Divine Providence and the Folly of Unbelief
Like the calves. For in the Revelation of John, the souls of those having been perfected through the name of Jesus and his testimony have been seen under the heavenly altar (Rev 6:9).
Who then would justify such a tragedy, when the one who leads irrational animals is supposed to be a shepherd? For we are without a leader. David, having realized his own great wickedness, spoke the words of the psalm (Ps 51) as if to the one moving him through envy, the devil, as if he were present.
The phrase 'The name of the Day let them reveal here' signifies the whole time in which he goes astraye bringing punishment, the drowning signifying chastisement, just as the lips of the unthinking drown him.
And the Edomite is not truly interpreted as earthly, always shaking because of being uncertain; for he is interpreted as being in a state of instability, he who, having worked slander against the healers of God, loved a deceitful tongue and with it words drowning him. And the Gospel signifies drowning to be the punishment, saying to the one causing scandal among the little ones in the church: 'It is better to be drowned in the depths of the sea' (Matt 18:6), with a millstone hung around his neck.
Because he loved evil to the end, he falls completely, as one not well built but also as one badly planted; 'Every planting which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be uprooted' (Matt 15:13); but he will be made to migrate from the holy tent, casting out and driving you away from that tent, whom you have slandered and into whom you have led to death, even the root of the living. For even if you were an Edomite, if you had attached yourself to Israel through the instruction of the law, you were planted in the tent and in the land of the living; for if you did not have reverence toward the God of Israel, you would not have even begun to disturb the sanctuary. And the things said against this man will apply to all those falling away from piety.
The very pious, those falling away from virtue into wickedness, receive a fear lest they themselves suffer the same. Nor will they dare to mock the fallen, as if saying they would laugh at him.
Thus a man does not set God as his helper; for he has not cast out his servants and attendants. Connect this to the fact that he who rejects you, rejects me. Ps 51:11 Thanksgiving through confessing to God shows that he has done it, perhaps what he had previously set forth. For he had set forth to flee from Saul.
But also, 'what shall I do?' he says, 'your name is such that I might encounter whatever is good and full of goodness in the presence of your holy things'; Ps 52:2a for those having been made steadfast by the holiness of your goodness perceive it.
One is called foolish if he is lacking divine wisdom. For it appears that the word which does not preserve common sense is not about anything. For knowing that a thought of God has been cast upon every soul, embracing ungodliness, he is a god to no one except to his own heart. And thus the foolish devil does not act toward the heart of another (but his own is lying prostrate before God), but toward that which has become from him through sinning, he is a god to no one except to himself. Ps 52:2b
For he who has thought badly concerning God enters into wickedness; for casting out the piety of his own soul, he has also cast out with it all virtue following it like a royal garment of piety. Therefore, those saying through foolishness that God does not exist have corrupted their own mind by practicing lawlessness, from which they became loathsome, that is, they have become abominable. If it is chosen hereafter. Ps 52:2c
All those sinning, even those who seem to do good, not strictly and truly doing, but so that they might take a pattern of it through a mirror and an enigma, doing it himself. Ps 52:2c
The present verse introduces providence, of not only those in heaven but also those on earth; Ps 52:3 for it has been said to look down providently from heaven upon the sons of men, not looking upon them from without only according to the body, but also according to the hidden part of the heart. He looks upon the sons of men, so that I might know if he is one who understands by doing the good and seeking God by examining the truth. And it has been said in a human way that he stoops from heaven to see if he understands; for great, if not in this way, is the impact.
