Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Psalms 39:4
There are 4 footnotes for this reference.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 445, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XC (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4280 (In-Text, Margin)
... are accounted for nothing, or days that perish like a shadow: but they are days which have a real existence, the number of which he who thus spoke, “Lord, let me know mine end” (that is, after reaching what term I shall remain unchanged, and have no further blessing to crave), “and the number of my days, what it is” (what is, not what is not): prayed to know. He distinguishes them from the days of this life, of which he speaks as follows, “Behold, Thou hast made my days as it were a span long,”[Psalms 39:4-5] which are not, because they stand not, remain not, but change in quick succession: nor is there a single hour in them in which our being is not such, but that one part of it has already passed, another is about to come, and none remains as it is. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 286, footnote 4 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
From Augustine to Optatus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3912 (In-Text, Margin)
... placed in His own power; but concerning the origin of souls, I am ignorant whether it is or is not ours to know. If I could be sure that such knowledge is not for us, I should cease not only to dogmatize, but even to inquire. As it is, though the subject is so deep and dark that my fear of becoming a rash teacher is almost greater than my eagerness to learn the truth, I still wish to know it if I can do so. It may be that the knowledge for which the psalmist prays: “Lord, make me to know mine end,”[Psalms 39:4] is much more necessary; yet I would that my beginning also might be revealed to me.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 500, footnote 1 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Prefaces. (HTML)
Prefaces to the Commentaries. (HTML)
Ezekiel. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5436 (In-Text, Margin)
... could think of nothing but the welfare of the community; it seemed as though I was sharing the captivity of the saints, and I could not open my lips until I knew something more definite; and all the while, full of anxiety, I was wavering between hope and despair, and was torturing myself with the misfortunes of other people. But when the bright light of all the world was put out, or, rather, when the Roman Empire was decapitated, and, to speak more correctly, the whole world perished in one city,[Psalms 39:3-4] “I became dumb and humbled myself, and kept silence from good words, but my grief broke out afresh, my heart glowed within me, and while I meditated the fire was kindled;” and I thought I ought not to disregard the saying, “An untimely story is like ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 236, footnote 1 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
Panegyric on His Brother S. Cæsarius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2966 (In-Text, Margin)
... and after existing are dissolved. We are unsubstantial dreams, impalpable visions, like the flight of a passing bird, like a ship leaving no track upon the sea, a speck of dust, a vapour, an early dew, a flower that quickly blooms, and quickly fades. As for man his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. Well hath inspired David discoursed of our frailty, and again in these words, “Let me know the short ness of my days;” and he defines the days of man as “of a span long.”[Psalms 39:4-5] And what wouldst thou say to Jeremiah, who complains of his mother in sorrow for his birth, and that on account of others’ faults? I have seen all things, says the preacher, I have reviewed in thought all human things, wealth, pleasure, power, ...