33

saying: Sing to the Lord a new song. And it is fitting that the inscription of this psalm is silent among the Hebrews, because after the evangelical voices, which he has made in the introductions of the psalmody, the prophecy inscribes the word to those from the nations, saying: Bring to the Lord, O families of the nations, bring to the Lord glory and honor, and worship the Lord in his holy court, and take up sacrifices and enter into his courts. And all the following discourse is of such a kind, foretelling the transfer of the blessing to the nations. For say, he says, among the nations that the Lord has reigned; and he has set aright the world, which had been undone by wickedness, so that it remains unshaken for ever; at which things the heavens rejoice and all the earth is glad, the waters of the sea being stirred up with their own fullness. By which things he tropically indicates the opposing power, being troubled and unstable concerning our life, whenever we become heavens recounting the glory of God, or an earth blessed through the fruitfulness of virtues. For let the sea be stirred up, he says, and its fullness. And he says that the plains will rejoice, calling the smooth life in virtue "plains," of which Isaiah also makes mention in his own words in another way, commanding the valleys to be filled up, and the hills and mountains to be brought low. which seems to me to be nothing other than this: that wishing to cure the 5.104 deficiencies and the excesses of virtuous practices, he says these things, so that the account of virtue is neither hollowed out through a lack of the good, nor made uneven through excess. For the plains, he says, and all that is in them, will rejoice. Similarly, the psalm after this one was also not accepted with the Hebrew inscription, because it speaks of our affairs and announces in its words the establishment of our land. For the inscription ascribes the psalmody to David, being thus: For David, when his land was established. But the word "his," clearly, has its meaning not in relation to David, but in relation to God. For the land which had formerly fallen away through wickedness now has stability through the knowledge of God. And we are all the land of God, who were formerly unstable in the good and for this reason came under a curse, but after this were delivered from the curse and again obtained a standing in the good. And the beginning of the psalmody immediately announces this, that when the Lord reigned, the earth rejoices. As if one were to say, that when the sun has shone, the earth is enlightened; so when the kingdom of the Lord prevails, in us is the joy of the kingdom. And the text is as follows: The Lord has reigned, let the earth be glad; let the many islands rejoice. He well called "islands" the souls of those who show steadfastness and immutability in temptations, which the brine of wickedness surrounds on all sides, but in falling upon them it is not so strong as to cause any agitation to the firmness of their virtue; then, through these things, the discourse signifies enigmatically the unseeable nature of the divine being in the cloud and the darkness. 5.105 For a cloud, he says, and darkness are round about him, and having shown the fearful things of the retributive power, through which he says that Fire will go before him and will consume his enemies round about, he reveals the evangelical enlightenment, calling the words of the divine proclamation "lightnings," which shine throughout the whole world; For his lightnings, he says, have shone upon the world; and having shown the height of the evangelical mysteries in what follows by saying that The heavens have declared his righteousness; and all the peoples have seen his glory. And having foretold the destruction of idols and the disappearance of such error, in which he says Let all who worship graven images be ashamed, who boast in their idols, he adds the seal of good things, the manifestation of the Lord to men made through the flesh, saying: Light has dawned for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. And well and fittingly the beginning of the following untitled psalm to the end

