1. Previously, the psalmist demonstrated his desire for God; here he proceeds to pray against the affliction of the entire people.

The title is for the end, a psalm for the sons of Korah, for understanding.

The sons of Korah are the sons of Christ’s Passion, and these are properly the martyrs, since they imitate Christ. Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example ([Reference 1 Peter 2:21]). This is especially fitting for the martyrs.

It is true that all goods, both temporal and spiritual, are given by God. The temporal are lesser goods, and the spiritual are greater. A father gives small things to young children, but great things to mature sons.

God acts in this way as well. When humanity was in a state of childhood, he gave them lesser things—that is, temporal things—as is clear in the Old Testament. They were like children under a guardian ([Reference Galatians 3:25]), that is, under the observances of the law. If you are willing and listen to me, you shall eat the good things of the land ([Reference Isaiah 1:19]).

But to those in the New Testament who were mature, he promised not temporal goods but harsh afflictions, and this with the hope of spiritual things. Blessed shall you be when men shall hate you ([Reference Luke 6:22]). And so, it is his intention to draw the people of the New Covenant away from the desire for earthly prosperity promised in the Old Covenant.

Therefore, this psalm is divided into three parts:

First, it treats past prosperity.
Second, it addresses present adversity, beginning at but now you have cast us off.
Third, the psalmist asks for help against these adversities, at arise.

Regarding the first part, he first enumerates the favors granted to those living in ancient times, and second, shows that he has a hope of greater things, at you are yourself my king.

Regarding the first of these points, he makes three arguments. He first presents the hearing of these favors; second, the time when they were heard, at the work which you have wrought; and third, he describes the favor itself, at your hand.

Concerning the first argument, he first presents the manner of hearing, and second, those from whom they heard.

He begins with an invocation of the divine name when he says, O God. This psalm proceeds in the manner of a prayer, which is the ascent of the mind to God.

Alternatively, because this psalm deals with prosperity and adversity, a person in adversity turns to God as their defender. In my trouble, I cried to the Lord ([Reference Psalms 119:1]). In prosperity, one invokes God with joy. As a thirsty traveler, she has reached the fountain ().

We have heard. Listening is necessary for wisdom. If you love to hear, you shall be wise (). It is also necessary for the wise person. A wise man will hear and will be wiser ([Reference Proverbs 1:5]). So it is necessary for everyone, since no one is sufficient to think of everything that pertains to wisdom. Therefore, no one is so wise as not to be instructed by another; if he hears something good, he is helped by receiving it, and if he hears something evil, he is helped by understanding what is better.

With our ears. A person hears with their own ears when they listen with ears subject to reason. This is why one is called human: one has reason. When ears are subject to reason, they are human; when they are not subject to reason, they are brutish. He who has ears to hear, let him hear ([Reference Luke 8:8]), that is, let him consider.

Our fathers have declared to us. Here, he demonstrates that he has listened to those who wished to teach the truth, because they are fathers. Ask your father, and he will declare to you ([Reference Deuteronomy 32:7]). Also, they could teach the truth because they are old. In the ancient is wisdom ([Reference Job 12:12]).

The work you have wrought in their days. Here, he specifies the time in which he heard these things. Certain favors are ancient because the ancients saw them, which is why he says, and in the days of old.

Your hand. Here, he describes the favor itself. Second, he describes the ordering of the favor and the cause of the favor. In a favor, we consider the work and the fruit of the work.

The work of divine power is that he expelled the nations before them; this is why he says, your hand, that is, your power. For God’s "members" signify the actions which we exercise through our own. He destroyed the gentiles, that is, he physically destroyed those living in the promised land. Scatter them by your power ([Reference Psalms 58:12]).

The fruit is that they succeeded them. He shall break in pieces many and innumerable people and shall make others stand in their place ([Reference Job 34:24]). So he says, and you planted them. You shall bring them in and plant them ([Reference Exodus 15:17]). Whatever is planted is rooted so that it may bear fruit. He looked for it to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes ([Reference Isaiah 5:2]).

You afflicted the people. Here is the method and ordering of the favor, since the people were not immediately destroyed, because the land would have become uncultivated and wild beasts would have become numerous. And so God consumed them little by little.

So he says, you afflicted the people, both through war and through beasts and hornets. I sent hornets before you ([Reference Joshua 24:12]). You sent wasps, forerunners of your host ().