Greek
μόσχων δίκην. ἐν γὰρ τῇ ̓Αποκαλύψει ̓Ιωάννου αἱ τῶν πεπελεκισμένων ψυχαὶ διὰ τὸ ο νομα ̓Ιησοῦ καὶτὴν μαρτυρίαν αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ τὸ θυσιαστήριον τὸ ἐπουράνιον τεθεώρηνται. 552 Ps 51 αργ Τίνα δὲ δεῖ τῆς τοσαύτης τραγῳδίας πρόφασιν παρασχεῖν η τὸν νομέα τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων; ἀγελάρχης γὰρ η ν ἡμιόνων. ὁ γοῦν ∆αυὶδ συνεὶς τὴν πολλὴν αὐτοῦ κακίαν η τὸν κινήσαντα τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ φθόνον διάβολον ὡς πρὸς παρόντα τὰς λέξεις ἐφθέγξατο τοῦ ψαλμοῦ. 553 Ps 51,3 β Τὸ ο νομα τὸ ̔Ημέρα ἐνταῦθα φανέρωσιν δηλοῖ η ο λον τὸν χρόνον καθ' ο ν ἀνομεῖ. 554 Ps 51,6 Καταποντισμοῦ ῥήματά ἐστι τὰ τιμωρίαν φέροντα, τοῦ καταποντισμοῦ σημαίνοντος κόλασιν ὡς καὶ Τοῦ α φρονος δὲ χείλη καταποντιζοῦσιν αὐτόν. καὶ ∆ωὴκ ου ν ὁ ̓Ιδουμαῖος ἀληθῶς γήινος ἑρμηνευόμενος, ἀεὶ κλονούμενος τῷ ἀβέβαιος ει ναι· εἰς σάλον γὰρ ∆ωὴκ ἑρμηνεύεται ο ς διαβολὴν ἐργασάμενος κατὰ θεραπευτῶν θεοῦ ἠγάπησε γλῶσσαν δολίαν καὶ σὺν αὐτῇ ῥήματα καταποντίζοντα αὐτόν. δηλοῖ δὲ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον καταποντισμὸν ει ναι τὴν κόλασιν λέγον τῷ σκανδαλίζοντι ε να τῶν μικρῶν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ· Συμφέρει καταποντισθῆναι ἐν τῷ πελάγει τῆς θαλάσσης 103 περικεισόμενον αὐτῷ μύλον ὀνικὸν περὶ τὸν τράχηλον αὐτοῦ. 555 Ps 51,7 ∆ιὰ τὸ ἠγαπηκέναι τὰ βλαβερὰ εἰς τέλος τουτέστι παντελῶς καθελεῖ σε ὡς οὐ καλῶς οἰκοδομηθέντα ἀλλὰ καὶ ὡς κακῶς φυτευθέντα ἐκτῖλαι ὁ φάσκων Πᾶσα φυτεία η ν οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ οὐράνιος ἐκριζωθήσεται· ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦ ἱεροῦ σκηνώματος μεταναστεῦσαι ποιήσει, ἐκβάλλων καὶ φυγαδεύων σε ἐκ τῆς σκηνῆς ἐκείνης η ς τοὺς ἱερεῖς διαβέβληκας καὶ εἰς θάνατον η γαγες, ε τι μὴν Καὶ τὸ ῥίζωμά σου ἐκ γῆς ζώντων. εἰ γὰρ καὶ ̓Ιδουμαῖος η ν ἀλλὰ προσηλύτευσας τῷ ̓Ισραὴλ διὰ τῆς τοῦ νόμου κατηχήσεως, ἐν τῷ σκηνώματι καὶ τῇ τῶν ζώντων γῇ πεφύτευτο· εἰ γὰρ μὴ ει χε σέβας πρὸς τὸν τοῦ ̓Ισραὴλ θεόν, οὐδ' α ν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ ἐνοχλούμενος η ρχετο. τὰ δὲ πρὸς τοῦτον λεγόμενα ἁρμόσει πρὸς πάντας τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας μεταπίπτοντας. 556 Ps 51,8.9a Οἱ πάνυ εὐλαβεῖς, ο ταν μεταπίπτοντας ἐξ ἀρετῆς εἰς κακίαν ι δωσί τινας, φόβον λαμβάνουσι μὴ τὰ αὐτὰ πάθοιεν. ου τοι δὲ καὶ ἐπικερτομήσαιεν κατὰ τοῦ ἁλόντος ὡς ἐπ' αὐτῷ γελᾶν ἐροῦντες Ου τος ὁ α νθρωπος οὐκ ε θετο τὸν θεὸν βοηθὸν αὐτοῦ· η γὰρ α ν οὐ διέβαλε τοὺς δούλους καὶ θεραπόντας αὐτοῦ. συμβαλεῖς τούτοις τὸ ̔Ο ὑμᾶς ἀθετῶν ἐμὲ ἀθετεῖ. 