Commentarii in Isaiam

But the Hebrew text and the rest have added "of the sea," since the city was of old tossed like waves by its multitudes. Concerning which Jeremiah speaks as from the person of God: "And I will make desolate her sea." Next, again, the same prophet sets forth the multitude of the Medes who came against her, saying: "The sea has come up against Babylon." And before these things he said concerning her: "I have brought up against her a multitude as of locusts." But the words of the present utterance are divided among different persons; and as for the beginning, some say it is from the person of Babylon, as having heard the hard things to come, and saying, "Would that it might pass by," as a wind passing through the desert. For if the report terrifies, what will the experience be? So then, may the rumor not come to deed. But according to some, the prophet, when the things that would befall her concerning the Medes had been announced to him by God, says that they will thus pass through the desert riding, as if indeed a storm of winds should pass through the desert, raising the dust and throwing everything into confusion. "And it was announced to me," he says therefore, since together with the vision he was also taught the outcome of the events. Then he says: "The one who sets aside sets aside." For the boldness of those who come on is beyond reproach, reckoning nothing of either measure or sparing. And he spoke also in the vision against Babylon: "Behold, I am bringing upon you the Medes, who do not reckon silver, nor have need of gold. They will shatter the bows of young men." Since, therefore, the storm of these is coming upon me, what shall I do, says Babylon, except only groan, consoling myself, I who was formerly proud and brought upon others

groanings? "For my loins," he says, "are weakened by the report, like a woman in labor, though formerly they were firm and youthful." But some say this was spoken as from the person of the king of the Assyrians: "I have sinned." "The one who rejects rejects." Whether it is this one or Babylon, he says, "I have done wrong by not seeing," in the manner of confession. For I did not endure the earnestness of exhortation, making nothing right—that is, doing nothing right. Now he lets fall a womanly tear, that is: I have become hard of hearing, not deeming it worthy to see who is God by nature. For I heard of the worship of the Jews when he campaigned against them and sacked both the city and the temple. But Jonah also came to us proclaiming repentance, and having repented I did wrong again. For the benefit of the hearers it is a friendly thing for Scripture to employ personification. Wherefore it says: "Prepare a table." The prophet says this, making the cause of the wrath against them clear, alluding to the banquet of Belshazzar in Daniel, when he raged drunkenly against the sacred vessels, and not knowing that by God's power he had subdued Judea, but attributing the cause to his own gods, he saw the writing on the wall signifying to him the overthrow of his kingdom. In character, then, the prophet urges them to revel; and what comes after this? Wars will succeed the festival, so that one might almost run from the drinking itself to arms. But some say that the prophetic spirit speaks the words "Prepare a table" to those who were about to capture Babylon—the Elamites and Medes and the envoys of the Persians—rousing them to war and to unrestrained luxury as though victory were at hand.

But the prophet, having the Spirit, says: "I speak these things," he says, "because thus the Lord said to me: Go, set yourself a watchman; and whatever he sees, let him report"—the watchman, clearly. "And he saw two mounted horsemen." But Symmachus has "a chariot, a pair of horses." And again he sees two, one riding on a donkey and the other on a camel. Those on horses indicated the array of the enemy; those on beasts of burden indicated the conveyance of supplies for need and the coming transport of spoils. For elsewhere he says: "They carried their wealth on donkeys and camels." When the watchman had seen these things, the Lord says to the prophet: "Hear a great hearing, and call Uriah to the watchtower." But Aquila rendered "Uriah" as "lion"; Symmachus as "lioness"; Theodotion as "Ariel." For thus the Hebrew also has it. But not "Uriah," so that the priest mentioned earlier cannot be meant. "Hear, therefore," he said, "a great hearing, and call Ariel," so that the watchman might behold this one together with you. For as standing with him the prophet says: "I stood all the day long watching for the coming vision of the lion." And having spent the day and the night, he says: "Behold, he himself comes, a rider of a pair." And this was either some avenging angel bringing upon Babylon the penalty of capture, perhaps named Ariel; or that very one, "who as a lion roars and seeks whom he may devour." And perceiving that it is an avenging angel, he cries out: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon." The first watchman, then, being inferior to the prophet, saw the multitude of those who were about to come against Babylon.

But the second is the prophet himself, who sees the angelic and more mysterious vision—both the fall of Babylon and that of its idols, which the Spirit called "a great hearing." Some, however, say of the phrase "Go, set yourself a watchman" that it means one must gather the mind toward contemplation and come to be on its lookout. For this is a custom of the prophets for the apprehension of what is shown. Therefore one of them says: "I will stand upon my watch and set foot upon the rock and look out to see what he will speak in me, and what I shall answer to my reproof." And they call it "a great hearing" because of the strange accounts of the calamities that will befall Babylon; for it has become utterly desolate, so that not even those hidden in caves escaped Cyrus, to whom God said: "I will give you dark treasures; hidden, unseen things I will open to you." Therefore Jerusalem says to Babylon: "Do not rejoice over me, my enemy." And after a little he says concerning her: "She shall be a trampling-place like mud in the streets," and what follows. And they say that Urijah the priest is commanded to be taken as a witness, since the Jews, accustomed to disobey the prophets, will be persuaded by the one most honored among them, who has become a partaker of the vision. And the phrase "he himself comes" means, they say, the Persian and the Elamite, or Cyrus their leader; and that "Babylon has fallen" was spoken by God. And he calls "left behind" those who were not carried off as captives with the others, who lamented both the land and the city and the temple, and those who had fallen and been taken. To these, then, as consolation, he announced the calamity of those who had ravaged them.

Some, however, he says, are those left behind who were not led astray with the impiety of the others, who, being few, lamented those who had gone astray. To these indeed he says to announce the things that the Lord foretold, as if he were saying: For he revealed them to you as through an interpreter, me. This is the end of the prophecy concerning Egypt. THE VISION OF IDUMEA. 17. Call to me from Seir: Guard the battlements. I guard in the morning, and the night. If you seek, seek, and dwell with me. In the forest at evening you shall sleep. In the way of Daedan, bring water to meet the thirsty, etc. And these were enemies to those of Israel, and continually attacked them; and David is a witness, saying: "Against you the tents of the Idumeans made a covenant, and the Israelites, Moab, and the Hagarenes, Gebal and Ammon, and Amalek." For he placed the Idumeans before the others. And this nation is the greatest around Petra of Arabia, descended from Esau, who was called Edom, which is interpreted "earthly." For such was his life. And for one meal he sold his birthright to Jacob his brother, who was also named Israel. From him the race of the Jews was descended. For the children of brothers are Jews, thus called from Edom. And yet they did not provide even a bare passage from Egypt to Israel going into the land of promise. And after these things they were so bitterly disposed toward them, as the prophet who says makes clear: "For the three impieties of Idumea, and for the four, I will not turn away from them, because they pursued with the sword his brother, and he harmed a father on the earth," but according to Symmachus, "his own inward parts.

For they were born, as has been said, from genuine brothers. God seems to address his own acquaintances, saying: Call to me from Seir; or, according to the others, those who flee from Seir. This was a mountain in Arabia, and a splendid city of Esau, in which his kingdom was established. The mountain, thus called, is still known to the local inhabitants. To those, then, who are in anguish over the fear from the Idumeans, he says: Come to me in haste, and having come to me, guard your own battlements, keeping me as a guard by night and by day. Let him, then, who is in need of this help seek it from me. Let everyone who has taken thought for his own salvation draw nearer to me. For he promises them his own help, if only they choose to remain with him. The prophet, taking up another subject, says what follows, having been seized by the Holy Spirit: Therefore he also calls the word a "burden," speaking not only about the Idumeans but also about all who dwell in Arabia and wage war against Israel. He wishes them, having ceased from their boldness, to recognize rather their own calamities. For when the enemies come upon them, the majority are destroyed, but to the few who flee, undone by fear and exhaustion, those from Teman come out to meet them in kindness, offering food to those in danger of death, wherever they happen to be fleeing in deserts and thickets when evening overtakes them. He adds the time of their destruction, saying that after a year, accurately numbered as a hired laborer waiting to be freed from his hire, and, so to speak, counting the time day by day.

Kedar is a city of Arabia, which he says will be destroyed along with the others, so that few out of all will be saved. You would find also in Ezekiel a prophecy of its own concerning Kedar and Idumea and Mount Seir. And Jeremiah presents a certain wisdom as existing among the Idumeans, saying: "There is no longer wisdom in Teman. Counsel has perished from the prudent. Their wisdom is gone." And he presents what their end will be like: "I have given you to be contemptible among the nations." And again: "Idumea shall become uninhabitable," and the things that follow these. But some say that, in addition to the ancient cruelty against Jerusalem, they added these things as well. For when Jerusalem was captured, and all Judea by the Assyrians, and some had been killed and others enslaved, those who barely escaped fled to Idumea as to a neighboring land and one of kinsmen. But they, in addition to not saving them, became worse to them than the enemies. Abdias has made these things clear, saying: "In that day I will destroy the wise from Idumea." And after other terrible things he added the cause, saying: "Because of the slaughter and the impiety against your brother Jacob." And after a little: "And strangers entered his gates. And they cast lots against Jerusalem. And you were as one of them." The Assyrians, then, they say, after capturing Judea and returning homeward, made the ravaging of Idumea a side matter of their journey, and subdued them all. To these Idumeans Abdias says: "As you have done, so shall it be to you; your recompense shall be repaid upon your head." Therefore now, he says, God to the prophet:

Call Seir to me, since they are about to turn to flight at any moment. That is, let them too come fleeing into Judea, so that just as they mocked the defeated, they themselves will also be laughed at when they become weaker than the Assyrians. To them he speaks with a certain reproachful tone, as if to say: You labor fruitlessly around the walls, hoping to escape those who attack, and not asking for divine assistance. These indeed also say: I watch at morning and at night. But, "Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman has stayed awake in vain." If therefore you wish, he says, to seek help, seek it from me who have the power to save. And dwell with me. That is, Be mine, and think my thoughts, having abandoned idols, according to the saying: "The one who loves me, let him follow me." And, "Where I am, there my servant will also be." But when enemies attack you, be outside cities and houses, and at the same time dwell with the wild beasts. For you will pay the same penalty. And he sets before them what those who fled from Israel ought to have done. For it was necessary, he says, that you, O people of Teman, on the road to Dedan should have gone out to meet them beforehand, offering to the fugitives what was needed; and not having done so, you will suffer the most terrible things after a year. For when God has spoken, what is foretold will certainly come to pass. In the same way you will understand, also when Greek persecutions are pressing, that those from the heresies who seem to be Christians join in attacking those who think rightly, whom divine justice will pursue before long. CHAPTER 22. THE VISION OF THE VALLEY OF ZION. 14. What has happened to you, that now you have all gone up to useless rooftops? The city is filled with those crying out.

Your wounded are not wounded by swords, nor are your dead dead of war, and so on. Perhaps those who practiced idolatry, inscribing God's name upon themselves in their own estimation, thought they would remain invulnerable. Therefore he says concerning Jerusalem through the voice of Jeremiah to them: "And do not say that this is the temple of the Lord, for unless you thoroughly correct your ways and your practices, I will give this house like Shiloh." And concerning these things he also says through Micah: "Her rulers judged for gifts, and her priests answered for a fee, and her prophets divined for silver, and they rested upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord among us? No evil shall come upon us," and what follows. Therefore even now, while they practice idolatry, God foretells to them the coming capture by the Assyrians, when Jechoniah was king. Since this was, so to speak, visible, it was necessary to turn back to God through repentance and to do all that Micah commanded, saying: "Sanctify a fast, proclaim a healing," and what follows these things. These things

they were not doing, but observing from their doctrines, they lamented the enemies, which was unprofitable. And they had died beforehand even before battle, by fear, as was likely, and by famine, and by lack of water. Reasonably, then, David says: "Lord, God of hosts, blessed is the man who hopes in you." And he calls Jerusalem a valley of Zion, as lying beneath the slopes of Zion. And he says that its rulers fled; for when the enemies were already advancing, having given up all human help, the foremost of the city fled, as if leaping off a sinking ship. And he says that those who were captured were bound; for the Babylonians, having seized Zedekiah together with his children, slaughtered the latter, but the former, having gouged out his eyes, they carried away, though he had long trusted in his power, and had not at all endured to say, "I will not hope in my bow, and my sword will not save me"; so that he might also say: "For you saved us from those who afflicted us, and you put to shame those who hated us. For this reason the prophet says that the race has inconsolable mourning, lamenting it. For who will turn back the lofty hand? For if he shuts against a man, who will open? Then he says: They wander on the mountains, either fleeing, as we were saying, or supplicating the falsely named gods in high places; which was their custom to do beside great trees. For since he said that destruction was being brought by the Lord Sabaoth, he reasonably also added the cause, so that God might not be thought to punish in vain. Therefore Jeremiah says: "You saw what the dwelling of Israel did to me?

He went up on every high mountain, and on every high hill, and under every leafy tree, and there he played the harlot, as it is said: "To the wood they said, You are my father. And to the stone, You gave birth to me." And not a few, he says, have suffered this, but from small to great. Therefore God says to Jeremiah: "And you, do not pray for this people, for I will not hear. For what do their sons do? he says; they gather wood, and their fathers kindle fire, and their women grind dough to make cakes for the host of heaven." For not in vain is the net spread for winged creatures. From here on, then, he depicts the war, bringing it before their eyes, if perhaps they might turn back in fear that the Elamites have become [masters] of the city, showing the enemies from one nation and indicating them, and presenting their multitude. Your ravines, he says, will be filled with chariots, and, hemmed in around the gates, the horses having dismounted inside, they will search the houses and uncover the royal treasures. For this is signified by the citadel of David. For from it come those who reign. Thus also the enemies who prevail in understanding through our passions snatch away our spiritual wealth, penetrating our mind. Therefore it is said: "If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, do not leave your place, for healing will put an end to sin." For such passions, when checked, wither away. And they saw, he says, that they are more numerous. [This is] against those who think that they alone will prevail over the enemies; for a great multitude of enemies would not have come through so long a road.

That is, since they did not think the water in the city would suffice for them, inasmuch as the Jews were more numerous, but they calculated the houses, counting them according to Symmachus, and diverted the water of the ancient pool into the city, they did not attend to God, but trusted in human preparations. For as if reproaching them in character, he says that they measured out the water for the siege in proportion to their own multitude, thinking it would thus suffice, even if it were extended over time, and tearing down the houses they built the walls more securely; when they ought to have looked to God, who made the city and became a wall for it. "For mountains," he says, "are round about it, and the Lord is round about his people." This he also promises through the voice of the prophet: "I will be to her, says the Lord, a wall of fire round about, and I will be for glory in the midst of her." Then he says that, with such great dangers threatening them from God, when they ought to have propitiated him with all diligence, they came to despair and kept festival, according to the saying: "When the impious man comes into a multitude of evils, he despises." Therefore they have suffered to the end what they ought to have suffered for a little while, beseeching God with tears and mourning, and crying out the words of David: "Behold my lowliness and my toil, and forgive all my sins." For to those who do these things, as Micah says, "He is merciful and compassionate, long-suffering and abundant in mercy, and repenting of evils," in these things.

Some have interpreted the present passage thus: that the Lord, not being a respecter of persons, placed the word concerning Zion in the midst of the rebukes against the Philistines, as though he had treated the Jews as Philistines, to whom he says through Amos: "Are you not to me as the sons of the Ethiopians, says the Lord? Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Cappadocia, and the Syrians from the pit? Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon all the kingdoms of the earth." Hence now, presenting their complete rejection, he numbered them among the Philistines. And this is made clear through the valley. For he did not say simply Zion, but valley, indicating the fall from the height of the God-fearing way of life and hinting that they lie in the hollows and the depth of wickedness. For Zion is a [high] mountain on which the temple of God was built; therefore it says: "Go up on a high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion." And: "You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." It was also said to signify the gospel word. But those who have fallen from this hope lie fallen in the valley adjacent to Zion. For to every virtue vice is adjacent, into which one falls when he misses that virtue, as one falls into unbelief from faith. Into this those of the circumcision were brought down from the gospel height and from the heavenly Zion. Therefore they were ranked among the Philistines; but even so, in their misfortune, puffed up in vain, they hear from the prophecy: "What has happened to you, that you have all gone up to the vain rooftops?" And against Christ, when they shouted, "Take him away, take him away, and crucify him," he says, the city was filled with those shouting.

And since there is a sin unto death, by which a soul that sins shall itself die, your wounded men, he says, are not wounded by the sword. And all your rulers, he says, have fled. According to Symmachus, they were thrown into confusion; according to Theodotion, they were moved away. Hence there are no longer among them kings, no leaders, no high priests, no prophets, nor even Pharisees and Sadducees. But those who even now have been captured by the besieger of souls are bitterly bound. Seeing so great a fall of theirs, the prophet measures his lament to their suffering, foreseeing the rejection of the nation and the capture of the city, the confusions, and the wandering in which they wandered when they were abandoned. Then, having spoken of the Elamites, he indicates unseen powers and enemies, to whom they were handed over by God, who are also interpreted as "those who look away," overlooking the salvation of the perishing, sparing no one. But these, he says, shall enter your gates; not now, but in that day, at the time that is prophesied, they shall reveal the hidden things of the citadel of David, the symbols of the kingdom, and the things laid up in the sanctuary, visible to the high priest alone. Instead of "And they saw that they were more numerous," Symmachus said: "And you shall see the words of the house of David, that they have multiplied." And there was water of an old pool in the city—the word of the old God-inspired Scripture, which they turned away from and devised for themselves strange water, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men, and by their tradition making void the word of God. Concerning which he says to Jeremiah:

They abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug for themselves broken cisterns. But they devised strange water between the two walls. And the two walls of the commonwealth according to God are the Old and the New Testament, in neither of which do the traditions of the elders have a part, on which those called deuterotai among them boast, and having dared something else besides, they tore down the houses of the city to build their own wall. For taking the words of divine Scripture, they wall themselves in with their own mythologies, not having attended to God who made the ancient pool of the God-inspired Scriptures, flowing from the springs of the divine Spirit. God, then, not willing the death of the sinner, but rather his repentance, urged them to lament their own destruction. But they did the opposite, as having despaired of their own salvation, not reckoning on God's judgment after this life. Therefore Paul, using the sayings, said: If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. And as their sin was bound fast by God's bond, he adds: And your sin shall not be forgiven you until you die. And see the greatness of God's threat, and how nowhere did he accuse the people of idolatry, but that they went up into vain houses, and filled the city with cries, and invented strange water, turning away from the ancient pool, and set up a wall by tearing down the houses of the city. And they themselves were senselessly disposed toward these things. But the prophet wept.

The cause of their bitter tears is the threat against them saying that this sin will not be forgiven. 25. Thus says the Lord Sabaoth: Go into the chamberlain's quarters, to Somnas the treasurer, and say to him: What have you here? And what have you here, that you have hewn out for yourself here a tomb, and made for yourself on high a tomb, and written for yourself on a rock a tent? etc. Somnas and Eliakim, whom he mentions here, were contemporaries of King Hezekiah, as one can learn from the history. They also went out to the Assyrian when he stood against the city, as the prophet says in what follows. The Hebrew said that Somnas was a shameless and boastful high priest, living luxuriously, and that he deserted to Sennacherib after betraying the people. The prophet is commanded to go to him at the chamberlain's quarters. This was a place in the temple. Symmachus renders it "the tent-maker," and Aquila "the one who tents." Having hewn out for himself a tomb on a high rock, he inscribed on it "tent," as though he would dwell in it after death, and he inscribed a symbol fitting his own mind, as being splendid only in outward things. In vain, he says, you hew this out. For you will not share in it. For this is what "what have you here" makes clear. For the Lord will crush the man, for the most powerful went off as captives with the common herd. You too will be carried far away, stripped of your dignity, and of your standing to minister to God. What need, then, did you have of vanity and money and a chariot? For the glory of the ruler will not be brought down. For you undertook the stewardship of the high priesthood unworthily, having become an unjust judge.

But God, having approved your companion Eliakim as his own servant, will establish him in your place, to preside over the order of those under his father's hand. For he will not be self-willed, nor envious. But being gentle, he will have the glory of the gentlest David. And he will rule with great authority, so as to have no one to contradict him. And he will have power—that is, the ability to hold sway over the peoples under his hand. And he will be established firmly in his own ministry. For this is what is meant by "in a faithful place to stand," having his rule unshaken. And all who depend on his care will become as those who have trusted in good. Through these things we learn not to be puffed up by power, nor to forget the judgment of God. And reasonably these things are connected with those concerning the valley of Zion, being referred to the time of the saving passion, at which the arrogant and money-loving men after the pattern of Somnas, who served as priests bodily according to the law of Moses, have fallen away. Concerning whom the prophet spoke in the preceding passages, along with many other things, including "lovers of gifts," and "not judging for orphans, and not attending to the judgment of widows." And he called them murderers, as killers of the Lord. To whom also the Savior said, pronouncing woe: "And you have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice, and mercy, and faith." And Somnas prefigured these. But the

Eliakim, interpreted as "the resurrection of God," became a symbol of the new and fresh priesthood, which the resurrection of our Savior established in his own Church throughout the whole inhabited world. For Christ has been called as high priest in place of those men, just as Eliakim was in place of Shebna. For according to the Apostle: "No one takes the honor for himself, but he who is called by God. Just as Christ did not glorify himself to become high priest, but the one who spoke to him, 'You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.'" And he is said to receive also the glory of David, that is, the rule and kingdom over the spiritual Israel; for "not all those who are from Israel," he says, "are Israel," and the things that follow. But for Christ, who has become high priest, there will be, he says, no one to contradict. "For the enemy will not prosper against him, and no lawless son will proceed to harm him." And in another way, even if Israel contradicted, the nations nevertheless submitted. Therefore concerning that one he says: "Deliver me from the contradiction of the people." And concerning these: "You will establish me as head of the nations. A people whom I did not know served me. At the hearing of the ear they obeyed me;" and again concerning those: "Foreign sons lied to me." And: "Because they grew old and limped from their paths." For they have grown old and have come near to destruction, having held their mind broken until now, having become foreign sons. For formerly Israel was the firstborn, but when they lied against Christ, they became foreign, being called from then on children of destruction and of Gehenna; in place of whom he raised up for us Eliakim. Who also says.

Because of the misery of the poor and the groaning of the needy, now I will arise, says the Lord." But in the Church, the house of his Father, he says, everyone will be, trusting in him, both glorious and small—I mean, according to the world. For the God of all is no respecter of persons. But you will understand this also according to the measure of spiritual age. CHAPTER 23. THE VISION OF TYRE. 18. Wail, ships of Carthage, because it has perished, and they come no longer. From the land of the Kitians a captive has been brought; to what are those who dwell in the island like, the traders of Phoenicia, crossing the sea in much water? The seed of traders, as when a harvest is brought in, the traders of the nations, etc. The prophecies speak not only about matters that have already received the outcome of the prediction concerning them—for in that way these things would seem to be nothing to us, even if one ought especially through them to marvel at God as unerring. But now they do not merely foretell concerning the nations, but the mode befitting piety is also carried through each one individually; as in foretelling the destruction of Babylon, he has discoursed concerning the universal judgment of God. And the word concerning Egypt says that there will be an altar of God in it, and a multitude of pious men. And the one concerning Moab, that a Church and throne of God will come to be in it, when idolatry has ceased in it as in Egypt. And the one concerning Damascus says that there will be a turning of those who formerly did not know God. And the present one concerning Tyre, in addition to its own sufferings, foretells that offerings will be made in it to the Lord.

You could also say otherwise: for the benefit of those from Israel, the prophecies concerning the nations are foretold, so that they might know that the God of God is not theirs alone, but that his providence passes through all things, always bringing punishments for impieties upon the other nations as well—as now upon the Tyrians, because they also mocked the people of God when they suffered badly, not as though they suffered because of sin, but as though God who saves them had become weak. Therefore, when Jerusalem suffered, all the surrounding nations suffered the same as the Tyrians, having the same disposition, all being laid waste by the Assyrians. But David enumerates those who rose up together against his own people at the time it was being captured, saying thus: "O God, who shall be likened to you? Do not be silent, nor be appeased, O God; for behold, your enemies have roared, and those who hate you have lifted up their head; they have devised crafty counsel against your people, and have taken counsel against your holy ones. They said: Come, and let us destroy them from among the nations, and let the name of Israel be remembered no more. They took counsel together with one accord, they made a covenant against you. The tents of the Idumeans, and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, the foreigners with those who dwell in Tyre." And God also says through one of the prophets: "And what are you to me, Tyre and Sidon, and all Galilee of the foreigners? Do you repay me a repayment, or do you bear a grudge against me?

Swiftly and quickly I will repay your recompense upon your heads, because you took my silver and my gold, and my choice and beautiful things you brought into your temples, and you sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, so that you might drive them out from their borders. And God also says to Ezekiel: Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon enslaved his force with a great slavery against Tyre. Every head is bald and every shoulder is shorn, and no wage was given to him and to his force, in return for the hard slavery which he served against Tyre. Instead of this I have given him the land of Egypt. When, therefore, Tyre endured the extreme desolation, it happened that its inhabitants, no longer being seafarers as was their custom, did not engage in trade. Therefore he says: Wail, ships of Carthage. For the Carthaginians are colonists of the Tyrians, inhabiting what is now called Carthage in Africa, who used to bring their merchandise to Tyre while it was still preserved. But the rest rendered Kittim as Chethieim. It is said that Cyprus is thus indicated, and that Citium is a city in it, through which those sailing from Tyre used to sail, perhaps also arranging some of their goods for trade there. No longer, then, are the Tyrians merchants, he says. For they perished and were led away to captivity, so that no one suffered anything similar. And instead of, To what have they become like? Aquila says, Be silent; and Symmachus says, Be silent, you who inhabit the island. For once they used arrogant words, prancing proudly. But the word exhorts them to be silent when they have been humbled.

These same people were once traders of Phoenicia, heaping up great wealth, so that the multitude of their business—that is, the multitude of those engaged in commerce—was compared to a harvest. He says that they, deprived of these goods, must have shame poured over them together with neighboring Sidon, from which some say Tyre was colonized, so as to pride themselves greatly over her as over a daughter who possessed such great power at sea. But some said that the words "Be ashamed, Sidon" are spoken as from Tyre to Sidon. For the wrath will overtake you also. Therefore the islanders (for he called them "the sea") say to her, when Tyre is captured: "Your boasting has perished." But Tyre herself, being the strength of the sea, seeing her own desolation, says: "I have become like those who did not give birth at all, nor indeed raised young men or maidens." But some said it is a personification, as though the sea itself almost uttered a voice and lamented them, because it no longer had young men and maidens whom it might nourish, since in old times, being as it were offspring of the sea, they were turned about by it; but now the sea and its strength bewail them as lost. Egypt also is in agony, lest it suffer similar things. And transferring the discourse to the Tyrians, he says that, when these things have thus come to pass, as many of you as were able to escape destruction, go, if possible, to your colonists in Carthage and lament the calamities of your fatherland, blaming not others but your own arrogance and insolence, on account of which you were incited against Israel and God.

Consider, then, that it was God who brought these calamities upon Tyre, and do not suppose that they were suffered by the necessity of fate or by the anger of one of the falsely named gods. For it is the Lord of Hosts, who is theologized among the Hebrews alone, who has done these things, humbling the arrogance and insolence not of Tyre only, but also of the remaining godless nations, against whom he has already previously

issued his sentence in the earlier visions. For God is one who opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. It is a grievous thing, then, to trample upon the saints while they are being scourged, or to think that the hand which always saves them is weak, and not rather to understand that they are being tested because God often permits it. For to the lawless it must be said: "Do not act lawlessly"; and to those who sin: "Do not lift up your horn, nor speak injustice on high." For this reason Tyre was carried over from glory to dishonor. Do not exult, then, he says, in the wealth that comes from the sea, but being humbled, apply yourself to farming. For the profits from the sea have ceased, on account of which you were haughty and bold, provoking the kings round about, and wronging Sidon your neighbor. And the experience of evils would put an end to your injustice in these matters. And wherever you may depart, you will have no refuge of rest, since God surrounds you with evils everywhere, and your allies the Canaanites have been laid waste. And the Kittim, who were long accustomed to you, will deny you. And even if you desert to the Chaldeans, that is, depart as a captive, you will find the evils that come from the Persians and Medes, and Babylon deserted, on account of the things in which she boasted. For her wall has fallen. Thus he calls her wall, or her royal power, by which she was formerly fortified.

Therefore the Carthaginians will lament you, since you have destroyed every hope of salvation, you who were formerly their stronghold. And you will be disciplined for as long a time as the city consecrated to God, against which you exalted yourself and will pay an equal penalty. For those also prolonged the seventieth year in captivity. And the span of a human life is, according to David, seventy years. For he says: "The days of our years in them are seventy years." And the same is also the length of a long-lasting kingdom. But do not be shaken when the time appointed by God is not fulfilled. For God is not subject to the limits of his own foretelling. For being good, he both appoints a time and threatens calamities, not as one who will certainly bring them, but as one who wishes to turn them back; which one may also learn from the sixty years appointed through Isaiah against Ephraim. For it was reduced to thirty. And Daniel too, seeing the wickedness of those in captivity increasing, begs God not to add to the years appointed against them. For God either cuts short the limit when they repent, or adds to it when they persist in their impieties. Accordingly, to those in the days of Noah he appointed the number of one hundred twenty years, which he cut short in a humane manner, checking their evils and preventing them from becoming greater. But to the Ninevites, when they repented, he dissolved the time of the threat, just as a physician, even if he has foretold something about cautery or surgery, no longer does this when the body has changed for the better. Then the prophet says, that In these years you will become a song, like some woman who has fallen from her own honor.

