Psalm 60 [MT 61] · Scripture · Fisherman's Friend

[For the end, among the Hymns of David.]

Εἰς τὸ τέλος, ἐν ὕμνοις· τῷ Δαυΐδ. -

Въ коне́цъ, въ пѣ́снехъ, дв҃дꙋ ѱало́мъ,

1–3
Therefore, “O God, you have cast us off.” You have cast off those who in proportion to their sins removed themselves a distance from you. You have destroyed the accumulations of our wickedness, doing good to us because of our weakness. You were angry, since “we were by nature children of wrath,” having no hope and being without God in the world. You had mercy on us when “you sent forth your only-begotten Son as a propitiation for our sins,” in order that in his blood we might find redemption. We would not know that we were having these kindnesses done to us, unless “you have made us drink the wine of sorrow.” By wine he means the words that lead the hardened heart to conscious perception.
Homilies on the Psalms 20:3

Augustine of Hippo †430

"God, You have driven us back, and hast destroyed us" [Psalm 60:1]. Is that David speaking that smote, that burned up, that defeated, and not they to whom He did these things, that is to say, their being smitten and driven back, that were evil men, and again their being made alive and returning in order that they might be good men? That destruction indeed that David made, strong of hand, our Christ, whose figure that man was bearing; He did those things, He made this destruction with His sword and with His fire: for both He brought into this world. Both "Fire I have come to send into the world," [Luke 12:49] you have in the Gospel: and "A sword I have come to send into the earth," [Matthew 10:34] you have in the Gospel. He brought in fire, whereby might be burned up Mesopotamia in Syria, and Syria Sobal: He brought in a sword whereby might be smitten Edom. Now again this destruction was made for the sake of "those that are changed unto the title's inscription." Hear we therefore the voice of them: to their health smitten they were, being raised up let them speak. Let them say, therefore, that are changed into something better, changed unto the title's inscription, changed unto teaching for David himself; let them say, "You have had mercy upon us." You have destroyed us, in order that You might build us; You have destroyed us that were ill built, hast destroyed empty oldness; in order that there may be a building unto a new man, building to abide for everlasting....
Exposition on Psalm 60

2

O God, hearken to my petition; attend to my prayer.

ΕΙΣΑΚΟΥΣΟΝ, ὁ Θεός, τῆς δεήσεώς μου, πρόσχες τῇ προσευχῇ μου.

Оу҆слы́ши, бж҃е, моле́нїе моѐ, вонмѝ моли́твѣ мое́й:

3

From the ends of the earth have I cried to thee, when my heart was in trouble: thou liftedst me up on a rock thou didst guide me:

ἀπὸ τῶν περάτων τῆς γῆς πρὸς σὲ ἐκέκραξα ἐν τῷ ἀκηδιάσαι τὴν καρδίαν μου· ἐν πέτρᾳ ὕψωσάς με, ὡδήγησάς με,

ѿ конє́цъ землѝ къ тебѣ̀ воззва́хъ, внегда̀ ᲂу҆ны̀ се́рдце моѐ: на ка́мень возне́слъ мѧ̀ є҆сѝ, наста́вилъ мѧ̀ є҆сѝ,

Augustine of Hippo †430

The first labour is, that you should be displeasing to yourself, that sins you should battle out, that you should be changed into something better: the second labour, in return for your having been changed, is to bear the tribulations and temptations of this world, and amid them to hold on even unto the end. Of these things therefore when he was speaking, while pointing out such things, he adds what? "You have shown to Your people hard things" [Psalm 60:3]: to Your people now, made tributary after the victory of David. "You have shown to Your people hard things." Wherein? In persecutions which the Church of Christ has endured, when so much blood of martyrs was spilled. "You have given us to drink of the wine of goading." "Of goading" is what? Not of killing. For it was not a killing that destroys, but a medicine that smarts. "You have given us to drink of the wine of goading."
Exposition on Psalm 60

Caesarius of Arles †542

When a person lays aside his past sinfulness, he is suddenly endowed with new dignity, with that cup of divine love of which it is said, “And your cup which inebriated me, how it overflows!” Inebriated with that cup, I repeat, hearts taste the sweetness of heavenly things through the strength of spiritual wisdom. Then they may merit to hear, “Taste and see how good the Lord is.” Now he said “taste,” because love of God can refresh the soul but cannot satisfy the desire, regardless of the amount of faith or longing with which it is sought. More and more, it arouses thirst when it is, as it were, tasted beforehand with the edge of the lips, and for this reason he says of himself, “He who eats of me will hunger still, he who drinks of me will thirst for more.” Because of its sweetness, it arouses an appetite for itself, but it does not cause disgust from satiety. Just as people who are experienced in drinking wine are likely to thirst all the more when they have become drunk, so it is with the devout and chaste soul that is prudent and contrite and that can, therefore, say with the psalmist, “You have given us stupefying wine,” when it has begun to think about hope in a future life and to imbibe a thirst for heavenly goods. It knows how to be filled but not how to be satisfied, so that the more it consumes according to its capacity, the more it lacks in its eagerness, and it can join with the prophet in that word of longing: “My soul pines for your salvation”;4 and again: “My flesh and my heart waste away, O God of my heart”; moreover, “My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the Lord.”
Sermon 167:1

4

because thou wert my hope, a tower of strength from the face of the enemy.

