The Folly of the Unwise and the Eternal Home of the Wicked
To bring forward a word, one who has trained the mind according to understanding. He who has learned the divine things and is able to hand them over well (Ps 48:5b). Therefore, even after falling into a parable, he promises to open his own riddle in the Psalter; for he set forth for himself, proclaiming in a rhythmic and patterned way according to theory, he opens his own riddle in the Psalter. And the word is patterned as one who must speak the truths. Perhaps also he who shows the divine words as being riddles, opening each of the riddles in a Psalter composed of sensation and power.
If iniquity should surround me with its wing (Ps 48:6b), no other vision of the ancestral tradition has reached the wing of Adam. All the born are of one kind and brothers, but no one is able to redeem his own brother who is sinning. For that one man alone shall be redeemed, concerning whom it is said, 'I will send a man to them who will save them' (John 11:45), who also says concerning himself, 'Now you seek to kill a man whom I have spoken the truth to you' (John 8:45). But that man, since he did not know sin nor did he do sin, will not give to God an expiation of himself which is given for the sake of those sinning, nor will he even attain the price of his own soul's redemption; but having lived according to virtue, he will live forever.
And it can also be said concerning the one being redeemed, 'He will not give to God an expiation of himself.' For not everyone is one who is able to give an expiation, Christ propitiating all in his own blood, nor is anyone able to give a price sufficient for the redemption of his soul, Christ having given his soul as a ransom for all. Even if he gives neither an expiation nor the price of the redemption of his soul, yet after being redeemed he receives commands, so that having labored according to them he may be able to live until the end, having possessed the...
Eternal life. He who has been set free by Christ will not possess salvation so unsteadily as to be unstable and unmovable, even if he sees those considered wise dying (Ps 48:10b), since he is not so scandalized as to see corruption. For the stumbling over seeing is not to be placed upon this one, but upon those considered wise.
He says that they do not know the one who is entirely cut off, but the evil-willed and the bad-minded (Ps 48:11.12ab); and indeed we are accustomed to call the ill-faced one faceless and the ill-skilled one unskilled. Not so, for the evil-willed and bad-minded shall undergo no punishment; for indeed their destruction is such that they will leave the wealth they did not treasure well to strangers. For no one is an heir of the rich man of mind and understanding through these things. Not so, the foolish and mindless, having not known who they are, have glorified what, according to irrational animals, their soul does not abide in. For they say: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (Isa 22:13). Therefore, the tombs in which they are buried become their houses for an age, not expecting a resurrection of the dead; but also their tents are in every generation and generation (Ps 48:12c), they shall be tombs, hoping pitifully in this only life. Perhaps also, doing nothing vital but being dead through which they sin, they are casting the tomb down as an eternal house.
And they did not even call upon their names upon the earth. For the names of the apostles through whom they act or think are written in the heavens, but those concerning whom the word speaks called upon their own names upon their own earths, through whom they act, being urbanized upon the earth; for having departed from the earth, they shall be written. Man has become in image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26), and having been shown to be rational, he will have the greatest honor (Ps 48:13). But this not understanding, but acting with irrationality.
Greek
