Letter from Barlaha to Simeon on the Translation of the Psalms

An earnest letter concerning the translation of this book, which is the translation of the Psalms from the Greek language into the Syriac language. To the beloved of God, the superior, Mar Simeon, of the monastery of Beth Liqatius on the Black Mountain, Barlaha, a sinner and the least of those confined in the great monastery of Mar Elisha, which is in Beth Bishoi, the light of the world and the hope of the dead and the living, sends greetings. First, my lord, I ask after your health and entreat you to pray for my weakness, which is... from the world and from the snares of the Evil One. And also, my lord, as... in your humility, you pray for me and for all who are with you, and for all that is yours, that the Lord God may have mercy on the souls of those who trust in him over the life of his creation. May he cause you to walk in mercy before him, and may he deliver you from the evil world and from the snares of the enemy, and may he join you to mercy and to life at that hour when mercy is needed, now and always. I make known, moreover, to your love that the beloved of God, my lord the deacon of the church of Miusa, came and spoke to me about your love and about your zeal for the sake of the fear of God. And I confess to my lord concerning your face, that he, in his mercy, has completed with you his grace until the end, now and always. Again, moreover, I make known to your love that there was upon it a codex of ten quires from the translation of Proameius which preceded the translation of the Psalms... of the blessed Athanasius, Patriarch of Great Alexandria, and I took its copy and I am now occupied with the translation of its words, except for my lord. If it is easy for you and one scribe alone, or two, up to... and translate it, while you recall the words of my lord who said that from... the faithful and the wise.

...the Lord established over his house, spreading out for his servants at his time. Again, these are the words of the Lord to your names: "He who tends my sheep, my lambs, and my turtledoves." And again, blessed is he who glorifies the name of his Lord because of him. And again, that you have come, you have seen the light of the world and its salt of the earth. And again, as much as you have done for one of these little ones, you have done for me. And again, they girded their swords and crossed before your brothers until you reached the land that the Lord God gave to the people. For the conversion that occurred through the faith that came after this to Israel, to the honors that at the end will be for the saints, to the city above, to the spirit that is with the corruption of bodies that are with the earth, and simply one time. Everything that is for the sake of benefit and salvation is fitting for these who encounter it. Now, clearly and unambiguously, and as with the Holy Spirit that says, there is a feast of the saints, Basil, bishop of Caesarea, in the discourse that is said to him concerning the three first words: "Blessed is the man who does not walk the path of iniquity." Every book that is by the Spirit of holiness and is a helper was written for this with the zeal of the Spirit of God. For just as in a house of healing within, all seek health for the pain of their sins. With the holy book, you will truly find healing for the pain of sin through Christ. Therefore, discipline that is with the rod is disciplined.

Something else: the histories of the stars, from the law of the house and from the book of the king, another order and another warning from the law, another type, and a parable and a division from the wisdom of Solomon of the same kind, another likeness. And when the fear of God is inscribed in all of them in all their distinctions, yet their narrative is distinct from one another in the book of the holy Psalter, which is a help from all the books. It is mixed in it, and the taste of all of them is inscribed in it. For it is filled with what is past and also narrates what is to come. And it is created and found in it the power of the law righteously, and in it are healed the deeds of the ancients faithfully, and the purpose of the house of healing is that of the teaching of the good things that are found from it as a help. For whoever has recourse to it, that he may bring his afflictions to his petition, is healed by it. For also those who have transgressed in it are companions of sins, and those who are beginners in it are healed from the marks of the furnace, and those who are without stain in their righteousness are enriched by its warnings. And the pure old man is the affliction of iniquity. However much they are sealed in the souls of their cry, and a man could help himself from the lamentation of a faithful and sweet voice, by the thought of a shining desire. Because the spirit of holiness saw that it quickly approaches the body of the evil one for correction, and because it is written in them in the world the desire of the sweet one with the enticing voice that came for the sake of right conduct, it took in the name of the holy psalms a voice and beautiful melodies and mixed them with the commandment of life.

