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being worked, to sing praise to him; and customarily he called the body a psaltery and a cithara, since it is composed rhythmically and with wise harmony; for in this the mind, being struck through virtuous actions, sends up the divine and spiritual melody to God. To him who gives food also to the young of the ravens that call upon him. And a certain natural account has come to us, that the young of ravens are not fed by their parents, like the young of other birds; for they say that the young ravens are abandoned by their parents, but are fed by another wondrous power of God; for since their parents no longer approach them, they have their mouths open for want of food, and seem to be calling upon God, by some natural operation asking for food from the one who has bestowed being upon them; and so some food from the air is brought to them against their mouth, pushed together by some breeze.

PSALM 147.

He who declares his word to Jacob. And Eusebius also says. And it seems to me that the present text teaches very precisely, He who declares his word to Jacob; for it has not said, he who sends, or he who sent. It is one thing, surely, to declare, and another to send or to be sent; for the one announces beforehand what is to come and foretells it; but the other signifies a presence, and that the one sent preaches through himself; so that the declaration and the prophecy of what is to come has occurred with Israel alone, but the sending not to that one alone, but also to all the other nations. But perhaps someone might say; And having not declared it to the rest of mankind, how does he punish them, both those before the law and those sinning everywhere in the world? And we say; These he judges from the natural law and that which is in us, but the Israelites 24.69 both from this and from the written law, so that the great beneficence becomes for them an occasion for greater condemnation when they have been negligent; for this reason he himself also did not say, that he has not done so for every nation, but he has not done so *thus*; that is, he did not send tablets, nor the writings on Mount Sinai, but to the Jews out of abundance.

PSALM 148.

In the 145th psalm the soul alone by itself was commanded to praise the Lord,

with the word saying, Praise the Lord, O my soul. And in the one after it he called a multitude to praise through, Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good; and in the next Jerusalem itself was ordered to do this in, Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. Following these, therefore, the present praise intensifies the command, after the partial exhortation increasing the order; and at once together it urges on the whole of created creation, both the seen and the unseen, to the praise of God; at the beginning calling upon the things in the heavens and the things in the highest; and proceeding to the things on the earth and the things in the abyss, not as though all things partake of soul and reason, but it commands those who have partaken of reason to look to these things, and learning the wisdom that came to be in these things, to sing praises to the Maker. And all abysses. Another said abysses are the region of the underworld, according to Paul who said; Do not say, Who will descend into the abyss, that is, Christ from the dead

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ἐνεργουμένης ψάλλειν αὐτῷ· συνήθως δὲ τὸ σῶμα ψαλτήριον καὶ κιθάραν ὠνόμασεν, ἅτε εὐρύθμως καὶ μεθ' ἁρμονίας σοφῆς συγκείμενον· ἐν τούτῳ γὰρ ὁ νοῦς ἀνακρουόμενος διὰ τῶν κατ' ἀρετὴν πράξεων τὴν ἔνθεον καὶ πνευματικὴν μελῳδίαν ἀναπέμπει τῷ Θεῷ. ∆ιδόντι τροφὴν καὶ τοῖς νεοσσοῖς τῶν κοράκων τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις αὐτόν. Ἦλθε δέ τις εἰς ἡμᾶς φυσικὸς λόγος, ὡς μὴ τρεφομένων νεοττῶν τῶν κοράκων ὑπὸ τῶν γεννησάντων, ὁμοίως τοῖς τῶν ἄλλων ὀρνέων νεοττοῖς· καταλείπεσθαι μὲν γὰρ τῶν κοράκων φασὶ τοὺς νεοττοὺς ὑπὸ τῶν γεγεννηκότων, τρέφεσθαι δὲ ἄλλῳ παραδόξῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ δυνάμει· μηκέτι γὰρ αὐτοῖς πλησιαζόντων γεγεννηκότων, κεχηνέναι τὸ στόμα τροφῆς ἐνδείᾳ, καὶ ἐοικέναι ἐπικαλουμένοις τὸν Θεὸν, φυσικῇ τινι ἐνεργείᾳ τὴν τροφὴν αἰτοῦντας παρὰ τοῦ τὸ εἶναι αὐτοῖς δεδωρημένου· οὕτω δὲ φέρεσθαι αὐτοῖς τινα ἐξ ἀέρος τροφὴν κατὰ τοῦ στόματος ὑπό τινος αὔρας συνωθουμένην.

ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΡΜΖʹ.

