Exposition of Psalm 118 5.41.1–6.26.1
Latin text: CSEL 62 (Latin text: Schenkl/Petschenig, CSEL 62, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Exposition 5, chapter 41
5.41.1CSEL 62:105
Aufer obprobrium meum quod suspicatus sum. subobscure dictum uidetur, sed explanauit apostolus quod hic uidebatur obscurum, ubi ait: nihil quidem mihi conscius sum, sed non in hoc iustificatus sum, sciebat enim se esse hominem, etsi cauebat ut poterat, ne post suscepta baptismi sacramenta peccaret, ideoque delicti conscius sibi non erat; sed quia homo erat, peccatorem se fatebatur sciens unum esse Iesum lumen uerum, qui peccatum non fecit nec est inuentus in ore eius dolus, ipsum solum iustificari, qui uere alienus esset a lapsu.
“Take away my reproach which I have suspected.” This seems said somewhat obscurely, but the apostle explained what seemed obscure here, where he says: “I am conscious of nothing against myself, but I am not justified by this.” For he knew that he was a man, even if he took care as best he could not to sin after receiving the sacraments of baptism, and so he was not conscious to himself of any sin; but because he was a man, he confessed himself a sinner, knowing that Jesus alone is the true light, “who did no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth,” that he alone is justified, who was truly free of any fall.
Ps 119:39 (118:39 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 4:4 (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:9 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Pet 2:22 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: On verse 39: like Paul, the psalmist suspects hidden sin; only Jesus is wholly without sin.
- Ps 118:39 (Ps 119:39, Greek form: “which I suspected”); 1 Cor 4:4; John 1:9; 1 Pet 2:22. The digital text’s “sus pi catus” is read as “suspicatus”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (spaced letters in the digital text): sus pi catus → suspicatus.
Topics: Baptism
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.41.1 (CSEL 62:105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-41-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-41-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-41-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
5.41.2CSEL 62:105
similiter ergo et propheta, etsi peccatum declinare cupiebat, tamen quasi deum repulsorem peccati esse cupiebat sui. uolebat auferri obprobrium quod suspicatus est, uel quia cogitauerat in corde et non fecerat et paenitentia licet abolitum suspectus tamen erat ne forte adhuc maneret eius obprobrium. et ideo deum precatur ut illud auferat, qui solus nouit quod nescire potest etiam ipse qui fecit. denique alibi ipse dixit propheta: scis obprobrium meum, quamquam istud obprobrium Christi sit, quod non est uerum obprobrium, sed gloria dei; crux enim Christi Iudaeis scandalum, Graecis stultitia.
Likewise, then, the prophet too, though he desired to avoid sin, nevertheless wished God to be, as it were, the repeller of his sin. He wished the reproach which he suspected to be taken away, either because he had thought something in his heart and had not done it, and, though it had been abolished by repentance, he was nevertheless suspicious lest perhaps his reproach still remained. And so he prays God to take it away, who alone knows what even the one who did it may not know. Indeed elsewhere the prophet himself said: “You know my reproach,” although that is the reproach of Christ, which is not true reproach but the glory of God; for the cross of Christ is a stumbling block to Jews, folly to Greeks.
Ps 69:19 (68:20 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 1:23 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The psalmist asks God, who knows hidden sins, to remove his reproach; Christ’s reproach is God’s glory.
- Ps 69:19 (LXX 68:20); 1 Cor 1:23.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.41.2 (CSEL 62:105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-41-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-41-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-41-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 5, chapter 42
5.42.1CSEL 62:105
Illis ergo obprobrium, mihi uirtus est, per quam aduersarium repello, saeculum uinco, mihi sapientia, per quam insipientiae laqueos euado. hoc obprobrium thesauris Aegypti Moyses praetulit: maius, inquit, aestimans Aegypti thesauris obprobrium Christi. si obprobrium tuum gloria est, domine Iesu, quanta est gloria tua!
To them, then, it is a reproach; to me it is power, by which I repel the adversary and overcome the world; to me it is wisdom, by which I escape the snares of folly. This reproach Moses preferred to the treasures of Egypt: “Esteeming,” it says, “the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt.” If your reproach is glory, Lord Jesus, how great is your glory!
1 Cor 1:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Heb 11:26 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s reproach is power and wisdom, preferred by Moses to Egypt’s treasures.
- 1 Cor 1:24; Heb 11:26.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.42.1 (CSEL 62:105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-42-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-42-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-42-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
5.42.2CSEL 62:105–106
tuae igitur gloriae participatione quid erimus, cuius sumus obprobrio gloriosi? dorsum meum posui in flagella, maxillas meas in palmas, os autem meum non auerti a confusione sputorum. ecce obprobrium tuum, domine, in quo salus est uniuersorum,
By sharing in your glory, then, what shall we be, we who are made glorious by your reproach? “I gave my back to the scourges, my cheeks to the blows, and I did not turn my face from the shame of spitting.” Behold your reproach, Lord, in which is the salvation of all,
Isa 50:6 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s sufferings, foretold by Isaiah, are the reproach that saves all.
- Isa 50:6. The digital text’s “participationc” is read as “participatione”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text; split word in the digital text): participationc → participatione; sputor u m → sputorum.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.42.2 (CSEL 62:105–106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-42-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-42-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-42-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
5.42.3CSEL 62:106
in quo mundi redemptio, per quod obprobrium coepimus non erubescere qui erubescebamus, non confundi qui confundebamur. denique scriptum est: accedite ad eum et inluminamini, et uultus uestri non erubescent. hoc obprobrium auferri a nobis nolumus, obprobrium crucis domini Iesu, quo nostra auferuntur obprobria. sicut enim maledictum factus est, ut nostra maledicta deleret, homo factus est, ut leuaret hominis infirmitates, ita obprobrium factus est, ut omnium auferret obprobria.
in which is the redemption of the world, through which reproach we who used to blush have begun not to blush, we who were put to shame not to be put to shame. Indeed it is written: “Come to him and be enlightened, and your faces will not blush.” We do not want this reproach taken away from us, the reproach of the cross of the Lord Jesus, by which our reproaches are taken away. For just as he was made a curse to blot out our curses, made man to lift up man’s weaknesses, so he was made a reproach to take away the reproaches of all.
Ps 34:5 (33:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 3:13 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 53:4 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: We do not want to be rid of Christ’s reproach, for by it he took away our reproaches.
- Ps 34:5 (LXX 33:6, Greek form); Gal 3:13; Isa 53:4. The digital text’s “in lumina mini” is read as “inluminamini”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (split word in the digital text): in lumina mini → inluminamini.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.42.3 (CSEL 62:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-42-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-42-3
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-42-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 5, chapter 43
5.43.1CSEL 62:106
Non uno tempore, non semel abstulit obprobria, aufert cotidie. peccatum incidimus, non unum, sed multa: cooperti sumus obprobrio et confusione. uenimus ad baptismum: dilutum est omne peccatum et cum peccato obprobrium. abstulit obprobrium meum dominus Iesus obprobrio suo, quia crucifixus est mihi, quia, qui-
Not at one time, not once, did he take away reproaches; he takes them away daily. We fell into sin, not one but many: we were covered with reproach and confusion. We came to baptism: every sin was washed away, and with the sin the reproach. The Lord Jesus took away my reproach by his reproach, because he was crucified for me, because whoever
Ps 44:15 (43:16 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: In baptism Christ washed away every sin and its reproach.
- Ps 44:15 (LXX 43:16).
Topics: Baptism, Forgiveness of sins
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.43.1 (CSEL 62:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-43-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-43-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-43-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
5.43.2CSEL 62:106
cumque baptizati sumus in Christo, in morte ipsius baptizati sumus. non habeo quod auferri petam. sed post baptismum incidi obprobrium, debeo agere paenitentiam, ut dicam: aufer a me obprobrium meum. si non agam paenitentiam, quomodo dicam: aufer a me obprobrium meum, cum hoc ipsum peccati obprobrium sit, quia non ago paenitentiam? si autem paenitentiam, ut oportet, ago, recte: aufer a me obprobrium meum quod suspicatus sum; iudicia enim tua dulcia.
of us have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into his death. I have nothing to ask to be taken away. But after baptism I have fallen into reproach; I must do penance, so as to say: “Take away from me my reproach.” If I do not do penance, how shall I say, “Take away from me my reproach,” when this itself is the reproach of sin, that I do not do penance? But if I do penance as I ought, I rightly say: “Take away from me my reproach which I have suspected; for your judgments are sweet.”
Rom 6:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 119:39 (118:39 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Sins after baptism require penance; only the penitent can rightly ask God to remove his reproach.
- Rom 6:3; Ps 119:39. paenitentia is rendered “penance” here, since Ambrose means the church’s discipline for sins after baptism.
Topics: Baptism, Church discipline and penance, Repentance
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.43.2 (CSEL 62:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-43-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-43-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-43-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 5, chapter 44
5.44.1CSEL 62:106
Quid timeo confiteri, quid timeo dicere peccata mea? quid uereor obprobrii mei mentionem facere apud eum, cuius iudicia dulcia sunt? quod seuerum in aliis, in Christo dulce est, in Christo suaue est. quia ipse suauis est;
Why do I fear to confess, why do I fear to tell my sins? Why am I afraid to mention my reproach before him whose judgments are sweet? What is severe in others is sweet in Christ, is pleasant in Christ, because he himself is sweet;
Ps 119:39 (118:39 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: We need not fear to confess our sins to Christ, whose judgments are sweet.
