Blessed AugustineExposition on Psalm 124 · on Psalm 124:1
"They that put their trust in the Lord shall be even as the mount Sion: they shall not be removed for ever".
The Eastern Cross/Bible/Psalms/Psalm 124
The Book of Psalms · the Psalter
Psalm 124
Psalm 125 in the KJV and most English Bibles
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1
A Song of Degrees. They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion: He that dwells in Jerusalem shall never be moved.
Ὠδὴ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν. Οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπὶ Κύριον ὡς ὄρος Σιὼν, οὐ σαλευθήσεται εἰς αἰῶνα ὁ κατοικῶν Ἱερουσαλήμ·
2
The mountains are round about her, And so the Lord is round about his people, From henceforth and even forever.
ὄρη κύκλῳ αὐτῆς, καὶ ὁ Κύριος κύκλῳ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν καὶ ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος.
Blessed AugustineExposition on Psalm 124 · on Psalm 124:2
What is this Jerusalem? He briefly describes it. "The mountains stand around Jerusalem". Is it anything great, that we are in a city surrounded by mountains? Is this the whole of our happiness, that we shall have a city which mountains surround? Do we not know what mountains are? or what are mountains save swellings…
3
For the Lord will not allow the rod of sinners To be upon the lot of the righteous; Lest the righteous should stretch forth Their hands to iniquity.
Ὅτι οὐκ ἀφήσει Κύριος τὴν ῥάβδον τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἐπὶ τὸν κλῆρον τῶν δικαίων, ὅπως ἂν μὴ ἐκτείνωσιν οἱ δίκαιοι ἐν ἀνομίαις χεῖρας αὐτῶν.
Blessed AugustineExposition on Psalm 124 · on Psalm 124:3
"For the Lord will not leave the rod of the ungodly upon the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous put forth their hands unto wickedness". At present indeed the righteous suffer in some measure, and at present the unrighteous sometimes tyrannize over the righteous. In what ways? Sometimes the unrighteous arrive at…
4
Do good, O Lord, to them that are good, And to them that are upright in heart.
Ἀγάθυνον, Κύριε, τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς καὶ τοῖς εὐθέσι τῇ καρδίᾳ.
Blessed AugustineExposition on Psalm 124 · on Psalm 124:4
And he therefore addeth, "Do well, O Lord, unto those that are good and true of heart" (ver. 4). They who are right in heart, of whom I was speaking a little before,-they who follow the will of God, not their own will,-reflect upon this. But they who wish to follow God, allow Him to go before, and themselves to…
5
But them that turn aside to crooked ways The Lord will lead away with the workers of iniquity: But peace shall be upon Israel.
Τοὺς δὲ ἐκκλίνοντας εἰς τὰς στραγγαλιὰς, ἀπάξει Κύριος μετὰ τῶν ἐργαζομένων τὴν ἀνομίαν. εἰρήνη ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραήλ.
Blessed AugustineExposition on Psalm 124 · on Psalm 124:5
Whence the Psalmist at once addeth: "As for such as turn aside, the Lord shall lead them forth unto strangling with the workers of unrighteousness" (ver. 5): that is, those whose deeds they have imitated; because they took delight in their present pleasures, and did not believe in their punishments to come. What then…
About these notes
Every note is a real passage, quoted word for word from a published English translation, with its source. Nothing here is summarised or written by us. Some verses have many notes and some have none, because the Fathers wrote more on some passages than others.
- Blessed Augustine, Expositions on the Book of Psalms, tr. A. Cleveland Coxe from the Oxford translation, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888).
- Scripture: the Septuagint, in the translation of Sir Lancelot Brenton (1851), with spelling updated by Adam Boyd (2020); the Greek is Brenton's Septuagint text.
All of these translations are in the public domain. The passages were matched to their verses by the Historical Christian Commentaries project, which also hosts the full texts we link to. The Fathers are a treasury of the Church's mind, and they are best read alongside the life of the Church: if a passage raises a question, bring it to your priest.