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that he might prophetically teach their number and those who come after them. He says, therefore: "Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows 80.1236 to the Most High; and call upon me in the day of your trouble." And from these things we were taught three persons. For it is not as being only God, nor only Most High, nor only as one receiving a sacrifice of praise, that He grants the petitions. For each property is both God, and Most High, and giver of good things. And He calls 'a sacrifice of praise' the hymns fitting for the righteous; and 'vows' the promises. For thus in the twenty-first psalm he says, "I will pay my vows before them that fear him." But since he said, "I will not reprove you for your sacrifices," he teaches then for what things he was reproved. 10, 17. "But to the sinner God said: Why do you declare my statutes, and take up my covenant in your mouth? But you have hated instruction, and have cast my words behind you." For since there are some who find fault with others for their sins, and remind them of the divine laws, but they themselves transgress what they teach, he rightly directs his words to such people, saying: Why on earth, being puffed up with my statutes, and discoursing up and down about the law, did you not accept the benefit from it, but were contemptuously disposed toward my words? And he recounts the kinds of things that are dared. 18-20. "If you saw a thief, you ran with him, and you cast your lot with an adulterer. Your mouth has abounded in wickedness, and your tongue has framed deceit. Sitting, you spoke against your brother, and against your mother's son you set a stumbling block." Many, he says, and of all kinds are the transgressions dared by you; for to speak apostolically, "You who say, 'Do not commit adultery,' do you commit adultery?" and you become a helper and partner of those who dare such things." And having stripped your mouth of truth, you have filled it with falsehood and wickedness. And deceit whets your tongue. Therefore you also despise kinship, and trample on the laws of nature, and secretly weave snares against your brothers, and you continually slander with words, and plot with deeds. Having thus made the account of the transgression, he both teaches the long-suffering which He has, and foretells the punishment which He will bring. 21. "These things you have done, and I kept silent; you thought iniquity, that I would be like you." I, seeing these things dared by you, using long-suffering, await your repentance. But you took long-suffering as an occasion for impiety, supposing 80.1237 that I take pleasure in your transgression by not bringing punishment; for which very reason "I will reprove you, and set your sins before your face." For since you were not healed by the gentle medicines of long-suffering, I will prepare harsher ones for you, and I will apply the cautery of reproofs. And these things are in harmony with those apostolic words: "not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds." Having thus threatened the punishment, the one who loves mankind again offered an exhortation. 22. "Understand these things, then, you who forget God, lest he seize you, and there be no one to deliver." Diligently, he says, consider each of the things that have been said; and you who are sick with forgetfulness of God—for forgetfulness of God is a producer of sin—heal your wounds with the medicines of repentance, before death seizes you; which comes upon men like a lion, with no one able to restrain its most violent attack. Then he takes up the new legislation, and with this he adorns the end of the psalm. 23. "A sacrifice of praise will glorify me, and there is a way, by which I will show him my salvation." But Symmachus interpreted this more clearly: He who sacrifices for the sake of praise will glorify me, and to him who walks in an orderly way I will show the salvation of God. For it is fitting not only to hymn God, and to offer to him the sacrifices of praise, but also to walk in an orderly way, and to regulate one's own life. For thus it is possible from

