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I will fear what man will do to me. By the very works, he says, I have received, and I knew truly, that I did not hope in vain; but I acquired God as a helper. And the proof of this is, since you have set my tears before you. Then you became my hearer, and my enemies retreated backward; therefore in God I will praise His word; or, according to Aquila: In God I will boast of a word; and according to Symmachus: I will sing hymns to God; but also in the Lord I will praise His word; or, according to Aquila, in the Lord I will hymn His word; or, according to Symmachus, through the Lord I will make a hymn of His word; and again, as was said by me above: In God I have hoped, I will not fear what flesh can do to me; and now I say, In God I have hoped, I will not fear what man can do to me. For flesh and man are one and the same, since it has been said: But you die like men; and, For when there is jealousy and strife among you, 23.500 are you not carnal, and do you not walk according to man? In me, O God, are the vows, which I will pay to You with praise. For You have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from slipping, that I may be well-pleasing before God in the light of the living. Instead of, In me, O God, are the vows, which I will pay to You with praise, Symmachus interpreted more clearly, saying: I take upon myself, O God, what I have vowed; I will render praises to you. For I have not forgotten, he says, what I vowed; but they are in me, and I hold in memory all that I promised when I vowed; which I will also pay as a debt, offering sacrifices of praise, and according to the saying of the oracle: Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Lord. I will therefore pay You praise; since I am conscious of owing much for my own salvation. For you delivered my very soul from death. For my enemies, as much as was in them, drove it, and tried to force it to fall into death. For by driving me, and compelling me to live in the midst of foreign and alien nations, as far as it depended on them they were putting my soul to death; that is, I was about to be joined to the idolatry of the foreigners, living in their midst, during the times I was spending with Achish and in Gath among the foreigners, my soul would have long since died, having fallen from the life that is with you; but Your grace and Your mercy did not permit this to happen; since even when I was among the foreigners you fenced me about, so that I was not harmed at all by my association with them. Therefore I say: You have delivered my soul from death; but also my feet You have delivered from slipping. For who would not have been turned aside, as if stepping into mud, and falling into slippery places, being left in the midst of so many godless and idolatrous men? But then, even in this was Your mercy, and Your grace delivering my feet from slipping; for I do not ascribe these things to my own power; since I was not so firm in soul as to remain unturned, being caught in the midst of so many, if You had not been my helper. Therefore, confessing, I give thanks, that You delivered my feet from slipping. And Your mercy granted these things to me, that I might be well-pleasing before you in the light of the living; or, according to Symmachus, so as to walk before God through the light of life. For even when spending time among the foreigners, he will not depart from the right and royal road; but I walked pleasingly to You, being led by the hand and enlightened by You, partaking of a light not the common one that is present in all things, both rational and irrational, beasts and creeping things, dead and lifeless things, but of that which is reserved for those alone who live by You. And you will understand the light of the living, in which both David and all the God-loving prophets and righteous were enlightened, by paying attention to the evangelist who says: What was made in him, that is, in the Word of God who was in the beginning with God, was life, and the 23.501 life was the light of men; and again: He was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world. In the

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φοβηθήσομαι τί ποιήσει μοι ἄνθρωπος. Αὐτοῖς ἔργοις, φησὶ, παρείληφα, καὶ ἔγνων ἀληθῶς, ὅτι οὐκ ἐπὶ ματαίῳ ἤλπισα· ἀλλὰ Θεὸν βοηθὸν ἐκτησάμην. Τούτου δὲ ἔλεγχος, ἐπεὶ ἔθου τὰ δάκρυά μου ἐνώπιόν σου. Εἶτα ἐμοῦ μὲν ἐπήκοος ἐγίγνου, οἱ δὲ ἐχθροί μου ἐχώρουν εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω· διὸ ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ αἰνέσω ῥῆμα· ἢ, κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· Ἐν Θεῷκαυχήσομαι ῥῆμα· κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Τὸν Θεὸν ὑμνολογήσω· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Κύριον αἰνέσω λόγον· ἢ, κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν, ἐν Κυρίῳ ὑμνήσω λόγον· ἢ, κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον, διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ὑμνοποιήσομαι λόγον· καὶ πάλιν, ὡς ἀνωτέρω μοι εἴρηται· Ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ ἤλπισα, οὐ φοβηθήσομαι τί ποιήσει μοι σάρξ· καὶ νῦν φημι, Ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ ἤλπισα, οὐ φοβηθήσομαι τί ποιήσει μοι ἄνθρωπος. Σὰρξ γὰρ καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἓν καὶ ταυτόν ἐστιν, ἐπειδὴ λέλεκται· Ὑμεῖς δὲ ὡς ἄνθρωποι ἀποθνήσκετε· καὶ, Ὅταν γὰρ ᾖ ἐν ὑμῖν ζῆλος καὶ ἔρις, 23.500 οὐχὶ σαρκικοί ἐστε, καὶ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον περιπατεῖτε; Ἐν ἐμοὶ, ὁ Θεὸς, αἱ εὐχαὶ, ἃς ἀποδώσω αἰνέσεώς σοι. Ὅτι ἐῤῥύσω τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκ θανάτου, καὶ τοὺς πόδας μου ἐξ ὀλισθήματος, τοῦ εὐαρεστῆσαι ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν φωτὶ ζώντων. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, Ἐν ἐμοὶ, ὁ Θεὸς, αἱ εὐχαὶ, ἃς ἀποδώσω αἰνέσεώς σοι, σαφέστερον ἡρμήνευσεν ὁ Σύμμαχος εἰπών· Ἀναδέχομαι, Θεὲ, ἃ ηὐξάμην· ἀποδώσω αἰνέσεις σοι. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπιλέλησμαι, φησὶ, ὧν ηὐξάμην· ἀλλ' ἐν ἐμοί εἰσι, καὶ κατέχω τῇ μνήμῃ πάντα ὅσα ἐπηγγειλάμην εὐξάμενος· ἃ καὶ ὥσπερ τι χρέος ἀποδώσω, θυσίας ἀναφέρων τὰς δι' αἰνέσεως, καὶ κατὰ τὸ φάσκον λόγιον· Θῦσον τῷ Θεῷ θυσίαν αἰνέσεως, καὶ ἀπόδος τῷ Κυρίῳ τὰς εὐχάς σου. Ἀποδώσω τοίνυν αἰνέσεώς σοι· ἐπειδὴ πολλὰ σύνοιδα ἐμαυτῷ ὀφείλοντι ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ σωτηρίας. Αὐτὴν γοῦν τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐῤῥύσω ἐκ θανάτου. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐχθροί μου τὸ ὅσον ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ἤλαυνον αὐτὴν, καὶ ἐξεβιάζοντο εἰς θάνατον ἐκπεσεῖν. Ἐλαύνοντές με γὰρ, καὶ μέσον ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ἀλλογενῶν ἐθνῶν οἰκεῖν καταναγκάζοντες, τὸ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐθανάτουν· ἥγουν ἤμελλον συνάπτεσθαι τῇ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων εἰδωλολατρείᾳ, μέσος αὐτῶν οἰκῶν, καθ' οὓς χρόνους παρὰ τῷ Ἀχοῦς καὶ ἐν τῇ Γὲθ παρὰ τοῖς ἀλλοφύλοις ἐποιούμην τὰς διατριβὰς, πάλαι ἂν τὴν ψυχήν μου τεθνήκειν, τῆς παρὰ σοὶ ζωῆς ἐκπεσών· ἀλλ' ἡ σὴ χάρις καὶ τὸ σὸν ἔλεος οὐ συνεχώρησε τοῦτο γενέσθαι· ἐπεὶ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἀλλοφύλοις με ὄντα περιέφραττες, ὡς μηδὲν καταβλάπτεσθαι ἐκ τῆς τούτων συνουσίας. ∆ιό φημι· Ἐῤῥύσω τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκ θανάτου· ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς πόδας μου ἐῤῥύσω ἐξ ὀλισθήματος. Τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν διετράπη, ὥσπερ εἰς πηλὸν ἐμβὰς, καὶ ὀλισθηροῖς περιπεσὼν χωρίοις, μέσος τοσούτων ἀπολειφθεὶς ἀθέων καὶ εἰδωλολατρῶν ἀνδρῶν; Ἀλλ' ἦν ἄρα καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τὸ σὸν ἔλεος, καὶ ἡ σὴ χάρις ῥυομένη μου τοὺς πόδας ἐξ ὀλισθήματος· οὐ γὰρ ἐμαυτοῦ δυνάμει ἐπιγράφω ταῦτα· ἐπεὶ μηδ' οὕτως ἤμην στεῤῥὸς τὴν ψυχὴν ὡς ἀδιάτρεπος μένειν, ἐν τῷ μεταξὺ τοσούτων εἱλῆσθαι, εἰ μὴ σὺ ἦσθα βοηθός. ∆ιὸ ἐξομολογούμενος εὐχαριστῶ, ὅτι ἐῤῥύσω τοὺς πόδας μου ἐξ ὀλισθήματος. Καὶ ταῦτά μοι τὸ σὸν ἔλεος ἐδωρεῖτο, ὑπὲρ τοῦ εὐαρεστῆσαι ἐνώπιόν σου ἐν φωτὶ ζώντων· ἢ, κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον, ὡς τὸ ὁδεύειν ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ φωτὸς τῆς ζωῆς. ∆ιατρίβων γοῦν καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἀλλοφύλοις, τῆς ὀρθῆς καὶ βασιλικῆς ὁδοῦ οὐ παρέξεισιν· ἀλλὰ σοὶ εὐαρέστως ὥδευον ὑπὸ σοῦ ποδηγούμενος καὶ φωτιζόμενος, φωτός τε μεταλαγχάνων οὐ τοῦ κοινοῦ καὶ πᾶσιν ἐγκειμένου, λογικοῖς τε καὶ ἀλόγοις, θηρίοις τε καὶ ἑρπετοῖς, νεκροῖς τε καὶ ἀψύχοις, ἀλλὰ τοῦ μόνοις τοῖς παρὰ σοῦ ζῶσιν ἀφωρισμένου. Νοήσεις δὲ τὸ φῶς τῶν ζώντων, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ∆αυῒδ καὶ πάντες οἱ θεοφιλεῖς προφῆται καὶ δίκαιοι ἐφωτίσθησαν, ἐπιστήσας τῷ εὐαγγελιστῇ λέγοντι· Ὃ γέγονεν ἐν αὐτῷ, δηλαδὴ τῷ Λόγῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὄντι, ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ 23.501 ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων· καὶ πάλιν· Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν, τὸ φωτίζον πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον. Ἐν τῷ