1 Thou, O God, art praised in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed in Jerusalem.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "For Thee a hymn is meet, O God, in Sion." That fatherland is Sion: Jerusalem is the very same as Sion; and of this name the interpretation ye ought to know. As Jerusalem is interpreted vision of peace, so Sion Beholding, that is, vision and contemplation. Some great inexplicable sight to us is promised: and this is God Himself that hath builded the city.
2 Thou that hearest the prayer: unto thee shall all flesh come.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 The soul has to depart from the tortuousness of this life and the defilements of the earthly body. It must hasten to those heavenly gatherings, although it is granted to the saints alone to reach them. There it shall sing praise to God.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Hearken," he says, "to my prayer, unto You every flesh shall come" [Psalm 65:2]. And we have the Lord saying, that there was given to Him "power over every flesh." [John 17:2] That King therefore began even now to appear, when there was being said, "Unto You every flesh shall come." "To You," he says, "every flesh shall come." Wherefore to Him shall "every" flesh come?
3 My misdeeds prevail against me: O be thou merciful unto our sins.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The discourses of unjust men have prevailed over us, and our iniquities Thou shalt propitiate" [Psalm 65:3]. ...Every man, in whatsoever place he is born, of that same land or region or city learneth the language, is habituated to the manners and life of that place.
4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and receivest unto thee: he shall dwell in thy court, and shall be satisfied with the pleasures of thy house, even of thy holy temple.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 What indeed is lacking to the one who possesses the good and has virtue always as his companion and ally? In what role of life is he not most powerful? In what poverty is he not rich? In what lowly status is he not noble? In what leisure not industrious? In what weakness not vigorous? In what infirmity not strong? In what quiet of sleep not active?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Blessed is he whom Thou hast chosen, and hast taken to Thee" [Psalm 65:4]. Who is he that is chosen by Him and taken to Him? Was any one chosen by our Saviour Jesus Christ, or was Himself after the flesh, because He is man, chosen and taken to Him?
5 Thou shalt shew us wonderful things in thy righteousness, O God of our salvation: thou that art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of them that remain in the broad sea.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Hearken to us, O God, our Saviour" [Psalm 65:5]. He has disclosed now Whom he names as God. The "Saviour" specially is the Lord Jesus Christ. It has appeared now more openly of Whom he had said, "Unto You every flesh shall come." That One Man that is taken unto Him into the Temple of God, is both many and is One.
6 Who in his strength setteth fast the mountains: and is girded about with power.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Preparing mountains in His strength" [Psalm 65:6]. Not in their strength. For He has prepared great preachers, and those same He has called mountains; humble in themselves, exalted in Him. "Preparing mountains in His strength." What says one of those same mountains?
7 Who stilleth the raging of the sea: and the noise of his waves, and the madness of the people.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "That troublest the bottom of the sea" [Psalm 65:7]. He has done this: it is seen what He has done. For He has prepared mountains in His strength, has sent them to preach: girded about He is by believers in power: and moved is the sea, moved is the world, and it begins to persecute His saints.
8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth shall be afraid at thy tokens: thou that makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to praise thee.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The nations shall be troubled" [Psalm 65:8]. At first they shall be troubled: but those mountains prepared in the strength of Christ, are they troubled? Troubled is the sea, against the mountains it dashes: the sea breaks, unshaken the mountains have remained.
9 Thou visitest the earth, and blessest it: thou makest it very plenteous.
Gregory of Nazianzus · AD 390 Only let us recognize the purpose of the evil. Why have the crops withered, our storehouses been emptied, the pastures of our flocks failed, the fruits of the earth been withheld and the plains been filled with shame instead of such fatness?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Thou hast visited the earth, and hast inebriated it" [Psalm 65:9]. Whence hast inebriated the earth? "Thy cup inebriating how glorious it is!" "Thou hast visited the earth, and hast inebriated it." Thou hast sent Thy clouds, they have rained down the preaching of the truth, inebriated is the earth. "Thou hast multiplied to enrich it." Whence?
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Again, vegetation is generous. Hence in the Psalm: "You have visited the land and watered it; greatly have you enriched it. God's watercourses are filled; you have prepared the grain," and "the valleys are blanketed with grain." This land is alive and awake, it abounds.
10 The river of God is full of water: thou preparest their corn, for so thou providest for the earth.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The furrows thereof inebriate You" [Psalm 65:10]. Let there be made therefore at first furrows to be inebriated: let the hardness of our breast be opened with the share of the word of God, "The furrows thereof inebriate You: multiply the generations thereof." We see, they believe, and by them believing other men believe, and because of those others believe; and it is not suffi…
11 Thou waterest her furrows, thou sendest rain into the little valleys thereof: thou makest it soft with the drops of rain, and blessest the increase of it.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Thou shalt bless the crown of the year of Thy goodness" [Psalm 65:11]. Seed is now sowing, that which is sown is growing, there will be the harvest too. And now over the seed the enemy hath sown tares; and there have risen up evil ones among the good, false Christians, having like leaf, but not like fruit.
Cosmas Indicopleustes · AD 550 David moved by the Holy Spirit thus in a psalm addresses God: Bless thou the crown of the year of thy goodness; thus in a remarkable way styling the cycle of the twelve months of the year a crown of goodness, as crowning the surface of the earth with beauty, and fostering the growth and maturity of its monthly fruits through the tempering of the elements which the invisible pow…
Bede · AD 735 For the fact that each of the four rows worn on the chest contains three stones corresponds to the sequence of the yearly cycle, which is divided into four seasons of three months each. Now in the Scriptures the entire year is designated as the time of our salvation, in which we strive for an eternal reward.
12 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness: and thy clouds drop fatness.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The ends of the desert shall grow fat, and the hills shall be encircled with exultation" [Psalm 65:12]. Plains, hills, ends of the desert, the same are also men. Plains, because of the equality: because of equality, I say, from thence just peoples have been called plains. Hills, because of lifting up: because God doth lift up in Himself those that humble themselves.
13 They shall drop upon the dwellings of the wilderness: and the little hills shall rejoice on every side.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Clothed have been the rams of the sheep" [Psalm 65:13]: "with exultation" must be understood. For with what exultation the hills are encircled, with the same are clothed the rams of the sheep. Rams are the very same as hills.
14 The folds shall be full of sheep: the valleys also shall stand so thick with corn, that they shall laugh and sing.