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ken, rejoicing over innumerable children, according to the prophecy that says: "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear, break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; for the children of the desolate one are many, more than of her who has a husband." 80.1789

INTERPRETATION OF THE 113TH PSALM. Alleluia. This too is a hymn recounting the benefactions provided by God to the Jews, and narrating the power of God, and mocking the weakness of the idols. And this hymn is also fitting for those from the nations who have believed, and have been delivered from the error of idols; for they learn how great the distance is between those that are not and the God who is. 1, 2. "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people. Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion." Having freed Israel from Egypt, he says, the Master, and having delivered them from the slavery of those foreign-speaking and barbarous people, He declared this people His own, and in Judah He built His own temple. For He called it a sanctuary. 3, 4. "The sea saw and fled, the Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like lambs of sheep." He personifies the things that were said, and in his speech he invests inanimate things with perception, proclaiming the power of God. For with You leading the people, he says, the sea, being afraid, withdrew from this side and that, and provided an unimpeded passage. And the river recoiled, and held back the rush of its own streams, just like a rational being imagining Your power in the ark; and the hills and the mountains were moved, and seemed to dance, as having received the Master of the heavens; and he speaks of Mount Sinai, and Horeb. For on those God made His own appearance. Then he also poses a question to the things mentioned before. 5, 6. "What is it to you, O sea, that you fled? And you, Jordan, that you turned back? You mountains, that you skipped like rams, and you hills, like lambs of sheep?" And since those things were irrational and inanimate, he himself makes the response on their behalf. 7, 8. "The earth was shaken at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob. Who turned the rock into pools of water, and the flint into fountains of water." Each of these things, he says, happened because of the 80.1792 Lord who appeared. This is the cause of the trembling of the earth and the parting of the sea. For He even the barren rock, which was deprived of all moisture, and which because of its hardness could not even be cut, He flooded with an outpouring of waters, commanding springs to gush forth abundantly from there. Therefore, he says, it is no wonder. For the Creator commanded, and the sea was divided, and the flint rock gushed forth, heaven supplied manna, the winds gathered the quail, and all other things came to be at His nod. 9, 10. "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory. For your mercy, and for your truth, lest the nations should say: Where is their God?" It was fitting long ago for those of the circumcision to say these things when asking for divine help, and recalling former gifts: Do not look upon us, O Master, nor overlook us on account of our many transgressions; for those who are ignorant of the justice of the punishment, will suppose our servitude to be your weakness, and will say: Where is their God? 11. "But our God is in heaven and on earth, He has done all things that He willed." And they say, Where is their God? But we know that you are God, creator of all things, having heaven as your dwelling place, having power commensurate with your will. Then by way of comparison he makes a refutation of the idols. 12. "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of human hands." For you do whatever you will; but the idols worshipped by the nations do not create, but are created, and from their material they have their value; for they are made from gold and silver and pigments, but from the art the

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κεν, ἐπὶ τέκνοις ἀναριθμήτοις εὐφραινομένην, κατὰ τὴν προφητείαν τὴν λέγουσαν· "Εὐφράνθητι, στεῖ ρα ἡ οὐ τίκτουσα, ῥῆξον καὶ βόησον ἡ οὐκ ὠδίνουσα ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου, μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχού σης τὸν ἄνδρα." 80.1789

ΕΡΜΗΝ. ΤΟΥ ΡΙΓʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΥ. Ἀλληλούϊα. Ὕμνος καὶ οὗτός ἐστι τὰς Ἰουδαίοιςὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ παρασχεθείσας

εὐεργεσίας διεξιὼν, καὶ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ δύναμιν διηγούμενος, καὶ τῶν εἰ δώλων κωμῳδῶν τὴν ἀσθένειαν. Ἁρμόττει δὲ καὶ οὗτος ὁ ὕμνος τοῖς ἐξ ἐθνῶν πεπιστευκόσι, καὶ τῆς τῶν εἰδώλων πλάνης ἀπηλλαγμένοις· μανθάνουσι γὰρ ὅσον τὸ μέσον τῶν οὐκ ὄντων πρὸς τὸν ὄντα Θεόν. αʹ, βʹ. "Ἐν ἐξόδῳ Ἰσραὴλ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, οἴκου Ἰακὼβ ἐκ λαοῦ βαρβάρου. Ἐγενήθη Ἰουδαία ἁγίασμα αὐτοῦ, Ἰσραὴλ ἐξουσία αὐτοῦ." Τῆς Αἰγύ πτου, φησὶ, τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ὁ ∆εσπότης ἐλευθερώσας, καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀλλοφώνων ἐκείνων καὶ βαρβάρων ἀπαλλάξας δουλείας, λαὸν μὲν τοῦτον οἰκεῖον ἀπ έφηνεν, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ τὸν νεὼν τὸν οἰκεῖον ἐδείμα το. Ἁγίασμα γὰρ τοῦτον ἐκάλεσεν. γʹ, δʹ. "Ἡ θάλασσα εἶδε, καὶ ἔφυγεν, ὁ Ἰορδάνης ἐστράφη εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω. Τὰ ὄρη ἐσκίρτησαν ὡσεὶ κριοὶ, καὶ οἱ βουνοὶ ὡς ἀρνία προβάτων." Προσωποποιεῖ τὰ εἰρημένα, καὶ τοῖς ἀψύχοις τῷ λόγῳ περιτίθησιν αἴσθησιν, τοῦ Θεοῦ κηρύττων τὴν δύναμιν. Σοῦ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἡγουμένου τοῦ λαοῦ ὑπεχώρησε μὲν ἔνθεν κἀκεῖθεν ἡ θάλασσα δείσασα, τὴν δὲ πορείαν παρέσχεν ἀκώλυτον. Ἀνεχαίτισε δὲ ὁ ποταμὸς, καὶ τῶν οἰκείων ῥευμάτων ἐπέσχε τὴν ῥύμην, καθάπερ τις λογικὸς ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ τὴν σὴν φανταζόμενος δύναμιν· καὶ οἱ βουνοὶ, καὶ τὰ ὄρη ἐκινήθη, καὶ χορεύειν ἐδόκει, ἅτε δὴ τῶν οὐρανῶν τὸν ∆εσπότην δεξάμενα· λέγει δὲ τὸ Σινᾶ ὄρος, καὶ τὸ Χωρήβ. Ἐν ἐκείνοις γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπι φάνειαν ἐποιήσατο. Εἶτα καὶ πεῦσιν τοῖς προει ρημένοις προσφέρει. εʹ, ʹ. "Τί σοί ἐστι, θάλασσα, ὅτι ἔφυγες; καὶ σὺ, Ἰορδάνη, ὅτι ἐστράφης εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω; Τὰ ὄρη, ὅτι ἐσκιρτήσατε ὡσεὶ κριοὶ, καὶ οἱ βουνοὶ ὡς ἀρνία προβάτων;" Καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἄλογα ἦν ἐκεῖνα, καὶ ἄψυ χα, αὐτὸς ποιεῖται ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν τὴν ἀπόκρισιν. ζʹ, ηʹ. "Ἀπὸ προσώπου Κυρίου ἐσαλεύθη ἡ γῆ, ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἰακώβ. Τοῦ στρέψαντος τὴν πέτραν εἰς λίμνας ὑδάτων, καὶ τὴν ἀκρότομον εἰς πηγὰς ὑδάτων." Τούτων ἕκαστον, φησὶ, διὰ τὸν 80.1792 ἐπιφανέντα γεγένηται Κύριον. Ταύτην αἰτίαν ἔχει τῆς γῆς ὁ κλόνος, καὶ ἡ τῆς θαλάττης διαίρεσις. Αὐτὸς γὰρ καὶ τὴν ἄγονον πέτραν, τὴν πάσης ἰκμά δος ἐστερημένην, καὶ μηδὲ τομῆς διὰ τὸ στερέμνιον ἀνεχομένην, τῇ προχύσει τῶν ὑδάτων ἐπέκλυσε, πηγὰς ἐκεῖθεν ἀφθόνως ἀναδοθῆναι κελεύσας. Οὐ δὲν οὖν, φησὶ, θαυμαστὸν γεγένηται. Προσέταξε γὰρ ὁ ποιητὴς, καὶ διῃρέθη τὸ πέλαγος, καὶ ἡ ἀκρό τομος ἀνέβλυσε πέτρα, ὁ οὐρανὸς ἐχορήγησε μάννα, οἱ ἄνεμοι τὴν ὀρτυγομήτραν συνήθροισαν, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα αὐτοῦ γεγένηται νεύσαντος. θʹ, ιʹ. "Μὴ ἡμῖν, Κύριε, μὴ ἡμῖν, ἀλλ' ἢ τῷ ὀνόματί σου δὸς δόξαν. Ἐπὶ τῷ ἐλέει σου, καὶ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ σου, μήποτε εἴπωσι τὰ ἔθνη· Ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς αὐτῶν;" Ταῦτα τοῖς ἐκ περιτομῆς πάλαι ἥρμοττε λέγειν τὴν θείαν αἰτοῦσιν βοήθειαν, καὶ τῶν προτέρων ἀναμιμνήσκουσι δωρεῶν· Μὴ εἰς ἡμᾶς ἀπίδῃς, ὦ ∆έσποτα, μηδὲ διὰ τὰς πολλὰς ἡμῶν πλημμελείας παρίδῃς· οἱ γὰρ τῆς τιμωρίας ἀγ νοοῦντες τὸ δίκαιον, σὴν ἀσθένειαν ὑπολήψονται τὴν ἡμετέραν δουλείαν, καὶ ἐροῦσι· Ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς αὐτῶν; ιαʹ. "Ὁ δὲ Θεὸς ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἐν τῇ γῇ, πάντα ὅσα ἠθέλησεν ἐποίησεν." Καὶ ἐκεῖνοι λέγουσι, Ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς αὐτῶν; Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἴσ μεν ὅτι σὺ εἶ Θεὸς, ποιητὴς πάντων, οὐρανὸν οἰ κητήριον ἔχων, σύμμετρον ἔχων τῇ βουλήσει τὴν δύναμιν. Εἶτα κατὰ παράθεσιν ποιεῖται τῶν εἰ δώλων τὸν ἔλεγχον. ιβʹ. "Τὰ εἴδωλα τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀργύριον καὶ χρυ σίον, ἔργα χειρῶν ἀνθρώπων." Σὺ μὲν γὰρ ποιεῖς ὅσα βούλει· τὰ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν προσκυνούμενα εἴ δωλα οὐ δημιουργεῖ, ἀλλὰ δημιουργεῖται, καὶ ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς ὕλης ἔχει τὸ τίμιον· ἐκ χρυσοῦ γὰρ καὶ ἀργύρου κατασκευάζεται καὶ χρωμάτων, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς τέχνης τὴν