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seeing. 4. "And you shall see your children's children." It was considered a great blessing to reach a ripe old age, and to see children. Therefore, he defines the blessings according to their opinions; but that he did not see the possession of good things in these, the blessed Isaiah taught: "Let not the eunuch say, I am a dry tree, for thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that I desire, I will give them in my house, and in my wall, a famous place, and a good name, better than sons and daughters." -"Peace upon Israel." Again he prays for peace for Israel. But true peace is peace with God. But carnal Israel, having fallen from that, is also deprived of the other. 80.1897

INTERPRETATION OF PSALM 128. 1. "A Song of Ascents." This psalm also contains a prophecy of the nations rising up against the Jews after the

return; and they are taught to say. "Many a time have they fought against me from my youth; let Israel now say. [2.] Many a time have they fought against me from my youth; yet they have not prevailed against me." He calls "youth" their sojourn in Egypt, and their deliverance from there. And praising the benefactor, he recounts the divine graces, that from above and from the beginning many enemies rose up against me, and tried to surround me with all kinds of evils; but through divine help I escaped their plots. More truly, however, these things fit the new people, who received many attacks from enemies, but overcame all, and made their enemies worshipers. 3. "The sinners ploughed upon my back." But Aquila and Theodotion translated it, "they ploughed." The saying signifies the scourges, and the torments, inflicted on the victorious martyrs by the impious. These things were also endured by the blessed Daniel and his companions, and the wondrous Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, and the Maccabees under Antiochus. "They made long their iniquity." But Aquila, "they lengthened," and Symmachus, "they extended doing evil;" meaning, They persisted for a long time warring against me, and increasing their own iniquity. 4. "The righteous Lord has cut the necks of sinners." "Necks," Aquila and Symmachus translated as "snares;" but Theodotion as "collars;" and all are true. For the snares which they had prepared for the saints, their God cut, and the collars put around them he broke, and he cut the very necks of the sinners. 5. "Let all who hate Zion be ashamed and turned back." May they fail, he says, in their wicked enterprises, and may those who war against Zion be turned to flight. 6, 7. "Let them be as the grass of the housetops, which withers before it is plucked up. With which the reaper does not fill his hand, nor he who gathers sheaves his bosom." Some of the copies do not have, "to wither," but, "to be plucked up;" which we always see happening with the crops. For no one endures to reap the ear of corn while it is moist, but waits for it to ripen, and to be thoroughly dry, and then he applies the sickle. But the grass growing on the housetops, before it produces fruit, is dried up by the heat of the sun; he exhorts that the enterprises of the enemies be compared to these, and that they meet a similarly untimely end. 80.1900 8. "And those who pass by did not say: The blessing of the Lord be upon you, we have blessed you in the name of the Lord." Those who behold the luxuriant crops are accustomed to marvel at the farmer's diligence, and passing by they bless those who reap such things; but to those gathering the grass of the housetops, no one has ever uttered any such thing. INTERPRETATION OF PSALM 129. 1. "A Song of Ascents." The choir of the righteous offers this supplication to God; and the very prelude of the psalm bears witness to it. "Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord." Meaning, From below and from the heart itself I send up the supplication. For of those who use only their lips the divine

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ὁρῶντες. ʹ. "Καὶ ἴδοις υἱοὺς τῶν υἱῶν σου." Εὐλογία μεγάλη νενόμιστο εἰς γῆρας ἐλάσαι βαθὺ, καὶ παῖδας ἰδεῖν. Συμβαινούσας τοίνυν ταῖς γνώμαις ὁρίζει τὰς εὐλογίας· ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἐν τούτοις εἶδε τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὴν κτῆσιν, ὁ μακάριος Ἡσαΐας ἐδίδαξε· "Μὴ λεγέτω ὁ εὐνοῦχος, ὅτι Ἐγώ εἰμι ξύλον ξηρὸν, ὅτι τάδε λέ γει Κύριος· Τοῖς εὐνούχοις τοῖς φυλαττομένοις τὰ Σάββατά μου, καὶ ἐκλεγομένοις ἃ ἐγὼ θέλω, δώσω αὐτοῖς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ μου, καὶ ἐν τῷ τείχει μου, τόπον ὀνομαστὸν, καὶ ὄνομα ἀγαθὸν, κρεῖττον υἱῶν καὶ θυ γατέρων." -"Εἰρήνη ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραήλ." Πάλιν ἐπεύ χεται τῷ Ἰσραὴλ εἰρήνην. Ἀληθὴς δὲ εἰρήνη ἡ πρὸς Θεὸν εἰρήνη. ὁ δὲ σαρκικὸς Ἰσραὴλ ἐκείνης ἐκπεσὼν, καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ἐστέρηται. 80.1897

ΕΡΜΗΝ. ΤΟΥ ΡΚΗʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΥ. αʹ. "Ὠδὴ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν." Καὶ οὗτος ὁ ψαλμὸς πρόῤῥησιν ἔχει τῶν μετὰ τὴν

ἐπάνοδον ἐπαναστάν των Ἰουδαίοις ἐθνῶν· καὶ διδάσκονται λέγειν. Πλεονάκις ἐπολέμησάν με ἐκ νεότητός μου· εἰπάτω δὴ Ἰσραήλ. [βʹ.] Πλεονάκις ἐπολέμησάν με ἐκ νεότη τός μου· καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἠδυνήθησάν μοι." Νεότητα καλεῖ τὴν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ διαγωγὴν, καὶ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἀπαλλαγήν. Καὶ τὸν εὐεργέτην ὑμνῶν, τὰς θείας ἀπαριθμεῖται χάριτας, ὅτι Ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς πολλοί μοι δυσμενεῖς ἐπανέστησαν, καὶ παντοδαποῖς με περιβαλεῖν κακοῖς ἐπειράθησαν· διὰ δὲ τῆς θείας ἐπικουρίας διέφυγον τὰς ἐκείνων ἐπιβουλάς. Ἀλη θέστερον μέντοι ταῦτα τῷ νέῳ ἁρμόττει λαῷ, πολλὰς μὲν δεξαμένῳ προσβολὰς πολεμίων, πάντων δὲ περι γενομένῳ, καὶ τοὺς πολεμίους προσκυνητὰς ἀποφή ναντι. γʹ. "Ἐπὶ τὸν νῶτόν μου ἐτέκταινον οἱ ἁμαρ τωλοί." Ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας καὶ ὁ Θεοδοτίων, ἠροτρίασαν ἡρμήνευσαν. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ ὁ λόγος τὰς μάστιγας, καὶ τὰς αἰκίας, τὰς τοῖς νικηφόροις μάρτυσιν ἐπενεχθεί σας ὑπὸ τῶν δυσσεβῶν. Ταῦτα δὲ καὶ οἱ περὶ τὸν μακάριον ὑπέμειναν ∆ανιὴλ, καὶ οἱ θαυμάσιοι Ἀνα νίας, Ἀζαρίας καὶ Μισαὴλ, καὶ ἐπὶ Ἀντιόχου οἱ Μακκαβαῖοι. "Ἐμάκρυναν τὴν ἀνομίαν αὐτῶν." Ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας ἐμήκυναν, ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος παρέτεινον κακοῦντες· ἀντὶ τοῦ, Ἐπέμειναν μέχρι πολλοῦ μοι πολεμοῦντες, καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν αὔξοντες ἀνο μίαν. δʹ. "Κύριος δίκαιος συνέκοψεν αὐχένας ἁμαρ τωλῶν." Τοὺς αὐχένας, βρόχους ὁ Ἀκύλας καὶ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσαν· ὁ δὲ Θεοδοτίων κλοιούς· πάντα δὲ ἀληθῆ. Καὶ γὰρ οὓς κατεσκεύασαν τοῖς ἁγίοις βρόχους, κατέκοψεν ὁ τούτων Θεὸς, καὶ τοὺς περιταθέντας αὐτοῖς κλοιοὺς συνέτριψε, καὶ αὐ τοὺς τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν τοὺς αὐχένας συνέκοψεν. εʹ. "Αἰσχυνθήτωσαν καὶ ἀποστραφήτωσαν εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω πάντες οἱ μισοῦντες Σιών." ∆ιαμάρτοιεν, φησὶ, τῶν πονηρῶν ἐγχειρημάτων, καὶ τράποιντο εἰς φυγὴν οἱ τὴν Σιὼν πολεμοῦντες. ʹ, ζʹ. "Γενηθήτωσαν ὡσεὶ χόρτος δωμάτων, ὃς πρὸ τοῦ ἐκσπασθῆναι ἐξηράνθη. Οὗ οὐκ ἐπλήρωσε τὴν χεῖρα αὑτοῦ ὁ θερίζων, καὶ τὸν κόλπον αὑτοῦ ὁ τὰ δράγματα συλλέγων." Ἔνια τῶν ἀντιγράφων οὐκ, ἐξηρανθῆναι, ἔχει, ἀλλὰ, ἐκσπασθῆναι· ὃ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ληΐων γινόμενον ὁρῶμεν ἀεί. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ὑγρὸν ὄντα τὸν ἄσταχυν θερίζειν ἀνέχεται, ἀλλὰ μένει πεπανθῆναι, καὶ διαυανθῆναι, καὶ τότε τὴν δρεπάνην ἐπάγει. Ἡ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν δωμάτων φυομένη πόα, πρὶν βλαστῆσαι καρπὸν, τῇ τοῦ ἡλίου ξηραί νεται προσβολῇ· τούτοις τῶν πολεμίων τὰς ἐγχει ρήσεις ἀπεικασθῆναι παρακαλεῖ, καὶ ταύταις παρα πλησίως ἄωρον δέξασθαι τέλος. 80.1900 ηʹ. "Καὶ οὐκ εἶπον οἱ παράγοντες· Εὐλογία Κυρίου ἐφ' ὑμᾶς, εὐλογήκαμεν ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου." Οἱ τὰ κομῶντα θεώμενοι λήϊα, θαυμάζειν εἰώθασι τὴν γεωργῶν ἐπιμέλειαν, καὶ εὐλογοῦσι παριόντες τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα θερίζοντας· τοῖς δὲ τῶν δωμάτων τὸν χόρτον συλλέγουσιν, οὐδεὶς τοιοῦτο οὐδὲν ἐπ εφθέγξατο πώποτε. ΕΡΜΗΝ. ΤΟΥ ΡΚΘʹ ΨΑΛΜΟΥ. αʹ. "Ὠδὴ τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν." Τῶν δικαίων χορὸς ταύτην τῷ Θεῷ τὴν ἱκετείαν προσφέρει· μαρτυρεῖ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ τὸ προοίμιον. "Ἐκ βαθέων ἐκέκραξά σοι, Κύριε." Ἀντὶ τοῦ, Κάτωθεν καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς καρδίας ἀναπέμπω τὴν ἱκετείαν. Τῶν γὰρ μόνοις κεχρημένων τοῖς χείλεσιν ἡ θεία