Can wisdom always choose the right positions in life? Yes, but among the free! How many people have possessed wisdom? Even Solomon, the “wise” one, and his father, King David, the psalmist, possessed much wisdom, but they made mistakes. No matter how wise a person is, if he falls under the slavery of passions, unintentionally or intentionally, knowingly or unknowingly, he becomes a slave to them and falls from the rank of master to the ranks of slaves and from the heights of the wise to the lowly of the ignorant.

“Ignorance” is the first cause of committing sin, because when we do not know the reason for our happiness, we transfer the center of our joy from God to desires. This is the very essence of unwiseness. But wisdom often awakens. And God does not leave His servants who loved Him, no matter how far they have “ignorantly” departed from Him, to be led by passions and inclinations, but “He desires the return of the sinner so that he may live.”

This is what happens to every human being, and this is what happened to the Prophet David, that man who was madly in love with God. One day, from a sudden scene, lust took hold of him, and paralyzed his wisdom. The wise king who loved God turned into a slave subject to his “lust” and, intoxicated by his passion, forgot the law of the Lord, which was his delight and which he meditated on day and night.

When passion takes possession of a man's heart, it blinds his insight and drives him to fulfill his desire without any restraint from conscience, law, or brotherly love. Thus lust also caused David to fall into the sin of murder. While this heart was chaste in love for God, it turned into a pasture for desires when it did not control its external senses and was not vigilant in its path once. Passion, in David's heart, obliterated every sense of justice and compassion and covered up everything that happened. The just king forgot his crime and his action.

Until God sent his prophet “Nathan”, who presented to the king in a “parable” a story of injustice; (his story was the same). David ruled on it with divine anger and justice, and immediately the prophet Nathan said to him: You are the unjust, O king.

Then anger awakened David's sleeping wisdom and stripped him of the control of passion and blindness. The Prophet rose up like a wounded man and hastened to please God, and his words were among the strongest words of repentance known to humanity.

Psalm 50 is the “Prayer of Repentance.” All prayers contain “repentance,” but some prayers, especially some psalms, are called “Psalms of Repentance” because of their fervent expressions and deep sighs. The Great Compline Prayer, like the Little Compline Prayer, contains the most beautiful of these psalms, while Psalm 50 is the pinnacle of these psalms. This is why we understand why it is used so frequently in the Church in a way that is distinct from all the other psalms. With it, the Midnight Prayer begins, and it is repeated at Matins as well, and in the prayers of the hours we repeat it, in addition to the Compline Prayer, and this is done daily. It is perhaps the first psalm that most believers memorize and recite by heart.

Pausing and meditating on this wonderful psalm is essential for the prayer to pass from the lips to the mind and then to the heart. When we pray, we must first open our lips, set aside time and, if possible, find a place for it. Then we are required to understand with our mind what we read and what we say, to pray with our mind, to be present in prayer, and then the prayer must descend to the heart and nourish it.

(Title) In the end, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet entered upon him, after he had entered upon Bathsheba, the wife of Uri.

This title begins with the word “in the end,” which means it speaks about the afterlife. The psalm ends with that call or prophecy: “And let the walls of Jerusalem be built.” Despite his sin, as we will see in the course of the psalm, the prophet David did not completely lose the Spirit of God and still had the gift of prophecy. That is why he says in the psalm, “And do not take your Holy Spirit from me.”

Verse (2) summarizes the history of David’s story with his sin. It is clear that David did not repent at the beginning, immediately after his sin, but “after,” meaning after a period of time and separation. The prophet Nathan entered upon him, and God sent him to him as a trumpet of repentance, so that this heart would return to its awakening and to its true and correct desire, so that David’s heart would return to the love of God and the adoration of His will alone.

Chrysostom says that this psalm is “useful for the truly sinful, who has long neglected his sin and slept over it,” as was the case with David. When we know its story well, this psalm is able to awaken anyone who is asleep or who has surrendered to old sins. Repentance knows no temporal barriers. It is enough for the conscience to awaken and for us to be purified, to bring true peace into our hearts, and to be reconciled with God. This psalm is also useful for beginners in the faith, for it “teaches them not to be heedless, to be alert, and not to be lazy.” It is useful for the sinner not to despair, and for the righteous to always be alert and watchful for his salvation.

(1) Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy; according to the multitude of your compassions blot out my transgressions.

