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I have called you in righteousness, and what follows. But the glory of the one speaking was: I am the Lord God. For he is glorified by this name. But it is better to say: Since the Lord God is the Trinity, and the Son is not other in substance from the Father, he presents him accomplishing great things, showing that if he were a creature, he would not have become a partaker of the highest glory. For according to the divine Apostle, "For even if there are many so-called gods and lords, both in heaven and on earth; yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him." For there is no other besides him, even if he is distinguished in his own hypostasis. But in saying, Nor will I give my praises to graven images—or "hymnody," according to Aquila; or "praise," according to Symmachus—he teaches the nations to consider none of their former objects of worship to be God, nor to offer impious praise. For he alone has the virtues of the Father, admittedly according to his divinity, but now also according to the economy. For in him all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell bodily. To these things he adds: Behold, the former things have come to pass. But instead of, "Before it was announced, it was declared to you," Symmachus said: "Before announcing them, I will make them audible to you." For just as the first things, he says, were fulfilled by deeds (for just as I promised Abraham concerning his seed, I have done; and the things foretold through Moses and the prophets were also fulfilled), so now too I proclaim new things to all. And before they are announced and come to light, I have made them audible to you through the present prophecy, which things he has added next. But he does not allow the word concerning the Savior to be disbelieved, some say. But what, they say, are the new things? The things which our Lord Jesus Christ has promised, life in the age to come, and whatever things are laid up for the saints according to their worth. ικεʹ. 9Sing to the Lord a new hymn, his dominion; glorify his name, from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and sail it, and the islands, and those who inhabit them. Be glad, O wilderness, and its villages, the courts, and the inhabitants of Kedar9, etc. Through these words he introduced what he called new things, κε 2369 commanding all men to sing a hymn, or according to the others, a song; since his rule and universal authority has been glorified over all the earth. For it has been filled with those called Christians from the name of Christ. And the prophet, his soul feasting on a pure vision of the things to come, exhorts others to celebrate with him, hymning the cause of these good things. For the prophets followed along with the things spoken by them, so as at one time to refuse, and at another to rejoice in the things spoken by God. This he also now experiences as he sees the coming of the Savior, teaching at the same time that the Lord who is to appear will not then begin to rule for the first time, but, holding sway over all things as God, he will be revealed as such also to those on earth, while the apostles who work the sea, which they sailed while fishing, initiate the knowledge of him. And a new hymn is fitting for the newness of these realities. For if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away, and all things have become new. For we have been redeemed from a spiritual, not a carnal, bondage, like Israel; and instead of brick-making, we have become free from the defilements of the love of the flesh, having fled not from Egyptian taskmasters, nor from a human tyrant, but from the demons who thrust us into sin, and the devil who is set over them, so as to cross the turmoil of this life, as a sea, and to eat, instead of manna, the bread from heaven that gives life to the world; and while they delighted in the streams from Christ the rock, we, having received the divine baptism, crossed the Jordan, entering the land promised to the saints, which the meek, who are called blessed, inherit; for which things the hymn to God had to arise from his dominion—that is, from those ruled by him, as some say—not throughout Judea, but throughout all the earth. For not as of old is the Lord known in Judea, and his name in Israel alone. But now heaven and earth are full
