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COMMENTARY ON PSALM 65 To the end. A psalm for David. A song of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and of the people in exile when they were on the point of departing. ow, in some copies there occurs, “A song of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and of the people in exile when they were on the point of departing.” The Hebrew text does not have this, nor the other translators, nor the Septuagint in the Hexapla;1 it seems likely someone added this title without heeding the psalm’s meaning nor learning the history. First of all, you see, Jeremiah was not involved in captivity; instead, having the choice of living where he wanted, he chose life in his own country. Hence it is not at all relevant to those departing for captivity, but to those living in captivity: being far from their homeland and longing to sing to God, they were prevented by the Law from doing so—remember their cry, “How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a foreign land?”2 So they said the psalm in Babylon by way of entreating God. (2) A hymn becomes you, O God, in Sion, and a vow will be paid you in Jerusalem. Hearken to my prayer; all flesh will come to you (vv. 1–2). All the verses of the psalm [1348] befit those living in Babylon: longing for return, they offer this hymn singing to God. Now, with this prediction about them there is mingled as well prophecy of the salvation of the nations.3 A hymn becomes 364 1. Theodoret’s form of the LXX (see Introduction, section 3, for its nature ) bears the extended title, which he feels free to fault for adequacy. Theodoret claims to make reference to the Hexapla, whole or in part, for noting the alternative versions and a form of the LXX, different from his. 2. Ps 137.4. Theodoret has a change of heart later, thinking even this historical reference does not do justice to the psalm’s overall perspective. 3. Theodoret’s wish to give the psalm a wider application emerges this time in the shorter form of the text, and this mention of the situation of the you, O God, in Sion, and a vow will be paid you in Jerusalem. You bade us offer you the hymn in that city, he is saying; so I beg to be allowed to render it to you in that place. Now, blessed Paul said to the nations about this city, “You have come to Mount Sion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”;4 it was said by the Apostle about the church from the Gentile nations . Hearken to my prayer. Accept my request, he is saying, and free me from the bonds of captivity. While the people led into captivity from Jerusalem utter this prayer aloud, the people hastening to escape from captivity by idols also make the request; they expressed the same thing more clearly in what follows. All flesh will come to you. This contains a clear prediction of the nations ’ knowledge of God: At present our prayer is to be granted return (he is saying) and to offer the hymn in the consecrated Temple, whereas a little later the whole of humankind, rid of the error of polytheism, will run to the true God. (3) Lawless people’s words overwhelmed us (v. 3). Symmachus, on the other hand, [expresses it] in this way, “Lawless people’s words prevailed over us”: I have been forced into serving irreligious people in the grip of lawlessness, he is saying. Then he teaches the reason for the servitude: You will have mercy on our impiety. It was not unjust of you to condemn me to slavery, he is saying; instead, it was due to the impiety once committed by me, and from this I beg to be delivered through your [1349] lovingkindness . From this point they go on to declare blessed the life in their homeland as a mentor and provider of piety: Blessed is the one whom you chose and adopted, who will dwell in your courts; we will be filled with the good things of your house (v. 4). Enviable and blessed, he is saying, is the people preferred by you to the other nations: it will take its position in your sacred courts, and from there gain benefit and blessing. (4) Holy is your temple, wondrous in righteousness (vv. 4–5): your temple is...

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