Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.72.1–43.95.2
Latin text: CSEL 64 (Latin text: Schenkl/Petschenig, CSEL 64, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (csel-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Explanation 43, chapter 72
43.72.1CSEL 64:312–313
Sunt autem etiam qui in confusione sua gloriantur, sicut illi de quibus dicit apostolus, quia gloria eorum in confusione ipsorum. quibus contraria est gloria Christi, qui crucem suscepit nec confusionem refugit, quam nos quoque minime timere debemus nec formidine aut fastidio declinare, ne peccatum supra nos adducat quae potest adducere gratiam uitae. est enim et confusionis gloria, ut si in multos gentiles incidas uel philosophos et illi tibi obiciant crucem Christi et uerbo respondere non possis nec quisquam audiat salutaria uerba referentem.
But there are also those who glory in their confusion, like those of whom the apostle says that their glory is in their shame. Contrary to them is the glory of Christ, who took up the cross and did not shrink from confusion, which we too ought not to fear at all nor avoid from dread or disdain, lest the thing that can bring the grace of life bring sin upon us. For there is also a glory in confusion: as if you fall among many gentiles or philosophers and they cast the cross of Christ up at you, and you cannot answer them with a word, and no one listens to you as you speak saving words.
Phil 3:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 12:2 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Unlike those who glory in their shame, Christ did not shrink from the shame of the cross, nor should we when mocked for it.
- Phil 3:19; Heb 12:2.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text): possisnec → possis nec.
Topics: Passion and death of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.72.1 (CSEL 64:312–313; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-72-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-72-1
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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.
43.72.2CSEL 64:313
est confusio, sed a uoce exprobrantis et obloquentis, a facie inimici et persequentis. et ideo noli respondere insipienti ad insipientiam eius; esto sicut homo mutus et tacens et quasi non audiens uerba insultantium et obloquentium, non quo respondere non queas, sed quo respondere non debeas. omni enim rei tempus, tempus tacendi et tempus loquendi. tacendum est, quando paratum non inuenis auditorem, loquendum est, quando dominus linguam eruditionis indulget, ut sermo tuus operetur in affectibus audientium.
It is a confusion, but “from the voice of the one who reproaches and reviles, from the face of the enemy and persecutor.” And therefore do not answer a fool according to his folly; be like a man who is dumb and silent and as though not hearing the words of those who insult and revile, not because you cannot answer but because you ought not to answer. For there is a time for everything, a time to keep silence and a time to speak. One must keep silence when one does not find a ready hearer; one must speak when the Lord grants a tongue of instruction, so that your word may work in the affections of the hearers.
Ps 44:16 (43:17 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 26:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 38:13 (37:14 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Eccl 3:1 (quotation, high confidence) · Eccl 3:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 50:4 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: When mocked for the cross, one should keep silence before scoffers and speak when there is a willing hearer.
- Ps 44:16 (LXX 43:17); Prov 26:4; Ps 38:13 (LXX 37:14); Eccl 3:1, 7; Isa 50:4.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): tacens 3t quasi → tacens et quasi.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.72.2 (CSEL 64:313; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-72-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-72-2
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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.
43.72.3CSEL 64:313
quomodo autem te audiat, qui ideo tibi obloquitur, eo quod salubrem tuum nolit audire sermonem, aut quomodo tibi adquiescat, qui persecutor est et uelit te sibi uindicare aut, ut Aquilas dixit uel Symmachus, ut ulciscatur et puniat in te, quod Christi hereditas ad gentes uideatur esse transfusa? longe itaque ista confusio a confusione et obprobrio peccatoris. istius enim conscientia inluminatur, qui oblitus non est dei sui, illorum confunditur, quorum ingenium caligat atque perturbat recordatio delictorum.
For how will he hear you who reviles you because he does not wish to hear your saving word; or how will he agree with you who is a persecutor and wishes to take vengeance on you, or, as Aquila or Symmachus said, to avenge himself and punish in you the fact that the inheritance of Christ seems to have passed over to the gentiles? Far, then, is this confusion from the confusion and reproach of the sinner. For the conscience of this one, who has not forgotten his God, is enlightened; that of those is confounded, whose minds the remembrance of their offences darkens and disturbs.
Ps 44:16 (43:17 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 44:17 (43:18 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The shame endured by the faithful enlightens the conscience; the shame of sinners confounds them.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.72.3 (CSEL 64:313; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-72-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-72-3
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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 73
43.73.1CSEL 64:313
Et ideo bene sibi conscii dicunt: haec omnia uenerunt super nos et obliti non sumus te et inique non egimus in testamento tuo; et non recessit retro cor nostrum et declinasti semitas nostras de uia tua. uidetur uersiculus ultimus non concordare superioribus. nam quomodo declinarunt hi, quibus diuinitatis nulla obrepsit obliuio nec alicuius iniquitatis conscientia nec ulla desidia?
And therefore, well aware of themselves, they say: “All these things have come upon us, and we have not forgotten you, and we have not acted unjustly in your covenant; and our heart has not turned back, and you have turned aside our paths from your way.” The last verse seems not to agree with the preceding ones. For how did those turn aside on whom no forgetfulness of God crept, no consciousness of any iniquity, no sloth?
Ps 44:17 (43:18 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 44:18 (43:19 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: How can those who did not forget God say that he turned aside their paths?
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text; word splits and OCR slips in the digital text): r etr o → retro; s emitas no str as de tua t u a. → semitas nostras de uia tua..
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.73.1 (CSEL 64:313; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-73-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-73-1
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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.
43.73.2CSEL 64:313–314
sed si consideres, quia iustus uix saluus fit, intellegis profecto et ipsius nonnumquam titubare uestigia et auctorem declinationis eorum deum uideri, quia ipse quoque patitur iustos saepe temptari, quo magis probentur temptationibus eruditi. quis autem est
But if you consider that the righteous man is scarcely saved, you understand that even his footsteps sometimes stagger, and that God seems to be the author of their turning aside, because he too allows the righteous to be tempted often, so that, trained by temptations, they may be the more proved. And who is
1 Pet 4:18 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 73:2 (72:2 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Even the righteous stagger, and God allows their testing so that they may be proved.
- 1 Pet 4:18. The sentence continues in the next section.
Topics: Temptation
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.73.2 (CSEL 64:313–314; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-73-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-73-2
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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.
43.73.3CSEL 64:314
tam fortis, ut nequaquam in temptatione moueatur, nisi dominus ei adiutor adsistat? denique conturbatus est et ipse propheta Dauid, quia dixit in sua abundantia: non mouebor in aeternum. aut quis est ille, quem locus afflictationis et terrae corruptela non moueat, cum diuina sententia neminem exceperit qui sit ab exercitio et a fatigatione terrae huius immunis, cui dictum est: maledicta terra in omnibus operibus tuis?
so strong that he is in no way moved in temptation, unless the Lord stands by him as helper? Finally, the prophet David himself was troubled, because he said in his abundance: “I shall not be moved for ever.” Or who is there whom the place of affliction and the corruption of the earth does not move, since the divine sentence excepted no one from being free of the toil and weariness of this earth, to which it was said: “Cursed is the earth in all your works;
Ps 30:6 (29:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 30:7 (29:8 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 3:17 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: No one stands unmoved without the Lord’s help; David was shaken, and all share the curse on the earth.
- Ps 30:6 (LXX 29:7); Gen 3:17 in Ambrose’s form. The quotation continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text): terrain → terra in.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.73.3 (CSEL 64:314; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-73-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-73-3
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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.
43.73.4CSEL 64:314
spinas, inquit, et tribulos germinabit. denique ipse Paulus, dominicae uas electionis, a maledictione ueteris sententiae absolutus domini Iesu passione tamen captiuum se duci in lege peccati uehementissime deplorauit nec quemquam nisi Christum a quo liberaretur inuenit, cum eum lex sui corporis et umbra mortis urgeret.
thorns,” it says, “and thistles it will bring forth.” Finally, Paul himself, the Lord’s chosen vessel, freed from the curse of the old sentence by the passion of the Lord Jesus, yet most vehemently lamented that he was led captive in the law of sin, and found no one but Christ to free him, when the law of his body and the shadow of death pressed upon him.
Gen 3:18 (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 9:15 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 7:23 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 7:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 7:25 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Even Paul, freed from the old curse, lamented the law of sin and found deliverance only in Christ.
- Gen 3:18; Acts 9:15; Rom 7:23–25.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips and word splits in the digital text; word space lost in the digital text): sp 1 n as, iJlquit → spinas, inquit; sententiao → sententiae; eumlex → eum lex.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.73.4 (CSEL 64:314; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-73-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-73-4
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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 74
43.74.1CSEL 64:314
Diximus sensum. sed expressius, qui locus sit afflictationis, considerare nos conuenit, utrum hic mundus, qui in maligno positus est, an uero caro nostra, in qua anima nostra humiliatur, dum in istius carnis descendit societatem, an aduersa, quibus exercemur
We have given the sense. But it is fitting for us to consider more expressly what the place of affliction is: whether this world, which is set in the evil one, or our flesh, in which our soul is humbled when it comes down into the fellowship of this flesh, or the adversities by which we are exercised
Ps 44:19 (43:20 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · 1 John 5:19 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: What is the “place of affliction”: the world, the flesh, or the adversities of this body?
- Ps 44:19 (LXX 43:20); 1 John 5:19. The sentence continues in the next section.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.74.1 (CSEL 64:314; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-74-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-74-1
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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.