And you cast them out, thus afflicting them little by little. He cast out the gentiles before them ([Reference Psalms 77:54]).

For they did not get the possession of the land by their own sword. Here, he lays out the cause of the favor. First, he excludes the supposed cause, and second, he puts forward the true cause.

The supposed cause could be the strength of the people who expelled them. Setting this explanation aside, he says, not by their own sword.

Human strength is of two kinds:

One type comes from skill with weapons, and he excludes this: they did not get the possession of the land by their own sword. The children of Israel do not trust in their spears (). And it follows afterward that they did not win by the sword ().
Another form of strength is natural power, and he excludes this by saying, neither did their own arm save them, that is, their own power. The king is not saved by a great army ([Reference Psalms 32:16]). Lest they should say, “Our mighty hand, and not the Lord, has done all these things” ([Reference Deuteronomy 32:27]).

The true cause is that it was done by God, so he says, but your right hand and your arm.

And he presents four points. Three have to do with the execution, and the fourth with the effect. If a king desires to help anyone, he does three things for him:

First, he gives him his favor.
Second, he devotes help to his effort.
Third, he gives advice to direct it.

God acted in this way for them. First, he was favorable to them and gave them prosperity. This is signified by the right hand, which signifies prosperity. Your right hand is magnified ([Reference Exodus 15:6]).

Likewise, he gave them help, and this is signified in the arm. He has showed might in his arm ([Reference Luke 1:51]).

Third, he directed them: and the light of your countenance, that is, proceeding directly from your providence.

The fourth pertains to the effect. Because you were pleased with them. It is as if to say, “Why did he do this for us? Certainly not because of our own merits? No.” Do not say in your heart, when the Lord your God shall have destroyed them in your sight, “For my justice the Lord has brought me in to possess this land” ([Reference Deuteronomy 9:4]).

But this came about because of the grace of God. Because you were pleased with them, that is, O God, your good favor was with them. For so it has seemed good in your sight ([Reference Matthew 11:26]).

2. You are yourself my king and my God. Here, he describes the hope he has for a greater favor, a hope that arises from God himself.

And so he makes three points:

He first presents the cause of hope.
Second, his confidence, at through you we will push down our enemies.
Third, his thanksgiving, at in God we shall glory.

He makes three points regarding the first:

He first describes God’s immutability.
Second, his governance.
Third, his experience of the divine help.

He demonstrates God’s immutability: because God did this for the fathers, and since his power is undiminished, he is able to do even greater things for the psalmist. So he says, you yourself are my king and my God, who are not diminished.

Likewise, the care of humanity belongs to you now just as it did then, so he says, my king, you who defend and govern, and my God, who provide for me. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God ([Reference Deuteronomy 6:4]). Therefore, I trust, just as they trusted.

Likewise, the cause for hope comes from experience, since you alone are the one who saves, so he says, who command the saving of Jacob. And he says this because in some instances God saved through others, but here he himself saves. Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will come and save us ([Reference Isaiah 25:9]).

Through you we will push down our enemies. Here he puts forward the confidence which he has in God. First, he proposes what he should hope for; second, he demonstrates that he attributes this to God; and third, he proposes the cause.

He hopes for help against his enemies, and there are two types of help one can have against them.

One is to conquer the enemy, and in regard to this he says, through you, that is, through your power, not our own, we will push down with the horn our enemies, either in the present or in the future. He says horn metaphorically, since the fighting power of a bull is in its horn. And he says, we will thresh down, because just as on the threshing floor the husks are separated from the grain, so in judgment the evil will be taken away and the good will remain.
The other kind of help is so that he will not be conquered by the enemy, and in regard to this he says, in your name we will despise those who rise up against us. That is, through your power, we will despise all our enemies, in the future or in the present, because they will not be able to harm us at all.

3. For I will not trust in my bow. In the preceding verse, the psalmist expressed his hope of repelling the enemy; here, he shows his reason for saying, through you we will push down our enemies.

He demonstrates that he does not hope in himself, since I will not trust in my bow. For it is said, the bow of the mighty is overcome ([Reference 1 Samuel 2:4]).

Neither does he hope in his sword: neither shall my sword save me. Let their sword be broken ([Reference Psalms 36:15]).

