Psalms 33:11
The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good.
Open Psalms 33:11 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Divites eguerunt, et esurierunt ; inquirentes autem Dominum non minuentur omni bono.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- πλούσιοι ἐπτώχευσαν καὶ ἐπείνασαν, οἱ δὲ ἐκζητοῦντες τὸν κύριον οὐκ ἐλαττωθήσονται παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ. διάψαλμα.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 34:11
- כְּ֭פִירִים רָשׁ֣וּ וְרָעֵ֑בוּ וְדֹרְשֵׁ֥י יְ֝הוָ֗ה לֹא יַחְסְר֥וּ כָל טֽוֹב
Haydock's commentary
Rich of this world, (1 Timothy vi. 17.; Menochius) are often poor in spiritual gifts. (Worthington)
Those who are poor in both respects, are truly miserable, (Haydock) since they cannot satisfy their craving appetite. But the prophet admires those who are poor in spirit, whether they have many possessions or not. (Berthier)
The fear of the Lord is his treasure, Isaias xxxiii. 6. The saint is content under every dispensation of Providence. (Haydock)
Lazarus was truly rich even here; and in heaven he is covered with glory, Luke xvi. 20. (St. Jerome) (Calmet)
Hebrew, "the lions have wanted." (St. Jerome)
This may have been the case: yet those who fear God shall be filled; or, the rich may be designated by the name of lion's whelps, on account of their power and avidity. (Calmet)
The same term, cephirim, is often applied to men in power, Ezechiel xix 2., and Job iv. 10. (Berthier)
Good. If the saints be sometimes deprived of provisions, they know that it is better for them; as God directs all for their good. (Haydock)
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 Cyprian Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews, Testimony XXII
In Isaiah: “Thus saith the Lord, Behold, they who serve me shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, they who serve me shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, they who serve me shall rejoice, but ye shall be confounded; the Lord shall slay you. But to those who serve me a new name shall be named, which shall be blessed in the earth.” Also in the same place: “Therefore shall He lift up an ensign to the nations which are afar off, and He will draw them from the end of the earth; and, behold, they shall come swiftly with lightness; they shall not hunger nor thirst.” Also in the same place: “Behold, therefore, the Ruler, the Lord of Sabaoth, shall take away from Judah and from Jerusalem the healthy man and the strong man, the strength of bread and the strength of water.” Likewise in the thirty-third Psalm: “O taste and see how sweet is the Lord. Blessed is the man that hopeth in Him. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm XXXIV
13. “O fear the Lord, all ye His saints, for there is no want to them that fear Him” ( ver. 9 ). For many therefore will not fear God the Lord, lest they suffer hunger. It is said to them, Defraud not; and they say, Whence can I feed myself? No art can be without imposture; no business can be without fraud. But fraud God punisheth: fear God. But if I should fear God, I shall not have whence to live. “O fear the Lord, all ye His saints, for there is no want to them that fear Him.” He promiseth plenty to him that trembleth, and doubteth, lest haply if he should fear God, he should lose things superfluous. The Lord fed thee despising Him, and will He desert thee fearing Him? Attend, and say not, Such an one is rich, and I am poor. …
St John Cassian The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII, Chapter XI. A question why he has called the feeling of fear and hope imperfect
Germanus : You have indeed spoken powerfully and grandly of the perfect love of God. But still this fact disturbs us; viz., that while you were exalting it with such praise, you said that the fear of God and the hope of eternal reward were imperfect, though the prophet seems to have thought quite differently about them, where he said: “Fear the Lord, all ye His saints, for they that fear Him lack nothing.” And again in the matter of observing God’s righteous acts he admits that he has done them from consideration of the reward, saying: “I have inclined my heart to do thy righteous acts forever, for the reward.” And the Apostle says: “By faith Moses when he was grown up, denied himself to be the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to be afflicted with the people of God than to have the pleasure of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure o …
St John Cassian The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII, Chapter XIII. Of the fear which is the outcome of the greatest love
Whoever then has been established in this perfect love is sure to mount by a higher stage to that still more sublime fear belonging to love, which is the outcome of no dread of punishment or greed of reward, but of the greatest love; whereby a son fears with earnest affection a most indulgent father, or a brother fears his brother, a friend his friend, or a wife her husband, while there is no dread of his blows or reproaches, but only of a slight injury to his love, and while in every word as well as act there is ever care taken by anxious affection lest the warmth of his love should cool in the very slightest degree towards the object of it. …