Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Psalms 138
There are 14 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 565, footnote 6 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Early Liturgies (HTML)
The Liturgy of the Blessed Apostles (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4250 (In-Text, Margin)
Have mercy upon me, O God, down to the words, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee: and unto Thee lift I up mine eyes, down to have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us. Also stretch forth Thy hand, and let Thy right hand save me, O Lord; may Thy mercies remain upon me, O Lord, for ever, and despise not the works of Thy hands.[Psalms 138:7-8]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 80, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
He describes the twenty-ninth year of his age, in which, having discovered the fallacies of the Manichæans, he professed rhetoric at Rome and Milan. Having heard Ambrose, he begins to come to himself. (HTML)
Having Heard Faustus, the Most Learned Bishop of the Manichæans, He Discerns that God, the Author Both of Things Animate and Inanimate, Chiefly Has Care for the Humble. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 363 (In-Text, Margin)
... learning, and pre-eminently skilled in the liberal sciences. And as I had read and retained in memory many injunctions of the philosophers, I used to compare some teachings of theirs with those long fables of the Manichæans and the former things which they declared, who could only prevail so far as to estimate this lower world, while its lord they could by no means find out, seemed to me the more probable. For Thou art great, O Lord, and hast respect unto the lowly, but the proud Thou knowest afar off.”[Psalms 138:6] Nor dost Thou draw near but to the contrite heart, nor art Thou found by the proud, —not even could they number by cunning skill the stars and the sand, and measure the starry regions, and trace the courses of the planets.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 278, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
Of the punishment and results of man’s first sin, and of the propagation of man without lust. (HTML)
That Man’s Transgression Did Not Annul the Blessing of Fecundity Pronounced Upon Man Before He Sinned But Infected It with the Disease of Lust. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 751 (In-Text, Margin)
... i.e., by lust, at which even honorable marriage blushes; some not simply rejecting, but sceptically deriding the divine Scriptures, in which we read that our first parents, after they sinned, were ashamed of their nakedness, and covered it; while others, though they accept and honor Scripture, yet conceive that this expression, “Increase and multiply,” refers not to carnal fecundity, because a similar expression is used of the soul in the words, “Thou wilt multiply me with strength in my soul;”[Psalms 138:3] and so, too, in the words which follow in Genesis, “And replenish the earth, and subdue it,” they understand by the earth the body which the soul fills with its presence, and which it rules over when it is multiplied in strength. And they hold that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 399, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Good of Marriage. (HTML)
Section 2 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1937 (In-Text, Margin)
... intercourse; or whether many things there were spoken by way of mystery and figure, and we are to understand in another sense what is written, “Fill the earth, and rule over it;” that is, that it should come to pass by fullness and perfection of life and power, so that the very increase and multiplication, whereby it is said, “Increase, and be ye multiplied,” be understood to be by advance of mind, and abundance of virtue, as it is set in the Psalm, “Thou shall multiply me in my soul by virtue;”[Psalms 138:3] and that succession of progeny was not given unto man, save after that, by reason of sin, there was to be hereafter departure in death: or whether the body was not made spiritual in the case of these men, but at the first animal, in order that by ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 428, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of Holy Virginity. (HTML)
Section 32 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2107 (In-Text, Margin)
... with so great humility as to say, “I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof.” Whence also Matthew for no other reason said that he “came” unto Jesus, (whereas Luke most plainly signifies that he came not unto Him himself, but sent his friends,) save that by his most faithful humility he himself came unto Him more than they whom he sent. Whence also is that of the Prophet, “The Lord is very high, and hath respect unto things that are lowly: but what are very high He noteth afar off;”[Psalms 138:6] assuredly as not coming unto Him. Whence also He saith to that woman of Canaan, “O woman, great is thy faith; be it done unto thee as thou wilt;” whom above He had called a dog, and had made answer that the bread of the sons was not to be cast to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 51, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Job Foresaw that Christ Would Come to Suffer; The Way of Humility in Those that are Perfect. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 524 (In-Text, Margin)
... of death? When Job understood this with a purer intensity of heart, he added to his own answer these words: “I used before now to hear of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but behold now mine eye seeth Thee: therefore I abhor myself and melt away, and account myself but dust and ashes.” Why was he thus so deeply displeased with himself? God’s work, in that he was man, could not rightly have given him displeasure, since it is even said to God Himself, “Despise not Thou the work of Thine own hands.”[Psalms 138:8] It was indeed in view of that righteousness, in which he had discovered his own unrighteousness, that he abhorred himself and melted away, and deemed himself dust and ashes,—beholding, as he did in his mind, the righteousness of Christ, in whom ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 455, footnote 4 (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 xviii. 1,’They ought always to pray, and not to faint,’ etc. And on the two who went up into the temple to pray: and of the little children who were presented unto Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3544 (In-Text, Margin)
... God, and thou wilt find nothing. He went up to pray: he had no mind to pray to God, but to laud himself. Nay, it is but a small part of it, that he prayed not to God, but lauded himself. More than this he even mocked him that did pray. “But the Publican stood afar off;” and yet he was in deed near to God. The consciousness of his heart kept him off, piety brought him close. “But the Publican stood afar off:” yet the Lord regarded him near. “For the Lord is high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly.”[Psalms 138:6] But “those that are high” as was this Pharisee, “He knoweth afar off.” “The high” indeed “God knoweth afar off,” but He doth not pardon them. Hear still more the humility of the Publican. It is but a small matter that he stood afar off; “he did not ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 513, footnote 8 (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, John ix. 4 and 31, ‘We must work the works of him that sent me,’ etc. Against the Arians. And of that which the man who was born blind and received his sight said, ‘We know that God heareth not sinners.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4033 (In-Text, Margin)
... shall we do, if God heareth not sinners? Dare we pray to God if He heareth not sinners? Give me one who may pray: lo, here is One to hear. Give me one who may pray, sift thoroughly the human race from the imperfect to the perfect. Mount up from the spring to the summer; for this we have just chanted. “Thou hast made summer and spring;” that is, “Those who are already spiritual, and those who are still carnal hast Thou made;” for so the Son Himself saith, “Thine Eyes have seen My imperfect being.”[Psalms 138:16] That which is imperfect in My Body, Thine Eyes have seen. And what then? Have they who are imperfect hope? Undoubtedly they have. Hear what follows; “And in Thy Book shall all be written.” But perhaps, Brethren, the spiritual pray and are heard, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 106, 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 IV. 1–42. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 344 (In-Text, Margin)
... that, because God is on high, He hears me the rather from a high place. Because thou art on a mountain, dost thou imagine thyself near to God, and that He will quickly hear thee, as if calling to Him from the nearest place? He dwells on high, but regards the lowly. “The Lord is near.” To whom? To the high, perhaps? “To them who are contrite of heart.” ’Tis a wonderful thing: He dwelleth on high, and yet is near to the lowly; “He hath regard to lowly things, but lofty things He knoweth from afar;”[Psalms 138:6] He seeth the proud afar off, and He is the less near to them the higher they appear to themselves to be. Didst thou seek a mountain, then? Come down, that thou mayest come near Him. But wouldest thou ascend? Ascend, but do not seek a mountain. “The ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 126, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XL (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1153 (In-Text, Margin)
... Thy servant, O Lord.” Our own are too little; those “of others” are added to the burden. I fear for myself; I fear for a virtuous brother, I have to bear with a wicked brother; and under such burthen what shall we be, if God’s mercy were to fail? “But Thou, Lord, remove not afar off.” Be Thou near unto us! To whom is the Lord near? “Even” unto them that “are of a broken heart.” He is far from the proud: He is near to the humble. “For though the Lord is high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly.”[Psalms 138:6] But let not those that are proud think themselves to be unobserved: for the things that are high, He “beholdeth afar off.” He “beheld afar off” the Pharisee, who boasted himself; He was near at hand to succour the Publican, who made confession. The ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 610, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5540 (In-Text, Margin)
6. …Such children ought therefore to be “around” the Lord’s “table, like olive-branches.”[Psalms 138:3] A complete Vine it is, a great bliss: who would now refuse to be there? When thou seest any blasphemer have a wife, children, grandchildren, and thyself perchance without them, envy them not; discern that the promise hath been fulfilled in thee also, but spiritually. If therefore we have, why have we? Because we fear the Lord. “Lo, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord” (ver. 4). He is the man, who is also the men; and the men are one ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 384, footnote 12 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Discourse II (HTML)
Texts Explained; Sixthly, Proverbs viii. 22, Continued. Our Lord not said in Scripture to be 'created,' or the works to be 'begotten.' 'In the beginning' means in the case of the works 'from the beginning.' Scripture passages explained. We are made by God first, begotten next; creatures by nature, sons by grace. Christ begotten first, made or created afterwards. Sense of 'First-born of the dead;' of 'First-born among many brethren;' of 'First-born of all creation,' contrasted with 'Only-begotten.' Further interpretation of 'beginning of ways,' and 'for the works.' Why a creature could not redeem; why redemption was necessary at all. Texts which contrast the Word and the works. (HTML)
... ‘Where I am, there ye’ shall ‘be also;’ so that we may say, ‘We are His workmanship, created unto good works.’ And again, since God’s work, that is, man, though created perfect, has become wanting through the transgression, and dead by sin, and it was unbecoming that the work of God should remain imperfect (wherefore all the saints were praying concerning this, for instance in the hundred and thirty-seventh Psalm, saying, ‘Lord, Thou shalt requite for me; despise not then the works of Thine hands[Psalms 138:8] ’); therefore the perfect Word of God puts around Him an imperfect body, and is said to be created ‘for the works;’ that, paying the debt in our stead, He might, by Himself, perfect what was wanting to man. Now immortality was wanting to him, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 125, footnote 8 (Image)
Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)
Against Eunomius. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
He thus proceeds to a magnificent discourse of the interpretation of “Mediator,” “Like,” “Ungenerate,” and “generate,” and of “The likeness and seal of the energy of the Almighty and of His Works.” (HTML)
... Only-begotten God, Who is contemplated in the eternity of the Beginning of existent things, Who is in the bosom of the Father, Who sustains all things, by the word of His power, the creator of the ages, from Whom and through Whom and in Whom are all things, Who sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and hath meted out heaven with the span, Who measureth the water in the hollow of his hand, Who holdeth in His hand all things that are, Who dwelleth on high and looketh upon the things that are lowly[Psalms 138:6], or rather did look upon them to make all the world to be His footstool, imprinted by the footmark of the Word—the form of God is “the seal” of an “energy.” Is God then an energy, not a Person? Surely Paul when expounding this very truth says He is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 428, footnote 5 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
The Second Oration on Easter. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4611 (In-Text, Margin)
... Blood; that is, habit and action, the sideposts of our doors; I mean, of course, of the movements of mind and opinion, which are rightly opened and closed by contemplation, since there is a limit even to thoughts. Then the last and gravest plague upon the persecutors, truly worthy of the night; and Egypt mourns the first-born of her own reasonings and actions which are also called in the Scripture the Seed of the Chaldeans removed, and the children of Babylon dashed against the rocks and destroyed;[Psalms 138:9] and the whole air is full of the cry and clamour of the Egyptians; and then the Destroyer of them shall withdraw from us in reverence of the Unction. Then the removal of leaven; that is, of the old and sour wickedness, not of that which is ...