In Psalmum 118

TO THE 118TH PSALM, that is, the blameless. Station 1. 1. A great treasury and spiritual wealth and the most delightful profit for souls, both for the praise and glorification of God and for the security of our life and the pattern of good works, on the first day of the weekly cycle (which is also called by us the Lord's day, because of the Lord who rose on it), our renowned leaders and teachers, our holy fathers, handed down to us to sing and chant the one hundred and eighteenth psalm. For it is an elementary instruction and a guiding of the life according to God. For this is also why it has its title, since it trains those who pay attention and search out its clarity precisely toward perfection of life, and according to its name makes them blameless. And blameless is the one who is freed from every pollution and defilement and filth, and is outside every stain and lawlessness and sin; the same man is also blessed, because after his departure from this life he will be deemed worthy of true blessedness, and will be made radiant with the light of divine knowledge, and will be lodged in rest and eternal delight, which is the kingdom of heaven. Hence also the hymn-writer David, perceiving with prophetic eyes the grace of holy baptism, cried out: Blessed are they whose lawless deeds are forgiven. And those who have kept this grace, and have acted according to the ordinance, and are brought near to God and to holy baptism—these, as those who accomplish practical virtue, he calls blessed in this psalm. But the subject of this psalm has also another, very lofty meaning.

For this same divine David experienced many and varied changes of circumstances. For he fled from enemies, and he pursued enemies, and he fell into despondency, and again he had a more cheerful life; and he ran the divine road, and he stumbled as he journeyed, and again he followed the divine laws. All these things, then, he gathered together in this psalm, and having fitted together the prayers offered by him to God at each particular time, he set before men one profitable teaching, and he teaches by what he says how it is possible to achieve practical virtue. Nor does he neglect the precision of doctrines, but to the ethical precepts he also adds the teaching concerning these things, so that this psalm is sufficient both to perfect those who aspire to perfect virtue in it, and to stir up to earnestness those who live in ease, and to cheer the despondent, and to bring into order the careless, and, simply put, to implant every kind of healing for the manifold passions of men. Blessed are the blameless in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. So to speak, blessed are those who in this present life walk in the law of the Lord. For the present life is called a "way" by the prophet, because it has nothing stable or firm. For our life is a shadow, and like smoke it quickly passes away. For thus said the apostle James: For what is our life? For it is a vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes away. And Gregory the theologian philosophized something of this sort:

A kind of cycle of our affairs runs round about, bringing changes now in one way, now in another, within a single day, and sometimes even within an hour. Therefore, brothers, we brought nothing into this world, as the divine apostle says, nor shall we be able to carry anything out. Let us take thought for the things to come; for these things also remain. He therefore pronounces blessed those who have walked the royal road without swerving, and who have turned aside neither to the right nor to the left, according to the precepts of the law. And who these are, he teaches: Those who walk in the law of the Lord; for those who conduct their lives according to these things possess what is blameless. For he calls life a road, as I said before. For we all pass through this from birth-pangs to the grave. Blessed are those who search out his testimonies; they will seek him with their whole heart. And when we were interpreting the eighteenth psalm, we said in what way law differs from testimonies, and statutes, and judgments, and commandments; nevertheless, we shall recall in summary what was said. He calls law that which was given by the God of all things through the wondrous Moses; and commandments and ordinances again the same, as having been commanded and ordained in a royal manner; statutes, as being able to justify the one who acts rightly; judgments, as indicating the divine verdicts and the worthy recompenses of those who live lawfully and unlawfully; testimonies, as testifying and showing with what punishments those who transgress will be visited. He therefore pronounces blessed here also those who continually search out the testimonies of God, and who seek God with their whole heart. But this is not for everyone, but for the one who has attained the very summit of virtue.

For such a person does not divide his mind between God and worldly cares, but dedicates his whole self to God. For through reading and through hearing the divine Scriptures our life is set right. The prophet, then, blesses those who search out his testimonies. For the Lord also said this: Search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life. But the one who advances in this life by the searching of the divine Scriptures, and does not divide his life among pleasures and the passions of sins, but lives by the Spirit and walks by the Spirit, searching the Scriptures—then, perfect, he seeks God with his whole heart. And since this psalm densely declares law and commandments and statutes and judgments and testimonies, it is useful to discuss these matters from the beginning. The law, then, was given by God, because he himself is King of kings and Lord of lords. And the law is a common commandment for all men: rulers, subjects; slaves, masters; rich, poor. It is called law from the verb "to distribute" (nemein). For it has been legislated for all men: You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet your neighbor's field, honor your father and your mother. The same is also called a commandment, because God commands you to do the good and to abstain from evil. And statutes and judgments, in that the righteous who keep the commandments are justified before God, while those who transgress are condemned as sinners.

Testimonies is the word used, since God testifies through his divine Scriptures that one should keep all his commandments. For those who work lawlessness did not walk in his ways. He made this distinction also in the first psalm. For there too, having blessed the one who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night, and having shown the fruit of that meditation, he added: Not so the ungodly, not so. And here, then, having blessed the blameless, he teaches that the workers of lawlessness prepared another road for themselves and abandoned the one fixed by God. Having blessed, then, those who seek God with their whole heart, the prophet adds, saying: For those who work lawlessness did not walk in his ways. You commanded your commandments to be kept exceedingly. 2. The Master enjoins this both through the law and the prophets and through the holy Gospels, and all divine Scripture is full of such legislation. For he does not recommend simply keeping, but keeping exceedingly, that is, with all exactness; and not keeping some while rejecting others, but he has said to keep all the commandments exceedingly. Therefore another prophet also said: From your commandments I will not depart, that I may not die. Oh that my ways were directed to keep your statutes. For this reason, he says, I entreat that my way be directed by your law, as by a kind of rule, so that I might preserve your statutes. The word Oh that is the address of a prayer, instead of saying, May it come to pass for me to be directed to keep all your commandments.

Since every person who has the desire to keep the commandments of God, unless he has him as a co-worker in doing good, would not reach the desired end; for it is written, It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. Therefore the beginning of good is from us, but to come to the end needs the help of God; for he says, Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Then I shall not be put to shame when I look upon all your commandments. For shame is the fruit of lawlessness. So too the divine apostle said: What fruit then did you have in those things of which you are now ashamed? But those who fulfill all the commandments of God have boldness from their conscience. And then, when? When, according to the prophet Daniel, the righteous shall rise to eternal life, but sinners to eternal shame. The prophet therefore exhorts us not to be put to shame then. And how does this happen? By looking upon all the commandments—not doing one and abandoning another. For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not commit fornication; and he who said, Do not commit fornication, also said, Do not do injustice. And Whoever shall fulfill the whole law but stumble in one point has become guilty of all, according to the apostle James. I will confess to you in uprightness of heart, when I have learned the judgments of your righteousness. He calls confession thanksgiving. Then I shall be able to offer you a pure hymn, when I have thoroughly learned all your judgments and live according to them.

For the one who has good deeds, that one confesses in uprightness of heart, repenting with his whole heart, as David did over his adultery, and as the tax collector crying out, I have sinned, and, Be merciful. Judas also confessed, saying, I have sinned in betraying innocent blood; but not in uprightness of heart, for he was held fast by love of money. The Pharisee also made confession; but having a heart lofty and not upright, he went down not justified, saying, I am not like this tax collector. I will keep your statutes; do not forsake me utterly. Sometimes divine grace leaves certain people for a short while, contriving benefit for them from this. Thus the great Elijah, when left, fell into the passion of cowardice, and learned the weakness of human nature; but at once again he enjoyed divine grace. Thus the divine Peter slipped by denying, but at once the Master restored him. But Judas, having become completely stripped of divine providence, became ready prey for the devil. The blessed David also was forsaken after that sin, and fell into those harsh calamities, but again he received boldness toward God, and enjoyed the care that comes from there. But Saul, having become destitute of this completely, was stripped of the grace of the Spirit, and was yoked to an evil spirit. Reasonably, then, the prophet entreats not to be forsaken utterly; that is, not to be completely stripped of providential grace. And again, then, we will use the same thought, because the prophet said, Do not forsake me utterly.

There is, then, abandonment by God in many ways, for certain purposes of providence and beneficence; as when Job was abandoned, so that he might become more perfect. Elijah too was abandoned, as we have said before, having withdrawn for a short time from the presence of Ahab and Jezebel; but something else was being arranged, so that he might come to Sarepta of Sidon, and be shown kindness by a widow woman, and through her provide food. For the handful of meal shall not fail, he says, nor the oil in the cruse; and so that because of the wickedness of the Jews he might shut up the heaven for three years and six months, that it not rain. For he says: As the Lord lives, there shall be no rain upon the earth, except by the word of my mouth. To be abandoned by God until the very end—this is terrible, as Saul was abandoned, and Absalom, no longer turning back toward salvation; for they were stripped of God's providence. In what way shall a younger man keep his path straight? By guarding your words. Youth is swift to sin, being led away into pleasures and shameful passions; but if it is held in check by the guarding of God's commandments, it remains unharmed; for what a bridle and a horse-tamer are to a herd horse, that the divine word becomes for the young. Since Daniel too was young; but he guarded the commandments of God, and was deemed worthy of prophetic grace, and became an expounder of secret mysteries. Likewise also the three children, being young, by their faith and their works turned fire into the opposite nature; for they were refreshed in the midst of it, and were cooled by the boldness of faith and the breeze of the Spirit. So then this is also present in us.

Those who are young should adorn themselves through the keeping of the commandments of God, and not become idle in their prime, like Absalom, who lived with wickedness; he even had a head of hair that grew long in company with it, the senseless man in his wits. For hair is a symbol of deadness. And for him the hairs became causes of destruction, when he was hanged from them on the oak, as the history of the kings recounts. But it is grievous that even now some, emulating him, hang down long locks and braids, spreading out the works of the women's quarters in their vanity, puffed up idly in their own mind; and they do not know that they bring more dishonor upon themselves, since the Apostle says: If a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him. And the Greeks in Homer are recorded as doing this; for he says, The long-haired Achaeans. Since even the wise among the physicians say so. Let us, then, for the comeliness of the head, having our hair measured, be content with the adornment of the ancient men, and not wish these to lie over the brow, nor over the back; for it is a dishonor to the one who does such a thing, as we have heard the Apostle advising, With my whole heart I have sought you; do not cast me away from your commandments.

3. For many seek God, but not with their whole heart; for they divide it not only among cares for worldly affairs, but also among shameful desires and envies and deceits and plots against their neighbors. But the lover of divine things dedicates his whole mind to God, and enjoys the providence that comes from there, not sinking down from his commandments into the pit of destruction, but following the living God, and assigning his whole mind to him. I hid your words in my heart, so that I might not sin against you. The one who possesses gold or silver or precious stones does not set these out openly, but hides them within, in his treasuries and inner chambers, so as to escape the hands of burglars; thus the one who has the wealth of virtue hides it in his soul, so that the robbers of souls may not plunder it through empty glory. And in another sense: I did not hide, he says, gold or silver or soft and flowing clothing, where moth and worm destroy, and thieves break in and

They steal; but the prophet says, I have hidden your words in the treasuries of my heart, so that I might not fall into sin. But the word also teaches something else; for it does not enjoin us to offer the divine words to all: Give not, it says, what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before the swine. But even if these things were said by him, nevertheless we who sing are obliged to preserve the confession of our hymnody. But the word has also another meaning. I do not do good things in order to be seen by men, since then I have my reward in full; but I do the good for myself, so that God, who sees in secret, may repay me openly. Blessed are you, Lord; teach me your statutes; instead of: You are gentle and loving toward humanity, and worthy to be hymned by all; for which reason I entreat you to learn from you the things that are able to make me righteous. Or thus: You are blessed and glorified beyond all, because you are loving toward humanity, compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and greatly merciful; I beseech you, teach me your statutes. I do not desire wealth, I do not seek gold, nor silver, nor honor, nor any of the pleasant things of this world; but I seek to learn your statutes, because in keeping them there is great reward. For this is the pursuit of a Christian. With my lips I declared all the judgments of your mouth. For it is not fitting for one who knows the judgments of God to be silent within himself, but to declare them and to set others right; for to proclaim the works of God is glorious. For whatever I may learn from your goodness, these things I will teach to those who do not know.

