The twenty-second Psalm. *)

V. 1. 2. A Psalm of David, to be sung by the hind who is hunted early. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I howl, but my pod is far away.

The title of this psalm is translated by the Septuagint as follows: In finem pro susceptione matutina, Psalmus David. But what caused them to make susceptionem or assumtionem out of hind, I cannot foresee. For the Hebrew text certainly has cervam aurorae in the feminine gender, though Jerome has translated it by cervum matutinum in the masculine gender; unless the Spirit in the Septuagint has wished to explain more clearly what the prophet has indicated somewhat obscurely. For Christ in his suffering (which is sung about in this psalm) accepted (assumsit) or took upon himself (suscepit) all sins. And this assumption was an early one (susceptio matutina), that is, the first of all, which all saints follow, bearing one another's burdens. But it would be too much trouble if we wanted to use such remote things to defend the Septuagint, since we have the Hebrew text itself.

It is known that the Hebrew preposition is rendered in Greek by είς or έπί, in Latin by ad, in and super. Therefore we would say here rightly after prophetic manner: ad victoriam in cervam aurorae, as Peter Apost. 2, 25. says, "For David speaks of him," though it is not badly translated, "of the hind;" for all is said of him, and all refers to him, which is sung in this psalm, that when he would come he would fulfill it.

2. but a "hind" he calls without doubt the suffering Christ, because he was taken captive by the Jews in the time when he lived in the flesh and delivered to the Gentiles, that

they tore him to pieces, as a hind is caught by the hounds and delivered to the hunters to be cut down. For this reason, I say, I hold that Christ is called a hind in this passage, to which also the whole psalm points, especially as it says [v. 17.], "For dogs have compassed me about, and the wicked have made themselves round about me."

(3) For Jerome's drawing here the manner of the deer, that it draws out the serpents with its breath (naribus) [from the earth] and kills them and consumes their poison, is indeed said quite well of Christ, but, as it seems to me, not in the right place, although Christ has indeed done this through his suffering. For it seems to me that the title indicates the suffering of Christ, not the fruit of suffering. The juxtaposition of the hind and the dogs is different from the juxtaposition of the serpents; in this encounter she conquers, in the other she suffers.

4 But he says rather appropriately "a hind" than a deer, so that he indicates that Christ had gone into suffering, since the apostles and disciples were already gathered as his young deer, that is, that he was already preaching, feeding and helping the people. Of this it is said in Proverbs, Cap. 5, 19: "She is lovely as a hind, and lovely as a deer. Let her love (ubera) satisfy thee at all times, and delight thyself in her love every way." For who is this "lovely hind" (cerva amantium, as the Hebrew text says) but Christ, who was exceedingly loving toward His own? And who are the lovely deer other than his disciples? But the breasts (ubera) of this hind are the words of eternal life, with which he feeds and satisfies all. On these, as Solomon commands, one should feast, lest that harlot [Proverbs 5:3] and stranger, the adulterous synagogue, whose throat is slippery, should be made to eat.

*This Psalm, which is not found in our Basel edition, has been translated by us according to the Erlangen edition, comparing the Wittenberg and Jena editions. Subsequently, the Weimar edition has also been compared.

1228 L. xvi, 238-240. works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 1. 2. W. iv, 1632-1635. 1229

is as oil, and whose lips are as sweet as honey, entice anyone to death with her. For to this opinion he seems to me to speak in the whole chapter. Therefore David understands the time and the age (aetatem) and the doing (studia) of the suffering Christ in one word.

5. But, I ask you, what is aurorae [the dawn] or "early" (matutina)?

The most famous fathers have understood by it that "susceptionem" of the resurrection of Christ, which happened at the time of dawn on a Sabbath; others the susceptio matutina, the capture of Christ, which happened in the morning hour; others the cerva matutina, that is, the first and noblest of all Hinds, that is, Christ, the head and the most distinguished among the martyrs. Now those who draw the early (matutinam) knowledge in the word to the "early" (mans), as Augustine says about the first book of Moses, could make Christ out of the early Hind, who is man and God, so that they indicate in this title that the Son of God suffered and died. But I do not like any of these interpretations enough, and yet I do not know what to do in this darkness.

(6) I also want to indicate my thoughts. It seems to me that all prophets in general delight in the dawn and the setting of the sun, and have recognized God's secrets in it. Outstanding among these is that, Gen. 32, 24, where Jacob wrestled with a man until the dawn broke and he was blessed by him. And David says, 2 Sam. 23, 3. 4. "The righteous ruler among men, the ruler in the fear of God. And like the light of the morning, when the sun goes out in the morning without clouds." And Ps. 110:3: "Thy children shall be born unto thee as the dew out of the morning glow." Paul interprets all this in a glorious sense of Christ, Rom. 13:12: "The night is past, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light." Therefore, the evening is the time of the law, of sin, of death, of the Old Testament, and the synagogue itself, in which the works of sin

by the law became exuberant; but the early is the time of the gospel, grace, life, and the new testament, and therefore the dawn of the church, or the new people of the gospel.

Therefore it seems that David, as he used the word "hind" in a spiritual sense, so he also used the word "dawn" to draw the believing reader from a physical hind to the spiritual one, which should be Christ. For why else would the prophet rather speak of a hind of the dawn than of the hind of any other time? But Christ is the hind of the dawn, because he suffered and overcame the law, eradicated sin, conquered death, and has caused a new age (saeculum) and a new day to dawn, in which grace, life and blessedness have begun.

The meaning of this psalm is that it is spoken with reference to Christ, the author of the renewal of all things, after the old has been overcome through his suffering. Thus the night has passed, the dawn has come, and the day is at hand.

(9) This transition and change of night into day and of evening into morning has not been recognized by the Jews until this day, and has been fulfilled rather than they have heard that it is fulfilled. That is why David has shown them so darkly, so that by this title he might model their blindness, which they should read and not understand, unless by the Spirit as the right teacher the covering were taken away from their hearts. For as it was with their hearts, so it was with the Scriptures which were held up to them; for to them that are in darkness (obscuris) all things that are spoken and done are dark; to them that are enlightened siud nothing is dark. Therefore, we easily understand this title, which we could not make clear to those, no matter how much effort we would make them understand it and also be enlightened.

So much for the title. Now let us come to the Psalm itself.

(10) In order that no one might doubt that this whole psalm must be understood by Christ, he himself prayed the first verse of it on the cross, since, as it is written in Hebrews, he was the one who prayed it.

XXXXXX XXXX XXX XXX, that is:

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" There it is clear that by our Latin interpreters the word "my" has been omitted in the first place and [after Deus meus] respice in me has been added. And where they gave us the translation: Longe a salute mea verba delictorum meorum, the Hebrew text says: Verba rugitus mei, in that they have been deceived by the likeness of the word [XXXX with XXXX], which without X in the middle means "fault" and "ignorance," as we have seen in the title of the seventh Psalm and Ps. 19, 13. "Who can tell how often he fehlet (delicta)?"

(11) But that there is a special movement and opinion in these words is proved by the fact that the evangelists have deliberately rendered this verse with Hebrew words in order to indicate the extraordinary emphasis. I do not remember that in any other place in the Scriptures the word is doubled. For that it is said by others that mankind was not abandoned, that is, separated from the Godhead, but that the help of the Godhead was withdrawn from it, is quite rightly said, but for the simple-minded, to whom it is useful that such high things are wrapped up in low words according to their comprehension. For indeed, that mankind is left without the help of God is spoken more darkly than what the words themselves contain, namely, that he is abandoned by God. For who can make that help sufficiently clear, since the coarse people think of that alone as help, if God had snatched Christ out of the hands of the Jews by miraculous signs? But this is irrelevant for this verse.

(12) I see some very peevish people who, as soon as they have had to do with something very difficult and hidden 1) or have heard about it, immediately boast about it everywhere in front of (coram) everyone, only in order to be regarded for bringing forward new and wonderful things, making no choice at all, nor taking into consideration, neither the things, nor the listeners, nor the places. Since the untimely wisdom of these people is not

1) Jenaer: elbAerint instead of: vMrint.

If they keep a moderate attitude toward themselves (Rom. 12:3), they give many people trouble without cause and bring no small amount of bad name to the Word and our preaching ministry. If they served Christ according to the measure of their gifts, they would have enough superfluous things to teach with benefit, and would hold in honor the many graces of God as good stewards. These people have really brought it about that I have begun to fear and have an aversion to dealing with such things that go beyond common understanding, especially with things that are not particularly necessary for the common people to know. 2)

(13) We know that theology must be common to all believers, but again we also know that some enjoy only milquetoast, while others can eat solid food, and that one and the same truth is apprehended in different ways, for it is not possible to accommodate all these ways to the grasp of all, while not depriving them of the truth itself. For Paul does not want the weak, who are tormented by concerns about ceremonies, to be vexed by examples and teachings of those who are strong in faith. But what am I dwelling on this for long? It is a long way that goes through the commandments; love has a short way, and could easily teach us everything in all things.

14 But I want to say something so that I do not completely ignore such a rich verse. First of all, we cannot understand what it means to be "forsaken by God" any better than by first knowing what God is. God is life, light, wisdom, truth, justice, goodness, power, joy, honor, peace, blessedness and all that is good. On the other hand, to be forsaken by God is to be in death, in darkness, in foolishness, in lies, in sin, in wickedness, in weakness, in sadness, in shame, in discord, in despair, in damnation and in all evil. What

2) In the original edition: praesertirn soitu HON neoessariis aäeo non sunt vul^o. In the Wittenberg one as well, but aüeo non sunt vul^o is missing. In the Jena, Weimar, and Erlangen: xraesertina Huae seitu neaeskaria aüeo non suvt vuiM.

1232 L. XVI, 242-244. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 1. 2. W. IV, 1637-1641. 1233

Does it follow from this? Will we not make Christ a fool, a liar, a sinner, a wicked, a despairing, and a damned man? This is what I said, that this is hidden and difficult.

(15) But see for thyself. It is admitted by all that in Christ there was at the same time the highest joy and the highest sorrow; likewise the highest weakness and the highest strength, so also the highest honor and the highest dishonor, likewise the highest peace and the highest strife, the highest life and the highest death, which also this verse sufficiently indicates, where he, as it were in contradiction to himself, exclaims that he is forsaken by God, and nevertheless calls him his God, and thereby confesses that he is not forsaken. For no one says to God, "My God," who is completely forsaken. If, then, some parts of God (that I say so) have forsaken Christ, why should one not say that all and the whole of God has forsaken him? For there is nothing here to contradict this but the custom and the opinion of the common man. For what else could be more inconsistent, even for the pagans, before conviction gained the upper hand, than to say that the same man lives at the same time in the highest life and dies at the same time in the highest death?

What then shall we say? That Christ is at once supremely righteous and supremely a sinner, at once supremely a liar and supremely true, at once supremely rejoicing and supremely despairing, at once supremely blessed and supremely damned? For if we do not want to say this, I do not see how he is forsaken by God, since in this way many of the saints, Job, David, Hezekiah, Jacob, have been forsaken, much more Christ, the head of the saints, who bore all our sickness [Is. 53, 4.] in his own person.

(16) My heart is like this: Christ was righteous in fact and remained so, since he did not commit sin, nor was deceit in his mouth [Is 53:9]. For this cause he conceived and was born of the virgin by the Holy Ghost, that he might be without all sin: for how else could he have delivered us from sin? But in the time that he suffered, he took away all our

He took our sins upon himself as if they were his own, suffered for them what we should have suffered for them, and what the damned already suffer, as Paul says from the 69th Psalm, v. 10 [Rom. 15, 3]: "The reproach of those who revile you has fallen upon me." And Isa. 53, 4. 8. 9. "Forsooth, he bore our sickness, and took upon him our pains. For the iniquity of my people have I smitten him, though he hath committed no sin, neither hath there been deceit in his mouth."

(17) Since the smiting of God, with which He smites for sins, is not only the punishment of death, but also the fear and terror of a troubled conscience, which feels the eternal wrath, and stands as if it should be eternally forsaken and rejected from the presence of God, as David confesses Ps. 31:23, "I said in my anguish, I am cast out of thy sight," it certainly follows inevitably that he [Christ] also suffered the fear and terror of a troubled conscience that tasted eternal wrath. For the apostle says Hebr. 4, 15. that he was tempted in every way, as we are, yet without sin, and again [Cap. 2, 17.? "He had to become like his brethren in all things, that he might be merciful." The apostle also teaches this in Gal. 4, 0 4. 5. "He was put under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law." And again [Gal. 3, 13.? "Christ became a curse for us, that he might redeem us from the curse of the law." For he was not merely put under the ceremonial law, otherwise he would have redeemed the Jews alone, and not the Gentiles, who were not included under it; nor was he put under the law of the holy ten commandments (decalogi) in such a way that he should only fulfill it, but that he might suffer what those who are under the law suffer. For to be under the spiritual and governing law is to be killed and condemned, or to be in death and hell, that is, to feel death and hell, 2) which moves to the highest hatred of the law and blasphemy.

2) Wittenberg and Weimar: s^ntiri instead of: ssntirs. The sense of both readings is the same.

Thus the word "to be a curse" does not merely mean that he is cursed before men (for Paul indicates there [Gal. 3:13] that Moses is speaking in a general saying that is also said in reference to Christ: "Cursed is everyone with God who hangs on wood"), 1) but that he feels in his conscience that he is also cursed by God. In such anguish of heart he speaks this word Ps. 3:3: "Many say of my soul, 'It has no help from God.'" For he complains that the word of those who revile him has penetrated his soul, which would not happen if his soul did not feel that God was angry. For what evil does not a conscience fear? But what kind of inconsistency is it that Christ is said to have been in fear of his conscience for a short time, so that he felt this misery of ours, even though innocent?

(19) We are indeed tormented by the same chastisement, but in such a way that guilt is indeed connected with it. To make this clearer: sin has a twofold nature in us; for [first) while it is accomplished, it is not felt as sin, which is the very worst thing about sin, namely, forgetting and despising God; for here the law still rests, and sin is dead. But (secondly) when the law comes, sin comes to life again, remorse sets in, and there is no peace in our bones from our foolishness [Ps. 38, 4. 6.]. This is the knowledge of sin through the law, and the spiritual revelation of the law. This is what the damned have, this is death and the descent into hell. Christ suffered this sin, not the former. Of this Paul says 2 Cor. 5, 21: "He made him that knew no sin (behold, this is the conscience, which is not guilty of the former sin) to be sin" (behold, this is the conscience, which was made and accepted for us concerning sin).

(20) But in this also Christ is different from us; for we, but much more the ver-.

1) These brackets are set by us.

2) Erlanger and Weimarsche: paulnna; Jenaer: pauUUnni; Wittenberger: inoflmniu.

We bear the wrath of sin and the law in such a way that we sin at the same time, because we, poisoned by the former sin, in ungodly selfishness declare it to be evil and unjust that we suffer, and as in every other sin we sin unknowingly, that is, we do not feel how evil we act in judging in this way. But Christ, who is not poisoned by any sin, does not feel sorrow at suffering out of ungodly selfishness, and has an abhorrence of it, but out of pure, unadulterated tenderness of his innocent nature.

(21) Take a rough example: We, who are corrupted by an ungodly inclination to lust, abhor the coldness of the body and the objects that are unpleasant to our senses, not making concessions both to our nature and to our lust and the infirmity of nature, but Christ abhorred the same objects without any evil inclination, only according to the disposition of His completely uncorrupted nature. We do not enjoy more delicious foods without the infirmity of our innate evil desire, Christ enjoyed them without the infirmity of desire, solely in the sweetness of His nature, acting in all things just as Adam would have acted in Paradise, suffering all things without sin. Paul calls this figure in Christ (Hebr. 4, 15.] a suffering like that of other people, but without sin. Everything is completely the same, but in him there was no sin at the same time, which is with us in all things at the same time.

22) In the same way, we would not bear "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" and all the wrath of the law without murmuring and blasphemy, namely, by seeking what is ours from a completely hidden fault. But Christ spoke and bore the same without murmuring and blasphemy, and therefore what 3) is murmuring and blasphemy with us, was with Christ in all things the same as with us, yet was not murmuring and blasphemy, so that we may say that if what was in Christ were placed in us in all things in the same way, it would be blasphemy and murmuring, whereas with him it would be

3) iü, which is in the original edition, is omitted in the Jena and Erlangen editions.

1236 XVI, ri6-2t8. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, I. 2. W. IV, 1613-1646. 1237

was nothing other than a certain movement of the weak nature, which was equal to our blasphemy and grumbling in all pieces.

(23) For Christ could not sin or do evil, though the things which he did, if we did them, would be sins indeed. And this is not to be wondered at, since, as I have said, even the works which he did would be sins if we did them, though in all things they would be quite like them. He ate, slept, walked, watched, and did all things without sin; if we do the same, we sin in all things. For he was a good tree, we are evil trees; as the person is, so is the work.

24. Now this word: "My God, why have you forsaken me?" is similar to blasphemy against God, but it is not blasphemy. Therefore, if we were to say that Christ became a blasphemy against God, as some translate the saying Deut. 21:23: A hanged man is blasphemy against God, or a hanged man is a reproach against God, about which Jerome says much in the interpretation of the Epistle to the Galatians, we would say it in the same sense in which the word [Gal. 3, 13. 2 Cor. 5, 21.] is spoken, "He was made a curse," and, "He was made sin," because he felt blasphemy, curse, sin in himself without blasphemy, without curse, without sin, which in us would be blasphemy, curse, and sin, which in truth blasphemed, cursed, and sinned. So even Christ is immersed in all ours, as the 69th Psalm, v. 10., and Rom. 15, 3. says: "The reproach of them that revile thee is fallen upon me."

25 Here the objection is raised: If this is true, Christ does not seem to have loved God with all his might; for since he says, "Why have you forsaken me?" he certainly opposes his will to God's will, as he also says in the garden, "Not as I will, but as you will." [Matth. 26, 39.], where he apparently says that he wants what is contrary to the will of God, so violently that he must break this will of his with great strength, even with bloody sweat, and submit it to the will of God. If we did this, would we not be justly accused of being in conflict with God's will through the highest

had sinned sedition and the greatest disobedience against God?

(26) But here also is the highest and greatest movement of the innocent, weak nature, which we cannot have because we are leavened with vicious self-love; and if we had it, the intervening of this leaven would immediately give rise to rebellion and disobedience. A clean hand touches clean linen and does not defile it; an unclean hand cannot but defile, because everything is clean to the clean, but nothing is clean to the unclean.

Thus Christ loved the Father with all his strength, but those torments, because they went beyond his strength, forced the innocent and weak nature to groan, to cry out, to be frightened and to flee, just as a beam, when it is burdened beyond its strength, cracks (crepat), out of the necessity of nature, not because of its fault. But even if we suffer beyond our strength, we do not love God out of all our strength by suffering even beyond our strength, because the strength is not pure. Do not the damned suffer beyond their strength? And yet, what they make sound (crepant) is blasphemy. Also what Christ suffers is beyond his powers, and yet what he makes heard (crepat) is not blasphemy, but an innocent cry, yet similar to our blasphemy.

(28) But by this we do not deny that Christ was not afflicted and afflicted in any other way than we or the damned, when they feel that they are affrighted and flee from God. For Christ also in His own eyes was like one forsaken, one accursed, a sinner, a blasphemer, a reprobate, though without sin or guilt. For it is not a mockery, or jest, or hypocrisy, that it should be said, "Thou hast forsaken me." He was in truth forsaken in all things, as a sinner is forsaken after he has sinned; though he was not forsaken as a sinner is forsaken before he sins. It is the truth of what happened in Christ, and one must not diminish and empty the revealed words of God out of human presumption.

29 If anyone does not understand this, then

Let him remain with the multitude on this level field, and let the disciples go to Christ on the mountain. For these things in this psalm are not said for all, since not all have the same gifts, nor the same afflictions. The Scripture has milk for the little children in the right place; it also has wine and solid food for the strong. As the weak have their comfort from the Scriptures, so also the strong and those who suffer great things must be given their comfort.

(30) This we have done with many words, so that we may be the more commanded by the grace of faith and the mercy of God, and may know Christ the more fully. For in this verse those are instructed who are tormented with the depths of the abyss and the gates of death, lest they despair; again, those who handle heavenly things and build their nests among the stars, lest they be presumptuous. For if the wrath of the law, namely death and hell, seizes and terrifies anyone, he will be upheld by this verse, as it were, as by a trustworthy rod, mindful of his Lord Christ, who, tempted with the same temptation, learned. To have compassion on all who are afflicted, since it was not because of his affliction, but precisely because of this affliction of ours, that he took these afflictions upon himself with will and knowledge, out of grace, into which [afflictions] we are immersed without our will and without our knowledge, by birth.

(31) For those who are surrounded with the pains of death and hell have no remedy more readily at hand and more secure than the remembrance of this victorious weakness and of Christ, faith and invocation; faith, I say, in which you believe that he has suffered such things for you and for this your need, that he might heal your affliction, and that you confidently invoked him for this very reason, lest he should say of you the word Isa. 49:4, "I have labored in vain, and spent my strength in vain and useless." For how could he not have labored in vain, and done his works in vain, if we did not trust in them, and did not call upon him in due season?

call? Therefore, according to the advice of the evangelists, let us keep the words of this verse, which are highlighted with a very special mark, as it were, since they are even written with Hebrew words, in the innermost heart for the time when we need them.

32 [Vulg. "Far from my help are the words of my howling." How if in this place there were a confusion of words (hypallage)? for which there should have been said: Far from the words of my howling is my help. The meaning of this would be: The help Hori not, it does not come, since it is called by my howling, so far it is, because you have left me. For so the following verse seems to require: "My God, in the day I call, you do not answer", explaining this verse as it were.

But without figure and better for the context, it is understood in such a way that the one who is abandoned by God comes far away from God, with whom alone there is help; but God does not come far away from anyone, since he is present everywhere. Therefore also Christ, both he himself and his words, since God leaves him, comes far away from his help, which was in God and remained near, so that you must imagine a kind of departure of Christ, who turns away very far from God, who leaves him. For to be forsaken by God means to go from life and salvation to the distant region of death and hell, which no one can grasp who is not in the same distress. For who could believe that this could exist together, that salvation in God is very near, and in us exceedingly far? For if it were not near, he would not say, "My God." If it were not far away, he would not say, "You have forsaken me."

34 Therefore we are far from help when we suffer, but he is near to help us. For what is impossible for us and quite desperate for us is possible and easy for him, so that the whole distance is on the side of our suffering, that is, abandoned weakness, which is nothing other than the very feeling of suffering.

35 But, as I have said [§ 29 ff.], we must give this [as a consolation] to those who are in suffering and are subject to the movements of their hear-.

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It is not enough for some of the fathers to have Christ's divinity or humanity speak here, and to understand not Christ's help but that of the people. For one must believe that in this entire psalm Christ speaks as man.

(36) But why does he not say, I am far from my help, but [Vulg.], "The words of my howling," since he did not say: Thou hast forsaken the words of my howling, but "me"? Perhaps to set right or explain what he said, "Thou hast forsaken me." For since God is a God who is near, and not a God who is far away, as Jeremiah [Cap. 23, 23.] says, He does not forsake in such a way that He does not remain near, and hold [us] in His hand, as it says in the 139th Psalm, vv. 8-10. "If I lead to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there also. If I stayed at the uttermost sea, thy right hand would hold me there" etc. Only the movements of the heart and the words of howling are such that they indicate that they are far from God, that is, although He is very near, they do not feel Him. Thus, we seem to be far from each other, while only the movements of the heart, the howling and the words are far from God, that is, as long as they do not feel what they want and desire. But, as I have said, I am under the words of this psalm, I do not grasp them sufficiently, and even if I could grasp them, I would not be able to recite them sufficiently.

37 But he rather says "afar off" than long, because the prophet foretold the vehemence of the torture, not the long duration, knowing that he would only lack a little time of the angels, Ps. 8, 6. [Vulg. Cf. Ps. 8., § 67 f.], namely for three days. But the alien sight and the nuance of this abandonment and remoteness, an unbearable evil, compels him to howl and to raise a strong cry. That is why he did not say "words of crying" but "words of howling", expressing the most bitter and inexpressible groaning of the spirit.

From this part of the verse shines out what we said in 19 ff.] that Christ was made sin for us, that since God forsook him, he was without blame in

He became like your worst sinner in all things, to whom nothing but the wrath of God fell into his conscience and drove him to despair.

39 Those who read: Verba delictorum meorum [with the Vulgate, cf. § 10] (which they may do, since the letter, as in other places, may here be an accidental one), understand it to mean that he made our sins his sins, so that he might make his righteousness our righteousness, as Augustine says. Thus verba delictorum meorum will mean approximately what is now expressed by: the sinner's prayer. Only one should have been careful not to call Christ a sinner, even though he confessed his sins and they had become his own in truth.

(40) Now, if someone wanted to take all of this passage verbs according to Hebrew for "matter" (re) and "trade" (negotio), so that verba delictorum Christi would be the trade and the earned reward (merita) of his sins, I would not object; the earned reward is indeed ours, as well as the sins, but Christ's are the sins and not the reward. For the evil that the sins deserved he bore, and so made foreign sins his own, as Isaiah Cap. 43, 24. says: "Yes, you have made my work in your sins, and have given me trouble in your iniquities.

(41) And this is the rich mystery of divine grace toward sinners, that by a strange change our sins are now no longer our sins, but Christ's, and Christ's righteousness is not Christ's, but our righteousness. For he emptied himself of the same, that he might clothe and fill us with it, and filled himself with ours, that he might empty us of it, so that Christ is now not merely objective (as they say) our righteousness, but also formaliter, just as our sins are not merely in substance (objective) Christ's sins, but also in essence (formaliter). For as he feels pain in our sins and is put to shame, so we find joy and boast in his righteousness; but he bears the pain in them in fact and essentially (formaliter), as we see here.

42. and I too would almost rather read:

Verba delictorum meorum, as: Verba rugitus mei, although of all interpreters only the Septuagint should keep it with me. For here the bridegroom and the bride become one flesh. This mystery can never be sufficiently told, preached, heard, thought, and understood because of the greatness of its riches and glory. It is entirely hidden from all men of this world, even from the wise and prudent, and is revealed only to babes, to whom alone it is a constant memorial by which they live, in which they rejoice and glory. In comparison, the righteousness that comes from the law, even the righteousness that goes unpunished, is a disgraceful filth, dirt and shame, as Phil. 3:8 says.

