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are darts, Symmachus interpreted more clearly, saying: Their mouths are smoother than butter; but the heart of each of them is at war. His words are softer than oil, yet they are cutting. But see in what way the word here presents two groups: one of many gathered together at the same time, about whom it speaks in the plural: Their mouths are smoother than butter; but the heart of each of them is at war; and another as of one individual, about whom it adds specifically: His words are softer than oil, yet they are cutting. And these were the two groups indicated in what came before, both that of the inhabitants of the city, about whom it was said: For I have seen iniquity and strife in the city; and that concerning the traitor, about whom the word said: For if an enemy had reproached me, I would have borne it. And so here, since the rulers of the Jewish nation approached the Savior with hypocrisy and flattery, at one time calling him teacher not with a pure heart, at another time saying to him: We know that you are true, and teach the word of God in truth; and you care for no one; for you do not regard the person of man; fittingly the word here says about them: Their mouths are smoother than butter; but the heart of each of them is at war. And again, specifically about the traitor, since he calls him both Rabbi and teacher, and offered signs of disposition and friendship while committing the betrayal, it is fittingly said of him: His words are softer than oil, yet they are cutting; or according to the Septuagint: His words were softened more than oil, and they are darts. Cast your care upon the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved, and what follows. Those who with deceit and hypocrisy outwardly soften their words, but inwardly sharpen them more than darts, and also the one who became the Savior's betrayer, what kind of end they will meet has been shown; but you who hear these things, being admonished by the end of those foretold, and you who give yourself wholly to the one who is prophesied, take courage, casting your care upon him, as one taught by the New Testament, through which the Savior himself instructs, saying: Do not be anxious about what you shall eat, nor what you shall drink; and, Do not acquire gold or silver or copper for your belts. Therefore, keeping these things, Cast your care upon the Lord, and he will sustain you, giving you your daily bread, and rational and heavenly food; and also supplying the necessities of life. For to this one it has been promised, saying: For your heavenly Father knows what you need before you ask him. He will sustain you, as also every righteous person; for he has never forsaken any of the righteous, so that he should endure a shaking to be moved and to fall. Therefore it is said next: He will never permit the righteous to be moved; or according to Symmachus: He will not surrender the righteous to be shut up forever. Therefore it is said in other places: I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread. Having said these things, he next brings forward concerning those who plotted against the Savior the words, But you, O God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction; or according to Symmachus: But you, O God, will cast them down into the pit of destruction; concerning which pit countless things have been said before; as in: I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me, and brought me up from the pit of misery, and from the mire of clay; and again: Lest you be silent to me, and I become like those who go down into the pit; and again: O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Hades, you have saved me from those who go down into the pit. But the righteous one is saved from being brought down into the indicated pit; but the ungodly are carried down into it, being cast down by God, as into a place suitable for them. A pit of misery

