Works of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus

...not only that, but seventy times is also granted; and only these…

The punishment of sin, [which is] of the first.

A famine of sins is being punished, for the punishment of wickedness is also considered, and indeed it is punished seven times; this is done by justice for the fratricide. But the student [is forgiven] seventy times seven, a fearful thing to remember… and again… those of the seventy are the whole; I shall return to their bosom, being taken; and seven, says the house of wisdom; seen under a hundred; and with so many eyes is the stone of Zorobabel Zerubbabel adorned; and seven times a day is God praised; and let us remember the ears, according to the perfect number, and of the defense in perfect numbers.

And if we also observe the ancient histories; the seventh from the father [Adam]… together with the nine… cared for. And the twentieth from Abraham, in the patriarchate, is the seventh. By the addition of the beast, the seventh; for the week being tripled, creates this number; the audacity… of all things impartibly.

And indeed, Adam… my God and my… he himself the song; not even the one [born] under sin, Adam, the seventh number remaining. According to the genealogy of… providing at the same time; and…

And the seven trumpets of Joshua son of Nun; and the same circuits; and days and priests, through which all Jericho shall fall and will fall; as if toward some mystical tripled [number]… of the famine of the prophet, and of the widow of Sarepta; who sold the sixty and forty… and of the same, equal in number according to the [mid-]… care; having the sacrifice of sin… and the prophets of shame, according to number; the equal twelve times seventy, from the wandering. And so let us also observe the seventy… of the boy to the… neither the… and the son of the Shunamite Shunammite woman, the seventy… and the same…

I think therefore… that we might not… in words to those seeking piety, the seventy of the… which seven and forty for the Hebrews is the holy [number], not a measure…