詩篇註釋 第 31 章

Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures unto the age.

The verse of the psalm which the people are accustomed to sing in response is of this sort:

This is the day which the Lord has made;

let us rejoice and be glad in it.

And it rouses up many, and it is especially at that spiritual solemn assembly and at the heavenly festival that the people are wont to chant this in response.

But let us, if you please, go through the whole psalm from the top and from the beginning, making our exposition not from the verse of the response, but from the very prologue itself.

For the Fathers ordained that the multitude should chant that verse in response, inasmuch as it is a refrain and contains a certain lofty teaching, since they were ignorant of the whole psalm, so that at least from this they might receive a complete instruction.

But it is necessary for us to go through the whole of it, even though its middle portions contain much prophecy.

The stone which the builders rejected, this same has become the head of the corner.

This is what Christ also said to the Jews, though still more enigmatically; for they were yet seething with rage, and He did not wish to inflame it further.

For a bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not quench; yet nonetheless He did say it.

But let us take hold of the psalm from the prologue, just as we anticipated.

What then is the prologue? Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures unto the age.

For the Prophet, having pondered the benefaction bestowed upon the whole world, and the enduring loving-kindness which He has displayed through all things, calls all men into the fellowship of thanksgiving, setting forth in their midst the greatest sum of His good gifts.

Let the house of Israel now say that He is good, that His mercy endures unto the age.

What are you saying? The house of Israel, which endured countless captivities, which was enslaved in Egypt, which was carried off to the uttermost ends of the world, which suffered countless miseries in Palestine? Yes, he says.

For these above all are witnesses of His good gifts, and they enjoyed more of them than did others.

And this very thing which they suffered is itself a proof of great benefaction.

But if anyone should examine the matter closely, they ought above all to give thanks even for the coming of Christ Himself.

For even though they endured the opposite, this was not owing to Him who came, but owing to their own senselessness.

For He came to them, and continually said:

I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel;

Go not into the way of the Gentiles;

but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel;

It is not good to take the children's bread and to give it to the little dogs.

For He did and undertook everything for the sake of their salvation.

But if they proved unworthy of the benefaction, let them reckon it to their own transgressions and to the excess of their senselessness.

Let the house of Aaron now say that He is good, that His mercy endures unto the age.

Here he calls the priests separately to the singing of hymns, showing how surpassing a thing the priesthood is.

For by how much these were greater than the rest, by so much also did they enjoy more honor from God, not only in respect of the office of priesthood, but also in respect of all other things.

For indeed, when fire was brought down, it was brought down for their sakes; and the earth was opened, and the rod budded, and countless other things came to pass for their sakes—or rather, wonders were wrought on their behalf.

Let all who fear God therefore declare that He is good, and that His mercy endures unto the age.

For these especially are the ones able to behold His love toward mankind, and through all things to learn thoroughly His goodness.

And what does it mean, 'that His mercy endures unto the age'? Perpetual, he says, never broken off, but shining forth and displayed through all things.

But if not many see it, it is because of the weakness of their own reasonings that they do not see.

Since even the sun, those whose eyesight is diseased do not, for this very reason, behold;

just as not even those who are healthy are always able to gaze fixedly upon it, because of the excess of its brightness;

so neither is it possible to learn with full precision the whole providence of God, because the greatness of His understanding and wisdom exceeds beyond measure the reasonings of men.

And there are also the many passions which cast a shadow over the foolish, so that they do not see it at all.

and for this reason they run past even the things that are plain to all.

Together with these, second is folly and the perversity of judgment.

For how is it not absurd, when one sees a father striking his child, to approve and praise him, and on this very account to reckon him most truly a father;

yet toward God, if He should be willing to demand a reckoning for what has been done, to be vexed and distressed? And what could be worse than this perversity, seeing that they are vexed even at contrary things—now grieved that He does not proceed against wrongdoers;

and now because He does proceed against them? For when they see certain men seizing and defrauding others, they want them to pay the penalty;

but when they themselves are sinning, not at all;

which is the mark of a corrupted judgment.

Third, in addition to these, is their not even knowing what is truly good and what is truly evil, but being deceived concerning the judgment of matters, because of their love of wickedness and their proneness to vice.

Fourth, their not even taking account of their own sins.

Fifth, that the distance between them and God is unspeakable and great.

