Fragmenta in Psalmos

In the new covenant, testimonies from the book of Psalms are set down, taken from its words as having been spoken by the Holy Spirit. Paul, in the epistle to the Hebrews, taking a passage from the ninety-fourth psalm, writes that it was declared by the Holy Spirit, saying, "As the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice," and the rest. In addition to this, Peter, the foremost of the apostles, in the Acts of the Apostles says things in agreement, where he says, "It was necessary that the scripture be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who seized Jesus," and the rest; and after saying a few things he added, "For it is written in the book of Psalms: Let his dwelling become desolate, and let no one dwell in it; and: Let another take his office." Nor is it strange if the apostles write these things, especially since the Savior himself confirms them. For when mention was made in the Gospel of the beginning of the hundred and nineteenth psalm, which reads, "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I place your enemies as a footstool for your feet," he asked the Pharisees whether David, speaking in the Holy Spirit, called the Christ Lord—how then is he his son? If, therefore, the psalms contain spiritual meanings, their scripture must not be approached casually.

It is possible to call the devil the way of sinners, on which let not the one who has come to be on it remain, following the teaching that says, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." The one who does not stand in this way will come to the Lord who said, "I am the way," and having come to be on it and having run toward the goal, he will obtain the prize. For how should the one who is testified of by the things that have been said not be likened to wisdom, as being wise? For one is likened to the one who grants such and such a quality—is not the just man like justice, and the holy man like holiness? If indeed this is so, then the wise man is also like wisdom. Having come near and drawn from it his being, he is likened to it as wise, according to what was said by the Savior: "It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the servant as his lord." But the one who is likened to the tree of life comes to be in paradise, so that he may be planted together with it; thus must be understood what is written in Isaiah in the person of God: "According to the days of the tree of life shall be the days of my people." Since this is true, because the tree of life is eternal, it makes him co-eternal and co-immortal with itself; this likeness makes us grown together in the tree, so that we may be called its branches and shoots, for the purpose of bringing forth divine fruit. For the tree of life, being a true vine, says to those who become imitators through nobility of character: "I am the true vine; you are the branches; my Father is the vinedresser; every branch remaining in me, he prunes it, so that it may bear more fruit.

But also the tree planted beside the channels of waters (and this is the wisdom of God)—its fruit is the mystical and spiritual meaning of the Scriptures, and its leaves, which shelter the said fruit, are the ready-to-hand words, which besides doing their own work in guarding the fruits, also become food for the simpler people, who because of their simplicity are called cattle, according to "You will save humans and cattle, O Lord." Indeed, then, because of the cheapness they gained from their impiety, having wished to be dust and to bear the image of the earthly one, they are cast out like the most worthless dust from the face of the earth, an evil wind having blown them up and scattered them here and there. And you will understand the wind that casts them out, and the angel that punishes them, and the impulse of the teaching that led them astray, as they are carried about by every wind of teaching in the dice-playing of men, in craftiness. The impious will rise, but they will not be judged, since they are self-condemned. For, he says, the one who does not believe in me is already judged, having been shown to be condemned by his own unbelief. He appropriates the deeds of the righteous; for here "He knows" belongs to this. Since it has been shown that the impious do not rise in judgment, it has been made clear how "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth" rise, some to eternal life, but others to reproach and eternal shame. For how do those who are raised to be judged not rise to reproach and eternal shame, when the judgment itself makes their sins manifest?

If this has become clear, why is it not said that all who sleep in the dust of the earth are raised, some to eternal life, but others to reproach and eternal shame? For these things are written concerning only the sinners who come into judgment and the righteous who are raised to eternal life, while the ungodly are not raised to any of these things, since there will be no examination of them after the resurrection. 8 Since all men are moved by choice (for they are self-determining), no one is good or evil by nature; and since the one who partakes of virtue alone is made God's own, and everyone of this sort becomes God's inheritance. Therefore, when Israel was good, it was said concerning him: Jacob became the Lord's portion, the measuring-line of his inheritance, Israel. It is evident that this nation did not receive its lot merely by allotment, but because of its nobility of character it was thus designated from what is said concerning God by the holy men: He chose for us his inheritance, the beauty of Jacob which he loved. But if through keeping the commandments and faith in God one becomes God's inheritance, the one who transgresses God's commandments and falls away from faith in him is cast out of such honor, just as the one who turns away from evil and does good becomes God's lot, though he was not so before. Since this sequence holds, Israel, who of old was an heir of God through piety, having become an apostate from God, fell away, not receiving the Savior who came primarily for his benefit, though also for that of the other men. It was necessary, then, that another be brought in, one completed from more nations and drawing near to the gospel.

The "Ask of me, and I will give you" is said on our account, not on the Son's; for it shows that nothing is added to him, but to those who have need of him—as things are given to a physician and a teacher, so that they may become healthy and knowledgeable from him. But also the phrase "Your dominion is to the ends of the earth" may be understood more simply thus: your teaching will prevail to the farthest ends of the earth, since the gospel is proclaimed in all creation under heaven. Whether it is possible that here the ends of the earth are called those who have passed beyond the earth in life and in mind—consider this. "And now, be instructed" — since the crucified one has risen from the dead — "and you, O rulers, be taught," knowing that the one you thought to put to death has risen, having destroyed death; for this will urge you to serve in fear the one who was plotted against by you, knowing that he is God, against whom you have gathered together. This service in fear will cease when progress has been made, so that divine exultation with trembling may arise in you; for if there is any joy that comes reasonably, it is exultation—but now it comes upon God with trembling. In harmony with this is "Shout to God with a voice of exultation, for the Lord most high is fearful"; for since the most high is fearful, the exultation that is upon him must be held with trembling. The phrase "In haste, grasp instruction" must be rendered as spoken by hyperbaton, so that the sequence of the expression is as follows:

Take hold of instruction quickly, and while you are still in this life, lest, when you are careless, the Lord be angry and you perish from the righteous way. Since the psalm was said to be spoken as from the person of the Lord, it must be said that his head also is exalted—the God who is his, and his divinity becomes manifest to the faithful by demonstration. The name of "head" signifies in these words a ruler; therefore Christ is the ruler of the men who are holy, and reasonably their king, and in this way he is called their head. His transcendent knowledge can be the holy mountain of God, from which God hears those who pray—his only-begotten Son, of whom it is said, "The mountain of the Lord shall be manifest in the last days," this phrase making clear his manifestation that came about at his visitation at the consummation of the ages. "To have fallen asleep" signifies the reclining, after which sleep immediately follows. Since, then, Jesus willingly laid down his soul, in this respect he fell asleep and slept; for he would not have died, unless he had given himself over to this. And having been raised from the dead, with God taking hold of him, he became the firstborn from the dead. In vain does he have enemies who provides no occasion for hatred and enmity; and such are all who are persecuted because they live piously in Christ Jesus, to whom the Savior says, "Blessed are you when they reproach you and say every evil thing falsely against you for my sake," and the rest. Of this disposition David also had many enemies in vain, such as Saul and Absalom and those with them.

For since the saint had often shown great gentleness and goodness toward them, they were enemies in vain. Concerning such teeth he often said to God, "They gnashed their teeth at me," and giving thanks that he was not harmed by them he says, "Blessed is the Lord, who did not give us as prey to their teeth." And it is clear that he says these things concerning intelligible teeth. The Galatians, using badly the teeth so called, were badly biting one another and devouring one another, vainly and sinfully using the powers of the soul which are allegorically called teeth. For when the request has been confirmed, instead of enemies they will become friends and instead of sinners, earnest people. "Salvation is the Lord's"; let us not seek it, then, from anywhere else but from him. "And upon your people your good pleasure": and what is the good pleasure that comes upon the people but the Father's will concerning the visitation? Having pointed to the incarnate Savior, he said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I was well pleased." To this end you will receive the words "And in your good pleasure our horn will be exalted." A song is a victory hymn or a hymn of thanksgiving brought forth by the voice alone, while a psalm is a hymn played on the instrument called the psaltery or also the lyre. Or, by way of ascent, a song is the contemplation of truth, made musical by the intellect alone, while a psalm is actions performed according to right reason, so that the practical life sings, as it were, and the contemplative life chants. Since, then, David with a pure heart contemplates God and his truth, he brings forth a song, which he says is "among the psalms" because many things had been rightly accomplished by him in practice.

This song, "For the end," is that which they are accustomed to call the final object of desire, since for its own sake all other things are choiceworthy and desirable, but it is not for the sake of another; this is the perfection of all things, concerning which Paul also says, "Then comes the end," according to which one who has become like God will see him. But why does he wish the song to be inscribed "To David" and not "Of David"? Some say, then, that the psalm or the song is David's when he himself, inspired by God, uttered it; but the song or psalm is "To David" when what is said has reference to him. It often happens that what is declared belongs both to him and to himself, when, having ministered to the Spirit, the things suggested by him were spoken beforehand, and then, when the psalm was given to one of the singers, it was declared through them "To David." But in whichever way each of the things set down in the Scriptures stands, it belongs to the one who is wise according to God alone to know. † God widens in affliction, not ceasing the distress, not overthrowing those who do harm, but granting magnanimity to bear the circumstances nobly. According to this understanding one must also hear, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and out of them all he will deliver them," granting them endurance. But sometimes he also places outside of circumstances the one who has stood magnanimously toward circumstances, as Joseph and Job, but also the very one about whom the present words are spoken. And many such things are brought forward also in the Scripture, of which is also, "For man is born of woman," and, "Among those born of women none is greater than John.

For these words too are spoken in place of "men." Is the holy one of God not to be marveled at, who bears afflictions with greatness of soul, seeming to be beyond human capacity? But also when he calls upon God, he immediately has him assenting—all of which the one who has a heavy heart, that is, a mind together with wickedness, does not know. But if the word was spoken about Christ to the Jews, because of their heaviness of heart, as sons no longer of God but of men—for how did the Lord not marvel at his holy one in him and through him, fulfilling prophecies, with wondrous powers having come about through him, and moreover having risen from the dead? But you will know, when you cast off the heavy heart and search the scriptures concerning the holy one; for when you search, the newness of the Spirit will be found by you. The apostle, taking up this word, added to it: Let not the sun set upon your provocation, nor give place to the devil. The one who accepts this apostolic exhortation, having become angry, does not sin—the phrase "of the one disposed to anger" meaning one who keeps it persistent and calls it a raging habit. The following confirms this understanding: Be angry, he says (obviously, having become angry), in your hearts, and be pricked with compunction upon your beds—so that, having risen from sleep, you do nothing or say nothing of what was pondered in the heart in anger. It is possible to call the light of the face of God the impress of his substance and the image of the invisible God himself, which light was marked from there upon us who were formed according to him. It must not be overlooked that some read the passage thus: Who will show us good things?

The good things are not for many, but it is for one to show them; and this one is the only-begotten Son of God. For those who take it thus, "Who" signifies what is called specifically qualified or individual and one substance in number. They also use as testimony the phrase "A certain noble man," for here too "Who" makes clear the specifically qualified. Even if these men have seemed to themselves to be multiplied by pleasures, yet I, expecting the age to come and the reward of a right way of life, having become free from all disturbance through hope, "I shall lie down and sleep at the same time," calling departure from life "lying down" and "sleep"; and giving the reason for having lain down and slept in peace, he immediately added, "For you have settled me in hope." It is also said in Hosea to the soul, in the person of God, "I will settle you in hope." God does this, offering hope of the future divine good things to those settled by him in intellectual and practical virtue and in the doctrines of truth and the ordinances of the church.

For the end, a thanksgiving hymn is sung for the soul, or the church, being led into the divine inheritance prepared for the servants of God; for there is an inheritance for those who serve the Lord. And this inheritance is not corruptible, nor does it have its existence in perceptible wealth; for it is said that its heirs are brought "into an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, kept in the heavens." Calling the worthy to this, the Savior said, "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you." Having received the love of this, the one who speaks the psalm set before us sends up a prayer to God who prepared it, that he might be deemed worthy to be shown an heir of it according to the new covenant, as the inscription also signifies concerning his own soul: "For the inheriting one." And "Give ear," not being used in common speech, is placed continually in Scripture, signifying that the hearer receives into his ears the words announced by the one who speaks them, because of his being near; and the righteous are near to God by relation, whence God is said to hear the prayers of the righteous and to have ears for their supplication. And God is at once king and creator of those who have not stretched out their hands to a foreign god nor are ruled by sin. And according to contemplation: he for whom the sun of righteousness has risen, having come to be at the beginning of the noetic day, offers a thanksgiving hymn to the cause of his illumination: "In the morning," he says, "you will hear my voice.

For to whom ought one to give thanks for so great a good, if not to you, O Master, who caused light to rise for me, which is the cause of the greatest contemplation for me? At any rate, desire always enters in alongside the contemplations that have already occurred, and one wishes to see further the beauties of the truth. This is also supported by the phrase "And I shall look upon." For just as "I come upon" indicates ceaseless approach, so "I shall look upon" reveals understanding that is continually being added; for how does he not always see who has obtained the promise "The Lord shall be to you an everlasting light," and "Light for the righteous" continually? There is also another reading: "I shall present myself to you and you shall look upon me," which is not for everyone to say, but for those who, like the great Elijah, dare to say because of their boldness from their manner of life, "As the Lord lives, before whom I have stood this day." Since this is true, evil is not from God, as those think who posit evil as having substantial existence. For from the mouth of the Most High evil and good shall not come forth. For he wills only the good to exist; and while this exists, it is impossible for evil to subsist in anything. But he destroys "those who speak falsehood," who are liars, so that they may come to know the truth which they also formerly knew. For "to know" means this: no one who has a beginning of knowing something is said to "know fully" it. But since all who speak falsehood are destroyed by God, that one also will be destroyed about whom it is said, "When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own," that is, from his own nature. And if this is so, he is not evil by essence; for he did not become so at the very moment of coming into existence and entering into subsistence, but after these things, having turned, he had a beginning of speaking falsehood, having once had the being in truth.

