Fragments on the Psalms · §86 · Origen of Alexandria

Psalm 19:3-4 — remember all your sacrifice; the whole-burnt-offering is fattened by the Spirit

“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.

Greek

19.3,4 ̓Εξαποστείλαι σοι βοήθειαν ἐξ ἁγίου, καὶ ἐκ Σιὼν ἀντελάβοιτό σου· μνησ θείη πάσης θυσίας σου, καὶ τὸ ὁλοκαύτωμά σου πιανάτω. ̔Ρυσθήσει, φησὶν, εὐχαριστικῶς αὐτῷ προσάγων θυσίαν πνευματικήν· τὸ πάσης πλῆθος ἐμφαίνει· ὀλίγης γὰρ οὐ μίμνηται. – Πιαίνεται δὲ ὁλοκαύτωμα, ο ταν ο λῳ τῷ νοητῷ πυρὶ παραδοθῇ, τῷ πνεύματι· ε σται δὲ τοῦτο, ο ταν οἱ προσφέροντες πνευματικοὶ τυγχάνωσιν.

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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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