Psalms 91 · The Lantern

The `title of the oon and nyntithe salm. `The salm of `song, in the dai of sabath.

When the great David heard and understood this, he [David] said to him "who dwells in the shelter of the most High; He will overshadow you with his shoulders," which is the same as being behind God (for the shoulder is on the back of the body). Concerning himself David says, "My soul clings close to you, your right hand supports me." You see how Psalms agree with the history.

The praise of a song, by David himself. First we ought to know this: that from the eighty-eighth psalm up to the hundredth—that is, eleven psalms—have no title in the Hebrew; and that they belong, as we treated most recently in the previous psalm, to the same person to whom that one belongs as well which is headed with this title: "A prayer of Moses, the man of God."

"When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, made from a woman, made under the law." People are upset by "made from a woman," because we confess that he was born of a virgin. It is only of man that we confess he was made; God is always the one who makes, he cannot be made in order to be.

It is good to knouleche to the Lord; and to synge to thi name, thou hiyeste.

To schewe eerli thi merci; and thi treuthe bi nyyt.

In a sautrie of ten cordis; with song in harpe.

"He shall defend you between His shoulders, and you shall hope under His wings" [Psalm 91:4]. He says this, that your protection may not be to you from yourself, that you may not imagine that you can defend yourself; He will defend you, to deliver you from the hunter's snare, and from an harsh word.

Since Scripture conceals a manifold understanding beneath a single letter, the expositor ought to bring hidden things forth into the light and make manifest what has been drawn forth through another, more open passage of Scripture, as if I were to expound that verse of the Psalm: Take hold of arms and shield, and rise up to help me, and wished to explain what the divine arms ar…

For thou, Lord, hast delitid me in thi makyng; and Y schal make ful out ioye in the werkis of thin hondis.

He said these things about the just and wise person and these are said in the blessings, "You will sleep and there will not be anyone who frightens you." For if I am made just, no one can frighten me; I am afraid of nothing else, if I fear God.

"His truth shall surround thee with a shield." What are "the wings," the same is "the shield:" since there are neither wings nor shield. If either were literally, how could the one be the same as the other? can wings be a shield or a shield wings? But all these expressions, indeed, are figuratively used through likenesses.

The third part of the perfection of the fear of the Lord consists in the perfect firmness of confidence: because the fear of the Lord is a tower of firmness and confidence, because it renders a person secure from every other fear.

Lord, thi werkis ben magnefied greetli; thi thouytis ben maad ful depe.

An vnwise man schal not knowe; and a fool schal not vndirstonde these thingis.

A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. "At your side" and "at your right hand." He did not say, "at your left," because the just man has no left, just as it is written in the Gospel: "Whoever shall strike you on the right cheek, offer him the other also." He did not say, "offer the left"; since indeed the lambs shall stand at the right, and the…

Many then fell before the demon of the noon-day. Would ye know how many? He goes on, and says, "A thousand shall fall beside you, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you" [Psalm 91:7].

Scripture enlightens from the right by means of dangerous satisfactions. Nor is it without reason that satisfactions are called dangerous and punishments benign, for satisfactions entail serious risk. Behold Adam, Saul, Solomon, the idolater Jeroboam, and the Prince of Angels, to all of whom temporal satisfactions and a state of high eminence were occasions of ruin.

Whanne synneris comen forth, as hey; and alle thei apperen, that worchen wickidnesse.

That thei perische in to the world of world; forsothe thou, Lord, art the hiyest, withouten ende. For lo!

Lord, thin enemyes, for lo! thin enemyes schulen perische; and alle schulen be scaterid that worchen wickidnesse.

And myn horn schal be reisid as an vnicorn; and myn eelde in plenteuouse merci.

Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

In various ways has the devil rivalled and resisted the truth. Sometimes his aim has been to destroy the truth by defending it. He maintains that there is one only Lord, the Almighty Creator of the world, in order that out of this doctrine of the unity he may fabricate a heresy.

What then, my brethren, what is said of our Head? "For Thou, Lord, art my hope," etc. Of this we have spoken, "for He has given His angels charge over You, to keep You in all Your ways" [Psalm 91:11]. You heard these words but now, when the Gospel was being read; attend therefore. Our Lord, after He was baptized, fasted. Why was He baptized?

And myn iye dispiside myn enemyes; and whanne wickid men rysen ayens me, myn eere schal here.

A iust man schal floure as a palm tree; he schal be multiplied as a cedre of Liban.

This power the Creator conferred on his Christ first of all, even as the ninetieth psalm [LXX] says of him: "You shall tread on the lion and the cobra; the young lion and the serpent you shall trample under foot." Isaiah also says, "In that day the Lord God shall draw his sacred, great and strong sword" (even his Christ) "against that dragon, that great and tortuous serpent; an…

Truly the devil, like a devil, interprets concerning the Savior what is not concerning the Savior. For if the whole psalm is about the Savior, as you interpret it, O devil, then it is about him too what is said: I will protect him, because he has known my name. That is, I the Father will protect my Son. Let me interpret it, devil, as you understand it.

However, we should not be without anxiety, dearly beloved, because we know that [God] is keeping his patience for such a long time. The fact that such great things happen in the world and he still does not avenge them indicates patience, not carelessness. God has not lost his power but is preserving us for repentance.

Men plauntid in the hous of the Lord; schulen floure in the porchis of the hous of oure God.

Yit thei schulen be multiplied in plenteuouse elde; and thei schulen be suffryng wel. That thei telle, that oure Lord God is riytful; and no wickidnesse is in hym.

Psalms91