Then go about, wandering from place to place, playing the harlot among the rest of the nations, as though you had been forgotten by God. But if you are able, take up your own lyre, and no longer play the instrument in a harlot's way but with skill, entreating God through many prayers. For thus he will remember you, since you have used the lyre, as it were, with the limbs and senses of the body, fitting them well together through chastity. For God takes pleasure in these things, and having remembered you he will restore you again to your former state, when the time of your discipline has been fulfilled. Some have interpreted these things as being about a harlot, saying many times that a certain courtesan, having become distinguished in her prime, when her lovers ceased after her prime, sometimes devises songs and a lyre, reminding them of the desire of old. When Tyre does such things, scarcely will mention of her be made among men. But when the time of your discipline has passed, you will again become a trading-place of all the earth, when, remembering your former evils, you will no longer bring the firstfruits of your trade to demons but rather to God, and the city of God will make you its revenue. As indeed the Scripture also recorded in the case of Hiram. But it would be fitting to understand the polity under Christ as repentance through better music. Therefore Aquila,

And the Hebrew, they say, without the articles and without "all": and her merchandise and her hire shall be holy to the Lord. For not all her merchandise, nor all her hire, but a portion will be sanctified as firstfruits. This one can see even now daily in the churches of God that are there. And it is brought to those who dwell before the Lord, that is, to the overseers of the altar, since the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the Gospel should live from the Gospel. And those who attend at the altar share with the altar. To these is added: All her merchandise to eat and drink and be filled, as a contribution, a memorial before the Lord. Which Symmachus clearly rendered, saying: For to those who dwell before the Lord her merchandise shall be to eat unto fullness, and to clothe themselves unto growing old. And Aquila: To those who sit before the face of the Lord her merchandise shall be to eat unto fullness, for clothing of removal. And Theodotion: And to clothe themselves unto old age. And the Seventy: And concerning those who offer of them. As those feasting in houses of prayer, but not as formerly they used to celebrate with banquets in idol-temples. CHAPTER 24. 1-23. Behold, the Lord lays waste the world, and will make it desolate, and will uncover its face, and will scatter those who dwell in it. And the people shall be as the priest, and the servant as the master, and the maidservant as the mistress; the buyer shall be as the seller, etc.

Those things, they say, that were spoken in detail concerning various nations, he now gathers up as it were in summary and calls a worldwide destruction—the one that came upon many nations. And he will uncover its face, exacting penalties and exposing the impiety that long lay hidden, which was the face of each one's life. For the wrath of God sets forth the worth of those who suffer, according to which both the eminent and the lowly all become alike. For the enemy does not know how to distinguish the worth of the chosen. And he brings about a confusion of the former order, and dejection seizes the captured cities and lands through the desolation, which indeed he also called mourning. But calamity assails the lofty and more illustrious more, because of the change to the opposite from what they were deprived of. And he says that the land acted lawlessly—that is, those who dwell in it—just as a city is also called lawless. For showing the justice of the punishment, he adds to these things that they transgressed the law, including with the nations the Jews who suffered together with them, saying, And they transgressed the everlasting covenant. But of all those captured, few will be left behind in the lands; and they will live in poverty, since, when they ought to repent, they clung to luxuries, just as the Jews, saying, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Concerning whom another prophet says: "Those who sleep on ivory beds and live in luxury." And after a little: "And they felt nothing at the crushing of Joseph." Therefore he says that the wine will mourn.

That is, those who are devoted to luxury and drunkenness, displaying the extravagant enjoyment of wealth and the arrogance that comes from it, shall mourn. Next he intimates the cruelty of the enemies who have captured them, who, searching out even to one or two those destined for slaughter or for captivity, were as it were gathering olives—those who, with some lying fallen and others taken, and nothing any longer remaining, will cry out with a shout, as when they have ceased gathering. For this is sometimes pleasing to those who gather. But amid the threats he does not allow the pious to fall. For even if these things, he says, shall await the lawless, nevertheless the Lord will not destroy the righteous along with the impious. This also God says through Ezekiel: "Son of man, when I bring a judgment of blood upon a land—though Noah and Daniel and Job be in the midst of them, these shall be saved in their righteousness; but the land shall be for destruction." And elsewhere to the six men who followed the one carrying the axe: "Smite, and spare not." And after other things: "And upon all those on whom is the

A sign, do not come near." He indicates by Noah those who are well-pleasing to him through faith; and by Daniel, the wise and discerning; and by Job, those who endure in all things. And having escaped destruction, they shall glorify him who saved them. But the water of the sea, he says, shall be troubled, hinting at the multitude of the nations; as also the great David says: "This is the great and wide sea," and what follows. For he does not wish to speak of the differences of fish, nor of the dragon swimming in the waters, with which he says God is mocked. Rather, he indicates the tossing of the affairs of life, through which the intelligible dragon passes over and moves about. And you might call the cities islands, or the souls of men that rise above the brine of the passions, in which is the glory of the Lord, since the prophecy now transfers its word to Christ. For when the land has been desolated from idols and the evils in it, and men have been disciplined by various calamities, the glory of Christ the Savior has risen upon those left on earth from idolatry, whom the hopes of future good things gladden through the divine baptism, because they shall be with Christ, who possesses the glory of the Father. Then also the water of the sea is troubled, when the apostles everywhere proclaim newer things to the world, and trouble their hearers by the strangeness of what they hear. And God was glorified in the holy islands, the word having indicated the Churches. For these stand apart from the waves of life, conquering their oppressors through Christ. For having called the nations a sea, he reasonably called these islands.

But those who dwell in these lands, together with the glory of the Lord, say to the God of Israel: "From the wings of the earth we have heard of terrors, having believed that there is hope for the pious"—calling "wings of the earth" those apostles who, being lifted up by the divine words, took wing so as to leave the earth behind and to think on heavenly things, having their citizenship henceforth in heaven. And receiving their strange doctrines, they say, we are confirmed by the hope that comes through faith concerning the good things to come. But those who did not receive the law of faith they lament—or rather, also the law given through Moses. For Moses himself wrote concerning him, clearly concerning Christ. And if they had believed Moses, they would have believed Christ also. And those who have received the faith admonish the unbelievers, holding over them the fear that comes from punishment, threatening them with every kind of evil. For this is both the fear and the pit and the snare. For even if one escapes one, he will be caught by the others. And these things the Jews have suffered, having been caught by countless evils after the cross of the Savior. And stating the cause of these things, he says that the windows from heaven were opened. That is, the Lord visited the earth with visitation; for when God is long-suffering, so as not even to seem to look upon them, heaven is said in some way to be closed, so that sinners may transgress with impunity. But when he visits their sins, all things are filled with tumult and fear, and men, as if from drunkenness, are hurled toward every kind of evil, shaken like a watchman's hut. For God endures sins that can be borne; but when sin prevails, he punishes those who have done it.

A splendid achievement of the Only-Begotten's becoming human is the scattering of the impiety of those who served the creation instead of the Creator, into which the Jews also fell. "Whose women," according to Jeremiah, "knead dough to make cakes for the host of heaven, while the sons gather the wood and the fathers kindle the fire." And another prophet says: "You took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan." The hand brought upon these people therefore signifies the scattering of those who worship these things and the like. You might also call the "ornament of heaven" that about which it is said: "How has the morning star, which rises at dawn, fallen from heaven," and the "kings of the earth" the rulers of this world. For they have reigned over the earth, having made for themselves worshippers in it, whom Christ sent down into the prison of punishment, and they kept begging that he not command them to go away into the

abyss. These, warring against the glory of God from the creation of the world, continued until the coming of the Savior, when, after receiving visitation through many generations, they were cast into prison. He likens Satan to a wall. For he is terrible in resistance, and like a city most strongly towered—but he was captured and has fallen when Christ shook him down. For it is the custom of Scripture to liken those who are exceedingly strong to a wall and to cities. Thus God says to Jeremiah:

Behold, I have set you this day as a fortified city, and as a strong wall of bronze against all the kings of the earth, and they shall fight against you, and they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord." Joshua the son of Nun also prefigured these things, when he captured the five kings by force and cast them into the cave. Except that for the evil powers even the unbreakable wall has fallen. This is Satan, when idolatry has been destroyed from among men, when the Lord also reigned in Zion and in Jerusalem. For the Church of Christ is a watchtower, and a vision of peace. And he speaks before the elders, the perfect in mind, through whom they see the depth of the mysteries concerning him. To whom John says: "I write to you, Fathers, that you have known him who is from the beginning." For having known Christ as God, they glorify him. But some have taken this whole present passage as concerning the universal consummation, saying that the prophet, having spoken in part concerning the nations, now accordingly sets forth concerning the whole inhabited world; since the earth is the Lord's and its fullness; and caring for all, he makes his discourse concerning the judgment that is to come upon them on the day when God judges the hidden things of men. Therefore now he no longer mentions any of the individual nations, but concerning the whole inhabited world. For the world, having received a beginning, had also to have an end, a turning for the better coming to pass. "Because this creation also will be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." And again he says:

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." And again: "For the form of this world is passing away." And the Savior also says: "Heaven and earth shall pass away." He teaches, therefore, what sort of things will succeed the good and the impious, beginning from the gloomy things, so that he may arrive at the more excellent. And to the desolation and destruction of the inhabited world the saying in the vision concerning Babylon is in agreement—that armed warriors would come to destroy the whole inhabited world. And also this: "The day of the Lord comes, incurable, of fury and wrath, to make the inhabited world desolate, and to destroy the sinners from it." For, conversing with human beings, he spoke only about human beings, making no mention of the other rational beings. But when those on the earth are judged and transferred to other regions of the inhabited world, it followed that the dwelling-place of the earth was left desolate, the inhabitants being scattered, one to one place and another to another, to different regions of the world, according to the account of each one's deeds. For there are many mansions with the Father, and for the reception of all, and of all who have ever existed, the world suffices—dark regions receiving the impious, according to the text: "They shall go down into the lowest parts of the earth, they shall be delivered into the hands of the sword. They shall be portions for foxes"; while the pious shall be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall they ever be with the Lord. And he called the surface of the earth its "face.

But it is uncovered when the things hidden in it are brought to light at the resurrection from the dead, after which all will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, obtaining a just verdict without partiality toward those distinguished by rank or wealth. For the judgment will be equal for all, since only their reasonings and deeds are judged. And Job also says: "The small and the great are there, and the servant who does not fear his Lord." He says that the earth will be corrupted, meaning those who have an earthly mindset, according to the saying: "You are earth, and to earth you shall go." And: "The first man was from the earth, of dust; the second is from heaven, spiritual," and the rest; after which he says: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." And such people will be corrupted by their own corruption. For each one is bound tight by the cords of his own sins. For just as the flesh is destroyed by the fever that kindles from it, so those who have treasured up wrath for themselves for the day of wrath, having corrupted their souls, will be punished, handed over to their own corruption, with certain powers exacting the penalty, which serve in the role of executioners, who will make a kind of plundering, snatching away their souls, when those who have done things worthy of mourning will also mourn. He has made clear the earth that was said to mourn and be corrupted, when he says "the high ones of the earth"; for God especially pursues these (for he opposes the proud); who also, acting lawlessly, filled the earth with bloods and slaughter. For the earth, says Symmachus, was defiled with murder by those who dwell in it. And he has added the cause of the corruption, that they transgressed the law.

For all have transgressed the natural law given to all, the law inscribed in their own minds, as Paul says: "For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things of the law, these, though they do not have the law, are a law to themselves. They show the work of the law written in their hearts." This is also made clear through the voice of John, spoken concerning the only-begotten Son of God, that he was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world. And this also came about at the time of the visitation, according to the saying: "In those days, says the Lord, I will give my laws into their mind, and I will inscribe them on their hearts." They have therefore transgressed the natural law, turning to the love of the flesh, and the earth of these transgressors has become accursed. For just as in the beginning, when sin had not yet come into being, God blessed man, so at the consummation of the age the curse will devour the earth. And in place of "Therefore they shall be poor," Symmachus says, "Therefore they shall be worn away." Moreover, those condemned at the divine tribunal will come into want of the good things from above and will be stripped of the hope prepared for the saints. And of those sent down to Hades, few will be left possessing the wealth they treasured up from virtues. "For many are called, but few are chosen," as the Savior says. And in place of "the wine shall mourn," Aquila rendered, "the marginality has mourned.

Signifying through the example of the fruit the transient nature of the beauty of bodies, and of the luxury of men who have given themselves over to debaucheries and drunkenness, who are ashamed at the reproofs of these things, according to the saying: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise; some to everlasting life, but others to reproach and everlasting shame." Understand also the wine from the vine of Sodom, and the grape of gall, concerning which it says: "The wine of their wrath is the wrath of dragons, and the incurable wrath of asps," which wounds the soul and perverts the mind. Awakening from this drunkenness, then they shall mourn. Then also every city shall shut its house so that no one may enter. For there shall no longer be societies such as now exist, in which the impious do the things that please their heart. Therefore the Savior says: "Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep." The parable of the rich man also makes this clear, who saw Lazarus in the bosoms of Abraham, and who heard: "You received your good things in your life." So then, for those who are judged, reminders of the life lived here arise within them. Therefore they shall mourn for themselves. Whence the Savior blesses those who in the present life hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who weep and mourn, and those who have become poor for his sake, and those who have been persecuted. To these the prophet now adds: All these things shall be on the earth, in the midst of the nations; clearly teaching that the things said were spoken concerning the judgment. And that he visits all, even to one, he made clear through the olive.

But instead of "And if the vintage should cease, these shall cry out with their voice," Symmachus, employing a distinction, set forth two meanings at once, saying, "As grape-gleanings when the vintage is completed." Then from another beginning he says, "Whose voice is with those present." For he assigned the one to the meaning of the former words, that, just as those who gather the fruit of the olive, striking it down with rods, and even to a single one, if anywhere with a cry, bring it down—so none of the impious shall escape, just as also in the case of the grapes some return and gather those that escaped notice at first. And the Savior sets this forth in the parable of the dragnet, when the worthless are cast outside. But those men shall suffer these things. But these shall lift up their voice, clearly those of the better order. Hence he added: "They shall exult when the Lord is glorified." But according to the Seventy: "The impious, having suffered the last vintage, shall give forth voices, crying out when they are punished; but the good shall be gladdened together with the glory of the Lord, when the Lord shall come in the glory of his Father, with power and much glory." But instead of "The water of the sea shall be troubled," Theodotion translated, "The waters of the sea resounded," indicating the greatness of the cry of those who glorify the Lord. And he calls islands the Churches that are in the present life, and before the judgment, in the midst of the unbelievers, caught up in the midst of the sea, upon which the glory of God shall shine in the age to come. Therefore the word hymns God who will do this, saying: "Lord, the God of Israel, from the wings of the earth we have heard wonders.

