Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Psalms 79

There are 21 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 493, footnote 11 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)

Book XIII. (HTML)
The Sinning Brother. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 6031 (In-Text, Margin)

... sinners receive for their sins from the hand of the Lord; since He does not render unto any one according to the works of his hands, but more than that which he has done, for “Jerusalem,” as Isaiah taught, “received from the hand of the Lord double for her sins;” but the neighbours of Israel, whoever they may be, will receive sevenfold, according to the following expression in the Psalms, “Render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom the reproach with which they have reproached Thee, O Lord.”[Psalms 79:12] And other forms of payment in return could be found, which, if we apprehend, we shall know that to repent after any sin, whatever its greatness, is advantageous, in order that, in addition to our not being punished for more offences, there may be ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 127, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

The Confessions (HTML)

He finally describes the thirty-second year of his age, the most memorable of his whole life, in which, being instructed by Simplicianus concerning the conversion of others, and the manner of acting, he is, after a severe struggle, renewed in his whole mind, and is converted unto God. (HTML)

Having Prayed to God, He Pours Forth a Shower of Tears, And, Admonished by a Voice, He Opens the Book and Reads the Words in Rom. XIII. 13; By Which, Being Changed in His Whole Soul, He Discloses the Divine Favour to His Friend and His Mother. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 680 (In-Text, Margin)

... appeared choked with weeping, and in that state had I risen up. He then remained where we had been sitting, most completely astonished. I flung myself down, how, I know not, under a certain fig-tree, giving free course to my tears, and the streams of mine eyes gushed out, an acceptable sacrifice unto Thee. And, not indeed in these words, yet to this effect, spake I much unto Thee,—“But Thou, O Lord, how long?” “How long, Lord? Wilt Thou be angry for ever? Oh, remember not against us former iniquities;”[Psalms 79:5] for I felt that I was enthralled by them. I sent up these sorrowful cries,—“How long, how long? Tomorrow, and tomorrow? Why not now? Why is there not this hour an end to my uncleanness?”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 127, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

The Confessions (HTML)

He finally describes the thirty-second year of his age, the most memorable of his whole life, in which, being instructed by Simplicianus concerning the conversion of others, and the manner of acting, he is, after a severe struggle, renewed in his whole mind, and is converted unto God. (HTML)

Having Prayed to God, He Pours Forth a Shower of Tears, And, Admonished by a Voice, He Opens the Book and Reads the Words in Rom. XIII. 13; By Which, Being Changed in His Whole Soul, He Discloses the Divine Favour to His Friend and His Mother. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 680 (In-Text, Margin)

... appeared choked with weeping, and in that state had I risen up. He then remained where we had been sitting, most completely astonished. I flung myself down, how, I know not, under a certain fig-tree, giving free course to my tears, and the streams of mine eyes gushed out, an acceptable sacrifice unto Thee. And, not indeed in these words, yet to this effect, spake I much unto Thee,—“But Thou, O Lord, how long?” “How long, Lord? Wilt Thou be angry for ever? Oh, remember not against us former iniquities;”[Psalms 79:8] for I felt that I was enthralled by them. I sent up these sorrowful cries,—“How long, how long? Tomorrow, and tomorrow? Why not now? Why is there not this hour an end to my uncleanness?”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 294, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters

Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)

Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)

To Eudoxius (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1682 (In-Text, Margin)

... you to be more lively and undistracted in prayer than we can be, whose prayers are often marred and weakened by the darkness and confusion arising from secular occupations: not that we have these on our own account, but we can scarcely breathe for the pressure of such duties imposed upon us by men compelling us, so to speak, to go with them one mile, with whom we are commanded by our Lord to go farther than they ask. We believe, nevertheless, that He before whom the sighing of the prisoner comes[Psalms 79:11] will look on us persevering in the ministry in which He was pleased to put us, with promise of reward, and, by the assistance of your prayers, will set us free from all distress.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 9, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

