Fragments on the Psalms · §71 · Origen of Alexandria

Psalm 16:7 — make your mercies wonderful; keep me as the pupil of the eye

“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).

Greek

16.7 Θαυμάστωσον τὰ ἐλέη σου, ὁ σώ ζων τοὺς ἐλπίζοντας ἐπὶ σέ· ἐκ τῶν ἀνθεσ τηκότων τῇ δεξιᾷ σου φύλαξόν με, ὡς κό ρην ὀφθαλμοῦ. Ωσπερ τὴν πλήξασαν αὐτὸν δύναμιν, ὁ ̓Ιὼβ χεῖρα λέγει Θεοῦ· ̔Η χείρ ἐστί σου, φησὶν, μή με στροβῇ τοσούτως. Καὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς τῆς εὐεργετικῆς χειρὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ καλεῖ ὁ ∆αυὶδ ῥομφαίαν Θεοῦ. Χεὶρ δὲ εὐερ γετικὴ Θεοῦ οἱ α γγελοί εἰσιν, δι' ω ν προ νοεῖται κόσμου τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ, οι ς ἀντίκειν ται δαίμονες, βουλομένοις πάντας ἀνθρώπους σωθῆναι, καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν.

Report a mistake in this passage

About this text

Origen's verse-by-verse notes on Psalms 1 to 22, read as words about Christ and as steps in the soul's progress from shunning evil to doing good.

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.

The sections follow the Psalms in order, beginning with Psalm 1 and running through Psalm 22. He reads them as prophecies of Christ and as a picture of the soul's progress. These fragments are not Didymus the Blind's commentary on the Psalms, and they are not Didymus's separate book of fragments on the Psalms.

A reader meets the opening psalms, including the tree and the water of Psalm 1 and the king of Psalm 2, then the psalms that follow. Psalms are cited by the Septuagint numbering.

Fresh English from PG 12 Greek of Fragmenta in Psalmos, Psalms 1–22.3.

Printed text used

Translated from PG 12 Fragmenta in Psalmos (Greek)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

Report a mistake