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in the ways of confession. And in another way he says: if such a thing has been done by me for which it is right to be reproved by wrath, yet having repented I ask to be reproved by reason and not by wrath, and to be disciplined by teaching and not by anger. For your arrows have been fixed in me. For the athlete Job, having endured all sorts of temptations, was not ignorant of where these things came to him from; therefore he said: For the arrows of the Lord are in my mouth, whose wrath drinks up my blood. But David, not struck in the body like Job, but wounded in the soul itself at a critical point, does not say like Job: For the arrows of the Lord are in my mouth; but, For your arrows have been fixed in me, and you have laid your hand upon me. And he recalls the hand of the Lord, saying: For it is the hand of the Lord that has touched me. And the devil said to the Lord, Send forth your hand and touch all that he has; and again: Send forth your hand, and touch his 23.341 flesh and his bones. But it was another hand and other arrows that reached his flesh and his bodily possessions; here, however, since David was sick in his very soul, he indicates that other arrows reached him, and another hand of God touched him, as we have already said, the rational arrows, or rather the very words of God pricking his soul, and punishing his conscience itself. But does it not perhaps also signify the devil himself and the fiery darts of the devil, the passionate and erotic ones that inflamed him with desire for the wife of Uriah? of which the Apostle also teaches, saying: Take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And just as Job called the arrows of the devil and the wounds inflicted on his body the arrows of the Lord, since it happened by the permission of God, saying: For the arrows of the Lord are in my mouth, whose wrath drinks up my blood; so it is likely that David here also spoke of the arrows of the Lord, since by the Lord's permission the adversary made war against him, so that he might learn not to say: I shall not be moved for ever. For since, being empowered by the grace of God, he once thought highly of himself, so as to be presumptuous and say: But I said in my prosperity, I shall not be moved for ever; for this reason he was rightly handed over to the tempter, who, by touching his soul, harmed him more than Job. But if the words of God, which are reminders of His righteous judgment and instructive of the anger hanging over sinners, are sharper than arrows, pricking the conscience; so too you might say that David, being pierced by these sacred and divine arrows, reasonably begs off the reproof that comes through wrath. For having received, he says, the anger and the wrath, the arrows from you that reach me punish me sufficiently, and chastise me enough; but your hand has also touched me through successive calamities. There is no healing in my flesh because of your anger, there is no peace in my bones because of my sins. For my flesh, through which the sin was committed by me, I have given over to punishments, chastising myself. For he also made this clear through other words, saying: And I humbled my soul with fasting; and My flesh was changed for want of oil; and, I forgot to eat my bread because of my groaning, and such things. But instead of "anger," Aquila and Symmachus, in agreement, translated, "Because of your indignation." For the indignation from your divine Scriptures, and the threat through the person of Nathan, were enough for me. And instead of: "Because of my sins," Symmachus translated, "Through my sins." And it is not at all strange to call one’s kinsmen bones. For if we are members of one another, and were all counted as one body that which 23.344 kept out, and bones those individually and

