Psalm 58 [MT 59]

The words which we have sung must be rather hearkened to by us, than proclaimed. For to all men as it were in an assemblage of mankind, the Truth cries, "If truly indeed justice ye speak, judge right things, you sons of men" [Psalm 58:1]. For to what unjust man is it not an easy thing to speak justice? Or what man if questioned about justice, when he has not a cause, would not easily answer what is just? Inasmuch as the hand of our Maker in our very hearts has written this truth, "That which to yourself you would not have done, do not do to another." [Tobit 4:15] Of this truth, even before that the Law was given, no one was suffered to be ignorant, in order that there might be some rule whereby might be judged even those to whom Law had not been given. But lest men should complain that something had been wanting for them, there has been written also in tables that which in their hearts they read not. For it was not that they had it not written, but read it they would not. There has been set before their eyes that which in their conscience to see they would be compelled; and as if from without the voice of God were brought to them, to his own inward parts has man been thus driven, the Scripture saying, "For in the thoughts of the ungodly man there will be questioning." [Wisdom 1:9] Where questioning is, there is law. But because men, desiring those things which are without, even from themselves have become exiles, there has been given also a written law: not because in hearts it had not been written, but because you were a deserter from your heart, you are seized by Him that is everywhere, and to yourself within art called back. Therefore the written law, what cries it, to those that have deserted the law written in their hearts? [Romans 2:15] "Return ye transgressors to the heart." [Isaiah 46:8] For who has taught you, that you would have no other man draw near your wife? Who has taught you, that you would not have a theft committed upon you? Who has taught you, that you would not suffer wrong, and whatever other thing either universally or particularly might be spoken of? For many things there are, of which severally if questioned men with loud voice would answer, that they would not suffer. Come, if you are not willing to suffer these things, are you by any means the only man? Do you not live in the fellowship of mankind? He that together with you has been made, is your fellow; and all men have been made after the image of God, [Genesis 1:26] unless with earthly coverings they efface that which He has formed. That which therefore to yourself you will not have to be done, do not do to another. For you judge that there is evil in that, which to suffer you are not willing: and this thing you are constrained to know by an inward law; that in your very heart is written. You were doing somewhat, and there was a cry raised in your hands: how are you constrained to return to your heart when this thing you suffer in the hands of others? Is theft a good thing? No! I ask, is adultery a good thing? All cry, No! Is man-slaying a good thing? All cry, that they abhor it. Is coveting the property of a neighbour a good thing? No! Is the voice of all men. Or if yet you confess not, there draws near one that covets your property: be pleased to answer what you will have. All men therefore, when of these things questioned, cry that these things are not good. Again, of doing kindnesses, not only of not hurting, but also of conferring and distributing, any hungry soul is questioned thus: "you suffer hunger, another man has bread, and there is abundance with him beyond sufficiency, he knows you to want, he gives not: it displeases you when hungering, let it displease you when full also, when of another's hungering you shall have known. A stranger wanting shelter comes into your country, he is not taken in: he then cries that inhuman is that city, at once among barbarians he might have found a home. He feels the injustice because he suffers; thou perchance feel not, but it is meet that thou imagine yourself also a stranger; and that thou see in what manner he will have displeased you, who shall not have given that, which thou in your country will not give to a stranger." I ask all men. True are these things? True. Just are these things? Just. But hear ye the Psalm. "If truly therefore justice ye speak, judge right things, you sons of men." Be it not a justice of lips, but also of deeds. For if you act otherwise than you speak, good things you speak, and ill you judge.

