Psalms 34:5

Verse 5. Dust. Hebrew mots, small “chaff.” Psalms 1:4. Vatab.—Angel. The evil spirits are employed to punish the wicked, as good protect the just. Psalms 33:8. Some Fathers have supposed that every man was attended by a good and a bad angel. Hermes ii. Orig. xxxv. in Lu. Saint Gregory Nys. vit. Mos. Cassian viii. 17. and xiii. 12.—But the Church admits the power of the wicked spirits only against those who take part with them, or “as far as God allows them” (Saint Jerome) to tempt. The devil is like a dog chained down, which can bite none but those who come within its reach. Saint Augustine—Both good and bad angels are ministers of God’s justice. Bible.