Explanation of Twelve Psalms 36.40.1–36.59.2
Latin text: CSEL 64 (Latin text: Schenkl/Petschenig, CSEL 64, 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).
Explanation 36, chapter 40
36.40.1CSEL 64:101–102
Sed consideremus, ne quis putet eum in reuelationibus gloriatum, et repetamus ea, ut se ipse defendat humilitatis magistrum: scio, inquit, hominem in Christo ante annos quattuordecim —siue in corpore nescio, siue extra corpus nescio, deus scit-, raptum eiusmodi usque ad tertium caelum. ante annos quattuordecim reuelatum sibi dicit et tamen reuelationem tamdiu tenuit et repressit, nec dixisset, nisi utile nobis iudicasset ut diceret, ne nos reuelationibus extolleremur.
But let us take care that no one thinks he gloried in revelations, and let us repeat the words, so that he himself may defend himself as a teacher of humility: "I know," he says, "a man in Christ fourteen years ago (whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows), caught up as such to the third heaven." He says it was revealed to him fourteen years before, and yet he kept the revelation so long and held it back, and would not have spoken had he not judged it useful to us to speak, lest we be puffed up by revelations.
2 Cor 12:2 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 12:7 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul kept his revelation secret fourteen years, to teach humility.
- 2 Cor 12:2, 7.
Topics: Humility and pride
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.40.1 (CSEL 64:101–102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-40-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-40-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.40.2CSEL 64:102
si enim in tanta gratia non est gloriatus Paulus, nec nos gloriari oportet. iuuenis ipse non gloriatus est: senex gloriaretur? deinde raptum se usque ad tertium caelum negare non potuit et tamen, utrum in corpore an extra corpus raptus esset, se ignorare testatus est. non ergo de scientia, sed de ignorantia, gloriatur et dei circa se gratiam praedicat. quod scientiae est negat, quod caritatis est confitetur; scientia enim inflat, caritas uero aedificat. et iterum raptum eiusmodi hominem dixit;
For if Paul did not glory in so great a grace, neither should we glory. He did not glory when young: would he glory when old? Then, he could not deny that he was caught up to the third heaven, and yet he testified that he did not know whether he was caught up in the body or out of the body. He glories, then, not in knowledge but in ignorance, and proclaims God's grace toward himself. What belongs to knowledge he denies, what belongs to love he confesses; for "knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." And again he said such a man was caught up;
2 Cor 12:2 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 12:3 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 8:1 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul glories in ignorance, not knowledge, and proclaims God's grace.
- 2 Cor 12:2–3; 1 Cor 8:1.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.40.2 (CSEL 64:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-40-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-40-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.40.3CSEL 64:102
quemadmodum raptus esset, utrum in corpore an extra corpus, incertum sibi esse memorauit. uide stateram sapientiae. constituit unum in Christo et se alterum, qui ait: nescio. quod alienum est attollit, quod suum humiliat. et audiuit, inquit, uerba ineffabilia. non dixit audiui, sed quod alter audierit non negauit. uerecunde itaque testem se maluit significare quam uatem et refugit uideri caelestium arbiter secretorum. testimonium enim dicere ueritatis est, meritum reuelationis non refugere gloriantis. ideoque ait: pro huiusmodi gloriabor, pro me autem non gloriabor.
how he was caught up, whether in the body or out of the body, he said was uncertain to him. See the balance of wisdom. He set one man in Christ and himself as another, who says: "I do not know." What is another's he extols, what is his own he humbles. "And he heard," he says, "ineffable words." He did not say "I heard," but he did not deny that another had heard. Modestly, then, he preferred to signify himself as a witness rather than a seer, and avoided seeming an arbiter of heavenly secrets. For to bear witness belongs to truth; not to refuse the merit of the revelation belongs to one who glories. And so he says: "Of such a one I will glory, but of myself I will not glory."
2 Cor 12:3 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 12:4 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 12:5 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul speaks of himself as another, glorying only in that other.
- 2 Cor 12:3–5.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: missing letter; digitization: missing space; digitization: words joined): esset,utrum → esset, utrum; u de stateram → uide stateram; ideoqueait → ideoque ait; autemnongloriabor → autem non gloriabor.
Topics: Humility and pride
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.40.3 (CSEL 64:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-40-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-40-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 41
36.41.1CSEL 64:102
Quid est autem quod ait audisse hominem, hominem illum in Christo, quae non licet homini loqui? quomodo hoc conuenit, ut non licuerit homini loqui quae licuerit homini audire? si ipsi homini qui audiuit non licet loqui, quomodo ei creditum est audire quod non permissum est loqui? quae ista distantia est? si alteri homini, qui esset exterior, quomodo potuit homo cognoscere quod homini non licebat audire?
And what does he mean that a man, that man in Christ, heard what it is not lawful for a man to speak? How does it fit that it was not lawful for a man to speak what it was lawful for a man to hear? If it is not lawful for the man who heard to speak, how was he entrusted with hearing what he was not permitted to speak? What is this difference? If it means for another man, an outer one, how could a man come to know what it was not lawful for a man to hear?
2 Cor 12:4 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: How could a man hear what a man may not speak?
- 2 Cor 12:4.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.41.1 (CSEL 64:102; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-41-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-41-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.41.2CSEL 64:102–103
unde uidetur non gratia loquendi illi homini defuisse qui esset in Christo, cui non defuit, sed eis qui audirent locum tempus meritum defuisse. ille enim in caelo audiuit et ideo non competere iudicatum est, ut id loqueretur in terris quod audisset in caelo, cum in ipsa terra sit ista discretio, ut quod in altera regione canitur, in altera non canatur, secundum quod scriptum est: quomodo cantabimus canticum domini in terra aliena?
Hence it seems that it was not the grace of speaking that was lacking to that man who was in Christ, for it was not lacking to him, but that place, time and merit were lacking to those who would hear. For he heard in heaven, and so it was judged unfitting that he should speak on earth what he had heard in heaven, since even on earth there is this distinction, that what is sung in one region is not sung in another, according to what is written: "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?"
Ps 137:4 (136:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: What was heard in heaven was not fit to be spoken on earth, as Israel would not sing in exile.
- Ps 137:4 [LXX 136:4].
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: OCR letter slips; digitization: e for c): loquencu illl → loquendi illi; eum in ipsa terra → cum in ipsa terra.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.41.2 (CSEL 64:102–103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-41-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-41-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.41.3CSEL 64:103
denique Hebraei non canebant in terra captiuitatis quod in sua patria canere consueuerant. haec terra captiuitatis est, alia est terra libertatis; ista peccati, illa quietis aeternae; uallestris ista, illa caelestis. ergo in caelo illa nunc praedicat Paulus quae in terris ante praedicare non poterat; inter perfectos enim secreta sapientiae sunt loquenda..
Indeed the Hebrews did not sing in the land of captivity what they had been accustomed to sing in their homeland. This land is one of captivity, another is the land of freedom; this one of sin, that of eternal rest; this one of the valley, that heavenly. In heaven, then, Paul now proclaims what on earth he could not proclaim before; for the secrets of wisdom are to be spoken among the perfect.
Ps 137:4 (136:4 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 2:6 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 2:7 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul now proclaims in heaven what he could not on earth.
- Ps 137:1–4 [LXX 136:1–4]; 1 Cor 2:6–7.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.41.3 (CSEL 64:103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-41-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-41-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 42
36.42.1CSEL 64:103
Et tamen quid commemoratio istius reuelationis operatur, nisi ut doceat, quod in reuelationibus minime gloriandum sit, sed in infirmitatibus, quia infirmitas et remedium reuelationis et uirtutis exercitium est, contra autem reuelatio elationis lubricum? namque ne sublimitate reuelationis extolleretur ipse Paulus qui raptus in tertium caelum est, stimulum carnis accepit.
And yet what does the mention of this revelation accomplish, if not to teach that one must by no means glory in revelations but in weaknesses, because weakness is both a remedy against revelation and an exercise of virtue, whereas revelation is a slippery path to elation? For lest Paul himself, who was caught up to the third heaven, should be exalted by the sublimity of the revelation, he received a thorn in the flesh.
2 Cor 12:7 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 12:9 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul received a thorn in the flesh lest he be exalted by revelation.
- 2 Cor 12:7.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.42.1 (CSEL 64:103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-42-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-42-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.42.2CSEL 64:103
subuenit igitur infirmitas, ne gratia in periculum uerteretur. utilior infirmitas ergo quam gratia. eadem quoque infirmitas officina uirtutis est, sicut testificatus est dominus, quia uirtus in infirmitatibus consummatur. denique iste ipse post reuelationem rogauit remedium sanitatis et non impetrauit, in infirmitate autem remedium non quaesiuit, sed cursum consummauit et coronam inuenit.
Weakness, then, came to the rescue, lest grace turn into danger. Weakness, then, was more useful than grace. That same weakness is also the workshop of virtue, as the Lord testified, that "power is perfected in weaknesses." Indeed after the revelation he asked for the remedy of health and did not obtain it; but in weakness he did not seek a remedy, but finished the course and found the crown.
2 Cor 12:8 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 12:9 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Tim 4:7 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Weakness is the workshop of virtue; Paul finished his course in it.
- 2 Cor 12:8–9; 2 Tim 4:7–8.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.42.2 (CSEL 64:103; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-42-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-42-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 43
36.43.1CSEL 64:103–104
Mutuatur, inquit, peccator et non soluet, iustus autem miseretur et tribuit. hoc quoque personae conuenit Pauli, quia iustus miseretur et tribuit. uide illum domini eloquia diuidentem, uide argentum domini faenerantem.
"The sinner borrows," he says, "and will not repay, but the just man has mercy and gives." This too fits the person of Paul, because the just man has mercy and gives. See him distributing the Lord's words, see him lending the Lord's silver at interest.
Ps 37:21 (36:21 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 12:6 (11:7 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul is the just man who lends the Lord's silver, his words.
- Ps 37:21 [LXX 36:21]; Ps 12:6 [LXX 11:7] (God's words as silver).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.43.1 (CSEL 64:103–104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-43-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-43-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.43.2CSEL 64:104
unam mnam accepit, duas reddidit, duas accepit, quattuor reddidit, quinque accepit, decem reddidit. non ligauit in sudario quod acceperat, sed nummulariis erogauit et quod erogauerat cum usuris recepit. ita et accipientem a peccato maximo liberauit, ne apud eum pecunia domini deperiret, et ipse ut decem ciuitatibus praeficeretur emeruit. quae sint decem ciuitates in epistulis recognosce quas scripsit, etsi apostoli praescripto numero non teneantur, quibus dictum est:
He received one mina and returned two; he received two and returned four; he received five and returned ten. He did not tie up in a napkin what he had received, but paid it out to the money-changers and received back with interest what he had paid out. So he both freed the receiver from the greatest sin, lest the Lord's money perish with him, and himself deserved to be set over ten cities. What the ten cities are, recognize in the epistles he wrote, although the apostles, to whom it was said, are not bound by a prescribed number:
Luke 19:16 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 19:17 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 19:20 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 25:20 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 25:22 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul is like the good servant of the parable, rewarded with ten cities.
- Luke 19:13–24; Matt 25:15–27 (Ambrose mixes the two parables).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: OCR letter slips; digitization: capitals inside a word): reaaiait → reddidit; qUOd → quod.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.43.2 (CSEL 64:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-43-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-43-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.43.3CSEL 64:104
ite per orbem uniuersum et praedicate euangelium uniuersae creaturae. hic ergo ab Hierusalem per orientem et Illyricum et Italiam domini pecuniam dispensauit. et ne quis putaret quod suam faeneraret, domini esse pecuniam testabatur dicens: his autem qui matrimonio iuncti sunt denuntio non ego, sed dominus, uxorem a uiro non discedere, et alibi:
"Go into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature." So he from Jerusalem through the East and Illyricum and Italy dispensed the Lord's money. And lest anyone think he lent his own, he testified that it was the Lord's money, saying: "To those who are joined in marriage I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not depart from her husband"; and elsewhere:
Mark 16:15 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 15:19 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 7:10 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul preached widely and made clear his teaching was the Lord's, as on marriage.
- Mark 16:15; Rom 15:19; 1 Cor 7:10 (the Lord's command against separation, cited here only as an example of the Lord's words).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: words joined): hicergo → hic ergo.
Topics: Divorce and remarriage
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.43.3 (CSEL 64:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-43-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-43-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.43.4CSEL 64:104
quid experimentum quaeritis eius qui in me loquitur Christus? denique ipse rex haec dixit, in quo figura est domini: oportuit te pecuniam meam committere nummulariis. meam, inquit, non tuam. iustus ergo miseretur et tribuit. quomodo tribuat, audi dicentem: per omnes ecclesias doceo. peccator autem mutuatur et non soluit. uide diuitem mutuantem et non reddentem, pauperem accipientem et continuo remunerantem, ne diutius in aere alieno sit. haec moralia.
"Do you seek proof of Christ who speaks in me?" Indeed the king himself, in whom there is a figure of the Lord, said this: "You ought to have entrusted my money to the money-changers." "My," he says, not "yours." The just man, then, has mercy and gives. Hear him saying how he gives: "I teach in all the churches." But the sinner borrows and does not repay. See the rich man borrowing and not repaying, the poor man receiving and at once paying back, lest he remain longer in debt. So much for the moral sense.
2 Cor 13:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 25:27 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 4:17 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 37:21 (36:21 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The money is the Lord's; the just man gives, the sinner borrows and does not repay.
- 2 Cor 13:3; Matt 25:27; 1 Cor 4:17 (7:17); Ps 37:21 [LXX 36:21].
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: stray mark): tuam* → tuam.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.43.4 (CSEL 64:104; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-43-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-43-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 44
36.44.1CSEL 64:104–105
Uide nunc pauperem mysticum, id est simplicem et timentem dei nomen, audientem uerbum de castitate et soluentem, audientem de misericordia et soluentem, audientem de placiditate et non irascentem, diuitem uero illum arrogantem et superbum audientem quidem, sed post se reicientem sermones dei, audientem de condemnatione luxuriae et magis luxuriantem.
See now the mystical poor man, that is, the simple man who fears God's name, hearing the word about chastity and repaying it, hearing about mercy and repaying it, hearing about gentleness and not becoming angry; but that arrogant and proud rich man hearing indeed, but casting God's words behind him, hearing about the condemnation of luxury and indulging in luxury the more.
Ps 50:17 (49:17 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 37:21 (36:21 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The mystical poor man repays God's word by obeying it; the proud rich man does not.
- Ps 50:17 [LXX 49:17].
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.44.1 (CSEL 64:104–105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-44-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-44-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.44.2CSEL 64:105
denique ecclesia soluit quod accepit, synagoga non soluit. cognosce ecclesiam soluere: tui, inquit, erant et mihi eos dedisti, et uerbum tuum seruauerunt, et alibi: ipse enim pater diligit uos, quia uos me diligitis. reddidit ergo ecclesia quam accepit a domino pecuniam caritatis, sed synagoga non reddidit. ideoque de Iudaeis dicitur: si non uenissem et locutus non fuissem his, peccatum non haberent; nunc autem excusationem non habent de peccato suo, quia audierunt utique et non crediderunt.
In short, the church repays what it received; the synagogue does not repay. Recognize that the church repays: "They were yours," he says, "and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word"; and elsewhere: "For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me." The church, then, returned the money of love which it received from the Lord, but the synagogue did not return it. And so it is said of the Jews: "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin," because they certainly heard and did not believe.
John 17:6 (quotation, high confidence) · John 16:27 (quotation, high confidence) · John 15:22 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The church repays the Lord's loan of love; the synagogue did not.
- John 17:6; John 16:27; John 15:22. Ambrose's judgment on the synagogue is translated as written.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: words joined): peccatosuo → peccato suo.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.44.2 (CSEL 64:105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-44-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-44-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.44.3CSEL 64:105
probatum est ergo, quia mutuati sunt peccatores et non soluerunt. peccator igitur eget semper, iustus autem abundat et tribuit, cuius diues est conscientia. ideo Iudaei in suis diuitiis eguerunt — diuites eguerunt et esurierunt —, christiani autem in diuitiis simplicitatis suae non defecerunt.
It is proved, then, that sinners borrowed and did not repay. The sinner, then, is always in need, but the just man abounds and gives, whose conscience is rich. So the Jews were in need in their riches ("the rich were in want and went hungry"), but Christians did not fail in the riches of their simplicity.
Ps 34:10 (33:11 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 37:21 (36:21 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The sinner is always needy; the just man rich in conscience.
- Ps 34:10 [LXX 33:11].
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.44.3 (CSEL 64:105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-44-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-44-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 45
36.45.1CSEL 64:105
Bonus ergo iustus, et ideo addidit scriptura: quoniam benedicentes eum possidebunt terram, maledicentes autem eum disperihunt. quomodo iustus possidet terram aut quam terram, cum scriptura dicat: numquid soli habitabitis super terram?, et alibi: uae habitantibus super terram, quod increpationis est atque maledicti? cuius ergo terrae benedicta possessio est? non istius quae tenebris absconditur et amaritudinibus impletur, sed illius quae fluit mel et lac, id est habens gratiam suauitatis et fulgorem lucis aeternae.
The just man, then, is good, and so Scripture added: "For those who bless him will possess the land, but those who curse him will perish." How does the just man possess the land, or what land, when Scripture says: "Will you alone dwell on the earth?" and elsewhere: "Woe to those who dwell on the earth," which is a word of rebuke and curse? Of what land, then, is the possession blessed? Not of this one, which is hidden in darkness and filled with bitterness, but of that which flows with honey and milk, that is, has the grace of sweetness and the brightness of eternal light.
Ps 37:22 (36:22 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 5:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Rev 8:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 3:8 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The land the just possess is the heavenly land flowing with milk and honey.
