3

Deliver me, O Lord, from an evil man, and from an unjust man rescue me. Let us see from whom the prophet prays specifically to be rescued. For Doeg was the evil man, and Saul the unjust man.

So David was fleeing from the face of Saul to Nob, the city of the priests, and there Ahimelech the priest gave him the spear of Goliath the Philistine and provisions. Then Doeg the Idumean, who was over Saul's mules, being present and seeing what was happening, went away and slandered David and Ahimelech the priest, saying: Yesterday I was in Nob, the city, and David was there; and Ahimelech the priest gave him provisions, and the spear of Goliath the Philistine. Then Saul, becoming angry and full of wrath, says to the soldiers running beside him: Slay the priests in the city of Nob. But they did not dare to lay hands on the priests, their hands being restrained by the fear of God, and before their hands, their minds. Then Saul, turning to Doeg, says: You put to death all the priests of the Lord, and do not spare, not the old, not the young, not woman, not virgin, not infant, not suckling; up to donkey and sheep and calf, kill them all for extermination. Then Doeg turned, and dividing the people under his command, he runs, and he prepared some to surround the city, so that no one might flee and find safety, and he ordered others to cast fire into the city; and he himself, like a lion eager for prey, rushed against them in the city, as against sheep penned in a fold, and he slew on that day three hundred and fifty priests wearing the Ephod, and he did not spare the old, or the young, or a virgin, or a woman, or a suckling infant, and from sheep and calf and donkey, and he burned the city with fire. Then David, seeing this, said while fleeing: Deliver me, O Lord, from an evil man; from an unjust man rescue me. For it was truly possible to see the most cruel things, the blood of the young and of infants mingled together, and the tips of infants' mouths attached to their mothers' breasts, and an untimely fate (f. shearing) cut before its time, and ears of grain reaped before their time, and grapes not yet ripened, slain by the wrath of hail. the revered mystery of women's braids, which ought to be hidden, being paraded. For as the linen tunic on the head was torn away, the bare skull was revealed of its hair, and breasts laid bare, which were ashamed to see even the face of the sun, and the child-bearing parts, which nature itself taught to cover.

And who would have the strength to tell of the distress that then occurred? Since, therefore, such things are perpetrated by the evil man and the homeless man, let us not cease always to pray earnestly to God and to say: Deliver me, O Lord, from an evil man, from an unjust man rescue me. Let us not only pray these things with our mouth, but also through good works let us prepare ourselves to be worthy for our petition to be heard. For by thus entreating God we shall be heard, and not only from the evil man and from the unjust man will He deliver and rescue us, but also from our invisible enemies will He redeem us, and along with earthly goods will deem us worthy of His eternal goods also. Especially let us keep a guileless and sincere love for one another, and let us consider the progress made toward our neighbor as our own gain.

For in this we become imitators of God, as far as is possible for men. For our God both is and is called love. To him be the glory and the power, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

3

Ἐξελοῦ με, Κύριε, ἐξ ἀνθρώπου πονηροῦ, καὶ ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἀδίκου ῥῦσαί με. Ἴδωμεν ἀπὸ τίνων ὁ προφήτης εὔχεται ἰδικῶς ῥυσθῆναι. Καὶ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος πονηρὸς ὁ ∆ωὴκ, καὶ ἀνὴρ ἄδικος ὁ Σαούλ.

Ὁ γοῦν ∆αυῒδ ἀπὸ προσώπου Σαοὺλ ἦν φεύγων εἰς Νομβᾶ τὴν πόλιν τῶν ἱερέων, κἀκεῖ ὁ Ἀβιμέλεχ ὁ ἱερεὺς ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ τὸ δόρυ τοῦ Γολιὰθ τοῦ ἀλλοφύλου καὶ ἐπισιτισμόν. Τότε ∆ωὴκ ὁ Ἰδουμαῖος, ὁ ἐπὶ τῶν ἡμιόνων τοῦ Σαοὺλ, παρὼν καὶ ὁρῶν τὰ γινόμενα, ἀπελθὼν διέβαλε τὸν ∆αυῒδ καὶ Ἀβιμέλεχ τὸν ἱερέα, λέγων· χθὲς ἤμην εἰς Νομβᾶ τὴν πόλιν, κἀκεῖ ∆αυΐδ· καὶ Ἀβιμέλεχ ὁ ἱερεὺς ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ ἐπισιτισμὸν, καὶ τὸ δόρυ Γολιὰθ τοῦ ἀλλοφύλου. Τότε Σαοὺλ θυμωθεὶς καὶ ὅλος τῆς ὀργῆς γινόμενος, λέγει τοῖς πα-ρατρέχουσιν αὐτῷ στρατιώταις· Σφάξατε τοὺς ἐν τῇ Νομβᾷ τῇ πόλει ἱερεῖς. Οἱ δὲ οὐκ ἐτόλμησαν χεῖρας ἐπενεγκεῖν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἱερεῖς, φόβῳ Θεοῦ χαλινωθέντες τὰς χεῖρας, πρὸ δὲ τῶν χειρῶν τὰς γνώμας. Τότε πρὸς τὸν ∆ωὴκ ὁ Σαοὺλ ἀποστρέφων φησί· σὺ ἅπαντας τοὺς ἱερεῖς Κυρίου θανάτωσον, καὶ μὴ φείσῃ, μὴ πρεσβυτέρου, μὴ νεωτέρου, μὴ γυναικὸς, μὴ παρθένου, μὴ νηπίου, μὴ θηλάζοντος· ἕως ὄνου καὶ προβάτου καὶ μόσχου πάντας ἀπόκτεινον εἰς ἐξάλειψιν. Τότε ἀποστρέψας ὁ ∆ωὴκ, καὶ διελὼν τὸν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἀρχόμενον λαὸν τρέχει, καὶ τοὺς μὲν τὴν πόλιν κυκλῶσαι παρεσκεύασεν, ἐπὶ τὸ μηδένα φεύγειν, καὶ σωτηρίαν πορίσασθαι, τοὺς δὲ εἰς τὴν πόλιν πῦρ βάλλειν παρεκέλευσεν· αὐτός τε, καθάπερ λέων πρόθυμος εἰς βορὰν, ὥρμησε κατ' αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει, καθάπερ κατὰ μεμανδρευμένων προβάτων, καὶ ἔσφαξε τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ τριακοσίους πεντήκοντα ἱερεῖς αἴροντας Ἐφοὺδ, καὶ οὐκ ἐφείσατο οὐ πρεσβυτέρου, οὐ νεωτέρου, οὐ παρθένου, οὐ γυναικὸς, οὐ νηπίου θηλάζοντος, καὶ ἀπὸ προβάτου καὶ μόσχου καὶ ὄνου, καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἐνέπρησε πυρί. Τότε ∆αυῒδ θεωρήσας τοῦτο, φεύγων ἔλεγεν· Ἐξελοῦ με, Κύριε, ἐξ ἀνθρώπου πονηροῦ· ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἀδίκου ῥῦσαί με. Ἦν γὰρ ἀληθῶς ἰδεῖν ὠμότατα πράγματα, τὰ τῶν νέων αἵματα καὶ τῶν νηπίων συμπεφυρμένα, καὶ νηπίων στομάτων ἄκρα τοῖς τῶν μητέρων μαστοῖς προσηρτημένα, καὶ ἄωρον κήραν (f. κουρὰν) πρὸ καιροῦ τεμνομένην, καὶ στάχυας πρὸ καιροῦ θεριζομένους, καὶ βότρυας μήπω περκάσαντας, θυμῷ χαλάζης φονευομένους. γυναικείων πλοκάμων, ὧν ἔδει κρύπτεσθαι, τὸ σεμνὸν μυστήριον πομπεῦον. Τοῦ γὰρ λινέου ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς χιτωνίσκου περιῤῥιπτομένου, γυμνὸν τὸ κρανίον τῆς κόμης διεδείκνυτο, καὶ στέρνα γυμνούμενα, τὰ καὶ ὄψιν ἡλίου ἰδεῖν αἰσχυνόμενα, καὶ παιδογόνα, ἃ καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ φύσις καλύπτειν ἐδίδασκε.

Καὶ τίς ἂν τὴν τότε γενομένην ἀνάγκην εἰπεῖν ἐξισχύσειεν; Ἐπεὶ οὖν τοιαῦτα ὁ πονηρὸς ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὁ ἄοικος ἀνὴρ διαπράτ-τονται, μὴ παυσώμεθα πάντοτε ἐκτενῶς δέεσθαι τῷ Θεῷ καὶ λέγειν· Ἐξελοῦ με, Κύριε, ἐξ ἀνθρώπου πονηροῦ, ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἀδίκου ῥῦσαί με. Μὴ μόνον δὲ στόματι ταῦτα προσευχώμεθα, ἀλλὰ καὶ δι' ἔργων ἀγαθῶν ἑαυτοὺς ἀξίους πρὸς τὸ εἰσακούεσθαι τὴν δέησιν ἡμῶν εὐτρεπίσωμεν. Οὕτω γὰρ παρακαλοῦντες τὸν Θεὸν εἰσακουσθησόμεθα, καὶ οὐ μόνον ἐξ ἀνθρώπου πονηροῦ καὶ ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἀδίκου ἐξελεῖται καὶ ῥύσεται ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἀοράτων ἐχθρῶν ἡμῶν λυτρώσεται ἡμᾶς, καὶ σὺν τοῖς ἐπιγείοις ἀγαθοῖς καὶ τῶν αἰωνίων αὐτοῦ ἀξιώσει ἀγαθῶν. Ἐξαιρέτως δὲ τὴν εἰς ἀλλήλους ἀγάπην ἄδολον καὶ εἰλικρινῆ φυλάξωμεν, καὶ οἰκεῖον κέρδος τὴν εἰς πλησίον γινομένην προκοπὴν λογισώμεθα.

Ἐν τούτῳ γὰρ μιμηταὶ Θεοῦ κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἀνθρώποις γινόμεθα. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν ἀγάπη ἐστί τε καὶ ὀνομάζεται. Αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος, τῷ Πατρὶ, καὶ τῷ Υἱῷ, καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.