Fathers

Psalms 21

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The king rejoices in your strength, Yahweh! How greatly he rejoices in your salvation! You have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. For you meet him with the blessings of goodness. You set a crown of fine gold on his head. He asked life of you and you gave it to him, even length of days forever and ever. His glory is great in your salvation. You lay honor and majesty on him. For you make him most blessed forever. You make him glad with joy in your presence. For the king trusts in Yahweh. Through the loving kindness of the Most High, he shall not be moved. Your hand will find out all of your enemies. Your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them. You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from among the children of men. For they intended evil against you. They plotted evil against you which cannot succeed. For you will make them turn their back, when you aim drawn bows at their face. Be exalted, Yahweh, in your strength, so we will sing and praise your power.

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 21:12

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"For You shall set them low." For You shall rank them among those from whom in degradation and contempt You will turn away. "In Your leavings You shall make ready their countenance" [Psalm 21:12]. And in these things that Thou leavest, that is, in the desires of an earthly kingdom, You shall make ready their shamelessness for Your passion.

Exposition on Psalm 21 ↗

Ambrose of Milan

"Turned away" [is] an expression properly applied to the sinner, for "Cain went out from the face of the Lord," and the psalmist says, "You will make them turn their back." One who is righteous does not turn away from the Lord but runs to meet him and says, "My eyes are ever toward the Lord." And when the Lord said, "Whom shall I send?" Isaiah offered himself of his own accord and said, "Behold, here I am."

On Joseph the Patriarch, Chapter 3 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

And he assigns the reason for this statement, why they did not establish their counsel, saying "their back." Jerome's text is clearer: "For you shall set them as a shoulder, your boundaries firm against their face." It can happen in two ways that enemies do not establish their plans against someone. In one way, if they are conquered by him. …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