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V ers. 10. — Ipse vero scit viam meam. 39. Deus justorum vias explorat eosque probat. — Ac si patenter dicat: Ego me et districte discutio, et perfecte me scire non possum; et tamen ille quem videre non valeo, videt subtiliter cuncta quae ago. Sequitur: a Et probabit me quasi aurum quod per ignem Transit. Aurum in (??)ornace ad naturae suae claritatem pro- ficit, dum sordes amittit. Quasi aurum ergo quod per ignem transit probantur animae justorum, quibus exustione tribulationis et subtrahuntur vitia et me- rita augentur.
第十節。——「惟有祂知道我所行的路。」三十九、神察驗義人的道路並試煉他們。——彷彿他明白地說：我既嚴格地審察自己，卻不能完全認識自己；然而那我所不能看見的主，卻精細地看見我所行的一切。接著說：「祂要試煉我，如同試煉那經火的金子。」金子在爐中一面除去渣滓，一面進到它本性的光彩。因此，義人的靈魂被試煉，如同經火的金子；藉著患難的焚燒，一面除去他們的惡習，一面加增他們的功德。
Verse 10. — But He indeed knows my way. 39. God explores the ways of the righteous and proves them. — As if he openly said: I both strictly examine myself, and cannot perfectly know myself; and yet He whom I cannot see, subtly sees all things that I do. There follows: And He shall prove me as gold that passes through the fire. Gold in the furnace advances toward the brightness of its own nature, while it loses its dross. As gold therefore that passes through the fire are the souls of the righteous proved, from whom, by the burning of tribulation, both vices are withdrawn and merits are increased.
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Nec elationis fuit quod sanctus vir in tribulatione se positum auro comparavit, quia qui Dei voce justus ante flagella dictus est, non idcireo tentari permissus est ut in eo vitia purgarentur, sed ut merita crescerent, aurum vero igne purgatur. Mi- nus ergo de se aestimavit ipse quam erat, dum, tri- bulationi traditus, purgari se credidit, qui purgan- dum in se aliquid non habebat. 40. Justi quantumvis humiles, sua bona opera non ignorant. — Sciendum vero est quia quamvis de se humilia sentiat animus justorum, ea tamen quae agunt quam sint recta conspiciunt, sed de eorum rectitudine non praesumunt: Unde adhuc subditur: Vestigia ejus secutus est pes meus:
聖者身處患難卻自比金子，這並非出於自高；因為那在受鞭打之先已蒙神親口稱為義的人，並非因此被容受試探，好叫惡習在他裡面得潔淨，乃是要叫功德得以增長——而金子確是藉火得潔淨。所以他既被交付患難、又相信自己被潔淨，其實他裡面並無甚麼需要潔淨之物，就是把自己看得比實際的低了。四十、義人縱然謙卑，卻不忽視自己的善行。——但當知道：義人的心雖然自視卑微，卻仍看出自己所行的何等正直，只是不倚仗這正直而自恃。因此下文仍接著說：「我的腳跟隨了祂的腳蹤：」
Nor was it a mark of self-exaltation that the holy man, placed in tribulation, compared himself to gold; because he who by the voice of God was called righteous before the scourges, was not therefore permitted to be tempted that vices might be purged in him, but that merits might grow — whereas gold is truly purged by fire. He esteemed himself, then, as less than he was, when, delivered over to tribulation, he believed himself to be purged, though he had nothing in himself needing to be purged. 40. The righteous, however humble, are not ignorant of their own good works. — But it is to be known that, although the mind of the righteous thinks lowly things of itself, yet it discerns how upright are the things they do, but does not presume upon their uprightness. Whence it is still subjoined: My foot has followed His footsteps:
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viam ejus custo- divi, et non declinavi ex ea. A mandatis labiorum ejus non recessi, et in sinu meo abscondi verba oris ejus. Sed in his omnibus an se esse aliquid existimet videamus. Sequitor: Ipse enim solus est [ Rec. XVI ], Qua sententia subjuncta ostendit quia in tot honis quae egerat nil esse se credidit. Sed haec ipsa supe- rius verba repetentes, ut possumus perstringamus.
「我遵守了祂的道，並未偏離；祂口中的誡命我未曾離棄，我把祂口中的話藏在我懷裡。」但讓我們看，在這一切事上他是否自視為有甚麼。接著說：「因為惟有祂是」〔採納本，第十六〕。他藉這接著的話顯明：在他所行如此眾多的善事中，他相信自己算不得甚麼。但讓我們重述上文這些話，盡我們所能略加闡述。
I have kept His way, and have not turned aside from it. From the commandments of His lips I have not departed, and in my bosom I have hidden the words of His mouth. But let us see whether in all these things he esteems himself to be anything. There follows: For He alone is [Received Reading, chapter 16]. By which sentence subjoined he shows that, in so many good things as he had done, he believed himself to be nothing. But repeating these same words above, let us run over them as we can.