Salmos 51
Augustine of Hippo · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Salmos 51:1
Hear therefore these words, and say thou with him: "Have pity upon me, O God, after Thy great mercy" [Psalm 51:1]. He that imploreth great mercy, confesseth great misery. Let them seek a little mercy of Thee, that have sinned in ignorance: "Have pity," he saith, "upon me, after Thy great mercy." Relieve a deep wound after Thy great healing. Deep is what I have, but in the Almighty I take refuge. Of my own so deadly wound I should despair, unless I could find so great a Physician. "Have pity upon me, O God, after Thy great mercy: and after the multitude of Thy pities, blot out my iniquity." What he saith, "Blot out my iniquity," is this, "Have pity upon me, O God." And what he saith, "After the multitude of Thy pities," is this, "After Thy great mercy." Because great is the mercy, many are the mercies; and of Thy great mercy, many are Thy pitying. Thou dost regard mockers to amend them, dost regard ignorant men to teach them, dost regard men confessing to pardon. Did he this in ignorance? A certain man had done some, aye many evil things he had done; "Mercy," he saith, "I obtained, because ignorant I did it in unbelief." This David could not say, "Ignorant I did it." For he was not ignorant how very evil a thing was the touching of another's wife, and how very evil a thing was the killing of the husband, who knew not of it, and was not even angered. They obtain therefore the mercy of the Lord that have in ignorance done it; and they that have knowing done it, obtain not any mercy it may chance, but "great mercy." — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:2
"More and more wash me from mine unrighteousness" [Psalm 51:2]. What is, "More and more wash"? One much stained. More and more wash the sins of one knowing. Thou that hast washed off the sins of one ignorant. Not even thus is it to be despaired of Your mercy. "And from my delinquency purge Thou me." According to the manner in which He is physician, offer a recompense. He is God, offer sacrifice. What will you give that you may be purged? For see upon whom you call, upon a Just One you call. He hates sins, if He is just; He takes vengeance upon sins, if He is just; you will not be able to take away from the Lord God His justice: entreat mercy, but observe the justice: there is mercy to pardon the sinner, there is justice to punish the sin. What then? Thou ask mercy; shall sin unpunished abide? Let David answer, let those that have fallen answer, answer with David, and say, No, Lord, no sin of mine shall be unpunished; I know the justice of Him whose mercy I ask: it shall not be unpunished, but for this reason I will not that Thou punish me, because I punish my sin: for this reason I beg that Thou pardon, because I acknowledge. — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:3
Singing to the Lord, we have asked Him to turn away His face from our sins, and to blot out all our crimes. But you can notice, Brothers, that in the same psalm we have heard: For I acknowledge my iniquity, and my sin is ever before me. However, it is said to God elsewhere: Do not turn away your face from me, to whom we have said: Turn your face away from my sins. While therefore man and sinner are one person, man says: Do not turn away your face from me, the sinner says: Turn your face away from my sins. This is thus said: Do not turn away your face from the one whom you have made, turn your face away from what I have done. Your eye, he says, distinguishes both, lest the nature perish because of the vice. You have made something, and I have made something. What you have made is called nature; what I have done is called vice. Let the vice be healed, so that nature may be preserved. — Sermon 19
Salmos 51:3
"For mine iniquity I acknowledge, and my delinquency is before me ever" (ver. 3). I have not put behind my back what I have done, I look not at others, forgetful of myself, I pretend not to pull out a straw from my brother's eye, when there is a beam in my eye; my sin is before me, not behind me. For it was behind me when to me was sent the Prophet, and set before me the parable of the poor man's sheep. For saith Nathan the Prophet to David, "There was a certain rich man having very many sheep; but a poor man his neighbour had one little ewe sheep, which in his bosom and of his own food he was feeding: there came a stranger to the rich man, nothing from his flock he took, for the lithe ewe sheep of the poor man his neighbour he lusted; her he slew for the stranger: what doth he deserve?" But the other being angry doth pronounce sentence: then the king, evidently knowing not wherein he had been taken, declared the rich man deserving of death, and that the sheep be restored fourfold. Most sternly and most justly. But his sin was not yet before him, behind his back was what he had done: his own iniquity he did not yet acknowledge, and therefore another's he did not pardon. But the Prophet, being for this purpose sent, took from his back the sin, and before his eyes placed it, so that he might see that sentence so stern to have been pronounced against himself. For cutting and healing his heart's wound, he made a lancet of his tongue. ... — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:4