This is true prayer, it is a moment of humility before God and a request for His mercy, it is the true feeling that I am a sinner, it is self-knowledge and the acknowledgment of weaknesses. But the beautiful thing here in David’s prayer is that he beseeches God to have great mercy on him, not according to the fervor of his request, for his prayer appears to him cold and undeserved in his eyes, but he beseeches Him by the abundance of His mercy. I have sinned as a human being, so have mercy on me as God. This is how the blessed Augustine explains: He who truly feels that his sin is great asks for great mercy. That is why he who sins unintentionally feels in some way that he is asking for, for example, a small mercy from God. But he who feels that his sin is his crime and his responsibility before God asks for great mercy, in other words: he asks fervently.

Here, unlike his usual way, David calls out to God, saying, “O God.” He is the one who always used to say, “O God, my God,” and to speak to God as a father and personal Lord. Here, it seems that David does not have the courage to look to the sky and call the Lord his God, despite his faith and certainty in that, but sin has stolen from him the “significance” of calling on God, adding to it the first-person singular pronoun. He who used to say, “O God, my God, to you I will rise early,” and “They have fallen, but we rise in the name of the Lord our God,” had the significance, and now he has lost it.

It is usual in the poems of the Psalms, when the heart of the psalmist feels that the words do not express, to expand in the explanation. Therefore, in the verse, the second half explains the first in two ways: either by elaboration, that is, it continues the same meaning with other images and parallel words that explain the first half; or it explains it in reverse, that is, it rejects the opposite of the first half.

Here in verse (3) the second half elaborates on the first, saying, “Have mercy on me according to your great mercy, then according to your compassion blot out my transgressions.” This is what he often follows in this psalm, for there he implores God by his great mercy and here by “the multitude of compassions,” there he asks for his mercy and here he asks for forgiveness. As for Psalm 39, for example, we see him tending to explain in the opposite way. For example, he says, “I have proclaimed your righteousness in the great congregation,” “Behold, I have not shut my lips,” “I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart…” The meaning of the next half explains the previous one, but it uses the opposite meaning.

Here, then, the psalmist asks for God’s mercy as His mercy is great, then he elaborates and continues: And according to Your compassions blot out my transgressions. “For God is merciful and compassionate, and slow to anger; He will not be angry forever, nor will He keep His anger forever.” God’s compassion allows David to sing more of His mercy, for just as God is great in mercy, He is also abundant in compassion.

Here David uses the word “my transgressions.” Words like sin, iniquity, and guilt change their usage in the Bible spontaneously. Generally speaking, a sin is any mistake, whether knowingly or unknowingly, willingly or unwillingly. However, the responsibility of one sin for another differs. Iniquity is what is done with knowledge. Iniquity is transgression, that is, a person breaks the commandments that he knows. Here David has sinned twice against God and His law; here he confesses his sin and does not just complain about his mistake. He acknowledges his full guilt and responsibility, “and does not make excuses for sins.”

(2) Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

I do not ask that You erase only my sins from Your final and terrible book of judgment, I do not ask for forgiveness for a sin I have committed only, but I ask that You save me from my sin which I hated, erase it not from Your records but from my heart, remove it not from Your account but from my life. That is why the prophet explains it more clearly and says: “And from my sin cleanse me,” cleanse me from my sores which pain me. This is repentance, as Saint Isaac the Syrian says, it is to hate our sin. Christ came to uproot evil from its roots, not to erase mere oversights. Let us be purified because only the pure of heart will see God. The word “purify me” is stronger than “wash me.” That is, wash me so that I may be purified. Leave no trace of the love of my sins in me.

(3) For I know my transgression, and my sin is ever before me.

David was a king, and despite his many preoccupations, his high glory, his pride of position, and his power, all of that did not make him forget his sin. “I know my iniquity.” Is there a greater confession than this?

Not only do I acknowledge and confess that I have sinned, but I constantly remember my sin, day and night I remember the enormity of my sin. This is “constant repentance.” The Christian forgets his labors for Christ and remembers his sins. When Paul says, “I forget what is behind me and reach forward to what is ahead,”(13)He did not mean that he forgot his sins, especially his previous persecution of Christians, but rather that he forgot his troubles, for he always called himself “fallen” and the last of the apostles and not worthy of being called an apostle “because I persecuted the church of Christ.”(14)All these he always remembers, and they are before him at all times, but he forgets his “deaths”: that he was flogged by the Jews five times, that he was beaten with rods, that he was stoned and that he was shipwrecked three times. He forgets the fatigue of his travels and the dangers that surrounded him and the robbers, he forgets the fatigue and toil and sleeplessness and hunger and thirst and fasting and cold and nakedness and besides that also the fatigue of caring for the churches and his burning when some fell or others weakened, he forgets what has passed, even though he now – as he says to the Philippians – desires to go to Christ.(15)And he stretches forward as if he had not yet grown tired for Christ. In this letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul begins by reminding his loved ones of his chains and the envy of others who have added to his straits the tightness of his bonds.(16)But he rejoices in the Lord and in the labors that were done for him. These labors are his joy and his treasure. He forgets what is beyond that and extends forward.(17)Because he “seeks” and will not be stopped by restrictions or torments. “Be imitators of me,” continues the Apostle Paul.(18).

