箴言註解 第 1 章 第 3/4 段

for he who provokes him through sins sins against his own soul.

Likewise, he who borrows grain at the harvest: If it is possible to borrow grain at the harvest, it is also possible in the age to come to borrow intelligible grain from those who worked their own land for the six years, and fed the widow and orphans in the seventh year.

He will leave his children blessed: Those, evidently, whom he has begotten according to virtue.

The lamp of him who reviles father or mother will be extinguished: The same Christ can, conceptually, be both Father and Mother;

Father of those who have the spirit of adoption, but Mother of those who need milk and not solid food;

for indeed Christ, speaking in Paul, became father of the Ephesians, revealing to them the mysteries of wisdom, but mother of the Corinthians, giving them milk to drink.

A portion eagerly gained at first: which for a time makes your throat sleek, but afterward you will find it more bitter than gall.

'I will repay the enemy': Do not say this, moved by pride;

'I alone will make war on my enemies' — but wait for the Lord, that he may help you.

For I will not hope in my bow, and my sword will not save me;

A horse is a vain hope for salvation;

and if the Lord does not build the house and guard the city...

A great weight and a small, and double measures — both are abominable (unclean) before the Lord: I think that the one termed by some 'rash-cowardly' is 'a great weight and a small';

and in general I think that every excess and deficiency is 'a great weight and a small.'

Double measures: He who wishes to be treated well by another, but does not choose likewise to give rest to others, has 'double measures,' not obeying the commandment which says:

'Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do also to them likewise.'

The ear that hears, and the eye that sees: It is not the eye that sees wrongly that is the work of the Lord, but the eye that sees truly;

and it is not the ear that hears wrongly that is the work of the Lord, but the ear that hears truly.

and the same must be said likewise concerning the other members of the body;

and you shall use this saying against those who accuse this body of ours and insult the Creator.

But open your eyes, and be filled with bread: Through the virtues we open the eyes of the soul, and through wisdom we are filled with intelligible bread.

But how could a mortal understand his own ways?: He who is still mortal, and has not died together with Christ, cannot understand the ways of the Lord.

It is a snare for a man to hastily consecrate something of his own: Repentance over good things does not befall the righteous but the unrighteous;

let the unrighteous, then, promise nothing to God without due consideration;

for after making a vow, repentance follows.

And a deceitful balance is not good before him: By 'a deceitful balance' he means the mind, which by nature is able to judge matters rightly, but which deviates through the inclination of the self-determining will.

A wise king is a winnower of the impious: that is, to separate the chaff from the wheat.

And he will bring the wheel upon them: Make them like a wheel.

The light of the Lord is the breath of men: If the light of the Lord is the knowledge of the Lord, and the light of the Lord is the breath of men, then the knowledge of the Lord is the breath of men.

But he called 'lamp' the devil, who in ignorance seems to shine, emptying the mind of good things and transforming himself into an angel of light.

To do righteousness and speak truth is more pleasing to the Lord than the blood of sacrifices: This saying casts out the sacrifice offered through irrational animals;

for the sacrifice to God is a broken spirit.

But his works are pure and upright: If the works of God are pure and upright, and the mind too is one of his works, then the mind was created pure and upright by the Lord.

'Better to dwell in a corner under the open sky than in whitewashed rooms with vexation (injustice) and in a common house': To the whitewashed and common house he opposed the open corner.

But if the whitewashed and common house is vice, then the open corner is virtue.

The open corner, then, is an action that touches upon contemplation and is illumined by the sun of righteousness.

And rightly did Paul too call the high priest of the Jews a whitewashed wall, that was to be struck by God;

and the Savior too, in the Gospels, called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs.

And well did he also say 'on a corner,' where lies the stone that was rejected by the builders and became the head of the corner;

and he called 'common' whatever does not belong to the one God.

'A secret gift overturns wrath': A secret gift is such that what the right hand does, the left hand does not know.

'A man who strays from the way of righteousness will rest in the assembly of giants': The assembly of the giants is vice and ignorance.

'Better to dwell in a desert land than with a wrathful and quarrelsome woman': David too says:

'In a land desert and pathless and waterless — thus I appeared to you in the sanctuary.'

The desert land, then, is virtue, which does not have the old men dwelling in it, the ones who are being corrupted according to the desires of deceit;

...rest, and finds none;

for he himself is king of all that are in the waters.

And again, concerning wisdom it says, 'Covered are the dwellings of her house,'

but if this is so, then the quarrelsome, talkative, and irascible woman is vice, which makes the one who lives with her quarrelsome, talkative, and irascible.

