John Chrysostom, on Ps 11:4

“May the Lord destroy all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things.”

“"Our lips are our own; who is our master?" These are words of insane and deranged people. For this very reason Paul says the opposite to them in the words, "You are not your own; you were bought at a price," and bids them not to live for themselves. Your lips are not yours, he is saying, but the Lord's. He it was, in fact, who made them, who fitted you together, who breathed life into you. But you—what do you have? Not all that we have, by contrast, is ours; for even the possessions we have others have entrusted to us, and the land we lease others have given to us. Exactly so has God let these things out on lease to you, not for you to bear thorns but to convert the seed into something useful; not for you to make folly flourish by them, not for deceit but for humility, benediction and love. He gave you eyes, not to indulge in unrestrained gazing but to embellish them with temperance; and hands, not for striking but for giving alms.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.