiousness, interpreting it that this is done in order to rule, and to diminish or suppress his power. For either one must not tell the truth at all to the great ones, and then the divine majesty is offended, or if it is told, one will bear the accusation that this was done, not to tell the truth, but to offend the majesty and to impair the power. So necessary is it that a messenger of truth should always give offense, either to God or to the great among men.
028 For them to say, Who is our lord? is the same as saying, Only desist from thy purpose to teach us, and desist from hearing or condemning what is ours, lest thou bring upon thyself the appearance that thou wilt not be both our teacher and our lord. For so Amaziah sent (Amos 7:10. f.) unto king Israel, saying, Amos maketh a tumult against thee in the house of Israel; the land cannot suffer his words. For thus saith Amos, Jeroboam shall die by the sword. "etc. See how he is accused of sedition, and that he usurped dominion, merely because he preached the truth. What would happen today if the theologians (as they should do) confessed the truth publicly?
29. However, it is also true that the wicked reject even the rule of God from themselves, although they pretend the opposite very strongly; first, because every high-minded person, and a man who is wise in the
Secondly, because they reject and defile the messengers of the Word of God, they reject at the same time God who sent them, as Christ says Matth. 10, 40: "Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me." And 1 Sam. 8:7. it is said, "They have not rejected thee, but me, that I should not be king over them." In this way Jeremiah Cap. 5, 12. says: "They deny the Lord and say: He is not, and so evil shall it not be unto us; sword and famine shall we not see."
(30) Thus it comes to pass that they at the same time most obstinately boast that they have God as their Lord, and at the same time with quite frightening arrogance reject Him in His servants and in His words. And so the appearance of humility in them, and the appearance of arrogance in the godly, which is very obvious, moves the foolish great multitude to hate godliness. Therefore, the prophet tells us to look at the ungodly in the spirit, for there they speak, because they hope to despise the word of the cross: "Who is our Lord?" as much as they let themselves be heard by heart in praise of God: To God alone be the glory, and: In the name of the Lord etc.
V. 6. because the miserable are cast down, and the poor groan, I will arise, saith the Lord; I will provide a remedy, that they may teach with confidence. 1)
From this verse we have made two (in the Vulgate). Anstalt miseria would have been translated puffing vastitas, so that it referred to the first verse, where he said that the saints had fallen away and that the truth had been made little or an end, that is, that it had been laid waste, except for these remnants, for whose sighing, as he says, he wants to make himself out. And therefore it is certain that not all the saints have fallen away, and in the first verse there is an obviously exaggerated speech (hyperbole). Therefore, the prophet consoles himself with the verse
1) Vulgate: kropter miseriam inopum st Aernitum pauperum nune oxkurZam, äicit Vomiiiuk; pouam m saluturi, Lüueialitor uZam L" eo.
834 n Lv, A8-230. interpretations on the Psalms. W. iv. ivn-ioso. 835
He is sure that he will punish the arrogance that despises God's word and devastates the saints and the truth, and that he will exalt his people, as the following will show.
It has often been said that the saints of God are called poor and wretched in the Scriptures. Because of this reputation, they are exceedingly despised by the worthy, and suspected of usurping authority and magisterium over them, and are detested for sedition, disrespectfulness and disobedience (as they are wont to speak).
What this means, that the Lord rises, has been said in the 3rd Psalm, v. 8, namely, that it indicates the efficacy of salvation: "Arise, Lord, and help me, my God." So also here: "I will arise, and establish a help." And not without great emphasis is added: "saith the Lord," whereby the promise of God is extolled to awaken our faith and hope in such a tribulation. For in all Scripture there is nothing more precious than the promise of God. If it were not for this, there would be no place, neither for prayer, nor for works, nor for faith; indeed, not even for life, nor for any thing. For the promise of God sustains us and comforts us in all physical and spiritual distress.
Jerome says thus: Ponam in salutari auxilium eorum. I wonder what he wants to say by this, since it seems to me that the Hebrew text does not have the words auxilium eorum, and in the 10th Psalm, v. 5. [§ 48], he uses the
has translated the same word [XXX] by despicit. I cannot teach anything certain here, and meanwhile will indicate my thoughts. Where we have here in Latin fiducialiter agam, in Hebrew is exactly the same expression translated by dominabitur in the 10th Psalm, v. 5. in the words: Omnium inimicorum suorum dominabitur, as we said there. Therefore, it cannot be said here in the first person: Agam fiducialiter.
34 Now let us give this half verse its two limbs. The former is this: Ponam in salute, the latter this: Loquitur ei or ad eum. The meaning of the former is
be this: For this purpose I will set up (ponam), or establish, or fortify salvation, that is, I will establish a firm, lasting salvation, which even the gates of hell shall not be able to destroy, and I will save in such a way that no one henceforth shall be able to condemn, desolate, or put an end to my saints. For it is a speech in Hebrew without a closer determination (absoluta): "I will set" (ponam), that is, I will establish firmly, I will lay a firm foundation, I will be a founder. "To salvation" (in salute) means that this foundation does not consist in riches or things of the world, but in blessedness, so that those who are placed there shall be eternally blessed, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.
35 This true opinion is almost the same as that expressed in Isaiah Cap. 28, 16: "Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation stone, a cornerstone. He that believeth shall not flinch"; only that this saying is shorter and darker. But it undoubtedly speaks of Christ, who is the firm foundation of salvation and the insurmountable rock for all who believe in him, whose name also comes from salvation, who is called here XXXX XXXX, I will put my trust in Jesus. This is contrasted with the ungodly, who will not be established, but will be driven away like the wind, not even to salvation, but to destruction and ruin, like a house built on sand. For this part of the verse is a word of promise, which comforts the miserable and terrifies the wicked, as I have said.
The meaning of the last part will be the same as the second part of the word in Isaiah: He that believeth shall not be put to shame. So also here: "He speaketh unto him," that is, he despiseth those, and speaketh confidently the word of the cross and of faith, as the apostle 2 Cor. 4, 13. introduces the 116th Psalm, v. 10: "I believe, therefore I speak; so also we believe, therefore so also we speak." For those who are saved by faith, founded on the rock of Christ, are bold to preach the word of God confidently to everyone who will believe, not being afraid of anyone, no matter how many, and not being afraid of anyone.
The powerful sects of the hypocrites, which, as Lucas Apost. 4, 8. ff. is fulfilled in the apostles. But those who do not have this faith do not dare to murmur.
Therefore, this very dark and short part of the verse must be taken as a whisper of the Spirit in David's ears, which he heard. When he sighed because of the devastation of the people and the faith, a short divine answer (oraculo) was given to him, in which it is indicated to him what means God had devised against this evil, namely this: "I will base myself on salvation; he speaks to it. 1) That is, you should know that I intend to do this against the destruction of the saints, that I will lay Christ as the foundation on which I will build my church and save it. They shall do nothing against it, nor shall they harm any believer. But I will not be satisfied with this, for it will happen that after they are saved in this way, they will dare to come out publicly and speak the word with joy, by which they will not only protect themselves, but also disturb their destroyers and convert many who had turned away.
38 And so everything can easily be brought into harmony, Fiducialiter agam in eo, that is, I will make them act confidently in the word of faith, as Lucas seems to have intentionally used this verse in the Acts of the Apostles, since he tells Acts 9, 27 that Paul acted joyfully in Damascus in the name of Jesus. 9, 27. that Paul at Damascus acted with all joy in the name of JEsu, and Cap. 14, 3.: "They had their being there a long time, and taught freely (fiducialiter agentes) in the Lord," and Cap. 18, 26. it is said of Apollo: "This one began to preach freely (fiducialiter agere) in the school." It is peculiar to Lucas to praise the joyfulness in preaching the word of God, so that it is evident that he used this verse as a constant proverb.
39. the reputation of this man almost moves me to believe that this Hebrew word (of which we find in the 10th Psalm [§ 48] the statement
1) The Weimar edition did not include the words: ei in the citation.
(In the first place, it means: to bring forward, to bring to light, to rule, to despise, and in this place, as Jerome gives it: to be a help, to consider and speak to oneself), it most properly means "to act confidently" (fiducialiter agere), which our Latin interpreter has placed, since Lucas understands nothing else by fiducialiter agere than: to preach the word confidently, that is, according to the 116th Psalm, v. 10, to believe, and therefore to speak. And this is the same, though somewhat darker and shorter: to despise, to rule, to come to, to consider, to speak, to be our help. For by what other power do we despise, rule, come to light, think, speak, have help than by the word of faith, which has been proclaimed with gladness? Therefore, just as the wicked rules over his enemies and confidently speaks his word against them, so the godly rules over his enemies and confidently speaks the word of God against them.
