詩篇註釋 第 1 章 第 5/23 段

'I am then cast away from before your eyes.'

'Incline your ear to me.'

Since our cry does not reach up to the height, incline your ear to me, by condescending to me.

'You shall bring me out of this snare which they have hidden for me.'

For lying in wait for his soul, they seized him.

'You have redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth.'

As one already heard, he says such things.

'You have hated those who vainly observe vanities.'

By 'vanities' he means the distractions of the present life;

These are the ones for whom, as we labor, we also toil in vanity.

The phrase 'in vain' (διακενῆς) is attached to 'the one who observes vanities.'

I will exult, and I will be glad.

Having trampled underfoot sorrow and the rest of the passions.

And you did not shut me up into the hands of enemies.

You set my feet in a broad place.

Having delivered me from affliction, you established me in rest and in a broad place.

My eye was troubled with distress, as were my soul and my belly.

Just as he calls the mind of the soul 'eye,' so too he calls the memory of the soul 'belly';

in which, as in a belly, we store away rational food.

My soul and my belly.

I turned my eye away from the people of the Jews in wrath and great anger.

For my life has failed in sorrow.

This shows the heightened intensity of his mind.

And my years in groanings.

My strength grew weak in poverty.

Having become poor, he says, of the help that comes from you, because of sin, I grew weak.

And my bones were troubled.

By 'bones' he means the powers of the soul.

For my life has failed in sorrow

and carpets, and bedding;

and they brought these things to the people, along with food;

for they said that the people were hungry, and had grown faint with thirst in the wilderness. I have become a reproach beyond all my enemies.

He who is deprived of the virtues is dead in heart. And my enemies, he says, reproached me, and my acquaintances feared me, and those who beheld me fled, on account of the excess of repentance which I was displaying;

being worn away with sackcloth and ashes, and weeping both day and night.

By 'beyond all' he does not mean to say 'more than all,' but rather in the sense of 'from all';

that is, I was reproached by my enemies.

For thus Aquila also says:

From all my enemies I became a reproach.

For I heard the slander of many who dwell round about.

By 'slander' he means their plotting.

And he says this, because his enemies surrounded him, plotting against him.

They took counsel together to take my life.

But I hoped in you, O Lord.

and by their desires they put the mind to death.

In your hands are my lots.

Even though my enemies plot, scheming to take my life, yet my lots are kept safe in your hands, which you will restore to me in due season, because I hope in you.

They, then, having gathered together, are stitching together my death;

but I know you to be God and my sovereign lord.

Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

'Flee evil,' says the Apostle;

for if wickedness pursues, then clearly adultery pursues too, and covetousness, and wrath, and anger;

Make your face to shine upon your servant;

For once your manifestation has come to me, the gloom will at once be dispelled.

This, he says, is my only means of salvation, if you would let your face shine upon me.

O Lord, let me not be put to shame, for I have called upon you.

From this we learn that sin differs greatly from impiety.

I pray, he says, that my enemies be struck dumb;

and this will come to pass, if you let your face shine forth.

How great is the abundance of your goodness, O Lord!

As one already led into the light by the Spirit, O Lord!

Great is your goodness, which you store up and keep for us;

for 'you have hidden' stands in place of 'you have guarded,' as also in the following:

He uses 'you have hidden' in place of 'you have guarded,' since that which is hidden is thereby preserved.

which you have wrought for those who hope in you.

In place of, 'you have wrought it at the fitting time.'

You will hide them in the secret place of your presence.

May your face, he says, become a shelter for those who hope in you.

You will shelter them in a tabernacle from the tumult of men, from the contention of tongues.

Just as with a shelter, he says, you will shelter them, so that they are caught neither by those who attempt to harm them with words, nor by those who war against them with deeds.

Blessed be the Lord, for he has made his mercy wondrous to me in a besieged city.

for when countless enemies had gathered around me, and were attempting to besiege my soul as though it were a great city, my guardian, having thrown a rampart around me, showed his mercy to be wondrous.

But I said in my dismay:

At the time, he says, when I was humbling myself in the dismay that had come upon me, when also my eye was troubled with distress, I was crushing myself as one cast away because of my own sin.

But I, he says, was saying these things, yet you, the lover of mankind, did not cast away your servant.

Love the Lord, all you his holy ones.

He turns his discourse to the exhortation of others, from the benefits he himself received, urging others to give thanks.

and he repays those who act with excessive pride.

The Lord is longsuffering toward the proud, but to those who act with excessive pride he also renders recompense.

The psalm is entitled 'Of understanding,' because it is above all this that human beings have need;

For indeed, having turned aside exceedingly toward the passions, they have been likened to horses and mules.

Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

Transgressions are forgiven through baptism, while sins are covered through bitter repentance.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin, and in whose mouth there is no guile.

Truly blessed is he who comes to holy baptism with his whole heart.

[For he who is baptized with guile, besides not obtaining forgiveness, shall also incur judgment.] By the same author:

The word 'for' is to be joined with 'grew old,' so that it reads:

For my bones grew old, because of my crying out all the day long.

I fell silent, no longer able to utter a sound.

And why did he cry out, but to ask forgiveness for his sin? 'For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me.'

Being good, he says, You chastised severely, through that chastisement turning me back to salvation.

I was turned to misery when a thorn was fixed fast in me.

By 'thorn' he means sin.

Since sin, he says, had been fixed fast in my soul, I became wretched.

He indicates the manner of confession.

I said, I will confess my transgression against myself to the Lord.

And you too, he says, be the first to speak your own sins.

For this shall every holy one pray to You.

For the sin that has been forgiven me, he says, every one of the holy ones will pray to You.

Only in the flood of many waters they shall not come near him.

The multitude of temptations, he says, shall not overwhelm the one who repents.

Having said these things about sin, he entreats to be delivered from the evils brought upon him on account of it.

And indeed he also receives the answer:

for the loving Lord says to him:

I will instruct you and guide you in this way.

To him who prayed for deliverance from his enemies, God answers, promising to guide him in a straight way.

Do not be like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding.

He counsels sinners not to hand themselves over to irrational passions.

With bit and bridle you shall check their jaws.

The saying is addressed to the Lord.

And what he says is this:

Those who are unwilling to repent, turn back to Yourself as with a kind of bridle.

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous.

Sing praise to Him with the ten-stringed psaltery.

He clearly says that the Law given through Moses has come to an end.

For the word of the Lord is upright.

And all His works are done in faithfulness.

One must believe, he says, in the things wrought by Him in a manner befitting God.

The Lord loves mercy and judgment.

These things, he says, He requires of those who believe in Him.

The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.

He begins to show that He, being also the Maker of all creation, filled especially the earth—which he says He has also filled—with mercy;

and it could not otherwise have held together, were it not full of this mercy.

Indeed, the heavens too would never have come to exist, had they not been sustained by His word, and likewise also their powers, that is, the divine and rational powers.

[He loves mercy, then, toward those who repent;

but He loves judgment toward those who do not relent.

Something similar Isaiah also says to God:

'For Your mercy is by measure';

for he too presents mercy joined with judgment, measured out by scale and number according to each one's worth.] By the word of the Lord the heavens were established,

and all their host by the breath of His mouth.

By 'mouth of God' he means the Holy Spirit;

for the prophets, speaking through Him, said:

'For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.'

Gathering the waters of the sea together as in a wineskin.

Calling forth, he says, the water of the sea, He confines it within the clouds as in a kind of wineskin;

He who calls forth the water of the sea, and pours it out upon the face of all the earth;

bringing up clouds from the ends of the earth.

laying up the depths in storehouses.

And the depths, he says, He seals up as in storehouses, lest, gushing forth, they should flood the dry land.

Let all the earth fear the Lord.

Let the earth, he says, no longer offer worship to demons.

And let all who dwell in the world stand in awe of Him.

Hearing Him, he says, let the men who inhabit the world be shaken from their former standing, in which they lived as idolaters, so that they may evidently be moved to obey their own Creator.

For He spoke, and they came to be; He commanded, and they were created.

'Coming to be' denotes the substantial origin of rational beings;

while 'creation' signifies the change from the worse to the better.

'For if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.'

The Lord scatters the counsels of the nations.

He brings to nothing the thoughts of the peoples, and He brings to nothing the counsels of rulers.

For He rendered ineffective the plots of all the Jews, by rising on the third day.

For this is what he also wills, which likewise remains forever.

'The thoughts of his heart unto generation and generation.'

The decrees, he says, which he has resolved upon, both for the present age and for the age to come.

The thoughts of God are the fitting dispositions of all things.

and the heart is the hidden depth of his essence.

'Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.'

By these words he calls those who believe in Christ blessed.

'The Lord looked down from heaven...'

He said 'he looked down,' lest anyone should think him ignorant of the things men dare to do. 'From his prepared dwelling place...'

That is, made ready, prepared beforehand.

'For heaven has been allotted, as it were, as the house of God.' 'He who fashioned their hearts, each one alone...'

Only God, he says, knows the hearts of men.

'Why do you reason evil things in your hearts?' 'Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him.'

The eyes of the Lord are his all-seeing power.

or often they signify the Son and the Spirit, the Father of lights being as it were in the midst of two lights.

'And to nourish them in famine.'

In the time of persecution, he says, when the spiritual foods are not to be had, the Lord himself will nourish them through the Holy Spirit.

'But our soul waits upon the Lord.'

As having already given proof of it, they set forth their confidence in him.

He said that he had been sent by Saul, inasmuch as he even asked for the sword of Goliath.

Since, then, he said one thing but thought another, it is recorded that he changed his countenance.

He sings this psalm to the new people, setting forth a teaching of spiritual and evangelical worship.

'I will bless the Lord at all times.'

'My soul shall glory in the Lord.'

Even if I chance to be worthy of praise, some good having been found in my deeds, this must be ascribed not to me, but to God.

It is he who has made me renowned, and who will make me admired.

'Let the meek hear, and be glad.'

Let every righteous man rejoice on hearing of the salvation that has come to me from the Lord.

For since he indeed saves those who hope in him, he cannot bear to weave this hymn alone, but makes those who share in meekness sharers also in the hymn of praise.

'Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.'

As if he alone were not sufficient to proclaim the greatness of God, he judges it right that others too should be gathered in for this very task and join in the work.

'Come to him, and be enlightened.'

From the confidence he himself received, he leads others also to the same end.

'This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him.'

Learn, he says, from what has happened to me, to trust in the God of all.

For though I was a lowly shepherd, he deemed me worthy of his own providence, and showed me superior to those who warred against me.

'The angel of the Lord will encamp round about those who fear him, and will deliver them.'

This agrees also with the words of the Apostle.

For concerning the angels he says:

'Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation?'

Thus also the blessed Jacob says, in prayer:

'The angel who delivered me from all my evils...'

Thus also the patriarch Abraham said to his admirable servant:

'The Lord God will send his angel before your face, and you shall take a wife for my son Isaac from there.'

Thus also the blessed Zachariah says:

'Taste and see that the Lord is good.'

Taste, he says, of the true bread that came down from heaven.

'Blessed is the man who hopes in him.'

for he shall possess the life to come.

'The rich became poor and hungered.'

'But those who seek the Lord shall not be lacking in any good thing.'

He speaks of the other kind, that of the Gentiles.

'I will teach you the fear of the Lord.'

'and your lips, that they speak no deceit.'

Second, not to speak evil of a brother.

Third, to restrain the lips from all deceit.

Fourth, abstinence from every evil and the practice of good in all things.

to pursue peace and cling to it.

And the practice of these things, he says, constitutes life and good days.

'Turn away from evil, and do good.'

'Seek peace, and pursue it.'

'Turn away from evil' — this fear teaches.

but 'do good' — this love teaches.

'The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their supplication.'

He has assigned a great reward to the practice of virtue: to have God as one's overseer.

'The Lord keeps all their bones.'

By 'bones' he means the powers of the soul.

These are righteousness, fortitude, piety, and, so to speak, every virtue.

'The death of sinners is evil.'

He speaks of the death of the soul, which shall be followed by eternal fire, outer darkness, the unsleeping worm, weeping and gnashing of teeth.

For Gehenna and darkness shall succeed them.

The passage before us is spoken in the person of one who trusts in God and is warred against by the unseen powers, or else in the person of the choir of the apostles.

The person of Christ is also introduced, recounting the things done to him by the Jews at the time of his passion, for the endurance and steadfastness of those who are warred against for God's sake.

This opening will suit the person of the apostles.

He speaks of the Jews, who, not having peace within themselves, have wars, and make war on Christ, who is our peace.

'Take hold of shield and buckler, and rise up to help me.'

By shield and buckler and sword he darkly signifies the punitive powers sent forth by the Lord to aid the righteous.

This, he says, is what I ask you to say to my soul, that you may become its helper.

'Let them be turned back.'

Those who journey from virtue toward vice are benefited, if they turn back.

'Let the snare which he does not know come upon him, and let the trap which he hid catch him, and let him fall into that very snare.'

For the snare has been turned back upon the heads of the wicked.

'But my soul shall exult in the Lord.'

Those, then, who set the trap and contrived the scheme of destruction against Christ, the Savior of us all, shall pay the penalty for their outrage against him, in the manner just now stated by us;

but my soul, he says, shall forever be outside of every terror;

that is, having unceasing joy in God, and rejoicing exceedingly in his salvation.

'Unjust witnesses rose up against me; they questioned me about things I did not know.'

From here the person of Christ is introduced, being falsely accused at the tribunal of the chief priests.

'They repaid me evil for good, and bereavement to my soul.'

He says this because they were shown to be unworthy of being called children of God;

which he himself made especially known by the saying, 'How often would I have gathered your children!'

