Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Psalms 127:1
There are 14 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 321, footnote 4 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen De Principiis. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Chapter I. translated from the Latin of Rufinus: On the Freedom of the Will. (HTML)
Having now repelled these objections by the answer which we have given, let us hasten on to the discussion of the subject itself, in which it is said, “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” In the book of Psalms—in the Songs of Degrees, which are ascribed to Solomon—the following statement occurs: “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”[Psalms 127:1] By which words he does not indeed indicate that we should cease from building or watching over the safe keeping of that city which is within us; but what he points out is this, that whatever is built without God, and whatever is guarded without him, is built ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 321, footnote 8 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Origen. (HTML)
Origen De Principiis. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Chapter I. translated from the Greek: On the Freedom of the Will, With an Explanation and Interpretation of Those Statements of Scripture Which Appear to Nullify It. (HTML)
... it. And therefore also, to desire what is good, and to run after it, is not a thing of indifference. Such, then, is the defence which I think we can offer to the statement, that “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” Solomon says in the book of Psalms (for the Song of Degrees is his, from which we shall quote the words): “Unless the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh in vain:”[Psalms 127:1] not dissuading us from building, nor teaching us not to keep watch in order to guard the city in our soul, but showing that what is built without God, and does not receive a guard from Him, is built in vain and watched to no purpose, because God ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 113, footnote 11 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Lactantius (HTML)
The Divine Institutes (HTML)
Book IV. Of True Wisdom and Religion (HTML)
Chap. XIII.—Of Jesus, God and man; and the testimonies of the prophets concerning him (HTML)
... forty years. In the next place, Solomon was never called the son of God, but the son of David; and the house which he built was not firmly established, as the Church, which is the true temple of God, which does not consist of walls, but of the heart and faith of the men who believe on Him, and are called faithful. But that temple of Solomon, inasmuch as it was built by the hand, fell by the hand. Lastly, his father, in the cxxvith Psalm, prophesied in this manner respecting the works of his son:[Psalms 127:1] “Except the Lord build the house, they have laboured in vain that built it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman hath waked but in vain.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 352, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
The history of the city of God from Noah to the time of the kings of Israel. (HTML)
To Whose Person the Entreaty for the Promises is to Be Understood to Belong, When He Says in the Psalm, ‘Where are Thine Ancient Compassions, Lord?’ Etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1076 (In-Text, Margin)
... their reward in peace who is their strength in war. Therefore, when it is said in the words of Nathan, “And the Lord will tell thee what an house thou shalt build for Him,” it is afterwards said in the words of David, “For Thou, Lord Almighty, God of Israel, hast opened the ear of Thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house.” For this house is built both by us through living well, and by God through helping us to live well; for “except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.”[Psalms 127:1] And when the final dedication of this house shall take place, then what God here says by Nathan shall be fulfilled, “And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant him, and he shall dwell apart, and shall be troubled no more; and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 432, footnote 16 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of Holy Virginity. (HTML)
Section 41 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2167 (In-Text, Margin)
... forasmuch as the Truth has spoken the truth, that he, unto whom little is forgiven, loveth little; do ye, in order that ye may love with full glow of affection Him, Whom ye are free to love, being loosened from ties of marriage, account as altogether forgiven unto you, whatever of evil, by His governance, ye have not committed. For “your eyes ever unto the Lord, forasmuch as He shall pluck out of the net your feet,” and, “Except the Lord shall have kept the city, in vain hath he watched who keepeth it.”[Psalms 127:1] And speaking of Continence itself the Apostle says, “But I would that all men were as I myself; but each one hath his own proper gift from God; one in this way, and another in that way.” Who therefore bestoweth these gifts? Who distributeth his own ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 200, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius. (HTML)
The Same Continued. John, Bishop of Jerusalem, and His Examination. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1731 (In-Text, Margin)
... previously expressed it, ‘man was able to be without sin’), he censured the statement, and reminded them besides, that even the Apostle Paul, after so many labours—not indeed in his own strength, but by the grace of God—said: ‘I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me;’ and again: ‘It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy;’ and again: ‘Except the Lord build the house, they labour but in vain who build it.’[Psalms 127:1] And,” he added, “we quoted several other like passages out of the Holy Scriptures. When, however, they did not receive the quotations which we made out of the Holy Scriptures, but continued their murmuring noise, Pelagius said: ‘This is what I also ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 504, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
Why the Apostle Said that We are Justified by Faith and Not by Works. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3465 (In-Text, Margin)
... believe, because he was a good man even before he believed.” Which may be said of Cornelius since his alms were accepted and his prayers heard before he had believed on Christ; and yet without some faith he neither gave alms nor prayed. For how did he call on him on whom he had not believed? But if he could have been saved without the faith of Christ the Apostle Peter would not have been sent as an architect to build him up; although, “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain who build it.”[Psalms 127:1] And we are told, Faith is of ourselves; other things which pertain to works of righteousness are of the Lord; as if faith did not belong to the building,—as if, I say, the foundation did not belong to the building. But if this primarily and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 433, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