'A desirable treasure rests upon the mouth of the wise': The wisdom of the Lord rests in the heart of the wise;

but foolish men destroy it.

'The wise man mounted fortified cities': Wisdom is a fortified city, in which the wise dwell, casting down thoughts and every height that raises itself up against the knowledge of Christ.

'He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from affliction': Mouth and tongue correspond to soul and mind;

and by 'soul' they mean the incensive power and desire, which some call the passible part of the soul.

'The impious man desires evil desires the whole day': It belongs to angels never to desire evil desires;

but it belongs to men sometimes to desire and sometimes not to desire evil desires;

but it belongs to demons always to desire evil desires.

For 'the whole day' signifies 'throughout life.'

Such also is 'Be in the fear of the Lord the whole day,' instead of 'throughout life.'

'The horse is prepared for the day of battle': By 'horse' he means the mind.

For it says, 'You will mount your horses, and your riding is salvation.'

And concerning Paul the Lord says, 'to bear my name.'

'A good name is more to be chosen than great (much) wealth' (

much): He called 'a good name' the virtue signified by its proper name;

for this is a good name, which has the good that it signifies.

Thus we shall not praise the unjust woman called 'Righteousness,' but rather the one who possesses righteousness, even if she is named 'Injustice.'

'Rich and poor met one another, and the Lord made them both' (

made): The rich man, through acts of almsgiving, purifies his incensive power, acquiring love;

while the poor man is taught, through his poverty, to be humble-minded.

'The generation of wisdom is the fear of the Lord': 'These are the generations of Noah';

'Thorns and snares are in crooked ways': And the Lord says to Adam:

'The earth will bring forth to you thorns and thistles' — that is, the soul;

and by 'thorns and thistles' he means sins, from which also the crown of Christ was woven;

for he himself took away the sin of the world.

'The rich shall rule over the poor': In the age to come, those who have been enriched in every way, in all knowledge and all wisdom, shall rule over those who are unclean and deprived of this wealth;

but who the servants are and who the masters, it is not necessary to make public now, because the discourse concerning them is mystical and rather deep.

'And he shall bring the vanity of his works to an end': The Lord brings the vanity of works to an end through virtue and knowledge.

'He who gives gifts secures for himself victory and honor' (

gives) gifts: By 'gifts' he means the virtues of man, by which, conquering the devil, he renders himself honored before God, and takes away his own soul from those who had possessed it — the demons.

'Cast the pestilent man out of the council' (

out of the council, pestilent man), and strife will go out with him': He called the worst condition 'a council,' from which wise Solomon wishes the man to be cast out through spiritual teaching;

and 'strife' signifies contentiousness.

But he can also mean by 'pestilent man' the devil, whom one must drive away from the soul;

for if he sits down in it, through impurity he dishonors all right thoughts.

And the apostle too shows the soul to be a council, in that he introduces thoughts accusing and defending;

'For between one another,' he says, 'the thoughts accuse or even defend.'

And where there is accusation and defense, there also is a council.

'With his lips a king shepherds': The Lord, who keeps our souls, himself also shepherds us through spiritual knowledge, which knowledge the one who transgresses his law despises.

...it is out of condescension that he shepherds us;

'For I am,' he says, 'the good shepherd.'

But if he is king of those who reign, and shepherd of sheep, then he will one day be king only, when the sheep have passed over into royal dignity.

'The sluggard makes excuses and says:'

'A lion is in the ways': Our enemy the devil goes about like a lion, seeking whom he may devour;

fearing whom, the sluggard shrinks back from the labor of the virtues.

'But he who is hated by the Lord shall fall into it': Job did not fall into it because he was hated by the Lord, but for the sake of testing.

'But the rod and discipline are far from him': Far from the heart of the fool is the rod that comes from the root of Jesse.

...poor man) does many of his own evils': Just as the devil falsely accuses us, taking from us the virtues which he did not give us, so also we falsely accuse him, taking from him the vices which we did not give to him.

And insofar as we take vices from him, we take as from a poor man in respect of virtues;

but insofar as we give our virtues to him to our own diminishment, we give as to one rich in vice.

And one of the elders used to say that we are the ones who falsely accuse Christ, extorting him who became poor for our sake and owes us nothing, taking much from him and giving to Satan, to the debasement of our own souls.

'Incline your ear to the words of the wise': He hears the words of God who does what is commanded by them;

for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

'And do you also write them down for yourself threefold, with counsel and knowledge' (

(knowledge) upon the breadth of your heart: He who broadens his heart through purity will understand the words of God — the practical, the natural, and the theological;

For the whole subject-matter of Scripture is divided threefold: into the ethical, the natural, and the theological;

and to the first corresponds the Proverbs, to the second Ecclesiastes, and to the third the Song of Songs.