as it were sweetly and gently the hearing of men, the helps of the word that is in them, when a melody is received, as much as they do, also the wise tones to those who wish that they... a hard drug for their help, which they mix with honey... their healing in a sweet sharp medicine, thus in this manner they were composed for you, the command in a beautiful voice of the Psalms. In the idleness of God, or those of childhood are bound to its measure, or those whose minds are childish from a superior taste, the divine word will be changed in them through songs... of their own selves, for the word of the apostle and the word of the prophet, which is nightly adorned in the memory of many, that there is a day in a simple manner over them from their humility, but the words of the Psalms because of the voice that is weary in them, a man in his memory fixes them melodiously, as also in the house simple, that the singers and in the street that are recited and in the roads that are said in a voice of humility, thus if there is a man whose anger is like the anger of a beast, in his wickedness he begins to sing, or falls into the hands of others with a song, in this same sweet voice he appeases his anger so that it subsides, and to that hardness of soul which nightly sleeps in it...

The Psalms, therefore, are the cause of the help of the souls and the gift of peace, and the cause of the calming of the thoughts when they are disturbed and troubled. For they are the trembling of the soul of the rest of the passions, from the anger and the wrath and the rebellion of those who are not subdued, even if they come upon their mind when they sing a psalm. For the psalm is the subduer of love and the bringer together of those who are far apart, and the union of what is divided, and the reconciler of enmities. For who is not aware that he has an enemy? After he has heard his voice in the word of God in a holy psalm and says, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your grace," along with the rest that follows after? For the multitude of the good things that exist are a true debt through the melody that occurs. It was opened to you, as many as one were in the praise of the psalm and with many peoples, one charm was found in the melody of the Psalms. For the Psalms are truly pursuers of the demon, and as with the form of an angel, they are the help of those who pursue the armor of those who are not cut off, with the nights of fear... they are in their meditation, after the labor of the day, in the quiet of the night of youth. For they are the warning in the instruction that is in them, the covering of youth, the covering in the pain of their error of old age, the comfort in the continuous festival, and the good desire that is sought in the good intention that is in them, and the desert and the drought in them are quenched with their holy hearing, and the market in them is adorned with the splendor of God, and they are the beginning of the good work of those who approach the teaching of God and the education of those who...

...in the work of righteousness and the truth of the perfect ones, they are established, and the limit and the word of the Church and its voice are they, when they resound in its prayer. They are, indeed, the adornment and the delight of the feasts, the psalm with its tones and the order from all. They are the foundation of the knowledge of God, in that they clothe the sense of the word from its utterances. For thus, when they are felt, they move the soul of the singer in its mind, so that even from the heart of stone the thought of death is brought forth. They are, indeed, the works of the angel and the heavenly conduct in the fire of those who are perfected, when they sing them. They are a spiritual sweetness, as it is said, "The followers of my prayer are not like a cloud before you." Or to this wisdom in the power of this Lord, the manifestation that when they sing, his words help them, so that he may teach you to establish yourself in them for life. As for the souls, it will be completed and spread. For the teaching of the bond cannot endure in your knowledge without the love that draws it. The teaching, indeed, which from the beauty of the love of the singer especially is woven in the mind, so that it becomes a petition of the souls. For what do you not have to learn from the Psalms in their branches? Either the manliness of the beautiful in the strength of the good from them is learned, or in the power of righteousness from them is heard, or vigilance in the abundance of its watchfulness is found in them, or the perfection of the intention of the school in the wisdom of God is in them... or how a man loves God is mixed in them, and... of true repentance is he... and of the fear of God, how it is in them.

