Lectures on the Psalms I Quotes

“a sham friend is more hateful than an open enemy.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“15. He has opened a pit, etc. This is the wonderful wisdom of God, that He does not punish the ungodly except with their own stratagems, He mocks them with their own mockeries, He pierces them with their own javelins, as David did with Goliath and Christ did with the devil. Thus the Jews had prepared every evil for Christ, and behold, it came upon themselves. And always God observes the rule: “No law is fairer than that the schemers of destruction perish by their own device.”8 And blessed Augustine says, “You have commanded,9 O Lord, and so it is done, that every disordered spirit be its self-punishment.”10 And in this passage (v. 16) we read: His mischief shall be turned on his own head. This is what happened to Saul, Absalom, and many others who harmed themselves when they wanted to harm others, and the fact that Saul fell on his own sword, and his armor bearer after him, is an illustration of this.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“Here, too, there are some perverted people (as in the first part of the verse) who in a similar way twist and pervert this word of the Holy Spirit. Their meditation is not on the law of the Lord, but rather, to the contrary, the law of the Lord is in their meditation (which is a horrible situation). They are the ones who twist the Scriptures to their own understanding and by their own fixed meditation compel the Scriptures to enter it and agree with it, when it ought to be the other way around. In this way, then, the law of the Lord is in their meditation, and not their meditation on the law of the Lord. They do not want to agree with their adversary on the way (cf. Matt. 5:25), but they want the adversary to agree with them. They do not want to be holy with the holy, but they want the holy to be profane with them. Such were the heretics. Such are all who seek to approve their own empty opinion by the authority of Scripture, Judaizing with Jewish treachery.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“Hence every external worship and religion is dregs, which alone are left to be drunk by those who by it exalt themselves over others.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“Hence the entire psalm accuses nothing but pride, as stated below (v. 23): The pride of those who hate Thee goes up continually. For this is the cause of unbelief and the beginning of all evils.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“For whatever is said against a righteous man is said indirectly against God, who is in the righteous.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“he says “firm place” because spiritual goods do not persist in themselves but in God, from whom they gush forth without ceasing.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“The third occurrence of the words4 fits our own and the last times, where the lukewarm, the presumptuous, and those easily offended abound, whom of all people it is most difficult to move forward to better things.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“For it is not possible to make the mercy of God large and good, unless a person first makes his miseries large and evil or recognizes them to be such. To make God’s mercy great is not, as is commonly supposed, to think that God considers sins as small or that He does not punish them.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“And Dan. 8:25 also writes concerning the Antichrist that he will kill the majority of people not through poverty but through an abundance of everything.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“Again, it is afflicted, but “Thou dost comfort it.” And so, universally, whatever is in the world has been made poor, but “Thou hast made it rich.” Then follows in Thy sweetness Thou, O God, hast provided for the poor. Thus: It is despised and rejected, but “Thou hast honored and received it.” For God has spurned those who please men. But those who are “the reproach of men and the outcast of the people” (Ps. 22:6) are “a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem” (Is. 62:3). “Therefore you see your calling” (1 Cor. 1:26).”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“Augustine explains: The flesh needs many things even for this life, and this, too, it seeks from God, because not only spiritual things but also earthly things are to be sought from no one but God.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“The psalm speaks of both, namely, that one must never under any circumstances trust either in temporal things of any kind or in one’s own merits; that is to say, one must trust neither in temporal nor in spiritual goods, but through temporal and spiritual things in God alone.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“For it is the explicit statement of Sacred Scripture that one who is outside of tribulation is outside the condition and hope of salvation.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“as the apostle says, Phil 3:13, it forgets the things that are behind and always stretches out to the things that are ahead.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“It is the nature of God’s Word and the regulation of His will first to destroy what is in us and reduce to nothing whatever we are, and then erect His own structure.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“But iniquity on earth is to prefer one’s own righteousness to the righteousness of God; indeed, they want the very unrighteousness which they work to be righteousness.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“For when the heart is evil, all its works are evil, no matter how splendid they are. [And here it is clear that God is speaking, because He judges their hearts.] 1 And this word aptly and clearly expresses the nature of hypocrisy, which is a righteous performance in the eyes of men on earth, but is evil in the heart. Such are all heretics, all pretenders who create an appearance in public to which their heart does not correspond.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“For when the heart is evil, all its works are evil, no matter how splendid they are.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“to live in good morals means calm and peace for the conscience, however much disquiet there may be in the flesh in public.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“[“Toil” is especially the sin of pride and wrath. This is clear from the word of Christ, Matt. 11:28-29: “Come to Me… and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Therefore those who are not lowly and not meek will find not rest but toil, as experience teaches. Therefore, because of these two the Jews are called a people that is “enemy and avenger” (Ps. 8:2), an avenger because of wrath, an enemy because of pride.]”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“Even if a man is persecuted, God is his helper. Man is openly persecuted, but God helps immediately and secretly. This is something the ungodly do not see. Only he whom God helps sees it. For man is out in the open, but God is invisible. Therefore He helps invisibly, and especially then, when it is least expected, that is, especially when God has apparently abandoned him to the hands of men. The nearer man is present outwardly, inflicting harm, the nearer God is present inwardly, providing help, so that in this way He might triumph over the devil by His own strength and by the patience of His saints.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“The saints, however, are in silence and patience and in hope (spes), not in physical activity (res), like those people, for they are saved by the name of the Lord. This does not come about except in hope and patience and silence, whereas the ungodly seek to be saved in bustle and physical activity (res), indeed by the vanity of physical activity.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“Do not argue at all with the devil and his temptations or accusations and arguments, nor, by the example of Christ, refute them. Just keep silent altogether; turn away and hold him in contempt. For no one conquers the devil by arguing with him, since he is incomparably more clever than all of us. But if you should not fight with the devil, much less should you do it with man. Rather you should put up with him, because he does not do the work himself, but the devil uses man as his tool.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“Therefore the ungodly will not rise in the judgment,” because the Jews do not confess their wrong and do not accuse themselves. But as the righteous man is the first to accuse himself, so the ungodly man is the first to defend himself. Thus the Jews do not accuse their own ungodliness but defend it.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“Thus mankind cannot approach the waters of salvation but can only be prepared for them. For Prov. 16:1 says: “It is the part of man to prepare the soul.” But human nature was prepared in this way by the law of Moses, because the Law prepared but did not give, just as a boy is prepared by the tutor to be fit for his inheritance, but it is the father who gives it. Therefore Christ or the faithful people in the Law already seeks to enter into grace and the church of Christ.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“In all evils we must confess that God is the author and say: “Since You have done it, we must be silent and dumb,” lest we murmur or blaspheme against Him. And He must be implored to remove the evil. For he who does not know who brings in the evil becomes impatient in vain and attempts to banish it. It is as if a spear were hurled from an unknown place, and the one struck is angry in vain.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“Just as appearances of old happened for the direction of those for whom they happened, as also the Lord appeared to the two disciples going to Emmaus, so also Scripture speaks and appears in the manner in which we are disposed.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“This is the wonderful power of God, that He rules over all as individuals and over individuals as all. And He knows all things.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms

“So the salvation of Christ is called “salvations” and “mercies” (cf. Ps. 28:8; 17:7; 25:6), because it saves many and ascribes a manifold salvation to all.”
― Martin Luther, Luther's Works, Vol. 10: Lectures on Psalms