Do not give yourself as surety, being ashamed before a man's face: Those who take on base thoughts, and by this honor the evil one, let them strive with all their power to repay the worse thoughts by means of good thoughts;

For if they are unable to do this, they will take the covering that lies beneath the sides of the soul, that is, virtue;

for this is called the garment of the mind that stands firm in righteousness, but is called the undercovering of the mind that has since fallen because of base thoughts.

Do not remove the ancient boundaries which your fathers set: He who shifts the boundaries of piety renders it either superstition or impiety;

and he who shifts the boundaries of courage makes it into either recklessness or cowardice;

and likewise also in the case of the other virtues, and of doctrines, and of faith itself;

but this must be especially guarded in the case of the Holy Trinity;

for he who does not confess the Holy Spirit as God dissolves baptism;

and he who also names certain others as gods introduces a populace of gods.

But if you are excessively insatiable, do not desire his delicacies: For not all can receive the more mystical meaning of Scripture.

For these belong to a false life: The divine Scripture must be understood noetically and spiritually;

for the sensory knowledge that follows the literal history is not true knowledge.

Do not dine with an envious man: If the envious man eats the bread of impiety and grows drunk on lawless wine, and one must not dine with him, then surely one must not oneself be impious and lawless;

for these vices corrupt spiritual knowledge.

(nothing) say: Say nothing wise — that is, nothing deep and mystical;

for one must not cast pearls before swine.

But do not enter into the possession of orphans: The possession of orphans is vice, through which they were deprived of the Savior in the heavens.

But be in the fear of the Lord the whole day: If by the fear of the Lord everyone turns away from evil, he rightly exhorts us to turn away from all evil throughout the whole of life.

...them), there will be offspring for you (...

): He called right thoughts and spiritual contemplations the offspring of the mind;

therefore the soul that does not have these offspring, which are by nature born of the spiritual bridegroom, is childless.

And every drowsy person will be clothed in rags: A torn and ragged garment is not a wedding garment.

And do not despise her because your mother has grown old: I heard one of the elders say that the soul is the mother of the mind;

for he said that she, through the practical virtues, brings the mind forth into the light;

and by 'soul' he meant the passible part of the soul, which is divided into anger and desire;

for through courage, he says, and temperance we acquire wisdom and the knowledge of God;

and courage and temperance are the virtues of anger and of desire.

Do not be drunk with wine: These wines are from the vine of Sodom.

Do not converse with men, but converse during your walks: The mind that converses during its walks walks worthily of the calling to which it was called.

For if you give your eyes to bowls and cups: The sin that is according to thought resembles a bowl, but the sin that is according to deed resembles a cup.

Afterward you will walk more naked than a pestle: The pestle strikes many times, and does not open the place it strikes.

But to the disciples the Lord says:

Knock, and it will be opened to you.

When your eyes see a strange woman, then your mouth will speak crooked things: The mind that has received an alien notion will meditate on evil thoughts;

but he who keeps himself will inherit life.

And like a helmsman in a great swell: being carried about by every wind of teaching.

When will it be dawn?: The dawn of the soul is the recognition of sin.

War is waged with good governance: Those who suffer shipwreck concerning the faith do not war, with proper governance, against the spirits that oppose right theology.

And it is possible to say this same thing also of every virtue;

for there is shipwreck also with respect to temperance, and to love, and to freedom from love of money; and likewise shipwreck occurs with respect to each doctrine of the catholic and apostolic Church.

But if it is necessary to war against our adversaries with governance, then our life upon the earth is like a sea-battle.

At the gates the wise do not turn aside from the mouth (

of the Lord): The gates of the wise are the practical virtues, through which the wisdom of God enters.

But uncleanness will be defiled by a pestilent man: If vice diminishes virtue, then clearly virtue also destroys vice;

and this will come to pass in the age to come, until vice fails entirely;

for he has used 'will be defiled' in place of 'will be destroyed';

and uncleanness is destroyed either by the practical life or by severe punishment.

Rescue those being led to death, and ransom those being slain — do not hold back: This saying must be applied to those who have been deemed worthy of knowledge yet neglect teaching, while many are being led away by vice to death.

Eat honey, my son, for the honeycomb is good, that your throat may be sweetened: He eats honey who is profited from the divine Scriptures;

but he who draws out the words from the very realities themselves — the realities from which the holy prophets and apostles also drew them — eats the honeycomb;

and to eat honey belongs to anyone who wishes, but the honeycomb belongs only to the pure.