V. 3. My God, I call by day and you do not answer, nor am I silent by night. 1)

43 And here I wonder where the Septuagint might have taken εις Άνοιαν, ad insipientiam or to nonsense (amentiam), since in this place the Hebrew text contains nothing, neither according to similarity, nor according to the derivation of the words (etymologiae), which could imply nonsense. But it would be a violent spiritual interpretation if one wanted to understand nonsense by "silence," since this is a nonsensical and foolish person who, overcome by suffering, is silent in praising God, while God has commanded that one should sing to Him at night, and He wants to be called upon and praised in tribulation, as it says in the 50th Psalm, v. 15: "Call upon Me in trouble."

44 Our ancestors, especially Augustine, understood this to be a speech, not of the head [Christ], but of the members, who are not heard when they are in tribulation. But this, that they are not heard, serves them for salvation and wisdom, not for condemnation and foolishness, that is, it is good that one not be heard, so that man may learn by experience that God is a physician, which he would not learn, but would remain senseless, if he were heard immediately and not left.

1) Vulgata: D6US IN6U8, elamado per di6m er HOQ 6XLudi68, 6t Q06t6, 6t non ad ill8ixi6ntiLlli mini.

(45) I pass over many other things that have been drawn here by the fathers, all of which are unsound and contradict themselves. For they also labored, but labored nothing, and left us both the words and the mysteries of this psalm unworked. I am looking for the simple meaning, which can also be referred to the head Christ. To him it was profitable that he should not be heard, and the crying which was not heard was not unto him for foolishness, but for wisdom. "For he learned obedience by that which he suffered (as the apostle says in the Epistle to the Hebrews [Cap. 5, 8.])."

46 For it is not as Augustine says that a man learns wisdom when he is not heard, but rather the opposite: when a man has been in tribulation and has been heard, then he learns how good the tribulation is. For those who have been challenged and saved know how good the Lord is, but those who have been challenged and forsaken (which is the point of the words of this verse) do not.

Therefore, we will come to the Hebrew text, which says: "Neither is there silence with me at night. This Jerome, deceived by the Jew Aquila, draws with a great and purposeless (infelici) amount of words that God was not silent against Christ, but heard him, making the meaning of the latter part the opposite of the former, as if God did not hear him by day, but heard him by night.

(48) I say this so that we may know that the holy fathers were men, since this silence refers to Christ, and this is the meaning, that he cried out day and night, and was never heard. For he wants to say, "There is no silence for me," that is, there is no one who hears me, comforts me, and causes my weeping and my crying to be silenced and to cease, but I am forced to cry out without ceasing by day and by night, just as if you were relentless and unforgiving. You do not hear, and I do not cease to cry out; so that this verse contains a repetition of the same thing (sit tautologicus).

49. now Augustine meets more void, because he

about the grace of the New Testament to the Honoratus, at least the general sense of this psalm 1) (although he turns almost every verse and every single word back and forth in a whimsical way), that in this psalm the difference of things in the New and in the Old Testament is described. For these sufferings are peculiar to the new testament, that one may not obtain salvation that he may find a better resurrection, and be forsaken unto death that he may obtain the life to come, as it is also said in Ps. 44:23, "We are slain daily for thy sake, and are esteemed as sheep for the slaughter." Thus the two things belong in the New Testament: death in this life, and life in the glory to come.

50. In contrast, the things of the Old Testament were also suffering, but only in goods and in the body, to the danger of life and poverty. But God gave them fathers, judges, military leaders, kings, through whom he saved them and preserved them in this life and the goods of this world, so that their leaders were leaders of earthly life, riches and earthly glory, as the leaders of the church can be called leaders of death, lack and shame. Not as if there were not also in that testament people who excelled in the things of the New Testament, but that it was so with the condition of the whole people, in which there were some people who were like the figure of the New Testament, as the prophets who were killed by the wicked; yes, Abel was the first member of the New Testament, just as, on the other hand, in the New Testament many excel in the things of the Old Testament, suffering many things and yet overcoming in this life. But the condition of the New Testament itself is such that it has only the defeated, the slain, the desecrated and the forsaken.

51] This is why he cries out here that he is abandoned, far from help, that he is not heard, that he is not silent, and yet afterwards [v. 4 ff], comparing the things of the Old Testament with himself, he says that those cried out and were heard, that they had hoped.

1) Cf. Ps. 8:s72.

and were saved, that they had hoped and were not put to shame; just the opposite of all this happened to him and his own.

52) Since Christ is the prince and the beginning of the new testament and the head of the new people, that is, of the people that is to be killed, abandoned and defiled, and as the title [of this psalm] says, the hind of this dawn, he also had to experience and suffer this first of all, that he was abandoned and not heard, and thus showed the new appearance of things and the new form of the people to the world, which no one before him was able to do, however much he might have been of the same form. For it was reserved for him, after the Holy Spirit was sent into the world, not only to die himself, but also to show publicly that the condition of his people was like him, and that his whole church would not suffer for a time like the synagogue, but would die and be buried entirely with him.

By this one gets a clear view into the horrible spectacle that today under the rule of the pope in the whole world not even a trace of the church is left, at least as far as one can see, but that that corrupter, the Antichrist, has devastated everything and has not even left the form of the synagogue, and has rebuilt everywhere more than worldly form, and has rebuilt Jericho, which was once cursed [Jos. 6, 26.], rebuilt it, about which he lost his first and his youngest son [1 Kings 16, 34.].

(54) Now it remains how this is to be understood, that Christ cried by day and by night, since he cried this out only once at the ninth hour on the cross; and I do not allow that any part of this psalm is said of Christ in the person of his members, which many of the fathers have asserted, but I will draw it all on his own person. We can say, since in Hebrew the indicative of the future tense is used as an optative, that in this place it is an optative by its force, which emphatically indicates the movement of the heart of the one who is forsaken, in this way: So utterly hast thou forsaken me, and so far from

My help are the words of my howling, that though I may cry or cry day and night, yet my crying would be in vain, because thou hearest not; and I cannot keep silence, but must perforce die and go down to hell; wherewith he again confesses that he feels eternal wrath.

V. 4. But thou art holy, who dwellest under the praise of Israel. 1)

The Hebrew text reads word for word like this: Et tu sanctus, habitator, laudes Israel, where according to the Hebrew peculiarity in the second part of the verse the conjunction et must be inserted, in this way: Habitator et laudes Israel. For the prophet says in the plural agitator, hymns, poems, songs. He praises God with three names: "You are holy", and "you who dwell", and "the praise of Israel". But what will be the meaning? I hold that this is said in a quarrel, in this way: I am forsaken and made far off, I am given into the hands of sinners, and subject to all evils, as he says below [v. 7.], "I am a worm and. no man, a mockery of men and contempt of the people." But thou art holy, honorable, and unapproachable, who hast set thy tabernacle on high, that no evil may befall thee [Ps. 91:10].

56. for in this way that which is set apart is called holy in the Scriptures, and is kept away from with fear and reverence, and is not approached sacrilegiously; as it happened to Moses at the fiery bush, Ex 3:5: "Remove your shoes, for the place where you are standing is a holy land." And 1 Sam. 6, 20: "Who can stand before the Lord, such a holy God?" Jos. 24, 19.: "You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God." The Hebrew text has: XXXXX XXXXX XX in the plural.

(57) So to be holy and to be a worm, to be separate and not to be a man, to be unapproachable and to be a mockery of men and a contempt of the people, is very strong against each other; this serves to make the complaint great.

58. similarly, that he calls him: "The

1) Vulgate: 1a untern in saneto üuditas, luns Israel.

you dwell," that is, you are one who sits securely in peace and quiet, while he, on the other hand, is forsaken, in fear, flight, and unrest, is extremely frightened, has nowhere to go, and, as he says, cannot be silent, for there was no peace in his bones [Ps. 38:4]. It is a great sensation of anguish peculiar to this affliction, and known to none who have not experienced it, as Hezekiah also, who suffered the same, complains, Isa. 38:11, saying, "I said, Now must I no more see the Lord, yea, the Lord in the land of the living; now must I no more behold men with them that live in their time."

59 But he says, "The praise of Israel," because, as we 49 ff. have said, and will become clear from the following verses, so dealt with the people of Israel that he always saved them in life, and did not let them go to death and hell; and the prophet seems to have taken this passage from the words of Moses, Ex. 15:2: "The Lord is my strength and my praise, and is my salvation." But he left Christ in such a way that he had to go to death, where there is no one to remember him [Ps. 6, 6.], and to hell, where no one gives thanks and praise to God. Thus also Hezekiah speaks, since he says in the above-mentioned passage [Isa. 38, 18.]: "For hell does not praise you, so death does not praise you."

(60) And here we see clearly that Christ suffered the punishment due to sins, and that he tasted death and hell. For for what reason and necessity should he call God "the praise of Israel" if this had not happened, because he, most vividly affected by the sensation of the torment of hell, feared that he would not be like the praising Israel, and would not be able to say: "The Lord is my strength and my praise, and is my salvation"? For this is the greatest concern of those who suffer this fear, that they would curse and blaspheme God with the damned, to whom they feel themselves made like, as we have seen in the 6th Psalm, v. 6.

(61) And since here he cites strange praise and is silent about his praise, he shows how close and similar he is to the damned who curse. And just this also increases the

1248 L. xvi, 259-261. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 4-6. w. iv. i662-ie66. 1249

Lamentation and the pain that Israel, which has been saved so many times, has praised the Lord, but He, completely forsaken, has come into danger not to praise but to curse.

62. So he struggles in a great battle to endure with Israel as a praiser, even though he is not preserved with Israel, and to grant God holiness, even though he is defiled by the hands of sinful men and devils as the most worthless thing on earth, and that he praise God as the one who dwells in tranquility, even though he is most frightened by the most inactive fear and the most restless movements of his heart, and is like dust before the wind, which has nowhere to dwell nor to abide.

63 Our Latin translation can easily be drawn to this opinion, since it is the same "dwell in the sanctuary" as "be holy" and one "who dwells there. But the fact that the Hebrew text has laudes Israel where we have laus Israel is due to the peculiarity of the languages. For he wants to show that Israel has often been saved, so that it praises God, but he is completely abandoned, so that he cannot praise as a dead and damned person, since the dead (as the wise man says [Sirach, Cap. 17, 26.]), as those who are no more, cannot praise. And this lamentation he now carries out more extensively and richly, saying:

V. 5. 6. Our fathers hoped in you, and because they hoped, you helped them out. They cried out to you and were saved; they hoped in you and were not put to shame.

64. These words are very similar to those that come from hatred and grumbling against God. For, although he is the same God, yet he heard and saved the fathers who hoped in him and cried out to him, but this one, who hopes in him and cries out to him, he rejects and abandons. For it is a very grievous thing, and a cause of great despair and cursing, that the same God should deal differently with one than with another, without any fault on his part; for such is the mind of him who is oppressed by this temptation.

It has a strong and great appearance, as if there is not a little unrighteousness in God. For so also the damned shall be God's...

accuse that, although everything is the same in men, he saves some and abandons others, only according to his will. You see, then, how here in Christ the temptation to blaspheme and curse looks through. For he was challenged in all things. And this very feeling, without his having consented to this challenge, compels him to break out into these words, so that he may overcome this challenge of ours in himself.

(66) Therefore, you are rightly the praise of Israel, because you have saved them so many times, since they hoped in you, making you their psalm and their song. But what are you to me, who also hope in you and cry out to you? He does not dare to say: You are not my praise; and yet this does not happen, by which he could be his praise. Thus he seems to consume within himself the temptation to blaspheme, which seemed almost to burst forth, swinging as it were between praise and blasphemy, and falling silent. For here the rod of comfort has fallen away, on which the people of Israel leaned and sang, Ps. 119, 52: "O Lord, when I remember how thou hast judged, I shall be comforted." And Ps. 77, 12. 13.: "I remember the deeds of the Lord, yea, I remember thy former wonders, and speak of all thy works, and tell of thy doings." Ps. 143, 5. "I remember the former times, I speak of all thy deeds, and say of the works of thy hands." For, armed with these thoughts, they overcame all evil, just as the people did 1 Macc. 4, 9.: "Remember how our fathers were saved."

67 But this hope is cut off from Christ and the Christians as it were from a weaver, and it is said to them, "Those have been saved, but you are forsaken," or as Peter says, 1 Pet. 4:1: "Because Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind." It is a different suffering, a different comfort, a different help in the New Testament. So Christ goes back to the deeds of the Lord, and remembers his previous miracles, and says of his deeds [Ps. 77, 12. f.], but through this he does not gain any comfort, yes, he is even more afflicted, since everything is just the opposite; which tortures a fearful conscience unspeakably.

68 For just as it is said with truth: It is a joy to the miserable when they have comrades in their sufferings, and the example of someone who has suffered the same is very comforting, as Peter also says, 1 Pet. 5:9: "Know that these same sufferings are upon your brethren in the world," so on the other hand, being alone and suffering without an example, especially when it is inflicted by God's cause (which is felt by the one who suffers it), is a dreary torture. For here, the "evil eye" (as they say) is afflicted by the well-being of others and by its misery and is greatly indignant against God, as we read that it also happened to Job, who did not sin in all this, nor did he speak anything foolish against God; which was certainly an exceedingly great praise of his faith [Job 1:22].

69) But that he repeats so often: "They hoped", "they hoped", "they cried out", "they hoped", "you helped them out", "they were saved", "they were not put to shame", I believe it is because of the severity of the challenge, which this new way of their suffering, compared to the former adversities of the fathers, cannot sufficiently weep.

70 But if someone wants to distribute this to different times of the fathers, I have nothing against it. Perhaps this verse: "Our fathers hoped in you, and because they hoped, you helped them out," can be applied to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who, because they hoped in the Lord, were miraculously saved and preserved, as the 105th Psalm, v. 13-15, says: "And they went from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another nation. He let no man harm them, and punished kings for their sakes. Do not touch my anointed ones, and do not harm my prophets." And Deut. 32:10: "He led him and guarded him as the apple of his eye. "etc.

71 The other verse: "To you they cried and were delivered," may refer to the exodus of the people from Egypt and to the judges in Israel. For it is written of the children of Israel in Egypt [Ex. 2:23] that they cried unto the Lord, and their cry came before the Lord. In the book of Judges it is often said [Cap. 3, 9]: "Then they cried out to the Lord, and He raised up for them a

Savior who delivered them," so that Ps. 106:43.1 ) is said of the same: "He often delivered them."

(72) What is left: "They hoped in you and were not put to shame" refers to the time of the kings, especially Samuel, Saul and David, when this people happily accomplished many glorious things by trusting in their Lord, and were not only not oppressed to the point of crying out, as in the time of the judges, but spread their dominion everywhere as victors.

For this reason he also says: "They have not been put to shame," that is, they have come to glory and have been exalted, so that we must understand it in such a way that Christ understands in these three pieces [v. 5, v. 6a and v. 6b] all the histories of the fathers, from Abraham to Himself, in which the miraculous deeds of God shone forth, so that He might become the praise of Israel.

74) It is also to be noted, 2) that he says: "Our fathers", making himself like one of that people, because of the assumption of the flesh, according to which he was a right and natural son of the fathers, but not fleshly nor naturally begotten.

V. 7. But I am a worm and not a man, a mockery of men and a scorn of the people.

(75) That Christ is called "a worm" in this passage, that is, that he was born of the mother alone without a father, without man's assistance, "and not a man," that is, that he is God, as some of the fathers would have it, seems to me to be said here untimely, since he does not indicate here the manner of his birth, nor of his nature, but of his suffering as a pure man.

76. but I think he adopted the common way of speaking, after which we are accustomed to call those worms and maggots, which we call very despised and rejected, as also Job 25,3 ) 6. is said: "How much less a man, the maggot, and the child of man, the worm?" And Isa. 41, 14.: "So fear

1) In the issues: 77.

follows the former reading in his translation.

3) In the Latin editions: Liod 15.

not, you little worm Jacob, you poor heap Israel." Again Job 17:14: "I call corruption my father, and the worms my mother and my sister."

For (to follow my spirit) a worm is not only a thing from which nothing can be hoped for and which cannot be used, but also something disgusting and an abomination, which is born in rottenness and stink, and lives and dwells in it.

78) Thus Christ, who was abandoned in shameful suffering, like a worm in rottenness, had no hope anymore, and was no longer of any use in the eyes of men, even an abomination and an abomination, because of the great repulsiveness and shame of the cross, just as the whole church, which is in despair because of similar suffering, as we have seen, is called a worm in Isaiah [Cap. 41, 14]. For this 1) verse depicts the attitude of men, who are angered and offended by the sufferings of Christ, for although these men seem good, the suffering and cross of Christ and His own stink before them, and are as filthy as a worm and decay, and are an abomination to them, as Moses exemplified when he fled from his staff, which was turned into a serpent, Ex. 4, 3.

(79) According to the same manner of speaking of the common man, he says: "And no man"; where the spirit was careful not to put the name of nature but that of power, lest someone should raise the slander that here the truthfulness of human nature is denied. For so we also say in our mother tongue of people who are very weak or despised: "[He] is no more worthy of a man." And Isaiah, Cap. 53, 3, calls him the most worthless among men, in order to express his weakness and uselessness among men, where he again speaks according to the attitude of men who contemplate the suffering of Christ, in whose eyes he already has no more value (virtutis), is not to be counted for a man, and seems to be completely lost.

80 But this he says (as he has indicated [§ 55]).

1) Jenaer and Erlanger: esss instead of: ists.

has caught) in the manner of a hader. He speaks: The fathers hoped, and you saved and preserved them; but me, who cries out and hopes, you trust so that I am a worm and not a man in the eyes of all, because those (as Augustine correctly interprets in this passage) again obtained salvation in this life; but the Lord was scourged, and no one came to his aid, he was scourged, and no one interceded for him, he was crowned with thorns, and no one took care of him, he was put on the cross, no one saved him. This is what Augustine says. For there was nothing of power in him, so that no man has been so forsaken. And not enough.

81. "The fathers hoped in you, and were not put to shame," yea, they are set in honor and made famous in all the world, as it is said of David, 2 Sam. 7, 9: "I have made you a great name, like the name of the great men of the earth." But Christ has become a mockery (opprobrium) of the people and contempt (abjectio) of the people, that is, such a thing which men flee as a disgrace, and are wont to wish upon others as something evil. As if he wanted to say: I have become a proverb and an example with which one wishes evil.

For opprobrium must be taken here as active and passive, namely, that by which men are reviled, and that by which they revile or revile one another, and one wishes evil upon another. Thus abjectio [rejection] is that by which they are rejected and reprobate, or despised and despise, which Paul 1 Cor. 4:13. states more clearly: "We are always as a curse of the world, and a sweep-offering of all men."

83. thus Christ became a curse, so that his disciples could not be reviled with any greater insult than that they were Christians, as Ps. 31:12 says: "I have become a great reproach to my neighbors, and an abomination to my kinsmen." And Ps. 88, 9: "My friends thou hast put far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them." And Ps. 69:9: "I am become a stranger to my brothers, and unknown to my mother's children."

For to this day and to the end of the world this mockery and contempt of Christ continues, which Paul calls the vexation of the cross of Christ, so that there are few who are not ashamed of him before men and are not offended at him, which did not happen with the fathers, who, saved from death, especially the ignominious death, always remained in honor and great esteem among men.

But we must pay attention to the emphasis of the words, and at the same time to the horror they evoke and the consolation they contain. He mentions "the people" and "the people" to whom he has become a mockery and a scorn. Who is not of the people? Who is not of the people? Who, then, does not take offense at Christ? It brings horror to look carefully at these words, and yet it is a comfort to know them for those who suffer similarly. The prudence of the flesh, the free will, the reason that has the best in mind, the natural powers and the like pretensions of men, what do they do? They consider Christ to be the highest disgrace, mockery, shame and curse. This is their preparation for grace. Where is the evidence of quantity, greatness and length on which the sophists rely, these wretched enemies of God's grace?

So you see that a confessor of Christ and a preacher of the gospel of God must be of such a nature that he is not surprised if all the people and the whole nation detest him and consider him an abomination; indeed, if they do not consider him an abomination, he is not yet a perfect confessor of Christ. For the proof of his salvation is that he is a mockery of men and a contempt of the people. For so also Jeremiah laments Cap. 20, 8: "The word of the Lord has become a mockery and derision to me daily." And Christ says [Matth. 10, 22.]: "You must be hated by everyone because of my name." And Matt. 5:11: "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you, for my sake."

87 And it is to be noted that he speaks of the people and the people in an evil sense and in diminutive speech (per tapinosin), as.

Joh. 2, 25: "For he knew well what was in man." For he speaks of those whom we, as people generally do, consider to be good and godly people, since we see that they also applaud and adhere to the truth; as in Christ's time the common people praised and glorified God because of all the things that he did in a glorious way, as the gospels teach.

For as long as the truth reigns in glory and progresses happily, they pursue it with great heat and are favorable to it. Christ pictured these people in the likeness of the seed that fell on the rock, "which went out and withered, because it had no sap," Luc. 8:6. For this is how he himself depicts them, speaking [v. 13]: "But those who are on the rock are those who, when they hear it, receive the word with joy; and they have no root; for a time they believe, and in time of temptation they fall away." And Joh. 2, 23-25. he describes them very well: "Now when he was in Jerusalem at the feast of Easter, many believed in his name, because they saw the signs which he did. But Jesus did not trust himself to them, for he knew them all, and had no need that any man should bear witness of any man, for he knew well what was in man."

89. even though these people do not persecute the truth and are sorry when it is suppressed, they do not stand by it, but are ashamed of it, afraid, abandon it, keep silent and let it be suppressed, as we have quoted from the 31st Psalm, v. 12: "I am ashamed of my relatives", of whom Christ says Matth. 10, 32: "Whoever confesses me before men, him will I also confess before my heavenly Father. Luc. 9, 26.: Whoever is ashamed of me before men, I will also be ashamed of him before the angels of God. Therefore he calls them "people" and "nation" as if he wanted to say: "They are men and the useless multitude."

90. At the same time, we learn how shameful it is before God to be no more than "one man" and "one people," and how few there are.

1) In the Latin editions: ks. 68.

1256 L-xvr. 267-269. Works on the first 23 Psalms. Ps. 22, 7-9. w. IV, 1677-1680. 1257

who boast of the cross of our Lord. For these are not "men" but gods, not "people" but hosts. Therefore God is called the Lord of hosts, that is, of the choicest warriors of the people; but people is the yeast and the great multitude of cowardly men.

So "a mockery of the people and contempt for the people" must be taken both in the genitive and in the dative, that Christ is a mockery to the people and of the people, a contempt for the people and the people, so that we understand both the active and the passive meaning by it. And it is said in the Vulgate] quite appropriately plebis rather than populi, namely according to Latin usage, because plebs is a part and the lowest rabble of any crowd, but populus denotes the whole crowd, in which the princes and nobles are included. And also the prophet has not put here the word which indicates power, XXX, but which indicates nature, XXX, in that he does not say a mockery of XXXX, but a mockery of XXX, that is, of that earthly multitude of men in whom only the natural sense rules, without power and grace. Therefore to these people Christ is a mockery and a contempt; for thus he [the interpreter of the Vulgate] translated these words in the 119th Psalm, v. 22.: Aufer a me opprobrium et contemtum. But what he is to the persecutors and oppressors follows:

V. 8. 9. All who see me mock me, open their mouths, and shake their heads: let him complain to the Lord, and let him be saved, if he has a desire for him.

To them it is not a mockery and contempt, because they are not ashamed of it, since they have never accepted it, but a laughter and a mockery. The rage of these people causes him to be a mockery and a scorn to those who are weak.

And one must especially note the order that before he lists the evils he suffers, he complains about the blasphemies, and before these about the public contempt of men, but above all about the abandonment of God, which is indeed also here the order of the sufferings, according to their severity. For the blasphemy of the persecutors is

more terrible than the persecution itself, which increases the public contempt of the people, since there is no one to give him even a consolation. But above all this, there is the affliction that God Himself does not even comfort the one who suffers in such a way, who is blasphemed, despised and considered an abomination, since He is the last refuge of the wretched.

(94) Therefore, although there was almost no order in the sufferings of Christ, since the Jews raged against him and did everything without order (confuse) against him, he nevertheless put them in order beautifully, starting from the most severe sufferings and proceeding to the end of all his sufferings, namely to his resurrection and the glory of his kingdom. Therefore, this verse follows the preceding one in a puffing manner, as it says:

95. "All who see me mock me." Not that his mother and relatives also ridiculed him, but he says this out of a general feeling, because he sees that he is a public mockery and abomination, whom no one dares to comfort or protect. In this way of speaking Ps. 6, 8. is said: "My form has grown old, because I am frightened everywhere." So also here: There is no one to protect me or comfort me, so much do they all not only frighten me, but also laugh at the one who is frightened. In such a situation we would also say: "Are they all mocking me? Is there no one to comfort me?" Not as if there were no one favorable to him, but that he does not feel nor experience this favor, and the expression of this feeling or experience is this: "All who see me mock me."

Here, too, one could assume a synecdoche, that "all" stands for: many of them, which is a frequent figure in the Holy Scriptures; but in my judgment, the former conception indicates more completely how the sufferer is to be understood.

97) The word: "Those who see me" has a special emphasis and weight, because this is the worst kind of blasphemy, when someone is publicly ridiculed to his face, and the insults are hurled in his face. For it is easier to make the mockeries and vituperations...

1258 xvi, 269-271. interpretations on the psalms. W. iv, iwo-isss. 1259

But when you see it and are seen and cannot turn your face away from the scoffers, that is a great anguish of heart.

98. but what a mockery that had been, follows: "They open their mouths and shake their heads." More appropriately [than: Locuti sunt labiis in the Vulgate] Jerome translates: Demittunt labium, for this word actually designates the gesture of a scoffer who, with lower lip pulled down and stretched forward, opens his mouth against the one whom he scorns. But our Latin interpreter, because in the Scriptures "to open the mouth" means to speak, translated: "With their lips they spoke." But this passage has another verbum which means to open. By these words, however, the excessive defiance of those who rage is expressed, which also increases the tribulation not a little, since the raging, after the victory, as it were, has already been won, can have no cause to persecute the sufferer, since he himself is already martyred by the highest fear.

99. But these two verses are explicitly mentioned by the evangelists in reference to Christ, so that our work is not necessary here. For it says Matth. 27, 39. 43: "Those who passed by blasphemed Him and shook their heads, saying: He trusted in God; now deliver him, let him be lulled; for he said, I am the Son of God."

In passing, it should be noted that the evangelists do not describe almost any part of the suffering of the Lord in more powerful words than this mockery and blasphemy, the insulting speeches and all that is said in these verses. But also the words of these verses show sufficiently the power and force of these fiery and terrifying arrows. For they say at repeated times, and by incessantly penetrating upon him [Vulg. v. 9.], "He hoped in the Lord," and again, "He help him out," and again, "He deliver him," and again, "For he hath pleasure in him," by repeatedly mocking his assurance that he will be helped, they oppose the insurmountable barrage that help is denied him. For it is unbelievable with how many and indeed with how many

His heart was shaken by these words, and his heart was shaken by these words.

These are the fiery arrows of πο^οΰ, that is, of the most godless adversary, of which Paul teaches Eph. 6:16. For what greater act of violence is there than to make the hope in God waver, and not only to make it waver, but not only to tell of it as if it were already overthrown and completely void, but also to rejoice in it, to speak of it scornfully, and to make a mockery of it?

Furthermore, the greatest torture is that they reproach him with God's unchanging providence, or rather with God's hatred, saying: "Does he take pleasure in him? For even this they do not simply hold against him, which would have been superfluous enough evil, but they mock and ridicule him. For one must believe that these exceedingly fiery darts of the arch-villains did not merely strike Christ in the ears, but that they penetrated with exceedingly violent impetuosity into the marrow and into the innermost heart. For this was necessary for our sake, that these evils might be overcome in Christ and made harmless to us.

103. And since this passage prompts, and the matter is useful, we must digress a little, that we may obtain from this psalm the right usage of these things for the time when we have need of them. And above all, we must recognize and give thanks that Christ has made all these sufferings not only harmless, but also holy and salutary through Himself, by taking them upon Himself and feeling them in His completely good and completely holy heart, so that henceforth whoever is a Christian is all the happier and more blessed, the more similar and the more such sufferings he endures, but unhappy and completely alien from Christ, whoever obstinately throws them away and flees them. For here is fulfilled what is said in Malachi Cap. 2, 2. is fulfilled: I will bless your curse and curse your blessing.

104 For since he sanctified all waters by the touch of his very pure flesh for the baptism of regeneration, how much more must it be believed that by the touch of his very pure will and spirit he sanctified all these strong streams of water, suffering and

1260 2- xvi, 271-273. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 8. 9. w. iv, lE-E. 1261

I have sanctified you for entrance into eternal bliss!

In short, the whole world is a treasure of holy relics for the Christian. Since we honor the common relics everywhere with festivals, pomp, and feasts, how much more should we also honor these much holier ones, which have also made those relics holy, with due pomp, namely, with spiritual pomp, which is praise and thanksgiving in the midst of these evils or rather of these very best goods, as the 34th Psalm, v. 2, says: "I will praise the Lord at all times. For by this praise alone are these relics honored, not by gold, not by purple, not by precious stones.

Thus, from this picture (tabula), the last war is depicted, which we fight in death with the devil and even with God Himself and all creatures, where Satan attacks us, as with the last, so also with the best equipped troops. For here he does not urge us to despair, knowing that we will be stimulated by such an attack to resist him, but he attacks the resistance itself, and endeavors to suppress our attempt to draw hope by ridiculing our hope as one that has long since vanished (victam).

This does not happen in other temptations, where hope and faith fight the battle. Here faith and hope, which are to fight, are opposed, and because of the quarrel is a quarrel, a war must be repelled with another war, one must fight in order to be able to fight, and offer resistance to the one who dissuades from resistance, and it must be overcome with greater effort the one who dissuades from waging war than the one who forces to wage war.

Oh, dear God, what do those saints of works and lawmakers want to do here, who deal with their own righteousness, who have never known what faith and the Word are, since here the righteous will hardly be blessed who knows the power of the Word and faith correctly?

(109) What then shall a righteous soul do when it is surrounded by these afflictions? It should remember its Lord, who said [Matth.

10, 24]: "The disciple is not above his master." If he has called and has not been heard, and has heard all this that is said here, let it be a joy to him, or at least let him have patience, that such things also befall the servant.

110. And let us see the whole larva of Satan, with which he undertakes to cause despair in those who are dying. The first is, that he [the dying] is seen of all; the second, that he is mocked; the third, that the mouth is opened against him; the fourth, that the head is shaken; the fifth, that he must hear, "He complaineth unto the Lord, and he helpeth him out;" the sixth, "He delivereth him, hath he pleasure." Here one could speak the word, Job 5:19: "Out of six tribulations he will deliver thee, and in the seventh no evil shall touch thee."

The first horror of the soul is when its eyes are opened and it feels that it is exposed and made manifest before all creatures with the shame of its entire evil life, and that here also the soul, which was very good and honorable in the world, is found to be hideous and full of shame, and finds no hiding place or refuge where it could hide or cover itself. For she now goes out, and after she has gone out, she is stripped of all fleshly creatures like a garment, and must now see and be seen all the things of her shame, however hidden. Then the wicked, who cling firmly to this garment of theirs and desire it, refuse with the utmost reluctance to be uncovered, and yet cannot resist [Hof. 10, 8.], say, "Ye mountains, cover us; and ye hills, fall upon us." Then the soul feels what it means to say, "All who see me." "For [Luc. 12, 2. 3.] there is nothing hid, that shall not be made manifest, nor secret, that shall not be known. Therefore, what you say (let alone do) in darkness will be heard in the light; what you speak into the ear in the chambers will be preached on the housetops."

The second horror is when they mock, for they not only do not cover up, but they mock. Not as if the good crea-

But because it seems to the godless souls or to those who suffer such things, as if everything leaves them, and that one does not have mercy on them at all, so that it seems as if one also mocks them, as is shown in the wise virgins, Matth. 25, 9, who mock the foolish, saying: "Not so, lest it break us and you. But go ye to the merchants, and buy for yourselves."

For since the soul is burdened with shame through evil works and ungodly life, every glance of the whole creature that it casts upon the creature, or the creature upon it, becomes, as it were, a voice that detests its evil life, reproaches it, and laughs at its foolishness, that it has not done otherwise and deserved better while it was in life. And so they [the creatures], with unbearable comparison of their righteousness and the soul's unrighteousness, will place the soul most shamefully mocked in the midst of all, just as the Jews placed Christ against themselves, as if they were righteous, as an exceedingly ungodly man among the wicked, mocked by all people. Most of all, however, the devils afflict the soul with the most frightening thoughts of this kind, and make it weary.

The third terror is this: When these two are too few, and the soul, strong by faith, has either suffered or overcome them, they take greater things, and begin to act the matter with the very most violent terrors, and the arrows of the holy Scriptures. But they only cite such sayings, which contain threats and instill terror, with gruesome examples of the wrath of God, as are [Matth. 12, 36.]: "Men must give account at the last judgment of every useless word." Likewise [Ps. 140, 12.]: "A wicked man shall be cast out and overthrown." Likewise [Matt. 23:13], "Woe unto you, hypocrites!" and all such harsh words and actions directed against the ungodly. Now, after this sentence (majore) has been taken as a basis, it is easy and follows from it, since every man's own and natural weakness and timidity of conscience also helps to make the

Put the lower part (minorem) under it and say: You are such a person! That is what he says here: "You open your mouth.

(115) For I follow here the well-fitting opinion of those who interpret the two lips as the two testaments. The lower lip is the word of the law, which, although it in itself causes wrath, increases sin, and is a word of death, the terrible two-edged sword of the cherub, which prevents entrance into paradise, is nevertheless twisted by the cunning and wickedness of the devils in this challenge, and is presented in appearance as far more unshapely and terrifying than it is in itself. For this is why he [the devil] is also called a leviathan, because he magnifies our sins, and also hangs his censure on that which is well done, leaving nothing but the highest degree worthy of accusation, out of all power, as much as he can. He who has once felt this, understands easily what I say, like Job, who speaks [Cap. 6, 4.]: "The arrows of the Almighty are in me, the same fury is drinking out of my spirit," although he was innocent, even according to God's own testimony; and again [Job 13, 9.]: "My adversary glares at me with his eyes." Our Latin translation can also be drawn from this: "They have spoken with their lips," that is, only with the letter of death and terror, not also with the spirit of life and comfort.

116) The fourth terror is that he shakes his head, 1) that is, when the soul endeavors to help itself even by the comfort of the upper lip, that is, by the word of the gospel of Christ, who is the head of all, against the fierce arrow of the angry and deadly law, which has been hurled in an ungodly and perverse manner, Satan opposes it and makes this head waver and doubt. For though the lips and the heads of the godless Jews were wicked, yet they do not unrighteously show the

1) Latin: vum movvt capM. For the understanding of this and the following paragraphs it is to be noted that these words are used here in a twofold way, namely, first, that the devil and his servants shake their heads; second, that they make the head of the believers, Christ, wavering and uncertain.

evil use of a good thing, since both are good works of God, although they are put into evil use by the wicked. Thus, the good law and the good gospel can be used by the devils in an evil and wrong way, especially in the last hour, when they do not want to leave anything wholesome and whole for the wretched soul.

But they do not cast away the head, but move it. For Christ is our righteousness, 1 Cor. 1:30, of which we constantly boast by faith, as if it were our own, since our righteousness is not sufficient for the law and cannot stand in this hour. And yet he takes it upon himself to move this head for us, and to stretch out the lower lip of the law so much that it protrudes above the upper lip of the gospel, and the soul begins to waver in Christ; not as if it believed that he is not the head, but that it doubts whether he is a head to it, since by this movement and doubt it is already like a head that is to be thrown away.

For the scoffers are wont to stretch forth their lips and shake their heads at the same time, that it may be seen how the wrath of the law, when it is exaggerated and made too great, shakes and trembles even the strongest faith in Christ, as we see in the dying. But this shaking torments the soul with unbelievable torture, since it is in danger of losing Christ, in whom alone lies its salvation. So they also made Christ's head, that is God, stagger, so that he cried out like a staggering man: XXXXXX

119 And not only by the word of the law, which is the lower lip, do they move this head, but by far the most by the gospel, which is the upper lip. This is done by this and similar words [John 6:44], "No man can come unto me, except the Father draw him." And again [Matth. 15, 13.]: "All plants, which my heavenly Father does not plant, they are cut off." Likewise of the seed that fell on the stone-rich. For by these flashes the soul is so shaken that it doubts whether its faith was planted by God.

or feigned out of natural forces. For in this way she is deprived of the consolation of the gospel in Christ, which the scoffers indicate by sticking out their lower lip and at the same time pulling back their upper lip and grasping it between their teeth.

The fifth terror is when the soul thinks that Christ does nothing but what God has ordained, and hears the word [Matth. 15, 24]: "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and again [v. 26]: "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. Here Christ is taken away, and it is denied that he is the head fei, and it is hoped in God alone who will procure that Christ be restored to her. Here the matter is dealt with without a mediator, and disputes about God's good pleasure and will, to which Christ refers, saying the word [Sir. 24, 12. 13. Vulg.]: "And he that created me rested in my tabernacle, and said unto me, In Jacob shalt thou dwell, and in Israel shall be thine inheritance, and in my elect shalt thou take root." Here it is decided that Christ is to be the head only in the elect, and that according to the unchangeable commandment of God; where it now comes to the highest danger of oversight. This is what they say here: "Let him complain to the Lord, and he will help him out," as if they wanted to say: That Christ is not yours, you now see, because you are forsaken, and it is doubtful whether God counts you among the number of those whose head is Christ. From this doubt it goes on to the extreme evil that follows.

The sixth and last terror is the decision of the previous one, that he is not provided. And as by the preceding terror the gates of hell are opened, and the taste of hell is felt, so by this last terror he is already thrust in and swallowed up, and the pit wants to close its mouth upon him, and his soul almost already dwells in hell. This is what they do, since they say, "Let him be saved, if he has a desire for him." For they do not say par excellence, If he will, can, or knows [to save], but "hath he a desire," and not only, "hath he air," but they add, "To

him," since no one can doubt that God can save, knows how to do it, and wants to do it; but whether he wants to save him, they strive to make him doubtful, even to nothing. Here, then, he is counted among the wrongdoers and the lost children, and then the wretched man feels nothing else. Here, blasphemies and grumbling and curses are near the door, and one begins to judge God as unjust, terrible and cruel, and whatever else accompanies these evils.

So what should a soul do here that is completely filled with fear and completely overcome? Above all, it should be careful not to argue with its thoughts and the devils about these things and not to answer their objections, but to turn a deaf ear to them and let them pass by, as those people do, Dan. 3:15-18. 3:15-18 When the king of Babylon said to them, "Let us see who is the God who will deliver you out of my hand," they said, "There is no need for us to answer you. Behold, our God, whom we honor, is able to deliver us out of the fiery furnace, and also to deliver us out of your hand. And if he will not, know that we do not honor your gods.

Thus, a godly soul of God must not want to know what God has secretly decided about it, nor must it investigate the majesty, lest it be crushed by the glory, Proverbs 25:27, nor admit that it is tempted to do this impossible thing, that it wants to exhaust the inexhaustible sea of divine wisdom, and tempt God. For this is what the devils want to bring about by insisting that man should desire to be certain of his election (praedestinatione) and to be troubled with it. "A dangerous presumption is this!"

So Christ is completely silent, and does not even answer a syllable to the blasphemies, as an example to us, so that we also do the same. For we, too, will not be able to overcome this evil in any other way than the way Christ overcame it. Although it is difficult to remain silent here, to be still and allow the extremely challenging and biting speeches before

we have to make an effort, because there is no other way, and listen to the word, Is. 7, 4: "Beware, and be still", and Cap. 30:15: "By being still and hoping you will be strong," and Lamentations Jeremiah 3:26, 28, 29: "It is a precious thing to be patient and to hope in the help of the Lord; that a forsaken man may be patient when a thing overtakes him, and put his mouth in the dust and wait for hope." For this exceedingly salutary silence Satan cannot endure without the highest displeasure, and endeavors to hinder it with the highest impetuosity. Therefore, one should never lose sight of the example of Christ.

125 Then let faith be used to fight against faith. For since faith deals with things that are not seen, and since there is a certain confidence in things that are hoped for [Heb. 11:1], this presumption of investigating the majesty resists it fiercely, and even assaults faith. [To admit that God can save and knows how to do it is not faith in this hour, for it is quite obviously felt through experience. Likewise, that St. Peter will be saved according to God's will, and likewise all the saints and the elect, is no longer believed, but known. But that he wants to make you and me blessed, that is not before our eyes, nor should it be before our eyes. This is an incomprehensible will and shall be.

Therefore, only faith is necessary here, and such faith that does not doubt that God does and will do with it what is completely righteous, whether it saves or destroys. For here the honor and praise of God remains in our mouths, since we ascribe nothing but righteousness to God in all His will, although we do not see this righteousness ourselves, but only believe it, while the attitude of men and the persuasion of the devils hold the opposite up to us. But it is impossible that he should perish who gives glory to God and justifies Him in all His work and will, as it is said in 1 Sam. 2:30: "Whoever honors Me, him I will also honor."

It is therefore quite clear that this contestation of the accident is a bos-.

1268 D. xvi, 279-281. works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 8-11. w. iv, iM-noo. 1269

According to the apostle's advice [Eph. 6:16], we should confront him with the shield of faith and thereby extinguish the fiery arrows of this evil-doer. He is in truth an evil-doer, that is, he is cunning, and fiery are his arrows in this last hour, because he most cunningly draws man back from that which is not before his eyes, that he may bind him to that which is before his eyes. For he wants man to act and judge according to what he feels, not according to what he does not feel. He feels that he is forsaken, but not that he is forsaken. If then he acts according to his feelings, like a horse and a mule that have no understanding [Ps. 32:9], it is impossible for him to be preserved.

Therefore he acts according to faith, that is, without paying attention to his feelings, and becomes like an immovable block against these blasphemies that Satan stirs up in his heart. For such objections and thoughts of the heart are not his, but Satan's. But enough of this.

V. 10, 11: For you drew me out of my mother's womb; you were my confidence while I was still in my mother's womb. Upon thee am I cast from my mother's womb; thou art my God from my mother's womb.

Here the affliction begins to become milder, and the hope leans toward victory, having anxiously sought and found a very tender support. For after he has felt that he suffers in such a way that there is no example for it, so that the contemplation of the miraculous works that God once showed to the fathers cannot help him, he comes to what happened to him himself (ad propria), and grasps in it God's goodness, which He alone showed to him in particular in former times, so that he, who in all other things was something special before all of Israel, had also suffered in a special way, might be saved in a special way. Therefore, after having searched through everything in vain, he finally finds the miraculous works of God that were performed on him, and here he revives himself to the confidence that he asks and pleads, as will follow; for, to search so sharply and precisely even the smallest crevices, teaches fear.

But in two verses he repeats and inculcates this work of God, by which he brought him out of his mother's womb, in order to fortify his hope and strengthen himself. For this is how someone who is in fear tends to repeat what he relies on in order to persevere with God with a firm mind. Here, however, the saying is in fact doubled, because of the vehemence of the movement of the heart.

But in order to make the work of God appear to his heart even more firmly, he does not tell us that he was born and nourished, but in a paraphrase, indeed, he sets it forth more broadly by a description and other images, calling his birth that he was drawn from his mother's womb, and his nourishment: his confidence while he was still at his mother's breasts. etc. For one must believe that this is said to praise the special miracle of God, by which he was conceived over nature by the Holy Spirit, born of a mother who was a virgin, so that there is an emphasis on the word "you drew me", and another emphasis (epitasis) on the word "womb", in this way:

The other human children are born of man and woman, because the body of both is not only unwilling and resists, but an unchaste urge drives to it and brings forth a confluence, and pours out the fruit from the innermost places of nature. But you have pulled me out of the chaste and barren (because virginal) body, which not only did not flow of its own accord, but because nature was opposed to it and only endured your hand. Just as a bee carefully extracts honey from a flower and does not harm it, so the Holy Spirit extracted Christ from the Virgin's body without harming it, who in truth has the nature of the flesh, without sin, just as honey has the nature of the flower, without corruption. Therefore, nature did not pour out this birth, but God drew it out of nature and sucked it in, leaving it uncorrupted and unharmed.

133. but about us this rough word is said, Job 10, 9. f.: "You have brought me out of life.

men made. Have you not milked me like milk, and curdled me like cheese?" where he describes the carnal procreation almost shamelessly, if it were not the exceedingly chastening spirit speaking.

And he says, "You drew me from my mother's womb," not from the loins of a man, so that the mother was an unharmed virgin in conception and birth, and I was conceived and born as a special man before all others without sin, without having deserved such great tribulations. For here he looks at his innocence, with which he also comforts himself, seeing that there is nothing in him for which he should suffer, but that he only bears the sins of others, as he says in another Psalm [Ps. 35, 15. Vulg.]: "Scourges have fallen on me, and I did not know it," that is, I was not aware that I deserved scourges.

You were my confidence when I was still at my mother's breasts," that is, you made me have confidence even then, when I was hanging at my mother's breasts and was nourished by foreign service, since I was as it were not powerful, that is, from my beginning. How much more will you not leave me now to the end! Since you alone took care of me then, you will also take care of me now and alone, since I am again not powerful and alone.

This verse again presents Christ without sin, since it teaches that he hoped even when he was a little child, since confidence is a work of grace, not a work of nature. This does not fit to other children of men, who are born as children of wrath and unbelief [Eph. 2, 3. 5, 6.]. Although he likewise cares for them out of unmerited grace, he does not make them full of confidence and spirit until they are changed by another birth and drawn out anew from the womb of the church, then hope in him at the breasts of the same, so that they are in spirit what Christ is both according to body and spirit.

The same is what follows: "Upon thee am I cast from my mother's womb," which (as I have

said) is set repetitively, only that it interprets Christ's confidence in God more clearly. For "to be cast upon God" is to confidently commit oneself into the hands of God and to leave oneself (as one speaks) to Him (resignare), as the 55th Psalm, v. 23, says: "Cast your concern upon the Lord (that is, your care or sorrow), and He will provide for you." And 1 Pet. 5:7: "Cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you." And Ps. 40, 18. "For I am poor and miserable, but the Lord cares for me." And Ps. 27:10: "My father and my mother forsake me, but the Lord receiveth me."

It is in this way that Christ also encourages himself here, and remembers that God has been his provider and protector from his childhood, of which he speaks in lovely and emphatic paraphrases by naming the womb, the womb, the breasts. For these works of God give a great comfort, if one holds them before oneself again and again with rapt attention, as if one were speaking in the person of Christ: Dear God, you were so concerned about me that you formed me in the womb of my mother, then immediately, so that I would have something to live on and so that I could be nourished, after I had been formed, you filled my mother's breasts with milk and kept me in her womb and at her bosom.

Augustine plays beautifully with similar thoughts in the first book of his Confessions, in which he praises God and expresses his amazement at how God created him, and (as he speaks) is amazed at the mercy of God, which took care of him through the service of the mother. And Ps. 139, 15. f.: "My bones were not hidden from you, when I was made in secret, when I was formed under the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was still unprepared" etc.

Although these thoughts are childish and effeminate, they are also brought up at the wrong time, since in such great troubles it is not the right place to think of them (for the wisdom of the flesh dictates that this is an offense to good behavior),

1272 L. XVI, 283-286. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 10-12.W. IV, I7V3-170S. 1273

and would like to teach that one should have masculine thoughts), experience, indeed, the example of Christ in this place gives us the right instruction that we should constantly remember these tender and exceedingly sweet works of God, and then, when we get hard and very strong food (offas) to eat, namely the wrath and the rod of God, return again to the sweet milk, the mother's womb, the mother's love, and all the exceedingly tender manifestations of mercy that were shown to us in infancy, so that just as we should remember the good in evil days, so also in the days when we are strong, we should remember them when we were very tender, and when we suffer as men, we should remember what we received as children.

In short, only experience and the heart can teach how powerful and strong this remembrance of the milk, of the mother's love and the womb is, and how then everything becomes exceedingly chaste and pure that is either shameful or despised outside of temptation. If one begins to look with a fervent heart at Christ hanging on his mother's breasts or lying in the manger, what evil should he not immediately drive away, what weakness should he not strengthen? Just try it, and you will know what it is to see the divine majesty dealing with childish works, that is, with the lowest and almost ridiculous works, which are more of a spectacle than a serious matter.

But Christ alone can say, "Upon you I am cast from the womb," while we are cast from the womb to the devil, as far as the life of the spirit is concerned, although we also are cast upon God, according to the life of nature. For he wills that all men be helped, and he makes much of his grace to sustain men and cattle, as he opens his hand, and fills all that lives with good pleasure. So also Christ alone can say, "You are my God from my mother's womb," since we are born as idolaters, conceived in sins and raised.

143. contemplating thus his innocence and the exceedingly tender care of his father, he comes now, as the greater torments

He now prays with a much stronger movement than in the beginning, where he complained that he was abandoned and could not be heard. Now, however, he begins both to pray and to hope that he will be heard, although in a different way than he told at the beginning. For now that he is instructed, he knows that he will be heard, not to receive this life, but that a better one will be restored to him. Therefore he says:

V. 12. Be not far from me, for fear is near; for there is no helper here.

144 [Instead of: Ne discesseris a me, in the Vulgate Habens Jerome and the Hebrew text: Ne sis longe a me. For he does not want to indicate that GOtt should depart from him as if he had been near, since he cried out above that he was forsaken, but rather wants this: that GOtt should not persist in being far away, but should finally draw near, since he had already stepped all too far away, which is also indicated by the following sentence: "For fear is near." Fear, however, could not be near if GOtt had not gone far away. So let GOd come near so that fear may go away; let Him come near so that fear may come far away.

For that the anguish is near is not understood from the time, as if it would occur in the very near future, but from the violence, strength and vehemence, as from a place that it is not distant from him, but rather lies fiercely on his neck and oppresses him, as follows, in which he interprets himself: "For there is no helper here", as he complains above [v. 2] that his help is far away, by which he does not mean the time, but the strength of the suffering. This is also how it must be seen here.

146. And here you see how all who saw him and mocked him were among the persecutors. For although his mother and his friends were present, they were considered as if they were not there, since none of them could help. This rather increased the fear instead of alleviating it, since he now had to suffer for their sake as well, and they were tormented with him in their hearts.

V. 13: Great bulls have surrounded me, fat oxen have surrounded me.

147 Here he begins to tell in order what a near fear this is, and how there is no one to help him, for, he says, I am alone in the midst of many bulls and fat oxen, that is, in the midst of the raging people of the Jews and their rulers.

For not only is there no helper, but he also cannot flee, since he is besieged on all sides, as it says in Ps. 2:1, 2: "Why do the nations rage, and the people speak in vain? The kings of the land rebel, and the lords confer with one another." For he calls the people "bulls" and the rulers "fat oxen" (tauros Basan), as is clear from Ps. 68, 31: "The herd of oxen among their calves."

But is Christ impatient and repays his persecutors for their abuse by calling them bulls and oxen? Not at all, but with figurative names he indicates in the shortest possible way both their character and their violence, then also the cause of his suffering. For a bullock and an ox denotes a teacher and servant of the Word, as is proven from 1 Cor. 9:9: "Thou shalt not bind the mouth of the ox that driveth." For by the same image Christ seems to indicate that he too is a farrow and an ox, since he complains that he suffers as the only farrow among many farrows, and the only ox among the fat and fat oxen. For thus it is written of him in Gen. 49:6, "In their anger they have slain the man, and in their courage they have corrupted the ox," where we have [in the Vulgate] the corrupt reading: Suffoderunt murum by an error of the scribe, in that he could easily turn taurum into murum. And Ps. 69, 1) 32nd [Vulg.]: "God will be well pleased with a young bullock that brings forth horns and claws" (that is, with Christ who suffered and was glorified by the preaching of the Gospel).

150 The cause of suffering, then, is the word of doctrine and the service of the gospel, for the sake of which from the beginning of the world until the end of the world, we have been in the service of the gospel.

1) In the issues: ?s. 68.

In the end, the teachers of human laws and the ministers of works rage. So also Christ was killed for the sake of doctrine alone, by none other than these godless teachers of the people.

