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you who fear the Lord, praise him.” What vows does he say he will pay other than those he promised? And what did he promise other than those through which he said: “I will declare your name to my brothers, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you”? For the promises are vows, which he promised to give “in the midst of the congregation,” he affirmed. 10.8.107 Next to these he adds: “The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and they who seek him shall praise the Lord; their hearts shall live for ever and ever. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before him; for the kingdom is the Lord’s, and he rules the nations.” 10.8.108 Through these words he proclaims very consistently the achievements after his resurrection, which have also been fulfilled through the calling from all the nations, and through the election of people at the ends of the inhabited world, the outcomes of which, being seen with the eyes, would be representative of all that is said through the psalm. 10.8.109 And “the poor” are we again, whom the saving Word, nourishing as poor in God's sight with the spiritual and rational bread, with the life-giving foods of souls, provides us eternal life. Therefore the psalm says: “The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and they who seek him shall praise the Lord; their hearts shall live for ever and ever.” 10.8.110 And the epilogue of the whole prophecy, adding after everything, “A generation to come shall be told of the Lord, and they shall declare his righteousness to a people who will be born, whom the Lord has made,” openly prophesies the people from the nations, and the generation established on the earth through our Savior Jesus Christ. 10.8.111 For who would be the people said to be born to God after this, who formerly was not, nor had existed among men, but came to be later? And who is the generation that did not then exist but is said to be coming, if not this church established throughout the whole world through our Savior and the new people from the nations, concerning whom also the Holy Spirit through Isaiah marvelously declared, saying: “Who has heard such things, and who has seen things like this? Has the earth travailed in one day, and has a nation been born at once?” 10.8.112 These things, then, since time drives us on to other matters, we have run through and discussed superficially. But whoever cares for the exhortation of our Savior who said, “Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and it is they that testify of me,” by delving into the meaning of each word of the psalm, might hunt down the precise sense of the truth in what has been said.
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φοβούμενοι τὸν κύριον, αἰνέσατε αὐτόν». ποίας δὲ εὐχὰς ἀποδώσειν φησὶν ἢ ἃς ἐπηγγείλατο; ποίας δὲ ἐπηγγείλατο ἢ ἐκείνας δι' ὧν ἔφησεν· «διηγήσομαι τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου, ἐν μέσῳ ἐκκλησίας ὑμνήσω σε»; εὐχαὶ γάρ εἰσιν αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι, ἃς ἐπαγγειλάμενος δώσειν «ἐν μέσῳ ἐκκλησίας» διεβεβαιοῦτο. 10.8.107 Τούτοις ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγει· «φάγονται πένητες καὶ ἐμπλησθήσονται, καὶ αἰνέσουσι κύριον οἱ ἐκζητοῦντες αὐτόν· ζήσονται αἱ καρδίαι αὐτῶν εἰς αἰῶνα αἰῶνος. μνησθήσονται καὶ ἐπιστραφήσονται πρὸς κύριον πάντα τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς, καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ πᾶσαι αἱ πατριαὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν· ὅτι τοῦ κυρίου ἡ βασιλεία, καὶ αὐτὸς δεσπόζει τῶν ἐθνῶν.» 10.8.108 δι' ὧν σφόδρα ἀκολούθως τὰ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν αὐτοῦ κατορθώματα ἀναφωνεῖ, ἃ καὶ πεπλήρωται διὰ τῆς ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν κλήσεως, διά τε τῆς ἐν τοῖς πέρασιν τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀνθρώπων ἐκλογῆς, ὧν αἱ ἐκβάσεις ὀφθαλμοῖς θεωρούμεναι πάντων ἂν γένοιντο τῶν διὰ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ λεγομένων παραστατικαί. 10.8.109 «πένητες» δὲ πάλιν ἡμεῖς, οὓς κατὰ θεὸν πτωχεύοντας ἐκτρέφων ὁ σωτήριος λόγος τῷ νοητῷ καὶ λογικῷ ἄρτῳ, ταῖς ζωοποιοῖς τῶν ψυχῶν τροφαῖς, τὴν αἰώνιον ἡμῖν παρέχει ζωήν. διό φησιν ὁ ψαλμός· «φάγονται πένητες καὶ ἐμπλησθήσονται, καὶ αἰνέσουσιν κύριον οἱ ἐκζητοῦντες αὐτόν· ζήσονται αἱ καρδίαι αὐτῶν εἰς αἰῶνα αἰῶνος». 10.8.110 Καὶ ὁ ἐπίλογος δὲ τῆς ὅλης προφητείας, μετὰ πάντα ἐπιφέρων «ἀναγγελήσεται τῷ κυρίῳ γενεὰ ἡ ἐρχομένη, καὶ ἀναγγελοῦσι τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ λαῷ τῷ τεχθησομένῳ, ὃν ἐποίησεν ὁ κύριος», ἄντικρυς τὸν ἐξ ἐθνῶν προθεσπίζει λαόν, καὶ τὴν διὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ συστᾶσαν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς γενεάν. 10.8.111 τίς γὰρ ἂν εἴη ὁ μετὰ ταῦτα τεχθήσεσθαι λεγόμενος τῷ θεῷ λαός, πάλαι μὴ ὢν μηδ' ὑφεστὼς ἐν ἀνθρώποις ὕστερον δὲ γεγονώς; τίς τε ἡ μὴ οὖσα τότε λεγομένη δὲ ἐλεύσεσθαι γενεά, εἰ μὴ αὕτη ἡ διὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐν παντὶ τῷ κόσμῳ συστᾶσα ἐκκλησία καὶ ὁ νέος ἐξ ἐθνῶν λαός, ἐφ' ᾧ καὶ διὰ Ἡσαΐου τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον θαυμαστικῶς ἀπεφθέγξατο φῆσαν· «τίς ἤκουσεν τοιαῦτα, καὶ τίς ἑώρακεν οὕτως; εἰ ὤδινεν γῆ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ, καὶ εἰ ἐτέχθη ἔθνος εἰς ἅπαξ». 10.8.112 Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἡμεῖς, ἐφ' ἕτερα συνελαύνοντος τοῦ καιροῦ, διαδραμόντες ἀκροθιγῶς διεξήλθομεν· ὅτῳ δ' ἂν μέλῃ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν παρακελεύσεως φήσαντος, «ἐρευνᾶτε τὰς γραφάς, ἐν αἷς δοκεῖτε ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔχειν· καὶ αὗταί εἰσιν αἱ μαρτυροῦσαι περὶ ἐμοῦ», ἑκάστῃ λέξει τοῦ ψαλμοῦ τὸν νοῦν ἐμβαθύνας, τὴν ἀκριβῆ διάνοιαν θηρεύσαι ἂν τῆς ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἀληθείας.