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in the present life, but rather to count them blessed, as being disciplined by God; For blessed is the man whom You discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law. For he who is disciplined and taught by You is made gentle in evil days. Indeed, in these very afflictions and temptations, receiving consolations from your law, he is healed, being taught to endure and to be long-suffering, until a pit is dug for the sinner; for this is the end that awaits him, just as your law teaches. Therefore, learning these things in times of temptation, the righteous man is made gentle and is healed, considering the outcomes of events, and setting before his eyes the pit into which the sinner who oppresses him will fall, and his own good hopes that are with God. For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance, until righteousness returns to judgment, and all the upright in heart who hold to it. Diapsalma. Consistently, after describing the pit prepared for the 23.1204 sinner, he relates the good ends of those who suffer for God's sake. For since it was said above, Your people, O Lord, they have humbled, and your inheritance they have afflicted, he fittingly now presents the ends of the humbled people and the afflicted inheritance, saying: The Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. For even if for a short time He permits and allows the ungodly to humble and afflict His people, yet He will not cast off His people forever, nor will He forsake His inheritance. And what people and what inheritance, we have learned from the voice speaking in the person of Christ: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. And the same people, the one from the nations, the prophet Zechariah also proclaims, saying: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, I am coming, and I will dwell in your midst, says the Lord. And many nations will flee to the Lord for refuge, and they will be my people, and I will be their God. Therefore, this His people the Lord will not cast off, nor will He forsake His inheritance, until righteousness returns to judgment. For until then He will guard His people and His inheritance, until the righteousness of God returns, to render the rewards of their labors to those who have striven well. And those who hold to the righteousness of God will stand near him, being assigned to the right hand of the king; since they have become upright and straight in heart, and have borne nothing crooked or bent in their soul, but have walked only the straight and royal road. Who will rise up for me against the evildoers, or who will stand with me against the workers of iniquity? If the Lord had not helped me, my soul would have almost dwelt in Hades. If I said, "My foot has slipped," your mercy, O Lord, helped me. The pause according to the diapsalma has made a very great change in the thought. For as if the former discourse were completed, he says from another beginning: Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? For we have learned, he says, from the teaching of the divine Spirit, that the Lord is a God of vengeance, and that He will render recompense to the proud; and that a pit will be dug for the sinner; and that He will not cast off His people, nor will He forsake His inheritance; but at the end of things, when the people return to judgment, He will render to each according to his works; and how all the upright in heart will stand on the right hand, near His righteousness, spending their time with the Lord himself in the kingdom of heaven, and presenting their whole life to him. In these things, therefore, I have believed, and having believed, I was comforted. But for now during the present

