The 68th **) Psalm of the Easter Day, Ascension Day and Pentecost Day.

V. 2. 1) GODa ) arise, that his enemies may be scattered, and his haters flee from his presence. b)

When Christ died, God acted as if he were asleep and did not see the raging Jews, so he had them strengthened and gathered, and the poor disciples fled and scattered. When the Jews thought they had won and Christ was lying down, God woke up and raised Christ from the dead. The game was turned around, the disciples gathered together, and the Jews were divided, some by grace who had given themselves to the faith, and some by disgrace who had been disturbed by the Romans.

1) Here, as elsewhere, we have made the counting of the verses the same as in our Bible. In the original, the number of verses is one less, because the title of the psalm is not counted.

a) Marginal gloss: This "GOt" is Christ Himself, who raises Himself from the dead, One GOt with the Father.

b) Marginal gloss: "God's face" means that God reveals Himself and makes Himself present in an announcing way, which happens through His word and work, and this is terrible to the wicked, but comforting to the pious.

2. in such judgment and being the prophet saw, and with great displeasure at the Jews triumphing in Christ's death and the disciples' flight, he lifts up and says: "Let it be enough for God's enemies to glorify? let God arise and turn the page, raise Christ from the dead.

V. 3. As smoke weaves, so weave; as wax melts before the fire, so must the unrighteous 4) perish before God.

3. two beautiful parables, of smoke and wax; the smoke from the wind, the wax from the fire passes away, in which the Holy Spirit is shown, who is a wind and fire, Luc. 3, 16. For spiritus is called a wind, so that God blows on us, and makes spiritual people out of us.

2) 1523 edition: Prangen.

3) In the original: "gloryernn"; in the 1523 edition: "Rühmen".

4) Edition of 1523: Gottlosen, as in the Psalter translation of 1524. Cf. St. Louis edition, vol. IV, 56.

*) During the night of May 4-5, 1521, Luther was taken to Wartburg Castle. Initially, he had no other books at his disposal than the Bible, which he read in Greek and Hebrew. But soon he also began to write, namely this German interpretation of the 68th Psalm, which is the first writing he completed at the Wartburg. He was prompted to write it by the pieces from this psalm that were sung during mass on the feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost. He celebrated these two feasts with the castle community on May 9 and 19. Already on May 26, he sent the manuscript to Melanchthon in Wittenberg (De Wette, vol. II, p. 6). Melanchthon saw to the printing of the same, and already on August 6 the psalm will have left the press lWeim. Ausg., Bd. VIII p. 1), but it is not until November II that we have news that this writing had been distributed among the public. It was first published in Wittenberg by Johann Grüneberg under the title: "Deutsch Auszlegung des sieben vnd sechtzigsten Psalmen, von dem Ostertag. Hymelfart vnd Pfingsten. D. Martinus L." In addition to this, the Weimar edition lists four individual editions, one of which is marked with the year 1523 and the place of printing "Wittemberg", another niith the year 1524, to which is added at the end: "Gedruckt zu Wittemberg Melchior Lotter der Jünger. M. D. XXiiij." In the collections: in the Wittenberg <1553), vol. Ill, p. 11d; in the Jena (1564), vol. I, p. 463; in the Altenburg, vol. I, p. 741; in the Leidiger, vol. VI, p. 256; in the Erlanger, vol. 39, p. 178; and in the Weimar, vol. VIII, p. 1. We reproduce the text according to the Weimar edition, but with special attention to the readings of the 1523 edition, since we are firmly convinced that the improvements in the latter were made by Luther's own hand. This is supported by the fact that the text of the Bible agrees with that of the Psalter translation of 1524.

**) In the original according to the Vulgate count: 67.

This wind and fire came into the world from heaven after Christ's resurrection, and through the gospel the world was converted.

Now it is shameful that such great enemies are compared to smoke and wax, who think that they want to dispute heaven and earth. The smoke goes over itself, makes itself self-willed in the air, acts as if it wanted to blind the sun and storm the sky. But what is it? If a little wind comes, the broad smoke weaves itself and disappears, so that no one knows where it remains. So all the enemies of the truth have great intentions and do terrible things; in the end they are like the smoke against the wind and the sky, which also disappears in itself without wind.

5 So the wax is heavy and hard, like a stone or wood, but before the fire it melts like water, even consumes and disappears. So all the enemies of the truth, when they start and come into the fire, they are more important, heavier and harder to look at than the rock Christ himself [1 Cor. 10:4], but if the fire of the divine word and spirit [Jer. 23:29, Luc. 3:16] comes in addition, then it is over with them, mercifully, if they want, mercifully, if they do not want.

V. 4. And the righteous shall rejoice and leap before the face of God, and have all joy in gladness.

(6) These are the beloved disciples, and all lovers of the truth, to whom it is a joy, and a delight, and a pleasure, that Christ should rise again, and that the truth should stand; who before had all sorrow, when Christ's enemies were subject to him, and rejoiced. 3) Therefore their joy is pure and divine: for they rejoice in the sight of God, and in spiritual things in the truth; but the enemies rejoiced in their wickedness.

V. 5 Sing to God, play psaltery to His name, pave the way for Him who goes in Arabah, 4) LORD is His name; be of good cheer before His face.

1) In the original: "außerstand".

2) "hat" in the 1523 edition; missing in the original.

3) 1523: jauchzeten.

4) 1523: "fahret in der Litter"; in the Psalter translation of 1524: "der da sanft herfähret".

7 That is, praise and glorify Christ as One true God with the Father. For the same thing happened only after the resurrection, as John says [Cap. 7, 39]: "The Holy Spirit was not yet given when Christ was not yet glorified"; but the Holy Spirit glorified Him, that He was the Son of God, Rom. I, 4. Such future singing and glorification of the divinity of Christ is meant here by the prophet. But since we do not have Christ with us in the flesh, but walk by faith, we cannot begin or indicate His person; so we sing to His name, we praise Him, we show Him, we preach and confess Him, which means here "playing psaltery to His name. 5) Psalter means a book of praise; Psalm means a song of praise or a poem of praise, as the poets make verses, which were sung into the strings of old. With this are indicated vain sermons of the sweet gospel, in which God's grace, glory and praise are preached; that psalliren the fingers to the song of the mouth thut, that is, preach beside the deed and miraculous signs.

8) "Paving the way" in this place means to prepare a wicked, swampy, bottomless way with rubble, rice 6) and stone, so that it is good to drive there, where before no one could travel. These are the hearts of men, who before, through evil, rotten, groundless puddles of all kinds of evil desires, have been quite unfit for God's ways, yes, the more one drove in it with the trucks of the law and the commandments, the worse it became, because commandments make no one better, and everyone worse.

(9) But the gospel and the preaching of God's name in Christ establish this way. For faith makes good ground, and drives out all the evil puddles of the evil flesh. So Christ goes in them, that is, he works his works in them, which are love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, chastity, Gal. 5:22. For to go is not to stand still, for this life of faith is an increase and a going or journey 7) toward heaven, into that life.

5) So 1523; in the original: "Psalter spielet".

6) In the original: "rytz".

7) In the original: "furd", in other old editions: "furt". According to the context, this will have to be resolved by "Fuhre" or "Fahrt", not by "Furt" (vnrluln). In Dietz, the meaning we assume is not.

(10) "He leads in Araboth," indicating the nature and kind of faith. Arab means desolation, Araboth much desolation. And the prophet here touches the figure of Exodus 13:21, 22, where it is written, "God the Lord went before the children of Israel to show the way in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, that he might be the guide in both times: the pillar of cloud passed not away by day, nor the pillar of fire by night before all the people." There was no way in the great wild wilderness, neither was there one in the air, 1) the cloud and the fire went before, and led God in Araboth, that is, in untraveled, wild, desolate ways.

(11) Soa is his way, he likes to go wild and desolate ways. These are all the ways of faith, which does not travel as the senses or reason direct, but stands calmly, letting God lead it, not wanting to and not being able to know where to, how far, where through, or what time. Now this is called hovering over us and going in Araboth, when he rules in us through faith, and we are calmly obedient, thus letting him hover and go. All this has happened through the gospel. 2)

12. "LORD is his name." Though he be a man, yet is he set over all things a LORD, wherefore we should follow and let him pass over us in Araboth, though the Hebrew is, In Domino nomen ejus, in GOD is his name, that is, his name is in the Godhead, that he also may be a GOD as well as the Father; for he is not separated from GOD, but is in GOD, and abideth in GOD.

1) So interpungirt the Wittenbergers. In the other editions: "Luft, da" 2c.

a) Marginal gloss: So this Lord does not go forth with visible splendor on horses and chariots, but in Araboth secretly in the spirit,

you will sleep softly or sweetly. Where now right faith is, there is such a sure, quiet, gentle and sweet conscience, which fears nothing, and therefore lives, like a man, who sleeps quietly, sweetly and gently without worry. That is then actually the right dwelling of Christ, there he is gladly, in the litter he lets himself be carried gladly, there he rides in Araboth. It is almost his talk, of the kind of a good conscience and right faith. - Also the marginal gloss: "So lead" 2c. is omitted there.

(13) Be of good cheer before him, that is, have a good conscience and confidence in his grace, which is made by the faith that makes him soar in Arabah. For he that believeth hath peace and joy before God, and is of good cheer.

V. 6. He is a father of the fatherless, and a judge of widows; he is a GOOD in his holy habitation.

14. ye shall be of good cheer, not only that he will make you of good conscience in 3) faith, but because ye must forsake your father, your friend, your body, your goods, and your honor on earth for faith's sake, that ye must be poor, miserable orphans and widows, suffering violence and injustice from every man, ye have here a consolation, that the LORD of all creatures is a father of such orphans, and a judge 4) of such widows. For this he is not far off, but near you; you must not seek him in Jerusalem or Rome. For where his Christians are, there is his dwelling place, there is he sure; and is not there alone, but will be a God there, in whom all hearts shall have refuge, who giveth, doeth, and is able to do all things; lately, in whom ye shall have all things that are to be had in a God.

15) But here faith is necessary; for the Father, the Judge, the God, is present there verbally, His dwelling is holy, that is, set apart, no one can see inside except faith; if you believe that He is your Father, Judge, your God, then He is.

V. 7: He is the God who makes the dwellers of the house of one accord, who brings out the prisoners in due time, but the stubborn remain in the drought.

(16) All doctrine and life apart from faith divide and disunite men, and there must be sects, even if there were but two of them in one house, because their thing is based on outward works and ways, which must be manifold. There is one who prays so much, another who prays this, another who prays that; one is a Carthusian, another is a barefooter; one waltzes, another makes offerings, another fasts.

3) 1523: "im"; original: "yn".

4) 1523: Richter; original: Rächer.

5) "your" 1523; missing in the original.

Wherever hearts are attached to this, 1) disunity, hatred, hope and all misery are sure to follow. Therefore there is no God, no doctrine, no life, no way that makes unanimous, but this God with his way of faith. The same faith draws us all together into the spirit, where all things are equal, and all outward differences fall away; not that no difference remains outward, but that no heart is attached to it, and is divided against anyone, even though all the world dwells in one house.

(17) Now it is necessary that a man first be taken captive by the law, and come into the bondage of sin, that is, into the fear of his conscience. For he who does not feel sin does not seek grace, nor does he respect the gospel or faith. Therefore, the law of the conscience is a master, a chain, a rope and a prison; for the law shows and makes known sin, and thereby sows the conscience, Rom. 4:15 [3:20] and 7:7 ff.

(18) Now God does not lead us out of these bonds when it seems necessary to us, but leaves us to be humbled and martyred within, until we become thirsty for mercy; so He comes and gives His word, to which we cling, and so let us 2) carry it out, that we may come from a frightened, stupid conscience into a good, safe conscience. These are the two works and two exercises of Christ in us, that He kills us and awakens us, lowers us and raises us up, each in its time, as the two pillars in the desert, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire [Ex. 13:21, 22], show.

19 But the stubborn, who hear neither, let them not be told, abide in their sects and outward life; they also must dwell in drought, that is, they bear no fruit, for they believe not, so they have not. Although outwardly, before their eyes, they consider themselves the most useful, the best, the holiest 3) and the cleverest in heaven and earth, they may judge that those who are believers are the best.

1) So 1523; original: anhanged to this.

2) "us" 1523; missing in the original.

3) In the Weimar edition and in all individual editions except the one of 1523: "better most holy". This reading (for which we find no analogy in Dietz) already offended the old editors. Our reading is found in the Wittenberg and the Jena editions. In the edition of 1523 the words "besser heiligsten" are missing.

The prophet calls them Sorerim, who live in the drought, and they alone in the green paradise. The prophet calls them Sorerim. I cannot translate them as "the obstinate," who never want to go in the right way, nor can they be guided or governed; as they are told and instructed, they go astray, like the wanton, untamed grates.

V. 8. O God, when you went out before the face of your people, when you walked in the wilderness, Selah.

So far we have heard the preface of what the prophet intends to sing in this psalm, namely of Christ and his gospel. Now he attacks it, and starts with the old figure, of which 10] it is said that God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt through the wilderness, and is of this opinion: O Christ, at the time when you went out from Egypt before the Israelite people, which was only a figure of your resurrection, by which you first of all went right out of Egypt of this world to your people to the Father, and so lead them by your example and word through the wilderness of faith after you also to the Father. If at the time of your resurrection the earth trembled and the heavens dripped before you, how much more should they tremble and water in the right way? For I read in Exodus 19:16 ff. how Mount Sinai was thunderstruck, thundered, and darkened with a great tempest, so that the earth shook, and did as a great tempest is wont to do; and there was given the law of Moses, which was signified by such tempest and rain. This is what the prophet means by the following verse:

V. 9: Then the earth shook and the heavens trembled before the face of this God of Sinai and before the face of God of Israel.

21. hea ) calls him a GOD of Mount Sinai and Israel, binding him to a place and person outwardly. Because at the time of the

a) Marginal gloss: Dxo. 6 [2 Mos. 6, 3.)s: ,,In nomine

TUN' non eoMibuk chin ei"." eb nornon isbuü inoKadiltz 68b 6b nullins ot^moIoAiae, Hnia Inne first Dons HirastaM, Dons Isaae, Osus ksra^I, alliMbus, brains aMern guiduslideb 6b oinnidns TUN'.

Figures that walked in outward ways and works, worship had to be externally bound to a place and person; but in the New Testament, since the figures are out, and all are equally unanimous in faith, there is no longer any place, any person, where God's service, or He Himself might be bound and called by it; but whoever and wherever, and if anyone believes, he is God's servant, whether at Sinai or at Babylon, whether he be a Gentile or a Jew.

The earthquake and rain at that time signified the preaching of the heavenly gospel and the conversion of men on earth, which took place after the right departure of Christ from this world. This is what he is talking about now:

V. 10. O God, a free rain you will judge, the inheritance is ever yours, it is weary, you will prepare it.

Here he calls it "rain"; above [v. 9] he calls it "drops from heaven. Here "a free rain", which does not fall in one place, but everywhere, where he wants, above the drops only on the mountain Sinai. Here God gives the rain himself, above the heavens are dripping. For this purpose he uses a special word, in Hebrew Thaniph, which I have translated "you will speak", and that is why, because the same word actually means to weave something back and forth into the four places of the world; just as the priests in the Old Testament lifted some sacrifices up and down badly before God, but some into the cross, at noon and midnight, at morning and evening. Thus David says that Christ will speak the free rain into all the world, and not only into Jerusalem or Sinai.

(24) Now the opinion is that the preaching of the New Testament after the right departure of Christ from this world will be much more glorious than the preaching of the Old Law. For where there it fell sparsely, here it shall rain abundantly; where there it fell only in one place, Sinai, here it shall rain in all four places of the world; where there it fell only to one people, Israel, here a free rain shall be poured on everyone, Gentile and Jew; the gospel shall not be bound to one place or people at all, as that preaching was.

of the law. Also those drops gave the heavens, that is, the angels through Moses, in God's stead, as St. Paul teaches Gal. 3, 19. But this rain you, God, shall pour out yourself.

(25) Free rain should also be understood to mean that the teaching of the gospel is free, and makes free hearts, which, not bound externally to any work or way, live only in free faith. This is Christian freedom, of which Ps. 110:3 says, "Thy people shall be free." 1) But the rain at Sinai, the law of Moses, makes captive, unfree hearts, with many ways and works, outwardly; even so it does not make a free, happy conscience, but stupid, restless and unwilling consciences; but the gospel makes happy, willing, free consciences; for there all is free.

(26) Now, as at Sinai the earth trembled at the tempest, so there is also something against it in the New Testament, namely, that [those] who have faith and the gospel must suffer much in this whole life, and the body (that is, the earth) 2) is given no rest, must live, and be in continual exercise until death, that the vices of the flesh may be put to death, and the old Adam be destroyed. Therefore he speaks here: "The inheritance is yours", and "it is tired" before so much trembling and suffering, may well be consolation and abstention. Because it is yours, and you alone are the inheritor of it, no Moses, no servant can rule here, as the people of Israel were ruled by Moses (for it must be ruled by the one who can dwell, lead and guide in the spirit; but that is you alone), therefore it is yours, and you will well prepare it.

