The Eastern Cross/Bible/Psalms/Psalm 67
The Book of Psalms · the Psalter
Psalm 68 in the KJV and most English Bibles
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Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered; And let them that hate him flee from before him.
Αναστήτω ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ διασκορπισθήτωσαν οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ φυγέτωσαν οἱ μισοῦντες αὐτὸν ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ.
"Let God rise up, and let His enemies be scattered" (ver. 1). Already this hath come to pass, Christ hath risen up, "who is over all things, God blessed for ever," and His enemies have been dispersed through all nations, to wit, the Jews; in that very place, where they practised their enmities, being overthrown in…
As smoke vanishes, let them vanish: As wax melts before the fire, So let the sinners perish from before God.
Ὡς ἐκλείπει καπνὸς, ἐκλιπέτωσαν· ὡς τήκεται κηρὸς ἀπὸ προσώπου πυρὸς, οὕτως ἀπόλοιντο οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ.
"As smoke fails, let them fail". For they lifted up themselves from the fires of their hatred unto the vapouring of pride, and against Heaven setting their mouth, and shouting, "Crucify, Crucify," [John 19:6] Him taken captive they derided, Him hanging they mocked: and being soon conquered by that very Person against…
But let the righteous rejoice; Let them exult before God: Let them be delighted with joy.
Καὶ οἱ δίκαιοι εὐφρανθήτωσαν· ἀγαλλιάσθωσαν ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, τερφθήτωσαν ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ.
Lastly, there followeth, "And let just men be joyous, and exult in the sight of God, let them delight in gladness". For then shall they hear, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive ye the kingdom." "Let them be joyous," therefore, that have toiled, "and exult in the sight of God." For there will not be in this…
Sing to God, sing praises to his name: Make a way for him that rides upon the west (the Lord is his name) And exult before him. They shall be troubled before the face of him,
Ἄσατε τῷ Θεῷ, ψάλατε τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ, ὁδοποιήσατε τῷ ἐπιβεβηκότι ἐπὶ δυσμῶν, Κύριος ὄνομα αὐτῷ, καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ.
Secondly, he turns himself to those very persons to whom he has given so great hope, and to them while here living he speaks and exhorts: "Sing ye to God, psalm ye to His name". Already on this subject in the exposition of the Title we have before spoken that which seemed meet. He sings to God, that lives to God: He…
Who is the father of the orphans, and judge of the widows: Such is God in his holy place.
ταραχθήσονται ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ, τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν ὀρφανῶν, καὶ κριτοῦ τῶν χηρῶν, ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ.
God settles the solitary in a house; Leading forth prisoners mightily, Also them that act provokingly, even them that dwell in tombs.
Ὁ Θεὸς κατοικίζει μονοτρόπους ἐν οἴκῳ, ἐξάγων πεπεδημένους ἐν ἀνδρείᾳ· ὁμοίως τοὺς παραπικραίνοντας, τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐν τάφοις.
O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, When thou wentest through the wilderness; Pause:
Ὁ Θεὸς, ἐν τῷ ἐκπορεύεσθαί σε ἐνώπιον τοῦ λαοῦ σου, ἐν τῷ διαβαίνειν σε τὴν ἔρημον· διάψαλμα·
"Your animals shall dwell therein". "Yours," not their own; to You subject, not for themselves free; for You needy, not for themselves sufficient. Lastly, he continues, "You have prepared in Your own sweetness for the needy, O God." "In Your own sweetness," not in his meetness. For the needy he is, for he has been…
"The Lord shall give the Word": to wit, food for His animals which shall dwell therein. But what shall these animals work to whom He shall give the word? What but that which follows? "To them preaching the Gospel in much virtue." With what virtue, but with that strength wherein He leads forth men fettered? Perchance…
Now in that which followeth, he turneth himself to address the members themselves, whereof the beauty of the House is composed, saying, "If ye sleep in the midst of the lots, wings of a dove silvered, and between the shoulders thereof in the freshness of gold" (ver. 13). First, we must here examine the order of the…
"While He that is above the heavens distinguisheth kings over Her, with snow they shall be made white in Selmon" (ver. 14). While He "above the heavens," He that ascended over all heavens that He might fulfil all things, "while He distinguisheth kings over Her," that is, over that same "Dove silvered." For the Apostle…
But this mountain he calls the "mountain of God, a mountain fruitful, a mountain full of curds", or "a mountain fat." But here what else would he call fat but fruitful? For there is also a mountain called by that name, that is to say, Selmon. But what mountain ought we to understand by "the mountain of God, a mountain…
Secondly, in the expression, "Mountain of God, Mountain full of curds," Mountain "fruitful," let no one dare from this to compare the Lord Jesus Christ with the rest of the Saints, who are themselves also called mountains of God. ...For there were not wanting men to call Him, some John Baptist, some Elias, some…
Thus cometh to pass that also which followeth: "The Chariot of God is of ten thousands manifold:" or "of tens of thousands manifold:" or, "ten times thousand times manifold." For one Greek word, which hath there been used, μυριοπλάσιον, each Latin interpreter hath rendered as best he could, but in Latin it could not…
Whence he that was singing of these things, in the Spirit foreseeing them, even he too being fulfilled with joy hath burst forth a hymn, saying, "The Lord God is blessed, blessed is the Lord God from day unto day." Which some copies have, "by day daily," because the Greeks have it thus, ἡμέραν καθ' ἡμέραν: which more…
"The Lord has said, Out of Basan I will be turned": or, as some copies have, "Out of Basan I will turn." For He turns that we may be safe, of whom above has been said, "God of our healths, and God of saving men." For to Him elsewhere also is said, "O God of virtues, turn Thou us, and show Your face, and safe we shall…
"There have been seen Thy steps, O God." The steps are those wherewith Thou hast come through the world, as though in that chariot Thou wast going to traverse the round world; which chariot of clouds He intimateth to be His holy and faithful ones in the Gospel, where He saith, "From this time ye shall see the Son of…
But in order that those steps might be seen, "there went before princes conjoined with men psalming, in the midst of damsels players on timbrels". The princes are the Apostles: for they went before, that the peoples might come in multitudes. "They went before" proclaiming the New Testament: "conjoined with men…
Therefore, that no one should take these words in a carnal sense, and by these words should conceive in his mind certain choral bands of wantonness, he continueth and saith, "In the Churches bless ye the Lord": as though he were saying, wherefore, when ye hear of damsels, players on timbrels, do ye think of wanton…
"There is Benjamin the younger in a trance". There is Paul the last of the Apostles, who saith, "For even I am an Israelite, out of the seed of Abraham, out of the tribe of Benjamin." But evidently "in a trance," all men being amazed at a miracle so great as that of his calling. For a trance is the mind's going out:…
"Command, O God, Your Virtue". For one is our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, [1 Corinthians 8:6] and we in Him, of whom we read that He is "the Virtue of God and the Wisdom of God." [1 Corinthians 1:24] But how does God command His Christ, save while He commends Him? For "God commends His love in us,…
"From Your Temple in Jerusalem, to You kings shall offer presents". Jerusalem, which is our free mother, [Galatians 4:26] because the same also is Your holy Temple: from that Temple then, "to You kings shall offer presents." Whatever kings be understood, whether kings of the earth, or whether those whom "He that is…
Be there done that which followeth, "Rebuke Thou the beasts of the cane". For both beasts they are, since by not understanding they do hurt: and beasts of the cane they are, since the sense of the Scriptures they wrest according to their own misapprehension. For in the cane the Scriptures are as reasonably perceived,…
"There shall come ambassadors out of Egypt, Ethiopia shall prevent the hands of Him". Under the name of Egypt or of Ethiopia, he has signified the faith of all nations, from a part the whole: calling the preachers of reconciliation ambassadors. "For Christ," he says, "we have an embassy, God as it were exhorting…
Henceforward, as if through prophecy all things had been discoursed of which now we see fulfilled, he exhorteth to the praise of Christ, and next He foretelleth His future Advent. "Kingdoms of earth, sing ye to God, psalm ye to the Lord: psalm ye to God, who hath ascended above the Heaven of Heavens to the East". Or,…
"Give ye glory to God, above Israel is the magnificence of Him". Of whom says the Apostle, "Upon the Israel of God." [Galatians 6:16] For "not all that are out of Israel, are Israelites:" [Romans 9:6] for there is also an Israel after the flesh. Whence he says, "See ye Israel after the flesh." [1 Corinthians 10:18]…
Lastly, lest of anything else the clouds be understood, he hath in continuation added, "Wonderful is God in His saints, the God of Israel". For at that time even most truly and most fully there shall be fulfilled the name Israel itself, which is one "seeing God:" for we shall see Him as He is. "He Himself shall give…
"O God, when You went forth before Your people". His going forth is perceived, when He appears in His works. But He appears not to all men, but to them that know how to spy out His works. For I do not now speak of those works which are conspicuous to all men, Heaven and earth and sea and all things that in them are;…
"When You went by in the desert, the earth was moved". A desert were the nations, which knew not God: a desert they were, where by God Himself no law had been given, where no Prophet had dwelled, and foretold the Lord to come. "When," then, "You went by in the desert," when You were preached in the nations; "the earth…
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.
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