Fathers

Psalms 52

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Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually. Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah. Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah. The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him: Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness. But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 52:8

Eastern Fathers

Cyril of Jerusalem

You are being armed not with perishable but with spiritual weapons. The paradise in which you are being planted is the soul's paradise, wherein you will be named with a name you did not have before. You were a catechumen till now, but now you are to be called believer. Henceforth you are transplanted among the olives of that paradise or are being grafted on a good olive tree being taken from a wild olive. You pass from sins to righteousness, from defilements to purity. You are becoming part of the holy Vine. …

Catechetical Lecture 1:4 ↗

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

But what shall they then say that shall laugh? "And over him they shall laugh; and shall say, Behold a man that hath not set God for his helper" (ver. 8). See ye the body earthly! "As much as thou shalt have, so great shalt thou be," is a proverb of covetous men, of grasping men, of men oppressing the innocent, of men seizing upon other men's goods, of men denying things entrusted to their care. Of what sort is this proverb? …

Exposition on Psalm 52 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

"But I am like a fruitful olive tree." Here he treats of the holiness of the good. And first he shows what they do in the present. Second, what they promise, at "I will praise you." The saints do a twofold good in the present Church. First, in that they relate well to their neighbor by bearing fruit in them: and therefore the just man is compared to an olive tree; as if to say, the sinner is thus plucked out without fruit, but "I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God." And he is compared to an olive tree on account of its …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