6γ All the men of wealth in their hands. ‘Men of wealth’, in the sense of, ‘the wealthy’, just as ‘men of bloodshed’ are the blood- thirsty. He is saying that the Assyrians imagined that on the next day they would, as it were, have all the rich Israelites in their hands. Or conversely, all the rich Assyrians fell into the hands of the besieged; having been found dead, they were despoiled.

7 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, those mounted on horses dozed in sleep. ‘Rebuke’ is what he calls his verdict against the enemies, and ‘dozing’ the paralysis of their power, for doziness relaxes alertness. ‘Those mounted on horses’ is what he called the enemy, Judith 9.7 as having trusted in their cavalry war-force, for it is written, They in chariots and they in horses.

8α You are fearful, and who will resist you? This is clear.

8β From then is your anger. From the time they blasphemed against you; but you gave them room for repentance in 4Rg 18.22, accordance with the custom of your goodness. 19.22 Or else ‘from then’ is to be taken simply in the sense of, ‘from the past’, ‘from long ago’.

9α From heaven you have made judgement to be heard. You have made the above-mentioned verdict from heaven audible to me, you have impart- ed it to me as a prophet. One may also understand the verse as about the future universal judgement, namely, that you have made this audible to all people through divinely inspired Scripture, so that what follows is in conformity with this.

9β-10 Earth has been struck with fear and fallen silent as God has arisen in judgement to save all the meek of the earth. He is calling ‘earth’ every man to whom it was said, Earth you are and to earth you will depart, and in particular the earthly-minded person. Once God has risen for the universal judgement mentioned, all people fell silent, every work having been abolished; moreover, he has risen in judgement to save all the just, for meekness is a characteristic of every just person.

11α For a man’s inner desire will make confession to you. This is placed to instil fear into the insensible. For at that time, he says, every human hid- den desire will reveal itself to you as you judge. And listen to the great Paul speaking about this, Their conflicting thoughts accusing or perhaps excusing them on that day when God will judge the secrets of men.

11β And a remnant of inner desire will make festal display to you. A remnant is something left over. He wishes to say that even the smallest morsel of inner desire will make festal display to you, that is, it will manifest itself to you, for a feast is a dis- playing forth of the thing celebrated. Hence it will ‘make festal display’, in the sense of, ‘it will hold up to public gaze’. It may also be interpreted in a different way [where ‘remnant’ is understood as ‘something abandoned’], that not only will your inner desires be manifest to you, but even if someone, being pressured by the demon to desire something evil and not being persuaded has aban- doned this desire, not having desired it, then even this abandonment of the desire will reveal itself to you. Thus nothing whatsoever escapes your notice.

12α Make vows and repay to the Lord our God. These things therefore being the case, promise to God gifts of repentance and render them as a most necessary obligation.

12β All those around him will offer gifts. Around God are those who love him, among whom is God himself, for it is written, There am I in the midst of them, all of whom will offer the virtues as gifts.

13α To the one who is fearful and takes away the spirits of princes. ‘Spirits’ are the souls.

13β Who is fearful before the kings of the earth. Before Pharaoh and all the others who had heard tell of the plagues of Egypt and his other wonders. 76 Psalm 76 1 Towards fulfilment; for Idithum; a psalm belonging to Asaph. ‘Towards fulfilment’, because this psalm also prophesies what the captives will suffer in Babylon and what they would say. It is, he says, a psalm sung by the choir-leader Asaph, ‘for Idithum’, that is, instead of the choir-leader Idithum, for it appears that it was given to Idithum to be sung, but being unable to do so, it was sung by Asaph. It is cast in the person of the people in Babylon. 2α With my voice I cried to the Lord. When enslaved in Babylon, I cried out to God. 2β With my voice to God. ‘I cried’ is understood here also. One should know that the root of the verb is κεκράζω [not κράζω]. ‘With my voice’ appears redundant, but this is an idiom, as is using it twice; it may also indicate an intensification of the cry. 2γ And he turned to me. Crying to him fervently and whole-heartedly. 3α In the day of my affliction I sought out God. ‘I have sought out’ indicates a fervent seeking. I have sought him out for assistance. 3β With my hands by night before him. ‘I sought out’ is to be understood here also. How does one seek out God with one’s hands? By stretching them out to him in entreaty. ‘By night’ when from every side there is every freedom; ‘before him’, that is, face to face with him who sees all things. Some understand ‘hands’ here as actions, and ‘by night’ as escaping attention, namely, I sought out God through good actions, escaping the attention of men.

3γ And I was not deceived. And having hoped to find him as a helper I was not deceived in my hopes, namely, I did not miss the mark. It is clear therefore that these words will be fitting for the people after the return from Babylon, and indeed for everyone who has been saved from dangers.

3δ My soul refused to be comforted. In deep despondence it utterly rejected, it forbad, it did not accept to be comforted by men.

4α I remembered God and was glad. I would have only one comfort amid so many evils, the remembrance of God. For remem- bering that he is able to set me free I would be comforted. O what readily secured consola- tion!

4β I ruminated and my spirit became faint. ‘Rumination’ [ἀδολεσχία], strictly speaking, is garrulity and empty verbosity, as in, Trans- gressors have rehearsed ruminations to me [= empty nonsense], but it is used for meditation and reflection as in the present case. I would meditate to myself, he says, and I would reflect on how I might be freed from my griefs, and not finding any solution, my soul was distressed. Such is the verse, I shall ruminate on your commandments, and, But your servant would rumi- nate on your statutes, and many such expressions in the one hundred and eighteenth psalm. Prayer is also called ‘rumination’ as in Hannah’s expression, I have wasted away from the multitude of my ruminations.

5α My eyes anticipated the watches of the night. Those guarding military camps divide the night into four watches - the first, second, third and fourth – and they hand them over to one another in turn. He is saying therefore that my eyes anticipated all the watches of the night, that is, keeping awake, they would mentally await the times of such watches, for, preoccupied with care, sleep would elude me. Or else ‘eyes’ is what he calls the enemies observing him, for those sent to observe me have taken up night-watches in advance against me.

5β I was troubled and did not speak. I was confused by afflictions, but I did not reveal these to my enemies, so that they would not rejoice over me even more.

6 I moved my thoughts to days of old and remembered age-long years and meditated. By ‘days of old’ he is referring to the days of Moses and of Joshua the son of Nun, how these at that time were freed from slavery in Egypt and crossed the Red Sea untouched by water and, having received countless benefactions, famously entered into the promised land. ‘Age-long’ is what he calls the ancient years, and thus we say ‘age-old’ for things that are from long ago. The syntax of ‘remembered’ is indifferent [accusative in place of genitive]. I ‘meditated’, in the sense of, ‘I turned these things over in my mind’. Those ‘days of old’ are those he also called ‘age-long years’. On the basis of these words, some have interpreted ‘my eyes anticipated the watches of the night’ in a different way, namely, that the eyes of my soul, that is, my mind, espied beforehand the various modes of life. For life is ‘night’ on account of the erroneous straying in it, and its ‘watches’ are the various modes of life – that before the law, that of the law, and that of the Gospel. He is saying accordingly that he reviewed the two of these and did not find such abandonment in them, for God gave assistance to the patriarchs and also to those after the law up to the present captivity and enslavement. The Lord also spoke about such watches in the words whereby he invokes blessings on his vigilant servants, saying, And if he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those servants! 7α By night I would ruminate with my heart. ‘By night’, in the sense of, ‘in the night’ when there is stillness of all things. This rumina- tion is similar to that mentioned above. ‘With my heart’, in the sense of, ‘in my soul’. 7β And my spirit would dig around. It would hoe over, dig up, it would search out – for this is how Theodotion rendered it. What it would search out, hear in what follows. 8 Will the Lord reject to the ages and will he not persist in showing favour any longer? The words are dubitative up to the verse, And I said, Now I have begun. I would search out, he says, whether he will reject us utterly and will not wish – for this is what ‘and he will not persist’ signifies – to show favour any longer, that is, to be well pleased with us hereafter. [The τοῦ in the Greek is redundant]. 9α Or will he cut off his mercy to the end?

Or will he cut off his accustomed mercy from us for ever. This, even though it appears to be the same as, Will he reject to the ages, is, however, even more pitiful and emotive.

9β Has he brought to an end what was spoken from generation to generation? Has he brought to an end the matter spoken, That he has commanded for a thousand gen- erations? concerning which verse consult the one hundred and fourth psalm. ‘Brought to an end’, in the sense that he has closed it off and set a limit to it, from that generation up to the present one, as not proceeding any further.

10 Will God forget to show compassion? Or in his anger will he close off his compassion? These words, even though they appear similar to the preceding verses, nevertheless reveal that God is compassionate by nature, just as light is illuminating and fire is caustic; and so he will not cast off what is in his nature. From this therefore he came to understand what was perplexing him, namely, that he has not rejected them to the ages and so on, but that he brings on punishment according to the multitude and magnitude of the sins.

11α And I said, ‘Now I have begun’. The words are of gratitude. Having considered how I have sinned, I said, ‘Now is the beginning for me of worthy punishment’, for the things up to now were the preliminaries to this.

11β This is the change of the right hand of the Most High. The alteration from freedom and comfort to slavery and affliction, the work of the divine right hand chastising us.

12α I remembered the works of the Lord. The ‘works of the Lord’ is what he calls the chastisements for our benefit. 12β- For I shall remember your wonders from the beginning and will meditate on all your words

13 and ruminate on your practices. Again ‘I said’ is to be understood here, for, he says, at that time I said ‘for I shall remember’, and so on. For the memory of these things brought me comfort, as has been said. ‘Practices’ are what he calls the artifices for the salvation of mankind. Note also this use of ‘I shall rumi- nate’ for it means the same as in the previous cases. Ps 76.4β, 7α

14α O God, your way is in the holy. The ‘holy’ is what he calls either heaven, as hallowed and in which God is said to abide, or else Mount Sinai, as dedicated to God and on which he made visitation, or else the temple, as august and on which he would descend to give oracular response. Symmachus, instead of ‘in the holy’ wrote ‘in holiness’, indicating that every act of God is holy and blameless, even though for us his chastisements seem most onerous.

14β Which god is great as is our God? Having promised to remember God’s wonders, first of all he praises him saying, ‘Which god of the other tribes is great, that is, great in power and great in deeds, in the way our God is?’

15α You are the God who works wonders. You are God in the eminent sense who does wondrous works.

15β You made known your power among the peoples. ‘Peoples’ here are what he calls the nations, namely, the Egyptians and the others whom the Hebrews strangely defeated when they resisted them and who learned from experience that the God helping the Hebrews is great.

16α You redeemed your people by your arm. ‘Arm’ is what he calls his power.

16β The sons of Jacob and of Joseph. He called the people ‘sons’, on the one hand of Jacob as forefather, and on the other hand of Joseph as their provider and benefactor and cause of glory for them on account of his wisdom and position of power.

17α Waters saw you, O God, waters saw you and were seized with fear. The verse is about the miracle at the Red Sea. They saw you ineffably, he says, and having been struck with fear they parted, for God was going before the people in a pillar of fire and cloud.

17β The deeps were troubled. The depths of the sea were troubled by the wind bearing down on the waters.

17γ A multitude of sound of waters. At that time there came about a multitude of the sound of waters, that is, a great sound. The nominative case of the word for sound is the neuter τὸ ἤχος [hence ἤχους is a genitive cf. singular rather than a masculine accusative plural]. 18α The clouds gave forth voice. Thunder is the voice of the clouds. 18β And indeed your arrows are passing through. The story tells that a violent south wind having blown the sea was parted. Hence with a hurricane having descended, it is likely for thunder and lightning to have fallen down causing consternation among the Egyptians. ‘Arrows’ accordingly you will understand as lightning shafts passing through against the enemies. ‘They are passing through’ is in the sense of ‘they were passing through’, substituting one tense for another, and the ‘indeed’ is redundant. 19α The voice of your thunder in the wheel. And, it is written, he bound together the axles of their chariots and led them violently. He is saying accordingly that the voice of your thunder struck in each chariot – for he is calling the chariot ‘the wheel’, the part standing for the whole – whereon, the horses having been startled, the axles of the wheels became caught up in one another. 19β Your lightning shafts appeared to the world. The brilliant flashes of this miracle appeared to all. 19γ The earth was shaken and overtaken by trembling. On learning what you have worked for your people, all men were troubled, thrown into consternation and been seized by fear. 20α Your way is in the sea. This is an exclamation of wonder at the miracle, because you make your path in the sea whenever you wish. 20β And your paths are in many waters. He says the same again, intensifying the hymn of praise. 19α: And in a different way, the voice of things divine is in man, who is like a wheel, touching the earth or earthly things in small part and for the rest raised up entirely above them.

20γ And your tracks will not be known. For the sea came together and was united and in such a way that no trace of division appeared.

21 You guided your people like sheep in the hand of Moses and Aaron. He said ‘like sheep’, indicating his care for and protection of them and his leading them to rich pasture and a safe fold, and also because he is called The one who shepherds Israel. The psalm here is brought to an end. Some, including Gregory the Theologian, apply PG35.965B the words of the psalm to the events in the life of David. It is likely that he, when his soul had been sometime taken captive by a siege of afflictions, would, after being freed therefore, have composed the present psalm, relating all his sufferings and interweaving prophecy about Christ, on which account, I believe, there is ‘towards fulfilment’ in the superscription. [2] I cried, he says, when I was being hemmed in by afflictions. What follows adapts easily [6] up to the verse, I moved my thoughts to days of old. These may be interpreted as the days of his prosperity when he had God as his protector. The following verses are easily accommo- [9] dated up to, He has brought to an end what was spoken. You will understand this phrase not dubitatively, but categorically, namely, that he has already concluded every decision about every man previously pronounced by him. Here we understand ‘what was spoken’ as God’s decision, and hence what he has foreordained I shall suffer. ‘From generation to generation’, in the sense of, ‘according to the succession of each generation’, that is, upon each generation. [11] This is the change prophesies about the gospel polity, for having foreseen this with his prophetic eyes altered from the polity of the law, he says that this is the work of Christ, for Christ is addressed as the right hand and arm of the Father in accordance with his divinity, as maker of all things and as power. [14] The following words are clear up to, O God, your way is in the holy. Here we call Christ ‘the holy’, as most pure and who committed no sin. In him, he says, your purpose is enacted, namely, that concerning the incarnation and the salvation of mankind. ‘Your way’ here is ‘your purpose’. [15] Then having marvelled at such a mystery, he hymns and magnifies Christ. You indeed have made your Son known among the peoples of all the nations, for, as is written, Christ is [16] the power of God. He also calls Christ God’s ‘arm’, through whom we his people have been redeemed from the captivity of the devil. And we are called ‘sons of Jacob and of Joseph’ as having been adopted in place of the old people and having inherited both the propinquity to God and the appellation of that people. This is also spoken of at the end of the thirteenth psalm. [17] Waters saw and were seized with fear, when as the boat was sinking, having been wakened from sleep, you rebuked the winds and the sea and they were seized with fear and became calm. Then the deeps of the sea were troubled in fear at the Master’s rebuke, as was also the multitude of the sound of the waves.

[18] The clouds gave forth voice at the Transfiguration: And see, a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son’. You may also call the clouds the prophets, as was said previously in the seventeenth psalm Ps 17.12γ, where you will also find about arrows as well as about lightning shafts. 14-15 [19] The ‘voice of thunder’ is the word of the Gospel preaching as coming from heaven and as stentorian and audible to all people. The ‘wheel’ is the world on account of its restless nature. The earth was shaken and overtaken by trembling, as once again we explained in the same psalm, for this entire verse is also found in that psalm. [20] Your way is in the sea, when he came to his disciples walking on the sea. The same is indi- cated once again by the following verse, for ‘many waters’ are the depths of the waters. Your tracks upon the sea will not be known, for tracks are not imprinted on water. Some, calling life ‘sea’ on account of the bitter brine of afflictions and its uncertain and capricious nature, say that your way will be in this life at the time of your incarnation, but your tracks, that is, the modes of your incarnation, are incomprehensible. [21] The people of the Father is the new people, namely, the Christian people. The ‘hand’ is Christ’s leading by the hand and guidance, for Christ is Moses, as lawgiver of the Gospel law, and Aaron, as great high priest, having sacrificed himself for his people.

77 Psalm 77

1α Of understanding; belonging to Asaph. Because understanding is required by the readers so as to discern who the speaker is and to whom he is speaking and what the law is, for David is speaking, but in the person of Christ and is addressing those who believe in him.

1β Give heed to my law, O my people. Zachariah says, And many nations will flee to the Lord for refuge and shall become for him a people. ‘Law’ is what he now calls the Gospel law about which Isaiah says, Out of Zion shall go forth a law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he shall judge between the nations. The syntax of ‘give heed’ is indifferent [accusative instead of dative]; some copies, howev- er, use the dative.

1γ Incline your ear to the words of my mouth. ‘Incline’ is either simply in the sense of, ‘place under’, or else in the sense of, ‘turn from listening to profitless things to listening to the words of the Gospel’.

2 I shall open my mouth in parables, I shall utter things screened over from the beginning.

This is a prophecy about the Gospel parables, for Matthew says, All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet: ‘I shall open my mouth in parables, I shall eruct things that have been hidden since the foundation of the world.’ It is therefore clear from this that the psalm is written in the person of the Saviour. ‘Things screened over’ is once again what he here named the parables, for Matthew in- stead of saying ‘things screened over’ said ‘things that have been hidden’, having held closely to the Hebrew word, which means both the one and the other, for all the Gospel parables had their truth hidden; Aquila translated this as ‘enigmas’. And Matthew said ‘since the founda- tion of the world’ for ‘from the beginning’, similarly holding closely to the Hebrew word, and furthermore for ‘I shall utter’ he said ‘I shall eruct’.

3α All those things we have heard and come to know. ‘All those things’ is not now to be taken in relation to the ‘things screened over’, but is to read on its own in wonder, in the sense of, ‘O how many are the things we have heard, both from our teachers and from the divine Scriptures!’ For he wishes to enumerate how many things God did for the Hebrews of old and in how many ways they provoked him to anger, and how many afflictions they suffered on this account. He said ‘we have heard’ on account of his assumed humanity, for indeed as a man he used to hear these things just as we do. And we have come to know them, in the sense of, ‘we have been assured about them’; not only, he says, have we heard, but we have also received firm assurance.

3β And our fathers told us. Having said that ‘we have heard’, he added from whom we have heard. By ‘fathers’ he is not referring here to their natural fathers – for we cannot say that their natural parents taught the faithful from the nations these things – but their adopted fathers, who may be interpreted as Moses and the other authors as well as their expositors and the teachers of the people, as we have said, for their sons were Christ through his mother and the Apostles, and the sons of these in turn are the entire Christian people.

4α They have not been hidden from their children to another generation. The fathers have told these things to their immediate children and the children have not hidden from the next generation after them the things that they have learned, but similarly they have narrated these things to their children, and so in succession, for there was a law saying, You will teach these things to your sons and to the sons of your sons.

4β Proclaiming the Lord’s praises and his mighty deeds and his wonders that he has done.

And our fathers have told us is to be taken together with with proclaiming, according to the figure of hyperbaton. He calls the same things successively ‘praises’ as worthy of praise, and ‘mighty deeds’ as indicative of divine power, and ‘wonders’ as worthy of wonder; or else the ‘mighty deeds’ are those against the enemies and the ‘wonders’ are those worked among his own people, about which he will speak in turn. 5α And he set up a testimony in Jacob and established a law in Israel. ‘He established a law in Israel’ is a clarification of ‘and he set up a testimony in Jacob’, for ‘to set up’ means the same as ‘to establish’ and the ‘law’ is also called ‘a testimony’ as we said in the eighteenth psalm interpreting that word. Jacob was also called Israel when he saw the vision of the ladder. What this law is, listen. [Gen 32.29] 5β All those things he commanded to our fathers, [in order] to make them known to their sons. The ‘in order’ is redundant here. He is saying he has legislated those things he has com- manded to our fathers for them to make known and report them in turn to their sons. Dt 6.4,7 6α So that another generation may come to know. The reason for the fathers to report them to their sons is so that the other generation after them may come to know all these things. He then clarifies which is the ‘other generation’. 6β Sons to be born. In succession. 6γ And they will rise up and will report these things to their sons. The sons’ sons to their sons. ‘They will rise up’, in the sense of, ‘they will be born’. 7α That they may place their hope in God. Having learned all that God has promised to those who hope in him. 7β And may not forget his works. By studying the stories about them. ‘His works’ is what he earlier called ‘mighty deeds’ and ‘wonders’.

7γ And may search out his commandments. ‘May search out’ in the sense of, ‘may follow’, for the one who is searching something out follows closely on its track. The ‘other generation’ may also be interpreted as the Christians.

8α That they may not become like their fathers, a generation crooked and embittering. ‘Crooked’ as not having real faith in God’s promises, but in time of crisis disbelieving in them, and ‘embittering’ as murmuring whenever they came up against any difficulty, and displaying ill will and showing displeasure with freedom and considering slavery in Egypt preferable, as the book of Exodus and that of Numbers widely recounts.

8β A generation that would not keep its heart straight. It did not set its heart straight so as to believe simply and assuredly, but would make it crooked with doubting.

8γ And has not kept its spirit in fidelity with God. And has not been faithful to God and to the words of God. Here he calls the soul ‘spirit’.

9 The sons of Ephraim, drawing and shooting with bows, have turned back on the day of war. The tribe of Ephraim, Joseph’s son, was more versed in archery than the others and more useful in war and famed in this regard. Above all this tribe was honoured for having first received the ark and the tent of witness constructed by Moses within the bounds of the land allotted to it, for Shiloh where the ark was along with the tent of witness was a part belonging to the Ephraimite tribe. This tribe, famed in battles, was defeated on account of its idolatry. Or else, by this tribe, preeminent at that time, he signifies also the others that having fallen into idolatry were surrendered to their enemies as the book of Judges tells. David is therefore saying that the sons of Ephraim, drawing bows and shooting from bows, turned around, that is, they turned their backs in flight. Some say that this is a prophecy about the later idolatry of the tribe of Ephraim, for when the ten tribes broke away from the kingship of Roboam, the Ephraimite tribe, being first among them, persuaded the people to set up the heifers and become apostates from God, for which reason they were similarly surrendered to their enemies as you will find in the Third Book of Kingdoms. And other prophets inveigh against this tribe as the cause of idolatry for 3Rg 12-14 the people.

10 They did not keep God’s covenant and did not wish to walk in his law. Here the verse is against all the tribes, teaching the reason for their defeat. ‘Covenant’ is what he calls the compacts that God made with the Hebrews at various times when leading them into the promised land, and ‘law’ is what he calls the command- ments.

11 And they forgot his benefactions and his wonders, which he displayed to them. ‘Benefactions’ are those towards the people of Israel, namely, leading them untouched by water through the sea and following things which he lists. ‘Wonders’ are his miracles against the Egyptians, which further on he called signs and wonders, namely, turning their rivers into blood, and so on, which he also recounts. He dis- played these things to them through their fathers’ teaching to them.

12α In the presence of their fathers, the wonders he has worked. Which wonders he has worked in the presence of their fathers. He then mentions the place in which he worked these miracles.

12β In the land of Egypt, on the plain of Tanis. Tanis was an Egyptian city in which Pharaoh’s palace was situated, and about which Isai- ah says, The rulers of Tanis have ceased to be. In the book of Exodus Moses made no mention of the name of Tanis. It is likely that David knew it from the book in which is written, And Hebron was built before Tanis in Egypt was built, or else from other hidden books or perhaps even from Egyptian books.

13α He broke the sea apart and led them through. The Red Sea, as the book of Exodus describes. He tells the story greatly abridged and does not mention everything or in order, but hap- hazardly and whatsoever and howsoever they came into his mind, for his aim is not to write history but to hold up to scorn the ingratitude of the Jews. He placed first the strangest of all.

13β He made the waters stand up like a wineskin. And the water, it is written, became for them a wall on the right and a wall on the left. Ac- cordingly, ‘he made them stand up’, that is, ‘he raised up the sections on the one side and on the other’.

‘Like a wineskin’, that is, swollen out like a wineskin. 14 And by day he led them in a cloud and all the night in a light of fire. Moses says, And God would lead them by day in a pillar of cloud to show them the way and by night in a pillar of fire. Accordingly, the same pillar would lead by day and protect from the heat and the rays of the sun, and by night it would lead a give warmth, for the night being moist would grow cold. 15 He broke a rock apart in the desert and gave them to drink as in boundless deep. In the desert of Mount Horeb, as the same book of Exodus tells. By the ‘boundless deep’ he signified the abundance of the waters. 16 And he brought forth water from a rock, and brought down waters like rivers. This is another miracle that took place in the desert of Kadesh, as the book of Numbers Nu 20.1, 8-13 recounts, for twice he sent up water from a rock at different times and places. Hence in Horeb the place where the water had been sent up was called Testing and Rail- lery, for they tempted God, testing his power and not believing in the miracles they had often seen, and they railed against Moses for having led them out from Egypt in the the wilderness. In Kadesh the place was named Water of Gainsaying, because they spoke against God with their murmuring. For God enjoined them only to obey his decrees and to trust in him, but they were unwilling to obey and were devoid of trust. God accomplished the splitting of the sea and of the rocks through Moses. 17α And they continued yet further to sin against him. The τοῦ in the Greek is redundant. He said ‘yet further’ without specification, assuming their previous sins to be already well-known from the writings of Moses. How they sinned yet further, listen. 17β They embittered the Most High in a waterless [land]. Place or land. How they embittered him was said earlier at the verse, A generation crooked and embittering. 18 And they tempted God in their hearts by asking for food for their souls. Moses did not tell about this and about the following matters up to the verse And fire was kindled, David, however, recorded them, as with many other such things, either having

drawn on hidden books, as we said before, or having received them from the unwritten tradi- tion of older generations, or having been instructed about them by the holy Spirit. He is saying that they tempted God in their minds concerning whether he is able to give the things they were asking for. They tempted him by asking for food for their souls, that is, for themselves, by circumlocution.

19α And they railed against God. ‘They railed against’, in the sense of, ‘they murmured against’ him as about to kill them by starvation for sheer pleasure.

19β And they said, ‘Will God then be able to prepare a table in the desert?’ The ‘then’ is expressive of doubt, as a question expecting a negative answer.

20 Because he struck a rock and waters flowed and torrents flooded forth, is he then also able to give bread or to prepare a table for his people? Because he did the one thing, is he then able to do another? O such folly! If he did the one, how will he be unable to do the other? ‘Flooded forth’, in the sense of, ‘flowed violently’. For as he says, He brought down waters as rivers. The ‘table’ is that of the meats. Observe how David says that the waters of the rock that had been struck flowed prior to the bread and the meats, even though in the book of Exodus Moses stated the opposite, for you will find there that first God rained the bread of manna and the meat of the quail, then the rock sent up the water. There is therefore no other solution to offer to the puzzle than that he is not now speaking about that bread and meat, but about the later one that is recorded in the book of Numbers, for twice he rained quail on them, so that the rock referred to is the one that had been struck in Horeb and not the one in Kadesh, for the latter had not yet been struck. If any were to say that in the book of Numbers it was ‘meat’ that they asked for and not ‘bread’, let him hear that he calls the eating of meat ‘bread’, and indeed what they said was, Who will feed us [ψωμιεῖ] (in later Greek ψωμός = bread) meat? And when David said, Is he then also able to give bread? he clarified the words by what followed, for he added, Or prepare a table for his people? so that the conjunction ‘or’ is not disjunctive but clarificatory.

21 On this account the Lord heard and girded himself and fire was kindled in Jacob and anger mounted against Israel. Even though they tempted God ‘in their hearts’, yet just as if they had used their voice, God, who knows the heart, heard.

For ‘he girded himself ’, Symmachus wrote ‘he was provoked to anger’, for those who are provoked to anger are accustomed to throw on their battle dress, that is, to pull up their clothing readying themselves for revenge. And Moses said, And the Lord was angered with wrath and fire was kindled among them from the Lord and it devoured a part of the camp. He calls the people ‘Jacob’ and ‘Israel’ as being descended from him. 22α For they had not believed in God. For they had not believed in the power of God, even though having seen so many won- ders. The preposition ἐν is redundant in the Greek. 22β Nor hoped in his salvation. Nor had they trusted that he, who had done so much for them, would save them. 23- And he commanded the clouds from high above and opened the gates of heaven and rained 24α down manna on them to eat. He reverted to the first things that are recorded in the book of Exodus. He calls ‘clouds from high above’ the ones at high altitude (for there are also clouds near the earth). And he calls those same clouds the ‘gates of heaven’ as being set in front of it. He commanded them, to rain down the manna, that is. Now the manna was like coriander seed and its appearance was the appearance of rock-crys- tal. And the people would go along and would collect and grind it in the mill or crush it in the mortar and they would boil it in the pot and would make it into cakes baked in the ashes, and its flavour was like the taste of a cake made with oil. This is what is said in the book of Numbers. In the book of Exodus it says, Its taste was like a cake made with honey. 24β And gave them bread of heaven. ‘Heaven’ here is what he calls the air, as in ‘the birds of heaven’, or else on account of its appearance of having been brought down from heaven. 25α Man ate the bread of angels. Not that manna was the food of angels, but that angels would minister at its descent. Christ himself censures those who believe that this bread is heavenly in the proper sense, for he said, Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven, that is, the bread that is truly from heaven.

And that this bread was not the food of angels, he says again, Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. For since, he says, having eaten that bread, they died, it was not heavenly in the proper sense, nor was it the food of angels. Then he says again, I am the bread of life, and so on. Jn 6.35, 48

25β He sent them sustenance in abundance. Sustenance from the manna, that is, bread. 26- He raised away a southerly wind from heaven and brought on the south-westerly in his

30α power and rained flesh upon them like dust and winged birds like sand of the seas; and they fell in the midst of their encampment, all around their tents; and they ate and were filled to the full and he brought them their desire, they were not deprived of their desire. In the book of Numbers Moses says, And a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought over quail from the sea and it cast them upon the camp, and so on. David, however, distin- guished the wind into the southerly and south-westerly, for these winds blow across the warm places in which the breed of quail lives. ‘He raised away’, is in the sense of, ‘he set in motion’. He said ‘he rained’ on account of their being brought down heavily and constantly from above like rain, and ‘like dust’ and ‘like sand’ on account of their abundance and dense accu- mulation, for he fed 600,550 men to satiety and for a long time, indeed, it is written, Up to a month of days you shall eat until it comes out of your nostrils. So many indeed were the warriors from the age of twenty and upwards, without those of a lower age and the women and the entire tribe of Levi. ‘In the midst of their encampment and all around their tents’ so that they would not tire themselves gathering them. ‘Encampment’ indicates the whole camp site, while the ‘tents’ are the individual lodgings of each separately. ‘Desire’ is what he here calls the object of desire, that is, the thing desired, as the Apostle Paul also says, And hope does not make ashamed, meaning the object of hope, which is the thing hoped for. 30β- With the food still being in their mouth, God’s anger rose upon them and he slaughtered

31 among their multitudes and bound the elect of Israel hand and foot. On seeing the quail, they did not believe in God’s promise, promising to feed them to satiety with it for up to a month, but fearing it might fly away or be all consumed, They chilled for themselves chilled portions all around the encampment and the meat was still in their teeth before it came to an end, and the Lord was enraged against the people and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.

Observe how even before the meat between their teeth had been consumed they disbe- lieved, having forgotten God’s power. Hence they were filled with their desire as proof of God’s power and providence towards them, but, as Moses told, on account of their unbelief and insatiate desire it resulted for them in the disease of cholera, by which many were de- stroyed. ‘Among their multitudes’ Symmachus translated as ‘among their fatted ones’ and Aquila as ‘among the well-oiled’, naming in this way the richer and more powerful among the peo- ple, for it is likely that they, on this account collecting more than the others, would gorge themselves more greedily. They were led to this interpretation by the following phrase, And he bound the elect of Israel hand and foot. The translation by the Seventy said ‘among their multitudes’ as more worthy of mention, for it is not comparative but absolute and signifies ‘among many’, that is, many, which agrees more with what Moses said, for he wrote, The Lord struck the people with a very great plague. ‘A great plague’ is the death of many. He called them ‘elect’ as warriors, for all those enumer- ated above were warriors, having been chosen to form a battle array.

32α Amid all these things they sinned further. Amid all the things, both in which they were receiving benefactions and in which they were being chastised, they sinned still further in many other things, including that they were afraid of the inhabitants of the promised land, not trusting in God who had given the promise.

32β And they did not believe in his wonders. Assuming that these things occurred by chance. Everywhere David holds up to scorn their unbelief which continually brought them into danger and about which God said, How long will this people provoke me? And how long will they fail to believe in all the signs that I have worked among them? And Christ later called the Jews a ‘faithless generation’.

33α And their days passed away in vanity. In failure to enact any good, in fleshly desires. Seeking only these things, all were destroyed in the desert, for God said, Surely they shall not see the land that I swore to their fathers, but rather their children who are with me here, those who know not good or evil. And again he says, In this desert your limbs shall fall, and yet again, I the Lord have spoken. Surely I shall do thus to this evil congregation that has banded together against me. In this wilderness they shall be utterly consumed and there they shall die.

33β And their years with eager haste. For vanities. Or else in a different way, the years passed away in eager haste. For those who live a care- free life each year seems to race past on account of the ease of pleasure, while for those who pursue virtue it seems rather to pass slowly on account of the long drawing out of toil. Or else their years passed away in eager haste, as swiftly having died. 34α When he would slay them, then they would seek him out. When receiving benefactions they would remain insensitive, but when chastised they would come to their senses. 34β- And they would turn back and rise early towards God, and they remembered that God is 35 their helper and God the Most High is their redeemer. Moses says about this that they would rise early weeping. 36α And they loved him with their mouth. Not with the disposition of their heart, but only with fair-sounding words. Isaiah accuses the Jews of similar things, saying, This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 36β And with their tongue they forswore him. Promising in word to believe in and obey him, but in deed disbelieving and disobeying him, for their thoughts would speak against their words. The Apostle Paul also says, They profess to know God, but they deny him by their deeds. 37α And their heart was not straight with him. Not upright towards him. This is similar to, A generation that would not keep its heart straight. 37β Nor have they kept fidelity with his covenant. And this resembles the phrase, It [the generation] has not kept its spirit in fidelity with God, for they did not believe what he had promised them.

38α But he is compassionate and will be merciful on their sins and will not destroy. ‘Will be merciful’, instead of, ‘was merciful’, by substitution of one tense for another. Simi- lar is the case of ‘will not destroy’; for he did not destroy them immediately, but was long-suf- fering. He said indeed to Moses, I am merciful to them, according to your word. Or else, he did not destroy them utterly.

38β And he will multiply all means to avert his rage and will not enkindle all his anger. ‘He will multiply all means’ and ‘he will not enkindle’ are likewise a substitution of one tense for another. And, he says, he has multiplied all means of compassion, that is, he has shown them the greatest compassion, so as to avert his rage. Thus also in an elliptical manner we find in the sixty-fourth psalm, You have multiplied all means to enrich it. And he did not enkindled all his anger, for if he had, he would at once have destroyed them with utter destruction, but being angered in part he showed a conciliatory attitude – for he said to Moses, Allow me, and enraged with anger against them I shall wipe them out. Or else being angered in part, he chastised in part.

39 And he remembered that they are flesh, a spirit making its path and not returning. Furthermore, he displayed long-suffering also on this account, because they were flesh, weak and short-lived, and a spirit not remaining in life, but making its way from hence and no longer returning to life. In Hebrew scripture you will very often find ‘he remembered’ said of God in a metaphor- ical manner, for just as it calls the withdrawal of his customary protection ‘forgetfulness’, so it is accustomed to call the subsequent assistance ‘remembrance’ in a more human manner on account of the dullness of the readers.

40 How often did they embitter him in the desert, provoke him to anger in a waterless land? Very often, as is possible to find from the history. Observe the wickedness, for not only did they often embitter him and provoke him to anger, but in the desert where they ought to have reverenced him even more on account of their helplessness, and in a waterless land where should have humbled themselves and supplicated on account of their necessity.

41 And they turned back and tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel. Here ‘they turned back’ is taken as towards evil, for they turned back from this evil to another. Some have taken ‘they tested’ in the the sense of, ‘they grieved’. He calls God the ‘Holy One of Israel’, which signifies the one to be praised and the glorified one.

42α They did not remember his hand. ‘Hand’ is what he calls his power, that worked good for the Hebrews and evil for their enemies. 42β The day he redeemed them from an oppressor’s hand. ‘They did not remember’ is to be understood here also. ‘Oppressor’ is what he calls Pharaoh. 43 How he set his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the plain of Tanis. Nor did they remember how he set his signs, and so on. Many say that ‘signs’ and ‘marvels’ are the same thing, by a repetition of the expression. Some, however, have called ‘signs’ those things that brought ruin by natural means, such as the disease of the cattle, for it is the nature of disease to kill, and the destruction brought by the locust, for it is in the nature of the locust to destroy crops, and ‘marvels’ those things contrary to nature, such as the changing of water into blood and the continued appearance of frogs that live by water on dry land, and suchlike. 44α And turned their rivers into blood. This is the first plague of the Egyptians. We call the river Nile ‘rivers’, for it alone flows through Egypt. It has been said how the Hebrew dialect sometimes expresses singulars by the plural. Some say that it is spoken of in the plural on account of the streams branching out from the Nile which in turn are called rivers on account of the quantity of the waters. The ‘their’ you will make refer to the Egyptians, for having said ‘in Egypt’ he indicated the Egyptians. 44β And their rain-waters, so that they could not drink. ‘Rain-waters’ is what he calls the cisterns in which they would store the waters from rain. Some call the wells also ‘rain-waters’ in a looser way (that is, by the figure of catachresis). 45α He sent the dog-fly against them and it devoured them. This is the fourth plague. The second was that of the frogs and the third that of the gnats. Just as above when recounting the benefactions towards the Hebrews he did not preserve their order, so neither does he now in relation to the plagues against the Egyptians, and what we said then will be sufficient. For his aim in the present case was only to show all the ele- ments marshalled against Pharaoh at God’s decree, since Moses had earlier recorded their order. Ex 7-12

The dog-fly is a vicious and importunate fly; ‘devoured’ is used loosely in the sense of ‘bit viciously’. 45β And the frog and it destroyed them. It, too, brought destruction by biting and by carrying off and defiling their foods and filling them with utter disgust. 46 And he gave their crops to the rust and their labours to the locust. Even though it seems that the ‘rust’ is not to be found among the plagues enumerated by Moses, nevertheless it, too, is found there, for it is the young offspring of the locust, which is also called ‘locust larva’; this is what Aquila called it. By ‘crops’ he refers to those of the whole earth, and the same with ‘labours’ as being culti- vated with labour. The plague of the locust was the eighth. 47α And he killed their vine with hail. He put to death its fruitfulness. This was the seventh plague. 47β And their sycamores with frost. And this plague, even though it appears unmentioned by Moses, is nevertheless included in the hail, for frost has its composition from frozen rain. There are many sycamores in Egypt, for these abound particularly in warmer places. Just as hail is inimical to the vine, so is frost to sycamores. 48 And he surrendered their flocks to hail, and their subsistence to fire. The hail strangely borne along with fire would first of all kill off the vine and the syca- mores, as unable to withstand at all the initial assault, then, after holding out for a short time, the flocks grazing in the plains, then finally the fire within it would devour every herb and plant; and the matter was prodigious, with fire racing in water. Their ‘subsistence’, that is, their source of wealth, is what he calls their pasture and plants. It is needful to know that even though that this plague is said to have destroyed every pasture and every tree, but some were left over that the locust, descending after the fire-laced hail, then devoured, about which is said that And it devoured all the pasture of the land and all the fruit of the trees, which the hail left behind. He spoke above in a universal way on account of very nearly all having been destroyed. 46: But Joel says that locust larva is one thing and rust another [ Joel 1.4].

49α He sent on them the anger of his rage. ‘Anger’ here is to be understood as the vehemence of his rage.

49β Rage and anger and affliction. He named the punishments in this manner, for God is passionless, and ‘rage’ you will understand as lesser the chastisements, ‘anger’ as the greater ones, and ‘affliction’ as the still more severe.

49γ A dispatch through grievous angels. Being punishments sent and delivered through grievous angels, ‘grievous’ not by nature or by disposition, but bringing grief as ministering to the punishments, for ‘grievous’ here is what he calls the chastising angels.

50α He made passable a path for his anger. He made a path for his anger, previously at rest on account of his benevolence, to move against the hardened Egyptians. He ‘made passable’, even though it is a composite word, nevertheless has a simple meaning. Or in a different way, he made a path for the angel bringing destruction to the first-born not to turn aside to the marked doorposts but to proceed against the unmarked ones; for this angel you will understand as ‘anger’ as being a minister of anger.

50β He did not spare their souls from death. This is the tenth plague. He did not spare their souls from death, namely, from being put to death, which is, in being put to death. ‘Their’, that is, of the first-born; or else you will un- derstand ‘souls’ as their first-born, insofar as they were valued equally with their own souls on account of their great affection for them. He said ‘he did not spare’ because, Every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on the throne to the firstborn of the serving-girl by the mill and the firstborn of every animal.

50γ And all their herds he confined in death. This is the fifth plague. And, it is written, all the herds of the Egyptians died, namely, the herds in the plains. ‘He confined’, in the sense of, ‘he enclosed without escape’, that is, he put to death.

51α And he struck down every firstborn in the land Egypt.

He repeats the statement about the firstborn, because this plague was more bitter than the others.

51β The firstling of every labour of theirs among the tent-dwellings of Ham. ‘Firstling’ here is what he calls the choicest and most valued. He destroyed, namely, every firstborn, that is, the firstling of every labour of theirs; ‘their labour’ he calls their acquisitions, as acquired by labour. Children are also an acquisition, for it is written, I have acquired a son. ‘The tent-dwellings of Ham’ signifies Egypt, for Aigyptos, from whom Egypt takes its name, had as his grandfather Ham, one of the sons of Noah, so that this country is called the land of Ham, and the land of Aigyptos, and Egypt, for Ham first settled in it. It is to be noted that while the plagues were ten in number, David now mentioned only the seven, omitting the gnats and the boils and the tangible darkness, the two of which he set out in the one hundred and fourth psalm. Ps 104.28, 31

52α And he took away his people like sheep. He led them away from Egypt, guiding and tending them as a shepherd does sheep.

52β And he led them in the desert like a flock. He says the same again.

53α And he guided them in hope and they did not show cowardice. He guided them in the first night as they came out, and ‘in hope’, namely, of the promise to Abraham, for God said to him, Knowing you will know, that your seed will be alien in a land not its own; and they will enslave them and maltreat them and humble them for four hundred years; but I shall judge the nation to which they will be subject, and they will come out hither with much gear. They did not display cowardice in that night; but afterwards they showed very great cowardice.

53β And the sea covered their enemies. As they pursued after them; this has been spoken about.

54α And he led them in to the mountain of his sanctification. Passing over in silence the events in the desert on account of having anticipated the narra- tive about these things, he now gives an account of the promised land.

He calls Mount Zion the ‘mountain’, as the best known of all that land, and ‘mountain of his sanctification’ as assigned to the ark, for they used to call the ark the ‘sanctification’. It is also called the ‘holy mountain’ as having been sanctified by the ark.

54β This mountain that his right hand acquired. ‘This’, demonstratively, on which the people is at the present moment, the mountain that his power, and not the courage of the people, acquired, for he expelled those dwelling on it previously.

55α And he cast out the nations before their face. The seven nations dwelling in that land, namely, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, the Amorite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.

55β And allotted them an inheritance by a measuring-line of apportionment. He allotted them an inheritance in all that land. The words ‘as if ’ are missing so the mean- ing would be ‘as if by a measuring-line of apportionment’, for such an elliptical idiom is found in Hebrew writing. For thus unhindered he divided the land according to the tribes, just as a father divides lots of land with a land-measuring rope. The syntax of ‘allotted’ is indifferent [accusative instead of dative].

55γ And he encamped the tribes of Israel in their tent-dwellings. In the dwellings of the aforementioned nations. 56- And they tested and embittered God the Most High, and they did not keep his testimo-

57α nies, and they turned away and reneged just like their fathers. Those brought into the promised land were, as has been said, children of those whose limbs fell in the desert. The descendants of those tested, that is, grieved the Lord, for it is written in the book of Judges, that Another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord and, indeed, the work that he had done in Israel, and the sons of Israel did what was evil before the Lord and served the Baalim, and so on. ‘Testimonies’ is what he calls his adjurations. They turned away from God and reneged on God, imitating their own fathers who had fashioned a calf in the desert. Ex 32

57β They were distorted into a crooked bow.

They were distorted from piety into impiety, like a crooked bow; for the ‘into’, is in the sense of, ‘like’. Just as a crooked bow does not fire in a straight line, so their mind, have been distorted, would not discharge conceptions about God in a straight manner.

58 And they provoked him to anger on their hilltops and provoked him to jealousy with their carved images. It is written, They mingled with the nations and learned their works. For the nations made sacrifices on the hilltops, and their idols were carved. [The verb παραζηλόω means ‘to rival jealously’, hence ‘they rivalled him jealously’ must be taken in the sense of, ‘they made him rival jealously’, i.e. ‘they provoked him to jealousy’], which is to become justly angered on account of the carved images.

59α God heard and overlooked. He heard their impiety roaring aloud, just as he heard the voice of the blood of Abel and the voice of Sodom and Gomorrah, for these sins cried out before God, disclosing their perpetrators. This moreover is an idiom of the Old [Scripture] to say ‘he heard’, indicating that he moved to vengeance. ‘He overlooked’, in the sense of, ‘he disregarded’, ‘he turned away from them’.

59β And he disparaged Israel greatly. He dishonoured, made it contemptible. For he handed them over to captivity with vari- ous nations, as the book of Judges relates.

60α And he rejected the tent-shrine of Shiloh. The things from here are recorded in the first book of Kingdoms, namely, how the ark was taken by the Philistines and how the Israelites were slaughtered and their cities occupied. And he rejected, he says, the tent-shrine in Shiloh, in which he used to dwell through the ark. For if he had not rejected it he would not have allowed the ark to be taken by the enemies.

60β The tent-shrine in which he dwelt among men. The tent habitation in which he dwelt through the ark among men. For first, as we have said previously, the ark lay in Shiloh, and later he chose Jerusalem.

61 And he surrendered their strength into captivity and their beauty into the hands of enemies.

Some have called ‘strength’ and ‘beauty’ their fighting men and champions, but it is better to name the ark in this manner as strengthening them till then and adorning them. 62 And he confined his people to the sword and overlooked his inheritance. And the great Moses named them God’s inheritance as dedicated to God alone. And, it is written, His people Jacob became the Lord’s portion, Israel the measured lot of his inheritance. 63 Fire devoured their youths and their virgins were not mourned. This is not explicitly recorded, but when their cities and homes were burned it is likely for youths not yet recruited into the army to have been left behind in them and to have been destroyed at the same time, and their virgins, having been dragged off into slavery, did not leave behind those to mourn them, since among their fathers and mothers and relatives, the ones had been slaughtered and the others had been taken into captivity. 64α Their priests fell by the sword. Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, who went out along with the ark were both slain. 64β And their widows will not be wept for. They were not mourned (here again we find one tense for another), for having been slain or enslaved, neither did they have mourners in their own cities, which had been summarily destroyed. 65α And the Lord awoke like one who is sleeping. Just as the one who is sleeping on awaking shakes off sleep, so also the Lord having awaked at last to come to the aid of the ark and of the people, having already passed his judgement shook off his long-suffering during which the enemies were active. 65β Like a strong man and hung over from wine. This clarifies further the preceding verse. He awoke thus, he says, like a strong man with a hangover from wine; the conjunction ‘and’ is redundant. For the strong man heavy headed from wine, when he rises, moves more violently and impulsively.

66α And he struck his enemies on the behind. ‘He struck’ in a strong sense means ‘he killed’, but on occasion, as now, when it means simply struck with a blow. For he struck the Philistines on their buttocks behind as the story tells; he said ‘on the behind’ euphemistically, indicating their buttocks.

66β He gave them an everlasting disgrace. ‘Disgrace’ is what he calls the plague of the buttocks; for wherever they would bring in the ark, this ailment would affect everyone.

67α And he rejected the tent-shrine of Joseph. The tent habitation in Joseph, that is, within the boundaries of the land allotted to Joseph. He here called Ephraim ‘Joseph’ as being Joseph’s son. He is saying the same here as in, And he rejected the tent-shrine of Shiloh, for Shiloh was a part of the tribe of Ephraim, as was said.

67β And he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim. As a dwelling for the ark on account of their transgressions.

68α And he chose the tribe of Judah. For kingship. David says this about himself. He passed over in silence the events at the time of Saul so as not to seem to disparage him.

68β Mount Zion that he loved. Instead of the tribe of Benjamin, from which Saul came, he chose the tribe of Judah, from which David came. And instead of Mount Ephraim on which Shiloh lay, he chose Mount Zion on which Jerusalem lay. He says it is loved on account of its being magnified and be- coming famed from the time that it received the ark.

69α And he built his sanctuary as of a unicorn. ‘He built’, in the sense of, ‘he will build’, by use of one tense for another. For he is now prophesying about the temple later built in Jerusalem by Solomon and further about the sub- sequent kingship of the tribe of Judah. For God stated to him that, I shall raise up your seed after you, who shall be from your belly and I shall prepare his kingdom; he shall build a house to my name and I shall set up his throne again forever, which temple he called his ‘sanctuary’.

In the ‘as of a unicorn’ the word ‘horn’ is missing, so that it would be ‘as the horn of a unicorn’. For just as the horn of a unicorn is one and greatest and fairest and strong, so also the temple of God was built as one in the whole earth, and greatest and fairest and strong in construction and alone for God alone.

69β He founded it in the land to the age. He will establish, he says, the aforementioned tribe of Judah in the land in which it is dwelling, as not to be expelled by enemies. ‘To the age’, in the sense of, ‘for ever’; this is not said in a strict sense for they were later expelled. 70- And he chose David his servant and took him from the flocks of sheep, from behind the

71α lambing ewes he took him. Observe how he reports very frankly about himself, not ashamed to say that he was not a fully fledged shepherd, but as an apprentice still he would follow the ewes that were giving birth, rather indeed he mentioned the things diminishing himself, but omitted what exalted him, namely, his might against the wild beasts and his single combat against Goliath.

71β To shepherd Jacob his servant. The race of Jacob. ‘To shepherd’ is metaphorical.

71γ And Israel his inheritance. This is a repetition, customary in Hebrew writing. The inheritance was spoken about a little earlier.

72α And he shepherded them in the guilelessness of his heart. In the simplicity, the ingenuousness, the meekness of heart.

72β And he guided them in the understandings of his hands. ‘The understandings of his hands’ is what he calls the calculated actions by which he shrewdly directed the people. It is necessary to say that he chose the tribe of Judah for kingship on account of Christ the King who would arise therefrom. Moreover, you will understand Judah as Christ as having budded from the tribe of Judah, and his tribe as the race of Christians of whom he is father and teacher; and he founded this

tribe in all the earth to the age, for The gates of Hades will not prevail against it, so that ‘to the age’ in the strict sense may be said of it. 78 Psalm 78 1α A psalm belonging to Asaph. Asaph has been spoken of previously. The present psalm predicts the brutality of Antiochus Epiphanes against the Jews, having been cast in the person of the more god-fearing among them at that time. 1β O God, nations have entered into your inheritance. ‘Inheritance’ was discussed in the psalm before this one. ‘Nations’ are what he calls the Macedonians and their allies. ‘O God’ [cast in the nominative], is a vocative. 1γ They have defiled your holy temple. Having trampled it with defiled feet and having sacrificed swine there and having brought in idols and abominations and having profaned it in other ways. 1δ They have made Jerusalem like a garden watch-shed. A garden watch-shed is a hut in which someone stays guarding the ripe fruits. They made it a ruin, having only the outline of a city, just as a garden watch-shed has that of a house. 2 They have made the carcasses of your servants fodder for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your devotees scavengings for the wild beasts of the earth. ‘Carcasses’ are the dead bodies. He calls those who have been slain ‘servants of God’ and ‘devotees’, in the past their race alone having been dedicated to God, for they had the appel- lation even if they did not have its practice. For thus they would call the pseudo-prophets ‘prophets’, and the Apostle calls the branches broken off on account of impiety ‘holy’ because they were from a holy root. Moreover, the Maccabees and some others of the just were slain along with them, as often happens in the taking of cities. God indeed says through Ezekiel, See, I am against you, and I shall whip my knife from its sheath and I shall cut down from you the just and the impious. And again, See, I am kindling a fire in you, and it will devour in you every green tree and every dry tree; indicating by the ‘green tree’ the just man on account of the moisture of virtue, and by the ‘dry tree’, the unjust man, on account of his deadness as concerns the cultivation of virtue.

3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem and there was none to bury. So much so that it ran like water gushing from a spring or rather flowing like a river. They have poured it all around Jerusalem; ‘all around’ here simply means everywhere. There was none to bury, the ones having fled, the other having been taken captive. 4 We have become a reproach to our neighbours, an object of scorn and mockery to those around us. To the neighbouring nations, envious and hostile towards them of old. The second phrase is a recapitulation of the first. They would reproach them with their desolation and weakness, and would scorn them, that is, deride them as foolishly believing in one God, and mockery is to be understood as making fun of them. Their neighbours were the Moabites and Ammanites and Idumaeans and other suchlike. 5α How long, O Lord, will you be angered to the end? ‘To the end’ here is in the sense of, ‘exceedingly’. 5β Will your jealousy be kindled like fire? ‘How long’ is to be understood here also. ‘Zeal’ we have often called righteous anger. And Pss 68.10α, when giving the law God said that I am a jealous God, a devouring fire. 72.3. This is said by way of metaphor from those who are angered with their wives when they commit adultery, for in the past God’s relation to the assembly of the Jews was on analogy with the relation of husband to wife, as loving it alone of all nations and loved in return by it alone. Hosea presents this more conspicuously, for God, having rejected the assembly of the Jews, says through him, She is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Here he also calls the idols her lovers and idolatry fornication and adultery. Later he betrothed himself to the Church of the most pious Christians as was explained previously in the forty-fourth psalm. 6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you and on kingdoms that have not invoked your name. More than we do, the nations marshalled against us provoke your anger, not knowing you as their maker and treating us inhumanly. ‘Kingdoms’ is what he calls the districts with local governors. 7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his place.

Pour out your anger on them because they have devoured us with the mouth of the sword.

8α Do not remember our lawlessness from the beginning. Those up till then; ‘from the beginning’ here simply means of the past. 8β- Let your compassion swiftly overtake us, O Lord, for we have become exceedingly poor,

9α help us, O God our Saviour. We have become poor, having fallen from all that we had and from the virtues. They call God their Saviour as having often granted them salvation.

9β Deliver us, O Lord, for the sake of the glory of your name, and have mercy on our sins for the sake of your name. Even though we are unworthy of mercy, but deliver us so that your name may not be held in contempt by the nations, being reproached as weak and unable to set free your own people. The second phrase is a recapitulation of the first here, for the imperatives ‘deliver’ and ‘have mercy’ are the same, for having been shown mercy one is delivered.

10α Lest the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ This is clear.

10β And let the avenging of the spilt blood of your servants be made known among the nations before our eyes. Among the other nations while we are still alive.

11α Let the groaning of those chained in fetters come before you. Of those being led away into captivity.

11β According to the greatness of your arm preserve the sons of those who have been put to death. Save the children of the slain who have escaped or who have been taken into slavery. ‘Arm’ is what he calls his strength.

12 Repay our neighbours sevenfold in their bosom the reproach with which they reproached you, O Lord. ‘Sevenfold’ is what the Hebrew scripture calls ‘many times’, just as it calls what is many ‘seven’. ‘Reproach’ is what he calls the disparagement. ‘In their bosom’ is in the sense of, ‘ever with them’, ‘ineradicably’. 13α But we are your people and the sheep of your pasture. Even though we have erred. His commandments are God’s pasture. 13β We shall confess you in return, O God, to the age. If you will hear us, in return for this salvation we shall give thanks to you eternally. Or else simply, ‘we shall give thanks’, with the words/preposition ‘in return’ being re- dundant. 13γ To generation and generation we shall proclaim your praise. To every generation. ‘Praise’, namely, that for the benefactions and assistance. Thus the psalm is interpreted according to the historical sense. It was also fitting, how- ever, for those Christians being persecuted by tyrants. In relation to them, the ‘nations’ are the tyrants and simply all who are fighting against Christians; the Christians are Christ’s inheritance as was said previously in the first psalm. His temple is the one in each locality, and every city of Christians is ‘Jerusalem’. The bodies of the martyrs are the ‘carcasses’ and what follows is taken in a conformable sense. The Christians are ‘Jacob’ as we have often said. Pss 13.[7β], The Hebrews are our neighbours, their Scripture being allotted to us also as pasture, and as 76.[16] approaching us more than the other nations in faith; the heretics are also our neighbours as approaching us in the greater part of doctrines. That they disparaged Christ can be said of those heretics who blasphemed either against his divinity, such as Sabellius and Arius, or against his humanity, such as Apollinaris and Nestorius. 79 Psalm 79 1 Towards fulfilment; for those who will be changed; a testimony; belonging to Asaph; a psalm for the Assyrian. ‘Towards fulfilment’ is not only on account of the prophecies borne in it, as we have often said, but also on account of the psalm alluding to the end of the good fortune of the Jews. For it prophesies the siege, the captivity and all they suffered under the Babylonians, who imposed on them an end to their previous prosperity, namely, a cutting off.

‘For those who will be changed’ is also inscribed above others of the previous psalms and everywhere indicates a change of circumstances. Pss 44, 68 And ‘a testimony’ because it invokes witness of, that is, it proclaims, the coming calami- ties, in case the Jews might somehow become more temperate. About Asaph we have spoken previously. ‘For the Assyrian’ is in the sense of, ‘about the Assyrian’, meaning Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian, who drew his stock from the Assyrians. About the Assyrian, namely, about what he did to the Jews.

2α Give heed, O you, the one who shepherds Israel. ‘Israel’ is what he calls either the patriarch Jacob, because God promised him he would be with him and guard him, or else the people descended from him. Indeed, it is said in the psalm before this, And he led them in the desert like a flock. ‘The one that shepherds’ in the sense of, ‘the one who shepherded’, and similarly with the next verse, ‘the one who guided’. The psalm indeed was cast in the person of those who at that time had escaped death.

2β The one who guides Joseph like a sheep. ‘Joseph’ in turn is what he names either Joseph himself, because God used to guide him in everything when in danger, for it is written, And the Lord was with Joseph, or else the afore- mentioned people, for he also calls Joseph the father of the whole people, as he says in the seventy-sixth psalm, The sons of Jacob and of Joseph, where you will also find the explanation. 2γ-3α You, the one who is seated on the Cherubim, appear before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. When God commanded Moses to make two golden Cherubim worked in relief and to place them on either side of the propitiatory, he said, And I shall be known to you from there and I shall speak to you from above the propitiatory in between the two Cherubim. He therefore says ‘the one who sits’, in the sense of, ‘the one who is settled above the Cherubim when he speaks’. ‘Appear’, namely, make known that you have come as an adjutant before those who are left remaining, whom he called Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. For since he mentioned Joseph, he then appropriately mentioned his two dearest sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and his beloved brother Benjamin, who alone was from the same mother. And by these, he named the people, so that through Joseph’s virtue God might be moved to pity on the race of his children and brother. It should be known that although Manasseh was the elder son, Moses nonetheless always places Ephraim first as having been preferred by Jacob and more greatly blessed, and conjoins

Benjamin with the sons of Joseph as also being close to Joseph on account of their common mother and as having been born immediately after Joseph. And David now follows Moses. And since, with the tribe of Levi having been set apart for the worship of God, the tribe of Manasseh was taken in its place to bear arms, it is now appropriately placed last as being half a tribe and as weaker than that of Benjamin, just as in turn that of Benjamin was weaker than that of Ephraim. Moreover, these tribes were bolder than the others, and in honour of Joseph both of his sons became leaders of tribes.

3β Arouse your irresistible power and come to save us. Wake up your surpassing power, now sleeping in long forbearance, to help us. We have said on various occasions that Hebrew scripture ascribes human actions and suf- ferings to God, speaking in a coarser manner on account of the coarseness of the Hebrews. And it is superfluous to say the same things at each such word, and so it is necessary to apply this rule in all similar figures.

4α Turn us back, O God. From sorrow to joy, or from flight to resistance, or from slavery to freedom, or from a foreign land to our fatherland. Or else, turn us back towards you, working together with us towards what you will. For it is written, Be turned back to me and I shall be turned back to you.

4β And show forth your face and we shall be saved. Only show your face and this will be enough for salvation for us. The verse is metaphorical, for when a champion appears, his own take courage and the adversaries are put to flight.

5 O Lord God of powers, how long will you be angered at the prayer of your servants? ‘Will you be angered’, in the sense of, ‘will you fail to look on’, indicating the consequent from the precedent, for it follows for those who are angered that they do not look on the supplications of those who have provoked them to anger.

6 Will you hand-feed us bread of tears and give us drink with tears in measure? ‘How long?’ is understood here also. ‘Hand-feed’ in the sense of, ‘give to eat’, namely, how long will you give bread to eat with tears, and give wine to drink, similarly with tears? It indicates that they would take both food and drink weeping.

Or else, in a different way, you will hand-feed us food of tears and give us drink with tears, that is, instead of food and drink, you will give us tears to eat and drink. ‘In measure’ is in the sense of, ‘by measure’, namely, in proportion to our sins. Both Aquila and Symmachus said ‘have you hand-fed’ and ‘given us to drink’.

7 You have set us at gainsaying with our neighbours, and our enemies have scorned us. ‘Gainsaying’ here is what he called ‘reproach’, saying the same as what was said in the psalm before this, for he said, We have become a reproach to our neighbours, an object of scorn and mockery to those around us.

8 O Lord God of powers, turn us back and show forth your face and we shall be saved. He said this above also; he employed this twice, showing the intensity of his supplication.

9α You transposed a vine from Egypt. He lists the benefactions of old, telling whence he brought the race of the Hebrews into Palestine and all that he did for them, so that thereby he may move God to not overlook completely those for whom in the past he worked so many things. And by the psalm the prophet offers an outline of how one ought to appease God, indi- cating what words one should use. He calls the race of Hebrews a ‘vine’ figuratively on account of its thriving nature.

9β You cast out nations and planted it firmly. We spoke about these nations in the seventy-seventh psalm. Through the whole passage he maintains the figure of the words. ‘You planted firmly’, in the sense of, ‘you established’, even though after having provoked him to anger, they were later ejected.

10α You made a way before it. You made a way by removing the nations like thorns and other barbs, or else by giving a law whereby it walks.

10β And you firmly planted its roots. This is expressive of certain establishment. By ‘roots’ understand the leaders of the tribes, or in general the kingdom of the Hebrews.

10γ And the vine filled the land. Not the land of the entire world, but the promised land and such as they held sway over. 11 Its shadow covered mountains and its tendrils the cedars of God. The ‘mountains’ are the bordering nations, the ‘shadow’ of the vine is the authority and dominion placed over the nations. And the ‘cedars’ are the high and overtopping rulers among the nations, and its ‘tendrils’ are the governors placed over them. He said the cedars were God’s as they also having been raised up by God. For at the time of David and also of Solomon many of the nations were subject to tribute to the Jews. 12 It spread out its branches as far as the sea and its off-shoots as far as the rivers. Its ‘branches’ are the increasing numbers of people born at any time, and the ‘sea’ is the Indian sea; the ‘off-shoots’ are the proselytes, having come from the nations and accepted knowledge of God and having thus grown alongside them. ‘Rivers’ is what he calls the Eu- phrates according to the Hebrew idiom, as was said previously in the seventy-seventh psalm. The third book of Kingdoms, however, records it as ‘river’ in the singular. 3Rg 2.46k 13α Why have you demolished its fencing? ‘Fencing’ is what he calls the divine oversight guarding them. 13β And all who pass by on their way strip its grapes? And all the nations, passing next to it, do it outrage. The ‘by’ here indicates closeness. All those, he says, who make passage near it do it harm. The heavenly husbandman responds through Isaiah to these words, saying, And I waited for it to produce a cluster of grapes, but it produced thorns. 14α A boar from the thicket has despoiled it. Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian, called a ‘boar’ on account of his delighting in the filth of pleasures and his other uncleanness. Babylon is the ‘thicket’ as thick in the multitude of inhabitants and fruitless in regard to virtue and as the lair of intelligible wild beasts.

14β And a solitary wild boar has chewed and vomited it. He refers to the same person again, ‘solitary’ as having campaigned against them alone without allies, and ‘wild’ as having treated the Hebrews brutally and savagely. A solitary boar is a boar that goes alone and does not mix with other on account of excessive savageness. Some call the ‘boar from the thicket’ Shalmaneser the Assyrian who prior to Nebuchad- nezzar ravaged Samaria. Hence he despoiled the Hebrews partially, while Nebuchadnezzar ‘chewed and vomited’ them completely. 4Rg 25 15- O God of powers, turn back now and look down from heaven and see, and visit this vine,

16α and restore it - this which your right has planted. ‘Turn back’, that is, correct us, or as was said above. ‘Visit’ is in the sense of, ‘heal it having been crushed’; ‘restore’, in the sense of, reinstate it, re-establish it in its former good fortune, which vine your power settled here.

16β And upon the son of man whom you have made mighty for yourself. ‘Look down’ is understood here also. The Jews call the ‘son of man’ here Zorobabel, who was made mighty by God and who at the palace of the King Darius defeated the two youths, showing that women and truth are 1Esdr 4.13, mighty above all things, and being admired, he went and built the burned temple and the 47 city. We, however, say that the ‘son of man’ is the assumed man whom God the Word made mighty for himself, that is, by himself, having imparted to him his own power and having empowered him against the adversary. The prayer therefore is now addressed to the Word who assumed humanity about the assumed man, that he may swiftly assume him.

17α Torched [as it has been] by fire and dug up. ‘As it has been’ is missing. By the vine he alludes to its land, namely, the city of Jerusalem. For not only did they set it on fire, but they also dug it up. The Babylonians did these things as the fourth book of Kingdoms tells.

17β At the rebuke of your face they will be destroyed. ‘Rebuke’ here is anger. He is saying that your anger will destroy the Hebrews, as you sur- render them to the Babylonians. For they would not have prevailed against them if you had not ‘demolished its fencing’, as was said.

18α Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand.

This also they understand as about Zorobabel, namely, let your power come upon him. ‘Man of one’s right hand’ is what Scripture calls the man who is kindred to one’s right hand. We, however, also say this is about the assumed man, with the prophet entreating for the signs, that are called the ‘hand of God’ and ‘finger of God’, to come upon the man who is kindred to the right hand of the Father. And the Son is the right hand of the Father as creator.

18β And upon the son of man whom you have made mighty for yourself. He says the same again by way of recapitulation. And Christ used to call himself ‘Son of man’ on account of the perceptible flesh that he assumed from the Virgin.

19α And we shall not depart from you. On the one hand, the Hebrews being led by Zorobabel, and on the other hand, we, being led by Christ. For the prophet set the verse in our person.

19β You will give us life and we shall call upon your name. You will give life to the Jews, by the renewal of the city, and to us by the renewal of the dignity of the soul through baptism, for we have been mortified by the loss of these things, both they and we. And we shall call upon your name, in the sense of, and we shall not name any other god, but we shall call on you for protection and succour. The verse is most particularly addressed to Christ who has given us life, for he said, I am the Life, by whose name we have been called, having been named Christians.

20 O Lord God of powers, turn us back and show forth your face and we shall be saved. He said this above, but there we took it in relation to the Hebrews, while here we shall adapt it to ourselves. O Lord God of the angelic powers, or simply of all powers, or else in the sense of, the ‘giver of powers’, or ‘the powerful’, as we have said on other occasions. Turn us back from error and reveal to us your Son, who is your face, for as is written, He who has seen me, has seen the Father. And at once we shall be saved, having believed. ‘Show forth your face’ is a clarification of ‘turn us back’. Such then on so much. The whole psalm, however, is fitting for Christians, whose cities and temples everywhere the infidels set on fire and laid waste, God having so permitted on account of our sins.

We may call the Christian people ‘Ephraim’ as fruitful in the virtues (for ‘Ephraim’ means ‘fruit-bearing’), and ‘Benjamin’ as right-sided in faith (for ‘Benjamin’ translates as ‘son of the right hand’), and Manasseh as having forgotten their earlier error (for ‘Manasseh’ derives from ‘forgetfulness’). What follows is easy to adapt. You will understand ‘vine’ as the race of Christians, having been brought over from the darkness and error of ignorance (for Egypt has these meanings) to the good land of piety. The cast out nations are the demons and the idols and the lost tyrants of the Christians. The making of a way for the vine are the Gospel commandments cutting away all foreign matter and its roots are the doctrines about Christ. And it filled all the earth, for the sound of the Apostles went out into all the earth. And its shadow is glory; It covered mountains, in the sense of it was exalted exceedingly. Or else, its ‘shadow’ is the grace sent forth, and ‘mountains’ are those who are elevated in practical virtue. And again, ‘tendrils’ are the doctrines, while ‘cedars of God’ are those who are elevated in contemplative virtue, and ‘branches’ and ‘off-shoots’ are as they were taken above. ‘Sea’ means, I believe, every sea, and ‘rivers’ all rivers, whereby the whole earth is signified. The devil who rejoices in every foulness is the ‘boar’, and the souls overgrown by the pas- sions and barren are the ‘thicket’ in which this ‘boar’ has his lair. Once again the devil is the solitary boar as having evil as his sole speciality and ‘wild’ as cruel. The devil is this boar in the primary sense, in a secondary sense, however, every tyrant and adversary of Christ’s vine may be called a ‘boar’ and ‘solitary wild boar’ for similar reasons. The following verses have already been given sufficient anagogical interpretation.

80 Psalm 80

1 Towards fulfilment; for the wine vats; belonging to Asaph; a psalm. The eighth psalm also has the superscription ‘towards fulfilment; for the wine vats’ and we provided the explanation clearly in that psalm. These wine vats accordingly are exhorting one another what the introduction to the pres- ent psalm says. The psalm disparages the ingratitude and disobedience of the Hebrews, and tells of their rejection, warning the new people, lest they, like the old, also be rejected should they imitate the wickedness of that people.

2α Rejoice in God our helper. The words appear to be those of the captives returning from Babylon, rejoicing, as the Hebrews say, in the return. They are proven not to be theirs by the grievous words that follow. The wine vats, indeed, are urging one another to rejoice in Christ who is manifestly help- ing them.

2β Make ululation to the God of Jacob.

We have spoken variously about ululation; in this case ‘make ululation’ is simply in the Pss 26.6γ, sense of ‘sing a song of triumph’. 32.3β, 46.2β He said ‘the God of Jacob’ as a reminder that this God incarnate, appeared himself of old to Jacob in human shape, announcing in advance his later incarnation.

3α Take a psalm and give sound to a drum. Take divine instruction (for every psalm is instructive) and strike the body with the drum- stick of continence.

3β A psaltery of delight with cithara. ‘Psaltery’ is what he calls the mind and ‘cithara’ the body, as was well explained in the thirty-second psalm. He is now saying, move both mind and body to gladden God. ‘Give sound to’ is to be understood of both instruments. For the verse is not about sen- sible instruments, even though it seems so to Jews. ‘Of delight’ is added, indicating that this psaltery gives especial delight to God.

4 Sound a fanfare at the new moon with a trumpet, on the well-omened day of your feast. It was a law for the Hebrews on the first of the seventh month (that is on the first day, which is a new moon), for the priests to sound a fanfare with a trumpet in commemoration of the heavenly trumpet that sounded on Sinai. By metaphor of that law, therefore, the prophet David now enjoins the holy Apostles to sound a fanfare with the trumpet of the tongue, proclaiming that Christ has risen, and to do this at the feast of the new moon, namely, on the day of his resurrection on which creation was renewed. This indeed he further named the well-omened day of the feast, for truly, it is the most notable of all feasts, the feast of feasts and festival of festivals, as Gregory the Theologian says. PG36.624BC And Moses said about that feast of the new moon that it is a Day of omen.

5 For it is an ordinance for Israel and a judgement for the God of Jacob. Observe the method of the holy Spirit, for having woven into the decree of the law the good tidings of the Saviour’s resurrection, he goes on to tell further about the law and thus brings the theme back to the Hebrews. Thus, he says, I command, for this is ordained by God for the Israelite people and this is a judgement for God, that is, a decision.

6α He set this as a testimony in Joseph. ‘Joseph’ is what he called the entire people, as was said before in psalm seventy-six. ‘This’, namely, the trumpeting at the new moon, he made, he says, as a testimony, that is, a testifying and summons among the people. Then he states when.

6β When they came out of the land of Egypt. ‘They’, that is, the people.

6γ They heard a tongue that they did not know. The people. ‘Tongue’ here is what he calls the voice of God, giving the Decalogue in dis- position to them, for all to hear. When, as is written, all the people were afraid and stood at a distance and spoke to Moses saying, You speak to us, and let not God speak to us lest we die. ‘That they did not know’, in the sense of, ‘unaccustomed and foreign’.

7α He freed their back from burdens. Having told of what grace the people had received, having heard the divine voice, he ad- duces also the previous gift of grace, namely, their deliverance from suffering in Egypt. ‘Burdens’ is what he calls the loads of clay and of brick and of suchlike, from all of which God released the back of the people.

7β Their hands were enslaved in the basket. The conjunction ‘because’ is to be understood before ‘their hands’. ‘The basket’ is the con- tainer in which they would carry the clay and the brick, for the people would carry on their backs and build cities for Pharaoh.

8α In affliction you called on me and I delivered you. From this point David introduces Christ speaking to the Jews and teaching that he was the one who was benefactor to the people in the past. By ‘affliction’ he refers to that in Egypt coming from the taskmasters, namely, those ex- pediting the building works whom they also call ‘overseers’. For it is written, The Lord said to Moses, Having looked, I saw the affliction of my people in Egypt and I have heard their cry on account of the taskmasters, for I know their pain and I have come down to deliver them. And again, And I have seen the affliction with which the Egyptians are afflicting them. The ‘you called on me’ and the ‘I delivered you’ and suchlike are said on account of their ancestors, for their ancestors and they were both one kin.

8β I heard you in the concealment of a hurricane. ‘I heard you’, that is, I fulfilled your request, while being unseen in the hidden part of the hurricane that threw the camp of the Egyptians into disarray and bound together the axles [Ps 76.19α] of their chariots and led them violently to destruction. A hurricane is a sudden storm from violence of winds.

8γ I tested you at the water of gainsaying. This water was spoken about in the seventy-seventh psalm. I tested you, permitting you to thirst a little and at once I found you ungrateful and for- getful, and previously also, but most especially then.

9α Listen, O my people, and I shall testify to you. He called the Hebrews ‘his people’, as at the time of the exodus from Egypt having said to their fathers that, You shall be for me an especial people, namely, a people of my own. Or else, as being kindred with them according to the flesh, for it is written, He came into his own. 9β-10 O Israel, if you will hear me, there will not be among you any recent god, nor will you worship any alien god. O people of Israel, if you will obey me, as I make with you the new covenant, and will believe in me as God, you will not transgress the law, for even though it is written in the law, There shall not be for you other gods apart from me, but I am not another god. For ‘recent’ is taken in the sense of ‘other’, of which ‘alien’ is then a clarification. For the other in compari- son to what is of old is certainly ‘recent’, as come into being later and on this account ‘alien’.

11α For I am the Lord your God who led you out of the land of Egypt. I am that very God and no other. And this verse is also written in the aforementioned law, found in the book of Exodus.

11β Open wide your mouth and I shall fill it. ‘Open wide’, in the sense of, ‘open’. By ‘mouth’ he means the intelligible mouth, that of the soul. If you, he says, will ready your mouth to receive spiritual nourishment, that is, divine conceptions, then I shall fill it with wisdom and I shall lead you from zeal for the lowly letter of the law to the height of the spirit concealed in the letter. The ‘mouth’ can also be under- stood as the sensible mouth, for if you will obey me, I shall fill you with bodily nourishment.

12α And my people did not hear my voice. I testified thus and promised such things, but my people did not listen to me. And John the evangelist says, And his own did not receive him.

12β And Israel did not heed me. This is a repetition and further clarification. ‘I hear’ means both ‘I apprehend’ and ‘I obey’, as in the present case, but it also means ‘I understand’, as in, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

13α And I sent them away according to the practices of their hearts. I let them go according to the desires of the hearts, as disobedient, and so I moved to the nations. The expositors here have called their ‘practices’ their ‘desires’.

13β They will make their path in their practices. Without oversight and without help, having been stripped of grace from above as incura- ble. They will make their path for ever after having rejected the Saviour. 14-15 If my people had heard me, if Israel had walked in my ways, as at naught I would have hum- bled their enemies and on their oppressors I would have laid my hand. ‘If Israel had walked in my ways’ is an amplification of the verse before. And similarly, ‘And on their oppressors I would have laid my hand’, is a clarification and recapitulation of the previous phrase. ‘As at naught’ is in the sense of, ‘without trouble’, ‘easily’, ‘as nothing’, or else in the sense of, ‘in a demeaning way’, and indeed he scourged the Egyptians with frogs and locusts and such demeaning things as proof of his power.

16α The enemies of the Lord played false to him. According to the great Paul the Jews are the enemies of the Cross of Christ. They played false to him calling him ‘Rabbi’ and making their words smooth, as we said earlier in the fifty-fourth psalm, but play-acting. Or else, David said ‘they played false to him’ teaching that they have their disobedience from the time of their ancestors, for when of old God was giving the law they promised through their ancestors to obey what he said, saying, All that the Lord God has said we shall do and heed, but they played false countless times, setting his words at naught.

It can also be said in a different way that being kindred of Christ they became enemies to him, belying their kinship. 16β And their time will be to the age. The Hebrews and Syrians were accustomed to call calamities ‘time’. He is prophesying Gen 6.13; that they will never be freed from calamities. Ez 7.12; Da Or else, understand ‘time’ as that of their condemnation and ‘the age’ is the age to come. 8.17 17 And he hand-fed them with the fat of wheat and satisfied them with honey from a rock. This very God who was not heeded, had fed the Hebrews of old with manna as if with the fat of wheat; the ‘as if ’ is missing. Wheat is grain and the fat of wheat is the finest and purest flour. He called the water from the rock ‘honey’, not by nature, but in appearance. For to those who were thirsting and fainting it seemed like honey on account of the enjoyment. And this is how Moses called it in the canticle in Deuteronomy, saying, They sucked honey from a rock. Through this strange feeding and sating, he indicated all the abundance of the gifts given to them. Moreover, he fed the four thousand with seven loaves and gave them honey to drink to sa- tiety, that is, his own teaching, for as is written, How sweet to my throat are your words, beyond honey to my mouth. And the rock, says the Apostle, was Christ. 81 Psalm 81 1α A psalm belonging to Asaph. Some of the copies have, ‘A psalm belonging to Asaph’, and some have, ‘Of understanding, belonging to Asaph’, because this psalm brings understanding to judges, or else because it is necessary to understand the prophecy contained in it, for it foretells Christ’s rebuke to the Scribes and Pharisees. 1β God has stood in the assembly of gods. Christ has stood in the midst of the assembly of the Scribes and Pharisees and elders of the people. The prophet now called these ‘gods’ on account of their office as rulers and judges, as we explained more fully and more precisely in the first verse of the forty-ninth psalm. 1γ And in the midst will make judgement on the gods. 1β: But [Gregory] the Theologian took this in a different sense in his second Homily on Baptism [PG36.365B].

And having stood in the midst, he will make judgement, that is, he will rebuke the rulers and judges of the people, as was said. Or else, ‘in the midst’, in the sense of, ‘before many’, for indeed Christ rebuked them openly, upbraiding them and saying, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, who do this and that. The Hebrews say that God stood amid the rulers, as being invisibly present among them, hence also amid many he will rebuke them through the prophets if they will rule unjustly.

2 How long will you judge injustice and respect the persons of sinners? Along with the verbs ‘he has stood’ and ‘he will pass judgement’, ‘saying’ is also to be un- derstood. Either we shall understand ‘injustice’ in the sense of, ‘unjustly’, or else we shall take ‘will you judge’ in the sense of, ‘will you justify’. ‘Sinners’ are what he calls the unjust. ‘Respect’ is in the sense of, ‘show reverence for’. The law indeed says, You will not respect a person in judgement, for judgement is the Lord’s. A ‘respecter of persons’ is one who stands in awe of the pre-eminent position of the unjust.

3α Give judgement for the orphan and the pauper. Arbitrate for them when they are wronged and do not overlook them.

3β Vindicate the humble and the poor. When wronged, that is. He is accordingly either saying the same again or else the differ- ence between the ‘pauper’ and the ‘poor man’ was discussed previously in the eleventh psalm.

4 Rescue the poor man and pauper, deliver him from the hand of the sinner. Observe how greatly God has concern for paupers and the poor, for he often repeats men- tion of them. Accordingly, rescue him and deliver him when oppressed. Here also the ‘sinner’ is the unjust man.

5α They have not known, nor have they understood, they are walking in darkness. Having deliberately closed their ears, they have not known such divine words, name- ly, they have not understood them, for ‘nor understood’ is a clarification of ‘they have not known’. ‘In darkness’, in the sense of, ‘they are living in error’. Or else in a different way, they have neither known nor understood what is good, hence they walk in ignorance of justice.

5β Let all the foundations of the earth be shaken.

Symmachus translated this thus: I shall trouble the earth on account of those dwelling therein. In accordance with the translation, ‘let them be shaken’, God is commanding for the earth to be driven into confusion, to strike fear into the unjust rulers and law-transgressing judges. Or else, ‘let them be shaken’, unable to bear their transgressions. ‘The foundations of the earth’ is what he calls its depths. These words strike fear and terror and are indicative of the divine wrath against the law-transgressing rulers and judges.

6 I said, ‘You are gods and sons of the Most High all’. And where did he say that you are gods and so on? Some say that it was in saying, Let us make a man in our image and likeness. I have found in addition that he called the rulers and judges ‘gods’ in the book of Exodus, saying to the people, You shall not revile gods and you shall not speak ill of your people’s rulers, for there he called the rulers ‘gods’, as we explained previously in the forty-ninth psalm, and he called the Israelites ‘sons of the Most High’ when he said, Israel is my first-born son.

7α But as men you are dying. As simply men, even though honoured with the image of God, or as having been granted the appellation of God and raised above the many by the dignity of rulership. ‘Men’ here is what he calls the common men, neither knowing God’s law nor possessing understanding, such as are the nations. By the words, ‘you are dying’, he is alluding to their living in such a way until their death, namely, you are living thus till death.

7β And are falling as one of the rulers. He says the same again. By ‘rulers’ he means of the nations, and ‘are falling’, in the sense, ‘are dying’. Here some call the devil ‘one of the rulers’, he, too, having once been a ruler of an angelic order, whereupon the ‘are falling’ is in the sense of, you are falling from this dignity on ac- count of self-conceit, for he, not have used his position as ruler as he ought, fell from divine honour.

8α Arise, O God, judge the earth. This is indisputably about Christ’s resurrection from the dead. For the prophet is entreat- ing Christ to arise and judge the earth through the Apostles whom he established as Rulers over all the earth.

8β For you will obtain a sure inheritance among all the nations.

4β And have joined purpose against your saints. This is a repetition and clarification of the verse before. You will understand ‘saints’ in the same sort of way that ‘devotees’ were understood earlier in the seventy-eighth psalm.

5 They have said, ‘Come and let us destroy them from a nation and let the name of Israel be remembered no more’. This was their resolve and this their purpose. ‘From a nation’, in the sense of, ‘from being a nation’, driving them into not being a nation. ‘let it be remembered no more’, in the sense of, ‘let it be mentioned no longer’, ‘let it no longer be named at all’, with there no longer being any such nation.

6α For they have joined purpose in concord together. He repeats the statement about their purpose and unanimity, thereby inciting to defence the one who scatters the purposes of the nations. The ‘for’ is in a narrative sense; the ‘in concord’ is to be taken in relation to the resolve and the ‘together’ in relation to the place, that is, having gathered together in one resolve and in one place.

6β They have made a covenant against you. A ‘covenant’ is what he calls a compact. He then enumerates those who entered this compact.

7α The tent-dwellings of the Idumaeans and the Ishmaelites. The tent-dwellings of the Idumaeans, in the sense of, the city of the Idumaeans, or in the sense of, the Idumaeans, by way of circumlocution. The Idumaeans are a nation descended from Esau, for Esau was also called ‘Edom’. The Ishmaelites are a different nation descended from Ishmael, Abraham’s son.

7β Moab and the Hagarenes. ‘Moab’ is what he calls the Moabites; they also were a nation, descended from Moab the son of Lot. The Hagarenes were a nation descended from Hagar, Ishmael’s mother, who had married another man after having been expelled Abraham’s household.

8α Gebal and Ammon and Amalek. The Gabalenes were a nation dwelling around Idumaea. The Ammonites, a nation de- scended from Ammon, Lot’s son. The Amalekites, a nation descended from Amalek, who was also a grandson of Esau, but lived in a land different from the Idumaeans.

8β Alien tribesmen along with those dwelling in Tyre. ‘Alien tribesmen’ are the Philistines, who are now called Palestinians, because they, living close to the Jews, were called ‘alien tribesmen’ most eminently; he calls the Tyrians ‘those dwelling in Tyre’. 9α And indeed even Assur has joined with them. ‘Assur’ is the Assyrians. He calls the Samaritans in this way as colonists from Assyria, having moved there after the captivity of the twelve tribes. The word ‘indeed’ is redundant. 9β They have come in assistance to the sons of Lot. In alliance with. ‘Sons of Lot’ is whom he the Moabites and Ammanites, as we said pre- viously, for they used to envy the Jews most particularly and roused up the other nations. 10 Do with them as to Madian and Sisera, as to Jabeim at the torrent of Kisson. He imprecates a curse against the nations enumerated above who envied the restoration of the city. And he recalls the destruction of those who in the past attacked the Israelites and were strangely destroyed, and he wills for these also to be destroyed in such a manner. For ‘Madian’ is the host of the Madianites, called thus from Madian. This host, covering the land in great numbers, Gideon destroyed with three hundred men, and these were un- armed, carrying only torches and and trumpets, as the book of Judges tells. Jdc 6-7 Sisara was the general of the forces belonging to Jabeim, the king of Canaan, with nine Jdc 4.2,13 hundred iron chariots at his command. Barak defeated both Sisera and Jabeim on the orders of Deborah who in these times was judging Israel. And Jael, the wife of Haver, having taken Sisera in when he was fleeing, lulled him to sleep, and taking a hammer and tent-peg, drove it through his temple and thus slew him, while Barak destroyed Jabeim and cut down all his army. Jdc 4.21,16 The torrent of Kisson was the place where the battle took place, and the aforementioned book recounts these things. 11α They were utterly destroyed at Endor. And this was the place where the battle against Sisara was joined. Some have called the previously mentioned location of the Kisson torrent ‘Endor’ also, as having two names.

11β They became as dung for the earth. Lying unburied and having rotted and dissolved. 12α Make their rulers like Oreb and Zeeb and Zebee and Salmanas. He calls ‘rulers’ the leaders of the aforementioned nations. Oreb and Zeeb are the com- manders of the Madianites that the aforesaid Gideon slew. Zebee and Salmanas were their kings whom similarly he killed. Jdc 8.5,21 12β All their rulers. So that none are left. Through the rulers he cursed also those ruled. 13 Who said, ‘Let us inherit God’s place of sanctification for ourselves’. ‘Let us inherit’, in the sense of, ‘let us take’, ‘let us subject to our power’, not for the sake of honour, but for seizing the sacred vessels and votive gifts, calling the temple the ‘place of sanctification’ in which God would sanctify the people. 14α O my God, make them like a wheel. Being never at rest and being rolled along by successive changes, for this is the character- istic of a wheel. 14β Like straw in the face of a wind. Easily scattered and nowhere finding rest. 15-16 Like a fire that will blaze through a thicket, like a flame that will incinerate mountains, so you will pursue them in your tempest, and in your anger you will throw them into confu- sion. Pursue them thus, consuming them as a fire that will blaze through a thicket, for this sweeps through the wood swiftly and unsparingly. ‘Like a flame that will incinerate moun- tains’ is a clarification of ‘like a fire that will blaze through a thicket’. And so indeed, ‘and in your anger you will throw them into confusion’ is a clarification of ‘so you will pursue them in your tempest’. ‘Tempest’ here is what he called the sharp movement of anger, for throwing into confusion is a characteristic of a tempest.

‘You will pursue’ and ‘you will throw into confusion’ are said either as a prophecy or as a wish, in the sense of the imperatives, ‘pursue’ and ‘throw into confusion’.

17α Fill their faces with dishonour. Having been defeated.

17β And they will seek your name, O Lord. Asking in astonishment, ‘Who is this God who has strangely delivered his own and has destroyed us?’

18 Let them be put to shame and troubled to the age of age, and let them be disgraced and destroyed. Having called down destruction on them in this transient age, he imprecates also destruc- tion for the age to come, for he calls that the ‘age of age’ as we have explained before. Destruction in relation to the age to come is, we said, not non-existence but punishment. For in that age the wicked are put to shame, that is, are they are disgraced, as their works are made known, and they are troubled, seeing the austerity of the judge, and then they are punished.

19α And let them know that the Lord is your name. Let them know by necessity, since they did not wish to know by choice.

19β You alone are Most High over all the earth. ‘And let them know’ is to be understood here also, namely, that you alone are God over all the earth, for they used to call God ‘Most High’, as being super-celestial. The psalm is also fitting for those being persecuted for the sake of Christ.

83 Psalm 83

1 Towards fulfilment; for the wine vats; belonging to the sons of Kore. The eightieth psalm also had this superscription and look there. David therefore now tells about these wine vats.

2 How beloved are your tent-dwellings, O Lord of powers.

The ‘how’ here is such as is the, How good is God to Israel, and refer to psalm seventy-two. ‘Tent-dwellings’ is what he calls the local Churches in which divine grace dwells, foreseeing which the prophet loved them. About the ‘Lord of powers’ there was discussion in the seventy-ninth psalm.

3α My soul yearns and faints for the enclosures of the Lord. ‘It faints’, longing to depart to those Churches, which he similarly also called ‘enclosures’ as dwelling places of Christ. Or else, ‘it faints’, in the sense of, ‘it swoons’, ‘it becomes weak’ being distressed by the fire of longing. ‘Fainting’ is also said of fervent lovers who are unable to endure separation from those they desire. And everyone who desires for heavenly rest would call the intelligible, heaven- ly dwellings ‘beloved tent-dwellings’ and the same ‘enclosures’. ‘It yearns’ in the sense of, ‘it hastens towards’.

3β My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. And not only my soul has suffered this, but even my body has rejoiced in Christ. The syntax is indifferent [accusative in place of dative]. He called God ‘living’ on account of the dead idols, or else as having risen from the dead. First the heart rejoices and then the joy is diffused throughout the rest of the body.

4α And indeed the sparrow has found itself a home and the dove a nest for itself in which its will place its nestlings, your altars, O Lord of powers. A ‘sparrow’ is what he calls the soul that is being laid in wait for by intelligible hunters, for it is written, Our soul has been delivered like a sparrow from the hunters’ snare. And a ‘dove’ is what he calls the chaste and peace-loving and mournful soul, whose nestlings, that is, offspring, are the virtues. For such souls have their shelter in the Churches. ‘In which it will place’, in the sense of, ‘where it will deposit and activate’. And in a different way, the Christian people is a ‘sparrow’, being laid in wait for by both intelligible and sensible hunters, namely, demons and impious men, while every bishop and teacher of piety is a ‘dove’, and they place those to whom they give rebirth spiritually in the Churches. And your altars, he says, the one has found as a home and the other as a nest, namely, your Churches in which you, the spiritual Lamb, sacrifice yourself very day.

4β O my king and my God. This verse is also found in the fifth psalm. Ps 5. 3β

5α Blessed are those who dwell in your house. Since David himself longed for these enclosures but was far off, he deems blessed those who thereafter are dwelling in them. For Christ’s house is to be understood as these enclosures. He said ‘house’ and not ‘houses’ indifferently, for in terms of the local places there are many houses, but in terms of piety and the communion of faith the houses everywhere are one.

5β They will praise you to the ages of ages. They will have the singing of your hymns incessant for ever.

6α Blessed the man whose help [for whom help for him] is from you. Blessed is he for whom for him help is from you. This figure was spoken about in the ninth psalm at the verse, Whose mouth of his is full of cursing.

6β He has placed ascents in his heart. Such a man has contrived to bring about, has conceived in his mind, has constructed in himself ascents from earthly things to heavenly things, and from sensible things to intelligi- ble things, and from what is worse to what is better. These ascents may be interpreted as good thoughts whereby one ascends as by a ladder to what is exalted and divine. Blessed, he says, is the one who has your help; and everyone who places ascents in his heart has this help.

7α In the valley of weeping. He placed these ascents in himself while being in the place of weeping. In an anagogical sense repentance is the place of weeping. The valley of weeping is said by metaphor from the place in which of old God, having rebuked the transgressions of the Hebrews, moved the people to weeping, and hence that place was called the valley of weeping. And a valley forms a hollow and is low-lying, and repentance takes place in lowliness.

7β In the place that he has set. Being in the valley of weeping, that is, in the place that he has set for himself, or which he has chosen.

7γ And indeed the lawgiver will give blessings. Blessed, he says, are these mentioned; and indeed Christ himself, who legislated these things through the commandments of the Gospel, will give them blessings; these blessings may be interpreted as the various beatitudes.

8α They will go from power to power. From virtue to virtue, namely, from humility to sorrowing and from sorrowing to com- punction, and thus progressing from the one to the other, they will ascend to the pinnacle. ‘Power’ is what he called virtue, as empowering the one who walks in it. It is also possible to say in a different way that they will go from prayer to the reading of the divine oracles and from reading to the exhortation of the less perfect and from exhorta- tion to thanksgiving and praise of God. And in a further way, from the power of the gifts of grace in the present to the power of the kingdom of heaven.

8β The God of gods will appear in Zion. This is a prediction of the Saviour’s incarnation. For he rose into appearance in Zion, according to the words, But I have been established as king by him on Zion his holy mountain, proclaiming the Lord’s decree. He called him ‘God of gods’ as we explained previously at the beginning of the forty-ninth psalm.

9 O Lord God of powers, hear my prayer, give ear, O God of Jacob. It is the same to say, ‘God of powers’ and ‘Lord of powers’, about which mention is made at the beginning of the present psalm. ‘Prayer’ is what he calls the entreaty that he will make in the following verse. ‘God of Jacob’, in the sense of, the God who of old appeared in human form to Jacob at the wrestling.

10 See, O God, our defender, and look upon the face of your Christ. This is the prayer. ‘Christ’ is what he calls every Christian, for as many as have been bap- tised in Christ, have put on Christ. This was also spoken about at the end of the preamble to the book of psalms. § 113

11α For one day in your enclosures is better than thousands.

The divine enclosures were spoken of a little earlier. Better than thousands of days in other profane places. The ‘for’ is confirmative.

11β I have chosen to be cast aside in the house of my God rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners. He says the same again, only more clearly. Observe how much he loves the divine house in which he judged it preferable to be cast aside in any way at all on account of the sanctification therefrom, rather than to live in luxury among sinners.

12α For the Lord God loves mercy and truth. He also intermixes with the psalm admonition inciting to practical and contemplative virtue, saying that God loves mercy and truth, for mercy belongs to practical virtue and truth to contemplative virtue. And if he loves these things, it is very clear that he also loves those who follow these things, since he himself is Mercy itself and Truth itself. The ‘for’ is narrative, and redundant and idiomatic. It can also be said in a different way that Christ, showing mercy on us, became incarnate and proclaimed a true Gospel.

12β He will give grace and glory. The grace of the remission of sins, as to the harlot and many others, or of miracles, as to the Apostles and the other saints. And glory, both that from men and glory in the heavens. Or else, the grace of deification and the glory of his kingdom.

12γ The Lord will not deprive of blessings those who walk in innocence. Some interpret this as a hyperbaton figure, namely, he will give grace and glory to those who walk in innocence, then the Lord will not deprive them of blessings in heaven. The syn- tax of the verb ‘he will not deprive’ is indifferent, in this case meaning ‘he will not impede’.* Some, taking this as one syntax standing for another, say the Lord will not deprive of blessings those who walk in innocence, namely, in abstinence from evils.

13 O Lord God of powers, blessed is the man who hopes in you. And in the thirty-third psalm it is said, Blessed is the man who hopes in him. He hopes, who has disdained all earthly things and waits on God alone. The Hebrews attribute this psalm also to the captive people in Babylon, longing for the temple in Jerusalem and deeming blessed those who dwell in it and preferring one day of life in it over thousands of days elsewhere.

12γ [The verb ‘to deprive’ takes the accusative of person and the genitive of thing: here the verse apparently uses the accusative of thing and the dative of the person. The comment therefore tries to explain this anomaly]

But they are not able at all to elicit a coherent interpretation of it. For the verse, They will praise you to the ages of the ages, stands against it, for the temple has been destroyed along with the praise in it. Also the ‘valley of weeping’ is inconsistent for them as well as other things. And above all indeed the superscription is an impediment to them, speaking as it does of ‘vine vats’ in the plural, for the Old [Scripture] refers everywhere to the temple in Jerusalem as a ‘wine vat’ in the singular and as a ‘tent-dwelling’ and not ‘tent-dwellings’.

84 Psalm 84

1 Towards fulfilment; belonging to the sons of Kore; a psalm. This psalm is also ‘towards fulfilment’ on account of the fulfilment of the prophecies in it, for in a figurative sense foretells the events concerning the freedom of the captives in Bab- ylon, and in a true sense the events concerning the freedom of the captives in idolatry and their liberation therefrom.

2α You have willed good, O Lord, for your earth. Having foreseen these things, the prophet addresses God, saying, that you have willed good things for your earth, for good will is desire of good. The syntax of ‘you have willed good’ is indifferent [accusative for dative]. ‘Your’ earth, because, as is written, The earth is the Lord’s. For previously, on account of the disobedience of the first Adam, God willed evil for it, for it is written, Cursed is the earth in your labours, but now he has willed the contrary, on account of the obedience of the new Adam. And formerly it was a creation of God, while later it became a possession of his. But thus it is according to our reading. According to the Hebrews, however, you will understand ‘God’s earth’ in a specific sense as Judea, as set apart for his people, the good will towards which, they say, is their settlement in it once again.

2β You have turned back the captivity of Jacob. He sets out the things to come as having already occurred, as is the custom of prophecy. You have turned back, he says, the captive people of Jacob from the tyranny holding them fast. The Christian people is also called ‘Jacob’ as has been said on various occasions. Pss 13.[7β], 76.[16]

3 You have forgiven the lawless acts of your people, you have covered all their sins. He called this people blessed in the introduction to the thirty-first psalm also, saying, Blessed are those lawless acts have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. For he has forgiven us our lawless acts through repentance and has covered our sins with the sacred waters of divine baptism.

According to the Hebrews, he has overlooked the lawless acts on account of which they were taken captive and has covered their sins in the depths of forgetfulness. His people is the ‘old people’ according to the interpretation we adduced in the eightieth psalm, and the ‘new people’ as we explained in the first verse of the seventy-seventh psalm.

4α You have stilled all your anger. At so many lawless acts and sins.

4β You have turned away from the anger of your rage. In the seventy-seventh psalm we said what ‘anger of rage’ is. ‘You have turned away’, in the sense of, you have reversed your stance, you have departed from your rage to kindliness and good favour.

5 Turn us back, O God of our deliverances, and turn away your rage from us. Henceforth he casts the words in the person of the people, or else reckoning himself among them; he supplicates for them to attain the things he spoke of. ‘God of our deliverances’ was discussed in the sixty-seventh psalm. Turn us back from captivity to our former dignity.

6α Will you be angry with us to the ages? Here ‘to the ages’ is in the sense of, eternally, for long.

6β Or will you extend your anger from generation to generation? He says the same again. ‘To generation’, in the sense of, ‘to another generation’. This was also spoken about in the ninth psalm. ‘Extend’, in the sense of, ‘prolong’.

7α O God, having turned back, you will give us life. Having turned us back not only from captivity, but also from sins, or else, you having turned back towards us, from whom you had turned away. ‘You will give life’, in the sense of, may you enliven us to virtue, now being dead towards the work of virtue.

7β And your people will be glad in you. On having attained such a return.

8 Show us, O Lord, your mercy, and may you give us your salvation. What follows from this point tells about Christ. For the prophet, in the person of the people who will come to believe, is entreating the Father for Christ to be revealed. For Christ is whom he calls God’s mercy and God’s salva- tion, for having had mercy on us, he became incarnate in order to save us, and because he is merciful and a Saviour. Your mercy and your salvation, namely, the mercy from you and the salvation from you, namely, from you the Father. You will give us, For a child has been born to us and a Son has been given to us. 9α I shall hear what the Lord God will speak in me. The prophet, having sensed divine inspiration, prepares himself to hear. He said ‘in me’, indicating that God will not speak outwardly, but inwardly, to the ears of the soul. 9β For he will speak peace to his people, and to his devoted servants, and to those who turn back their heart to him. I shall hear what he will speak, he says, because he will certainly speak, that is, bring good tidings of peace to his people. And truly his people always is in a state of peace both towards God and towards itself, just as in turn it is in a state of conflict towards God’s enemies, both the demon and those belonging to the demon. He called the same ones both ‘God’s people’ and ‘devoted servants’, that is devoted to him and turning back their heart, that is, their soul, to him. Or else, by the heart he was indicating all of them, the part standing for the whole. 10α Except his salvation is near to those who fear him. This is what he heard spoken within himself. The ‘except’ is redundant, or in the sense of, ‘truly’. His salvation, he is saying, will be near those who fear him. The meaning of the verse is such, namely, that when there are people fearing him and about to believe, then Christ will be near them and will appear directly. 10β In order to encamp glory in our land. It will be near so as to make glory and grace and honour dwell in the land of Jerusalem. Or else, he himself was glory, who Became flesh and encamped among us. Or else, because after the incarnation of the Saviour, that land became glorious and honourable and desirable up to the present day.

11 Mercy and truth have met, justice and peace have kissed. Some have said that these words exhibit an enumeration of the virtues that appear in Christ, because in him mercy and truth came together – mercy in healing the suffering, and truth in his infallible teaching. Moreover, justice and peace were also united in him – for this is what ‘have kissed’ denotes – justice in judging correctly, and in rebuking the wicked and praising the good, and peace in his meekness. In a more elegant way, the divine nature is mercy, as having authority to forgive sins and release from illnesses, while the human nature is truth, because No deceit was found in his mouth, and because he alone truly preserved the dignity of humanity, and because his human nature was true, and not imaginary; the two natures met accordingly, that is, they were unit- ed into one hypostasis. The divine nature is in turn justice, since God alone is a just judge, and the human nature is peace, on account of his innate meekness. These natures ‘kissed’, which indicates the close union and mutual relation. 12 Truth has risen from the earth, and justice has bent down from heaven. When men had embraced the true faith through the Son, the Father from heaven showed just providence for them by casting down their tyrant the devil. And, moreover, you will understand Christ as truth, for he said, I am the truth. When Christ had risen from the earth at his birth in the flesh, releasing it henceforth from the false- hood of error, the Father, who is justice, looked down from heaven upon the earth, whereas formerly he had been turned away on account of the falsehood spread across the earth, and the things on high were reconciled with the things below. 13 And indeed the Lord will give goodness, and our earth will give its fruit. Observe how David predicts with certainty that the Father will give to mankind his Son who is goodness, for No one is good, but God alone. And in fact Symmachus said ‘he will give the one who is good’. And the earth will give its fruit, namely, the Apostles and the other believers who blos- somed from among the Jews. More simply said, when Christ is born, the Lord will give mercy to mankind, and hence- forth the earth will become abundant in all fruits. 14α Justice will go before him. ‘Justice’ here is what he calls all virtue, the light of which, going before and illuminating him, would intimate him to men.

14β And will set his footsteps as a way. And henceforth Christ will set his footsteps, namely, the virtuous way that he himself opened up and trod, as a way for Christians, who, walking on this way, may come to him. It is also possible to interpret differently, namely, that John the Forerunner, whom David now called ‘justice’, as keeping the justice of the law and living justly, he will go before, that is, ahead of, Christ, for as is written, See, I shall send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you, for he would cry out, Prepare the ways of the Lord, make straight his paths. And also understand this in a different way, namely, that the divinity, Justice itself, would lead the way in front of the assumed humanity, and make its paths straight, for it is written, I would see the Lord before me at all times.

85 Psalm 85

1α A prayer belonging to David. The superscription is clear; prayer, however, was spoken about in the preamble to the book. David, praying for himself, teaches how someone in constraints ought to pray. He also § 63 foretells here the calling of the nations. Some have said that this prayer was written in the person of Hezekiah.

1β Incline, O Lord, your ear and hear me. The inclining of the divine ear was spoken about in the sixteenth psalm.

1γ For I am poor and needy. Poor and needy in not having any power worthy of mention against the visible and invis- ible enemies, and neither being a match for them.

2α Guard my soul, for I am a devoted servant. For I am devoted and dedicated to you, as was also said in the fifteenth psalm; or else, he is calling himself a devoted servant as pious in all things relating to God, while his enemies are profane.

2β Save, O my God, your servant who hopes in you. Save the one who trusts in nothing else but you alone from the anticipated danger.

3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for to you I shall cry all day long. Symmachus says ‘all day long’ translates as ‘ever’.

4 Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you I have lifted up my soul. Dissolve the sorrow that possesses me. ‘I have lifted up my soul’ was discussed at the be- ginning of the twenty-fourth psalm.

5 For you, O Lord, are good and temperate and full of mercy to all who call on you. Aquila wrote ‘gracious’ for ‘temperate’, as did Theodotion, and indeed temperateness means gentleness. ‘To all who call on you’, not simply, but with all their heart, and indeed in the one hundred and forty-fourth psalm, on saying, The Lord is near to all who call on him, he added, To all who call on him in truth, that is, whole-heartedly.

6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer and turn to the voice of my entreaty. You will find about these expressions at the beginning of the sixteenth psalm. Ps 16.1β-δ

7 In the day of my affliction I have cried to you, because you have heard me. He calls the ‘day of affliction’ the immediately present day; ‘because you have heard me’ was discussed in the aforementioned sixteenth psalm.

8 There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, and there is none whose works are like yours. For, it is written, all the gods of the nations are demons, but the Lord made the heavens, and you are true God, they are falsely so-called. The verse seems to have been taken from Moses, who says, Who is like you among the Gods, O Lord? Who is like you, glorified among saints, marvellous, gloriously working wonders? The works of Christ are not only his making of and providence for invisible and visible creation, but also the refashioning of his creature and the deposition of the tyrant and the putting of death to death through death, and the catching of the whole world through a few and insignificant fishermen; one might also say the power of the miracles; for even if others worked such miracles, he worked them by his own authority, whereas the other did so by calling on God. 9-10 All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, O Lord, and will glorify your name, for you are great and work wonders; you are God alone.

Here he is prophesying about the faith of the nations. They will come to you, he says, through faith. The one who knows that he is being watched over by him worships ‘before God’, and every place of his dominion is ‘before God’. ‘They will glorify’, in the sense of, ‘they will hymn’, ‘they will magnify’, because you are truly great, and you are God alone who works wonders. 11α Guide me, O Lord, in your way and I shall walk in your truth. Practical virtue is God’s way and and contemplative virtue is his truth. Accordingly, who- ever has been guided by God in the former will arrive at the latter. You will also find about way and truth in the twenty-fourth psalm at the verse, Make known your ways to me, and again, Guide me into your truth. Ps 24.4, 5α 11β Let my heart be glad so as to fear your name. Let it be glad, not in any worldly merriment, but in fearing you. Observe the strange gladness. Let your fear be gladness for me, for it is written, Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. And the one who fears him seeks for God. And indeed not only divine fear, but even the simple memory of God gladdens those who are god-loving, for it is written, I remembered God and was glad. 12α I shall confess you, O Lord my God, with all my heart. I shall give thanks. 12β And I shall glorify your name to the age. For ever. 13α For your mercy is great upon me. Profuse. 13β And you have delivered my soul from lowest Hades. In relation to David you will understand ‘Hades’ as the depth of sin, of both adultery and the murder of Uriah. In relation to Hezekiah you will understand it as the bodily death that approached him and from which he was strangely delivered. ‘Hades’ may also be interpreted as any danger, whether being brought on by visible ene- mies or invisible ones.

14α O God, transgressors of the law have risen up against me. Those conspiring against David lived in a state of transgression of the law as did also the Assyrians laying siege to Hezekiah. They may also be interpreted as all sensible and intelligi- ble enemies.

14β And an assembly of mighty ones have sought my soul, and have not set you before them. The same ones. These words are also found in the fifty-third psalm.

15 And you, O Lord my God, compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and full of mercy and true. As compassionate and merciful you have sympathy with the oppressed, and as long-suffer- ing you do not surrender those who have sinned immediately into enemy hands, and as full of mercy, you show mercy not once but many times, and as true you save those who hope in you.

16α Look upon me and have mercy on me. This verse is also found in the twenty-fourth psalm.

16β Give your dominion to your child. The dominion over enemies that comes from you. ‘To your child’, ‘to your servant’.

16γ And save the son of your maidservant. Of your serving girl. He indicates that he is of pious stock.

17α Make with me a sign for good. Set upon me a token for good, namely, a good token, as on the houses of the Hebrews when the first-born of the Egyptians were being destroyed. For there is also a sign for evil, as the one set upon Cain. And indeed the sign on the Hebrews signified protection, while the one on Cain signified God’s anger.

17β And let those who hate me see and be put to shame, for you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me. The syntax is according the the figure of hyperbaton. And let those who hate me see that you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me, and let them be put of shame as having been defeated.

‘Comforting’ here is what he calls the giving of relief to the soul. 86 Psalm 86 1α Belonging to the sons of Kore; a psalm of an ode. These matters were discussed in the preamble to the book. §§ 50, 65 This psalm predicts the birth of Christ and the salvation of the nations. 1β His foundations are in the holy mountains. ‘His’; whose? Surely those of Christ. And this is evident from the what follows later, Zion is mother, a man will say, and a man has been born in her, and he has founded her to the age. The foundations of Christ are the doctrines about him, for these are the underpinning and root of faith in Christ. These foundations are laid down in the Apostles, for they he now called ‘holy mountains’: ‘mountains’ as firm in faith and raised above all earthly and lowly state and as thickly covered in the virtues, and ‘holy’ as set apart for God and as filled with the holy Spirit. In a different way, the Apostles themselves can also be called the foundations of Christ: Eph. 2.20 ‘foundations’ as beginnings and first in the edifice of the Church of the faithful, and they are Christ’s as having been set down by him. The Apostles were in the holy mountains, namely, in Zion and Tabor and the others that were especially sanctified by Christ’s presence and life in them. Some say that the prophets’ predictions about Christ are to be understood as Christ’s foundations, as the beginnings of faith concerning Christ, for the prophets are ‘holy moun- tains’ on account of the height of their prophecy and the sanctification of the prophetic spirit, with the meaning being that the beginnings of faith concerning Christ were in the prophets. 2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion above all the tent-dwellings of Jacob. The great Paul taught us that there is a heavenly Zion and a heavenly Jerusalem, for You have come, he says, to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You will accordingly understand by the gates of this Zion the various local Churches, as we said at the end of the seventy-second psalm. The Lord loves these, preferring them above all the cities of the Israelite race. (Ps 9.5α) For the cities are the ‘tent-dwellings’, or else ‘tent-dwellings’ is what he is calling in par- ticular Shiloh and earthly Jerusalem in which the ark dwelt, as was said previously in the seventy-seventh psalm. Ps 77,9, 60α 3 Glorious things have been spoken about you, O city of God.

The prophet having heard from the holy Spirit that God will appear in Jerusalem and will associate with men, and having been utterly astonished, he cried out to her that great and marvellous things have been spoken about you, O city of God. This is the ‘city of God’ both as having been dedicated to God of old and as later having been set apart for Christ on account of his suffering and burial in her.

4α I shall remember Rahab and Babylon among those who know me. This verse was uttered in the person of the Saviour, but it prophesies that the Church will be put together from many nations and even from the most impious of them. For by ‘Rahab’ he made allusion to the Canaanites, for she was a Canaanite woman. Both the Canaanites and the Babylonians were most ungodly. Then he lists other such nations. ‘Those who know me’ is what he calls those who have believed. The meaning is as follows, namely, that among the body of those who have believed in me, I shall make remembrance of those and and those, that is, I shall take care of them also as believers. Some say Rahab is Arabia.

4β And, see, alien tribesmen and Tyre and the people of Ethiopians, these have been born there. Both alien tribesmen and Tyrians and Ethiopians have been brought forth there, name- ly, in Zion, or in the gates of Zion, as was said, or else among those who know God. For both Aquila and Symmachus gave ‘have been brought forth’ for ‘have been born’; they were brought forth through the rebirth of baptism. The ‘see’ is redundant according to the idiom of Hebrew writing, and the ‘these’ also ap- pears superfluous. The syntax is as follows: and see (in the sense of, ‘and so’), these have been born there. Who are ‘these’? The alien tribesmen and Tyre and so on. The ‘alien tribesmen’ were discussed in the eighty-second psalm. All the nations enumerated were more godless and more lawless than the others. And if such nations will believe, much more so will the others.

5α Zion [is] mother, a man will say. He prophesies clearly that a man, having come to Zion from every nation, will say that Zion is mother (the ‘is’ is missing). She is mother as giving rebirth, as we stated above, and as bringing up in the doctrines about Christ. Or else again she is mother as longed-for, for nothing is more longed-for than one’s moth- er. She is truly longed-for by those coming to her on account of Christ the Master having lived in her in the flesh and having sanctified the places which he frequented.

5β And a man has been born in her. This is about the birth of Christ, because within her bounds a man truly was born, as having preserved the dignity of humanity. But in order to show that he was not a simple man, but simultaneously man and God, he added:

5γ And he the Most High founded her. And he the man who has been born in her, he himself, he says, founded her in the begin- ning as maker of heaven and earth, who is Most High as God.

6 The Lord will unfold the tale in the writing of the peoples and of these rulers born in her. Christ will teach the things about himself from Scripture, namely, from the prophetic writing. For Luke the evangelist says, And the book of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and having opened the book, he found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me; he has sent me to preach good news to the poor’, and so on. He called such prophetic writing the ‘writing of the peoples and of their rulers’, as given to the peoples of the Jews and their rulers and being a possession of theirs. ‘Of those born’, namely, ‘of those having been brought forth in Zion’.

7 How the habitation of all who rejoice is in you! The ‘how’ is confirmatory. Truly, O Zion, the habitation of all who rejoice spiritually will be in you; they will inhabit you. The expression ‘all’, even though it is a universal figure, is nevertheless an idiom indicating a multitude of a certain number.

87 Psalm 87

1 An ode of a psalm; belonging to the sons of Kore; towards fulfilment; for Maeleth; to make response; of understanding; belonging to Aiman the Israelite. In the preamble to the book we dealt with what ‘an ode of psalm’ is and about the sons of Kore. §§ 65, 50 It is ‘towards fulfilment’ on account of looking to the fulfilment of the prophecy con- tained in it. The previous psalm prophesied about the birth of Christ, while this one proph- esies about his death. ‘For Maeleth’, in the sense of, ‘through dancing’, for they would sing and dance at the same time. ‘To make response’, in the sense of, ‘in making response’, for they would dance in making response to the instrumental music.

It is ‘of understanding’ because understanding is required of the readers on account of the mystery of the Master’s death hidden in the psalm. ‘Belonging to Aiman the Israelite’, because the psalm was handed over by David not only to the sons of Kore but also to Aiman the choir-master and was was sung by both choirs, singing together or singing in turn. A number of the copies write ‘Aiman’ and others ‘Aitham’. It is better in the present psalm to write ‘Aiman’ and in the following psalm ‘Aitham’. In the first book of Chronicles both Aiman and Aitham are recorded as choir-masters. ‘The Israelite’, not because the others are not Israelites, but because there were other Aimans and Aithams from other tribes, in contradistinction to whom there is the appella- tion ‘the Israelite’.

2 O Lord God of my salvation, by day I have cried and at night before you. ‘God of my salvation’ was spoken about in the sixty-seventh psalm. Christ as man is call- ing the Father ‘Lord and God’; he also spoke many such things in the twenty-first psalm. ‘By day and at night’, in the sense of, ‘continually’. This is indicative of faith in God, for the one who truly loves God cries out incessantly before him, now with his voice, now with his heart, for he ever needs help from God. Or else, he is calling ‘day and night’, that of the betrayal.

3 Let my prayer come before you, incline your ear to my entreaty. You will understand ‘prayer’ and ‘entreaty’ here, either as that for his disciples or that about the cup of death passing from him, as you will find in the Gospels. He utters these humble words as a man, as was said previously in the twenty-first psalm. We taught about the inclining of the divine ear in the sixteenth psalm.

4 For my soul has been filled with evils and my life has drawn near to Hades. ‘Evils’, in the sense of, ‘afflictions’, for it is written, My soul is deeply grieved, even to death, for ‘Hades’ here is to be understood as death.

5α I have been reckoned among those going down into the pit. ‘I have been reckoned among’, in the sense of, ‘I have been counted among’, ‘I have been classed with those being buried, for such he calls ‘those going down into the pit’. It has been said that the grave is also called the ‘pit’. Ps 27.1ε The words prior to the present verse are fitting for the time before his death, while this is fitting for the time after the burial.

5β I have become like a man without help. Not just like a man – for he was perfect man – but like a man without help. For as is writ- ten, All the disciples forsook him and fled. He appeared then to men to be without help, but in fact he was not, for he said to Peter, Do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 5γ Free among the dead. ‘I have become’ is to be understood here. I have arrived among the dead free, that is, with- out cause (with the article missing [in the Greek]). For all others have a cause of death, name- ly, sin – for the price of sin is death – while alone without cause, as without sin, is Christ. Or else, with others dying involuntarily and on that account being enslaved to death, while Christ dies voluntary, for it is written, I have authority to lay down my soul. Or else in a different way, ‘free’ as not having been held fast by the bonds of Hades, but having moved with authority in Hades and having loosed rather the bonds of the others. Furthermore, he was free of mortality and death as God. 6α Like wounded men sleeping in the grave. Once again ‘I have become’ is to be understood here. Symmachus wrote, ‘like wounded men lying in graves’. 6β Whom you have remembered no more. Rotting and being dissolved into dust. 6γ And who have been thrust away from your hand. Who have fallen from your protection on account of their sins. In the estimation of men, he says, I have become like such ones, but I was not such. For even though I was wounded by nails and the lance and placed in the grave, but I was not forgotten by you. For, it is written, Nor will you allow your devout servant to see corruption. Nor have I been thrust away from your hand, for it is written, But on account of my innocence you have taken my part. 7α They have placed me in a deep-most pit. ‘A deep-most pit’ is what he calls the grave, the depth of which grave Christ called the heart of the earth in the Gospels. They have placed me, namely, those who ministered at his burial. 5γ: Free of corruption; or else, not being brought down to Hades by angels, but going down on his own.

7β In darknesses and in the shadow of death. In dark places, for when the stone had been put in place it became dark in the places of the tomb. ‘The shadow of death’ again is what he calls the dark places in the grave, signifying the same through different words, for darkness is also called ‘shadow’.

8α Your rage has been made to rest upon me. For ‘has been made to rest on’, Symmachus wrote, ‘has weighed heavily on’. Your rage against mankind, a rage enkindled by their sins, has, he says, fallen like lightning upon me, who voluntarily endured it and brought it to an end. For having suffered and died for them, I staunched your rage, like someone who has diverted a blow aimed at a servant onto himself, for it is written, By his bruising we have been healed, and The Lord surrendered Isa 53.5, 6 him to our sins, that is, on account of our sins.

8β And all your upsurgings you have brought upon me. ‘Upsurgings’ is what he calls the uprisings of the temptations that he endured. He de- scribed them as God’s as having been brought on by his decree for the salvation of mankind. ‘All’, namely, all that you willed.

9α You have distanced my acquaintances from me. Luke the evangelist says, And all his acquaintances stood at a distance. He said, ‘you have distanced’, because these things occurred by the will of the Father.

9β They have made me an abomination to themselves. The Jews, among whom even up to the present-day the name of Christ is abominable.

9γ I have been handed over and made no escape. I have been handed over to the Jews by the Iscariot and though able to escape from them, I did not do so, but voluntarily endured patiently.

10α My eyes have grown weak from poverty. Poverty from having emptied out the wealth of tears in them. For just as he wept over Jerusalem, so it is likely that out of his love for mankind he lamented also over the falling away of the betrayer and the rejection of the Jews and simply the destruction of those perishing.

Some understand poverty here as the attenuation of the body from its sufferings.

10β I have cried to you, O Lord, all day long. At the beginning it was said, O Lord God of my salvation, by day I have cried to you. He cried not only for himself as a man, but also for his disciples and for the people.

10γ I have stretched out my hands to you. For those same people.

11 Will you work wonders for the dead? Or will physicians raise up and they will confess you? By law of nature he shrinks from death and entreats to live further. And indeed in the Gospels he says, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. These and the following words are similar to those in the twenty-ninth psalm, in which it is said, Shall dust confess you or shall it proclaim your truth? and seek [the interpretation] there. Will you do for the senseless dead marvellous works such as you often do for the living? Or will physicians raise them up and they will give thanks to you? Surely not. But the living recognize such things and give thanks. Hence allow me to live, if possible.

12 Shall any in the grave tell of your mercy, and of your truth in destruction? These words are of the same meaning. ‘Destruction’ is what he called the grave again, as destroying the deceased lying within. We have said that the prophet often says the same things through different words, and especially in matters of suffering. It is not, he says, the dead, but the living person who senses your mercy and proclaims this to others. ‘Truth’ is spoken about in the twenty-ninth psalm.

13 Will your wonders be known in the dark and your justice in a forgotten land? The ‘dark’ again is what he calls the place in the grave and the same is ‘a forgotten land’, forgotten by men as full of corruption, and by God, inasmuch as the one lying within is not alive, for those whom God remembers are alive.

All these expressions having the same sense, are to be read as questions with expressive force.

14α And I, O Lord, have cried to you. And I along with the other people, as being myself a man.

14β And in the morning my prayer will come before you. ‘In the morning’, in the sense that my prayer will swiftly reach you (the preposition προ- is redundant), for sins will not impede it.

15 Why, O Lord, are you rejecting my soul, turning your face from me? These are similar to the words of the twenty-first psalm, Why have you forsaken me? and By day I shall cry and you will not hear. He is saying these words on our behalf, who were for- Ps 21.2α, 3 merly rejected, calling ‘his soul’ the soul of each, and calling himself each of us. Why, he says, are you still rejecting? For I now am paying the penalty for all.

16α I am poor and in travails from my youth. Gregory the Theologian says, And he who makes rich becomes poor, for he becomes poor in my flesh that I may become rich in his divinity. PG35.876C And to the scribe Christ said about himself, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. ‘In travails from youth’, because from his very swaddling clothes he was being plotted against and persecuted by both Herod and the Jews. ‘Travails’ is what he calls hardships.

16β And exalted once, I have been brought low. Having been exalted by the signs, I was brought low by contemptuous mistreatment, as it seemed to the Jews. Or else, having been exalted on the Cross, I was brought low in the grave.

16γ And made destitute. And this was according to the perception of the Hebrews, for he appeared to be destitute of help, and hence they said, Let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.

17 Your visitations of anger have passed upon me; your terrors have greatly troubled me.

‘God’s visitations of anger’ are what he calls those brought against those who have sinned, and similarly with his ‘terrors’. And he says the visitations of anger have passed across and penetrated into him, while the terrors are throwing him into confusion and restraining him from evils. Origen calls the demons ‘God’s visitations of anger and terrors’ - ‘visitations of anger’ as PG12.1548 ever directing anger against men, and ‘God’s’ as doing so with God’s permission, and ‘terrors’ as instilling fear. He is saying therefore that at the time of his passion they came against him and greatly troubled him as a man.

18α They have encircled me like water. The Jews. In the twenty-first psalm he said, Many bullocks have encircled me, fatted bulls have pressed in on me. He said ‘like water’, because water washes over on every side the one who is entrapped.

18β All day long they have pressed in on me together. He calls the ‘day’ that of the passion. ‘Together’, in the sense of, ‘all of them at once’.

19 You have distanced from me friend and companion and my acquaintances by reason of suffering. On account of my suffering from vilification and ill-treatment you have distanced from me my disciples. It was said earlier, You have distanced my acquaintances from me. ‘Friend’ and ‘companion’ and ‘acquaintances’ is what he calls those same disciples: ‘friend’ in accordance with, You are my friends, ‘companion’, as sharing life with him, and ‘acquaint- ances’, as knowing and hence being known by him. But thus the psalm has been interpreted in relation to Christ. It is also fitting, however, for the pious in time of affliction, as follows: [2] O Lord God of my salvation, I have continually cried before you, calling on you for help. And what follows is clear. [4] For my soul has been filled with pains and afflictions, and, having now grown weary, I [5] am near to death. I have been counted among the dead, as far as the zealous exertions of the murderous demons are concerned. I have become easy prey, as if being without help, and [6] am among the dead as far as is in their power, even though still being free of death as not yet having died in truth. I have become like wounded men lying in graves, having been wounded by the dart of sin or of despondency, and the rest in the same spirit. [7] The demons have placed me in a deep pit of sin, in darkness of grief, which is a shadow and [8] likeness of death on account of its bitterness. Your rage has weighed down upon me, for if you had not been angered with me they would not have defeated me. And you have brought on me all the uprisings of afflictions that come by your permission.

[9] You have distanced my acquaintances, namely, the holy angels who before my sin were familiarly disposed towards me and knew me and who have held me in abomination on ac- count of my sin. I have consequently been handed over to afflictions and I make no escape [10] from them, being inexorably held fast. My eyes have grown weak from poverty is to be inter- preted as before. I have cried to you continually, calling you to help, and so on, all as previ- ously expounded. [14] On rising from my bed, before all else I shall address prayer to you. Why, O Lord, are you rejecting my soul, that is, me, by circumlocution, who am in constraints and making fervent entreaty, and so on. [16] Then, I am poor, having no help of any kind from anywhere. And I am in travails and pains on account of my fault. And exalted once, having been made in your image, I have been brought low by losing the dignity of the image, or else having been exalted by pride, I have been brought low, having fallen into a snare. And I have been made destitute, having no means of escape. Your visitations of anger have passed upon me, that is, they have come upon me as I pay the penalty by being choked in sorrow. [17] Moreover, your terrors threatening eternal punishment have greatly troubled me. Your terrors have encircled me like water, that is, either the demons or the afflictions, suffocating [19] me, have continually pressed in on me all together. You have distanced from me my close acquaintances, who are fleeing from me on account of the suffering, that is, the misfortune, holding me fast.

88 Psalm 88

1 Of understanding; belonging to Aitham the Israelite. This superscription was interpreted along with the previous one. David tells of matters relating to himself and praises God as his benefactor. But he also intermingles with the words things about Christ and hence it has the superscription ‘of un- derstanding’, for this is necessary for the readers to perceive the things spread throughout it about Christ. It also foretells the captivity by the Babylonians.

2α I shall sing, O Lord, of your mercies to the age. The mercies that have been shown to me, about which he gives thanks more expansively in the second book of Kingdoms. ‘To the age’, in the sense of, I shall sing forever, turning them into song.

2β To generation and generation I shall declare your truth with my mouth. ‘To generation and generation’, in the sense of, ‘to every generation’, for as one generation dies another comes in its place and so to the end of time. Or else both to the generation of the Jews and that of the Christians, for to these alone David declares the truth of God with his mouth. The book of his psalms may be interpreted as his ‘mouth’.

God’s truth is what he calls the true promises that he promised to him, on the one hand through the prophet Nathan, as the second book of Kingdoms tells, and on the other hand through the prophetic spirit dwelling within him. For God promised many things to him, both about the subjection of his enemies and about his seed, which Hebrews say was Solo- mon and those descended from him, while we say it is Christ, as will be said in what follows.

3α For you have said, ‘The house of mercy will be built up to the age’. ‘The house of mercy will be built up’, in the sense of, ‘mercy will be shown’. You, he says, have said to me that mercy will be shown forever. And the Hebrews say that mercy was shown on David who was helped by God, while we say mercy is shown on all believers. In relation to David the ‘forever’ is inappropriate, since he has died, but in relation to the believers it is most appropriate, for Jesus Christ has shown continuous mercy on them, having himself been built as a house and ineffably compounded from the pure blood of the all-holy Virgin, for the assumed humanity is called the ‘house’ of God who assumed the hu- manity. For it is written, Wisdom has built for herself a house.

3β Your truth will be prepared in the heavens. God’s truth is Christ, as being without deceit, for he said, I am the truth. This truth ac- cordingly, he says, will be established in the heavens. Among the Hebrews ‘to prepare’ very often means ‘to establish’ And indeed Symmachus here wrote ‘will be established’ in place of ‘will be prepared’. David himself spoke about about Christ being established or settled in the heavens in another psalm, The Lord has said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand.

4α I have made a covenant with my elect. He says these words in the person of God, and ‘covenant’ is what he calls the promise about their seed, while his ‘elect’ is how he describes Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, for he promised to magnify and exalt their seed. The great Paul says, The promises were made to Abraham and to his seed. Then he adds, It does not say, ‘And to seeds’ as referring to many, but, as referring to one, ‘And to your seed’, which is Christ. 4β-5α I have sworn to David my servant, ‘To the age I shall prepare your seed’. ‘I have sworn’, in the sense of, ‘I have promised with certainty’, for in relation to God the ancients call an oath a certain promise. And the oath among ourselves is nothing other than a confirmation.

I have sworn that I shall prepare, that is, establish your seed to every age. David’s seed in the obvious sense is Solomon, but according to a higher conception, it is Jesus the Christ, as having been born from the seed of David, namely, from the holy Virgin. For she is the seed of David as being descended therefrom. He established him, having made him everlasting in his kingship, for it is written, All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth, about which Daniel also speaks, And to him was given honour and dominion and kingship; all peoples, tribes, tongues shall serve him; his kingship is an eternal kingship and his authority one that shall not be destroyed. These words would not be fitting for Solomon. 5β And I shall build up your throne to generation and generation. The building up here is what he calls the increase and perfecting, and ‘throne’ what he calls the kingship. Note how he called the kingdom of Christ the kingdom of David, on account of Christ being descended from him in the flesh. We are accustomed indeed to say the kingdom of the son is of the father on account of the kinship. 6α The heavens will confess your wonders, O Lord. ‘Heavens’ is what he calls the heavenly powers. These heavenly powers themselves, he says, will return thanks for these wondrous works of yours. The syntax of the verb ‘to confess’ is employed indifferently [accusative in place of dative]. Or else understand ‘heavens’ as people who are heavenly minded and exalted in their way of life. 6β And indeed your truth in the assembly of saints. The ‘indeed’ is redundant. They will confess your wonders, because you work wondrous things, and your truth, because you speak truth whatever you may announce. He says these things, overjoyed at the aforementioned wondrous promise. And on the one hand the heavenly powers will give thanks in the assembly of the saints in the heavens about which Paul said, And to the assembly of the firstborn registered in the heavens, and on the other hand, the heavenly-minded people in the assembly of the saints still living on the earth. For who in the clouds will be made equal to the Lord? Will be made like to the Lord among the sons of God? For ‘in the clouds’ some gave the translation ‘on high’, and others ‘in heavenly places’, and ‘on high’ and ‘in heavenly places’ are the angels. He is saying accordingly, ‘Which angel will

be made equal to the Lord, or who among holy people will be made like to him?’ For by ‘the sons of God’ such holy people are to be understood, in accordance with, I have said, ‘You are gods’. For you are the creator and they are creations. He does not say this by way of making a comparison, but rather this is an idiom of the Hebrew language, by the dissimilarity adding further pre-eminence to God. He extols him highly, as having promised great and saving matters. This is also like the words, Neither angel nor man, but the Lord himself has saved us. 8 God, glorified in the council of the saints, is great and fearful over all those all around him. ‘Council’ here is what he called the gathering, the assembly of the saints, as was explained in the first psalm, for God is glorified and praised in the congregation of the saints. He is saying accordingly that God, who is glorified in this assembly, is great and fearful to the saints - they indeed having drawn close around him through kinship of virtues. He is great and fearful to them since they have precise understanding of his pre-eminence. We also call the heavenly powers that similarly are around God ‘saints’ or ‘holy ones’. 9α O Lord God of powers, who is like you? ‘God of powers’ was spoken about in the eighty-third psalm. He adds ‘Who is like you’ at frequent intervals, not asking a question, but in astonish- ment, and teaching us his incomparable nature. 9β You are powerful, O Lord. You are able to do what you freely promise. And so I believe that they will happen. 9γ And your truth encircles you. Not only are you powerful, but also true, and like a garment you are cloaked in truth, and being around you it never leaves you. This indicates that you ever speak truth. 10 You master the might of the sea and still the tossing of its waves. ‘The might of the sea’ is the violent force of its waves. You are master, he says, of both its turmoil and of its calm, and bring about both the one and the other. Just as in the seventy-third psalm he praised God from his great works, saying, ‘You have done this and that’, so he does in the present psalm. 8: The one who is encircled has those who are encircling him both in front and behind and to his right and left. And since accordingly God has people encircling him, we will understand those behind as those who are follow- ing him through practical virtue, those to his left as those who are attaining natural contemplation in a spiritual way, (for in the book of Proverbs it is written about wisdom that, At her left is wealth and glory [Prov 3.16]),

11α You have humbled the proud like a wounded man. In terms of the sensible world, every proud man, for it is written, The Lord sets himself against the proud. In terms of the intelligible world, the devil, who was over-arrogant and hence cast down. ‘Like a wounded man’, because the wounded are humble, doubled down in pain. Some understand Pharaoh as the proud one and the enemies as the Egyptians, drowned and scattered along the shorelines.

11β By the arm of your power you have scattered your enemies. ‘By the arm of power’, in the sense, ‘by your strong arm’. The ‘enemies’ without determina- tion are the impious or else the demons.

12α To you belong the heavens and yours is the earth. Your creations, your servants, for he says elsewhere, For all things are your servants. The ‘heavens’ were discussed in the eighth psalm.

12β You founded the inhabited world and its fullness. He says the same again. And it was said in the twenty-third psalm, The earth is the Lord’s and its fullness, the inhabited world and all who dwell in it, and look there also.

13α You created the north and the sea. Hesychius says that ancient Scripture often denotes the west by the name of ‘the sea’. [PG27.385] Hence the book of Numbers, having set out the tribes, of which some were stationed to the east, others to the north, and others to the south of the tent-shrine, indicated by this word those stationed to the west, for it said, The camp of Ephraim by the sea. Since moreover both the northern part, namely the arctic, and the seaward, that is, the western part, are dark and wintry, for which reason some would later attribute them to the wicked creator, the holy Spirit was constrained to refute in advance their error, teaching that they also were made by the common Creator. We need to know that when we are looking towards the east, the east is in front of us, the west is at our back, the north or arctic is to the left, and the south or meridies is to the right.

13β Tabor and Hermon will rejoice in your name. while those to the right of God may be understood as those who are receiving the immaterial knowledge and contemplation of intelligible things free of sensible images (for it is written that, At her right are years of life [Prov 3.16]), and in front are those who on account of their fervent desire for divine beauty are being made worthy of enjoyment face to face [1Cor 13.12], and who are being deified. [PG 90. 289D]

Tabor and Hermon are mountains and boundaries of the promised land. Through these he alluded to the whole of the land there, because it will rejoice in the name of Christ, name- ly, in Christ, or else, in being called from the name of Christ. And we call the ‘land’ those who had settled that land. For in these mountains Christ passed most of the time of his life in the flesh: on Tabor he was transfigured and in Hermon he raised the widow’s son, for the town Nain in which he raised him is on this mountain.

14α Yours the arm with sovereign power. ‘The arm of yours’, by inversion, or else, ‘your arm’ with the article being superfluous. He is saying that your power is most sovereign, for ‘God’s arm’ is what he calls his power. Christ is The power of God and the wisdom of God.

14β Let your hand be made mighty. Against the enemies.

14γ Let your right hand be exalted. As protection for us. ‘Hand’ and ‘right hand’ is what he calls his power. He asks for its dual action, to ward off hostile strangers and to protect his own. In the ninth psalm it is said, Let your hand be exalted.

