Unlike some of the psalms, this one is not shrouded in darkness, but here the Lord responds to the prophet’s question following the pattern of the Decalogue, indicating that one reaches his blessed hall by ten virtues. . . . This is that divine Decalogue, a spiritual psaltery of ten strings. This is a number befitting of a crown, which only the one who destroyed the world’s vices together with his Father was able to fulfill. Let us constantly ask for his almighty power so that we who are not able to fulfill what has been commanded may be able to do them once we have been enriched by his gift.

All the defiled approach the tabernacle of the Lord, and there they are made undefiled. Jesus alone, undefiled, having entered the uncorrupted tabernacle, has freed us from the defilement of the flesh and has given us holiness.

Although the word tent is used sometimes to denote an everlasting habitation, strictly speaking a tent is something associated with war. Hence soldiers are referred to as tent companions, because their tents are grouped together. This interpretation receives further backing from the words who will sojourn? For we do battle with the devil for a time, and we need a tent in which to regain our strength. This points in particular to faith under this temporal dispensation established for us within time by our Lord’s incarnation.

Since the psalm before this also prophesied salvation for the inhabitants of Jerusalem and forecast the return of those already made captive, it is right for him to introduce exhortation in this psalm and propose a way of life proper for them to live who are under God’s command and enjoying such wonderful assistance.

The Lord Christ . . . entered the temple in Jerusalem free from all sin. For while others entered the house of God for purification, he alone entered in such a state that he might stand before the face of the Father without sin. He did not do this that the law might grant him something, but so that he, as the best legislator, might bestow something on the law by fulfilling it.

Brothers, let us hear the Lord’s answer to the question, an answer that shows the way to the heavenly tabernacle. . . . He who drives the tempter and his temptations far from his heart, defeats his malice and dashes his rising thoughts against the Rock Christ. He who fears the Lord without growing proud of his virtue and humbly acknowledges that what is good in him does not proceed from himself. He who gives God his due and with the prophet blesses the work of God in himself: Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give the glory.^[1] The apostle Paul found nothing of his own to boast of in his preaching: By the grace of God [says he] I am what I am,^[2] and again, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.^[3]

When the apostle says that in his opinion a person is justified through faith without the works of the Law, he does not intend by this decision to express contempt for the commandments and the works of justice by the profession of faith but to inform anyone that he can be justified by faith even if he has not previously fulfilled the works of the Law; for they follow when one has been justified and do not come before for one to be justified.

Note exactly what the psalmist is saying: And does justice. Now, the Holy Spirit did not say, one who practices chastity, who applies wisdom, who exercises fortitude. Yet these are excellent virtues indeed. Wisdom, for example, is of great advantage to us; fortitude is valuable in resisting persecution; finally, temperance and chastity are indispensable in preventing us from losing our souls. Justice alone is the great virtue and the mother of them all. Someone may ask, How is justice greater than all the other virtues? The other virtues gratify the one who possesses them; justice does not give pleasure to the one possessing it but instead pleases others. If I am wise, wisdom delights me; if I am brave, my fortitude comforts me; if I have been chaste, my chastity is my joy. On the contrary, justice does not benefit the one who has it but all the wretched who do not have it. Suppose that some poor person has a quarrel with my brother; suppose that my brother is powerful and with his power crushes the other one, I mean, the stranger to me, the poor and wretched person. Of what avail is my wisdom to the poor person? Of what avail my courage? My chastity, how does it help the poor person? Justice is the virtue that benefits him, for I do not regard the person of my brother but judge according to truth. Justice knows no brother, it knows no father, it knows no other; it knows truth; it is not a respecter of persons; it imitates God.

Some have the truth on their lips and yet do not have it in their heart. Suppose someone were to give false directions deliberately, knowing full well that on the road in question there were brigands, and were to say, If you go this way, you will be safe from brigands, and then it turned out that in fact there were no brigands to be found there. Our imaginary person would have spoken the truth, but not in his heart. He was thinking otherwise, and he spoke the truth unwittingly. Therefore, it is insufficient to utter the truth unless it also exists in the heart. Who has not practiced deceit with his tongue. Deceit is practiced with the tongue when one thing is professed with the lips and another is concealed in the breast.

It is necessary, he is saying, for such a one to rid himself of evil and be free of all blame, and to practice every virtue studiously. . . . He must keep free of falsehood not only his tongue but also his mind, and be rid completely of the double deceit so that on their part no harm results to their neighbor. Now, it was very logical for him to make mention first of the heart, then of the tongue and then of the deed: word precedes action; and thinking, word.

He testifies in the Gospel that he always spoke without deceit when he says Everything that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.^[1] What could be more pure or simple than that the unchangeable truth, without corruption by any addition or omission, might come to human ears in the purest possible integrity. Nor did he commit any wrong against his neighbor. . . . . [This virtue is] demonstrated in the life of the Lord: . . . Not only did Jesus hurt no one, he also endured all things patiently.

The prophet David said that it was better for him to be corrected or advised by a just person than to be praised by any flatterer. It was right that he should denote the flatterer with the name of sinner, since his is the greatest and most detestable crime in the sight of God—to hold one thing in his heart, speak another with his lips. Of such he also says in another psalm: His words are smoother than oil, but they are drawn swords.^[1] Of the just person he says, He speaks the truth in his heart and works not deceit with his tongue. Although in these ways any subtle remarks of people, even without the pleasing sensations of praise, may draw your credulous mind to agreement, turn rather to the deeds of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels, and you will find that the Lord of lords left us to a great example of sacred humility amid the praises of people. Practice humility, then, take it for your mistress, set it as your guide when flatterers entice. Humility will tell you just how much of the things that people ascribe to you in praise is really yours and how long it will last. Humility does not let you be attentive to lies.

In everything, therefore, good faith is seemly, justice is pleasing, due measure in equity is delightful. But what shall I say about contracts, and especially about the sale of land, or agreements or covenants? Are there not rules just for the purpose of shutting out all false deceit and to make him whose deceit is found out liable to double punishment? Everywhere, then, does regard for what is virtuous take the lead; it shuts out deceit, it expels fraud. Wherefore the prophet David has rightly stated his judgment in general, saying, He has done no evil to his neighbor. Fraud, then, ought to be wanting not only in contracts, in which the defects of those things that are for sale are ordered to be recorded (which contracts, unless the vendor has mentioned the defects, are rendered void by an action for fraud, although he has conveyed them fully to the purchaser), but it ought also to be absent in all else. Candor must be shown, the truth must be made known.

This is a noble thing to say. Never, says the psalmist, has a neighbor murmured against him; never, he says, has he found occasion for his disparagement. This virtue is beyond . . . human power; it exists by the grace of God. By whom the reprobate is despised. Mark what it says: By whom the reprobate is despised. Even if he is an emperor, even if he is a governor, if he is a bishop, if he is a priest, . . . whoever he is, if he is evil, he is nothing in the sight of the saint.

Whoever abhors the wicked, even if they are very rich, while honoring those who fear the Lord, even if they are very lowly and poor, will live in honor and respect. There is therefore need to consider how in the apparent reply of God complete instruction in virtue emerges, the intention being for a person first to attend to piety and righteousness, then to keep one’s distance from all wicked behavior, and after this not to admire the deportment of the rich if piety does not accompany wealth. . . . One should have especial regard for the poor provided they did not have a change of heart for the worse as a result of poverty but rather continued to be devoted to a godly way of life.

God’s Oath. Cassiodorus: When people swear an oath, they make a promise with God as their witness. But when God himself makes a promise, it is more appropriate to say that he has sworn. For to swear means to speak justly or to speak truthfully. Now a person speaks truthfully when he promises those things which are fulfilled. Therefore God’s swearing consists in making promises and fulfilling them, as it says elsewhere: The Lord has sworn truthfulness to David, and he will not deceive him.

Money is clearly to be understood in two senses in the Holy Scriptures. The first is the metal money that we are completely forbidden to loan out for interest, because the vice of greed consists of the desire to demand back what you know that you have not lent. The Lord Christ certainly had this sort of money, which he entrusted to Judas to be distributed to the poor. He did not devote this type of money to making interest, but he gave it to those in need because of his merciful generosity in order to teach us. The other kind of money is the sort that we are persuaded by the gospel’s teaching to give over to gain interest, namely, the most holy proclamations and divine instructions.

