Psalm 141:3 (WEB)
Set a watch, LORD, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips.
Fathers and councils · 10
Gregory of Nyssa
“For truly He is at the same time a “door of encompassing” and a “house of defence” as David calls Him, and through Himself He receives them that enter, and in Himself He saves those who have come within, and again by…” — editor's note: Ps. cxli. 3 (LXX.).
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Ambrose of Milan
“To work, then, O Virgin, and if you wish your garden to be sweet after this sort, enclose it with the precepts of the prophets: “Set a watch before thy mouth, and a door to thy lips,” that you, too, may be able to say: “As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons.” — editor's note: Ps. cxli. [cxl.] 3.
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John Cassian
- John Cassian, Conferences XI–XVII XIII.10Conference XIII
“The Psalmist denotes the power of our will, where he says: “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile,” our prayer testifies to its weakness, when we say: “O Lord, set a watch before my mouth, and keep the door of my lips.”” — editor's note: Ps. cxl. (cxli.) 3.
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Augustine of Hippo
“Not yet, therefore, hadst Thou set a watch before my mouth, and kept the door of my lips, that my heart might not incline to wicked speeches, to make excuses of sins, with men that work iniquity—and, therefore, was I still united with their “Elect.”” — editor's note: Ps. cxli. 3, 4, Old Vers. See also Augustin’s Commentary on the Psalms, where, using his Septuagint version, he applies this passage to the Manichæans.
Read the whole comment“4. …“Set, O Lord, a watch before my mouth, and a door of restraint around my lips” (ver. 3).” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment““Set,” saith he, “O Lord, a watch to my mouth, and a door of continence around my lips: let not my heart turn away unto evil words, to make excuses in sins, with men that work unrighteousness.”” — editor's note: Ps. cxli. 3, 4
Read the whole comment“And lest it should seem that necessary Continence was to be hoped for from the Lord only in respect of the lust of the lower parts of the flesh, it is also sung in the Psalm; “Set, O Lord, a watch to my mouth, and a door of Continence around my lips.”” — editor's note: Ps. cxli. 3
Read the whole comment“Make not my heart to fall aside unto evil words;” explaining more clearly whereof he spake this, he saith, “to make excuses in sins.”” — editor's note: Ps. cxli. 3, 4
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Jerome
“Under the compulsion of an unhappy experience I have learned to be silent, thinking it better to set a watch before my mouth and to keep the door of my lips than to incline my heart to any evil thing, or, while censuring the faults of others, myself to fall into that of detraction.”” — editor's note: Ps. cxli. 3, 4.
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Gregory the Great
“Considering which thing well, the Psalmist says, Set a watch, O Lord, on my mouth, and a door round about my lips (Ps. cxl. 3).” — the author cites it
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Cross-references · 32
Cited together in The Book of Pastoral Rule III.15.
Cited together in Letters Letter 117.
Cited together in The Book of Pastoral Rule III.15.
Cited together in The Book of Pastoral Rule III.15.
Cited together in The Book of Pastoral Rule III.15.
Cited together in The Book of Pastoral Rule III.15.
Cited together in The Book of Pastoral Rule III.15.
Cited together in Letters Letter 117.
Cited together in Letters Letter 117.
Cited together in Letters Letter 117.
Cited together in Letters Letter 117.
Cited together in Against Eunomius X.1.
Cited together in Letters Letter 117.
Cited together in Letters Letter 117.
Cited together in Confessions V.10.
Cited together in Letters Letter 117.
Cited together in Confessions V.10.
Cited together in Of Holy Virginity Chapter 42.
Cited together in The Book of Pastoral Rule III.15.
Cited together in The Book of Pastoral Rule III.15.
Cited together in Against Eunomius X.1.
Cited together in The Book of Pastoral Rule III.15.
Cited together in Against Eunomius X.1.
Cited together in Against Eunomius X.1.
Cited together in Against Eunomius X.1.
Cited together in The Book of Pastoral Rule III.15.
Cited together in Confessions V.10.
Cited together in Against Eunomius X.1.
Cited together in Letters Letter 117.
Cited together in Of Holy Virginity Chapter 42.
Cited together in Of Holy Virginity Chapter 42.
Cited together in Of Holy Virginity Chapter 42.