The ‘way of injustice’ is the unjust act, the way that leads to injustice on which the unjust walk. Drive this from me, and by the law of your benevolence have mercy on me, for the law of this benevolence is to have mercy on the one who prays from his heart. 30 I have chosen the way of truth; I have not forgotten your judgements. The way of truth is the true doctrines through which one makes one’s way rightly. Or since Christ is truth, for he says, I am the truth, and his way is the gospel path that he opened up for the faithful, [David] is saying to love this way which was foreknown to him. Similarly, he is calling judgements the gospel commandments, of which, he says, I was not ignorant. 31 I have clung fast to your testimonies, O Lord, do not put me to shame. It is hard to tear me away from them, in a way I have become riveted to them, hence do not put me to shame, by allowing me to be defeated by my enemies. 32 I ran in the way of your commandments when you gave expanse to my heart. When you freed my soul from the constraint of temptations, then I ran in the way of your commandments, that is, I walked with eager haste, walking in them and living in your law. 33 Ordain for me by law, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I shall seek out this way for ever. This way indeed was ordained by law, so that ‘ordain by law’, is in the sense of, ‘teach’. And Symmachus indeed rendered this as ‘show to me’. For the one who teaches ordains by law as it were, urging towards what is good and deterring from what is evil; and indeed he said earlier, Teach me your statutes. Or else, reveal to me the way of your statutes and I shall seek out this way for ever, for it remains hidden to the many, appearing obscure to them. 34 Give me understanding and I shall search out your law and will keep it with all my heart. I shall search out attentively, and having understood exactly, I shall keep it. We have said elsewhere, moreover, that keeping the law is doing the things of the law and Pss 16.4β, fulfilling it. 18.12α 35 Guide me on the worn track of your commandments, for this is the path I have desired.

Guide me, leading me to it, for God guides those who show ardent desire. He called this way a ‘worn track’, as one that is not strange, but habituated and well-worn by the just who have walked on it previously. 36 Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to avarice. Turn my heart to love for your testimonies, having helped its eager desire, and do not allow it to be diverted to avarice, being defeated perhaps by concerns of daily life. He asks all things from God, teaching that he accomplishes everything, for it is writ- ten, Apart from me you can do nothing. Let this be a general rule for you for all the similar things that follow. For he helps not all, but those who are worthy and who have contributed everything that is in their power. 37α Avert my eyes so as not to see vanity. Avert them from harmful spectacles, so as not to see any vain sight. Understand ‘eyes’ as those of the body and of the soul. 37β Make me live in your way. Reanimate me in your law, for the law brings true life to those who live therein, while the present life brings death. 38 Establish your oracle in your servant to instil your fear. Set fast in me your servant your lordly ordinance to instil your fear, calling the law an ‘oracle’, that is, establish your oracle in me to instil your fear, so that this may become for me a fearful oracle. 39α Remove my reproach, that which I have suspected. The reproach inflicted on me by sin, that which I have feared, being brought on me by the demons. Or the reproach from those plotting against me, that I suspected, sensing myself suffering distress. And above he said, Remove from me reproach and disparagement. 39β For your judgements are good. For you judge justly, knowing that I have repented and that in you, O Lord, I have hoped, having dedicated my whole self to you.

40 See, I have desired your commandments, make me live in your justice. I hunger and thirst for your commandments. Make me live in your justice. This is the same as, Make me live in your law, which he said above. [Ps 118.37β]

41 And may your mercy, O Lord, come upon me, your salvation according to your word. So that I may find mercy and be saved, for the goal of mercy is salvation. May it come according to your promise, for you promised in the law to have mercy on and to save those who keep your commands.

42α And I shall give a word of answer to those who reproach me. To those who reproach me for my suffering for virtue I shall give a word of answer.

42β For I have hoped in your words. I shall answer them this, that I have hoped in the words of God who has promised many good things to those who keep his commandments, and on this account I suffer, being nour- ished by good hopes.

43α And do not remove from my mouth the word of truth till greatly. Do not remove from me the gift of prophecy for long, but if it be held in check by divine dispensation, restore it to me again. Or else, do not allow truthfulness to be taken away for long from my mouth, for it is likely that I shall at times speak falsely; or else, do not remove for long, that is, never.

43β For I have hoped strongly in your judgements. For I have hoped greatly in your law, trusting that the gift of truth will be preserved for me by my keeping it.

44 And I shall keep your law throughout, to the age and to the age of the age. ‘Throughout’, namely, in everything, and ‘to the age and to the age of the age’ is an inten- sification of ‘always’; or else all of the expressions together mean ‘always’, with ‘throughout’ in the sense of ‘always’ and the rest being an explication of ‘always’. Or else that I shall keep the law not only in the present age, but also in the age to come, which is the age of this age as more precious, through which he indicates his great eagerness about his keeping of the law.

45 And I would make my path in expansiveness because I have sought out your command- ments. I would have free passage in everything for the reason that I have loved your command- ments. Or else, even when afflicted I would not be straitened, for the awareness that I had sought out your commandments would expand me in affliction, for a good conscience gives comfort. 46 And I would speak of your testimonies before kings and would not be ashamed. I would speak of your law before kings and I would be held in honour; I would speak openly of your commandments and would not inhibit myself. This is also fitting for those bearing witness as martyrs for Christ. 47- And I would meditate on your commandments that I have loved greatly; and I have raised 48α up my hands to your commandments that I have loved. I would meditate on them, reading them; and I have raised up my hands to them, enacting them. The use of the conjunction ‘that’ first in the dative and then in the accusative is indifferent, the one answering to ‘on your commandments’ and the other to ‘to your commandments’. 48β And I would ruminate on your statutes. Such rumination was also spoken about above. 49 Remember your word to your servant with which you made me hope strongly. In regard to me your servant, remember your word, by which word you made me hope. What is the word of yours? That you will have mercy on and will save those who keep your ordinances, as was stated also above. Remember your word for me your servant. ‘Remember’ in relation to God is to be understood in a manner befitting God, in the sense of, ‘bring to fulfilment’. The syntax of the verb ‘to remember’ here is indifferent [accusative instead of genitive]. 50α This has comforted me in my humiliation. ‘This’, what? This hope, that is to say. This has comforted me, this has restored me in my humiliation from temptations, in my suffering. 50β For your oracle has made me live.

The word of yours mentioned above; this has given me life, having been virtually brought Ps 118.41, 49 to death on the gallows of affliction. 51 Proud men would transgress the law till greatly, but I have not strayed from your law. They would transgress your law very much, but I was not carried away with them. Or else they would transgress the law by mocking me who am ever devoted to the law, but I did not desist from its study. ‘Proud men’ is what he calls those who show contempt for the law, as we stated before. All the self-important are such. 52 I remembered your judgements from the age, O Lord, and was comforted. Your eternal judgements, from the beginning and henceforward; how you glorify those who suffer for virtue and dishonour those who prosper in wickedness. 53 Despondency took hold of me from sinners who abandon your law. I became despondent on account of them, being on the one hand enraged that they are rejecting your law, and on the other hand grieved that they are being utterly destroyed. 54 Your statutes for me were words to be sung in the place of my sojourn. Words that were sung, that is, meditated on by me, wherever I was sojourning, in what- ever place I would be living. Or otherwise, they became psalms for me; I made them into psalms, and singing them I would be glad. 55 I remembered your name in the night, O Lord, and I kept your law. In the night when most especially the demons of impurity give trouble, by bringing you to mind I would remain chaste in your fear; or in the night of sufferings when I was being darkened by them. 56 This came to pass for me because I sought out your statutes. This memory; for he is accustomed often to take the verb as a noun, as also in the verse, This has comforted me in my humiliation. He is saying accordingly that this memory came to me from my fervent seeking for your statutes. For from thence he received the fear. 57 You are my portion, O Lord; I have said to keep your law.

You are my portion, my inheritance, my wealth, having disdained every portion on earth; on this account therefore I have said, I have covenanted, I have promised about keeping your law inviolable. 58 I have entreated your face with all my heart; have mercy on me according to your oracle. I have entreated you wholeheartedly about my sin, Have mercy on me according to your oracle. For it is written in the law that you have mercy on the penitent. Or else, according to your promise, or according to your discrimination. ‘Your face’, in the sense of, ‘you’, by way of circumlocution. 59 I have considered your ways and have turned back my feet to your testimonies. I would consider your law and would direct the way of my life towards your command- ments. A number of copies write, ‘I have considered my ways’, that is, first of all I would examine what I was to do and to say, and hence I would walk within your commandments. 60 I have prepared myself and have not been troubled so as to keep your commandments. I have prepared myself for the keeping of your commandments, and hence I have not been unsettled by their harshness and heaviness; for what has been studied and anticipated is easier to deal with. Or else, I have not been troubled when demons or temptations have attacked me, know- ing that they will strike against me and having readied myself to endure with patience. 61 Ropes of sinners have tangled themselves around me, and your law I have not forgotten. The ropes of the sinful demons are wicked thoughts through which they attempt to bind those engaged in struggle. These ropes, he says, have tangled themselves around me, and not even thus have I forgotten your law. Having severed them by the fear of the law as if by some sword, I made my escape. 62 At midnight I would arise so as to confess to you for the judgements of your justice. At midnight when the demons make attack most especially, the ones inciting to wicked reflection, and the others to sin. Or else when sleep is flowing more sweetly, then, he says, I would arise from my bed to confess to you, to give thanks to you on account of the judgements of your justice, for these,

out of consideration for us, you have ordained by law, so that in fear we may remain chaste and not be punished by giving ourselves over to licentiousness. Or else I would arise so as to confess my sins on account of the judgements of your justice, that is, fearing on account of those judgements.

63 I am partner with all who fear you and who keep your commandments. Partner, that is, I share in the same fear and the same keeping, namely, I am one of them.

64 The earth, O Lord, is full of your mercy, teach me your statutes. You have mercy on the whole earth, feeding all, having providence for all, displaying long-suffering towards all; have mercy also on me and teach me your statutes more sublimely and more perfectly. And certainly he, too, was receiving mercy along with all else, but he said this in more fervent entreaty.

65 You have done good with your servant, O Lord, according to your word. You have shown kindness to your servant, for thus Symmachus rendered it. And according to your word written in the law about those who are well-pleasing receiv- ing benefaction. Or else according to your word, in the sense of, as befits you; he gives thanks for the ben- efactions he has received.

66 Teach me goodness and learning and knowledge, for I have believed in your command- ments. Goodness towards those of the same kind, and learning, namely, that of practical virtue, and knowledge, that of contemplative virtue. Give me understanding in these, he says, in return for my having obeyed your commandments, or else because I believed in them that they will give me understanding.

67 Before I was humbled I transgressed, on this account I have kept your oracle. Before I suffered ills I sinned; having sinned earlier, I was then chastised. On this account I have kept your law, lest, having sinned again, I be subject again to trial. For humiliation from trial follows on transgression. Or else one is to understand humiliation as that proceeding from virtue, that which comes to those who are vigilant from an awareness of sin, so that we may also understand that his transgression became for him an occasion for humility.

68 You are good, O Lord, and in your goodness teach me your statutes. As good and benevolent and a lover of goodness, teach me more distinctly so that I also may become good. He says the same very often both intensifying his entreaty and yearning fervently for instruction from God.

69 The injustice of the proud has been multiplied on me, but with all my heart I shallll search out your commandments. They are wronging me in many ways, but not even so shall I deviate from your command- ments, nor shall I imitate them, but I shall search out your commandments and shall draw consolation for myself from thence. Understand ‘the proud’ both as the demons and as those who have contempt for the law.

70 Their heart has curdled like milk, but I have meditated on your law. It has hardened against me, for milk curdling into cheese is hardened. Or else it has become fat abounding in injustices, for milk when curdling into cheese become fattier.

71 It is good for me that you have humbled me, so that I may learn your statutes. It was profitable, beneficial for me that you chastised me with trials so that I may learn your justice, because you punish those who sin and because if you punish here, you will do so much more there.

72 The law of your mouth is good for me above thousands of gold and silver. The law that you dictated to Moses is good for me as training the body and regulating the character and bringing understand to the soul.

73 Your hands have made me and fashioned me, give me understanding and I shall learn your commandments. You have fashioned me, so let you give me understanding and let you teach me, and I shall learn to effect your commandments. Some understand the hands of the Father as the Son and the holy Spirit, through whom he made all things, as we have said elsewhere.

74 Those who fear you will see me and be glad, for I have hoped strongly in your words.

They will see me prospering if you will give me understanding and they will be glad be- cause I have hoped strongly in your commandments and not in any other earthly thing.

75 I have come to know, O Lord, that your judgements are justice, and in truth you have humbled me. I have come to know through experience that your judgements are just and that for good reason and justly you have humbled me through trials so that I might be brought to my senses, for I have sinned.

76 Let your mercy then come to comfort me according to your oracle to your servant. Let your mercy be upon me your servant for the purpose of bringing me relief in my dis- tress. Let this be according to your oracle, according to your promise, for you have promised in the law to succour those who are repenting.

77α Let your compassion come upon me and I shall live. Being now choked by sorrows.

77β For your law is my meditation. Let it come upon me because your law is my meditation as nothing else.

78α Let the proud be shamed, for unjustly they have acted lawlessly against me. Let them be shamed by achieving nothing, by being defeated. He is speaking of those mentioned above. Unjustly they have acted lawlessly against me, having attacked me out of envy alone.

78β But I shall ruminate on your commandments. This rumination has been spoken about earlier.

79 Let those who fear you and those who know your testimonies make me turn back. Let such ones make me turn back if ever I should stray from your commandments.

80 Let my heart become blameless in your statutes, so that I may not be shamed. Let it become blameless meditating on your statutes and being cleansed by fear of them, so that I may not be shamed, having committed an act of shame.

81α My soul is fainting for your salvation.

It is taking leave of me in a way, or is dissolving, being unable to bear the intensity of desire. Salvation is what he is calling the saving incarnation of Christ. He says accordingly that I yearn intensely for this your salvation.

81β I have hoped strongly in your words. I have confidence in your words, for this salvation will come about, namely, I trust in your words written in the law about this. Some understand him to be saying these things about his own salvation, namely, that I yearn for the salvation from you and I have confidence in your commandments that I shall be saved keeping them. It is indifferent whether you say ‘words’ or ‘word’, for both are found in the copies.

82 My eyes have fainted for your oracle, saying, ‘When will you comfort me?’ The eyes of my soul have failed, they have become weak, from straining towards your law. And they have fainted seeking when you will bring me relief, having given understanding and revealed the hidden wealth.

83 For I have become like a wineskin in frost, I have not forgotten your statutes. They say that a wineskin cooled in frost contracts; he also became such in his trials, having been reduced and chastened, and for this reason not forgetting henceforth the statutes of God lest he fall again into trials. Others say that when a wineskin is trailed in frost it becomes soft and flaccid; such, he says, I became, being dragged in trials; I became weak and limp, but I did not, however, forget your statutes so as to do anything unlawful. Or else in a different way; I have become like a wineskin, dead to passions and able to contain divine oracles, and I became this in the hoar frost of divine grace, descending from above and cooling the flame of the passions, and hence I have not departed from your law, knowing that through it I have attained this grace.

84 How many are the days of your servant? When will you give judgement to me from my persecutors? How many are they? At all events they are few. So when will you give me justification from the invisible and visible enemies persecuting me? You will do this when you have turned them back and driven them far off.

85 Transgressors have rehearsed ruminations to me, but not as your law, O Lord.

They have rehearsed to me idle nonsense about doctrines, but contrary to your law. Or else they have rehearsed frivolities to me, allegedly interpreting your law, but they were not in agreement with it. This may be said about all the heretics at once. 86 All your commandments are truth; unjustly they have persecuted me; help me. All are true in which you commanded not to commit injustice; therefore, help me who am being wronged, avenging indeed your own laws which are being transgressed. Here he is speaking about the visible enemies. 87 They have all but brought an end to me in the earth, but I have not abandoned your com- mandments. They have very nearly slain me, for the completion of life is called its consummation or its being brought to an end; ‘they have brought an end to me’ therefore is in the sense of, ‘they prepared to finish off my life’. Or else they have trapped me in the earth, or have trampled me into the earth. But not even thus have I departed from the meditation on and keeping of your commandments. 88 According to your mercy make me live and I shall keep the testimonies of your mouth. In your mercy make me live since you are merciful. The expression ‘make me live’ was Ps 118.25, spoken about earlier. The testimonies of your mouth which you dictated to Moses. 37β, 40 89 To the age, O Lord, your word remains in heaven. Your decree about its order ever remains unshaken in heaven, maintaining the heaven in this order. 90α Your truth to generation and generation. The truth of your decree of this kind is everlasting; it holds true through every generation, the ordained order never being altered. 90β You have founded the earth and it remains in your decree. The earth also remains in your decree, as it was appointed. 91 The day remains, for all things are your servants. The day remains as you have appointed, maintaining its own order. The reason for this remaining is that these things and with them all things are your servants, and hence they obey the decree of their Master just as certain servants.

According to a more exalted interpretation, your word ever remains in heaven among the angels, for they, it is written, are Doing your word. Your truth in the law is to generation and generation, namely, to that of the old people and that of the new, for it is confessed as true by both. You have founded the Church and established her in the faith of the Gospel, which Church was formerly earth and earthly-minded and dragged along by earthly concerns. And hence the Church remains as you have appointed, many trials having dashed against her, but nothing having prevailed against her. The day remains, that is, the light of piety which dawned through the preaching, neither being cut off nor extinguished by the opposing power. These things are spoken prophetically.

92 Were it not that your law is my meditation, then I would have perished in my humiliation. Had I not been delivered because the law is my meditation, then I would have died in my sufferings, with trials having assailed me more violently.

93 To the age I shall not forget your statutes, for in them you have made me live. Throughout all the age I shall not forget them for on their account you endowed me with life when I was being choked, as was said previously; for because I had your law as my medi- tation, on this account I was delivered, as was stated.

94 I am yours; save me for I have sought out your statutes. For it is written in the law that The man who has done these things will have life in them. Since therefore I am yours as seeking out your statutes, save me from those who are assailing me.

95α Sinners have awaited me so as to destroy me. They have set an ambush for me, for the one who sets an ambush awaits the one being ambushed.

95β I have understood your testimonies. Having been given understanding by you, hence I find relief in these.

96 Of every consummation I have seen the end, your commandment is exceedingly expansive. I have known the end of every effort, both human and demonic, for your commandment is exceedingly expansive, not constraining the mind but expanding it towards knowledge, by which knowledge I, too, having been expanded, have come to know the end of each consummation.

Or else in another way: I have come to know the end of every life’s conclusion, namely, what is the end at the death of the just man and what at the death of the sinner. Then the rest: your commandment is exceedingly expansive, expanding the one who lives by it when in the straits of affliction. Understand the commandments as the law. Or else it is expansive in not constricting nor bringing distress even if it appears toilsome to the more indolent. 97 How I have loved your law, O Lord, all day long it is my meditation. I have loved your law exceedingly, hence all day long I meditate on it, that is, every day, now reading it, now enacting it, now thinking about it. 98 You have made me wise above my enemies by your commandment, for it is mine to the age. The enemies of those who keep the law are those who do not keep it. Above those, he says, you have taught me your commandment more wisely, for it is ever beloved to me. Hence they act unjustly towards me, but I do retaliate against them, being taught more wisely than they. 99 I have understood above all who instruct me, for your testimonies are my meditation. And I have become more sagacious than even my teachers, because I have your law as my constant meditation and it is able to illuminate and make wise the mind. 100 I have understood above elders, for I have sought out your commandments. Above those who are older than me and who have gone before me in time; he is alluding also to Saul. Daniel also became such, having understood the judgement respecting Susanna better than the elders of the people. Sus 41-59 The reason for the better understanding is the seeking out of the divine commandments, the precise searching and keeping of them. These things can also be said about the new people. Enemies of this new people are the Jews as being continually hostile; they are instructors, as having been the first to teach the nations about the one God and as having provided the books; they are also elders as the first people, for it is written, Israel is my first-born son. Above those accordingly we have been made wise in the law, understanding it more wisely than they according to its hidden content, and because we love it more; for the other things also, and as predicting the things about Christ. 101 I have held back my feet from every evil way, so that I might keep your words.

I have done this so that I might not break your commandments which enjoin this. 102 I have not deviated from your judgements, for you have ordained a law for me. Not a man, but God, fearing whom I did not deviate. The syntax of the verb ‘to ordain a law’ is indifferent [using the accusative instead of the dative]. 103 How sweet to my throat are your oracles, above honey to my mouth. To the throat and mouth of the body, when uttered, to those of the soul when under- stood. He indicates the pleasure in them that is felt by those with healthy senses, for to those who have a poor appetite they say that even honey is bitter. 104 From your commandments I have come to understanding, on this account I have hated every way of injustice. From these I have been made wise and have become more understanding, and hence I have repudiated evil things. 105 Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my tracks. This law guides me to what is good like a lamp and a light, showing the straight way in the night of life and darkness of the passions and not allowing to stumble on sin. ‘Feet’ and ‘tracks’ are what he calls his way of life. 106 I have sworn and set firm so as to keep the judgements of your justice. Having gained experience of the profit from your commandments I have sworn, that is, I have promised truly and have set firm and immoveable this oath about keeping them, for ‘setting’ is what he calls the establishing of this oath. 107 I have been humbled till greatly, O Lord, make me live according to your word. I have been humbled very much, either by involuntary hardships or voluntary sufferings. ‘Make me live according to your word’ was spoken about above at the verse, My soul has been stuck fast to the ground. 108α Accept then favourably, O Lord, the freely-spoken words of my mouth. Accept and make prosper my freely-spoken promises, the pledges not made under con- straint, but out of gratitude, such as was the oath to keep your commandments. 105: The law given through Moses, understood in bodily terms, is a lamp for those walking the way of practical virtue, and, conceived in spiritual terms, is a light to those being led up through contemplative knowledge.

108β And teach me your judgements. Being difficult to understand, for it is written, the judgements of God are a mighty abyss. Or else, teach me them more profoundly. 109 My soul is ever in your hands, and I have not forgotten your law. I hand my soul over to you at all times, I make you its guard and defender and guide, and for this reason I have not forgotten your law so that I may not fall away from you. 110 Sinners have set a snare for me, and from your commandments I have not strayed. They have set a snare for me, eager to catch me, and I have not strayed away from your commandments, fearful lest I fall away from them. For the one who walks in the law of God not not fall into traps. ‘Sinners’ is what he calls the demons or lawless men. 111 I have inherited your testimonies to the age, for they are the surpassing joy of my heart. I have set them as a continuous inheritance and inalienable gain. The verse indicates his disposition towards them. 112 I have inclined my heart to do your statutes to the age by reason of the recompense. I have persuaded my heart; I have turned it to perform your commandments always on account of the reward laid in store for those who are well-pleasing to you. 113- I have hated transgressors, but have loved your law; you are my helper and protector, I have 114 hoped strongly in your words. I have taken courage in your law which justifies those who fulfil it and promises them blessings. 115 Turn away from me, you evil-doers, and I shall search out the commandments of my God. For wicked men and demons, by causing annoyance, hamper this.

116α Come to my aid according to your oracle. According to your promise, for you have promised in the law to defend those who are keeping it, as was stated above; or else, simply according to your promise.

116β And make me live. This has already been spoken about variously.

116γ And do not shame me of my expectation. Do not make me be ashamed, having failed in my hope in you.

117 Help me and I shall be saved, and I shall meditate on your statutes continually. I shall be saved from the scheming of my enemies.

118 You have brought to nothing all who fall away from your statutes, for their desire is unjust. You have demeaned, you have rejected as worthless, for in desiring to transgress, they are falling away from your law.

119 I have reckoned all the sinners of the earth as transgressors, on this account I have loved your testimonies. I have regarded all those who are sinning as transgressors of the law, hence I have loved your law lest I myself be reckoned as a transgressor. He said ‘of the earth’ as being from the earth or as sinning on the earth.

120 Nail down my flesh from your fear, for I have been seized with fear at your judgements. From reading your judgements I have become afraid in soul, but I do not also have my body being restrained by such fear, therefore nail it also down with this your fear, so as not to move to disorderly impulses and unfitting actions.

121 I have meted out judgement and justice, do not surrender me to those wronging me. I have given just judgement (for he said the same thing in parallel). Hence do not

surrender me, who am judging justly, to those unjustly assailing me, nor let the lawless gain dominion over the law-abiding.

122 Await your servant for good; let not the proud slander me. Show forbearance with your servant for the sake of good, so as to be cleansed through genuine repentance of the taint of sin that has come upon me. Let not proud men, that is, those with contempt for the law, slander me, as being fraught by trials by reason of fate and not on account of the sin whereby I offended, or as repenting to no purpose, or as vainly hoping in salvation.

123 My eyes have fainted for your salvation and for the oracle of your justice. The eyes of my soul have failed, they have become weak, from straining towards your salvation and towards the promise of your justice. It was said above also, My eyes have fainted for your oracle.

124 Do with your servant according to your mercy and teach me your statutes. Show mercy on your servant as merciful; or show beneficence in your mercy, and having had mercy on me, teach me your statutes, as he said earlier also.

125 I am your servant; bring me to understanding and I shall come to know your testimonies. And if you will bring me to understanding I shall come to know them.

126 It is time for the Lord to act, they have scattered your law to the winds. It is time for you the Lord to act - vengeance that is. The transgressors have abolished, they have rejected, your law.

127 On this account I have loved your commandments above gold and topaz. Because they have scattered it to the winds, I have loved it even more; above gold and a precious stone, namely, above much wealth.

128α On this account I would set my purpose towards all your commandments. Not towards this one or that, but towards all, for this is a mark of perfection. I would direct myself towards all, so that I, for my part, may serve you who have com- manded them, while they are provoking you to anger.

128β I have hated every unjust way. For the one who loves the commandments hates all evil as opposed to them, for virtue and vice, light and darkness, health and sickness are irreconcilable. 129 Your testimonies are wonderful; on this account my soul has searched them out. They are wonderful, nurturing every kind of virtue, driving away every evil. For this rea- son, my whole soul did not simply search, but searched them out exactly. 130 The disclosing of your words illumines infants and brings them to understanding. And even those who are infants in age, let alone those who are grown men; or else those who are infants in mind; or those who have believed from the nations as recently brought to knowledge of God; or simply the new people. 131 I have opened my mouth and drawn in spirit, for I would yearn fervently for your com- mandments. The mouth of my soul, which is the mind. Having closed my mind to evil thoughts, I have opened it to good thoughts, and have drawn in a spirit of understanding, a gift of wisdom. The verbs ‘I would yearn fervently’, ‘I have searched out’, ‘I have hoped strongly’, and suchlike are indicative of increase in intensity. 132 Look upon me and have mercy on me according to the judgement of those who love your name. Everyone is always in need of God’s mercy. Look upon me who am being afflicted. Ac- cording to the judgement, namely, according to the verdict that you have given for those who love you, having judged that you will have mercy on them, especially when in afflictions, and help them. 133 Direct my steps according to your oracle, and let not every lawlessness gain dominion over me. Direct the way of my life according to your law, and let not every lawlessness enslave me so as to commit lawless acts, for it is written, Every one who commits sin is a slave to sin, or let not any lawless man enslave me so as to take me under his control. Every lawlessness, whatever it may be, that is, no lawlessness whatsoever. 134 Redeem me from the slander of men and I shall keep your commandments.

So that neither may they slander me, nor I them, for slander is grievous, often producing despair about divine providence in the more faint-hearted. In exchange for his freedom he promises the keeping of the commandments. Or else in a different way, redeem me and I shall keep, not being troubled by slander which is accustomed to hamper the keeping of the commandments.

135 Shine your face upon your servant and teach me your statutes. Shine your overseeing power on me, that is, Look upon me, as was said. About the rest of the verse we have spoken previously. Or in a different way, the face of the Father is the Son, for it is written, He who has seen me has seen the Father, and since he is called his ‘express image’. He is entreating accordingly to manifest to him the Son incarnate, as destined become man, and to teach him the statutes of his Gospel, which he will lay down as law. Or else he is making the entreaty in the person of the new people, praying to send him to them and to teach the Gospel statutes.

136 My eyes have sunk with passagings of waters since they have not kept your law. Passagings of waters are the gullies and cavities. He is saying therefore that my eyes have become hollow with cavities through shedding tears, namely, they have melted away, flowing with a multitude of tears because the transgressors have not kept your law; for I would deeply bewail those wretched people. This can also be understood about the Jews, who, transgressing, slew Christ; for he would shed tears for them, as being of the same race.

137 You are just, O Lord, and your judgements are straight. It is good to understand and say this always and to believe and confess it.

138 You have commanded your testimonies justice and truth exceedingly. You have commanded them, [as being] justice in very deed and truth exceedingly. Or else, you have commanded them, [as being] just and exceedingly true. For your law rewards justly both the one who succeeds and the one who fails, and is true in its promises.

139 Your zeal has melted me away, for my enemies have forgotten your words. My zeal on your behalf when you are being despised, or my just anger on your behalf; because those who for this very reason are my enemies have forgotten your commandments, having desisted from the study of them.

140 Your oracle is tried in fire most mightily, and your servant has loved it. Your law is exceedingly pure and untainted, for such is gold tried in fire. And in the eleventh psalm it was said, The oracles of the Lord are pure oracles, silver tried in the fire. And your servant alone has loved this oracle, namely, whoever is your devotee, whoever worships with fear.

141 I am younger and disparaged; I have not forgotten your statutes. In terms of history, David was the youngest of his brothers and was disparaged by his fa- ther on account of his shortness of stature when Samuel appeared to anoint him to kingship. But he was also younger that Saul and was disparaged and persecuted by him. And neverthe- less he would remember God’s commandments above all of these. The verse can also be understood in the person of the new people, being disparaged by the old people, but understanding and keeping the law more than them.

142α Your justice is justice to the age. Eternal justice, justice most eminently; whomsoever you justify you justify eternally and justly. The justice of men is not such, being both temporary and in error for the most part.

142β And your law is truth. Truth in very deed; proving true exceedingly in everything. Truth may be understood also as correctness, in accordance with, You are just, O Lord, and your judgements are straight. And it was said in the eighteenth psalm, The Lord’s judge- ments are true, and proven just altogether.

143 Afflictions and constraints have found me; your commandments are my meditation. In my afflictions your commandments were my meditation, consoling me and easing the pain.

144α Your testimonies are justice to the age. Eternal justice as was said previously, for he dwells fondly on the praise of the law.

144β Bring me to understanding and I shall live.

And I shall live truly, for those who have not been brought to understanding do not live truly as living in an ill-thought manner.

145 I have cried with my whole heart; hear me, O Lord; I shall seek out your statutes. Even as I was being afflicted I cried to you, and not simply, but with my whole heart; for this reason, hear me; I shall seek out your statutes if you will hear me.

146 I have cried to you, save me, and I shall keep your testimonies. He says the same here also, intensifying the entreaty and confirming his promise. Save me who am in danger.

147 I awoke early in the dead of night and cried out, in your words I have hoped strongly. I anticipated the hours before dawn in the dead of night, before the hour had come at which people rise, and I cried out to you; I have trusted in those words, which you have made resonant in me through the holy Spirit: He will cry out to me and I shall hear him.

148 My eyes opened early at the time near dawn to meditate on your oracles. My eyes anticipated the day near the time of dawn so as to meditate on your law. For at dead of night he would pray, and at dawn he would meditate on the law.

149α Hear my voice, O Lord, in accordance with your mercy. In your mercy, as merciful.

149β In accordance with your judgement make me live. In accordance with your law make me live, living lawfully.

150 Those pursuing me have drawn near to lawlessness, but from your law they have distanced themselves far. The nearer they come to lawlessness, they further they go from the law. Some copies write ‘lawlessness’ in the accusative rather than in the dative, which is to be understood as they have brought lawlessness close to me, they have brought their lawlessness near to me, they have very nearly entrapped me, but in scheming such things, they have dis- tanced themselves far from your law.