"Against You alone have I sinned, and before You an evil thing have I done" [Psalm 51:4]. What is this? For before men was not another's wife debauched and husband slain? Did not all men know what David had done? [2 Samuel 11:4, 15] What is, "Against You alone have I sinned, and before You an evil thing have I done." Because You alone are without sin. He is a just punisher that has nothing in Him to be punished; He is a just reprover that has nothing in Him to be reproved. "That you may be justified in Your sayings, and conquer when You are judged." To whom he speaks, brethren, to whom he speaks, is difficult to understand. To God surely he speaks, and it is evident that God the Father is not judged. What is, "And conquer when You are judged"? He sees the future Judge to be judged, one just by sinners to be judged, and therein conquering, because in Him was nothing to be judged. For alone among men could truly say the God-Man, "If you have found in Me sin, say." [John 8:46] But perchance there was what escaped men, and they found not what was really there, but was not manifest. In another place [John 14:30] He says, "Behold there comes the Prince of the world," being an acute observer of all sins; "Behold," He says, "there comes the Prince of this world," with death afflicting sinners, presiding over death: for, "By the malice of the devil death came into the world." [Wisdom 2:24] "Behold," He says, "there comes the Prince of the world:"— He said these words close upon His Passion:— "and in Me he shall find nothing," nothing of sin, nothing worthy of death, nothing worthy of condemnation. And as if it were said to Him, Why then do You die? He continues and says, "But that all men may know that I do the will of My Father; arise, let us go hence." I suffer, He says, undeserving, for men deserving, in order that them I may make deserving of My Life, for whom I undeservedly suffer their death. To Him then, having no sin, says on the present occasion the Prophet David, "Against You only have I sinned, and before You an evil thing have I done, that You may be justified in Your sayings, and conquer when You are judged." For Thou overcomest all men, all judges; and he that deems himself just, before You is unjust: Thou alone justly judgest, having been unjustly judged, That hast power to lay down Your life, and hast power again to take it. [John 10:18] Thou conquerest, then, when You are judged. All men Thou overcomest, because You are more than men, and by You were men made. — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:5
"For, behold, in iniquities I was conceived" [Psalm 51:5]. As though he were saying, They are conquered that have done what thou, David, hast done: for this is not a little evil and little sin, to wit, adultery and man-slaying. What of them that from the day that they were born of their mother's womb, have done no such thing? Even to them do you ascribe some sins, in order that He may conquer all men when He begins to be judged. David has taken upon him the person of mankind, and has heeded the bonds of all men, has considered the offspring of death, has adverted to the origin of iniquity, and he says, "For, behold, in iniquities I was conceived." Was David born of adultery; being born of Jesse, [1 Samuel 16:18] a righteous man, and his own wife? What is it that he says himself to have been in iniquity conceived, except that iniquity is drawn from Adam? Even the very bond of death, with iniquity itself is engrained? No man is born without bringing punishment, bringing desert of punishment. A Prophet says also in another place, "No one is clean in Your sight, not even an infant, whose life is of one day upon earth." For we know both by the Baptism of Christ that sins are loosed, and that the Baptism of Christ avails the remission of sins. If infants are every way innocent, why do mothers run with them when sick to the Church? What by that Baptism, what by that remission is put away? An innocent one I see that rather weeps than is angry. What does Baptism wash off? What does that Grace loose? There is loosed the offspring of sin. For if that infant could speak to you, it would say, and if it had the understanding which David had, it would answer you, Why do you heed me, an infant? Thou dost not indeed see my actions: but I in iniquity have been conceived, "And in sins has my mother nourished me in the womb." Apart from this bond of mortal concupiscence was Christ born without a male, of a virgin conceiving by the Holy Ghost. He cannot be