Fathers

Psalms 41

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Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil. Yahweh will preserve him, and keep him alive. He shall be blessed on the earth, and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies. Yahweh will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness. I said, “Yahweh, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you.” My enemies speak evil against me: “When will he die, and his name perish?” If he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it. All who hate me whisper together against me. They imagine the worst for me. “An evil disease”, they say, “has afflicted him. Now that he lies he shall rise up no more.” Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me. But you, Yahweh, have mercy on me, and raise me up, that I may repay them. By this I know that you delight in me, because my enemy doesn’t triumph over me. As for me, you uphold me in my integrity, and set me in your presence forever. Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting! Amen and amen.

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What the Fathers say

Psalms 41:2

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"And deliver him not into the hand of his enemy." The enemy is the devil. Let none think of a man his enemy, when he hears these words. Haply one thought of his neighbour, of him who had a suit with him in court, of him who would take from him his own possession, of him who would force him to sell to him his house. Think not this; but that enemy think of, of whom said the Lord, "an enemy hath done this." For He it is who suggests that for things earthly he be worshipped, for overthrow the Christian Name this enemy cannot. …

Exposition on Psalm 41 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

"The Lord preserve him." Here he shows how one merits mercy from the prayer of the saints, who pray for the merciful. And a prayer is set forth for the merciful person in a state of prosperity; second, for one in a state of adversity. In a state of prosperity a man needs two things: namely, to be advanced and preserved in good; second, to be freed from evils. Now there is a threefold good: namely, the good of nature, the good of grace, and the good of glory. …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