...manifest and the measure of patience, as one who says that all goods are in them, a remedy. And that of God, which is unchangeable in anything, they are a cry. And that of trust, which has no equal, they are persuaders. For by the beauty of the Psalms, the complete Word of divinity concerning her and concerning Christ, who is seen in the flesh and is God over..., is found. The fullness of him, and the bread and the judgment that is destined in them are harshly inscribed, and the hope of the resurrection is in them bravely written, and the fear of the affliction that stands in them they interpret with lamentation, and the kingdoms of the life of glory are in them attained, and the revelations of the glorious mysteries are in them known, and all the benefits for the whole race of humanity are in this book of the Psalms hidden. As if it were for everyone a glorious treasury of inexhaustible wealth. The great treasures that are in it are those that surpass all the instruments of music that are spoken of. For the art of music, because of this, the prophet composed and showed holy song in his words with the holy spirit, which is from above. In it, the plectrum was the cause. For there was another cause for the sound to be raised in every string. All the instruments of music do not have the sound that they produce in them, but this one that is from above is the beginning of their sound, apart from the cithara and the kithara, which by the plectrum from below in them gives a harsh sound. The cause, however, of the prophet of God is for all. It was where his love was. For in the composition of the psalm, the plectrum strikes the song of righteousness for the salvation of life. After that, the high prayer of the plectrum, with the discourse of the first sound, and not after the desire of the strings for the pleasure of the lower body. In the joy of the hearing of the weak, the harsh power...

...and to this of... is concerned, that it might be revealed daily, for the cause of advantage is its own, and the time of patience. In the Psalter, as I have shown you deeply and wisely, in the schema of the truth of the Gospel, as that which is above is the Word of God, which in the Psalm is thus: that which is above is not increased in God. For those who have power over the truth of their own souls, their path in the Psalms is nightly upon the face of their lives, in these which above they do to it. Of Eusebius of Pamphilus, the treatise on the Psalm which makes known in it what power each Psalm possesses, and what is the beginning of the book of Psalms itself. A new teaching is held, after the Law of Moses. And... after the books of Moses, this is a didactic book. When, therefore, after the completion of Moses, of Joshua, and after this of David, as when it was established that he and this father of the Savior, a new small... this... he delivered to the Hebrews, which in his hands shows what these placed the Law with Moses, because of... a small new... of the service of God by means of praises and supplications and other things, many of which are prevented from the Law of Moses, the whole commercial teaching. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the path of iniquity. Zeal and fear of God, and teaches...

...that which is contrary, in the matter of the people's election concerning the Messiah and the creation of the people of the Lord, when the multitude of the election of the goodness that was to be for David, when I called you, I made you understand the election for David concerning these of the priest, the fullness of the voice of the Lord, and he perceived in my meditation the prayer from the person of the Church. O Lord, do not in your anger conceal the teaching of the confession. O Lord, my God, in you I hoped, my Saviour. The confession of David and the election of the people. O Lord, my Lord, how glorious is your name in all the earth! The election of the reading of the people. I confess to the Lord with all my heart: the death of the Messiah and the resurrection and the taking up of the kingdom and the destruction of all the enemies. In the Lord I hoped, as I said to myself, the praise concerning the victory of him who contends in God. Save, O Lord, because the good of the accusation of the evil is complete, and the election concerning the coming of the Messiah. Until when, O Lord, will you set up the world? The standing of the enemy and the expectation of the Messiah. The wicked one said in his heart that there is no God, because of the accusation of the evil and the expectation of the Messiah. O Lord, what dwells in the tabernacle? The complete answer in God. Preserve me, O God, because on you I relied, the election of the Church and the resurrection of the Messiah. Hear, O Lord, holy one, and look upon my request of the prayer of the perfect man of all the Messiah, for the sake of these for whom it is destined that they be saved. I will love you, O Lord, my strength and my trust, against the goodness of David and the election of... of the Messiah and of the ascension. The heavens are filled with the praise of God from the speech of divinity. The divine teaching. Remember, O Lord, on the day of distress, the prayer of these that awakens the righteous...

by your power and one king, the petition of these psalms that help David, for here, my God, my God, why have you abandoned me? The election of the suffering of the Messiah and the calling of the peoples, for the Lord is my shepherd, and nothing is lacking to me, the teaching of the word of the new people, for the Lord is the land in its fullness, the election of the calling of the peoples and the completion of these psalms are saved, for with you, O Lord, I have raised myself, the teaching of the confession, for David said, O Lord, because I have walked in my perfection, the petition of him who is in God is spread out, for O Lord, my light and my savior, from what, from what do I fear before grace and the petition of the good, for to you, O Lord, I have called, my God, do not be silent from me, the petition with the election, for there is for the Lord a desire, the elect, the election of the sign with the discourses of divinity, for I have exalted you, O Lord, who raised me, before grace with the confession, for in you, O Lord, I have hoped, I have not despaired forever, the confession with the supplications, for blessed is he who is left with iniquity, the election of these psalms that through the Messiah are saved, for the righteous one praised the Lord, the commandment of the discourses of praise with the discourses of divinity, for I bless the Lord at all times, the teaching of before grace, for David, O Lord, my judge, and he contended with those who contend with me, the supplications of the righteous and the election that is because of the Messiah, for iniquity is considered, wickedness in his heart, the coverings of the wicked with the discourses of divinity, for do not spare the wicked, the teaching of the conduct of the fear of God, for O Lord, not in your anger do you cover the teaching of the confession, for I said, let my spirit fly and not sin with my tongue, the petition with the confession, for I have proclaimed, I have hoped in the Lord, before grace, that one who is in God was saved, and the memory of the church, for blessed is he who is free in the net, the election because of

the Messiah, and concerning the completion of the matter, like a tree that bends over the water, the supplication of the people with the consolation of the Jewish people. Psalm 42: David, my Lord, my God, and seek my request, the supplication of the people with the consolation of the Jewish people. Psalm 43: God, hear me in my members, the supplication of the people with the consolation of the Jewish people. Psalm 44: I ask my heart for a good word of the life of the Messiah, the kingdom. Psalm 45: God, in the house of the strong man, the proclamation of the apostle. Psalm 46: All of you, peoples, cast stones, the calling of the peoples. Psalm 47: Great is my Lord and glorified greatly, praise to God on behalf of the church and the hiding of the persecutors. Psalm 48: Hear this, all of you peoples, the teaching of the divine David. Psalm 49: God, my God, my Lord spoke, the beginning concerning the sacrifice and the law and the fulfillment of the law of the New Testament. Psalm 50: Love me, God, according to your grace.

the teaching of the confession of the one who is to the one who is boasts in evil, a man, the covering of the evil one, and the completion of his own, the servant said iniquity in his heart, that there is no God, manifest, my Saviour, and the abyss of the one who is not divinity of the servant, God in your name my Saviour, the prayer of him who is persecuted by God, the servant, hear God, my prayer, and do not be silent, the one who is my request, the knowledge of these things concerning the Messiah, they were extended, the servant, have mercy on me, God, because that I have been cast out of the head, before the grace of the righteous one who was saved, the one who is, from the enemy, the servant, have mercy on me God, because in you is the hope of my soul. Before the grace and the calling of the peoples, the servant, where truly righteousness speaks, you are. The teaching of the sincerity of the judgment of God, the servant, deliver me from my enemy God, the calling of the peoples and the consolation of the Jewish people, the servant, God, you have erred and you have been deceived and you have been angry with me the consolation of the Jewish people and the calling of the peoples, the servant, hear, God, my prayer, and listen to my request the request with before the grace, the servant, to God, my soul is poor, from whom is my Saviour, the one who is the teaching of the healing of the servant, my God, my God, you are, I have found you, before the grace of him who is perfect who is in God, the servant, hear, God, my voice, when I beseech you. The teaching of the Augustine, fear God, the servant to you is fitting praise, God, in the thirst, the calling of the peoples and the preaching of the apostle, the servant, praise God, all the earth, the calling of the peoples and the preaching of the apostle, the servant, God, have mercy on me, the calling of the peoples and the preaching of the apostle, the servant, arise, God, and all his enemies will be scattered, of the rebellion of the Messiah and the calling of the peoples, the servant, my Saviour, God, because the waters have reached the soul the life of the Messiah and the consolation of the Jewish people, the servant, God, deliver me, my Lord, to my help after the beseechings

