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the enemies of God reproach us. But as one who has been heard and has believed that he will obtain his prayers, and hoping that the promises of God to David will come to pass as quickly as possible, he seals the end of the whole discourse through thanksgiving and blessing, saying: Blessed be the Lord forever; and he teaches us to add in response, May it be, may it be, which is the Hebrew word, Amen, amen. But concerning the diapsalma, often inserted in between, these things must be said. The first promise of God spoken at the beginning contained, I have made a covenant, and, I have sworn to David, and what follows; then when the diapsalma has been placed, the discourse, changing the person, adds: The heavens will confess your wonders; and again, a promise having been spoken from the person of God from, I have laid help upon one that is mighty, up to, and a faithful witness in heaven, again the diapsalma having been inserted, the discourse changes its meaning, and says: But you have cast off and rejected, you have put off your Christ. Then, having gone through the more somber things, 23.1124 again he inserts the diapsalma, and changes the teaching, saying: How long, O Lord, will you turn away forever? and having sent up the prayer, again he uses the diapsalma in between, and adds: Where are your former mercies, O Lord? changing the meaning and recalling the first promises of God, those spoken at the beginning; so that there is some reason for the diapsalmas also, with a change of meaning or an alternation of person being signified by them. And this you will say of all the psalms in which the diapsalma is found; for it indicates either an alternation of person or of meaning; and sometimes also a change of the melody according to the Hebrew. But Aquila indeed nowhere uses the diapsalma; but instead of this, in all the places he is accustomed to translate it, always. Which we ought not to be ignorant of. But the seal of the whole discourse, the, Blessed be the Lord forever, may it be, may it be, according to Aquila, instead of, May it be, may it be, it has, Faithfully, faithfully; but according to Symmachus, similarly to the Hebrew, Amen and amen. A PRAYER OF MOSES. 89. Lord, you have been our refuge in generation and generation, Before the mountains were established and the earth and the world were formed, and from everlasting to everlasting you are God. The discourse teaches a doctrine, instructing that the Divine is perpetual and eternal. For he who said, I am God who is, always being, and being the same, and remaining unto infinite ages, never changes his own nature. But we, at certain times coming into life, flow away in the manner of a torrent; since also according to Solomon, A generation goes, and a generation comes, and human affairs never remain in the same state, but change from one state to another. But the perpetual Lord in each generation becomes a refuge for those who hope in him. For before the flood Enoch, and if anyone else of that generation, had him as a refuge; and when the human race was perishing in the flood, again Noah acquired him as a refuge, but no one else. And after these things again Lot from the generation of the Sodomites, and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, each in their own; and not only that, but also Joseph in his own generation, and Moses again in another; and in short, in each generation, those who have hoped in him have had the ever-existing Lord as a refuge. And through these things the discourse exhorts us also not to hope in any other besides God, but at every season and every day and hour, and in every action, and especially in critical times, to flee to him for refuge. And since those who are storm-tossed [need] a roof, and those who are tossed by the waves on the sea

