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for this time, being carnal and compared to beasts in the instruction of the divine law, the curse having been dissolved into a blessing, he becomes blessed. For for him wrath is calmed from the evil days, but for that one a pit is dug; then, going down a little, he states the purpose of the Lord’s economy according to man: Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul had almost dwelt in Hades. For the help of the Lord did not permit us to be sojourners of Hades. And that according to the multitude of pains from sin, the healing from the one who heals became for us a counterbalance; in which he also philosophizes on something greater, teaching that evil is not from eternity. For he says that, The throne of iniquity will not be present with you, he who frames mischief by a command. And this is 5.101 that the origin of wickedness is not contemplated with you. For the throne is the origin, who creates sin through a command. Through which things he has shown that wickedness is not from eternity, nor that it remains forever. For what was not always, will not be forever. and he recounts the manner of the destruction of evil in the blood-guiltiness of the Jews against the Lord, foretelling the destruction of wickedness. For he says that, These shall hunt for the soul of the righteous, and condemn innocent blood. And this becomes salutary for me. For the Lord condemned to death through this becomes a refuge for me, and this God is established as a helper of hope for those who have believed, who rendering in righteous judgment what is according to worth to each, will destroy the wickedness of those who have sinned, not their nature. thus having said in the text, For the Lord shall also render to them their iniquity, and according to their wickedness the Lord God shall destroy them; signifying through the things said that those now formed by sin will be destroyed. For wickedness not existing, neither will he who is formed according to it exist; Therefore, wickedness having perished and such a character having been left in no one, all will be formed according to Christ and one form will shine forth for all, the one imposed on nature from the beginning. 5.102

CHAPTER 9

After this he proceeds in order with none of the musical

having used instruments. but through his own voice offering the reverent praise to God through the ode. For he says, A praise of an ode for David. And this inscription is not for the Hebrews. For he invites the hearers to a fellowship of exultation and to a shout of victory, saying, Come, let us rejoice in the Lord; let us shout to God our savior. And toward the end it has a rather vehement threat against the unbelievers, of those who displayed the same malevolence both in the forty years of the sojourn in the desert, in which they provoked the benefactor, and after these things not accepting the rest from sin given to us through the gospel, for whom it was possible today, having heard the voice of the one who for our sakes entered into "today" and descended from pre-eternal and everlasting majesty into a temporal generation, to open for themselves the entrance of rest. But always setting forth error and unbelief as their guide, both in the first times and in the times after these, they were excluded by an oath from the entrance into the rest of God. For how could they enter into the rest, who willingly alienated themselves from the blessing? Thus also the ninety-fifth after these is said to be without an inscription for those who use Hebrew; but for us it is an ode sung to God after the return from the captivity, when, having been destroyed, the constitution 5.103 of our nature was rebuilt; for thus the text of the inscription has it: A praise of an ode, when the house was built after the captivity, without an inscription among the Hebrews. And immediately in the introductions the psalmody proclaims as good news the mystery of the new covenant

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τούτου χρόνον σαρκώδης τε καὶ συμπαραβεβλημένος τοῖς κτήνεσιν ἐν τῇ παιδεύσει τοῦ θείου νόμου, τῆς κατάρας εἰς εὐλογίαν ἀναλυθείσης, μακάριος γίνεται. ὅτι αὐτῷ μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν ἡμερῶν τῶν πονηρῶν ἡ ὀργὴ πραΰνεται, ἐκείνῳ δὲ βόθρος ὀρύσσεται· εἶτα μικρὸν ὑποβὰς τὸν σκοπὸν λέγει τῆς κατὰ ἄνθρωπον τοῦ κυρίου οἰκονομίας· Εἰ μὴ ὅτι κύριος ἐβοήθησέ μοι, παρὰ βραχὺ παρῴκησε τῷ ᾅδῃ ἡ ψυχή μου. ἡ γὰρ βοήθεια τοῦ κυρίου οὐκ ἀφῆκεν ἡμᾶς τοῦ ᾅδου παροίκους εἶναι. καὶ ὅτι κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὀδυνῶν ἀντίρροπος ἐγένετο ἡμῖν ἡ ἰατρεία παρὰ τοῦ ἰατρεύοντος· ἐν ᾧ τι καὶ μεῖζον φιλοσοφεῖ, τὸ μὴ ἐξ ἀϊδίου εἶναι τὸ κακὸν δογματίζων. φησὶ γὰρ ὅτι Οὐ συμπροσέσται σοι θρόνος ἀνομίας, ὁ πλάσσων κόπον ἐπὶ πρόσταγμα. τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν 5.101 ὅτι οὐ συνθεωρεῖταί σοι ἡ τῆς κακίας ἀρχή. ἀρχὴ γὰρ ὁ θρόνος, ὁ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν κτίζων διὰ προστάγματος. δι' ὧν τὸ μὴ ἐξ ἀϊδίου τὴν κακίαν εἶναι μηδὲ εἰς ἀεὶ παραμένειν αὐτὴν ἐνεδείξατο. ὃ γὰρ μὴ ἀεὶ ἦν, οὐδὲ εἰς ἀεὶ ἔσται. καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς τοῦ κακοῦ ἀναιρέσεως διηγεῖται ἐν τῇ τῶν Ἰουδαίων κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου μιαιφονίᾳ τὸν ἀφανισμὸν τῆς κακίας προαγορεύων. λέγει γὰρ ὅτι Οὗτοι μὲν θηρεύσουσιν ἐπὶ ψυχὴν δικαίου, καὶ αἷμα ἀθῷον καταδικάσονται. τοῦτο δὲ ἐμοὶ σωτήριον γίνεται. ὁ γὰρ καταδικασθεὶς τῷ θανάτῳ κύριος διὰ τούτου γίνεταί μοι καταφυγή, καὶ οὗτος ὁ θεὸς εἰς βοηθὸν ἐλπίδος τοῖς πεπιστευκόσι καθίσταται, ὃς ἀποδι δοὺς ἐν τῇ δικαίᾳ κρίσει τὸ κατ' ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ ἀφανιεῖ τὴν πονηρίαν τῶν ἡμαρτηκότων, οὐχὶ τὴν φύσιν. οὕτως εἰπὼν τῇ λέξει Ὅτι καὶ ἀποδώσει αὐτοῖς κύριος τὴν ἀνομίαν αὐτῶν, καὶ κατὰ τὴν πονηρίαν αὐτῶν ἀφανιεῖ αὐτοὺς κύριος ὁ θεός· σημαίνων διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων ὅτι οἱ νῦν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ μεμορφωμένοι ἀφανισθήσονται. τῆς γὰρ κακίας οὐκ οὔσης, οὐδὲ ὁ κατ' αὐτὴν μεμορφωμένος ἔσται· ἀπολομένης οὖν τῆς κακίας καὶ ἐν μηδενὶ τοῦ τοιούτου χαρακτῆρος ὑπο λειφθέντος, πάντες κατὰ Χριστὸν μορφωθήσονται καὶ μία πᾶσιν ἐξαστράψει μορφὴ ἡ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπιβληθεῖσα τῇ φύσει. 5.102

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Θʹ

Μετὰ ταῦτα πρόεισι κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον μηδενὶ τῶν μουσικῶν

συγκεχρημένος ὀργάνων. ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς ἰδίας φωνῆς τὸν εὔφημον αἶνον διὰ τῆς ᾠδῆς ἀνατιθεὶς τῷ θεῷ. φησὶ γὰρ Αἶνος ᾠδῆς τῷ ∆αβίδ. καὶ αὕτη δὲ τοῖς Ἑβραίοις ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ οὐκ ἔστι. προκαλεῖται γὰρ τοὺς ἀκούοντας εἰς κοινωνίαν ἀγαλλιάματος καὶ εἰς ἀλαλαγμὸν ἐπινίκιον, ∆εῦτε, λέγων, ἀγαλλιασώμεθα τῷ κυρίῳ· ἀλαλάξωμεν τῷ θεῷ τῷ σωτῆρι ἡμῶν. καί τινα πρὸς τῷ τέλει καταφορικωτέραν ἀπειλὴν κατὰ τῶν ἀπιστούντων ἔχει τῶν τὴν αὐτὴν ἐπιδειξαμένων κακόνοιαν ἔν τε τοῖς τεσσαράκοντα ἔτεσι τῆς ἐν ἐρήμῳ διαγωγῆς, ἐν οἷς τὸν εὐεργέτην παρώξυναν καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου κατάπαυσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας μὴ προσδεχόμενοι, οἷς ἐξῆν σήμερον ἀκούσασι τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ δι' ἡμᾶς εἰς τὸ σήμερον εἰσελθόντος καὶ ἐκ τῆς προαιωνίου τε καὶ ἀϊδίου μεγαλειότητος εἰς χρονικὴν γένεσιν καταβάντος ἀνοῖξαι ἑαυτοῖς τὴν εἴσοδον τῆς ἀναπαύσεως. ἀλλ' ἀεὶ τὴν πλάνην καὶ τὴν ἀπιστίαν ὁδηγὸν ἑαυτῶν προβαλλόμενοι ἔν τε τοῖς πρώτοις καὶ ἐν τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα χρόνοις ὅρκῳ τῆς εἰσόδου τῆς εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσιν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπεκλείσθησαν. πῶς γὰρ ἂν εἰσέλθοιεν εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσιν οἱ ἐκουσίως ἑαυτοὺς τῆς εὐλογίας ἀλλοτριώσαντες; Οὕτω καὶ ὁ μετὰ τούτους ὁ πέμπτος τε καὶ ἐνενηκοστὸς τοῖς μὲν ἑβραΐζουσιν ἀνεπίγραφος λέγεται· ἡμῖν δέ ἐστιν ᾠδὴ μετὰ τὴν ἐπάνοδον τὴν ἐκ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τῷ θεῷ ᾀσθεῖσα, ὅτε ἀνῳκοδομήθη διαλυθεῖσα ἡ τῆς φύσεως 5.103 ἡμῶν κατασκευή· οὕτω γὰρ ἡ τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς ἔχει λέξις· Αἶνος ᾠδῆς, ὅτε ὁ οἶκος ᾠκοδομήθη μετὰ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν, ἀνεπίγραφος παρ' Ἑβραίοις. εὐθὺς δὲ τὸ τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης μυστήριον ἐν προοιμίοις ἡ ψαλμῳδία εὐαγγελίζεται