“However, what God actually is, not only have the prophets not seen, but not even angels or archangels. If you ask them, you will not hear them reply anything about his substance, but only singing, "Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth among people of good will." If you desire to learn something even from the cherubim or seraphim, you will hear the mystical melody of his holiness and that "heaven and earth are full of his glory." If you inquire of the higher powers, you will discover nothing else than that their one work is to praise God, for, "Praise him, all his powers," the psalmist said.”

“"Praise ye the Lord from heaven" [Psalm 148:1]. As though he had found things in heaven holding their peace in the praise of the Lord, he exhorts them to arise and praise. Never have things in heaven held their peace in the praises of their Creator, never have things on earth ceased to praise God. But it is manifest that there are certain things which have breath to praise God in that disposition wherein God pleases them. For no one praises anything, save what pleases him. And there are other things which have not breath of life and understanding to praise God, but yet, because they also are good, and duly arranged in their proper order, and form part of the beauty of the universe, which God created, though they themselves with voice and heart praise not God, yet when they are considered by those who have understanding, God is praised in them; and, as God is praised in them, they themselves too in a manner praise God.. ..”

“In the fourth place, that is, from afar, there is born in us the praise of God in all things. For all creatures declare God. What shall I do? I shall sing with them all. The thick cord in the zither does not give forth a pleasant sound if struck alone, but there is harmony in consonance with others. Symbolic figures are received by all creatures in the Scriptures for the sake of praising God, as is evident in the Psalms: "Praise the Lord from the heavens," and "Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord," from above and below. So does the man who sees God in all things, who tastes God in them through his three powers.”

“Yet, though the fact that the angels are the work of God is not omitted here, it is indeed not explicitly mentioned; but elsewhere Holy Scripture asserts it in the clearest manner. For in the Hymn of the Three Children in the Furnace it was said, "O all ye works of the Lord bless ye the Lord;" and among these works mentioned afterwards in detail, the angels are named. And in the psalm it is said, "Praise ye the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights. Praise ye Him, all His angels; praise ye Him, all His hosts. Praise ye Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all ye stars of light. Praise Him, ye heaven of heavens; and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord; for He commanded, and they were created." Here the angels are most expressly and by divine authority said to have been made by God, for of them among the other heavenly things it is said, "He commanded, and they were created."”

“The Persians therefore may call the "whole circle of heaven" Jupiter; but we maintain that "the heaven" is neither Jupiter nor God, as we indeed know that certain beings of a class inferior to God have ascended above the heavens and all visible nature: and in this sense we understand the words, "Praise God, you heaven of heavens, and you waters that are above the heavens; let them praise the name of the Lord."”

“This is not the time to prove that the Creator did not become the servant of the Word and make the world and to show that the Word became the servant of the creator and prepared the world. For according to the prophet David, "God spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created." For the uncreated God "commanded" the firstborn of all creation, and "they were created." This includes not only the cosmos and the things in it, but also all that remains, "whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities or powers; for all things have been created through him and for him, and he is before all things."”

“And now that we have thus distinguished the various modes of generation, it will be time to observe how the benevolent provision of the Holy Spirit, in delivering to us the divine mysteries, imparts that instruction that transcends reason by such methods as we can receive. For the inspired teaching adopts, in order to set forth the unspeakable power of God, all the forms of generation that human intelligence recognizes, yet without including the bodily senses attaching to the words. For when it speaks of the creative power, it gives to such an energy the name of generation, because its expression must stoop to our level of understanding. It does not, however, convey thereby all that we include in creative generation, as time, place, the furnishing of matter, the fitness of instruments, the design in the things that come into being. It leaves these and asserts of God in lofty and magnificent language the creation of all existent things, when it says, "He spoke the word, and they were made, He commanded, and they were created." Again when it interprets to us the unspeakable and transcendent existence of the Only-Begotten from the Father, as the poverty of human intellect is incapable of receiving doctrines that surpass all power of speech and thought, there too it borrows our language and terms him "Son," a name that our usage assigns to those who are born of matter and nature.”

“The causes of the beginnings of all things are seeds. And the apostle of the Gentiles has said that the human body is a seed. And so in succession after sowing there is the substance that is needed for the resurrection. But even if there were no substance and no cause, who could think it difficult for God to create people anew whence he will and as he wills. Who commanded the world to come into being out of no matter and no substance? Look at the heaven, behold the earth. Whence are the fires of the stars? Whence the orb and rays of the sun? Whence the globe of the moon? Whence the mountain heights, the hard rocks, the woody groves? Whence are the air diffused around, and the waters, whether enclosed or poured abroad? But if God made all these things out of nothing (for "he spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created"), why should we wonder that which has been should be brought to life again, since we see produced that which had not been?”

“"For he spoke, and they were made." For God to have commanded is to have created; the command is creation. He spoke, and they were made, according to that which is written in Genesis: God said, and God created; that is, God the Father gave the command; God the Son created. Someone may say, He is the greater who gives the command, and he is the less to whom it is given. That is what the Arians, the Eunomians and the Macedonians maintain. I answer you, O heretics, in accordance with your own reasoning. You say, the Father is greater because he gives the command, and the Son is less because he is commanded by the Father. If this is in accord with human understanding, answer me: Is it greater to command or to create? I say, "Let a house be made," and another builds the house. There is nothing great in uttering the words; it is difficult to build the house. He is greater, therefore, who creates than he who gives the command. But that is impious irreverence, for the Son is not greater than the Father. It is just as blasphemous to believe this of the Son against the Father as it is to believe it of the Father against the Son. "For he spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created." One nature both commands and creates; God gives the order, God fulfills it. A painter bids a painter paint, and the painter paints what he has bid be painted.”

“Did it [Gen 1:1] say, "In the beginning," because it was made first? Or was it impossible for heaven and earth to have been made first among the creatures, if the angels and all the intellectual powers were made first? We must believe that the angels are the creation of God and were made by him. For the prophet included the angels in Psalm 148, when he said, "He commanded, and they were made; he gave the order, and they were created." But if the angels were made first, we can ask whether they were made in time or before all time or at the start of time. If [they were made] in time, there already was time before the angels were made, and since time itself is also a creature, it turns out that we have to admit that something was made before the angels. But if we say that they were made at the start of time, so that time began with them, we have to say that it is false that time began with heaven and earth, as some claim.”

“Then when he had called upon all things that are in the heavens to praise God, he states the reason why they ought to praise him with hymns, and says: For he spake and they were made; he commanded and they were created. He hath also established them for ever and ever; he hath made a decree which shall not pass away.”

“"He hath established them for the age, and for age upon age" (ver. 6). All things in heaven, all things above, all powers and angels, a certain city on high, good, holy, blessed; from whence because we are wanderers, we are wretched; whither because we are to return, we are blessed in hope; whither when we shall have returned, we shall be blessed indeed; "He hath given them a law which shall not pass away." What sort of command, think ye, have things in heaven and the holy angels received? What sort of command hath God given them? What, but that they praise Him? Blessed are they whose business is to praise God! They plough not, they sow not, they grind not, they cook not; for these are works of necessity, and there is no necessity there. They steal not, they plunder not, they commit no adultery; for these are works of iniquity, and there is no iniquity there. They break not bread for the hungry, they clothe not the naked, they take not in the stranger, they visit not the sick, they set not at one the contentious, they bury not the dead; for these are works of mercy, and there there is no misery, for mercy to be shown to. O blessed they! Think we that we too shall be like this? Ah! let us sigh, let us groan in sighing. And what are we, that we should be there? mortal, outcast, abject, earth and ashes! But He, who hath promised, is almighty. ...”

“Scripture tends to lead back to the first beginning by means of reformation, or it describes eternal things, as in the Laws and Gospels. Hence in the Psalm: "He gave them a duty which shall not pass away." For it is not to be understood that the Law or the Commandments will pass away, but rather that they will be better served in the fatherland. For they are not served in the same manner under the Old Testament and under the New Testament: they are served better under the New Testament, and yet better still in the fatherland. God indeed lives by these very Laws which He Himself has given.”

“And, even if the waters above the heavens are sometimes invited to praise the common Master of the universe, yet we do not for this reason consider them to be an intellectual nature. The heavens are not endowed with life because they "show forth the glory of God," nor is the firmament a perceptive being because it "declares the work of his hands." And, if someone says that the heavens are speculative powers, and the firmament, active powers productive of the good, we accept the expression as neatly said, but we will not concede that it is altogether true. For, in that case, dew, hoarfrost, cold and heat, since they were ordered by Daniel to praise in hymns the Creator of the universe, will be intelligent and invisible natures. The meaning in these words, however, accepted by speculative minds, is a fulfillment of the praise of the Creator. Not only the water that is above the heavens, as if holding the first place in honor because of the preeminence added to it from its excellence, fulfills the praise of God, but, "Praise him," the psalmist says, "from the earth, you dragons and all you deeps." So that even the deep, which those who speak allegories relegated to the inferior portion, was not itself judged deserving of rejection by the psalmist, since it was admitted to the general chorus of creation; but even it harmoniously sings a hymn of praise to the Creator through the language assigned to it.”

