Homilies on Psalms 36–38 — Homily 4 — Psalm 36, Homily IV — from "Apud Dominum gressus hominis diriguntur"
Latin source: Origen's Greek homilies on Psalms 36, 37, and 38, surviving only in Rufinus of Aquileia's Latin translation (c. 401), from the reading text of J.-P. Migne (ed.), Patrologia Graeca 12 (Paris, 1862), cols. 1319–1410 (In Psalmos). This English translation is released into the public domain.On the same psalm, from the passage "With the Lord the steps of a man are directed".
1. "By the Lord", he says, "are the steps of a man directed". And elsewhere in this psalm he speaks of the steps of the righteous man in this way: "The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted". But also in the seventy-second psalm it is said: "My steps had almost been poured out". We therefore name "steps" (gressus) from "walking" (gradiendo), according to that which is written in Exodus, that Moses saw a flame of fire and an angel, when the bush indeed burned but was not consumed, and he said: "Stepping aside, or passing over, I will behold this great vision". From this passage, then, an occasion is given us for understanding the things we have in hand. Therefore concerning those things which we have recalled as written in Exodus — that is, "stepping aside I will behold this great vision" — I heard a certain one of the wise men before us saying, when he was explaining this passage, that it is not possible to see the great vision beforehand — that is, to gaze upon and to perceive the great mysteries — while one stands amid the converse and doings of this world; but that one must first pass over from these things, and transcend all worldly things, and our sense and mind must become free, and then arrive at the contemplation of great and spiritual things, and so at last see the great vision. This man, indeed, in explaining this passage, set forth what we have recalled above. But we, whose zeal it is, according to the admonitions of Scripture, to praise the words of the wise and to add to them, are able to add to what he said something of this kind. Everyone who journeys toward virtue advances by walking, so that little by little, through the many advances of the journey, he arrives at it. Journeying, then, and stepping as it were by certain paces, he always steps aside, and passes over the things he has unfolded, and leaving behind the things that are behind, he stretches himself out toward the things that are before. Stepping aside, then, he passes over the first place of malice, and thence advancing by paces and steps he passes over the other stakes of sins, then next the rugged crags of wickedness, and the slippery and precipitous places of the vices. But when he has escaped even these, always stretching himself out toward the things that are ahead, less of malice remains, and all that lies along the way of advance; if only in going he watches his steps more cautiously lest he slip, so that as he steps aside from each several place of malice, in such wise that he does not strike his foot against it, according to what is written in Exodus, he may be able to see the great vision. For no one who is still in malice, and does not step aside from it and pass over it, will be able to gaze upon this great vision of the secret things of God — that is, of His knowledge and wisdom. Great, then, is the vision, when God is seen with a pure heart. Great is the vision when with a pure heart the Word of God, and the Wisdom of God, who is His Christ, is acknowledged. Great is the vision, to acknowledge and to believe in the Holy Spirit. Great, then, is this vision — the knowledge of the Trinity. Nevertheless, even Moses was then seeing in Exodus the great vision, and he who was seen in the bush in the fire is called an angel, and he calls it a great vision. For he understood who it was in the angel. For immediately thereupon He says to God: "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob". See, then, how great this vision is — although this very thing also is great, to know that God makes "His angels spirits, and His ministers a burning fire". And now indeed to Moses, still pasturing the flocks of Jethro his father-in-law, and stepping or passing over from these, this vision is great, in which an angel is said to appear to him. But if he shall also have passed over the Red Sea, and the pillar of cloud has covered him, and he has adored the sacraments of the future baptism, then he will be able to see a still greater vision. For he will enter into the darkness and the whirlwind, where God Himself is said to be, where it is written that Moses alone drew near to God, but the others stood afar off. And Moses advances so far through these great visions, that he says to God: "If I have found", he says, "grace before Thee, manifest Thyself to me, that I may evidently see Thee". And then he hears from God: "I will set thee in the cleft of the rock" — and the rock was Christ — that through a very small opening thou mayest see My hinder parts, that is, that thou mayest acknowledge those things which in the last times shall be fulfilled through the assumption of the flesh: "But My face thou shalt not be able to see". But having stepped aside through very many visions, let us now return to what we proposed concerning the psalm, that "by the Lord", he says, "are the steps of a man directed". We have expounded above how one enters upon the journey toward virtue: for he who journeys toward virtue has many things to step aside from and to pass over. Therefore you also who tend toward Christ, who is the Virtue of God, step aside from luxury, harlots, adulteries; step aside from thefts, false testimonies; then next step aside also from avarice, and every desire of money and of the other evil things; step aside from lying; step aside from the sorrow of the world. Unless you shall have stepped aside from all these, you will not be able to see that great vision of the Lord. There are, then, certain steps and feet in us by which we make this journey; there are steps of the inner man by which we can walk along that way which says: "I am the way, the truth, and the life". In making this journey, then, we must use many steps, that we may pass over all those things which we said above, because the steps of a man are directed by the Lord. For a man who wishes to travel this journey, the will of his own purpose alone does not suffice, unless the Lord also has directed his steps: because it frequently happens to travelers that they walk, yet cannot keep the way straight, but fall into certain errors — as those who are engaged in the learning of philosophy seem indeed to be traveling the way of virtue, but because their steps are not directed by the Lord, they do not keep the straight way. But heretics also, no less, enter upon the way even themselves, but since they understand the Scriptures carnally, not spiritually, they turn aside to the left. But if they do understand spiritually, yet in that very spiritual understanding do not hold the apostolic rule of truth, they fall no less, even they, to the right — the devil, so to speak, not directing their steps, but twisting them aside from the straight way. Let us therefore, turning aside neither to the right nor to the left, enter upon the middle way, which is Christ the Lord, because in Him the Lord directs the steps of those who walk. "By the Lord", then, "shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall desire His way" — that way, namely, of which we spoke above. For he who is directed by God will desire Christ, and will long to abide always in Christ.
2. "When he shall have fallen", he says, "he shall not be troubled". Having above said that his steps are directed by the Lord, here he speaks of his fall. See, then, that even to those who travel this journey it sometimes happens to fall, even to those who are directed by the Lord; but there is a great difference between the fall of the righteous and the fall of the unrighteous. The righteous man, he says, when he shall have fallen, is not laid prostrate; the unrighteous man, and he who has no hope placed in God, if he shall have fallen, is laid prostrate and does not rise — that is, if he has sinned, he does not repent and knows not how to amend his sin. But the righteous man, if he has offended in anything, if in a word — for it is the Apostle who says: "For in many things we all offend, and if any man offend not in word, this is a perfect man" — the righteous man therefore offends in word, perhaps also sometimes even in deed, but he knows how to amend, he knows how to correct: he knows how, who had said, "I know not the man", and a little after, when he had been looked upon by the Lord, to weep most bitterly; he knows how, too, who had seen the woman from the roof and had desired her, to say "I have sinned", because "against Thee only have I sinned and done evil before Thee". If, then, when the righteous man shall have fallen he is not laid prostrate, he will not remain in sin, but will leap forth quickly, like a roe from the nets, and like a bird from the snare. But the unrighteous man not only remains, but is even laid prostrate in his sins. But the righteous man, what does he do? "The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted". There he said that the steps of a man are directed by the Lord; here, that the steps of the righteous shall not be supplanted, "because the Lord", he says, "strengthens his hand". In another psalm, that is, in the seventy-second, he says: "But my feet were almost moved". In the same sense it seems to be understood likewise. For as we advance toward the virtues we use, as it were, a certain ascent; and in that ascent, if anyone slip and fall down, he loses the gain of his ascent. This man's steps, then, are poured out. But this happens when someone, after sin, has turned backward: as befell Lot's wife, who was entering in well as she went out from Sodom, and, fleeing the punishments of the wicked, was entering and ascending toward the mountain whither she was proceeding with the angel as guide; but because, against the commandment of God — that she had been ordered not to look back, nor to stand in all that region, but to ascend to the mountain and there be saved — when she, turned toward what was behind, looked back, there her steps were poured out, she lost all that she had before stepped aside from, and remained a completed little statue of salt. This is what the Lord says in the Gospel: "No one putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God". Do you wish me to show you also others whose steps were poured out? Recall those who passed through the Red Sea as through dry land, and, sinning in the desert, fell, and there their steps were poured out. But also now, if it should ever happen that someone has lived in continence for three or four years, and even longer, another has given his labor to the study of the word and of doctrine and to the labors of wisdom; then afterward, if this one is overcome, and either passes over to the luxury of the flesh, or turns aside to other sins, or transfers himself to the life of the world, or turns to the business and gains of corruptible life — do not hesitate to say of him that his steps have been poured out. Let us therefore beseech the Lord that He direct our steps, and guard our ways, so that our steps be not supplanted; that in the way we travel — that is, in Christ our Lord — our footsteps may be made firm as upon a stable rock, that we may in no way be able to be supplanted; through Him, namely, whose head we watch over, and He watches over our heel — to whom indeed we ought never to offer the bare sole, but we ought always to be "shod as to our feet in the preparation of the Gospel of peace", so