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the saying has been inserted in the middle of God's wonder-working: below, he says, the abyss, the pouring down is nothing; but it is truly wonderful to be established upon what is poured out. 36, 1617 and your table came down full of fatness, and judgment will not fail the just. 311 For the just, he says, judgment does not fail, that is, God allots to them what is according to their worth, so as to spread out for them a table full of fatness, primarily that of knowledge, the spiritual one, and as a consequence, perhaps, also that which consists in perceptible goods. 36, 18 But there will be wrath upon the ungodly because of the ungodliness of the gifts which they received in ungodliness. And divine anger will await the bribe-takers. But when you hear of wrath and anger concerning God, do not think of it as a passion existing in the divine nature—for God punishes without passion and without anger, but since anger and wrath are correlative to fear, and one fears someone stronger than oneself who is wrathful and angry, Scripture uses these names to lead us to the fear of God. 36, 19 Let not your mind willingly turn away from the plea of the helpless who are in need. Do not willingly turn aside from the straight path when the helpless who are in need require your assistance, but help according to your ability. 36, 1921 and all who are strong in might; do not draw out the night for peoples to rise up in their place; but beware, lest you do what is amiss; for for this I have chosen you out of poverty. Just as, he says, one must not overlook the helpless, so too one must not lie in wait for the powerful at night with a multitude and more peoples and cast them out of their own things. He teaches that it is fitting to maintain equality and justice for both the powerful and the helpless, and neither to overlook the 312 helpless who are being wronged nor to cast out the powerful from their own things by force. It is fitting, therefore, to abstain from what is amiss with all vigilance. But others have interpreted it thus: Do not, he says, prolong the whole night sleeping, lest by casting out the good reasonings that strengthen the soul's might, you introduce others that are base and amiss to yourself. Beware, therefore, of not doing what is amiss. The first is according to the letter, the second according to the thought; and from such deeds, those according to justice, he says, you will be raised to a height of understanding, no longer thinking anything lowly or poor or groveling. 36, 22 Behold, the strong one will prevail in his strength. For who is a ruler like him? From the discourse about the justice of men he proceeds to the discourse about the strength and justice of God, adding also that of his magnificence and wisdom and of the unsearchable works of divine providence. Observe, then, he says, how the strong God works all things mightily and with divine power, and there is no one who can be compared to his power. 36, 23 And who is he that examines his works, or who has said: He has done unjust things? But even if he is so great in strength, he does not do anything amiss as though having authority, nor can anyone, by searching his works, show anything to have been done unjustly, so that even if it is not possible to examine and 313 to search out the deeds of God—for they are unsearchable and incomprehensible—yet it is fitting to believe with a pious mind that there is nothing unjust with the just God. 36, 24 Remember that his works are great, over which men have ruled. Consider then the magnificence of God's works concerning creation, of quadrupeds, of reptiles, of sea creatures, of birds, of which the earth brings forth in various ways, of all these things, over which men were appointed to rule from the beginning. Through Moses he says: Let us make man in our image and after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air. But the great writer: You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and so on. And for the sake of man and the creation placed under his rule, there came to be a need for rains, which he mentions in the following. 36, 25 Every man has seen in him. For every man has knowledge of God, even if the accounts of his works have become known only in part to a few. 36, 25 as many mortals as are wounded.

