Translated by Qwen.
Introduction: Occasion and Division of the Psalm
"He rules me, and nothing shall be wanting to me."
This is the twenty-second Psalm, in which, after the preceding Psalm treated of the Passion of Christ, [this Psalm treats] of the fruit of the Passion—namely, doctrine and the Eucharist—and consequently of the reduction of the People of God from the state of sin, which is spiritual Babylon, to the state of the people reduced from material [Babylon]. For this is consequent to the Passion, doctrine, and sacrament. Likewise, in the preceding Psalm, treatment was made of the Passion as if admonishing us to have compassion for Him suffering for us; in this [Psalm], He admonishes us to hope in the mercy of Him reigning. And this is a just order, because "if we suffer with Him, we shall be glorified with Him" (Rom. 8:17).
The Title
The brief title is prefixed: "A Psalm of David." And the efficient cause of the Psalm is touched upon, according to which the Glossa says that David is taken here not for the Author of the Psalm, but for him in whose person David speaks, namely, for the Church. So that the sense is: This Psalm is attributed to David, that is, to the Church, which is "strong of hand" in active works (Prov. 31:10: "Who shall find a valiant woman?") and "desirable of countenance" in contemplative works (Cant. 1:14: "Show me your face, let your voice sound in my ears; for your voice is sweet, and your face comely").
Division of the Psalm
Moreover, the Psalm can be divided into three parts:
First, giving thanks, it touches upon the goods of the Church ordered to good, or the collation of good.
Second, benefits ordered to the removal of evil, at the words: "For even if I should walk…" (v. 4).
Third, the end of both or of both benefits is noted, at the words: "That I may dwell in the house of the Lord" (v. 6).
In the first part, four things are touched upon according to four benefits ordering to good:
First, grace directing to good, as teaching whither.
Second, grace sustaining and providing necessities on the way, at: "And nothing shall be wanting to me."
Third, grace totally converting the intuition of the mind to the end, so that it does not sigh for things left behind, at: "He has converted my soul."
Fourth, grace showing a shortcut, so that one may quickly come to the term, at: "He has led me…"
Exposition of Part I: The Collation of Good (Ps 23:1–3)
Verse 1: "The Lord rules me…"
He says therefore: "The Lord rules me." If he speaks in the person of the Church, it is generally true that the Lord rules her, just as:
A leader rules a traveler, lest he go astray (Wis. 10:10: "The Lord conducted the just man through right ways").
Light rules one walking in darkness, lest he stumble (John 8:12: "He who follows Me does not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life").
A shepherd rules the flock, lest it perish from wolves (Jer. 16:16: "I am not troubled, following You as shepherd").
A governor rules a ship, lest it suffer submersion in the waves of this world (Wis. 14:3: "But Your providence, O Father, governs it… You have given even in the sea a way, and among the waves a most firm path"). And below (v. 6): "When the proud giants were perishing, the hope of the world fled to a raft, and handed down to the world the seed of nativity, which was governed by Your hand."
As a master rules his school (Joel 1:23: "Rejoice in the Lord your God, because He has given you a ruler of justice").
As a king rules his kingdom and province (Rom. 15:12 and Isa. 11:10: "There shall be a root of Jesse, and He who shall rise to rule the Gentiles; in Him the Gentiles shall hope").
Or thus, according to what is said of any just man: "The Lord rules me."
As a boy [rules] the blind (Job 29:15: "I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame"; Gen. 37:30: "The boy does not appear, and whither shall I go?").
As a rider [rules] a horse (Hence Ps. 72:23: "I am become as a beast before You").
And He rules him as if with bridle of praise (Isa. 48:9: "For My name's sake I will remove My wrath far from you… I have refined you, but not as silver" — Note: Albert cites "I will bridle you with My praise").
And as with spurs of the prick of temptations (2 Cor. 12:7: "There was given me a stimulus of my flesh"; Ps. 33:20: "Many are the tribulations of the just").
Verse 1b: "…and nothing shall be wanting to me."
