On David and Saul

On David and Saul Again of his, when of his: Memra fifty-five, which he made on David and Saul. A beautiful discourse on the conduct of the righteous found thought, And he desired to proceed with it in the inquiry of words. He saw the straight path of the labors of their shepherds, And he prepared words to fill the deficiency with their advantages. He saw the likeness of the king that it resembles in their conduct, And he brought words of the lyre to the mouth to strike the truth. On the path of truth the merchants of the word of truth proceeded, And with ease they acquired spiritual wealth. They proceeded, the reckoners of the wealth of their conduct, To see the beauty of their victories, which are not like. The sound of their zeal awakened my thought as from sleep, So that I might see where men conquer sorrows. Their love drew me as to a child to their labors, And I desired to paint an image of their beauties with the color of my word. In the writings of the books of the king I desired to converse, And I saw the law inscribed in the history of kings. King and king I saw inscribed in the registers, And the nature of the name of one was disturbed by his companion. The crown was not like the crown on their heads, Nor did the scepter submit to the scepter that was in their hearts. One ran the law of his tribe in the blood of houses, And one proclaimed the name of his authority like an error. In the book of the spirit Saul was inscribed as excellent, And the sign turned; he called him firmly, and to his life for his name.

The writer did not err, but wrote his name. He who inscribed his name to teach in his name without erring in the errors. He placed a sign at the crossroads of the laws of the spirit, that men might see and not be perplexed by the difficulty of his path. On the leaf of the book he drew the image of the king, the great one, to show in it the help of the wickedness of how much evil. At the head of the genealogy of the election of kings he inscribed Saul, that whoever reads might look accurately and eat the crust. In the law of the second he wrote the election of David, the rock, and he formed the images of purity of his soul before the beholders. A hidden sign anointed both of them, while not erring, and he chose and rejected as in the furnace of the thought of his mind. He chose while knowing their deeds before they were, and he showed his love that even over the evil it is abundant if he wills. In Saul he showed how much evil the evil of the inclination bears, and in the son of Jesse he revealed his will that he loves the righteous. He rejected Saul’s wickedness and cast him from the kingdom, and he placed the crown of headship on David’s love. The commandment revived the name of Saul from the house of the archives, and it wrote that David did a wicked deed in return. A hidden sign cast the hand of his authority, and with an oath he sealed the step of his wickedness. He swore and bound a divine prohibition that cannot be falsified, that the throne of David would be established forever without end. With the shining sun and the moon he runs his course, and it does not cease from the stream of the name of the kingdom. One thing I swear by the holy name, and no man lies, that with my prophecy David will reign and the seed from him.

The kingdom of the time gave him a father like Rehoboam, and in the deeds he sealed a father for her at the end of the times. A good reward he paid him for his violences, the kingdom of the time and the kingdom of height that is unceasing. He did not boast and transgress the commandments in the likeness of Saul. He exalted the eye of the seers in the son of his own people. Heavens and earth did not give to his governance, and his tribe ruled over the high and the low. In the name of his essence from the beginning he made him a partner, and he set him as heir and lord of all that is in creation. David received the counsels of life at the head of his kingdom, and he believed and established the distant ones in the deserts. Through revelations he saw the hidden things that are not seen, and in earthquakes he delineated the wonders of the rich ones. In the response of the reward of the rich ones he bore labors, and because of the love of the name of the Creator he kept the commandments. He heard that God is one who restrains all and moves all, and he placed nothing with his lordship that does not confess him. From the divine commandment he learned his essence, and he confirmed in his movements that there is no beginning to his eternity. In the law of the spirit he was exercised by night and day, and in the secrets within him he meditated evening and morning. In the milk of his words he was nourished like an infant, and in all his limbs he was trained to perfection. Like a vision he was fixed every hour before his thoughts, and he saw in it the fitting yoke of the beautiful ones. In the external senses he saw in it the earthquakes, and in his thought he was examined in the unceasing.