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Ἐκάλεσά σε ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ἡ δὲ δόξα τοῦ λέγοντος ἦν· Ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ Θεός. ∆ιὰ τούτου γὰρ δοξάζεται τοῦ ὀνόματος. Ἄμεινον δὲ λέγειν, Ἐπειδὴ Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡ Τριὰς, καὶ οὐχ ἕτερος κατ' οὐσίαν τοῦ Πατέρος ὁ Υἱὸς, μεγάλα δὲ κατορθοῦντα παρέστησεν, δείκνυσιν· ὡς εἴπερ ἦν κτίσμα, οὐκ ἂν τῆς ἀνωτάτω δόξης γέγονε κοινωνός. Κατὰ γὰρ τὸν θεῖον Ἀπόστολον, "Κἂν εἰ πολλοί τινες εἶεν θεοὶ, καὶ κύριοι, ἔν τε οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· ἀλλ' ἡμῖν εἷς Θεὸς ὁ Πατὴρ, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα, καὶ εἷς Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἡμεῖς δι' αὐτοῦ." Οὐ γὰρ ἕτερος παρ' αὐτὸν, κἂν εἰς ὑπόστασιν ἰδικὴν ἀφορίζεται. Λέγων δὲ, Οὐδὲ τὰς ἀρετάς μου δώσω τοῖς γλυπτοῖς· ἢ τὴν ὕμνησιν, κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· ἢ τὸν ἔπαινον, κατὰ Σύμμαχον, τὰ ἔθνη παιδεύει μηδὲν τῶν πάλαι σεβασμάτων ἡγεῖσθαι Θεὸν, μηδὲ προσφέρειν αἴνεσιν ἀσεβῆ. Μόνος γὰρ ἔχει τὰς τοῦ Πατέρος ἀρετὰς, ὁμολογουμένως μὲν κατὰ τὴν θεότητα, ἤδη δὲ καὶ κατὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν. Ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ εὐδόκησε πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος κατοικῆσαι σωματικῶς. Τούτοις ἐπιλέγει· Τὰ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἰδοὺ ἥκασιν. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, Πρὸ τοῦ ἀναγγεῖλαι ἐδηλώθη ὑμῖν, ὁ Σύμμαχος εἶπεν· Πρὸ τοῦ ἀναγγεῖλαι αὐτὰ ἀκουστὰ ποιήσω ὑμῖν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ πρῶτα, φησὶν, ἐπληρώθη δι' ἔργων (καθὰ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ ἐπηγγειλάμην περὶ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ, πεποίηκα· ἐπληρώθη δὲ καὶ τὰ διὰ Μωσέως καὶ τῶν προφητῶν προλεχθέντα), οὕτω καὶ νῦν εὐαγγελίζομαι τοῖς πᾶσι καινά. Καὶ πρὶν ἀναγγεῖλαι, καὶ πρὸς τὸ φανερὸν ἐλθεῖν, ἀκουστὰ ὑμῖν διὰ τῆς παρούσης προφητείας ἐποίησα, ἅπερ ἑξῆς ἐπενήνοχεν. Τὸν δὲ περὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἀπιστεῖσθαι, φασί τινες, λόγον οὐ συγχωρεῖ. Ποῖα δὲ, φασὶ, τὰ καινά; Ἅπερ ἐπήγγελται ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς, τὴν εἰς αἰῶνα τὸν μέλλοντα ζωὴν, καὶ ὅσα πρὸς ἀξίαν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀπόκειται. ικεʹ. 9Ὑμνήσατε τῷ Κυρίῳ ὕμνον καινὸν, ἡ ἀρχὴ αὐτοῦ· δοξάζετε τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, ἀπ' ἄκρου τῆς γῆς, οἱ καταβαίνοντες εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, πλέοντες αὐτὴν, καὶ νῆσοι, καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες αὐτάς. Εὐφράνθητι, ἔρημος, καὶ αἱ κῶμαι αὐτῆς, ἐπαύλεις, καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες Κηδάρ9, κ.τ.λ. Ἐπήνεγκε διὰ τούτων, ἅπερ ἔφη καινὰ, κε 2369 λεύων πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ὕμνον ᾄδειν, ἢ κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς, ᾆσμα· ἐπειδὴ ἡ ἀρχὴ αὐτοῦ καὶ καθολικὴ ἐξουσία καθ' ὅλης ἐδοξάσθη τῆς γῆς. Πεπλήρωται γὰρ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Χριστοῦ προσηγορίας λεγομένων Χριστιανῶν. Ἐν καθαρᾷ δὲ θεωρίᾳ τῶν μελλόντων ὁ προφήτης ἑστιαθεὶς τὴν ψυχὴν, συνεορτάζειν αὑτῷ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους παρακαλεῖ, τῶν ἀγαθῶν ὑμνοῦντας τὸ αἴτιον. Παρηκολούθουν γὰρ οἱ προφῆται τοῖς ἐξ ἑαυτῶν λεγομένοις, ὡς ποτὲ μὲν παραιτεῖσθαι, ποτὲ δὲ χαίρειν ἐπὶ τοῖς παρὰ Θεοῦ λεγομένοις. Ὃ καὶ νῦν πάσχει τοῦ Σωτῆρος τὴν παρουσίαν ὁρῶν, διδάσκων ἅμα ὡς ὁ φανησόμενος Κύριος οὐ τότε πρῶτον ἄρξει, κρατῶν δὲ πάντων, ὡς Θεὸς, καὶ τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς ὑπάρχων τοιοῦτος φανερωθήσεται, προκαταρχόντων αὐτοῦ τῆς γνώσεως τῶν ἐργαζομένων ἀποστόλων τὴν θάλατταν, ἣν ἔπλεον ἁλιεύοντες. Καινὸς δὲ ὕμνος τῇ τῶν πραγμάτων πρέπει καινότητι. Εἴ τις γὰρ ἐν Χριστῷ, καινὴ κτίσις, καὶ τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν· γέγονε δὲ πάντα καινά. Πνευματικῆς γὰρ δουλείας, οὐ σαρκικῆς, κατὰ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, λελυτρώμεθα· καὶ ἀντὶ πλινθείας, τῶν ἐκ φιλοσαρκίας ἔξω γεγόναμεν μολυσμῶν, φυγόντες οὐκ ἐργοδιωκτὰς Αἰγυπτίους, οὐδὲ τύραννον ἄνθρωπον, τοὺς δὲ συνωθοῦντας εἰς ἁμαρτίαν ἡμᾶς δαίμονας, καὶ τὸν τούτοις ἐφεστηκότα διάβολον, ὡς διαβῆναι τὴν ἐκ τοῦ βίου τύρβην, ὡς θάλατταν, καὶ φαγεῖν ἀντὶ μάννα, τὸν ἄρτον τὸν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ζωὴν τῷ κόσμῳ παρέχοντα· καὶ τοῖς ἐκ Χριστοῦ τῆς πέτρας ἐνετρύφησαν μὲν νάμασι, τυχόντες τε τοῦ θείου βαπτίσματος τὸν Ἰορδάνην διέβημεν, εἰς γῆν εἰσελθόντες τὴν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐπηγγελμένην, ἣν οἱ μακαριζόμενοι κληρονομοῦσι πραεῖς· ἐφ' οἷς ἔδει γενέσθαι τὸν ὕμνον Θεῷ παρὰ τῆς ἀρχῆς αὐτοῦ, τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, καθά φασί τινες, ἀρχομένων οὐ κατὰ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, κατὰ δὲ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. Οὐ γὰρ ὡς πάλαι ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ γνωστὸς ὁ Κύριος, καὶ ἐν μόνῳ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. Πλήρης δὲ νῦν ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