43.74.2CSEL 64:314
in hoc corpore constituti, in quo ingemescimus grauati, quod nolumus spoliari, sed superuestiri. grauis enim labor est, dum expectamus, ut absorbeatur mortale a uita hoc quo nos expoliare debemus; minore enim labore expoliatur quam absorbetur. et uide, ne ea diuersitas sit expoliantis se et expectantis, ut absorbeatur a uita: expoliat gratia, absorbet paenitentia;
while set in this body, in which we groan, being burdened, because we do not wish to be stripped but to be clothed over. For it is a heavy labour while we wait for what is mortal to be swallowed up by life, which we ought to strip off; for it is stripped off with less labour than it is swallowed up. And see whether this is not the difference between one who strips himself and one who waits to be swallowed up by life: grace strips, repentance swallows up;
2 Cor 5:4 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 5:2 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: In this body we groan, waiting for mortality to be swallowed up by life; grace strips it off, repentance swallows it up.
- 2 Cor 5:4.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.74.2 (CSEL 64:314; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-74-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-74-2
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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.
43.74.3CSEL 64:314–315
expoliat sublimitas mentis, absorbet diligentia. quomodo autem dubites, quod afflictationis hic locus sit, quando corpus est mortis, in quo operit nos etiam umbra mortis? et ideo ad lucernam illam semper debemus intendere, quae est uerbum dei, ut sciamus, quemadmodum nostri animi semitas dirigamus et uestigia mentis interna, ut lux animorum soluat tenebras corporales.
loftiness of mind strips, diligence swallows up. And how can you doubt that this is the place of affliction, since it is the body of death, in which the shadow of death too covers us? And therefore we ought always to look to that lamp which is the word of God, so that we may know how to direct the paths of our soul and the inner footsteps of the mind, so that the light of souls may dissolve the darkness of the body.
Rom 7:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 44:19 (43:20 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 119:105 (118:105 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The body of death is the place of affliction; we must look always to the lamp of God’s word.
- Rom 7:24; Ps 44:19 (LXX 43:20); Ps 119:105 (LXX 118:105).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost and OCR slip in the digital text): expoliatsubliniitas → expoliat sublimitas.
Topics: Scripture and canon
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.74.3 (CSEL 64:314–315; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-74-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-74-3
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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 75
43.75.1CSEL 64:315
Pulchre autem et Aquilae interpretatio, quemadmodum intellegere debeamus locum afflictationis, expressit dicendo: quoniam humiliasti nos in loco sirenum, ut non caro in uitio sit siue natura, sed ea quae carnem corruptibilem esse fecerunt. denique sirenas, quarum secundo et tertio mentionem fecit scriptura diuina, quasdam puellas gentilis tradidit historia, quae uocis propriae suauitate canendo inlecebris prouocabant audiendi studio nauigantes ad litus admouere nauigium; eosque, cum gratiam uocis secuntur, scopuloso in loco incidisse naufragium uetus historia posteris tradidit.
Aquila’s rendering too beautifully expressed how we ought to understand the place of affliction, saying: “For you have humbled us in the place of the sirens”, so that it is not the flesh or nature that is at fault, but the things that made the flesh corruptible. Finally, the sirens, of which divine Scripture makes mention a second and third time, gentile story has handed down to be certain maidens who by the sweetness of their own voice in singing enticed sailors, by the desire to hear, to bring their ship to the shore; and ancient story has handed down to later generations that, when they followed the charm of the voice, they suffered shipwreck in a rocky place.
Ps 44:19 (43:20 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 13:21 (allusion, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Aquila’s “place of the sirens” points to the enticements, not the flesh itself, that bring us to shipwreck.
- The sirens appear in some Greek and Latin versions (e.g. Isa 13:21–22; Job 30:29); the story is Homer, Od. 12.
Extrabiblical texts: Homer, Od. 12 (Homer, Odyssey; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.75.1 (CSEL 64:315; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-75-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-75-1
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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.
43.75.2CSEL 64:315
earum autem interpretatio haec est: uoluptas uocis et quaedam adulatio. ita ergo saeculi uoluptas nos quadam carnali adulatione delectat, ut decipiat. ut ergo illic non litus in uitio erat, sed canora dulcedo, quae faciebat asperitatem litoris non caueri, ita non caro in uitio, sed ea quibus caro ista sollicitatur et fluctuat. denique mare, cum tempestas desit, quietum est, si procella saeuiat, periculosum.
Their interpretation is this: pleasure of the voice and a kind of flattery. So, then, the pleasure of the world delights us with a kind of carnal flattery, so as to deceive. So, just as there the shore was not at fault, but the melodious sweetness which made men not beware of the roughness of the shore, so the flesh is not at fault, but the things by which this flesh is solicited and tossed. Finally, the sea, when there is no storm, is calm; if a gale rages, it is dangerous.
Notes and citation
Summary: As the sirens’ song, not the shore, wrecked sailors, so worldly pleasures, not the flesh itself, endanger us.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.75.2 (CSEL 64:315; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-75-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-75-2
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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 76
43.76.1CSEL 64:315–316
Et Septuaginta uirorum uidetur cum his sententia conuenire, cum dicunt [quia scriptum est]: quoniam humiliasti nos s. cuius interpretationis testimonia de scripturis nobis sunt arcessenda diuinis. ait enim in Deuteronomio: si exieris, inquit, in pugnam aduersus inimicos tuos et tradiderit tibi eos dominus deus tuus in manus tuas et depraedatus fueris spolia eorum et uideris in ea depraedatione mulierem bonam specie et cohabitaueris cum ea, et infra:
And the view of the Seventy seems to agree with these, when they say: “For you have humbled us …” Testimonies to this interpretation must be brought for us from the divine Scriptures. For he says in Deuteronomy: “If you go out to battle against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands, and you take their spoils, and in that plundering you see a woman of good appearance and live with her”; and below:
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Ps 44:19 (43:20 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 21:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 21:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 21:13 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Septuagint’s “humbled” is explained from Deuteronomy’s law on the captive woman.
- The editor deletes “[as it is written]” (in square brackets); it is left out. A stray letter after “humbled us” in the digital text is not translated. Deut 21:10–14.
Topics: Marriage
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.76.1 (CSEL 64:315–316; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-76-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-76-1
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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.
43.76.2CSEL 64:316
si nolueris eam postea, dimittes eam liberam, quia humiliasti eam. uides ergo, quoniam non natura sui eam, sed is, qui ei integritatem pudoris eripuit, humiliasse perhibetur. humilitas ergo operis est, per quod caro ista peccati corpus effecta est et locus afflictationis. iterum alibi: si desponsata fuerit uirgo uiro et inueniens eam homo in ciuitate dormierit cum ea, educentur ambo ad portam ciuitatis suae et lapidabuntur et morietur iuuencula, quia non exclamauit in ciuitate nec inuocauit hominem qui subueniret, et uir, inquit, quia humiliauit mulierem proximi sui.
“If afterwards you do not want her, you shall let her go free, because you have humbled her.” You see, then, that it is not her own nature but he who took from her the integrity of her modesty who is said to have humbled her. So the humiliation is of the deed, by which this flesh has become a body of sin and a place of affliction. Again elsewhere: “If a virgin is betrothed to a man, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, both shall be brought out to the gate of their city and shall be stoned; and the girl shall die because she did not cry out in the city nor call a man to help her, and the man,” it says, “because he humbled his neighbour’s wife.”
Deut 21:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 22:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 22:24 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 6:6 (allusion, low confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The laws on the dismissed captive wife and the betrothed virgin show that “humbling” is the act of the one who violates, not of nature.
- Deut 21:14 (the captive wife who is sent away) and Deut 22:23–24, quoted to explain the word “humble”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word split in the digital text): d esponsata → desponsata.
Topics: Marriage, Divorce and remarriage
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.76.2 (CSEL 64:316; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-76-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-76-2
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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.
43.76.3CSEL 64:316
et hic eadem est huius causa sermonis, ut a corruptore humiliata dicatur. tertium quoque habes de hac re testimonium et plura, si quaeras. tamen de eodem libro audi: siquis inuenerit uirginem quae non sit desponsata et uim faciens ei dormierit cum ea et inuentus fuerit, dabit qui dormiuit cum ea patri iuuenculae quinquaginta denarios et erit uxor eius, quia humiliauit eam; nec poterit dimittere eam per omne tempus, propter quod humiliauit eam. ipse sermo repetitus est, ut intellegas, quia non condicio carnis uideatur nos humiliare, sed culpa.
And here the reason for this word is the same: that she is said to be humbled by the one who corrupted her. You have a third testimony on this matter too, and more if you seek them. Yet hear from the same book: “If anyone finds a virgin who is not betrothed and, using force on her, lies with her and is found, the one who lay with her shall give the girl’s father fifty denarii, and she shall be his wife, because he humbled her; nor shall he be able to put her away all his life, because he humbled her.” The same word is repeated so that you may understand that it is not the condition of the flesh but guilt that seems to humble us.
Deut 22:28 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 22:29 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The law forbidding the violator to put away the girl he “humbled” shows again that guilt, not the flesh, humbles us.
- Deut 22:28–29, including the prohibition of divorce in that case; quoted to explain the word “humble”.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip and lost word space in the digital text; stray period in the digital text): uirginem. quae → uirginem quae; humilinuiteam → humiliauit eam.
Topics: Marriage, Divorce and remarriage
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.76.3 (CSEL 64:316; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-76-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-76-3
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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 77
43.77.1CSEL 64:316–317
Nec tamen negare possumus, quod multis humilietur et caro, loco ipso, inlecebris ipsis, fragilitate quoque qua patuit errori. quae licet non a mediocri aduersario serpente decepta sit, habebat tamen sui non mediocrem gratiam, antequam peccatum inreperet: in conspectu erat dei Adam, in paradiso uigebat, caelesti gratia refulgebat, loquebatur cum deo. num eum humiliatum ante legisti nisi posteaquam praeuaricatio eum humiliauit sua?
