1 The hundrid and thridde salm. Mi soule, blesse thou the Lord; my Lord God, thou art magnyfied greetli. Thou hast clothid knouleching and fairnesse; and thou art clothid with liyt,
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 In like manner, "these fatty parts of the ram that are around the kidneys and these that cover the interior parts" are commanded to be placed on the altar.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 ..."Bless the Lord, O my soul! and all that is within me, His holy Name" (ver. 1). I suppose that he speaketh not of what is within the body; I do not suppose him to mean this, that our lungs and liver, and so forth, are to burst forth into the voice of blessing of the Lord.
Cosmas Indicopleustes · AD 550 With respect to souls, divine scripture declares them to be circumscribed, and indicates them to be circumscribed by the body itself, as in the passage: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me; thus speaking of the soul as being within
2 as with a cloth. And thou stretchist forth heuene as a skyn;
Jerome · AD 420 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his rewards. The Lord has bestowed many rewards upon us, he has bestowed great benefits upon us: for he made the heaven, the earth, all the elements for us. The sun itself and the moon and the stars and all the elements run and run back again for our sake.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His rewards" (ver. 2). But the rewards of the Lord cannot be before thine eyes unless thy sins are before thine eyes. Let not delight in past sin be before thine eyes, but let the condemnation of sin be before thine eyes: condemnation from thee, forgiveness from God.
3 and thou hilist with watris the hiyer partis therof. Which settist a cloude thi stiyng; which goest on the fetheris of wyndis.
Jerome · AD 420 Who heals all your infirmities. Our soul has many infirmities. As many sins, so many infirmities. Indeed, there was also that woman in the Gospel, who for eighteen years had a spirit of infirmity, and could not lift her head upright... See what he says. When someone has a spirit of infirmity, he is bent over, he looks downward, he gazes at the earth, he cannot see heaven.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Hear ye all His rewards. "Who forgiveth all thy sin: who healeth all thine infirmities" (ver. 3). Behold His rewards. What, save punishment, was due unto the sinner? What was due to the blasphemer, but the hell of burning fire? He gave not these rewards: that thou mayest not shudder with dread: and without love fear Him. ...But thou art a sinner.
4 Which makist spiritis thin aungels; and thi mynystris brennynge fier.
Jerome · AD 420 Who redeems your life from destruction. "You were bought," he says, "with a price: do not become the servants of men." What is a greater price than for the Creator to pour out his own blood for the creature?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Who redeemeth thy life from corruption" (ver. 4). Behold, "the body which is corrupted, weigheth down the soul." The soul then hath life in a corruptible body. What sort of life? It suffereth burdens, it beareth weights.
5 Which hast foundid the erthe on his stablenesse; it schal not be bowid in to the world of world.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 And that the writer was speaking of baptism is evident from the very words in which it is stated that it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were fallen, inasmuch as we are renewed by means of the laver of baptism, whereby we are born again, as Paul says: "For we are buried with him through baptism into death, that, as Christ rose from the dead through the glory of t…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 After the battle, then, I shall be crowned; after the crown, what shall I do? "He who satisfieth thy longing with good things" [Psalm 103:5]. ...Seek thy own good, O soul. For one thing is good to one creature, another to another, and all creatures have a certain good of their own, to the completeness and perfection of their nature.
Maximus of Turin · AD 465 Brothers, let your holiness keep in mind that I recently preached this, namely that a person should be remolded into a younger age through righteousness, and though wearied by the weakness of old age he should be born again into childhood by the character of innocence in such a way that we may see old people become infants again by the mystery that intervenes, for there is a ce…
6 The depthe of watris as a cloth is the clothing therof; watris schulen stonde on hillis.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 ...and that we received this law in our very nature, and that our Creator entrusted to us the impartial rule of conscience, these I say, are proofs of the greatest grace and unspeakable lovingkindness. And the recovery of this law after it had become corrupt, by means of the written (Law), this too was the work of grace.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The Lord executes mercy and judgment for all them that are oppressed with wrong" [Psalm 103:6]....An adulterous woman is brought forward to be stoned according to the Law, but she is brought before the Lawgiver Himself....Our Lord, at the time she was brought before Him, bending His Head, began writing on the earth.
7 Tho schulen fle fro thi blamyng; men schulen be aferd of the vois of thi thundur.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He made His ways known unto Moses" [Psalm 103:7]. ...For the Law was given with this view, that the sick might be convinced of his infirmity, and pray for the physician. This is the hidden way of God.
8 Hillis stien vp, and feeldis goen doun; in to the place which thou hast foundid to tho.
Gregory of Nyssa · AD 395 God is not an expression, and he does not have his essence in voice or utterance. God is of himself what also he is believed to be. He is named by those who call on him, not what he is essentially (for the nature of him who alone is unspeakable), but he receives his names from what are believed to be his works in regard to our life.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The Lord is full of compassion and mercy: long-suffering, and of great mercy" [Psalm 103:8]. Why so long-suffering? Why so great in mercy?
Fulgentius of Ruspe · AD 533 He is the one about whom the psalm says, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins or repay us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are far above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.
9 Thou hast set a terme, which tho schulen not passe; nether tho schulen be turned, for to hile the erthe.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "He will not alway be chiding: neither keepeth He His anger for ever" [Psalm 103:9]. Since it is in consequence of His anger that we live in the scourges and corruption of mortality: we have this in punishment for the first sin.
10 And thou sendist out wellis in grete valeis; watris schulen passe bitwix the myddil of hillis.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 So let us at last wind up this sermon. My brothers and sister, I urge you, I beseech you by the Lord and his gentleness, be gentle in your lives, be peaceful in your lives. Peacefully permit the authorities to do what pertains to them, of which they will have to render an account to God and to their superiors.
Fulgentius of Ruspe · AD 533 The shepherd's most certain knowledge of merits, by which the sheep will be separated from the goats, is so great that no goat will be placed on the right, just as no sheep will be located on the left.
Caesarius of Arles · AD 542 You do nothing with regard to the reward; you do not act alone in the deed. Your crown comes from him, but the work is yours, although it does not happen without his help.
11 Alle the beestis of the feeld schulen drynke; wielde assis schulen abide in her thirst.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "For as the height of heaven above the earth, so has the Lord confirmed His mercy toward them that fear Him" [Psalm 103:11]. Observe the heaven: everywhere on every side it covers the earth, nor is there any part of the earth not covered by the heaven. Men sin beneath heaven: they do all evil deeds beneath the heaven; yet they are covered by the heaven.
12 Briddis of the eir schulen dwelle on tho; fro the myddis of stoonys thei schulen yyue voices.
Pachomius the Great · AD 348 "O wretched person, you have estranged yourself completely from the Lord. But the Lord is good, and he never 'kept his anger for a testimony, for he delights in mercy,' and he is 'able to sink our sins in the depths of the sea,' for 'as far as the heavens are from the earth, so far away does he set our sins from us.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Look, how wide the east is from the west; so far has He set our sins from us" [Psalm 103:12]. They who know the Sacraments know this; nevertheless, I only say what all may hear. When sin is remitted, your sins fall, your grace rises; your sins are as it were on the decline, your grace which frees you on the rise. "Truth springs from the earth." What means this?
13 And thou moistist hillis of her hiyer thingis; the erthe schal be fillid of the fruyt of thi werkis.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Yea, like as a father pities his own children, even so has the Lord had mercy on them that fear Him" [Psalm 103:13]. Let Him be as angry as He shall will, He is our Father. But He has scourged us, and afflicted us, and bruised us: He is our Father. Son, if you bewail, wail beneath your Father; do not so with indignation, do not so with the puffing up of pride.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Although God possesses all the most noble properties, He is nevertheless most excellent in this property, namely that of piety. He is pious and merciful, because He spares and protects.
14 And thou bringist forth hei to beestis; and eerbe to the seruyce of men. That thou bringe forth breed of the erthe;
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 So do not forget the weak. Remember, Lord, that you have made me weak; remember that you have formed me from dust. How can I stand unless you always strengthen this clay, so that my strength may come forth from your face?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "For He knows our forming" [Psalm 103:14]: that is, our infirmity. He knows what He has created, how it has fallen, how it may be repaired, how it may be adopted, how it may be enriched.
15 and that wiyn make glad the herte of men. That he make glad the face with oile; and that breed make stidefast the herte of man.
Gregory of Nazianzus · AD 390 Our life on earth, brothers, is such that our existence is very transitory. We play, as it were, a game on earth: we do not exist, and we are born, and being born we are dissolved. We are like a fleeting dream, an apparition without substance, the flight of a bird that passes, a ship that leaves no trace on the sea.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Concerning the resurrection more will be said later; but now let us return to our immediate subject. We have shown that even holy people have, without any consideration for their merits, suffered many difficult things in this world, together with toil and misery.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Man, his days are but as grass" [Psalm 103:15]. Let man consider what he is; let not man be proud. "His days are but as grass." Why is the grass proud, that is now flourishing, and in a very short space dried up? Why is the grass proud that flourishes only for a brief season, until the sun be hot? It is then good for us that His mercy be upon us, and from grass make gold.
