Psalms 18:12
For thy servant keepeth them, and in keeping them there is a great reward.
Open Psalms 18:12 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Etenim servus tuus custodit ea ; in custodiendis illis retributio multa.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ γὰρ ὁ δοῦλός σου φυλάσσει αὐτά· ἐν τῷ φυλάσσειν αὐτὰ ἀνταπόδοσις πολλή.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 19:12
- גַּֽם עַ֭בְדְּךָ נִזְהָ֣ר בָּהֶ֑ם בְּ֝שָׁמְרָ֗ם עֵ֣קֶב רָֽב
Haydock's commentary
For. I speak from experience. (Calmet)
If I had no other inducement, I would observe this law for the consolation, (Haydock) and repeated advantages which I have derived from it. (Theodoret)
Those who keep the same [law], and content not themselves with reading or hearing only, may feel the same impressions.
Reward: on which account the prophet declares that he observed the justifications; (Psalm cxviii. 112.) though that passage is corrupted in the Protestant version. (Worthington)
Hebrew, "wherefore thy servant shall teach them;" (St. Jerome) or rather, "is instructed by them, and convinced that in keeping them there are frequent falls. Who," &c., 13. (Calmet)
Hekeb may indeed signify "a fall," or tripping up the heels. But it is more commonly rendered "a reward," (as Protestants, Mont., &c., here agree) or end, as 1 Peter (i. 9.) has it. (Haydock)
The instruction, which the observer of the laws obtains, arises from that observance, inasmuch as "he is attentive to them." Septuagint, phulassei auta. This must therefore be understood, and is well expressed by Custodit. Taste, and see that the Lord is sweet, Psalm xxxiii. 9. (Berthier)
Haydock wrote amid the controversies of his day. The Church teaches that those born into communities separated from her cannot be charged with the sin of separation, and embraces them as brothers (CCC 818).
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
Tertullian The Five Books Against Marcion, Concerning Loans. Prohibition of Usury and the Usurious Spirit. The Law Preparatory to the Gospel in Its Provisions; So in the Present Instance. On Reprisals. Christ's Teaching Throughout Proves Him to Be Sent by the Creator
And now, on the subject of a loan, when He asks, “And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye?” compare with this the following words of Ezekiel, in which He says of the before-mentioned just man, “He hath not given his money upon usury, nor will he take any increase”, meaning the redundance of interest, which is usury. The first step was to eradicate the fruit of the money lent, the more easily to accustom a man to the loss, should it happen, of the money itself , the in terest of which he had learnt to lose. Now this, we affirm, was the function of the law as preparatory to the gospel. It was engaged in forming the faith of such as would learn, by gradual stages, for the perfect light of the Christian discipline, through the best precepts of which it was capable, inculcating a benevolence which as yet expressed itself but falteringly. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm XIX
12. “For Thy servant keepeth them” ( ver. 11 ). For to him who keepeth them not the day of the Lord is bitter. “In keeping them there is great reward.” Not in any external benefit, but in the thing itself, that God’s judgments are kept, is there great reward; great because one rejoiceth therein.
St John Cassian The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII, Chapter XIV. How an unclean soul can neither give nor receive spiritual knowledge
But it is, as we have already said, impossible for a novice either to understand or to teach this. For if one is incapable of receiving it how can he be fit to pass it on to another? But if he has had the audacity to teach anything on these matters, most certainly his words will be idle and useless and only reach the ears of his hearers, without being able to touch their hearts, uttered as they were in sheer idleness and unfruitful vanity, for they do not proceed from the treasure of a good conscience, but from the empty impertinence of boastfulness. For it is impossible for an impure soul (however earnestly it may devote itself to reading) to obtain spiritual knowledge. For no one pours any rich ointment or fine honey or any precious liquid into a dirty and stinking vessel. …