Exposition on Psalm 58

How, then, did Christ say, “All things that I have heard from the Father I have made known to you,” except in this way, that what he was certainly going to accomplish through the Holy Spirit, he spoke to us as if he had already accomplished it? Therefore, whenever we hear that one who believes in Christ will not be judged, we are to understand that he will not be condemned. The word judged is used in place of “condemned,” as where the apostle says, “Let not him who does not eat condemn him who eats,” that is, let him not think evil of him. And the Lord says, “Do not judge that you may not be judged.” He does not take from us the power to judge, since the prophet also declares, “If you truly love justice, judge right things, O sons of men.” And the Lord says, “Judge not according to personal considerations, but render a just judgment.” But, in that passage where he forbids judging, he admonishes us not to condemn a person whose purpose is hidden from us, or when we do not know how a person will turn out later on. Accordingly, when he said, “He shall not come to judgment,” he meant that he will not come to damnation. And in saying “but he who does not believe is already judged,” he meant that such a person stands already condemned in the foreknowledge of God, who knows what is in store for nonbelievers.

Christian Combat 27:29

But now ye do what? Why these things to you do I speak? "Because in heart iniquities ye work on earth" [Psalm 58:2]. Iniquities perchance in heart alone? Hear what follows: both their heart hands do follow, and their heart hands do serve, the thing is thought of, and it is done; or else it is not done, not because we would not, but because we could not, Whatever you will and canst not, for done God does count it. "For in heart Iniquities ye work on earth." What next? "Iniquities your hands knit together." What is, "knit together"? From sin, sin, and to sin, sin, because of sin. What is this? A theft a man has committed, a sin it is: he has been seen, he seeks to slay him by whom he has been seen: there has been knit together sin with sin: God has permitted him in His hidden judgment to slay that man whom he has willed to slay: he perceives that the thing is known, he seeks to slay a second also; he has knit together a third sin: while these things he is planning, perchance that he may not be found out, or that he may not be convicted of having done it, he consults an astrologer; there is added a fourth sin: the astrologer answers perchance with some hard and evil responses, he runs to a soothsayer, that expiation may be made; the soothsayer makes answer that he is not able to expiate: a magician is sought. And who could enumerate those sins which are knit together with sins? "Iniquities your hands do knit together." So long as you knit together, you bind sin upon sin. Loose yourself from sins. But I am not able, you say. Cry to Him. "Unhappy man I, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" [Romans 7:24] For there shall come the Grace of God, so that righteousness shall be your delight, as much as you delighted in iniquity; and you, a man that out of bonds has been loosed, shall cry out to God, "You have broken asunder my bonds." "You have broken asunder my bonds," is what else but, "You have remitted my sins"? Hear why chains they are: the Scripture makes answer, "with the chains of his sins each one is bound fast." [Proverbs 5:22] Not only bonds, but chains also they are. Chains are those which are made by twisting in: that is, because with sins sins you were knitting together....

Exposition on Psalm 58

3–5

Though it appears that the serpent’s nature is being delineated in the foregoing, rather, every vessel of evil is being delineated, and every serpent of depravity who casts himself down on the belly and hides his poison inside himself and ponders it inwardly in his breast. He25 is slippery in his thoughts, he advances in his deceits and wraps himself in his deceptions; he is always moving and stirring his poisons by thought and treading on his belly as well, that is, the seedbed of his heart. For this reason, David fittingly says, “Sinners are alienated from the womb; they have gone astray from the womb; they have spoken false things. Their madness is according to the likeness of a serpent, like the deaf asp that stops its ears, that will not hear the voice of the charmers or of the wizard that are invoked by the wise person.” For this reason, the statement that we read in the prophetic book also seems fitting, “My heart, my heart is in pain!” For wickedness exists there, where there ought to be guiltlessness; what should be more calm in us experiences the greater suffering. It is trodden down by the footsteps of evil, pricked by its claws and agitated by a kind of advance and increase of depravity where there exists the procreative seed of an everlasting posterity.

