with benefits, that is, upon those who have no hope and are without God in the world, whom the apostle has called "things that are not." 282 Ps 137,7.8a Secondly, he introduces the part of Israel, though left behind in tribulations, yet to be restored to salvation; through which your enemies will be struck by God, but they themselves will obtain the salvation that is from God. The Lord will repay on my behalf; for He will repay on behalf of the wronged nation, so as to deliver them from the hands of those who do them violence. 283 Ps 137,8c Even if, he says, we do not produce fruits worthy of Your love, yet because we are Your works, we ask not to be overlooked.
284 Ps 138,5 Here he appears to place both soul and body into one and under
one formation he sets both, because he says that God has the knowledge of the soul’s properties from its formation, just as another has said, *He who forms the spirit of man within him*. For the creation is not in separation, but even if the creation of the soul is more beautiful than that of the body, it is not as if it were handmade according to the shaping of matter but in-breathed according to its subsistence from divine power. In general, at any rate, both are completed into one, just as they also share one name, sometimes "soul" being the name for both together, sometimes "flesh"; just as also the apostle, calling the man the image of God because of the in-breathing that happened to him from God, which did not happen for the woman, is clearly including the body with the soul, inasmuch as the male is distinguished from the female. 285 Ps 138,9.10 Such as indeed also appeared in the case of Jonah, who fled into the sea and found the power of God concerning both the movement of the waters raising up waves and concerning the nature of the animals, with a great fish both receiving him and not crushing him, and he himself being preserved in the great fish and suffering no corruption. 286 Ps 138,15.16 You know, he says, my very substance, and the composition of my bones is Your work; in the hidden place of a mother's womb, as if intricately wrought within the earth, You knew me even before I was formed; and I am written by You as in a book, and every single man who is created in a measured time of a quantity of days; which indeed is also a wonder of order and of precise proportion, that life is bestowed with not one day lacking. 287 Ps 138,17.18 And I did not think, he says, that the righteous were few because at each particular time few are found, but I looked to the whole multitude that has existed from eternity and I saw them to be many and more in number, whom the resurrection will show all at once, and especially now, having been increased to a multitude at the coming of Christ, according to that which is written, *The whole earth was filled with the knowledge of the Lord*, and, *I will give thanks to You in a great congregation; in a mighty people I will praise You*. 288 Ps 138,23.24 Since righteous men are honored by You and are laid up for eternal glory, but the wicked for destruction, I beseech to be cleansed from all wickedness by the cleansing from You, who have the power to cleanse us even in those things wherein we fall into evil unknowingly. Therefore, he says, having cleansed me from every evil that leads to destruction, may You lead me through good actions, for which eternal life is laid up.
289 Ps 139,9 What is said is worthy of God, that a mindset not be given to lawlessness
nor arrogance against righteousness, nor that what is bitter and destructive for them should come to pass and they be permitted to prevail in those things in which they have bitterness. For injustice that succeeds is much more grievous and grows into blasphemy against the God of righteousness. 290 Ps 139,11 And they will fall a fall, not such as the righteous who fall and rise again, but one that is incurable and no longer comes to a resurrection; and they will pass away into nothingness, not having been able to be established upon the earth but being cast out from it in destructive punishments.
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ταῖς εὐεργεσίαις, τουτέστιν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐλπίδα μὴ ἔχοντας καὶ ἀθέους ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ οὓς μηδὲ ὄντας ὁ ἀπόστολος κέκληκεν. 282 Ps 137,7.8a ∆εύτερον ἐπιφέρει τὸ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ μέρος θλίψεσι μὲν ἐναποληφθέν, ἐπισκευασθησόμενον δὲ εἰς σωτηρίαν· δι' οὗ σοι πολέμιοι πλήσσονται πρὸς θεοῦ, αὐτοὶ δὲ σωτηρίας τῆς παρὰ θεοῦ τεύξονται. Κύριος ἀνταποδώσει ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ· ἀνταποδώσει γὰρ ὑπὲρ ἠδικημένου τοῦ ἔθνους ὥστε αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν βιαζομένων χειρῶν ἐξελέσθαι. 283 Ps 137,8c Εἰ καὶ καρπούς, φησίν, ἀξίους τῆς σῆς ἀγάπης οὐ παρεχόμεθα, ἀλλ' ὅτι γέ ἐσμεν ἔργα σά, μὴ παροφθῆναι ἀξιοῦμεν.
284 Ps 138,5 Ἐνταῦθα δὲ φαίνεται καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα εἰς ἓν τιθεὶς καὶ ὑπὸ
μίαν πλάσιν ἑκάτερα τάττων, ὅτι δὴ τῶν ψυχικῶν ἰδιωμάτων τὴν γνῶσιν ἀπὸ τῆς διαπλάσεως ἔχειν φησὶ τὸν θεόν, καθὰ καὶ ἕτερος εἴρηκεν Ὁ πλάσας πνεῦμα ἀνθρώπου ἐν αὐτῷ. οὐ γὰρ ἐν διαστάσει τὸ ποίημα, ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ καλλίων ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς ποίησις παρὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος, οὐχ οἱονεὶ χειροποιητὸς οὖσα κατὰ τὴν τῆς ὕλης μόρφωσιν ἀλλ' ἐμπνευστὴ κατὰ τὴν ἐκ θείας δυνάμεως ὑπόστασιν. ὅλως γοῦν εἰς ἓν ἑκάτερα συντελεῖ, καθὰ καὶ ὀνόματος ἑνὸς κοινωνεῖ ποτε μὲν ψυχὴ τὸ συναμφότερον, ποτὲ δὲ σὰρξ ὀνομαζόμενον· καθὰ καὶ εἰκόνα θεοῦ τὸν ἄνδρα λέγων ὁ ἀπόστολος τῆς ἐμπνεύσεως ἕνεκα τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν γεγονυίας παρὰ θεοῦ ἣ μὴ γέγονεν ἐπὶ γυναικός, δῆλός ἐστι συμπεριλαμβάνων τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ τὸ σῶμα καθὸ διακρίνεται τὸ ἄρσεν τοῦ θήλεος. 285 Ps 138,9.10 Οἷον δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰωνᾶ πέφηνεν εἰς θάλασσαν ἀποφυγόντος καὶ ὡς τὴν δύναμιν εὑρόντος τοῦ θεοῦ περί τε τὴν ὑδάτων κίνησιν κλύδωνας ἐγειρόντων καὶ περὶ τὴν τῶν ζῴων φύσιν, κήτους τε αὐτὸν ὑποδεχομένου καὶ μὴ συντρίβοντος, αὐτοῦ τε ἐν κήτει φυλαττομένου καὶ μηδεμίαν φθορὰν ὑπομένοντος. 286 Ps 138,15.16 Αὐτήν, φησί, τὴν ὑπόστασίν μου γινώσκεις, καὶ σὸν ἔργον ἡ τῶν ἐμῶν ὀστῶν σύνθεσις· ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ μητρώας γαστρὸς ὥσπερ εἴσω γῆς διαπεποικιλμένον ἔγνως με καὶ πρὶν ἢ μορφωθῆναι· καὶ γέγραμμαι παρὰ σοὶ καθάπερ ἐν βιβλίῳ, καὶ πᾶς ὅλως ἄνθρωπος ὁ δημιουργούμενος χρόνῳ μεμετρημένῳ ἡμερῶν ποσότησιν· ὃ δὴ καὶ θαυμάσιον τῆς τάξεως καὶ τῆς ἀκριβοῦς συμμετρίας τὸ μηδεμιᾶς ἐνδεούσης ἡμέρας τὴν ζωογονίαν ἀποδίδοσθαι. 287 Ps 138,17.18 Καὶ οὐδὲ βραχεῖς ᾠήθην, φησίν, εἶναι τοὺς δικαίους διὰ τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον καιρὸν ὀλίγους εὑρίσκεσθαι, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ πᾶν πλῆθος ἀπεῖδον τὸ ἐξ αἰῶνος ὑπάρξαν πολλούς τε εἶδον αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀριθμῷ πλείονας, οὓς ἡ ἀνάστασις ἀθρόους ἐπιδείξει καὶ μάλιστά γε νῦν εἰς πλῆθος αὐξηθέντας ἐπὶ τῆς Χριστοῦ παρουσίας κατὰ τὸ Ἐπλήσθη ἡ γῆ σύμπασα τοῦ γνῶναι τὸν κύριον, καὶ τὸ Ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ πολλῇ, ἐν λαῷ βαρεῖ αἰνέσω σε. 288 Ps 138,23.24 Τιμίων ὄντων παρὰ σοὶ τῶν δικαίων ἀνδρῶν καὶ εἰς δόξαν αἰωνίαν κειμένων, εἰς ἀπώλειαν δὲ τῶν πονηρῶν, ἱκετεύω καθαρθῆναι πονηρίας ἁπάσης τῇ παρὰ σοῦ καθάρσει, ὃς καὶ ἐν οἷς ἀγνοοῦμεν κακίᾳ περιπίπτοντες καθαίρειν ἡμᾶς δυνατῶς ἔχεις. παντὸς οὖν με κακοῦ, φησί, καθήρας τοῦ πρὸς ὄλεθρον ἄγοντος δι' ἀγαθῶν ἄγοις πράξεων ἐφ' αἷς αἰώνιος ἀποκείσεται ζωή.
289 Ps 139,9 Ἄξιον θεοῦ τὸ λεγόμενον τὸ μὴ δοθῆναι τῇ παρανομίᾳ φρόνημα
μηδ' ἔπαρσιν κατὰ τῆς δικαιοσύνης μηδὲ τὸ πικρὸν καὶ ὀλέθριον αὐτοῖς εἰς πέρας ἐκβῆναι καὶ συγχωρηθῆναι κρατῆσαι τούτων ἐφ' οἷς τὴν πικρίαν ἔχουσιν. ἐπιτυγχάνουσα γὰρ ἀδικία πολὺ χαλεπωτέρα καὶ εἰς βλασφημίαν αὔξεται τὴν κατὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τῆς δικαιοσύνης. 290 Ps 139,11 Καὶ πεσοῦνται πτῶσιν, οὐχ οἵαν οἱ δίκαιοι πίπτοντες καὶ ἀνιστάμενοι ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀνίατον καὶ μηκέτι εἰς ἀνάστασιν ἐρχομένην· οἰχήσονταί τε εἰς ἀφανές, οὐ δυνηθέντες ἐπὶ γῆς ἑδραῖοι γενέσθαι ἀλλ' ἐξωθέντες ἀπ' αὐτῆς ἐν ταῖς φθοροποιαῖς τιμωρίαις.
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