Commentary on the Psalms 52

'Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man;

rescue me from the unrighteous man.'

Where now are those who say:

Why wild beasts? why scorpions? why vipers? For behold, there is found a creature that displays greater wickedness—not by nature, but by choice—namely, man.

For this very reason the prophet too, passing over all those creatures, asks to be delivered from this one.

What then, tell me? Since he is such, ought men not to have come into being? But to say this is the utmost folly;

for there is nothing that harms a man except sin alone;

and when this is taken away, all things are easy, and effortless, and calm;

just as, when this is present, all things are crags, and storms, and shipwrecks.

But let none of us condemn us, if we have said that the man given over to wickedness is worse than a wild beast;

For the one, even if he does not have gentleness in his nature, can nevertheless be easily deceived, and appears to be what he actually is;

but the man who practises wickedness, and wears about him many masks, is harder to guard against than a wild beast, often putting forward the skin of a sheep while hiding the wolf within.

Therefore many, off their guard, fall into the snares of such men.

Since, then, such beasts are hard to detect, the prophet turns to prayer, and calls upon the

assistance that comes from God, that he may be delivered from such a plot.

For into such men the devil also often creeps in, and so lets fly his shafts.

Many, therefore, are the things that plot against us from every side.

For the wicked man does this, and the savage demon wages war, and unbearable temptation troubles us.

Therefore we are also taught, when we pray, to say:

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Manifold are the battles, and of many kinds the arrays of the enemy, and one must be prepared against them all.

For just as the man about to set out upon the open sea ought to foresee the rush of unruly waters, the onset of savage winds, the gathering of clouds, hidden rocks and reefs, the rising up of sea-monsters, the ranks of pirates, hunger and thirst, the sea itself and harbourless anchorage, the quarrelling of sailors, and scarcity of provisions, and all such things, and to array himself against them all;

so also the man who has come into the strait of this present life would rightly be prepared against the passions of the body, against the diseases of the soul, against the plots of men, against the risings-up of enemies, against the treacheries of feigned friends, against poverty, against torments, against insult, against the phalanxes of demons, and against the madness of the devil, if indeed he means to reach the royal city, and, laden with his cargo, to put in to harbour.

Here, then, he calls the wicked man 'evil';

but when he speaks concerning the devil, he calls him simply 'the evil one'.

Why is this? Because he himself became the father of wickedness;

for this reason he is called 'the evil one' preeminently, and in place of a proper name the epithet has sufficed, on account of the excess of his wickedness, which is not inborn but has accrued to him.

But if you wish to learn also whence the very name of wickedness is derived, from this too you will reap great profit.

For it is called 'ponēria' (wickedness) from its bringing 'ponos' (toil) and 'mochthos' (hardship) upon the very one who possesses it.

Therefore also a certain wise man, indicating this, says:

If you become evil, you alone will draw up your evils;

but if you become good, it will be for yourself and for your neighbours.

And how, one may ask, does the wicked man alone draw up the evils, seeing that he does harm to many? But he harms none of those who are not slack and slothful. And if you will, let us leave aside the wicked man, and bring the wicked demon himself into our midst.

Tell me, then: did he not pour out all his malice? Did he harm Job in any way? Did he not rather make him more illustrious, while working for himself a more grievous downfall? And what of Cain? Did he not alone draw up the evils? 'No,' someone says, 'but Abel too.'

How, and in what manner? Because he was speedily conveyed to the waveless harbour.

But this was the greatest kind of benefit, that he departed this life amid a righteous deed, that he discharged the common debt of nature.

For that which was common to all others and came upon them of necessity, came to him with gain, as a matter of merchandise.

These things were not an evil to endure, but rather a more brilliant crown to bind about one's head.

And how did the brothers harm Joseph? Did they not themselves alone draw up the evils? 'But he became a slave,' someone says.

And what of that? I go even further and say that he also became a prisoner;

but this is not the point in question, whether he became a slave and a prisoner, but whether he suffered any harm from it.