33

λέγουσα· Ἄισατε τῷ κυρίῳ ᾆσμα καινόν. εἰκότως δὲ ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ τούτου παρὰ τοῖς Ἑβραίοις σεσίγηται, ὅτι μετὰ τὰς εὐαγγελικὰς φωνάς, ἃς ἐν προοιμίοις τῆς ψαλμῳδίας πεποίηται, πρὸς τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐπιγράφει τὸν λόγον ἡ προφητεία λέγουσα Ἐνέγκατε τῷ κυρίῳ, αἱ πατριαὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν, ἐνέγκατε τῷ κυρίῳ δόξαν καὶ τιμήν, καὶ προσ κυνήσατε τῷ κυρίῳ ἐν αὐλῇ ἁγίᾳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἄρατε θυσίας καὶ εἰσπορεύεσθε εἰς τὰς αὐλὰς αὐτοῦ. καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἐφεξῆς λόγος τοιοῦτός ἐστι τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ ἔθνη τῆς εὐλογίας μετάστασιν προαγορεύων. Εἴπατε γάρ, φησίν, ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ὅτι κύριος ἐβασίλευσε· καὶ λυθεῖσαν ὑπὸ κακίας τὴν οἰκουμένην κατώρθωσεν, ὥστε ἀσάλευτον εἰς τὸ διηνεκὲς μένειν· ἐφ' οἷς Εὐφραίνονται οἱ οὐρανοὶ καὶ ἀγάλλεται πᾶσα ἡ γῆ, σαλευο μένων τῶν θαλασσίων ὑδάτων σὺν τῷ ἰδίῳ πληρώματι. δι' ὧν τροπικῶς τὴν ἐναντίαν ἐνδείκνυται δύναμιν ταρασσο μένην τε καὶ ἀστατοῦσαν ἐπὶ τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ ζωῇ, ὅταν οὐρανοὶ γενώμεθα τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ διηγούμενοι ἢ γῆ διὰ τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν καρποφορίας εὐλογουμένη. Σαλευθήτω γάρ, φησίν, ἡ θάλασσα καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς. χαρήσεσθαι δὲ τὰ πεδία λέγει, τὸν ὁμαλὸν ἐν ἀρετῇ βίον πεδία λέγων, οὗ καὶ ὁ Ἠσαΐας ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις λόγοις ἄλλῳ μέμνηται τρόπῳ, ἀναπλη ροῦσθαι μὲν κελεύων τὰς φάραγγας, καταστέλλειν δὲ τοὺς βουνοὺς καὶ τὰ ὄρη. ὅπερ οὐδὲν ἕτερόν μοι δοκεῖ ἢ τὰς 5.104 ἐλλείψεις τε καὶ ὑπερπτώσεις τῶν κατ' ἀρετὴν ἐπιτηδευ μάτων θεραπεύειν βουλόμενος ταῦτα λέγειν, ὥστε μήτε δι' ἐλλείψεως τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τὸν τῆς ἀρετῆς λόγον κοιλαίνεσθαι μήτε ἀνωμαλεῖν διὰ τῆς ὑπερπτώσεως. Χαρήσεται γάρ, φησίν, τὰ πεδία καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς. Παραπλησίως δὲ καὶ ὁ μετ' αὐτὸν ψαλμὸς οὐ παρεδέχθη τῇ τῶν Ἑβραίων ἐπιγραφῇ, διότι τὰ ἡμέτερα λέγει καὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας γῆς τὴν κατάστασιν τῷ λόγῳ εὐαγγελίζεται. ἀνατίθησι γὰρ τῷ ∆αβὶδ τὴν ψαλμῳδίαν ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ οὕτως ἔχουσα· Τῷ ∆αβίδ, ὁπότε ἡ γῆ αὐτοῦ κατεστάθη. τὸ δὲ αὐτοῦ δηλονότι οὐ πρὸς τὸν ∆αβίδ, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τὴν σημασίαν ἔχει. ἡ γὰρ πρότερον διὰ κακίας ἀποστᾶσα γῆ νῦν διὰ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ θεοῦ ἔσχε τὸ στάσιμον. ἡμεῖς δὲ πάντες ἐσμὲν ἡ γῆ τοῦ θεοῦ, οἱ πρότερον ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ ἀστατήσαντες καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν κατάρᾳ γενόμενοι, μετὰ τοῦτο δὲ τῆς κατάρας ἐξαιρεθέντες καὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ πάλιν ἐπιτυχόντες στάσεως. καὶ τοῦτο εὐθὺς ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς ψαλμῳδίας εὐαγγελίζεται, ὅτι τοῦ κυρίου βασιλεύ σαντος ἡ γῆ εὐφραίνεται. ὡς ἂν εἴ τις λέγοι, ὅτι τοῦ ἡλίου λάμψαντος ἡ γῆ φωτίζεται· οὕτως ἐπικρατούσης τοῦ κυρίου τῆς βασιλείας ἐν ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἡ εὐφροσύνη τῆς βασιλείας. ἔχει δὲ ἡ λέξις οὕτως· Ὁ κύριος ἐβασίλευσεν, ἀγαλλιάσθω ἡ γῆ· εὐφρανθήτωσαν νῆσοι πολλαί. καλῶς τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς τὸ ἑδραῖόν τε καὶ ἀμετάθετον ἐπιδεικνυ μένων νήσους ὠνόμασεν, ἃς πάντοθεν μὲν διαλαμβάνει ἡ τῆς κακίας ἅλμη, οὐ μὴν τοσοῦτον ἰσχύει προσπίπτουσα, ὡς καὶ σάλον τινὰ τῷ παγίῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐμποιῆσαι· εἶτα διὰ μέσου τούτων τὸ ἀθεώρητον τῆς θείας φύσεως ἐν τῇ νεφέλῃ καὶ τῷ γνόφῳ δι' αἰνίγματος ἀποσημαίνει ὁ λόγος. 5.105 Νεφέλη γάρ, φησί, καὶ γνόφος κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ φοβερὰ τῆς ἀνταποδοτικῆς δυνάμεως ὑποδείξας, δι' ὧν φησιν ὅτι Πῦρ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ προπορεύσεται καὶ φλογιεῖ κύκλῳ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτοῦ, ἐκκαλύπτει τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν φωταγωγίαν, ἀστραπὰς λέγων τοὺς τοῦ θείου κηρύγματος λόγους, οἳ κατὰ πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐκλάμπουσιν· Ἔφαναν γάρ, φησίν, αἱ ἀστραπαὶ αὐτοῦ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ· καὶ τὸ ὕψος τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν μυστηρίων τῷ ἐφεξῆς ὑποδείξας ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι Ἀνήγγειλαν οἱ οὐρανοὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ· καὶ εἴδοσαν πάντες οἱ λαοὶ τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ. τήν τε τῶν εἰδώλων καθαίρεσιν καὶ τὸν ἀφανισμὸν τῆς τοιαύτης πλάνης προαγο ρεύσας, ἐν οἷς λέγει Αἰσχυνθήτωσαν πάντες οἱ προσκυνοῦντες τοῖς γλυπτοῖς, οἱ ἐγκαυχώμενοι ἐν τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτῶν, ἐπάγει τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὴν σφραγῖδα, τὴν διὰ σαρκὸς γενομένην τοῦ κυρίου τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐμφάνειαν, λέγων· Φῶς ἀνέτειλε τῷ δικαίῳ καὶ τοῖς εὐθέσι τῇ καρδίᾳ εὐφροσύνη. Καλῶς δὲ καὶ προσφυῶς ἡ τοῦ ἐφεξῆς ἀνεπιγράφου ἀρχὴ πρὸς τὸ πέρας