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his. I said, Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you. My enemies spoke evil things to me, When will he die and his name perish? And if he came in to see, he spoke vanity; his heart gathered iniquity to itself, he went out and spoke against me together. 10.1.2 All my enemies whispered against me; they devised evil things for me; Shall not he that sleeps add to rise again? For even the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. But you, Lord, have mercy on me and raise me up, and I will repay them. By this I knew that you have favored me, because my enemy will not rejoice over me. But you upheld me because of my innocence, and you established me before you forever.” 10.1.3 Since some have supposed that the book of Psalms contains only hymns to God and theological odes, but not also foreknowledge or prophecies of future things, this first must be observed, that countless things are divinely uttered through them, which it would be lengthy to gather at present, but it is sufficient to use as testimony for the argument two psalms inscribed of Asaph but spoken in the times of David. 10.1.4 For at that time Asaph, being one of the sacred psalmists, as is related in the book of Chronicles, uttered his inscribed psalms by the divine spirit. 10.1.5 What then do the psalms contain but predictions of the siege of the royal city of the Jewish nation, which happened somewhere near five hundred years after the prediction? 10.1.6 The seventy-third, inscribed “Of understanding for Asaph,” therefore says: “Why, O God, have you cast us off forever? Has your anger been kindled against the sheep of your pasture? Remember your congregation which you acquired from the beginning; you redeemed the rod of your inheritance, this Mount Zion where you have dwelt. Lift up your hands against their pride forever, all the evil the enemy has done in your holy places. And those who hate you have boasted in the midst of your feast. 10.1.7 They set up their signs as signs, and did not know, as at the entrance above; as in a thicket of trees with axes they cut down its doors; together with axe and stone-hammer they shattered it. They set your sanctuary on fire; to the ground they defiled the tabernacle of your name.” So much for the seventy-third psalm. 10.1.8 And the seventy-eighth, being also of Asaph, contains these things: “O God, the nations have entered into your inheritance, they have defiled your holy temple, they have made Jerusalem like a fruit-keeper’s hut; they have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the sky, the flesh of your holy ones to the beasts of the earth.” 10.1.9 Of these, the first things, I mean those from the seventy-third psalm, were spoken while David was still reigning, before the temple was built by Solomon; but they were fulfilled at no other time than first during the siege of the Babylonians, and second during the Roman war against the Jews. 10.1.10 For each of the things spoken was fulfilled at both the first and second destruction of the temple, having been foreknown and proclaimed in the aforementioned psalms by Asaph; but the second things, those from the seventy-eighth, were fulfilled in the times of Antiochus called Epiphanes, who, having become king of Syria, subjugated Jerusalem, defiled the temple and demolished the altar, then forcing the Jews to Hellenize, he killed very many of them, both men and women, for their own law and their ancestral piety, having first tortured them with various punishments. 10.1.11 Therefore, with reference to that time, and to those after these events who did the same things as Antiochus, Asaph proclaims the things from the seventy-eighth psalm. And the writing of what are called the Maccabees testifies to the argument, having this manner: “And a company of scribes was gathered to Alcimus and Bacchides, seeking just things,” 10.1.12 and so on