Yet we cannot deny that for many the flesh too is humbled, by the place itself, by the enticements themselves, and also by the frailty by which it lay open to error. Though it was deceived by no ordinary adversary, the serpent, yet before sin crept in it had no ordinary grace of its own: Adam was in the sight of God, he flourished in paradise, he shone with heavenly grace, he spoke with God. Have you read that he was humbled before his own transgression humbled him?
Gen 3:1 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 2:15 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 3:8 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The flesh is humbled through frailty, but Adam was in glory until his own transgression humbled him.
Topics: The fall
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.77.1 (CSEL 64:316–317; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-77-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-77-1
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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.
43.77.2CSEL 64:317
cuius uitii hereditatem ad nos utique transmisit, ut in hoc corpore constituti nolimus peregrinari de corpore et adesse deo. et ideo humiliamus animam nostram, quae se ad deum gestit attollere; sed corruptibile corpus grauat animam terrenaque habitacula praeponderant, ut mens deuota deo frequenter inclinetur nec se subicere deo possit, quoniam subiectionem sui sapientia carnis ignorat, quae nostrum inuoluit affectum.
He certainly passed on to us the inheritance of this fault, so that, set in this body, we do not wish to be away from the body and present with God. And therefore we humble our soul, which longs to lift itself up to God; but the corruptible body weighs down the soul, and the earthly dwelling outweighs it, so that the mind devoted to God is often bent down and cannot submit itself to God, since the wisdom of the flesh, which wraps round our affection, does not know how to submit itself.
2 Cor 5:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 8:7 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Adam’s fault passed to us; the corruptible body weighs down the soul and the wisdom of the flesh will not submit to God.
- 2 Cor 5:8; Wis 9:15; Rom 8:7.
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 9:15 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)
Topics: Original sin and concupiscence, The fall
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.77.2 (CSEL 64:317; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-77-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-77-2
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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 78
43.78.1CSEL 64:317
Dicentes haec de nobis quid de carne domini nostri Iesu Christi dicimus? qui utique suscepit carnis istius ueritatem et ideo semet ipsum humiliauit usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis. diligenter adtende et considera singula. uide quia uolens suscepit hanc formam corporis nostri et tuae obsequia seruitutis, in similitudinem hominum factus, non in similitudinem carnis, sed in similitudinem hominum peccatorum; omnis enim homo sub peccato.
Saying these things about ourselves, what do we say of the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ? He certainly took on the reality of this flesh, and therefore humbled himself to death, even death on a cross. Attend carefully and consider each point. See that he willingly took on this form of our body and the obedience of your servitude, made in the likeness of men, not in the likeness of flesh, but in the likeness of sinful men; for every man is under sin.
Phil 2:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 2:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 8:3 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rom 3:9 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ took on real flesh and willingly humbled himself to death on a cross.
- Phil 2:7–8; Rom 8:3; Rom 3:9.
Topics: Christology, Incarnation, Passion and death of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.78.1 (CSEL 64:317; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-78-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-78-1
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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.
43.78.2CSEL 64:317–318
ideo et specie inuentus ut homo — ut scriptum est de eo: et homo est, et quis cognoscet eum? homo secundum carnem, sed ultra hominem secundum operationem —, ut homo, inquit, humiliauit semet ipsum, quia ad eos deus uenit qui humiliati fuerant liberandos. ipse se ergo humiliauit propter nos. non ergo corpus illius corpus mortis, siquidem corpus est uitae, nec caro illius umbra mortis, siquidem fulgor est gloriae, nec in quo locus afflictationis, siquidem in illo corpore omnibus gratia
Therefore he was also found in appearance as a man — as it is written of him: “And he is a man, and who will know him?”: man according to the flesh, but beyond man according to his working —; as a man, it says, he humbled himself, because God came to free those who had been humbled. So he humbled himself for our sake. So his body is not a body of death, since it is a body of life; nor is his flesh the shadow of death, since it is the brightness of glory; nor is there in it a place of affliction, since in that body there is for all the grace
Phil 2:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 2:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 17:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Heb 1:3 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ humbled himself as man to free the humbled; his body is a body of life and glory, not of death.
- Phil 2:7–8; Jer 17:9 (LXX/Old Latin). The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word space lost in the digital text): uthomo → ut homo.
Topics: Christology, Incarnation
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.78.2 (CSEL 64:317–318; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-78-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-78-2
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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.
43.78.3CSEL 64:318
consolationis. humiliauit se, ut disceres quid sit humilitas. denique audi dicentem: discite a me, quia mitis sum et humilis corde. ille se humiliauit, ut tu exaltareris; qui enim se humiliat exaltabitur. sed non omnes qui humiliantur exaltabuntur; multos enim crimen humiliat ad ruinam. humiliatus autem dominus usque ad mortem est, ut de portis mortis exaltaretur.
of consolation. He humbled himself, so that you might learn what humility is. Finally, hear him saying: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart.” He humbled himself, so that you might be exalted; for he who humbles himself will be exalted. But not all who are humbled will be exalted; for crime humbles many to ruin. But the Lord was humbled to death, so as to be exalted from the gates of death.
Matt 11:29 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 14:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 9:13 (9:14 LXX) (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ humbled himself to teach humility and to be exalted from the gates of death.
- Matt 11:29; Luke 14:11; Ps 9:13 (LXX 9:14).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word spaces lost in the digital text): ame, quia mitissumet → a me, quia mitis sum et.
Topics: Christology, Humility and pride
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.78.3 (CSEL 64:318; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-78-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-78-3
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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 79
43.79.1CSEL 64:318
Ecce uide gratiam Christi, uide beneficia eius. posteaquam Christus aduenit, haec caro quae erat umbra mortis coepit per gratiam domini refulgere et habere lumen proprium, unde et dictum est: lucerna corporis tui est oculus tuus. sed uide de quo oculo dicat: non de exteriore, sed de interiore. si oculus, inquit,
See, then, the grace of Christ, see his benefits. After Christ came, this flesh, which was the shadow of death, began by the grace of the Lord to shine and to have its own light; hence it was also said: “The lamp of your body is your eye.” But see of what eye he speaks: not of the outer but of the inner. “If your eye,” he says,
Matt 6:22 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Since Christ came, our flesh shines; the inner eye is the lamp of the body.
- Matt 6:22. The quotation continues in the next section.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.79.1 (CSEL 64:318; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-79-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-79-1
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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.
43.79.2CSEL 64:318
tuus simplex fuerit, totum corpus tuum lucidum erit. interior utique est oculus qui totum hominis corpus inluminat, interior est etiam oculus qui affert toto corpori caecitatem, quia scriptum est: si autem nequam fuerit oculus tuus, totum corpus tuum tenebrosum erit. uides in uno homine, ut, unde tenebrae nascuntur, inde lumen oriatur.
“is single, your whole body will be full of light.” Certainly it is the inner eye that lights the whole body of a man; it is also the inner eye that brings blindness to the whole body, because it is written: “But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be dark.” You see that in one man light rises from the same place where darkness is born.
Matt 6:22 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 6:23 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The inner eye brings light or darkness to the whole man.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.79.2 (CSEL 64:318; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-79-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-79-2
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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.
43.79.3CSEL 64:318
ipse tibi ergo es caligo uel lumen, caligo iniquitatis et tenebrae peccatorum, lumen innocentiae. ipse tibi ergo es uel iniuriae auctor uel gratiae; operatio diuina nil errat. lumen in te ipso est, quia innocentia infantia tua est, pura mens hominis ante adulescentiae lubricum et iuuentutis errorem. tu tibi ergo tenebras fecisti esse quod lumen est. denique idem oculus, hoc est sensus hominis tenebrosus est in peccatore, splendidus in innocente.
So you yourself are your darkness or your light: the darkness of iniquity and the darkness of sins, the light of innocence. You yourself are the author either of injury or of grace for yourself; the divine work does not err. The light is in you yourself, because innocence is your infancy, the pure mind of man before the slipperiness of adolescence and the error of youth. So you have made what is light into darkness for yourself. Finally the same eye, that is, the sense of man, is dark in the sinner, bright in the innocent.
Matt 6:23 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Each person makes himself light or darkness; the same inner sense is dark in the sinner and bright in the innocent.
Topics: Ethics
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.79.3 (CSEL 64:318; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-79-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-79-3
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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 80
43.80.1CSEL 64:318–319
Nec illud praetereamus quod Symmachus ait: afflixisti nos in loco deserto. ideo affligimur, quia interdum destituimur protectione caelesti et regio ista sub maledicto est uel in lubrico saeculari. necdum quoque benedixerat terram suam dominus noster Iesus Christus et ideo laborabant nec ad lumen pietatis eius oculorum spiritalium intendebatur obtutus. deinde quia uoluptas et delectatio mundi frequenter inrepit.
Nor let us pass over what Symmachus says: “You have afflicted us in a desert place.” We are afflicted because at times we are deprived of heavenly protection, and this region is under a curse or in the slipperiness of the world. Our Lord Jesus Christ had not yet blessed his earth, and therefore they toiled, and the gaze of spiritual eyes was not directed to the light of his mercy. Then, too, because the pleasure and delight of the world often creep in.
Ps 44:19 (43:20 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 3:17 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Symmachus’s “desert place” is the world under the curse, before Christ blessed the earth.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (line-end hyphen and stray line number in the digital text): pie- 30 tatis → pietatis.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.80.1 (CSEL 64:318–319; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-80-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-80-1
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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.
43.80.2CSEL 64:319
unde non uinculis hominis illius ligare nos atque uincire debemus nec cera aures claudere, sed auertere aurem, quotienscumque aliena a fide et contraria uel aduersa utilitati nostrae aliquis existimat obloquenda, ne in eo sermone operiat umbra nos mortis. et si quid tale profertur, nos tamen dei uerbum debemus inserere, quod mentis nostrae oculos fulgore disputationis inluminet.
Hence we ought not to bind and tie ourselves with the bonds of that man, nor stop our ears with wax, but turn our ear away whenever someone thinks things should be said that are foreign to the faith and contrary or opposed to our benefit, lest in that talk the shadow of death cover us. And if anything such is put forward, we ought nevertheless to put in the word of God, to light up the eyes of our mind with the brightness of its discussion.
Notes and citation
Summary: Against the world’s sirens we need not Ulysses’ bonds or wax, but to turn our ears away and bring in God’s word.
- “That man” is Ulysses, who was bound to the mast and stopped his sailors’ ears with wax (Homer, Od. 12).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip and stray period in the digital text): atque uinclrr. debemus → atque uincire debemus; nootrae → nostrae.
Extrabiblical texts: Homer, Od. 12 (Homer, Odyssey; allusion)
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.80.2 (CSEL 64:319; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-80-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-80-2
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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 81
43.81.1CSEL 64:319
Sequitur: si obliti sumus nomen dei nostri et si expandimus manus nostras ad deos alienos, nonne deus requiret ista? — Aquilas: inuestigabit ista? Symmachus: inueniet ista? — ipse enim nouit occulta cordis. quia propter te morte afficimur tota die, aestimati sumus ut oues occisionis. quid est quod ait requiret deus? quasi, si non requirat, ignoret, et sic requiret deus obliuionem tuam quae inrepsit, ut auferat eius omne uestigium. unde et Aquilas dixit: inuestigabit.
There follows: “If we have forgotten the name of our God and if we have stretched out our hands to strange gods, will not God require this?” — Aquila: “will search this out?”; Symmachus: “will find this?” — “for he knows the secrets of the heart. For your sake we are put to death all the day; we are counted as sheep for slaughter.” What does he mean, “God will require”? As though, if he did not require it, he would not know; and so God will require your forgetfulness which has crept in, so as to take away every trace of it. Hence Aquila too said: “will search out”.
Ps 44:20 (43:21 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 44:21 (43:22 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 44:22 (43:23 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God, who knows the secrets of the heart, “requires” forgetfulness of him so as to remove every trace of it.
- Ps 44:20–22 (LXX 43:21–23).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip and word split in the digital text; word split in the digital text): norr. en → nomen; propter t e morte → propter te morte; aestim ati → aestimati.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.81.1 (CSEL 64:319; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-81-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-81-1
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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.
43.81.2CSEL 64:319
nam utique qui nouit cordis occulta quomodo quaerit, cui etiam ea quae sunt interiora manifesta sunt siquidem apud deum conscientia uniuscuiusque se prodit et cogitatio hominis apud eum se aut condemnat aut purgat. denique Aquilas uisiones cordis dixit, eo quod uideat cor nostrum et omnis nostri cogitatio cordis in promptu sit apud deum atque ei cogitationum nostrarum imago resplendeat. bene illud ait Aquilas: in te morte afficimur, quoniam in Christo mori gloriosum et in ipso moritur, qui pro eius nomine sacra passione est coronatus.
For how does he who knows the secrets of the heart seek, to whom even what is within is plain? For before God each one’s conscience betrays itself, and a man’s thought either condemns or clears itself before him. Finally Aquila said “visions of the heart”, because he sees our heart and every thought of our heart is open before God and the image of our thoughts shines back to him. Aquila said that well: “In you we are put to death”, since it is glorious to die in Christ, and he dies in him who has been crowned with sacred suffering for his name.
Ps 44:21 (43:22 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 44:22 (43:23 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 2:15 (allusion, medium confidence) · Heb 4:13 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God sees the heart’s thoughts; to die in Christ for his name is glorious.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): ulique → utique.
Topics: Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.81.2 (CSEL 64:319; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-81-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-81-2
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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.
43.81.3CSEL 64:319–320
sed quid miraris, quod requirentem deum occulta cordis uersiculus iste declaret, cum alibi deum scrutatorem legeris cordis? quid etiam miraris, si uerbis nostris maiestas diuinae substantiae explicari non possit, cum ait apostolus: nolite ante tempus quid iudicare, donec ueniat dominus, qui inluminabit occulta tenebrarum et manifestabit consilia cordium; et tunc laus erit unicuique a deo?
But why are you surprised that this verse declares that God requires the secrets of the heart, when you read elsewhere that God is the searcher of the heart? Why are you surprised, too, if the majesty of the divine substance cannot be explained by our words, when the apostle says: “Do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will light up the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of hearts; and then each one will have praise from God”?
Ps 7:9 (7:10 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 8:27 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 4:5 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God searches hearts and will reveal their hidden counsels at his coming.
- Ps 7:9 (LXX 7:10); Rom 8:27; 1 Cor 4:5.
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.81.3 (CSEL 64:319–320; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-81-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-81-3
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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.
43.81.4CSEL 64:320
tenebras cordis saepe loco criminis legimus, immo prope ubique. uide ergo, ne ista sint occulta tenebrarum quae sunt cordis occulta, ideoque tenebrarum nomen acceperint, quod ea ab aliis non deprehendantur, sed lateant. et ideo dominus in die iudicii inluminaturus asseritur occulta tenebrarum, quia cor uniuscuiusque manifestabitur quod ante occultum erat, soli quidem Christo cognitum, qui sciens iudicii sui gratiam ait: nihil est occultum quod non manifestabitur.
We often read of the darkness of the heart in place of crime, indeed almost everywhere. See, then, whether the hidden things of darkness are not the secrets of the heart, and have received the name of darkness because they are not detected by others but lie hidden. And therefore the Lord is asserted to be going to light up the hidden things of darkness on the day of judgment, because each one’s heart will be made manifest which before was hidden, known indeed to Christ alone, who, knowing the grace of his judgment, says: “Nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest.”
1 Cor 4:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 8:17 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The “hidden things of darkness” are the secrets of the heart, known to Christ and revealed at the judgment.
- Luke 8:17 (Matt 10:26).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; word split in the digital text): o ccultum → occultum; manifestabitui → manifestabitur.
Topics: Eschatology, The last judgment
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.81.4 (CSEL 64:320; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-81-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-81-4
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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 82
43.82.1CSEL 64:320
Sunt autem multa quae propter uerecundiam premimus et, ut impleamus caeleste mandatum, tacito apud nos tenemus affectu, ne uideamur in his quae nostra sunt gloriari et eorum fructum uulgando incipiamus amittere. sunt autem occulta sapientiae, quae raptus in paradiso apostolus Paulus audiuit et, quia non licebat ea homini loqui, apud se tegebat, non quia usum eorum aut gratiam aliis inuideret, sed, quod non licebat homini loqui, forte etiam
But there are many things which we suppress out of modesty and, to fulfil the heavenly command, keep to ourselves with silent affection, lest we seem to glory in what is ours and, by publishing them, begin to lose their fruit. And there are the hidden things of wisdom, which the apostle Paul, caught up into paradise, heard, and, because it was not lawful for a man to speak them, kept them to himself, not because he begrudged others their use or grace, but because what it was not lawful for a man to speak perhaps also
Matt 6:3 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 12:4 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Some hidden things are good, like works kept secret and the mysteries Paul heard in paradise.
- Matt 6:1–4; 2 Cor 12:4. The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): no? tenemus → nos tenemus; uSum → usum.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.82.1 (CSEL 64:320; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-82-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-82-1
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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.
43.82.2CSEL 64:320–321
homini audire non proderat, quae tunc inluminabit dominus, cum inluminandorum secretorum tempus aduenerit. uide ne etiam in euangelio distantiam aliquam repperias, ubi dixit: nihil occultum quod non manifestabitur neque opertum quod non reuelabitur. illud tamen adstipulatur ad superiorem interpretationem, ut utrumque de bonis esse credamus, quia scriptum est: cognoscit dominus qui sunt ipsius. suos ergo cognoscit et eos cognoscit qui cognoscunt deum, ignorat autem eos qui ignorant deum; qui enim ignorat, ignorabitur. dominus ergo quae bona sunt recognoscit; ea quae sunt plena cognitionis diuinae, ea quae sunt occulta sapientiae nouit dominus, auersatur autem ea quae sunt plena iniquitatis atque peccati.
did not profit a man to hear; these the Lord will light up when the time has come for the secrets to be lit up. See whether you may not also find some difference in the gospel, where he said: “Nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor covered that will not be revealed.” Yet this supports the earlier interpretation, that we should believe both refer to good things, because it is written: “The Lord knows those who are his.” So he knows his own, and knows those who know God, but does not know those who do not know God; for he who does not know will not be known. So the Lord recognizes the things that are good; the things full of divine knowledge, the hidden things of wisdom, the Lord knows; but he turns away from the things full of iniquity and sin.
Matt 10:26 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Tim 2:19 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 14:38 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The Lord will reveal the hidden things of wisdom; he knows his own and turns from iniquity.
- Matt 10:26; 2 Tim 2:19; 1 Cor 14:38.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slips and lost word space in the digital text): occultam Ų m quodnon → occultum quod non.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.82.2 (CSEL 64:320–321; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-82-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-82-2
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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 83
43.83.1CSEL 64:321
Denique si istorum personam consideres, quos nulla diuini cultus obliuio separauit, ut alieno deo expanderent suas manus, atque aperire suas animas noluerunt, intelleges, quod in occultis suis non flagitia aliqua erant, sed ea quae essent innocentiae continebant, quandoquidem morte afficiebantur pro dei cultu, tota quoque die uersabantur in morte, sicut uersabatur Paulus, qui ait: cotidie morior per uestram gloriam.
Finally, if you consider the person of those whom no forgetfulness of divine worship separated so that they stretched out their hands to a strange god, and who did not wish to open their souls, you will understand that in their hidden things there were no crimes, but they held things that belonged to innocence, since they were put to death for the worship of God, and all the day too they were engaged with death, as Paul was engaged, who says: “I die daily, by your glory.”
Ps 44:20 (43:21 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 44:22 (43:23 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:31 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Those who never forgot God hid only innocence and faced death daily for him, like Paul.
- 1 Cor 15:31.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): coittinebant → continebant.
Topics: Martyrdom
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.83.1 (CSEL 64:321; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-83-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-83-1
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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.
43.83.2CSEL 64:321
et uere cotidie Paulus moriebatur secundum carnem in ieiuniis, in naufragiis, in diuersis periculis, in miseriis constitutus, sed non totus moriebatur. moriebatur homo eius exterior, sed renouabatur interior et ideo non deficiebat, cum tot periculis urgeretur, quia, etsi exterior homo eius corrumpebatur, interior renouabatur de die in diem, quia diem sibi uniuscuiusque fides et gratia operationis inluminat.
And truly Paul died daily according to the flesh, set in fastings, in shipwrecks, in various dangers, in miseries; but he did not die wholly. His outer man was dying, but the inner was being renewed, and therefore he did not fail, though pressed by so many dangers, because, even if his outer man was being corrupted, the inner was being renewed day by day, because faith and the grace of working light up the day for each one.
2 Cor 11:25 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 11:27 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 4:16 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Paul died daily in the flesh, but his inner man was renewed day by day.
- 2 Cor 11:25–27; 4:16.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.83.2 (CSEL 64:321; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-83-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-83-2
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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.
43.83.3CSEL 64:321
unde nec Paulus apostolus noctem sciebat, quia qui renouatur semper in luce est. an tibi non uidetur in luce qui Christi in se continet caritatem? et ideo immolationis securus dura non refugit nec eum persecutio ulla aut fames aut gladius potest a Christo domino separare, quem uincula diuinae caritatis adstringunt.
Hence the apostle Paul did not know night, because he who is being renewed is always in the light. Or does he not seem to you to be in the light who holds within himself the love of Christ? And therefore, secure in his sacrifice, he does not flee hard things, nor can any persecution or famine or sword separate from Christ the Lord the one whom the bonds of divine love bind.
Rom 8:35 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: One renewed in Christ’s love lives in light and cannot be separated from Christ by any persecution.
- Rom 8:35.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray hyphen in the digital text): apostolus-noctem → apostolus noctem.
Topics: Persecution
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.83.3 (CSEL 64:321; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-83-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-83-3
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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 84
43.84.1CSEL 64:321–322
Interim tamen etiam in bonis operibus mens humana turbatur et temptationibus quatitur. tamen et hoc iustorum est, ut, cum se temptari uiderint, adiumentum deposcant, sicut apostoli in euangelio, cum Christus dormiret in naue, tempestatem fluctuum formidantes excitauerunt dominum Iesum, ut ab his formidinem propulsaret. nonne tibi uidentur sancti apostoli istos dixisse uersiculos: exurge; quare obdormis, domine? exurge et ne repellas usque in finem?
Meanwhile, however, even in good works the human mind is troubled and shaken by temptations. Yet this too belongs to the righteous: that when they see themselves tempted, they ask for help, as the apostles did in the gospel when, Christ sleeping in the boat, they feared the storm of the waves and woke the Lord Jesus, so that he might drive the fear from them. Do not the holy apostles seem to you to have said these verses: “Rise up; why do you sleep, O Lord? Rise up, and do not cast us off to the end”?
Matt 8:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 8:25 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 44:23 (43:24 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The righteous ask for help when tempted, as the apostles woke Christ in the storm, as if praying this psalm.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slips and word splits in the digital text): e t n ere p e II a s usque i n finem → et ne repellas usque in finem.
Topics: Prayer, Temptation
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.84.1 (CSEL 64:321–322; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-84-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-84-1
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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.
43.84.2CSEL 64:322
certe, etsi littera distare uideatur, concordat sententia. neque uero uel in corpore constitutus ita dormiebat dominus noster Iesus Christus, ut ignoraret tempestatem maris et exorta procella uentorum cognitionem eius per altitudinem soporis excederet. dormiebat corpore, sed uirtute uigilabat. et dispositio illa fuit, ut ascenderet in nauem dei filius dei uerbum, ascenderent etiam simul discipuli sui, quos remissos et
Certainly, even if the letter seems to differ, the meaning agrees. Nor, even when set in the body, did our Lord Jesus Christ sleep in such a way as not to know of the storm of the sea, or that, when a gale of winds arose, the depth of sleep went beyond his knowledge. He slept in body, but kept watch in power. And the arrangement was this: that the Son of God, the Word of God, should go up into the boat, and his disciples should go up with him, whom, not allowing them to be slack and
Matt 8:23 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 8:24 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ slept in body but watched in power, knowing the storm.
- The sentence continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip and word split in the digital text; OCR slips in the digital text): tempe tatem → tempestatem; per?,loitadinem → per altitudinem; uig;labat → uigilabat.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.84.2 (CSEL 64:322; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-84-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-84-2
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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.
43.84.3CSEL 64:322
neglegentes esse non passus, quasi de domini praesentia et fauore securos, somno corporis sese composuit. ergo illa specie somni dormire se mundo huic apostolis uerbum dei demonstrabat. uigilabat tamen eius potestas prouidentiaque, quae excitauit tempestatem in mari, ut nauis propemodum insurgentibus fluctibus operiretur, qua discipuli tempestate turbati utrum salubris consilii se prouisione fulcirent an uero remedium excederent cognosceretur. sed illis, quibus Iesus non dormiebat, uigilabat fides et ideo surgentes excitauerunt dominum Iesum dicentes: domine, salua nos, perimus.
negligent, as though secure in the Lord’s presence and favour, he settled himself in bodily sleep. So by that appearance of sleep the Word of God showed the apostles that he was asleep to this world. Yet his power and providence were watching, which stirred up the storm in the sea, so that the boat was almost covered by the rising waves, so that it might be known whether the disciples, troubled by the storm, would support themselves with the provision of sound counsel or would go beyond the remedy. But for those for whom Jesus was not asleep, faith was awake, and therefore they rose and woke the Lord Jesus, saying: “Lord, save us, we are perishing.”
Matt 8:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 8:25 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ let the storm test the disciples’ faith, which was awake and made them call on him.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.84.3 (CSEL 64:322; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-84-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-84-3
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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 85
43.85.1CSEL 64:322
Uide si etiam illud discrepat ab euangelio quod de Iona legimus, qui dormiebat in uentre nauis et stertebat, in quo sacrae passionis figura praecessit. sicut enim Ionas dormiebat in naui et stertebat securus quasi non metuens deprehendi, ita dominus noster Iesus Christus, qui figuram illam sacramento suae mortis impleuit, tempore euangelii in naue dormiuit, et sicut ille tribus diebus et tribus noctibus fuit in uentre ceti, ita filius hominis tribus diebus et tribus noctibus fuit in corde terrae in sui corporis passione.
See whether what we read of Jonah also differs from the gospel, who slept in the belly of the ship and snored, in whom a figure of the sacred passion went before. For as Jonah slept in the ship and snored securely, as though not fearing to be found out, so our Lord Jesus Christ, who fulfilled that figure by the mystery of his death, slept in a boat at the time of the gospel; and as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so the Son of Man was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth in the passion of his body.
Jonah 1:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 8:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 12:40 (quotation, high confidence) · Jonah 1:17 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jonah asleep in the ship and in the whale prefigured Christ asleep in the boat and in the tomb.
- Jonah 1:5; Matt 12:40.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray characters in the digital text): Chiistus → Christus; tribus z: diebus → tribus diebus.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.85.1 (CSEL 64:322; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-85-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-85-1
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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.
43.85.2CSEL 64:322–323
qui ubi se excitauit a morte et somnum sui corporis relaxauit, ut pro salute resurgeret uniuersorum, discipulos uisitauit. hic est ergo uerus Ionas, qui obtulit animam suam redemptionem pro nobis. propterea ergo sublatus et missus est in mare, ut exciperetur et deuoraretur a ceto, quo intra aluum ceti positus eius interiora uacuaret. de quo ceto hoc dictum sit, audi Iob dicentem:
When he roused himself from death and released the sleep of his body, so as to rise for the salvation of all, he visited his disciples. This, then, is the true Jonah, who offered his soul as a ransom for us. Therefore he was taken up and thrown into the sea, so as to be received and swallowed by the whale, so that, set within the whale’s belly, he might empty its insides. Of what whale this was said, hear Job saying:
Matt 20:28 (allusion, high confidence) · Jonah 1:15 (allusion, high confidence) · Jonah 1:17 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is the true Jonah, who gave his life as a ransom and emptied the whale’s belly, that is, death.
- Matt 20:28; Jonah 1:15, 17. The quotation follows in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray line number in the digital text): nobis. 30 propterea → nobis. propterea; deueraretur → deuoraretur; aluum oeti → aluum ceti.
