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the aforementioned things will seize them; nor will they be able to escape your hands. For they were scheming and doing all things with a godless mindset, plotting against you, the God; but you made them turn back and become fugitives, so as to turn their backs, being driven by your wrath. TO THE END, FOR THE HELP OF THE MORNING. A PSALM OF DAVID. 21. The inscription of the psalm ascribes the whole subject of what is contained in it to the time of the resurrection from the dead of our Savior. Therefore it is inscribed, Concerning the help of the morning. And what things pertain to the morning help, the evangelists in turn will present; Luke writing thus: But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, women came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. And when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel, who also said: Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen; remember how he spoke to you, while he was still in Galilee; and the other evangelists have spoken similarly. Do you see how the things of the morning help were fulfilled at the time of the resurrection of our Savior? Therefore the Holy Spirit ascribes the whole economy of the saving passion to his resurrection, and sends up the prophecy to that very end through the inscription which says: To the end, for the help of the morning, a psalm of David. And how was the prophecy not to be a psalm, containing the resurrection of our Savior, and the establishment of his Church, and the calling of all the nations, the foreknowledge of both the generation and of the people to be born? For rejoicing over these things, as over great goods, the Holy Spirit makes the psalmody. O God, my God, attend to me; why have you forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my transgressions. Since the phrase, 'attend to me,' which indeed was added to the first verse only according to the Seventy, is not present in the Hebrew, it has been accurately omitted also by the voice of our Savior. And see how in all these things the other interpreters have nowhere made mention of transgressions; for it was not fitting to apply transgressions to the person of our Savior, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. But for those among the people doing things worthy of wailing and lamentations, and for his apostle Judas, who slipped away and fell from his proper dignity, lamenting he continued crying out: Far from my salvation are the words of my lamentations. For the words, he says, of my lamentations, which are always made on behalf of the people, have become far from my salvation, since the people were benefited not at all from the salvation procured for them by me. But lest we should seem, by deliberately using the other interpreters here, to be refuting those who have interpreted the psalm differently, we shall use the interpretation of the Seventy; for they too, having paid close attention to this, said that the psalm was not fitting for the Lord. Let them hear, then, John crying out: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world; and of the divine Paul saying: Him who knew no sin, he made to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him; and again: Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. Therefore, just as, being a fount of righteousness, he took up our sin, and being an ocean of blessing, he received what was laid upon us

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προλεχθέντα αὐτοὺς καταλήψεται· οὐδὲ τὰς σὰς διαδράναι δυνήσονται χεῖρας. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐμηχανῶντο καὶ πάντα ἔπραττον ἀθέῳ φρονήματι κατὰ σοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ βουλευόμενοι· σὺ δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐπιστρόφους ἐποίεις καὶ φυγάδας, ὡς τὰ νῶτα παραχωρεῖν ἐλαυνομένους ὑπὸ τῆς σῆς ὀργῆς. ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ ΥΠΕΡ ΤΗΣ ΑΝΤΙΛΗΨΕΩΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΩΘΙΝΗΣ, ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΤΩ ∆ΑΥΙ∆ ΚΑʹ. Ἡ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ προγραφὴ πᾶσαν τὴν ὑπόθεσιν τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ φερομένων ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀνατίθησι. ∆ιὸ ἐπιγράφει, Περὶ τῆς ἀντιλήψεως τῆς ἑωθινῆς. Ὁποῖα δὲ ἦν τὰ τῆς ἑωθινῆς ἀντιλήψεως, αὖθις οἱ εὐαγγελισταὶ παραστήσουσιν· ὁ μὲν Λουκᾶς ὧδε γράφων· Τῇ δὲ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων ὄρθρου βαθέος ἐπὶ τὸ μνῆμα ἦλθον γυναῖκες, φέρουσαι ἃ ἡτοίμασαν ἀρώματα. Εὗρον δὲ τὸν λίθον ἀποκεκυλισμένον ἀπὸ τοῦ μνημείου. Εἰσελθοῦσαι δὲ οὐχ εὗρον τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ. Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ διαπορεῖσθαι αὐτὰς περὶ τούτου, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄνδρες δύο ἐπέστησαν αὐταῖς ἐν ἐσθῆτι ἀστραπτούσῃ, οἳ καὶ εἶπον· Τί ζητεῖτε τὸν ζῶντα μετὰ τῶν νεκρῶν; Οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε, ἀλλ' ἠγέρθη· μνήσθητε, ὡς ἐλάλησεν ὑμῖν, ἔτι ὢν ἐν τῇ Γαλιλαίᾳ· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ εὐαγγελισταὶ εἰρήκασιν. Ὁρᾷς ὅπως τὰ τῆς ἑωθινῆς ἀντιλήψεως κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἀναστάσεως τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπληροῦτο; ∆ιὸ τὴν πᾶσαν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ σωτηρίου πάθους τῇ ἀναστάσει αὐτοῦ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἀνατίθησι, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸ ἐκεῖνο τὸ τέλος τὴν προφητείαν ἀναπέμπει διὰ τῆς λεγούσης προγραφῆς· Εἰς τὸ τέλος ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀντιλήψεως τῆς ἑωθινῆς, ψαλμὸς τῷ ∆αυΐδ. Καὶ πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἔμελλεν ψαλμὸς ἔσεσθαι ἡ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν περιέχουσα προφητεία, καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ τὴν σύ 23.204 στασιν, καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἁπάντων τὴν κλῆσιν τῆς τε γενεᾶς καὶ τοῦ τεχθησομένου λαοῦ τὴν πρόγνωσιν; Ἐπὶ τούτοις γὰρ ὡς ἐπὶ μεγάλοις ἀγαθοῖς συγχαῖρον τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τὴν ψαλμῳδίαν ποιεῖται. Ὁ Θεὸς ὁ Θεός μου, πρόσχες μοι· ἵνα τί ἐγκατέλιπές με; μακρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς σωτηρίας μου οἱ λόγοι τῶν παραπτωμάτων μου. Μὴ προκειμένου δὲ ἐν τῷ Ἑβραϊκῷ τοῦ, πρόσχες μοι, ὃ δὴ κατὰ μόνους τοὺς Ἑβδομήκοντα προσέκειτο τῷ πρώτῳ στίχῳ, ἀκριβῶς καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν παραλέλειπται. Καὶ θέα τίνα τρόπον ἐν πᾶσι τούτοις οὐδαμοῦ παραπτωμάτων ἐμνημόνευσαν οἱ λοιποὶ ἑρμηνευταί· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἥρμοζε παραπτώματα ἐφαρμόζειν τῷ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν προσώπῳ, ὃς ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἐποίησεν, οὐδὲ εὑρέθη δόλος ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ. Ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν κλαυθμῶν καὶ θρήνων ἄξια πραττόντων ἐν τῷ λαῷ, ὑπὲρ δὲ τοῦ ἀποστόλου αὐτοῦ Ἰούδα, τοῦ ἐξολισθήσαντος καὶ τῆς οἰκείας ἀξίας ἀποπεσόντος, ὀδυρόμενος διετέλει βοῶν· Μακρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς σωτηρίας μου οἱ λόγοι τῶν ὀδυρμῶν μου. Οἱ γὰρ λόγοι, φησὶ, τῶν ἐμῶν, τῶν ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ πάντοτε γινομένων, τῆς ἐμῆς σωτηρίας μακρὰν γεγόνασιν, οὐδὲν ὠφεληθέντος τοῦ λαοῦ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐξ ἐμοῦ προξενηθείσης αὐτοῖς σωτηρίας. Ἵνα δὲ μὴ δόξωμεν, τοῖς ἄλλοις ἑρμηνευταῖς ἐνταῦθα κεχρημένοι ἐκ περινοίας, τοὺς ἑτέρως τὸν ψαλμὸν ἡρμηνευκότας ἐλέγχειν, τῇ τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα ἑρμηνείᾳ χρησόμεθα· ταύτῃ γὰρ κἀκεῖνοι τηρήσει προσεσχηκότες, οὐκ ἔφασαν ἁρμόττειν τὸν ψαλμὸν τῷ Κυρίῳ. Ἀκουσάτωσαν τοίνυν Ἰωάννου βοῶντος· Ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου· τοῦ δὲ θεσπεσίου Παύλου λέγοντος· Τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς γενώμεθα Θεοῦ δικαιοσύνη ἐν αὐτῷ· καὶ πάλιν· Χριστὸς ἡμᾶς ἠγόρασεν ἐκ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ νόμου, γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα. Τοιγαροῦν ὥσπερ δικαιοσύνης ὑπάρχων πηγὴ, τὴν ἡμετέραν ἁμαρτίαν ἀνέλαβε, καὶ εὐλογίας ὢν πέλαγος, τὴν ἐπικειμένην ἡμῖν ἐδέξατο