1 Let the Lord be praised. Give praise to the Lord, O my soul.
Jerome · AD 420 Praise the Lord, O my soul. This psalm has a heading: Of Haggai and Zechariah. And this we must know first of all, that it is not found in the Hebrew, but in the Septuagint translators. But let us speak also according to the common edition, Of Haggai and Zechariah.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 ...Behold the Psalm soundeth; it is the voice of some one (and that some one are ye, if ye will), of some one encouraging his soul to praise God, and saying to himself, "Praise the Lord, O my soul" (ver. 1). For sometimes in the tribulations and temptations of this present life, whether we will or no, our soul is troubled; of which troubling he speaketh in another Psalm.
2 While I have breath I will give praise to the Lord: I will make melody to my God while I have my being.
Jerome · AD 420 I will praise the Lord in my life. See what it says: it exhorts itself, and it itself answers. What does it say? It says to me, Praise the Lord, O my soul: I myself answer, I will praise the Lord in my life. At present I cannot praise, I am weighed down by sins. As often as I open my lips in the praises of God, so often does the consciousness of my sins glue them shut.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 But who saith it, and to whom saith he it? What shall we say, brethren? Is it the flesh that saith, "Praise thou the Lord, O my soul"? And can the flesh suggest good counsel to the soul? However much the flesh be conquered, and subjected as a servant to us through strength which the Lord imparteth, that it serve us entirely as a bond slave, enough for us that it hinder us not.
3 Put not your faith in rulers, or in the son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
Eusebius of Caesarea · AD 339 To these were added the sons of Maximin, with whom he had already shared imperial honors and whose features he had displayed publicly in portraits.
Jerome · AD 420 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, in whom there is no salvation. This he says generally to all: Put not your trust in princes, not in the emperor, not in prefects, not in the judges of the world. Put not your trust in princes. Who are the princes? The sons of men. Who are the sons of men? Those in whom there is no salvation.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 The poor Christian sees this, ignoble, sighing in daily labor with groans, and perhaps says to himself: "What good is it to me that I have become a Christian? Am I better off than he who is not, than he who does not believe in Christ, than he who blasphemes my God?" The psalm advises him: do not put your trust in princes. Why does the flower of the grass delight you?
4 Man's breath goes out, he is turned back again to dust; in that day all his purposes come to an end.
Cyril of Jerusalem · AD 386 There are many uses of the word spirit in general in the sacred Scriptures, and a person could easily become confused from ignorance, if he did not know to what sort of spirit the particular text refers. Therefore, we must be sure of the nature of the Holy Spirit according to Scripture.
Jerome · AD 420 His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return into his earth. But when he shall have returned into his earth, what will happen? In that day all his thoughts shall perish: all the confidence of princes. All their thoughts shall perish. Put not your trust in princes. Many have trusted in princes. Today he was, tomorrow he is not.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 The Apostle says, "I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve with his cunning, so your minds may be corrupted from the chastity which is in Christ." But their minds are corrupted by such conversations: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Those who love these things, who pursue these things, who consider this life alone to be, who hope for nothing beyond, who ei…
5 Happy is the man who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:
Jerome · AD 420 Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob. These trust in chariots, and these in horses: but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God. They have more helpers: but they are princes, but they are men, but they collapse. We have one, who is able to save. His hope is in the Lord his God.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 What then must we do, if we are not to hope in sons of men, nor in princes? What must we do? "Blessed is he whose Helper is the God of Jacob" (ver. 5): not this man or that man; not this angel or that angel; but, "blessed is he whose Helper is the God of Jacob:" for to Jacob also so great an Helper was He, that of Jacob He made him Israel. O mighty help!
Fulgentius of Ruspe · AD 533 Hold most firmly and never doubt that the holy Trinity, the only true God, is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible—concerning which it is said in the psalms, "Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them." Concerning this the apostle too says, "For from him and through…
6 Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things in them; who keeps faith for ever:
Jerome · AD 420 Who made heaven and earth. This God who made heaven and earth, the sea and all the things that are in them. In comparison with heaven and earth and the sea, we men, according to the condition of the flesh, are as if ants and fleas. He therefore who made heaven and earth, can he not deliver the man whom he made? Who keepeth truth forever.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 ...Who is this, "Lord his God"? ..."To us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things." Therefore let Him be thy hope, even the Lord thy God; in Him let thy hope be.
7 Who gives their rights to those who are crushed down; and gives food to those who are in need of it: the Lord makes the prisoners free;
Jerome · AD 420 He executeth judgment for them that suffer wrong. Even if it comes late, do not despair: coming he shall come, and shall save. He executeth judgment for them that suffer wrong. Let this alone be in our conscience, that we suffer unjustly. Let us hold this in our conscience, that we do not suffer on account of our sins, and that we do not do that of which we are accused.
John Cassian · AD 435 For it is not free will but the Lord who "looses those who are bound." It is not our strength, but the Lord who "raises those who have fallen." It is not our diligence in reading, but "the Lord who enlightens the blind" where the Greek says kyrios sophoi typhlous, that is, "the Lord makes wise the blind." It is not our care, but "the Lord who cares for the stranger." It is not…
Leo the Great · AD 461 We not only do not hold back, but even encourage, compassion, wisely and divinely set up by the church, that even for such people you should pray to the Lord with us. We also, with tears of sorrow, have pity on the downfall of misled souls.
8 The Lord makes open the eyes of the blind; the Lord is the lifter up of those who are bent down; the Lord is a lover of the upright;
Gregory of Nazianzus · AD 390 She owed her recovery to none other than to [God] with the result that people were no less impressed by her unexpected recovery than by her misfortune. They concluded that the tragedy had happened for her glorification through sufferings—the suffering being human, the recovery superhuman.
Jerome · AD 420 The Lord enlighteneth the blind. See what it says. If he were speaking of these blind men, he ought to have said, The Lord enlighteneth the blind. But he did not say this: but according to the Hebrew and Greek truth, what did he say? The Lord maketh the blind wise.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The Lord looses them that are fettered; the Lord lifts up them that are dashed down; the Lord makes wise them that are blind" [Psalm 146:8].
9 The Lord takes care of those who are in a strange land; he gives help to the widow and to the child who has no father; but he sends destruction on the way of sinners.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 For as long as that blessed husband of thine was with thee, thou didst enjoy honour, and care and zealous attention; in fact you enjoyed such as you might expect to enjoy from a husband; but since God took him to Himself He has supplied his place to thee.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Just as you have; "the Lord, guards proselytes" [Psalm 146:9]. "Proselytes" are strangers. Every Church of the Gentiles is a stranger. For it comes in to the Fathers, not sprung of their flesh, but their daughter by imitating them. Yet the Lord, not any man, guards them.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 But what excuse for despondency will we have left if we take to heart God's own promises and the hopes of Christians: the resurrection, I mean, eternal life, continuance in the kingdom, and all that "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of people, the things that God has prepared for them that love him"?
10 The Lord will be King for ever; your God, O Zion, will be King through all generations. Praise be to the Lord.
Jerome · AD 420 The Lord shall reign forever. When the way of sinners shall have perished, then the Lord shall reign forever. He did not say, unto the age: but, unto the ages. As long as the way does not perish, Christ does not reign in us: as long as the way of sinners does not perish, Christ does not reign in us. As long as our feet walk in the way of the devil, Christ does not reign in us.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "And the way of sinners He shall root out." What is, "the way of sinners"? To mock at these things which we say. Who is an orphan, who a widow? What kingdom of heaven, what punishment of hell is there? These are fables of the Christians.