said to have been conceived in iniquity, it cannot be said, In sins His mother nourished Him in the womb, to whom was said, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon you, and the Virtue of the Highest shall overshadow you." [Luke 1:35] It is not therefore because it is sin to have to do with wives that men are conceived in iniquity, and in sins nourished in the womb by their mother; but because that which is made is surely made of flesh deserving punishment. For the punishment of the flesh is death, and surely there is in it liability to death itself. Whence the Apostle spoke not of the body as if to die, but as if dead: "The body indeed is dead," he says, "because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." [Romans 8:10] How then without bond of sin is born that which is conceived and sown of a body dead because of sin? This chaste operation in a married person has not sin, but the origin of sin draws with it condign punishment. For there is no husband that, because he is an husband, is not subject to death, or that is subject to death for any other reason but because of sin. For even the Lord was subject to death, but not on account of sin: He took upon Him our punishment, and so looses our guilt. With reason then, "In Adam all die, but in Christ shall all be made alive." [1 Corinthians 15:22] For, "Through one man," says the Apostle, "sin has entered into this world, and through sin death, and so has passed unto all men, in that all have sinned." [Romans 5:12] Definite is the sentence: "In Adam," he says, "all have sinned." Alone then could such an infant be innocent, as has not been born of the work of Adam. — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:5
So it is because of this quite unique innocence that the psalm says, "Against you alone have I sinned and done what is evil in your presence, that you may be justified in your words and may overcome when you are judged," because he could find not a hint of evil in you [Jesus Christ]. Why could he find it in you, though, O human race? Because it goes on to say, "For I myself was conceived in iniquity, and in sins did my mother conceive me." It is David saying this. Inquire how David was born; you will discover that it was of a lawful wife, not of adultery. So in terms of what sort of propagation does he say "I was conceived in iniquity"? It can only be that there is here a kind of propagation or transmission of death, which every person contracts who is born of the union of man and woman. — SERMON 170:4
Salmos 51:6
"For, behold, truth You have loved: uncertain and hidden things of Your wisdom, You have manifested to me" [Psalm 51:6]. That is, You have not left unpunished even the sins of those whom Thou dost pardon. "Truth You have loved:" so mercy You have granted first, as that You should also preserve truth. Thou pardonest one confessing, pardonest, but only if he punishes himself: so there are preserved mercy and truth: mercy because man is set free; truth, because sin is punished. "Uncertain and hidden things of Your wisdom You have manifested to me." What "hidden things"? What "uncertain things"? Because God pardons even such. Nothing is so hidden, nothing so uncertain. For this uncertainty the Ninevites repented, for they said, though after the threatenings of the Prophet, though after that cry, "Three days and Nineve shall be overthrown:" [Jonah 3:4] they said to themselves, Mercy must be implored; they said in this sort reasoning among themselves, "Who knows whether God may turn for the better His sentence, and have pity?" [Jonah 3:9] It was "uncertain," when it is said, "Who knows?" on an uncertainty they did repent, certain mercy they earned: they prostrated them in tears, in fastings, in sackcloth and ashes they prostrated them, groaned, wept, God spared. Nineve stood: was Nineve overthrown? One way indeed it seems to men, and another way it seemed to God. But I think that it was fulfilled that the Prophet had foretold. Regard what Nineve was, and see how it was overthrown; overthrown in evil, built in good; just as Saul the persecutor was overthrown, Paul the preacher built. [Acts 9:4] Who would not say that this city, in which we now are, was happily overthrown, if all those madmen, leaving their triflings, were to run together to the Church with contrite heart, and were to call upon God's mercy for their past doings? Should we not say, Where is that Carthage? Because there is not what there was, it is overthrown: but if there is what there was not, it is built. So is said to Jeremiah, "Behold, I will give to you to root up, to dig under, to overthrow, to destroy," and again, "to build, and to plant." [Jeremiah 1:10] Thence is that voice of the Lord, "I will smite and I will heal." [Deuteronomy 32:39] He smites the rottenness of the deed, He heals the pain of the wound. Physicians do thus when they cut; they smite and heal; they arm themselves in order to strike, they carry steel, and come to cure. But because great were the sins of the Ninevites, they said, "Who knows?" This uncertainty had God disclosed to His servant David. For when he had said, before the Prophet standing and convicting him, "I have sinned:" straightway he heard from the Prophet, that is, from the Spirit of God which was in the Prophet, "Your sin is put away from you." [2 Samuel 12:13] "Uncertain and hidden things" of His wisdom He manifested to him. — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:7
