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nor did his flesh see corruption; Since Peter, therefore, has applied the interpretation of the prophecy to the Savior, it will be possible for the one who does not make a cursory investigation of these things, either to apply to him every word in the Psalm consistently with what Peter also understood, or to consult the commentaries written by others on the Psalm; for our purpose does not permit us to say anything more on these passages than what has been said. On Psalm 10. Chapter 8. And what is said in the sixteenth Psalm, 'You have proved my heart, you have visited it by night, you have tried me by fire, and no iniquity was found in me,' we have noted as being from the voice of Christ, since it is not fitting for human nature to say this otherwise; and all the words in the psalm can be referred to the Savior by one who looks at them closely. On Psalm 17. -9. Since those of the circumcision will think that the seventeenth Psalm is spoken by no one other than David, because its inscription also seems to indicate this, we will press them, as they are unable to defend on his account the words, 'You will deliver me from the contradiction of the people; you will make me the head of the nations. A people whom I did not know has served me; at the hearing of the ear they obeyed me. Strange children have lied 80 to me, strange children have grown old.' For of what nations could they show David to have been made the head, or what is this people, which he did not know before, but yet served him, obeying him at the hearing of the ear? And who are those called 'strange children' who lied to him, and those who grew old and went lame from their paths? But for us, nothing of what is said in the psalm will be a stumbling block at all, when it comes from the person of Christ, who was appointed head of the church from the nations; for we understand this prophecy and see it clearly fulfilled; for we were, we were truly alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, and for this reason unworthy of the knowledge of the Word of God; but now having come to know God, or rather having been known by him, we who were once far off have been brought near, and we have served him who formerly did not know us, and at the hearing of the ear we have obeyed him, having received the word of his new covenant, which he made with us. And wonderfully, after 'a people whom I did not know has served me,' and our calling, it sets forth the things concerning the former synagogue through the words, 'strange children have lied to me,' which is equivalent to, 'I have begotten and raised up sons, but they have rejected me.' And these have grown old, having gone lame from their paths, and not having accepted the Christ of God; who, having been rejected by them, was appointed by the Father as head of the 81 nations that served and obeyed him at the hearing of the ear, according to the prophecy that says elsewhere, 'The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner.' I think also that the things concerning his divinity and his descent to men are declared in the first parts of the Psalm; which, being spoken more mysteriously, ought not to have a cursory and hasty explanation, such as what follows from 'and he bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness was under his feet; and he mounted upon Cherubim and flew, he flew upon the wings of the winds;' and as many things as are similarly referred to the Word of God. On Psalm 18. -10. There are no speeches nor words, whose voices are not heard. Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. We ask whose sound has gone out into all the earth, and whose words to the ends of the world, so that no words and speeches are left among any people where their voices were not also heard; but one could not point to any others than the holy apostles, in whom the prophecy is fulfilled, their teaching about Christ having become famous throughout all the world under heaven, when dwelling in this life with the