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θαυματουργίας τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ μέσου παρεντέθηται τὸ ῥητόν, ὑποκάτω, φησίν, τῆς ἀβύσσου οὐδέν ἐστιν ἡ κατάχυσις· θαυμαστὸν δὲ ὄντως τὸ ἐπὶ χύματος ἡδράσθαι. 36, 1617 καὶ κατέβη τράπεζά σου πλήρης πιότητος, καὶ οὐχ ὑστερήσει δὲ ἀπὸ δικαίων κρίμα. 311 τῶν δὲ δικαίων, φησίν, οὐχ ὑστερεῖ τὸ κρίμα, τουτέστιν· ἀπονέμει αὐτοῖς τὸ κατ' ἀξίαν ὁ θεός, ὡς καὶ ἐφαπλοῦν αὐτοῖς τράπεζαν πλήρης πιότητος, πρωτοτύπως μὲν τὴν τῆς γνώσεως, τὴν πνευματικήν, κατά τι δὲ παρακολούθημα ἴσως που καὶ τὴν ἐν αἰσθητοῖς ἀγαθοῖς. 36, 18 θυμὸς δὲ ἐπ' ἀσεβεῖς ἔσται δι' ἀσεβείας δώρων, ὧν ἐδέχοντο ἐπ' ἀσεβείας. τοὺς δὲ δωροδέκτας ἡ θεία ἐκδέξεται ὀργή. θυμὸν δὲ καὶ ὀργήν, ὅταν ἀκούσῃς περὶ θεοῦ, μὴ πάθος ἐννοήσῃς περὶ τὴν θείαν ἵστασθαι φύσινἀπαθῶς γὰρ ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἀοργήτως τιμωρεῖται, ἀλλ' ἐπειδήπερ ἀντιπαθῶς ἔχουσιν ἡ ὀργὴ καὶ ὁ θυμὸς πρὸς τὸν φόβον καὶ δέδοικέ τις τὸν ἰσχυρότερον ἑαυτοῦ θυμούμενον καὶ ὀργιζόμενον, τούτοις ἡ γραφὴ κέχρηται τοῖς ὀνόμασι πρὸς τὸν θεῖον ἡμᾶς ἐνάγουσα φόβον. 36, 19 μή σε ἐκκλινάτω ἑκὼν ὁ νοῦς δεήσεως ἐν ἀνάγκῃ ὄντων ἀδυνάτων. μὴ ἑκὼν τῆς εὐθείας ὁδοῦ παρατραπῇς, ὅταν τῆς σῆς ἐπικουρίας δέωνται οἱ ἐν ἀνάγκῃ ὄντες ἀδύνατοι, ἀλλ' ἐπάμυνον κατὰ δύναμιν. 36, 1921 καὶ πάντας τοὺς κραταιοῦντας ἰσχύν· μὴ ἐξελκύσῃς τὴν νύκτα τοῦ ἀναβῆναι λαοὺς ἀντ' αὐτῶν· ἀλλὰ φύλαξαι, μὴ πράξῃς ἄτοπα· ἐπὶ τοῦτον γὰρ ἐξείλω ἀπὸ πτωχείας. ὥσπερ δή, φησίν, οὐ χρὴ τοὺς ἀδυνάτους περιορᾶν, οὕτως οὐδὲ τοῖς δυνατοῖς ἐφεδρεύειν ἐν νυκτὶ μετὰ πλήθους καὶ λαῶν πλειόνων καὶ τῶν οἰκείων ἐκβάλλειν. διδάσκει δέ, ὅτι καὶ δυνατῷ καὶ ἀδυνάτῳ τὴν ἰσότητα καὶ τὸ δίκαιον προσήκει φυλάττειν καὶ μήτε τοὺς ἀ 312 δυνάτους περιορᾶν ἀδικουμένους μήτε τοὺς δυνατοὺς βίᾳ τῶν οἰκείων ἐκβάλλειν. πάσῃ οὖν φυλακῇ τῶν ἀτόπων ἀπέχεσθαι προσήκει. ἄλλοι δὲ οὕτως ἡρμήνευσαν· μὴ παρελκύσῃς, φησίν, ὅλην τὴν νύκτα καθεύδων, ἵνα μὴ ἐκβαλὼν τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς λογισμοὺς τοὺς κραταιοῦντας τὴν ἰσχὺν τῆς ψυχῆς ἑτέρους φαύλους καὶ ἀτόπους ἀντεισαγάγῃς σαυτῷ. φύλαξαι οὖν τοῦ μὴ ποιῆσαι ἄτοπα. κατὰ μὲν οὖν τὸ ῥητὸν τὸ πρῶτον, κατὰ δὲ διάνοιαν τὸ δεύτερον· ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν τοιούτων πράξεων, τῶν κατὰ δικαιοσύνην, φησίν, εἰς ὕψος ἀναχθήσῃ διανοίας μηδὲν ἔτι ταπεινὸν ἢ πτωχὸν ἢ χαμαιπετὲς φρονῶν. 