προσενέγκασθαι λόγον, ο ταν συγγεγυμνασμένην κατὰ σύνεσιν ε χῃ τὴν διάνοιαν. 507 Ps 48,5b ̔Ο μαθὼν τὰ θεῖα καὶ καλῶς αὐτὰ παραδοῦναι δυνήσεται. διὸ καὶ μετὰ τὸ κλῖναι εἰς παραβολὴν τὸ ου ς αὐτοῦ ἀνοίγειν ὑπισχνεῖται, τουτέστιν σαφηνίζειν ἐν ψαλτηρίῳ τὸ πρόβλημα ἑαυτοῦ· ο γὰρ προέβαλεν ἑαυτῷ, μεμουσωμένως καὶ εὐρύθμως κατὰ θεωρίαν ἀπαγγέλλων ἀνοίγει ἐν ψαλτηρίῳ τὸ πρόβλημα ἑαυτοῦ. μεμούσωται δὲ ὁ λόγος τοῦ τὰ ἀληθῆ ὡς δεῖ προφέροντος. τάχα δὲ καὶ ὁ τοὺς θείους λόγους προβλήματα τυγχάνοντας ε ργοις ἐπιδεικνύων ἐν ψαλτηρίῳ συγκειμένῳ ἐξ αἰσθήσεως καὶ δυνάμεως ἀνοίγει ε καστον τῶν προβλημάτων. 508 Ps 48,6b.8 Εἰ α ρα κυκλώσει με τῆς πτέρνης μου ἀνομία, οὐκ α λλη ου σα τῆς πατροπαραδότου η ς ὁ ο φις ἐνῆκεν τῇ πτέρνῃ τοῦ ̓Αδάμ. Πάντες οἱ γεννητοὶ ὁμογενεῖς καὶ ἀδελφοί, οὐδεὶς δὲ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἀδελφὸν ἁμαρτῶντα λυτρώσασθαι δύναται. μόνος γὰρ ὁ α νθρωπος ἐκεῖνος λυτρώσεται περὶ ου ει ρηται ̓Αποστελεῖ αὐτοῖς α νθρωπον ο ς σώσει αὐτούς, ο ς καὶ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ φησιν Νῦν δέ με ζητεῖτε ἀποκτεῖναι α νθρωπον ο ς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὑμῖν λελάληκα. ου τος δὲ ὁ α νθρωπος, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ε γνω ἁμαρτίαν οὐδὲ ἐποίησεν ἁμαρτίαν, οὐ δώσει τῷ θεῷ ἐξίλασμα ἑαυτοῦ τὸ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων διδόμενον, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τιμὴν ὀρέξει λυτρώσεως αὐτοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς· κοπιάσας δὲ κατ' ἀρετὴν ζήσεται εἰς τέλος, οὐδεπώποτε ε τι τεθνηξόμενος. ∆ύναται δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ λυτρουμένου λέγεσθαι τὸ Οὐ δώσει τῷ θεῷ ἐξίλασμα ἑαυτοῦ. οὐ γὰρ ε καστος περὶ ἑαυτοῦ οι ός τέ ἐστιν ἐξίλασμα δοῦναι, Χριστοῦ πάντας ἱλασκομένου ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ αι ματι, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ δοῦναί τις τιμὴν ἱκανὸς τῆς λυτρώσεως τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ, δόντος Χριστοῦ ὑπὲρ πάντων λύτρον τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ. εἰ καὶ οὐ δώσει δὲ ἐξίλασμα οὐδὲ τιμὴν τῆς λυτρώσεως τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ, ἀλλά γε μετὰ τὸ ἀπολυτρωθῆναι ἐντολὰς δέχεται, ι να κατ' αὐτὰς κοπιάσας ζῆσαι εἰς τέλος δυνηθῇ ἐσχηκὼς τὴν αἰώνιον ζωήν. 509 Ps 48,10b ̔Ο λυθρωθεὶς ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ ου τω βεβαίως ε ξει τὴν σωτηρίαν ὡς μὴ ευ σειστος καὶ εὐκίνητος ει ναι, ει περ α ρα καὶ τοὺς νομιζομένους σοφοὺς ὁρᾷ ἀποθνῄσκοντας, ἐπεὶ οὐδὲ σκανδαλίζεται ω στε διαφθορὰν ἰδεῖν. τὸ γὰρ σκανδαλίζεσθαι ἐπὶ τῷ ὁρᾶν οὐκ ἐπὶ τοῦτον θετέον ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τοὺς νομιζομένους σοφούς. 510 Ps 48,11.12ab Ανουν οὐ τὸν πάντῃ ἐκτετμημένον ἀλλὰ τὸν κακόνουν καὶ κακόφρονά φησιν· καὶ γὰρ τὸν κακοπρόσωπον ἀπρόσωπον καὶ τὸν κακότεχνον α τεχνον λέγειν εἰώθαμεν. ου τως ου ν ὁ κακόνους καὶ κακόφρων α μα τιμωρίαν ὑφέξουσιν· αυ τη γὰρ αὐτῶν ἡ ἀπώλεια, δι' η ν τὸν πλοῦτον αὐτῶν ο ν κακῶς ἐθησαύρισαν καταλείψουσιν ἀλλοτρίοις· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ι διος τοῦ ταῦτα λέγοντος κληρονόμος πλουσίου α φρονος καὶ α νου. ου τος ὁ α φρων καὶ α νους ἀγνοήσαντες ἑαυτοὺς τίνες εἰσὶν ε δοξαν ο τι κατὰ τὰ α λογα ζῷα οὐκ ἐπιδιαμένει αὐτῶν ἡ ψυχή. φασὶν γάρ· Φάγωμεν καὶ πίωμεν, αυ ριον γὰρ ἀποθνῄσκομεν. ου τοι τοὺς τάφους ἐν οι ς εἰσιν ἐντετυμβευμένοι οι ονται οἰκίας αὐτῶν ει ναι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν οὐ προσδοκῶντες· ἀλλὰ καὶ σκηνώματα αὐτῶν ἐν πάσῃ γενεᾷ καὶ γενεᾷ 97 οι ονται ει ναι τὰ μνήματα, ἐν μόνῃ ταύτῃ τῇ ζωῇ ἐλεεινῶς ἠλπικότες. τάχα δὲ καὶ μηδὲν ζωτικὸν ἐνεργοῦντες ἀλλὰ νενεκρωμένοι δι' ω ν ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἐν τάφῳ καταβαλλόμενοι οι ονται τὸν τάφον οἰκίαν αἰώνιον. 511 Ps 48,12c Ου τοι δὲ καὶ ἐπεκαλέσαντο τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τῶν γαιῶν. τῶν μὲν γὰρ ἀποστόλων τὰ ὀνόματα δι' ω ν πράττουσιν η φρονοῦσιν ἐγγέγραπται ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, οἱ δὲ περὶ ω ν ὁ λόγος τὰς ἰδίας προσηγορίας ἐπὶ τῶν ἰδίων γαιῶν ἐπεκαλέσαντο δι' ω ν πράττουσι τῇ γῇ ἐμπολιτογραφούμενοι· ἀφεστηκότες γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς γραφήσονται. 512 Ps 48,13 Ανθρωπος κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν γέγονεν θεοῦ, καὶ λογικὸς ἀποδειχθεὶς τιμὴν ε χει μεγίστην. ταύτην δὲ μὴ συνιεῖς, ἀλλὰ πράττων σὺν ἀλογίᾳ
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.