Psalm 59 [MT 60]
Commentary from 6 fathers
when he [had] burned Mesopotamia of Syria, and Syria Sobal, and Joab [had] returned and smitten [in] the valley of salt twelve thousand.]
ὁπότε ἐνεπύρισε τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν Συρίας καὶ τὴν Συρίαν Σοβά, καὶ ἐπέστρεψεν ᾿Ιωάβ, καὶ ἐπάταξε τὴν φάραγγα τῶν ἁλῶν, δώδεκα χιλιάδας. -
внегда̀ сожжѐ средорѣ́чїе сѷрі́йское и҆ сѷрі́ю сова́льскꙋю, и҆ возврати́сѧ і҆ѡа́въ и҆ поразѝ є҆дѡ́ма въ де́бри соле́й двана́десѧть ты́сѧщъ,
"Deliver me from men working iniquity, and from men of bloods, save Thou me" [Psalm 59:2]. They indeed were men of bloods, who slew the Just One, in whom no guilt they found: they were men of bloods, because when the foreigner washed his hands, and would have let go Christ, they cried, "Crucify, Crucify:" [Matthew 27:23] they were men of bloods, on whom when there was being charged the crime of the blood of Christ, they made answer, giving it to their posterity to drink, "His blood be upon us and upon our sons." [Matthew 27:25] But neither against His Body did men of bloods cease to rise up; for even after the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, the Church suffered persecutions, and she indeed first that grew out of the Jewish people, of which also our Apostles were. There at first Stephen was stoned, [Acts 7:58] and received that of which he had his name. For Stephanus does signify a crown. Lowly stoned but highly crowned. Secondly, among the Gentiles rose up kingdoms of Gentiles, before that in them was fulfilled that which had been foretold, "There shall adore Him all the kings of the earth, all nations shall serve Him:" and there roared the fierceness of that kingdom against the witnesses of Christ: there was shed largely and frequently the blood of Martyrs: wherewith when it had been shed, being as it were sown, the field of the Church more productively put forth, and filled the whole world as we now behold. From these therefore, men of bloods, is delivered Christ, not only Head, but also Body. From men of bloods is delivered Christ, both from them that have been, and from them that are, and from them that are to be; there is delivered Christ, both He that has gone before, and He that is, and He that is to come. For Christ is the whole Body of Christ; and whatsoever good Christians that now are, and that have been before us, and that after us are to be, are an whole Christ, who is delivered from men of bloods; nor is this voice void, "And from men of bloods save Thou me."
Exposition on Psalm 59
O God, thou hast rejected and destroyed us; thou hast been angry, yet hast pitied us.
Ο ΘΕΟΣ, ἀπώσω ἡμᾶς καὶ καθεῖλες ἡμᾶς, ὠργίσθης καὶ οἰκτείρησας ἡμᾶς.
Бж҃е, ѿри́нꙋлъ ны̀ є҆сѝ и҆ низложи́лъ є҆сѝ на́съ, разгнѣ́валсѧ є҆сѝ и҆ ᲂу҆ще́дрилъ є҆сѝ на́съ.
"For behold they have hunted my soul....There have rushed upon me strong men" [Psalm 59:3]. We must not however pass on from these strong men: diligently we must trace who are the strong men rising up. Strong men, upon whom but upon weak men, upon powerless men, upon men not strong? And praised nevertheless are the weak men, and condemned are the strong men. If it would be perceived who are strong men, at first the devil himself the Lord has called a strong man: "No one," He says, "is able to go into the house of a strong man, and to carry off his vessels, unless first he shall have bound the strong man." [Matthew 12:29] He has bound therefore the strong man with the chains of His dominion: and his vessels He has carried off, and His own vessels has made them. For all unrighteous men were vessels of the devil....But there are among mankind certain strong men of a blameable and damnable strength, that are confident indeed, but on temporal felicity. That man does not seem to you to have been strong, of whom now from the Gospel [Luke 12:16] has been read: how his estate brought forth abundance of fruits, and he being troubled, hit upon the design of rebuilding, so that, having pulled down his old barns, he should construct new ones more capacious, and, these having been finished, should say to his soul, "You have many good things, soul, feast, be merry, be filled."...There are also other men strong, not because of riches, not because of the powers of the body, not because of any temporally pre-eminent power of station, but relying on their righteousness. This sort of strong men must be guarded against, feared, repulsed, not imitated: of men relying, I say, not on body, not on means, not on descent, not on honour; for all such things who would not see to be temporal, fleeting, falling, flying? But relying on their own righteousness...."Wherefore," say they, does your Master eat with publicans and sinners? [Matthew 9:11] O you strong men, to whom a Physician is not needful! This strength to soundness belongs not, but to insanity. For even than men frenzied nothing can be stronger, more mighty they are than whole men: but by how much greater their powers are, by so much nearer is their death. May God therefore turn away from our imitation these strong men....The same are therefore the strong men, that assailed Christ, commending their own justice. Hear ye these strong men: when certain men of Jerusalem were speaking, having been sent by them to take Christ, and not daring to take Him (because when he would, then was He taken, that truly was strong): Why therefore, say they, "could ye not take Him?" And they made answer, "No one of men did ever so speak as He." And these strong men, "Hath by any means any one of the Pharisees believed on Him, or any one of the Scribes, but this people knowing not the Law?" [John 7:45-49] They preferred themselves to the sick multitude, that was running to the Physician: whence but because they were themselves strong? And what is worse, by their strength, all the multitude also they brought over unto themselves, and slew the Physician of all....
