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a rest succeeds the toils of virtue, 23.184 my steps do not grow weak, but are strengthened, so that one might say: And you have set my feet in a broad place. But also the follower of Jesus follows in his steps; from this very treading of the path worn by Jesus he acquires strong steps of his own, so as to say in deed: My steps have not grown weak in the narrowness of affliction. I will pursue my enemies and overtake them, and I will not turn back until they are consumed. I will crush them and they shall not be able to stand, they shall fall under my feet. And how many enemies and foes he has overcome through the help of God! And this too, he says, came to me from your grace, that my feet were not straitened, and that I was not entangled in the nets of the enemies, and in the snares set by them. For having removed all these things, you yourself, my God, have made my path smooth. But as for, They shall fall under my feet, you will understand it worthily of the prophetic spirit, remembering the Savior's promise to the apostles by which he said to them: Behold, I give you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. And you have girded me with strength for war, you have subdued under me all those who rose up against me. To me, he says, you have granted courage and strength. Having said above: God who girds me with strength, here he also teaches the result of the work, saying: And you have girded me with strength for war; and you have given me the back of my enemies; those who have just been delivered from enmity by repentance, because they do not yet have confidence in virtue, would be placed at the back of Jesus by the Father; for thus, being behind, they will also be able to follow him. Perhaps this might also be said: The diligent man, possessing confidence before God, stands in the presence of the Lord; but the wicked man, being cast behind on account of his own evil, will be placed at the Lord's back. For since the wicked themselves first turned their backs to him, and not their faces, he also, turning away from them, will have them at his back. But if every righteous man should say these things, you will say, that the wicked powers, coming face to face, harm those who see them, being always hideous; but being cast to the back, they will be able to contrive nothing against him, according to the saying: The sinners wrought upon my back. The Lord lives, and blessed be my God, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. The God who gives me vengeance, and has subdued peoples under me, my deliverer from wrathful enemies. For even if he humbled himself, bowing the heavens and coming down, yet he is high, according to the saying: God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. The God who gives me vengeance, and subdues peoples under me, my deliverer from my 23.185 wrathful enemies, you will lift me up from those who rise up against me, and from the unjust man deliver me. For to the disobedient and contradicting people it is said that he will bring vengeances and punishments; or according to Symmachus, The God who has granted punishments for me; but to the other order of which it was said above: You will make me the head of the nations. A people I did not know served me; to this one he grants the subjection under him. Therefore he adds according to Symmachus: And subduing peoples to me. This one also, he says, has become my deliverer from my wrathful enemies, and from those who rise up against me he has lifted me up, and the same one has also delivered me from the unjust man. Through which he clearly presents certain enemies of his who have resisted; and besides these, a certain other man, truly full of all injustice. But the word signifies prophetically through these things the rulers of the Jewish nation and the traitor Judas, who became worse than any unjust man, because indeed, having been deemed worthy of such things by the Savior, he repaid him with the opposite. Therefore I will confess to you among the nations, O Lord, and to your name

