1 Of lovingkindness and of justice, will I sing! Unto thee, O Yahweh, will I touch the strings!
Jerome · AD 420 Mercy and judgment I will sing to you, O Lord. Let sinners hear of mercy, those who despair of their salvation, those who are doing penance; let those who scorn hear of judgment, who say: "The Lord is merciful, let us sin, he pardons us."
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Obviously, it is just that those who have pardoned should receive pardon and that it should be given to those who give. It is natural that there should be in God both mercy for him that judges and judgment for him that shows mercy.
Cassiodorus · AD 585 "I will sing your mercy and judgment; to you, O Lord, will I play music." A heavenly multitude of the blessed on earth brought forth the prelude, that it might in short order include all things. For the power of the Lord always either shows mercy or judgment.
2 I will behave myself wisely in a blameless way, When wilt thou come in unto me? I will walk to and fro in the blamelessness of my heart,—in the midst of my house:
Jerome · AD 420 I walked about in the innocence of my heart in the midst of my house. Nothing so pleases God as simplicity and innocence. And so among the other winged creatures the Holy Spirit was well pleased in none but the dove, on account of its simplicity, and among the four-footed beasts in the sheep, on account of its meekness.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 "I walked in the innocence of my heart in my house." I continued to live a life of simplicity, I did not practice duplicity, feigning a different appearance to outsiders while bringing myself to do the opposite at home; instead, my private face corresponded to my public one.
Philoxenus of Mabbug · AD 523 And again David saith, "I have walked in my house in the innocency of my heart, when wilt Thou come unto me?"
3 I will not set before mine eyes, a vile thing,—The doing of them who fall away, I hate, It shall not cleave unto me;
Jerome · AD 420 I set no unjust thing before my eyes. I put nothing before the Lord, nor did I consent to iniquity; but I was wholly turned to God. I have hated those who commit transgressions. Whether it was my father, or my mother, or brother, or sister, or friend: nevertheless, if he had turned aside from the fear of the Lord, I held him in hatred, and I did not approach him at all.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "I set no wicked thing before my eyes" (ver. 3). ...I did love no wicked thing. And he explaineth this same wicked thing: "I hated them that do unfaithfulness." Attend, my brethren.
4 A perverse heart, shall depart from me, A maker of mischief, will I not acknowledge;
Jerome · AD 420 A depraved heart did not cling to me. There was in me nothing difficult or anything perverse, but fairness and justice. As the malignant one turned aside from me, I did not know him: that is, if he was a friend to me or a neighbor, whether a bishop or a presbyter, or one established in any rank whatever: nevertheless, if he perverted his ways, I so fled from him that I made no…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "When the wicked man departed from me, I knew him not" [Psalm 101:4]. I approved him not, I praised him not, he pleased me not. For we find the word "to know" occasionally used in Scripture, in the sense of "to be pleased." For what is hidden from God, brethren? Does He know the just, and does He not know the unjust? What do you think of, that He does not know?
5 He that uttereth slander in secret against his friend, him, will I root out; One of lofty eyes, and of an ambitious heart, him shall I not be able to endure.
Athanasius of Alexandria · AD 373 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.
Jerome · AD 420 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.
Abba Poemen · AD 450 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.
6 Mine eyes, shall be upon the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me,—he that walketh in a blameless way, he, shall attend me.
Jerome · AD 420 My eyes were upon the faithful of the earth, that they might sit with me. He did not say the rich, or emperors, or bishops, or presbyters, or deacons, but the faithful: with these I sat. A bishop, a holy man, can also say this: that I did not ordain as presbyter the man who was obsequious to me, or my kinsman, but the one whom I knew to be faithful.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 And whence wast thou fed? And what pleased thee, when he did not eat with thee? "Mine eyes," he saith, "were upon such as are faithful in the land, that they might sit with me" (ver. 6). That is, that with Me they might be seated. In what sense are they "to sit"?
7 There shall not dwell in the midst of my house, One who worketh deceit,—he that speaketh falsehoods, shall not be established before mine eyes;
Jerome · AD 420 He who speaks unjust things has not prospered in the sight of my eyes. For I so turned aside from him who disparaged his neighbor, that I neither believed such a one nor listened to him.
Philoxenus of Mabbug · AD 523 And again David saith, "Whosoever worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house," and it is well known that cunning is built up of deceit.
Caesarius of Arles · AD 542 If we return to our psalms rather frequently, brothers, we shut off the approach to worldly thoughts; the spiritual song dominates, and carnal thoughts depart. The psalms are the weapons of the servants of God.
8 Morning by morning, will I uproot, All the lawless ones of the land, That I may cut off, out of the city of Yahweh—All the workers of iniquity.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 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.
Jerome · AD 420 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.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "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?