151α You, O Lord, are near. And elsewhere he says, The Lord is near all those who call upon him, and in another place it is written, I am a God who draws near and not a God who is afar off, in accordance with, Do Jer 23.23, 24 I not fill the heaven and the earth? says the Lord, and again, While you are still speaking I shall say, See, here I am. God therefore draws near, but to those who are approaching him. For the just are ap- proaching him through advancement and ascent, while the sinners are distancing themselves from him, about whom it was said, See, those who distance themselves from you will perish. 151β And all your ways are truth. All things that are yours are true and certain; or all your works of providence according to which you control the world are true, as truly works of foresight; or all your judgements are true, as unerring and correct. 152 From the beginning I have known from your testimonies, for you have founded them to the age. At the outset I have known from your testimonies that you have established them eternal- ly. Having begun to understand them, I have come to know that you made them unshakeable, and no one will abolish them. For even if most seem to have been abolished by the Gospel, but not according to their hidden meaning, but according to their outward appearance and foreshadowing, as has been discussed previously. 153 See my humiliation and deliver me, for I have not forgotten your law. See my grievous suffering and deliver me from my trials, for having suffered on account of your law, I have not forgotten it, nor could I bear to transgress the law nor to emulate those scheming against me. Or else, see my humiliation in virtue and deliver me, for I have not forgotten your law which bids to be humbled minded. 154α Judge my judgement and redeem me. The judgement of my case with those who are waging war on me. And in the forty-second psalm he says, Give judgement on my case, and in the thirty-fourth psalm, Wage war on those who are warring against me. On account of your word make me live. On account of your law revive me, for on account of it I am now in danger of dying, being oppressed by my enemies. 155 Salvation is far from sinners, for they have not sought out your statutes.

Salvation is far from transgressors of the law, for they are in danger because they have shown contempt for your commandments. But to me it is near, for I shall be delivered from their treachery, because I have sought out your commandments. Or else the verse is didactic, namely, that the sinners will not be saved, even if things are flowing well for them here; or that they will not have help from God, as despisers of his statutes. 156 Your mercies, O Lord, are many, make me live according to your judgement. You are full of mercy. At your final judgement of the world make me live the blessed life when the just will depart to eternal life; or else make me life here according to your law, work- ing together with my eager desire. 157 Many are those persecuting and afflicting me, I have not deviated from your testimonies. Many both visible and invisible are those who are seeking to lay hold on me, and who are stirring up every kind of trial; but I trusting in you alone, have not been diverted from your testimonies. In various ways he formulates these words, which he would say on various occasions. 158 I have seen those devoid of understanding and would be melted away, for they have not kept your oracles. And above he said, Your zeal has melted me away, for my enemies have forgotten your words. 159 See that I have loved your commandments, O Lord, make me live in your mercy. At times he entreats to be given life on account of his keeping of the commandments, and at times on account of God’s mercy, in the former case justifying himself, and in the latter displaying modesty; the second is a mark of the more perfect, for as is written, No one is jus- tified by works of the law. Seek also in the one hundred and second psalm the explanation of the verse, Who crowns you with mercy and compassion. 160α The beginning of your words is truth. He wishes to say that your words are true, for if their beginning is truth, then what ensues is certainly truth, following on the beginning. And perhaps he is also speaking about the first word spoken to Adam, You shall eat for food of every tree that is in paradise, but of the tree of knowing good and evil, of it you shall not eat; on the day that you eat of it you shall die by death. For this word is the beginning of all God’s words to man, and so true that death has prevailed over all our race in succession.

160β And all the judgements of your justice are to the age. Eternal, unshakeable. And above he said indeed, For you have founded them to the age.

161 Rulers have persecuted me without cause, and my heart has shrunk in fear at your words. It has not shrunk in fear at those who kill the body, but at the word spoken by you, who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna, that is, I feared your commandments more than I did them, and it is not on account of fear for them that I did nothing contrary to the com- mandments. ‘Rulers’ may also be understood as those around Saul, whom, though often having it in his power to kill him, he spared out of reverence for God’s commandments, for it is written, You will not speak evil of a ruler of your people. And if you will not speak evil of him, much more you will not kill him.

162 I shall rejoice in your oracles like one who finds great spoils. Just as those spoils enrich him, so your oracles enrich me, illumining my mind and be- stowing a treasure of knowledge.

163 I have hated and abominated injustice, but I have loved your law. Not only have I hated it, but I have abominated it; this is an intensification of hatred. And above he said, I have hated transgressors, but have loved your law.

164 Seven times a day I have praised you for the judgements of your justice. Among the Hebrews ‘seven times’ on occasion signifies ‘many times’. Many times a day, he says, I hymned you on account of your justice, on account of your law, or else on account of your discriminating guiding of things, doing everything justly and and fittingly. If we take ‘seven times’ as a number, however, then understand ‘day’ as the day and night cycle, and he counts Midnight, Before dawn, Daybreak, Third Hour, Sixth Hour, Ninth Hour and Evening.

165 There is much peace for those who love your law, and to them it is not a stumbling-block. Peace, not towards their invisible enemies, but towards God; and it is not an obstacle on which they trip, for the law smooths out the way of virtue for them, removing every hin- drance of sin. Or else peace towards those of the same faith, even if they often do not want to make peace with them.

166 I would look expectantly for your salvation, O Lord, and I have loved your commandments. And I have loved your commandments so that what I expect may come to me.

167 My soul has kept your testimonies and has loved them greatly. Not only has it kept them, but has loved them, and not only loved, but greatly.

168α I have kept your commandments and your testimonies. What he separated he now unites.

168β For all my ways are before you, O Lord. The reason for my keeping of them is that all the ways of my life and my every action is performed before you and I walk my way with you as witness, for it is written, I would see the Lord before me at all times. Hence fearing you who look on my whole being, I keep your commandments and your testimonies.

169α Let my entreaty approach before you, O Lord. May it not be turned away as unacceptable. What is this entreaty?

169β Bring me to understanding according to your oracle. This is the entreaty, namely, bring me to understanding, not by human art or worldly knowledge, but in accordance with your word, so that I may come to understand your words, so that I may come to know your law exactly.

170α May my request enter before you, O Lord. For ‘request’ Aquila wrote ‘prayer’ and Symmachus ‘supplication’. Above he said ‘let it approach’ and here ‘may it enter’, for if it will approach it will also enter.

170β Deliver me according to your oracle. According to your wisdom deliver me from trials. Or else according to your promise, as has been said variously above, and indeed God promised help to him particularly.

171 May my lips break forth with a hymn when you teach me your statutes. May they bring forth a hymn of thanksgiving when you teach me your statutes more saga- ciously. A hymn of thanksgiving particularly for this benefaction. He prays this indicating his desire.

172α May my tongue utter your oracles. May it utter them constantly, now meditating on them, now teaching others, and occu- pying itself with nothing else.

172β For all your commandments are justice. Directness, directing the life and regulating the person. And earlier he said, Your testimo- nies are justice.

173 Let your hand be so as to save me, for I have chosen your commandments. Let it be so as to save me; let it come for the purpose of saving me. This is such as is the expression, Become for me as a God who defends.

174 I have yearned fervently for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my meditation. I have yearned fervently for the salvation from you, not for help from men, and hence your law is my meditation so that on account of this meditation you may deliver me from my enemies. And perhaps he is also speaking about the incarnation of the Saviour, for the incarnation is salvation of the world from him, for it is written, For to you is born this day a Saviour, which salvation he he longed fervently to see, as we have also said elsewhere. And your law, he says, is my meditation, inasmuch as the law foreshadows and alludes darkly to the things about this salvation.

175 My soul will live and will praise you, and your judgements will help me. It will live the true life, when Those who have done good will depart to eternal life, and he will praise then more sublimely and more perfectly. And your judgements in the law will help me when I have kept them and will procure for me confidence of address. A number of copies have the [future] optative, ‘may my soul come to live’ and ‘may they come to help me’, with the prophet praying to live a virtuous life – for this is life in the em- inent sense – and to be helped in this by the law, directing and regulating him, as was said before.

176 I have strayed like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your command- ments.

I have strayed, not having lost the way of your commandments, but living on the mountains and moving from one place to another while being pursued. Seek me and lead me back to my former dwelling, having silenced my pursuers, for I have not neglected your commandments. Or else he is speaking in the person of the new people. I have strayed like a lost sheep, not walking on the right well-worn track of piety, but cutting out for myself certain tracks that wind with tortuous branchings and lead to destruction. Seek your servant, for it is written, All things are your servants. ‘Seek’, you who are the good shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep, according to the parable in the Gospel about the lost sheep, and gather me into your fold. The following phrase, however, contradicts this interpretation, for the person who has not yet learned the commandments does not forget them, but rather the one who has learned them of old - unless one were to interpret the verse as one tense standing for another, namely, ‘I have not forgotten’ in the sense of, ‘I shall not forget’. 119 Psalm 119 1α An ode of degrees. These odes are fifteen in number, all having the one superscription. An ode of degrees, or according to another translator, An ode of ascents. Some accent the word on the last syllable rather than on the penult. They were allotted this superscription because they prophesy about the ascent from Bab- ylon to Jerusalem of those who had been held there as captives, how when in affliction they made supplication to God and, having been heard, received back their own fatherland. And the odes begin with their cry and supplication to God in affliction and conclude with their complete restoration to Jerusalem. And such it is according to history. According to anagogical interpretation, however, they had this superscription since, more than the other psalms, they lead the people of God from Babylon, namely, from the confusion of the present life, being held here captive to the slavery of the passions, to the heavenly Jerusalem. For the people of God, on reading them and discerning what passionate love that people had for Jerusalem and how they would lament and what cries they would let fly to God, and what they would say while being led up, and all the things of these odes, this people also is warmed to a strong and passionate love for the heavenly Jerusalem. 1β To the Lord I cried when in affliction, and he heard me. In the affliction of captivity and of the suffering therefrom. ‘Cry’ is what he calls that which comes from a soul crushed and in great pain and straining towards the one alone able to deliver it, a cry which God hears at once. The words are spoken in the person of the more pious portion of the the people. 2 O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue.

Crying out, he prayed this, or else along with the other things, he prayed this also. ‘Unjust lips’, those speaking injustice to the height, as was written in the seventy-second psalm at the verse, They have spoken injustice to the height, and those of slanderers, and simply those of transgressors. ‘A deceitful tongue’, namely, that of those very same people and in particular of those plotting treachery. 3 What might be given you and what added to you against a deceitful tongue? Another translator says, What will be given to you and what added to you against a deceitful tongue? The prophet is responding to the suppliant, asking what will be given and what added as a means of defence against a deceitful tongue. The verse indicates either that this is hard to overcome on account of the excess of evil, or else that you have no need of any defence, for his deceitfulness itself is sufficient punishment for the deceitful man. 4 The arrows of the powerful one are sharpened along with waste-laying fiery coals. And this is for the consolation of the supplicant enjoining him not to lose heart. And in- deed the arrows of the powerful God have been sharpened against the transgressors and the deceitful along with waste-laying fiery coals, so as to cut down and burn and eradicate them. Arrows and coals are what he called the various punishments. Some have understood the ‘powerful one’ as the devil, as overpowering those who are negligent, and his sharpened arrows along with his destroying fiery coals are the passionate thoughts that penetrate sharply and burn up and eradicate virtue, which the Apostle called flaming darts. Then the words are again spoken by the suppliant. 5α Alas, for my sojourning has been prolonged. My sojourning in Babylon, in captivity; for he laments bitterly its lasting for many years. 5β I have encamped with the tent-dwellings of Kedar. Amid the tent-dwellings of Kedar; for he bewails this also. Kedar is a land lying next to the Babylonians having loathsome inhabitants among whom the Babylonians ordered them to settle. And since Kedar translates as ‘benightment’, it is very reasonable for those who are camping in the tent-dwellings of benightment to lament. And the tent-dwellings of benightment is a dwelling in the passions that benight the mind. 6 My soul has sojourned long.

Long years, it has sojourned a long time in captivity. 7α With those who hate peace I was peaceful. With those lovers of strife of Kedar I would be peaceable, not opposing them about any worldly matter, but giving way as a captive. The verse instructs us to become such and to make peace with everyone, for if he would make peace with those who hate peace, very much more so would he do so with those who love it. We shall be such if we dwell as strangers, if we live as sojourners, not clinging exces- sively to things of the present, nor giving attention to these things as if enduring. 7β When I would speak with them they would make war on me without cause. When I would speak peaceably to them, they would make war on me for no reason, at no instigation at all, and not even then would they spare me, but I even so would be peaceable. 120 Psalm 120 1α An ode, similarly. 1β I have raised my eyes to the mountains from whence my aid will come. This ode prophesies what they would say when having begun to ascend. ‘Mountains’ is what he calls the heavens on account of their height, for from there they hoped that their customary help would come, escorting them unharmed. Then he clarifies the meaning. 2 My help is from the Lord who made both heaven and earth. From the one who is truly Lord, for creation is a characteristic of God. And for us therefore, if we raise the eyes of our souls to heaven, removing them from earthly things, our help will be from the Lord. 3 May you not give your foot to wavering, and may he who guards you never slumber. This is an expression of brotherly concern, with each praying for each other. May you not give your foot to aberration, nor may it deviate from the straight way which is the way of virtue; neither may God who guards you slumber on this account, nor may he on this account become neglectful about keeping you, as having slipped by reason of care- lessness. Or else may you not give your path to wavery and slippery things, but may you walk on a secure well-worn track, which is the track of the law, preparing you to walk straight.

4 See, he who guards Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. If, that is, Israel keeps away from slippery things, if Israel walks steadily and will neither be careless nor neglectful. We also are Israel, the new Israel, as we often have said. And seek also in the forty-third psalm, Awake, why are you sleeping, O Lord? 5 The Lord will guard you, the Lord is a shelter for you at your right hand. The Lord will guard you when walking in this way; the Lord is a shelter for you at your right hand, that is, a comrade on your flank, a protector – for the defender stands at this side. Or else a shelter for you in your right-handed actions, sheltering you when doing good; or a shelter for you on account of your right-handed actions. 6 By day the sun will not scorch you, nor the moon by night. So great is the providence he will have for you, not allowing even these things to trouble you. He said this in indication of his extreme care; it is likely that they enjoyed such grace. They say the moon also scorches bodies, being not only moist but also warm; or else the sun will not scorch you, nor will the moon harm you that is to say. 7 The Lord will guard you from every evil, the Lord will guard your soul. He says this many times, confirming the word and urging to walk uprightly, by desire for guardianship from God; or else he will guard your body from every danger, and your soul. 8α The Lord will guard your coming in and your going out. Your deportment, your way of life, your mode of life. 8β From now and till the age. And henceforward; or and till the age of your life. 121 Psalm 121 1α An ode, similarly. 1β I was glad at those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’. They would say this as they were walking and advancing with rejoicing. 8α: That is to say, the entrance into this life and the exit therefrom, or else the entire life, for life is perceived in entrances and exits.

2 Our feet were standing in your enclosures, O Jerusalem. When we heard this, our feet were, as it seemed, standing at once in your enclosures, for we imagined we were already standing in them, our fervent desire having made us imagine so.

3α Jerusalem being built as a city. O Jerusalem, built of old as a city most eminently.

3β The comparting of which is altogether. According to another translator: ‘the conjoinedness of which is in one place’, that is, the buildings belonging to which, the contiguous buildings, are together, on account of the mul- titude of the inhabitants.

4α For there the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord. This he deems its greatest encomium, for it was embellished not so much by its splendour and its buildings as by the fact that all the tribes of Israel would gather there three times each year at the great public festivals, at Pascha, at Pentecost and at the Feast of the Tents. For there, he says, in the past before the captivity they went up, they would gather there. He called the tribes ‘of the Lord’, as his people, as arrayed under him.

4β A testimony for Israel. A proof to the people of the fulfilled promise of God that the seed of Abraham had been multiplied and had inherited the promised land. Or else a conjuration to the people, for God conjured them to gather there at the times mentioned. The syntax is thus: ‘There the tribes went up’ and so on, with the ‘for’ being re- dundant; they went up, he says, as conjuration and command, namely, at divine command.

4γ To confess to the name of the Lord. So as to give thanks through the worship laid down in the law.

5α For there thrones were set in judgement. See yet another encomium of Jerusalem. For there, he says, thrones of kingly office were established to judge the people.

5β Thrones over the house of David. In the house of David, in the palaces of David. Or else the first is thrones of priests and the second thrones of kings. 6α Entreat Jerusalem truly with the things for peace. Address her with peaceful words, namely, ‘peace be with you’, ‘peace be with your people’. For henceforth she will have deep peace and joy. Another translator said ‘give greeting to her’. 6β And prosperity will come to those who love you. And not only will your citizens prosper, but also those of the surrounding nations that love you. This also is a prophecy. 7α Let peace truly be in your power. According to another translator, ‘may there be’ or ‘there will be’. Her ‘power’ is what he calls her soldiers, for whom peace is not fighting nor having any enemy. 7β And prosperity in your citadels. Another says, ‘And wealth in your palaces’, while another says, ‘in your enclosures’. A cita- del is a very secure fortification. 8 For the sake of my brothers and my neighbours I would truly speak peace about you. This the prophet says to her, namely, for the sake of my relatives the Israelites, for the tribes of Israel, I would wish peace for you, so that living in peace, they may worship and give thanks to God. 9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God I have sought out good things for you. For the sake of the temple of God in you I have asked for calm and prosperity for you, so that you may receive back your own dignity and accustomed worship. 122 Psalm 122 1α An ode, similarly. 1β To you who dwell in heaven I have raised my eyes.

And these are words of those still making their way. God is said to dwell in heaven as rest- ing on the pure and holy powers there, and indeed he said also about the saints on the earth, I shall live in them and move among them. 2 See, as the eyes of servants are toward the hands of their masters, as the eyes of a handmaid are toward the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes toward the Lord our God, till he [may] have compassion on us. Through such example of the servants and of the handmaid, they indicate both that they are looking towards him continually and have no hope of help from anywhere else and that they will not desist until they receive mercy. ‘May have compassion’ is optative in form but has a future meaning, in the sense of, ‘will have compassion’. Some say that the example of of the handmaid was adduced in addition to indicate an intensification of disposition, because handmaids, being weaker, do this more than servants. 3 Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we have for long been filled with dispar- agement. With slighting, with reproach, both from those who had taken us captive and from the evil people neighbouring us, exulting over our misfortunes; or from the other nations through which they were walking. The repetition of ‘have mercy’ is an indication of fervour. They are entreating accordingly to be shown mercy on this account and to be swiftly restored to their fatherland. 4α Our soul has been filled to surfeit. With the disparagement mentioned. 4β May the reproach come on the prosperous and the disparagement on the proud. May it be turned back, namely, to their humiliation and chastisement, lest on account of their prospering and being proud they raise themselves arrogantly over the unfortunate and humbled. The psalm is also fitting for those who are making their way to the heavenly Jerusalem and are being assailed by visible and invisible enemies. 123 Psalm 123 1α An ode, similarly. 1β-3α If not that the Lord was among us, let Israel truly say, if not that the Lord was among us, when people rose up against us they would then have swallowed us alive.

These are the words of those have now returned to their fatherland, for in giving thanks they enjoin the people to say that when some rose up against us as we were returning – for the neighbouring nations made war on them before Jerusalem had been fortified – if we were not delivered because the Lord was among us, then they would have swallowed us alive out of envy. The word indicates the extreme speed of the destruction. Some take the word ‘that’ as redundant. 3β-4α When their rage was swollen in anger against us, then the water would have drowned us. ‘Water’ is what he calls their impetuous force and vehement movement, having swollen with anger because they had regained their fatherland. The ‘then’ is inferential, in the sense of, ‘then certainly’ or ‘truly’.

4β Our soul passed through a winter torrent. He likens their rapid, disorderly and temporary onrush, sweeping away anything in their path, to a winter torrent, just as above to water. ‘Passed through’, in the sense of, ‘crossed over’; our soul, that is, we (the part standing for the whole), escaped.

5 Our soul passed then through the irresistible flood. We truly crossed over, we reached safety.

6 The Lord is to be blessed who did not surrender us as prey to their teeth. Through the teeth he indicated their ferocity and power, desiring as it were to swallow them alive.

7 Our soul was delivered like a sparrow from the hunters’ snare; the snare was crushed and we were delivered. Just as he showed the strength and ferocity, armed with rage and power, of the enemies, so also he indicated the weakness of the Israelites, for the sparrow is weak and vulnerable. ‘Snare’ is what he calls the treacheries and ploys that were crushed and dissolved.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord who made both heaven and earth. Not in chariots and horses and such power, as was also said earlier in the nineteenth psalm, but in the name of God, of the true God, in naming and calling on him; or else ‘in the Lord’, by way of circumlocution.

The psalm is also fitting for all those who by divine providence are being freed of some trial. 124 Psalm 124 1α An ode, similarly. 1β Those who trust in the Lord are like mount Zion. The words of the present psalm follow on those of the previous ones and are words of thanksgiving for deliverance from their enemies. ‘Like mount Zion’ they are not to be moved, indestructible, steadfast. 1γ The one who dwells in Jerusalem will not be shaken to the age. Those who dwell in Jerusalem will not be overthrown, they will not fall away. ‘To the age’, in the sense of, ‘throughout the entire age ordained’. Primarily, however, he is speaking about those who dwell in the heavenly Jerusalem, for they will never be shaken. 2 Mountains encircle her, and the Lord encircles his people, from now and till the age. She has, he says, security from the surrounding mountains, but she also has protection from the Lord, and most especially the latter. Hence also those who dwell in her will not be shaken. ‘Till the age’, namely, till the age that has been ordained, as was said, for her salvation. 3α For the Lord will not sanction the rod of sinners on the inheritance of the just. He tells the reason for the protection from God. ‘Sinners’ is what he calls the impious and transgressors (and such also are the demons), and their ‘rod’, their rule or their weapons, and the ‘just’ those living according to the law. 3β Lest the just stretch out their hands in lawless deeds. So that enjoying such protection from God, they may not engage in lawless activity, but worship their benefactor. 4 Do good, O Lord, to the good and the straight in heart. The prophet concluded his words with a prayer, saying, Do good things, O Lord, give good things to the good people and to those who are unwavering in heart, to the guileless and ingenuous.

5α But the Lord will carry off those who turn aside to twisted knots along with those who engage in lawlessness. To perverted things, to crookednesses. Such people he will carry off to chastisement, he will surrender them to punishment, or else he will reject them as being the same as the transgressors.

5β Peace upon Israel. May there be, that is. This psalm is also fitting for those who dwell in the high and indestructible Church en- circling which are the exalted teachers, fortifying and guarding her, and Christ encircles his people.

125 Psalm 125

1α An ode, similarly.

1β When the Lord turned back the captivity of Zion, we became even as those who have been comforted. And this psalm speaks in conformity with the previous one, calling ‘turning back’ the restoration of its children to Zion the fatherland, for they are its ‘captivity’, and ‘comfort’ is what he calls the recovery and relief. Having been turned back to our fatherland, he says, we became exceedingly comforted. For the ‘as’ may be read as an intensification of the comforting [‘how comforted we be- came’] as in, How good is God to Israel; or else we became even as are those who have been comforted, that is, in good spirits.

2α Then our mouth was filled with joy. With joyous words manifesting the joy of the soul.

2β And our tongue with rejoicing. He says the same. He foretells the things of the future as having already occurred.

2γ Then they will say among the nations. Those among the nations will say, or simply the nations will say, having seen our strange restoration and having been amazed.

2δ The Lord has magnified himself to do with them.

They will say that God has done great deeds by ‘doing’ or showing mercy among them - saying these things about us. Then he changes the voice in the person of those who spoke the previous words.

3α The Lord has magnified himself to do with us. Truly he has done great deeds as you said. This also is an idiom of the Hebrew tongue, to say, ‘he has done with someone’; the word ‘mercy’ is missing.

3β We were filled with gladness. Both because we were restored to our fatherland and because the power of God was made known among the surrounding nations.

4 Turn back our captivity, O Lord, like winter torrents in the south. The entreaty is about those who had still remained in captivity; for many were left behind, and they make supplication for them also to return. Turn back, O Lord, our captivity that has been left behind, propelling and urging it along as are winter torrents by the South wind, for this wind melting the densities of the clouds and bringing down rains, drives the torrents with great rushing and force. Or else he said ‘winter torrents’ wishing for the ‘captivity’ to be borne along in a manner resembling winter torrents, so that it may swiftly be brought to an end, all having been emp- tied out, and with no one left behind in Babylon, for winter torrents are quickly dried up. Or else the South is what he is calling Jerusalem, often called in this way by the prophets, as lying in the south. Turn it back, he says, to the South, namely, to Jerusalem.

5 Those who sow in tears will reap in rejoicing. Those who sow hope of salvation with tears of supplication, will reap its fruit, which is liberation from the oppressor. The statement is universal in character, fitting for all those in trials.

6α When going, they would walk and weep, spreading their seeds. He moved from the universal to the particular, saying about those in captivity that when making their way into captivity they would walk along and weep, while sowing hope, as was said.

6β But when coming, they will come back with rejoicing bearing their sheaves. When coming back from there they will arrive with rejoicing, bringing back the harvest, namely, the fruit mentioned of the sown hope. Just as the seed of grain requires rains, so the seed of hope needs tears to bear fruit. And just as the land needs to be ploughed and broken up, so the soul has need of trials and afflic- tions so that its hardness may be softened and may not bring forth thorns and prickles and other such harmful weeds.

126 Psalm 126

1α An ode, similarly.

1β Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders have laboured in vain. Those in captivity having returned and having begun to build their temple and city were hindered by the neighbouring nations, which both envied and also feared their renewed prosperity. And much time passed, as many as forty years, with the ones eagerly trying to 2Esdr 3.8, build and the others impeding them by every means. The prophet, instructing them to have 6.15 resort to God and to call on him as a fellow worker, expounds these things: Unless the Lord builds the house through his co-operation, the builders have laboured in vain. This co-opera- tion was postponed for so many years so that they might be awakened a little and not become more lax on account of their ease and run once again to their former wickedness on account their very swift liberation from evils. The verse accordingly took its starting point from this situation, but is spoken more gen- erally, fitting to be said about all things.

1γ Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard has stayed awake in vain. And why do I speak about building? Neither will one even be able to guard a city that has been built and completed without his co-operation.

2α You who are eating the bread of grief, it is in vain that you rise before dawn, that you get up after sitting down. And so, O you who are eating the bread of grief, you who do not even eat bread without grief, you who live in afflictions, it is in vain that you rise before dawn to build, and that you you get up at once after sitting down, and hurry to your work, and neither have your fill of sleep at night, nor enjoy relaxation by day. And he called them distraught by grief on account both of these things and because not only were they labouring thus, but they were also fighting against their enemies and would build armed, and build and fight those impeding them at the same time, and were subject to a double distress.

2β-3α When he will give sleep to his beloved, see, sons will be the Lord’s inheritance. When God will give to his beloved sweet sleep, a sleep freed of care, namely, remission and freedom from the assailants – and he gives this when it is expedient – then not only will the temple and city be built, but you will have sons, the Lord’s inheritance, for they are his inheritance and his own people. He set this as the crown of blessings, for the procreation of children is something very much desired by Hebrews. But thus it is particularly about the Hebrews. In a more general sense, when he will give his beloved sleep, as we said before, then not only are the things earnestly desired brought to completion, but sons accrue in perpetuity – the inheritance from the Lord, heirs of their earnest effort and virtue, heirs given by the Lord. 3β The reward of the fruit of the womb. The reward of piety, the reward from the fruit-bearing of the womb, the repayment of virtue, the repayment given from the abundance of children. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a powerful man, so will be the sons of those ejected. Just as arrows in the hand of a powerful man appear fearful on account of his strength, so then also the sons of those ejected from the captivity will be fearful to their enemies on account of the irresistible strength of God. So also the sons in spirit of our teachers who were ejected from the captivity of the de- mons are fearful to the demons. 5α Blessed is the one who will fulfil his desire from these. From these, from what? Namely, from the things mentioned earlier, that is, from the com- pletion of the temple and the city, from having been given remission and freedom from as- sailants, from an abundance of offspring, from the possession of beautiful children, and from such gifts of grace from God. 5β They will not be put to shame when they will speak to their enemies in the gates. Those who have fulfilled their desire from these things, as was said, will not be shamed by any weakness when they discuss with their enemies at the gates of the city, all things being well with them. Or else, they will not be shamed any longer as having a weak God, with which they used to be reproached prior to the completion of the city, but they will hold converse with great boldness. It was the custom to hold converse with the messengers from the enemies before the gates of the city. 3β: In an anagogical sense, those adopted by God through baptism were the the reward of the incarnation of Christ, who is eminently the fruit of the womb of the Mother of God, as having been born from her alone without the seed of man.

127 Psalm 127

1α An ode, similarly.

1β Blessed are all who fear the Lord. This psalm also follows on the one before. For having called blessed there the one who has fulfilled his desire, as was stated before, he now he makes the beatitude more universal and more perfect. For blessed eminently and truly are those who fear the Lord. He added ‘all’ indicating the inclusion of slaves and the poor and the maimed, because for those who fear the Lord no such thing is an impediment to their being blessed. For the one who does not fear the Lord, even if he has all the things that are enviable and blessed among men, is the most wretched of all, while the one who fears him, even if he has all the things that are deprecable and abominated among men, is the most blessed of all. And in a different way, beauty and strength and wealth and glory and an abundance of fair and beautiful children and such things are not truly to be called blessed on account of their unstable and fluid nature. Then he clarifies who those are who fear the Lord, saying:

1γ Those who walk in his ways. In the ways laid down in the law, in the ways indicated by the commandments.

2α You will eat the labours of your fruits. Having taught who it is who is truly blessed, and having shown who it is that fears the Lord, and hence having urged the people to walk in God’s ways, he then directs his words to the one who fears God, prophesying blessings for him. Some have understood ‘fruits’ as ‘hands’, the part standing for the whole – for the ‘wrist’ [καρπός] is part of the hand – interpreting the verse that you will reap the labours of your hands, you will reap gain with nothing impeding; this indeed is how Aquila and Symmachus rendered it. Others have called this verse the substitution of one meaning for another, with ‘labours’ here meaning ‘fruits’ and ‘fruits’ meaning ‘labours’, namely, you will eat the fruits of your labours.

2β You are blessed. If you fear God. He says the same again, confirming his word.

2γ And it will be well for you. And you will prosper.

3α Your wife like a vine flourishing in the compartments of your house. Like a vine flourishing with grape clusters, so she will flourish with children. ‘Flourishing’, in the sense of, ‘laden’, ‘weighed down’. The ‘compartments’ of the house are its parts, that is, within the precinct of your house. Another translator rendered this, ‘in the inner recesses of your house’, namely, in the inner chambers, where one lies down to rest.

3β Your sons like young olive shoots around your table. Thriving, like young olive shoots.

4 See, thus the man who fears the Lord will be blessed. He will enjoy such blessing from God. ‘Blessing’ is what he now calls ‘grace’, ‘benefaction’, as worthy of praise. What are you saying? Will he enjoy such grace? Yes, he says, for I am speaking to those still passionately desiring such blessings. Moreover, the word is spoken from abundance, for along with the eternal blessings, he will give these also, for it is written, Seek first the kingdom of heaven and all these things will be added to you. In an anagogical sense, the wife of the pious man is his conjugal soul, heavy laden with the virtues in the body. His sons are his disciples and emulators and successors in piety, flourish- ing in the increase in spiritual stature and encircling him as he teaches them and feasts them on rational foods.

5α May the Lord bless you from Zion. May he approve you, may he bestow grace on you; for whom he accepts, he approves, and whom he approves, he fills with grace. The Lord who dwells in Zion, in the house in Zion. For in that place he was said to dwell on account of his speaking in the temple to the priests.

5β And may you see the good things of Jerusalem all the days of your life. The good things of earthly Jerusalem are wealth in money, power in military forces, victo- ries over enemies, glory among all, and suchlike. The good things of the heavenly Jerusalem are What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has ascended on the heart of man.

6α And may you see the sons of your sons. In a perceptible sense, successions of your race. In an anagogical sense, successions of your piety, the one teaching the other and begetting anew spiritually.

6β Peace upon Israel. He said this also at the end of the one hundred and twenty-fourth psalm. ‘Israel’, not only the old people, but also the new, as we have said variously. And if ‘the things of peace’ were interrupted, it was by reason of them having appeared unworthy of it. And indeed one should not despair when God threatens, but beat off his anger through repentance like the Ninevites, nor when he promises blessings is it fitting to lie back and become remiss, but by greater attention to one’s way of life to call forth the promises into execution. And indeed Christ promised to Judas that he also will sit on a throne along with the other disciples and will judge the twelve tribes of Israel, but he drove away the promise, having rendered himself unworthy of it.

128 Psalm 128

1α An ode, similarly.

1β Time and time again they have waged war on me from my youth. These words also are in the person of the people, having been subject to attack many times by the neighbouring nations, hindering the building, as was said previously. ‘Youth’ is what he calls the beginning of the return from Babylon. And if you take the verse as about the war of the demons, you will understand ‘youth’ in terms of age, the demons attacking us immediately from our earliest age. 1γ-2α Let Israel truly say, time and time again they have waged war on me from my youth. Let Israel say this very expressly so that all may know from what dangers God has deliv- ered us.

2β And indeed they have not proved strong enough against me. They have not proved strong enough with me, they have not prevailed against me com- pletely, God not so permitting. And hence they would would wage war against me continu- ously, eagerly striving to destroy me.

3α On my back sinners would craft their plans. The impious, the wicked would contrive evils on my back, that is, not only in front of me, but also behind my back, making designs not only openly, but also covertly; or else close to me, or touching my very flesh.

3β They have prolonged their lawlessness.

Waging war on me for a long time.

4α The Lord is just. Truly just, permitting me to suffer so that I may become more prudent, and punishing them as attacking unjustly and as envious.

4β He has beaten down the necks of sinners. He has cut through the haughty-neckedness of the enemies, he has taken away their over- bearing pride, having given us the upper hand.

5 Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back. Either in an optative sense, as in, ‘may they be put to shame’, or in a prophetic sense, as in, ‘they will be put to shame’, and the rest in a similar way. The words of the psalm are fitting to be understood and said about the new Zion also, the Church of the faithful.

6α Let them become like hay on housetops. Not simply like hay, but like hay that grows on housetops, for this is sooner to wither and swiftly destroyed. Let them become easily wilting, swiftly dying, barren. Then he lingers on the image of such hay, recounting all that befalls it.

6β That has dried up before being uprooted. That has dried up unseasonably, for other hay dries up after bearing fruit, and then is pulled up.

7α With which the reaper has not filled his hand. That is, which no one has harvested, as having withered already.

7β Nor the one collecting the sheaves his bosom. And with which again he has not filled his bosom, as happens with ripe and fruitful hay.

8α Nor have the passers-by said, ‘The Lord’s blessing upon you’. And in relation to which hay those passing by have not blessed the harvesters in the cus- tomary way. ‘Blessing’ is what he calls his grace.

8β ‘We have blessed you in the name of the Lord.’ These also are the words of the passers-by. ‘We have blessed you’, in the sense of, we have wished a blessing on you by having named the Lord, by having called on him.

129 Psalm 129

1α An ode, similarly.

1β From the depths I have cried to you, O Lord. The prophet wrote the present psalm recounting how he used to pray in times of trial, and what he would pray. And he instructs those having returned from Babylon to emulate him in similar circumstances and to hope in the Lord. From the depth of my heart, he says, I have cried to you, and not from the edges of my lips, for the one is a mark of a most fervent cry, and the other of a most cold and insipid cry, and the one rises up from below, highly-strung and painful, while the other is from above, lax and painless, and the one strains the entire being of the one praying, while the other excites only the organs of speech. ‘Cry’ is what he calls a great howl, not in the vehemence of the breath, but in the intensity of the disposition.

2α O Lord, hear my voice. Having been sent up from the depth.

2β Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my entreaty. Let your auditory power be attentive to this entreaty, being expressed reasonably and fit- tingly, fervently and intently.

3 For if you will keep watch on lawless acts, O Lord, O Lord, who will endure? If you will examine well and search out exactly every lawless act, who will withstand this examination? Or who will remain? Truly no one. For it is written, Who will boast that he has his heart pure? Or who will say confidently he is clear of sins? And, All have sinned, says Paul, and again about himself, I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not thereby justified.

The ‘O Lord, O Lord’ is of one wondering at God’s great benevolence and goodness. 4 For with you is clemency. Clemency in the eminent sense, true mercy, is truly with you and so you examine with a forgiving disposition. 5α For the sake of your name I have waited patiently for you, O Lord. Not account of my own achievements have I waited for you as Saviour, for I, too, am a sin- ner, but on account of your name, lest it be disparaged by the enemies, saying you are unable to save your people. For he says also through Ezekiel, I am acting not on your account, but on account of my name, lest it be profaned among the nations. 5β My soul has waited patiently on your word. It has awaited expectantly, it has hoped in your promise towards the patriarchs, towards our forebears, that we shall inherit the promised land and that if we listen to you we shall eat the good things of the land; or else the promise that you will save those who are well-pleasing to you and the penitent. 6α My soul has hoped in the Lord. In the Lord alone, not in anything else at all. 6β From the morning watch until night, from the morning watch let Israel hope in the Lord. Who alone is able to deliver and save. The ancients used to call the parts of the night ‘watches’, for, dividing the night into four, the the night-watchmen in the camps would call the fourth part of the night, namely, the part before dawn, the ‘morning watch’, as already heralding the morning. The prophet accordingly urges the whole of Israel to hope in the Lord alone throughout their whole life. For by the day and night cycle he alluded to the whole of life. For have start- ed with the morning watch and having gone through until night, then having ended again with the morning watch, he imitated the cyclical period of the day and night, from morning coming back to morning. 7α For with the Lord is mercy. The true mercy that is swift and strong and infallible for those worthy of it.

7β And with him is great redemption. With him is the source of redemption, an ocean of salvation.

8 And he will redeem Israel from all his lawlessness. When well-pleasing, that is, and living according to the laws. The psalm is also fitting for the new Israel.

130 Psalm 130

1α An ode, similarly.

1β O Lord, my heart has not been exalted, nor have my eyes been lifted up. This psalm also he wrote in respect of himself, recounting the modesty he displayed at his remission and deliverance from trials. And he instructs the people returned from the captivity to be similarly humble-minded and not to trust in their achievements, but to hope in the Lord. My heart, he says, has not been exalted by the elation of self-conceit, nor have my eyes been lifted up with the disease of pride. What then? Is the prophet now boasting? Yes. For when the occasion demands, it is necessary to boast in achievements, when it is done not for show, but for the benefit of the listeners, leading them to emulation. Having said, ‘my heart has not been exalted’, and having added, ‘nor have my eyes been lifted up’, he showed that when the heart is first exalted then the eyes are lifted up.

1γ Nor have I walked among the great, nor among admirable men above me. Nor have I walked with men greater and more admirable than myself; I have not kept company with those better than me, regarding myself as unworthy of them, unless they obliged me on occasion against my will. Or else he is calling ‘great’ and ‘admirable’ those who seem so to themselves, namely, those elated and haughty-necked, saying as it were that not only would I flee from the disease of pride, but I would not even keep company with those suffering from this disease.

2 If I was not lowly in mind, but elevated my soul, like a weaned infant at its mother’s side, so you will repay back towards my soul. If I was not humble-minded, but became elated, while being lowly and like an infant barely removed from the nipple at its mother’s side, you will repay back thus, or you will repay back exceedingly to my soul.

He used the future tense, having an optative meaning; there are many such examples among the ancients. Or else you will truly repay back the reward of pride. Some read the syntax thus: If I was not lowly in mind like a weaned infant at its mother’s side.

3 Let Israel hope in the Lord, from now and till the age. Emulating myself, who in times of affliction and of respite and at all times hope in the Lord. This psalm is also fitting for the new Israel. The prophet perhaps composed this and the previous psalm in the person of the more pious portion of those who had returned, telling on the one hand what they would pray in trials and on the other hand what modesty they would have in deliverance from trials, for the benefit and instruction of us who have returned from the captivity of the demons.

131 Psalm 131

1α An ode, similarly.

1β Remember David, O Lord, and all his meekness. He also wrote the present psalm in the person of the people mentioned, as they made sup- plication for the temple to be raised up again, and if not on their account, then on account of the earnest desire that their ancestor and king David had displayed when seeking out with the greatest of care the location for this temple prior to its construction. ‘Meekness’ is what he calls the forbearance that he would exhibit towards Saul and those around him, and furthermore towards Shemei who cursed him and towards many others. They speak only of his meekness, as having achieved this to an exceptional degree, or else as all his other virtues being indicated through this one. Remember David the most meek, who through his meekness was well-pleasing to you.

2 How he swore to the Lord, how he made a vow the the God of Jacob. Remember him, how with an oath he promised the Lord God the things to be said. 3-5 If I shall enter into the tent-dwelling of my home, if I shall ascend to the repose of my bed, if I shall give sleep to my eyes and slumber to my eyelids and rest to my temples, till I find a place for the Lord, a tent-shrine for the God of Jacob. How, having been filled at one time with zeal about the ark being carried here and there, he swore with an oath that I shall not do this or that until I find a worthy place for the Lord,

namely, a dwelling place, that is, a place for a temple, and he did not rest until he did find one, as the first book of Kingdoms recounts. We have said elsewhere that ‘if ’ often means ‘not’ among the Hebrews, as in this case. It Ps 88.36, was called ‘tent-shrine’ and ‘house of God’, on account of the fact that he would give oracles 94.11 from there and converse with the worthy, as we have said previously. 6α See, we have heard of her in Ephratha. Since we have heard from our fathers or from the books that the ark had been brought to a place called Ephratha; this place is Bethlehem. For another prophet says, Bethlehem, house of Ephratha, and Jacob buries Rachel in the hippodrome of Ephratha; This, he says, is Bethlehem. For the place bore the name of its for- mer owner. 6β We have found her in the woodland plains. We have found her from the sources mentioned; from these we learned of her lodging in the woodland plains, that is, being carried to and fro by reason of having no determined place. They say these things confirming that David was of necessity filled with zeal on her behalf and found the place about which they are now making entreaty. 7 We shall enter into his habitations; we shall worship at the place where his feet have stood. These words are in the person of the saints among them, prophesying to them that the temple will be restored and that they will enter and bow down and worship as before. He called ‘his habitations’ either his enclosures or else the temple itself, using the plural, as is often the custom among Hebrews. He said ‘habitations’ and ‘feet’ and ‘standing’ of God in a human manner on account of the dull-mindedness of his listeners. For from there would come the dread voices about the affairs among the Jews, resolving what was obscure and foretelling about what was to come. Arise, O Lord, into your rest. Into your temple, into his building, in which you would rest, that is, into the temple which gives you rest, into synergy with it. 8β You and the ark of your sanctification. Arise, you and the ark of your holiness. For the ark also is powerful, as many times having worked many marvels through the grace in her, and also because the sanctuary was her house.

The ark of holiness, as being filled with holiness, through which holiness she would sanc- tify. For the things contained in the ark were holy and of these most of all the law would sanctify those who would follow it. Or else ‘sanctification’ is what he calls the temple as sanctified to God and sanctifying and containing the holy things and which in the seventy-third psalm he named ‘place of sanctifi- cation’, for it is written, They have torched your place of sanctification with fire.

9α Your priests will clothe themselves in justice. If this should happen, your priests will clothe themselves as in a garment with justice, namely, the divine sacrifices. Or else with all justice, namely, with virtue of every kind, as already making the sacrifices and being obliged rather to care for virtue.

9β And your devotees will rejoice. And the rest, those who are devoted to you, that is, your people, will rejoice; or else he is calling ‘devotees’ the more virtuous. Then once again they have resort to David, regarding themselves as unworthy.

10 For the sake of David your servant, do not turn away the face of your anointed one. The face of your anointed one, that is, the one anointed to rule us; the ‘your’ is a mark of appropriation; or else the one anointed through you, through your law. Do not turn him away unsuccessful, as he makes entreaty to you along with us for the temple and the city and the kingdom.

11α The Lord has sworn truth to David. He has promised with certainty a true promise.

11β And he will not annul it. Being true and truth itself. What the promise is, hear:

11γ From the fruit of your belly I shall set upon your throne. Upon the throne of your kingdom. And not only this, but also other things. What these were he says:

12 If your sons will keep my covenant and these my testimonies, that I shall teach them, their sons also till the age will sit upon your throne.

If your sons, reigning in succession, will observe my law (for this is what he called his cov- enant and also his testimonies, as was stated often in the one hundred and eighteenth psalm, these, namely, that, he says, I shall teach them through their reading of them), not only will they reign, but their sons also will ever reign in succession. Such then were the things of the promise, but because they did not keep the covenant they forfeited them. Those making entreaty say such things, reminding God as it were of this promise and appealing to him to fulfil it, or else comforting one another and inspiring the people with good hopes. Then they add what follows, as these words also having been spoken then by God to David.

13 For the Lord has elected Zion, he has chosen her as a dwelling for himself. They will sit, he says, upon your throne, because the Lord has chosen Zion in which is the throne of your kingdom, namely, I, the Lord, who is promising you these things, have chosen Zion.

14α She is my resting place to age of age. My dwelling.

14β Here I shall dwell, for I have chosen her. They say both these things and what follows as also having been promised.

15α Her hunt with blessing I shall bless. ‘Hunt’ is what he called the procurement and gathering of food. ‘With blessing I shall bless’, that is, I shall bestow the grace of abundance and plenty.

15β Her poor I shall fill with bread. I shall enrich.

16α Her priests I shall clothe in salvation. Health, security.

16β And her devotees with rejoicing will rejoice. Devotees were spoken of above. ‘With rejoicing they will rejoice’ and ‘with blessing I shall bless’ and suchlike, some say is an idiom of Scripture and others that it indicates intensification or confirmation.

17α There I shall make a horn spring up for David. In Zion; from the race of David I shall make a horn rise up for him, namely, grandeur and honour, with him being glorified by those thereafter, and also on account of his ever ruling race.

17β I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one. I have prepared a lamp for my king David; here too the ‘my’ is a mark of appropriation. ‘Lamp’ is what he calls the glory of his seed, heralding his glory to everyone like a lamp, and in the manner of a light and showing to subsequent generations the forefather of the race; or else he calls ‘lamp’ the brilliance of his race, shining among the nations. But all these things, as was said, if they keep the covenant.

18α His enemies I shall clothe in shame. The enemies of David, or those of his race.

18β But on him my sanctification will flower. On David, or rather on his seed, my temple will blossom brightly. ‘On him’ is in the sense of, ‘during his time’, namely, during the time of his generation, during his kingship. Some say Zorobabel is the horn and lamp, and say that his enemies will be shamed and that during his kingship the temple, withered of old, will blossom. Others again say that the verse, For the Lord has elected Zion, and all the following verses are a prophecy about those granted the gift of prophecy in this people. And since the psalm has been interpreted in a historical sense, all the things concerning our Saviour Christ are now to be dealt with. [7] We shall enter into his habitations; we shall worship at the place where his feet have stood. This is a prophecy about Christians, saying these things to one another, and calling ‘habita- tions’ the places in Palestine which he used to frequent and where he used to dwell, and ‘the place where his feet have stood’, either those same ‘habitations’ in which he would walk, or the Cross to which his feet were nailed and which in the ninety-eighth psalm he called ‘his footstool’. And indeed flooding in from everywhere Christians enter into these place and worship at each time. [8] Arise, O Lord, into your rest, you and the ark of your sanctification. Arise from the dead and ascend to the throne of your kingdom in heaven, you, O God, and your assumed humanity; for this is the ark of holiness, namely, the habitation of the divinity. For just as the ark was constructed from incorruptible wood and gilded with pure gold, so also the assumed human- ity was put together from an incorruptible body and deified from divinity by nature, and true divinity, namely, from its union with the true God.

[9] Your priests will clothe themselves in justice, namely, that of the Gospel, that is, they will be adorned with every virtue. And your devotees will rejoice, namely, and the lovers of virtue will along with the priests rejoice, living in accordance with the Gospel. [10] For the sake of David your servant, do not turn away the face of your anointed one. And if on account of nothing else, then at least on account of me your servant, do not turn away the epiphany of your Christ, destined to appear to mankind through the incarnation, but let him appear. And the truth sworn to David, namely, the sitting by his seed on the throne of his king- dom alludes to Christ. For he is pre-eminently the king of Israel, on the one hand being from [11] the seed of David, in accordance with his mother being descended from the race of David, and on the other hand being a king, in accordance with laying down laws for his subjects and regulating and tending to them and dying for them, which are the chief marks of the one who is truly king. [12] If your sons will keep my covenant, namely, that of the Gospel, and these my testimonies that I shall teach them through you. The words are as if from the Father to Christ, the on- ly-begotten Son, who is of David, about the disciples and Apostles, whom in the Gospels he called ‘little children’, as having been adopted by him through teaching and faith. If they will do this, then not only they, but their disciples and emulators will also in turn sit on your pas- toral and teaching throne. For it is written, You will establish them as rulers over all the earth, or over the rest and enjoyment of your eternal kingdom, which indeed comes about when they have kept it, as was said. [14] God’s place of eternal rest is the Church, against which the gates of Hades will not pre- [15] vail. Her ‘hunt’ is the drag-net of the preaching, through which it catches those swimming in the brine of error; or else the hunting whereby the fishermen Apostles would capture the multitudes. Her poor are the poor in spirit whom he will fill with heavenly bread, namely, the kingdom of heaven. Her priests he will clothe in eternal salvation, having first clothed themselves in justice, as was said before, and her devotees will rejoice with eternal rejoicing, after their departure from here, that is, and with the latter being thus clothed and the former thus filled with rejoicing. [16] And in the Church he has made grandeur and honour to spring up for David, being praised and glorified as the forefather of Christ. Or else, in Zion he made a horn of kingship to spring up for David, high and strong, butting and overthrowing all who resist it, which is the kingship of Christ. [17] A lamp prepared for Christ is the all-holy flesh constructed for him, which is luminous on account of the brilliance of absence of sin. Or else it is the Gospel, illuminating those in the darkness of error and leading to virtue, for it is written, Your law is a lamp to my feet. Or else it is the Forerunner, for it is written, He was a burning lamp.

[18] His enemies are the demons and all the enemies of truth, all of whom will be shamed, and especially at the universal resurrection. In him will blossom the holy Church, which sanctifies those who come to her in a right mind, and him she will have as her blossom and comeliness.

132 Psalm 132

1α An ode, similarly.

1β See then, what is so good or so delightful as for brothers to dwell together? David, foreseeing their complete restoration, how, having been freed of those pestering them, they had built the temple and the city and were living under one leader, he urges that they not be set at odds as before, when the ten tribes had their own leader and the two tribes in turn their own, a state of affairs which became for them the cause of much lawlessness and dissent and misfortunes, but rather to dwell together and to be marshalled under one leader. See then what is so good or so delightful as for brothers to dwell together, either in terms of place or in terms of concord? For many things are good but not delightful, and in turn delightful but not good. But the living together and concord of brothers achieves both, and for both of these things to coincide is not easily attained. Then he represents this good with examples.

2α Like myrrh on the head that descends onto the beard, the beard of Aaron. The things is good and delightful like that myrrh of the law, which anoints the priests, which is poured over the head of the priest. For just as the latter is good as holy, and delight- ful as fragrant, so the former is good as demanded by nature and the law, and delightful as beneficial. And since the myrrh descended from the head onto the beard, he says the myrrh descend- ing onto the beard. Then he adds whose beard it is, namely, the beard of Aaron, for he was first to be anointed with it. Or else he is calling ‘Aaron’ every priest, as deriving from Aaron. And since this descended in turn from the beard down to the hem of the priestly vestment he added this also, saying:

2β That descends onto the border of his garment. The other translators rendered the ‘border’ as the ‘mouth’ (verge) of the garment. For it would descend to there.

3α Like the dew of Hermon that descends onto the mountains of Zion.

Hermon is a mountain lying next to Lebanon which collects and keeps much snow, from which released vapours, condensing the air above the mountains of Zion, form dew in sum- mer, which is good, as necessary for the earth, and delightful, as brought down uniformly and pleasantly. Since therefore this dew has its cause from mount Hermon, he called it the dew of Hermon.

3β For there the Lord has enjoined blessing. There, where? In dwelling together, in brotherly love, in love, which is the chief of the virtues. Blessing from God towards men is grace, from men towards God is praise and the singing of hymns, from men to men is good wishes for them.

3γ Life till the age. And in turn he has also enjoined long life there, till the age ordained, throughout the whole of the allotted life. For just as dissent brings about deaths, so peace brings about life, neither killing one another, nor being destroyed by enemies on account of being fenced around and fortified. The psalm is also fitting for us.

133 Psalm 133

1α An ode, similarly.

1β See then, bless the Lord, O all you servants of the Lord. Here he ended the odes of degrees, concluding the cycle with thanksgiving. For he com- mands to give thanks to God, who delivered from captivity and contrived for them to return unharmed to their fatherland through so many nations, and who freed them from the con- tinuous war of the neighbouring peoples, and provided for the temple and the city to be re- built, and granted them now to dwell and live without fear. Henceforth, he says, give thanks, you servants, you worshippers.

1γ You who stand in the house of the Lord, in the enclosures of the house of our God. You who are henceforth standing in the temple, you who enter it from now on, the temple that has been completed and has regained both its comeliness and its worship.

2 Night by night lift up your hands to the Holy of holies and bless the Lord.

Do not devote the whole night to sleep, but at night also lift up your hands to the Holy of holies, where God was said to dwell on account of the grace therein, and praise God, espe- cially at the time of night when the mind is lighter and leisure is more. And if he commands to come to the temple in the night having risen from one’s bed, what excuse will there be for the one who does not even perform his prayers at home at this time? He then prays for the people. 3 May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made both heaven and earth. ‘May the Lord bless you from Zion’ was spoken about in the one hundred and twenty- seventh psalm. This psalm also is fitting for everyone. 134 Psalm 134 1α Alleluia. We have said previously that the psalms of thanksgiving have such a superscription. 1β Praise the name of the Lord, O you servants, praise the Lord. This was spoken about at the beginning of the one hundred and twelfth psalm. 2 O you who stand in the house of the Lord, in the enclosures of the house of our God. He also said this in the previous psalm, but now he is speaking about those frequenting the temple at any time. Praise, he says, O you who stand in the temple, for its was not permitted for those not standing in it to sing hymns to him, nor to pray in any other place, so that seeing the temple and the things in it they might never forget God. 3α Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good. For he loves mankind, for he is most beneficent, and especially towards those who praise him. 3β Sing to his name with psaltery, for it is good. For it is good to sing to him, for the songs educate in precision of doctrines and direct the mind of the singer towards God and put the passions to sleep and gratify the soul by the melody and bring delight along with the benefit. Seek also in the ninth psalm the explanation of, With psaltery I shall sing to your name, O Most High.

4α For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself. For he has chosen the Israelite people out of all the nations and has dedicated them to himself as alone worshipping him.

4β Israel as his ownmost possession. The people from Jacob he also calls ‘Israel’, for Jacob was called by both names. The same Gen 32.29, people, he says, he has chosen as his ownmost possession, as his lot; hence he addressed 35.10 them as the ‘people of his possession’, namely, as his possession, regarded and cared for as his wealth, and made worthy of his attention.

5α For I know that the Lord is great. See, he gives another reason to praise, because, he says, I know more than you, or I know precisely, that the Lord is great, having come to know this both through divine grace and from viewing his works with understanding.

5β And our Lord is above all the gods. For the one is God, the others are not. And the one is truly Lord, while the gods are not truly. This seems to be comparative, by way of condescension on account of the dull-minded- ness of the people, for elsewhere he calls him God of gods. And now raising up his listeners a little, he shows him as a worker of wonders, and further on he mocks and denigrates the gods of the nations. And in the ninety-sixth psalm it was said, Surpassingly, you have been exalted high over all the gods, and seek the explanation of this.

6α All that the Lord has willed he has done in heaven and on earth. He said this also in the one hundred and thirteenth psalm, But our God in heaven and on earth has done all that he willed.

6β In the seas and in all the deeps. ‘Seas’ is what he calls the various gulfs, for it is written, The systems of the waters he called seas, and the ‘deeps’ what he calls the unexplored things beneath the earth, in all of which he did all that he willed. Then he praises certain wonder-worthy works of God, having passed over the greater of these, so that from the lesser he might show his magnificence and worthiness to be praised.

7α Raising up clouds from the extremity of the earth.

Raising up clouds from the nethermost depth of the earth, and lifting them, heavy as they are, so high and making the downward tending fluid be borne upwards.

7β He made lighting shafts in rain. At the time of rain or in the rain; and he contrived for the mutually destructive elements to be borne unharmed through one another, so that neither does the fiery lightning bolt con- sume the rain water, nor the violently driven water extinguish in turn the lightning.

7γ He brings forth winds from his treasuries. ‘His treasuries’ is what he now calls the hidden places from which they come forth, for a treasury is hidden, pointing to the inscrutability of their genesis. Or else, who brings out winds ‘as’ from his treasuries, indicating thereby as it were the ease of their being drawn forth and their ready accessibility whenever he desires. For it is wonderful how he easily sends out now this one, now that, and at times both the one and the other together, and on occasion several altogether and often none, and always as needed, and nothing being without reason, just as if being locked away in certain treasuries and whenever he wills being readily brought forth.

8 He struck the first-born of Egypt from man to beast. These things were also spoken about in the seventy-seventh psalm, and look there for the explanation of, He made passable a path for his anger. ‘To beast’ for intensification of the calamity.

9 He sent forth signs and marvels in the midst of you, O Egypt, on Pharaoh and on all his servants. These things were also spoken about there, How he set his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the plain of Tanis. And having mentioned the most grievous plague he then said collectively, ‘signs and marvels’.

10α He struck many nations. Either the nations walling off passage to the Jews or those in Palestine; he says everything briefly and cursorily.

10β And slew mighty kings. Their leaders.

11α Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan. Sihon was famed for his wealth and armies, while Og was legendary for his stature and strength of body; they say that he used an iron bedstead nine cubits in length and five cubits in width. 11β And all the kingdoms of Canaan. Of Palestine, in which there was a nation alongside the others called specifically Canaanites. 12 And he gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to Israel his servant. He said ‘inheritance’ twice, indicating the abundance of this inheritance – an inheritance, truly an inheritance. 13 O Lord, your name is to the age, and your memorial is to generation and generation. On account of these things, he says, your name and your remembrance will be eternal, to the age and to all generations with those who have received such benefaction. 14α For the Lord will judge his people. He will judge them, that is, he will avenge them when harmed by enemies. 14β And he will relent towards his servants. When they propitiate him he will be moved to pity. Or else he will judge his people when they sin and will demand satisfaction, but when they repent he will relent towards them and come to their aid. 15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, works of human hands. He said this also in the one hundred and thirteenth psalm. And indeed the holy images among ourselves are also silver and gold and the works of human hands, but they are not idols because the prototypes of idols are non-existent and false – for they would call gods those that were not, but demons, falsely claiming divinity – while the prototypes of the images among ourselves are existent and prove true in what they are called; the ones are idols of things defiled, while the others are images of things holy. 16- They have a mouth and will not speak, they have eyes and will not see, they have ears and 17α will not give ear.

He also said these things in the above-mentioned psalm.

17β For neither is there breath in their mouth. This is the reason for their lack of sensation. He dwells on the mockery, intensifying his discrediting of them.

18 May those who make them and all who trust in them become like them. This too was said in that psalm. 19-20 O house of Israel, bless the Lord. O house of Aaron, bless the Lord. O house of Levi, bless the Lord. O you who fear the Lord, bless the Lord. In that psalm he made this division of the orders, and seek the explanation given there. But there is written ‘has hoped in’ and here ‘bless’, on account of the benefactions mentioned. And having said ‘Aaron’, he went back to the chief of the tribe, making his words more uni- versal and more evident.

21α The Lord is to be blessed from Zion. This was also said in the one hundred and twenty-seventh psalm.

21β He who dwells in Jerusalem. In the Jerusalem temple.

135 Psalm 135

1α Alleluia. And this psalm, agreeing in much with the psalm before, has the same superscription.

1β Confess to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy is to the age. Give thanks to him for the countless benefits. This verse was also interpreted at the begin- ning of the one hundred and fifth psalm in a different way. And in all the following verses there is the concluding refrain, ‘for his mercy is to the age’, either to intensify the praise of this mercy or to provoke astonishment.

2 Confess to the God of gods.

Of the falsely so-called. For even though the demons are dishonoured and rebellious, they nevertheless are slaves and bow beneath him of necessity.

3 Confess to the Lord of lords. Of transient lords, of those not truly lords, for it is written, The King of kings and Lord of lords.

4 To him who alone works great wonders. The ‘alone’ is used in contradistinction to the idols. For ‘Lord’ is what he calls the one God in three persons.

5 To him who made the heavens with understanding. With wisdom. Through the things said he also ascribes to God goodness and mercy and dominion over all things and power and wisdom

6 To him who established the earth upon the waters. And in the twenty-third psalm it was said, Upon seas he has founded it, and seek the ex- planation given there. 7-9 To him who alone made great lights, the sun to have authority over the day, the moon and the stars to have authority over the night. And God, it is written, made the two great luminaries, the great luminary to rule over the day and the lesser luminary to rule over the night and the stars, and he set them in the firmament of the sky so as to give light upon the earth and to rule the day and the night.

10 To him who smote Egypt along with their firstborn. Who struck Egypt with terror. 11-12 And who led out Israel from their midst with a mighty hand and a high-held arm. ‘Their’, namely, of the Egyptians. Hand and arm is what he calls power, for the signs and marvels in Egypt and the leading out of the people from there were of great power. The sev- enty-seventh psalm tells of these things in turn.

13-15 To him who divided the Red Sea into divisions and led Israel through its midst, and tossed Pharaoh and his power into the Red Sea. ‘Divisions’ is what he calls the sections, for he divided it in two; the book of Exodus tells about all of these things. ‘Tossing’ is what he calls the plunging into the sea, the hurling, for it is written, Horse and rider he hurled into the sea. 16 To him who led his people in the wilderness. For this also is no less a wonder than the leading of them through the Red Sea. For many are the things that emaciate in the wilderness – famine, thirst, drought, fiery-hot rays, a mass of wild beasts, and countless other dread dangers – and he led them through free from harm from all of these. He passes over the majority of things, allowing for all to be singled out at leisure from the book of Moses. 17-22 To him who smote great kings and slew mighty kings, Sihon the king of the Amorites and Og the king of Bashan, and who gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to Israel his people. These things were said in the previous psalm. 23-24 For in our humiliation the Lord remembered us and redeemed us from our enemies. When we were being humiliated, that is, when we were suffering evils, for it is written, Having looked, I saw the affliction of my people in Egypt. He said ‘our’ and ‘us’ on account of his ancestors, making his own the sufferings of the race. Then leaving behind the benefactions towards the Jews, he turns to God’s universal providence. 25 Who gives food to all flesh. Suitable for each nature. 26 Confess to the God of heaven. To the Maker and Master of heaven; and if of heaven, then most certainly of the earth. Or else he said ‘of heaven’, as being said to dwell there.