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ἀρετῆς κα 23.184 μάτους ἀνάπαυλα διαδέχεται, οὐκ ἀσθενεῖ, ἀλλ' ἰσχυροποιεῖται τὰ ἴχνη μου, ὥστ' ἂν εἰπεῖν· Καὶ ἔστησας ἐν εὐρυχώρῳ τοὺς πόδας μου. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦ ἑπόμενος ἐπακολουθεῖ τοῖς ἴχνεσιν αὐτοῦ· ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πατεῖν τὴν τετριμμένην ὑπὸ Ἰησοῦ ὁδὸν ἰσχυρὰ κτᾶται τὰ ἴδια ἴχνη, ὡς ἔργῳ φάναι· Οὐκ ἠσθένησε τὰ ἴχνη μου ἐν τῇ στενοχωρίᾳ τῆς θλίψεως. Καταδιώξω τοὺς ἐχθρούς μου καὶ καταλήψομαι αὐτοὺς, καὶ οὐκ ἀποστραφήσομαι ἕως ἂν ἐκλείπωσιν. Ἐκθλίψω αὐτοὺς καὶ οὐ μὴ δύνωνται στῆναι, πεσοῦνται ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας μου. Καὶ ὅσων ἐχθρῶν καὶ πολεμίων περιγέγονε διὰ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ βοηθείας! Καὶ τοῦτο δέ μοι, φησὶν, παρὰ τῆς σῆς χάριτος ὑπῆρξε, τὸ μὴ στενοχωρηθῆναί μου τοὺς πόδας, καὶ τὸ μὴ δικτύοις τῶν ἐχθρῶν, καὶ τοῖς σκανδάλοις τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτῶν προβεβλημένοις περιπαρῆναι. Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα περιελὼν σὺ αὐτὸς ὁ Θεός μου, ὁμαλὴν κατηρτίσω μου τὴν πορείαν. Τὸ δὲ, Πεσοῦνται ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας μου, νοήσεις ἐπαξίως τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύματος, τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος πρὸς τοὺς ἀποστόλους ἐπαγγελίας μνησθεὶς δι' ἧς πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἔλεγεν· Ἰδοὺ δίδωμι ὑμῖν ἐξουσίαν πατεῖν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ. Καὶ περιέζωσάς με δύναμιν εἰς πόλεμον, συνεπόδισας πάντας τοὺς ἐπανισταμένους ἐπ' ἐμὲ ὑποκάτω μου. Ἐμοὶ μὲν, φησὶν, ἀνδρείαν ἐδωρήσω καὶ ῥώμην. Εἰπὼν ἀνωτέρω· Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ περιζωννύων με δύναμιν, ἐνταῦθα καὶ τοῦ ἔργου τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα διδάσκει λέγων· Καὶ περιέζωσάς με δύναμιν εἰς πόλεμον· καὶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς μου ἔδωκάς μοι νῶτον· οἱ ἐκ μετανοίας ἄρτι τῆς ἔχθρας ἀπαλλαττόμενοι, διὰ τὸ μηδέπω τὴν ἐπ' ἀρετῇ παῤῥησίαν ἔχειν, τεθεῖεν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ νῶτος ὑπὸ τοῦ Πατρός· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ἀκολουθῆσαι αὐτῷ ὀπίσω γενόμενοι δυνήσονται. Τάχα δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ῥηθείη· Ὁ σπουδαῖος, παῤῥησίαν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν κεκτημένος, ἐνώπιον Κυρίου παρίσταται· ὁ δὲ φαῦλος, ὀπίσω ἐκβαλλόμενος διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν κακίαν, νῶτος τεθήσεται τοῦ Κυρίου. Ἐπεὶ γὰρ πρότεροι αὐτοὶ οἱ φαῦλοι ἔστρεψαν πρὸς αὐτὸν νῶτα, καὶ οὐχὶ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν, καὶ αὐτὸς, ἀποστραφεὶς αὐτοὺς, νῶτος αὐτοὺς ἕξει. Εἰ δὲ καὶ πᾶς δίκαιος ταῦτα λέγοι, ἐρεῖς, ὅτι αἱ μοχθηραὶ δυνάμεις, εἰς πρόσωπον ἐρχόμεναι, βλάπτουσι τοὺς ὁρῶντας διὰ παντὸς ὄντες εἰδεχθεῖς· εἰς νῶτον δὲ ῥιφέντες, οὐδὲν δυνήσονται ἐπὶ τούτου τεκταίνεσθαι, κατὰ τό· Ἐπὶ τοῦ νώτου μου ἐτέκταινον οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί. Ζῇ Κύριος, καὶ εὐλογητὸς ὁ Θεός μου, καὶ ὑψωθήτω ὁ Θεὸς τῆς σωτηρίας μου. Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ διδοὺς ἐκδικήσεις ἐμοὶ, καὶ ὑποτάξας λαοὺς ὑπ' ἐμὲ, ὁ ῥύστης μου ἐξ ἐχθρῶν ὀργίλων. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐταπείνωσεν ἑαυτὸν, κλίνας οὐρανοὺς καὶ καταβὰς, ἀλλ' ὑψηλός ἐστι, κατὰ τό· Ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸν ὑπερύψωσεν καὶ ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα. Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ διδοὺς ἐκδικήσεις ἐμοὶ, καὶ ὑποτάσσων λαοὺς ὑπ' ἐμὲ, ὁ ῥύστης μου ἐξ ἐχ 23.185 θρῶν μου ὀργίλων, ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπανισταμένων ἐπ' ἐμὲ ὑψώσεις με, καὶ ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἀδίκου ῥῦσαί με. Τῷ μὲν γὰρ ἀπειθοῦντι λαῷ καὶ ἀντιλέγοντι ἐπάξειν τὰς ἐκδικήσεις καὶ τὰς τιμωρίας εἴρηται· ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον, Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ παρασχὼν τιμωρίας ἐμοί· τῷ δ' ἑτέρῳ τάγματι περὶ οὗ ἀνωτέρω εἴρηται· Καταστήσεις με εἰς κεφαλὴν ἐθνῶν. Λαὸς ὃν οὐκ ἔγνων ἐδούλευσέ μοι· τούτῳ τὴν ὑποταγὴν τὴν ὑπ' αὐτὸν χαρίζεται. ∆ιὸ ἐπιλέγει κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Καὶ ὑποτάσσων λαοὺς ἐπ' ἐμέ. Οὗτος καὶ ῥύστης μου, φησὶ, γέγονεν ἐξ ἐχθρῶν μου ὀργίλων, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐπανισταμένων ἐπ' ἐμὲ ὕψωσέ με, ὁ δ' αὐτὸς καὶ ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἀδίκου ἐῤῥύσατό με. ∆ι' ὧν σαφῶς παρίστησιν ἐχθρούς τινας αὑτοῦ καὶ ἀνθεστηκότας· καὶ παρὰ τούτους ἕτερόν τινα ἄνδρα, μεστὸν ὡς ἀληθῶς πάσης ἀδικίας. Σημαίνει δὲ ὁ λόγος διὰ τούτων προφητικῶς τοὺς ἄρχοντας τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους καὶ τὸν προδότην Ἰούδαν, παντὸς ἀδίκου χείρονα γενόμενον, ὅτι δὴ, τοιούτων ἀξιωθεὶς παρὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος, τοῖς ἐναντίοις αὐτὸν ἠμείψατο. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι ἐν ἔθνεσι, Κύριε, καὶ τῷ ὀνόματί σου