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I beseech that the present case be judged on its own merits, and not now to pay the penalty for other sins. 10. "Let the wickedness of sinners be brought to an end, and you shall direct the righteous." Instead of, let it be brought to an end, Symmachus has put, let it be completed. If, he says, the wickedness of those who live in evil should be shown to be in vain, the nurslings of virtue will more earnestly make their proposed journey. "God, who tests hearts and reins. [11.] 80.912 My help is just, from God who saves the upright in heart." Here he calls thoughts 'reins'. For since the reins stir up the appetites below the stomach, and from there, in turn, the thoughts of desire are moved, he has tropically called the thoughts 'reins'. He, therefore, he says, who knows the hidden thoughts of men's minds, will provide me with just help, since indeed he is accustomed to do this. For he continually defends those who are wronged. From this point on he also terrifies those who live with wickedness, pointing out the just punishments; and he foretells the ruin of Ahithophel. 12. "God is a righteous judge, and strong, and long-suffering, and not bringing on wrath every day." But He also has love for mankind, for which reason He bears for a very long time the offenses of men. But if ever He should see men not profiting from this, He for a time brings forth threats, postponing the punishment. But if they, despising even this, should persist in sinning, He at once brings on utter destruction, which possesses justice. He has shown these things through what follows. 13, 14. "If you do not turn back, he will whet his sword; he has bent his bow, and made it ready. And in it he has prepared instruments of death." For these are not of punishment, but of threat. For He said, He will whet, not, He will bring on; and, He has bent the bow, not, He has released the arrow; and teaching against whom He will release the arrows, He immediately added; "He has wrought his arrows for those who are burning." For those who have received the flammable material of sin, and have built with wood, and hay, and stubble, as the divine Apostle says, will be struck by these fiery arrows. 15. "Behold, he has travailed with injustice." Ahithophel, having introduced that wicked counsel, "has conceived trouble, and brought forth lawlessness." For out of a wickedness leaving no excess, he armed the lawless son against the father who had wronged him in nothing. 16, 17. "He dug a pit, and excavated it, and he will fall into the ditch which he made. His trouble shall return upon his own head, and his injustice shall come down upon his own crown." He will be caught, he says, in his own snares, and will receive the reward of his own labors, and will be hunted by nets, which he set for the capture of others. 18. "I will give thanks to the Lord according to his righteousness, and I will sing to the name of the Lord 80.913 Most High." But I, having received such great providence from God, will hymn the benefactor continually, recounting the justice of his judgment.

INTERPRETATION OF THE 8TH PSALM. 1. "To the end, for the winepresses, a psalm of David." It must be known, that in each

psalm, in which the Seventy have put 'to the end,' Aquila and Theodotion have interpreted it 'to the victor,' but Symmachus 'a song of victory;' and so this psalm is also offered as a song of victory to the victorious God, who has overthrown the enemy and avenger, the devil, and has freed men to the end from his tyranny. He calls the Churches 'winepresses,' since also the Lord [is called] the vine; for He Himself said in the holy Gospels, "I am the true vine." And the faithful, harvesting this, produce the mystical wine. And this itself is a very great accusation of the unbelief of the Jews. For hearing of a multitude of winepresses, and knowing clearly that a certain single winepress was given, or rather not even a winepress, but a wine-vat; "For a wine-vat," he says, "I dug in it, and I waited for it to produce gra

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Αὐτὴν κατ' αὐτὴν κριθῆναι τὴν παροῦσαν ὑπόθεσιν ἱκετεύω, καὶ μὴ ἑτέρων νῦν δοῦναι δίκας ἁμαρτημάτων. ιʹ. "Συντελεσθήτω δὴ πονηρία ἁμαρτωλῶν, καὶ κατευθυνεῖς δίκαιον." Ἀντὶ τοῦ, συντελεσθήτω, ἀπαρτισθήτω ὁ Σύμμαχος τέθεικεν. Εἰ ματαία, φησὶ, δειχθείη τῶν κακίᾳ συζώντων ἡ πονηρία, σπουδαιότερον οἱ τῆς ἀρετῆς τρόφιμοι τὴν προκει μένην αὐτῆς πορείαν ποιήσονται. "Ἐτάζων καρδίας καὶ νεφροὺς ὁ Θεός. [ιαʹ.] 80.912 ∆ικαία ἡ βοήθειά μου παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ σώ ζοντος τοὺς εὐθεῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ." Νεφροὺς ἐνταῦ θα τοὺς λογισμοὺς ὀνομάζει. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰς ὑπο γαστρίους ὀρέξεις οἱ νεφροὶ διεγείρουσιν, ἐντεῦθεν δὲ λοιπὸν κινοῦνται τῆς ἐπιθυμίας οἱ λογισμοὶ, νε φροὺς τροπικῶς τοὺς λογισμοὺς προσηγόρευσεν. Ὁ τοίνυν, φησὶ, τοὺς κεκρυμμένους τῆς διανοίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων λογισμοὺς ἐπιστάμενος, δικαίαν μοι παρέξει βοήθειαν, ἅτε δὴ τοῦτο ποιεῖν εἰωθώς. Τοῖς γὰρ ἀδικουμένοις ἐπαμύνων διατελεῖ. Ἐντεῦθεν λοιπὸν καὶ δεδίττεται τοὺς πονηρίᾳ συζῶν τας, τὰς δικαίας τιμωρίας ὑποδεικνύς· καὶ προαγο ρεύει τοῦ Ἀχιτόφελ τὸν ὄλεθρον. ιβʹ. "Ὁ Θεὸς κριτὴς δίκαιος, καὶ ἰσχυρὸς, καὶ μακρόθυμος, καὶ μὴ ὀργὴν ἐπάγων καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν." Ἔχει δὲ καὶ φιλανθρωπίαν, δι' ἣν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον φέρει τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰ πλημμελήματα. Ἐπεὶ εἴποτε ἴδοι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους διὰ ταύτης ὄνησιν οὐ καρπουμένους, τέως ταῖς ἀπειλαῖς ἐκφορεῖ, τὴν τιμωρίαν ἀναβαλλόμενος. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ταύτης κα ταφρονήσαντες ἐπιμείναιεν ἁμαρτάνοντες, αὐτίκα τὴν πανωλεθρίαν ἐπάγει τὸ δίκαιον ἔχουσαν. Ταῦτα διὰ τῶν ἐπαγομένων ἐδήλωσεν. ιγʹ, ιδʹ. "Ἐὰν μὴ ἐπιστραφῆτε, τὴν ῥομφαίαν αὐτοῦ στιλβώσει· τὸ τόξον αὑτοῦ ἐνέτεινε, καὶ ἡτοί μασεν αὐτό. Καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἡτοίμασε σκεύη θανάτου." Ταῦτα γὰρ οὐ τιμωρίας, ἀλλ' ἀπειλῆς. Στιλβώσει γὰρ εἶπεν, οὐκ, ἐπάξει· καὶ, ἐνέτεινε τὸ τόξον, οὐ, τὸ βέλος ἀφῆκε· καὶ διδάσκων κατὰ τίνων ἀφήσει τὰ βέλη, εὐθὺς ἐπισυνῆψε· "Τὰ βέλη αὑτοῦ τοῖς καιομένοις ἐξειργάσατο." Οἱ γὰρ τὴν εὔπρηστον τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὕλην δεξάμενοι, καὶ ξύλα, καὶ χόρτον, καὶ καλάμην οἰκοδομήσαντες, ᾗ φησιν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, τοῖς πυρφόροις τούτοις βληθήσονται βέλεσιν. ιεʹ. "Ἰδοὺ ὠδίνησεν ἀδικίαν." Ὁ Ἀχιτόφελ,τὴν πονηρὰν ἐκείνην εἰσηγησάμενος γνώμην, "Συν έλαβε πόνον, καὶ ἔτεκεν ἀνομίαν." Ἐκ πονηρίας γὰρ οὐδεμίαν καταλειπούσης ὑπερβολὴν, κατὰ τοῦ μηδὲν ἠδικηκότος πατρὸς τὸν παράνομον καθώπλισε παῖδα. ι ϛʹ, ιζʹ. "Λάκκον ὤρυξε, καὶ ἀνέσκαψεν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐμπεσεῖται εἰς βόθρον ὃν εἰργάσατο. Ἐπι στρέψει ὁ πόνος αὐτοῦ εἰς κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπὶ κορυφὴν αὐτοῦ ἡ ἀδικία αὐτοῦ καταβήσεται." Ταῖς οἰκείαις, φησὶν ἁλώσεται πάγαις, καὶ τῶν οἰκείων πόνων τὰ ἐπίχειρα δέξεται, καὶ θηρευθήσεται δι κτύοις, ἃ πρὸς ἄγραν ἑτέρων διέπηξεν. ιηʹ. "Ἐξομολογήσομαι τῷ Κυρίῳ κατὰ τὴν δικαιο σύνην αὐτοῦ, καὶ ψαλῶ τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου τοῦ 80.913 ὑψίστου." Ἐγὼ δὲ τοσαύτης τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίας τυχὼν, ὑμνήσω τὸν εὐεργέτην διηνεκῶς, τῆς κρί σεως τὸ δίκαιον διηγούμενος.

ΕΡΜΗΝ. ΤΟΥ Ηʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΥ. αʹ. "Εἰς τὸ τέλος ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν, ψαλμὸς τῷ ∆αβίδ." Ἰστέον, ὅτι ἐν ἑκάστῳ

ψαλμῷ, ἐν ᾧ οἱ Ἑβδομήκοντα εἰς τὸ τέλος τεθείκασιν, ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας καὶ ὁ Θεοδοτίων τῷ νικοποιῷ ἡρμήνευσαν, ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος ἐπινίκιον· καὶ οὗτος τοιγαροῦν ὁ ψαλμὸς ἐπινίκιος τῷ νικοποιῷ προσφέρεται Θεῷ, τῷ τὸν ἐχθρὸν καὶ ἐκδικητὴν διάβολον καταλύσαν τι, καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους εἰς τέλος τῆς ἐκείνου τυραν νίδος ἐλευθερώσαντι. Ληνοὺς δὲ τὰς Ἐκκλησίας προσαγορεύει, ἐπειδὴ καὶ τὸν Κύριον ἄμπελον· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς Εὐαγγελίοις ἔφη, "Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή." Ταύτην δὲ τρυγῶντες οἱ πεπιστευκότες τὸν μυστικὸν κατασκευάζουσιν οἶνον. Μεγίστη δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ τῆς Ἰουδαίων ἀπι στίας κατηγορία. Πλῆθος γὰρ ληνῶν ἀκούοντες, καὶ σαφῶς εἰδότες ὡς μία τις ἐδόθη ληνὸς, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ ληνὸς, ἀλλὰ προλήνιον· "Προλήνιον γὰρ, φησὶν, ὤρυξα ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ ἔμεινα τοῦ ποιῆσαι στα