Flight from the World 7:42

3–8

Therefore, having been taught by these examples, I did not want to bite back at him who bites back at me or to retaliate in kind; and I chose rather to charm out the fury of a madman by incantation and to pour the antidote of a single look into a poisoned heart. But I am afraid that my efforts are in vain and that I shall be forced to sing the well-known song of David and console myself with these words: “The sinners are alienated from the assembly; they have gone astray from the womb; they have spoken false things. Their madness is according to the likeness of a serpent, like the deaf asp that stops its ears, which will not hear the voice of the charmers nor of the wizard that charms wisely. God shall break in pieces their teeth in their mouths; the Lord shall break the teeth of the lions. They shall come to nothing, like water running down; he has bent his bow until they are weakened. Like wax that melts, they shall be taken away: fire has fallen on them, and they have not seen the sun.” And again: “The just shall rejoice when he shall see the revenge of the wicked; he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.” And people shall say, “If, indeed, there is a reward to the just, there is, indeed, a God who judges them on the earth.”

Against Rufinus 3.43

Atticus: I grant you that they are just men, but I cannot agree with you at all that they are without sin. For I say that humanity can be without fault, which in Greek is called kakia [“wickedness”], but I deny that it is anamartētos [“faultless”], that is to say sine peccato [“without sin”]. For this is a virtue that befits God alone; and every creature is subject to sin and stands in need of the mercy of God, as Scripture says: “The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.” And lest I seem to be discussing certain little faults, so to speak, of the saints, into which they slipped through error, I shall produce a few testimonies that refer not to individuals but rather to all people in general. In the thirty-first psalm, it is written, “I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and you have forgiven the wickedness of my heart.” And it continues immediately, “For this” (that is to say, for this impiety or iniquity, for both words can be understood in this passage) “shall everyone that is holy pray to you in a seasonable time.” If one is holy, what is his reason for praying for forgiveness of his iniquity? If one has iniquity, in what sense is he called holy? In the sense, to be sure, that it is also written in another place: “A just person shall fall seven times and shall rise again.” And, “The just is accuser of himself in the beginning of his speech.” And in another place: “The wicked are alienated from the womb, they have gone astray from the womb, they have spoken false things.” They became sinful at the very moment they were born in the likeness of Adam’s sin, who was a figure of the one who was to come, or at the moment when Christ was born of a virgin. It has been written about him: “Every one who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.”

Against the Pelagians 2.4

"Alienated are sinners from the womb, they have gone astray from the belly, they have spoken false things" [Psalm 58:3]. And when iniquity they speak, false things they speak; because deceitful is iniquity: and when justice they speak, false things they speak; because one thing with mouth they profess, another thing in heart they conceal. "Alienated are sinners from the womb." What is this? Let us search more diligently: for perhaps he is saying this, because God has foreknown men that are to be sinners even in the wombs of their mothers. For whence when Rebecca was yet pregnant, and in womb was bearing twins, was it said, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated"? For it was said, "The elder shall serve the younger." Hidden at that time was the judgment of God: but yet from the womb, that is, from the very origin, alienated are sinners. Whence alienated? From truth. Whence alienated? From the blessed country, from the blessed life. Perchance alienated they are from the very womb. And what sinners have been alienated from the womb? For what men would have been born, if therein they had not been held? Or what men today would be alive to hear these words to no purpose, unless they were born? Perchance therefore sinners have been alienated from a certain womb, wherein that charity was suffering pains, which speaks through the Apostle, "Of whom again I am in labour, until Christ be formed in you." [Galatians 4:19] Expect thou therefore; be formed: do not to yourself ascribe a judgment which perchance you know not. Carnal you are as yet, conceived you have been: from that very time when you have received the name of Christ, by a sort of sacrament you have been born in the bowels of a mother. For not only out of bowels a man is born, but also in bowels. First he is born in bowels, in order that he may be able to be born of bowels. Wherefore it has been said even to Mary, "For that which is born in you, is of the Holy Spirit." Not yet of Her It had been born, but already in Her It had been born. Therefore there are born within the bowels of the Church certain little ones, and a good thing it is that being formed they should go forth, so that they drop not by miscarriage. Let the mother bear you, not miscarry. If patient you shall have been, even until you be formed, even until in you there be the sure doctrine of truth, the maternal bowels ought to keep you. But if by your impatience you shall have shaken the sides of your mother, with pain indeed she expels you out, but more to your loss than to hers.

