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Doubtful Fragments on the Psalms

Hippolytus

Section 1

About this work

Author: Hippolytus

1. The book of Psalms contains new doctrine after the

‹ On the Psalms.Section 2 ›

law

which

was

given

by

Moses

;

and

thus

it

is

the

second

book

of

doctrine

after

the

Scripture

of

Moses

.

After

the

death

,

then

of

Moses

and

Joshua

,

and

after

the

judges

,

David

arose

,

one

deemed

worthy

to

be

called

the

father

of

the

Saviour

,

and

he

was

the

first

to

give

the

Hebrews

a

new

style

of

psalmody

,

by

which

he

did

away

with

the

ordinances

established

by

Moses

with

respect

to

sacrifice

,

and

introduced

a

new

mode

of

the

worship

of

God

by

hymns

and

acclamations

;

and

many

other

things

also

beyond

the

law

of

Moses

he

taught

through

his

whole

ministry

.

And

this

is

the

sacredness

of

the

book

,

and

its

utility

.

And

the

account

to

be

given

of

its

inscription

is

this

:

(

for

)

as

most

of

the

brethren

who

believe

in

Christ

think

that

this

book

is

David’s

,

and

inscribe

it

“

Psalms

of

David

,

”

we

must

state

what

has

reached

us

with

respect

to

it

.

The

Hebrews

give

the

book

the

title

“

Sephra

Thelim

,

”

and

in

the

“

Acts

of

the

Apostles

”

it

is

called

the

“

Book

of

Psalms

”

(

the

words

are

these

,

“

as

it

is

written

in

the

Book

of

Psalms

”

)

,

but

the

name

(

of

the

author

)

in

the

inscription

of

the

book

is

not

found

there

.

And

the

reason

of

that

is

,

that

the

words

written

there

are

not

the

words

of

one

man

,

but

those

of

several

together

;

Esdra

,

as

tradition

says

,

having

collected

in

one

volume

,

after

the

captivity

,

the

psalms

of

several

,

or

rather

their

words

,

as

they

are

not

all

psalms

.

Thus

the

name

of

David

is

prefixed

in

the

case

of

some

,

and

that

of

Solomon

in

others

,

and

that

of

Asaph

in

others

.

There

are

some

also

that

belong

to

Idithum

(

Jeduthun

)

;

and

besides

these

there

are

others

that

belong

to

the

sons

of

Core

(

Korah

)

,

and

even

to

Moses

.

As

they

are

therefore

the

words

of

so

many

thus

collected

together

,

they

could

not

be

said

by

any

one

who

understands

the

matter

to

be

by

David

alone

.

Notes

2
That is an attempt to express in Greek letters the Hebrew title, viz., סילּהִתְּ רפָּס = Book of Praises ׃