There are many who insist that the titles do not belong to the psalms but who really do not know why they hold such a view. If the titles were not found in all the manuscripts—Hebrew, Greek and Latin—their position would be tenable. Since, however, there are titles in the Hebrew books, and this one in particular marks the fifth psalm, I am amazed at the implication that there can be anything in Scripture without reason. If it be true that not one jot or one title shall be lost from the Law, how much more shall not a word or a syllable be lost?

Who is she who is to obtain the inheritance? I believe it is the church, for it is the church who receives the inheritance. . . . David sings at the beginning that the church wins the inheritance at the end. . . . There are, however, several other interpretations. Many say that the psalm accords with the history of the people of Israel who long to return to Judea from Babylon, but they have failed to interpret unto the end and for her that obtains the inheritance. We, then, by combining spiritual with spiritual shall endeavor with the help of your prayers to consider this psalm as applying to the church.

The title of the psalm is For her who receives the inheritance. The feminine pronoun is used of the church, which receives eternal life as its inheritance through our Lord Jesus Christ so as to possess God and so as to be blessed by holding fast to him. . . . The voice in this psalm is that of the church called to its inheritance, so that it in turn may be the Lord’s inheritance.

Because of grace this hymn is sung, in behalf of the individual spirit or for the church called out for the divine inheritance, not a natural one but a spiritual one.

From the start God examines all the words that you speak, whether they are shameful, blasphemous or lying words; whether malicious, harmful or deceitful; or whether they are words of degradation, which through their deceit are able to overwhelm the one whom the lie injures. You have loved words of destruction, a deceitful tongue.^[1] . . . Every careless word that people speak will return to them judgment.^[2] How much more when you speak hurtful words do they become a hindrance and destruction to your spirit! God judges your cry: whether you have cried out against anyone unjustly, whether you have trumpeted unjust anger with your cry or whether you, overcome with such wrath, have called for the striking down of the innocent, like those who stoned Stephen: Shouting with a loud voice, they covered their ears and in one spirit united against him they rushed him.^[3] And their shout became a vehicle of murder. God, therefore, tests your words. . . . Therefore, since God will measure our words, let us give to him spiritual songs and canticles, hymns and psalms, becoming a sweet smell not by running to bars but by hastening to the church; not sunk in our drunkenness but adorned with sobriety; not dancing and being wanton like the Jews but glorifying the way of life of the apostles. . . . No one may walk into the royal dwelling leaping about; no one may stand before the king drunk. If such caution is followed on earth, how much more caution is there for the heavenly state and the kingdom that exists there? Let us live lives worthy of that kingdom, rejoicing and happy in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to whom there is glory and power from now to infinite ages of ages.

If you say, Give ear to my words, utter those words that come from a gentle and loving person, containing nothing of the devil. . . . A supplicant, in fact, does not employ the language of an accuser.

On all sides the church of God is buffeted by many huge waves, as likewise is each soul that embraces the devout life, but each survives and breasts the billows by constantly invoking the divine aid. This in fact is what the inspired Word also teaches, instructing us how it behooves us both to entreat and implore the God and King of all.

If one grants that indeed each animal recognizes the cry of its own offspring in the largest and most crowded flocks, that though a thousand calves may cry, the mother knows the cry of her own young, that though a thousand lambs may bleat, the female runs to the voice of her own and it does not fall, how much more among a thousand sinners crying out does God know the cry of the just and recognize him as the pure voice of his own child?

The Son is God, and the Father is God, and Father and Son together are one God. If we ask about the Holy Spirit, no other reply is possible than that he is God. And when Father, Son and Holy Spirit are spoken of all together, nothing other than one God is to be understood. Nonetheless, the Scriptures tend to use the title king of the Son. Therefore, in line with what Scripture says, The way to the Father is through me,^[1] the order, my king and then my God, is correct. However, the psalmist did not say give heed in the plural but in the singular. For it is not two or three gods that the catholic faith preaches but the Trinity itself, one God. It is not the case that the same Trinity can be spoken of now as the Father, now as the Son, now as the Holy Spirit, as Sabellius believed. No—the Father alone is the Father, and the Son alone is the Son, and the Holy Spirit alone is the Holy Spirit, and this Trinity is none other than the one God.

Think about the one on whom the sun of righteousness has arisen, expressing praise because of his grateful spirit to the author of the light. In the morning, he says, you will hear my voice. For to whom is it necessary to have gratitude for so much good, unless to you, Lord, who has brought the light to me, which is the source for the greatest illumination to me?