For we find the very opposite, that he even gained the greatest things, acquiring more boldness before God, and through those very things which seemed contrary receiving his present prosperity.

Let us then not fear the wicked, but rather pity them.

For at that time they were with reason to be feared, since the lofty road leading up to true wisdom had not yet been cut open;

but now no longer, since the heavens have henceforth been opened to us, and men have become angels.

Since even a wild beast, rushing with great impetus upon the point of the spear, seems to be assailing the one who holds the spear, but in fact impales itself with a more grievous wound;

and he who kicks against the goads likewise bloodies his own feet.

Such a thing is virtue: goads and a whetted sword;

while the wicked, all of them, are worse than wild beasts and more irrational.

Whenever, therefore, they assail the good, they impale themselves more grievously; while they often injure the others in their possessions or their bodies, they themselves are harmed in the soul with the real injury.

For if the loss of money did us harm with respect to our own virtue, Paul would not have commanded us to suffer wrong rather than to do wrong.

If to suffer wrong were an evil, the lawgiver of good things would not have enjoined evils.

Nevertheless, even though matters stand thus, we ought not to leap upon the wicked, nor to close in battle with them, but to flee and turn aside from their company;

yet when they come upon us, to receive them with courage.

For it is on this account that we are commanded to pray that we may not enter into temptation.

Wherefore this man too, having said, 'Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man,' adds, 'Rescue me from the unjust man';

again setting down a generic name for wickedness.

For here he speaks not simply of the man unjust in matters of money, but of the man unjust in all things.

And he asks to be delivered, so as neither to fall into their hands nor to become like that man.

And he does not simply ask, but asks after contributing what lay in his own power.

For this reason, having at the end of the former psalm fled from them and from fellowship with them, here he asks for the help that comes from God.

For there he contributed what lay in his own power, saying, 'Men of blood, depart from me, for ye are contentious in your reasonings';

but here he beseeches God to be delivered from their wickedness.

For it is no small thing, in point of safety and security and freedom and every kind of gladness, to be delivered from such assemblies and to encamp as far as possible from the company of the wicked; rather, this is the greatest prosperity.

Then, portraying their wickedness, he goes on and says:

Who have devised iniquity in their heart;

all the day long they set themselves in array for wars.

Do you see how hard these wild beasts are to guard against, brewing evils in their mind, and hiding away their plots in secret places?

For 'they devised,' he says, 'in the heart';

that is, they did not for the time bring it forth openly, but turned it over within, in travail with their wickedness; and what is yet more grievous, they did the thing not as if swept away or overturned, but making a deliberate practice of it.

For this is the meaning of 'They devised'—with earnestness, with all eagerness.

All the day long they set themselves in array for wars.

By this he signifies the whole of their life.

By 'wars' here he hints not at those waged in battle-lines and by arms, but at those waged through plots—wars which men wage even in the marketplaces and in their houses, not putting on a breastplate, nor holding out a shield, but using wickedness in place of every weapon, and whetting words sharper than darts.

But the greatest thing in their wickedness is not merely that they are crafty, nor that they are treacherous, nor that they are ready for wars and battles, but that they are so throughout their whole life, and never gained any respite from this grievous array.

And yet, if they were minded to wage war, they had another and a just occasion for it.

For they ought to have stood against their sins, and set themselves in array against the devil, and fought against the diseases of the soul, and whetted their swords against the demons.

But they do not so much as advance to that battle-line, and instead they hurl their darts against one another.

They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent's;

the poison of asps is ever under their lips.

Do you see the base-born nature of wickedness? Out of men it makes wild beasts, asps and serpents, and drags down the rational tongue to that brutish savagery.

And that which he charged them with above, this again he here brings against them.

What then is this? 'The poison of asps is under their lips,' he says, 'ever'—that is, continually.

For just as above he said, 'All the day long they set themselves in array for wars,'

so also here, 'They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent's;'

the poison of asps is ever under their lips.

For this is what the 'Diapsalma' everywhere signifies.