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κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον, μακαρίζειν δὲ μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς, ὡς ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ παιδευομένους· Μακάριος γὰρ ἄνθρωπος, ὃν ἂν παιδεύσῃς, Κύριε; καὶ ἐκ τοῦ νόμου σου διδάξῃς αὐτόν. Ὁ γὰρ παιδευόμενος ὑπὸ σοῦ καὶ διδασκόμενος, πραΰνεται ἐν ταῖς πονηραῖς ἡμέραις. Ἐν αὐταῖς γοῦν ταῖς κακοπαθείαις καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς πειρασμοῖς τὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου σου παραμυθίας λαμβάνων θεραπεύεται, ὑπομένειν διδασκόμενος καὶ μακροθυμεῖν, ἕως οὗ ὀρυγῇ τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ βόθρος· τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτὸν περιμένει τὸ τέλος, καθάπερ ὁ σὸς νόμος διδάσκει. ∆ιὸ ταῦτα μανθάνων ἐν τοῖς τῶν πειρασμῶν καιροῖς ὁ δίκαιος, πραΰνεται καὶ θεραπεύεται, τὰς ἐκβάσεις, τῶν πραγμάτων σκοπῶν, καὶ τοῦ μὲν καταπονοῦντος αὐτὸν ἁμαρτωλοῦ τὸν βόθρον εἰς ὃν ἐμπεσεῖται, ἑαυτοῦ δὲ τὰς παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ ἀγαθὰς ἐλπίδας πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν τιθέμενος. Ὅτι οὐκ ἀπώσεται Κύριος τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψει, ἕως οὗ δικαιοσύνη ἐπιστρέψῃ εἰς κρίσιν, καὶ ἐχόμενοι αὐτῆς πάντες οἱ εὐθεῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ. ∆ιάψαλμα. Ἀκολούθως μετὰ τὸ διαγράψαι τὸν ἀποκείμενον τῷ 23.1204 ἁμαρτωλῷ βόθρον, τὰ χρηστὰ τέλη τῶν διὰ τὸν Θεὸν κακουμένων ὑφηγεῖται. Ἐπεὶ γὰρ διὰ τῶν ἀνωτέρω εἴρητο, Τὸν λαόν σου, Κύριε, ἐταπείνωσαν, καὶ τὴν κληρονομίαν σου ἐκάκωσαν, εἰκότως νῦν τὰ τέλη τοῦ ταπεινουμένου λαοῦ καὶ τῆς κακουμένης κληρονομίας παρίστησι λέγων· Οὐκ ἀπώσεται Κύριος τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψει. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πρὸς βραχύν τινα καιρὸν ἐπιτρέπει τοῖς ἀσεβέσι συγχωρῶν ταπεινοῦν καὶ κακοῦν τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' οὐκ εἰς τέλος ἀπώσεται τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲ τὴν κληρονομίαν καταλείψει. Ποῖον δὲ λαὸν καὶ ποίαν κληρονομίαν, ἔγνωμεν ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς πρόσωπον τοῦ Χριστοῦ λεγούσης φωνῆς· Αἴτησαι παρ' ἐμοῦ καὶ δώσω σοι ἔθνη τὴν κληρονομίαν σου, καὶ τὴν κατάσχεσίν σου τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς. Τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ λαὸν, τὸν ἐξ ἐθνῶν, καὶ Ζαχαρίας ὁ προφήτης θεσπίζει λέγων· Χαῖρε σφόδρα, θύγατερ Σιών· κήρυσσε, θύγατερ Ἱερουσαλήμ· ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἔρχομαι, καὶ κατασκηνώσω ἐν μέσῳ σου, λέγει Κύριος. Καὶ καταφεύξονται ἔθνη πολλὰ ἐπὶ τὸν Κύριον· καὶ ἔσονταί μοι εἰς λαὸν, κἀγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτοῖς εἰς Θεόν. Τοῦτον τοίνυν τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀπώσεται Κύριος, οὐδὲ τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ ἐγκαταλείψει, ἕως οὗ δικαιοσύνη ἐπιστρέψῃ εἰς κρίσιν. Μέχρι γὰρ τούτου φυλάξει τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ, ἕως ἂν ἐπιστρέψῃ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ δικαιοσύνη, τὰ ἔπαθλα τῶν πόνων ἀποδώσουσα τοῖς καλῶς ἠγωνισμένοις. Οἱ δὲ ἐχόμενοι τῆς δικαιοσύνης τοῦ Θεοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ στήσονται ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς τοῦ βασιλέως καταταγησόμενοι· ἅτε δὴ ὀρθοὶ καὶ εὐθεῖς γενόμενοι τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ μηδὲν τῇ ψυχῇ σκολιὸν, μηδὲ σκαμβὸν ἐπενηνεγμένοι, μόνην δὲ τὴν εὐθεῖαν καὶ βασιλικὴν ὁδὸν βεβαδικότες. Τίς ἀναστήσεταί μοι ἐπὶ πονηρευομένους, ἢ τίς συμπαραστήσεταί μοι ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὴν ἀνομίαν; Εἰ μὴ ὅτι Κύριος ἐβοήθησέ μοι, παρὰ βραχὺ παρῴκησε τῷ ᾅδῃ ἡ ψυχή μου. Εἰ ἔλεγον, Σεσάλευται ὁ ποῦς μου, τὸ ἔλεός σου, Κύριε, ἐβοήθει μοι. Ἡ κατὰ τὸ διάψαλμα διαστολὴ πλείστην καὶ τῆς διανοίας ἐποιήσατο μεταβολήν. Ὡς γὰρ συμπληρωθέντος τοῦ προτέρου λόγου ἀφ' ἑτέρας ἀρχῆς φησι· Τίς ἀναστήσεταί μοι ἐπὶ πονηρευομένους; μεμαθήκαμεν γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος διδασκαλίας, ὅτι Θεὸς ἐκδικήσεών ἐστι Κύριος, καὶ ὅτι ἀποδώσει ἀνταπόδοσιν τοῖς ὑπερηφάνοις· καὶ ὅτι ὀρυγήσεται τῷ ἁμαρτωλῷ βόθρος· καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἀπώσεται τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲ τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ καταλείψει· ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τέλει τῶν πραγμάτων, ἐπὰν ἐπιστρέψῃ ὁ λαὸς εἰς κρίσιν, ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὡς δεξιοὶ στήσονται πλησίον τῆς αὐτοῦ δικαιοσύνης πάντες οἱ εὐθεῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ σὺν αὐτῷ τῷ Κυρίῳ τὰς διατριβὰς ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν ποιησόμενοι, καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτῶν τὴν ζωὴν αὐτῷ παραστησόμενοι. Τούτοις μὲν οὖν ἐπίστευσα, καὶ πιστεύσας παρεκλήθην. Ἀλλὰ τέως κατὰ τὸν ἐνεστῶτα