1 Thou hast accepted, O Yahweh, thy land, Thou hast brought back the captives of Jacob;
Jerome · AD 420 You have blessed, O Lord, your land. It is better said in Greek, Εὐδόκησας Κύριε, that is, "It has well pleased you, O Lord, in regard to your land"; it has pleased you, this has seemed good to you, this you have decreed, that through your mercy you might fulfill what is said in the following verse: You have turned away the captivity of Jacob, you have forgiven the iniquity of…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 The Prophet sings to Him of the future, and uses words as it were of past time: he speaks of things future as if already done, because with God that which is future has already taken place...."Lord, You have been favourable unto Your land" [Psalm 85:1]; as if He had already done so.
2 Thou hast taken away, the iniquity of thy people, Thou hast covered, all their sin. [Selah.]
Jerome · AD 420 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. This we believe was accomplished in baptism. You have covered all their sins.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 For how did He turn away the captivity of Jacob? See, how that that setting free is spiritual, see how that it is done inwardly. "You have forgiven," he says, "the iniquity of Your people: You have covered all their sins" [Psalm 85:2].
3 Thou hast withdrawn all thine indignation, Thou hast ceased from the glow of thine anger.
Jerome · AD 420 You have softened all Your wrath, You have turned away from the wrath of Your indignation.
4 Restore us, O God of our salvation, And take away thy vexation towards us.
Jerome · AD 420 Convert us, O God of our salvations. He did not say, "of our salvation": because we have sinned much, we have need of many salvations.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 And as these things are said of the future, though the sound of the words is past, it follows: "Turn us, O God of our salvation" [Psalm 85:4]. That which he had just related as if it were done, how prays he that it may be done, except because he wished to show that he had spoken as if of the past in prophecy?
5 To times age-abiding, wilt thou be angry with us? Wilt thou prolong thine anger, from generation to generation?
Jerome · AD 420 Will you be angry with us forever? or will you extend your wrath from generation to generation? Your wrath has profited unto salvation: for this reason you were angry with the former people, that you might have mercy on ours.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Be not angry with us for ever" (ver. 5). For by the anger of God we are subject to death, and by the anger of God we eat bread on this earth in want, and in the sweat of our face. This was Adam's sentence when he sinned: and that Adam was every one of us, for "in Adam all die;" the sentence passed on him hath taken effect after him on us.
6 Wilt not, thou thyself, again give us life, That, thy people, may rejoice in thee.
Jerome · AD 420 O God, You, turning again, will bring us to life. As long, therefore, as the Lord does not turn to us, we are dead.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 But against this error, why do we not instead listen to these words: "Who has first given to him, and what recompense shall be made to him? For of him, and by him and in him are all things." And therefore, that very beginning of our faith—from whom is it if not from him?
7 Show us, O Yahweh, thy lovingkindness, And, thy salvation, wilt thou grant us.
Jerome · AD 420 Show us, O Lord, Your mercy, and grant us Your salvation. That the Savior came down is a matter of God's mercy: the physician would not have come, had not very many been sick. Because very many were sick, therefore the physician came: because we were in need of mercy, therefore the Savior came.
8 I will hear, what GOD—Yahweh—will speak,—For he will bespeak prosperity to his people, And to his men of lovingkindness, And to them who return with their heart unto him.
Jerome · AD 420 I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me. Many think, when Moses speaks and says, "Thus says the Lord," and Isaiah, and the rest, and when it is said, "The word of the Lord came to Isaiah" or "to Ezekiel the prophet," that the speech comes from outside, and that the prophet hears through these ears of his what is spoken by the Lord. It is not so.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "I will hearken" (ver. 8). The Prophet spoke: God spoke within in him, and the world made a noise without. Therefore, retiring for a little from the noise of the world, and turning himself back upon himself, and from himself upon Him whose voice he heard within; sealing up his ears, as it were, against the tumultuous disquietude of this life, and against the soul weighed down b…
9 Surely, near unto them who revere him, is his salvation, That the Glory, may settle down, in our land.
Jerome · AD 420 Nevertheless His salvation is near to those who fear Him. I have shown the way of salvation, I grant mercy. Although you are not yet turned to the heart, still I wait, I grant room for repentance. And all this, indeed, that glory may dwell in our land. For this reason He calls you to repentance, that you, who were a leper, may have Christ as your guest.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Nevertheless, His salvation is nigh them that fear Him" (ver. 9). There were some even then who feared Him in the Jewish people. Everywhere throughout the earth idols were worshipped: devils were feared, not God: in that nation God was feared. But why was He feared?
10 Lovingkindness and faithfulness, have met together, Righteousness and prosperity, have kissed each other;
Ambrosiaster · AD 384 ON MELCHIZEDEK. — We read about Melchizedek in the book of Genesis; about Melchizedek likewise, in a similar manner, in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “Because,” it says, “Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he returned from the slaughter of the kings, and brought out bread and wine, and offered it to him, and blessed him, saying: Blessed are you, Abraham, by…
Jerome · AD 420 Mercy and truth have met each other: righteousness and peace have kissed. O how splendid a friendship! Mercy and truth have met each other. Are you a sinner? Hear what it says: Mercy. Are you holy? Hear what it says: And truth. Neither, if you are a sinner, should you despair; nor, if you are righteous, should you be proud. Let us speak in another way.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Mercy and truth have met together" (ver. 10). "Truth in our land," in a Jewish person, "mercy" in the land of the Gentiles. For where was truth? Where the utterances of God were. Where was mercy? On those who had left their God, and turned themselves unto devils. Did He look down also upon them?
11 Faithfulness, out of the earth, doth spring forth, And, righteousness, out of the heavens, hath looked down.
Ambrosiaster · AD 384 WHY WAS THE SON OF GOD SENT, AND NOT ANOTHER? — Although everything that God does must be believed to be done reasonably and providentially, I nevertheless think it better if, after faith, the cause of what is done can also be noticed, so that what is believed is not unknown.
Jerome · AD 420 Truth has sprung up out of the earth. "I am the way and the truth and the life." He who said, I am the truth, has sprung up out of the earth. What is this truth, which has sprung up out of the earth?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Truth has sprung out of the earth, and righteousness has looked down from heaven" [Psalm 85:11]. "Truth has sprung out of the earth:" Christ is born of a woman. The Son of God has come forth of the flesh. What is truth? The Son of God. What is the earth? Flesh.
12 Yahweh himself too, will give us the blessing, And, our land, shall yield her increase.
Jerome · AD 420 For indeed the Lord will give kindness. For this reason these kisses were given, that the Lord might give kindness. And our land will give its fruit. What was promised at that time, we now see fulfilled.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 We were wolves. "We too were by nature children of wrath just like the rest." But the sheep died and turned us into sheep.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 And so, concerning the fruit of grace, it is written in the Psalm: "For the Lord will give goodness: and our earth shall yield her fruit." And so these fruits come forth from Christ, blessed by Joseph who produced fruit of heaven, and of the dew, and of the deep that lieth beneath, that is, the charismatic gifts of the graces, by means of dew on humble hearts.
13 Righteousness, before him, shall march long,—That he may make, into a way, the steps of its feet.
Jerome · AD 420 There are many things which might be said, but the hour compels the sermon to reach its end. Let us together pray to the Lord, that both my speech and your hearing may be turned into work. "For not the hearers only are just before God, but the doers." For he who speaks or hears, and does not do, either listens or speaks unto his own condemnation.