Sixth, that God does not will to display all things everywhere, since even the things that come to pass in part are sufficient.

We must therefore learn in all things not to be contentious about God's governance; for we are contending against matters that are unmanageable and that far exceed all created nature;

but those who are to know it in part must be delivered from the passions aforementioned, and they shall see it brighter than the sun—even if not the whole of it—and having learned from the part, they will give thanks also for the whole.

Out of affliction I called upon the Lord, and He heard me and brought me into a broad place.

Do you see His goodness and love toward mankind? He did not say, 'I was worthy';

he did not say, 'I displayed righteous deeds,' but only that 'I called upon Him'; and the prayer alone sufficed to loose the calamity—which very thing He says also concerning the Egyptians:

'I have surely seen the affliction of My people, and I have come down to deliver them.'

He did not say, 'I saw the virtue of My people,' nor 'their change for the better';

but, 'the affliction, and their cry I heard.'

Do you see a tender-hearted Father, helping merely on account of their misfortunes? And yet not everyone in affliction is even worthy of being saved, not even among men.

At any rate, when we see many of our household servants being scourged and in pain, we do not relent, considering the greatness of their offenses;

but God relented on account of the affliction alone;

and He not only relented from the affliction, but also imparted much freedom from fear.

'For He heard me,' he says, 'unto a broad place.'

And the affliction too was permitted for this reason: to make those afflicted more careful and more given to wisdom.

The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me.

Do you see the loftiness of his mind? Do you see a spirit thus rising above human weakness, so as to look down upon all of nature? Let us not merely chant these things, but let us also display them through our deeds.

He did not say, 'I shall suffer nothing,' but, 'I will not fear what man shall do to me.'

That is to say, 'Even if I suffer, I am not afraid';

If God is for us, who is against us? And indeed there were countless ones against them;

For how would it not be the utmost pusillanimity, when we have the Master gracious toward us, to be afraid of our fellow servants? But this man is not such; rather, he is higher and altogether more exalted than fears of this kind.

This, then, let us also do, and let us not deprive ourselves of the Master's alliance by dreading the things of men.

For this is the mark of those who insult the help of God.

Wherefore Hezekiah too is said to have suffered what he suffered, because—when the sun had gone back and again climbed the steps it had descended, and a sign had been given great enough to astound all who came desiring to learn of these things—he chose to overawe them not by what had come to pass from God, but by human means, in his dread of their assault.

For this reason he even displayed his treasures to them, having his hopes fixed on the treasures.

Wherefore God, being provoked, says: They shall take all these things away.

That is to say: By those in whom you hoped, in whom you put your confidence.

For this too Israel is charged, that they trusted in riches and in horses.

Wherefore the prophet exhorted them to appease God by the opposite course, and to say:

We will not mount upon horses.

God honors you, and do you dishonor yourself? God honors you by promising the alliance that comes from Himself, and do you flee for refuge to human hopes, and entrust the hope of your salvation to lifeless matter—to riches? For He does not seek merely to save, but also to do it with honor.

He loves you exceedingly, and for this reason, drawing you away from all things, He fastens you to Himself, and cutting away everything, He leads you to Himself, all but saying this by the things He does:

Keep your hopes in Me, and attend to Me continually.

The Lord is my helper, and I shall look upon my enemies.

You see him neither avenging himself, nor

going out against them, but yielding it up to God to take vengeance on his enemies? It is good to trust in the Lord rather than to trust in man.

It is good to hope in the Lord rather than to hope in princes.

He does not bring these things forward by way of comparison; rather, it is customary for Scripture to employ this manner of speaking even with regard to things that admit of no comparison, on account of the weakness of those who then heard.

He does not, therefore, say this as one comparing, but as one condescending to them.

For this very reason another prophet also said:

Cursed is everyone who hopes in man.

for nothing is more worthless than this hope;

for indeed it is more worthless even than the spider's web itself;

or rather, it is not only weak, but also perilous.

And this those know full well who, having many times put their confidence in men, were dragged down together with those very men.

But the hope that is set upon God is not only strong, but also secure, admitting of no change.

And hope does not put to shame.

And another wise man says: Look to the generations of old, and see: who ever hoped in the Lord and was put to shame?

But, someone says, I hoped, and I was put to shame.

Speak reverently, O man; do not contradict the divine Scripture;

even if you were put to shame, it came from your not hoping as you ought, from your giving way, from your not awaiting the end, from your faint-heartedness.

but whenever you see terrors pressing upon you, do not collapse.

For this most of all is to hope: to stand upright when one has been set in the midst of hardships.

What was more wretched than those barbarians—I mean the Ninevites? Yet, standing in the very snare and expecting that the city would fall, not even so did they despair, but displayed exact repentance;

and thereby they brought it about that God's sentence was reversed once more.

Do you see how great is the strength of hope? And what of the prophet himself? Was he not, while in the belly of the whale, mindful of the temple and of his return to Jerusalem? You too, therefore, even if you should enter into death itself, and though the magnitude of so many dangers should hang over you, do not despair.

For it is possible for God even to find a way out of what is without a way.

Wherefore a certain wise man also said:

From morning until evening there are many changes, and all things are swift before Him.

Have you not seen the man beset with need going hungry amid plenty? Have you not seen the widow abounding in the midst of famine? Whenever your affairs fall into hopeless straits, then most of all hope.

For then above all does God display His own power—not at the outset, but whenever the help that comes from men is despaired of.

For this is the very moment for the help of God.

It was for this reason that He did not snatch the young men away at the very outset, but only after the furnace;

nor did He deliver Daniel before he fell in, but only after the seven days.

Do not, then, fix your attention on the nature of circumstances that cast one into despair, but on the power of God, which leads things given up as hopeless into good hopes.

And so the Psalmist, wishing to show this very thing and to set forth how readily God's power operates—that it is able to draw up again even those who have fallen into the very midst of terrors and have been swallowed down, and not merely from the outset—hear what he adds:

All the nations compassed me about.

Do you see the inescapable danger? For the battle was not one of pitched ranks, nor of foes standing face to face in the open, but he was hemmed in from within, encircled as though by a dragnet, and held fast as if by hunting-nets—not by one, nor two, nor three, but by all the nations together.

and yet all these bonds were rent asunder by his hope in God.

And in the name of the Lord I drove them off.

They compassed me about, yea, they compassed me about; and in the name of the Lord I drove them off.

They compassed me about like bees about a honeycomb, and they blazed up like fire among thorns; and in the name of the Lord I drove them off.

Do you see how he depicts the magnitude of the terrors? For he did not simply say, 'They compassed me,' but 'Like bees,' and 'as fire among thorns';

by the bees hinting at the vehemence of their eagerness, and by the thorns at the unbearable heat of their fury and the unquenchable nature of their wrath.

For what could withstand fire that has fallen among thorns? Yet nonetheless, he says, though they had been kindled so fiercely, so swiftly, and had caught me in their midst, I not only escaped, but even drove them back.

Observe this coming to pass even in the case of matter itself.

For indeed fire was burning a bush, and neither was the bush consumed nor was the fire quenched, but the two remained in contact with one another, and yet were not consumed away.

And yet what is more decayed than a bush? And what more consuming than fire? But nonetheless the wonder-working power of God, working the paradox, allowed both to remain.

And some such paradox was coming to pass at that time also.

For they rushed on like fire, they fell upon me eagerly like bees, they held me hemmed in within, and yet were able to accomplish nothing.

For the unconquerable weapon, the invincible ally—the name of God—drove them all away.

I was thrust at and made to totter, that I might fall, but the Lord upheld me.

He told of the magnitude of the terrors—from the multitude, from the formation, from the eagerness, from the wrath of those assailing him;

he tells also of what he himself suffered.

So mightily, he says, did the terrors prevail over me, that I even came near to falling and being cast down.

For I was so overturned by being thrust, that I was about to fall down;

but when at last I was about to be brought to my knees and laid low, and when all that is human had been despaired of, then He displayed His own aid.

And God does this so that no one may embezzle for himself the glory that belongs to Him.

This He did also in the history of the Judges, in the case of Gideon.

For this reason too, in the case of Hezekiah, He set up the trophy while it was night.

For even though that man contributed nothing to the victory and to the war, yet he grew presumptuous;

if he had merely stood by at the battle line, if he had seen the slain falling, would he not have suffered this all the more? Therefore, whenever affairs are despaired of as far as human hope is concerned, then He brings in the aid that comes from Himself.

This He did also in the case of Goliath;

this too in the case of the apostles.

'But we ourselves had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.'

The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.

He Himself became my power and my help.

And what is it that he means by 'my song'? My glory, my praise, my adornment, my splendour.

For He does not merely deliver from dangers, but also makes men illustrious and renowned;

and everywhere one may see this—salvation given together with glory.

And by this he hints also at something further.

And what is this? 'Because this,' he says, 'is my perpetual song, this is my perpetual voice—the hymn that is offered to Him; this is my work, to praise Him without ceasing.'

Let those give ear who rot away in satanic songs—what harm they endure, and what pardon they could possibly obtain, when this man perpetually hymns the Saviour, while they perpetually wallow in the songs of the demons.

'The voice of rejoicing and of salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous.'

For when God sets all things aright, those who enjoy the victory rejoice and leap for joy, gladdened with a twofold gladness: both because they were saved, and because they were saved through God.

This is what he who has set up the trophy makes his gladness.

Then, showing also the source of such an alliance, he added:

He did not say 'in houses,' but 'in tabernacles,' wishing to set forth the makeshift and improvised character of their dwelling.

Such was the tent of Abraham, when he returned after having overcome the barbarians, made illustrious by his exploits.

Such was the tent of Paul, when he returned after having overcome the demons, overthrowing error and recounting his exploits.

'The right hand of the Lord has wrought power; the right hand of the Lord has exalted me.'

See the ground of his exultation.

For he says now the very thing which he said before,

showing that it was God who accomplished these things.

You see that His benefaction consists not only in deliverance from evils, but also in the acquisition of distinction:

'The right hand of the Lord has wrought power'—he added:

'The right hand of the Lord has exalted me,' that he might make clear the glory that had come to him.

For the phrase 'has exalted me' is equivalent to 'has glorified.'

For He made them not only powerful, but also glorious.

'I shall not die, but live, and shall declare the works of the Lord.'

'The dangers,' he says, 'threatened death;'

'but as for me, I shall not die, but live.'

That is to say, such is the Master's power to work wonders, that He snatched him from death itself, and even before the New Covenant, in these marvellous dangers, He sketched out beforehand the image of the resurrection.

For He gave us enigmas even from the beginning, when He translated Enoch.

For if you disbelieve that it is possible for bodies to rise again, believe it from this.

For how did that body last for so long a time? For it is not the same thing to raise up a house that has been destroyed and to keep in being one that is decayed and old for so long a time.

Do you not consider that He made the things which were not? Then much more is He able to raise them up again.

You have also another image of the resurrection—I mean the taking up of Elijah, who has not to this very day died.

All things are easy and effortless for God.

'With God,' it says, 'no word shall be impossible.'

'All things whatsoever He willed, He did.'

Do you not see that even the works of the carpenter are difficult for you? And yet you nevertheless yield to his craft.

Then, while you yield to the craft of a fellow servant,

do you demand an accounting of the Master's wisdom, and refuse to accept by faith what comes to pass? And of how great folly are these things worthy? 'I shall not die, but live.'

And if anyone should also take what is said in an anagogical sense, he will not err.

For even if this was said concerning the resurrection—since the phrase 'I shall not die' is that of one who declares that not even death is death—yet it is nonetheless understood in another manner as well.

'For I shall not die,' he says, 'the other death,' which Christ also hinted at when He said:

'He who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live;'

'and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.'

'And I shall declare the works of the Lord.'

This above all is life: both to praise Him, and to proclaim to all men His wondrous works.

These are the things which he is about to recount, adding:

The Lord has chastened me sorely, yet he has not given me over to death.

Do you see the marvel of it? Do you see the profit? For he gives thanks not merely because he was delivered, but because, having fallen into trial, he also recognizes it as a very great favour, and he tells the gain that came from the temptation.

And what is this gain? 'The Lord has chastened me sorely,' he says.

This is the profit of dangers: that they made him better.

Do you see his power on both sides, and his providential care, both in allowing him to be caught up in his trials, and again in delivering him? For 'he has not given me over to death,' he says.

And another translator has put it well:

'But he did not give me over to death,' that he might show that the whole matter lay within his authority.

So that he gained a twofold salvation: deliverance from his dangers, and deliverance from wickedness.

Wherefore Paul also said, writing to the Hebrews:

But if you are without chastening, then you are bastards and not sons.

Open to me the gates of righteousness;

entering in by them I will give thanks to the Lord.

To those who are chastened the gates are opened, to those who lay aside their sins.