We can also adapt the previous psalm and the present one to ourselves and urge one an- other to give thanks to God who brought blessings in diverse ways on his people of old and overthrew their enemies and did this and that. And if we may attempt a more anagogical interpretation, we may call ‘Jacob and Israel’ the chosen new people, ‘Egypt’ impiety and sin, ‘the signs and marvels in its midst’ those worked through Christ and the Apostles and the other saints, ‘Pharaoh’ the devil, ‘his servants’ the demons and those serving them, the ‘many smitten nations’ those of the demons, ‘the mighty kings’ the chiefmost or most authoritative among them, ‘Sihon and Og’ Satan himself and the one immediately after him, ‘kings of Canaan’ the dominions of evil, ‘their land given to the new Israel’ the lands they ruled from which they were expelled, ‘the house of Israel simply’ the entire people, ‘Aaron’ the priests, ‘Levi’ the deacons, ‘those who fear the Lord’ the virtuous alongside them, ‘Zion’ the Church, ‘the firstborn of Egypt’ the most pleasing pas- sions or those most desired by the demons, ‘the Red Sea’ the brine and bitterness of impious doctrines in which unbelievers are carried off and drowned, ‘the wilderness’ the barrenness of error passing through which the pious arrive at fruit-bearing truth, and ‘our humiliation’ is to be understood not only as involuntary humiliation from trials but also as the voluntary humiliation of virtue. 136 Psalm 136 1α A psalm belonging to David. This psalm is in the person of the priests and Levites and singers held captive in Babylon, in part foretelling what would happen to them there, and in part teaching them to do such things then and thus to move God to pity. This psalm also is without superscription among the Hebrews. 1β By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept as we remembered Zion. For being captives, they would lodge outside of walls and cities, and hence resorting fre- quently to the banks of the rivers they would quietly lament by themselves. For since when having the good things in their hand they would treat them with con- tempt, they forfeited them so that they might come to have desire for them. For thus God is accustomed to lead those blind to his benefactions to an awareness of them, through banish- ment from them. 2 Upon the willows in its midst we hung our instruments. On the willow trees by the banks of the rivers in the midst of the land of Babylon. ‘Instruments’ is what they call those for accompanying songs, namely, psaltery, cithara and suchlike. And indeed they would bring these along as a reminder of God’s worship, and hanging 2: In disuse, for by the fruit-destroying and fruitless willow trees they indicated their idleness in songs.

them up they would look at them and make them an occasion most especially for laments, reminding themselves of their worship and life in Zion. 3α For there our captors asked us for words of songs and our abductors for a hymn. They asked us to to respond with words of songs and also with a hymn, that is, they or- dered us to sing, wishing simply to be entertained or to mock at our sacred things. 3β Sing for us from the songs of Zion. Saying ‘sing’ that is to say. 4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song in an alien land. We replied, namely, ‘How shall we sing when the law prevents us?’ Observe how much the captivity had improved them, for transgressing the law in their own land, they keep it in the foreign land. An ‘alien land’ is every heart alien to God’s wor- ship. Here there is a case of, Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor throw your pearls before swine. 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand be forgotten. My power, my energy, that is, may I become paralysed; or else may my right hand wither, my having no sensation of it. 6α May my tongue be glued to my throat, if I do not remember you. May my voice be stopped, namely, may I be deprived of both action and speech, of which the one he signified by his right hand and the other by his tongue. We also ought to say these things about the heavenly Jerusalem. 6β If I do not once again set Jerusalem in first place as in the beginning of my gladness. May I suffer this and that if I do not once again place Jerusalem above everything else in my memory, as being at the beginning of my gladness of any kind, as the crown of my joy, as my first delight. 7 Remember, O Lord, the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem, those saying, ‘Empty her out, empty her out, even to her foundations. The sons of Edom is what he calls the Arabians who allied with the Babylonians against Jerusalem, and when she was being razed to the ground, they would urge them to dig up her 5-6: ‘Right hand’ is what he calls the action of virtue and ‘tongue’ is what he calls the contemplation of knowledge, for the the tongue is a symbol of speech and knowledge; the throat is what he calls passion relating to the gullet, namely, pleasure. He is saying, may practical activity be forgotten in me through idleness, and may contemplative activity become stuck fast in the pleasure of food and remain motionless towards the pleasure of divine knowledge.

very foundations. Remember them, he says, for retribution, for having the lawful claims of kinship they became the most bitter of enemies on account of envy. Having said ‘the sons of Edom’, he added ‘the day of Jerusalem’, the day of Jerusalem’s misfortune. He moved indifferently from the genitive to the accusative [‘sons of Edom’ in genitive and ‘the day of Jerusalem’ in accusative]; or else, remember the sons of Edom at the time of the city’s misfortune.

8α O daughter of Babylon, you wretch. Just as it is customary for Hebrews to call man ‘the son of man’, so they call Babylon the ‘daughter of Babylon’. O daughter of Babylon, you wretch! O Babylon, pitiful on account of the dread things that will happen to you, for he is proclaiming to her her destruction.

8β Blessed is the one who will [re]pay you back the [re]payment in return that you [re]paid back to us. These are the words of the people, fervently desiring the destruction of the enemies. The repayment that you repaid to us, in the sense of, the return, that is, the ill-treatment, that you paid back to us, with the the preposition [re] in these words being redundant as we have said elsewhere.

9 Blessed is the one who will take and dash your infants against the rock. They extend their anger even to the most tender age, calling blessed the one who treats even her infants in an inhuman and savage way. But such things do not belong to us who are disciples of the meek and benevolent one who commands us most of all to love our enemies and to treat them well. But now those things in the psalm that are easily susceptible to anagogical interpretation are to be so treated. You will understand the ‘sons of Edom’ as the demons, enjoining one another to empty out the wealth of the soul to the utmost, for ‘Jerusalem’ is to understood as the soul. Babylon the wretched is impiety that brought wretchedness, once piety had taken con- trol, and blessed is the one who has brought down impiety. The infants of impiety are new- ly-born passionate thoughts or else infantile and foolish thoughts, and the one who masters them and dashes them against the rock of faith or against Christ - And the rock, it is written, was Christ – and so destroys them is blessed.

137 Psalm 137

1α A psalm belonging to David.

1β I shall confess to you, O Lord, with my whole heart. This was also said at the beginning of the ninth psalm.

1γ And before angels I shall sing to you with psaltery. Before angels, namely, I shall sing to you from below along with angels whose work it is to praise you with hymns. Or else ‘angels’ is what he is calling the priests, for it is the custom of Scripture to call the priests ‘angels’ and ‘gods’, at one time saying, For the lips of a priest shall guard knowledge, and from his mouth they shall seek law, for he is a messenger of the Lord Almighty, and at another time, You shall not revile gods and you shall not speak ill of your people’s rulers. Before the priests, he says, I shall sing to you songs of thanksgiving.

1δ For you have heard all the words of my mouth. For you have heard my every entreaty which was made fittingly.

2α I shall worship towards your holy temple. Rendering my songs of thanksgiving.

2β And I shall confess to your name for your mercy and your truth. And I shall give thanks because you have had mercy on me and truly have had mercy, as we have said elsewhere; or because you have proven true in what you promised me.

2γ For you have magnified your holy name over all things. And because you have made you holy name wondrous in every work or in everything, for all things that you have made proclaim the magnificence of your name. Another translator rendered this as, ‘For you have magnified your holy name above all things’.

3α On whatever day I call upon you, swiftly hear me. He said this also in the one hundred and first psalm.

3β You will bestow great care on me in my soul by your power. You will grant me much care in regard to my soul, as being able to do this. Or else in your power you will raise me up greatly in respect of my soul, that is, you will exalt my soul, you will raise it above afflictions.

And at the end of the eleventh psalm he said, In your height you bestowed much care on the sons of men.

4α Let all the kings of the earth confess to you, O Lord. The pious kings. Then the reason for which they are being ordered to give thanks.

4β For they have heard all the words of your mouth. Those through the law and the prophets, those through the Gospel and the Apostles. They have an obligation to give thanks not so much on account of the other benefactions as on this account, and indeed piety and virtuous life flow from this; and this is the true bene- faction of the soul.

5α And let them sing with the songs of the Lord. Let them sing to you through the songs composed for you; for the Lord’s songs are those produced by Moses and by David. The songs may also be interpreted simply as God’s hymns of praise.

5β For great is the glory of the Lord. Great is the opinion about God, with all who have a sense of his benefactions holding him in high esteem. Or else, great is his glory, for it is written, Heaven and earth are full of his glory, with angels and men glorifying him.

6α For the Lord is high and watches over the lowly. This is similar to, Who dwells in the heights and watches over the lowly, in the one hundred and twelfth psalm. Or being high in nature he watches over the lowly, as having providence for the earth and extending his providence to even the meanest of creatures. Or else watching over the humble-minded and guarding them.

6β And knows what is high from afar off. For actions that are mean and unworthy of his height he does not bear to look on even from close by, for it is written, I do not know you. But what is high and worthy he knows even from far away, for it is written, The Lord knows the way of the just. This is indicative of his great pleasure in them.

Or else the verse is about his foreknowledge, because he knows it from afar and before it occurs. Sus 35α

7α If I should walk amid affliction you will make me live. When I have fallen into trials you will preserve me; when I am trapped in dangers you will revive me.

7β Against the anger of my enemies you have stretched out your hand. Against their frenzy and fury you have stretched out your hand and quenched it.

7γ And you right hand has saved me. Your power.

8α The Lord will repay for me. He will repay my enemies, for is its written, Vengeance is mine, I shall repay.

8β O Lord, your mercy is to the age. This is like the often repeated, For his mercy is to the age.

8γ Do not overlook the works of your hands. And, he says, you are both merciful and creator. On both counts therefore look on us favourably and providently and do not overlook us when being oppressed and destroyed, or when we are entreating and calling on you.

138 Psalm 138

1α A psalm belonging to David.

1β O Lord, you have tried me and known me. You have tried me by the test of trials, not, of course, as not knowing me before trial, how indeed, when You know all things before they come to be? But so that I may be known as Sus 35α well-proven by those who do not know me and become for them a model of patient endur- ance. And you know with precision what I am; or, ‘you have tried me and known me’, in the sense of you know me precisely. And indeed when the Apostle says that he searches the hearts of men, he does not imply ignorance prior to the searching, but precise and clear knowledge.

2α You have known my sitting down and my standing up.

That is, my way of life, for life is in these things, in rest and in movement, in leisure and employment, in stillness and action.

2β You have understood the movements of my thoughts from afar off. Lest anyone suppose that he came to know by testing, he clarified his words. For the one who knows the movements of thoughts, and that even before they are set in motion, and indeed a long time before, how would he have any need of testing?

3α You have traced my trodden path and my line-measure. The way of my entire life and its measure, how far it has progressed, how far it is wanting you know well. For the ‘line-measure’ is a measure used for roads by the Egyptians and Per- sians, for what a stade is for us a ‘line-measure’ is for them. Testing and tracing in relation to God indicate his unerring knowledge.

3β And all my ways you have known in advance. All my actions, the good and the bad. And he did not say that you have known, but that you have known them in advance, before they happen.

4 That there is no guile on my tongue. You have known this along with all else that there is no evil in my words, there is no cun- ning or crookedness. Then he speaks more universally.

5α See, O Lord, you know all things, those at the last and those at the first. The last and the first, that is, collectively, everything, and nothing has escaped your knowledge. He knows, he says, all things, those that are to come and those that have been.

5β You have fashioned me and placed your hand on me. Not only have you fashioned me, but you also hold me fast and shelter me, with the one as it were being indicative of creation and the other of providence.

6α Your knowledge has proved wonderful from me. Knowing you has been magnified beyond me, for this is how another translator rendered it; it has become beyond my understanding. This also he clarified through the following verse, saying:

6β It has prevailed mightily; I remain powerless towards it. It has become too strong to be understood by my thoughts; I shall have no strength to- wards it so as to grasp it. ‘Knowledge’ is what he calls knowledge by nature, for that he is we know, but what his essence is we do not know; and that he is everywhere we know, but how we know not; and that he is good and benevolent and wise and powerful and suchlike we know, but how much we do not know. The Ecclesiast agrees with this when he says, I said, ‘I shall become wise’, but wisdom moved far from me, far beyond what was, and a deep depth, who will find it? And Paul says, O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! Some have understood it in this way: your wisdom has been made wonderful from my formation, from my construction, it has prevailed mightily, in no way have I power towards it so as to praise it worthily. But if you do not know it precisely, how do you admire it? For this very reason namely, that it is incomprehensible. And indeed not being able to acquire knowledge of the sun’s ray, on this very account we wonder at it. Then he wonders at another power of God, his being everywhere in power and provi- dence and his filling every place. 7-8 Where shall I go from your spirit? And where shall I flee from your face? If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I descend into Hades, you are present. God’s spirit and face is what he calls God by way of circumlocution, or else his spirit is the holy Spirit and his face is the Son, as image of the Father and very stamp of his nature, for it is written, He who has seen me has seen the Father. By the heaven he indicated what is highest and by Hades what is lowest. He then speaks also of the depth and bottom of the sea, through all of which he includes every place inac- cessible to man. 9-10 If I should take my wings at dawn and dwell in the extremities of the sea, even there indeed your hand will guide me and your right hand will hold me fast. His ‘wings’, namely, the motive power of the mind. If, he says, I reach with the wings of my mind to the depths of the sea, so as to be able there perhaps to be hidden from you, even there your power will guide me and once again hold me fast, that is, without that power I cannot even go there, but your power will go before me, enabling me to go and again it will hold me fast inescapably. He said ‘at dawn’ indicating the time when the mind is most sober. The ‘indeed’ is redundant.

Some have understood ‘dawn’ as the east and the ‘extremities of the sea’ as the west, namely, if I take wings with my mind in the east and reach to the west, both in the east your power will lead me as I take wings, and on arriving in the west this same power will hold me fast.

11 And I said, ‘Will darkness tread upon me? Even night is illumination in my delight’. I considered to myself, ‘Having put on darkness, will I be able to be hidden?’ And I said to myself, ‘Will darkness conceal me?’ For this is what ‘tread upon’ signifies, for the one who is treading on the ground is hiding it. Then I realised that this night is luminous in God, name- ly, with God. For God is whom he calls his ‘delight’, the mere memory of whom is held to be gladness, for it is written, I remembered God and was glad. I knew that not even darkness is able to hide me from God.

12α For darkness will not be darkened from you. Namely, with you, for this is how another rendered it, for what is darkness with us is not darkness with you, but it also shines. The he clarifies the words.

12β And night will be illumined like day. With you, that is.

12γ As is its dark, so is its light. Just as the darkness of night is luminous with you, so also is the light of day, that is, both are the same with you and similarly luminous. These things are about all things being manifest with God. They can also be understood in a different sense, namely, that having been surrounded by the darkness of temptations, I said to myself, ‘Will it gain dominion over me?’ Then, by your will, the night of despondency became the light of gladness; and what follows is to be interpreted in accordance with this. Gregory the Theologian interpreted the verse in another way, namely, that when living in PG36.412B the luxury of delights the night of delight that darkens the mind would seem to me as light; for night, he says, was about my wretched self and I was unaware.

13α For you have taken possession of my reins. Chrysostomos says that the prophet is here calling ‘reins’ his whole self, the part standing PG55.416 for the whole, namely, that you have taken possession of me, you have made me your posses- sion and you make me worthy of your providence, for the person who acquires something also provides for it.

13β You have aided me from my mother’s womb. And in the seventieth psalm he said, From my mother’s belly you are my protector; from my very swaddling-clothes, from my earliest age.

14α I shall confess to you, for fearfully you have been made wonderful. We marvel at many things, but not with fear, namely, at the beauty and stature of bodies, and buildings and at the wisdom of arts and suchlike; but having stooped to look at the depth of the sea we not only marvel at it, but with fear. The prophet accordingly having looked over the yawning ocean and the infinite depth of God’s wisdom and power and providential economy, and having become dizzy and having marvelled with fear, he came back to himself and cried out that I only will give thanks to you.

14β Your works are wonderful. For as is written, You have made all things in wisdom.

14γ And my soul knows well. It knows that these things are wonderful.

15α My bone you made secretly has not been hidden from you. Manifest to you is the conformation of my bones which you made unseen, hidden be- neath the flesh.

15β And my being in the depths of the earth. Manifest to you is the substance of my body when hidden in the depths of the earth and undergoing dissolution after death; that is, you see me both when being congealed in my mother’s womb and again when being dissolved in the belly of the earth. Or in a different way: Manifest to you is my being, my formation, that, as if in the depths of the earth, is being woven in the entrails of the maternal womb.

16α What is yet unformed in me your eyes have seen. He is speaking either of the unshapenness of the embryo, having not yet been moulded in the workshop of nature, or of the imperfect motion of the the mind. 15α: Woman, when she ate from the tree; for she is the bone of Adam, fashioned from his side, and which he made in secret, having cast ecstasy over Adam [Gen 3.8-10; 2.21].

You know me, he says, even before I have been formed and my thoughts even before they have been moved, that is, You know all things before they come to be. Sus 35α

16β And all will be written in your book. God’s book is his exact knowledge; his writing is his perpetual memory. In the book of simple knowledge all people, both just and sinful, are written in a simple way, but in the book of knowledge by affinity, only the just are written.

16γ By day they will be formed and no one among them. They will be formed in the light of the holy Spirit, a formation both excellent and pure and the antithesis of nocturnal and corporeal formation, and among those written, as was said, there is no one who has not been formed spiritually and regulated and directed. We have interpreted the words as far as is possible on the basis of Gregory the Theologian. PG36.509B Chrysostom, however, says this is ‘unclear’, and imports the only meaning from another PG55.417 translator, namely, that Your eyes have seen me unformed and you have known me like those written in your book, those already well-formed and requiring not a single further day to attain perfect formation.

17α For me, O God, your friends, have been greatly honoured. Friends of God are those who are made his own through virtue, for it is written, You are my friends. Nor is it a small part of virtue to honour the friends of God.

17β Their authorities have been greatly strengthened. Another writes ‘their heads’, that is, ‘they’ by way of circumlocution; they have become strong in virtue, invincible to evil. Or else understand ‘authorities’ as the authority which each received over unclean spirits; he is alluding to the Apostles and their successors; or else those who, being virtuous, are like them.

18α I shall number them and they will be multiplied beyond sand. The verse employs hyperbole. I shall attempt to count them and they will be infinitely nu- merous, they will be found beyond number; except with God, not only are they numbered, but even the hairs of their head.

18β I have been raised up and still am with you.

I have been freed from dread dangers and have not forgotten virtue as happens to many in prosperity.

19α If you, O God, will slay sinners. ‘It will be well’ is missing. ‘Sinners’ then is what he is calling the demons and lawless men. The destruction of the demons is their inactivity, and that of lawless men is their turning towards virtue, evil being destroyed, or else it is their bodily death, when proving incurable, so that they do not impede the path of virtue.

19β Turn away from me, you men of blood. You murderers, you who delight in bloodshed, who destroy whomsoever you overcome; such are all those of the devil, destroying the one by deed and the other by word. It is not a small achievement to flee the company of the lawless.

20α For you are full of strife in your thoughts. For you are belligerent and contentious in your thoughts, ‘in evil purposes’ as another rendered it.

20β They will take your cities to no purpose. They will dwell in your cities in vain, for it is written, The earth is the Lord’s. Such men will remain barren in virtue. 21-22 Have I not hated those who hate you, O Lord, and been consumed against your enemies? With a perfect hatred I would hate them, they became enemies for me. Having said above, For me your friends, O God, have been greatly honoured, he says here, Have I not hated those who hate you, O Lord? There with an excess of honour, for it is ‘great’, and here with an excess of hatred, for he would be consumed, namely, he would be fired with rage against them.

23α Try me, O God, and know my heart. And indeed at the beginning he said, O Lord, you have tried me and known me, but he asks to be tried still further, to give even greater assurance to those who do not know him. 23β- Examine me and know my paths, and see if there is any way of injustice in me, and guide

24 me in the eternal way.

He says the same again here; or else the words are on account of those wronging him, confirming that he has done them no wrong, or he is asking to be tried still further so that, if he is proven not to be thus, he may correct himself when erring.

139 Psalm 139

1 A psalm belonging to David.

2α Rescue me, O Lord, from a toilsome man. From an evildoer, for evil is toilsome as bringing toil and trouble on the one held by it. He then clarifies whom he is calling ‘toilsome’.

2β From an unjust man deliver me. A lawless man. For since such a man is difficult to guard against, he calls on God for as- sistance. Seek also in the forty-second psalm the explanation of, From an unjust and deceitful man deliver me. Ps 42.1δ Having said in the previous psalm, Turn away from me, you men of blood, and in the sixth psalm, Depart from me, all you who practice lawlessness, and for his own part having turned away and fled from them, he now calls on God to join in helping. For each must first con- tribute of his own means and then call on God, for neither does God co-operate if you are making no effort, nor will you succeed in your efforts if he is not also laying on his hand.

3α Those who have deliberated injustice in their heart. Such men, he says, have planned unjust, lawless, harmful things.

3β All day long they would draw up wars. Throughout their whole life they would prepare wars, now against the one, now against the other, evil not permitting them to rest, but persuading them to attack at times surrepti- tiously and at time openly. ‘War’ is to be understood as both deceit and treachery and every insult contemplated in thought and word and deed.

4α They have whetted their tongue like a serpent’s. They have sharpened it to inject destructive venom, which is harmful words.

4β The venom of asps is beneath their lips.

Namely, on their tongue, in their mouth, is deadly speech, like an asp’s venom in both its harmfulness and efficacy in bringing destruction. Do you see how evil transformed them to brutishness, having dragged not their nature, but their predisposition down into inhumanity?

5α Keep me, O Lord, from a sinner’s hand, from unjust men rescue me. He says again what has gone before, intensifying his entreaty, for a sinner and an unjust man is whosoever sins or acts unjustly in any way whatsoever either against himself or anoth- er, for with every sin he indubitably does injustice to himself, but not necessarily with every sin does he harm another. Just as Scripture often names virtue in general ‘justice’, so it calls evil in general ‘injustice’.

5β Those who have contrived so as to trip up my steps. They have looked to impede my path in accordance with the law; the words ‘so as’ are redundant in accordance with the Hebrew idiom.

6α Proud men have hidden a snare for me. Every transgressor is proud as holding the law in contempt, as we have often said, and every sinner is a transgressor of the law.

6β And with ropes they have stretched out a snare for my feet. With craftily twined treacheries, with furtive traps, they have spread out a snare for me.

6γ Next to my pathway they have set stumbling blocks for me. Touching the wayside or close to it, so that when walking he will fall into them unawares; a stumbling block is an obstacle in the way. He is explaining and expanding his words about treachery; for, he says, ‘they have hidden’ and ‘stretched out’ and ‘next to my pathway’, so that he might show the earnest and villainous intent of their evil contrivance.

7α I have said to the Lord, ‘You are my God’. Having found myself in such dangers and expecting to be taken captive, having given up all other help, I called on God alone, saying, ‘You are my God, do not overlook your creature’.

7β Give ear, O Lord, to the voice of my entreaty. Entreating to be delivered.

8 O Lord, O Lord, the power of my salvation, you have spread a shade over my head on the day of war. O Lord, O Lord, the power saving me, you have sheltered me on the day of war, you have guarded me, you have set me in safety, not only having kept me untouched by arrows and swords, but also by the distressing impact of the sun. He is grateful and confesses the prior benefactions he has received so that he may induce God to further assistance.

9α Do not surrender me, O Lord, from my desire to the sinful one. Do not hand me over to the sinful demon on account of my evil desire. For it is likely that at times I have desired wickedly, but may I not be condemned by this, may I not be rejected. The sinful one is also the lawless man.

9β They have contrived against me, do not abandon me. The sinful have laid plans against me.

9γ Lest they be exalted. Lest they become more overbearing and reckless, puffed up by their victory over me.

10 The head of their encirclement, the labour of their lips will cover them. ‘Encirclement’ is what he calls their net, their treachery. The crowning act of their treach- ery, he says, that in which they trusted most of all, this will cover them and obliterate them. He called the same thing ‘the labour of their lips’, their having laboured in planning it and having found it with toil and effort. That through which they expect to destroy, through the same they will be destroyed. Or else ‘the labour of their lips’ is what he calls their wicked plotting, their cunning advice. Such is wickedness: it becomes the ruin for the one possessing it.

11α Coals on fire will fall upon them.

Not simply coals, but ‘on fire’, that is, having much fire, flaming mightily. Understand ‘coals’ as punishment from above, chastising bitterly like live coals. He proph- esies these things against such people. And god-sent fire has been brought down on many.

11β You will cast them down in miseries, and in no way will they withstand. In sufferings causing them misery, and they will not endure the miseries at all, but on their first impact they will be cast down on account of their vehemence.

12α A man with a restive tongue will not be directed well upon the earth. A man with an intemperate tongue, an idle chatterer, a foolish tattler, an insolent man, or a wrangler and lover of strife, will not be given fair passage, but will be turned away and brought down.

12β Evils will hunt down an unjust man to destruction. And another wise man said, Transgressions ensnare a man. And since many times one is hunted to salvation, he added, ‘to destruction’, namely, to perdition. These are gnomic and didactic expressions.

13 I know that the Lord will give judgement for paupers and satisfaction to the poor. Even if vengeance for the belaboured and oppressed is often slow in coming – for these are the ones he is now calling paupers and poor – but yet I well know that either in the present life or in the life to come the Lord will give judgement and satisfaction for them, both of which signify vengeance. He said this, both consoling the victims of injustice and also instilling fear in those com- mitting injustice and bringing them to their senses.

14α Except the just will confess to your name. Except even with vengeance being slow to come, the just will not be scandalized, but will give thanks even thus, knowing that you do everything for a reason and for profit.

14β And the straight will dwell with your face. ‘The straight’ is what once again he he calls the just, for they will dwell with you, name- ly, with your memory, ever being together with it and never separated from it. Or else ‘the straight’ is what he calls the Apostles, and the face of God what he calls Christ as stamp of his nature, for it is written, I desire that where I am they also may be with me.

It may also be interpreted in a different way, the just being those who attain practical virtue and the straight those who attain contemplative virtue, or else the just being those pursuing virtue in a simple way, and the straight those doing so with reason. Since the psalm touches both on the last judgement and on Christ and the Apostles, some placed on it the superscription: Towards fulfilment; a psalm belonging to David.

140 Psalm 140

1α A psalm belonging to David.

1β O Lord, I have cried to you, hear me. I have cried with the cry of an ardently burning heart, like the cry whereby Moses would be heard when silent and Hannah when uttering no words, and not with a cry of the mouth, like the cry whereby the Jews multiplying their entreaty would fail to be heard. For just as the one who cries aloud with his mouth tenses his entire body, so the one who cries with his heart concentrates his soul and his mind and is worthy to be heard.

1γ Turn to the voice of my entreaty even as I cry to you. Even as I am crying, in the manner mentioned, inasmuch as he will not turn to the voice of entreaty of the one who is not crying thus.

2 Let my prayer be directed as incense before you, the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice. There were of old two altars in the temple, the one of gold in the innermost sanctuary in the Holies of Holies, the other of bronze, lying outside. And the one of gold was devoted to incense, while the one of bronze to the other sacrifices. And the incense used to be prepared in the costliest and purest manner according to the directions of the law, and when burned it was acceptable to God for both these reasons and as most fragrant and as foreshadowing the new worship. Let my prayer then be directed before you, he says, like incense burned according to the law, my heart having been ignited within me with the fire of zeal like a sacrificial hearth and sending forth the prayer; but so much then for the incense. It had been ordained in the law for the priests that, when no one would offer a sacri- fice, they would sacrifice by themselves twice a day, one lamb in the morning and one in the evening. And these sacrifices were pure and acceptable, the others often being sullied by the disposition of those offering. The evening sacrifice indeed was more honourable than the morning one, for the latter would look to the former and this would complete the sacrificial service of the day and con- clude their ministry.

Let the lifting up of my hands, he says again, be directed as an evening sacrifice, or let the lifting up of my hands become an evening sacrifice, let it be regarded and accepted as that sac- rifice, with the mouth of the supplicant being clean from wicked words, and especially with the praying heart being pure from evil thoughts, and the outstretched hands being unsullied by greed and grasping and every lawless deed.

3α Set, O Lord, a watch upon my mouth. Recognizing that the mouth is the cause of evils, when uncared for, just as of blessings, when cared for (the ease of its use indeed has brought about the countless ills of the tongue), and that there is no benefit from a house or a city, nor of gates or walls, unless there are those guarding them and knowing when it is good to close and when to open, and that there is need here for much care and precision and especially for assistance from above, he prays and calls on God for help. Guarding of the mouth is vigilance of the mind, watching and knowing what it is expedient to express and what to keep within. For it is written that those who have fallen by the sword are not as numerous as those who have fallen by the tongue.

3β And a gate of fortification around my lips. A gate of watchfulness guarding the mouth. This signifies the same thing.

4α Do not incline my heart to words of evil. Do not permit for my heart to be diverted to evil thoughts, to unseemly desires, for when the mouth is being guarded this is something that follows and is easy to attain.

4β So as to plead excuses in excuse amid sins. So as not only to be inclined to these words, but also to plead excuses in excuse when sinning. And indeed when the first-formed humans sinned, Adam pleaded Eve in excuse and Eve the serpent. And again the murderer pleads in excuse the tyranny of rage, and the adul- terer the force of desire, and the thief the constraint of his poverty, and the other something else. But it is not these things that commit sins, but negligence and this is evident from those who take care. For knowing that the confession of sin appeases the Master, while denial thereof incites his anger even more, the devil persuades those who are sinning to plead in excuse that it was not they who sinned, but something else that was the cause.

4γ Along with men engaged in lawlessness.

So as to plead in excuse, he says, along with transgressors of the law, for pleading in excuse after the sin is a mark of these people.

4δ And I shall in no way join with their elect. And if this comes about, if you will help me, I shall in have no dealings with, I shall have no contact of any kind, not only with meaner transgressors, but not even with the more eminent among them.

5α A just man will chastise me with mercy and rebuke me, but let not the oil of a sinner anoint my head. Let a just man reprove me and be scathing towards me, let him rebuke me, but let not the compliments of a sinner flatter me, for, The lash of a just man is better than the indulgence of a sinner, and, The rod of a just man is preferable to honour from an evil man. ‘With mercy’ is PG37.910 added because the just man chastises out of benevolence so that he is not lost.

5β For yet more my prayer will be amid their well-favoured desires. Along with fleeing from transgressors and spurning their flattery, I shall furthermore pray against their well-favoured desires, namely, against the things they delight in, so that their purposes and desires are not fulfilled, for these are what he calls ‘well-favoured desires’.

6α Their judges have been swallowed up close to a rock. Their all-ravaging masters have disappeared almost like a rock, like a stone sunk in water that leaves no trace. He also said this about the impious man, namely, And I searched for him, and his place was not found, indicating thereby his utter destruction and anonymity. ‘Have been swallowed up’ is in the sense of ‘will be swallowed up’, prophesying their de- struction.

6β They will hear my words for they have been sweetened. Symmachus says, They will hear my sweetest sayings. The wise, he says, will receive my words because they are sweet to the pious as true and profitable.

7 Like a clod of earth shattered on the ground, their bones have been scattered next to Hades. Just as a thick lump of earth on being cut by the plough is broken and scattered on the un- derlying ground, so their bones will be scattered in the grave. For this is what he called ‘Hades’.

8 For towards you, O Lord, O Lord, are my eyes. In you I have hoped, take not back my soul. Do not take away my soul, when I am being pursued by enemies and the object of their ire.

9 Keep me from the snare that they have set for me, and from the scandals of those engaged in lawlessness. Once again ‘scandals’ is what he calls their snare and ireful purpose.

10α The sinners will fall into their casting-net. They will fall into the net that they have spread out against me; they will be dragged into their own drag-net. Or else into his, namely God’s, casting-net.

10β I am all alone until I pass away. I am isolated from them, moving far from their intent, and separated from them not so much by distance in space as by estrangement in disposition, until I die.

141 Psalm 141

1 Of understanding; belonging to David; when he was in the cave praying. What ‘of understanding’ signifies, we have explained in various other superscriptions. He calls ‘the cave’ the double cave in which David spent the night when fleeing from Saul. For since he had hidden himself in the inner one, and Saul, passing by, in ignorance of the matter, camped in the outer one, David, having realized that he was hemmed in, prayed these words.

2 With my voice I have cried to the Lord, with my voice I have entreated the Lord. And indeed he was not able to shout or cry out, lest being made known he would at once be arrested. Accordingly, what he here calls a crying voice is the tensed disposition of his heart, crying unspokenly and supplicating mentally.

3α I shall pour out my entreaty before him. I shall set it out before him.

3β I shall declaim my affliction before him. He says the same again. In place of entreaty I shall present my affliction, which is able to move the Lord to assistance. For affliction was accustomed to make people not only more zealous and more careful, but it also bestows no little boldness before God on the one who bears it with thanksgiving and it becomes a great title for being heard.

4α Even as my spirit is departing from me. These things, he says, I do while now in danger, while likely to die, for having despaired on every side, he directed his whole being towards God.

4β And you have known my paths. I, having thus arrived in these extreme straits, will do this, but you, O Lord, have known the ways of my life and know that I, having in no way wronged those plotting against me, am in danger for no reason on account of envy.

