world, that I may save the world (John 12. 47). 20. *Let not the throne of iniquity cling to thee, which frames labor in a commandment.* The throne of iniquity is reasonably called the devil; for whether you speak of the throne as a kingdom, or as a rest, or as some seat, iniquity both reigns and rests in the devil. And moreover, he is called a judge of injustice, not as one who condemns injustice, but as one who judges unjustly. This one frames labor in a commandment, namely, in the commandment of God. For he makes the divine law laborious for us, by introducing pleasure and sloth. But God permits us to increase the reward for those who labor in His law, since *each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor* (1 Cor. 3. 8). This one shall not *cling* to God, that is, he shall not stand with Him at the time, clearly, of judgment; for while the angels shall stand with God who is judging, this one shall not stand with Him; because, even if he possesses substance, he has fallen from his dignity. But why shall he not stand? Because God, while judging, judges humanely; but this one is exceedingly misanthropic, as the following things show; for it is said of him and of those who sit and wage war with him: *They shall hunt against the soul of the just, and they shall condemn innocent blood.* He clearly set forth the cause for which he shall not stand at the tribunal to come: because they shall not hesitate to hunt the soul of a just man, taking occasion from even that which occurred in ignorance or against one's will; but they shall also condemn innocent blood, if any power to condemn falls to them. Whence God permits them neither to accuse nor to testify, when our faults are judged, but He calls our thoughts to be accusers, and the conscience to serve as a witness. For Paul says: *Their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another* (Rom. 2. 15); for thus our hidden things are judged before God. *And the Lord has become my refuge, and my God as the helper of my hope.* Who became? Let it be understood as the other interpreters have set forth; so that the statement is understood as referring to the arrival of the Only-begotten; for He Himself has become a refuge for us who are being pursued by existing enemies; He Himself also as a helper of hope that was already in danger; for we were in despair because of the abundance of impiety. But He dissolved this despair by saying: *The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost* (Luc. 19. 10). 23. *And the Lord shall repay them their iniquity; and according to their wickedness the Lord God shall destroy them.* This belongs to a just judge, to repay the iniquity of those who are themselves the cause of it. And hearing "iniquity," take it for the punishment prepared for it. Wherefore the fifth and sixth editions say: *Their pains.* For the wicked undergo this greatest punishment, when they themselves are destroyed from the midst and what comes from them as well; when they are no longer nourished by the discords and offenses of men. He shall therefore destroy them, not in the sense of destroying their essence; for He wills that they should remain and be punished continuously; whence even the fire prepared for them is termed eternal; but He destroys them by putting them out of the midst, abolishing their power, and no longer allowing them to be in our midst. For as for now, since we are struggling so that we may be crowned, he holds the rank of an adversary; and for this reason he is permitted to act; but the age to come is not one of struggles, but of reward; not of wrestling, but of the crown. Wherefore Paul says concerning the present life: *I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith*; and concerning the future: *Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall render to me in that day* (2 Tim. 4. 7-8). So that reasonably the enemies, the deception concerning them having ceased, are destroyed.
A Song of Praise for David; without a title in the Hebrews. Psalm 94
Although the psalm is without a title among the Hebrews, as if its subject matter were common, yet the Seventy decree that a title is necessary for it, having entitled it *A Song of Praise*, since doxology is mixed with prophecy; and this is the custom for the psalms which are thus composed. *O come, let us exult in the Lord; let us shout aloud to God our Saviour.* O come to whom does He say? For you see, He did not add; but having set forth the summons without a person, He allows all as having been called to come forward. And what this is, and for whom He taught, the following things indicate. *Let us come before His face with confession, and let us shout aloud to Him in psalms.* Do you see that He brings the good news of the forgiveness of sins? For confession clearly indicates this. To exult, therefore, in this, and to shout aloud, that is, to raise a song of victory, as of the intellectual enemies having been defeated, He necessarily enjoins. And to shout aloud and exult to God; for the defeat of the enemies and the forgiveness of our transgressions is His work. Whence He also bids to meet His face, to encounter Christ. For He is the face of the Father inciting us to confession. Since sinners cannot otherwise come to the sight of the Judge, than by anticipating and hastening to confess their own faults, so that they may be able. For He says: *You speak your sins first that you may be justified* (Isai. 43. 26). And when we have confessed, then we are also able to shout aloud in psalms. For the song, which is the shouting, is not fittingly offered from souls that are filthy and stained; but when both have been cleansed by the confession, the song becomes a sacrifice, and the psalm is found to be our shouting. 3. *For the Lord is a great God, and a great King over all the earth.* Do not, He says, ascribe the victory to yourself, nor jubilating as if you had yourself achieved it, show pride over the turning back of the adversaries. For how could you, who are below, have defeated those who war from the heights? Or how could you, who are fleshly, have defeated the incorporeal ones? You have defeated them, however, because God, who took us into His care, is a great Lord, and a great King; as a great Lord, He not only sets free those who have served Him well, but also calls them into adoption; as a great King, He not only makes those who have campaigned with good zeal rulers, but also works them into partners of His own kingdom. And over whom is He great? Over all gods, that is to say, the just. For the greatness of God is unknown to the impious, but known to the pious. For not because the blind are ignorant of the light, is the glory of the sun thereby diminished; nor because the impious misunderstand the power of God, is it fitting for the pious to think lightly of His power; whom He indeed called gods, since the just have been appointed by God as gods of the impious. Whence He says to Moses: *I have made you a god to Pharaoh* (Exod. 7. 1). 4. *For in His hand are the ends of the earth, and the heights of the mountains are His.* Having called God great, He reasonably recounts His greatness, not as it is, but as much as we are able to grasp from the visible creations; and He sets forth things consonant with the prophecy of Isaiah. For that one says: *Who holds the ends of the earth in the hollow of his hand?* and again: *Who has set the mountains in a balance, and the groves in a scale?* (Isai. 40. 12). 5. *For the sea is His, and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.* Having spoken of the elements, He necessarily revealed the things in the elements. Whether, therefore, we sail the sea, or cultivate the land, if we happen to possess these as creations and possessions, let us give thanks that He brought such things into being for our use, offering to Him the doxology not merely in words, but in deeds. And what is this? *O come, let us worship and fall down before Him, and let us weep before the Lord who made us.* Let us worship as servants, let us fall down as needing protection from Him; let us weep as sinners, and as those who would not otherwise obtain the intervention except through compassion. And it is not likely that any of the things mentioned should shame us; for it is before Him who made us, that is to say, before Him who brought us out of non-existence, that it takes place; and He who brought us out of non-existence is the cause of every benefit. 6. Who then is ashamed to worship, or even to weep, imploring Him who has benefited him even a little, let alone by such great things? So that He also very logically added the following: *For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.* Even if God is established as the maker, yet nevertheless, because of the care and providence He has for us, we are the people of His pasture, that is to say, being pastured by Him and having Him as our nourishment. And we are also the sheep of His hand, since God is established as the shepherd of the human race.