Exposition on Psalm 58

4–5

We hide away our sin, cloaking it over in the depth of our soul, like some festering and malignant disease, as if by escaping human notice we could escape the mighty eye of God and justice. Or else we make excuses for our sins by devising pleas in defense of our falls or by tightly closing our ears. Like the snake that stops its ears, we are obstinate in refusing to hear the voice of the charmer and be treated with the medicines of wisdom, by which spiritual sickness is healed.

In Defense of His Flight to Pontus, Oration 2:20

4–5

"Indignation to them after the similitude of a serpent" [Psalm 58:4]. A great thing you are to hear. "Indignation to them after the similitude of a serpent." As if we had said, What is that which you have said? There follows, "As if of a deaf asp." Whence deaf? "And closing its ears." Therefore deaf, because it closes its ears. "And closing its ears." "Which will not hearken to the voice of men charming, and of the medicine medicated by the wise man" [Psalm 58:5]. As we have heard, because even men speak who have learned it with such research as they were able, but nevertheless it is a thing which the Spirit of God knows much better than any men. For it is not to no purpose that of this he has spoken, but because it may chance that true is even that which we have heard of the asp. When the asp begins to be affected by the Marsian charmer, who calls it forth with certain peculiar incantations, hear what it does....Give heed what is spoken to you for a simile's sake, what is noted you for avoidance. So therefore here also there has been given a certain simile derived from the Marsian, who makes incantation to bring forth the asp from the dark cavern; surely into light he would bring it: but it loving its darkness, wherein coiled up it hides itself, when it will not choose to come forth, nevertheless refusing to hear those words whereby it feels itself to be constrained, is said to press one ear against the ground, and with its tail to stop up the other, and therefore as much as possible escaping those words, it comes not forth to the charmer. To this as being like, the Spirit of God has spoken of certain persons hearing not the Word of God, and not only not doing, but altogether, that they may not do it, refusing to hear.

Exposition on Psalm 58

4–5

The heavens were opened, and Stephen saw the chief of martyrs; he saw Jesus standing at the Father's right hand; he saw, so that he would not keep quiet. As for his persecutors, they could not see, but they could be envious; and the reason they did not see was that they were envious. As for Stephen, he did not keep quiet about what he saw, in order to reach the one whom he saw. "Behold," he said, "I can see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of majesty." Immediately they covered their ears, as against a blasphemy. You can recognize them in the psalm: "Like the deaf cobra," it says, "that blocks its ears, in order not to hear the voice of the charmer and the spell cast by the wise one." Just as snakes, you see, in order to avoid bursting out and leaving their dens when they are being charmed, are said to press one ear to the ground and block the other with their tails—and yet the charmer brings them out. So also Stephen's persecutors were still hissing in their dens, while seething in their hearts. They were not yet bursting out; they blocked their ears. Let them burst out now, let them show what they really are; let them rush for the stones. They rushed, they stoned him.

