Psalms 101 · The Lantern

A Psalm of David. I will sing of mercy and justice; unto Thee, O HaShem, will I sing praises.

I will give heed unto the way of integrity; oh when wilt Thou come unto me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.

I will set no base thing before mine eyes; I hate the doing of things crooked; it shall not cleave unto me.

A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil thing.

Whoso slandereth his neighbour in secret, him will I destroy; whoso is haughty of eye and proud of heart, him will I not suffer.

And Jezebel was able to injure the most religious Naboth by her false accusations; but then it was the wicked and apostate Ahab who listened to her. But the most holy David, whose example you ought to follow, as all pray that you may, does not favor such people but was apt to turn away from them and avoid them, as raging dogs.

With the proud of eye and the insatiable of heart, with such a one I did not eat. If anyone was proud or greedy, with such a one I did not eat at all.

He [Poemen] also said, "If a monk hates two things, he is able to free himself from the world, and these are," he said, "the gratifications of the body and vainglory."The same old man also said, "Wrath is a natural thing in a person, it is his nature, but it must be used to cut off evil passions.

Mine eyes are upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he that walketh in a way of integrity, he shall minister unto me.

He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that speaketh falsehood shall not be established before mine eyes.

Morning by morning will I destroy all the wicked of the land; to cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of HaShem.

Now if these words in the law, "Thou shalt have dominion over many nations, and no one shall rule over thee," were simply a promise to them of dominion, and if they contain no deeper meaning than this, then it is certain that the people would have had still stronger grounds for despising the promises of the law.

In the mornings I slew all the sinners of the earth. Well did he say, the sinners of the earth: for sinners are earthly. This is what he means, that the promptings of the devil, which he was suggesting to me, I cast out of my heart, and did not take up. For when evil thoughts are cast out, the demons are slain.

"In the morning I destroyed all the ungodly that were in the land. That I may root out all wicked doers from the city of the Lord" [Psalm 101:8]. This is obscure. There are then wicked doers in the city of the Lord, and they at present, seemingly, spared. Why so?

Psalms101