Augustin censures the pagans, who attributed the calamities of the world, and especially the recent sack of Rome by the Goths, to the Christian religion, and its prohibition of the worship of the gods. (HTML)

Of the Burial of the Dead:  that the Denial of It to Christians Does Them No Injury. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 64 (In-Text, Margin)

... And so there are indeed many bodies of Christians lying unburied; but no one has separated them from heaven, nor from that earth which is all filled with the presence of Him who knows whence He will raise again what He created. It is said, indeed, in the Psalm: “The dead bodies of Thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of Thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.”[Psalms 79:2-3] But this was said rather to exhibit the cruelty of those who did these things, than the misery of those who suffered them. To the eyes of men this appears a harsh and doleful lot, yet “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 299, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Catechising of the Uninstructed. (HTML)

Of the Method in Which Our Address Should Be Adapted to Different Classes of Hearers. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1425 (In-Text, Margin)

... erect to others; is gentle to some, severe to others; to none an enemy, to all a mother. And when one, who has not gone through the kind of experience to which I refer in the same spirit of charity, sees us attaining, in virtue of some gift which has been conferred upon us, and which carries the power of pleasing, a certain repute of an eulogistic nature in the mouth of the multitude, he counts us happy on that account. But may God, into whose cognizance the “groaning of them that are bound enters,”[Psalms 79:11] look upon our humility, and our labor, and forgive us all our sins. Wherefore, if anything in us has so far pleased you as to make you desirous of hearing from us some remarks on the subject of the form of discourse which you ought to follow, you ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 540, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On Care to Be Had for the Dead. (HTML)

Section 4 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2717 (In-Text, Margin)

... Many bodies, then, of Christians the earth hath not covered: but none of them hath any separated from heaven and earth, the whole of which He filleth with presence of Himself, Who knoweth whence to resuscitate that which He created. It is said indeed in the Psalm, “The dead bodies of thy servants have they given for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth: they have shed their blood like water round about Jerusalem, and there was no man to bury them:”[Psalms 79:2-3] but more to heighten the cruelty of them who did these things, not to the infelicity of them who suffered them. For, however, in sight of men these things may seem hard and dire, yet “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 260, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)

Faustus repels the charge of sun-worship, and maintains that while the Manichæans believe that God’s power dwells in the sun and his wisdom in the moon, they yet worship one deity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  They are not a schism of the Gentiles, nor a sect.  Augustin emphasizes the charge of polytheism, and goes into an elaborate comparison of Manichæan and pagan mythology. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 745 (In-Text, Margin)

... put one of his own members in the snare, but some animal from his flock; and generally, so that the wild beast is caught before the animal is hurt. You, though you are the members of your god, are given to the enemy, whose ferocity you keep off from your god only by being contaminated with their impurity, infected with their corruptions, without any fault of your own. You cannot in your prayers use the words: "Free us, O Lord, for the glory of Thy name; and for Thy name’s sake pardon our sins."[Psalms 79:9] Your prayer is: "Free us by Thy skill, for we suffer here oppression, and torture, and pollution, only that Thou mayest mourn unmolested in Thy kingdom." These are words of reproach, not of entreaty. Nor can you use the words taught us by the Master ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 248, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2331 (In-Text, Margin)

... “hast driven us back”? Because Thou hast destroyed us. Wherefore hast destroyed us? Because angry Thou hast been, and hast had pity on us. Thou therefore wilt lead down, that hast driven back; Thou, O God, that wilt not march forth in our powers, wilt lead down. What is, “wilt not march forth in our powers”? The world is to rage, the world is to tread us down, there is to be a heap of witnesses, builded of the spilled blood of martyrs, and the raging heathen are to say, “Where is the God of them?”[Psalms 79:10] Then “Thou wilt not march forth in our powers:” against them Thou wilt not show Thyself, Thou wilt not show Thy power, such as Thou hast shown in David, in Moses, in Joshua the son of Nun, when to their might the Gentiles yielded, and when the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 382, footnote 10 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3702 (In-Text, Margin)

... angry unto the end. And in that which followeth, “shall Thy jealousy burn like fire?” both words must be understood, both, “how long,” and, “unto the end:” just as if there had been said, how long shall there burn like fire Thy jealousy unto the end? For these two words must be understood in the same manner as that word which was used a little higher up, namely, “they have made.” For while the former sentence hath, “they have made the dead bodies of Thy servants morsels for the fowls of heaven:”[Psalms 79:2] this word the latter sentence hath not, wherein is said, “the fleshes of Thy saints for the beasts of the earth;” but there is surely understood what the former hath, namely, “they have made.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 383, footnote 9 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3711 (In-Text, Margin)

... hath been repeated in this, that they have not called upon His name. How then must be understood, what the Lord saith in the Gospel concerning stripes, “the many and the few”? if greater the anger of God is against the nations, which have not known the Lord? For in this which he saith, “Pour forth Thine anger,” with this word he hath clearly enough pointed out, how great anger he hath willed that there should be understood. Whence afterwards he saith, “Render to our neighbours seven times as much.”[Psalms 79:13] Is it not that there is a great difference between servants, who, though they know not the will of their Lord, do yet call upon His name, and those that are aliens from the family of so great a Master, who are so ignorant of God, as that they do not ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 500, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4625 (In-Text, Margin)

20. “Out of the heaven did the Lord look down upon the earth” (ver. 19): “that He might hear the mournings of such as are in fetters, and deliver the children of such as are put to death” (ver. 20). We have found it said in another Psalm, “O let the sorrowful sighs of the fettered come before Thee;”[Psalms 79:11] and in a passage where the voice of the martyrs was meant. Whence are the martyrs in fetters?…But God had bound them with these fetters, hard indeed and painful for a season, but endurable on account of His promises, unto whom it is said, “On account of the words of Thy lips, I have kept hard ways.” We must indeed groan in these fetters in order ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 330, footnote 3 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)

Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus. (HTML)

Letter or Address of Theodoret to the Monks of the Euphratensian, the Osrhoene, Syria, Phœnicia, and Cilicia. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2208 (In-Text, Margin)

... with joy; with joy on account of my own freedom from error; and with sorrow at the unsoundness of my members. I therefore implore you to pray with all your might to our loving Lord, and to cry unto Him, “‘Spare Thy people, O Lord and give not Thy heritage to reproach.’ Feed us O Lord that we become not as we were in the beginning when Thou didst not rule over us nor was Thy name invoked to help us. ‘We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us,’[Psalms 79:4] because wicked doctrines have come into Thy inheritance. They have polluted Thy holy temple in that the daughters of strangers have rejoiced over our troubles. A little while ago we were of one mind and one tongue and now are divided into many ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 205, footnote 20 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Eustochium. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2930 (In-Text, Margin)

... the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof.” I know that when word was sent to her of the serious illnesses of her children and particularly of Toxotius whom she dearly loved, she first by her self-control fulfilled the saying: “I was troubled and I did not speak,” and then cried out in the words of scripture, “He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” And she prayed to the Lord and said: Lord “preserve thou the children of those that are appointed to die,”[Psalms 79:11] that is, of those who for thy sake every day die bodily. I am aware that a talebearer—a class of persons who do a great deal of harm—once told her as a kindness that owing to her great fervour in virtue some people thought her mad and declared that ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 257, footnote 12 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Principia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3580 (In-Text, Margin)

... world was itself taken; nay more famine was beforehand with the sword and but few citizens were left to be made captives. In their frenzy the starving people had recourse to hideous food; and tore each other limb from limb that they might have flesh to eat. Even the mother did not spare the babe at her breast. In the night was Moab taken, in the night did her wall fall down. “O God, the heathen have come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have made Jerusalem an orchard.[Psalms 79:1] The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 257, footnote 13 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Principia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3581 (In-Text, Margin)

