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they will not be considered worthy of burial, but will be laid out as food for wild beasts. 12. "But the king shall rejoice in God." But I, he says, having received the kingdom from you, will not rejoice in their death, but in your providence, by which I escaped the various plots of my enemies. "Every one that 80.1341 swears by him shall be praised: for the mouth of them that speak wicked things shall be stopped." Thenceforth, all will both name him king with boldness and swear by his salvation, no longer fearing the slanderers, whose mouths were stopped by death. For while Saul was alive, they feared conversing with David; but when he was dead, all thenceforth without fear both rendered to the king his due honor and made the king's salvation their oath, making this a point of honor and a pretext for goodwill.

INTERPRETATION OF THE 63RD PSALM. 1. "For the end, a psalm of David." This psalm also has the same subject.

It recounts the plots made by Saul, and foretells the release from them. [And it foretells through which prayers the people from the nations, turning back, ought to beseech the Savior.] 2. "Hear, O God, my voice, when I make my supplication to thee: deliver my soul from the fear of the enemy." Receive my supplication, he says, O Master; and strengthen my mind, so that I may not fear the attacks of the enemies. 3. "Protect me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the multitude of the workers of iniquity." He calls their unanimity a conspiracy, and their agreement in evil, from which he begs to be shown superior, being fortified as by a wall with divine care. Then he recounts their various machinations. 4, 5. "Who have whet their tongues like a sword; they have bent their bow, a bitter thing. To shoot in secret at the blameless." They devise slanders, he says, for the war prepared against me; and this though I have given no cause. For here by blameless he means the one without cause. And the "bitter thing," Aquila has said "a bitter word"; and Theodotion, "a bitter speech"; and Symmachus, "They have filled their bow, a bitter speech." And the "in secret," Symmachus has said "in hiding"; that is, using ambushes and snares. And what follows also teaches this. 6. "Suddenly they will shoot at him, and will not be afraid." Lying in wait, he says, they will attack suddenly, not fearing the all-seeing God. "They have strengthened for themselves a wicked speech; they have talked of hiding snares." Symmachus 80.1344 has said this more clearly: They strengthened a wicked speech, they proposed to hide snares. For, contriving my death, they proposed and took counsel what devices they should use against me, and by their action they strengthened their words; and they dare these things, thinking that no one has providence over human affairs. For what follows shows this: "They said: Who shall see them?" They think, he says, that there is no judge of what happens. [This, on the one hand, is about Absalom and Saul and the rest; and this, on the other hand, is also about the lawless who from time to time have set up devices and snares against the Churches of God. And see what he says through what follows.] 7. "They have searched out iniquity; they have failed in their diligent search." They have stirred up every thought, he says; they have devised every machination against me; they have left behind no kind of plot, attacking openly, lurking secretly, using spies, roaming the deserts, searching out rocky places [in mountains and caves and holes of the earth searching for the athletes of piety, concerning whom the divine Paul says, of whom the world was not worthy]. "A man shall come, and a deep heart. [8.] And God shall be exalted." Theodotion interpreted this more clearly; he says thus: And the thought of a man, and a deep heart, God will shoot at. For even if they hide their practices ten thousand times, these things are clear to the all-seeing God; who

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ταφῆς ἀξιωθήσονται, ἀλλὰ προκείσονται τοῖς θηρίοις βορά. ιβʹ. "Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς εὐφρανθήσεται ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ." Ἐγὼ δὲ, φησὶ, παρὰ σοῦ τὴν βασιλείαν δεξάμενος, οὐκ ἐπὶ τῷ ἐκείνων ἡσθήσομαι θανάτῳ, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῇ σῇ προμηθείᾳ, δι' ἧς ἐξέφυγον τὰς παντοδαπὰς τῶν πολεμίων ἐπιβουλάς. "Ἐπαινεθήσεται πᾶς ὁ 80.1341 ὀμνύων ἐν αὐτῷ ὅτι ἐνεφράγη στόμα λαλούντων ἄδικα." Μετὰ παῤῥησίας δὲ λοιπὸν ἅπαντες καὶ ὀνομάσουσι βασιλέα, καὶ κατὰ τῆς τούτου σωτηρίας ὀμοῦνται· οὐκ ἔτι δεδιότες τοὺς συκοφάντας, ὧν ἐν εφράγη τῷ θανάτῳ τὸ στόμα. Τοῦ μὲν γὰρ Σαοὺλ περιόντος, ἐδεδίεισαν τὴν πρὸς τὸν ∆αβὶδ διάλεξιν· τούτου δὲ τελευτήσαντος, ἀδεῶς λοιπὸν ἅπαντες καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ τὸ πρέπον ἀπένεμον γέρας, καὶ ὅρκον ἐποιοῦντο τοῦ βασιλέως τὴν σωτηρίαν, φιλοτιμίαν τοῦτο καὶ πρόφασιν εὐνοίας ποιούμενοι.

