Psalm 25 — Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked

^25:1^ Unto the end, a psalm for David. Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my innocence, and I have put my trust in the Lord and shall not be weakened. ^25:2^ Prove me, O Lord, and try me; burn my reins and my heart.

^25:3^ For your mercy is before my eyes and I am well pleased with your truth.

^25:4^ I have not sat with the council of vanity; neither will I go in with the doers of unjust things. ^25:5^ I have hated the assembly of the wicked and with the impious I will not sit.

^25:6^ I will wash my hands among the innocent, and will compass your altar, O Lord: ^25:7^ that I may hear the voice of your praise and tell of all your wondrous works.

^25:8^ I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of your house and the place where your glory dwells.

^25:9^ Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked, nor my life with bloody men ^25:10^ in whose hands are iniquities; their right hand is filled with gifts. ^25:11^ But as for me, I have walked in my innocence. Redeem me and have mercy on me.

^25:12^ For my foot has stood in the direct way; in the churches I will bless you, O Lord.

226. Above, the psalmist put forward a prayer against troubles; now here, he describes his justice in order to make his prayer more acceptable.

The title is clear, since it is not new.

The psalmist, therefore, makes two points about this.

First, he gives his whole intention in general.

Second, he explains it in particular, at I have not sat with the council.

He makes three points about this.

First, he asks for judgment.

Second, he asserts his justice, at for I have walked.

Third, he excuses his presumption, at for your mercy.

Now David, in his own person or that of the just man, seeing himself in a place mingling with sinners, although not deservedly, asks to be distinguished from them, so he says, judge me, O Lord, that is, distinguish me from them.

But on the contrary. Enter not into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living can be justified (Ps 142:2).

I respond. It must be said the judgment is twofold.

First, that of severity and strictness; and he does not ask for this judgment since no one can bear it.

Another is the judgment of mercy and examination, and he asks for this. Correct me, O Lord, but yet with judgment and not in fury (Jer 10:24), that is, of severity.

And he puts forward his innocence, and so he says, I have walked in my innocence, that is, I have gone forward in my innocence.

Or I have walked, since our life is a sort of progression. I will lead you by the paths of equity, which, when you have entered, your steps shall not be straitened (Prov 4:11–12).

And this in my innocence, which I propose to guard. The innocent shall be saved, and he shall be saved by the cleanness of his hands (Job 22:30).

I shall not be weakened. Jerome has, I shall not fail, namely, in guarding this innocence. Until I die I shall not depart from it (Job 27:5).

And I will do this not in my strength, but in confidence of the divine help, since I have put my trust in the Lord and shall not be weakened. None who trust in him fail in strength (1 Macc 2:61).

But on the contrary, this seems to be presumption. If I would justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me (Job 9:20).

I respond. It must be said that an assertion of innocence can sometimes come from pride, namely, when someone attributes it to himself, and this is evil. Sometimes it comes from the divine mercy and this is good, and so he adds, for your mercy.

But how do you know that you are innocent? **Prove, O Lord, and try me; burn my reins and my heart, you do this.

And he describes three things: proving, tribulation, and trying. The second follows from the first, the third from the second.

Therefore, he says, prove me, O Lord, not so that you will know anything about me from it, but so that you may show others.

Now someone is proved best through a trial, which comes from experience. Trial is acquiring experience about that which someone does not know, while proving is about that which he knows, to manifest virtue. And so he says, try me, namely, so that I may appear as proven to myself and to others. For God does not tempt to evil. For God is not a tempter of evils (Jas 1:13), but he is said to try when anything is shown through great difficulty.

Now this trial is through fire. As gold in the furnace he has proved them (Wis 3:6). And so he says, burn my reins and my heart, that is, send tribulations through which what is in my heart and my reins will be shown. To the heart, thought is attributed; to the reins, delight. And this is shown through tribulations, since he who delights in earthly things is greatly shaken when they perish, but not those who do not delight in them.

Or it can be referred to the fire of the Holy Spirit—I am come to cast fire on the earth (Luke 12:49)—as if to say, “Lest I fail in tribulations, send me help. Send the fire which burns what is fleshly in my delights and vain in my thinking.”

227. For your mercy is before my eyes. Here he makes excuse in two ways for asking to be tried.

The first is from his thought, since he thinks of the mercy of God, when he says, for your mercy is before my eyes, as if to say, “Therefore, I ask to be tempted because I trust in your mercy, which always comes with proving temptation.” I will remember the tender mercies of the Lord, the praise of the Lord for all the things that the Lord has bestowed upon us (Isa 63:7).

