The voice of the LORD makes the hinds to calve, and strips bare the forests: and in his temple does every one speak of his glory.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
9. "The Voice of the Lord perfecting the stags" (ver. 9). For the Voice of the Lord hath first perfected them that overcame and repelled the envonomed tongues. "And will reveal the woods." And then will He reveal to them the darknesses of the Divine books, and the shadowy depths of the mysteries, where they feed with freedom. "And in His temple doth every man speak of His glory." And in His Church all born again to an eternal hope praise God, each for His own gift, which He hath received from the Holy Spirit.
Prepareth. Hebrew, "delivereth "as a midwife (St. Jerome, 5 Edition, Aquila) "maketh the hinds to calve "(Protestants; Haydock) or "to leap, (from eul; Berthier) or frighteneth. "Hinds are supposed to bring forth with great difficulty. But the reverse seems to be the case. (St. Chrysostom in Job xxxix. 3.) (Calmet)
They are very swift, and trample serpents under their feet, nature having given them this power. (St. Jerome) (Pliny, vii. 32.) The text may be understood of the last sacrament, which prepares us for our passage; (Berthier) or of matrimony, by means of which the world is peopled with rational beings, whose duty it is to glorify God in his temple. (Haydock)
This is also the effect of grace, and of the preaching of the gospel, (Berthier) which inspires people with a desire of running on in the way of perfection. Christ explains to them hidden mysteries in his Church, to which he bring multitudes, like the waters, ruling over them, and enabling them to overcome all temptation...