40 By this we are again taught that the power of the church is none other than the word of God, which is the power of God that saves all who believe in it, Rom. 1:16, and "the scepter of the power of God," Ps. 110:2. So Hosea Cap. 1, 7. says: "I will help them by the Lord their God (namely, who is preached by the word); but I will not help them by bow, sword, battle, horse, or horseman." Therefore, the meaning of this verse is recently that the godly are given a twofold help against the ungodly, namely faith and the word; faith, by which they themselves are saved; the word, by which they disturb the ungodly, and make much of the saints and the truth among men, whom those have disturbed. It is of faith that the prophet speaks, saying, "I will base myself on blessedness or salvation"; of the word, saying, "I will act confidently against him," or, "He speaks to him" (as it is said in the Hebrew).
41 Against whom does he speak and who speaks? Here no person is indicated, so unlimited (absoluta) and general is the utterance, as if he wanted to say: "I want to establish on salvation" or: I want to fortify by faith; and behold, by this the one who comes into the
Being (hoc ipso est) who speaks. For as soon as someone believes, he also speaks immediately, as it says Apost. 2, 4.: "They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to preach."
The prophet also does not indicate the one to whom the speech is addressed, for the sake of the same generality [of the saying]. "He speaks to him" or "against him," namely, the ungodly or the ungodly desolate. And so, after faith is laid as a foundation, there is he that speaketh, and he that heareth, and there follows the gift of faith, both the speaking and the hearing; by these two there is much of mercy and truth.
But note also this, that the reasoning for salvation is the effect of God alone, but that the speaking to the ungodly is our cooperation. Therefore, God attributes this to Himself, this to man, which, however, our Latin translation also attributes to God, since it says in the first person: Fiducialiter agam. See then, how short, dark and rich in content this half verse is. But it would have been proper that the connective word "and" would have been inserted, namely in such a way: "I will base on salvation; and he speaks to him"; in order not to speak in the Hebrew way.
44 The same thought is treated in the 120th Psalm, v. 3 f. [What shall they give thee, or wherewith shall they equip thee, 1) against the false tongue, which maketh the saints and the truth to fall among men? He answers, "The sharp arrows of the mighty with the coals of junipers," that is, the words of evangelical grace with the examples of the ancient fathers, which agree with the gospel. For a scribe taught to the kingdom of heaven bears forth new and old. And Christ feeds great multitudes with the five loaves of the law of Moses, which is interpreted in the spirit, and with two fishes, that is, with the examples of the fathers, which are killed by the same spiritual law, and roasted by the fire of twofold love.
45 But let no one forget that the first thing is to be established in salvation, and only then to speak against it.
1) Instead of apxonetur in the editions should probably be read with -er Vulgata axponatur.
For faith and burning must be there rather than teaching and shining, if one wants to teach otherwise with fruit and joy. For without faith the word of salvation will not be taught. He says [Ps. 116, 10.]: In the time of persecution I believed, therefore I spoke.
V. 7 The speech of the Lord is pure, as silver refined in an earthen crucible, seven times.
This is to be understood as a contrast and dispute in which he holds the words of men and the words of God against each other. The words of those are vain, flattering and inconstant. But they are not purified by them, but only stained more in the spirit; by them mercy and truth fall away among men. God's words, however, are chaste, pure or pure, then also hard, but righteous, reliable and firm; by them men are purified, so that mercy and truth again become much, and vanity, falsehood and discord are destroyed.
47 This verse introduces a figurative speech of silver, which he also uses as an example, calling the speech of the Lord silver that has been tested, proven, and purified sevenfold, while in the eyes of the wicked it is indeed hardly the dross, scum, and filth of the world by which they think they are defiled and dishonored. So, on the other hand, he called their words vain, flattering, and inconstant, with which they bring mercy and truth to naught, but which seem to them to be something else altogether; on both of which ropes he spoke in the Spirit.
48 By "sayings of the Lord" he understands not only those that are written in books, but especially those that are spoken orally. Just as he said of the words of the wicked [v. 3]: "One speaks useless things to another, and hypocrites, and teaches out of a divided heart," so he does not call the Scriptures of God, but especially God's speeches "loud". For the Scripture does not harm or benefit as much as the speech, since the voice is the soul of the word. And it is not necessary that one should speak under the speeches of the
We do not understand the Lord to mean only that which is brought into oral speech from the Scriptures, but everything that God speaks through man, whether he be unlearned or learned, even without making use of the Scriptures, as He spoke in the apostles and still speaks in His own. Therefore, when the Lord speaks in us, these are the speeches of the Lord, but not when anyone refers to the Scriptures, for the devils and the wicked can do that too; yet God does not speak in them, nor are they speeches of God, but a foam of the speeches of God, like the dross of silver.
Therefore the means of salvation against the destroyers of the wretched and the destroyers of the saints of the earth is the word of God, which is established against the word of men. Since this is completely pure (like silver that has been purified, proven, and purified seven times), it purifies, fortifies, and proves the heart of man by making it like itself, so that it has nothing of what is its own on earth, but what is God's in heaven.
50. But the word of men, the dross and the foam of this silver, pretends to be silver by a certain lying appearance, but it is void. Then it is not only not pure, but impurity itself, since it is the impurity of silver, that is, they pretend to teach God's words, although they leave his pure, true and proper meaning in place and rather teach the foam or dross and the rest of the impurity, which, as it is impurity itself, so it does not purify anything, nor does it prove or make it reliable 1). Thus it is said in Isa. 1, 22: "Your silver has become foam, and your drink mixed with water."
(51) Let us show this by an example. If you were to teach these sayings of God: "Thou shalt not kill," "Thou shalt not commit adultery," and the like (to say nothing of human ceremonies) in such a way that you would say that someone has not killed or not committed adultery, if he has not killed or committed adultery by performing the work himself, then you would have impure, null and void, and you would not be able to say that he has not committed adultery.
1) In the original, in the Weimar and in the Basel: üäswve; in the Wittenberg and in the Jena: üä" levs, hence Greifs translates: "by faith light."
The people are taught inconstant dross instead of the solid, genuine and pure silver, since man meanwhile in spirit and will seeks death and adultery, and when this is done by others, does not bear sorrow nor punish it, but rather laughs at it and sings about it, as it is the general custom (mos), even the death (mors) of all men, since they are all bloodthirsty.
52. Again, if you teach that one who prays, fasts, or does any good work purely externally (secundum facti substantiam, as is now spoken of) serves God and has kept the holiday, you have again, with a hypocritical mouth, taught dross instead of silver, since he has done all this either with an unwilling heart or out of a desire for his own benefit, that is, without the Spirit, and therefore has not done them, but is found to be a false man, as is also the general custom or death of all men here, since they are all false, who not only do not punish these things, but boast of them as virtues, sing of them, and praise them. And by these things then the saints decrease, and the faithful become few among the children of men. For [Rom. 7, I4J "the law is spiritual." Therefore, by these useless and hypocritical lips it is not taught, but rather destroyed. Any one can perceive similar things in all other things throughout the Scriptures.
This verse follows the previous one, where the prophet had said: "And he speaks to him", in order to show who speaks and what he speaks, namely God his louder speeches. And to come to the grammar, the Hebrew does not actually say casta (chaste) [as in the Vulgate], but munda ["louder"], although in figurative speech (metaphorice) one often takes "chaste" for "louder". Nor is it necessary to think that he is speaking either of grammatical purity (of the speeches of God), although this too is not absent from the divine speeches, or of sensual or moral purity, since they often deal with shameful and shameful (pudendis) things (as it seems), 2) but of
2) Instead of traotet in the editions (only the Jena one has traetat) must be read either tEteut, because "1o-
Theological purity and purity of mind (affectuali), according to which they want to make man like themselves and purify him only from impure minds, 1) with which no one stains man more shamefully than the hypocritical teachers of human things, who teach their own righteousness and even increase and blow out the impure inclinations, so that they boast of their filth, let alone that they should be purified. For no man's heart is cleansed except by the word of God received in faith, Apost. 15:9, "He cleansed their hearts by faith," and Ps. 19:8 [Vulg.], "The law of the Lord is without change, converting souls"; Ps. 51:9, "Defile me, O Lord, with mop, that I may be clean."