This is made clear from what is written about him: "He did not stand in the truth, because the truth is not in him." For the one who is blameworthy because he did not stand is shown to have been tested in these dispositions. But the liar must be judged from his intention, not from his voice alone, so that those who have sometimes done this by way of economy may not fall under the threat—as Rahab did; for she seemed to lie to those who were searching in order to kill the spies, who were good men. For having been sent by Jesus of Nave, they were praiseworthy. Since the intention of a man has great earnestness, it is not consistent, then, to rank it among those who are perishing or among those who speak falsehood. And just as one who kills a man in any manner whatsoever is not a murderer, so one who sheds blood is not absolutely a man of bloods; for we do not call those who kill, according to divine law, those worthy to suffer this, murderers or men of bloods—since it would then be time to say that Samuel and Elijah, great men attested for goodness and divine prophecy, are subject to these accusations. But none of these is a murderer or a man of bloods, if

and killed some for impiety and the greatest accusations. Since these things are rightly acknowledged, the one who becomes the cause of a man's destruction through transgression of the law must be called a man of murders and bloodshed. And deceitfulness is reasonably joined with this; for how is the one who with deceit murderously pours out the blood of men not abominable to the Lord? But how one is guided by the righteousness of God must be examined. Not yet, then, is the one who is advancing according to the righteousness of God (and this is genuine virtue), following God according to "You shall go after the Lord your God," guided by the one who supplies virtue, namely God himself. And since "They provoked him" is a human expression, it must be examined how it ought to be understood when said of God. God, being unchangeable and immutable, is impassible, though he seems to be surrounded by passions whenever we have passions; for our passions, as they approach him, are thought to be his, such as forgetfulness, which we have concerning him, is supposed to be his. For concerning us he said, "You forgot the law of your God, and I will forget your children." Similar to this saying is what is written by Paul: "If anyone is ignorant, he is ignored"—clearly by the one who said to the wicked, "Depart from me, workers of lawlessness, I never knew you." Therefore, just as the one who provokes by the bitterest wickedness suffers things worthy of his own character, he thinks that God is provoked against him by what he has done. For the soul that has fallen under the just sentence of God because of sins said this very thing: "I, provoking, was provoked"; whence also, perceiving the consequence of the judgment, it said, "The Lord is righteous, because I provoked his mouth.

All who hope in you will be glad, once those who plot against them have been destroyed. And the gladness of those who hope in you is not short-lived nor temporary; hence "They will exult forever," since you dwell in them. For how could one not always have exultation, in whom God is present, dwelling as in his own temple? For just as being far from God, when sin takes one captive, is worthy of lamentations and wailings, so exultation is proper to those who have God dwelling and walking in them. The words before us may also be spoken concerning the coming of the Savior, when all who awaited his incarnation were gladdened; for this was hoped for by the prophets and by those who understand the prophecies. For God the Word came, having become flesh by the assumption of flesh, in order that he might tabernacle in those who believe in him; for "The Word," it says, "became flesh and tabernacled in us." Since he so tabernacled, "They will exult forever" — those who received him in themselves; for they will see the glory of the one who tabernacled in them through the flesh of the Word, "as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth," those who exult forever instead of for this time, having beheld in deed the glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, who say: "Even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we no longer know him," having a vision of his glory, according to which he is the only-begotten from the Father. The cross is a weapon and a crown: a weapon because of those who wage war, a crown because of those who conquer. And again: a weapon because of the soldiers, a crown because of the kings.

Having a more divine understanding, he too is included among those in hymns and is such a person; and he sings "For the end," because the contemplations concerning the eighth are most perfect. One must consider what the spiritual circumcision is, which the one who has it is circumcised for God, since the one circumcised according to the flesh does not altogether have this. For the prophet says to those who are zealous only for circumcision according to the flesh: "Be circumcised for your God, and do not circumcise the flesh of your foreskin"; and again the same prophet: "All the nations are uncircumcised in flesh, but the house of Israel is uncircumcised in their hearts." Just as, therefore, the one circumcised perceptibly removes something of the member that serves generation, so the one who casts out every thought friendly to generation from his understanding has circumcised his heart. Those who have genuinely set before themselves celibacy have this circumcision, being anxious about the things of the Lord, so that they may please him. This circumcision is accomplished on the eighth day; for the one being circumcised must pass beyond the world that came into being in six days, and this is what it means to come to be on the seventh day, which is a true Sabbath, holy and luxuriant. And since resting from worldly activities is not sufficient for perfect blessedness, one must also receive the supercosmic state that comes after the conduct in the Sabbath, which is the eighth. The one who has experienced a desire for this will not love the world nor the things in it. The phrase mixed into the command of perceptible circumcision also leads us by the hand to this spiritual understanding, not preserving what is reasonable when they remain in bare history: "Every male," it says, "shall be circumcised on the eighth day.

For the threat of destruction is defined as applying to the transgression of what was commanded—against the child who was not circumcised on the eighth day, but not against the parents or the one otherwise rearing the child. For the threat would seem reasonable if it were brought against one of these, no longer preserving the consequence in the case of an eight-day-old child who does not yet have the capacity to act, and especially not by intention to keep a commandment of God. He is reproved with wrath, his sins are made manifest, when a bitter and painful discipline is brought upon him in requital, so that the one who has fallen under the things brought on by the wrath of God, taking awareness of the cause—the evil that was the reason for his suffering these things—is disciplined in wrath. With this understanding it is said by the one brought to perception: "I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he justifies my judgment and brings forth my cause and leads me out into the light." For whenever one brought into such a state recognizes that the wrath has been brought upon him from God by way of healing, he does not for the present refuse to be subject to it, until his judgment is justified—the judgment of the one who so judged for the sake of help. For he knows that when the wrath has accomplished its purpose according to the intention of the one who brought it, he will be led out into the light by God, his cause having been brought forth by him. If, then, of those who are reproved and disciplined, some undergo it through wrath and anger, and others through rational teaching, these things that are brought with pain for reproof and discipline must be passed through. For the repentance that comes upon these things is no longer entirely voluntary, whereas the bringing of reproof and discipline through reason has much that is voluntary.

All things, he says, when reproved by the light are made manifest, writes Paul. Reproof through light is a making manifest that comes about in the manner of a demonstration, not of sinners only but also of the righteous, since God illuminates the hidden things of sinners (who because of ignorance and wickedness have been called darkness) and makes manifest the counsels of the hearts of the righteous. Yet even if the wrath and anger of God bring upon us things that are painful, they come about with a good purpose, to prevent wickedness and impiety. Indeed, the one who has experienced the benefit of the wrath and anger gives thanks, saying: I will bless you, Lord, because you were angry with me for salvation; you turned away your wrath and had mercy on me. And God himself, revealing the goodness hidden within his anger, says: When the anger of my wrath comes, I will heal again; for he brings it upon them not to harm human beings, but to destroy the evils they have chosen of their own will. For even if the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, it is brought upon all impiety and unrighteousness of human beings, so that the unrighteousness and impiety which they had before experiencing wrath may be destroyed from among them. That no passion of God is represented by these words, we learn also from the words of Moses spoken to God, which run thus: You sent your anger and it devoured them like stubble. The painful things that fasten upon the wicked are called in these words the anger of God—his judgment coming upon those who are worthy. For neither is the

Anger is the passion of those who are sent forth; for it has its being in the spirited power of the soul alone, and when it goes outside, it does not exist at all; for it belongs to those things that have their being in others. But the healing of the soul's weakness is the power from God, so that the one who has obtained it says, "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me." But that "bones" is not spoken anywhere in Scripture, the meaning is not entirely about sensible things; one must attend to "All my bones shall say, Lord, Lord, who is like you?" and to "Our bones were scattered beside Hades." "Turn back" is understood in two ways. For sometimes such a thought is indicated: since you turned your face away from me, for what reason is it useful to me, I beseech you, that you turn and appear to me yourself. But sometimes such a contemplation is presented: since my soul, sinning, turned aside to its own harm, turn it back to yourself, calling it back according to "Turn back, sons who have revolted," to redeem it from the sins that have removed it far off and from the evil powers that work them. Those who suppose the present words were spoken about common death are mistaken, or rather they are impious. For holy men have remembrance of God not only then, when they have common life, but much more when they are separated from the corruptible body. What then does he say? Since no one becomes mindful of you in death, in which sin gives birth (and this is what separates the sinning soul from virtuous life), and I long to have remembrance of you, having inclined your goodness to this very thing—

Save me, lest the weakness and disturbance that is upon me prevail against me and I be swallowed up by death. For it is not said, "He who is in death does not remember God," but "He who remembers him is not in death," concerning whom the Savior says, "He who hears my word does not see death forever." Consider whether "I have grown old among all my enemies" can have another meaning as well. The one who lives with righteousness was always growing young, living according to the newness of the Spirit and the new covenant; but since through our negligence I have departed from living in a praiseworthy manner and have come to be among enemies, I have grown old according to the oldness of that old man, whom Paul exhorts us to put off (and that is a worthless life), so that we may put on the new man, created according to God in holiness and knowledge of the truth—and this is the life that is undefiled. You will understand these things to be said also against the invisible enemies and evil powers who wrought their plot against him, who envy his progress according to God, and who after his sin, rejoicing in evil, say, "There is no salvation for him in his God." With good intent he prays for his enemies; for he wishes them to be ashamed of the things they were doing, on account of which they were enemies both of the righteous and of God. And this will be beneficial to them; for the one who is ashamed from a sense of perception and is disturbed at the wickedness being worked by him, having condemned it, will cease from working any longer in this way. The interpretation is confirmed by the following verse, which reads thus:

Let the enemies be turned back in confusion, no longer driving forward in evil but turning back to the virtuous conduct they had abandoned. And let this very thing, which is happening for their good, come to pass not with a delay of time or remissly, but very swiftly. 39 He was called "son of Iemeni" from the people, whence Saul was, and Shimei, and the one who reported the message of Saul; and "son of Arachi" from his father; and "chief of the friends" is the ruler of the friends and one ancient in friendship. He sings the psalm practically, bringing it forth at the same time theoretically. It is said in the inscription of the fourth psalm that the psalm indicates action, while the ode indicates contemplation; and since there are inscriptions having "a psalm of an ode" or "an ode of a psalm," one must speak about them, that the ode of a psalm is the contemplation concerning practical matters and ethical instruction, while the psalm of an ode is the action necessarily taken up in contemplating the truth; for many things are done for the sake of the contemplation of wisdom, which one would not be off the mark in calling a psalm of an ode. Since these things are contemplated, David reasonably sings the present psalm as one who is practical, contemplating each of the things done wisely and in a manner wholly befitting God, wishing to know what each thing is signified by from the things thus perceptibly accomplished. One must also set out the very words of the psalm, which begin thus: "O Lord my God," etc. Who is this who said, "There is no savior besides me," the one who came "to seek and to save the lost," and "to give his soul as a ransom in exchange for many"? These things show that the Father, being God, saves through the Son, who is God the Word.

Therefore the divinity of the Father and the Son must not be divided even in the preceding passages, as some have supposed. I beseech you, Lord, that you, having risen in anger, be seen high in the ends of the enemies; for thus the things of injustice will have an end, on account of which they are my enemies. It is possible to call the ends of enemies their boastings and arrogance, on which having arrived and thinking themselves to be firm in them, they suppose themselves to be at the best ends. The prayer is not one of self-defense; for not repaying evils for evils, having sparing toward those who are his enemies, he prays that they may know that God is exalted in their ends, having used anger not against their substance but against the worst disposition they have. And since the Scripture is cited as having "In the ends of my enemies," it is made clear that they are enemies of the holy one and of God. Almost as if to say, according to my innocence and righteousness bring on your judgment; for thus I too shall be justified, no injustice being found in my deeds. And innocence in these things, he says, must not be understood as simplicity according to what is written, "The innocent believes every word," but as the simplicity that is pure from guile, according to which meaning it was said to God by the holy one, "But you took hold of me because of my innocence," and "I walked in my innocence." Since in some copies it is cited as "Judge me, Lord, according to your righteousness," the word must be expounded thus: there is a certain righteousness of God attainable by humans, distinguished from a lesser righteousness.

Paul, then, writing about the difference between these things, says concerning the Jews: "For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge; for being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to the righteousness of God." And when he calls the righteousness of God that which comes to all who believe through Jesus Christ, which he himself also possessed, having desired it, he says that all things have been cast away by which he was righteous in a Jewish manner, so that he might be found having the righteousness that is from God through faith, and not his own. Jesus, wishing this righteousness to be supplied also to his disciples, said to them: "Unless your righteousness abounds more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Since this distinction exists between human righteousness and the righteousness of God, he wishes to be judged according to the will of the Master, knowing that to be judged in this way will turn out for his salvation. With God, to examine and search hearts does not mean to seek and track down, but to have a complete comprehension; for he is the knower of hidden things, and every mind is manifest to him. And by "kidneys" one must not understand the bodily organs, but the noetic powers of the soul, which are called by the same name as the bodily ones. This is established from many scriptures, one of which is: "It is near to their mouth, but far from their kidneys." This was said concerning wicked men, who confess with their word that God exists, but do not have him in their understanding. "My help is righteous from God, who saves the upright in heart." By this he teaches with power, if he saves the upright in heart.

I demand just help from him, by which I shall be saved—a heart that is upright, being without any guile; therefore I also ask to be judged on the basis of my innocence. Having offered petition that the wickedness of sinners be brought to an end and that the Lord be exalted over the ends of his enemies, having risen in anger because of love for his neighbors, he wishes no one to suffer the consummation of wickedness unwillingly, but that they, having come to know by deliberate choice that God is a judge. But if God is a righteous judge, sinning must be feared; for we have our account before a judge who sees what is hidden and is ignorant of nothing that is done. And just as he is a judge, so also is he righteous, bringing the judgment according to worth upon those judged by him. But being a righteous judge, he also has strength, so as to be able to punish those who transgress without delay. If ever, then, he does not exact penalties for impieties and sins immediately, the postponement of recompense comes about by the longsuffering that is from the goodness of the judge; for if he were only a righteous and strong judge, the whole would have been utterly destroyed, since the mind of men inclines readily to sinning—but because, in addition to what has been said, he also has longsuffering. For the good man does not bring anger every day, although impiety and sins are constantly occurring. But he is longsuffering not so that we may persist in wickedness, but so that we may have a time and place for repentance; for he wishes the repentance of the sinner, so that he may live rather than the death which he receives who persists in sinning, being ignorant of what is said: The goodness of God leads you to repentance.

Nevertheless, even if he does not bring wrath upon them each day because of his exceeding goodness and patience, yet for those who persist in wickedness throughout their life, wrath will be brought upon them in the day of wrath—that is, in the day of judgment. For if you do not turn back, he says—that is, if you take pleasure in persisting in sin—he will make his sword gleam (meaning: he will sharpen it). And along with it he will also make ready his bow, preparing in it vessels of death, having wrought—clearly—the arrows of punishments against those who are set ablaze by the burning of the passions. In many places of the divine teachings punishment is signified by the name of the sword. For what is written in the prophet Amos, "All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword," does not signify a perceptible blade; for not absolutely all sinners are put to death by slaughter in the readily understood sense—since it is not necessary that all sinners be handed over to punishment and perish in Gehenna in soul and body. The same is signified also in the prophet Zephaniah, when God says: "And you, Ethiopians, are wounded by my sword"—by the sword of God that has been made clear, every man being called an Ethiopian because of the darkness that comes from ignorance and wickedness. But most plainly in Exodus the sword was taken up in place of the most cruel punishment, where the scribes of the sons of Israel who were set over the works of the tyrant, appointed by him, having fallen under the bitterest threat and affliction, met Moses and Aaron and said, cursing: "May God look upon you and judge; for you have made our odor abominable before Pharaoh, to put a sword in his hand to kill us.

