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a millstone turned by a donkey will be placed around his neck. 555 Ps 51,7 Because you have loved harmful things to the end, that is, completely, he will tear you down as one not well built, but also as one badly planted, he who says "Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up" will pluck you out; but he will also make you move from the holy tabernacle, casting you out and putting you to flight from that tent whose priests you have slandered and brought to death, and furthermore, And your root from the land of the living. For even if he was an Idumean, yet you became a proselyte to Israel through the teaching of the law, he was planted in the tabernacle and in the land of the living; for if he did not have reverence for the God of Israel, he would not have come to the temple while being troubled. And the things said to him will fit all those who fall away from piety. 556 Ps 51,8.9a The very devout, when they see some falling away from virtue into wickedness, are seized with fear lest they suffer the same things. And these would also mock the one who was caught, as if laughing at him, saying, This is the man who did not make God his helper; for otherwise he would not have slandered his servants and attendants. You will connect to these the saying, "He who rejects you rejects me." 557 Ps 51,11 He shows thanksgiving through confessing to God for what he has done, perhaps what he asked for or what he proposed. For he had proposed to flee Saul. But I will also wait, he says, on your name until I obtain it, for it is good and full of goodness in the sight of your holy ones; for those who have achieved holiness perceive the goodness of your name.

558 Ps 52,2a He who is deprived of divine wisdom must be considered to be called a fool.

For he of whom the saying speaks appears not to preserve a common mind. For knowing that the concept of God has been implanted in every soul, embracing atheism, he said to no other than his own heart that there is no God. And so the foolish devil, not to the heart that is alien to him (which is the one dedicated to God) but to the one that came to be from him through sinning, said there is no God. 559 Ps 52,2b For he who has thought badly about God also comes to other wickedness; for by casting out the piety of his own soul, he has cast out with it every virtue that follows piety as a queen. At any rate, those who say through foolishness that there is no God have corrupted their own mind in the iniquities which they have committed, from which they have become abominable, that is, they have become detestable. Then what follows is added. 560 Ps 52,2c Or of all who sin or also of those who seem to do good, not doing it properly and truly but doing it so that they may receive at least a type of it through a mirror and a riddle. 561 Ps 52,3 The present verse introduces God as provident, not only of the things in heaven but also of those on earth; for it is said that he providentially looks down from heaven upon the sons of men, not looking upon them externally according to the body only, but also according to the secret part of the heart. He looks upon the sons of men, then, to see if there is one who understands by doing good and who seeks God by examining the truth. But it is said in a human way and from what we know that he leans down from heaven and sees if there is one who understands; for by a great, so to speak, application of his gaze he has knowledge of the secret part of all things. 562 Ps 52,4 And from the preceding phrase we learn that sin consists in the transgression of the law, from which it follows that no one is wicked by nature; For all have turned aside; and this turning aside is sin, being a failure to hit the straight path. and at the same time those who turn aside have also become useless; calling useless either according to the domination of passions or the ignorance of the one who does not understand, being confused by going from one thing to another, by not having mastered one thing of which he has knowledge. Since all, therefore, have turned aside, it is reasonably said, "There is not one

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περικεισόμενον αὐτῷ μύλον ὀνικὸν περὶ τὸν τράχηλον αὐτοῦ. 555 Ps 51,7 ∆ιὰ τὸ ἠγαπηκέναι τὰ βλαβερὰ εἰς τέλος τουτέστι παντελῶς καθελεῖ σε ὡς οὐ καλῶς οἰκοδομηθέντα ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς κακῶς φυτευθέντα ἐκτῖλαι ὁ φάσκων Πᾶσα φυτεία ην οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ οὐράνιος ἐκριζωθήσεται· ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ σκηνώματος μεταναστεῦσαι ποιήσει, ἐκβάλλων καὶ φυγαδεύων σε ἐκ τῆς σκηνῆς ἐκείνης ης τοὺς ἱερεῖς διαβέβληκας καὶ εἰς θάνατον ηγαγες, ετι μὴν Καὶ τὸ ῥίζωμά σου ἐκ γῆς ζώντων. εἰ γὰρ καὶ ̓Ιδουμαῖος ην ἀλλὰ προσηλύτευσας τῷ ̓Ισραὴλ διὰ τῆς τοῦ νόμου κατηχήσεως, ἐν τῷ σκηνώματι καὶ τῇ τῶν ζώντων γῇ πεφύτευτο· εἰ γὰρ μὴ ειχε σέβας πρὸς τὸν τοῦ ̓Ισραὴλ θεόν, οὐδ' αν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ ἐνοχλούμενος ηρχετο. τὰ δὲ πρὸς τοῦτον λεγόμενα ἁρμόσει πρὸς πάντας τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μεταπίπτοντας. 556 Ps 51,8.9a Οἱ πάνυ εὐλαβεῖς, οταν μεταπίπτοντας ἐξ ἀρετῆς εἰς κακίαν ιδωσί τινας, φόβον λαμβάνουσι μὴ τὰ αὐτὰ πάθοιεν. ουτοι δὲ καὶ ἐπικερτομήσαιεν κατὰ τοῦ ἁλόντος ὡς ἐπ' αὐτῷ γελᾶν ἐροῦντες Ουτος ὁ ανθρωπος οὐκ εθετο τὸν θεὸν βοηθὸν αὐτοῦ· η γὰρ αν οὐ διέβαλε τοὺς δούλους καὶ θεραπόντας αὐτοῦ. συμβαλεῖς τούτοις τὸ ̔Ο ὑμᾶς ἀθετῶν ἐμὲ ἀθετεῖ. 557 Ps 51,11 Εὐχαριστίαν διὰ τοῦ ἐξομολογεῖσθαι τῷ θεῷ δηλοῖ ἐπὶ τῷ πεποιηκέναι αὐτόν, ισως α ᾐτήσατο η α προτέθειτο. προθέμενος γὰρ ην φυγεῖν τὸν Σαούλ. ̓Αλλὰ καὶ ετι ὑπομενῶ, φησίν, τὸ ονομά σου εστ' αν αὐτοῦ τύχω οτι χρηστὸν καὶ ἀγαθότητός ἐστι πλῆρες ἐναντίον τῶν ὁσίων σου· οἱ γὰρ ὁσιότητα κατορθώσαντες τῆς χρηστότητος τοῦ ὀνόματός σου αἰσθάνονται.

558 Ps 52,2a Αφρονα ἡγητέον λέγεσθαι τὸν φρονήσεως θείας στερούμενον.

φαίνεται γὰρ ουτος περὶ ου ὁ λόγος μὴ σῴζων κοινὴν φρένα. εἰδὼς γὰρ πάσῃ ψυχῇ εννοιαν θεοῦ καταβεβλημένην, ἀθεότητα ἀσπαζόμενος, οὐδενὶ αλλῳ εἰ μὴ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ καρδίᾳ ειπεν μὴ ειναι θεόν. καὶ ουτως ὁ αφρων διάβολος οὐ τῇ ἀλλοτρίᾳ ἑαυτοῦ καρδίᾳ (αυτη δ' εστιν ἡ ἀνακειμένη θεῷ) ἀλλὰ τῇ ἐξ αὐτοῦ διὰ τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν γεγενημένῃ ειπεν μὴ ειναι θεόν. 559 Ps 52,2b ̔Ο γὰρ κακῶς περὶ θεοῦ φρονήσας καὶ εἰς τὴν αλλην ερχεται κακίαν· τὴν γὰρ εὐσέβειαν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς ἐκβάλλων συνεκβέβληκεν αὐτῇ πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν ἀκολουθοῦσαν ὡς βασιλίδι τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ. οἱ γοῦν δι' ἀφροσύνην λέγοντες μὴ ειναι θεὸν διέφθειραν τὴν ἑαυτῶν γνώμην ἐν ἀνομίαις αις επραξαν, ἐξ ων ἐβδελύχθησαν τουτέστι βδελυκτοὶ γεγόνασιν. Ειθ' ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγεται. 560 Ps 52,2c Η πάντων ἁμαρτανόντων η καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν δοκούντων τὸ ἀγαθὸν ποιεῖν, οὐ κυρίως καὶ ἀληθῶς ποιούντων ἀλλ' ινα καν τύπον αὐτοῦ λάβωσι δι' ἐσόπτρου καὶ αἰνίγματος αὐτὸ ποιούντων. 561 Ps 52,3 ̔Ο παρὼν στίχος προνοητὴν εἰσάγει τὸν θεόν, οὐ τῶν κατ' οὐρανὸν μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς· ἐξ οὐρανοῦ γὰρ ἐφορᾶν προνοητικῶς τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ειρηται, οὐκ εξωθεν κατὰ τὸ σῶμα μόνον ἐπιβλέπων αὐτοὺς ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὸ κρυπτὸν τῆς καρδίας. ἐπιβλέπει γοῦν ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οπως ιδῃ εἰ εστιν ὁ διὰ τοῦ καλὸν ποιεῖν συνιὼν καὶ διὰ τοῦ ἐξετάζειν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐκζητῶν τὸν θεόν. ἀνθρωπίνως δὲ καὶ ἀφ' ων ισμεν ειρηται τὸ διακύπτειν αὐτὸν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἰδεῖν εἰ εστιν συνιών· μεγάλῃ γάρ, ιν' ουτως ειπω, προσβολῇ βλέψεως τοῦ πάντων κρυπτοῦ γνῶσιν εχει. 562 Ps 52,4 Καὶ ἐκ τῆς προκειμένης λέξεως μανθάνομεν κατὰ παράβασιν νόμου τὴν ἁμαρτίαν συνίστασθαι ῳ ἀκολουθεῖ μὴ ειναί τινα φύσει πονηρόν· Πάντες γὰρ ἐξέκλιναν· αυτη δὲ ἡ εκκλισις ἁμαρτία ἐστίν, ἀποτυχία ουσα τῆς εὐθείας ὁδοῦ. αμα δὲ καὶ ἠχρειώθησαν οἱ ἐκκλίνοντες· ἀχρεῖον λέγων η κατὰ τὴν ἐπικράτησιν τῶν παθῶν η τὴν αγνοιαν τοῦ μὴ νοοῦντος συγχεομένου τῷ μετιέναι ἐξ ἑτέρων εἰς ετερα πράγματα, τῷ μὴ κεκρατηκέναι ἑνὸς ου τὴν ἐπιστήμην εχει. Πάντων ουν ἐκκλινόντων, εἰκότως ειρηται τὸ Οὐκ εστι