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he cares and provides. Therefore, making this clear, he adds the following, saying: You took hold of me from my mother's womb. That is, you have always fortified me, you provided for me, you secured me from the earliest age, from my very swaddling clothes, and these things you taught through the very works I have mentioned. I will confess to you, for you have been fearfully made wonderful; wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well. What is this? You formed me, he says, but I do not know how you formed me; you provide, but I cannot comprehend all your providence at once in my thoughts. You are everywhere, but I do not understand this either. You foreknow the future, and the past, and the secret things of the minds of men; but I cannot comprehend this with my thoughts either. For you change the natures of things, and while they remain you make them display their opposites, and their opposites you bring forth again in such a way, as if they were proper and allotted by nature. 4. Gathering all these things together again, and becoming inspired, he cried out loudly, saying: I will confess to you, for you have been fearfully made wonderful, that is, you appeared wonderful, and you are wonderful. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well. And what do I say, he says, about you, when even the things done by you hold much wonder? Then, ceasing to go through everything, he is content with his own knowledge, saying: And my soul knows it very well. It does not simply know, but with intensity, he says, with vehemence. And if it knows, how did he say before, that "Your knowledge has been made wonderful to me, it has become mighty; I cannot attain to it"? That, indeed, was said about him, but this about his works. But if this is also about him, we would say this, that it knows that he is wonderful, that he is great, that he is high; but what his essence is—for I will say the same things again—and how his greatness is, and what is the manner of the things spoken of, it does not know; but this ignorance is proof of knowledge, even if what is said is wonderful. Since we also do not know how great the sea is, and yet for this very reason we especially know the sea, because we do not know its measure. But if someone claims to know its quantity, he is the one who most of all does not know it. So there is a declaration of knowledge that convicts of ignorance, and there is an ignorance that bears witness to our knowledge. My bone was not hidden from you, which you made in secret; and my substance in the lowest parts of the earth. Again he discusses his knowledge, and shows that he knows all these things. He either says all his secret things, or he hints at something else, the creation, and the formation; and you did not ignore anything even as I was being formed, but you knew everything as nature gradually wove it, although working in her secret place, and as it were in the lowest parts of the earth; but nevertheless to you, he says, all things are naked and laid open. But another interpreter 55.417 said thus: My bones were not covered from you, by which I was made in a secret place. Another, My strengthening did not escape you, which was made in secret; I was intricately woven as in the lowest parts of the earth. Another, My strength did not escape you, or my bones from you, for I was also made in secret, I was fashioned in the lowest parts of the earth. Therefore, all say the same things, that you know me precisely even as I am being formed part by part, and you know each of my members, and their growth. Just as Christ also says: But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. At the same time the word is also about providence and knowledge. Your eyes saw my unformed substance. Or again he says the same thing, that You knew me even when unformed; for another has said thus, Your eyes saw me when unformed; or concerning their actions, that your eyes also saw what had not yet been done. And in your book all shall be written. Days will be formed, and no one in them. What is said is unclear, but it is necessary from the

