Psalms 28:7
The voice of the Lord divideth the flame of fire:
Open Psalms 28:7 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Vox Domini intercidentis flammam ignis ;
- Septuagint (Swete)
- φωνὴ Κυρίου διακόπτοντος φλόγα πυρός.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 29:7
- קוֹל יְהוָ֥ה חֹצֵ֗ב לַהֲב֥וֹת אֵֽשׁ
Haydock's commentary
Fire. Lightning, which deals destruction around. (Calmet)
The Holy Ghost appeared in the form of parted tongues of fire, to enable the apostles to convert the desert of the Gentile world, and the Jews, represented by the desert of Cades, (Worthington) which was near their country, (Haydock) on the frontiers of Idumea, Numbers xiii. 27. (Calmet)
Holy orders were instituted by Christ, to confer grace to the sacred ministers, according to their different stations or exigencies; (Berthier) or extreme unction, which prepares the soul for her separation from the body, may be here meant, if we follow the usual disposition of the sacraments; as the following sentence may allude to holy orders, which shakes or causes the desert to fructify, (Haydock) unless these words be rather applicable to matrimony. (Berthier)
Shaketh and shakes. St. Jerome has parturire faciens, "making the desert bring forth." Chaldean, "frightens the serpents." All nature is alarmed at the sound of thunder. (Haydock)
The deserts then appear most terrible. (Calmet)
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 XXIX
7. “The Voice of the Lord cutting short the flame of fire” ( ver. 7 ). The Voice of the Lord, without any harm to Himself, passing through all the excited ardour of them that persecute Him, or dividing the furious rage of His persecutors, so that some should say, “Is not this haply the very Christ;” others, “Nay; but He deceiveth the people:” and so cutting short their mad tumult, as to pass some over into His love, and leave others in their malice.
St Basil The Hexæmeron, The creation of luminous bodies
3. And let no one suppose it to be a thing incredible that the brightness of the light is one thing, and the body which is its material vehicle is another. First, in all composite things, we distinguish substance susceptible of quality, and the quality which it receives. The nature of whiteness is one thing, another is that of the body which is whitened; thus the natures differ which we have just seen reunited by the power of the Creator. And do not tell me that it is impossible to separate them. Even I do not pretend to be able to separate light from the body of the sun; but I maintain that that which we separate in thought, may be separated in reality by the Creator of nature. …