you will be humbled, he says, and be plucked from your tent, and will be rooted out from the land of the living forever; so that the just, seeing, may fear and laugh at him, saying: Behold the man who did not set God as his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth, and strengthened himself in his calamity. These things are said as against Doeg, who was a Syrian by birth but conversed in the midst of Israel, and perhaps even came alongside the multitude into the city of God, pretending to be godly. It is said also against everyone who is powerful in wickedness, using his tongue instead of a sword for the destruction of souls; whom, as a bitter and harmful root, the Cultivator of souls will pluck out, even if he should appear for a short while to be planted in the tent of God and in His Church. B Once such a person is pruned and cast far from the tent of the saints, he will lie as a pitiful spectacle for the benefit and discipline of those who see him, who, contemplating the sharp judgment of God against such a one with their eyes, will be in agony and will take care not to fall into the same. Then, bringing to mind the former arrogance of the one powerful in wickedness, his height and his pride, and seeing also the humiliation and destruction that afterward overtook him, they will deem him worthy of laughter, beholding from what point he has fallen into what kind of evils; they will accept God’s judgment, confessing it to be just. 4. Then they will also trace the causes for which the impious one has suffered these things, justifying the judgment of God. For it is necessary not to be high-minded regarding wealth, nor to be puffed up by the vanity of the present life, but to set God alone as one's hope and helper, and to rely upon this hope; but he, having abandoned the good hope of his own salvation and having suspended his hopes upon vain wealth, has obtained nothing more than to be mocked for his vain and foolish arrogance. *I, however, like a fruit-bearing olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God forever and unto the age of ages. I will confess to Thee forever, because Thou hast made it, and I will wait upon Thy name, for it is good before Thy saints.* We have learned through what has been said what kind of end the one C powerful in wickedness will meet. But I, says David, having been instructed in these things by the Holy Spirit, will never be puffed up by an abundance of passing wealth, nor by the vanity of mortal life (for *vanity of vanities, all is vanity*), but rather, fleeing the way of the one powerful in wickedness, I will not sharpen my own tongue and my words for the destruction of others, but for the benefit of souls; I will be like a *fruit-bearing olive tree*, for the salvation of such ones. And regarding my other deeds, I would thus become flourishing and fruit-bearing, so that my soul might be compared to an evergreen and fruit-bearing plant, planted in the house of God. Therefore I say, *I, however, like a fruit-bearing olive tree in the house of God.* Or, according to Symmachus, *I, however, like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God.* For he was not leaning away from the house of God, but was planted within it, as in the husbandry of God, and enjoying the streams of the fountain in the house of God, I became fruit-bearing and flourishing, according to the example of the olive plant, which is reckoned among the evergreen things. Observe, however, that David, saying these things, was not even in Jerusalem, which the children of the Jews supposed to be the house of God; for it had not [yet] been built, nor was he even in the tent constructed by Moses, which was still in existence among the Jews at that time; for while fleeing Saul, he was spending his time among others. Nevertheless, he did not fail to know that he was planted in the house of God, considering the godly commonwealth to be the house of God. And because he was fruit-bearing, and not barren, nor bearing bitter fruits, but sweet and full of much love for mankind, he was reasonably compared to the olive plant, which signifies the love for mankind of the example toward his neighbors and toward all. As one abounding in such good things, he consequently adds: *He hoped in the mercy of God forever and unto the age of ages.* For he showed the end of the one powerful in wickedness to be rooting out and disappearance for him; for the Wise Cultivator of all to pluck out the root that produced bitter fruits. But he, *like a fruit-bearing olive tree in the house of God*, has hoped in the mercy of God forever and unto the age of ages, procuring immortality and eternal life from the good hope, from which he will never fell. For *hope*, according to the Apostle, *does not disappoint*. D Then, having sketched out for himself good hopes as regarding good things, he attaches the cause to the Giver of all good things: *I will confess to Thee forever, because Thou hast made it.* For not I, he says, made myself like a fruit-bearing olive tree, but Thou didst make it. For from Thee is the grace. Wherefore I will never cease giving thanks to Thee and confessing to Thee; and having once hoped in the mercy of God, I will wait upon His name. For with the good hope lying underneath, there is need for patience for us. Therefore, *I will wait upon Thy name*, he says, *for it is good before Thy saints*, or, according to Symmachus: *For Thy name is good before Thy saints.* Knowing, therefore, that it is good, and productive of good things, not for those powerful in wickedness, nor for the outcasts of the living, but for Thy saints, I reasonably *wait upon Thy name*, being hopeful of never falling away from Thy mercy. Thus, therefore, I have hoped in Him forever and unto the age of ages, by the grace and love for mankind of Christ our God who manages all things for what is profitable, to whom is the glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR: ORATION ON THE TEXT: VOW, AND RENDER UNTO THE LORD OUR GOD
The teachers of this world lead their children to the knowledge of letters; whereas the teachers of the Church instruct their disciples unto the perfection of good works. And it is possible, beloved, to learn accurately from the things recently made known to us in the Psalm the common and most reliable truth of what was said. For what did the prophet of the Spirit, the great-writer David, say now? *Vow, and render...*