Fragments on the Psalms
Fragmenta in Psalmos
Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) was a Christian teacher in Alexandria and later at Caesarea. This English is the Greek fragments of his comments on the Psalms.
Psalm 1:1–2 — blessing is not mere abstinence, but will in the law§1
1“Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and has not stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat on the seat of pestilent ones. But his will is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he will meditate day and night” (Psalms 1:2).
Blessed, then, is the one who longs for the things that truly are. But how is the blessing in a taking-away of evils? For abstinence from evils is common also to the soulless and to the irrational. For this reason, then, he added: “But his will is in the law of the Lord.” For this belongs not only to a rational being, but is also the beginning of taking up the good things: the flight from evils. “Turn from evil,” he says, “and do good” (Psalm 34:14). For as on a ladder the first ascent is withdrawal from the earth, so in the progress according to God, the separation from evil.
But also in general every idleness is easier than even a chance action: such as “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not fornicate” (Exodus 20:14) and the rest, which need each person’s idleness and not-moving. But “You shall love your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39), and “Sell your belongings and give to the poor” (Matthew 19:21), and “If anyone conscripts you one mile, go with him two” (Matthew 5:41) are already deeds of a youthful soul and of athletes.
If he had set the perfect things before you at once, you would have shrunk from the undertaking; but now he trains you beforehand with the more easily grasped, so that you may dare the things next. As deeds fitting for athletes, we already need a youthful soul toward the achievement; so wonder at the wisdom of the one who leads us through the easier and more easily grasped toward perfection.
The “way of sinners” can be said to be the devil; the one who has come to be in it must not remain, according to “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). For the one who has not stood in it will come to the Lord, who said “I am the way” (John 14:6); coming to be in it and running according to the mark, he will obtain the prizes. “Ungodly”: those who do not know God. “On a seat”: the working of evils, come about by succession. “But in the law”: the evangelical, clearly. “He will meditate”: by his counsel.
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Psalm 1:3 — the tree is Christ, transplanted, beside the scriptures§2
2“And he will be as the tree planted beside the outlets of the waters, which will give its fruit in its season, and its leaf will not fall away, and everything he may do will prosper” (Psalm 1:3).
A tree, Christ is written in the God-breathed Scripture. Aquila rendered “transplanted”: for rooted in the patriarchs’ roots, he is transplanted so that others also may partake of his image, taken according to the being-transplanted; or it is said of the Savior’s soul transplanted from here into paradise. For he said to the robber: “Today you will be with me in the paradise of God” (Luke 23:43). “Outlets of waters”: the divine scriptures, in which everywhere one can find Christ proclaimed.
The fruit of the tree you will understand as the right faith. Its leaves, the fulfillment of the commandments. And one of the saints used to say that leaves are the ascetics’ humility, covering their fruits and never falling. “It will prosper”: for there is no deed of those done according to God that is useless.
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Psalm 1:4–6 — the ungodly do not rise into judgment; the way perishes, not the substances§3
3“Not so the ungodly, not so” (Psalm 1:4). Some prefix a second “not so”; but neither did the Hebrew double the word, nor did any of those who translated use a repetition of the phrase.
“Therefore the ungodly will not rise in judgment” (Psalm 1:5). Having said the ungodly will not rise, he says “into judgment,” not “into questioning.”
“Because the Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the ungodly will perish” (Psalm 1:6). “Knows” instead of “honors,” according to what was said by God to Moses: “I know you above all, and you have found favor with me” (Exodus 33:17). It is to be noted universally that only the good is known by the Lord; for the way of the righteous is good; but also “the Lord knew those who are his” (2 Timothy 2:19) and the way of the righteous, having said “I am the way” (John 14:6).
The way of the ungodly is the one walked by those who speak evil of the Creator, becoming like chaff thrown from the wind; therefore they are not counted worthy of the resurrection in judgment, as neither are sinners of the counsel of the righteous. For the way of the righteous, being worthy of God’s knowledge, is known by him; but the way of the ungodly will perish, as not being known by the Lord.
And having said that the way of the ungodly perishes, he corrected the suspicions of the heretics who supposed their substances are made to vanish into non-being, from what was said: “but as the chaff which the wind throws from the face of the earth” (Psalm 1:4). For when the way has perished, the ungodliness becomes non-existent, those to whom it happened being left.
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Psalm 2 hypothesis — the first psalm is almost the title of the second§4
4Hypothesis. But since not to be ungodly was set first in the beginning of the blessing, the second word sets out the things that have come to be outside ungodliness, the evangelical mystery spoken beforehand; so that in a way the first psalm is an inscription of the second.
For it speaks the generation through flesh there of Christ who has been begotten “today” for us (and “today” is a part of time), but who always is Son and God from the Father and in the Father; and it speaks the kingdom over those without a king, who because they did not slave for God had been counted among the nations.
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Psalm 2:3–5 — burst their bonds; he who dwells in the heavens will laugh§5
5“Let us burst their bonds, and throw off their yoke from us” (Psalm 2:3). For the nations are squeezed by their own sins, not being free; therefore Christ says this, either to the angels who serve him, or to the Father and the Holy Spirit, or to the apostles the servants of the gospel, calling on them to tear their bonds apart.
The peoples, being bodily under the yoke of the law — which contains ordinances that are not good and commandments that are not good — when they are brought through Christ to the spiritual law, which has the good ordinances and commandments, put off the heavy yoke of the letter that kills, the Savior saying to the fellow-workers already named: “Let us throw off their yoke from us,” that is, let us make this from ourselves, not waiting for the request of those who are burdened. Or as he himself also came under the law (for it was written: and he was circumcised, and he followed their sabbaths), that is, from me and from those who are persuaded, or at least counting their yoke our burden because of love toward them, let us throw it off. These things, then, about men, both from the nations and from the people.
“He who dwells in the heavens will laugh at them, and the Lord will mock them” (Psalm 2:4). “He who dwells in the heavens will laugh at them” is toward the kings of the earth, whom the Lord in the heavens will laugh at, as having an earthly mind and not who have understoododod the wisdom about the Savior’s becoming-man. And he will mock the rulers also. And it was fitting for the Son of God to say: even if the nations have cried out and the peoples have meditated empty things, we will burst the bonds of the one and throw off the yoke of the other, since they no longer receive the healing easily. For they did not want to come inside the holy net, about which it is written: “The kingdom of the heavens is like a net thrown into the sea” (Matthew 13:47).
“Then he will speak to them in his anger” (Psalm 2:5). Anger of God is a toilsome chastisement for the benefit of the one who has sinned. But also in the time of the judgment they will taste the anger of God, and all the enemies of the saving Word will be troubled by his wrath. He did not say “he will chastise them,” but “he will speak to them in his anger”; for when they repent he did not chastise, as with the Ninevites. For God threatens toward salvation, he said, and to the Ninevites he sent Jonah.