(27) For through suffering the world thinks that all things should perish; but thou through suffering hast prepared and made ready thine inheritance in the best manner, and by that very thing it rises, that it may seem to perish. Moses was not able to do this in his people, because it was not his inheritance. Nor can any outward saints do it, for where their outward ways and works lie down, there it lies down; in the

1) According to the translation in the ksait. juxta Heb: ?opnli tni spontane! erunt. (Weim. Ausg-, vol. IV, 233.)

2) The brackets are set by us.

3) Thus the Wittenbergers and the Jenaers; Weimarsche: soll.

Spirit is nothing, neither faith nor gospel, that could suffer and overcome such defeat.

V. 11. Your cattle will dwell inside; you will prepare for the humble, O God, in your kindness.

(28) Through the preaching or rain of the gospel, devout and simple people are gathered into Christianity; they are Christ's cattle, that is, his sheep, oxen and donkeys, as he himself calls them. The sheep are all of us; the oxen are the apostles and preachers; the donkeys, who labor and bear the cross with many sufferings; these are all willing and gladly under Christ. Therefore he speaks "your cattle"; as if he should say, Mosi's cattle, and those who go about with law and works, without faith, are not your cattle; for they are not willing, did not see the free rain, do all 1) their thing for fear of chastisement or desire of benefit; therefore they also do not dwell or abide in your inheritance.

29) Since there is much suffering in Christ's cattle for the sake of faith, that they are greatly humiliated and oppressed, despised by everyone, God, on the other hand, prepares His own goodness for them, so that through much humiliation they only taste and experience more and more how good, sweet and lovely God is. And so the many humiliations and sufferings teach the simple believing people that they recognize God more, trust and believe more, and thus become rich, strong and certain in the confidence of divine goodness. This is what he means when he says: "You will prepare the humble in your goodness", that is, you prepare your goodness for him through his humiliation and suffering, and he lets go of his goodness and takes damage from it, so that he only gathers much willingness and treasure in your goodness; this is nothing else than increase of faith, Rom. 5, 3. 4. Mosi's cattle, works saints and law followers never come to this, because faith and the free rain must do this. So man prepares for him all evil, God prepares for him all good.

1) So 1523; original: all.

2) So the edition of 1523 instead of: the.

3) So the Wittenbergers and the Jenaers. Weimarsche: "yhn" and "ihn".

V. 12. God will give the excuse that the evangelists will be a great host.

30 So also Christ says Luc. 21, 15: "I will give you a mouth (that is, a speaking and talking) and wisdom, which all your enemies shall not gainsay." And Matth. 10, 20.: "It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaks in you." For where GOD does not give to speak out, no preaching is useful. The apostles did not preach anything else, but as the Holy Spirit gave them to speak out; as Lucas Apost. 2, 4) 4. For where God does not give, there is no preaching, or is vain and harmful preaching; and when He gives, He gives vain words of grace, that is, the gospel. Therefore he would not give the law of Moses by himself, but gave it through the angels, in Moses' and Aaron's ministry (Gal. 3, 19.). But here he speaks that he will give vain evangelists, as also St. Paul 2 Cor. 3, 6. speaks: "We are preachers of the spirit, and not (of) the letter", that is, preachers of grace, and not of the law. This was done through the apostles and their followers in all the world. For he hath given them much, and sent them into all countries; as it is fitting in the time of grace.

But when he takes a warlike word and says: "With great hosts", which is not a bad crowd, but hosts, armed and ordered for battle, he shows how the word of God does not make peace, but strife on earth. As also Christ says [Matth. 10, 34.]: "I did not come to bring peace on earth, but the sword." Also that of the new testament, the fighting and warfare should not be worldly, but spiritual; not with iron and armor, horse and man, but only with the word of God, as St. Paul says in 2 Cor. 10, 4: "The armor of our knighthood is not bodily, but strong and active, since God works with it." Therefore, although he says here: there shall be many great hosts, yet he says, there shall be evangelists, 6)

4) In the original: "Act. 4." The Weimar in the margin: "Apgsch. 4, 8. 31."

5) Walch and the Erlanger: "Greek". Wittenberger: "Greek".

6) "his" 1523; missing in the original.

and those who argue with words and excuses; when we see that the world is conquered to faith only with the gospel.

V. 13 The kings of the hosts shall be kind one to another, and the ornaments of the house shall divide the spoil.

32 The Scripture calls Christ, Dominum exercituum, a Lord of hosts, because his Christian people fight through the gospel without ceasing, and always fight against the devil, the world and the flesh. The kings of these hosts are the apostles, considered poor servants before the world, but great kings before God. For they are the ones who converted all the world, each one bringing his army to Christ in his own place. These same kings were of one mind, loved one another, preached one thing, namely, the faith as given in the gospel; therefore they produced much fruit.

33. But after the apostles the bishops soon became divided, preached many things, so that in the end neither faith nor gospel, but the doctrine and works of men, through which innumerable sects and disagreements arose, drove them, so that they are not kings of the host, but sissies and princes of the carnival crowd, walking along in appearance, and there is no seriousness; That this verse cannot be understood at all, because only the apostles were unanimous all around in faith, teaching, ruling and living; although some bishops followed them afterwards, but never all of them were as unanimous as the apostles, much less were the prophets in the Old Testament unanimous, so that not for nothing this verse proclaims the apostles to be a miracle. In this way they also brought forth so much fruit and converted the world that no one after them has done so much.

34 The Hebrew language has a way that it calls a housemother or wife a house ornament. For where a woman and a child would live, 1) there might be neither house, village nor

1) In all individual editions: "thett" or "thet", that is, thäte = would not be there. In such a way this word is used quite often by Luther. Cf. Walch, St. Louis edition, vol. VIII, 1035,? 12 and our note on it. Ibid. Col. 1052, K 54. St. Louis Edition, Vol. V, 251, § 27. Therefore, an alteration of the

Cities on earth, and a house without a wife and child is as if it were not a house. This is especially good for the holy mother, the church; she is a true housemother, and the bride of Christ, who also adorns Christ's house with many children through the gospel. The prophet speaks of this here, that the housemother, who divides up the plunder or the spoil, needs to use disputatious words again. For in war, the victor takes the plunder and the spoil.

35 Now the kings of the host have honestly contended through the gospel, and have wrested the world from the devil, and deprived him of his kingdom. Now the mother of the church divides such robbery and assigns them to various ministries of God, according to which each one is sent; some to be prophets, some to be teachers, some to be governors, some to serve the poor in common, as all this is described by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:7 ff. Of this robbery Christ also says Luc. 11, 21. 22. that a stronger man overcomes the strong, takes away his armor and divides the robbery.

V.14. If you sleep between the borders, the fronts of the doves will be covered with silver, and their back wings will be golden.

36. what wants to become here? What are these dark words? First of all, it is to be known that the birds' wings mean preachers or preaching, like the cherubim at the ark [Ex. 37, 7. 9.]. For the word of God, as the 147th Psalm, v. 15, says, runs fast, yes, flews and hovers over us. The dove is also the church that flews when it preaches; the [wings] 2) are then oversilvered when it preaches the pure Scripture and Word of God, which is called Ps. 12, 7. and Is. 1, 22. silver.

37. but when human teachings fly astray,

Reading not permissible here. Nevertheless, not only Walch and the Erlanger have included a conjecture: "nicht thäte", but also Kawerau in the Weimarsche Ausgabe, Vol. VIII, p. 14: "feilet". Pietfch has confirmed the usage given by us in a note in Vol. XII, p. 100.

2) The word "wing", which is missing in all old editions (including the Weimar one), is found in Walch and in the Erlanger.

These are the wings of a bat, as Isaiah, Cap. 2, 22, covered with mud and stink, or black raven's wings. The silver wings, however, signify the doctrine of faith. But the back wings, golden in color, are the teaching of love. For the whole gospel teaches no more than to believe in 1) God and to love one's neighbor; therefore he calls the fitties, which spread out from the body, oversilvered, and the wings, which end on the back toward the body, gold-colored. For love bears all things and draws near to the body, that is, to our neighbor; but faith stretches us from itself to God. Now in many places in Scripture love is signified by gold; those who believe and love, and teach in this way, are the fittest and the wings of these doves.

(38) And no doubt the prophet took this likeness from natural doves, which are found with white glistening feathers, like silver, and on the back, where the wings come together, a beautiful green, golden color. Also so the dove is a bird without gall, and signifies many spiritual qualities, which are to be in the Christian people. So this verse shows what the gospel teaches and what the word is that the kings of hosts are doing.