"You shall sprinkle me," he says, "with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed" [Psalm 51:7]. Hyssop we know to be a herb humble but healing: to the rock it is said to adhere with roots. Thence in a mystery the similitude of cleansing the heart has been taken. Do thou also take hold, with the root of your love, on your Rock: be humble in your humble God, in order that you may be exalted in your glorified God. You shall be sprinkled with hyssop, the humility of Christ shall cleanse you. Despise not the herb, attend to the efficacy of the medicine. Something further I will say, which we are wont to hear from physicians, or to experience in sick persons. Hyssop, they say, is proper for purging the lungs. In the lung is wont to be noted pride: for there is inflation, there breathing. It was said of Saul the persecutor as of Saul the proud, that he was going to bind Christians, breathing slaughter: [Acts 9:1] he was breathing out slaughter, breathing out blood, his lung not yet cleansed. Hear also in this place one humbled, because with hyssop purged: "You shall wash me," that is, shall cleanse me: "and above snow I shall be whitened." "Although," he says, "your sins shall have been like scarlet, like snow I will whiten." [Isaiah 1:18] Out of such men Christ does present to Himself a vesture without spot and wrinkle. [Ephesians 5:27] Further, His vesture on the mount, which shone forth like whitened snow, [Matthew 17:2] signified the Church cleansed from every spot of sin. — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:8
But where is humility from hyssop? Hear what followeth: "To my hearing Thou shall give exultation and gladness, and bones humbled shall exult" (ver. 8). I will rejoice in hearing Thee, not in speaking against Thee. Thou hast sinned, why defendest thou thyself? Thou wilt speak: suffer thou; hear, yield to divine words, lest thou be put to confusion, and be still more wounded: sin hath been committed, be it not defended: to confession let it come, not to defence. Thou engagest thyself as defender of thy sin, thou art conquered: no innocent patron hast thou engaged, thy defence is not profitable to thee. For who art thou that defendest thyself? Thou art meet to accuse thyself. Say not, either, "I have done nothing;" or, "What great thing have I done?" or, "Other men as well have done." If in doing sin thou sayest thou hast done nothing, thou wilt be nothing, thou wilt receive nothing: God is ready to give indulgence, thou closest the door against thyself: He is ready to give, do not oppose the bar of defence, but open the bosom of confession. "To my hearing Thou shall give exultation and gladness." ... — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:9
God does not listen to sinners. When he was beating his breast, he was punishing his sins; when he was punishing his sins, he was associating himself with God as judge. God, you see, hates sins; if you too hate them, you are beginning to join God, so that you can say to him, "Turn your face away from my sins." Turn your face away—but from what? From my sins. "Do not turn your face away from me." What's the meaning of "your face from my sins"? Don't see them, don't look at them; overlook them instead, so that you can pardon me. — SERMON 136A.2
Salmos 51:9
So all past sins are forgiven people on conversion; but for the rest of this life there are certain grave and deadly sins, from which one can be released only by the most vehement and distressing humbling of the heart and contrition of spirit and the pain of repentance. These are forgiven through the keys of the church. If you start judging yourself, you see, if you start being displeased with yourself, God will come along to show you mercy. If you are willing to punish yourself, he will spare you. In fact, all who repent and do penance well are punishing themselves. They have to be severe with themselves, so that God may be lenient with them. As David says, "Turn your face away from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities." But on what terms? He says in the same psalm, "Since I acknowledge my iniquity, and my sin is always before me." So if you acknowledge it, God overlooks it. — SERMON 278:12
Salmos 51:9
