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he might be refreshed, having delighted in perfect goods. For if not so, but he should depart still lacking, he will no longer exist, not by being destroyed into non-being (for the soul is immortal and indestructible) but by no longer existing in participation of the One who is. For this happens to be true being, to participate in the one who said: 'I am who I am,' those who do not have this participation being said not to be, according to what was said in a prayer to God: 'Do not hand over your scepter to those who are not.' Desiring to share in this existence, he prays that a time be given to him to be refreshed by participation in the One who is, so that he may truly exist.

400 Ps 39,3ab He calls idolatry a pit of misery, since

those drawing from it are miserable; for they draw nothing of the things suitable for life, which Jeremiah said, reproaching the Jews, 'They have dug for themselves broken cisterns that cannot hold water'; Pleasures [he calls] a muddy mire, since this happens to be dregs and corruption of bodies and decay, and from both Christ saved the nations through faith in him and the proclamation. 401 Ps 39,3cδ Those who think that nothing is revealed in scripture beyond the letter say: as if someone who has obtained so great a good, having stood his body's feet on a perceptible rock, so gives thanks to the one who bestowed this. But we say that the one who has been delivered from the aforementioned pit and mire, being established on unbreakable and unshakable perfection according to virtue, proclaims the things that are set forth; for it follows for the one who has so stood upon a rock that his steps are also directed by the Lord, as he passes from wickedness to virtue and from mortal things to immortal things, but also according to all progress. 402 Ps 39,4ab Belonging to the newness of the spirit and perhaps the moral discourse is a New Song, while theology is a hymn. 403 Ps 39,5b One must consider him to be calling the pursuits of this life 'vanities', and 'lying madnesses' the false teachings and false prophecies. And it should be noted that, as there are true madnesses, he added 'lying' to 'madnesses'; for perhaps those who are prophetically possessed have a true madness, while the false seers have a lying madness. 404 Ps 39,6b He calls 'thoughts of God' the, so to speak, reasonings of the things that happen according to God's providence. Therefore, he says, to these thoughts of yours no one of created beings would be found to be like, since there is no one who knows the mind of the Lord. 405 Ps 39,6c Your wonderful works and your thoughts; for whenever someone wishes to discuss something profound, then he will find it more obscure than before; For I said, 'I will become wise,' and it became far from me, further than it was, and a deep depth, who will find it? 406 Ps 39,7 The Epistle to the Hebrews says that these preceding verses were spoken from the person of the Savior, stating concerning the Savior, 'Therefore, when he comes into the world, he says, "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,"' and the rest. It has therefore provided occasion for the whole psalm to be said by him, maintaining the same person of the one speaking until the end. Therefore, when the time of the shadow had passed, during which sacrifice and offering were brought, God, no longer wanting worship through these, prepared a body for the Son from the virgin, so as no longer to be pleased with whole burnt offerings and sin offerings. The Savior said to the Father, 'Behold, I have come to do your will,' according to which will he took away the sin of the world, himself being sacrificed and offered for the sin of all, so that, with remission having occurred, there would no longer be a need for the sacrifice for sins. 407 Ps 39,8b.9a He calls the 'chapter of a book' all the divinely-inspired scripture, both the legal and the prophetic; for in this it is written concerning the coming here of the Savior. And he said 'in a chapter' because the whole is summed up into one. And this is for the Savior to become man, so that he may wish to do the will of the Lord.

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ἀναψύξῃ κατατρυφήσας ἐν τελείοις ἀγαθοῖς. εἰ γὰρ μὴ ουτως ἀλλ' ετι λείπων ἀπέλθοι, οὐκέτι μὴ ὑπάρξῃ, οὐ τῷ καταστρέφειν εἰς τὸ μὴ ον (ἀθάνατος γὰρ καὶ ἀνώλεθρος ἡ ψυχὴ) ἀλλὰ τῷ μηκέτι ἐν μετοχῇ τοῦ οντος ὑπάρχειν. τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ ἀληθῶς ειναι τυγχάνει, τὸ μετέχειν τοῦ εἰρηκότος· ̓Εγώ εἰμι ὁ ων, λεγομένων μὴ ειναι τῶν ταύτην τὴν μετοχὴν οὐκ ἐχόντων κατὰ τὸ λελεγμένον ἐν εὐχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν· Μὴ παραδῷς τὸ σκῆπτρόν σου τοῖς μὴ ουσιν. ταύτης τῆς ὑπάρξεως μετασχεῖν ποθῶν ευχεται καιρὸν αὐτῷ δοθῆναι τοῦ ἀναψύξαι τῇ μετουσίᾳ τοῦ οντος, ιν' ἀληθῶς ὑπάρξῃ.

