Verse 15. — But he shall save the needy from the sword of their mouth, and the poor from the hand of the violent. 35. Christ by rising overcame the tongues of the Jews and the sword of the Gentiles. — For he himself is that poor one, of whom it is said through Paul: For our sakes he became needy, though he was rich. And because the Jews betrayed the Lord by accusing him, whom the Gentiles slew when betrayed (2 Cor. viii, 9), by the sword of the mouth may be signified the tongue of the accusing Hebrews, of whom it is said through the Psalmist: The sons of men, their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword (Psalm lvi, 5); for, as the Gospel too bears witness, they cried out: Crucify, crucify (Luke xxiii, 21).
But by the hand of the violent may be expressed that very Gentile world which crucified, which in the death of the Redeemer fulfilled by deed the voices of the Hebrews. God therefore saved this poor one both from the hand of the violent and from the sword of the mouth; because, namely, our Redeemer bore both the strength of the Gentiles and the tongues of the Jews from his humanity by dying, but overcame them from the power of his divinity by rising. By which resurrection what else is wrought, save that our infirmity is strengthened unto the hope of the life that follows? Whence too there is fittingly soon subjoined: