My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
6. And what follows? "My soul longeth and faileth for the courts of the Lord" (ver. 2). It is not enough that it "longeth and faileth:" for what doth it fail? "For the courts of the Lord." The grape when pressed hath failed: but for what? So as to be changed into wine, and to flow into the vat, and into the rest of the storeroom, to be kept there in great quiet. Here it is longed for, there it is received: here are sighs, there joy: here prayers, there praises: here groans, there rejoicing. Those things which I mentioned, let no one while here turn from ashamed: let no one be unwilling to suffer. There is danger, lest the grape, while it fears the winepress, should be devoured by birds or by wild beasts. ...
Fainteth. The eager desire of heaven sometimes deprives people of external satisfaction, and the body partakes of the inward joy. (Worthington)
Living. The idols of Babylon have no life. (Eusebius)