ΕΡΜΗΝ. ΤΟΥ ΞΓʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΥ. αʹ. "Εἰς τὸ τέλος, ψαλμὸς τῷ ∆αβίδ." Καὶ οὗτος ὁ ψαλμὸς τὴν αὐτὴν ὑπόθεσιν

ἔχει. ∆ιηγεῖται δὲ τὰς ὑπὸ Σαοὺλ γεγενημένας ἐπιβουλάς· καὶ προ λέγει τὴν τούτων ἀπαλλαγήν. [Προλέγει δὲ δι' ὧν ὀφείλει προσευχῶν ὁ ἐξ ἐθνῶν λαὸς ἐπιστρέφων δυσωπεῖν τὸν Σωτῆρα.] βʹ. "Εἰσάκουσον, ὁ Θεὸς, φωνῆς μου, ἐν τῷ δέεσθαί με πρὸς σέ· ἀπὸ φόβου ἐχθροῦ ἐξελοῦ τὴν ψυχήν μου." ∆έξαι μου, φησὶ, ∆έσποτα, τὴν ἱκε τείαν· καὶ ῥῶσόν μου τὴν διάνοιαν· ὥστε μὴ δεδιέ ναι τῶν πολεμίων τὰς προσβολάς. γʹ. "Σκέπασόν με ἀπὸ συστροφῆς πονηρευομέ νων, ἀπὸ πλήθους ἐργαζομένων ἀδικίαν." Συ στροφὴν καλεῖ τὴν ὁμόνοιαν, καὶ τὴν ἐν κακῷ συμφωνίαν, ἧς ἀντιβολεῖ κρείττων ἀποφανθῆναι, οἷόν τινι τειχίῳ τῇ θείᾳ κηδεμονίᾳ περιφραττόμε νος. Εἶτα διηγεῖται αὐτῶν τὰ παντοδαπὰ μηχανή ματα. δʹ, εʹ. "Οἵ τινες ἠκόνησαν ὡς ῥομφαίαν τὰς γλώσ σας αὐτῶν· ἐνέτειναν τόξον αὐτῶν, πρᾶγμα πικρόν. Τοῦ κατατοξεῦσαι ἐν ἀποκρύφοις ἄμωμον." Συκο φαντίας, φησὶ, ῥάπτουσιν εἰς τὸν κατ' ἐμοῦ τυρευόμενον πόλεμον· καὶ ταῦτα μηδεμίαν ἐμοῦ παρεσχηκότος αἰτίαν. Ἄμωμον γὰρ ἐντεῦθεν, τὸν ἀναίτιον λέγει. Τὸ δὲ πρᾶγμα πικρὸν, ὁ Ἀκύλας ῥῆμα πικρὸν εἴρηκε· καὶ ὁ Θεοδοτίων, λόγον πικρόν· καὶ ὁ Σύμμαχος, Ἐπλήρωσαν τόξον ἑαυτῶν, λόγον πικρόν. Τὸ δὲ ἐν ἀποκρύφοις, κρυφῇ ὁ Σύμμαχος εἴρηκεν· τουτέστιν, ἐνέδραις καὶ λόχοις κεχρημένοι. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐπαγόμενα διδάσκει. ʹ. "Ἐξάπινα κατατοξεύσουσιν αὐτὸν, καὶ οὐ φοβηθήσονται." Λοχῶντες, φησὶν, ἐξαίφνης ἐπίασιν, οὐ δειμαίνοντες τὸν ἐφορῶντα Θεόν. "Ἐκραταίω σαν ἑαυτοῖς λόγον πονηρόν· διηγήσαντο τοῦ κρύ ψαι παγίδας." Τοῦτο σαφέστερον ὁ Σύμμαχος 80.1344 εἴρηκεν· Ἐκράτυναν λόγον πονηρὸν, εἰσηγή σαντο κρύψαι παγίδας. Τὸν γὰρ ἐμὸν καττύοντες θάνατον, εἰσηγήσαντο καὶ συνεβουλεύσαντο, ποίαις δεῖ χρήσασθαι κατ' ἐμοῦ μηχαναῖς, καὶ τῷ ἔργῳ τοὺς λόγους ἐκράτυναν· ταῦτα δὲ τολμῶσιν, οὐδένα προμηθεῖσθαι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἡγούμενοι. Τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ τὰ ἐπαγόμενα· "Εἶπαν· Τίς ὄψεται αὐτούς;" Ἡγοῦνται, φησὶ, μηδένα εἶναι τῶν γι νομένων κριτήν. [Τοῦτο μὲν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀβεσ σαλὼμ καὶ τὸν Σαοὺλ καὶ τοὺς λοιπούς· τοῦτο δὲ καὶ οἱ παράνομοι οἱ κατὰ καιρὸν μηχανὰς καὶ πάγας κατὰ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ συστησάμενοι. Καὶ ὅρα τί φησι διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς.] ζʹ. "Ἐξηρεύνησαν ἀνομίαν, ἐξέλιπον ἐξ ερευνῶντες ἐξερευνήσεις." Πάντα, φησὶν, ἐκίνη σαν λογισμόν· πᾶσαν ἐπενόησαν κατ' ἐμοῦ μη χανήν· οὐδὲν ἐπιβουλῆς καταλελοίπασιν εἶδος, προφανῶς ἐπιόντες, κρύβδην λοχῶντες, κατασκό ποις χρώμενοι, τὰς ἐρήμους περινοστοῦντες, τὰ πετρώδη χωρία διερευνώμενοι [ἐν ὄρεσι καὶ σπηλαίοις καὶ ταῖς ὀπαῖς τῆς γῆς ἀναζητοῦντες τοὺς ἀθλητὰς τῆς εὐσεβείας, περὶ ὧν φάσκει ὁ θεῖος Παῦλος, ὧν οὐκ ἦν ἄξιος ὁ κόσμος]. "Προσελεύσεται ἄνθρωπος, καὶ καρδία βαθεῖα. [ηʹ.] Καὶ ὑψωθήσεται ὁ Θεός." Τοῦτο σαφέστε ρον ὁ Θεοδοτίων ἡρμήνευσε· λέγει δὲ οὕτως· Καὶ διάνοιαν ἀνδρὸς, καὶ καρδίαν βαθεῖαν κατατο ξεύσει ὁ Θεός. Κἂν γὰρ μυριάκις αὐτῶν κατακρύ ψωσι τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα, δῆλα ταῦτά ἐστι τῷ πάντ' ἐφορῶντι Θεῷ· ὃς