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εἰσι βολίδες, σαφέστερον ἡρμήνευσεν ὁ Σύμμαχος εἰπών· Λειότερα βουτύρου τὰ στόματα αὐτῶν· πολεμεῖ δὲ ἡ καρδία ἑκάστου αὐτῶν. Ἁπαλώτεροι οἱ λόγοι αὐτοῦ ἐλαίου, ὄντες ἀνατμητικοί. Ὅρα δὲ τίνα τρόπον κἀνταῦθα δύο τάγματα παρίστησιν ὁ λόγος· ἒν μὲν πολλῶν ἀθρόως κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ, περὶ ὧν πληθυντικῶς φησι· Λειότερα βουτύρου τὰ στόματα αὐτῶν· πολεμεῖ δὲ ἡ καρδία ἑκάστου αὐτῶν· ἕτερον δὲ ὥσπερ ἑνὸς μεμονωμένου, περὶ οὗ ἰδίως ἐπιλέγει· Ἁπαλώτεροι οἱ λόγοι αὐτοῦ ἐλαίου, ὄντες ἀνατμητικοί. Καὶ ταῦτ' ἦν τὰ δύο τάγματα τὰ διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν δηλούμενα, τό τε τῶν τὴν πόλιν οἰκούντων, περὶ ὧν ἐλέγετο· Ὅτι εἶδον ἀνομίαν καὶ ἀντιλογίαν ἐν τῇ πόλει· καὶ τὸ περὶ τοῦ προδότου, περὶ οὗ ἔφασκεν ὁ λόγος· Ὅτι, εἰ ἐχθρὸς ὠνείδισέ με, ὑπήνεγκα ἄν. Καὶ ἐνταῦθα τοίνυν, ἐπειδὴ προσῄεσαν τῷ Σωτῆρι μεθ' ὑποκρίσεως καὶ κολακείας οἱ ἄρχοντες τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους, ποτὲ μὲν διδάσκαλον ἀποκαλοῦντες οὐ σὺν καθαρᾷ καρδίᾳ, ποτὲ δὲ λέγοντες αὐτῷ· Οἴδαμεν, ὅτι ἀληθὴς εἶ, καὶ τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ διδάσκεις· καὶ οὐ μέλει σοι περὶ οὐδενός· οὐ γὰρ βλέπεις εἰς πρόσωπον ἀνθρώπου· εἰκότως περὶ αὐτῶν φησιν ἐνταῦθα ὁ λόγος· Λειότερα βουτύρου τὰ στόματα αὐτῶν· πολεμεῖ δὲ ἡ καρδία ἑκάστου αὐτῶν. Ἰδίως δὲ πάλιν περὶ τοῦ προδότου, ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ῥαββεὶν αὐτὸν καὶ διδάσκαλον ἀποκαλεῖ, σύμβολά τε διαθέσεως καὶ φιλίας παρεῖχε, τὴν προδοσίαν ποιούμενος, εἰκότως περὶ αὐτοῦ λέλεκται· Ἁπαλώτεροι οἱ λόγοι αὐτοῦ ἐλαίου, ὄντες ἀνατμητικοί· ἢ κατὰ τοὺς Ἑβδομήκοντα· Ἡπαλύνθησαν οἱ λόγοι αὐτοῦ ὑπὲρ ἔλαιον, καὶ αὐτοί εἰσι βολίδες. Ἐπίῤῥιψον ἐπὶ Κύριον τὴν μέριμνάν σου, καὶ αὐτός σε διαθρέψει· οὐ δώσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα σάλον τῷ δικαίῳ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Οἱ μὲν σὺν ἀπάτῃ 23.489 καὶ ὑποκρίσει ἁπαλύνοντες ἑαυτῶν τοὺς λόγους ἐκ τοῦ φανεροῦ, ἔσωθεν δὲ αὐτοὺς ἀκοντίσαντες ὑπὲρ βολίδας, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ προδότης γεγονὼς τοῦ Σωτῆρος, ὁποίου τέλους τεύξονται δεδήλωται· σὺ δὲ ὁ τούτων ἀκροώμενος, σωφρονισθεὶς ἀπὸ τοῦ τῶν προλελεγμένων τέλους, καὶ ὁ τῷ προφητευομένῳ ὅλον σαυτὸν ἐπιδιδοὺς, θάρσει, τὴν σαυτοῦ φροντίδα ἐπιῤῥίψας ἐπ' αὐτὸν, οἷα Καινῇ ∆ιαθήκῃ μαθητευθεὶς, δι' ἧς αὐτὸς ὁ Σωτὴρ παιδεύει λέγων· Μὴ μεριμνήσητε τί φάγητε, μηδὲ τί πίητε· καὶ, Μὴ κτήσησθε χρυσὸν μηδὲ ἄργυρον, μηδὲ χαλκὸν εἰς τὰς ζώνας ὑμῶν. Ταῦτ' οὖν φυλάξας, ἐπίῤῥιψον ἐπὶ Κύριον τὴν μέριμνάν σου, καὶ αὐτός σε διαθρέψει, τὸν ἄρτον σοι διδοὺς τὸν ἐπιούσιον, καὶ τὴν λογικὴν καὶ ἐπουράνιον τροφήν· ἐπαρκῶν δὲ καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὸν βίον χρειώδη. Τούτῳ γὰρ ἐπήγγελται φήσας· Οἶδε γὰρ ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος ὧν χρείαν ἔχετε πρὸ τοῦ τι αὐτὸν αἰτῆσαι ὑμᾶς. Αὐτός σε δὲ διαθρέψει, ὡς καὶ πάντα δίκαιον· οὐδένα γὰρ πώποτε τῶν δικαίων καταλέλοιπεν, ὡς ὑπομεῖναι αὐτὸν σάλον πρὸς τὸ σαλευθῆναι καὶ ἐκπεσεῖν. ∆ιὸ λέλεκται ἑξῆς· Οὐ δώσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα σάλον τῷ δικαίῳ· ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Οὐκ ἐκδώσει εἰς αἰῶνα κλεισθῆναι δίκαιον. ∆ιὸ λέλεκται ἐν ἑτέροις· Νεώτερος ἐγενόμην, καὶ γὰρ ἐγήρασα, καὶ οὐκ εἶδον δίκαιον ἐγκαταλελειμμένον, οὐδὲ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ζητοῦν ἄρτους. Ταῦτ' εἰπὼν, ἑξῆς ἐπάγει περὶ τῶν ἐπιβούλων τοῦ Σωτῆρος τὸ, Σὺ δὲ ὁ Θεὸς κατάξεις αὐτοὺς εἰς φρέαρ διαφθορᾶς· ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Σὺ δὲ ὁ Θεὸς κατενέγκεις αὐτοὺς εἰς λάκκον διαφθορᾶς· περὶ οὗ λάκκου μυρία διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν εἴρηται· ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ· Ὑπομένων ὑπέμεινα τὸν Κύριον, καὶ προσέσχε μοι, καὶ ἀνήγαγέ με ἐκ λάκκου ταλαιπωρίας, καὶ ἀπὸ πηλοῦ ἰλύος· καὶ πάλιν· Μήποτε παρασιωπήσῃς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ ὁμοιωθήσομαι τοῖς καταβαίνουσιν εἰς λάκκον· καὶ αὖθις· Κύριε, ἀνήγαγες ἐξ ᾅδου τὴν ψυχήν μου, ἔσωσάς με ἀπὸ τῶν καταβαινόντων εἰς λάκκον. Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν δίκαιος διασώζεται πρὸς τὸ μὴ κατενεχθῆναι εἰς τὸν δηλούμενον λάκκον· οἱ δὲ ἀσεβεῖς κάτω φέρονται εἰς αὐτὸν, ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ καταρασσόμενοι, ὡς εἰς κατάλληλον αὐτοῖς χωρίον. Λάκκον δὲ ταλαιπωρίας