Luke 1:69
And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us, in the house of David his servant:
In the palace
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- et erexit cornu salutis nobis in domo David pueri sui,
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- καὶ ἤγειρεν κέρας σωτηρίας ἡμῖν ἐν οἴκῳ Δαυὶδ παιδὸς αὐτοῦ,
Haydock's commentary
As Christ was born of the race of David, he is here called the horn of salvation in the house of David. As Isaias says, a vineyard is planted in the horn, chap. v.
A powerful salvation.10 According to the letter both of the Latin and Greek text, a horn of salvation. But as it is generally agreed, that by horn, in the phraseology of the Scriptures, is understood strength and power, and that horn sounds awkwardly in English, and other languages, I hope it may be literally enough translated, a powerful salvation. (Witham)
10 Cornu salutis, keras soterias. Abscissum est cornu Moab. (Jeremias xlviii. 25.) Cornu David. (Psalm lxxiv. 5.) See also Psalm cxxxi. 17, &c.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Theophylact Catena Aurea
God seemed to be asleep, disregarding the sins of the multitude, but in these last times coming in the flesh, He has risen up and trodden down the evil spirits who hated us. Hence it is said, And he has raised up an horn of salvation to us in the house of his servant David.
Origen Catena Aurea
Because Christ was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, it is said, A horn of salvation to us in the house of his servant David; as it has also elsewhere been said, A vineyard has been planted in a horn, i.e. in Jesus Christ.
St John Chrysostom Catena Aurea
Now by a horn he means power, glory, and honor, deriving it metaphorically from the brute creatures, to whom God has given horns for defense and glory.
St Bede Catena Aurea
The kingdom of our Savior Christ is called also the horn of salvation, because all our bones are clothed with flesh, but the horn alone stretches beyond the flesh; so the kingdom of Christ is called the horn of salvation, as reaching beyond the world and the delights of the flesh. According to which figure David and Solomon were consecrated by the horn of oil to the glory of the kingdom.
St Irenaeus Against Heresies: Book III, Chapter XVI. Proofs from the
3. Paul, when writing to the Romans, has explained this very point: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, predestinated unto the Gospel of God, which He had promised by His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was made to Him of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated the Son of God with power through the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And again, writing to the Romans about Israel, he says: “Whose are the fathers, and from whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed for ever.” And again, in his Epistle to the Galatians, he says: “But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption;” plainly indicating one God, who did by the prophets make promise of the …
St Cyprian Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews, That Christ our God should come, the Enlightener and Saviour of the human race
In Isaiah: “Be comforted, ye weakened hands; and ye weak knees, be strengthened. Ye who are of a timorous heart, fear not. Our God will recompense judgment, He Himself will come, and will save us. Then shall be opened the eyes of the blind, and the ears of the deaf shall hear. Then the lame man shall leap as a stag, and the tongue of the dumb shall be intelligible; because in the wilderness the water is broken forth, and the stream in the thirsty land.” Also in that place: “Not an elder nor an angel, but the Lord Himself shall deliver them; because He shall love them, and shall spare them, and He Himself shall redeem them.” Also in the same place: “I the Lord God have called Thee in righteousness, that I may hold Thine hand, and I will comfort Thee; and I have given Thee for a covenant of my people, for a light of the nations; to open the eyes of the blind, to bring forth them that are b …
St Augustine Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John, Chapter XII. 27-36
8. But some one says, Was he then not cast out of the hearts of the patriarchs and prophets, and the righteous of olden time? Certainly he was. How, then, is it said, “Now he shall be cast out”? How else can we think of it, but that what was then done in the case of a very few individuals, was now foretold as speedily to take place in many and mighty nations? Just as also that other saying, “For the Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified,” may suggest a similar inquiry, and find a similar solution. For it was not without the Holy Spirit that the prophets predicted the events of the future; nor was it so that the aged Simeon and the widowed Anna knew by the Holy Spirit the infant Lord; and that Zacharias and Elisabeth uttered by the Holy Spirit so many predictions concerning Him, when He was not yet born, but only conceived. …
St Augustine Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John, Chapter XVII. 20
2. In this prayer, therefore, Jesus may seem to have omitted praying for some of His own, unless we carefully examine His words in the prayer itself. For if He prayed first for those, as we have already shown, who were then with Him, and afterwards for those also who should believe on Him through their word, it may be said that He prayed not for those who were neither with Him when He so spake, nor afterwards believed through their word, but had done so at some previous time either of themselves, or in some other supposable manner. …