54. "Tested in the fire." Our Latin translator has added the words "in the fire"; the Hebrew says only: "refined silver" or melted or proven; because this is done by fire, the interpreter has added this for clarity.
55. almost all think that probatum terrae is spoken in the Greek way, saying that it is as much as pure and clean with respect to the earth or from the earth, as one says: clean from the blood. And Jerome translates: Separate from the earth, where they treat the earth in many a secret interpretation. But I am completely blind here. That is certain, that terrae in Hebrew is the dative, which can be translated: for (ad) the earth, better than: of (a) the earth. Furthermore, Neuchlin says that baß (which our Latin interpreters translated by probatum) is the name of a small vessel in which metals are melted, to which the preposition "in" is added.
It is as if you translated this part as: silver melted in an earthen (terrae) crucible, or for the earth (ad terram), which reads: for a thing or for the use of the earth, that is, which those who are on the earth, namely men, use. If this were true, then
Huia äivinn is the subject, or (what seems forced to us) a new subject, namely seriptni-n must be assumed.
1) Only the original Erlanger and the Weimarsche have xnrZant, the other editions pnr^nt.
one assumes that the prophet took the simile from the procedure of the silver workers (as it happens in general 2) with all prophets), and that he applied the secret interpretation of the same to the speeches of God. For the silver is of no use on earth if it is not first melted and refined, so that one must distinguish the silver for the earth from the silver in the pits, in the veins and passages (minerarum). For this use, however, it cannot be melted in any other way than by fire, and by fire again in any other way than in a vessel.
56 Now let us indicate the secret interpretation of these things. The speeches of God, said or written in the coarse letter and in a carnal sense about the opinion of the cross, are the silver in the veins, as Job, Cap. 28, 1. [Vulg.]: "Silver has the beginnings of its ad'ern", or it is piled up in raw mass, as David exemplified, when he prepared for Solomon everything that was necessary to build the temple [1 Chron. 29, 14. ff.]. But the people on earth have no use of this hidden treasure, as Sirach says Cap. 20, 32: "A wise man who cannot be used and a buried treasure, what use are they both?" until they are brought to light and proven, when the wicked, the heretics and the devils lay themselves against them.
But the believers are this earthen crucible, in which this treasure is carried [2 Cor. 4, 7], and it is proved, because he generally lets it go into battle, so that it may conquer, and know that wisdom is mightier than all things, Wis. 10,3 ) 12. Now after the word of God has been proved and found reliable in such a way through the fire, it benefits many people through the preaching of those who are proved. This is what the apostle touched on in 1 Cor. 11, 19, when he says: "There must be brethren among you," that is, fires that melt you, "so that those who are righteous (probati) (that is, the vessels in which the silver of the speeches of God are
2) Jn the original of the Erlanger and in the Jenaer: vcn-6; in the Baseler, in the Weimarschen and in the Wittenberger: tere.
3) In the issues: 8nx. 16.
purified) become manifest among you" that they have become the salt of the earth and a light of the world, that is, that they shine on the earth to men who have been stirred up to the praise of God, and who have thus been supported and enriched by the use of this silver. This is certainly what he expresses here by "for the earth" (terrae) or "for the use of the earth".
Because the wicked detest this melting and proving of the word of God to themselves and do not want to endure the pain of the cross, they seek to please men and become useless talkers, false, deceivers, unstable, as the apostle explains in the letter to the Galatians and this psalm says. Therefore, the speech of God is not understood, nor does it bear fruit, if we are not killed and afflicted, that is, if we are not well challenged and tempted for the sake of the word, because it is not both we who suffer, but the word that suffers in us.
(59) To this sense our Latin translation can be drawn, by passing over the glosses of others, in such a way: "Proven for the earth" (probatum terrae), that is, invented faithful, pleasant, and pleasing to men on earth, who have come to know by experience its faithfulness, power, and soundness, and trust in the same, and, having lost the shameful trust in all other things, which those ungodly teach, are purified only by the very pure faith in the very pure Word. And so terrae remains quite properly the dative, as it is in both Greek and Hebrew.
60. "Prove seven times." Here one deals more thoroughly with the sevenfoldness of the gifts of the Spirit than my little mind and the meaning of the letter can suffer. I take "seven times" simply for: wholly perfect, for seven is a number denoting a whole, and I do not know whether he here refers to the purification of silver, by which it is purified, not in the crucible, but in bone ashes with an addition of lead, 1) so that it becomes wholly and completely pure.
1) This statement by Luther is erroneous. The lead is the impurity that is almost always attached to the silver, from which it is freed in the leniency process.
And how wonderfully does the wisdom of God play in the world, that the lead serves to purify the silver! namely, that the speeches of the hypocrites, since they are similar to the speeches of God, as the lead is similar to the silver, nevertheless work in the fire of persecution in such a way and at the same time suffer the effect that, as the lead disappears and the silver is purified, so in the end the right wisdom shines forth and their foolishness becomes nothing (as the apostle says 2 Tim. 3, 9.). For thus the exceedingly apparent doctrine of the ungodly, by resisting godliness, serves for the glory of right doctrine and for its own disgrace. Therefore it was not improper to attach the first purification by the crucible to the persecutors, the tyrants, the latter by the lead, to the heretics and the false brethren, who are worked with us, as the lead is worked with the silver in the same ashes and vessel, so in the same church and in the footsteps of the dead fathers and the martyrs. But the tyrants work outwardly, like the bellows on the crucible.
(62) Thus we see how the prophet takes everything from works and attributes it to faith, assuring that the words of God are pure, and at the same time sharply rebuking those who want to become pure by works. For what is the use of doing many works if you do not become pure? But purity is nowhere but in the sayings of God, and by the sayings of God no one is purified unless he believes. But no one believes unless he suffers more than he does. Therefore, the purest and most sinless life is not found in works, but in faith in the Word and in suffering.
But why does he compare silver to the speeches of God rather than gold? Gold is actually compared to love in the Scriptures; its nature in fire is different from that of silver, which we will discuss below.
V. 8. May you, Lord, preserve them and protect us from this generation forever. 2)
64. the latin translator could have better said in the optativum:, du
2) Vulgate: Oomine, servadis nos, et eustodies nos a Zeneratione Iiae in aeternuni.
846 D- xv, 240-242. interpretations on the psalms. W. iv, lasi-ioss. 847
You will keep, you will preserve, since it is indeed a prayer of the prophet against the generation of the saints of works. And although servare and custodire are not very different, the Hebrew text places servabis in the last part, and custodies in the first, as Jerome does. For he asks to be protected (servari) from the sex, in such a way that it may be resisted (prohibendi modo), namely, that we may be resisted from agreeing with them; and that his speeches may be preserved (custodiri), he asks in such a way that they may be protected (protegendi modo), so that they may not steal them. Instead of servabis nos [you will preserve us] in Hebrew is servabis ea ["you will preserve them"], referring to the speeches of God, as Jerome translates. But it may perhaps also refer to the saints, since it is masculine, servabis eos. I would not reject this either if someone wanted to understand "thou wilt preserve them (eos)" from the ungodly, that God preserve them and forbid that they henceforth speak useless things, and cut off the saints from among the children of men.
But we see that it is not in our power that the words of the Lord remain true and that the saints on earth do not fall away, but in God's power. You, Lord, not we men will preserve; as Christ taught [Matth. 9, 37. f.]: "The harvest is great, but few are the laborers. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest, that he may send forth laborers into his harvest." He commanded us to pray the same in the Holy Our Father, teaching us to ask for our daily bread, that is, for the speeches of God. But we leave the prayer, trust in science, gifts and diligence, and live in security until we ourselves have become such people who speak useless things, and a godless generation, from which the prophet asks to be protected here.
From this it must be concluded that this psalm, although it actually refers to Christ's time like everything else, nevertheless also, because this generation will not pass away until everything happens, it extends to our time and all times. Truly for our
Since the beginning of time, the Turks, the Jews and the ceremonialists have greatly increased this race, and have trampled underfoot almost all faith and the whole word of faith. Against them we can do nothing but ask the Lord of the harvest to make Himself known, to establish salvation firmly, and to speak to them.