"And nothing shall be wanting to me." Nay, He will sustain me abundantly on the way. Hence the letter of Jerome and Augustine: "The Lord feeds me, and nothing shall be wanting to me."
Two things are therefore said:
First, abundance of things in general.
Second, specification.
First, regarding food, at: "In a place of pasture."
Second, regarding drink, at: "Beside the water of refreshment."
He says therefore: Thus He rules, showing the way, "and nothing shall be wanting to me" in all things necessary for the sustenance of life, abounding through Him (Luke 22:35-36: "When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, did you want anything? But they said: Nothing"). Chrysostom: "God made all other things for man, but man for Himself." If therefore He ministers to animals for His own sake (Ps. 144:16: "You open Your hand, and fill every animal with blessing"), "nothing shall be wanting to me" in the future, because (Col. 3:11): "Christ is all, and in all." Augustine: "What can be wanting to him who has Him who has all things?" (Judges 18:10: "We shall enter to a secure people, into a very large land, in which there is want of nothing").
Verse 2: "In a place of pasture…"
"In a place of pasture." Truly nothing shall be wanting, because "in a place of pasture," namely, in the Scriptures, in which souls are fed (Ezek. 3:2: "He fed me with this volume"). Jerome to Florentius: "You know this to be the food of the soul, if one meditates on the law of the Lord day and night" (Deut. 8:3 and Matt. 4:4: "Not in bread alone does man live, but in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God").
And note that good pastures are so called on account of abundance, breadth, quiet, and sweetness (Ezek. 34:14: "I will feed them in the most abundant pastures" — behold the first; "on the high mountains of Israel shall their pastures be" — behold the second; "there shall they rest in green herbs" — behold the third; "they shall be fed in fat pastures" — behold the fourth).
"In the most abundant pastures": the literal sense.
"On the high mountains": the allegorical.
"In green herbs": the moral.
"In fat pastures": the anagogical.
And truly nothing is wanting in those pastures, because every good of life is found in these pastures (Wis. 7:11: "All good things came to me together with her"). "There He has placed me," because no one can enter these without God (Apoc. 5:3: "No one was able, neither in heaven, nor on earth, nor under the earth, to open the book"; Apoc. 3:7: "He opens, and no one shuts; He shuts, and no one opens").
Verse 2b: "…beside the water of refreshment…"
"Beside the water of refreshment," as to drink. For having premised concerning food, He subjoins concerning drink (Cant. 5:1: "Eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, O dearest ones"; Eccli. 15:3: "He shall feed him with the bread of life and understanding, and shall give him the water of saving wisdom to drink").
This water is called "of refreshment" because, literally, it not only gives drink but refreshes and nourishes the soul, just as some fish are nourished from water alone, according to what these verses say:
"Four from pure elements draw their life:
Chameleon, mole, sea-pickle, and salamander."
Hence a good Theologian, who immerses himself totally in divine Scripture and is refreshed in it, is a good halec (sea-pickle) (Hab. 1:14: "You will make men like the fishes of the sea").
Or, He calls the "water of refreshment" the water of Baptism, as if of repeated making (re-factionis), because first made corporally by nature, afterwards made again through the water of Baptism spiritually (John 3:5: "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God"). Likewise, it is called water of refreshment because immediately after Baptism the Eucharist is given to the adult; just as after the washing of hands food is given, so after Baptism the Body of Christ. Hence, just as that water could be called water of refreshment, so the water of Baptism (Isa. 55:1: "All you that thirst, come to the waters… buy and eat").
Verse 3: "He has converted my soul…"
"He has converted my soul." Behold the third [benefit]. As if he said: Thus He rules, thus He sustains and nourishes on the way, and also "He has converted my soul" to Himself, intending totally, so that affection and intellect tend wholly to Him, the soul being washed [and] dried (Lam. 5:21: "Convert us, O Lord, to You, and we shall be converted"; Hos. 14:2: "Convert, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have fallen by your iniquity"; Lam. 1:13: "He has spread the net of Sacred Scripture" — behold the water of refreshment; "He has converted me backwards" — behold "He has converted my soul"). Above in Ps. 18:8: "The law of the Lord is unspotted, converting souls."