The evil of usury must be shunned, and the profit that lacks all human kindness must be avoided. The means for unjust and grievous gain is increased, but the essence of the soul is worn down, since usury in money is the ruin of the soul. The holy prophet David showed what God thinks about the people of this kind when he says, Lord, who will dwell in your tent, or who will rest on your holy mountain? Those are taught by the reply of the divine voice, and those know that they have a part in eternal rest if, among the other rules of a holy life, they do not give their own money at usury. They are shown to be strangers to the tent of God and foreign to his holy mountain if they seize a deceitful profit for their money by usury, and, while they want to be rich through another’s loss, they are worthy to be punished by eternal penury. But you, dearly beloved, who have believed the promises of the Lord with your whole heart, flee the foul leprosy of avarice and make a holy and wise use of God’s gifts. Since you enjoy his generosity, take care that you may be able to have companions of your joy. The things that are supplied to you are lacking to many, and in their need the material has been given to you for imitating the divine goodness, so that through you the divine goodness might pass over to others. As you give out your temporal goods well, you are acquiring eternal.

We advise the poor . . . to persevere in their terrible situations rather than to accept the misfortunes that come from the payment of interest. But if you [who are rich] obey the Lord, what need is there of these words? What is the counsel of the Master? Lend to those from whom you do not hope to receive in return.^[1] And what sort of a loan is this, one might ask, to which there is no hope of a return attached? Consider the force of the Lord’s statement, and you will admire the kindness of the Lawmaker. Whenever you have the intention of providing for a poor person for the Lord’s sake, the same thing is both a gift and a loan, a gift because of the expectation of no repayment but a loan because of the great gift of the Master who pays in his place. . . . He who has mercy on the poor lends to God.^[2] Do you not wish to have the Lord of the universe answerable to you for payment? . . . Give the money, since it is lying idle, without weighing it down with additional charges, and it will be good for both of you. There will be for you the assurance of its safety because of his custody; for him receiving it, the advantage from its use. And, if you are seeking additional payment, be satisfied with that from the Lord. He himself will pay the interest for the poor. Expect kindly acts from him who is truly kind. This interest, which you take, is full of extreme inhumanity. You make profit from misfortune, you collect money from tears, you strangle the naked, you beat the famished; nowhere is there mercy, no thought of relationship with the sufferer; and you call the profits from these things humane! Woe to you who say that the bitter is sweet and the sweet bitter, and who call inhumanity by the name of humanity.^[3] . . . People do not gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles,^[4] or humanity from interest. Every bad tree bears bad fruit.^[5] Some are collectors of a hundredfold and some collectors of tenfold, names horrible indeed to hear; monthly exactors, they attack the poor according to the cycles of the moon, like those demons that cause epileptic fits. It is wicked lending for both, for the giver and for the receiver, bringing loss to the one in money and to the other in soul. . . . It is not evident for whom you collect. It is indeed apparent who he is who weeps because of the interest, but it is doubtful who he is who is to enjoy the abundance that comes from it. In fact, it is uncertain whether you will not leave to others the gift of wealth, but the evil of injustice you have treasured up for yourself. And from him who would borrow of you, do not turn away,^[6] and do not give your money at interest, in order that, having been taught what is good from the Old and the New Testament, you may depart to the Lord with good hope, receiving there the interest from your good deeds, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power forever. Amen.

What is more cruel than to lend money to one who has none and then to exact double the amount? If one cannot pay the simple amount, how will he pay double? . . . Nations have often failed because of usury, and this has been the cause of public calamity.

These are no great achievements! But people who are incapable of even these are much less able to speak the truth in their hearts, to refrain from practicing deceit with their tongues, to profess the truth outwardly just as it is in their hearts, to have on their lips a yes that is yes and a no that is no,^[1] to avoid harming their neighbors (that is, anyone) or reject a slanderous accusation against a neighbor. Such are the qualities of the perfect, in whose sight the spiteful has been reduced to nothing. Yet the psalmist concludes his enumeration of even these small-scale acts by declaring, whoever acts so will not be moved forever, suggesting that such person will proceed to those greater things in which powerful and unshakeable stability may be gained.