In his love he hunted down the image of the sign without a chariot, and while it was hidden from him, it was revealed to him in faith. In faith he was tested in the unshakable, and signs became for him as if they were by means of actions. As if with a finger he showed him the power of the Creator, that men might see God, all of them, by means of his signs. From the silent he taught speech, that the separated ones might look upon the course of the silent one and give praise. With the gentleness of his voice he moved the stones of the heavens to render glory to the power that empowered their foundations. The eloquent and the deaf sang and called out to the hidden thanksgiving, like debtors who took life and gave thanksgiving. With the voice of thanksgivings he renewed the youth of man, and from the lowly he raised her to the heights. With the lyre of words he mounted sounds to render praises, that the hearing of everyone might examine mysteries by means of calls. With melodies he humbled them as if with a winnowing fan, and then he cast the net of life upon their ears. With the snares of the spirit he hunted the sluggish people and confined them within the enclosures of the word of life. The commands of love he cast upon the brutish one and ordered the course of his movements from the foundations. Like a charioteer he mounted his voice upon every mouth and drove them on the smooth path of the name of the Creator. He turned his voice as he proclaimed in the ears of everyone, and all the peoples heard this and heeded his words.

In the net of love he was snared to hunt down all the peoples who were serving under the lordship of the one Creator. With the movement of the spirit he was contending against error, while the name of impiety was hidden and he sought truth. The evil error was like a rival of the one Creator, and he was contending with the gods of the nations. With the voice of his commands he was proclaiming to them that there is no God, while he was saying that he was righteous and there is no God in the world. In all his contests he was victorious in secret and in public, and over every god he was kindled with the name of the Creator. In all regions the power of his victory was spread, and among all peoples the triumphs of his labors were proclaimed. He was alone and mourning over his triumphs, and a measure of man that does not weary him of the triumph of man. Evil grief he put on against the beauties of the chosen king, when he saw that his love triumphed and conquered everyone. The error of wrath put on rebellion against David, and spread out nets of snares to magnify as against Job. To this end the fire of wrath was kindled in the heart of the wicked, so that he might hear the sound of insults from the righteous. Here the snare fell to the ground, the terror of the peoples, that he who fell was the one who had raised his voice against the righteous. A hidden war was waged by everyone against the wicked, and many snares from the depth of the pit where he might be conquered. Evil deceit rode upon evil against the son of Jesse, and he cast down the sevenfold glory in a moment in the likeness of Adam.

He showed the net of desire to the swift bird of light wings, and he abandoned his height and descended to the land where the devourer had taken. The desire of his tribe led the king to subdue the peoples, and as if revealed, he went out and subjected himself to vileness. Within the dwelling of vileness, the hunter confined him, so that Saul would no longer exercise his powers with the voice of his victory. With a loose jaw, he scattered him and cast him down like a fugitive, and he seized the door of darkness before his face, from which there is no escape. On that same ladder by which Adam cast his thought to the ground, he also, like a fruit, lowered his loins with the beauty of his face. With a fruit, he killed the king of Amalek in the beginning in the land, and with errors he overthrew David in the sin of iniquity. Adam was desirous, and David was a sinner who entered to sin, and he cast aside the evil one in his form from all the snares. The sins of iniquity did not clothe the evil one for the desirous kings, and the evil one sealed with the desire of the devourer and the desire of the flesh. The poison of death mixed with the devourer and the desire of the flesh, and the evil one gave drink to the guardian of the living of his bitterness. He mixed a cup of deceit with sin and gave it to David, and he drank from it and the wise one among all lost his mind. As if to a child, he lowered his stature toward fornication, and he cast a snare before his own house and trapped him with his eyes. The weak eye saw the beauty of the senses of the flesh, and the ear inclined to the whisper in the flesh of its own kind. Flesh was aroused to flesh by the desire of flesh, and in the likeness of a dog he was eager as if to eat fruit. The dog of the eyes was grinding David as a stone, and he was spreading out where to raise the desire of his loins.