For they did not have in mind the sword made of iron, but the cruelty of the ruler, when they said these things. From these words too the longsuffering of God is made evident, since he did not use the sword sharply against those who do not repent, but polished it. And he also bent the bow and made ready to shoot the arrows of punishment, but he has not yet released the arrows, although he has fashioned them and holds them ready to shoot. It is possible to say that by "in the bow vessels of death have been prepared" are meant those who serve the punishments, who are called in many places "vessels of wrath"; these are the evil angels, through whom wrath and fury and affliction are sent out upon those who deserve them. But whether the arrows that have been fashioned for those who are burned, being filled with poisonous drug, are the vessels of death, must be considered. He who travailed with lawlessness conceived pain, to bring forth injustice. These offspring bring destruction upon the one who conceived them, who will be punished for the lawlessness and injustice that he committed, and in return he will also conceive pain in the punishment, or pain in the act of sinning. For the working of lawlessness is most heavy and burdensome, compared to a talent of lead; for nothing is more downward-dragging than wickedness, which always carries downward the one who has been made its own. It has been said by some that, because of the disorder of wickedness, travail was mentioned before conception. For in the case of women who are pregnant, travail comes after conception, and after that the bearing of the child; but here travail has been named before conception, because nothing in wickedness has sequence or order. And it is well that lawlessness has been placed before injustice.

For from this, one who has become lawless is no longer under the law of righteousness, so as thereafter to set upon other men as well, for the purpose of wronging them. This is found especially in the case of Cain: for formerly, having become lawless by not dividing rightly what he ought to have sacrificed to God, later he also brought forth injustice, attacking his brother murderously. But these words are especially appropriated to the devil, who is the originator of evil, because he was the first of all to act lawlessly and to do injustice. And everyone who sins first harms himself, then another or others; for evil is harmful and injurious, and before all it damages and harms the one who partakes of it. For the folly of a man corrupts his ways, whence it has been aptly said, Evils shall pursue those who sin. And what is the pit that the one being reproached dug, or the evil he committed? For it is written concerning the sinning soul, As a pit cools water, so does its evil cool. And a pit is taken in many places of Scripture in place of evil, as in, If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit; for here too one must understand as blind teachers and disciples those blinded by ignorance and other evil. Having begun the psalm from hoping in the Lord his God, he comes to rest in thanksgiving, as is likely, having obtained the things asked for or faithfully expecting them; for thanksgiving is indicated here by I will give thanks; therefore also I will sing has been joined with it. And he gives thanks not as it happens, but According to the righteousness of God; and he sings not carelessly, but To the name of the Lord Most High, as one who already has it invoked upon himself.

Therefore he is also exalted in holiness and virtue; for no one is lowly except the one who, being lifted up for the sake of piety, has partaken of the title of the Most High. For the life of each man is called a vineyard in the Scriptures. Concerning such a one, the righteous Naboth withstood the one who demanded it tyrannically, choosing rather to die than to give his vineyard to the one who wished to make it a garden of vegetables. For the man was great-souled, and the vineyard was fought over, a life most excellent, both practical and contemplative. This the wicked wish to take, not for the purpose of bearing fruit according to it, but to drag it down into temporary and quickly withering things, rightly called vegetables; for he says, As vegetables they shall quickly fall away. This is said concerning those who have temporary pursuits. Similar to this vineyard are those named in the Song of Songs: The sons of my mother fought against me, they set me as a keeper in the vineyards; my own vineyard I did not keep. We have now taken up this expression only for the sake of showing that the name of the vineyard signifies life. The one who bears fruit according to such a vineyard brings forth clusters of truth and a bunch of grapes. It is fitting to pluck these produce of the vine when they have their season for harvesting, and to carry them to the winepresses, so that when pressed they may make the wine that gladdens the heart of man. And since the life is both practical and contemplative, some of the contemplations of the truth,

But he will bear fruit with praiseworthy works. And the winepress into which the fruits are brought is not one, but many; hence the song is not "for the winepress" but "for the winepresses." And again, since the practical virtues of the fruit are many, each will have its own winepress: one winepress of temperance, into which those who practice celibacy and those who keep their bed undefiled bring their fruits; another of courage, into which its cultivators bring theirs; and concerning the other virtues they set down similar things. Since there are many winepresses into which those who cultivate the practical virtues bring them, like vineyards, it is necessary that there also be many of the contemplative life, into which those who have borne clusters as fruit bring the doctrines and contemplations of the truth. When these things are said, let no one deceive himself by rejecting the sequence of the virtues. For where there is one, the kindred virtues are also present, but since those who partake do not have an equal inclination toward all, from the one they do have they are named rather than from the others: the one who partakes more of justice is named from this, and likewise in the case of each of the others. For in this way you will also understand the different beatitudes spoken in the Gospel, from the one who is most powerful in a certain respect being called meek, another merciful, and correspondingly in the case of the rest. But this song is also arranged in its own number, being the eighth.

For it has great harmony with the day of the Lord's resurrection, on which there was a vintage of many vines, when the disciples of the one who rose from the dead were sent out to make disciples of all the nations and to bear witness to the one who rose to the ends of the earth, so that the name of the risen one might be spread everywhere, as is immediately evident from the words of the psalm. Formerly, when Israel alone adhered to the worship of God, it was said concerning God, "In Israel his name is great," but now that the prophecy has been fulfilled—"All the nations will serve him" (for he is the expectation of the nations)—"Wonderful is your name in all the earth" has come to pass, among those everywhere who partake of the name of Christ. For "he has magnified his name over all," as is recorded in another psalm. And the reason why his name is marveled at everywhere on earth is given in the following verse. For since it says, "Your magnificence has been exalted above the heavens," when you were taken up after rising from the dead, people everywhere on earth are called Christians by your name, that of Christ. The magnificence of the Savior exalted above the heavens is the economy which he undertook for the salvation of the world. For what is to be found in it that falls short of having what is fitting among great things? His magnificence was exalted above the heavens when he sat at the right hand of the Majesty on high, after he had made purification for sins. In this sense one must also understand that he became higher than the heavens after the resurrection.

Perhaps all who believe from the nations and those from the circumcision who have come to the gospel—even if they have the stature of the outer man—are infants in evil, and are made childish because they possess simplicity, not knowing wickedness. The difference between infants and those who nurse is set forth by the wording: the latter still receive milk, while those who nurse are called infants, having surpassed that age, for whom solid food after milk is suitable, according to the apostle who wrote to the Corinthians: I gave you milk to drink, not solid food. It must be understood also in another way: the one being introduced, receiving milk, is nursing; but the one perfected in understanding, yet childish in evil, is an infant. Such are all who have turned and become like little children. For not much is lacking to them of having knowledge of you by nature and of being made like you in holiness and the reception of virtue, as far as is attainable. And most rightly it is said, You lowered him, but not you made him lower. For the man, being equal in honor and equal in strength to the immortal rational beings, was lowered from those of God

by providence, through which you alone, the one provided for, were cast into mortal life by being entwined with the flesh. But even if things did not turn out that way for him, nevertheless he has surpassing honor, having been crowned with honor and glory by you in that he was made according to your image and likeness, for which image and likeness you entrusted to him, since he is rational, the guardianship of mortal creatures, subjecting all things to him so that he has them as it were under his feet. These words, spoken concerning Christ, Paul writes to the Hebrews, beginning the passage thus: But someone testified somewhere, What is man, that you remember him? And setting down in order the other words of the psalm, he added: But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death; for it was fitting for him, through whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. Observe the sequence: he is not appointed to rule all mortal creatures indiscriminately, but the tame ones. For he does not rule the unicorn, nor is he set over the other strong and wild beasts, as one who rules the tame ones, from the phrase Sheep and all oxen, and moreover the beasts of the field, and the rest. I think this has not been said well. For before the transgression man also ruled over these; but the righteous also rule over these after the transgression, as Daniel, cast into the den of lions and suffering no harm from them, and Paul, shaking the viper from his hand into the fire. For wild beasts, it says, shall be at peace with you.

In addition to these things, through the beasts of the field the wild animals are also included, as we have learned in Genesis. It was fitting that the song spoken concerning the resurrection of the Savior should have its end like its beginning; for both beginning and ending he uses the same word, the Spirit teaching that the beginning is the same in subject as the end. This accords with "How wonderful is your name in all the earth" and "Let all the earth worship you and sing praises to you." Since "whose son he is" is not added, it is clear that the Savior is meant, being so named in many places. At any rate, in the Epistle to the Hebrews Paul said, "Christ, as a son over his house, whose house we are"; and again, "In these last days he has spoken to us in a son"; and the Savior himself says concerning himself in the Gospel, "If therefore the son sets you free, you will truly be free." It is well also that "to the end" has reference to the present victory song. For it was for the sake of that end that the Savior came, concerning which the foremost of the apostles writes, "Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of souls," concerning which salvation prophets sought and searched diligently, and shortly after, "Having foretold the sufferings destined for Christ and the glories after these things." Perhaps the Jews will say that the inscription refers to Absalom, who was a son of the one who sings the psalm, being refuted as having interpreted it incorrectly, since they have erred in all respects by not searching the Scriptures.

For what persuasive thing do they have to say regarding the "concerning hidden things," unless perhaps they claim that the "concerning hidden things" refers to the secret thoughts that came to Absalom? But what is said by them has great foolishness. Such a sitting signifies him as a judge, but not that he is seated on some throne. Consider whether there is room to say that, when the nations were rebuked, the impious man perishes in their own manner, so that they no longer bear the name. And this will happen when what was said earlier is fulfilled, which reads thus: "The way of the impious shall perish." And the swords of the enemy are perhaps the heretical teachings and the vices according to kind, which were failing so as no longer to be able to fight for the cities they had, and they themselves shall be destroyed; and the cities are gatherings unlawfully constituted and administered. For it is written concerning the one who founded them: "He who builds cities in blood and prepares cities in injustices." For their matter is the injustices and the shedding of blood of those who are scandalized. These the Savior will destroy when he comes, having destroyed the enemy who wishes to rule tyrannically over the cities he thought he had. Those who have beheld this valor with a divine eye, praising the hero, speak as with one voice, offering the thanksgiving voice, beginning thus: "O Lord my God, I will glorify you, I will hymn your name, because you have done marvelous things, an ancient counsel, true. May it be, O Lord, because you have made cities into a heap, the city of the impious shall not be built for ever.

Consider whether it signifies the unawakened fall of Jerusalem, since the Savior was crucified in her, her citizens being thereafter impious because of the killing of the Lord. The phrase "with a shout" stands in place of "not with quietness of shouting," for those who won the achievement have begun it. He exhorts those present to withdraw from evil and impiety, and to draw near to virtue and piety. For who, having understanding and believing what has been said in this way, will not fear lest he fall under the one who judges in righteousness and in uprightness because of blameworthy deeds and an impious mind? For when he judges in this way, the judgment will be inescapable. An indication of this is what was spoken from the person of God: "In an acceptable time I heard you," and what is in the hundred and first psalm, which reads thus: "You, having risen, will have mercy on Zion, for it is time to have mercy on her, for the time has come." Having gone beyond every human confidence (for they had safe and perfect knowledge of your name), they will hope in none of those things, but they seek God—those who wish all things to be supplied by him, which they are not able to have from themselves; therefore they are not abandoned by him. It is fitting to hear this word also in a holy and prudent manner. For if someone should think that the one who prospers in worldly matters is not abandoned by God, he is mistaken. For many impious people live thus. Otherwise it would be possible to say that Abel was abandoned (for he was killed), but also the prophets and apostles; for they were afflicted continually, and in the end most of them were killed by men.

We say that he who is encompassed by God until his last breath has not been forsaken, even if he suffers countless things at the hands of enemies, since the distinction has been made. For this is truly what it means not to be forsaken by the Lord. The manner in which one ought to seek God is presented from what stands written in Wisdom: "Think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in simplicity of heart, because he is found by those who do not test him, and he appears to those who do not disbelieve him." Those who have the singing in spirit and mind are commanded to speak a hymn; these sing with pious understanding and the thought of the Spirit, for they are commanded to sing and to sing praise with the heart. Those who sing in this way to the Lord who dwells in Zion, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, receive also another command from him, to declare his doings among the nations. And these are the things he wondrously did when he came among them, both intelligible and perceptible. The second command might be said to apply especially to the apostles, who were sent to make disciples of all the nations. And because, seeking out their blood, he remembered those slain by the fiery arrows of the evil one. To these, he says, is added: "He did not forget the cry of the poor," concerning which one might raise the question: how did the poor from among the nations cry out to God, though they had been slain by the polytheistic deceit that held them and by the invisible enemies who worked it? To this it must be said that they bring up the cry in reality, just as the blood of Abel cries out to God, and the wages withheld from the workers.

For behold, he says, the wages of those who reaped your fields cries out—the one defrauded by you; for the cry of the defrauded wage belongs not to the one who labored but to the owner of the field that was reaped. But another meaning may also be stated: those from the Gentiles whose blood were mentioned are not entirely the same as the poor whose voice the Benefactor did not forget. For these can be those who prophesied beforehand concerning the Gentiles, of whom one said, "To you shall the nations come from the farthest part of the earth," and another, "All the nations, as many as you have made, shall come and worship before you." And even in these, "poor" is said of those who fall far short of the wealth of the Godhead, or of divine knowledge; for for a time they prophesied in part. Since that death lies somewhere below, concerning which it is written, "Death swallowed them up when it prevailed," the enemies cause those who are humbled by them to come into it, either through affliction or through sinning. It is possible, by the mercy of God, to be outside this death and the humiliation that comes from it. For he who still has something of the things here and is affected by the world, being in humiliation—if he should receive perception of his own evils and knowledge of the goodness of God—will say in the manner of a prayer: "Have mercy on me, and see my humiliation, which has come from my enemies; for they have humiliated me, dragging me down; but you alone are able, through goodness, to exalt me, who am essentially present with you, from the gates of death." One must understand the daughters of Zion as those who participate in her, in a manner corresponding to the fact that some are called sons of light and of peace and of wisdom.

But the gates of the daughter of Zion, being opposite the gates of death, are praiseworthy deeds and the contemplations accomplished according to virtue and the wisdom of God. Since virtue is called incorruptibility in the passage "Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility," the vice that stands opposite will correspondingly be called corruption and decay. It is established that vice is called corruption from the passage "If anyone destroys the temple of God," and from what is said in the prophet to the wicked: "Because of incorruptibility you were corrupted with corruption"; in agreement with these is also "In your corruption, Israel, who will help?" The so-called corruption, when it is practiced, has its existence as having been made by those who possess it, it is declared. The word says that the nations were pierced in the corruption which they practiced. For no one is held liable for another's impiety and sin; for each will die in his own sin. And since the wicked, having first harmed themselves, also try to lead others into the same harm through deceit, they secretly prepare snares in their treacherous thoughts and words, in order to catch the one who is off guard. But they are punished by the very snare which they hid. For they pay the penalty also on account of those whom they deceived. And this suffering comes about by the discernment of God who provides; for how is it not his judgment that the sinner is caught in his own deeds, having the pretext for being condemned from the evil things he did? In harmony with this is what was said a little earlier, having as follows: "He who digs a pit for his neighbor will fall into it himself.

Having already spoken about the diapsalma, we must now speak about the song of the diapsalma. Since the psalm before us begins with "I will give thanks to you, O Lord," the recitation has continued as far as "The sinner was seized"; after this, since the wording of a song begins from "Let them be turned back," it is fitting to join the name of the song to the diapsalma. For if the whole psalm is called a song, then in manner and power the designation "song" would certainly have been placed before it, as is demonstrated in the case of many psalms. But since this is not so, and the song begins after the diapsalma, it is with good reason that "Song of the diapsalma" has been placed in between. It will be shown that the following words have the meaning of a song, when those very words have been set out: "Let them be turned back," etc. Let the sinners be turned back into Hades, who attack like enemies. And explaining who the sinners are, he added that they are the nations that forget God. But by "sinners" and "nations" one must understand not only human beings but also incorporeal powers. For if

The word "sinner" does not signify a substance but a quality; it is a paronym derived from "sin," and everyone who partakes of sin must be so named. In accordance with these things, the nations too will be called. And just as one who is not in heaven in a local sense, while still walking on earth, can be there in citizenship and understanding, so one who is not dwelling in Hades in a local sense can bear the signs of deadness and of sinning itself, so as to inhabit Hades itself even while being in this life with the body. And "poor" is said both of the one who is poor because of sin, and of the modest and unassuming man, and of the one who needs to receive from God; and each such person is created. In accordance with all these ways, the one called poor is remembered by God. And even if for some advantage it should seem that a forgetting of him occurs, it does not remain entirely, and for this reason, "He will not be forgotten forever." But in what way a poor man will differ from a needy man, we shall say as we proceed, whenever the occasion calls us to speak about these things. You, O Lord, who make the puffed-up and arrogant fall from their blameworthy height, opposing the proud—let them not, then, be strengthened, but let them be judged before you; for surpassing benefit will follow for them. And let "Let not man be strengthened" be interpreted as said about the devil, concerning whom it is said in the parable of the tares that he is a man who is an enemy, but also in the prophecy, "This is the man who provokes the earth." And since this man was being strengthened before the Savior's descent, saying, "I will take possession of the whole inhabited world with my hand as a nest, and as eggs left behind I will take them up"—

No one can escape me or contradict me; the race of humans, unable to endure his words spoken with arrogance, brings a petition to the Savior, saying: Arise, O Master, come down to us, so that the man who exalts himself against us may not be strengthened for long. And the devil is called "man," not because he is a mortal rational living being, but because he has fallen away from divinity, just as those to whom God said, "I said: You are gods, and all sons of the Most High; but you die like men." The prophet asks and inquires of God as a man, saying: Why, Lord, have you stood far off? And the word would say to him in answer: The goodness of God leads sinners to repentance. But God is far removed from sinners, since sin itself separates and drives sinners far away, according to what is said: Your sins separate between me and you. For otherwise God is always present to all and fills all things, being everywhere. Therefore it has been said in the prophecies: I am a God who is near, says the Lord, and not a God far off. But when the righteous are afflicted in the present life and worn down by the ungodly, you leave them, he says, O Lord, as though standing far off, and you overlook them; therefore the arrogance of the ungodly also increases, and it sets on fire your poor and needy one, who burns with godly zeal and is inflamed in soul from within. And especially those who are deprived of divine wealth and wisdom and are not exact concerning the doctrines of piety.

For they do not stumble at the judgments of wise providence when they praise the sinner for the things he desires, since it is evident that the sinner reaches not for things worthy of choice but for pleasures and things subject to passion. Moreover, from the same error they consider it a blessing when people possess wealth and human and temporary glory, claiming that those who do injustice are blessed by God; but one ought to have understood that God's blessing is given to the righteous. And even if God has seemed to stand far off and to overlook those who are oppressed, because he is disturbed by the arrogance of the impious, nevertheless he is greatly angered against the arrogant man who caused scandal and (to speak according to the Scripture) set the poor man on fire, and because he made bad use of the things that belonged to him through God's providence. For this is established from the following words; for it is said: The sinner provoked the Lord. And this is the impious man who exalts himself and is praised for his own desires. But he provoked the Lord to such an extent that the anger became intensified, which he himself stored up for himself, according to what was said: According to your hardness and impenitent heart you store up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath. Yet even if the wrath stored up by him is great, nevertheless there will not be an examination on the day of judgment according to its abundance and magnitude, because of the goodness of God who judges. For if an examination were made according to the abundance of the wrath, the wicked would be utterly destroyed and at once. Having observed this very thing, they say to the one who demonstrates goodness: If you should mark iniquities, O Lord, O Lord, who will stand?

The reason for provoking the sinner is that he does not have the Lord before his eyes and in his presence, since he has turned away from God. For everyone who sins does this; therefore God says concerning every such person: They turned their backs to me and not their faces. Cain, having become the father of this impiety, went out from the presence of the Lord God, clearly having turned away from him. If these things are said concerning sinful men, much more also concerning the devil, who provokes God and does not have him before him. For especially the words that follow are said concerning him: His ways are profaned at every time. For whose ways are profaned at every time, when the impious duly accomplish many things often? But he walks profanely, leading men not only into blameworthy actions, but also defining providence away. At any rate he persuaded many to dogmatize that the world is without a protector, having himself first fallen from the right opinion concerning God's governance and judgment. This is established from what is said to God concerning him: Your judgments are taken away from his presence; he will lord it over all his enemies—not as though he will altogether obtain this, but because he himself has proposed this; for it is false that he is or will be lord of all his enemies. For especially his enemies are those who are perfect in holiness, over whom he rules nothing. But he lords it over only those who commit sin; for it is said: Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. And the slave of sin is lorded over by the devil, who worked sin in him.

And according to the insatiableness of his wickedness there follows what is next added: "For he said," it says, "I shall not be shaken from generation to generation in evil." The word discloses the rashness of his arrogance together with his shamelessness. Anyone who has attended to this utterance will interpret "He will gain dominion over all his enemies" as spoken concerning only those men who became his enemies. For if from generation to generation he said in his heart that he would never be shaken in evil, it is evident that it was spoken concerning only men who possess their existence by succession. Yet not even this is altogether true; for he did not gain dominion over the holy patriarchs and prophets and apostles; rather they themselves had him under their feet, since Jesus granted them this authority. He who has fallen from his holiness, who has led himself far away from truth and blessing, has his mouth full of cursing, through the things he says, attempting to make those who are deceived subject to punishment and a curse. And his word, together with the deceitful part, has great cunning; therefore along with the curse his word is also full of bitterness and deceit, being called his mouth. And since he brings forward each of these things for harm and destruction under his tongue, and this tongue is the deceitful word, it is toil and labor; for nothing is gentle or good, but whatever he brings forward produces toil and pain. Being through all things harmful and having set himself to be the cause of destruction, he chooses out men who seem to be rich in word (having a falsely named knowledge), and sitting with them in secret, in order to escape notice as to who he is, he attempts to lie in wait, so that the guiltless

he kills, having wounded him with his fiery arrows; for these are productive of death, since he drags down from the life that is with virtue the one struck by the arrows. It is also possible to punctuate thus: "He lies in wait with the rich"; and after punctuating, we add: "in secret to kill the innocent." For the phrase "in secret," creating ambiguity, is distinguished in either way, which we have indeed already done before, punctuating "He lies in wait with the rich in secret," but later reading it thus: "He lies in wait with the rich in secret to kill the innocent." Moreover, even if he lies in wait for the rich, sitting together with those previously mentioned to capture and kill the innocent, yet one must note that he cannot wound any of those wise according to God, who has put on the whole armor of God; therefore he keeps his eyes on the poor man, persuading himself that he has him as one who can be captured, the same being as the poor man set on fire at the arrogance of the impious. He lies in wait in secret like a wild lion in his den to seize the poor man through deceitful words (and sometimes also through deeds), whom he will also drag after seizing him in his snare, to devour him. For he is a wild beast, or rather this very thing, a lion. Often, then, lying in wait, ostensibly discussing the management of a household, he hides the word about love of money. As again, speaking about chastity, he suggests a manner of licentiousness, just as he deceived Eve in paradise through the transgression of the commandment, suggesting equality with God, and Judas through love of money. The phrase "to stoop" that is set down indicates that, having turned his eye downward, he fell.

For how would the one who rejects providence not look downward, by saying "God has forgotten," and the rest? Though he was able at once by humiliation to bring low the proud man who tyrannizes over those disturbed by his audacity, for what reason, being able to help them, did he allow them to be afflicted for a time, in which happening you were known not only to observe the toil upon him and through him? And this happened so that those benefited through the temporary affliction might willingly hand themselves over into your hands, having thereafter a desire to be disciplined and to be ruled by you. To you, then, the poor man is left behind; you will manage the things concerning his salvation, in order to make him rich, providing good things from heaven. Thus he himself also helps the orphan, standing before him and rearing him into the rank of a son. An orphan in these matters must be understood as the one who once had the devil as a father through wickedness, but now has cast him off by way of repentance. As symbols of these orphans who were taken up to have help from God, Abraham left the house of his father in order to follow God when called, and the sons of Zebedee left their father at the urging of Jesus who said, "Follow me." And who would be a sinner and a wicked man, spoken of with the article, except the devil? His arm is crushed by the Lord, and his sin, being sought, is not found, having in its completion received its end of existing. For evil is not some substance but a quality, and thus the end of all things will be brought about, for the sake of which all other things have come to be.

But he himself is subject to no one, so that his kingdom has no end. For it is not possible for the same person to be under two lords and kings. When sin was lord and king over the one who commits it, God was not lord or king over the sinner. But since sin, which reigned over the one who worked it, was sought and not found, the Lord reigns forever and forever and ever. The earth of God is called the good heart. From this earth the nations are destroyed, whenever every base thought and evil reasoning is cast out; for the nations are base thoughts and reasonings, destroyed by God's beneficence. But if someone wishes the earth of the meek also to be meant (for it too is the Lord's), the nations are destroyed from this earth. For everyone who sins is not permitted to ascend into it; for only the saints will inherit it. For it has been said by one of the saints: I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. And to another God said: I will bring you up upon the good things of the earth. The desire of the poor was that the one who tyrannically lorded it over them should fall. Since, then, this has come about, when the arm of the sinner and the evil man was broken, reasonably their desire has been made manifest to God, who knows the hearts and knows what is hidden, being an effective prayer. And the Lord heard them, his ear attending to the readiness of their governing faculty; for how would those who had the desire of the things previously spoken not have their heart ready for salvation?

Here too "man" must be understood in two ways: both as the mortal, rational living being who boasts, and as the devil who says, "I will seize the whole inhabited world with my hand, and there is no one who will escape me or speak against me." For he will no longer boast, being crushed under the feet of the saints who trample his power, Jesus granting this. 73. But it should also be read thus: "In the Lord I have trusted; how will you say to my soul, Behold, the sinners have bent the bow, they have made ready their arrows in the quiver," and what follows. By these words he urges his own soul to be lifted up like a sparrow on the wings of virtue, so that, passing over to the spiritual mountains that are lofty, it may remain unharmed. But however the distinction of the reading may be taken, it is fitting to have trusted in the Lord. And in contemplation: when many enemies, visible and invisible, have been sophistically prepared, as though already holding the ruling faculty at full tension, resembling a bent bow through their readiness, and arrows too are ready—these being persuasive words—to shoot you down, you have your dwelling in the high mountains, where, once you have arrived, you will not be wounded. And it is said that the more divine thoughts of the Scriptures are signified by the name of mountains; besides these, also the wise teachers, apostles, and prophets. It is possible to understand "Migrate to the mountains like a sparrow" as spoken by the Spirit, exhorting the one who wishes to escape the venomous wounding of the archers to withdraw.

But if the same invisible powers, being akin to the archers, should say, "Migrate to the mountains like a sparrow," we shall understand it as spoken mockingly, since they wish to make faint-hearted those who trust in God with their whole heart. And since those archers who are prepared for such sophistry are sons of darkness and of night, they have set themselves to shoot in the moonless night at those who have a straight heart. The Lord, being righteous, what will he do? Will he not rain his snares upon sinners and apportion to them a cup of punishment, so that, having drunk, they may grow weak from their rush to shoot? 75 10:4–7. The words concerning the Father, or also concerning the Savior himself: before the incarnation, his holy temple must be understood as the holy and heavenly conception concerning him. "In his holy temple"—and he has his throne in heaven, reigning divinely and heavenly. We have noted also in what came before that "throne" is taken in place of "kingdom." But the overseeing and watchful powers of God, called his eyes, when they come to the poor man, guard him unharmed by the things administered concerning him. The eyelids of the eyes of God examine the deeds and the thoughts of men. From this the judge's love of humanity is established. For if he examined with eyes and not with eyelids, the judgment would be unbearable for men. But his examining their affairs with his eyelids means that not all the sins of those judged are closely observed, nor those that are of such magnitude. And it is well said:

His eyes are upon the one who is benefited, even if he be a poor man, and his eyelids upon the sons—many are the sons of men—so that the benefits may be accomplished abundantly with boldness, while the punishments may have much that is hidden concerning God. And these things the words mean: they do not indicate any perceptible eyelid or anything else of that sort, whence these things must also be understood in a manner befitting God. It is Christ by whom all must be made manifest at the judgment seat, so that each may receive the things done through the body, whether good or evil. And having said that an examination is made by the Lord of the righteous and the ungodly, he adds that he hates his own soul who loves wickedness, which is injustice, making it punishable through sinning; the opposite of which the one who acts righteously does, loving his own soul and his neighbor as himself, who leads himself to virtue. The statement "The Lord examines the righteous and the ungodly" does not conflict with "the ungodly shall not rise in judgment." For the one signifies those who are wholly godless, while the other signifies those who through sinning despise God. For more scriptures make this clear, especially the one that says, "The righteous shall be as the ungodly," in Genesis. He will rain snares upon sinners—that is, punishments that ensnare and bring those who are caught within the nets—unless perhaps it means their being handed over by him to the desires of their hearts; this also indicates passions of dishonor and a reprobate mind. And see whether it is for this reason that it is said, "He will rain," and not "He will rain snares"; for indeed, upon those ensnared by themselves, snares are rained.

This is also made clear from the words, "But the Lord will bring those who turn aside into stranglings together with those who work lawlessness." You may apply to both retributions what is written in Proverbs: "God will send crooked ways to the crooked." For in relation to the first retribution, the crooked ways are punishments sent out upon those who have become crooked through wickedness; and in relation to the other, they are the deliverances by which those who sin willingly are delivered over, which are made clear through the passions of dishonor and the things that have been enumerated. "Fire and brimstone and a spirit of tempest is the portion of their cup." Painful recompenses are often made clear in Scripture by the name of "cup," as in Isaiah: "Awake, awake, Jerusalem, you who have drunk the cup of falling, the goblet of wrath," and what follows. But in Jeremiah the same is presented from the voice that says, "Thus says the Lord, the Almighty, the God of Israel: Take the cup of unmixed wine from my hand and make all the nations drink it, to whom I shall send you." Perhaps, then, in agreement with these, in the present passage too "the portion of the cup" that has been apportioned to them makes clear punishment, especially since the fullness of this cup is "fire and brimstone and a spirit of tempest," of which the forms of punishments recorded in Genesis, coming upon Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord, are symbols. In addition to this fire and brimstone, there is also a spirit of tempest in the drinking of the cup. The fire makes clear the threat through burning, and the brimstone the occasion that stirs up the fire still more.

In addition to these things, the Spirit of the storm indicates the gathering of some trial. That the storm indicates trial can be clearly learned from what is written in Isaiah: "As a storm passing through the desert, coming near, a fearful vision and hard was announced to me." Let us therefore flee from impiety, so that this cup may be far from us, and let us live in piety, so that we may drink the intoxicating drink as the best; concerning which perhaps that also has been said: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup." For the Lord is righteous and has loved righteousnesses; his face has seen uprightnesses. And for this reason he keeps his eyes upon the poor man, caring for his salvation, but also upon sinners he sends snares. For it does not happen by chance, if it is among the things of providence and of God's judgment; but the Lord is righteous by essence, not by participation in righteousness. Yet even if he is so by nature, he now loves the righteousnesses among the many righteous, accepting the purpose of each one. It is possible to say in another way also that he loves righteousnesses: since of each judgment there is some

Righteousness, and many are the judgments of God about which it is written, "The judgments of the Lord are true, justified together," so it is necessary that the righteousnesses also be many. And just as he is righteous, so also he looks upon uprightness; and you will call uprightness the mind that is regulated according to right reason; this he sees, rejoicing in those who possess it. One might also speak of uprightness in harmony with the second understanding concerning the righteousnesses, which exists in his unsearchable judgments, which he sees because he wholly approves his own face; for God, being present, appears in the works of providence and in the results of the judgments. When humanity was filled with deceit and wickedness, so that there was no mercy and truth and knowledge of God on the earth, for the dissolution of the harm that existed there arose the need of the Savior's visitation to us. For this you will take what is in Jeremiah: "Each one will mock his neighbor, they will not speak truth; their tongue has learned to speak lies." Why did he not say "the truth" but "the truths"? On the one hand, because of the various impieties in transactions; on the other, because of the false opinions in doctrines. For one must not consider the members of the body as being destroyed, but their deceitful use and their boastful speech; for indeed in Proverbs it is said, "Remove from yourself a crooked mouth, and put unjust lips far away from you." Our lips are our own; who is our lord?

From this audacity the impious man, prospering in obtaining what he desires, utters the voice found in Job: "He says to the Lord, 'Depart from me; I do not wish to know your ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?'" For those who think they are the cause of the prosperity that attends them say to the Lord, "Depart; do not make your ways clear to me, for I do not wish to know them. For what more do you have than us, that we should serve you?" Concerning the impious who are proud, since the poor endure hardship and the needy groan, not bearing their tyrannical tongue that boasts great words and deceitful lips, on this account the Lord says, "I will arise now," so that, placing my counsel in salvation, I may speak boldly in it against those who insolently exult over their inferiors; and I will release the poor and needy from enduring hardship and groaning. In these words you will call "poor" and "needy" those who are unable to defend themselves, either because of weakness present in them or because of the vice that leads to such a condition. These have become superior to hardship and groaning, since the Lord arose at the time of his visitation and came to us, so that the salvation of those who had come to be outside hardship and groaning might be revealed. It is fitting, then, in accordance with what lies before us, to hear the words "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" And, speaking boldly because of what was said, he next says, "I thank God through Jesus Christ.

For it is shown through these things that Jesus the Christ, who rescued the wretched man—through whom he had a body of death—is the one who said, "Now I will arise, says the Lord." It occurred to some to say that the poor are those who have fallen from wealth, while the needy are those who have their living from labor that comes through work; and according to this understanding the poor man is necessarily needy, though it does not follow conversely that the needy man is poor. And perhaps what is said about the poor man will also be established, and it is spoken from the Scripture—for it is written, "The rich became poor," and "We became very poor"; in agreement with these, the statement about the Savior will also be understood: "Though he was rich, he became poor for our sake, so that we might become rich by his poverty." What is said about the needy man also agrees: "the groaning of the needy," who always groan and lament over the labor that comes from being at a loss for necessities. "I will set him in salvation" makes clear "I will appoint and make," just as also in "He set him as heir of all things," the word signifying that he appointed and designated him heir. For these things you will take "God set in the church first apostles" and the rest, and what was said to the elders of the church: "The Holy Spirit set you as bishops to shepherd the church"; for "he set" shows the demonstration through appointing and making apostles and bishops. According to this meaning of "preserving," the Savior also said to the Father concerning the disciples: "Holy Father, keep them; while I was with them, I was keeping them, and the evil one did not touch them.

If, then, in this sense, because of what was said in Genesis concerning Adam to the serpent, "He will watch your head, and you will watch his heel"—for is not "to watch" here the same as "to guard"? For it is evident from this: "He will watch your head, and you his heel." The one who says, "You, Lord, will guard us," sends up the prayer after doing everything in their power in watching—the exhortation that says, "With every guard, watch your heart." And since, when these things are rightly done, what we accomplish is not sufficient for being free from plotting (for "unless the Lord guards a city, the watchman has kept awake in vain"), the sequence leads us, after we have been guarded by ourselves, to offer the prayer that says, "You, Lord, will guard us and will preserve us." For when he guards, let us be confident that we will be free from plotting forever. For you, Master, being Most High and existing in the highest places, according to the height that belongs to your goodness, have shown great care for the sons of men, judging them worthy to have protection from your providence. Even if these things are said by the saint in the manner of an intercession, nevertheless, not being subject to God's forgetfulness but taking upon himself the concerns of others, he speaks all the things of the petition. And it is clear that the things of the petition are not about perceptible illumination or sleep and death, but about illumination from the knowledge of God. For "Enlighten yourselves with the light of knowledge," and "Draw near to the Lord and be enlightened.

And this illumination does not come about in relation to the eye of the flesh (for that is the seeing faculty for the sun) and any other sensible light of those who see the sun of righteousness; the true light is the light of eyes, not of the body but of the heart—that is, of the inner man, whose eyes are the noetic powers. To the one thus illuminated it follows that he has a blessed life. For "I am the light of the world," says the Lord; "He who walks in me," he says, "will surely not remain in darkness, but will have the light of life." When this life comes to the one who has been illuminated, sleeping unto death is absent from him—for the one who is in the darkness of ignorance sleeps and dies. For the one who, through negligence and sloth, gives his eyes over to sleep will immediately die, falling away from the life that is with virtue. Therefore this blameworthy sleep and death must be avoided, so that, with the eyes of the soul illuminated, the enemy may no longer say, "I have prevailed against him," though he long thought he had prevailed when we sinned. Since, then, the enemies who afflict the righteous are maliciously glad, they exult. If a tumult should arise from sin, one ought to grieve over those who fall; but even if they exult when someone is shaken, I, O Master, hoping in your mercy, will not suffer what they desire to see in me. For I await your salvation, coming more swiftly, at which my heart exults; for how would one not be glad and exult who has experience of God's salvation? But if this is also a prophecy being indicated concerning the coming of the salvation of God, namely Christ, consider it.

For he who came for the salvation of the world brought down those who were elated over things that are shaken in the soul; casting down with them the enemy who is exalted arrogantly, he enlightened the eyes, so that no one should see the death of the soul. This one, having come among us and looked upon us, heard and put an end to pain; and when these things were set right, the one who had suffered well sang a song of thanksgiving and victory, saying: I will sing to the Lord who benefited me, and I will sing psalms to the name of the Lord, the Most High. Having learned in practice what is rightly said by the Lord to those who pray well—"While you are still speaking, I will say: Behold, I am present"—he says these things to those who are already with him. I have fared well, having obtained what I asked for; therefore I will sing psalms to the name of the Lord, the Most High. Wherefore, whenever any benefit comes to us, let us also hymn him, speaking the psalm that lies before us, not with contemplation only but also with psalm-singing; for to sing denotes contemplation, but to sing psalms denotes practical activity. The fool is one who is lacking not in common notions or in cleverness of skill, but in the one virtue of prudence, about which it is written: He who acquires prudence loves himself, and he who guards prudence will find good things. That he had natural cleverness, the text makes clear, showing that he says "there is no God" not in submission to certain people but in his own heart. For it was fitting that no one should accept arguments about the denial of God, since nearly all men have an unperverted notion concerning God; the first verse has great appropriateness as having been spoken about the devil. For he too did not say it to one person or to certain people, but "in his own mind.

I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven; I will be like the Most High. And just as he who has knowledge of God keeps his word and turns his commandments into deeds, so every sinner who is ignorant of God comes to this: John indeed writes that everyone who sins is far from having knowledge of God, as, Everyone who sins has not seen him nor known him. For when a man has cast out from his soul the piety that excels and rules over the virtues, he has the virtues withdrawing together with it. And that this understanding is sound would be clear from what is written about the sons of Eli; for these, not knowing the Lord, having been shown to be pestilences, were sinning—or rather, they were acting impiously in the priestly service, corrupting in their practices the things of the law and of the worship of God. You will take the things set before you also in relation to what is announced in Jeremiah, as follows: Interest upon interest, deceit upon deceit; all commit adultery, a gathering of those who set things aside, because they went from evils to evils; but they did not fear me, says the Lord. For how would they not be, having ignorance of God, transgressors of his laws? These things, viewed universally, persuade one to hold God in remembrance, so that we may be shown praiseworthy in our practices, pursuing them with an incorrupt intention. Among those who have been abhorred for corrupting in their practices, no one is found doing goodness; for all are evil, having cut off all goodness through hardness of heart.

Just as wisdom will not enter a soul skilled in evil, nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin, so neither does the one who works lawlessness receive divine knowledge; for no one who sins sees or knows God, according to what is written in the epistle of John. Therefore the one who desires to be a knower of God sows into righteousness and gathers the fruit of life, so that he may enlighten himself with the light of knowledge. And since the enemies of the people of God are workers of lawlessness, so as to devour him like bread, they are deprived of the knowledge of God. And whoever devours someone, intending to harm him, acts according to "You bite and devour one another; take care that you are not consumed by one another." And in Isaiah it is written thus: Syria from the rising of the sun and the Greeks from the setting of the sun, those who devour Israel with the whole mouth. Yet even if at some time they are able to devour the people of God handed over to them, they will undergo punishment for their sin; for Israel is holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who eat him will trespass, evils will come upon

themselves," says the Lord. Those who set themselves to devour God's people like bread did not call upon the Lord, thinking to accomplish everything by their own power and to tyrannize God's people. For if they had known that they had received him by the judgment of God because of sin, they would have feared all the more to set a measure against the one handed over, lest they fall under the same condemnation. Therefore it is said to them, who were savage beyond what was fitting: "Because I was angry a little, but they joined in against evil." Thus, having tyrannized the people of God unjustly, they fell into cowardice, where they ought not even to have feared; for there was no fear, if only, having received those handed over by the judgment of God, they had treated them humanely and gently. But since they did everything harshly and mercilessly, they became cowardly, falling into the very things they had done to others. And this has been established: "Since God is in the generation of the righteous," you will speak of a generation of the righteous—either the harmony of righteous deeds, in which the righteous judge is found, or the like-mindedness of righteous men and their gathering into the same place. For if where two and three come together in his name, the Lord is present and is found, how much more would he be found where there is a whole generation of the righteous? That those of the same mind and the same life complete one generation, even if they come to be in different times, will be said after these things, when the time calls for it. Someone is cowardly with a fear where there was no fear; and "the one who fears man" and, once for all, simply those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. For it has been said, "Except God, fear no other.

The Lord reproaches Jerusalem, held fast by this passion, saying: "Who are you that you feared a mortal man?" But first we must consider the captivity of the people, so that we may accordingly see their restoration as well. The one who falls away through his own negligence from the doing of good is taken captive by the law of sin, so as to come under the devil, who tyrannically exercises dominion and holds the power of death. Him the Lord recalls by way of repentance, having thus been captured by enemies and found outside his homeland—and this homeland is participation in virtue—promising at the same time forgiveness of former sins; and this is what it means that the captives are redeemed and the captivity is turned back. When this was fulfilled by the Lord's cross, so that all the people who believe from among the nations were redeemed, Jacob rejoices. The same one is, according to the underlying subject, having the difference only in conception. For if, doing good things and working the things that pertain to virtue, he trips up the passions and vices and the evil powers that work in him, so as to appear their conqueror, he is Jacob rejoicing; but if, after the practical life, having acquired a pure heart, he sees God, he is Israel, a mind seeing God. For thus in the Greek tongue "rejoicing" is rendered as divine gladness; no one is grieved to take "Let them exult" and "Let them be glad" as spoken in parallel. See whether the one who lives according to the law sojourns in the tabernacle of the Lord, the one who became a pedagogue unto Christ, busying himself about the tent of testimony.

But the one who has reached Christ and received the gospel teaching dwells in the holy mountain of God, which is none other than the Son of God, about whom it was said prophetically: "The mountain of the Lord will be manifest." Consider whether it would be rightly understood that the holy mountain of God is the Word of God, and His tabernacle is the man He assumed; and one must first know Christ according to the flesh, then that He is the only-begotten from the Father. He dwells as a sojourner in the tabernacle who says: "Even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we no longer know Him so," since he has beheld His glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, no longer sojourning but dwelling in the holy mountain of God. And to him it has been said: "Go up on a high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion." The prophet, then, seeking a man equal to the angels, one able to say, "Our citizenship is in heaven," was asking to whom the Master answers: "Go, etc." The one described by the preceding words, being a lover of brothers and a lover of friends, hastens to be wise, consorting with the wise, withdrawing himself with all his might from the foolish, so that he may not be known as one of them. If, then, he turns away from the wicked and keeps company with the good (for the wise are good, with whom he has resolved to walk), he receives no reproach on account of those who draw near to him, since those who have wicked neighbors are always reproached, just as those who have good neighbors and friends are praised. With this very thing he is displeased who says: "He who walks in a blameless way, this one ministered to me; he who speaks unrighteousness did not set it straight before my eyes.

The oath of such a man is an irreproachable word, by which the "Yes, yes" and the "No, no" is confirmed. But if ever there is need of a word for the sake of oaths and of God as witness, he does this too without fuss, as the inspired apostle, leaving a pattern and manner of oaths in his Epistles, says in one place: "God is my witness, whom I serve in the gospel of his Son"; and in another place: "I call God as witness upon my soul"; and again: "God is witness over all things, I do not lie." For this is blameless faith; for an oath is nothing other than a word with God's testimony, or a matter confirmed with God's testimony. However he may hold to the oath, he does not break it by swearing to his neighbor. And it is also possible to lend spiritually without interest, in which sense it was said by the teacher to the disciples of Jesus: "And do not turn away the one who wishes to borrow from you." For how could anyone say this was spoken perceptibly to those who say, "We have left everything and followed you," to those who say with boldness, "Silver and gold I do not have"? Since, then, the perceptible lending of the saints is excluded (if they are ever said to do this), one must understand it spiritually, since everyone who lends spiritually lends the teaching word, which is silver, for the gaining of something bodily. For even if, sowing spiritual things in teaching, they receive carnal things only for the sake of being fed ("for the worker is worthy of his food"), nevertheless they do not lend; for they do not receive the rational silver that was given according to its worth, but only food.

He will not be shaken forever, remaining through his life in the virtues he has set aright. For what is said here is the same as "I will certainly not eat meat forever," and "He shall be your servant forever." He who hears the words of Jesus and does them remains unshaken forever; for he has the foundations of his own citizenship—called a house—established upon Christ, who is called a rock. So firm were those about whom Jesus spoke: "There are some of those standing here"; and those about whom the apostle writes: "Grounded and rooted in love." But if "not to be shaken forever" also indicates some further extension of an age, similarly to what is said, "And everyone who lives and believes in me shall live forever," consider it. Remaining unshaken forever, the saints set aright a life not bounded by time but always remaining, which is a pillar as a symbol of their victory; and in this way the superscription of the psalm about to be set forth is said to be David's pillar-inscription. For their deeds are not among things that are dissolved and no longer exist; but the deeds of sinners are such that they do not remain. At any rate, the enjoyment of sin is said to be temporary, and that the sin of the sinner and the wicked man shall not exist; for when sought, it will not be found. But the life of the saints is not like this; for they look to things unseen and eternal. At any rate it is said

Concerning each of them: His righteousness endures forever and ever. And since a "stele" is spoken of in another sense—where records of laws are set up, which they call kyrbikai and tablets—one must speak in this way also of the stele-writing of the saints, the teachings which they handed down, written not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, hearts, which are well-disposed and receptive toward the writing. But how the matters of the superscription of the psalm stand, we shall know as God makes them clear. Since I have hope in you, O Master, guard me; for thus I shall be able to remain unharmed, with countless enemies lying in wait, both visible and invisible. Having prayed these things, he added, "I said to the Lord, You are my Lord." Who, being a sinner, can confirm this utterance? For he who is a slave of sin cannot serve God; for "No one," he says, "can serve two masters." This may be said in another way also with respect to the present matter. The apostle writes, "No one can say 'Lord Jesus' except in the Holy Spirit," the act of saying being understood in these things as practice and disposition. For if it were taken merely literally, it would not be true, since countless heretics and hypocrites utter the mere pronunciation and certainly do not have the Holy Spirit. At any rate the Savior himself says: "Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord'; and I," he says, "will confess to them, 'Depart from me, workers of lawlessness, I never knew you.'" And again: "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I say?

Just as, then, the one who says "Lord Jesus" in the Holy Spirit—not with mere utterance but with earnest deed and disposition—is truly a servant, as to hear along with the apostles, "You call me Lord and Teacher, and you speak rightly, for I am"—so too the one who proclaims the things set before us by a practical and contemplative life has set up an indissoluble stele and cries out, "I said to the Lord, You are my Lord." And since you are my Lord, I bring you gifts from your own teachings, not as though to one in need or wanting; for I know that you receive them, though you have no need of our good things, in order to grant in return things more abundant and greater beyond measure. And this utterance must be offered not only in the case of things brought sensibly but also spiritually. For we perform sacred rites of virtues, and even our own bodies through complete chastity. We know that God receives them, not for his own benefit, but so that he may give us the good things from heaven when we ask him. For why does God seek human virtue, if not to grant in return things worthy of it in exchange for what we have brought to him? The saints of God dwell in his land. And this is the heavenly Jerusalem, toward which they come who have their citizenship in heaven, even if they still dwell on earth. He does not say absolutely that he will not gather their assemblies, but "from bloods"; nor does he say unconditionally that he will not remember their names, but "through my lips.

Perhaps, then, since there are some who gather congregations by bloods, pouring them out by harming those who are gathered, he himself, benefiting them—or rather, giving life to those who are called forth—gathers them not by bloods but by immortality, remembering their names not superficially but with a depth of disposition. It will also be said thus: even if many prophets and apostles were killed, their blood poured out, yet not by these many bloods will I gather their congregations, but by the one blood alone of the blameless and spotless lamb, Christ; for this honor has been given, that they might be redeemed from their futile manner of life inherited from their fathers. Those thus redeemed he will remember not by mere utterance but by deep understanding. He who has become above the whole world by disposition has nothing else as his portion and inheritance than God; therefore it must be set aside for all, so that one may be able to say, "My portion is God forever and ever." And just as of the inheritance, so also of the cup that gladdens the righteous, the Lord is the portion. It is worth contemplating how the Lord becomes a cup for someone. Perhaps, then, providing ethical teaching and thereby nourishing the inner man

he becomes bread, strengthening the heart of the one who eats; and also a cup, according to the contemplation of truth, providing gladness to the one who drinks, through assent, the illumination of knowledge. This cup is supplied from the true vine so that the mind may be given to drink and made glad, so that the one who has partaken may say in thanksgiving, You have given gladness into my heart. But you will also understand it in this way: the one who has God will also harmoniously possess the things that are his. Hence the one who has the Lord as the portion of his inheritance will also enjoy the things that are his, saying, You are the one who restores my inheritance to me; or does he not restore it, saying, Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you? And elsewhere the same one says, You are my portion in the land of the living. Since this spiritual inheritance is given to the heirs in proportion to faith and the best life, fittingly there has been added, The cords fell to me in the best places; and the cord is a symbol of measure and allotment. At any rate, when the perceptible land into which the Hebrews were led by Joshua the son of Nun was being divided, it has often been recorded: And the cord fell to the tribe of Judah, or Reuben, or some other of the twelve, in this region—say, the eastern one—or another besides this. These things having been thus contemplated, the one who says, The cords fell to me in the best places, shows that good things were apportioned to him, his lot having come to the best parts of the inheritance, which he makes clear through these spiritual geometrical cords.

Such a cord was the angel holding in his hand who appeared to Zechariah the prophet, to measure how great was the length and breadth of the true Jerusalem. Next there has been added: For indeed my inheritance is most excellent to me, signifying by this that my inheritance is truly most beautiful. According to this meaning Theophilus was most excellent, to whom Luke the evangelist writes. Let no one consider the saying incongruous with Christ. For if he needed angelic aid, showing the human element, what occasion? If from the union with divinity he was made wise, being wise as God and the source of wisdom, and being made wise as man. Since the preceding words are spoken in the person of Christ, and the person saying these things is preserved without any change from the Lord is the portion of my inheritance, one who takes these verses as spoken by the Lord does not err. But those who do not have articulated conceptions about God take it spatially that the Son is at the right hand of the Father, because of Sit at my right hand, or that the Savior has sat at the right hand of the Majesty after the ascension, of which it is impossible to say something. For if the Son is spatially at the right hand of the Father, it is impossible for the Father to be at the right hand of the Son in that very meaning; but the Son says: I was beholding the Lord at my right hand; whence the Son must be understood as the right hand of the Father, and the Father of the Son, otherwise than spatially, just as by I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

One must consider, since the Savior is understood as both man and God, whether these words should be interpreted with reference to his divinity or with reference to his economy according to the flesh. But it is not possible to take them piously as spoken from the person of God the Word—that he has the Father at his right hand and before him continually, so that he may remain unshaken. For God the Word is immutable, not undergoing any shifting even in the least degree. And since it is absurd to state a cause for God the Word not being moved, when he is in the sight of the Father and at his right hand continually (for he himself, being in the Father and having him in himself, exists at someone's right hand and before him continually), he becomes the cause of him who sees him and has him at his right hand not being moved. Since, therefore, it is absurd—or rather impious—to take these words concerning the only-begotten Son of God apart from his economy according to the flesh, they must be harmoniously expounded as spoken when he became man without change and humbled himself and, being rich, became poor. For it has become his

the human nature, having been made like us in all things without sin; but neither was his flesh without a soul, as some supposed. For how could flesh that has no soul say that it has God at its right hand and always sees him beforehand, so as not to sin? For a motion toward sin arises from being shaken. But if these things are impossible (for a body does not see God beforehand, nor does it have a conception of the One who is at the right hand and before it always), it remains that these things were spoken in a human way by the economy of the Word of God who became flesh without change, perfectly and truly; for as from one person all things will be said, both the things fitting for God and the human things. As a man, therefore, he who has come to be, having God at his right hand, would not be shaken, even if bitter circumstances surround him, and even if the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Christ; thus then, not being shaken in soul, He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, having been tempted in all things according to likeness without sin. Next it is added that his heart was glad and his tongue rejoiced at having the Lord at his right hand and before himself always. Praiseworthy is the exultation and gladness, when it does not arise from any chance circumstance but from the contemplation of God. And from these very syllables it is shown most clearly that the Lord became man perfectly; for when the flesh was laid aside in the tomb, his soul was in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, after which, having risen, he took back the flesh which he had for a time separated from the body.

But it is said that the flesh dwelt in hope because of the resurrection that was to come for it; for it was not dissolved nor suffered any corruption, but remaining undamaged it was joined again to the soul that was not abandoned to Hades. But if the soul here spoken of also subsists when separated from the flesh and comes to be in Hades, where the rational souls of humans are, it is clear that it cannot be the Word; for the Word, when separated from the flesh, does not subsist nor journey to Hades. But indeed the soul of Jesus had experience of both: for it was both in the place of human souls, and when it came to be outside the flesh it lives and subsists; therefore it is rational and of the same substance as the souls of humans, just as the flesh also happens to be of the same substance as the flesh of humans, having come forth from Mary. And if it seemed to suffer because of the cross, nevertheless it did not see corruption, since both the soul and the flesh remained undamaged from the things of which they were composed and were shown forth. Again, the Holy One of God did not see corruption but is also the cause of the resurrection of the other dead; for because of him, who has become the firstborn from the dead, our corruptible and mortal nature, having put on incorruption, is put to death together with the Holy One of God who did not see corruption. Having risen from the dead, the Word of God made flesh sings praise, insofar as he became man without ceasing also to be God, to the one who revealed to him the paths leading to eternal life, so that he might also be filled with perfect gladness—he who fills the saints with all spiritual gladness. And the face of God is his image and the impress of his substance.

But what follows for the one who has walked the known ways of life, if not to have divine delight at the right hand of God, which is truth and wisdom? And this is the only-begotten Son of God. And since the delight at the right hand of God is unsurpassable, it will be the final end, being desired; for all things exist not for the sake of another but for its own sake. Some condemn the one who prays as guilty of boastfulness, saying that such a character belongs to the moderate: no one will say, "Hear, O Lord, my righteousness," and "Let my judgment come forth from your presence." But David is not boastful, who does all the will of God, but desiring to be judged with goodness, he entreated that his judgment come forth from the divine presence. "Let my eyes see uprightness." He prays that the eyes of the inner man see the uprightness according to which God will judge, bringing forth judgment from his own presence, or he prays to behold the virtue of uprightness. But if he prays to see it, he does not yet possess it as present, from which it follows that he is not boastful, offering his prayer in this way. These things must be considered to have been said concerning complete virtue, which comes late, after very many things have first been accomplished. And through what has been set forth, the great boldness of the speaker is made evident. For if he says these things in relation to God, he makes evident his own great purity; for the heart of everyone who endures gloomy things is tested, so that when pressed in everything he is not constrained, but by enduring to the end he is shown to be righteous; such a one was Job, to whom God said:

If I have not spoken to you otherwise, it is so that you might be shown to be righteous, in addition to his heart having been approved by the Lord and having been tried by fire and no injustice having been found in him. It is fitting to see what is signified by "You visited in the night"; and whether he calls the condition of the gloomy a "night" because of its lack of light and because it has nothing cheerful in it, in which God, having visited him, declared him approved and, having tried him by fire through afflictions, showed him clean of all injustices. "You visited in the night" might also be understood thus: since the hidden things of the heart are not manifest except to the one to whom it has been said, "You alone know the hearts of men," night was named—these things too, although they are dark to others because of their incomprehensibility, have been made manifest to you who approved me, because you visited me in the night. With this agrees the verse, "If I beheld injustice in my heart, let the Lord not hear me." To report the works of men—in deed and disposition, and moreover even in word—is the mark of the base. And what are their works but those about which the apostle writes: "For where there is strife and jealousy among you, are you not men and walking according to man?" A hindrance to speaking of the works of men is also the fact that no injustice was found in him when he had been tried by fire by God through temptations and similar things. The roads that lead to virtue seem to be hard, possessing much roughness; for how is the road not hard which commands the one who strikes one cheek to offer the other readily for the reception of insult? In addition to these things, that road seems rough along which one struggles even to death for the truth.

