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of heaven, and it was so." Therefore, the surface meaning of the letter reveals this; for this was fitting for the Jews of old. But true theology shows us God the Word, with the all-holy Spirit, having made the heavens and the heavenly powers. And the prophecy anticipates the evangelical teaching. And just as the divine John, the son of thunder, taught the whole world, that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made;" so the blessed David proclaims, saying, "By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the Spirit of his mouth all their powers." But he does not assign the creation of the heavens to God the Word, and the making of the powers to the all-holy Spirit; but he says that God the Word and the holy Spirit have made both the former and the latter. Some have said the powers of the heavens are the 80.1097 luminaries in the sky, while others have said they are the invisible powers. To me the second seems truer. For in showing God to be the Creator, he would not have mentioned only the visible creation. 7. "Gathering the waters of the sea as in a wineskin; placing the deeps in storehouses." For he holds the whole nature of the waters confined, as in certain storehouses in designated places; but he draws it up high into the air, whenever he wishes, and gathers it in the clouds as in a certain wineskin. Therefore he says: "Drawing up clouds from the end of the earth." And elsewhere again the divine Scripture: "Who calls for the water of the sea, and pours it out upon the face of all the earth." 8, 9. "Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world be moved by him. For he spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created." Having mentioned the heavens, and the invisible powers, then the substance of the waters, he brings the earth also into the middle, and its inhabitants, teaching that they are his creations, and exhorting them to fear and tremble before the Maker, and to obey his commands. For "be moved," Symmachus said "let them be reverent," and Aquila "they will draw back," referring the reverence of the world to a future time. For when he uttered these words, men did not have this, but after the incarnation, and the passion, and the resurrection of the Lord Christ. 10, 11. "The Lord scatters the counsels of nations, and brings to nought the thoughts of peoples; and brings to nought the counsels of rulers. But the counsel of the Lord endures forever, the thoughts of his heart to generation and generation." What has been said has a double interpretation; for not only did he scatter the counsels of the Assyrians, and of Sennacherib, and of Rabshakeh; and showed the power and truth of his own counsel; but he also dissolved the uprisings of the nations throughout the world against the apostles, and has made the might of his own power clear to all; for the prophetic word hinted at this, saying: "The thoughts of his heart to generation and generation." The mention of the two generations teaches both the things that happened then, and the things that will be after this. 12. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; the people whom he has chosen for his inheritance." It is necessary, he says, to bless, not those who boast in wealth, 80.1100 but those who trust in God, and enjoy his favor. But the chosen people called the inheritance of God, was formerly the Jewish people, but after this, the one chosen from the nations, and receiving the rays of the faith. "For ask," he says, "and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. 13, 14. "From heaven the Lord looked down, he saw all the sons of men. From his prepared dwelling place he looked down upon all the inhabitants of the earth." These things he also said in the thirteenth psalm, making the same prediction. And since he said "he looked down," lest anyone him

