Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 11:7

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"Fire and brimstone and the blast of the tempest is the portion of their cup." This is their punishment and end, by whom the name of God is blasphemed; that first they should be wasted by the fire of their own lusts, then by the ill savour of their evil deeds cast off from the company of the blessed, at last carried away and overwhelmed suffer penalties unspeakable. For this is the portion of their cup: as of the righteous, "Your cup inebriating how excellent is it! …

Exposition on Psalm 11 ↗

Jerome

For the Lord is just and has loved justices; his countenance has beheld equity. For which the Hebrew has: "For the Lord is just and loves justice; their faces shall behold equity." The Lord, he says, is just for the causes stated above: because he both, leaving the just man in the present age to temptations, does not punish but proves him, and his soul hates the impious man who loves injustice. For it is one thing to sin overcome by the necessity of the flesh, another to pass over into the disposition of the sinner. …

Homily 60, on Psalm 10 (Alternate Series) ↗

Thomas Aquinas

"Because the Lord is just and has loved justice," therefore nothing is to be expected from Him except justice. Jer. 9: "I am the Lord who exercises mercy, judgment, and justice on the earth." Ps. 144: "The Lord is just in all His ways." "Equity has His countenance beheld" -- or "His face" -- that is, equity has been seen by His knowledge; as if to say: to those to whom He makes Himself known and whom He loves, He shows equity.

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