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κήδεται καὶ προνοεῖ. ∆ιὸ καὶ τοῦτο δηλῶν, προστίθησι τὸ ἑξῆς, λέγων· Ἀντελάβου μου ἐκ γαστρὸς τῆς μητρός μου. Τουτέστι, διὰ παντός με ἐτείχισας, προενόησας, ἠσφαλίσω ἐκ πρώτης τῆς ἡλικίας, ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν σπαργάνων, καὶ ταῦτα διὰ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν ἐπαίδευσας ἅπερ εἶπον. Ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι, ὅτι φοβερῶς ἐθαυμαστώθης· θαυμάσια τὰ ἔργα σου, καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου γινώσκει σφόδρα. Τί ἐστι τοῦτο; Ἔπλασάς με, φησὶν, ἀλλ' οὐκ οἶδα πῶς ἔπλασας· προνοεῖς, ἀλλ' οὐ δύναμαι πᾶσαν ὁμοῦ περιλαβεῖν τὴν πρόνοιαν τοῖς λογισμοῖς. Πανταχοῦ ὑπάρχεις, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἐπίσταμαι. Τὰ μέλλοντα πρόοιδας, καὶ τὰ προγεγενημένα, καὶ τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα τῆς διανοίας τῶν ἀνθρώπων· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτο τοῖς λογισμοῖς καταλαβεῖν δύναμαι. Μεταβάλλεις γὰρ τῶν πραγμάτων τὰς φύσεις, καὶ μενούσας τὰ ἐναντία ἐπιδείκνυσθαι παρασκευάζεις, καὶ τὰ ἐναντία οὕτω πάλιν ἐξάγεις, ὡς οἰκεῖα καὶ κατὰ φύσιν συγκεκληρωμένα. δʹ. Ταῦτα δὴ πάντα πάλιν συναγαγὼν, καὶ γενόμενος ἔνθους, ἀνέκραξε μέγα, λέγων· Ἐξομολογήσομαί σοι, ὅτι φοβερῶς ἐθαυμαστώθης, τουτέστι, θαυμαστὸς ἐφάνης, καὶ θαυμαστὸς εἶ. Θαυμάσια τὰ ἔργα σου, καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου γινώσκει σφόδρα. Καὶ τί λέγω, φησὶ, περὶ σοῦ, ὅπου γε καὶ τὰ ὑπὸ σοῦ γινόμενα πολὺ τὸ θαῦμα ἔχει; Εἶτα ἀφεὶς ἅπαντα ἐπεξελθεῖν, ἀρκεῖται τῇ οἰκείᾳ γνώσει, λέγων· Καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου γινώσκει σφόδρα. Οὐχ ἁπλῶς γινώσκει, ἀλλὰ μετὰ ἐπιτάσεως, φησὶ, μετὰ σφοδρότητος. Καὶ εἰ γινώσκει, πῶς ἔλεγεν ἔμπροσθεν, ὅτι Ἐθαυμαστώθη ἡ γνῶσίς σου ἐξ ἐμοῦ, ἐκραταιώθη· οὐ μὴ δύνωμαι πρὸς αὐτήν; Μάλιστα μὲν οὖν ἐκεῖνο περὶ αὐτοῦ εἴρηται, τοῦτο δὲ περὶ τῶν ἔργων. Εἰ δὲ καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦτο, ἐκεῖνο ἂν εἴποιμεν, ὅτι γινώσκει, ὅτι θαυμαστὸς, ὅτι μέγας, ὅτι ὑψηλός· τὸ δὲ τί τὴν οὐσίαν πάλιν γὰρ τὰ αὐτὰ ἐρῶ, καὶ πῶς ἡ μεγαλωσύνη, καὶ τίς ὁ τρόπος τῶν εἰρημένων, ἀγνοεῖ· ἀλλ' ἡ ἄγνοια αὕτη γνώσεώς ἐστιν ἀπόδειξις, εἰ καὶ θαυμαστὸν τὸ εἰρημένον. Ἐπεὶ καὶ τὴν θάλατταν πηλίκη τίς ἐστιν ἀγνοοῦμεν, καὶ ὅμως δι' αὐτὸ μὲν οὖν τοῦτο μάλιστα ἴσμεν θάλασσαν, ὅτι ἀγνοοῦμεν αὐτῆς τὸ μέτρον. Εἰ δέ τις λέγει εἰδέναι αὐτῆς τὴν ποσότητα, οὗτος μάλιστά ἐστιν ὁ ἀγνοῶν αὐτήν. Ὥστε ἔστιν ἀπαγγελία γνώσεως ἄγνοιαν ἐλέγχουσα, καὶ ἔστιν ἄγνοια γνῶσιν ἡμῖν μαρτυροῦσα. Οὐκ ἐκρύβη τὸ ὀστοῦν μου ἀπὸ σοῦ, ὃ ἐποίησας ἐν κρυφῇ· καὶ ἡ ὑπόστασίς μου ἐν τοῖς κατωτάτοις τῆς γῆς. Πάλιν περὶ τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῦ διαλέγεται, καὶ ταῦτα πάντα εἰδέναι δείκνυσιν αὐτόν. Ἢ οὖν πάντα αὐτοῦ τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα λέγει, ἢ ἕτερόν τι αἰνίττεται, τὴν δημιουργίαν, καὶ τὴν διάπλασιν· καὶ οὐδὲ πλαττομένου τι ἠγνόησας, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἠπίστασο κατὰ μικρὸν τῆς φύσεως ὑφαινούσης, καίτοι ἐν ἀποῤῥήτῳ αὐτῆς ἐργαζομένης, καὶ ὡς ἐν κατωτάτοις τῆς γῆς· ἀλλ' ὅμως σοὶ, φησὶ, πάντα γυμνὰ καὶ τετραχηλισμένα. Ἕτερος δὲ ἑρμηνευτὴς 55.417 οὕτως εἶπεν· Οὐκ ἐπεκαλύφθη τὰ ὀστᾶ μου ἀπὸ σοῦ, οἷς ἐποιήθην ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ. Ἕτερος, Οὐκ ἔλαθέ σε ἡ κραταίωσίς μου, ἣν ἐποιήθην ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ· ἐποικίλθην ὡς ἐν τοῖς κατωτάτοις τῆς γῆς. Ἄλλος, Οὐκ ἔλαθέ σε ἡ δύναμίς μου, ἢ τὰ ὀστᾶ μου ἀπὸ σοῦ, ὅτι καὶ ἐποιήθην ἐν κρυφῇ, ἐξεικονίσθην ἐν τοῖς κατωτάτοις τῆς γῆς. Πάντες μὲν οὖν τὰ αὐτὰ λέγουσιν, ὅτι ἀκριβῶς καὶ πλαττόμενόν με ἐπίστασαι κατὰ μέρος, καὶ μέχρι τῶν μελῶν ἕκαστον οἶδας, καὶ τῆς αὐξήσεως. Ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς λέγει· Ὑμῶν δὲ καὶ αἱ τρίχες τῆς κεφαλῆς ἠριθμημέναι εἰσίν. Ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ περὶ προνοίας καὶ γνώσεως ἐμφαίνων ὁ λόγος ἐστί. Τὸ ἀκατέργαστόν μου εἶδον οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου. Ἢ τὸ αὐτὸ πάλιν φησὶν, ὅτι Καὶ ἀμόρφωτόν με ᾔδεις· καὶ γὰρ ἕτερος οὕτως εἶπεν, Ἀμόρφωτόν με εἶδον οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου· ἢ ἐπὶ τῶν πράξεων αὐτῶν, ὅτι καὶ τὸ μηδέπω πραχθὲν εἶδον οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου. Καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ βιβλίον σου πάντες γραφήσονται. Ἡμέρας πλασθήσονται, καὶ οὐθεὶς ἐν αὐτοῖς. Ἀσαφὲς τὸ εἰρημένον, ἀλλὰ δεῖ ἐκ τῆς