Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.52.1–43.71.1 (Explanation of Twelve Psalms)

Ambrose

Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.52.1–43.71.1

Ambrose · Explanation of Twelve Psalms · ca. 387-397 · Milan · 58 passages

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).

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Explanation 43, chapter 52

43.52.1CSEL 64:297

Quid deinde sibi uult quod ait: non licet accipere panem filiorum et mittere catulis? utique filios dixit Israelitas, hoc est populum Iudaeorum, catulos autem populum nationum. quid ergo? diuitum aut nobiliorum est accipere sacramenta caelestia et non eorum, qui magis ad cognitionem mysterii caelestis pio mentis feruore contendant? et si Israelita fuerit aliquis remissus et neglegens uel contumax, qui reiciat post se sermones dei, Chananaeus autem, qui inpigre uelit adquirendis mentem intendere sacramentis, ille potius qui dissimulat quam iste qui defert studium praeferendus est? non utique.

What, then, does he mean by saying: “It is not lawful to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs”? Certainly he called the Israelites, that is, the people of the Jews, children, and the people of the nations dogs. What then? Does it belong to the rich or the more noble to receive the heavenly sacraments, and not to those who strive with a devout fervour of mind for the knowledge of the heavenly mystery? And if some Israelite is slack and negligent or stubborn, who casts the words of God behind him, but a Canaanite eagerly wishes to set his mind on acquiring the sacraments, is the one who pretends to be preferred to the one who offers zeal? Certainly not.

Matt 15:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 50:17 (49:17 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ’s saying about the children’s bread does not mean that birth matters more than zeal for the sacraments.

Matt 15:26; Ps 50:17 (LXX 49:17).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip): coritendant → contendant.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.52.1 (CSEL 64:297; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-52-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-52-1

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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.

43.52.2CSEL 64:297–298

et ideo diligenter oportet intendi quid expresserit, qui cum dixisset: non licet accipere panem filiorum et mittere catulis, respondente Chananaea: quia et catuli canum edunt de micis quae cadunt de mensa dominorum suorum, studium eius humilitatemque laudauit, quae non sibi profundum sapientiae a primordio uindicauit, quamuis de finibus Tyri et Sidonis iam esset egressa, sed micas quasdam uerbi

And therefore we must attend carefully to what he expressed: when he had said, “It is not lawful to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs”, and the Canaanite woman answered, “For even the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table”, he praised her zeal and humility, for she did not claim for herself the depth of wisdom from the beginning, although she had already gone out from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, but believed that certain crumbs of the saving

Matt 15:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 15:27 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ praised the Canaanite woman’s humility, who asked only for crumbs of the word.

The sentence continues in the next section.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.52.2 (CSEL 64:297–298; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-52-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-52-2

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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.

43.52.3CSEL 64:298

salutaris, quae de mensa dominorum suorum caderent, crederet colligendas. qui enim diligenter et subtiliter scripturae uerba rimatur, is ad altitudinem mysteriorum peruenire consueuit. unde et huic dicitur: magna est fides tua. fiat tibi sicut uis, hoc est: ut aperiatur tibi ostium uerbi et refulgeat uitae aeternae salubre mysterium.

word, falling from her masters’ table, should be gathered. For he who searches the words of Scripture diligently and subtly is accustomed to reach the height of the mysteries. Hence it is said to her too: “Great is your faith; let it be done for you as you will”, that is: let the door of the word be opened to you, and let the saving mystery of eternal life shine.

Matt 15:28 (quotation, high confidence) · Col 4:3 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Gathering the crumbs of Scripture leads to the height of the mysteries, as Christ’s answer to her shows.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text): sicutuis → sicut uis.

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.52.3 (CSEL 64:298; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-52-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-52-3

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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.

Explanation 43, chapter 53

43.53.1CSEL 64:298

Ergo qui uicinus est exeat et Christum uidere desideret et in oratione clamet, sicut ista Chananaea exiuit de finibus suis et Christum uidit et iugi uoce clamauit, ut eius misericordiam reportaret. credentibus itaque Chananaeis Iudaeus in obprobrio sit, quia ipse non credidit, et inludi sibi doleat et derideri se ab his qui in circuitu sunt ingemiscat.

So let him who is a neighbour go out and desire to see Christ and cry out in prayer, as this Canaanite woman went out from her borders and saw Christ and cried with unceasing voice, so as to carry away his mercy. So, while the Canaanites believe, let the Jew be in reproach, because he himself did not believe, and let him grieve that he is mocked and groan that he is derided by those around him.

Ps 44:13 (43:14 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 15:22 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The neighbour who goes out to Christ in prayer is accepted, while the unbelieving Jew becomes a reproach.

The application to the Jews is Ambrose’s; translated as written.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.53.1 (CSEL 64:298; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-53-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-53-1

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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.

Explanation 43, chapter 54

43.54.1CSEL 64:298

Et uidetur prophetia haec esse de nationibus credituris, maxime cum sequentia istud ostendant, quia ait: posuisti nos in similitudinem gentibus, commotionem capitis in populis, quia Iudaeorum delicto salus gentibus et quae in illis in figura gesta sunt ad cognitionem nostram profecisse apostolo auctore cognouimus. et uere in obprobrium positi sunt

And this prophecy seems to be about the nations that would believe, especially since what follows shows it, for he says: “You have made us a likeness to the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples”, because by the offence of the Jews salvation came to the gentiles, and what was done among them in a figure has, as we know on the apostle’s authority, served our knowledge. And truly they were made a reproach

Ps 44:14 (43:15 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 11:11 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 10:11 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The psalm refers to the believing nations, to whom Israel’s fall brought salvation and examples.

Rom 11:11; 1 Cor 10:6, 11. The sentence continues in the next section.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): similitu dinem → similitudinem.

Topics: The church and Israel

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.54.1 (CSEL 64:298; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-54-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-54-1

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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.

43.54.2CSEL 64:298

gentibus, quia gentes obprobrium crucis dominicae omnibus diuitiis saecularibus praetulerunt. qui autem crucem illam putauit obprobrium et quasi obprobrium refugit, is uere in diuturno mansit obprobrio. tamen quia non secundum carnem Israelitae uidentur qui potuerunt dicere: quia inique non egimus in testamento domini nec recessit retro cor eorum a domino, uide ne his se in circuitu positis inlusioni et derisui fuisse commemorent, de quibus dicit dominus: circumdederunt me uituli multi;

to the gentiles, because the gentiles preferred the reproach of the Lord’s cross to all the riches of the world. But he who thought that cross a reproach and fled it as a reproach truly remained in lasting reproach. Yet, since those who could say: “For we have not acted unjustly against the covenant of the Lord, and their heart has not turned back from the Lord” seem not to be Israelites according to the flesh, see whether they do not recall that they were a mockery and derision to those set around them, of whom the Lord says: “Many calves have surrounded me”;

Heb 11:26 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 44:17 (43:18 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 44:18 (43:19 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 22:12 (21:13 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Those who speak in the psalm are spiritual Israelites, mocked by those who surround them, as Christ was surrounded.

Heb 11:26; Ps 44:17–18 (LXX 43:18–19); Ps 22:12 (LXX 21:13). The sentence continues in the next section.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.54.2 (CSEL 64:298; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-54-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-54-2

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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.

43.54.3CSEL 64:298–299

circumdederunt enim eum persecutores, quando secundum consilium uoluntatis suae subiit passionem. unde et alibi ait: circumdantes circumdederunt me et in nomine domini ultus sum eos. ideo melius est uiam rectam tendere, in qua facinorosi ambulare non possunt; cito cadunt, quia non in directione ambulant. unde et illi, quando uoluerunt Iesum dominum comprehendere, ubi respexit eos, ceciderunt. propter hos igitur, qui in circuitu ambulare consuerunt, angelum dominus apposuit, qui a tergo insidiantes repellat inimicos. praetendit igitur angelus domini in circuitu timentium eum et eos tuetur atque custodit; in circuitu enim impii ambulant, sicut scriptum est. uide itaque distantiam.

for the persecutors surrounded him when, according to the counsel of his will, he underwent his passion. Hence elsewhere too he says: “Surrounding, they surrounded me, and in the name of the Lord I took vengeance on them.” Therefore it is better to keep to the straight way, in which the wicked cannot walk; they fall quickly, because they do not walk in uprightness. Hence those too, when they wished to seize the Lord Jesus, fell when he looked at them. Because of those, then, who are accustomed to walk around, the Lord has set an angel to drive back the enemies who lie in wait from behind. So the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and protects and guards them; for the ungodly walk around, as it is written. See, then, the difference.

Eph 1:11 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 118:11 (117:11 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 18:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 34:7 (33:8 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 12:8 (11:9 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The wicked who surround the righteous fall, while the Lord’s angel encamps around those who fear him.

Ps 118:11 (LXX 117:11); John 18:6; Ps 34:7 (LXX 33:8); Ps 12:8 (LXX 11:9).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray line number in the digital text): et 30 alibi → et alibi.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.54.3 (CSEL 64:298–299; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-54-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-54-3

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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.

43.54.4CSEL 64:299

impii in circuitu ambulant, angelus autem praetendit in circuitu eorum qui non ambulant in circuitu, et ideo praetendit, ut eruat iustos ab insidiis persequentium. iusti ergo spiritales Israelitae uidentur esse qui haec locuntur, eo quod temptationibus saeculi subiacuerint et obprobrium fuerint uicinorum, hoc est eorum qui Hierusalem patriam non incolebant, inlusioni etiam fuerint spiritalibus nequitiis et potestatibus, contra quas iustis lucta esse consueuit.

The ungodly walk around, but the angel encamps around those who do not walk around, and encamps so as to rescue the righteous from the snares of persecutors. So those who say these things seem to be righteous, spiritual Israelites, because they were subject to the temptations of the world and were a reproach to their neighbours, that is, to those who did not dwell in the homeland of Jerusalem, and were also a mockery to the spiritual wickednesses and powers against which the righteous are accustomed to wrestle.

Ps 34:7 (33:8 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 6:12 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The speakers are spiritual Israelites, mocked by worldly men and by spiritual powers against whom they wrestle.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.54.4 (CSEL 64:299; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-54-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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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.

43.54.5CSEL 64:299

denique historia te doceat, quod abducti Iudaei in Babyloniam, etsi propter peccata sua uidebantur esse subiecti, tamen multo meliores gentibus habebantur. peiores enim erant in circuitu eorum qui insultabant eis, cum ipsi peccatorum grauium essent mole curuati.

Finally, let history teach you that the Jews carried off to Babylon, although they seemed to be subjected because of their sins, were yet held to be much better than the gentiles. For those around them who insulted them were worse, since they themselves were bowed down under the weight of grave sins.

2 Kgs 25:11 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Even in exile the Jews were better than the gentiles who mocked them.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip): abducti ludaei → abducti Iudaei.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.54.5 (CSEL 64:299; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-54-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-54-5

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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.

Explanation 43, chapter 55

43.55.1CSEL 64:299

Primus ergo intellectus de captiuis patribus usurpandus est, quibus insultauerunt Assyrii inludentes eis in Babylonia, quibus etiam rex ille nequissimus dominabatur Nabuchodonosor. secundus intellectus ad altiora referendus, quod saeuissimus rex diabolus est. ipse est Assyrius Nabuchodonosor qui bonis insidiari solet, ut eos in peccatum trahat per carnis inlecebram.

The first understanding, then, is to be applied to the captive fathers, whom the Assyrians insulted, mocking them in Babylon, over whom that most wicked king Nebuchadnezzar also ruled. The second understanding is to be referred to higher things: that the cruellest king is the devil. He is the Assyrian Nebuchadnezzar, who is accustomed to lie in wait for the good, so as to draw them into sin through the enticement of the flesh.

Dan 1:1 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Literally the psalm speaks of the exiles in Babylon; spiritually, of the devil, the true Nebuchadnezzar.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.55.1 (CSEL 64:299; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-55-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-55-1

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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.

43.55.2CSEL 64:299–300

attende igitur hunc regem eo loco, ubi dicit apostolus: uideo legem carnis meae repugnantem legi mentis meae et captiuum me ducentem in lege peccati, hoc est in illa lege carnalis inlecebrae. aduersarius leo est qui urget obnoxios, iustos fatigat unde pulchre posuit Aquilas: spretionem et

Notice this king, then, in that place where the apostle says: “I see a law of my flesh warring against the law of my mind and leading me captive in the law of sin”, that is, in that law of carnal enticement. The adversary is a lion who presses those who are liable and wears out the righteous; hence Aquila beautifully put: “Contempt and

Rom 7:23 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Pet 5:8 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The devil leads us captive by the law of the flesh, as Paul describes.

Rom 7:23; 1 Pet 5:8. The sentence continues in the next section.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray hyphen in the digital text; stray period in the digital text): in. lege → in lege; spretione-m et → spretionem et.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.55.2 (CSEL 64:299–300; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-55-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-55-2

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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.

43.55.3CSEL 64:300

pompam posuisti nos his qui in circuitu nostro sunt. ita enim despicabiles aestimabantur, qui theatrum facti sunt huic mundo et angelis et hominibus, quia, etsi in testamento non peccent dei nec carnis inlecebris reflectantur a domino, tamen quasi in pompa quadam circumferri uidentur et despici, quandoquidem peccatores humilitati iustorum insultare consueuerint, ut

a show you have made us to those around us.” For those were thought so despicable who were made a spectacle to this world and to angels and to men, because, even if they do not sin against the covenant of God nor are turned from the Lord by the enticements of the flesh, yet they seem to be carried about as in a kind of procession and despised, since sinners are accustomed to insult the humility of the righteous, so as to

Ps 44:13 (43:14 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 4:9 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Aquila’s “contempt and show” fits the apostles, made a spectacle and despised by sinners.

1 Cor 4:9. The sentence continues in the next section.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip and lost word space in the digital text): poinpam posuistinos → pompam posuisti nos.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.55.3 (CSEL 64:300; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-55-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-55-3

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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.

43.55.4CSEL 64:300

obprobrium ducant crucem domini saluatoris humilitatemque iustorum. denique quasi in quadam pompa theatri constitutus apostolus dicit: placeo mihi in iniuriis, in necessitatibus, in persecutionibus, in angustiis. in WS placet qui omnia quae mundi sunt ut detrimentum putat, ut Christum lucri faciat, solum per uitam et mortem requirens, cui uiuere Christus est et mori lucrum, ut inueniatur in Christo.

count the cross of the Lord Saviour and the humility of the righteous a reproach. Finally, set as it were in a kind of theatrical procession, the apostle says: “I am content with insults, with hardships, with persecutions, with distresses.” He is content in these who counts everything of the world as loss, so as to gain Christ, seeking him alone through life and death, for whom to live is Christ and to die is gain, that he may be found in Christ.

1 Cor 1:23 (echo, low confidence) · 2 Cor 12:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 3:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Phil 1:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 3:9 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Paul, made a spectacle, was content in insults and persecutions, counting all as loss to gain Christ.

The first words of the third sentence are garbled in the digital text (in WS placet) and are translated by sense. 2 Cor 12:10; Phil 3:8–9; 1:21.

Topics: Persecution

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.55.4 (CSEL 64:300; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-55-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-55-4

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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 43, chapter 56

43.56.1CSEL 64:300–301

Adiciunt adhuc isti Israelitae dicentes: posuisti nos in parabolam gentibus, commotionem capitis in populis. quibus gentibus positi nisi credituris? etenim quae acciderunt Iudaeis, in similitudinem [figura] facta sunt, ut fieret nobis typus et figura excidium Iudaeorum atque ex illa similitudine per parabolam solutionem praesentibus requiramus, quo exempla eorum cauere possimus; deinde, quia Iudaicae res omnes quasi parabolae sunt, hoc est quasi figurae egentes solutione. denique dominus Iudaeis in parabola loquebatur, ut inperiti non intellegerent, intellegerent sapientes, ut intellegebant apostoli et in quo mouebantur interrogabant dominum; Iudaei autem nec intellegebant nec iterum discere non intellecta cupiebant.

These Israelites add further, saying: “You have made us a parable to the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples.” To which nations were they made so, if not to those that would believe? For what happened to the Jews was done in a likeness, so that the destruction of the Jews might become a type and figure for us, and from that likeness, through the parable, we might seek the solution for present things, so that we can beware of their examples; and further, because all the affairs of the Jews are, as it were, parables, that is, as it were, figures needing a solution. Finally, the Lord spoke to the Jews in parables, so that the unlearned might not understand, but the wise might understand, as the apostles understood and asked the Lord about what troubled them; but the Jews neither understood nor wished to learn what they had not understood.

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Ps 44:14 (43:15 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 10:6 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 10:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 13:13 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 13:36 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Israel’s history is a parable and figure for the believing nations, which the Jews did not understand.

The editor deletes “[figura]” (in square brackets); it is left out. Ps 44:14 (LXX 43:15); 1 Cor 10:6, 11; Matt 13:10–13.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray mark in the digital text; stray period in the digital text): parabolam. gentibus → parabolam gentibus; commot*ionem → commotionem.

Topics: Scripture and canon, The church and Israel, Interpreting Scripture

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.56.1 (CSEL 64:300–301; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-56-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-56-1

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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.

Explanation 43, chapter 57

43.57.1CSEL 64:301

Quid sit parabola, accipe: Abraham igitur duos filios habuit, unum de ancilla et unum de libera. non intellegebat hoc Iudaeus nisi secundum litteram; nesciebat quis de filiis duobus acceperit hereditatem patris, quia ad carnalia propendebat. egebat parabola solutione. uenit gentium doctor et fides nationum et intellexit, quod duae illae mulieres duo sint testamenta, unum a monte Sina, quod in seruitutem generauit populum Iudaeorum quod est Agar; et ideo Sina, quod per interpretationem mensuram eius significat; mensura autem legis est, superabundans autem gratia est.

Learn what a parable is: Abraham, then, had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. The Jew did not understand this except according to the letter; he did not know which of the two sons received the father’s inheritance, because he inclined to carnal things. The parable needed a solution. The teacher of the gentiles and the faith of the nations came and understood that those two women are two covenants, one from Mount Sinai, which bore the people of the Jews into slavery, which is Hagar; and therefore Sinai, which by interpretation means “its measure”; and the measure is of the law, but grace is superabundant.

