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Absalom was related. Furthermore, the 17th has been shown to have been spoken about the end of David's life. But also the 37th, inscribed for remembrance, having the same thought as the 6th, begins with the same words, saying: "Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath, nor discipline me in your anger." And going on, it makes the same confession as that in the 50th, both in other parts and through the words: "For my iniquities have gone over my head." "My wounds have become foul and festering because of my foolishness." And you yourself, having gathered them, would find that most of the psalms in the first part were spoken after the time of the story concerning Uriah, while those after the 50th precede in time the affair concerning Uriah. Why then were those first in time not placed first in chronological order; but those spoken first, while Saul was still alive, are in the second part of the psalms; while in the first part are those that are last in time? But I think it has taken this order, so that the discourse would not proceed from better things to worse; for the phrase "unto the end, do not destroy," seems to have been preserved also in the ordering of the psalms. Therefore, the more somber things are placed first, so that the better things might be kept for second, with the worse things being covered up and obliterated by the better things in the second part. And it is likely that David wished to cover his later transgression with his earlier achievements. And someone might say that 23.448 out of excessive piety he placed his confessions first; "Since a righteous man is his own accuser in the first instance." But with so much training for us in the given arrangement, it is now time to proceed to the preceding words of the 51st psalm. He writes, then, the preceding words, having learned what Doeg the Syrian perpetrated in his slanders against him. Therefore he directs his speech to him, saying: "Why do you boast in wickedness, O mighty man?"; or as to the devil who worked in him. For he was not ignorant of the one who was always opposed to him, and who always warred against him, sometimes through Saul, and now through Doeg, and at other times in other ways through others. The one, then, who is weak and powerless and slight in wickedness, in whom the better way prevails, being weaker in wickedness, will cover himself when sinning, and being pricked by his conscience, might repent, and for his own wickedness might devise a remedy for himself through confession and sincere repentance; but the one who is mighty in wickedness is puffed up by it, and boasts, priding himself as if on a great achievement. And it seems to me that the present discourse describes a way opposite to the one who had previously confessed in the 50th psalm. For in that one, having slipped into wickedness once, he at one time repented and smote himself, confessing, and lamenting his own evils; but the present one, being in wickedness, says: "And he will tear you away from the tabernacle, and root you out from the land of the living forever; so that the righteous, always seeing, may fear, and laugh at him, saying: 'Behold the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth, and strengthened himself in his calamity.'" And these things were said as to Doeg, who was a Syrian by race, but dwelling in the midst of Israel; and perhaps also entering with the multitude into the tabernacle of God, and pretending to be pious. And it was said also to every one mighty in wickedness, using the tongue instead of a sword for the destruction of souls, like some bitter and destructive root, that the husbandman of souls might pluck out, even if it seems for some short time to be planted in the tabernacle of God and in his Church, And such a one, being cast out and thrown far from the tabernacle of the saints, will lie a pitiable spectacle for the benefit and correction of those who see, who, the abrupt judgment of God against such a one

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Ἀβεσσαλὼμ συνεγένετο. Ἔτι μὴν καὶ ὁιζʹ ἀποδέδεικται περὶ τὰ τελευταῖα τῆς ζωῆς ∆αυῒδ λελεγμένος. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ λζʹ, ἐπιγεγραμμένος εἰς ἀνάμνησιν, τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχων διάνοιαν τῷ ʹ, ἄρχεται μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν ῥημάτων λέγων· Κύριε, μὴ τῷ θυμῷ σου ἐλέγξῃς με, μηδὲ τῇ ὀργῇ σου παιδεύσῃς με. Προϊὼν δὲ τὴν αὐτὴν ἐξομολόγησιν τῇ ἐν τῷ νʹ φερομένῃ ποιεῖται ἔν τε τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ δι' ὧν φησιν· Ὅτι αἱ ἀνομίαι μου ὑπερῆσαν τὴν κεφαλήν μου. Προσώζεσαν καὶ ἐσάπησαν οἱ μώλωπές μου ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς ἀφροσύνης μου. Καὶ σὺ δ' ἂν κατὰ σαυτὸν συναγαγὼν εὕροις ἂν τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ μέρει τῶν ψαλμῶν μετὰ τοὺς χρόνους τῆς κατὰ τὸν Οὐρίαν ἱστορίας εἰρημένα, τὰ δὲ μετὰ τὸν νʹ τοῖς χρόνοις προάγοντα τὴν κατὰ τὸν Οὐρίαν πρᾶξιν. Τί δήποτε οὖν οὐ κατὰ τὴν τῶν χρόνων ἀκολουθίαν οἱ πρῶτοι τοῖς χρόνοις πρῶτοι κατετάγησαν· ἀλλ' οἱ τὴν πρῶτοι λελεγμένοι ἔτι ζῶντος Σαοὺλ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ μέρει τῶν ψαλμῶν· ἐν δὲ τῷ πρώτῳ οἱ τοῖς χρόνοις ὕστατοι; ἡγοῦμαι δὲ ταύτην εἰληφέναι τὴν τάξιν, ὡς ἂν μὴ ἀπὸ τῶν κρειττόνων ἐπὶ τὰ χείρω φέροιτο ὁ λόγος· τὸ γὰρ, εἰς τὸ τέλος μὴ διαφθείρῃς, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν ψαλμῶν τάξεως πεφυλάχθαι ἔοικεν. ∆ιὸ καὶ τὰ σκυθρωπότερα πρῶτα τέθειται· ἵνα δεύτερα τὰ χρηστότερα φυλαχθῇ, καλυπτομένων καὶ ἐξαφανιζομένων τῶν χειρόνων, διὰ τῶν ἐν τοῖς δευτέροις κρειττόνων. Εἰκὸς δὲ τὸν ∆αυῒδ τὸ πλημμεληθὲν αὐτῷ ὕστερον διὰ τῶν προτέρων αὐτοῦ κατορθωμάτων ἐθέλειν καλύπτειν. Εἴποι δ' ἄν τις, ὅτι 23.448 καθ' ὑπερβολὴν εὐλαβείας πρώτας ἔταττε τὰς ἐξομολογήσεις ἑαυτοῦ· Ἐπειδὴ δίκαιος ἑαυτοῦ κατήγορος ἐν πρωτολογίᾳ. Ἀλλὰ τοσούτων ἡμῖν εἰς τὴν ἀποδοθεῖσαν τάξιν γεγυμνασμένων, καιρὸς ἤδη καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς προκειμένας φωνὰς τοῦ ναʹ παρελθεῖν. Γράφει τοίνυν τοὺς προκειμένους λόγους, μαθὼν ὁποῖα διεπράξατο ∆ωὴκ ὁ Σύρος ἐν ταῖς κατ' αὐτοῦ διαβολαῖς. ∆ιὸ ὡς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀποτείνεται λέγων· Τί ἐγκαυχᾷ ἐν κακίᾳ, ὁ δυνατός; ἢ ὡς πρὸς τὸν ἐνεργήσαντα ἐν αὐτῷ διάβολον. Οὐ γὰρ ἠγνόει τὸν πάντοτε αὐτῷ ἀντικείμενον, καὶ διὰ παντὸς αὐτὸν πολεμοῦντα, ποτὲ μὲν διὰ τοῦ Σαοὺλ, νυνὶ δὲ διὰ τοῦ ∆ωὴκ, καὶ ἄλλοτε ἄλλως δι' ἑτέρων. Ὁ μὲν οὖν ἀδύνατος καὶ ἄτονος καὶ ὀλίγος ἐν κακίᾳ, πλεονάζοντος ἐν αὐτῷ τοῦ κρείττονος τρόπου, ὡς ἂν ἀσθενέστερος ἐν κακίᾳ, ἐγκαλύψεται ἁμαρτάνων, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς συνειδήσεως κεντούμενος, μετανοήσειεν ἂν, καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ κακίας περινοήσειεν ἑαυτῷ φάρμακον δι' ἐξομολογήσεως καὶ εἰλικρινοῦς μετανοίας· ὁ δὲ δυνατὸς ἐν κακίᾳ τυφοῦται ἐπ' αὐτῇ, καὶ ἐγκαυχᾶται, ὡς ἐπὶ μεγάλῳ κατορθώματι σεμνυνόμενος. Καί μοι δοκεῖ τὸν ἐναντίον τρόπον διαγράφειν ὁ παρὼν λόγος τῷ προεξομολογησαμένῳ ἐν τῷ νʹ ψαλμῷ. Ἐν ἐκείνῳ μὲ γὰρ ὀλισθήσας ἐν κακίᾳ ἅπαξ, ποτὲ μετεγίνωσκε καὶ ἑαυτὸν ἔκοπτεν ἐξομολογούμενος, καὶ τὰ ἑαυτοῖ κακὰ ἀποκλαόμενος· ὁ δὲ παρὼν ἐν κακίᾳ ὤν φησι· Καὶ ἀποξύσει σε ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς, καὶ ἐκ ῥιζώσει σε ἐκ γῆς ζώντων εἰσαεί· ἵνα δίκαιοι βλέποντες ἀεὶ φοβῶνται, καὶ καταγελῶσιν αὐτοῦ λέγοντες· Ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπος, ὃς οὐ προέθετο τὸν Θεὸν ἰσχὺν αὐτοῦ· ἀλλ' ἐπεποίθησε τῷ πλήθει τοῦ πλούτου αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐνισχυρεύσατο τῇ συμφορᾷ ἑαυτοῦ. Λέλεκται δὲ ταῦτα ὡς πρὸς τὸν ∆ωὴκ, ὄντα μὲν Σύρον τὸ γένος, ἀναστρεφόμενον δὲ ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· καί που τάχα καὶ παραβάλλοντα μετὰ τοῦ πλήθους εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ, θεοσεβεῖν τε προσποιούμενον. Λέλεκται δὲ καὶ πρὸς πάντα τὸν ἐν κακίᾳ δυνατὸν, τῇ γλώσσῃ χρώμενον ἀντὶ ξίφους ἐπὶ ψυχῶν ἀπωλείᾳ, ὥσπερ τινὰ πικρὰν καὶ λυμαντικὴν ῥίζαν, ὁ τῶν ψυχῶν γεωργὸς ἐκτῖλαι, κἂν δοκῇ πρὸς βραχύν τινα χρόνον ἐν τῷ σκηνώματι τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ αὐτοῦ πεφυτεῦσθαι, Ἐκταλεὶς δὲ ὁ τοιοῦτος καὶ μακρὰν ἀποῤῥιφεὶς τοῦ τῶν ἁγίων σκηνώματος, θέαμα κείσεται οἰκτρὸν ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ καὶ σωφρονισμῷ τῶν ὁρώντων, οἳ, τὴν ἀπότομον τοῦ Θεοῦ κατὰ τοῦ τοιούτου κρίσιν