18

of your face, O Lord, you have given gladness of heart; but not of flesh nor of bodies, and not that supplied to bodies from wine and grain and oil, but a gladness according to the mind. For having learned from the Savior and from your promises, that, even if griefs and tribulations and temptations and adversities do not cease for me throughout the present life, yet there will be for me a time 23.112 of release from the body, at which I will make my falling asleep and release from the body in peace; and I am well and truly persuaded that then the fulfillment of gladness will be present for me, when my falling asleep and the sleep of death overtakes me. For then you yourself, O Lord, taking me up with this good hope, will make me dwell in the heavenly mansions. But note here also the distinctions at the diapsalms, either representing a change of thought, or perhaps a change of the alternating melody, or the rhythm. And Asterius the Arian explained the psalm thus: Why is the psalm inscribed, "To the end, in hymns"? Because he began well, and well did he end his life; or because he began badly, having seen the wife of Uriah bathing and he committed adultery; but well, having repented, did he end his life; for this reason, in the beginning in reproaches, in the end in hymns. A psalm for David is the act of repentance; and since where sin abounded, righteousness superabounded, for this reason he said: "When I called, the God of my righteousness heard me." For David now calls repentance his righteousness. God saw the soul cleansed, and he received the prayer. Or because in the psalm before this one he lamented the persecution by Absalom; but prayer, having intervened, destroyed the tyrant; so that, when asked how he conquered Absalom, he answered with the beginning of the psalm. For just as, he says, when I sinned God raised him up against me, so when I repented he granted the victory over him. But why was David heard in the very act of calling? Because, being reproved by Nathan, he was immediately bent toward repentance, for this reason he was immediately heard when praying. For he who does all that he wills, God, is obeyed at once, and while he is still speaking God will say: "Behold, I am here." Then, having told those near how quickly he was heard, he turns his word to God, and gives thanks to him who heard: "In tribulation you have made room for me." The waves of tribulations, he says, the swift calm dispersed, and me, wasting away with famine, you enriched from the fruit of grain and wine and oil, so that not only I, but also all those under me, might enjoy it. Wherefore descending a little he said: "From the fruit of their grain and wine and oil they were increased." Their company has become gladness of heart for me. And we learn this from the history itself. For when, being warred against by Absalom, he fled into the deserts and into the mountains, he was seized by famine and necessity as in a persecution; but God comforted his necessity. For first Ziba from the house of Saul brought him two hundred loaves, and wine and fig-cakes and raisins; then after him Barzillai the Gileadite, and 23.113 he himself brought to him ten beds, so that he would not sleep on the ground, and coverings, those now called tufted carpets, and jars of wine and wheat and barley and flour and beans and lentils, and honey and butter, and sheep, and milk-fed calves; Giving thanks, therefore, for these things he says: "In tribulation you have made room for me." And what, in saying I was heard, did you not draw out a long speech? Did you not write down a broad tablet of nouns and verbs? "By no means," says David; "for God does not need many words, he who is satisfied with a groan alone." This only I said when praying: "Have mercy, and hear my prayer." And the thief on the cross might say these things to the Lord; for having spoken and called upon him in his

