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that "If I should dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. [11] And I said, Surely darkness shall cover me, and the night shall be light about me in my delight." But Symmachus puts it thus: If I say, Perhaps darkness will cover me, but even the night will be bright about me. Whether I flee toward the rising, he says, or toward the setting sun, I will not escape your power; and if I should try to be hidden by the darkness of night, not even so shall I be concealed. For to you, even the darkness is light. 12. "For darkness will not be darkened from you, and night will be enlightened as day." But Symmachus puts it thus: Neither will darkness be dark for you, but even night will appear as day. The darkness, he says, is darkness to me; for I have a distinction between light and darkness. But to you, the intelligible light, even the night is most visible, and brighter than any noonday. "As its darkness is, so also is its light." For just as the night is gloomy to me, so it is bright to you. 13. "For you possessed my reins." These things, he says, I do not say simply, but being enlightened by your grace, and receiving your radiance in my thoughts. For here he has called the thoughts "reins." For since the desiring faculty resides in the reins, and the thoughts receive its attack, he called the thoughts "reins." "You have helped me from my mother's womb." You have been my trainer, and guardian, and teacher, and immediately on coming forth from the womb I enjoyed your providence. 14. "I will give thanks to you, for you have been wonderfully magnified; wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it well." For this reason I continue to sing hymns, being illuminated by your mighty deeds, and being roused to this. 80.1940 15. "My bone was not hidden from you, which you made in secret, and my substance in the lowest parts of the earth." You know everything about me accurately, he says. For you formed me while I was still hidden in my mother's womb, and as if being in the uttermost part of the earth, you brought me into the light. For so also Aquila translated: My bones were not covered from you, by which I was made in secret, I was embroidered as in the lowest part of the earth. It is not possible, he says, for anything to escape you as you fashion the nature of men in the hidden workshop of nature. 16. "Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in your book all shall be written; days shall be formed, and no one in them." But Symmachus puts it thus: Your eyes foresaw me when I was unformed, along with all those written in your book, with days being formed of which none was wanting. Thus, he says, you saw me before I was fashioned and formed, as those already born, and having become perfect, and in need of no day, and inscribed in your books. Of these books the blessed Daniel also makes mention: "For the judgment, he says, was set, and the books were opened." And the Lord in the holy Gospels, "Even the hairs of your head are all numbered." But by "books" one must understand the all-encompassing knowledge of God, and the unfailing memory of God. Having thus narrated divine things, he reveals his own purpose, not using ambition, but setting forth a model of usefulness. 17. "But to me your friends, O God, have been greatly honored, their principalities have been made very strong." History also teaches this clearly; for he deemed the divine priests worthy of every kind of care. For all heard the promises which God made to Abraham, saying, "I will bless them that bless you, and I will curse them that curse you." But the phrase, "Their principalities have been made strong," Theodotion translated thus, Their poor have been made strong. For those who formerly lived in meanness and poverty because of the transgressions of impious kings enjoyed every honor under Josiah. 18. "I will number them, and they shall be multiplied more than the sand." For by the piety of the king, even those who were formerly impious, being enlightened in their mind, sang a recantation, and embraced the life according to the law, and those who were formerly few in number

