Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 140:8

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"Deliver me not over, O Lord, by my own longing to the sinner" (ver. 8). Behold to what end Thy overshadowing shall avail for me, that I suffer not heat from myself. And what could that "sinner" do to me, rage as he would? For wicked men raged against the martyrs, dragged them away, bound them with chains, shut them up in prisons, slew them with the sword, exposed them to wild beasts, consumed them with fire: all this they did; yet did not God deliver them over to the sinners, because they were not delivered over by their own …

Exposition on Psalm 140 ↗

Jerome

Do not hand me over, O Lord, from my desire to the sinner. Scripture says that 'if anyone looks upon a woman to lust after her, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' So this is what the prophet is saying: Because of my concupiscence, do not hand me over to the devil; rather, it is well for me to be judged in the deed, and not in the thought.

Homily 50, on Psalm 139 ↗