Gal 4:22 (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 4:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Gal 4:25 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 5:20 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Paul solved the parable of Abraham’s two sons: Hagar and Sarah are two covenants, Sinai meaning the measure of the law.

Gal 4:22–25; Rom 5:20. The meaning given for “Sinai” is Ambrose’s etymology.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray hyphen in the digital text): ancilla- et → ancilla et.

Topics: Scripture and canon, Interpreting Scripture, The law of Moses

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.57.1 (CSEL 64:301; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-57-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-57-1

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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.

43.57.2CSEL 64:301

Sina quoque merces dicitur et conuenit populo Iudaeorum, qui iustificari se mercede operum quam fidei gratia maluerunt. ergo quae sub lege erat Hierusalem cum suis filiis seruiebat, quae autem sursum est Hierusalem libera est. et ideo Sarra, quae principalis dicitur, libertatem habet, quod princeps sui sit qui iustus atque integer est.

Sinai also means “wage”, and it suits the people of the Jews, who preferred to be justified by the wage of works rather than by the grace of faith. So the Jerusalem which was under the law was in slavery with her children, but the Jerusalem above is free. And therefore Sarah, whose name means “princess”, has freedom, because he who is righteous and upright is his own master.

Gal 4:25 (allusion, high confidence) · Gal 4:26 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Sinai, the “wage”, stands for justification by works; the free Jerusalem above, like Sarah, has freedom.

Gal 4:25–26.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text): maluerunt.ergo → maluerunt. ergo; eratHierusalem → erat Hierusalem.

Topics: Justification, The law of Moses

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.57.2 (CSEL 64:301; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-57-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-57-2

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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.

43.57.3CSEL 64:301

ex duobus igitur testamentis duo populi, unus Iudaeorum, alius nationum qui in Christo credidit. ille Iudaeorum qui non credidit seruit; ipse est secundum carnem natus, quia secundum carnem interpretatus est scripturam diuinam et secundum litteram, non secundum spiritum. qui autem de libera, natus est per repromissionem, hoc est cui repromissio ex fide.

From the two covenants, then, come two peoples, one of the Jews, the other of the nations, which believed in Christ. That of the Jews which did not believe is in slavery; it is the one born according to the flesh, because it interpreted divine Scripture according to the flesh and according to the letter, not according to the spirit. But the one from the free woman was born through promise, that is, the one to whom the promise is from faith.

Gal 4:23 (allusion, high confidence) · Gal 4:29 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Cor 3:6 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The unbelieving people, born according to the flesh, reads Scripture by the letter; the believing people is born through promise.

Gal 4:23, 29.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip): repromiss:o → repromissio.

Topics: Scripture and canon, Interpreting Scripture, The church and Israel

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.57.3 (CSEL 64:301; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-57-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-57-3

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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.

43.57.4CSEL 64:301–302

ipse est ecclesiae filius tenens gratiae libertatem, propter quem ecclesia dicit: expelle ancillam et filium eius; non enim heres erit filius ancillae cum filio meo Isaac, et apostolus ait: itaque, fratres, non sumus ancillae filii, sed liberae. haec est ergo solutio, quia quod ignorabat Iudaeus fides gentium soluit infusa a Paulo doctore mentibus nationum. ideo ergo illorum gesta nobis in parabola sunt.

He is the son of the church, holding the freedom of grace, because of whom the church says: “Cast out the slave woman and her son; for the son of the slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac”; and the apostle says: “So, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free.” This, then, is the solution: that what the Jew did not know, the faith of the gentiles solved, poured into the minds of the nations by Paul the teacher. Therefore, then, their deeds are a parable for us.

Gal 4:30 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 21:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 4:31 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The son of the free woman is the church’s son; the faith of the gentiles, taught by Paul, solved the parable.

Gal 4:30–31 (Gen 21:10).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray hyphen in the digital text): enifti → enim; non-sumus → non sumus.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.57.4 (CSEL 64:301–302; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-57-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-57-4

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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 43, chapter 58

43.58.1CSEL 64:302

Sed et dominus dixit: factus sum illis in parabolam. aduersus me exercebantur qui sedebant in porta, in parabolam autem factus, quia dicitis, inquit: medice, cura te ipsum. in parabolam factus est, quia sedentes in porta increpabat; in exitu enim non otiosi, sed exerciti esse debemus. ideoque scriptum est: uidete ne fiat fuga

But the Lord too said: “I became a parable to them. Those who sat in the gate were busy against me.” He became a parable, because, he says, you say: “Physician, heal yourself.” He became a parable because he rebuked those sitting in the gate; for at the going out we ought not to be idle but exercised. And therefore it is written: “See that your flight be not

Ps 69:11 (68:12 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 69:12 (68:13 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 4:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 24:20 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ became a “parable” to those who sat in the gate and said, “Physician, heal yourself.”

Ps 69:11–12 (LXX 68:12–13); Luke 4:23; Matt 24:20. The quotation continues in the next section.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.58.1 (CSEL 64:302; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-58-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-58-1

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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.

43.58.2CSEL 64:302

uestra hieme uel sabbato, hoc est non in otio, sed in negotio. ergo pigri sedebant Iudaei, quia stare non poterant qui uerae Hierusalem atria nesciebant; si enim scientes essent, illam Hierusalem requisissent. isti ergo fatigati in porta sedebant. nec solum dixit sedebant, sed etiam oderant dominum in portis redarguentem. in porta enim erat qui subiturus erat sui corporis passionem, per quam migraret e terris, rediret ad caelum. in porta erat, cum diceret: ambulate dum lucem habetis.

in winter or on the sabbath”, that is, not in idleness but in business. So the Jews sat sluggish, because those who did not know the courts of the true Jerusalem could not stand; for if they had known, they would have sought that Jerusalem. So, wearied, they sat in the gate. And he did not only say “they sat”, but also that they hated the Lord who reproved them in the gates. For he was in the gate who was to undergo the passion of his body, through which he would depart from the earth and return to heaven. He was in the gate when he said: “Walk while you have the light.”

Matt 24:20 (quotation, high confidence) · Amos 5:10 (allusion, high confidence) · John 12:35 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The Jews sat idle in the gate and hated Christ, who stood at the gate of his passion.

Amos 5:10; John 12:35. Ambrose’s polemic is translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip): pigii → pigri.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.58.2 (CSEL 64:302; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-58-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-58-2

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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.

43.58.3CSEL 64:302

quid est ergo: factus sum illis in parabolam, nisi quia finis legis est Christus et mors eius soluit aenigmata prophetarum eaque, quae ante Iudaeis erant incognita, cum prophetarentur, postea manifestata sunt dominicae passionis effectu? factus est illis in parabolam, quia quasi uilem se praebuit, ingerens se illis nec refugiens eorum seditiones et perducens eos ad tempus beneplaciti sibi, ut moreretur pro omnibus hominibus, quo illius sanguine genus hominum mundaretur.

What, then, is “I became a parable to them”, unless that Christ is the end of the law, and his death solved the riddles of the prophets, and the things that had been unknown to the Jews when they were prophesied were afterwards made plain by the effect of the Lord’s passion? He became a parable to them because he offered himself as though cheap, putting himself forward to them and not fleeing their seditions, and leading them on to the time of his good pleasure, so as to die for all men, so that by his blood the human race might be cleansed.

Rom 10:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 69:11 (68:12 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 5:15 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 John 1:7 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ became a “parable” because his death solved the riddles of the prophets, and he gave himself up to die for all.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.58.3 (CSEL 64:302; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-58-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-58-3

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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.

Explanation 43, chapter 59

43.59.1CSEL 64:302

Similiter in parabola scriptum est: non alligabis os boui trituranti. soluit hanc parabolam apostolus dicens: numquid de bubus cura est deo? an propter nos utique dicit? nam propter nos scripta sunt.

Likewise it is written in a parable: “You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain.” The apostle solved this parable, saying: “Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Or does he not speak entirely for our sake? For it was written for our sake.”

Deut 25:4 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 9:9 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 9:10 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Paul solved the parable of the ox treading grain as written for us.

Deut 25:4; 1 Cor 9:9–10.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (word spaces lost in the digital text): soluithancparabolamapostolusdicens → soluit hanc parabolam apostolus dicens.

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.59.1 (CSEL 64:302; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-59-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-59-1

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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.

43.59.2CSEL 64:302–303

quis est qui arat nisi qui in spe arat, ut in iudicio domini metat? et ideo quasi boni agricolae, ubi propter spem inarata fuerit terra nostra continentia corporali, non carnalia, sed spiritalia seminemus, quoniam de carnalibus corruptela colligitur, de spiritalibus uita aeterna adquiritur. typus itaque et figura nobis sint gesta maiorum, typus lex scripta in cordibus nostris, ut nobis in ea quaedam futurorum figura, non ueritas sit. lex ergo quasi figura sit nobis, euangelium quasi lumen et signaculum ueritatis.

Who is it who ploughs but he who ploughs in hope, so as to reap in the Lord’s judgment? And therefore, like good farmers, when for hope’s sake our earth has been ploughed by bodily continence, let us sow not carnal things but spiritual, since from carnal things corruption is gathered, from spiritual things eternal life is gained. So let the deeds of our forefathers be a type and figure for us; a type is the law written in our hearts, so that there is in it for us a kind of figure of things to come, not the truth. So let the law be for us as a figure, the gospel as the light and seal of truth.

1 Cor 9:10 (allusion, high confidence) · Gal 6:8 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 10:11 (allusion, medium confidence) · Heb 10:1 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: We plough in hope and sow spiritual things; the law is a figure, the gospel the light of truth.

1 Cor 9:10; Gal 6:8; Heb 10:1.

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.59.2 (CSEL 64:302–303; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-59-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-59-2

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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.

Explanation 43, chapter 60

43.60.1CSEL 64:303

In parabola ergo dominus ostendit se Iudaeis, sed non intellexerunt parabolam, quia medicum non receperunt, qui curaret animas laborantium et omni aegritudine et inaequalitate incommoditatis absolueret. factus est etiam in parabolam, quia carnem suscepit quam crucifixerunt Iudaei, non intellegentes parabolam spiritalem.

In a parable, then, the Lord showed himself to the Jews, but they did not understand the parable, because they did not receive the physician who would cure the souls of the suffering and free them from every sickness and the unevenness of ailment. He also became a parable because he took on flesh, which the Jews crucified, not understanding the spiritual parable.

Ps 69:11 (68:12 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 9:12 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ showed himself to the Jews in a parable, his flesh, which they crucified without understanding.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.60.1 (CSEL 64:303; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-60-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-60-1

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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.

43.60.2CSEL 64:303

eo usque enim non intellexerunt, ut, cum auctorem uitae crucifigerent et suspensam in cruce cernerent carnem domini salutarem, mouerent caput; nam si intellexissent, utique non insultassent, sed ingemuissent. et tamen ipsa commotio capitis illis in similitudinem cessit, ut non hoc significaret quod illi sentiebant, sed quod mysteria declarabant. illi enim secundum uulgi usum insultantes domino mouebant caput suum, sicut qui iustis insultare desiderant, si forte eos uiderint in hoc saeculo fatigari, mouent caput.

So far did they fail to understand that, when they crucified the author of life and saw the saving flesh of the Lord hanging on the cross, they shook their heads; for if they had understood, they would certainly not have insulted but groaned. And yet that very shaking of the head became for them a likeness, so that it signified not what they meant but what the mysteries declared. For they, insulting the Lord after the common custom, shook their heads, as those who wish to insult the righteous shake their heads if they happen to see them wearied in this world.

Acts 3:15 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 27:39 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 44:14 (43:15 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 22:7 (21:8 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Those who crucified Christ shook their heads in mockery, but the gesture signified a mystery beyond their meaning.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip): hbc → hoc.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.60.2 (CSEL 64:303; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-60-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-60-2

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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 43, chapter 61

43.61.1CSEL 64:303–304

Quae commotio capitis geminum intellectum habet. reprehensibiles enim uidentur secundum scripturae auctoritatem qui mouent caput, cum dicat et Matthaeus: qui transiebant blasphemabant dominum Iesum mouentes capita sua, et Marcus: qui praeteribant blasphemabant eum mouentes capita sua. transeuntes autem quod reprehensibiles aestimentur, docet hic ipse propheta, qui dicit de uinea Sabaoth:

This shaking of the head has a twofold meaning. For those who shake their heads seem blameworthy by the authority of Scripture, since Matthew too says: “Those who passed by blasphemed the Lord Jesus, shaking their heads”, and Mark: “Those who passed by blasphemed him, shaking their heads.” That those who pass by are thought blameworthy this same prophet teaches, who says of the vineyard of the Lord of hosts:

Matt 27:39 (quotation, high confidence) · Mark 15:29 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Shaking the head has two meanings; the blameworthy kind is that of the passers-by at the cross.

Matt 27:39; Mark 15:29. The quotation follows in the next section.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip and word splits): MatthaeufI → Matthaeus; do dm num → dominum.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.61.1 (CSEL 64:303–304; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-61-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-61-1

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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.

43.61.2CSEL 64:304

et uindemiant eam omnes transeuntes uiam. denique et qui sequitur uersus hoc signat: deuastauit eam aper de silua et singularis ferus depastus est eam, et in posterioribus ait: et non dixerunt transeuntes uiam: benedictio domini super uos, eo quod, qui transit et non stat in atriis domini, non dat benedictionem. ita ergo Iudaei mouebant caput super dominum Iesum, ut praeterirent qui firmum solidumque uestigium fidei habere non poterant. mouebant autem

“And all who pass along the way pluck its grapes.” Finally the following verse too signifies this: “The boar from the wood has laid it waste, and the solitary wild beast has fed on it”; and further on he says: “And those who passed by the way did not say: The blessing of the Lord be upon you”, because he who passes by and does not stand in the courts of the Lord does not give a blessing. So the Jews shook their heads over the Lord Jesus, as passers-by who could not have a firm and solid footing of faith. And they shook

Ps 80:12 (79:13 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 80:13 (79:14 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 129:8 (128:8 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Those who pass by the vineyard and do not stand in the Lord’s courts are the unbelieving passers-by.

Ps 80:12–13 (LXX 79:13–14); Ps 129:8 (LXX 128:8). The sentence continues in the next section.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slips and word split in the digital text; word space lost in the digital text; word split in the digital text): feruB d epastus → ferus depastus; ait:et → ait: et; u o s, → uos,.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.61.2 (CSEL 64:304; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-61-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-61-2

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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.

43.61.3CSEL 64:304

caput suum, quorum caput Christus esse debuerat, quem non debuit demouere et deturbare perfidia Iudaeorum. sed quia non passi sunt membra se esse Christi, ideo caput eorum non fuit Christus. non erat etiam lex caput eorum, quia expoliabantur et lege a populo nationum. non fuit his caput uerbum dei, quia amiserant prophetas et apostolos non habebant. hoc de reprehensibili commotione capitis dictum sit. est tamen et laudabilis capitis commotio, reprehensibilis Iudaeis, laudabilis populo nationum.

their own head, whose head Christ ought to have been, whom the faithlessness of the Jews ought not to have moved and disturbed. But since they did not allow themselves to be members of Christ, Christ was not their head. Nor was the law their head either, because they were being stripped even of the law by the people of the nations. The word of God was not their head, because they had lost the prophets and did not have the apostles. Let this be said about the blameworthy shaking of the head. But there is also a praiseworthy shaking of the head: blameworthy in the Jews, praiseworthy in the people of the nations.

Eph 5:23 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 12:27 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: By refusing to be Christ’s members, they shook off Christ, their true head; there is also a praiseworthy shaking of the head.

The polemic is Ambrose’s; translated as written.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.61.3 (CSEL 64:304; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-61-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-61-3

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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.

43.61.4CSEL 64:304

quid est enim caput nisi in quo sensus sunt? oculi sapientis in capite eius, quos moueri oportet oculos, id est mentis tuae sensus, ne aliquo torpore pigrescant. moue ergo prudentiam tuam, moue sapientiam, moue cogitationes tuas caelestium conlatione sermonum et propheticorum disputatione uerborum, ita ut non pecces in testamento dei, sed fides firma sit. sunt enim haeretici qui mouent sensus suos, ut perfidiam tamen, non fidem excitent.

For what is the head but that in which the senses are? “The eyes of the wise man are in his head”; these eyes must be moved, that is, the senses of your mind, lest they grow sluggish with some torpor. Move, then, your prudence, move your wisdom, move your thoughts by comparing the heavenly sayings and discussing the prophetic words, so that you do not sin against the covenant of God, but your faith is firm. For there are heretics who move their senses, yet so as to stir up faithlessness, not faith.

Eccl 2:14 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The praiseworthy shaking of the head is moving the mind’s senses by studying Scripture, unlike heretics who stir up unbelief.

Eccl 2:14.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip): oportel → oportet; pigreseant → pigrescant.

Topics: Scripture and canon, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.61.4 (CSEL 64:304; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-61-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-61-4

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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 43, chapter 62

43.62.1CSEL 64:304–305

Sed iam expressius de ipsa capitis commotione, quae in similitudinem populi est posita, dicendum est. quis est caput populorum nisi Christus? caput enim mulieris uir, caput uiri Christus, sed et lex caput intellegibilis mulieris. denique sub lege tamquam sub uiro est populus Iudaeorum, quia lex νόμος dicitur Graece et ideo synagoga νόμῳ qua masculo copulata est, sed legi corporali, non spiritali, hoc est ritui legis Iudaico, cuius uinculis inligata est legitimi nesciens sacramenta coniugii.

But now we must speak more expressly of the shaking of the head itself, which is made a likeness for the people. Who is the head of the peoples but Christ? For “the head of the woman is the man, the head of the man is Christ”; but the law too is the head of the woman understood spiritually. Finally the people of the Jews is under the law as under a husband, because the law is called nomos in Greek, and therefore the synagogue is joined to the law as to a male, but to the bodily law, not the spiritual, that is, to the Jewish ritual of the law, by whose bonds it is tied, not knowing the sacraments of lawful marriage.

Ps 44:14 (43:15 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 11:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 7:1 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ is the head of the peoples; the synagogue is joined, as to a husband, to the bodily law.