(39) Sleeping between the limits or ends is said of spiritual sleep. As, the soul sleeps when it pays no more attention to temporal goods than as dream images, and calls them boundaries. For these temporal things are not indwelling, nor are they a way, but boundaries. For we all have to wait for hours of death and the end of temporal life and goods. Now those who, as St. Paul teaches [1 Cor. 7:31], think that they need this world as if they did not need it, sleep in these limits, and with watchful eyes of faith look over into that life; these are rightly composed, godly people, who can then rightly teach faith and love, as the gospel teaches; that is, be buried with Christ and celebrate the Sabbath.

(40) So this bit of verse teaches that the stingy and ambitious may not be preachers.

1) "an" 1523; original: in.

The gospel is not to be practiced, but those who have no regard for goods, honor, pleasure, or life must do so. For covetousness is severely forbidden in all the Scriptures to ministers and teachers. Therefore they shall carry other silver and gold in their fists, and sleep over the temporal silver and gold; for they must live here 2) on earth, they shall preach; dead men cannot preach. Therefore they shall sleep, and be like the dead in life, considering that this life is but a limit, and that all things are short-lived; which they shall most deeply consider.

V. 15. When the Almighty spreads the kings over them, they will become snow-white in Zalmon.

41 Here he indicates that such teachers, who are not stingy and preach the gospel purely, must be obtained from God alone, as Christ also says Matth. 9, 38: "Ask the householder to send workers into his harvest. So here in this psalm the prophet teaches not only what preaching is, what it is about, who the preachers are, what they should be like, but also where they should come from. And all is to be done about the preaching and word of God in the New Testament, saying: Not when men choose, but when God spreads over the church kings, bishops and preachers, so it goes, they become snow-white, pure from sins. For, since faith alone makes pure from sins, as St. Peter Apost. 15, 9. and faith alone depends on God's word, no one can preach God's word, unless he is sent by God, as St. Paul teaches Rom. 10, 15. it is clear that all the teachings of men are only 3) harmful, impure and black as coal.

But behold, what words does the prophet need. He calls God Shaddai in Hebrew. Now God has many names in the Hebrew tongue, some of which indicate his power, some his height, some other of his works and attributes, just as in German we call him God, Lord, Father, the Supreme, the Almighty, Creator 2c., so he is called

2) "yes" 1523. original: probably.

3) So the edition of 1523 instead of: "mir".

in Hebrew Shaddai, from which perhaps that he feeds all things sweetly, as a mother suckles a child, 1) As if to say: When he who feeds all things will spread bishops over the churches, then the right nourishment will be given, the word of God. And this is the Holy Spirit's own work and name, who is called the Life-Giver and Nourisher, Ps. 104, 27. 30.

43 "To spread" here means to reveal, not only that they may freely come out before the people, and present themselves for Christ's sheep in all ways, not cowering in corners, as the watchmen and miserly or hirelings do, but that they are also clearly spread out in their teaching, and make the dark sayings of the Scriptures bright and open; of which Christ John 10:3 says that the gatekeeper, the Holy Spirit, will open to those who enter through the door. For if God does not open and spread out the Scriptures, no one can understand them, they remain wrapped up, dark and closed.

44 Now Zalmon is called a mountain, of which Judges 9:48 is written. 9, 48. It is written that it was overgrown with large, thick wood, so that in German it would be called a black forest, a dark forest, or black mountain or dark mountain; for Zel means a dark shadow, and Zalmon darkness, as it comes from shadow. This dark forest is the scripture of the Old Testament, which is dark and black in itself; and those 2) who lived without faith in it, all remained dark and black in their own works, had no right understanding nor custom. Yes, like Abimelech Richt. 9, 48, cut wood from the same Zalmon and burned the Shechemites with it, so the teachers corrupt all souls when they teach only law and works, and take the work and word of the fathers as an example, not on faith, but on outward works.

45 But in the New Testament, by God's grace and spreading, the Old Testament leads and is needed in all places to a clear, light understanding of faith, as it remains dark to unbelievers; we take

1) So derived from 1V, (Weim. Ausg.).

2) Thus the Wittenbergers and the Jenaers; original: Zwilchs"; edition 1523: "wilcher".

out of and in the black, dark forest, that we may become snow-white within. For we see that all the apostles refer to the Old Testament, and from it they use bright, clear sayings to teach the faith, which before were in daily use by the Jews, yet remained and still remain dark and black before them. For the Shaddai, the Out-breaker and Nurturer, who spreads out the wings of the doves and cherubim, was not yet given; Christ had to die before and acquire him. Is it not a miracle that the black becomes white and the dark becomes light? These are the works of God.

V. 16. The mountain of God is a fat mountain, an ironed mountain, a fat mountain.

(46) Hitherto the gospel and the evangelists have been described, as they are and as they do. Now he says what they accomplish, what fruit and result comes from it, namely, that through God's word the Christian people is gathered together, and becomes fat, rich, fruitful in all goods, so that it is rightly called "a mountain of God, a fat mountain, a mountain of hills. Thus he paints the church here as a great mountain, having many hills, and one beside and above the other, as the natural mountains also are; but so that [they] are not wild, barren, unfruitful mountains, but so full of fruit that God Himself also would like (as they say) to dwell in it. That is, Christianity is 3)exalted with many rich graces and gifts of God through the gospel and faith, rich in all kinds of virtues, wisdom, art, strength, good works 2c.

But they are not all equal, one has more than the other, as St. Paul points out in 1 Cor. 12:11, 18, "according to which God divides. Therefore he says it is "a mountain of hills" or a mountain with many hills, that is, a mountain and mountains. A mountain, for the sake of the same united faith in all; but hills and mountains, for the sake of various gifts and distributions of the Spirit, in which they are unequal, so that the inequality of gifts remains in the equality of faith, and the fatness or fruitfulness (which stands only in unity) exists.

3) "is" 1523; missing in the original.

V. 17: Why do you leap over the hills? This is the mountain on which God is pleased to dwell; indeed, he will dwell on it to the end.

(48) Here the unity is out; call many mountains, which are also hills, that is, the synagogue and its like, which, without equality of faith and unity, are divided into many sects and unequal works of outward practices, and are not one in any thing, but in the pursuit of the one God's mountain. Now they are also divided, and one has more understanding, art, and work than the other, so that they appear more to the world than the right mountain of God; indeed, they consider that they alone are God's dwelling place, please themselves, judge, and persecute all others for the sake of God (as they boast) and the truth.

(49) Therefore here the prophet reproves them, saying, Ye sanctified, many mountains, unbelieving saints of works, why do ye leap? Why do you boast about God and your truth? What do you think much of yourselves? For here is the mountain where God dwells, which you judge and condemn as if it were the devil's mountain; indeed, he will remain on it to the end of the world, as he says in Matt. 28:20, "Behold, I am with you to the end of the world," though you think you will destroy him, but he will remain, and you will pass away.

So we see that he does not call these mountains "fat", but as it is said above [19], "the stubborn remain in the drought", therefore there is no real fruit, they are all sheep's clothing over the wolves [Matth. 7, 15].

V. 18. The chariot of God is twice ten thousand thousand; God is in them with Sinai in holiness.

51) Two things made 1) Christianity unsightly before the Jews. First, that the Christians were few and lowly. Secondly, that the Jews had received God's commandment on Mount Sinai, as they said John 9:28 ff: "We are Moses' disciples, you be his disciple. We know that God spoke to Moses, but where he came from we do not know" 2c.

1) So 1523; original: "machenn."

(52) To this the prophet answers here, saying that there are not few Christians, but more than any man can count. For this certain number, "twice," or more than once ten thousand thousand, according to the Scriptures, signifies a multitude that God, and not a man, can count, since he doubles and multiplies the extreme number, namely a thousand. Although there seemed to be few Christians in the eyes of the Jews, there were many in the eyes of God, since no one knew about them.

And lest they should boast that God is with them, and not with these Christians, he says: "God is in and with them," the same God whom you heard on Mount Sinai, yes, he is in them with Sinai and everything that happened there. For on Mount Sinai the law was given, therefore the same Sinai retains in Scripture the name and figure of the law, as St. Paul proves Gal. 4, 24. 25. Now the Jews received the law at Sinai, and did not have it; therefore God is not with them from Sinai, neither would they hear Him at Sinai, Ex. 20, 19. For the law is not fulfilled by works, but by faith. And not he who works, but he who believes is righteous and saved, Rom. 1, 16. [Cap. 4, 5. 10, 4.] and Marc. 16, 16.

54. If then the prophet will say, Ye think that God of Sinai is with you, but I say, Nay; he is in this his chariot, there is Sinai, there is the law fulfilled, there is the God of Sinai, whom ye would not hear, nor keep his law. Therefore he is not in a bad way in them with Sinai, but in holiness, that is, that they keep God's law by faith inwardly in the heart, and are quite holy thereby. But you have God of Sinai and His law only in outward works, not in faith; therefore God of Sinai and His law are in you with unholiness; outwardly you adorn yourselves, inwardly you defile God of Sinai with His commandment. Summa Summarum, he will not let God of Sinai be, except in the faithful, and not in the works saints. For the law is fulfilled only in faith; there also Sinai wants to be in right holiness.