"Turn Thou away Your face from my sins, and all mine iniquities blot out" [Psalm 51:9]. For now bones humbled exult, now with hyssop cleansed, humble I have become. "Turn Thou away Your face," not from me, but "from my sins." For in another place praying he says, "Turn not away Your face from me." He that would not that God's face be turned away from himself, would that God's face be turned away from his sins. For to sin, when God turns not Himself away, he adverts: if he adverts, he animadverts. "And all mine iniquities blot out." He is busied with that capital sin: he reckons on more, he would have all his iniquities to be blotted out: he relies on the Physician's hand, on that "great mercy," upon which he has called in the beginning of the Psalm: "All mine iniquities blot out." God turns away His face, and so blots out; by "turning away" His face, sins He blots out. By "turning towards," He writes them. You have heard of Him blotting out by turning away, hear of Him by turning towards, doing what? "But the countenance of the Lord is upon men doing evil things, that He may destroy from the earth the remembrance of them:" He shall destroy the remembrance of them, not by "blotting out their sins." But here he does ask what? "Turn away Your face from my sins." Well he asks. For he himself does not turn away his face from his own sins, saying, "For my sin I acknowledge." With reason you ask and well ask, that God turn away from your sin, if you from thence dost not turn away your face: but if you set your sin at your back, God does there set His face. Do thou turn sin before your face, if you will that God thence turn away His face; and then safely you ask, and He hears. — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:10
We are then truly free when God ordereth our lives, that is, formeth and createth us not as men—this he hath already done—but also as good men, which he is now doing by his grace, that we may indeed be new creatures in Christ Jesus. Accordingly, the prayer: "Create in me a clean heart, O God." This does not mean, as far as the natural human heart is concerned, that God hath not already created this. — Enchiridion 9:31
Salmos 51:10
"A clean heart create in me, O God" (ver. 10). "Create"—he meant to say, "as it were begin something new." But, because repentant he was praying (that had committed some sin, which before he had committed, he was more innocent), after what manner he hath said "create" he showeth. "And a right spirit renew in my inner parts." By my doing, he saith, the uprightness of my spirit hath been made old and bowed. For he saith in another Psalm, "They have bowed my soul." And when a man doth make himself stoop unto earthly lusts, he is "bowed" in a manner, but when he is made erect for things above, upright is his heart made, in order that God may be good to him. For, "How good is the God of Israel to the upright of heart!" Moreover, brethren, listen. Sometimes God in this world chastiseth for his sin him that He pardoneth in the world to come. For even to David himself, to whom it had been already said by the Prophet, "Thy sin is put away," there happened certain things which God had threatened for that very sin. For his son Abessalom against him waged bloody war, and many ways humbled his father. He was walking in grief, in the tribulation of his humiliation, so resigned to God, that, ascribing to Him all that was just, he confessed that he was suffering nothing underservedly, having now an heart upright, to which God was not displeasing. A slanderous person and one throwing in his teeth harsh curses he patiently heard, one of the soldiers on the opposite side, that were with his unnatural son. And when he was heaping curses upon the king, one of the companions of David, enraged, would have gone and smitten him; but he is kept back by David. And he is kept back how? For that he said, God sent him to curse me. Acknowledging his guilt he embraced his penance, seeking glory not his own, praising the Lord in that good which he had, praising the Lord in that which he was suffering, "blessing the Lord alway, ever His praise was in his mouth." Such are all the upright in heart: not those crooked persons who think themselves upright and God crooked: who when they do any evil thing, rejoice; when they suffer any evil thing, blaspheme; nay, if set in tribulation and scourging, they say from their distorted heart, "O God, what have I done to Thee?" Truly it is because they have done nothing to God, for they have done all to themselves. "And an upright spirit, renew in my inner parts." — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:11
"Cast me not forth from Thy face" (ver. 11). Turn away Thy face from my sins: and "cast me not forth from Thy face." Whose face he feareth, upon the face of the Same he calleth. "And Thy Holy Spirit take not away from me." For in one confessing there is the Holy Spirit. Even now, to the gift of the Holy Spirit it belongeth, that what thou hast done displeaseth thee. The unclean spirit sins do please; the Holy One they displease. Though then thou still implore pardon, yet thou art joined to God on the other part, because the evil thing that thou hast committed displeaseth thee: for the same thing displeaseth both thee and Him. Now, to assail thy fever, ye are two, thou and the Physician. For the reason that there cannot be confession of sin and punishment of sin in a man of himself: when one is angry with himself, and is displeasing to himself, then it is not without the gift of the Holy Spirit, nor doth he say, Thy Holy Spirit give to me, but, "Take not away from me." — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:12
"Give back to me the exultation of Your salvation" [Psalm 51:12]. "Give back" what I had; what by sinning I had lost: to wit, of Your Christ. For who without Him can be made whole? Because even before that He was Son of Mary, "In the beginning He was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;" [John 1:1] and so, by the holy fathers a future dispensation of flesh taken upon Him, was looked for; as is believed by us to have been done. Times are changed, not faith. "And with Principal Spirit confirm me." Some have here understood the Trinity in God, Itself God; the dispensation of Flesh being excepted therefrom: since it is written, "God is a Spirit." [John 4:24] For that which is not body, and yet is, seems to exist in such sort as that it is spirit. Therefore some understand here the Trinity spoken of: "In upright Spirit," the Son; in "Holy Spirit," Holy Ghost; in "Principal Spirit," Father. It is not any heretical opinion, therefore, whether this be so, or whether "upright Spirit" He would have to be taken of man himself (when He says, "An upright spirit renew in my inner parts"), which I have bowed and distorted by sinning, so that in that case the Holy Spirit be Himself the Principal Spirit: which also he would not have to be taken away from him, and thereby would have himself to be confirmed therein. — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:13
And what Christ worked in Paul, making him from a persecutor into a preacher, how much this may contribute to human salvation, let the Apostle himself speak that no one conscious of great sins may despair of God's mercy. Human speech, he says, is worthy of full acceptance, because Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, among whom I am the first. But for this reason, I received mercy, that in me first Christ Jesus might show all long-suffering, as a pattern for those who are going to believe in Him for eternal life. Who, then, being inspired by such a great example, could despair of salvation under the hand of the Almighty Physician, considering that he who once ravaged the faith he now preaches, not only escaped the punishment of the persecutor but also deserved the crown of the teacher, and whose blood he sought in his members to shed in his rage, he poured out his own blood in faith for His name? Therefore, Rome has the head of the nations, two lights of the nations kindled by Him who illuminates every man coming into this world: one, in which God elevated humble weakness; the other, in which He healed condemnable sin. In the one, let us learn not to boast; in the other, not to despair. How briefly the great examples set before us teach, how beneficial they are; which we should always remember, and in their praise magnify the true light. Therefore, let no one exalt himself in the lofty status of this world: Peter was a fisherman. Let no one flee from God's mercy by thinking of their own sinfulness: Paul was a persecutor. The former says: The Lord became a refuge for the poor; the latter says: I will teach the wicked Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You. — Sermon 381
Salmos 51:13
But see what he annexeth: "With Principal Spirit," he saith, "confirm Thou me." Wherein "confirm"? Because Thou hast pardoned me, because I am secure, that what Thou hast forgiven is not to be ascribed, on this being made secure and with this grace confirmed, therefore I am not ungrateful. But I shall do what? "I would teach unrighteous men Thy ways" (ver. 13). Being myself of the unrighteous (that is, one that was myself an unrighteous man, now no longer unrighteous; the Holy Spirit not having been taken away from me, and I being confirmed with Principal Spirit). "I would teach unrighteous men Thy ways." What ways wilt thou teach unrighteous men? "And ungodly men to Thee shall be converted." If David's sin is counted for ungodliness, let not ungodly men despair of themselves, forasmuch as God hath spared an ungodly man; but let them take heed that to Him they be converted, that His ways they learn. But if David's deed is not counted for ungodliness, but this is properly call ungodliness, namely, to apostatize from God, not to worship one God, or never to have worshipped, or to have forsaken, Him whom one did worship, then what he saith hath the force of superabundance, "And ungodly men shall to Thee be converted." So full art thou of the fatness of mercy, that for those converted to Thee, not only sinners of any sort, but even ungodly, there is no cause for despair. Wherefore? That believing on Him that justifieth an ungodly man, their faith may be counted for righteousness. — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:14
