Fragments on the Psalms · §84 · Origen of Alexandria

Psalm 18:12 — your servant keeps them; who does not keep is not your servant

“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.

Greek

18.12 Καὶ γὰρ ὁ δοῦλός σου φυλάσσει αὐτὰ, ἐν τῷ φυλάσσειν αὐτὰ ἀνταπόδοσις πολλή. Σαφῶς ἡμῖν καὶ τοῦτο δεδήλωται ἐν τῷ προλαβόντι ψαλμῷ, ἀληθινὰ καὶ δίκαια παρὰ τοῦ ἀληθοῦς Θεοῦ καὶ δικαιοκρίτου δεδι καιωμένα λέγεται· ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ δέ ἐστιν κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον· ῳ γὰρ λόγῳ ἐστιν ἀληθῆ, τούτῳ τυγχάνει καὶ δίκαια. –Εἰ ὁ δοῦλός σου φυλάσσει αὐτὰ, ὁ μὴ φυλάσσων, οὐ δοῦ λός σου. Φυλάσσει δὲ τὰ ἐπιθυμητὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ ἐπιθυμῶν οὐκ α λλο τι η αὐτά· διὸ ε χει ἀνταπόδοσιν τῶν ἐπὶ Θεοῦ μελλομένων πολλήν.

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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.

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