Ambrose — Exposition of Psalm 118

Expositio Psalmi CXVIII

St. Ambrose of Milan · Bilingual Edition

St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397) preached his Exposition of Psalm 118in twenty-two sermons, one for each Hebrew letter of the great acrostic psalm. Probably delivered in the years following 386, the work is among the most ample of his exegetical writings — a sustained meditation on the life of the soul advancing in the law of the Lord, threaded with anti-Arian polemic, Marian and ecclesial typology, classical echoes from Vergil to Cicero, and a steady patristic hand on the Old Latin text. This site presents Petschenig’s 1913 critical Latin alongside a fresh literal English translation.

The Twenty-Two Sermons

22 of 22 sermons in bilingual edition · 2,939 apparatus entries.

Aleph

Ps 118:1–8

75 fnn. · pp. 5–19

Beth

Ps 118:9–16

153 fnn. · pp. 19–41

III

Gimel

Ps 118:17–24

200 fnn. · pp. 41–68

Daleth

Ps 118:25–32

87 fnn. · pp. 68–82

He

Ps 118:33–40

191 fnn. · pp. 82–108

Vau

Ps 118:41–48

119 fnn. · pp. 108–127

VII

Zain

Ps 118:49–56

118 fnn. · pp. 127–149

VIII

Heth

Ps 118:57–64

201 fnn. · pp. 149–188

Teth

Ps 118:65–72

71 fnn. · pp. 189–202

Iod

Ps 118:73–80

159 fnn. · pp. 202–232

Caph

Ps 118:81–88

90 fnn. · pp. 232–252

XII

Lamed

Ps 118:89–96

183 fnn. · pp. 252–281

XIII

Mem

Ps 118:97–104

111 fnn. · pp. 281–298

XIV

Nun

Ps 118:105–112

214 fnn. · pp. 298–329

Samech

Ps 118:113–120

162 fnn. · pp. 330–352

XVI

Ain

Ps 118:121–128

133 fnn. · pp. 352–377

XVII

Phe

Ps 118:129–136

127 fnn. · pp. 377–395

XVIII

Sade

Ps 118:137–144

150 fnn. · pp. 396–422

XIX

Coph

Ps 118:145–152

133 fnn. · pp. 422–444

Res

Ps 118:153–160

182 fnn. · pp. 445–474

XXI

Sin

Ps 118:161–168

80 fnn. · pp. 474–488

XXII

Tau

Ps 118:169–176

0 fnn. · pp. 488–510

About this Edition

The Latin text follows Michael Petschenig’s 1913 edition in Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 62 (the only complete critical edition of the work), corrected against Michaela Zelzer’s 1999 editio altera supplementis aucta. The English translation is fresh, paragraph-for-paragraph and literal, in a Vulgate-Douay register for scripture quotations. The full apparatus criticus, page references, classical and Hexaplaric loci, Petschenig’s editorial conjectures, and dating anchors are preserved.