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Psalm 2:7–12 — today I have begotten you; take hold of training§6
6“I have begotten you today” (Psalm 2:7). “Today” is always being called.
“Ask of me, and I will give you nations, your inheritance” (Psalm 2:8). The devil showed the Savior their kingdoms and the glory in a moment of time.
“Take hold of training” (Psalm 2:12). Training is a measured-suffering of the passions, which is naturally apt to come about from the practical life; and the practical life is a spiritual teaching, cleansing the passionate part of the soul.
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Psalm 3:2–4 — those who progress have many afflicters; the Lord lifts the head§7
7“Lord, why have those who afflict me been multiplied?” (Psalm 3:1). Those who are making progress have many who afflict them.
“But you, Lord, are my helper, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head” (Psalm 3:3). Then the mind is lifted up, whenever it applies itself to the manifold wisdom of God (Ephesians 3:10). The glory of the holy one is God. And everyone whose glory is God is lifted up by him.
The head, that is, the rising of the soul. For just as the head of one who has been made large in body is lifted up above the heads of the lesser ones that lie below, so also, when the soul of the blessed has risen, the head is lifted up, God working with it.
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Psalm 3:5 — the holy mountain may be the Only-begotten§8
8“And he heard me from his holy mountain” (Psalm 3:4). See whether the holy mountain can be the Only-begotten, from where God will hear.
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Psalm 3:8 — he arises for some and strikes those hostile in vain§9
9“Arise, Lord, save me, my God, because you have struck all who are hostile to me in vain. You have crushed the teeth of sinners” (Psalm 3:7). To each, God has a certain state: those for whom he has arisen, those he also saves; but those who are hostile in vain he strikes.
And of those hostile in vain, such is also this: “they hated me without a cause” (John 15:25). And of what sort are the teeth of sinners crushed by the Lord, such also are these about whom it is said: “there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12); and “the teeth of the one who has eaten the unripe grape will be set on edge” (Jeremiah 31:29).
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Psalm 4 inscription — Unto the end; the end is to be made alive in Christ§10
10“Unto the end, in psalms, a song to David.” Hypothesis. Many psalms having, according to the Seventy, the inscription “Unto the end,” but according to the rest the things corresponding to “Unto the end” that are here rendered, it is worthwhile, as far as we are able, to track out the sense indicated by the wording.
It is to be known that, just as of every art and science there is an end, toward which the one who genuinely pursues the art or the science hastens, so also of the rational nature there must be an end. And this is to be made alive in Christ, according to the things said by Paul the most wise in the first letter to the Corinthians: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive, but each in his own order” (1 Corinthians 15:22-23).
But as far as saying “in his own order,” he does not sketch one end of all; for it is likely that each will be made alive according to the worth of the things done, either coming to this without torment, or after punishments.
And Christ, having made alive in himself all who die in Adam, reigns over those who have been made alive.
We think, then, that the psalms inscribed “Unto the end” inscribe some sense of the end, and summon those who understand the things said toward that.
And for everyone who contends, the victory also happens to be the end. Many, then, are the victories according to part, and an end, as of Paul when he says: “In all these things we more than conquer through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37), and when: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
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Psalm 4:2 — he heard me in the calling, and in affliction you widened me§11
11“In my calling, the God of my righteousness heard me; in affliction you widened me” (Psalm 4:1).
He did not hear me after the calling, but in the calling. When we come to know the reasons of the afflictions and of the trials, then especially we are widened.
Even if as a man the prophet calls, and because of the calling is heard by the God of his righteousness — I mean the righteousness of the one speaking — and for this reason comes to be in a widening in the times of affliction, still, as toward God, being such, he is below. For the eyes of the Lord are high, and man is low, and he needs to be pitied by God.
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Psalm 4:3 — sons of men, how long heavy-hearted; evil is a heavy nature§12
12“Sons of men, how long heavy-hearted?” (Psalm 4:2). “Sons of men,” someone will suppose, has been said by periphrasis, as it is also the custom of Greeks to use such a figure, saying “sons of the Achaeans” and the like.
Here we know that evil is of a heavy nature; therefore the Lord, coming into Egypt, is said to sit upon a light cloud. And a light cloud is a rational nature, filled with every virtue and knowledge.
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Psalm 4:4 — know that the Lord has made his holy one wonderful; believing is not the same as knowing§13
13“And know that the Lord has made his holy one wonderful” (Psalm 4:3).
Know, then, you who have trusted in multitudes, that he has shown as wonderful the one who has trusted in him. David prophesies about Christ in the fifteenth psalm, that he is a true holy one, and the apostles are witnesses about him, who have understoododod: “nor will you give your holy one to see corruption” (Psalm 16:10).
And it is possible also to be taught about every holy one. But to believe and to know are not the same; as neither is it the same to believe the truth and to know the truth, and to believe God and to know God. Therefore to the apostles already having believed the Savior says: “If you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will free you” (John 8:31-32). For as Isaiah says: “If you do not believe, you will not understand” (Isaiah 7:9). And David: “I believed, therefore I spoke” (Psalm 116:10). And “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) makes clear that knowing differs from believing; for this was not said to the unbelieving.
And it also shows what sort of knowledge it will be necessary to receive, and how the holy ones have been made wonderful by God, having been led to the wonders of the unspeakable mysteries and of the holy contemplations.
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Psalm 4:5 — be angry and do not sin; do not confirm anger by the deed§14
14“Be angry, and do not sin” (Psalm 4:4).
He exhorts not to assent to the appearance, nor to bring on the deed confirming the anger.
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Psalm 4:6 — sacrifice a sacrifice of righteousness; hope is expectation of true knowledge§15
15“Sacrifice a sacrifice of righteousness, and hope upon the Lord” (Psalm 4:5).
Righteousness is impassibility of a rational soul, offered to God; and hope is a good expectation of true knowledge.
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Psalm 4:7 — the light of your face; angels see the face, men the light§16
16“The light of your face has been marked upon us, Lord” (Psalm 4:6).
The angels always see the face of God; but men, the light of his face. For the face of the Lord is a spiritual contemplation of all things that have come to be on earth. And the light of the face is the partial knowledge of these same things, as the wise Tekoite said: “As an angel of God, knowing all things on the earth” (2 Samuel 14:20).
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Psalm 4:8 — gladness from wheat, wine, and oil; intelligible, not sensible§17
17“You gave gladness into my heart, from fruit of wheat and wine and oil” (Psalm 4:7).
These things are promised in many places of the Scripture to the holy, and the deprivation of them is threatened to sinners — clearly of the intelligible and not of the sensible. Some, thinking them evils because of the smallness of the promise, wanted to worship another God fabricated by them. For when it partakes of the better things, each soul is both sanctified and in good condition toward being able to complete the works that fall to it.
And into the coming age Paul also brought these: “Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or in part of a feast, or new moon, sabbaths, which are a shadow of the things to come” (Colossians 2:16-17). Wheat and wine and oil multiply sinners; but the gladness of God gladdens the righteous.
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Psalm 5 inscription — Unto the end, concerning the inheriting one; Christ’s inheritance is the rational nature§18
18“Unto the end, concerning the inheriting one” (Psalm 5 inscription).
The inheritance of Christ is the rational nature.
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Psalm 5:8 — I will worship toward your holy temple in your fear; the temple is Christ§19
19“I will worship toward your holy temple in your fear” (Psalm 5:8).
A holy temple of God is Christ, because “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19). In the fear of God everyone turns aside from evil (Proverbs 16:6); and in the fear of the Lord he worships the temple, which is Christ: for “Destroy this temple,” he says, “and in three days I will raise it” (John 2:19).
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Psalm 5:9 — lead me in your righteousness because of my enemies; they are intelligible§20
20“Lord, lead me in your righteousness, because of my enemies” (Psalm 5:9).
In the righteousness of practice, in Christ. — “Of my enemies.” The intelligible ones, clearly; for many are those who plot against the God-loving soul, begrudging its progress according to God.
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Psalm 5:10 — no truth in their mouth; their throat an opened tomb filled with dead works§21
21“Because there is no truth in their mouth; their heart is vain” (Psalm 5:9). First, there is no truth except Christ; and perhaps the second clause has borne their plot.
“An opened tomb is their throat” (Psalm 5:9). Filled with dead works.
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Psalm 5:11 — judge them, God; thrust them out from their counsels§22
22“Judge them, God; cast them out from their counsels
For God does not thrust anyone out from himself; for “those who make themselves far from you,” he says, “will perish” (Psalm 73:27). Of the multitude of their ungodlinesses, then, thrust them out. For these, he says, they were making all the counsels against me, opposing my progress according to God; for those who persecute the soul that does what is dear to God embitter God, clearly fighting against God.
Thrust them out from the ungodliness, having made them pious. Blessedness is to fall out of every counsel.
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Psalm 5:12 — let all who hope on you rejoice; you will tabernacle in them§23
23“And let all who hope on you be glad in you; they will exult forever, and you will tabernacle in them” (Psalm 5:11).
When the plotters have been dissolved, the gladness is of you tabernacling in them forever. And how is it not exultation, for the one to whom God is present, dwelling and walking as in his own temple (2 Corinthians 6:16)? As being far from God, when sin takes captive, is worthy of lamentations. And the end of the good things is to receive an inheritance and to have as a lot God dwelling in one.
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Psalm 5:13 — you crowned us as with a weapon of good pleasure§24
24“As with a weapon of good pleasure you crowned us” (Psalm 5:12).
A crown, he says, for us of the labors is grace, which — the end of these — as with a certain weapon fences us.
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Psalm 6:2–3 — do not rebuke me in your wrath; I am weak§25
25“Lord, do not convict me with your wrath, nor discipline me with your anger; have mercy on me, Lord, because I am weak; heal me, because my bones were troubled” (Psalm 6:2-3).
Wrath is an impulse of desire of a tame soul, pre-eminently of defense. He says then: even if the more outward wrath convicts, and the anger more quickly disciplines, I at least, because of my weakness, need your mercy, and to be convicted and disciplined by another healing, which does not bring on such great labors.
For he wants both not to be convicted by the wrath of God, and not to be disciplined in his anger, and to be shown mercy, being weak, and to be healed from the trouble of his bones and of his soul. — Symmachus: in gall, in unpostponement.
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Psalm 6:6 — in death there is none who remembers you; remembering the Life is not in death§26
26“Because there is not in death the one who remembers you” (Psalm 6:5).
Everyone who remembers the Life, who said “I am the life” (John 11:25), is not in death.
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Psalm 6:7 — I will wash my bed every night; an exhortation to weep in night prayer§27
27“I will wash my bed every night” (Psalm 6:6).
An exhortation toward weeping in the night of one who is praying.
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Psalm 6:11 — let my enemies be ashamed; demons always, men not always, angels never§28
28“Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled” (Psalm 6:10).
It belongs to demons to work lawlessness always, to men not always, to angels neither always nor not-always, which is never.
To fall from wicked counsels is not an evil for the one falling, who is not coming to their wicked end; as it is not good not to come to the end of the better things.
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Psalm 7:5 — if I repaid evil, let me fall empty; empty cannot receive from his fullness§29
29“If I repaid those who repay me evils, then let me fall empty from my enemies” (Psalm 7:4).
Empty is the one who cannot say: “From his fullness we all received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16).
Therefore such people are also called reeds, feeding the beasts in themselves, about which it is said: “Rebuke the beasts of the reed” (Psalm 68:30); and: “The devil,” says Job, “sleeps beside trees of every kind, beside papyrus and rush and reed; for this one is king of all those in the waters” (Job 40:21; Job 41:34).
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Psalm 7:6 — let the enemy pursue my soul; that I might become earthy instead of heavenly§30
30“Let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it” (Psalm 7:5).
So that I might become earthy, instead of heavenly (1 Corinthians 15:47-49).
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Psalm 7:10 — let the wickedness of sinners be completed, and you will direct the righteous§31
31“Let the wickedness of sinners be completed, and you will direct the righteous” (Psalm 7:9).
If the wickedness of the sinners is completed, the righteous directs his own way, no longer being warred upon by them.
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Psalm 7:13 — if you do not turn, he will flash his sword; an intelligible word§32
32“If you do not turn, he will make his sword flash” (Psalm 7:12).
The sword is intelligible, a spiritual word separating soul from body, or from vice, or from ignorance.
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Psalm 7:14 — he prepared instruments of death; his arrows for those who are burning§33
33“He prepared instruments of death, his arrows for those who are burning” (Psalm 7:14).
The burning are those who receive the flaming arrows of the devil (Ephesians 6:16).
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Psalm 7:17 — his injustice will come down on his crown; the crown is the mind§34
34“And on his crown his injustice will come down” (Psalm 7:16).
The crown now signifies the mind, if the crown of grace, according to Solomon, which is wisdom, is bound to the crown (Proverbs 4:9).
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Psalm 8 inscription — Unto the end, over the winepresses; the winepresses are the churches§35
35“Unto the end, over the winepresses” (Psalm 8 inscription).
Chastening and retributive. — Of Eusebius. Here “unto the end” is said because the things prophesied in the present psalm have come to pass at the completion of the ages; and “over the winepresses” because of the peoples constituted in all the earth, and the churches of God, which the word is accustomed to refer to winepresses allegorically.