- Ps 37:22 [LXX 36:22]; Isa 5:8; Rev 8:13; Exod 3:8.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: i for l; digitization: spaced letters): quo n i a m b ene di c ente s eum possi d eb unt → quoniam benedicentes eum possidebunt; n u mquid → numquid; fluit mei et lac → fluit mel et lac.
Topics: Eschatology, Heaven and eternal reward
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.45.1 (CSEL 64:105; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-45-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-45-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.45.2CSEL 64:105–106
accipe mellis boni suauitatem, immo super mel: fugit dolor et tristitia et gemitus, quia suauitatis gratia amaritudinem humanae fragilitatis excludet. et alibi: et delebit omnem lacrimam de oculis eorum et mors non erit amplius neque luctus. accipe etiam lactis nitorem: et non indigebunt lucerna et lumine solis; ipse enim dominus inluminabit super illos et regnabunt in saecula saeculorum.
Take the sweetness of good honey, rather, sweeter than honey: "Pain and sadness and groaning have fled," because the grace of sweetness will shut out the bitterness of human frailty. And elsewhere: "And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, nor mourning." Take also the brightness of the milk: "And they will not need a lamp or the light of the sun; for the Lord himself will give light upon them, and they will reign for ever and ever."
Ps 19:10 (18:11 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · Isa 35:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Rev 21:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Rev 22:5 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The honey of that land is the end of sorrow; its milk is the light of God.
- Ps 19:10 [LXX 18:11]; Isa 35:10; Rev 21:4; Rev 22:5.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: i for l; digitization: spaced letters; digitization: spaced letters, 10 for lo; digitization: split word): super mei: → super mel:; t r is tit i a → tristitia; inlumina bit → inluminabit; saec u 10 r u m → saeculorum.
Topics: Eschatology, Heaven and eternal reward
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.45.2 (CSEL 64:105–106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-45-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-45-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 46
36.46.1CSEL 64:106
Est etiam mysticus iustus qui miseretur et tribuit, qui omnia uerba quae accepit a patre dedit nobis et peccatorum nostrorum nobis aera dimisit et sanguinem suum pro nostris debitis soluit, ut non in faenore essemus alieno, sed in suo aere bonus creditor nos haberet. est et peccator ille qui congregauit quae non peperit
There is also a mystical just man who has mercy and gives, who gave us all the words he received from the Father, forgave us the debts of our sins, and paid his blood for our debts, so that we should not be in another's usury, but the good creditor might hold us in his own debt. And there is that sinner who gathered what he did not bring forth
John 17:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 6:12 (allusion, medium confidence) · Col 2:14 (allusion, medium confidence) · Jer 17:11 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is the mystical just man who paid our debts; the devil the sinner who borrows.
- John 17:8; Matt 6:12; Col 2:14; Jer 17:11 (the partridge that gathers what it did not lay).
Topics: Christology, The devil and demons
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.46.1 (CSEL 64:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-46-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-46-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.46.2CSEL 64:106
et mutuatus est quod non tenebat nec uult restituere quod accepit. audi quia mutuatus est diabolus: tibi, inquit, dabo potestatem hanc uniuersam et gloriam illorum, quia mihi tradita sunt et cui uolo do illa, si procidens adoraueris me. nequissime, accepisti ad temptationem, non ad mortem, hoc est: accepisti ut,
and borrowed what he did not own, and will not give back what he received. Hear that the devil borrowed: "To you," he says, "I will give all this power and their glory, because they have been handed over to me, and I give them to whom I will, if you fall down and worship me." Most wicked one, you received it for testing, not for death; that is, you received it so that
Luke 4:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 4:7 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The devil borrowed power over the world, but only to test God's servants.
- Luke 4:6–7.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: garbled letters; digitization: stray letter; digitization: words joined): 11 b 1, inquit → tibi, inquit; gloriamillorum → gloriam illorum; nequissime, I accepisti → nequissime, accepisti.
Topics: The devil and demons
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.46.2 (CSEL 64:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-46-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-46-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.46.3CSEL 64:106
probarentur dei seruuli, non ut extinguerentur, accepisti ut deus adoraretur, non ut negaretur. accepisti saecularia; cur eripis quae aeterna sunt? accepisti quae mundi sunt; cur uis auferre quae Christi sunt? da illa cui uis, non inuidemus; cur nobis a te quae nos uolumus inuidentur? tu adorari uis, qui omnibus nequior ipsa quoque indignus es seruitute?
God's servants might be proved, not destroyed; you received it so that God might be worshipped, not denied. You received the things of the world; why do you snatch what is eternal? You received what belongs to the world; why do you want to take away what belongs to Christ? Give those things to whom you will, we do not envy; why are we grudged by you what we want? Do you want to be worshipped, who, more wicked than all, are unworthy even of slavery?
Job 1:12 (echo, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The devil may give worldly things, but has no right to what is Christ's.
- Job 1:12.
Topics: The devil and demons
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.46.3 (CSEL 64:106; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-46-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-46-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 47
36.47.1CSEL 64:106–107
A domino gressus uiri corrigentur. Graecus bia$r\\ixaxa dixit, hoc est transitus, et ideo dicitur tibi: si transeas per aquam, flumina te non concludent. transi ergo, noli cessare, sicut bonus uiator, cum uenerit ad aliquod uiae signum, non stat, sed pertransit; et tu in uia es, quamdiu in hoc cursu es constitutus. Paulus si stetisset, cursum suum non consummasset. uide ne ideo dicat et tu qui stas uide ne cadas; non enim qui transiuit potest timere ne cadat.
"By the Lord a man's steps will be corrected." The Greek said "steps" in the sense of crossings, that is, passages, and so it is said to you: "If you pass through water, the rivers will not shut you in." Pass on, then, do not stop, as a good traveller, when he comes to some milestone of the road, does not stand but passes by; and you too are on the way, as long as you are set in this course. Had Paul stood still, he would not have finished his course. See that he does not say for this reason: "And you who stand, see that you do not fall"; for he who has passed on cannot fear falling.
Ps 37:23 (36:23 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 43:2 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Tim 4:7 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 10:12 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Greek word for "steps" means passages: keep passing on, do not stand still.
- Ps 37:23 [LXX 36:23] (Greek διαβήματα, garbled in the digital text); Isa 43:2; 2 Tim 4:7; 1 Cor 10:12.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: stray hyphen, split word; digitization: stray point; digitization: words joined): co-rrig entur → corrigentur; p.er aquam → per aquam; tuquistas → tu qui stas.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.47.1 (CSEL 64:106–107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-47-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-47-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.47.2CSEL 64:107
uidi, inquit, impium superexaltatum et eleuatum super cedros Libani et transiui, et ecce non erat. uidens ergo impium superexaltatum qui non stetit, non offendit; si stetisset, miratus illum fuisset et secutus esset, offenderat et ceciderat sicut impius. ideo Moyses uidens rubum relucere et non ardere ait: transiens uidebo hoc uisum magnum. qui transit de hoc saeculo, magnum uisum uidet; qui soluit uincula istius nexus, quo ligamur huic corpori, uisum magnum uidet.
"I saw," he says, "the ungodly man exalted and lifted above the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed by, and behold, he was not." Seeing, then, the ungodly man exalted, he who did not stand did not stumble; had he stood, he would have admired him and followed him, would have stumbled and fallen like the ungodly man. So Moses, seeing the bush shining and not burning, said: "Passing over, I will see this great sight." He who passes over from this world sees a great sight; he who loosens the chains of this bond by which we are tied to this body sees a great sight.
Ps 37:35 (36:35 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 37:36 (36:36 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 3:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 3:3 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Passing on, not standing, we escape admiring the wicked and see God's great sight, like Moses.
- Ps 37:35–36 [LXX 36:35–36]; Exod 3:3 (Greek "passing over").
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: in for m): iinpius → impius.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.47.2 (CSEL 64:107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-47-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-47-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.47.3CSEL 64:107
Moyses [in Exodo legitur] multa uidet miracula in Exodo; non tanta alius uidet qui non est in exodo. idem Moyses transiuit; transiuit et populus patrum, quia de terra captiuitatis exibat. dirigebantur itaque a domino gressus eorum, quibus per noctem ignis columna lucebat, per diem nubis, ut nec diei ardor afficeret commeantes nec impedimentum uiantibus tenebrae noctis afferrent.
Moses saw many miracles in the Exodus; another who is not in the exodus does not see so many. The same Moses passed through; the people of the fathers passed through too, because they were going out of the land of captivity. So their steps were directed by the Lord, for whom a pillar of fire shone by night, of cloud by day, so that neither the heat of day should afflict the travellers nor the darkness of night hinder the wayfarers.
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Exod 13:21 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 13:22 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 37:23 (36:23 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: In the exodus God directed Israel's steps with pillar of cloud and fire.
- Exod 13:21–22. The editor deletes the words "it is read in Exodus".
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.47.3 (CSEL 64:107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-47-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-47-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 48
36.48.1CSEL 64:107
Et tu merere factis uotisque deposce, ut gressus tui a domino dirigantur, ne moueantur pedes tui, quia scriptum est: mei autem paene moti sunt pedes, paulo minus effusi sunt gressus mei. cauendum est quoque, ne rectam semitam derelinquas et deuerticula te uiarum tortuosarum decipiant. ideo dicitur: parate uiam domino, rectas facite semitas eius.
You too, deserve by deeds and ask in prayers that your steps may be directed by the Lord, lest your feet be moved, for it is written: "But my feet were almost moved, my steps had well-nigh slipped." We must take care too not to abandon the straight path and be deceived by the byways of crooked roads. So it is said: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."
Ps 73:2 (72:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 40:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 3:4 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Pray that your steps be directed and keep the straight path.
- Ps 73:2 [LXX 72:2]; Isa 40:3 (Luke 3:4).
Topics: Prayer
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.48.1 (CSEL 64:107; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-48-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-48-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.48.2CSEL 64:107–108
paremus ergo uiam domino deo nostro in mentibus nostris, rectas faciamus semitas eius, rectas faciamus animorum semitas, ne labamur. non effundantur gressus nostri sicut uxoris Loth, quae post se respexit et gressus tenere non potuit, sed effusi sunt, cum in salem esset repente conuersa. non effundantur sicut Aegyptiorum, quorum gressum maris fluctus effudit. ipsis Hebraeis, qui cum Moyse erant, quia peccauerunt in deserto, ceciderunt uestigia pedum, ne in terram resurrectionis intrarent.
Let us prepare, then, the way of the Lord our God in our minds; let us make his paths straight, let us make straight the paths of our souls, lest we slip. Let our steps not slip like those of Lot's wife, who looked back and could not keep her steps, but they slipped when she was suddenly turned into salt. Let them not slip like those of the Egyptians, whose step the waves of the sea overthrew. Even the Hebrews who were with Moses, because they sinned in the desert, the footsteps of their feet fell, so that they did not enter the land of resurrection.
Gen 19:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 14:28 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 10:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Heb 3:17 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Lot's wife, the Egyptians and the Israelites in the desert slipped and fell.
- Gen 19:26; Exod 14:28; 1 Cor 10:5; Heb 3:17.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.48.2 (CSEL 64:107–108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-48-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-48-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 49
36.49.1CSEL 64:108
Nonne etiam de his pulchre dicitur, quia effusi sunt processus eorum, quorum spes lapsae, in uanum effusus labor, uota sunt destituta? considera enim aliquem per aliquot annos habuisse studium probitatis, castitatis custodiam, uitae attentioris affectum, piae propositum seruitutis, sedulae obseruationis officium subitoque
Is it not also finely said of these that their progress has slipped away, whose hopes have fallen, whose labor has been poured out in vain, whose vows have been abandoned? Consider someone who for several years has had zeal for uprightness, the guarding of chastity, a love of a more careful life, the purpose of pious service, the duty of diligent observance, and suddenly
Notes and citation
Summary: Some who long lived a disciplined life suddenly fall away.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.49.1 (CSEL 64:108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-49-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-49-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.49.2CSEL 64:108
eum esse mutatum, discessisse de monasterio, ualedixisse ieiuniis, continentiae renuntiasse, indulgere deliciis, studere luxuriae. dudum de monasteriis exierunt et nunc luxuriae sunt magistri, disseminatores incontinentiae, incentores petulantiae, obtrectatores pudoris. nonne de his pulchre dixeris: effusi sunt gressus eorum, quos bene direxisse paenituit? egerunt itaque noui generis paenitentiam pro uirtutibus et non agunt pro delictis. sed hi ex nobis exierunt, dicit Iohannes, sed non erant ex nobis; si
he is changed, has left the monastery, said farewell to fasts, renounced continence, indulges in delights, pursues luxury. Not long ago they went out of the monasteries, and now they are teachers of luxury, sowers of incontinence, inciters of wantonness, detractors of modesty. Will you not say finely of these: their steps have slipped, who regretted having directed them well? They have done penance of a new kind, for their virtues, and do none for their offenses. But "these went out from us," says John, "but they were not of us; for if
Ps 37:31 (36:31 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 John 2:19 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Monks who abandon their monasteries repent of their virtues, not their sins.
- 1 John 2:19. An early reference to monasteries in Milan's region.
Topics: Fasting, Monastic life
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.49.2 (CSEL 64:108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-49-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-49-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.49.3CSEL 64:108
enim ex nobis fuissent, nobiscum perseuerassent: hi ergo uiam suam condemnauerunt, quibus conuenit dici: o qui dereliquistis semitas rectas abeundo in uias tenebrarum et qui laetamini in malis et gaudetis in euersione mala, quorum semitae prauae et flexuosi cursus eorum, sicut lubricus et flexuosus auctor ipsorum. cur odisse coepistis rectam uiam et iustum consilium deseruistis? non uos direxit dominus. quem autem dirigit dominus, uiam eius cupiet, sicut scriptum est, et ipsius semitis delectabitur.
they had been of us, they would have remained with us." These, then, have condemned their own way, to whom it is fitting to say: "O you who have left the straight paths, going into ways of darkness, and who rejoice in evil things and are glad in evil overthrow, whose paths are crooked and their courses winding," like their slippery and winding author. Why have you begun to hate the straight way and deserted just counsel? The Lord has not directed you. But he whom the Lord directs will desire his way, as it is written, and will delight in his paths.
1 John 2:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 2:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 2:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 2:15 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 37:23 (36:23 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Those who fall away hate the straight way; the man the Lord directs delights in it.
- 1 John 2:19; Prov 2:13–15; Ps 37:23 [LXX 36:23] (Greek "he will desire his way").
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.49.3 (CSEL 64:108; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-49-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-49-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 50
36.50.1CSEL 64:108–109
Utrumque tamen intellegi potest — ita est medium —, quod et ipse qui a domino dirigitur uiam domini cupiet, quia duce ipso omnis leuatur labor, omnia impedimenta remouentur, incentiua subministrantur, et ipse dominus non aspernatur, sed libenter accipit uiam uiri quem ad uirtutem ipse direxerit. pulchre autem gressus uiri dirigi dicuntur a domino, quia non uolentis neque currentis, sed miserentis est dei sine offensione seruare uestigium. qui enim plantat et rigat nihil sunt, sed qui dat incrementum deus, ipsi soli gloria uirtutum iure defertur.
Both senses, however, can be understood (the phrase is so balanced): that he who is directed by the Lord will desire the Lord's way, because with him as guide every labor is lightened, all hindrances are removed, incentives are supplied; and that the Lord himself does not spurn but gladly accepts the way of the man whom he himself has directed to virtue. Finely, too, a man's steps are said to be directed by the Lord, because it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy, to keep one's step without stumbling. For he who plants and he who waters are nothing, but God who gives the increase: to him alone the glory of virtues is rightly given.
Ps 37:23 (36:23 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 9:16 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 3:7 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Our steps are directed by God's mercy; to him belongs the glory.
- Ps 37:23 [LXX 36:23]; Rom 9:16; 1 Cor 3:7.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.50.1 (CSEL 64:108–109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-50-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-50-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 51
36.51.1CSEL 64:109
Denique etiam iustus cadit interdum. sed si iustus est, cum ceciderit non conturbabitur. quod condicionis est cadit, quod iustitiae resurgit, quoniam iustum deus non derelinquit, sed confirmat manum eius. qua ratione non pedem, sed manum dixit nisi forte ea, quoniam qui cadit non magis pede labitur, sed infirmus lubrico saepe decipitur uel offendit in petra? hic autem iusti casum intellege, id est fortioris.
Indeed, even the just man sometimes falls. But if he is just, when he falls he will not be troubled. What belongs to his condition falls; what belongs to justice rises, since God does not abandon the just man but strengthens his hand. Why did he say not "foot" but "hand," unless perhaps because one who falls does not slip by the foot so much, but the weak man is often deceived on a slippery place or stumbles on a rock? But here understand the fall of the just man, that is, of the stronger.
Ps 37:24 (36:24 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 24:16 (echo, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The just man may fall but is not overthrown; God strengthens his hand.
- Ps 37:24 [LXX 36:24] (Old Latin).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: spaced letters): con f irmat → confirmat.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.51.1 (CSEL 64:109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-51-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-51-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.51.2CSEL 64:109
denique de populo qui luctatur, si genu fixerit uel pede lapsus fuerit, pro uicto habetur. athleta, qui luctandi peritiam habet et ad coronam luctatur, etiam uolens genu figit, ut uincat, et si lapsus fuerit non excluditur et si ab eo, qui superior sit, prematur, manibus tamen se sustinens iure decertat nec aufertur brauium, nisi fuerit fusus in uentrem aut distentus uinculo lacertorum. inde oriuntur crebra certamina, quia multa et incognita plerisque sunt genera ruinarum. nam casus eorum proprie appellant ruinam;
Indeed, among the people who wrestle, if one goes down on his knee or slips with his foot, he is counted as beaten. An athlete who has the skill of wrestling and wrestles for the crown even goes down on his knee deliberately in order to win; and if he has slipped he is not excluded, and if he is pressed by one who is on top, yet holding himself up with his hands he contends lawfully, and the prize is not taken from him unless he has been laid flat on his belly or pinned by the grip of arms. Hence frequent contests arise, because there are many kinds of falls unknown to most. For they properly call their falls "ruins";
Notes and citation
Summary: In wrestling a fall is not defeat for the skilled athlete.
- Ancient wrestling rules (a contest decided by falls).
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.51.2 (CSEL 64:109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-51-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-51-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.51.3CSEL 64:109
Graece enim πτώματα nuncupantur. ergo cum stringitur et urgetur, saepe se uoluit et fit supra qui inferior habebatur superioremque dum surgit elidit. quod uidetur scriptura significare, cum dicit: uniuersum stratum uersasti in infirmitate eius. itaque de eo dicitur: cum ceciderit bonus athleta, non turbatur. plerique etiam uolunt teneri, quo maturius uincant, qui de arte praesumunt.
for in Greek they are called πτώματα (falls). So when he is gripped and pressed, he often rolls himself over, and the one who was held to be underneath gets on top and, as he rises, throws down the one above. This Scripture seems to signify when it says: "You have turned over all his bed in his weakness." And so it is said of him: when the good athlete falls, he is not troubled. Many, too, who trust in their art even want to be held, so as to win sooner.
Ps 41:3 (40:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 37:24 (36:24 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The skilled wrestler can turn a fall into victory.
- Ps 41:3 [LXX 40:4].
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: Greek read as Latin letters): nrcbuara → πτώματα.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.51.3 (CSEL 64:109; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-51-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-51-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.51.4CSEL 64:109–110
sed etiamsi assignatus, ut ipso uerbo utar, et primo et secundo fuerit, non excluditur; licet ei interdum reparare luctamen et uincere saepe contingit et cedere eum qui secunda contentione superauerit. ita ergo etiam iustus etiamsi offendiculum incurrerit
But even if he has been marked down, to use the very word, both a first and a second time, he is not excluded; he is sometimes allowed to renew the struggle, and it often happens that he wins and that the one who overcame him in the second bout yields. So, then, the just man too, even if he has met with a stumbling-block
Notes and citation
Summary: A wrestler marked down twice may still win; so the just man.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.51.4 (CSEL 64:109–110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-51-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-51-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.51.5CSEL 64:110
et ceciderit, non relinquat tamen studium deuotionis et fidei, sobrietatem teneat, paenitentiam gerat, saepe se reparet. ideoque interrogat Petrus: si peccauerit in me frater meus, quotiens remittam ei? usque septies? et respondit dominus: non solum septies, sed etiam septuagies septies. ut scias autem, quia athletae sumus et inpellimur et alii ruunt et plerique eliduntur, audi dicentem:
and fallen, should not abandon the zeal of devotion and faith; let him hold to sobriety, do penance, often restore himself. And so Peter asks: "If my brother sins against me, how often shall I forgive him? Up to seven times?" And the Lord answered: "Not only seven times, but seventy times seven." And so that you may know that we are athletes, and are pushed, and others fall, and many are thrown down, hear one saying:
Matt 18:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 18:22 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The fallen just man must do penance and rise again; forgiveness is repeated.
- Matt 18:21–22. Paenitentiam gerat: "do penance".
Topics: Repentance, Forgiveness of sins
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.51.5 (CSEL 64:110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-51-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-51-5
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.51.6CSEL 64:110
suffulcit dominus omnes qui ruunt et corrigit omnes elisos. unde et ipse de se dicit Dauid uel ille qui locutus est in propheta: inpulsus subuersus sum ut caderem, et dominus suscepit me; Iesus enim non cecidit, sed inpulsus est. etenim cum ipse conuertat elisos, quomodo ipse potuit elidi? iustum autem, cum ceciderit, posse resurgere testatur scriptura, quae dicit: numquid qui cadit non adiciat ut resurgat? aut qui auersus fuerit non reuertitur? uae his qui auertuntur auersione inpudenti, dicit dominus.
"The Lord upholds all who fall and raises up all who are thrown down." Hence too David says of himself, or he who spoke in the prophet: "Pushed, I was overturned so as to fall, and the Lord took me up"; for Jesus did not fall, but was pushed. For since he himself raises the thrown, how could he himself be thrown down? And that the just man, when he has fallen, can rise again Scripture testifies, saying: "Does he who falls not add to rise again? Or does he who has turned away not return? Woe to those who turn away with a shameless turning away, says the Lord."
Ps 145:14 (144:14 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 118:13 (117:13 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 8:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 8:5 (quotation, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Lord raises the fallen; the just man can rise again.
- Ps 145:14 [LXX 144:14]; Ps 118:13 [LXX 117:13]; Jer 8:4–5 (Old Latin).
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.51.6 (CSEL 64:110; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-51-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-51-6
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 52
36.52.1CSEL 64:110–111
Utinam quidem inluctabilis et insuperabilis sit Christi athleta et in omni aetate, in omni uirtutum genere gloriosus, sicut ille ait: sed in omnibus superamus propter eum qui nos dilexit! quid est in omnibus? sunt athletae qui uocentur pueri, ephebi, uiri, hoc est παῖδες, ἀγένειοι, ἄνδρες. etiam scriptura has in luctatoribus nouit aetates dicente Dauid: ne auertas faciem tuam a puero tuo, et: iuuenis fui et senui.
Would that Christ's athlete were unconquerable and unbeatable and glorious at every age, in every kind of virtue, as he says: "But in all things we overcome because of him who loved us"! What is "in all things"? There are athletes who are called boys, youths, men, that is, παῖδες, ἀγένειοι, ἄνδρες. Scripture too knows these ages among wrestlers, when David says: "Do not turn your face from your boy," and: "I was young and have grown old."
Rom 8:37 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 69:17 (68:18 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 37:25 (36:25 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ's athletes compete at every age, as in the games: boys, youths, men.
- Rom 8:37; Ps 69:17 [LXX 68:18]; Ps 37:25 [LXX 36:25]. The Greek age-classes of the games are garbled in the digital text.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: Greek read as Latin letters; digitization: spaced letters): jra?<5e?, ayeveioi, avdgeg → παῖδες, ἀγένειοι, ἄνδρες; n e auertas → ne auertas.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.52.1 (CSEL 64:110–111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-52-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-52-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.52.2CSEL 64:111
unde et Iohannes ait: scribo uobis, pueri, quia cognouistis patrem. scribo uobis, iuuenes, quia uicistis malum. scribo uobis, patres, quia cognouistis eum qui est ab initio. maturior itaque ad fratres scribens maturos designat fidei deuotionisque processu. uirtutum ergo istae, non infirmitatis aetates sunt; neque enim sine uirtute est puer qui cognouit patrem deum uirtutum.
Hence John too says: "I write to you, boys, because you have known the Father. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome evil. I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning." Writing to the brothers, then, he marks the mature by progress of faith and devotion. These, then, are ages of virtue, not of weakness; for the boy who has known the Father, the God of powers, is not without virtue.
1 John 2:13 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 John 2:14 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: John's boys, young men and fathers are ages of virtue.
- 1 John 2:13–14.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: point for comma; digitization: words joined; digitization: yl for id): undeetIohannesait → unde et Iohannes ait; scribo uobis. patres → scribo uobis, patres; fylei → fidei.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.52.2 (CSEL 64:111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-52-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-52-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.52.3CSEL 64:111
ex illo puero isti sunt pueri, qui, priusquam sciret uocare patrem aut matrem, accepit uirtutem Damasci et spolia Samariae. ipse est puer qui natus est nobis, filius datus est nobis, cuius principium super humeros eius. ipse nos docuit pueritiam esse uirtutem dicens: sinite eos et nolite prohibere pueros ad me uenire, et alibi: amen amen dico uobis, nisi conuersi fueritis et efficiamini sicut puer iste, non intrabitis in regnum caelorum.
From that Boy come these boys, he who, before he knew how to call father or mother, received the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria. He is the Boy who is born to us, the Son who is given to us, whose rule is upon his shoulders. He himself taught us that childhood is virtue, saying: "Let them be and do not forbid the children to come to me," and elsewhere: "Amen, amen I say to you, unless you are converted and become like this child, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."
Isa 8:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 9:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 19:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 18:3 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ the Child makes childhood a virtue.
- Isa 8:4; Isa 9:6; Matt 19:14; Matt 18:3.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.52.3 (CSEL 64:111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-52-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-52-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.52.4CSEL 64:111
ipsa quoque corporis fortitudine pueri plerumque uiros uincunt. et utique si aetatem pueritiae consideremus, non potest puer aut usum omnem scire aut uim subire luctandi; nouimus tamen, quod frequenter pueri quos non poterant portare uicerunt; adeo uigor animi infirmitatem excludit aetatis.
And even in bodily strength boys often defeat men. And certainly, if we consider the age of boyhood, a boy cannot know the whole practice or endure the force of wrestling; yet we know that boys have often defeated those they could not carry; so far does vigor of mind shut out weakness of age.
Notes and citation
Summary: Strength of mind overcomes weakness of age.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.52.4 (CSEL 64:111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-52-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-52-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 53
36.53.1CSEL 64:111
Quales autem pueri, tales et ephebi, hoc est spiritales. nouit scriptura adulescentem Paulum iam proximum conuersioni, nouit et Eutychum adulescentem, qui cum sermonibus Pauli intentus haereret, somno uictus de tritecto cecidit et resurrexit, nouit et Iohannem adulescentem in Christi pectore recumbentem, qui tam fortis fuit, ut persecutionem non timeret, malum uinceret.
As the boys are, so are the youths, that is, spiritual. Scripture knows the young man Paul, already near his conversion; it knows the young man Eutychus too, who, clinging intently to Paul's words, overcome by sleep, fell from the third storey and rose again; it knows John too, a young man, reclining on Christ's breast, who was so strong that he did not fear persecution and overcame evil.
Acts 7:58 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 20:9 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 20:12 (allusion, high confidence) · John 13:23 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 John 2:14 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Scripture's spiritual youths: Paul, Eutychus, John.
- Acts 7:58; Acts 20:9–12; John 13:23; 1 John 2:14.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: stray comma): nouit et, Eutychum → nouit et Eutychum.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.53.1 (CSEL 64:111; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-53-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-53-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.53.2CSEL 64:111–112
hic est puer, qui patrem genitalem reliquit, secutus est patrem eum quem cognouit aeternum, adulescens amictus sindone dominum sequebatur tempore passionis, qui sua omnia dereliquerat, maturior deum uerbum in principio ipso semper fuisse atque esse cognouit et manere in se probauit.
He is the boy who left his natural father and followed the Father whom he knew as eternal; as a young man wrapped in a linen cloth he followed the Lord at the time of the passion, having left all his things; more mature, he knew that God the Word always was and is in the beginning, and proved that he abides in himself.
Matt 4:22 (allusion, high confidence) · Mark 14:51 (allusion, high confidence) · John 1:1 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 John 2:24 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: John was boy, youth and mature man in the faith.
- Matt 4:21–22; Mark 14:51 (the young man in the linen cloth, here identified with John); John 1:1; 1 John 2:14, 24.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.53.2 (CSEL 64:111–112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-53-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-53-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 54
36.54.1CSEL 64:112
Uiros quoque scriptura nos docuit spiritales Agabo propheta dicente: uirum hunc cuius est zona haec sic alligabunt Iudaei in Hierusalem, et Festus ait: uir quidam est relictus a Felice in custodia. ante passionem suam Paulus adulescens dicitur, in passione sua uir significatur, qui cursu consummato esset iam proximus ad coronam.
Scripture has also taught us spiritual men, when the prophet Agabus says: "The man whose belt this is the Jews will bind thus in Jerusalem," and Festus says: "There is a certain man left in custody by Felix." Before his passion Paul is called a young man; in his passion he is signified as a man, who, having finished his course, was already near the crown.
Acts 21:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 25:14 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Tim 4:7 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul, a youth at his conversion, is called a man at his passion.
- Acts 21:11; Acts 25:14; 2 Tim 4:7–8.
Topics: Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.54.1 (CSEL 64:112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-54-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-54-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 55
36.55.1CSEL 64:112
Cognouimus aetates pro fide et deuotione certantes. cognoscamus etiam genera certaminum singulorum. haec quoque scripturae nos doceat tenor. in hoc itaque saeculari agone alii sunt qui simplici quodam et legitimo genere luctantur et ligaturis tantum corporis certant, uerberare non norunt, qui palaestae uocantur, alii qui caedem et pulueris iactum membrorum nisibus miscent omni sibi uerberandi iure permisso, quos pammacharios uocant, eo quod omnis litis et pugnae aduersum se habeant potestatem, alii qui caestibus aduersum se decernunt et dilaceratis capitibus cruciantur; hi pyctae feruntur.
We have learned the ages that contend for faith and devotion; let us learn also the kinds of the several contests. Let the course of the Scriptures teach us these too. In this worldly contest, then, there are some who wrestle in a simple and regular kind and contend only by holds of the body, and do not know how to strike, who are called wrestlers; others who mix blows and the throwing of dust with the efforts of their limbs, with every right of striking allowed them, whom they call pammachoi, because they have power of every kind of struggle and fight against one another; others who contend against one another with the gloves and are tortured with torn heads: these are called boxers.
Notes and citation
Summary: There are three kinds of contest: wrestling, the all-in fight, and boxing.
- Ambrose describes the palaestra (wrestling), the pankration ("pammacharii") and boxing ("pyctae").
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.55.1 (CSEL 64:112; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-55-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-55-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 56
36.56.1CSEL 64:112–113
Haec omnia certamina subiit apostolus Paulus, sicut ipse demonstrat. itaque alibi dicit: quoniam non est nobis πάλη aduersus carnem et sanguinem, sed aduersus principes et potestates et — ut compendio utar — aduersus nequitias spiritales. in Latinis plerisque conluctatio repperitur, in Graecis omnibus πάλη scribitur; πάλη enim Graecorum lucta est Latinorum.
All these contests the apostle Paul underwent, as he himself shows. So he says elsewhere: "For our wrestling (πάλη) is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and" (to be brief) "against the spiritual forces of wickedness." In most Latin copies "struggle" is found; in all the Greek, πάλη is written; for the Greeks' πάλη is the Latins' wrestling.
Eph 6:12 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul's "wrestling" in Eph 6:12 is the Greek πάλη.
- Eph 6:12.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.56.1 (CSEL 64:112–113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-56-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-56-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.56.2CSEL 64:113
et uere πάλη, quia caro et sanguis et nequitiae spiritales patientia et continentia corporis et animi moderatione superantur. ira furor caedes arma sunt diaboli. alibi quoque plagis supra modum caesum se esse significat dicens: in plagis supra modum, in mortibus frequenter, Hierosolymis autem pugnis se esse percussum. ubi cum interuenientibus militibus aliquando cessassent Iudaei percutere Paulum, ipse pontifex Ananias circumstantibus iussit percutere os eius.
And truly πάλη (wrestling), because flesh and blood and the spiritual forces of wickedness are overcome by patience and continence of body and moderation of mind. Anger, fury, slaughter are the devil's weapons. Elsewhere too he signifies that he was beaten with blows beyond measure, saying: "in blows beyond measure, in deaths often," and that at Jerusalem he was struck with fists. There, when, soldiers intervening, the Jews had at one point stopped beating Paul, the high priest Ananias himself ordered those standing by to strike his mouth.
2 Cor 11:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 21:32 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 23:2 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul fought as a wrestler and also endured blows, as at Jerusalem.
- 2 Cor 11:23; Acts 21:32; Acts 23:2.
Topics: Persecution
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.56.2 (CSEL 64:113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-56-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-56-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.56.3CSEL 64:113
cui respondit apostolus: percutere te incipiet deus, paries dealbate; et tu sedens iudicas me secundum legem et extra legem iubes me percuti? sciuit profecto referire qui grauiore pugno pontificem repercussit; ipse enim corporaliter caesus est, illi retulit quod in animam percuteretur a Christo. in prima quoque epistula ad Corinthios scribens ait: ego igitur sic curro non ut in incertum, sic enitor non ut aera caedens. quod Latine dixit enitor, Graece ait πυκτεύω.
To him the apostle answered: "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall; and do you sit to judge me according to the law, and contrary to the law order me to be struck?" He certainly knew how to strike back, who struck the high priest back with a heavier fist; for he himself was struck bodily, and he returned to the other that he would be struck in the soul by Christ. Writing too in the first epistle to the Corinthians he says: "So I run, not as uncertainly; so I strive, not as beating the air." What he said in Latin as "I strive," in Greek he says πυκτεύω ("I box").
Acts 23:3 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 9:26 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul struck back with a word, and called himself a boxer.
- Acts 23:3; 1 Cor 9:26.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: spaced letters): et t u sedens iudicas m e → et tu sedens iudicas me.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.56.3 (CSEL 64:113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-56-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-56-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.56.4CSEL 64:113
et uere quasi bonus pycta non aerem, sed aerias potestates et Iudaeorum capita uerberabat, quia caput omnium Iesum dominum non habebant. in omni itaque certamine apostolus est probatus, qui etiam coronam cursu consummato accepit. unde et ipse ait: omnia possum in eo qui me confortat.
And truly, like a good boxer, he struck not the air but the powers of the air and the heads of the Jews, because they did not have the Lord Jesus as head of all. In every contest, then, the apostle was proved, who also received the crown when he had finished the course. Hence he himself says: "I can do all things in him who strengthens me."