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ὀνειδίζειν ἡμῖν οἱ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὡς ἐπακουσθεὶς καὶ πιστεύσας τεύξεσθαι τῶν εὐχῶν, ἐλπίσας τε ᾗ τάχος ἐπιστήσεσθαι τὰς πρὸς τὸν ∆αυῒδ ἐπαγγελίας τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὸ τέλος τοῦ παντὸς λόγου διὰ τῆς εὐχαριστίας καὶ εὐλογίας ἐπισφραγίζεται λέγων· Εὐλογητὸς Κύριος εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· ἡμᾶς τε διδάσκει προσυπακούειν τὸ, Γένοιτο, γένοιτο, ὅπερ ἐστὶν Ἑβραϊκὴ φωνὴ, Ἀμὴν, ἀμήν. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ διαψάλματος, πολλάκις μεταξὺ παρεμβεβλημένου, ταῦτα λεκτέον. Ἡ πρώτη ἐπαγγελία τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ λεχθεῖσα περιεῖχε, ∆ιεθέμην διαθήκην, καὶ, Ὤμοσα ∆αυῒδ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· εἶτα τοῦ διαψάλματος παρατεθέντος, μεταβαλὼν ὁ λόγος τὸ πρόσωπον, ἐπιλέγει· Ἐξομολογήσονται οἱ οὐρανοὶ τὰ θαυμάσιά σου· καὶ πάλιν, ἐπαγγελίας λεχθείσης ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ, Ἐθέμην βοήθειαν ἐπὶ δυνατὸν, μέχρι τοῦ, καὶ μάρτυς ἐν οὐρανῷ πιστὸς, πάλιν τοῦ διαψάλματος παρεμβληθέντος, μεταβάλλει τὴν διάνοιαν ὁ λόγος, καί φησι· Σὺ δὲ ἀπώσω καὶ ἐξουδένωσας, ἀνεβάλου τὸν Χριστόν σου. Εἶτα, διεξελθὼν τὰ σκυθρωπότερα, 23.1124 πάλιν ἐντίθησι τὸ διάψαλμα, καὶ ἐναλλάττει τὴν διδασκαλίαν φάσκων· Ἕως πότε, Κύριε, ἀποστρέψεις εἰς τέλος; καὶ τὴν εὐχὴν ἀναπέμψας, πάλιν τῷ διαψάλματι μεταξὺ κέχρηται, καὶ ἐπιλέγει· Ποῦ ἐστι τὰ ἐλέη σου τὰ ἀρχαῖα, Κύριε; μεταβαλὼν τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ ἀνακαλούμενος τὰς πρώτας τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπαγγελίας, τὰς ἐν ἀρχῇ λεχθείσας· ὥστε λόγον ἔχειν τινὰ καὶ τὰ διαψάλματα μεταβολῆς διανοίας ἢ προσώπου ἐναλλαγῆς δι' αὐτῶν σημαινομένης. Τοῦτο δὲ ἐπὶ πάντων ἐρεῖς τῶν ψαλμῶν ἐν οἷς φέρεται τὸ διάψαλμα· ἢ γὰρ τοῦ προσώπου παρίστησιν ἐναλλαγὴν ἢ τῆς διανοίας· ἔστι δ' ὅτε καὶ μεταβολὴ τῆς κατὰ τὸ Ἑβραϊκὸν μελῳδίας. Ὅ γε μὴν Ἀκύλαςοὐδαμοῦ κέχρηται τῷ διαψάλματι· ἀντὶ δὲ τούτου ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς τόποις εἴωθεν ἑρμηνεύειν τὸ, ἀεί. Ὅπερ ἐχρῆν ἡμᾶς μὴ ἀγνοεῖν. Τὸ δὲ ἐπισφράγισμα παντὸς τοῦ λόγου τὸ, Εὐλογητὸς Κύριος εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, γένοιτο, γένοιτο, κατὰ μὲν τὸν Ἀκύλαν ἀντὶ τοῦ, Γένοιτο, γένοιτο, Πεπιστωμένως, πεπιστωμένως, περιέχει· κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον, ὁμοίως τῷ Ἑβραϊκῷ, Ἀμὴν καὶ ἀμήν. ΠΡΟΣΕΥΧΗ ΜΩΥΣΕΩΣ. ΠΘʹ. Κύριε, καταφυγὴ ἐγενήθης ἡμῖν ἐν γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ, Πρὸ τοῦ ὄρη ἑδρασθῆναι καὶ πλασθῆναι τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος σὺ εἶ, ὁ Θεός. ∆όγμα παιδεύει ὁ λόγος, διδάσκων τὸ μὲν Θεῖον διαρκὲς ὑπάρχειν καὶ ἀίδιον. Ὁ γὰρ εἰπὼν, Θεὸς ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὢν, ἀεὶ ὢν, καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς ὢν, καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀπείρους αἰῶνας διαμένων, οὔποτε μεταβάλλει τὴν αὑτοῦ φύσιν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ, κατὰ καιροὺς παριόντες εἰς τὸν βίον, χειμάῤῥου τρόπον ἀποῤῥέομεν· ἐπεὶ καὶ κατὰ τὸν Σολομῶνα, Γενεὰ πορεύεται, καὶ γενεὰ ἔρχεται, καὶ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα πράγματα δὲ οὐδὲ πώποτε ἐν ταὐτῷ μένει, ἄλλοτε δ' ἄλλως μεταβάλλει. Ὁ δὲ διαρκὴς καθ' ἑκάστην γενεὰν Κύριος τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν ἐλπιζόντων καταφυγὴ γίνεται. Πρὸ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ Ἐνὼχ, καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος τῆς τότε γενεᾶς, καταφυγὴν αὐτὸν ἔσχηκεν· ἀπολλυμένου δὲ τοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένους ἐν τῷ κατακλυσμῷ, πάλιν Νῶε καταφυγὴν αὐτὸν, ἀλλ' οὔ τινα ἕτερον ἐκτήσατο. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα πάλιν ὁ Λὼτ ἐκ τῆς Σοδομιτῶν γενεᾶς, Ἀβραάμ τε καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ, ἐπὶ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἕκαστος· οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἰωσὴφ ἐπὶ τῆς κατ' αὐτὸν γενεᾶς, καὶ Μωϋσῆς πάλιν ἐπὶ ἄλλης· καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς καθ' ἑκάστην γενεὰν τὸν ἀεὶ ὄντα Κύριον καταφυγὴν ἐσχήκασιν οἱ εἰς αὐτὸν ἠλπικότες. Προτρέπει δὲ διὰ τούτων καὶ ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος μὴ ἐπί τινα ἕτερον παρὰ τὸν Θεὸν ἐλπίζειν, παντὶ δὲ καιρῷ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ πάσῃ καὶ ὥρᾳ, ἐν ἑκάστῃ τε πράξει, καὶ μάλιστα ἐν τοῖς περιστατικοῖς καιροῖς, ἐπ' αὐτὸν καταφυγεῖν. Καὶ ἐπειδήπερ οἱ μὲν χειμαζόμενοι στέγης, οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν θάλασσαν κλυδωνιζόμενοι