that if the devil the supplanter comes, and finds our feet fortified and standing upon the rock, he may not be strong enough to supplant us thence. For although we said a little before that some fall and some slips can happen even to those who follow the way of virtue, yet it must be observed that there, where he said, "When he shall have fallen, he shall not be laid prostrate", above he had spoken not so much of the righteous man as of the pure man. For he says: "By the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall desire His way; when he shall have fallen, he shall not be laid prostrate". In this it is shown that there are some falls which nevertheless do not straightway indicate that he who has fallen is overcome and laid prostrate. For as it is wont to happen also in a contest, that of two wrestling together it befalls one to fall first, and, when he has fallen, to rise and to conquer: so also in our contest, which is for us against the prince of this world, if it perchance happens that one of us is overcome and falls into some sin, it is possible that after the sin someone should come to his senses, and rise up and shudder at the evil he has committed, and thereafter not only contain himself, but also make satisfaction to God, washing his bed every night, and watering his couch with tears, taking up the word of prophetic authority by which it is said: "Shall he that falls not add that he may rise again? or he that has turned away, shall he not turn back? Woe to those who have turned away with a shameless turning away", says the Lord. And this is he who was indeed able to fall, but could not be laid prostrate. But if you shall see someone fallen into some sin, and after the fall despairing of conversion, and saying: How now can I be saved, who have fallen? now there is no hope, my sins bind me up, how can I dare to draw near to the Lord? How to return to the Church? — and if with this despair such a one departs even from God, this man has not only fallen, but in his fall is laid prostrate and sunk down. And it is indeed to be wished that the athlete of piety and virtue should remain always immovable, so that he lose not even one bout, so to speak, that he be not once bent or supplanted. But if this cannot be, but it should befall him to fall, let him not lie down after the fall, lest he be laid prostrate, but let him rise up and amend his fault, let him purge by the satisfaction of his repentance what he has committed, lest even of him the Apostle should say: "And I should mourn many of those who sinned before, and did not do penance for the uncleanness and fornication and unchastity which they committed". Wherefore also the Apostle took up examples of the wrestling contest when he says: "No one is crowned unless he has striven lawfully", except that he wished us to know the strivings and contests of the law? — who also of himself says: "So I fight, not as one beating the air". And again: "I have fought the good fight". Since, then, a striving and contest is set before us, we ought also to know the contest of the law. There are athletes who conquer in all contests, and in all are crowned. Among the boys (paedas) they conquer, among the youths (agonios) they conquer, among the men (andras) they conquer. Others are conquered among the men, but are crowned among the youths, and sometimes conquer even among the men. Therefore some are crowned always, some a second or third time. Surely it is a wretched thing and of the utmost unhappiness, in all the contests, so various and diverse, not to merit even one crown. So therefore also the Christian, whose "striving is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and against the princes of this world of these darknesses, against the spiritual things of wickedness in the heavenly places", since he has adversaries so many and such, ought like a contestant to be watchful, if it can be, that he may always conquer as often as he engages, and straightway among the boys (paedas) — that is, among the children — seize the first crowns. Do you wish me to show you some who among the children — that is, straightway at the first milk — were crowned? Look upon the blessed Daniel, who from a boy merited both the grace of prophecy, and, convicting the wicked elders, as a boy obtained the crown of righteousness and chastity. Do you wish me to bring forth for you another crowned among the children? See Jeremiah, who, when he excused himself from prophesying on account of his youth, heard from the Lord: "Say not, I am a boy, for to all to whomsoever I shall send thee, thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall say to thee, thou shalt speak". But perhaps these ages seem to you already adult. I will give you an athlete who wrestled and conquered before he uttered his infant cries among men. Jacob, while still within the womb of his mother, wrestling with his brother Esau, supplanted him and conquered, whence also he received from his parent the blessings of the firstborn belonging to the supplanted and vanquished brother. For do not those children too seem to you to have been crowned in a childish contest, who at Bethlehem, of two years old and under, for the name of the Lord took the palm of martyrdom? You see how many examples of crowns among children we have. This concerning that of which we resumed the exposition — that verse which says: "When he shall have fallen, he shall not be laid prostrate". And why he is not laid prostrate, he added the cause, saying: "Because the Lord strengthens his hand". And see how consistently he speaks of each thing: Lest he fall, the Lord, he says, directs his steps; but if he shall have fallen, he is not laid prostrate: the Lord, he says, strengthens his hand. You see, then, that we always need the Lord's help. First, that we not fall; then next, even if we shall have fallen, that we may rise again.