Of old, then, when the people called Israel was one, this people was styled a vineyard. And the temple among them was a tower, and the altar before the temple was a fore-vat, according to the prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 5:1-2). But now the word mentions not one winepress but more winepresses, because of the many altars throughout the whole earth constituted through Christ in his churches.
Therefore also in the 83rd psalm, itself inscribed “over the winepresses,” many altars and very many tabernacles and many courts are foretold (Psalm 84; LXX 83); through which the altars founded throughout the whole earth in the churches of God are shown outright; whence it too contains the title “over the winepresses.”
— Origen. And the eightieth is inscribed “unto the end, over the winepresses, of Asaph,” whose beginning is: “Rejoice in our helper” (Psalm 81:1). And in the 83rd psalm you will find the inscription “Over the winepresses.” Toward these let us take the things about Noah planting a vine (Genesis 9:20); and the blessing of Judah from Jacob: “Binding his foal to the vine” (Genesis 49:11); and Issachar, who, seeing that the rest was good and the land fat, put his shoulder to the work and became a farmer (Genesis 49:14-15). And Uzziah was a farmer, having vinedressers in the hill country (2 Chronicles 26:10). And the wife of every righteous man is as a vine flourishing in the sides of his house (Psalm 128:3; LXX 127:3), for whom there comes wine that gladdens a man’s heart (Psalm 104:15; LXX 103:15). And Ecclesiastes: “He planted vineyards, he dug a winepress” (Ecclesiastes 2:4). And Solomon says: “And let your winepresses overflow with wine” (Proverbs 3:10).
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Psalm 8:3 — because of your enemies, to destroy enemy and avenger; Satan both§36
36“Because of your enemies, to destroy enemy and avenger” (Psalm 8:2).
Origen. As enemy, Satan forces us to sin; as avenger, he punishes those who are handed over. So Hymenaeus and Alexander, having himself made them blasphemers, he again disciplined, because of the blasphemies against God (1 Timothy 1:20).
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Psalm 8:6 — you made him a little lower than angels; crowned with glory and honor§37
37“You made him a little lower than angels; with glory and honor you crowned him” (Psalm 8:6).
Of Eusebius. How the God of all crowned man with glory and honor, you will understand, because only of man it is written that God said: “Let us make man according to our image and according to likeness”; and God made the man; according to the image of God he made him (Genesis 1:27).
And he deemed him worthy of his own appearances, and to one clothed in flesh he imparted divine converse, then through angels, then also himself appearing through himself to the saints and giving oracles; and besides these he showed him a partaker of the Holy Spirit and of heavenly power, so as to foretell the future, and to heal all kinds of diseases, and already even to raise the dead; such things prophets and apostles are recorded to have done.
And if to all that was said you add the incarnate economy of the Only-begotten Son of God, you will see how it is said: “With glory and honor you crowned him,” namely, that you crowned man.
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Psalm 9:1 — I will confess with my whole heart; the psalm is sung to him, not about him§38
38“I will confess to you, Lord, with my whole heart; I will recount all your wonders” (Psalm 9:1).
But others say the present psalm is sung to him, not about him, the prophet confessing on behalf of human nature, saying that it is proper to the perfect to dedicate the whole heart to God: “For you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,” etc. (Deuteronomy 6:5).
And what “with my whole heart” now indicates, and what he does: having foreseen the things to come with prophetic eyes, he recounts them, making the hearers partners of the confession, having as joy the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), and recounting the wonders of God with lifted-up contemplations.
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Psalm 9:6 — you rebuked nations, and the ungodly perished; the name wiped out§39
39“You rebuked nations, and the ungodly perished; you wiped out their name to the age of the age” (Psalm 9:5).
On behalf of tyrannized human nature you laid so bitter a punishment on him. You rebuked the nations, that is, handing over to them the divine teachings through the apostles and the subsequent teachers; when they received them, the ungodly perished, no longer having those who worship according to error.
Thus also Paul and Barnabas rebuked the Lycaonians who were trying to sacrifice, saying: “Men, why do you do these things? We too are men of like passions with you, turning you from these vain things” (Acts 14:15). And Paul rebuked the Galatians: “O foolish Galatians, who bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was portrayed as crucified among you?” (Galatians 3:1). Thus to the Corinthians: “It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and such as is not even named among the nations” (1 Corinthians 5:1).
His name, then, was wiped out to the age. For every rite of those now men and ignorant of the mysteries of piety has been quenched, so much also as: “The way of the ungodly will perish” (Psalm 1:6).
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Psalm 9:8 — the Lord remains forever; he prepared his throne in judgment§40
40“And the Lord remains forever; he prepared his throne in judgment” (Psalm 9:8).
Not only in the present life did he show his own power, but also in the coming one he will show his fearful tribunal to all men, judging and assigning to each what is according to desert.
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Psalm 9:9 — he will judge the inhabited world in righteousness; the inhabited world is the church§41
41“And he himself will judge the inhabited world in righteousness; he will judge peoples in uprightness” (Psalm 9:9).
You will understand the inhabited world as the church, inhabited by both Father and Son, according to: “I and my Father will come, and we will make a dwelling with him” (John 14:23). And peoples as the rest besides the church, or those from circumcision. For as many as sinned in the law will be judged through the law, while the lawless who sinned perish lawlessly (Romans 2:12). Therefore those who have blameworthy deeds and an ungodly mind must fear such a judge.
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Psalm 9:13 — he did not forget the petition of the poor; the petition is lamentations and dirges§42
42“He did not forget the petition of the poor” (Psalm 9:12).
What sort was it? The one that came about through lamentations and dirges, having a kind of request concerning the terrible things that hold them.
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Psalm 9:14 — the one who lifts me from the gates of death; vices as gates of Hades§43
43“The one who lifts me from the gates of death” (Psalm 9:13).
So that the gates of Hades might not prevail against him either, which are the vices that lead down to the bottom of Hades (Matthew 16:18).
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Psalm 9:16 — nations were stuck in the corruption they made; vice versus incorruption§44
44“Nations were stuck in the corruption they made; in this snare which they hid, their foot was caught” (Psalm 9:15).
And indeed, against virtue, which is called incorruption, as in: “Grace be with those who love our Lord in incorruption” (Ephesians 6:24), the vice that is oppositely disposed would reasonably be called corruption and decay. It has been said, then: “If anyone corrupts, God will corrupt this one” (1 Corinthians 3:17). And in the prophet: “Because of uncleanness they have been corrupted with corruption.”
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Psalm 9:17 — the Lord is known as he makes judgments§45
45“The Lord is known as he makes judgments” (Psalm 9:16).
There is a time when man, guided also from the judgments, comes to know the Lord.
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Psalm 9:18 — let sinners be turned back into Hades; to see Jesus’ soul descending and ascending§46
46“Let sinners be turned back into Hades, all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:18).
