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they were concerned for me; all their reasoning against me was for evil. For as if having nothing else to do, nor to raise words about others, they devoted all their leisure to words about me and to reasonings against me, planning nothing good about me. But spending their zeal for evil and upon evil. They will sojourn and hide themselves, they will watch my heel. Just as they lay in wait for my soul, for nothing you will save them; in wrath you will bring down peoples, O God. And these things, obscurely spoken by the Seventy, Symmachus interpreted more clearly, saying: They gathered secretly, and they observed my tracks, awaiting my soul because of injustice. Deliver from them, in wrath bring down peoples, O God. For thus, he says, throughout the entire day they were occupied with me, raising words about me, and every reasoning of theirs was against me; so as to be eager to gather together plots; and not to stop there, but also to meddle with my heel, that is, the course of my life, if somehow by tripping me up they might be able to cast me down. And they observed my tracks, wherever I might walk, and so that they might seize me. Therefore, those who persecute in vain were doing these things against me. But you, Lord, my hope, deliver me from their unjust plot, and pursuing them with your own wrath, cast down their boasting and high-mindedness; for this will be profitable for them. For being exalted and lifted up, they were doing these things to their own destruction; for God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble; wherefore, I beseech, bring down all those who rise up against me; or, according to Aquila, bring down; so that, having received a moderate mind and thinking humble thoughts, they might be greatly benefited. I have declared my life to you, you have set my tears before you; as also in your promise, my enemies will turn back, in whatever day I call upon you. And these things Symmachus 23.497 interpreted more clearly, saying thus: You have counted my inward parts; you have set my tears before you. Will not my enemies turn back when you count, in whatever day I call upon you? My enemies, he says, throughout the entire day were raising words about me, and all their reasonings were against me; but what sort of reasonings I gathered in myself and what sort of thoughts I had, you yourself, as God who knows the heart, know. For you have counted all my inward parts, and you know my secrets and the thoughts of my soul; wherefore you have set my tears before you, and you did not turn away from them; but just as in your promise you promise, saying: While you are still speaking I will say, Behold, I am here, so acting in accordance with your promises, you have set my tears before you. And according to the interpretation of the Seventy, My life, he says, I have declared to you, as one acting with boldness and not being ashamed of my own life. And you, accepting my life, did not cast away my tears, but you set them before your eyes, confirming your promises. Wherefore it happened, when I was heard, that my enemies went backward; whence I say: In whatever day I call upon you, my enemies will turn back; but according to Symmachus: Will not my enemies, he says, turn back when you count? When, judging the tribes, you cleanse by separating those worthy of you, and making a count of those who will stand at the right, and of those who will go to the left, then, in your making this count, my enemies will be turned back. Behold, I have known that God is for me. In God I will praise a saying, in the Lord I will praise a word; in the Lord I have hoped, I will not fear what man will do to me. But according to Symmachus he says this: I know that God is for me. I will sing praise to God, through God I will make a hymn of a word; I have trusted in God, I will not