36, 22 ἰδοὺ ὁ ἰσχυρὸς κραταιώσει ἐν ἰσχύι αὐτοῦ. τίς γάρ ἐστι κατ' αὐτὸν δυνάστης; ἀπὸ τοῦ περὶ δικαιοσύνης ἀνθρώπων λόγου εἰς τὸν περὶ ἰσχύος θεοῦ καὶ δικαιοσύνης ἐκβαίνει λόγον, ἐπισυνάπτων καὶ τὸν τῆς μεγαλοπρεπείας αὐτοῦ καὶ σοφίας καὶ τῶν ἀνεξιχνιάστων τῆς θείας προνοίας ἔργων. θεώρησον οὖν, φησίν, ὡς ὁ ἰσχυρὸς θεὸς κραταιῶς πάντα καὶ μετὰ θεϊκῆς δυνάμεως ἐργάζεται, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ τῇ αὐτοῦ δυνάμει παραβαλλόμενος. 36, 23 τίς δέ ἐστιν ὁ ἐτάζων ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τὰ ἔργα, ἢ τίς ὁ εἰπών· ἔπραξεν ἄδικα; ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ τοσοῦτός ἐστι τὴν ἰσχύν, οὐχ ὡς ἐξουσίαν ἔχων ἄτοπόν τι πράττει οὐδὲ δύναταί τις ἀναζητῶν αὐτοῦ τὰ ἔργα ἐπιδεῖξαί τι πεπραγμένον ἀδίκως, ὥστε εἰ καὶ μὴ δυνατὸν ἐτάζειν καὶ 313 ἀναζητεῖν τοῦ θεοῦ τὰς πράξειςἀνεξιχνίαστοι γὰρ καὶ ἀκατάληπτοι, ἀλλ' οὖν εὐσεβεῖ διανοίᾳ προσήκει πιστεύειν, ὡς οὐδὲν ἄδικον παρὰ τῷ δικαίῳ θεῷ. 36, 24 μνήσθητι, ὅτι μεγάλα τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ ἐστιν, ὧν ἦρξαν ἄνδρες. ἀναλόγισαι δὴ τῶν περὶ τὴν κτίσιν ἔργων τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ μεγαλεῖον, τετραπόδων, ἑρπετῶν, ἐναλίων, πετεινῶν, ὧν ἡ γῆ ποικίλως ἐκφύει, τούτων ἁπάντων, ὧν ἄρχειν ἄνθρωποι κατ' ἀρχὰς ἐτάγησαν. διὰ Μωυσέως μὲν λέγει· ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν, καὶ ἀρχέτωσαν τῶν ἰχθύων τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ τῶν πετεινῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. ὁ δὲ μεγαλογράφος· πάντα ὑπέταξας ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ, πρόβατα καὶ βόας ἁπάσας καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. διὰ δὲ ἄνθρωπον καὶ τὴν κτίσιν τὴν ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτοῦ τεταγμένην ἀρχὴν τῶν ὑετῶν γέγονε χρεία, ὧν διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς μνημονεύει. 36, 25 πᾶς ἄνθρωπος εἶδεν ἐν αὐτῷ. τὴν γὰρ περὶ θεοῦ γνῶσιν πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἔχει, εἰ καὶ ὀλίγοις ἐκ μέρους οἱ λόγοι τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ γεγόνασι γνώριμοι. 36, 25 ὅσοι τιτρωσκόμενοί εἰσι βροτοί.