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His adversary made war against him, so that he might learn not to say: I shall not be moved forever. For since, being empowered by the grace of God, he once thought highly of himself, so as to become presumptuous and say: And I said in my prosperity: I shall not be moved forever; for this reason he was rightly handed over to the tempter, who, having laid hold of his soul, harmed him more greatly than Job. But the words, reminiscent of His righteous judgment, and instructive of the wrath hanging over sinners, 30.89 are sharper than arrows, pricking the conscience, both wounding and goading it. And thus you might say that David, being goaded by these sacred and divine words, reasonably deprecates the rebuke through wrath, and the chastisement through God's anger.

For, "Do not rebuke me in Your wrath," he says, "O Lord, nor chasten me in Your anger." Why? Because Your arrows have pierced me. For the arrows coming from you, having taken on anger and wrath, punish me sufficiently, and chastise me enough. Therefore he beseeches not to be tried by another anger or wrath, Because Your arrows have pierced me, or, have reached me, according to Symmachus. And You have laid Your hand upon me. Understand the hand of the Lord that has laid hold of him as the one also revealed in the case of Job. And this hand of the Lord shook the whole house of David from its foundations, first driving his firstborn son Amnon mad with love for his sister, then inflaming Absalom with wrath against his brother, so that he killed Amnon, and then rose up against his own father; and all the rest that are presented through the history, the revealed hand. Your hand has laid hold of me through successive calamities. I beseech, he says, not to be rebuked with another wrath, nor to be chastened with a worse anger. And not only these things, but also what is said next, which he teaches in order, saying: There is no health in my flesh because of Your anger; there is no peace in my bones because of my sins. I, he says, taking the initiative, not even waiting for someone from outside to punish my body, punished myself with a grievous wound, and my flesh, through which the sin was committed by me, I have delivered to punishments, punishing myself and chastising with all kinds of chastisements. For he also indicated this through other words, saying: I humbled my soul with fasting, and my flesh was changed for lack of oil, and I forgot to eat my bread; from the voice of my groaning my bone has clung to my flesh. And, Every night I will wash my bed, I will drench my couch with my tears. So then he now says: There is no health in my flesh because of Your anger. But instead of, anger, both Aquila and Symmachus in agreement translated it, because of your indignation. For the indignation from Your divine Scriptures was enough for me, he says, and the threat through Your prophet Nathan. Therefore, because of your indignation, I so punished myself, as to chastise my own flesh, and for my bones to have no peace Because of my sins. In place of which Symmachus [has], On account of my 30.92 sins. Because my iniquities have gone over my head, like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds have become foul and festered because of my foolishness. I was wretched, and was exceedingly bowed down to the end.

Since these things have been done by me, he says, for this reason I was wretched, and was bowed down to the end, and I went about mourning all the day long. And through these things he shows what he suffered, and how he punished himself, accusing himself not of one sin, but of many all at once, and so many that they could not be hidden within his soul, nor be concealed inside his body, but had gone over him, so that they were known to all. He himself, at least, was the accuser

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κατεστρατεύσατο αὐτοῦ ὁ ἀντίπαλος, ἵνα μάθῃ μὴ λέγειν· Οὐ μὴ σαλευθῶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Ἐπεὶ γὰρ τῇ χάριτι τοῦ Θεοῦ δυναμούμενος, μέγα ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ ἐφρόνησέ ποτε, ὡς ἀπαυθαδιάσασθαι καὶ εἰπεῖν· Ἐγὼ δὲ εἶπον ἐν τῇ εὐθηνίᾳ μου· Οὐ μὴ σαλευθῶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· τούτου χάριν εἰκότως παρεδόθη τῷ πειράζοντι, ὃς τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ καθαψάμενος, μει ζόνως αὐτὸν ἢ τὸν Ἰὼβ ἐζημίωσεν. Οἱ δὲ λόγοι, τῆς δικαιοκρισίας αὐτοῦ ὑπομνηστικοὶ, καὶ τῆς ὀργῆς τῆς τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἐπηρτημένης διδασκαλικοὶ, 30.89 βελῶν εἰσιν ὀξύτεροι, τὴν συνείδησιν νύττοντες, τι τρώσκοντές τε καὶ κεντοῦντες αὐτήν. Καὶ οὕτως εἴποις ἂν τὸν ∆αβὶδ τοῖς ἱεροῖς τούτοις καὶ θείοις κεντούμενον, εὐλόγως παραιτεῖσθαι τὸν διὰ θυμοῦ ἔλεγχον, καὶ τὴν δι' ὀργῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ παιδείαν.

Μὴ γὰρ τῷ θυμῷ σου, φησὶν, ἐλέγξῃς με, Κύριε, μηδὲ τῇ ὀργῇ σου παιδεύσῃς με. ∆ιὰ τί; Ὅτι τὰ βέλη σου ἐνεπάγησάν μοι. Προσλαβόντα γὰρ τὴν ὀργὴν καὶ τὸν θυμὸν τὰ παρὰ σοῦ καθικόμενα βέλη ἱκανῶς με τιμωρεῖται, καὶ αὐτάρκως με κολάζει. ∆ιὸ ἱκετεύει, μὴ ὀργῆς ἑτέρας μηδὲ θυμοῦ πειραθῆναι, Ὅτι τὰ βέλη σου ἐνεπάγησάν μοι, ἢ, καθίκεταί μου, κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον. Καὶ ἐπεστήριξας ἐπ' ἐμὲ τὴν χεῖρά σου. Χεῖρα δὲ Κυρίου καθαψαμένην αὐτοῦ νόησον, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰὼβ δεδηλωμένην. Αὕτη δὲ ἡ χεὶρ τοῦ Κυρίου πάντα τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ἐκ βάθρων ἔσεισε, τὸν μὲν πρωτότοκον αὐτοῦ τῶν παίδων τὸν Ἀμνὼν ἔρωτι τῆς ἀδελφῆς ἐκμήνασα, πυρώσασα δὲ τὸν Ἀβεσσαλὼμ τῇ κατὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ὀργῇ, ὡς ἀν ελεῖν τὸν Ἀμνὼν, ἔπειτα καὶ αὐτῷ ἐπαναστῆναι τῷ πατρί· καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ δὲ πάντα διὰ τῆς ἱστορίας παριστάμενα, ἡ δηλωθεῖσα χείρ. Χείρ σου καθήψατό μου διὰ τῶν ἐπαλλήλων συμφορῶν. Ἱκετεύω, φησὶ, μὴ ἄλλῳ θυμῷ ἐλεγχθῆναι, μηδὲ χείρονι ὀργῇ παι δευθῆναι. Καὶ οὐ μόνον ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐπι λεγόμενα, ἃ διδάσκει ἑξῆς λέγων· Οὐκ ἔστιν ἴασις ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς ὀργῆς σου· οὐκ ἔστιν εἰρήνη ἐν τοῖς ὀστέοις μου ἀπὸ προσ ώπου τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν μου. Ἐγὼ, φησὶ, προλαβὼν, οὐδὲ περιμείνας ἵνα μού τις ἔξωθεν τὸ σῶμα κολά σῃ, ἕλκει πονηρῷ ἐμαυτὸν ἐτιμωρησάμην, καὶ τὴν σάρκα μου, δι' ἧς πέπρακταί μοι τὸ ἁμάρτημα, κο λάσεσι παρέδωκα, τιμωρούμενος ἐμαυτὸν καὶ κολάζων παντοίαις κολάσεσι. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἐδήλου καὶ δι' ἑτέρων, λέγων· Ἐταπείνουν ἐν νηστείᾳ τὴν ψυχήν μου, καὶ ἡ σάρξ μου ἠλλοιώθη δι' ἔλαιον, καὶ ἐπελαθόμην τοῦ φαγεῖν τὸν ἄρτον μου· ἀπὸ φωνῆς τοῦ στεναγμοῦ μου ἐκολλήθη τὰ ὀστᾶ μου τῇ σαρκί μου. Καὶ, Λούσω καθ' ἑκάστην νύκτα τὴν κλίνην μου, ἐν δάκρυσί μου τὴν στρωμνήν μου βρέξω. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ νῦν φησιν· Οὐκ ἔστιν ἴασις ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς ὀργῆς σου. Ἀντὶ δὲ, τῆς ὀργῆς, συμφώνως ὅ τε Ἀκύλας καὶ ὁ Σύμμαχος, ἀπὸ προσώπου ἐμ βριμήσεώς σου, ἡρμήνευσαν. Ἀπήρκει γάρ μοι, φησὶν, ἡ ἀπὸ τῶν σῶν θείων Γραφῶν ἐμβρίμησις, καὶ ἡ διὰ τοῦ σοῦ προφήτου Νάθαν ἀπειλή. ∆ιὸ ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς ἐμβριμήσεώς σου ἐμαυτὸν οὕτως ἐτι μωρησάμην, ὡς κολάσαι τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ σάρκα, καὶ τὰ ὀστᾶ μου μὴ ἔχειν εἰρήνην Ἀπὸ προσώπου τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν μου. Ἀνθ' οὗ ὁ Σύμμαχος, ∆ιὰ τὰς ἁμαρ 30.92 τίας μου. Ὅτι αἱ ἀνομίαι μου ὑπερῆραν τὴν κε φαλήν μου, ὡσεὶ φορτίον βαρὺ ἐβαρύνθησαν ἐπ' ἐμέ. Προσώζεσαν καὶ ἐσάπησαν οἱ μώλωπές μου, ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς ἀφροσύνης μου. Ἐταλαιπώ ρησα, καὶ κατεκάμφθην ἕως τέλους σφόδρα.

Ἐπειδὴ τάδε μοι, φησὶ, πέπρακται, διὰ τοῦτο Ἐτα-λαιπώρησα, καὶ κατεκάμφθην ἕως τέλους, καὶ ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν σκυθρωπάζων ἐπορευόμην. ∆ιὰ τούτων δὲ παρίστησιν ἃ πέπονθε, καὶ ὅπως ἑαυτὸν ἐτιμωρεῖτο, οὐ μίαν ἑαυτῷ κατηγορῶν ἁμαρτίαν, ἀλλ' ἀθρόως πολλὰς, καὶ τοσαύτας, ὡς μηδὲ ἔνδον κρύπτεσθαι ἐν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῇ, μηδὲ εἴσω τοῦ σώ ματος λανθάνειν, ἀλλ' ὑπερβεβηκέναι αὐτοῦ, ὥστε καὶ πᾶσιν αὐτὰς γνωρίζεσθαι. Αὐτὸς γοῦν ἦν κατήγορος