And in Hebrew the 'Diapsalma' is called 'Sel,' which means 'ever.'

And yet, even in a brief span of time wickedness is a burdensome thing; but when

they pursue it continually, and take not even their fill of it, what pardon could they have? What defense? 'Keep me, O Lord, from the hand of the sinner.'

Deliver me from unjust men.

who have devised to trip up my steps.

The proud have hidden a snare for me;

and with cords they have spread a net for my feet;

hard by the path they have laid stumbling-blocks for me.

Nothing is more unjust than those who pursue wickedness, who before all others do injury to their own souls.

For when they themselves become the cause of a stumbling-block, when they contrive that the glory of God should be reviled by the foolish, when they do not render what is owed, but having received both soul and body from the God who loves mankind, are ungrateful in the matter of recompense, and while enjoying so great and so vast a good, requite their Benefactor with the opposite, what could be more unjust than these things? What more thankless? And, what is greater still and mounts to an excess of wickedness, they even undertake to do violence to others.

For they devised, he says, to trip up my steps.

But if the scheme did not issue in deed, this became the work of God's love for mankind.

For He Himself cut short their wicked counsels.

And see how well-rehearsed was their wickedness, and how zealously prepared their plot.

For indeed they hid, and they stretched out, and it was hard by the path, so that by its length, and by its being concealed, and by its being set close at hand, they might catch and overpower.

For they became craftsmen of wickedness, stretching out their snares on every side, setting themselves one task alone: to bring down.

Do you wish to learn how the devil too lays such cords? See again the same thing happening in the case of Job.

For what was broader than those snares? What longer? What nearer, seeing that he set the trap not among kinsfolk only, nor among friends, nor in his wife, but in his very own body? I said to the Lord:

Give ear, O Lord, to the voice of my supplication.

O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation.

Another version: The might of my salvation.

Having spoken of the war and the plots, and having shown the terrors to be unbearable, he thereafter takes refuge in the invincible alliance, calling from heaven the Helper who is able to loose these things.

This is the mark of a noble soul, this the sign of a philosophic mind: when such things beset one on every side, not to take refuge in human alliance, nor in mortal reasonings, but to look toward heaven, and to call upon God who is everywhere present, and not to give way to despondency, and tumult, and confusion.

And see how, in a manner worthy of himself, he frames his word.

For he did not say, This and that I accomplished, and such righteousness I performed;

but what? Thou art my God—putting forward as the greatest ground of alliance the very act of taking refuge in the Master, the Creator, and the King.

Give ear, O Lord, to the voice of my supplication; O Lord, Lord, the strength of my salvation.

He said, the strength of my salvation, showing that there is also a strength for chastisement and for punishment.

But to me, he says, Thou hast furnished the strength of salvation.

For Thou art able both to do harm and to destroy;

but ever unto my salvation didst Thou employ Thy power.

And behold the longing of the one who speaks.

For by the doubling, and by his adding, Of my salvation, he shows the greatness of his disposition.

Thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle.

Do you see the thankful soul? He reminds himself of former things, that God established him in safety.

For this is what is meant by, Thou hast overshadowed.

And see how he shows the ease with which God acts.

For he did not say, Before this, but, In that very day, he says, when the terrors were mounting, when the battle-line was drawn up, when I was in peril of the uttermost extremities, then Thou didst establish me in safety.

For God has no need of preparation or of exhortation, since He knows all things—things present, things to come, and things past—and is able to do all things, and is ever present, ready to help.

To express the surpassing measure of the victory and of the safety, he did not say, Thou didst save me, but what? Thou didst overshadow;

that is, Thou didst not suffer me to endure even the least distress, not so much as that which comes from scorching heat;

but Thou didst establish me in such great safety, and along with the safety in such pleasure and repose, that I did not even encounter any distressing heat, but revelled in shade—that is, in the deliverance from and freedom from terrors.

For this reason he brought in the word, Thou hast overshadowed, both signifying this very thing, and showing the ease of God's help through the name of shade, as if he were saying, It suffices only that Thou be present, and all is undone.

Deliver me not, O Lord, from my desire to the sinner.

Another version: Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the lawless one.

Grant not what is according to his desire against me; that is, whatever he desires against me, do not permit him to accomplish it.

And he did not say, 'What he desires,' but, 'From my desire,' wishing to make plain something of this sort:

Grant not even the smallest part of what he desires.

With great eagerness of desire they work their plot against their neighbours, just as the devil also does, of whom it is said that he 'goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.'

So with eager desire did he assail Job;

so too did he plot to assail Peter;

'How often did Satan ask to sift you like wheat?' Do you see how great a desire he had? There are also men who emulate that one's malice out of envy and jealousy, and out of rejoicing in evils.

These the Scripture also pronounces wretched, saying, 'Woe to those who are glad over evils, who rejoice at the perversion of wicked things;'

for this belongs to a corrupted mind.

For if we ought to grieve, and groan, and lament over those who are perishing, what pardon could they have, what defence, who not only do not grieve with them, but even rejoice? Did you not see that even Christ Himself, who was about to bring punishment, wept over Jerusalem as it perished? Do you not behold Paul also groaning and lamenting and mourning over the destruction of others? But there are some so corrupted that they reckon the misfortunes of others a consolation for their own evils.

They took counsel against me; forsake me not, lest they be exalted for ever.

For this is the meaning of the 'Diapsalma' (Selah).

Another version: Depart not, lest they be exalted.

This belongs to the vile and corrupted disposition, when they have need of counsel and leisure and study for wickedness.

For the things done on a sudden impulse do not suffice for them;

for it does not satisfy them to destroy us by rashness, but you have need also of counsel and of time and of deliberation for the wickedness.

What defence then will you have, making wickedness your study, laying plans for the working of evils, and taking accomplices? But behold this man's humility.

Forsake me not — not because I am worthy; forsake me not on account of the virtue of my life.

But what then? 'Lest they be exalted,' that they may not become more arrogant, and be lifted up into greater madness through your forsaking of me.

The head of their circle — the labour of their lips shall cover them.

Another version: The bitterness of those who surround me, the trouble of their lips — let it stop them up.

By 'circle' here he means the gathering, the council, the wicked workshop, the corrupted counsels.

And what he says is of this sort:

Those very wicked counsels, and the sum of their malice and corrupted disposition, may this itself sink them and destroy them.

By 'labour' here he calls their wickedness.

For such indeed is wickedness:

it becomes ruin to the very one who possesses it, and works his own submerging.

This came to pass in the case of David.

For they expected to encompass him with countless dangers;

'Yes,' he says, 'but this is not what I seek;'

but how, having taken counsel according to their own will, they were pierced through and

perished — show this, and tell where this very thing came to pass.

In the case of the brothers of Joseph.

For wishing to make him a slave and to destroy him, they themselves fell into the utmost peril.

And indeed both slavery and death fell to their own portion.

And Absalom, wishing through tyranny to destroy his father, was himself taken through this very thing.

Coals of fire shall fall upon them;

you shall cast them down in fire.

But what he means is something like this:

This very wickedness of theirs is by itself sufficient to destroy those who are compassed about by it;

and along with this they shall also incur the wrath that God sends down.

By 'coals of fire' and 'fire' here he means the punishment that is borne down from on high.

And often it has come to pass by that very fire, as in the case of Dathan, and Korah, and Abiram, and in the case of those who surrounded the Babylonian furnace.

'In miseries, and they shall not endure.'

Another version: 'They shall fall into pits, that they may never rise again.'

Yet another: 'Speedily, and they shall not rise up.'

According to the one interpreter, then, what is said means something like this:

destroy them in such a way that they may never rise again;

but according to the other, 'With great swiftness';

for this is what 'Speedily' signifies.

'A man given to a slanderous tongue shall not prosper upon the earth.'

Having spoken concerning the wrath of God, he again shows that this very malice is of itself sufficient to destroy those who possess it.

And this too is no small species of wickedness, to be reckless and not to keep one's tongue in check.

For by 'a man of tongue' he here means the insolent man, the babbler, the reviler, the one who is continually barking, the one who is disposed no better than a dog.

Tell me, then, what is the fruit of this?

'He shall not prosper,' he says, 'upon the earth.'

Another version: 'He shall not be established'; that is, he shall be overturned, he shall be cast down, he shall perish.

This is the fruit of the reviler:

such a man is an enemy to all, distasteful to all, burdensome and grievous to all.

As, therefore, the long-suffering man, the gentle man, the man who knows how to keep silence, is secure and steadfast and pleasing to all;

so such a man as this passes a perilous life, drawing upon himself countless enemies from every quarter, and before all others troubling his own soul, and not suffering it to be at rest, but even when no one is molesting him, stirring up within himself countless wars and tumults.

'Evils shall hunt down the unjust man unto destruction.'

So too another wise man says:

'Transgressions ensnare a man.'

See again how malice is sufficient for the destruction of the one who possesses it.

But wherefore did he employ the term 'hunting'? That you might perceive how inescapable it is; that, even if you do not fall at once while doing wrong, you might not take courage.

It does not always succeed, nor immediately;

but nevertheless, even if the wild beasts and the hunted creatures are not captured, not even so are they in safety, though they be not yet within the nets.

So then, neither let the soul take courage while it is doing unjust deeds and has not yet been caught;

for if you wish to be in safety, cease from doing these things, and you shall enjoy great security.

But why then did he say, 'Unto destruction'? Because many have also been hunted unto salvation;

such as those hunted by the apostles, such as those hunted by the holy men.

But not so the wicked, when they are hunted down by their own malice;

rather, it is unto perdition and destruction.

And why does not the punishment follow hard upon the heels of the malice? Because of the loving-kindness of the Master.

For if He were minded to bring each of those who sin at once under punishment, the greater part of the human race would have been snatched away beforehand.

'I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the poor, and the judgment of the needy.'

'Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto Thy name, and the upright shall dwell in Thy presence.'

Another translator has: 'Before thy presence.'

Instead of 'They shall dwell,' one renders it 'They shall abide,' and another, 'They shall be seated.'

And instead of 'I knew,' 'I know.' For since he had said that He would hunt them down, and that they would perish, and yet does not straightway show the punishment being brought upon them,

so that none of the duller sort might on this account become more slothful, he added the word 'I know,' showing that this shall assuredly come to pass.

For the estate of those who are wronged shall not remain thus.

And by 'the poor' here he calls not simply the needy, but the exceedingly lowly, the crushed in spirit.

These things he says both to comfort those who are wronged and to bring to sober mind those who do the wrong, that neither the former may despair because of the delay, nor the latter become more slothful because of the postponement.

For the delay leads to repentance,

but him who persists in sin it punishes more severely.

Why so? Because, having enjoyed so great goodness, they did not become better.

For consider how great is the loving-kindness of God, when He suffers those who are devoted to Him to endure ill treatment, and does not proceed against the offenders, being minded by repentance to make thee better.

'Nevertheless the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name.'

What is it that he says? Whatever may happen, he says, those men will give thanks;

and even if they see the lowly insulted and the wicked exalted, they will not demand an accounting for what comes to pass.

For this is above all the mark of the righteous, to give thanks at all times and in all things.

'And the upright shall dwell with thy presence.'

That is: Having enjoyed the help that comes from thee, keeping the thought of thee, ever being with thee, they will never depart from thee;

whatever may happen, they will never be vexed, never will they find fault with what comes to pass.

For this belongs to a soul that cannot be overturned, this to a mind that does not waver — not to demand an accounting of the Master.

'Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?' Let us therefore also continually preserve this same right disposition, giving thanks to God for all things;

for to Him belongs the glory, and the thanksgiving, and the worship, now and ever, and unto the unending ages of ages.