The Greek words are garbled in the digital text and are restored (νόμος, “law”, a masculine noun; νόμῳ). 1 Cor 11:3. Ambrose’s typology of synagogue and law is translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Greek word garbled by font encoding in the digital text; OCR slip; stray line number and Greek word garbled by font encoding in the digital text): vojuog → νόμος; et 30 ideo synagoga vóplp → et ideo synagoga νόμῳ; coiporali → corporali.

Topics: The church and Israel

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.62.1 (CSEL 64:304–305; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-62-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-62-1

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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.

43.62.2CSEL 64:305

si autem mortua fuerit lex, hoc est legis interpretatio corporalis, tunc plebs quasi mortuo coniuge priore legitime nubet secundo uiro qui ex mortuis resurrexit. est etiam caput mulieris huius euangelium. unde quidam mystice interpretati mortificato ritu Iudaico tamquam fratri defuncti euangelio mulierem eam nubere ex lege uoluerunt, quia lex annuntiauerit euangelium. ideo prior lex uir, postea secundi uiri nuptiae, hoc est euangelii sacramenta sunt; duo enim quasi coniugia duo sunt testamenta. unum coniugium uetus est testamentum, quod morte uiri prioris solutum est.

But if the law has died, that is, the bodily interpretation of the law, then the people, as though its former husband were dead, will lawfully marry a second husband, who rose from the dead. The gospel too is the head of this woman. Hence some, interpreting mystically, have held that, once the Jewish ritual had been put to death, the woman marries the gospel, as the brother of the deceased, according to the law, because the law announced the gospel. So the law was the first husband; afterwards came the marriage to the second husband, that is, the sacraments of the gospel; for the two covenants are like two marriages. One marriage is the Old Testament, which was dissolved by the death of the first husband.

Rom 7:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 7:4 (allusion, high confidence) · Deut 25:5 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: When the bodily law dies, the people may lawfully marry Christ, as a widow remarries; the two covenants are like two marriages.

Rom 7:2–4, read figuratively of the two covenants; the “brother of the deceased” alludes to levirate marriage (Deut 25:5–6). The marriage law itself is stated in the next sections.

Topics: Marriage, Divorce and remarriage

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.62.2 (CSEL 64:305; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-62-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-62-2

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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.

43.62.3CSEL 64:305

et ideo mulier illa, cui lex mortua est, recte secundum coniugium conuenit, hoc est testamentum nouum. sic duobus fratribus una coniungitur, cui superiora peccata moriuntur, meliora postea sacramenta renouantur. hoc nobis apostolus euidenter exposuit dicens: quoniam quae sub uiro est mulier uiuente uiro ligata est legi; hoc est uiri sui legi, ut ei debeat castitatem.

And therefore that woman for whom the law has died rightly comes to a second marriage, that is, the New Testament. So one woman is joined to two brothers, for whom her former sins die and better sacraments are afterwards renewed. This the apostle clearly explained to us, saying: “For the woman who is under a husband is bound to the law while the husband lives”, that is, to the law of her husband, so that she owes him chastity.

Rom 7:2 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Paul’s teaching that a wife is bound to her husband’s law while he lives underlies the figure of the two marriages.

Rom 7:2.

Topics: Marriage, Divorce and remarriage

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.62.3 (CSEL 64:305; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-62-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-62-3

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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.

43.62.4CSEL 64:305

si autem mortuus fuerit uir, soluta est a lege uiri, id est ut cui uelit nubat, dummodo mortuo uiro nubat, quia uiuo uiro uocabitur, inquit, adultera, si iuncta fuerit alteri uiro; si autem mortuus fuerit uir eius, liberata est a lege uiri, ita ut non sit adultera, si fuerit cum alio uiro.

“But if the husband dies, she is freed from the law of the husband”, that is, so that she may marry whom she will, provided she marries after her husband is dead; because, “while the husband lives,” he says, “she will be called an adulteress if she is joined to another man; but if her husband dies, she is freed from the law of the husband, so that she is not an adulteress if she is with another man.”

Rom 7:2 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 7:3 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 7:39 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: A wife may remarry after her husband’s death, but while he lives she is called an adulteress if joined to another man.

Rom 7:2–3, quoted as written; Ambrose adds that she may marry whom she will after the husband’s death.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray hyphen in the digital text): lib-erata → liberata.

Topics: Marriage, Divorce and remarriage

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.62.4 (CSEL 64:305; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-62-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-62-4

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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.

43.62.5CSEL 64:305–306

hoc sacramentum etiam ad Christum et ecclesiam pertinere etiam alibi demonstrauit, quia magnum est sacramentum. hic quoque non praetermisit dicens: itaque, fratres mei, et uos mortificati estis legi per corpus Christi, ut sitis alterius qui ex mortuis resurrexit. quomodo mortificatus es legi nisi ut tibi legis umbra moriatur cum accedis ad sacramenta caelestia? nec enim aliter debes accedere ad euangelium nisi

That this sacrament also concerns Christ and the church he showed elsewhere too, because it is a great sacrament. Here also he did not pass it over, saying: “So, my brothers, you too have been put to death to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, who rose from the dead.” How have you been put to death to the law, except that the shadow of the law dies for you when you come to the heavenly sacraments? For you ought not to come to the gospel otherwise than

Eph 5:32 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 7:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Col 2:17 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: As Paul says, we have died to the law through Christ’s body so as to belong to the risen one.

Eph 5:32; Rom 7:4. The sentence continues in the next section.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray line number in the digital text): sacramenta 30 caelestia → sacramenta caelestia.

Topics: Marriage

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.62.5 (CSEL 64:305–306; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-62-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-62-5

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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.

43.62.6CSEL 64:306

solutus interpretationis corporalis impedimentis. alioquin adulterium est ueris falsa miscere, pudicitia autem spiritalis, si anima tua exuta omnibus impedimentis deuiae cognitionis sine ruga accedat ad dei uerbum. ergo sicut ecclesiae caput Christus, ita et synagogae caput lex, hoc est his qui sub lege sunt, propter quos apostolus fecit se esse sub lege, cum sub lege non esset, ut eos qui sub lege sunt lucri faceret. et iterum doctor gentium factus est quasi esset ipse sine lege, ut eos qui erant sine lege adquireret Christo. pulchre autem ait, quod sine lege dei non esset et in lege Christi maneret.

freed from the hindrances of bodily interpretation. Otherwise it is adultery to mix false things with true, but it is spiritual chastity if your soul, stripped of all the hindrances of errant knowledge, comes without wrinkle to the word of God. So, as Christ is the head of the church, so the law is the head of the synagogue, that is, of those who are under the law, for whose sake the apostle made himself as under the law, though he was not under the law, so as to win those who are under the law. And again the teacher of the gentiles became as though he were himself without law, so as to gain for Christ those who were without law. And beautifully he says that he was not without the law of God but remained in the law of Christ.

Eph 5:27 (allusion, medium confidence) · Eph 5:23 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 9:20 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 9:21 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Mixing false with true interpretation is spiritual adultery; Paul became all things to all, while remaining in the law of Christ.

Eph 5:27; 1 Cor 9:20–21.

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.62.6 (CSEL 64:306; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-62-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-62-6

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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 43, chapter 63

43.63.1CSEL 64:306

Lex autem synagogae caput non a principio, quia Christus erat caput ueteris synagogae quam Moyses fundauit et condidit. denique audi dicentem, quia uerbo domini fundata est: fide, inquit, Moyses grandis factus negauit se esse Pharaonis regis nepotem; maluit enim afflictis compati quam temporalibus delectari maioresque diuitias aestimauit et praetulit thesauris Aegypti improperium Christi; aspi-

But the law was not the head of the synagogue from the beginning, because Christ was the head of the old synagogue which Moses founded and built. Finally, hear that it was founded by the word of the Lord: “By faith,” he says, “Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the grandson of Pharaoh the king; for he chose rather to suffer with the afflicted than to enjoy temporal pleasures, and he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches and preferred it to the treasures of Egypt;

Heb 11:24 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 11:25 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 11:26 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ was the head of the synagogue founded by Moses, who preferred the reproach of Christ to Egypt’s treasures.

Heb 11:24–26 in Ambrose’s form. The quotation continues in the next section.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word space lost in the digital text): thesaruris → thesauris; Christi;aspi- → Christi; aspi-.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.63.1 (CSEL 64:306; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-63-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-63-1

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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.

43.63.2CSEL 64:306

ciebat enim mercedem repromissionum dei, quae est resurrectionis gratia. sed ubi propter perfidiam Iudaeorum mortuum est infidelibus dei uerbum et excidit pectoribus Iudaeorum, legis spiritalis intellectus occubuit et nupsit synagoga ritui corporali obseruationique perfidiae. sed non fuit illa sobrietas spiritalium nuptiarum, sed adulterium castitatis. ideo synagoga libera esse non

for he was looking to the reward of God’s promises”, which is the grace of the resurrection. But when, through the faithlessness of the Jews, the word of God died for the unbelieving and fell from the hearts of the Jews, the spiritual understanding of the law perished, and the synagogue married the bodily rite and the observance of faithlessness. But that was not the sobriety of a spiritual marriage but an adultery against chastity. Therefore the synagogue could not be free,

Heb 11:26 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: When the spiritual understanding of the law died, the synagogue was joined to the bodily rite, an adultery against chastity.

Ambrose’s polemical figure is translated as written. The sentence continues in the next section.

Topics: The church and Israel

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.63.2 (CSEL 64:306; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-63-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-63-2

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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.

43.63.3CSEL 64:306–307

potuit, quae male nupserat, non crediderat resurrectionem Christi futuram. unde bene ei nupsit ecclesia, cui secundum sacram dispensationem secundum carnem mortuus Christus, ut illa Iudaea anima, quae ante fuerat ligata peccato, per mortem Christi absolueretur uinculo delictorum. non nubit ergo mulier alteri uiro nisi mortuus fuerit uir suus, hoc est nisi a uinculo legitimi amoris fuerit absoluta; si autem mortuus uir eius fuerit, liberata est.

having married badly, not having believed that Christ’s resurrection would come. Hence the church rightly married him, for whom Christ died according to the flesh in the sacred dispensation, so that that Jewish soul, which had before been bound to sin, might be freed by the death of Christ from the bond of offences. So a woman does not marry another husband unless her husband has died, that is, unless she has been freed from the bond of lawful love; but if her husband has died, she is free.

Rom 7:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 7:4 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The church married Christ, whose death freed the soul from sin; a woman marries another only when her husband has died.

Rom 7:2–3, applied again to the figure.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray line number in the digital text): fuerit 30 absoluta → fuerit absoluta.

Topics: Divorce and remarriage

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.63.3 (CSEL 64:306–307; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-63-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-63-3

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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 43, chapter 64

43.64.1CSEL 64:307

Sane tenebatur ex lege, ut fratri proprii coniugis copularetur, si semen nullum maritus eidem reliquisset. quod uinculum magis nectebat interpretatio litterae quam gratia spiritalis. denique habebat in uoluntate frater defuncti, ut, si nollet, non acciperet fratris uxorem ad semen defuncti resuscitandum. unde calciamentum suum soluere iubebatur, ut esset a nexu copulae eius exutus quam a sui gratia ostendisset alienam.

Indeed, by the law a woman was held to be joined to the brother of her own husband, if the husband had left her no offspring. This bond the interpretation of the letter tied more tightly than spiritual grace did. Finally, the brother of the deceased had it in his choice, if he was unwilling, not to take his brother’s wife to raise up offspring for the dead man. Hence he was commanded to loose his shoe, so as to be released from the tie of union with her, whom he had shown to be outside his favour.

Deut 25:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Deut 25:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Deut 25:9 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The levirate law bound a widow to her husband’s brother, who could refuse by loosing his shoe.

Deut 25:5–10.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray colon and word split in the digital text): copula: retur → copularetur.

Topics: Marriage, Divorce and remarriage

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.64.1 (CSEL 64:307; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-64-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-64-1

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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.

43.64.2CSEL 64:307

sic enim scriptum est, quia soluebat calciamentum suum et dabat proximo suo dicens: hoc erit in testimonium in Israel. et dicebat propinquus: accipe et adquire tibi tu. et soluebat calciamentum suum. dicebant etiam adstantes: det dominus uxorem quae intrat in domum tuam, sicut Rachel et sicut Lia quae aedificauerunt utraeque domum Israel et fecerunt uirtutem in Ephratha.

For so it is written, that he loosed his shoe and gave it to his neighbour, saying: “This will be a testimony in Israel.” And the kinsman said: “Take it and acquire it for yourself.” And he loosed his shoe. And the bystanders said: “May the Lord make the wife who comes into your house like Rachel and like Leah, who both built up the house of Israel and did valiantly in Ephrathah.”

Ruth 4:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Ruth 4:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Ruth 4:11 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: In Ruth the kinsman loosed his shoe and Boaz took Ruth, with the people’s blessing.

Ruth 4:7–11, in the Latin form.

Topics: Marriage, Divorce and remarriage

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.64.2 (CSEL 64:307; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-64-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-64-2

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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.

43.64.3CSEL 64:307

sed hoc ex litterae interpretatione Iudaeum ligabat; ceterum figura erat, quod Christus uenturus esset in terras, qui semen defuncti populi resuscitaret merito fratris, quia dictum est: narrabo nomen tuum fratribus meis, et: quorum patres, et ex quibus Christus secundum carnem, uel quia euangelium defunctae legis reparationem operaretur in posteris, ut semen, quod lex non reliquerat, euangelii tenor resuscitaret.

But this, by the interpretation of the letter, bound the Jew; otherwise it was a figure that Christ would come to earth, to raise up the offspring of the dead people by right of a brother, because it was said: “I will tell your name to my brothers”, and: “Whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ according to the flesh”; or because the gospel would work the restoration of the dead law in the descendants, so that the tenor of the gospel would raise up the offspring which the law had not left.

Ps 22:22 (21:23 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 9:5 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 25:6 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The levirate law is a figure of Christ, the brother who raises up offspring for the dead people, or of the gospel restoring the law.

Ps 22:22 (LXX 21:23); Rom 9:5.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray hyphen in the digital text): posteris, ui semen → posteris, ut semen; resuscitaret.- → resuscitaret..

Topics: Divorce and remarriage

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.64.3 (CSEL 64:307; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-64-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-64-3

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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 43, chapter 65

43.65.1CSEL 64:307–308

Non mirum ergo si caput suum praua interpretatione mouerunt, ut ipsi a se deturbarent sapientiam, suae salutis auctorem aut certe mouendo caput suum causa fierent commotionis capitis non paucis, sed populis. commotio haec capitis facta est, quandoquidem in omnem terram exiuit sonus eorum, ut fieret omnis terra domini et regnum domini esset in nationibus. unde et in posterioribus dicit: dominus regnauit, irascantur populi;

No wonder, then, if they shook their heads by a wrong interpretation, so as to cast away from themselves wisdom, the author of their own salvation; or at least, by shaking their head, became the cause of a shaking of the head not for a few but for peoples. This shaking of the head came about since their sound went out into all the earth, so that the whole earth became the Lord’s and the kingdom of the Lord was among the nations. Hence he says further on: “The Lord has reigned; let the peoples be angry;

Ps 44:14 (43:15 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 19:4 (18:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 10:18 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 22:28 (21:29 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 99:1 (98:1 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: By rejecting wisdom, the Jews caused the gospel to go out to the peoples, so that the Lord reigns among the nations.

Ps 19:4 (LXX 18:5); Rom 10:18; Ps 99:1 (LXX 98:1). The quotation continues in the next section.

Topics: The church and Israel, Mission and the spread of the gospel

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.65.1 (CSEL 64:307–308; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-65-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-65-1

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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.

43.65.2CSEL 64:308

qui sedes super Cherubim, moueatur terra. quod pulchre Aquilas interpretatus est, ut μετάστασιν diceret, hoc est transmutationem quae est de loco ad locum, de Iudaea ad populos nationum. quod ex ea lectione quae in euangelio est liquido poterit manifestari, quemadmodum lex mota sit, dicente scriptura: super cathedram Moysi sederunt scribae et Pharisaei. omnia ergo quae dicunt uobis seruate et facite, secundum opera eorum nolite facere; quae enim dicunt non faciunt. alligant autem onera grauia et imponunt super umeros hominum, ipsi autem digito suo nolunt ea mouere. omnia autem faciunt ut uideantur ab hominibus.

you who sit upon the Cherubim, let the earth be moved.” Aquila beautifully rendered this, saying metastasis, that is, a change from place to place, from Judea to the peoples of the nations. How the law was moved can be made clear from the reading in the gospel, Scripture saying: “The scribes and Pharisees have sat on Moses’ seat. So keep and do all that they tell you, but do not do according to their works; for they say and do not do. They bind heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with their finger. And they do all their works to be seen by men.”

Ps 99:1 (98:1 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 23:2 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 23:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 23:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 23:5 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Aquila’s “change of place” refers to the passing of the law from Judea to the nations; the scribes sit on Moses’ seat but do not move the burdens.

The Greek word is garbled in the digital text and is restored (μετάστασιν). Matt 23:2–5.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Greek word garbled by font encoding in the digital text): jueTaoTaoiv → μετάστασιν.

Topics: The law of Moses, Mission and the spread of the gospel

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.65.2 (CSEL 64:308; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-65-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-65-2

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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 43, chapter 66

43.66.1CSEL 64:308

Quid est sederunt scribae, nisi quia littera scribitur? unde et γραμματεῖς Graece dicuntur scribae, litterae sequentes interpretationem, non spiritus intellectum; littera autem occidit. litteram ergo occidentem sequentes et ipsa appellatione resonantes scribae et Pharisaei sunt, hoc est qui a ueritatis unitate diuisi sunt; phares enim interpretatur diuisio. diuidunt autem Pharisaei

What is “the scribes have sat”, if not that the letter is written? Hence scribes are also called grammateis in Greek, following the interpretation of the letter, not the understanding of the spirit; but the letter kills. So those who follow the killing letter and echo it in their very name are the scribes and Pharisees, that is, those who are divided from the unity of the truth; for phares is interpreted “division”. And the Pharisees divide

Matt 23:2 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 3:6 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The scribes follow the killing letter, and the Pharisees, whose name means “division”, are divided from the truth.