Instead of "wonders," Theodotion translates "psalms," and so does Symmachus. But Aquila has "melodies." For those of the portion of God, marveling at his righteous judgment, rejoicing at the same time in the glory of the Lord, bring up to him hymns and thanksgiving psalms, being from everywhere on the earth. This indeed the prophet also marveled at, having learned that God was deemed worthy to be hymned by them. This indeed also seemed wondrous according to the Seventy, if, having abandoned the ancestral error, they hymn the God of the prophets, when the fulfillment of their hope has come to its end. For upon the righteous judgment of God there has been added, "There is hope for the pious man," whether he be of another tribe, clearly, or a stranger to the seed of Abraham. On these things, according to Symmachus, it has been said: "And he said, My mystery is to me; my mystery is to me." For when the prophets had glorified God for the paradox, and had made mention also of the hope of the pious, but had not said who and of what sort were the things hoped for, but desired to learn what God has prepared for those who love him, God urges them to be silent, saying: "My mystery is to me; my mystery is to me." For now, he says, is not the time to reveal "what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not ascended upon the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him." And the prophet, as he glorified God for the hope of good things. Thus out of love for humanity he bewails the wicked, saying: "Woe to those who set aside." In place of which Aquila said: "Woe is me, those who set aside have set aside." But Symmachus: "Woe is me, those who set aside have been set aside." But "windows of heaven" you will understand according to the preceding explanation.

For when God visits sinners, the windows of heaven are opened wide, his visitation coming upon them. It is plausible that this was said concerning those of whom David speaks: "Lift up the gates, you rulers." At that time, then, all will be opened at the kingdom of the Lord, so that those who are ruled may enter through them. But now, when they are opened, what happens? The foundations of the earth, he says, will be shaken, and the earth will be troubled—meaning those who dwell in it, tossed as if from the drunkenness of evils. And such an earth, being the soul of the impious, will be like a lodge in a garden. This he also indicated by the desert in the preceding passages, where it was said: "Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will be like a lodge in a garden." These things have happened to those who dwell in the earth, since lawlessness prevailed against them; therefore at the end of the discourse he says: And it will fall, and it will not be able to rise. For once the earth has fallen at the end of mortal life—being flesh of earth, or a soul devoted to the body, or those of old—

Those who dwell on the earth will obtain the universal resurrection, stand before the judge, and receive what is according to their worth. But when they have been judged and have fallen away from the good hope, having been handed over to punishments, having then fallen away from God, they will no longer be able to rise again. Having spoken sufficiently about the earth—that is, about the inhabitants of the earth—he moves on to heaven and heavenly things, saying: In that day, clearly the time of judgment, God will bring his hand upon the host of heaven, signifying the consummation of the whole, according to which heaven and earth will pass away, as the Savior says: "The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars of heaven will fall," and the things that follow these. And the host of heaven he calls the luminaries, according to Moses, who says: "Take heed, lest having looked up to heaven and seen the sun and the moon and the stars, and all the host of heaven, you be led astray and worship them." For the prophet also, making these things clear, adds: And the brick will melt away, and the wall will fall. In place of which Symmachus says: And the moon will be put to shame, and the sun will be ashamed, and the rest likewise. These things the Seventy covered over, as they were publishing the Scripture for Greeks, because of the strangeness of the expression. God therefore brings his hand upon these, working consummation. And by kings of the earth shut up together, understand the rulers of this age. As also Gabriel says in Daniel: And the ruler of the kingdom of the Persians came out to meet me, and the ruler of the kingdom of the Medes.

For it was fitting that, once Christ was reigning in a new age, the opposing kings should be cast down into the place that befits them. Symmachus says two things: "And they shall be gathered with the gathering of prisoners into a pit, and they shall be shut up in a shutting up." For they fell into the pit that they themselves had made, no longer to trouble those who are ruled by Christ. But it has been silenced, they say, as something secret, by whom their visitation shall be—or whether they shall be visited according to the rest—evidently by God. And he says that sun and moon shall be put to shame, when those who came to be under their rays give account, like stewards of masters' households over a long time, when the Master appears, watching those who served under them being punished, though they were unable to contribute anything to them for virtue. Upon which he adds: "The Lord shall reign on Mount Zion." For it was fitting for the discourse about the consummation to speak of the coming heavenly kingdom of Christ after the overthrow of the opposing tyrants. And Zion and Jerusalem, according to the great Paul, he calls heavenly, in which those who are truly elders shall be deemed worthy of his divinity. CHAPTER 25, 1. O Lord my God, I will glorify you, I will hymn your name, because you have done marvelous things, an ancient counsel, true. May it be, O Lord, that you have made cities into a heap, fortified cities, so that their foundations fall. The city of the impious shall not be built for ever, etc. Having spoken about the universal judgment of the impious and the righteous, the end of which was the kingdom of Christ, he hymns and glorifies God for these things.

For having been fully assured of these things by God, and not keeping his mind unfruitful as the grace came upon him, and grasping both the things that come from God and the movements of his own mind, he marvels at God his benefactor, as at a wonderful and ancient counsel. And Christ declared what is ancient about it: "Come," he says, "you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." And the divine Paul also, starting from this, wrote: "Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love, having predestined us for adoption as sons in him." And according to those who say that these things were spoken concerning the coming, Symeon sets forth the ancient character of the counsel, saying: "For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared before the face of all the peoples." And Zacharias, saying: "And he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David his servant, just as he spoke through the mouth of the

of his holy prophets from of old." Therefore it is ancient for this reason; but it is true, because it will also come to pass before evening, whenever he has put all his enemies under his feet; whenever he has abolished every rule and authority and power. For then, when all wickedness has been removed from the feet, and the last enemy, death, has been abolished, God will be all in all; and our Savior, reigning over the new age, will be glorified in the presence of the elders, with the saints reigning together with him in life. And desiring to see the end of good things quickly, he prays: "May it be, Lord." That is, since he was speaking about things not yet come to pass—"you have made," showing that it will certainly be, even if it has not yet come to pass—he added: "May it be, Lord." But he prays concerning those who will obtain blessedness. And concerning those who have passed away before in this mortal life, he adds: "you have made cities in the mortal world into a heap," glorifying him also for the things in which he destroyed the impious constitutions of the godless, and perhaps their impious buildings—cities—and indicating the opposing powers. These, because of their strength, it is customary to call wall and city, as was said earlier, which Christ, having destroyed, would not allow to rise again. Indeed those of them who escaped his hands—that is, those saved from among impious men—will bless you, or glorify you like the rest. And these are the people who for your sake became poor in the former age, and whom the persecutors of godliness wronged. That is, those who were formerly poor in every virtue, of the gifts from you, which Israel alone enjoyed; and having become naked of the covering from above.

For when all these things had turned out for them the opposite of what they were, they reasonably send up songs of thanksgiving. For when they were lowly and in discouragement, and were moving about in the midst of the wicked in want of every luxury, you, Master, were their helper and shelter. But also at that time, when they were thirsty, so as to say, "My soul thirsted for you, for the strong and living God," you were again a fountain, watering them by the inflow of the Spirit, restoring them from faint-heartedness, strengthening them by the power of your only-begotten Word. But so that the children of the Jews might not think that these things were said about them, he sets forth the grace poured out upon all the nations: "And the Lord Sabaoth will make," he says, "for all the nations on this mountain." But what will he make? According to the other interpreters, the drink is mentioned next; according to the Seventy, "they will drink gladness, they will drink wine." So then it is not for the people of the Jews, but he says that the Lord will prepare the banquet for all the nations. Not in valleys, nor in plains, nor on many mountains, nor as it happened on some mountain, but on that one about which he spoke demonstratively, "on this mountain." Which one? Or the one indicated in "The Lord will reign on Mount Zion"? There the banquet is for the nations, and the drink of immortality, about which Paul says: "You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, Jerusalem above." Among these, those from the nations who are deemed worthy of the promises will drink gladness, and will drink of the wine of the true vine. About which the Savior said: "I will certainly not drink it until I drink it new with you in the kingdom of heaven.

But they will also be anointed with myrrh, no longer to receive the earnest of the Spirit, but to partake of the very fullness of the divinity of the Son of God. No longer knowing in part and prophesying in part, but having become partakers of the perfect Christ, so that they too are shown to be christs, and sons of God, and heirs of God, and co-heirs with Christ. But according to those who say these things were spoken concerning the coming, the mountain is the Church, being a watchtower and a vision of peace, because of the height of the doctrines and the tranquility of souls; and the wine and the myrrh clearly set forth the mystical anointing and the saving blood. For the blessed John also writes: "And you have an anointing from the Holy One." For those who are baptized are anointed with this, making the anointing a symbol of partaking of the divine Spirit. But since Israel was unworthy of these things: Give them, he says, to the nations, as one hands over a deposit in a mystery. Therefore the prophet also called them marvelous things and an ancient counsel. For not as the old law, spoken through angels, was given to Israel alone, but Christ is the expectation of the nations, according to the text: "And in him shall the nations hope." And the prophet, he says, kept the same character; for as one consoling those from Israel, he also spoke of the destruction of the other nations as it came upon them, showing through all things the providence of God.

For the people of Israel were negligent, seeing God set against them with continuous reproofs and chastisements; they did not consider these to be proofs of God's love for humanity, but thought it an addition to their own destruction that the nations lived in freedom, as though they were not under God. For they supposed that the nations were not exacting the penalty for the offenses they committed. Thus even now through the better things he made clear his care for all. For the prophet was not announcing these things as he went about among the nations; rather he was instructing the Jews in what would happen after many generations, confirming it by what was about to happen at the hands of the Assyrians. But how those who were impious from the beginning would obtain these things, he sets forth: the nations, through Christ, escaped the death of idolatry, on account of which someone would have wept over them as having the reproach of impiety. And the weeping was that of those who, out of love for humanity, bewailed the destruction of so many souls brought about by the devil, who is also called death. As far as it depended on humans, then, they perished; but God's love for humanity took away their reproach of the insulting slavery of the devil. One might say that, quite opportunely, with the transmission of the mystery, the account concerning the resurrection of the dead has also been brought in. Therefore we also confess the resurrection of the flesh at the time of baptism, and that death, having overrun the human race through Adam, provided us with occasions for lamentation and tears. But the three-day resurrection of the Savior provided escape from this, he having become the firstborn from the dead and the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

But the things that come after will follow the firstfruits and the first, that is, us, whom, having torn the sackcloth, he girded with gladness, so as to trample upon death. "Where is your victory, O death? Where is your sting, O Hades? The sting of death is sin." Every tear of ours has therefore been taken away, since through the hope of the resurrection we do not grieve without measure, as do the rest who have no hope. And he calls death the reproach of the people, as having had its origin from our transgression; or also sin, through which corruption came forth. But since the mystery of the resurrection is unbelievable to many, being truly paradoxical, he says, "The mouth of the Lord has spoken." That is, since it was very unbelievable that the error of the Gentiles would be destroyed, he reasonably added this. But if a remnant of idolatry still survives, it is no wonder. For it was necessary to show from what things the Redeemer long ago set us free—from those men who offered their children as a sacrifice to demons. And what was in our power was thus shown to come from free will. But the phrase "upon the mountain," according to the other interpreters, presents another meaning. For Symmachus clearly rendered it thus: "He will cast down in this mountain the face of the ruler who rules over all the nations, and the judgment that has been decided against all the nations; he will cause death to be swallowed up in the end. And the Lord God will wipe away every tear from every face, and he will remove the reproach of his people from all the earth, because the Lord has spoken.

To which Aquila and Theodotion gave concordant renderings, showing that when the Lord makes the banquet on the mountain previously mentioned for the nations, having deemed them worthy to partake of his ineffable mysteries, at that time, having cast down the face of the ruler, he will cause it to become invisible—of him who ruled over all the nations, that is, of death, now called a ruler, but by the Apostle called a king, when he says, "Death reigned from Adam until Moses." Since, then, death is abolished as the last enemy, reasonably

he says these things. But instead of "the face of the ruler," Symmachus and Theodotion gave "the face of darkness," thus showing the lightless and darkness-filled region of death. Then, therefore, when the saints reign together with Christ, death, which swallows all, will be swallowed up. And the cause is the anointing, through which they will no longer be slaves to death. Having been benefited by these things, the divine Apostle said: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption," and the things that follow. When also every reproach will be taken away. For it was a reproach to men made in the image of God to fall from eternal life. 9, 12. And they will say on that day: Behold our God, in whom we hoped. And we rejoiced; God will give rest on this mountain. And Moab will be trampled, as one tramples a threshing floor with wagons, etc. When death has been swallowed up at the time of the resurrection, the sons of the new age will sing a song of thanksgiving, beholding their Savior, saying:

Behold our God, in whom we hoped; seeing now the one formerly hoped for, we rejoice, having endured the troubles that came upon us for his sake. In return for these things, on the mountain of the kingdom, they shall enjoy the promised good things. But Moabitis, called Moab in the Hebrew, shall undergo the penalty for its impiety. Instead of "it shall be threshed," Symmachus rendered "we shall thresh." Who the threshers are, he next sets forth, saying: "And the feet of the meek and the steps of the humble shall trample him." Understand Moab as the demon honored among the Moabites, who was exalted against God, who crushed those under his sway, and who caused Israel itself to be initiated into Baal-peor; and in this vision he spoke concerning Moab, that "your alliance has been taken away, and the ruler who trampled on the earth has perished." Concerning which Jeremiah also says: "And Chemosh shall go forth into exile." And again: "And Moab shall be put to shame because of Chemosh." What sort he was, he makes clear, saying: "The day of Moab is near, and his wickedness is very swift." And again: "See how the glorious staff has been shattered." And again: "The horn of Moab has been brought down, and his arm has been shattered, says the Lord. Bind him, for he has magnified himself against the Lord." And again: "And he too shall become a laughingstock, since he was a laughingstock to you, Israel." And next: "I have heard, he says, the insolence of Moab; he has greatly exalted his height and his pride." Since, then, he was regarded as fearsome by the Jews, he sets before them his judgment in the future. Instead of "And the height of the refuge of your house he shall humble," Symmachus says: "And the stronghold of the height of your walls shall bow down." For his walls and stronghold were his powers, by which he was fortified.

But you will understand through one [example] what the demons, who deceived the rest of the nations, will also suffer. For the prophet left this to us. CHAPTER 20, 1.8. In that day they shall sing this song in the land of Judea, saying: Behold a strong city, and our salvation will set its wall and outer rampart. Open the gates, let the people enter who keeps righteousness, etc. But after the destruction of these, when Christ reigns over those subject to him in the heavenly Jerusalem, which he calls Judea, indicating the extent of that city; and the commonwealth of the saints in it, a city of God, corresponding to the region of the earthly Jerusalem, at once hinting at the truth and consoling the Jews and urging them to the hope of the things set before them, who, obtaining the promises, will sing a heavenly song. And the song: Behold a strong city, our salvation. For the lower city on earth is not strong, often being captured. But the one above is both strong and salvation, which is Jesus in the Hebrew tongue. For he himself is the Savior of the blessed, a city, a wall, and an outer rampart. And we shall understand its gates as the various entrances of the mansions there, which he says are opened not to Jews, nor to Israel, nor simply to anyone at random, but only to those who keep righteousness, truth, and peace. Concerning whom every God-loving person will say: "Open to me the gates of righteousness; having entered through them I will give thanks to the Lord." And they are opened to them, since they hoped in you forever, who

You have brought down those who dwell in high places and their cities; you have brought them down, having made an end of mortal life, or you have made their impious ways of life to vanish. These things agree with what has been said: that you have made cities a heap, fortified cities, so that their foundations fall; but your meek men, whom you said would inherit the land, being humble before, you have raised up at the time of your righteous judgment, having made them prevail over the heads of those who were formerly arrogant, when also the way of the impious was straight, with nothing any longer standing in their way, the cause of which is the righteous judgment of God. But some have taken the present saying as referring to the coming of the Savior. For they say that the God who handed down the mystical symbols, concerning which he said that those who received them would know them, being God, even if he became flesh. And they say that the word fits those from Israel, who also awaited him, having learned from the Scriptures that he would come; as Symeon and Zacharias made clear, as has been said, having obtained the hope they held. And such people agree that on this mountain God will give rest, clearly meaning the Church; for Christ also cried out: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." For through him we have laid aside the burden of sin, and the fear of the punishments for it. And the good things hoped for have also been added. For it is written concerning the saints, that everlasting gladness is over their heads.

Then he shows the destruction of idolatry that comes with the transmission of the mystical teachings, Satan being placed under the feet of the faithful, because of the one who gave them to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy. And by one idolatrous country he has indicated all of them. The inventor of idolatry, he says, will release his hands, his power being loosened, by which he was humbling man. Instead of his activity he has taken the hand, by which he subjected to himself those created by God for good works. Having turned his discourse to Moab itself, he says that the height of the refuge of the wall is the very one who is humbled, the one who stands at the head of deceit and idolatry. We hoped in your name, and in your remembrance which my soul desired. From the night my spirit rises early toward you, O God, because your commandments are light upon the earth. Learn righteousness, you who dwell upon the earth. For the impious one has ceased, etc., until the coming day. And just as the soul is nourished by every word of God, so also it is illumined by every commandment. Let it be a zeal, then, to learn righteousness. For it is teachable, not natural, as seeing and hearing are, and Christ is the guide into this mystery, of whom it is said: They shall all be taught of God. And this the prophet now also enjoins upon those who have believed from among the nations, which is like: Hear these things, all you nations; give ear, all you who dwell in the inhabited world.

For now the prophet calls all who dwell throughout the whole earth to the righteousness of the gospel, not only those from Israel, as was the law of Moses; and to disobey is not without penalty. For the impious man has ceased, gone away to destruction—everyone who does not learn righteousness nor do the truth, that is, clearly the worship and adoration in spirit and truth. For the law had a shadow of the good things to come. But Christ alone is the truth, who has also become for us righteousness from the Father, and the things he commands us to observe are both righteousness and truth. And the impious man is taken away, so that he may not see the glory of the Lord. For he says: "Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins." And again: "The one who believes in the Son is not judged; but the one who does not believe has already been judged." For not being with Christ, how will he see his glory? And this is taken also to apply to the devil and to the senseless Jews. For when God threatens those who do not learn righteousness, the prophet came to a remembrance of Israel's ignorance that came from disobedience. For the Son of God, called the arm of the Father, through whom all things came to be, having been made flesh so that

You will justify those on the earth through faith; he was performing things beyond nature and reason, showing by these things that he is God. Therefore he said: "If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me." But those who saw and were taught, in addition to not believing, called him a Samaritan, and demon-possessed, and a drunkard, and the son of a carpenter. But as the nations were being saved, burning with evil zeal, they wished rather to become burnt up with fire than to see these things being saved. The prophet says they suffered this also at the birth of the Savior, because a child was born to us, a Son. Therefore the prophet says to the Father: Lord, your arm is high, and they did not know. As if despising him as some common man, though they ought to recognize him through his works. But when they have known his resurrection from the dead, they will be ashamed, when they also gave sufficient silver to the soldiers, so that it would not become known to all. And they will be ashamed also whenever they see him coming in the glory of the Father, when those honored because of the fathers are also shut out from the bridal chamber. For theirs are the promises, and the legislation, and the covenant; but now and then the nations will emulate them, being sent away with eternal fire. "For they," he says, "provoked me to jealousy with what is not God, and I will provoke them to jealousy with what is not a nation." And for these things the prophet asks God to grant them peace with him. For thus we will receive grace from you in full, having been honored so greatly because of the fathers. And the prophet might say this also about himself, confessing that, having received many benefits from you, I will confess this as the greatest: the peace of the nation toward you. According to what follows.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." When this has come to pass, we shall be God's possession and inheritance, knowing no other, obeying your law which says: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve." And he would call "peace" also the one of whom it has been said, "For he himself is our peace." But the phrase "for you have rendered all things to us," some say, signifies the punishment for their sins brought upon them according to their desert. For since those things were justly brought upon us, grant the one who alone is able to deliver from enmity toward you. By the word of lordship all things are yours. May it come to pass through Christ that we, having been redeemed from death in sins, may have your adoption as our own, since we know from what things we were rescued, and we shall no longer know another. But those who have remained in the deprivation of life-giving righteousness, and have been put to death because of the things that belong to God, remain thus, having no healing, obeying none of the spiritual teachers who are able to heal. Therefore, sparing them, you have caused them to perish, not overlooking that they might live on in wickedness for a longer time, so that they might not be worse in the offspring of sin, as in the flood he cut short the hundred and twenty years, and the sixty years spoken of through the present prophet, in agreement with what the fifty-seventh psalm says: "Men of blood and deceit shall not live out half their days." And again: "Do not bring me up in the midst of my days." But some say that "dead" can be understood as those whom Christ raised, such as Lazarus, whom no other physician would have raised. This Israel ought to have considered and confessed Christ to be God. But not having done this, it perished.

Except not utterly. For the remnant has been saved. And every male among them is the leading order. For the male leads the female. One might also call those vigorous in the understanding of the law, according to the prophetic text: "I will go to the strong and speak to them." And behold, with one accord they broke the yoke, they burst the bonds. Such is also this: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites"—upon whom he prays that evils be added. For they not only fell from kinship with God, through the things by which they provoked him, but they also perished in the calamities from their enemies. But those called males he also called glorious, as surpassing the rest, just as indeed he calls evils "things that harm," as in "He who creates evils," and "There is no evil in a city which the Lord has not done." 19. O Lord, in tribulation we remembered you; in small tribulation your discipline was upon us. And as a woman in labor draws near to give birth, and at her labor she cried out, so we became to your beloved, etc. As though the prophet were seeing the universal judgment as present, and standing at the judgment seat of God, sometimes he confesses, sometimes he supplicates, sometimes he gives thanks. And sometimes he recounts the rewards from God for the good, and sometimes he recounts the punishments against them, training us in all things which he himself was trained in by the Spirit. He says, then, that when the time was, walking the narrow and afflicted way for the contests of piety, we were strengthened by your remembrance, so as to say: afflicted, but not distressed; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

For affliction disciplined us, since we know that the Lord disciplines whom he loves. For in longing for you, every affliction was considered by us to be something small, as we reckoned that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed in us. Therefore, enduring every affliction, we resembled a woman with child, and one about to give birth at any moment. For having within us your beloved and only-begotten Word, and the fear of your piety sown in us long ago, we persevered bravely, fearing to miscarry your beloved one conceived in us, and your fear. Therefore we have not fallen short of the hope, having obtained as the end of both the salvation of our spirit. For having brought this forth, we made it manifest to those on earth, so that by emulating they might become like it. For not having received this fear, nor having given birth to the spirit of salvation, but remaining unfruitful and barren, they will fall away from the hope that comes from you. But those who are of your portion, even if they struggle against sin unto death, will never fall away from the life that is with you. For the dead will rise; or according to Aquila, your dead will live. Or according to Symmachus and Theodotion, your dead will live. But who would his dead be, other than his holy martyrs, being other than the dead mentioned above? But the dead will not see life, as those who have sinned unto death. But the Lord's dead are those who endured all things for his sake (concerning whom, not as having died but as having fallen asleep, the rest gave utterance) — according to the first reading, you who are in the tombs will awake.

But according to the second reading, they shall rejoice, or they shall praise, according to Aquila, or they shall shout for joy, according to Theodotion. For the death of the saints is called a falling asleep. And the cause of their resurrection is the dew from you—namely, your only-begotten Word—who, having distilled his own life-giving drops upon his own dead, will at once provide healing for the sins they committed in a human way, and at the same time the resurrection of the bodies sown upon the earth, just as the perceptible dew, coming down upon the earth by day, causes the seeds stored within it to be nourished and to grow. But the lot of the impious is not such as this. For their land shall fall. Since, then, they have fallen away from God, they shall be handed over to punishment in both body and soul. But some have interpreted the passage thus: The prophet, moved by great love of God against the audacities of the Jews, and having said, "Add evils to them, O Lord"—when he ought rather to have entreated God on their behalf, if indeed he sympathized with them—brought forward the usefulness of afflictive tribulations as a defense, since it is the nature of tribulations to produce remembrance of God in all, just as prospering circumstances are wont to produce forgetfulness. For in a small affliction we are disciplined, God tempering his anger gently for all. From love, then, he said, "Add evils to them." For to a fruitless purpose, necessity is profitably applied. Such is the saying: "With bit and bridle you shall hold in their jaws, of those who do not draw near to you." But we, he says, were not disposed toward your beloved Son as they were; rather, like a woman in labor, we cried out against those who dared such things, being in pain of soul. Such was Isaiah, crying out:

But you, draw near here, sons of the lawless, seed of adulterers and a harlot. In what did you take your delight, and for what did you open your mouth? Concerning these things David also said: Their eyes shall be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend down their back continually. But some say that the threat is a small affliction, one that does not reach to deeds. For God threatens in a loving-kindness, wishing to deter by fear of evils. For he does not hate his own handiwork, nor did he bring it forth in order to take vengeance. For if he were such a one, it was possible for him to accomplish the punishment in silence. But now, wishing to save, he threatens beforehand. Since, therefore, he says, our affairs have become such that we must pay the debt through great punishments, there is need of your beloved one, who by grace dissolves our calamities. For from the time that, according to the prophecy, the virgin is said to have given birth, he everywhere makes mention of the child in a fitting manner. But those who say that what a woman in travail bears was brought forth for the Father's beloved out of love for God, abide by the change, saying that he gave birth to spirits of salvation for those on the earth; which befits prophets, apostles, and evangelists. For being enriched from above with the seeds of the divine mystic teaching, they brought forth for those on the earth a spirit of salvation, namely the teaching in the Spirit. For it is dear to Scripture sometimes to call the writings of certain men spirits, according to the text: Test the spirits, whether they are of God. For the saving proclamation is said to be in the Holy Spirit, but the things opposed to it in the worldly spirit. Therefore Paul says:

But we did not receive the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is from God.” Therefore he called the Gospel proclamation a spirit of salvation, procuring eternal life. But some say that it shows the benefit derived from the threat. For having received your fear as good seed, and having carried it in the womb, we reaped salvation at the fitting time. For while we were still on the earth, you granted us a time of repentance, not destroying us beforehand by the justice according to our deserts, but allowing those who turn back to be saved. And though we were dead in our transgressions, now we shall be raised as from tombs, having obtained help from you. Rejoicing in this, we shall exult, having abstained from evil deeds. For you send forth your mercy upon us like dew, healing us while the impious perish. But he uses natural examples for understanding. And in Ezekiel also, when the Jews had despaired because of the long time, God shows the prophet the return from captivity and the building of the temple, and commands dry bones to be made alive through the prophet's proclamation, kindling the people's hopes through the revivification of those given up for lost. But some say, since he said that a spirit of salvation has been brought forth upon the earth, yet death is seen still prevailing over those on the earth, it is as if someone were asking where the benefit of the Gospel proclamations is. And where is the spirit of salvation? Bringing forward the defense, he says, the dead shall rise.

For, as the Apostle says, Christ tasted death for every man, and he has become the firstfruits of all who have fallen asleep, and the power of death will be abolished for all who rise, even if we still die now, since the time of the resurrection is not yet present. For then all will rise. And what is the manner? The dew that is from you is healing for them. He thus calls the life-giving energy of the Spirit, through which they will rise. And David says: "For when you turn away your face, they will be troubled, and they will return to their dust. You will send forth your Spirit, and they will be created, and you will renew the face of the earth." But those who have fallen in the earth will live again; but the earth of the impious will fall. What the land of the Jews had to suffer has come to pass. For they have dealt insolently against Christ, and against those who brought forth the spirit of salvation for those on earth. 20, 21. Go, my people; enter into your chamber, shut your door. Hide yourself for a little, a very little while, until the wrath of the Lord passes by, etc. After the teaching of the resurrection from the dead, the prophetic spirit, seeing the saints gathered together in the same place, and perceiving the wrath that is coming upon the impious from another quarter, addresses those

to withdraw for a little while to the saints, and not to become spectators of the destruction of the impious. And their treasuries—the many mansions in the Father—are justly distributed to all, into which, he says, having entered, do not busy yourself with the things that happen far off to the impious. And when the wrath has passed, having thrown open the doors of your treasuries, go forth with great authority, surveying the new age and the kingdom of God promised to you. But some say that, since those who proclaim the saving Spirit to all were about to fall into incurable evils and death upon the earth, God's face, anointing them, is introduced as saying: Enter into your treasuries—which he calls, they say, the tombs upon the earth, thus euphemistically naming them—commanding them equally with those who hide themselves to shut the doors until the wrath of the Lord passes by. For it had been said to Adam: "Earth you are, and to earth you shall depart." But the corruption from the curse will be loosed at the consummation, when death is abolished. He advises, then, to endure death until it passes, even if it should happen that those who initiate into the mysteries suffer this at the hands of those who hate the truth proclaimed by them. For God will bring upon them from the holy one the wrath that is fitting. And the phrase, God from the holy one, is like: "The Lord rained from the Lord upon Sodom fire and brimstone"—the Son from the Father; "For the Father," he says, "judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son." When, therefore, wrath is brought upon those who have laid murderous hands on the sanctified, the earth will not hide those who have been slain. That is, nothing will escape the judgment of God, since the holy martyrs lie in his memory.

For Moses also said, The blood of his sons. That is, he says that none of those on earth who were long ago slain in soul through sins unto death escaped notice, when wrath was brought upon them—plainly by the angels who minister in punishments—according to what was said against the Egyptians: "He sent upon them wrath and anger and affliction, a sending by evil angels." And every soul that is earthy and body-loving, confessing its bloods—that is, the offenses it committed against itself unto death—would certainly reveal them. Some have interpreted it thus: God adapts himself to the movements hidden in the soul. For since at one time he threatened and at another offered good hopes, by which they were disturbed, not knowing what they should do, reasonably producing conversion in the soul, he commands it to enter into itself and to inspect its own works, not by a movement of transition, but by the examination of thoughts as they proceed, so that by anticipating the judge who has been announced, they may consume whatever is evil as material for fire, and guard the good things as gold that is being tested. Similarly the Savior also enjoins us to shut the doors of the treasury—at once the perceptible doors, and at the same time teaching us to be rid of attachment to superfluous things—so that God, seeing the mind at leisure, may write his own counsels as on a clean tablet. Thus Jeremiah, understanding what was done to Isaiah and the rest of the prophets by the Jews, and expecting to suffer worse, and beyond his own strength, says God to these movements of his soul:

They will fight against you, and they will not be able against you. For I am with you to rescue you, says the Lord. And the wrath brought on by the Lord—he does not mean the change that comes from anger (for the divine is impassible), but the penalty owed for the offenses committed by us, which he brings not against those who sojourn but against those who dwell upon the earth, who belong only to the present age and have renounced all their hopes for the future, saying, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. The disposition of those who sojourn upon the earth is contrary to these. And when the penalty has been brought on, the evils of each one become manifest, which are concealed while God is still long-suffering. For it is clear to all, when wrath is brought on, that the penalty is the punisher of wicked deeds, even if previously they went unnoticed. This also will happen among you, he says, when you have sacrificed your children to the demons. And so this land of yours also will accuse you, having received their blood.