151) Further, that he says of those that they are many, fat, and fat, while of himself he says that he is a single man, and altogether tender, without a helper; that is, as we have often said, "that the fat keep themselves together" [Psalm 17:10], relying on their multitude and greatness; seeing that they have not the truth, and cannot prevail with good reasons,.so they seek to oppress the poor and forsaken ministers of the word with violence and noise. For this they have as the only ground of their ungodliness, that on their side stand many and great men, and the minister of the word alone; whereas the Scripture, on the contrary, accuses this very thing, and asserts its proof against themselves.

Therefore the Spirit instructs the messengers (apostolos) of the word by this example of Christ, that they may know that their adversaries will have the multitude of the people, and what is high in the world, [on their side], that they may not be offended at it. Thus it is said in the 119th Psalm, v. 161: "The princes persecute me without cause." And again, v. 23: "The princes also sit and speak against me."

But he puffingly ascribes to each individual his own. He calls the people XX what we also call in German "Farr", namely a young cow, a young bull, which is strong and horny and even unruly, because the great pile and the crowd of the people is a strength without understanding, without judgment and without breeding. For who can tame or calm this beast when it is irritated? Therefore, in the 2nd Psalm, v. 1, he also ascribes to them raving and clamor, saying, "Why do the heathen rave?" that is, do they stir up trouble. Then he also says [in the Vulgate] "many fools," because the common people consist only of a great multitude (as I have said) without judgment, sent only to attack and riot, which by all means does not want to suffer moderation and does not have it. But the chiefs he calls [in Hebrew] "oxen Basan", that is, fat oxen.

1276 L. XVI, 288-290. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 13-15. W. IV, 1713-1716. 1277

And "Bashan" is spoken disgracefully, if we take it as the proper name of the country or as a general expression for fatness. For it denotes wealth, abundance, pleasure, power and honor, and all that is fat and excellent in the world, as the king of Moab, Eglon, Judges. 3, 17., Amalek and Agag, 1 Sam. 15, 8. 18., and the most distinguished (pingues) in Israel, Ps. 78, 31., and Og, the king of Bashan, Deut. 3, 11., illustrate.

So the multitude, the greatness, the height, the power, the favor, the pleasure, the honor, that is, the whole world is hostile to the Gospel of God and His servants, who are lonely, small, little, low, poor, afraid, despised and hated. About the emphasis that lies in the words "they have surrounded me", "they have surrounded me", we have sufficiently spoken in the previous Psalms, so that we would not have to repeat the same thing everywhere.

V.14. They open their mouths against me like a roaring and ravening lion.

This they did when they cried out, "Away, away with him, crucify him" [John 19:15], of which also Jeremiah Cap. 12:8 says, "My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest, and roars against me; therefore I have become angry with him."

157. For the prophet shows the stormy and sudden anger of the Jews, that, just as a roaring and ravening lion, with its yoke open, does not first try or consider what it wants to do, but with a snorting attack seeks only to do one thing, that he may rob, devour and devour, so that the godless chief priests against Christ, out of rage, neither think, nor see, nor hear what they should do, or what they should do, but only snort after the one thing, that they may kill him as quickly and as cruelly as possible.

(158) For it is a stronger expression to indicate fury that he says the lion's mouth is opened, than if he had said the claws are stretched out; for it was not enough for the Jews to rend and slay Christ, but they desired that he also should be consumed and devoured,

so that the memory of him would be completely erased from the earth.

This is the attitude of all the wicked against the godly. Proverbs 1:11 f.: "We will devour the innocent alive as hell, and the pious as those who go down to the pit." Thus it is said in Ps. 7:3: "Lest like lions they catch hold of my soul and tear it asunder," and Ps. 10:9: "Like a lion in the den," and Ps. 17:12: "Like a lion desirous of prey."

160 In this verse, however, the adverb "like" is not added in Hebrew, but in this image he calls the people of the Jews a ravening and roaring lion, perhaps in order to indicate the fury of the Jews with all the greater emphasis.

V. 15. I am poured out like water, all my bones are broken, my heart is melted in my body like wax.

Many refer this effusion of Christ to his blood, because water is poured out completely before other liquids, down to the last drop; thus the blood of Christ is poured out completely from his body. But this seems to be a little human feeling, which has in mind only such thick liquids as oil and honey, while also wine and many other liquids, not less like water, are poured out completely.

162) It would be better to say, if this sense is to be accepted, that the blood of Christ was poured out as abundantly, lavishly, and disdainfully as water, which is poured out most disdainfully and lavishly, so that it must be understood that the blood of Christ was the most disdainful and unworthy in the eyes of those who poured it out, as Ps. 79:3 is said in the same sense: "They poured out blood about Jerusalem, as water." For other liquids are poured out with care and mindfulness, and in such a way that they are collected in other vessels, as, wine, oil, balsam, myrrh, and the like.

But in my opinion, this pouring out of Christ also, and even really, refers to the whole of Christ, as it is said in 2 Sam. 14:14: "We die of death,

and rvie the water into the earth slimy, which one does not stop", and Gen. 49, 4.: "He went away carelessly, like water." This is to indicate that Christ was cast away most contemptuously, like water, and that he was everywhere offered to all for rejection; and what is still more indicative of the suffering described here, that he was received and preserved by no one, but, as if despairing of his resurrection, was thrown away irretrievably, just as water once spilled is not gathered up again. With these words he indicates how he would be in the eyes of men, especially the righteous and the best, for to these it seemed that it was done for him, because they hoped that no one would preserve him and bring him back anew, as the disciples said, Luc. 24, 21: "We hoped that he should redeem Israel."

Now if someone wanted that also this was meant by these words, that he was poured out according to his strength, that is, as Daniel speaks [Cap. 10, 17.], that there was no strength left in him, but was exhausted to the utmost and worst, like water; that he, emptied of all his strength, was nothing but an empty vessel of weakness, while before he was exceedingly full of all strength (for so Peter also calls [1. Ep. 3, 7.] the woman the weakest instrument [vasculum]), and with this word as with a general theme begin to narrate his sensuales (sensuales [§ 174]) sufferings, which he then continues to elaborate orderly one by one, I leave this to the discretion of the reader. It seems to me that this view is almost the best of all.

165 "All my bones are divided," that is, they are divided, separated from one another. Though some think that this refers to the crucifixion, yet I believe that below [v. 18.] this thing is spoken of, "I would number all my bones," and that here it is declared that his strength was destroyed, which consisted in his bones being weakened both by the aforesaid terrors of inward anguish of spirit, and by outward afflictions, so that no one leg assisted the other, but, as if they were separate members, each was weak by itself. For in healthy and stiff

In very sick people, the bones are so strong that one helps the other with its service. And experience teaches that the bones of very sick people, or those who are frightened beyond measure, become weak and heavy, and are not capable of any work. Therefore, the bones of Christ were not separated in such a way that one was detached from the other, but the services of the bones were separated and left one another in the whole body.

166. "My heart is like melted wax in my body." It is not actually [as in the Vulgate stands venter in the Hebrew, since the heart is not in the belly, but in the interior or viscera, for in the same the heart is hidden under the breast. This affliction also does not refer to the spirit, but to the senses (sensum), insofar as the heart, namely the most noble instrument of the spirit, when it is crushed by these spiritual and bodily torments, trembles, quivers and surges, even in sensually perceptible motion. This lament occurs frequently throughout the Psalter. Ps. 40:13: "My heart hath forsaken me," and Ps. 38:11: "My heart quaketh." This word "trembles" has a wonderful emphasis that abundantly fulfills the image that is attached to the heart in this passage, that it melts like wax, in that it indicates that the heart turns here and there, spins around and around, like a top, so that it can find no rest anywhere.

Doctors also know about trembling of the heart, but it is not the same as this, as far as the movement (affectus) and the causes are concerned. For those who are confident and of good courage are said to be strong in heart, to be hard as a solid rock, and to stand firm, as Ps. 27:14 says: "Take heed to the Lord, be confident and undaunted, and take heed to the Lord. So, on the other hand, the heart of the crushed and terrified is soft and wavering, so that it resembles melting wax. On the other hand, Micah, Cap. 1:4, says of the wicked, who are faint and afraid: "As wax melts before the fire, as the waters that flow beneath," and Ps. 68:3: "As wax melts (fluit, that is, melts, melts away; it is the same verb as here) before the fire, so must the wicked perish before God."

1280 L. XVI, 292-M4. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 15. 16. W. IV, 1720-1724. 1281

This disappearance is expressed in the 39th Psalm, v. 12: "When you chastise a man for sin, his beauty is consumed like a moth," where the same verb meaning to melt is used in this way: You have caused his loveliness to melt away like a moth. But one wants that this verb actually means a burning, a drying up, a withering, as it is used to happen by a great fire. Thus Isa. 64, 1. f.: "Oh, that the mountains would melt away before you, as hot water boiling away from a fierce fire," so that this verse could also mean: My heart has become like wax melting away, because wax cannot suffer fire at all, and can only be brought to the fire so that it is consumed and dries up. In this way, one must assume, Christ wanted to indicate here that his heart was weak from inner and outer suffering, that it had contracted and was fading away.

But that he adds "in my body" seems to be an excess of words, as lamenting and afflicted people are wont to use them; if it is not said to make a distinction between the afflictions that attack from without, and cause pain through objects and feeling, and those that torment within, namely the aforementioned 92 et seq.] Spiritual, which, without sensually perceptible objects, yet in an incomprehensible way seize the heart inwardly, melt it, and make it nothing, so that he feels that he is indeed corrupting and disintegrating, and yet cannot tell or understand where this stormy spirit comes from or where it is going; hence it is that he can neither escape nor seek relief, but must remain in the midst of anguish.

V. 16 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to the roof of my mouth; and thou layest me in the dust of death.

Here he goes on to speak of the sufferings touching the senses (as I have said). But it is a wonderful figurative speech that he compares the weakened strength to a dry shard. For in this place "my powers" in Hebrew is XXX, that is, my expression of power, my efficacy,

My activity, or my power to perform, so that the meaning is: Since all my bones are exhausted, my strength is weakened, 1) my heart is melted, I have become incapable of any work. I can absolutely do nothing with all my limbs, so that even if I think and intend to do something, I still lack the strength to accomplish and do it. For when there is a confident spirit, a man is joyful and grows splendidly, as a fruitful tree brings forth much fruit, and all things are well with him, and his strength is increased, as it is said in Proverbs 20:29: "The joy of the young is their strength." But when the courage of the heart faints, it withers and ceases to be active, as a withered tree ceases to bear fruit.

Since Christ wants to make known his great weakness, he does not compare his drought to a withering tree, but to a dry potsherd, which is the very thirstiest, sapless and dryest. For he was so exhausted, and so deprived of all sap of life and of that which serves for natural growth, that he was completely dry and parched, of which the prophet Isaiah, Cap. 53, 2. seems to speak: "He shoots up before him like a neis, and like a root out of dry ground." For out of this barren shard and utter weakness grew the exceedingly sap-filled, blossoming, fruitful tree, the church. So this withered strength does not denote a weakness, illness, or anything that is attributed to it (aliquod positivum), but the inability to do something, so that something is denied to it (privative). This is followed immediately by the following:

172. "My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth." This needs no explanation. For a broken tongue is dry, thirsty, and desirous of drink; so Christ thirsted with dryness on the cross. But this thirst and dryness came more from the spiritual needs than from the spiritual needs.

1) In the Jenaer, in the Weimarschen and in the Erlanger: Lüusis Omnibus ossibus, bumiliatis viridus. The Wittenberg one offers: ^Üusis omnidus, bumiiintis ossib. viribus ete. The latter seems to be an alteration, because the expression oLtusis ossidus was used. Cf. Z165.

from the bodily tribulations. For it is unbelievable how this anguish suddenly dries up, dries up and dries up all the lifeblood in all the limbs, especially in the tongue, where we feel this dryness most; as we have said [§ 168] not inappropriately that this verb "to dry up" comes from the noun XXXXX, which means a great and fierce fire, or conversely XXXXX from XXX, 1) which means to melt away, to fade away, to be dried up, to dry up. For it is here the fire which those felt who said in Deut. 18, 16: "I will no longer hear the voice of the Lord my God, nor see the great fire, lest I die." And Cap. 5, 24. f.: "Today we have seen that God speaks to men, and they remain alive. And now, why should we die, that the great fire may consume us?" Therefore our God is called "a consuming fire," Deut. 4:24 and Heb. 12:29.

173 "And thou layest me in the dust of death"; deduxisti me (in the Vulgate) is as much as posuisti me. This seems to be said, as it were, as a concluding speech, with which he concludes, as in a summa, that all sufferings amount to this, that he should go into the dust of death. But what is this dust of death? I believe that this is spoken figuratively instead of: into nothingness, which is in death, so that dust figuratively stands for "nothingness". Thus we see that Ps. 7, 6. indicates the dust of dishonor, since it says: "And lay my honor in the dust." And 1 Kings 16:2 speaks of the dust of poverty, saying, "I have raised thee out of the dust, and made thee ruler over my people. "etc. And Job 7:5 speaks of the dust of sickness: "My flesh is full of rottenness round about, and of the dung of dust" etc. Thus one sees that it is a quite proper way of speaking of the Scriptures that one takes "dust" for a thing that is made to nothing.

V. 17 For dogs have surrounded me, and the roll of the wicked has made itself around me; they have dug through my hands and feet.

1) So is to be read after v. 15. instead of none in the editions. Garnes is Niphal from

After he has listed two kinds of suffering, namely the spiritual and those that affect the senses (sensualium), he lists here the third and last kind, which are in the body and limbs and affect the limbs, namely that he is robbed of his clothes and must suffer nakedness.

The word multi [in the Vulgate: canes multi] is superfluous, and Jerome has translated hunters instead of "dogs", perhaps to explain, and the title enoughzuthun, so that we understand that they are hunting dogs, and that the hind is captured and mauled.

But all this is abundantly well known from the gospel. For they surrounded his body, took him captive, held him, and made themselves about him; at last they crucified him, and digged through his hands and feet.

177 But does not Christ here also use abusive language by calling them "dogs" and "evil"? But invective must not be judged by the appearance and sound of words, but by the attitude of the heart. For that is no abuse which is brought forward without anger and hatred. For Paul also calls the Jews dogs, deceitful workers, enemies of the cross; and Christ calls the apostles fools; just as, on the other hand, exaltations and praises are judged according to the heart and not according to the words.

Therefore he calls those "dogs", who accused him with unjust barking and biting before Pilate, tore him to pieces and delivered him into the hands of the Gentiles to die on the cross, although they themselves knew that they did it only out of pure malice. But this animal is known to be fierce and furious; by this its peculiarity (ingenio) it differs almost from all other animals; therefore the fury and fierceness of the Jews had to be indicated by this image.

179 But we also want to act a little on this passage, about which there is much dispute: "They have dug through my hands and feet," so that we will not be regarded as having left them completely untouched and passed over them.

180. the Jews stubbornly claim that here it is not to be read: "They have dug through", but-

dern: like a lion; claiming that the verb "they have dug through" is written in Hebrew with X and X and X, without X, while in this place X is placed between X and X, and XXX is read, not XXX. But it means XXX like a lion, XXX they have dug through. Moreover, they claim that the word XXX is found only twice in the whole Bible, namely in this Psalm and in Isaiah, Cap. 38, 13. where it says: "He broke all my bones like a lion." In all other places it is XXXXX, not XXX, as in the 7th Psalm, v. 3. "Lest they XXXXX my soul." And Ps. 10, 9. "He lurketh in secret XXXXX," that is, like a lion. And in this Psalm, above in the 14th verse, "XXXXX rapiens et rugiens." And I do not see how they could be compelled by grammar to take for "they have digged through" in this place, since they themselves compel us to take the same expression Isa. 38:13: "like a lion." Certainly there is a great semblance on their side, none on our side, as far as grammar is concerned. And it would be a harsh thing to say that at this point all their books are corrupt. For that one could change the dots, and read "XXX and XXXX, that is not enough, since it is sufficiently known that one must not believe the dots, since they are only a new invention.

181 For us who believe in Christ, and hold to the certain testimony of the gospel that this whole psalm is spoken by Christ, it is easy to prove that "they have digged through" must be read, not: like a lion. For we do not throw light on a fact from the mysteries of Scripture, but on the mysteries of Scripture from the fact, that is, we make the Scripture of the Old Testament light through the Gospel, and not vice versa; and we bring the sense of the Old Testament into harmony with the sense of the New Testament, and make it look upon Christ, like the two cherubim on the mercy seat, as it is said in Jer. 23:20, "What he hath in mind, afterward ye shall well know." And to Moses the Lord says [Ex. 33:23], "You will look behind me."

182. now that we are certain that

Christ's hands and feet were pierced on the cross, and no less certain that this Psalm is directed to Christ, then also the sense is extraordinarily appropriate, and requires that "they have digged through" must definitely be read, especially since even according to grammar there is no compelling reason to the contrary: so we read "they have digged through" without any contradiction and without hesitation.

183 But our adversaries will first of all be cornered by the inconsistency of the meaning itself. For what shall this mean: Like a lion my hands and my feet? If they now also want to say that the word "he has made himself about me" (obsedit) is to be repeated, in this way: The evil one has made himself about me as a lion has made himself about my hands and feet: they cannot make this evasion, but rather get into even greater inconsistency. For how shall a lion make himself about hands and feet, to whom the Scripture attaches an open mouth, roaring and ravening, that he may devour the whole? Or what would this be an antic of the spirit, that he would add to the fact that the whole man is surrounded by the evil mob, that also the hands and feet are surrounded by a lion; as if he who surrounds the whole body does not also surround the hands and feet?

184 It remains the same thing, if they also wanted to put any other verbum to the complement. For whatever power they would ascribe to the lion over the hands and feet, they would have to ascribe the same power to him (according to common sense) also over the whole body. Our view, however, is not opposed by any inconsistency, but everything fits very well to each other, so that, even if neither XXXX nor XXX would stand there, nevertheless the fact itself would teach that it must be supplemented.

Secondly, they also have this difficulty, that they must allow that this verse speaks of a very extraordinary suffering of these hands and feet, whoever they may be. Let them now bring forward either Mordecai or Esther: what then is the tremendous suffering that one of these two would have suffered in hands and feet? But also the whole scripture remembers no Ge-.

The right hand of a person who has suffered a particular violent injury to his hands and feet. For this must be a different affliction from that of the rest of the body, and certainly one that affects the hands and feet alone.

What then is this affliction? They cannot say that they were bound with bands and fetters, for a lion does not do such things to hands and feet, nor anything of the kind by which the manner of the parable could stand; nor did Esther or Mordecai suffer anything of the kind, nor were their hands and feet cut off; and they can by no means attribute to a lion and hands anything of the kind suffered by any saint. But we have Christ, of whom it is known that a quite extraordinary suffering (persecutione) happened to him on hands and feet, which this verse pursues and seizes with all zeal.

187 Now only grammar remains, which must give way to theology, since not the thing is subject to the words, but the words are subject to the things and must give way, and the word must rightly follow the sense, and the letter the spirit. First, XXXX can be read without dots for XXXXX, that is, "those who dig through," instead of: "they have dug through," so that it is a noun in the plural, which in the status constructus (in statu regiminis) throws off the X at the end, changing the vowel X into X, as the custom of the Hebrew language entails. Then, without changing the sense, it reads thus: Der Evil Rotte hat sich um mich gemacht, die da durchgraben (or: of those who dig through) my hands and feet. Since in all such nominibus after the first letter of their root word an X or a cholem sign is used to be added, so that the noun is different from the verb and is derived from it: who knows whether the prophet, making use of his freedom, did not put an X instead of the X, because of the extraordinary occurrence of a new thing? For we read that Isaiah also used the same liberty, and Cap. 9, 6. inserted an X finale in the middle of the word XXXXX against the custom of the whole language and grammar, likewise because of the extraordinary mystery of the kingdom.

Christ, which, closed and unfruitful in these things, is nevertheless multiplied and opened over the whole world.

If now alone the obstinacy argues against it, it would have been of no use if he had also put the verbum XXX 1) with its actual letters and points. For since XXX is ambiguous in Hebrew, and can mean buy, prepare and dig through: who could force stubborn people to allow the meaning "dig through" rather than the meaning prepare and buy? Yes, the people who are not moved by the fact [of fulfillment] (re gesta), and cling to the letters, would then have rejected the meaning "dig through" with greater pretense, since it is less intolerable that hands and feet should be disposed of and bought, as hands are said to work, to be taken and found. For if they would then agree, if it were set, and despise the ambiguity because of the obviousness of the fact, they would also soon agree and easily prefer this very truth of the fact to this single letter X. But as with the letter X, they would not agree. But as they maintain their stubbornness with the letter X, so they would then have asserted the ambiguity. And which truth, no matter how obvious, does not despise the stubbornness and tries to escape from it?

But how if the prophet had intentionally put the X in between, in order to forestall the evasion by ambiguity on the one hand, and on the other hand to ward them off by the inconsistency, so that they would not subject themselves to it, that is, He said, "Like a lion," and yet brought them back from the ambiguity as by an excellent warning sign, which he gives them by the letter X, and kept them resolved in the middle in such a way that they correspond to the right meaning, which is in accordance with the fact,

1) In the Wittenberg and in the Weimarschen here consistently 6aari is written, in the Jenaer consistently Oaaiu and in the Erlanger That 7N2 must be read, proves K180, besides also the different meanings, which are attached in this paragraph to the Verbum. Gesenius derives the word from , which is in chaldaisirender form, and takes as well as Luther as status eoustruetus for

1288 L. xvi, 299-3oi. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 17. 18. w. iv, 1732-1734. 1289

could not escape? And yet, stubbornness perverts what has happened against stubbornness in order to protect itself.

And who knows whether the Spirit did not also change this expression with the intention that it might be a hidden secret until it was fulfilled? just as he also made the title of the psalm very obscure, so that nothing but the fulfillment (res gesta), yes, only he himself could open it up. Since now the whole church has this spirit for a teacher, and reads in this passage: "They have dug through", which agrees with the matter itself, let us let the obstinate go, as the apostle reminds [Tit. 3, 10. 11.], "Avoid a heretical man, when he is once and again admonished; and know that such a one is perverse and sins, as he that hath condemned himself," in that we have enough in this, that we have preserved our faith, and defended our reading so far, that neither by any strict demand of grammar, nor by any puffing sense, nor by any proof taken from the fact itself, can they compel us that we should not read: "They dug through." But we have, in addition to the fact that grammar is not against us, but rather protects us, especially insofar as it has to do with the connection of words to sentences (syntactica), also this, that the sense and the fulfillment (rem gestam) agree in the most fitting and harmonious way. The latter, however, have only grammar, and that the most stringent, and only insofar as it concerns orthography (orthographicam), and even this only uncertain, since only one example in the entire Bible defends it, and no 1) evidence that comes from the fulfillment speaks for it, but rather against it, then the sense is quite inappropriate and unrhymed, and finally there is no uniformity in the word order (syntaxeos).

But what the meaning of these words is is beyond question, since it is well known to the whole world, even to unbelievers. But here we see the incomparable glory of the Spirit of David, who has revealed all the mysteries of the world.

1) It seems to us that instead of vnlla, referring to eonktantia, should be read: nuNo, referring to arZumento. We consider the former connection forced. The sense, by the way, remains the same.

He was so thoroughly aware of Christ's suffering that he also foresaw what would happen at the crucifixion. For he himself was not a little instructed and practiced in these spiritual evils, so that it was easy for him to foresee that Christ would also suffer similar or greater things; but that his hands and feet would be dug through, that he had never experienced, nor had he ever seen anything like it in anyone else, and yet he speaks it in such a way that no other passage of Scripture has presented it as clearly, not even the Gospels with the whole New Testament.

190 And what we must marvel at even more: he is at the same time exceedingly dark and exceedingly clear in the same words. For who, before it was fulfilled, could have understood the piercing of the hands and feet and the counting of the bones from the crucifixion, since they can be pierced in so many ways, even without anyone being crucified? But after it is fulfilled, nothing can be said more appropriately, nothing more clearly, than that the hands and feet are pierced and the bones are counted, so that also Augustine says here that the stretching of the body on the wood could not have been described better.

V. 18. I want to count all my bones. But they look and see their delight in me. 2)

191. in Hebrew: I will count all my bones, which in Latin could be said by the optativus potentialis, in this way: Queam, vel queas, vel queat quis numerare omnia ossa mea. This verse has also either given or invented a saying to our German language, in which we say of very lean people: "One may count all his bones." For neither the Jews nor anyone else took the trouble to count his bones, nor did he count them himself. In itself, however, the understanding is clear and well known to all from the fulfillment, as far as history is concerned, but otherwise very unknown, as far as the mystery of faith and the spirit is concerned; of this we will speak later.

2) Vulgate: vinumeravei'untoiQniao[Lairiea, ixsi vero eonsicleruverunt et inspexerunt rne.

192 The two verba "to look" and "to see" or inspexerunt seem to me to be so differentiated, at least in this passage, that the one, namely "to look", means to turn the eyes to see, like Ps. 14, 2: "The Lord looks from heaven to earth." Gen. 19:17: "Look not behind thee." By this word also others are called to look, like Is. 51, 1.: "Look at the rock from which you are hewn", like Ham provoked his brothers to look at the nakedness of their father, Gen. 9, 22.

193 The other, "to see them," means to take time to see, and to feel either pleasure or displeasure from what one sees, which either pleases or torments the eyes. Thus it is said in Ps. 112:8, "Till he see his pleasure in his enemies," and Ps. 54:9, "That mine eye may see pleasure in mine enemies."

194. on the other hand it is said [Ps. 112, 10.]: "The wicked will see it, and will annoy him", and still more clearly Ps. 35, 21.: "There, there! we like to see that." And Micah 7, 9. f. the prophet alternates in brief textual words with the two meanings of the word [Vulgate^: "I shall see his righteousness (that is, I shall see my delight in his righteousness), and my enemy shall see out of me and be put to shame (that is, she shall see it with pain). My eyes will see her" (that is, they will see her with delight). In this way also the word Ps. 91, 8 [Vulg.] must be understood: "Yes, you will see with your eyes (considerabis), and see how it is repaid to the wicked", where exactly the same words are set as in this verse.

The meaning is thus: Since I suffered these things, they not only had no pity on me, but since there was nothing left that they could do to me, they, in order to disgrace me, 1) asked and incited each other to look at me; "they pointed fingers at me. After that they feasted their eyes on me and satiated themselves with boisterous leaping, boldness and lust, namely, because they had succeeded in their wickedness. This is called

1) The Weimarsche has put a comma only after in lnsam iAnoininiarn, we, however, before these words.

