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saying by the Spirit next: My foot stood in uprightness; in the churches I will bless you, Lord. For he prophesies that, even if there was ever in his feet a shaking and a quaking and a movement; yet he will not fall on account of these things, but will stand in uprightness, being about to bless God in the churches, having proclaimed beforehand his memory through all the churches of God; indeed, even to this day throughout 23.237 the whole world in the churches of Christ, David blesses the Lord. OF DAVID. 20. The Lord is my light and my savior; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defender of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? And through this, what does the prophetic Spirit teach? How it is fitting for one dedicated to God to give thanks to him, and what sort of things to ask from God. But the saying contains thanksgiving. Reasonably, therefore, neither 'psalm,' nor 'song,' nor anything similar is inscribed. The Lord is my light and my savior; whom shall I fear? The one whose soul is wallowing in night and darkness, not knowing where he is being carried and how he stumbles, will fear countless evils, as if being completely drawn away; whence, suspecting every fear, he is terrified, and becomes a denier of the confession to God. But he whose eyes of the soul have been enlightened by the Lord's radiance first of all beholds his own champion and savior, how great he is; then having received in deed that the master and Lord of all has become his shield and invincible weapon and defender, he becomes steadfast, and since he has the eyes of his soul steadfast and enlightened, he sees all his enemies, whether men who are ignorant of God, or the invisible and wicked powers, as destitute of so great a savior and helper, and he regards them as already fallen; wherefore he laughs at all their plotting, trusting in his own champion. Therefore he says: If so great a helper were not present for me, enlightening my soul and defending my life, I would reasonably have feared the principalities and the powers and the world-rulers of this darkness, and the spiritual hosts of wickedness, and those who are energized by them and rise up against the athletes of God. For these were able to disturb my soul when it was not enlightened; but since the master of all himself, the Son of God, happens to be a light, and he himself is also my savior, I might reasonably say, Whom shall I fear? For I will turn away from none of so many enemies, nor will I be afraid of any of them, trusting in the defender of my life. Again here you will observe, that the phrase, My Savior, in Hebrew, contains the name of our Savior Jesus Christ in the same Hebrew characters in which one would write Jesus. And he who says these things teaches what sort of savior he experienced, that he laughed at the plotting of his enemies; wherefore he says: When the wicked drew near against me to eat my flesh, those who afflict me and my enemies, they themselves grew weak and fell. They pressed upon me like untamed beasts, all but wishing to devour me and to chew up my very flesh. Wherefore it is said in Symmachus: When evildoers drew near against me 23.240 to devour my flesh. But those who had intended these things against me, and had already come near to my flesh, I know not how they suffered the very things they had intended to do against me; For they themselves, he says, grew weak, and fell, though I did nothing against them; but clearly my light and my savior warred against them with an ineffable and divine power and cast them down, so that I might both be delivered from their plot, and be in no way harmed, and they themselves might be benefited, from their own wickedness