These two weapons are used in battle: a bow is used at a distance, so it signifies the shrewdness by which a person provides for the future. It is as if to say, “I will not hope in my own foresight.” A sword is used against those who are near, signifying power. It is as if to say, “I do not hope in my own power, but in you.” Where does this hope come from? From God.

And he shows it through experience. But you have saved us from those who afflict us, either in the present, since even if they harm us physically, they nevertheless cannot harm us spiritually, or in the future.

The saints are afflicted in two ways:

Sometimes in body through words or deeds: her rival also afflicted her ([Reference 1 Samuel 1:6]).
Sometimes they are afflicted spiritually, when those who live with them sin.

And they are delivered by God from these afflictions. You have put to shame those who hate us, as they cannot accomplish their intention against us. They are put to shame here, and they will be put to shame in the future. Behold, all who fight against you shall be confounded and ashamed ([Reference Isaiah 41:11]).

4. In God we shall glory. Here the act of thanksgiving is described. First, he describes the praise by which they themselves are praised. Second, he puts forward the praise by which they shall praise.

In the first, they will praise and be praised, so he says, all the day long, that is, eternally. This praise is holy because it is not for themselves but for God. You are my praise ([Reference Jeremiah 17:14]). Praise the Lord in his holy places ([Reference Psalms 150:1]).

Likewise, it will be continuous, since it is all the day long, that is, the day of eternity. Better is one day in your courts above thousands ([Reference Psalms 83:11]).

I say they will be praised by Christ. Everyone who shall confess me before men, I will also confess him ([Reference Matthew 10:32]), that is, I will praise him before my Father.

Jerome’s version reads, in God they will praise. This is because the saints in their heavenly homeland will praise God by considering his goodness and will confess by giving thanks for his favors.

5. But now you have cast us off. Here, he describes the adversity of the saints of the New Testament. First, he describes the adversity which they suffer; second, their patience and constancy, at all these things have come upon us.

Now, concerning the adversity of the saints, he first touches on the cause of their adversity, namely, the withdrawal of divine help. Second, he touches on its ordering, at you have made us turn back.

A holy person has three things in God:

His refuge. Lord, you have been our refuge ([Reference Psalms 89:1]). The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the just runs to it and shall be exalted ([Reference Proverbs 18:10]).
In God he has glory. You are my glory ([Reference Psalms 3:4]).
His help. My help is from the Lord ([Reference Psalms 120:2]).

Now, sometimes it seems in external things that a person does not have a refuge in God, and so he says, but now you have cast us off, since formerly you were a refuge. This is because you are not defending us from attack. The Lord has cast off his altar ([Reference Lamentations 2:7]). Nevertheless, he does not cast them off inwardly, since the Lord will not cast off his people ([Reference Psalms 94:13]).

Likewise, you are not my glory, since you have put us to shame; you seem to put us to shame in external things when you allow us to experience shame.

Likewise, you were accustomed to giving counsel and help, but now you no longer do so, since you, O God, will not go out with our armies. This is spoken in the manner of a leader.

It was customary in the Old Testament that, when God helped the people fight, God would go out before the people. You went forth for the salvation of your people ([Reference Habakkuk 3:13]). This does not signify local motion in God, but the outworking of his providence in external affairs.

But now God does not go out, because he allows us to succumb to our enemies. He does this to lead us away from earthly things, since if there were always prosperity in temporal things, a person would serve God for them. If this were our intention, it would be frustrated. Therefore, so that our love may not be self-serving and our intention not directed to physical things, he withdraws this prosperity from his friends.

6. You have made us turn our back. Here, he describes the ordering of adversity for holy people. This is in regard to two things: namely, the consolation which they do not have, and the affliction which they suffer.

People who go to war may:

flee,
be captured,
be killed,
be scattered,
and be sold.

Regarding the first, he says, you have made us turn our back to our enemies, that is, you have made us flee. One way you may go out against them, namely, your enemies, and flee seven ways ([Reference Deuteronomy 28:25]).

This particularly pertains to the holy martyrs, since in persecution some who were not able to endure turned away from the faith. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of justice, than after they have known it, to turn back ([Reference 2 Peter 2:21]). Some fled. If they persecute you in this city, flee into another ([Reference Matthew 10:23]).

Regarding the second, he says, and those who hate us plundered for themselves. We are delivered to spoil (). But this is a people that is robbed and wasted ([Reference Isaiah 42:22]). This happens to the saints, since some are plundered by the devil (namely, those who denied the faith), while others who fled were captured by enemies.

Regarding the third, he says, you have given us like sheep for slaughter, because they killed us physically.

Regarding the fourth, he says, you scattered us among the nations, since this happened to the Jews literally. You have been scattered ([Reference Deuteronomy 28:25]) into every wind ([Reference Jeremiah 49:32]). The holy martyrs were similarly scattered.

Regarding the fifth, he says, you have sold your people for no price, since the martyrs were killed in this way for no price, that is, no great one. In this it is demonstrated that they were considered worthless. You were sold for nothing ([Reference Isaiah 52:3]).

And there was not much in their exchange. Jerome’s version reads, you made no profit. An investor gives little and receives much. It is as if to say, “Not many were profitable for you, since few were converted; thus, more died than were converted.”

Or he says there were not many of those others who in their death sang psalms to God. The ways of Zion mourn, because there are none who come to the solemn feast ([Reference Lamentations 1:4]).

7. You have made us a reproach. Above, the psalmist described the oppression of the saints; here, he describes their vilification.

First, he describes the vilification which they suffered externally. Second, he shows what results in the heart, at all the day long my shame.

Regarding the first, he describes the progression of vilification, both from the worthlessness of the person and from the worthlessness of the thing.

This humiliation begins with personal attacks, where a revilement is first directed at another person—for instance, calling him a thief or an adulterer. Second, he suffers derision. Third, it grows into a common tale, that is, into infamy.

It comes about with the cooperation of various people:

First, it is from a neighbor.
Second, it moves on to others.
Third, it is published widely.

Regarding the first point, he says, you have made us a reproach to our neighbors—that is, to our brothers and relatives—since the saints are accused of being sacrilegious, murderous, or other such things.

This insult is expressed through gestures—so he says, a scoff—and through words, so he says, and a derision. Scoffing takes place when someone derides another by wrinkling his nose; derision is when he speaks words of blame jokingly or joyfully.Cf. ST II-II, q. 75, a. 1, ad 1. I have become a laughing-stock all the day; all scoff at me ([Reference Jeremiah 20:7]).

And he says, to those who are round about us, as though we have been brought into scorn and made a reproach not only for those who are near but also for others. For so the holy martyrs were derided by all. We are made as the refuse of this world ([Reference 1 Corinthians 4:13]).

Regarding the third point, they are laughed at, since people speak about them as if with a mocking song, so he says, you have made us a byword among the gentiles.

When a calamity befalls someone, it becomes a proverb, and it is said, “May it happen to you as it did to this one.” And those who are treated badly become a reproach. So some may have said, “May it happen to you as it did to Lawrence and others.” And so he says, you have made us a byword among the gentiles, that is, an example of evil and of reproach. He has made me as a byword of the people ([Reference Job 17:6]). This house shall be made an example ([Reference 1 Kings 9:8]).

Likewise, this happened by deed and by gesture, so he says, a shaking of the head among the people. And those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads ([Reference Matthew 27:39]). They have spoken with their lips and wagged their head ([Reference Psalms 21:8]).

Alternatively, you have made us like Christ, that is, you have made us suffer what Christ suffered. It is as if to say, “As the gentiles moved their heads, blaspheming Christ, so they did to us.”

8. All the day long my shame is before me. Here, he discusses the internal effect of this external derision. First, he describes shame. Second, he adds its cause, at at the voice.

First, he describes the shame, and he says, all the day long my shame is before me, that is, it is continually in my sight.

Or, it is against me, meaning it is contrary to what is due to me—namely, the honor that is due to the virtuous.

According to the Philosopher, shame is the fear of what is disgraceful.Aristotle, Ethics 4.9, 1128b.

Now there is a twofold disgrace.

The first is truly disgraceful, and this is the disgrace of sin. Shame about this does not befall the virtuous, since they do not have within themselves a consciousness of sin about which they could be ashamed. But it does befall the wicked: what fruit, therefore, did you have then in those things of which you are now ashamed? ([Reference Romans 6:21]).
Another kind of disgrace depends on public perception—namely, the debasement or derision one suffers externally. This can exist even in perfected persons, and it is this of which he says, all the day long.Cf. ST II-II, q. 144, a. 4, ad 3.