“Let him then turn himself to things on earth too, since he has already spoken the praises of things in heaven. "Praise ye the Lord from the earth" [Psalm 148:7]. For wherewith began he before? "Praise ye the Lord from heaven:" and he went through things in heaven: now hear of things on earth. "Dragons and all abysses." "Abysses" are depths of water: all the seas, and this atmosphere of clouds, pertain to the "abyss." Where there are clouds, where there are storms, where there is rain, lightning, thunder, hail, snow, and all that God wills should be done above the earth, by this moist and misty atmosphere, all this he has mentioned under the name of earth, because it is very changeable and mortal; unless ye think that it rains from above the stars. All these things happen here, close to the earth. Sometimes even men are on the tops of mountains, and see the clouds beneath them, and often it rains: and all commotions which arise from the disturbance of the atmosphere, those who watch carefully see that they happen here, in this lower part of the universe....You see then what kind all these things are, changeable, troublous, fearful, corruptible: yet they have their place, they have their rank, they too in their degree fill up the beauty of the universe, and so they praise the Lord. He turns then to them, as though He would exhort them too, or us, that by considering them we may praise the Lord. "Dragons" live about the water, come out from caverns, fly through the air; the air is set in motion by them: "dragons" are a huge kind of living creatures, greater there are not upon the earth. Therefore with them he begins, "Dragons and all abysses." There are caves of hidden waters, whence springs and streams come forth: some come forth to flow over the earth, some flow secretly beneath; and all this kind, all this damp nature of waters, together with the sea and this lower air, are called abyss, or "abysses," where dragons live and praise God. What? Think we that the dragons form choirs, and praise God? Far from it. But do ye, when you consider the dragons, regard the Maker of the dragon, the Creator of the dragon: then, when you admire the dragons, and say, "Great is the Lord who made these," then the dragons praise God by your voices.”

“"Fire, hail, snow, ice, wind of storms, which do His word" [Psalm 148:8]. Wherefore added he here, "which do His word"? Many foolish men, unable to contemplate and discern creation, in its several places and rank, performing its movements at the nod and commandment of God think that God does indeed rule all things above, but things below He despises, casts aside, abandons, so that He neither cares for them, nor guides, nor rules them; but that they are ruled by chance, how they can, as they can: and they are influenced by what they say sometimes to one another: e.g. "If it were God that gave rain, would He rain into the sea? What sort of providence," they say, "is this? Getulia is thirsty, and it rains into the sea." They think that they handle the matter cleverly. One should say to them, "Getulia does at all events thirst, thou dost not even thirst." For good were it for you to say to God, "My soul has thirsted for You." For he that thus argues is already satisfied; he thinks himself learned, he is not willing to learn, therefore he thirsts not. For if he thirsted, he would be willing to learn, and he would find that everything happens upon earth by God's Providence, and he would wonder at the arrangement of even the limbs of a flea. Attend, beloved. Who has arranged the limbs of a flea and a gnat, that they should have their proper order, life, motion? Consider one little creature, even the very smallest, whatever you will. If you consider the order of its limbs, and the animation of life whereby it moves; how does it shun death, love life, seek pleasures, avoid pain, exert various senses, vigorously use movements suitable to itself! Who gave its sting to the gnat, for it to suck blood with? How narrow is the pipe whereby it sucks! Who arranged all this? Who made all this? You are amazed at the smallest things; praise Him that is great. Hold then this, my brethren, let none shake you from your faith or from sound doctrine. He who made the Angel in heaven, the Same also made the worm upon earth: the Angel in heaven to dwell in heaven, the worm upon earth to abide on earth. He made not the Angel to creep in the mud, nor the worm to move in heaven. He has assigned dwellers to their different abodes; incorruption He assigned to incorruptible abodes, corruptible things to corruptible abodes. Observe the whole, praise the whole. He then who ordered the limbs of the worm, does He not govern the clouds? And wherefore rains He into the sea? As though there are not in the sea things which are nourished by rain; as though He made not fishes therein, as though He made not living creatures therein. Observe how the fishes run to sweet water. And wherefore, says he, does He give rain to the fishes, and sometimes gives not rain to me? That you may consider that you are in a desert region, and in a pilgrimage of life; that so this present life may grow bitter to you, that you may long for the life to come: or else that you may be scourged, punished, amended. And how well does He assign their properties to regions. Behold, since we have spoken of Getulia, He rains here nearly every year, and gives grain every year; here the grain cannot be kept, it soon rots, because it is given every year; there, because it is given seldom, both much is given, and it can be kept for long. But do you perchance think that God there deserts man, or that they do not there after their own manner of rejoicing both praise and glorify God? Take a Getulian from his country, and set him amid our pleasant trees; he will wish to flee away, and return to his bare Getulia. To all places then, regions, seasons, God has assigned and arranged what fits them. Who could unfold it? Yet they who have eyes see many things therein: when seen, they please; pleasing, they are praised; not they really, but He who made them; thus shall all things praise God.”