He who has been chastened can say with boldness:

Open to me the gates of righteousness.

For indeed the saying must also be taken in a higher sense, and the gates must be understood as the gates of the heavens, which are shut to the wicked, and at which one must knock through virtue, through almsgiving, through righteousness.

the righteous shall enter in by it.

There are gates of death, there are gates of destruction, there are gates of life, there are

gates narrow and hard pressed.

For this reason, since they are many, he tells the distinguishing mark of the Lord's gate, adding:

For those others are not the Lord's.

And what is its distinguishing mark? That through it enter those who are chastened, those who are afflicted.

For it is narrow and hard pressed;

and if it is hard pressed, then those who are afflicted will walk through it;

just as that which leads to destruction is broad and spacious.

I will give thanks to you, because you have heard me, and have become my salvation.

He did not simply say, 'You have heard,' but first 'having chastened' and 'having made me better.'

Wherefore he gives thanks, not for the things in which he was heard, but for the things in which he was chastened.

For it was on this account that he was heard; and everywhere this form of thanksgiving is much found with him.

For what I have said, and shall not cease to say, this above all is sacrifice and offering.

The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner.

That the saying refers to Christ is surely plain to everyone.

For he himself in the Gospels brings forward this prophecy, saying:

Did you never read, 'The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner'? And if the saying does not seem to depend upon the narrative itself, but the prophecy has broken in and cut across the sequence in the middle, there is nothing marvellous or strange in this;

for in this way most of the prophecies were uttered in the Old Testament, because they had to be veiled for the time being, lest the very books themselves should be blotted out.

Since the prophecy concerning his birth also seems to depend upon the narrative, yet has nothing in common with it;

as for example: 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive in her womb and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,' which is, being interpreted, 'God with us.'

The stone which the builders rejected.

By 'the builders' he means the Jews, the teachers of the Law, the scribes, the Pharisees, because they rejected him, saying:

'You are a Samaritan, and have a demon.'

'This man is not from God, but rather he leads the crowd astray.'

Yet nevertheless this very One who was rejected proved to be so approved that He became the head of the corner.

For not every stone is suited for the corner, but only the most tried and approved one, the one able to bind together the walls from either side.

What the Prophet says, then, is this: that the One rejected by the Jews and set at nought was shown to be so wonderful that He not only wove together a building, but also bound together two walls.

What sort of walls, then? Those who believe from among the Jews and the Greeks.

even as Paul also says:

'For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that He might create in Himself of the two one new man.'

'being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone.'

But what is said is a heavy accusation against the Jews: that, being builders, they did not judge the suitable stone worthy, but even cast it away as reprobate—the very stone able to weave together such a building.

And if you wish to learn what the two walls are, listen also to Christ Himself when He says:

'And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those also I must bring;'

'and there shall be one flock, one shepherd.'

This also came to pass of old, as in a figure.

For Abraham became the patriarch of both, of those in uncircumcision and of those in circumcision;

but that was as in a figure, whereas this is in truth.

'This One became the head of the corner;'

that is, He bound together both nations.

'From the Lord did this come to pass?' It was not a human thing, he says, that came to pass; it was not the work of one of the many; it was not of angels, nor of archangels, to weave together such a corner.

No one at all had the power—not a righteous man, not a prophet, not an angel, not an archangel—but this achievement belongs to God alone;

for this too is peculiarly His own work.

'From the Lord did this come to pass,' he says;

that is, the wonderful and marvellous work, the work of the corner.

'And it is marvellous in our eyes.'

But what is it that is marvellous? The corner, the coming together of the two nations, their union unto godliness.

For indeed from among the Jews many myriads believed;

and the apostles too were from among the Jews.

For the wonder is not plainly evident to all.

For who would not be astounded, who would not marvel, that where Christ was crucified, there Christ is worshipped;

and those who crucified Him are in dishonour, while those who worship Him are in glory? For indeed the word ran through the whole inhabited world, joining all men to the truth.

It is therefore marvellous even to those who examine it in any way whatever, but far more precisely and clearly so to those who believe.

'This is the day which the Lord has made;'

'let us rejoice and be glad in it.'

By 'day' here he does not mean the course of the sun, but the mighty deeds accomplished in it.

For just as, when he speaks of an evil day, he does not mean the course of the sun, but the evils done in it;

so also by a good day he means the noble deeds accomplished in it.

