Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy inheritance, them that dwell alone in the forest, in the midst of Carmel: they shall feed in Basan and Galaad according to the days of old.15 According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt I will shew him wonders.18 Who is a God like to thee, who takest away iniquity, and passest by the sin of the remnant of thy inheritance? he will send his fury in no more, because he delighteth in mercy.19 He will turn again, and have mercy on us: he will put away our iniquities: and he will cast all our sins into the bottom of the sea.20 Thou wilt perform the truth of Jacob, the mercy to Abraham: which thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
"The Lord sits enthroned over the flood." A flood is an overflow of water that causes all lying below it to disappear. It cleanses all that was previously filthy. Therefore he calls the grace of baptism a flood, so that the soul, being washed well of its sins and rid of the old person, is suitable henceforth as a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Further, what is said in the twenty-first psalm agrees with this. For after he has said, "I have acknowledged my sin, and my injustice I have not concealed," and also, "For this shall every one that is holy pray to you," he then said, "And yet in a flood of many waters, they shall not come near him." Indeed, sin shall not come near to one who received baptism for the remission of his transgressions through water and the Spirit. Something akin to this is found in the prophecy of Micah: "Because he delights in mercy, he will turn again and have mercy on us. He will put away our iniquities and will cast them into the bottom of the sea."
For David himself. Bless the Lord, O my soul: and let all that is within me bless his holy name.2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all he hath done for thee.3 Who forgiveth all thy iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases.4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction: who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion.9 He will not always be angry: nor will he threaten for ever.10 He hath not dealt with us according to our sins: nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.11 For according to the height of the heaven above the earth: he hath strengthened his mercy towards them that fear him.12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our iniquities from us.
God is not an expression, and he does not have his essence in voice or utterance. God is of himself what also he is believed to be. He is named by those who call on him, not what he is essentially (for the nature of him who alone is unspeakable), but he receives his names from what are believed to be his works in regard to our life. To take an instance ready at hand, when we speak of him as God, we so name him from his overlooking and surveying all things and seeing through the things that are hidden. But if his essence is prior to his works, and if we understand his works by our senses and express them in words as we are best able, why should we be afraid of calling things by words of later origin than themselves? For if we stop interpreting any of the attributes of God until we understand them, and if we understand them only by what his works teach us, and if his power precedes its exercise and depends on the will of God, while his will resides in the spontaneity of the divine nature, are we not clearly taught that the words that represent things are of later origin than the things themselves and that the words that are framed to express the operations of things are reflections of the things themselves? And that this is so, we are clearly taught by holy Scripture, by the mouth of great David, when, as by certain peculiar and appropriate names, derived from his contemplation of the works of God, he thus speaks of the divine nature: "The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, long-suffering, and of great goodness." Now what do these words tell us? Do they indicate his operations or his nature? No one will say that they indicate anything but his operations. At what time, then, after showing mercy and pity, did God acquire his name from the display of his works? Was it before a person's life began? But who was there to be the object of pity? Was it, then, after sin entered into the world? But sin entered after humankind. The exercise, therefore, of pity, and the name itself, came after humanity. What then? Will our adversary [Eunomius], wise as he is above the prophets, convict David of error in applying names to God derived from his opportunities of knowing him? Or, in contending with him, will he use against him the pretense in his stately passage as out of a tragedy, saying that "he glories in the most blessed life of God with names drawn from human imagination, whereas it gloried in itself alone, long before people were born to imagine them"? The psalmist's advocate will readily admit that the divine nature gloried in itself alone even before the existence of human imagination but will contend that the human mind can speak only so much in respect of God as its capacity, instructed by his works, will allow. "For," as says the Wisdom of Solomon, "by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the Maker of them is seen."
Now the publicans and sinners drew near unto him to hear him.2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying: This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.3 And he spoke to them this parable, saying:11 And he said: A certain man had two sons:12 And the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his substance.†13 And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country: and there wasted his substance, living riotously.†14 And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want.15 And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine.16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him.†17 And returning to himself, he said: How many hired servants in my father’s house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger?†18 I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee:19 I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.20 And rising up he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck, and kissed him.†21 And the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, I am not now worthy to be called thy son.22 And the father said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:†23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry:24 Because this my son was dead, and is come to life again: was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.†25 Now his elder son was in the field, and when he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing:26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.27 And he said to him: Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe.28 And he was angry, and would not go in. His father therefore coming out began to entreat him.29 And he answering, said to his father: Behold, for so many years do I serve thee, and I have never transgressed thy commandment, and yet thou hast never given me a kid to make merry with my friends:†30 But as soon as this thy son is come, who hath devoured his substance with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.31 But he said to him: Son, thou art always with me, and all I have is thine.32 But it was fit that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead and is come to life again; he was lost, and is found.
Hence too was the prodigal denominated one who wasted his substance, that is, his right understanding, the teaching of chastity, the knowledge of the truth, the recollections of his father, the sense of creation.
The younger son then went away not yet matured in mind, and seeks from his father the part of his inheritance which fell to him, that in truth he might not serve of necessity. For we are rational animals endowed with free will.
The elder son then as a husbandman was engaged in husbandry, digging not the land, but the field of the soul, and planting trees of salvation, that is to say, the virtues.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)