Psalms 36:21
The sinner shall borrow, and not pay again; but the just sheweth mercy and shall give.
Open Psalms 36:21 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Mutuabitur peccator, et non solvet ; justus autem miseretur et tribuet :
- Septuagint (Swete)
- δανίζεται ὁ ἁμαρτωλὸς καὶ οὐκ ἀποτίσει, ὁ δὲ δίκαιος οἰκτείρει καὶ διδοῖ.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 37:21
- לֹוֶ֣ה רָ֭שָׁע וְלֹ֣א יְשַׁלֵּ֑ם וְ֝צַדִּ֗יק חוֹנֵ֥ן וְנוֹתֵֽן
Haydock's commentary
Give. Having both the will and the power to be liberal. (Haydock)
"He shall lend without expecting any advantage, while the wicked falls into such misery as not to be able to pay his debts. This is not always the order of Providence. (Calmet)
But the just is often enabled by economy to relieve his brethren, at the same time that the libertine wastes his estate, (Berthier) or at least unjustly defers to pay his debts. (Menochius)
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, Part 2
10. “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again” ( ver. 20 ). He receiveth, and will not repay. What is it he will not repay? Thanksgiving. For what is it that God would have of thee, what doth He require of thee, except that He may do thee good? And how great are the benefits which the sinner hath received, and which he will not repay! He hath received the gift of being; he hath received the gift of being a man; and of a being highly distinguished above the brutes; he hath received the form of a body, and the distinction of the senses in the body, eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, the nostrils for smelling, the palate for tasting, the hands for touching, and the feet for walking; and even the very health and soundness of the body. …
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter VIII. Nothing has greater effect in gaining good-will than giving advice; but none can trust it unless it rests on justice and prudence. How conspicuous these two virtues were in Solomon is shown by his well-known judgment
43. To a man of this sort then we entrust our safety and our reputation, for he is, as we said before, just and prudent. Justice causes us to have no fear of deceit, and prudence frees us from having any suspicions of error. However, we trust ourselves more readily to a just than to a prudent man, to put it in the way people generally do. But, according to the definition of the philosophers, where there is one virtue, others exist too, whilst prudence cannot exist without justice. We find this stated also in our writers, for David says: “The just showeth mercy and lendeth.” What the just lends, he says elsewhere: “A good man is he that showeth mercy and lendeth, he will guide his words with discretion.”
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter III. The rule given about not seeking one's own gain is established, first by the examples of Christ, next by the meaning of the word, and lastly by the very form and uses of our limbs. Wherefore the writer shows what a crime it is to deprive another of what is useful, since the law of nature as well as the divine law is broken by such wickedness. Further, by its means we also lose that gift which makes us superior to other living creatures; and lastly, through it civil laws are abused and treated with the greatest contempt
21. It is in this very matter that we stand before all other living creatures, for they do not understand how to do good. Wild beasts snatch away, men share with others. Wherefore the Psalmist says: “The righteous show eth mercy and giveth.” There are some, however, to whom the wild beasts do good. They feed their young with what they get, and the birds satisfy their brood with food; but to men alone has it been given to feed all as though they were their own. That is so in accordance with the claims of nature. And if it is not lawful to refuse to give, how is it lawful to deprive another? And do not our very laws teach us the same? They order those things which have been taken from others with injury to their persons or property to be restored with additional recompense; so as to check the thief from stealing by the penalty, and by the fine to recall him from his ways.