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Πνεύματι λέγων ἑξῆς· Ὁ ποῦς μου ἔστη ἐν εὐθύτητι, ἐν ἐκκλησίαις εὐλογήσω σε, Κύριε. Προφητεύει γὰρ, ὅτι, εἰ καί ποτε γέγονεν ἐν τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτοῦ σάλος καὶ κλόνος καὶ κίνησις· ἀλλ' οὐ πεσεῖται ἐπὶ τούτοις, στήσεται δὲ ἐν εὐθύτητι, μέλλων ἐν ἐκκλησίαις εὐλογεῖν τὸν Θεὸν, τὴν διὰ πασῶν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ μνήμην ἑαυτοῦ προαναφωνήσας· εἰς ἔτι γοῦν καὶ σήμερον καθ' 23.237 ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐν ταῖς Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησίαις ὁ ∆αυὶδ εὐλογεῖ τὸν Κύριον. ΤΩ ∆ΑΥΙ∆ Κʹ. Κύριος φωτισμός μου, καὶ σωτήρ μου, τίνα φοβηθήσομαι; Κύριος ὑπερασπιστὴς τῆς ζωῆς μου, ἀπὸ τίνος δειλιάσω; Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τί διδάσκει τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ προφητικόν; Ὅπως προσήκει τὸν τῷ Θεῷ ἀνακείμενον εὐχαριστεῖν αὐτῷ, καὶ ὁποῖα παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ αἰτεῖν. Περιέχει δὲ ὁ λόγος εὐχαριστίαν. Εἰκότως τοίνυν οὔτε ψαλμὸς, οὔτε ᾠδὴ, οὔτε τι τῶν παραπλησίων ἐπιγέγραπται· Κύριος φωτισμός μου καὶ σωτήρ μου, τίνα φοβηθήσομαι; Ὁ μὲν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐν νυκτὶ καὶ σκότῳ καλινδούμενος, οὐκ εἰδὼς ὅποι φέρεται καὶ ὅπως προσκόπτει, μυρία κακὰ φοβηθήσεται, ὡς ἂν παντελῶς ἐπισπώμενος· ὅθεν πάντα φόβον ὑπιδόμενος καταπτήσσει, καὶ τῆς εἰς τὸν Θεὸν ὁμολογίας ἔξαρνος γίνεται. Ὁ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑπὸ τῆς Κυρίου ἐλλάμψεως φωτισθεὶς πρῶτον μὲν ἁπάντων αὐτὸν τὸν αὐτοῦ πρόμαχον καὶ σωτῆρα ὁπόσος τίς ἐστι θεωρεῖ· εἶτ' ἔργῳ παραλαβὼν, ὡς ὁ τῶν ἁπάντων δεσπότης καὶ Κύριος, θυρεὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ὅπλον ἄμαχον καὶ ὑπερασπιστὴς καθέστηκεν, ἀτρεμὴς γίνεται, καὶ ἅτε τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τῆς ψυχῆς ἀτρεμεῖς ἔχων, καὶ πεφωτισμένους, πάντας τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ ἐχθροὺς, εἴτε τοὺς τὸν Θεὸν ἀγνοοῦντας ἀνθρώπους, εἴτε τὰς ἀοράτους καὶ πονηρὰς δυνάμεις, ἐρήμους ὁρᾷ τοῦ τοσούτου σωτῆρος καὶ βοηθοῦ, καὶ ὡς ἤδη πεπτωκότας θεωρεῖ· διὸ πάσης αὐτῶν τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς καταγελᾷ θαρσῶν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ ὑπερμάχῳ· διό φησιν· Εἰ μὲν μή μοι ὁ τοσοῦτος παρῆν βοηθὸς, φωτίζων μου τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ὑπερασπίζων μου τῆς ζωῆς, εἰκότως ἐφοβήθην ἂν τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας καὶ τοὺς κοσμοκράτορας τοῦ σκότους τούτου, καὶ τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας, τούς τε ὑπὸ τούτων ἐνεργουμένους, καὶ κατὰ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀθλητῶν ἐπανισταμένους. Ἱκανοὶ γὰρ ἦσαν οὗτοι θορυβῆσαι τὴν ψυχήν μου μὴ πεφωτισμένην· ἐπεὶ δὲ αὐτὸς ὁ τῶν ὅλων δεσπότης, ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱὸς, φωτισμὸς τυγχάνει, ὁ αὐτὸς δὲ καὶ σωτήρ μου ἐστὶν, εἰκότως φήσαιμ' ἄν, Τίνα φοβηθήσομαι; Οὐδένα γὰρ ἐπιστραφήσομαι τῶν τοσούτων ἐχθρῶν, οὐδὲ ἀπό τινος τούτων δειλιάσω, θαρσῶν τῷ ὑπερασπιστῇ τῆς ζωῆς μου. Πάλιν δ' ἐνταῦθα τηρήσεις, ὡς τὸ, Σωτήρ μου, ἐν τῷ Ἑβραϊκῷ, τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῖς χαρακτῆρσιν Ἑβραϊκοῖς περιέχει, ἐν οἷς ἄν τις τὸν Ἰησοῦν γράψειεν. Ὁ δὲ ταῦτα λέγων διδάσκει ὁποίου πειραθεὶς τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ σωτῆρος, τῆς τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐπιβουλῆς κατεγέλασε· διό φησιν· Ἐν τῷ ἐγγίζειν ἐπ' ἐμὲ κακοῦντας, τοῦ φαγεῖν τὰς σάρκας μου, οἱ θλίβοντες καὶ οἱ ἐχθροί μου, αὐτοὶ ἠσθένησαν καὶ ἔπεσαν. Οἱ μὲν ἐπίεσάν μοι θηρίων ἀτιθάσσων δίκην, μονονουχὶ καταπιεῖν με βουλόμενοι καὶ αὐτάς μου καταμασήσασθαι τὰς σάρκας. ∆ιὸ λέλεκται παρὰ τῷ Συμμάχῳ· Ἐν τῷ ἐγγίζειν ἐπ' ἐμὲ κακούργους εἰς 23.240 τὸ καταφαγεῖν τὰς σάρκας μου. Ἀλλ' οἱ ταῦτα κατ' ἐμοῦ διανοηθέντες, καὶ ἤδη πλησίον γενόμενοι τῶν ἐμῶν σαρκῶν, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ἅπερ πρᾶξαι κατ' ἐμοῦ διανενόηντο, ταῦτα πεπόνθασιν· Αὐτοὶ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἠσθένησαν, καὶ ἔπεσαν, οὐδὲν ἐμοῦ κατ' αὐτῶν ἐνηργηκότος· ἀλλὰ δηλαδὴ τοῦ ἐμοῦ φωτὸς καὶ τοῦ ἐμοῦ σωτῆρος ἀποῤῥήτῳ καὶ θεϊκῇ δυνάμει κατ' αὐτῶν στρατευσαμένου καὶ καταβαλόντος αὐτοὺς, ἵν' ἐγώ τε ῥυσθείην τῆς αὐτῶν ἐπιβουλῆς, καὶ μηδὲν βλαβείην, αὐτοί τε ὠφεληθεῖεν, τῆς ἑαυτῶν κακίας