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confessing to you, but that my glory may sing to you. For in my going down into corruption there was no profit, neither for me nor for others. For I was deprived of the life from you, and others in no way obtained salvation through me. But in your turning my mourning into joy for me, and in your tearing off my sackcloth and girding me with gladness, no ordinary profit has occurred; for having received back my former glory, through this I will sing to you, and I will sing to you not with some paltry conscience, but with a confident and pure mind. Therefore he says: That my glory may sing to you, and I may not be pierced with sorrow. And so I will continue for all eternity, confessing to you, and recounting always your benefactions toward me. The Lord became my helper. It should be noted, that the word, became, does not always signify substantial being; but sometimes also a certain relation. If ever, then, such an expression should be used of the Savior, it signifies a relation to something and not substantial being. You have turned my mourning into joy for me. The word, mourning, signifies awareness, as the action itself also shows, of hands beating the breast. The one therefore who has become aware of his own sins, and who has actively stirred up his perception through spiritual hands, having turned from wailing, will receive joy, the fruit of the Spirit. The word, you have turned, indicates the change from beating the breast and being grieved to joy; and the phrase, I may not be pierced with sorrow, means, he says, I will not change my mind. And the glory of the one saying these things that sings to God, is an upright way of life and a sincere knowledge. O Lord my God, I will confess to you forever; instead of, for all 23.265 things that happen, not only for the pleasant, but also for the painful, I thank you, Master. FOR THE END. A PSALM OF DAVID, OF ECSTASY. 30. Neither in the Hebrew Scripture, nor among the other interpreters does the inscription contain, of ecstasy. Perhaps because it is uttered in the psalm: But I said in my ecstasy: I am cast away from the presence of your eyes, someone made the addition in the inscription for the time in which, being in an ecstasy, he said: I am cast away from the presence of your eyes, having sent up the things contained in the word? But nevertheless the present inscription also refers those who read it to the end, either because of the last things, in which it contains a most necessary exhortation, which says: Love the Lord, all you his saints, because the Lord seeks out truth, and so on; or because it prophesies certain things concerning what was done at the passion of the Savior; which indeed were about to happen at the consummation of the age. But since the word also outlines good hopes for David, which were to be given to him in the future time, it reasonably refers the inscription to the end. The whole contains a supplication of David, having hung his whole self on God, and he exhorts not to fall from hope. In you, O Lord, have I hoped, let me never be ashamed; in your righteousness rescue me and deliver me. Incline your ear to me, hasten to deliver me. And though surrounded by much wealth, and though he boasted in victories over enemies, yet he was persuaded that none of these things would contribute to his safety, but only hope in the Lord; therefore he supplicated never to fall from this; but he also taught us, emulating the same things as him, both to think and to speak. And instead of, in your righteousness; in your mercy, Symmachus has rendered it. Be to me a defending God, and a house of refuge to save me. Because you are my strength and my refuge, and for your name's sake you will lead me and nourish me. These things he also said in the seventeenth psalm. You will bring me out of this trap, which they have hidden

