A Self Punishing People

Infixae sunt gentes in interitu quem fecerunt. Hoc est, in malis operibus quae fecerunt , ibi infixae sunt, de quibus judicandae sunt. In laqueo isto quem absconderunt, etc. Quia unusquisque laqueum quem alteri parat ad cadendum, ipse prius in eo cadet. Cognescetur Dominus judicia faciens.  Cognoscetur, hoc est, ad judicium.  In operibus manuum suarum comprehensus est peccator.  Quia unusquisque peccator ipse sibi secum portat et funes, et vincula, et tormenta, unde sustineat mala. Nam ab aliis non est necesse praeparari unde torqueatur, cum ipse sibi praeparet quae ad poenam pertinent.  Sanctus Hieronymous, Breviarum In Psalmos, Psalm IX Source: Migne PL 26.842b

The peoples are caught up in the death which they fashioned. 1 That is, in the evil works which they have done, there they are snared, from which comes their judgement.  'In the trap which they left...'  Because he who prepares a trap for another to fall into, he first falls into it. The Lord shall know, making judgement. He shall know, that is, for the making of judgement.  'In the works of his own hands the sinner is caught.'  Because whoever is a sinner bears bonds for himself, and chains and torments, whence he suffers evil. For it is not necessary that others prepare that by which a man shall be tormented when he himself has prepared for himself what pertains to punishment. Saint Jerome, Breviarum on the Psalms, from Psalm 9 1 Ps 9.16