3. "I have been young, and now am old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread. All the day he has mercy and lends, and his seed shall be in blessing". Those who say that the words of the divine Scripture are to be taken simply and according to the history, will say without doubt that in this passage David is affirming that, the age of his youth being passed, when he had now come even to the time of his old age, in all this time he had never seen the righteous man so forsaken as to lack bread. And what do we make of Paul the Apostle, who, enumerating and expounding the lives of the prophets, says that they, needy, tribulated, wandered in goatskins through the caverns of the rocks and through the caves; and, recalling of himself, frequently says, in hunger and in thirst? And when we learn from the histories of the Scriptures that the righteous frequently suffer these things, how now is it to be thought that David says this according to the simple understanding? But let us see whether perhaps there are certain ages of our inner man, after the likeness of the outer and bodily age. Whence also sometimes it is said of men already of mature age that they are children, and of others that they are old, and of others that they are young — and this surely does not fittingly apply to bodily age. In fine, when very many before Abraham had lived six hundred and five hundred, at the least three hundred years, of none of them was it said that he was aged and full of days, save of Abraham only. From which it is to be understood that this was designated not of the age of the body, but of the maturity of the inner man. Whence we also ought to wish to be called elders and seniors not for the age of the body, nor for the office of the presbyterate, but for the perfect sense of the inner man and the gravity of steadfastness — as also Abraham was called an elder, nourished in a good old age. There is, then, a certain childish age according to the inner man, and there is also a youthful age, and there is an aged age, according to what the Apostle said: "When I was a little one, I spoke as a little one, I was wise as a little one, I thought as a little one; but when I became a man, I did away with the things that were of a little one". I understand these things to be said by the Apostle not of bodily age, but because, when in the beginning he had believed, he was a little one lately born, desiring the reasonable and guileless milk; then he understood the Scriptures as a little one, was wise concerning the Gospel as a little one, thought as a little one; but after this, advancing in age after the likeness of Christ — of whom it is written that "He advanced in age and wisdom and grace with God and with men" — he laid aside the things that were of a little one: and therefore he said, "When I became a man, I laid aside the things that were of a little one". So therefore is David also to be understood to say: "I have been young, and now am old"; as if he said, When I was a little one according to the inner man, now I am already grown old. For unless he had grown old, he would not be a prophet. For it belongs to the aged to prophesy. Even if you should sometimes see a youth prophesying, do not hesitate to say of him that according to the inner man he has grown old, and therefore he is a prophet: in fine, Jeremiah, when he had heard: "Before I formed thee in the womb I knew thee, and before thou camest forth from the womb I sanctified thee, and made thee a prophet among the nations", answered: "I am a youth, and I know not how to speak". But He who granted him the grace that he should not be a boy, but should be an elder according to the inner man, said to him: "Say not, I am a youth". Otherwise, unless these things be so understood, what reason would there be that it should be said to a boy, whose age is youthful and untrained, "Say not, I am a youth"? — that is to say, do not say what is true. He was therefore a youth according to the age of the body: but since the Lord had given His words in his mouth, by which he should root up and overthrow and scatter, and again build and plant — which virtue of the words, illuminating and sanctifying his soul, did not allow it to be childish — therefore rightly it is said to him: "Say not, I am a youth". Similarly, then, this also which David says: "I have been young, and now am old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread", is to be perceived according to what we said above concerning the youthful or aged age of the inner man; otherwise, according to the outer man, if the righteous man is to be thought forsaken by God when sickness of body comes, when tribulation, when poverty and each several trouble of this life is engendered — these things are especially wont to happen to the righteous, for whom it is customary even to suffer persecution for the name of God, but they are not forsaken when, suffering and enduring all these things, they say: No one shall separate us from the charity of God, which is in Christ Jesus, neither tribulation, nor hunger, nor distress, nor nakedness, nor sword, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature. In fine, the prophets, who went about in the desert through the caverns of the rocks and the caves, needy, tribulated, afflicted, though they wandered in the deserts and were forsaken by men, yet a multitude of angels surrounded them. So likewise Elisha, when he was forsaken by men, was surrounded by a heavenly host, according to what is written: Open the eyes of this boy, that he may see that there are more with us than with them. And he saw the whole mountain full of horsemen and chariots. For the righteous man is never alone, but is supported not by the fellowship of only one, or of two, or of three angels only, but a host of the heavenly powers is at hand for him. But if there is need yet of more testimonies, take up also another. Jacob, so long as he was in the house of his parents and with his brother Esau, was not with the host of angels; but when he had withdrawn to the solitude of the desert, and journeyed alone toward Mesopotamia, he slept in a certain place, and rising he says that this place is called παρεμβολή, which is "camp," for the reason that he saw there not one, but several camps of God. These things we say concerning the fact that the righteous man is by no means said to be forsaken — in spiritual goods, at least. For in bodily goods, see what the righteous man said, in which things also he glories: "Even to this", he says, "hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and we labor working with our hands". And again: "We are cursed and we bless, we suffer persecution and endure it, being blasphemed we entreat". But because such a one was not forsaken in spirit, he said: "Wherefore I please myself in my infirmities, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ". In two ways, then, is he forsaken who is forsaken. Bodily indeed in this manner, in which we said above that all the saints suffer, and are not harmed. But those are forsaken in spirit of whom it is said: "Since they did not approve to have God in knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, that they should do the things that are not fitting, being filled with all iniquity, wickedness, avarice, full of envy, murders, contention, guile, whisperers, detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty", and the other evils of this kind, for which they merited also to be forsaken. Which things, since they are alien to the righteous man, therefore he says, "I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread". Again, if you hear "his seed," will you return to bodily seed? And how will you find this true, that the seed of the righteous does not seek bread, when you see that Ishmael, born of the seed of Abraham, when his mother, fleeing her mistress Sarah, carried him in the desert, both sought water indeed and bread? But also Esau, coming from the way, was failing from want of food, and to such a degree was he cast headlong by the rage of hunger, that he sold away his birthright for a food of lentils. It behooves us, then, according to what we said above, to understand also the seed of the righteous spiritually. And what else is the seed of the righteous worthy to be thought, save the disciple of the righteous man, who, having received from him the seed of the word of God, is begotten unto eternal life? For example's sake, if by your prayers I should merit to be righteous, and to receive from the Lord grace in the word of wisdom and of knowledge, so that I could, according to the grace which I myself had merited from the Lord, minister to you also the word of God, and sow it in your souls; then afterward the word of God, having entered into your souls and clinging in your heart, would form your minds according to the form of the word itself — that is, that you would will this and do this which the word of God wills, and through this Christ Himself would be formed in you — then you would truly be made the seed of the righteous, which does not seek bread, having namely always in you that bread which descended from heaven. But if you answer me and say: How many heard Peter and Paul, who surely were most righteous teachers, and yet sinned — and how then shall they be called the seed of the righteous? But see whether perhaps, just as not all who are from Abraham are also called the seed of Abraham, to whom it is said, "If you were the sons of Abraham, you would surely do the works of Abraham"; so also those who heard Peter and Paul, and did not do the things that Peter or Paul had taught, were not their seed, because the seeds of the word received from them they cast off and poured out from their soul as by a kind of abortion. In fine, also in this very psalm he says in another place: "The seed of the impious shall be exterminated". But it is certain that the bodily seed of the impious will not be exterminated. Job, in fine, was of the seed of Esau, the seed of an impious man, and yet he is not exterminated, but is manifested as righteous by the Lord, and is shown to be a prophet, and merits to be praised by God above all the righteous. But this is what we said above, that as the seed of the righteous is his word and doctrine — which word so feeds and refreshes souls that they are denied to lack bread, because Christ is their bread — so on the contrary the doctrine and word of the impious is their seed, which is said to be exterminated, because it is composed of falsehood, and, when the light of truth comes, it is certain that the darkness of the lie will be put to flight.
4. "All the day he has mercy and lends". The righteous man all the day has mercy, and all the day is said to lend: he is free for nothing else than to lend of that money which abounds to him. Shall this too here be thought, that the righteous man sits all the day at his table, and, having money before him, lends it to those suffering need? Perhaps this will be thought to be what was said through Moses: "And thou shalt lend to many nations, but thou thyself shalt not seek a loan". But it is certain that it is spoken of the Lord's money, which is commanded to be paid out to the money-changers, brought forth from the treasuries of the wisdom and knowledge of God, that we may make of five talents ten, of two four. And the more abundant money we have in our soul, so much the more shall we lend all the day. But even now, although I am not righteous, yet this which I speak, I lend you the Lord's money: but do you pray that I may be made righteous and may be able to lend you the money of righteousness, that not only by word, but also by the example of righteousness, I may teach righteousness. Therefore, just as there are unjust moneys, which are gathered unjustly and against the law through calumny and lies, and the diverse evils of avarice; and again there are moneys which are gathered justly and according to the law, that is, from one's own and just labors: so also in word and doctrine it is found to be. There are words gathered neither well, nor justly, nor lawfully — as are the words of heretics, and the doctrine gathered against the law of God — which we ought to shun as unjust and pestiferous money, and gathered from evil. Pray, therefore, that this our money which we lend you may be found wholly from just labors, wholly proceeding from the Lord's coin, that both you may sign over the interest entire, and we may not hear, "Thou oughtest to have given my money to the money-changers".
5. "I have been young, and now am old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread: all the day he has mercy and lends". In the passages above it is said that the sinner borrows and does not repay; here, that the righteous man all the day has mercy and lends. And see how, in contraries, they are matched. The sinner not only borrows, but also, when he has received, does not repay: but the righteous man not only does not borrow, but also lends: and not only once or twice, but all the day he lends — that is, lending through the whole time of his life he has mercy, whence also his seed shall be in blessing.
6. "Turn aside from evil and do good, and dwell forever and ever". Hearing these things, he says, do what is good, thou shalt dwell forever — that is, if thou shalt act as thou hast been taught, thy dwelling shall be eternal. For if thou look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are not seen — since the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal — thou shalt dwell forever.
7. "Because the Lord loves judgment, and will not forsake His saints". How does the Lord love judgment? In that nothing is done with Him without judgment, nothing without reason. So therefore do thou also, knowing that the Lord loves judgment, do all things with just and true judgment, hearing Him who admonishes thee, saying: "Do all things with counsel, drink wine with counsel".
8. "And the Lord will not forsake His saints, they shall be preserved forever". As he says that he shall dwell forever, so also they shall be preserved forever. Both of which look to the future time, or age, for which the saints shall be preserved, that thereafter they may endure in eternity. "The unjust shall be punished, and the seed of the impious shall perish; but the righteous shall inherit the earth". We have already said above of what sort is the seed of the impious, when we referred it to word and doctrine: and how it shall be exterminated, while every lie is put to flight by the light of truth as darkness. "But the righteous shall inherit the earth". And of this too we have already spoken above, how, whether the righteous or the meek, they attain the inheritance of that good and great land, and how they dwell in it forever and ever — not only forever, but forever and ever. See how great is the Lord's recompense. For the labor of thirty or forty, or at the very most fifty years, a man receives not only the recompense of this age, but forever and ever. But if anyone remains in the word of God, and clings to His wisdom, and persists in the eternity of light, he will attain even to this, that he may render to God glory forever and ever. Amen.