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do not forsake me, Lord; my God, do not depart from me. Even if they forsook me because I "pursued righteousness," yet you, do not forsake me, do not be far from me. God forsakes someone when he is worthy to suffer painful things. But I do not say this, that he is thus tried by painful things; he is not forsaken, but when having painful things he is defeated and cast down. Then you do not forsake me, when you do not depart from me. I have been joined to you, I have become one spirit with you. When I remain thus, I have you present. If one is joined to the Lord, the Lord is also to him. "My soul has been joined after you." 23 Attend to my help, Lord of my salvation. You depart from me if I sin, not if I am hated unjustly nor if some boast against me. You are both Lord and God of my salvation. But salvation does not pertain to the flesh, it is not found in external things, but concerning the soul itself. This is what is called eternal salvation; for "he became"—that is, Christ—"eternal salvation to all who obey him." "Eternal salvation" is not of the flesh, which physicians provide, which a pilot saves for those sailing with him; for after a little while these will die again. But the salvation of God is eternal, he himself is their salvation.

1-2 To the end, for Jeduthun. I said: I will guard my ways, that I may not sin

with my tongue. He is one of the temple singers. In Ezra and in Chronicles mention is made of each name of those who were suggesting. And so this man is one of them and either he himself composed the psalm for David, or having received it from David he proclaimed it. For it is the work of the temple singers to speak the psalms, both those they themselves composed and those others composed. This, therefore, is a victory ode. The sinner has many troubles272, but after conquering and treading him down and taking him in hand, he sends up the ode; for no one sings a victory ode while still fighting and being fought against, but in having conquered. For instance, Moses and the whole multitude of the Jews did not sing the victory ode when they were contending with Pharaoh, but when they saw him submerged; "Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been gloriously glorified; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea." When the horse and its rider were cast into the sea, and God cast the chariots of Pharaoh and his power into the Red Sea, then the victory ode was fittingly sent up. And David in the seventeenth psalm: "in the day that he delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul, then he said: I will love you, O Lord, my strength," and the other things that the ode contains. Prayer before the war and in the war, but a victory hymn and ode after the destruction of the war, after the enemies have been captured. "I said: I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue." Almost every practical sin has its beginning from a word. To the captured youth, the harlot personified in the proverbs, being either a woman or false glory or some deceit, beginning with words, has been able to seize him. For it is said: "She led him astray with much speech" or flattery. "And with the snares of her lips she drove him aground." And see, that the beginning of sin was a word. And the elders, indeed, who lusted after Susanna, initiated speech with her. When someone, therefore, does not sin with the tongue, he completes his ways well; for I said that the beginning of these ways is a word. And conversely, again, the beginning of all good works is a word. But for now he does not speak about those ways. And he added: "that I may not sin with my tongue." But sinning with the tongue is not the same as saying: "my tongue will meditate on your righteousness." "The beginning of your words is truth." The cause of my speaking your words is your truth. I will reveal this if I know it. concerning the virtues

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ἐνκαταλίπῃς με, κύριε· ὁ θεός μου, μὴ ἀποστῇς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ. εἰ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐνκατέλειψάν με ὅτι "κατεδίωκον δικαιοσύνην", ἀλλὰ σὺ μὴ ἐνκαταλίπῃς με, μὴ μακράν μου γένῃ. ἐνκαταλείπει δὲ θεός τινα, ὅταν ἄξιος ᾖ τοῦ παθεῖν τὰ ἐπίπονα. οὐ τοῦτο δὲ λέγω, ὅτι οὕτως πεῖραν λαμβάνει τῶν ἐπιπόνων· οὐ καταλέλειπται, ἀλλ' ὅτε τὰ ἐπίπονα ἔχων ἡττᾶται καὶ καταβάλλεται. τότε οὐκ ἐνκαταλείπεις με, ὅταν μὴ ἀποστῇς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ. ἐκολλήθην σοι, ἓν πνεῦμα πρός σε γέγονα. ὅτε οὕτω διαμένω, ἔχω σε παρόντα. εἰ προσκολληθῇ τις τῷ κυρίῳ, καὶ ὁ κύριος αὐτῷ. "ἐκολλήθη ἡ ψυχή μου ὀπίσω σου". 23 πρόσχες εἰς τὴν βοήθειάν μου, κύριε τῆς σωτηρίας μου. ἀφίστασαι ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, ἐὰν ἁμαρτήσω, οὐκ ἐὰν μισῶμαι ἀδί κως οὐδ̣ὲ ἐὰν μεγαλορημονῶσίν τινες ἐπ' ἐμέ. καὶ κύριος καὶ θεὸς τῆς σωτηρίας μου εἶ. σωτηρία δὲ οὐ σαρκῶν ἅπτεται, οὐ περὶ τὰ ἐκτὸς εὑρίσκεται, ἀλλὰ περὶ αὐτὴν τὴν ψυχη´̣ν. αὕτη̣ ἐστὶν ἡ λεγομένη σωτηρία αἰώνιος· "ἐγένετο" γὰρ̣ "πᾶσιν τοῖς ὑπακούουσιν αὐτῷ"-ὁ Χριστὸς δηλονότι- "σωτηρία αἰώνιος". οὔκ ἐστιν "αἰώνιος σωτηρία" ἡ σαρκῶν, ἡ`̣ν ἰατροὶ προσάγουσιν, ἣν σῴζει κυβερνήτης τοὺς ἐνπλέοντας· μεθ' ὁλίγον γὰρ πάλιν τεθνήξονται οὗτοι. η῾̣ τοῦ θεοῦ δὲ σωτηρία αἰώνιός ἐστιν, αὐτός ἐστιν αὐτῶν ἡ σωτηρία.