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αὐτοῦ. ἐγὼ εἶπα, κύριε, ἐλέησόν με· ἴασαι ψυχήν μου, ὅτι ἥμαρτόν σοι. οἱ ἐχθροί μου εἶπαν κακά μοι, πότε ἀποθανεῖται καὶ ἀπολεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ; καὶ εἰ εἰσεπορεύετο τοῦ ἰδεῖν, μάτην ἐλάλει· ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ συνήγαγεν ἀνομίαν ἑαυτῷ, ἐξεπορεύετο ἔξω καὶ ἐλάλει ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κατ' ἐμοῦ. 10.1.2 ἐψιθύριζον πάντες οἱ ἐχθροί μου κατ' ἐμοῦ· ἐλογίζοντο κακά μοι· μὴ ὁ κοιμώμενος οὐχὶ προσθήσει τοῦ ἀναστῆ ναι; καὶ γὰρ ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς εἰρήνης μου, ἐφ' ὃν ἤλπισα, ὁ ἐσθίων ἄρτους μου, ἐμεγάλυνεν ἐπ' ἐμὲ πτερνισμόν. σὺ δέ, κύριε, ἐλέησόν με καὶ ἀνάστησόν με, καὶ ἀνταποδώσω αὐτοῖς. ἐν τούτῳ ἔγνων ὅτι τεθέληκάς με, ὅτι οὐ μὴ ἐπιχαρῇ ὁ ἐχθρός μου ἐπ' ἐμοί. ἐμοῦ δὲ διὰ τὴν ἀκακίαν ἀντελάβου, καὶ ἐβεβαίωσάς με ἐνώπιόν σου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.» 10.1.3 Ἐπειδή τινες ὑπειλήφασιν τὴν βίβλον τῶν ψαλμῶν ὕμνους μόνον εἰς θεὸν καὶ ᾠδὰς θεολογικὰς περιέχειν, οὐ μὴν καὶ προγνώσεις οὐδὲ μελλόντων προφητείας, τοῦτο πρῶτον ἐπιτηρητέον, ὡς μυρία θεσπίζεται δι' αὐτῶν, ἃ καὶ μακρὸν ἂν εἴη συναγαγεῖν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος, ἀρκεῖ δὲ χρήσασθαι εἰς μαρτυρίαν τοῦ λόγου δύο ψαλμοῖς ἐπιγεγραμμένοις μὲν τοῦ Ἀσὰφ εἰρημένοις δὲ κατὰ τοὺς τοῦ ∆αβὶδ χρόνους. 10.1.4 τὸ τηνικαῦτα γὰρ εἷς τῶν ἱεροψαλτῶν ὁ Ἀσὰφ τυγχάνων, ὡς ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ φέρεται τῶν Παραλειπομένων, τοὺς ἐπιγεγραμμένους αὐτοῦ ψαλμοὺς θείῳ πνεύματι προσεφώνησεν. 10.1.5 τί δὴ οὖν περιέχουσιν οἱ ψαλμοὶ ἢ προρρήσεις τῆς πολιορκίας τῆς βασιλικῆς πόλεως τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους, ἥτις γέγονεν ἐγγύς που πεντακοσίοις ἔτεσιν μετὰ τὴν πρόρρησιν; 10.1.6 λέγει δ' οὖν ὁ ἑβδομηκοστὸς τρίτος ἐπιγεγραμμένος «συνέσεως τῷ Ἀσάφ»· «ἵνα τί ἀπώσω, ὁ θεός, εἰς τέλος; ὠργίσθη ὁ θυμός σου ἐπὶ πρόβατα νομῆς σου; μνήσθητι τῆς συναγωγῆς σου ἧς ἐκτήσω ἀπ' ἀρχῆς· ἐλυτρώσω ῥάβδον κληρονομίας σου, ὄρος Σιὼν τοῦτο ὃ κατεσκήνωσας ἐν αὐτῷ. ἔπαρον τὰς χεῖράς σου ἐπὶ τὰς ὑπερηφανίας αὐτῶν εἰς τέλος, ὅσα ἐπονηρεύσατο ὁ ἐχθρὸς ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις σου. καὶ ἐνεκαυχήσαντο οἱ μισοῦντές σε ἐν μέσῳ τῆς ἑορτῆς σου. 10.1.7 ἔθεντο τὰ σημεῖα αὐτῶν σημεῖα, καὶ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν, ὡς εἰς τὴν εἴσοδον ὑπεράνω· ὡς ἐν δρυμῷ ξύλων ἀξίναις ἐξέκοψαν τὰς θύρας αὐτῆς· ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἐν πελέκει καὶ λαξευτηρίῳ κατέρραξαν αὐτήν. ἐνεπύρισαν ἐν πυρὶ τὸ ἁγιαστήριόν σου· εἰς τὴν γῆν ἐβεβήλωσαν τὸ σκήνωμα τοῦ ὀνόματός σου.» ταῦτα μὲν ὁ ἑβδομηκοστὸς τρίτος ψαλμός. 10.1.8 καὶ ὁ ἑβδομηκοστὸς δὲ ὄγδοος, τοῦ Ἀσὰφ καὶ αὐτὸς τυγχάνων, τάδε περιέχει· «ὁ θεός, εἰσήλθοσαν ἔθνη εἰς τὴν κληρονομίαν σου, ἐμίαναν τὸν ναὸν τὸν ἅγιόν σου, ἔθεντο Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὡς ὀπωροφυλάκιον· ἔθεντο τὰ θνησιμαῖα τῶν δούλων σου βρώματα τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τὰς σάρκας τῶν ὁσίων σου τοῖς θηρίοις τῆς γῆς». 10.1.9 τούτων δὲ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα, λέγω δὲ τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἑβδομηκοστοῦ τρίτου ψαλμοῦ, εἴρητο βασιλεύοντος ἔτι τοῦ ∆αβίδ, πρὸ τοῦ τὸν ναὸν ὑπὸ Σολομῶνος κατασκευασθῆναι· τέλους δὲ ἔτυχεν οὐκ ἄλλοτε ἢ πρῶτον μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς Βαβυλωνίων πολιορκίας, δεύτερον δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ῥωμαϊκοῦ πρὸς Ἰουδαίους πολέμου. 10.1.10 ἕκαστα γὰρ τῶν εἰρημένων ἐπληροῦτο ἐπί τε τῆς πρώτης καὶ δευτέρας τοῦ ἱεροῦ κατασκαφῆς, προγνωσθέντα καὶ ἀναφωνηθέντα ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ψαλμοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἀσάφ· τὰ δὲ δεύτερα, τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἑβδομηκοστοῦ ὀγδόου, ἐπληροῦτο κατὰ τοὺς Ἀντιόχου χρόνους τοῦ κληθέντος Ἐπιφανοῦς, ὃς τῆς Συρίας βασιλεύσας ὑπάγεται μὲν τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα μιαίνει δὲ τὸν ναὸν καὶ καθαιρεῖ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, ἔπειτα τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἑλληνίζειν ἐπαναγκάζων, πλείστους ὅσους αὐτῶν ἄνδρας τε καὶ γυναῖκας ὑπὲρ τοῦ οἰκείου νόμου καὶ τῆς πατρῴας εὐσεβείας ἀνῄρει, ποικίλαις προαικιζόμενος τιμωρίαις. 10.1.11 εἰς ἐκεῖνον τοιγαροῦν τὸν καιρόν, καὶ εἰς τοὺς μετὰ ταῦτα τῷ Ἀντιόχῳ τὰ ἴσα πράξαντας ἀναφωνεῖ ὁ Ἀσὰφ τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἑβδομηκοστοῦ ὀγδόου ψαλμοῦ. μαρτυρεῖ δὲ τῷ λόγῳ ἡ τῶν καλουμένων Μακκαβαίων γραφή, τοῦτον ἔχουσα τὸν τρόπον· «καὶ προσεπισυνήχθησαν πρὸς Ἰάκειμον καὶ Βακχίδην συναγωγὴ γραμματέων ἐκζητοῦσα δίκαια», 10.1.12 καὶ ἑξῆς