Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from your way;
Read Chapter 44
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
"Our heart has not turned back; and Thou hast turned aside our goings out of Thy way" (ver. 18). See here is "understanding," in that "our heart has not gone back;" that we have not "forgotten Thee, have not behaved frowardly in Thy covenant;" placed as we are in great tribulations, and persecutions of the Gentiles. "Thou hast turned aside our goings out of Thy way." Our "goings" were in the pleasures of the world; our "goings" were in the midst of temporal prosperities. Thou hast taken "our goings out of Thy way;" and hast shown us how "strait and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life." What is meant by, "hast turned aside our goings out of Thy way"? It is as if He said, "Ye are placed in the midst of tribulation; ye are suffering many things; ye have already lost many things that ye loved in this life: but I have not abandoned you on the way, the narrow way that I am teaching you. Ye were seeking "broad ways." What do I tell you? This is the way we go to everlasting life; by the w...
Neither. Literally, "and or yet. "(Haydock)
But the negative particle is taken (Worthington) from the first part of the verse. (Calmet)
St. Jerome, "Neither hast thou "(Menochius)
Yet many adhere to the Hebrew, "And thou hast turned "Though it may be taken in a dangerous sense, (Calmet) yet it may only signify, (Haydock) that God had removed his people from the country where his worship was observed, and had refused them his protection; hence their paths have been unfortunate. (Theodoret)
This agrees better with the sequel. (Berthier)
It is no proof that God is the author of sin, in either sense. (Tirinus)