The sign of shame is redness in the face. Shame is the fear of embarrassment, and this passion stirs the vital spirits, causing the blood to be altered. The shameless are pale, while those who are ashamed are flushed.

Nevertheless, the timid who fear death become pale, but not those who fear derision. The reason is that nature draws itself back to the place where there is a defect. So when someone is afraid for his life, his blood and spirit withdraw to the principle of life, namely, the heart. But when he fears something external, the spirit and blood draw themselves to the exterior.

Therefore, he says, and the confusion of my face has covered me, that is, it has covered my face with redness. And he says the confusion of my face because it begins in the face, but when it is so great that it involves the entire body, it is caused by being trampled underfoot and vilified.

Regarding the second point, he says, at the voice of him who reproaches. A reproach is when someone throws a derisive comment back in another's face. All the day long my enemies reproached me ([Reference Psalms 101:9]). Detraction is secret slander. If a serpent bites in silence, he is no better than he who backbites secretly ([Reference Ecclesiastes 10:11]).

So it happened to the saints in the time of persecution, for Maximus had wicked women arrested and forced them to confess that Christians had done evil things with them,Cf. Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica, 9.5.2 (Sources Chrétiennes, 55:50–51). so he says, at the voice of him who reproaches.

They also reproached Christ, both in himself and in his members.

And so he says, at the face of the enemy and persecutor. He says enemy because hatred is the cause of persecution. We are persecuted for justice, and we suffer it ([Reference 1 Corinthians 4:12]).

9. All these things have come upon us. Here he demonstrates their perseverance in goodness. He puts forward their constancy in two things: a person should persist in those things which pertain to faith, and in good works.

He says that they have not abandoned their faith in their hearts, despite all the aforementioned adversities that have come upon them. So he says, yet we have not forgotten you. All your waves you have brought in upon me ([Reference Psalms 87:8]).

Neither did they desert divine worship, so it follows, and we have not done wickedly in your covenant, that is, we have not dismissed the knowledge which we have about you through faith.

The covenant of God is the pact made with him in the law and in baptism, so he who acts against the observance of divine worship commits iniquity against God’s covenant. And the martyrs did not do this.

Jerome’s version reads, and they did not lie against you, because they did not offend against him in word. Be steadfast in your covenant ().

Likewise, they are constant in the good works of justice, which proceed from an upright heart, and so he says, our heart has not turned back through the loss of charity. No one, putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God ([Reference Luke 9:62]). They have gone away backward ([Reference Isaiah 1:4]), namely, sinners.

But the charity of the martyrs was in no way diminished in regard to their works. And he says, neither have you turned aside our steps from your way, as if to say, “You have not allowed our actions to turn aside from the way of your justice.” This is the way, walk in it ([Reference Isaiah 30:21]).

Or, according to another text, you have turned our steps away from your way. That is, our "steps" are what our nature, according to its sinful desire (concupiscence), leads us toward. And thus, since it leads to the ways of our heart, in which we should not walk, you have turned such ways away from your way.

10. For you have humbled us. Above, the psalmist described the evils which the saints suffer and their constancy; here he gives the reason for what was said.

This can be taken to follow in continuity with what came before in two ways, according to the two senses which were given for nor have you turned aside our steps from your way. According to the second sense, the text continues logically, as if to say, “You have not permitted us to turn aside into those ways which are of the flesh, for you have humbled us in the place of affliction, that is, of the world.” I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity ([Reference Ecclesiastes 1:14]).

And in this, God humbles his saints in two ways:

with the virtue of humility: I humbled my soul with fasting ([Reference Psalms 34:13]);
and with forced humiliation: they humbled his feet in fetters ([Reference Psalms 104:18]).

Regarding the second, he says, and the shadow of death has covered us, that is, an indication of future death, for the shadow comes first and afterward we have the corresponding death.

Alternatively, the shadow of death refers to sinners who are in darkness and have subjected us to themselves and their service. The stone that is in darkness and the shadow of death; the flood divides the people that is on a journey ([Reference Job 28:3–4]).

If we have forgotten. Here, he proves what he said. First, he proposes these things. Second, he describes the divine judgment. Third is the evident sign.

Therefore, he says, “I said that we have not forgotten you.” If we have forgotten the name of our God. If implies, “we have not.”

