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containing that Christ would come forth from his seed; so that this one also has a sequence with the psalms arranged before it. It is inscribed only "Of understanding," neither a psalm nor a hymn. It might be a prophetic ode needing understanding according to God. For which reason it has been said: I will sing forever, and, to generation and generation I will declare your truth. For from "I will sing forever," one might reasonably call it an ode; but from "I will declare your truth to generation and generation," and from the things said next, a prophecy. It is said to be of Ethan the Ezrahite, concerning whom we have treated the things presented in the introductory remarks of the psalms. Because you said: Mercy will be built up forever, in the heavens your truth will be prepared. Instead of "Because you said," Aquila translated, "Because I said"; and Symmachus, "Because I said"; and Theodotion likewise, "Because I said"; and the fifth edition, "Because I said"; as if the word were spoken from the person of the Prophet. And this was Ethan the Ezrahite, as the inscription indicates. The Prophet might suggest some such meaning as this: Having already said before: that I will sing the mercies of the Lord forever. But how could this ever happen, except that the first mercy of God, established from the beginning and from the first creation for human beings, receives an increase through time, and grows like a building? For the mercy of God toward human beings grows daily, and it advances like a building and is built up through generation and generation. Since, therefore, I have said and affirmed that the mercy of God will be built up forever, and for this reason I will sing his mercies forever, it is not fitting to be ignorant that the truth of the word will be prepared in the heavens. For earthly affairs and the evil among human beings might seem not at all to display the precision of the word, because there seems to be much irregularity in human life. But since the promises of God, which were made to David, happen to be divine and heavenly, and not, as the children of the Jews might suppose, earthly and corporeal; for this reason the Prophet reasonably distinguishes beforehand that not on earth, but in the heavens will the truth of God's promises be prepared. Therefore Symmachus translated more clearly, saying: In the heavens your truth will be established. I made a covenant with my chosen ones; I swore to David my servant: Forever will I prepare your seed, and I will build your throne to generation and generation. Diapsalma. The heavens will confess your wonders, O Lord, and 23.1073 indeed your truth in the Church of the saints. These things are clearly spoken from the person of God; therefore it seems to me that in the Septuagint the phrase "Because you said: Mercy will be built up forever, in the heavens your truth will be prepared" was stated earlier; to which he appended, "I made a covenant with my chosen ones"; so that by hyperbaton the sense of the preceding words would be as follows: Since you yourself, O Lord, in the promises concerning David said: Forever my mercy toward David, or also toward all human beings, will be built up; and you added, saying: I made a covenant with my chosen ones, or rather my chosen one, and: I swore to David my servant, and the things that follow these; I am persuaded that your promises will never be proven false, but they remain true and unfailing; but not so that they are established on the earth; for they are not earthly and perceptible, nor perishable and short-lived, such as is the life of human beings, but immortal and eternal and befitting your divinity. Therefore not on the earth, but in the heavens will the truth of your promises to David be prepared. And instead of "I made a covenant with my chosen ones," all the other interpreters have said, "With my chosen one." And more fitting to the meaning is the