Eph 2:2 (allusion, medium confidence) · Col 2:19 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Tim 4:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Phil 4:13 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul was proved in every kind of contest and won the crown.
- Eph 2:2; Eph 5:23 (Col 2:19); 2 Tim 4:7–8; Phil 4:13.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.56.4 (CSEL 64:113; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-56-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-56-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 57
36.57.1CSEL 64:113–114
Habet et Christus qui in pueritia sua aeui maturos uicerint, ut Danihel puer spiritu ualido seniores illos redarguit Iudaeorum et de uictoriae iure deiecit in mortem. habet et alios qui, priusquam nascerentur, in matris uentre luctati sunt. denique Iacob fratrem subplantauit Esau et malum uicit atque ita de utero matris exiuit, ut uictoriae insigne monstraret et pedem senioris degeneris uictor inuerteret. Hieremias in uulua matris sanctificatus est et probatus.
Christ also has those who in their boyhood overcame men mature in age, as Daniel, a boy, with a strong spirit refuted those Jewish elders and by right of victory cast them down to death. He has others too who wrestled in their mother's womb before they were born. Indeed Jacob supplanted his brother Esau and overcame evil, and so came out of his mother's womb as to show a mark of victory and, as victor, overturn the foot of the degenerate elder. Jeremiah was sanctified and approved in his mother's womb.
Gen 25:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 27:36 (allusion, medium confidence) · Jer 1:5 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Daniel as a boy, Jacob and Jeremiah even in the womb, contended and won.
- Sus 45–62 (Greek additions to Daniel); Gen 25:26; 27:36; Jer 1:5.
Extrabiblical texts: Sus 45 (Susanna [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.57.1 (CSEL 64:113–114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-57-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-57-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.57.2CSEL 64:114
Iohannes Baptista principem agonis humani praemiatoremque luctantium necdum natus uenisse cognouit atque in utero matris exiliens piae brauium confessionis emeruit. recte iam tunc designatus est ad coronam qui ante omnes ad Christi agonem fidei testis et praeco uirtutis suum nomen obtulerat. bonus praeco, qui ad certamen alios excitabat et uere bonus praeco, qui tam magna uoce clamauit, ut ad eius sonum secreta caelestia resultarent.
John the Baptist, not yet born, knew that the president of the human contest and giver of prizes to the wrestlers had come, and, leaping in his mother's womb, won the prize of pious confession. Rightly was he already then marked out for the crown, who before all had offered his name for Christ's contest as witness of faith and herald of virtue. A good herald, who roused others to the contest; and truly a good herald, who cried with so great a voice that at its sound the heavenly secrets echoed.
Luke 1:41 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 1:44 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: John the Baptist leapt in the womb and became herald of Christ's contest.
- Luke 1:41, 44.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: words joined): coronamqui → coronam qui.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.57.2 (CSEL 64:114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-57-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-57-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.57.3CSEL 64:114
quid multa? terram mouit, caelum impleuit. ideoque uocis nomen accepit, quia uerbum dei uox sacrata praecessit, quemadmodum ipse nos docuit dicens: ego uox clamantis in deserto. dixit hoc Esaias propheta, de se dictum iste firmauit. audiuimus quid dixit praeco: parate uiam domini, rectas facite semitas eius. haec est uox singularis et sola tam sonora, ut ab omnibus audiretur, tam dulcis, ut uniuersorum corda mulceret. iustos ergo athletas suos dominus confirmauit, ut uincerent; numquam enim suos deserit et relinquit.
What more? He moved the earth, filled heaven. And so he received the name of voice, because a sacred voice went before the Word of God, as he himself taught us, saying: "I am the voice of one crying in the desert." Isaiah the prophet said it; he confirmed that it was said of him. We have heard what the herald said: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." This is the singular voice, alone so resonant that it was heard by all, so sweet that it soothed the hearts of all. The Lord, then, strengthened his just athletes to win; for he never deserts and abandons his own.
John 1:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 40:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 3:3 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: John was the voice before the Word; the Lord never abandons his athletes.
- John 1:23; Isa 40:3; Matt 3:3.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: stray point): uincerent;.numquam → uincerent; numquam.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.57.3 (CSEL 64:114; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-57-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-57-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 58
36.58.1CSEL 64:114–115
Et ideo addidit propheta: iuuenis fui et senui. sic Latini; aliqui autem iuxta Graecos habent: iuuenis fui; etenim senui et non uidi iustum derelictum nec semen eius quaerens panem. simpliciter qui uult intellegere, patet sensus, quod uitae suae tempore Dauid non uiderit iustum derelictum. sed hoc et breuis temporis est et incredibile; siquidem multos uidemus in saeculo iustos ab hominibus derelinqui, quando eos aliqui potentium persecuntur, et nullus ad eos audet accedere, cum se in timore aut iniuria uiderit constitutos.
And so the prophet added: "I was young and have grown old." So the Latins; but some, following the Greeks, have: "I was young; for I have grown old, and I have not seen the just man forsaken nor his seed seeking bread." For one who wants to understand simply, the sense is plain: that in his lifetime David did not see a just man forsaken. But this is both of short time and incredible; for we see many just men in the world forsaken by men, when some of the powerful persecute them, and no one dares to approach them, when he sees them set in fear or injury.
Ps 37:25 (36:25 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: "I have not seen the just forsaken" cannot mean that no just man is abandoned by men.
- Ps 37:25 [LXX 36:25].
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: split word): quaer ens → quaerens.
Topics: Persecution
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.58.1 (CSEL 64:114–115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.58.2CSEL 64:115
unde Iob dicit: fratres mei discesserunt, agnouerunt extraneos magis quam me; amici mei inmisericordes facti sunt et qui me nouerant obliti sunt nomen meum. Dauid quoque non solum destitutum, sed etiam inpugnatum se ab amicis et proximis clamat: amici, inquit, mei et proximi mei aduersum me appropinquauerunt. ergo si in hoc saeculo repperiuntur iusti derelicti, quomodo sibi contraria dixit Dauid, nisi intellegas quod iustus, etsi in saeculo derelinquitur, a domino tamen non derelinquitur?
Hence Job says: "My brothers have gone away, they have acknowledged strangers rather than me; my friends have become merciless and those who knew me have forgotten my name." David too cries that he was not only forsaken but even attacked by friends and neighbors: "My friends," he says, "and my neighbors drew near against me." If, then, just men are found forsaken in this world, how did David say things contrary to himself, unless you understand that the just man, even if forsaken in the world, is yet not forsaken by the Lord?
Job 19:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Job 19:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 38:11 (37:12 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The just are forsaken by men, but not by the Lord.
- Job 19:13–14 (Old Latin); Ps 38:11 [LXX 37:12].
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: l for I): lob → Iob.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.58.2 (CSEL 64:115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.58.3CSEL 64:115
neque enim Iob, cum esset in stercore, a domino derelictus est, quem in angelorum concilio dominus ipse sua uoce laudabat, quem temptari passus est ut coronaret; temptationem autem in corpus dedit, in animam denegauit. nec derelictus Dauid, cui regnum dedit, ut populo imperaret electo, quem parricidalibus proeliis appetitum, regni sui depulsum finibus, uictoriae iure restituit.
For neither was Job, when he sat on the dung heap, forsaken by the Lord, whom the Lord himself praised with his own voice in the council of the angels, whom he allowed to be tempted so as to crown him; he gave the temptation power over the body, he denied it over the soul. Nor was David forsaken, to whom he gave the kingdom, to rule the chosen people; when he was attacked in parricidal battles and driven from the borders of his kingdom, he restored him by right of victory.
Job 2:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Job 1:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Job 2:6 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Sam 15:14 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Sam 19:15 (allusion, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Job and David were not forsaken by God.
- Job 2:8; Job 1:8; 2:6; 2 Sam 15–19 (Absalom's revolt).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: OCR letter slips): lpae → ipse.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.58.3 (CSEL 64:115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-3
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.58.4CSEL 64:115
ipsi quoque Iacob, Helias et Heliseus et Iohannes Baptista et ceteri, qui in caprinis pellibus circumeuntes errabant in solitudinibus et montibus et speluncis et foueis terrae, licet ludibria multa et acerba supplicia tolerasse uideantur, tamen non derelicti sunt. siquidem cum fratrem fugeret Iacob et per deserta incomitatus erraret, obdormiuit et surgens uidit ibi multitudinem caelestis militiae et ait: hic locus uocatur castra angelorum. non satis fuit castrum uocare, sed castra, quae tantae multitudini conuenirent.
Jacob himself too, Elijah and Elisha and John the Baptist and the others who went about in goatskins, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes of the earth, though they seem to have endured many mockeries and bitter punishments, were nevertheless not forsaken. For when Jacob fled his brother and wandered alone through the desert, he fell asleep and, rising, saw there a multitude of the heavenly army and said: "This place is called the camps of angels." It was not enough to call it a camp, but camps, as suited so great a multitude.
Heb 11:37 (allusion, high confidence) · Heb 11:38 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 28:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 32:1 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 32:2 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The saints who wandered in deserts were not forsaken; Jacob saw the camps of angels.
- Heb 11:37–38; Gen 28:11; Gen 32:1–2.
Topics: Angels
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.58.4 (CSEL 64:115; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-4
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.58.5CSEL 64:115–116
uides ergo quia solum se putabat et castra eum caelestis exercitus sequebantur, sicut et patres nostros Moysi tempore, ne in deserto sitirent, petra, ut scriptum est, sequebatur. nam cum in Exodo legerimus, quod sitiente populo percussit Moyses uirga petram et aqua fluxit et bibit populus dei, iterum in Leuitico legerimus uel in Numeris, quod rursus Moyses tetigerit petram uirga et scaturiuerit aqua patribus ad bibendum, praeclare apostolus hoc interpretatus est dicens: bibebant autem de consequenti eos petra, petra autem erat Christus.
You see, then, that he thought himself alone, and the camps of the heavenly army followed him, just as the rock, as it is written, followed our fathers in Moses' time, so that they should not thirst in the desert. For when we read in Exodus that, the people thirsting, Moses struck the rock with his rod and water flowed and the people of God drank, and again read in Leviticus or in Numbers that Moses again touched the rock with his rod and water gushed out for the fathers to drink, the apostle excellently interpreted this, saying: "And they drank from the rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ."
Exod 17:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Num 20:11 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 10:4 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: As the angels followed Jacob, Christ the rock followed Israel.
- Exod 17:6; Num 20:11 (Ambrose hesitates between Leviticus and Numbers); 1 Cor 10:4.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.58.5 (CSEL 64:115–116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-5
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.58.6CSEL 64:116
illos igitur querulos, illos murmurantes, illos praeuaricantes tamen non deserebat dominus, sed sequebatur. quid de Helia et Heliseo dicam, quibus per deserta gradientibus equi de caelo et igneus currus occurrit? quomodo derelictus Helias, qui est inuitatus a Christo? quomodo derelictus in terris, qui raptus ad caelum? quomodo egens et nudus et inanis, qui geminati spiritus hereditatem discipulo dereliquit, ut una melotide heres donatus fluuios sisteret, Iordanem reuocaret in fontem, regum exercitus pasceret in deserto et potum sitientibus ministraret?
Those complaining, those murmuring, those transgressing, then, the Lord did not desert, but followed. What shall I say of Elijah and Elisha, to whom, as they walked through the desert, horses from heaven and a fiery chariot came? How was Elijah forsaken, who was invited by Christ? How forsaken on earth, who was caught up to heaven? How needy and naked and empty, who left to his disciple the inheritance of a double spirit, so that the heir, endowed with a single sheepskin, stopped rivers, called the Jordan back to its source, fed the armies of kings in the desert and supplied drink to the thirsty?
2 Kgs 2:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 17:3 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 2:9 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 2:14 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 3:20 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Elijah and Elisha were not forsaken; Elijah was taken up, and Elisha worked wonders.
- 2 Kgs 2:11; Matt 17:3 (the Transfiguration); 2 Kgs 2:9–14; 2 Kgs 3:16–20; 2 Kgs 4:42–44.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.58.6 (CSEL 64:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-6
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.58.7CSEL 64:116
ad eius arbitrium de caelo profluebant pocula, in terris mortui resurgebant. quomodo erectus est Heliseus, qui cum Syrorum uallatus esset exercitu, ut captiuus raperetur ad regem, dicente Giezi seruo: domine, quid faciemus? ait: noli timere, quoniam nobiscum plures sunt quam cum illis. et dixit: domine, aperi oculos eius ut uideat? et aperti sunt oculi illius
At his will drinks flowed down from heaven, and the dead rose on earth. How was Elisha lifted up, who, when he was surrounded by the army of the Syrians, to be carried off captive to the king, and his servant Gehazi said: "Lord, what shall we do?" said: "Do not fear, for those with us are more than those with them." And he said: "Lord, open his eyes that he may see." And his eyes were opened
1 Kgs 18:45 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Kgs 4:35 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 6:15 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 6:16 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 6:17 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Elisha, surrounded by Syrians, was protected by heaven's army.
- 1 Kgs 18:45; 1 Kgs 17:22; 2 Kgs 4:35; 2 Kgs 6:15–17 (the servant is unnamed there). "Lifted up" renders erectus as transmitted (perhaps for derelictus, "forsaken").
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: words joined): aperioculos → aperi oculos.
Topics: Angels
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.58.7 (CSEL 64:116; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-7
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.58.8CSEL 64:116–117
et uidit montem et omnia in circuitu equis innumeris et caelestibus repleta legionibus. Paulus quoque, qui dixit periculis in mari, periculis in deserto se esse iactatum, tamen ipse testificatus est dicens: si deus pro nobis, quis contra nos? ergo ille sic derelictus et destitutus ab hominibus apud deum abundat et profluit. nam et Helias destitutus erat ita, ut diceret: domine, accipe animam meam, et tamen uigebat apud deum, ut ipsis esset regibus uirtute terribilis.
and he saw the mountain and everything around full of countless horses and heavenly legions. Paul too, who said he had been tossed about by perils at sea, perils in the desert, yet himself testified, saying: "If God is for us, who is against us?" He, then, so forsaken and destitute among men, abounds and overflows with God. For Elijah too was so destitute that he said: "Lord, take my soul," and yet he was so strong with God that he was terrible in power to kings themselves.
2 Kgs 6:17 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 11:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 8:31 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Kgs 19:4 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Elisha, Paul and Elijah, forsaken by men, were strong with God.
- 2 Kgs 6:17; 2 Cor 11:26; Rom 8:31; 1 Kgs 19:4.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.58.8 (CSEL 64:116–117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-58-8
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
Explanation 36, chapter 59
36.59.1CSEL 64:117
Quomodo iuuenis Dauid hoc potuit comprehendere? iuuenis enim magis temporalia quam aeterna considerat, quia aetas ea propendit ad uitia. sed sunt quidam in iuuentute senes et alii iuuenes in senectute. sunt, inquam, uiri quorum animi senilium grauitate censentur, in quibus aetas senectutis sit uita inmaculata, in quibus uigeat incana prudentia, qualis erat Hieremias, qui cum se iuuenem contuitu memoraret aetatis et per iuuentutem excusaret, quod praedicandi impar officio uideretur, ait illi dominus: noli dicere quia iuuenis sum ego, quia ad omnes quoscumque misero te abibis.
How could David as a young man understand this? For a young man considers temporal things rather than eternal, since that age leans toward vices. But some are old in youth and others young in old age. There are, I say, men whose minds are judged by the gravity of the old, in whom "the age of old age is a spotless life," in whom white-haired prudence flourishes; such was Jeremiah, who, when he spoke of himself as young in view of his age and excused himself through his youth, because he seemed unequal to the office of preaching, the Lord said to him: "Do not say, I am young, for to all to whom I send you, you shall go."
Ps 37:25 (36:25 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Jer 1:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Jer 1:7 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Some are old in youth, like Jeremiah, whom God did not count as young.
- Ps 37:25 [LXX 36:25]; Wis 4:8–9; Jer 1:6–7.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: joined words, OCR slips; digitization: stray point): Hieremias., → Hieremias,; noi dicere quiaiuuenis sum ego, quiaadomnes quoseumque → noli dicere quia iuuenis sum ego, quia ad omnes quoscumque.
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 4:9 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.59.1 (CSEL 64:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-59-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-59-1
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.
36.59.2CSEL 64:117
ita iuuenem non putauit quem aptum prophetiae gratiae iudicabat. talis ergo iuuenis fuit Dauid, qui renouatus esset et refloruisset, ut ipse dixit, uelut aquilae iuuentus sua. sic ergo intellegi oportet: iuuenis fui, sed sanctificatus, sed propheta in gentibus positus, qui iam possem regni caelestis sacramenta cognoscere et uera praemia considerare iustitiae, sed non uidi iustum derelictum. postea quoque alibi et usu roboratus et munere adquisiui incrementa sapientiae; eadem circa iustum uisa est mihi gratia permanere.
So he did not think him young whom he judged fit for the grace of prophecy. Such a young man, then, was David, who had been renewed and had flourished again, as he himself said, like the youth of the eagle. It must be understood thus, then: I was young, but sanctified, but set as a prophet among the nations, who could already know the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom and consider the true rewards of justice; but I did not see the just man forsaken. Afterwards too, elsewhere, strengthened both by experience and by gift, I acquired increases of wisdom; the same grace seemed to me to remain toward the just man.
Ps 103:5 (102:5 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Jer 1:5 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 37:25 (36:25 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: David was young but already a sanctified prophet; he saw that the just are not forsaken.
- Ps 103:5 [LXX 102:5]; Jer 1:5.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (digitization: l for i): luuenem → iuuenem.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 36.59.2 (CSEL 64:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-59-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/36-59-2
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Translation: Translated by Claude from Petschenig's Latin (CSEL 64, 1919); no public-domain English translation exists, so the translation was re-read against the Latin.