Verse 3b: "He has led me…"
"He has led me." Here is the fourth [benefit], namely, grace showing a shortcut and leading through it. For he says: Thus He rules, thus He feeds, thus He converts my soul to Himself, and besides all these things, "He has led me upon the paths of justice," which are more compendious than public highways (Prov. 4:11: "I will lead you in the paths of equity").
For common commandments are as public highways (Ps. 118:32: "I have run the way of Your commandments, when You enlarged my heart"). But paths are narrower; for they are called paths (semitae) as if half-ways (semi-viae) (Matt. 7:14: "Narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there are that find it"). Divine counsels are called paths because they are hidden from many, just as paths are hidden (Isa. 42:16: "I will make them walk in paths which they have not known"). Because they are clean, just as paths are clean (Isa. 35:8: "There shall be a path there, and a way, and it shall be called the holy way; the unclean shall not pass over it"). Because they are compendious, leading more briefly to the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:3: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"). Likewise, narrow, not admitting the burdened (Matt. 19:21: "If you will be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor"; Heb. 12:1: "Laying aside every weight, and sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the fight proposed to us").
And note that he said "He has led me," not "through the paths" but "upon the paths." He walks through the paths who keeps the counsels; but upon the paths, who not only walks but also teaches and informs others to walk (Matt. 5:19: "He that shall do and teach, such a one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven"). And this not by my merits, but "for His name's sake," that is, on account of His most pious goodness (Exod. 15:13: "You have been a leader in Your mercy to the people whom You have redeemed").
Argument that one is led to the cloister by God's benignity and grace: Matt. 4:1: "Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil." And how cruel is he to himself who, recoiling from himself, rejects so great a leader and so pious [a one] (Wis. 1:5: "The Holy Spirit of discipline will flee from the feigned").
Exposition of Part II: The Removal of Evil (Ps 23:4–5)
"For even if I should walk…" (v. 4)
Here is the second part of the Psalm, in which the benefits of grace ordered to the removal of evil are touched upon. And two things are touched upon:
First, the removal of evils.
Second, conservation and continuation in that removal, at: "And Your mercy…" (v. 6).
Likewise, in the first [part], two things:
First, the benefit from the removal of fear, which is concerning the future.
Second, the benefit from the removal of those things which are in the present, at: "Your rod…"
In the first, two things:
First, the exclusion of fear, the cause of that fear being present.
Second, the reason for the exclusion, at: "Because You are with me."
Verse 4a: "…in the midst of the shadow of death…"
He says therefore: Thus He leads me, and because of this I am secure. "For even if I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death." Note that He calls those ignorant of God the "shadow of death," rendered dark by the very death of guilt, concerning whom elsewhere in Ps. 81:5: "They have not known nor understood, they walk in darkness." And those are either having ignorance of negation, as Jews and Gentiles; or of disposition, as heretics; or having intellect obstructed by sins, as schismatics and any other sinners (Eph. 5:8: "For you were heretofore darkness").
And so the sense is: "If I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death," that is, of those ignorant of God, whether they be Gentiles, or Jews, or heretics, or schismatics, "I will not fear evils" of guilt or error, so that namely I be withdrawn from those or abstracted from You (Ps. 26:1: "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?"; Prov. 28:1: "The just, bold as a lion, shall be without terror").
Whence does this security come? Gregory says: "Because he loves Him whom no one loses unwillingly."
And note that there is a shadow of life, namely, the shadow of the Cross, which like a great tree overshadows us all (Lam. 4:20: "Christ the Lord was taken in our sins, to whom we said: Under Your shadow we shall live among the Gentiles"). Because he felt the vital shadow, the Psalmist said (Ps. 16:8: "Protect me under the shadow of Your wings" — of the arms of Your Cross; Cant. 2:3: "I sat down under His shadow, whom I desired, and His fruit was sweet to my palate").