The 89th Psalm, v. 43: "to rejoice his enemies", as Samson also did when he played before the Philistines [Judges 16, 27]. Indeed, their exceedingly cruel rage is punished, that they could also take pleasure in the extreme and so torturous punishment of death. Verily, "the eyes of men are not full" (as Solomon says [Proverbs 27:20]), even in the exercise of their fury. But the Hebrew expresses this sentiment more fully, since he says, after his manner of speech, "They see [their delight] in me," "I shall see [my delight in] his] righteousness," "mine eye shall see [its delight in] my enemy[s]," or when it is without an object to which it refers (absolute), "The wicked shall see it, and shall vex him," etc.

V. 19: They divide my garments among themselves and cast lots for my robe.

It is surprising why the evangelists mention this verse before others, since it seems to indicate the smallest and last part of the suffering, namely the robbery of the clothes; especially John, who omits the first verse that Matthew and Marcus introduce, but tells this one, which does not have so much weight, with many words and as a whole history [Joh. 19, 23. 24.].

197 Why do they not mention the heart, the bones, the tongue, or other things that are mentioned here? But perhaps the evangelists were also moved by this: why did the prophet sing about this disgrace of Christ, while he remained silent about many others that have a greater meaning, such as the spitting, 2) the crown of thorns, the scourging, because they perceived a very special secret in it, which they wanted to reveal. Or did they perhaps do it because they wanted to indicate, by citing the first and the last verse that deals with suffering, that all the ones in between also refer to Christ, and that because they are fulfilled, they must also be regarded as if they were clothed? For the first verse speaks of the first and highest suffering of Christ, this last of the last and mildest suffering of all. From

2) Wittenberg and Jena: supra instead of sputa.

1292 L xvr. 303-305. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 19. W. iv, 1738-1711. 1293

We will deal with the mystery at the appropriate place.

198. Now this is the opinion of the prophet, that Christ was so completely given into the hands of the wicked, and that it was so desperate for him, that they also made a mockery of his garments out of excessive certainty; so much is missing that they expected him to rise again, or were afraid that this would be avenged by God. For I do not believe that the soldiers, in order to gain something from it, divided the clothes, but that they wanted to make a joke, laugh and play with it, as with a ridiculous thing, as a sign that he was a ruined, lost and rejected man, and handed over to eternal oblivion, as the most worthless among men, as, after his body and life were taken from him, not even his clothes should be left with his own for a memorial sign. The words of John [Joh. 19, 23J] about the unstitched skirt, which was worked from the top through and through, are well known, which he calls a garment, around which they threw the lot, "times or not times". 1)

After the suffering of Christ has been brought to an end, it is fitting that we, in order to understand this most exquisite psalm all the better, linger a little and pay attention to what Paul says [Col. 2:3], "that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Therefore, let us try to penetrate this hiddenness, if the Spirit will graciously open the door for us.

First of all, there is no doubt that in Christ not only are all the perfect examples of Christian conduct presented to us, but also all the mysteries of prophecy are commanded, which are to be fulfilled in his church until the end of the world. For St. Augustine teaches in the 3rd book "Of the Trinity", Cap. 4, that Christ corresponds to our twofoldness through his simplicity, that is, through his simple history he serves us with twofold fruit, with his example and with his mystery.

1) "mal oder unmal" is probably as much as: equal or unequal. The German Wittenberg edition resolves the word "worffen" by: geworfen.

But at this time we must go beyond St. Augustine (augeamus), weave our thread further, and divide Christ into four figures, as it were according to the four ends of the cross. Two we want to give to the godly, who make good use of him; two to the godless, who misuse him in the worst way. Let the one form of the godly be those who believe, the other those who follow him; the one form of the wicked be those who fall away, the other those who persecute him; but all these four forms in secret, so that they cannot be perceived otherwise than in faith.

202. 203.2 ) The first figure of Christ is his knowledge in spirit and faith, that is, that you do not only know the history of his suffering, with which one struggles nowadays alone, as this has not happened in any matter with greater superstition, since it is sullied with so many fables, antics and lies that hardly any history has remained. Yes, they [the preachers of the Passion] have indulged in inappropriate, not to say ungodly, digressions, and indeed those who have been praised most highly have made almost the entire history, or at least the most distinguished part of it, consist of the swords, pains and co-sufferings of Mary. In addition, the invectives against the Jews take up a not insignificant part of it, so that, even if something of the history is left, nothing remains 4) of the simplicity of the evangelists, which alone is most effective in this matter and should have been retained in order to form the faith of the spirit. But this is hindered, nay, completely corrupted, in the curious and superstitious. But by simplicity alone it is nourished and preserved, as it is written, Proverbs 3:32: "With the simple is the speech of wisdom.

2) In order to be able to maintain more or less the same counting with the old edition of Walch, we have had to provide this section with a double number. For Roth has added in § 203, from his own, narratives about the mischief of the papists.

vuin ojn8. - Instead, the Jenaer has: ^latris.

Hebrew text has: With the sincere (rectos) is his secret.

Then you will know the suffering of Christ in the spirit, when you are carried away in the fervor of faith, and do not doubt that Christ suffered all these things for you, and that the punishment he suffers comes from your sins, which he took upon himself and bore, and when he rose from the dead, he swallowed up in himself as a victor, so that they would not harm you, if only you believe in his name.

For as the form of the suffering Christ was in the eyes of men, so is your form in the eyes of God, and what men do to Christ, your sins and the devils do to you, except that when you suffer, you do not feel them, but rather take pleasure in them, like a frenzied man laughing in his misfortune, at which Christ, who is wise. Suffers pain. But you, too, will feel it when, through the revelation of the law, you will recognize that exceedingly shameful figure of your sin, which you brought upon yourself in ignorance, since the law was veiled, by your sinning.

206. So you are this wretched, forsaken man, a worm and not a man, a mockery of men and a scorn of the people, mocked by all who see you, brought to despair, rejected, condemned, surrounded by bulls and oxen, given into the jaws of the roaring and ravening lion, poured out like water, with all his bones cut in two, his heart melted, His heart melted, dried up like a potsherd, his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, laid in the dust of death, surrounded by dogs and the pack of the wicked, with his hands and feet dug through, whose bones can be counted, whose clothes have finally been taken away from him and distributed by lot, so that he may be forgotten forever, and who has been erased from the memory of all men.

All this, I say, which works sin in the soul, Christ shows you, who do not know it, in his form. If you do not believe this, and recognize yourself as such, and you will not cease from sinning and multiplying this form, the day of revelation will come, so that you will not believe.

You can feel that you are like this, but you can neither avoid it nor change it.

But what each of these sufferings is in the conscience would take too long to investigate, and would be said in vain to those who have not experienced it, since everything happens suddenly and takes place through the disgrace of the conscience. But afterwards you can recognize something of these things from the third and fourth figure. After this first appearance you become like Christ in spirit and faith, that is, you believe and recognize that you are in your conscience like Christ was in the flesh; and this is a wholesome and good likeness, which promotes salvation.

The second form is the following of Christ according to the outward example, as only those act the suffering of Christ who act it best today, although these are also rare. Thus it is said in 1 Pet. 4, 1: "Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind." Hebr. 12, 3: "Remember Him who endured such contradiction from sinners against Himself."

210. but of the first figure Rom. 4:25 says, "Who for our sins was passed away, and for our righteousness was raised up." And Peter 1 Pet. 3, 18. [Vulg.]: "Christ died once for our sins, the righteous for the unrighteous," and since the epistle to the Hebrews describes Christ as the High Priest, it deals aptly with this first figure.

211 And in this twofold knowledge hangs the wisdom of Christ's faithful, but the former, which is of faith, is the chiefest; and these two Augustine calls the mystery and the example; the mystery by which the hidden faith is nourished; the example, which is succeeded by the outward life.

Through this form we also become like Christ in the flesh, that is, we suffer similar things by heart; and this is also a salvific likeness, of which Paul says, 2 Cor. 1:5: "We have much of the suffering of Christ." For this figure, too, is recognized only in the spirit, that is, it is felt in us.

through the attitude of the heart and through love. For no one suffers like Christ, unless he is instructed by the Spirit as his Master, whereas someone without the Spirit can speak much of it, do much, and even suffer much, but which is not similar to the suffering of Christ. For the devils also suffer, but through their guilt; Christ's sufferings are innocent sufferings, and for righteousness' sake.

The third form is that of the apostates and unbelievers. This has no other difference from the first form than according to what the senses perceive. For ungodliness makes such people of them as the form of Christ is. But as unreasonable people they do not recognize this, and persist in it, progressing more and more in this likeness from day to day, from one blindness to another, from one vice to another. But men of understanding, and humbled by the revelation of the law, recognize it, and are restored, daily taking off this form, and progressing from one virtue to another, from one clearness to another, until the body of sin is destroyed, and dies with Christ, and is renewed into the same image of Christ [2 Cor. 3:18, Rom. 6:6].

The fourth figure, of which we have presupposed to speak, is a prophetic one, which indicates to those who have the spirit what the church will have to suffer from the ungodly teachings of devils and men. For the church is the figurative or allegorical body of Christ, the spiritual desolation of which he modeled in his natural body. For the church is not so much devastated by temporal persecutions as by pernicious doctrines of men, yea, it is expanded by the former, diminished by the latter; and this is the last persecution of Antichrist, foretold by the apostles, in which the Spirit of Christ, persevering in his remnant, shall groan for the church of God over that of which Christ complains in this psalm according to his natural person.

The 89th Psalm speaks of this matter without spiritual interpretation and in a clear prophecy before others, and speaks [vv. 39-46]: "But now you violate and violate the law.

And thou art angry with thine anointed. Thou destroyest the covenant of thy servant, and treadest down his crown to the ground. Thou hast broken down all his walls, and hast broken down his strongholds. All who pass by rob him; he has become a mockery to his neighbors. Thou hast exalted the right of his foes, and gladdened all his enemies. Thou hast also taken away the power of his sword, and hast not let him prevail in battle. Thou destroyest his cleanness, and thou dost bring down his throne to the ground. Thou shortenest the days of his youth, and coverest him with scorn." So much for this Psalm.

The first part is "to be forsaken", in which one part many evils are included, namely what Ps. 89, 39. says: "You violate, you reject, you are angry with your anointed. This is nothing else than that the church or the kingdom of Christ is forsaken concerning faith, as Paul predicted [1 Tim. 4, 1.]: "In the last times some shall depart from the faith, and cleave unto seducing spirits." And Christ says Luc. 18, 8: "When the Son of Man shall come, thinkest thou that he also shall find faith on the earth?" This is certainly done, and has been done for a long time, with so many ceremonies, so many sects, so many orders, consuming themselves in vain all over the world, with many cries day and night, with many prayers, with many sermons, with many masses; and with all these things nothing is accomplished: daily everything only becomes much worse.

And even those who cry out in truth with the groaning of the Spirit are not heard, that these abominations should be cast out of the church. It is time to cry out, but the Lord would not be appeased because of the sins of our exceedingly ungodly Manasseh, who has forgotten God and begun to care for his own. Thus it comes about that everywhere one looks at the splendor of [false] spirituality (religionum), the outward appearance of Christianity, the hypocrisy of works and the shadow of the Gospel, but there is no power of faith and no love. Love has grown cold and godlessness is rampant, and only a torture chamber of consciences is left, since God is leaving us.

218 The second is, "that he is a worm and no man, a mockery and contempt of the people," a laughing stock, a mockery, an object of displeasure and blasphemy. For after superstition and the pretense of godliness have taken root, so that they are now secure, and will not even tolerate another way, much less be anxious for it or seek it, the Christian faith has become a marvelous mockery to them, because one must not speak against their pretensions. If you should undertake this, as indeed faith does when it is there, you will soon be rejected as a heretic and disgraced a thousandfold. Nowadays there are quite obvious examples of this.

219. Therefore Christ is a fear, a contempt, a laughter and a mockery of the people to us, out of fear of the most holy governor of Christ and his whole priesthood, who, since he cannot stand the doctrine of faith (for faith cannot exist at the same time as papal doctrine, since the latter is hypocrisy and pretense, the latter truth and right), must necessarily glorify himself and, under the honorable name of Christ, sully the Christian being with all dishonor: so that he must be a Christian, not who believes in Christ, but who obeys the pope; and a heretic, not who denies the articles of faith, but who does not revere the pope. But it is done for Christianity when the governor of Christ reigns. For then God begins to disturb the covenant of His servant and to desecrate His sanctuary on earth, that is, to trample His crown to the ground, so that not the King Christ, but the man of sin reigns over us in His holy place.

Thirdly. How could we believe that "the many bulls and fat oxen" are other people than those strong giants, the monstrous bishops, who are neither priests nor princes, but the most shameful monsters, who are fused together from what glistens (fuco) in these two estates, together with the monks and the spiritual voluptuaries, whom we call provosts, deans, officials, canons, vicars and our lords. For of these the church and the

The faith of the church is so imprisoned, surrounded and oppressed that it would be easier to subjugate the tyrannical kingdoms of the pagans to the faith than to outline these people's exceedingly splendid ceremonies, which have swollen to an incredible mass, since nothing of the truth can be seen in front of their profusion, so completely have they filled the whole of Jerusalem to overflowing (ad os).

These teach with their mouths wide open nothing but the most sacred rights of the Pope, and the teachings of Aristotle and natural reason, so much so that they have also invented the high schools (universalia studia) for the furtherance of this devastation, in which all that would be born of the baptism of Christ, especially the people of outstanding talent and aptitude, should be swallowed up quickly by the workers hired with dignities and prebends and titles of honor.

222 And this devouring, which is worthy of hell, must not be called the work of a roaring and ravening lion, but of a shepherd who instructs and teaches in the best way, to which they add that they think they do right when they take away the faith and the confessors of the faith and destroy them with church punishments (censuris), with fire and sword; and even so they must not be accused of being roaring lions.

Fourth. What must necessarily follow from these evils is that the church is poured out like water, the bones are severed, the heart melts in the body, the powers dry up, the tongue sticks to the roof of the mouth, and it is laid in the dust of death.

For what do our sneezes hold less today than the souls baptized into Christ and redeemed with His blood? Do we not see that bishoprics, parishes and other pastoral offices are distributed with such levity, even spilled and poured out, that the more unlearned and wicked someone is, the easier he can get in and even several are transferred to him? so that they do not regard the great multitudes of souls differently than water, which is spilled in the most cruel and contemptible way. Certainly, these money-grubbing birds of prey will not be able to

Christ's people are not commanded to pasture, not imposed, but poured out completely, again neither taken up nor gathered by them; but they let it flow and go, that what will perish there may perish, if they only keep their income (census).

(225) Why is it surprising that the bones are divided and that there is such weakness in the people of Christ that no member learns or knows how to help the other, so much so that through this satanic rule even those who should be the bones and the strength of the people, namely those who are firmer in faith and word, cannot help anyone. For not learned, godly and good men are admitted to these offices, who would be useful for the bones of one to support the other and the flesh, but in the highest place are only the oxen and the bulls. Thus it happens that at last even the best hearts fade away and perish, for they are abandoned by the ministry of the Word and lack brotherly comfort. Therefore, the power must necessarily dry up and the example of good works must completely cease, so that in such a way neither faith, nor good conscience, nor works of love can be seen in the church.

But when the power is dried up, and the use of the works of love is taken away, it is impossible to preach the gospel in a right way, for the tongue will stick to the palate, and the gospel, as it is done now, will hardly be presented according to the bare words; that is, if it is not tasted by the experience of faith and the custom of life, nor known by a living sensation, it is impossible that it should be taught fully and effectively. For he is (as they say) not mighty (compos) of what he speaks, therefore he cannot act it rightly. For that is taught coldly and with little fruit, which is taught without the movement of the heart, just as he speaks with difficulty, whose dry tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth.

So Christ remains in the church, but poured out like water; the bones remain, but separated; the heart remains, but melted; the powers remain, but

The tongue remains, but it sticks to the palate; for Christ and his members must remain until the end of the world. And we see that the gospel has remained in the public sermons and in the private masses, but in such a way that it is not handled with the pretense of teaching and exhorting, but that only the syllables, as is the custom, are recited and read from the pulpit, but those fable preachers immediately turn the sermon to other things, namely, to things of no value. By doing this, they themselves become those birds of the air [Luc. 8:5] that trample on and eat the seed they had thrown along the way. Now if the gospel is thus acted upon in the most careless manner, what is this but that the dry tongue of Christ sticks to the roof of the mouth? For there is no lack of people who would like to hear it, but there is no one to tell it to them in a lively and well-ordered way.

This is the way in which the church is laid in the dust of death, that nowhere its form or a trace of it comes to light, and yet the world is full of the lips, tongues and voices of preachers, but nowhere the well-moistened and moving tongue of Christ. What an abomination it is to see such things! With how great a maw and gluttony are the souls devoured here that are born in Christ, so that one could speak the word Ps. 89:48: "Why wilt thou have created all men in vain?"

229. In addition, take that dogs and the evil ones have surrounded him, who also dig through his hands and feet. These are the rulers in the churches, who even penetrate the Christians with their pernicious teachings, persecute them and chase them into their nets. So completely are they not satisfied that they have concealed and suppressed the gospel. For even Isaiah [Cap. 56, 10. f.] calls such people dumb dogs, who will not bark, and yet at the same time are quite insolent and insatiable. For what do they preach but what serves their insatiable avarice? How they bite, bark, scream and rage against the souls, the life and the goods of the people, in order to protect the goods of their church and of the

To increase and preserve the inheritance of Christ! With these iron and hard nails they dig through, slander, condemn, banish the hands and feet of Christ, and make them useless, that is, the right works and the right opinions of the Spirit. For that the words of doctrine are called "nails" is proved by Ecclesiastes 12:11, where it is said, "The words of the wise are spears and nails driven in deep," just as arrows, swords, and other weapons of war are nothing but doctrines.

230 So to dig through the hands and feet is nothing other than this: Even if there are still some left who punish the ungodly superstition of those people, and strive to teach the right works and the right judgment about Christian things, they still crucify and condemn them with their decrees, church punishments and curses, and make them completely powerless, so that they maintain their ungodliness.

And here God takes away the strength of the Christian sword, and does not help in this war, as the 89th Psalm, v. 44, says, and lets the truth fall and ungodliness prevail, so that strong errors rule over the children of unbelief, so that they believe in ungodliness, because they have not accepted the love of truth, so that they would be saved [2 Thess. 2, 11. 10.]. And these are the abominations of the pope and his church.

232 Moreover, they search the body of the church in such a way that one would like to count all its bones, that is, no one can remain hidden from them, but as soon as someone should be suspicious, even in some corner of the world, the traitors drag him out into the open and stretch him according to all their desire. For whom does the confession of the ears let remain hidden from the pope, even if he were still so far away? Therefore, it must no longer be assumed that some of Christ's bones are hidden somewhere; they will be completely brought to light and counted wherever they may be, either by the scouts of secret confession or by the torturers and torturers, as I have said.

233. with all these things, however, so much is lacking in them that they can be influenced by any feeling of the

They should be moved by pity and compassion for the souls that they are constantly destroying here through the action of Satan, that they even laugh and rejoice, taking pleasure in seeing and hearing that the church is so oppressed, dug through hand and foot, and that everything is going well according to their liking. For so the papists have often rejoiced with their idol of this desolation, when with their impiety they have overcome the ministers and promoters of right godliness.

The last part is that they divide the garments and cast lots over the unsewn skirt. For after they had suppressed everything concerning the word and faith, so that neither the power of the oral word nor the fruit of faith blossomed publicly in the church, there was only one memorial left, by the sight of which (inspectu) we could remember Christ and nourish ourselves by this memory, and renew ourselves again to the word and faith, namely the holy Scriptures, which are not recited orally, but are contained in the letters. For this Paul commands Timothy, that he should stop with reading [1 Tim. 4, 13.], and Christ Himself Joh. 5, 39.: "Search the Scriptures, for it is they that testify of Me," and Matth. 22, 29. He chastises the Sadducaeans: "Ye do err, and know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God." In the Scriptures, therefore, the truth of faith is found wrapped up, as Christ is wrapped up in His garments. For where the oral word and the faith and the works of Christ are gone, we have nothing left of him but the Scriptures alone.

That is why in the last place this disgrace is sung about, and the evangelists, because the Spirit was with them, realized what would happen to the books they wrote to us about Christ. And although this disgrace caused Christ little pain, this figure meant not a slight but the most extreme damage to the church, since the spirit of faith could be drawn from the Scriptures; words and works would then have flowed from faith, and the honor of the church would have remained largely unharmed.

236. but he prophesies twofold disgrace to the

1304 n. xvi, sis-217. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 19. W. iv, 1758-1761. 1305

Scriptures: the dividing and the giving away. First we want to say about the dividing. Many hundred years ago this secret of wickedness began to stir, so that the extremely simple sense of the very simple Scriptures was divided into many. This evil is due to Origen, then to his successor Jerome, who (as I believe) are holy and chosen men. For even then, the elect began to be led into error, so that they twisted the word of Paul 2 Cor. 3, 6: "The letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth", so that they called the letter the historical mind, the spirit the secret (mysticum) mind, by an exceedingly unfortunate imitation of the apostle Paul, who introduces Gal. 4, 24. f. the secret interpretation of Abraham and his wives, but does not call them letter or spirit.

Something like this, writes Philo (as Eusebius tells in the Church History), was also done by the Christians in Alexandria. In that city there was then a famous school of Christians, after that which had been under the apostles at Antioch. It seems that Origen followed the example of the same, and since he added to his own, stumbled too much, until he finally taught that the historical mind is the literal one, which must be despised, and only the spiritual one must be accepted. But at that time the spirit, which was still glowing in the church, resisted him and condemned his books, since a great storm arose, because by such action he gave the apostate Porphyrius great and right cause to ridicule Christian scholarship (philosophiae).

But when the fathers were gone, and it became worse and worse with the following generations, the Scriptures began to be torn in many ways, until it came to the high schools (universitates), and the kingdom of Antichrist was confirmed in the hand of the Roman pope, since now no longer the secret of wickedness, but wickedness itself worked, and the abomination stood publicly in the holy place. Since Christ was eradicated with faith, his [the pope's] apostle with the most distinguished, St. Thomas with Lyra and his own, began in

To spread throughout the world the fourfold meaning of Scripture: the literal, the moral, the secret, and the deeper meaning (literalem, tropologicum, allegoricum et anagogicum), and to divide this garment of Christ into these four parts, so that each part would have for itself its authors, explorers, and teachers, as it were brave warriors and bold destroyers of Scripture.

239 By this they have brought about that they have the words of Scripture, but so fragmented and torn up that they have left us absolutely nothing of a consistent understanding with which we might clothe our souls. For even St. Thomas, with all the Thomists and all the scholastic teachers in general, never had or taught the right and true understanding of even one chapter, neither in Paul, nor in the Gospel, nor in any book of Scripture, as experience clearly proves.

240 For where are the men who have dealt with Paul or the gospel in due and right understanding? And yet they praise the precepts of these verses:

Litera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria, Moralis quid agas, quo tendas anagogia.

[The letter teaches what has happened; the secret interpretation, what you should believe; the moral interpretation, what you should do; the deeper meaning, what you should hope].

241 Is it not exceedingly ungodly to divide the Scriptures in such a way that you should ascribe neither faith nor morals nor hope to the letter, but only history, which is useless; so to the secret interpretation faith, not morals, not even hope; to tropology morals; to anagogy hope? As if Paul did not say, 2 Tim. 3, 16. f.: "All scripture inspired by God is profitable for doctrine, for judgment, for correction, for chastening in righteousness, that a man may be perfect unto all good works." Dearly beloved, what do they do with this tearing but to show that they understand nothing at all in the Scriptures, neither of faith, nor of hope, nor of morals.

242. Therefore it happened that they told the stories of the excellent fathers, Abraham, Isaac

1306 xvi. 317-319. interpretations on the psalms. W. iv. nsi-ns". 1307

and the saints of all the people of Israel did not act to teach the faith (as the apostle does in the letter to the Hebrews chapter 11), but despised them as dead histories, so to speak, and dreamed up I do not know what kind of concepts (sensus) of faith and morals and hope. Through this godlessness they have taken this garment from us and torn it and instead of it they have put on us (as Isaiah calls it Cap. 59, 6.) "cobwebs", that is, decrees and statutes, and what is the greatest abomination, the ethics of the wicked boy Aristotle for the garments of Christ.

Thus we see that the Scriptures are with them, but divided and torn by their fourfold division into useless and uncertain lobes, so that they can serve neither for the teaching of faith nor of morals. Namely, the lack of understanding has taken over to such an extent that they did not understand grammar properly, and from what they found said in figurative speech, they made this secret interpretation (mysticum), that is, something that has no sense and understanding.

Now if the Spirit had not declared beforehand [John 19:23] that this tearing of the Scriptures should remain within the limits of the fourfold understanding, they would certainly have invented as many understandings as grammatical figures are used in the Scriptures, since they did not have so much understanding and judgment that they could have taken allegory, tropology and anagogy for one and the same. For it is the spiritual, the moral, and the deeper sense one and the same thing, which the apostle does not call any sense of Scripture (for Scripture has no more than a single, quite simple sense), but speaking in mysteries, saying 1 Cor. 14:2, "But in the Spirit 1) he speaketh mysteries." For this thing moves outside of Scripture in the freedom of the Spirit, and has nothing to do with the treatment of Scripture, but is in itself especially another kind of proceeding (studii), while Scripture remains the very most conspicuous teaching of all faith, hope, love, and all good works.

245. in addition to this fourfold certification

1) In all editions: Spiritus, but in the Vulgate, as in our Bible, spiritu.

they have introduced another abomination into the Scriptures, which here the prophet calls the lot about the unsewn skirt. For all of them admit what Christ John 10:35 says: "The Scripture cannot be broken," and that its reputation must be completely inviolable, so that one may neither contradict it nor deny it. This assumption or major, [that] the perfect knowledge of the will of God 2) in theology must be drawn from Scripture, is constantly admitted by all. But where it comes to the subordinate and the minor, these warriors soon make a mere mockery of Scripture by their arbitrary glossing and distinguishing, so that they destroy the power and prestige of the whole of Scripture. For even nowadays neither the pope nor a Thomist can be overcome by Scripture, even if he admits the prestige of Scripture. "Let us not divide the skirt (they say), but let us loose it therefore, that it may be." [John 19:24.]

246 Is it not a loosening of the Scriptures, when they are drawn at will wherever they please? Do not the magistri nostri in the high schools give themselves authority from hand to hand to interpret the Scriptures? until it has come to the point with them that they ridicule him who cites the Scriptures, while they argue (as they say) on quite insurmountable grounds of reason. So they draw lots, since they do not teach what the Scriptures require, but each tries his luck how to adapt them to his own sense and make them his own. For this happens, because they argue with each other and dispute and interpret it, not without danger. This means, in truth, that by lot they gain the robe of Christ, for no one thinks that it is his, because he has overcome the opponent and has drawn the Scriptures to his mind.

247. in this lot, the pope (as befits him) is the chief of the soldiers, who teaches by a general commandment established for all that it is his alone to read the Scriptures with complete certainty 3).

2) 8^ntÜ6r68?O8. Cf. Col. 378 in this volume.

3 ) Wittenberg and Jena: ä[Luitive; Erlangen and Weimar: äitknitive.

to explain. He allows others to do this only in a magisterial way, in a disciplinary way, and in an investigative way, but not in such a way that the interpretation is conclusive (non determinative). For he plays with his fellow players in such a way that the lot must fall on him alone, and it lies in his hand alone to interpret the Scriptures. Yes, with the victory in this game it has already come about that the pope is elevated above the Scriptures, and not unjustly, because the lord of a thing is rightly elevated above his thing (which he also attained by the lot and by playing), so that he may also dispense against the gospel and divine right; for example:

248 A work of this looseness is what he teaches in the extravagant "of the vows and the fulfillment of the vow" of the vows, where he draws the word [2 Mos. 13, 13.] that the firstborn of the ass shall be loosed with a sheep, to the effect that he is free to change a vow; and in some earlier distinctions of the decree about his primacy he calls himself the rock, and the church the Roman church, and the keys the right to give laws. And Isa. 10, 15. he makes the other churches, which are oppressed by the Roman pope, out of the saw, which is pulled by the sawyer, and what he does in the chapter Solitae and in the chapter Significasti, we have said elsewhere 1). The whole mass of his decrees and decreeals is full of such casting of lots.

Therefore we now have the sacred Scripture as such that, though it be presented in a simple manner, without dividing it into four parts in the manner aforesaid, yet it shall not be permitted to be taught in any other sense than that which we expect to be uncertain by the Roman See. The lot is cast and the understanding of Scripture is sought, but since it is not up to us to give a final decision, and it is uncertain where the most holy shrine of His most sacred heart will incline (except where it is certain that Scripture is perverted to be

1) In the writing "An den christlichen Adel deutscher Nation," Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. X, 303, § 72.

strengthen its benefit and tyranny), we must worship chance and (as Isaiah Cap. 65, 11. [Vulg.] says) the table of fortune.

Here belong the declarations of submissiveness in religious matters and the protestations that tend to take place in the high schools, in the churches and in all sermons. No one dares to say: This is the Scripture, but: I testify (they say) that I do not want to say anything that is against the holy Roman church. What do they teach among the people of God today? Nothing but the uncertain reservation of the most holy shrine of the heart, which, not possessed by a devil, floods the whole world far and wide with terrifying abominations of lies.

Thus we have the Scripture as such, neither denied nor divided, and remains the unsewn skirt wrought from above through and through, but by the looseness of wicked popes and theologians the Scripture becomes a mere mockery and an uncertain possession. For how could one teach a certain faith if one makes the meaning uncertain?

O a frightful picture, that not only the voice of the gospel should be cut off, but also the letter of it should be made doubtful, and subject to uncertainty, lest there should be any hope of bringing it to life again! And these are the people who teach best nowadays, teaching that everything is uncertain, and do not want anything to be regarded as asserted by them, while faith, if it is not quite certain, cannot be faith.

253 Here now behold these gates of hell, the high schools, the mothers of the doctors, and with how fatal a name they are called scholae [schools], that is, ludi [games], in that with this name almost this ungodly looseness is attached to them; and how rightly the teachers have been called scholastici, that is, ridiculous people, or also, those who do their play with something.

254 If you do not know who those four soldiers are [I will tell you], they are our honorable magistri nostri, who deceive with the fourfold sense of the Scripture (and in this they are not yet the worst), and with the fourfold sense of the Scripture they deceive with the fourfold sense of the Scripture (and in this they are not yet the worst).

by the looseness of their mockeries (which they call interpretations) make a mockery of the Scriptures. "And this (says the evangelist [John 19:24.)) did the soldiers." Who knows whether this number "four" was not also meant to indicate that the future high schools would consist of four faculties, by which he [the Holy Spirit] wanted to warn us [and indicate] of how great an abomination these exceedingly glorious mothers of studies would stink before God. Here belongs the excellent ninth chapter of Revelation about the four angels, the steeds, the hairs, the crowns, the locusts coming out of the bottomless pit, so that we do not see the high schools more clearly depicted in any other place.

But χυβεία comes from the game of dice, so that it is actually nothing other than to use the words of God like dice, claim nothing certain in them, but throw them on different opinions. It seems that with this word he deliberately wanted to interpret this casting of lots of the soldiers, and that he especially clearly foretold these players with the Scriptures, the popes, bishops and magistros nostros. For what do they do with these untruthful opinions and uncertain doctrines but that they weigh and weigh, drive and force us, who are children, with all kinds of wind of doctrine, wherever they want?

Now he also punishes with the word πανουργία (deception) their evil doing, or, as Jerome calls it, the play of the jugglers (circulatorum). For if even in the time of Jerome there were deceivers who, after the manner of jugglers, played with the Scriptures and hypocritically brought forth all that was popular from them, since the mystery of wickedness alone was stirring: what then do we think has happened in the meantime, since wickedness has increased in the course of so many centuries, and what is happening now, since abomination reigns? See the books of the

If you look at the popes and the doctors, you will see nothing but deception. And this may be enough of this frightening lot and the dividing of the garments.

We have now seen how the spirit of the prophet in the passion of Christ deals primarily with that which belongs to the service and custom of the Word, namely, with ungodly teachers and unholy hearers. For the prophet is silent about what evil life is and does in the church, but the passion of Christ is not silent about it. We want to talk a little about this in order to give good hearts an occasion [for contemplation]. Because wickedness in life is so evident that it can easily be recognized by all, and the desolation of faith, the suppression of the word, and the sacrilegious procedure with the holy Scriptures goes along brazenly under the most glaring titles, therefore it is not presented to us for contemplation in prophetic words, but only by the sight of Christ.

The head of Christ means Christ Himself, or the faith and teachings of Christ, whose hair and beard mean those who are next to Christ, namely the shepherds of the people, who preside over the people with the word of God. For thus he says Ps. 68, 22. that he will shatter their hair skull, that is, the priests of the synagogue; and Isa. 3, 24. that he will give a bald head for a frizzy hair; and in the Song of Songs the bride sings [Cap. 5, 11.] that the hair of her bridegroom is black as a raven, that is, the hidden ones in the spirit and the holy shepherds are without all beautiful appearance; and [Cap. 5, 2.] that his locks are full of dew and night drops, that is, she praises the apostles and apostolic men, the shepherds in the church. Thus the Spirit also modeled the very proud and splendid priesthood of the Jews through the exceedingly luxuriant and very beautiful hair of Absalom [2 Sam. 14, 26.]; and Ps. 133, 2. is sung that the balm on Aaron's head flowed down into his beard, and from his beard into the hem of his garments, that is, that the grace of the Spirit came into the people through the shepherds, through the ministry of pure doctrine.

259 Further, that the thorns signify either the ungodly, or covetousness, or the riches of the ungodly, Christ enforces.

Luc. 8, 14, where he interprets the seed that is choked by thorns as the word that is hindered by the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. And in the Song of Songs it says Cap. 2, 2. "As a rose among thorns, so is my friend among daughters." And 2 Sam. 23:6 [Vulg.], "The wicked shall be plucked up as thorns." And Judg. 9, 15. 20. Jotham calls Abimelech a thorn bush, and the men of Shechem thorns. And Ps. 118, 12. it is said, "They dwell as a fire in thorns." This is to say that thorns are ungodly teachers, belly servants who have given in to the riches and cares of this life, as all Scripture presents them, as we have said above.

260. From this it is easy to understand what this crown of thorns is, which the soldiers have woven and placed on Jesus' head, namely this basic soup of the most godless people, the pope, the cardinals, the bishops, and all that there are of prelates, of colonels, who hold each other most tenaciously and have joined themselves to each other and give each other a helping hand, who have become fat with unspeakable riches (for they say that they were great thorns) and choked with the outrageous indulgence and ostentation of this world. And yet the church suffers these unlearned, tasteless 1) people in their high position, under the hair of their head, that is, superior to pastors and ministers of the Word. For they are powerful and oppress them, while they themselves are no more capable and useful for the word and faith than a crown of thorns for the head and the hair of Christ, in that they are only very powerful in tormenting and oppressing the pastors and ministers of the people with their tyrannical handling of the law.

In the meantime, by doing violence to the holy head of faith and word, they also disfigure the whole face with the hair and the beard in the most shameful way with much blood, so that it no longer has any beauty. This is done because, since the most shameful life goes unpunished and is the most

1) Erlanger: iutulsos instead of: insulsos.

The most unrestrained, in miserliness, courtliness, indulgence, unchastity, and the most disreputable deeds, make the whole course of the church bloody, that is, more worldly than the world itself, more carnal than the carnal themselves.

For what is more worldly today than the most holy governor of Christ and his cardinals, bishops and prelates? What king has greater territories, 2) what prince greater riches, who has greater splendor, prosperity, idle days, and everything that can only be imagined, or has ever been, than this kingdom of the pope for the glory of God and the glorification of the holy church? Meanwhile, those who should teach the Word have hardly the bread, and yet dare not speak. So completely has this crown of thorns suppressed and covered the whole head, including hair and beard.

This is what they wanted with their most sacred decrees, with which they prevent the devil's counsel, so that no one should stop their extremely harmful vices, so that a subordinate should not judge a superior, so that a layman should not rebuke a clergyman, so that the pope himself should not be punished by a council. For they have arranged everything in such a way that their wickedness would remain unpunished, and they would have safe liberty to subordinate themselves to any thing, as is the case today. Thus reigns this man of sin and the child of perdition, the pope. Now the word of Isaiah [Cap. 53, 2] is fulfilled with the form of Christ: "He had no form nor beauty." For who nowadays sees in the clergy anything but avarice, presumption, fornication and all shameful deeds, and so completely unpunished that if you oppose them, you will be banished, as if you had offended the church of God and attacked its ministers, while they themselves, as the highest part of the church, should represent the exceedingly lovely image of Christ in the purest way through holy life and teaching. Where is now the figure of the church? There was no figure (says

2) Erlanger: äletiovss instead of: ditwues.

<iuis sto. After that we translated.

he [Isa. 53, 2. 3.)), therefore we have esteemed them nothing.

Now we come to the purple robe, which is a garment of kings; it also signifies a kingdom. It seems to me entirely that this is the conspicuous (insignificant) work of the Antichrist, by which the pope, through the agency of Satan, has restored the fallen Roman Empire and subdued it, bringing it from the Greeks (as he says) to the Germans. For what is this discarded purple robe (for they also clothed Christ not with a delicious and usable purple robe, but with one that had already been worn and was no longer worn) other than the Roman Empire, which the pope usurped at the time when it had already withered and fallen?

265. The pope did not transfer this empire to the Germans for any other reason than that he subjugated these wild but simple and reliable people by this glittering great deed (ostento), and by it made himself secure and protected in all his authority, that he did not make them, but made himself Roman emperor, yes, ascribed the name of emperor and the title of emperorship to a barbarian people (as they say), but kept for himself the cause and the right, and now became no longer a Roman emperor, but the emperor above the Roman emperor. In order to fulfill this all the more cunningly, he saw to it that his clergymen, namely the three greatest bishops of Germany, were mixed into it and made electors of the empire.

Therefore, the church, instead of being clothed in the garments of Christ, is now clothed in the glory of the empire, is not based on word and faith, not on the Scriptures, but trusts in the temporal arm and the bloody empire. For this empire has cost the Germans so much blood that the spirit did not wish in vain that this mantle should be purple. Nevertheless, the most holy governor of God and the church still lean on it, still the foolish German people shed their blood in streams for these abominations, and one sings to them: The empire is not outside the church, that is,

Christ is not mocked differently than in the purple robe. Yes, it was considered good to call this kingdom "holy", because it is not prepared by God, but by the most holy governor of God, to whom 1) everything he wants is holy. Thus, the exceedingly unhappy church must allow itself to be surrounded and mocked by the glory of this imaginary kingdom, and sits in the middle of this kingdom in a frightening form.

267. that they give the Lord a reed in his right hand seems to me to mean that after the tyranny of this Roman antichrist was established through the fictitious empire of uneducated Germany, philosophy and empty deceit were introduced, as the apostle Col. 2, 8. predicted (and he calls this in another place "powerful errors" [2 Thess. 2, 11.]), by which one began to rule the unhappy people of Christ with a new kind of doctrine, that is, to seduce, and to draw away from the Gospel of God. To this destruction was added the issuing of the papal decrees, or as the apostle says [Col. 2, 20. 22.], the commandments and statutes of men of the world. And out of these two wells of the abyss rose those locusts that devastated the earth [Rev. 9, 2. ff.], namely the teachers of the two faculties, theology and law. For by their wisdom the papal tyranny is exercised; they sit in all the ecclesiastical districts: namely, the jurists hold the consistories, the theologians the preaching chairs in the churches. Both teach nothing of the things of Christ, but of the Pabst and Aristotle, and inculcate them in the poor people. Behold, this is the royal scepter and the rod of wickedness, the rod of the kingdom of Antichrist.

268 Not for nothing does Matthew also say [Cap. 27, 29.] that the reed was given to him in his right hand, not in his left, for it should happen that the Antichrist would not command his teachings, with which he mocked the church, under the pretense of ruling the church, merely over the bodies and temporal things, which are on our left, as bourgeois.

1) Instead of Hui in the editions, Wohl should read eni.

He would break into the consciences and ensnare them before God and in spiritual things, which are at our right hand, and rule in God's place with lightning and church punishments, and drive the people to believe that they sinned no less when they did not accept His commandments than when they rejected God's commandments, yes, they feared them more than God's commandments, so that only the reed ruled in the right hand of the church. For that is how they twisted the word 1 Sam. 1ö, 22.: "Obedience is better than sacrifice", and they so exalted this god-robbing obedience and strengthened it with lying signs that followed their church punishments, that they completely destroyed the obedience of faith and did not even think of it.

And what is the doctrine of philosophy and spiritual law but a dead, barren, and empty reed? which, like a full and strong wood, a scepter more falsely pretends (mentitur) than really represents; in truth, a vain deceit. For in such a doctrine nothing but vanity and falsehood is put forward under the title and name of science and godliness, whereby faith, which alone is truth, is not taught, but of garments, food, houses, bodies, days, persons, and other things, how to consecrate them, how to keep them, and how to make a distinction between them, and innumerable other quite trivial peculiarities of a seeming pretense, by which the simple-minded rabble is seduced from the truth to a trivial nature. This is the bickering of the falsely famous art and the unspiritual loose talk, 1) which the apostle commanded Timothy [1 Tim. 6, 20] to avoid.

(270) But apart from the nothingness, the reed also contains another mystery, which Christ interpreted in Matt. 11:7, when he said, "Why did you go out into the wilderness to see? Did you want to see a reed that the wind weaves to and fro?" namely, that the gospel speaks of a continual

1) Jena and Erlangen inanitas. The Wittenberg and the Weimar have novitas according to the Vulgate, which offers vovitates.

But the empty deceitfulness of papist doctrine and philosophical theology is nothing but a reed of opinions and questions, which is moved to and fro by winds and never lets the consciences rest in peace, and, as Isaias Cap. 28, 10, there is nothing here but: "Give here, give there; wait here, wait there; here a little, there a little," until it has come to the shrine of the heart. There never arose anything more inconstant, more wicked, more lying, more void under the sun than this, and yet the people in so many lands have to go by its inconstancy. O, what a fury of the wrath of God!

But the mocking worship, in which they bow their knees and say [Matth. 27, 29.Hail, King of the Jews", means, as it seems to me, the desolate disorderly being, which nowadays is called worship both in the aforementioned teachings and in the custom of men, while the right worship is faith, hope and love towards God and the neighbor, by which the old man is killed, and the new one is renewed from day to day, where pure prayers, wholesome fasts and mutual goodwill bear fruit in very good life.

But since this true worship has already been extinguished by the papist reed, another worship has been established, which consists in building large and costly, enormous (moles) churches up to the heavens, and that in innumerable quantities, then in filling them inside with vessels, panels, paintings, sculptures and the most precious carvings more than they are adorned, moreover, the holy garments of the priests of inestimable value are multiplied innumerably. Then, when this is prepared for this service, there is also an increase in the number of people who are scorched and smeared on their fingers, who, in order not to have built such large houses in vain, fill them with nonsensical shouting or incessant murmuring, and sing the hymns and masses as if they wanted to be considered that they were really mocking from the bottom of their hearts, unless they, caught up in the folly of papal doctrine, did not realize that this frenzied being was nothing but a mockery.

Other than worshipping Christ with bended knees, after he has already been scourged, crowned with thorns and clothed in the purple robe.

If this is not mocking Christ and his people, which is the church. Dear, what then is mocking? People should come together to pray and have some kind of houses to hear God's word. But now one comes together to shout, to feast the ears and eyes, and everything is built and decorated to tickle the senses of the flesh. For this purpose bells, organs and all kinds of musical instruments have been brought into the temple of God as an altar from Damascus [2 Kings 16:10, 11], for by all these things God is ridiculed like an idol worthy of mockery. For with this display of ceremonies (as I have said), faith and love, the right worship of God, are not only not nourished, but also extinguished, so that people, instead of faith, learn to trust in such works, and instead of practicing love, throw away their possessions to adorn these stones and wood, taking the need of their neighbor for nothing in the meantime.

And this deplorable error of the people is increased by these busy and blasphemous popes and bishops, priests and monks, who, under the pretense of purgatory, seek to satiate their infinite avarice by devouring the goods of the whole world. For there is no end of anniversaries, vigils, masses and other (so-called) endowments, in all of which you can find nothing of a divine commandment, indeed, everything that is contrary to the divine commandments, since God has placed His service in faith and love; but those people put it in their ceremonies, customs and works, which they themselves have invented.

This is the service of Moloch in the valley of Hinnom. For as Manasseh (as his name indicates) had forgotten God and His law, and had caused his children and those of his people to pass through the fire [2 Kings 21:6], and, lest the crying of the burning children should be heard, with timbrels and other musical instruments he had made a sound.

great stupefying noise was made (as they say), by which the minds of the parents were distracted, so that they steadfastly bore the so cruel and blasphemous death of their children, and thought that they had done God the highest service by it: so do they also act in this service of our Moloch, where they, with so much splendor of dresses, vessels, voices, offerings, organs, and with preaching and praising of these things, as it were with kettledrums and trumpets, drown in eyes and ears, meanwhile do not understand with how blasphemous idolatry they corrupt so many souls and sacrifice them to the hellish fire, yes, before this nonsensical service they do not even think of the right and true service of God.

But that his [Christ's] head is beaten with this reed means that these holy, that is, cursed decisions of the church are used to give a final judgment (descindendis) in questions of faith (as they call it). Although they do not publicly deny Christ, nor do they cut off his head, since pure faith must remain in some people until the end of the world, it nevertheless suffers public tyranny from this reed, and it is not decided according to the spirit of truth and according to the prestige of the Scriptures, but according to the reed of the pope, according to void human statutes (while they always keep the name of Christ and the church for appearance's sake).

277 Such is this: that the essence of God is neither begotten nor begotten; that the soul is the essential form of the body; that bread and wine are changed on the altar; that the laity are to be given only one form instead of the whole sacrament, and similar abominations, many of which were established at the Council of Costnitz. Yes, everything that the papists like is an article of faith. For at that time truth was truly struck on the head and made a mockery of, yes, struck down with John Hus, and the abomination of the papal statutes was erected in the holy place.

In the meantime, they have not ceased to publicly spit at the truth and mock it to its face. For if anyone there and at Rome or in the schools of the damned, the truth is not spit upon.

1320 L. xvi, 3S1-SW. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 19. W. iv. i784-i?87. 1321

Whenever anyone asserted anything as certain, it was unanimously and furiously held up as a curse-worthy heresy that had to be scorned and rejected, and the same accusation is still being made today. Thus the faith lies in ruins, is not only extinguished, but is also a disgrace to its believers, as if it were heretical, annoying, seductive, causes divisions, and is sullied with other such abusive words, so that it, just as Christ in his last suffering was counted equal to the evildoers, so in the same way, after many persecutions of tyrants and heretics, he suffers this as the last persecution, that he is counted among the damned and abominable errors.

Behold, these are the last times of wrath, of which Daniel prophesied [Cap. 7:25, 12:11]. These are the perilous times of which Paul warned [1 Tim. 4, 1. ff. 2 Tim. 3, 1. ff. 1, where all things will be laid waste. This is the terrible prophecy of Christ [Luc. 18, 32. f.], that He will not be delivered to the Jews but to the Gentiles to be scourged, mocked and crucified. For in the Gentile Church all these things are fulfilled under the leadership of the Roman Antichrist, who is a servant of error, an apostle of Satan, the man of sin and the child of perdition. May God grant that the Lord may soon destroy him with the spirit of his mouth and put an end to him with the appearance of his future! Amen.

280. But behold, we have passed over the scourging. We will speak of it recently. The 2nd Psalm, v. 9, teaches that Christ will rule the nations with a rod of iron, and Isa. 11, 4. says: "He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth." But also 1 Kings 12:4. the people complain about Solomon's very heavy yoke, which Rehoboam [v. 14.] calls "whips" (flagella), saying, "My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." Therefore, I believe that the whips and scorpions are the extremely heavy yoke of the pope, who by his laws tortures and severely beats the consciences of the poor people, and especially, I think, the torture is depicted here, by which the poor people are punished.

He tyrannizes in the Sacrament of Penance with the extremely harsh laws of secret and auricular confession and satisfaction.

For who could enumerate with how many wounds the consciences of the Christian people are wounded here, since they were tormented to recall so many generations of sins, their kinds, differences, grandchildren, daughters, members and parts, to present and find them again in detail? Since the matter went as far as the impossible, namely, that the wretched people were urged to confess all their sins, even at the risk of their salvation, and [they were threatened] that they would be lost if they concealed even one sin. Then, the compulsory requirements of penance flooded in, with little prayers, works and other disturbances of the minds, teaching the unfortunate people to do enough for their sins not with faith, but with works.

From this it necessarily followed that the conscience of no man could ever have peace, but was beaten by the compulsion of these tyrannical laws with constant scourging blows. For there can be no peace in the conscience if it does not know that sin is forgiven and that enough has been done for it. But even if works are fulfilled to infinity, the conscience cannot know that sin is forgiven, and yet, according to the doctrine of these godless people, this knowledge is sought through works, whereas only through the promise of God and faith in the same can both forgiveness and peace be attained.

In truth, then, we have been scourged without any cause, so that it can also be said of us with Christ [Ps. 35:15, Vulg.]: "The scourges were swung at me, and I knew nothing about it," that is, there was no cause for it, and I have been showered with scourge blows without guilt. And this, of course, is the yoke of our completely worthless Rehoboam, for whose sake Israel also separated from him, in that the whole Oriental church turned away from the Roman tyrant: but there is still hope that among them there are still seven thousand people left, who have worshiped Baal.

not worship, as there were seven thousand left in the ancient people [1 Kings 19:18].

Now what this is, that Christ, after being mocked, has his clothes put on again, that he is drenched with gall and vinegar, and the like, I leave to others, being satisfied that I have given them an opportunity, since I did not want to be too expansive.

V. 20. But you, Lord, do not be far away; my strength, hasten to help me. 1)

The Hebrew text has, as I think, so: Et tu, o Domine, ne elongaveris, o fortitudo mea, ad auxilium meum festina, or as [the Latin interpreter has better translated Ps. 70, 2: Ad adjuvandum me festina. Although the interpreter changes here, and makes defensionem from auxilium, and conspice from the verbum festinare, and at the same time confuses the distinction; so also the word XXXXX translated by auxilium tuum a me, although in the Hebrew there is neither tuum nor a me, yet auxilium meum might be interpreted to this opinion: You, who are my only help, hasten to help me. So also in German it is said, "Thou art my help and comfort, hasten and help me." For it is thought that the name of God (which is sometimes translated "the strong one") comes from this, as if it were said of helping, because He alone is the Savior of all men, but especially of believers. But more than enough has been said of the verbis that stand without a closer relation (e verbis absolutis), as in this place: Ne elongaveris, that is, do not be far from me, do not hesitate to be with me etc.

But in this verse he begins to pray and prophesy, because he has already come out of the mud. The lamentations have come to an end, and the struggle of suffering tends to victory, and he now speaks out of other movements of the heart, namely by wanting to sing of the fruit of his suffering, which consists in the conversion of the nations to faith in him, "through the Spirit who sanctifies, since the time he rose from the dead".

auxilmm tuum a nie, aä äsksusiousm msam oouspiee.

He is the one who is dead, namely Jesus Christ our Lord", as Paul says Rom. 1, 4. By this spirit he is powerfully proven to be a son of God through the ministry of the gospel, which makes all blessed who believe in it [Rom. 1, 16].

First, he prays for himself, not for his own sake, but so that the name of God may be proclaimed through him, and so that through his word the nations may be converted to God, and God may be glorified in His mercy. But he continues this prayer in three verses, choosing the words so as to express much and great sorrow. The first verse is this, "But thou, O Lord, be not far off; my strength, haste to help me."

He prays that God may be near and hasten, whether it be that the sufferer feels as if help is far away, or that he prays that God may not leave him long in death. For with all others, God postpones this until the last day. But with this one he hastens to raise him from the dead.

It is not necessary to think that he asks for help to preserve his life, since it is clear from the foregoing how he was laid in the dust of death and was abandoned in a completely different way than the old fathers. For this is the prayer and supplication of which the apostle Hebr. 5, 7. writes that he offered it up with tears to Him who was able to save him from death, and was also heard, because he had God in honor. Therefore, the meaning and cause of this prayer must be taken from the context of this Psalm, lest we think it is like ours or like the ordinary prayers of men who pray for the necessities of this life.

V. 2t. Save my soul from the sword, my lonely from the dogs. 2)

Deus is not in Hebrew, and instead of unicam the translator would have better said solam or solitariam. For he wants to say that his soul is alone, abandoned by all; there is no one who asks for it, takes care of it, comforts it, as it is said in Ps. 142, 5: "I can

2) Vulgate: Lrusairamsa, Dsus, auimam msaru, st äs mauu oauis uuioam msam.

1324 L. xvi, 335 f. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 21. 22. w. iv, 1792-1795. 1Z25

I looked to the right, and behold, there is no one who wants to know me. Namely, since loneliness is in itself a cross, it is even more of a plague to be in such great torments without an example and without a companion. But in such a situation we too will have to be in any suffering, or at least in the agony of death, and cry out with the 25th Psalm, v. 16. "Turn to me, and be merciful to me, for I am lonely and wretched."

290. from the word framea [sword] we have in the 9th Psalm [§ 48] and in the 17th Psalm

[It is seen that it comes from the Hebrew, and is called a sword by cutting, and denotes both the persecutor and the persecution itself, because of the fierce and sharp hatred with which the wicked rage against godliness. For the adversaries strive with the greatest effort to exterminate (abscindere) both the godly and godliness and to eradicate them from the memory of men. Therefore, in Scripture, the sword is also ascribed a mouth (os), because it devours the living with its sharpness, as it is said in Deut. 32, 42: "My sword shall devour flesh," and in other places we often read that with the mouth of the sword (in ore gladii with the sharpness of the sword]) a city has been smitten or nations slain. So also here Christ complains that he is eaten by the sword, and asks that he may be saved and led out of death.

The same is that he says: "Of the dogs", looking to the title, in which he was called a Hind, which is given up to the dogs. And we see the fierce impetuosity of the dogs against the game, which, if no one resists them, they kill and devour without fail, so that he also wants to express by this word the wild greed of the Jews, with which they seek to devour Christ, and he even, because he was alone, is already devoured. Therefore, he asks to be saved from the power of the dog (de manu canis, that is, the dogs, by a synecdoche), into whose power, as he complains, he has come.

V. 22. Help me out of the lion's mouth, and deliver me from the unicorns.

See the increase: sword, dogs, lions, unicorns; and he does not mention swords, dogs, lions, unicorns, but the sword, which is already raging in his soul and in his life, and the violence of the dogs, the mouth of the lion and the horns of the unicorns, so that he shows that they have not only done something against him, but that they have accomplished their work on him. For he is already in the power of the dog and already mangled, who asks to be delivered from his power, and he is already killed in the lion's den and about to be devoured, who asks to be delivered from the den of the lion, and he has already suffered the horns of the unicorns, who asks to be delivered from the horns of the unicorns. .

What a great cruelty is this, that it could not be sufficiently indicated by the name and the work of the sword alone! But even the fury of a devouring dog, of a devouring lion and of the pouncing unicorns does not fully portray this, because there is no more terrible hatred, no more cruel envy than that with which Satan rages against godliness and the doctrine and teachers of godliness, because not only in one way and with his usual fury he also desires to completely destroy them above all others, because he recognizes that only through this his kingdom in the world is in danger.

294 Of the nature of unicorns we will say more in its place, Ps. 92, 11, where it is said in a good sense: "My horn shall be exalted like a unicorn. Here it is enough to know that this animal has a fury that cannot be pacified, as is the case with a roaring lion and a hunting dog. Moreover, it cannot be tamed, for no unicorn has ever been captured alive, which is also written in Job 39:9-12: "Thinkest thou that the unicorn shall serve thee, and abide at thy crib? Can you tie your yoke to it, to make the furrows, so that it breaks behind you in reasons? Can you rely on him to be so strong?

let it work? Will you trust him to bring your seed back to you and gather it into your barn?" All this is spoken in terrifying mystery against the people of the law.

295 For the synagogue, which cannot be tamed, is signified by this, which is so puffed up by its righteousness, that it condescends neither to serve Christ, nor to abide at his manger, nor to hear his word, nor to till under him, nor to teach, nor to plow his grounds; but though it have many powers, and abound in works of the law, yet Christ cannot trust it, neither doth he command it his affairs. For she neither brings back the seed, nor gathers it into the barn, that is, she does nothing for the church, nor for the growth of the church. These unicorns, and wild unicorns at that, Christ mentions here. I do not want to say anything here about the fact that one thinks that the rhinoceros is a different animal than the monoceros, or (to say it in German), the rhinoceros is a different animal than the unicorn. For one says that the latter has a small horn on the nose, this however a large horn on the forehead. It is certain that our Latin translator took both for the same.

Humilitatem meam does not stand here (as also almost nowhere in Scripture) for the virtue of the mind, which Paul calls ταπεινοφροσύνη, that is, the attitude of heart, that one strives after low things, not high things, as he interprets Rom. 12, 16. interprets, but affliction and oppression, and in general the figure of lowliness in which the virtue of ταπεινοφροσύνη is exercised, which Bernhard calls humiliatio, not humilitas. Of the latter also Ps. 9, 14. is said, "Behold my misery among the enemies," etc.; though I do not know whether there is not rather a verbum in the second person in this place, Humiliasti me, that is, thou hast afflicted me, thou hast oppressed me, and made me low. Something quite similar to these four kinds of persecutors is found in the words and manner of speaking of Ps. 51:10, where it is said: "That the bones which thou hast broken may be made merry.

1) Vulgate: et a cornidus unieorniuM kumiUtateru lueam.

beat" or broke etc., for which we have [in the Vulgate] the reading: Ossa humiliata.

But there is no doubt that these four things, the sword, the violence of the dogs, the mouth of the lion, the horn of the unicorn, signify the whole multitude of godless teachers who raged against the truth of the faith, just as the Jews raged against Christ. But others may play with secret interpretations, we will follow the story.

V.23. I will preach your name to my brothers, I will praise you in the church.

Dear one, who is this new and admirable preacher and eulogist, who has publicly declared in so many ways that he died and was swallowed up, and finally after his death (and all this he prophesies) it will happen that he will preach and praise the name of God? For it is true that he had to die who predicted such great things about his death, so that he would not die. Again, it must be true that the same one will preach and praise God's name. Thus, either dead and alive at the same time, or risen from the dead, he preaches and praises; not dead and alive at the same time, since this would be impossible and inconsistent. For Christ was not at the same time, or could not be at the same time, a living and a dead man, although he was at the same time a dead man and a living God, in that different natures were in one and the same person, so that one can indeed say with truth that the person was at the same time alive and dead, but not the nature.

Therefore, he proclaims here his resurrection beforehand, yes, the fruit and work of the resurrection, which is the praise and glory of God, that he heard him in the aforementioned prayers and saved him from death. Of this new and wonderful thing, he says, he will preach, praise and give thanks.

But since Paul in his letter to the Hebrews [Cap. 2, 12. 1, this verse must not be regarded coldly, for it briefly comprehends both a mystery and the ministry of the gospel in itself. The mystery is that he calls them [the believers] brethren, and the na-.

and preaches the praise of God. But the ministry is the ministry of preaching and praise itself. So here again we are to learn what it is to preach the gospel in the church.

For we have often said that the preaching of the New Testament is the preaching of the glory of God, as we have shown in Ps. 8:2, 9:3 and 19:2: "The heavens declare the glory of God" and: "They make your name glorious in all the earth. But at the same time that the name and works of God are preached, the shame and worthlessness of men are also preached, "so that all the world may be guilty of God," and all are found lacking "the glory that they should have in God," Rom. 3:19, 23.

And this is the mystery which is hidden from the wise and understanding. For the word of grace is a word of the cross, an offence to the Jews and a foolishness to the Gentiles, who, not being able to bear that the name of God should be preached and their name condemned, then that the works of God should be preached and their works rejected, blaspheme the name of the Lord, that they might honor their name, and not be subject to the righteousness of God, that they might establish their righteousness. And so, having abominations of idols, they do blasphemous things, as all this is easily understood from what has been said before.

The service is that this word to salvation from the name of the Lord is not only in letters and books, but in public preaching and confession with a living voice, so that it is not only known, but also preached outwardly, with continuance, in season and out of season etc. Thus it is also said in Ps. 8, 3: "Out of the mouth (not out of the pen) of babes and sucklings thou hast prepared a power," and Ps. 19, 2: "The heavens (not, they consider, but) tell the glory of God."

But to go out in public like that and preach freely and challenge the whole world is not in human power. Therefore he says, "I will preach," I will be the one who speaks in them, as he also says to Moses, Ex. 3:14, "I will be who I will be." For a minister of the word

must not only punish everything that belongs to the world, but also testify to it by his example, and give up his goods, honor, life, righteousness, wisdom and everything for the word, so that he may first prove in himself what he teaches.

It is therefore a difficult ministry, just as it is an incredible secret that is administered through it. Therefore he reserved this work of power for himself, so that no one would presume to teach from his own strength, but would let Christ preach in himself.

But he also preached the name of the Lord to his brothers in his own person, as Lucas writes in the Acts of the Apostles, Cap. 1, 3, in that he allowed himself to be seen among them for forty days and spoke to them about the kingdom of God.

Therefore away with all the statutes of men, and all that is not Christ! For I (says he) will preach; whereby he hath abolished all doctrine that is not the gospel, because the sheep hear Christ's voice, and not the voice of strangers; but Christ preacheth nothing but the name and praise of God, that is, the grace of God, and the sin of men, as it is said John 16:8: "He shall punish the world for sin, and for righteousness, and for judgment."

306 But that he says, "To my brethren," the apostle exalts Heb. 2:11 ff, saying, "For they are all of one, both he that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified. Therefore he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, and in the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto thee." For this is the exceeding riches of this mystery, that we are brethren, joint heirs with Christ, children of God, kings of the world, and possessors of the ineffable goods with Christ. And who could properly estimate what it is to be a brother of Christ? Everything is comprehended in this One Word.

So we have three things in these words: the ministry of the word, the thing that contains the word, the fruit of the word. The ministry of the word is the preaching of the word; the thing that contains the word is the glory and the name of God, the fruit of the word.

1330 xvi, 340-S42. Interpretations on the Psalms. W. iv, itzsi-iscu. 1331

is that we become brothers of Christ through the word and faith in the glory of God, that is: "The gospel is the power of God that saves everyone who believes in it", Rom. 1, 16.

Behold, this is the fruit of Christ's resurrection. This is the Hallelujah, which is so frequent in the Psalter and in the New Testament [Revelation 19:1, 3, 4, 6]. For what does Hallelujah mean but: Praise the Lord? But to praise the Lord is to preach the gospel, so that hallelujah is the true and proper praise of the gospel.

But how many there are who repeat these letters and words Hallelujah all day long, and yet are exceedingly hostile to the Gospel! Hallelujah is not a word of the rich, not of the glorious, not of the mighty, not of the wise, not of the righteous, not of the living, but of the poor, the lowly, the weak, the foolish, the sinner, the dying; for to the poor the gospel is preached. Sinners sing and hear HalleluJah [praise the Lord], but those sing and hear Hallelunu, praise ourselves.

310 The same is what the following part says: "I will boast about you in the church". For "the glory of God" is the same as "the name of God," and "I will boast" indicates the same Christ, the same office, the same danger. For what has been said of him who preaches, the same will be said of him who boasts. And "the church" is the same as "the brethren." Unity, peace, love, and joint-heirship with Christ are indicated on both sides. For the church is flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone; it is brother, sister, and mother to him.

In this verse, then, everything is exceedingly sweet and pleasant, because the gospel is a joyful message, but only to those who will be brothers; to the others it is a stench of death unto death. This is also followed in very good succession:

V. 24. Glorify the Lord, you who fear him; all the seed of Jacob honor him, and before him all the seed of Israel shun him.

312. by the word that speaks of the praise and the name of god [v. 23.

Faith is encouraged, but not all obey the gospel, but least of all the works saints, who are full and rich in works, before whose eyes there is no fear of God. With them the fruit of the word is lost.

For this reason he turns to those who fear the Lord, who, after hearing the general statement in the Gospel, Romans 3:23, 10, 12: "They are all sinners; there is none righteous, there is none that doeth good," are afraid of this terrifying voice of the Lord, and believe that what they hear is true. Therefore they are displeased with themselves, despairing of themselves, and take refuge in the mercy held out to them, that they may be saved. Behold, these are they that fear the Lord, and glorify him.

314 But as the wicked do not believe that what they hear said against their works is true, so they do not fear or flee to mercy; therefore they do not praise the Lord, whose benefits they neither feel nor seek.

But grace cannot be preached unless sin is also preached. For the giving of the medicine is a very clear proof of the disease, and the more powerful (major) the medicine is, the more severe the disease obviously is. Therefore, if the Gospel exalts the name and glory of God, it also exalts the greatness of our evil and shame. Those who believe it fear, come near and are saved, and praise the Lord. But those who do not believe it ridicule both the physician and their illness, thinking that they are completely healthy.

Yet the prophet exhorts that all the seed of Jacob should honor him. In order that he may be able to do this, he exhorts that all the seed of Israel should shrink from him, desiring that they believe the gospel, so that they may both know themselves and so stand in fear; but after that also the grace of God, and so praise God, because this word of salvation is promised especially to them, as the apostles often said to them in the Acts of the Apostles, especially Paul [Cap. 13, 26]: "Men, brethren, children of the family of Abraham, and those who among you have heard God's word, I pray to you.

1332 L. XVI, 342-344. Works on the first 22 'Psalms. Ps. 22, 24. 25. w. IV, I8V4-I807. 1333

fear, unto you is sent the word of this salvation." And soon after [v. 32. f.], "God fulfilled the promise made to our fathers in us their children." But they cast this away, and feared not the Lord; therefore they also became whoredoms of the fathers, after the carnal seed only, Israelites, and the house of Jacob.

317. That is why the prophet carefully prefaced it with, "You who fear the Lord," and then said: "All the seed of Jacob" and "the seed of Israel," so that he showed that those who were without fear could not boast, although they were the seed according to the flesh, and that no one could boast that he was the seed of Jacob and Israel who did not fear the Lord; and therefore all the seed of Jacob and all the seed of Israel do not understand all the Jews in themselves, but only those who fear him. For only these are the true seed of Israel. But what "fear" is, has already been said.

V. 25: For he did not despise nor spurn the affliction of the poor, nor hide his face from him, and when he cried out to him, he heard ([ex]audivit [me]).

This is a verse in Hebrew, and the pronoun me [in the Vulgate] at the end is superfluous. For here he tells the reason why he praises God, and indicates to which people the gospel is useful, namely, as I said, to the poor, oppressed, miserable. For 113, 5. f.]: "Who is like the Lord our God, who has set himself so high, and looks on the lowly in heaven and on earth?" For this is what makes Him most lovable and praiseworthy, and that we may approach Him confidently, that His eyes are fixed on the afflicted and the poor; and the more contemptible the form of men is, the nearer and more present there is God, for He knows the high things from afar.

319. Therefore, nowhere in his commandments does he command us to be careful of the rich, the powerful, the great, and the honored, but (so he says [Isa. 58:7Z), "If you see one naked, clothe him; and those who are in misery, bring them into the house; break your bread for the hungry, and do not shun thee.

your flesh." Although the exceedingly kind Lord has no flesh, he does not despise the flesh, and we who are flesh withdraw from our flesh. What would we do if we, like him, had no flesh? Without a doubt, the same thing that the devils do.

(320) Therefore, since he looks only to that which is lowly, it is necessary for us to obtain the grace of the gospel in another way, that we may become lowly, that is, that we may know and believe that we lack the glory we ought to have in God, that we are full of our shame and all evil, and so fear in this poverty. Then the Lord does not despise these poor people; indeed, whatever they ask, they will receive. For that the prayer (deprecationem) of the poor be not spurned, that is, that he take exceeding pleasure in it, and not hide his face, that is, that he make his face shine exceeding graciously upon them, since indeed the Hebrew text has here more fittingly and better [than the Vulgate, which offers: Nec avertit faciem suam a me]: Nec abscondit faciem suam a me, since it is very common in Scripture, and indeed a peculiarly Hebrew idiom, for God to make his face shine upon us; likewise also the contrast to this, that he hides the face.

Therefore, he who wants to be the seed of Israel and enjoys the grace of the gospel must be poor. The saying stands firm: Our God is such a God who looks upon the poor. And see with what abundance of words and with what care the prophet speaks. It is not enough for him to have said once, "He has not despised," but he adds, "He has not spurned," likewise, "He has not hidden," and, "He has heard."

322 After that he sets himself as an example by saying: "When I cried out" (cum clamarem), as our Latin translation has it, as if he wanted to say: "Behold, by my example learn, I who have become the most despised of all men, and am counted among the wicked. And since I was most despised, rejected, rejected, behold, I am most esteemed, received and heard. May this figure therefore

1334 L. L. VI. p. 44-346. interpretations on the Psalms. W. IV. ISV7-1SIV. 1335

according to my example; the gospel wants to have such a form in order to save them. Of course, our weakness needs such a fullness of exhortation, so that it does not shrink from being humbled, or does not despair when it has been humbled, and in this way possesses salvation through this cross.

The Hebrew text seems to me to contain a general meaning saying (absolutam gnomen), in this way: For he did not despise nor disdain the poverty of the poor, neither did he hide his face from him, and when he cried unto him, he heard. The meaning is evidently this: Therefore the Lord is to be praised and feared, because he neither despises nor disdains the poverty of the poor, nor the poverty (paupertatem, not deprecationem [prayer], as in the Vulgate, because of this it is said in a moment) from which one suffers who is in the likeness of lowliness, especially in the shame which is detestable and contemptible among men. For we have said above that the poor man is so called from affliction and oppression.

324 It is therefore a wonderful sweetness of the Lord that the form which the world curses and abhors is worthy and pleasing to him, and that he hears those when they call, of whom the world judges that they are condemned by him.

All this is said because the gospel makes us low and nothing, both before God and before men, so that we are found to be sinners and condemned on both sides, but in such a way that by acknowledging such our evil we thirst for the grace of righteousness, 1) in which we must bear the cross before men for the sake of the gospel. For before God we are found to be sinners for our own sake and for the sake of the world, with which we have kept and walked, but before the world we are found to be sinners for the sake of God and His gospel, with which we have begun to keep and walk in it.

1) In the original of the Erlanger and in the Weimarschen: rnsr^amur. We have adopted sitiainns with the Wittenberg, the Jena and the Erlangen.

326. And so our lowliness has exalted us before God, and this exaltation humbles us before men; since we were exalted before in their eyes, we were humbled before God. Blessed therefore is this lowly one, blessed is his lowliness, for because it has been laid up for God's sake, it is delicious in the sight of God.

So you see the power of the gospel to justify us before God and to crucify us before the world. Therefore the word of salvation is also a word of the cross, the word of wisdom also a word of foolishness etc.

V. 26. I will travel with you in the great community; I will pay my vows before those who fear him.

Apud te [in the Vulgate] is the same as de te [from you], because that is how the Hebrew text has it. Hitherto he has said of the praise of God, which is directed by the public preaching ministry; hence he said [v. 23.], "I will praise thee in the congregation, and preach thy name." But to preach and praise in the congregation means to speak to others who are listening, as it is said in Sir. 15, 5: "He will open his mouth to him in the congregation," and Solomon says: "You shall not speak before the rulers [Proverbs 25, 6. Sir. 32, 13.].

Here he speaks of every man's special worship, namely, the fruit of faith that is produced by the gospel, which consists, as the apostle Heb 13:15 teaches, "in offering the sacrifice of praise to God at all times, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. And Ps. 116:12, after he had said [v. 10] that he had believed and preached, but was greatly afflicted because of that preaching, he says: "How shall I repay the Lord for all his benefits which he doeth unto me?" Among other things, he also says the same as here [v. 14.], "I will pay my vows to the Lord before all his people." And again [v. 17.], "Unto thee will I offer thanksgiving." For we have nothing to render but praise, honor, and thanksgiving for his unspeakable gift (as the apostle calls it [2 Cor. 9:15.]), which he has abundantly poured out upon us through the gospel [Tit. 3:6.].

330. but what is this that he says he wants to

1336 L. XVI, S^-St8. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 26. W. IV, I8I0-I8I3. 1337

"praise in the great congregation," or, what is the same, before many people (multa), and that he would "pay his vows before those who fear him"? For also in the 116th Psalm, v. 18, 19, he says that he will pay the same vows before all his people in the courts of the house of the Lord in the midst of Jerusalem. May one not praise in the corner or in the chamber and pay the vows? Furthermore, who can be bodily present before all his people and in that great church? Therefore, there is no doubt that he speaks in the spirit, and of a congregation that is great or many in spirit, and of a people gathered in the spirit, which is nothing other than praising God in one faith, in one spirit. For it is faith alone in which the whole people of God and the whole community are gathered together in unity.

All this is said to express abhorrence of the hypocrisy and sects that divide the church into different parts and bind it to certain places, persons, and other outward things, but at the same time they decompose themselves from praising God in their own places, that is, with their own works. Therefore, since each one serves God with his own devices, and separates himself from the common work of the whole church (which is faith), as if to be justified and saved by it, does not the god make a special church, and praise God in his own tiny part, and only in front of himself? These are the heights and the groves and the valleys with which the people of old left the common temple of God, and each one walked separately in the heat of his temptation (as Peter calls it [1 Ep. 4, 12. Vulg.]). Therefore, "to praise in the great congregation" means to confess that one is justified and saved by the grace common to all, not by one's own efforts, so that there may remain unity of opinion and of heart in faith, even though outwardly there are various offices in the works.

Therefore, the Hebrew text does not say in vain: From you I will praise, because those heretics, that is, the sectarians, cannot praise God other than from themselves. For if they do not consider what is theirs to be delicious and praiseworthy

or did not seek to be justified and saved by it, they would undoubtedly despise it and abandon it. But now their actions and their zeal are a clear indication of what they praise and trust in, and how they praise God for what they themselves have, each in his own place, as if they had something special and better before all the common people of God, as that Pharisee in the Gospel praised and thanked God about himself, not that he had received anything, but that he had given God much good.

333 But the prophet does not praise himself from anything that is his, but he says: From you I will praise myself. I count nothing but the common grace of faith, by which thou justifieth and maintainest all alike. For if there were anything else that could make me righteous, I would justly glory in it. Those wicked who have a disgust at being like others, and rejoice in their peculiar nature, have their own from which they praise you, delighting in the fact that they are not like other people.

Therefore, it is not because God is praised in places made with hands; not because it is done in Jerusalem in the Temple; not because it is done in this or that place; not because a priest or a bishop does it, not because a rich man or a poor man does it, but because the believer praises God, whoever he may be and wherever he may be. As now is the time that the Father is not to be worshipped on this mountain nor at Jerusalem, but must be worshipped in spirit and in truth [John 4:21, 23]: so must he also be praised; so that all places, times, persons, that is, the trust placed in them, are abolished.

See, this means "in the great congregation" and "praising before those who fear him," praising in the freedom of the spirit, which knows nothing of any precept: "I will be one of the multitude. And by saying that he praises God before those who fear Him, he punishes those presumptuous people quite sharply, for the ungodly and the sectarians fear Him.

God does not. At the same time he interprets himself what "the great community" is.

For where will you seek those who fear God, in Rome or in Jerusalem? No, not at any particular place, but in faith and in spirit, everywhere. So also, when will you find them, tomorrow or for a year? No, but in faith and in spirit, at some time. Further, what kind of people will you look for? The pope, the bishops, the monks? No, but in faith and in spirit any people. For the faithful fear God, who do not have a certain place, time and person.

337 Thus we see that in a similar way the apostles feared nothing so much as that the unity (communio) in faith would fall away and divisions would arise according to sects and works, as it happens today, which the fifth Psalm, v. 11, calls "great transgressions", 2].

338 And it seems to me that this way of speaking is peculiar to David: I will praise in the community, instead of: I will live and work in the community, because the whole life of the believer is nothing else but praising God, as Ps. 111:3 [Vulg.] says: "Praise and glory is his work," and Ps. 96:6 [Vulg.]: "Praise and glory is before him," and Ps. 104:1 [Vulg.]: "Praise and adornment you have put on," and Isa. 43:21: "This people I have prepared for myself; they shall tell my fame."

But what kind of "vows" are these? Those of monks and nuns, for instance, or the vows of one's own choice concerning the generally practicable works? Be far from that! They are the common vows of the whole "great community" and of all "who fear the Lord. What then did the congregation vow? Surely the 50th Psalm, v. 14. says, with one and the same quite general rule for all: "Offer thanks to God, and pay your vows to the Most High." So also in this passage and Ps. 116, 14. 18. the vows are connected with the praises, so that one sees that the vows are nothing else than this very praising.

For when we enter into a covenant of faith with God, what do we do but pledge praise and thanksgiving to Him? For we also confess that all ours is nothing.

and testify that we are saved only by His grace, and admit that through this covenant we are debtors to preach and confess the grace we have received. This confession, I say, we owe to God, that we are lost to ourselves, and are preserved by His gift alone.

341. and this guilt of ours is the vow which we pay by praising God and accusing ourselves; by glorifying Him and making ourselves ashamed; by justifying Him and condemning ourselves, so that He may be right in His words and all men be wrong [Rom. 3:4]. And this especially in the time of temptation, when we are called upon to pass the test of our accusation and condemnation, that we may then sing to God His song that night, and speak to the people of Dan. 3 [Prayer of Asariah v. 27, 28]: "In all things, O Lord, that thou hast done unto us, thou hast justly punished us." And Ps. 66, 12-14: "We have come in fire and water, but thou hast brought us out and refreshed us. Therefore will I enter into thine house with burnt offerings, and pay thee my vows, as I have opened my lips, and my mouth hath spoken in my distress." Behold, what are the burnt-offerings, what are the vows, which are offered in trouble, as we have quoted from the Epistle to the Hebrews Cap. 13, 15. "the fruit of the lips," and Hos. 14, 3. "We will offer the fair of our lips."

342. 3 [Prayer of Azariah v. 40]: "As if we were offering burnt offerings of rams and oxen and many thousands of fat sheep, so will you make our offering acceptable and pleasing in your sight today." But also the aforesaid Psalm [Ps. 66] makes of the fat burnt offerings with the burnt rams, of the oxen and goats, of which he says [v. 15.] that he will sacrifice them, nothing else than the praise of God in the tribulation, saying [v. 16-19.], "Come hither, hear ye all ye that fear God; I will tell what he hath done for my soul." What is this? "To him I cried with my mouth, and praised him with my tongue. Where I would do iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not hear. Therefore God hears me and heeds my supplications.

1340 L. xvi, 350-352. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 26, 27. w. iv, e-eg. 1341

For the great congregation and all who fear the Lord have no other vows.

343. And note that in the sight of those who fear the Lord, he does not pay his praise, but pays the vows, because in the tribulation, where it is a matter of accusing us and vindicating God, God is fearful or terrifying, since he appears angry. But pay thy vows, and be mindful of the covenant which thou hast entered into, that thou hast promised to justify him, and to condemn thyself continually, and thou shalt be saved. But the wicked do not vow, and though they vow, they do not pay these vows.

V. 27. The miserable shall eat that they may be filled, and they that ask after the Lord shall journey; your heart shall live for ever.

344. the Hebrew text has [instead of corda eorum in the Vulgate? "Your heart shall live forever," and pauperes here again means the afflicted, that is, those who adhere to the Gospel, and the faithful, which the Latin interpreter elsewhere translates by miseros, or by humiles, or by mites.

34ö. So far Christ has said what he would do to his own in the church, especially in the time of the apostles and those who were to teach others. Now he tells, as I think, the growth of the church and of those who would listen, both from the people of the Jews and the Gentiles, through the ministry of the apostles and the first witnesses (primitivorum), saying that many should be converted from both people. For he does not speak of a bodily satiation, but having foretold that there would be preaching and praising of God in the church, and thereby the right pasture of souls, namely the gospel, which is to be spread and presented through many, he now says that it should not be offered in vain, but there would be sheep that eat and hearers that hear, but only poor and lowly, so that the word of Christ would stand firm, Matth. 11, 5. "To the poor the gospel is preached", and Is. 61, 1. [Luc. 4, 18.? "He sent me to preach the gospel to the poor."

346 Therefore, this verse contains what Lucas often writes in the book of Acts, that the word of the Lord has increased greatly and the number of believers has increased greatly.

347 And when he says, "Your heart shall live forever," he sufficiently indicates that he is speaking of the pasture of the Word, which nourishes the heart, not the belly. But here he also strongly alludes to the sacrament of the altar, since in ancient times the mass was held for the purpose of receiving both the sacrament and the word, and in truth there was a bodily and a spiritual meal there. A bodily, I say, from the bread and wine of the altar; a spiritual from the Gospel; by both the heart was fed, not the belly. And this verse makes a demand on us to deal in detail with the Mass, because of the abominable and frightful abuses, both in doctrine and works, introduced by the Mass, which have abounded in the Church, but this we will save until last.

348 In the meantime, let us see who are the skilled hearers of the Gospel. The wretched, he says, the afflicted and the hungry, who, desirous of grace, are oppressed by sins and suffer from weakness. And they shall be satisfied, they also praise the Lord, for they seek him of whom they have need, and having found him, they are glad and praise him. O happy people, he says, your heart shall live forever. For grace, life everlasting, and his righteousness abideth for ever. What is the matter if even the belly dies? Your heart lives through the immortal food of the Word.

But this verse seems to be written with well-chosen words against the Jewish people, since they, accustomed to earthly promises, only expected temporal things from God, preservation of the belly and food, while these things cannot provide satiety, as if he wanted to say: Woe to you who look at the belly and the food, and yet are not satisfied; the time will come when you will eat and be satisfied, but not carnally, nor as rich and pleasure-seekers, as you have been hitherto, and have insatiably sought to satisfy such people.

1342 xvi, SS2-3S4. Interpretations on the Psalms. W. iv. issi-iWi. 1343

but the poor, for this will be the food that will satisfy you, which the food of the flesh could not. After this, those who have desired food will no longer grumble against the Lord, but will praise the Lord, whom they will seek, and not the food.

Furthermore, while those are dead, these will live forever. Thus God destroyed the belly and the food, because the kingdom of God does not stand in eating and drinking. But that he breaks off so suddenly with these words has a great emphasis: "Your heart shall live forever", as if he wanted to say: You shall gladly lack this food that serves the belly, because here your heart shall live forever.

V. 28. Let the end of the world be remembered, that they should turn to the Lord, and worship before him all the families of the Gentiles.

This is only one verse in Hebrew, and it speaks with a clear expression of the conversion of the Gentiles. And although the Hebrew text has in active form: memorabunt and convertent, yet [in the Vulgate) the passive meaning is quite well given [reminiscentur and convertentur) instead: Fient memores et erunt conversae, without closer relation (absoluto statu), as we have often had the like. Thus in the 51st Psalm, v. 6, [it is said according to the Hebrew]: Proptereajustificabis in verbo tuo, that is, justus eris, and it is rightly said [in the Latin translation]: Ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis, etc. So also [in this verse): Adorabunt in conspectu ejus, that is, erunt adoratores coram eo. And also the character of the Gentiles this verse paints with its words, namely that they would be such people, who would be turned away from God and devoted to idols, and inclined to worship all things. It will come, he says, that they will be truly converted, namely to the true God, and will no longer worship idols, but "before God," that is, in spirit and in truth.

352 Although the Gentiles have been converted to Christ, so that it might seem as if this verse was spoken by the prophet of Christ after he had changed the person, we do not want to change the person until we can no longer avoid it, and we want to believe that the man still speaks, who also speaks of the Father in the gospel, and that all

He directs and judges men and all things to Him, so that He shows Himself to be a pure man, even though He draws all things to the Father through Himself, and says that one comes to the Father through Him [Joh. 14, 6.]. So he also says here that the Gentiles are converted to God, although in truth they are converted to him at the same time; but now he is satisfied with the fact that he said they would be converted through him and through his preaching.

This, "that the Gentiles be remembered," I believe, is said of their going into their hearts and returning to God, whom they would acknowledge again after having completely and desperately forgotten Him for centuries in long-lasting ignorance. For the Gentiles not only knew nothing of God, but had also forgotten Him, since they were rooted in their blindness and idolatry, so that in such a way in the word: "Let it be remembered" the great power of the grace of the Gospel is praised, through which those who were so deeply hardened are led back again.

Augustine uses this verse against the Donatists, and it also serves us against the Roman tyranny and its sects, which do not allow any Christians to be in the whole world, unless they serve them as prisoners. For everywhere Christ is known, and through him God, and even now one must believe that he is known everywhere, although by very few, after Satan is let loose to deceive all the Gentiles [Revelation 20:7, 8].

V. 29. For the Lord has a kingdom, and he rules among the nations.

355. Paul seems to refer to this verse Rom. 3, 29. by saying: "Or is God the God of the Jews alone? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, indeed, also the God of the Gentiles." Rom. 10, 12. "There is One HEART of all, rich above all who call upon Him." Therefore, he says, the Gentiles will also be converted, because the Lord Himself will reign through Himself, who is the Lord of all. It would be unseemly for the Lord to have only the Jewish people as his kingdom over all.

356 But did he himself rule among the Jews until now? No, but Moses and the law has ruled; the spirit was still

1344 A 354-356. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 29. 30. W. iv, 1824-E. 1Z4Z

not revealed and preached publicly. But he reigned secretly in some, that is, in a hidden kingdom, without the spread of grace and the Spirit.

Therefore we are no longer under the driver of the law, nor in the spirit of bondage, but in the spirit of freedom under the revealed Lord Himself, who rules in all His creatures, after the prince of the world has been judged and cast out, who ruled over us before, who has the power of death [Heb 2:14], and we did not have the Lord.

But "having a kingdom" (regnare) is more than creating, making and having. For God has all things so that they are subject to Him, but He does not have a kingdom in all of them, since a kingdom is a civil and salutary dominion in which the subjects depend on the will and works of their King. In such a way Christ reigns in us when he dwells in us, while we refrain from all our doings, and on his Sabbath, which is sanctified by us, he abides in us and does all our works, which, as all know, is by grace alone. Therefore the kingdom of God is also called the kingdom of heaven, and he our king; we his own people. But if we serve sin, sin reigns in us, and we are in the kingdom of sin and Satan, without God as King, exiles and prisoners, and violate the Sabbath of the Lord without ceasing by our own works. This, then, is the rejoicing that this verse raises: "For the Lord has a kingdom, and is the Lord among the Gentiles," as also Psalm 97:1 says: "The Lord is King, let the earth rejoice," as if to say: The Gentiles will be converted, for the devil will be cast out, sin will be taken away in the world, and the King will reign in righteousness and will be wise; and this will be publicly taught and directed through the gospel.

V. 30: All the fat people of the earth will eat and worship; all those who are in the dust and those who are miserable will bow the knee to him. 1)

1) Vulgata: Manducaverunt et adoraverunt omnes pingues terrae, in conspectu ejus cadent omnes, qui descendunt in terram, et anima mea illi vivet.

In the Hebrew it says: Manducaverunt et adoraverunt omnes pingues terrae, in conspectu ejus genu flectent omnes descendentes in pulverem, et anima ejus non vivet. This verse with the two following ones seems to me to be set by the prophet either as a conclusion or as a summa, but that he, as it seems to me, has deliberately wanted to speak darkly by omission (eclipsi), by omission of the connecting words (asyndetis), by concealment (reticentia), by paraphrase (periphrasi) and other figures, then by changing the person and confusing the distinction, so that we have to struggle, and yet cannot know whether we meet his opinion. We want to try, but we do not want to turn to the distinction signs, nor do we want to allow a change of person, but we want to assume that Christ speaks to the end, who in the Gospel often speaks of Himself in the third person, as John 3:16: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. And Matth. 23, 8. f.: "You shall not be called Rabbi, for One is your Master, Christ, who is in heaven." Again John 3:13: "And no man goeth up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." And so he does not say in this place: Anima ejus non vivet et semen serviet ei etc..

Therefore, the first part of the verse should be a short summary or summa summarum. For he had said that both the Jews and the Gentiles would be converted and worship, but here he expands on what he had said, saying, "Yes, then all respect of persons will cease, so that in Christ there will not only be neither Jew nor Greek, but also neither master nor servant, neither rich nor poor, neither male nor female, neither foreigner nor scythe, neither great nor small, but all one in Christ; with One Shoulder, in One Faith, in One Gospel, they will serve the One God without distinction.

361 For what it is to "eat" and "worship" has already been said [§ 345 ff. and § 351], namely, that by the word "eat" he is saying

the Jews, with the word "worship" the Gentiles. But here, both being merged into one, he applies to both eating and worshipping, so that there is no difference between Jews and Greeks, as the apostle testifies [Rom. 10, 12. Col. 3, 11.]; and the same he wants to say with the general word "all", as if he speaks: Both Jews and Gentiles, both those of whom I had said before that they eat and those to whom I had ascribed worship, all without distinction will eat and worship, that is, they will be table companions (manducatores), hearers, servants and worshipers of God.

362 The same is what follows: Et in conspectu ejus cadent or "before him they will bend the knees", that is, they will appear before him with knees bent and resting on the ground, expressing in figurative speech the ceremony of worship.

And "the fat ones of the earth" are figuratively called all those who occupy a particularly respectable position (persanatu), as the rich, powerful, noble, honored, strong, beautiful, wise, works saints and the like. For this we have learned from the 17th Psalm, v. 10. "Their fat ones hold together," and Deut. 32, 15. it is said, "He became fat and thick and strong." Therefore, "the fat ones of the earth" are all that is high and great in the world and respectable in the eyes of men. And in this the Lord made no distinction, but caught in his net the great fishes with the small, and every kind of creature that liveth and travaileth in this great and spacious sea.

364. "All who are in the dust." I do not think that it is spoken of the dead or those who are subject to death (mortalibus), as some will, but it will be a circumlocution for a very lowly figure and person, in contrast to the fat ones on earth, so that no person or figure can be so lowly and contemptible, that God should not honor them in Christ by His grace and His gospel, so that all contempt for the contemptible, and all shunning of the fearful, should cease, and the lion lie with the calf and the sheep, the wolf with the lamb, the pardel with the little goat, and a

little boy drive them with each other, as Isaiah Cap. 11, 6. 7. prophesied. "For who preferred you?" says Paul 1 Cor. 4, 7. to those who left this equality. "But what hast thou that thou hast not received? But if thou hast received it, what boastest thou, as he that received it not?"

Since God thus reigns in us through Christ, all things are God's and nothing is ours, so that no one can envy another, and no one can be puffed up against another; no one has less or more than another, but, as it is said of those who gathered manna, 2 Cor. 8:15: "He that gathered much had not abundance, and he that gathered little had not lack"; for all that each has belongs to all, because of One, that there is One Word and One Faith, and One Kingdom and One Lord.

But that "to lie in the dust" means that spurned and despised figure, and also an afflicted one, as it is wont to happen in this figure, is proved by the word Isa. 47, 1: "Down, virgin, thou daughter of Babylon, sit thou in the dust, sit thou on the ground; for the daughter of the Chaldeans hath no more a seat. You will be called no more: Thou tender and lewd." What does he prophesy here but the humiliation of the greatness of Babylon? And Klagel. 3, 29: "He who puts his mouth in the dust and awaits hope", and Job, Cap. 7, 5, says that his flesh is full of the filth of dust, and Ps. 7, 6, David allows his honor to be buried in the dust, that is, to be made nothing. So Paul praises 1 Cor. 1, 24. ff. that those are called who are nothing, and the foolish and the weak, so that God may bring to nothing those who are something, because people who are like that are to be respected almost as if they were dead, and already lie in the dust. "But the Lord (as the 113th Psalm, v. 7. 8., has it in Hebrew) raises up the lowly out of the dust, and lifts up the poor out of the mire, that he may set him beside the rulers" etc. Again, "He pushes down the mighty from their seats and lifts up the lowly" [Luc. 1, 52. 1, so that He makes all equal. And [1 Cor. 1, 31.], "He that boasteth, let him boast of the Lord," and a wretched man that is put to shame turn not away, but [1 Cor.

1348 L. LVI, 3S8-360. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 30-32. W. IV, IS30-I832. 1349

10, 17.] One bread, one body are we all, who are partakers of one bread and one cup.

367 Et anima ejus non vivet ["and his soul will not live". Cf. § 359]. Whose "his"? None other than the Lord, of whom he had just said: "Before him the fat and the dust shall bow the knee and eat. For the context and the order of the words do not allow it to be understood by anyone else. And this is the mystery which David wished to indicate by these figures of words veiled, that it should be taught (positum), and yet not explained (expositum). You see, therefore, that in this passage Christ wanted to reveal the secret of Himself in the third person by the same word, both of His divinity and of His resurrection. If his soul should die, he must therefore have a soul or mortal life, and no one can doubt or deny that this is said of a mortal man who will die. But the pronoun "his" can only refer to the Lord mentioned in the preceding, whom Gentiles and Jews serve in unison as the true God. So you see, with how open and beautiful words he declares here that he is true man and will die at the same time, but at the same time also true and immortal God, so that in this verse no other God is admitted than the one who will die and once be a dead man, thus in one person God and man.

Behold, this is a part of the summa of this psalm, as if he wanted to say: The short epitome of what I want with this Psalm is this: The true God, who shall also be true man, shall die, and suffer that which I have foretold of him, and then that shall follow, whereof I have said that it shall follow his suffering. And this part he added to this verse, which would have been more fitting together with the following verse and would have started a new one; but this so great mystery had to be included. I do not want to say anything about our Latin translation, which is wrong and not worthy to be treated, since it is just contrary to the Hebrew, unless

Because one wants to do violence to the words and say: Anima mea illi vivet [my soul will live to him, that is, it will rise from the dead, so that it lives to him, since it was dead for the people. But this is not compelling, nor does it prove anything.

V. 31. 32. He will have a seed to serve him; they will proclaim of the Lord to the children of children. They shall come and preach his righteousness unto the people that are born, that he may do it. 1)

Our Latin translation has mixed up these two verses in a very confused way and translated them badly; therefore, we also want to translate these two verses at the same time, literally translated from the Hebrew in this way:

1. et semen serviet ei, narrabit Domino in generationem.

2. venient et annuntiabunt justitiam ejus, populo nato, quoniam fecit.

He had said that his soul would die, here he says that there will be a seed to serve him; but he will not serve a dead man, since he cannot rule as a dead man. For who could serve a dead man? Therefore, the one who was to die must necessarily rise again, so that the seed could serve him. For since, when he died, he was taken away from the land of the living, as Isaiah Cap. 53:8 says, "that he was taken away from the land of the living," it follows that he was raised from the dead in such a way that he would no longer die or be mortal.

Therefore also his kingdom will not be a mortal or temporal one, because his soul will not live in this life, but will be taken away from this life, since it is said: Anima ejus non vivet, which is said of this mortal life, as Paul 1 Cor. 15, 45. f. says: "The first man Adam was made into the natural life, and the last Adam into the spiritual life", calling this life a natural one, the body a natural one, but that life a spiritual one and the body a spiritual one.

1) Vulgate: Et semen meum serviet ipsi, annun= tiabitur Domino generatio ventura, et annuntiabunt coeli justitiam ejus populo, qui nascetur, quem fecit Dominus.

Body is called a spiritual body. Therefore it is also said here that Christ will die in such a way that his soul will not live, that is, he will not be alive after the natural life. For he did not want to say that he would die, but used such words, which actually expressed the matter, namely that Christ would die, so that his soul would no longer live, that is, the natural life with food, clothing, breathing and other necessities of the perishable life. So he has a soul, he is a man, but he will not live in it. But since he also lives in such a way that he has seed over which he will rule, it follows that he is and lives a spiritual man. This could not happen if the natural body did not die and a spiritual one arose again.

From this it follows that he is also God, because this service does not come to a mere man, also not such a kingdom. Then this service must also no longer be a bodily one (animalem), because it is now no longer in the bodily life (animalis), and therefore does not need such service. It will therefore be a service in the spirit, after the synagogue has ceased from outward service; and this also follows that the seed is not a bodily one. For he did not mean to say: the people will serve him, but "the seed", in order to cancel the glory of the fleshly seed of Abraham, and to introduce a new seed, which he himself would have begotten through the gospel from the spirit. So this man will be a new patriarch, the author and origin of a new seed; there will be a new ministry, a new kingdom, such as the world has not known. Thus it is said in Isa. 53:10: "When he hath given his life for a trespass offering, he shall have seed, and shall live to the length of the world." How can a dead man beget children? Therefore, this patriarch is not equal to the former ones. For those died and left behind them the seed which, being dead, could not serve them. But this patriarch will not leave a seed behind him, but the seed will always be present with him and will live into the long run, so that it may serve him alive forever, and yet not in this natural life. For from the

To others it says: "And to your seed after you" [Gen. 17, 7. 8. 19.], but to this one God says: Your seed with you, which will not be after you, but at the same time with you, so completely that it even serves you.

372 Narrabit Domino ad generationem. The verbum narrabit is taken here, as I think, impersonally instead of: narrabitur or sermo erit, like Gen. 10, 9. [Vulg.]: "Of this a proverb arose: A mighty hunter before the Lord, like Nimrod," where the Hebrew text has: And said (dixit): a mighty hunter etc., that is, someone said, or: one said (dictum est). And Gen. 27:42, "Then were announced (nuntiata sunt) to Rebekah the words of Esau," in Hebrew is thus: Et nuntiavit Rebeccae. Des

same Gen. 31, 48: "Therefore one (vocatum est) calls him Gilead", instead of: Et vocavit ejus nomen Galaad, and the like more. So it must also be here, narrabit for: narratum erit Domino ad generationem, that is, one will say that also God has a generation and children's children, namely, since he also has seed, as he says Isa. 66, 9: "Should I let others break the mother, and myself not also give birth? says the Lord. Should I let others give birth, and myself be shut up? saith thy God." This seems to be better understood of the spiritual begetting of nations according to the Hebrew. Ps. 102:29: "The children of thy servants shall abide, and their seed shall prosper before thee." But it is an entirely Hebrew speech: Narrabitur Domino in generationem, that is, it will be preached, and in this sermon it will be preached of the Lord, and preached in such a way that the Lord belongs to the generation of children, or that He has a generation, which is wonderful in our eyes, that God, like men, also has a generation of peoples. But here he says generationem only once, while everywhere else it is doubled, generatione, generatione. But this happens because in the fleshly seed one generation passes away, another arises, and there is a succession of things that do not remain, but this is such a generation that the earlier do not give way to the later, but are gathered together into one generation, because it is spiritual and eternal.

1352 L. XVI, 362-364. Works on the first 22 Psalms. Ps. 22, 31. 32. W. IV, 1833-1837. 1353

373 "They shall come and preach his righteousness" (that is, the righteousness of faith), not the righteousness of works and law, that is, his seed and generation shall preach. For this will be their ministry, as it is said in 1 Pet. 2:9: "Ye are the people of the possession, that ye should preach the virtues of him that hath called you unto his marvelous light."

374 For they shall not preach of this king the glory of this world, as Solomon was preached, but his righteousness, that it may be known that this king and patriarch is the conqueror of sin and death, and the author of eternal goods.

But whither shall they come, and whence? Of course, from the face of this king they will step out (foris) and go into this world, and there preach outwardly (foris) his righteousness, in which they live inwardly before him. This is said so that one does not think that this generation is nowhere, because it is spiritual. It will, he says, be spiritual and yet in the world. But they will not be recognized by any other sign than the ministry of the word, all other appearance of the person being taken away. For they shall come on the feet of the gospel of peace, and thou shalt hear their voice, but shalt not know whence they come, or whither they go: for they are the wind that blows, not in persons, but freely whithersoever it will [John 3:8].

376. "To the people who are born," what is that? What is the people that is not born? As I suppose, this is said because the peoples of other kings get their form (formantur) by laws, customs and habits; but by these one cannot promote them to true justice; it is only like a fable of justice and like a play in the theater. For even the law of Moses could only make the Jewish people hypocritical (formare). The people of this king, however, is not made by laws only for appearance, but it is born by the spirit and the water completely to a new creature of the truth. This is the power of his righteousness without an outward appearance, which

is preached in the spirit. For what is born is completely changed and new, as Christ says Jn. 3:3: "Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Therefore, the word of God's righteousness is given to the people who are born, by which they are both born and sustained, not in appearance but in truth, righteous in spirit, even though they exist in the flesh (existens).

378 "That he will do it", this is said of Christ the King; if I am not mistaken, in this sense, that all this will happen because he will do it, "he will take it", as if he wanted to say: Who hitherto hath said many things by the law, and promised many things; but nothing hath come to pass. The time will now come when he will send forth the scepter of his power, and give to his voice the voice of power, and send such a word as (as Jacobus says [Cap. 1, 18.]) is powerful to witness to his creatures, and to make our souls blessed, so that he is now no longer a spokesman, but a doer: "He will do it once," as it is said Isa. 52, 6. [Vulg.], "Behold, I myself that speak am here." He had given the law before, but there was no one to do it; now he has come and given the gospel, through which he does all things.

Behold, in how great a brevity and in how marvelous a covering are comprehended in these two verses all the mysteries of Christ, of His divinity, of His resurrection, of His kingdom, of His people, of His gospel, of His righteousness, of His blessedness, so that a passage equal to this has not yet occurred to me.

It has seemed good to me to set up a hut here and make my home; and because I see that these interpretations are being hastily set and printed, while I would rather that they remained hidden forever, there is also much that I myself am not satisfied with, and have taken upon myself a burden that goes beyond my strength, and therefore often staggers: I therefore ask the godly reader that he may read everything with exceedingly well-considered primal wisdom.

read the part. Not as if I am aware that I have taught anything wrong; the sense pleases me well in all pieces, but it has not always come to me in the right place, and in the Hebrew has sometimes been missed, because I have been overloaded with business; and distracted by various things, I have not been able to devote myself completely to the matter. I do not excuse myself with the difficulty and obscurity of the book, nor with the small measure of my erudition and my gifts (ingenii), for why did I not remain of it? Nor do I console myself with the example of others, although this is a very honorable reason, but I strive to have the pure, right and appropriate sense in every passage; even if I have only been able to achieve this in part, I would like to be considered presumptuous, erroneous and unlearned in many things before others. And to indicate a few things that I remember at present:

In the 12th (undecimo [according to the Vulg.]) Psalm, in the last verse, an error has occurred in the expression, 1) since, because I was not on the point, I have made it a transitive verb in Hiphil; although it is not bad for the interpretation and the sense if one also says circuitu instead of circumdedit. And what I have said Ps. 14 (Ps. XIII) in the second verse about the expression is true, but I would rather that it had all been omitted; but in another place it will be improved (God willing), where I shall deal fully with such words. Ps. 17, 9: 2) In anima circumdederunt I would have better said in the manner of speaking, according to which.

1) Compare Luther's letter to Pellican Col. 1224.

2) In all editions: "vsrs. 11." But that the 9th verse is meant, proves s 58 of the 17th Psalm.

It is said of Jacob 1 Mos. 29, 18. 20. 3) that he served Rachel to take her as his wife. Thus: In anima circumdederunt [they have encamped around my soul] to take her away, as our Latin interpreter has. In struggling in the 19th Psalm in the fourth verse 4) [§ 26 f.], how the apostles spoke in the languages of all would like, I have not thought that one could say, the apostles would have found in different places in Jerusalem, in other and again other houses again and again other languages, and they would have spoken in such a way alone in the language, on which they had come at the time, so that one must understand it in such a way, that these various languages must be distributed on separate times and Oerter and persons; then, as Lucas says [Apost. 2:6, 12], that the people were confounded, when they saw that, as they went about, they spake in the tongues of all them to whom they went, and confessed every man to another that he had heard them speak in his own language.

Besides these things, there are many others and perhaps greater; I do not see it. In addition, there are the errors of the printers; in short, the whole interpretation would please me better if I myself had overlooked it first, since both prolixity and abundance of words are a great shortcoming of it. But there is also much spiritual instruction and revelation in it, for which everyone who is godly gives thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our light, praised forever and ever, amen.

3) In the editions: Osn. XXXI instead of: XXIX. It depends here on the expression in L^okel, which is not found in the 31st chapter. - Weimar edition in the margin: "I Mos. 31, 6. and 41."

4) In the editions: ks. 18. tertio versu.