The craftsman of the heart winked at the bird of the forest, of white wings, and it remained to taste the devourer of flesh. The bird was a hunter of birds without satiety, and it desired that it might again remain to complete its whiteness. The desire of the flesh led the bird like Eve, and it was not satisfied to be ashamed in the face like the fruit. Eve was amazed at the fruit, how it was desirable, and David's bird in the senses of the flesh desired how it was desirable. The fruit in its devourer gave life to Eve for a hidden command, and the beauty of the face was placed for David from the command. There was nothing that suited Eve from that fruit, nor for the son of Jesse was the beauty of the face placed that suited her. One snare that caught both of them, for David and for her, for David in the face and for her in the members of the body and the flesh. The craftsman saw the flying one of the desire of the devourer, and he descended to the earth and caught her from the beginning in a hidden snare. The youth set a trap that the devourer might take to her belly, and he spread a net of the snare of iniquity and plucked her wings. The son of Jesse ascended to remain in the beauty of the earth, and he placed a bridle before his fathers, a vision that was slack. He slackened his craftsman from the strength of the love of truth, and he bound his thought in the face of a woman slack of flesh. He did not remain when he was free, that he might be free, and he did not remember that daughter of shame, that she might not be stirred. That singer of truth lost his wisdom, and he began to strike the strings of the flesh, heavy of senses.

He changed his voice, a sweet flute of the Spirit, and the strings mounted, full of the fleshly melody of the heart. He rejoiced and delighted in what was not his own, a help to the world, and he loosed the bond that the law placed on the faces of the people. The way of David loosed the hunt of David without distinction, and he spared his own and overcame the others, and brought near the others. He sent the summons of the king, the sorrowful one, over him, and made the prey of the world, the captive of the one who loosed his snares. David ate with the devourer of the world, the food of the world, and he darkened himself with the blind one in the muddy stream. He hunted the peoples with the net of the Spirit that cannot be broken; his righteous ones, his people, with the loose nets of the sons of his house. He raised the commands of purity in the mouth of the contemptible; he destroyed himself in the empty pit of the desire of the flesh. He sealed the seal of partnership with the letters of his words; for his life, in his choice, he did not cast the hand of the finger of the Spirit. He sealed the man who is not a man, and he overcame his fellows; he changed the boundary that the creator placed in the knowledge of man. He struck the people who were not to be moved against others; he preserved his nature for the overcoming of the snares of his companions. The hidden thing, pure, in which men used to see the concealed, was darkened from me, and [...] darkness over the visions. The sound of the whisper that used to speak the name of the essence was nullified in his thoughts, and men did not hear from him the voice of life. He interpreted the thorns of the secret for the unknowing; he was silent in his will, and he did not perceive the action of himself. The beautiful face that used to show the way of sorrow sprouted; he dripped and was extinguished, and the course of the hunt of sorrow was nullified.

The salt that gave sweet taste to his mouth, it laughed and became like fruits that were not ripened. The flute of the Spirit that the skilled scribe placed in him, he seized his self by the hand of his desire to write in ink. He roused the spirits with the voice of his people to sing praise, he slept in sin and his senses were immersed in the hour of iniquity. He sang charms against the confession of God Most High, his anger was idle and he cut off iniquity from the roots of his movements. He contended in battles and conquered kings, and he destroyed peoples, he cast from the shoulder, strength was released and the body was loosed. The athlete who was adorned with the crown of his labors, he girded his loins and cast his manhood to the ground. He took up the contest with spirits and with bodies, iniquity seized him and he dug and cast them out like a madman. The pure vessel of the revealed Spirit for the gods, he defiled his self with the filthy cup that roused his companion. The cub of the lion that killed the lion and rejoiced the bear, he trembled from the face of the beast of the hour that subdued its enemy. The lion and the bear did not move him from his trust, and the fly of the demon murmured from silence and trembled from it. The son of Jesse trembled and his desire filled the desire of his body, and he began to tremble at the gifts that were not fitting for him. He saw that his loins were cut off, hidden in his belly, revealed, and he began to mount false horses that roused the cut. He left the thicket of spiritual things that he was crying out in, and he cried out his self to read in the book of the man who killed. The scribe wrote him evil in his thoughts, and he began to murmur like a commoner in what was not fitting.

In a twisted loop of the great and mighty one, he was speaking while he sought to taste the taste of blood. He cast a snare and was caught in the writings of the great one, and he also learned to deceive the just one while he was. He sent a spy like a messenger to his own household, and he called him to his side in a guise of love while leading him on. He saw, O the great one, the writing that was hidden within from the words, and he also concealed the lack of his heart in a guise of words. He heard that the king commanded him to go and rejoice in his house, and to cut off his life in a guise of love toward his lord. "Do not spare your life, good king, and king of the father, for your great love, which is immense, will not change." He saw the son of Jesse, who conquered in his time his own snares, and he tied a secret with his thoughts to write evil. He took his members, which were pure, that the evil lack had cut off, and he began to write on the paper what was not pure. The just one of death was in his hand, the just one of the Spirit, and he turned the order; he began to write from the beginning to the end. While the Holy Spirit was writing in him, his course was straight, but when his finger took hold of evil, David corrupted his order. He dipped the poison of death in the letter and gave it to Uriah, that he might go and drink from the king without being revealed. He took the innocent sword that the evil and mighty lack had sharpened, and he went to bring it to the camp to cut off his head. O messenger who carried death on his shoulders, and he adorned him like a gift to cut short his life. He was bold and went in the seal of the king that was placed in his hands, and he did not know that death was hidden within from the seal.

Uriah went forth from the side of the king, and his death was with him. And what was he to his slayer? He rejoiced and was glad. He came to the camp of the servants of his lord, and he entered and prostrated himself before the chief, who was his companion. He gave him the peace and the seal of the king, in which death was inscribed, and he rejoiced that the hour had come to bear the word of the king. He received the letter of the deceitful one, and he did not know that he was giving his life like a guilty man. The chief opened the seal of the king, which was placed in his hands, and he greatly wondered how the just one had strayed from the path. He read the letter and saw the writing of the secret within it, and he turned its seal and concealed the writing within his thoughts. He saw that it gave death in the letters that were written, and his heart knew that the king had decreed and ordained his end. Within the chamber of the writings, David enclosed him and sent him to Joab, that he might see and release him wisely. He arranged the people and drew up the ranks of the forces, and in the form of a helmet, as it were, a writing that was not to be examined. He placed Uriah at the head of the camp like a victor, and he turned his face from the help of the one who was to be destroyed and die. Joab fulfilled the will of the king as he was commanded, and Uriah died, and the innocent one fell, and the wicked one prevailed. He wrote in a princely manner and informed David of all that had happened, that behold, your servant had died, the fulfillment was now your desire. The son of Jesse heard that Uriah had died, and he rejoiced at the arrow, and he did not know that his death increased the arrow for his own life. The king, the just one, completed his will in murder and killing, and he sent and took the wife of his companion as in mourning.

The wise man acted wisely what he did, and he did not know that it was a simpleton before the one who knows all. He asked the king: "What is this? He examined the secrets of the king, and what is this? [...] he cast down the head that was fixed above the body." The cunning ones wove his thoughts in the form of a sister, and they covered his error from the seers and from the one who sees all. And what is this? He concealed the hidden image from his mind, that the vision that was formed was hidden before his memory. What is this? The sound of the beauty of his service fell silent, that he who said that it was hidden in height and depth. What is this? The strife ceased from him of the strife of the spirit, and the song of the voice of his sweet melodies was stilled. What is this? He hindered the course of his path that ran beautifully, and he ceased and sat from the service of the spiritual ones. What is this? He turned aside the swift gazelle with the ropes of iniquity, and gave food to the desire of the body that is insatiable. What is this? He confined the lion of strength within a cage, and the wanton foxes laughed and mocked at his humiliation. When the commander of silence cast into him the thunder of voices that was to destroy [...] he was with the spiritual ones, glory to the hidden one. What is this? He disturbed the one who was cunning from all by means of threats, and he became a boy mocking the taste of the one who was his equal. When then the arms of the hands of the mighty man were broken, and he remained from the living that he had lived for himself by the movements of his own self. When then the clear eye of his faith was blinded, and his being was darkened from seeing the hidden one in his searches. When then the body and his soul of the whole true one were put to death, and he became a foundation by the blows that his maker placed in him.