15α Justice and judgement are the preparation of your throne. Aquila said, ‘Justice and judging are the basis of your throne’, and Symmachus said, they are ‘the establishment of your throne’, and it has already been said that ‘to prepare’ often means ‘to establish’. The meaning is that you are a just judge whose judgement seat is fixed on justice and judging. Accordingly, you will understand justice and judgement as ‘just judging’. This kind of figure is found in the Old [Scripture], as with ‘mercy and truth’, in the sense of, ‘true mercy’. Or else ‘justice’ is the trained habit of judging and ‘judgement’ is the specific verdict and ‘mercy’ is the habituation of being merciful and ‘truth’ is the outcome of the promise.

15β Mercy and truth will go before your face. Through the four words he denoted those very four things, namely, that you are by nature possessed of perfect knowledge of judging and you give decisions and show mercy and speak truly; for this reason, you will make judgment over man’s tyrannized nature and you will give

a verdict against the tyrannizing error of the idols, and you will show mercy on your creature, and will prove true in your promises to me and to your elect. It can also be said in a different way that mercy and truth are said to go before God on account of the fact that it is impossible for someone to approach the face of God, namely, his knowledge, unless he has first been shown mercy and becomes acquainted with the truth of the doctrines, for mercy and truth come to meet such a person. Some have understood all this as about the Last Judgement, namely, that you are a most just judge and at the judgement mercy goes before truth, for the reason that no one could withstand the truth of the reproaches had mercy not first been mixed with the truth.

16α Blessed is the people that knows the cry of ululation. It has been said on various occasions that ‘ululation’ is a cry of victory. He is calling blessed those who have known to sing a hymn of victory to Christ on his having defeated the dev- il, and he means the Christians. Or in a different way, he is calling blessed those who have known to raise a cry of ululation against the invisible enemies as they are defeating them.

16β They will walk, O Lord, in the light of your face. The face of the Father is the Son, as was explained previously in the fourth psalm, and the light of the Son, is his commandments, for it is written, Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths. He is saying that those who know such a cry of ululation will walk in the commandments of your Son.

17α And in your name they will rejoice. In naming you. For if the just man is glad at the mere remembrance of God – for it is written, I remembered God and was glad – how much more will he rejoice in naming him. Or else the verse is addressed to Christ in whose name those called after him rejoice exceedingly.

17β And in your justice they will be exalted. The justice of the Father, according to the Apostle, is the Son, who was given to us as wis- dom from God and justice and sanctification. For he has exalted them, having uprooted them through the Gospel from earthly things and having led them up to the heavens.

18α For you are the boast of their power. Christ is the power of Christians as empowering them, and the boast of Christ is the

Father in whom he takes such pride that up and down and everywhere in the Gospel he con- fesses him to be his Father and attributes to him all his achievements.

18β And in your good pleasure our horn will be raised on high. The ‘good pleasure’ of the Father is the incarnation of the Son and all that appertains to it. The horn was spoken of in the seventy-fourth psalm. David placed himself among the Christians as also elsewhere, on account of the fact that Christ was to bud from his seed and that through Christ he would become kindred with them, since the ones are children of Christ and Christ is the son of David. Or else the verse was spoken in the person of the Christians.

19α For help belongs to the Lord. Our receiving of help belongs to God. It was said also in the third psalm, Salvation belongs to the Lord.

19β And to the holy one of Israel our king. He says the same again, namely, the receiving of help belongs to the Lord and to the holy one of Israel our king. God is the ‘holy one of Israel’, as was said previously in the seventy-seventh psalm, and similarly he calls God ‘king’ as by nature our Lord.

20α Then you spoke to your sons in a vision. ‘Then’, in the sense of, ‘at an opportune time’. You spoke things concerning me, David. ‘In a vision’, in the sense of, ‘perceptibly’, for vision is the clearest and most impressionable of all the senses. For thus also in the book of Exodus it is written, And the people were watching the voice of the Lord, in the sense of, they were perceiving the voice. ‘God’s sons’ are what he calls the prophets, as beloved to him on account of their virtue. It is likely for the matters concerning David to have been revealed to many, and for them to say these things to him, just as the prophet Nathan said many things to him. What these things are, he says in what follows, except that they appear to have been said about David on account of their being in some places in accord with the events concerning him, but they are proven on examination to have been said rather about Christ. The grace of the divine Spirit is to be wondered at, how it opportunely intermixed the things about Christ with those about David and overshadowed the truth with the likeness.

20β And you said, ‘I have set help on a powerful one’.

I have granted help from myself to a powerful man. He seems to be calling himself the ‘powerful one’ as king, for the ancients used to call their kings ‘powerful’ and ‘dynasts’. It is, however, rather Christ according to his divinity. For Christ, as is said, is God’s power and God’s wisdom.

20γ I have raised up a chosen one from my people. In appearance this one is David, having formerly been chosen from the Jewish people for kingship and later raised up to glory through his deeds of bravery. In truth, however, it is Christ, having been chosen in his humanity for the hypostatic union from the Jewish people – for she who gave birth to him was from them – and raised up through the union, Therefore, as is written, God has highly exalted him.

21α I have found David my servant. This and what follows up to the verse, And in my name his horn will be exalted, I conceive to be about David alone, even though some interpret these things also in relation to Christ. I have found him, he says, for kingship, having sought him among the sons of Jesse, for he said to Samuel, For I have seen a king for myself among the sons of Jesse.

21β With my holy oil I have anointed him. The first book of Kingdoms also tells about his anointing, And Samuel, it says, took the horn of oil and anointed him in front of his brothers. God called the oil of anointing both ‘holy’ and ‘his’ as being divine, for mode of its prepa- ration was divinely taught and secret.

22 For my hand will come to his aid and my arm will reinforce him. We have often interpreted God’s hand and arm as help from God and his power. ‘Rein- force’, in the sense of, ‘strengthen’.

23α The enemy will have no gain in him. The Hebrew language often uses ‘to have gain’ for ‘to accomplish’, as in the present case, Thus also it was said in the Gospel, See that you are gaining nothing, in the sense of, ‘you are accomplishing nothing’.

23β And the son of lawlessness will not set himself again to harm him. ‘Son of lawlessness’, in the sense of, ‘the lawless one’, just as ‘son of man’, in the sense of,

‘man’. Thus also ‘son of injustice’ is the unjust man, and ‘son of ruin’ the ruined man, and ‘sons of disobedience’, the disobedient, for this is an idiom of the Hebrew language. ‘He will not set himself again’, in the sense of, ‘he will not attempt again’ once having been struck by him.

24 And I shall cut down his enemies from his face and I shall put those who hate him to flight. ‘From his face’, in the sense of, ‘from before him’; ‘put to flight’ in the sense of, ‘defeat’.

25α And my truth and my mercy will be with him. Either ‘my true mercy’ as we indicated above, or the truth of my promises and the mercy of my assistance.

25β And in my name his horn will be exalted. Christ is David’s horn, that is, his boast and glory. Just as with horned animals the horn buds from the head and is not only their strength but also their adornment, so David is the head of the people of the Jews as king, for we call rulers ‘heads’. And from this head like a horn there budded Christ, who both exalts and glorifies Da- vid, as the horn does the horned animals. Not only on this account is Christ called a horn, but also as being higher than all on account of his divinity, for the horn rises above all the members. Accordingly, God the Father said that David’s horn, namely, Christ, will be exalted in my name, that is, in being called God. Zacharias accords with this verse when he says in the Gospel, And he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David his child, as he spoke through the mouth of his saints, his holy prophets from the age, signifying these prophets whom David above called ‘sons of God’; ‘the house of David’ is what he called his stock.

26 And I shall set his hand in the sea and his right hand in rivers. By the sea he alluded to the islands, for they are in the sea, and by the rivers, he made allusion to the mainland, for they are in it. ‘Hand’ and ‘right hand’ are what he calls his ‘possession’ and ‘dominion’. Where did David have dominion over all these? Nowhere in Scripture. Christ, however, held dominion over all sea and all earth, as was also said in the seventy-first psalm, And he will have dominion from sea to sea, and from rivers to the ends of the inhabited world. Hence you will understand the hand and right hand not as of David, but of David’s horn.

27 He will call on me, ‘You are my Father, my God and helper of my salvation’. The word ‘saying’ is missing, supplied from without. He will call on me at an opportune time, saying to me, ‘You are my Father’, and so on. Where did David name him his own Father? Nowhere. Christ, however, did so in many places in the Gospels, calling him ‘Father’ as God, and ‘God and helper’ as man.

28α And I shall set him as first-born. Thus the great Paul names him, First-born among many brothers, and, First-born from the dead, and, First-born of all creation, as the first fruits of the new people, and as the first to have Col 1.18, 15 risen from the dead to immortality, and as pre-eminent in the new creation of the faithful.

28β High above the kings of the earth. For he has those who have recognized him bowed beneath him and becomes superior to those who oppose him, and in this way he is high above both the faithful kings and the unfaithful. David did not become superior to all the kings of the earth, having reigned only over Judea.

29α To the age I shall keep for him my mercy. For him who needs it according to his humanity, or else not on account of himself but for those from him, namely, the Christians for whom he entreats the Father, having become mediator between God and men.

29β And my covenant will be sure towards him. My promise to David will be sure, that is, certain towards him, that is to say, towards Christ, that is, it will issue in him. For it was said above, To the age I shall prepare your seed.

30α And I shall set his seed to the age of the age. Christ’s seed is the word of the Gospel sowed by him in the souls of his disciples which will remain to the age of the age, and also the people reborn in him in every nation.

Instead of ‘to the age of the age’ Symmachus wrote ‘in perpetuity’. And truly against the Church of Christ, The gates of Hades will not prevail.

30β And his throne as the days of heaven. And again I shall set the throne of his kingdom as lasting as I shall set the days of heaven, for they will last observing their own boundary until the consummation of the world. This verse is like the one in the seventy-first psalm, And he will endure as long as the sun. Days are called ‘of heaven’, inasmuch as heaven produces these days by the path of the sun. Let the Jews show the seed of David having beenset to the age of the age, that is, preserved in kingship, and moreover the royal throne of David as permanent. But they would not be able to. For the kingship of David concluded with Jeconiah and Zedekiah. These the Baby- lonians carried away as captives, and Zedekiah they blinded while Jeconiah they subjected to 4Rg 25.7, slavery. The throne of David having been destroyed completely at that time, no one thereafter 24.15 sat on it. For after the return from the captivity Zorobabel became not the king but the dem- agogue of the Jews. The psalm shows these things further on. Hence the kingship of David did not remain for more than four hundred years with his descendants. 31-33 If his sons abandon my law and do not walk in my judgements, if they profane my statutes and do not keep my commandments, I shall visit their lawless acts with a rod and their unjust deeds with a scourge. The sons of Christ are those who have been reborn to him through the Gospel and the washing of regeneration. The difference between law and judgement and statute and commandment was clearly stated in the seventeenth psalm. ‘If they profane’, in the sense of, ‘if they show contempt for’, for ‘profane’, in contradistinc- tion to the sacred, is used for what is unholy, that is, common and contemptible. Rod and scourge is what he calls the trials. The meaning is such, namely, that I shall recall them to their senses when they fall into error through uprisings of the nations and by tyrannies and famine and such other chastise- ments, but I shall not utterly reject them. Understand ‘lawless acts’ and ‘unjust deeds’ as the same things by parallelism.

34α But I shall not disperse my mercy from them. Sparing them and awaiting their repentance. O such infinite goodness! For he shows mercy while scourging and does not bring on punishment untempered; he scourges them as despisers, but shows mercy on them as his own.

34β Nor surely shall I act unjustly in my truth. Nor will I act unjustly towards David by transgressing my compacts with him. The word ‘surely’ is redundant as it is in the following verse. Some of the copies write ‘nor surely I shall not’. I shall not do this on account of my truth, because I am true.

35α Nor surely shall I profane my covenant. Nor will I show contempt for it by annulling it. For the dignity of the covenant is its truth and its contempt is its revocation. By ‘covenant’ he means the promise, To the age I shall keep for him my mercy.

35β And surely I shall not revoke what passes through my lips. This is clarification of what has gone before. He said ‘through my lips’ using human image- ry. God’s lips and tongue and mouth signify his word.

36 Once I have sworn in my holy habitation, if I shall lie to David. ‘Once’, in the sense of, ‘certainly’. Such also is the verse, Once God has spoken. ‘I have sworn’, in the sense of, ‘I have confirmed’. And I swore by my own holiness. For everyone who makes an oath, makes an oath by something greater, but God, not having anything greater to swear by, swears by himself, namely, to himself, as the great Paul taught. The expression ‘if I shall lie to David’, is in the sense of, ‘I shall not lie to David’. For this also is an idiom of the Old [Scripture], namely, to take ‘if ’ in the sense of ‘not’ in the case of those making an oath. Such you will also find at the beginning of the one hundred and thirty-first psalm, If I shall enter into the tent-dwelling of my home, in the sense of, ‘I shall not enter’ and so on.

37α His seed abides to the age. David’s seed, as we explained earlier, is Christ according to the flesh, and Christ reigns eternally, over the Christians voluntarily, and over the unbelievers involuntarily, for it is writ- ten, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Christ’s seed in turn is the word of the Gospel and those who have been reborn to him, as has similarly been explained above. And, he says, both the one and the other seed abides to the age according to my promise.

37β And his throne is as the sun before me. Christ’s kingship over the Christians is conspicuous and permanent like the sun. Why he

took the sun as an image of permanence was said in the seventy-first psalm at the verse, And he will endure as long as the sun.

38α And as the moon fully-formed to the age. This is to be read according to the figure of hyperbaton, namely, as the fully-formed moon. He is saying that his kingship is conspicuous and permanent to the age, like the sun and like the moon with full light, for ‘fully-formed’ is what he calls the full moon. He took the two luminaries as a image as in the seventy-first psalm.

38β And the witness in heaven is sure. Instead of ‘the witness’, Symmachus wrote, ‘the one who has borne witness’. He is saying that the one who has borne witness, that is, who has promised me those things about my seed, is in heaven and is trustworthy, for earthly witnesses do not seem trustworthy.

39α But you have rejected and set at naught. The prophet wrote what follows from here in the person of the Jewish people, bewailing their captivity by the Babylonians and supposing the promises towards David to have been revoked. You, he says, who have promised these things, have rejected and dishonoured the seed of David. The verse alludes to Jeconiah and Zedekiah, as was said. But the Jews are guilty of very great folly in supposing God to be lying, something that is impossible and unholy. Accordingly, David’s seed eternal in kingship is therefore Christ, of whose kingship there will be no end. And while the Jews understand a physical throne and kingdom, Christ’s king- ship is not of this world, as he himself said, that is, it is not sensible but intelligible. For his kingship is the subjection of the believers and their voluntary servitude, for it is written, I have been established as king by him, and again, And I shall give you the nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession. Ps 2.6α, 8

39β You have cast aside your anointed. He calls the king ‘God’s anointed’ as having been anointed to kingship by God’s decree. Thus in the first book of Kingdoms he calls Saul ‘the Lord’s anointed’. ‘You have cast aside’, that is, you have put off, you have struck aside your own king, namely, David, not having fulfilled your sworn promises to him.

40α You have overturned the covenant of your servant.

You have annulled your promise to him.

40β You have profaned his sanctuary to the ground. And in the seventy-third psalm he said, They have profaned to the ground the tent-shrine of your name. Here he called David’s sanctuary the famed temple in Jerusalem, David himself having had the intention to build it and having left the materials for the building to his son Solomon, on account of God having commanded for it to be built not by David but by his son. In the same seventy-third psalm he similarly called the temple the ‘holy place’ and ‘place of sanctification’. Ps 73.3β, 7α The people attaches the entire calamity to David, attempting to move God to pity on account of his affection for him.

41α You have razed down all his fences. ‘Fences’ are the walls and the laws.

41β You have made his fortifications timidity. He now represents David in the person of his descendants Jeconiah or Zedekiah. For each of them their fortifications were the surrounds of the city walls, and when each was conquered, instead of these fortifications, he was invested with timidity. He is saying that you have now made his surrounds timidity in place of what they were before, for he is clad in timidity as a surround.

42α All who would pass through on their way would despoil him. ‘Him’, that is, his wealth. By those ‘who would pass through on their way’ he is alluding to the neighbouring nations who made their passage next to him and whom in the seven- ty-ninth psalm he called those passing by on their way.

42β He has become a reproach to his neighbours. This verse is also found in the seventy-eighth psalm, but there it is pronounced in the plural.

43α You have exalted the right hand of those afflicting him. In the sense of, you have made the Babylonians mightier, for those who are victorious in war lift up their hands over the defeated, smiting them.

43β You have gladdened all his enemies. The neighbouring nations, as was said previously in the seventy-eighth psalm.

44α You have turned away the help to his sword. That you would habitually grant him in battles.

44β And you have not assisted him in the war. The war against the Babylonians.

45α You have broken off his purification. You have made him cease from the habitual purification, for they used to employ sprin- klings and purifications at their festivals. Nu 19 By the antecedent he indicated the consequence, namely, that you abolished their festivals.

45β You have dashed his throne to the ground. You have overturned his kingship. The verse is metaphorical.

46α You have diminished the days of his time. ‘Time’ is what he calls that promised to David’s seed, the time to age of age. ‘You have diminished’, in the sense of, ‘you have curtailed’, having promised a long time.

46β You have poured out dishonour on him. For the dishonours of the descendants seem dishonours of the progenitor. For they were covered in dishonour having been led into captivity and having suffered the most ignomin- ious things.

47 How long, O Lord, will you turn away to the end? Will your anger be kindled like fire? These words are like those in the seventy-eighth psalm, for it is said there also, How long, O Lord, will you be angered to the end? Will your jealousy be kindled like fire?

48α Remember what my existence is. Remember why I was given existence, namely, why I was created - unquestionably so that living I might glorify your mighty works. Hence deliver me from death, For the dead, O Lord, do not praise you.

48β Have you created all the sons of men in vain? You have not made man to no purpose and in vain, so that he might be destroyed at ran- dom like some useless and pointless thing, but you have honoured him with your image and made him great and honourable, so do not overlook us as we are wretchedly being destroyed. 49 Who is the man who will live and not see death, [who] will deliver his soul from the hand of Hades? The ‘who’, is in the sense of, ‘none’ and is also understood before the second verse, namely, ‘who will deliver’. He calls the ‘hand of Hades’ his grasp and tyranny. Since, he says, we shall inevitably die, as having been allotted a mortal nature, while we are alive, grant us your benevolence. 50 Where, O Lord, are your mercies of old that you have sworn to David in your truth? ‘Mercies’ are what he calls the promises about the seed and kingship of David, for God promised these things, having had mercy on mankind. They are ‘of old’ in relation to the people making entreaty for whom David was earlier by many years. Or else ‘of old’ because they were ordained by God before the ages, for Paul says, The mystery hidden before the ages, and Isaiah called these things An ancient, true purpose. ‘You have sworn’, in the sense of, you have promised with certainty, and ‘in your truth’, in the sense of, in your being true. 51 Remember, O Lord, the reproach of your servants, that I have held in my bosom from many nations. The reproach of your servants, the Hebrews, coming from many nations, both from our captors and the surrounding nations, which reproach I have held, that is, I have borne in my heart. For ‘I have held’ Aquila wrote ‘I have carried’ and Symmachus ‘I have borne’. ‘Bosom’ is what he called his heart, because in it we store sorrows and joys as in the fold of a garment. Note the genitive conjunction οὗ [that] is in the sense of ‘which reproach’ for following the genitive case of ‘reproach’ he added the genitive conjunction in the Attic manner. He did the same in the following two verses, with the imperative ‘remember’ being understood in relation to both. 52 With which your enemies, O Lord, have made reproach, with which they have reproached the exchange of your anointed. God’s anointed is what he calls the king David, as was explained above, and Jeconiah or

Zedekiah is whom he calls the ‘exchange’ of David, as having reigned in his place and whose captivity they reproached. The repetition of the word ‘reproach’ is expressive of emotion. 53 The Lord is to be blessed to the age. So be it, so be it. The end of the psalm teaches not to lose hope when in afflictions, but to entreat God and remind him of his goodness, and finally to praise him as ordering all things concerning us for our benefit. God, he says, is to be praised for ever; may he be so, may he be so praised. Or else, may all he purposes so be, may it be so, and he purposes whatever is of benefit to men. 89 Psalm 89 1α A prayer belonging to Moses the man of God. We have also dealt with this superscription previously in the preamble to the present book. The psalm teaches how one ought to entreat God in a time of affliction. § 53 1β O Lord, you have become a refuge for us in generation and generation. ‘In generation and generation’, in the sense of, ‘in every generation’, and this is how Sym- machus rendered it. 2 Before the mountains came to be and the earth and the inhabited world were formed, and from the age and to the age you are. In every generation you are our refuge because you are for ever. Before the mountains were created, he says, and the earth and the inhabited world were formed you are. Having said that the Creator exists prior to the things created, he again and in a different way calls him without beginning and without end. For ‘from the age and to the age you are’ is in the sense of, from eternity to eternity you are alone and none other, for the Ancient [Scripture] in many places calls eternity ‘age’. The expressions ‘The mountains were created’ and ‘the earth was formed’ are a tautology, as again are the words ‘earth’ and ‘inhabited world’. Such means invest the speech with weight and grandeur. 3α Do not turn a man back to humiliation. There are various kinds of humiliation in the divine Scripture. Modesty is called humili- ation, for it is written, Learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and so is bringing back to one’s senses from temptation, such as, It is good for me that you have humbled me, as is bringing down, such as, You have humbled the proud like a wounded man, and being subjected

to an enemy, as in the present expression. Do not allow, he says, for a man who has run to you for refuge to be turned back to this humiliation.

3β And you have said, ‘Return, O sons of men’. And indeed you have said, ‘O sons of men, return’. God said this in various places in the Mosaic Pentateuch. Receive us accordingly as we return.

4 For a thousand years in your eyes, O Lord, are like a day, a yesterday that has passed away, and a watch in the night. And this he employed as a proof of God’s eternity, for he says that a thousand years before you are reckoned as a time of exceeding brevity, as for us a single day, and that one that has passed away, for this is what the ‘yesterday’ denotes. ‘That has passed away’ is a clarification of ‘yesterday’, for the day that has passed seems shorter than the present one. And again as a quarter part of the night is reckoned by us, for this is what he called ‘a watch in the night’, for, the night being divided into four parts by those taking successive guard over military camps during the night, each part is called a night watch. For having mentioned the day time, and that having passed away, he added a much shorter time, the quarter part of the night, because the night always seems to flow past more quickly than the day on account of the insensibility of those asleep and on account of the darkness and on account of the relief from labour. And for God a millennium is reckoned thus, be- cause while that flows away, he is motionless and eternal. The ‘for’ is confirmatory, in the sense of, ‘truly’.

5α And their disparagements will be yet further. The previous verse having demeaned a thousand years among men, he says, that I shall dis- parage them even more, as being nothing in relation to God’s eternity. Their disparagements, that is, of the thousand years, will be still more, that is, they they will be so for me. He then adds a more demeaning disparagement.

5β In the morning it may pass away like grass. ‘In the morning’ here is in the sense of, ‘swiftly’, as we have also said elsewhere. The thou- Pss 48.15γ, 58. sand years, he says, will pass away swiftly like quickly dying grass. 17β, 87.14β

6 In the morning it may blossom and pass away, in the evening it may fall away, be hardened and dried out.

These things refer to the swiftly dying nature of grass, because grass will flower in the early part of the day then it will pass from blossoming and in the evening it ‘may fall away’, that is, it will wilt to the ground (the ‘away’ is redundant), then it will be hardened as the moisture in it is consumed, and thus it will be dried out. The optatives here are taken as futures. ‘In the morning’ and ‘in the evening’, are in the sense of, ‘in morning’ and ‘in evening’. In one day he presented the image of the swift death of grass, showing the speed of its course; moreover, there are kinds of grasses that in one day blossom and wither and are destroyed. These things are thus. Some claim these things to have been predicted about the Jews, saying that their worship in the temple is to last for a thousand years, for so many years are counted from Solomon to the crucifixion of Christ. Accordingly, they say the words predict that these thousand years are reckoned by you like a yesterday on account of their transgression of the law. Hence the disparagements of them, i.e. of the Jews, will be even more, being ever added to, and indeed we see them never receiving respite from disparagement. And the rest they understand cor- respondingly, namely, that their ‘morning’, that is, their time of prosperity, will pass away like grass. Their time of prosperity was only that of Solomon’s kinship, for in the time thereafter they would have many fluctuations. The words that follow you will relate to the grass, in the way explained earlier.

7 For we have expired in your anger and have been troubled in your rage. ‘We have expired’, in the sense of, ‘we have been diminished’; we have been destroyed by your having grown angry with us for having sinned. ‘Anger’ and ‘rage’ have been spoken of variously, and especially in the sixth psalm.

8α You have set our lawless acts before you. You have set them naked before you, and kept in sight they do not escape notice, but on the very contrary they incite you to anger against us.

8β Our lifetime in the light of your face. Lifetime here is what he calls the span of our life and life. All our lifetime, all our life, he says, lies in the visibility of your oversight, that is, it is manifest to you. The meaning is like that of the previous verse.

9α For all our days have expired. The days of our life have passed away, we have drawn near to our end, for thus the intensity of misfortunes persuades me to believe. Moreover, it is customary for those in afflictions to say that we have died, having been choked by the afflictions and having despaired of salvation.

The conjunction ‘for’ has often been spoken about, and now it is to be said generally that wherever it is found it is to be understood either as causative or as confirmative or as narrative and redundant, as in this case. With David this word is especially used redundantly. Let this then henceforth be a very sure rule for you, for it is superfluous to say the same things about the same again and again.

9β And in your anger we have expired. He said this above also; he says this twice as is customary with those seeking to evoke pity.

9γ Our years they would consider like a spider’s web. The word ἀράχνη can mean spider or spider’s web; here it means the latter. ‘They would consider’, in the sense of, ‘they would be considered’, that is, they would be reckoned. He is saying therefore that our years would be reckoned, that is, they are reckoned by us, like a spi- der’s web, toilsome and short-lived, for such a web is woven with great labour on account of its extreme delicacy, but is quickly destroyed on account of its weakness.

10α The days of our years in them are seventy years, but if with force, eighty years. Here the number of years is ordained, how many are those of are in strength and how many are those are in forced exertion. For he is saying that ‘the days of our years’, that is, our years, ‘in them’, namely, in themselves, are seventy years. Because for so many years we are ourselves, that is, we move with strength as masters of ourselves. But if someone is to live with force, that is by forced exertion, on account of his being barely able then, he will live for eighty years.

10β And their surplus toil and suffering. And what is beyond these years, however long one will live, will be toil and pain on ac- count of the extreme infirmity. ‘Toil’ therefore is the distress of illness and ‘suffering’ the pain. Some have understood this as the surplus of the seventy or eighty years, namely, that there is little delight in them but more sorrow on account of the continuous mishaps.

10γ For meekness has come upon us, and we shall be chastised. ‘Meekness’ is what he here called moderate chastisement from God. He called this ‘meek- ness’ in comparison to the punishment we deserve on account of our sins.

11α Who knows the might of your anger?

If your small chastisement has made such an impression on us, who then knows how great and of what kind is the strength of your anger that you bring upon those who remain heed- less? Truly it is great and unendurable.

11β And in fear of you to reckon up your rage? And who again knows to measure your rage, that is, to discern how great it is? In truth no one will be able to do so on account of your being most fearful.

12α Make known thus your right hand to me. ‘Thus’, namely, by correcting me with meekness and moderate chastisement, make known to me your right hand on the day of judgement. You will make it known to me by placing me at your right hand along with the sheep.

12β And those whose heart has been fettered in wisdom. And furthermore make known to me then the just, placing me among them, namely, those whose hearts before death had been shackled to your wisdom, for Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And moreover God’s wisdom is the distinction of virtue and vice and the cultivation of virtue. Such, however, is the interpretation in relation to the last judgement. But it can also be interpreted in relation to the present, namely, make known to me your right hand, that is, your helping and beneficent and protecting power, and indeed, also those who are wise in things divine so that I may be brought to understanding by them.

13α Turn back, O Lord. Either you towards us, from whom you have turned away on account of our sins, or else us towards you, we who have been straying here and there.

13β How long? Will you fail to turn back, that is to say.

13γ And relent towards your servants. Who are in distress and making entreaty to you.

14α In the morning we have been filled with your mercy, O Lord, and have rejoiced and been glad.

The present life may be interpreted as evening and night on account of the error poured out over it and on account of our lying down to sleep in it as we die. The future life, however, may be interpreted as day, on account of the its brilliance and on account of our rising up from death. He is saying accordingly that in the morning, that is, in the future life, we who, as was said, attain to return will be filled with your mercy and will rejoice and be glad. We have understood here an interchange of tenses, as Aquila and the others noted. ‘Re- joicing’ and ‘being glad’ have been mentioned on various occasions.

14β In all our days we have been glad. Here similarly in the sense of, ‘we shall be glad’. ‘In all our days’, in the sense of, ‘continual- ly’, for the joy of the age to come is both unmediated and indissoluble.

15 In return for the days when you humbled us, for the years in which we saw evils. You humbled us, having given us over to every distress that the just encounter. ‘Evils’ here is what he calls the afflictions and trials.

16 And look upon your servants and upon your works, and guide their sons. Look upon our fathers and teachers who served you, and on their account, guide us their sons to virtue. Or else, look on us your servants, and not only on us, but also guide our natural and spiritual sons.

17α And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us. God’s brightness is his grace, which makes bright the one who participates in it. God’s brightness, in the sense of, the brightness from God. The imperative ‘let it be’ in the sense of the optative, ‘may it be’.

17β And direct the works of our hands upon us. ‘Upon us’, in the sense of, ‘among us’.

17γ And direct the work of our hands. ‘The works of our hands’ in the plural, are simply the actions carried out by our hands, which we entreat to be directed so as not to deviate from a straight path, that is, from what is fitting. ‘The work of our hands’ in particular has been understood by some as alms-giving, by be- ing distinctly honoured as especially dear to God. The merciful man is not the one who gives

only, but also the one who shows sympathy, for from those who do not have money sympathy alone and comfort are required. Others have said that the ‘works of our hands’ are those of practical virtue as being various (for hands often have the sense of practical virtue), while the ‘work of our hands’ is that of contemplative virtue as one in kind (for the mind in a way is also ‘hands’ as taking the soul by the hand and leading it upwards).

90 Psalm 90

1α A psalm belonging to David; without superscription. Psalms without superscription were also discussed in the preamble to the present book. §§ 55, 57 The psalm teaches the unconquerable power of hope in God.

1β He who dwells in the help of the Most High will lodge in the shelter of the God of heaven. The one who employs help from the Most High as a dwelling-place, that is, who does not live outwith it insofar as trusting in this alone, he will pass his life in God’s shelter, that is, he will be sheltered by God. God is said to be ‘of heaven’ as Master, and if he is God of heaven he is clearly also of the earth and simply of everything. God’s help is also to be understood as the law of the divine commandments that he gave to men as help against the demons.

2α He will say to the Lord, ‘You are my protector and my refuge’. He will say to the Lord with boldness that you alone are my protector and my refuge.

2β My God and I shall hope in him. But he will also say before others that he is my God and I shall hope in him, that is, he will confess in the presence of others that he is his God.

3 For he will deliver you from the hunters’ snare and from unsettling speech. Snares of sensible enemies who hunt after the body are ambushes and traps, while those of intelligible enemies who hunt after the soul are suggestions inciting to evil, desires and surreptitious attacks through the passions. ‘Unsettling speech’ Symmachus translated as ‘insolent speech’, that is, slandering speech, for it unsettles the soul of the one who is slandered. The prophet brought the subject back to the man of this kind, namely, the one who dwells in the help of the Most High, and encourages him.

4α With the broad of his back he will overshadow you.

He will put himself forward as a shield before you. This is a metaphorical figure. For the person who fights in front of someone, standing before him shades him, namely, he conceals him with his back parts. The broad of the back is the area between the shoulders that some call the back. The broad of God’s back is his protecting power, as is the case with ‘God’s wings’.

4β And beneath his wings you will hope. ‘You will hope’, in the sense of, ‘you will have confidence’, like a nestling.

4γ In a shield his truth will encircle you. ‘In a shield’, in the sense of, ‘like a shield’. He is saying that if you have truth, this like a shield will encircle you, that is, it will guard you on every side. Observe the high praise of truth. He called it God’s, as being kindred with him. If false- hood is kindred with the demon, it is clear that truth is the contrary. It is also possible to say alternatively that ‘by a shield’, namely, by the Cross, Christ will encircle and guard you, for Christ is the truth of the Father, for it is written, He who has seen me, has seen the Father.

5α You will not be affrighted by nocturnal fear. Whether brought on by demons or by men.

5β By an arrow flying by day. Being discharged in a similar way, for sensible arrows are discharged by men, while the arrows of the passions are discharged by the demons.

6α By a thing moving in the dark. A thief, a conspirator, an arsonist, fornication, adultery, a demon, and any such thing, moves in the dark.

6β By a sudden happening and a noonday demon. A sudden happening is anything that occurs unexpectedly and unwilled. Some have said the noonday demon is the demon of torpor that attacks at that time especially, others that it is the demon of shameful thoughts, others the demon of licentiousness, for these indeed rise up against people when the belly is weighed down.

7 A thousand will fall at your side and ten thousand at your right, but you they will not approach.

‘Side’ is simply the part, but here it alludes to the left part, saying that when you dwell in the help of the Most High, as was previously said, a thousand arrows will fall to your left and ten thousand to your right, but you they will not touch. According to a higher interpretation, the verse is saying that you will be shot at very much, both from the left but more so from the right. The left would be when we are shot at by manifest passions, and the right when this is by hidden passions. For the enemy, knowing that many do not accept his impassioned suggestion when presented baldly, commences with what is good, but ends in evil.

8 Except with your eyes you will perceive, and the recompense of sinners you will see. But, having seen with the eyes of your mind, you will learn this that it is true, and you will see the punishment of your enemies.

9α For you, O Lord, are my hope. Having heard the promises cited, the one who is destined to dwell in the help of the Most High cries out in delight, saying, ‘You, O Lord, are my hope’. Then the prophet responds to him with the following words: 9β- Have you set the Most High as your refuge? Evils will not approach you. ‘Have you set the Most High as your refuge?’ is to be read as a question, then the rest as a statement. Temptation does not touch the person who has God as his refuge, and the devil himself is witness to this, crying out to God about Job, Have you not put a fence about what is internal to him and what is external? When God will permit, then temptation touches him. ‘Evils’ is what he calls adversities, dangers.

10β And a scourge will not come near to your tent-dwelling. Neither will misfortune approach your home; the preposition ‘to’ is redundant. The ‘scourge’ may also be interpreted differently as illness and the tent-dwelling of the soul as the body. And more elegantly, that for the man of God such evils and the scourge are contests and a trial, while for the sinner they are scourges, for it is written, Many are the scourges of the sinner.

11 For he will command his angels about you, in order to guard you closely in all your ways. Such is also in the thirty-third psalm, An angel of the Lord will encamp round those who fear him and will deliver them. And Abraham, encouraging his servant, said that the good

God Will send his angel before your face, and Jacob said, The angel who has delivered me from all evils. From these things we learn that through angels God guards those who trust in him. ‘Ways’ is what he calls actions; the ‘in order’ is redundant.

12 They will lift you on their hands lest you strike your foot against a stone. The angels’ hands are their guarding powers. ‘They will lift’, in the sense of, they will hold you up in difficulties, so that your foot does not even knock against a stone. The ‘stone’ may also be interpreted differently as every sin and every obstacle, and the ‘foot’ as the deportment with which we pass through life.

13 You will step on asp and basilisk and will trample lion and dragon under foot. Neither venomous nor flesh-eating beast will touch you. And this was fulfilled in many of the saints as their stories tell. In an anagogical sense, by the stepping on and trampling over the most venomous and dangerously carnivorous wild beasts he alluded to mastery over wickedness and harm. The asp may be understood as slander – for this spits out venom into people’s ears –and the basilisk as the evil eye – for just as the basilisk has the source of its mischief in its eyes, so the evil eye works mischief through the eyes. The lion is ferocity and the dragon is rage, on account of its heat and keenness and energy, all of which things the just man will trample underfoot and by which he will not be harmed in any way at all. The demon is also called an asp and basilisk and a lion and dragon as bearing in himself the evil effects of all of these.

14α For he has hoped in me and I shall deliver him. Since he has promised great and nearly incredible things, namely, to trample on the direst of wild beasts and to be unharmed thereby, he introduces God himself confirming what was said and teaching what the fruit of hope in him is. Such a man, he says, has hoped in me and henceforth I shall deliver him from every danger.

14β I shall shelter him for he has known my name. Observe how he said ‘my name’, for no one at all is able to comprehend his nature. It is not the one who knows simply that he is God who knows the name of God, but rather the one who behaves worthily towards him.

15α He will cry to me and I shall hear him.

Because he will ask for nothing unworthy of God and of himself.

15β I shall be with him in affliction. In every trial, as with the Three Youths and as later with the martyrs.

15γ I shall rescue him. From every necessity. Look in the thirty-sixth psalm at the explanation of, And I have not Ps 36.25α, seen a just man abandoned, and of, But in no way will the Lord abandon him into his hands. 33α

15δ And I shall glorify him. Not only will I rescue him, but also make him conspicuous on account of his affinity with me.

16α I shall fill him with length of days. If indeed he will ask for this. Or else ‘length of days’ is what he calls eternal life, because that day is one, called ‘length of days’ on account of both its perpetuity and its having no successor. The syntax of the verb ‘I shall fill’ is indifferent [accusative case instead of genitive].

16β And I shall show him my salvation. The salvation that is from me, for I am able to save the one who hopes in me.

91 Psalm 91

1 A psalm of an ode; on the day of the Sabbath. What a ‘psalm of an ode’ is was said previously in the preamble to the present book. § 65 This psalm is anonymous, but not without superscription. It does not bear the name either of David or of any of the chief singers on account of being sung at that time by all in common. § 50 It has the superscription, ‘on the day of the Sabbath’, as some say, because David allotted this for the Sabbath alone as a thanksgiving to God, and then all the chief singers coming together would sing it. But as those who have given a higher interpretation say, this psalm looks towards the day of the age to come and tells of the things on that day, namely, the punishment of the sinners and the honour of the just. For just as the Sabbath (which translates as ‘resting’) involved a rest from all work for the provisions of life, so that day (which is a resting from the present life) is freed from all care for daily life and is called the Sabbath.

2α It is good to confess the Lord. Truly giving thanks to God is good. 2β And to praise your name with psaltery, O Most High. And to sing thank offerings to you. Some have interpreted thus that it is good to confess first one’s sins to God and then to sing to him, so that the psalmody is pure. 3 So as to tell of your mercy in the morning and your truth by night. Having said simply that this and that are good, he then also ordains times for this good thing, and says, that it is good so as to tell of, that is, to reflect on and announce in the morn- ing at the beginning of the day God’s mercy, namely, that having had mercy on us neither did earthquake bury, nor fire consume, nor water drown us, nor did he permit for us to be given over to wild beasts or enemies or other destroyers, which things and their like tend for the most part to happen at night, and most importantly, he did not allow for us to be surrepti- tiously attacked by demons. And similarly at night to tell of your truth. Understand God’s truth here as his infallibil- ity, so that by telling of this at the time of night, when we are most especially moved to the pleasures of the flesh and evil thoughts, we may restrain ourselves, reminding ourselves that we do not escape his notice whatever we do or turn over in our minds. We may say that by the morning he indicated the whole of the day, the part standing for the whole. 4 On a ten-stringed psaltery with an ode on the lyre. Look for the explanation of the third verse of the thirty-second psalm which accords very closely with the present verse. 5 For you have made me glad, O Lord, in what you have made, and I shall rejoice in the works of your hands. Some have said that ‘what you have made’ is visible creation in general, while ‘works of your hands’ are the various particular forms of this creation, and on seeing the greatness of these, and their beauty, their variety, their harmonious adaptation, their usefulness and what- ever such, I am filled with gladness both in common with others and on my own, and here- after I shall rejoice. 4: Having brought the five senses of the body and the five faculties of the soul [Ar. De Anima II, 3, 414 a 31-32] into concord with one another and through these singing to the Lord.

Others have called ‘what you have made’ and ‘works of your hands’ a reduplication of the same meaning.

6α How your works have been magnified, O Lord. The ‘how’ is an expression of intensification. Most magnificent and wonderful are your works, he says, not only those in the creation mentioned, but also those of providence and dispensations and wonder-workings and such things. ‘Works’ are spoken of more extensively in the eighty-fifth psalm.

6β The movements of your thoughts have been greatly deepened. ‘They have been greatly deepened’, in the sense of, they have appeared deep and beyond reach. ‘Movements of your thoughts’ is what he calls your purposes. Paul said in a way similar to this, O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

7α A foolish man will not know. ‘A foolish man’ here is what he calls the one who does not possess divine sagacity, even though he may have acquired human sagacity from profane wisdom. Such a man, he says, will not know that your works are great and that the movements of your thoughts are deep, but having trusted in himself, he will attempt to understand and on that account he will fall.

7β And one without understanding will fail to comprehend these things. He now repeats the same meaning.

8α Even as sinners have sprung up like grass, and all who work lawlessness have stooped down. The conjunction ‘and’ is redundant here. ‘They have stooped down’, in the sense of, ‘they have been bent down’, ‘they have been humbled’. The meaning is such, that when sinners have sprung up like grass, that is, have flourished temporarily, they have not maintained their prime for long, but have stooped down. By those who work lawlessness he is referring to the same people.

8β So that they may be utterly destroyed to the age of the age. They stooped down fell from their prosperity so that they may be punished in the age to come. In relation to the unending age, David was accustomed to call unremitting punish- ment ‘destruction’ and ‘perdition’.

He says accordingly that they received their fall from good fortune in this world as an earnest of their punishment in the other world. From here onwards then he proceeds to the days of the age to come, as we said in the introduction to the psalm.

9 But you, O Lord, are most high to the age. But you are ever beyond reach and your judgements are inscrutable.

10α For see your enemies, O Lord, for see your enemies will be destroyed. God’s enemies are not only the unbelievers, but also the sinners, as yielding to his enemy the devil. He calls destruction that in the age to come.

10β And all who work lawlessness will be scattered abroad. They will be scattered abroad into the various punishments.

11α And my horn as of a unicorn will be exalted. David called Christ ‘his horn’, as having budded from him in the flesh, about which more is said in the eighty-eighth psalm at the verse, And in my name his horn will be exalted. ‘It will be exalted’, in the sense of, it will be magnified, at the time of the last judgement, [Ps 77.69α] that is, when all his enemies have been humbled. It will be exalted like the horn of a unicorn, that is, very greatly.

11β And my old age [will be] with oil aplenty. By the oil he signified brightness and joy, for it is written, So as to brighten the face with oil. He is saying that since I have known that my horn will be exalted, hence my old age will be with cheerfulness aplenty, namely, my joy will be great, that is, I shall pass through my old age brightly and without sorrow, comforted by my hopes for the future.

12α And my eye has looked over among my enemies. Symmachus and Theodotion wrote ‘will look over’ instead of ‘has looked over’, but the Seventy represented the things to come as having already occurred. ‘Enemies’ are what he calls the demons and the unbelievers, among whom he will then look over upon vengeance. This is stated elliptically.

12β And my ear will hear among those rising up against me acting wickedly. This, too, is elliptical. For it will hear the Master’s verdict against them. Those ‘rising up against him’ and those ‘acting wickedly’ and are the same ones, using the asyndeton figure.

13α The just man will flourish like a palm tree. Having said above about the sinners that they flourish like grass, he now says about the just man that he will flourish like a palm tree. The flower of the palm tree, however, does not fall but develops into a very sweet fruit, nor do its green shoots wither, for it is evergreen.

13β Like a cedar in Lebanon he will burgeon. For the cedar burgeons in its foliage. The just man, however, also has other similarities, on the one hand with the palm tree – a small part being planted in the ground, but the whole ris- ing up above the earth and the heart being stretched up towards heaven, and the fruit being untakeable by wild beasts on account of the height and difficulty of access, and the requiring of much time to reach maturity – and on the other hand with the cedar – a fragrant and incorruptible nature and having many offshoots and offering shade. For he is filled with the fragrance that comes from the virtues and is incorruptible, having been cleansed of all stain, and he begets many in the spirit and provides shade to many.

14 Planted in the house of the Lord, in the enclosures of our God they will flower. Being planted in the Church below wherein the Lord’s grace has its home, and being rooted in faith, the just will flower in the heavenly enclosures above, namely, they will appear adorned with the flowers of the virtues. The ‘house of the Lord’ can also be understood in a different way as knowledge of the divine Scriptures wherein we discover the Lord, and the ‘enclosures’ as his commandments.

15α They will burgeon still further in old age aplenty. Old age aplenty is ripe old age. Such men, he says, even when they have grown very old will not let up in their advancement in virtue, but will burgeon even more in the virtues.

15β And will have enjoyment of good things. And then in the age to come they will have enjoyment of good things, that is, delighting and rejoicing exceedingly.

16 So as to proclaim that the Lord our God is straight and there is no injustice in him.

So as to proclaim joyously to one another that the Lord is just, granting his servants rest in exchange for their labours in life. The expression ‘there is no injustice in him’ is a develop- ment and repetition of ‘just’.

92 Psalm 92

1α Without superscription among the Hebrews. This psalm is without superscription among the Hebrews. A number of copies, however, bear a superscription as coming from the translation by the Seventy as follows: For the day of the pre-Sabbath when the land had been settled. And some have explained that we understood the ‘day of the Sabbath’ in the previous psalm as the day of the universal resurrection, while in the present psalm we understand the ‘day of the pre-Sabbath’ as the day of Christ’s resurrection (which was a prelude to the universal resurrection), when the earth was settled by those re-formed and re-born through the Gospel and baptism. The more accurate copies, however, do not have this superscription.

