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God before them, but God helps me, who returns evils to the inventors of wickedness, and through truth makes disappear all that is hostile and foreign to the truth. But I, he says, will give thanks in the name by which I was saved, because thanksgiving is a good thing for the fact that I have escaped from afflictions and have perceived with my eyes the destruction of my enemies. For at this the prophetic eye rejoices, when nothing contrary to virtue is any longer seen; for when wickedness, which stands in the rank of an enemy against virtue, has been removed, the name of enemies will no longer be left; for how will anyone still be called an enemy, when the enmity, which peace killed, no longer lives, as the apostle says? So that the aforesaid thoughts might be applied consistently to the words of the psalm, read the psalm itself word for word, 5.142 the one placed in order in the fifty-third, when, having already become superior to the Ziphites and having seen the utter destruction of wickedness, again with understanding of the help from above, he offers a hymn of victory to God. For thus the text of the inscription runs: To the end, in hymns of understanding, for David. And just as in physical contests, athletes do not remain with the same opponents whom they might defeat in the wrestling-school in their youth, but as their strength increases, they strip to compete against greater and stronger adversaries, and if they defeat those, they are dusted for combat against those who are superior, always, with the increase of their strength, struggling appropriately against the more powerful of their opponents; in the same way, he who has been trained through so many <ἀγώνων> in victories against his enemies makes his victories more distinguished for himself, by grappling with the more distinguished and greater of the antagonists. And for this reason he calls upon the ear of the judge of the contest, saying "Give ear, O God, to my prayer," and he exhorts him to pay attention to his struggle, saying "Attend to me, and hear me." And through his words he shows the toils of the contests, recounting grief and idle talk and trouble of heart and the voice of an enemy and the affliction of a sinner, displaying to the judge of the contest himself certain wrestling holds, as it were, employed by his antagonists. And in addition to these, trouble of heart and the dread of death and fear and trembling and darkness encompassing his whole life, for all of which he found one device to become better and 5.143 higher than such great distress, that he be winged with the swift wings of a dove and, having become airborne, to cease his flight there in that place, which, being desolate of all evils, is flourishing with more divine things. For having lodged, he says, in the wilderness, he awaited there God's salvation from the faint-heartedness below and from the tempest of temptations, where wickedness disappears. For "drowning" means disappearance; because everything that has gone into the deep disappears. Therefore, the sinking of sin and perdition is the dissolution of the constitution of wickedness. For this reason he says that evil is drowned by God when the tongues of those who agree on evil are divided. And whatever things the meaning of this psalm contains in succession, the description of the city inhabited by wicked practices, all look to the same thing. For he speaks of and enumerates the evil inhabitants of this city, speaking of lawlessness and contradiction in the city, patrolling the wall by night, and again lawlessness and toil and injustice moving about in the middle of the town. And he also points out the evil populace filling its streets, naming usury and deceit; and of all these things that have been mentioned, he says the most grievous is hypocrisy, which, putting on the appearance of being like-minded and loving, hides its deceit with a goodly veil. For this reason the just judge sends out colonists worthy of such inhabitants. Do you wish to learn the names of the colonists? "Let come," he says,

