Chapter 78

The prophet sings this psalm over those destroyed by bitter death during the time of Antioch, and in his prayer asks God to avenge the massacre of the people and to turn the disasters on those who inflicted them on the Israelites. Ps.78:1. God, the nations have come into Your inheritance. For Antiochus with many nations entered Jerusalem and burned the Divine Church. You have desecrated Your holy church. Behold, he says, others have prevailed over Your property, and what belongs to You is in the power of foreigners. Ps.78:2. Laying down Jerusalem like a vegetable storehouse, that is, a dwelling made of stones in which the one who guards the vegetables is placed. Laying down the corpse of Your servant is a treat for the birds of the air. Due to excessive inhumanity, the enemies did not allow relatives to bury the dead. The flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth. For were not those who shed their blood for the preservation of the Law venerable, such as the Maccabees were? Ps.78:5. Your zeal will kindle like fire. Be jealous, he says, of Your name, which is blasphemed by your enemies. Ps.78:8. Do not remember our first iniquities. Understands ancient sins in Egypt. Ps.78:10. Not when the pagans cry: Where is their God? Although the multitude of our sins hinders our salvation; but do it for the sake of Your name, for the sake of reproach, “for the sake of Thy reproach” (Ps. 79:12), for the sake of “the shedding of the blood of Thy servants” (Ps. 79:10), for the sake of “the groaning of the chained” (Ps. 79:11). Ps.78:11. According to the greatness of Your arm, provide the sons of the slain. By the power of Your arm, save those who escaped death. You might be interested in: