The Sovereignty of God 1 Hear the word that the LORD has spoken over you, house of Israel.
Jerome · AD 420 (Chapter 10, Verse 1) Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: Do not learn the ways of the nations or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens, for the nations are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are vanity.
2 Thus says the LORD: To the way of the nations do not learn, and by the signs of the heavens do not be shattered, though the nations are shattered by them.
3 For the statutes of the peoples are breath: a tree from the forest one cuts down, the work of a craftsman’s hands with the adze.
Jerome · AD 420 (v. 3.) Because it was cut down from the forest, the work of a craftsman with an axe. Description of the idols that the nations worship. He said that he cut down the wood from the forest. Therefore, the material of idols is cheap and perishable: the work of a craftsman's hands. Since the craftsman is mortal, the things he makes are also mortal.
4 With silver and with gold he beautifies it; with nails and with hammers they strengthen it, and it does not totter.
Jerome · AD 420 (v. 4.) Decorated with silver and gold, fastened with nails and hammers, so that it would not be dissolved (or moved). He decorated it with silver and gold, to deceive the simple-minded with the splendor of both materials. This error has also passed to us, so that we consider wealth as a religion.
5 Like a palm trunk of hammered work they are, and they do not speak; they must be carried, for they do not step. Do not fear them, for they cannot do evil, and to do good is not in them either.
Jerome · AD 420 (v. 5.) They are made in the likeness of a palm tree and do not speak: they are carried and brought, because they cannot walk. Therefore, do not fear them, because they cannot do evil, nor can they do good.
6 There is none like you, LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 These tokens so declare the nature of the Son, that by them you may know both that the Father is eternal, and that the Son is not diverse from Him; for the source of generation is He Who is, and as begotten of the Eternal, He is God; coming forth from the Father, He is the Son; from God, He is the Word; He is the radiance of the Father's glory, the expression of His substance,…
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 6.) There is none like you, O Lord: you are great, and your name is great in power. These are not found in the Septuagint, but were added in many places from Theodotion's Edition, and although they seem clear according to the letter, they present a great difficulty according to allegory.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 The fear of God arises in us from the consideration of divine power. Whence in Jeremiah: "There is none like unto thee, O Lord; thou art great, and thy name is great in might: who would not fear thee, O king of nations?" He sets forth first the magnitude of divine power, when he says: "There is none like unto thee, O Lord"; whence in the book of Wisdom: "As a drop of morning de…
7 Who would not fear you, King of the nations? For to you it is fitting; for among all the wise of the nations and in all their kingdom there is none like you.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 7.) Who will not fear you, O king of the nations? Yours is the glory among all the wise of the nations, and in all their kingdoms there is none like you. All will fear him, for he is the king of the nations. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Prov. IX, 10): and from it we advance to true charity. 'The glory is yours,' he says.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 The fear of God arises in us from the consideration of divine power. "Who would not fear thee, O king of nations? For thine is the glory: among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, who is like unto thee?" Therefore who would not fear thee, unless he be impious and foolish?
8 But in one thing they are stupid and foolish: the discipline of breaths — it is wood.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 8.) Both fools and wise men will be proved, their teaching is empty as a wooden idol. Both the wise and the foolish exist together. Their education, depending on the quality of their intelligence, is either cheap and compared to wood, or similar to silver because of the elegance of their speech.
9 Beaten silver from Tarshish is brought, and gold from Uphaz — the work of a craftsman and of the hands of a refiner. Violet and purple are their clothing; the work of the wise are they all.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 9.) Silver brought from Tarshish is plated (or brought) and gold from Ophaz, the work of an artist and the hand of a craftsman. Hyacinthus and their purple garment: the work of craftsmen (or wise men) all these things. It is brought from Tharsis.
10 But the LORD is God in truth; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his rage the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 10.) But the Lord God is true: this God is living and everlasting king. The earth will be moved from his indignation, and the nations will not be able to withstand his threat. But our Lord God, the true God, is. Therefore, all those things are lies. And He is the living God: therefore, those things that are feigned are dead. And He is the eternal king.
11 Thus you shall say to them: The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth — these will perish from the earth and from under these heavens.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 But if heretics deny that either the heavens or the earth were made by you, O Lord, let them take heed of the abyss into which they are hurling themselves by their own madness. The prophet writes, "Perish the gods that have not made heaven and earth." Shall he then perish, O Arian, who had found and saved that which had perished?
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 11) So you shall say to them: The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earth and from those things that are under the heavens. These things must be said about false gods and those that are artificially composed. For they neither made the heavens nor the earth.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 In reading what is said in this Psalm of Christ and of the Church, he would find that what is there foretold is fulfilled in the present state of the world.
12 He made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom, and by his insight stretched out the heavens.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 The prophet of God, having taken up as it were three excellences of His—His strength, His wisdom, and His understanding—assigns to each of them a work proper to it: to the strength the earth, to the wisdom the inhabited world, and to the understanding the heaven.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 12.) The one who made the earth in his strength, who established the world in his wisdom, and who stretched out the heavens in his understanding. He who makes the earth by His power, He is God the Father. But He also makes by His power the Lord the Savior. For Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24).
13 At the sound of his giving voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he brings up mists from the end of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain and brings out wind from his storehouses.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 "And He brought up clouds from the end of the earth." This saying fell to us recently also in the psalm, and we were saying how God "brought up clouds from the end of the earth." Which things it is necessary to take up again—for those who know, for the clarification and reminder of what has been said, but for those who have forgotten or were not present, for the plain understan…
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 13.) By his voice, he gives a multitude of waters in the sky, and he lifts up the clouds from the ends of the earth. He made lightning for rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses. He gives a multitude of waters in the heavens at his voice.