(55) But why does he call Christendom a chariot, and not so much a host as above [v. 12 ff]? Answer: He

speaks here of Christianity as it is before God. For before the people, when they fight with the world and the devil in faith and the gospel, there 1) is strife and strife, there are armies, there are mountains and hills, there is wisdom and virtue; but before God there is quiet, gentle peace, in a good, happy conscience, within there dwells God, who dwells only in peace, as Ps. 76, 3. says. Therefore God floats and rides there in them, as in a gentle, draped chariot, and rides with one another out of this life into eternal life. For the chariot does not stand still, that is, the Christians daily increase and continue, but in good, quiet peace of conscience.

V. 19: Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast spoiled the spoil, thou hast received gifts into men. Although there are still stubborn ones, that God the Lord dwells here.

This is the main verse of this entire psalm, which St. Paul also refers to in Eph. 4:8. Here it refers to the feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, and is of the opinion: "All the miracles that are mentioned here concerning the gospel and Christianity are due to the fact that you ascended into heaven, for there you received all authority and sent down the Holy Spirit with His gifts, through whom the gospel was preached, 2) the world was converted, and the things mentioned were accomplished.

57) The fact that he ascended to heaven undoubtedly indicates that he first descended into hell, as St. Paul interprets it Eph. 4, 9. Therefore he said, Joh. 16, 7: "If I do not go, the Holy Spirit will not come"; he had to rise from the dead and ascend to heaven before the Holy Spirit would come.

58) But that he says: "You have robbed the robbery" is the opinion: The evil spirit had robbed men of God and led them away into his kingdom of sin and death; then Christ came, as Abraham did Gen. 14:14, 15, and hastened the devil, and brought back all the robbery, and robbed the robber again; so that whoever believes in him shall be eternally free from sin and death and from the devil. This means that Abraham with little

1) Weimarsche: "daz".

2) "is" 1523; missing in the original.

People in the night attacked the enemies, and drove them out to Hoba on the left Damasci; of this much would be said.

Neither does he say, "You have given gifts to men," but "you have received them in men. Which may therefore be understood that he, as St. Peter Apost. 2, 33, that he received such a gift from the Father to give to men. For he did not receive it for himself and in himself alone, but to pour it out into men. As happened on the day of Pentecost and many times after. Let it be said, therefore, that the same 3) Christ who receives and pours out the gifts in heaven also receives them here on earth in men. For what we do in faith Christ has done, and what happens to us has happened to him. But I like the first opinion very much.

(60) Though such public signs and gifts were seen in the disciples of Christ, yet the obstinate Jews would not believe that Christ was Lord and God, and dwelt in his disciples, but they alone wanted to be God's dwelling place. Which is why it is said here that we should not be surprised if not everyone believes us or the Gospel. There remain stubborn, hard heads, whether they already grasp the truth and miracles of God, as happened here with the apostles.

V. 20. Give glory to God all the days, who is burdened with us, this is a God of our blessedness, Sela.

Now he begins to praise and extol such grace and goods, saying: "This is a lovely God, who is worthy to be praised and blessed, that He has taken upon Himself, as His own calamity, all our sin and death, with all our misery, and has overcome them in Himself; this is a God who makes blessed and helps rightly. It is nothing with many laws and works; sin and death will not be 4) eradicated until he has come who is God, and has taken sin upon himself with death and swallowed it up in him; as Paul says 1 Cor. 15, 55.

3) So in the 1523 edition; in the original: "he".

4) "not" is missing in all old individual editions except that of 1523.

For who could make us blessed that would not take away sin and death from us? This was done by this God alone, who burdened Himself with us, carried our burden and destroyed it, so that a God of our salvation became, that is, the one who makes us blessed.

62) The "burden" could also be understood to mean that he redeems us from the law and sins, and henceforth loads us with his light burden and gentle yoke, as he says in Matth. 11, 30: "My burden is light, and my yoke is sweet"; that is, I lay aside sin and conscience (which are unbearable burdens), and only put on a little temporal suffering. But the first opinion pleases me greatly.

V. 21. This God is a God to make us blessed, and has become a Lord God to us, to go out from death.

(63) It would have been in vain if he had so burdened himself with us as to overcome death for him alone; but now he has given us such victory, and has overcome sin and death for us, that we, who were captives under the evil spirit, in sin and death, without the Lord and God, might henceforth have a Lord of our own, a God of our own, who so governs us that through him we might be saved and escape death.

(64) What do all men desire more fervently than to be rid of death? Now this God has become such a Lord and God to us, to go out of death and to become blessed, as all mankind desire, and his rule is nothing else (as this verse says) but to make blessed, and to be a Lord God, to go out of death.

But here we lack faith, that we do not understand his rule. For it seems as if he kills and condemns all who believe in him; he lets them be horribly tortured and put to shame, so that he is to be regarded as the Lord of destruction and the entrance of death. This is done so that such blessedness and death may come about in faith, so that life may be accomplished in death and blessedness in destruction.

66 Therefore he has not put a sleepy word here, saying, "He has become us.

1) Thus the 1523 edition instead of "in" in the original.

to a LORD GOD the going out of death, or "going out of death". Does not say that we should not die, but that we should go out of death. But if we are to go out of death, we must first come in, that we may go out. So he pushes all of his own into death in the most terrible way, and there he becomes a God and Lord for them to go out of death. That means, one God of beatitude and one Lord of the exit from death. The unbelievers do not want this; therefore they must go to death and stay inside, because they do not have the God of blessedness, nor the Lord of the exit from death. Of them he now says:

V. 22. But God will crush the head of his enemies, the skull with the hair, of those who walk in sin.

It is public enough that the Jews have always been Christ's greatest enemies, although they want to be God's greatest friends; but no one can deny that it has happened to them, as this verse says, that their head is destroyed, they have no kingdom, no dominion, no priesthood anymore, and are always without a head, which, happening soon after Christ's ascension, does not indicate any other iniquity, but that they are Christ's enemies, and do not let Him be God.

68. he calls their authority a "head" and "skull of hair", that is, the beautiful frizzy head. For the Jewish priesthood was a glorious thing, were rich and honored, and are signified by Absalom's beautiful hair [2 Sam. 14, 26]. The head is the highest rank in every nation; the hair on the head is the great Hansen in the same highest rank, who decorate the head with their power, wealth, honor 2c. But now the authority of the Jews is destroyed, the head is shaved; as this is also figured in Isa. 3, 24, where God says that he will give them a bald head for the frizzy hair.

(69) All this is because they will not believe in him who takes away sin and death, but walk and remain in their sins, as he says here, even though they think it is not sin in which they walk. Nor do they themselves acknowledge the guilt, because of which they are so utterly destroyed. For

Although they were imprisoned many times before, their heads and authorities, or prophets and priests, have never been so shaven as after Christ's ascension.

V. 23. God said: From Bashan I will convert, I will convert from the depth of the sea.

70 Since the Jews would not receive Christ through the preaching of the apostles, they went into the Gentiles, and there God converted the Gentiles in the place of the Jews. And this is what God declared beforehand, that He would do such a conversion after the destruction of the Jews; as St. Paul also teaches in Romans 11:11, 25.

71 He calls the heath "Bashan" and "depth of the sea". Bashan was a land beyond the Jordan, where King Og ruled in, a great giant, and was mighty [Num. 21, 33. Deut. 3, 11.]. Also "Basan" means in German, fat and thick, which was a fat, mighty empire before others. Now after Christ's ascension the same Basan did not exist; therefore he calls the Gentiles, which had fat, mighty, many, greater kings, before the Roman Empire; and therefore Christ lay with the poor apostles with the great, fat, thick, 1) mighty Hanses, and made Christians of them and among them.

The same, "the depth of the sea" is the same paganism, which he attacked where it was most powerful, namely at Rome and in the Roman Empire, because there the sea is highest and most powerful, because it is deepest. The fatness and depth may well be the great blindness and deep, thick sin of the Gentiles, in which they were educated and accustomed. God has yet converted His own from the depth and height of the sea, that is, from the mightiest of the world; but it cost much blood, as follows:

V. 24. Therefore thou shalt stain thy foot in blood; out of it shall come the tongue of thy dogs from among the enemies.

Who is the foot of Christ? Jeremiah Cap. 2, 24. 25. calls preaching a run. St. Paul also says in Gal. 2, 2. that he had

1) "thick" is omitted in 1523.

walked, that is, preached. And Isaiah, Cap. 52, 7, speaks of the Gospel: "Oh how beautiful are the feet of the preacher on the mountains" 2c. Summa, the foot of Christ is the preaching ministry, with it, and with no other weapons, he attacked the world, ran over it and preached to it. But the ministry has been stained in blood; for many have been martyred before in the Roman Empire and in Rome, but in such a way that it has not been strangled in blood nor perished; nevertheless, however many have been martyred before, it has only been stained in the sight of God, even though it was considered different in the sight of the people.

74 Yes further. Just as Abel after his death first spoke more through his blood and punished his murderer Cain [Gen. 4:10], so also here, when the apostles were martyred and the foot of Christ was stained in blood, Christ first awakened other preachers who punished the murderers and began to bark loudly to lift the gospel higher and higher.

Thus from the blood of the preachers came the tongue of the dogs of Christ, and yet it came not from friends, but from enemies. For Christ converted those who before were hard against the gospel, and afterward became the chief preachers, as Augustine and many others were.

76 And especially the tongue of the dogs, because it is healing, as it is written in the Gospel [Luc. 16, 21] that they licked the wounds of poor Lazaro. These are the preachers who cleanse and heal the wounds of the conscience with wholesome teaching, who take on the infirmities of their neighbor out of brotherly love, of which St. Paul teaches much in Romans 14:1, how to receive the weak in faith and the infirm, and not to reject them. Such teachers come from the blood of the martyrs, who not only bark against the enemies, but are also healing to the weak friends. But now the bishops tear, bite and eat the weak friends, lick and heal the strong enemies. These are the devil's dogs.

V. 25. They have seen, O GOD, your walks, the walks of my GOD, my King in holiness.

77. God's ways are His works, which are all grace and truth, as Ps. 25:10 says: "All God's ways are grace and truth. But this is the great art, that one may know God's work, and 1) let Him work in us, that all our works are God's, and not ours. This means to celebrate the right Sabbath, to rest from our works and to be full of divine works. All this is known and done by faith, which teaches how we are nothing, and our works are also nothing. This is what he means here, that they have seen and known the ways of God, saying "of my God, my King", that is, of Christ, who is our King after mankind, and a God from eternity.

78. But as no one can say, "My God, my King," unless he believes in him, and considers him not only a God and a King, but his God and his King, that he is a God and a King to him and to his blessedness, so no one can know his ways and works without the same faith; faith makes him my God and King, and that all my works are not mine but his. Therefore he adds the little word, "in holiness." For, many call him "my God, my King," and do not go from the heart; therefore there is glitter, deceit and falsehood, which they profane before God. But those who say "my God, my King" in holiness, they say it in truth and in the depth of their heart, these are the true believers.

V. 26. The princesa ) are the foremost with the minstrels, in the midst of the virgins who are cramming.

79 This verse must be spiritual, otherwise what kind of dance would come out of the serious, great things said? But the prophet wanted to indicate that no joy, no playing of strings, no lady gives so much pleasure, as such knowledge of Christ, his graces and works, gives to the conscience. Therefore, here is spiritual string playing, spiritual damsel, spiritual dancing.

80. "The princes" are the apostles, as will follow. "The minstrels" are those who praise God.

1) So 1523; "and" is missing in the original.

a) Marginal gloss: It may also read Hebrew: The singers are the foremost 2c. - This gloss is missing in 1523.

with singing, reading, and preaching, and carrying God's praise to and fro through the Gospel, yes, who also mortify their bodies. The "virgins" are the Christian souls, newly grown in faith, especially the martyrs. Their "kettledrums" are their own bodies, which they mortify and force under the spirit, and thus give a great sound and cry of good life and example to others, so that God alone is praised and preached.

But in all these things the princes shall be first, as the apostles were, that the rest may follow cheerfully with their strings. Otherwise, the gospel, faith and everything would be in vain, if the old Adam's muffle and crucifixion would not follow. Such string playing and drumming is gladly heard by God and angels, and is pleasing to the spiritual ears.

V. 27. In the assemblies God gave the Lord for 3) the well of Israel.

When you come together, as happens at mass, come together in praising God, who has opened to you the living fountain of grace, that is, Christ and his holy gospel, from which all who thirst for grace and blessedness drink eternal life (as he himself says John 4:14). He also commanded at the supper [Luc. 22, 19] that we should celebrate mass in remembrance and praise of him, preaching and signifying his benefits and grace shown to us.

83. he calls it a "fountain of Israel", because it is promised to Israel, since he promised Gen. 12, 3.: "In your seed all families of the earth shall be given." And does this verse probably follow the next. For where there is much mortification of Adam, it is necessary that we hear the word of God many times, and that we be more and more kindled and strengthened, so that we do not grow weary in our work. For where God's word never strengthens, the flesh is soon too strong, and we become too weak, therefore it must be practiced.

So we see that preaching is more important than the mass, because the prophet teaches here, in the assembly of God

2) Thus the Wittenbergers and the Jenaers. In the original: "allis".

3) 1523: "around the" as in the Psalter translation of 1524.

684 Erl. 3S, 20S-2II. German interpretation of the 68th Psalm. Ps. 68, 27-29. W. V. W05-1W8. 685

Praise to preach, and silence to the mass, without stirring it in the little word "assembly". For all the masses in a heap are of no use without the word of God; although all this is now woefully inverted.

V. 28. There Benjamin the young man is ravished in spirit; the princes of Judah are their stoning, the princes of Zabulon, the princes of Naphtali.

Here he expresses the apostles, whom he called kings and princes before, and says: "All there, that is, in the assemblies where one preaches and mortifies the body, is first Benjamin, that is, St. Paul. Paul, who is the best of the generation of Benjamin, and is rightly called the first of all (although he is a young man, that is, the youngest of the apostles), because he has preached, written, and done more, and has been more enlightened than any of the others. That is why he says here that he was raptured in the spirit, of which he himself writes much in 2 Cor. 12, 2. 4. The other apostles are partly of the family of Judah, as St. Jacob the Less, Simon and Judas, siblings of our Lord Christ. Some from Zabulon and Naphtali, as Peter and Andrew, whom Christ called in the land of Zabulon and Naphtali (Matt. 4:13, 18). But it is a miracle that the prophet St. Peter last of all set it, perhaps to resist the future papists, although it did not help. 1) Behold, these are the princes who were the foremost in the crucified life and spiritual strings; where are they now?

86 But what is that he saith, The princes of Judah their stoning." Some texts have [Vulg.]: The princes of Judah are their dukes or predecessors; but the Hebrew does not give it, that is, "rigmatham"; which word Moses often uses in the third book when he says of stoning. St. Jerome says: The princes of Judah in their purple or silk embroidered garments. I would like to think that there is an opinion that, since the holy scripture is called Galaad, a heap of stones of testimonies [Gen. 31, 47. 48.], that many sayings are gathered in it, so that one testifies to the truth of faith.

1) "has" 1523; missing in the original.

that the work of the apostles and their followers is to spiritually stone the Christians, that is, to shower them with sayings of the Scriptures, and to completely kill unbelief in them. For all punishments in the Old Testament mean gracious change into your spirit in the New Testament. This was well understood by David, and all of them were marked with one. For St. Paul, Titus 1:9, wants a bishop to be rich in the Scriptures, so that he may pour them out and shut the mouths of his opponents.

V. 29. O God, give glory to your power! O God, confirm what you have worked in us.

The Hebrew text thus reads: "Territories" or "Your God has commanded your power, and confirm it, O God, which you have wrought in us. 2) And these are the words of the prophet, spoken to Christ, calling him a GOD, and yet the Father his GOD, on the opinion: O Christe, true GOD, thy GOD and thy Father command thy power, and thou, who art also GOD, confirm them.

Here Christ is clearly called one God, and the same work and power are assigned to both. Do not say: Your God command His power, which would also be true, but, Your God command Your power, O God 2c. Christ, our God, works the power in us, and his God shall command it. In the same way Ps. 45, 7. 8. speaks: "Your royal throne, O God, is eternal, and your God has anointed you before all your fellows." Here he also calls Christ a God, and yet says that his God anointed him, when only a man must be anointed by God. That is enough for now.

(89) The opinion is: Until now, all that Christ has done through himself and his apostles has been described. Now he asks that it may continue and be preserved as it began, for which all the apostles, especially Paul, were diligent. And the power is grace or faith in us; which is called the power of God, because it is not of us nor given us by us, but is given us by God, whereby we are strengthened for all good against all evil. Therefore he speaks:

2) In the fuxta Heb, the translation is: praeoepit vsus tuns äo kortituüiue tu" sta. (Weim. Ausg.)

"which thou workest in us," that is, by which power thou workest in and through us, the same is Christ's power, and yet is commanded by the Father.