Topics: Christology, Atonement
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.85.2 (CSEL 64:322–323; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-85-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-85-2
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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.
43.85.3CSEL 64:323
qui habet, inquit, magnum cetum captiuum reddere. quis iste est, utique cognoscis, cum legeris, quod dominus noster Iesus Christus captiuam duxerit captiuitatem; deuicto enim aduersario et inimico nos, qui captiui eramus, coepimus libertatem possidere per Christum.
“He who has,” he says, “to make the great whale captive.” Who this is you surely recognize, when you read that our Lord Jesus Christ led captivity captive; for, the adversary and enemy having been conquered, we who were captives began to possess freedom through Christ.
Job 3:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Eph 4:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 68:18 (67:19 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The great whale made captive is the devil, whom Christ conquered, leading captivity captive.
- Job 3:8 (LXX); Eph 4:8 (Ps 68:18, LXX 67:19).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray mark in the digital text): libert*tem → libertatem.
Topics: The devil and demons
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.85.3 (CSEL 64:323; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-85-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-85-3
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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 86
43.86.1CSEL 64:323
Denique ipsa oratio sancti Ionae docet dominicae passionis esse mysteria: et dixit: clamaui, inquit, ad dominum deum meum in tribulatione mea et audiuit me de uentre inferni. uides quia inferni uentrem dixit, non ceti. dominus autem non in cetum, sed in infernum descendit, ut et illi qui in infernis erant a perpetuis uinculis soluerentur. denique plerique etiam resurrexerunt.
Finally, the very prayer of holy Jonah teaches that these are mysteries of the Lord’s passion: “And he said: I cried,” he says, “to the Lord my God in my tribulation, and he heard me from the belly of hell.” You see that he said the belly of hell, not of the whale. And the Lord went down not into the whale but into hell, so that those too who were in hell might be loosed from everlasting chains. Finally, very many even rose again.
Jonah 2:2 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Pet 3:19 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 27:52 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jonah’s prayer from “the belly of hell” points to Christ’s descent to free the dead.
- Jonah 2:2; 1 Pet 3:19; Matt 27:52.
Topics: Christology, Descent into Hades
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.86.1 (CSEL 64:323; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-86-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-86-1
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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.
43.86.2CSEL 64:323
quae autem flumina circumdederunt Ionam aut de qua abysso dixit Ionas: abyssus circumdedit me nouissima, mersit caput meum in fissuras montium, descendi in terram cuius serae sunt continentes aeternales? utique hoc ad personam Ionae non quadrat et conuenit.
And what rivers surrounded Jonah, or of what abyss did Jonah say: “The deepest abyss surrounded me, it sank my head into the clefts of the mountains, I went down into the land whose bars are everlasting holds”? Certainly this does not square and fit with the person of Jonah.
Jonah 2:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Jonah 2:5 (quotation, high confidence) · Jonah 2:6 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Jonah’s words about the abyss and the clefts of the mountains do not fit Jonah himself.
- Jonah 2:3–6 in the Old Latin form.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.86.2 (CSEL 64:323; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-86-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-86-2
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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.
43.86.3CSEL 64:323
filius autem dei descendit in fissuras montium, quando descendit in tumulum. ipsum enim Ioseph, sicut euangelium docet, posuit in monumento suo nouo, quod excidit in petra, et aduoluit saxum magnum ad ostium monumenti. denique et in alio libro: posuit, inquit, eum in monumento exciso, in quo nondum quisquam positus erat.
But the Son of God went down into the clefts of the mountains when he went down into the tomb. For Joseph, as the gospel teaches, laid him in his new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock, and rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb. Finally in another book too: “He laid him,” it says, “in a hewn tomb, in which no one had yet been laid.”
Matt 27:60 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 23:53 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The clefts of the mountains are Christ’s rock-hewn tomb.
- Matt 27:60; Luke 23:53.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.86.3 (CSEL 64:323; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-86-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-86-3
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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 87
43.87.1CSEL 64:323–324
Quis autem est, qui cum uoce laudis et confessionis domini sacrificauit nisi princeps omnium sacerdotum et uota pro omnibus uouit et reddidit? solus enim effectus sui habuit potestatem. sicut ergo Ionas missus est in mare et quieuit mare a commotione sua, ita dominus noster Iesus Christus uenit in hunc mundum, ut
And who is it who sacrificed with the voice of praise and of confession of the Lord but the chief of all priests, who also vowed vows for all and paid them? For he alone had the power to carry out what he vowed. As, then, Jonah was thrown into the sea and the sea ceased from its raging, so our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, so as to
Jonah 2:9 (allusion, high confidence) · Jonah 1:15 (allusion, high confidence) · Heb 4:14 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ, the chief priest, offered the sacrifice of praise that Jonah vowed, and calmed the world as Jonah calmed the sea.
- Jonah 2:9; 1:15. The sentence continues in the next section.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.87.1 (CSEL 64:323–324; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-87-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-87-1
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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.
43.87.2CSEL 64:324
mundum lucri faceret et sanguine suo omnia pacificaret siue terrena siue caelestia. aduentu igitur suo redemit uniuersos homines et prouocauit ad dei cultum operibus suis; cum mortuos resuscitaret, sanaret infirmos, timorem dei humanis infudit affectibus. ipse est qui sacrificauit domino sacrificium salutare pro nobis et dignas conuersionis nostrae hostias deo obtulit; ipse est qui dormiuit et euigilauit.
win the world and make peace by his blood for all things, whether on earth or in heaven. By his coming, then, he redeemed all men and called them to the worship of God by his works; when he raised the dead and healed the sick, he poured the fear of God into human affections. He is the one who sacrificed to the Lord a saving sacrifice for us and offered to God the worthy victims of our conversion; he is the one who slept and awoke.
Col 1:20 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 11:5 (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 3:5 (3:6 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ made peace by his blood, called men to God by his works, and offered the saving sacrifice.
- Col 1:20.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): Lerrena → terrena.
Topics: Christology, Atonement
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.87.2 (CSEL 64:324; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-87-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-87-2
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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 88
43.88.1CSEL 64:324
Cauendum est ergo, ne obdormiat peccatoribus; obdormire enim uidetur his quibus non resurrexerit et quos in finem reppulit. quis autem est qui repellitur nisi qui peregrinatur a domino, quia non peregrinatur a corpore? quomodo enim possunt deo placere qui in carne sunt? et ideo non in carne simus, sed spiritu adhaereamus domino Iesu, qui se in octogesimo et octauo psalmo repulsum dicit pro nobis: tu uero reppulisti pro nihilo, distulisti christum tuum;
We must beware, then, lest he sleep for sinners; for he seems to sleep for those for whom he has not risen and whom he has cast off to the end. And who is it who is cast off but he who is away from the Lord, because he is not away from the body? For how can those who are in the flesh please God? And therefore let us not be in the flesh, but cling in spirit to the Lord Jesus, who in the eighty-eighth psalm says that he was cast off for us: “But you have cast off for nothing, you have put off your anointed;
Ps 44:23 (43:24 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 5:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 8:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 8:9 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 89:38 (88:39 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ “sleeps” for those for whom he has not risen; we must cling to him in spirit, who was cast off for us.
- 2 Cor 5:6; Rom 8:8–9; Ps 89:38 (LXX 88:39). The quotation continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): fixiem → finem.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.88.1 (CSEL 64:324; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-88-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-88-1
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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.
43.88.2CSEL 64:324
euertisti testamentum serui tui. itaque repulsus pro nobis factus est in obprobrium uicinis suis; ille enim suscepit obprobrium crucis, ut nos gloriam suae resurrectionis indueret. repulsus uidetur quasi mortuus et perfusus confusione quasi crucifixus, sed benedictus est in aeternum qui maledictionem sustulit, benedictionis gratiam comparauit.
you have overturned the covenant of your servant.” So, cast off for us, he became a reproach to his neighbours; for he took on the reproach of the cross, so as to clothe us with the glory of his resurrection. He seems cast off as one dead and covered with confusion as one crucified, but he is blessed for ever who took away the curse and won the grace of blessing.
Ps 89:39 (88:40 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 89:41 (88:42 LXX) (allusion, high confidence) · Gal 3:13 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Cast off for us, Christ bore the reproach of the cross to clothe us with the glory of his resurrection.
- Ps 89:39, 41 (LXX 88:40, 42); Gal 3:13.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip and word splits in the digital text): serui t u 1. → serui tui..
Topics: Christology, Passion and death of Christ
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.88.2 (CSEL 64:324; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-88-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-88-2
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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 89
43.89.1CSEL 64:324–325
Sequitur: quare faciem tuam auertis? auertere a nobis deum faciem suam putamus, quando sumus in aliquibus afflictionibus constituti, ut tenebrae nostro offundantur affectui, quibus impediti fulgorem ueritatis oculis nostris haurire nequeamus. etenim si in nostrum deus attendat ingenium et nostram mentem uisitare dignetur, certi sumus, quod nulla res nobis caliginem possit obducere.
There follows: “Why do you turn away your face?” We think God turns his face away from us when we are set in some afflictions, so that darkness is poured over our affection, hindered by which we cannot draw in with our eyes the brightness of truth. For if God attends to our mind and deigns to visit our soul, we are sure that nothing can draw darkness over us.
Ps 44:24 (43:25 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God seems to turn away his face when afflictions darken our minds; if he visits us, nothing can darken us.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.89.1 (CSEL 64:324–325; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-89-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-89-1
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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.
43.89.2CSEL 64:325
etenim si uultus hominis ceteris membrorum partibus plus refulget et quemcumque intuemur uel incognitum agnoscimus uel cognitum recognoscimus, quem aspectus noster latere non patitur, quanto magis dei uultus quem spectat inluminat! de quo, ut cetera eius sunt, ita et hoc praeclarum sancti apostoli qui uere interpres est Christi, ut aptiore eum sensu et sermone nostris infunderet mentibus.
For if a man’s face shines more than the other parts of the members, and whoever we look at we either come to know if unknown or recognize if known, our sight not allowing him to be hidden, how much more does the face of God light up the one whom it looks upon! Of this, as of the rest, the holy apostle, who is truly the interpreter of Christ, gave a splendid account, so as to pour it into our minds with more fitting sense and speech.
Num 6:25 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: If a human face reveals a person, how much more does God’s face enlighten those it looks upon.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.89.2 (CSEL 64:325; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-89-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-89-2
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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.
43.89.3CSEL 64:325
unde ait: quoniam deus, qui dixit de tenebris lumen splendescere, inluxit in cordibus nostris ad inluminationem scientiae claritatis domini in facie Christi Iesu. ubi igitur in nobis reluceat Christus, audiuimus. est enim fulgor aeternus animorum, quem ideo pater misit in terras, ut in eius inluminati uultu aeterna et caelestia spectare possemus, qui ante terrena caligine tenebamur.
Hence he says: “For God, who said that light should shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord in the face of Christ Jesus.” Where, then, Christ shines in us, we have heard. For he is the eternal brightness of souls, whom the Father sent to earth for this reason, that, lit up in his face, we might be able to look on eternal and heavenly things, we who before were held in earthly darkness.
2 Cor 4:6 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God’s light shines in our hearts in the face of Christ, the eternal brightness sent so that we may see heavenly things.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.89.3 (CSEL 64:325; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-89-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-89-3
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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.
43.89.4CSEL 64:325
quid de Christo loquar, cum etiam Petrus apostolus dixerit ad illum claudum ex utero matris suae: respice in nos? qui respexit in Petrum et fidei inluminatus est gratia; neque enim accepisset remedium sanitatis, nisi fideliter credidisset.
What shall I say of Christ, when even the apostle Peter said to that man lame from his mother’s womb: “Look at us”? He looked at Peter and was lit up by the grace of faith; for he would not have received the remedy of health if he had not faithfully believed.
Acts 3:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 3:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 3:16 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The lame man who looked at Peter was lit up by faith and healed.
- Acts 3:2–7; 3:16.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip and word split in the digital text): matus → matris; inluminatus e: t gratia → inluminatus est gratia.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.89.4 (CSEL 64:325; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-89-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-89-4
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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.
43.89.5CSEL 64:325
unde, cum tanta gloria esset in apostolis, audiens transire dominum Iesum Zachaeus ascendit in arborem, quia exiguus et pusillus in turba eum uidere non poterat. uidit Christum et lumen inuenit, uidit eum et qui ante aliena rapiebat sua contulit. merito ergo dicunt isti: quare faciem tuam auertis?
Hence, since there was such glory in the apostles, Zacchaeus, hearing that the Lord Jesus was passing by, climbed a tree, because, small and short, he could not see him in the crowd. He saw Christ and found light; he saw him, and he who before had seized what belonged to others gave away his own. Rightly, then, do these say: “Why do you turn away your face?”
Luke 19:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 19:4 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 19:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 44:24 (43:25 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Zacchaeus saw Christ and found light; so the saints long for God’s face.
- Luke 19:3–8.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): apostohs → apostolis.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.89.5 (CSEL 64:325; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-89-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-89-5
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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 90
43.90.1CSEL 64:325–326
Aut fortasse propterea dicitur, quia desiderantibus Christi moram faciebat aduentus; ipse enim est uultus patris qui est imago et gloria dei. certe si non ad incarnationis eius hoc accipimus sacramentum, recte etiam illud usurpant sancti dicentes: quare faciem tuam auertis?, hoc est: etsi auertis, domine, faciem tuam a nobis, tamen signatum est in nobis lumen
Or perhaps it is said because Christ’s coming was delaying for those who longed for it; for he himself is the face of the Father, who is the image and glory of God. Certainly, if we do not take this of the mystery of his incarnation, the saints also rightly use it, saying: “Why do you turn away your face?”, that is: even if you turn away your face from us, Lord, yet the light
2 Cor 4:4 (allusion, high confidence) · Col 1:15 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 44:24 (43:25 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Christ is the Father’s face; the saints long for his coming, though the light of his face is sealed in them.
- 2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15. The sentence continues in the next section.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.90.1 (CSEL 64:325–326; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-90-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-90-1
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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.
43.90.2CSEL 64:326
uultus tui, domine. tenemus illud in cordibus nostris et in intimo splendet affectu; neque enim quisquam potest subsistere, si tu auertas faciem tuam. omnia enim a te expectant, ut tu des illis cibum in tempore; dante te his colligent, aperiente te manum tuam uniuersa implebuntur bonitate. auertente autem te faciem turbabuntur. auferes spiritum eorum et deficient et in puluerem suum conuertentur. emittes spiritum tuum et creabuntur, et renouabis faciem terrae.
of your face is sealed upon us, Lord. We hold it in our hearts, and it shines in our inmost affection; for no one can stand if you turn away your face. For all things look to you, that you may give them food in due season; when you give it to them, they will gather it; when you open your hand, all things will be filled with goodness. But when you turn away your face, they will be troubled. You will take away their spirit and they will fail and return to their dust. You will send forth your Spirit and they will be created, and you will renew the face of the earth.
Ps 4:6 (4:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 104:27 (103:27 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 104:28 (103:28 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 104:29 (103:29 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 104:30 (103:30 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The light of God’s face is sealed in us; all creation depends on his face and his Spirit.
- Ps 4:6 (LXX 4:7); Ps 104:27–30 (LXX 103:27–30).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): uaiuersa → uniuersa.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.90.2 (CSEL 64:326; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-90-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-90-2
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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.
43.90.3CSEL 64:326
agnoscis quae sit esca, quam deus hominibus subministrat? ipse est cibus quem secundum uoluntatem patris unigenitus filius eius dominus noster epulatur, sicut ipse ait: meus cibus est ut faciam uoluntatem patris mei qui in caelis est. hic cibus nobis est salutaris et omnia dei sunt salutaria.
Do you recognize what the food is that God supplies to men? It is the food which, according to the will of the Father, his only-begotten Son our Lord feasts on, as he himself says: “My food is to do the will of my Father who is in heaven.” This food is saving for us, and all the things of God are saving.
John 4:34 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The food God gives is doing the Father’s will, the food of the Son.
- John 4:34.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.90.3 (CSEL 64:326; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-90-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-90-3
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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 91
43.91.1CSEL 64:326–327
Audis quaedam dei membra; cognosce uirtutes: manus quippe eius plenitudo bonitatis est, facies eius inluminatio mentis est. et ideo semper ab eo speremus, in ipsum uota nostra et omnia studia dirigamus nec desperemus, etsi corporaliter eum uidere non possumus. neque enim desperauit Moyses, cui dictum est: non potes uidere faciem meam; non enim uidebit faciem meam homo et uiuet, et addidit: ecce locus apud me, stabis in petra; et cum transierit gloria mea, ponam te in cauernam petrae et operiam te manu mea, donec transeam; et tollam manum meam et uidebis posteriora mea, faciem autem meam uidere non poteris. non ergo uidetur ab homine facies dei. est tamen locus in quo fide se monstret homini deus. est hic locus apud deum et ideo si steterimus in petra, id est in carnis istius conscientia et fidei firmitate, etsi plenitudinem eius uidere non possumus, tamen quantum possumus quasi reliquias eius luminis hauriemus. neque enim Moyses totam diuinitatis eius plenitudinem uidit quae habitat in Christo corporaliter, sed uidit posteriora Christi, uidit splendorem eius ut homo, uidit eius gloriam passionis per quam regnum nobis caeleste reserauit.
You hear of certain members of God; recognize the powers: his hand is the fullness of goodness, his face is the enlightening of the mind. And therefore let us always hope from him, let us direct to him our prayers and all our efforts, and let us not despair, even if we cannot see him bodily. For Moses did not despair, to whom it was said: “You cannot see my face; for no man shall see my face and live”; and he added: “See, there is a place by me; you shall stand on the rock; and when my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I pass; and I will take away my hand and you will see my back, but my face you will not be able to see.” So the face of God is not seen by man. Yet there is a place in which God shows himself to man by faith. This place is by God, and therefore if we stand on the rock, that is, in the conscience of this flesh and the firmness of faith, even if we cannot see his fullness, yet as far as we can we shall draw in, as it were, the remains of his light. For Moses did not see the whole fullness of his Godhead which dwells in Christ bodily, but he saw the back of Christ, he saw his brightness as a man, he saw the glory of his passion, through which he opened the heavenly kingdom to us.
Exod 33:20 (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 33:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 33:22 (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 33:23 (quotation, high confidence) · Col 2:9 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God’s hand and face are his goodness and enlightenment; like Moses on the rock, we see by faith the “back” of Christ, the glory of his passion.
- Exod 33:20–23; Col 2:9. “The conscience of this flesh” is a puzzling phrase in the text, translated as it stands.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray paragraph number in the digital text; stray period in the digital text): in ipsum. uota → in ipsum uota; studia. dirigamus → studia dirigamus; desperemus. etsi → desperemus, etsi; non 2 poteris → non poteris; est hie locus → est hic locus.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.91.1 (CSEL 64:326–327; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-91-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-91-1
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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 92
43.92.1CSEL 64:327
Aquilas autem quare faciem tuam abscondis? posuit, sed etiam ceteri, quod uidetur conuenire cum Moysi dictis, qui ait: demonstra te mihi, quasi diceret: noli uultum tuum mihi abscondere, sed magis demonstra uidere cupienti.