Likewise he makes excuse from his love of justice. I am well pleased with your truth, that is, if you punish me for sins, I am pleased; if you try, I know that you will reward.

228. I have not sat with the council of vanity. Here, he explains his intention in particular.

And first, he describes his innocence.

Second, he puts forward his petition, at take not away my soul with the wicked.

Therefore, he shows his innocence:

first, through his drawing back from evil;

and second, through his approach to the good, at I will wash.

Now there are three kinds of evil, corresponding to three sins.

For sin is either against God,

or against a neighbor,

or against oneself.

Now, against oneself are sins of vanity, by which a man is vainly delighted in earthly things, and he says about these, I have not sat with the council of vanity, as if to say, “I do not say that I will never be with them, since it cannot be that a man never delight vainly in earthly things.” But he says, I have not sat. Never have I joined myself with those who play; neither have I made myself partaker with those who walk in lightness (Tob 3:17).

Sins against a neighbor are sins which are brought forth in action, so he says, neither will I go in with the doers of unjust things, that is, not only will I not sit with them, but I have not gone in—that is, I have not mixed with them in any way. My son, if sinners shall entice you . . . walk not with them (Prov 1:10, 15).

Likewise mentioned are the sins thought in the heart, so he says, I have hated the assembly of the wicked, that is, the congregation of the wicked. I have hated the unjust (Ps 118:113), that is, their guilt and wickedness.

Third, he puts down the sin against God, and this is impiety, and so he says, and with the impious, that is, with heretics and schismatics, I will not sit, that is, I will not share their teachings. Be not led away with various and strange doctrines (Heb 13:9).

229. I will wash my hands. Above, the psalmist showed his innocence through that which separated him from evils; but here he shows it through his attachment to goods, and that the goods, the application of which makes us good, are the divine goods. Therefore, he speaks about his attachment to them.

He makes two points about this.

First, he describes his eagerness;

and second, its effect, at I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of your house.

He considers three points about his eagerness.

First, he describes his ordering to divine worship.

Second, he describes this divine worship, at I will compass.

Third, he describes the fruit, at that I may hear the voice of your praise.

This ordering takes place through purity and innocence. Lord, who shall dwell in your tabernacle? (Ps 14:1). The innocent in hands and clean of heart (Ps 23:4).

And so that he may approach it pure, he treats purity. Therefore, he says, I will wash my hands among the innocent, that is, my works which are principally washed by God through the grace which he pours down. Wash me yet more from my iniquity (Ps 50:4).

Likewise, they are washed by us through penance. Wash yourselves, be clean (Isa 1:16). I will wash, therefore I will do penance so that they may be washed. And I will do this among the innocent, since manners are formed by association. With the innocent, you will be innocent (Ps 17:26).

And so, washed, I will approach the divine worship. And I will compass your altar, O Lord**.

Here he describes the material altar, and it is said, I will compass your altar, O Lord, since he either prays or stands close, like Simeon the high priest, who himself stood by the altar (Sir 50:13). And so when the priest approaches the sacrament, he says, I will wash.

Or it can be understood about the spiritual altar. There is an altar in a temple; as there are three temples, there are three altars.

The first is the just man. Know you not that your members are the temple of the Holy Spirit? (1 Cor 6:19). The altar of this is the heart. The fire, that is, charity, on the altar, that is, in the heart, shall always burn (Lev 6:12). We should compass this altar, or stand nearby—that is, ornament it—by always going to Christ. With all watchfulness keep your heart, because life issues out from it (Prov 4:23).

Another temple is the Church, and the altar of this temple is Christ. We have an altar whereof they have no power to eat who serve the tabernacle (Heb 13:10). Or it is faith. And we should compass this altar so that we may be around it with our entire heart.

The third temple is God himself. I saw a temple therein; the Lord God Almighty is the temple (Rev 21:22). And the altar of this is the mercy of God. And we should compass this with the desire of the mind. The Lord is sweet to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works (Ps 144:9).

Afterwards he shows the fruit, and there is a twofold fruit: namely, to hear and to tell. So he says, that I may hear the voice of your praise.

And, according to the literal sense, this is about the material altar, since this sacrifice is very acceptable to God. The sacrifice of praise shall honor me (Ps 49:23).

Likewise, it is the praise which the Holy Spirit speaks in us. I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me (Ps 84:9).

Likewise it is in heaven. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away (Isa 35:10).

Or he asks, that I may hear the voice of your praise, that is, Christ praising me. And this will take place in the judgment when he will say, I was hungry (Matt 25:35).