90. the territories are thus much said: command, provide and decree it 2c. For God does all things with your word, as Ps. 148, 3. [33, 9.] says: "He has said, and it is done; he has commanded, and it is accomplished." So he also wants here that God should only command that Christ's power be confirmed and remain constant in us, which he has begun.

This is also necessary for the sake of false teachers, who lead us out of faith into works, out of God's power into our power, out of grace into free will without ceasing, so that there may not be enough warning and perception, as St. Paul says in 2 Cor. 11:3: "I feared that your faithful minds would be driven mad by the simple mind of Christ, just as Eve was driven mad by the serpent"; and many other such sayings.

V. 30. For the sake of your temple in Jerusalem, the kings will bring you gifts.

92) Here the prophet reads as if he speaks of the bodily temple and gifts, and may well go in a simple mind that kings and princes have given much goods to the church and nourished it, as also Isaiah 49:23 says: "Kings shall be thy nourishers, and queens thy nurses"; and Cap. 60:16: "Thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and be suckled with the breasts of kings." This was done in ancient times with the holy bishops, when there was no abuse; but it did not last long. All this was done for the sake of the temple at Jerusalem, that is, for the sake of the Church, which began at Jerusalem and has spread throughout the world. For the temple at Jerusalem was already destroyed when this happened, which must have happened not before but after Christ ascended on high, as the psalm here neatly indicates.

This is not written that the church should be rich, for it [i.e. "the gifts"] should be food, as the words of Isaiah read; but to indicate the power of faith, as God confirms it, so that kings, queens and princes may also come to faith.

and would testify their faith with such gifts to feed the poor in the church. But as the faith is maddened by wicked teachers, so also such goods have come into the most shameful abuse, that no poor man can enjoy them. The prophet also saw this and said:

V. 31. Punish the beast in the reed, the gathering of oxen among the calves of the nations, which reigns in the lovers of silver, and scatter the people who seek to be nearest.

Because kings were supposed to give goods to the church for the sake of Christ, to preserve the poor, this gave the cause of all evil to avarice, and yet it could not be avoided. Therefore, he asks God here to punish the miserly and ambitious, who snatch such goods to them, and only rise high for the sake of good and honor; as now the pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, monks and the same mob is quite furious.

But let us hear how he describes them: First, he calls them a "beast in a reed," because they are beastly men, without any spirit, and lie in the reed, that is, in their own laws of man, which are like the reed, which seems like a rod, and is hollow and empty within; thus the laws of man shine as something, and there is nothing behind it, without the beast grazing under it; "to which" it gives, and is enough for the belly. Therefore Christ says Matth. 11, 7, John Baptist would not be a reed that sways to and fro with the wind.

Now, as the doctrine is, so also the people becomes, also an unstable, empty people, without faith, swaying to and fro, as such teachers only want, as we see that the pope weaves the world with his laws and drives it where he wants. Of this beast in the reed also Job says Cap. 40, 16. and calls such a heap "Behemoth"; says that he likes to lie in the reed, in damp places, that is, in human teachings that do not teach the cross.

After that he interprets himself what "the beast in the reed" is. I mean (he speaks) "the collection of the oxen among the calves.

688 Erl. 39, S13-216. German interpretation of the 68th Psalm. Ps. 68, 31. 32. W. V, EI-I0I3. 689

of the nations", that is, the bishops and preachers in the church, each in his bishopric or parish. For an ox in Scripture is called a preacher or bishop, as St. Paul testifies in 1 Cor. 9:9, and the cows or calves are such preachers' people. Therefore he speaks, "Among the calves of the people." As if he should say: I speak in a hidden sense of calves, which are people. But he indicates that there will be many of these cattle and oxen, and that the whole church will have them, in that he does not say "the oxen," but "the collection of oxen," and not "the calves of one people," but "of many peoples.

98 Now this is not the complaint that they are many, but that they, of whom there are so many, are all beasts of burden and mighty oxen among the people, filling the world with the doctrine of men, destroying the gospel, ruling by force; and all this for the sake of shameful temporal goods. For the word "Abirim" means not only oxen, but also strong, mighty, great people; for God also is called "Abir" in Scripture for the sake of his power. Now this thing we see all before our eyes exuberantly.

99. Further he says: The reed and the oxen go along in his regiment, so that all his own are moneybags and silver-seeking spirits. Is this not also before your eyes? Who is in the pope's sect or practices the laws of men but for the sake of money and the belly? The clergy has long been more miserly than avarice itself, so that a public saying has arisen about it. Name me a cardinal, a bishop, a priest, a monk, who would remain in his office for the sake of God, and how long he would stay inside, if there were no food, enjoyment or money. Therefore he says that the beast rules in the money addicts and lovers of silver, so that they may not become full.

The fourth: "Scatter the peoples who seek to be next. These are those who want to sit on top, pope, cardinals, bishops, become spiritual for the sake of honor. Behold, how finely the prophet has seen all these beings before. 1) He puts here a little word "Kraboth", that is, the sewing; Moses often uses it,

1) In the original: "fursehen".

When he speaks of the priesthood and sacrifice, it is because the priests, if they were to sacrifice, had to draw near to God. Therefore, he is actually speaking here of those who approach the spiritual state and God's service; and if he had had to speak roughly in German in this verse, he would certainly have spoken in this way: O God, punish all those who press to become popes, bishops, cardinals, priests, monks, and do not wait to be forced or called. For they certainly seek only honor and good, food, drink and good days, and become oxen, tyrants among the people, and devise only laws of men to curb your gospel; to which end they are caused to see goods at the church, given by kings to receive the nuns. Punish, punish, punish, punish, dear Lord God, punish, Christianity is going down because of it! They are wicked finches. Behold, now you see what the prophet thinks of the papacy and papists.

V. 32. The messages from Egypt will come, Moorland will run to God with his hands.

The previous verse the prophet has stretched before this, according to the rule per anticipationem, so that when he said about the church goods, he did not want to forgive the abuse of them, although it happened according to this verse content. For these Egyptian messages are certainly the holy fathers in the desert, St. Anthony, Macarius and many more; in addition Alexandria, there has been a great school of Christianity before all the elders of the world. Also Mohrenland abuts the same Egypt, and many of the same fathers have been in Mohrenland; these are the messages that teach and preach God's word in Egypt, who are chosen from Egypt to preach there. But they came where? "To God," as he says of the Moors:

102. "Moorland will run to God with its hands", that is, they will not run across field 2) for Christ is in all places, but remain in their country, and yet run to God with the deed and life that are their hands; just as the messages from

2) In the original: "ubirfellt".

Egypt, but are chosen out of Egypt, and are God's messengers within. For whoever teaches, "Here or there is Christ," is a deceiver, Matth. 24, 23. 24. That coming and going is spiritual, as Christ says Matth. 8, 11: "Many will come from going out and coming down to sit in the kingdom of God with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 2c. For one comes to God with the spirit and by the hands, that is, not with the tongue and words, but with action and truth. Now, in no place in the world have so freshly done to come to God as the dear fathers in the deserts of Egypt and Moorland; as is well known.

V. 33: All the kingdoms of the earth, sing to God, play psalteries to the Lord. Sela.

This is that all the world shall be subject to Christ, and shall know him, and praise him, as it is promised in the second Psalm, v. 8: "I will give thee the heathen for an inheritance, and thy possession shall be throughout all the earth. He is never bound to One place at Jerusalem, so in all the kingdoms of the earth shall be His praise, service and people. For when He was at Jerusalem alone, the Jews were not permitted to serve Him or sing to Him apart from Jerusalem, as the 137th Psalm, v. 4, testifies: "How shall we sing the praises of God in foreign lands?" And [in] many more places of the prophets it is touched upon that at Jerusalem alone was God's service. But now her head is destroyed and Christ has gone to heaven, in all places, all times, all persons God's service is abolished, all distinction of place, time, persons, garments, food, works, and all that is external; without the pope at Rome having again made distinction of the same, so that Christianity is disturbed to the ground. Therefore, this verse frees God's service, detaches it from Jerusalem, and divides it to all the world, which the Jews do not want to believe.

V. 34. To him who sails in the heaven of all heavens from the beginning. Behold, he will give his voice a voice of power.

104. in the time of the Jews, they called god "hovering over cherubim" or "over Jerusalem", which god had chosen for his dwelling place; all devotion had to go there.

and the attention of all the saints, so that even Daniel in Babylon, when he prayed, turned toward Jerusalem [Dan. 6:10]. But now, after Christ's ascension, all this is finished, there is no longer a fleshly place, no more cherubim; but we serve Him, and cling to Him who hovers and rides above all heavens; that in all the world He may be served, where heaven extends above us; that everything may be free to serve God, as free as heaven is, the throne of Him whom we serve, yes, in the heaven of all heavens, that the angels also may serve Him, and show equal service with us to Him. For the service of angels is not bound to outward things, so also not the service of Christians; both serve spiritually. 1)

(105) But it is not another new God that the Jews have had over their cherubim; he has been hovering in the heaven of all heavens from the beginning. For the angels have always served him in this way, even the first fathers, Adam, Noah, Abraham, until Moses, who served no god but over the cherubim or in Jerusalem. So, where they came 2) it was the same for them; for God did this for the Jews for a time, that he promised to hover over Jerusalem and over the cherubim, until Christ came, for the sake of the law, and many other causes, of which it is not necessary to say now.