2 Cor 3:6. The etymology of “Pharisee” is Ambrose’s. The sentence continues in the next section.

Topics: Interpreting Scripture

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.66.1 (CSEL 64:308; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-66-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-66-1

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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.

43.66.2CSEL 64:308–309

hoc genere uerba legis, ut resonent et in ipsa meditentur, spiritalis autem mysteria legis et sacramenta non uideant. nam si lex spiritalis est, utique praecepta legis sunt spiritalia et opera eius spiritalia sunt. dicentes ergo quae Moyses scripsit onera grauia ligant corporalibus legis — grauia sunt enim quae contraria iugo Christi sunt — et per doctrinam suam deuiam grauia onera imponunt auribus audientium, quae ipsi ne tantum quidem uolunt mouere, ut a corporalibus legis ad spiritalia scripturae uerba commoueant. sic enim intellegendum, quia digito suo nolunt mouere illa, hoc est nec exiguo puncto atque momento transferunt se ad intellegentiam spiritalem.

the words of the law in this way: so that they echo them and meditate on them, but do not see the spiritual mysteries and sacraments of the law. For if the law is spiritual, surely the precepts of the law are spiritual and its works are spiritual. So, saying what Moses wrote, they bind heavy burdens with the bodily things of the law — for heavy are the things contrary to the yoke of Christ — and by their errant teaching lay heavy burdens on the ears of the hearers, which they themselves will not move even so much as to shift them from the bodily things of the law to the spiritual words of Scripture. For so it must be understood that they will not move them with their finger, that is, not even by a small point and moment do they transfer themselves to spiritual understanding.

Rom 7:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 11:30 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 23:4 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The scribes lay the heavy burdens of a bodily reading on their hearers and will not move toward the spiritual sense.

Rom 7:14; Matt 11:30; Matt 23:4.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray line number in the digital text): ligant 25 corporalibus → ligant corporalibus; gjauia → grauia.

Topics: Scripture and canon, Interpreting Scripture

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.66.2 (CSEL 64:308–309; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-66-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-66-2

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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.

43.66.3CSEL 64:309

est et illud, quia scriptum est: quodsi in digito dei ego eicio daemonia. quid sit digitus, interpretatur ipsa scriptura, quae dicit in alio libro euangelii: quod in spiritu dei ego eicio daemonia. digitus ergo dei spiritus dei est; deus enim spiritus est et nihil habet in sua substantia corporale, sed totus est spiritus. in spiritu ergo dei eicit daemonium qui in digito dei eicit. unde et sanctus Dauid ait: quoniam uidebo caelos tuos, opera digitorum tuorum, hoc est: spiritus tui opera sunt caeli, sicut et scriptum est: uerbo domini caeli firmati sunt et spiritu oris eius omnis uirtus eorum.

There is also this, that it is written: “But if I cast out demons by the finger of God.” What the finger is, Scripture itself interprets, which says in another book of the gospel: “That I cast out demons by the Spirit of God.” The finger of God, then, is the Spirit of God; for God is spirit and has nothing bodily in his substance, but is wholly spirit. So he who casts out by the finger of God casts out the demon by the Spirit of God. Hence holy David too says: “For I shall see your heavens, the works of your fingers”, that is, the heavens are the works of your Spirit, as it is also written: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their power.”

Luke 11:20 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 12:28 (quotation, high confidence) · John 4:24 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 8:3 (8:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 33:6 (32:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The “finger of God” is the Spirit of God, as Luke and Matthew show, by whom the heavens were made.

Luke 11:20; Matt 12:28; John 4:24; Ps 8:3 (LXX 8:4); Ps 33:6 (LXX 32:6).

Topics: Trinity, The Holy Spirit

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.66.3 (CSEL 64:309; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-66-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-66-3

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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 43, chapter 67

43.67.1CSEL 64:309

Ut ergo concludamus disputationem, scribae et Pharisaei nihil ad interiorem hominem referunt, qui, ut ipse est ad imaginem dei et similitudinem factus, ita in his, quae cogitat et quae meditatur, debet magis quae spiritalia sunt quam quae carnalia cogitare. totum ergo ad illum exteriorem, ad illum terrenum hominem referre contendunt et ideo omnia eorum talia sunt, ut uideantur ab hominibus, non ut placeant patri qui in abscondito uidet; timent enim sua opera reuelare.

To conclude the discussion, then: the scribes and Pharisees refer nothing to the inner man, who, as he himself is made to the image and likeness of God, so in what he thinks and meditates ought to think rather of spiritual than of carnal things. They strive to refer everything to that outer, that earthly man, and therefore all their works are such as to be seen by men, not to please the Father who sees in secret; for they fear to reveal their works.

Gen 1:26 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 7:22 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 23:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 6:4 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The scribes and Pharisees care only for the outer man and act to be seen, not to please the Father in secret.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.67.1 (CSEL 64:309; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-67-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-67-1

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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 43, chapter 68

43.68.1CSEL 64:309–310

Haec est ergo commotio capitis quae facta est in populis uel, sicut Aquilas et Symmachus dixerunt: in gentibus; omnes enim gentes mouerunt caput suum, ut legem spiritaliter interpretarentur. nemo secundum litteram legis se putet esse saluandum, quia littera legis maledictum habet, spiritus benedictionem affert.

This, then, is the shaking of the head that took place among the peoples, or, as Aquila and Symmachus said, among the gentiles; for all the gentiles shook their heads so as to interpret the law spiritually. Let no one think that he will be saved according to the letter of the law, because the letter of the law has a curse, the Spirit brings a blessing.

Ps 44:14 (43:15 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Gal 3:10 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 3:6 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The gentiles “shook their heads” to read the law spiritually; the letter brings a curse, the Spirit a blessing.

Topics: Interpreting Scripture, The law of Moses

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.68.1 (CSEL 64:309–310; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-68-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-68-1

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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.

43.68.2CSEL 64:310

nemo ex operibus legis iustificari potest, quia sub maledicto sunt omnes qui sub littera sunt. fugiant ergo omnes maledictum legis et confugiant ad benedictionis gratiam, ut benedictionem habeant in caelestibus in Christo Iesu, qui mortuus est pro nobis, ut fides transiret ad gentes, qui, etsi uir fuit ante synagogae, nec ipsam deseruit et nos redemit.

No one can be justified by the works of the law, because all who are under the letter are under a curse. Let all flee, then, the curse of the law and take refuge in the grace of blessing, so as to have the blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, who died for us so that faith might pass to the gentiles, he who, though he was formerly the husband of the synagogue, did not desert it and redeemed us.

Gal 2:16 (allusion, high confidence) · Gal 3:10 (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 1:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Gal 3:14 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: No one is justified by works of the law; all must flee to the blessing in Christ, who did not desert the synagogue and redeemed us.

Topics: Justification, The law of Moses

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.68.2 (CSEL 64:310; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-68-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-68-2

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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.

43.68.3CSEL 64:310

illam enim non deseruit, ut reliquiae saluae fierent, nos redemit eligendo populos nationum. haec ergo electio gentium salus Iudaeis; reliquiae enim non per opera sua, sed per electionem gratiae saluae factae sunt. gratia est ergo Christi, quae et nos redemit et reliquias uiuificauit. commotio autem capitis facta est gentibus, sed ex hac commotione non mediocris mutationis Iudaei gratiam pertulerunt, quorum reliquiae saluae factae sunt.

For he did not desert it, so that a remnant might be saved; he redeemed us by choosing the peoples of the nations. This choice of the gentiles, then, is salvation for the Jews; for the remnant was saved not by its own works but by the election of grace. It is, then, the grace of Christ which both redeemed us and gave life to the remnant. The shaking of the head took place among the gentiles, but from this shaking the Jews received the grace of no small change, a remnant of whom has been saved.

Rom 11:5 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 11:11 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ saved a remnant of Israel by grace and redeemed the gentiles; their calling brought salvation to the Jews too.

Topics: Grace, The church and Israel

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.68.3 (CSEL 64:310; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-68-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-68-3

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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 43, chapter 69

43.69.1CSEL 64:310

Sequitur: tota die uerecundia mea contra me est et confusio uultus mei operuit me. quid est quod interdum ex persona unius, interdum ex persona plurimorum psalmus hic dicitur? namque a principio a pluribus coepit, ut est: deus, auribus nostris audiuimus et cetera quae secuntur; deinde ait: tu es ipse rex meus et deus meus, iterum: in te inimicos nostros uentilabimus et postea: non in arcu meo sperabo et: in deo laudabimur tota die et:

There follows: “All the day my shame is before me, and the confusion of my face has covered me.” Why is this psalm said sometimes in the person of one, sometimes in the person of many? For from the beginning it started with many, as in: “O God, with our ears we have heard”, and the rest that follows; then he says: “You are yourself my king and my God”; again: “In you we will toss our enemies”; and afterwards: “I will not hope in my bow”, and: “In God we shall be praised all the day”, and:

Ps 44:15 (43:16 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 44:1 (43:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 44:4 (43:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 44:5 (43:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 44:6 (43:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 44:8 (43:9 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The psalm moves between singular and plural speakers.