This is what is accomplished through the most bitter tortures, through the threat of fire and iron and the assault of wild beasts—except that even if these ways and those akin to them are hard, they are nevertheless guarded because of the words of the lips of God who commands, and they are smoothed so that nothing hard or heavy remains. At any rate, John writes, "And his commandments are not burdensome," and Jesus says to those who hear his words, "My yoke is kind and my burden is light." For from much habit and exercises continually applied, even the most unpleasant things appear lightest, and bitter and disagreeable things are accomplished with great ease. The paths of the Lord and of his saints are the observances of the commandments—or rather, the activities in accordance with virtue, shown to be smooth and level from being continually trodden by those who hasten to reach their end; and their end is blessedness and the repayment of the promises. Let us therefore run along them, so that we may obtain salvation, with our steps not shaken—that is, not stumbling. And when the Lord sets them straight in his paths, the one who obtained this request says, "Without iniquity I ran and I directed my way," and "I ran in the way of your commandments, when you enlarged my heart." "I will cry out" must be understood spiritually; for one must cry out to the invisible God not with a louder voice but with intensified understanding; and this cry belongs to the inner man. Wonderful are the mercies

His [mercies] upon those who hope in him, and they have something more paradoxical—the mercies that come about through his beneficence—since God, inclining toward us, hears the words of our voice, this being nothing other than his power which condescends through goodness to receive our words. You will take the verse "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears unto their petition" in this sense. Since the right hand of God is none other than his only-begotten Son, as was also said a little earlier, when the verse "Delight is in your right hand to the end" was set forth, the devil and his angels, and besides these, deceitful and wicked men, stand opposed to it; and desiring to remain unharmed by them, the saint says to God: "Guard me from those who oppose your right hand, as the apple of my eye," so that my mind may remain unharmed; but also "in the shadow of your wings shelter me from the face of the ungodly," who desire to encompass me in misery. It is possible, however, to call the ungodly and those who oppose the right hand of God different in conception, while being the same in subject. But the utterance "Guard me as the apple of an eye" is not for everyone, but only for the one who has been enlightened in soul, having the eyes of his heart enlightened. And "In the shadow of your wings you will shelter me" must be understood spiritually; for the protective powers of God are called his wings, through which he shelters and leads to cheerfulness the one who entreats to be taken away from the ungodly who devise misery against him.

These are certain invisible enemies who make those caught by them wretched by subjecting them to sin. He signifies the savage and cruel nature of those who oppose by saying that his soul was surrounded by his enemies, who shut up their own fat because of their attachment to matter. For those who are wholly material and fleshly, sold under sin, were also filled from great cheerfulness and luxury with fat, as it were, and richness. Therefore Symmachus renders it: "They were shut up with their fat"; and therefore their mouth speaks arrogance, since they bring forward nothing friendly or fitting with steadiness. These enemies, out of great boastfulness, as it were cast out, encircle the one who says these things, in order to harm and destroy the one who has come within their nets. For they practice nothing useful or good, since, having become transgressors of divine laws, by placing their eyes on the earth they turn aside and become lawless. For this is established from their having placed their eyes on the earth, wishing to look at things temporal and to mind earthly things, turning aside from not wishing to walk the straight way but the crooked ways—he who has these is counted miserable. For, he says, woe to those who forsake straight ways to walk in ways of darkness, whose ways are crooked and whose paths are winding. These, then, by turning aside, placed their eyes on the earth, while those who bear the image of the heavenly one place their eyes in heaven, in order to set straight the straight way that leads up to the heavens.

Since you were being patient, they thought you were asleep, not exacting punishment immediately for the things they were murderously disposed to do. Rise up, then, O Lord, so that you may get ahead of them and trip them up. For it will be to their advantage to suffer this, so that they may not, always running toward evil, increase their own destruction. For having surrounded my soul and doing other things, if they were not hindered, they harm it most greatly. Therefore trip them up, so that they may no longer have power against me, since you have rescued my soul from each one who is such and for this reason is called impious. For rescue my soul from the impious. He will take his sword from their hand, for they had it reasonably given to them. But it is taken away from them because they do not use it as they ought. Therefore they are also made few in the land, that is, they are brought to nothing. For those who are occupied with material and earthly things, being attached to them, cast off the elevation of the soul and the wealth they had, if they had not set material things before themselves. For this reason even those who are not are named, as in Do not give your scepter to those who are not. The division of the life of those who agree and are of one mind for evil is beneficial. For the evil they set before themselves to do, agreeing together, they cast away, since it becomes incomplete when they are divided against one another, as happened with those who set out to build a tower and a city to their own harm. For God, doing them good, confused their tongues, so that each no longer knew what was said by their neighbors, in order that the ignorance that came first, having prepared them to be divided against one another, might show their purpose to be incomplete.

This is not what is indicated in the phrase "Divide them in their life." And "their belly was filled with your hidden things"; and the hidden things of God are those unworthy of the memory of him, all of whose remnants they left to their infants after their belly was filled. That the blameworthy things are unworthy of the eyes of God is established from Cain (for he went out from the face of God) and from "the lawless do not remain before your eyes." Being filled with these things that are far from God, they cast the remnants to their infants, having been satiated with swinish, that is, unclean things. For worse than all those who defile are those who both harm themselves and become causes of harm to others, which is indicated by "And they left the remnants to their infants." For they are not capable of deceiving the perfect; therefore it is written concerning them: "Because they wronged infants, they shall be put to death, and examination shall destroy the impious." A scripture is cited that reads "They were filled with sons," through whom they had grandsons to satiety. Having been divided in their own life, they had harm of many kinds. For not only were they themselves filled, but also their infants were satiated with the hidden things of God. Those, he says, were so, as has been stated, but "I shall be seen in righteousness before your face"; for the virtue of those who are not hidden from you is not like their wickedness.

And those men, being self-willed and thinking they were full of all things while having nothing, so that from this they seemed to have been satisfied, but I, knowing in part now, shall then be satisfied, when your glory is seen to subsist according to the coming of the perfect, to which it is then possible to attain face to face. It is possible for the only-begotten Son to receive the glory of God that will be seen, concerning whom it is written: "All flesh shall see his salvation, and the glory of the Lord shall be seen." Each of these things is fulfilled when we behold the glory of the Son, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. And let them be numbered among the enemies from whom he was rescued, and the invisible various ones. And let what appears be said also with respect to each phrase. "For the end," he says, "to the child of the Lord, to David." The end must be understood in these things as victory over all the enemies; for on behalf of this are both the wars and all things that contribute to the king's excellence. And the end is rightly called that for the sake of which other things exist, while it itself exists for the sake of nothing. Since victory, then, has come to be, there is no need to give thanks to another than God who extended it. For it has been said to him by Esdras: "From you is the victory." And David refers the song to the Lord, as his child and servant, wisely and faithfully setting forth all the words of thanksgiving on that day (that is, in that illumination), when all the enemies and Saul the king of Israel were overthrown, David having been rescued unharmed from them. And these things are as regards the history.

Since it seems to many of the faithful that the song is spoken in the person of the Savior, it must be said that the victory hymn was uttered after the resurrection from the dead, when he had been delivered from all the raging nations and the peoples who meditated vain things, and also from the kings who stood against him and the rulers who were gathered together against him. And you will say that he was delivered also from the hand of Saul, from the one who then ruled over the Jews, to whom, along with his manner, for it is not unlikely that he had prevailed over them of a savage manner and, together with him, a wicked spirit, since they had said that they had no God as king; for how would they not, having denied God, be ruled by some worthless king? And they were called torrents of lawlessness, as another says, and because those who do not nobly withstand temptations come into lawlessness. But if the words before us concern the death that follows upon those who sin and the Hades that has harmony with it, then the pangs of death and of Hades are the sins that lead to death. In accordance with this understanding you will call the streams of evil torrents of lawlessness, and the sins accomplished in practice snares of death. According to the former interpretation, the words before us fit the economy of the Lord according to the flesh. For they have great affinity with "Now my soul is troubled" and "My soul is deeply grieved even to death." And the prayer has great boldness from a pure conscience, since to call upon the Lord he said has the sense of an offering, and his cry had reached God. See lest it be in agreement with "But to us there is one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ.

We will understand "God" as the Father and "Lord" as the Son, unless perhaps both terms are spoken of the same one, since he is both Father and Son, God and Lord, because of the identity of divinity and lordship. But how is it that, having said, "He heard my voice from his holy temple," it is said in a future sense that his cry will enter into the ears of God? To this someone will say: since God has already heard, so that the one who prayed has come to be outside of affliction, he believes that again, having cried out to God, he has him receiving into his ears and before him the cry sent up by him. Another will say: but he who perceived at once, when he called upon him, that the one entreated had assented from his holy temple, is confident that the matters for which he prayed will obtain an outcome, since the cry sent up from a pure disposition will enter into the ears of God and before him. These mountains he removes from those who have been deceived—the one who has all faith as a grain of mustard seed. For, says Paul, "if I have faith so as to remove mountains." Of these was also the spirit of lunacy, about which the Savior says: "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there.'" 113 "Smoke went up in his anger": the worthless material being consumed, having a proportion to the things built upon Christ, who is the foundation, by wicked men—wood, hay, stubble, and wicked deeds and the worst thoughts (therefore, being consumed by the anger that came upon them)—sent up smoke. "Coals were kindled from him.

Coals" sometimes signify punishments, and sometimes the burning and hot words of God that purify the reasonings of the soul. He signifies punishments in the passage "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for in doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head," and in "Coals of fire will fall upon them, and you will cast them down." These will not be a help to you. But the burning word is made clear in the passage about which Isaiah says, "And it was sent from among the seraphim." When the soul has been prepared for virtue, it warms and sets on fire its reasonings so as to show them bright and radiant, and it will burn up the deeds of sinners, purifying them; but those who do not receive this fire, the eternal fire will burn. And "He bowed the heavens and came down" he has given in accordance with the word concerning the economy, and this too. For since the Savior is said to dwell in the heavens, having become man he changes his dwelling; for he appeared on the earth and conversed with men. And he dwells in the heavens not locally nor

He descends in a transitional manner (for these things belong to bodies or to those clothed with a body), but in the sense in which he is said to inhabit the heavens. For being in the form of God, he took the form of a servant and came down, no local change whatsoever occurring in him. And he mounted upon the cherubim and flew. The word cherubim is understood as a multitude of knowledge; where, then, there is much knowledge, or rather the most pure knowledge. From there, mounting by exalted and lofty thought, he flies. Nor should one reject the idea that some kind of immortal living beings, possessing the fullest knowledge, is signified by this name. And so, mounting upon these rational living beings, God flies by the most swift thought. He flew upon the wings of the winds. If what is said is taken of the perceptible winds, it will mean that God, by his providential word, has mounted upon the wings of the winds, that is, by their elevation he leads them where he himself wills. For he is the one who brings winds out of their treasuries. But if one takes as winds those wise men who are elevated in spirit and send forth breath like the blasts of winds, God also, mounting upon their wings, flies everywhere; and their wings are the higher and heaven-soaring thoughts. And Paul the apostle called teachings winds, when he said concerning the heterodox, "by every wind of teaching, in the deceit of men, in craftiness toward the scheming of error." Just as, then, in the case of blameworthy teachers, the spirits that lead people astray mount upon the wings of such winds, so God, mounting upon the wings of every wind of true teaching, blows where he wills.

And this is what it means to fly upon the wings of the winds. God, who dwells primarily and truly, is unapproachable light; the Son, who is true light, and the Holy Spirit, who is the substance of knowledge and wisdom, are so to speak of this light, and it is said, And the light is with him. But in a secondary sense, because of the incomprehensibility of his essence, he is said to have made darkness his hiding place. For what is unclear and incomprehensible, because of the depth of the matter, is called darkness. In this way, too, darkness is spoken of: He will speak a parable and a dark saying; and God reveals deep things out of darkness, making manifest and clarifying the things hidden by obscurity and difficulty of comprehension. His tent is round about him. Just as it is impossible to see what is contained by a tent without entering into it, so too it is impossible to see God, who is encircled by obscurity and difficulty of comprehension, without pressing inside the curtain of incomprehensibility. Indeed, it is said of Moses, He entered into the thick darkness where God was. For having applied himself to the thought of God, to his creation and his providence, he knew that God is encompassed within these things, so that, having opened just a little this tent that surrounds him, from the things according to the image—of which he is the image—and from creation and providence, he might behold the creator and provider. In many places of Scripture we find the clouds borne allegorically. For when he called the house of Israel a vineyard and said that clouds were receiving commandments to rain no more upon it, we find these to be none other than the prophets.

At any rate, among them there is no longer the phrase "Thus says the Lord," nor "The word of the Lord came to me"; the truth shines only as far as these clouds. These clouds, then, flowing with the rain of spiritual words upon souls, belong not to the earth but to the air; for having renounced earthly things and no longer thinking on them, being lifted up and raised on high by their own virtue and by the Spirit who works in them, they belong to the air. The water in them, before it obtains its outflow and clarity from Jesus, is said to be dark because it is hard for the many to discern. But whenever, God having spoken in the Son in these last days, the law and the prophets are fulfilled, "from his brightness" (that is, from his illumination) "they will gather together before him," becoming bright and clearly visible clouds because the one fore-announced by them is present. When dark clouds have come forth into light through clarity, no pretext of defense is left to those who sin; therefore hail and coals of fire immediately follow the brightness of the clouds. And indeed punishments are signified by these names, and also the fulfillment of the things prophesied about Christ. God immediately thunders from heaven, either through the loud voice of the words fulfilled by Jesus, or by God's instilling into each mind the most sublime words of theology concerning the only-begotten Son, all but crying out this:

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; but the Most High also, revealing his Son, gives his voice to those who speak of Christ in a lofty manner, and it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to them, but the heavenly Father revealed his own Son. And just as to those who have prepared their mind for the vision of God and have opened the hearing of the inner man, the Lord thunders from heaven and the Most High gives his voice, so that, lifted up by the thunder coming from heaven, they may be transported from earthly things and draw near to heaven, bearing the image of the heavenly one, and may receive the lofty thoughts given by the Most High. But to those who are disposed in the opposite way, the Lord sends arrows sufficient to confound those who formerly were of one mind concerning evil. And by arrows he now means the words that proclaim punishments beforehand; for threats are sufficient to disturb and trouble the soul. And whenever he clarifies and illuminates, like lightning, the threats spoken with riddles, he will confound those who have been scattered by the arrows previously mentioned. For those who are scattered cast off their agreement with evil, as having come into disturbance and confusion. When all the things previously mentioned have come to pass, the springs of the waters will be seen. And if one calls the springs of waters the thoughts about God and about good things that have been sown within us, he will say that these will be seen when the ignorance and evil lying upon the soul is checked. For when these are removed, they will no longer hide the springs of good things within us.

But if he also calls every God-inspired Scripture, spiritual and veiled by obscurity, springs that will be seen, consider: when we turn to the Lord, the veil of ignorance and obscurity is removed, and the springs of waters contained in it will be seen, so that one may easily draw from each, according to "Draw water with gladness from the springs of salvation." For this water is productive of gladness, since the springs of salvation belong to the race that is clear-sighted and now able to see God, according to "In the congregations bless God, the Lord from the springs, O Israel." Since the inhabited world builds itself up through what it does and says and thinks upon certain foundations laid beforehand, you would not err in calling the habits and dispositions of the inhabited world foundations; when he scatters the wicked with his arrows and confounds them by the flashing of his lightnings, the hidden things of men becoming manifest, as God illuminates the hidden things of darkness and makes manifest the foundations of the inhabited world, he will bring deep things to light out of darkness, from his rebuke of the inhabited world against all. But if someone also calls the foundations of the inhabited world the divine men, because of the well-tempered character of their life and the firmness of their virtue, upon which those who live according to Christ are built, these foundations too will come to be revealed, when rebuke is made against those who sin. For since punishment does not touch these foundations, there will be a manifestation and revelation of them. God does not immediately visit punishments upon those who sin. For if this happened, the whole would be utterly destroyed.

But by goodness and great love for humanity, when a multitude of sins occurs each time, he does not bring wrath according to each day. And this is his breathing out the spirit of his own wrath, because he foretells the punishments of wrath beforehand: For I will discipline them in the wrath of their affliction. From many waters—either the troubled and salty affairs of life, figuratively called a sea, or the opposing powers, confused and troubled—consider whether even the doctrines of godlessness are much water that cannot quench love. But the strong enemies from whom God rescues must be called the invisible ones, and perhaps also men in high positions and those who set out to deceive through falsely named knowledge, who are clever in sophistry. And one would not err in also calling his own thoughts strong enemies—when they are displeased with providence or persist in some other impiety—and in asking to be rescued from those who hate him, when they prevail against him, and from those who hate in vain. For no one, because he is base, when hated, will have the boldness to speak this prayer to God, but only when he is hated for Christ's sake and for a right life by sinners who abhor piety; for they consider the conduct of the righteous a reproof of their own manner of life. And these who are hatefully disposed toward the righteous attack especially when a time of affliction comes. For not knowing the judgment of providence, they suppose that the righteous man is afflicted for no other reason than sins, like those who conversed with Job.

For since God subjected him to afflictions, how could he be shown to be righteous, when those men claimed that this man had fallen into these things because of impiety and sins? But also against the one who stumbles, all the sinful demons and the devil are strong, so that sin is now understood as affliction. For on a day of affliction, whenever someone flees for refuge to God, he will have him as his support, that is, supporting him so that he not be shaken and fall. And indeed, concerning the perfect soul that has God the Word as its support, those who acknowledge its ascent and illumination say with wonder: Who is this that comes up, made white, leaning upon her brother? For the Lord, becoming a support to someone, leads him out of the narrowness of afflictions, granting him enlargement, according to "In affliction you enlarged me." And in affliction one is enlarged, not at all coming outside the affliction, but stretching toward it nobly and reverently. He will rescue me from my strong enemies and from those who hate me, even if they have the greatest power; for he willed me, doing all his wills. Indeed, the boldness belongs to one altogether pure and perfect, who condemns nothing in himself, not even the slightest thing; whence those who wish this psalm to have been spoken in the person of the Savior also attach this phrase to him, who was tempted in all things in likeness, without sin. And he calls righteousness the practical virtue in general, and cleanness of hands the practical activities becoming pure and undefiled by being performed from the best disposition.

For in many places one can find the hands spoken of in relation to the practical powers. He says these things not boastfully, as some suppose, but ascribing to God the cause of his successes. The one who walks in his commandments keeps the ways of the Lord, and he does not fall away from God—the one who has rightly grasped the doctrines of the truth, thinking blamelessly about God and forming holy judgments about Christ and devoutly meditating on the Holy Spirit and glorifying the other doctrines in the manner that is required. For even if his judgments are unsearchable and like an abyss because of their incomprehensibility, nevertheless it is possible for one who holds these things before him not to be displeased with providence nor to be impious toward the one who provides. For even if we do not comprehend, yet being disposed to the fact that these things are accomplished by God's judgment, we are well pleased with them. And the very name "Judgments" signifies the uprightness of the administration; for it is included and heard together with the fact that it has come about according to righteousness, while judgments that are performed contrary to what is right are themselves unjust and perverted. For because of this, he says, the judgment will go forth perverted. He says, I hold fast to the statutes of God; for they depart from those who do not hold fast to them. And statutes must be called the things legislated according to equality and righteousness, as "If you acquire a Hebrew slave," and what follows. For before all these is set, "And these statutes you shall set before them," and what follows. But the things named together with the statutes can signify judgments—the approved and tested words of God.

For they are called judgments not because they are not convicted or overturned, being judged; for in this way also the thoughts of the righteous are judgments, that is, exact and approved, and for this very reason resembling rules. Perhaps those who have what is blameless and sinless not for God's sake but for glory or some other reason can be blameless, yet not with God; but those who have embraced the good for God's sake and not for the sake of anything else are blameless with God; for this very union with God keeps them blameless and good. But those who are disjoined and separated from God immediately become blameworthy, becoming blameworthy children through sinning. 129 The one who has set right all the things previously mentioned, how does he speak of his own lawlessness? You will observe that perhaps this is what he means: The mind of man is earnestly inclined to evil from youth, so that he is prone to sinning, charmed by pleasure. The one, therefore, who has given himself over to the law of God is guarded from the lawlessness of men that has become hardened in them. And perhaps also what is called in us the mind of the flesh, hostile to God and not subject to his law, is the lawlessness of man, from which one is guarded by putting to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit and abstaining from the works of the flesh. Here he calls righteousness that which is established from faith in Jesus Christ. For the righteousness of God has been revealed to all who believe; for to the one who believes rightly, faith is reckoned as righteousness. And in conjunction with this you will call purity of hands the works of faith that are performed brightly and undefiledly, without which faith is dead.

Since a sudden change of countenance has occurred, someone will say that the preceding verses are spoken to God because of what follows; for to whom else will he say, "For you will save a humble people, and you will bring down the eyes of the proud," except to God? But another will say that these things are spoken not to God but to a man, since one who associates with the holy imitates their virtue, while one who is with the wicked undergoes distortion, as the divine Scripture of Proverbs says: "He who walks with the wise will be wise, but he who walks with fools will be known." You will interpret it thus: "With the holy, O Master, you will be made holy," granting him the holiness supplied from you, so that having been perfected according to it you may lead him into the fitting promise, and the rest in accordance with what precedes it. And well does he say also "you will distort"; for though he could have said "with the crooked you are distorted," he has not said this but "you will distort." For God, hindering the course toward evil things, distorts the one who thereafter pursues it, blocking his way with obstacles and rebuilding his paths; for the beginning of beneficence is being hindered from evils. But he who wishes it to be understood of a man will say that a man who is with a holy man is made holy from the holy deeds performed, as Elisha with Elijah and Timothy with Paul; and he who hastens to be with the innocent, having drawn upon himself that man's virtue, will be innocent. Likewise also he who associates with a chosen man, and he who is with a crooked man, by his wish to be like him, will distort his own life. But he who thus [understands] the verses

Having clarified this, he will turn his face toward God, [starting] from "For you will save a humble people." The part of the soul receptive of light—that is, the power, namely the mind, which some also call the rational faculty—is said to be its lamp, not being light in essence itself but receptive of light. Its darkness, however, is the spirited and the desiring [part]. Whenever, then, the mind is illuminated by the Lord, who imparts to it his own rays, at that time also the irrational movements of the soul are illuminated, being accomplished in a manner that accords with knowledge—not because the irrational [parts] themselves partake of light (for they are incapable of receiving knowledge), but because they are led in due measure by a mind illuminated by knowledge and virtue. Whenever, then, the mind—which is called a lamp—is illuminated by the Lord, it will necessarily follow that what is called our darkness is also illuminated. But if that which is naturally capable of being illuminated in us—that is, the mind—should be darkness through ignorance and lack of knowledge, much more are the irrational powers of the soul, not having an illuminated guide, in intensified darkness. And this is what the Savior says: "If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness?" For if the eye of the body—that is, the mind—which ought to be a lamp, is deprived of light, much more is the rest, so to speak, the body of the soul, in darkness—not the human body that surrounds it, but that which consists in its irrational constitution. Perhaps, too, those who have been illuminated with the knowledge of the truth have their lamp kindled, the Lord having given them this.

But those who direct their actions rightly, because their mind has been enlightened, also have their darkness illuminated. And this too would not least be said: those who have obtained scientific contemplation concerning intelligible and invisible things have a lamp enlightened by the Lord; but also those who are very well disposed in their judgment concerning sensible things have perception that grasps things luminously—which is darkness to the one not naturally able to be enlightened by itself, that is, to receive knowledge; for otherwise would even irrational creatures receive knowledge, having perception? It is not possible to be delivered from the bitter circumstances that surround one except by being in God; and one comes to be in God by partaking of him. For just as one is delivered from ignorances by having come to be in knowledge, so one who hastens to be in God will be delivered from the pirate's den, not entering into temptation—not by having come to be outside temptation, but by not being caught in its snares. For this reason also the one who confesses Jesus before men is in him: For everyone who confesses in me before men, I also will confess in him before my Father who is in the heavens. For one confesses Jesus by partaking of him, and is confessed by God when he is found in him. But the multitude of things done by us contrary to reason walls us off from God and separates us, as the prophet says: Is the hand of the Lord not strong to deliver? Or has he made his ear heavy so as not to hear? But your sins separate between you and God.

And whenever someone comes to be in God by cleaving to him and becoming one toward him, he surpasses the wall of sins, casting them behind his back, so that, hindered by nothing from God, he may approach him face to face. And perhaps also the bulk of bodily and perceptible things, standing between our thought and God, separates us from him. Whenever, then, we grasp him scientifically, as far as is possible, by the conception concerning God, above all bodies and perception, longing to be united to him, we withdraw from perceptible and bodily things so as to leap over the world and all things visible, in order that we may thus be able to stand before God. Our God has a blameless way leading to him. And this is virtue, traveling on which through study and practice we shall be shown blameless as we come to him. And especially blameless is the way of God—he who said, I am the way and the truth and the life. For through this way it is possible to come to the Father. The oracle of the Lord is fired, either because it is guileless and pure, or because it is fire warming those who partake of it and consuming the chaff of matter. He is a shield of all who hope in him. Those who recognize the weakness present in them, whenever they detect that their attackers are stronger, casting their hope upon God, deem it worthy that he be their champion, saying, Fight against those who fight against me. And thus God with his own shield champions them, according to His truth shall encircle you with a shield.

For no one is truly and properly God except the Word of God, who is also called the only-begotten God because he alone is God as the Father is. For all others are made gods by the presence of the Word of God. For he called those gods to whom the word of God came. But the Savior is God not by participation in divinity, being a maker of gods. Having said that no one is properly God except the Lord, he says that no one is God as our God. For none of those who are gods by participation can be as the Lord Jesus Christ, or as our God, the Father of the only-begotten. For for us there is one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ. But if the two lines can also be spoken as parallel, you yourself will observe. Here he is said to be girding me with power. But in Paul, those who have put on the whole armor of God are girded with truth, from which it is gathered that the truth is Christ, the power of God; for the Savior says, I am the truth; and Paul says, Christ the power of God. And he made my way blameless, that is, he demonstrated it. For to set now means to demonstrate, just as also, He set him heir of all things. And it is well that from this line too the whole psalm is spoken in the person of Christ. And the one who says these things, having destroyed the serpent-like evils and the wicked powers that wrought them, has his feet (that is, his powers of movement) of the inner man set in order by God, so that he might be able to say, Without lawlessness I ran and was directed.

And having completed his course in the heights, he will be heard by God: But you yourself stand with me. And to stand in the heights is not from oneself but from God. Just as other good things, so also the waging of war against the opposing powers is taught by God. For he forms the hands of the soul (I mean its active powers), so as to hold knowledgeably the noetic shield and the sword of the spirit and whatever other spiritual defenses there are, and teaches how one must use such things. But indeed also the Savior, having become man, having fought on our behalf, taught us to overthrow and war down the opposing power; and he says, stretching out his hands in prayer: I prevail over the enemies. Symbolically, what are called arms he set as a bronze bow, by the bronze indicating the invulnerable and well-strung, and by the bow the shooting of arrows from our arms able to wound those arrayed against us. In addition to all these things, you have given me the protection of salvation, sending down your Son to fight on my behalf with his own shield. But also your discipline, he says, set me upright to the end, that is, the disciplinary teaching and the laborious training. And to the end, that is, to a perfect resurrection and standing, it led me. For discipline signifies the disciplinary, as in Take hold of my discipline, do not let it go, but also the laborious, through Do not despise the discipline of the Lord. And this discipline of yours, in both senses, has become for me a teacher of good things.

Having been assisted by God through countless things, he took courage to pursue the enemies; and the end of the pursuit is their complete disappearance. For neither toil nor fear hindered me. Sparing those who are hostile, he presses them hard, so that they may not become firm and unmoved in enmity. For not intending to destroy them will he surround them with affliction, but so that, having perceived that they are in evils, they may cease from their hostile disposition. The falling of the enemies under the feet of the saint signifies nothing other than the subjection of the various. For just as standing in the worst state is base, so the beginning of salvation is to fall from it. For one who has fallen from it no longer resists, but yields and is subjected. You have shackled all those who rose up against me, not permitting them to drive forward in wickedness. For having been hindered from their impulse toward evil, they will be beneath me, no longer reckoning me as different but as their ruler and head, so that instead of hating they may love; for in that they are such, you have utterly destroyed them; for you destroy not their substance but what has happened to them. For it is entirely fitting to the goodness of God to make evil disappear, but not the substance in which this has happened. For he says to certain ones: And if you multiply your supplication, I will not hear you, because your hands, that is your deeds, are murderous and full of blood.