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ἐμοῦ ἐφρόντιζον· κατ' ἐμοῦ πᾶς διαλογισμὸς αὐτῶν εἰς κακόν. Ὡς γὰρ μηδὲν ἔχοντες ἕτερον πράττειν, μηδὲ περὶ ἑτέρων λόγους κινεῖν, τὴν πᾶσαν ἑαυτῶν σχολὴν τοῖς περὶ ἐμοῦ λόγοις καὶ τοῖς κατ' ἐμοῦ λογισμοῖς ἀνετίθεσαν, οὐδὲν ἀγαθὸν περὶ ἐμοῦ βουλευόμενοι. Ἀλλ' εἰς κακὸν καὶ ἐπὶ κακῷ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀναλίσκοντες σπουδήν. Παροικήσουσι καὶ κατακρύψουσιν, αὐτοὶ τὴν πτέρναν μου φυλάξουσι. Καθάπερ ὑπέμειναν τὴν ψυχήν μου, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μηδενὸς σώσεις αὐτούς· ἐν ὀργῇ λαοὺς κατάξεις, ὁ Θεός. Καὶ ταῦτα ἀσαφῶς εἰρημένα παρὰ τοῖς Ἑβδομήκοντα, λευκότερον διηρμήνευσεν ὁ Σύμμαχος, εἰπών· Συνήγοντο λάθρα, καὶ τὰ ἴχνη μου παρετήρουν προσδοκῶντες τὴν ψυχήν μου διὰ τὴν ἀδικίαν. Ῥῦσαι ἀπ' αὐτῶν, ἐν ὀργῇ λαοὺς κατάγαγε, ὁ Θεός. Οὕτως γὰρ, φησὶ, διὰ πάσης ἡμέρας ἐμοὶ ἐσχόλαζον, τοὺς περὶ ἐμοῦ λόγους κινοῦντες, καὶ πᾶς διαλογισμὸς αὐτῶν κατ' ἐμοῦ ἐγίγνετο· ὡς σπουδάζειν συνάγεσθαι αὐτοὺς ὁμοῦ συσκευάς· καὶ μὴ μέχρι τούτου χωρεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ περιεργάζεσθαί μου τὴν πτέρναν, τουτέστι τὴν τοῦ βίου πορείαν, εἴ πως σκελίσαντες δυνηθεῖεν καταβαλεῖν με. Καὶ τὰ ἴχνη δέ μου παρετήρουν, ὅποι ἂν βαδίζοιμι, καὶ ἵν' ὅπως ἐπιλάβοιντό μου. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν οἱ μάτην διώκοντες κατ' ἐμοῦ ἔπραττον. Σὺ δὲ, Κύριε, ἡ ἐμὴ ἐλπὶς, ἐμὲ μὲν τῆς ἀδίκου αὐτῶν συσκευῆς ῥῦσαι, αὐτοὺς δὲ μετελθὼν τῇ σεαυτοῦ ὀργῇ, κατάβαλε τῆς μεγαλαυχίας καὶ τῆς ὑψηλοφροσύνης· τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτοῖς συνοίσει. Ὑψούμενοι γὰρ καὶ ἐπαιρόμενοι, ἐπ' ὀλέθρῳ τῷ ἑαυτῶν ταῦτ' ἔπραττον· ὁ γὰρ Θεὸς ὑπερηφάνοις ἀντιτάσσεται, ταπεινοῖς δὲ δίδωσι χάριν· διὸ, ἱκετεύω, πάντας τοὺς ἐπανισταμένους μοι κατάγαγε· ἢ, κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν, καταβίβασον· ὡς ἂν, μέτριον φρόνημα λαβόντες καὶ ταπεινὰ φρονοῦντες, τὰ μεγάλα ὠφεληθεῖεν. Τὴν ζωήν μου ἐξήγγειλά σοι, ἔθου τὰ δάκρυά μου ἐνώπιόν σου· ὡς καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐπαγγελίᾳ σου, ἐπιστρέψουσιν οἱ ἐχθροί μου εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω, ἐν ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ ἐπικαλέσωμαί σε. Καὶ ταῦτα ὁ Σύμμαχος 23.497 σαφέστερον ἡρμήνευσεν, οὕτως εἰπών· Τὰ ἔνδον μου ἐξηρίθμησας· σὺ ἔθου τὰ δάκρυά μου ἐνώπιόν σου. Μὴ οὐχὶ ὅταν ἐξαριθμῇς, τότε ἀποστραφήσονται οἱ ἐχθροί μου ὀπίσω, ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ ἐπικαλέσωμαί σε; Οἱ μὲν ἐχθροί μου, φησὶ, διὰ πάσης ἡμέρας λόγους περὶ ἐμοῦ ἀνεκίνουν, καὶ κατ' ἐμοῦ πάντες οἱ διαλογισμοὶ αὐτῶν ἦσαν· ἐγὼ δὲ ὁποίους ἐν ἐμαυτῷ συνῆγον λογισμοὺς καὶ ὁποίας ἐνθυμήσεις εἶχον, σὺ αὐτὸς, ὡς καρδιογνώστης Θεὸς, οἶδας. Τὰ γὰρ ἔνδον μου ἐξηρίθμησας πάντα, καὶ τὰ κρύφιά μου καὶ τὰς ἐνθυμήσεις τῆς ψυχῆς μου γινώσκεις· διόπερ ἔθου τὰ δάκρυά μου ἐνώπιόν σου, καὶ οὐκ ἀπεστράφης αὐτά· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ ἐπαγγελίᾳ σου ὑπισχνοῦ λέγων· Ἔτι λαλοῦντός σου ἐρῶ· Ἰδοὺ πάρειμι, οὕτως ἀκόλουθα πράττων ταῖς σαῖς ἐπαγγελίαις, ἔθου τὰ δάκρυά μου ἐνώπιόν σου. Καὶ κατὰ τὴν τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα δὲ ἑρμηνείαν, Τὴν ζωήν μου, φησὶν, ἐξήγγειλά σοι, ὡς ἂν παῤῥησίαν ἄγων καὶ μὴ ἐπαισχυνόμενος ἐπὶ τῇ ἐμαυτοῦ ζωῇ. Σύ τε ἀποδεχόμενός μου τὴν ζωὴν, τὰ δάκρυά μου οὐκ ἀπεσείσω, ἀλλὰ πρὸ τῶν σῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἔθου αὐτὰ, πιστούμενος τὰς σὰς ἐπαγγελίας. ∆ιὸ συνέβαινεν, ἐμοῦ εἰσακουομένου, τοὺς ἐχθρούς μου εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω χωρεῖν· ὅθεν φημί· Ἐν ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ ἐπικαλέσωμαί σε, ἐπιστρέψουσιν οἱ ἐχθροί μου εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω· κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Μὴ οὐχὶ ὅταν, φησὶν, ἐξαριθμῇς, τότε ἀποστραφήσονται οἱ ἐχθροί μου ὀπίσω; Ἐπειδὰν φυλοκρινῶν διακαθάρῃς ἀφορίζων τοὺς σεαυτοῦ ἀξίους, καὶ ἐξαρίθμησιν ποιούμενος τῶν μελλόντων εἰς τὰ δεξιὰ ἵστασθαι, καὶ τῶν εἰς ἀριστερὰ χωρούντων, τότε, ἐν τῷ σὲ τὴν ἐξαρίθμησιν ταύτην ποιεῖσθαι, ἀποστραφήσονται οἱ ἐχθροί μου εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω. Ἰδοὺ ἔγνων, ὅτι Θεός μοί ἐστιν. Ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ αἰνέσω ῥῆμα, ἐπὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ αἰνέσω λόγον· ἐπὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἤλπισα, οὐ φοβηθήσομαι τί ποιήσει μοι ἄνθρωπος. Κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον τοῦτό φησιν· Οἶδα, ὅτι ἔστι Θεός μοι. Τὸν Θεὸν ὑμνολογήσω, διὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑμνοποιήσομαι λόγον· τῷ Θεῷ πέποιθα, οὐ