400 Ps 39,3ab Λάκκον ταλαιπωρίας τὴν εἰδωλολατρίαν καλεῖ, ὡς

ταλαιπωρουμένων τῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀντλούντων· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀντλοῦσιν τῶν εἰς ζωὴν ἐπιτηδείων, οπερ ̔Ιερεμίας ὀνειδίζων τοὺς ̓Ιουδαίους ελεγεν Ωρυξαν ἑαυτοῖς λάκκουςσυντετριμμένους οι οὐ δυνήσονται υδωρ συνέχειν· Πηλὸν ἰλύος τὰς ἡδονάς, ἐπειδὴ τρὺξ αυτη καὶ φθορὰ σωμάτων καὶ σηπεδόνες τυγχάνουσιν, ὡς ἐξ ἑκατέρου δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς τὰ εθνη διὰ τῆς πίστεως τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν καὶ τοῦ κηρύγματος εσωσεν. 401 Ps 39,3cδ Οἱ παρὰ τῆς λέξεως μηδὲν δηλοῦσθαι ἐν τῇ γραφῇ νομίζοντες λέγουσιν· ὡς αν πηλίκου ἀγαθοῦ τυχὼν ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς αἰσθητῆς πέτρας τοὺς πόδας τοῦ σώματος στάς, ουτως εὐχαριστεῖ τῷ τοῦτο δωρησαμένῳ. ἡμεῖς δέ φαμεν οτι ὁ τῶν προειρημένων λάκκου καὶ πηλοῦ ἀπαλλαγεὶς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρραγῆ καὶ ἀκλόνητον κατ' ἀρετὴν τελειότητα ἱδρυνθεὶς ἀπαγγέλλει τὰ προκείμενα· τῷ γὰρ ουτω στάντι ἐπὶ πέτραν ἀκολουθεῖ καὶ τὸ κατευθύνεσθαι τὰ διαβήματα αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ κυρίου διαβαίνοντος ἀπὸ κακίας εἰς ἀρετὴν καὶ ἀπὸ θνητῶν εἰς ἀθάνατα ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν προκοπήν. 402 Ps 39,4ab Οἰκεῖον τῇ καινότητι τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ τάχα Αισμα καινὸν ὁ ἠθικός ἐστιν λόγος, υμνος δὲ ἡ θεολογία. 403 Ps 39,5b Ματαιότητας ἡγητέον λέγειν αὐτὸν τὰς βιωτικὰς σπουδάς, Μανίας δὲ ψευδεῖς τὰς ψευδεῖς διδασκαλίας καὶ ψευδοπροφητείας. σημειωτέον δὲ οτι, ὡς οὐσῶν ἀληθινῶν μανιῶν, προσέθηκεν τὸ Ψευδεῖς ταῖς μανίαις· τάχα γὰρ οἱ προφητικῶς κατεχόμενοι ἀληθῆ εχουσιν μανίαν, οἱ δὲ ψευδομάντεις μανίαν ψευδῆ. 404 Ps 39,6b ∆ιαλογισμοὺς δὲ θεοῦ λέγει τούς, ιν' ουτως ειπω, ἐκλογισμοὺς τῶν κατὰ πρόνοιαν θεοῦ γινομένων. τούτοις ουν, φησίν, τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς σου οὐκ εὑρεθείη τις τῶν γενητῶν ὁμοιούμενος τῷ μηδένα ειναι τὸν γινώσκοντα νοῦν κυρίου. 405 Ps 39,6c Τὰ θαυμάσια καὶ οἱ διαλογισμοί σου· οταν γάρ τις περὶ βάθεός τινος διεξελθεῖν ἐθέλοι, τότε μᾶλλον ἀσαφέστερον εὑρήσει αὐτὸ η πρότερον· Ειπα γὰρ Σοφισθήσομαι, καὶ αὐτὴ ἐμακρύνθη ἀπ' ἐμοῦ μακρὰν ὑπὲρ ο ην, καὶ βαθὺ βάθος, τίς εὑρήσει αὐτήν; 406 Ps 39,7 Τούτους δὲ τοὺς προκειμένους στίχους ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ σωτῆρος εἰρῆσθαι ἡ Πρὸς ̔Εβραίους ἐπιστολή φησιν φάσκουσα περὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ∆ιὸ εἰσερχόμενος εἰς τὸν κόσμον λέγει Θυσίαν καὶ προσφορὰν οὐκ ἠθέλησας, καὶ τὰ λοιπά. παρέσχεν ουν ἀφορμὴν τοῦ ολον τὸν ψαλμὸν εἰρῆσθαι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τηροῦντα τὸ αὐτὸ πρόσωπον μέχρι τέλους τοῦ λέγοντος. παρελθόντος τοίνυν τοῦ καιροῦ τῆς σκιᾶς καθ' ον θυσία καὶ προσφορὰ προσήγετο, οὐκέτι τὴν διὰ τούτων λατρείαν βουληθεὶς ὁ θεός, κατηρτίσατο ἐκ τῆς παρθένου σῶμα τῷ υἱῷ, ὡς μηκέτι εὐδοκεῖν ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας. τοῦ σωτῆρος εἰπόντος τῷ πατρὶ ̓Ιδοὺ ηκω ἐπὶ τὸ θέλημά σου, καθ' ο θέλημα ηρεν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου, αὐτὸς τυθεὶς καὶ προσενεχθεὶς ὑπὲρ τῆς πάντων ἁμαρτίας, ινα ἀφέσεως γεναμένης μηκέτι χρεία ῃ τῆς περὶ ἁμαρτιῶν θυσίας. 407 Ps 39,8b.9a Κεφαλίδα βιβλίου πᾶσαν τὴν θεόπνευστον γραφὴν νομικήν τε καὶ προφητικὴν λέγει· ἐν ταύτῃ γὰρ γέγραπται περὶ τῆς δεῦρο φοιτήσεως τοῦ σωτῆρος. ̓Εν κεφαλίδι δὲ ειπεν διὰ τὸ τὴν πᾶσαν εἰς εν ἀνακεφαλαιοῦσθαι. Εστι δὲ τὸ τὸν σωτῆρα ανθρωπον γενέσθαι, οπως ποιῆσαι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ κυρίου βουληθῇ.