The wicked man fell, David, as if in pain, and the king was ashamed that the dogs were barking at the sheep. The physician of the height saw the son of his house cast into wickedness, and he sent his hunter, the physician of his friend, to heal his pain. The physician of the spirit sent his hunter, the hunter of the spirit, to pursue the wickednesses and to turn the spirit to the temple of his self. With the voice of the trumpet of righteousness he wished to awaken him, the sleeper who was immersed in the weight of wickedness as if in an hour. He gave him the medicine of the spirit, the remedy [...] to the physician of the spirit, [...] he went and healed the body that was wasting away in wickedness and pain. He came and stood before the son of Jesse as he was commanded, and he laid his hand and felt the pain and saw that it was difficult. He saw that it was not fitting for him to approach the harsh decree, lest the affliction reach the soul and save it. He wished for a gentle medicine to soothe through a plaster, that the thick blood of wickedness might be softened by the medicine of the spirit. He began and stood and composed words like remedies, and David was immersed as if in an hour and did not feel. Two men were in the village, one with his companion, one rich and one poor, a king and his servant. That rich man possessed many flocks and oxen, and that poor man possessed one single ewe. A guest came to that rich man who possessed many, and he took the ewe of that poor man and slaughtered it before him. Judge justly, as is the test of your discernment, and condemn wickedness, let truth conquer, as you are accustomed. See, do not be deceived by the face of the one who deceived you, for concerning the covenant of your knowledge, the just one brought his battle to you.

The hidden sign revealed your hunter with a sign, that he might learn the beginning of wickedness and the victory of truth. Jesse heard the violent one who oppressed men on the earth, and he fled and grew strong against the oppressor who oppressed his companion. The sorrowful judgment he executed upon himself, not knowing that he himself was the Lord who was guilty of death, he who did this. The sorrowful judge passed sentence upon his own flesh lawfully, and he sealed his judgment with the living name of the name of the Creator. He decreed the harsh bread of death upon the oppressor, and he laid his hand upon the signature of the end of his life. And what will you do, O son of Jesse, after your words, for behold you have been condemned by the decree of the judge who has cut off your mouth? Behold, you have decreed death by your writings and placed it in the house of archives, and you have laid your hand upon the register of the end that is equal to death for a man. The seer of the spirit saw that the king was condemned by his words, and his heart was immersed, and it was not immersed that he himself was the one who did it. He raised his voice and said, "Come out, hidden one, for you are the man who did this, O king, the seer. You are the one who oppressed one not your own, though you had plenty, and you are the one who shed innocent blood by your hands. You have wives of beautiful appearance and ornaments of crowns, and your bed was not satisfied until you seized the wife of your companion. The desire of the flesh led you, David, outside the order, and your eye desired, and your will desired, and your passion killed. How long did you err after that daughter of a voice in the books, that you did not learn that the wife of your companion should not be violated? How long did you pursue that word from your mind, that you shed the blood of him, and it was shed in place of that which was shed?

