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Desiring to see the fenced city the Prophet said: “Who will bring me into the strong city?” And praying to receive the salvation of the foreigners with his eyes, he added, saying: “Who will lead me into Idumea?” Then, having said “Who?” a first and a second time, he confesses to know the only one able to show these things; and this was God; of whom at the beginning of the present 23.573 inscription he said: “O God, thou hast cast us off, and hast destroyed us.” Wherefore, in response to that voice, he here renders the same thought, saying: “Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off?” For who else, he says, can show us your promises and the results of your words, if not you yourself who have cast us off? or, according to Symmachus, “If not you, O God, who reject us, and go not forth with our armies?” For you have cast us off, Lord, and have destroyed us; but also, being accustomed of old to go out with and to fight alongside our forces, now that you have made the calling of the gentiles, you have cast us off and no longer go out with our forces. There is therefore no other hope for us to see your promises, unless you yourself should wish it. For if you will it, it is possible for us, your prophets, to be numbered with your fenced city, and to be led to the designated Idumea. “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.” Those who have been deemed worthy of the promises are taught through the preceding words to be sober and watchful, and to prepare for tribulations, and through prayers to say to their own king: “Give us help from trouble;” for all hope from men is vain. Then, having prayed these things, they show their good zeal, saying: “Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.” Such was Paul, saying: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me;” and again: “Yet not I,” he says, “but the grace that is with me.” And those from Idumea and from the foreign nations who have come by the grace of God are taught to say these things. But if these things are also said from the person of the prophetic choir, it would be fitting for them, having lamented the rejection and the destruction of the former people, to send up a prayer for the common body of them all, and to say the preceding things to God. TO THE END, IN HYMNS, FOR DAVID, 60. “Hear, O God, my supplication; attend to my prayer.” The five inscribed as 'for an inscription' in succession up to the 59th have this ending; but there are six in all having this superscription: both those aforementioned and the 15th which is in the first part of the book of Psalms. Indeed, the hymn at hand, also being “to the end,” sends up beneficial promises found at the end of the hymn. There are five in all inscribed “In hymns”: two in the first part of the book, the fourth and the 6th. But these are called “Psalms in hymns”; while the three in the second part of the book are inscribed only “In hymns”, the 53rd, and the 54th, and the one at hand. The 23.576 “Psalms in hymns” therefore seem to have been spoken with the musical instrument called a psaltery, as requiring the practical energy of the psalmist through the body, which is the instrument of the soul. But the simple hymns are spoken by the voice alone of the one who sends up the hymn, without the accompaniment of the striking of the psaltery, since the words in them require only contemplation in the mind. At any rate, the hymn at hand shows this, saying: “from the ends of the earth I cried to you;” by which he signifies as it were having been outside of the body

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τὴν περιπεφραγμένην πόλιν ἐπιθυμῶν ἰδεῖν ὁ Προφήτης ἔλεγε· «Τίς ἀπάξει με εἰς πόλιν περιοχῆς;» Καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀλλοφύλων σωτηρίαν εὐχόμενος ὀφθαλμοῖς παραλαβεῖν, προσετίθει λέγων· «Τίς ὁδηγήσει με ἕως τῆς Ἰδουμαίας;» Εἶτα πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον εἰπὼν, «Τίς;» τὸν μόνον δυνατὸν ταῦτα δεικνύναι γνωρίζειν ὁμολογεῖ· ἦν δὲ οὗτος ὁ Θεός· ὃ κατ' ἀρχὰς τῆς προκειμένης στη 23.573 λογραφίας ἔλεγεν· «Ὁ Θεὸς, ἀπώσω ἡμᾶς καὶ καθεῖλες ἡμᾶς.» ∆ιὸ πρὸς ἐκείνην τὴν φωνὴν ἀποδίδωσιν ἐνταῦθα τὴν αὐτὴν διάνοιαν λέγων· «Οὐχὶ σὺ ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ἀπωσάμενος ἡμᾶς;» Τίς γὰρ ἄλλος, φησὶ, δύναται δεῖξαι ἡμῖν τὰς ἐπαγγελίας τὰς σὰς καὶ τῶν σῶν λόγων τὰ ἀποτελέσματα, εἰ μὴ σὺ αὐτὸς ὁ ἀπωσάμενος ἡμᾶς; ἢ, κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον, «Εἰ μὴ σὺ ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ἀποβαλλόμενος ἡμᾶς, καὶ μὴ προσελθὼν ἐν ταῖς στρατεύσεσιν ἡμῶν;» Ἀπώσω γὰρ ἡμᾶς σὺ, Κύριε, καὶ καθεῖλες ἡμᾶς· ἀλλὰ καὶ πάλαι εἰωθὼς συνεξιέναι καὶ συμπολεμεῖν ταῖς ἡμετέραις δυνάμεσι, νῦν ὅτε τὴν κλῆσιν ἐποιήσω τῶν ἐθνῶν, ἀπώσω ἡμᾶς καὶ οὐκέτι συνεξέρχῃ ταῖς ἡμετέραις δυνάμεσι. Ἄλλη οὖν οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν ἐλπὶς πρὸς τὸ θεάσασθαί σου τὰς ἐπαγγελίας, εἰ μὴ σὺ αὐτὸς βουληθείης. Σοῦ γὰρ θελήσαντος, δυνατὸν ἡμῖν τοὺς σοὺς προφήτας συγκαταλεγῆναι τῇ πόλει σου τῇ περιπεφραγμένῃ, καὶ ὁδηγηθῆναι ἕως τῆς ἀποδειχθείσης Ἰδουμαίας «∆ὸς ἡμῖν βοήθειαν ἐκ θλίψεως, καὶ ματαία σωτηρία ἀνθρώπων. Ἐν τῷ Θεῷ ποιήσομεν δύναμιν, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξουδενώσει τοὺς θλίβοντας ἡμᾶς.» Οἱ τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν καταξιωθέντες διδάσκονται διὰ τῶν προκειμένων νήφειν καὶ ἐγρηγορέναι, παρασκευάζεσθαί τε εἰς θλίψεις, καὶ δι' εὐχῶν λέγειν τῷ ἑαυτῶν βασιλεῖ· «∆ὸς ἡμῖν βοήθειαν ἐκ θλίψεως·» ματαίαν γὰρ εἶναι πᾶσαν τὴν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἐλπίδα. Εἶτ' εὐξάμενοι ταῦτα, τὴν ἀγαθὴν ἐπιδείκνυνται προθυμίαν λέγοντες· «Ἐν Θεῷ ποιήσομεν δύναμιν, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξουδενώσει τοὺς θλίβοντας ἡμᾶς.» Τοιοῦτος ἦν ὁ Παῦλος λέγων· «Πάντα ἰσχύω ἐν τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦντί με·» καὶ πάλιν· «Οὐκ ἐγὼ δὲ, φησὶν, ἀλλ' ἡ χάρις ἡ σὺν ἐμοί.» Ταῦτα δὲ λέγειν παιδεύονται οἱ ἐκ τῆς Ἰδουμαίας καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἐθνῶν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι προσεληλυθότες. Εἰ δὲ ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ προφητικοῦ χοροῦ λέγοιτο καὶ ταῦτα, πρέποι ἂν αὐτοὺς, ἀποκλαυσαμένους τὸν ἀπωσμὸν καὶ τὴν καθαίρεσιν τοῦ προτέρου λαοῦ, εὐχὴν ἀναπέμπειν ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοινοῦ πάντων αὐτῶν σώματος, καὶ λέγειν τῷ Θεῷ τὰ προκείμενα. ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ ΕΝ ΥΜΝΟΙΣ, ΤΩ ∆ΑΥΙ∆ Ξʹ. «Εἰσάκουσον, ὁ Θεὸς, τῆς δεήσεώς μου, πρόσχες τῇ προσευχῇ μου.» Οἱ μὲν ἐπιγεγραμμένοι στηλογραφίας ἐφεξῆς πέντε μέχρι τοῦ νθʹ τέλος ἔχουσιν· εἰσὶ δὲ πάντες οἱ ταύτην ἔχοντες τὴν προγραφὴν ἕξ· οἵ τε προλεχθέντες καὶ ὁ ιεʹ ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ μέρει τῆς βίβλου τῶν Ψαλμῶν κείμενος. Ὅ γε μὴν μετὰ χεῖρας ὕμνος ὢν καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς τὸ τέλος διὰ τὰς ἐπὶ τέλει τοῦ ὕμνου φερομένας ἐπιχρήστας ἐπαγγελίας ἀναπέμπει. Εἰσὶ δὲ πάντες οἱ ἐπιγεγραμμένοι «Ἐν ὕμνοις» πέντε· δύο μὲν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ μέρει τῆς βίβλου, ὁ τέταρτος καὶ ὁ ʹ. Ἀλλ' οὗτοι μὲν «Ἐν ὕμνοις ψαλμοὶ» λέγονται· οἱ δὲ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ μέρει τῆς βίβλου τρεῖς «Ἐν ὕμνοις» ἐπιγράφονται μόνον, ὁ νγʹ, καὶ ὁ νδʹ, καὶ ὁ μετὰ χεῖρας. Οἱ μὲν οὖν «Ἐν 23.576 ὕμνοις ψαλμοὶ» ἐοίκασι σὺν τῷ μουσικῷ ὀργάνῳ τῷ καλουμένῳ ψαλτηρίῳ λελέχθαι, ὡς δεηθέντος τῆς διὰ τοῦ σώματος, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὄργανον τῆς ψυχῆς, πρακτικῆς ἐνεργείας τοῦ ψάλλοντος. Οἱ δὲ ἁπλῶς ὕμνοι διὰ μόνης φωνῆς τοῦ τὸν ὕμνον ἀναπέμψαντος εἴρηνται, οὐ συμπαραληφθείσης τῆς διὰ τοῦ ψαλτηρίου κρούσεως, τῷ μόνης τῆς κατὰ διάνοιαν θεωρίας δεδεῆσθαι τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς λόγους. Τοῦτο γοῦν παρίστησιν ὁ μετὰ χεῖρας ὕμνος λέγων· «ἀπὸ τῶν περάτων τῆς γῆς πρὸς σὲ ἐκέκραξα·» δι' οὗ σημαίνει ὥσπερ ἔξω γεγενῆσθαι τῆς τοῦ σώματος