1 For the Chief Musician. To the tune of "Do Not Destroy." A Psalm by Asaph. A song. We give thanks to you, God. We give thanks, for your Name is near. Men tell about your wondrous works.
Jerome · AD 420 For the end, do not corrupt, a psalm of Asaph, a song. In the Hebrew it does not have "for the end," but has "to the victor." And the Seventy translators did not err greatly, since victory is something perfected. Well did he say, For the end, do not corrupt. This phrase is interpreted in many ways. David says even to one of his friends: "Do not corrupt him" — that is, Saul.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Therefore, He gave us humility as our way. If we hold onto it, we will confess to the Lord, and not without reason will we sing: We will confess to you, God, we will confess and invoke your name. For you shamelessly invoke His name to whom you do not confess. First confess, so that you prepare a dwelling for Him whom you invoke. For your heart is full of wickedness.
Cassiodorus · AD 585 "We will confess to you, O God; we will confess to you and call upon your name; I will tell all your miracles." In this one verse the rule of holy devotion is explained in an orderly manner, for that Jewish people which would believe in Christ the Lord, whom the title admonishes, "Do not destroy forever," breaks forth in voice and promises most devoutedly its confession.
2 When I choose the appointed time, I will judge blamelessly.
Jerome · AD 420 When I shall have received the time, I will judge righteousness. For now he is not a judge, but he will be: for if he were now a judge, sinners would not be lifted up and obtain riches in the world. Does this scandalize you, that the righteous flee, and sinners persecute them? Does this scandalize you, that iniquity reigns in the world?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 And he saith what? "When I shall have received," he saith, "the time, I will judge justices" (ver. 2). When shall He judge justices? When He shall have received the time. Not yet is the precise time. Thanks to His mercy: He first preacheth justices, and then He judgeth justices.
3 The earth and all its inhabitants quake. I firmly hold its pillars. Selah.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 But now what? "The earth has flowed down" [Psalm 75:3]. If the earth has flowed down, whence has it flowed down except by sins? Therefore also they are called delinquencies. To delinquish is as it were by a kind of liquidity to slip down from the stability of firmness in virtue and righteousness.
4 I said to the arrogant, "Do not boast!" I said to the wicked, "Do not lift up the horn.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 We have heard now, brethren, that which day by day is not kept secret: let us hear now what He has cried through these pillars....He cries what? "I have said to unjust men, Do not unjustly" [Psalm 75:4]....But already they have done, and they are guilty: already there has flowed down the earth, and all they that dwell therein.
5 Do not lift up your horn on high. Do not speak with a stiff neck."
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 If you say that, you will not be singing to no purpose, "I said, Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you." If God is blamed for the evil that you do and you take credit for the good, then you are speaking wickedly against God.
6 For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor yet from the south, comes exaltation.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Therefore here also in this Psalm (dearly beloved attend), whereas that which He said, "Do not speak iniquity against God," this He saw many men do in heart, He hath also added, "for neither from East, nor from West, nor from the deserts of the mountains (ver. 6), for God is Judge" (ver. 7). Of thine iniquities God is Judge. If God He is, everywhere He is present.
7 But God is the judge. He puts down one, and lifts up another.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "One He humbles, and another He exalts" [Psalm 75:7]. Whom humbles, whom exalts this Judge? Observe these two men in the temple, and you see whom He humbles and whom He exalts.
8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "For the cup in the hand of the Lord of pure wine is full of mixed" [Psalm 75:8]. Justly so. "And He has poured out of this upon this man; nevertheless, the dreg thereof has not been emptied; there shall drink all the sinners of earth." Let us be somewhat recruited; there is here some obscurity....The first question that meets us is this, "of pure wine it is full of mixed." How…
Cassiodorus · AD 585 The cup of the Lord is at any rate "filled with mixed wine." Although it is constantly drunk, nonetheless it is never fully drained. But when he says "mixed wine," he is pointing to the New and Old Testaments, which make a salvific drink for souls when both are mixed.
9 But I will declare this forever: I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 ..."There shall drink," he saith, "all the sinners of the earth." But who shall drink the wine? Sinners shall drink, but in order that they may not remain sinners; in order that they may be justified, in order that they may not be punished. "But I," for all drink, but separately I, that is, Christ with His Body, "for ever will rejoice, I will Psalm to the God of Jacob" (ver.
10 I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "And all the horns of sinners I will break, and there shall be exalted the horns of the Just" [Psalm 75:10]. This is, the one He humbles, the other He exalts. Sinners would not have their horns to be broken, which without doubt will be broken at the end. You will not have Him then break them, do thou today break them.