ὅτι ἐγενήθης ἐλπίς μου, πύργος ἰσχύος ἀπὸ προσώπου ἐχθροῦ.

ꙗ҆́кѡ бы́лъ є҆сѝ ᲂу҆пова́нїе моѐ, сто́лпъ крѣ́пости ѿ лица̀ вра́жїѧ.

5

I will dwell in thy tabernacle for ever; I will shelter myself under the shadow of thy wings. Pause.

παροικήσω ἐν τῷ σκηνώματί σου εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, σκεπασθήσομαι ἐν σκέπει τῶν πτερύγων σου. (διάψαλμα).

Вселю́сѧ въ селе́нїи твое́мъ во вѣ́ки, покры́юсѧ въ кро́вѣ кри́лъ твои́хъ.

6

For thou, O God, hast heard my prayers; thou hast given an inheritance to them that fear thy name.

ὅτι σύ, ὁ Θεός, εἰσήκουσας τῶν εὐχῶν μου, ἔδωκας κληρονομίαν τοῖς φοβουμένοις τὸ ὄνομά σου.

Ꙗ҆́кѡ ты̀, бж҃е, ᲂу҆слы́шалъ є҆сѝ моли̑твы моѧ̑, да́лъ є҆сѝ достоѧ́нїе боѧ́щымсѧ и҆́мене твоегѡ̀.

Augustine of Hippo †430

"God has spoken in His Holy One" [Psalm 60:6]....In what Holy One of His? "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." [2 Corinthians 5:19] In that Holy One, of whom elsewhere you have heard, "O God, in the Holy One is Your way." "I will rejoice and will divide Sichima....and the valley of tabernacles I will measure out." Sichima is interpreted shoulders. But according to history, Jacob returning from Laban his father-in-law with all his kindred, hid the idols in Sichima [Genesis 35:4] which he had from Syria, where for a long time he had dwelled, and at length was coming from thence. But tabernacles he made there because of his sheep and herds, and called the place Tabernacles. And these I will divide, says the Church. What is this, "I will divide Sichima"? If to the story where the idols were hidden is the reference, the Gentiles it signifies; I divide the Gentiles. I divide, is what? "For not in all men is there faith." [2 Thessalonians 3:2] I divide, is what? Some will believe, others will not believe....The shoulders are divided, in order that their sins may burden some men, while others may take up the burden of Christ. For godly shoulders He was requiring when He said, "For My yoke is gentle, and My burden is light." [Matthew 11:30] Another burden oppresses and loads you, but Christ's burden relieves you: another burden has weight, Christ's burden has wings. For even if you pull off the wings from a bird, you remove a kind of weight; and the more weight you have taken away, the more on earth it will abide. She that you have chosen to disburden lies there: she flies not, because you have taken off a weight: let there be given back the weight, and she flies. Such is Christ's burden; let men carry it, and not be idle: let them not be heeded that will not bear it; let them bear it that will, and they shall find how light it is, how sweet, how pleasant, how ravishing unto Heaven, and from earth how transporting....Perchance because of the sheep of Jacob, "the valley of Tabernacles" is to be understood of the nation of the Jews, and the same is divided: for they have passed from thence that have believed, the rest have remained without.
Exposition on Psalm 60

7

Thou shalt add days to the days of the king; [thou shalt lengthen] his years to all generations.

ἡμέρας ἐφ᾿ ἡμέρας τοῦ βασιλέως προσθήσεις, τὰ ἔτη αὐτοῦ ἕως ἡμέρας γενεᾶς καὶ γενεᾶς.

Дни̑ на дни̑ царє́вы приложи́ши, лѣ̑та є҆гѡ̀ до днѐ ро́да и҆ ро́да.

Basil of Caesarea †379

7–9
“Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine.” Gilead is a grandson of Manasseh; this is said in order that he may show that the succession of the patriarchs, from whom is descended Christ according to the flesh, comes down from God. “And Ephraim is the support of my head. Judah is my king.” He will join together by agreement the parts that are severed. “Moab is the washbasin of my hope.” Or “a pot for washing,” another of the interpreters says; or “a pot of security”; that is to say, the excommunicated person, who has been forbidden with threats to enter the church of the Lord. For the Moabite and the Ammonite will not enter until the third and until the tenth generation and until everlasting time. Nevertheless, since baptism possesses remission for sins and produces security for the debtors, he, showing the deliverance through baptism and the affection for God, says, “Moab is a pot for washing” or “a pot of security.” Therefore, all “foreigners are made subject,” bowing down under the yoke of Christ; for this reason he will set his shoe in Edom. The shoe of the divinity is the God-bearing flesh, through which he approaches humans. In this hope, pronouncing blessed the time of the coming of the Lord, the prophet says, “Who will bring me into the fortified city.” Perhaps he means the church, a city, indeed, because it is a community governed conformably to laws; and fortified, because of the faith encompassing it. Whence one of the interpreters produced a very clear translation: “Into a city fortified all around.” Who, then, will permit me to see this great spectacle, God living among people? These are the words of the Lord: “Many prophets and just people have longed to see what you see, and they have not seen it.”
Homilies on the Psalms 20:4

Augustine of Hippo †430

"Juda is my king: Moab the pot of my hope" [Psalm 60:7]. What Juda? He that is of the tribe of Juda. What Juda, but He to whom Jacob himself said, "Juda, your brethren shall praise you"? [Genesis 49:8] What therefore should I fear, when Juda my king says, "Fear not them that kill the body"? [Matthew 10:28] "Moab the pot of my hope." Wherefore "pot"? Because tribulation. Wherefore "of my hope"? Because there has gone before Juda my king....Moab is perceived in the Gentiles. For that nation was born of sin, [Genesis 19:37] that nation was born of the daughters of Lot, who lay with their father drunken, abusing a father. Better were it to have remained barren, than thus to have become mothers. But this was a kind of figure of them that abuse the law. For do not heed that law in the Latin language is of the feminine gender: in Greek of the masculine gender it is: but whether it be of the feminine gender in speaking, or of the masculine, the expression makes no difference to the truth. For law has rather a masculine force, because it rules, is not ruled. But moreover, the Apostle Paul says what? "Good is the law, if any one use it lawfully." [1 Timothy 1:8] But those daughters of Lot unlawfully used their father. But in the same manner as good works begin to grow when a man uses well the law: so arise evil works, when a man ill uses the law. Furthermore, they ill using their father, that is, ill using the law, engendered the Moabites, by whom are signified evil works. Thence the tribulation of the Church, thence the pot boiling up. Of this pot in a certain place of prophecy is said, "A pot heated by the North wind." [Jeremiah 1:13] Whence but by the quarters of the devil, who has said, "I will set my seat at the North"? [Isaiah 14:13] The chiefest tribulations therefore arise against the Church from none except from those that ill use the law....
Exposition on Psalm 60

8

He shall endure for ever before God: which of them will seek out his mercy and truth?

διαμενεῖ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἔλεος καὶ ἀλήθειαν αὐτοῦ τίς ἐκζητήσει;

Пребꙋ́детъ въ вѣ́къ пред̾ бг҃омъ: млⷭ҇ть и҆ и҆́стинꙋ є҆гѡ̀ кто̀ взы́щетъ;

Augustine of Hippo †430

"Into Idumæa I will stretch out my shoe" [Psalm 60:8]. The Church speaks, "I will come through even unto Idumæa." Let tribulations rage, let the world boil with offenses, even unto those very persons that lead an earthly life (for Idumæa is interpreted earthly), even unto those same, "even unto Idumæa, I will stretch out my shoe." Of what thing the shoe except of the Gospel? "How beautiful the feet of them that tell of peace, that tell of good things," [Romans 10:15] and "the feet shod unto the preparation of the Gospel of peace." [Ephesians 6:15] ...In these times we see, brethren, how many earthly men do perpetrate frauds for the sake of gain, for frauds perjuries; on account of their fears they consult fortune-tellers, astrologers: all these men are Edomites, earthly; and nevertheless all these men adore Christ, under His own shoe they are; now even unto Idumæa is stretched out His shoe. "To Me Allophyli have been made subject." Who are "Allophyli"? Men of other race, not belonging to My race. They "have been made subject," because many men adore Christ, and are not to reign with Christ.
Exposition on Psalm 60

Theodoret of Cyrus †458

All strangers have stooped and been put under the yoke of Christ, wherefore also "over Edom" does he "cast out" his "shoe." Now the shoe of the Godhead is the flesh that bore God whereby he came among humankind.
Dialogue 1

Gregory the Dialogist †604

For who does not know that sandals are made from dead animals? But the Lord coming incarnate appeared as if shod, because in his divinity he assumed the dead flesh of our corruption. Hence also through the Prophet he says: "Over Edom I will extend my sandal." For by Edom the Gentile world is signified, and by the sandal the assumed mortality is designated. Therefore the Lord asserts that he extends his sandal over Edom, because when he became known to the Gentiles through flesh, divinity came to us as if shod.
Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 7

9

So will I sing to thy name for ever and ever, that I may daily perform my vows.

οὕτως ψαλῶ τῷ ὀνόματί σου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος τοῦ ἀποδοῦναί με τὰς εὐχάς μου ἡμέραν ἐξ ἡμέρας.

Та́кѡ воспою̀ и҆́мени твоемꙋ̀ во вѣ́ки, возда́ти мѝ моли̑твы моѧ̑ де́нь ѿ днѐ.