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your enemies, Lord, who have reproached the exchange for your Christ.” 4.16.22 Clearly in these words also the Christ is mentioned by name, and the circumstance prophesied concerning his passion. And examining the whole psalm at our leisure, we will show that the preceding words could apply to neither, or only to our Savior and Lord. 4.16.23 But also a second time, being called Christ, whom else does he indicate but the same one, whose “exchange,” clearly the church, “they reproached” and even now reproach, those who are called the enemies of Christ? For every enemy of Christ's teaching is accustomed to reproach us for the sufferings of our Savior which he undertook for us, and especially his death and the cross. From the 131st Psalm. “The Lord swore truth to David, and he will not set it aside: from the fruit of your loins I will set upon your throne.” 4.16.24 Then, going on, he says: “There I will make a horn to spring forth for David, I have prepared a lamp for my Christ; I will clothe his enemies with shame, but upon him my holiness shall flourish.” 4.16.25 And here the Lord swears concerning the one “from the seed of David,” which seed he also calls his horn. And again proclaiming the Christ by name, he says he has prepared a “lamp” for him, likely the prophetic word that went before Christ, which alone has risen like the light of the sun for all people throughout the whole world. 4.16.26 And David himself was also prepared beforehand as a lamp for Christ, holding the position of a lamp in comparison with the sun and perfect light. “But there,” he says, “I will make a horn to spring forth,” indicating the place where he signifies that the Christ would be born. 4.16.27 For when David prayed to foresee in spirit the place of the birth of Christ, and said, “If I shall enter upon the bed of my couch, if I shall give sleep to my eyes and to my eyelids, slumber and rest to my temples, until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob,” the divine spirit reveals the place in Bethlehem. 4.16.28 Wherefore he adds, saying: “Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah (which is Bethlehem), we found it in the fields of the wood; we will go into his tabernacles, we will worship at the place where his feet have stood.” Reasonably, therefore, after the revelation of these things he adds: “There I will make a horn to spring forth for David, I have prepared a lamp for my Christ,” 4.16.29 perhaps also signifying, according to another supposition, the body assumed by Christ at Bethlehem, since through the body, as through an earthen vessel, the divine power dwelling in it shone forth the rays of the divine and rational light to all people, as through a lamp. 4.16.30 From Amos. “Prepare to call upon your God, Israel, because behold, he who establishes thunder and creates the spirit and declares to men his Christ, who makes the morning and the mist, and walks on the high places of the earth: the Lord the God Almighty is his name. Hear the word of the Lord, which I take up against you, a lamentation: the house of Israel has fallen, it will no more rise again; the virgin of Israel has stumbled on her land, there is none to raise her up.” 4.16.31 Now for the seventh time God, announcing Christ by name to men, is said to establish thunder and create the spirit, the evangelical proclamation being called thunder because of being heard by all men, and likewise the spirit of Christ breathed upon the apostles being indicated; 4.16.32 which was also clearly fulfilled at the advent of our Savior, at which God is prophesied to make both morning and mist, morning for those who received the saving light, but the opposite for those of the circumcision who disobeyed him. To whom the word also proclaims the final sentence, adding a lamentation for the nation of the Jews, which also came upon them immediately after their impiety against our Savior Jesus Christ. 4.16.33 For truly from that time until now the house of Israel has fallen,

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ἐχθροί σου, κύριε, οὗ ὠνείδισαν τὸ ἀντάλλαγμα τοῦ χριστοῦ σου». 4.16.22 Σαφῶς δὲ καὶ ἐν τούτοις ὁ Χριστὸς ὀνομαστὶ μνημονεύεται καὶ ἡ κατὰ τὸ πάθος αὐτοῦ προφητευομένη περίστασις. ἐπὶ σχολῆς δὲ τὸν ὅλον ψαλμὸν βασανίζοντες παραστήσομεν, ὅτι ἐπὶ μηδέτερον ἢ ἐπὶ μόνον τὸν σωτῆρα καὶ κύριον ἡμῶν ἐφαρμόσαι ἂν τὰ προκείμενα. 4.16.23 ἀλλὰ καὶ δεύτερον Χριστὸς ὀνομαζόμενος τίνα ἄλλον ἢ τὸν αὐτὸν δηλοῖ, οὗ «τὸ ἀντάλλαγμα», δηλονότι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, «ὠνείδισάν» τε καὶ εἰσέτι νῦν ὀνειδίζουσιν οἱ λεγομένοι τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐχθροί; τὰ γοῦν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν πάθη ἃ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀνεδέξατο, καὶ μάλιστα τὸν θάνατον καὶ τὸν σταυρόν, πᾶς ὁ τῆς Χριστοῦ διδασκαλίας πολέμιος ἐπονειδίζειν ἡμῖν εἴωθεν. Ψαλμοῦ ρλαʹ. «Ὤμοσεν κύριος τῷ ∆αβὶδ ἀλήθειαν, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀθετήσῃ αὐτόν, ἐκ καρποῦ τῆς κοιλίας σου θήσομαι ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου σου.» 4.16.24 εἶθ' ὑποβάς φησιν· «ἐκεῖ ἐξανατελῶ κέρας τῷ ∆αβίδ, ἡτοίμασα λύχνον τῷ χριστῷ μου· τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτοῦ ἐνδύσω αἰσχύνην, ἐπὶ δὲ αὐτὸν ἐξανθήσει τὸ ἁγίασμά μου». 4.16.25 Κἀνταῦθα περὶ τοῦ «ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αβὶδ» ὄμνυσιν ὁ κύριος, ὅπερ σπέρμα καὶ κέρας ὀνομάζει αὐτοῦ. καὶ πάλιν ὀνομαστὶ τὸν Χριστὸν ἀναγορεύων, «λύχνον» φησὶν ἡτοιμακέναι αὐτῷ, τὸν προφητικὸν ὡς εἰκὸς λόγον τὸν προωδευκότα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃς μόνος ἡλιακοῦ φωτὸς δίκην τοῖς πᾶσιν καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀνθρώποις ἀνατέταλκεν. 4.16.26 καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ ∆αβὶδ λύχνος τῷ Χριστῷ προητοίμαστο, ὡς παραθέσει ἡλίου καὶ τελείου φωτὸς λύχνου τάξιν ἐπέχων. «ἐκεῖ δέ», φησίν, «ἐξανατελῶ κέρας», τὸν τόπον δηλῶν, ἔνθα σημαίνει τὸν Χριστὸν γεννηθήσεσθαι. 4.16.27 εὐξαμένῳ γὰρ τῷ ∆αβὶδ τὸν τόπον τῷ πνεύματι προθεωρῆσαι τῆς γενέσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ, φήσαντί τε «εἰ εἰσελεύσομαι ἐπὶ κλίνης στρωμνῆς μου, εἰ δώσω ὕπνον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου καὶ τοῖς βλεφάροις μου· νυσταγμὸν καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν τοῖς κροτάφοις μου, ἕως οὗ εὕρω τόπον· τῷ κυρίῳ, σκήνωμα τῷ θεῷ Ἰακὼβ» ἀποκαλύπτει τὸ θεῖον πνεῦμα τὸν ἐν Βηθλεὲμ τόπον. 4.16.28 διὸ ἐπιφέρει λέγων· «ἰδοὺ ἠκούσαμεν αὐτὴν ἐν Ἐφραθά αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ Βηθλεέμ, εὕρομεν αὐτὴν ἐν τοῖς πεδίοις τοῦ δρυμοῦ· εἰσελευσόμεθα εἰς τὰ σκηνώματα αὐτοῦ, προσκυνήσομεν εἰς τὸν τόπον οὗ ἔστησαν οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ». εἰκότως οὖν μετὰ τὴν τούτων φανέρωσιν ἐπιλέγει· «ἐκεῖ ἐξανατελῶ κέρας τῷ ∆αβίδ, ἡτοίμασα λύχνον τῷ χριστῷ μου», 4.16.29 τάχα ἴσως καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ τῆς Βηθλεὲμ ἀναληφθὲν τῷ Χριστῷ σῶμα καθ' ἑτέραν ὑπόνοιαν σημαίνων, ἐπειδὴ διὰ τοῦ σώματος, ὡς δι' ὀστρακίνου σκεύους, ἐνοικήσασα ἐν αὐτῷ ἡ θεία δύναμις ὡς διὰ λύχνου τὰς τοῦ θείου καὶ λογικοῦ φωτὸς μαρμαρυγὰς εἰς πάντας ἐξέλαμψεν ἀνθρώπους. 4.16.30 Ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀμώς. «Ἑτοιμάζου τοῦ ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τὸν θεόν,Ἰσραήλ, διότι ἰδοὺ στερεῶν βροντὴν καὶ κτίζων πνεῦμα καὶ ἀπαγγέλλων εἰς ἀνθρώπους τὸν χριστὸν αὐτοῦ, ποιῶν ὄρθρον καὶ ὁμίχλην, καὶ ἐπιβαίνων ἐπὶ τὰ ὑψηλὰ τῆς γῆς· κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ ὄνομα αὐτῷ. ἀκούσατε λόγον κυρίου, ὃν ἐγὼ λαμβάνω ἐφ' ὑμᾶς, θρῆνον, οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ ἔπεσεν, οὐκέτι προσθήσει τοῦ ἀναστῆναι· παρθένος Ἰσραὴλ ἔσφαλεν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς αὐτῆς, οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἀνιστῶν αὐτήν.» 4.16.31 Ἕβδομον ἤδη τὸν Χριστὸν ὀνομαστὶ καταγγέλλων εἰς ἀνθρώπους ὁ θεός, στερεοῦν βροντὴν καὶ κτίζειν πνεῦμα λέγεται, τοῦ εὐαγγελικοῦ κηρύγματος βροντῆς διὰ τὸ εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἐξάκουστον ὀνομαζομένου, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοῦ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ἐμπνεύσαντος Χριστοῦ πνεύματος δηλουμένου· ὃ καὶ σαφῶς ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιδημίᾳ πεπλήρωται, ἐφ' ᾗ ποιήσειν ὁ θεὸς ὄρθρον ὁμοῦ καὶ ὁμίχλην θεσπίζεται, τοῖς μὲν τὸ σωτήριον φῶς παραδεξαμένοις τὸν ὄρθρον, τοῖς δὲ ἀπειθήσασιν εἰς αὐτὸν τῶν ἐκ περιτομῆς τοὐναντίον. 4.16.32 οἷς καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην ἀπόφασιν ὁ λόγος προκηρύττει, θρῆνον ἐπιλέγων τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους, τὸν καὶ μετελθόντα αὐτοὺς παραυτίκα μετὰ τὴν κατὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ δυσσέβειαν. 4.16.33 ἐξ ἐκείνου γὰρ ἀληθῶς καὶ εἰς δεῦρο ὁ οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ πέπτωκεν,