Psalms 80:15
I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on them that troubled them.
Open Psalms 80:15 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- pro nihilo forsitan inimicos eorum humiliassem, et super tribulantes eos misissem manum meam.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐν τῷ μηδενὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτῶν ἐταπείνωσα, καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς θλίβοντας αὐτοὺς ἐπέβαλον τὴν χεῖρά μου.
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 81:15
- כִּ֭מְעַט אוֹיְבֵיהֶ֣ם אַכְנִ֑יעַ וְעַ֥ל צָ֝רֵיהֶ֗ם אָשִׁ֥יב יָדִֽי
Haydock's commentary
Soon. Forsitan, "perhaps," (Haydock) does not here imply a doubt, (Menochius) but rather the ease and liberty (Worthington) with which God could have rescued his people (Hebrew) "in a moment." (Calmet) (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 De Principiis, Chapter I. translated from the Latin of Rufinus: On the Freedom of the Will
6. And now, to confirm the deductions of reason by the authority of Scripture, viz., that it is our own doing whether we live rightly or not, and that we are not compelled, either by those causes which come to us from without, or, as some think, by the presence of fate, we adduce the testimony of the prophet Micah, in these words: “If it has been announced to thee, O man, what is good, or what the Lord requires of thee, except that thou shouldst do justice, and love mercy, and be ready to walk with the Lord thy God.” Moses also speaks as follows: “I have placed before thy face the way of life and the way of death: choose what is good, and walk in it.” Isaiah, moreover, makes this declaration: “If you are willing, and hear me, ye shall eat the good of the land. …
Origen Origen De Principiis, Chapter I. translated from the Greek: On the Freedom of the Will, With an Explanation and Interpretation of Those Statements of Scripture Which Appear to Nullify It
6. Now, that it is our business to live virtuously, and that God asks this of us, as not being dependent on Him nor on any other, nor, as some think, upon fate, but as being our own doing, the prophet Micah will prove when he says: “If it has been announced to thee, O man, what is good, or what does the Lord require of thee, except to do justice and to love mercy?” Moses also: “I have placed before thy face the way of life, and the way of death: choose what is good, and walk in it.” Isaiah too: “If you are willing, and hear me, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye be unwilling, and will not hear me, the sword will consume you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” And in the Psalms: “If My people had heard Me, and Israel had walked in My ways, I would have humbled their enemies to nothing, and laid My hand upon those that afflicted them;” showing that it was in the power of …
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm LXXXI
17. “If My people would have heard Me, if Israel would have walked in My ways” ( ver. 13 ). For perchance that Israel saith, Behold I sin, it is manifest, I go after the affections of my own heart: but what can I do? The devil doth this. Demons do this. What is the devil? Who are the demons? Certainly thine enemies. “Unto nothing all their enemies I would have brought down; and on them that oppress them I would have sent forth My hand” ( ver. 14 ). But now what have they to do to complain of enemies? Themselves are become the worse enemies. For how? What followeth? Of enemies ye complain, yourselves, what are ye?