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περὶ τοῦ ἐκ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ τὸν Χριστὸν προελεύσεσθαι περιέχουσα· ὥστε ἔχειν ἀκολουθίαν καὶ τοῦτον πρὸς τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ κατατεταγμένους ψαλμούς. Συνέσεως δὲ ἐπιγέγραπται αὐτὸς μόνον, οὔτε δὲ ψαλμὸς, οὔτε ὕμνος. Εἴη δ' ἂν ᾠδὴ προφητικὴ συνέσεως τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν δεομένη. ∆ι' ὃ λέλεκται· Εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ᾄσομαι, καὶ, εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεὰν ἀπαγγελῶ τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου. Ἀπὸ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ· Εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ᾄσομαι, ᾠδὴν αὐτὴν εἰκότως ἄν τις εἴποι· ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ· Ἀπαγγελῶ τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεὰν, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἑξῆς ἐπιλεγομένων, προφητείαν. Λέλεκται δὲ Αἰθὰν τοῦ Ἐσδραΐτου περὶ οὗ τὰ παραστάντα ἐν τοῖς προτεχνολογουμένοις τῶν ψαλμῶν διειλήφαμεν. Ὅτι εἶπας· Εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἔλεος οἰκοδομηθήσεται, ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἑτοιμασθήσεται ἡ ἀλήθειά σου. Ἀντὶ τοῦ· Ὅτι εἶπας, ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας ἡρμήνευσεν· Ὅτι εἶπα· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος· Ὅτι εἶπον· καὶ ὁ Θεοδοτίων ὁμοίως· Ὅτι εἶπον· καὶ ἡ πέμπτη ἔκδοσις· Ὅτι εἶπα· ὡς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Προφήτου λεγομένου τοῦ λόγου. Οὗτος δὲ ἦν Αἰθὰν ὁ Ἐσδραΐτης, ὡς ἡ προγραφὴ παρίστησι. Τοιαύτην δέ τινα διάνοιαν ὑποβάλοι ἂν ὁ Προφήτης· Φθάσας ἤδη πρότερον εἶπον· ὅτι Τὰ ἐλέη τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ᾄσομαι. Τοῦτι δὲ πῶς ποτ' ἂν γένοιτο ἢ τοῦ πρώτου ἐλέους τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ ἀπὸ πρώτης κοσμογονίας καταβληθέντος εἰς ἀνθρώπους, ἐπίδοσιν κατὰ χρόνους λαμβάνοντος, καὶ δίκην οἰκοδομῆς αὔξοντος; Αὔξει γὰρ ὁσημέραι τὸ ἔλεος τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς ἀνθρώπους, καὶ δίκην οἰκοδομῆς προκόπτει καὶ οἰκοδομεῖται κατὰ γενεὰν καὶ γενεάν. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν εἶπον καὶ διεβεβαιωσάμην, ὅτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸ ἔλεος τοῦ Θεοῦ οἰκοδομηθήσεται, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὰ ἐλέη αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ᾄσομαι, οὐ προσήκει ἀγνοεῖν, ὅτι τοῦ λόγου ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἑτοιμασθήσεται. Τὰ γὰρ περίγεια πράγματα καὶ ἡ ἐν ἀνθρώποις κακία δόξειεν ἂν μὴ πάνυ τι ἐμφαίνειν τὸ ἀκριβὲς τοῦ λόγου, τῷ πολλὴν ἀνωμαλίαν εἶναι δοκεῖν κατὰ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδήπερ αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι τοῦ Θεοῦ, αἱ πρὸς τὸν ∆αυῒδ γεγενημέναι, θεῖαι καὶ οὐράνιοι τυγχάνουσι, καὶ οὐχ, ὡς ἂν ὑπολάβοιεν Ἰουδαίων παῖδες, γεώδεις καὶ σωματικαί· εἰκότως διὰ τοῦτο προδιαστέλλεται ὁ Προφήτης, ὅτι μὴ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἡ ἀλήθεια τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἑτοιμασθήσεται. ∆ιόπερ ὁ Σύμμαχος σαφέστερον ἡρμήνευσεν εἰπών· Ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἑδρασθήσεται ἡ ἀλήθειά σου. ∆ιεθέμην διαθήκην τοῖς ἐκλεκτοῖς μου· ὤμοσα ∆αυῒδ τῷ δούλῳ μου· Ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος ἑτοιμάσω τὸ σπέρμα σου, καὶ οἰκοδομήσω εἰς γενεὰν καὶ γενεὰν τὸν θρόνον σου. ∆ιάψαλμα. Ἐξομολογήσονται οἱ οὐρανοὶ τὰ θαυμάσιά σου, Κύριε, καὶ 23.1073 γὰρ τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου ἐν Ἐκκλησίᾳ ἁγίων. Σαφῶς ταῦτα ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ εἴρηται· διόπερ δοκεῖ μοι παρὰ τοῖς Ἑβδομήκοντα ἀνωτέρω εἰρῆσθαι τό· Ὅτι εἶπας· Εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἔλεος οἰκοδομηθήσεται, ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἑτοιμασθήσεται ἡ ἀλήθειά σου· οἷς ἐπισυνῆπτε τό· ∆ιεθέμην διαθήκην τοῖς ἐκλεκτοῖς μου· ἵνα καθ' ὑπερβατὸν εἴη οὕτως ἔχων ὁ νοῦς τῶν προκειμένων· Ἐπειδὴ σὺ αὐτὸς, ὦ Κύριε, ἐν ταῖς περὶ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ἐπαγγελίαις εἶπας· Εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸ ἔλεός μου τὸ πρὸς τὸν ∆αυῒδ, ἢ καὶ τὸ εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους οἰκοδομηθήσεται· καὶ προσέθηκας λέγων· ∆ιεθέμην διαθήκην τοῖς ἐκλεκτοῖς μου, ἤτοι ἐπιλέκτῳ μου, καί· Ὤμοσα ∆αυῒδ τῷ δούλῳ μου, καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἀκόλουθα· πέπεισμαι, ὅτι οὔποτε διαψευσθήσονταί σου αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι, μένουσι δὲ ἀληθεῖς καὶ ἀδιάπτωτοι· ἀλλ' οὐχ ὥστε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς συνίστασθαι αὐτάς· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπίγειοι καὶ αἰσθηταὶ, οὐδὲ ὠνηταὶ καὶ ὀλιγοχρόνιοι τυγχάνουσιν, οἷός ἐστιν ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίος, ἀλλ' ἀθάνατοι καὶ αἰώνιοι καὶ τῇ σῇ θεότητι πρέπουσαι. ∆ιόπερ οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἑτοιμασθήσεται ἡ ἀλήθεια τῶν σῶν πρὸς τὸν ∆αυῒδ ἐπαγγελιῶν. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· ∆ιεθέμην διαθήκην τοῖς ἐκλεκτοῖς μου, οἱ λοιποὶ πάντες ἑρμηνευταί· Τῷ ἐπιλέκτῳ μου, εἰρήκασι. Καὶ μᾶλλον ἁρμόζει τῇ διανοίᾳ ἡ