Exposition on Psalm 59
Thou hast shaken the earth, and troubled it; heal its breaches, for it has been shaken.
συνέσεισας τὴν γῆν καὶ συνετάραξας αὐτήν· ἴασαι τὰ συντρίμματα αὐτῆς ὅτι ἐσαλεύθη.
Стрѧ́слъ є҆сѝ зе́млю и҆ смꙋти́лъ є҆сѝ ю҆̀: и҆сцѣлѝ сокрꙋше́нїе є҆ѧ̀, ꙗ҆́кѡ подви́жесѧ.
What next? "Neither iniquity is mine, nor sin mine, O Lord" [Psalm 59:4]. There have rushed on indeed strong men on their own righteousness relying, they have rushed on, but sin in me they have not found. For truly those strong men, that is, as it were righteous men, on what account would they be able to persecute Christ, unless it were as if a sinner? But, however, let them look to it how strong they be, in the raging of fever not in the vigour of soundness: let them look to it how strong they be, and how as though just against an unrighteous man they have raged. But, however, "neither iniquity is mine, nor sin mine, O Lord. Without iniquity I did run, and I was guided." Those strong men therefore could not follow me running: therefore a sinner they have deemed me, because my steps they have not seen.
Exposition on Psalm 59
Thou hast shewn thy people hard things: thou hast made us drink the wine of astonishment.
ἔδειξας τῷ λαῷ σου σκληρά, ἐπότισας ἡμᾶς οἶνον κατανύξεως.
Показа́лъ є҆сѝ лю́демъ твои̑мъ же́стѡкаѧ: напои́лъ є҆сѝ на́съ вїно́мъ ᲂу҆миле́нїѧ.
"Without iniquity I did run, and was guided; rise up to meet me, and see." To God is said this. But why? If He meet not, is He unable to see? It is just as if you were walking in a road, and from afar by some one you could not be recognised, you would call to him and would say, Meet me, and see how I am walking; for when from afar you espy me, my steps you are not able to see. So also unless God were to meet, would He not see how without iniquity he was guided, and how without sin he was running? This interpretation indeed we can also accept, namely, "Rise up to meet me," as if "help me." But that which he has added, "and see," must be understood as, make it to be seen that I run, make it to be seen that I am guided: according to that figure wherein this also has been said to Abraham, "Now I know that you fear God." [Genesis 22:12] God says, "Now I know:" whence, but because I have made you to know? For unknown to himself every one is before the questioning of temptation: just as of himself Peter [Matthew 26:35-69] in his confidence was ignorant, and by denying learned what kind of powers he had, in his very stumbling he perceived that it was falsely he had been confident: he wept, and in weeping he earned profitably to know what he was, and to be what he was not. Therefore Abraham when tried, became known to himself: and it was said by God, "Now I know," that is, now I have made you to know. In like manner as glad is the day because it makes men glad; and sad is bitterness because it makes sad one tasting thereof: so God's seeing is making to see. "Rise up, therefore," he says, "to meet me, and see" [Psalm 59:5]. What is, "and see"? And help me, that is, in those men, in order that they may see my course, may follow me; let not that seem to them to be crooked which is straight, let not that seem to them to be curved which keeps the rule of truth.
Exposition on Psalm 59
Thou hast given a token to them that fear thee, that they might flee from the bow. Pause.
ἔδωκας τοῖς φοβουμένοις σε σημείωσιν τοῦ φυγεῖν ἀπὸ προσώπου τόξου. (διάψαλμα).
Да́лъ є҆сѝ боѧ́щымсѧ тебє̀ зна́менїе, є҆́же ᲂу҆бѣжа́ти ѿ лица̀ лꙋ́ка.
"Let them be converted at the evening" [Psalm 59:6]. Of certain men he is speaking that were once workers of iniquity, and once darkness, being converted in the evening. What is, "in the evening"? Afterward. What is "at the evening"? Later. For before, before that they crucified Christ, they ought to have acknowledged their Physician. Wherefore, when He had been crucified— rising again, into Heaven ascending— after that He sent His Holy Spirit, wherewith were fulfilled they that were in one house, and they began to speak with the tongues of all nations, there feared the crucifiers of Christ; they were pricked through with their consciences, they besought counsel of safety from the Apostles, they heard, "Repent, and be baptized each one of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be remitted unto you." [Acts 2:38] After the slaying of Christ, after the shedding of the blood of Christ, remitted are your sins...."Let these be converted," therefore, they also "at evening." Let them yearn for the grace of God, perceive themselves to be sinners; let those strong men be made weak, those rich men be made poor, those just men acknowledge themselves sinners, those lions be made dogs. "Let them be converted at evening, and suffer hunger as dogs. And they shall go around the city." What city? That world, which in certain places the Scripture calls "the city of standing round:" that is, because in all nations everywhere the world had encompassed the one nation of Jews, where such words were being spoken, and it was called "the city of standing round." Around this city shall go those men, now having become hungry dogs. In what manner shall they go around? By preaching. Saul out of a wolf was made a dog at evening, that is, being late converted by the crumbs of his Lord, in His grace he ran, and went around the city.
Exposition on Psalm 59
That thy beloved ones may be delivered; save with thy right hand, and hear me.
ὅπως ἂν ῥυσθῶσιν οἱ ἀγαπητοί σου, σῶσον τῇ δεξιᾷ σου καὶ ἐπάκουσόν μου.
Ꙗ҆́кѡ да и҆зба́вѧтсѧ возлю́бленнїи твоѝ, сп҃сѝ десни́цею твое́ю и҆ ᲂу҆слы́ши мѧ̀.
"Behold, themselves shall speak in their mouth, and a sword is on the lips of them" [Psalm 59:7]. Here is that sword twice whetted, whereof the Apostle says, "And the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." [Ephesians 6:17] Wherefore twice whetted? Wherefore, but because smiting out of both Testaments? With this sword were slain those whereof it was said to Peter, "Slay, and eat." [Acts 10:13] "And a sword is on the lips of them. For who has heard?" They all speak in their mouth, "Who has heard?" That is, they shall be angry with men that are slow to believe. They that a little before were even themselves unwilling to believe, do feel disgust from men not believing. And truly, brethren, so it is. You see a man slow before he is made a Christian; you cry to him daily, hardly he is converted: suppose him to be converted, and then he would have all men to be Christians, and wonders that not yet they are. It has chanced out to him at evening to have been converted: but because he has been made hungering like a dog, he has also on his lips a sword; he says, "Who has heard?" What is, "Who has heard?" "Who has believed our hearing, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" [Isaiah 53:1] "For who has heard?" The Jews believe not: they have turned them to the nations, and have preached. The Jews did not believe; and nevertheless through believing Jews the Gospel went around the city, and they said, "For who has heard?"
Exposition on Psalm 59
God has spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, and divide Sicima, and measure out the valley of tents.
ὁ Θεὸς ἐλάλησεν ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ· ἀγαλλιάσομαι καὶ διαμεριῶ Σίκιμα καὶ τὴν κοιλάδα τῶν σκηνῶν διαμετρήσω.
Бг҃ъ возгл҃а во ст҃ѣ́мъ свое́мъ: возра́дꙋюсѧ, и҆ раздѣлю̀ сїкі́мꙋ, и҆ ю҆до́ль жили́щъ размѣ́рю.
"And You, Lord, shall deride them" [Psalm 59:8]. All nations are to be Christian, and you say, "Who has heard?" What is, "shall deride them"? "As nothing You shall esteem all nations." Nothing for You it shall be; because a most easy thing it will be for all nations to believe in You.
Exposition on Psalm 59
Galaad is mine, and Manasse is mine; and Ephraim is the strength of my head;
ἐμός ἐστι Γαλαάδ, καὶ ἐμός ἐστι Μανασσῆ, καὶ ᾿Εφραὶμ κραταίωσις τῆς κεφαλῆς μου, ᾿Ιούδας βασιλεύς μου·
Мо́й є҆́сть галаа́дъ, и҆ мо́й є҆́сть манассі́й, є҆фре́мъ крѣ́пость главы̀ моеѧ̀, і҆ꙋ́да ца́рь мо́й.
Therefore, it is good for a person to say truthfully and with the full strength of his free will, "I will provide you with my strength," because the man who thought he could keep it without the help of him who gave it went abroad into a far country and wasted his substance, living riotously. But, worn down by the wretchedness of a harsh slavery, he returned to himself and said, "I will arise and go to my father." But how could he have had this good thought if the most merciful Father had not whispered it to him in secret? It was because he understood this that the minister of the New Testament said, "Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God." Consequently, when the psalmist also had said, "I will provide you with my strength," lest he should attribute to himself the fact that he was keeping it, and as if he recalled to mind that "except the Lord keep the city, they watch in vain that keep it," and that "he shall neither slumber nor sleep that keeps Israel," he added the reason of his being able to keep it, or, rather, the guard by whom it is kept and said, "For you, O God, are my protector."
Letter 186
9–10There remains the Pelagians’ second act of wickedness, because they posit free will to such a degree in human strength that they think that they by themselves, apart from the grace of God, can conceive of some good or do it. But if this were the case, why would the prophet say, “O my God, his mercy will precede me”? When you hear that you were preceded by the mercy of the Lord, one is given to understand that nothing of yours preceded God’s mercy. In another psalm he also says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who built it.” Again he says, “The steps of a person are directed by the Lord and he delights exceedingly in his way.” In another place the psalmist also attests, “The Lord raises up those who have been broken; the Lord loosens those who have been shackled; the Lord gives light to the blind.” When you hear that the Lord goes before, builds, directs and raises up, unbinds and illumines without any preceeding merits, what of your own do you recognize that you have begun except only that by which you are rightly damned for your haughtiness?… But you interpret these words and others similar to them with the most evil intention, namely, in order that you may believe that people take the beginning of their good will from their own powers and afterwards receive the help of grace, so that (it is wrong for this even to be uttered!) we are the cause of his kindness rather than he being the cause of his own kindness.
Expositions of the Psalms 50:7
9–10In order not to falter in good works, we ought always to rely for support on the help of the one who says, “For without me you can do nothing.” Hence in order to express the fact that the start of faith and good action is given to us by the Lord, the psalmist properly says, “My God, his mercy goes before me.” Again, in order to teach that the good things we do must be accomplished with his assistance, he says, “And your mercy follows after me all the days of my life.” In order to show that the prize of eternal life rendered for good works is bestowed on us freely, he says, “Who crowns you in compassion and mercy.” He crowns us indeed in mercy and compassion when he repays us with the reward of heavenly blessedness for the good works that he himself has mercifully granted us to carry out.
Homilies on the Gospels 1:2
Judas is my king; Moab is the caldron of my hope; over Idumea will I stretch out my shoe; the Philistines have been subjected to me.
Μωὰβ λέβης τῆς ἐλπίδος μου, ἐπὶ τὴν ᾿Ιδουμαίαν ἐκτενῶ τὸ ὑπόδημά μου, ἐμοὶ ἀλλόφυλοι ὑπετάγησαν.
Мѡа́въ коно́бъ ᲂу҆пова́нїѧ моегѡ̀: на і҆дꙋме́ю прострꙋ̀ сапо́гъ мо́й: мнѣ̀ и҆ноплемє́нницы покори́шасѧ.
There is no need of such self-deception on the part of those who, through giving, however profusely, alms of their fruits or of money of whatever kind, believe that they are purchasing the right to persist with impunity in the enormity and wickedness of their misdeeds and vices. Not only do they perform such wickedness, but they so love it as to desire to persist in it forever, provided they can do so with impunity. "But one who loves iniquity hates his own soul"; and whoever hates his own soul does not show mercy but cruelty toward it. For in loving it according to the world, he hates it according to God. If, then, he wished to give to it those alms by which all things would be clean to him, he would hate his soul according to the world and love it according to God. Now no one gives alms at all unless he has the means of giving from One who has no need of it; and therefore it has been said, "His mercy shall go before me."