of the righteous and of Christ himself. Know, O Lord, that I preached and was not ashamed of the suffering and resurrection of Christ. Know, O God, give your judgment to the king, the wickedness of the coming of Christ and the calling of the peoples that the good God did for Israel and for... the heart, the confession of the weakness of humanity over the weakness of the wicked, and over the strength of the spirit of God, that God rejoiced in the error forever, the beginning of the discourse of the captivity of the city of the Jews, which was with Aspisius and Titus, that I confess to you, O God, the discourse of the divinity of Christ and the reminder of the house of divine judgment, that it is known in Judah, the pursuit of God over the wicked, of the judgment of Christ, that I cried out to God, you called and I heard because of the strength of the spirit of God and his wonderful deeds, that he was with me, listen to my law and they were amazed at the division of Christ to the church because of the passing of the law of the first people, that God ascended over the peoples to your inheritance, the wickedness of Helias that happened to the Jews in the days of Antiochus and the history of the Maccabees, that the shepherd of Israel listened.

of the wickedness of the city with the Assyrians and a petition concerning the coming of Christ, that they praised God. The reading of the people and the teaching of Helye, which happened to the first people, that God stood in the struggle of the angel. The wickedness of the wicked of the Jewish people and a petition concerning the people, that God was of blood. A petition for the people who suffered affliction, and a petition concerning the end of the enemy of God, that you may find, O Lord Almighty, a petition concerning Christ and concerning his church, that you wished, O Lord, in your land. A petition concerning Christ and concerning Helye, who were saved by his hands, that the Lord prayed. David's prayer and a petition of the reading of the people, that its foundations on its holy mountain. The revelation of Christ and the reading of the people, that the Lord God of our salvation is counted as the death of Christ. The grace of the Lord I will sing forever. To the kingdom of Christ, that from the seed of David, the Lord, I was in the dwelling place, to the generations, the forgetfulness of the Jews, that sits in the secret of Mary. The victory of Christ and of all that is fulfilled in him, that it is good to confess to the Lord because of the consolation in God, that the Lord reigned and put on pride. The praise of the kingdom of Christ concerning the first coming, that God, the source, the Lord, concerning the persecutions against the church, that again they praised the Lord, the reading of the Jews, and cut off their hope while it was theirs. They praised the Lord with a new praise. The reading of the people and the coming of Christ, that the Lord reigned, the earth rejoiced, the praise of the kingdom of Christ and concerning the second coming. They praised the Lord with a new praise, the reading of the people and the coming of Christ, that the Lord reigned, the people moved, the praise of the kingdom of Christ. They praised.

to the Lord of all the land of the village of the peoples, grace and knowledge, I will sing the praise of the perfect ones, that in God the Lord heard my prayer, a lament over the first people and the goodness of the new people, and the village of the peoples. Bless myself to the Lord of the teachings against grace. Bless myself to the Lord of the teachings of confession. They confessed to the Lord and called his name, teachings to the peoples because of the help of God with the first people. They confessed to the Lord that he is good forever, grace, teachings of the evil of the wickedness of the Jews. They confessed to the Lord that he is good forever, his grace, the goodness of the village of the peoples and the preparation of God with the Savior. He answers my heart, God, the village of the peoples. God of my praise, let not the suffering of Christ be silent, which the Lord said to my Lord, that I will give you from my right hand the victory of Christ. I confess to the Lord with all my heart against the grace of Christ. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, the village of the new people and the teachings of Christ. Praise the works of the Lord, the village of the new people. When Israel went out from Egypt, the teachings of the new people. The love that the Lord heard the voice of my request, the discipline of the new people. I believed and spoke and humbled myself well, the completion of the new people. Praise the Lord, all you peoples, the village of the peoples. They confessed to the Lord that he is good and forever his mercies, the victory of Helye that in Christ they made a covenant, and the goodness of Christ. Blessed are those who without blemish walk in the way, the beginning of the thought of the excellence that is in God. To the Lord in my distress, the village of the settlements. I raised my eyes to the mountain, the answer from Babylon and the scattering. I rejoiced when they said.