1β The Lord has become king. The Son is always king as God, but this was not always made known to men, for formerly being ignorant of him, later, after his resurrection from the dead, those who believed received assurance that he is king as God. Pronouncing this now prophetically, David says that he has become king, that is, he has become known as king. Or else in a different way, being king as God, he became king as man also, for it is written, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth, and again, But I have been estab- lished as king by him.

1γ He has clothed himself in seemliness. He has manifested the glory and authority beseeming him as God, for this, I believe, is what ‘he has clothed himself ’ means. Or in a different way, when he died in the flesh, He had no form or beauty, according to the prophet, but when he arose, He clothed himself in seemliness.

1δ The Lord has clothed himself in power and has girded himself. ‘He has clothed himself ’ is to be understood in a similar way here. For as God he always had his divine seemliness and divine power hidden, but later he manifested them, having been restored to the heavens. He certainly did not put these around himself in an outward way, and the expression ‘he has girded himself ’ is to be understood in a pious sense as ‘he has readied himself ’, for girding oneself is a symbol of preparation.

1ε And indeed he has secured the inhabited world which will not be shaken. Rocked by deception, he has secured it now by truth, so as no longer to be shaken by error, having been secured on the rock of faith. The inhabited world is understood particularly as the Church which the faithful inhabit against which the gates of Hades will not prevail, in accordance with the Master’s utterance.

2α Since then your throne is ready. ‘Ready’, in the sense of, ‘established’, as was noted in the eighty-eighth psalm. ‘Since then’, in the sense of, ‘from the beginning’, but ‘from the beginning’ in relation to the divine nature does not refer to a temporal beginning, but is indicative of supra-eternal antiquity. Such also is the expression ‘from the age’ in relation to God. David is now saying that even though you clothe yourself in the form of a servant, yet your kingdom is steadfast from the beginning, and you have never fallen from it.

2β You are from the age. Kingship is established for you from the beginning, because you also are from the age, that is, similarly from the beginning, as was said.

3α The rivers have raised up, O Lord, the rivers have raised up their voices. ‘Rivers’ is what he calls the Apostles as watering the souls of men with the spiritual streams of the Gospel. He is saying that they raised their voices, that is, they preached explicitly and openly and unashamedly. We have often said that he predicts the things of the future as having already occurred. The repetition of the phrase ‘the rivers have raised up’ is indicative of joy.

3β The rivers will take up their worn furrows. The rivers coming after them will take the ways that have been carved and cut out by them. For the ‘worn furrows’ are the incisions that the rivers carve out, rubbing away at the earth as they flow. He is saying that the teachers coming after them will follow in the ways of their teaching.

4α From voices of many waters marvellous are the upsurgings of the sea. ‘Many waters’ are to be understood as the baptisms of the faithful carried out in every Church. The voices of these waters are the invocations of the holy Trinity and of grace from above that take place over them.

‘Sea’ then in the singular is the baptism throughout the earth as was said before in the seventy-third psalm, for baptism is plural in its applications but singular in its power. Ps 73.[13] Its ‘upsurgings’ are the waves created by the immersion and emersion of those being bap- tized. Accordingly, he says these upsurgings are marvellous in comparison with the upsurg- ings of the sensible sea, for the latter are fearful to men and most pleasurable to the demons, while the former, on the contrary, are fearful to the demons and most pleasurable to men, and the latter destroy those who sail in them, while the former save them. And they became marvellous from the invocation mentioned and from the rite thereby performed.

4β The Lord is marvellous in the heights. God, who works such marvels, is most especially marvellous in these high and great things. Or else the syntax is read differently, namely, that most especially marvellous is the Lord who is in the heights. And indeed elsewhere he says, He who dwells in the heights and looks on the lowly.

5α Your testimonies have proved most trustworthy. The testimonies about you are exceedingly trustworthy, that is, true. He is referring to the sayings of the prophets which they uttered at various times concerning Christ’s incarnation and his life in the flesh.

5β Holiness befits your house, O Lord, to length of days. God’s house is the universal Church of the faithful, as has often been said. Sanctification, he says, is fitting for this house, namely, being holy as a holy house. It will be so when chastity and purity from every taint marks the life of those in it. Such holiness befits it for ever. According to the Apostle, every believer is called a house of God and temple of God, and similarly holiness befits each believer to length of days.

93 Psalm 93

1α A psalm belonging to David; on the fourth day of the Sabbath. This psalm is also without superscription among the Hebrews. Some added ‘on the fourth day of the Sabbath’ having found that it was sung on the fourth day of the week, for ‘Sabbath’ here is what they called the week. Through the present psalm David brings comfort to those oppressed by injustice.

1β The Lord is God of vengeance. ‘God of vengeance’, in the sense of, an avenging God, for by this idiom he is also called ‘God of mercy’ and ‘God of compassion’ and ‘God of comfort’ and God of peace’, and so on. He is saying accordingly that the Lord is an avenging God.

1γ The God of vengeance has spoken openly. ‘He has spoken openly’, in the sense of, he has manifested his just judgement, and being long-suffering up the the present, he has now had resort to vengeance.

2α Be exalted, O you who judge the earth. Having ascended to the throne of judgement, that is, judging and sentencing and aveng- ing, be exalted, that is, reveal yourself and make yourself known to all. The imperative ‘be exalted’ was spoken about in the fifty-sixth psalm.

2β Render retribution to the proud. ‘The proud’ is what he calls the overlords as showing contempt for the poor.

3 How long will sinners, O Lord, how long will sinners make boast? He similarly calls those same overlords ‘sinners’ as sinning against God by slighting his law about justice and against those wronged themselves by wronging them. He also referred to sinners in this way in the ninth psalm. It is customary for such persons to boast in their power over others. The repetition of the phrase ‘how long will sinners’, is indicative of zeal, as is the repetition of ‘speak’ in the following verse. The speaker is not unaware of the transient nature of the prosperity of the unjust, but he expresses indignation at God’s long-suffering.

4 Will they utter and speak injustice, will they speak, all they who work lawlessness? ‘How long’ is also to be understood before ‘will they utter’, and ‘injustice’ is to be under- stood after ‘will they speak’ in the second part of the verse. ‘Will they speak’ is the same as ‘will they utter’ by way of parallelism.

5 Your people, O Lord, they have humbled, and your inheritance they have ill-treated.

It has been said before that the Jews are the old people and old inheritance, while those from the nations are the new people and new inheritance. 6 Widow and orphan they have slain, and the proselyte they have murdered. The rulers of the Jews did these things out of greed, as have many of our own rulers. It is not only the one who employs the sword against them who slays and murders, but also the one who seizes their goods and the one who overlooks them when they are wronged and the one who gives judgement in favour of those who are wronging them. A proselyte among the Jews is a Jew from among the nations, among us it is the stranger. 7 And they have said, ‘The Lord will not see, nor will the God of Jacob understand’. Transgressors of the law say these things, if not with their tongue very often, but certainly in their mind. For they would not venture on such actions if they did not subscribe to such things in their thoughts. ‘Will understand’, in the sense of, ‘will hear’, ‘will come to know’. 8 Understand then, O you mindless among the people, and come to your senses at last, O you fools. Learn what is known to all, and you, too, come at last to your senses. 9 Does he who has planted the ear not hear? Or he who has fashioned the eye not perceive? Does he not see? And how likely is it that the Maker of the senses is senseless? He shames them by such questions whose answers are taken for granted. 10α Will he who disciplines the nations not correct? He who disciplines the nations through the laws they possess, the knowledge of which he granted them, and who through the austerity of these laws punishes sinners, how will he not also correct, that is, punish, those who transgress thus? 10β The one who teaches man knowledge? The one who is the giver of knowledge – how will he not know, that is to say? 11 The Lord knows the thoughts of men that they are vain. Of those who think thus, that God does not look upon the affairs of man. He knows them certainly that they are in error, but often he is long-suffering on account of some divine purpose.

Or else he is referring to the ‘thoughts’ of those who think from their belly and not from divine teaching.

12α Blessed is the man whom you will chastise, O Lord. Whom you will bring to his senses by the teaching that is from you.

12β And teach him from your law. Whether from the natural or the written law or from both, for these are the sources of understanding and wisdom.

13α So as to calm him from evil days. So that he may become calm and forbearing in the days of temptations, neither becoming indignant nor becoming aggravated at the pains, but knowing from your law that those who suffer suffer for their benefit and that evil-doers will pay worthy penalty.

13β Until a pit be dug for the sinner. Until a hazard be prepared for the transgressors, until they fall in, for then he shows mercy even on those who have wronged him.

14 For the Lord will not reject his people, nor will he abandon his inheritance. Even though they are permitted for a time to suffer and to be afflicted. And he will do this until the end, now permitting evil-doers to crush them, and now coming to their aid, and both the one and the other are for their profit. In the past his people and inheritance were the Jews, but now it is the Christians adopted in their stead, as we have said many times.

15α Until justice returns to judgement. Until Christ, who is justice itself, having abandoned his long forbearing, turns to judge. The Apostle says that Christ is called ‘justice’, Who has been given to us as wisdom from God, justice and sanctification and redemption.

15β And close to justice all the straight in heart. And henceforth all the just are near to him, arrayed beside him as he judges the earth.

16α Who will arise for me against those acting wickedly? Who will help me against the enemies who are acting wickedly? 16β Or who will stand with me against those engaged in lawlessness? He expressed the same meaning, intensely yearning for help on account of the intensity of the wickedness of the demons. Who, he says, will stand with me as I stand in battle order against hostile forces? Very surely it will be God, who has succoured me in various ways. 17 Were it not that the Lord had helped me, my soul would have all but have dwelt by Hades. If indeed the Lord had not helped me when in danger on many occasions, I would nearly have died, either the death of the body or the death of the soul. ‘Have dwelt by’ here means ‘have dwelt in’. ‘Hades’ may also be interpreted as the pit of sin. 18 If I would have said, ‘My foot has been shaken’, your mercy, O Lord, would have saved me. If I would have said to God, ‘My support has been shaken and I am being dragged down’, if I would have confessed my own weakness I would have received help. He teaches that whoever slips and acknowledges it and neither despairs nor acts with indifference, but makes confession, swiftly finds assistance, for God is merciful and sympa- thetic. 19 According to the multitude of my pains in my heart, your consolations have gladdened my soul. Your consolations were granted to me in proportion to the multitude of my pains in my heart. And just as the pains are various, so are the balms for the soul from God, and the cure is devised for the type of the wound. 20α Let not the throne of lawlessness be present along with you. The throne of lawlessness is the devil, inasmuch as lawlessness reigns and rests in him. ‘Let it not be present with along with you’, in the sense of, may it not be present with you as you judge. The imperative is in the sense of the optative, as with ‘have mercy’.

Some of the copies write ‘it will not be present along with you’, or else again with the future thus in the sense of the optative.

20β The one who moulds toilsome labour upon decree. The one who subjoins for us toilsome labour as an impediment to your decree; the one who places toilsome labour before your decree so that we may by-pass it as painful. He then also tells the reason for which he prays that he be not present.

21α They will prey upon the soul of the just man. Because those around the devil will set out in pursuit against any just man if they will also be present, accusing him of his sins committed in ignorance and against his will on account of an excess of wickedness and hatred.

21β And they will condemn innocent blood. Is so far as is in their power. ‘Innocent blood’ is the innocent man by way of circum- locution, or else punishment for what bears no condemnation as far as the divine laws are concerned, so that it may be understood that they sentence to unjust punishment. For which reason at all events they will not be present.

22α And the Lord has become a refuge for me. As I am attacked and persecuted during the present life.

22β And my God a helper of my hope. For I was hoping to hold out, but when I became exhausted, my hope then slipped away, but God helped it, restoring hope to me and giving me to hope more positively.

23α And the Lord will give them back their lawlessness. The condemnation of their lawlessness.

23β And in accordance with their wickedness the Lord God will make them disappear. ‘Disappearance’ here is what he calls their removal from the scene, not appearing any- where any more on account of having been confined in the fire prepared for them. These verses may also be interpreted about wicked men, namely, a lawless ruler, who sets toilsome labour and does not permit us to fulfil your decrees without trouble, will not be

present along with you, he will not approach you. The lawless prey upon the just and con- demn the innocent, and so on. And he will become a ‘helper of my hope’, in the sense of, a support for my hope in him when this hope is shaken when I am abandoned, for in helping me he supported my hope. And the Lord will repay them in the age to come and will make them disappear from the present age through disaster and death.

94 Psalm 94

1α A praise of an ode belonging to David. This psalm is also without superscription among the Hebrews. The Seventy assigned this superscription, calling it a ‘praise’ because it praises God and an ‘ode’ because it was sung with musical intonation, for it is written, And with psalms let us shout to him with ululation. This psalm calls those who have already believed in Christ to rejoice and admonishes the Jews who have not yet believed to turn back and fall down before him while they still have time for repentance. David assigns himself both with the former and with the latter, with the former as kin- dred in piety and with the latter as his own in race.

1β Come, let us rejoice in the Lord. In Christ the Master, having been made worthy to have been placed under such a Lord who is most beneficent towards man.

1γ Let us shout with ululation to God our saviour. Let us shout with ululation to him as victor over our tyrants and having delivered us from Pss 26.6γ, 32. captivity to them, for ululation is a victory shout. 3β, 46.2β, 6

2α Let us anticipate his face with confession. Let us anticipate his appearance, namely his second appearance; before he appears again let us confess, that is, let us repent, for a sign of repentance is the open declaration of trans- gressions.

2β And with psalms let us shout to him with ululation. And let us similarly, after having believed, shout with psalms hymns of victory to him who said, Take courage, I have conquered the world.

3 For the Lord is a great God and a great king over all the earth.

For even though he appeared and suffered as a man, yet he is a great God and Lord, and so on. He lingers with pleasure in telling of his greatness his authority and his power.

4α For the ends of the earth are in his hand. All the earth is under his authority. Or else in another way these words agree with those of Isaiah who says, Who holds the circle of the earth in his grasp.

4β And the heights of the mountains are his. His creations or his possessions.

5α For his is the sea and he has made it. For not only is he its Lord, but also its maker.

5β And his hands have fashioned the dry land. Through the elements he implied also the things in them. And he mentioned the heights of the mountains as worthy of wonder.

6 Come, let us make obeisance and fall down before him and let us lament before the Lord who has made us. Let us make obeisance as servants; let us fall down as in need of his help; let us lament as sinners.

7α For he is our God and we are the people of his pasturage and sheep of his hand. ‘People’ are those with greater understanding and ‘sheep’ those with lesser understanding. And people as of a king and sheep as of a shepherd; and a ‘people of his pasturage’, as nour- ished and provided for by him, and ‘sheep of his hand’ as being guided and led out by him. 7β-8α Today, if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as at the embitterment. The ‘today’ does not here indicate a specific day, but every day in which ‘today’ can be said. This is also how Paul interpreted it, namely, at whatever time you may hear his voice calling us through the divine Scriptures and especially through the Gospel, do not harden your hearts by disobeying and not accepting it as happened at the embitterment.

8β On the day of tempting in the wilderness. In the seventy-seventh psalm it was said that They embittered the Most High in a waterless land and tempted God in their hearts, and so on. And then indeed they hardened their hearts, having rejected God’s voice which they had heard on Sinai and having utterly forgotten his benefactions and having disbelieved that he is able to do all things. 9α In which your fathers tempted me. ‘In which’, ‘where’, in the wilderness, or ‘in which temptation’. The words are from the holy Spirit. 9β They tested me and saw my works for forty years. My wonders and my benefactions about which the above-mentioned seventy-seventh psalm tells. Some conjoin the ‘for forty years’ to the present verse and others to the following verse, reading thus: 10α [For forty years] I was grievously angered with that generation. That is, I was grievously disposed towards it, I was displeased with that generation on account of their hardness of heart and disbelief. 10β And I said, ‘They are ever errant in heart’. They are ever volatile, for it is written, A generation that would not keep its heart straight. 10γ And they have not known my ways. As in this case, Scripture very often calls the commandments ‘ways’ on account of their leading to God. Knowledge of those ways is not knowledge that comes through reading and study, but knowledge that comes through activity and practice. 11 As I have sworn in my anger, ‘If they will enter into my place of rest’. The ‘as’ is confirmative. Assuredly, he says, I have declared when having been swollen with anger, ‘They will not enter into my place of rest’. What an oath is in relation to God was said in the eighty-eighth psalm at the verse, I have sworn to David my servant.

Again we explained about anger in the sixth psalm at the verse, O Lord, do not rebuke me in your rage, nor chastise me in your anger. That ‘if ’ very often means ‘not’ among the Hebrews is something we have also said else- where. The promised land is a ‘place of rest’ as having given rest to the Israelites who entered after the forty years of wandering and transition and as having become a repose for them. Henceforth therefore neither will those who disobey the voice of God enter into the rest of the kingdom of heaven.

95 Psalm 95

1α A praise of an ode; belonging to David; when the house had been built after the captivity. This psalm also is without superscription among the Hebrews. Why it has the superscrip- tion ‘a praise of an ode’ was said before in the previous psalm. The building of the house after the captivity, in a historical sense, is the erection of the temple in Jerusalem by Zorobabel, in an anagogical sense, it is the creation of the assumed humanity in which the Son of God dwelt after the captivity which the devil had taken cap- tive, about which it is said, You have gone up on high, you have taken captivity captive, or else the foundation of the Church which the great and wise architect built. David, foreseeing all of these things, exhorts to sing songs of thanksgiving.

1β Sing to the Lord a new song. What a new song is we said in the thirty-second psalm at the verse, Sing to him a new song. A new song may also be interpreted as that sung by the angels at the birth of Christ, Glory to God in the highest, and so on.

1γ Sing to the Lord, O all the earth. For he has come, freeing, as he will, all the earth from the captivity of the devil. How could this fit with the historical construction of the temple when the other nations derive no benefit therefrom?

2α Sing to the Lord, bless his name. Praise his name for it is a saving name, for Jesus is ‘the Saviour’. Or else, because it is all powerful when uttered in faith.

The same thing, namely, Sing to the Lord, is said three times over, because in the three persons is the same godhead, and the same worship is due to the holy Trinity.

2β Proclaim the good tidings of his salvation day after day. Announce forever the saving message of the Gospel. The words are addressed to the Apos- tles and to the successors of the Apostles. And see also in the thirty-ninth psalm the explanation of, Your truth and your salvation I have proclaimed.

3α Announce his glory among the nations. His incarnation and his sufferings for our sake, for to suffer for the salvation of his serv- ants is glory for the Master.

3β His wonders among all peoples. The wondrous works that he performed when living among men.

4α For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is ‘great’ as all-powerful and ‘to be praised’ as beneficent towards men.

4β He is fearful above all the gods. For he is able to punish in the present age and in the age to come, and not only the body, but also the soul, while they have no such power, and he is fearful in truth, while they are so in imagination. ‘Gods’ is what he calls those of the nations.

5α For all the gods of the nations are demons. The Greeks used to name their gods ‘demons’ as having knowledge and acquaintance of the good, we call them ‘demons’ as having knowledge of evil.

5β But the Lord has made the heavens. And indeed everything else, for it is written, All things were made through him, but he mentioned the most magnificent as most wonderful.

6α Confession and beauty are before him.

By the habits he alludes to those who possess them. By saying ‘confession’ he points to those who confess their sins and by ‘beauty’ to those who thereby become beautiful, as wash- ing themselves clean through repentance. These accordingly are before him in accordance with, The eyes of the Lord are upon the just and his ears towards their supplication.

6β Holiness and magnificence in his place of sanctification. The local churches are ‘his place of sanctification’ as being sanctified by him and sanctify- ing those who enter them with faith. In this place of sanctification, he says, holiness and magnificence are found, that is, purity and works befitting great things.

7 Bring to the Lord, O you lineages of the nations, bring to the Lord glory and honour. ‘Lineages’ are the races; or else the lineages of the nations are their fathers, namely, the priests and teachers. What glory and honour he is talking about we explained in the twenty-eighth psalm, and there also is found the verse, Bring to the Lord glory and honour. Or else in a different way, ‘glory’ as God, for it is a characteristic of God to be glorified, and ‘honour’ as to a Father, for it is written, Honour your father. And indeed he is our God as creator and Father as having adopted us through baptism.

8α Bring to the Lord glory to his name. This was interpreted in the above-mentioned psalm. Or else in a different way, he is urging those invested with the name of Christ and called Christians to glorify him through a laudable way of life. ‘Bring to the Lord’ is repeated three times over here also, according to the interpretation given at the beginning of the psalm.

8β Take up sacrifices and process into his enclosures. Spiritual sacrifices, for it is written, God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. Such sacrifices are the virtues, and ‘his enclosures’ here are the local churches.

9α Worship the Lord in his holy enclosure. This verse was also interpreted in that psalm. Note how having said ‘enclosures’ he said again ‘enclosure’, teaching that they are many in number but one in faith. For they are separated in their locations, but united in the una- nimity of doctrine.

9β Let all the earth be shaken before his face. At his appearance let it be moved from error to the truth, for another prophet called this an earthquake. One may also call the shaking of the earth that which occurred at the time of the Cross, and that whereby, after the Lord had appeared to men, peoples were shaken and nations agi- tated on account of the Gospel preaching.

10α Tell among the nations that the Lord has become king. This was interpreted at the beginning of the ninety-second psalm. Or else in a different way, that up till then the devil and sin were reigning. The kingship of Christ may also be interpreted otherwise as the subjection of people in regard to faith.

10β And indeed he has righted the inhabited world. He has prepared it to walk upright in piety, or has established it in knowledge of God. The ‘inhabited world’ is what he calls the Church throughout the inhabited world, for it is written, Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the inhabited world. The ‘indeed’ is redundant.

10γ Which will not be shaken. Having been freed from the demons shaking it, and having been founded on the unriven rock of faith. In the ninety-second psalm it was said, And indeed he has secured the inhabited world which will not be shaken, and read the explanation there. Ps 92.1ε

10δ He will judge people with straightness. On the day of judgement, that is. He said this so that we may know that he also will judge all people.

11α Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice. On account of the Heavenly and later Earthly One. For of Christ what was from above came down and what was from below rose up.

11β Let the sea and its fullness be shaken.

Shaking here is what he calls the leaping. The ‘fullness’ of the sea is its bounds or else the rivers, the lakes and the wells, and simply the entire nature of waters. Let this entire nature of waters leap on account of the baptism of the Saviour.

12α The plains will exult and all that is in them. For Christ is destined to pass through them bringing sanctification. All the plants in them, that is.

12β Then all the trees of the wood will rejoice. On account of the fact that the saving Cross will be taken from them.

13α Before the face of the Lord, for he is coming. The delight and rejoicing and such things will take place before the face of the Lord, that is, on account of the appearance of Christ. Because, see, he is coming to the incarnate disposition. The prophets are accustomed to invest inanimate beings with the joy of animate beings when they wish to denote an excess of rejoicing, with, as it were, the inanimate beings also being filled with gladness. In an other way you might also understand the ‘heavens’ as the heavenly angels, the ‘earth’ as the people of the earth, the ‘sea’ as those dwelling by the sea or as the islanders and the sail- ors, ‘plains’ as those cultivating the land on the plains, ‘trees of the wood’ as the woodcutters and those in the wilds or mountains. Or otherwise, the ‘heavens’ as those who are heavenly minded, the ‘earth’ as the earthly minded, the ‘sea’ as those in the bitterness of impiety, the ‘plains’ as those supine and easily trampled by the passions. The ‘trees of the wood’ as those hardened or without fruit in virtue. For all will be filled with delight on account of the incarnation of God, going over to belief in him.

13β For he is coming to judge the earth. They will have a double pleasure, he says, both because he is coming to right the inhabited world and because he is coming again to judge the earth and to reward each according to his works, and also to free the elements from corruption.

13γ He will judge the inhabited world in justice and peoples in his truth. ‘The inhabited world’, namely, the nations of the inhabited world, and ‘peoples’, namely, the Jews.

Or else you will understand ‘the inhabited world’ and ‘peoples’ as the same (‘peoples’ in the plural on account of the many differences of the tribes). He will judge justly as not respecting persons and truly as knowing all things.

96 Psalm 96

1α Belonging to David; when his land was being established. This psalm also is without superscription among the Hebrews. The Seventy placed this superscription having considered the subject of the psalm. Belonging to David, because it is dedicated to Christ who is from David; and moreover Christ would be ‘of David’ – whose name means ‘strong in hand’ – being eminently ‘strong Origen CMG in hand’ as all powerful. 314 p. 206 When his land was being established, that is, when it became peaceful and calm having been freed from the tyranny of the demons, for as is written, The earth is the Lord’s and its fullness. At that time therefore this psalm became applicable to him, having been composed long before.

1β The Lord has become king, let the earth rejoice. ‘He has become king’ was discussed in the previous psalm. He became king, having de- posed the reigning devil and having destroyed the reigning sin. The rejoicing of the earth was also spoken about in that psalm.

1γ Let many islands be glad. The churches in their places having risen up from the brine of unbelief and washed all around by the waves of temptations, but having acquired a stable fixity in Christ. Or else we shall understand ‘islands’ simply as the islands that have believed, just as ‘earth’ we shall understand as the new creation.

2α Cloud and darkness are around him. Cloud and darkness are the assumed flesh as concealing the divinity. This is like the words in the seventeenth psalm, And he set darkness as his hiding place, his tent-shrine encircling him.

2β Justice and judgement are the accomplishment of his throne. Of his kingship, for he accomplished these things having come to reign. And truly it is a just judgement to overthrow the tyrannizing devil and to free the tyrannized people.

Or else in a different way, his kingship taught justice, namely, every virtue in general, and right judgement, that is, discrimination.

3 Fire will go before him and will set his enemies ablaze all around. These things are about the time of the universal judgement. Having seen this Daniel wrote that A river of fire was drawing along before him. ‘His enemies’ in general are all who are under the sway of his enemy the devil. ‘All around’ in the sense of, ‘on every side’.

4α His lightning shafts have appeared to the inhabited world. The Apostles; for having participated in the true light they, too, flashed with light, to- wards who Christ himself said, You are the light of the world. This agrees with the words of the above-mentioned psalm, Coals have been kindled from it.

4β The earth saw and was shaken. It saw these lighting shafts and skipped. Or else it was moved from error to the truth and from darkness to the light. Or else it was shaken so that it might be better established. And builders indeed who wish to renew decayed buildings shake them first. Hence some said about Paul and Silas, These men who have unsettled the entire world have come here also.

5 The mountains have melted like wax before the face of the Lord, before the face of the Lord of the whole earth. Mountains, in a figurative sense, are the demons on account of their elation and preten- sion and barrenness and hardness and precipitousness. In the sixty-seventh psalm it was said, As wax melts before the face of fire, so shall sinners perish before the face of God, and read its exposition.

6α The heavens have proclaimed his justice. The heavens are the prophets or the Apostles as displaying a heavenly way of life. ‘Justice’ is what he calls not confining knowledge of God to the Jews alone, but also calling the nations to knowledge of the truth. Or else as we have said interpreting the verse, Justice and judgement are the accomplishment of his throne.

Look also in the thirty-ninth psalm at the exposition of the verse, I have proclaimed the good tidings of justice in a great assembly.

6β And all peoples have seen his glory. His wondrous works on account of which he has been glorified.

7α Let all who worship carved images be put to shame, those who boast in their idols. Let them be put shame with such works being performed by him, or with the error of idolatry being confuted.

7β Worship him, O all you his angels. The ones, when he is born in the flesh, singing hymns and saying, Glory in the highest, others, after the temptations in the wilderness, ministering to him as servants, others, when he is being taken up to heaven, going before him as an escort and crying, Lift away your gates. Ps 23.7, 9

8α Zion heard and was glad. The new Zion, that is, the universal Church, heard the heavens, as was said, proclaiming the things about him and was glad.

8β And the daughters of Judea rejoiced. In the past the ‘daughters of Judea’ were the partial synagogues in the cities under Judean hegemony, now the daughters of the universal Church are the churches throughout the whole world, as having proceeded from Judea. Since ‘Zion’ is translated as ‘watchtower’ and ‘Judea’ as ‘confession’, the Church may be interpreted as both, as watchful and contemplative of truth as and confessing and giving thanks to the Lord. Zion was glad and the daughters rejoiced, for what reason?

8γ On account of your judgements, O Lord. Because you will reward each according to his works, giving eternal rest to the believers, and to the unbelievers eternal punishment.

9α For you are Lord most high over all the earth.

Lord over the whole earth, a high Master of all the earth as also of heaven.

9β Surpassingly, you have been exalted high over all the gods. Those considered as such. For they were exalted out of delusion while you were exalted in truth by your almighty power; accordingly, as truth is greater than error, so much greater is your height than theirs. ‘You have been exalted’, in the sense of, you have been recognized as exalted; having said ‘surpassingly’ and having used the words ‘over’ and ‘high’, he intensified the intensity of the intensification of the height.

10α Hate evil, O you who love the Lord. For the Lord hates evil and loves good.

10β The Lord keeps safe the souls of his devotees. Of those devoted and dedicated to him.

10γ He will deliver them from a sinner’s hand. When they are molested. A sinner in the most eminent sense is the devil as the creator of all sin.

11α Light has dawned on the just man. Light, that of the true light, the spiritual light that guides to all truth. Or else, the light of contemplative virtue has dawned on the man who is just in practical virtue.

11β And gladness on those straight in heart. Spiritual consolation.

12α Be glad in the Lord, O you just. Shaking off from yourselves all worldly merriments as deceptive. And at the end of the thirty-first psalm it was said, Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O you just, and look for the exposition there.

12β And confess in remembrance of his holiness.

Give thanks in calling to mind his holiness, for you have been sanctified. Or confess what- ever taints in calling to mind his purity, for no one in entirely pure. Everything from ‘Fire will go before him’ to ‘Zion heard and was glad’ can also be un- derstood as about Christ’s second coming, for it continues saying, ‘His lightning shafts have appeared to the inhabited world’, from heaven that is. For it is written, For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man. And if then, as is written, The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, from where else will the world be illumined? And the earth saw his descent and was shaken in fear, or when the dead are being raised up with eager haste. And the mountains melted like wax, being dissolved, with the elements being changed. This was spoken about in the seventy-fourth psalm at the verse, The earth has been melted. And the heavens have proclaimed his justice of old, that is, the high prophets, that he is a just judge. And then, at the time of his arrival to judge, all the peoples saw his glory, as he comes in the glory of his Father, as he himself taught. Then he commands for those who sacrifice to the idols to be shamed at that moment and for the angels to worship him, knowing that both these things would occur. And once the angels had worshipped, immediately all the others will worship because, according to the Apostle, to him every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

97 Psalm 97

1α A psalm belonging to David. This psalm, also treating of Christ’s two appearings, has a kinship with the previous psalm, just as that one had with the one before it.

1β Sing to the Lord a new song. This was also said at the beginning of the ninety-fifth psalm.

1γ For the Lord has done wondrous things. A new song is required for new things. And what is more wondrous than for God to become incarnate and to do the other things and to suffer all that the divine Gospel recounts?

1δ His right hand and his holy arm have saved for him.

His own help has saved back for himself those taken captive as slaves by the enemy. This help may be called a ‘right hand’ as dexterous and an ‘arm’ as strong. And in the forty-third psalm it was said, But your right hand and your arm. Some translate as ‘have saved him’, namely, the lost man, and this indeed is a wondrous work for the Master to save by his own sufferings his rebellious and lost servant.

2α The Lord has made known his salvation. He has manifested the salvation that comes from him, namely, the incarnation or his sav- ing purpose, for it is written, I have not come to judge the world but to save the world.

2β Before the nations he has revealed his justice. This is explanatory of the previous phrase. For the sound of the Apostles has gone out to all the earth, as they preach to all the nations the salvation that he has worked and his justice, Ps 95.10β, as we said previously in the ninety-fifth psalm. 13γ It is may also be understood that he made known his salvation to the prophets and re- vealed his justice to the nations.

3α He has remembered his mercy towards Jacob and his truth towards the house of Israel. Having promised to Abraham of old to have mercy on his race and having confirmed by an oath that he will prove true, he later remembered the promised mercy and the affirmed truth, that is, he brought them into action in the new Jacob, namely, in the house of the new Israel, which is the race of the Christians. For these may be called ‘Jacob’, as strikers at the heel of the evil one, tripping him up at heel and bringing him down and defeating him, and ‘Israel’, as beholding God with the eyes of the soul, as far as is possible. For Jacob translates as ‘striker at the heel’ and Israel as ‘mind seeing God’.

3β All the ends of the earth have seen God’s salvation. Revealed before them through the Apostles as was stated above.

4α Make ululation to God, O all the earth. ‘Ululation’ was spoken of in the second verse of the ninety-fourth psalm.

4β Sing and rejoice and praise with psaltery.

Sing a new song, as was said, and rejoice as having been liberated from captivity, and praise with psaltery as a demonstration of rejoicing.

5 Praise the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of a psalm. The lyre is to be understood in an anagogical sense as practical virtue and the sound of a psalm as contemplative virtue. Glorify the Lord through action and contemplation.

6α With trumpets of beaten bronze and the sound of a trumpet of horn. With the Gospel commandments, which are spoken of as ‘trumpets’ in the plural on ac- count of there being four Gospels, and as a ‘trumpet’ in the singular, because even if they are said to be four on account of those who set them forth, but they are one in their agreement and power. And he called these commandments ‘trumpets of beaten bronze’ as forged by the holy Spirit and ‘a trumpet of horn’ as living and giving life, for the horn trumpet was made from an animal.

6β Make ululation before the Lord the king. ‘Ululation’ was spoken about earlier.

7 Let the sea and its fullness be shaken, the inhabited world and all who dwell in it. Here, too, ‘shaking’ is what he calls rejoicing and leaping, as he said previously in the nine- ty-fifth psalm, saying, Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice, let the sea and its fullness be shaken. Read therefore the exposition given there also. Some have understood the fullness of the sea as the fish filling it, they also as it were being commanded to rejoice.

8α Rivers will clap hand in concert. Together they will clap with hand, like people congratulating one another, that is, the very rivers will as it were leap up when the joy of the whole world comes. In an anagogical sense, rivers are those that flow with the refreshing streams of teaching about which Christ said, He who believes in me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Or else the crowds of believers converging like rivers on the churches.

8β The mountains will rejoice before the face of the Lord, for he is coming.

And the very mountains themselves, just as in the ninety-fifth psalm with the trees of the wood. In an anagogical sense, the mountains are the prophets on account of the height of their vision; they will rejoice when their prophecy comes to fulfilment.

9 For he has come to judge the earth, he will judge the inhabited world with justice and peoples with straightness. All these things were interpreted in sequence at the end of the above-mentioned nine- ty-fifth psalm. But there is was said, ‘and peoples in his truth’, while here it says, ‘and peoples with straightness’, so that ‘truth’ and ‘straightness’ are to be understood as the same, for what is true is straight and what is straight is true.

98 Psalm 98

1α A psalm belonging to David. This psalm is also without superscription among the Hebrews. It was given the superscrip- tion ‘belonging to David’ by the Seventy as we noted in the superscription to the ninety-sixth psalm.

1β The Lord has become king, let peoples swell with anger. Matthew says, Now when Jesus was born, and so on, Behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?’ and the things thereafter, then that, When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Ac- cordingly, David, having foreseen these things, says, ‘God has become king’, and Jesus himself said, For this I was born. Let peoples, namely, those of the Jews, swell with anger.

1γ The one who is seated on the Cherubim. That Lord, the one who sits on the Cherubim, as was treated in the seventy-ninth psalm at the verse, The one who is seated on the Cherubim, appear.

1δ Let the earth be shaken. The earth of the Jews, for, as has been stated, it was troubled. Or else the whole earth, some being troubled, others being transposed to piety.

2 The Lord is great in Zion and high over all peoples. In a historical sense, Christ was great in Jerusalem, teaching and performing wonders, for

as is written, Report of him spread abroad, and then, His fame spread at once throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee, and again, So his fame spread throughout all Syria. In an anagogical sense, he is great in the Church; for since Zion translates as ‘watchtower’, the Church is this as we look out not on earthly but on heavenly things, and in the Church he is high above all men, being not only man but also God. Or else he is great in Zion and high among all the peoples of the nations, with the verse signifying that he will magnified both among the Jews and among the nations, that is, among those from the circumcision and among those from the nations. For ‘over all’ does not now only mean ‘above all’, but also ‘among all’, ‘extending through- out all’.

3α Let them confess to your great name. Let them give thanks. Understand by ‘your name’ that of divinity, for it is written, He has bestowed on him (namely on the assumed humanity) the name that is above every name. Let them confess to your name without vainly investigating the nature or the mode of your incarnation.

3β For it is fearful and holy. It is fearful to your enemies, driving them off and scourging them, but holy to your own, sanctifying and purifying them. Or else by ‘name’ he means the name ‘Jesus’, and this is great as fearful and holy as was said.

4α And the dignity of king loves judgement. The office of king loves justice, hence he will help those who are being tyrannized and will cast down the tyrannizing devil.

4β You have prepared straight ways. You have given the law in which are straight ways.

4γ You have made judgement and justice in Jacob. He says the same more clearly. You have made condemnation and justice in the race of Jacob, among the Israelites, through the law that was given.

5α Exalt the Lord our God. Think exalted things about him. Exalt him with hymns; exalt him by the keeping of his

commandments. For if on account of those who despise his commandments his name is blas- phemed among the nations, it is very evident that it is magnified on account of those who keep them. 5β And make obeisance at the footstool of his feet. According to his divinity, the footstool of his feet is the earth, for it is written, The heaven is my throne and the earth is the footstool of my feet. According to his humanity, the ‘footstool of his feet’ is what he now calls Golgotha whereon he was crucified, or the Cross whereon his feet have stood, having been nailed there. 5γ For he is holy. On account of the sanctifying divinity. Being holy he sanctified also such a footstool. Since the just are also called holy, he is showing how great the difference is between Christ and them. 6 Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who invoke his name, they would call upon the Lord and he would hear them. All these, he says, were his ministers and servants. He made mention of Moses as lawgiver, of Aaron as first among priests and of Samuel as chief among prophets. Or else he named ‘Moses and Aaron and Samuel’ simply all those who imitate their vir- tues, and indeed in Ezekiel also when God said, If I shall bring a sword upon the earth, and on it are found Noah and Job and Daniel, upon these the sword will not come, he was not speaking about those themselves – how indeed, they having died a very great number of years before? – but rather he called by their names those who are emulating their way of life. In a column of cloud he would speak to them. To Moses and Aaron. And indeed it was to Moses whom he would speak, but this is a figure, the so-called ‘sylleptic’ or ‘inclusive’ figure on account of its including another as well. And indeed the Apostle, having enumerated all those who had been well-pleasing through faith, then added inclusively, who through faith conquered kingdoms, and so on. The prophet here wishes to say that he used to speak to them in a column of cloud. 7β For they would keep his testimonies and his precepts that he had given them.

For his were the testimonies and the precepts of the law, and he had given them to them.

8α You, O Lord our God, would hear them. You were the one who would hear them then.

8β You, O God, would be gracious to them. When they were appeasing you on behalf of the people who were provoking you or also on their own behalf when they were erring, for Moses provoked God to anger at the unbelief of the water and Aaron at the making of the calf.

8γ And avenging in regard to all their purposes. And you would be avenging, that is, helping, in all their purposes for the sake of the peo- ple, or defending in all the purposes against them.

9α Exalt the Lord our God. This was already spoken about above.

9β And make obeisance at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy. His holy mountain, for the Jews, is earthly Zion, for us, heavenly Zion about which the Apostle says, You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jeru- salem. Or else the holy mountain is the Church on account of the height of its doctrines or of its way of life. Make obeisance therefore, he says, to Christ God in the Church. Either then the prophet is saying these things by ranking himself with us, or else he is ordaining such things in the person of the full body of the believers.

99 Psalm 99

1α A psalm belonging to David; for confession. The Seventy also imposed this superscription, recognizing from the words contained that this psalm is dedicated to the Christ who is from David and who is truly the ‘strong in hand’, exhorting to serve him and make confession.

1β Make ululation to God, O all the earth.

This was also said in the ninety-seventh psalm.

2α Serve the Lord with gladness. Serve the one who has freed you from servitude to the demons. And with gladness, both because you have been liberated from such a tyranny and because you have been made worthy of having such a Master.

2β Enter before him with rejoicing. Worship him truly with joy.

3α Know that the Lord, he is our God. Know both from the prophecies about him and from his works that the Lord Jesus, he is our God.

3β He has made us and not we. For even if fathers seem to make children, it is, however, in fact God who makes them, he being the cause and the fathers being joint causes, as serving his precept in the beginning. For this reason, many wishing fervently to make children are not able to at all. And hence when [Rachel] said to her husband, ‘Give me a child’, he gave her the dogmatic reply, Surely I am not in the place of God for you, who has deprived you of fruit of the womb.

3γ We, though, are his people and sheep of his pasturage. This was also said in the ninety-fourth psalm; even though there is written ‘people of his pasturage’ and ‘sheep of his hand’, this is not of any importance.

4α Enter into his gates with confession, into his enclosures with hymns. Just as one must first enter into the gates and then into the enclosures, so one must first confess one’s sins and then hymn God, so that with the tongue having been purified by con- fession the hymn may be offered in purity. Christ’s gates and enclosures are the churches throughout the whole earth as his house. The enclosures were also spoken of previously in the eighty-third psalm.

4β Confess to him, praise his name. He seems to say the same again, intensifying and urging on.

Or else understand confession here as thanksgiving. Give thanks, he says, having received such great benefactions; praise the name of the Redeemer and Master. 5α For the Lord is good, his mercy is to the age. Good as sympathetic. And his mercy is eternal and not temporary as is that of men. 5β And his truth is to generation and generation. The truth of his words is continuous, or else not only in the generation of the old people, but also in that of the new people. 100 Psalm 100 1α A psalm belonging to David. The blessed Josiah attained great virtues as king, having foreseen which David composed 4Rg 22-23 the present psalm, recounting Josiah’s virtuous life in his person and setting out for men a model of an upright life and an example of perfection. 1β I shall sing mercy and judgement to you, O Lord. I shall offer a song to you, mercy and judgement, singing the things about your mercy and judgement, for you show mercy during the present life, but judge in the life to come; or else that neither is your mercy without judgement nor your judgement without mercy. And since I shall sing of these things, I shall also emulate them, showing mercy and judg- ing uprightly. I shall sing with psaltery and will understand on a blameless way. Making my way blamelessly, I shall sing and will understand; it is necessary for the one who is singing to understand what he is singing. Walking blamelessly may be understood as belonging to practical virtue and singing and understanding as belonging to contemplative virtue; or else by the singing he signified practical virtue, and by the understanding, contem- plative virtue, both of which one achieves on account of a blameless way. 2β When will you come to me? Who on this account am walking blamelessly and singing and understanding, or who am fervently desiring your presence. For Christ said, If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.

2γ I would conduct myself in the innocence of my heart in the midst of my house. I would live my life in purity of heart.

3α I would not place any unlawful thing before my eyes. Neither before my sensible nor before my intelligible eyes, that is, I would not suffer to either see or desire any lawlessness.

3β I have hated those who make transgressions. Those who transgress what is just, either towards God or towards men.

4α No crooked heart has been joined to me. Because for what is straight, what is twisted is unfitting.

4β When the evil one was turning away from me I would not know him. For there is no need to endure the friendship of an evil man, rather when he is present one should attempt to improve him, and when he leaves one should ignore him. This can also be understood about the devil, for not allowing him passage, I would not know him even when departing.

5α The man who would secretly speak against his neighbour, him I would drive away. As immoral and treacherous and a covertly snapping dog. He added the word ‘covertly’ because the person who speaks against someone who is present does not sin so greatly, for he being present will defend himself.

5β With a proud eye and an insatiate heart, with him I would not share table. I would not keep company with him. ‘Proud eye’ is what he calls the proud man, the part standing for the whole, and again ‘insatiate heart’ the man who is never satisfied, who wants more than his share. And hence by adding ‘with him’ he signified each singly.

6α My eyes are upon the faithful of the earth so as to have them seated with me. Those who are worthy to be trusted on account of the straightness of their way of life. Or else ‘faithful’ here is what he calls the good, for Solomon also says, To find a faithful man is a hard labour, for the good is rare. To such men, he says, I would turn and have as my companions.

6β The man who makes his path on a blameless way, he is the one who would minister to me. The man who makes his path in a blameless way of life, he is the one who would serve me. For it is important not only to have good friends but also good servants.

7α A man who behaves proudly would not dwell in my house. Above he spoke about a proud friend, and here about a proud servant.

7β A man who speaks unjust things would not prosper before my eyes. He would not achieve what he strove after; he would not fare well before me.

8α In the mornings I would slay all the sinners of the earth. In the mornings, when neither inebriation from wine or from rage cause judgement to err. Not the sinners of the whole earth, but only the earth under my rule, and ‘all’, not at once but now the one, now the other.

8β So as to destroy all the workers of lawlessness from the city of the Lord. I would slay them in order to destroy the transgressors of the law, so that lawlessness on seeing the severity of the punishment would be held back and expunged. In an anagogical sense, the earth is the body and the things of the body, in that these are earthly. The sinners of this earth are the thoughts of sin. He is saying accordingly that when the sun of the holy Spirit would dawn in my soul – for this is the intelligible morning – then I would slay all the passionate thoughts arising from the earthly body and from earthly things in general. Understand ‘the city of the Lord’ as the soul, as the dwelling of the holy Spirit.

101 Psalm 101

1 A prayer belonging to the poor man; when he has grown weary and pours out his entreaty before the Lord. The ‘poor man’ is what he here calls the one who is in need of divine assistance. The prayer of the present psalm is fitting for this man, he says, when he has grown weary being attacked by enemies whether visible or invisible, and offers his entreaty before God, for it is written, I shall pour out my entreaty before him, interpreting which he added, I shall proclaim my afflic- tion before him. In the first instance, he wrote the psalm in relation to himself when being pursued and in a state of exhaustion and entreating God.

It also has prophecies about Christ scattered in it.

2 O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you. ‘Prayer’ is what he calls that of the mouth and ‘cry’ that of the heart. Instead of ‘cry’ Sym- machus wrote ‘groan’. Such a cry will come to God when it becomes audible, and it becomes audible when it is pleasing to God.

3α Do not turn your face from me. Do not turn away from me as unworthy, as those who do not wish to hear a supplicant are accustomed to do.

3β On whatever day I am afflicted, incline your ear to me; on whatever day I call upon you, swiftly hear me. Not only now, but throughout my whole life. The inclination of the divine ear was spoken about in the sixteenth psalm, at the verse, Incline your ear to me, and hearken to what I say.

4α For my days have fainted away like smoke. Hear me swiftly, he says, because my soul is already fainting. And elsewhere he says simi- larly, Swiftly hear me, O Lord, my spirit has fainted. My days, he says, have fainted away like smoke, the years of my life have passed away, have vanished, like smoke.

4β And my bones have been burnt up like a piece of firewood. Instead of ‘a piece of firewood’ Symmachus wrote ‘a fire-brand’. And my very bones have been burnt up like a fire-brand, set ablaze by the fire of temptations. In an anagogical sense, ‘bones’ are the thoughts supporting and upholding the soul, which in turn, having been set on fire, have become fragile.

5α I have been beaten like grass and my heart has withered. Just as grass which has been beaten withers, so I, having been beaten by the passions, have withered away in my heart, having received no comfort bedewing and quenching their flame.

5β For I have forgotten to eat my bread. I have lost my appetite for food from despondency, for the ancients call appetite ‘memory of food’ and lack of appetite ‘forgetfulness of food’. 6 From the voice of my groaning, my bones have become glued to my flesh. For true grieving melts all fat between the bone and the flesh. Some understand ‘flesh’ here as the skin, as the bones have become glued to the skin, with the intervening flesh having been consumed by grief. 7α I have become like a desert pelican. Fleeing from the company of the crowd and seeking solitariness, the pelican is a soli- tude-loving bird. 7β I have become like an night-crow on the site of a building. This bird also is very timid, and so fleeing from everywhere, it dwells in the ruins of build- ings. I, too, he says, dwell in desert huts. Or else, in a different way, he is saying that this bird, dwelling in building sites, crows in the night out of fear, and hence it is called a ‘night crow’ on account of its crowing in the night. Thus, he says, I also cry in the night to you God, fearing attack from my enemies. 8 I have kept vigil and have become like a sparrow alone on a housetop. For this bird similarly stays awake out of fear and remains alone on some housetop, that is, it lives in solitude. By ‘housetop’ you will understand the roof. 9α All day long my enemies would reproach me. Those persecuting me would reproach me with cowardice and wretchedness. 9β And those praising me would swear oaths against me. And those formerly praising me, those admiring my position, even they would swear oaths of treachery against me; or else they would make my misfortunes an oath, namely, ‘May we not suffer like him, may we not become like him’. 10 For I ate ashes like bread and would mix my drink with weeping. 9β: Some have understood this verse as having been prophesied by Christ about Peter, who later swore that, I do not know the man [Mt 26.72].

If I ever remembered food, I would sprinkle ashes on my bread and I would mix my drink with weeping, for those in an excess of misfortunes would do thus, not suffering to take even their very food free from grief. Or else I ate ashes instead of bread and would mix drink with weeping, that is, I would mix tears instead of drink. How would this happen when all people would be cheerful when receiving food? At that time, he, lying with his face and mouth downwards and mourning, would suck in dust, which rushed in along with the drawing of the breath, and it would be mixed with tears. Through these words he indicated his distressful life. It has been often said that the word ‘for’ is sometimes causal, sometimes affirmative, some- times superfluous or narrative, as in the present case.

11α From the face of your anger and your rage. These things happened to me from your anger, because you grew angry with me. You became angry with me because I embittered you having sinned. The ‘face of anger’ is ‘anger’ by way of circumlocution.

11β For having raised me up you have cast me down. Having exalted me previously when I was faring well, you later cast me down, having permitted for me to fall. This is similar to the verse, And exalted once, I have been brought low.

12α My days have waned like a shadow. They have swiftly passed away. And elsewhere he says, Man has become like vanity; his days pass by like a shadow, for a shadow swiftly vanishes.

12β And I have withered like grass. He said this above also, but there he said his heart had withered, while here his whole being as having died away from consumption.

13α But you, O Lord, remain to the age. My own situation, that is the human state is such, changeable and precarious, but you, O Lord, are eternal and unchangeable.

13β And your remembrance to generation and generation. Eternally; or to the generation of the old people and that of the new.

14α You, when you have risen, will have compassion on Zion. In the obvious sense, the prophecy is understood about the sensible city of Jerusalem, because with the time ordained for the captivity having been fulfilled, God will have compas- sion on Zion because the time of visitation has come, which also had been prophesied, and so on, according to the intention. In a deeper sense, the prophecy is about the new Zion, namely, the Church of the faithful, because, when you have risen from the dead, you will have compassion on the Church of the Apostles and you will help her.

14β For the time to have compassion on her, for the time has come. The time demanding help, on account of all joining in attacking and making war on her.

15 For your servants have taken pleasure in her stones and will have compassion on her dust. For the Apostles have prepared the stones for her construction, those who are more stead- fast and well proven in piety and virtue, the connection and joining together of whom con- structs the edifice of the Church. But they will also display concern for her dust, namely for those in her who are weaker and live in a earthlier manner.

16α And the nations will fear the name of the Lord. Of Christ, on account of the signs and wonders performed simply by its invocation.

16β And all the kings of the earth his glory. The glory from his power. ‘Nations’ are also understood as those who believed from the nations and ‘kings’ as those who also have believed.

17α For the Lord will build up Zion. Truly he will build her up, he will put her together.

17β And he will be seen in his glory. He will be seen again in his glorious presence when he will come with power and great glory, as he himself said in the Gospels.

18α He has looked upon the prayer of the lowly. Of the humble minded.

18β And has not disparaged their entreaty. Has not despised, has not rejected.

19α Let this be written for another generation. Let this prayer be set apart (namely, the present psalm which has the superscription, A prayer belonging to the poor man), let it be dedicated, let it be transmitted, he says, to anoth- er generation, namely, that of the new people, because the old people has not believed the prophecies about Christ contained in it.

19β And the people being created will praise the Lord. Will praise Christ. The people being created is the new people about whom Paul says, If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation. He did not say the people that ‘has been created’, but the people ‘being created’, on ac- count of the continued increase of those believing until the consummation. Understand creation not as bringing into being, but as a transformation into what is better.

20α For he has spied out from his holy height. He has spied out, having remained above and having appeared below, for it is a character- istic of those who spy out to remain above and to appear to those below. And he appeared through the incarnation. ‘Holy height’ is heaven, or else the height of divinity.

20β The Lord has looked from heaven upon the earth. He has descended from heaven upon the earth, for through his oversight, he indicated his presence.

21α So as to hear the sighing of those in fetters. For the sake of attending to the sighing on behalf those trammelled in the bonds of sins, namely, the sighs that the just were uttering on their behalf.

21β So as to free the sons of the slain.

And so as to free from the bond of sin or from the slavery of the demons the sons of those lost in sins.

22α To proclaim the Lord’s name in Zion. The name of the Father, that he is the Father of a true Son, about whom he himself said, I have manifested your name to men.

22β And his praise in Jerusalem. And his honour, which was this very name. Or else in a different way, the praise with which would praise the Father continually, at- tributing everything to him and saying he had been sent by him. Then he also says when he would do this.

23 When peoples have gathered together and kings to serve the Lord. When, that is, peoples and kings would gather before him in order, having believed, to serve him, their true Lord according to his divinity. For it is written, In the midst of an assem- bly I shall hymn you. Kings here is what he calls the Apostles, not only as having ruled over the passions and having become masters of the demons, but also as having been later honoured by the entire inhabited world above kings and by kings themselves, about which was also spoken in the forty-fourth psalm, You will establish them as rulers over all the earth. Having brought this prophecy to a conclusion, he returns again to the previous train of discourse.

24α He answered him on the way of his strength. He, the poor man who has grown weary as was stated above, spoke to the one to whom the prayer of the present psalm is directed. ‘Answering’ here is to be understood as speech simply, without any question, for among the meanings of the word ‘answer’ is a meaning of this kind. Understand the ‘way of strength’ as the time in which he is still able and has not become totally infirm, has not been entirely laid low by exhaustion.

24β ‘Tell me the fewness of my days.’ This is similar to what was said in the thirty-eighth psalm, Make known to me, O Lord, my end and the number of my days, what it is, that I may know what I lack. Seeing myself weakened and oppressed, he says, I assume that little time of life remains for me, which I ask to be made known to me so that I may take care for my soul more intensely.

25α Do not lead me up in half of my days. ‘Leading up’ is what he here calls the departure of the soul, being led up through the air or being led up from the body. ‘Half of days’ is what does not achieve its end, namely, the failure to bear fruit in the days allotted to him for bearing fruit, for it is on this account that days of life are allotted to men, so that that they may bear fruit. He prays accordingly not to die in unfruitfulness of the days of his life, but to live until he will bear fruit. Or else on account of what was said in the fifty-fourth psalm, that, Men of bloodshed and guile will surely not live out half of their days, and look this up and read the explanation.

25β Your years are for generation of generations ‘Generation of generations’ signifies ‘forever’ among the Hebrews. He also intertwines doctrines with the prayer. But you, he says, are everlasting and eternal and super-eternal according to your divinity.

26α In the beginning, O Lord, you founded the earth. You established, you made it.

26β And the heavens are the works of your hands. Of your active power. The ‘heavens’ are the first one and the firmament, for it is written, In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth, and again, And God called the firmament heaven.

27α They will be destroyed. Being subject to change as creations.

27β But you remain. Being unchangeable as creator.

27γ And all will become old like a garment. ‘All’, that is, both, or else the earth also along with the heavens will grow old by constant use and time, like a garment become old by this.

27δ And like a cloak you will roll them up and they will be changed. ‘You will roll up’, you will gather up, just as easily as one rolls up a cloak; by this he signifies the great power and invincible strength of Christ. In place of ‘they will be destroyed’ which he said above he now says ‘they will be changed’, offering explication of the words and stating that the heavens also will be changed towards incorruptibility, being renewed. And the Apostle says, The form of this world is passing away, and Isaiah says that, Heaven will be rolled up like a scroll. Others interpret that just as a cloak having fulfilled its assigned purpose is rolled up, so also the heaven, with a better purpose coming about, is changed also into something better.

28α But you are the same. Immutable, unchangeable.

28β And your years will not cease. Just as you are without a beginning according to your divinity, so also you are without an end. ‘Years’ in relation to God are to be understood as the extension of his being.

29α The sons of your servants will make encampment. Of your servants about whom he said above that, Your servants have taken pleasure in her stones. And the sons of the Apostles are those whom they begot through the Gospel, being sons according to upbringing and likeness of doctrines and way of life. These therefore, he says, will make encampment in the Zion on which compassion will be shown, namely, in the Church.

29β And their seed will be kept straight to the age. ‘Their’, namely, of your servants or of the sons of your servants. ‘Seed’ again is not that of the flesh, but that by succession and inheritance of piety and virtue. Accordingly, this seed will be kept straight eternally being helped on the way, for it is written, The gates of Hades will not prevail against her.

102 Psalm 102

1α A psalm belonging to David. This is a psalm of thanksgiving and recognizable as such from the introduction.

1β Bless the Lord, O my soul. Give thanks to, hymn, give glory to the one who has worked so many and so great good things for me.

1γ And all that is within me, his holy name. ‘What is within’ is what he calls the powers of the soul, the desires, the thoughts, or else along with these things also all the parts and members in him. For he urges his whole self in its entirety to bless that Lord and his name that sanctifies those who worthily bless it.

2α Bless the Lord, O my soul. The repetition is an intensification of the exhortation.

2β And forget not all he has given back in return. What he has ‘given back in return’ is what he calls his benefactions, and thus indeed Sym- machus rendered it. For having received good things we gave back evils through our disobe- dience, but he gave back blessings again in return

3α Who is mercifully kind towards all our lawless acts. Who is gracious towards each of them when you repent for each.

3β Who heals all your infirmities. Both those of the soul and of the body, when you will entreat fervently for them.

4α Who redeems your life from corruption. From danger to soul and body, or else who gives you the life of incorruption in the resur- rection.

4β Who crowns you with mercy and compassion. When you have finished the race and kept the faith. ‘With mercy and compassion’ be- cause no one is justified by works. For if you will keep watch on lawless acts, O Lord, O Lord, who will endure? For with you is clemency, and again, For mercy is with the Lord and with him is much redemption and he will redeem Israel from all his lawless acts. For intermingling his

own mercy and benevolence with the good deeds of each he supplies what is missing.

5α Who fills your desire with good things. Who fills with good things your desire which is for good things, that is, who satiates you with good things, when your desire hungers for good things. Some have understood desire here as the desire for deification, which when Adam de- sired, he hastened to fill this desire with evil things through disobedience, but for you God fills this desire with good things through obedience. Ever remembering all these benefactions altogether, O soul, bless the one who does so many good things for you.

5β Your youth will be renewed like an eagle’s. By casting off the old age deriving from the passions and the infirmity therefrom, as the Physiologus, eagle does with the old age coming from its wings, and renewing itself through repentance as Περὶ ἀετοῦ the eagle does through the regrowth of its wings.

6α The Lord [is] rendering acts of mercy. The ‘is’ is missing.

6β And judgement for all who are being wronged. Judgement of avenging.

7α He made known his ways to Moses. Through the law dictated to him. ‘Ways’ are what he calls the things he wills. These things were spoken of more precisely in the twenty-fourth psalm at the verse, Make known your ways to me, O Lord.

7β The things he wills to the sons of Israel. In the first instance to Moses and then through him to all the people.

8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and full of mercy. These things were interpreted in the eighty-fifth psalm at the verse, And you, O Lord my God, compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and full of mercy, and so on.

9α He will not be angry to the end.

Being easy to reconcile for those who repent. 9β Nor will he cherish wrath to the age. He says the same more clearly. 10 He has not treated us according to our lawless acts, nor has he rewarded us according to our sins. Being forbearing and full of mercy. He reiterates the theme of mercy in various ways, wishing to display the excess of God’s benevolence. 11 For like the height of heaven from the earth, so the Lord has made his mercy prevail over those who fear him. For as is the distance of heaven from earth, so greatly has he fixed his mercy on those who fear him, that is, immeasurably and inconceivably. He did not find any sensible distance greater than this to use as an example. 12 As far as east is from west, so he has distanced from us our lawless acts. When fearing him, that is; for where there is fear there is keeping of commandments. PG36.344A 13 As a father has compassion on sons, so the Lord has had compassion on those who fear him. A father has compassion on sons, providing for them, accepting them when they err, admonishing them, comforting them, threatening them, forbearing with them, chastising them, serving them, and doing everything for their instruction and salvation. 14α For he has known our formation. He fittingly tolerates us and shows benevolence; for he knows the formation of our being, that it is weak. 14β He has remembered that we are dust. This is explanatory of the previous phrase. He has remembered that we were formed from dust, which is self-evidently weak. ‘He has known’ and ‘he has remembered’ in the sense of, ‘he knows’. This also is an idiom of the Hebrew dialect. 15α Man, his days are like grass.

Soon withering and fleeting. ‘Days’ is what he calls his life. If on the contrary Solomon says, Mankind is something great and man something precious, do not be troubled. For since man has a dual constitution, that from mean dust and that from life-giving breath, he is disparaged on account of the perishability of the body, but is magnified on account of the immortality of the soul, and he is dishonoured on account of his unwholesomeness and de- pravity, but honoured on account of his virtues and achievements, and because, when he preserves it, he is an image of God and heir to the kingdom of heaven, but when he offends against it he is a slave of sin and subject to torments.

15β Like a flower of the field, so he will lose his blossom. Now being in the blossom of life, but later withering and passing away at the parting of soul from body.

16α For breath has passed through in him. Everything that draws in channelled air is corruptible. Or else ‘breath’ is to be understood as the soul, penetrating the whole body and coming out at the ordained time.

16β And he will not exist. In the present life, the man dying.

16γ And will recognize his place no longer. Moving to another dwelling place; But neither will the breath, that is, the soul, having passed through the bond of the body, exist within the body, nor with it dwell as previously, nor will it recognize the place of its dwelling, that is, the body. For even though the souls will regain their own bodies at the resurrection, but not as they were previously, subject to cor- ruption and changes; it is natural accordingly that they will not recognize them on account of the transformation.

17α But the Lord’s mercy is from the age and to the age upon those who fear him. From the present age and until the age to come, that is, both in the present age and in the age to come. And both here and there he shows mercy continually and will never cease. Here, delivering from the dangers here, and then freeing from the places of punishment at that time. Such mercy of his is with those who fear him.

17β And his justice upon sons of sons.

The reward for achievements, for thus Symmachus rendered this. He is saying accordingly that such justice is similarly continuous, granted in succession to the sons of sons, and again to the sons of sons, and continuing thus in succession, and with God rewarding them both here and there. Then he says on whom this justice is.

18α On those who keep his covenant. The covenant of the commandments which he made as a will and testament for those who have been adopted by him, promising them an inheritance through it.

18β And remember his commandments to do them. Who remember them not simply to know them, but to fulfil them. ‘Sons of sons’, not only those in succession of kinship, but also those in succession of piety and virtuous life.

19α The Lord has prepared his throne in heaven. Hence let those who wish to stand by his throne be heavenly minded, spurning earthly things. The verse signifies the height of God’s kingdom. Seek also in the second psalm the marginal note to the explanation of, He who dwells in heaven will richly deride them.

19β And his kingship rules over all. As their maker; but over the pious voluntarily rather, while over the impious against their will.

20α Bless the Lord, O all you his angels. Having mentioned the throne in heaven, he naturally mentioned the attendant angels, urging them as fellow servants to bless their common Master, rejoicing that he does such good things for men.

20β Powerful in strength. Strong. For their power is ageless and indestructible, and because they called ‘Powers’ on account of being able to fulfil what they are commanded.

20γ Doing his word, on the hearing of the voice of his words.

Fulfilling his decree as soon as having heard the voice of his words made audible to them.

21α Bless the Lord, O all you his powers. Having said the angels, he also mentions the other orders of the bodiless powers.

21β His ministers doing his will. Those in various orders ministering to him, that is, doing what he wills. Then he urges simply all creation.

22α Bless the Lord, O all you his works. And how will the irrational creatures and the inanimate beings bless? Assuredly by using instead of a voice their appearance, their beauty, their magnitude, their position, their useful- ness and such wondrous things indicative of God’s wisdom and power, by which the rational beings are moved to the praise of the Creator. Moreover, the prophets are accustomed to often invite irrational and inanimate nature in addition to the praise of God, on the one hand indicating that rational creation is not suffi- cient for praise and on the other hand rousing rational beings even more, for if the irrational creatures and called on to praise their Maker, how much more are the rational creatures.

22β In every place of his dominion, bless the Lord, O my soul. And what place is not of his dominion? Accordingly, wherever we may happen to be, let us bless the Lord without distinction. What might the Jews have to say, being unable to sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land, when this verse clearly prefers the Gospel worship of the nations?

103 Psalm 103

1α A psalm belonging to David. With the previous psalm he blesses the Lord, giving thanks for the benefactions per- formed for us, and with the present psalm he blesses him again, expressing boundless wonder at the creation brought about by him.

1β Bless the Lord, O my soul; O Lord my God, you have been greatly magnified. You have been made known to us as exceedingly great from the magnificence and provi- dence of your creations.

1γ You have clothed yourself in confession and in grandeur. ‘Confession’ is what he here calls thanksgiving, and ‘grandeur’ the honour fitting for one who is great. You have wrapped yourself with these, he says, through the magnificence of your creations, as was said, on the one hand being thanked because you made such things for us, and on the other hand being honoured as the creator of such things.

2α Wrapping yourself in light as a garment. Clothing yourself in light, veiling yourself in light. Paul said similarly, Dwelling in unap- proachable light, by which they teach that God is invisible and incomprehensible by nature. These words are not opposed to, He set darkness as his hiding-place, for unapproachable light effects the same as darkness, not allowing to see into it; and if what is outside of light is unapproachable, much more so is what is inside such light. Others have understood light here as purity and others as knowledge.

2β Stretching out the heaven like a skin. O Lord my God, he says, you have been greatly magnified, you who have done this and that, who stretch out the heaven with the same ease as one stretches out a hide. But David thus taught the ease of the production of the sky while Isaiah also described its immobility and its shape, saying, Who has set up the sky like a vault. If, however, you will interpret the ‘skin’ as a tent, then David is also indicating the shape, for a tent is vault-shaped. ‘Stretching out’ is used indifferently for ‘who has stretched out’; such also are the follow- ing [using one tense for another].

3α Who with waters roofs his upper chambers. Who covers the high parts of himself, namely, the second heaven. And, it is written, God separated between the water that was beneath the firmament and between the water that was above the firmament. It is indeed beyond wonder for the fluid nature of water to be held above the curved firmament without pouring away, for the firmament is also vault-shaped as its appearance shows.

3β Who has set his step on a cloud. Who mounts on a cloud and uses it as a vehicle, as on Sinai.

3γ Who walks on the wings of the winds.

Who is borne by the wings of the winds, by which he signifies his being present every- where. For the wind is swiftly moving, both coming very quickly from end to end of the world and traversing everything rapidly.

4 Who makes spirits his messengers and flaming fire his ministers. He proclaims him as maker of invisible creation also. He called the same beings both spirits and fire, alluding thereby to their swiftness of movement and their vigorous energy, or else hinting at their nature: spirits are intelligible and fire is immaterial.

5α Who founds the earth on its surety. On which surety? On none other, that is, than on God’s decree, which decree took the place of a foundation for the earth and founds the earth on the earth itself.

5β It will not be upturned to the age of the age. It will never be overturned, even though it will be shaken.

6α The abyss like a garment is its covering. The covering of this element, namely, of the earth, is the abyss, that is, an abundance of waters which is the sea, like a garment cast around and spread over it. It can also be understood about the incomprehensibility of the wisdom and power and providence of God. For having been struck with wonder, he says, that an abyss of incompre- hensibility like a garment is his covering, that is, he has covered himself with incomprehensi- bility like a garment, being incomprehensible on every side.

6β Upon the mountains waters will stand. Upon the mountains they will be gathered and well up, even though naturally disposed to flow down from higher places. Or else the upsurging waters of the sea, that is, the waves, will stand up like mountains.

7α At your rebuke they will flee. At your vehement command the waters welling up on the mountains will be dried up and the upsurging waves of the sea will be calmed. It is written, And he rebuked the Red Sea and it was dried up.

7β At the voice of your thunder they will be afraid. They will tremble in some natural way, or else for our benefit also. And if the waters quake when thunder happens as if sensing some divine wrath, how much more need we rational beings sense this and restrain ourselves. 8 Mountains, they rise up, and plains, they descend, to the place that you have founded for them. The mountains have been raised up and the plains have been brought down to the place that you have established for them. If you will understand these words not about the location of the mountains and of the plains, they may be interpreted as about the waters of the sea, that the waves ascend, raised up like mountains, and descend, brought low like plains, with the word ‘like’ missing. 9α You have set a boundary that they will not pass. That the mountains or the waves will not pass. The ‘boundary’ is the divine decree con- fining them. 9β Nor will they turn back to cover the earth. Nor will they be moved from their order, the mountains rolling down, and the waves running over. 10α Who sends out springs in valleys. Who gives forth for the use of the animals in them. 10β Between the mountains waters will pass. Rivers run through. He then adds for what purpose. 11α They will water all the beasts of the land. Of the mountain. Not flowing without reason, but out of providence for even the mean- est of beings. 11β Wild asses will receive them gladly for their thirst. They will accept them on account of their thirst, for this animal is parched and thirsty. Jeremiah also signifies this when telling of drought, Wild asses, he says, stood in their dells, they drew in wind to be refreshed.

12α By them the birds of the sky will dwell. Beside the waters of the rivers, on the banks, the birds such as love water will dwell.

12β From amidst the rocks they will give voice. The waters, that is. For passing through among the rocks with rushing force and sound, they summon as it were the animals to drink and move men to sing praise of the one who pours forth from dry rocks moist nature in abundance.

13α Who waters mountains from his upper chambers. From the clouds, for from thence the mountains are watered. And if the mountains are watered, then so certainly are the plains and simply all the earth, the rains being giving from above in common measure.

13β From the fruit of your works the earth will be satiated. The animals from the earth, namely, the animals on the earth. The fruits of God’s work, are all fruits, not only as being brought about by God’s decree, but also as the [places] bring- ing them forth having been made by God. Some, understanding the previous verse about the mountains alone, take the present verse about the rest of the earth, that it will be watered by the fruit of your works, saying that the rain was here called the fruit of his works, as the fruit of his divine designs in accordance with which he makes the clouds. He then also adds the usefulness of the rains.

14α Who causes grass to spring up for the herds and green shoots for the service of men. Some say ‘grass’ is that which grows in uncultivated places, and ‘green shoots’ that in cul- tivated places, of which the one is allocated to the free-roaming grass-eating herds and the other to those serving the race of men, namely, cattle, horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, and such- like, all of which together are called ‘service of men’ as serving them. Others again interpreted in a different way, having understood ‘grass’ as that not bearing fruit useful for consumption by man, and ‘green shoots’ as that which bears a useful fruit. And the former springs up for the herds, the latter for men; ‘for the service of men’ as the earth working for men for whom it was made.

14β So as to bring out bread from the earth. The earth, he says, will be satiated for the sake of bringing bread out of it, being made from grain.

15α And wine gladdens man’s heart. And wine, being a fruit of the earth, and being given forth from it, gladdens man’s heart, healing and relaxing it.

15β So as to brighten the face with oil. And once again for the sake of making the face of man, hardened with labour tender and bright, with oil cultivated from a plant of the earth.

15γ And bread to uphold man’s heart. Wine gladdens it, and bread strengthens it when exhausted, it also being a fruit of the earth; for the Creator made provision for all, both irrational and rational, satiating the earth so that, made rich, it will send up the requisites for each.

16α The trees of the plain will be given their fill. They will be watered, the plants of the earth, the trees of all kind, will be fattened.

16β The cedars of Lebanon that you planted. By these, as the most distinguished, he implies all cedars. ‘You planted’, in the sense of, you sent up by your decree.

17α There sparrows will nest. In the plants, in the trees, in the cedars. By the sparrows, understand also the other birds. For the sprouting of the trees is useful not just for men, but also for the birds.

17β The heron’s home is first among them. The heron is a kind of bird, first in setting up its nest.

18 The high mountains for the deer, the rock a refuge for the hares. Observe the usefulness of the high mountains and the rocks, for as has been said, the Cre- ator provides for all, even to the very smallest of animals. For if neither the mountains or the rocks had been made, the above-mentioned kinds of animals would long have disappeared, having been consumed by the carnivorous animals.

19α He made the moon for times. The times of the night, that is, the moon and the stars to rule the night, by illuminating it.

19β The sun knew its setting. It knew this not as being animate, but in accordance with the divine decree that it does not transgress, just as some rational being, knowing what has been commanded. The ‘knew’ is metaphorical, and denotes ‘enacts’, or ‘embraces’.

20α You ordained darkness and it became night. You ordained co-related darkness, when the light of the day and of the sun withdraws, and night came to pass, for it is written, And the darkness he called night.

20β In it all the beasts of the forest will go about. Note the usefulness of the night. Not only does it bring rest to men and having received them exhausted from their labours by day restores them to their prime, but it also gives bold- ness to the wild beasts to move.

21 Young lions roaring to seize and to seek with God food for themselves. Lion cubs roaring for the sake of capturing and acquiring for themselves food, which is with God or provided by God, for thence comes food for all animals, for its is written, Who gives food to all flesh; or else to seek from God. For many people have many times seen many animals at a time of famine and drought stretching out towards heaven and invoking their Maker with unspoken entreaty.

22 The sun arose and they gathered together and in their dens they will lie down. Knowing in a natural way the time allotted them for going about.

23α Man will go out to his work. The day having been assigned to him and to the tame animals, lest with the savage and the tame being together they bring destruction on one another.

23β And to his labour until evening.

He calls work and labour the same thing in parallel. Then struck with wonder in the middle of his discourse he cried out:

24α How your works have been magnified, O Lord. They have become exceedingly marvellous, one thing being well adjusted towards anoth- er, and all towards all, for the completion of one world.

24β You have made all things in wisdom. Not even the smallest has come about without reason and superfluously, but all having the reasons for which they were produced, even if they are as yet incomprehensible to us.

24γ The earth has been filled with your creation. It has been filled with the things you have made.

25α This sea, great and expansive. And the sea itself.

25β There move creeping things of which there is no number. In it are innumerable swimming creatures.

25γ Animals small and great. This is clear.

26α There ships ply their course. In the sea, that is to say.

26β This dragon that you fashioned to make play in it. And this dragon, that is, the whale, that you made to sport in it, namely, in the water. He the whale a ‘dragon’ as by far the largest among sea creatures as again the dragon is among land animals.

27 All look to you to give them their food at due time.

All the animals hope in you, but the irrational ones in some natural way as was stated above at the verse, And to seek with God food for themselves. They look to give them their food at time of need.

28α When you have given them they will gather. The food.

28β When you have opened your hand all will be filled with goodness. ‘Hand’ is what he calls the power of bestowing and ‘goodness’ his providence.

29α But when you have turned away your face they will be troubled. ‘Face’, your oversight.

29β You will take back their spirit and they will cease to be and will turn back to their dust. You will take away their soul and they will die and being dissolved they will return to their earth from which they were taken. The verse is about mankind.

30α You will send forth your spirit and they will be created. Your life-giving Spirit and they will be created being raised up from the earth, or else your Spirit which visits through holy baptism, and they will be created as a new creation, as a new people, so as to be understood on the one hand as about the resurrection from the dead and on the other hand as about the regeneration from baptism.

30β And you will renew the face of the earth. The beauty of the earth, which is mankind. And in a different way, the earth will be freed from corruption according to the Apostle.

31α Let the glory of the Lord be to the ages. Who of the things mentioned has done some, is doing others and will do yet others.

31β The Lord will rejoice in his works. The works that will be accomplished through his incarnation, or else the works through the creation of the world.

32α Who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble. As with earthquakes, for he looks on angrily. And the earth, unable to bear it, trembles by some natural or rather ineffable sense.

32β Who touches the mountains and they smoke. As with Sinai. For they smoke like grass approaching fire. ‘Looking on’ and ‘touching’ are to be understood in a manner befitting God.

33α I shall sing to the Lord in my life. As long as I live.

33β I shall praise my God with psaltery as long as I exist. He repeats himself for the sake of clarity or intensity.

34α May my speech be gratifying to him. May my discourse through the odes and the psalms be pleasing to him, that is, my con- verse with him or the movements of my thoughts.

34β And I shall rejoice in the Lord. When my discourse has been gratifying to him, as was said.

35α May sinners cease from the earth and lawless men so that they do not exist. May they cease, with sinners becoming just and lawless men becoming law-abiding, so that they no longer exist as they are but as having been changed. Accordingly, he is praying not for the people, but for their wickedness to be made to disappear. Or else he is calling the demons sinners and lawless, or those whose wickedness in incurable, as being a mortal danger to those who are healthy.

35β Bless the Lord, O my soul. He placed the end fitting to the beginning. I am not ignorant of the allegorical interpretations of the present psalm proposed by some, but I have deliberately disregarded them as both forced and difficult to accept.

104 Psalm 104

1α Alleluia. In the preamble to the book of psalms those having the superscription Alleluia were spo- ken about; this word translates as ‘praise the one who is’, namely, the Lord. §§ 57-58 The psalm urges to hymn God and teaches the nations about the things whereby God gave benefactions to the people of old, and to what state from what state he led them.

1β Confess to the Lord and call upon his name. This is similar to, Confess to him, praise his name, which we interpreted in the ninety-ninth psalm.

1γ Proclaim his works among the nations. In the ninety-fifth psalm he says, Proclaim his glory among the nations, saying the same thing. His glory indeed is what he will say in what follows.

2α Sing to him and praise him with psaltery. And in the previously mentioned preamble to the present book and in many of the psalms the difference between an ode and a psalm has been spoken of. For the most part, however, § 62 they mean the same, for the sake of intensification.

2β Tell of all his wonders. And in the above mentioned ninety-fifth psalm he said, His wonders among all peoples.

3α Be praised in his holy name. Be filled with pride, boast in being called Christians. The verse is addressed to the Apos- tles and their successors.

3β Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. Of those who call upon him for help, for they will be helped. Or else of those who are making their way towards him along the way of his command- ments which lead to him, for they will find him.

4α Seek the Lord and keep strong.

Keep strong in seeking him and do not become lax.

4β Seek his face continually. ‘His face’, that is, ‘him’, by circumlocution, or else his oversight, or his Son, Christ, who is the indistinguishable image of the Father and the very stamp of his nature, for as is written, He who has seen me has seen the Father.

5α Remember his wonders that he has done. Remember them, teaching the nations and proclaim them.

5β His marvels and the judgements of his mouth. Remember, that is to say, but the syntax is indifferent [accusative for genitive]. ‘Marvels’ accordingly are the extraordinary divine signs and ‘judgements’ his verdicts through the law.

6α Seed of Abraham, his servants. O seed of Abraham! He is calling the Apostles this.

6β Sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. The Apostles are all these things. ‘Servants’ according to, If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, and ‘chosen ones’, according to, You did not choose me, but I chose you.

7α The Lord himself is our God. Christ himself.

7β In all the earth are his judgements. Not among the Jews only, for they were spread abroad everywhere.

8α He has remembered his covenant to the age. His covenant that is to the age, his eternal covenant, namely, which is immoveable and unchangeable. The prophet then lists the benefactions to the Hebrews, beginning from Abraham.

8β The word that he has commanded for a thousand generations. He says the same again, naming ‘covenant’ and ‘word’ the promise of the land mentioned. He has remembered, he says, the word that he has commanded, the word for a thousand generations, the word that reaches to many generations, for now ‘a thousand’ is simply what he calls ‘many’, and he placed ‘he has commanded’ in the sense of, ‘he has promised’.

9α That he compacted with Abraham. The word, that is to say.

9β And his oath to Isaac. And he has remembered again the oath he swore to Isaac, for he promised the same thing to Isaac about both the land and about the multiplication of his seed. What an oath of God is was said in the eighty-eighth psalm at the verse, I have sworn to David my servant.

10α And he established it for Jacob as a decree. To be an inviolable decree.

10β And for Israel as an eternal covenant. To be an immoveable, unalterable covenant, as was said.

11α Saying, ‘I shall give you the land of Canaan’. Palestine in which the Canaanites were dwelling.

11β The measured lot of your inheritance. The measured part, the portion.

12α When they were few in number. Saying these things and making the covenant and promising when those around Abraham and Isaac and Jacob were few in number.

12β A small company and strangers in the land.

For those about Abraham dwelt in the land of the Canaanites as immigrants, for it is written, And Abraham dwelt in the land of Canaan as an alien.

13α And they passed through from nation to nation. Passing through many nations and going about from place to place, about all of which the book of Genesis tells.

13β And from a kingdom to another people. Some countries were ruled as kingdoms and some as democracies.

14α He did not allow any man to wrong them. ‘Any man’, that is, anyone. For he tried Pharaoh and his house with great and grievous tri- als on account of Sarah Abraham’s wife, and having appeared to Abimelech by night he said among other fearsome things, Return the woman to the man, then he added, He is a prophet and will pray for you and you will live. And he did not allow Esau and Laban to wrong Jacob, Gen 32-33 and he did not permit for many others to harm the three patriarchs mentioned. Gen 31

14β And for their sake he rebuked kings. He rebuked them as unjust, he shamed them, he instilled fear in them, as with Pharaoh the king of Egypt and Abimelech the king of Gerar.

15 Do not touch my anointed ones and do not act wickedly towards my prophets. And saying these things namely. He called them ‘anointed ones’ as anointed by the holy Spirit or by the grace of prophecy, and ‘prophets’ as having prophesied many things. And indeed, as mentioned, God said to Abimelech about Abraham that He is a prophet. These words, namely, Do not touch my anointed ones, and so on, are not found explicitly in the above-mentioned book, but others tending to the same meaning.

16α And he called a famine on the earth. He ordained, he sent, preparing in a skilfully contrived way the descent to Egypt for those around Jacob when another seven years of famine succeeded the seven years of abundance.

16β Every support of bread he crushed.

He made away with every fortification of sustenance, he extirpated every substance of food.

17α He sent a man before them. He sent Joseph before those around Jacob, using the wickedness of his brothers for his purpose and making the carrying off into slavery a mission. And hence he said to them, For life God sent me before you.

17β Joseph was sold as a slave. By his brothers to the Ishmaelites, and by the Ishmaelites in turn in Egypt to Potiphar. Gen 37.28, 36

18α They humbled his feet in fetters. Those around his master maltreated him, casting him in prison.

18β His soul passed through iron. That is ‘he’. ‘Iron’ is what he calls the iron collar, or else he escaped iron, that is, the sword, his soul having come even to that.

19α Until his word came. His wisdom according to which he solved the dreams of his co-prisoners; or else the care with which God cared for him, wishing to glorify him and his race.

19β The oracle of the Lord inflamed him. The innate word given to us by God, according to which we are called rational. The natu- ral law prepared him to be burned in the furnace of temptations and showed him to be pure and tried like gold, for this word taught him that one ought not to lay hands on a woman not your own.

20α A king sent and freed him Pharaoh. In the book of Genesis all this is clearly recounted.

20β A ruler of the people and let him go. He says the same again as he is often accustomed to do.

21-22 He established him as lord of his household and ruler over all he possessed, to instruct his rulers like himself and give wisdom to his elders. With God arranging these things.

23α And Israel entered into Egypt. He recounts the history in brief.

23β And Jacob dwelt as a stranger in the land of Ham. He says the same again, for the land of Ham is Egypt, since Aigyptos was the grandson of Ham, and this land had both names.

24α And he increased his people greatly. God increased the people of Israel, or his own people, for they alone revered God.

24β And made him strong above his enemies. Above the Egyptians who hated both the Israelites and God.

25α And he changed his heart so as to hate his people. The heart of Pharaoh, not of the one who loved Joseph, but of another who had not known him, for as is written, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that is, he permitted for it to be hardened, so that the Israelites by being subject to maltreatment might fervently desire to leave from Egypt and escape from their mortal danger.

25β So as to deal perfidiously with his servants. So as to purpose against them. For Pharaoh said to the Egyptians, See now the nation is multiplying and becoming stronger than us, and so he ordered for the males among the babies being born to be killed.

26α He sent forth Moses his servant. God.

26β Aaron, whom he had chosen for himself.

Moses’s brother. 27α He placed in them the words of his signs. The ordinances about his signs, so that they be brought about through them; or else he made known to them the causes of his signs, or their modes of action. 27β And of his marvels in the land of Ham. The signs and marvels were spoken about in the seventy-seventh psalm at the verse, How he set his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the plain of Tanis. For in that psalm he also recounted the benefactions to the Israelites, but starting only from the exodus from Egypt and in a different way. 28α He sent forth darkness and it became dark. And certainly before the darkness he brought other plagues on the Egyptians, but David now set this one first indifferently or, because light is both what is best and most necessary for people, he placed the punishment of darkness first as being most grievous. And in the seventy-seventh he recounts these scourges without observing their order as we said at the verse, He sent the dog-fly against them. 28β Because they embittered his words. Because, he says, the Egyptians provoked his ordinances, when he had ordered them to release the people. They embittered his words by disobeying. The verb ‘they embittered’ is used improperly in relation to words. Or else by the words he indicated the one who spoke them. Some interpret ‘they embittered’ as ‘they transgressed’, in that on occasion this verb also has this meaning among the Hebrews. Some of the copies write ‘they did not embitter’, with this referring to Moses and Aaron. 29 He turned their waters to blood and killed their fish. Look in the psalm mentioned at, And turned their rivers into blood. 30α Their land crawled frogs. In that psalm this is also interpreted. 30α: The frogs were brought forth from the waters as the book of Genesis tells [Gen 1.20]; ‘the land crawled’ is is the sense of ‘it was crawled over’, ‘it was covered’ in frogs [an active verb with passive meaning] or else ‘frogs’ in the sense of ‘with frogs [one case for another, i.e., accusative for dative].

‘It crawled’, in the sense of, it brought forth creeping creatures. 30β In the treasuries of their palaces. Not only in all the other places, but even in the treasuries in the palaces where there is intense guarding and security. 31 He spoke, and there came dog-flies and gnats in all their borders. In that psalm these were also spoken about at the verse, He sent the dog-fly against them. 32-33 He made their rains hail, he set consuming fire in their land, and he struck their vines and their fig-trees, and crushed every tree of their frontier. And similarly about these. 34-35 He spoke, and there came locust and locust larva beyond number, and it devoured all grass in their land and devoured all the fruit of their land. And also about these. 36 And he struck every first-born in their land, the firstling of their every labour. And similarly about these. 37α And he led them out with silver and gold. Which they borrowed from the Egyptians, God having so commanded, so as for these to be reckoned as wages for their brick-making and other service. 37β And there was none among their tribes who was ill. So that none might be left behind on account of illness. Moses did not explicitly write this, but it is implied on account of no mention having been made anywhere of anyone who was sick. David, however, was perhaps taught about this from elsewhere, either from a secret book or from tradition or from the holy Spirit, as with many other things. 38 Egypt was glad at their departure, for fear of them had fallen on them. Fear had fallen on account of the God-driven scourges on their behalf. ‘Egypt’ is what he calls the Egyptians left behind. 37β: And in a different way: those who follow God do not become weak, being able to all things in Christ who strengthens them [Php 4.13].

Having gone through the plagues against the Egyptians very briefly, he now moves on to the benefactions towards the Hebrews.

39 He spread out a cloud as a cover for them, and fire to give them light by night. In that psalm these things were also spoken about at the verse, And by day he led them in a cloud, and so on.

40α They asked and quail arrived. There this was also spoken of at the verse, And he rained flesh upon them like dust.

40β And he filled them with bread of heaven. And the in seventy-seventh psalm is written, And he gave them bread of heaven.

41 He broke open a rock and waters gushed forth, rivers made their path in waterless wastes. And similarly about these things at, And he brought forth water from a rock and brought down waters like rivers. Rivers flowing from that broken open rock made their path, he says, in waterless places. He called the streams ‘rivers’ on account of the abundance of the waters.

42 For he remembered his holy word towards Abraham his servant. The word of his promise, that he will multiply his seed and that he will give him the land of Canaan, that is, Palestine.

43α And he led his people forth with rejoicing. Rejoicing after the drowning of the Egyptians.

43β And his chosen ones with gladness. He also calls the same people ‘chosen ones’ as set apart for God.

44α And he gave them lands of the nations. Of the nations dwelling in Palestine.

44β And they securely inherited the labours of the peoples.

Of the nations mentioned. 45 So that they might keep his statutes and seek for his law. He did these things for them, urging them to keep his commandments, namely to seek out his law. Understand ‘seeking for’ as longing for, because what one longs for that also one seeks. 105 Psalm 105 1α Alleluia. And this psalm, telling like the previous one of God’s wonders and also of the ingratitude and wickedness of the Hebrews but of his long-suffering and benevolence, bears the same superscription as that one. 1β Confess to the Lord for he is good. Confess to him your sins for he is good and forgiving to those who confess. 1γ For his mercy is to the age. His mercy towards those who repent is for this age, and his judgement for the age to come, hence one ought to confess in this age. Or else that he is always merciful and it is fitting to confess always; or that his mercy is eternal for those who are worthy. 2α Who will tell the mighty acts of the Lord? His very powerful benefactions towards his people. Truly no one as they are beyond reach. Or else simply his great works, for it is written, Our God in heaven and on the earth has done all that he has willed. Or else the powerful acts befitting God that he will work when living in the flesh, with this being a prophecy about them. 2β Make heard all his praises? Who will proclaim the praises fitting for each of these acts? 3α Blessed are those who keep judgement.

Those who observe God’s law or those who possess judgement to judge correctly not only others, but also above all themselves, so as not to allow the worse to rise up against the better nor what is good to be defeated by what is evil. 3β And do justice at all time. In regard to themselves, as was said, and in regard to others. 4α Remember us, O Lord, in the good will of your people. David, foreseeing the things at the time of the incarnate disposition and of the new peo- ple, entreats that he also may be remembered at that time, calling the election of this people ‘good will’. Remember us, he says, to place us also together with it. Or else he is calling ‘good will’ that about which the angels said, Good will among men. 4β Visit us in your salvation. He says the same again intensifying the request. In the salvation which will be from you in the world which is the incarnation, for it is written, He will save his people. 5α So as to see in the goodness of your chosen ones. So that in the benefaction of your people we also may see what they will see. Hence Christ said to his disciples that, Many prophets and just men desired to see what you have seen. 5β So as to be gladdened in the gladness of your nation. The nation of Christians. About which gladness the angel again said, And, see, I bring you tidings of great joy. 5γ So as to be praised along with your inheritance. Through all those things here said he is entreating that he also may have communion with the lot of the new people, as having already believed. 6 We have sinned along with our fathers, we have acted lawlessly, we have done wrong. Both what has preceded and what is said here may also be interpreted in the person of those from the circumcision who will believe in Christ, as being from them, with David

praying these things under the guidance of the holy Spirit and confessing their sins before they believed.

7α Our fathers in Egypt did not understand your wonders. They did not understand the marvels worked there.

