Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shall you dwell in the land, and verily you shall be fed.
Read Chapter 37
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
4. What shouldest thou do then? "Trust in the Lord" (ver. 3). For they too trust, but not "in the Lord." Their hope is perishable. Their hope is short-lived, frail, fleeting, transitory, baseless. "Trust thou in the Lord." "Behold," thou sayest, "I do trust; what am I to do?"
"And do good." Do not do that evil which thou beholdest in those men, who are prosperous in wickedness. "Do good, and dwell in the land." Lest haply thou shouldest be doing good without "dwelling in the land." For it is the Church that is the Lord's land. It is her whom He, the Father, the tiller of it, waters and cultivates. For there are many that, as it were, do good works, but yet, in that they do not "dwell in the land," they do not belong to the husbandman. Therefore do thou thy good, not outside of the land, but do thou "dwell in the land." And what shall I have?
"And thou shalt be fed in its riches." What are the riches of that land? Her riches are her Lord! Her riches are her God! He it is to whom i...
Riches. Septuagint and Houbigant read emune, "abundance. "Hebrew begins with a. The sense is much the same. (Berthier)
"Thou shalt feed on faith "(St. Jerome) or "incessantly. "(Symmachus)
The Jews entertained the greatest desire of the promised land. (Calmet)
It may here denote our soul, (Origen) the Church, (St. Augustine) the Scriptures, (St. Athanasius) or heaven. (St. Jerome) (Calmet)
Trust in God and be content. He will give thee what is requisite. (Worthington)