557 Ps 51,11 Εὐχαριστίαν διὰ τοῦ ἐξομολογεῖσθαι τῷ θεῷ δηλοῖ ἐπὶ τῷ πεποιηκέναι αὐτόν, ι σως α ᾐτήσατο η α προτέθειτο. προθέμενος γὰρ η ν φυγεῖν τὸν Σαούλ. ̓Αλλὰ καὶ ε τι ὑπομενῶ, φησίν, τὸ ο νομά σου ε στ' α ν αὐτοῦ τύχω ο τι χρηστὸν καὶ ἀγαθότητός ἐστι πλῆρες ἐναντίον τῶν ὁσίων σου· οἱ γὰρ ὁσιότητα κατορθώσαντες τῆς χρηστότητος τοῦ ὀνόματός σου αἰσθάνονται. 558 Ps 52,2a Αφρονα ἡγητέον λέγεσθαι τὸν φρονήσεως θείας στερούμενον. φαίνεται γὰρ ου τος περὶ ου ὁ λόγος μὴ σῴζων κοινὴν φρένα. εἰδὼς γὰρ πάσῃ ψυχῇ ε ννοιαν θεοῦ καταβεβλημένην, ἀθεότητα ἀσπαζόμενος, οὐδενὶ α λλῳ εἰ μὴ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ καρδίᾳ ει πεν μὴ ει ναι θεόν. καὶ ου τως ὁ α φρων διάβολος οὐ τῇ ἀλλοτρίᾳ ἑαυτοῦ καρδίᾳ (αυ τη δ' ε στιν ἡ ἀνακειμένη θεῷ) ἀλλὰ τῇ ἐξ αὐτοῦ διὰ τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν γεγενημένῃ ει πεν μὴ ει ναι θεόν. 559 Ps 52,2b ̔Ο γὰρ κακῶς περὶ θεοῦ φρονήσας καὶ εἰς τὴν α λλην ε ρχεται κακίαν· τὴν γὰρ εὐσέβειαν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς ἐκβάλλων συνεκβέβληκεν αὐτῇ πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν ἀκολουθοῦσαν ὡς βασιλίδι τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ. οἱ γοῦν δι' ἀφροσύνην λέγοντες μὴ ει ναι θεὸν διέφθειραν τὴν ἑαυτῶν γνώμην ἐν ἀνομίαις αι ς ε πραξαν, ἐξ ω ν ἐβδελύχθησαν τουτέστι βδελυκτοὶ γεγόνασιν. Ει θ' ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγεται. 560 Ps 52,2c Η πάντων ἁμαρτανόντων η καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν δοκούντων τὸ ἀγαθὸν ποιεῖν, οὐ κυρίως καὶ ἀληθῶς ποιούντων ἀλλ' ι να κα ν τύπον αὐτοῦ λάβωσι δι' ἐσόπτρου καὶ αἰνίγματος αὐτὸ ποιούντων. 561 Ps 52,3 ̔Ο παρὼν στίχος προνοητὴν εἰσάγει τὸν θεόν, οὐ τῶν κατ' οὐρανὸν μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς· ἐξ οὐρανοῦ γὰρ ἐφορᾶν προνοητικῶς τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ει ρηται, οὐκ ε ξωθεν κατὰ τὸ σῶμα μόνον ἐπιβλέπων αὐτοὺς ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὸ κρυπτὸν τῆς καρδίας. ἐπιβλέπει γοῦν ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ο πως ι δῃ εἰ ε στιν ὁ διὰ τοῦ καλὸν ποιεῖν συνιὼν καὶ διὰ τοῦ ἐξετάζειν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐκζητῶν τὸν θεόν. ἀνθρωπίνως δὲ καὶ ἀφ' ω ν ι σμεν ει ρηται τὸ διακύπτειν αὐτὸν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἰδεῖν εἰ ε στιν συνιών· μεγάλῃ γάρ, ι ν' ου τως ει πω, προσβολῇ
About this text
Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.
Original English Translation — new OET from PG Greek.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.