7β Nor did they remember the abundance of your mercy. That was shown to them at that time. They did not understand and they did not remem- ber, that is, they forgot everything. When? When namely having approached the Red Sea they saw the Egyptians encamped behind them. For then, as is written, having been struck with great alarm, they said to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt did you bring us out to be slain in the wilderness? And, Leave us so that we may serve the Egyptians, for it was better for us to be enslaved to the Egyptians than to die in this desert.

7γ And they embittered going up at the Red Sea. And saying such things, they provoked him to anger beside the Red Sea, for next to it is the desert where having encamped they murmured such things, Or else going up towards the Red Sea; he said ‘going up’ because Egypt from whence they went up is low lying.

8α And he saved them for the sake of his name. He did not consign them into the hands of the pursuing Egyptians so that he would not be blasphemed as weak or deceitful, for they were unworthy of salvation as ungrateful.

8β So as to make known his mighty power. So that his great power might be made known not only by Hebrews and Egyptians, but also by all the nations.

9α And he rebuked the Red Sea and it was dried up. He commanded it and it dried up in the middle.

9β And he guided them in the abyss as in the desert. As on dry land. He said ‘in the abyss’ on account of their walking in the midst of the sea.

10α And he saved them from the hand of one who hates. Of Pharaoh.

10β And redeemed them from the hand of enemies. Of the Egyptians.

11 Water covered their oppressors, not one of them was left. The water of the sea.

12α And they believed in his word. In his promises.

12β And they sang his praise. And they sang the victory ode that Moses dictated to them.

13α They made quickly, they forgot his works. Swiftly they forgot again the benefactions on their behalf when, having become hungry and having remembered the cauldrons of meat and the abundance of bread in Egypt, they murmured.

13β They did not abide his purpose. They did not await this purpose when he was wishing to achieve something and when on this account had allowed for them to become hungry.

14α And they desired a desire in the wilderness. A desire of meat, as was said, and of bread.

14β And tempted God in a waterless land. Seek in the seventy-seventh psalm, They embittered the Most High in a waterless land and tempted God in their hearts.

15α And he gave them their request.

Their request for food and also the request for water. ‘Request’ is what he calls their desire, for they did not request, but desired and murmured.

15β He sent forth satiety to their souls. Not only did he give them the quail for meat, the manna for bread and for water that which was sweetened at Marah and that which flowed from the rock, but he did so to satiety.

16α And they provoked Moses to anger in the camp. Those around Dathan and Abiram, for they opposed him, as the book of Numbers re- counts.

16β Aaron the holy one of the Lord. The one dedicated to the Lord. The Levites around Kore contending to serve as priests.

17α The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan. Alive.

17β And covered over the congregation of Abiram. And covered the congregation of Abiram, for the preposition ‘over’ is redundant. The book mentioned says that Dathan and Abiram were swallowed up together at once, along with the congregation around them and their cattle and their tents and all their belong- ings. David, however, divided them, increasing their misadventure.

18α And fire burned up in their congregation. Of those around Kore. For fire having gone out from the Lord burned up the two hun- dred and fifty men who were offering the incense.

18β A flame consumed sinners. Those mentioned, as attempting unworthily to seize the priesthood.

19α And they made a calf in Horeb. As the book of Exodus describes. He does not employ order in respect of the history, but randomly he lists their sins and impieties.

19β And they worshipped the carved image. The calf, that is to say. 20 And they exchanged his glory for the likeness of a grass-eating calf. And they transferred God’s honour onto the likeness of a calf, onto the idol of a calf. He added ‘grass-eating’ disparaging even more their folly, for being rational they were glorifying the statue of an irrational being. Some of the copies write ‘their glory’ so that their glory be understood as God who had glorified them through the afore-mentioned benefactions. They exchanged God, he says, for the likeness of a calf. 21- They forgot the God who was saving them, who had done great things in Egypt, wonders 23α in the land of Ham, fearsome things at the Red Sea, and he said he would destroy them. God, that is, spoke about destroying them, for he said to Moses, Allow me, and enraged with anger against them, I shall wipe them out. 23β If Moses his chosen one had not stood in the breach before him so as to avert his rage, so as not to destroy them. When in entreaty he said, I beg, O Lord. This people has sinned a great sin and they have made for themselves gods of gold. And now, if you will forgive them the sin, forgive, but if not, erase me from the book that you have written. Some say that even though Scripture speaks of one calf, but in fact more were made, and hence the Hebrews said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. And, as was said, Moses said ‘gods of gold’. Others again have understood the plural being used for the singular in accordance with the custom of the Hebrew language. 24α And they spurned the longed for land. They dismissed the good land, the promised land, as you will find in the book of Num- bers. Then he says how they spurned it. 24β They did not believe his word. That he would give it to them, for he had promised this to them. 25α And they murmured in their tent-dwellings. 24α: They certainly looked on it with wonder, but by displaying feebleness and cowardice and not showing willingness to accept suffering for its sake, in this respect they surely spurned it.

In their tents. And, it is written, the whole congregation gave voice and the people wept throughout that whole night and murmured complaint. When, that is, the spies who had been sent to the land in question reported on return about the strength of the various nations dwelling in it.

25β They did not listen to the voice of the Lord. The voice saying that he is giving them the land in question. They did not believe in this voice.

26α And he lifted up his hand against them. He moved his hand against them, namely his punishing power.

26β So as to cast them down in the wilderness. So as to slay them.

27α And to cast down their seed among the nations. To plant their children in the land of the nations, of the Canaanites and of the others, for it is written, The Lord said to Moses that all the men who tested me this tenth time and did not listen to my voice, surely they shall not see the land that I swore to their fathers, but rather their Nu 14.20, children who are with me here. 22-23

27β And to scatter them in the lands. The lands of the nations mentioned.

28α And they were made consecrate to Beelphagor. They became a consecration and as it were a festival for Beelphagor. Or else they were initiated to Beelphagor, an idol of the Moabites or Madianites, as the afore-mentioned book of Numbers recounts, when, having desired the daughters of Moab, they were persuaded by them to worship their idols.

28β And they ate sacrifices of the dead. ‘Dead’ is what he calls the idols, as senseless and without energy.

29α And they provoked him with their practices.

In their works of such kind.

29β And falling was multiplied among them. With many dying.

30 And Phineas stood and made atonement, and the slaughter abated. He stood up from the midst of the congregation and appeased God by taking a barbed lance, that is, a spear, and by stabbing through both the Israelite man and the Madianite woman, and God’s anger abated, namely, the falling of the people. Phineas was the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron.

31α And it was reckoned to him as justice. As virtue. And hence he received a prize from God, everlasting priesthood, for himself and for his seed.

31β To generation and generation until the age. For he is ever praised on account of that murder carried out on behalf of piety.

32α And they provoked him at the water of gainsaying. In the wilderness of Kadesh. For there, overtaken by thirst, the people were suffering greatly and were murmuring and disputing. Hence the water that flowed at that time from the rock was called the Water of Gainsaying.

32β And Moses suffered ill on their account. For having been commanded by God to take his staff and hold an assembly of the congre- gation and to speak to the rock opposite so it will give water, having taken his staff and having called the assembly, he said, Listen to me, you disobedient people, shall we bring water out of this rock for you or not? Then he struck the rock twice with the staff and much water came out. Because, however, he did not speak to the rock, as the Lord had said to him, to the glory of God, but to the people, with exasperation and contempt, he suffered ill from God who said to both him and to Aaron, Because you did not believe me to sanctify me before the sons of Israel, on this account you will not be the ones to lead this congregation into the land that I have given them. Using ‘to sanctify’ in the sense of ‘to glorify’.

33α For they embittered his spirit.

The Israelites embittered Moses’ soul, by murmuring against him and railing furiously at him. It shows that under the strain he showed contempt. 33β And he vacillated in his lips. ‘He vacillated’, that is, he spoke hesitantly. He spoke doubtingly and not believing that water will flow. For, I believe, he assumed that, on account of their being constantly ungrate- ful in respect of the one who was showering them with benefactions, water would not be brought forth. 34 They did not destroy the nations that the Lord had said to them. The book of Judges tells about these things. Jdc 1 35- And they mingled among the nations and learned their works and served their graven images. Their unlawful and impious works. Seek in the seventy-seventh psalm, And they turned away and reneged just like their fathers. 36β And it became a snare for them. The graven images or their serving the graven images; it became for them, he says, an impediment to divine oversight, a cause of stumbling and falling. 37- And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, and they poured out 38α innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters whom the sacrificed to the graven images of Canaan. As was natural for those who had learned the works of the nations, for the nations did this also at certain times. 38β- And the earth was polluted by the blood of murder and was defiled by their works. ‘Defiled’ is a clarification of ‘polluted by murder’. 39β And they whored in their practices. Having detached themselves from God, they joined themselves to the demons. Other prophets indeed also called this whoring and adultery. The verse can also be understood as about licentiousness. 40- And the Lord was angered with rage at his people and felt loathing for his inheritance and 41α gave them over to the hands of enemies.

As the book of Judges teaches. 41β- And those hating them became lords over them, and their enemies afflicted them, and they

43α were humbled at their hands. Many times he delivered them, but they embittered him in their purpose. In their wicked purpose, in their ungrateful and ill-judging judgement.

43β And they were humbled in their lawless deeds. They were brought down, they became weak. 44- And the Lord saw as they were being afflicted, even as he heard their entreaty, and he re-

45α membered his covenant. His covenant to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

45β And he repented according to the abundance of his mercy. He changed his anger to pity, as being full of mercy.

46α And gave them over to compassion. He had compassion on them.

46β Before all those who had taken them captive. Conspicuously, so that all those who had taken them captive would learn this. For various nations had at various times taken them captive, as the afore-mentioned book tells. Jdc 3-13 This happened at the time of the kings Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, as Ezra wrote.

47α Save us, O Lord our God. He returned again to the previous entreaty.

47β And gather us together from the nations. The entreaty, I surmise, is in the person of the Church from the nations, but perhaps also of those scattered abroad after the captivity by the Babylonians.

47γ So as to confess to your holy name. So as to give thanks as to a Saviour and liberator.

47δ So as to boast in your praise. For praising you is also a great thing, and truly a boast for those praising, that they are being made worthy to become hymn-singers to such a God.

48α The Lord God of Israel is to be blessed from the age and to the age. To be praised, to be lauded forever.

48β And all the people will say: So be it, so be it. They will say, ‘The Lord is to be blessed’, or else, ‘May he be blessed’.

106 Psalm 106

1α Alleluia. And this psalm, detailing benefactions by God, was justly allotted the same superscrip- tion as the previous one.

1β Confess to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy is to the age. The psalm before this also has such an introduction.

2α Let those being redeemed by the Lord say. Let them say that he is good, and so on.

2β Those whom he has redeemed from the hand of an enemy. From the devil. The words are about those who have believed in Christ, even though Jews contend that the psalm is to be understood about those recalled after the captivity by the Babylonians. Some of the copies write ‘from the hand of enemies’, namely, from the demons’.

3α And he gathered them together from the lands. From the lands of the nations into one Church and faith.

3β From east and west and north and sea. From the four ends of the world they were gathered together, for as is written, Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the inhabited world.

4α They wandered in the wilderness in a waterless land. The wandered previously in a way of life barren of the fruits of virtue and not having a draught of divine teaching.

4β The way to a city of habitation they did not find. A city of habitation, most eminently, is heaven, the way to which they did not find as wandering astray; it may also be interpreted as knowledge of God and piety and the virtues.

5α Hungering and thirsting. They were, that is; for they did not have knowledge of God or teaching that nourishes and gives drink to souls.

5β Their soul within them grew faint. It was worn out in sins, it grew weak.

6α And they cried to the Lord as they were being afflicted. The prophets cried on their behalf, and the divine angels set over the nations.

6β And he delivered them from their constraints. From the tyranny of the demons.

7α And he guided them to a straight way. The way leading to heaven that they preciously did not find, living in error; for having become incarnate, he taught them the truth.

7β So as to make their path to a city of habitation. About which we spoke a little earlier.

8α Let them make confession to the Lord of his mercies. Let them confess his mercies towards them.

8β And of his wonders for the sons of men. Let them tell of his wonders to them or on their behalf to those ignorant of them.

9α For he satisfied an empty soul. He filled hungry souls with divine bread and life-flowing drink, namely, with the Gospel teaching.

9β And he filled a hungry soul with good things. He says the same again.

10α When they sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. In the darkness of error which is an image of death, separating from true life as death does from the present life.

10β Fettered in poverty and iron. In poverty of virtues and in a strong and heavy collar of sins, for it is written, Each man is bound tightly with the bonds of his own sins.

11α For they embittered the oracles of God. Namely God who speaks about their salvation, speaking through the reason innate in all men, and the law given to the Jews, and prophets and benefactions and threats and plagues, and the rest, the object of which was for wickedness to be eradicated, as Gregory the Theologian says. PG36.325

11β And they provoked the purpose of the Most High. Namely, the Most High who has their salvation as his purpose, for one ought here to understand ‘the oracles of God’ as ‘God’ by circumlocution, and ‘the purpose of the Most High’ as ‘the Most High’.

12α And their heart was humbled in labours.

Their soul endured distress in the evils of sin.

12β They grew weak and there was no helper. No one delivering them from the tyranny of the devil.

13 And they cried to the Lord as they were being afflicted and he saved them from their con- straints. These words were discussed above. He placed these words four times in the whole psalm, Ps 106.6, 13, displaying the magnitude of the benefaction. 19, 28

14α And he led them out from darkness and the shadow of death. Darkness and the shadow of death have been spoken about.

14β And he broke their bonds asunder. The bonds of sin that the devil had placed on them, the bonds of slavery to the demons.

15 Let them make confession to the Lord of his mercies and of his wonders for the sons of men. These words were also spoken of; similarly, he placed these words also four times in the Ps 106.8, 15, whole psalm, intensifying the thanksgiving. 21, 31

16α For he crushed gates of brass. Strong gates, unbreakable gates, the gates of Hades; for he destroyed them, having de- scended there, and led out the imprisoned souls.

16β And shattered iron bars. The bars of these gates; the gates and bars of Hades may be interpreted as its inexorability and inescapability.

17α He helped them out from the way of their lawlessness. While still walking in lawlessness.

17β For on account of their lawless ways they had been humbled. They had suffered distress and appeared worthy of mercy and succour.

18α Their soul felt loathing for all food. All food, whether spiritual, rational, or didactic; on account of their excessive distress. Indeed, even the Greek doctrines were displeasing to them.

18β And they approached even to the gates of death. The death of the soul which surrenders to eternal punishments. ‘Gates of death’ is what he calls the great and grievous sins that lead into death, or death itself, by way of circumlocution. The verse is about those who have believed.

19 And they cried to the Lord as they were being afflicted and he saved them from their con- straints. These words have been discussed.

20α He sent his word and healed them. The Word incarnate, namely, his Son, for sending is said of something existent and living, hence he would constantly say that, The Father has sent me, who healed every disease and every infirmity.

20β And he delivered them from their corruptions. From their sins.

21 Let them make confession to the Lord of his mercies and of his wonders for the sons of men. This also has been spoken about.

22α And let them sacrifice to him a sacrifice of praise. A rational, Gospel sacrifice, praising, blessing and giving thanks to him.

22β And let them tell out his works with rejoicing.

Those who know to those who do not, the older to the younger. Understand works as his benefactions, his mercy, his incarnation, and the rest of his sav- ing dispensation. 23- Those who go down to the sea in ships, doing work in many waters, they saw the works of

24α the Lord. The verse is about the Apostles who were formerly fishermen. For they are the one who go down to the sea in ships and do the work of fishing in many waters of the sea and who saw most eminently the works of our Lord Jesus Christ.

24β And his wonders in the deep. Which wonders? Listen through what follows.

25 He spoke, and there arose a blast of tempest and the waves of the sea were raised up. He commanded and a sea storm arose, for it is written, A great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.

26α They go up to the heavens and down to the depths. The waves at that time, now greatly raised up, now greatly brought low, as is customary with storms tossing the sea. The verse employs the figure of hyperbole as with, I shall be made whiter than snow, and The cities were fortified up to the sky. And in Scripture there are many examples of this figure.

26β Their soul was melting away amid evils. Their soul was fainting in fears, in dangers. When he was sleeping, They went and woke him, saying, ‘Save us, O Lord, we are perishing’.

27α They were troubled, they were rocked like a drunkard. They were rocked in their senses. But the drunkard is rocked by wine, while they were rocked by fear.

27β And all their wisdom was swallowed up. Their wisdom relating to sea-faring, or their sailing experience, vanished at that moment.

28α And they cried to the Lord as they were being afflicted. As they were being storm-tossed, as was said. 28β And he brought them out from their constraints. From those fears, from the danger. Then he says how. 29 And he rebuked the storm and it dropped to a breeze and its waves were hushed. For it is written, He rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm. A breeze is a gentle and calm wind. 30α And they were glad that they had become still. The the waves had become still. 30β And he guided them to the harbour of his will. His commandments are truly a harbour which keep the one who is within them safe from every shipwreck of soul. 31 Let them make confession to the Lord of his mercies and of his wonders for the sons of men. Let the Apostles proclaim them all. 32α Let them exalt him in the assembly of peoples. In the congregation of peoples. 32β And on the seat of the elders let them praise him. In the council of the preeminent. 33α He made rivers into a desert. He made the Greeks, who were flowing abundantly with words like a river, into a waste- land of wisdom, when the fishermen and unlettered Apostles put a bit in their mouth. 33β And passagings of waters into thirst.

And the floods of their words into drought.

34 Fruit-bearing land into salt soil, from the evils of those dwelling in it. And the land of the Jews which bore the fruit of the prophets into barrenness, for salty land is fruitless. And the cause was the evil of those dwelling in it, on account of which evil it no longer bears fruit with such men.

35α He made the desert into pools of waters. He made the Church formerly barren of the fruits of virtue into pools of the waters of divine baptism, being flooded with such waters.

35β And waterless land into passagings of waters. He made again the Church of the faithful, formerly waterless in the sterility of divine words, to well up waters of life-flowing doctrines.

36α And he settled the hungry there. Those who were formerly lacking in spiritual nourishment.

36β And they established for themselves cities of habitation. Cities of spiritual dwelling, namely, the local Churches. Thus he clearly prophesies everything.

37α And they sowed fields. The Apostles sowed the formerly uncultivated souls of men with the seed of their preaching.

37β And they planted vineyards. Understand again the vineyards as the souls bearing clusters of the virtues as fruit.

37γ And they brought forth fruit of produce. Of mystical produce offered to Christ the overlord and gladdening him.

38α And he blessed them. For Luke says about the Apostles that, Having lifted up his hands he blessed them. And it is manifest that through them, he then blessed the successors of their faith.

38β And they were multiplied greatly. For from twelve and seventy, they blossomed into countless myriads.

38γ And he did not lessen their flocks. Understand flocks as the less rational among them; or else understand the flocks of the Apostles as their disciples, as following them like flocks wherever they lead and as receiving spiritual food from them and as rational sheep, and these disciples of the Apostles also be- came many. Having foretold the advancement and growth of the Church, he also predicts the perse- cutions destined to occur to the Church later.

39 And they were diminished and ill treated by an affliction of evils and pain. The pious were diminished with many myriads having been slain in various ways for the sake of Christ; and they were ill treated by an affliction of trials and pain therefrom, being stripped of their property, being driven out, being scourged and suffering in countless ways.

40α Disdain was poured out on their rulers. Their rulers, namely, the kings and governors to whom they were subject and by whom they were persecuted, and who were disdained by God as unprofitable.

40β And he caused them to go astray in a place impassable and pathless. He permitted for them to go astray as being incurable; this is an idiom of Scripture about which we have often spoken. ‘A place impassable and pathless’ are the impious and ruinous doctrines.

41α And he helped the poor from penury. The poor people, poor from penury for the sake of Christ.

41β And made paternal kinships like sheep.

He made the paternal kinships like sheep of his own, that is, he appointed the paternal kinships in the lands as his own sheep; ‘paternal kinships’ is what he now calls the flocks of each Church. ‘Paternal kinships’ on account of their kinship in faith having God as their one father, and because he is called the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. 42α The straight will see and will be glad. They will see what has already been prophesied; ‘the straight’ are the pious who walk on the straight way. 42β And every lawlessness will stop its mouth. When the preaching of the Gospel has spread out even as far as kings; ‘lawlessness’, name- ly, the lawless and impious. 43α Who is wise and will observe these things? And will observe them, believing that they will come to pass. 43β And they will understand the mercies of the Lord. They will know them when they come to fulfilment. 107 Psalm 107 1 An ode of a psalm belonging to David. We have spoken about this superscription both in the preamble to the present book and § 65 in other psalms. 2-6 My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready. In my glory I shall sing and praise with psal- tery. Awake, O my glory, awake, O psaltery and cithara. I shall awake before dawn. Among peoples I shall confess to you, O Lord, among nations I shall praise you with psaltery. For your mercy is great above the heavens and your truth is to the clouds. Be exalted upon the heavens, O God, and let your glory be upon all the earth. All these verses being found in order in the fifty-sixth psalm also, they received fitting explanation there. ‘Has been magnified to the heavens’ and ‘Is great above the heavens’ have the same meaning. These words may also be interpreted as about Christ’s resurrection, namely, the words ‘Awake’ and ‘I shall awake’, with David entreating on the one hand and on the other hand with Christ promising and even adding the time, for according to Luke he arose at early dawn.

Christ is his glory as having been born from his seed.

7α So that your beloved may be delivered. Your new people, for it is written, Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 7β-14 Save by your right hand and hear me. God has spoken in his holy one. I shall be exalted and I shall divide Sikima, and the Valley of the Tents I shall measure out. Gilead is mine and Manasseh is mine, and Ephraim is the succouring of my head. Judas is my king. Moab is the cauldron of my hope. Over Idumaea I shall impose my shoe. Alien tribes have been subject- ed to me. Who will bring me to a fortified city? Or who will guide me as far as Idumaea? Will it not be you, O God, who have thrust us away? And will not you, O God, march out with our forces? Give us help from affliction and human salvation is vain. In God we shall produce power, and he will set our enemies at naught. And you will find all these words in order in the fifty-ninth psalm and look there. And even though there are some minor variations in some words, but they have the same meaning. Do not be surprised if he often places the same words in other psalms, for this also is a custom among the Hebrews and especially among the prophets.

108 Psalm 108

1α Towards fulfilment; belonging to David; a psalm. And in other psalms this superscription has been spoken about variously. The present psalm is cast as a curse, but it is a prophecy of the future evils that will over- take both the traitor Judas and certain others. And indeed there is something of such kind among the prophecies and there are count- less examples of this in Scripture. And indeed Joshua the son of Nun, on dividing the twelve tribes when they were entering into the promised land was commanded by God to bless the ones and to curse the others and the words of both his blessings and of his curses were prophecies. Jos 9.2e

1β O God, do not pass over my praise in silence. We say the present psalm to have been composed in the person of Christ, entreating as a man to live further and saying the words here set forth. O God, do not put an end to the praise being offered to you through me by those seeing the wonders I am working and who are glorifying me; or else, do not pass over in silence my praise that I myself offer in praise to you, attributing to you for your glory all that I accom- plish, or else my entreaty offered with praise.

2α For the mouth of a sinner and the mouth of a deceiver has been opened against me. By the sinner and deceiver understand Judas, who opened his mouth against the Saviour when he spoke with the chief priests and elders of the people about the betrayal.

2β They have spoken against me with a deceitful tongue. Both Judas and the others, weaving deceits and treacheries.

3α And they have encircled me with words of hatred. Uttering words of hatred. For many times, encircling him, the Jews would say such things, mocking, insulting and questioning with malicious intent.

3β And have made war on me without a cause. Idly, for no reason.

4α Instead of loving me they would accuse me falsely. They had every reason to love me, since I was bestowing benefactions on them every day in both word and deed, but they on the contrary would mock me, calling me a deceiver and a transgressor and contrary to God.

4β But I would offer prayers. I would offer prayers for them; and indeed in the Gospels he laid down as a law to pray for those besetting one. Or else I would offer prayers invoking help from you, for the evangelists present him at various times as praying to the Father.

5α And they have set evils against me in return for good. They have worked evils against me in return for the kindnesses they have received from me.

5β And hatred in return for my loving. In return for the love with which I loved them.

6α Place a sinner over him. ‘Place’ and the following imperatives and optatives have such a grammatical form, but have a future and prophetic meaning, in the sense of, ‘will be placed’, and ‘will be made to

stand’, and ‘will come out’, and so on. Appoint the devil over Judas, he says, for it is written, Satan entered into him. ‘Place’, in the sense of, ‘permit to be placed’, according to the idiom of Scripture, about which we have spoken many times.

6β And let the devil be made to stand at his right hand. Satan will be made to stand at his right hand, that is, he will become a familiar to him, for the position at the right hand belongs to familiars, and hence the just will be made worthy of standing at the right hand of God. And in a different way, he will be made to stand at his right hand, despoiling him of his right actions. And though it is written about Joshua the great high priest that, And the devil had taken stand at his right hand, but there it is added ‘in order to oppose him’, for he stood at his right hand fighting against his right actions.

7α When he is being judged may he come out condemned. When he is being judged by his own conscience he will come out of the Sanhedrin con- demned, for it is written, Having repented, he returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, ‘I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.’ They said, ‘What is that to us? See to it yourself.’ He was condemned indeed both by himself and by them, for, ‘See to it yourself ’, are words of condemnation.

7β And let his prayer become a sin. Let it become a failure. For when he turned to the enemies of Christ he would certainly at times have prayed with them for Christ and his memory to be destroyed. Or simply, it will fail in what it requests on account of his peevishness.

8α Let his days become few. He will die swiftly. For after the betrayal he survived but a short time and immediately hanged himself.

8β And may another take over his supervision. Another will take over his apostolic office of supervision, namely, Matthias, who was chosen by lot in his place, for the Apostles were supervisors [bishops] of the believers and Ac 1.20, 26 shepherds.

9 Let his sons become orphans and his wife a widow.

This and the following verses do not relate to Judas, for nothing is recorded about his wife and children. Hence Chrysostomos says that David prophesied these things about someone PG55.262 else who had plotted against the priesthood after the years of the return from Babylon, in whom all these things were manifestly fulfilled.

10α Shocked and shaken, let his sons be removed from their home and become beggars. Being violently unsettled, they will be removed from their own house and will beg, suffer- ing in addition to orphanhood, also dislocation and penury.

10β Let them be cast out from the sites of their houses. They will be cast out from them also, not being allowed to live even in them. ‘Sites of houses’ are the ruins of houses. They, too, will pay such a penalty as having participated in the depravity of their father.

11α Let the money-lender search out all that belongs to him. He will search out seeking satisfaction for the debts into which he had fallen while still alive.

11β And let strangers seize his labours. After the money-lender they will seize what is left.

12α Let there be no helper for him. There will be no helper; after death, that is.

12β Nor let there be any with compassion for his orphans. There will not be for the reason mentioned above.

13α Let his children be given over to destruction. They will be destroyed and not simply so, but without offspring, for he added:

13β May his name be wiped out in a single generation. His memory will be extinguished, being closed off in a single generation, that of his chil- dren alone, grandchildren not being left behind.

14α May the lawlessness of his fathers be brought to mind before the Lord. Of his father and grandfather, they also having either acted with him or educated him into evil. ‘It will be brought to mind’, in the sense of, ‘it will not be overlooked’, ‘it will not be for- given them’.

14β And may the sin of his mother not be obliterated. It will not be obliterated, she also like his fathers being condemned. ‘Lawlessness’ and ‘sin’ are what he calls the sin of having acted with or of having educated into evil as was said.

15α Let them be before the Lord continually. Their lawlessness and sin will be; namely, they will be unforgotten always with God.

15β And may his memory be destroyed from the earth. Once again he reverted to the prophecy about Judas, for this, too, is a style of prophecy, to break off in the middle and to insert a different subject then to come back to the former topic in whatever way the holy Spirit may dictate. It will be destroyed, he says, with neither any possessions nor offspring in succession pre- serving his memory.

16α Because he did not remember to show mercy. Because, he says, he did not wish to show mercy to the one being unjustly plotted against, but rather worked together with the plotters. Because he did not remember the things where- in he had been benefited by Christ so as, having remembered them, to show mercy, that is, to be merciful.

16β And he pursued a man needy and poor and pierced at heart so as to put him to death. He pursued him when, having taken a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people, he came in search of him. Christ is needy and poor on account of the meanness of the flesh and of his having no- where to lay his head. Read also the explanation of the first verse of the fortieth psalm. ‘Pierced at heart’ according to, Learn from me that I am gentle and lowly in heart.

17 And he loved cursing and it will come upon him, and did not wish for blessing and it will be removed far from him. For through his actions he attracted the one and rejected the other, and all the pious curse him while none bless him.

18α And he clothed himself in cursing like a garment. Enclosing his whole self entirely and not separating from him. He clothed himself in it through the defilement of the betrayal.

18β And it entered like water into his entrails. Not only did it surround him outwardly, but also permeated within.

18γ And like oil into his bones. Not only within, but penetrating even more deeply. He amplifies the matter indicating the magnitude of the curse, and through the water alluding to its force and through the oil to its resistance to removal and permanence.

19 Let it become for him like a garment that invests him and like a girdle that engirds him forever. It will become so as to surround and constrict him.

20α This is the work of those who accuse me falsely from the Lord. This is the punishment from the Lord for those among the Jews who slander me, that is, for Judas and those like him. This is the work of punishment about which is was previously said that he will suffer this and that. Or else of those who accuse me falsely ‘before the Lord’ in calling me contrary to God.

20β And who speak evils against my soul. In the above-mentioned fortieth psalm is was said, They would calculate evils against me, and look for the exposition there.

21α And you, O Lord, O Lord, show with me for the sake of your name. Show mercy on me, that is to say, not because I am worthy, but on your own account, for

you are benevolent and merciful. As a man he makes entreaty, teaching us when wronged to be restrained and so to attract divine help. In the previously mentioned psalm it was said, But you, O Lord, have mercy on me, and in the twenty-first psalm many such things are written.

21β For your mercy is good. For it is ever beneficial, for it is efficacious. Whereas the mercy of men is at times harmful or else inefficacious.

22α Deliver me, for I am poor and needy. It was explained above about the poor and needy man. And in the twenty-first psalm is was said, Deliver my soul from the sword, and in the Gos- pel it is written, Father, save me from this hour.

22β And my heart is troubled within me. And this is written in the Gospel, for it says, Now is my soul troubled, and, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.

23α Like a shadow at its moment of decline I have been done away with in return. I have been done away with as quickly as a shadow as it vanishes. Either therefore the preposition ‘in return’ is redundant in accordance with the idiom of the Hebrew dialect, or I have been done away with in return for the good things which I have done for them.

23β And I have been blown away like locusts. So easily like locusts; I have been blown away from the present life by jealousy like locusts are from any chance place by the wind.

24 My knees have grown weak from fasting, and my flesh has become distorted for oil. For he lived a straitened and austere and parched life, and witness to this is the forty day fast and the barley loaves and the heads of grain plucked by the disciples, even if at times by dispensation he would partake of a more cheerful table. And my flesh, he says, has become distorted with hardness and disfigurement for want of oil for anointing, for the ancients used to anoint themselves when bathing.

25α And I have become a reproach for them. For the murderous Jews; for they would reproach and mock him as is told in the Gospels.

25β They saw me, they shook their heads. They saw me hanging on the Cross. Those who passed by, it is said, would deride him, wag- ging their heads and saying, ‘You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself.’

26 Help me, O Lord my God, and save me according to your mercy. Just as he suffered as a man, so as a man he makes supplication to God. ‘According to your mercy’ is in the sense of, ‘in your mercy’, or ‘as merciful’.

27 And let them know that this your hand, and you, O Lord, have done this. That your help, this help, that is, that the help and succour is yours, giving help as to a beloved son and not overlooking him as one opposed to God.

28α They will call down curses and you will bless. For the ones fighting against God said, Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, who do not know the law, they are accursed. And otherwise a curse also indicates blasphemy.

28β Let those rising up against me be shamed. Let them be shamed either after my resurrection or after the universal resurrection.

28γ But your servant will be glad. In regard to those saved among men.

29α Let those who accuse me falsely be clothed in disgrace. They will be clothed in disgrace, being scattered into all the nations and in servitude and dishonoured.

29β And let them be wrapped in their shame as in a double-folded mantle.

They will be wrapped; he says the same here also. A double-folded mantle is a double cloak.

30α I shall confess to the Lord most fervently with my mouth. I shall give thanks to him as deliverer and saviour.

30β And in the midst of many I shall praise him. And truly he will give thanks to him and praise him in the midst of many when the Gos- pels are read in which he glorifies the Father everywhere.

31 For he has stood in support at the right hand of a pauper to save my soul from those pursuing. For those who assist in battle stand at the right hand side. Or else in a different way, he has stood in support as a result of his right-handed actions, namely, being drawn to help by his virtues, and he saved him, having raised him from the dead.

109 Psalm 109

1α A psalm belonging to David. The superscription of this kind has been spoken about often. This psalm is also composed about Christ.

1β The Lord said to my Lord. God the Father said to God the Son after his assumption from earth to the heavens. And even though it is written, The Lord your God is one Lord, this does not negate the Only-be- gotten, but is in contradistinction to non-existent gods. He said in a manner befitting God. And this verse stops the mouths of the Jews, for they have no answer at all as to who Da- vid’s two Lords are, the one of whom was born from the womb before the morning star and is adorned with priesthood according to the order of Melchisedek.

1γ Sit at my right hand. Just as the equality of honour is shown through the Lord and Lord, so it is through the sitting at the right hand on the royal throne, for those who share a common throne also share a common kingship. Let a curb then be placed in the mouths of Arius and Eunomius who foolishly speak of the inequality of the Son with the Father.

And since God the Father, being bodiless, has no right or left – these things belong to bodies – the sitting therefore signifies the rest and enjoyment of divine kingship while the right hand signifies the legitimacy and kinship and equality of honour.

1δ Until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Jews, the Greeks and the heretics and the demons. The word ‘until’ is not always used in contradistinction to the future, but often it indicates up to some point but does not negate what comes thereafter, as in the present case. Gregory PG36.108B the Theologian reflected about this in his first homily Concerning the Son, and we interpreted it following the Fathers in the Gospel saying, Until she bore her first-born son. How otherwise PG129.133 could the sayings be preserved, And his kingship is a kingship that will not be destroyed, and, And of his kingship there will be no end? If you hear in this verse that the Father makes the enemies a footstool while in Paul that it is the Son – For he must reign, he says, until he has put all his enemies under his feet – do not be perplexed, for the energy is common to both and the achievements are common. For all will be subordinated, the ones voluntarily, the others involuntarily, when they see him coming down from heaven, about which Paul taught more clearly. ‘Footstool’ is in the sense of, ‘subordinated’.

2α The Lord will send out to you a rod of power from Zion. The rod is sometimes taken as a symbol of punishment, as in, What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love? and sometimes in regard to shepherding, as in, You will shepherd them with an iron rod, and sometimes in regard to kingship, as in, A rod will come forth from Jesse, and sometimes in regard to power, as in the present verse. For the Lord sent out to Christ as a man power from Zion, the Zion in the heavens or the Zion in Jerusalem, because from there the power of his deeds and of his preaching began. The rod of power may also be understood as the Cross, for what is more powerful than it, putting enemies to flight so easily.

2β And gain full dominion in the midst of your enemies. Subjecting them and exercising authority over them and bringing them under the yoke of your Gospel commandments. For this was what was extraordinary, namely, that while being cut off amid enemies the Apostles would prevail on every side, and not only would they prevail but would do so utterly.

3α With you is sovereignty on the day of your power. On the day when your power is shown forth, then with you is sovereignty, that is, king- ship is in you, not something added from outside, but innate in the nature of your divinity. The day of power is that of his first coming and of the countless miracles or else that of his second coming and of the last trumpet that raises the dead. 3β Amid the splendours of your saints. When your saints will shine. For what is more brilliant than the Apostles who circumam- bulated the inhabited world, shining like the sun with the rays of their virtues? And if they are such in this world, what will they be like at the resurrection when The just will shine like the sun, according to the words of the Lord? Whether you will understand this in relation to the day past or the day to come, as has been said, you will not go wrong. 3γ From the womb before the morning star I have begotten you. The words, Sit at my right hand, and, From the womb before the morning star I have begot- ten you, are spoken in the person of the Father to the Son, while, The Lord will send out to you a rod of power, and With you is sovereignty, are spoken in the person of the prophet. The phrase ‘from the womb’ indicates the legitimacy of the birth and the identity of es- sence. “Before the morning star’ signifies before the sun came to be. And in the seventy-sev- enth psalm he says, Before the sun his name remains. What then? Did he beget him only before the sun? In no way, since elsewhere he says, And from the age and to the age you are. And indeed he is not ‘from the age’ only, but also before the age, and not only ‘to the age’, but boundlessly. We need accordingly to take such expressions in a manner befitting God and above all to understand from them the pre-eternal also. Those who understand ‘before the morning star’ as the night in which the Virgin gave birth to Christ by the good pleasure of the Father and with the co-operation of the holy Spir- it are therefore mistaken. It would need to have said, ‘before the rising of the morning star’ and not simply ‘before the morning star’, for ‘before the sun’ simply always means ‘before its existence’, just as ‘before its rising’ means the time before dawn. 4α The Lord has sworn. Just as rage when said in relation to God does not mean a passion, but the movement of his punishing power, so also his oath signifies an affirmation and not the oath that is taken by us. 3α: ‘Sovereignty’ may be taken in the sense of ‘origin’ and interpreted as the Son of God as the origin and cause, that is, Creator, of all things, who is with the Father. 3γ: For the legitimate offspring are generated from the belly of their parents.

4β And he will not repent. He will not change what he has ordained, as he often does in other things for certain purposes of economy. As to what he swore, that is, declared with certainty, listen now:

4γ You are a priest to the age according the the order of Melchisedek. You are a priest, as having given out bread and wine to the Apostles at the mystical supper, just as Melchisedek did to those around Abraham when he returned from the war. And you are eternal, as having neither a beginning of days nor an end to life, in accordance with his divinity, just in the case of Melchisedek according to the story. But Melchisedek has these characteristics on account of their having been passed over in silence in the story of Scripture, while Christ has them in truth. The great Paul interpreted this verse both wisely and clearly in the letter to the Hebrews in which you will also find other similarities.

5α The Lord is at your right hand. Helping him as a man. And in the fifteenth psalm it is written, I would see the Lord before me at all times, for he is at my right hand that I may not be swayed.

5β He has shattered kings on the day of his anger. The verse is about the day of judgement, that he will crush the impious kings in the ap- pointed punishments. And if kings, then manifestly also all others.

6α He will judge among the nations. He will judge the nations; or else he will judge among the nations those worthy of judge- ment.

6β He will make full with the fallen. He will multiply downfalls, overthrowing many, namely, those who were standing poorly.

6γ He will shatter the heads of many on the earth. The heads of many, that is, many. What he said above about the kings specifically he he now says more generally about the others. And these things are not only understood about the last judgement, but they also tell moreover of his irresistible strength, that when he will be angered he will shatter kings and also do the other things.

7α He will drink from a winter torrent on the way. Here he foretells the frugality of his way of life, that following an austere life, he will drink from a winter torrent; he will drink from a torrent flowing on the path, or while walking on the path. In an anagogical sense you will understand ‘winter torrent’ as the wintry storm and con- fluence and flood of temptations, and the ‘way’ as this passing life, and the ‘drinking’ his participation, for he will be tempted.

7β On this account he will raise up his head. On account of his frugality and humility he will be exalted and glorified, having gone up to the heavens and having sat at the right hand of God. For not only did these things not harm him at all, but they brought him up to an ineffable height.

110 Psalm 110

1α Alleluia. For this psalm also is a psalm of thanksgiving.

1β I shall confess to you, O Lord, with my whole heart. I shall give thanks to you, not only with words, nor simply with my tongue and mouth, but with my whole heart, with an earnestly striving soul, with an attentive intellect, having freed myself from all earthly care and having already raised myself up towards you. And I shall thank you for both the benefactions being ever performed for me, and for those towards other people. This is a sacrifice ever accessible; this is an offering easy to pro- cure; this is a necessary work and one continuously demanded. 1γ-2α In the deliberation of the upright and congregation the works of the Lord are great. In the deliberation and congregation of the right minded, all the works of the Lord are great, both such as he does in working wonders, both in the past and now and hereafter, and such as he produced in creating the world. For the verse is taken both in respect of miracles and in respect of creations. For in de- liberating on and gathering these things together, that is, in considering such works, none of them appears small or unworthy of the Maker, all being great and having some reason, even if often it does not seem so to other people on account of the perversion of their thinking.

2β Sought out for all his desires.

‘Precisely contrived’, as another translator rendered it; the works mentioned are perfectly fashioned, that is, fitting for all his desires and preparing the wise to do them. For who on seeing or hearing of such works will not be led through them to fulfil the desires of the one who has performed them, having understood that he is truly God and truly benevolent to man? His desires are his commandments.

3α Confession and magnificence are his work. Thanksgiving and magnificent praise are his work; not this work or that, but simply every work, as able to move the one seeing and hearing to thanksgiving and magnificent praise of the one who produced it. His incarnation is understood in particular as such a work.

3β And his justice awaits to the age of the age. This is for the comfort of those suffering injustice and the correction of those perpetrating injustice, for his just judgement awaits them, being eternal, and will bring to the ones relief and to the others punishment; or else that his justice is continuous, namely, immovable.

4α He has made remembrance of his wonders. The prophets very often take the expressions ‘he has remembered’ and ‘he has made re- membrance’ and suchlike, in respect of the activation, as we have said elsewhere. He says accordingly that he activates his wonders and does not cease working wonders through every generation, so that he may win over the more dull minded through marvels, such as the marvels worked at the time of the flood, at the time of the confusion of tongues, at the time of Sodom, at the time of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the marvels in Egypt, those at the exodus of the Jews, those in the wilderness, those in the promised land, those in Babylon, those after the return, those at the time of the Maccabees, those at the time of Christ’s appearance, those thereafter and until the present, privately and publicly, both at the time of the Apostles and of the martyrs and of the other saints, and in homes and in cities and everywhere.

4β The Lord is merciful and compassionate. Who does the things mentioned, for he does them showing mercy and having compas- sion and desiring the salvation of men.

5α He has given food to those who fear him.

And indeed even to those who do not fear him, but ‘food’ here is what he calls food for the soul, rational, spiritual food, the heavenly bread that he gives especially only to those who fear him. This may also be understood as the mystical supper, or also that he often feeds his own 3Rg 17.6, when in want, such as Elijah and Daniel and many others. 19.6 Dan 1

5β He will remember his covenant to the age. Jews say he remembered his eternal covenant, he activated his immutable covenant, name- ly the covenant about the multiplication of the seed of Abraham and the covenant about the promised land. We say that it is a prophecy about Christ, for he will remember, he says, to the fitting age his covenant towards the patriarchs that in their seed all nations will be blessed, and he will fulfil it.

6α He has proclaimed the strength of his works to his people. To the old people he displayed the strength of his works, that is, his power in works, through the marvels that took place then. To the new people he has shown it through the works being performed at each time after his incarnation.

6β So as to give to them an inheritance of nations. To the Jews, the promised land, in which nations formerly dwelt. To us, both this land and the others such as the faithful came to rule over.

7α The works of his hands are truth and judgement. Some have understood the hands of the Father as the Son and the holy Spirit, as co-crea- tors, whose works they say are, of the the holy Spirit, truth (for it is written, He will guide you into all the truth), and of the Son, judgement (for it is written, All judgement he has given to the Son). Scripture often attributes these things most particularly to them. Or else, he says, the works of Christ are true and not imaginary, and just, or discriminating and dispensatory. Chrysostom in interpreting the present verse says that Scripture often calls benevolence PG55.287 ‘truth’, according to which meaning one would understand that God’s works are full of be- nevolence and justice, everywhere intermingling both, for if he had employed benevolence only we would all have become careless, and if justice only we would all have perished.

7β All his commandments are sure. Worthy to be trusted; or because he said ‘all’, understand first the commandments of na- ture that are observed in a natural way by sky and sun and moon and stars and day and night and seasons and earth and rivers and lakes and springs and plants and herbs and simply all of both inanimate nature and of nature that is animate but irrational; then the commandments deposited from the beginning in the nature of men, that even those who have not received the written law observe; then the written commandments of the law given through Moses; and finally, the Gospel commandments, all of which he says are sure, that is, certain, immova- ble. For if some commandments of the Mosaic law were abolished, it was for what was better, what was higher. No one accordingly is able to do away with these, for it is written, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

8α Firmly established to the age of the age. Steadfast, continuous, permanent.

8β Made in truth and directness. Nothing in them, he says, is false or crooked. Or in a different way, understand truth as clarity and directness as cutting a straight path, for all are true and clear and teach to walk straight.

9α He has sent redemption to his people. The Father has sent the Son, namely, Christ, for it is written, He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and again, For he will save his people; and who, according to the Apostle, has been given to us from God as both other things and as redemption.

9β He has commanded his covenant to the age. He has commanded to the fitting age his new covenant, or his eternal covenant, the Gos- pel covenant, for it is written, I shall give to you an everlasting covenant, for the Mosaic cov- enant was temporary, at least in its outward appearance and in what was prefiguration and foreshadowing.

9γ Holy and fearful is his name. The name ‘Christ’; it is holy as working countless miracles and fearful as driving out de- mons and illnesses. And if it is holy, it accordingly needs holy mouths for the singing of its praise.

10α Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The source of wisdom, the root the presupposition, for Where there is fear, there is keeping of commandments, and where there is this, there is purification, and where there is purifica- PG36.344A tion, there is illumination. 10β And understanding is good for all who enact it. To those who enact wisdom, to those who cultivate it, to those who attain it, good under- standing accrues. For there is also evil understanding, for it is written, They are wise in doing evil. Or else in a different way, understanding is good, that is, beneficial, not for those who simply possess it, but for those who use it for actions and words. 10γ His praise remains to the age of the age. The praise of Christ remains without end among both angels and men, and so we ought to praise and give thanks to him always. 1α Psalm 111 Alleluia. The introduction to the present psalm seems to me to follow very closely the end of the previous psalm, and hence this psalm has been allotted the same superscription, as being part of the previous one, for there he says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and here, Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. Some say that the present psalm has twenty-two verses according to the number of the Hebrew letters, and that the beginnings of the verses in the Hebrew bear the beginnings of the Hebrew letters. 1β Blessed is the man who fears the Lord. In the previous psalm he said that the fear of the Lord makes wise, in this psalm, that is makes blessed. Blessed is the one who fears the Lord, not simply as do the demons, but so as to keep his commandments, for the former is bare fear, the latter is active fear. 1γ In his commandments he will delight greatly. Such a man will take pleasure in, he will be joyful in, the commandments of his Lord, for this is what ‘he will delight greatly’ means. And elsewhere indeed, displaying the pleasure he had in regard to the ordinances of God, he says, How sweet to my throat are your oracles, above honey to my mouth.

2α His seed will be powerful on the earth. Empowered by God against those assailing them. His seed are his disciples and emulators and those who preserve the likeness and legiti- mate descent from the marks of their way of life, and who have succeeded to the virtues of the teacher as if to some inheritance from their father.

2β The generation of the straight will be blessed. It will be blessed by the generation of those who are not perverted but right minded.

3α Glory and riches will be in his house. Glory from God and riches in good works; or else glory from men, honouring him on account of his virtues, and riches in his abounding in whatsoever he may desire whenever he will so wish on account of his faith in God and freedom of speech before him.

3β And his justice remains to the age of the age. The virtue justifying him remains indestructible in the age to come, passing over with him to that age.

4α He has made light spring up in darkness on the upright. God has caused the light of liberation and relief to spring up on those in the darkness of temptations and afflictions. Or else Christ, the light of truth, has risen up from the earth in the darkness of error, for it is written, I am the light of the world. The light has risen up on the upright, those able to think straight, for they saw it, while the crooked and perverted were blind to it.

4β Merciful and compassionate and just. This also is about God, for he is merciful and compassionate as good and just as a judge. See also in the one hundredth psalm, I shall sing to you, O Lord, of mercy and judgement.

5α A good man is one who is compassionate and lends freely. Who is compassionate to those in constraints and who lends freely to those requiring a loan. And in the thirty-sixth psalm it is written, All day long the just man shows mercy and lends.

5β He will manage well his words in judgement. He will employ his words well, speaking with discrimination and not at random or thoughtlessly. Or else he will dispose well the matters concerning himself, with discrimination, for this is how Symmachus rendered it. Or else he will manage well his defence at the last judgement, that is, he will prepare an advocacy for himself, following the example of the trusty and wise manager.

6α For to the age he will not be shaken. In this age he will not be shaken by temptations, being securely founded on the rock of faith in God and of love and hope and having his conscience as an unmoveable anchor. He did not say that he will not be subject to attack – for it is written, Many are the af- flictions of the just – but that he will not be shaken. For this is what is wondrous, namely, that while suffering countless afflictions the saints were not deflected, but preserved their spirit unswerving. This is a conspicuous victory; this is a brilliant public proclamation of the champions. Or else he will not be shaken in the age to come, for it is written, I have prepared myself and have not been troubled, having nothing evil on his conscience.

6β In eternal remembrance he will be just. Being remembered on account of his virtues, not only when alive, but also when having died.

7α He will not fear evil tidings. He will not be afraid of fearful news. Here also he did not say that he will not hear, but that he will not be afraid. For he has already deposited his wealth in an inviolable place, and has his mind set rather on going there, for it is written, Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And for this reason he is not afraid either of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

7β His heart is ready to hope in the Lord. To hope firmly, being immovable from his hope in the Lord, hoping that he will be victo- rious through him and will attain salvation.

8α His heart is firmly established; he will not fear. As stated above.

8β Until he will look upon his enemies. Primarily on the demons; until he will see on them what he desires, or what they will suf- fer, as was said at the end of the fifty-third psalm, at the the verse, And my eye has seen among my enemies. If he will not fear until the fall of his enemies, much less will he fear thereafter, for having taught about what was in doubt, he passed over in silence what follows thereon, as being beyond doubt; and this is an idiom of the use of ‘until’. Ps 109.1δ

9α He has scattered abroad; he has given to the poor. He has dispersed his belongings. By the use of ‘he scattered abroad’ he indicated both the profusion of the giver and implied that what was given was a kind of seed, for those who are sowing scatter abroad.

9β His justice remains to the age of the age. We spoke about this above, for he repeats himself in confirmation of such words, or else here he is calling justice in a specific sense that which comes from alms-giving.

9γ His horn will be exalted in glory. His honour will be magnified. The metaphorical horn was spoken about clearly in the eighty-eighth psalm at the verse, And in my name his horn will be exalted.

10α The sinner will see and will be provoked to anger. Considering the benevolence of the just man as a rebuke to his inhumanity, for such is virtue, being ever something burdensome and invidious to wickedness.

10β He will grit his teeth and melt away. He will clench his teeth, exhibiting with his teeth his inner pain, but he will not dare to speak, with virtue stopping his mouth, and hence he will melt away, being stung by the achievements of the just man, and racked by envy, and himself becoming his own executioner.

10γ The desire of the sinner will perish. Desiring things that perish and are corruptible, when they perish his desire perishes along with them.

Some assign the verse, He has made light spring up in darkness on the upright, to the man called blessed, namely, that he will give light to the darkened souls of those disposed to obe- dience. Just as similarly the following verse that he shows mercy and is compassionate and judges justly.

112 Psalm 112

1α Alleluia. This also is a psalm of thanksgiving, whence it has such a superscription.

1β Praise the Lord, O you children, praise the name of the Lord. ‘Children’ here is what he called the servants, and indeed in the one hundred and thir- ty-fourth psalm he says, Praise the name of the Lord, O you servants, praise the Lord, by an interchange of the phrases. Some have understood ‘children’ here as the innocents, or as Christ’s disciples, or as those of the Apostles. Praise him not only through words, but also through works, for it is written, That they may see your good works and glorify your Father in the heavens.

2 May the name of the Lord be blessed from now and until the age. May it be blessed among us and not blasphemed, as we bless it at all times, continually singing praise and ever glorifying it with both words and works, as was stated above. And indeed it is blessed in itself, but it becomes blessed also among us when we bless it not only with words, but also with works, with those seeing them glorifying our Master.

3 From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised. Not in Palestine only, but throughout the inhabited world the name of the Lord is to be praised. He foretells the sound of the Gospel preaching that went out into all the earth.

4α The Lord is high over all the nations. He will be high among the nations, not at that time becoming such, but at that time appearing to them as such, as they express high doctrines concerning him and exalt him in doxologies befitting God.

4β His glory is upon the heavens.

Being glorified in the heavens by the angels. These words may be also understood particularly about Christ and the angels praising God at his birth and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and so on.

5α Who is like the Lord our God? He said this in disparagement and mockery of the gods falsely so-called found among the nations. 5β-6α Who dwells in the heights and watches over the lowly. And yet He has measured the heaven with a span and the earth with a fist, and he fills both heaven and earth and is everywhere present and can neither be contained nor circumscribed. How then does he dwell in heaven and look upon the earth? It is clear that David having con- descended first to the dullness of the Jews, then raised up their mind a little, for he continues:

6β In heaven and upon the earth. Being both above and below, that is, everywhere. Seek also in the second psalm the verse, He who dwells in the heavens. Others read the syntax as, Who is like the Lord our God in heaven and on earth?

7 Who raises up the pauper from the earth and the poor man from the dunghill. Earth and dunghill is what he calls destitution, and he hymns the power of God, easily transforming whatever he wishes.

8 So as to make him sit alongside rulers, alongside rulers of his people. Not only enriching and glorifying him, but also sitting him along with those ruling his people, and raising him also to a position of power. The people from the nations may also be understood as the pauper and poor man: Christ, having raised them from the dishonour of the passions and having exalted them through the Gospel, made them equal in honour with the Apostles, whom he established as ‘rulers over all the earth’ as was stated in another psalm. He then hymns an even greater power of his, transforming not only things, but even natures.

9 Who settles a barren woman in a home as a mother rejoicing in children. Who makes the barren woman dwell in a house as a mother rejoicing in children, as has happened with many. Some have understood the ‘home’ as the household of children.

113 Psalm 113

1α Alleluia. This is also a psalm of thanksgiving, recounting the benefactions bestowed in the past by God on the Jews and hymning the divine power and mocking the weakness of the idols. 1β-2 At the exodus of Israel from Egypt, of the house of Jacob from a barbarous people, Judea became his place of sanctification, Israel his authority. Israel and the house of Jacob is what he calls the race of Israelites, and Egypt and a barba- rous people what he calls the nation of the Egyptians. At the exodus of the Israelites, he says, from the nation of the Egyptians, that is, after the Hebrews had come out from Egypt, the present land of Judea became his place of sanctifica- tion, the place set up and consecrated to him, and the Israelite people became his inheritance, held under his authority and commanded and organised by him, for all the other peoples were by nature under his authority, but they alone by adoption as kin, as his peculiar people.

3α The sea saw and fled. It recognized his power; like a rational being of some kind it sensed ineffably the divine will, and having been parted, it fled from the middle and granted a dry passage to the Israel- ites. He is speaking about the Red Sea when Moses was leading out the people. In saying that it fled, he indicated the fear and the speed of its parting.

3β Jordan was turned back. At the time of Joshua the son of Nun when it checked its flow, granting in turn unwetted passage to the ark of God. In the same way in the sixty-fifth psalm also he placed these two miracles together, for it is written, Who converts the sea into dry land, through a river they will pass on foot.

4 The mountains skipped like rams and the hills like lambs in the flock. Wishing to indicate the excess of joy at that time, he confers on inanimate things a sense of this joy and exultation, saying that the very mountains and hills of Judea skipped, that is, rejoiced, for rams and lambs when they are happy display their pleasure by skipping. We also spoke in the ninety-fifth psalm about the joy of inanimate beings at the verse, Before the face of the Lord, for he is coming, for in that psalm is written, Let the heavens be glad, and many such things.

5-6 What is with you, O sea, that you fled, and with you, O Jordan, that you were turned back? O you mountains, that you skipped like rams, and you hills like lambs in the flock? Personifying them, he holds dialogue with the elements, asking, why did they do thus, as when a strange and most extraordinary thing has happened; then in their stead he himself replies, saying:

7α Before the face of the Lord the earth was shaken. At the epiphany of the Lord the earth skipped, namely, the mountains and the hills. Un- derstand by epiphany the appearance of God in Judea; or else you will understand this in accordance with what was said in the above-mentioned psalm, namely, Then all the trees of the wood will rejoice before the face of the Lord, for he is coming. About the sea and the Jordan he said no more, as the reason being already well known.

7β Before the face of the God of Jacob. The God of Jacob, for it is written, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

8α Who turned the rock into pools of waters. Who changed the rock from its natural hardness into bringing forth pools of waters, as was stated in the seventy-seventh psalm.

8β And the top-cut rock into springs of waters. He says the same again. He called the rock ‘top-cut’, as being broken off just at the top points by iron, on account of its extreme hardness, so as to increase the miracle even more. Having recounted accordingly the benefactions of old, he entreats also about those of the present.

9α Not for us, O Lord, not for us. Do not show mercy on our account, for we are unworthy as were those who enjoyed the benefactions already mentioned.

9β But rather to your name give glory. But glorify your name.

9γ In the power of your mercy and your truth.

Glorify it in the power of your mercy and of your true mercy, that is, having shown mercy on us and having truly shown mercy, for the prophet often calls mercy and truth true mercy, namely, mercy in the eminent sense, as opposed to human mercy.

10 Lest the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Lest, we having been overpowered, the nations reproach [God] with weakness.

11 But our God in heaven and on earth has done all that he willed. The nations will perhaps speak such delirious nonsense, but our God in heaven and on the earth is able to do everything, by willing alone; but he is often long-suffering and shows forbearance for reasons of divine economy. 12-15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, works of human hands; they have a mouth and will not speak; eyes and will not see; ears and will not hear; noses and will not smell; hands and will not feel; feet and will not walk; nor will they have voice in their throat. He goes through all their parts, amplifying the mockery. And first he reproached the forms of the organs of sense, then their hands and feet for their lack of sensation as inanimate matter. One might ask how in relation to their mouth he did not say that they will not taste, so that here, too, he would make mention of the appropriate sense. It seems to me that because seeing and hearing and smelling and the rest are often spoken of in relation to God, while eating is not, he therefore, instead of taste, cited speech both first and last as a very palpable proof of life.

16 May those who make them and all who trust in them become like them. Like them, deaf and without sensation and inefficacious. But the idols of the nations are such and those who honour them are in this way foolish, enjoying no help from them at all, but we are not so. 17-19 The house of Israel has hoped in the Lord; he is their helper and defender. The house of Aaron has hoped in the Lord; he is their helper and defender. Those who fear the Lord have hoped in the Lord; he is their helper and defender. Not in vain, he says, have we hoped in the Lord, for he helps and defends us. He divides the people of God into Israel in general, and the priestly line and the prose- lytes, calling those simply Israelites ‘the house of Israel’, whom he places first on account of

their number, the priestly line ‘the house of Aaron’, for he above all fulfilled the office of priest and became the root of those after him, and the proselytes ‘those who fear the Lord’, as having come from the nations and fearing him. 20α The Lord having remembered us has blessed us. What is, ‘he has blessed us’? He has filled us with countless good things, benefitting our nation from the beginning, from our forefathers up until ourselves. 20β- He has blessed the house of Israel, he has blessed the house of Aaron, he has blessed those 21α who fear the Lord. He used the same division here also. 21β The small and the great. This is in common about all. Small and great is not to be understood only in terms of age, but also in terms of weakness and strength, poverty and wealth, disregard and glory, and slavery and freedom. 22 May the Lord add to us, to us and to our sons. May the Lord increase us and our sons; may he add blessings. A number of copies write, ‘to you and to your sons’, as being clear from this that he is praying for the Christians and their race, who were increased most especially and to whom the true, heavenly blessings were added. 23 You are blessed by the Lord who has made heaven and earth. This also is to be understood about those whom Christ blessed as he was about to be taken up to heaven, as Luke related, for through the Apostles he blessed all. 24α The heaven of the heaven is the Lord’s. That is to say the first heaven is the dwelling place of the Lord. See also in the previous psalm the explanation of, Who dwells in the heights. 24β He has given the earth to the sons of men. As a dwelling place and for enjoyment, for whom also he made it.

25-26 The dead, O Lord, will not praise you, nor all who go down to Hades, but we the living will bless the Lord, from now and until the age. This seems similar to, Shall dust confess you or shall it proclaim your truth? and to, Shall any in the grave tell of your mercy and of your truth in destruction? For those who reflect more deeply on the words, he is calling ‘the dead’ those who have become dead to cultivating virtue and who before their natural death have been corrupted by sin, and ‘the living’ those who are living virtuously and are passing over from this life to the higher and divine life. For the former will neither praise here (For praise is not seasonable in the mouth of a sinner) nor there, as being continually tortured. The latter, however, will praise both here and there, for the verse says, ‘from now and until the age’. And the former descend into Hades, while the latter ascend into heaven. In saying ‘we’, he implied those like him, namely, the virtuous.

114 Psalm 114

1α Alleluia. This psalm also is one of thanksgiving.

1β I have loved, for the Lord will hear the voice of my entreaty. I have been glad in this.

2α For he has inclined his ear to me. About inclining of the ear we spoke in the sixteenth psalm at the verse, Incline your ear to me.

2β And in my days I shall make invocation. And in all the days of my life. 3-4α Pangs of death encompassed me, dangers of Hades befell me, affliction and pain I found, and I called upon the name of the Lord. I conceive these words to be very much in accord with those spoken in the seventeenth psalm, for there he says, I shall love you, O Lord, then he adds the reason for which he will love him, namely, because you strengthen me, because you support me, because you are my refuge, because you are my deliverer, and suchlike. Then he adds that yet again I shall call upon the Lord. Then in this way he relates the misfortunes into which he had fallen and been afflicted and how he had called on the Lord and had been heard.

And here he says the same again. I have loved, for he will hear, in the sense of, for he has heard me making entreaty, or for he will hear me yet again, for he has heard now. The reason for the love is that he will hear. He then similarly adds, and in my remaining days I shall make invocation. Then in this way, just as he did there, he relates the misfortunes into which he had fallen and been afflicted and how he had called again on the Lord, and had evidently been delivered, for on this account he said that I have loved. Having mentioned pangs of death and dangers of Hades, he interpreted them by adding, affliction and and pain I found. In the psalm mentioned these things are discussed more extensively.

4β O Lord, deliver my soul. Again and again from future evils.

5 The Lord is merciful and just and our God shows mercy. Observe how he instructs the listener. The Lord, he says, is merciful, so do not despair when having sinned, but also just, so do not relapse, having trusted in his mercy. Then show- ing God to be more inclined to benevolence, he added that And our God shows mercy. ‘Our God’ is said in contradistinction to the gods among the nations.

6α The Lord [is] keeping watch over the infants. The copula ‘is’ is understood. For he hymns also this very great providence of his. For if he were not keeping watch over each, a snake and scorpion and many of the venomous reptiles would easily have killed them, and they would swiftly have perished, having been brought down into pits and precipices and many suchlike. Some have understood the verse as about the embryos, which being carried in dark and moist places like fish and not even able to breathe in a human way, then sliding out from the warmth of the womb into the cold and unaccustomed air, would not have survived even for a little, if they were not being watched over by divine providence. Or else in a different way you will understand ‘infants’ as those freshly formed in virtue whom he guards on account of their inexperience until they become ready for battle with the enemies.

6β I was humbled and he saved me. I was distressed by temptations and he delivered me from them. For he allowed me to be distressed so that I might become wiser, and he put an end to the temptations for me so that I might know his grace, and in each case he benefited me. And in another way, God knows how to save the one who has achieved the virtue of humility.

7-8α Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has been good to you, for he has delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears and my feet from slipping. It seems to some that he is urging himself to find rest and release from his trials up to that time as having already received God’s benefaction and having been delivered from his expect- ed death, namely, from the parting of soul and body, and from the affliction of tears and from the snares that his enemies were setting for him, into which he would often slip. If one is to take these words in an anagogical sense, one will call rest the departure of the just man’s soul from this world, setting it free henceforth from all grievous pain, which for them is also a benefaction of God, being freed from the weight of the body and of the evils flowing therefrom. For Paul says, We who are in this tent groan as we are weighed down, and again, Departing and being with Christ is very much better. These words are fitting for the just who are already exiting the body. So having said that the Lord has been good to you, he added that he has delivered my soul henceforth from sin, which is death, mortifying the energies of the soul for virtue, my eyes from tears, no longer weeping at continuous afflictions, and my feet from being tripped up by the visible and invis- ible enemies assailing me.

8β I shall be well pleasing before the Lord in the land of the living. ‘The land of the living’ is heaven or the world to come, in which there is none who dies; the present world is the land of the dying, in which there is none who does not die. I shall be well pleasing, he says, in that land, worshipping along with the angels unimpeded, with none laying ambush. Or else, I shall be well pleasing, in the sense of, I shall be judged well pleasing. The present words were interpreted in a different sense in the fifty-fifth psalm.

115 Psalm 115

1α Alleluia. And this similarly is a psalm of thanksgiving.

1β I have believed, hence I have spoken. Basil the Great says that the prophet having said, I shall be well pleasing before the Lord PG30.105BC in the land of the living, at the end of the previous psalm, says again at the beginning of the present psalm, I have believed about which I prophesied there, namely, that I shall be well pleasing before the Lord in the land of the living, and hence I have spoken this. And indeed in the twenty-sixth psalm also he said again, I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living, even it this was interpreted from a different point of view there.

1γ But I have been greatly humbled. Having acquired such foreknowledge, I have been greatly humbled, having regarded my- self as unworthy, so that I may not lose the grace by having become elated.

2 And I said in my ecstasy, ‘Every man is a liar’. ‘Ecstasy’ is to be understood as consternation. Having been amazed by that land of the living which I pictured to myself through the holy Spirit, I said unequivocally that every man is a liar here in regard to human blessedness, which the great Gregory called ‘deceptive prosperity’, as not enduring, but like dreams swiftly flitting away. For all human things are PG35.1048 vanity of vanities, changeable and corruptible, but the things in that land are really true, as permanent and unchangeable and incorruptible.

3 What shall I repay the Lord in return for all that he in return has repaid me. Having filled me with countless other benefactions, he has also given me the afore-men- tioned gift. ‘Has repaid in return’, in the sense of ‘has repaid’ simply, as we also noted in the seventh psalm at the verse, If I have repaid in return those who repaid me in return with evils. Then having found nothing of equal worth, he says:

4α I shall take the cup of salvation. The ‘cup of salvation’ is what he called death for Christ, namely, death through martyr- dom. And Christ in the Gospels called this a ‘cup’, for he says to the sons of Zebedee, Are you able to drink the cup? He called this ‘of salvation’ as saving and giving life far better to those who die through it. For Christ, he says, I shall die, thirsting for death for the sake of him, who has granted me so many benefits as Son of God.

4β And I shall call upon the name of the Lord. And I shall call upon him to give me this also; henceforth, therefore, as far as it depended on him, he died for Christ, at least in terms of his predisposition.

5 I shall repay my vows to the Lord before all his people. My promises, as many as I promised, for very soon I shall depart from the present life.

6 Precious before the Lord is the death of his devoted servants.

I rejoice in dying, he says, for with God the death of those devoted in purity to him is precious. For if the life of these is precious, much more so is their death, as transporting them to their Master, honoured by an escort of holy angels going before.

7α O Lord, I am your servant. Devoted in purity to you, dedicated to your lordship.

7β I am your servant and son of your handmaiden. He repeated the words, showing that he delights in this appellation and he confesses and proclaims this without shame. He says ‘son of your handmaiden’ indicating that he is a serv- ant of God from his forebears. He mentioned his mother only indifferently, or else because at that time those born in the household from serving girls were more precious to their masters.

7γ Your have broken my bonds asunder. Those of sin, by the sword of repentance.

8α To you I shall sacrifice a sacrifice of praise. A sacrifice in word, a sacrifice of my own, the product of my heart. To you I shall sacrifice a sacrifice of praise on the altar of my soul.

8β And I shall call on the name of the Lord. And I shall call on the name of the Lord to provide such a sacrifice and to work together in it.

9 I shall repay my vows to the Lord before all his people. He said this above also, and he repeats himself, confirming his word.

10 In the enclosures of the house of the Lord, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. He says also the place in which he will repay his vows, namely, in the enclosures of the house of the Lord, for the tent-shrine, which at that time was in the midst of Jerusalem, had various enclosures. We have interpreted these things in conformity with the meaning following from the previous psalm. Let us now then set out Chrysostom’s interpretation. PG55.319-27

For he says that, having foreseen what the Jews were destined to suffer, having been be- sieged and carried off to Babylon, and then having remembered about their recall and resto- [1β] ration again, David says in the present psalm, I have believed that they will be both taken into captivity and will return again, having been taught these things through the prophetic gift, hence I have spoken about these things in various psalms. [1γ] But I have been greatly humbled. I have been sorely distressed, having been greatly pained about the captivity. [2] And I said in my ecstasy, ‘Every man is a liar’. In that sorrow of mine, for sorrow very often displaces from one’s normal state, and when poured out on one more intensely causes insensibility. For having seen most clearly the uncer- tainty of human prosperity in the transformation of the fortune of the Jews, I said that truly every human good is false, not of a nature that endures, but because there is a recalling once again and once again a return, I am filled with joy, and hence I say: [3] What shall I repay the Lord in return for all that he in return has repaid me. He regards this as a benefaction to himself on account of the race. The Lord, he says, has done many good things for me, so what shall I repay him in return for them all? The verse is an expression of great joy and gratitude. [4α] I shall take the cup of salvation. I shall take a libation cup; I shall make a libation to God for the salvation of the people. For among the Jews there were various modes of sacrifice, one of which was the libation of salvation. The ‘libation cup’ is the cup by which they would make libation. [4β] And I shall call upon the name of the Lord. For the salvation of the people. [5] I shall repay my vows to the Lord before all his people. The promises that, being in dangerous circumstances, I promised for salvation. [6] Precious before the Lord is the death of his devoted servants. This is a general teaching about the death of his servants being honoured by God through

the presence of angels and often of other saints in honour of those dying. And those whose death is precious, their life is even more precious in which, cultivating the virtues, they would serve their master. [7α] O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant and son of your handmaiden. Not speaking about the common servitude whereby all people are servants of God (for it is written, All things are your servants), but the servitude from inner disposition and desire and love. And he places this above every dignity, taking pride in such servitude more than in kingship. ‘Son of your handmaiden’ in accordance with the exposition previously given. [7β] Your have broken my bonds asunder. Those of sorrow from the trials which were everywhere encompassing me and pressing in on me with a tight grip. Or else, in accordance with the explanation given above. [8α] To you I shall sacrifice a sacrifice of praise. For the breaking asunder of these bonds which you broke with the sword of benevolence. ‘A sacrifice of praise’ is what he calls the singing of hymns and thanksgiving. [8β] And I shall call upon the name of the Lord. In the sense of, I shall call upon the name of the Lord also in the trials to come, having had experience of the power of this name. The rest is in accordance with the meaning explained previously. And he would repay his vows before all the people, not making a show, but leading all to his own zeal and making them partners in the matter. Of all sacrifices, thanksgiving is the most acceptable to God and is something easy to fur- nish and something that even the most indigent of all can furnish at all times.

116 Psalm 116

1α Alleluia. This psalm is similarly one of thanksgiving, for it summons all the nations to offer hymns and thanksgiving to Christ, who has benefited them so greatly.

1β Praise the Lord, O all you nations.

Who have been led through him from the darkness of error to the light of truth.

1γ Applaud him, O all you peoples. He says the same again, intensifying the praise. Or understand ‘peoples’ as those Jews who came to the faith, or else simply all peoples. For all people in common ought to give thanks to him, as having become incarnate and having undergone the saving passion out of love for mankind and for the salvation of all, and most of all, all Jews, for it is written, I have not been sent except for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

2α For his mercy has prevailed mightily upon us. It has become strong, exceedingly firm, it has rushed forcefully over all people on account of his excessive love for mankind, even if some have rejected it. And he includes himself as he was accustomed to do in many cases, regarding himself as one of those who has believed in Christ.

2β And the truth of the Lord remains to the age. The truth of the Gospel that was transmitted through Christ to the Apostles. For the things of the law were a kind of rough draft of the truth, hence when the truth it- self had come it was brought to an end, as is the rough draft of painters when the true colours have been superimposed on it, for it is written, Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

117 Psalm 117

1α Alleluia. And this once again is a psalm of thanksgiving for the benefactions he enjoyed.

1β Confess to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy is to the age. He spoke these words in the one hundred and fifth psalm and they were interpreted there. 2-4 Let the house of Israel say, that he is good, that his mercy is to the age. Let the house of Aaron say, that he is good, that his mercy is to the age. Let all those who fear the Lord say, that he is good, that his mercy is to the age. For all have variously enjoyed his goodness and his mercy. Here also he made the division of the nation of the Jews such as he made in the one hun- dred and thirteenth psalm at the verse, The house of Israel has hoped in the Lord, and so on.

Having made all into one choir and having enjoined them to give thanks to God and to say that he is good, that his mercy is to the age, he recounts the matters relating to himself. For it was incumbent on them to do this on behalf of their king, waging war on their behalf, and falling into temptations and being strangely delivered by God. 5 From out of affliction I called upon the Lord and he heard me for expansion. Not only did he hear me, he says, but for expansion, that is, for deliverance, having placed me out of narrow constraint into wide expansiveness. And in the fourth psalm it was said, In affliction you have expanded me, and seek the ex- planation of that verse. 6 The Lord to me is a helper and I shall not fear what any man will do to me. This is like the verse in the twenty-sixth psalm, The Lord is my illumination and my sav- iour, whom shall I fear? Note how he did not say that I shall not suffer anything from any man, but that I shall not fear, whatever I may suffer, and if I suffer it will not be from the weakness of the one helping me, but by permission, for my instruction and correction. 7 The Lord to me is a helper, and I shall look upon my enemies. He will wage war and I shall look upon my enemies falling; I shall look upon the sensible enemies with my sensible eyes and the intelligible enemies with my intelligible eyes. The words are fitting for all who hope unhesitatingly on the Lord. 8-9 It is good to have trust in the Lord rather than to have trust in man; it is good to hope in the Lord rather than to hope in rulers. For it is written, Blessed is the man who hopes in the Lord. And elsewhere, Accursed is every- one that hopes in man. And another wise man says, Look to the ancient generations and see: Who had faith in the Lord and was put to shame? And if anyone was put to shame, he did not hope as he ought. And hence Paul, confirming the words, said, Hope does not put to shame. He did not say, ‘this is good rather than that’ by way of making a comparison, but speaking condescendingly to the infirmity of his listeners. 10-11 All the nations encircled me, and by the name of the Lord I warded them off; having encir- cled they encircled me and by the name of the Lord I warded them off. All the nations around Palestine having at some time attacked together and enclosed him as in a net in the middle.

Or else he is indicating the various multitudes of the demons, for at times all together make war on a just man fighting him in every possible way and terrifying him in many forms. Having spoken many times about encirclement and warding off, he showed on the one hand the inescapability of the encirclement, and on the other hand the paradox of the ward- ing off and what power the name of God possesses.

12 They encircled me like bees around a honeycomb, and burned like fire among thorns, and by the name of the Lord I warded them off. He delineates the magnitude of his sufferings, and through the image of the bees he al- ludes to the intensity of their eager desire, and through that of the fire to the incontrollable fury of their anger, for when bees find a honeycomb of honey they encircle it with intense eagerness to suck out the moisture of the honey, and when fire has caught thorns it becomes incontrollable.

13 Thronged around, I was toppled so as to fall and the Lord came to my aid. Having been thronged around by them I tipped over ready to fall, that is, I came very near to falling, and the Lord came to my aid so that he might show his strength and care even more impressively, by snatching from the mouth of death one forlorn of hope on every side for help from anywhere else.

14 The Lord is my strength and my praise and he has become salvation for me. He is both my strength, for in him I am strong, and my praise, for on his account I am praised and glorified by all, as having become rich with such a helper, or else I praise him continually and he became a Saviour for me.

15α A voice of rejoicing and of salvation in the tents of the just. And again he has become for me a voice of rejoicing and of salvation, that is, the cause of a voice of rejoicing and salvation singing in the tents of the just. For having been saved by him against all expectation, I have been moved to praise the joy and salvation that was given to me, or else to praise him in rejoicing and salvation. ‘The tents of the just’ are, I believe, what he calls in a prophetic way the huts of the ascetics in which most especially the words of David are sung, or else the local Churches.

15β The right hand of the Lord has wrought power. Alliance with the Lord has brought about victory, it has set up the victory trophy.

16α The right hand of the Lord has exalted me.

He has raised me up having been toppled, or else he has glorified me now I have put my enemies to flight.

16β The right hand of the Lord has wrought power. He says the same again, intensifying his thanksgiving out of delight. Or else having spoken of three right hands of the Lord, he indicated the triple alliance of the godhead in three hypostases.

17 I shall not die, but I shall live and will tell of the works of the Lord. I shall not now die at the hands of those who surrounded me as they were expecting, with they on the contrary being the ones destroyed, but I shall live and will praise the wonders of God. Or else, I shall not die a death of the soul, but I shall live the life according to God. Or else, I shall not die, but I shall live, that is, I shall be immortal through the continual singing of my songs by those who sing the psalms and their never ceasing to every age. Or else the verse is about the resurrection, prophesying that I shall not die to be no more raised up, but I shall live again along with all people, and hence I shall tell now of the works of the Lord who amongst all the other things has bestowed resurrection on me.

18 With chastisement the Lord has corrected me, but has not given me over to death. He has corrected me by having allowed me to fall into dire sufferings so that out of fear for the extreme danger and that necessity I may become better and wiser. But he did not leave me to die, having snatched me away, as was stated above, so that he might show his strength and his care.

19α Open to me the gates of justice. The gates of the tent-shrine in which was deposited the justice of the law, the statutes of the law.

19β Having entered within them I shall confess to the Lord. Having entered within them I shall give thanks to the Lord, I shall praise him with hymns as I have promised. You will understand the ‘gates of justice’ also as the ‘tents of the just’ mentioned above and as the gates of the Churches everywhere in which justice and every virtue dwells, having entered within which David will give thanks to the Lord through his psalms.

20 This is the gate of the Lord, the just will enter within it.

It seems to me that he is speaking of the narrow gate about which Christ spoke in the Gos- pels, Enter by the narrow gate. And hence, having foreseen it, David cried out, ‘This is the gate of the Lord’, that is, about which the Lord Jesus Christ will teach, or which leads to the Lord. He then added, ‘the just will enter within it’, namely, through it, and indeed Christ said that, Few are those that find it.

21 I shall confess to you, for you have heard me and have become salvation for me. Again he promises to give thanks to the Saviour.

22 The stone that the builders rejected, this has become the head angle stone. This also is a prophecy about Christ, for the prophecies often interrupt the constant flow of the discourse on account of the need for them to be obscured for a time so that the books would not be obliterated by the enemies. The ‘builders’ are what he calls the chief priests, the scribes and the teachers of the Jews, as appointed to build up and perfect the people on the foundation of the law. The rejected stone is what he calls Christ, a stone on account of his firmness and intransigence to sin, for it is written, He committed no sin. And they rejected him as useless for building, for they would say that, You are a Samaritan, and that, This man is not from God, but leads the people astray. Jn 9.16, 7.12 Yet he who had been rejected by them, proved so excellent as to become the head angle stone, that is, the cornerstone. Not every stone becomes the head cornerstone, but the one which is proved more excellent than the others, and which is able to connect on each of its sides the two walls into one angle. How did Christ become the head cornerstone? By uniting by himself the two peoples into one faith, both the people from the circumcision who believed and the people from the nations. For Paul says, For he is our peace, who has made both one. And Christ himself said, And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

23 By the Lord this has come to be and it is wondrous in our eyes. This angle stone, this conjunction of the two peoples, this union came about by God and not by a bare man. And it is wondrous in our eyes, in the eyes of those of us who have been granted to see it. And how could such a work not be wondrous?

24α This is the day that the Lord has made. ‘Day’ is what he calls the well-being of the inhabited world, for just as in saying ‘a grievous day’ we are not speaking about the course of the sun, but about the evils in that day, so in speaking about a good day we indicate the achievements in that day.

22 Or else he is calling the Church of the faithful the ‘angle stone’, for just as the angle stone brings the two walls into contact with one another, so the Church of God brings about the union of the two peoples, the people from the Jews and the people from the nations. The head of this Church is Christ, as henceforth head of one body, and not only the head, but also the bond of union and foundation.

And now therefore he is foretelling the achievements in the day of Christ’s resurrection. For it reconciled God towards men, it destroyed the tyranny of the devil, it abolished the power of death, it made those unworthy of the earth worthy of heaven, it dissolved the dark- ness of error, it banished sin, it planted virtue and filled the inhabited world with countless goods. 24β Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Spiritually. He urges the faithful to this as having been made worthy of such things. 25α O Lord, save most surely. Your people. 25β O Lord, expedite most surely. Your people and the faith of the preaching. 26α Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This also is about Christ, for he came in the name of the Lord, that is, from the Lord, from the very being of the Lord, and hence he would say to the Jews, I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. Or else, ‘in the name of the Lord’, to wit, in the name of God, that is, having the name of God. 26β We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. We who have foreseen these things have blessed you, O you people from the house of the Lord, O nurslings of the Church, as having been made worthy of such things. Or else you who are from the house of the Lord. The house of the Lord is the Church of the faithful. 27α The Lord is God and has appeared to us. Christ is God, Christ is Lord, and he has appeared to men through the incarnation. He speaks of things to come as having already happened according to the custom of prophecy. 27β Appoint a festival with garlands up to the horns of the altar. 27β: The verse is calling on the trumpets of the Apostles and Prophets (which the law calls ‘trumpets of horn’, on account of their being fashioned from the true Unicorn) to appoint, through the garlanding of the tabernacle of earthly creation, a festival in harmony with the sublime and pre-eminent powers around the heavenly altar, for the horns of the intelligible altar are the sublime and pre-eminent powers of noetic nature, the Principalities

One translator says, ‘celebrate with coverings’, namely, with sacrifices covering the altar up to its horns. Its ‘horns’ are its extremities. Another says, ‘celebrate with blossomings’, that is, with garlands of flowers and branches. The verb πυκάζω, according to some, means ‘to cover’, and according to others, ‘to bud forth’. The verse urges to celebrate splendidly, according to the Hebrews in the manner said, according to us, with spiritual sacrifices covering in their multitude the altar of the soul and with garlands of virtues and branches of good works.

28α You are my God and I shall confess to you. You are my God and will exalt you. You are my God and hence, quite apart from the benefactions I have received, I shall give thanks to you and glorify you, for it behoves to give thanks to the Creator on account of his creating alone and his providence.

28β I shall confess to you, for you have heard me and become salvation for me. I shall give thanks continually as to a benefactor.

29 Confess to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy is to the age. The psalm, having been brought to and end with the verse from the beginning, imitates a circle, urging again the people to what it did at the outset.

118 Psalm 118

1α Alleluia. The divine David underwent many vicissitudes of fortune as we recounted in the pre- amble to the present book. At times he would flee from enemies, at times he would fall into § 29 misfortunes and at times he would have a more heart-pleasing life; here he would walk on the divine way, and there would offend against it. Having brought all these things together, he collected them in the present psalm, having inserted also for the instruction and profit of the readers the prayers not in any book offered by him to God on each occasion. This psalm is sufficient to bring to perfection those in search of virtue and to awaken those living carelessly. Since in the present psalm he constantly and virtually in every verse makes mention of the law and testimonies and commandments and statutes and judgements and oracles – for the entire subject of this psalm is, as it were, about these things, and he devoted this psalm specifically to them – seek in the seventeenth psalm the verse, For all his judgements are before me, and you will find the exposition of that verse treating of all of these. And henceforth it is not necessary to offer interpretation wherever we encounter any of these terms. and Authorities and Thrones and Dominions, to which powers human nature is joined by participation in the feast through the tabernacle-pitching at the resurrection, being then garlanded by the renewal of the bodies, for ‘to be garlanded’ is the same as ‘to be adorned‘ or ‘to be wrapped about’, as those who understand these matters interpret it. [PG46.1129AB]

It is necessary to know that, even though they differ from one another, for the most part, however, he denotes the law by these words, by the contents indicating that which contains them.

1β Blessed are the blameless on the way. ‘The way’ is what he calls this passing life, acclaiming as blessed those who pass through it blamelessly, those who live rightly.

1γ Those who are making their path in the law of the Lord. Those who are passing their life within the law, those who are living in accordance with the law of God and not straying outside it.

2α Blessed are those who are searching out his testimonies. Those who are reading them with care and attention and are spying out the treasure hid- den within.

2β They will seek him out with all their heart. They will seek out God with all their heart, already having enjoyment of his beauty and his light as far as is possible. And hence directing all their desire towards him, they will pass over all the things of daily life and will seek out him alone, eager to be with him through being pleasing to him. One seeks out God by walking towards him through the path of the commandments that lead to him.

3 For those who work lawlessness have not made their path in his ways. When he says ‘way’ unqualifiedly, he is alluding for the most part to the present life, but when he says the ‘way of God’ or ‘his ways’ he is alluding to the law and to the command- ments. He is saying therefore that those who in some regard are transgressing the law are not walking in the ways of God, for in that respect they have strayed from them.

4 You have commanded to keep your commandments assiduously. You ordained this in the law and added a curse for those neglecting them. And it is neces- sary, fearing the one who gave the commandments, not to transgress them in any way.

5 Would that my ways might be directed so as to keep your statutes.

Would that the ways of my life might be directed so as to fulfil your commandments. He prays this indeed knowing that it is not possible to achieve anything without co-operation from above, for Paul says, It is not a matter of the one who wills or makes effort, but of God who shows mercy. 6 Then I shall not be shamed when looking on all your commandments. When my ways will be directed, as was said, then I shall not be shamed, and indeed I have looked henceforward on all your commandments and have already carried them out. Or in a different way, I shall not then be shamed when I shall look on all your command- ments, when I shall follow them all, for overlooking some brings shame and condemnation. 7 I shall confess to you in straightness of heart when having learned the judgements of your justice. When I have learned your law, I shall give thanks to you justly, with an upright heart, with all my soul, because I have learned, because I have been illumined in mind, because I have received great benefits therefrom. 8 I shall keep your statutes; do not abandon me till greatly. I shall keep your law, having learned it, hence, I pray, do not abandon me for long – for this is what ‘till greatly’ signifies – even if you have judged to abandon me for some reasons of divine economy, as you are often accustomed to do for the benefit of those abandoned. 9 Wherewith will a young man keep straight his way? By keeping your words. He both asks and replies. For since youth is easy-going and easily led astray and readily tripped up, it has need of the keeping of the divine commandments, for this sets straight and guards the young man’s life. 10 With all my heart I have sought you out; do not drive me from your commandments. With all my heart, not dividing my attention with worldly cares. Hence I entreat, do not drive me from your commandments as unworthy. The words are those of humility which guards the achievements. Or else, do not drive me away if on occasion Ι have cooled towards them, but if I should suffer any such thing, ignite fervour in me. 11 In my heart I have hidden your oracles so that I may not sin against you.

‘Oracles’ is what he calls the commandments. I have hidden these in the treasury of my heart, having engraved their memory there indelibly, so that seeing and remembering them con- tinually I may not sin against you; and indeed they do not allow a person who does this to sin.

12 You are to be blessed, O Lord, teach me your statutes. He blesses God, praising him for the ways he has been profited by the law, and he entreats to learn this law still more certainly and more sublimely.

13 With my lips I have proclaimed all the judgements of your mouth. Not only did I learn them myself, but I also announced them to others.

14 I have taken delight in the way of your testimonies as in all riches. He did not say as in riches simply, but as in all riches. Walking on the way of your com- mandments, he says, I have taken such delight as having already acquired all riches, or as another man takes delight in all riches among men.

15 I shall ruminate on your commandments and will understand your ways. We spoke about rumination in the fifty-fourth psalm at the verse, I have been grieved in my rumination. He is saying accordingly that I shall meditate more persistently on your commandments and thence I shall understand them, namely, your desires, more precisely.

16 I shall meditate on your statutes; I shall not forget your words. I shall meditate on them and will not forget, for meditation gathers the memory.

17α Repay your servant in return. In return for his rumination on your commandments and his meditation on your statutes, repay a reward to your servant.

17β I shall live and will keep your words. Having received a reward, I shall live a better life, straining forward to what lies ahead.

18 Unveil my eyes and I shall perceive the wonders from your law.

Remove the covering from the eyes of my soul, namely, the density and occultation of the letter of the law, and I shall perceive the hidden wondrous meanings concerning your incarnate disposition.

19 I am a stranger on the earth, do not conceal from me your commandments. I treat the present life as a passage, hastening on to another life, hence make known to me more deeply your commandments so that I may work more earnestly and race more intently.

20 My soul has longed to desire your judgements at all times. It has longed fervently. My soul has longed to ever desire your judgements. The syntax is indifferent here both for the verb ‘to long’ [genitive instead of accusative] and for the verb ‘to desire’ [accusative instead of genitive]. I have loved exceedingly, he says, the desire of your judgements, and hence I would desire them at all times, that is, I was very desirous of them, I would cherish them fervently. Or else, my soul longed for your judgements at all times so as to be desirous of them or on account of having desired them.

21α You have rebuked the proud. You have threatened punishment in the book of the law for those who show contempt for the law, or you have called down curses on them as is clear in what follows.

21β Accursed are those who turn away from your law. For it is written, Cursed be whoever does not remain in all the words written in the book of the law to do them.

22 Remove from me reproach and disparagement for I have sought out your testimonies. The reproach and disparagement which my previous heedlessness inflicted on me, with my intelligible enemies reproaching and disparaging me. Or else, ‘remove’, in the sense of, expel from me, not having allowed in any way for these things to attach to me, having prevailed over my assailants.

23 And rulers indeed took their seat and would speak against me, but your servant would ruminate on your statutes. They would speak slanderously about me, mocking my meditation on your law, but I would intensify it, knowing the profit therefrom.

‘Rulers’ may also be interpreted as the Principalities and powers and world rulers of the darkness of this age.

24 And indeed your testimonies are my meditation, and your statutes my counsels. For them other things are their meditation, but for me your law is my meditation and counsellor.

25 My soul has been stuck fast to the ground, make me live according to your word. I have nearly been stuck fast to the ground, that is, I have been humbled greatly, hence make me live according to your law; or else, I have become stuck fast to earthly things, I have become riveted to them.

26α I have proclaimed my ways. I have proclaimed to you my sins.

28β And you have heard me. Having asked for remission of my sins. For it is written, Tell first your lawless acts so that you may be justified.

26γ Teach me your statutes. More precisely, more deeply.

27 Give me to understand the way of your statutes and I shall ruminate on your wonders. Make me understand the way of your law, as I wish to walk therein, and henceforward I shall meditate and linger on the wonders worked by you, making them my meditation.

28 My soul has become drowsy from languor, confirm me in your words. I have become limp from the languor which care for earthly things is accustomed to pro- duce, or else as does also the constant warfare of the demons. Support me in your words, that is, in the study of your commandments, so that I may not desist from this study through which I shall be able to cast off the drowsiness of languor.

29 Remove from me the way injustice and by your law have mercy on me.