Ps 44:15 (LXX 43:16). The list continues in the next section.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slips and word splits in the digital text; word splits in the digital text): con f usio uultus mei op eruit me → confusio uultus mei operuit me; tu e ipse s ere t meus → tu es ipse rex meus.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.69.1 (CSEL 64:310; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-69-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-69-1

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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.

43.69.2CSEL 64:310–311

tota die uerecundia mea contra me est. quid sibi uult ista mutatio, quae frequenter in psalmis repetitur, sicut et in centesimo octauo psalmo ait: deus, laudem meam ne tacueris, quia os peccatoris et os dolosi super me apertum est? hoc de uno; sequitur de pluribus: locuti sunt aduersum me lingua dolosa, et odium pro dilectione mea. deinde de uno: constitue super eum peccatorem.

“All the day my shame is before me.” What does this change mean, which is often repeated in the psalms, as in the hundred and eighth psalm he says: “O God, do not keep silent about my praise, because the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful is opened against me”? This is of one; there follows of many: “They spoke against me with a deceitful tongue, and hatred for my love.” Then of one: “Set a sinner over him.”

Ps 44:15 (43:16 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 109:1 (108:1 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 109:2 (108:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 109:3 (108:3 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 109:6 (108:6 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The same shift between one and many occurs in Psalm 108 (109).

Ps 109:1–6 (LXX 108:1–6).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (word spaces lost in the digital text): deindedeuno → deinde de uno.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.69.2 (CSEL 64:310–311; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-69-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-69-2

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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.

43.69.3CSEL 64:311

quod uidetur in centesimo octauo psalmo aliud ad populum Iudaeorum referri, aliud ad ludam proditorem; quando pluraliter dicta, ad populum, quando singulariter, ad ludam. hic quoque possumus dicere, quando pluraliter dicta, ad sanctos, quando singulariter, ad dominum nostrum Iesum Christum referri, quia aestimari potest et pro pluribus in propheta locutus et ipse pro se, et ideo dixerit: uerecundia mea contra me est, quae dicitur ἐντροπή.

In the hundred and eighth psalm one part seems to refer to the people of the Jews, another to Judas the traitor; when things are said in the plural, to the people; when in the singular, to Judas. Here too we can say that when things are said in the plural they refer to the saints, when in the singular to our Lord Jesus Christ, because it can be thought that he spoke in the prophet both for many and for himself; and therefore he said: “My shame is before me”, which is called entropē.

Ps 109:1 (108:1 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 44:15 (43:16 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Plural verses refer to the saints, singular ones to Christ, who speaks of his own shame.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.69.3 (CSEL 64:311; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-69-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-69-3

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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.

43.69.4CSEL 64:311

ἐντροπή autem est, quando uerecundiam uult aliquis incutere alicui, ut inflectat propositum suum, sicut est: descendat nunc de cruce et credimus ei. confidit in deo, liberet nunc eum. pulchre autem ait tota die, quia incarnatio domini nostri Iesu Christi lucem attulit mundo. dies itaque incarnationis est, de quo idem dicit dominus: ambulate dum lucem habetis et: Abraham diem meum uidit. ergo haec uerecundia habet in se confusionem, unde et Symmachus: tota die, inquit, confusio mea contra me est.

Entropē is when someone wishes to strike shame into another, to bend his purpose, as in: “Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now.” Beautifully he says “all the day”, because the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ brought light to the world. So it is the day of the incarnation, of which the same Lord says: “Walk while you have the light”, and: “Abraham saw my day.” So this shame has confusion in it, and hence Symmachus too says: “All the day my confusion is before me.”

Matt 27:42 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 27:43 (quotation, high confidence) · John 12:35 (quotation, high confidence) · John 8:56 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The “shame” is the mockery at the cross; “all the day” is the day of the incarnation.

Matt 27:42–43; John 12:35; John 8:56.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): co nfusio → confusio.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.69.4 (CSEL 64:311; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-69-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-69-4

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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.

43.69.5CSEL 64:311

quae autem confusio Christi nisi crux, quod nudus pependit mea? et bene tota die, quia ex quo affixus est cruci usque in horam nonam tenebrae factae sunt et post horam nonam lux refulsit usque in uesperum. hic dies ex tribus primus. potest tamen et chorus sanctorum pluraliter de se et singulariter loqui. chorus enim quasi singularem personam habet, sed numerus plurimorum est, sicut illud est: populus hic labiis me honorat, cor autem eorum longe est a me.

And what is the confusion of Christ but the cross, that he hung naked? And well “all the day”, because from the time he was fixed to the cross until the ninth hour there was darkness, and after the ninth hour light shone until evening. This day is the first of the three. Yet the choir of the saints too can speak of itself in the plural and in the singular. For a choir has as it were a single person, but it is a number of many, as in that: “This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”

Matt 27:45 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 29:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 15:8 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ’s confusion is the cross; the choir of saints, many yet one, may also speak in singular and plural.

A stray word (mea?) after “hung naked” in the digital text is not translated. Matt 27:45; Isa 29:13 (Matt 15:8).

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.69.5 (CSEL 64:311; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-69-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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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 43, chapter 70

43.70.1CSEL 64:311–312

Quae autem est confusio quae operuit dominum Iesum, cum confusionem peccata faciant — ipsa sunt enim quae operiunt peccatorem —, hic autem peccatum non fecerit? sed quemadmodum est confusio adducens peccatum, ita est confusio quae peccatum abolet, ut confusio crucis domini nostri Iesu Christi, per quam peccata mundantur. est etiam omnis confusio bona, quam pro Christi nomine subeas, et admodum gloriosa, si uerbi gratia in persecutione lex sit, ut uerberetur christianus, ut dignitatem amittat, ut careat priuilegio, ut in uincla ducatur.

But what is the confusion that covered the Lord Jesus, since sins cause confusion — for they are what cover the sinner — but he did no sin? But just as there is a confusion that brings on sin, so there is a confusion that abolishes sin, such as the confusion of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which sins are cleansed. Every confusion too is good which you undergo for the name of Christ, and very glorious, if, for example, in persecution there is a law that a Christian is to be flogged, lose his rank, lack his privilege, be led into chains.

Ps 44:15 (43:16 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Pet 2:22 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Pet 4:16 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The confusion of the cross abolishes sin, and every shame endured for Christ’s name in persecution is glorious.

1 Pet 2:22.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray period in the digital text): concisionem → confusionem; peccaium → peccatum; abolet, ut. confusio → abolet, ut confusio.

Topics: Persecution, Passion and death of Christ

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.70.1 (CSEL 64:311–312; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-70-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-70-1

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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.

43.70.2CSEL 64:312

haec utique confusio, etsi priuilegium non habet, habet gloriam piae confessionis. est autem et Christi confusio, sicut ipse ait: qui me confusus fuerit coram hominibus, confundam et ego eum coram patre meo qui est in caelis. bona ergo confusio; plerisque tamen huiusmodi confusio Christi amara est, hoc est non credentibus, iocunda credentibus.

This confusion, though it has no privilege, has the glory of a pious confession. There is also confusion about Christ, as he himself says: “He who is ashamed of me before men, I too will be ashamed of him before my Father who is in heaven.” So the confusion is good; yet to very many such confusion over Christ is bitter, that is, to unbelievers, but pleasant to believers.

Matt 10:33 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 9:26 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Shame for Christ’s sake is the glory of confession; being ashamed of Christ brings his shame on us.

Ambrose’s form combines Matt 10:33 and Luke 9:26.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (word splits and OCR slip in the digital text): i n c a e 1 i s. → in caelis..

Topics: Martyrdom

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.70.2 (CSEL 64:312; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-70-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-70-2

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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 43, chapter 71

43.71.1CSEL 64:312

Siue ergo uelis confusionem Christi intellegere in crucem eius, quae Iudaeis uidebatur esse confusio, qui insultabant ei, quasi erubesceret Christus in eo opere in quo publicam operabatur salutem, siue etiam hanc confusionem, quae ingeri uidebatur a uoce exprobrantis et obloquentis, a facie inimici et persequentis. erubescebat enim sic lapsum esse electum populum suum et confundebatur in eos apud patrem, quorum finis aduenerat. praesens enim erat filio pater, a quo numquam potest filius separari, et ideo audiebat dicentem Iudaeis: ecce relinquetur uobis domus uestra deserta.

So, whether you wish to understand the confusion of Christ as his cross, which seemed a confusion to the Jews who insulted him, as though Christ blushed in that work in which he was working the salvation of all; or also this confusion which seemed to be inflicted “by the voice of the one who reproaches and reviles, by the face of the enemy and persecutor”: for he blushed that his chosen people had fallen so, and he was confounded at them before the Father, whose end had come. For the Father was present with the Son, from whom the Son can never be separated, and therefore he heard him saying to the Jews: “See, your house will be left to you desolate.”

Ps 44:16 (43:17 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · John 16:32 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 23:38 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ’s confusion was the cross, or his shame before the Father at his people’s fall.

Ps 44:16 (LXX 43:17); Matt 23:38.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (word spaces lost in the digital text; word splits in the digital text): a f acie inimici e t persequentis → a facie inimici et persequentis; domusuestradeserta → domus uestra deserta.

Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.71.1 (CSEL 64:312; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-71-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-71-1

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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.