16 The trees of the feeld schulen be fillid, and the cedris of the Liban, whiche he plauntide;
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The wind shall go over on it, it shall not be; and the place thereof shall know it no more" [Psalm 103:16]. For he is not speaking of grass, but of that for whose sake even the Word became grass. For you are man, and on your account the Word became man.
17 sparewis schulen make nest there. The hous of the gerfaukun is the leeder of tho;
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 In your reflections therefore on yourself, think of your low estate, think of your dust: be not lifted up: if you are anything better, you will be so by His Grace, you will be so by His mercy. For hear what follows: "but the mercy of the Lord endures for ever and ever upon them that fear Him" [Psalm 103:17].
Bonaventure · AD 1257 We need divine mercy pardoning our offenses, and divine justice recompensing our merits. But the fear of God makes one find mercy, and the observance of the commandments, justice. The consideration of the magnificence of God leads to fearing; the consideration of the divine law leads to the observance of the commandments.
18 hiye hillis ben refute to hertis; a stoon is refutt to irchouns.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "And His righteousness upon children's children" (ver. 18). He speaketh of reward, "upon children's children." How many servants of God are there who have not children, how much less children's children?
19 He made the moone in to tymes; the sunne knewe his goyng doun.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "The Lord hath prepared His throne in heaven" (ver. 19). Who but Christ hath prepared His throne in heaven? He who descended and ascended, He who died, and rose from the dead, He who lifted up to heaven the manhood He had assumed, hath Himself prepared His throne in heaven.
20 Thou hast set derknessis, and nyyt is maad; alle beestis of the wode schulen go ther ynne.
Cyril of Jerusalem · AD 386 "Your will be done on earth as in heaven." God's divine and blessed angels do the will of God, as David said in the psalm, "Bless the Lord, all his angels, mighty in strength, that do his pleasure." So then in effect this is what you mean when you pray, "as in the angels your will is done, so likewise be it done on earth by human beings, O Lord."
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Bless ye the Lord, ye Angels of His, ye that are mighty in strength: ye that fulfil His word" (ver. 20). By the word of God, then, thou art not righteous, nor faithful, unless when thou dost it. "Ye that are mighty in strength, ye that fulfil His commandment, and hearken unto the voice of His words."
Cosmas Indicopleustes · AD 550 But these bodies are moved by the invisible Powers in an orderly and rational manner according to the will of God, these Powers having received this as a law, according to what is written in David: Bless the Lord, all ye his angels, ye mighty in strength, that fulfil his word, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
21 Liouns whelpis rorynge for to rauysche; and to seke of God meete to hem silf.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Bless ye the Lord, all ye His hosts: ye servants of His that do His pleasure" (ver. 21). All ye angels, all ye that are mighty in strength: ye that do His word: all ye His hosts, ye servants of His that do His pleasure, do ye, ye bless the Lord. For all they who live wickedly, though their tongues be silent, by their lips do curse the Lord.
22 The sunne is risun, and tho ben gaderid togidere; and tho schulen be set in her couchis.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Bless ye the Lord, all you works of His, in all places of His dominion" [Psalm 103:22]. Therefore in every place. Let Him not be blessed where He rules not: "in all places of His dominion." Let no man perchance say: I cannot praise the Lord in the East, because He has departed unto the West; or, I cannot praise Him in the West, because He is in the East.
23 A man schal go out to his werk; and to his worching, til to the euentid.
24 Lord, thi werkis ben magnefiede ful myche, thou hast maad alle thingis in wisdom; the erthe is fillid with thi possessioun.
25 This see is greet and large to hondis; there ben crepinge beestis, of which is noon noumbre. Litil beestis with grete;
26 schippis schulen passe there. This dragoun which thou hast formyd; for to scorne hym.
27 Alle thingis abiden of thee; that thou yyue to hem meete in tyme.
28 Whanne thou schalt yyue to hem, thei schulen gadere; whanne thou schalt opene thin hond, alle thingis schulen be fillid with goodnesse.
29 But whanne thou schalt turne awey the face, thei schulen be disturblid; thou schalt take awei the spirit of them, and thei schulen faile; and thei schulen turne ayen in to her dust.
30 Sende out thi spirit, and thei schulen be formed of the newe; and thou schalt renule the face of the erthe.
31 The glorie of the Lord be in to the world; the Lord schal be glad in hise werkis.
32 Which biholdith the erthe, and makith it to tremble; which touchith hillis, and tho smoken.
33 I schal singe to the Lord in my lijf; Y schal seie salm to my God, as longe as Y am.
34 Mi speche be myrie to him; forsothe Y schal delite in the Lord.
35 Synneris faile fro the erthe, and wickid men faile, so that thei be not; my soule, blesse thou the Lord.