After the shadows recede from my heart and the light of the true Sun has arisen, then you will hear me, and I will be able to stand before you as a servant.

How can it be that whereas the church said above, Hear, as if it wanted to be heard immediately, now it says, In the morning you will hear me, as opposed to Hear; and further says, to you I will pray, rather than to you I pray? The same holds for what follows: In the morning I will stand before you and I will see rather than I stand before you and see now. What is the point of this change? . . . Shrouded in darkness amid the storms of this age, the church realizes that it does not see what it longs for. . . . However, the church understands why it does not see, because the night is not yet over. The night represents the darkness that our sins have deserved. . . . . When it says now, You will hear in the morning, the church means in the morning I will understand that I have been heard. . . . Injustice, ill will, falsehood, murder, deceit, and anything else of this sort are what constitute the night. Once this night has passed, morning comes, so that God may be seen.

When the night of this world is over, the morning of the world to come will begin to shine. . . . Then we shall no longer have any need of light from books, for the true Light of the world will appear and enlighten us.

The person who inherits (as in the title of the psalm) is consecrated by prayers and by service to God as the first fruits of his daily deeds. Moreover, it is a token of his innocence to go forth from his chamber cleansed by his pure prayers and to be able to say to God, Early in the morning I will wait on you, and I will look up.

Let those heed this who come to prayer only after countless activities. . . . One must precede sunrise in giving you thanks, Scripture says, remember, and entreat you before the dawning of the day.^[1] Now, you would not tolerate someone inferior to you preceding you in giving homage to the emperor; in this case, however, while the soul pays homage you are asleep, and you yield pride of place to creatures and do not anticipate the whole of creation that is made for you. You do not give him thanks; instead, when you get up, you wash your face and hands but ignore the fact your soul is uncleansed. Do you not realize that as the body is cleansed with water, so the soul is with prayer? So wash your soul before your body. Many evil stains besmirch it; expunge them by prayer. If, in fact, we hedged our mouth around in this fashion, we should lay a fine foundation for daily life.

It is true that evil is not from God, as is the opinion of some who say that evil has a substantial reality. For from the mouth of the Most High, the one willing there only be good, good and evil do not go forth.

Whom does God hate? The evildoer. But if we are all sinners and every sinner is hated by God, it would naturally follow that we are all hated by God. If, however, we are all hated by God, how is it that we have been saved by grace? . . . . The psalmist did not say those who have been guilty of wrongdoing, but those who are wrongdoers. Those who persevere in sin are those who are held in abhorrence by God, but those who abandon the ways of sin are loved by the Lord. . . . These words are intended for sinners who are persisting in sin.

Of our own nature we are liars. However, if we wish to be truthful, let us have recourse to the Lord. By his help we are truthful; by our own nature we are liars.

What Scripture says in the words you destroy all who speak falsehood we should interpret as referring to heretics, both from the forward movement of the psalm and from the order within the movement itself. The doer of evil has, indeed, killed his own soul; but the heretic—the liar—has killed as many souls as he has seduced. . . . . Every heretic is bloodthirsty, for every day he spills the blood of souls. . . . Deceitful is the right word. He is both a murderer and a practitioner of deceit. How is he deceitful? His words deliberately misrepresent the words of the Lord. . . . Just think of the condition of the heretic: the Lord abhors him!

Since, you see, the church has been gathered together out of such people—pagans, soothsayers, murderers, sorcerers, liars, cheats—it said, you hate and abhor, indicating that it was not due to its righteousness and good deeds but to God’s lovingkindness that it had been rescued from them and led into the precincts. So [the church] added, I, on the contrary, in the abundance of your mercy, shall enter your house. I mean, in case someone should say, So how is it that you, who are guilty of this and that, are saved? it mentioned the manner of salvation: it was due to God’s wonderful lovingkindness, to his ineffable goodness.

Since evil and iniquity may not dwell with you, nor may they remain in your sight, I will enter into your house by your mercy. Then I will be able to say, Early in the morning I will stand before you, and you will see me. And since I enter into your house by no other way than by your mercy, with great reverence that is called your fear [i.e., the fear of God], I will worship you, having walked in spirit and truth.

The holy temple of God is Christ, concerning which God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. In the fear of God each one turns away from evil; in fear he worships in the temple of the Lord that is Christ.

The psalmist does not say, I shall worship in your holy temple, but I shall worship in the direction of your holy temple. This should be understood as suggesting not perfection itself but the advance toward perfection: the phrase I shall enter your house signifies perfection. But in order that this may happen the psalmist first says, I shall worship in the direction of your holy temple. And perhaps he adds in fear of you because this is a great source of protection for those progressing toward salvation. But when each of us has arrived, the promise of Scripture will be fulfilled in us, charity made perfect casts out fear.^[1]

One who wishes to know and to act rightly has many adversaries. There are people and demons full of envy whom the good deeds of those acting uprightly torment. The prophet, when he understood this, did not allow himself to fight by his own strength against those who rose up against him, but he called on God to extend his hand by which he could escape unharmed from so many enemies, saying, You, O Lord, lead me in your righteousness; then it will happen that my path may be directed in your sight.

There is . . . a human righteousness that depends on external laws, but it is inferior, possessing nothing perfect and complete, arising from human deliberation. It is your righteousness, on the contrary, that I seek, that has come down from you and leads up to heaven. . . . The present life, you see, is a way on which guidance from on high is required. I mean, if we want to enter a city, we need someone to show us the way; much more if we are to travel to heaven do we have need of grace from above to point out and determine the way and guide us on it. There are many paths to lead us astray, after all. Hence let us hold God’s right hand.

What is this way of yours? The reading of holy Scripture. Direct my steps, therefore, lest I stumble in the reading of your Word through which I desire to enter your church, for everyone whose understanding of holy Writ is faulty falls down in the path of God.

Heretics do not have Christ, the Truth, on their lips because they do not have him in their heart. . . . Heretics are unhappy people; they are whited sepulchers, full of dead people’s bones. . . . Arius, Eunomius and other heretics have tongues like arrows, jaws like empty tombs. . . . Open is well said, for whenever anyone has been deceived enough to enter that tomb, the heretic is ready and draws him right in. The mouths of heretics are forever gaping. . . . They mean one thing in their heart; they promise another with their lips. They speak with piety and conceal impiety. They speak Christ and hide the Antichrist, for they know that they will never succeed with their seduction if they disclose the Antichrist. They present light only to conceal darkness; through light they lead to darkness.

Truly, those jaws are like those of a dead person, for they never or only with difficulty deign to speak God’s praises.

When graves are filled in they keep the stench within, but when opened they release the awful smell. These people are like that, . . . spewing out words redolent of utter impiety and evil smells. Now, . . . these words . . . suggest blasphemy against God and lewd and licentious speech.

Make sure your mouth is not a grave but a treasury. Treasuries, you know, differ markedly from graves: the latter corrupt what they receive; the former preserve it. Accordingly, keep for yourself the wealth that lasts forever, the search for wisdom, nothing fetid or rotting.

Vain is the heart of the philosophers of alien ideas, about whom it is said, The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain;^[1] from their throats they spew out death-bearing dogmas as they teach the Word of God is not alive, and they bring forth lies and words of death.

By telling lies and employing seductive flattery, people draw to themselves those whom they entice to sin, and they swallow them, so to speak, when they make them turn to their own style of life. When this happens the flatterers die through their sin, and so it is right to refer to those by whom they are drawn in as open graves; indeed, they themselves are somehow lifeless in that they lack the life of truth, and they gather into themselves the dead whom they have slain by lying words and empty hearts, making their victims into copies of themselves.

Those who refuse to know the Father, let them experience the Judge. . . . And how? The answer follows: Let them fall by their own devices. . . . Excellently said, . . . for heretics change or alter their doctrine from day to day. In fact, if a theologian learned in the Scriptures contends with them, overwhelming them with proof from the sacred books, what do they do but straightway look around in search of a new doctrine? They do not seek knowledge for the sake of salvation but look around for new doctrine to vanquish the opponent. . . . Let them fall by their own countless contrivances, and let them have but one recourse, you, my God. . . . You are, O Lord, sweet by nature, but sinners and heretics change the sweetness of your nature into bitterness of their evil devices.

The point of the phrase in accordance with the great number of their wrongdoings is that they are to be driven out completely. The ungodly are driven out from that inheritance in which God is possessed by understanding and vision. It is like the way in which diseased eyes are forced to shut by the dazzling brightness of the light. What brings joy to others is punishment to them. They, therefore, will not stand by in the morning and see. And that expulsion is a punishment as great as is the reward that is described in these terms: my good is to hold fast to God.^[1]

Other joys, at any rate, are no better than flowing steams, no sooner seen than gone by. The happiness that is from God, by contrast, remains steady and has firm roots, is both ample and lasting, interrupted by no unforeseen circumstance but rendered more elevated by the very obstacles themselves.

Someone who takes pride in the things of this life is no different from people enjoying themselves in dreams. What human thing is it, after all, tell me, of such a kind as to permit one to boast? Strength of body? But that is not an achievement of our willing, and hence is no grounds for boasting, especially since the body weakens and collapses in a flash, and the strong person suffers from the effects of not using it properly. This can also be said of the bloom of youth and a shapely figure, of riches, of power, of luxury, and of all the things of this life. To boast in God, on the contrary, and in love for him, is a greater honor than all others and a distinction outshining diadems beyond telling, even if the one boasting is in prison. This honor is not interrupted by disease, by old age, by the pressure of affairs, by variety of seasons, by death itself, at which times instead it shines more brightly.

Our beatitude is of the future, to which alone the promise refers. Let some rule with power; others possess wealth; still others receive honors and recognition. We, however, are miserable in this life in order to be happy in the next. Let us follow Christ our Lord. He who says he believes in Christ ought himself also to walk, just as he walked.^[1] Christ, the Son of God, has not come to be served but to serve;^[2] he did not come to command but to obey; he did not come to have his own feet washed but to wash the feet of his disciples; he did not come to strike others but to be struck; he did not give blows, but he received them; he did not crucify but was crucified; he did not destroy but himself suffered destruction; he was poor to make us rich; he was scourged for our sake, let us offer our cheek to the blows; let us lay bare our back to receive the stripes; let us imitate Christ. He who is struck with blows imitates Christ; he who strikes imitates the Antichrist.

It is the goal of good people to receive the inheritance promised to them, to follow the Lord, to have him living within as a companion, in accordance with those things that were promised, saying, I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.^[1]

God is our shield, he is our crown. He protects us as if he were a shield; as God he crowns us. He is our shield; he is our crown. . . . Let us give thanks to God, and let us beseech him in his good will to be our shield and crown that we may never depart from him and that we may follow him and declare with Jeremiah: I was not weary of following you.^[1]

Does anyone really crown with a shield, you ask? Surely, he who crowns, crowns with flowers, or with gold or with other crowns. Now how does one crown with a shield? But the Lord’s shield is a crown, for he surrounds us with his protection and defends us and so crowns us.

What harm, after all, could come to you from the mockery of human beings, even the whole world, when the Lord of the angels praises and extols you? Just as, consequently, should he not bless you, no matter if all the inhabitants of earth and sea sang your praises, it would do you no good. So make it the complete object of your attention that he extol you, that he bestow the crown. If this were the case, we should be the most exalted people of all, even if we were in poverty, if failing health, at death’s door.

This victory wreath is woven of mercy, as David says elsewhere, Who crowns you with mercy and compassion.^[1] It is also woven of righteousness, as Paul says, Hereafter there is set aside for me the wreath of righteousness.^[2] It is also a wreath of grace, as another author says, She will defend you with a wreath of graces.^[3] Yet it is also a wreath of honor, as Isaiah says, there will be the wreath of hope, woven of honor.^[4] The wreath, you see, has all these attributes—lovingkindness, righteousness, grace, honor, comeliness. The gift, after all, comes from God, offering a grace of many hues. It is also a wreath proof against corruption, as Paul says, Whereas their purpose is to gain a corruptible wreath, ours is incorruptible.^[5]

This is what blessing is: to glory in God and to be indwelt by God. Sanctification like this is granted to the righteous, but in order that they may become righteous, their calling comes first. It depends not on merits but on God’s grace. For all have sinned and are stripped of the glory of God.^[1] But those whom he called, he has also justified; and those whom he has justified, these he has also glorified.^[2] Because, therefore, the calling does not derive from our merits but from God’s kindness and mercy, the psalmist added the following statement: Lord, you have encompassed us as with the shield of your good will. God’s good will precedes our good will, in order that he may call sinners to repentance.

Let us consider how this psalm closes with such a sweet and fitting end, indicating with a single word the benefits of the Lord that even volumes cannot explain. . . . Your good will: since the Lord’s call precedes any merit, and he does not find anyone worthy, but makes him worthy, it is described as a gracious call; otherwise, it would have been called just. So this is his good will that calls us and draws us to God. We are not able to think or to do anything that is beneficial unless we receive this from the Author of goodness. Thus, as the Apostle says, For we cannot think anything of ourselves, as if there is something originating from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.^[1]