The Eastern Cross/Bible/Psalms/Psalm 51
The Book of Psalms · the Psalter
Psalm 52 in the KJV and most English Bibles
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when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said to him, David is gone to the house of Ahimelech.
ἐν τῷ ἐλθεῖν Δωὴκ τὸν Ἰδουμαῖον, καὶ ἀναγγεῖλαι τῷ Σαοὺλ, καὶ εἰπεῖν αὐτῷ, ἦλθε Δαυὶδ εἰς τὸν οἶκον Ἀβιμέλεχ.
Why dost thou, O mighty man, boast of iniquity in thy mischief? All the day
Τί ἐγκαυχᾷ ἐν κακίᾳ ὁ δυνατὸς ἀνομίαν; ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν
"Why doth he glory in malice that is mighty?" (ver. 1). Observe, my brethren, the glorying of malignity, the glorying of evil men. Where is glorying? "Why doth he glory in malice that is mighty?" That is, he that in malice is mighty, why doth he glory? There is need that a man be mighty, but in goodness, not in…
thy tongue has devised unrighteousness; Like a sharpened razor thou hast wrought deceit.
ἀδικίαν ἐλογίσατο ἡ γλῶσσά σου· ὡσεὶ ξυρὸν ἠκονημένον ἐποίησας δόλον.
"In iniquity the whole day upon injustice has your tongue thought": that is, in the whole of time, without weariness, without intermission, without cessation. And when you do not, you think, so that when anything of evil is away from your hands, from your heart it is not away; either you do an evil thing, or while you…
Thou hast loved wickedness more than goodness; Unrighteousness better than to speak righteousness. Pause.
Ἠγάπησας κακίαν ὑπὲρ ἀγαθωσύνην, ἀδικίαν ὑπὲρ τὸ λαλῆσαι δικαιοσύνην· διάψαλμα.
There follows then what? All your might and all your thought of iniquity all the day, and meditation of malignity in your tongue without intermission, has performed what, done what? "As with a sharp razor you have done deceit". See what do evil men to Saints, they scrape their hair. What is it that I have said? If…
Thou hast loved all words of destruction, And a deceitful tongue.
Ἠγάπησας πάντα τὰ ῥήματα καταποντισμοῦ, γλῶσσαν δολίαν.
"You have loved malice above benignity". Before you was benignity; herself you should have loved. For you were not going to expend anything, nor were you going to fetch something to love by a distant voyage. Benignity is before you, iniquity before you: compare and choose. But perchance you have an eye wherewith you…
Therefore may God destroy thee forever, May he pluck thee up and utterly remove thee from thy dwelling, And thy root from the land of the living. Pause.
Διὰ τοῦτο ὁ Θεὸς καθέλοι σε εἰς τέλος, ἐκτίλαι σε καὶ μεταναστεύσαι σε ἀπὸ σκηνώματος, καὶ τὸ ῥίζωμά σου ἐκ γῆς ζώντων· διάψαλμα.
Because of this there follows in the Psalm, "You have loved all words of sinking under". Rescue therefore yourself, if you can, from sinking under. From shipwreck you are fleeing, and dost embrace lead! If you will not sink, catch at a plank, be borne on wood, let the Cross carry you through. But now because you are a…
And the righteous shall see, and fear, And shall laugh at him, and say,
Καὶ ὄψονται δίκαιοι καὶ φοβηθήσονται, καὶ ἐπʼ αὐτὸν γελάσονται, καὶ ἐροῦσιν,
"Wherefore God shall destroy you at the end": though now you seem to flourish like grass in the field before the heat of the sun. For, "All flesh is grass, and the brightness of man as the bloom of grass: the grass has withered, and the bloom has fallen down: but the word of the Lord abides for everlasting."…
Behold the man who made not God his help; But trusted in the abundance of his wealth, And strengthened himself in his vanity.
ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος ὃς οὐκ ἔθετο τὸν Θεὸν βοηθὸν αὐτοῦ, ἀλλʼ ἐπήλπισεν ἐπὶ τὸ πλῆθος τοῦ πλούτου αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐνεδυναμώθη ἐπὶ τῇ ματαιότητι αὐτοῦ.
"And the just shall see, and shall fear; and over him they shall laugh" (ver. 7). Shall fear when? Shall laugh when? Let us therefore understand, and make a distinction between those two times of fearing and laughing, which have their several uses. For so long as we are in this world, not yet must we laugh, lest…
But I am as a fruitful olive in the house of God: I have trusted in the mercy of God Forever, even for evermore.
Ἐγὼ δὲ ὡσεὶ ἐλαία κατάκαρπος ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἤλπισα ἐπὶ τὸ ἔλεος τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος.
But what shall they then say that shall laugh? "And over him they shall laugh; and shall say, Behold a man that hath not set God for his helper" (ver. 8). See ye the body earthly! "As much as thou shalt have, so great shalt thou be," is a proverb of covetous men, of grasping men, of men oppressing the innocent, of men…
I will give thanks to thee forever, for thou hast done it: And I will wait on thy name; For it is good before thy saints.
Ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ὅτι ἐποίησας, καὶ ὑπομενῶ τὸ ὄνομά σου, ὅτι χρηστὸν ἐναντίον τῶν ὁσίων σου.
Therefore that man having been condemned that "has trusted in the multitude of his riches, and has prevailed in his vanity:" for what more vain, than he that thinks coin more to avail than God? Therefore that man having been condemned that said, blessed of the people to whom these things are: thou that sayest,…
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.
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.