Why did you hide the tumult of your soul from the Knower of All? And did you not remember that you are the one who chose to be last in heart? Did you not say that everything is in his height and depth, and that no deed can hide from the doer of his own hands? Where is your voice that used to interpret in the ears of men? Blessed is the one who did not partake with the wicked. Did you not choose yourself as a man and reject wickedness? Why did you not remain with the chosenness of your anointedness? I sinned and hid myself from the truth like a fugitive, and I did not know that the avenger was pursuing your wickedness. I was ashamed before men, but I was not ashamed before Heaven, which is higher than all. And you covered your wickedness with a thick cloak of innocent blood. Because you hid like a fugitive from the truth, behold, a man reveals to the eye the open sight of wickedness. Because you went astray with your contemptible companion, behold, your bed gives testimony to baseness. You killed and shed innocent blood without cause; no longer will the sword of death pass from your children. You crushed truth and raised the horn of baseness; your seed will no longer raise its head before its pursuers. The son of Jesse saw that the sign revealed everything to him, and he covered his wickedness and spread out his sin though he did not wish to. He saw the truth that had been established for him mightily, and he lowered his voice like a guilty one who had sinned and been caught. He saw and spread out the vessel that he rode within his thoughts. He is guilty, for he did not sin truthfully and hide.

In a loud voice he revealed his sin before the Knower of All: "I am the one who raged and raved, killed and subdued my transgression. I am the one who brought the arrow of sin against my mind and shattered my heart toward the forgiveness of vileness. I am the one who hid that I might seize the lawless one by the neck and concealed my confession in the hand of the lawless one. I am the one who buried the snares of the lawless one against the pure of heart, and I am the one who shed innocent blood without my being found out. Evil deceit hid from me the snare in the senses of the outer man, and my sin turned aside the garment of the face of the rib of the side. Sin stripped me of the garment of discernment, and I was not left when I drove the chariot on the path of wrath. I have sinned now, and the chariot does not suffice for the penalty, and my labors are many, not to be compared with my folly. The waters of the great sea of my agitation are small, and the sin of my standing is not hidden in the earths. Great is my folly, and the sin I sinned cannot be measured, and the sea of the agitation of the chaff of the sin of my standing is small. The one who saw him without sin desired to see him, that he might declare to him as one who knows the guilty soul. He saw that he was humbled and his heart fell from his trust, and he gave him a hand lest the hope of his life be cut off. He signaled a sign to the physician who came to heal his pain, that he might place for him a medicine of words that live upon his wounds. He spoke with him gently in the voice of your words, and he cast into his ears the hope of the life that is stronger than death. He revealed and said to him, 'There is a medicine that heals sin, if you give the price of confession and the pains of the soul.'

The Spirit spoke in a loud voice with the son of Jesse: "Behold, I have opened the mercy of the Hidden One to you. Behold, I have received in a hidden manner that your transgression is forgiven, and you have not died because of your left-handedness as you expected. Behold, all the sign of the throne of the Messiah is hidden, that he has placed his sword within the divine mercies. The death of the mighty one was prepared for you from the Law, and it took hold of your face without being disturbed by a multitude at your death. Your righteousness stood by the disturbances of one of your tribes. And if you died, you would have increased the depth against the sorrows. The place does not give room for his depth to be magnified, so that it would not become accustomed to shedding blood on account of transgression. Through you, a new path to repentance is sought, which shames the evil one when it is adorned with mercies. Through you, a beautiful image of the name of grace is formed, which becomes a wall for sinners at the end of times. Through you, good hope is proclaimed to the hopeless, that mercies abound for the transgression of man and the life of the dead. I know the evil inclination that burns man, that it is very weak to resist before the lower ones. Through you, I place the ferment of life that gives life to man, and from your stream I raise the fruit that covers transgression. In this, your foolishness is covered with the medicine of mercies, so that a path may be shown before the one who comes to forgive transgression. From you, the one who is stretched out shines the sheet of debts, and behold, he has shown the mystery of his coming in the transgression of his father. With the Law, his words nullify the sounds of the mountains, and he writes a new writing of sin and mercies within his books.

