Psalms 89:3
Turn not man away to be brought low: and thou hast said: Be converted, O ye sons of men.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Ne avertas hominem in humilitatem : et dixisti : Convertimini, filii hominum.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- μὴ ἀποστρέψῃς ἄνθρωπον εἰς ταπείνωσιν, καὶ εἶπας Ἐπιστρέψατε υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων;
- Hebrew (WLC) shown from Psalms 90:3
- תָּשֵׁ֣ב אֱ֭נוֹשׁ עַד דַּכָּ֑א וַ֝תֹּ֗אמֶר שׁ֣וּבוּ בְנֵי אָדָֽם
Haydock's commentary
Turn not man away, &c. Suffer him not quite to perish from thee, since thou art pleased to call upon him to be converted to thee. (Challoner)
God wills not the death of the sinner. (Worthington)
Give him grace not to yield to his base passions. (St. Augustine)
Hebrew, "thou humblest man," (Haydock) that he may enter into himself. (Calmet)
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, Psalm XC
4. But as our life here is exposed to numerous and great temptations, and it is to be feared lest we may be turned aside by them from that refuge, let us see what in consequence of this the prayer of the man of God seeks for. “Turn not Thou man to lowness” ( ver. 3 ): that is, let not man, turned aside from Thy eternal and sublime things, lust for things of time, savour of earthly things. This prayer is what God has Himself enjoined us, in the Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation,” He adds, “Again Thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men.” As if he said, I ask of Thee what Thou hast commanded me to ask: giving glory to His grace, that “he that glorieth, in the Lord he may glory:” without whose help we cannot by an exertion of our own will overcome the temptations of this life. …
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter IV. The same care must be taken that our speech proceed not from evil passions, but from good motives; for here it is that the devil is especially on the watch to catch us
15. For then especially does the enemy lay his plans, when he sees passions engendered in us; then he supplies tinder; then he lays snares. Wherefore the prophet says not without cause, as we heard read to-day: “Surely He hath delivered me from the snare of the hunter and from the hard word.” Symmachus said this means “the word of provocation;” others “the word that brings disquiet.” The snare of the enemy is our speech, but that itself is also just as much an enemy to us. Too often we say something that our foe takes hold of, and whereby he wounds us as though by our own sword. How far better it is to perish by the sword of others than by our own!
St Ambrose Exposition of the Christian Faith, Chapter II. The Emperor is exhorted to display zeal in the Faith. Christ's perfect Godhead is shown from the unity of will and working which He has with the Father. The attributes of Divinity are shown to be proper to Christ, Whose various titles prove His essential unity, with distinction of Person. In no other way can the unity of God be maintained
14. Therefore we ought to believe that God is good, eternal, perfect, almighty, and true, such as we find Him in the Law and the Prophets, and the rest of the holy Scriptures, for otherwise there is no God. For He Who is God cannot but be good, seeing that fulness of goodness is of the nature of God: nor can God, Who made time, be in time; nor, again, can God be imperfect, for a lesser being is plainly imperfect, seeing that it lacks somewhat whereby it could be made equal to a greater. This, then, is the teaching of our faith, that God is not evil, that with God nothing is impossible, that God exists not in time, that God is beneath no being. If I am in error, let my adversaries prove it.