Psalms 118 · The Lantern

The LORD Is on My Side

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loyal love is forever.

Let Israel now say that his loyal love is forever.

Let the house of Aaron now say that his loyal love is forever.

Let those who fear the LORD now say that his loyal love is forever.

From the strait I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me in a broad place.

The LORD is for me; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

And how should Christ, who said to Abraham, "Fear not, for I am with you," and encouraged Moses against Pharaoh and said to the son of Nun, "Be strong and of a good courage," himself be terrified before Herod and Pilate?

A brother asked an old man, "What shall a man do in every temptation that comes on him and in every thought sent by the enemy?" He replied, "He must weep in the sight of the goodness of God, that he may aid and assist him. For it is written, 'The Lord is with me to help me, and I shall avenge myself upon my foes.' "

The LORD is for me among my helpers, and I will look on those who hate me.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in nobles.

All nations surrounded me; in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

They surrounded me like bees; they were extinguished like a fire of thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off.

When a thought oppresses you, do not be downhearted but put up with it in courage, saying, "They swarmed around me closer and closer, but I drove them back in the name of the Lord." Divine help will arrive at your side immediately, and you will drive them away from you, and courage will compass you round about, and the glory of God will walk with you; and "you will be filled to…

"They came about me as bees do a hive, and burned up even as the fire among the thorns: and in the Name of the Lord have I taken vengeance on them" [Psalm 118:12]. Here then the order of the words corresponds with the order of events. For we rightly understand that our Lord Himself, the Head of the Church, was surrounded by persecutors, even as bees surround a hive.

You pushed me hard to make me fall, but the LORD helped me.

The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.

The voice of a ringing cry and salvation is in the tents of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!

The right hand of the LORD is lifted high; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly!

And there are some who suppose that God is fashioned after a bodily manner, when they read of his hand or finger, and they do not observe that these things are written not because of any fashion of a body, since in the godhead there are neither members nor parts, but they are expressions of the oneness of the godhead, that we may believe that it is impossible for either the Son…

"The right hand of the Lord hath brought mighty things to pass" (ver. 16). What mighty things? saith he. "The right hand of the Lord," he saith, "hath exalted me." It is a mighty thing to exalt the humble, to deify the mortal, to bring perfection out of infirmity, glory from subjection, victory from suffering, to give help, to raise from trouble; that the true salvation of God…

I will not die, but I will live, and I will recount the deeds of the LORD.

The LORD has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

"When we are judged by the Lord," says the apostle, "it is for our education, so that we may not be condemned along with the world." Earlier the prophet said, "The Lord has given me a stern lesson but not handed me over to death." Scripture says, "It is to teach you his righteousness that he taught you a lesson, tested you and exposed you to hunger and thirst in a desolate land…

Nevertheless, let him point out to us, why the body of Christ, the holy Church, the people of adoption, suffered such indignities. "The Lord," he says, "hast chastened and corrected me, but He has not given me over unto death" [Psalm 118:18].

[Syncletica] also said, 'When the devil does not use the goad of poverty to tempt us, he uses wealth for the same purpose. When he cannot win by scorn and mockery, he tries praise and flattery. If he cannot win by giving health, he tries illness. If he cannot win by comfort, he tries to ruin the soul by vexations that lead us to act against our monastic vows.

Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will enter through them; I will give thanks to the LORD.

Let us therefore root this out quickly, and let us fall down before the Master and entreat him with tears, that he may show himself propitious and be reconciled to us and may restore us to the seemly and pure conduct that belongs to our love of the brothers.

Our father Jacob too prayed at Bethel and saw the gate of heaven opened, with a ladder going up on high. This is a symbol of our Savior that Jacob saw: the gate of heaven is Christ, in accordance with what he said: "I am the gate of life; every one who enters by me shall live forever." David too said, "This is the gate of the Lord, by which the righteous enter." Again, the ladd…

If, now, it is considered as fulfilling or perfecting, this again is threefold: it may be seen as vital food for the militant and triumphant Church, as the punishment of crimes, and as the final reward.

This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous will enter through it.

I will give you thanks, for you have answered me, and you have become my salvation.

The stone the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.

And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.

For Jesus tells them [the disciples] that "the Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected," before his coming, at which his kingdom will be really revealed. In this statement he shows that it was his own kingdom that his answer to them had contemplated and that was now awaiting his own sufferings and rejection.

Therefore, when they began to desire this, they began to belong to Jacob, who believed in Christ, and the flock of the Lord was made in Judah itself. But what does the Lord say about this flock? I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I go to bring them, and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

From the LORD this has come; it is wonderful in our eyes.

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

We must keep the law regarding Easter in such a way that we do not observe the fourteenth as the day of the resurrection; that day or one very close to it is the day of the passion, because the feast of the resurrection is kept on the Lord's day. Moreover, we cannot fast on the Lord's day; fasting on this day is what we criticize in the Manichaeans.

"This is the day which the Lord hath made" (ver. 24). This man remembereth that he had said in former Psalms, "Since He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live;" making mention of his old days; whence he now saith, "This is the day which the Lord hath made;" that is, wherein He hath given me Salvation.

"And he summoned the twelve," the text says. After the long centuries of dreadful night, the eternal day, our Christ, shone forth. The world had long awaited the splendor of his dawning. In the case of his twelve apostles he desired to signify the twelve hours of this day.

Please, LORD, save now! Please, LORD, give success now!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD; we have blessed you from the house of the LORD.

And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.

As for us, brothers, understanding these things, let us keep each to his own measure, the one who is considered a shepherd of souls as well as the one who is considered a sheep.

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." "In the name of the Lord" signifies "in the name of God the Father," just as [our Lord] himself said elsewhere to the unbelieving Jews, "I have come in the name of my Father, and you do not receive me; another will come in his own name, him you will receive." Christ came in the name of God the Father, because in everything that…

The LORD is God, and he has given us light. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I will give you thanks; my God, I will exalt you.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loyal love is forever.

Psalms118

The LORD Is on My Side