But Aquila put: “Why do you hide your face?”, and so did the others; this seems to agree with the words of Moses, who says: “Show yourself to me”, as though he said: Do not hide your face from me, but rather show it to one who longs to see.
Ps 44:24 (43:25 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 33:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Exod 33:18 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Aquila’s “hide your face” echoes Moses’ prayer, “Show yourself to me.”
- Exod 33:13, 18.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.92.1 (CSEL 64:327; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-92-1). (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 93
43.93.1CSEL 64:327
Et addidit: obliuisceris, inquit, inopiam nostram et tribulationem nostram? de qua inopia dicit sanctus propheta, quod in obliuionem uenerit dei, aut quae est ista inopia, quam excidisse deo nostro et domino conqueratur? non otiosa est inopia nisi forte ea, quae protectorem deum et remuneratorem habere consueuerit.
And he added: “Do you forget,” he says, “our poverty and our tribulation?” Of what poverty does the holy prophet say that it has come into God’s forgetfulness, or what is this poverty which he complains has slipped from our God and Lord? Poverty is not idle unless perhaps it is the kind that is accustomed to have God as protector and rewarder.
Ps 44:24 (43:25 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: What is the poverty the psalmist complains God has forgotten?
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips and word split in the digital text): olliuis ceris → obliuisceris; babere → habere.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.93.1 (CSEL 64:327; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-93-1). (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.
43.93.2CSEL 64:327
si enim est inopia cui patet regnum caelorum, recte isti inopiam suam diuinis excidisse sensibus arbitrabantur, qui animam suam humiliatam in puluerem deplorabant et uentrem suum in terra haerere dicebant; qui autem in terra haerent, uidentur diuina benedictione priuari. quae sit ergo ista inopia, audi: beati enim pauperes spiritu, ipsorum enim est regnum caelorum.
For if there is a poverty to which the kingdom of heaven lies open, these rightly thought that their poverty had slipped from the divine mind, who lamented their soul humbled into the dust and said their belly cleaved to the earth; and those who cleave to the earth seem to be deprived of the divine blessing. What this poverty is, then, hear: “For blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Ps 44:25 (43:26 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 5:3 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The poverty in question is the blessed poverty of spirit, to which the kingdom of heaven belongs.
- Ps 44:25 (LXX 43:26); Matt 5:3.
Topics: Wealth and poverty
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.93.2 (CSEL 64:327; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-93-2). (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.
43.93.3CSEL 64:327
si ergo beata paupertas est cui patet caelum, terrenas istas diuitias neglegamus, corporalem redundantiam declinemus. sequamur gesta apostolorum, ante quorum pedes unusquisque quod habebat pecuniae ex suorum agrorum pretio conferebat, ut pauperibus dispensaretur.
If, then, blessed is the poverty to which heaven lies open, let us neglect these earthly riches and avoid bodily abundance. Let us follow the acts of the apostles, before whose feet each one laid whatever money he had from the price of his fields, to be distributed to the poor.
Acts 4:34 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 4:35 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Since poverty opens heaven, let us neglect earthly riches, as the first Christians laid their money at the apostles’ feet.
- Acts 4:34–35.
Topics: Ethics, Wealth and poverty
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.93.3 (CSEL 64:327; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-93-3). (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.
43.93.4CSEL 64:327–328
istam ergo inopiam euangelicam hi sancti uiri multo ante exercere coeperant et ideo dicebant: obliuisceris inopiam nostram? tale est hoc quale illud apostolicum: ecce nos reliquimus omnia et secuti sumus te. bona ergo paupertas quae a pietate procedit et uirtutum exercitatione suscipitur.
So these holy men began long before to practise this gospel poverty, and therefore they said: “Do you forget our poverty?” This is like that apostolic saying: “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Good, then, is the poverty which proceeds from piety and is taken up in the exercise of virtues.
Ps 44:24 (43:25 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 19:27 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The saints of old practised gospel poverty, as the apostles left everything to follow Christ.
- Matt 19:27.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word spaces lost in the digital text): etsecutisumuste → et secuti sumus te.
Topics: Ethics, Wealth and poverty
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.93.4 (CSEL 64:327–328; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-93-4). (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.
Explanation 43, chapter 94
43.94.1CSEL 64:328
Nec solum inopiam, sed etiam tribulationem suam in obliuionem deo uenisse deplorant. bonae sunt et tribulationes quae sunt propriae iustorum, qui non pro meritis suis, sed pro pietate eas sustinent, in quibus iustus non atteritur, sed dilatatur, sicut sanctus propheta declarat dicens: in tribulatione dilatasti mihi, et ipse dominus Iesus ait: in tribulatione in-
And they lament that not only their poverty but also their tribulation has come into God’s forgetfulness. Good too are the tribulations that are proper to the righteous, who endure them not for their merits but for piety, in which the righteous man is not crushed but enlarged, as the holy prophet declares, saying: “In tribulation you have enlarged me”; and the Lord Jesus himself says: “In tribulation I
Ps 4:1 (4:2 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 118:5 (117:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 4:8 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: The tribulations of the righteous are good, for in them they are enlarged, not crushed.
- Ps 4:1 (LXX 4:2); Ps 118:5 (LXX 117:5). The quotation continues in the next section.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slips; OCR slips and word splits in the digital text): ih quibus iusttis → in quibus iustus; dicens; Ln. tribulatione d.i 1 a:t a-stimihi → dicens: in tribulatione dilatasti mihi.
Topics: Suffering and affliction
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.94.1 (CSEL 64:328; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-94-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-94-1
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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.
43.94.2CSEL 64:328
uocaui dominum et exaudiuit me in latitudinem. dilatauit sancto apostolo Paulo, quando ei oculorum lumen eripuit; ita enim confessus est Christum quem negabat antea. ideo uas electionis esse promeruit. denique ut scias, quia dilatauit Paulo dominus Iesus, audi ipsum apostolum dicentem: os nostrum patet ad uos o Corinthii, cor nostrum dilatatum est. aperi ergo os, confitere Christum, quia plenitudo est; ubi plenitudo, ibi etiam latitudo. et quasi bonus magister, qui discipulos habere optaret aequales, nos quoque hortatus est ut dilataremur, dicens: dilatamini et uos.
called on the Lord, and he heard me in a broad place.” He enlarged the holy apostle Paul when he took from him the light of his eyes; for so he confessed Christ, whom before he denied. Therefore he was found worthy to be a chosen vessel. Finally, so that you may know that the Lord Jesus enlarged Paul, hear the apostle himself saying: “Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged.” Open, then, your mouth, confess Christ, because he is fullness; where there is fullness, there is also breadth. And like a good teacher who wished to have disciples equal to himself, he urged us too to be enlarged, saying: “Be enlarged, you too.”
Ps 118:5 (117:5 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 9:8 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 9:15 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Cor 6:11 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 6:13 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: God enlarged Paul through his blinding and conversion, and Paul urged others to be enlarged in heart.
- Acts 9:8–15; 2 Cor 6:11, 13.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip; stray hyphen in the digital text): uocaui donnnum → uocaui dominum; ChristUm → Christum; no-strum → nostrum; plenitudo -est → plenitudo est.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.94.2 (CSEL 64:328; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-94-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-94-2
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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 95
43.95.1CSEL 64:328
Cum autem deus alicubi in tribulatione dilatat, tunc fiet latitudo cordis sicut harena maris innumerabilis. quae sit ista latitudo, audi dicentem sanctum Salomonem, ut acciperet sapientiam a deo. non diuitias, non nobilitatem, non potestatem, sed sapientiam postulauit et in illa omnia quae.
And when God somewhere enlarges in tribulation, then there will be breadth of heart like the sand of the sea, innumerable. What this breadth is, hear from holy Solomon, so that he might receive wisdom from God. Not riches, not nobility, not power, but wisdom he asked for, and in it all the things which
1 Kgs 3:9 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Kgs 3:11 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Kgs 4:29 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Breadth of heart is wisdom, which Solomon asked for above riches and power.
- 1 Kgs 3:9–13; 4:29. The sentence continues in the next section.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.95.1 (CSEL 64:328; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-95-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-95-1
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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.
43.95.2CSEL 64:328–329
etiam non postulauit inuenit. unde scriptura dicit, quia talis erat latitudo cordis eius sicut harena maris innumerabilis. unde hanc percipias latitudinem, ait de se ipso cognoscens: in latitudine cordis tui describe eam. et ideo qui habet sapientiam non in occulto teneat eam, non ad momentum, sed canat eam in exitu, ubique quod sentit cum auctoritate praedicet.
he had not asked for he also found. Hence Scripture says that the breadth of his heart was like the sand of the sea, innumerable. That you may receive this breadth, he says, knowing it from himself: “In the breadth of your heart write it.” And therefore he who has wisdom should not keep it hidden, nor for a moment, but sing it at the going out, and everywhere proclaim with authority what he thinks.
1 Kgs 3:13 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Kgs 4:29 (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 3:3 (quotation, medium confidence) · Prov 1:21 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Solomon received wisdom and all else; the wise must write wisdom on the heart and proclaim it openly.
- 1 Kgs 4:29; Prov 3:3 (Old Latin form); Prov 1:20–21 (“at the going out”).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR slip): eanat → canat.
Cite (SBL): Ambrose, Expl. Ps. 43.95.2 (CSEL 64:328–329; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-95-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/ambrose-psalmos-xii/43-95-2
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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.