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they mocked; or concerning whom did they speak with their lips, did they shake their head, saying, "He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him save him for he delights in him"; and whom did many calves of what nature, and dogs, and fat bulls, surround; and they opened their mouth against him, like a ravening and a roaring lion; and in addition to these, whom did the assembly of the wicked enclose; and enclosed him so, as even to pierce his hands and his feet, and to number all his bones, and to divide his garments among themselves, casting a lot for his 85 clothing; for the person in the psalm says such things, who also after suffering so much adds, saying, "I will declare your name to my brethren, in the midst of the church I will praise you"; Let them interpret these things and the rest of the psalm, especially from the part, "all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him," until, "the coming generation shall be declared to the Lord, and they shall declare his righteousness to a people who will be born, whom the Lord has made." For let them present the generation that did not yet exist then, but was prophesied to come in the future; and the people who did not yet exist before, but was foreseen to be born in later times; and let them say what they would say concerning the church established from all the nations through Jesus Christ our Savior. For with respect to the such great multitudes who have come to know the God of all through Christ, would they not confess that this has been fulfilled, "all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord," and, "all the families of the nations shall worship before him." But it is time for those who wish to be reasonable to confess that the prophecy has been fulfilled in none other than in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ alone, in whose presence the conversion of the nations began to take place, the prophesied generation having come, and the people who were to be born being foretold not only here, but also in the one hundred and first 86 psalm, through the words, "Let this be written for another generation; and the people who shall be created shall praise the Lord." This is he of whom it was also said in the seventeenth, "A people whom I did not know served me; at the hearing of the ear they obeyed me." This Savior and our Lord, therefore, who took on flesh and through it was called a worm, who became a reproach of men and the despised of the people, "all those who see me have mocked me," especially at the time of the passion, when those things in the prophecy were coming to pass, those passing by blasphemed him and mocked him, saying, "He saved others, let him save himself"; then they also spoke with their lips and shook their heads against him, saying in the very words, "He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him save him for he delights in him"; for these very things are recorded in the gospels as having been said against him during the passion. To him alone, therefore, it is fitting to say to the Father, "for you are he who took me out of the womb; my hope from my mother's breasts; on you I was cast from the womb; from my mother's belly you are my God." Moreover, on these matters the word teaches us that certain wicked and beastly powers also worked the plot against him, on account of which he said, "Many calves have surrounded me; fat bulls have beset me round"; and concerning the assembly of the circumcision that rose up against them, he says, "For many dogs have surrounded me; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me"; and they pierced not only his hands, but also his feet; or according to Aquila, "they shamed," who said, "they shamed my hands 87 and my feet"; which was also truly fulfilled, when they hung him on the scaffold and pierced both his hands and his feet with nails; and it would be good if someone should demand from scripture to show that Christ was foretold to endure a cross, along with the other things of this