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ἐν τοῖς τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως τρόποις. Καὶ ἄλλως δέ φησιν· εἰ πέπρακταί μοι τοιοῦτον ἐφ' οἷς ἄξιον ὑπὸ θυμοῦ ἐλεγχθῆναι, ἀλλά γε μετανοήσας παρακαλῶ ὑπὸ λόγου, καὶ μὴ ὑπὸ θυμοῦ ἐλεγχθῆναι, καὶ ὑπὸ διδασκαλίας, καὶ μὴ ὑπὸ ὀργῆς παιδευθῆναι. Ὅτι τὰ βέλη σου ἐνεπάγησάν μοι. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀθλητὴς Ἰὼβ, παντοίους ὑπομείνας πειρασμοὺς, οὐκ ἠγνόει πόθεν αὐτῷ ταῦτ' ἐγίνετο· διὸ ἔλεγεν· Βέλη γὰρ Κυρίου ἐν τῷ στόματί μού εἰσιν, ὧν ὁ θυμὸς αὐτῶν ἐκπίνει μου τὸ αἷμα. Ὁ δὲ ∆αυῒδ, οὐ τὸ σῶμα πληγεὶς ὁμοίως τῷ Ἰὼβ, αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν καιρίαν τρωθεὶς, οὐχ ὁμοίως τῷ Ἰὼβ φάσκει· Βέλη γὰρ Κυρίου ἐν τῷ στόματί μου ἐστίν· ἀλλ', Ὅτι τὰ βέλη σου ἐνεπάγησάν μοι, καὶ ἐπεστήριξας ἐπ' ἐμὲ τὴν χεῖρά σου. Ὁ δὲ μνημονεύει τῆς χειρὸς Κυρίου λέγων· Χεὶρ γὰρ Κυρίου ἐστὶν ἡ ἁψαμένη μου. Καὶ ὁ διάβολος τῷ Κυρίῳ, Ἀπόστειλον τὴν χεῖρά σου καὶ ἅψαι πάντων ὧν ἔχει, ἔφασκε· καὶ πάλιν· Ἀπόστειλον τὴν χεῖρά σου, καὶ ἅψαι τῶν 23.341 σαρκῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν ὀστέων αὐτοῦ. Ἀλλ' ἑτέρα τις ἦν χεὶρ καὶ ἕτερα βέλη τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτοῦ τὰ καθικόμενα καὶ τῶν σωματικῶν ὑπαρχόντων· ἐνταῦθα δ' ἐπειδήπερ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτὴν νενόσηκεν ὁ ∆αυῒδ, ἕτερα βέλη καθικέσθαι αὐτοῦ σημαίνει, καὶ ἑτέραν χεῖρα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἧφθαι αὐτοῦ, καθὰ ἔφθημεν εἰπόντες, τὰ λογικὰ βέλη, μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγους νύττοντας αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ τὴν συνείδησιν αὐτὴν τιμωρουμένους. Μήποτε δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν διάβολον καὶ τὰ τοῦ διαβόλου πεπυρωμένα βέλη τὰ παθητικὰ καὶ ἐρωτικὰ τὰ εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτὸν ἐξάψαντα τῆς τοῦ Οὐρίου γυναικὸς σημαίνει; ὧν καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος διδάσκει λέγων· Ἀναλάβετε τὴν πανοπλίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, πρὸς τὸ δύνασθαι πάντα τὰ πεπυρωμένα βέλη τοῦ πονηροῦ σβέσαι. Ὥσπερ δὲ Ἰὼβ τὰ τοῦ διαβόλου βέλη καὶ τὰ ἕλκη τὰ ἐπιτεθέντα αὐτῷ κατὰ τοῦ σώματος, ἐπειδὴ κατὰ συγχώρησιν ἐγίνετο τοῦ Θεοῦ, βέλη Κυρίου ὠνόμασεν εἰπών· Βέλη γὰρ Κυρίου ἐν τῷ στόματί μου ἐστὶν, ὧν ὁ θυμὸς αὐτῶν ἐκπίνει μου τὸ αἷμα· οὕτως εἰκὸς καὶ τὸν ∆αυῒδ ἐνταῦθα βέλη Κυρίου εἰρηκέναι, ἐπεὶ κατὰ συγχώρησιν τοῦ Κυρίου κατεστρατεύσατο αὐτοῦ ὁ ἀντίπαλος, ἵνα μάθῃ μὴ λέγειν· Οὐ μὴ σαλευθῶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Ἐπεὶ γὰρ τῇ χάριτι τοῦ Θεοῦ δυναμούμενος μέγα ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ ἐφρόνησέ ποτε, ὡς ἀπαυθαδίσασθαι καὶ εἰπεῖν· Ἐγὼ δὲ εἶπα ἐν τῇ εὐθηνίᾳ μου· Οὐ μὴ σαλευθῶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· τούτου χάριν εἰκότως παρεδόθη τῷ πειράζοντι, ὃς, τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ καθαψάμενος, μειζόνως αὐτὸν ἢ τὸν Ἰὼβ ἐζημίωσεν. Εἰ δὲ οἱ λόγοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, οἱ τῆς δικαιοκρισίας αὐτοῦ ὑπομνηστικοὶ καὶ τῆς ὀργῆς τῆς τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἐπηρτημένης διδασκαλικοὶ, βελῶν εἰσιν ὀξύτεροι, τὴν συνείδησιν νύττοντες· καὶ οὕτως εἴποις ἂν τὸν ∆αυῒδ, τοῖς ἱεροῖς τούτοις καὶ θείοις βέλεσι κεντούμενον, εὐλόγως παραιτεῖσθαι τὸν διὰ τοῦ θυμοῦ ἔλεγχον. Προσλαβόντα γὰρ, φησὶ, τὴν ὀργὴν καὶ τὸν θυμὸν τὰ παρὰ σοῦ καθικόμενά μοι βέλη, ἱκανῶς με τιμωρεῖται, καὶ αὐτάρκως με κολάζει· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ χείρ σου καθήψατο διὰ τῶν ἐπαλλήλων συμφορῶν. Οὐκ ἔστιν ἴασις ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς ὀργῆς σου, οὐκ ἔστιν εἰρήνη ἐν τοῖς ὀστέοις μου ἀπὸ προσώπου τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν μου. Τὴν γὰρ σάρκα μου, δι' ἧς πέπρακταί μοι τὸ ἁμάρτημα, κολάσεσι παρέδωκα τιμωρούμενος ἐμαυτόν. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ἐδήλου δι' ἑτέρων λέγων· Καὶ ἐταπείνουν ἐν νηστείᾳ τὴν ψυχήν μου· καὶ Ἡ σάρξ μου ἠλλοιώθη δι' ἔλαιον· καὶ, Ἐπελαθόμην τοῦ φαγεῖν τὸν ἄρτον μου ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ στεναγμοῦ μου, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα. Ἀντὶ δὲ τῆς ὀργῆς, συμφώνως Ἀκύλας καὶ ὁ Σύμμαχος, Ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς ἐμβριμήσεώς σου, ἡρμήνευσαν. Ἀπήρκει γάρ μοι ἡ ἀπὸ τῶν σῶν θείων Γραφῶν ἐμβρίμησις, καὶ ἡ διὰ τοῦ προσώπου Ναθὰν ἀπειλή. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· Ἀπὸ προσώπου τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν μου, ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσε, ∆ιὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας μου. Ἄτοπον δὲ οὐδὲν ὀστᾶ τοὺς οἰκείους ἀποκαλεῖν. Εἰ γάρ ἐσμεν ἀλλήλων μέλη, καὶ ὡς ἑνὶ πάντες κατελογίσθημεν σώματι τὸ 23.344 ἀπεῖργον, καὶ ὀστᾶ τοὺς κατὰ μέρος καὶ