They draw near that follow after evil: they are far from your law.
Read Chapter 119
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
148. "They draw nigh, that of malice persecute me:" or, as some copies read, "maliciously" (ver. 150). Then they that persecute draw nigh, when they go the length of torturing and destroying the flesh: whence the twenty-first Psalm, wherein the Lord's Passion is prophesied, saith, "O go not from me, for trouble is hard at hand;" where those things are spoken of which He suffered when His Passion was not imminent upon Him, but actually realized. "And are far from Thy law." The nearer they drew to the persecuting the righteous, so much the farther were they from righteousness. But what harm did they do unto those, to whom they drew near by persecution; since the approach of their Lord is nearer unto their souls, by whom they no wise are forsaken?
Law. There is no medium between faith and infidelity. If we do not observe the law, we sin. Not to advance is to go back. (Calmet)
Shall we hesitate whether to follow the narrow or the broad road? (Berthier)