On the words of the Gospel, Luke xi. 5, ‘Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3362 (In-Text, Margin)
... given us birth according to the flesh still abideth, God be thanked. O that it may receive a spiritual birth, and together with us pass over unto eternity! If the city which has given us birth according to the flesh abide not, yet that which has given us birth according to the Spirit abides for ever. “The Lord doth build up Jerusalem.” Has He by sleeping brought His building to ruin, or by not keeping it, let the enemy into it? “Except the Lord keep the city, he that keepeth it waketh but in vain.”[Psalms 127:1] And what “city”? “He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” What is Israel, but the seed of Abraham? What the seed of Abraham, but Christ? “And to thy seed,” he says, “which is Christ.” And to us what says he? “But ye are Christ’s, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 240, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter VIII. 48–59. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 789 (In-Text, Margin)
... and said, “I have not a devil.” He did not say, I am not a Samaritan; and yet the two charges had been made. Although He returned not cursing with cursing, although He met not slander with slander, yet was it proper for Him to deny the one charge and not to deny the other. And not without a purpose, brethren. For Samaritan means keeper. He knew that He was our keeper. For “He that keepeth Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth;” and, “Except the Lord keep the city, they wake in vain who keep it.”[Psalms 127:1] He then is our Keeper who is our Creator. For did it belong to Him to redeem us, and would it not be His to preserve us? Finally, that you may know more fully the hidden reason why He ought not to have denied that He was a Samaritan, call to mind ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 290, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter XII. 27–36. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1066 (In-Text, Margin)
... debts,” but for the healing of our wounds? And what else do we ask, when we say, “Lead us not into temptation,” but that he who thus lies in wait for us, or assails us from without, may fail on every side to effect an entrance, and be unable to overcome us either by fraud or force? Nevertheless, whatever engines of war he may erect against us, so long as he has no more a place in the heart that faith inhabits, he is cast out. But “except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”[Psalms 127:1] Presume not, therefore, about yourselves, if you would not have the devil, who has once been cast out, to be recalled within.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 446, footnote 11 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Discourse IV (HTML)
That the Son is the Co-existing Word, argued from the New Testament. Texts from the Old Testament continued; especially Ps. cx. 3. Besides, the Word in Old Testament may be Son in New, as Spirit in Old Testament is Paraclete in New. Objection from Acts x. 36; answered by parallels, such as 1 Cor. i. 5. Lev. ix. 7. &c. Necessity of the Word's taking flesh, viz. to sanctify, yet without destroying, the flesh. (HTML)
... image to be the truth, and to destroy that true habitation which we surely believe His union with us to be, He threatened them not; but knowing that their crime was against themselves, He says to them, ‘Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up,’ He, our Saviour, surely shewing thereby that the things about which men busy themselves, carry their dissolution with them. For unless the Lord had built the house, and kept the city, in vain did the builders toil, and the keepers watch[Psalms 127:1]. And so the works of the Jews are undone, for they were a shadow; but the Church is firmly established; it is ‘founded on the rock,’ and ‘the gates of hades shall not prevail against it.’ Theirs it was to say, ‘Why dost Thou, being a man, make ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 450, footnote 2 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against the Pelagians. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5144 (In-Text, Margin)
A. They are wrong, then, who strip us of the help of God in our separate actions. The Psalmist sings:[Psalms 127:1] “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain who build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain;” and there are similar passages. But these men endeavour by perverse, or rather ridiculous interpretations, to twist his words to a different meaning.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 472, footnote 4 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against the Pelagians. (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5285 (In-Text, Margin)
... yourself. For in the discussion of doctrines and disputed points, we must have regard not to persons but to things. And yet let me tell you that baptism condones past offences, and does not preserve righteousness in the time to come; the keeping of that is dependent on toil and industry, as well as earnestness, and above all on the mercy of God. It is ours to ask, to Him it belongs to bestow what we ask; ours to begin, His it is to finish; ours to offer what we can, His to fulfil what we cannot perform.[Psalms 127:1] “For except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” Wherefore the Apostle bids us so run that we may attain. All indeed run, but one receiveth the crown. And in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 342, footnote 2 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
On the Words of the Gospel, 'When Jesus Had Finished These Sayings,' Etc.--S. Matt. xix. 1. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3832 (In-Text, Margin)
... that our salvation should be of God. This is why He saith not of him that willeth; that is, not of him that willeth only, nor of him that runneth only, but also of God. That sheweth mercy. Next; since to will also is from God, he has attributed the whole to God with reason. However much you may run, however much you may wrestle, yet you need one to give the crown. Except the Lord build the house, they laboured in vain that built it: Except the Lord keep the city, in vain they watched that keep it.[Psalms 127:1] I know, He says, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor the victory to the fighters, nor the harbours to the good sailors; but to God it belongs both to work victory, and to bring the barque safe to port.