And there is a shadow of death, [which is] abundance, [where] all things are as a shadow (Wis. 5:8: "What have riches profited us? All those things have passed away like a shadow"). [It is called] of death because leading [to death] (Job 21:13: "They spend their days in wealth, and in a point they descend to hell"). He must be very elevated who is not obscured by this shadow. For those near the earth passing through this shadow are eclipsed, like the moon (Eccli. 27:12: "The fool is changed like the moon"). The good are elevated far from this shadow; the truly illuminated by the sun, Christ, are not obscured in this shadow, like the stars (Job 23:17: "For I have not perished because of the impending darkness, nor has the darkness covered my face"; Micah 7:8: "I will sit in darkness: the Lord is my light").
Verse 4b: "…for You are with me."
And this is what he adds: "Not evils, because You are with me," protecting me (Isa. 43:2: "When you shall pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the floods shall not cover you, because I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior").
Verse 4c: "Your rod and Your staff…"
"Your rod and Your staff." Here is the second [point], in which [benefits] against present evils are touched upon.
First, against the evil of guilt.
Second, against the evil of penalty, at: "You have prepared…" (v. 5).
Against the evil of guilt is correction, which He touches upon doubly: lesser and lighter in the rod; harder and as if rougher in the staff. He says therefore: You are with me, and because of this "Your rod," lesser namely correction and lighter, with which You punish me as a little child; "and Your staff," namely greater punishment, with which You punish as a full-grown and advanced one—"these have comforted me." Not only have I sustained [them] in patience, but I know that (Ps. 90:15: "I am with him in tribulation").
"The rod is due to a boy" (Prov. 22:15: "Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rod of discipline shall drive it away").
But the staff is for the evil who now know how to act impiously (Isa. 14:5: "The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked").
These are to me for consolation and solace because they have shown me to be a son (Heb. 12:6: "For whom the Lord loves, He chastises; and He scourges every son whom He receives"). Nor only a son, nay a beloved son (Apoc. 3:19: "Those whom I love, I rebuke and chastise"). Because they turn eternal punishment into temporal. Gregory: "The saints count temporal punishments as gain, because through them they know they escape eternal ones." Because they turn eternal felicity into interminable joy (John 16:20, 22: "Your sorrow shall be turned into joy… and your joy no man shall take from you"; Wis. 3:5: "In few things vexed, in many they shall be well disposed"; 2 Cor. 4:17: "For that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, works for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory"). Because they are harm and affliction to our enemies (Wis. 12:22: "When You give us discipline, You scourge our enemies manifoldly").
Note: This could be a theme for the Feast of the Cross in September, which is within the Octave of the Blessed Virgin. For the rod is the Blessed Virgin (Num. 17:8: "The rod of Aaron blossomed"; Isa. 11:1: "A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse"). The staff is the Cross (Gen. 32:10: "With my staff I passed over this Jordan"). These are the consolation of the good: the Virgin and the Passion.
Verse 5: "You have prepared a table…"
"You have prepared in my sight a table." Here is the second benefit, namely, against the evil of penalty. And there are three:
First, the refreshment of a threefold table.
Second, the fullness of unction and graces in the head, at: "You have anointed…"
Third, the cup of the Lord's Passion, at: "And my cup…"
He says therefore: Thus You have corrected me with rod and staff against guilt, and also against those who trouble my soul by inflicting penalty, "You have prepared a table." Namely, Scripture comforting me, or certainly the Eucharist, or the hope of eternal glory. For the Glossa distinguishes this threefold table:
Concerning the first (Exod. 26:35: "You shall put the table outside the veil, and the candlestick over against the table in the side of the tabernacle south… for the table shall stand in the north part"). In this disposition of the table we are instructed not to eat in corners and singly within the veil, but outside in the open and public (Hos. 4:17-18: "Let them alone: their banquet is separated; for they have committed fornication"). Likewise, nor to give ourselves totally to bodily food, but to intend reading; for it was opposite the candlestick (Prov. 15:25: "The just eats to the refreshing of his soul" — Note: Albert cites Prov 15:25 but text varies). Likewise, nor avidly; for it was in the Northern part. For the North (Aquilo) is so called, as Rabanus says, because it binds and restricts waters (aquas ligat). For water is carnal concupiscence, which ought to be restricted in eating (Eccli. 36:32: "Be not greedy in any feasting, and pour not yourself out upon all meat").
Concerning the second table, the Eucharist (Prov. 9:1-2: "Wisdom has built herself a house" — namely, the Church; "she has hewn out seven columns" — namely, the seven sacraments; "she has immolated her victims" — the holy ancient Prophets and Himself on the altar of the Cross; "she has prepared her table on the altar," giving His flesh and blood). This is the table strengthening against every tribulation (Ps. 103:15: "And that bread strengthens man's heart"), lest he waver through impatience, but immolate himself totally, just as he recalls and receives God immolated for him (Prov. 23:1: "When you shall sit to eat with a prince, consider diligently what is set before your face").
Concerning the third (Luke 22:29-30: "I dispose to you a kingdom… that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom").
Glossa: The first table shows refreshment; the second satiates; the third truly glorifies. The first in the letter, the second in the spirit, the third truly will be in open species, namely, vision.
And note also that according to the Glossa, this is said against those who trouble the Church, because if the wicked presume to receive the Body of Christ, the food is contrary and harmful (1 Cor. 11:29-30: "He that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of the Lord… Therefore there are many infirm and weak among you, and many sleep").
Verse 5b: "You have anointed my head with oil…"
"You have anointed my head with oil." Behold the second [benefit]. As if he said: Not only do I have consolation through the refreshment of the table, but also the unction of the head, because "You have anointed my head," [which is] Christ (Eph. 1:22-23: "And He has given Him to be head over all the Church, which is His body"), with the oil of gladness and spiritual joy. For the oil signifies this (Ps. 103:15: "That he may make the face cheerful with oil"; Isa. 61:3: "To give them… the oil of joy for mourning").
In this place the head of the Church has been anointed (Ps. 44:8: "God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness"). And elsewhere (Ps. 132:2: "Like the ointment on the head"). For the special head of anyone is the mind (1 Cor. 11:3: "The head of the woman is the man" — namely, the mind is the head of the inferior part). This is anointed and made fat with oil, namely, the Spirit, who is called oil (Ps. 88:21: "I have found David My servant, with My holy oil I have anointed him"; Eccl. 9:8: "Let not oil be wanting on your head" — for it gladdens the heart; Acts 13:52: "The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit"). Therefore, in the table exhibited to us, the Son is given; in the anointing of the head, the Holy Spirit.
Verse 5c: "…and my cup which inebriates…"
"And my cup." The letter of Jerome [reads]: "Your cup." And this is the third [benefit]. As if he said: Thus He consoles against every tribulation: the table of the body, the infusion of the spirit and spiritual joy. And also "Your cup," namely, blood poured out on the Cross. "Mine," however, because for my utility. "How excellent," that is, very clear in effect, namely, gladdening and clarifying my mind, although inebriating, inflaming it to sustain all things.
This is the cup concerning which (Matt. 20:22: "Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink?" and below 26:39: "My Father, if it is possible, let this chalice pass from Me"). Or He calls the Lord's blood the cup, which is literally drunk on the altar (1 Cor. 10:16: "The chalice of benediction which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?"). And the container is taken for the contained. Hence Augustine and Cassiodorus have: "Your cup which inebriates, how excellent it is!"
This cup is excellent literally:
Because this blood descends from royal stock through the most excellent Virgin.
Because it covers itself with the most noble species of all liquids, namely, wine (Zech. 9:17: "What is the good thing of Him, and what is His beautiful thing, but the wheat of the elect and wine springing forth virgins?").
Likewise, since the whole Christ is there, rightly it is called an excellent cup, because there is that light concerning which (1 John 1:5: "God is light, and there is no darkness in Him").
Likewise, it confers the clarity of eternal glory (John 6:55: "He that drinks My blood has eternal life").
It is said also "inebriating" because literally in such quantity could that species be taken that it would inebriate, just as the Glossa says on that (1 Cor. 11:21: "One indeed is hungry, and another is drunk"). Or inebriating spiritually, inducing oblivion of temporals and carnal delights (Prov. 31:7: "Let them drink and forget their poverty"; Ps. 64:10: "You have visited the earth and have plentifully watered it"; Jer. 23:9: "I am become as a drunken man, and as a man mad with wine, from the face of the Lord"; Zech. 9:15: "They shall be drunk as with wine").
Exposition of Part III: The End of All Graces (Ps 23:6)
"And Your mercy…" (v. 6)
Here is the second [part] of this whole part, namely, conservation in the goods and graces premised. For he says: These goods which I have enumerated above, You will bestow upon me or have already bestowed. And above all these things, "Your mercy shall follow me," so that through it be consummated what through it was begun (Phil. 1:6: "He who has begun a good work in you, will perfect it" — Note: Albert cites Phil 1:13 but context suggests 1:6). This was signified (Exod. 14:19) where it is read that the Angel who preceded the camps of Israel, lifting himself, went behind them.
And this grace is very necessary. For this is what does the whole. Cassiodorus: "Heavier are the snares which the devil prepares from behind, and when someone believes he has passed beyond a vice, he is deceived by more incautious ignorance" (Ps. 55:7: "They shall watch my heel"; Gen. 3:15: "You shall lie in wait for his heel").
And note that just as prevenient mercy is the love of lifting the wretched from misery, so subsequent mercy is the love of sustaining the lifted one lest he slide back into misery. Cassiodorus: "If mercy only followed, no one would receive gifts; if it only preceded, no one could keep what was bestowed." Gregory: "Quickly is the good lost which is not kept by the Giver."
"All the days of my life." These indeed are the days of my life; those, however, which are in the homeland of Your life, O Lord (Ps. 83:11: "For one day in Your courts is better than thousands").
Cassiodorus' Ten Necessities for the Traveler
And note, according to Cassiodorus, ten things necessary for a traveler are touched upon here:
First, fertility of the place through which, at: "In a place of pasture."
Second, amenity of rivers, at: "Beside the water of refreshment."
Third, will of going, at: "He has converted my soul."
Fourth, shortcut of the way, at: "He has led me."
Fifth, security, at: "If I should walk… I will not fear evils."
Sixth, consolation in labor, at: "Your rod and Your staff."
Seventh, delectable refreshment, at: "You have prepared… a table."
Eighth, exultation of mind, at: "You have anointed… with oil."
Ninth, oblivion of evils, at: "And my cup which inebriates."
Tenth, continuation of the way unto the term, at: "And Your mercy shall follow me."
This division, however, is according to those whose letter is "The Lord feeds me, and nothing shall be wanting to me." According to the common letter, there would be eleven: The first, position in a good way, and the ten others as are numbered.
Verse 6b: "…that I may dwell in the house of the Lord…"
"And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord." The third part of the whole Psalm, in which is shown the end and ultimate utility of all preceding graces, namely, habitation in the eternal house of God, and preparation in that cohabitation, at: "In length of days."
He says therefore: Thus gradually with diverse graces have You promoted me, and all these things were done "that I may dwell in the house of the Lord" (Ps. 83:8: "They shall go from virtue to virtue, the God of gods shall be seen in Sion"). This is the house of the Lord concerning which (2 Cor. 5:1: "For we know, if our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, that we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven"). Cassiodorus: "This is contemplative grace, concerning which: 'Blessed are they that dwell in Your house, O Lord; they shall praise You for ever and ever.'" This is what is said here:
"In length of days." For in this eternity is noted (Prov. 3:16: "Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and glory"; Apoc. 3:12: "He that shall overcome, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more").
Conclusion: Liturgical Usage
And note, the Glossa assigns the cause why this Psalm is sung in the exequies of the dead.
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