1 The `title of the hundrid and nynthe salm. `The salm of Dauith. The Lord seide to my Lord; Sitte thou on my riyt side. Til Y putte thin enemyes; a stool of thi feet.
Jerome · AD 420 To the end, a psalm of David. When it says "to the end," let us understand that it is spoken not of the present, but of the future. And if it is spoken of the future, then the prophecy is about Christ. O God, do not keep silent about my praise. That is: Judas betrayed me, the Jews persecuted me and crucified me, and they thought that they would destroy me utterly, to the end.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 The Psalm, then, begins thus: "O God, be not silent as to my praise; for the mouth of the ungodly, yea, the mouth of the deceitful is opened upon me" [Psalm 109:1]. Whence it appears, both that the blame, which the ungodly and the deceitful is not silent of, is false, and that the praise, which God is not silent of, is true.
2 The Lord schal sende out fro Syon the yerde of thi vertu; be thou lord in the myddis of thin enemyes.
Jerome · AD 420 For the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful man has been opened against me. Let us see how the mouth of Judas the betrayer was opened against the Lord. He comes to the Lord in order to betray him, and he says: Rabbi — that is, master. Behold, the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful man.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "They have spoken against me with false tongues" (ver. 2): then chiefly when they praised him as a "good Master" with insidious adulation.
3 The bigynnyng is with thee in the dai of thi vertu, in the briytnessis of seyntis; Y gendride thee of the wombe before the dai sterre.
Jerome · AD 420 And they have surrounded me with words of hatred. Not that they might believe, but that they might war against me. And they have warred against me without cause. "Without cause" is understood in two ways. That is, without reason: for I had not sinned, and I did not deserve that they should make war upon me. And what worthy cause was there that they should war against me?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "In place," saith he, "of loving me, they detracted from me" (ver. 3). There are six different acts of this class, which may, when mentioned, very easily be borne in mind; (1) to return good for evil, (2) not to return evil for evil; (3) to return good for good, (4) to return evil for evil; (5) not to return good for good, (6) to return evil for good.
4 The Lord swoor, and it schal not repente him; Thou art a preest with outen ende, bi the ordre of Melchisedech.
Jerome · AD 420 Instead of loving me, they disparaged me: but I kept praying. In return for the benefits which I had conferred upon them, they were doing me insults. But what was I doing? I kept praying. These are the weapons of the Lord: and these are our weapons too, prayer. So then, whenever anyone persecutes us, and hates us, let us say: Instead of loving me, they disparaged me.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 He addeth, "Thus have they rewarded me evil for good" (ver. 4). And as if we asked, what evil? for what good? "And hatred," he saith, "for my good will." This is the sum total of their great guilt. For how could the persecutors injure Him who died of His own free-will, and not by compulsion?
5 The Lord on thi riyt side; hath broke kyngis in the dai of his veniaunce.
Jerome · AD 420 And they set against me evils in return for goods. And set upon the cross, I kept praying for those who were crucifying me, while they were saying: "Aha, you who destroy the temple, and in three days build it up. Let him save himself.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Set thou an ungodly man to be ruler over him; and let Satan stand at his right hand" [Psalm 109:5]. Though the complaint had been before concerning many, the Psalm is now speaking of one....Since therefore he is here speaking of the traitor Judas, who, according to the Scripture in the Acts of the Apostles, was to be punished with the penalty due to him, [Acts 1:20] what means…
6 He schal deme among naciouns, he schal fille fallyngis; he schal schake heedis in the lond of many men.
Jerome · AD 420 Set a sinner over him. Since I prayed for them upon the cross, and they saw my wounds — I gave them room for repentance and they do not repent, and they refuse to have me as king — let them have the devil as king. They will not have Jesus as king: let them have Barabbas as king, Barabbas, which is interpreted "son of the father," that is, of the devil.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "When sentence is given upon him, let him be condemned, and let his prayer be turned into sin" (ver. 6). For prayer is not righteous except through Christ, whom he sold in his atrocious sin: but the prayer which is not made through Christ, not only cannot blot out sin, but is itself turned into sin.
7 He dranke of the stronde in the weie; therfor he enhaunside the heed.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 This is certainly what David also says in the Psalms. "Let his prayer become sin," when not only is there nothing of worth sought in his sacrifices but even much of blame.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Let his days be few" [Psalm 109:7]. By "his days," he meant the days of his apostleship, which were few; since before the Passion of our Lord, they were ended by his crime and death. And as if it were asked, What then shall become of that most sacred number twelve, within which our Lord willed, not without a meaning, to limit His twelve first Apostles?
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 But still, what is more serious, another asks for the death of an enemy, and the one whom he cannot pursue with a sword, he pursues with prayer. And the one who is cursed still lives, yet the one who curses is already held guilty of his death. But God commands that an enemy be loved, and yet God is asked to kill an enemy.