4γ In this way on which I was walking they have hidden a snare for me. On this path of flight, they have hidden a snare for me, coming upon me and shutting off my exit without my having any presentiment. This can also be understood about the intelligible enemies, namely, that not only on the path of evil do they hide snares, but what is much worse, even on the path of virtue, as with conceit in forbearance and vanity in mercy.

5α I would look to the right and observe and there was no one recognizing me. For allies and friends are accustomed to stand on the right side. I would keep watch to the right, he says, and there was no one helping.

5β Escape has gone from me. Flight has vanished from me as I am trapped in the cave and not even able to flee.

5γ And there is no one seeking out my soul. No one taking up my cause, no one delivering, no one defending.

6α I have cried to you, O Lord. Having lost hope on every side and having despaired of all human help.

6β I said, ‘You are my hope’. You alone.

6γ You are my portion in the land of the living. Being in the land of the living, being numbered among the living, I have no earthly lot, but am rich in you alone. Or else, you are my lot and wealth in heaven, for it is the land of the living, as the dwelling place of those who do not die.

7α Turn to my entreaty, for I have been humbled greatly. He presents his suffering as a supplication and attempts with this to move the Master. It was also said elsewhere, I have been afflicted and humbled till greatly, and again, See my humil- ity and my weariness, and forgive all my sins.

7β Deliver me from my pursuers for they have prevailed mightily over me. My having been entrapped in a place of no escape.

8α Lead my soul out from prison so as to confess to your name. ‘Prison’ is what he calls his enclosure in the cave, and his ‘soul’ his whole self. Lead me out, he says, so as to give thanks to you. In an anagogical sense, ‘prison’ may be interpreted as the body, fettering and imprisoning the soul enclosed within it.

8β Just men will await me patiently until you will repay me. Aquila says, Just men will wait for me until you will requite me. They will await me, he says, expecting for me to be freed from my dire straits, and they will do this until you will requite me for the sake of such great suffering and humiliation. For such are the souls of the saints; they are both pained along with those suffering sorely and rejoice along with those prospering.

142 Psalm 142

1α A psalm belonging to David; when his son was pursuing him. In many copies the present psalm is without superscription, befitting those being tested by trials. In some it has the superscription (as shown above), A psalm belonging to David when his son was pursuing him. The third psalm indeed had a different superscription, A psalm belonging to David when he fled from the face of Absalom his son.

1β O Lord, hear my prayer, give ear to my entreaty in your truth. As true. For you have promised to hear those who rightly call upon you, and to me you promised this again in particular.

1γ Hear me in your justice. As just and not tolerating, not only for fathers to be wronged by children, but not anyone by anyone. Chrysostomos here calls truth ‘true mercy’ and justice ‘benevolence’, for only God PG55.448 is truly merciful and only God’s justice is mingled with benevolence, for justice among men is deprived of mercy.

2α And do not enter into judgement with your servant. Do not come to issue with me, for you will be justified in your words and will prevail when brought to trial with your servant.

2β For before you no one living will be justified. He did not say simply that he will not be justified, but ‘before you’, that is, when examined in relation to your strict severity, or your benefactions, or your commandments. Hence the blessed Job said, I disparaged myself and wasted away, and regard myself as dust and ashes; I shall place a hand on my mouth. Seek also in the one hundred and twenty-ninth Job 42.6, psalm the explanation of, For if you will keep watch on lawless acts, O Lord, O Lord, who will 40.4 endure? Everyone living, that is, every person partaking in life, who has lived and had social inter- course, so that according to the Apostle, We are justified freely by his grace, through the faith of Christ Jesus.

3α For the enemy pursued my soul.

The previous ‘for’ was causal, this one is narrative. In a historical sense ‘enemy’ is what he calls Absalom, and in an anagogical sense the devil.

3β He humbled my life to the earth. He has bowed me down to the earth, not only stooped down towards the earth on ac- count of the weight of misfortunes, but also having the earth as my seat and bed as a fugitive. And the intelligible enemy has bowed me down to earthly things, having drawn me away from heavenly things. The word humiliation has many meanings, for it signifies not only that from virtue, but also that from misfortunes and from sins and from pride and from avarice, which regards a ha’penny as something of great worth, and paltry things as very important, as little boys do balls and dice.

3γ He made me to sit in darkness like the age-long dead. He cast me into the darkness of affliction, he darkened my mind. ‘Like the age-long dead’ is an intensification of the darkening, for neither did he say the dead simply, but the ‘age-long’, namely, the dead of old, desiring to heighten the tragedy, for these lie in deep darkness, covered over with much debris.

4α And my spirit grew weary upon me. My soul became despondent within me from the excess of sorrow.

4β My heart was troubled within me. Having been thrown into disorder and whirled about.

5α I remembered days of old. In which, being well-pleasing to God, I used to fare well; or in which our fathers would prosper and succeed, or the opposite, when they also would be tested with misfortunes and trials. For such memory brings no little consolation.

5β I meditated on all your works. Unfolding by myself your wonders and reflecting on those who against all expectation had been delivered from misfortunes.

5γ On the works of your hands I would meditate.

I would linger in my memory on your creations, and finding them endowed with provi- dence from you, I would take hope that you will not overlook me, suffering such things and in distress. 6α I stretched out my hands to you. Supplicating and entreating. 6β My soul towards you was like waterless land. My soul, thirsting for help, was towards you as waterless land is towards rain, thirsting for water. 7α Hear me swiftly, O Lord, my spirit has left. It has all but left; it has gone forth from me, if you will not hear swiftly. 7β Do not turn your face from me, and I shall be like those descending into the pit. Do not abandon me and thereupon I shall die. For those descending into the pit are dead, and the one who is bereft of help from God is truly dead to virtue. And he turns away his face, that is, is oversight, from the wicked, for it is written, Your eye is pure so as not to see evil. Make your mercy heard for me in the morning, for I have hoped in you. 8α Swiftly make your mercy known to me, so that even before sensing it I may be consoled by the promise. Then the reason for receiving it, namely, that I have hoped in you, for he knows that this attracts God. Make known to me, O Lord, the way in which I shall walk, for to you I have lifted up my soul. And indeed both the natural and the written law teach the straight way. He therefore is saying this either because my conscience has been buried by sin, or because many things are unknown to men. And hence Paul said, For we do not know how to pray as we ought. To you, he says, I am agape in expectation, make known to me the way in which I shall walk towards you. 9-10α Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, to you I have fled for refuge; teach me to do your will, for you are my God.

He did not say, ‘teach me your will’, but to do it, for blessed is the one who does not only know it, but also does it, for to know is easy, to do is difficult and requires most especially teaching and help from above. 10β Your good spirit will guide me on a straight land. On an upright and smooth way. And such is the way of virtue, upright as inerrant, and smooth as freed from stumbling-blocks and obstacles, which are the passions of sin. For the sake of your name, O Lord, you will make me live. Not on account of my virtue, but on account of your name, for you are called benevolent and merciful. And in the one hundred and thirteenth psalm it was also said, Not for us, O Lord, not for us, but rather to your name give glory. 11β- In your justice you will release my soul from affliction, and in your mercy you will eliminate 12α my enemies and destroy all who are afflicting my soul. He speaks here of the same justice of which he spoke of at the beginning of the psalm, and what he there called ‘truth’ he here called ‘mercy’. The elimination and destruction of intelli- gible enemies is their expulsion and their extermination in relation to the one speaking these words. The verbs ‘you will make me live’ and ‘you will release’ and ‘you will eliminate’ and ‘you will destroy’ are on the one hand of a prophetic type, but they are also of an optative type. 12β For I am your servant. A servant, as eager to serve and keep the Master’s decrees. 143 Psalm 143 1α A psalm belonging to David; against Goliath. A number of copies do not have ‘against Goliath’, but there is nothing to preclude this from being added, the psalm having been composed in thanksgiving after the defeat of that man and after many other victories. And there is also the intelligible Goliath, the common enemy the devil. 1β Blessed is the Lord my God who instructs my hands for battle, my fingers for war. To be praised is God who has made my hands and fingers prosper in the line of battle and in war, and has given me to overcome my enemies and raise such trophies.

Hands stretched out to virtue and raised up to God are made to prosper in the intelligible war also. 2α My mercy and my refuge, my protector and my deliverer, my defender and in him I have hoped. He is merciful and all the rest. 2β Who subjects my people under me. For we need much weight thrown in the scale from above, not only for the subjection of our enemies, but also for that of our own people, and just as from this come victories over our enemies, so also the subjection of our own. 3 O Lord, what is man that you have made yourself known to him? Or the son of man that you set yourself to his account? He also said such things in the eighth psalm, What is man that you remember him, or the son of man that you look upon him? and seek there the explanation. Because, he says, you have granted him to know you as God and because you set yourself to his account, namely, you make yourself known to him as God; he says indeed the same again, because you fall under his thoughts, for this is very great and above the lowliness of his nature. 4α Man has been made like vanity. He says these things on account of the body and on account of nothing human being steadfast or certain, but all things are perishable and swiftly pass away; vanity is profitless effort and what is worthless. 4β His days pass by like a shadow. They pass away swiftly like a shadow, appearing for a short moment and seeming to be something, and quickly fleeting away. 5 O Lord, incline the heavens and descend, touch the mountains and they will smoke. Yet of course God does not descend. How could he, being everywhere present and filling all things? David rather now says such things in a human way, so that through these fearful words he might strike terror into the presumptuous and those inflamed by folly and curtail their arrogance. And indeed both the touching and the smoking, even though awesome, are 1β: David, having his hands taught for battle and his fingers for war by the Lord, used to overcome his sensible adversaries by these bodily members, and his intelligible adversaries by the corresponding members of his soul; and we by Christ have our hands taught for battle in raising them up to God, and our fingers for war in making the sign of the Cross.

much inferior to the dignity of God. He is saying accordingly, descend and touch the mountains, so that you may punish those not able to see by themselves the meanness and perishability of human nature and neither are brought to their senses thereby, but have a contrary disposition. And indeed when such ter- rors occurred on Sinai of old, he cast the people into great fear and brought them to sounder understanding.

6 Hurl a lightning shaft and you will scatter them, send forth your arrows and you will stir them into confusion. A lightning shaft and arrows are what he here calls god-sent punishments, namely, fam- ines, plagues, thunderbolts and suchlike; by these well-known and terrifying things making the one who is contemptuous and relaxed tremble and rouse himself. The words may also be understood about the first appearance of the Saviour. And indeed it is also written in the seventeenth psalm about the bending down of heaven, namely, And he made the heavens incline and came down, and about the mountains and the Ps 17.10α, smoke, And the foundations of the mountains were troubled, and, Smoke went up in his anger, 8β, 9α, and also about the lightning and arrows, He sent forth arrows and scattered them, and he 15α, multiplied lightning shafts and threw them into confusion, and read the explanations of these 15β verses. And it is not off the mark to understand these words also as about Christ’s second coming.

7α Send forth your hand from on high. Your power of assistance, the help from your alliance.

7β Set me free and deliver me from many waters. ‘Waters’ in a figurative way is what he calls his enemies, as being borne along like waters, violent and unruly and with onward rush, and carrying whatever they meet before them. Read also in the sixty-eighth psalm the explanation of the first verse.

7γ From the hand of alien sons. People alien to me, or alien to God on account of their lawlessness. And in another psalm it was said, Alien sons have denied me.

8α Whose mouth has spoken vanity. Falsehood and profitless words and indeed harmful words.

8β And their right hand is a right hand of injustice. Whose words are wicked, he says, and whose works are most evil.

9α O God, to you I shall sing a new song. A song of thanksgiving. For just as a king seeks nothing else at all from the poor man he has helped other than gratitude and praise, so also does God. But the king does so so that he may become more illustrious, while God does so so that he may make the one offering him thanks more illustrious.

9β With a ten-stringed psaltery I shall sing to you. In ancient times the psalms were sung to God with such instruments, but now the ten- stringed psaltery is every man, in regard to both the five senses of the body and the five faculties of the soul. PG91.1248 When therefore the eye sees rightly and hearing resonates with spiritual words and each of the senses and faculties mentioned enacts what it should blamelessly and in a manner pleasing to God, then through these ten, as with ten strings, one sings and gives thanks and glory to God.

10α Who bestow salvation on kings. For it is not armies and such forces that are wont to save them, but God’s touching of the balance.

10β Who redeem David his servant from a grievous sword. From dread war, from a bitter death.

11 Deliver me and free me from the hand of alien sons, whose mouth has spoken vanity and their right hand is a right hand of injustice. He said these things above, and repeats them intensifying his entreaty.

12α Whose sons are as young plants ripened in their youth. He underlines their prosperity and wealth; whose sons, he says, are flourishing, in full bloom, like young plants grown up in their youth.

12β Their daughters are beautified, decked all around, after the likeness of a temple.

Like a temple, or as appearing in the likeness of a temple in respect of adornment and beautification. 13α Their treasure houses are full, bursting forth from this one to this. They are emptied out into others on account of lack of space due to the abundance of the stored treasures, or are carried over into larger stores, according to the words, I shall pull down my barns, and build larger ones. 13β- Their sheep are prolific in birth, multiplying in their exits, their cattle are fatted. We understand ‘exits’ either as their births or as their paths out to pasture. 14β There is no breach in their fencing. Not only do their meadows wave with corn and their vineyards thrive, but even the fences around them stand firm; a fence is also the wall of a city or a house, none of which, he says, fell down. 14γ Nor passage nor crying in their streets. Neither running nor crying in the streets of their city. Or according to another translator ‘in their homesteads’. For where there is noise and disturbance from enemies, there there is rushing and running to and fro. And in the seventy-second psalm also he says, I have been zealous in indignation at the lawless on seeing the peace of sinners, and so on. 15α They have called blessed the people for whom things are thus. The many have called them blessed on account of the abundance of seeming blessings. Having given the erroneous judgement of the many, he adduces also the correct judgement of his own. 15β Blessed is the people of whom the Lord is its God. The portion of which is the Lord its God, or of whom the Lord is its God, of whom God is Lord, not nominally, but obeying his commandments. For this is true blessedness, as a permanent and perpetual good. 144 Psalm 144 1α A praise belonging to David. A common praise fitting for all.

1β I shall exalt you, O my God, my king. Speaking exalted divine things about you, or making known your sublimity to those who are ignorant of it. 1γ And I shall bless your name to the age, and to the age of the age. For how is it not out of place for creation to return glory to the Creator through all things (for it is written, The heavens are telling the glory of God, and so on), and for reason-endowed man to be inferior to it in this regard and not to glorify him continually, both through praise and through good works (for it is written, That they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven)? And indeed we are debtors to God in much, namely, that not existing he made us and made us such as we are, and that having been made, he preserves us and shows providence through everything, both in common and in particular, both secretly and manifestly, and both in what we know and what we do not know. For what might one say about the things created on our behalf, the ministration that is of- fered to us, the formation of the body, the nobility of the soul, the faculty of understanding, the natural law, the written law, and the chief of blessings, the incarnation for our sake, and the sufferings and sacrifice ? In all these things and in countless other we are debtors, as was said. 2 Every day I shall bless you and will praise your name to the age, and to the age of the age. These words are clear. The Lord is great and greatly to be praised, and to his majesty there is no limit. Great, not only as performing great deeds, but also as exceedingly munificent, and on these accounts to be greatly praised. And if there is no limit or measure to his majesty, there is certainly none to his praise. 4α Generation and generation will praise your works. Both the present generation and the one to come, that is, every. ‘Works’ is now what he calls the works created in six days, or else the marvels and signs performed in every generation. 4β And they will proclaim your power. Your power in both these works and that in bringing benefactions or in punishing.

‘Generation and generation’ he now calls those in each generation who are wise and god-lov- ing, who first themselves praise the works of God and then proclaim to others his power. 5-6 They will speak of the magnificence of the glory of your holiness, and will tell of your won- ders, they will announce the power of your awesome marvels and will tell of your majesty. ‘Wonders’ are the things performed for the benefit of certain people, as at the crossing of the Hebrews out of Egypt, the column of fire and the cloud, the division of the Red Sea, the water from the rock, the manna, the quails, and suchlike. ‘Awesome marvels’ are the things worked marvellously for the punishment of certain people, such as the plagues against the Egyptians and the other nations. And in a different sense, ‘wonders’ are the graduated alterations of the seasons, richly be- decked gardens, flowering meadows, springs with clear drinking water, sweetly flowing rivers, irrigating showers, produce of the earth, the countless kinds of trees, the variety of fruits, gentle winds, the brightness of the sun, the light of the moon, the beauty of the stars, and all that is worthy of wonder in inanimate and animate creation. ‘Awesome marvels’ are lightning flashes, thunder claps, lightning strikes, famines, plagues, snow, hail, ice, flooding, conflagra- tion, and all things that inspire terror in inanimate and animate creation. ‘Magnificence’ and ‘majesty’ are what is superlative in God’s nature and wisdom and power. Then he lingers longer on the more beneficial things, showing God to be more inclined to benevolence.

7α They will blurt forth remembrance of the abundance of your goodness. They will announce a tale having remembrance of your immeasurable goodness.

7β And will rejoice in your justice. Remembering and telling how you award each according to his merit, both in bringing blessing and punishment, and how you do and will do everything justly, they will rejoice, being convinced that neither will virtue be overlooked unrewarded nor evil go unpunished.

8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and full of mercy. He also said this in the one hundred and second psalm.

9 The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is on all his works. He lavishes attention on the aspect of goodness, knowing God’s wealth lies especially in this. For it would not be possible to be saved if his benevolence was not great. He says ‘to all’, not only to the just, but also to sinners, and not only to rational beings, but also to the irra-

tional, and quite simply he has compassion on every work of his, even the very meanest. And indeed he even threatened sinners with Gehenna and the other eternal punishments out of benevolence, so that out of fear of them they might keep away from evil, and by having claim to virtue, might rather attain the kingdom of heaven. And often in this world he punishes those who transgress so that, if they wish, he might make them better, or else so that he might alleviate their punishment in the next world, and so that through their punishment he might instruct others and make them more prudent.

10α Let all your works confess to you, O Lord. Let rational beings give thanks by themselves, and let irrational and inanimate beings do so through those who see them and make use of them and on whose account they were made. Let them give thanks because all partake in wise formation and in production for a useful end and enjoy providential care. And let the the latter give thanks through their wonderful nature and men through their praiseworthy way of life.

10β And let your devotees bless you. Those who are devoted to you, those who minister to you. It befits them especially to bless you continually, being freed from earthly cares and able to praise in purity, and inasmuch as they are wiser than the others. 11-12 They will announce the glory of your kingship and will speak of your sovereign power so as to make known to the sons of men your dominion and the glory of the magnificence of your kingdom. They will teach those ignorant about these things so as to make these things familiar to them. For God accepts praises, not as being in need of them, but so that others will come to know his glory and power.

13α Your kingdom is a kingdom of all ages. A perpetual kingdom, without beginning and without end. Then he says this even more clearly.

13β And your dominion is in every generation and generation. Extending over all generations and times.

13γ The Lord is faithful in all his words.

Certain, true, most fitting to be believed. 13δ And devout in all his works. Blameless, giving no occasion for reproach to anyone. 14 The Lord supports all who are falling and sets upright all who are cast down. Having spoken about his kingship, that it is boundless, about his words, that they are true, about his works, that they are irreproachable, and prior to this about his majesty, about his power, about his glory, about his goodness, and suchlike, he now speaks once again about his benevolence, which is the greatest glory of his kingship, his not only upholding them when standing, but supporting them when about to fall so as not to suffer this, and when prostrate raising them up, that is, those who do not resist, and not only this one or that, but all in all ways, both slaves and paupers and persons of no rank, and being ready to help all who wish. Then he speaks of a different kind of benefaction, for his care is varied and manifold. 15-16 The eyes of all hope in you and you give their food at due time, you open your hand and fill every living thing with your good pleasure. These words are similar to those spoken in the one hundred and third psalm, for it is writ- ten, All look to you to give them their food at due time, and again, When you have opened your hand all will be filled with goodness, and seek the explanations of these verses. What he there Ps 103.27, 28 called ‘goodness’ he here calls ‘good pleasure’. Do you see how he has shown that he is good to all things and his compassion is on all his works, and that it is not earth and rain and sun and wind, but the Mater’s decree that gives food to the animals? The opening of the hand also indicates the ease of his giving. 17α The Lord is just in all his ways. His dispensations, his providential acts. ‘Just’ here has the same meaning as the word ‘devout’ has above. Ps 144.13δ 17β And devout in all his works. He says the same again, by way of clarification, indicating that the verse mentioned above and the two here have one and the same meaning. Or else he is just in his commandments, having made them commensurate with the power of those who have received them.

18 The Lord is close to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. Having mentioned the things given in common even to unbelievers, he also says the things bestowed particularly on believers, namely, his being close and sheltering and coming to their aid. The expression ‘in truth’ indicates ‘rightly and as is fitting’.

19 He will do the will of those who fear him and will hear their entreaty and save them. ‘Will’ is that which is for their profit and not contrary to his will.

20α The Lord guards all who love him. Those who love him with all their heart. He guards them from the things that it is fitting to guard them.

20β And he will destroy all the sinners. Those who are incurably ill; he will destroy them from his people.

21α My mouth will speak the Lord’s praise. For it is written, His praise will be in my mouth continually.

21β And let all flesh bless his holy name, to the age and to the age of the age. It was also said in the one hundred and second psalm, Bless the Lord, O all you his works, and seek there the explanation. Or else let all flesh bless, that is, all that has believed, for how will the unbeliever bless? By the flesh he refers to the whole man, the part standing for the whole. And elsewhere indeed he in turn indicates the whole by the soul alone, Let every breath praise the Lord.

145 Psalm 145

1α Alleluia. The present psalm is also a praise, for this is also what the superscription means. In a number of copies ‘Of Haggai and Zechariah’ is added to the superscription, but this is not in the Hebrew, nor in any of the translators, nor in the Seventy.

1β Praise the Lord, O my soul. This is similar to, Bless the Lord, O my soul.

2 I shall praise the Lord in my life, with psaltery I shall sing to my God as long as I exist. ‘With psaltery I shall sing to my God as long as I exist’ is a clarification of ‘I shall praise the Lord in my life’. And in the one hundred and third psalm it was said, I shall sing to the Lord in my life, with psaltery I shall sing to my God as long as I exist.

3 Do not trust in rulers, in sons of men, in whom there is no salvation In whom there is no saving of themselves. And if they are unable to save themselves, much less are they able to save others. For you see how they are subject to various dangers and dis- eases and are unable to escape death. Let those who are all agape for human defences and alliances hear this. He then shows how there is no salvation in them.

4α His spirit will go forth. The soul of the ruler in whom you trust.

4β And return to its earth. He, that is, his body, will return to the earth from which he was taken. For it is written, You are earth, and to earth you will depart.

4γ On that day all his thoughts will perish. ‘Day’ is what he calls the day of the exit of his soul and his ‘thoughts’ those about earthly matters, wealth and glory, and power and alliance, and suchlike. And since he led away from human hopes, he then shows the safe harbour, the uncon- quered tower. For it is an excellent mode of exhortation to lead away from what is unsound and to lead to what is strong, and to demolish what is vain and to establish what is true, and to refute what is deceptive and show what is profitable.

5 Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God. And in the one hundred and seventeenth psalm it was said, 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.

Blessed, he says, is he whose helper is the God of Jacob, God alone and in the true sense, trusting in whom Jacob enjoyed help of such magnitude and such kind; for the addition of ‘Jacob’ indicates these things. He then also speaks of the power of this helper so that we may take refuge in him most eminently.

6 Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, who keeps truth to the age. Who always proves true, both in his promises of benefactions and in his threats of pun- ishments.

7α Who enacts judgement for those who are wronged. Not only according to, Vengeance is mine, I shall repay (at the last judgement that is), but also here and now.

7β Who gives food to the hungry. Not only according to, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be filled, but even in the present life and there are countless examples of those avenged and fed in the present life. 7γ-8α The Lord releases those bound in fetters, the Lord gives wisdom to the blind, the Lord sets upright those cast down. Bound in fetters, not only in misfortunes of life, but in the bonds of sins. And the blind, not only in the eyes of the body, with the deficiency of blindness being compensated for by wisdom from God, but also in the eyes of the soul. And those cast down, not only from health and prosperity to illness and misfortune, but from virtue to evil; such were those from the nations, fettered in relation to virtue and blind to the truth and cast down at the precipice of destruction. 8β-9α The Lord loves the just, the Lord keeps watch over the proselytes. The just are those who shone in virtue before the Gospel; the proselytes are those came to piety after the Gospel; or else the just are those more perfect in virtue and the proselytes those newly formed in virtue; he loves the former as well-pleasing and he guards the latter as still tender and not yet experienced in the struggle with the demons.

9β He will take up orphan and widow. He will take their part. And you will understand this also in a twofold manner.

An orphan is the one who leaves father and mother for Christ, and a widow again is one who leaves her husband for Christ. Just as for the orphan the most precious and beloved of his kin are father and mother, so for the widow it is her husband. The orphan may also be interpreted as the one who casts off the devil whom he formerly had as father and teacher in evil, and the widow in turn the soul that casts off the devil to whom it had been joined through paying court to him.

9γ And the way of sinners he will obliterate. The way of sinners is evil and wickedness. And it was also said at the end of the first psalm that, The way of the impious will perish.

10α The Lord will reign to the age. The Son of God, reigning as God, will reign also as man to the age, in accordance with which he will say, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me; or else God simply will reign eternally, And of his kingdom there will be no end.

10β Your God, O Zion, to generation and generation. ‘Will reign’, that is to say, or ‘will be’. In the previous psalm it was also said, Your kingdom is a kingdom of all ages, and your do- minion is in every generation and generation. Generation and generation is that both of those who die and that of the resurrected dead. ‘Zion’ is also the Church of the faithful, as was stated in the ninety-sixth psalm at the verse, And the daughters of Judea have rejoiced.

146 Psalm 146

1α Alleluia. This psalm is a praise and so also are all that follow.

1β Praise the Lord for a psalm is good. Praise, the singing of hymns to God, is good. Symmachus writes, Alleluia, for a song is good.

1γ May praise be gratifying to our God. May it be deemed pleasant, may it be favourably accepted, and this will occur when the one praising has a life that is pleasing to God.

This psalm too seems to be about the return from Babylon and this is evident from the following words.

2α The Lord [is] building Jerusalem. He is, that is to say. He is saying something similar to, Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders have laboured in vain.

2β He will gather back the scatterings of Israel. The prophecy is about those left behind, for they were not all brought back together in one body.

3 Who heals the broken in heart and binds up their abrasions. Paul also said this, namely, Who comforts the downcast. Being rather a physician of souls, his work is to relieve and restore those who are broken in heart by trials and misfortunes. And if those, much more so those humbled by virtuous humiliation. The bandagings of abrasions are the tendings and comfortings through deeds and words. This then is about his goodness, and what follows after is about his power so that they might take courage.

4α Who numbers the multitudes of stars. Who knows their number exactly. Some have understood the number as knowledge, namely, who knows the multitudes of stars, how they are as regards their position and order and shape and magnitude and relation to one another and their cause.

4β And calls names for them all. Who determines names, who gives names, which is greater than numbering them. He showed therefore that the one who heals the broken will bind up the abrasions of those those still being ground down in captivity; and the one who to such an extent knows the uncountable multitudes of stars so as to call each one of them by name – which is indic- ative of the highest degree of knowledge – most certainly knows all those scattered in the lands of the captors, and as all-compassionate will have compassion on them, and as omnip- otent will be able to gather and bring them back.

5α Our Lord is great and great is his strength.

Since he said something very great, namely, that he will gather back so many myriads scattered everywhere, he then speaks about his power, contriving for them to take courage and believe unhesitatingly.

5β And of his understanding there is no number. Do not ask how or in what way. For just as to his magnificence there is no limit, neither is there number to his understanding, and about him whose majesty and wisdom is infinite have no doubts.

6α The Lord is taking up the meek. Restoring, bearing, carrying them across, paternally and caringly.

6β And humbling sinners till the earth. Bringing down to the ground, dashing them down violently, for this is what ‘till the earth’ indicates. ‘Meek’ is what he calls the humble in heart, and ‘sinners’ the proud, in accordance with, The Lord opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

7α Strike up to the Lord in confession. Strike up to him, a song that is to say, in thanksgiving; or ‘strike up’, in the sense of, ‘sing to him through thanksgiving’. 7β-9α Sing to our God with cithara, to him who cloaks the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who causes grass to spring up in the mountains and green shoots for the service of men, who gives to the herds their food. For he covers the sky with clouds so that he may send rain; he sends rain so that he may cause grass and green shoots to spring up; and he causes these to spring up to give food to the herbivorous herds, both tame and wild. And in the one hundred and third psalm it was said, Who waters mountains from his upper chambers. And if he waters the mountains, much more does he water the fruit-bearing earth; and if he displays providence for irrational creatures, much more does he so display for rational creatures, for whose sake he produced the irrational ones. The other things were similarly also spoken about in the psalm referred to, Who causes grass to spring up for the herds and green shoots for the service of men, and read the explanations of these words.

9β And to the nestlings of ravens that call on him.

And in the psalm mentioned he said, All look to you to give them their food at due time, and seek there. This refers to a natural phenomenon, how the nestlings of ravens, being abandoned by their parents on account of their cruelty and hatred of their offspring, cry out forcibly, open- ing their beaks upwards and seeking food, and God feeds them in an ineffable manner as proof of his own providence and goodness in respect of all things, with a breeze falling into their mouths and some kind of food from the air being drawn in at the same time. They call on God, not as having understanding, but as seeming to call and with their cry imitating an entreaty; for on this account they are mentioned in particular here. In an anagogical sense, the nestlings of ravens are those from the nations, their souls im- pure and blackened by the darkness of sin, to whom God gives food which is both spiritual and which does not perish. And since those from the captivity were weak and bereft of weapons and deprived of everything, so that they would not be troubled by this, he treats this misgiving of theirs, saying:

10 In the might of the horse he will not delight, nor does he take pleasure in shanks of a man. By ‘delight’ and ‘pleasure’ he refers to what is pleasing, and by ‘might’ and ‘shanks’ to pow- er, for just as the capital resource of power is in the biceps of the arms, so it is in the shanks of the legs. Not in the power of the horse or of the horseman will he be pleased, nor is might well-pleasing, but what he is pleased with, hear now:

11 The Lord is well-pleased with those who fear him and with those who hope in his mercy. Henceforth then, having acquired such fear and such hope, do not be troubled at all.

147 Psalm 147

1α Alleluia. This psalm is also a praise for the blessings of Jerusalem.

1β Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, praise your God, O Zion. Jerusalem the city that has been built and Zion the mountain on which it had been built. Both names are of the same city.

2α For he has strengthened the bars of your gates.

Hymn, glorify and give thanks to him, he says, because he has strengthened the bars of your gates, making them unable to be breached by enemies. Then he tells of the other benefactions.

2β He has blessed your sons within you. He has bestowed grace on them in regard to strength, to wisdom, to wealth, and most importantly, that being within you they live together, for it is written, See then, what is so good or so delightful as for brothers to dwell together?

3α Who brings your boundaries peace. Who has expelled war from all of your boundaries, who makes your boundaries peaceful, or who brings peace to your boundaries.

3β And fills you with the fat of wheat. Not simply grain, but the cream of grain, namely, the finest wheaten flour, for this is the richest and purest part of the flour; and he does simply give, but fills, through which together he signifies the abundance and plentifulness of the fruits.

4α Who sends forth his oracle on the earth. As is customary with him, he moves the discourse from the particular to the general and again from the general to the specific, and he does this here, for having spoken about the specific benefactions to Jerusalem, he now speaks also about his universal providence, calling his ‘oracle’ his decree about bearing fruit.

4β His word will run with swiftness. When he sends forth, that is, when he commands, his oracle, this word will run with swiftness, that is, it will run swiftly, it will be brought at once to accomplishment. In an anagogical sense, Jerusalem and Zion are the Church of the faithful, as we have often said. Her gates are faith and baptism; their bars are the Cross; and Christ blessed her sons, the Apostles: Having lifted up his hands, he blessed them, it is said, and through them, all who come from them. He brought her boundaries peace, for even when being attacked, he brings peace in conquering. The fat of wheat is the richness and purity of the spiritual food; the oracle sent forth on the earth is the preaching of the Gospel which David prophesied would run swiftly.