Sermon 316:2

"God has broken utterly the teeth of them in their own mouth" [Psalm 58:6]. Of whom? Of them to whom indignation is as the similitude of a serpent, and of an asp closing up its ears, so that it hears not the voice of men charming, and of medicine medicated by the wise man. The Lord has done to them what? "Hath broken utterly the teeth of them in their own mouth." It has been done, this at first has been done, and now is being done. But it would have sufficed, my brethren, that it should have been said, "God has broken utterly the teeth of them." The Pharisees would not hear the Law, would not hear the precepts of truth from Christ, being like to that serpent and asp. For in their past sins they took delight, and present life they would not lose, that is, joys earthly for joys heavenly....What is, "in their own mouth"? In such sort, that with their own mouth against themselves they should make declaration: He has compelled them with their mouth against themselves to give sentence. They would have slandered Him, because of the tribute: [Matthew 22:17-18] He said not, "It is lawful to pay tribute," or, "It is not lawful to pay tribute." And He willed to break utterly their teeth, wherewith they were gaping in order to bite; but in their own mouth He would do it. If He said, Let there be paid to Cæsar tribute, they would have slandered Him, because He had spoken evil to the nation of the Jews, by making it a tributary. For because of sin they were paying tribute, having been humbled, as to them in the Law had been foretold. We have Him, say they, a maligner of our nation, if He shall have bidden us to pay tribute: but if He say, Do not pay, we have Him for saying that we should not be under allegiance to Cæsar. Such a double noose as it were to catch the Lord they laid. But to whom had they come? To Him that knew how to break utterly the teeth of them in their own mouth. "Show to Me the coin," [Matthew 22:19] He says. Why do you tempt Me, you hypocrites? Of paying tribute do ye think? To do justice are you willing? The counsel of justice do ye seek? "If truly justice ye speak, judge right things, you sons of men." But now because in one way ye speak, in another way judge, hypocrites you are: "Why do you tempt Me, you hypocrites?" Now I will break utterly your teeth in your mouth: "show to Me the coin." And they showed it to Him. And He says not, it is Cæsar's: but asks Whose it is? In order that their teeth in their own mouth might be utterly broken. For on His inquiring, of whom it had the image and inscription, they said, of Cæsar. Even now the Lord shall break utterly the teeth of them in their own mouth. Now you have made answer, now have been broken utterly your teeth in your mouth. "Render unto Cæsar the things which are of Cæsar, and unto God the things which are of God." [Matthew 22:21] Cæsar seeks his image; render it: God seeks His image; render it. Let not Cæsar lose from you his coin: let not God lose in you His coin. And they found not what they might answer. For they had been sent to slander Him: and they went back, saying, that no one to Him could make answer. Wherefore? Because broken utterly had been the teeth of them in their own mouth. Of that sort is also the following: "In what power doest Thou these things? I also will ask of you one question, answer me." And He asked them of John, whence was the Baptism of John, from heaven, or of men? So that whatever they might answer might tell against themselves....

Exposition on Psalm 58

"They shall be despised like water running down" [Psalm 58:7]. Be not terrified, brethren, by certain streams, which are called torrents: with winter waters they are filled up; do not fear: after a little it passes by, that water runs down; for a time it roars, soon it will subside: they cannot hold long. Many heresies now are utterly dead: they have run in their channels as much as they were able, have run down, dried are the channels, scarce of them the memory is found, or that they have been. "They shall be despised like water running down." But not they alone; the whole of this age for a time is roaring, and is seeking whom it may drag along. Let all ungodly men, all proud men resounding against the rocks of their pride as it were with waters rushing along and flowing together, not terrify you, winter waters they are, they cannot always flow: it must needs be that they run down unto their place, unto their end. And nevertheless of this torrent of the world the Lord has drunk. For He has suffered here, the very torrent He has drunk, but in the way He has drunk, but in the passage over: because in way of sinners He has not stood. But of Him says the Scripture what? "Of the torrent in the way He shall drink, therefore He shall lift up His Head;" that is, for this reason glorified He has been, because He has died; for this reason has risen again, because He has suffered....