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τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως." Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐξ ἐπιπολῆς νόημα ἡ τοῦ γράμματος ἐπιφά νεια τοῦτο δηλοῖ· τοῦτο γὰρ τοῖς πάλαι ἥρμοττεν Ἰουδαίοις. Ἡ δὲ ἀληθὴς θεολογία τὸν Θεὸν ἡμῖν ὑποδείκνυσι Λόγον, σὺν τῷ παναγίῳ Πνεύματι, καὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ τὰς οὐρανίους πεποιηκότα δυνά μεις. Καὶ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν διδασκαλίαν προλαμβάνει ἡ προφητεία. Καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ θεσπέσιος Ἰωάννης, ὁ τῆς βροντῆς υἱὸς, πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐδίδαξεν, ὅτι "Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος· πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ γέγονεν οὐδὲ ἓν, ὃ γέγονεν·" οὕτως ὁ μακάριος ∆αβὶδ προκηρύττει λέγων, "Τῷ Λόγῳ Κυρίου οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν, καὶ τῷ Πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσαι αἱ δυνάμεις αὐτῶν." Οὐκ ἀπονέμει δὲ τῷ μὲν Θεῷ Λόγῳ τὴν τῶν οὐρανῶν δημιουργίαν, τῷ δὲ παναγίῳ Πνεύματι τὴν τῶν δυ νάμεων ποίησιν· ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα τὸν Θεὸν Λόγον καὶ τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα πεποιηκέναι φησί. ∆υνάμεις δὲ οὐρανῶν οἱ μὲν τοὺς κατ' οὐρανὸν 80.1097 φωστῆρας, οἱ δὲ τὰς ἀοράτους ἔφασαν εἶναι δυνά μεις. Ἐμοὶ δὲ τὸ δεύτερον ἀληθέστερον εἶναι δοκεῖ. ∆ημιουργὸν γὰρ ὑποδεικνὺς τὸν Θεὸν, οὐκ ἂν μόνης τῆς ὁρωμένης ἐμνημόνευσε κτίσεως. ζʹ. "Συνάγων ὡσεὶ ἀσκὸν ὕδατα θαλάσσης· τιθεὶς ἐν θησαυροῖς ἀβύσσους." Πᾶσαν μὲν γὰρ τῶν ὑδάτων τὴν φύσιν, ὥσπερ ἐν ταμιείοις τισὶ τοῖς ἀφωρισμένοις χωρίοις καθειργμένην ἔχει· ἕλκει δὲ ταύτην εἰς τὸν ἀέρα μετέωρον, ὅτ' ἂν θέλῃ, καὶ ὡς ἐν ἀσκῷ τινι ταῖς νεφέλαις συνάγει. ∆ιὸ λέγει· "Ἀνάγων νεφέλας ἐξ ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς." Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ πάλιν ἡ θεία Γραφή· "Ὁ προσκαλούμενος τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ ἐκχέων αὐτὸ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον πάσης τῆς γῆς." ηʹ, θʹ. "Φοβηθήτω τὸν Κύριον πᾶσα ἡ γῆ· ἀπ' αὐτοῦ δὲ σαλευθήτωσαν πάντες οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν οἰκουμένην. Ὅτι αὐτὸς εἶπεν, καὶ ἐγενήθησαν· αὐ τὸς ἐνετείλατο, καὶ ἐκτίσθησαν." Τῶν οὐρανῶν μνημονεύσας, καὶ τῶν ἀοράτων δυνάμεων, ἔπειτα τῆς τῶν ὑδάτων οὐσίας, ἄγει καὶ τὴν γῆν εἰς μέσον, καὶ τοὺς ταύτην κατοικοῦντας, ποιήματα αὐτοῦ εἶναι διδάσκων, καὶ παρεγγυῶν δεδιέναι καὶ τρέμειν τὸν Ποιητὴν, καὶ τοῖς αὐτοῦ νεύμασι πείθεσθαι. Τὸ γὰρ σαλευθήτωσαν, ὁ μὲν Σύμμαχος εὐλα βείσθωσαν, ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας ὑποσταλήσονται εἴρηκε, τῷ ἐπιόντι χρόνῳ τὴν τῆς οἰκουμένης παραπέμψας εὐλάβειαν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἡνίκα τούσδε τοὺς λόγους ἐποιή σατο, ταύτην ἔσχον οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν, καὶ τὸ πάθος, καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τοῦ ∆εσπότου Χριστοῦ. ιʹ, ιαʹ. "Κύριος διασκεδάζει βουλὰς ἐθνῶν, ἀθε τεῖ δὲ λογισμοὺς λαῶν· καὶ ἀθετεῖ βουλὰς ἀρχόντων. Ἡ δὲ βουλὴ τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μένει, λο γισμοὶ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεάν." ∆ιπλῆν ἔχει τὴν ἑρμηνείαν τὰ εἰρημένα· οὐ γὰρ μόνον τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, καὶ τοῦ Σενναχηρεὶμ, καὶ τοῦ Ῥαψάκου διεσκέδασε τὰς βουλάς· καὶ τῆς οἰ κείας βουλῆς τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἔδειξεν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐθνῶν τὰς κατὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐπαναστάσεις διέλυσε, καὶ τῆς οἰκείας δυνάμεως τὸ κράτος δῆλον πεποίηκεν ἅπασι· τοῦ το γὰρ ὁ προφητικὸς ᾐνίξατο λόγος, εἰπών· "Λο γισμοὶ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεάν." Τῶν δύο γενεῶν ἡ μνήμη διδάσκει καὶ τὰ τηνι καῦτα γενόμενα, καὶ τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐσόμενα. ιβʹ. "Μακάριον τὸ ἔθνος, οὗ ἐστι Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς αὐτοῦ· λαὸς ὃν ἐξελέξατο εἰς κληρονομίαν ἑαυτῷ." ∆εῖ, φησὶ, μακαρίζειν, οὐ τοὺς πλούτῳ κομῶντας, 80.1100 ἀλλὰ τοὺς τῷ Θεῷ πεποιθότας, καὶ τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ ῥοπῆς ἀπολαύοντας. Ἐκλεκτὸς δὲ λαὸς κληρονομία Θεοῦ προσαγορευόμενος, πάλαι μὲν ὁ Ἰουδαϊκὸς, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα, ὁ ἐκ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐκλεγεὶς, καὶ τῆς πίστεως τὰς ἀκτῖνας δεχόμενος. "Αἴτησαι γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου, καὶ τὴν κατά σχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς. ιγʹ, ιδʹ. "Ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐπέβλεψεν ὁ Κύριος, εἶδε πάντας τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Ἐξ ἑτοίμου κατοικητηρίου αὑτοῦ ἐπέβλεψεν ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν γῆν." Ταῦτα καὶ ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ καὶ δεκάτῳ ἔφη ψαλμῷ, τὴν αὐτὴν ποιούμενος πρόῤ ῥησιν. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ εἶπεν ἐπέβλεψεν, ἵνα μή τις αὐτὸν