Pursued by Saul, the divine David uttered this psalm to those urging him to secure his salvation by flight. It is suitable, however, for every wronged person placing hope in God. Now, to the end occurs in the title for the reason that it contains a prophecy of God’s righteous judgment and the punishment to be imposed on the lawless.

This psalm refers to David when, like a sparrow, he sought a hiding place in an inaccessible mountain, when sinners have bent their bows against him, whether Saul, Absalom, or innumerable enemies. But let us drawing on the counsels of the saints hear these words for our building up, and making the ascent in our heart let us move onto the mountain from the valley of weeping.^[1]

[The psalmist] sings this psalm after he prevailed over the power of the enemy. It exhorts to heroism befitting the saints who with confidence in the Lord blunt the arrows of sinners, the evil demons.

Those who trust in the things of this life are in no better situation than the sparrow, which relies on the wilderness and is prey to all. People who put their hope in money are like that. Just as the sparrow is snared by children with bird lime and trap and countless other devices, so too the wealthy by friend and foe. They are much more vulnerable than a sparrow, with many to set traps for them and, more immediately, evil tendencies of their own. They are migrants, constantly reacting to developments, fearful of the long arm of the law and the emperor’s wrath, the wiles of flatterers and the deceit of friends. In time of war their fear is greater than anyone’s, in time of peace they suspect treachery, their wealth never being secure of proof against loss. Hence they are always taking to flight and migrating, searching out wilderness and eyries, preferring the dark and looking for the black of night in noontime, adopting disguises to achieve it. Good people, on the contrary, are quite different. The ways of their righteous shine like the sun,^[1] remember. I mean, far from opting for scheming and lawlessness, their souls are at rest. . . . How then is this darkness to be dissipated? By separating yourself from all these things and coming to depend on hope in God, sinner though you be ten times over. . . . This is remarkable, in fact, that even sinners who cling to this anchor are invincible. It is, you see, a particular mark of an option for God that though weighed down by such awful evils they are still buoyed up by his lovingkindness. In other words, as the one trusting in man is doubly cursed, so the one trusting in God is blessed. So tear yourself away from all these things, and cling to this anchor. . . . Let us come before him, and remain ever with our eyes on him.

Even if movement is necessary, he is saying, nevertheless let it be known that I do not hope to secure safety from those with whom I am constantly in opposition except by hoping in God, who can provide me with safety in every place.

Great is the power of hope in the Lord, invincible citadel, unassailable rampart, insuperable reinforcement, tranquil haven, impregnable tower, irresistible weapon, unconquerable power capable of discovering a refuge where none seems possible.

I have the Lord of the universe as my ally. The one who without difficulty created everything everywhere is my leader and support, and you would send me to the wilderness and provide for my safety in the desert? After all, surely the help from the desert does not surpass the one capable of anything with complete ease?

In this passage, the psalmist speaks about those who are drawn off to earth’s highest places by the most trivial desire. Those who turn to the most worthless proclamations because of the fickleness of their unsettled mind are rightly considered similar to them.

The soul has wings by which it can raise itself free from the earth. But this movement of the wings is not of something constructed of feathers but a continuing series of good works, like those of the Lord of whom it is well said, And in the shadow of your wings I shall take refuge. In the first place, the hands of our Lord fixed on the cross were extended like something in flight, and, second, the actions of God are like a refreshing shadow of eternal salvation that can regulate the conflagration raging in our world.

Sinners or rebels have ready burning arrows that must be repelled with the shield of faith. In their quivers, they carry darts to shoot at the just, not in the daytime, not in the glimmering night when the moon comfortingly tempers the darkness, but when the night is deep and the darkness groping.

Though the enemy is unseen, we have our faith as a strong protection, according to the saying of the apostle: In all things taking up the shield of faith, with which you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the most wicked one.^[1] Oftentimes a fiery dart of desire of base indulgence is discharged by the devil; but faith, representing to us the Judgment and cooling the mind, extinguishes the dart.

That which you have framed they have pulled down. Those were the seeds of the best ideas grafted by nature, which God impresses on each person, placing within their spirit the knowledge that is called natural.

Heretics . . . have destroyed the law of the Lord . . . by false interpretations, changes resulting in the death of some, while the Scriptures were intended to serve as the Lord’s prophets for our salvation.

So while they practice their evil ways against me, you, the righteous Judge, seated on your heavenly throne and making your own special appearance in the temple on earth, view the whole world, though sufficient for you is a mere glance of your eyes to learn about all human affairs. You know precisely the doings of the righteous and the unrighteous, and you measure out repayment for work done.

Do you see a ready ally, a well-prepared aid, present everywhere, seeing everything, gazing on all things, having as his particular role—even if no one requests it—to exercise providence and care, to pursue wrongdoers, to assist the wronged, to award recompense to the virtuous, to assign punishment to sinners? He is, therefore, ignorant of nothing; his eyes in fact look attentively on the whole world. He is not simply aware of things, however; he also wants to correct them. . . . If, in fact, he is righteous, he will not simply overlook these happenings. He rebuffs the wicked; he praises the righteous.

He alone is judge of all, and the only true judge. What has the Lord done against the wicked who have drawn up a battle line against him, who rise up against the righteous? In his own temple, standing in the house of the heavens and sitting immovable on his royal throne, he overlooks nothing of the earthly creation with his gaze, and when he looks at the poor, he gives them the grace of his eyes. Those eyes are understood to be the merciful rewards of his gaze, through which he looks on the poor with generosity. His eyelids are the providence by which he judges, by which he discerns, by which he thoroughly searches deeds. Now since all stand in his judgment, it is said, The Lord tries the just and unjust.

If the eyes of God look on the poor, let us be numbered among the poor, so that the eyes of the Lord may look down on us. If the rich do not become poor, very little will the eyes of the Lord look on them.

The Lord is in this holy temple. It consists of many members, each carrying out its own duties and functions built together by love into one structure. Any who separate themselves from this fellowship for the sake of their own pre-eminence violate its unity.

Wickedness, after all, is the soul’s enemy, its foe and ruination, and so the wicked person pays the penalty even before punishment is imposed. Do you see how he shows on every score that his adversaries . . . are hoisted on their own weapons by which they protect themselves, consumed by them and damaging themselves?

I do not think that anyone who keeps precious garments locked up in a chest would agree to enclose within it either a live coal or any kind of spark. Why is this, brothers? Because he would be afraid that the clothing that he wears to a feast may be burned. I ask you, brothers, if a person does not want to put a spark of fire in his chest of clothes, why does he not fear to kindle the flame of wrath in his soul? We know clearly and plainly why this happens. We do not put fire into a chest of clothes because we love our garments; but we do not extinguish the fire of wrath because we not only fail to love our soul but even harbor hatred for it. This is according to what is written: The lover of violence hates his own soul.

If a murderer is one who hates his brother, what is he who, loving iniquity, hates his own soul? And if the one who hates his brother does not have eternal life remaining in him, how will he who ends this life in the love of iniquity and hatred of his own soul be able to attain the forgiveness of sins through which one attains life?

If the one who values iniquity hates his own life, then the one who hates iniquity esteems his own life.

If, then, you hate your own soul by loving iniquity, do you wonder that you hate the Word of God, which wishes well to your soul?

It rains refers to the words of the preachers flowing down from heaven which are rain showers for the pious, but fiery snares for the ungodly. For the pious produce fruit based on their proper understanding of the words, but the ungodly suffocate their souls with the noose of their perversity by handling the words improperly.

This is the punishment and the death of those through whom the name of God is blasphemed. It means that, to begin with, they are ruined by the fire of their own lusts. Next, they are cast out from the company of the blessed because of the stench of their evil works. Finally, they are whisked away and overwhelmed, and they suffer unspeakable punishments. This is the portion of their cup, unlike the cup of the righteous, which is called your brimming cup, intoxicating and lovely, for they will be inebriated by the rich abundance of your house.

Eternal life will be given in the future only to the one to whom forgiveness of sins has been given in this world. Only he will receive the forgiveness of sins here who renounces his sins and hastens to the highest and true God with true conversion of heart. For that will not be a time of forgiveness but of retribution. There mercy will not justify the sinner, but justice will distinguish the just and the sinner. This is written in the psalm: The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked. And, so that he might show that in iniquity lies the destruction, not the salvation, of the soul, he goes on the say, He who loves iniquity hates his own soul. Lest they who persist in iniquity to the end of the present life promise themselves mercy, it is said subsequently concerning God: On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and sulphur; a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. For the Lord is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face. . . . Whoever, hearing these things, is unwilling to seek the mercy of God through conversion in the present time, will never be able to find it in the future life.

Harsh punishments are often denoted in Scripture by the word cup. . . .^[1] So it follows that even in this place cup denotes the punishment to be poured out, especially, the fullness of this cup is fire, sulphur and a stormy wind, whose symbols were written in Genesis, the type of punishment inflicted by the Lord on Sodom and Gomorrah. Besides fire and sulphur, there is also in the cup the stormy wind. The fire indicates threatening flames; sulphur, the force by which more fire is burned; and, finally, the wind illustrates the certain whirlwind of temptations; chiefly we are able to learn this from the writing of Isaiah.^[2] . . . Let us flee impiety, so that there is no cup of this type for us, and we may live righteously; so that we may drink to drunkenness that which is the best. From which also it is said: The Lord is my portion and my cup.^[3] Because the Lord is just and loves justice, he shows his face to the upright.

As to the ungodly, if you give all the world to the poor, you will not benefit him at all. For to whom the Deity was an enemy while he was alive, it is certain he will be so also when he is departed; for there is no unrighteousness with him. For the Lord is righteous and has loved righteousness.

He added: his face beheld righteousness, namely, that righteousness that he himself graciously grants. For humanity does not have anything of worth on its own; it can only lay claim to what it has received from the Lord, the Granter of all good things.

The ultimate justice itself is Christ, who was made wisdom for us from God, and justice, and sanctification and redemption.^[1] The justice in each person, however, is formed from that justice, so that many justices come into existence in those who are saved; wherefore it has also been written, The Lord is just and has loved justice.