- The digital text’s “uereorobprobrii” is read as “uereor obprobrii”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (words joined in the digital text): uereorobprobrii → uereor obprobrii.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.44.1 (CSEL 62:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-44-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-44-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-44-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
5.44.2CSEL 62:106–107
denique gustate et uidete quoniam suauis est dominus. dulcia iudicia confitenti, quia ipse dixit: ego sum ego sum, qui deleo iniquitates tuas, et memor non ero. tu autem memor esto et iudicemur; dic iniquitates tuas, ut iustificeris. dulcia iudicia agenti paenitentiam, quia ipse dixit: gaudium erit in caelis super uno peccatore paenitentiam agente quam in nonaginta et nouem iustis qui non indigent paenitentia. si dulcia sunt igitur iudicia domini, suauitatis fructus percipere elaboremus.
indeed “taste and see that the Lord is sweet.” His judgments are sweet to one who confesses, because he himself said: “I am, I am he who blots out your iniquities, and I will not remember them. But you, remember, and let us be judged together; tell your iniquities, so that you may be justified.” His judgments are sweet to one who does penance, because he himself said: “There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents more than over ninety-nine righteous who need no repentance.” If, then, the Lord’s judgments are sweet, let us labor to gather the fruits of sweetness.
Ps 34:8 (33:9 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 43:25 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 43:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 15:7 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God’s judgments are sweet to those who confess and repent.
- Ps 34:8 (LXX 33:9); Isa 43:25–26 (Greek form); Luke 15:7.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (words joined in the digital text): nonero.tu → non ero. tu.
Topics: Repentance
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.44.2 (CSEL 62:106–107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-44-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-44-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-44-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 5, chapter 45
5.45.1CSEL 62:107
L is scire quam dulcia iudicia domini? non resurgunt impii in iudicio. qui autem in iudicio resurgunt, habent spem ueniae, quoniam crediderunt. impii non sunt, peccatores esse possunt, fidem habent et, si culpam non declinarunt, per fidem credunt; qui autem credit in ipso non iudicatur. dulcia ergo iudicia credentibus.
Do you wish to know how sweet the Lord’s judgments are? “The ungodly do not rise in the judgment.” But those who rise in the judgment have hope of pardon, because they have believed. They are not ungodly; they may be sinners; they have faith, and if they did not avoid fault, through faith they believe; and “he who believes in him is not judged.” His judgments, then, are sweet to believers.
Ps 1:5 (quotation, high confidence) · John 3:18 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Believers, even if sinners, rise in the judgment with hope of pardon, for whoever believes is not judged.
- Ps 1:5 (Greek form); John 3:18. The digital text’s “L is scire” is read as “Uis scire”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing space in the digital text; words joined in the digital text): domini?non → domini? non; iudicatur.dulciaergoiudicia → iudicatur. dulcia ergo iudicia.
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.45.1 (CSEL 62:107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-45-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-45-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-45-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
5.45.2CSEL 62:107
qui autem non credunt, non Christi iudicio damnati sunt, qui uenit non ut iudicet mundum, sed ut saluet et redimat, sed inpietatis suae subiere iudicium, qui in remissionem peccatorum credere noluerunt: non enim possunt ad eius pertinere beneficium quem cognoscere refutarunt. ergo qui non crediderunt in eo, iudicio eius uidentur indigni; iudicium enim eius quod sit, agnosce dicente ipso: hoc autem est iudicium, quia lux uenit in hunc mundum. dulce ergo quod lux est, dulce iudicium quod praecedit misericordia; sic enim scriptum est: misericordiam et iudicium cantabo tibi, domine.
But those who do not believe are not condemned by the judgment of Christ, who came not to judge the world but to save and redeem it; rather they have undergone the judgment of their own ungodliness, they who would not believe in the forgiveness of sins: for they cannot share in the benefit of him whom they refused to know. So those who did not believe in him seem unworthy of his judgment; for know what his judgment is, as he himself says: “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into this world.” It is sweet, then, because it is light; sweet is the judgment which mercy precedes; for so it is written: “Of mercy and judgment I will sing to you, Lord.”
John 3:17 (allusion, high confidence) · John 3:19 (quotation, high confidence) · John 12:47 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 101:1 (100:1 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Unbelievers are condemned by their own ungodliness, not by Christ; his judgment, preceded by mercy, is sweet.
- John 3:17, 19; 12:47; Ps 101:1 (LXX 100:1).
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.45.2 (CSEL 62:107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-45-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-45-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-45-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 5, chapter 46
5.46.1CSEL 62:107–108
Et quia cognouit dulcia iudicia, dicit: ecce concupiui mandata tua; in tua iustitia uiuifica me bona iudicia auctoritate ait. ecce amat libertatem fidei qui libertatem dedit, diligi se gaudet qui ideo uenit in hunc mundum, quia
And because he knew that the judgments are sweet, he says: “Behold, I have longed for your commandments; in your righteousness give me life.” He speaks of good judgments with authority. Behold, he loves the freedom of faith who gave freedom; he rejoices to be loved who came into this world for this reason, that
Ps 119:40 (118:40 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: On verse 40: knowing God’s judgments are sweet, the psalmist longs for his commandments.
- Ps 118:40 (Ps 119:40). The words “bona iudicia auctoritate ait” are obscure in the text; translated by sense.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.46.1 (CSEL 62:107–108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-46-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-46-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-46-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
5.46.2CSEL 62:108
hunc mundum dilexit, amari se exigit qui omnes amat, quia caritas est. concupiuit mandata dei ut bonus seruus, ut cultor sedulus; concupiuit non ut amator meretriciam copulam, non ut auarus pecuniam, non ut luxuriosus lasciuiam. de illis enim lex dicit: non concupisces, dominum autem deum praecipit diligendum et tenero quodam atque interno amandum cupiditatis affectu. et quia amicus est qui diligit, seruus est qui timet, quasi amicus qui omnia fecerit quae praecepit ei dominus: uos, inquit, amici mei estis, si feceritis quae ego praecipio uobis.
he loved this world; he who loves all demands to be loved, because he is love. He longed for the commandments of God as a good servant, as a diligent worker; he longed for them not as a lover longs for intercourse with a harlot, not as the greedy man for money, not as the luxurious man for wantonness. Of those the law says, “You shall not covet”; but it commands that the Lord God be loved and loved with a tender and inward affection of desire. And because he who loves is a friend, he who fears a servant, he longs as a friend who has done all that the Lord commanded him: “You are my friends,” he says, “if you do what I command you.”
John 3:16 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 John 4:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 20:17 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 6:5 (allusion, high confidence) · John 15:14 (quotation, high confidence) · John 15:15 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The psalmist longs for God’s commandments with holy love, as a friend of God.
- John 3:16; 1 John 4:8; Exod 20:17; Deut 6:5; John 15:14–15. The digital text’s “cantas” is read as “caritas”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text): quia cantas est → quia caritas est.
Topics: Love of God and neighbour
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.46.2 (CSEL 62:108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-46-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-46-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-46-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 5, chapter 47
5.47.1CSEL 62:108
In tua iustitia uiuifica m e. audet et dicit, eo quod illa uera sit uita quae uiuit secundum dei iustitiam, quam uiuebant apostoli. immo quam uiuunt: sunt enim qui uiuentes mortui sunt et qui mortui uiuunt. denique alii descendunt in infernum uiuentes, alii, cum sint corpore mortui, meritis suis uiuunt. sunt enim qui non gustabunt mortem, donec uideant filium hominis die iudicii reuertentem, quando cum gloria sancti resurgent.
“In your righteousness give me life.” He dares to say it, because that is true life which lives according to God’s righteousness, which the apostles lived, or rather live: for there are those who, living, are dead, and those who, dead, live. Indeed some go down alive into hell, while others, though dead in body, live by their merits. For there are those who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man returning on the day of judgment, when the saints will rise with glory.
Ps 119:40 (118:40 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 5:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 55:15 (54:16 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Num 16:33 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 16:28 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: True life is life by God’s righteousness; some living men are dead and some dead men live.
- Ps 119:40; 1 Tim 5:6; Ps 55:15 (LXX 54:16); Num 16:33; Matt 16:28.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 5.47.1 (CSEL 62:108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-47-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/5-47-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-5-47-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 1
6.1.1CSEL 62:108
Sexta littera Uau', cuius interpretatio sonat uel sic non ille.: alius interpres et non est ait.
The sixth letter is Vau, whose interpretation sounds either “so, not he”; another interpreter says “and he is not.”
Notes and citation
Summary: Ambrose gives the meanings of the letter Vau.
- The meanings come from the onomastic tradition; the sense is obscure (Vau means “and” or “hook”). Ambrose takes it up in 6.4.1.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.1.1 (CSEL 62:108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-1-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-1-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-1-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 2
6.2.1CSEL 62:108–109
Et ueniat super me misericordia tua, domine, salutare tuum secundum eloquium tuum. quid significet interpretatio litterae, quoniam subobscura est, ex psalmi serie colligendum putaui. nam cum propheta postulet: ueniat super me misericordia tua, domine, ueniat salutare tuum', non est dubium quem uidere deposcat, hoc est: in quo fructus et misericordiae ueniat et salutis. denique in superioribus idem poposcit in psalmo octogesimo quarto, in quo euidentius domini Iesu prophetauit aduentum. nam terram quam benedici postulet satis notum, illam uidelicet quae peccatum in Adam contraxerat, cui dicitur: terra es et in terram ibis. maledixerat autem deus non elementum naturae carnis, sed carnem praeuaricantium. benedicitur caro igitur in Christo, ut maledicto superiore caro soluatur, benedicitur caro, quam benedictus filius dei adsumpta hominis condicione suscepit.
“And let your mercy come upon me, Lord, your salvation according to your word.” What the interpretation of the letter signifies, since it is rather obscure, I thought should be gathered from the sequence of the psalm. For when the prophet asks, “Let your mercy come upon me, Lord, let your salvation come,” there is no doubt whom he asks to see, that is, him in whom the fruit both of mercy and of salvation comes. Indeed earlier he asked the same in the eighty-fourth psalm, in which he prophesied the coming of the Lord Jesus more clearly. For which land he asks to be blessed is well enough known, namely the one which had contracted sin in Adam, to which it is said: “You are earth, and to earth you shall go.” But God had cursed not the element of the nature of flesh, but the flesh of transgressors. Flesh, then, is blessed in Christ, so that flesh may be freed from the earlier curse; the flesh is blessed which the blessed Son of God took on in taking up the condition of man.
Ps 119:41 (118:41 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 85:1 (84:2 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 85:7 (84:8 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 3:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 3:17 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: On verse 41: the mercy and salvation the psalmist asks for is Christ, who blessed the flesh cursed in Adam.
- Ps 118:41 (Ps 119:41); Ps 85:1, 7 (LXX 84:2, 8; Ambrose’s “eighty-fourth psalm”); Gen 3:17, 19.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (split word in the digital text): sec undum → secundum.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.2.1 (CSEL 62:108–109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-2-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-2-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-2-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 3
6.3.1CSEL 62:109
Et ideo subdidit: deus, tu conuertens uiuificabis nos et plebs tua laetabitur in te. ostende nobis, domine, misericordiam tuam et salutare tuum d a nobis. audiam quid loquatur i n m e dominus deus, quoniam loquetur pacem in plebem suam et super sanctos suos et in eos qui conuertunt ad ipsum cor suum. uerumtamen prope timentes eum salutare ipsius, ut inhabitet gloria in terra nostra.
And so he added: “O God, turning, you will give us life, and your people will rejoice in you. Show us, Lord, your mercy, and give us your salvation. I will hear what the Lord God speaks in me, for he will speak peace to his people and to his saints and to those who turn their heart to him. Yet his salvation is near those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.”
Ps 85:6 (84:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 85:7 (84:8 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 85:8 (84:9 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 85:9 (84:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Ambrose quotes Psalm 85, which asks God to show his mercy and salvation.
- Ps 85:6–9 (LXX 84:7–10, Greek form).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.3.1 (CSEL 62:109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-3-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-3-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-3-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.3.2CSEL 62:109
totus hic locus Iesum dominum sonat, qui uiuificauit mortuos, Lazarum ante passionem, plurimos tempore propriae passionis. ipse est misericordia, utpote remissio peccatorum. ideo dicit ostende, quem uidere possit in corpore; nam deum in maiestate sua uidere non poterat, quia deum nemo uidit umquam. auidus propheta desiderat uidere quem sperat tenere, quem si uiderit desiderat propriis manibus conprehendere.
This whole passage speaks of the Lord Jesus, who gave life to the dead: Lazarus before his passion, very many at the time of his own passion. He is mercy, being the forgiveness of sins. So he says “show,” meaning him whom he could see in the body; for he could not see God in his majesty, because no one has ever seen God. The prophet eagerly desires to see him whom he hopes to hold, whom, if he sees him, he desires to grasp with his own hands.
John 11:43 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 27:52 (allusion, high confidence) · John 1:18 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 John 1:1 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Psalm 85 speaks of Jesus, God’s mercy, whom the prophet longed to see in the flesh.
- John 11:43–44; Matt 27:52–53; John 1:18; 1 John 1:1.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.3.2 (CSEL 62:109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-3-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-3-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-3-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.3.3CSEL 62:109–110
ideoque ait: et salutare tuum da nobis. salutare dei uirtus est, salutare dei Christus est et ideo prope timentes hoc salutare. longe erat Christus a nobis, longe erat a nationibus; descendit in terras, factus est prope, coepimus non timere. nam qui Christum timet, non timori est subditus, sed deuotioni; pietatis hie timor, non infirmitatis est. denique nihil deest timentibus eum.
And so he says: “And give us your salvation.” The salvation of God is power; the salvation of God is Christ; and so this salvation is near those who fear. Christ was far from us, far from the nations; he came down to earth, he came near, we began not to fear. For he who fears Christ is not subject to fear but to devotion; this fear is of godliness, not of weakness. Indeed “those who fear him lack nothing.”
Ps 85:7 (84:8 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 85:9 (84:10 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 2:13 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 34:9 (33:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is God’s salvation, who came near; fearing him is devotion, not weakness.
- Ps 85:7, 9; Eph 2:13, 17; Ps 34:9 (LXX 33:10). The digital text’s “sa1utare” and “hie” are read as “salutare” and “hic”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text; punctuation slip in the digital text): sa1utare → salutare; nobis:, longe → nobis, longe.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.3.3 (CSEL 62:109–110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-3-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-3-3
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-3-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.3.4CSEL 62:110
quomodo autem factus sit prope, audi: ut inhabitet, inquit, gloria in terra nostra. quis est gloria nisi dominus Iesus? unde et apostolus Paulus ait: deus domini nostri Iesu Christi, pater gloriae. merito conplacet in eo pater, quia patris gloria est. hunc qui a patre separat maiorem patri iniuriam facit, quem unit esse sine gloria. hunc quisque aequalem patri non putat, inferiorem et patrem iudicat, cum alio uerbo patrem plus laudare non possit, quia summa laus gloriae Christus est.
And how he came near, hear: “that glory,” it says, “may dwell in our land.” Who is the glory but the Lord Jesus? Hence the apostle Paul too says: “The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.” Rightly the Father is well pleased in him, because he is the Father’s glory. He who separates him from the Father does the Father a greater injury, whom he would make to be without glory. Whoever does not think him equal to the Father judges the Father inferior as well, since he cannot praise the Father more with any other word, because Christ is the highest praise of glory.
Ps 85:9 (84:10 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Eph 1:17 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 3:17 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is the Father’s glory; whoever makes him unequal to the Father dishonors the Father.
- Ps 85:9; Eph 1:17; Matt 3:17. Directed against Arian teaching. The digital text’s “conplac-et” is read as “conplacet”, and “unit” as “uult”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphen in the digital text): conplac-et → conplacet.
Topics: Trinity, Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.3.4 (CSEL 62:110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-3-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-3-4
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-3-4) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 4
6.4.1CSEL 62:110
Rogatur ergo, ut ueniat salutare dei. ille est qui rogatur, hoc est dominus Iesus, et non est alius, sicut habet litterae interpretatio. et uel sic non solus pater rogatur; est et ille, hoc est: et filius qui rogatur et rogatus aduenit et salutare mundo dedit. ideo σωτήϱ, hoc est saluator., ideo Iesus, sicut angelus dixit: qui saluum faciet populum suum. cum inuocaret igitur propheta, aderat, ut probaret illud, quia adhuc loquentibus nobis dicit: adsum.
It is asked, then, that the salvation of God may come. He it is who is asked for, that is, the Lord Jesus, and not another, as the interpretation of the letter has it. And either “so, not he alone,” the Father, is asked; there is also “he,” that is, the Son, who is asked and, being asked, comes and gave salvation to the world. Therefore he is sōtēr, that is, Savior; therefore Jesus, as the angel said: “who will save his people.” When, then, the prophet called on him, he was present, so as to prove the saying that while we are still speaking he says: “Here I am.”
Ps 119:41 (118:41 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 1:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 58:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 65:24 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The letter’s meaning points to the Son, Jesus the Savior, who comes when called.
- Ps 119:41; Matt 1:21; Isa 58:9; 65:24. The punctuation of the letter’s meanings is unclear; translated by sense.
Topics: Christology, Trinity
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.4.1 (CSEL 62:110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-4-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-4-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-4-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 5
6.5.1CSEL 62:110–111
Adest, quia suscitatus a filiabus Iudaeae quasi resuscitatur a filiabus Hierusalem. audit ecclesia sonum uocis eius et dicit: uox consobrini mei. ecce hic aduenit saliens super montes, transiliens super colles. manipularis est liber multas habens personas nobiles uelut manipulos triumphales multosque actus significans, quos intellegere magis quam expressos tenere possimus. nam quasi aduenientem sponsum audierit cum aliquibus pariter uiantibus conloquentem, dicit sponsa: uox consobrini mei.
He is present, because, roused by the daughters of Judea, he is as it were roused up by the daughters of Jerusalem. The church hears the sound of his voice and says: “The voice of my cousin. Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.” It is a book in sheaves, having many noble persons like triumphal sheaves and signifying many actions, which we can understand rather than hold expressed. For as though she had heard the bridegroom coming and talking with some who were traveling with him, the bride says: “The voice of my cousin.”
Song 2:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Song 2:8 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The church hears Christ’s voice as he comes leaping on the mountains.
- Song 2:7–8.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (words joined in the digital text): eccehic → ecce hic.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.5.1 (CSEL 62:110–111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-5-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-5-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-5-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.5.2CSEL 62:111
dum loquitur cum filiabus Hierusalem et rogat, ut excitent et resuscitent sponsum, subito tamquam de longinquo missae uocis sonum sentiens dicit: uox consobrini mei, adnuntians quem nuntiari sibi ante quaerebat. quem cupiebat ab aliis suscitari, sua prece resuscitatum a patre uenire iam credens laeta dicit: uox consobrini mei. bene addidit consobrini mei, ut non aliae, sed consobrina sola sibi eius uindicaret aduentum.
While she speaks with the daughters of Jerusalem and asks them to rouse and rouse up the bridegroom, suddenly, sensing as it were the sound of a voice sent from afar, she says, “The voice of my cousin,” announcing him whom before she was asking to have announced to her. Believing that he whom she longed to have roused by others is now coming, roused up by the Father at her prayer, she says joyfully: “The voice of my cousin.” She well added “of my cousin,” so that not others but she alone, his cousin, might claim his coming for herself.
Song 2:8 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The bride joyfully recognizes the voice of the bridegroom whom she had asked others to rouse.
- Song 2:7–8.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (punctuation slip in the digital text): consobrini mei;, ut → consobrini mei, ut.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.5.2 (CSEL 62:111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-5-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-5-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-5-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 6
6.6.1CSEL 62:111
Ecce, inquit, iste aduenit. adhuc ego eum quaero et ille iam uenit, adhuc ego suffragia capto, ut ueniat, et ille iam proximus est. ego suscitari mihi caritatem cupio, ego me uulneratam caritatis puto et ad me plus caritas ipsa festinat. ego dixi ueni, ille salit et transilit. ego rogo eum uenire cum gratia, ille gratiarum operatur augmenta et, dum uenit, incrementa gratiae secum uehit et ueniendo adquirit, quia studet etiam ipse suae placere dilectae.
“Behold,” she says, “he comes.” I am still seeking him, and he is already coming; I am still canvassing for him to come, and he is already very near. I long for love to be roused for me, I think myself wounded with love, and love itself hastens to me the more. I said “Come,” he leaps and bounds. I ask him to come with grace, he works increases of graces and, as he comes, brings with him growth of grace and gains by coming, because he too is eager to please his beloved.
Song 2:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 2:5 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ comes to the soul even before she finishes seeking him, bringing more grace than she asked.
- Song 2:8; 2:5; Isa 65:24.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.6.1 (CSEL 62:111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-6-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-6-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-6-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.6.2CSEL 62:111
salit super excelsa, ut ascendat super sponsam — sponsae enim thalamus tribunal est Christi —, salit super Adam, transilit super synagogam, salit super gentes, transilit super Iudaeos. uideamus salientem: salit de caelo in uirginem, de utero in praesepe, de praesepio in Iordanem, de Iordane in crucem, de cruce in tumulum, in caelum de sepulchro.
He leaps upon the heights, so as to go up to the bride (for the bride’s chamber is the tribunal of Christ); he leaps upon Adam, he bounds over the synagogue; he leaps upon the Gentiles, he bounds over the Jews. Let us see him leaping: he leaps from heaven into the Virgin, from the womb into the manger, from the manger into the Jordan, from the Jordan onto the cross, from the cross into the tomb, from the tomb into heaven.
Song 2:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 2:7 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 3:13 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s leaps run from heaven to the Virgin, the manger, the Jordan, the cross, the tomb, and back to heaven.
- Song 2:8. The digital text’s “oaiit” and “thalanius” are read as “salit” and “thalamus”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text): oaiit super → salit super; thalanius → thalamus.
Topics: Christology, Incarnation
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.6.2 (CSEL 62:111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-6-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-6-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-6-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.6.3CSEL 62:111–112
proba mihi, Dauid, salientem, proba currentem: tu enim, dixisti: exultauit tamquam gigans ad currendam uiam. a summo caelo egressio eius et occursus eius usque ad summum eius, nec est qui se abscondat a calore eius. ergo et nunc salit et nunc currit de corde patris super sanctos suos, de oriente super occidentem, de septentrione super meridiem. ipse est qui ascendit super occasum, ipse super caelos caelorum ad orientem; ipse ascendit super montes, ipse super colles.
Show me him leaping, David, show me him running: for you said, “He rejoiced like a giant to run his course. His going forth is from the height of heaven, and his circuit to its height, and there is none who can hide himself from his heat.” So now too he leaps and now he runs from the heart of the Father upon his saints, from the east upon the west, from the north upon the south. He it is who goes up upon the setting sun; he upon the heaven of heavens toward the east; he goes up upon the mountains, he upon the hills.
Ps 19:5 (18:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 19:6 (18:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 68:4 (67:5 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 68:33 (67:34 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: As Psalm 19 says, Christ runs his course like a giant from heaven to the saints throughout the world.
- Ps 19:5–6 (LXX 18:6–7); Ps 68:4, 33 (LXX 67:5, 34).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.6.3 (CSEL 62:111–112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-6-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-6-3
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-6-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 7
6.7.1CSEL 62:112
Utinam ego miser dicam, dicat anima mea: ecce iste aduenit et aduenit non super terrena, non super ualles, sed aduenit saliens super montes! deus enim deus montium est, non uallium. ubi ergo salit? super montes salit. si sis mons, salit super te. salit super Esaiam, salit super Hieremiam, salit super Petrum Iohannem Iacobum. montes in circuitu eius. si non potes mons esse nec praeuales, esto uel collis, ut super te Christus ascendat et, si transilit, ita transiliat, ut te transitus eius umbra custodiat.
Would that I, wretched as I am, might say, that my soul might say: “Behold, he comes,” and comes not upon earthly things, not upon valleys, but comes leaping upon the mountains! For God is a God of the mountains, not of the valleys. Where, then, does he leap? He leaps upon the mountains. If you are a mountain, he leaps upon you. He leaps upon Isaiah, he leaps upon Jeremiah, he leaps upon Peter, John, James. “Mountains are round about him.” If you cannot be a mountain and are not strong enough, be at least a hill, so that Christ may go up upon you and, if he bounds over, may bound over in such a way that the shadow of his passing guards you.
Song 2:8 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Kgs 20:28 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 125:2 (124:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ leaps upon the mountains, the prophets and apostles; we should be at least hills for him to pass over.
- Song 2:8; 1 Kgs 20:28 (reversed); Ps 125:2 (LXX 124:2).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.7.1 (CSEL 62:112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-7-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-7-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-7-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 8
6.8.1CSEL 62:112
Diximus de Christo et ecclesia; dicamus de anima et uerbo. anima iusti sponsa est uerbi. haec si desideret, si cupiat, si oret et oret adsidue et oret sine ulla disceptatione et tota intendat in uerbo, subito uocem sibi uidetur eius audire quem non uidet et intimo sensu odorem diuinitatis eius agnoscit, quod patiuntur plerumque qui bene credunt. replentur subito nares animae spiritali gratia et sentit sibi praesentiae eius flatum adspirare, quem quaerit, et dicit: ecce iste ipse est quem requiro, ipse quem desidero.
We have spoken of Christ and the church; let us speak of the soul and the Word. The soul of the righteous is the bride of the Word. If she desires, if she longs, if she prays and prays constantly and prays without any disputing, and is wholly intent on the Word, suddenly she seems to hear the voice of him whom she does not see, and in her inmost sense she recognizes the fragrance of his divinity, as often happens to those who believe well. The nostrils of the soul are suddenly filled with spiritual grace, and she senses the breath of his presence breathing on her, whom she seeks, and she says: “Behold, this is he whom I seek, he whom I desire.”
1 Thess 5:17 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Tim 2:8 (allusion, medium confidence) · Song 3:1 (allusion, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The soul that prays constantly suddenly perceives the presence of the Word, her bridegroom.
- 1 Thess 5:17; 1 Tim 2:8; Song 3:1–4.
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.8.1 (CSEL 62:112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-8-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-8-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-8-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 9
6.9.1CSEL 62:112
Nonne, cum aliquid de scripturis cogitamus et explanationem eius inuenire non possumus, dum dubitamus, dum quaerimus, subito nobis quasi super montes altissima dogmata uidetur ascendere. deinde quasi super colles apparens nobis inluminat mentem, ut infundat sensibus quod inuenire posse difficile uidebatur?
Do we not, when we are thinking about something in the Scriptures and cannot find its explanation, while we doubt, while we seek, suddenly seem to see him going up, as it were, upon the mountains of the loftiest doctrines, then, appearing to us as upon the hills, enlighten our mind, so as to pour into our understanding what seemed difficult to find?
Song 2:8 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Word comes suddenly to enlighten the mind of one puzzling over Scripture.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.9.1 (CSEL 62:112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-9-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-9-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-9-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.9.2CSEL 62:112–113
ergo quasi ex absente fit praesens uerbum in cordibus nostris. et rursus, cum aliquid nobis subobscurum est, tamquam subducitur uerbum et tamquam absentis aduentum desideramus et iterum apparens ostendit se nobis, tamquam praesens sit nobis in his quae requirimus cognoscendis. salit ergo in uniuscuiusque corde frequenter; transilit et exit et reuertitur, si sequaris, si requiras, si tibi fidelium grata disceptatione doctorum uerbum, quod exierat atque transierat, postules resuscitari, sicut illa, quae quaesiuit et inuenit, quae dixit: frater meus transiuit; anima mea exiuit in uerbo eius.
So the Word, as if from being absent, becomes present in our hearts. And again, when something is obscure to us, the Word is as it were withdrawn, and we long for his coming as of one absent, and again, appearing, he shows himself to us, as though he were present to us in knowing the things we seek. He leaps, then, often in the heart of each one; he bounds over, goes out, and returns, if you follow, if you seek, if, by the welcome discussion of faithful teachers, you ask that the Word who had gone out and passed by be roused again, like her who sought and found, who said: “My brother passed by; my soul went out at his word.”
Song 5:6 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Word comes and goes in the reader’s heart, returning to those who seek him.
- Song 5:6 (Greek form).
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.9.2 (CSEL 62:112–113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-9-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-9-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-9-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 10
6.10.1CSEL 62:113
Ergo et si super montes salit, sequere, et si super colles, sequere. repperiuntur enim in montibus et in collibus uenatores domini, qui inuestigant eos qui capiuntur ad uitam. sic enim dixit per Hieremiam deus: ecce mitto multos piscatores et multos uenatores et uenabuntur eos super omnem montem et super omnem collem. ibi ergo populus dei quaeratur et inueniatur in Petri et in Pauli doctrina gratia disciplinae, ut non in conualle sint, ubi fletus, sed in montibus, a quibus unumquemque Christus inluminat.
So if he leaps upon the mountains, follow; and if upon the hills, follow. For on the mountains and hills are found the Lord’s hunters, who track down those who are caught for life. For so God said through Jeremiah: “Behold, I send many fishers and many hunters, and they will hunt them on every mountain and on every hill.” There, then, let the people of God be sought and found, in the teaching of Peter and Paul, in the grace of discipline, so that they may not be in the valley where there is weeping, but on the mountains, from which Christ enlightens each one.
Jer 16:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 84:6 (83:7 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ’s hunters seek God’s people on the mountains of the apostles’ teaching.
- Jer 16:16; Ps 84:6 (LXX 83:7, “valley of weeping”); Ps 76:4 (LXX 75:5).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.10.1 (CSEL 62:113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-10-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-10-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-10-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.10.2CSEL 62:113
et cum Petrum legimus Christus inluminat, et cum Paulum legimus Christus inluminat. curauit Paulus, Christus inluminauit, quoniam inuocato domini Iesu nomine resurrexit cuius sanatus est munere. suscitauit mortuam Petrus, Christus inluminauit; et ideo ait: inluminans tu mirabiliter a montibus aeternis.
When we read Peter, Christ enlightens; and when we read Paul, Christ enlightens. Paul healed, Christ enlightened, because at the invocation of the name of the Lord Jesus he rose up who was healed by his gift. Peter raised a dead woman, Christ enlightened; and so it says: “You enlighten wondrously from the eternal mountains.”
Acts 14:10 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 9:40 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 76:4 (75:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Through the apostles’ works and words Christ himself enlightens.
- Acts 14:8–10; Acts 9:40; Ps 76:4 (LXX 75:5, Greek form).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.10.2 (CSEL 62:113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-10-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-10-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-10-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 11
6.11.1CSEL 62:113–114
Nos igitur, qui montes esse non possumus, stemus in montibus uel in collibus, ut, cum miserit piscatores suos dominus et uenatores, ut uenentur eos, qui super omnem montem sunt uel super omnem collem, id est in legis et prophetarum praeceptis et noui et ueteris testamenti cognitione omnem habentes conuersationem, inueniant nos paratos et uelut bonas colligant spicas oportuno missi messores tempore, quia, si quis extra montem aut collem fuerit repertus, colligi uelut bona spica non poterit ab his, qui, ut conparationis faciamus alterius mentionem, triticum a paleis separare mittentur. plurimarum operationum sollertes ministros dominus habet; idem piscatores, idem etiam uenatores sunt atque messores.
We, then, who cannot be mountains, let us stand on the mountains or on the hills, so that, when the Lord has sent his fishers and hunters to hunt those who are on every mountain or on every hill, that is, who have their whole way of life in the precepts of the law and the prophets and in the knowledge of the new and old testament, they may find us ready, and as reapers sent at the right time may gather us like good ears of grain; because if anyone is found outside the mountain or the hill, he cannot be gathered like a good ear by those who (to mention another comparison) will be sent to separate the wheat from the chaff. The Lord has skilled ministers of very many tasks; the same are fishers, the same are hunters and reapers.
Jer 16:16 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 13:30 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 3:12 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: We should stand on the mountains of Scripture, ready to be gathered by the Lord’s fishers, hunters, and reapers.
- Jer 16:16; Matt 13:30, 39; Matt 3:12. The digital text’s “in-. ueniant” is read as “inueniant”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-break debris in the digital text): in-. ueniant → inueniant.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.11.1 (CSEL 62:113–114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-11-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-11-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-11-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 12
6.12.1CSEL 62:114
Si in tempore messis, quo diriguntur isti, meriti maturus expectes, salientem in montibus poteris intueri et uidebis dominum Iesum similem capreolo aut hinulo ceruorum super montes Bethel. salit enim super ecclesiam, quae est domus panis, eo quod fidelium corda confirmet. merito sicut capreola, quia caprea in altis pascitur.
If, at the time of harvest when these are sent out, you wait ripe in merit, you will be able to see him leaping on the mountains, and you will see the Lord Jesus like a roe or a young stag upon the mountains of Bethel. For he leaps upon the church, which is the house of bread, because he strengthens the hearts of the faithful. Rightly like a roe, because the roe feeds on high places.
Song 2:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 2:17 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is like a roe leaping on the mountains of Bethel, the church.
- Song 2:9, 17 (Greek form: “mountains of Bethel”). Ambrose takes Bethel as “house of bread”, which properly is Bethlehem; Bethel means “house of God”.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.12.1 (CSEL 62:114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-12-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-12-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-12-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.12.2CSEL 62:114
δοϱϰάς dicitur a uidendo; δοϱϰατιϰόνetenim uisus acutioris est. quid hoc aptius Christo, qui patrem uidit quem uidit nemo, aut si qui uidit in Christo, ipse filius reuelauit? merito sicut hinulus ceruorum; hinulus quasi filius, cui paternae inoleuerit uis naturae, ut eum occulta non lateant. serpentes fugiant, uenena non laedant. denique eductus de latibulis suis serpens, qui producebatur ex homine, dicebat: quid uenisti ante tempus torquere nos?
The roe, dorkas, is named from seeing; for dorkatikon means of sharper sight. What is more fitting for Christ than this, who saw the Father whom no one has seen, or, if anyone has seen him in Christ, the Son himself revealed him? Rightly like a young stag; the young stag as a son, in whom the power of his father’s nature has grown, so that hidden things do not escape him. Serpents flee, poisons do not harm. Indeed the serpent, drawn out from his lairs, who was being driven out of a man, said: “Why have you come before the time to torment us?”
John 1:18 (allusion, high confidence) · John 6:46 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 11:27 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 8:29 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The sharp-sighted roe figures Christ, who alone sees the Father; the young stag drives out the serpent, as in the gospel exorcism.
- John 1:18; 6:46; Matt 11:27; Matt 8:29. The belief that stags draw out and destroy serpents was common in ancient natural history. The digital text’s “δοϱϰατιϰόνetenim” is read as “δορκατικόν etenim”.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.12.2 (CSEL 62:114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-12-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-12-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-12-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 13
6.13.1CSEL 62:114
Spectemus ergo salientem hunc hinulum, ut non possimus timere serpentem. non timebat Dauid; denique de his dicebat serpentibus: et respondebo exprobrantibus mihi uerbum, quoniam speraui in uerbis tuis. quasi bonus ceruus, qui bibisset de fontibus aquarum, nequaquam humanorum serpentium spiras et maledicorum uenena metuebat.
Let us watch, then, this leaping young stag, so that we may not be able to fear the serpent. David did not fear; indeed of these serpents he said: “And I will answer a word to those who reproach me, for I have hoped in your words.” Like a good stag that had drunk from the springs of water, he in no way feared the coils of human serpents and the poisons of slanderers.
Ps 119:42 (118:42 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 42:1 (41:2 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: On verse 42: like a stag that fears no serpent, David answered his slanderers with God’s word.
- Ps 118:42 (Ps 119:42); Ps 42:1 (LXX 41:2).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.13.1 (CSEL 62:114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-13-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-13-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-13-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.13.2CSEL 62:114–115
coluber illi non erat noxa, sed praeda. cibus erat serpentini uirus adloquii et cibus laudis. de quo dicebat: deus, laudem meam ne tacueris, quoniam os peccatoris et os dolosi super me apertum est. saginabatur uenenatorum sermonibus; illi sibila obtrectationis ora tollebant et sermonibus odii circumdabant innocentem. bonus ceruus inter multos colubres positus non timebat, ceruus amicitiae et pullus gratiarum. simulabant caritatem, fundebant obtrectationem; ego autem, inquit. orabam.
The snake was no harm to him, but prey. The poison of serpentine speech was food to him, and food of praise. Of this he said: “O God, do not be silent about my praise, for the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful has been opened against me.” He was fattened on the speeches of the venomous; they raised mouths hissing with slander and surrounded the innocent with words of hatred. The good stag, placed among many snakes, did not fear, the stag of friendship and the foal of graces. They feigned love, they poured out slander; “but I,” he says, “prayed.”
Ps 109:1 (108:1 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 109:2 (108:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 109:4 (108:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 5:19 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: David, like the stag, fed on the slanders of his enemies and answered them with prayer.
- Ps 109:1–4 (LXX 108:1–4); Prov 5:19 (Greek form: “stag of friendship, foal of graces”). The digital text’s “c-ibus” and “ceruusamicitiae” are read as “cibus” and “ceruus amicitiae”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphen in the digital text; words joined in the digital text): c-ibus → cibus; ceruusamicitiae → ceruus amicitiae.
Topics: Prayer, Love of enemies and forgiveness of wrongs
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.13.2 (CSEL 62:114–115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-13-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-13-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-13-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.13.3CSEL 62:115
bonus ceruus in medio uiperarum innocuus pascebatur. illi trisulcis ore linguis micabant, hunc autem sancta pascebat oratio, immo cibum obtrectantibus offerebat. respondit obtrectantibus sibi uerbum, uerbum enim cibus est; denique non in pane solo uiuit homo, sed in omni uerbo dei. uiderunt me, inquit, et mouerunt capita sua. maledicebant. ego autem benedicebam. maledicebant qui obtrectabant, benedicebam qui uerbum domini praedicabam.
The good stag fed unharmed among the vipers. They flickered with three-forked tongues in their mouths, but holy prayer fed him; indeed he offered food to his slanderers. He answered a word to those who slandered him, for the word is food; indeed “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” “They saw me,” he says, “and shook their heads.” They cursed, but I blessed. Those who slandered cursed; I who preached the word of the Lord blessed.
Matt 4:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 8:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 109:25 (108:25 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 109:28 (108:28 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: David answered curses with blessing and with God’s word, which is food.
- Deut 8:3; Matt 4:4; Ps 109:25, 28 (LXX 108:25, 28).
Topics: Love of enemies and forgiveness of wrongs
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.13.3 (CSEL 62:115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-13-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-13-3
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-13-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 14
6.14.1CSEL 62:115
Quam bonum est ferre conuicium et conuicium non referre! deum praesulem adquirit qui conuicianti nescit irasci. denique quanta patientiae gratia dicentis: maledicent ipsi, et tu benedices! beatus qui maledicta non sentit, beatus quem maledicta non permouent: non enim potest maledicto moueri, qui maledicta hominum diuino munere benedictionis excludit. non potest sentire maledictum, qui habet uerbum, et non potest referre maledictum, cui in ore semper est uerbum.
How good it is to bear abuse and not return abuse! He gains God as his protector who does not know how to be angry with the one who abuses him. Indeed how great is the grace of patience in him who says: “They will curse, and you will bless!” Blessed is he who does not feel curses, blessed is he whom curses do not move; for he cannot be moved by a curse who shuts out the curses of men by the divine gift of blessing. He cannot feel a curse who has the word, and he cannot return a curse who always has the word in his mouth.
Ps 109:28 (108:28 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Pet 3:9 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Bearing abuse without returning it wins God’s protection.
- Ps 109:28 (LXX 108:28); 1 Pet 3:9.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.14.1 (CSEL 62:115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-14-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-14-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-14-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 15
6.15.1CSEL 62:115–116
Sed est etiam bonus serpens, quem iste ceruus non laedat: estote astuti sicut serpentes, et: sicut Moyses exaltauit serpentem i n deserto, ita exaltari oportet filium hominis. in serpente aereo figuratus est meus serpens, in ligno illo exaltatus est meus serpens, serpens bonus. bonus serpens, qui de ore suo remedia, non uenena fundebat. potest
But there is also a good serpent, which this stag does not harm: “Be wise as serpents,” and: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” In the bronze serpent my serpent was figured; on that tree my serpent was lifted up, the good serpent. The good serpent, who poured from his mouth remedies, not poisons. He can
Matt 10:16 (quotation, high confidence) · John 3:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Num 21:9 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is the good serpent, lifted up like Moses’ bronze serpent.
- Matt 10:16; John 3:14; Num 21:8–9.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.15.1 (CSEL 62:115–116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-15-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-15-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-15-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.15.2CSEL 62:116
non timere serpentes, qui hunc nouit adorare serpentem. de hoc serpente dicit illa quae diligit: ecce hic post parietem nostrum prospiciens per fenestras, eminens super retia. respondet consobrinus meus et dicit mihi: surge, ueni, proxima m e a, formosa mea, columba mea, quia ecce hiems praeteriit. imber abiit, discessit sibi; flores uisi sunt in terra.
not fear serpents who knows how to worship this serpent. Of this serpent she who loves says: “Behold, he stands behind our wall, looking through the windows, appearing above the nets. My cousin answers and says to me: Arise, come, my neighbor, my fair one, my dove, for behold, the winter has passed, the rain has gone, it has departed; the flowers have appeared on the earth.”
Song 2:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 2:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 2:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 2:12 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The bride speaks of her beloved looking through the windows and calling her, for winter has passed.
- Song 2:9–12 (Greek form).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.15.2 (CSEL 62:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-15-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-15-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-15-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.15.3CSEL 62:116
serpens profecto est, qui decursa hieme amictu corporis se uolebat exuere, ut specioso decore uernaret. idem ergo est ceruus ei serpens; ceruus habens cornua legis et gratiae — cornua eius duo sunt testamenta —, uelox gressu, impiger incessu, qui totum facile orbem percurrat uno momento, ubique celebrabilis; serpens quo-
He is surely a serpent, who, when winter had run its course, wished to strip off the covering of his body so as to flourish in spring with lovely beauty. The same, then, is both stag and serpent: a stag having the horns of law and grace (his two horns are the two testaments), swift of step, tireless in going, who easily runs through the whole world in one moment, celebrated everywhere; a serpent too,
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is both stag and serpent: the stag’s two horns are the two Testaments.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.15.3 (CSEL 62:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-15-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-15-3
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-15-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.15.4CSEL 62:116
que bonus, cuius priora dente legis non mordeant, posteriora non uulnerent euangelii lenitate. caput defendit a uulnere, qui legem uenit non soluere, sed tueri ab interpretationibus perfidorum. caudam in flagella diffundit liberam, cupiens aduersarios magis flagellare quam perdere. bonus coluber in gremium dilectae atque in ipsum intimae sinum mentis facilis inlabitur et adtactu nullo implicans ignem ossibus praecordia ipsa depascitur.
a good one, whose front parts do not bite with the tooth of the law, and whose hind parts do not wound, by the gentleness of the gospel. He guards his head from wounding, he who came not to destroy the law but to protect it from the interpretations of the faithless. He spreads out his tail freely in lashes, wishing rather to scourge his adversaries than to destroy them. The good snake glides easily into the bosom of his beloved and into the very depth of the inmost mind and, entangling with no touch, consumes the heart itself with fire in the bones.
Matt 5:17 (allusion, high confidence) · Jer 20:9 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The good serpent neither bites nor wounds, came to protect the law, and kindles the heart of the beloved.
- Matt 5:17; Jer 20:9.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.15.4 (CSEL 62:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-15-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-15-4
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-15-4) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 16
6.16.1CSEL 62:116–117
Pulchre lectum est hodie: ecce ego mitto uos sicut agnos in medio luporum. celebramus enim diem sanctorum, quo reuelata sunt populis corpora sanctorum martyrum, qui uelut boni serpentes depositis carnis exuuiis temptationum hiemalium rigore superato et spiritus sancti renouati gratia aestiua mundo luce fulserunt, missi uere ut agni in medio luporum. lupi sunt enim persecutores, lupi sunt haeretici omnes; docere nesciunt, ululare consuerunt.
Beautifully it was read today: “Behold, I send you as lambs in the midst of wolves.” For we are celebrating the day of the saints on which the bodies of the holy martyrs were revealed to the peoples, who, like good serpents, having laid aside the cast skins of the flesh, having overcome the rigor of winter temptations and been renewed by the grace of the Holy Spirit, have shone on the world with summer light, sent truly as lambs in the midst of wolves. For the persecutors are wolves, all the heretics are wolves; they do not know how to teach, they are used to howling.
Luke 10:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 10:16 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Preaching on a martyrs’ feast, Ambrose likens the martyrs to serpents that shed their skins, sent as lambs among wolves.
- Luke 10:3; Matt 10:16. The feast is probably that of the finding of the bodies of Gervasius and Protasius at Milan (386); this is an inference.
Topics: Martyrdom, Persecution, Heresy
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.16.1 (CSEL 62:116–117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-16-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-16-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-16-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 17
6.17.1CSEL 62:117
Sed nemo moueatur, si in medio luporum mittitur. beneficio Christi et lupus ipse mutatus est: Beniamin lupus rapax apostolus Paulus factus est, non iam insidiator ouilium Christi, sed defensor et custos. cum hoc lupo uersari libet, per hunc lupum factum est, ut simus tuti in medio luporum. nemo iam ueretur lupos; cum his pascimur, sicut scriptum est: tunc lupi et agni simul pascentur.
But let no one be troubled if he is sent into the midst of wolves. By the kindness of Christ even the wolf himself was changed: Benjamin, the ravening wolf, became the apostle Paul, no longer the plotter against Christ’s sheepfolds, but their defender and guardian. It is a pleasure to live with this wolf; through this wolf it has come about that we are safe in the midst of wolves. No one fears wolves now; we feed with them, as it is written: “Then the wolves and the lambs will feed together.”
Gen 49:27 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 3:5 (allusion, medium confidence) · Isa 65:25 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ changed Paul, the ravening wolf of Benjamin, into a shepherd; wolves and lambs now feed together.
- Gen 49:27; Phil 3:5; Isa 65:25. The digital text’s “tunc-” is read as “tunc”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray mark in the digital text): tunc- lupi → tunc lupi.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.17.1 (CSEL 62:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-17-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-17-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-17-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 18
6.18.1CSEL 62:117–118
Sed iam consideremus, quid sit quod ait propheta: e t non auferas ex ore meo uerbum ueritatis usque quaque, quia in iudiciis tuis supersperaui. uiderat ecclesia uel anima iusti salientem sicut hinulum super montes; repente proximum aspiciens post parietem domus suae prospicientem per fenestras, eminentem super retia exultat et gaudet, quia etiam ipsa amatur a sponso, qui tamquam et ipse uulneratus caritatis decore dilectae primo, cum abesset, ad oscula rogatus adfuerit - rogatur enim, cum dicitur: osculetur me ab osculo oris sui —, deinde preces sponsae blanditiasque non spreuerit dilecta sibi ubera praedicantis atque in interiora domus eam benignus induxerit, denique tamquam lasciuienti ludens amore, quia uellet pertemptare sensus amantis, saepe egressus, ut quaereretur a sponsa, saepe regressus, ut inuitaretur ad oscula, adstiterit post parietem, prospexerit per fenestras eminens super retia, ut non totus abesset nec quasi totus intraret et ipse ad se sponsam uocaret, ut ueniendi ad se inuicem fierent gratiora commercia amorisque uim mutuis adolerent sermonibus. exurge, inquit, ueni, proxima mea, formosa mea, columba mea.
But now let us consider what the prophet means when he says: “And do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for I have hoped exceedingly in your judgments.” The church, or the soul of the righteous, had seen him leaping like a young stag upon the mountains; suddenly seeing her neighbor behind the wall of her house looking through the windows, appearing above the nets, she exults and rejoices that she too is loved by the bridegroom, who, as though himself wounded by love for the beauty of his beloved, first, when he was absent, came when asked for kisses (for he is asked when it is said, “Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth”), then did not spurn the prayers and endearments of the bride as she praised the breasts dear to her, and kindly brought her into the inner rooms of the house; and finally, as though playing with a playful love, because he wished to test the feelings of the one who loved, often going out so as to be sought by the bride, often returning so as to be invited to kisses, he stood behind the wall, looked through the windows, appearing above the nets, so as neither to be wholly absent nor to come wholly in, and himself called the bride to him, so that the exchanges of coming to each other might become more pleasing and they might kindle the force of love by mutual words. “Arise,” he says, “come, my neighbor, my fair one, my dove.”
Ps 119:43 (118:43 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Song 2:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 2:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 1:2 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 1:4 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: On verse 43: the bride rejoices in the bridegroom’s love, who comes and goes to deepen her longing.
- Ps 118:43 (Ps 119:43); Song 2:8–10; 1:2, 4.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.18.1 (CSEL 62:117–118; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-18-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-18-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-18-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 19
6.19.1CSEL 62:118
Et tu si habeas fundatum parietem, non illum medium qui domus unius separet membra, sed aedificatum supra fundamentum apostolorum et prophetarum, ut compaginata eius structura crescat in templum nec disterminet eius interna sed muniat, si habeas ergo in te aedificationem dei et ad orientem pateant semper fenestrae tuae, uenit uerbum, stat post tuum parietem — oculi enim domini super iustos —, prospicit per fenestras tuas.
And you too, if you have a well-founded wall, not that middle wall which separates the members of one house, but one built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, so that its structure, joined together, grows into a temple and does not divide its interior but protects it; if, then, you have in you the building of God and your windows are always open to the east, the Word comes, stands behind your wall (for the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous), and looks through your windows.
Eph 2:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 2:20 (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 2:21 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 3:9 (allusion, medium confidence) · Dan 6:10 (allusion, low confidence) · Ps 34:15 (33:16 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: If the soul is built on the apostles and prophets, the Word stands at its wall and looks in.
- Eph 2:14, 20–21; 1 Cor 3:9; Dan 6:10; Ps 34:15 (LXX 33:16).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.19.1 (CSEL 62:118; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-19-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-19-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-19-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 20
6.20.1CSEL 62:118
Quae sunt fenestrae istae? legimus fenestras, de quibus dicit Hieremias: intrauit mors per fenestras, per quas intrauit auaritia, intrauit libido. oculus tuus fenestra est, intrauit mors per oculum tuum. si uideris mulierem ad concupiscendum eam, intrauit mors per oculum tuum. si uideris possessionem uiduae uel minoris et concupieris inuadere, indefensam putans aetatem esse uel sexum — sed non sunt indefensi quos dominus uult esse defensos —, intrauit mors per fenestram. si audieris decorem mulieris aut
What are these windows? We read of windows of which Jeremiah says: “Death has entered through the windows,” through which greed has entered, lust has entered. Your eye is a window; death has entered through your eye. If you look at a woman to lust after her, death has entered through your eye. If you see the property of a widow or a minor and lust to seize it, thinking that their age or sex is defenseless (but those are not defenseless whom the Lord wills to be defended), death has entered through the window. If you hear of a woman’s beauty or
Jer 9:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 5:28 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The eyes are windows by which lust and greed bring in death.
- Jer 9:21; Matt 5:28.
Topics: Ethics, Sexual morality
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.20.1 (CSEL 62:118; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-20-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-20-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-20-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.20.2CSEL 62:118
thesauros minoris et tuas excitaueris cupiditates, intrauit mors per fenestram. sicut ergo per haec intrat mors, intrat et uita, si decorem puellae aspiciens sacrae uenereris dominum Iesum, quod in teneros annos uenerit aetas senectutis, uita inmaculata, et ipse filiam tuam offeras, ut pio consecretur uelamine; si possessionem minoris non tamquam sollicitus inuasor aspicias, sed quasi parens sedulus religioso tuearis affectu. per has fenestras prospicit Christus et uocat sponsam, eminens super retia.
the treasures of a minor and stir up your desires, death has entered through the window. Just as death enters through these, so life too enters, if, seeing the beauty of a sacred maiden, you revere the Lord Jesus, because the age of old age has come into tender years, an unstained life, and you yourself offer your daughter to be consecrated with the holy veil; if you look at the property of a minor not as an eager seizer but protect it as a diligent parent with religious affection. Through these windows Christ looks and calls the bride, appearing above the nets.
Song 2:9 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Life enters by the same windows when we honor a consecrated virgin or protect an orphan’s property.
- Wis 4:9. The veil is the veil of consecrated virgins.
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 4:9 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Topics: Widows and consecrated virgins
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.20.2 (CSEL 62:118; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-20-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-20-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-20-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 21
6.21.1CSEL 62:118–119
Bene eminens quia solus est quem retia non inuoluerint peccatorum. omnes intra retia erant, immo adhuc intra retia sumus, quia nemo sine peccato nisi solus Iesus, quem non cognoscentem peccatum peccatum pro nobis fecit pater. etenim tradidit eum laqueis, tradidit eum retibus, mittens eum non in peccato, in quo erant omnes homines, sed in similitudine carnis peccati, ut de peccato damnaret peccatum in carne.
Well “appearing above,” because he alone is the one whom the nets of sins have not entangled. All were within the nets, indeed we are still within the nets, because no one is without sin but Jesus alone, whom, though he knew no sin, the Father made sin for us. For he handed him over to snares, he handed him over to nets, sending him not in sin, in which all men were, but in the likeness of sinful flesh, so as to condemn sin in the flesh by sin.
Song 2:9 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 5:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 8:3 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ alone stands above the nets of sin; the Father sent him in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin.
- Song 2:9; 2 Cor 5:21; Rom 8:3.
Topics: Christology, Incarnation
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.21.1 (CSEL 62:118–119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-21-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-21-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-21-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.21.2CSEL 62:119
peccatum erat caro secundum illud, quia hereditario erat damnata maledicto, peccatum erat inlecebra et ministra peccati. uenit dominus Iesus et in carne peccato obnoxia militiam uirtutis exercuit. facta sunt membra nostra iam non arma libidinis, sed arma uirtutis; namque ubi erant incentiua libidinis, ibi nunc sunt domicilia castitatis. hic ergo uenit ad laqueos, sed uoluntarius, uenit ad retia, sed securus.
The flesh was sin in this sense, because it had been condemned by a hereditary curse; sin was the enticement and minister of sin. The Lord Jesus came and in flesh liable to sin carried on the warfare of virtue. Our members have now become not weapons of lust but weapons of virtue; for where there were incitements to lust, there are now dwellings of chastity. He came, then, to the snares, but willingly; he came to the nets, but secure.
Rom 6:13 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ fought sin in our flesh, so that our members became weapons of virtue.
- Rom 6:13. The digital text’s “anna” is read as “arma”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text): sed anna uirtutis → sed arma uirtutis.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.21.2 (CSEL 62:119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-21-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-21-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-21-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 22
6.22.1CSEL 62:119
Plena erant omnia retibus, referta laqueis. audi dicentem: in uia hac qua ambulabam absconderunt laqueum mihi, et in libro Sapientiae Sirach moneris, ut cognoscas quia in medio laqueorum ambulas. quot uitia, tot retia, quot peccata, tot laquei; hereditarii iam te nexus tenebant. uenit ad laqueos Iesus, ut Adam solueret, uenit liberare quod perierat. omnes retibus tenebamur, nullus alium eruere poterat, cum se ipsum non posset exuere.
All things were full of nets, crammed with snares. Hear him who says: “In this way in which I walked they hid a snare for me”; and in the book of the Wisdom of Sirach you are warned to know that you walk in the midst of snares. As many vices, so many nets; as many sins, so many snares; hereditary bonds already held you. Jesus came to the snares to free Adam; he came to set free what had perished. We were all held in nets; no one could rescue another, since he could not free himself.
Ps 142:3 (141:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 19:10 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The world is full of snares of sin; no one could free another until Jesus came.
- Ps 142:3 (LXX 141:4); Sir 9:13 (Vulgate 9:20); Luke 19:10.
Extrabiblical texts: Sir 9:13 (Sirach [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.22.1 (CSEL 62:119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-22-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-22-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-22-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.22.2CSEL 62:119
talis ergo necessarius fuit, quem uincula generationis humanae delictis obnoxia non tenerent, non cepisset auaritia, non ligasset dolus. is solus erat Iesus, qui cum huius carnis se circumdedisset uinculis, captus non erat, non erat alligatus, sed disrumpens ea atque dissoluens ad se magis uocauit ecclesiam, prospiciens per laqueos, eminens super retia, ut et ipsa disceret uinculis non teneri.
Such a one, then, was needed whom the bonds of human generation, liable to sins, could not hold, whom greed had not captured, whom deceit had not bound. Jesus alone was such a one, who, though he surrounded himself with the bonds of this flesh, was not captured, was not bound, but, breaking and loosing them, called the church the more to himself, looking through the snares, appearing above the nets, so that she too might learn not to be held by bonds.
Song 2:9 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Only Jesus, free of sin, could take our flesh without being captured, and teach the church freedom.
- Song 2:9.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.22.2 (CSEL 62:119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-22-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-22-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-22-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.22.3CSEL 62:119
denique eo usque non longe a uinculis fuit, ut pro nobis subiret et mortem, sed tamen non seruus mortis effectus, sed liber inter mortuos: liber enim erat, qui soluendae mortis potestatem habebat. denique ipse te doceat, qui ait: soluite hoc templum, et in triduo resuscitabo illud.
Indeed he came so near to the bonds that he even underwent death for us, yet he was not made the slave of death, but was free among the dead: for he was free who had the power of loosing death. Indeed let him teach you himself, who says: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Ps 88:5 (87:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 2:19 (quotation, high confidence) · John 10:18 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ died for us yet remained free among the dead, with power to raise himself.
- Ps 88:5 (LXX 87:6, “free among the dead”); John 2:19; John 10:18.
Topics: Christology, Passion and death of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.22.3 (CSEL 62:119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-22-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-22-3
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-22-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 23
6.23.1CSEL 62:119–120
Audiamus itaque quid dicat: exsurge, ueni, proxima mea, hoc est: surge a mortuis, exsurge a uinculis quibus circumdata tenebaris. exsurge, quia ego resurrexi tibi, solue uinculum iniquitatis, quia ego iam solui tibi. ueni, quia iam retia soluta sunt.
Let us hear, then, what he says: “Arise, come, my neighbor,” that is: rise from the dead, arise from the bonds with which you were held surrounded. Arise, because I have risen for you; loose the bond of iniquity, because I have already loosed it for you. Come, because the nets are already loosed.
Song 2:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 58:6 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ calls the soul to rise from death and sin because he has risen and loosed its bonds.
- Song 2:10; Isa 58:6. The digital text’s “uincu lum” is read as “uinculum”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (split word in the digital text): uincu lum → uinculum.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.23.1 (CSEL 62:119–120; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-23-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-23-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-23-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.23.2CSEL 62:120
uirgo peperit, puer natus ex uirgine est, nihil debet muliebri hereditati. quasi filius mulieris non tenetur. cerne medium parietem maceriae iam solutum, qui interiorum affectuum concordiam diuidebat et in diuersum excitabat dissensiones corporalium passionum. ueni ergo secura; cupio uidere faciem tuam et audire uocem tuam. ueni, ut iam me non per retia uideas, sed facie ad faciem uultibus amatoris dilecta potiaris. ethice ista decursa sint; mystica autem illa, si possumus, uel linea intueamur extrema.
A virgin has given birth, the child born of a virgin owes nothing to the inheritance of woman. As the son of a woman he is not held. See the middle wall of partition already loosed, which divided the harmony of the inner affections and stirred up in opposite directions the dissensions of bodily passions. Come, then, without fear; I long to see your face and hear your voice. Come, so that you may no longer see me through nets, but, face to face, as the beloved, may enjoy the countenance of your lover. Let these things have been gone through morally; but the mystical sense let us look at, if we can, at least in outline.
Isa 7:14 (allusion, medium confidence) · Eph 2:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Song 2:14 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 13:12 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Born of a virgin, Christ is free of inherited sin; he breaks down the dividing wall and calls the soul to see him face to face.
- Isa 7:14; Eph 2:14; Song 2:14; 1 Cor 13:12.
Topics: Christology, Incarnation, Original sin and concupiscence
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.23.2 (CSEL 62:120; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-23-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-23-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-23-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 24
6.24.1CSEL 62:120
Sedebat intra domum sponsa deuota domino intra parietem legis et prophetarum spiritalium lapidum exaedificatione fundatum, qui claudebat atque uallabat domum regiam plenam iucunditatis atque laetitiae. mirabatur thesauros regios et intuebatur sollicite, cupiens sapientiam.
The bride, devoted to the Lord, sat within the house, within the wall of the law and the prophets, founded by the building up of spiritual stones, which closed in and fortified the royal house full of delight and gladness. She marveled at the royal treasures and gazed at them anxiously, longing for wisdom,
1 Pet 2:5 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Mystically, the bride sits within the house walled by the law and the prophets, marveling at its treasures.
- 1 Pet 2:5.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.24.1 (CSEL 62:120; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-24-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-24-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-24-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.24.2CSEL 62:120
quae has sibi diuitias demonstraret, adsciscere. in secreto erat, sed secreti ipsius interpretem requirebat. uenit dominus Iesus salienssupermontes—nobissero uidebaturuenire.sed ille properabat—,saliebat denique et transiliebat, ut Iudaeorum corporalia et saxosa dogmata transiliret. adstitit post parietem domus quae erat in ueteri testamento, prospiciens per legis fenestram, per prophetarum cauernas. nondum erant domus illius aperta uestibula,
to take to herself someone who would show her these riches. She was in a secret place, but she was looking for an interpreter of that very secret. The Lord Jesus came leaping over the mountains (he seemed to us to come late, but he was hastening); he leaped, indeed, and bounded over, so as to bound over the bodily and stony doctrines of the Jews. He stood behind the wall of the house that was in the old testament, looking through the window of the law, through the openings of the prophets. Not yet were the entrances of that house opened,
Song 2:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 2:9 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ, the interpreter, stands behind the wall of the Old Testament and looks through the law and the prophets.
- Song 2:8–9. Ambrose’s phrase on Jewish doctrines is translated as written. The digital text joins several words here (“saliens super montes — nobis sero uidebatur uenire, sed ille properabat —”); translated by sense.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.24.2 (CSEL 62:120; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-24-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-24-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-24-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.24.3CSEL 62:120–121
nondum claues scientiae portarum claustra patefecerant, quibus legis claudebantur interna. de superiore tamen, hoc est spiritali parte prospectans ecclesiam uocat, ut per legem et prophetas euangelii uertice sublimis adsurgens retia Iudaicae interpretationis et nodos intrepido calcet uestigio. ideoque proxima uocatur, ut adhaereat Christo, mundana non quaerat, ideo formosa, ut speciosos euangelizantium pedes proferat, ideo columba, ut spiritalia petat, terrestria derelinquat.
not yet had the keys of knowledge opened the bolts of the gates by which the inner parts of the law were shut. Yet, looking out from the upper part, that is, the spiritual, he calls the church, so that, rising lofty through the law and the prophets to the summit of the gospel, she may tread with fearless foot on the nets and knots of Jewish interpretation. And so she is called “neighbor,” so as to cleave to Christ and not seek worldly things; therefore “fair,” so as to put forth the beautiful feet of those who preach the gospel; therefore “dove,” so as to seek spiritual things and leave earthly ones.
Luke 11:52 (allusion, high confidence) · Song 2:10 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 10:15 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: From the spiritual sense of Scripture Christ calls the church beyond a literal reading.
- Luke 11:52; Song 2:10; Rom 10:15; Isa 52:7.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.24.3 (CSEL 62:120–121; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-24-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-24-3
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-24-3) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 25
6.25.1CSEL 62:121
Ecce, inquit, hiems praeteriit, imber abiit, discessit sibi; flores uisi sunt in terra. ante aduentum Christi hiems erat; uenit Christus, fecit aestatem. tunc omnia erant florum indigua, nuda uirtutum; passus est Christus et omnia coeperunt nouae gratiae fecundari germinibus. imber abiit luxuriae profluentis et nubila taetris orta flagitiis aestiua iam purae conscientiae serenitate laxantur.
“Behold,” he says, “the winter has passed, the rain has gone, it has departed; the flowers have appeared on the earth.” Before the coming of Christ it was winter; Christ came and made summer. Then everything was lacking flowers, bare of virtues; Christ suffered, and everything began to be made fruitful with the buds of new grace. The rain of overflowing luxury has gone, and the clouds arising from foul crimes are now dispersed by the summer clearness of a pure conscience.
Song 2:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 2:12 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Before Christ it was winter; by his passion he brought the spring and summer of grace.
- Song 2:11–12.
Topics: Passion and death of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.25.1 (CSEL 62:121; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-25-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-25-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-25-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
6.25.2CSEL 62:121
ideo non euadunt, quorum fuga hieme fit, quia non secuntur domini passionem, non tollunt crucem suam et Christum secuntur. imber impedit flores, et nunc flores uidentur in terra; boni flores apostoli, qui diuersorum scriptorum atque operum suorum fuderunt odorem.
Therefore those do not escape whose flight is in winter, because they do not follow the Lord’s passion, do not take up their cross and follow Christ. Rain hinders flowers, and now flowers appear on the earth; good flowers are the apostles, who poured out the fragrance of their various writings and works.
Matt 24:20 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 16:24 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Those who do not take up the cross flee in winter; the apostles are the spring flowers.
- Matt 24:20; Matt 16:24.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.25.2 (CSEL 62:121; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-25-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-25-2
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-25-2) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Exposition 6, chapter 26
6.26.1CSEL 62:121
Tempus secandi aduenit, quoniam matura in horreis frumenta conduntur et qui metit, mercedem accipit. uox turturis audita est, quia inuenit sibi nidum; ecclesia enim domus est castitatis. ficus, quae propter infecunditatem iubebatur excidi, fructus ferre iam coepit. uinea translata ex Aegypto iam non maceriis destructa depositis incursatur a bestiis nec informis sentibus, sed odora iam floribus, quae solebat facere spinas, fructu curuescit uuarum.
The time of pruning has come, since the ripe grain is stored in the barns and he who reaps receives wages. The voice of the turtledove has been heard, because she has found a nest for herself; for the church is the house of chastity. The fig tree, which was ordered to be cut down for its barrenness, has now begun to bear fruit. The vine brought out of Egypt is no longer attacked by beasts because its walls have been laid low, nor misshapen with briers, but, now fragrant with flowers, she who used to produce thorns bends under the fruit of grapes.
Song 2:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 2:13 (allusion, high confidence) · John 4:36 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 84:3 (83:4 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · Luke 13:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 80:8 (79:9 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 80:12 (79:13 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 5:2 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The time of harvest and fruitfulness has come: the barren fig and the vine of Israel now bear fruit.
- Song 2:12–13 (Greek form: “time of pruning”); John 4:36; Ps 84:3 (LXX 83:4); Luke 13:6–9; Ps 80:8, 12–13 (LXX 79:9, 13–14); Isa 5:2.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Exp. Ps. 118 6.26.1 (CSEL 62:121; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-26-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmo-118/6-26-1
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-ambrose-psalmo-118-6-26-1) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 62, 1913); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.