Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

Chapter 4: Psalms 60–80

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Psalm 65 with Augustine – The Beauty of Righteousness

Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple (v. 4). What are the good things of the House of God? Think about a lavish house, crowded with numerous good things, abundantly furnished, its gold and silver dishes; its entourage of servants, the many horses and livestock—in a word, how delightful the house filled with pictures, marble, ceilings, pillars, recesses, rooms— all such things are objects of desire, but they are still of the confusion of Babylon. Cut off all such longings, O citizen of Jerusalem, cut them off; if you want to return home, let not captivity delight you. Long for the House of God, and for the good things of that House: but do not long for other things, either in your house or in your neighbor’s house. We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple. You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds (vv. 4–5). These are the good things of that House. He has not said, your holy temple is awesome in pillars, in marbles, in gilded ceilings; but awesome in righteous deeds . Externally you have eyes that can see marbles and gold. Internally you can see the beauty of righteousness. If there is no beauty in righteousness, why is a righteous old man loved? What does he bring that may please the eyes? Crooked limbs, brow wrinkled, head blanched with gray hairs. Even if he sang well as a young man, all has been lost with age. He can hardly speak clearly for loss of teeth. Nevertheless, if he is righteous, if he does not covet another man’s possessions, if he shares with the needy, if he gives good advice, and wisely judges, if he believes the