The sixth song is in 1 Chronicles, where David first established Asaph and his brothers for praising the Lord. The beginning of the song is as follows, Praise the Lord, give thanks to him, and call on his name; make known his purposes among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him, tell of all his wonderful works, which the Lord has done, and so forth. It should, however, be known that the song in 2 Samuel is very much like Psalm 18. Furthermore, the first part of the text in 1 Chronicles, up to the place where it says and do my prophets no harm, is like Psalm 105, and the latter part of it, following the verse just mentioned, bears a likeness to the first part of Psalm 96, where it says, Sing to the Lord, all the earth, up to the place where it says for he comes to judge the earth.^[1]

In the first book of Chronicles the psalm praising the Lord attributed to Asaph and his brothers, which begins O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,^[1] is, for the most part, the same as Psalm 104, down to the words Do my prophets no harm!^[2] After that it is almost identical to Psalm 95 from the beginning, Sing to the Lord, all the earth!^[3]

As it has been supposed by some that the book of Psalms merely consists of hymns to God and sacred songs and that we shall look in vain in it for predictions and prophecies of the future, let us realize distinctly that it contains many prophecies, far too many to be quoted now, and it must suffice for proof of what Isaiah to make use of two psalms ascribed to Asaph, written in the time of David. For Asaph was one of the temple musicians then, as is stated in the book of Chronicles, and was inspired by the divine Spirit to speak the psalms inscribed with his name.

How splendidly joined to each other are the sections proceeding from the same source to achieve the salvation of the human race. Who would not be amazed that what is said earlier in different psalms is clearly assembled so harmoniously here? Similarly David himself in the Chronicles is filled with the holy Spirit and made the Lord’s praises resound with great expressions of joy by assembling sections of Psalms 95, 104 and 105, so that incense compounded of different aromas could happily rise to the Lord’s presence; for sentiments that are clear, in no sense at odds with each other are united without difficulty. . . . My judgment is that there is another apt feature in the present instance: the action of the Lord made one church out of the two peoples.

There was no need that there should everywhere exist many bodies and many spirits like Jesus, in order that the entire humankind might be enlightened by the Word of God. For the one Word was enough, having arisen as the Sun of righteousness, to send forth from Judea his coming rays into the souls of all who were willing to receive him. But if anyone desires to see many bodies filled with a divine Spirit, similar to the one Christ, ministering to the salvation of people everywhere, let him take note of those who teach the Gospel of Jesus in all lands in soundness of doctrine and uprightness of life and who are themselves termed christs by the holy Scriptures in the passage Do not touch my anointed, and do not harm my prophets.^[1] For as we have heard that Antichrist comes and yet have learned that there are many antichrists in the world, in the same way, knowing that Christ has come, we see that, owing to him, there are many christs in the world, who, like him, have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and therefore God, the God of Christ, anointed them also with the oil of gladness.

In another prophecy the prophetic Spirit, testifying through the same David that after being crucified, Christ would reign, said, O sing to the Lord, all the earth, and proclaim his salvation from day to day; for great is the Lord and highly to be praised, terrible beyond all the gods. For all the gods of the nations are images of demons, but God made the heavens. Glory and praise are before him, and strength and pride in the place of his sanctification. Give glory to the Lord, the Father of the ages. Receive favor, and go in before his face, and worship in his holy courts. Let all the earth fear before him and be set upright and not shaken. Let them exult among the nations; the Lord has reigned from the tree.^[1] Now when the prophetic Spirit speaks of things to come as already having happened, as is illustrated in the passages quoted, I will explain this too so that those who come on it will have no excuse for not understanding. Things he fully knows are to happen he speaks of in advance as if they had already occurred. Give careful attention to the passages quoted, and you will see that this is the way they must be taken. David uttered the words quoted above fifteen hundred years before Christ, made man, was crucified, and none of those who were crucified before him gave joy to the nations, nor of those crucified after him either. But in our time Jesus Christ, who was crucified and died, rose again and, ascending into heaven, began to reign; and on account of what was proclaimed by the apostles in all nations as coming from him, there is joy for those who look forward to the incorruption that he has promised.

O sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, all the earth. If all the earth sings a new song, it is thus building while it sings; the very act of singing is building, but only if it sings not the old song. The lust of the flesh sings the old song; the love of God sings the new. Hear why it is a new song: the Lord says, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.^[1] The whole earth then sings a new song: there the house of God is built. All the earth is the house of God. If all the earth is the house of God, he who clings not to all the earth is a ruin, not a house; that old ruin whose shadow that ancient temple represented. For there what was old was destroyed, that what was new might be built up.