Fathers

Psalms 44

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

We have heard with our ears, God; our fathers have told us what work you did in their days, in the days of old. You drove out the nations with your hand, but you planted them. You afflicted the peoples, but you spread them abroad. For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you were favorable to them. You are my King, God. Command victories for Jacob! Through you, will we push down our adversaries. Through your name, we will tread down those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But you have saved us from our adversaries, and have shamed those who hate us. In God we have made our boast all day long, we will give thanks to your name forever. But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor, and don’t go out with our armies. You make us turn back from the adversary. Those who hate us take plunder for themselves. You have made us like sheep for food, and have scattered us among the nations. You sell your people for nothing, and have gained nothing from their sale. You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us. You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. All day long my dishonor is before me, and shame covers my face, at the taunt of one who reproaches and verbally abuses, because of the enemy and the avenger. All this has come on us, yet we haven’t forgotten you. We haven’t been false to your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, neither have our steps strayed from your path, though you have crushed us in the haunt of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death. If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god, won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart. Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter. Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don’t reject us forever. Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust. Our body clings to the earth. Rise up to help us. Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake.

About · Privacy · Credits · Support VRSZ

What the Fathers say

Psalms 44:25

Western Saints

Augustine of Hippo

"For our soul is bowed down to the dust" (ver. 25). Where is it bowed down? "To the dust:" i.e. dust persecutes us. They persecute us, of whom Thou hast said, "The ungodly are not so; but are like the dust, which the wind driveth away from the face of the earth." "Our belly hath cleaved to the earth." He seems to me to have expressed the punishment of the extreme of humiliation, in which, when any one prostrates himself, "his belly cleaveth to the earth." For whosoever is humbled so as to be on his knees, has yet a lower degree of …

ON THE PSALMS, Psalm 44 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

As to the third he says, "Because our soul is humbled in the dust." Some are humbled in soul, some in body, some inwardly in spirit. And therefore he says, "Our belly has cleaved to the earth." And he puts "belly" for the whole body. Or what he says, "Our soul is humbled in the dust," refers to the effect in spiritual things: because "soul," that is, the thought of the soul, thinks of earthly things. Is. …

Exposition on the Psalms of David ↗