And what he says is of this sort:

The mighty works of God, those accomplished in it, God wrought;

for it belonged to that Hand alone to bring to completion the things that were done.

What, then, could be equal to this day, on which the reconciliation of God toward men took place, and the long war was brought to an end, and the earth was shown to be heaven, and men unworthy of the earth were shown worthy of the kingdom, and the firstfruits of our nature were borne up above the heavens, and paradise was opened, and we received back our ancient homeland, and the curse was blotted out, and sin was loosed, and those who had been punished through the law obtained salvation apart from the law, and all the earth and sea came to know their own Master, and ten thousand other things came to pass, which it is not now possible to recount in words? For this very reason the Prophet, having pondered all these things, ascribes the whole to God, showing that the things which have been accomplished are the works of God.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

By 'gladness' here he means the spiritual gladness, the intellectual gladness, that of the understanding.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it, because we have obtained so many good things.

For this too is no small achievement: to rejoice over good things, to leap for joy, to be glad, and with pleasure to receive the benefactions of God.

Since he beheld the prosperity of the whole world, and the transformation of affairs, and the change for the better, rejoicing together with those who enjoy it he said:

That is: preserve now those who enjoy it, so that they may be filled full, and may display fruits worthy of the grace;

make the way easy for them, so that after obtaining these things they may not fall away from such blessings.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

For indeed our affairs do not halt at what has already come to pass, but advance to other and greater things: the resurrection, the kingdom, our lot with Christ; all of which, wishing to set before us, he added:

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

This Christ too said to the Jews:

You shall not see me, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'

For since they kept putting forward this very charge, over and over, that he was not from God, that he was an adversary of God, he says to them:

You yourselves will bear witness to me that I am no adversary of God, when you see me coming upon the clouds, and you send forth this very cry, saying, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord' — casting yourselves out of all defense by these very words of praise.

For the manifestation of the things that come to pass at that time will make them send forth this cry, at once praising and at the same time making their own condemnation more bitter.

We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

The Lord is God, and he has appeared to us.

He means the whole faithful people, who enjoy the blessing in the house of God.

For everywhere the prophets are seen pronouncing blessed those who are destined to believe.

On what account did you bless, and whence comes the blessing? Because God has appeared to us.

For, he says, the saving grace of God has appeared, instructing us that, denying impiety and worldly desires, we should live soberly and righteously and godly, awaiting the blessed hope and the appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Here, then, the Prophet marvels at the incarnation, that being God, and Lord, and of that very essence, he deigned to appear.

And by 'appearing' he meant the dispensation: the coming into a virgin's womb, the becoming man, and the dwelling among men.

For this reason, he says, We have blessed you, because you have enjoyed such a gift.

This too Christ hinted at when he said:

Many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.

Order a feast among the leafy boughs, up to the horns of the altar.

Bind together bundles of foliage at the festal assembly.

Another version: Bind the feast with fat things.

He has gone out again from prophecy to the historical narrative.

And what he says is of this sort:

And what is meant by, 'Order a feast among the leafy boughs'? According to one interpreter: Offer fat sacrifices;

and according to the other: Hang up wreaths and boughs upon the temple.

But the Hebrew put it thus: Esrou ang baad othim.

Whether, then, it be this or that, it signifies a feast, and a bright day, and a festal assembly.

For he has carried the discourse over again from the things perceived by the mind to the things perceived by the senses, and made mention of their return.

You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;

You are my God, and I will exalt you.

I will give thanks to you, because you have heard me, and have become my salvation.

Here he shows that even apart from benefactions one ought to give thanks to God, and on this account to glorify him — for his greatness, for his ineffable glory.

For this is what he hints at when, after recounting the benefits with which he had been favored, he thus goes on to add:

And apart from these things I will also give thanks and make confession, because I have such a Master, so exalted, so great, so invisible, so incomprehensible;

for the phrase 'I will exalt' means 'I will glorify.'

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

He is not content to offer this sacrifice by himself alone, but he summons many partners to share in the praise and the thanksgiving, and he proclaims aloud the loving-kindness of God, everywhere hymning both its abiding constancy and its greatness.

Knowing these things, then, let us also continue always giving thanks to the God who loves mankind, and let us offer up this sacrifice, so that we may also enjoy the good things to come, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory to the Father, now and always, and unto the ages of ages.