Concerning the justice of speech, the matter is treated in three ways.
For he is kind etc. Here he admonishes toward justice of speech, by drawing back from evil words. And first he removes from evil speech itself the confidence of impunity: second, he foretells their punishment: Therefore he who speaks etc.; third, he admonishes to caution against depraved speech: Guard etc.
In the first part, he first removes the confidence of impunity which might arise from the mercy of the judge: Kind: second, from his ignorance: For of the reins etc.; third, from his powerlessness: For the spirit of the Lord.
(Verse 6.) He says therefore: For the spirit of wisdom is benign etc. I have rightly said that the dissembler will be reproved etc.: for the spirit of wisdom is benign, namely of uncreated wisdom, namely of the Son, from whom the Holy Spirit is given: or of created wisdom, which he himself gives; below in chapter twelve: "O how good and how sweet is your spirit, O Lord, in all things"! Psalm: "Your good spirit" etc. And yet he will not free the accursed etc., although he is benign: because, as Gregory says, "discipline and mercy are greatly undermined if one is held without the other." Or thus: and because he is benign, he will not free the accursed etc., because benignity is contrary to malice: as the Gloss says: " He will not free, I say, the accursed, that is, the one who curses," who is accursed because he acts against God's commandment, which forbids cursing; Psalm: "Cursed are those who turn aside from your commandments"; behold, a curse in the present. Likewise, Matthew twenty-five: "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire" etc.: behold, a curse in the future. From his lips, that is, from the sin of his lips, or from the punishment which he merited by the sin of his lips: Matthew twelve: "By your words you shall be condemned"; likewise in the Psalm: "The labor of their lips shall cover them." And it should be noted that the consequent is placed for the antecedent, when he says the accursed for the one who curses.
For of the reins etc., as if to say: he will truly be punished for his sins, even hidden ones: for of his reins, that is, of the affections or "carnal pleasures, whose seat is in the reins," God is a witness, that is, a certain knower, as a witness concerning the matter about which he bears testimony; Jeremiah twenty-nine: "I am the witness and the judge, says the Lord." And of his heart, that is, of the thoughts proceeding from the heart, Matthew fifteen: he is a true searcher, that is, an infallible examiner: whence First Corinthians two: "The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God"; likewise Jeremiah seventeen: "I the Lord search the hearts and try the reins"; Psalm: "God, who searches hearts and reins." And of his tongue, that is, of the utterances which are formed by the tongue, a hearer, that is, an immediate knower without the report of another: Psalm: "He who planted the ear, shall he not hear"? as if to say: yes. And it should be noted that he places the instruments for the operations proceeding from them, because, just as the instruments relate more immediately to the soul than their operations do, so God more immediately than anyone else knows all the acts of a person, both interior and exterior.
(Vers. 7.). For the Spirit of the Lord etc., as if he were inferring: rightly have I said that the Spirit can do this: for the Spirit of the Lord, intransitively, that is, who is the Lord, according to that saying of Athanasius: "The Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord"; or transitively, that is, the Spirit who is from the Lord, according to that saying of Isaiah sixty-one: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" etc.; likewise, John: "The Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father." Has filled the whole world, by assisting all things with his presence and containing them: Jeremiah twenty-three: "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" because, according to Gregory, "God is everywhere, within all things yet not enclosed, outside all things yet not excluded, above all things yet not elevated, below all things yet not cast down." And that which contains all things, namely the Holy Spirit containing all things by preserving them through his power. For as Boethius proves in the book On the Consolation, "the world from such diverse and contrary parts would not have come together into one form, and the joined discordant diversity would have torn apart, unless there were one who joined them together and held together what he had woven." Has knowledge of the voice, that is, of all utterances and languages, by knowing all things.
From this it is clear that he can know and punish all things, both deeds on account of his universal presence and words on account of his universal knowledge.
Another exposition, or according to the Gloss: That which contains all things, " that is, the Holy Spirit, who contains all things, that is, the Church," outside of which whatever exists is nothing, just as outside the ark of Noah. Has knowledge of the voice, causally speaking, "that is, he grants understanding of Scripture to men"; or formally: Has knowledge of the voice, " that is, he has the same knowledge as the voice, that is, as the Word," that is, the Son, of whom John one says: "In the beginning was the Word" etc.
Allegorically, according to the Gloss, it can be expounded concerning the temporal coming of the Holy Spirit. And first is touched upon the person sent, when it says: Spirit; second, his eternal origin: of the Lord; third, the temporal mission: Has filled; fourth, the manifestation of the mission: And that which contains all things.
He says therefore: The Spirit of the Lord has filled: the Gloss says: "with gifts"; the whole world, "that is, the Church spread throughout all lands," as the Gloss says. And that which contains all things: "that is, man, who has a correspondence with every creature," on account of which in Mark at the end he is called every creature, according to Gregory. Has knowledge of the voice: the Gloss says: "Of diverse languages from the Holy Spirit," as is clear from Acts two.
To the orb indeed of the earth the primitive Church is compared, first on account of its expansion, according to that word of the Psalm: "Their sound has gone forth into all the earth." Second, on account of its perfection, which is understood through the roundness of the orb: Song of Songs 6: "One is my dove, my perfect one." Third, on account of its stability: Ecclesiastes 1: "For the earth stands forever."
Fourth, on account of its compression and wearing down: 1 Corinthians 4: "I think that God has set forth us the Apostles last, as men destined to death," etc.; just as the earth is the lowest of bodies, whence it is worn down and trampled upon by all.
Fifth, on account of the sustaining and vivifying of the human race, because it lives from the earth and is sustained by the earth, just as by the primitive Church: Job 9: "Under whom they stoop who bear up the world," namely the Apostles and their followers; nor yet are they broken, because in the Psalm: "I have established its pillars." Sixth, on account of the adornment and production of all virtues, according to that word of Genesis 1: "Let the earth bring forth green herb," etc.
Seventh, on account of the origin of waters, that is, of the wisdom of saving doctrine, according to that word of Genesis 2: "A spring rose up from the earth, watering the whole surface of the earth."
On this account, he who speaks, etc. The foolish confidence of impunity having been removed, here he foretells the punishment of evil speech: and first, because it will be brought into judgment; second, because it will be examined by the Judge: "In the thoughts of the ungodly"; third, because it will be made known to all: "For the ear of jealousy."
(Verses 8–9). He says therefore: On this account, because namely the Holy Spirit has knowledge of the voice, that is, of every utterance: he who speaks iniquitous things, like those of whom it is said in the Psalm: "The mouth of those who speak iniquitous things has been stopped"; cannot be hidden, namely from the Holy Spirit in the present; whence Hebrews 4: "All things are naked and open to his eyes"; likewise Proverbs 16: "All the ways of men lie open to his eyes." Nor shall it pass by, namely by dissembling, him, namely the one speaking iniquitous things, correcting, that is, punishing; or correcting, that is, seizing together his body and soul, or all his evil works and words and thoughts; judgment, namely the future judgment: "for all things that are done, God will bring into judgment," as is found in the last chapter of Ecclesiastes.
For in the thoughts of the wicked, that is, concerning the thoughts of the wicked, in which there is less sin than in wicked words, there will be an interrogation, that is, a searching inquiry by the judge and an examination, according to that passage of the Psalm: "The Lord interrogates the just and the wicked"; Job, last chapter: "I know that no thought is hidden from you." And if there will be a searching inquiry concerning thoughts, how much more so concerning words; on account of this he adds: But of his words, etc.; as if to say: not only concerning thoughts. But, [used] for "however": the hearing of his words, that is, the examination, to God, as to the examiner and judge, will come, and for correction, that is, punishment; of his iniquities, which he committed by speaking wickedly: Genesis eighteen: "The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is multiplied," etc.
(Vers. 10.). And rightly did I say that it will come, etc.; for the ear of jealousy, of jealousy, I say, of God who is jealous for souls as for brides, hears all things, that is, knows all things, as one who hears all things, namely words both evil and good and indifferent, just as a jealous man carefully hears and notes the words of his spouse and of those speaking with her: Exodus twenty: "I am a mighty God, jealous," etc. And the tumult of murmurings, by which men murmur against God: Ecclesiasticus thirty-three: "The heart of a fool is like a cart wheel." And it is called a tumult, because a man who murmurs makes a tumult, as it were, within his teeth, and does not speak clearly. Shall not be hidden, but shall be made manifest to the whole world; Luke twelve: "Nothing is covered that shall not be revealed, nor hidden that shall not be known"; Exodus sixteen: "I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel."
Guard etc. Here he admonishes to caution against wicked speech, and first he sets forth his exhortation; second, the necessity of the exhortation: For a word, etc.
(Vers. 11.). Now the construction or continuation is as follows: since the tumult shall not be hidden, etc., guard yourselves therefore from murmuring, namely against God, which profits nothing, indeed it greatly harms; whence First Corinthians ten: "Some of them murmured and perished by the destroyer." And from detraction, namely against one's neighbor: Job six: "Why have you detracted from the words of truth?" Spare the tongue; he does not say: spare your neighbor, but the tongue, namely your own, because one who detracts from another first injures himself. Whence detraction is worse than the venom of a serpent: Seneca: "That venom which serpents produce for the destruction of others, they contain without harm to themselves; but detraction itself drinks a portion of its own poison." The Gloss: "Pernicious are murmurings and detractions"; Romans one: "Detractors hateful to God." Detractors, he says in the plural, because detraction occurs in many ways, namely either when a hidden good is denied, or when a manifest good is diminished, or when a hidden evil is made public, or when a manifest evil is further spread abroad.
And I rightly said: Spare your tongue, for obscure speech: The Gloss: "Hidden," as is the word of murmuring: shall not go into the void, that is, it shall not remain without punishment, because not even an idle word: Matthew twelve: "Of every idle word" etc.; therefore much more so of a malicious word. "An idle word, as the Gloss says there, is one that is spoken without benefit to the speaker or the hearer"; Jerome: "Everything that does not edify the hearers turns to the peril of the speakers." But the mouth that lies, namely by slandering, slays the soul: The Gloss: "By the sword of sin, the soul of the liar"; the Psalm: "You will destroy all who speak falsehood." And it should be noted that he speaks here of pernicious lying, which is mortal, not of jocose or officious lying: whence the Gloss: "There is a lie of lighter fault, when someone lies in bestowing a benefit."
But it seems that some lie is good and meritorious, because the midwives who lied merited a reward from the just judge, namely God, who cannot be deceived, as is clear from Exodus one.
But it must be said according to the Gloss that "not the lie was rewarded, but the benevolence of their piety."
But was one and the same deed a sin, and yet possessed the merit of benevolence? And it seems so, for the Gloss says: "God pardons the evil of one and the same deed on account of the good, and rewards the good itself."
It must be said that it was one by connection, not by indivisibility: because the intention to deliver was one thing, and the will to lie was another, although they were conjoined.