And so that no one might consider the things prophesied to be impossible, he confirms them by the following wonders, teaching as it were that he who is able to easily perform the ones will not be unable to do the others.

5α Who gives his snow like wool. So abundant and so sudden as in a short time to cover the earth as if by some white wool.

5β Sprinkling mist like ash. This also being abundant and sudden.

6α Casting his ice-crystal like crumbs. For such icy snow is brought down like little morsels of bread. Some have understood this as large hailstones.

6β In the face of his frost, who will endure? For this also is wonderful and proof of great power, how there is suddenly such and so great a chill.

7α He will send forth his word and will melt them. This is another strange thing, how at his decree both snow and ice are melted.

7β His breath will blow and waters will flow. He is speaking of the south wind. And through all he shows that these things do not happen on their own, but all obey his ordinances and are easily transformed, now from water to snow and ice, and now from these to water, and now from warmth to cold and again from this to warmth; hence it is not incredible for there to be from trials swift release and from wars sudden peace, and from misfortunes and afflictions sudden change and joy. The things said also allude to something deeper, namely, that just as the things of winter even though distressful, are nevertheless useful for the earth, so also the things of trials, being beneficial for a season, are again changed by design, on the one hand chastising and on the other hand relieving, being for profit on either hand.

Then once again he changes course from the general to the particular, as was stated above.

8α Who proclaims his oracle to Jacob. At the beginning of the psalm he discussed about sensible things and those of benefit to the body, namely, security, abundance of good men, peace and prosperity, but here he discuss- es about higher things and those regulating the soul, introducing the topic of the law-giving and from the former and the latter inciting the people to praise and love for God who has benefited them with such things. Who proclaims his decree to the Israelites, he says, who teaches, who makes it known to them, for it is written, He has made known his ways to Moses, the things he wills to the sons of Israel. And clarifying his words he added:

8β His statutes and judgements to Israel. What he previously called ‘oracle’, he now calls ‘statutes and judgements’.

9α He has not done so to every nation. To any nation.

9β And has not manifested his judgements to them. He has not done such and so many things to any nation. And his ordinances and the things that he wills he has not manifested to the nations, but only to them. For in the other nations he placed the natural law, the law from the conscience, according to which law when judging he will punish them. But to the Israelites, along with the natural law he also has given the written law manifesting his judgements, and hence they are judged more severely. And indeed God’s great benevolence becomes the cause of great condemnation for those who are indolent.

148 Psalm 148

1α Alleluia. It is a custom among the saints, on account of great gratitude, when they are about to give thanks to God, to call on many to join in their praise and to summon them to share with them in this good ministry. The Three Youths when they were in the furnace also did this, having invited the whole of creation to give praise for the benefaction on their behalf and to sing hymns to the Master. He does the same here, calling on each of the two worlds, the one above, the one below,

the intelligible, the sensible. For as if not being able on their own to give praise, they encom- pass all things in the words, inviting them to hymn the Creator. And he contrives something else more profound from these things, showing there to be one maker of each of the two creations and clearly stopping the mouths of those who say that there are two creators, one of the intelligible and one of the sensible creation. For so that no one might presume from the difference in the works that there are different creators he sets up one choir from all and weaves one hymn of praise to the one and only God. 1β Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights. From the heavens, both the first and the second, he invites the angels and the stars and all that is in the heavens to praise the Lord. And further on, he convokes from the earth the dragons and so on, and concludes his composition with men. ‘In the heights’ is the same as ‘from the heavens’. Then he says what he is summoning from the heavens and in the highest parts. 2 Praise him, O all his angels; praise him, O all his powers. Having spoken about the angelic order, he continued collectively also about the remain- ing orders, calling them ‘powers’. Or else he is calling all the orders both ‘angels and powers’, on the one hand in that they herald the divine words and on the other in that they are able to do what they are ordered, for it is written, Powerful in strength, doing his word. 3 Praise him, O sun and moon; praise him, O all you stars and the light. These are of the second heaven, that is to say, of the firmament. You will understand the sun and moon and stars as the light-receiving organs of these bodies, and ‘light’ as the light distributed to them. Or else these heavenly bodies are the ones created on the fourth day and the light is the unrelated light that came to be on the first day. But how will both these things and those that follow give praise, having neither voice, nor tongue, nor thought, nor soul? There are three modes of doxology: that through voice, as Moses gave glory along with Miriam, praising and saying, Let us sing to the Lord, for gloriously he has been glorified, and that through objective aspect, as, The heavens are telling the glory of God, about which we spoke in the eighteenth psalm, and that through life and works, for it is written, That they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. The inanimate and irrational creations then praise God by their magnitude, their beauty, their position, their use, their service, their permanence, and by these things leading the spec- tator to wonder and praise of their maker and employing the spectator’s tongue for hymns of praise.

For according to Gregory the Theologian, All things hymn and glorify God with unutter- able voices. For God is given thanks through me for all things, and thus the hymn of those things becomes ours, from which things I receive the singing of praise. PG36.620B 4-5α Praise him, O heavens of the heavens, and let the waters above the heavens praise the name of the Lord. It has been said variously that it is a custom for the language of the Hebrews to express singu- lars in the plural. ‘Heavens of the heavens’ accordingly is what he calls the heaven of the heaven, namely, the first heaven, and elsewhere indeed it is written, The heaven of the heaven is the Lord’s, and ‘praise’ and ‘let them praise’ are also such instances, plurals in the sense of singulars. The water above the heavens is that above the firmament. And how the first heaven, being unseen, gives praise was explained in the eighteenth psalm at the verse, The heavens are telling the glory of God. And if the invisible heaven gives praise, it is very clear that the visible heaven does so much more.

5β For he spoke and they came to be. By ‘he spoke’ he indicated two things here, not only that he produced them from non-be- ing, but also that he did so with great ease. For just as speaking is easy for you, so is making from non-being easy for God, and very much more so, indeed it is not possible to represent the extreme degree of ease.

5γ He commanded and they were created. He says the same again, as he is often accustomed to do. For it is also written in the book of Genesis, And God said, ‘Let there be light’, and it was so, and similarly what follows.

6α He established them to the age and to the age of the age. He made them stable in relation to their order and activity and use, immoveable perpetu- ally, not transgressing the limits of their nature.

6β He set an ordinance and they will not go past. And this also indicates the ease of how he maintains and holds them fast. He set for them an ordinance for their limits and they will never go beyond this, just like servants not daring to overstep the ordinance of their master, for it is written, All things are your servants.

7 Praise the Lord from the earth, you dragons and all deeps.

Dragons are what he now calls the sea-monsters, just as elsewhere also he says, This dragon that you formed, and deeps are what he calls the seas. For when you see the magnitude and the construction of its body, about which Scripture tells with greater clarity in the book of Job, how will you fail to be deeply awe-struck and praise the one who has created such great Job 3.8, 9.13, animals and has allotted the unnavigated seas as expanses for them, and does not allow them 26.13 to exceed their own bounds, either towards the land or towards the navigated parts, nor to inflict harm not only on the ships, but neither on the classes of fish; and not only this is worthy of wonder, but so also is the sea, how having such an abundance of waters and being driven by the violent forces of the winds, and seething and churning and raging fearfully, it does not transgress its own limits, neither does it dare to flood the neighbouring land, keep- ing the Master’s ordinance, and though possessing a restless and disorderly nature, it observes good order. When you then consider these things, you will marvel truly at God’s power, wisdom and design, and as from the other things you will on this account also weave a hymn to him. 8 Fire, hail, snow, ice, blast of hurricane, you things that do his word. That serve his ordinance for what is advantageous for men, and not occurring simply and at random; ‘fire’ is what he now calls lightning. 9-10 You mountains and all hills, fruiting trees and all cedars, wild beasts and all herds, reptiles and feathered birds. Since the more delightful and useful and beneficial things are very evidently objects of wonder and praise, he lingers now on the more distressful things, saying, fire, hail, snow, ice, blast of hurricane, and the things that seem more useless, saying, mountains and all hills and all cedars, and the more harmful, saying, wild beasts and reptiles, showing the superfluity of God’s providence and teaching that all these things are wonderful and needful and have a reason for being brought into being even if for us it is perhaps incomprehensible or difficult to comprehend. For lightning is a sign of rain and often of wind, and hail and snow and ice are necessary for farming; and the blast of hurricane at times drives away the clouds and at times gathers them together, and the one and the other is for profit, even if it does not seem so to us out of ignorance. The mountains and the cedars, through which cedars, as the larger of them, all fruitless trees were included, are useful for house-building and ship-building, and nothing at all is redundant or produced at random. Lions and leopards and elephants and unicorns and rhinoceros and suchlike, and among the reptiles, serpents and snakes and scorpions and the rest, are also exceedingly useful for

life, for they build a fort of fear for us and make us prudent and vigilant, and remind us of the sin of our progenitor in paradise on account of which they threw off their servitude to Adam, having been given to him under his power, and having received their names from him, not to speak of the other use that they provide for medicinal preparations. If therefore the distressful and seemingly useless and harmful things are useful in this way so as for praise and doxology to be offered to God through them, what might one say about the things that are not such? 11 Kings of the earth and all peoples, rulers and all judges of the earth. Once again he here sets in motion a different kind of providence, namely, that of the rul- ers, for it is a work of God’s wisdom to divide the whole into rulers and the ruled; he speaks of the kings and rulers and judges as possessing rulership and judgement. Praise the Lord, he says, the ones because you have been charged with the responsibility of care, and the others because you are granted care by your betters, and all of you together because God has thereby bestowed good order on men. Ruling is a work of God, but ruling badly is a result of the irresponsibility of the rulers and bringing the wicked to rule is a result of the wickedness of men. Having said ‘all peoples’, he signified not only men, but also women and simply every race and every age. 12- Youths and virgins, old and young alike, let them praise the name of the Lord. Youths and maidens so that they might become accustomed to praise; old, because they have reached such an age; ‘young’ is what he called the youths again, having distinguished them from the old. 13β For the name of him alone has been exalted. It has been magnified on account of the magnificence of his works. 13γ His confession is on earth and in heaven. His thanksgiving and doxology is on earth among men and in heaven among angels. 14α And he will exalt the horn of his people. He will increase, he will magnify the strength of his people.

14β A hymn is for all his devotees. For all those devoted to him, for to these most especially is praise fitting, as knowing most especially his magnificence and his benefactions. And in the fifty-second psalm he said, Praise is fitting for those of straight heart, and seek also that explanation.

14γ For the sons of Israel, the people who approach him. For his own people, for the people who approach in terms of relationship and disposition, in faith, in ministration, in kinship of virtues. It can be understood in a different way, that a hymn will be for his devotees and they will be glorified as his devotees, as a people close to him; hence it is necessary to become such, so that on this account they may become worthy of glory.

149 Psalm 149

1α Alleluia.

1β Sing to the Lord a new song. This was said often; it was well interpreted in the thirty-second psalm. In a historical sense, the psalm is about the Jews. In an anagogical sense, it is about the things Gregory the Theologian spoke in his Homily PG36.608B On The New Sunday. Those of new creation, those who through the new testament have put on the new man, sing a new song to the Lord.

1γ His praise is in the assembly of the devout. And in the previous psalm he said, A hymn is for all his devotees.

2α Let Israel be glad in the one who made him. New Israel, while singing, let him be glad in God, both because he made him man, and because he made him his own people, for he added:

2β And let the sons of Zion rejoice in their king. The sons of new Zion; let the Israelite people again while singing be glad, and being glad let them give thanks, both for their creation and for their being made his own, for he came to reign over them as his own, which is another kind of benefaction.

3α Let them praise his name in chorus. In harmony, so that the communion of song may induce a communion of love among them and agreement and concord.

3β With drum and psaltery let them sing to him. It was permitted to the ancient people to sing with such instruments, as it was to sacrifice animals, on account of their weakness and fondness for pleasure. For the new people, the drum is the mortification of bodily pleasures (for the drum is a dead body), and the psaltery is their being made resonant from above (for the psaltery used to have the striking point for its notes above). Or else, ‘drum’ is action and ‘psaltery’ contemplation, so that we may sing § 70 to him, mortifying our passions and being given voice from above by God, or through action and contemplation. The anagogical sense of the psaltery is also spoken of in the thirty-second psalm, at the verse, Sing to him on the ten-stringed psaltery.

4α For the Lord is well-pleased with his people. He is well-pleased; or else he wishes good things, according to, Good will among men.

4β And he will exalt the meek in salvation. He will glorify them along with saving them. In the one hundred and forty-sixth psalm it was said, The Lord is taking up the meek.

5α The devout will boast in glory. The words from here to the end of the psalm are first to be interpreted in a historical sense, and then to be treated in an anagogical sense. He is foretelling accordingly, according to the obvious meaning, about the victory of the Hebrews that they won over the surrounding nations which were impeding the rebuilding of the temple and of the city. Those Israelites devoted to God will, he says, boast in the glory of the God-given victory or in the alliance from God.

5β And will rejoice upon their beds. Not only will they sleep without fear, but sweetly, seeing that they have been freed of their enemies.

6 The exaltations of God in their throat and two-edged swords in their hands. This means to say that while praising God they will fight their enemies, the hymns of God being in their mouth and broad-swords in their hands, cutting down the attackers.

7 To bring vengeance among the nations, reproofs among the peoples. So that God may bring vengeance among the nations in return for the ways in which they had been wronging his people, and reproof among the people (the plural in place of the singular), being reproved because they were being oppressed on account of their sins up to then, and not on account of God’s weakness, for when he but nodded, the events underwent a miraculous change.

8 To bind their kings in fetters and their illustrious ones in manacles of iron. Not only so as to repel the attackers, but also to take their kings and those otherwise illus- trious among them as prisoners.

9α To make among them written judgement. So that God may make among the nations and among his people a judgement written in books and remembered to every age, or written on their life and indelible and as it were inscribed on a column. Understand ‘judgement’ as the justly decided destruction of the enemies.

9β This glory is for all his devout. This; which? The glory of triumphing, or rather of triumphing thus against expectation through the alliance of God. Such then is the historical sense. [5] In an anagogical sense, The devout will boast in glory, namely, that which is to come, for it is written, The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Glory is also the Cross, in accordance with, Far be it from me to boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus. And he praises the meek and the devout, urging us to devotedness and meekness. And they will rejoice upon their beds, he says, namely, in the eternal dwellings prepared for them, in the indestructible tents. [6] We understand the ‘exaltations’ as the godly voices exalting him exceedingly through hymns and divine praise. We understand the two-edged, that is, the very sharpest, sword, as the Cross, cutting down and dissolving the armies of the demons.

Or else we understand the two-edged sword as the way of life of the devout, sharpened in work and word, or in action and contemplation; this is about the Apostles and their successors. [7] To bring vengeance among the nations, by delivering them from the slavery and tyranny of the devil, and reproofs among the peoples of the Jews, by proving them to be transgressors of the law and enemies of God and blind to the light of the truth. [8] To bind the kings of the nations and their illustrious ones in the bonds of strong faith and fear and love of God, and if those, much more those beneath them. Or else he calls kings and illustrious ones the demons ruling them and enjoying glory from them, whose hands they had bound with the bonds of inactivity. [9] To make among the nations a written judgement, namely, the decisions and written laws of a god-loving state. This glory is for all those doing these things. This; which? The glory of attaining such things.

150 Psalm 150

1α Alleluia. David concluded the book with praise and thanksgiving, instructing to give thanks to God for all things until the end of life.

1β Praise God in his saints. On account of his saints, because they introduced such a polity into life, which made them angels from men.

1γ Praise him in the firmament of his power. On account of the firmament, which by his power became such. He is speaking now of the second heaven, as appearing to the eye and moving those who behold its magnitude and beauty and the other things relating to it to wonder. Observe the order: among worldly things most worthy of wonder are the saints, and after them, this heaven that appears to the eye.

2α Praise him for his mighty acts. On account of the acts of power that he works, working marvels publicly and privately; or else on account of the acts of power that his creations exhibit, proclaiming him as magnipo- tent and omnipotent by their aspect alone.

2β Praise him according to the magnitude of his majesty. On account of the infinity of his majesty. It was said indeed in the one hundred and for- ty-fourth psalm also that, And to his majesty there is no limit.

3-5 Praise him with the sound of trumpet, praise him with psaltery and cithara; praise him with drum and chorus; praise him with strings and flute; praise him with well-tuned cym- bals; praise him with cymbals of ululation. He exhorts the Jews to praise God with all instruments of the various musical members and the Christians to praise God with all instruments of the various bodily members, with eyes, with hearing, with mouth, with hands, with feet. For when the eyes do not look licen- tiously, but as is seemly and needful, and the hearing does not accept evil words, but ones that are needful and beneficial, and the mouth does not utter harmful things, but those that are useful and spiritual, and the hands do not grasp more than their due or plunder or strike, but are stretched out in good deeds, and the feet do not run to evil, but on a straight way, then praising through every organ we offer a harmonious melody to God. Through all the musical instruments mentioned the Jews used to sing songs to God, about all of which we taught in the preamble to the present book. ‘Chorus’ here is what he calls § 69 a song with choral dancing, for this is a different kind of choral song performed without instruments. The ‘strings’ again was another type, in addition to the others mentioned. He called ‘instrument’ in the specific sense, that which among ourselves is also called thus specif- ically, namely, the flute. The kinds of cymbals are two, the well-tuned ones, fitting especially for songs, and the harsh-sounding or loud-clanging ones, suited for ululations in battles. I am not ignorant of the allegorical interpretations given to these by some, but I have omitted them, as indeed with many such things in the other psalms, on account of their being easily refuted and hard to accept.

6 Let every breath praise the Lord. With an all-embracing expression, he moved every race and every age to praise and thanksgiving, calling the soul ‘breath’ and by the soul indicating the entirety, the part stand- ing for the whole. In the present life then he summons believers, but in the resurrection unbelievers also, for then all together will bend their knee to him and praise him. Let us also therefore praise and give thanks continually for everything in deed and in word. For this is a necessary work and an obligation constantly demanded, an easily offered sacrifice, an angelic ministration. Doing this, we shall complete the journey of the present life without stumbling and will enjoy the blessings to come, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ along with whom to the Father and the holy Spirit is glory, honour and worship to the ages of ages. Amen.

[151] Psalm 151

1α This psalm is David’s autograph and outwith the number of the one hundred and fifty; when he engaged in single combat with Goliath.

1β Least I was among my brothers and youngest in the house of my father; I would tend my father’s sheep.

2 My hands made a flute and my fingers tuned a psaltery.

3 And who will report to my Lord? The Lord himself, he will hear.

4 He sent forth his messenger and took me from my father’s sheep and anointed me with the oil of his anointing.

5 My brothers were fair and tall, and the Lord did not show good pleasure in them.

6 I went out to meet the Philistine, and he cursed me by his idols.

7 But I, having drawn the sword at his side, cut off his head and removed reproach from the sons of Israel. This psalm is David’s autograph and outwith the number of the one hundred and fifty; when he engaged in single combat with Goliath. Least I was among my brothers and youngest in the house of my father. David bears the image and type of Christ, while Goliath that of the Devil. Accordingly, just as David fought in single combat against the sensible Goliath, so did Christ against the intelligible Goliath, as Isaiah says in the person of Christ, I trampled a wine-vat all alone [Isaiah 63.3]. David was least among his brothers and youngest in the house of his father, and Christ was least according to his human nature among the brothers of the Jews since he says, But the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he [Mt 11.11]; and he is greater in that he was youngest, for the ‘youngest’ is understood as the full bloom and strength of divinity, for in that he was a man, he was reckoned least among his brother Jews, but in that he was God, he was youngest, namely, strong and immortal in the house of his Father, and the ‘house of his Father’ is the whole of creation. I would tend my father’s sheep. And that Christ is the shepherd of the rational sheep of God the Father, listen to him saying, I am the good Shepherd [ Jn 10.11], and to David crying out about him, O you, the one who shepherds Israel, give heed [Ps 79.2]. My hands made a flute and my fingers tuned a psaltery. Intelligible hands in relation to Christ are to be understood as his almighty authority; they made an instrument, the body of man, and his fingers, the constructive powers of the whole world, tuned a psaltery, that is, the soul; or else instrument is to be understood as the old law, and psaltery as the new testament, while the fingers are to be understood as the evangelists, and the hands as the Apostles and prophets. And who will report to my Lord? The Lord himself, he will hear. He sent forth his messenger and took me from my father’s sheep and anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brothers were fair and tall, and the Lord did not show good pleasure in them. I went out to meet the Philistine, and he cursed me by his idols. But I, having drawn the sword at his side, cut off his head. In like manner, Christ, taking the sword at the Devil’s side, which is the Cross, cut off therewith the head, that is, the pride and power of the Devil. And I removed reproach from the sons of Israel. Likewise Christ, when slaying the enemy on the Cross was reproached by the Jews, saying, Aha! You who would destroy the temple [Mk 15.29], and so on.

Ι Ode One An ode of Moses in the book of Exodus. The sons of Israel sang this first ode on having crossed the Red Sea with unwetted feet and on having seen the pursuing Egyptians with their chariots and horses having been drowned and submerged.

1α Let us sing to the Lord, for gloriously is he glorified. Having worked such marvels in an incredible way.

1β Horse and rider he has cast into the sea. He has drowned every horse and each Egyptian rider in the sea.

2 He has become a helper and protector to me for salvation; he is my God and I shall glorify him, the God of my father and I shall exalt him. How one exalts God was said at the beginning of the one hundred and forty-fourth psalm.

3α The Lord crushing wars. Obliterating them.

3β The Lord is his name. For just as he called himself ‘The one who is’, so also he called himself ‘Lord’ when speak- ing to Moses.

4α The chariots of Pharaoh and his power he cast into the sea. He sank them in the sea. He reports the same things in various ways, dealing with them this way and that and magnifying the miracle. 4β-5 Elect tri-standing riders he plunged into the Red Sea; in the deep he covered them; they sank to the bottom like a stone. For three men would stand on the chariot, and the one would hold the reins while the other two would fight with the enemies.

6-7α Your right, O Lord, is glorified in strength; your right hand, O Lord, has shattered enemies; and in the multitude of your glory you have crushed your adversaries. ‘God’s right’ without determination and ‘God’s right hand’ are God’s power; similarly, the ‘multitude of his glory’ is what he called the great power through which he was gloriously glorified and mightily magnified. 7β You sent forth your anger; it devoured them like a reed stalk. It consumed them, it destroyed them as fire does a reed stalk; anger sent forth is god-sent punishment or the punishing angel. 8α And through the breath of your rage the water was parted. The ‘breath of rage’ is what he calls either the angel ministering to this god-driven pun- ishment, or the wind that was similarly serving it. For it is written, The Lord drew off the sea with a violent south wind all through the night and made the sea into dry land and the water was split apart. 8β The waters were set solid like a wall; the waves were set solid in the midst of the sea. And the water, it is written, became as a wall for them on the right and a wall on the left. 9 The enemy said, ‘Having made pursuit, I shall overtake, I shall divide spoils, I shall gorge my soul, I shall slay with my sword, my hand will have mastery’. The enemy is the Egyptian army or Pharaoh, for having regretted their decision, they pursued after the people. 10 You sent forth your breath, sea covered them over, they sank outright like lead in water. ‘Breath’ according to the interpretation given above. 11α Who is like you among gods, O Lord? Truly none. And in the seventy-sixth psalm it was said, Which god is great as is our God? 11β Who is like you? Glorified among the holy.

Symmachus wrote, ‘glorified among sanctifications’; and it is understood that more than among men, he is glorified among the holy angels, who know his omnipotence and surpass- ingly incomparable nature.

11γ Wonderful; gloriously working marvels. Gloriously, namely, magnificently.

12 You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them down. For those who had been drowned were washed up onto the land so that the Israelites might see and be fully assured and despoil them; then, a chasm having opened up, they were swallowed down as further proof of divine anger.

13α By your justice you have guided this people of yours that you have redeemed. You guided them through the sea, along this unprecedented path, by your justice, for it is a mark of justice to free the one who has been enslaved and to deliver the one being tyran- nized and to help the one who is suffering grievously.

13β By your strength you have summoned them into your holy resting-place. The words from here to the verse, May fear and trembling fall upon them, are rather proph- ecies for they came to pass later. Accordingly, you will therefore understand this either as one tense standing for another, namely, ‘you will summon’, and ‘nations will hear and will be enraged’, and so on, or else he speaking of things to come as having happened, according to the wont of prophecy. You have summoned, namely, you have called, you have led them to a dwelling that is holy, dedicated, set apart, for you. This is about Jerusalem.

14α Nations heard and were enraged. They will hear your wonders and the marvels that you performed for your people against the Egyptians and they will be enraged, namely, they will be troubled, they will be thrown into a tumult, they will be filled with fear.

14β Pangs of anguish seized the inhabitants of Philistia. ‘Pangs of anguish’, pains caused by fear will seize them.

15α Then the rulers of Edom and the princes of the Moabites fretted anxiously.

They fretted anxiously, they were thrown into uproar; ‘they were troubled’, as another translator wrote.

15β Trembling seized them, all the inhabitants of Canaan melted in fear. Having mentioned the better known nations by name, he now said more generally ‘all the inhabitants of Canaan’, for various nations used to dwell in this land.

16 May fear and trembling come upon them, let them be turned to stone at the might of your strong arm, until your people pass by, O Lord, until they pass by, this people you have taken as your possession. Let them be frozen at the magnitude of your power; let them remain motionless by your fear and trembling until your people pass them by, marching through them into the promised land.

17α Having led them in, plant them on the mountain of your inheritance. On the mountain set apart for you as an inheritance, as a portion; he is speaking of Mount Zion.

17β In your ready dwelling-place. In the dwelling-place made ready for you.

17γ Which you have effected, O Lord, as a sanctification. Which you have foreordained, which you have pre-established, as a sanctification, as something set apart, for ‘to sanctify’ is also ‘to set apart’; or else as a sanctifying house.

17δ Which, O Lord, your hands have prepared. ‘Your hands’, that is, ‘you’, by way of circumlocution: which you have prepared.

18α The Lord is king to the age. Is reigning, that is.

18β And beyond the age and yet more. Having said that he is king perpetually, he intensified the perpetuity, adding that even beyond the age; he then still further intensified the intensification, adding and even further, for this is what the ‘yet more’ signifies.

19α For Pharaoh’s horse with chariots and riders together has gone into the sea. The Lord, he says, is an eternal king, and super-eternal and more, and by his surpassingly strong power the throng of horses along with their chariots and riders has fallen into the sea, has been submerged.

19β And the Lord has brought upon them the water of the sea. Drowning them.

19γ But the sons of Israel have made their path on dry land in the midst of the sea. On a dry path in the midst of the divided sea. But such is the historical sense. In an anagogical sense, you will understand riders and tri-standing riders as the demons, mounting upon people and standing and fighting against the three parts of the soul, and the horses as the passions through which they draw people § 98 along (the people are to be understood as chariots as being carried and transported wherever seems pleasing to them, for their vehicles are now the passions and now the people). Pharaoh is Satan, the foremost of the demons, and the Red Sea the bitterness and asphyxia into which the demons fall along with their chariots and horses, when God sets free those servants of his who are being attacked by them. The enemy is each of these demons, and in common they are ‘nations’ and ‘leaders of Edom’, as ruling over wicked men, and suchlike. The people of God are those dedicated to him and obeying his commandments. The mountain of God’s inheritance is heaven, and so on. The sons of Israel are the people of God who pass over on dry land unwetted by the water of the passions in the midst of the sea of life. II Ode Two An Ode of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy.

1 Attend, O heaven, and I shall speak, and let earth hear the words from my mouth. Moses, being on the point of death, makes a sworn affirmation to the people and summons to hear the things he is about to say the outermost and most constitutive parts of the world, heaven, bearing the divine powers, and earth, the dwelling-place of mortals, since these are the most permanent elements and able to endure to all generations. And it is customary for the prophets when pronouncing great promises or dread threats to call as witnesses the heav- en and earth for confirmation.

2α Let my utterance be anticipated like rain, and let my words descend like dew. Let it be anticipated by your souls as gladly as is irrigating rain, and let it descend into your hearts like nourishing dew.

2β Like a shower on clover and like snow on grass. For the plants themselves rejoice in these things particularly and swiftly increase, which he wishes they too will imitate.

3 For I have called upon the name of the Lord, give majesty to our God. Since I have already called upon the name of the Lord and am about to speak about him, magnify God before my speech, praise him before listening. Then he begins to speak.

4α God, his works are true. God, his works are true, namely, the works of God are true, without deceit, certain, or else, without reproach, straightforward. This is an idiom of the Hebrew scripture.

4β And all his ways are judgement. ‘Ways’ again is what he calls his works; all things of his, he says, both those in word and those in deed, are not only true, but also very truly judgement, that is, justice. If you wish, understand ‘works’ as whatever is in action, and ‘ways’ as whatever is in word.

4γ God is faithful. God is trustworthy, without deceit.

4δ And there is no injustice in him. How indeed, since he is God? But those of the nations both deceive and do injustice and everything that is contrary.

4ε The Lord is just and devout. Just in judging; devout in every action, that is, holy, guiltless.

5α Have not blameworthy children sinned against him? The verse is framed as a reproving question: Have not blameworthy children sinned against him? He is speaking of them, having addressed them as children of God, for it is writ- ten, Israel is my firstborn son. They sinned in various ways as the seventy-seventh psalm tells. 5β-6α O crooked and perverse generation, do you give back these things to the Lord in return? This also is by way of a question. O crooked and perverse generation, do you repay the Lord with these manifestations of ingratitude and rejection of his commandments in return for his countless benefactions? In the psalm mentioned it was also said, O crooked and embittering generation.

6β This is a people foolish and not wise. Neither instructed by the various strokes of calamity nor brought to understanding by the law. These things may also be interpreted as about Christ, against whom they sinned by hav- ing slain him, and whom, in return for all the good they had been done by him - teaching and healing their diseases and casting out demons - they repaid with countless outrages and finally crucified him.

6γ Is not this very one your Father? Either according to, Israel is my firstborn son, or as creator. This also is posed as a question.

6δ Did he not acquire you and make you and fashion you? And these are questions. Did he not acquire you, having delivered you from the Egyptians and having established you as a people of possession for himself, and what is most weighty, did he not make you and form you, according to, Your hands have made me and fashioned me?

7α Remember days of age. The old days.

7β Understand years of generation of generations. Lay to heart the years of the generation of the generations, namely, of the ancient genera- tions, at which time, that is, the Abrahamic race was chosen and well famed.

7γ Consult your father and he will report to you, your elders and they will tell you. And indeed their fathers and elders had already died previously in accordance with the divine judgement as murmurers and embitterers. Since therefore these were the sons of those men and were just learning, he urges them to inquire and learn more precisely from those who were still alive. These were himself and Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh. It is likely that he called himself ‘father’, as leader of the people and law-giver, and Dt 1.36, 38 the other two mentioned ‘elders’, as being older. 8-9α When the Most High was dividing nations, as he scattered the sons of Adam, he estab- lished the boundaries of the nations according to the number of God’s angels, and Jacob his people became the portion of the Lord. And they will tell you, he says, that the Most High scattered the sons of Adam when he was dividing the nations; he established the boundaries of the nations according to the num- ber of God’s angels, namely, of those appointed to oversee the nations, that is, he made the boundaries of the nations as many as were number of such angels. A number of copies have ‘according to the number, an angel of God’, namely, according to the number of the boundaries he established in turn an angel of God. For, he says, when God was dividing the nations, he scattered the offspring of Adam upon the face of the whole earth. He established the boundaries of the nations, and so on, and the Lord’s portion came to be his people from out of Jacob, having been chosen at the time of Abraham, as the god-fearing seed of a god-fearing father. For this is the chief point of his speech that he wished most especially for them to learn.

9β Israel the measured lot of his inheritance. He says the same again, that it became the portion of his inheritance, for measuring out with a rope, we divide the land of inheritance.

10α He gave him sufficiency in the wilderness. He provided him with sufficiency, he rendered him in want of nothing.

10β In the thirst of burning heat in a waterless land. In the thirst from burning heat in a waterless land.

10γ He encircled him. He surrounded him, he enclosed him in a wall of his own custody.

10δ And instructed him. With the law that was given.

