Fathers

Psalms 41

Tap a verse to read the Fathers. Press and hold, then drag, to make a card.

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.

About · Privacy · Credits · Support VRSZ

What the Fathers say

Psalms 41:3

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"The Lord help him" [Psalm 41:3]. But when? Haply in heaven, haply in the life eternal, that so it remain to worship the devil for earthly needs, for the necessities of this life. Far be it! You have "promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." [1 Timothy 4:8] He came unto you on earth, by Whom were made heaven and earth. …

Exposition on Psalm 41 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

"The Lord bring him aid." Here is set forth a prayer for the merciful person in adversity. And first he asks for divine help or support; second he alleges the necessity of this. He says therefore, "The Lord bring him aid upon his bed of sorrow." He prays for the merciful person, or for the just man, a son of Korah simply, that the Lord give him life and make him blessed upon the earth. Second, that he preserve him and not deliver him into the souls of his enemies. …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