"Deliver me from bloods, O God, God of my health" (ver. 14). The Latin translator hath expressed, though by a word not Latin, yet an accuracy from the Greek. For we all know that in Latin, sanguines (bloods) are not spoken of, nor yet sanguina (bloods in the neuter), nevertheless because the Greek translator hath thus used the plural number, not without reason, but because he found this in the original language the Hebrew, a godly translator hath preferred to use a word not Latin, rather than one not exact. Wherefore then hath he said in the plural number, "From bloods"? In many bloods, as in the origin of the sinful flesh, many sins he would have to be understood. The Apostle having regard to the very sins which come of the corruption of flesh and blood, saith, "Flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God." For doubtless, after the true faith of the same Apostle, that flesh shall rise again and shall itself gain incorruption, as He saith Himself, "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality." Because then this corruption is of sin, by the name thereof sins are called. In like manner as both that morsel of flesh and member which playeth in the mouth when we articulate words is called a tongue, and that is called a tongue which by the tongue is made, so we call one tongue the Greek, another the Latin; for the flesh is not diverse, but the sound. In the same manner, then, as the speech which is made by the tongue is called a tongue; so also the iniquity which is made by blood is called blood. Heeding, then, his many iniquities, as in the expression above, "And all my iniquities blot out," and ascribing them to the corruption of flesh and blood, "Free me," he saith, "from bloods:" that is, free me from iniquities, cleanse me from all corruption. ...Not yet is the substance, but certain hope. "And my tongue shall exult of Thy righteousness." — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:15
"O Lord, my lips You shall open, and my mouth shall tell of Your praise" [Psalm 51:15]. "Your praise," because I have been created: "Your praise," because sinning I have not been forsaken: "Your praise," because I have been admonished to confess: "Your praise," because in order that I might be secured I have been cleansed. — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:17
Nevertheless, no matter how great our crimes, their forgiveness should never be despaired of in holy Church for those who truly repent, each according to the measure of his sin. And, in the act of repentance, where a crime has been committed of such gravity as also to cut off the sinner from the body of Christ, we should not consider the measure of time as much as the measure of sorrow. For, "a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise." — Enchiridion 17:65
Salmos 51:17
Do you wish to appease God? Know what you do with yourself, so that God may be appeased with you. Note in the same psalm; for it is read there: Because if you had desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it; with burnt offerings you will not be delighting. Therefore will you be without sacrifice? Will you offer nothing, appeasing God with no offering? What did you say? If you had desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it; you will not be delighting in burnt offerings. Follow, and listen, and say: A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit, a contrite and humbled heart God does not spurn. Having cast away those things you used to offer, you have found what to offer. ...Therefore, when holy David thus said: Because if you had desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it; with burnt offerings you will not be delighting, then those sacrifices were offered to God, which are not offered now. Therefore, when he was singing, he was prophesying, rejecting the present and foreseeing the future. With burnt offerings, he says, you will not be delighting. Therefore, when you will not be delighting in burnt offerings, will you remain without sacrifice? By no means. A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit; a contrite and humbled heart God does not spurn. You have what to offer. Do not inspect the flock, do not prepare ships and journey to distant provinces from where to bring spices. Seek in your heart what is pleasing to God. The heart must be crushed. Do you fear lest it perish being crushed? There you have: Create in me a clean heart, O God. Therefore, that a clean heart may be created, the unclean must be crushed. — Sermon 19:3