Enchiridion 20:77
For a person's good will comes before many other gifts from God, but not all of them. One of the gifts it does not antedate is—just itself! Thus in the sacred Writings we read "his mercy goes before me" and "his mercy shall follow me." It predisposes a person before he wills, to prompt his willing. It follows the act of willing, lest one's will be frustrated. Otherwise, why are we admonished to pray for our enemies, who are plainly not now willing to live piously, unless it is that God is even now at work in them and in their will? Or again, why are we admonished to ask in order to receive, unless it is that he who grants us what we will is he through whom it comes to pass that we will? We pray for enemies, therefore, that the mercy of God should go before them, as it goes before us; we pray for ourselves that his mercy shall follow us.
Enchiridion 9:32
But far be it from us to say that those who "according to his purpose are called …, whom he foreknew" and "predestined to be conformable to the image of his Son" should be abandoned to their own desire, so that they perish. For this is suffered by the "vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction," and by their very perdition God makes known "the riches of his glory on the vessels of his mercy." It is for this reason that after saying, "My God, his mercy shall come before me," the psalmist at once adds, "God shall let me see over my enemies." Therefore it happens to them as is written, "Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart." But this does not happen to the predestined, whom the Spirit of God rules, for their cry is not in vain, "Give me not up, O Lord, from my desire, to the wicked," since it is also against these same desires that they have prayed, as is written, "Take away from me the greediness of the belly, and let not the lusts of the flesh take hold of me." God grants this favor to those over whom he rules but not to those who think they are fit to rule themselves and who, in the stiff-necked presumptuousness of their own will, disdain to have him as their guide.
Proceedings of Pelagians 7
Who will lead me into the fortified city? who will guide me as far as Idumea?
τίς ἀπάξει με εἰς πόλιν περιοχῆς; ἢ τίς ὁδηγήσει με ἕως τῆς ᾿Ιδουμαίας;
Кто̀ введе́тъ мѧ̀ во гра́дъ ѡ҆гражде́нїѧ; и҆лѝ кто̀ наста́витъ мѧ̀ до і҆дꙋме́и;
So likewise that conditional threat of the sword, “If you refuse and do not listen to me, the sword shall devour you,” has proved that the sword was Christ, for rebellion against whom they have perished. In the fifty-ninth psalm he demands of the Father their dispersion: “Scatter them in your power.” By Isaiah he also says, as he finishes a prophecy of their consumption by fire: “Because of me this has happened to you; you shall lie down in sorrow.” But all this would be meaningless enough, if they suffered this retribution not on account of him who had in prophecy assigned their suffering to his own cause but for the sake of the Christ of the other god. Well, then, although you affirm that it is the Christ of the other god who was driven to the cross by the powers and authorities of the Creator, as it were by hostile beings, still I have to say, see how manifestly he was defended by the Creator: there were given to him both “the wicked for his burial,” even those who had strenuously maintained that his corpse had been stolen, “and the rich for his death,” even those who had redeemed him from the treachery of Judas, as well as from the lying report of the soldiers that his body had been taken away.
Against Marcion 3.23
For this reason, even up to our day, though they see the boundaries (of their country), and go round about them, they stand afar off. And therefore have they no longer king or high priest or prophet, nor even scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees among them. He does not, however, say that they are to be cut off; wherefore their race still subsists, and the succession of their children is continued. For they have not been cut off nor consumed from among men-but they are and exist still-yet only as those who have been rejected and cast down from the honour of which of old they were deemed worthy by God. But again, "Scatter them," he says. "by Thy power; "which word has also come to pass. For they are scattered throughout the whole earth, in servitude everywhere, and engaging in the lowest and most servile occupations, and doing any unseemly work for hunger's sake.
For if they were destroyed from among men, and remained nowhere among the living, they could not see my people, he means, nor know my Church in its prosperity. Therefore "scatter" them everywhere on earth, where my Church is to be established, in order that when they see the Church rounded by me, they may be roused to emulate it in piety. And these things did the Saviour also ask on their behalf.
Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture - On Psalm LIX. II
"Scatter them abroad in Your virtue" [Psalm 59:11]. Now this thing has been done: throughout all nations there have been scattered abroad the Jews, witnesses of their own iniquity and our truth. They have themselves writings, out of which has been prophesied Christ, and we hold Christ. And if sometime perchance any heathen man shall have doubted, when we have told him the prophecies of Christ, at the clearness whereof he is amazed, and wondering has supposed that they were written by ourselves, then out of the copies of the Jews we prove, how this thing so long time before had been foretold. See after what sort by means of our enemies we confound other enemies. "Scatter them abroad in Your virtue:" take away from them "virtue," take away from them their strength. "And bring them down, my protector, O Lord."
Exposition on Psalm 59
Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our forces?
οὐχὶ σύ, ὁ Θεός, ὁ ἀπωσάμενος ἡμᾶς; καὶ οὐκ ἐξελεύσῃ, ὁ Θεός, ἐν ταῖς δυνάμεσιν ἡμῶν;
Не ты́ ли, бж҃е, ѿри́нꙋвый на́съ; и҆ не и҆зы́деши, бж҃е, въ си́лахъ на́шихъ;
"The transgressions of their mouth, the discourse of their lips: and let them be taken in their pride: and out of cursing and lying shall be declared consummations, in the anger of consummation, and they shall not be" [Psalm 59:12]. Obscure words these are, and I fear lest they be not well instilled....
The Second Part.
Exposition on Psalm 59
Give us help from trouble: for vain is the deliverance of man.
δὸς ἡμῖν βοήθειαν ἐκ θλίψεως, καὶ ματαία σωτηρία ἀνθρώπου.
Да́ждь на́мъ по́мощь ѿ ско́рби: и҆ сꙋ́етно спасе́нїе человѣ́ческо.
"And they shall know how God shall have dominion of Jacob, and of the ends of the earth" [Psalm 59:13]. For before they thought themselves just men, because the Jewish nation had received the Law, because it had kept the commandments of God: it is proved to them that it has not kept them, since in the very commandments of God Christ it perceived not, because "blindness in part has happened to Israel." [Romans 11:25] Even the Jews themselves see that they ought not to despise the Gentiles, of whom they deemed as of dogs and sinners. For just as alike they have been found in iniquity, so alike they will attain unto salvation. "Not only to Jews," says the Apostle, "but also even to Gentiles." [Romans 2:10] For to this end the Stone which the builders set at nought, has even been made for the Head of the corner, in order that two in itself It might join: for a corner does unite two walls. The Jews thought themselves exalted and great: of the Gentiles they thought as weak, as sinners, as the servants of demons, as the worshippers of idols, and yet in both was there iniquity. Even the Jews have been proved sinners; because "there is none that does good, there is not even so much as one:" they have laid down their pride, and have not envied the salvation of the Gentiles, because they have known their own and their weakness to be alike: and in the Corner Stone being united, they have together worshipped the Lord....
Exposition on Psalm 59
In God will we do valiantly; and he shall bring to nought them that harass us.
ἐν τῷ Θεῷ ποιήσωμεν δύναμιν, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξουδενώσει τοὺς θλίβοντας ἡμᾶς.
Ѡ҆ бз҃ѣ сотвори́мъ си́лꙋ: и҆ то́й ᲂу҆ничижи́тъ стꙋжа́ющыѧ на́мъ.
"They shall be converted at evening" [Psalm 59:14]: that is, even if late, that is, after the slaying of our Lord Jesus Christ: "They shall be converted at evening: and hereafter they shall suffer hunger as dogs." But "as dogs," not as sheep or calves: "as dogs," as Gentiles, as sinners; because they too have known their sin that thought themselves righteous....It is a good thing therefore for a sinner to be humbled; and no one is more incurable than he that thinks himself whole. "And they shall go around the city." Already we have explained "city;" it is the "city of standing round;" all nations.
Exposition on Psalm 59
[For the end, for them that shall yet be changed; for an inscription by David for instruction,
Εἰς τὸ τέλος· τοῖς ἀλλοιωθησομένοις ἔτι, εἰς στηλογραφίαν τῷ Δαυΐδ, εἰς διδαχήν,
Въ коне́цъ, ѡ҆ и҆змѣни́тисѧ хотѧ́щихъ, въ столпописа́нїе дв҃дꙋ, въ наꙋче́нїе: