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your anger against the sheep of your pasture? But I was perplexed with myself, thinking on these things: Will the Lord cast off forever, or will he be favorable no more? and so on. Considering these things, I was troubled; but I brought to mind the ancient days and, recalling the years of eternity from the ancient Scriptures, how many times He cast them off when they sinned, then brought them back, and handed them over to enemies when they were impious, then again restored them. Why then did He formerly call them back even after terrible transgressions, not casting them off completely, nor cutting off His mercy; but now will He do none of these things, but will He have forgetfulness of His own loving-kindness and will the long-suffering and merciful and compassionate One forget to have pity? These things I considered with myself by night, and I stirred up my spirit, investigating and examining my own thoughts, and questioning my spirit, if it might suggest something for the healing of what was perplexing me. But instead of, *My eyes prevented the watches*, Symmachus says, *My eyes prevented me from looking up*. For gathering my thoughts to myself, I closed my eyes, so that by not projecting them onto sensible things, I would not be distracted from the matter at hand. So closing the eyes of the body, I was perplexed with myself, not uttering with a voice, nor speaking to another, but thinking to myself. Therefore instead of, *I was troubled, and I did not speak*, and what follows, it is said in Symmachus: *I was perplexed, and I did not speak*. -I considered the first days, I remembered the years of eternity. But I spoke my psalms by night to my heart; and a man being with my spirit. Thus being vigilant, and keeping awake at night, I was concerned about the things before, through which it was said: *As in a forest of trees, with axes they cut down its doors together, with ax and pickax they broke it down. To the ground they profaned the tabernacle of your name. Their kinsfolk said in their heart together: Let us cause the feasts of God to cease from the earth. We have not seen our signs, there is no longer a prophet, and he will know us no more.* Concerning these things, then, I was perplexed, whether there would be a remedy for those who had suffered these evils. And it was likely that Jeduthun, having heard the prophecy of Asaph, and having considered these things with himself, would be perplexed with the prophet as with a teacher, and would bring a question to him, and as if proposing a proposition, would say: What then, O prophet? Since you have prophesied these things, I wish to know and to learn, *Will the Lord cast off forever, and will he be favorable no more? Or will he cut off his mercy completely from generation to generation? Or will God forget to have pity, or will he restrain his compassions in his anger?* And indeed, to these propositions Asaph offered his teaching, writing the psalm on behalf of Jeduthun himself, and teaching him to say: *With my voice I cried to the Lord, with my voice to God, and he gave heed to me;* instructing not to meddle in the counsels of God, but to devote oneself to prayers, and to these alone to give one's mind, being pious and praising the judgments of God. For His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out. *And I said, Now I have begun; this is the change of the right hand of the Most High.* Instead of this, Aquila says, *And I said, it is my sickness; this is a change of the right hand of the Most High;* and Symmachus, *It is my wounding, a second stroke of the right hand of the Most High;* and the fifth edition, *And I said, they are my birth pangs, a change of the right hand of the Most High.* To the things I was already perplexed about, he says, I also considered these things with myself, that such thoughts, by which I was just now perplexed, are my sickness, or are my birth pangs, or are my wounds. For from weakness of soul we have uttered such words, and from a wounding of the soul; for being wounded and grieving as for my own members; but also in pangs as for my own bowels I have uttered such things.

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θυμός σου ἐπὶ πρόβατα νομῆς σου; ἐνηπόρουν δὲ πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν διανοούμενος ταῦτα· Μὴ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας ἀπώσεται Κύριος, ἢ οὐ προσθήσει τοῦ εὐδοκῆσαι ἔτι; καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ταῦτα λογιζόμενος ἐταραττόμην· ἀλλ' ἔφερόν τε τῇ μνήμῃ τὰς παλαιὰς ἡμέρας καὶ τὰ ἐξ αἰῶνος ἔτη ἀπὸ τῶν παλαιῶν Γραμμάτων ἀναλεγόμενος, ὁσάκις ἁμαρτήσαντας αὐτοὺς ἀποβαλὼν, ἐπανήγαγεν, καὶ πολεμίοις παραδοὺς ἀσεβοῦντας, αὖθις ἀνεκτήσατο. Τί οὖν πάλαι μὲν αὐτοὺς καὶ μετὰ δεινὰς πλημμηλείας ἀνεκαλεῖτο, μὴ εἰς τέλος ἀπωθούμενος, μηδὲ ἀποκόπτων τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ· νῦν δὲ οὐδὲν τούτων ποιήσει, λήθην δὲ ἕξει τῆς αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίας καὶ ἐπιλήσεται τοῦ οἰκτειρῆσαι ὁ μακρόθυμος καὶ πολυέλεος καὶ φιλοικτίρμων; Ταῦτα νυκτὸς πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν διελογιζόμην, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἔσκαλλον, διερευνῶν καὶ βασανίζων τοὺς ἐμαυτοῦ λογισμοὺς, ἀνακρίνων τε τὸ πνεῦμα, εἴ τι ἄρα ὑποβάλοι πρὸς θεραπείαν τῶν ἠπορημένων. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, Προκατελάβοντο φυλακὰς οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου, ὁ Σύμμαχος, Ἐκώλυον, φησὶ, τὰς ἀναβλέψεις οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου. Συνάγων γὰρ εἰς ἐμαυτὸν τοὺς ἐμαυτοῦ λογισμοὺς, ἔμυον τὰ ὄμματα, ὡς ἂν μὴ τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς προβάλλων, περιελκοίμην τοῦ προκειμένου. Μύων οὖν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τοῦ σώματος, πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν διηπόρουν, οὐ φωνῇ φθεγγόμενος, οὐδὲ πρὸς ἕτερον λαλῶν, αὐτὸς δὲ πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν ἐννοῶν. ∆ιὸ ἀντὶ τοῦ, Ἐταράχθην, καὶ οὐκ ἐλάλησα, καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς, παρὰ τῷ Συμμάχῳ εἴρηται· ∆ιηπόρουν, καὶ οὐκ ἐλάλησα. -Ἀνελογιζόμην τὰς ἡμέρας τὰς πρώτας, τὰ ἔτη τὰ ἀπ' αἰῶνος ἀνεμιμνησκόμην. Ἀλλὰ ψαλμούς μου νυκτὸς πρὸς τὴν καρδίαν μου διελάλουν· καὶ ἀνὴρ συνὼν τὸ πνεῦμά μου. Οὕτως ἐπαγρύπνως διακείμενος, καὶ τὰς νύκτας διαγρηγορῶν, ἐφρόντιζον περὶ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν δι' ὧν εἴρητο· Ὡς ἐν δρυμῷ ξύλων ἀξίναις ἔκοψαν τὰς θύρας αὐτῆς ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, πέλυκι καὶ λαξευτηρίῳ κατέῤῥαξαν αὐτήν. Εἰς τὴν γῆν ἐβεβήλωσαν τὸ σκήνωμα τοῦ ὀνόματός σου. Εἶπαν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν αἱ συγγένειαι αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό· Καταπαύσωμεν τὰς ἑορτὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς. Τὰ σημεῖα ἡμῶν οὐκ εἴδομεν, οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι προφήτης, καὶ ἡμᾶς οὐ γνώσεται ἔτι. Ἐπὶ τούτοις οὖν διηπόρουν, εἰ θεραπεία ἔσται τοῖς ταῦτα πεπονθόσι τὰ κακά. Καὶ εἰκός γε ἦν τὸν Ἰδιθοὺμ ἐπακούσαντα τῆς τοῦ Ἀσὰφ προφητείας, καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς ἑαυτὸν λογισάμενον, ἐπαπορῆσαι πρὸς τὸν προφήτην ὡς πρὸς διδάσκαλον, ἐρώτησίν τε αὐτῷ προσαγαγεῖν, καὶ ὥσπερ τινὰ προτείνοντα πρότασιν φάναι· Τί οὖν, ὦ προφῆτα; ἐπειδὴ ταῦτα προεφήτευσας, βούλομαι γνῶναι καὶ μαθεῖν, Μὴ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας ἀπώσεται Κύριος, καὶ οὐ προσθήσει τοῦ εὐδοκῆσαι ἔτι; ἢ εἰς τέλος τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ ἀποκόψει ἀπὸ γενεᾶς εἰς γενεάν; ἢ ἐπιλήσεται τοῦ οἰκτειρῆσαι ὁ Θεὸς, ἢ συνέξει ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς αὐτοῦ; Καὶ δὴ πρὸς ταύτας τὰς προτάσεις τὴν διδασκαλίαν ὁ 23.893 Ἀσὰφ ἐποιεῖτο, ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ἰδιθοὺμ γράφων τὸν ψαλμὸν, διδάσκων τε αὐτὸν λέγειν· Φωνῇ μου πρὸς τὸν Κύριον ἐκέκραξα, φωνῇ μου πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ προσέσχε μοι· παιδεύων μὴ πολυπραγμονεῖν τὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ βουλάς· εὐχαῖς δὲ σχολάζειν, καὶ ταύταις μόναις προσέχειν τὸν νοῦν εὐσεβοῦντα καὶ εὐφημοῦντα τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰς κρίσεις. Ἀνεξερεύνητα γὰρ τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστοι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ. Καὶ εἶπα, Νῦν ἠρξάμην· αὕτη ἡ ἀλλοίωσις τῆς δεξιᾶς τοῦ Ὑψίστου. Ἀντὶ τούτου ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας, Καὶ εἶπα, φησὶν, ἀῤῥωστία μου· αὕτη ἀλλοίωσις δεξιᾶς Ὑψίστου· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος, Τρῶσίς μου ἐστὶν ἐπιδευτέρωσις δεξιᾶς τοῦ Ὑψίστου· ἡ δὲ πέμπτη ἔκδοσις, Καὶ εἶπα, φησὶν, ὠδῖνές μου εἰσὶν ἀλλοίωσις δεξιᾶς τοῦ Ὑψίστου. Πρὸς τοῖς προηπορημένοις καὶ ταῦτα, φησὶ, πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν ἐνενόουν, ὅτι οἱ τοιοῦτοι λογισμοὶ, δι' ὧν ἀρτίως ἐπηπόρουν, ἀῤῥωστία μου εἰσὶν, ἢ ὠδῖνες εἰσὶν, ἢ τρώσεις μού εἰσιν. Ἐξ ἀσθενείας γὰρ ψυχῆς τοὺς τοιούτους προήκαμεν λόγους, καὶ ἀπὸ τρώσεως ψυχῆς· τετρωμένος γὰρ καὶ συναλγῶν ὡς ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ μελῶν· ἀλλὰ καὶ ὠδίνων ὡς ὑπὲρ σπλάγχνων οἰκείων τοιαῦτα ἐφθεγξάμην.