In the way of your testimonies I delighted, as in all wealth. The path of virtue is laborious, but to the perfect it is greatly desired. For this reason the Master Christ also said: Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is good, and my burden is light. The prophetic word also said this: that the possession of your testimonies is more desirable to me than all wealth. But the phrase "in all wealth" is not added without purpose; rather it intimates wealth of every kind. For the forms of wealth are many. One who has gold is called rich; another who has silver; another who has the most land, some planted and some sown; another who has herds. But the prophet, having encompassed all these things and compared them to the divine testimonies, said that the divine testimonies are lovable to him as all the forms of wealth are to lovers of wealth; and just as the one who is rich in these things rejoices, so also he very reasonably exults in the statutes of God, as in all wealth. I will meditate on your commandments, and I will consider your ways. The prophet promises to devote himself and to meditate on the commandments of God, and not to hold them as a side matter. For this reason, he says, I will hold the meditation of your words continually, and I will make my journey in your ways. For this reason he also considered his ways; therefore he adds: I will meditate on your statutes; I will not forget your words—that is, I will keep in myself the unforgotten memory of your oracles. Give recompense to your servant. We do not all ask this; for this entreaty belongs to the righteous.

Those who live soberly and piously and righteously themselves say with confidence: Repay your servant; but those who live in sins and pleasures and dishonorable passions cannot say: Repay your servant. For no one who carries about a wicked conscience stirs up the judge for repayment; but he who employs pure thoughts uses this utterance with boldness. I shall live, and I shall keep your words. I ask for this life, that I may walk in keeping of your words; for enjoying your assistance, I shall escape the death of sin, and I shall harvest the life that comes from your words. Uncover my eyes, and I shall understand the wonders out of your law. Not all who encounter the divine oracles understand the wonders of these things, but those who enjoy the radiance from above; for which reason indeed the blessed Paul also said: Whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed; and the Lord is the Spirit. He himself, however, being illumined by the divine light, rightly cried out: But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. But it is fitting for us to entreat the Master, that having removed the veil from the eyes of our mind, he may show us the power of the divine oracles. For we behold and understand the divine Scriptures by way of ascent and contemplation; namely, that the lamb slain of old by the Israelites was a type of the true lamb, Christ our God, who was slain for us.

And just as there the smearing of the blood on the doorposts saved those who smeared it, so the blood of the true Lamb, Christ our God, redeemed us from the curse of the enemy and from the dominion of death. Again, the people of Israel also, having crossed the Jordan and entered the land of promise, became a type of us Christians; for we, through the water of holy baptism, are brought into the promised land, the kingdom of heaven. But the Hebrews understand nothing of this, because a veil lies over their eyes, as the divine apostle Paul says. I am a sojourner in the land; do not hide your commandments from me. 4. The voice of a righteous man, one who lives according to God and does not reckon the affairs of the world. Therefore he also calls himself a sojourner; just as Abraham and all the saints are sojourners in this life, having their dwelling in the kingdom of heaven. For this earth we all do not inhabit as residents but dwell in as sojourners; for after living a brief time, we pass over to another life. But not all are willing to know this; rather, they pride themselves on present goods as though they were permanent and lasting. But the one instructed in divine things knows the transitory nature of life. Therefore he also names himself a sojourner, and entreats that he may in no way be ignorant of the divine commandments. My soul has longed to desire your judgments at all times. Many desire the divine judgments and aspire to the kingdom of heaven, but not always; rather, at one time they are pleased with divine things, at another they follow the passions of the body.

But the prophet longs to have this desire continually. "At all times," he says, not desiring at one time and not at another. For some know that compunction comes to them, at one time desiring the commandments of God because of the fear of eternal punishment and because of longing for the kingdom of heaven, and at another time being carried away by fleshly desires. Such people, then, do not long for God at all times; but those who do this because of the love of God do not depart at all from the judgments of God. "You rebuked the proud." Those who despise the divine laws fall into the disease of pride and receive punishment from the righteous judge. Some, then, were lifted up against God, but they were rebuked by him, as Pharaoh perished in the Red Sea after being lifted up in pride, and Sennacherib, exalted to a height, was destroyed by his own sons. Likewise Nebuchadnezzar also, having lifted up his heart, grazed like the beasts. For such are the wages of the arrogant; for "the Lord opposes the proud," as it is written in Proverbs. "Cursed are those who turn aside from your commandments." The prophets spoke by the inspiration of the divine Spirit, just as we also confess in the symbol of our faith: "who spoke through the prophets." That same Spirit, therefore, which

he cries "holy." Cursed are those who turn aside from your commandments. Let us fear, then, brothers, lest the curse of the Holy Spirit come upon us. The law also brings this curse upon transgressors. For cursed, it says, is everyone who does not abide by what is written in the book of the law, to do them. And we too, when we sing to the Holy Spirit, become of one voice with him, sending the curse upon those who turn aside from the commandments of God. Let us take heed, then, lest while we call others cursed, we ourselves become so by turning aside from the commandments of God. Remove from me reproach and contempt, for I have sought your testimonies. Nabal reproached the prophet, calling him a runaway slave; the Gethites also reproached him. Grieved, then, at these things, he begs to wipe away the reproaches, inasmuch as he has sought the divine testimonies. These present words, then, do not fit the reproaches from Shimei. For those came after the sin; but those of Nabal and the others came before the sin. In another psalm, then, the same prophet says: Reproach to those who prosper, and contempt to the proud; and, These sinners and those who prosper forever have possessed wealth; and again another prophet says: Why do sinners prosper, and are grown old even in wealth? The prophet prays, then, that this reproach and contempt be taken away from them. For the things of this world—wealth and glory—these he calls reproach and contempt, considering it glory and honor to seek the testimonies of God.

For they sat as rulers and spoke against me. According to the letter, Saul and Abner and Ahithophel reviled David; but according to the meaning, the verse is referred to Christ. For Herod and Pontius Pilate and Annas and Caiaphas took counsel to kill him; but he was with his disciples in the garden, speaking of the things of God the Father. For he said to them: What I have heard from my Father, these things I have declared to you. And since he became a perfect man and took the form of a servant, he is also called a servant. But your servant meditated on your statutes. And I, confessing your lordship, made your statutes my meditation. For your testimonies are my meditation, and my counsels are your statutes. For having rejected every human suggestion, I follow your precepts, and I speak nothing else, nor am I occupied in meditation with other matters, except concerning your testimonies and your statutes. For this is the mark of a perfect man. My soul cleaved to the ground. Through these words he showed the excess of his humiliation. For so also in the forty-third psalm he said: For our soul was humbled to the dust; our belly cleaved to the earth. That is, I was not exalted, I did not become proud, but I was humble-minded. For this is what "My soul cleaved to the ground" means. Therefore I entreat: Give me life according to your word. That is, direct my life according to your law.

It reveals first the fellowship with her body, since the dust is from the ground, and then also his willing humiliation, which he displayed in the things he had sinned, hoping to live through it because of the word of God, since the one who humbles himself is exalted by the one who exalts. Give me life according to your word. He does not ask for life indefinitely, but for the life according to the law. I declared my ways, and you heard me; teach me your statutes. 5. I have made all my deeds known to you, Master, and I did not endure that any of my affairs escape you. For this reason you assent to my supplications. I beseech you to learn your statutes exactly. And the same prophet says also in another psalm: I said, I will confess my lawlessness against myself to the Lord; and you forgave the ungodliness of my heart. And in another prophet it is said: Speak your sins first, that you may be justified. Therefore, when we sin, we must declare our sins before God and cut them off; for the cutting off of sin and confession works its forgiveness; and especially to declare them to a teacher and to receive instruction from him as to what we ought to do about our sins. But without effort repentance is idle. For the same prophet said in another psalm: Behold my humiliation and my effort, and forgive all my sins. And over his sin he lamented, saying: I will wash my bed every night; with my tears I will drench my couch. Give me understanding in the way of your statutes, and I will meditate on your wonders.

Those who walk in the ways of God and are continually given understanding by him—for this is what "I will meditate" means—always meditate on the wondrous works of God, considering that he is the maker of heaven and earth, that he is our nourisher, he the provider of good things, he sends the rain, he brings spring and summer, doing all things for our sustenance; he, as creator, preserves all things by harmony and order. For we need divine understanding, so as to pursue virtue according to the divine law, and to see that the one who practices philanthropy does not do it for vainglory, and that the ascetic does not hunt for human praise, and that the temperate person's temperance is not because of the shame of licentiousness but because of the longing for virtue. Reasonably, then, the prophet entreats to partake of divine understanding, so as to discern the way of righteousness. My soul has slumbered from listlessness; strengthen me in your words. The continual assault of sin often dissolves the tension of our thoughts, and prepares the athlete to give up, and produces what is called listlessness; and the soul, grown slack, admits sleep, and sleep brings on death. Therefore the prophet entreats to be strengthened and established. And to fall into sin, and to be mastered by laziness and negligence and listlessness, and not to be eager for the commandments of God—this is slumber. And in another psalm the prophet prays this same thought, saying: Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep unto death, calling sin death. Remove the way of injustice from me, and by your law have mercy on me.

I chose the way of truth; I did not forget your judgments. This petition also is necessary. For it is fitting that we ask from the God of all help, so as to turn aside from the way of unrighteousness and to choose the path of truth, and to carry about the memory of the testimonies of God unforgotten. And the prophet prays that every evil deed be taken away from him (for this is unrighteousness), and that he be shown mercy by his law and his commandments. For he says, I chose the way of truth—that is, I loved it, I selected it; and for this reason I did not forget your judgments, nor did I become forgetful of the memory of your testimonies. I clung to your testimonies, O Lord; do not put me to shame. He did not say simply, I followed your testimonies, nor carelessly, but I clung—that is, I did not separate my own thought from them even for a moment, but was continually nourished in them, not being torn away from them. Therefore do not put me to shame, when you render to each according to his works. And I seek to reap the fruit of such a disposition, namely to experience no shame. I ran the way of your commandments, when you enlarged my heart. Both are needed, both our own zeal and God's providence. For neither is divine grace given to those who do not have good zeal, nor can human nature accomplish virtue apart from help from above. This the prophet also teaches, that I was running the way of your commandments without hindrance, receiving the ease of the course from him. For he called ease "breadth"; and...

he says: "In affliction you made room for me"; and again: "You widened my steps beneath me, and my footprints did not weaken," when you made my circumstances easy and manageable, and drove away from me every troublesome and crooked assault of the enemy. For this is what it means: "When you widened my heart, I ran the way of your commandments." Such was Paul when he said: "Thus I run, not as uncertainly; thus I box, not as beating the air; but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection." Likewise also all the saints. "Prescribe for me, Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will seek it continually." Symmachus renders "Prescribe" as "Point out"; Aquila and Theodotion as "Enlighten." Continually, he says, I need your illumination and your legislation, so as both to know the way of your statutes and to walk in it accordingly. Every good gift, then, and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. And when we choose to do some good, if we do not have his cooperation from the outset, our desire is incomplete. The prophet therefore prays, and we who sing (for whatever was written beforehand was written beforehand for our salvation) pray to have God as our cooperator. Therefore he adds: "Give me understanding, and I will search out your law, and I will keep it with my whole heart." This verse also belongs to the same contemplation, and does not need another idea for its interpretation. For the Lord also commanded us to search the Scriptures; but those who search need the radiance from above, so that they may both find what is sought and keep what is hunted out.

Guide me in the path of your commandments, for I desired it. He does not simply ask the God of all things to become his guide, but shows the longing of his journey. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to covetousness. The nature of water is inclined to flow down a slope, and if it takes hold of some outlet, it all rushes there; so when the devil opened the road to sin, the nature of men rushed toward the worse. Very fittingly, then, the prophet entreats that his heart be inclined to the divine testimonies and that he escape the experience of the drift toward the other side. For the mind of man is earnestly set on evil from his youth, as it is written. Let us pray, then, taught by the prophet, that our hearts be inclined to his testimonies, and not to covetousness, to robberies and injustices, and to the distractions of this world. For the whole life of the impious is in anxiety, according to much-suffering Job. For from these things wealth also is gathered, which is also called mammon. Turn away my eyes, that I may not see vanity; in your way give me life. 6. The prophet entreats that he not be lifted up by his eyes through certain spectacles, the races of horses and mules, and dancing bendings, which are things of vanity, and unprofitable and useless; since indeed all the affairs and the many anxieties of this world that lead to fleshly passions are vanities. Therefore it is also said in Ecclesiastes: Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity—clearly the earthly things; for he adds:

What is the abundance of a man in all his toil, in which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes; and again: I built myself houses, I planted myself vineyards, I made myself gardens and parks, pools of water to water from them. I acquired male and female slaves, and they became homeborn to me, and indeed a great possession of herds and flocks became mine beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem. I gathered for myself also silver and gold, and the wealth of kings and of the lands. I made for myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of man, male and female cupbearers; and I did not withhold my heart from any gladness. And behold, all things are vanity, and a choice of spirit. For vain is that which is without gain and unprofitable; and such are the seeming pleasures of life. The prophet therefore entreats that the eyes of his mind be turned to another contemplation, and that he not be charmed by the vanity of things present. And, In your way give me life, means: grant me to live according to your laws. Establish your oracle to your servant in your fear. Make me firm in your words, keeping me unchangeable by your fear—that is, let your fear lie upon me, restraining me and not allowing me to be turned aside from your oracles, so as to remove from me all wickedness and sin. Thus, then, I pray that it may come to be in me, your servant. For the fear of God, it is written, is for a man unto life; and, By the fear of the Lord everyone turns aside from evil; and in what follows of the same psalm the prophet says: Nail my flesh with your fear.

Let your fear therefore be upon me, not allowing me to do the will of the flesh. For the will of the flesh is enmity toward God, according to the divine apostle Paul. Remove my reproach, which I suspected, because your judgments are good. But Aquila, instead of "I suspected," has said "I shrank back," and so also Theodotion; but Symmachus, "which I reverence." And here he calls "reproach" that which comes from sin. For this he both shrank from and feared, and he lived a life of suspicion. For this reason he did not add, as was his custom, "because I sought your judgments," or "I kept them," but, "because your judgments are good." And he calls "judgments" the righteous verdicts of God. And "I suspected" means this: I recognized myself as having sinned; and my reproach is this, that having been created in your image I slipped down into sin. Remove this therefore from me, because not only do you bring punishment upon those who sin, but you also bring greater salvation to those who repent. For your judgments are good, being good in the superlative degree; for when goodness abounds, goodness becomes kindness, as those who are wise in these matters say. Behold, I have desired your commandments; in your righteousness give me life. My desire is perfect—to walk in your commandments; and to me as I strive, grant the life that is in righteousness. For doing this, I have acquired the sum of all the virtues. And may your mercy come upon me, Lord. For we are all in need of the divine love of humanity; and even the one who has attained the very summit of virtue needs it continually, since both we who sin and those who have set their life aright need the mercy of God.

For all are in need of the divine love for mankind, and All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace. For with God's cooperation, even the one who sins turns back from his evil way, and the good man grows in goodness and is preserved in his goodness. Your salvation according to your word. And I shall answer a word to those who reproach me. 7. Grant, Master, the salvation which you promised in your holy words, so that I may speak with boldness to those who mock me. For the one who is in misfortunes bears reproaches in silence; but the one who lives a life pleasing to you refutes those who reproach him wrongly. For perhaps some unbelievers, seeing me in this life in afflictions and misfortunes, reproach me; but I shall answer them a word: that Christ our God has appointed a day on which he will judge the world, and render to each according to his works: to those who by patience in good works seek glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life; but to those who are factious, disobedient to the truth but obedient to unrighteousness, wrath and anger and distress, and upon every soul of man who works evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek. Therefore the rich man also heard: You received in your lifetime the

your good things, and Lazarus likewise his evil things; therefore that one is comforted here, but you are in torment. But what is this, I hoped in your words? For I hang upon your promise, and I walk in this hope. And do not take away from my mouth a word of truth utterly, for I have hoped in your judgments. Truth is precious, so that Christ himself said: I am the truth and the life. And another prophet teaches: These are the words which you shall do: speak truth each one to his neighbor, and do not love a false oath. But the opposite of truth is falsehood, which is also from the evil one. For he, having first lied, whispered to Eve. The prophet therefore teaches us to love the truth, and to ask it from the God of all with great eagerness. And I will keep your law continually, forever and ever. From this, then, in this life I will keep your law and preserve your commandments; but good things are laid up for me as I do this; for in this way I will also become more eager in the keeping of your laws. However, through the words, Forever and ever, he has indicated the life to come, in which the keeping of the divine laws will be given to all pure and undefiled, and the good things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and have not come up upon the heart of man. For God has prepared these for those who love him. And I walked in a broad place, for I sought your commandments. And I spoke of your testimonies before kings, and I was not ashamed.

With great ease, he says, and living according to your commandments, I did not fear even royal power, but with great boldness I conducted my conversation with them. For the lawful life is the creator of boldness; and the great David is a witness of this. For before his sin he converses with Saul with great boldness; but after his sin, fleeing from his parricidal son, he walked bowing to the ground and covering his head. By "breadth" here he means the freedom and ease in which those who live well walk, and they do not turn aside to the right nor to the left, unless they have their mind directed toward the way of God. For against the crooked the Lord sends crooked ways. And because I walked in the breadth of your commandments, I spoke of your testimonies before kings, and I was not ashamed. Such was Elijah the great, trusting in righteousness, reproving the lawlessness of Ahab. Such was the inspired Daniel, saying to Nebuchadnezzar: And now, O king, let my counsel please you, and redeem your lawless deeds by almsgiving, and your injustices by mercies to the poor. Such was John, reproving the adultery of Herod, saying to him: It is not lawful for you to have the wife of Philip your brother. Thus the divine Paul conversed with Agrippa and Festus and Felix. Thus the victorious martyrs despised the impious kings. And I meditated on your commandments, which I loved exceedingly. And I lifted up my hands to your commandments, which I loved, and I talked idly of your statutes.

For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power; and, He who does and teaches, this one will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For this very reason the divine prophet also added action to meditation. For having said, I meditated on your commandments, which I loved exceedingly, and having shown his fervent longing, he added: And I lifted up my hands to your commandments, which I loved, and I occupied myself with your statutes. For the things I was taught through the divine words, these I pursued through deeds. For the meditation of the divine words and the hearing of the reading leads to good works. For this is what, I lifted up my hands to your commandments, means. For the hands are indicative of actions; for the Apostle said: For not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified; and, Faith without works is dead, and works without faith. Therefore the Lord also said: Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be likened to a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand; and the rain came down, and the rivers came, and the winds blew, and they beat against that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. But whoever hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock; and the rain came down, and the rivers came, and the winds blew, and they fell upon that house, and it did not fall; for it had been founded upon the rock.

But "I meditated in your statutes" means, he says, that I made my supplication of them continually. "Remember your words to your servant, in which you made me hope." God, when giving the law, both promised his own favor to those who keep the law and punishment to transgressors. Therefore he beseeches God to remember his own promises. For "you taught me," he says, "to hope in those." Remember, then, Master, the promises which you promised to us. For you said to your disciples: "Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age." And you promised this not only to them, but also to us all who believe through them in your name. Remember us, then, and be with us, and do not depart from us, lest we perish. "This comforted me in my humiliation, for your word gave me life." For I had this consolation in calamities and in afflictions. That very promise became my comfort and refreshment, and carried upon it I sailed over the waves. Therefore I ask that you make my life in your words. "The proud transgressed exceedingly, but I did not turn aside from your law." He calls Saul proud, Absalom, the king of the Ammonites, the one who did those lawless things to those sent by him. But they embraced a lawless life, whereas I followed your laws. And the victorious martyrs too could say these things, having suffered those terrible and harsh things from savage and impious tyrants.

The Pharisees too were exceedingly arrogant, refusing to listen to the teaching of Christ. Therefore he also said to them: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut the kingdom of heaven. For you not only do not enter yourselves, but you hinder those who wish to enter." Again, the rulers and priests of the Jews were arrogant against the apostles, saying to them: "Did we not strictly command you not to speak this word to anyone? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching." But they answered them: "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God." "I remembered your judgments from of old, O Lord, and I was comforted." So when the company of the apostles and all the martyrs was being persecuted, they remembered the judgments of God from of old: what Abel suffered at the hands of his brother-murdering Cain; what Abraham suffered, what Moses suffered; the things concerning Isaac, the things concerning Jacob, the things concerning Joseph, the things concerning Job; and these became for them comfort and consolation; and how they were permitted to fall into various temptations, and afterward became illustrious and admired. Taking these things, then, into my mind, I too reaped from them sufficient encouragement for my soul. "Faintness seized me because of sinners who abandon your law." I, while suffering evil, was encouraged by the remembrance of your judgments; but I was wholly grieved and continued to be distressed, seeing many heedlessly transgressing the laws. These things also the

The apostle Paul said: "For the word belongs to the perfect: Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?" And when he was in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him, for he saw that the city was full of idols. So we too, brothers, when we see some abandoning the law of God and his commandments, let us be disheartened, since it is written: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself"; and afterwards in this psalm it is said: "I saw those who were senseless, and I was consumed, because they did not keep your words." "Your statutes were songs to me in the place of my sojourning." The blessed David sojourned, being pursued by Saul, among the Philistines; but I think he calls "sojourning" not that time only, but his whole life. For he continued not as one dwelling, but as one sojourning, and singing the statutes of God, he passed through life. For thus the other interpreters also explained it: "Your commandments were songs to me in the place of my sojourning." All the saints, then, and those who live according to God, had this life as a sojourning, having the life to come as their dwelling. So the statutes of God are songs to them in this life. For man was created for this very purpose, that he might praise and glorify God. "I remembered your name in the night, O Lord, and I kept your law." For I have done this not only through the day, but also in the night, when there is rest for the body, and it dreams of unreal phantasies, and unpleasant thoughts are formed—I did not give place to these, but I remembered your name. Therefore "I also kept your law.

And the choir of the saints also, rising always by night, both prays and hymns the God of all. And I think that "night" here names the time of temptations; for it brings gloom, and comes upon men like night. And in this, the remembrance of the God of all is especially necessary, cheering the soul and encouraging it and driving out the opposing thoughts. This became mine, because I sought your statutes. What is "This"? The nightly meditation. For in this way, he says, I was able to prevail, and to prefer the remembrance or the possession of your statutes, since I sought your statutes, and in the night I did not cease making remembrance of you. Therefore, brothers, let us be taught to spend the night in prayer and psalmody. You are my portion, O Lord; I said, to guard your law. God is not the portion of all, but of those who embrace perfect things. Thus he became the portion and lot of the priests and Levites. For to the sons of Levi, he says, there shall be no portion among their brothers, because I, the Lord, am their portion. Thus also in the fifteenth psalm he said: The Lord is the portion of my inheritance, and of my cup. He says, then, also here, that having despised all other things, I have you as my portion and possession and wealth. Therefore I hasten to guard your laws. This, then, is the voice of the perfect, who dedicate themselves wholly to God, and are not led away into pleasures and many cares. For the Lord said: You cannot serve God and mammon. I entreated your face with my whole heart.

The word teaches us what sort of people we ought to be when we entreat God, namely, as though we stand before his face. For "I entreated your face." Or is the Son also the face of the Father, as the divine apostle said: "the effulgence of his glory and the express image of his substance"; and through him we offer up a sacrifice well-pleasing to God, our reasonable service. And everywhere David adds "with the whole heart" to the law, and in this, being persuaded to cleave to God, he teaches us to love him with the whole heart. For "you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole strength, and with your whole mind." And "Have mercy on me according to your word" is nothing other than: I commit to you all that concerns me; and as you will, have mercy on me. Have mercy on me according to your word. 9. He does not ask to be shown mercy indefinitely, but to obtain mercy according to the divine word. This is what a wise sick man would say to the physician: heal as you know how, as the art prescribes. This is what a wise merchant would say to the pilot: steer the ship according to the laws of the art; pilot as your knowledge commands. So it is fitting for us too to invoke the divine mercy. For the one who is asked knows the manner of mercy. For often he procures salvation through discipline, and punishment becomes loving-kindness. So too the physician both cuts and cauterizes, procuring health for the sick man. So it is fitting for us too to ask for mercy.

For there are times when mercy is supplied through poverty, and kindness is granted through weakness, and according to the medical principle opposites are cured by opposites. I considered your ways, and I turned my feet to your testimonies. Since I committed my whole purpose to your commandments, for this reason I walked in the path of your testimonies. But the Hebrew has "my ways"; and likewise the other translators and the Seventy in the Hexapla also rendered it so. He says that, reckoning my ways, you directed my feet to your testimonies, and I did not allow myself to turn aside from the road that leads to you. I was prepared, and I was not troubled, to keep your commandments. For having made myself ready for the assaults of terrors, I did not endure the storm from the sudden attack. Such was the blessed Daniel, who bridled the mouths of lions; such were the three children, for whom the furnace became a dwelling of dew; so too the wondrous Maccabees; such were the holy apostles, prophets, and martyrs. Thus all conquered the assaults of the impious. For before the dangers they prepared themselves, dying daily for the love of God, holding all things second and nothing. For this the Lord enjoins in the holy Gospels, saying, "Watch, because you do not know at what hour the thief comes." The cords of sinners entangled me, and I did not forget your law. He called the plots either of demons or of men "cords," taking the occasion of the turn from their twisting. So also Isaiah:

Woe to those who draw their sins upon themselves as with a long rope. But he says that when these ropes were wrapped around me, I did not shake off the remembrance of the divine law. By the ropes of sinners we must understand the assaults of demons, evil thoughts, and fleshly impulses; for each person is bound fast by the cords of his own sins; and whenever someone sins, if he does not quickly call himself back and come to a sense of his sin, he falls again into another sin. Thus Cain, having sinned by killing his own brother, had falsehood following after him like a twisted rope. For God said to him, Where is Abel your brother? And he answered, Am I my brother's keeper? and he lied to God, who searches all things, even the depths of our hearts. Thus the Hebrew people, having sat down to eat and drink, rose up to play, and heaping sin upon sin, made a calf and practiced idolatry in the wilderness. Thus also Judas, being a lover of money, became the betrayer of his teacher, and in the end hanged himself. But Peter, having denied him, wept bitterly over his denial and was justified, because he did not add sin to sin. Thus, then, brothers, if we sin, let us turn back, and let us not become despisers, so that sin upon sin does not follow us like a long rope. At midnight I arose to give thanks to you for your judgments.

of your righteousness. For not only by day, but also by night, at the very middle of the night, when sleep comes upon men with greater pleasure, I continued hymning you and extolling your righteous judgments. It has been said before, then, when all have rest, when they rest their body in sleep, I arose to give thanks to you for the judgments of your righteousness. And what are these? That Christ our God is going to judge each one according to his works at his second coming. For this is righteousness; and it teaches us that both by day and by night we should give thanks and entreat God for our sins. For the evangelist Luke also says: And Jesus was spending the night in prayer to God, teaching us to do this. This the divine apostle also did with Silas. For bound together with Silas and fastened in the stocks, after tortures and scourges, he mingled hymnody with prayer, and reaped the fruit of his noble vigil; for they enjoyed divine favor. I am a partaker with all who fear you, and with those who keep your commandments. But Symmachus, instead of "partaker," has said "joined together"; and the Syrian, "friend." For turning away from those who choose the opposite of your ways, I had as companions and associates those who held your fear in great honor and chose to live lawfully. This he also said in another psalm: But to me your friends were greatly honored, O God. We have heard it proverbially, then: He who walks with the wise will be wise.

But he who walks with fools will be known. Therefore, as many as have acquired the hospitality of Abraham have become partakers of this; likewise the zeal of Elijah, the meekness of Moses and David; since as many as have become imitators of evil deeds hear: If you saw a thief, you ran together with him, and with an adulterer you placed your portion. Let us not, then, brothers, become partakers of these, but of those who have done good things. For in many ways some have perished while committing sins, and destroying others together with themselves. But whenever someone invites you to sin, answer him: I did not sit with the council of vanity, and with those who transgress the law I will not enter; and, I hated those who commit transgressions. The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord; teach me your statutes. 10. Upon all, he says, you pour out richly the fountains of your mercy, and you make your sun rise upon the evil and the good, and you send rain upon the just and the unjust, and you do not bring your wrath each day, but you bear with those who dig through the marriages of others, and those defiled with unjust blood, and others appropriating what does not belong to them, and those polluting their tongue with blasphemies, and others daring other things of the lawless. With such great love for humanity, then, as you show, deem me also worthy of it, Master, granting the knowledge of your statutes. The prophet Isaiah, then, says something similar: The whole earth will know the Lord. For when Christ our God came upon the earth, all the ends were filled with his grace, and his statutes were taught by his disciples.

The word has also another meaning: that we all enjoy his mercy. For he rains on the just and on sinners, and bears patiently with our sins, and does not take away his anger. You have done goodness with your servant, O Lord, according to your word. I have had experience of your goodness; therefore I again beseech you to let me enjoy it, and I entreat you to live according to your laws. And since the earth is filled with your mercy, you have done goodness with the human race, as you promised through your prophets. God, being good, has therefore bestowed good things on us, and when we sin he disciplines us, turning us back for admonition. For whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives, according to the proverbial saying. So when we stumble, he rightly corrects us, that we may turn back from the evil way. For it is written: And the people did not turn back until they were struck. And through his goodness we are taught both discipline and knowledge, and that in his commandments we should believe that salvation will be given to us. Teach me goodness and discipline and knowledge, because I have believed in your commandments. The prophet knows the usefulness of discipline, and that the Master, exercising love for mankind, brings it upon men; for which reason he deems it worthy to partake of it. For God, exercising goodness, brings discipline; and discipline brings knowledge. Thus the prophet Jeremiah also entreats: Discipline us, O Lord, but in judgment, and not in anger, lest you make us few. Thus also the sick man, longing for health, seeks both the cutting of the iron and the cautery.

Then he teaches from what source he came to know the usefulness of discipline. Before I was humbled, I transgressed; for this reason I kept your word. Since, prospering in this world and being rich, I surely sinned—for this is what Before I was humbled means; for wealth is surely gathered from injustice—but restore me, that I may keep your words. For I, he says, brought myself to discipline. For the verdict of injustice is free from punishment. Discipline followed sin, and the keeping of the laws followed discipline. I fell sick, I was cut, I was healed. You are good, O Lord. For truly you are good and loving toward humanity, good and exceedingly good; and by your goodness preserve me in your statutes. For all things that save are from you. And in your goodness teach me your statutes. For this reason, being confident, I ask to receive from you the knowledge of your statutes. Iniquity of the proud has multiplied against me; but I will search out your commandments with my whole heart. All who do not keep the commandments of God, and who exalt themselves against his knowledge, are themselves the proud. And even if, he says, I live among such people, yet I will not follow them, but I will search out your commandments with my whole heart, remaining firmly fixed in them. For those who practice arrogance stitch together every kind of plot against me; but nevertheless I am not provoked to their lawlessness, being ordered by your commandments. And these things were written for our admonition, that we may be rooted and grounded in the good. Their heart was curdled like milk;

But I have meditated on your law. This seems to resemble the prophetic saying: For the heart of this people has grown fat, and they have heard heavily with their ears, and they have shut their eyes. It also resembles what is said in Exodus concerning Pharaoh: And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened. So the Jews were congealed like cheese; but the chorus of the apostles, and those who believed through them, conduct themselves in meditation on the words of God, having submitted obediently to the gospel of God. Those men, then, he says, had a heart that was a countertype, since they themselves made its softness hard, and, as it were, curdled and made cheese of the milk; but I have devoted myself to meditation on your law. It is good for me that you humbled me, so that I might learn your statutes. The prophet gives thanks for the physician's harsher remedies, having perceived the health that came from them. For above he said, Before I was humbled, I transgressed; but here he says, It is good for me that you humbled me. For for the sake of discipline and conversion a person falls into afflictions and calamities; and those who receive these with endurance say, It is good for me that you humbled me, so that I might learn your statutes. Good for me is the law of your mouth

More than thousands of gold and silver. 11. For even if I was driven from the kingdom by my child, yet through discipline I took up your law, which I hold more precious than all wealth. And the same prophet says in the following verses, I will rejoice in your words, as one finding many spoils; but here he says, Your law is better to me than thousands of gold and silver, securing us, so that we may keep it, that is, his commandments, and guard them, and walk in them. In which may you be deemed worthy, brothers, to direct your life, so that you may arrive at the eternal good things laid up, and in the present age be kept from all evil and sin; by the grace and mercies of Christ our God, to whom befit glory and honor, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen. ON PSALM 118. Stasis 2. Your hands made me and fashioned me; instruct me, and I will learn your commandments.

1. The prophet David, having had experience of many things—of princely authority, of kingship, of wealth, of glory, of honor, of luxury, and of valor in wars—counted all things as refuse, and looked to what is truly lovely and desirable and beloved, saying: Good to me is the law of your mouth, more than thousands of gold and silver. And let us also, brothers (for these things were written beforehand for our admonition), counting all things as nothing, keep the law and the commandments of God. Wishing to show of how great honor man has been deemed worthy, he sang and said: Your hands made me and fashioned me. For by a word God established all things and brought them from non-being into being. For when he made heaven and the earth he said, Let there be light, and there was light; and, Let there be a firmament, and let it be dividing between water and water; and, Let the earth sprout grass of herb; and, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven; and, Let the waters bring forth creeping things of living souls; and, Let the earth bring forth a living soul, cattle, creeping things, wild beasts according to their kind; but man, taking dust from the earth, he fashioned. The prophet, then, moved by the divine Spirit, reminds the Maker of his tender love for human nature. For having crafted all things by a word, he himself is said to have molded the nature of men, not using hands (for he is bodiless and without form; for God is Spirit, according to the voice of the Lord), but displaying the greater disposition and affinity toward this creature that we men have; for we were created in his image.

For this reason man alone, this living being, is endowed with understanding. Therefore he supplicates his Fashioner to grant understanding to his handiwork; for he added: Give me understanding, and I shall learn your commandments. Those who fear you will see me and be glad, because I hoped in your words. He says, I shall become a cause of gladness to the pious, having hoped in you and having found the end corresponding to my hope. And since God rejoices over one sinner who repents, according to the Lord's voice, the righteous, as imitators of him, rejoice over a man who is understanding and hopes in the words of God. I know, Lord, that your judgments are righteousness, and in truth you humbled me. He says these things in various ways, displaying his own gratitude. I know, he says, precisely, that you condemned me rightly and justly, and surrounded me with all kinds of calamities. For when we sin, sometimes God is angry, and sometimes he is long-suffering, awaiting our repentance. So that we may not persist in sin, he brings anger for our discipline and correction, and judges justly. For it is written through the prophet: In a little wrath I struck you, and with eternal mercy I will glorify you; and, The Lord makes one suffer pain, and again restores; and, The people did not turn back until they were struck. For in truth he brings calamities and afflictions. For this signifies the humbling. But let your mercy come, to comfort me. For now is the time for loving-kindness and consolation. The mercy of God, then, is the coming in the flesh of Christ our God.

For he has dealt mercifully with us, and he himself is an advocate with the Father, and the propitiation for our sins, as John the apostle says. And he promised another Advocate, the Holy Spirit; for he himself said to the disciples: When the Advocate comes, the Spirit of truth, he will testify concerning me. The prophet therefore asks that this mercy be brought about for the human race, just as he promised through the patriarchs, the law, and the prophets; for this is: According to your word to your servant. For you promised your goodwill to those who practice repentance. This he also said through Isaiah: When you turn away and groan, then you shall be saved; and through Jeremiah he cries out: Turn to me, and I will turn to you. Let your mercies come to me, and I shall live, for your law is my meditation. He considers himself dead, having been deprived of the divine favor; for this reason he entreats, as it were, to be brought back to life through the divine love for mankind. He therefore calls those mercies which the Lord gave us at his coming—the gospel word, the apostolic teachings—so that, living in them, we may have them as our meditation continually. Let the proud be put to shame, because they have lawlessly acted unjustly against me; but I will meditate on your commandments. He does not curse his enemies, but prays on their behalf. For shame brings about salvation. Those, then, who have enjoyed healing, he deems worthy to obtain it as well. The devil, therefore, and the hostile powers under him, were made proud against the human race through transgression; but they were put to shame at the coming of Christ our God. For they themselves said:

Permit us to go away into the herd of swine; and, What have we to do with you, Son of God? Have you come here before the time to torment us? But as for the phrase, I will meditate in your commandments, one of the translators rendered it, I was recounting in your commandments; another, I will speak; and another, I will converse. Let those who fear you turn me, and those who know your testimonies. As one who has come far away from the choir of the righteous because of sin, and when all had turned away from him just as from God, he entreats to be united to them again and to recover communion with them. For Symmachus indicated this more clearly: Let those who fear you turn me back. And the prophet speaks in the person of the human race. For the apostles and those who fear God turned all the nations to the knowledge of the truth. For the Lord said to them, Go and make disciples of all the nations. For they truly knew the testimonies of God. Let my heart be blameless in your statutes, so that I may not be ashamed. 2. He desires to have a heart free from every blemish; for such a one is [free] from shame

He has been set free. For this reason also, beginning the psalm immediately, he blessed the blameless. When, then, is our heart blameless, except when we have been regenerated through water and the Spirit, and have become pure in soul and body, and through holy baptism conduct ourselves in the statutes of God, so that we may not be put to shame when the righteous rise for their own honor and glory, but sinners for eternal shame? Since even in this life it is a shame for a Christian to be called a fornicator, or an unjust man, or a slanderer, or a perjurer, or a hater of his brother, or a drunkard, or a babbler, or a liar, or anything of that sort. My soul faints for your salvation; in your words I have hoped. Those who intensely desire something and are deprived of what they desire say that they faint. Thus those who await one of their acquaintances from abroad are always longing, and are consumed by desire as they miss him; thus those who are exceedingly thirsty and lack water; thus also those who struggle with certain calamities and await the divine favor, seeing it delayed, faint. The salvation, then, of the human race is the condescension toward us of the one of the Holy Trinity. Since also in another psalm he says: Show us, Lord, your mercy, and grant us your salvation; thus then he himself also prayed that this salvation, which was laid up, might come more quickly. My eyes have fainted for your word, saying, When will you comfort me? Both the divine promise and the God-inspired Scripture are called a word.

He grows weary, then, not only the one who awaits the divine promise and expects the release from the evils that press upon him, but also the one who encounters the divine oracles and earnestly desires to learn their meaning accurately, and who receives as consolation and refreshment the very discovery of it. He intensifies his plea, then, awaiting this consolation, which is the evangelical word. For the Savior himself, when he came, consoled us, saying: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest; and, My yoke is good, and my burden is light. For I have become like a wineskin in the frost; I have not forgotten your statutes. The wineskin, when warmed, is softened and, when inflated, swells up; but in the frost it is hardened and frozen. Those, then, who have received the evangelical word cast off all luxury and the softenings and swellings of the body, and they live this present life in dignity and in reverence and self-control. For such is the nature of the body: it is softened by luxury and swells up and rises against the soul; but by ascetic hardship it is humbled and pressed down. And Paul is a witness of this, crying out: But I buffet my body and bring it into subjection, lest, having preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. Therefore the prophet also, since when pursued by Saul he was stronger than the passions, but when he enjoyed peace he was harmed by the leaping impulses that come from luxury, humbled his body and renewed the remembrance of the divine laws. How many are the days of your servant? When will you make judgment for me against those who pursue me?

Short, then, are the days of our life, and we are pursued by evil thoughts, by fleshly desires, and by the cares of the world; for the flesh wars against the spirit, as the Apostle says; for the days of our years in them are seventy years. When, then, will you judge my cause and deliver me from my enemies? Judge, therefore, and drive these things away from us. The lawless told me of their meditations, but not as your law, O Lord. They advised the prophet to destroy his enemies, but he, obeying the divine law, awaited the divine verdict. But for us too the teaching of these oracles is most useful. It is fitting, then, to flee not only the myths of the Greeks and the unbelief of the Jews, but also the blasphemous doctrines of the heretics. Since both Jews and Greeks and heretics tell tales, and seem like teachers, holding falsehood as a shield, and they utter nothing from the divine Scriptures; or if they do utter something, it is according to their own desires, but as lawless men they babble and deceive; for this has also happened in our generation. The accusers of Christians, that is, the iconoclasts, have seized many, and the Paulicians who share in the heresy of the Manichaeans. For they did not speak from the divine Scriptures, but are cloaked in falsehood and insist upon it; but we who follow the Gospel and believe orthodoxly, as the holy catholic Church of God has received, say: All your commandments are truth. For this reason I choose your law, because I see all your commandments adorned with truth.

They persecuted me unjustly; help me. In a short time they nearly destroyed me on the earth, but I did not forsake your commandments. Great, he says, is both the injustice and the tyranny of the hostile, for they almost deprived me of life itself. He teaches us to hold fast the traditions which we have received; and he also guides us toward another lesson: not to avenge ourselves, nor to return evil for evil, but to seek help from God and to leave the judgment to him. For it is written through the prophet: Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. But I did not forsake your commandments. Since I came near to death from the assault of the evil one and from bodily pleasures, yet I did not forsake your commandments. Such are the boasts of the saints, which the prophet declares for our admonition. According to your mercy give me life, and I will keep the testimonies of your mouth. What mercy? The one you showed, Master, in your incarnate dispensation. Grant me, then, this grace, that I may keep your testimonies. The prophet adorned his words with humility. For he did not ask for life as a repayment of righteousness, but begged to receive it as a gift of mercy, promising to keep the testimonies of God. Forever, Lord, your word remains in heaven. For all things, he says, are easy and possible for you, the Master. For your command keeps the heights of the heavens immovable. He said this also in the hundred and forty-eighth psalm: He established them forever and ever; he set a command, and it shall not pass away.

Heaven itself, then, endures, just as it was created by you, Master, and the angels who dwell in it keep the divine law and are free from every transgression. For they are mighty, and with strength they perform your word. Your truth endures to generation and generation. 3. Long ago the law was given to the Israelites, who are the first generation; after this, the gospel law was given to us the Gentiles; this is the truth. For you preserved this truth both for the generation of the Jews and for the other generation that came after them. He means the people from among the Gentiles who obtained salvation through our Savior Christ. You founded the earth, and it endures. By your ordinance the day endures, because all things are your servants. You gave the earth its great durability, and it has remained, as you commanded. You separated the day from the night, and it walks according to your laws. The earth also remains according to your creation, sprouting in its season herbs, plants, and trees, bearing fruits and seeds for the nourishment of all living creatures; and by your ordinance the day endures. For the sun, when it rises, journeys toward its setting. For all things serve you and yield to your nod. For you are the creator of all things, and all things obey you, God. Unless your law had been my meditation, then I would have perished in my humiliation. These things

Each of the pious could say this when he has fallen into misfortune—Joseph, who fled slavery and adultery and slander; Daniel, who was prevented from praying; those three youths, who were compelled to worship the image; and the victorious martyrs, who endured every kind of punishment. And the blessed David rightly said these things, having been driven out by Saul and forced to live among foreigners and hostile men. For he would have shared in their impiety, had he not carried the meditation of the divine laws with him; therefore he adds: Forever I will not forget your statutes, for by them you gave me life. Blessed is the one who sends up this voice to God in truth, and lives by his statutes in this world. For the sinner cannot say, Forever I will not forget your statutes, while transgressing the commandments of God; for the prophet speaks from experience, that your statutes bring forth life, and I will keep the remembrance of them unquenchable. I am yours, save me, for I have sought your statutes. The words "I am yours" are understood in various senses: I am your servant, your minister, your son by grace. If anyone, then, has confidence to keep the commandments of God, let him say: I am yours, save me. Why? Because I have sought your commandments. For those who do the works of the enemy do not seek the commandments, and cannot say: I am yours, save me. Not all of us, then, can use this voice. For the slave of sin lies, calling himself God's. For whatever a man has been defeated by, to that he is also enslaved.

If, then, we have been set free from that [passion] and choose the divine laws, we can use this voice: "Sinners waited for me to destroy me; I understood your testimonies." Symmachus and Theodotion rendered "They waited" as "They expected." They hoped to deliver me over to death, but I, attending to your testimonies, reaped life from them. For those who live in sins rise up against the righteous in many ways, not expecting judgment and recompense, nor a justice that weighs their wickedness in equal balance, since they hold present things as secure, gathering wealth from injustice, and squandering what belongs to others. But the righteous seek out the testimonies of God, and whatever happens to them, they do not turn aside from his commandments. "I have seen the end of every completion; your commandment is exceedingly broad." Symmachus renders it thus: "I have seen the end of every construction; your commandment is exceedingly spacious." All human things, he says—wealth and abundance and power, governorships and generalships, tyrannies and kingdoms—have an end, and a swift end; but your commandment is broad and imperishable, and for those who keep it, it procures boundless and eternal wealth and goods that admit no change. For the sinners themselves, growing rich and making merry in this life, and passing through prosperity and power, reckon present things to be the end of goods; but the prophet does not think so, but sings: "I have seen the end of every completion; the commandment of God is exceedingly broad," and it remains forever, and has as its recompense goods that endure for eternity.

How I loved your law, O Lord! All day long it is my meditation. Not everyone who fulfills the divine law loves it; some fulfill it out of fear and dread of punishment, others seeking the glory that comes from men; but the genuine lovers of virtue, by their disposition toward good things, hasten to fulfill the divine commandments. Let us therefore pay attention, brothers, to what is being said. He commands us to meditate on the divine law and the commandments of God all day long; yet we do not listen to the divine reading, through which our life is set right, for two or three hours. For there are some who, like the deaf asp, close their ears and withdraw, not wishing to hear divine words and soul-profiting teaching; and what is worse, some of the clergy do this, our brothers and fellow-ministers. And if we did not have the command from the Apostle that says, "Reprove, rebuke, exhort," we would have put a door upon our mouth, and would have had to endure and bear the burdens of these men. However, they are wise and understanding men, and are able to correct themselves. For it is written: "The wise are their own judges." You have made me wiser than my enemies by your commandment, because it is mine forever. 4. The prophet, having confessed that he warmly loves the divine law, attributes everything to divine grace. For from you, he says, having received wisdom and knowledge, I have cherished your law. For you have given me greater knowledge than my enemies; therefore they strive to destroy me, but I do not even endure to defend myself against those who wrong me; for I keep before my eyes the eternal profit of virtue. And the choir of the apostles cries out these things:

For their scribes and Pharisees were their enemies. Therefore they, having been made wise by Christ God, proclaimed the gospel word, and their teaching has prevailed forever; but the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees was temporary. I understood more than all those who teach me, because your testimonies are my meditation. I understood more than the elders, because I sought out your commandments. It is proper to kings to teach; to be taught belongs to their subjects. Saul reigned, and he was also an elder in time; yet neither the authority of kingship nor the length of his age disposed him to be of sound mind, but he desired to kill his benefactor. But the great David, while still ranked among his subjects and in the prime of life, loved philosophy, and neither did he endure to begin unjust deeds, nor to avenge himself on those who did wrong. The prophet therefore holds to the same thought. For the teachers of the law and the scribes, wishing to be called Rabbi by men, taught what was not lawful; but the apostles, understanding the true knowledge attested by the law and the prophets, proclaimed it. Therefore the teachers of the Jews themselves are called elders, because they existed in time before the apostles; but the apostles understood both the law and the prophets, understanding these things spiritually. For this reason the commandments of God were truly sought out by them. I restrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep your words.

For it is not possible to walk two roads at the same time—those of licentiousness and self-control, of righteousness and unrighteousness—but one must flee the opposite roads and walk the straight one; for in this way it is possible to become guardians of the divine words. Therefore the one who keeps all the commandments—he himself says—I restrained my feet from every evil way. For neither the unjust man can say this, nor the slanderer, nor the covetous man, nor the one who has envy or hatred of his brothers, nor the one who repays evil for evil. I did not turn aside from your judgments, because you instructed me. The word teaches us never to turn aside from the commandments and judgments of God. For knowing you to be the lawgiver of these, I embraced them with all my disposition. Therefore he also added: How sweet to my throat are your words, beyond honey to my mouth. Honey is sweet as far as the throat, since it passes into the belly and into the drain; but the words of God sweeten the heart and the soul. For indeed in another psalm he says: Desirable beyond gold and much precious stone, and sweeter beyond honey and honeycomb. For the sweetness of honey does not so delight the sensation of my mouth as the meditation on your words gladdens my soul. For he has set the throat, as being the organ of the voice; and through the voice comes meditation; and the soul, having used these, reaps the benefit from them. From your commandments I understood; through

I hated every way of unrighteousness. For having understood whom these things please, I turned away from every form of evil. Now the whole character of the thought of the psalm set before us reveals to us the guarding and keeping of the commandments, and the phrasing is not legalistic and shadowy, but evangelical, and a safeguard for us Christians, and an outline and security of our life. For continually it sets before us law, commandments, statutes, judgments, and testimonies, about which it was said in the exposition of the psalm at the beginning, what is the declaration of these things; but now let us come to what lies before us. From your commandments I understood—that is, so to speak, from your commandments we gave heed and understood; and for this reason we hated every way of unrighteousness. For these very commandments are ordained: You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not fornicate, you shall not steal, you shall not do wrong, you shall not lie, you shall not revile, you shall not covet what belongs to others, neither your neighbor's field, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor any of his livestock; You shall not lend at interest to your brother interest of silver and interest of gold and interest of food. The commandments of God, which we hear every day through the reading of the holy Gospel and the apostolic teachings—for these guide us to hate every way of unrighteousness. For all sins and all forms of evil are called unrighteousness; on account of which comes the wrath of God upon the sons of men, or rather upon the sons of disobedience. From these may you be guarded, brothers, and may you be established in the will of God.

