Psalms 36:11
But the meek shall inherit the land, and shall delight in abundance of peace.
Open Psalms 36:11 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Mansueti autem hæreditabunt terram, et delectabuntur in multitudine pacis.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- οἱ δὲ πρᾳεῖς κληρονομήσουσιν γῆν, καὶ κατατρυφήσουσιν ἐπὶ πλήθει εἰρήνης.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 37:11
- וַעֲנָוִ֥ים יִֽירְשׁוּ אָ֑רֶץ וְ֝הִתְעַנְּג֗וּ עַל רֹ֥ב שָׁלֽוֹם
Haydock's commentary
Meek. Hebrew hanavim, also means "the afflicted." (Berthier)
Captives, ye shall be reinstated in your dear country. Our Saviour alludes to this text, (Matthew v. 4.) and the Fathers beautifully explain it of heaven. (Eusebius; St. Augustine) (Calmet)
What is now become of those who have heretofore filled the world with tumult and bloodshed to obtain dominion! They are confined to the land where everlasting horror and no order dwells. They would wish they had never existed, as our Saviour mentions; while those who passed through life unknown, or despised, but always seeking God, are now arrived at the summit of all their wishes. (Haydock)
O holy religion! thou explainest all these things. The just have ceased to exist: but their better part has inherited the land of the living. Yet a little while, and all will be in order, and in its proper place; though that of the wicked deserves not the name. (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 XXIX
If, then, the whole earth has been cursed in the deeds of Adam and of those who died in him, it is plain that all parts of the earth share in the curse, and among others the land of Judea; so that the words, “a good land and a large, a land flowing with milk and honey, cannot apply to it, although we may say of it, that both Judea and Jerusalem were the shadow and figure of that pure land, goodly and large, in the pure region of heaven, in which is the heavenly Jerusalem. And it is in reference to this Jerusalem that the apostle spoke, as one who, “being risen with Christ, and seeking those things which are above,” had found a truth which formed no part of the Jewish mythology. …
St Augustine Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xviii. 7, where we are admonished to beware of the offences of the world
1. The divine lessons, which we have just heard as they were being read, warn us to gather in a stock of virtues, to fortify a Christian heart, against the offences which were predicted to come, and this from the mercy of the Lord. “For what is man,” saith Scripture, “saving that Thou art mindful of him?” “Woe unto the world because of offences,” saith the Lord; the Truth says so; He alarmeth and warneth us, He would not have us to be off our guard; for surely He would not make us desperate. Against this “woe,” against this evil, that is, which is to be feared, and dreaded, and guarded against, Scripture counsels, and exhorts, and instructs us in that place, where it is said, “Great praise have they who love Thy law, and nothing is an offence to them.” He hath shown us an enemy to be guarded against, but He hath not omitted to show us also a wall of defence. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Part 1
11. “But the meek shall inherit the land” ( ver. 11 ). That land is the one of which we have often spoken, the holy Jerusalem, which is to be released from these her pilgrimages, and to live for ever with God, and on God. Therefore, “They shall inherit the land.” What shall be their delight? “And they shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Let the ungodly man delight himself here in the multitude of his gold, in the multitude of his silver, in the multitude of his slaves, in the multitude, lastly, of his baths, his roses, his intoxicating wines, his most sumptuous and luxurious banquets. Is this the power thou enviest? Is this the glory that delights thee? Would not his fate be worthy to be deplored, even if he were to be so for ever? What shall be thy delights? “And they shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Peace shall be thy gold. …
St John Chrysostom The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, Matthew V. 1, 2
And besides, since in the Old Testament the prophet used to say continually, “The meek shall inherit the earth;” He thus weaves into His discourse the words to which they were accustomed, so as not everywhere to speak a strange language.
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).