Do not bring the impious to the pasture of the righteous: Do not betray God for the sake of pleasure;

for he is the pasture of the righteous, and he will by no means forsake you.

If your enemy falls, do not rejoice over him: God turns his wrath away from the one who has fallen, having had mercy on him;

but he is angry with the one who is puffed up over the downfall of his enemy;

for everyone who rejoices over a perishing soul is like the devil, who does not want all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.

It should be noted that here he has spoken of the enemy as a man, on whose behalf the Lord has also enjoined us in the Gospels to pray.

For the offspring of the wicked will by no means come to be: The wicked will not beget virtues and right doctrines — for these are the offspring of the soul — because they do not fear the Lord;

their hope will not depart.

Fear the Lord, my son, and the king: That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

But who will know the punishments of both?: How then does the Savior say in the Gospels:

'The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son'? Or rather, punishment is one thing, and judgment another;

and punishment is the deprivation of freedom from passion and of the knowledge of God, together with bodily anguish;

but judgment is the coming-to-be of an age, as he apportions it to each of the rational bodies according to due proportion.

For the tongue of a king is a sword, and not a fleshly one: Even the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

and 'not fleshly' stands in place of 'not perceptible to the senses'.

For if his anger is sharpened, he consumes men together with their sinews: The sword of God consumes the old men who are being corrupted according to the desires of deceit, so that, having put off the old man, they may put on the new man created according to God.

And it burns up like a flame: For I came to cast fire upon the earth.

So as to be inedible to the eaglets: This one is inedible to the demons — he who has been purified by the Lord and abstains from all vice.

For I am most foolish of all men: He called himself most foolish by way of privation of human prudence.

Who has ascended into heaven and descended? No one has ascended up into heaven, except the Son of Man who descended from heaven.

Who has gathered the winds in his bosom? Who, by faith, or in every sense, gathered those from east and west and north and sea in the knowledge of God, and gave them spiritual contemplation to store up in the virtues? And otherwise: who through true knowledge hid false knowledge? Who has bound up water in a garment? Who has stored up true knowledge in the virtues? Who has grasped all the ends of the earth? Who from east and west and north and sea gathered all the nations, condensing them by the virtues, and storing up the heavenly water that flows from the fountain of life?

Add not to his words: For it is not possible to add to the law of the Lord, nor to take away from it.

Remove far from me vain and false speech: Remove far from me knowledge falsely so called.

Lest, being filled, I become false, and say, 'Who sees me?': That I may not, he says, being filled with knowledge, become a proud hearer, and say, 'No one shall know my wisdom.'

lest, being filled with unapproachable knowledge, I should appear to men as a liar, saying such things as those bound by blood and flesh are unable to know.

And rightly is the following also added: 'Lest, being made poor, I steal, and swear by the name of God.'

For one steals another's contemplated truths, in order to fill a hungry mind.

But this indeed took place before the coming of the Savior.

Let him who steals steal no longer, but rather let him work righteousness, that having acquired knowledge he may share it also with him who has need. For what is there that is not ours, that we who have believed in Christ should steal it? For all things are ours, and we are Christ's, through whom all things came to be, and Christ is God's.

Or, being poor, I steal, and swear by the name of my God: This one steals knowledge — not he who receives that of the one who went before him, but he who pilfers from knowledge falsely so called.

For indeed all who have believed in Christ, receiving contemplated truths from the holy prophets and apostles, are not called thieves of another's contemplated truths, but rather heirs of their fathers' possessions.

Deliver not a servant into the hands of his master: Do not deliver back to vice a mind that has fled vice, since everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

And here 'sin' designates the devil who works sin.

But a good blessing shall come upon them: The good blessing is the spiritual blessing, which is distinguished from the sensible blessing.

[...ōn]: He has here called the contemplation of the world a 'field.'

But the field in the Gospels belongs to the man composed of soul and body, for it is a perceptible field.

But the field signified here belongs to the mind alone, being intelligible, and composed of the principles of this world, into which pure hearts enter.

And you shall rebuild your house: For a house is built with wisdom.

But wisdom will not enter into a soul that devises evil.

But the fences of its stones are being torn down: The fence is the freedom from passion of the rational soul, composed of the works of the practical life.

The eye that mocks a father, and dishonors the old age of a mother, let the ravens of the valleys pluck it out: These ravens mystically feed the righteous, but punish the unrighteous, gouging out the eyes of unrighteousness, because they mocked the Father and God of all, and dishonored the ancient knowledge that begot them.

And those that gouge out the eyes of the impious man he called ravens, but those that devour him entirely he named eagles, because the former are entrusted with partial purification, and the latter with total purification.

And a he-goat leading the flock of goats: If the impure are the goats standing on the left hand of the Savior, and the he-goat leads them, then perhaps the he-goat here signifies the devil.

And they shall not be able to judge all rightly (

...) the weak: They shall not be able to teach rightly.

(...give) strong drink to those in griefs: He who is made drunk from the fatness of the house of the Lord forgets his sorrows.

And discern the poor and the weak: He calls 'poor' the one deprived of knowledge, and 'weak' the impure one.

The glory of God conceals a word: He called the one who has the glory of God 'the glory of God,' and he named the one who has the glory of the heavenly king 'the glory of the king.'

For these hide the Word of God within themselves, so that they may not sin, and they honor the commandments by doing them.

And we have often remarked on this: that those who possess the virtues and the vices are named after the virtues and the vices they possess.

Thus, 'The Lord is righteous, and has loved righteous deeds,' instead of saying 'righteous people.'

And, 'The fear of the Lord hates unrighteousness, insolence, and arrogance,' that is, the unrighteous man, the insolent man, and the arrogant man.

And here too, he has named the one who has the glory of God 'the glory of God,' and the one who has the glory of the king 'the glory of the king.'

Or perhaps he calls 'the glory of God' the one who glorifies God, and 'the glory of the king' the one who glorifies the king, so that what is said would mean the following:

He who glorifies God conceals his word, and he who glorifies the king honors his commandments.

For he who dishonors him, dishonors him through transgression of the law.

Slay the impious from before the face of the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness: He who by spiritual word puts to death the old man, who is corrupted according to the desires of deceit, establishes in righteousness his own mind, which is said to be the throne of God.

For wisdom and knowledge and righteousness are by nature disposed to dwell nowhere else than in a rational nature.

And all these are Christ.

And do not stand in the places of the mighty: Do not say, 'Above the stars I will set my throne; I will be like the Most High.'

For it is better that it be said of you, 'Wherefore God also highly exalted him, and granted him the name that is above every name.'

(Rush not) into strife hastily: By 'strife' he alluded to vice.

...) and he makes mention both of a friend and of friendship.

Therefore it is fitting now to attend to the term, as to what 'friendship' intends to signify by it.

For, it says, grace and friendship set free.

And yet the Savior in the Gospels says to the Jews who had believed in him:

If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and the truth shall set you free.

Christ has freed us from the curse of the law.

If, therefore, friendship sets free, and truth sets free, and the Savior sets free, then Christ is the truth and the friendship.

Whence also all who possess the knowledge of Christ are friends of one another.

Thus also the Savior called the disciples friends, and John was the friend of the bridegroom, as were Moses and all the saints.

And it is only in this friendship that those who are friends of the same one are also friends of one another.

But keep your ways in good faith: He who has been taught concerning the virtues, and acts according to them, keeps his ways in good faith.

A golden apple in a setting of sardius stone: As a golden apple fits a sardius stone, so the knowledge of God fits a pure soul.

(In an) earring of gold, a precious sardius is bound.

A wise word into an attentive ear: Cast a precious sardius into a golden earring, and the wisdom of the Lord into a mind free from passion.

As the falling of snow in harvest benefits against the heat: As snow cools the burning heat, so the knowledge of the saints dissolves the soul's weariness.

But a soft tongue crushes bones: Here he has named the irascible soul 'soft' — the soul which crushes the bones that are naturally disposed to speak.

Lord, who is like you? Rarely set your foot toward your (

...own) friend['s house]: One ought rarely to touch upon theological questions, and not do this frequently, lest we say something of what ought not be said of God, and, as impious men, fall away from spiritual knowledge — since the mind, on account of its own weakness, is unable to gaze continuously upon such contemplation.

(the way) of evil, and the foot (of...

...of the) transgressor shall perish in an evil day: That is, vice and transgression shall perish in the day of judgment.

Thus a passion falling upon the body grieves the heart: The passions that befall the heart are the vices.

Of which, by privation, he who is free from passion is named.

Thus grief harms a man's heart: There is a blameworthy grief, which is the privation of corruptible pleasure;

and there is a praiseworthy grief, which is the privation of the virtues and of the knowledge of God.

For by doing this you will heap coals of fire upon the head (

'his head' [variant reading]) of him: By kindness and beneficence, cleansing his ruling faculty.

'A shameless face provokes the tongue': By 'a shameless face' he means the devil, who provokes the soul;

[…]) and by 'the tongue' he means the mind;

therefore it is not good 'to show partiality to this face in judgment.'

'Good news from a distant land': Thus is the knowledge of God from the land of the meek.