And he himself will grant you his rich mercies and compassions, because he is our Savior. Your law is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths. I walk in darkness, but as if lit by a lamp, I am illuminated by your law. One must know, however, that the law has been called a lamp, but our Savior and Lord is the sun of righteousness. For the one, as being a lamp, barely shone upon one nation; but the other illumined the whole inhabited world. Thus also the wondrous John the Lord Christ called a lamp, since he appeared to the Jews while it was still night. But when the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world, rose, he also called the holy apostles light, as having partaken of that light which enlightened all men. And since, according to the voice of the Lord, the whole world lies in the evil one, and is in confusion and in sins, which are darkness (for the same David said, as it is written in the Books of Kings: Night was around me, the wretched man, and I did not know), we need a lamp. The law is given to us for help, and becomes light in our journeys; for it is written: For your commandments are light upon the earth. But the word has also another meaning. The old covenant, which was once given to the Israelites, is a lamp; for it enlightened one nation only. But when the sun of righteousness came, Christ our God, the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world, he himself enlightened the ends of the earth, and said to his disciples: You are the light of the world; from which light we all have received.

I swore, and I established it, to keep the judgments of your righteousness. 5. Since most matters are confirmed by an oath, the firmness and immutability that the prophet possessed toward the commandments of God he called an oath. For this is customary in the divine Scripture: as in, The Lord God swore to Abraham; and, The Lord swore to David truth, and he will not set it aside, because of the certainty of the divine promise; since an oath is displeasing to all the divine Scripture, both from the Old: You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; and, You shall not swear by my name unjustly; and, You shall not accustom your mouth to an oath, that is, in worldly matters; for Ecclesiastes said: I acquired gold, silver, clothing; I made for myself gardens, vineyards, water channels; and behold, all things are vanity, and a choice of the spirit. He who bears the name of God on his tongue in these things takes the oath in vanity and in unrighteousness. And again the Lord: But I say to you, do not swear at all; and his disciple James: Above all, brothers, do not swear. Just as therefore there is a commandment, do not murder, do not wrong; so also, do not swear. I was humbled exceedingly, Lord; give me life according to your word. He did not say simply that he was humbled, but that he was humbled exceedingly, and this though he was a king and a prophet, and had boldness from virtue, and was adorned with wealth, and prevailed over his enemies. But he never endured to have confidence in wisdom, nor in courage, nor in righteousness; he considered these to be gifts of the divine grace.

And when he asks for life, he does not ask indefinitely of the one who is able to give, but for the rational life, the life under the law, the life made radiant by the divine law. And since we who live are always slipping into sin (for no one is completely clean of stain before the Lord, not even if his life be a single day), let us embrace groaning, tears, self-control, the wasting of the body. For this is humility unto excess. But when the prophet says, Give me life, he is not pleading for this life that consists in foods and drinks, but for the rational, the practical, the virtuous life, which keeps the divine commandments. The willing offerings of my mouth accept, O Lord, and teach me your judgments. Of the achievements of virtue, the divine laws prescribe most, but some also one's own resolve adds. Thus also of sacrifices, some are according to the law, others according to one's resolve. For those for sin and transgression and for ignorance, which the law commanded to be offered, these too were paid to God as a kind of debt; but those offered by the generosity of one's resolve he called gifts. Thus also now, the gospel words prescribe temperance and righteousness; but virginity, and continence after marriage, and poverty, and the solitary life, and the sojourn in the deserts, are works of one's resolve, overstepping the laws. Such things, then, the prophet called willing offerings. For those things that are not subject to the compulsion of laws, but are the fruit of a God-loving resolve, are reasonably called willing.

And since we often fall into circumstances and afflictions, we are consecrated to God, as it is written: "I will pay you my vows, which my lips uttered and my mouth spoke in my affliction." These things we must by all means fulfill. But the passage has also another meaning. Voluntary things, then, are all those that go beyond the commandments of God. It is a commandment of God to be joined to one wife: "For marriage is honorable, and the bed undefiled; but God will judge fornicators and adulterers." But if someone wishes to practice virginity, this is voluntary on his part. Likewise we are permitted to have food and coverings and clothing; but if we choose to practice poverty, it is voluntary on our part. And if we desire to practice the solitary and monastic life, it is voluntary on our part. In these things, then, the prophet prays to be prospered for those who wish to do them. "My soul is in your hands continually, and I have not forgotten your law." For, guarded by your providence, I have banished forgetfulness of your laws. For everyone who has dedicated himself to God entrusts his soul into his hands, just as he also says in another psalm: "For you are my protector, O Lord; into your hands I will commit my spirit." But if someone inclines himself toward pleasures and bodily passions, in no way does he place his soul in the hands of God. For if at the time of the divine liturgy we are drawn away into worldly cares, and our leisure is in them—

at that hour, and abandon the praise of God, we have not dedicated our souls into his hands. If we forsake the morning hymns by sleeping and resting on a bed, and at the evening praises we are devoted to debauchery and drunkenness and, as it were, nailed fast to them, we have not set our souls before God in his hands. If at the time of the divine reading, and especially on the days of the holy Lord's day, we leave the church and go about trafficking and trading, and linger in the streets and broad places, we have not dedicated our souls into the hands of God. If, standing present at the divine liturgy, we forsake both prayer and praise and converse with one another about worldly matters and cares, we have not set our souls before God in his hands. Sinners have laid a snare for me, and from your commandments I did not go astray. Many and manifold plots both men and demons devise against me; but I have chosen to walk the unerring path of your commandments. For both demons and thoughts in many ways ensnare those who live according to God, and then also wicked men; but these very ones boast that they have not been led astray from the commandments of God. For Saul, ensnaring David himself and seeking to destroy him, did not make him depart from the commandments of God. And yet David, having found Saul both once and twice, did not repay him evil for evil. And of old Egypt laid a snare for Joseph, but he did not go astray, having kept his own chastity.

Susanna also suffered this at the hands of the elders. I have inherited your testimonies forever, for they are the exultation of my heart. 6. The saints and those who live piously exult and rejoice in the keeping of God's commandments, and having God as Father they themselves have become heirs of his testimonies, and they hold these as a paternal inheritance, exulting; for the inheritance of parents is sweet. For this reason the prophet also, praying, says that, believing your testimonies to be an eternal and inviolable lot, I exult and am gladdened at the remembrance of them. I inclined my heart to do your statutes forever for a recompense. The deliberative faculty of the soul resembles a balance; the mind holds the balance, having obtained the lot of ruling. If, then, it is added to the pious thoughts, the scales must incline toward the better. The prophet says he has done this. And not at one time I inclined, and at another not; but Forever, that is, all the days of my life. For in them I exult, finding the recompense, What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and has not ascended upon the heart of man. For these things are the recompense. For good things have been created for the good. I hated the lawless, but I loved your law. For having shaken off the thoughts that suggest lawlessness, I have preferred your law. For such are the boasts of the saints. For in another psalm too he says: Have I not hated those who hate you, O Lord, and have I not wasted away over your enemies? I hated them with a perfect hatred; they have become enemies to me.

Just as one who loves the light hates the darkness, so one who loves the law of God hates lawless thoughts and deeds, and turning away from these is love for the promises of the law. Therefore the one who is thus disposed cries out: You are my helper and my protector; in your words I have hoped. Nor did I accomplish this apart from your help, but having enjoyed your assistance and being nourished by hope in you. And I did not hope in wealth, nor in honor and worldly glory and in the help of men, but in your words. Hence one of the wise also said: Give me not the help of men. Turn away from me, you who practice evil, and I will search out the commandments of my God. He commands us to turn away from every assault of demons and evil thoughts, so that you may keep the commandments of God within yourself in deed and word. For this is what "I will search out" means. For these things, he says, I spoke both to improper thoughts and to those who attempt to counsel base things: that you suggest no such counsel to me; for my life must be chosen according to the divine commandments. And I will not follow them casually, but I will search them out with all precision, so that nothing of them escapes me, but I may fulfill all that the Lord of all has commanded. Take hold of me according to your word, and give me life; and do not put me to shame from my expectation. Therefore grant that this one who has such a purpose may be deemed worthy of your providence, so that I may not fail of my hope and be filled with shame. And "word" here means the promise, that is, grant me the salvation that was promised to me.

Therefore, as one perfect and having kept the commandments of God, the prophet expects honor and glory at the second coming of Christ our God, where he also hopes to live eternal life, and not to be put to shame with the sinners, and the disobedient, and those who have removed themselves far from the commandments of God. Help me, and I shall be saved, and I shall meditate on your statutes continually. For having obtained salvation, I will not neglect your statutes, but I will make their meditation continual. And he calls meditation not only that which is in words, but also that which is in deeds. For the meditation of the statutes of God that takes place at all times draws his help to us, and from it salvation is born. You have despised all those who stray from your statutes, because their thought is unjust. And I will have this eagerness concerning your commandments, knowing that the transgressors of them have become reproachful and ridiculous. And in another psalm he says concerning sinners: They shall be despised like water passing away. And again: Reproach to those who prosper, and contempt to the proud. I reckoned all the sinners of the earth as transgressors; therefore I loved your testimonies. The word "transgressors" Theodotion rendered as "into nothing," and Symmachus as "slag." And the prophet has shown that he too, despising the transgressors, just like God, brought all eagerness to the fulfillment of the divine oracles, since he indeed knew the penalty of lawlessness. John the apostle therefore said: The one who does lawlessness also does sin.

Among those who live piously, therefore, sinners are recognized as transgressors of the law. Nail my flesh with your fear, for I was afraid because of your judgments. My soul, he says, is clothed in your fear; but since the body rises up against it, I beseech that its members be nailed down by this fear, so that, having become dead to sin, they may follow the guidance of the soul. To this the apostolic saying also seems akin: Put to death your members that are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. And again: I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me. For just as one who is nailed to a stone cannot move, so neither can one who is nailed by the fear of God be separated from the fear of God. And again the same apostle said: I buffet my body and bring it into subjection, lest, after preaching to others, I myself should become disqualified. I have done judgment and righteousness; do not hand me over to those who wrong me.

7. Having chosen, he says, to follow your laws, let me not become an easy prey to the hostile. But who now has such purity of soul as to use such words with boldness? Yet the divine apostle has said things similar to these: For this is our boasting, the testimony of our conscience. Great is the one who has the confidence to converse with God in these words. For by saying, I have done judgment and righteousness, he drew upon himself the accomplishment of all the virtues and the commandments. Hence he also supplicates not to be handed over to the wrongdoers—to evil demons and irrational impulses and disordered thoughts. Receive your servant for good. But Symmachus says, Take me up, your servant, for good; and Aquila and Theodotion, Give surety; instead of, I speak truth, I do not lie; believe the servant of yours who has made the promise; become yourself the guarantor of my promise, that I will be zealous to fulfill your laws. Take me up, he says, Master, and believe your servant, and become my guarantor for good, because I keep your precepts; and let me not be slandered by the proud. For all who do not keep the commandments of God are called proud, according to the saying that declares: The proud have transgressed the law exceedingly. Let not the proud slander me. Slander is painful, even if it has a great reward. This is what the wonderful Joseph also fell into, and countless others besides. And the Lord also exhorts us to pray not to enter into temptation. The prophet, then, has done nothing unreasonable in making this request. For the slander of the arrogant and powerful is especially harsh.

For injustice, having taken hold of power, produces a greater injury. My eyes have failed for your salvation, and for the word of your righteousness. Here again he calls the promise a "word." Continually, he says, I await the salvation that comes from you, and I wait for the fulfillment of the promise. He has used "have failed" to make clear the intensity of the desire. This he also indicated above, saying: My soul has failed for your salvation. But what salvation? The one of which Symeon, embracing the Lord, said: For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared before the face of all peoples. This, then, the prophet prays may come to pass quickly, for the salvation of the human race. For "my soul has failed" is nothing other than the intensification of the desire. Deal with your servant according to your mercy, and teach me your statutes. He who is a worker of such great virtue deems himself worthy to obtain mercy, and asks to enjoy salvation; and he does not demand a wage, but asks for loving-kindness. For even if the prophet was advancing in virtues, nevertheless he kept seeking the mercy of God. So too we, brothers, even if we do some good, let us ask him to become our fellow-worker, and to be saved by his mercy. I am your servant; give me understanding, and I shall know your testimonies. All men are by nature servants of God; but by disposition, those who genuinely choose God's lordship. Of this company, then, the prophet calls himself a servant, and begs to be deemed worthy of understanding, so as to know the testimonies of God. It is time to act for the Lord; they have scattered your law.

God, who governs all things by weight and measure, bears with human sins for the longest time; but when he sees wickedness increased by his long-suffering, then he brings punishment. This, then, is what he says here too: It is time for you to arise to the aid of those who are wronged, O Master; for your enemies have utterly trampled your law. The apostle Paul also said concerning the coming of our Lord: Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. It was a time for the Jews also to believe; but they did the opposite, disbelieving and setting aside the Gospel. For this is the meaning of, They have scattered your law. Therefore I loved your commandments above gold and topaz. They, then, despised your law; but I consider your commandments more worthy of love than gold and precious stone. For topaz is among the precious stones; and from the one he has indicated all stones. It is likely that in that time this stone was preferred to other stones. And elsewhere he said: Good to me is the law of your mouth above thousands of gold and silver. The word suggests that above all wealth, both the whole and the part, one should love the commandments. For this is the perfection of a Christian; for the Lord said: When you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love. Therefore I was directed aright toward all your commandments, I hated every unjust way. For desire produces zeal; and zeal prepared one to commend the straight path, but loathed the path of injustice.

Therefore whoever sets all the commandments aright certainly also hates the unjust way. For whoever fulfills the whole law but stumbles in one point has become guilty of all. For he who said, Do not murder, also said, Do not commit adultery; and he who said, Do not wrong, also said, Do not revile; and he who said, Do not lie, also said, Do not swear. Wonderful are your testimonies; therefore my soul has searched them out. He has shown that it was not in vain that he loved them. For they are, he says, worthy of admiration and sufficient to charm and to stir to love those able to perceive them. And how, then, are they not wonderful? For they guide toward a well-ordered and reverent life, and a virtuous conduct, toward chastity and self-control, gentleness and long-suffering, almsgiving, righteousness and goodness. Therefore the prophet also boasts that he searched them out—not speaking with the mouth while the mind wanders; but just as we were commanded to love God with the whole soul, so too we were taught to desire and to practice his commandments. The declaration of your words will enlighten and will make the simple wise. Illumined, he says, by your light, I received this knowledge, and your law fills with understanding all those held in ignorance and resembling infants. And the declaration of the gospel words enlightens not only the perfect but also those who are deficient. And the word teaches something else as well. For the Lord said, I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to infants, speaking about the apostles; for in malice they themselves were infant-like.

I opened my mouth and drew in the Spirit, because I longed for your commandments. Here he calls the mouth the eagerness of the mind; for this is what draws the grace of the Spirit. For elsewhere he says, Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. And the divine apostle prayed that a word might be given to him in the opening of his mouth; and the prophet himself said in another psalm, The Lord will give a word to those who proclaim good news with great power. This too he said here: I opened my mouth, and drew in the Spirit, because I longed for your commandments. For when you saw me yearning for your commandments, you counted me worthy of your grace. So those who long for the commandments of God, opening their mouth, are filled with the Spirit. And David, longing for the commandments of God, was counted worthy of the prophetic grace, and having opened his mouth wide, he was filled with the Spirit. But to those who disobey the commandments of God it has been said: With bit and bridle you shall hold in their jaws, of those who do not draw near to you; and, Many are the scourges of the sinner. From these things, brothers, attending to the exposition of what has been said, may you be delivered by the help and assistance of God, and may he save you—the Lord God, both in this present age and in the age to come. Amen, may it be so; to whom belong the glory and the honor now, and unto the ages.

STASIS 3. Look upon me and have mercy on me, according to your judgment for those who love your name. 1. It is customary, brothers, for the blessed David to devise manifold expressions for the things sung prophetically by him. For indeed in this psalm too he says the same things about the same matters in many ways. His aim is the abstaining from sin and the turning away from evil, and the keeping and guarding of the commandments of God, and to reprove those who transgress, and to turn away from them, and to entreat the help and mercy of God. Therefore he says: Look upon me and have mercy on me. Sometimes God looks upon us in anger, as it is said by the prophet Habakkuk: He looked, and the nations melted; but when he looks upon those who love him, he works mercy and salvation. This, then, the prophet sought; therefore he added: According to your judgment for those who love your name. He entreats, then, to obtain the divine favor, not simply, but, he says, as you are accustomed to grant mercy to those who love you. For this is what he said: According to your judgment for those who love your name; instead of, I beseech you to enjoy the same verdict as these. Direct my steps according to your oracle; and let no lawlessness lord it over me. For when we contribute our eagerness beforehand, and God provides his help and directs our course, the dominion of sin has no place. Therefore, when God directs us in his ways, and we contribute our eagerness, sin will have no power against us, nor lawlessness. For he promises in another psalm to the one who fears him:

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, of the arrow that flies by day, of the thing that walks in darkness—which is lawlessness. Redeem me from the slander of men, and I will keep your commandments. According to the literal sense, David endured many trials at the hands of men, both Saul and certain others. For he says also in the next psalm: O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips and from a deceitful tongue. What should be given to you, and what should be added to you, against a deceitful tongue? And again in another psalm: The sons of men, their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. He prays, then, to be redeemed from them. And the Master Christ called those who are reproached and slandered zealous and blessed; but he also commanded us to pray that we not enter into temptation. The prayer of the prophet, then, agrees with the evangelical laws. But the holy Athanasius, interpreting the literal sense according to the thought, calls the slander of men the unbridled mouths and babbling tongues of heretics and lawless men. And so let us too, brothers, following the father, flee from every heresy—and for now from those now pressing upon us, the iconoclasts and the Paulicians and the Manichaeans; and if any of them says to one of us, Come with us, let us turn aside our foot and pass by, according to the proverbial saying, and let us not walk together with them. Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes. The divine nature is incorporeal, simple, and uncompounded.

But divine Scripture speaks of him in a more bodily and cruder way, measuring its words by human nature, since the Son is the express image of the Father's person and the radiance, as truth and the blessed Paul hold. It longs, then, to behold his presence for the salvation of the human race. For he himself, having appeared to us, taught all righteousness. Therefore the appearance of the divine person must be understood as the release from sorrows and the supply of good things. My eyes gushed forth streams of waters, because they did not keep your law. This law is also apostolic. For if one member suffers, it says, all the members suffer with it. The prophet, then, pursues the perfection of the Gospel, lamenting the lawlessness of others; and he called the abundance of tears streams of waters, meaning, I poured forth tears in fountains, beholding the lawlessness of men. The saints are gripped by such grief over those who have transgressed. For Moses too lamented, when the Israelite people turned away from God by making the calf, saying to God: If you forgive them their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out also from the book of the living. And again the Apostle, seeing the Jews estranged from the Gospel, said: I could wish that I myself were accursed from God for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. You are righteous, O Lord, and your judgments are upright. You have commanded righteousness, your testimonies, and truth exceedingly. Rightly you govern all things, O Master, both caring for men and wishing to make them workers of righteousness.

And you gave a law, and you testify against those who transgress it, what sort of penalties they will pay, and you promise to those who keep it good recompenses, and you confirm your promises by your deeds. For this is what "Truth exceedingly" makes clear. For he has set a day on which he will judge the world, and render to each according to his works: to those who by perseverance in good work seek glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life; but to those who are persuaded by unrighteousness and disobedient to the truth, wrath and anger and tribulation and distress upon every soul of man who works evil. And by saying "Truth exceedingly," he indicated the certainty and the outcome of the matter. "Your zeal has consumed me, because my enemies forgot your words." The prophet also laments for those who live in lawlessness, and seeing the lawgiver despised, he is justly indignant. This zeal proclaimed Phineas; this made the great Elijah famous in song; inflamed by this, the glorious victor Stephen convicted the unbelief of the Jews. And it has the same meaning as the verse above; for what he said there, "My eyes have sunk down through channels of waters," he says here, "Your zeal has consumed me, because my enemies forgot your words." Such was, as I said, Phineas, who pierced the fornicator; "and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Such was the inspired Paul, carrying Christ wholly within himself; therefore he also said: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?

And the blessed Luke also says of him that in Athens his spirit was stirred within him, as he observed that the city was full of idols. Your word is exceedingly purified, and your servant has loved it. 2. Your word, he says, is approved and genuine and free from every blemish; but I have a warm affection for it. And in another psalm he says: The words of the Lord are pure words, silver purified, tested in the earth, refined sevenfold. Nothing, then, of God's judgments is counterfeit, or spurious, or base, but all are free from every blemish. In their purity, then, brothers, let us direct our life. I am younger and despised; I have not forgotten your statutes. David was small, and the least among the sons of his father; but because of the longing he had for God, he was chosen, and received the kingdom and prophetic grace. For God knows how to repay rewards to those who love him, both in this present age, and more in the age to come. When, therefore, God commanded the divine Samuel to ordain one of the sons of Jesse as king, he rejected all the others, though they were adorned with strength and stature and beauty of body, and he asked the

Jesse—if the young boys had failed; but when the one who spoke said that a youth had been left, who shepherds the flocks, and that he was unfit to be king, the prophet ordered him to be brought, and anointed him as soon as he arrived. The prophet here recalled this gift, and says: And though I was young and reckoned cheap by those who had come to be, you deemed me worthy of so great a grace, and made me at once prophet and king; for this very reason I desire with all eagerness to keep your statutes. Your righteousness is righteousness forever, and your law is truth. The one who obeys human laws does not, even in the present life, enjoy honor from the lawgivers; but the one who follows the divine commandments has eternal life as the reward of his labors. And human laws do not all possess what is just, but the law of God is made radiant by truth. With good reason, then, he said: Your righteousness is righteousness forever, and your law is truth. Therefore the righteousness of God and his law are truth forever. For this reason also the blessed Paul said to the Jews: Seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God. Afflictions and constraints found me. For these things are yoked together for the workers of virtue. And this is like what was said by Paul: Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Affliction, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness? For on account of you we are put to death all the day long; we were reckoned as sheep for slaughter. Such are the contests and the arenas of the saints. Your commandments are my meditation.

For from their teaching I learn courage, and I bear painful things nobly. Your testimonies are righteousness forever: instead of, they are the procurers of eternal goods. Give me understanding, and I shall live. For being enlightened by you, I shall enjoy the true life. I cried out with my whole heart: hear me, O Lord; I will seek your statutes. Again he calls the eagerness of the soul a cry. For this reason he added, With my whole heart. Thus also Moses cried out while silent, and God said to him who was praying in his mind: Why do you cry to me? And with my whole heart he says, making clear the eagerness of the soul, not the cry through the mouth. For the divine Paul also said: Singing and psalming in your hearts to the Lord. I cried out to you: save me, and I will keep your testimonies. For receiving salvation from you, I shall become a keeper of your laws. Those, then, who keep the testimonies of God are certainly also saved by him. I anticipated in the dead of night, and I cried out; in your words I hoped. The prophet, being a king and flooded by countless cares, and besides these having been shown forth in warlike struggles, not only when day was dawning offered his supplications to God, but even in the middle of the night, not waiting for the songs of the cocks; so greatly did he long for God who made him; so eagerly did he ask for help from there. For the prophet did not know a season for praising and giving thanks to God, but both in day and in night (for this is what In the dead of night makes clear), teaching us also always to keep God in remembrance. For God must be remembered rather than breathed, as Gregory the theologian said.

My eyes anticipated the dawn, to meditate on your words. Not only during the time of the sweetest sleep, but even at dawn he made his meditation on the divine laws; but we, living in poverty and freed from every care, spend the night tossing and turning on our bed, and not even at the beginning of the day do we offer the hymn to the Giver of good things. Therefore the prophet safeguards us in advance, to meditate on the words of God at the hour of dawn. And the Lord said, Watch, lest at any time your hearts be weighed down with surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this life. And one of the prophets, lamenting such things, said: All the night of sleep, Ephraim. Hear my voice, Lord, according to your mercy; according to your judgment give me life. He who is adorned with so many good things deems himself worthy to obtain mercy; and he does not ask for mercy indefinitely, but according to the beneficial verdict. He exhorts, then, and entreats God, that he may have his life in the judgments of God, and through himself may guide us also to pray this. Those who persecute me in lawlessness have drawn near; but they have been far from your law. For those who attempt to wage war against the righteous are far from the divine laws. For the scribes and the Pharisees were persecuting the apostles, drawing near to lawlessness, to whom the Lord said: He who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects the one who sent me; and, I will be hostile to your enemies, and I will oppose those who oppose you. For this reason they were also made far from the law of the gospel, having disobeyed the teaching of the apostles. You are near, Lord;

and all your ways are truth. 3. You see, he says, all things, Master; for you have not departed from us, but you fill the inhabited world, and by using truth you govern creation. God himself also says this through the prophet: I am a God who is near, and not a God far off. For he knows and searches out all things, even the depths of our hearts. And the blessed Paul: For in him we live and move and have our being. From the beginning I knew from your testimonies that you founded them forever. He calls heaven and earth testimonies. For he says, having come down, call heaven and earth as witnesses to them. Therefore also Moses the great, beginning his song, said: Give ear, O heaven, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words from my mouth. And in these things the providence of God is seen continually; for all things proceed with great order. From this, he says, I knew precisely that you are near and present to what comes to be, and nothing of what is done escapes you. And in another way, he says, from the beginnings I knew that the things spoken by you are firm, Master, and your commandments are continual. For the laws of God are not changed as the laws of kings and cities are; but just as heaven and earth remain forever, so also the commandments of God. For he says, to these it is not possible to add, and from them it is not possible to take away. And the Lord also said: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will certainly not pass away. See my humility, and deliver me, because I have not forgotten your law. He who humbles himself will be exalted, according to the voice of the Lord.

And Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It was with this that the divine prophet also adorned the other virtues, and holding this forth he promises divine assistance. But there are many forms of humility; for a person is humbled both in affliction and in calamities and by human assaults. True humility, however, is when we turn back because of our sins; as David himself was humbled, both saying and doing: I will wash my bed every night, I will drench my couch with my tears; and, See my humility and my toil, and forgive all my sins. Likewise also if we are humbled under the mighty hand of God, loving and keeping his commandments, concerning which the Lord says: Blessed are the poor in spirit. Judge my judgment, and redeem me; by your word give me life. Since the human race, through the ascent of the author of evil, the enemy, had fallen away from God, the prophet prays that the human race be judged and obtain salvation; and this comes about through the word of the Gospel. For when the Gospel had been proclaimed in all the inhabited world, the devil was brought to nothing, and the human race was saved, given life by the Spirit. He therefore reminds the Master of his promises, and from him the

He asks for salvation, and he entreats that he be judged together with his enemies. Salvation is far from sinners, because they have not sought out your statutes. He says: those who live in transgression have deprived themselves of the salvation that comes from you, not wishing to learn what you have legislated for them to do. And this is the cause of their destruction—that we do not seek out the statutes of God. And he did not say only that they did not believe, but, Because they have not sought out your statutes. For when we despise the commandments of God, he removes salvation far from us. Your mercies are many, O Lord; according to your judgment give me life. This verse has an evident meaning and does not need words for its interpretation; for it says: great is the wealth of your love for humanity, just is your verdict; I ask for the salvation that comes from these. Many are those who pursue and afflict me; I have not turned aside from your testimonies. He says: though I am surrounded by many calamities, I did not endure to transgress anything of what you have legislated. And having stated the theme of the psalm, we said that the divine David gathered in this psalm all the things that had befallen him, and that some of them fit the sorrows that came to him from Saul, and others those from Absalom. These things, however, he clearly spoke while being pursued by Saul; for at that time he was unacquainted with sin. Many, then, pursued the saints and led them to death, but they themselves did not turn aside from the testimonies of God. For they remembered the Lord saying: Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; and likewise also the apostle Paul:

Because through many afflictions we must enter the kingdom of heaven. For this reason the blessed and celebrated martyrs passed through fire and water, and gave up their bodies for the confession and love of God; but they have their recompense, having become fellow members and partakers with Christ our God. I saw those without understanding, and I was consumed, because they did not keep your words. So the blessed Paul lamented over the Jews; so the Master himself bewailed Jerusalem; so the divine Jeremiah mourned the transgression of the people. Such we ought to be, brothers: to be consumed and grieved over those who walk disorderly, and to reprove them and exhort them, directing our own life clearly. For he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins. But if they remain uncorrected, withdraw from such people, as the Apostle teaches: Withdraw, he says, from every brother who walks disorderly; and, If any brother who is called a fornicator, or covetous, or drunkard, or reviler, or swindler—do not even eat with such a one. See that I have loved your commandments, Lord; in your mercy give me life. Continually he mentions commandments and statutes and laws and testimonies, showing his longing for these things. And the passage teaches us, according to James the brother of God, to love not in word and tongue, but in deed and truth. For thus we shall live in the mercy of God. The beginning of your words is truth, and all the judgments of your righteousness endure forever.

Your promises are free from falsehood; you adorn your declarations with truth; you confirm your words by deed. In the creation of the world at the beginning, then, God said to Adam: Of every tree in the garden you shall surely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it; for on the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. That sentence, then, has held firm forever; for disobeying God brings death. But the passage has also another meaning. For it is written: God said to Abraham: In your seed all the nations shall be blessed; which is Christ. Through him, then, righteousness has come to the human race forever. He calls the promises made to Abraham the beginning of words. For from him the race of the Jews was established; but he fulfilled the promises, and increased the people, as the stars of heaven in number, and in his seed he blessed, according to the promises, all the nations. For this is what he indicated when he said: And forever all the judgments of your righteousness. For being a prophet, he saw the eternal dominion of Christ. Therefore he also said that the beginning of the divine oracles is adorned with truth. And he says also in another psalm: The works of his hands are truth and judgment. Princes persecuted me without cause, and my heart feared because of your words. Those who war against me, he says, and persecute me, I did not fear; but I dreaded your laws. Therefore also, finding the enemy asleep, I did not dare to kill him. And pitying that parricide and abominable child, I said: Spare me the boy.

David said these things while being pursued by Saul; but in contemplation and understanding, the rulers are the evil spirits, as the blessed Paul teaches us: For our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this present world, against the spiritual forces of wickedness. They themselves, then, assail us, wishing to deceive us; but let us be afraid of the words of God. For the Lord said: Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to harm the soul at all; rather fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. I will rejoice in your words, as one finding many spoils. Since he mentioned enemies who pursue, he reasonably brought in also the mention of spoils. He says that even if I had slain all those and, having despoiled them, gathered as many plunder as possible, I would not have been so gladdened as I rejoice in your laws. What he said above, this he says also here. For there he said: The law of your mouth is good to me beyond thousands of gold and silver; and, I have loved your commandments beyond gold and topaz. He teaches, then, that we should rejoice and exult in the commandments of God beyond all gladness. I hated injustice and abhorred it, but I loved your law. This saying also is true. For the one who is fervently disposed toward divine things loathes the opposite. For the one who hates injustice wholly draws righteousness to himself. For two contrary sayings about the same matter cannot by nature be true. And the Lord also said: You cannot serve God and mammon.

Seven times a day I praised you for the judgments of your righteousness. Some have interpreted "seven times" as "very many times." And this, as well as that, reveals the prophet's fervent love. For he did not take his fill of divine hymnody. Therefore we too must praise God unceasingly—that is, for the judgments of his righteousness. But the more gentle and devout make their standing before God seven times, by night and by day: first, spending the whole night in vigil, which we also call the dawn hour; then, when the sun rises, they give thanks to the one who brought in the day; at the third hour, when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles; at the sixth, when Christ our God was nailed in the flesh to the cross and wiped out the handwriting against us; at the ninth, when he poured out his blood and gave up his spirit and redeemed us from the devil's hold; around sunset, which we also call the lamp-lighting hour, because we give thanks for the passing of the day; and again, when we go to sleep. These, then, counted together make seven. Great peace have those who love your law, and there is no stumbling block for them. Those who are set aflame by divine love and acquire peace with him through the keeping of the commandments, even if they are warred against by all men, live a life well-pleasing to him. And the inspired Paul is a witness, crying out: In

Afflicted in every way, but not constrained; at a loss, but not utterly at a loss; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. And the Lord also, when he sent the holy apostles as sheep in the midst of wolves into all the inhabited world, said to them: My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you. For they themselves both received the gospel law and proclaimed it everywhere. For this is what "Much" makes clear. And there is no stumbling block to them. For Satan has been crushed under their feet. I awaited your salvation, O Lord, and I loved your commandments. Not even when surrounded by calamities did I cut off the better hopes, but I continued awaiting your salvation and following your commandments; since those who love the commandments of God seek a recompense for their love and their keeping, and expect that the enjoyment of heavenly goods is laid up for them. My soul kept your testimonies, and loved them exceedingly. I kept your commandments and your testimonies, because all my ways are before you, O Lord. For knowing that you oversee all things, and that I conduct my life under you as a spectator, I not only fulfilled your commandments, but did this also with a fervent disposition. The prophet says these things for our admonition and encouragement, that we may keep the commandments of God and his testimonies. Therefore all who do good not for trade and shameful gain, nor to be seen and praised by men, these say: All my ways are before you, O Lord.

Let my supplication draw near before you, O Lord; according to your word, give me understanding. 5. Having offered every entreaty, he begs that his petition be accepted and not rejected. And he asks to receive understanding—not human understanding, but the knowledge of the divine words. Therefore the one who lives and conducts himself in sins cannot say, "Let my supplication draw near before you, O Lord." For God said through the prophet: "Your sins separate between me and you." So it is necessary first to turn away from sins, and then to say, "Let my supplication draw near before you, O Lord"; since it is not even permitted for a sinner to sing psalms. For it is written: "Praise is not beautiful in the mouth of a sinner"; and, "To the sinner God said: Why do you recount my statutes, and take up my covenant with your mouth? But you hated instruction, and cast my words behind you." And, "Sing to the Lord, you who are holy"—not you who are unholy. "Let my petition enter before you, O Lord; according to your word, deliver me." He calls his entreaty a "petition." For I have found this also in the other interpreters, so that the meaning may be as follows: let my entreaty and supplication enter before you, O Lord. And since you accept my supplication according to your word, which you promised to repentant sinners, release me from my sins. The prophet, employing various words, wins over the Master. "My lips will pour forth a hymn" when you have taught me your statutes. The belching forth is fitting for the food. For, he says, learning your statutes, I will bring the hymnody to you, the teacher of such things.

Whenever, then, we set aright the virtues and the commandments of God, we utter this hymn of praise and draw the Spirit of understanding; since, living in sins, we in no way utter a hymn. Let my tongue speak your words, for all your commandments are righteousness. I will dedicate my tongue to the meditation of your words, knowing that your commandments are adorned with all righteousness. And the voice is fruitful, teaching us how great a condemnation they become liable to who utter harlot songs, who offer flatteries and praises to men, who cry out comic nonsense, who whisper with abuse, who speak falsehoods, who loudly spread abroad shouts at the horse races. For one ought to utter nothing else than the words of God. For this reason he also adds, saying: For all your commandments are righteousness. Let your hand be to save me, for I have chosen your commandments. The word I have chosen, Symmachus rendered as I have preferred, while Aquila and Theodotion said I have selected. And he calls the divine working a hand, by which he entreats to obtain divine salvation. For this is the hand of God. For those who choose the commandments of God assuredly also receive salvation from him. I have longed for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my meditation. I desire, he says, to obtain salvation from you, having your law as my constant meditation. And what salvation? That which has come about, when the one of the Holy Trinity, Christ our God, became man. For then we were saved from the possession of the enemy, and we learned to meditate on the gospel precepts. My soul shall live, and it shall praise you;

According to your judgments, help me. Here he calls life the divine life that comes to be through the praise of God; and he asks that the judgments of God follow along with him for help. I know that I shall not fall short of the hope, but I shall obtain true life from you, and I shall praise you, the giver of good things. I went astray like a lost sheep. It was fitting for the prophet to say this after his sin, and for the whole nature of humanity. Seek your servant, because I did not forget your commandments. When Adam fell from paradise through transgression, sin passed into all, as the Apostle said, and they went astray like a lost sheep upon the mountains and the cliffs and the ravines of sin, where there was no visitation of God, serving demons and idols. But the good shepherd came, who lays down his life for the sheep, to seek and save the lost; and having sought the one who was wandering, he found him, and called him back, and carried him on his shoulders, and mingled him with his own flock. For he made peace between things on earth and things in heaven in his incarnate presence. Therefore also shepherds with angels glorified at his birth, saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace. Because I did not forget your commandments. For even if he transgressed some, he did not receive complete forgetfulness of them. But the prophet offered this prayer, and the whole nature of humanity obtained salvation.

As was said above, the good shepherd ran after the wandering sheep, and having sought it he found it, and taking it on his shoulders he brought it back, and rejoiced over it more than over the ninety-nine that had not wandered; the word showing this, that as often as we do not forget his commandments, God seeks us, calling us back to himself. But let us consider the beginning of the psalm and the end. For he says in the prologue: Blessed are the blameless in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord; and at the end of it: Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commandments. Those, then, who walk in the law of the Lord altogether do not forget his commandments; and those who do not forget the commandments walk in the law of the Lord. But we, having made the interpretation of the psalm in summary, entreat those who come upon it not to be satisfied with what is written, nor to think that these things belong to the prophet alone, but that each take from them the benefit that is fitting, and prepare a remedy to ward off his own passions. And these things, brothers, are the reminders and teachings of the fathers, from which we also, having drawn, have shared with you with the fitting prudence, so that the commandments of God may advance in you. For this is proper to a Christian, that according to our sincere faith our deeds also be good. In which the Lord God will establish you,

Granting you his rich mercies and his compassions, guarding you from every evil, and counting you worthy of his heavenly kingdom, through the intercessions of our undefiled Lady, the God-bearer and ever-virgin, and of all his saints, to the glory of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.