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ὅτι "Εἰ κατασκηνώσαιμι εἰς τὰ ἔσχατα τῆς θαλάσσης, ἐκεῖ ἡ χείρ σου ὁδηγήσει με, καὶ καθέξει με ἡ δε ξιά σου. [ιαʹ] Καὶ εἶπα, Ἄρα σκότος καταπατήσει με, καὶ νὺξ φωτισμὸς ἐν τῇ τρυφῇ μου." Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος οὕτως· Ἐὰν εἴπω, Ἴσως σκότος περισκεπάσει με, ἀλλὰ καὶ νὺξ φωτεινὴ περὶ ἐμέ. Κἂν πρὸς ἀνίσχοντα, φησὶ, κἂν πρὸς δυόμενον ἥλιον καταφύγω, τὴν σὴν οὐ διαφεύξομαι δύναμιν· κἂν τῷ σκότει τῆς νυκτὸς κατακαλύψασθαι πειραθῶ, οὐδ' οὕτως λήσομαι. Σοὶ γὰρ φῶς ἐστι καὶ τὸ σκότος. ιβʹ. "Ὅτι σκότος οὐ σκοτισθήσεται ἀπὸ σοῦ, καὶ νὺξ ὡς ἡμέρα φωτισθήσεται." Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος οὕ τως· Οὔτε σκότος σκοτεινὸν ἔσται ὑπὲρ σὲ, ἀλλὰ καὶ νὺξ ὡς ἡμέρα φανεῖται. Τὸ σκότος, φησὶν, ἐμοί ἐστι σκότος· ἐγὼ γὰρ ἔχω φωτὸς καὶ σκότους διαφοράν. Σοὶ δὲ τῷ νοερῷ φωτὶ, καὶ νὺξ φανωτάτη, καὶ πάσης μεσημβρίας φωτεινοτέρα. "Ὡς τὸ σκό τος αὐτῆς, οὕτως καὶ τὸ φῶς αὐτῆς." Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐμοὶ ζοφώδης ἡ νὺξ, οὕτως ἐστί σοι φωτεινή. ιγʹ. "Ὅτι σὺ ἐκτήσω τοὺς νεφρούς μου." Ταῦ τα δὲ, φησὶν, οὐχ ἁπλῶς λέγω, ἀλλὰ τῇ σῇ φωτι ζόμενος χάριτι, καὶ τοῖς λογισμοῖς τὴν σὴν αἴγλην δεχόμενος. Νεφροὺς γὰρ ἐνταῦθα τοὺς λογισμοὺς προσηγόρευσεν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν ἔγκει ται τοῖς νεφροῖς, οἱ λογισμοὶ δὲ τὴν ταύτης δέχον ται προσβολὴν, λογισμοὺς ἐκάλεσε τοὺς νεφρούς. "Ἀντελάβου μου ἐκ γαστρὸς μητρός μου." Σύ μου γέγονας καὶ παιδοτρίβης, καὶ κηδεμὼν, καὶ δι δάσκαλος, καὶ εὐθὺς τῆς μήτρας ἐξελθὼν τῆς σῆς προνοίας ἀπήλαυσα. ιδʹ. "Ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι, ὅτι φοβερῶς ἐθαυμα στώθης· θαυμάσια τὰ ἔργα σου, καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου γινώσκει σφόδρα." Τούτου δὲ χάριν ὑμνῶν δια τελῶ, ταῖς σαῖς μεγαλουργίαις καταυγαζόμενος, καὶ εἰς τοῦτο διεγειρόμενος. 80.1940 ιεʹ. "Οὐκ ἐκρύβη τὸ ὀστοῦν μου ἀπὸ σοῦ, ὃ ἐποίη σας ἐν κρυφῇ, καὶ ἡ ὑπόστασίς μου ἐν τοῖς κατωτάτοις τῆς γῆς." Ἅπαντα, φησὶν, ἀκριβῶς γινώσκεις τὰ κατ' ἐμοῦ. Σὺ γὰρ ἔτι με τῇ νηδύϊ τῇ μητρῴᾳ κρυπτόμενον ἔπλασας, καὶ οἱονεὶ ἐν τῷ ἐσχάτῳ μέρει τῆς γῆς ὄντα, εἰς φῶς ἤγαγες. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ὁ Ἀκύλας ἡρμήνευσεν· Οὐκ ἐπεκαλύφθη ὀστᾶ μου ἀπὸ σοῦ, οἷς ἐποιήθην ἐν ἀποκρύ φῳ, ἐποικίλθην ὡς ἐν κατωτάτῳ τῆς γῆς. Οὐ δέν σε, φησὶ, λαθεῖν δυνατὸν ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ τῆς φύ σεως ἐργαστηρίῳ διαπλάττοντα τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν φύσιν. ιʹ. "Τὸ ἀκατέργαστόν μου εἶδον οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ βιβλίον σου πάντες γραφήσονται· ἡμέραι πλασθήσονται, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐν αὐτοῖς." Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος οὕτως· Ἀμόρφωτόν με προεῖδον οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου, σὺν τοῖς ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ σου πᾶσι γεγραμμένοις, ἡμέρας πλασσομένοις οὐκ ἐνδεούσης οὐδεμιᾶς. Οὕτω μὲ, φησὶν, εἶδες πρὶν διαπλασθῆναι καὶ μορφωθῆναι, ὡς τοὺς ἤδη γεννη θέντας, καὶ τελείους γεγενημένους, καὶ οὐδεμιᾶς ἐν δεεῖς ἡμέρας, καὶ ἐν τοῖς σοῖς βιβλίοις ἀναγεγραμμέ νους. Τούτων τῶν βιβλίων καὶ ὁ μακάριος μέμνηται ∆ανιήλ· "Κριτήριον γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐκάθισε, καὶ βί βλοι ἠνεῴχθησαν." Καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς Εὐαγ γελίοις, "Ὑμῶν καὶ αἱ τρίχες τῆς κεφαλῆς πᾶσαι ἠριθμημέναι εἰσί." Βίβλους δὲ νοητέον τὴν πάντα περιέχουσαν τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσιν, καὶ τὴν ἄληστον τοῦ Θεοῦ μνήμην. Οὕτω τὰ θεῖα διηγησάμενος, τὸν οἰ κεῖον ἀποκαλύπτει σκοπὸν, οὐ φιλοτιμίᾳ χρώμε νος, ἀλλ' ὠφελείας ἀρχέτυπον προτιθείς. ιζʹ. "Ἐμοὶ δὲ λίαν ἐτιμήθησαν οἱ φίλοι σου, ὁ Θεὸς, λίαν ἐκραταιώθησαν αἱ ἀρχαὶ αὐτῶν." Τοῦτο σαφῶς καὶ ἡ ἱστορία διδάσκει· πάσης γὰρ τοὺς θείους ἱερέας ἠξίωσε θεραπείας. Ἤκουσαν γὰρ πάντες τῶν ὑποσχέσεων, ἃς πρὸς τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ὁ Θεὸς ἐποιήσατο, "Εὐλογήσω, λέγων, τοὺς εὐλογοῦν τάς σε, καὶ τοὺς καταρωμένους σε καταράσομαι." Τὸ δὲ, "Ἐκραταιώθησαν αἱ ἀρχαὶ αὐτῶν," ὁ Θεοδοτίων οὕτως ἡρμήνευσεν, Ἐκραταιώθησαν οἱ πένη τες αὐτῶν. Οἱ γὰρ πάλαι διὰ τὰς τῶν δυσσεβῶν βα σιλέων παρανομίας ἐν εὐτελείᾳ καὶ πενίᾳ διάγοντες πάσης ἀπήλαυσαν παρὰ τῷ Ἰωσίᾳ τιμῆς. ιηʹ. "Ἐξαριθμήσομαι αὐτοὺς, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἄμμον πληθυνθήσονται." Τῇ γὰρ τοῦ βασιλέως εὐσεβείᾳ, καὶ οἱ πάλαι δυσσεβεῖς, τὴν διάνοιαν φωτισθέντες, παλινῳδίαν ᾖσαν, καὶ τὴν κατὰ νόμον πολιτείαν ἠσπάσαντο, καὶ οἱ πάλαι εὐαρίθμητοι ἀριθμοῦ