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and harp, as an instrument that has become of the Spirit. "I will awake early. [10] I will give praise to thee among the peoples, O Lord, I will sing praise to thee among the nations." Not now only, he says, will I offer this hymnody to you, but also when the true light has risen, and has scattered the long night of ignorance, and has shown the dawn of the expected day [not only through his incarnate presence to us, but also through the regeneration and re-creation of the font], I will be a choirmaster of all nations and peoples; and using their mouths as if they were strings, I will sing the hymn of thanksgiving. [For what reason, O prophet, tell us the manner too.] 11. "For thy mercy is great, unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds." For not only heaven, and the angels who have it as their abode, knew your mercy, but also through the clouds you have revealed your truth. For the divine Scripture calls those deemed worthy of divine grace "clouds." And God of all teaches us this through Isaiah the prophet. For having said concerning Israel, "I will let my vineyard go, and it shall not be pruned, nor shall it be dug;" he added, "And I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it." For just as the cloud receives the sources of the rains from elsewhere, so also the prophets and apostles, being moved by divine grace, brought spiritual watering to the souls of men. 80.1296 12. "Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory above all the earth." For through the spiritual clouds, the prophets, I say, and apostles, when the truth was revealed, the Lord of all was shown to be most high, creator of heaven and earth, receiving a hymn from men in all the earth and sea.

INTERPRETATION OF THE 57TH PSALM. 1. "For the end, Do not destroy, for David for an inscription on a tablet." Of the same

this psalm also holds to the meaning. For it narrates the wickedness of Saul, [and of those with him, who possessed a mind equal to his,] and the falsehood of his words. For having many times sworn to end the enmity, he transgressed the oaths, and made use of ambushes. Again the "Do not destroy" is set forth, because twice having gotten him into his power [David, Saul] he was unwilling to kill him. 2. "If ye do indeed speak righteousness, judge uprightly, ye sons of men." He relates these things to Saul, who had sworn to no longer persecute, and who campaigned against his oaths. You, he says, be the judge of what is being done by you, and having been entrusted with judging, cast a right and just vote. [If you cannot diagnose your own sickness or become a physician for it, how will you prepare the medicine of truth for others? You cannot, he says.] 3. "For ye work iniquity in your heart in the earth; your hands weave injustice." Yours, he says, are both the words of peace, and the wicked counsels, and all sorts of treacherous devices; consider then whether the deeds correspond to the words. But in vain did I entrust my judgment to you, who do not endure to judge justly. 4. "The sinners were estranged from the womb, they went astray from the belly, they spoke lies." Long ago, he says, separating yourselves from the truth, you embraced falsehood. [And this, as has been said by us above, he especially applauds in the present case; speaking of falsehood and hatred toward neighbors.] And he added "from the womb" and "from the belly," 80.1297 as God had known their affairs before their formation. For so also to Jeremiah: "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee." And to Pharaoh: "For this very purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show in thee my power." But it was not the foreknowledge of God that made either Pharaoh wicked or Jeremiah holy; but as God he foreknew what was to be. 5. "Wrath

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καὶ κιθάραν, ὡς ὄργανον γεγενημένον τοῦ Πνεύματος. "Ἐγερθήσομαι ὄρθρου. [ιʹ.] Ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι ἐν λαοῖς, Κύριε, ψαλῶ σοι ἐν ἔθνεσιν." Οὐ νῦν, φησὶ, μόνον, ταύτην σοι προσοίσω τὴν ὑμνῳδίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς ἀνα τείλαντος, καὶ τὴν μακρὰν τῆς ἀγνοίας ἀπο σκεδάσαντος νύκτα, καὶ τὸν τῆς προσδοκωμέ νης ἡμέρας ὑποδείξαντος ὄρθρον [οὐ μόνον διὰ τῆς ἐνσάρκου αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἡμᾶς παρουσίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τῆς τοῦ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας καὶ ἀναπλά σεως], τῶν ἐθνῶν ἁπάντων καὶ τῶν λαῶν χορο διδάσκαλος ἔσομαι· καὶ οἷόν τισι χορδαῖς τοῖς ἐκεί νων χρώμενος στόμασιν, ᾄσω τὴν χαριστήριον ὑμνῳδίαν. [Τίνος ἕνεκεν, ὦ προφῆτα, εἰπὲ καὶ τὸν τρόπον.] ιαʹ. "Ὅτι ἐμεγαλύνθη ἕως τῶν οὐρανῶν τὸ ἔλεός σου, καὶ ἕως τῶν νεφελῶν ἡ ἀλήθειά σου." Οὐ γὰρ μόνος ὁ οὐρανὸς, καὶ οἱ τοῦτον ἐνδιαίτημα ἔχοντες ἄγγελοι, τὸν σὸν ἔλεον ἔγνωσαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τῶν νεφελῶν τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου δεδήλωκας. Νεφέλας δὲ τοὺς τῆς θείας χάριτος ἠξιωμένους ἡ θεία κα λεῖ Γραφή. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ διὰ Ἡσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου ὁ τῶν ὅλων ἡμᾶς διδάσκει Θεός. Εἰρηκὼς γὰρ περὶ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· "Ἀνήσω τὸν ἀμπελῶνά μου, καὶ οὐ μὴ τμηθῇ, οὐδὲ μὴ σκαφῇ·" ἐπήγαγε· "Καὶ ταῖς νεφέλαις ἐντελοῦμαι τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι ἐπ' αὐ τόν." Καθάπερ γὰρ ἡ νεφέλη ἑτέρωθεν ὑποδέχε ται τῶν ὄμβρων τὰς ἀφορμὰς, οὕτω καὶ προφῆται καὶ ἀπόστολοι ὑπὸ τῆς θείας χάριτος ἐνεργούμενοι. τὴν πνευματικὴν ἀρδείαν προσήνεγκαν ταῖς τῶν ἀν θρώπων ψυχαῖς. 80.1296 ιβʹ. "Ὑψώθητι ἐπὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἡ δόξα σου." ∆ιὰ γὰρ τῶν πνευ ματικῶν νεφελῶν, τῶν προφητῶν, φημὶ, καὶ ἀπο στόλων, τῆς ἀληθείας ἀναφανείσης, ὕψιστος ἀν εδείχθη τῶν ὅλων ὁ Κύριος, οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς ποιητὴς, ἐν ἁπάσῃ γῇ καὶ θαλάσσῃ παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὕμνον δεχόμενος.

ΕΡΜΗΝ. ΤΟΥ ΝΖʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΥ. αʹ. "Εἰς τὸ τέλος, Μὴ διαφθείρῃς, τῷ ∆αβὶδ εἰς στηλογραφίαν." Τῆς αὐτῆς

ἔχεται καὶ οὗτος ὁ ψαλ μὸς διανοίας. ∆ιηγεῖται γὰρ τὴν τοῦ Σαοὺλ πονη ρίαν, [καὶ τῶν κατ' αὐτὸν, τὴν ἐκείνου ἰσόῤῥοπον κεκτημένων γνώμην,] καὶ τῶν λόγων τὸ ψεῦδος. Πολλάκις γὰρ ὀμόσας καταλύειν τὴν ἔχθραν, παρ έβη τοὺς ὅρκους, καὶ ταῖς ἐνέδραις ἐχρήσατο. Πάλιν δὲ τὸ, Μὴ διαφθείρῃς, πρόκειται· ἐπειδὴ δὶς λαβὼν ὑποχείριον [ὁ ∆αβὶδ τὸν Σαοὺλ] ἀνελεῖν οὐκ ἠθέλησεν. βʹ. "Εἰ ἀληθῶς ἄρα δικαιοσύνην λαλεῖτε, εὐ θείας κρίνατε, υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων." Ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν Σαοὺλ διεξέρχεται ὀμωμοκότα μηκέτι διώκειν, καὶ παρὰ τοὺς ὅρκους στρατεύσαντα. Σὺ, φησὶ, γενοῦ τῶν ὑπὸ σοῦ δρωμένων κριτὴς, καὶ τὸ κρί νειν πεπιστευμένος, ὀρθὴν ἐξένεγκε καὶ δικαίαν τὴν ψῆφον. [Εἰ δὲ τὴν οἰκείαν νόσον οὐ δύνασαι δια γνῶναι ἢ ἰατρὸς ταύτης γενέσθαι, πῶς ἂν ἑτέροις τὸ τῆς ἀληθείας φάρμακον κατασκευάσεις; Οὐ δύ νασαι, φησίν.] γʹ. "Καὶ γὰρ ἐν καρδίᾳ ἀνομίας ἐργάζεσθε ἐν τῇ γῇ· ἀδικίαν αἱ χεῖρες ὑμῶν συμπλέκου σιν." Σὰ, φησὶ, καὶ τὰ τῆς εἰρήνης ῥήματα, καὶ τὰ πονηρὰ βουλεύματα, καὶ τὰ παντοδαπὰ τῶν ἐπιβούλων μηχανήματα· σκόπησον τοίνυν εἰ συμβαίνει τοῖς λόγοις τὰ πράγματα. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ μά την σοι τὴν ἐμὴν ἐνεχείρισα κρίσιν, δικάζειν οὐκ ἀνεχομένῳ δικαίως. δʹ. "Ἀπηλλοτριώθησαν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἀπὸ μή τρας, ἐπλανήθησαν ἀπὸ γαστρὸς, ἐλάλησαν ψευδῆ." Πάλαι, φησὶν, ἑαυτοὺς τῆς ἀληθείας χωρίσαντες τὸ ψεῦδος ἠσπάσασθε. [Τοῦτο δὲ, ὡς ἀνωτέρω ἡμῖν εἴρηται, κατακροτεῖ μάλιστα ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος· τὸ ψεῦδος καὶ τὸ πρὸς τοὺς πέλας μῖσος λέγων.] Τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ μήτρας καὶ ἀπὸ γαστρὸς προστέθεικεν, 80.1297 ὡς τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸ τῆς διαπλάσεως τὰ κατ' αὐτοὺς ἐγνωκότος. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ πρὸς τὸν Ἱερεμίαν· "Πρὸ τοῦ με πλάσαι σε ἐν κοιλίᾳ, ἐπίσταμαί σε· καὶ πρὸ τοῦ σε ἐξελθεῖν ἐκ μήτρας, ἡγίακά σε." Καὶ πρὸς τὸν Φαραώ· "Εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐξήγειρά σε, ὅπως ἐνδείξωμαι ἐν σοὶ τὴν δύναμίν μου." Ἀλλ' οὐχ ἡ πρόγνωσις τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἢ τὸν Φαραὼ πονηρὸν, ἢ τὸν Ἱερεμίαν πεποίηκεν ἅγιον· ἀλλὰ τὸ μέλλον ἔσεσθαι προέγνω ὡς Θεός. εʹ. "Θυμὸς