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to cleave to you. Therefore I say, that "For me it is good to cleave to God." For if no one is good except God alone, from where could anything good come to another except from cleaving to him? And indeed I have already enjoyed every good thing, being joined and united to God; so as to say: "My soul has cleaved to you." And for the future time I was outlining good hopes for myself. And this was another good thing for me, to place my hope in the Lord. For the end of all my hope was to declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion. For having been deemed worthy of entry into your city, about which it was said above: "O Lord, in your city you will despise their image," and having mounted the heavenly gates, I will proclaim to all your benefits toward me. Having arrived there, I will also obtain your promises, which "eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and have not entered into the heart of man." For such things has God prepared for those who love him. But "in the gates of the daughter of Zion," not being found in the Hebrew, nor among the other interpreters, but being conveyed only by the Seventy, has been marked with an obelus, because it is also superfluous. For the good end of all things leads to that heavenly Zion itself, which was the city of God assigned in the heavens, with the daughter of Zion being understood as the Church among us, as is easy to show through many proofs.

OF UNDERSTANDING. FOR ASAPH. 73. Why, O God, have you cast us off forever? Why has your anger been kindled against the sheep of your pasture?

The prophetic spirit indeed rouses and incites us to the understanding of the things being said. But it does not inscribe it as a psalm in the usual way, nor a song, nor a hymn, nor anything similar, because of the gloominess of the things being reported. In which an intercession seems to be contained, concerning which the divine Apostle commanded, saying that we all ought to make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings. The word therefore intercedes with God, prophetically recounting future events as though they were past, and signifying the final siege of Jerusalem that took place under the Romans after the saving Advent. And it proclaims these things before the place was even established. For Asaph, through whom these things were prophesied, was a contemporary of David; but Solomon built the temple after the death of David. And having foreseen two destructions of the place, the first one that happened under the Babylonians, and the second under the Romans; he signifies the first one through the 79th psalm and through the 82nd, but the last one through the prophecy at hand, which he begins by saying: "Why, O God, have you cast us off forever? Why has your anger been kindled against the sheep of your pasture?" For the end of their complete falling away came at no other time than when our Savior and Lord pronounced the sentence against them, saying: "Behold, your house is left to you desolate." Following which, the holy Apostle also, writing about them after the outcome of events, said: "But wrath has come upon them to the uttermost." And in detail the present prophet sets forth the subsequent events that happened to the place during the siege by the Romans, in which he says: "As in a thicket of trees with axes they cut down its gates," clearly of Jerusalem, "at the same time, with axe and chisel they broke it down." "They set your sanctuary on fire, to the ground they profaned the tabernacle of your name." But if someone should say that these things also happened in the time of the Babylonians, attention must be paid to what follows, through which it is said: "We have not seen our signs, there is no longer a prophet, and he will know us no more." For the signs were of God

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προσκολλᾶσθαί σοι. ∆ιό φημι, ὅτι Ἐμοὶ τὸ προσκολλᾶσθαι τῷ Θεῷ ἀγαθόν ἐστιν. Εἰ γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἀγαθὸς εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ Θεὸς, πόθεν ἂν γένοιτο ἑτέρῳ τι ἀγαθὸν ἢ ἐκ τοῦ προσκολλᾶσθαι αὐτῷ; Καὶ ἤδη μὲν ἀπήλαυον παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ, κολλώμενος καὶ συναπτόμενος τῷ Θεῷ· ὥστε λέγειν· Ἐκολλήθη ὀπίσω σου ἡ ψυχή μου. Καὶ εἰς τὸν μέλλοντα δὲ χρόνον ἀγαθὰς ὑπέγραφον ἐλπίδας ἐμαυτῷ. Ἕτερόν τε τοῦτο ἀγαθόν μοι ἦν, τὸ τίθεσθαι ἐν Κυρίῳ τὴν ἐλπίδα μου. Τέλος γάρ μοι τῆς πάσης ἐλπίδος ἦν τὸ ἐξαγγεῖλαι πάσας τὰς αἰνέσεις σου ἐν ταῖς πύλαις τῆς θυγατρὸς Σιών. Καταξιωθεὶς γὰρ τῆς εἰς τὴν πόλιν σου εἰσόδου, περὶ ἧς ἀνωτέρω ἐλέγετο· Κύριε, ἐν τῇ πόλει σου τὴν εἰκόνα αὐτῶν ἐξουθενώσεις, καὶ ταῖς πύλαις ταῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐπιβὰς, ἀνακηρύξω τοῖς πᾶσι τὰς εἰς ἐμέ σου εὐεργεσίας. Ἔνθα γενόμενος καὶ τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν σου τεύξομαι, ἃς ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδε, καὶ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε, καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη. Τοιαῦτα γὰρ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν. Μὴ κείμενον δὲ ἐν τῷ Ἑβραϊκῷ, μηδὲ παρὰ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἑρμηνευταῖς τὸ ἐν ταῖς πύλαις τῆς θυγατρὸς Σιὼν, παρὰ μόνοις δὲ τοῖς Ἑβδομήκοντα φερόμενον, ὠβέλισται, διὰ τὸ καὶ περιττὸν εἶναι. Τὸ γὰρ πάντων ἀγαθὸν τέλος ἐπ' αὐτὴν ἄγει τὴν ἐπουράνιον Σιὼν, ἥτις ἦν ἡ ἀποδεδομένη τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς πόλις, θυγατρὸς Σιὼν νοουμένης τῆς παρ' ἡμῖν Ἐκκλησίας, ὡς διὰ πολλῶν ἀποδεῖξαι ῥᾴδιον.

ΣΥΝΕΣΕΩΣ ΤΩ ἈΣΑΦ. ΟΓʹ. Ἱνατί, ὁ Θεὸς, ἀπώσω εἰς τέλος, ὠργίσθη ὁ θυμός σου ἐπὶ πρόβατα νομῆς σου;

∆ιεγείρει μὲν ἡμᾶς καὶ παρορμᾷ ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν λεγομένων σύνεσιν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ προφητικόν. Οὔτε δὲ ψαλμὸν ἐπιγράφει συνήθως, οὔτε ᾠδὴν, οὔτε ὕμνον, οὐδέ τι τῶν παραπλησίων, διὰ τὸ σκυθρωπὸν τῶν ἀπαγγελλομένων. Ἐν οἷς δοκεῖ ἔντευξις περιέχεσθαι, περὶ ἧς ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος διεκελεύετο, δεῖν λέγων πάντας ἡμᾶς ποιεῖσθαι δεήσεις, προσευχὰς, ἐντεύξεις, εὐχαριστίας. Ἐντυγχάνει γοῦν ὁ λόγος τῷ Θεῷ, προφητικῶς τὰ μέλλοντα ὡς παρῳχηκότα διεξιὼν, καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην σημαίνων πολιορκίαν τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὴν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων γενομένην μετὰ τὴν σωτήριον Παρουσίαν. Καὶ ταῦτα μηδὲ συστάντος πω τοῦ τόπου προαναφωνεῖ. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἀσὰφ, δι' οὗ ταῦτα προεφητεύετο, σύγχρονος γέγονε τῷ ∆αυΐδ· Σολομὼν δὲ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ ∆αυῒδ τελευτὴν οἰκοδομεῖ τὸν νεών. ∆ύο δὲ πορθήσεις προθεωρήσας τοῦ τόπου, τήν τε προτέραν τὴν ὑπὸ Βαβυλωνίων γενομένην, καὶ τὴν δευτέραν τὴν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων· τὴν μὲν πρώτην διὰ τοῦ οθʹ ψαλμοῦ σημαίνει καὶ διὰ τοῦ πβʹ, τὴν δὲ ὑστάτην διὰ τῆς μετὰ χεῖρας προφητείας, ἧς ἀπάρχεται λέγων· Ἱνατί, ὁ Θεὸς, ἀπώσω εἰς τέλος, ὠργίσθη ὁ θυμός σου ἐπὶ πρόβατα νομῆς σου; Τέλος γὰρ αὐτοῖς παντελοῦς ἀποπτώσεως οὐδ' ἄλλοτε γέγονεν, ἢ ὅτε ὁ Σωτὴρ καὶ Κύριος ἡμῶν τὴν κατ' αὐτῶν ἐξηνέγκατο ἀπόφασιν εἰπών· Ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὑμῖν ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἔρημος. Οἷς ἀκολούθως καὶ ὁ ἱερὸς Ἀπόστολος μετὰ τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων ἔκβασιν γράφων περὶ αὐτῶν ἔλεγεν· Ἔφθασε δὲ ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἡ ὀργὴ εἰς τέλος. Καὶ κατὰ μέρος δὲ τὰ ἑξῆς συμβάντα τῷ τόπῳ ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων πολιορκίας παρίστησιν ὁ παρὼν προφήτης, ἐν οἷς φησιν· Ὡς ἐν δρυμῷ ξύλων ἀξίναις ἔκοψαν τὰς θύρας αὐτῆς, δῆλον δ' ὅτι τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, ἐν πέλυκι καὶ λαξευτηρίῳ κατέῤῥαξαν αὐτήν. Ἐνεπύρισαν ἐν πυρὶ τὸ ἁγιαστήριόν σου, εἰς τὴν γῆν ἐβεβήλωσαν τὸ σκήνωμα τοῦ ὀνόματός σου. Εἰ δὲ λέγοι τις ταῦτα καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν χρόνων τῶν Βαβυλωνίων γεγονέναι, προσεκτέον τοῖς ἑξῆς, δι' ὧν εἴρηται· Τὰ σημεῖα ἡμῶν οὐκ εἴδομεν, οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι προφήτης, καὶ ἡμᾶς οὐ γνώσεται ἔτι. Σημεῖα γὰρ ἦν τοῦ τὸν Θεὸν