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1. "A Psalm of David." [He sings the psalm from the person of those who have believed in Christ; through supplication calling Christ for aid; at the same time it also has a denunciation of the folly of the Jews and a prayer to be separated from their hand, or rather, even from their portion.] "To you, O Lord, will I cry, my God, be not silent to me; lest you be silent to me, and I become like those who go down into the pit." The psalm was spoken by David when he was persecuted by Saul, and was plotted against by those who seemed to be friends, and who informed on him, and tried 80.1057 to make him manifest to Saul; such was Doeg, such were the Ziphites, and many others besides them. But this psalm, and indeed those before it, also suits everyone who falls into such misfortunes. For it is possible for one who wishes, in like manner to the blessed David, both to endure, and to pray to God, and to obtain providence from there; he has put "I will cry," however, not with respect to voice, but with respect to readiness and of an intense and earnest prayer; and the phrase "be not silent to me" he has taken metaphorically from those who are besought by some, and wish to answer nothing. Therefore he says, If you are silent to me, and strip me of help, I will immediately be given over to death; for this he called a pit, since the grave is dug in a manner similar to a pit. 2. "Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication, when I pray to you, when I lift up my hands toward your holy temple." The temple had not yet been built; but he calls the tabernacle a temple, in which he prayed, being far away in body, but sending his mind there. Thus also the blessed Daniel, while praying in Babylon, opened windows turned toward Jerusalem, not suspecting the Divine to be circumscribed there, but having learned that the divine manifestation had occurred there. 3. "Draw me not away with sinners, and destroy me not with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace with their neighbors, but evil is in their hearts." The blessed David beseeches to have no fellowship with those who use duplicity. For he says that those are abominable who speak one thing, but plot another. For which reason he wishes them to reap the rewards befitting their practices. For he says: 4. Give to them, O Lord, according to their works, and according to the wickedness of their practices. Give them also the works of their hands; render to them their recompense." But let no one think that the just man is cursing his enemies; for the things spoken are not of a curse, but of a just sentence. "For render," he says, "to them their recompense;" may they fall, he says, into their own plots, which they devise against one another; this also in the seventh psalm, "His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his iniquity shall come down upon his own crown." Then he teaches the cause of the punishment 80.1060 5. "Because they have not understood the works of the Lord, nor the works of his hands." These things, he says, they have done, having wished to learn neither a divine word nor a divine work. "Therefore you shall pull them down, and you shall not build them up." For the destruction of a wicked building is advantageous to wicked builders; and from this it is clear that he spoke the aforesaid things prophetically, not cursing them, but foretelling the things that would be; for he did not say, "pull down," but, "you shall pull down," and "you shall not build up." Then again, having enjoyed the divine revelation, and having seen from afar the help that would be, he moved his tongue to hymnody. 6, 7. "Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard the voice of my supplication. The Lord is my helper, and my defender." And showing the cause of the swift assistance, he added: "Because my heart trusted in him, and I was helped, and my flesh has revived." For hope in him became for me the cause of this providence. Therefore, being delivered from the affliction due to the flight, I revived and flourished, and I received back the well-being that comes from good cheer.

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αʹ. "Ψαλμὸς τῷ ∆αβίδ." [Ἄδει τὸν ψαλμὸν ἐκ προσώπου τῶν πιστευσάντων εἰς Χριστόν· διὰ δεήσεως εἰς ἐπικουρίαν καλῶν τὸν Χριστόν· ἅμα δὲ καὶ τῆς Ἰουδαίων ἀπονοίας κατάῤῥησιν ἔχει καὶ εὐχὴν τοῦ χωρισθῆναι τῆς ἐκείνων χειρὸς, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τῆς μερίδος.] "Πρὸς σὲ, Κύριε, κεκράξομαι, ὁ Θεός μου, μὴ παρασιωπήσῃς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ· μήποτε παρασιωπήσῃς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ ὁμοιωθήσομαι τοῖς καταβαίνουσιν εἰς λάκκον." Εἴρηται μὲν ὁ ψαλμὸς ὑπὸ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ, ἡνίκα ὑπὸ τοῦ Σαοὺλ ἐδιώκετο, καὶ τῶν δοκούντων εἶναι φίλων ἐπεβουλεύετο, καὶ μη νυόντων, καὶ κατάδηλον αὐτὸν τῷ Σαοὺλ πειρωμένων 80.1057 ποιεῖν· τοιοῦτος ἦν ὁ ∆ωὴκ, τοιοῦτοι οἱ Ζιφαῖοι, καὶ ἕτεροι πρὸς τούτοις πολλοί. Ἁρμόττει δὲ καὶ οὗτος, καὶ μέντοι καὶ οἱ πρὸ τούτου ψαλμοὶ, παντὶ τοιαύ ταις περιπίπτοντι συμφοραῖς. Ἔνεστι γὰρ ὁμοίως τῷ μακαρίῳ ∆αβὶδ, καὶ καρτερῆσαι τὸν βουλό μενον, καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ δεηθῆναι, καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν προ μηθείας τυχεῖν· τὸ κεκράξομαι μέντοι τέθεικεν οὐκ ἐπὶ φωνῆς, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ προθυμίας καὶ συντόνου καὶ σπουδαίας εὐχῆς· τὸ δὲ μὴ παρασιωπήσῃς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, ἐκ μεταφορᾶς ἔλαβε τῶν ὑπό τινων παρακαλουμέ νων, καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν ἀποκρίνασθαι βουλομένων. ∆ιό φησιν, Ἐὰν παρασιωπήσῃς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ τῆς βοηθείας γυμνώσῃς με, παραυτίκα τῷ θανάτῳ παραδοθή σομαι· τοῦτον γὰρ ἐκάλεσε λάκκον· ἐπειδὴ λάκκῳ παραπλησίως ὁ τάφος ὀρύττεται. βʹ. "Εἰσάκουσον, Κύριε, τῆς φωνῆς τῆς δεήσεώς μου, ἐν τῷ δέεσθαι πρὸς σὲ, ἐν τῷ αἴρειν με χεῖράς μου πρὸς ναὸν ἅγιόν σου." Οὐδέπω μὲν ὁ ναὸς ᾠκοδόμητο· τὴν δὲ σκηνὴν ὀνομάζει ναὸν, ἐν ᾗ προσηύχετο, πόῤῥω μὲν ὢν κατὰ τὸ σῶμα, τὸν δὲ νοῦν ἐκεῖ παραπέμπων. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ μακάριος ∆ανιὴλ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι προσευχόμενος, πρὸς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ τετραμμένας ἀνεῴγνυ φωταγωγοὺς, οὐκ ἐκεῖ περιγεγράφθαι τὸ Θεῖον ὑποπτεύων, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖ τὴν θείαν ἐπιφάνειαν γεγενῆσθαι μεμαθηκώς. γʹ. "Μὴ συνελκύσῃς με μετὰ ἁμαρτωλῶν, καὶ μετὰ ἐργαζομένων τὴν ἀδικίαν μὴ συναπολέσῃς με, τῶν λαλούντων εἰρήνην μετὰ τῶν πλησίον αὐτῶν· κακὰ δὲ ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν." Μηδεμίαν ἔχειν κοινωνίαν μετὰ τῶν διπλόῃ κεχρημένων ὁ μακά ριος ἱκετεύει ∆αβίδ. Βδελυροὺς γὰρ εἶναί φησι τοὺς ἕτερα μὲν φθεγγομένους, ἕτερα δὲ βουλευομέ νους. Οὗ δὴ χάριν καὶ πρόσφορα τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύ μασι βούλεται αὐτοὺς τρυγῆσαι τὰ ἐπίχειρα. Φησὶ γάρ· δʹ. ∆ὸς αὐτοῖς, Κύριε, κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν, καὶ κατὰ τὴν πονηρίαν τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων αὐτῶν. Καὶ τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν αὐτῶν δὸς αὐτοῖς· ἀπό δος τὸ ἀνταπόδομα αὐτῶν αὐτοῖς." Μηδεὶς δὲ τὸν δίκαιον ἐπαρᾶσθαι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς νομιζέτω· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἀρᾶς τὰ εἰρημένα, ἀλλὰ ψήφου δικαίας. "Ἀπό δος γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸ ἀνταπόδομα αὐτῶν αὐτοῖς·" ταῖς οἰκείαις, φησὶν, ἐπιβουλαῖς περιπέσοιεν, αἷς κατ' ἀλλήλων καττύουσι· τοῦτο καὶ ἐν τῷ ἑβδόμῳ ψαλμῷ, "Ἐπιστρέψει ὁ πόνος αὐτοῦ εἰς κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπὶ κορυφὴν αὐτοῦ ἡ ἀδικία αὐτοῦ κατα βήσεται." Εἶτα τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς τιμωρίας διδάσκει 80.1060 εʹ. "Ὅτι οὐ συνῆκαν εἰς τὰ ἔργα Κυρίου, καὶ εἰς τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ." Ταῦτα δὲ, φησὶ, δεδράκασιν, οὔτε λόγον, οὔτε ἔργον θεῖον μαθεῖν ἐθελήσαντες. "∆ιὸ δὴ καθελεῖς αὐτοὺς, καὶ οὐ μὴ οἰκοδομήσεις αὐτούς." Λυσιτελὴς γὰρ τοῖς κακοῖς οἰκοδόμοις ἡ τῆς πονηρᾶς οἰκοδομίας κατά λυσις· καὶ ἐντεῦθεν μέντοι δῆλον, ὡς καὶ τὰ προειρη μένα προαγορευτικῶς εἶπεν, οὐκ αὐτοῖς ἐπαρώ μενος, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἐσόμενα προθεσπίζων· οὐ γὰρ εἶπε κάθελε, ἀλλὰ, καθελεῖς, καὶ οὐ μὴ οἰκοδομή σεις Εἶτα πάλιν τῆς θείας ἀποκαλύψεως ἀπο λαύσας, καὶ πόῤῥωθεν τὴν ἐσομένην βοήθειαν θεωρήσας, εἰς ὑμνῳδίαν τὴν γλῶτταν ἐκίνησεν. ʹ, ζʹ. "Εὐλογητὸς Κύριος, ὅτι εἰσήκουσε τῆς φωνῆς τῆς δεήσεώς μου. Κύριος βοηθός μου, καὶ ὑπερασπιστής μου." Καὶ δεικνὺς τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ταχείας ἐπικουρίας, ἐπήγαγεν· "Ὅτι ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἤλπισεν ἡ καρδία μου, καὶ ἐβοηθήθην, καὶ ἀνέθαλεν ἡ σάρξ μου." Ἡ γὰρ εἰς αὐτὸν ἐλπὶς πρόξενός μοι τῆς προμηθείας ταύτης ἐγένετο. ∆ιὸ δὴ τῆς διὰ τὴν φυγὴν κακουχίας ἀπαλλαγεὶς, ἀν έθηλά τε καὶ ἤνθησα, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς εὐθυμίας εὐ εξίαν ἀπέλαβον.