This is what Saint Silouan the Athonite teaches: “Keep your mind in hell and do not despair.” My sin is before me at all times, but I do not despair, but rather I hasten to strive. Remembering sins does not mean surrendering to them or despairing because of them, but constant vigilance and continuous humility before God. This is the criterion and measure of permanent repentance. God, through His prophet Isaiah, explains to us that confessing sin is the reason for its forgiveness: “I am he who blots out your transgressions… and I will not remember your sins. Remind me (of your sins), and you will be judged. Speak, that I may justify you.”(19).

(4) Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.

Thus the prophet Nathan rebuked David: Why have you done evil in the eyes of the Lord and corrupted his words?(20)A person’s sin towards his neighbor is also towards God first and foremost. It is, above all, a transgression against the Lord’s commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Christ always identified himself with the poor and the weak: “Whatever you did to one of these little ones, you did to me.” He who wrongs the son actually sins against his father. I have indeed sinned against men, says the prophet David, against Uriah and his wife, but they are my servants! But against you I have sinned before all. To sin against one’s neighbor is to defy you, O Lord, to transgress your commandment, to offend you before all.

I hid evil from the eyes of men and committed sin in secret using various traps, but all of it was before Your eyes that watch everything and examine the reins and hearts. Before Your face I have sinned against You and I am not ashamed.

The Prophet David calls his evils and sins singularly “evil” because the first sin brings about the second and so on. When a person tends toward “evil” and begins to transgress the divine commandments, evil gives birth to its complications, we only need to give it enough time. Everything that is contrary to the divine commandment and does not serve it is “evil.” Whoever transgresses one of the commandments becomes a transgressor of all of them.

§ So that you may be truthful in your words and prevail in your trial.

These words explain the words of Psalm (142): “Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living will be justified in your sight.” God conquered David with love. God made David a king when the latter was a shepherd, gave him promises that no human being deserved, and glorified him with glories that no other could dream of. As for me, says the prophet David, I have shown my ingratitude. You have been true to your promises, but I have treated you unworthily, so you will prevail in your judgment. In the judgment you will be justified and I will be condemned. And what judgment will be mine, I who am caught in sins! When you judge me, I will be worthy of your justice. I am the cause and reason for my judgment, but you are justified and just in all that you do to us.

(5) Behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother bear me.

Here the prophet David dives into the depths of his own self and sees the extent of the darkness of his inner passions and the difficulty of the external environment. After he “confesses” his sin, he looks at his self, which is mixed with lusts, and at his world, which is mixed with evils. He speaks about this “unnatural” state that prevails today. The natural life of man is that which was in paradise. The unnatural or sub-natural life is that which we live on earth. This is characterized by pain, death, and fatigue, and its world has become full of evils. This was not before, but it is foreign to the life of mankind. It is a state after sin, and it can even be called a state of sin because it came from sin and resulted from it. Even birth with labor and pain, as it is now, is from a state of sin. Man is born from his birth into a “world of sin.” “In sins did my mother bear me.” Here David speaks about his entire life, which is inclined toward sin and surrounded by a world that drags it toward it. David is not very surprised that he fell and admits that he is a sinner in a sinful world!

Here the prophet does not mean that pregnancy and marriage are sin and a sin, for marriage is blessed; but he speaks of the world mixing with the elements of what comes after sin. As Chrysostom says: “What we learn from here is not that the flesh is the cause of sin or that nature is an inevitable impulse to it (otherwise we would not deserve punishments), but that our nature and the environment are capable and inclined to sin after the fall, due to our passions and the corruption of the world, but we overcome them by our wisdom and our labors, when wisdom is united with diligence and labor.”

(6) Because you loved the truth, and you made clear to me the hidden and obscure things of your wisdom.

Here indeed appears the true repentance of David: I confess all this and my sin and I set it before me at all times, because you love the truth and before you there is no benefit in twisting or turning or denying, nor does false self-justification please you. I am a sinner and I have sinned. And when I come to reconcile with you I cannot also provoke you with deceit and justification. I have sinned, yes, so have mercy on me and I will tell the truth because you love so. Moreover, I also reproach and rebuke myself, because I did evil knowingly and not unwittingly. For you have already revealed to everyone and to me in particular the secrets and hidden aspects of your wisdom. I did not commit my sin in ignorance, as one who does not know the law, but deliberately and knowingly, for I know the principles of the law and even its secrets and mysteries, and despite all that I have sinned.

(7) You sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; you wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

After all that confession of sin and witnessing the inner darkness, filth and ugliness resulting from the works of darkness, David looks with confidence and hope to the hands of the Lord, which will inevitably wash him of his sin.

“Hyssop” is a translation of the word (υσσόπο) which is a plant with a high purifying power that cleanses very well. So David says, despite all that I have achieved, you will surely purify me as with hyssop and you will restore me white as snow. Many of the fathers, such as Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoretus, and Athanasius the Great, see in this a prophecy of the holy mystery of baptism. St. Issychius sees it as a symbol of the work of the Holy Spirit (hyssop and purification).

(8) You make me hear joy and gladness, so that my weak bones rejoice.

You, O Lord, will forgive me, and I will be sure of that when, inevitably, You will pour into my soul instead of these tears joy and happiness. You will transform the sorrow poured into me into joy and gladness from You.

My sin has made me weary, and even my bones have become humble and humbled and are weary under the weight of my iniquity. Make me glad, restore joy not only to my afflicted soul but also to my aching bones, instill the joy of your forgiveness. And soothe the wounds of my soul with the ointment of your love and forgiveness, so that my flesh and bones may also rejoice. Of course, the transfer of psychological feelings to the body is a natural thing, because it indicates the depth of those feelings.

Some fathers see in these words a prophecy about Christ as well. It is as if David is asking God to save man not only from the sins committed against the law, but also to heal even the bone and the flesh, and this is what happened with the body of the risen Christ as the beginning of our resurrection. It is as if “my bones are healed” is a prophecy about the resurrection of the body that will happen for the first time with Christ. Among these fathers are Chrysostom and Cyril of Alexandria.

(9) Turn your face away from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

Here I am, I gather my sins and confess them and lay them before me, and they cannot be hidden from your sight, but turn your face away from them. This is what the blessed Augustine confirms and what John Chrysostom says literally: “Write and record your sins in the book of God, and He will erase them. For if you do not write them, He will not erase them, but will demand judgment for them.” It is better for us to record them so that they may be erased from above, rather than forget them and have them recorded against us until we face them before our eyes on that terrible day (the Day of Judgment).

This is what burns David’s heart, that he has wronged the one he loves, God. He does not know how to please Him and humbly asks Him to reconcile with him, to turn a blind eye, to erase the sin, to increase His mercies and to wash him away. And each line adds another phrase. The meanings are too narrow to contain the feelings of contrition and bear the fervor of supplication for reconciliation.

(10) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

The heart, of course, is not the physical organ! Christ once asked: “Why do you think these things in your hearts?”(21)The heart here is the center of thoughts. Sometimes the heart means: will, decision, inclination, and personal desire, as stated by the Prophet Isaiah: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”(22)Other times the heart means: contentment, joy, and acceptance: “And God found David the son of Jesse, a man after his own heart, who would do all his will.”(23).

The heart is the center of the human being, the will and desires, and here the word heart can be interpreted as “soul,” that is, purify my soul and make it pure. “Create” here does not mean that he is asking for something that does not exist—this is what St. Basil the Great emphasizes—but as St. Cyril says, create here means renew and repair. So David’s heart and soul were pure, but he filled them with corruption and spoiled them, and now he asks God to restore the heart and soul to their original beauty.

David increases his request and asks God for a right spirit. The right spirit is the spirit of truth. The entrails here are the interior of the person, or in other words, the inner man. So make my spirit right, O Lord. Just as the heart is the center of the person and his person, the entrails are the recesses of his depths. Thus he explains his request in a pressing manner similar to the first one in the first half.

Theodoretus here emphasizes that what is meant is not the Holy Spirit but the spirit of righteousness, that is, the concept of justice, truth, and sound reason. Likewise, Saint Athanasius explains the righteous spirit as a living conscience.

(11) Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.