'But I, when they troubled me, put on sackcloth.'

For he mourned their destruction, so that he even grieved, was distressed, wept, and prayed for their sin.

'And I humbled my soul with fasting.'

Confirming his incarnation, he did not abstain even from fasting.

'And my prayer shall turn back into my own bosom.'

This would signify that they remained there in their sin.

For they gained nothing, he says, by the excess of their ignorance, having made the prayer, as it were, turn back.

'As a neighbor, as our own brother, so I was well-pleasing.'

As a brother, he says, and a friend, so I was eager to do good to them, wishing to heal/care for them;

therefore I also mourned on their behalf.

'But they rejoiced against me, and gathered together.'

These things, he says, they repaid me as wages for my grief on their behalf.

'Scourges were gathered together against me, and I knew it not.'

Those scourging me, he says, did not know, nor could they find any cause against me.

For the multitude was divided, as the evangelist says, some saying he was good, others that he was a deceiver.

And while these things were happening, he says, they were not pricked in conscience, nor did they understand against whom their deeds were done.

But he said this not as an accusation, but out of longing for help.

When, he says, will you appear and defend the one who is wronged? Restore my soul from their evil-doing.

Everything he suffers or says, he does for our salvation, because he — that is, Christ — came down and was made flesh from us.

'My only-begotten [soul] from the lions.'

By lions he means either the evil and opposing powers, which all but roared to devour Christ, or perhaps also the very leaders of the Jews themselves.

For thus he calls them to mind, speaking through the voice of Jeremiah:

'My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest;'

He calls his own soul 'only-begotten,' using 'only-begotten' in place of 'beloved.'

For somehow the only-begotten among children is always held in the greatest love.

'Those who hate me without cause, and wink with their eyes.'

That is, in place of, 'devising deceits.'

'For to me they spoke peaceably, but devised deceits in their wrath.'

And, 'For we know that you teach the truth, and that you do not regard the person of man.'

'And they opened their mouth wide against me.'

He speaks of the blasphemies uttered at the cross.

'Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it!'

As though the outcome had turned out for them just as they wished — that he should be hanged upon the tree.

This is also what those do who exult over the affliction of the righteous.

'You have seen it, O Lord; do not keep silence; O Lord, do not depart from me.'

The only-begotten Word of God, having become man without casting off his being God, asks — concerning the injustice done to us by the demons — that the Father become judge; he asks that the insolence of the proud be scattered.

For thus, he says, some shall be turned back to shame, while others shall exult, offering up thanksgivings for their salvation.

The present psalm contains an accusation against the pride of the people of the Jews, and a reproof of their wickedness;

and indeed also a hymn of the righteous judgments by which he made all that is under heaven;

and besides these, also thanksgivings to the Father for the benefits he bestowed through Jesus;

and over and above all these, a prayer securing against falling into pride.

'The lawless man says within himself that he will sin.'

He who has been reared together with wickedness, he says, supposes that no one beholds the hidden counsels of his soul.

For the word 'says,' he says, he has used in place of 'thinks' or 'supposes.'

The cause of such callousness is his not fearing the Master who watches over all things.

'There is no fear of God before his eyes.'

Once he has resolved, he says, to break the law, he puts the fear of God outside of his eyes.

For by the fear of the Lord everyone turns away from evil.

'For he has dealt deceitfully in his own sight.'

He holds this ignorance willingly, being unwilling to take account of his deeds and to hate the things done wickedly.

So as to find out his iniquity and hate it.

Nor does he consider this, he says, that God finds out his sin, and having found it, hates both it and him.

The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit.

Iniquity, on account of the insults which they brought upon Christ;

and deceit, because, wishing to entrap him, they approached him with kindly words.

He was not willing to understand, so as to do good.

Willingly, he says, he thrust himself out of doing well.

He devised iniquity upon his bed;

he took his stand in every way that is not good.

This signifies their sleeplessness in plotting against Christ.

That is, he did not hate wickedness.

O Lord, your mercy is in heaven.

And your truth reaches to the clouds.

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God.

You have shown, he says, the promises made through the prophets to be true and sure;

And you have shown these to be true by supplying such an abundance of righteousness that it may be compared to the mountains of God.

Your judgments are a great deep.

But possessing such truth and righteousness, for what reason you are longsuffering I do not know;

for your judgments imitate the unfathomableness of the deep;

for just as the depth of that deep is invisible to men, so also the understanding of your judgments is unattainable.

Men and beasts you will save, O Lord.

Speaking about the two peoples, the Apostle, having said, ‘God has shut up all in disobedience, that he might save all,’ added:

How unsearchable are his judgments!

And here it is the same;

for since he was about to recount the salvation of the two peoples, who are also signified by the men and the beasts;

by men meaning those of Israel, as being instructed by the law and understanding what is superior;

and by beasts, those of the nations, as being more irrational.

For those of the Jews, having been instructed in the mystery through the law and the prophets, fell away;

while those of the nations, who had never heard it, were received.

Your judgments are a great deep.

Again he means by men those who preserve their rational dignity;

and by beasts, those who bow down toward the earth and feed on earthly thoughts.

He called to salvation, therefore, not only the righteous but also sinners.

But the sons of men shall hope in the shelter of your wings.

That is, he says, they shall have you as protector and helper of the evangelic word.

They shall be drunk with the fatness of your house, and you shall give them to drink of the torrent of your delight.

The torrent of delight is Christ, according to what is said:

I turn toward them like a torrent overflowing with the glory of the nations.

And he is also the fountain of life and light from light.

Let not the foot of pride come to me.

He deems it worthy to be kept outside of this passion.

And let not the hand of the sinner shake me.

Nor let any improper act, he says, dislodge me from my standing before you.

persuading from both considerations: from the hope prepared for the good, and from the punishment reserved for the wicked.

Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be jealous of those who work iniquity.

He exhorts us to flee wickedness, describing its end as the loss of every good thing.

Dwell in the land, and you shall be nourished by its abundance.

By ‘land’ he means the God-inspired Scripture, in which is the wealth of the saints, that is, the promises.

He exhorts us always to hold fast to the divine oracles, out of love for the good things laid up in them for the saints.

Reveal your way to the Lord, and hope in him, and he will act.

You shall, he says, openly walk in the way that pleases him.

And he shall bring forth your righteousness as the light.

The light of righteousness is knowledge;

since righteousness is also the rule of the virtues.

And your judgment as the noonday.

He shall judge you worthy of light.

When you hope in him, he says, then he too will act.

And what he will do, he makes clear by adding:

He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday.

‘He shall bring forth,’ he says, means he shall make manifest, and shall render it as though conspicuous, not allowing the beauty of the good life to remain hidden.

For your righteousness shall be evident to all, shining forth like light, the light of noonday.

Now noonday is the name given to the very middle of the day.

Not only, he says, does he justify the one who confesses, and grant him a judgment of kindness, but he also brings his righteousness into the light, that is, he makes known to all that he has justified him.

Such was the thief, whose judgment Jesus, being crucified at noon, in the middle of the day, brought forth, and brought the righteousness pronounced upon him into the light, that is, into the knowledge of all.

For the word spoken over him, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise,’ has become manifest to the world, or rather a light to the world, an encouragement to all who are found in repentance.

The brightness of righteousness, he says, shall not remain hidden as it is now, but shall be manifest like the sun at noon, just as the Lord says:

Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

Submit yourself to the Lord, and supplicate him.

He himself, he says, will show you to be worthy of light in the age to come;

Do not be jealous of him who prospers in his way.

Do not imitate, he says, a prosperity that is put together from lawlessness.

[Do not marvel at a lawless man who is prospering, nor imitate a prosperity built up from lawlessness, nor be provoked to do the like things;

but even if everything flows smoothly for him, do not be gnawed with envy nor be vexed, because the wicked do not pay the penalty but live in abundance, as though no one were setting the requital right.

Better is a little to the righteous man;

in place of 'greater': the mercy of the Lord, though small, surpasses all the wealth of the world.] Cease from anger, and forsake wrath.

Do not look upon their prosperity, but wait for the end, and you will see their destruction.

Anger is a craving for retribution;

and retribution is the requital of evil.

Do not be jealous so as to do evil.

Know well that those who have anchored themselves upon the divine hope, and who choose the equitable life, continue in freedom from trouble and in peace, possessing as their abiding delight the purity of conscience;

but those who put their confidence in temporary prosperity will receive a swift reversal, and will be handed over to complete oblivion.

And you shall seek his place, and shall not find it.

But the impious shall perish, root and all.

And they shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

The delight of the righteous is the abundance of peace;

and it is the soul's freedom from passion, together with a true knowledge of the things that are.

It is fitting that this also be taken as referring to the devil, and through these words he offers consolation to those who are wronged.

But the Lord shall laugh him to scorn,

knowing that He has appointed a day on which He will render to the one eternal life, and to the other eternal punishment.

The sinners have drawn the sword, they have bent their bow,

let their sword enter into their own heart.

These things, he says, the wicked demons have suffered, which they had plotted to do against the saints.

The Lord knows the ways of the blameless,

in place of 'knows': He accepts and honors.