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τὸν ἀριθμὸν προφητικῶς καὶ τοὺς μετὰ ταῦτα διδάξῃ. Λέγει τοίνυν· "Θῦσον τῷ Θεῷ θυσίαν αἰνέσεως, καὶ ἀπόδος τῷ Ὑψίστῳ τὰς εὐχάς 80.1236 σου· καὶ ἐπικάλεσαί με ἐν ἡμέρᾳ θλίψεώς σου." Τρία δὲ ἐκ τούτων ἐδιδάχθημεν πρόσωπα. Οὐκ ἐπει δὴ μὲν μόνον Θεὸς, οὐδὲ μόνον Ὕψιστος, οὐδὲ αἰ νέσεως θυσίαν δεχόμενος, τὰς αἰτήσεις χαρίζεται. Ἑκάστη γὰρ ἰδιότης καὶ Θεὸς, καὶ ὕψιστος, καὶ ἀγαθῶν χορηγός. Θυσίαν δὲ αἰνέσεως καλεῖ τοὺς δι καίοις πρέποντας ὕμνους· εὐχὰς δὲ τὰς ὑποσχέ σεις. Οὕτω γὰρ ἐν τῷ εἰκοστῷ καὶ πρώτῳ ψαλμῷ λέγει, "Τὰς εὐχάς μου ἀποδώσω ἐνώπιον τῶν φο βουμένων αὐτόν." Ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἶπεν, "Οὐκ ἐπὶ ταῖς θυσίαις σου ἐλέγξω σε," διδάσκει λοιπὸν ἐφ' οἷς ἠλέγχθη. ιʹ, ιζʹ. "Τῷ δὲ ἁμαρτωλῷ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Ἱνατί σὺ ἐκδιηγῇ τὰ δικαιώματά μου, καὶ ἀναλαμβάνεις τὴν διαθήκην μου διὰ στόματός σου; Σὺ δὲ ἐμίσησας παιδείαν, καὶ ἐξέβαλες τοὺς λόγους μου εἰς τὰ ὀπί σω." Ἐπειδὴ γάρ εἰσί τινες ἑτέροις μὲν πλημμε λοῦσιν ἐπιμεμφόμενοι, καὶ τῶν θείων νόμων ἀναμι μνήσκοντες, αὐτοὶ δὲ παραβαίνοντες ἃ διδάσκουσιν, εἰκότως πρὸς τοὺς τοιούτους ἀποτείνεται λέγων· Τί δήποτε ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐμοῖς βρενθυόμενοι δικαιώμασι, καὶ ἄνω καὶ κάτω περὶ τοῦ νόμου διαλεγόμενοι, τὴν ἐν τεῦθεν ὠφέλειαν οὐ προσεδέξασθε, ἀλλὰ καταφρονη τικῶς περὶ τοὺς ἐμοὺς διετέθητε λόγους; δι ηγεῖται δὲ καὶ τῶν τολμωμένων τὰ εἴδη. ιηʹ-κʹ. "Εἰ ἐθεώρεις κλέπτην, συνέτρεχες αὐτῷ, καὶ μετὰ μοιχοῦ τὴν μερίδα σου ἐτίθεις. Τὸ στό μα σου ἐπλεόνασε κακίαν, καὶ ἡ γλῶσσά σου περι έπλεκε δολιότητας. Καθήμενος κατὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου κατελάλεις, καὶ κατὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς μητρός σου ἐτί θεις σκάνδαλον." Πολλὰ, φησὶ, καὶ παντοδαπὰ τὰ παρὰ σοῦ τολμηθέντα παρανομήματα· ἀποστολικῶς γὰρ εἰπεῖν, "Ὁ λέγων μὴ μοιχεύειν, μοιχεύεις," καὶ τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα τολμώντων συνεργὸς γίνῃ καὶ κοι νωνός." Ἀληθείας δὲ τὸ στόμα γυμνώσας, ψεύδους τοῦτο καὶ πονηρίας ἐνέπλησας. ∆όλος δέ σοι παρα θήγει τὴν γλῶσσαν. ∆ιόπερ καὶ συγγενείας κατα φρονεῖς, καὶ τῆς φύσεως τοὺς νόμους πατεῖς, καὶ κρύβδην τὰς κατὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐνέδρας ὑφαίνεις, καὶ διατελεῖς καὶ λόγοις διαβάλλων, καὶ ἔργοις ἐπιβουλεύων. Οὕτω τῆς παρανομίας τὴν διήγησιν ποιησάμενος, καὶ ἣν ἔχει διδάσκει μακροθυμίαν, καὶ ἣν ἐποίσει τιμωρίαν, προλέγει. καʹ. "Ταῦτα ἐποίησας, καὶ ἐσίγησα· ὑπέλαβες ἀνομίαν, ὅτι ἔσομαί σοι ὅμοιος." Ἐγὼ ταῦτα ὁρῶν ὑπὸ σοῦ τολμώμενα, μακροθυμίᾳ χρώμενος, ἀνα μένω τὴν μεταμέλειαν. Σὺ δὲ καὶ τὴν μακρο θυμίαν εἰς ἀφορμὴν ἔλαβες δυσσεβείας, τοπάσας 80.1237 ἐφηδόμενόν με τῇ σῇ παρανομίᾳ μὴ ἐπάγειν τι μωρίαν· οὗ δὴ χάριν "ἐλέγξω σε, καὶ παρα στήσω κατὰ πρόσωπόν σου τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου." Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τοῖς ἠπίοις τῆς μακροθυμίας οὐκ ἐθε ραπεύθης φαρμάκοις, δριμύτερά σοι κατασκευάσω, καὶ τῶν ἐλέγχων τὸν καυτῆρα προσοίσω. Συνᾴδει δὲ ταῦτα ταῖς ἀποστολικαῖς ἐκείναις φωναῖς· "Ἀ γνοῶν ὅτι τὸ χρηστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς μετάνοιάν σε ἄγει· κατὰ δὲ τὴν σκληρότητά σου, καὶ ἀμετανόητον καρ δίαν, θησαυρίζεις σεαυτῷ ὀργὴν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς, καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως, καὶ δικαιοκρισίας τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὃς ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ." Οὕτως ἀπει λήσας τὴν τιμωρίαν, πάλιν ὁ φιλάνθρωπος παραίνε σιν προσενήνοχεν. κβʹ. "Σύνετε δὴ ταῦτα, οἱ ἐπιλανθανόμενοι τοῦ Θεοῦ· μήποτε ἁρπάσῃ, καὶ οὐ μὴ ᾖ ὁ ῥυόμενος." Ἐπιμελῶς, φησὶν, ἕκαστον τῶν εἰρημένων κατα νοήσατε· καὶ οἱ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν λήθην νενοσηκότες, λήθη γὰρ Θεοῦ πρόξενος ἁμαρτίας, τοῖς τῆς με τανοίας φαρμάκοις τὰ τραύματα θεραπεύσατε, πρὶν ἁρπάσαι τὸν θάνατον· ὃς δίκην λέοντος ἔπεισι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, οὐδενὸς ἐπισχεῖν αὐτοῦ δυναμένου τὴν σφοδροτάτην ὁρμήν. Εἶτα τὴν καινὴν νομοθεσίαν λαμβάνει, καὶ ταύτῃ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ τὸ τέλος διακο σμεῖ. κγʹ. "Θυσία αἰνέσεως δοξάσει με, καὶ ἐκεῖ ὁδὸς, ᾗ δείξω αὐτῷ τὸ σωτήριόν μου." Τοῦτο δὲ ὁ Σύμμαχος σαφέστερον ἡρμήνευσε· Θυσιάζων ὑπὲρ αἰνέσεως δοξάσει με, καὶ τῷ εὐτάκτως ὁδεύοντι δείξω σωτήριον Θεοῦ. Προσήκει γὰρ μὴ μόνον ὑμνεῖν τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ τῆς αἰνέσεως αὐτῷ τὰς θυσίας προσφέρειν ἀλλὰ καὶ εὐτάκτως ὁδεύειν, καὶ τὸν οἰκεῖον βίον διαρυθμίζειν. Οὕτω γὰρ δυνατὸν τῆς παρὰ