But it is said, he who hears says, “Come” (Rev 22:17). So we listen to this so that we may speak to others. That which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto you (Isa 21:10). And so he adds, and tell of all your wondrous works. Has not the Lord made the saints declare all his wonderful deeds? (Sir 42:17).

And he says, all the wonderful works, in regard to the affection or knowledge, not in regard to the effect, since he is beyond all praise.

230. I have loved, O Lord. Here he shows the affection which he has for the divine worship, which, as is appropriate, should be with the affection of love. Because of this, he says, I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of your house.

Dionysius says, the good and beautiful is lovable to all. (Dionysius, The Divine Names 4.10 (Patrologia Graeca [Migne], 3:705–8).) Thus every man loves the beautiful. The carnal love carnal beauty; the spiritual love spiritual beauty, that is, the beauty of the house of God. How beautiful are your tabernacles, O Jacob, and your tents, O Israel! As woody valleys, as watered gardens near the rivers, as tabernacles which the Lord has pitched (Num 24:5–6). Now this is the beauty of good works or the service of the divine or of his saints, since all these are like the comeliness of the house of God. Therefore, I love all this, that they may make me fit for the comeliness of the house of God. So, therefore, affection is shown because there is delight and beauty and comeliness.

But it should be known that this comeliness comes from the dwelling of God. As a house is not beautiful unless it is inhabited, so I love myself since you dwell in me, or I love the fatherland that I may dwell there, or I tend there. And so he says, and the place where your glory dwells, and all these—good works, the gifts of God, and the saints—are the comeliness of the house of God insofar as he shines in them by the divine grace which beatifies like the light. As Ambrose says, without light all things are ugly. (Ambrose, Hexaemeron libri sex 1.9 (Patrologia Latina [Migne], 14:142A).) And the glory of the Lord went into the temple (Ezek 43:4).

231. Take not away my soul, O God. Here he explains the petition for judgment that he makes, and he explains what kind of judgment he asks for, and he asks two things.

First, he asks to be separated from the evils that could occur in the future;

second, he asks to be separated from the evils that he suffers in the present, at redeem.

Therefore, first he puts down the petition. Here it should be known that punishment from God is prepared for two sorts of men:

namely, for those who are wicked or sinners against God: the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him (Ezek 18:20). And he says, take not away, as if to say, “Although I am afflicted here and suffer earthly evils with the wicked, nevertheless take not away my soul with them.”

Likewise, those are punished who are wicked in action against their neighbor; so he says, nor my life with bloody men. Bloody and deceitful men (Ps 54:24). Here are counted all those who offend against their neighbor in whatever way.

Now, blood is threefold.

In one way, it is caused by food and drink, so food and drink are called the blood of the poor. The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; he who defrauds is a man of blood (Sir 34:25).

Second is the blood of a man, and homicide sheds this.

Third is the blood of seed for conserving the species, and a fornicator pours this out, since he does not act for offspring.

He says, in whose hands are iniquities, as if to say, “Therefore, I ask this, that I be separated from these then, since I am separate from them now in conversation and life because in their hands are iniquities; they are very prone to evil.” Their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood (Prov 1:16). The work of iniquity is in their hands (Isa 59:6).

Likewise, their affection is inclined to worldly things; so he says, their right hand is filled with gifts. Fire shall devour their tabernacles who love to take bribes (Job 15:34).

Or he says, their right hand is filled with gifts, as if to say, “Although they are wicked, nevertheless you give temporal things to them, and in this consists their reward.” They have received their reward (Matt 6:2).

Afterwards, he describes himself, saying, but as for me, I have walked in my innocence, as if to say, “I ask this so that as you prepare evils for them, you may prepare goods for me.” He will not deprive of good things those who walk in innocence (Ps 83:13).

Afterwards he asks to be freed from present evils. The evils men suffer can be of two kinds.

Either they are exterior evils, and from these he asks to be redeemed, so he says, redeem me, as a slave from evils pressing upon me. (Or it is about the redemption of the human race.)

Or they are interior evils, and he asks to be delivered from these, so he says, have mercy upon me, since misery properly regards interior evil. Sin makes nations miserable (Prov 14:34).

232. For my foot has stood. Here the reason is given why he asks this, and it is twofold.

One has to do with the past. It is rectitude of life, so he says, my foot, that is, my affection, or my progress, has stood in the direct way.

Likewise he says about the future, “I propose always to serve you,” so he says, in the churches I will bless you, O Lord, that is, before many. I have declared your justice in a great church (Ps 39:10).

And he speaks of several because of the multitude of particular churches, as mentioned in Revelation 3.