Fathers

Psalms 36

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A revelation is within my heart about the disobedience of the wicked: “There is no fear of God before his eyes.” For he flatters himself in his own eyes, too much to detect and hate his sin. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good. He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil. Your loving kindness, Yahweh, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. Yahweh, you preserve man and animal. How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of your house. You will make them drink of the river of your pleasures. For with you is the spring of life. In your light we will see light. Oh continue your loving kindness to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart. Don’t let the foot of pride come against me. Don’t let the hand of the wicked drive me away. There the workers of iniquity are fallen. They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise.

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 36:4

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"He hath meditated iniquity on his bed." What said He, "On his bed?" (ver. 4). "The ungodly hath said in himself, that he will sin:" what above he said, in himself, that here he said, "On his bed." Our bed is our heart: there we suffer the tossing of an evil conscience; and there we rest when our conscience is good. Whoso loveth the bed of his heart, let him do some good therein. There is our bed, where the Lord Jesus Christ commands us to pray. …

Exposition on Psalm 36 ↗

Ambrose of Milan

Moreover, he meditated wickedness in his bed, where he should have sought the truth. For in our beds, we should remorse our sins, not commit them by our very actions, as the Prophet says: "What you utter in your hearts, and in your beds you are remorseful" (Psalm IV, 5). He stood, he said, on a path that was not good: but he did not have hatred for wickedness. For it is not without reason that he contemplates injustice, who stands on the path of error and loves wickedness, which he ought to hate. …

Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Likewise, sometimes a man commits sin from a pursuit of malice; hence he says, "He has meditated iniquity on his bed," that is, in his heart. Or "on his bed," that is, when he is in secret: Prov. 24: "The thought of a fool is sin and abomination." "He has set himself." Here he sets forth what is committed in action. And first he sets forth the cooperation in evil. Second, the failure to prevent evil. …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