And these things are what they say. CHAPTER 27, 11. On that day God will bring the holy sword, both the great and the mighty, against the dragon, the fleeing serpent; against the dragon, the crooked serpent, and he will slay the dragon, etc. But those who supposed these things were said concerning the consummation, and the judgment that follows it, said that when these things are accomplished, the last enemy, death, is abolished.

Therefore at the end of all things, and after all things (for this is the meaning of "in that day"), God will bring the holy and strong sword—though the rest rendered it not "holy" but "hard"—which, having been brought against none of the others, was kept in reserve for his own wickedness, in proportion to him who tripped Adam in paradise and cast him down from the standing he had with God. Concerning whom it is said, "Now the serpent was wiser than all the beasts upon the earth." He who after the first-formed and their descendants took them captive by deceit, being fittingly called a serpent, as one crawling on the ground and lying in wait for the feet of men, so as to inject his venom into them and cast them down from the straight path that leads to God. "For he," it says, "will watch your head, and you will watch his heel." Moses, then, having spoken only of the deceit that came from him, passed over the punishment that awaits him, which the present prophet has taught. The rod of God, then, being something straight and corrective, according to the text "A rod of uprightness, the rod of your kingdom," is kept for the correction of those who have sinned curably. But the serpent, wholly crooked and bent through and through, crawling on the ground on belly and breast and watching the heels of all, after all the impious, will be handed over to the hard and great and strong sword, which the Seventy called it—

Through which is signified the living and active word of God, sharper than every two-edged sword, which, coming against the dragon as an adversary, slew him, as they say, destroying his subsistence from existing things and dissolving his existence into non-being. For he is not deemed worthy of the chastening wrath of God, which is corrective and converting, concerning which it says: "O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your wrath." For the one is rebuking, the other chastening. These things are suited to those who have sinned and are curable, but not to the dragon, who is owed only to be utterly destroyed. But when he beholds the sword brought against him, he will go to flight, being unable through folly to say, "Where shall I go from your Spirit, and from your face where shall I flee?" He will attempt, then, fleeing to his own haunts, to hide himself in the so-called sea, in which this dragon is said to be, "which you formed, to mock him." Concerning which Job says: "And you will bring the dragon with a hook. And after other things: This is the beginning of the creation of the Lord, made to be mocked by his angels." And again: "He is the king of all things in the waters." He teaches for this reason that life has been conceded to him, for the purpose of being mocked by the saints, who are trained by wrestling against him. But when the contest has been dissolved, and the rewards are justly rendered to each after the judgment against the impious, the sword will be brought upon the fleeing dragon-serpent, upon the crooked dragon-serpent. As Symmachus has it, against Leviathan the crooked serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea in that day.

As Aquila has it, against Leviathan the twisted or crooked serpent [variant: the twisted or coiled serpent], and he will slay with it the sea monster in that day. And Leviathan is everywhere named as a proper name, according to the Hebrew. For even in the passage, "He who is about to subdue the great sea monster," it is called Leviathan. And in the passage, "This dragon." And in the passage, "You will lead out the dragon with a hook." And it is many-named, as it is many-headed. It is called dragon, and serpent, and devil, sea monster, and Satan, and Leviathan, and lion, and basilisk. But at the first coming the Savior did not use it as a sword, nor did he slay it, but only stepped upon it and trampled down its powers. To which it is said: "Upon the asp and the basilisk you will step, and you will trample the lion and the dragon." And now too he tramples it, giving to the disciples to trample upon serpents and scorpions. But at the consummation he will utterly slay it. And here the account concerning the universal judgment of God is set forth. But others say that along with his own children who killed the saints he will also slay Satan, whom he calls fleeing because of cowardice, and crooked because of cunning. Yet he will be slain. For he will be inactive thereafter. Rather, he will pay the penalties for his impiety, undergoing the final punishment, and having become held fast in the gates of Hades, enduring the endless chastisement of the flame unto eternity.

But others say that here he calls the working of judgment a sword, which he calls holy, at once softening the terror of the threat and at the same time showing that those who are punished will not end in destruction, but that it will be a cause of holiness for them if they repent. For God does not wish to destroy when he disciplines, but to purify and sanctify those who turn back. He calls the Assyrian a dragon, or the Chaldean. But he makes the reference to the very begetter of evil, the devil, who, when the complete consummation is brought on and the parts of the world have passed away—which were his error and my desire, his power. But the enemies of God. And we, as having been disciplined by what those have suffered, let us make peace with him. For the prophet says these things to those of his own portion: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." But who are those who come, he has brought forward. The children of Jacob shall sprout, and so on; clearly hinting at the apostolic choir, about which he said earlier: "And unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed." For being Jews, they were children of Jacob. But they were not dried up as wood, grass, stubble, but as a good shoot and a fragrant flower, filling every land with their fragrance. To them, then, and to their disciples, the prophet says in exhortation, "Let us make peace with him." And these things were fulfilled when they proclaimed to the whole inhabited world: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Therefore they also had beautiful feet, through which they announced the good things of peace.

But some say that the prophet gives this advice to the peoples everywhere. Since, however, Israel has acted impiously against its Redeemer, and the firstborn has kicked against the goad, let us who are destined to come in due seasons from darkness to light, from error to knowledge, from sins to justification, make peace, having dissolved the ancient enmity. For with sin abolished and Satan overthrown, nothing stands in the way of making a treaty with the Lord and obeying his commandments. Paul says such things also to those from the Gentiles: "Therefore, having been justified by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And having exhorted those who are coming (concerning whom David also says, "A generation to come will be proclaimed to him"), he transferred the word to the apostles, rejoicing that they had won the inhabited world for Christ. And in agreement with "The inhabited world will be filled with his fruit" is "Their sound went out into all the earth." For those who believed are the fruits of apostolic labors, whom the blessed Paul called both grace and crown. But some say that the prophet advised these things to those in his own time, not wishing them to come to the test of the things previously threatened. For change your minds, he says, you who have taken up war against your own Creator, having recognized that his nature is invincible. For thus both the growth of the race will be obtained, and the whole inhabited world will be inhabited by you. But instead of "Let us who are coming make peace with him," some, following the other translators, have rendered, "He will make peace for me with those who are coming," and "I spoke: for the turning is toward the last." Then the prophet says:

Will he be struck just as he himself struck, and will he himself be struck in the same way? The meaning is: Did those who proclaimed peace to the nations render evil for evil, especially when they were suffering the most terrible things at their hands? Therefore he says to the unbelievers: Were you not the one who purposed in a harsh spirit to destroy them with a spirit of wrath? But since they bore all things nobly for Christ, he added: The lawlessness of Jacob shall be taken away—this being the cause of the forgiveness of sins—and he spoke of the blessing. For if she shall be saved through childbearing, if they remain in faith and love and holiness with self-control, according to the Apostle, it follows that Jacob too, having brought forth children, through their virtue should share in their blessing. And he shows that many shall be saved through the apostolic grace, and also those who are near to them according to the flesh. And he says that these things will especially come to pass when idolatry is abolished by the teaching of what has been said. But some say, since he said that the inhabited world will be filled with the fruit of Israel, as if someone were objecting in reply: But surely it has become harsh, and it has killed the saints—he says that the spring of gentleness did not come to them in accordance with what they did, but conquering by loving-kindness, he will not destroy once for all the race chosen for the sake of the fathers. Therefore God says through one of the prophets: What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? I will make you as Admah, and as Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me. My repentance is stirred up. I will not do according to the anger of my wrath.

I will not abandon Ephraim to be wiped out, because I am God in you, and not a holy man in you. For as God he has an ineffable gentleness. But some say that they did not meet with the like treatment. For they themselves set up idols to destroy his divinity, as far as lay in their power; but he does not utterly destroy them, but partly rebuking them, partly reminding them of the good things they had obtained, he brought about the recall from captivity. And when he says, Were you not the one who in your harsh spirit plotted to destroy them? he reminds them of the threat which they boldly made against the idols, promising to wipe them out, urging them to bring the promise to fulfillment. For in this way, he says, you will also be cleansed from your sins. But let us return to the first interpretation. For since the apostles had done these things and had filled the earth with the preaching, the flock that was inhabited of old will be released. For it did not receive the good shepherd who laid down his own life for the sheep. Therefore they made their own souls, as it were certain lands, a pasture, which the boar from the thicket ravaged, and the wild beast devoured, and in them those who destroy rested. Symmachus rendered these things thus: For a city fortified alone, beautiful, has been left and abandoned, as a desert. There a calf shall be fed, and there it shall lie down, and it shall consume its branches. When its harvest is dried up, they shall be crushed. With which the renderings of the other translators also agree.

This is the city that was also spoken of before, strong and a good vineyard, which he says will be deserted after the preaching of the apostles has been ratified everywhere, and after the destruction of idolatry. Some say that, having said that Israel would not be required to pay an equal penalty for the offenses it committed against the saints, he then adds what, after all, will be the measure of the movement against them. Striving and reproaching, he will send them away, evidently from their kinship with him. For the Savior sent Israel away striving, that is, rebuking. For he kept saying, reproaching them: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one that kills the prophets," and the verses that follow. You see how, rebuking, he sent them away. But the remnant has been saved, as Isaiah says: "If the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved." And the prophet also reproaches them with boldness, as those who have made it their practice to kill the saints. And even if you deny it, he says, the one who speaks is a witness: "For which of the prophets did your fathers not kill?" And again: "For it is not possible for a prophet to perish outside Jerusalem." And having refuted them in between, he again takes up the sequence from before, speaking as from God: Therefore the lawlessness of Jacob shall be taken away. Therefore—what? Because, whereas he himself did not slay them,

it will be destroyed in this way. For he will also remit its debts in due time. And this is his blessing. For if he had exacted justice according to worth, the word spoken to Abraham would not have come to pass in deed: "Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you," since those descended from him had sinned so greatly. But when, he says, will you be free from your offenses? When those called through faith have campaigned against the ancient error, wiping out every remnant of it, in agreement with the apostolic writings; and when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved. He calls Israel a inhabited flock, as once multiplied by good pastures. When it is left behind, the noetic beasts will divide it among themselves, since no one any longer drives off the evil powers. But not even the Romans, when they declared it, stopped before they had made it desolate of even the smallest things. Some say that "pasture" signifies the taxation imposed by enemies. For just as blessing was proclaimed to them when they ceased from idolatry, so desolation with slavery was proclaimed to those who remained. 91. Women coming from the spectacle, come. For it is not a people that has understanding; therefore the one who made them will not have pity, nor will the one who formed them have mercy. And it will be in that day, the Lord will gather from the channel of the river to Rhinocorura, etc. Having spoken of the complete desolation of those of the circumcision, since no men worthy of salvation are found among them, he summons women as witnesses of the extraordinary works, so that having come they might enlighten the people sitting in darkness, and their city that has been abandoned. Therefore according to Aquila it is said: Women coming enlighten it.

But according to Symmachus: "Women coming and pointing her out." And who these are, let us learn. He says: "There were there many women beholding from afar, who had followed him from Galilee, ministering to him," whose names he then adds. And Luke: "Certain women who had followed, who had come together with him from Galilee, beheld the tomb, and how his body was laid. And they, having learned the things concerning the resurrection of the Savior, returned from the tomb announcing all things to the apostles." Since, therefore, the people who had no understanding did not obey the preaching of the apostles, although the Gentiles received the word, for this reason the divine Spirit calls the women. For they slandered the apostles, as having stolen the Savior's body by night. Therefore he calls the unsuspected women as a refutation of the foolish. For they alone disobey, seeing churches everywhere throughout the inhabited world, not perceiving the divinely inspired virtue of the gospel preaching. And women are the first to be believed concerning the resurrection, since a woman also was the first to receive the deception of the serpent. Through the mission of the women, then, the charge of dreadful accusations is repelled. For it was said to them, "Rejoice," by the one who imposed the curse in the beginning, when he said to Eve, "In sorrows you shall bear children." And he says that he will not have mercy on the Jews as being without understanding. And in the time, he says, that is indicated, the Lord will shut up from the channel of the river—which the others interpreted as "he will strike," indicating that the Lord will strike those unbelievers, and the people without understanding.

Then he marks out a territory from the stream of the river as far as the brook of Egypt, according to Symmachus, with whom the rest also agree, the word delimiting the war that would come upon the Jews at the hands of the Romans, from the river—perhaps the Jordan—as far as the brook of Rhinocorura, which is the border of Egypt. But these, he says, the Lord himself will beat with a rod, bringing upon them the scourge that turns them back, namely the army of the enemies. Therefore also above he said: "Woe to the Assyrians, the rod of anger, and of wrath in their hands." But some say that the boundaries of Judea are the Euphrates and Rhinocorura. And "he will shut them in" is used in place of "he will besiege" and "he will afflict." For shutting in is a confinement of inescapable evils. But the mind of the Jews has also been shut in, since they do not admit the light of the truth.

For "hardening," according to the divine Apostle, "has come upon Israel in part, and to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their heart." But to the heralds of the word the Lord next commands, saying: But you, gather the sons of Israel one by one. For even if they do not wish to come to the faith all at once (for it is a people without understanding), yet it is at least desirable to gather a few, one by one, to whom also the great Peter cried out: "And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as also your rulers did. Repent therefore, and let each of you be baptized in the name of the Lord." CHAPTER 28. 22. Woe to the crown of insolence, the hired men of Ephraim. The flower that has fallen from glory upon the top of the fat mountain, those drunk without wine.

Behold, the strong and hard one, etc. ... to accept freedom, having let go of the types. "For God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The law is a bond that justifies no one, but somehow binds them fast for punishment. And David also, eagerly advising them to go to the grace that is through faith, says, "Let us break their bonds, and let us cast off from us their yoke," the burden from the law laid upon them, with which the teachers of the Jews subjected those under their hand. But prefer, he says, the brief grace of faith over these things, which is not according to the long cycles of the letter, which was given to all the earth, whereas the law was given to the Jews alone. For Moses said, "Hear, Israel." But Christ through the psalmist, "Hear these things, all you nations." And some say that the phrase, "and do not you rejoice," is fitting also for Israel, advising them not to persist in the pleasure of sins, nor to bind themselves with sins, but to be restrained at the hearing of judgment; and it is fitting also for the nations, that you should not rejoice over the punishment of the Israelites. For the things of vengeance will pass over to you also when you sin. 2245. Give ear and hear my voice. Attend, and hear my words: does the plowman plow all day long? Or prepare seed before working the ground? Is it not when he has made level the face of it, etc.

