Psalms 74:9
| for in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine full of mixture. And he hath poured it out from this to that: but the dregs thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink.
| Drink. The just themselves shall suffer something. But their part will be comparatively the clear wine, while sinners shall have the dregs. Many suppose that God holds in his had two cups, which he mixes according to each one's deserts. So the Septuagint, Syriac, St. Augustine, etc., seem to intimate. Jupiter is thus represented with two barrels of goods and evils near his throne. (Homer, Iliad xxiv.) --- But most interpreters suppose that only one chalice is here specified, filled with red wine, the sediment being reserved for sinners, though it was usually thrown away at feasts. Wine was mixed with water in those hot countries. (Calmet) --- Yet here the mixture is of a different nature. (Haydock) --- Fire, (Psalm 10:7.; Menochius) gall, brimestone, etc., compose the bitter chalice of the damned, who will never arrive at the term of their inexpressible misery. In this life, sinners are frequently punished: but their sufferings do not end here. They shall experience a variety of torments in heat and cold, Job xxiv. (Worthington) (Apocalypse 14:10., Isaias 51:17., and Ezechiel 23:34.)
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