18

προσώπου σου, Κύριε, ἔδωκας εὐφροσύνην καρδίας· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ σαρκῶν οὐδὲ σωμάτων, καὶ οὐ τὴν ἐξ οἴνου καὶ σίτου καὶ ἐλαίου σώμασι χορηγουμένην, ἀλλ' εὐφροσύνην τὴν κατὰ διάνοιαν. Μαθὼν γὰρ παρὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος καὶ τῶν σῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν, ὅτι, εἰ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα κατὰ τὸν ἐνεστῶτα βίον λύπαι μοι καὶ θλίψεις καὶ πειρασμοὶ καὶ περιστάσεις οὐ διαλείπουσιν, ἀλλ' ἔσται μοι και 23.112 ρὸς ὁ τῆς ἀπαλλαγῆς τοῦ σώματος, καθ' ὃν ἐν εἰρήνῃ ποιήσομαι τὴν κοίμησιν καὶ τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τοῦ σώματος· εὖ δὲ ἀκριβῶς πέπεισμαι, ὅτι τότε μοι παρέσται τὰ τέλη τῆς εὐφροσύνης, ἐπειδὰν ἡ κοίμησίς με καταλάβῃ καὶ ὁ κατὰ τὸν θάνατον ὕπνος. Τότε γὰρ σὺ αὐτὸς ὁ, Κύριε, μετὰ τῆς ἀγαθῆς ταύτης ἐλπίδος ἀναλαβών με κατοικιεῖς ἐν ταῖς ἐπουρανίοις μοναῖς. Σημείωσαι δὲ κἀνταῦθα τὰς ἐπὶ τοῖς διαψάλμασι διαστολὰς, ἤτοι τῆς διανοίας ἐναλλαγὴν παριστώσας, ἢ τάχα μεταβολὴν τοῦ μέλους ἐναλλάττοντος, ἢ τὸν ῥυθμόν. Ἀστέριος δὲ ὁ ἀρειανὸς οὕτως τὸν ψαλμὸν ἐξηγήσατο· ∆ιὰ τί, εἰς τὸ τέλος ἐν ὕμνοις, ἐπιγέγραπται ὁ ψαλμός; Ἐπειδὴ καλῶς μὲν ἤρξατο, καλῶς δὲ τὸν βίον ἐτέλεσε· ἢ ἐπειδὴ κακῶς μὲν ἤρξατο, θεωρήσας τὴν τοῦ Οὐρίου γυναῖκα λουομένην καὶ ἐμοίχευσε· καλῶς δὲ, μετανοήσας, τὸν βίον ἐτέλεσε· διὰ τοῦτο εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐν ψόγοις, εἰς τὸ τέλος ἐν ὕμνοις. Ψαλμὸς τῷ ∆αυῒδ ἡ πρᾶξις τῆς μετανοίας· καὶ ἐπειδὴ ὅπου ἐπλεόνασεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, ὑπερεπερίσσευσεν ἡ δικαιοσύνη, διὰ τοῦτο ἔλεγεν· Ἐν τῷ ἐπικαλεῖσθαί με εἰσήκουσέ μου ὁ Θεὸς τῆς δικαιοσύνης μου. ∆ικαιοσύνην γὰρ αὐτοῦ νῦν λέγει ὁ ∆αυῒδ τὴν μετάνοιαν. Εἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς καθαρθεῖσαν τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ ἐδέξατο τὴν προσευχήν. Ἢ ἐπειδὴ ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου ψαλμῷ τὸν διωγμὸν τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ ὠδύρετο· προσευχὴ δὲ μεσιτεύσασα τὸν τύραννον ἀνεῖλεν· ὡς, ἐρωτηθεὶς πῶς τοῦ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ ἐνίκησεν, ἀπεκρίνατο τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ ψαλμοῦ. Ὥσπερ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἁμαρτήσαντί μοι ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸν κατ' ἐμοῦ ἤγειρεν, οὕτως μετανοήσαντι τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐδωρήσατο νίκην. ∆ιὰ τί δ' ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ ἐπικαλεῖσθαι εἰσηκούσθη ὁ ∆αυΐδ; Ἐπειδὴ, ἐλεγχόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Νάθαν, εὐθὺς εἰς μετάνοιαν ἐκάμφθη, διὰ τοῦτο εὐθὺς προσευχόμενος εἰσηκούσθη. Ὁ γὰρ πάντα ποιῶν ὅσα βούλεται, ὁ Θεὸς, ὑπακούεται παραχρῆμα, καὶ ἔτι λαλοῦντος ἐρεῖ ὁ Θεός· Ἰδοὺ πάρειμι. Εἶτα εἰρηκὼς τοῖς πλησίον ὅπως τάχιον εἰσηκούσθη, τρέπει τὸν λόγον πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ τῷ εἰσακούσαντι εὐχαριστεῖ· Ἐν θλίψει ἐπλάτυνάς μοι. Τὰ κύματα τῶν θλίψεων, φησὶν, ἡ ταχεῖα γαλήνη διέλυσε, καὶ λιμῷ με τηκόμενον ἀπὸ καρποῦ σίτου καὶ οἴνου καὶ ἐλαίου ἐπλούτισας, ὡς μὴ μόνον ἐμὲ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντας τοὺς ὑπ' ἐμὲ ἀπολαῦσαι. ∆ιὸ ὑπωκαταβὰς ἔλεγεν· Ἀπὸ καρποῦ σίτου καὶ οἴνου καὶ ἐλαίου αὐτῶν ἐπληθύνθησαν. Ἡ ἐκείνων συνουσία εὐφροσύνη καρδίας μοι γέγονεν. Τοῦτο δὲ μανθάνομεν ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς ἱστορίας. Ὅτε γὰρ πολεμούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀβεσσαλὼμ ἔφυγεν ἐν ταῖς ἐρήμοις καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν, λιμῷ καὶ ἀνάγκῃ ὡς ἐν διωγμῷ ἐκρατήθη· ἀλλ' ὁ Θεὸς αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀνάγκην παρεμυθήσατο. Πρῶτος γὰρ ὁ Σίβα ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Σαοὺλ ἤνεγκεν αὐτῷ ἄρτους διακοσίους, καὶ οἶνον καὶ παλάθας καὶ σταφίδας· εἶτα μετὰ τοῦτον Βερζελλὶ ὁ Γαλααδίτης, καὶ 23.113 αὐτὸς αὐτῷ προσήνεγκε δέκα κοίτας, ἵνα μὴ χαμευνῇ, καὶ ἀμφιτάπητας, τοὺς καλουμένους νῦν τυλοτάπητας, καὶ οἴνου κεράμια καὶ πυροὺς καὶ κριθὰς καὶ ἄλευρον καὶ κύαμον καὶ φακὸν, καὶ μέλι καὶ βούτυρον, καὶ πρόβατα, καὶ γαλαθηνὰ μοσχάρια· Εὐχαριστῶν οὖν ἐπὶ τούτοις φησίν· Ἐν θλίψει ἐπλάτυνάς μοι. Τί δὲ, λέγων εἰσηκούσθην, μὴ μακρὸν κατέτονας λόγον; Μὴ πλατὺν ὀνομάτων καὶ ῥημάτων κατέγραψας πίνακα; Οὐδαμῶς, φησὶν ὁ ∆αυΐδ· οὐ γὰρ χρῄζει πολυλογίας ὁ Θεὸς, ὁ καὶ μόνῳ στεναγμῷ ἀρχούμενος. Τοῦτο μόνον ἔλεγον προσευχόμενος· Οἰκτείρησον, καὶ εἰσάκουσον τῆς προσευχῆς μου. Εἴποι δὲ ταῦτα καὶ ὁ λῃστὴς ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ πρὸς τὸν Κύριον· εἰπὼν γὰρ καὶ ἐπικαλεσάμενος ἐν τῇ αὐτοῦ