Salmos 51:17
How close is God's mercy to the one confessing! For God is not far from the broken-hearted; for it is written: "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart." Therefore, this one had already broken his heart in the region of want; for he had returned to his heart to break it; he had left his heart in pride, he had returned to his heart in wrath. He was angry at himself to punish himself, but his own evil; deserving his father's good, he had returned. He said in his anger, as it is said: "Be angry, and do not sin." For every penitent is angry with himself; because he is angry, he punishes himself. Hence all those moves in the penitent, who truly repents, who truly grieves; hence the tearing of hair, hence the wearing of sackcloth, hence the beating of the breast. Surely all these are signs of a man raging against himself and being angry at himself. What the hand does outwardly, the conscience does inwardly; in thoughts it strikes itself, beats itself, and, to say it more truly, kills itself. For by killing himself, he offers a sacrifice to God, a contrite spirit; "a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." Therefore, breaking his heart, humbling, striking, killing his heart. — Sermon 112A:5
Salmos 51:17
"Because if Thou hadst willed sacrifice, I would have given it surely" (ver. 16). David was living at that time when sacrifices of victim animals were offered to God, and he saw these times that were to be. Do we not perceive ourselves in these words? Those sacrifices were figurative, foretelling the One Saving Sacrifice. Not even we have been left without a Sacrifice to offer to God. For hear what he saith, having a concern for his sin, and wishing the evil thing which he hath done to be forgiven him: "If Thou hadst willed;" he saith, "sacrifice, I would have given it surely. With holocausts Thou wilt not be delighted." Nothing shall we therefore offer? So shall we come to God? And whence shall we propitiate Him? Offer; certainly in thyself thou hast what thou mayest offer. Do not from without fetch frankincense, but say, "In me are, O God, Thy vows, which I will render of praise to Thee." Do not from without seek cattle to slay, thou hast in thyself what thou mayest kill. "Sacrifice to God is a spirit troubled, a heart contrite and humbled God despiseth not" (ver. 17). Utterly he despiseth bull, he-goat, ram: now is not the time that these should be offered. They were offered when they indicated something, when they promised something; when the things promised come, the promises are taken away. "A heart contrite and humbled God despiseth not." Ye know that God is high: if thou shalt have made thyself high, He will be from thee; if thou shalt have humbled thyself, He will draw near to thee. — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:18
See who this is: David as one man was seeming to implore; see ye here our image and the type of the Church. "Deal kindly, O Lord, in Your good will with Sion" [Psalm 51:18]. With this Sion deal kindly. What is Sion? A city holy. What is a city holy? That which cannot be hidden, being upon a mountain established. Sion in prospect, because it has prospect of something which it hopes for. For Sion is interpreted "prospect," and Jerusalem, "vision of peace." You perceive then yourselves to be in Sion and in Jerusalem, if being sure ye look for hope that is to be, and if you have peace with God. "And be the walls of Jerusalem built." "Deal kindly, O Lord, in Your good will with Sion, and be the walls of Jerusalem built." For not to herself let Sion ascribe her merits: do Thou with her deal kindly, "Be the walls of Jerusalem built:" be the battlements of our immortality laid, in faith and hope and charity. — Exposition on Psalm 51
Salmos 51:19
"Then Thou shalt accept the sacrifice of righteousness" (ver. 19). But now sacrifice for iniquity, to wit, a spirit troubled, and a heart humbled; then the sacrifice of righteousness, praises alone. For, "Blessed they that dwell in Thy house, for ever and ever they shall praise Thee:" for this is the sacrifice of righteousness. "Oblations and holocausts." What are "holocausts"? A whole victim by fire consumed. When a whole beast was laid upon the altar with fire to be consumed, it was called a holocaust. May divine fire take us up whole, and that fervour catch us whole. What fervour? "Neither is there that hideth himself from the heat thereof." What fervour? That whereof speaketh the Apostle: "In spirit fervent." Be not merely our soul taken up by that divine fire of wisdom, but also our body; that it may earn their immortality; so be it lifted up for a holocaust, that death be swallowed into victory. "Oblations and holocausts." "Then shall they lay upon thine altar calves." Whence "calves"? What shall He therein choose? Will it be the innocence of the new age, or necks freed from the yoke of the law? ... — Exposition on Psalm 51