Just as David asked the Lord to turn His face away from his sins, he asks the same thing here, saying: If you look at me and see that I am unworthy because of my iniquity, do not cast me out, do not cast me out from before your face, and do not take away from me your Holy Spirit and the grace of prophecy which you gave me. Do not take away from me your Holy Spirit and the gifts that were in me. This is how John Chrysostom explains it and says: “I ask for this grace and the presence of your Spirit as the bee returns to the flower after the smoke has disappeared.” This does not contradict the previous idea that David did not completely lose the spirit of prophecy after his sin, but rather he actually lost it partially. For if the Holy Spirit completely abandons a person, he will inevitably perish, and his graces are limited to us when we hinder his work in us by our sins.

(12) Grant me the joy of your salvation, and sustain me with your governing spirit.

Grant me, O Lord, inner peace, and cast from my heart the torment of sin, restore to me the joy of righteousness, and remove from me the anxiety of evil. Give me the peace and joy of conscience and the joy of salvation that I had before my sin. How does a person feel the joy of salvation? When he feels that his own God is the justifier and the savior, when he feels that he has a calling, despite his weakness, to be among the ranks of the saved, that is, those whom the Savior God acknowledges as His servants.

And support me, O Lord, with a governing spirit, with the spirit of righteousness. Let Your Holy Spirit give me the strength to live virtuously, let Him calm the turmoil of my passions and grant me the spirit of righteousness, and give me the strength to control my inclinations toward sin. Grant me the rule of the spirit over the body, give me the dominion that You gave me before, the dominion of the will over desires.

(13) Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and the ungodly will turn to you.

This verse may be a prophecy of the conversion of the unbelieving nations to faith through the spread of the Gospel. Perhaps this book that remains from David will actually be an instruction to the unbelievers with its wonderful songs and fervent prayers of repentance.

Saint Athanasius says on the tongue of the Prophet David: “Since you have blotted out my transgressions, and have been long-suffering toward me, and have poured out the abundance of your mercy, and have not taken your Holy Spirit from me, and have granted me the joy of your salvation, I will certainly teach the unbelievers faith and the sinners repentance. Indeed, your forgiveness and my return will be a truly eloquent lesson in repentance, and will lead many to it.” This is also what Ischius says: Just as a sick person resorts to a medicine with confidence when he sees that another sick person like him has taken it before him and been healed, so David’s repentance has become a lesson and an encouragement to our repentance.

Thus, in the Afashin of the morning that the priest recites, the eighth Afashin says: “O You who set for us the repentance of David as a symbol of repentance…” So David cries out: Forgive me, O Lord, and show in me the greatness of Your mercy, and I will be a lesson and an example of repentance and proof of Your love and mercy, proof that leads sinners to return and repent lest they perish. That is why Paul’s cry was a strong example that Christ “came to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” This is what Paul means, that is, if you do not believe that Christ accepts sinners, then my example proves – according to him – that He forgives the greatest of sinners, of whom I am the greatest and first, since I previously persecuted His Church.

(14) Deliver me from blood, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will rejoice in your righteousness.

If we want to understand the text in its historical sense, the blood here is the unjustly shed blood, the blood of Uriah whom David killed. It is as if David is praying to God to save him from falling into this terrible mistake again. The repetition of God’s name, “O God, the God of my salvation,” shows the intensity of his supplication. Here the repentant David asks God to give him the strength to spend the rest of his life in bloodless repentance. Even repentance itself is, on the one hand, a personal decision and position, but on the other hand its realization is a divine blessing and gift. The One who guarantees my repentance is the God of my salvation.

The word “blood” can be understood in its figurative sense as “demons.” Demons are symbolized by blood because they are the cause of killing and rejoice in it and in evil.

Of course, the heart that is saved from blood and evils in general and is delivered from them is not occupied with worries or troubled by the fears of evils, their works and their results, but is filled with feelings of praise and begins to sing of God’s greatness, mercy and righteousness, that is, of the justification, that is, of the forgiveness and pardon that he received. Saint Cyril sees in the word “righteousness” here Christ Himself. David, as in prophecy, rejoices in Christ through whom justification has become ours and He has become God’s justification for us and our righteousness before Him.

(15) O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise.

My mouth has become silent from the pain of sin, it has blocked my mouth from its usual hymns. So forgive me, O Lord, and open my lips with your forgiveness so that they may praise you once again as they were. O Lord, open for me the doors of repentance so that I may return to my former life, to praising you and singing of your mercy.

(16) For if you had desired sacrifice, I would have given it now, but you do not delight in burnt offerings.

