Commentary on the Psalms 63

Praise God in His holy ones.

Another translator has, 'In His sanctuary.'

Either he is speaking here of the people, or of a holy life and of holy men.

And behold how he has once again closed the book with thanksgiving, teaching us that this ought to be both the beginning and the end of both our deeds and our words.

Whatsoever you do in word and deed, always give thanks to God the Father through Him.

So too the opening of our prayer takes its beginning from this very point.

For to say 'Our Father' belongs to those who give thanks for the gifts already bestowed, and who point to all of them by means of this one name.

For he who has said 'Father' has confessed the adoption as sons;

and he who has confessed the adoption as sons has proclaimed righteousness, sanctification, redemption, the forgiveness of sins, and the supplying of the Spirit.

[these things had to] exist beforehand, so that we might thus enjoy the adoption as sons, and be counted worthy to call Him Father.

But to me he seems to be hinting at something else when he says:

For the phrase, 'In His holy ones,' means this: for the sake of His holy ones.

Give thanks, therefore, that He introduced such a manner of life into the world, or rather that He made men into angels.

Wherefore, having first said, 'In His holy ones,' he then added:

'Praise Him in the firmament of His power.'

thereby making plain what I said just before.

For this is more earnestly desired by God than that.

For indeed the heaven came into being for man's sake, not man for the heaven's sake.

But another translator, instead of 'In the firmament,' said, 'In the indestructible.'

And yet another, 'In the firmament of His might.'

And it seems to me that he is again hinting at something else, as in the preceding psalm.

For as there he said, 'Praise Him, all His angels,'

so also here, 'Praise Him in His firmament,'

that is, those who are in His firmament.

For He never ceases continually to take the powers above as partners in His praise.

'Praise Him for His mighty acts.'

Another translator, 'Through His mighty acts.'

And the Hebrew says, 'Bigeburothav.'

Praise Him for His mighty acts, for His power, for His wonders, for the strength which He displays through all things — through the things above, the things below, the things done in common, the things done privately, the things concerning each individual, the things done perpetually.

'Praise Him according to the multitude of His greatness.'

And how is this possible — to offer up praise that is a counterweight to the multitude of His greatness? He does not mean this, that it should be a counterweight, but rather, he says, so far as you are able to extend it: pondering the multitude of His greatness, offer up such praise as lies within your reach, and such as it is fitting for a man to offer to so great a God, indeed a God great beyond all excess.

for indeed no one is able to offer up praise that is worthy.

Do you see the soul's longing? Do you see a mind set aflame, straining, striving even to surpass its own weakness and to soar up thereafter to heaven itself, bound fast to God, wholly devoted to Him with great longing? 'Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet.'

Another translator, 'With the sound of the horn.'

'Praise Him with the psaltery and harp.'

Another translator, 'With the nabla and lyre.'

'Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;'

praise Him with stringed instruments and the pipe.

Another translator, 'With strings and harp.'

'Praise Him with tuneful cymbals;'

praise Him with loud-clashing cymbals.

Another translator, 'With cymbals of signalling.'

'Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.'

He sets all the instruments in motion, and bids the melody be offered up through them all, warming their understanding and rousing it.

Just as, then, he bids the Jews praise through all the instruments, so he bids us hymn God through all our members — through the eye, through the tongue, through the hearing, and through the hand.

This too is what Paul makes clear when he says:

'Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.'

For the eye also praises Him, when it does not look upon unchaste things;

and the hearing, when it does not receive wicked songs, nor accusations against one's neighbour;

and the understanding, when it does not weave deceits, but overflows with love.

and the feet, when they do not run toward wickedness, but toward the administration of good works;

and the hands, when they are stretched out, not for plunder and greed and blows, but for almsgiving and the protection of those who are wronged;

then a man becomes a well-tuned harp, offering up to God a certain all-harmonious and spiritual melody.

And those instruments were then permitted for this reason: both because of their weakness, and in order to blend them together into love and concord, and to rouse their mind, and to make them perform with pleasure the things that bring benefit, and to lead them, through such a soothing of the soul, into great earnestness.

For God, dealing wisely with their coarse, slothful, and slack nature, by this wisdom devised a way to rouse them from their sleep, blending together with the toil of steadfast attendance the sweetness of [song].

But what does it mean, 'On a cymbal of signaling'? He is speaking thus of the psalms.

For they did not simply clash the cymbals, nor simply play the harp, but as far as was possible, both through the cymbals, and through the trumpets, and through the psalms of the harp, they were indicating the meanings;

and their earnestness and toil in these things brought them much gain.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

For since he had called those in heaven, since he had roused the people, since he had set every instrument in motion, he now goes forth to the whole of nature, calling every age to the melody—old men, men, young men, youths, women, all who dwell in the inhabited world—and already from here laying beforehand the seeds of the New Covenant among those spread abroad in every land.

Let us therefore praise God continually; let us not cease giving thanks for all things, both by words and by deeds.

For this is our sacrifice and offering, this is the noblest service, and one that resembles the polities of the angels.

And if we continue thus in praising Him, we shall both pass through the present life without stumbling, and shall enjoy the good things to come;

which may it be granted us all to attain, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.