Sinners are turned back into Hades, so that they might see Jesus' soul descending and ascending; those who expected it were looking as it were outside, first the sinners in us, then the nations.
Why did the nations forget the Lord? For forgetfulness is second to knowledge; therefore from this also is clear: “I planted you a fruit-bearing vine, all true; How did you turn into bitterness, the alien vine?” (Jeremiah 2:21).
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Psalm 9:28-29 — his mouth is full of cursing; the sinner sits in ambush§47
47“Whose mouth is full of cursing…” (Psalm 10:7).
“He sits in ambush with the rich in secret places” (Psalm 10:8).
The righteous blesses the Lord at every time, but the sinner sits in ambush.
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Psalm 9:30-32 — he lies in wait in secret as a lion in his fold; he will stoop and fall§48
48“He lies in wait in secret, as a lion in his fold; he lies in wait to seize the poor, to seize the poor in drawing him in his snare; he will humble him, he will stoop, and he will fall in his dominating the poor” (Psalm 10:9-10).
Just as the lion transfers the eye here and there, seeking prey, so night and day he devises a device of seizure and greed; but nevertheless he will stoop, and he will fall. He draws through reasoning, but seizes through sin in act.
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Psalm 9:33 — do not forget the poor§49
49“Do not forget the poor” (Psalm 10:12).
If the Lord had forgotten the poor, the Lord knew of the poor.
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Psalm 9:34 — he said in his heart, He will not seek; you see§50
50“For he said in his heart: He will not seek” (Psalm 10:13).
But even if he should reason these things ten thousand times, you see; for this is to be understood.
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Psalm 9:36 — shatter the arm of the sinner and the wicked; the arm is the soul that worked wickedness§51
51“Shatter the arm of the sinner and the wicked” (Psalm 10:15).
A sinner is the one who sins from pleasure-loving and licentiousness; a wicked one is the one who is voluntarily an evildoer. And he said “arm” of the soul that has worked wickedness. The shattering of the arm makes the sins vanish; and to be delivered from sins is a benefit of someone’s arm being shattered; thus I also am persuaded that God punishes.
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Psalm 9:37-38 — the Lord reigns forever; he heard the desire of the poor§52
52“The Lord reigns forever and to the age of the age; you nations shall perish from his land. The Lord heard the desire of the poor” (Psalm 10:16-17).
For the Lord must reign through the ages, until the Lord heard the desire of the poor, until he put all the enemies as a footstool of his feet (1 Corinthians 15:25).
For his kingdom is the contemplation of all the ages that have come to be and that will come to be; through which contemplation the enemies also become friends. And the land of the Lord is the contemplation of the ages that have come to be. And the kingdom, we say, is this: the Lord then hearkens to the desire, whenever he grants the desired thing to the soul that has desired.
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Psalm 10:4 — his eyes look upon the poor; his eyelids examine the sons of men§53
53“His eyes look upon the poor; his eyelids examine the sons of men” (Psalm 11:4; LXX 10:4).
If the eyes of the Lord look upon the poor, let us become poor, so that the eyes of the Lord may look upon us. And if the rich are not poor, the eyes of the Lord do not look upon the rich.
But when you hear from holy Scripture that God is in the heavens, and sojourns, or is more inward than the veil, do not understand certain limits and local dwellings, and changes, and goings-up, and goings-out; for, our nature being poor-fitting, as it is able to hear, the Holy Spirit converses with it. And witness of the word is the Mosaic writing, containing thick words unworthy of the uncircumscribed God; which Moses did not set out from home, but God through his angels proclaimed these things on Mount Sinai at the tabernacle; whence, as of an angel having spoken these things, Moses did not even set the name at all in the recording of it, as the remaining prophets do in the books of their own prophecies.
And eyelids you will understand as his critical providence, also examining of affairs.
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Psalm 10:5 — the one who loves injustice hates his own soul§54
54“And the one who loves injustice hates his own soul” (Psalm 11:5; LXX 10:5).
If the one who loves injustice hates his own soul, the one who hates injustice, clearly, loves his own soul.
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Psalm 10:6 — fire and brimstone and a storm-wind; the cup is punishment§55
55“Fire and brimstone and a storm-wind, the portion of their cup” (Psalm 11:6; LXX 10:6).
Cup now names punishment, in which a drink of vice and ignorance has been mixed.
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Psalm 11:1 — save me, Lord, for the holy one has failed; scarcity of the holy caused many heresies§56
56“Save me, Lord, because a holy one has failed, because the truths have been diminished from humanity.
Because the gift of the truth is in danger of being extinguished, the holy ones have failed, and the truths have been diminished; the truths are not in the holy ones only, and holiness is also in those who are true.
Or because the holy ones have failed, for this reason the truths have been diminished; and perhaps the scarcity of the holy ones has become the cause of the many heresies.
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Psalm 11:6 — from the misery of the poor I will now arise, says the Lord§57
57“From the misery of the poor, and from the groaning of the needy, I will now arise, says the Lord; I will place in salvation, I will speak freely in him” (Psalm 12:5).
If from the misery of the poor I will now arise, he says, says the Lord, who has not feared the Lord arising? And: “Arise, Lord my God, be exalted”? Let us pray away such an exaltation, and not wish to see a hand being lifted against the disobedient, still more being sent upon the harder ones. And he did not forget the cry of the needy, and the poor will not be forgotten to the end.
Or also thus: the poor through me and having become needy by your spirit, always groan being humbled, attending to my word, and preserving unswerving faith; for whose sake I will arise, and according to what is fitting, by my resurrection I will place salvation for all men.
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Psalm 11:8-9 — you, Lord, will keep us; the ungodly walk in a circle§58
58“You, Lord, will keep us, and you will preserve us … The ungodly walk in a circle” (Psalm 12:7).
Since the circle is opposite to the straight according to crookedness and straightness, and the ungodly walk in a circle, the pious then walk a straight path. Therefore he says: You will keep us, because circling around us, the ungodly, plotting against our salvation, and these would be opposing powers.
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Psalm 12:1 — Unto the end, a psalm of David; the end as fruit of the labors§59
59“Unto the end, a psalm to David.” Hypothesis of Eusebius.
Because of the end, the one with God, he contended manfully in all the things before the end; and the end is the fruit of the labors, procuring eternal life and the kingdom of the heavens for those who genuinely contend.
Since then David also was one of these, he sent up the psalm and the ode to God unto the end. But at the beginning, as if still contending, he put forth the first utterances.
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Psalm 12:2 — how long, Lord, will you forget me unto the end§60
60“How long, Lord, will you forget me unto the end? How long will you turn your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1).