... have flesh to eat. Even the mother did not spare the babe at her breast. In the night was Moab taken, in the night did her wall fall down. “O God, the heathen have come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have made Jerusalem an orchard. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.”[Psalms 79:1-3]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 249, footnote 2 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

On His Father's Silence, Because of the Plague of Hail. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3077 (In-Text, Margin)

... common and equal delight, changed for the punishment of the ungodly, in order that we may be chastised through that for which, when honoured with it, we did not give thanks, and recognise in our sufferings that power which we did not recognise in our benefits? How is it that some receive at the Lord’s hand double for their sins, and the measure of their wickedness is doubly filled up, as in the correction of Israel, while the sins of others are done away by a sevenfold recompense into their bosom?[Psalms 79:12] What is the measure of the Amorites that is not yet full? And how is the sinner either let go, or chastised again, let go perhaps, because reserved for the other world, chastised, because healed thereby in this? Under what circumstances again is the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 251, footnote 12 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

On His Father's Silence, Because of the Plague of Hail. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3127 (In-Text, Margin)

... strive against the might of Thine arm? If Thou shut the heaven, who will open it? And if Thou let loose Thy torrents, who will restrain them? It is a light thing in Thine eyes to make poor and to make rich, to make alive and to kill, to strike and to heal, and Thy will is perfect action. Thou art angry, and we have sinned, says one of old, making confession; and it is now time for me to say the opposite, “We have sinned, and Thou art angry:” therefore have we become a reproach to our neighbours.[Psalms 79:4] Thou didst turn Thy face from us, and we were filled with dishonour. But stay, Lord, cease, Lord, forgive, Lord, deliver us not up for ever because of our iniquities, and let not our chastisements be a warning for others, when we might learn wisdom ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 380, footnote 1 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

On Pentecost. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4217 (In-Text, Margin)

... according to David, and the just is delivered from six troubles and in the seventh is not smitten. But the sinner is pardoned not seven times, but seventy times seven. And we may see it by the contrary also (for the punishment of wickedness is to be praised), Cain being avenged seven times, that is, punishment being exacted from him for his fratricide, and Lamech seventy times seven, because he was a murderer after the law and the condemnation. And wicked neighbours receive sevenfold into their bosom;[Psalms 79:12] and the House of Wisdom rests on seven pillars and the Stone of Zerubbabel is adorned with seven eyes; and God is praised seven times a day. And again the barren beareth seven, the perfect number, she who is contrasted with her who is imperfect in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 275, footnote 9 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To the same, in answer to another question. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2969 (In-Text, Margin)

... turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements?” How was God known in Jewry? Was it because in Jewry it was known what His essence is? “The ox,” it is said, “knoweth his owner.” According to your argument the ox knows his lord’s essence. “And the ass his master’s crib.” So the ass knows the essence of the crib, but “Israel doth not know me.” So, according to you, Israel is found fault with for not knowing what the essence of God is. “Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee,”[Psalms 79:6] that is, who have not comprehended thy essence. But, I repeat, knowledge is manifold—it involves perception of our Creator, recognition of His wonderful works, observance of His commandments and intimate communion with Him. All this they thrust on ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 359, footnote 6 (Image)

Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat

Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)

Aphrahat:  Select Demonstrations. (HTML)

Of Wars. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 793 (In-Text, Margin)

... three kings, and he exalted himself against the saints of the Most High and against Jerusalem. And he defiled the sanctuary. And he caused the sacrifice and the offerings to cease for a week and half a week, namely, for ten and a-half years. And he brought in fornicators into the house of the Lord, and he caused the observances of the Law to cease. And he slew righteous men and gave them to the birds of heaven and to the beasts of the earth. For in his days was fulfilled the word that David spoke:[Psalms 79:1-3]O God, the Gentiles have come into thine inheritance, and have defiled Thy holy temple.  They have made Jerusalem desolate.  They have given the dead bodies of Thy servants as food to the birds of heaven, and the flesh of Thy righteous ones to ...

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs