Psalms 36:25
I have been young, and now am old; and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Junior fui, etenim senui ; et non vidi justum derelictum, nec semen ejus quærens panem.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- νεώτερος ἐγενόμην καὶ γὰρ ἐγήρασα, καὶ οὐκ ἴδον δίκαιον ἐνκαταλελιμμένον οὐδὲ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ζητοῦν ἄρτους.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 37:25
- נַ֤עַר הָיִ֗יתִי גַּם זָ֫קַ֥נְתִּי וְֽלֹא רָ֭אִיתִי צַדִּ֣יק נֶעֱזָ֑ב וְ֝זַרְע֗וֹ מְבַקֶּשׁ לָֽחֶם
Haydock's commentary
Seeking, in vain. (Haydock)
Roman and Gothic Ps.[Psalters?] read, "wanting." This does not condemn the mendicant orders. (Menochius)
Nothing was more unusual under the old law than the extreme distress of the just: yet Job and Lazarus were reduced to it. They were not, however, discontent. (Calmet)
They found the bread of life in conformity to God's will, John iv. 34. (Haydock)
Their souls were enriched with grace, which was never wanting, as the Fathers explain this passage. (Berthier) (Amos viii. 11.)
It is certain that there were poor among the Jews; (Deuteronomy xv. 11.) and who would assert that they were all wicked, or the children of such? Yet the prophet had not witnessed (Calmet) any person renowned for virtue reduced to this condition, (Haydock) though he does not deny but it might be possible. (Calmet)
The proposition may be restrained to those who have been very charitable, and who are not often thereby reduced to want, Daniel iv. 24. (Genebrard) (Menochius)
But the word just is more comprehensive; and St. Paul gives several instances of persecuted saints (Hebrew xi.) which is confirmed by the parable, or rather by the history, of Lazarus. (Berthier)
At any rate, the Church is never deprived of the word of God. (St. Augustine) (Worthington)
Where a note speaks of the Jewish people, the Church teaches that the Passion 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).
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 Treatise IV
21. For daily bread cannot be wanting to the righteous man, since it is written, “The Lord will not slay the soul of the righteous by hunger;” and again “I have been young and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread.” And the Lord moreover promises and says, “Take no thought, saying, ‘What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed?’ For after all these things do the nations seek. And your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” To those who seek God’s kingdom and righteousness, He promises that all things shall be added. For since all things are God’s, nothing will be wanting to him who possesses God, if God Himself be not wanting to him. …
St Cyprian Treatise VIII
19. Neither should you think that he is father to your children who is both changeable and infirm, but you should obtain Him who is the eternal and unchanging Father of spiritual children. Assign to Him your wealth which you are saving up for your heirs. Let Him be the guardian for your children; let Him be their trustee; let Him be their protector, by His divine majesty, against all worldly injuries. The state neither takes away the property entrusted to God, nor does the exchequer intrude on it, nor does any forensic calumny overthrow it. That inheritance is placed in security which is kept under the guardianship of God. …
St Cyprian Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews, Testimony I
In Isaiah: “Cry aloud,” saith He, “and spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet; tell my people their sins, and the house of Jacob their wickednesses. They seek me from day to day, and desire to know my ways, as a people which did righteousness, and did not forsake the judgment of God. They ask of me now a righteous judgment, and desire to approach to God, saying, What! because we have fasted, and Thou hast not seen: we have humiliated our souls, and Thou hast not known. For in the days of fasting are found your own wills; for either ye torment those who are subjected to you, or ye fast for strifes and judgments, or ye strike your neighbours with fists. For what do you fast unto me, that to-day your voice should be heard in clamour? This fast I have not chosen, save that a man should humble his soul. …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Part 3
1. “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” ( ver. 25 ).
St John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily XXIII on Acts x. 23, 24
All ye that have received this forgiveness, all ye to whom it has been vouchsafed to attain unto faith, learn, I beseech you, the greatness of the Gift, and study not to be insolent to your Benefactor. For we obtained forgiveness, not that we should become worse, but to make us far better and more excellent. Let none say that God is the cause of our evil doings, in that He did not punish, nor take vengeance. If (as it is said) a ruler having taken a murderer, lets him go, say, is he (not) judged to be the cause of the murders afterwards committed? See then, how we expose God to the tongues of the wicked. …
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Eustochium
“The love of money is the root of all evil,” and the apostle speaks of covetousness as being idolatry. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.” The Lord will never allow a righteous soul to perish of hunger. “I have been young,” the psalmist says, “and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread.” Elijah is fed by ministering ravens. The widow of Zarephath, who with her sons expected to die the same night, went without food herself that she might feed the prophet. He who had come to be fed then turned feeder, for, by a miracle, he filled the empty barrel. The apostle Peter says: “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee. …
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter XXXVI. One of the duties of fortitude is to keep the weak from receiving injury; another, to check the wrong motions of our own souls; a third, both to disregard humiliations, and to do what is right with an even mind. All these clearly ought to be fulfilled by all Christians, and especially by the clergy
185. Let, then, godliness exercise thee unto justice, continence, gentleness, that thou mayest avoid childish acts, and that rooted and grounded in grace thou mayest fight the good fight of faith. Entangle not thyself in the affairs of this life, for thou art fighting for God. For if he who fights for the emperor is forbidden by human laws to enter upon lawsuits, to do any legal business, or to sell merchandise; how much more ought he who enters upon the warfare of faith to keep from every kind of business, being satisfied with the produce of his own little bit of land, if he has it? If he has not that, let him be content with the pay he will get for his service. …