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ἐξεμυκτήρισαν· ἢ περὶ τίνος ἐλάλησαν ἐν χείλεσιν, ἐκίνησαν κεφαλὴν, λέγοντες, ἤλπισεν ἐπὶ κύριον, ῥυσάσθω αὐτὸν, σωσάτω αὐτὸν ὅτι θέλει αὐτόν· τίνα δὲ μόσχοι πολλοὶ καὶ ποταποὶ τὴν φύσιν, κύνες τε καὶ ταῦροι πίονες περιεκύκλωσαν· ἤνοιξάν τε στόμα ἐπ' αὐτὸν, ὡς λέων ἁρπάζων καὶ ὡρυόμενος· καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις, τίνα ἡ συναγωγὴ τῶν πονηρευομένων περιέσχεν· καὶ περιέσχεν οὕτως, ὡς καὶ ὀρύξαι αὐτοῦ χεῖρας καὶ πόδας, καὶ πάντα αὐτοῦ ἐξαριθμῆσαι τὰ ὀστᾶ, διαμερίσασθαί τε ἑαυτοῖς αὐτοῦ τὰ ἱμάτια, βαλλόντας κλῆρον ἐπὶ τὸν 85 ἱματισμὸν αὐτοῦ· τοιαῦτα γὰρ τινὰ φησὶ τὸ ἐν τῷ ψαλμῷ πρόσωπον, ὃ καὶ μετὰ τὸ τοσαῦτα παθεῖν ἐπιφέρει λέγων, διηγήσομαι τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου, ἐν μέσῳ ἐκκλησίας ὑμνήσω σε· λυέτωσαν δὲ ταῦθ' ἅμα καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ διηγούμενοι, μάλιστα ἀπὸ τοῦ, μνησθήσονται καὶ ἐπιστραφήσονται πρὸς κύριον πάντα τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς· καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ πᾶσαι αἱ πατριαὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν, μέχρι τοῦ, ἀναγγελήσεται τῷ κυρίῳ γενεὰ ἡ ἐρχομένη, καὶ ἀναγγελοῦσι τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ λαῷ τῷ τεχθησομένῳ ὃν ἐποίησεν ὁ Κύριος. Παριστάτωσαν γὰρ τὴν τότε μὲν μὴ ὑπάρχουσάν πω γενεὰν, ἥξειν δὲ εἰς μέλλοντα χρόνον προφητευομένην· καὶ τὸν πρότερον μὲν μηδέπω ὄντα λαὸν, τεχθήσεσθαι δὲ ἐν τοῖς μετέπειτα χρόνοις προορώμενον· λεγέτωσάν τε τί ἂν εἴποιεν περὶ τῆς διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν συστάσης ἐκ πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησίας· ἆρα γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῖς τοσούτοις πλήθεσι τῶν διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν ἐπεγνωκότων οὐκ ἂν ὁμολογήσαιεν πεπληρῶσθαι τὸ, μνησθήσονται καὶ ἐπιστραφήσονται πρὸς Κύριον πάντα τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς· καὶ τὸ, προσκυνήσουσιν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ πᾶσαι αἱ πατριαὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ὥρα τοῖς εὐγνωμονεῖν ἐθέλουσιν, οὐκ ἐπ' ἄλλου τινὸς ἢ ἐπὶ μόνου τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ὁμολογεῖν πεπληρῶσθαι τὴν προφητείαν, οὗ κατὰ τὴν παρουσίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐπιστροφὴ γίγνεσθαι ἤρξατο, παραγενομένης τῆς προφητευθείσης γενεᾶς, καὶ τοῦ λαοῦ τοῦ τεχθήσεσθαι οὐ μόνον ἐνταῦθα προδηλουμένου, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ἑκατόστῳ πρώτῳ 86 ψαλμῷ, διὰ τοῦ, γραφήτω αὕτη εἰς γενεὰν ἑτέραν· καὶ λαὸς ὁ κτιζόμενος αἰνέσει τὸν κύριον. Οὗτος δὲ ἔστι περὶ οὗ καὶ ἐν ιζʹ εἴρητο, λαὸς ὃν οὐκ ἔγνων ἐδούλευσέ μοι· εἰς ἀκοὴν ὠτίου ὑπήκουσέ μου. Τοῦτον οὖν τὸν Σωτῆρα καὶ Κύριον ἡμῶν σάρκα ἀναλαβόντα καὶ δι' αὐτὴν σκώληκα χρηματίσαντα, ὃν εἶδός τε ἀνθρώπων γενόμενον καὶ ἐξουδένωμα λαοῦ, πάντες οἱ θεωροῦντές με ἐξεμυκτήρισαν, μάλιστα κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ πάθους, ὅτε τῶν ἐν τῇ προφητείᾳ τέλος ἰσχόντων οἱ παραπορευόμενοι ἐβλασφήμουν αὐτὸν καὶ ἐμυκτήριζον λέγοντες, ἄλλους ἔσωσεν, σωσάτω ἑαυτόν· τότε δὲ καὶ ἐλάλησαν ἐν χείλεσι καὶ ἐκίνησαν κεφαλὴν ἑαυτῶν κατ' αὐτοῦ· αὐτοῖς ῥήμασιν εἰπόντες τὸ, ἤλπισεν ἐπὶ κύριον, ῥυσάσθω αὐτὸν, σωσάτω αὐτὸν ὅτι θέλει αὐτόν· αὐτὰ γὰρ δὴ ταῦτα κατὰ τὸ πάθος εἰρῆσθαι ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις ἀναγέγραπται. Τούτῳ οὖν καὶ μόνῳ πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα λέγειν ἁρμόζει ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ ἐκσπάσας με ἐκ γαστρός· ἡ ἐλπίς μου ἀπὸ μαστῶν τῆς μητρός μου· ἐπὶ σὲ ἐπερρίφην ἐκ μήτρας· ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου Θεός μου εἶ σύ. Πλὴν ἐπὶ τούτοις ὁ λόγος ἡμᾶς παιδεύει, ὡς ἄρα καὶ δυνάμεις πονηραί τινες καὶ θηριώδεις ἐνήργησαν τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐπιβουλὴν, δι' ἃς καὶ ἔφασκε, περιεκύκλωσάν με μόσχοι πολλοί· ταῦροι πίονες περιέσχον με· καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐπισυστάσης δὲ κατ' αὐτῶν ἐκ περιτομῆς συναγωγῆς φησὶν, ὅτι ἐκυκλωσάν με κύνες πολλοί· συναγωγὴ πονηρευομένων περιέσχον με· οὗτοι δὲ καὶ ὤρυξαν οὐ μόνον τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς πόδας· ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν, ἤσχυναν, φήσαντα, ἤσχυναν χεῖράς 87 μου καὶ πόδας μου· ὃ καὶ ἀληθῶς ἐτελέσθη, ὅτε κρεμάσαντες αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἰκρίου ἤλοις αὐτοῦ τάς τε χεῖρας καὶ τοὺς πόδας περιέπειραν· καὶ καλόν γε εἰ ἀπαιτοίη τίς ἀπὸ γραφῆς παραστῆσαι, ὡς ἄρα καὶ σταυρὸν ὑπομεῖναι ὁ Χριστὸς προείρητο, μετὰ καὶ ἄλλων τῶν τούτου