Of the same. Teaching that forgetfulness has fallen from the memory of God at a certain time (for God makes forgetfulness of those who escape his notice; and everyone who sins escapes his notice); but also since he turns his own face from those who do something shameful, unworthily of his eyes, that is of his contemplative and overseeing power, of those living who think greatly about the judgment of God, and being in agony over what he knew with himself, being struck by conscience, and the soul being distressed by reasonings, he adds:
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Psalm 12:3 — how long shall I set counsels in my soul, pains in my heart day and night§61
61“How long shall I set counsels in my soul, pains in my heart day and night?” (Psalm 13:2).
Of the same. Instead of which Symmachus interpreted saying: “Care in my mind by day.” And these things, he says, were written for our admonition, so that we too, with the mindset of the one who has said these things, if there should be need of repentance and confession for some things not rightly done by us, might use the same methods, as it were saving medicines of the soul, timely using the present words of confession.
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Psalm 13:1 — they corrupted and became abominable in their practices§62
62“They corrupted, and became abominable in practices” (Psalm 14:1; LXX 13:1).
Coming, says the Lord, I did not find even one worker of goodness, but liable to every out-of-place deed. If they are corrupted in the practices, then perhaps it is not the worthless thought that corrupts, but the very completion of this thought.
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Psalm 13:3 — they did not know the way of peace§63
63“And they did not know the way of peace; there is no fear of God before their eyes” (Psalm 14:3; LXX 13:3).
“I am the way,” says the Savior, and he himself is our peace. For by the fear of the Lord everyone turns away from evil.
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Psalm 13:4 — those who eat my people as a meal of bread§64
64“Those who eat my people as a meal of bread” (Psalm 14:4; LXX 13:4).
In the drawing near of those doing evil to eat my flesh upon me.
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Psalm 13:6 — you shamed the counsel of the poor; the Lord is his hope§65
65“You shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his hope” (Psalm 14:6; LXX 13:6).
For on our account the Lord became poor, being rich, so that we by his poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).
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Psalm 14:3 — he did not take reproach against those nearest him§66
66“And he did not take reproach against those nearest him” (Psalm 15:3; LXX 14:3).
The one living blamelessly does not take reproach against those nearest him.
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Psalm 14:5 — he did not give his money on interest§67
67“His silver he did not give on interest” (Psalm 15:5; LXX 14:5).
This is to be said to the usurers, as something that prevents tabernacling on the holy mountain. “The one who does these things will not be shaken forever.”
Eusebius: The one who has succeeded in all the things previously enumerated together, having become complete, and having kept the whole way of life according to God whole, as it were sound and furnished with all good things of words and of deeds — will not be shaken forever.
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Psalm 15:4 — I will not gather their assemblies from bloods§68
68“I will not gather their assemblies from bloods, nor will I remember their names through my lips” (Psalm 16:4; LXX 15:4).
Gathering, he says, assemblies from the nations, I will not gather them through bloods, nor will I prepare them to come forward to me through the legal worship, but rather through praise and the bloodless sacrifice.
Formerly, he says, they were brought to appellations according to the worth of their deeds, being named idolaters, polytheists; but now I will no longer remember those names, calling them pious and holy, called and elect.
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Psalm 15:9 — my tongue rejoiced; the tongue is the gift of the Spirit§69
69“And my tongue rejoiced” (Psalm 16:9; LXX 15:9).
By tongue he now means the gift of the Spirit.
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Psalm 16:3 — you tested my heart by night; night is the affliction§70
70“You tested my heart; you visited by night” (Psalm 17:3; LXX 16:3).
If affliction works patience, and patience testing, then affliction works testing. And if the testing ran its course in the night, the night here signifies the affliction, in which a stumbling rational soul is darkened.
“Enter through the narrow gate and the afflicted way”: that is, the practical life, which seems at first a bringer of pain and not of joy, but afterward giving back fruits of righteousness to those trained through it.
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Psalm 16:7 — make your mercies wonderful; keep me as the pupil of the eye§71
71“Make wonderful your mercies, you who save those who hope on you; from those who have stood against your right hand, keep me as the pupil of the eye” (Psalm 17:7; LXX 16:7).
Just as Job calls the power that struck him the hand of God: “Your hand,” he says, “let it not whirl me so much.” And David calls the enemies of the beneficent hand of God the sword of God. And the beneficent hand of God is the angels, through whom the perceptible world is provided for, to whom demons are opposed, the angels wishing all men to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4).
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Psalm 17:9 — smoke went up in his anger; coals are the chorus of the apostles§72
72“Smoke went up in his anger, and fire from his face set ablaze, coals were kindled from him” (Psalm 18:8).
He was angry, he says, and he cast down the fire, through which again he burned the men. Coals: the chorus of the apostles; for having partaken of this fire on the day of Pentecost, and having received fiery tongues upon their heads, they were reasonably called coals, lighting the nations together and purifying; that these things happened, learn from the things brought next:
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Psalm 17:10-11 — he bent heaven and came down; cherubim is knowledge and understanding§73
73“And he bent heaven, and came down, and gloom under his feet, and he mounted upon cherubim” (Psalm 18:9-10).
Cherubim is interpreted knowledge and understanding; therefore he speaks unto the righteous.
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Psalm 17:12 — he set darkness his hiding-place; bodily gloom between us and God§74
74“And he set darkness his hiding-place, around him his tent” (Psalm 18:11).
He set the darkness his hiding-place, having placed it in the middle of himself and us, as Moses of old the veil in the middle of himself and the hardening of Israel, unless a dark nature easily sees — not easily attaining the stored-up beauty, it also easily casts it off, because of the ease of the creation. Therefore in the middle of us and God this bodily gloom stands, as the cloud of old of the Egyptians and the Hebrews; and this is perhaps “he set darkness his hiding-place.” Therefore also Paul says: “Who alone has immortality, and dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16).
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Psalm 17:20 — he will rescue me because he delighted in me§75
75“He will rescue me, because he delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19).
Thus I, having been rescued by your providence, hope to prevail over all the hostile, and not to withdraw first, until I make them subject again; for this he also hinted when he said: “They will fall under my feet” (Psalm 18:38).
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Psalm 17:36 — your discipline; Theodotion will teach vs Seventy set upright§76
76“And your discipline,” and the rest.
The reading "And your discipline itself will teach me" comes from Theodotion, instead of "And your discipline set me upright unto the end," as found in the Seventy.he Seventy.he Seventy..
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Psalm 17:40 — you shackled those who rise against me; fulfilled in the one born of David according to the flesh§77
77“You shackled all who rise up against me under me” (Psalm 18:39).
And yet we do not know David as having reigned over the enemies; therefore through the one born from him according to the flesh the prophecy is fulfilled.
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Psalm 17:41 — you gave me my enemies' back; they fled§78
78“And my enemies you gave me the back” (Psalm 18:40).