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ἐξομολογούμενός σοι, ἀλλ' ἵνα ψάλλῃ σοι ἡ δόξα μου. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῷ καταβῆναί με εἰς διαφθορὰν οὐδεμία τις ἦν ὠφέλεια οὔτ' ἐμοὶ οὔτε ἑτέροις. Ἐγώ τε γὰρ ἀπεστερούμην τῆς παρὰ σοῦ ζωῆς, ἄλλοι τε οὐδαμῶς ἐτύγχανον τῆς δι' ἐμοῦ σωτηρίας. Ἐν δὲ τῷ μεταβάλλειν σε τὸν κοπετόν μου εἰς χαρὰν ἐμοὶ, καὶ ἐν τῷ διαῤῥῆξαί σε τὸν σάκκον μου καὶ περιζῶσαι εὐφροσύνην, οὐχ ἡ τυχοῦσα γεγένηται ὠφέλεια· ἀπολαβὼν γὰρ τὴν προτέραν ἐμαυτοῦ δόξαν, διὰ ταύτης σοι ψαλῶ, καὶ ψαλῶ σοι οὐ μετά τινος φαύλης συνειδήσεως, ἀλλὰ μετὰ πεπαῤῥησιασμένης καὶ καθαρᾶς διανοίας. ∆ιό φησιν· Ὅπως ἂν ψάλλῃ σοι ἡ δόξα μου, καὶ οὐ μὴ κατανυγῶ. Οὕτω τε διατελέσω εἰς τὸν σύμπαντα αἰῶνα, ἐξομολογούμενός σοι, καὶ τὰς σὰς διὰ παντὸς εὐεργεσίας τὰς εἰς ἐμὲ διεξιών. Κύριος ἐγενήθη βοηθός μου. Σημειωτέον, ὅτι τὸ, ἐγενήθη, οὐκ ἀεὶ οὐσίωσιν σημαίνει· ἀλλ' ἔσθ' ὅτε καὶ πρός τινα σχέσιν. Εἴ ποτε οὖν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος τοιαύτη γένοιτο φωνὴ, σχέσιν πρός τι καὶ οὐχὶ οὐσίωσιν σημαίνει. Ἔστρεψας τὸν κοπετόν μου εἰς χαρὰν ἐμοί. Ἡ, κοπετὸς, φωνὴ, τὴν συναίσθησιν σημαίνει, ὡς καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ πρᾶξις παρίστησι, τῶν χειρῶν τὸ στῆθος κοπτουσῶν. Ὁ οὖν ἐν συναισθήσει ἰδίων ἁμαρτημάτων γεγονὼς, καὶ ἐνεργητικῶς διὰ χειρῶν πνευματικῶν τὴν αἴσθησιν αὐτοῦ διεγείρας, μεταβαλὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ ὀλοφύρεσθαι, χαρὰν τὸν καρπὸν τοῦ Πνεύματος ἀναλήψεται. Τὸ, ἔστρεψας, δηλοῖ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ κόπτεσθαι καὶ λυπεῖσθαι εἰς χαρὰν μεταβολήν· τὸ δὲ, οὐ μὴ κατανυγῶ, οὐ μὴ μεταγνῶ, φησί. ∆όξα δὲ ψάλλουσα τοῦ ταῦτα λέγοντος τῷ Θεῷ, ὀρθὴ πολιτεία καὶ γνῶσίς ἐστιν εἰλικρινής. Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι· ἀντὶ τοῦ, ἐπὶ πᾶσι 23.265 τοῖς συμβαίνουσιν, οὐ προσηνέσι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ πόνοις, εὐχαριστῶ σοι, ∆έσποτα. ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΤΩ ∆ΑΥΙ∆, ΕΚΣΤΑΣΕΩΣ Λʹ. Οὔτε ἐν τῇ Ἑβραίων Γραφῇ, οὔτε παρὰ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἑρμηνευταῖς ἡ προγραφὴ περιέχει, ἐκστάσεως. Μήποτε δὲ διὰ τὸ ἐκφέρεσθαι τῷ ψαλμῷ· Ἐγὼ δὲ εἶπα ἐν τῇ ἐκστάσει μου· Ἀπέῤῥιμμαι ἀπὸ προσώπου τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν σου, τὴν προσθήκην τις ἐποιήσατο ἐν τῇ προγραφῇ εἰς τὸν καιρὸν καθ' ὃν ἐν ἐκστάσει γενόμενος εἶπεν· Ἀπέῤῥιμμαι ἀπὸ προσώπου τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν σου, ἀναπέμψας τὰ ἐμφερόμενα τῷ λόγω; Πλὴν ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ τέλος τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας παραπέμπει καὶ ἡ παροῦσα προγραφὴ, ἤτοι διὰ τὰ τελευταῖα, ἐν οἷς παραίνεσιν ἀναγκαιοτάτην περιέχει ἡ λέγουσα· Ἀγαπήσατε τὸν Κύριον πάντες οἱ ὅσιοι αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἀληθείας ἐκζητεῖται Κύριος, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· ἢ διὰ τὸ προφητεύειν τινὰ περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὸ πάθος τοῦ Σωτῆρος πεπραγμένων· ἃ δὴ γίγνεσθαι ἤμελλεν ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τοῦ αἰῶνος. Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ἐλπίδας ὑπογράφει ἀγαθὰς ὁ λόγος, αἵτινες ἤμελλον αὐτῷ εἰς τὸν μέλλοντα χρόνον ἀποδίδοσθαι, εἰκότως εἰς τὸ τέλος ἀναπέμπει τὴν προγραφήν. Περιέχει δὲ ὁ πᾶς ἱκετηρίαν τοῦ ∆αυΐδ, ὅλον ἑαυτὸν ἀναρτήσαντος τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ παρακαλεῖ μὴ ἐκπεσεῖν τῆς ἐλπίδος. Ἐπὶ σοὶ, Κύριε, ἤλπισα, μὴ καταισχυνθείην εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· ἐν τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ σου ῥῦσαί με καὶ ἐξελοῦ με. Κλῖνον πρὸς μὲ τὸ οὖς σου, τάχυνον τοῦ ἐξελέσθαι με. Πολλῷ τε πλούτῳ περιῤῥεόμενος, εἰ καὶ νίκαις ταῖς κατ' ἐχθρῶν ἐκόμα, ἀλλὰ τούτων οὐδὲν πρὸς ἀσφάλειαν συμβαλεῖσθαι αὐτῷ ἐπέπειστο, μόνην δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ Κύριον ἐλπίδα· διὸ ἱκέτευε ταύτης μήποτε ἐκπεσεῖν· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐδίδασκε τὰ ὅμοια αὐτῷ ζηλοῦντας καὶ φρονεῖν καὶ λέγειν. Ἀντὶ δὲ, ἐν τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ σου· ἐν τῇ ἐλεημοσύνῃ σου, ὁ Σύμμαχος ἐξέδωκε. Γενοῦ μοι εἰς Θεὸν ὑπερασπιστὴν, καὶ εἰς οἶκον καταφυγῆς τοῦ σῶσαί με. Ὅτι κραταίωμά μου καὶ καταφυγή μου εἶ σὺ, καὶ ἕνεκεν τοῦ ὀνόματός σου ὁδηγήσεις με καὶ διαθρέψεις με. Ταῦτα καὶ ἐν τῷ ἑπτακαιδεκάτῳ εἶπε ψαλμῷ. Ἐξάξεις με ἐκ παγίδος ταύτης, ἧς ἔκρυψάν