Texts in Conversation
Psalm 79 asks God to let his compassion quickly overtake a people whose temple has been defiled. Simon’s prayer in 3 Maccabees repeats this prayer as he begs God to act quickly against an invading king.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Psalms 78:8
Septuagint
7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid his place waste. 8 Do not remember our old transgressions; let your tender mercies speedily overtake us; for we are greatly impoverished. 9 Help us, God our Saviour; for the glory of your name, Lord, deliver us; and be merciful to our sins, for your name's sake.
Date: 1st century BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
3 Maccabees 2:20
Deuterocanon
19 Blot out our iniquities, do away with our errors, and show your compassion in this hour. 20 Let your mercies quickly go before us. Grant us peace, that the downcast and broken hearted may praise you with their mouth.” 21 At that time God, who sees all things, who is beyond all Holy among the holy, heard that prayer, so suitable, and scourged the man who was greatly uplifted with scorn and insolence.
Date: 100 BCE–70 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
... One more biblical citation warrants exploration. 3 Maccabees 2:20, the last verse of the prayer, reads: 'Let your compassion speedily overtake us and put praises in the mouth of those who are downcast and crushed in spirit, granting us peace.' The first clause of this verse is a direct citation taken from Psalm 78:8 (the Masoretic Text Psalm 79:8) ... The clause occurs nowhere else in the Bible. Given the careful interpretive reference made to the Temple dedication prayer and its context, the citation from this particular psalm is surely not accidental. The larger context of this quote from Psalm 78 should be mentioned because the subject of the psalm as a whole is a request for divine intervention in the face of the desecration of the Temple in Jerusalem. The theme corresponds to the situation that has given rise to Simon's prayer in 3 Maccabees 2. ...
Newman, Judith H.
Praying by the Book: The Scripturalization of Prayer in Second Temple Judaism
(pp. 196-197) Society of Biblical Literature, 1999
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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