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τὸν θεὸν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν, ἐμοὶ δὲ ὁ θεὸς βοηθεῖ, ὁ ἐπαναστρέφων τὰ κακὰ τοῖς τῆς κακίας εὑρεταῖς, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐξαφανίζων ἅπαν ὅσον ἐστὶν τῆς ἀληθείας ἐχθρὸν καὶ ἀλλόφυλον. Ἐγὼ δέ, φησίν, ἐν ᾧ ἐσώθην ὀνόματι, τούτῳ εὐχαριστήσω, ὅτι ἀγαθὸν ἡ εὐχαρι στία ἐφ' οἷς ἔξω τε τῶν θλίψεων ἐγενόμην καὶ τὸν ἀφανισμὸν τῶν ἐχθρῶν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς κατενόησα. ἐπὶ τούτῳ γὰρ ὁ προφητικὸς ὀφθαλμὸς εὐφραίνεται, ὅταν μηκέτι μηδὲν ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου τῇ ἀρετῇ θεωρῆται· τῆς γὰρ κακίας ἐξαιρεθεί σης, ἥτις πρὸς τὴν ἀρετὴν εἰς ἐχθροῦ τάξιν ἀντικαθίσταται, οὐκέτι τὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὑπολειφθήσεται ὄνομα· πῶς γάρ τις ἐχθρὸς ἔτι κληθήσεται, μηκέτι τῆς ἔχθρας ζώσης, ἣν ἀπέκτεινεν ἡ εἰρήνη, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος; Ὡς δ' ἂν ἀκολούθως ἐφαρμοσθείη τὰ ῥηθέντα νοήματα τοῖς ῥήμασι τῆς ψαλμῳδίας, αὐτὴν ἐπὶ λέξεως ἀνάγνωθι 5.142 τὴν ψαλμῳδίαν, τὴν ἐν τῷ πεντηκοστῷ τρίτῳ κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλουθον τεταγμένην, ὅτε τῶν Ζιφαίων ἤδη κρείττων γενόμενος καὶ ἐπιδὼν τὴν τῆς κακίας πανωλεθρίαν, πάλιν ἐν συνέσει τῆς ἄνωθεν καταστὰς συμμαχίας ὕμνον προσάγει τῷ θεῷ ἐπινίκιον. οὕτω γὰρ ὁ τῆς ἐπιγραφῆς περιέχει λόγος· Εἰς τὸ τέλος ἐν ὕμνοις συνέσεως τῷ ∆αβίδ. ὥσπερ δὲ κατὰ τοὺς σωματικοὺς ἀγῶνας, οὐ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἀντιπάλοις οἱ ἀθληταὶ παραμένουσιν, ὧν ἂν ἐν νεότητι κατὰ τὴν παλαίστραν κρατή σωσιν, ἀλλ' αὐξηθείσης αὐτοῖς τῆς δυνάμεως πρὸς μείζονάς τε καὶ ἰσχυροτέρους ἀνταγωνιστὰς ἀποδύονται, κἂν ἐκείνων κρατήσωσιν, κατὰ τῶν ὑπερεχόντων κονίζονται, πάντοτε τῇ προσθήκῃ τῆς δυνάμεως καταλλήλως πρὸς τοὺς δυνατωτέ ρους τῶν ἀντιπάλων ἀγωνιζόμενοι· κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ὁ διὰ τοσούτων <ἀγώνων> ταῖς κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν νίκαις ἐγγυμ νασθεὶς ἐπισημοτέρας τὰς νίκας ἑαυτῷ ποιεῖ, πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιση μοτέρους τε καὶ μείζονας τῶν ἀνταγωνιστῶν συμπλεκόμενος. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο προκαλεῖται τὴν ἀκοὴν τοῦ ἀγωνοθέτου λέγων Ἐνώτισαι, ὁ θεός, τὴν προσευχήν μου, καὶ προσέχειν αὐτοῦ τῇ ἀθλήσει παρακαλεῖ, Πρόσχες μοι λέγων, καὶ εἰσάκουσόν μου. καὶ ὑποδείκνυσι διὰ τοῦ λόγου τῶν ἀγώνων τοὺς πόνους, λύπην καὶ ἀδολεσχίαν καὶ ταραχὴν καρδίας καὶ φωνὴν ἐχθροῦ καὶ θλῖψιν ἁμαρτωλοῦ διηγούμενος, οἷόν τινα κρατήματα παλαιστρικὰ γινόμενα παρὰ τῶν ἀνταγωνι ζομένων αὐτῷ τῷ ἀγωνοθέτῃ ἐπιδεικνύμενος. καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις καρδίας ταραχὴν καὶ δειλίαν θανάτου καὶ φόβον καὶ τρόμον καὶ ζόφον τὴν ζωὴν αὐτοῦ πᾶσαν διαλαβόντα, ὧν πάντων μίαν ἐπίνοιαν εὕρατο πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττόν τε καὶ 5.143 ἀνώτερον τῆς τοσαύτης συνοχῆς γενέσθαι, τὸ πτερωθῆναι αὐτὸν τοῖς τῆς περιστερᾶς ὠκυπτέροις καὶ μετάρσιον γενόμενον ἐκεῖ παῦσαι τὴν πτῆσιν ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ τόπῳ, ὃς τῶν κακῶν πάντων ἔρημος ὢν εὐθαλής ἐστιν τοῖς θειοτέροις. Αὐλισθεὶς γάρ, φησίν, ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, ἀπὸ τῆς κάτω ὀλιγοψυ χίας καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν πειρασμῶν καταιγίδος ἐκεῖ προσδέξα σθαι τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν σωτηρίαν, ὅπου ἀφανίζεται ἡ κακία. ὁ γὰρ καταποντισμὸς τὸν ἀφανισμὸν ἑρμηνεύει· διότι πᾶν τὸ ἐν βυθῷ γεγονὸς ἀφανίζεται. βυθισμὸς οὖν ἁμαρτίας ἐστὶ καὶ ἀπώλεια ἡ τοῦ συνεστῶτος τῆς κακίας διάλυσις. διὰ τοῦτό φησι καταποντίζεσθαι παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ κακὸν ἐν τῷ καταδιαιρεῖσθαι τὰς γλώσσας τῶν ἐπὶ κακῷ συμφρονούντων. καὶ ὅσα ἐφεξῆς περιέχει ἡ τῆς ψαλμῳδίας ταύτης διάνοια, τὴν τῆς πόλεως ὑπογραφὴν τὴν ὑπὸ τῶν πονηρῶν ἐπιτηδευ μάτων συνῳκισμένην, πάντα πρὸς τὸ αὐτὸ βλέπει. λέγει γὰρ καὶ ἀπαριθμεῖται τοὺς κακοὺς τῆς πόλεως ταύτης οἰκή τορας, ἀνομίαν λέγων καὶ ἀντιλογίαν ἐν τῇ πόλει διὰ νυκτὸς περιπολούσας τὸ τεῖχος, καὶ πάλιν ἀνομίαν καὶ κόπον καὶ ἀδικίαν ἀναστρεφομένας ἐν τῷ μέσῳ τοῦ ἄστεως. δείκνυσι δὲ καὶ τὸν κακὸν δῆμον τὸν τὰς πλατείας αὐτῆς πληροῦντα, ὀνομάζων τόκον καὶ δόλον· καὶ τούτων τῶν εἰρημένων πάντων τὸ βαρύτατον τὴν ὑπόκρισιν εἶναι λέγει, ἣ τὸ ἰσόψυχόν τε καὶ ἀγαπητικὸν ὑποδυομένη σχῆμα κρύπτει τὸν δόλον τῷ χρηστῷ προκαλύμματι. διὰ τοῦτο ἀξίους τῶν τοιούτων ἐνοίκων ὁ δίκαιος κριτὴς τοὺς ἐποίκους ἐκπέμπει. βούλει μαθεῖν τὰ τῶν ἐποίκων ὀνόματα; Ἐλθέτω, φησίν,