10ε And protected him like the pupil of his eye. As he passed through many very warlike nations; the protection of the pupil of the eye was spoken about in the sixteenth psalm.

11α As an eagle would shelter its nest and ardently yearned for its nestlings. Thus, he says, he protected them as an eagle would shelter its nest and as it ardently yearned for its nestlings, that is, as it will shelter and will ardently yearn; the preposition [ἐπί] is an intensification of the yearning.

11β Having opened apart his wings he received them. Having spread the wings of his shelter like an eagle, he received them; he continued with the example of the eagle, showing God’s great care.

11γ And took them up on his back. Just as the eagle does its chicks. ‘God’s back’ is what he now calls his long-suffering that upholds them, or his protective power, carrying them across and guiding them.

12 The Lord alone would lead them, and there was no alien god with them. Other god such as those of the nations, the falsely so-called.

13α He brought them up onto the strength of the earth. The words from here are a prophecy about things of the future, which he sets out as hav- ing already happened, for the ‘strength of the earth’ is what he calls the promised land, as strong in productiveness.

13β He fed them the produce of the fields. He nourished them with fruits of the fields.

13γ They suckled honey from a rock.

‘A rock’ is to be conceived as rocky and rough places, which even they brought forth both honey and sweetest fruits, for ‘honey’ is also to be understood as pleasure; it can also be inter- preted as the waters from rocks, which is ‘honey’ on account of its sweetness. 13δ And olive-oil from a solid rock. For the rocks brought forth olive trees, from which oil was provided abundantly. 14α Butter from oxen and milk from sheep along with the fat of lambs and rams, the sons of bulls and goats along with the fat of kidneys of wheat. They ate, that is to say. By the ‘fat’ he indicated the richness; along with the fat, he says, of lambs and rams; ‘rams’ here is what he called the male lambs, for the female ones are pre- served on account of their fertility; the ‘sons of bulls and goats’ is what he called the calves and kids, and ‘kidneys of wheat’ the rich kernel of the grain. 14β And they drank wine, the blood of the grape. For wine is blood of the grape on account of its red colour, and from this all wine is ‘blood of the grape’. 15α And Jacob ate and was filled, and the beloved kicked away. Having gorged himself merrily in so many good things, he bounded away, he leapt away from faith and love towards God. 15β He was oiled, he grew fat, he became bloated, and he abandoned God who made him and departed from God his saviour. He says the same more clearly, invoking witness for himself in advance and securing his position as far as was reasonable. 16 They provoked me with alien others, they embittered me with their abominations. He calls the demons ‘alien others’, having been alienated from God on account of wickedness. The verse is as from God; because they provoked me to anger with their idols, making them into gods and sacrificing to them. 17α They sacrificed to demons and not to God, to gods they had not known. To unknown gods and not to the one known to them. 14α: With the law explicitly declaring in the book of Leviticus that one must not eat fat, but that this must rather be offered to the Lord as a savour of sweet fragrance [Lev 3.16-17], how is it that he says here that they were filled with fats? It is evident therefore that he is calling ‘fat’ the vigour of the Apostles whose teaching they enjoyed. For those same Apostles were ‘lambs’ on account of their infancy in Christ and ‘rams’ and ‘he-goats’ on account of their going before the flocks, and sons of bulls, inasmuch as being calves and placing their neck beneath

17β New and recent they had come. Such gods came to them as newly appearing.

17γ Whom their fathers had not known. On this account indeed they arrived new and recent.

18 You abandoned God who begot you, and forgot God who made you. ‘God who begot you’, that is, who created you, for God is our father by the word of creation.

19α And the Lord saw and grew zealous. He was justly provoked to anger, for zealousness is eminently just anger about something undertaken with impious effrontery.

19β And he was provoked by anger at his sons and daughters. Both zealousness and exasperation in relation to God are to be understood in a sense devoid of passion, namely, as what is fitting and due. And he was provoked, he says, by the anger with which he grew angry at his children who sacrificed to the carved idols of Canaan, as was stated in the one hundred and fifth psalm.

20α And he said, ‘I shall turn away my face from them’. My oversight which guards them.

20β And I shall show what will be for them at the last. And I shall make known to them what will happen to them later, so that even before experiencing it they may be pained.

20γ For it is a perverse generation, sons, in whom there is no faith. The Saviour also said this to the Jews in the Gospels, O faithless and perverse generation.

21α They have incited me to jealousy with a non god. They have made me incited to jealousy on account of a non god that they have deified. God. And Moses also was an ox, threshing and ploughing the souls of the Israelites, and also a sheep on account of his meekness. The Apostles too were oxen, as Paul states when saying, Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? [1Cor 9.9-10], and also sheep, for it is written, Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. The Israelites accordingly suckled the milk of all of those. For he says, Butter from oxen and milk from sheep, they ate and drank, that is to say.

21β They have provoked me to anger by their idols. On account of their idols that they would honour. He says the same more clearly.

21γ And I shall incite them to jealousy with a non nation. I shall make them incited to jealousy, namely, to be envious on account of a non nation, for here jealousy is to be taken in a different sense. ‘A non nation’ is what he calls the com- pound of the Christians, as not being a nation in itself, but gathered from various nations.

21δ I shall provoke them to anger with a nation void of understanding. On account of a nation without understanding. He also calls the Christians a nation void of understanding on account of their error and folly prior to their believing; for their banish- ment from the promised land and their scattering among the nations does not grieve the Jews so much as does the prosperity and renown of the Christians.

22α For fire has been kindled from my rage. Both this and what follows is to strike terror and give emphasis to the unendurable nature of divine wrath.

22β It will burn to deepest Hades. Burning up everything when I shall be provoked to rage.

22γ It will devour the earth and its produce, it will set aflame the foundations of the mountains. For so great is its power and its energy. And having taught simply about the power of his rage, he then turns his discourse to the Jews who have incited him to anger.

23α I shall gather evils upon them. Trials, punishments.

23β And I shall consume my arrows upon them. He calls the same things ‘arrows’ as striking and destroying; I shall use up my arrows, he says, having left none remaining, but having brought all upon them.

24α Wasting away in famine and in devouring of birds. That is to say, they will be wasting away in famine and in devouring of birds. For prior to armed conflict came siege and famine and devouring of birds, on hunting and eating which they would waste away even more on account of the harm engendered by them. Or else because birds, having flown down upon them by divine wrath, would devour them as they were wasting away in famine, and one the one hand they were wasting away in famine, and on the other hand they were being devoured by birds.

24β And incurable recurvation. Among them, that is. Recurvation is a disease which draws the body backwards and causes painful death.

24γ I shall send upon them the fangs of wild beasts, dragging with venom upon the earth. ‘Dragging’, that is, dragging themselves, crawling, moving, for it is likely that serpents would come upon them; or else ‘the fangs of wild beasts’ is what he is calling the blood- thirsty and savage and brutal nature of the enemies who were destroying them.

25α From without the sword will make them childless, and from within their closets fear. For even from within they would be subject to treachery and feared their own no less than the assailants. All these things happened to the Jews in various sieges – now the ones, now the others – and most especially after the putting to death of Christ.

25β Young man and virgin together. ‘Will be slain’ is missing, for threats are often expressed elliptically.

25γ Sucking babe along with mature elder. ‘Mature’, namely, of full age; through the extremes of the ages he also implied those in between.

26α I said, ‘I shall scatter them’. As slaves among the nations. 26β- I shall truly put an end to their remembrance from among men, were it not for my anger at

27α their enemies, so that their days may not be long.

I said, ‘I shall blot out their remembrance so that their days may not be long in good repute, so that they may no longer have a name of high renown, if it was not for my being enraged at their enemies for all their impieties, I would have shut them off even now.

27β And so that their adversaries may not join in attack. And so that these their adversaries, when I am destroying them, on seeing them weakened, may not join in attacking them and imagine that it is they who have destroyed them.

27γ Lest they say, ‘Our high hand and not the Lord has done these things’. Has effected their destruction.

28 For it is a nation that has lost purpose, and there is no knowledge among them. It is a nation void of purpose and understanding, neither willing the things bringing salva- tion nor understanding what things are pleasing to God and what embitter him.

29 They have not cared to understand; let them receive all these things in the time to come. They have not cared to understand, because they have not been scattered and because their remembrance has not been brought to an end, and so to devote themselves to the wor- ship of God. Hence therefore let them receive the aforementioned punishments in the time to come. This is what he calls the time to come later, when, having put Christ to death and having raged against the Apostles, they were surrendered to the Romans for destruction.

30 How will one man drive away a thousand and two displace tens of thousand, unless God has delivered them up and the Lord has surrendered them? In astonishment the prophet says, ‘How will one Roman at that time drive away a thou- sand Jews, and two Romans in turn displace tens of thousand Jews? How will this strange thing occur unless very evidently God has delivered them to destruction, that is to say, the Lord has surrendered them to annihilation?’ Or else, he delivered them into slavery and surrendered them to destruction, for many of them were taken into slavery and the rest were cut down.

31α For their gods are not as our God. The gods of the enemies, namely, those of the surrounding nations, so that they might be able to contrive for them to capable of such great things.

31β Rather our enemies are foolish. Not understanding that they are defeating these people not as being inferior to them- selves, but as having already been surrendered and stripped of the power guarding them.

32α For their grape-vine is from the grape-vine of Sodom and their vine-branch from Gomorrah. Just as those who zealously emulate and pursue the works of Abraham are called ‘sons of Abraham’, so then those who commit the transgressions of the Sodomites and of Gomorrah are said to derive their descent from there on account of their likeness in evil. Accordingly, ‘grape-vine’ is what he called their root, not according to the flesh, which was Abraham, but according to their wickedness, and ‘vine-branch’ the offspring of that root in depravity.

32β Their grape is a grape of gall, a cluster of bitterness theirs. Having mentioned both grape-vine and vine-branch, he then appropriately added the grape, continuing with the figure. The grape is what he calls their fruit, that is to say, their actions, like gall embittering the husbandman of the souls on account of their evil; and their cluster is a cluster of bitterness, or a cluster of bitterness is their cluster; grape and grape-clus- ter are the same, namely their fruit.

33 Their wine is the venom of serpents, and the incurable venom of asps. Just as he called their actions ‘grape’, so also he called the teaching coming from such action ‘wine’, yet not simply such, but wine that is the very venom of serpents and the venom of asps on account of its efficacy in causing evil and destruction; and hence he named it ‘in- curable’ as incapable of change.

34 See, are not all these things gathered together with me and sealed in my treasuries? These things; what things? The punishments. The words are as from God. See, are not all these things ready prepared with me and guarded in my treasuries, to be released on the Jews at the fitting time? God’s treasuries are what is certain, or his long-suffering.

35α On the day of retribution I shall repay back. And what the day of retribution is, listen.

35β At the time when their foot will trip. When they will slip into the most grievous sin, the murder of Christ; for then the pun- ishments began to be released on them, when their path in God’s ways will stumble, a false step greatest of all.

35γ For the day of their destruction is near. From that time, from when their foot will trip, the day of their destruction will be near; he is speaking of that day on which Jerusalem was taken by storm.

35δ And they are present ready for you. The evils that will overtake you then are ready.

36α For the Lord will judge his people and will relent towards his servants. He will condemn his Jewish people as transgressing the law and fighting against God, but he will relent towards his servants who have believed in Christ and will be propitiated; or else, on being entreated he will be moved to pity and will yield to their prayer.

36β For he saw them paralysed and abandoned in distress and weakened. Them; whom? The Jews, that is. The prophets call the time of vengeance ‘distress’; and another prophet indeed says, What will you do on the day of distress? He therefore saw them in a state of desolation, suffering and wretchedness. He is proph- esying now about a different time when after falling into idolatry they were surrendered into captivity.

37 And the Lord said, ‘Where are their gods in whom they trusted in them?’ ‘In whom in them’ is a Hebrew idiom, as we have often said.

38α Of which you would eat the fat of their sacrifices and drink the wine of their libations. The fat of the sacrifices to which gods you used to eat in making sacrifice to them.

38β Let them arise and help you and let them become protectors for you. The verse is ironical: let them arise if they are able.

39α See, see, that I am.

Know, be assured from what you are suffering, that I am, but they are not; I am the one who is, while they are not.

39β And God there is none save me. Save me who am conceived in Tri-unity.

39γ I will slay and I will make to live. Being able easily to do both the one and the other.

39δ I will strike down and I will heal. I will cause distress through punishment, and again in benevolence I will heal those who turn back.

39ε And there is none who shall be delivered from my hands. Those who are incurable, namely, and those whom I shall condemn.

40α For I will raise my hand to heaven and will swear with my right hand. According to the figure of how people would swear at that time, for when they were swearing they would stretch up their right hand to heaven, as swearing by God who is in the heavens, that is. I will swear, he says, by my right hand.

40β And I shall say, ‘I live to the age’. For since those taking an oath were accustomed to say, ‘The Lord lives’, and this was an oath for them, he, not having anything greater than himself by which he might swear, swears by himself and says, ‘I live to the age’. He then says what he is swearing about.

41α For I shall sharpen my sword like a lightning shaft. From here again he speaks about the final evils that they suffered at the hands of the Romans. I shall whet my sword, he says, so as to flash like lightning and to instil fear by its very as- pect. His sword and arrows is what he calls the swords of the Romans, as having been brought upon the Jews by God’s verdict.

41β And my hand will cleave to judgement.

To judgement, that is, to vengeance. Understand God’s hand as his punishing power.

41γ And I shall give back satisfaction to my enemies. ‘Satisfaction’, that is, punishment. The enemies of Christ are the Jews who put him to death; or else the enemies of God the Father, as having put his Son to death, for the words can be understood as spoken by the Son and by the Father.

41δ And I shall repay those who hate me. He says the same, instilling even greater fear in them.

42α I shall make my arrows drunk with blood and my sword will devour flesh. He makes his own the arrows of the Romans and the sword, as we said. ‘I shall make drunk’ and ‘it will devour’ are figurative and metaphorical, transferred from animate beings to inanimate ones.

42β With the blood of the wounded and of captivity. Having said that I shall make my arrows drunk with blood, he says with what blood, namely, that of the wounded and of those taken captive.

42γ From the head of the rulers of nations. Having similarly said that my sword will devour flesh, he goes on to say from what flesh, namely, from the head of the rulers of the nations, on the one hand making the threat terrify- ing by mention of the head, and on the other signifying the whole by the part. You will understand the ‘rulers’ accordingly as the chief priests and scribes and elders of the people and the ‘nations’ as the multitudes of the Jews in the various principalities of Pal- estine, on account of their living lawlessly like the nations.

43α Be glad, O heavens, together with him. The prophet says this calling ‘heavens’, as I believe, the heavenly powers, or else the heav- ens themselves on account of the superabundance of gladness which Christ bestowed on those above and those below by his incarnation. ‘Together with him’; Whom? With Christ, most evidently, who threatened the things previously mentioned.

43β And let all angels of God fall down in worship before him.

Let them give thanks, let them glorify. For if, as the Saviour says, there is great joy in the heavens over one sinner who repents, how much more will there be over such and so great a benefaction towards mankind, with error having been banished and truth set dancing, and with men coming up to heaven and living together with the angels.

43γ Be glad, O nations, together with his people. ‘His people’ is what he calls those from among the Jews who believed, and ‘nations’ those who come to the faith from among the nations. Be glad, he says, having been united and gathered together into one fold of the Good Shepherd, and having been reconciled in one Spirit with the Father.

43δ And let all the sons of God be strong in him. And let all those adopted by God through the regeneration of holy baptism be made to prevail by him in their resistance against the demons. A number of copies write ‘and let them strengthen it’, namely, the people of God, with the ‘sons of God’ being understood then as the Apostles and their successors, as truest sons and closest kin, both on account of their way of life and on account of their dignity. And let them strengthen the people, that is, let them weld them together, let them make them strong, as in need most especially of help.

43ε For the blood of his sons is being avenged. Once again he is prophesying about the punishment of the Jews, namely, that the blood of his sons, of the prophets and Apostles, that they poured out, is being avenged through the Romans. 43ς And he will take vengeance. And truly he will avenge their murder.

43ζ And he will give back satisfaction to his enemies, and will repay those who hate him. He predicted this above in the person of God, and he lingers on the predictions of the 41γ-δ threats, wishing to turn these back by instilling greater fear. 43η And the Lord will purify the land of his people. Having destroyed all the evil people and having removed thence all wickedness through the Romans, as was said, and having brought to dust the land of his people of old; or else, he will make Palestine, the land of his new people, clean of the impurities of the Jews.

III Ode Three Of Hannah, Samuel’s mother; in the first book of Kingdoms. Not only does she hymn God for the blessings she had been given, on the one hand hav- ing received fruit of the womb, and on the other hand having been freed of the reproach of childlessness, but she also prophesies various things, for having borne a prophet in her womb, she partook of the grace of prophecy and prophesied after the birth.

1α My heart has been made firm in the Lord. Having been made flaccid by the sorrows of childlessness, it has now been made firm, it has been strengthened by the Lord.

1β My horn has been exalted in my God. My glory has been exalted through my God; I have been glorified having given birth to a child.

1γ My mouth has been expanded over my enemies. It has been opened more boldly, it has spoken fearlessly. Her enemies are those around her husband’s other wife, Peninnah, who until then were boasting of abundance of children and casting many reproaches at her as childless.

1δ I have rejoiced in my salvation. In the salvation that has come upon me, for you saved me, having given me a child when I was in danger of being destroyed by immeasurable sorrow.

2α For none is holy as is the Lord. Pure, giving no occasion of any kind to anyone, but doing everything with reason.

2β And none is just as is our God. For nor did he suffer for me to be distressed any longer and to be ill spoken of.

2γ And none is holy save you. Holy in the eminent sense, for you are holy by nature and the source of holiness.

3α Do not boast and do not speak haughtily in ascendency.

The words are addressed to those around Peninnah, and through her to all those who boast in any state of prosperity. Do not speak haughty things, he says, on account of being superior. 3β Nor let arrogant speech proceed from your mouth. This is clear. 3γ For the Lord is a God of knowledge. The Lord is a God of knowledge, knowing not only the things that appear openly, but also the hidden things; hence knowing your arrogance and my humiliation, he judged justly. 3δ And a God readying practices for himself. Preparing for himself dispensations or perfecting purposes for himself. What these are, listen: 4 The bow of the powerful he has weakened, and the weak he has girded with strength. The ‘bow’ is what she calls their strength or their weapons. She pronounces such oppositions in a general sense, as happening in many cases; then she adds the particular. 5α Those full of bread have fallen short. They have become poor. 5β And the hungry have given up the land. They have left the land on which they used to persevere in hardship working for a wage, or else they have left the tillage of the land, having now become lords over both land and land-workers, and simply having become rich. 5γ For a barren woman has borne seven, and she who has many children has grown weak. This is the particular. She is the barren woman who, at God’s assent, bore seven, that is, many, for the Hebrews often call many ‘seven’ and we explained previously in the psalms. And indeed up to that point the story says she had borne one, Samuel, but she called him many as worth many. The one who has many children is Peninnah, as giving birth to many; she grew weak, with her haughty brow henceforth having fallen, and Hannah having been loved more by her husband.

In an anagogical sense, the barren woman may be the church from among the nations, which previously being unfruitful, later bore many children on receiving the seed of piety. The one with many children is the synagogue of the Hebrews which having formerly given birth to many prophets and righteous people, later grew weak, with the church from among the nations having surpassed her in fame. 6α The Lord brings death and engenders life. Being capable of all things. 6β He leads down to Hades and leads up. He led up from thence not only the soul of Lazarus, and of the widow’s son, and of the daughter of ruler of the synagogue, but later the other souls also, having himself descended there. 7 The Lord impoverishes and enriches, he humbles and exalts. We constantly observe these things occurring. 8α He raises up the pauper from the earth, and rouses the poor man from the dung-hill. He clarified ‘from the earth’ by the words ‘from the dung-hill’. 8β To seat him with the lords of the people. So as to seat him with the rulers of the people. 8γ And to give him a throne of glory as his assured inheritance. And to give him a glorious throne, a sovereign throne as his assured inheritance. 9α Granting the vow to the maker of the vow. Bringing to fulfilment the promise for the one making the promise, for through him is every good brought to completion. Or else granting the request to the suppliant, just as he gave to her what she requested. 9β And the years of the just he has blessed. The life of the just person. 8α: He raises up from an earthly and fleshly disposition the one who is a pauper in wickedness and who has been ejected from its wealth, and he rouses from the foul smell of the passions the one who is poor in spirit, or the one who has become poor in wicked habit.

9γ For a powerful man is not strong in his strength. But in God, that is to say. And hence Christ later would say, Apart from me you can do nothing.

10α The Lord will make weak his adversary. His enemy.

10β The Lord is holy. Throughout she hymns God’s power and justice and goodness.

10γ Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, and let not the powerful man boast in his power, and let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let the one who boasts boast in this, in understanding and knowing the Lord and in executing judgement and justice in the midst of the earth. Let him rejoice, he says, in this, in understanding, that is, in knowing, the Lord, that he is precisely this, namely, Lord, that he is creator, that he is wise, that he is omnipotent, that he is just, that he is good, as all such things, and in executing judgement, that is, justice, upon the earth.

10δ The Lord has gone up to the heavens. This is a prophecy about the assumption [ascension].

10ε And has thundered. This similarly is about the descent of the holy Spirit, for it is written, And suddenly a sound came from heaven. She speaks of the things to come as having already happened, according to the custom of prophecy. 10ς He, being just, will judge the farthest ends of the earth. And this is about the universal judgement; through the farthest ends she indicated the whole of the earth, that is, the people from the earth.

10ζ And will give strength to our kings. To David and to those descended from him, for she is prophesying about those also since the Jews did not yet have have a king.

10η And he will exalt the horn of his anointed one. This is about the Christ, whose power and glory he exalted above heaven, for it is written, His glory is upon the heavens. IV Ode Four Of Habakkuk the Prophet. It foretells the incarnation of the Lord and is found in the book of his prophecy.

2α O Lord, I heard your tidings and was struck with fear. I heard intelligibly the tidings about you that you are destined to become man, and I was struck with fear by my extreme consternation. How will a virgin contain the one whom heaven does not contain? How will irresistible fire converse with straw?

2β O Lord, I perceived your works and was confounded. The extraordinary works of your life in the flesh and of your saving passion.

2γ Between two living beings you will be known. ‘Living beings’ is what he calls the two Cherubim made on each side of the propitiatory, between which God used to be known known of old to those who were worthy, conversing with them. He is saying therefore that the God who will take on human form will be known between the two Cherubim and from there will give fitting oracular response to the people, as equal to the Father. Or else ‘you will be known’, in the sense of, you are known to those worthy of such knowl- edge, with one tense standing for another. Some read the word as ζωῶν with a circumflex, meaning two lives, namely, the two ways of life, the old and the new, between which Christ was known, the one coming to an end and the other beginning; for at that time having become man he was made known to the disciples.

2δ As the years approach you will be recognized. The years of the incarnation; when the time for your life in the flesh is at hand you will be recognized.

2ε When the time is at hand you will revealed. He says the same more clearly.

2ς When my soul is bestirred in anger, you will remember mercy. When my soul has been struck with fear when you grow angry, you will have mercy on me, for the one who is struck with fear when God is provoked to anger at his sins will cer- tainly repent, and as he repents God will have mercy on him. The verse teaches how God is easily reconciled.

3α God will come from Teman. Teman translates as the south. God, he says, will come from the south, that is, he will come forth from Bethlehem, having been born there in the flesh, for Bethlehem is south in relation to Jerusalem.

3β And the holy one from a shaded thickly wooded mountain. He now calls God ‘the holy one’, for thus the ancients very often address God, as holy by nature and communicating sanctification. The shaded thickly wooded mountain is the Virgin – a ‘mountain’ as higher than all cre- ation, and ‘shaded’, as with divine power overshadowing her, for it is written, And the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and ‘thickly wooded’ on account of the untrodden adytum of virginity.

3γ His virtue covered the heavens and the earth is full of his wisdom. These words are indicative of his surpassing virtue and wisdom, according to his human- ity. Understand virtue therefore as that in works and wisdom as that in words, for the one prevailed over even the virtue of the heavenly powers, having concealed it by its magnitude, and the other filled the whole of the inhabited world. A number of copies write ‘of his praise’, for praise follows on virtue.

4α And his radiance will be like light. ‘Radiance’ is what he calls the Gospel, radiating to those in the night of error and in the darkness of sins and leading to truth and salvation, which, he says, will be like light, pure and without reproach.

4β Horns in his hands. ‘Horns’ are the kingdoms, both on account of their height and honour and also of their strength and power to defend, and ‘hands’ are his authority and power, for he exercises au- thority over all as God.

4γ And he established a firmly holding love of his strength.

Through the Gospel he created for the believers a love inseparably bound to his power, that is, to himself, by way of circumlocution, for it is written, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

5α A word will go before his face. The word both of the other prophets and of the Forerunner John, for it is written, See, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.

5β And he will come forth for instruction at its heels. And Christ will come forth for the instruction and teaching of the people behind this word, following it as it goes before.

6α He stood and the earth was shaken. He stood upon the earth in human manner, namely, he was born according to the flesh; and the earth was shaken, that is, the people of the earth were shaken, moving from the dark- ness of error to the light of truth. Or else he stood upon the Cross and the earth was shaken, unable to bear the outrage towards the Master, for it is written, And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.

6β He looked, and nations melted away. He looked upon the earth in human manner, for this follows on consistently, and the nations of the demons were humbled, the legions of the adversary grew weak.

6γ The mountains were shattered in pieces with violence. The leaders of the demons were crushed, being called ‘mountains’ on account of their elation and boastful arrogance. Understand ‘violence’ as Christ’s irresistible strength.

6δ Eternal hills melted away. ‘Hills’ are to be understood as those inferior to the mountains mentioned, but yet greater than others in evil; they are ‘eternal’, as exerting tyranny for many years, from Adam until Christ.

7α Their eternal pathways I saw just like toilsome troubles.

I saw their long-lasting pathways for the sake of corrupting mankind as toilsome troubles, that is, as trouble alone and nothing else, in that Christ at once abolished their tyranny and overturned their machinations. Some say, ‘They saw his eternal pathways’, giving the interpretation that the chief priests and scribes and elders of the Jews saw Christ’s pathways of speaking and teaching, which are eternal and indissoluble, as equivalent to toilsome troubles, that is, as outright troubles, as burdens, on account of their envy.

7β The tent-dwellings of the Ethiopians will tremble in fear. ‘Ethiopians’ are the demons, having become dark on account of their pride and spoken of as such; their tent-dwellings are the idols in which they would dwell, which will tremble in fear at the advent of Christ. The prophets then as we see at times speak of things to come as having occurred, at time as occurring and at times as going to occur.

7γ And the tents of the land of Madian. And the temples of the idols in the land of Madian, for the land was given to idolatry more than the other lands near to the Jews.

8α Do not grow wrathful in rivers, O Lord; let not your rage be in rivers or your onslaught in sea. Since, when God was redeeming ancient Israel, he turned the rivers of the Egyptians into blood and their rain-waters, so that they could not drink, and he destroyed them in the Red Sea, displaying both in the rivers and in the sea his anger and rage and indignation, the prophet now says that when redeeming new Israel you will not do thus, but you will employ a different method in respect of its salvation. You will not grow wrathful in rivers, O Lord, your rage will not be in rivers nor will your punishing onslaught, your movement, your visi- tation of vengeance, be in the sea, nor will you punish your enemies through these things. By the first plague and the final destruction he indicated also the other plagues; and, moreover, the rivers and the sea have a kinship with one another.

8β For you will mount upon your horses. This is the mode of redemption; his horses is what he calls the Apostles, as swift of foot towards virtue and obedient to the rein and putting the rider at ease; he mounted on them through the preaching, carrying which, they would run.

8γ And your riding is salvation. And your riding through them becomes salvation for the world.

9α Drawing, you will stretch your bow against sceptres, says the Lord. The Father says this to the Son, whose bow once again is the Apostles, through whom he shot down error and sin and the kingdom of the devil, for he calls this kingdom ‘sceptres’. And through Zachariah he says to the Jewish people, I stretched you tight, O Judah, as a bow for myself.

9β The land of rivers will be rent open. Jerusalem is the ‘land of rivers’ as the fatherland of prophets, watering it like rivers with the streams of their words. This land, he says, not having accepted the life-flowing streams of Christ will be rent open by desiccation and drought, with there being no longer any prophet.

10α They will see you and peoples will enter pangs of travail. Either the peoples of the Jews, who having seen Christ, were in travail with envy and bore murder, or the peoples of those who believed from among the nations, who were in travail with piety and bore virtues.

10β Scattering waters of passage. He will be, that is to say. The waters of Christ’s passage are the instructive and fresh waters that he would distribute to the people as he passed through, for it is written, And he would go about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues.

10γ The abyss gave forth its voice. The ‘abyss’, that is, those who believed, on account of their great number, for the abyss is the great abundance of waters. What was the voice? The confession of faith in Christ.

10δ The height of its phantasy. And the high and mighty, the eminent people of the imaginary glory of this abyss, that is, the kings, they also gave forth voice, for many such people believed.

11α The sun was raised up and the moon stood in its order.

Christ, who shines like the sun in his purity and illumines the souls of the believers, was raised up on the Cross or into heaven, and thereafter the Church, like the moon giving light in the darkness of the present life and in the night of error, stood in its order, for after the Cross and the ascension it was established in the order of shining on and giving light to those beneath her.

11β Into light your flashing missiles will make their path. The flashing missiles once again are the Apostles, striking against error and the demons; these then will make their path into giving light through their preaching, or into the light, that is, into the work of preaching, which is itself light and gives light to those darkened by the gloom of sin.

11γ Into the lustre of the lightning flash of your weapons. Christ’s weapons given to the Apostles are the breastplate of justice, the helmet of sal- vation, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit, and the rest, with which Paul clothes the believers; the Apostles therefore made their path into shining the lightning flash of such weapons and putting their enemies to flight.

12α With threat you will diminish the land. You will diminish the fame of the hitherto much renowned and celebrated land of Jerusa- lem. For he threatened first both through the prophets and by himself, for it is written, Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins, and many such statements; then, the land not having been corrected, he destroyed it.

12β And in rage you will bring down nations. You will overthrow the Jews; he called them ‘nations’ as lawless and murderers, for such are the nations. ‘Nations’ may also be understood as the demons, as enemies of the new Israel.

13α You came forth for the salvation of your people. For it is written, I proceeded and came forth from God.

13β To save your anointed ones you have come. Christ’s anointed ones are those who have been anointed with his precious blood and by the holy Spirit through baptism, and who have been enjoined to rule over the passions and

the demons and to reign along with him in the kingdom of the Father.

13γ You have cast death on the heads of the lawless. The lawless are the demons; their heads are either they themselves, the part standing for the whole, or else the leaders among them; their death is the mortification of their tyrannical power and their inactivity and dissolution.

13δ You have raised up bonds till the neck towards fulfilment. You have wound the bonds of the Gospel yoke on the neck of the Apostles, or by their neck. ‘Towards fulfilment’ is in the sense of, so as to fulfil your riding that was mentioned, or else until completion.

14α You have cut off in defection the heads of powerful rulers. You have cut off the leaders of the power-wielding demons who are in rebellion against your lordship, that is, you have put them to death, as was stated previously. Or else you have cut off with the Roman sword the heads of those wielding power among the Jews at the time of their defection, when they broke away from the Romans, or when they defected from their own senses, slaying even your disciples. By the powerful rulers he also included all the others.

14β They will be shaken among them. The apostles will first be troubled among these powerful rulers, being brought before them and being persecuted and suffering countless ills.

14γ They will unlatch their bridles like a poor man eating in stealth. The Apostles will unlatch the bridles on their mouths; they will slacken the fear of the Jews bridling their mouths and not permitting them to preach openly. And they did this, when the holy Spirit had come upon them, when, having received power from on high, they went out to preach. And they will unlatch their mouths as impetuously as does a poor man who, having overcome his fear, unlatches the bridle on his mouth when eating in stealth.

