Psalms 147:15
Who sendeth forth his speech to the earth: his word runneth swiftly.
Open Psalms 147:15 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine) shown from Psalms 147:4
- Qui emittit eloquium suum terræ : velociter currit sermo ejus.
- Septuagint (Swete) shown from Psalms 147:4
- ὁ ἀποστέλλων τὸ λόγιον αὐτοῦ τῇ γῇ, ἕως τάχους δραμεῖται ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ·
- Hebrew (WLC)
- הַשֹּׁלֵ֣חַ אִמְרָת֣וֹ אָ֑רֶץ עַד מְ֝הֵרָ֗ה יָר֥וּץ דְּבָרֽוֹ
Haydock's commentary
Speech. Rain, (Kimchi) Jesus Christ, (St. Augustine) or the gospel, (St. Hilary; St. Jerome) which was presently propagated over all the earth, Romans x. 18. (Worthington)
God's commands are instantly obeyed. (Haydock)
No sooner did he speak to Saul, but he was converted, Acts ix. 4., and Hebrews iv. 12. (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
Origen Origen Against Celsus, Chapter LXII
And after such statements, showing his ignorance even of the number of the apostles, he proceeds thus: “Jesus having gathered around him ten or eleven persons of notorious character, the very wickedest of tax-gatherers and sailors, fled in company with them from place to place, and obtained his living in a shameful and importunate manner.” Let us to the best of our power see what truth there is in such a statement. It is manifest to us all who possess the Gospel narratives, which Celsus does not appear even to have read, that Jesus selected twelve apostles, and that of these Matthew alone was a tax-gatherer; that when he calls them indiscriminately sailors, he probably means James and John, because they left their ship and their father Zebedee, and followed Jesus; for Peter and his brother Andrew, who employed a net to gain their necessary subsistence, must be classed not as sailors, but …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm XLV
6. What follows then? “My tongue is the pen of a writer writing rapidly.” What likeness, my brethren, what likeness, I ask, has the “tongue” of God with a transcriber’s pen? What resemblance has “the rock” to Christ? What likeness does the “lamb” bear to our Saviour, or what “the lion” to the strength of the Only-Begotten? Yet such comparisons have been made; and were they not made, we should not be formed to a certain extent by these visible things to the knowledge of the “Invisible One.” So then with this mean simile of the pen; let us not compare it to His excellent greatness, so let us not reject it with contempt. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm CXLVII
23. “Who sendeth forth His Word to the earth” ( ver. 15 ). Behold, on earth we toil, weary, fainting, sluggish, cold: when should we be raised up to the fat of wheat that satisfieth, did not He send His Word to the earth, whereby we were weighed down, to the earth, whereby we were hindered from returning? He sent His Word, He deserted us not even in the wilderness, He rained manna from heaven. “Who sendeth forth His Word to the earth;” and to earth His Word came. How? or what is His Word? “Even unto swiftness His Word runneth.” He said not, “His Word is swift,” but, “His Word runneth even unto swiftness.” Let us understand, my brethren: He could not have chosen a better word. …