So we see that these two verses are strict against the doctrine and laws of men, which follow when the silver-minded and ambitious come into power, and bind worship to chapels, monasteries, churches, altars, bells, garments, vessels, tables, plates, eating, drinking, sleeping, and the like outward things, such as the reed, the papist sect, being now going, against which St. Paul warned us so many times about this prophet 3).

107) When God's service is thus free, cherubim and human law removed, then He gives His voice, "the holy gospel", 4) that it be "a voice of power", that is, that it then goes forth in the swing un-

1) In the original: both serve spiritually.

2) So 1523; original: "heym".

3) In the original: "vor warnet".

4) Instead of the speech marks we put, the old editions have brackets, which were also used for emphasis at that time, because there were no speech marks.

He then does what is his nature and power, and expresses the voice. For the gospel is not to be written alone, but rather to be preached with a bodily voice; thus it comes into a pregnancy, and goes forth and lives among the people. For this power of the voice is not that of striking enemies or protecting oneself, but the natural ability of every thing, as it is said, "Wine has power to make merry. So the gospel has its power, and works after its kind, and makes all things free, if the doctrines of men do not hinder them with their assumed, exquisite works and outward ways.

V. 35. Pray the power of God over Israel; His greatness and power are in the clouds.

Here he calls him again a God over Israel; that is, as if he bound him again to person and place. But the previous verses force that Israel must be spiritual here, as St. Paul Gal. 6, 16. calls Israel Dei, God's Israel, not the physical Israel. Also so the Scripture elsewhere calls him a GOtt Israel. Here he says: "For GOD is over Israel", and reads on the opinion (my opinion): You Jews want to have GOD alone, and yet you are not under him; he cannot come over you. If you want to be Israel, that he may be a God over you, do this: give him power; confess that it is not your work but his grace that makes you strong, righteous and blessed; despair of yourselves; consider and surrender to him; see, then he will be a God over Israel; otherwise you are not Israel. For such an Israel he wants now, which does not build on itself, but on him and his grace. Therefore the meaning of the verse is: "Give power to God over Israel", that is, make him a God over Israel; this you do when you ascribe power and all ability to him.

109] "And his power is in the clouds," that is, he rules with no bodily force, as you wait; all that he does he does through the evangelists and his word, which are his clouds, through which he rains good doctrine, flashes with miraculous signs, thunders with thunderbolts. See to it that you are not offended by these little ones; do not look for his power elsewhere, nor wait for it.

All things are in faith and in his word; nothing will be otherwise. Now the clouds are also free; his power and his work are no longer in Jerusalem under the roof of the temple, as before; in all places of the world are the clouds, there you will find his power and his work, that he may help and save.

V. 36. God is terrible in his saints; he is the God of Israel, he is the one who gives strength and power to the people. Glory be to God. Amen.

(110) Then he insinuates the Psalm, saying that although the clouds and its Christians are contemptible in the eyes of the world, it is such a great thing that God is in them, works and reigns, that for this reason everyone should be astonished and fear them with great honor, as they are God's holy place and dwelling. For the word "saints" here means holy place or dwelling, which in the New Testament are the holy Christians, since God no longer dwells in cities and houses as in the Old Testament, and they are sanctified much more deliciously than Solomon's temple, namely, with the Holy 1) Spirit Himself and living ointment of divine grace, and whoever touches them touches the apple of God's eye [Zech. 2:8]. This is said to us for comfort, that we may not fear persecution; for they do it to God, who is terrified at what they do to us, who are contemptible before them.

(111) "He is the God of Israel," that is, we have no other God than the God of Israel. It is Christ whom Israel had, of whom we now also say: it is he who does these things, who is now not only Israel's God, but the God of all the world. No one is able to stand against the evil of himself, but it is he alone who gives power and strength to all the people, that is, to all those who are strong and sturdy, so that he alone may be the one who is given and who is God. This he is called, Benedictus Deus, which [is], as St. Paul says, 2 Cor. 10:17, "He that boasteth, let him boast of GOD." 2) Amen.

1) "Heiligen" is missing in the Jenaer; thereafter also in Walch and in the Erlanger.

2) 1523 edition: "GOttes"; original: aufGOtt.

Lastly, we have had the little word "sela" three times, which one does not use to read in the Psalter. Some think that 1) it is left over in the Psalms, but do not yet know what it means.

1) In the original: My quite a few.

But I think it is a sign of the Spirit, that where it is written in the Psalter, it means to keep still and to pay close attention, as if the Spirit were moving or delighting someone to look at something well; but I leave each one here to his own discretion.

20. short interpretation of the 76th psalm. *)

1542. (?) (1545.]

[Ps. 76, 6. f.] Sleep.

1. to sleep means here, as one says in the field, to despair, to become cowardly, to be frightened. When a man becomes a coward, his hands tremble, his legs shake, his head droops so that he can neither hold a spear nor a sword, much less fight or defend himself. He is not dead, nor is he alive, but, like a sleeping man, he can do nothing, and often cannot flee, for he is frozen. Such a warrior is God; [if] 2) he takes away the heart, the man is gone; as he did with Pharaoh, Sanherib, Benhadad, and many more. So it is also now, that one may learn to fear God, when he is not well pleased with him. He leaves you the spear, the sword, the cannon and the armor, but he takes away the heart; so hand and spear, horse and man sink into such a sleep, as the psalm sings here.

[Take courage.

2 The Hebrew cannot be spoken here in German; I wanted to give it in Latin: Vindemiat ferociam principum. I must form a little the thoughts of the prophet, so it can be understood. The Scripture calls a country or people "vineyard", like Is. 5, 1., Jer. 12, 10,

2) Added by us.

as Matth. 21, 33. Christ also shows. "Grape harvester" here means the enemies who harvest the vineyard, that is, who plunder and rob the land, Obadiah 1, 5. Joel 1, 7. Ps. 80, 9.ff. As now the Commissarius of the old religion (as they call it) of the devil and Pabst's army commander, thought, he wanted to read the vineyards to the Churfürsten, duke Moritzen and landgrave. The cities in Thuringia, Meissen, Hesse, Naumburg, Zeitz 2c. would have been delicious vines and grapevines for him, could have cut good grapes and made him a rich autumn. Against this, God said in the Council of Guardians to protect his word and honor: If thou wilt gather wine, I will come before thee, and gather thy courage, and make such a harvest of thee, that there shall not remain unto thy courage one cluster of grapes, nor berry, nor leaf, but heaven and earth shall be made narrow. That is Hebrew Bazar ruach, read the courage. Which we must have German "den Muth nehmen", because "den Muth lesen" does not read with the German man. But it is mockingly spoken against "the mountains of robbery" [v. 5], who do not think that if they want to read wine and plunder, God can first read and plunder their proud courage. Such mockery can be done by faith in Christ from the beginning and always. Joh. 14, 12: "He who believes in me will do the works that I do.

*This short interpretation is found (as Walch, old edition, vol. IV, Vorr. p. 29b reports) in a book in the Gothaische Bibliothek, which has the title: "Vermanung an Churfürsten zu Sachsen und Landgrafen zu Hessen von dem gefangenen Herrn zu Brunswig, samt dein 64. und 76. Psalm, Wittenberg 1546." This writing is after the first edition of 1545, in which the Psalms are missing, printed in Walch, old edition, vol, In our brief interpretation we now encounter strong echoes of this writing, namely "Benhadad" (Z 6 f. Walch I. o., Col. 1756 f.), "Pharaoh" and "Sanherib" (ibick. § 35); the designation of Heinrich von Braunschweig as "Commissarius of the old religion" (idül. § 7, § 28 z. E.? 31 z. A.). Therefore, there can hardly be any doubt that our interpretation is not already to be placed (like the 64th Psalm in its application to Heinrich (Walch, alte Ausg., Bd. XVII, 1729 ff.j) in the year 1542, where all editions place it, but in the year of Heinrich's capture, 1545. In the collections: Wittenberger (1559), vol. XII, p. 399; Altenburger, vol. VIII, p. 997; Leipziger, vol. VI, p. 271 and in the Erlanger. We reproduce the text according to the Wittenberger, but omit the psalm, which does not differ in anything from the text of the Bible.