In his blood he wrote a charter of freedom for the sons of his race, and he tore up the covenant of servitude of the human race. And because of his zeal he did not give him over to death, for the slaying of the living by the cause of iniquity that made servants. The cause of iniquity was making servants liable to death. Behold, the man has become a charter of the guilty for the ransom of your life. See, son of Jesse, your impurity has been cast in your face, and I have loosed my law so that you may not be a servant to death. Nor have I abolished my law from its demand; I gave mercy as a bribe on your behalf and for your sake. Even grief was not able to forget her memory; the decree that was for you with all who sinned was inscribed in her book. Here the name of your folly was erased from the law. It was not from that hidden book that was placed in my knowledge. Behold, your iniquity is forgiven by the fullness of the offering before the law. Go, prepare for yourself the sacrifices of love for the life to come. Behold, your life has taken the path of the mercy of his compassion. Travel on it with labor and teach the human race to submit with you. Behold, I have given you a hand of hope that you may attain life. Lean on the lost and strengthen the heart of man with the voice of forgiveness. Behold, you are freed from the law that was established for you. Free the oppressed from the oppressor, and live and have mercy. Hear, O sinner who died in his sin, the voice of forgiveness, and flee from death as from a garment, and turn to life. See that he had a measure of coals in the furnace on account of his folly, and he began to agree that he would attain the rank of his wickedness. He was careful that the blood not seal the charter of his forgiveness, and he was anxious that he might cast a sign of the hand on his behalf.

He wove together harsh sounds in the strings of his lyre, and he forgot the covenant of peace with his Lord. With the knife he loosed, while it was good, he received the forgiveness of his iniquity, and he did not cease from the one who would shake the foundations in their place. It was clear to him, while it was good, he received the beginning of his folly, that blood is not equal to the deed, and he rejoiced spiritually. Even this he was eager for with the voice of the harsh sounds, that he might string the bow of the spirit in his own person as before. He saw the Creator of the trembling of his heart, that he might interpret through it, and he gave him power in the order of the future things. He took the gift that was loosed in him before his folly, and he began to sing spiritually harsh sounds. Until when, O Lord, will you be angry like a madman? Until when will you turn your face from the son of your house? Until when will you place forgetfulness within his thoughts? From what I see, the shame of the fools that humiliates me. My God, my God, why have you left me among my pursuers, and removed my help in the speech of the weapon that spoke from my lips? I know, indeed, that she has taken my victory from my head, and upon that a multitude pursues the life that is without loss. It is not hidden from me that because of my folly my afflictions, and it is true to me that my enemies have stirred up a quarrel against me. The help that was due to me was small and diminished. I am the one who was diminished from the goodness of the mercies of truth. I confess that I have sinned, and because of my folly I am punished. And it is not for my sake that I am eager, but for my iniquity.

This alone is sufficient to appease the sign of the one who cut me down, that my rebellion might not be harsh but rather in loss. Do not hide, my Lord, in fierce anger, and do not show me the face of wrath without a door. In treachery, my life is pursued as is fitting for your sweetness, lest the pain of my rebellion produce a hidden plan. A great sorrow was lost, the mourner in his mind, when he heard that voice, "Your iniquity is forgiven." O righteous one who gave him the sign of the cancellation of his debts, and turned his name under mourning like a guilty one. O one who cast lots, who loved in the bosom and established the sign, and did not wish to place a crown of forgiveness without victory. O ever-watchful one who immersed a little in the hours of iniquity, and did not arrange the labors of his praises against iniquity. Come, sinners, see the sinner who sinned and remained, and direct yourselves in his likeness at the gate of the mercies of the mournful sign. Come, righteous ones, see the righteous one who loved in sin, and guard the treasures of your minds from the robber. Come, discerning ones, see the seer who looked and was blinded, and strengthen the eyes of your thoughts from the mysteries. If the seer of hidden things is ashamed in his vision, how will he not cast a stone of shame upon his doors? If the holy one defiles himself in the vision of faces, how will he not order the course of his eyes from stumbling blocks? If a man's overthrow is a weak limb of the body, how will the movements of his soul not tremble against the void? David became like a mirror before the seers, and in him the patterns of the mourners and the sinners are imprinted.

Do not be ashamed, the sign of the righteous, like the one who reigned; and do not be cast down, the sign of the sinner, like the one who perished. The just man guards his members from pride; even the sinner conceals his pain in humility. The man of truth hides every contest in movements and feelings, that he might be able to receive the crown of victory that is not corrupted.