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οὔτε ἡ σὰρξ αὐτοῦ ἴδεν διαφθοράν· τοῦ δὴ Πέτρου τοίνυν ἀποδεδωκότος εἰς τὸν Σωτῆρα τὴν τῆς προφητείας ἑρμηνείαν, παρέσται τῷ μὴ πάρεργον τὴν τούτων ἔρευναν ποιουμένῳ, ἤτοι ἐπ' αὐτῷ πᾶσαν τὴν ἐν τῷ Ψαλμῷ λέξιν ἀκολούθως ἐφαρμόζειν οἷς καὶ ὁ Πέτρος ἐξείληφεν, ἢ τοῖς ὑφ' ἑτέρων εἰς τὸν Ψαλμὸν ὑπομνηματισθεῖσιν ἐντυχεῖν· ἡμῖν γὰρ ὁ σκοπὸς οὐδέν τι πλεῖον τῶν εἰρημένων λέγειν εἰς τοὺς τόπους ἐπιτρέπει. Ψ. Ψαλμοῦ ιʹ. Κεφάλαιον Ηʹ. Καὶ τὸ λεγόμενον ἐν ἑκκαιδεκάτῳ Ψαλμῷ, ἐδοκίμασας τὴν καρδίαν μου, ἐπισκέψω νυκτὸς, ἐπύρωσάς με, καὶ οὐχ εὑρέθη ἐν ἐμοὶ ἀδικία, ὡς ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ φωνῆς τυγχάνον ἐσημειωσάμεθα, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἄλλως ἀνθρωπείᾳ φύσει τοῦτο φάσκειν ἁρμόττει· καὶ πάντες δὲ οἱ ἐν τῷ ψαλμῷ λόγοι τῷ ἐνορῶντι ἀκριβῶς αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὸν Σωτῆρα ἀναφέρεσθαι δύνανται. Ψ. Ψαλμοῦ ιζʹ. -Θʹ. Ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸν ἕπτα καὶ δέκατον Ψαλμὸν οὐκ ἐξ ἄλλου τινὸς λέγεσθαι νομιοῦσιν οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς ἢ τοῦ ∆αυὶδ, διὰ τὸ καὶ τὴν ἐπιγραφὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦτο δοκεῖν ἐμφαίνειν, θλίψομεν αὐτοὺς οὐ δυναμένους σώζειν ἐπ' αὐτοῦ τὸ, Ῥύσῃ με ἐξ ἀντιλογίας λαοῦ, καταστήσεις με εἰς κεφαλὴν ἐθνῶν· λαὸς, ὃν οὐκ ἔγνων, ἐδούλευσέν μοι, εἰς ἀκοὴν ὠτίου ὑπήκουσέν μοι· υἱοὶ ἀλλότριοι ἐψεύ 80 σαντό μοι, υἱοὶ ἀλλότριοι ἐπαλαιώθησαν. Ποίων γὰρ ἐθνῶν εἰς κεφαλὴν καταστάντα τὸν ∆αυὶδ ἔχοιεν παραστῆσαι, ἢ ποῖος οὗτος λαὸς, ὃν οὐκ ἐγνώκει μὲν αὐτὸς πρότερον, ὅμως δὲ ἐδούλευσεν αὐτῷ εἰς ἀκουὴν ὠτίου ὑπακούσας αὐτῷ· τίνες δὲ καὶ οἱ ψευσάμενοι αὐτῷ υἱοὶ ἀλλότριοι λεγόμενοι, καὶ οἱ παλαιωθέντες καὶ χωλάναντες ἀπὸ τῶν τρίβων αὐτῶν; Ἀλλ' ἡμῖν οὐδ' ὅλως τί τῶν ἐν τῷ ψαλμῷ λεγομένων προσκόψει ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ κατασταθέντος εἰς κεφαλὴν τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησίας, καὶ ταύτην ἐκλαμβάνουσι τὴν προφητείαν θεωροῦσί τε αὐτὴν ἐναργῶς πεπληρωμένην· ἦμεν γὰρ, ἦμεν ἀληθῶς ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς πολιτείας τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ξένοι τῶν διαθηκῶν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μὴ ἄξιοι τῆς τοῦ λόγου τοῦ Θεοῦ γνώσεως· ἀλλὰ νῦν γνόντες Θεὸν, μᾶλλον δὲ γνωσθέντες ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, ἡμεῖς οἱ ποτὲ ὄντες μακρὰν ἐγενήθημεν ἐγγὺς, καὶ ἐδουλεύσαμεν τῷ πάλαι μὴ γνόντι ἡμᾶς, καὶ εἰς ἀκοὴν ὠτίου ὑπηκούσαμεν αὐτῷ, παραδεξάμενοι τὸν τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης αὐτοῦ λόγον, ὃν διέθετο πρὸς ἡμᾶς. Θαυμασίως δὲ μετὰ τὸ λαὸς, ὃν οὐκ ἔγνων, ἐδούλευσέν μοι, καὶ τὴν περὶ ἡμῶν κλῆσιν τὰ περὶ τῆς προτέρας συναγωγῆς ἐκτίθεται διὰ τοῦ, υἱοὶ ἀλλότριοι ἐψεύσαντό μοι, ἰσοδυναμοῦν τῷ, Υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα, αὐτοὶ δέ με ἠθέτησαν· οὗτοι δὲ καὶ ἐπαλαιώθησαν χωλάναντες ἀπὸ τῶν τρίβων αὐτῶν, καὶ μὴ παραδεξάμενοι τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ· ὃς ἀποδοκιμασθεὶς ὑπ' αὐτῶν κατεστάθη ὑπὸ τοῦ Πατρὸς εἰς κεφαλὴν τῶν δουλευσάντων, καὶ εἰς ἀκοὴν ὠτίου ὑπακουσάντων αὐτῷ 81 ἐθνῶν, κατὰ τὴν ἑτέρωθι φάσκουσαν προφητείαν, Λίθον, ὃν ἀπεδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, οὗτος ἐγενήθη εἰς κεφαλὴν γωνίας. Οἶμαι δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς θεότητος καὶ τῆς εἰς ἀνθρώπους καταβάσεως αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις δηλοῦσθαι τοῦ Ψαλμοῦ· ἅπερ οὐ τῆς ἐν παρέργῳ καὶ παραδρομῇ δέοιτ' ἂν ἐξηγήσεως ἀπορρητότερον εἰρημένα, οἷα ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τοῦ, καὶ ἔκλινεν οὐρανοὺς καὶ κατέβη, καὶ γνόφος ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐπέβη ἐπὶ Χερουβὶν καὶ ἐπετάσθη, ἐπετάσθη ἐπὶ πτερύγων ἀνέμων· καὶ ὅσα τούτοις παραπλησίως ἐπὶ τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον ἀναφέρεται. Ψ. Ψαλμοῦ ιηʹ. -Ιʹ. Οὐκ εἰσὶ λαλιαὶ οὐδὲ λόγοι, ὧν οὐχὶ ἀκούονται αἱ φωναὶ αὐτῶν. Εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν, καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν. Ζητοῦμεν τίνων εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος, καὶ τὰ ῥήματα ἕως τῶν περάτων τῆς οἰκουμένης, ὡς μὴ καταλελεῖφθαι λόγους παρά τισι καὶ λαλιὰς παρ' οἷς οὐκ ἠκούσθησαν καὶ αἱ τούτων φωναί· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν ἔχοι τίς ἑτέρους ἐπιδεῖξαι τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων, εἰς οὓς ἡ προφητεία πεπλήρωται διαβοήτου τῆς περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ διδασκαλίας αὐτῶν εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν ὑπ' οὐρανὸν γενομένης, ὅτε ἐνεπιδημοῦντες τῷ βίῳ μετὰ τῆς