14 Every man is stupid, without knowledge; every refiner is put to shame by the carved image, for his poured image is falsehood, and there is no spirit in them.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 "Every man was made foolish from knowledge." If every man was made foolish from knowledge, and Paul too is a man, Paul was made foolish from knowledge; for "knowing in part and prophesying in part," he was made foolish from knowledge; "seeing through a mirror," seeing in an enigma, seeing and grasping a small fraction, and, if one may say so, an infinitesimal fraction of things…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 He said, "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earth, and from under the heaven." He said not, The gods that have not made the heavens and earth, let them perish from the heaven and from the earth; because they never were in heaven: but what did he say?
Bonaventure · AD 1257 The first brightness, namely that of philosophical knowledge, is great according to the opinion of worldly men: but it is easily eclipsed, unless a man guards himself from the head and tail of the dragon. If anything is interposed between him and the sun of justice, he suffers an eclipse of foolishness.
15 They are breath, a work of mockeries; at the time of their attending they will perish.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 15.) They are worthless and fit only for ridicule. They will perish at the time of their visitation. They are vain and worthy of laughter. For who would not laugh when they see the images of heretics?
16 Not like these is the portion of Jacob, for he is the former of all, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 16.) It is not like these, the portion of Jacob. For He who formed all things, He is, and Israel is the rod of His inheritance; the Lord of hosts is His name. There is no one like these people of Jacob: those who have supplanted the Jews and destroy heretics every day. But the part of God is the Saints: of whom the prophet says: My part, O Lord.
The Coming Captivity of Judah 17 Gather your bundle from the ground, you who sit in the siege.
Jerome · AD 420 (Vers. 17, 18.) Gather from the land your confusion, you who dwell in siege; for thus says the Lord: Behold, I will cast far away the inhabitants of the earth this time, and I will afflict them that they may be found. LXX: It has gathered from outside its substance, which dwells in the fortified place.
18 For thus says the LORD: See, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and I will press them, so that they may find it.
19 Woe to me for my breaking! My wound is sick. And I said: Surely this is a sickness, and I will bear it.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 19.) Woe is me for my brokenness, my grievous wound. LXX: Woe is you for your brokenness, your grievous wound. According to the Hebrew text, Jerusalem itself speaks, expressing that it has been heavily afflicted and endures an incurable wound. However, according to the LXX, it is the Prophet who speaks to Jerusalem and laments over its brokenness and its wound.
20 My tent is devastated and all my cords are torn off; my sons have gone out from me and they are not. There is none to stretch my tent again and to raise my curtains.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 20.) My tent has been devastated, all my ropes have been torn (or all my skins have been ripped), my sons have left me (or my sheep), and there is no one left ((Alternatively: remaining)): there is no one to extend my tent any further (or there is no place beyond my tent) and to set up my skins.
21 For the shepherds are stupid and have not sought the LORD; therefore they have had no insight, and all their pasture is scattered.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 21.) Because the shepherds acted foolishly and did not seek the Lord: therefore, they did not understand, and the whole flock was scattered. Through the fault and dispersal of the shepherds and sheep, the culpability and scattering of the people is described.
Cyril of Alexandria · AD 444 The Lord protested against their wickedness through the voice of the prophet, saying, "Alas for the shepherds, who destroy and scatter the sheep of my inheritance," and again, "The shepherds have become foolish and have not sought the Lord. Therefore did none of the flock understand and were scattered." Such, then, was their state.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 He refers to the kings and priests as [stupid] shepherds because they were the guardians of this wandering people.
22 The sound of a report — see, it comes! — and a great quaking from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a lair of jackals.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 22) A voice of the cry, behold it comes, and a great commotion from the land of the North: to make the cities of Judah desolate, a habitation of dragons (or a den of ostriches). And as Symmachus has interpreted, of sirens: for which in Hebrew, Thannim () is put.
23 I know, LORD, that the way of man is not his own; it is not for a man walking to establish his step.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 23) I know, Lord, that it is not in man to direct his own steps: nor is it in man, to walk and guide his own footsteps. Let the new preachers be ashamed, who say that each one is ruled by his own will, when even the Prophet says: It is not in man to direct his own steps (Psalm 36:23).
Prosper of Aquitaine · AD 455 Unless God works in us, we cannot be partakers of any virtue. For indeed, without this Good, nothing is good. Without this Light, nothing is bright. Without this Wisdom, nothing is wise. Without this Justice, nothing is right.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 It is clear, therefore, from what was said at first and what was added, that the verse "I know, Lord, that the people's way is not their own," neither subjects our free will to nature's enslavement nor submits our affairs to an ordained necessity. Instead, it expressly teaches us that the Lord God keeps his hand on the tiller of the universe and wisely directs it.
24 Discipline me, LORD, but with judgment — not in your anger, lest you make me few.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 24, 25.) Rebuke me, O Lord, but with justice, not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing. Pour out your indignation on the nations that do not know you, and on the provinces (or generations) that have not invoked your name, for they have devoured Jacob and consumed his dwelling place, and they have scattered (or reduced to desolation) his glory (or pasture).
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 The inspired author knows the usefulness of discipline and understands that the Lord is exercising loving-kindness in applying it to human beings. This is the reason he asks to have a share in it. God exercises goodness in applying correction, and correction produces knowledge.
25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you and on the families that do not call on your name; for they have eaten Jacob, and eaten him and finished him, and made his abode desolate.