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I will enjoy providence from you. For he calls the care of God wings. And 'for ever' he has put in place of 'continually.' ʹ. "For you, O God, have heard my prayers; you gave an inheritance to those who fear your name." And I praise you always, since having accepted my supplications, you have restored to us, their descendants, the inheritance promised to our forefathers. And they say these things as soon as they set out on the road. It must be known, however, that the preceding words also contain riddles of the true inheritance; and the true inheritance is eternal life, concerning which the Lord Christ spoke to the lambs on his right: "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." This inheritance the Lord promised to give to those who fear him; and to these he gave the promised land as a type. ζʹ, ηʹ. "You will add days to the days of the king; 80.1328 his years to the day of a generation and a generation. He will remain for ever before God." Having thus supplicated, and having received their requests, and having confessed thanks for these things, they entreat God to preserve for a very long time the king given to them. At that time Zerubbabel was their king; but not all the sayings of the prophecy fit him. For, "You will add days to the days of the king," fits him also; but the rest, no longer; but to the one who came from him according to the flesh through much love for mankind, as he himself knows. For in him the words of the prophecy are true: "His years to the day of a generation and a generation; he will remain for ever before God." [For he neither received a beginning of days, nor will he endure an end. For even if, having become man for us, he accepted death, yet his years are to the day of a generation and a generation. For in the beginning he was, and was with God, and was God. And 'before God' means 'always coexisting with the Father.'] For to him the same prophet in the one hundred and first psalm said: "But you are the same, and your years will not fail." [You see that, as coexisting, he who accepted the cross and death for us also has an endless kingdom.] Zerubbabel, however, is also a type of the Lord Christ. For just as he brought the captivity from Babylon back to the fatherland, so the Lord Christ brought back all human nature, which had become captive [through the transgression of the first man], to its former nobility [for having destroyed on the cross the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil], and having destroyed the power of death, he restored life to those under its sway. [For his is the voice: "I am the life and the resurrection; and he who eats me will live in me."] "Who will seek out his mercy and truth?" For who, he says, is able to understand precisely the judged and just mercy of God? for his judgments are a great abyss. θʹ. "So I will sing to your name for ever, that I may pay my vows day by day." For I will always praise you; each day I will recount your graces; and I will not falsify the promises; for he calls promises vows. 80.1329

INTERPRETATION OF PSALM 61. αʹ. "For the end, for Idithum, a psalm of David." But Symmachus translated thus:

A song of victory through Idithum, a song for David. It indicates, therefore, that the psalm is of the blessed David, but was sung by Idithum. For as a leader of the choir in the divine temple, he hymned the God of all, as the book of Chronicles says. The psalm also prophesies the Macedonian uprisings, and the plots of Antiochus Epiphanes against the Maccabees; and it teaches the athletes of piety what kind of thoughts it is fitting to use in the time of adversaries. βʹ. "Shall not my soul be subject to God?" Being forced to transgress the divine law, and to sacrifice

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παρὰ σοῦ προνοίας ἀπολαύσω. Πτέρυγας γὰρ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ κηδεμονίαν καλεῖ. Τὸ δὲ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀντὶ τοῦ διηνεκῶς τέθεικεν. ʹ. "Ὅτι σὺ, ὁ Θεὸς, εἰσήκουσας τῶν εὐχῶν μου· ἔδωκας κληρονομίαν τοῖς φοβουμένοις τὸ ὄνομά σου." Ὑμνῶ δέ σε διαπαντὸς, ἐπειδὴ τὰς ἐμὰς δεξάμενος ἱκετείας, τὴν ἐπαγγελθεῖσαν τοῖς προ γόνοις ἡμῶν κληρονομίαν ἡμῖν τοῖς ἐκείνων ἐκγόνοις ἀπέδωκας. Ταῦτα δὲ λέγουσιν εὐθὺς ἁψάμενοι τῆς ὁδοῦ. Ἰστέον μέντοι, ὅτι καὶ τῆς ἀληθοῦς κληρο νομίας αἰνίγματα ἔχει τὰ προκείμενα ῥήματα· κληρονομία δὲ ἀληθὴς, ἡ αἰώνιος ζωὴ, περὶ ἧς ἔφη ὁ ∆εσπότης Χριστὸς τοῖς ἐκ δεξιῶν ἀμνοῖς· "∆εῦτε οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μου· κληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου." Ταύτην τὴν κληρονομίαν τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτὸν δώσειν ὁ ∆εσπότης ὑπέσχετο· καὶ τούτοις δὲ ὡς ἐν τύπῳ τὴν ἐπηγγελμένην ἀπέδωκε γῆν. ζʹ, ηʹ. "Ἡμέρας ἐφ' ἡμέρας τοῦ βασιλέως 80.1328 προσθήσεις· τὰ ἔτη αὐτοῦ ἕως ἡμέρας γενεᾶς καὶ γενεᾶς. ∆ιαμενεῖ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ." Οὕτως ἱκετεύσαντες, καὶ τὰς αἰτήσεις δεξάμενοι, καὶ χάριν ὑπὲρ τούτων ὁμολογήσαντες, ἀντιβολοῦ σι τὸν Θεὸν, τὸν δοθέντα αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ πλεῖστον δια φυλάξαι βασιλέα. Τηνικαῦτα δὲ αὐτῶν ἐβασίλευε Ζοροβάβελ· ἀλλ' οὐχ ἁρμόττει αὐτῷ πάντα τὰ τῆς προφητείας ῥητά. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ, "Ἡμέρας ἐφ' ἡμέ ρας τοῦ βασιλέως προσθήσεις," ἁρμόττει κἀ κείνῳ· τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ, οὐκ ἔτι· ἀλλὰ τῷ ἐξ ἐκείνου κατὰ σάρκα διὰ πολλὴν φιλανθρωπίαν γενομένῳ, ὡς οἶδεν αὐτός. Ἐπ' ἐκείνου γὰρ ἀληθεύει τῆς προ φητείας τὰ ῥήματα· "Τὰ ἔτη αὐτοῦ ἕως ἡμέρας γενεᾶς καὶ γενεᾶς· διαμενεῖ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ." [Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν ἐδέξατο, οὐδὲ τέλος ὑπομενεῖ. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατεδέξατο θάνατον, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἔτη αὐτοῦ ἕως ἡμέρας γενεᾶς καὶ γενεᾶς. Ἐν ἀρχῇ γὰρ ἦν, καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἦν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν. Τὸ δὲ ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀντὶ τοῦ, σὺν Πατρὶ ἀεὶ συνυπάρχων.] Πρὸς ἐκεῖνον γὰρ ὁ αὐτὸς προφήτης ἐν τῷ ἑκα τοστῷ καὶ πρώτῳ ψαλμῷ ἔφη· "Σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ, καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσιν." [Ὁρᾷς, ὅτι ὡς συνυπάρχων ἔχει καὶ ἀτελεύτητον τὴν βασιλείαν ὁ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σταυρὸν καὶ θάνατον καταδεξάμενος.] Τύπος μέντοι καὶ Ζοροβάβελ τοῦ ∆εσπότου Χρι στοῦ. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος τὴν ἀπὸ Βαβυλῶνος αἰχ μαλωσίαν εἰς τὴν πατρῴαν ἐπανήγαγε γῆν· οὕτως ὁ ∆εσπότης Χριστὸς ἅπασαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσιν γεγενημένην αἰχμάλωτον [διὰ τῆς παραβάσεως τοῦ πρώτου ἀνθρώπου] εἰς τὴν προτέραν εὐγένειαν ἐπανήγαγε [καταργήσας γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ τὸν τὸ κράτος ἔχοντα τοῦ θανάτου, τουτέστι τὸν διάβολον], καὶ καταλύσας τοῦ θανάτου τὸ κράτος, τοῖς ὑπ' ἐκείνῳ τελοῦσι τὴν ζωὴν ἀπέδωκεν. [Αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐστι φωνή· "Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις· καὶ ὁ τρώγων με ζήσεται ἐν ἐμοί."] "Ἔλεος καὶ ἀλήθειαν αὐτοῦ τίς ἐκζητήσει;" Τίς γὰρ, φησὶν, ἱκανὸς τὸν κεκριμένον καὶ δίκαιον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔλεον καταμαθεῖν ἀκριβῶς; τὰ γὰρ κρίματα αὐτοῦ ἄβυσσος πολλή. θʹ. "Οὕτως ψαλῶ τῷ ὀνόματί σου εἰς τοὺς αἰῶ νας, τοῦ ἀποδοῦναί με τὰς εὐχάς μου ἡμέραν ἐξ ἡμέρας." Ἀεί σε γὰρ ὑμνήσω· καθ' ἑκάστην τὰς σὰς διηγήσομαι χάριτας· καὶ τὰς ὑποσχέσεις οὐ ψεύσομαι· εὐχὰς γὰρ τὰς ὑποσχέσεις καλεῖ. 80.1329

ΕΡΜΗΝ. ΤΟΥ ΞΑʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΥ. αʹ. "Εἰς τὸ τέλος, ὑπὲρ Ἰδιθοὺμ, ψαλμὸς τῷ ∆αβίδ." Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος οὕτως

ἡρμήνευσεν· Ἐπινίκιος διὰ Ἰδιθοὺμ, ᾠδὴ εἰς ∆αβίδ. ∆ηλοῖ τοίνυν, ὡς τοῦ μακαρίου μὲν ∆αβὶδ ὁ ψαλμὸς, ᾔδετο δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰδιθούμ. Ὡς γὰρ χοροῦ προστατῶν ἐν τῷ θείῳ ναῷ ὕμνει τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν, ᾗ φησι τῶν Παραλειπομένων ἡ βίβλος. Προθεσπίζει δὲ ὁ ψαλμὸς τὰς Μακεδονικὰς ἐπαναστάσεις, καὶ τὰς Ἀντιόχου τοῦ Ἐπιφανοῦς κατὰ τῶν Μακκαβαίων ἐπιβουλάς· καὶ διδάσκει τοὺς εὐσεβείας ἀθλητὰς, ὁποίοις προσήκει χρήσασθαι λογισμοῖς ἐν τῷ τῶν ἐναντίων καιρῷ. βʹ. "Οὐχὶ τῷ Θεῷ ὑποταγήσεται ἡ ψυχή μου;" Τὸν θεῖον παραβαίνειν καταναγκαζόμενοι νόμον, καὶ θύειν μὲν