Here David transcends all the gap between his time and the time of the New Testament, and transcends the legal ordinances as if he were worshipping God in spirit and truth.(24)His sacrifice is his praise, his thanksgiving, his prayer, and his repentance. God’s forgiveness is not bought with sacrifices, but with true repentance, that is, a deep hatred of sin. You do not sell forgiveness with a sacrifice, for even burnt offerings do not please you, the prophet says to God.

The Jews had several types of sacrifices as offerings to the temple, some of which were slaughtered and eaten. The most precious sacrifices to God were those that were offered entirely to God, so they were all burned and nothing was taken from them at all. Even these, the most honorable sacrifices, were not preferred by God, but as David continues in the next verse:

(17) For the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; a broken and humble heart God will not despise.

What is a contrite spirit? It is our heart when we condemn and judge it and it actually confesses our sin. Contriteness comes from self-blame and standing before God as a contrite, broken-hearted judge. St. Basil the Great explains and says: “Contriteness of heart is the expulsion of human thoughts. The contrite of heart is he who gives himself and his mind to contemplating the divine word and who gives his mind the opportunity to be occupied with the sublime and divine meanings. This actually makes his heart a sacrifice acceptable to the Lord and not rejected by Him. For he whom God loves, and is good to, and wants to live in the newness of life and spirit, He crushes in him his old man. Therefore, the sacrifice to God is the contrite spirit, that is, the spirit of the world working in us is crushed, every sin, so that a right spirit may be renewed in our inward parts…”

St. Mark the Ascetic says: “Without contrition of heart we cannot be freed from our sins. What contrives the heart is the control of sleep and stomach and not being lazy in rest.” Contrition of heart, in other words, is poverty of spirit. The poor in spirit is the humble one who, when he does good, does not become arrogant because he always remembers his sins and they are before him at all times. On the contrary, hardness of heart comes from pride, worldliness, hypocrisy and lies. That is why the prophet says: “O children of men, why are you so heavy of heart? How long will you love vanity and seek after lies?” This is what the blessed Augustine calls the tears of prayer, the sweat of the heart and the blood of the soul. He who weeps for his sins offers the true sacrifice to God.

(18) O Lord, in your good pleasure restore Zion, and let the walls of Jerusalem be built.

You are good, O Lord, and my desire is not only for You to forgive my sins, but for You to look down from heaven and look upon the vine that Your right hand has planted and to improve it, because it cannot be improved unless You are pleased with it and strive for it. Here David asks insistently but with brokenness, and says “let it be built” instead of “and build the walls of Jerusalem.” In this way he emphasizes the request with hope and not with a command. Of course, Jerusalem is the city of God and His people, and its built walls are the health and strength of His Church.

(19) Then you will be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with offerings and burnt offerings; then they will offer bullocks upon your altar.

David's former and latter request were fulfilled when the Lord built his church and repaired its walls, and he took pleasure in the sacrifice of righteousness, that is, in the body and blood of his Son which are eaten and sanctify those who partake of them. This is the living sacrifice and the sacrificial lamb.

In this psalm many of the holy fathers saw allusions to Christ and his Church, such as Cyril and Eusebius. The pleasure of God is Christ, the Savior. Zion is the Church. The walls of Jerusalem are the upright teachers of the Church, its pillars and bishops, or also the heavenly angels. The sacrifice of justice in the Church of Christ is not animal sacrifices but the life of Christians, that is, virtue. The offerings and sacrifices correspond to the sufferings of the saints and confessors. The burnt offerings are the martyrs who offered their whole selves and their entire lives for the sake of faith. Also a sacrifice in the Church is chastity or any sacrifice of life in our daily conduct, whatever it may be. The burnt offerings are perfect virtue, that is, monastic life (as Theodoretus explains).

The calves are the Christians who practice virtues. These become fat with the oil of the Holy Spirit because they struggle with the passions and the devil knows their faith. These offer their souls on the heavenly altar as sacrifices that become a sweet smell. Amen.

(12) Footnote related to the title: This psalm is recited at midnight prayers, matins, the third hour, and the lesser and greater sleep.

(13) Phil 3, 13.

(14) See: 1 Cor 15:8-10.

(15) Phil 1, 23.

(16) FL 1, 6.

(17) Phil 3, 13.

(18) Phil 3, 17.

(19) Isaiah 43:25-26.

(20) 2 Kings 12, 9.

(21) Luke 24:38.

(22) 29, 13.

(23) Acts 13, 22; 1 Kings 13, 14.

(24) John 4:23-24.