That is: you turned them to flight. For it is proper to those fleeing to give their backs.
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Psalm 17:49 — my deliverer from wrathful enemies; their wrath like the serpent§79
79“My deliverer from wrathful enemies” (Psalm 18:48).
In those in whom wrath prevails, in these also is irascibility; and if our enemies are irascible, our enemies then are wrathful; for their wrath, he says, is according to the likeness of the serpent, and in his wrath being angered upon us.
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Psalm 18:3-4 — day to day utters speech; night announces knowledge§80
80“Day to day utters speech, and night to night announces knowledge. There are no speeches, nor words, whose voices are not heard” (Psalm 19:2-3).
Of Eusebius. Night and day, being appointed measures of the seasonal withdrawal, both according to decrease and increase, and keeping the analogy toward one another through all, proclaim through the works the one who distinguished both; for the perpetual and unconfused is not in things according to chance, but a harmony, offspring of wisdom. And the voices of their words are not of those not heard; for everywhere of the inhabited world they are heard through the sight, both of heavens being seen, and of night and day.
And Paul used these sayings upon the apostles; therefore he also spoke indefinitely, but not as he is accustomed on the preceding to say: “Isaiah cries over Israel.” And again: “As Isaiah has said before.” And again: “As it is written.” And again: “For the Scripture says.” And Symmachus rendered more clearly: “And night to night announces knowledge, not with sayings, nor with words, whose voices are not heard, but into all the earth went out a sound.” Or according to Aquila: “Their rule, for they send forth neither word nor voice; but indicating the rule and their own order, they call all earth and sea to the divine hymnody.”
And the day of the resurrection utters speech to the day of the cross, how the one crucified in that day here rose as God, and raised the dead. And the night that happened before the cross announces such knowledge to the night of Christ’s betrayal, how in that night fearing and praying, and later also being handed over, in this day he is master of the elements, so as even to bring on night in the middle of the day, he has been shown.
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Psalm 18:6 — he set his tent in the sun; bridegroom from the chamber; giant running the way§81
81“In the sun he set his tent, and he as a bridegroom going forth from his chamber will exult as a giant to run his way” (Psalm 19:4-5).
Of Athanasius. He called the chamber the Virgin, from whom the bridegroom Christ went forth, clean of all defilement, coming forth from a clean chamber. And the holy Virgin is the chamber of Christ, since having given birth without a man, she reasonably had as bridegroom the one being born himself, who by invisible power worked the birth.
Giant is interpreted as falling-upon, and is taken for the Lord; for he himself exulted at the time of the economy, accomplishing our salvation, and he fell upon the demonic ranks, putting out of work their domination against us. And understand the way as the Lord’s becoming-man, in which as a giant, because of the strength done in the cross and the death, he was running exulting. Recently he exulted in the gospel because of the finding of the one sheep. For he left the ninety-nine sheep that did not wander, that is the angelic powers, upon the mountains, that is in the heavens, and came upon the wandered sheep, and finding it he exulted; or he ran the way upon the heavens exulting, or from earth into the underworld he ran.
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Psalm 18:8 — the law of the Lord is blameless, converting souls§82
82“The law of the Lord is blameless, converting souls” (Psalm 19:7).
Origen. It is to be asked whether it would convert from vice to virtue, or from the perceptible to the intelligible; and perhaps the second; for the former, the commandment is naturally to make a law, namely the evangelical, as those from the nations who have already been taught from the previously mentioned elements, that there is one creator, are taught next also the evangelical law, as it also converted the souls of all the nations into the truth. Because of his boundless love toward us, he passes by neither a fornicator nor a robber, those who have fled his love exceedingly, and have arrived at the extremities of sin.
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Psalm 18:10 — the judgments of the Lord are true, justified together§83
83“The judgments of the Lord are true, justified together” (Psalm 19:9).
It was necessary that he added the third verse to the two former; for the judgments of God, for those who sin and transgress, have been established as fearful and to-be-sought-out; but for those who work the law of God and keep it they appear more honorable than all wealth, because of the hope of the recompense, and even sweeter than any pleasure.
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Psalm 18:12 — your servant keeps them; who does not keep is not your servant§84
84“For indeed your servant keeps them; in the keeping of them there is much recompense” (Psalm 19:11).
This also has been clearly shown to us in the preceding psalm: they are said to be true and just, justified by the true God and just judge; and “together” is according to the same reason; for because they are true, they also happen to be just. If your servant keeps them, the one who does not keep them is not your servant. And the one who keeps the desirable things of God is the one who desires nothing but them; therefore he has a great recompense of the things that are to come from God.
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Psalm 18:13-14 — cleanse me from hidden things; aliens are the proud§85
85“Who will understand transgressions? Cleanse me from my hidden things, and spare your servant from aliens” (Psalm 19:12-13).
And Aquila rendered “aliens” as “the proud.” For upon those who succeed, this passion sometimes follows, the mind becomes puffed up by this, and in another way they are again thrown, such as the apostolic saying, “lest being puffed up he fall into the judgment of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:6). Having necessarily said beforehand “For your servant keeps them,” he entreats to be delivered from pride; having been cleansed from this sin, which is great, I will be blameless from pride, at the same time also having been cleansed of the hidden things; for now I do not yet dare.
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Psalm 19:3-4 — remember all your sacrifice; the whole-burnt-offering is fattened by the Spirit§86
86“May he send you help from the holy place, and from Zion may he support you; may he remember all your sacrifice, and may your whole-burnt-offering be fattened” (Psalm 20:2-3).
You will be delivered, he says, bringing to him thankfully a spiritual sacrifice; “all” indicates multitude, for he does not remember a small one. And a whole-burnt-offering is fattened when it is given over to the whole intelligible fire, the Spirit; and this will be when those who offer happen to be spiritual.
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Psalm 19:8 — these in chariots and these in horses§87
87“These in chariots and these in horses” (Psalm 20:7).
Understand horses also as the skippings of the passions, upon which the demons mount; and chariots as the concerted breathing of the impulsive passions, in which they make ready against us.
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Psalm 19:10 — Lord, save your king; for now save David§88
88“Lord, save your king, and hear us” (Psalm 20:9).
And now, for the present, save for us the king David.
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Psalm 20:7 — blessing unto age of age; the face of God is the impress of his hypostasis§89
89“For you will give him blessing unto age of age; you will gladden him in joy with your face” (Psalm 21:6).
Saying to him: “Come, you blessed of my Father” (Matthew 25:34). Just as this grace and peace is given from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, so from God and his face; and the face of God is the image of his being, with whom the king is gladdened, putting forward a trial for those expected.
Or because with the God-Word of the image, whose the king having become, he is named his temple, and having become conformed to him, he is gladdened.
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Psalm 20:9 — your hand found to enemies is falling out of sins§90
90“Let your hand be found to all your enemies; let your right hand find all who hate you” (Psalm 21:8).
It is a benefaction to fall out of sins and wicked thoughts; for a wicked reasoning is a seed of sin.
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Psalm 21:4 — you dwell in the holy place; the Lord is self-praise of Israel§91
91“But you dwell in the holy place, the praise of Israel” (Psalm 22:3).
From this we learn that the Lord is self-praise and is praised by Israel, or himself being praise.
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Psalm 21:7 — I am a worm; spoken from the incarnate God according to the flesh§92
92“But I am a worm” (Psalm 22:6).
He speaks as from the person of the incarnate God, even if it is not taken according to the Godhead, but according to the appearing and the lowliness of the flesh: “I am the worm.”
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Psalm 21:19 — they looked upon me, measuring the bones to fix the nails§93
93“And they considered, and they looked upon me” (Psalm 22:17).
Feeling, as is likely, his whole body and measuring each of the bones, that they might see where they must fix the nails.
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Psalm 21:21 — rescue my soul from the sword; the only-begotten from the dog§94
94“Rescue my soul from the sword” (Psalm 22:20). And to the holy God-bearer Simeon says: “And a sword will pass through your own soul also” (Luke 2:35). “And my only-begotten from the hand of the dog.”
And now in the singular he names, by the race, those whom he called dogs above. And he called his own soul only-begotten, as alone not having known sin; but also because it alone through all had the union of the God-Word.
And perhaps he calls the church that stood beside him only-begotten, not having spot or wrinkle, perfectly completed from the blameless, which according to progress is divided into various ranks: “sixty are queens, and eighty concubines, and maidens of whom there is no number; but above all is a perfect dove, being only-begotten to the mother, the Jerusalem above” (Song of Songs 6:8-9).
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Psalm 22:1-2 — the Lord shepherds me; green grass is ethical teaching, not yet the wine§95
95“The Lord shepherds me, and nothing will fail me. Into a place of green grass, there he encamped me; by water of rest he nourished me” (Psalm 23:1-2; LXX 22:1-2).
The perfect one, known according to the image of God and likeness, for whom the Lord is called also king, not shepherd; but the one progressing in introduction would be called a sheep of God, and is shepherded by him, and feeds on the gospel, and drinks water of which he who drinks will not thirst; but not yet the wine of the true vine, and he rests through the ransom of regeneration, putting off the burden of sins.
And otherwise, the one who has accomplished the meek and steady of Christ is shepherded by him upon the green grass, which is ethical teaching, in which “he encamped me,” he says, but did not settle me as a house. And elsewhere he says: “he himself shepherds us unto the ages.”
And see and understand the green grass, and its intelligible place, and intelligible water of rest, given to the one still being shepherded, until someone can partake of a rational table and cup. If there is still something that is not a killing letter, that will be green grass; but for those shepherded spiritually, a table prepared, for those who endure the afflictions.
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Psalm 22:3 — he turned back my soul; paths of righteousness as habit and as the virtues§96
96“He turned back my soul; he guided me upon paths of righteousness, for the sake of his name” (Psalm 23:3; LXX 22:3).
For he mounted as the shepherd, and wore paths beforehand, so that his own sheep might follow in the tracks. Righteousness then is the practical habit of the just, whose paths are according to the activity. And if someone should call righteousness the generic virtue, he will say that its paths are the virtues according to species, upon which he guides the one who inscribes his appellation.
“He turned back my soul,” he says, that had wandered from its own or had fallen down; or the Lord turns back the soul that has fallen out, and restores it after the shepherding, and it is encamped into a place of green grass; then having turned it back he guides upon paths of righteousness and virtue.
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Psalm 22:4 — shadow of death is bodily death, distinct from the soul’s death§97
97“For even if I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will not fear evils” (Psalm 23:4; LXX 22:4).
You might also say that the shadow of death is the physical and common death, distinguished from the death of the soul; according as it has been said that the soul that sins shall die, as the one who believes in the Son of God will not die unto the age, having passed from death into life; for they do not undergo a shadow of death, or dangers, or dissolution of the body.
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Psalm 22:5 — you prepared a table opposite those who afflict me; each affliction sets a spiritual table§98
98“You prepared a table before me, opposite those who afflict me; you anointed my head with oil, and your cup that makes drunk as strongest” (Psalm 23:5; LXX 22:5).
What does “opposite those who afflict me” want? It has some unspeakable mystery, that someone may pray to be afflicted. Think for me, just as in the great contests prizes lie upon each contest, so according to each affliction: whenever an afflicting is present, and the afflicting powers, the opposing ones, think for me a spiritual and intelligible table prepared through this affliction. As often, then, as you are afflicted, so often also a spiritual table is set beside you. Only have eyes that see my tables, that giving thanks you may say with the apostle: “And not only so, but also boasting in the afflictions” (Romans 5:3).
And in the beginnings we were saying that the one from progress encamps into a place of green grass; since then the one progressing, even if he should arrive at the end, no longer remaining a sheep, but having been shown rational, has a table of rational foods, made ready by the Lord … And give heed, whether also as long as one lives, seeing the truth through a mirror and a riddle, he is a sheep led under a shepherd; but having passed upon the coming age, gazing face to face at the truth, he applies to a spiritual table, according to: “And I will covenant a covenant to you, to eat and to drink upon the table of the Father in the truth.” Whence also “you prepared” has been said, for from here God prepared the things which the eye has not seen, and so on. And “before me” shows that the table has been manifested to me and known to me, opposite those who afflict me, many wishing to be hostile to me.
And the Lord, wishing me through these who afflict me to rise strongly toward them, prepared a table before me, on which solid food lies, that having been filled with this athletically I may be able to stand against the afflicting nobly. For when we happen upon perfect good things, we have the opposing strong and more, as the apostle says: “For a great door has opened to me, and the opposing are many” (1 Corinthians 16:9).
And the one whose head is anointed with oil from the Lord will say: “Let not the oil of a sinner anoint my head” (Psalm 141:5; LXX 140:5), as being anointed from God with the oil of gladness, Christ. And I think that also when fasting he is thus anointed on the head, and the face is washed. And since not only a table, and so on.
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Psalm 22:6 — your mercy will pursue me; living mercy is Christ§99
99“And your mercy will pursue me all the days of my life, and my dwelling in the house of the Lord unto length of days” (Psalm 23:6; LXX 22:6).
Who is the mercy that pursues? I learned Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God from the apostle, and that he was born for us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He himself says: “I am the way and life and truth” (John 14:6). Learn that he himself is also the mercy that pursues; living mercy pursues you.
Those who flee less it overtakes and holds, and leads them into the church, that he may have mercy and they may dwell in the house of the Lord, unto length of days, and into the holy church in the heavens, and become long-lived.
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