Psalms 124:3
For the Lord will not leave the rod of sinners upon the lot of the just: that the just may not stretch forth their hands to iniquity.
Open Psalms 124:3 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Quia non relinquet Dominus virgam peccatorum super sortem justorum : ut non extendant justi ad iniquitatem manus suas,
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ὅτι οὐκ ἀφήσει τὴν ῥάβδον τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἐπὶ τὸν κλῆρον τῶν δικαίων, ὅπως ἂν μὴ ἐκτείνωσιν οἱ δίκαιοι ἐν ἀνομίᾳ χεῖρας αὐτῶν.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 125:3
- כִּ֤י לֹ֪א יָנ֡וּחַ שֵׁ֤בֶט הָרֶ֗שַׁע עַל֮ גּוֹרַ֪ל הַֽצַּדִּ֫יקִ֥ים לְמַ֡עַן לֹא יִשְׁלְח֖וּ הַצַּדִּיקִ֨ים בְּעַוְלָ֬תָה יְדֵיהֶֽם
Haydock's commentary
Rod. Sceptre, or violent dominion, Isaias x. 5.
That, Or "therefore." (Interp. in St. Chrysostom) God always concludes his threats with promises of pardon to the penitent, 1 Corinthians x. 13. (Calmet
He tries his servants for their good, and will not abandon them. (Worthington)
The captivity lasted only 70 years: the ten persecutions of the Christian Church were terminated in 300 years; and though the wicked should even put the just to death, then their rod remains no longer upon them. If the virtuous were always suffering, the temptation might be too strong. But those who are sincere, at last emerge from the cloud, and force their enemies to applaud their conduct. (Berthier)
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
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm CXXV
7. “For the Lord will not leave the rod of the ungodly upon the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous put forth their hands unto wickedness” ( ver. 3 ). At present indeed the righteous suffer in some measure, and at present the unrighteous sometimes tyrannize over the righteous. In what ways? Sometimes the unrighteous arrive at worldly honours: when they have arrived at them, and have been made either judges or kings; for God doth this for the discipline of His folk, for the discipline of His people; the honour due to their power must needs be shown them. For thus hath God ordained His Church, that every power ordained in the world may have honour, and sometimes from those who are better than those in power. For the sake of illustration I take one instance; hence calculate the grades of all powers. …
St Gregory Nazianzen On the Great Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria
18. Such was the lot of Job: such at first sight his history. In reality it was a contest between virtue and envy: the one straining every nerve to overcome the good, the other enduring everything, that it might abide unsubdued; the one striving to smooth the way for vice, by means of the chastisement of the upright, the other to retain its hold upon the good, even if they do exceed others in misfortunes. What then of Him who answered Job out of the whirlwind and cloud, Who is slow to chastise and swift to help, Who suffers not utterly the rod of the wicked to come into the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous should learn iniquity? At the end of the contests He declares the victory of the athlete in a splendid proclamation and lays bare the secret of his calamities, saying: “Thinkest thou that I have dealt with thee for any other purpose than the manifestation of thy righteousness?” …