They were for me counsels of goodness. I raised my eye to you, dweller of the heavens. Prayer: the first Lord who stood against grace. Elijah who proclaims in the Lord on the mountain of thirst, a response. When the striker strikes the captivity of thirst, the support of future things. If the Lord does not seek a house, the request of the Church. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, the village of the peoples. Many were my afflictions from my childhood, the victory of service. From the depth I called you, Lord, and you heard my voice, the prayer of the martyr. Lord, my heart was not raised, nor was my eye raised because of the humility of the voice. Remember, Lord, David and all his humility. The prayer of David and the revelation of the Messiah. How good, how beautiful that the people are perfected.

Bless the Lord, all of you, servants of the Lord. Teachings of the heights: praise the name of the Lord of the people who entered; give thanks to the Lord who is good, and forever his mercy receives grace. Those who were saved from the splendors of Babel after the voice of the saints, Hallel, in the captivity of praise. I give thanks to you, Lord my God, with all my heart, receiving grace for the humility of praise. Lord, hear me and know me; righteousness is the speech of divinity. Spare me, Lord, from the evil beginning, the daughter of the voice of him who contends with God. Arise, Lord; I called you, my helper, prayer of the perfect in God. I arose with my voice to the Lord; I called with my voice to the Lord; I besought the daughter of the voice of him who speaks of God, approaching. Hear, Lord, my prayer and heed my request, prayer of him who confesses. Blessed are you, Lord, who taught my hands for battle, receiving the grace of him who conquers. I exalt you, my Lord, king, glory with the speech of divinity. Praise, my soul, the Lord, glory with the speech of divinity. It is good to sing to God, and sweet is glory with the speech of divinity. Praise, Jerusalem, the Lord, glory with the speech of divinity. Praise the Lord from the heavens of glory with the speech of God. Praise the Lord, new glory, glory with humility. Praise the Lord in his holiness, inner zeal. Of Didymus, the treatise on the Psalms.

In the New Testament, when he quotes from the book of Psalms, a testimony is taken as a proof. For just as from the Spirit it was said by Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews, when he quotes from the Psalm of the one hundred and fourth, he takes and writes that it was said from the Holy Spirit, as the prophet says, the Holy Spirit. The light, if you listen to his voice, and these others along with this, and Peter, that chosen one and chief of the apostles, in the Acts of the Apostles, to these he says, for he says in the place where it was fitting that the book be fulfilled, that which earlier said the Spirit through the mouth of David concerning Judas, that one who was the guide to those who seized Jesus. And these others. And when he entered upon these minor ones, he says, for it is written in the book of Psalms, "The month of the sword shall be, and there shall not be in it an inhabitant for his episcopate, he took others." Not, however, the strangers, but these apostles wrote, while the Savior especially sealed these. For when there was a remembrance in the Gospel of the beginning of the Psalm of the one hundred and ninth, which is thus: "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right until I place your enemies as a footstool under your feet,'" he was asking the Pharisees whether David, through the Holy Spirit, spoke to the Lord Christ, how he is his son. If, therefore, the spiritual meanings of the Psalms are held, not as it is fitting that one should encounter their book, a rebuke.

The rest of the psalms, because many of those who believed from the nations in Christ, they interpret this book as David's, and they designate it as the Psalms of David, which it is proper to say. Those which are with him came his interpretation. The Hebrews designated the book as the Book of Praises (Sephar Tehillim). In the Praxis (Acts) of the Apostles, however, it is said that the book of Psalms is his. There is, moreover, for the word thus, as it is written in the book of Psalms, the name, however, in the designation of the book is not placed here. The reason, moreover, is that not one author wrote it, but many were confused, when Ezra, as tradition says, was confused after the captivity to collect the many psalms into one, or even that the author is not from one prosopon (person). The psalms, therefore, are placed first upon one of them with the name of David, and upon another of Solomon, and upon another of Asaph, and there are some of them of Idithun, and apart from these others, of the sons of Korah and of Moses. When, therefore, the authors of all these were confused together, and even he who knows that they are said of David alone, but it is proper to inquire because without designations and without what, and not to suppose... For what is placed upon them, that which has thus "Psalms of David" or whether there are not psalms? Again, that which is more simple, which says that David apart from all addition, I will explain, moreover, that where this alone is a designation, that which is said is not a psalm, nor a praise, but a word from the Holy Spirit.

