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of the wealth he had, and poor by acquiring through labor the means to live. Unjust witnesses rising up asked me of things I knew not. Those who are witnesses not of justice but of injustice, having risen up and stirred them up, sophistically question me about things I do not know. For the virtuous man knows nothing of wicked things, that is, he is mixed with none of the evil things. And the testimony: He who keeps the commandment will not know an evil word. For here 23.301 also "he will not know" means he has not done or been mixed with an evil word; for it is false to think that one who keeps the divine commandment does not understand an evil word. For having the discernment of evil and good, turning away from all other words, he came to observe the commandment. What he says, then, is this: Having no experience nor knowledge or notion of evil things, they provoked and questioned me about them, just as the Egyptian woman did to Joseph, and the elders to Susanna. They rendered me evil things for good, and childlessness to my soul. While I was striving to wish to perform blamelessly my duties to all, if possible to be at peace with all men, they in return for these good things rendered me evil, appearing as enemies and ill-disposed in all things; and as far as it was in their power they attempted to destroy the fruitfulness in good things of my soul. For if, persuaded by their questions, I had become such as they wished to make me, my soul would have been made childless, no longer receiving the divine seeds of the bridegroom. And if the disciples of the teacher are called children, then indeed the soul of the teacher is made childless, having fallen into errors by its own scandal, destroying those who came from it through discipleship. But instead of "childlessness to my soul," Symmachus rendered it "Things overturned against my soul." Since the present matters are connected with those previously spoken in the thirty-third psalm, and those mentioned the history concerning Abimelech, before whom he changed his countenance, according to what has been handed down, perhaps the things at hand can also be referred to those events. For Saul, having learned from Doeg that David had come to Abimelech, and having taken bread had been saved, slew all the priests of the Lord, and Abimelech himself with his whole family. David could have said these things, therefore, in the person of Saul, so that the entire psalm might also be referred to that time when Doeg bore false witness against Abimelech before Saul; and perhaps the Holy Spirit, describing the sufferings of the priests, proclaimed the present words, saying: Judge, O Lord, those who wrong me, and the rest. But the things spoken in a singular way about a certain one in the passage, "Let a snare which he knows not come upon him, and let the net which he hid catch him, and into that very snare let him fall," can be applied to Doeg. And the phrase, "Unjust witnesses rising up asked me of things I knew not; they rendered me evil for good, and childlessness to my soul," could be spoken from the person of Abimelech. And it is likely that David said these things; for the psalm is inscribed to him, who would speak with an apostolic disposition: "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?" and, "If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it." And besides these things, one might say that the unjust witnesses are all those who slandered David before Saul; for then the Ziphites 23.304 came and said: "Behold, David is hidden with us," and at other times it is likely that others, doing things to please the king, bore much false witness against him, and said against him things which he did not know nor even think. The phrase, "They rendered me evil for good," can be referred to him. Since Saul, though often treated well by David, repaid him with the opposite, devising dreadful things against his soul, and causing childlessness in his soul. And childlessness of the soul is when its own seeds, which

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οὗ εἶχε πλούτου, καὶ πένητα τῷ μετὰ πόνον περιποιεῖν τὰ πρὸς τὸ διαζῇν. Ἀναστάντες μάρτυρες ἄδικοι ἃ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον ἠρώτων με. Οἱ μὴ δικαιοσύνης, ἀλλ' ἀδικίας μάρτυρες, διαναστάντες καὶ διεγείραντες αὐτοὺς, σοφιστικῶς ἐπερωτῶσιν ἃ οὐ γινώσκω. Οὐδὲν γὰρ τῶν φαύλων γινώσκει ὁ σπουδαῖος, τουτέστιν οὐδενὶ τῶν πονηρῶν ἀνακέκραται. Μαρτύριον δέ· Ὁ φυλάσσων ἐντολὴν οὐ γνώσεται ῥῆμα πονηρόν. Καὶ ἐνταῦθα 23.301 γὰρ τὸ οὐ γνώσεται, οὐ πεποίηται οὐδὲ ἀνακέκραται κατὰ ῥῆμα πονηρόν· ψεῦδος γὰρ τὸ νομίζειν μὴ ἐπίστασθαι ῥῆμα πονηρὸν τὸν φυλάττοντα τὴν θείαν ἐντολήν. ∆ιάκρισιν γὰρ ἔχων πονηροῦ καὶ ἀγαθοῦ, τἄλλα πάντα ἀποστραφεὶς ῥήματα, ἐπιτηρεῖν τὴν ἐντολὴν ἦλθεν. Ὃ οὖν λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Πεῖραν οὐκ ἔχοντα οὐδὲ γνῶσιν ἢ ἔννοιαν τῶν κακῶν, διερεθίζοντές με ἐπερώτων με περὶ αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ ἡ Αἰγυπτία τὸν Ἰωσὴφ, καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι τὴν Σουσάνναν. Ἀνταπεδίδοσάν μοι πονηρὰ ἀντὶ καλῶν καὶ ἀτεκνίαν τῇ ψυχῇ μου. Ἐμοῦ φιλοτιμουμένου τὰ πρὸς πάντας καθήκοντα ἀμέμπτως ἐπιτελεῖν βούλεσθαι, εἰ δυνατὸν μετὰ πάντων ἀνθρώπων εἰρηνεύειν, αὐτοὶ ἀντὶ τούτων τῶν καλῶν πονηρὰ ἀνταπεδίδουν μοι, ἐχθροὶ καὶ δυσμενεῖς διὰ πάντων ἀναφαινόμενοι· τὸ ὅσον δὲ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς τὴν ἐν καλοῖς εὐτεκνίαν τῆς ψυχῆς μου ἀναιρεῖν ἐπεχείρουν. Εἰ γοῦν, πεισθεὶς αὐτῶν ταῖς ἐρωτήσεσι τοιοῦτος ἐγεγόνειν οἷον ἤθελόν με ποιῆσαι, ἠτεκνώθη ἂν ἡ ψυχή μου, μηκέτι δεχομένη τὰς θείας τοῦ νυμφίου γονάς. Εἰ δὲ τέκνα λέγοιντο οἱ μαθηταὶ τοῦ διδάξαντος, καὶ ὄντως ἀτεκνοῦται ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ διδασκάλου, σφάλμασι περιπεσοῦσα τῷ ἑαυτῆς σκανδάλῳ, ἀναιροῦσα τοὺς ἐξ αὐτῆς γενομένους διὰ μαθητείας. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, ἀτεκνίαν τῇ ψυχῇ μου, Ἀνεστραμμένα κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς μου, ὁ Σύμμαχος ἐξέδωκεν. Ἐπειδὴ τὰ προκείμενα συνῆπται τοῖς ἐν τῷ τριακοστῷ τρίτῳ ψαλμῷ προλελεγμένοις· ἐκεῖνα δὲ τῆς ἱστορίας ἐμνημόνευε τῆς κατὰ τὸν Ἀβιμέλεχ, ἐφ' οὗ ἠλλοίωσε τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ, κατὰ τὰ ἀποδεδομένα· τάχα που δύναται καὶ τὰ μετὰ χεῖρας ἐπ' ἐκεῖνα ἀναφέρεσθαι. Μαθὼν γὰρ ὁ Σαοὺλ παρὰ ∆ωὴκ, ὡς ἀφῖκται ∆αυῒδ πρὸς Ἀβιμέλεχ, ἄρτους τε εἰληφὼς διασέσωσται, πάντας ἀνεῖλε τοὺς ἱερεῖς τοῦ Κυρίου, αὐτόν τε τὸν Ἀβιμέλεχ παγγενεί. ∆ύναται οὖν ταῦτα ὁ ∆αυῒδ εἰς πρόσωπον τοῦ Σαοὺλ εἰρηκέναι, ὡς καὶ πάντα τὸν ψαλμὸν εἰς ἐκεῖνον ἀναφέρεσθαι τὸν καιρὸν, καθ' ὃν ∆ωὴκ ἐψευδομαρτύρησε τοῦ Ἀβιμέλεχ παρὰ τοῦ Σαούλ· καὶ τάχα τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, τὰ πάθη τῶν ἱερέων ὑπογράφον, τὰ προκείμενα ἀνεφώνει λέγων· ∆ίκασον, Κύριε, τοὺς ἀδικοῦντάς με, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Τὰ δὲ μονοτρόπως εἰρημένα περὶ ἑνός τινος ἐν τῷ, Ἐλθέτω αὐτῷ παγὶς ἣν οὐ γινώσκει, καὶ ἡ θήρα ἣν ἔκρυψε συλλαβέτω αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐν τῇ παγίδι πεσεῖται ἐν αὐτῇ, δύναται τῷ ∆ωὴκ ἐφαρμόζειν. Καὶ τὸ, Ἀναστάντες μάρτυρες ἄδικοι, ἃ οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον ἠρώτων με· ἀνταπεδίδοσάν μοι πονηρὰ ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν, καὶ ἀτεκνίαν τῇ ψυχῇ μου, ἐκ προσώπου λεχθείη ἂν τοῦ Ἀβιμέλεχ. Καὶ ταῦτα δὲ εἰκὸς εἰρηκέναι τὸν ∆αυΐδ· αὐτοῦ γὰρ ἐπιγέγραπται ὁ ψαλμὸς, ἀποστολικῇ διαθέσει λέξοντος ἄν· Τίς ἀσθενεῖ, καὶ οὐκ ἀσθενῶ; τίς σκανδαλίζεται, καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ πυροῦμαι; καὶ, Παθόντος ἑνὸς μέλους, συμπάσχει πάντα τὰ μέλη. Καὶ ἄλλος δὲ παρὰ ταῦτα μάρτυρας μὲν ἀδίκους εἴποι ἄν τις πάντας τοὺς ἐνδιαβάλλοντας τὸν ∆αυῒδ παρὰ τοῦ Σαούλ· τότε μὲν γὰρ οἱ Ζιφαῖοι 23.304 ἔλεγον ἐλθόντες· Ἰδοὺ ∆αυῒδ κέκρυπται παρ' ἡμῖν, καὶ ἄλλοτε ἄλλους εἰκὸς, κεχαρισμένα τῷ βασιλεῖ πράττοντας, πολλὰ κατ' αὐτοῦ ψευδομαρτυρεῖν, καὶ ἃ μὴ ἐγίνωσκεν μηδὲ διενοεῖτο, ταῦτα κατ' αὐτοῦ λέγειν. Τὸ δ', Ἀνταπεδίδοσάν μοι πονηρὰ ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν, δύναται εἰς αὐτὸν ἀναφέρεσθαι. Ἐπειδὴ πολλάκις εὖ παθὼν ὑπὸ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ὁ Σαοὺλ, τοῖς ἐναντίοις αὐτὸν ἠμείβετο, δεινὰ κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ μηχανώμενος, καὶ ἀτεκνίαν ἐμποιῶν τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτοῦ. Ἀτεκνία δὲ ψυχῆς ἐστιν, ὅταν τὰ ἑαυτῆς σπέρματα, ἃ