To the crown of insolence, to that which rejected the precious stone, he further exhorts them to lend their ears to the voice borne through the air, to obey what is said, and to understand what is said. Then he uses an example, teaching them that, being mighty, they will be tested mightily. For they were rulers and priests and teachers. For the season, he says, of the plough and of the seed is different. And the cleansing of the fruits after summer differs, since some need a wagon, and wheels cut down those who are stouter than the rest; while others are content with rods alone, those who are weaker. So too the word of God, cultivating souls, in due season renews them by teaching, which breaks up the thoughts that lie hidden. Whence also he says: "Break up for yourselves fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns." And when the face, so to speak, of the earth has been made level, all thorny wickedness having been overturned, then he casts down seeds suited to the subjects, both greater and smaller. For there are divisions of gifts. But when the harvest is present (and Christ taught that this signifies the consummation), then he will exact from those worthy of the seeds their fruits. But of those who do not provide them, those who received the small things will be exacted a moderate penalty, and those who received the great things the greatest penalty, just as those who were deemed worthy of great things, priests, and who became a crown of insolence and hirelings of Ephraim, so as to pervert the people and to reject the chosen stone.

But the phrase "and you will be instructed by the judgment of God," or according to Symmachus, "and his God will instruct him for judgment," presents him as a farmer, by natural teaching and by teaching given from God, judging the matters concerning the different cleansing of the fruits. And instead of "but the cumin shall be eaten with bread," Symmachus says: "But cumin with a staff, and bread shall be finely cut." He said "bread" instead of "grain." And instead of "for I will not be angry with you forever," and "neither shall the voice of my bitterness trample you," Theodotion and Symmachus published: "But he will not thresh him completely, nor will the wheel of his cart trouble him, nor will he make him fine with his hooves." That is: whenever the wheel of the cart goes around making the grain fine, along with the chaff around it and the oxen making it fine with their hooves, it will not destroy the grain itself; just as, then, punishment does not destroy the substance of souls either. Understanding this, the Seventy published: "For I will not be angry with you forever." That is, I do not punish for the destruction of substance, just as the wheel of a cart does not destroy the grain, but makes it clean. And he says these things, all of them, as if they were wonders to those who do not understand—not a man said them, but God declared them. But if you are able to find consolation from the counsel of God, you have exalted it in vain. And according to Symmachus: "And indeed this came from the Lord of hosts long ago; he glorified counsel, he magnified salvation." And some have expounded the whole passage in this way.

The person of Christ has been brought forward to persuade Israel, drawing them to the gospel proclamations, to which, he says, there is need of much attention, and one must not listen carelessly, but must guard against afterwards again clinging to the legal worship. For according to the divine Apostle, "You have been severed from Christ, you who are justified in the law; you have fallen from grace." Attention again makes clear that even in the shadows of the law one finds Christ prefigured. For I do not command things alien to the law, if indeed it is understood spiritually. "For if you believed Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote concerning me." For under the pretext of keeping the law, as though they were pious, they persecuted Jesus, as one teaching things alien to it. Therefore he says, the plowman will not plow the whole day, indicating that the mind of the idolaters resembles thorny ground, and needs a word, like a catechetical plow opening it up, so that it might be prepared for the seed from above and be able to bear fruit. This happened to the sons of Israel who came out of Egypt and received the law as a plow, so that it might cut open the ground of their soul, which had grown hard. It is necessary, then, that when the plow has ceased, they receive the gospel seed, and when the types have ceased, they receive the truth. But the farmer, they say, even if he levels the ground, does not immediately cast the firmer seeds. He begins with the smaller ones, first exercising the ground through these. For this is the skillful manner of farming in your territories.

Thus then the law, having leveled the ground, sowed for you the weak shadows of the truth, as it were cumin and nigella. These things in themselves are not at all edible, but by combination with other things they become useful—barley and wheat, that is, the bread made from these. In this way the law must also be brought together with spiritual teaching. For otherwise, since it is powerless for the cleansing of sins, the shadow has been set aside, and the life-giving judgment has been brought in, that is, Christ, who justifies by a faith that has been cut short, which the long cycles of the law could not do. And for the one who believes, just as for the Lord who, like a judge, commands what must be done, the things of spiritual gladness also follow. And again he takes hold of the example as useful, showing that a measured judgment pursued those who were negligent of the laws; and yet saying, "This people honors me with their lips," and what follows, and nevertheless he punished them in a humane way, as if nigella were cleansed with a rod. And even if the law were kept, he says, it is in itself useless, needing the combination with the bread. And making clear the humanity just mentioned, he added: For I will not be angry with you forever. Nor does the judgment from me pursue you in such a way as to become a trampling underfoot for those born of wrath. Therefore he also calls it a portent and worthy of wonder, that Israel, being in so many transgressions, is shown mercy. Hence he says, Take hold of good counsel, accusing them that their vain exhortation [is] some great thing

And thinking it a lofty thing, they are carried off somewhere outside what is fitting. And this would be the very thing according to which they said, "We have made a covenant with Hades," and the things that follow. For they heard: "When a sweeping tempest passes by, you shall be for it a trampling underfoot." CHAPTER 29, verse 8. Woe to the city, Ariel, which David besieged; gather your produce year upon year. For you shall eat with Moab. For I will crush Ariel, etc. That Jerusalem is the Ariel troubled by the things at hand, the children of the Jews themselves also say, stating specifically that the altar standing before the temple was named Ariel. Therefore Ezekiel, when he describes the temple in the last chapters, says thus: "And these are the measures of the altar, in a cubit of a cubit and a handbreadth." And proceeding: "And from Ariel above the horns a cubit; and Ariel is twelve cubits;" and they say it is interpreted as "lion of God." For being God's, the altar devoured all the things offered on it. But some say the city was called this because through God, like a lion, it tore apart those who opposed it. But the phrase "the city which David besieged" they say is not in the Hebrew, but according to Aquila, "a little city of the encampment of David." For being of the foreigners, and called Jebus, David took it, killing the blind and the lame who opposed him. Just as Christ also set before us its inhabitants as being blind and lame, not willing to walk uprightly, nor to receive the divine light, and especially the scribes and Pharisees. Whence David says: "Foreign sons grew old, and became lame from their paths." But Paul:

Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the knees that are paralyzed, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be turned aside but rather be healed." And the Savior has also indicated that he blinds: "For judgment," he says, "I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." For the nations plainly recovered their sight, but those who bore the illumination from the law were blinded. And it can also be said that "which David fought against" stands for "on account of which he fought." The prophet now speaks about this city, having said the preceding things about the rulers and the crown of insolence in due order. For because of their lawlessness, the city too was about to suffer. So he says to those who dwell in it: "While there is still time, gather the produce," since freedom from harm was granted to you for one year—meaning the time of the visitation, during which Christ proclaimed the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of recompense. And perhaps he appears to have conversed with them for a second year, or even a third. He advises them, therefore, that as long as they had time, they should store up spiritual food from it. "For you shall eat," he says, "sumbōam," indicating the nations through one idol-mad city. For in the Church the food is common to those from the two peoples. But they say that "for you shall eat with Moab" is not found in the Hebrew, nor among the other translators. And in another way, they say, it is shown to be superfluous from the connection of the translation. But if you are unwilling to gather your spiritual foods, I will grind Ariel to powder, which is Jerusalem. And in place of "And her strength and her wealth shall be mine," Symmachus said:

And it shall be sorrowful and in pain. But you will understand her strength, both spiritually and perceptibly. On the one hand, because they were crushed in war, and their wealth became plunder for the Romans. On the other hand, because they became stripped of the boasts that come from virtue, having lost along with them also the wealth of the wisdom that comes from the law. And as David took you when you belonged to the Philistines, so I will make you be captured by siege. For even now you have become a dwelling place of the Philistines, being full of evil rulers, and of the crown of insolence—those who also spoke against Christ with lifted voices, saying: "We know that God has spoken to Moses; but this man, we do not know where he is from." And he says that these words shall be brought low, that is, those who speak them. For having been afflicted by war, they will use the most abased voices, speaking both pitiable and thin things, just as in necromancy the demons, impersonating the souls that are

called up. For they will utter something shrill and piercing. Symmachus rendered the passage thus: And I will entrench a siege against you and raise up a siege against you, and you shall be brought low. From the earth you shall speak, and beneath the earth your speech shall be brought down, and your voice shall be as a ventriloquist from the earth, and from the earth your speech shall babble. But the Savior weeps over Jerusalem, which is about to suffer the things now spoken of, saying: "If you also had known the things for your peace, that days will come upon you, and your enemies will cast up a siege-works against you," and the rest. And, the prophet says, the terrible things will come upon you all at once, as in a moment of time. For it will happen by the visitation of God, and not from men.

He shows that it will be burned with fire, when thunder from God and an earthquake and a storm are brought upon it—that is, the assault of the enemies will be like a kind of thunder and earthquake, and a storm and a flame of fire devouring. Having foretold these things concerning Jerusalem, he adds concerning those who besieged it, saying that the enjoyment of the luxury of the Roman rulers in this life is dreamlike. For it was necessary that we also learn the end of these things. For after the manner of... "Be faint and be amazed, and be drunk, not with strong drink, nor with wine. Because the Lord has made you drink the spirit of compunction, and he will shut their eyes, and the eyes of their prophets, and of their rulers, those who see the hidden things," etc. For those from Jerusalem who laid them waste became like woodcutters to them. Which Zacharias clearly says: "Open, O Lebanon, your hands, and let the oak devour your cedars. Let the pine wail, because the cedar has fallen. Wail, O oaks of Bashan, because the dense forest has been brought down." At that time, then, he says—at the time when the change itself shall come to pass—those who were formerly deaf shall hear the words of the book previously mentioned, indicating the Gentiles, whom he called Lebanon, and the words sealed in Hermel to the people of the Jews, because those who were formerly savage have become tame, and those who were formerly tame have become, on the contrary, savage. And those who formerly were in mist and darkness shall see the light of the book. But those who formerly saw the mysteries of God shall become blind to these things.

And some will be enriched with gladness and spiritual salvation, though they were strangers to these things from their fathers. But others will fall into want of them. Having fallen from the hope within which those others have come to be—though formerly they were without hope, according to the saying: Having no hope and atheists in the world. But those who believed in the seal set upon the book, which is Christ, have come to be within these things, not having stumbled against the stone of stumbling. For the former ruler of theirs, the impious one, has failed—that is, the devil, whom he calls proud, along with the impious who are under him. For all the demons perished together with the ruler of impiety. But even when the nations have been saved, the Jews who were accused will not exist; and every proud one among them will fail, even the one who mocks the word of Christ. For Symmachus rendered it thus: And those who mock were consumed, and all who sin unto iniquity were cut off—men in word, who, according to the Seventy, having transgressed the law, are called lawless, and proud, having scoffed at Christ, saying: "Is this not the son of the carpenter? How then does he say, I have come down from heaven?" And again: "Abraham died, and the prophets died, and you say: If anyone hears my word, he will never see death." They also said, "He has a demon, and is mad. Why do you listen to him?" And these were the ones who ensnared in the courts those who instructed them—clearly the prophets—against whom they hunted for every kind of ambush. And elsewhere he says:

And they hated those who reproved in the gates, and they abhorred a holy word,” those who also thrust aside and cast away the righteous word—and Christ Himself, righteousness—in vain, having nothing to accuse. But some say that “in the gates” means not secretly, but with all boldness. And “a righteous” they call the law, in the unrighteous traditions of the elders, as has been said. 24. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the house of Jacob, whom He set apart from Abraham. Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall Israel now change his countenance; but when they see their children, my works, they shall sanctify my name for my sake, etc. The word is still addressed to the same people whom He calls the house of Jacob. Whom, since it was not worthy of God-loving Abraham, God alienated and set apart, according to the text: “If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham.” Instead of “Whom He set apart from Abraham,” Symmachus rendered “He who redeemed Abraham,” showing that He did not redeem these to whom He is addressing Himself. He says, then, that since the calling of the Gentiles is prophesied, and our rejection at the time when these things are prophesied, you are not ashamed, He says, as though not believing that it will happen. But the time of the outcome will make you so. For your children, He says, will be ashamed, seeing the God of Jacob hymned by foreigners, who have fear toward Him. And yet, though formerly they were wandering and accusing divine providence, they will learn to obey. And being able to say nothing sound concerning God, they will speak peace, having been released from the war against Him. But Symmachus says:

But when he sees his children, the works of my hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they shall strengthen the God of Israel, and those who have wandered in spirit shall learn understanding, and the murmurers shall learn discipline. And some have interpreted it thus: since God had foretold the destruction of those from Israel, it was likely that some would suspect this to be false, seeing the remnant saved. He foretells, therefore, that they too shall be saved through faith: "For when," he says, "the fullness of the Gentiles shall enter in, then all Israel shall be saved." And he says that the chosen race from Abraham and Jacob, selected out of all the nations, is also God's special portion. But they shall not recognize their own sin at the same time as they raged drunkenly against Christ. Nor shall they change their face to choose to think the better things. But when their sons behold my works, seeing the one called under-heavenly directed toward piety, then they shall consider the truly holy God to be such as he is, and they shall fear me, and they shall live. For it is written, that the fear of the Lord produces life. This shall be understanding for those who once wandered. These also murmured against Christ, sometimes saying: "You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?" and sometimes that he was loosing the Sabbath, offering the shadow into truth. And that he called God his own Father, making himself equal to God. But they stammered, having said nothing correct about Christ. But they shall speak peace to him, saying: "Lord, our God, possess us; besides you we know no other; we name your name." Chapter 30, 35.

Woe, rebellious children, thus says the Lord, You have made a plan not by me, and covenants not by my spirit, to add sins upon sins, who go down to Egypt, etc. Having completed the matters concerning the crown of insolence, now, as even the children of the Hebrews say, he speaks of the matters concerning the time of Jeremiah, when, the city having been captured, those left remaining in Judea flee to Egypt out of fear of the Babylonians, though Jeremiah forbade it—the very man whom they had also consulted, deeming it right to learn through him what seemed good to God. But when he said that if they remained in Judea God would be favorable to them, but if they took refuge in Egypt they would all be utterly destroyed, they kept saying, You speak lies, persuaded by Baruch who hates us, but you are not reporting the words of God. Therefore, having taken him along with Baruch, they all went down to Egypt. These things Isaiah foretells now, having lived nearly one hundred and fifty years before Jeremiah. And he laments those who disobeyed Jeremiah, and calls them rebellious children—those who were formerly ranked in the order of children, but who revolted from God toward impiety—and he speaks of the slaughter of children, and the disobedience of those who were told these things by him. But the statement, But they did not inquire of me, seems contrary to the historical account. For they did inquire through Jeremiah. But not as they ought to have

asking God. On this point they were certainly to be convinced. And he showed the equal honor of the Spirit. For just as he said, "not by me," so also, "not by my spirit." And "Pharaoh" is a common designation of the kings in Egypt, as "Caesar" is of the Romans. For the name "Lord" was also applied to him, as in "Pharaoh Nechao." And the marvels done through Moses, as David says, took place in the plain of Tanis. And above, when the prophet speaks about Egypt, he said, "The rulers of Tanis have failed," and rightly so. For he was speaking about the coming of the Savior; but now, speaking about the times of Jeremiah, he says they have not failed, but that there are certain ruling wicked angels, calling them the same as the rulers of Tanis mentioned above, indicating certain demons, who were working the things that happened in Tanis. For there was then the royal seat of Pharaoh. And besides being unable to help you, they will become shame and reproach. For the Egyptians were nailed up together with the Jews themselves. But some say that the words up to "those who go down to Egypt" were spoken about those who rose up against Christ. But devising evil things, how were they taking counsel with God, with whom only one who is pious and righteous takes counsel? For it is written, "The thoughts of the righteous are judgments." And those around the Savior said, "What do we do, because this man performs many signs? If we let him go on like this, the Romans will come and take away both our city and our country." Another said that it is expedient that one man should die, and not the whole nation perish. And in the parable they also said, "This is the heir.