of those which are written concerning the benefit of him who is able to sit. Now you have sent to me the completion of the Hebrew man. Concerning these others, however, because many of them are unmarked, one of them, that which precedes these unmarked ones, has no superscription of David. He used to say that even these, when they are taken from within, it is right that they be understood of David. And thus then, that which is the sequence is this, that these unmarked ones which are with him, they are of him, of those which are before them, which are good to be understood with a superscription. For how many are they? They are one hundred and fifty and four in number. That of fifty, which is the Jubilee in the days, known from the Pentekoste, which is very artful, which is known to be the beginning of labor and joy. For this reason, and not that one should fast on these days of judgment, nor that one should place a blessing. For these are signs of the great one of these which are future, of which the Trinity of them was in... like Israel. In the hour, however, that which is called the Jubilee among the Hebrews is the fiftieth hour. It is very much greater than that which is in the seventh, of the freedoms of the servant of the section of debts and of the release from agriculture, and of all labor in the land in that Jubilee and of the agorae and houses from the fathers in difficulties. Some worldly things were renewed, that they should return to the body. Or rather, the Jubilee knows the remission of the fifty and of that number is equal in body to it and is near to it, he said.

It is not given in vain with boasting of the fifty. Thus, then, also for the praises concerning God, which are on account of the mystery of the enemy and the reception of grace—that which is concerning the helps of God—it was fitting that it should hold not only one pentad, but three, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That pentad, however, holds seven weeks, seven of seven, and the beginning after seven, the completion in the perfection of the tenth, which is truly new. And this concerning the Psalms, which can be observed very greatly. Or, as in the beginning, that which fills all of them can be found as they are set. As it is not in vain that the tenth, on account of the tenths, is marked for the completion of the fruits, holding in perfection. For not yet can the season of the fragrance of the fruits of the vineyard of truth be in the tenth that precedes. That tenth is the second which, after the tenths, is the tenth that holds another perfection for that which is in the tenths—that of the tenth and three. When the second tenth of the holy ones who are armed, that of the tenth in the tenths, and that of the third in the sole unity of the equal, and for the remission of sins and for confession, holds that fiftieth. For it is thus that the fiftieth, like the Gospel, has remission of sins in the reckoning concerning the Jubilee. Thus it is taken, that not in others but in that tenth fiftieth which takes remission, that which prays these, which are like those of confession. Again, moreover, of its own are the praises, something of the ascent in the fifteenth tenth, as also the steps of the temple of the root...

that holds the ascent. In that number of seven and in that of nine, the beginning of the ascent is from that psalm of one hundred and ten, which is more plainly spoken as if there are more precise ones from the truth. This, then, is the number of life of the completion of the head and of that hundred, whose beginning is grace, and I will sing to you, O Lord, holding to the conduct of the saints, which shares with God. That of one hundred and fifty completes it. In that every name praises the Lord, but because as we said earlier concerning each one of them, that which does and praises the cause is very difficult and hard to perceive the nature of the evil ones, sufficient for these. When, on account of the sign alone, they add that it is not like the order of the history of the Scripture. These psalms, which are understood to have been written in dependence on history, have a cause.

or another, or to the number of psalms that are arranged, as if according to the history of that fifty-first, it is prior to the history of that fifty-sixth. For because of Doeg the Edomite, who slandered David to Saul, he confesses that it is prior to the sin. That which is with Uriah, not that second word of the first history, to that which is in the first history, because as we said earlier, the place concerning forgiveness is equal in the fiftieth number. That which is not equal to forgiveness above the fiftieth number falls, as Doeg the Edomite, but with that seventy-third, because when David fled from before the person of Absalom his son, it was spoken. It is known to those who read in the kingdom, that after that fifty-first and after that fifty-sixth. Those that are like this, if more one is troubled, he preserves the history and upon the signs more precisely can find the cause of the arrangement of the psalms. Already it has a fourth quality, and that alone David with the prophet with Origen is done, that which with the Jews is called with the cithara, with the Hebrews, however, it is zabla, which alone with the Origenes musici is more than all correct, for it has nothing crooked, but rather it is not done as one with the lower numbers with the numbers below, as happens with the cithara and with those other things, but with the above. Of the holy Athanasius of Alexandria, the commentary on the Psalms. The five hundred are divided among the Hebrew books of the entire book of Psalms, of which that first is, in those that with the first, blessed is the man who does not walk in the path of evil.

until that (same) one, “Blessed is the man” who looked into the mirror of the two hundred and seventy-first psalm, which is like the tree that bent over the water. Until that one, “God, give your ear to the king.” Third, in the two hundred and seventy-third psalm, “God is good to Israel, to the chosen of heart,” until that one, “The grace of the Lord I will sing forever.” And fourth, in the two hundred and seventy-fourth psalm, “The Lord was in the dwelling place for the generations,” until that one, “They praised the Lord, that he is good, and forever his grace.” Of the fifth, in the two hundred and seventy-fifth psalm, that one, “They praised the Lord, that he is good, forever his grace,” until the end of the book.

In the Hebrew book of the Psalms, apart from the addition of the Maccabees, all of them were written, and differently from them they are. They are one with them, but divided as one, that is, the first and the second are one in Hebrew. And again, the ninth ode, "To the Lord," from the whole heart, is one with the second half in Hebrew. The whole book of the Psalms is divided into five hundred parts. It is right to preserve that it is not by the continuity of the history of the sacrifice. The order of the Psalms is composed differently, for this is in the multitude of the sacrifice, as the book of Kings shows. For when the multitude of the service of idols seized the people of the Jews, they made the error of the patriarchal books, so that the book of the Law of Moses and the covenant of the fear of the God of the fathers would not be seen to be preserved among them. Thus, then, they also killed the prophets who were covering the evil of their sign. And because of these, first the evil ones of the Assyrians were delivered, and not one, then, is the wonder that in the census, as thus of the sacrifice and these that die in the book of the Psalms, they fell to my error, they were completed in the sacrifice. And again, that they sowed righteousness for you and ate the mouth of grace, and again, that these days have come, the Lord said and sent a famine in the land, not a famine for bread nor for water, but to hear the word of the Lord, with the rest that is in the holy book for the helps that are said in the request. Those which also you interpret in them as it is written. And may you all be teachers of God. And if that interpretation was great and difficult for you, whatever you can, you interpret. Those which are urgent upon them, especially those concerning prayer and concerning the ways of virtue, and how a man flees from evils and cleaves to goods, and how a man seeks the Lord with his whole heart.

I confess to your love that if it were the will of God and you, you would interpret it. And I return and make known to your love that not even one of the saints, without labor, set anything or interpreted. The blessed Mar John, a faithful and true man and a lover of God, he alone interpreted one book and two with the rest of the chapters that were interpreted from Greek into Syriac. With great labor they interpreted those men in the grace of God. And now, for the sake of my lord, labor a little for the sake of your brother and interpret whatever you are able, according to your strength, so that when you do this you will receive blessings from the Lord. And he will forgive you your sins and all your shortcomings in exchange for your labor which is for the sake of the holy name, Amen and Amen. Ask for the peace of the Lord... and the faithful of there. And especially those who dwell with you. And of Mar John, the head of the monastery of Beth Sawa. And of those who are with him. And of Mar Sergius, your brother. And of your whole brotherhood. May the Lord Jesus Christ preserve you in his mercies... good for your futures, and love and compassion upon your lives in the prayers of the righteous and the apostles and the martyrs and the confessors and the teachers of the truth, and of my lady Mary, the Mother of God in her virginity. Amen and Amen. Be strong in the Lord at all times... that you have. Your brother, lover of God, pray for my insignificance. May the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you, Amen and Amen. Completed is the letter concerning the reason for the translation of this book from Greek into Syriac. ♱ ♱ ♱ ♱