15 And you have set your horses upon the sea, stirring up many waters. The ‘sea’ is the many multitudes of people – and indeed he called these multitudes ‘abyss’ earlier – or else it is the life of men on account of the ever fluctuating and restless nature of

things in life, and on account of the briny and undrinkable nature of pagan dogmas and of other heretical teachings, and on account of the bitterness of sins, for their digestion is bitter. The ‘horses’ once again are the Apostles, in accordance with the explanation given above, 8β who, having Christ as their rider, having been set upon this sea, stirred up and confused and made turbid and overturned the many waters of heresy, that is, their impious and godless teachings. Or else stirring up or moving them in the act of baptism; ‘many waters’ are those prepared everywhere for baptism.

16α I kept on my guard, and my heart quaked in fear at the voice of prayer from my lips. I kept on my guard, I was vigilant, I paid heed to myself, and at the voice of prayer from my lips, namely, after praying, my heart quaked in fear.

16β And trembling entered my bones and my strength within me was troubled. He suffered these things on having received illumination about the slaying of Christ by the Jews; for he was overcome by quaking and trembling and was troubled, lest he might live to reach those days in which this thing would be ventured; then again having perceived that he will not reach that time, he consoles himself, saying:

16γ I shall go to rest in the day of my sorrow, so as to ascend to the people of my residency. In this day of my sorrow I shall go to rest, having been released from my fear. For what reason will I take relief ? So as to ascend very soon to the people of my residency, that is, to pass over through death. ‘People of his residency’ is what he calls the saints sharing the same place of abode with him, his co-patriots, those who have died.

17α For the fig-tree will not bear fruit, and there will be no produce on the grape-vines. I shall go to rest, he says, in death, because hereafter the Jews will recede and will be de- stroyed after daring to undertake this thing, and I am glad not having arrived at that time. He calls them both a ‘fig-tree’ and ‘grape-vines’, a ‘fig-tree’ as having once had sweet fruits, and ‘grape-vines’ as of old bearing the wine of teaching that gladdens the heart.

17β The work of the olive-tree will disappoint and the fields will fail to bring forth food. He calls them again an ‘olive-tree’ and ‘fields’, an ‘olive-tree’ on account of their once hav- ing been laden with virtues, and ‘fields’ as of old budding the grain of good works which were gathered into the store-houses on high. Having foretold their barrenness, he also foretells their destruction and ruin.

17γ The sheep have died for want of fodder. ‘Fodder’ is what he now calls the books of the law and of the prophets, reading which they used to nourish their souls. The one-time sheep of God have died, he says, not coming as usual to their food, but being lost.

17δ And there will be no oxen at the mangers. ‘Oxen’ once again are the Jews, as workers of virtue in the past, whose mangers similarly are the books.

18 But I shall rejoice in the Lord, I shall be joyful in God my Saviour. Who is recalling me before such a time and saving me from the calamity mentioned.

19α The Lord my God is my strength. Strengthening me to virtue.

19β And he will set my feet for consummation. And he will establish my feet for the end of this life.

19γ And he raises me up on high. And brings me up to the height of virtue, or to exalted visions.

19δ So that I may triumph in his song. So that I may be victorious and cast down evil in singing to him, that is, singing and praising him. V Ode Five A Prayer of Isaiah the Prophet having been taken from the book of his prophecy and declaring openly about Christ.

9α From out of night my spirit strains towards dawn to you, O God. ‘Night’ is what he calls life under the law on account of the enigmatic nature of the law and its obscurity and darkness. He is saying, O God, O Lord, from out of this dark and

shadowy way of life, my spirit is straining, that is, I am straining, towards you, the intelligible light, the sun of justice. I am anticipating your rising – for this is what to strain towards dawn means – uttering these words prior to your incarnation and entreating you. Or else under- stand his ‘spirit’ as his gift of clear-sightedness.

9β For your decrees are light upon the earth. Because your Gospel commandments are light upon the earth, both shining on account of their purity and blamelessness and clarity, and brightening and guiding those in the night of ignorance and sin towards deliverance therefrom.

9γ Learn justice, O you who dwell upon the earth. ‘Justice’, namely, that of the Gospel, about which Christ said, Unless your justice exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Learn, he says, having as your teacher him who enjoins this.

10α For the impious man has ceased. The unbelieving Jew, the people that did not show reverence to him, has ceased, having been deprived of his heretofore authority and glory and having been surrendered to the Ro- mans. And this prophet too speaks of future things as having already occurred, in accord with the custom of prophecy.

10β In no way will he learn justice. The justice of the Gospel, as was stated, voluntarily closing his ears and his eyes and repu- diating its teacher.

10γ Upon the earth in no way will he perform truth. He will not carry out true virtue, which virtues are those of Gospel, for those of the law are types and shadows of the true virtues.

10δ Let the impious man be lifted away that he may not see the glory of the Lord. Let him be lifted away in slaughter and slavery. Let him be utterly destroyed from his land that he may not see the glory of Christ, that will be offered to him there by the Christians. And his glory is also the Gospel way of life of the holy fathers who shone forth there, as his disciples and imitators.

11α O Lord, your arm is exalted. The arm of the Father is the Son, as power and as creator, for it is written, All things were made through him. In singing his praise he calls him ‘exalted’, either on account of the magnitude of his divin- ity, or else on account of the sublimity of the virtues of his humanity, for it is written, Comely in beauty beyond the sons of men, in beauty of soul, that is.

11β And they did not know. The Jews, as not wishing to know this on account of an excess of wickedness and as blind to the light.

11γ And having come to know, let them be put to shame. The imperative in the sense of the future. And having come to know, he says, they will be put to shame. And this either occurred when the soldiers guarding the tomb reported about the angel who rolled away the stone, whereon they gave them a good sum of silver so that they would not make it known, or else it will occur at the time of the universal resurrection when, coming in the glory of the Father, the sign of the Cross will go before him, shining more than the sun.

11δ Zeal will overtake an uninstructed people. Zeal for avenging God as it seemed to them, for they would become enraged that he would make himself equal to God. They are an uninstructed people, not being instructed from Scripture of the things concerning him, and not having learned the things prophesied in relation to him, for even though they would read, they would not recognize out of evil and envy.

11ε And now fire will devour the adversaries. The ‘now’ here signifies ‘ever’, namely, that fire will ever devour them. Or the fire of rage against Christ and the Christians will devour those hateful to God as long as they live; or the fire of Gehenna at the time of retribution. Or else the ‘now’ is in the sense of, ‘on this account’; and indeed on account of knowing him, the fire of vain repentance and of eternal affliction will devour them, after death, that is to say.

12 O Lord our God, give us peace, for you all things you have given back to us. In the person of those destined to believe, he prays for Christ to be given to them, bring- ing them peace and reconciling them to the Father, for he is mediator between God and men.

Give him to us, he says, for you have given back, that is, you have given, us all things, the law, and the prophets and all the other things that benevolently encourage sinners to turn back. And he alone is needful. Or in a different way, for you have given us everything if you will give us Him who is able to do all things. 13α O Lord our God, create us. Into a new creation, through the refashioning and rebirth of baptism into a new man, having scraped off the oldness of sin, into a new people. Or else ‘take possession of us’ through the Gospel, a chosen possession, an inheritance of his very own, for it is written, And I shall give you nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession. 13β O Lord, we know no other apart from you. We know no other god; this is said about the gods falsely so-called. The verse is in the person of those who have already believed. 13γ We name your name. We call on it, we proclaim it; not only the divine name, but also the human name. 14α But the dead will surely not see life. Those whose souls have been deadened to faith by the death of unbelief will surely not see the blessed and eternal life. 14β Nor will physicians raise them up. Nor will the philosophers and theologians among the Greeks and the scribes and teach- ers among the Hebrews, who are reputed to be physicians of the soul, raise them up to the eternal life mentioned. 14γ On this account you brought on and destroyed and took away their every male. On account of their having been deadened while still alive, as was said, you brought on dangers and destroyed them through the Romans and took away everyone who was strong among them. Since the male imposes himself more than the female, by the male, he implies those who impose themselves by power of speech and strength of body and force of wealth and glory; and if he will utterly destroy those, then much more so will he destroy the others. 14β: Or else in this way: They will surely not see Christ at the resurrection, for it is written, I am the way and the truth and the life [ Jn 14.6]. Nor will the idols that they would often employ as physicians [that they had as physicians when alive] raise them up from the pit of torment.

Or else in a different way, simply all the males are to be understood, with the females having been sold into slavery.

15α Add evils to them, O Lord. To the slayers of Christ. ‘Evils’ is what he calls hurtful punishments; for he hated them on account of their so great fury.

15β Add evils to the glorious of the earth. To the powerful rulers everywhere, so that being thus reined in they may become more moderate towards those beneath them and more temperate.

16α O Lord, in affliction we have remembered you. For we too, when we are being afflicted with evils, on being reined in, we then remember you.

16β O Lord, in small affliction your instruction is brought to us. And not only with great affliction, but also with small affliction is your instruction brought to us. And not only through great things, but also through small things you instruct us, as thirsting for our correction.

17 And as a woman in travail comes to give birth and cried out in her birth pangs, so we have been towards your beloved. Isaiah now says this about both himself and the other prophets, that just as a woman in childbirth is about to give birth and cried out in her pain, being racked with pangs and pains, so we have become towards your beloved Son, for as the time approaches for him to be born of the Virgin, and being pained at the destruction of those in error, we cry out to him, calling on him as helper.

18α On account of your fear, O Lord, we have conceived in the womb. On account of our fearing and being well-pleasing to you, we have conceived seeds of prophecy in the womb of our soul, that is, in our mind, in which visions are stored.

18β And we have entered birth pangs and have given birth. And we have been pregnant with these things and then have given birth to them through the tongue.

18γ We have produced the spirit of your salvation upon the earth. We have produced the gift of your prophecy – for this is what he calls ‘salvation’ as saving – upon the earth, that is, we have set it down among men through our writings; and under- stand the gift of prophecy as that given to them.

18δ We shall not fall, but those who dwell on the earth shall fall. This verse is spoken in the person of the martyrs, namely, that we shall not be defeated, but the tyrants putting us to death will be defeated, they being left on the earth.

19α The dead will arise and those in the graves will be awakened. This foretells primarily about the universal resurrection, and it also alludes to the renewal of the believers who, who being dead as concerns their insensitivity and inactivity of the soul, rose up towards virtue through the preaching and were reborn through baptism and, lying in the dark and loathsome doctrines of error as if in graves of some kind, they were awakened to the luminous and precious teachings of piety.

19β And those on the earth will rejoice. The believers on the earth will rejoice because they have been delivered from the tyranny of the devil; or those on the earth will rejoice because they have already come into heaven.

19γ For the fresh dew that is from you is a healing remedy for them. ‘Fresh dew’ is what he calls the Gospel, as healing those inflamed by sin, or else in a differ- ent way, as being gently infused into the arable land of the soul and watering the innate seeds of virtue and bringing them to bear fruit.

19δ But the land of the impious will fall. But the land of the soul of unbelievers will fall into uselessness, into destruction, into punishment, as beyond cure, as without water, as without fruit.

20α Walk, O my people. These words are addressed to the new people in the person of the Saviour, enjoining them to walk in the way of the Gospel.

20β Enter into your chamber. [Close your door]. ‘Chamber’ is what he calls the grave of each, namely, the earth into which from the begin- ning all the race of Adam was ordered to depart.

20γ Hide yourself for just a little. A short time, a little time.

20δ Until the Lord’s anger may pass by. He is indicating the anger at the consummation of the world directed against the impious and sinners, for after passing his sentence on them, the Lord will receive the just into his kingdom, as we learnt from the Gospel. VI Ode Six A prayer of Jonah the Prophet from his book. He prayed this prayer while still in the belly of the sea monster.

3α I cried in my affliction to the Lord my God. ‘Affliction’ is what he calls the affliction of having been swallowed down, the affliction encompassing him in the belly of the whale.

3β And he heard me. For I knew at once that I had been heard.

3γ From the belly of Hades you heard the cry of my voice. You heard my cry from the belly of the sea monster; for he calls the sea monster ‘Hades’ on account of its swallowing him and holding him alive, for by the nature of the events he was dead, but he lived only by divine grace. You swiftly heard my cry, he says, that is, my voice crying out to you, giving utterance out of longing.

4α You cast me into the depths of the heart of the sea. You contrived for me to be cast forth, having raised up a storm for those sailing with me and set danger around them, until they cast me, having been drawn by lot, into the sea, as the story tells. Jon 1.7, 15

4β And rivers encircled me. Those that flow into the sea, or the currents of the sea.

4γ All your surgings and your waves passed over me. ‘Surgings’ is what he calls the uprisings and swellings of the waters.

5α And I said, ‘I have been driven from your eyes’. When I was swallowed down, I said that I had been cast out from your oversight, I had been stripped of your providence.

5β ‘Shall I add to look towards your holy temple?’ And I thought this also: Shall I make the addition of seeing your holy temple? Shall I set eyes again on the divine temple, namely, the temple in Jerusalem?

6α Water poured over me even to my soul. For the sea monster was in the sea, and he was in the entrails of the monster; and moreo- ver these beasts live in water. ‘Even to my soul’, saying as it were that not only my body but even my soul is in waters, reaching and touching even the soul.

6β An uttermost abyss encircled me. A deepest abyss, for whales live in the deepest oceans.

6γ My head plunged into the clefts of mountains. ‘Mountains’ is what he calls the islands in the unnavigated seas, or the mountains on these islands, or the mountains lying next to such seas, reaching down to the abyss in depth and having clefts beneath the sea which sea monsters are accustomed to enter very often as they swim by. When therefore the sea monster would enter them, he would enter also. My head, he says, plunged in, that is, I, the part standing for the whole.

7α I descended to earth whose bars are eternal fastnesses. For at times the sea monster, descending to the bottom of the abyss, would take rest; I

went down through the sea monster to the earth, he says, whose gates hold fast eternally, gates from which no one escapes who reaches as far as them, for ‘bars’ are what he calls the gates and door bars, that is, the imprisonment. 7β And let my life ascend from destruction to you, O Lord my God. From the destruction coming from the sea monster, a destruction in which he was en- trapped; and ‘to you’, namely, towards your temple in which you dwell. 8α Even as my soul was departing from me, I remembered the Lord. Not even having approached death did I abandon the remembrance of God; or in a dif- ferent way, I remembered the Lord for protection and help. 8β And may my prayer come to your holy temple. My prayer about my life ascending to you. May this prayer, he says, come to you, let it reach to you, that is, to your holy temple in which, as was said, you dwell. May my prayer come to you at your holy temple; may my prayer be sent up once again as before from your temple to you, for it was the custom to pray in the temple. 9 Those guarding vanities and falsehoods abandoned their mercy. Those guarding and honouring the vain and false idols, having been persuaded by the cast- ing of a lot, abandoned the mercy which they had shown towards me till then, and without mercy cast me into the sea. This verse may also be interpreted as a prophecy about the soldiers who were set as guards over the Master’s tomb. For Jonah, having become a type of the Saviour’s three-day burial, suitably prophesied about this, saying, those guarding the body of Christ vainly and falsely – for escaping their notice he arose – abandoned their salvation, namely, the truth whereby they would have received mercy and been saved, and having been bribed, they chose false- hood, saying that, His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep. 10α But with voice of praise and confession I shall make sacrifice to you. With voice of praise and thanksgiving, for he is prophesying his deliverance from the sea monster. 10β All that I vowed I shall repay to you the Lord, my salvation.

O my salvation, all that I promised I shall repay to you the Lord, namely, the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving and whatsoever else he vowed as a thank-offering for his salvation. Certain of the copes write, ‘to my salvation’, that is, ‘for my salvation’. VII Ode Seven A Prayer of Azariah from the book of Daniel the Prophet.

26 You are to be blessed, O Lord the God of our fathers, and your name is to be praised and glorified to the ages. You are to be blessed, that is, you are to be honoured, to be hymned; not only when you are working marvels as now, but always, for the ways in which you both punish when sinning and act benevolently when returning, for you do everything with a reason and for the salva- tion of mankind.

27α For you are just in everything that you have done to us. Just as having justly brought these things on us on account of our sins.

27β And all your works are true. Just, for the Hebrews very often call what is just ‘truth’.

27γ And your ways are straight. And your actions are upright.

27δ And all your judgements are true. Your verdicts; or else like ‘ways’ so also he again called the actions ‘judgements’ as carried out with judgement and justice.

28α And you have executed verdicts of truth in all that you have brought on us and on Jerusa- lem the holy city of our fathers. Starting from the more general, he arrived at the more particular. You have, he says, exe- cuted verdicts of truth, true judgements, just sentences in all that you have brought both on us who were taken captive by the Babylonians and on the city of Jerusalem. He called it both holy and of our fathers, thus moving the compassionate Lord to take pity on it.

28β For in truth and judgement you brought all these things upon us on account of our sins. With justice and with reason, that is, justly and for good reason; he often turns the same things this way and that, partly taking pleasure in speaking the truth, and partly in moving God to compassion by condemning himself and depriving himself every excuse.

29α For we sinned and acted lawlessly to have departed from you. Having departed from you, or in having departed from you through transgressing the law and acting impiously.

29β And we did wrong in all, and did not listen to your commandments. In all things.

30 Nor did we observe, nor do as you commanded us so that things might go well for us. Nor did we observe your commandments. 31- And all that you did to us, and all that you brought upon us, you did with true judgement,

32α and you surrendered us into the hands of lawless enemies, of most hostile apostates. Not simply of enemies, but of those most hostile, most bitterly inimical, for this is an in- tensification of enmity; of those both enemies and most hostile towards us and towards you.

32β And to a king unjust and most wicked above all the earth. In comparison with all those born of the earth; he is speaking of Nebuchadnezzar.

33α And now it is not possible for us to open our mouth. We have no reply to those reproaching us.

33β We have become a disgrace and reproach to your servants and to those who reverence you. To our fathers.

34α Do not surrender us to the end for the sake of your name.

To make an end of us, to destruction. For the sake of your name which we name, as alone among the other nations knowing it. Or else so that it may not be reproached by our enemies, in the belief that you are unable to deliver your people.

34β And do not scatter away your covenant. Do not reverse, do not annul, what you covenanted to our patriarchs. 35-36 And do not retract your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham your beloved and of Isaac your servant and Israel your holy one, to whom you spoke saying you would multiply their seed like the stars of heaven and like the sand by the edge of the sea. Azariah says these things in the person of all three. By confessing themselves to be unwor- thy of mercy they resort to the piety of their forebears and their closeness to God and evoke this by way of supplication.

37 For, O Master, we have been belittled above all the nations, and are humble in all the earth today on account of our sins. Your promise that was mentioned is in danger of proving void; ‘humble’ is what he calls the weak. Observe how they call themselves sinners and transgressors, even though being god-fear- ing and shining with all virtues, for on account of their great modesty and brotherly love they make their own the things of their fellow people.

38α And there is in this time no ruler and prophet and leader. ‘Leader’ here is what he calls the one after the king who is in charge of communal affairs. And indeed there were prophets among them at that time, Ezekiel and Daniel, but they were co-captives and unable to perform the usual things.

38β Neither whole burnt offering, nor sacrifice, nor offering, nor incense, nor place to make offering before you and find mercy. The law prevented them from performing these things in any place and temple apart from the one in Jerusalem.

39α But with a soul that is crushed and a spirit of abasement may we be accepted as with whole burnt offerings of rams and bulls.

But not have the things enumerated to offer in worship and for finding mercy, with what we have may we ourselves be accepted by you as a sacrifice, namely, with a soul that is crushed; a spirit of abasement is the same thing, namely, a spirit that has been abased. And thus with these things may we be accepted as a sacrifice with whole burnt offerings of rams and bulls, for it is written, A sacrifice to God is a spirit that is crushed, a heart that is crushed and abased God will not disdain. 39β- And as with myriads of fat lambs, so let our sacrifice be before you today. The sacrifice through the whole burnt offering of themselves. 40β And let it be accomplished behind you. That is, after you have passed us by, after you have turned away; and let it be performed after your anger. 40γ And it is no shame for those who trust in you. It is no shame to be sacrificed to you. 41α And now we follow with our whole heart, and we fear you, and we seek your face. We follow you, not worshipping any other god; and we fear you more than the king of the Babylonians and the furnace; and we seek you through our eagerness to depart to you. 41β Do not put us to shame. Having disregarded us. 42α But do with us according to your clemency. According to your forbearance and benevolence. 42β And according to the abundance of your mercy. And as full of mercy. 43α And rescue us according to your wonders. As you are accustomed to work wonders, according to the marvels at the time of our forebears.

43β And give glory to your name, O Lord. Glorify your name among the Babylonians also by rescuing us from this furnace. 44α And may all those who show evils to your servants be disgraced and put to shame from all powerful rule. And through all powerful rule of theirs by which they were raised up to fight against God, so that they may become more temperate in mind. 44β And may their strength be crushed. By which they are destroying both your people and others. 45α And let them know that you are Lord God. God truly. 45β Alone and glorious over the whole inhabited world. Sole God, that is to say. Let them come to know this through the miracle in regard to us, as was said. 46-48 And the servants of the king who were casting them in did not let up, kindling the furnace with naphtha and pitch and tow and vine-branch. And the flame poured out above the furnace to a height of forty-nine cubits, and it swept along and set on fire those of the Chaldeans it found around the furnace. With the flame having poured out across the ground as it burned up those of Chaldeans found there, its marks, having been imprinted on the ground across which it poured, were measured out as so many cubits. 49- But an angel of the Lord descended into the furnace along with those about Azariah and 50α waved the flame of fire from the furnace and made the midst of the furnace like a whistling breeze of fresh dew. Which angel? Either Michael, the guardian of the Jews, or some other sent from God.

50β- And the fire did not touch them entirely, neither did it distress or trouble them. Then the

51 three as from one mouth hymned and blessed and glorified God in the furnace, saying: ‘Entirely’ in the sense of, ‘at all’.

52 You are to be blessed, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and highly to be hymned and highly exalted to the ages and blessed is the holy name of your glory and highly to be praised. You are to be praised and are above praise, for who is able to praise you worthily? The Lord’s name of glory is ‘God’, just as ‘king’ is a name of glory. And for the one whose name of glory is highly to be praised, what would one say about his nature?

53 Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory. The temple of God’s glory is the one in Jerusalem. You are worthy to be blessed in it.

55α Blessed are you who behold the depths. Who behold what is unseen.

55β Who are seated on the Cherubim. This is from David, about which seek in the seventy-ninth psalm at the verse, You, the one who is seated on the Cherubim, appear.

54 Blessed are you on the throne of glory of your kingdom. The throne of glory of God’s kingdom is heaven, according to, Heaven is my throne.

56 Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven. This is about the other heaven, the second one. Having said then that you are blessed in this and that, through the things enumerated as greater he included all the other things, saying more concisely that you are to be blessed everywhere.

VIII Ode Eight An ode of the holy Three Youths. Seek the entire exposition of the one hundred and forty-eighth psalm, for this hymn was composed in imitation of that psalm.

57 Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord, bless and highly exalt him to the age. They invite all creations to the praise of the creator; then they divide them and enjoin them to bless in turn. 58-61 Bless the Lord, you angels of the Lord, you heavens of the Lord. Bless the Lord, all you waters above the heavens, all you powers of the Lord. You will find about these things in the psalm mentioned. Ps 148.2, 4 62-63 Bless the Lord, O sun and moon, you stars of the heaven. And about these. 64-65 Bless the Lord, you every rain-storm and dew, all you the winds. There it is written, Hail, snow, ice, blast of hurricane. 66-67 Bless the Lord, you fire and scorching heat, cold and burning. Burning is that caused by the excess of cold, or else burning is continuing scorching heat. They did not employ any order in regard to the creations. In the psalm mentioned it was said how irrational and inanimate things give glory, and indeed why not only the more pleasing and useful and beneficial things, but also the more grievous and seemingly useless and harmful things are invited to give praise, and in short about everything. 68-69 Bless, O dew drops and falling snow, ice and cold. He repeated again the things he mentioned. 70-71 Bless the Lord, O frosts and snows, nights and days. Bless the Lord, O light and darkness, 72-73 lightning shafts and clouds.

The Three Youths treated each on its own, joining in pairs the things having a relationship to one another, but those later producing the antiphony of the psalms set out the whole hymn in groups of two verses, and hence to the one verse they joined the next one inappro- priately, for ‘nights and days’ is fitting for the following pair. And indeed nights and days are the same thing as light and darkness. Then comes the pair lightning shafts and clouds. 74-76 Bless the Lord, O earth, mountains and hills, all that grows upon the earth. And these things were treated here and there in that psalm. Ps 148.7, 9 77-79 Bless the Lord, you springs, seas and rivers, you sea-monsters and all things that move in the waters. From what was said there you will also understand these things. 80-81 Bless the Lord, O all you birds of heaven, you wild beasts and all herds. And these things similarly.

82 Bless, O sons of men. All people quite simply, as having life through him and enjoying providence from him.

83 Let Israel bless the Lord. This people most especially as his own people. And the rest are clear and obvious. Hanania, Azariah, Mishael, and what follows were added later. 84-85 [Bless the Lord, you priests of the Lord, you servants of the Lord. 86-87 Bless the Lord, you spirits and souls of the just, the devout and humble in heart.

88 Bless the Lord, O Hanania, Azariah and Mishael. Bless the Lord, O Apostles, Porphets and Martyrs of the Lord. We bless the Lord, Father, Son and holy Spirit. We praise, we bless, we worship the Lord.]

IX Ode Nine A Ode of the Theotokos in the Gospel according to Luke.

46 My soul magnifies the Lord. That is, it praises, it glorifies. This ode she sings in belief, being a hymn of thanksgiving.

47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour. Understand ‘spirit’ once again as ‘soul’. My soul, she says, has been filled with joy in God who has saved me, for I am now already saved, having been made worthy to become Mother of God. Then she tells the reason for the thanksgiving.

48α For he has looked upon the lowliness of his handmaiden. Upon the meanness, for she humbles herself as unworthy of such a thing, or else also on account of the lowliness of human nature in relation to the height of divine nature.

48β For see, from henceforth all generations will call me blessed. The generations of those who have believed, that is to say.

49α For he who is able has done mighty things for me. For he who is able to do such things has done great and extraordinary wonders in respect of me.

49β And his name is holy. Set apart, great.

50 And his mercy is to generation and generation for those who fear him. ‘To generation and generation’ and ‘to generation of generations’ and suchlike mean ‘for- ever’ among the Hebrews. She is saying accordingly that his mercy is forever among those who fear him, saying the same as David when he said, The Lord’s mercy is from the age and to the age upon those who fear him. Then she lists the God’s other powers as is customary with those giving thanks.

51α He has brought sovereignty with his arm.

He has brought magnificence, he has brought victory by his power, for ‘arm’ here means ‘power’, because those contending for victory have their strength in their arm. 51β He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart. ‘The proud in the imagination of their heart’, those proud in themselves. 52-53 He has brought down mighty rulers from their thrones and raised up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent empty away. These words are similar to those of Hannah the mother of Samuel, who said, The Lord impoverishes and enriches, he humbles and exalts. She then also prophesies about his mercy towards the Christians, for she says: 54α He has helped Israel his child. He has visited the Israelite people his servant, for ‘child’ here is what she calls his servant. 54β- Having remembered mercy just as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed to the 55 age. He helped and visited in his having remembered mercy to the age, that is, eternal mercy, continuous mercy, just as he spoke, just as he promised to our fathers. She then says to whom he spoke about such mercy, namely, to Abraham and to his seed, that is, to Isaac and to Jacob, and indeed to David, for to those as the the most notable he had announced in an enigmatic way about it. ‘Mercy to the age’ is the divine incarnation, as brought about on account of mercy to- wards mankind from the seed of Abraham and his aforementioned sons and descendants, in accordance with his promise to them. One might be puzzled how God helped the Israelite people by having remembered this mercy, for he helped the Christians rather, not the Jews. To this we respond that old Israel is the old people, new Israel is the new people, brought in in place of the former, that is, the Christian people, composed from every nation. Understand therefore this Israel here. And even if you will understand the old Israel here, the meaning is saved even thus, for it was for old Israel especially that he became man, since he chose a mother from them and was kindred with them and taught and performed wonders among them. And hence he would say, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And since, He came to his own, and his own did not receive him, the nations were then granted the mercy.

A Prophecy of Zachariah the father of the Forerunner in the Gospel according to Luke. 68 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and worked redemption for his people. He prophesied these words about Christ’s incarnation, for through this he visited and redeemed his people from the tyranny not only of its invisible enemies, but also of its visible ones, as being unable to prevail over his faith. His people, in the first instance, is the old peo- ple, but with they having refused, it is then the new. He speaks of things to come as having happened, according to the custom of prophecy. But how is he called the God of Israel alone? And indeed he is not only the God of the Is- raelites, but of all people, as the maker of all. It is because he is God of all other people against their will, but of the Israelites alone by their will and consciously. Do not be set aback at the difficulty of the words of Zachariah, for such are the words of prophecy. We shall attempt to clarify them according to the knowledge given to us. 69-70 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. The horn here either signifies kingship because kings used to be anointed and appointed by means of a horn, or else it means power, because all the horned animals have their power in their horns. And not simply a horn, but a horn of salvation, that is a saving horn. Kingship and saving power is what he calls Christ, as king of kings and power of the Father and Saviour of those believing in him. Understand ‘house’ as the line of David. He is saying accordingly that he has raised up for us his people a kingdom or saving power from the line of David his servant, for the Virgin from whom Christ was born was from the seed of David. And he did this as he promised through the mouth of his saints, namely, of the prophets of old, for through them he prom- ised to raise up a mighty king in the house of David, a saviour of Israel, and many psalms of David teach this. 71 Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. And he raised this horn as salvation and redemption from our enemies, invisible and vis- ible. 72 Having worked mercy with our fathers and having remembered his holy covenant.

In having worked mercy with our fathers, namely, in having shown mercy on our fathers, to whom he gave the promise of our salvation and on their account having remembered this. ‘Covenant’ is what he calls the promise, and remembrance thereof what he calls its fulfilment. 73 The oath that he swore to Abraham our father. And in having remembered the oath that he swore, that is, the affirmation that he af- firmed to Abraham our father, for in relation to God an oath and swearing is affirmation. The verb ‘to remember’ moves indifferently from the genitive case [covenant] to the ac- cusative [oath]. He then says for what reason this covenant and affirmation was made. 74-75 To grant us without fear, having been redeemed from the hand of our enemies, to serve him with devotion and justice before him all the days of our life. The syntax of these words is according to the figure of hyperbaton, namely, so as to grant us to serve him fearlessly with devotion and justice before him all the days of our life, and then what is placed in the middle, ‘having been redeemed from the hand of our enemies’. ‘Devotion’ accordingly is what he calls piety and ‘justice’ the perfection of the other vir- tues. Then he passes in his prophecy to his own child, John, and says: 76α And you, O child, will be called a prophet of the Most High. And indeed all would call him a prophet. 76β For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. The Lord here is what he calls Christ, going before whom John, as his forerunner and herald, when he came in the wilderness of Judea, would prepare his ways. What his ways are we explained in the third chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew PG129.160A at the verse, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord’. 77α To grant knowledge of salvation to his people. You will go before the face of the Lord, and so on, he says, so as to grant his people knowl- edge of salvation, that is, so as to make known and show forth Christ to the Jews, for he is their salvation.

77β In remission of their sins. And of salvation in remission of their sins, namely, salvation that comes about with their sins having been remitted and forgiven. For thus the angel also said to Joseph interpreting the name of Christ, For he, he says, will save his people from their sins.

78α On account of the affection of mercy of our God. In the remission of sins that is on account of the affection of mercy of our God, namely, that given on account of the sympathy of his mercy, and not on account of their works.

78β By which a dayspring from on high has visited us. By which affection of mercy, on account of which affection of mercy, the dayspring of the intelligible sun from the height of divinity has visited us, that is, has come to us. He is speaking of the very imminent appearance of Christ.

79α To shine forth on those seated in darkness and in the shadow of death. He has visited us, he says, on account of shining forth, that is, to shine the light of truth on those seated in the darkness of error. The ‘shadow of death’ is sin, for it also gives a representation of death, for just as death is separation from the soul, so sin is separation from the holy Spirit.

79β To direct our feet on the way of peace. So as to direct the path of our life to the way of peace that is in accordance with God. THE END