V. 9. for it becomes full of the ungodly everywhere, where such loose people rule among the people. 1)
The word multiplicasti is not in Hebrew. Jerome has it thus: In circuitu impii ambulant, cum exaltati fuerint vilissimi filiorum hominum. I think that this verse has not yet been pulled out of the darkness by anyone, just as little as the word that is found above [v. 7, § 59], probatum terrae. With regard to these two passages, I confess my ignorance, and do not hesitate to say the same about all others who have written about them so far.
2) [First, in Hebrew there is not in circuitu, but the transitive verbum in Hiphil (tertii) XXXX, which means: He has surrounded, so that one could translate in such a way: He hath surrounded the ungodly, they go thither; that is, this generation, from which thou mayest preserve us, loads itself with heaps of ungodly teachers, and people who prick their ears; to these it attaches itself, with these it joins in multitudes, and teachers and pupils alike walk in their own ways, and grow worse and worse, are deceived and cheat, as it is said in the first Psalm, v. 1: "Blessed is he that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly." Therefore, the connective word "and" must be placed between: He has surrounded the ungodly, and they go, according to the ordinary Hebrew way of speaking. "They gather with heaps, and go thither." And the sense
1) Vulgate: In eireuitu impil ambulant, aeeunäuin altituüinem tuaru multiplieaati ülios bominum.
2) This paragraph is found only in the first original edition and in the first Basel reprint. In his letter to Pellican (in this volume after the 31st Psalm) and at the end of the interpretation of the 22nd Psalm, Luther says that what is said in this passage is not correct and that he wants it to be deleted.
would be clearer if the pronoun were put in front of it (as it is usually done), namely: Quae circumdedit impios et ambulabunt (which (gender) has surrounded the wicked, and they go there). Now if one wanted to say this in the neuter: It has surrounded, and the wicked go there, the same sense remains, only that then circumdedit [it has surrounded] stands alone, without a thing to which it refers (absoluto statu), and means as much as: It has caused many to surround it and adhere to it, so that now, in the same way as their teachers, the ungodly pass away in their obstinacy).
In the second part (of the verse) our Latin interpreter said: Secundum altitudinem [tuam], 1) but the pronoun tuam is too much, and Jerome says: When they are raised. The word "height" must definitely stand here. It seems to me that XX is an active stem verb (verbum primitivum), that is, He has exalted or raised, so in my judgment it should be translated thus: As he hath exalted the worst of the children of men. For where in Latin we have multiplicasti, in Hebrew it is in the feminine gender, which means bad, rejected, frivolous people, as there are the revellers and gluttons. For in Hebrew also those who give themselves up to gluttony and feasting are called XXXXX, in the masculine gender.
(69) The meaning is this: this generation has surrounded the ungodly teachers, and at the same time they go, as they themselves have exalted and willed those who are the worst to the children of men (or among the children of men), that is, this generation gathers ungodly disciples and exalts the worst teachers. As the disciples, so are the masters, so the blind lead the blind, and both fall into the pit. If the opinion of this
1) Added by us.
Is it not nowadays fulfilled to the highest degree? For who is put at the helm of the church today as the yeast of the world? namely, such people whom the world can neither use nor enjoy, and this our ungodly ingratitude well deserves.
(70) Again, we see here that the ungodly teachers are ascribed the care of the belly, as the prophet said in the 5th Psalm, v. 10: "Their mouth is an open grave", and the apostle called the belly their god in Phil. 3, 19, while the prophet here calls them by the most ugly name, that is, slavers, who seek nothing but their food. And it seems not in vain that the one X is missing in the word XXXX and the letter X in the verb XXX, as if on both sides there was only a pretense, but the thing itself was missing, since they were in fact not exalted, and they themselves wanted to be taken for something completely different than slavers. But this we want to leave to the cabalists or rather to cheeky and idle people.
Our Latin translation can be adapted to this sense: In In circuitu impii ambulant, that is, many who are surrounded and environed on all sides, both the disciples and the ungodly masters, go along and persevere in their ways, because you have made many of the children of men according to your height, that is, in the place of your authority you have decreed not children of God, but children of men, and not such as are rare and good, but many, and those who are the worst of them. The holy fathers refer the "children of men" to the children of God; and "height" (altitudinem) some hold to be the secret counsel (of God), others the grace and mercy of God shown without merit of men. I do not reject their opinion, but I do not believe that it is according to the letter.