Exposition on Psalm 58

"Like wax melted they shall be taken away" [Psalm 58:8]. For you were about to say, all men are not so made weak, like myself, in order that they may believe: many men do persevere in their evil, and in their malice. And of the same fear thou nothing: "Like wax melted they shall be taken away." Against you they shall not stand, they shall not continue: with a sort of fire of their own lusts they shall perish. For there is here a kind of hidden punishment, of it the Psalm is about to speak now, to the end of it. There are but a few verses; be attentive. There is a certain punishment future, fire of hell, fire everlasting. For future punishment has two kinds: either of the lower places it is, where was burning that rich man, who was wishing for himself a drop of water to be dropped on his tongue off the finger of the poor man, whom before his gate he had spurned, when he says, "For I am tormented in this flame." [Luke 16:24] And the second is that at the end, whereof they are to hear, that on the left hand are to be set: "Go ye into fire everlasting, that has been prepared for the devil and his angels." [Matthew 25:41] Those punishments shall be manifest at that time, when we shall have departed out of this life, or when at the end of the world men shall have come to the resurrection of the dead. Now therefore is there no punishment, and does God suffer sins utterly unpunished even unto that day? There is even here a sort of hidden punishment, of the same he is treating now....We see nevertheless sometimes with these punishments just men to be afflicted, and to these punishments unjust men to be strangers: for which reason did totter the feet of him that afterwards rejoicing says, "How good is the God of Israel to men right in heart! But my own feet have been almost shaken, because I have been jealous in the case of sinners, beholding the peace of sinners." For he had seen the felicity of evil men, and well-pleased he had been to be an evil man, seeing evil men to reign, seeing that it was well with them, that they abounded in plenty of all things temporal, such as he too, being as yet but a babe, was desiring from the Lord: and his feet did totter, even until he saw what at the end is either to be hoped for or to be feared. For he says in the same Psalm, "This thing is a labour before me, until I enter into the sanctuary of God, and understand unto the last things." It is not therefore the punishments of the lower places, not the punishments of that fire everlasting after the resurrection, not those punishments which as yet in this world are common to just men and unjust men, and ofttimes more heavy are those of just men than those of unjust men; but some punishment or other of the present life the Spirit of God would recommend to our notice. Give heed, hear ye me about to speak of that which you know: but a more sweet thing it is when it is declared in a Psalm, which, before it was declared, was deemed obscure. For behold I bring forth that which already ye knew: but because these things are brought forth from a place where you have never yet seen them, it comes to pass that even known things, as if they were new things, do delight you. Hear ye the punishment of ungodly men: "Like wax," he says, "melted they shall be taken away." I have said that through their lusts this thing to them is done. Evil lust is like a burning and a fire. Does fire consume a garment, and does not the lust of adultery consume the soul? Of meditated adultery when the Scripture was speaking it says, "Shall one bind fire in his bosom, and his garments shall he not burn up?" [Proverbs 6:27] You bear in your bosom live coals; burned through is your vest; you bear in thought adultery, and whole then is your soul? But these punishments few men do see: therefore them the Spirit of God does exceedingly recommend to our notice. Hear the Apostle saying, "God has given them up unto the lusts of their heart." [Romans 1:24] Behold, the fire from the face of which like wax they are melting. For they loose themselves from a certain continence of chastity; therefore even these same men, going unto their lusts, as loose and melting are spoken of. Whence melting? Whence loose? From the fire of lusts. "God has given them up unto the lusts of their heart, so that they do those things which beseem not, being filled full of all iniquity."...

Exposition on Psalm 58

"Before that the bramble brings forth your thorns: as though living, as though in anger, it shall drink them up" [Psalm 58:9]. What is the bramble? Of prickly plants it is a kind, upon which there are said to be certain of the closest thorns. At first it is a herb; and while it is a herb, soft and fair it is: but thereon there are nevertheless thorns to come forth. Now therefore sins are pleasant, and as it were they do not prick. A herb is the bramble; even now nevertheless there is a thorn. "Before that the bramble brings forth thorns:" is before that of miserable delights and pleasures the evident tortures come forth. Let them question themselves that love any object, and to it cannot attain; let them see if they are not racked with longing: and when they have attained to that which unlawfully they long for, let them mark if they are not racked with fear. Let them see therefore here their punishments; before that there comes that resurrection, when in flesh rising again they shall not be changed. "For all we shall rise again, but not all we shall be changed." [1 Corinthians 15:51] For they shall have the corruption of the flesh wherein to be pained, not that wherein to die: otherwise even those pains would be ended. Then the thorns of that bramble, that is, all pains and piercings of tortures shall be brought forth. Such thorns as they shall suffer that are to say, "These are they whom sometimes we had in derision:" [Wisdom 5:3] thorns of the piercing of repentance, but of one too late and without fruit like the barrenness of thorns. The repentance of this time is pain healing: repentance of that time is pain penal. Would you not suffer those thorns? Here be thou pierced with the thorns of repentance; in such sort that thou do that which has been spoken of, "Turned I have been in sorrow, when the thorn was piercing: my sin I have known, and mine iniquity I have not covered: I have said, I will declare against me my shortcoming to the Lord, and You have remitted the ungodliness of my heart." Now do so, now be pierced through, be there not in you done that which has been said of certain execrable men, "They have been cloven asunder, and have not been pierced through." Observe them that have been cloven asunder and have not been pierced through. You see men cloven asunder, and you see them not pierced through. Behold beside the Church they are, and it does not repent them, so as they should return whence they have been cloven asunder. The bramble hereafter shall bring forth their thorns. They will not now have a healing piercing through, they shall have hereafter one penal. But even now before that the bramble produces thorns, there has fallen upon them fire, that suffers them not to see the sun, that is, the wrath of God is drinking up them while still living: fire of evil lusts, of empty honours, of pride, of their covetousness: and whatsoever is weighing them down, that they should not know the truth, so that they seem not to be conquered, so that they be not brought into subjection even by truth herself. For what is a more glorious thing, brethren, than to be brought in subjection and to be overcome by truth? Let truth overcome you willing: for even unwilling she shall of herself overcome you....

Exposition on Psalm 58

10–11

And do you wish that I should speak of another instance of God’s goodness? It is not only this, but that he does not allow the good to become bad. For if they were destined to meet with the same things, they would all be bad. But now this also greatly consoles the good. For hear the prophet, saying, “The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance on the ungodly; he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.” Not rejoicing on account of it, God forbid, but fearing that he might suffer the same things, he will render his own life more pure. This then is a mark of God’s great care. Yes, you say, but he ought only to threaten and not to punish also. But if he does punish, and still you say it is a matter of threat, and on that account become more slothful, if it were really just a threat, would you not become more lazy? If the Ninevites had known it was a matter of threat, they would not have repented. But because they repented, they caused the threat to stop at words only. Do you wish it to be a threat only? You have the disposal of that matter. Become a better person, and it stops only at the threat. But if, which be far from you, you despise the threat, you will come to the experience of it. Those who lived before the flood, if they had feared the threat, would not have experienced the execution of it. And we, if we fear the threat, shall not expose ourselves to experience the reality. God forbid we should. And may the merciful God grant that we all henceforth, having been brought to sound mind, may obtain those unspeakable blessings.

Homilies on Philemon 3

10–11

There is no advantage for vessels fitted for destruction that God patiently endures them, to destroy them in due order and to use them as a means of salvation for those on whom he has mercy. But there is advantage for those for whose salvation God uses this means. As it is written, “The just shall wash his hands in the blood of the wicked,” that is, he shall be cleansed from evil works by the fear of God when he sees the punishment of sinners. That God shows his wrath in bearing with vessels of wrath avails to set a useful example to others but also to “make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy that he prepared for glory.” The hardening of the ungodly demonstrates two things—that a person should fear and turn to God in piety and that thanks should be given for his mercy to God who shows by the penalty inflicted on some the greatness of his gift to others. If the penalty he exacts from the former is not just, he makes no gift to those from whom he does not exact it. But because it is just, and there is no unrighteousness with God who punishes, who is sufficient to give thanks to him? For he remits a debt which, if God wanted to exact it, no person could deny was justly due.

On Various Questions to Simplician 2:18

"And a man shall say, If therefore there is fruit to a just man" [Psalm 58:10]. Behold, before that there comes that which is promised, before that there is given life everlasting, before that ungodly men are cast forth into fire everlasting, here in this life there is fruit to the just man. What fruit? "In hope rejoicing, in tribulation enduring." [Romans 12:12] What fruit to the just man? "We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience, but patience probation, but probation hope: but hope confounds not: because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, that has been given to us." [Romans 5:3-5] Does he rejoice that is a drunkard; and does he not rejoice that is just? In love there is fruit to a just man. Miserable the one, even when he makes himself drunken: blessed the other, even when he hungers and thirsts. The one wine-bibbing does gorge, the other hope does feed. Let him see therefore the punishment of the other, his own rejoicing, and let him think of God. He that has given even now such joy of faith, of hope, of charity, of the truth of His Scriptures, what manner of joy is He making ready against the end? In the way thus He feeds, in his home how shall He fill him? "And a man shall say, If therefore there is fruit to the just man." Let them that see believe, and see, and perceive. Rejoice shall the just man when he shall have seen vengeance. But if he has not eyes whence he may see vengeance, he will be made sad, and will not be amended by it. But if he sees it, he sees what difference there is between the darkened eye of the heart, and the eye enlightened of the heart: between the coolness of chastity and the flame of lust, between the security of hope and the fear there is in crime. When he shall have seen this, let him separate himself, and wash his hands in the blood of the same. Let him profit by the comparison, and say, "Therefore there is fruit to the just man: therefore there is a God judging them in the earth." Not yet in that life, not yet in fire eternal, not yet in the lower places, but here in earth....

Exposition on Psalm 58

10–11

If the Jews cursed more bitterly than the Pagans this was, I think, at least in part because they took right and wrong more seriously. For if we look at their railings we find they are usually angry not simply because these things have been done to them but because these things are manifestly wrong, are hateful to God as well as to the victim. The thought of the "righteous Lord"—who surely must hate such doings as much as they do, who surely therefore must (but how terribly He delays!) "judge" or avenge, is always there, if only in the background. Sometimes it comes into the foreground; as in Psalm 58:10–11, "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance . . . so that a man shall say . . . Doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth." This is something different from mere anger without indignation—the almost animal rage at finding that a man's enemy has done to him exactly what he would have done to his enemy if he had been strong enough or quick enough.

Different, certainly higher, a better symptom; yet also leading to a more terrible sin. For it encourages a man to think that his own worst passions are holy. It encourages him to add, explicitly or implicitly, "Thus saith the Lord" to the expression of his own emotions or even his own opinions. For here also it is true "the higher, the more in danger". The Jews sinned in this matter worse than the Pagans not because they were further from God but because they were nearer to Him. For the Supernatural, entering a human soul, opens to it new possibilities both of good and evil.

Reflections on the Psalms, Chapter 3: The Cursings

But since there is a time when the righteous shall rejoice, and sinners shall meet the end foretold for them, we must with all reason fully acknowledge and declare that God is inspector and overseer of all that is done among men, and judges all who dwell upon earth. It is proper further to inquire whether the prophecy in hand, which quite corresponds and fits in with those preceding it, may describe the end.

When Hippolytus dictated these words, the grammarian asked him why he hesitated about that prophecy, as if he mistrusted the divine power in that calamity of exile.

The learned man calls attention to the question why the word diagra/fh| (= may describe) was used by me in the subjunctive mood, as if silently indicating doubt.

Hippolytus accordingly replied:-

You know indeed quite well, that words of that form are used as conveying by implication a rebuke to those who study the prophecies about Christ, and talk righteousness with the mouth, while they do not admit His coming, nor listen to His voice when He calls to them, and says, "He that hath ears to hear let him hear; "who who have made themselves like the serpent and have made their ears like those of a deaf viper, and so forth. God then does, in truth, take care of the righteous, and judges their cause when injured on the earth; and He punishes those who dare to injure them.

Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Psalm LVIII. 11