Come, let us kill him." And besides the servants, the prophets, they also killed the heir. To this he aptly said, "Those who add sins upon sins." That their mind was from the beginning set toward apostasy from God, the ancient descent into Egypt, which took place against the will of God, also makes clear. And the phrase "For there are princes in Tanis, evil angels," since they thought the influence of the kings there would suffice for them. But certain ones came bringing unbearable tidings to the rulers of the land: for the Babylonian, having taken Tyre, marched against the Egyptians. Therefore those who had hoped in them were put to shame, and along with them they were slaughtered, not having learned from David: "It is better to hope in the Lord than to hope in man." THE VISION OF THE FOUR-FOOTED BEASTS IN THE DESERT. 17. In tribulation and distress, a lion and a lion's cub from there, and asps, and the offspring of flying asps, who carried their wealth on donkeys and camels to a nation that will not help them, but will be for shame and reproach, etc. Instead of "the vision," Symmachus says "the burden." And instead of "the four-footed beasts in the desert," all have rendered "the beasts of the south." He hints at the four-footed beasts, the animals deified among the Egyptians; and Egypt lies toward the southern region of Judea, being a desert of God, since all irrationality is honored in it, and the demons active among them, whom they proclaimed as gods, being narrow and pressed in their souls. For in tribulation and distress asps and lions and such evils had a place, of which the animals deified among them were images.

To these they also acquired cities named after them—the city of lions, the city of dogs, another of crocodiles, and other such places—to which the Jews brought their wealth. For they handed over the treasuries of their own soul to the error of the Egyptians, carrying it upon donkeys and camels, which signifies their irrationality and folly. For no perceptible Egyptian, nor any intelligible one, was able to help them. But some say that here he calls Jerusalem a desert, just as he also called it Ariel, reproaching those who dwell in it, because they lived like wild beasts grazing in a desert, not reckoning the honor given to them by God, through whom the city was increased and had a temple of God, a Holy of Holies, and was like a lamp kindled for the whole world; but they turned to irrational pleasures, imitating the habits of irrational beasts. Therefore he calls them four-footed, and he says that their vision is not brought to them as to human beings. But some say that in the allotment of the land the tribe of Judah received the parts of the country toward the east and the south, with the desert lying close beside them, through which those who wished to go to Egypt had to depart. At the time, then, of the assault of the Assyrians (for this he called affliction and distress), a lion and a lion's cub are there—calling the powerful and the rulers lions, and the cubs those immediately after them, or even sprung from them; and the rest, in proportion to their wickedness, he calls venomous creatures, and flying ones, because of the swiftness of the most monstrous among them. And the Forerunner of the Savior also called them serpents and offspring of vipers. And the Scripture says, they became horses mad after females.

For when they were oppressed by evils, though they ought to flee for refuge to God, the fountain of good things, they transferred their wealth to Egypt—Egypt, whose very name they ought to have turned away from, considering the slavery of old and the many plagues with which God visited it on their behalf. Therefore he says, "Sit down and write these things on a tablet." Since the events were to come to pass in their times, he causes them to be written, so that the outcome might be shown to correspond to what was foretold; and the things of the prophets will be known even until the consummation of the present age. Or, as they say: Since the word does not reach those being admonished as much as a written voice does, for this reason he commanded them to write. Perhaps, too, the tablet signifies the unfruitfulness of the things about which the Scripture speaks. Therefore set forth, as it were, a written testimony, house by house and man by man; read it to all, lest later they make excuse as though they had not learned. And the testimony is that they have trusted in false help, and in cisterns that cannot hold water, neither their own nor brought from outside, having abandoned me, who richly supply them with good things. And being disobedient, they will be put to shame by the prophets who speak at that time, when I have foretold these things concerning them. And with good reason he called them false, because when Moses declared the law to them, they said, "All that the Lord our God has spoken, we will do and will hear." And while the law declares, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. And you shall not make for yourself an idol"—they abandoned God and were dragged away to idols. For this reason he names them false sons. And David also sings:

The enemies of the Lord have lied to him." And as from Christ he says: "Foreign sons have lied to me." Which things they did in disobeying the law; for they contradicted Jeremiah, in addition to their other disobediences, charging him with falsehood because he did not permit them to go down into Egypt. Therefore he adds, "Saying to the prophets, Do not announce to us," and the rest. In place of which Symmachus gave: "And to those who see, do not see rightly for us. Speak to us smooth things. See for us wanderings. Depart from the way. Turn aside from me the path. Remove from before us the Holy One of Israel." In place of which, he says, as of a captured city, your sin will fall upon you as a wall, and this quickly. And of a city thus crushed, as a potsherd shattered into small pieces, so as to be useless for carrying coals, or a little water, which indicates that they will escape the judgment of these things by no one. Or perhaps it indicates that the help hoped for by you Egyptians will be shattered like a fallen wall. But God, being Christ, both sets forth the causes of the threats and exhorts how to escape them, as not willing the death of the dying one, as to turn him from the evil way and that he live, as he himself somewhere says in Ezekiel, and now therefore he said: "When turning you groan, then you shall be saved." But Symmachus says, "In repentance and rest you shall be saved, and In hope shall your strength be." For if, he says, you sit in the place of Jerusalem, having repented and ceased from the rush toward Egypt, then you shall be saved, having come into quietness and rest. But also your strength shall be in hope.

For if you have hoped in God, you will be able to be saved. And the Lord is called in these words the Holy One of Israel, not only as being holiness itself, but also as sanctifying Israel. For above, the nation was called holy and a priesthood. But when they have cast off their sanctification, he will sanctify them again, if they repent of the sins they have committed. Yet groaning alone is not sufficient for this, but also a turning of one's ways, when a person takes awareness of himself, where he was when he had known deceit and evils. Such is also the disease we are sick with—the knowledge of one who reviews it at leisure with his reasoning—and you too will know it when you flee for refuge to those who are not able to save themselves. But to those who trust in flight, and do not wish to hear, he says: You will flee, but you will not be able to escape the hand of the Babylonians. And you will flee to such an extent, until they are left like a web on a mountain, and like a standard on a hill. Or according to Symmachus, like a web upon a mountain, and like sails on a hill. For just as when a ship has foundered in a shipwreck, a mast lies on a mountain as a sign, useless, together with the sails; so, he says, their destruction will become a conspicuous sign. But some say that signals are set up for soldiers on high places by their commanders, indicating what is to be done. Or, as others say, so conspicuous will the punishment against you be, that it is not possible for a web on a mountain to escape notice, and a signal on a hill. Nevertheless he says that not all will be destroyed entirely. For God will have mercy on some, taking pity on them, being glorified through those on whom he has mercy. For as a just judge, he punishes those who are worthy of punishment; but those who are able to obtain mercy, he has mercy on. Therefore he says:

Blessed is the one who does not despair in the circumstances that overtake us. Some say these things were spoken because of the remnant of Israel that would be saved. Some say they signify the return through Cyrus. Others, the recompense in the universal judgment for what we do. And by threatening he frightens, and by consoling he heals, so that the one may not produce prohibition and the other diffusion. 18, 20. And again God will wait to have pity on you. And for this reason he will be exalted to have mercy on you, because the Lord your God is judge; and where will you leave your glory? Blessed are those who remain in him, because a holy people will dwell in Zion, and Jerusalem wept with weeping, etc. Consequently he prophesies the return of the people after the evils that occurred in the time of Jeremiah, when the city was filled with inhabitants and the country with farmers. And again the temple of God was rebuilt under Zerubbabel and Jesus, while Haggai and Zechariah were prophesying. After them, Ezra, then Nehemiah, contributed to the completion of the city, after which it remained for a very long time impregnable; indicating these things the prophet says, And again God waits to have pity on us. And that, being our judge, he handed over those worthy of captivity. But those whom it was right to have mercy on, he saved. Therefore it is blessed to remain in him. Or, according to Symmachus, to wait for him. For having had pity on Jerusalem, he will rebuild it again. But the word holy, in a holy people, is not added among the Hebrews, nor according to the versions of the others; and reasonably so. For the people who inhabited the city after the return were not altogether holy.

But also in the phrase "he wept with weeping," the Hebrew has "he did not weep." Therefore Symmachus says, "You shall not weep." And Theodotion, "It shall not be wept." For it was a time of gladness, not of weeping, for those who had received the city by God's mercy. According to the text: "And coming they shall come with exultation, carrying their sheaves." And in place of "The voice of your cry, when he saw, he heard you," Symmachus says: "Toward the voice of your cry, as it may be heard, he hears you." Like the text: "According to your faith, let it be done to you." For the present, he says, "He will give you bread of affliction," speaking at the beginning of the return, while the surrounding peoples were afflicting them. For after these things he promises them every prosperity, and first freedom from error, by their having knowledge that it was error, even if some were perverting them, inviting them to strange ways. For by the way, he says, you shall journey, the middle and royal way, avoiding those on either side, when you shall also defile those filthy idols, regarding them as something of the utterly unclean. Then the things of prosperity are extended to you, even to the irrational animals, and especially the agricultural ones. But bodily things up to

Having granted them the promises, he adds the more divine things for those worthy of them, and having added their time, saying: In that day, when many shall perish, and when towers shall fall. Or according to Symmachus, in a day of great slaughter, when the great shall fall, evidently at the time of judgment. For many shall perish at that time, in which also the things promised to the worthy shall be given, which are water passing over every high mountain and hill. But according to Symmachus, and upon every exalted hill, divisions of channels of waters. And just as we have often called the heavenly mountain Zion, so the many mansions with the Father are heavenly mountains given according to worth, upon which the passing water would be that which gushes from the fountain, concerning which it says: "For with you is the fountain of life," from which the river of God pours forth, concerning which it is written: "The river of God is filled with waters," and: "The streams of the river gladden the city of God;" which is the only-begotten Word of God. Partaking of him, we shall have immortality and life, which he is in essence. When also, it says, creation itself, having been freed from the slavery of corruption, shall receive the recompense of its labors, just as the sun and moon receive greater light and glory, inasmuch as they have labored in well serving the nod of God. But these things shall be when the worthy shall be delivered to slaughter, and those who are exalted and boastful in the present life shall fall, receiving the destruction of their height. Therefore Aquila says:

In the day when many are slain, when the exalted fall, and when the Lord heals the crushing of his people. And he did not remember Israel, nor Jacob. For the gifts of the promise lie open to every worthy person. Starting from this, the divine Apostle said: "For the earnest expectation of creation awaits the revelation of the sons of God, because creation itself also will be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." He calls "freedom of children" what the prophet called the healing of the people. For they had great crushing in the present life, so that it is said: "A broken and humbled heart God will not despise." And: "A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit." Whence Paul says: "For we who are in the tent groan, being burdened." And they were burdened also on account of those who sin, according to the saying: "I will mourn for many of those who sinned beforehand and did not repent. But God will restore their crushed parts." CHAPTER 31, 19. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help. Those who trust in horses and in chariots. For there are many, and a very great multitude of horses, and they did not hear, trusting in the Holy One of Israel, and they did not seek God. And he, being wise, brought evils upon them, and his word shall surely not be set aside, etc. — freedom. This many have done, falling away from piety to an idolatrous and Egyptian life. To these he appends the return from captivity. For as a lion, he says, stirred up for the hunt of food, leaps upon the flocks, paying no heed to the cries of shepherds nor to the multitude of pursuers;

Thus the Lord, standing against the enemies, will deliver Israel. And having led them to Jerusalem, he will shelter them thus, as a bird shelters its nestlings in the nest. Hence Symmachus, instead of "and he shall cry out against it until the mountains are filled with his voice, and they were defeated," gave it thus: "By a multitude of shepherds, at their voice he shall not be defeated, nor by their number shall he be subdued." But according to the edition of the Seventy, it must be understood thus: They say that the lion, first striking the herds with a roar and those standing over them, makes its attack in this way; so too the Lord, first striking terror by threats, brings judgment upon those who do not repent. Just as also against the Assyrians who boasted greatly, while he was protecting Israel, and against those from the surrounding regions who attacked it after the return. For to each of the two he applied one of the parables. And the one of the lion to those from Israel. Some have received it that not even the irrational beasts had shown fear toward the governing God. Hence, he says, he will deal with you as lions do. But when they repent, like a bird over its nestlings he will fight in their defense. And according to the first interpretation, such was the help of the Savior that came upon us. For the spiritual Assyrian took all men captive. But Christ, like a lion, leaping upon him, brought him to nothing by the word of his mouth, having contended mightily for Zion, the Church. For he threatened, "I will take the whole inhabited world in my hand as a nest." But he gathered those who believe in him, in the manner a bird gathers its nestlings under its wings.

Having made these promises concerning Jerusalem, he addresses those who went down to Egypt: Return, you who devise a deep and lawless counsel, urging them to come back again to Jerusalem because of the promises concerning its resettlement. Symmachus rendered this as follows: Repent, because you have deepened your transgression, O sons of Israel. He shows that they were deeply immersed in evils, but were victorious in the things pertaining to God. And after the deliverance from the Assyrians, he says, you shall have deliverance from all idolatry. And the history is in agreement. For having rebuilt the temple, they became clean from all idolatry. But some say this happened at the time when Christ overshadowed the Church of Jerusalem. For the word ran back again to it, when idolatry had perished, and the spiritual Assyrian went down with it, not struck by the sword of a man, but sent by the divine word into the abyss with his own powers, which he indicated through the strong young men enclosed in Christ the unbreakable rock, as within a palisade. But others say: Since the Jews, fearing the Assyrian, withdrew to Egypt, he promises them his destruction, indicating through these things that idolatry has fallen by divine power, even if men who served it brought down the rule of the Assyrians. Therefore he also said, prophesying concerning Babylon: Behold, I stir up the Medes against you. And instead of "They shall be enclosed in the rock as within a palisade," Symmachus said: His terrible rock shall pass away, and his rulers shall be defeated, says the Lord, namely of the Assyrian.