Ὁ ἀπαγγέλλων τὸν λόγον αὑτοῦ τῷ Ἰακώβ. Φησὶ δὲ καὶ ὁ Εὐσέβιος. Σφόδρα

δὲ ἀπηκριβωμένως μοι δοκεῖ ἡ παροῦσα λέξις διδάσκειν, Ὁ ἀπαγγέλλων τὸν λόγον αὑτοῦ τῷ Ἰακώβ· οὐ γὰρ εἴρηκεν, ὁ ἀποστέλλων, ἢ ὁ ἀποστείλας. Ἄλλο δήπου ἐστὶν ἀπαγγεῖλαι, καὶ ἄλλο τὸ ἀποστεῖλαι ἢ ἀποστέλλεσθαι· τὸ μὲν γὰρ προμηνύει τὸ μέλλον καὶ προλέγει· τὸ δὲ παρουσίαν σημαίνει, καὶ τὸν ἀποσταλέντα δι' ἑαυτοῦ κηρύττειν· ὥστε τὴν μὲν ἀπαγγελίαν καὶ τὴν πρόῤῥησιν τοῦ μέλλοντος, γεγενῆσθαι παρὰ μόνῳ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ, τὴν δὲ ἀποστολὴν οὐκ ἂν ἐκείνῳ μόνῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς λοιποῖς ἔθνεσιν. Ἀλλ' ἴσως εἴποι τις ἄν· Καὶ μὴ δηλώσας τοῖς λοιποῖς ἀνθρώποις, πῶς αὐτοὺς κολάζει, καὶ τοὺς πρὸ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τοὺς ἁπανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἁμαρτάνοντας; Καὶ φαμέν· Τούτους μὲν κρίνει ἀπὸ τοῦ φυσικοῦ νόμου καὶ τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν, τοὺς δὲ Ἰσραηλίτας 24.69 καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ γραπτοῦ, ὥστε ἡ πολλὴ εὐεργεσία πλείονος αὐτοῖς κατακρίσεως ὑπόθεσις γίνεται ῥερᾳθυμηκόσι· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ εἶπεν, ὅτι οὐκ ἐποίησε παντὶ ἔθνει, ἀλλ' οὕτως οὐκ ἐποίησε· τουτέστιν οὐ πλάκας ἔπεμψεν, οὐ γράμματα τὰ ἐπὶ τοῦ Σινέου ὄρους, ἀλλὰ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἐκ περιουσίας.

ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΡΜΗʹ.

Ἐν μὲν τῷ ρμεʹ ψαλμῷ μία καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἡ ψυχὴ τὸν Κύριον αἰνεῖν ἐκελεύετο,

φάσκοντος τοῦ λόγου, Αἴνει, ἡ ψυχή μου, τὸν Κύριον. Ἐν δὲ τῷ μετ' αὐτὸν πλῆθος ἐπὶ τὸν αἶνον ἐκάλει διὰ τοῦ, Αἰτεῖτε Κύριον, ὅτι ἀγαθὸν ψαλμός· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ ἑξῆς αὐτὴ Ἱερουσαλὴμ τοῦτο πράττειν προσετάττετο ἐν τῷ, Ἐπαίνει, Ἱερουσαλὴμ, τὸν Κύριον. Ἀκολούθωςοὖν ἐκείνοις ὁ προκείμενος αἶνος ἐπιτείνει τὸ παράγγελμα, μετὰ τὴν μερικὴν παρακέλευσιν αὖξον τὸ πρόσταγμα· ἀθρόως τε ὁμοῦ τὴν γενητὴν ἅπασαν κτίσιν τήν τε ὁρωμένην καὶ τὴν ἀόρατον ἐπὶ τὸν αἶνον τοῦ Θεοῦ παρορμᾷ· κατὰ μὲν τὴν ἀρχὴν τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις ἀνακαλούμενος· προϊὼν δὲ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ τὰ ἐν ταῖς ἀβύσσοις, οὐχ ὡς πάντων ψυχῆς καὶ λόγου μετεχόντων, ἀλλ' εἰς ταῦτα τοὺς λόγου μετειληχότας ἀποβλέπειν κελεύει, καὶ τὴν τούτοις γενομένην σοφίαν καταμανθάνοντας, τὸν Ποιητὴν ἀνυμνεῖν. Καὶ πᾶσαι ἄβυσσοι. Ἕτερος ἀβύσσους τὴν τῶν καταχθονίων ἔφησε χώραν, κατὰ Παῦλον εἰπόντα· Μὴ εἴπῃς, Τίς καταβήσεται εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον, τουτέστι Χριστὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν