Abstract

In his commentary on Psalm 118(LXX):73a, “Your hands made me and fashioned me” (Tract.118Ps. 10.1–8), Hilary of Poitiers provides a unique perspective on the creation of humanity and on its exceptional dignity. I will examine key aspects of Hilary’s exegesis of this verse, namely, the identification of the hands of God, the interpretation of the two verbs “made” and “fashioned”, and the connections with Genesis 1:26 and 2:7. I will also compare Hilary’s interpretation of Ps 118:73a to the views expressed by other authors such as Theophilus, Irenaeus, Origen, Tertullian, Ambrose, and Didymus, with the purpose of contextualising Hilary’s novel understanding of human dignity within the larger framework of Early Christian interpretations of Genesis.