“and hail Heb. וברד, gresle or grezle in Old French, hail. snow Heb. שלג, neyf or nayf in old French, snow. and vapor וקיטור, an expression of a mist called bruine or broine in Old French, mist, fog. a storm wind which performs His word and His mission. Our Sages said (Chag. 12b): These things were originally hidden in heaven, and David came and brought them down to earth because they are kinds of punishment, and it is not fitting for them to be hidden in the dwellings of the Holy One, blessed be He.”

“The storm wind executing His word: That is the air that blows. And when it blows strongly, it knocks over tall cedars, buildings and ships on the sea. And it states, "executing His word," to make known that it is not by happenstance. Rather He commands it to blow, and it is by His word and His commandment that it blows, to punish those that encounter [it].”

“"His confession is in earth and heaven" (ver. 14). What is "His confession"? Is it the confession wherewith He confesseth? No, but that whereby all things confess Him, all things cry aloud: the beauty of all things is in a manner their voice, whereby they praise God. The heaven crieth out to God, "Thou madest me, not I myself." Earth crieth out, "Thou createdst me, not I myself." How do they cry out? When thou regardest them, and findest this out, they cry out by thy voice, they cry out by thy regard. Regard the heavens, it is beautiful: observe the earth, it is beautiful: both together are very beautiful. He made them, He ruleth them, by His nod they are swayed, He ordereth their seasons, He reneweth their movements, by Himself He reneweth them. All these things then praise Him, whether in stillness or in motion, whether from earth below or from heaven above, whether in their old state or in their renewal. When thou seest all these things, and rejoicest, and art lifted up to the Maker, and gazest on "His invisible things understood by the things which are made," "His confession is in earth and heaven:" that is, thou confesseth to Him from things on earth, thou confesseth to Him from things in heaven. And since He made all things, and nought is better than He, whatsoever He made is less than He, and whatsoever in these things pleaseth thee, is less than He. Let not then what He hath made so please thee, as to withdraw thee from Him who made: if thou lovest what He made, love much more Him who made. If the things which He hath made are beautiful, how much more beautiful is He who made them. "And He shall exalt the horn of His people." Behold what Haggai and Zachariah prophesied. Now the "horn of His people" is humble in afflictions, in tribulations, in temptations, in beating of the breast; when will He "exalt the horn of His people"? When the Lord hath come, and our Sun is risen, not the sun which is seen with the eye, and "riseth upon the good and the evil," but That whereof is said, To you that hear God, "the Sun of Righteousness shall rise, and healing in His wings;" and of whom the proud and wicked shall hereafter say, "The light of righteousness hath not shined unto us, and the sun of righteousness rose not upon us." This shall be our summer. Now during the winter weather the fruits appear not on the stock; thou observest, so to say, dead trees during the winter. He who cannot see truly, thinketh the vine dead; perhaps there is one near it which is really dead; both are alike during winter; the one is alive, the other is dead, but both the life and death are hidden: summer advanceth; then the life of the one shineth brightly, the death of the other is manifested: the splendour of leaves, the abundance of fruit, cometh forth, the vine is clothed in outward appearance from what it hath in its stock. Therefore, brethren, now we are the same as other men: just as they are born, eat, drink, are clothed, pass their life, so also do the saints. Sometimes the very truth deceiveth men, and they say, "Lo, he hath begun to be a Christian: hath he lost his headache?" or, "because he is a Christian, what gaineth he from me?" O dead vine, thou observest near thee a vine that is bare indeed in winter, yet not dead. Summer will come, the Lord will come, our Splendour, that was hidden in the stock, and then "He shall exalt the horn of His people," after the captivity wherein we live in this mortal life. ...”