1-2 εἰς τὸ τέλος, τῷ Ἰδιθούμ. εἶπα· φυλάξω τὰς ὁδούς μου τοῦ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν

ἐν γλώσσῃ μου. εἷς τῶν ἱεροψαλτῶν ἐστιν. ἐν τῷ Ἔσδρᾳ κα̣ι`̣ ε᾿̣ν̣ τῷ Ἀπολειπομένῳ μνήμη γίνεται ε῾̣κάστου ὀνόματος τῶν ὑποβαλλόντων. καὶ οὗτος οὖν εἷς ἐστιν αὐτῶν καὶ ἤτοι αὐτὸς πεποίηκεν τὸν ψαλμ̣ὸν εἰς τὸν ∆αυίδ, ἢ γενάμενον παρὰ ∆αυὶδ λαβὼν ἀπήγγειλεν. ἔργον δέ ἐστιν̣ τῶν ἱεροψαλτῶν λέγειν του`̣ς ψαλμοὺς καὶ οὓς αὐτοὶ πεποιήκασιν καὶ οὓς ἄλλοι συνέθηκαν. ᾠδὴ οὖν ἐστιν αὕτη ἐπινίκιος. πλειστάκις̣ ἐνοχλοῦν272 τα ἔχει τὸν ἁμαρτωλόν, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὸ νικῆσαι καὶ πατῆσαι αὐτὸν καὶ ὑπὸ χεῖρα λαβεῖν ἀναπέμπει τὴν ᾠδήν· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἔτι ἐν τῷ πολεμεῖν καὶ πολεμεῖσθαι ἐπινίκιον ᾄδει, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ νενικηκέναι. αὐτίκα γοῦν καὶ Μωυσῆς καὶ πᾶσα ἡ Ἰουδαικὴ πληθὺς οὐχ ὅτε εἶχαν πρὸς τὸν Φαραώ, τὴν ἐπινίκιον εἶπον ᾠδήν, ἀλλ' ὅτε εἶδον αὐτὸν ὑποβρύχιον γεγενημένον· "ᾄσωμεν τῷ κυρίῳ, ἐνδόξως γὰρ δεδόξασται· ἵππον καὶ ἀναβάτην ἔριψεν εἰς θάλασσαν". ὅτε ἐρίφη ὁ ἵππος καὶ ὁ ἐπιβάτης αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, καὶ ἅρματα Φαραὼθ καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ὁ θεὸς ἔριψεν εἰς θάλασσαν τὴν ἐρυθράν, τότε ἡ ἐπινίκιος καιρίως ἀνεπέμφθη ᾠδή. καὶ ∆αυὶδ ἐν τῷ δεκάτῳ ἑβδόμῳ ψαλμῷ· "ἐν ἡμέρᾳ, ᾗ ἐρύσατο αὐτὸν ἐκ χειρὸς πάντων τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς Σαούλ, τότε εἶπεν· ἀγαπήσω σε, κύριε ἡ ἰσχύς μου", καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα περιέχει ἡ ᾠδή. προσευχὴ πρὸ τοῦ πολέμου καὶ ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ, ἐπινίκιος δὲ ὕμνος καὶ ᾠδὴ μετὰ τὴν καθαίρεσιν τοῦ πολέμου, μετὰ τὸ ἁλῶναι τοὺς πολεμίους. "εἶπα· φυλάξω τὰς ὁδούς μου τοῦ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν ἐν γλώσσῃ μου". σχεδὸν πάσης ἁμαρτίας πρακτικῆς ἐκ λόγου ἀρχὴ γίνεται. πρὸς τὸν ἁλόντα νεανίαν ἡ πόρνη ἡ ἐν ταῖς παροιμίαις προσωποποιουμένη ἤτοι γυνὴ οὖσα ἢ δόξα ψευδὴς ἢ ἀπάτη τις ἀπὸ λόγων ἀρξαμένη ἑλεῖν αὐτὸν δεδύνηται. εἴρηται γοῦν· "ἀπεπλάνησεν αὐτὸν πολλῇ ὁμιλίᾳ" ἢ αἱμυλίᾳ. "βρόχοις δὲ τοῖς διὰ χειλέων ἐξώκειλεν αὐτόν". καὶ ὅρα γε, ὅτι ἀρχὴ τῆς ἁμαρτίας γέγονε λόγος. καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι γοῦν οἱ κατὰ Σωσάννης μανέντες λόγον ἐκίνησαν πρὸς αὐτήν. ὅταν τις οὖν μὴ ἁμαρτήσῃ ἐν γλώσσῃ, καλῶς ἀνύει τὰς ὁδούς· εἶπον γὰρ ὅτι ἀρχὴ τῶν ὁδῶν τούτων λόγος ἐστίν. καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου πάλιν πάντων τῶν καλῶν ἔργων ἀρχὴ λόγος ἐστίν. ἀλλὰ οὐ περὶ ἐκείνων τῶν ὁδῶν τέως λέγει. προσέθηκεν δέ· "τοῦ μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν ἐν γλώσσῃ μου". οὐ ταὐτὸν δὲ τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν ἐν γλώττῃ καὶ τὸ λέγειν· "ἡ γλῶττά μου μελετήσει τὴν δικαιοσύνην σου". "ἀρχὴ τῶν λόγων σου ἀλήθεια". ἡ αἰτία τοῦ λέγειν με τοὺς λόγους σου ἡ ἀλήθειά σού ἐστιν. ταύτην φανερώσω ἐὰν γνῶ αὐτήν. ἐπὶ τῶν ἀρετῶν