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I recount the mercies of the Lord; and remembering how each day He commands His mercy, I send up songs and odes to Him, spending my nights at leisure. For this reason it has also been said: And in the night His song is with me; and according to Aquila: And in the night His song is with me. Not only this, but also a prayer to the God of my life. For I sing a hymn of thanksgiving, having been taught to give thanks in all things, renewing myself with good hopes for the future. But because of the sorrows that presently constrain me, I send up a prayer to the God of my life; for I know that I have Him as the cause of my own life. And praying to Him I say: My helper; or according to Aquila and Symmachus, my rock; on which standing I shall not be turned aside; why have you forgotten me? For I have not forgotten you; but I know your mercies and your compassions; and I know also the hopes laid up for me; for which reason I also keep your song with me unceasingly; but you have forgotten me; why? I wish to learn the reason for which all your high waves and your billows, that is, the temptations and so many tribulations, have passed over me, with you permitting it. For the cause of your forgetting me must be something great. And saying these things the prophetic choir, as I said, makes its own the condition of the people; for through these words it seems to me to signify the final rejection and the falling away of the whole nation that happened after their disbelief in our Savior and Lord. And it might have been said to him who asked and said: Why have you forgotten me? what was spoken in the Gospel: How often I wanted to gather your children together, in the way a bird gathers her nestlings under her wings, and you were not willing? Since, therefore, they were forgotten on account of their own wickedness, it is fitting that the prophetic choir, since by natural principles when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, grieving as for its own body, adds according to Symmachus: Why do I walk about downcast, while the enemy oppresses? and as with a shattering of my bones my adversaries reproached me; or, While my bones were being crushed, those who afflict me reproached me. For as the prophetic bones were crushed through weeping and lamentations, that is, the powers of the soul, the enemies of God among the people, as if no one were defending, rose up reproaching and saying: Where is your God? PSALM 42 OF DAVID. The psalm is without a title among the Hebrews; for which reason it 23.380 also has no title among the other interpreters. But that it also seems to be a part of the one before it has been shown both from the similar words in both and from the related meaning. I say, therefore, that also in the present case the prophetic choir relates the foregoing on behalf of the people, as having been cast off and delivered over to nations and wicked men, but begging and imploring to obtain vindication, and to be delivered from the hands of the enemy. And just as because of the affliction of the people it happened that those who practice righteousness suffered and grieved with them, and were similarly disposed, in the same way also the righteousness of God-loving men provides a fellowship and a sharing of good things. For this reason, taking the sufferings of the people upon themselves, they made prayers on behalf of the multitude, and sent up a common supplication to God. Fittingly, therefore, as from one mouth they uttered these voices. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an unholy nation; deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. For you are the God of my strength, why have you cast me off? why do I go about mourning while the enemy oppresses? And one might say that one or two found to be righteous in the whole nation of the Jews say these things. Therefore, let this one and rare person, such as Jeremiah or some other like him, lament, and send up these cries,

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ἀναπεμπάζομαι τὰ ἐλέη τοῦ Κυρίου· ἀναμιμνησκόμενός τε ὅπως καθ' ἡμέραν τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ ἐντέλλεται, ᾄσματα αὐτῷ καὶ ᾠδὰς ἀναπέμπω σχολὴν ἄγων τὰς νύκτας. ∆ιὸ δὴ καὶ λέλεκται· Καὶ νυκτὸς ᾠδὴ αὐτοῦ παρ' ἐμοί· κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· Καὶ ἐν νυκτὶ ᾆσμα αὐτοῦ μετ' ἐμοῦ. Οὐ μόνον δὲ τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσευχὴ τῷ Θεῷ τῆς ζωῆς μου. Ἄδω μὲν γὰρ ὕμνον εὐχαριστήριον, δεδειγμένος ἐν παντὶ εὐχαριστεῖν, ταῖς μελλούσαις ἐλπίσιν χρησταῖς ἐμαυτὸν ἀνακτώμενος. ∆ιὰ δὲ τὰ τέως ἐν τῷ παρόντι συνέχοντά με λυπηρὰ προσευχὴν ἀναπέμπω τῷ Θεῷ τῆς ζωῆς μου· οἶδα γὰρ, ὅτι αὐτὸν ἔχω τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ ζωῆς αἴτιον. Προσευχόμενος δὲ αὐτῷ φημι· Ἀντιλήπτωρ μου· ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν καὶ Σύμμαχον, πέτρα μου· ἐφ' ἣν ἑστὼς οὐ διατραπήσομαι· διὰ τί μου ἐπελάθου; Ἐγὼ μὲν γάρ σου οὐκ ἐπιλέλησμαι· ἀλλ' οἶδά σου τὰ ἐλέη καὶ τοὺς οἰκτιρμούς· οἶδα δὲ καὶ τὰς ἀποκειμένας μοι ἐλπίδας· διὸ καὶ τὴν ᾠδήν σου παρ' ἐμαυτῷ ἀδιαλείπτως φυλάττω· σὺ δέ μου ἐπελάθου· διὰ τί; Τὴν αἰτίαν μαθεῖν βούλομαι, δι' ἣν πάντες οἱ μετεωρισμοί σου καὶ τὰ κύματά σου, οἱ πειρασμοὶ δηλαδὴ καὶ τοσαῦται περιστάσεις ἐπ' ἐμὲ διῆλθον, σοῦ συγχωροῦντος. Μέγα γάρ τι ὀφείλει τυγχάνειν τὸ αἴτιον τῆς περὶ ἐμοῦ λήθης. Λέγων δὲ ταῦτα ὁ χορὸς προφητικὸς, ἰδιοποιεῖται, ὡς ἔφην, τὴν τοῦ λαοῦ κατάστασιν· τὴν γὰρ ἐσχάτην ἀποβολὴν καὶ τὴν ἀπόπτωσιν τοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους τὴν γενομένην μετὰ τὴν εἰς τὸν Σωτῆρα καὶ Κύριον ἡμῶν ἀπιστίαν αὐτῶν ἐμφαίνειν μοι διὰ τούτων δοκεῖ. Εἶπε δ' ἂν αὐτῷ ἐρωτήσαντι καὶ φάντι· ∆ιὰ τί μου ἐπελάθου; τὸ ἐν Εὐαγγελίῳ λεχθέν· Ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου, ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις ὑποσυνάγει τὰ νοσσία ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε; Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν διὰ τὴν αὑτῶν κακίαν ἐπελήσθησαν, εἰκότως ὁ χορὸς ὁ προφητικὸς, ἐπεὶ φυσικοῖς λόγοις πάσχοντος ἑνὸς μέλους, συμπάσχει πάντα τὰ μέλη, ὡς ὑπὲρ οἰκείου σώματος ἀλγῶν ἐπιλέγει κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Ἵνα τί σκυθρωπὸς περιπατῶ, θλίβοντος ἐχθροῦ; καὶ ὡς σφαγὴν τῶν ὀστῶν μου ὠνείδιζον οἱ ἐναντίοι μου· ἢ, Ἐν τῷ καταθλᾶσθαι τὰ ὀστᾶ μου ὠνείδιζόν με οἱ θλίβοντές με. Τῶν γὰρ ὀστέων τῶν προφητικῶν διὰ τοῦ κλαυθμοῦ καὶ τῶν ὀδυρμῶν καταθλωμένων, τουτέστι τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεων, οἱ ἐν τῷ λαῷ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς μηδενὸς ἐπαμύνοντος, ἐπανέβαινον ὀνειδίζοντες καὶ λέγοντες· Ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ Θεός σου; ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΤΩ ∆ΑΥΙ∆ ΜΒʹ. Ἀνεπίγραφος παρ' Ἑβραίοις ὁ ψαλμός· διὸ οὐδὲ 23.380 παρὰ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἑρμηνευταῖς ἐπιγραφὴν ἔχει. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅτι μέρος ἔοικεν εἶναι τοῦ πρὸ αὐτοῦ, δεδήλωται ἔκ τε τῶν ὁμοίων ἐν ἀμφοτέροις λόγων καὶ ἐκ τῆς ἐμφεροῦς διανοίας. Φημὶ τοίνυν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος τὸν χορὸν τὸν προφητικὸν τὰ προκείμενα διεξιέναι ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ, ὡς ἀπωσμένου καὶ παραδοθέντος ἔθνεσι καὶ ἀνθρώποις πονηροῖς, δεομένου δὲ καὶ ἀντιβολοῦντος ἐκδικίας τυχεῖν, καὶ ῥυσθῆναι τῶν χειρῶν τῶν πολεμίων. Ὥσπερ δὲ διὰ τὴν τοῦ λαοῦ κάκωσιν συνέβαινε τοῖς δικαιοπραγοῦσι συμπάσχειν καὶ συναλγεῖν, καὶ συνδιατίθεσθαι, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἡ τῶν θεοφιλῶν ἀνδρῶν δικαιοπραγία κοινωνίαν καὶ μετάδοσιν ἀγαθῶν παρέχει. ∆ιὸ δὴ, τὰ πάθη τοῦ λαοῦ εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ἀναλαμβάνοντες, εὐχὰς ὑπὲρ τοῦ πλήθους ἐποιοῦντο, κοινήν τε ἱκετηρίαν τῷ Θεῷ ἀνέπεμπον. Εἰκότως οὖν ὡς ἐξ ἑνὸς στόματος ταύτας ἠφίεσαν τὰς φωνάς. Κρῖνόν με, ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ δίκασον τὴν δίκην μου ἐξ ἔθνους οὐχ ὁσίου· ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπου δολίου καὶ ἀδίκου ῥῦσαί με. Ὅτι σὺ ὁ Θεὸς κραταίωμά μου, ἵνα τί ἀπώσω με; ἵνα τί σκυθρωπάζων πορεύομαι ἐν τῷ ἐκθλίψαι ἐχθρόν; Εἴποι δ' ἄν τις ταῦτα λέγειν ἕνα που καὶ δεύτερον ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ ἔθνει τῶν Ἰουδαίων, εὑρημένον δίκαιον. Αὐτὸς οὖν ὁ εἷς καὶ σπάνιος, οἷον Ἱερεμίας ἤ τις ἕτερος ὅμοιος αὐτῷ, ἀποκλαιέσθω, καὶ ταύτας ἀναπεμπέτω τὰς φωνὰς,