Likewise: if we have spread out our hands to a strange God. Strange, that is, not of the divine nature or of the rites of the Jews. It is as if to say, “If we have invoked them as gods,” which is to act wickedly against the covenant of God. And if we have done these things, the judgment of God is required.

And God's judgment is sufficient to discover this, so he says, shall not God search out these things? As if to say, “Indeed, since he himself knows all things.”

So it continues: for he knows the secrets of the heart. The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable; who can know it? ([Reference Jeremiah 17:9]). As if to say, “God alone can.”

Likewise, he proves this through clear evidence, since if they had desired to fall away, the saints would have suffered no such evils in this world as they now suffer.

First he puts forward the cause of their suffering, since this cause determines whether their death is martyrdom. So he says, for your sake we are killed all the day long. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or a railer, or a coveter of other men’s things. But if as a Christian, let him not be ashamed ([Reference 1 Peter 4:15–16]).

Second, he puts forward the evils which they suffer. He shows that these evils are defined by the punishment’s severity, duration, and the perception of it.

The severity of the punishment is we are killed.
Its duration is all the day long. I die daily, I protest by your glory ([Reference 1 Corinthians 15:31]).
The perception of it is that their killers believed they were not killing blessed people, but evil ones deserving of death. So he says, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. This is either in regard to their usefulness to men or in regard to the patience of the martyrs. It is as if to say, “Why are we killed all day long, and yet we do not cry out, but we endure like sheep led to the slaughter? Because it was so with Christ.”

11. Arise, why do you sleep, O Lord? Here, he invokes God’s help. First, a question is posed, as if in wonder; second, a petition for divine help is made.

Therefore, we wonder that he permits his saints to be so afflicted. This can be because of a defect either of will or of mind. It happens that someone does not will something for two reasons: either from laziness or from contempt.

Regarding laziness, he says, why do you sleep, O Lord? As if to say, “Certainly you do not allow us to be afflicted out of laziness?” God is said to “sleep” because of the appearance of his inaction. Behold he shall neither slumber nor sleep, who keeps Israel ([Reference Psalms 120:4]).

Regarding the second, he says, and cast us not off to the end, namely, finally, even though you might seem to cast us off for a time. This is spoken from the perspective of Christ, so that it might become our own prayer. It is as if to say, “You have hidden yourself and have not yet arisen in the faith of the nations. Arise in them, and we will not be rejected by them.”

Why do you turn your face away? A perceived lack of awareness can happen in two ways. Either because he does not see, and so he says, turn away. When God helps, he seems to see; when he does not, he seems to turn away. Seeing, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt ([Reference Acts 7:34]; [Reference Exodus 3:7]). Turn not away your face from me ([Reference Psalms 26:9]).

Or he says, why do you turn your face away, meaning you turn it so that we cannot see you; for if we saw you, we would not suffer evil.

Or because he forgets, and so he says, you forget our want and our trouble. Here, he enumerates the evils which we suffer. There are three evils: in external things, in body, and in soul.

Regarding the first, he says, you forget our want, since literally they were poor because their goods were taken away. You took with joy the being stripped of your own goods ([Reference Hebrews 10:34]).
Regarding the second, he says, our trouble, since many are the tribulations of the just ([Reference Psalms 33:20]).
Regarding the third, he says, for our soul is humbled down to the dust.

Some are humbled in soul, others in body, others in their spirit within. And so he says, our belly cleaves to the earth. And he uses the belly to stand for the whole body.

Alternatively, our soul is humbled down to the dust refers to the effect on spiritual matters, since the soul—that is, the mind's thought process—is focused on earthly things. You shall speak out of the earth, and your speech shall be heard out of the ground ([Reference Isaiah 29:4]). And our belly, that is, our sensuality, clings entirely to the earth.

Or it can be taken otherwise: for our soul is humbled means that the holier among us have been humbled by the dust, that is, by the sinner. Like the dust, which the wind drives away ([Reference Psalms 1:4]). Likewise, the belly, that is, the weak among us, cling to earthly men, since they have grown distant from the faith.

Against this forgetfulness, he prays, help us. Against the “sleeping,” he cries, arise. Against these evils, he asks, and redeem us for your name’s sake.

Commentaries

Albert Barnes

On Psalms 44:20

John Gill

On Psalms 44:20

Matthew Henry

On Psalms 44:17–26

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Thomas Aquinas

On Psalm 44:1–26