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having bestowed, this one will also make the way smooth for us, so as not to miss so many good things. 21. "Our God is the God of salvation." And he will provide this, being a fount of salvation. "And of the Lord, the Lord, are the ways out from death." For he himself opened for us even the inescapable guard of death, and broke gates of brass, and shattered bars of iron. And this he declared through the following words: 22. "But God will shatter the heads of his enemies; the hairy crown of those who go on in their trespasses." He has opened for us, he says, the gates of death, having shattered the heads of the enemies, of those who scrutinize the trespasses of men, and do not endure to leave even the hairs of the head unexamined. And by the hair, he means the smallest trespass. What he says is this: To those who sin, God appointed death as a penalty. But the devil, scrutinizing the life of men like some bitter executioner, does not endure to overlook even the smallest thing, but consigns our nature to death. Seeing, then, the Lord Christ clothed in the same nature, he approached seeking the causes for death. For the Lord also said this in the holy Gospels: "The ruler of this world is coming, and in me he will find nothing." But nevertheless, even having found nothing, he unjustly handed him over to death. This injustice destroyed that one's power, and opened hades for men; which things were said at greater length in the discourses *On Providence*. And the divine Apostle also said that the devil held the power of death. 23. "The Lord said: From Bashan I will bring them back; I will bring them back from the depths of the sea." But Symmachus has it thus: The Lord said, From Bashan I will bring back, from the depths of the sea. Now Bashan, when interpreted, means shame. And shame is the fruit of sin. From this, therefore, the God of all 80.1392 will bring us back; and from the depths of the sea. And what the depth of the sea is, the Prophet himself teaches, crying out, "Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and from the deep waters." [Let not the storm of water overwhelm me, nor let the deep swallow me up.] 24. "That your foot may be dipped in blood; the tongue of your dogs from enemies by him." But Symmachus has it thus: That your foot might crush with blood, and the tongue of your dogs might lap from each of your enemies. For since he showed the God of all, like some champion, vanquishing his enemies and freeing those unjustly enslaved, he describes in his discourse both streams of blood, and corpses being trampled, and these thrown out unburied, and set forth as food for dogs. Thus also through Isaiah he cries: "I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the peoples there was no one with me; I trod them down in my anger, [and I crushed them in my wrath,] and I brought down their blood to the earth; and my garments were sprinkled with their victory." 25. "Your processions were seen, O God; the processions of my God, of the king, who is in the holy place." He calls the economies the processions of the holy one, and the holy one, the temple assumed from the seed of David. Your providence, he says, has become clear to all men, and everyone has understood your various economies. 26. "The princes went before, next to the singers, in the midst of maidens playing timbrels." From this point on, he teaches the gladness of the Churches. And he calls the holy apostles princes, as having become their architects, and maidens playing timbrels, those who practice virginity and offer divine melody to God. Then he makes what was said clearer. 27. "In the churches bless God the Lord from the fountains of Israel." He showed the cessation of the old covenant; for the temple of the Jews was one; but here he prophesies the multitude of the churches; in which he commands the Lord of all to be hymned from the fountains of Israel. And the prophetic books would reasonably be called the fountains of Israel, from which we offer melody to God. But since in addition to the 80.1393 prophetic ones also the apostolic ones to us

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δωρησάμενος, οὗτος ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν ἐξομαλίσει, ὥστε τοσούτων μὴ δια μαρτεῖν ἀγαθῶν. καʹ. "Ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ σώζειν." Παρ έξει δὲ τοῦτο σωτηρίας ὑπάρχων πηγή. "Καὶ τοῦ Κυρίου Κυρίου, αἱ διέξοδοι τοῦ θανάτου." Αὐτὸς γὰρ διήνοιξεν ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν ἀδιεξόδευτον τοῦ θανάτου φρουρὰν, καὶ συνέτριψε πύλας χαλκᾶς, καὶ μοχλοὺς σιδηροῦς συνέθλασε. Καὶ τοῦτο διὰ τῶν ἐπαγομέ νων ἐδήλωσε· κβʹ. "Πλὴν ὁ Θεὸς συνθλάσει κεφαλὰς ἐχθρῶν αὑ τοῦ· κορυφὴν τριχὸς διαπορευομένων ἐν πλημμε λείαις αὑτῶν." Ἤνοιξεν ἡμῖν, φησὶ, τοῦ θανάτου τὰς θύρας, συνθλάσας τὰς τῶν ἐχθρῶν κεφαλὰς, τῶν διερευνωμένων τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὰς πλημμελείας, καὶ μηδὲ τῆς κεφαλῆς τὰς τρίχας ἀνερευνήτους ἀν εχομένων καταλιπεῖν. Λέγει δὲ διὰ τῆς τριχὸς, τὸ σμικρότατον πλημμέλημα. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστι· Τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν ὁ Θεὸς ὥρισε τὸν θάνατον ἐπιτίμιον. ∆ιερευνῶν δὲ ὁ διάβολος, οἷόν τις πικρὸς δήμιος, τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸν βίον, οὐδὲ τὸ σμικρότατον ἀνέχεται παριδεῖν, ἀλλὰ τῷ θανάτῳ παραπέμπει τὴν φύσιν. Τὴν αὐτὴν τοίνυν περικείμενον φύσιν θεα σάμενος τὸν ∆εσπότην Χριστὸν, προσῆλθεν ἐπιζητῶν τοῦ θανάτου τὰ αἴτια. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς Εὐαγγελίοις ἔφη· "Ἔρχεται ὁ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου ἄρχων, καὶ ἐν ἐμοὶ εὑρήσει οὐδέν." Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ μηδὲν εὑρὼν, ἀδίκως τῷ θανάτῳ παρ έδωκε. Τοῦτο τὸ ἀδίκημα ἐκείνου μὲν τὸ κράτος κατέλυσε, τοῖς δὲ ἀνθρώποις τὸν ᾅδην ἠνέῳξεν· ἅπερ ἐν τοῖς Περὶ τῆς Προνοίας λόγοις διὰ πλειόνων ἐῤῥήθη. Καὶ ὁ θεῖος δὲ Ἀπόστολος τὸν διά βολον ἔχειν ἔφη τοῦ θανάτου τὸ κράτος. κγʹ. "Εἶπε Κύριος· Ἐκ Βασὰν ἐπιστρέψω· ἐπι στρέψω ἐν βυθοῖς θαλάσσης." Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος οὕτως· Εἶπε Κύριος, Ἀπὸ Βασὰν ἐπιστρέψω, ἀπὸ βυ θῶν θαλάσσης. Ἡ Βασὰν δὲ ἑρμηνευομένη τὴν αἰσχύνην δηλοῖ. Αἰσχύνη δὲ τῆς ἁμαρτίας καρπός. Ἀπὸ ταύτης τοίνυν ἡμᾶς ὁ τῶν ὅλων 80.1392 Θεὸς ἐπιστρέψει· καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν τῆς θαλάσσης βυ θῶν. Τίς δὲ ὁ τῆς θαλάσσης βυθὸς, αὐτὸς διδάσκει ὁ Προφήτης. βοῶν, "Ῥυσθείην ἐκ τῶν μισούντων με, καὶ ἐκ τῶν βαθέων τῶν ὑδάτων." [Μή με καταποντισάτω καταιγὶς ὕδατος, μηδὲ καταπιέτω με βυθός.] κδʹ. "Ὅπως ἂν βαφῇ ὁ πούς σου ἐν αἵματι· ἡ γλῶσσα τῶν κυνῶν σου ἐξ ἐχθρῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ." Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος οὕτως· Ὅπως ἂν συγκατεάξῃ ὁ πούς σου μετὰ αἵματος, καὶ λάψῃ ἡ γλῶσσα τῶν κυνῶν σου ἀπὸ ἑκάστου τῶν ἐχθρῶν σου. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔδειξε τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν, οἷόν τινα ἀριστέα, τοὺς πολεμίους καταγωνιζόμενον, καὶ τοὺς ἀδίκως δεδουλωμένους ἐλευθεροῦντα, διαγράφει τῷ λόγῳ, καὶ αἱμάτων ῥύακας, καὶ συμπατουμένους νεκροὺς, καὶ τούτους ἀτάφους ἐῤῥιμμένους, καὶ κυσὶ βορὰν προκειμένους. Οὕτω καὶ διὰ Ἡσαΐου βοᾷ· "Ληνὸν ἐπάτησα μονώτατος, καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν οὐδεὶς ἦν μετ' ἐμοῦ· συνεπάτησα αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ θυμῷ μου, [καὶ συνέθλασα αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ μου,] καὶ κατ ήγαγον εἰς γῆν τὸ αἷμα αὐτῶν· καὶ κατεῤῥαντίσθη τῷ κατανικήματι αὐτῶν τὰ ἱμάτιά μου." κεʹ. "Ἐθεωρήθησαν αἱ πορεῖαί σου, ὁ Θεός· αἱ πορεῖαι τοῦ Θεοῦ μου, τοῦ βασιλέως, τοῦ ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ." Πορείας τοῦ ἁγίου τὰς οἰκονομίας καλεῖ, ἅγιον δὲ, τὸν ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αβὶδ ἀνειλημμένον ναόν. ∆ήλη, φησὶ, πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἡ σὴ γέγονε προμήθεια, καὶ τὰς διαφόρους σου οἰκονομίας δι έγνωσαν ἅπαντες. κʹ. "Προέφθασαν ἄρχοντες ἐχόμενοι ψαλ λόντων, ἐν μέσῳ νεανίδων τυμπανιστριῶν." Ἐντεῦ θεν λοιπὸν τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τὴν εὐφροσύνην διδάσκει. Ἄρχοντας δὲ καλεῖ τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀποστό λους, ὡς τούτων ἀρχιτέκτονας γενομένους, νεανίδας δὲ τυμπανιστρίας, τὰς τὴν παρθενίαν ἀσκούσας, καὶ τὴν θείαν μελῳδίαν τῷ Θεῷ προσφερούσας Εἶτα σαφέστερα τὰ εἰρημένα ποιεῖ. κζʹ. "Ἐν ἐκκλησίαις εὐλογεῖτε τὸν Θεὸν Κύριον ἐκ πηγῶν Ἰσραήλ." Ἔδειξε τῆς παλαιᾶς διαθήκης τὴν παῦλαν· εἶς γὰρ ἦν ὁ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ναός· ἐν ταῦθα δὲ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν προθεσπίζει τὸ πλῆθος· ἐν αἷς ἐκ τῶν Ἰσραηλιτικῶν πηγῶν ὑμνεῖσθαι κελεύει τὸν τῶν ὅλων Κύριον. Πηγαὶ δὲ Ἰσραὴλ εἰκότως ἂν κληθεῖεν αἱ προφητικαὶ βίβλοι, ἐξ ὧν τῷ Θεῷ τὴν μελῳδίαν προσφέρομεν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ πρὸς ταῖς 80.1393 προφητικαῖς καὶ τὰς ἀποστολικὰς ἡμῖν