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deliverance, and the return, and the building of Jerusalem, and simply the former prosperity of Judea. It also contains a prophecy of the Lord's [I mean of our God and Savior] sufferings, and of the utter destruction that would for these reasons seize the Jews. For since what they endured from their enemies, these things they dared against their benefactor and Savior, what they cursed upon their enemies, these things the just judge decreed against them. 80.1401 2. "Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my soul." The company of the more pious offers the supplication. He calls the multitude of misfortunes "waters." From all sides, he says, I am overwhelmed by troubles. 3. "I am stuck in the mire of the deep, and there is no foothold." But Symmachus has: I was plunged into endless depths, and there is no place to stand; from the metaphor of those who fall into the depth of the sea, and are carried down a very great way, and with difficulty reach the bottom. By these things he shows the magnitude of the evils that befell those who were enslaved. "I came into the depths of the sea, and a tempest overwhelmed me." He varies his speech with different images, not finding an image worthy of the troubles that possess him. 4. "I have grown weary with my crying; my throat has become hoarse." Continuously, he says, crying out I shout, so that the very organs of my voice have grown tired. And he calls the intensity of prayer in the mind a cry. "My eyes failed, from my hoping in my God." He has set this down from the metaphor of those who await a certain customary and familiar person returning from a journey, and scan the roads. I have grown weary, he says, waiting for your help. Then what he has set forth figuratively above, he teaches more clearly. 5. "Those who hate me without a cause have become more numerous than the hairs of my head. My enemies who persecute me unjustly have been strengthened." But let none of the more studious suppose that these things were said from the person of God and Savior. For it has not been said, has not been said, except from the person, as was sketched out by us above, of those who were carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And he says that the enemies both surpass in number, and are possessed of power, and are hostile towards me, although I have given no cause for their hatred. "What I did not steal, then I paid back." For those whom I did not wrong, I am made to pay the penalty. For not as a robber, or one who has done wrong, says the people, have I been enslaved by them for these things. 6. "O God, you have known my foolishness; and my transgressions are not hidden from you." All things, O Master, you know, and nothing that happens is hidden from you. Therefore you know that against them I have transgressed in nothing; but your laws I have transgressed. To this is similar the verse, "Against you only have I sinned, and done evil in your sight." 7. "Let not those who wait for you, O Lord, the Lord of hosts, be ashamed on my account. Neither let those who seek you, O God of Israel, be confounded on my account." Let me not 80.1404 become, he says, an archetype of harm to others, having waited for salvation from you, but missing your hope. But let them learn through what has happened to me, those who have knowledge of you, that you are the fruit of salvation, and not of shame, for those who hope in you. 8. "Because for your sake I have borne reproach; confusion has covered my face." I am filled with shame, receiving your reproaches; for the enemies continually mock me, calling my servitude your weakness, 9. "I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother's sons." He enumerates the causes of his distress, stirring the philanthropic God to pity. And first he sets down the reproaches of the impious, then the separation from relatives and acquaintances. For as prisoners of war, and forced to be slaves, they were not permitted to live according to their kinship. 10. "Because the zeal for your house has consumed me; and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen upon me." Not least does the desolation of your holy house and the laughter of the impious distress and grieve me. For they do not reckon what has happened to it to my transgression, but to your weakness. Wherefore

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ἀπαλλαγὴν, καὶ τὴν ἐπάνοδον, καὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὴν οἰκοδομὴν, καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς τῆς Ἰουδαίας τὴν προτέραν εὐημε ρίαν. Ἔχει δὲ καὶ προφητείαν τῶν δεσποτικῶν [τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγω καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν] παθημάτων, καὶ τῆς διὰ ταῦτα καταληψομένης Ἰουδαίους παν ωλεθρίας. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἃ παρὰ τῶν δυσμενῶν ὑπ έμειναν, ταῦτα κατὰ τοῦ εὐεργέτου καὶ Σωτῆρος ἐτόλμησαν, ἃ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἐπηράσαντο, ταῦτα κατ' αὐτῶν ὁ δίκαιος κριτὴς ἐψηφίσατο. 80.1401 βʹ. "Σῶσόν με, ὁ Θεὸς, ὅτι εἰσήλθοσαν ὕδατα ἕως ψυχῆς μου." Ἡ τῶν εὐσεβεστέρων συμμορία προσ φέρει τὴν ἱκετείαν. Ὕδατα δὲ καλεῖ τῶν συμφορῶν τὸ πλῆθος. Πάντοθεν, φησὶ, τοῖς ἀνιαροῖς περικλύ ζομαι. γʹ. "Ἐνεπάγην εἰς ἰλὺν βυθοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπόστασις." Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος· Ἐβαπτίσθην εἰς ἀπεράντους καταδύσεις, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι στά σις· ἐκ μεταφορᾶς τῶν εἰς τὸν τῆς θαλάσσης ἐμ πιπτόντων βυθὸν, καὶ ἐπιπλεῖστον καταφερομένων, καὶ μόγις τῆς ἕδρας ἐφικνουμένων. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ διὰ τούτων τὸ μέγεθος τῶν συμβεβηκότων τοῖς ἀνδρα ποδισθεῖσι κακῶν. "Ἦλθον εἰς τὰ βάθη τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ καταιγὶς κατεπόντισέ με." Ποικίλ λει τὸν λόγον ταῖς διαφόροις εἰκόσιν, οὐχ εὑρίσκων ἀξίαν εἰκόνα τῶν κατεχόντων ἀνιαρῶν. δʹ. "Ἐκοπίασα κράζων· ἐβραγχίασεν ὁ λάρυγξ μου." ∆ιηνεκῶς, φησὶ, ποτνιώμενος βοῶ, ὡς καὶ αὐτὰ καμεῖν τὰ ὄργανα τῆς φωνῆς. Κραυγὴν δὲ τὴν ἐπίτασιν λέγει τῆς κατὰ διάνοιαν προσευχῆς. "Ἐξέλιπον οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐλπίζειν με ἐπὶ τὸν Θεόν μου." Ἐκ μεταφορᾶς δὲ αὐτὸ τέθεικε τῶν συνήθη τινὰ καὶ γνώριμον ἐξ ἀποδημίας ἐπανιόντα προσμενόντων, καὶ τὰς ὁδοὺς περισκοπούντων. Ἀπ έκαμον, φησὶν, ἀναμένων τὴν σὴν βοήθειαν. Εἶτα ἃ τροπικῶς ἄνω τέθεικε, διδάσκει σαφέστερον. εʹ. "Ἐπληθύνθησαν ὑπὲρ τὰς τρίχας τῆς κεφα λῆς μου οἱ μισοῦντές με δωρεάν. Ἐκραταιώθησαν οἱ ἐχθροί μου, οἱ ἐκδιώκοντές με ἀδίκως." Ἀλλὰ μηδεὶς ὑπολάβοι τῶν φιλομαθεστέρων, εἰρῆσθαι ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ταῦτα. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἴρηται, οὐκ εἴρηται, εἰ μὴ ἐκ προσώπου, ὡς ἀνω τέρω ἡμῖν ἐσχεδίασται, τῶν ἀνδραποδισθέντων ἐκ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπὶ τὴν Βαβυλῶνα. Λέγει δὲ ὅτι Καὶ ἀριθμὸν νικῶσιν οἱ δυσμενεῖς, καὶ δυναστείᾳ περίκεινται, καὶ ἀπεχθάνονται πρός με, αἰτίαν ἐμοῦ τοῦ μίσους οὐ δεδωκότος. "Ἃ οὐχ ἥρπαζον, τότε ἀπετίννυον." Ὧν οὐκ ἠδίκησα, δίκας εἰσ πράττομαι. Οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἅρπαξ, ἢ ἀδικήσας, φησὶν ὁ λαὸς, ταῦτα ἐξηνδραπόδισμαι παρ' αὐτῶν. ʹ. "Ὁ Θεὸς, σὺ ἔγνως τὴν ἀφροσύνην μου· καὶ αἱ πλημμέλειαί μου ἀπὸ σοῦ οὐκ ἀπεκρύβησαν." Πάντα, ∆έσποτα, σὺ γινώσκεις, καὶ λέληθέ σε γινο μένων οὐδέν. Οἶδας τοιγαροῦν, ὡς εἰς ἐκείνους μὲν οὐδὲν ἐπλημμέλησα· τοὺς δὲ σοὺς παραβέβηκα νό μους. Τούτῳ ἔοικε τὸ, "Σοὶ μόνῳ ἥμαρτον, καὶ τὸ πονηρὸν ἐνώπιόν σου ἐποίησα." ζʹ. "Μὴ αἰσχυνθείησαν ἐπ' ἐμὲ οἱ ὑπομένοντές σε, Κύριε, Κύριε τῶν δυνάμεων. Μηδὲ ἐντραπείησαν ἐπ' ἐμὲ οἱ ζητοῦντές σε, ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ." Μὴ 80.1404 γένωμαι, φησὶ, βλάβης τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀρχέτυπον, προσ μείνας μὲν τὴν παρὰ σοῦ σωτηρίαν, διαμαρτὼν δὲ τῆς ἐλπίδος σου. Ἀλλὰ μαθέτωσαν διὰ τῶν περὶ ἐμὲ γενομένων, οἱ τὴν σὴν ἔχοντες γνῶσιν, ὡς τῶν ἐλπιζόντων εἰς σὲ σωτηρίας, καὶ οὐκ αἰσχύνης ὑπάρ χεις καρπός. ηʹ. "Ὅτι ἕνεκά σου ὑπήνεγκα ὀνειδισμόν· ἐκά λυψεν ἐντροπὴ τὸ πρόσωπόν μου." Αἰσχύνης ἀνα πίμπλαμαι τὰ σὰ ὀνείδη δεχόμενος· ἐπικερτομοῦσι γάρ με συνεχῶς οἱ πολέμιοι, σὴν ἀσθένειαν τὴν ἐμὴν δουλείαν ἀποκαλοῦντες, θʹ. "Ἀλλοτριωμένος ἐγενήθην τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου, καὶ ξένος τοῖς υἱοῖς τῆς μητρός μου." Ἀπαριθμεῖται τῆς ἀχθηδόνος τὰς ἀφορμὰς, διεγείρων εἰς ἔλεον τὸν φιλάνθρωπον Θεόν. Καὶ πρότερον μὲν τέθεικε τῶν δυσ σεβῶν τὰ ὀνείδη, εἶτα τῶν συγγενῶν καὶ συνήθων τὸν χωρισμόν. Ὡς δωρυάλωτοι γὰρ, καὶ δουλεύειν ἠναγκα σμένοι, κατὰ συγγενείας οὐ συνεχωροῦντο διάγειν. ιʹ. "Ὅτι ὁ ζῆλος τοῦ οἴκου σου κατέφαγέ με· καὶ οἱ ὀνειδισμοὶ τῶν ὀνειδιζόντων σε ἔπεσον ἐπ' ἐμέ." Οὐχ ἥκιστα δέ με ἀνιᾷ καὶ ἀλγύνει τοῦ ἁγίου σου οἴκου ἡ ἐρημία, καὶ τῶν δυσσεβούντων ὁ γέλως. Οὐ γὰρ τῇ ἐμῇ πλημμελείᾳ, τῇ δὲ σῇ ἀσθενείᾳ, τὰ εἰς ἐκεῖνον γεγενημένα λογίζονται. ∆ιόπερ