Commentarii in Isaiam

For he called the firmness of his rule a rock. And urging the fugitives in Egypt to return to Jerusalem, he says, Blessed is he who has seed in Zion, and kindred in Jerusalem, because she is about to be rebuilt to her ancient glory, or rather to a better one. Therefore he says elsewhere: "And the glory of this house, the last, shall be greater than the first." But "blessed" has been marked with an obelus, as not being in the text. As for the rest, Symmachus says, He has fire in Zion and a furnace in Jerusalem. But Aquila and Theodotion say, Light to him in Zion, and a furnace to him in Jerusalem, speaking concerning God who destroyed the Babylonian. By which fire he burns up those who have despised his city, and especially the Church, concerning which it is said: "Glorious things have been spoken of you, O city of God." And: "The rushings of the river make glad the city of God." For in her there is fire and a furnace to burn up the wood, hay, and stubble of each soul. And according to Aquila, there is light there for those worthy to be enlightened, and fire for those needing purification. CHAPTER 32, 38. For behold, a righteous king shall reign, and rulers shall rule with judgment, and a man shall be hiding his words. And he shall be hidden as from water being carried. And he shall appear in Zion, as a glorious river being carried in a thirsty land, etc. The edition of the Seventy joins these things to what has been said. For having first said, "Blessed is he who has seed in Zion, and kindred in Jerusalem," it fittingly added, For behold, a righteous king shall reign.

For since these things are about to happen in Jerusalem, he rightly calls blessed those who are about to enjoy them in her. But the rest have assigned the present matters and the beginning to another. Therefore Symmachus says: Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, in agreement with the others. Now the children of the Hebrews will suppose that the statement refers to Zerubbabel, who, descended from Judah and David, ruled after the return of the people. And they will say that the rulers with judgment are those around Jesus the priest. But what follows does not agree: He will appear in Zion as a river borne along, glorious in a thirsty land. Therefore, as if the discourse had completed the matters concerning the times of Jeremiah, from another beginning it prophesies the matters concerning the manifestation of Christ. For he alone appeared as a righteous king among men; and the apostles of the Church guided according to his judgment. And it was fitting that to the settlement of the nation after the return the greatest goods brought to them through Christ should be joined, and to those after a short time the things that would be after a very long time. And he calls blessed those who dwelt in the Church under Christ, to whom the Savior says: "For many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it. But blessed are your eyes, for they see." And these are those who through the Spirit were made his own, and bore Christ as fruit in Zion, the intelligible one. And we have had as kindred according to the Spirit the holy mystagogues. And in both respects Christ is righteous, both as righteousness itself, and as having become blameless according to the flesh. And he will reign, he says, in righteousness.

Calling it a new kingdom, not for the glory of men, nor the honor that comes from them, but for righteousness. Thus also his rulers bear the title, not having received their rule as a dignity from men, but for judgment. Which the rest also published: And rulers shall rule for judgment. But instead of, And the man shall be as one hiding his words, Symmachus says, And there shall be, he says, a man as a hiding from wind and tempest. Making clear that the king, being a man by nature, will be God, hiding his divinity. And Aquila also says, As one hiding the spirit. And a hiding from the blast. But according to the Seventy, since he spoke all things in parables, as he also says in David: I will open my mouth in parables. Which, explaining privately to his disciples, he said: To you it has been given to know. And he shall be hidden, he says, as from water being carried away. For the multitude being carried away and perishing is the multitude of the Jewish people. And those who rose up against him from among them, he calls temptations that profit nothing, when he did not wish to suffer. Therefore, when they were throwing stones, he went through the midst of them, and so passed by. That is, caring for nothing. Therefore David says: The enemy shall not profit in him, and the son of lawlessness shall not add to harm him. Whence, hiding his words from the Jews, he revealed them to the disciples. Which he makes clear, saying, And he shall appear in Zion as a river being carried along, glorious in a thirsty land. Zion, the Church from the nations, he called a thirsty land, which was formerly desert and thirsty, and to it he became not simply a river, but a glorious one. Since many rivers, according to the Scripture, have been reckoned.

Like the holy ones who water those being taught, concerning whom it is said in the Psalms: "The rivers lifted up, O Lord, the rivers lifted up their voices." For the voices of the apostles are heard far and wide. But no one is so glorious as the torrent of delight, from which the rest also receive the divine streams. And they will no longer be trusting in men. In place of which, Symmachus says: Their eyes will not be dimmed—indicating that those in the Church who understand rightly are clear-sighted regarding the river that became manifest to them, concerning which it is said: "The river of God was filled with waters." And: "The streams of the river gladden the city of God." And he said: "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him," and the things that follow. According to the Seventy, however, it must be understood that both the Gentiles and the Jews previously trusted in men—the former in those who taught about gods and demons, the latter in those who handed down the commandments of men. For they thought that nothing concerning the Divine escaped them, since they were wise. But having departed from these things, they will give heed with their ears to listen to the words of the Savior. And the formerly weak

the heart will be made understanding. For Symmachus rendered it: And the heart of those who hear will attend to hear. And instead of speaking peace, to speak clearly. And he calls "lisping tongues" those who understand or speak nothing concerning God, who later learned to speak peace, that is, Christ. "For he himself is our peace," from whom they speak clearly—both the Gentiles, having come to know God, and the Jews, having ceased from the shadow of the law and from superfluous commandments. And they shall no longer say to the fool, "Rule"—which they did before, entrusting themselves to foolish teachers, to the wise men of this age, whose wisdom God has made foolish. Such were also the teachers of the Jews, not recognizing the one shadowed forth through Moses in the law, and being foolish concerning the prophetic words; and their servants restrained those who contradicted them, not permitting them to inquire more subtly concerning the truth, contriving that those men's utterances be beyond contradiction; as it was also the custom of the disciples of Pythagoras to say, "He himself said it." And they did not allow souls that loved the truth to learn. For if anyone moderate and humble brought forth a right account concerning the truth, they scattered and destroyed it. And he would call "humble" also the holy mystagogues, against whose words they campaigned, eager to destroy their words in judgment. Concerning whom he added: but the pious have devised understanding things; whose counsel also remains, when every counsel of the impious has been abolished. And according to Symmachus: after the account concerning the foolish rulers, it is added: But a ruler shall devise rulerly things, and a leader shall arise.

For the righteous king has granted us the apostles as leaders. He also says in the Psalms: "But you, O man, my equal-souled leader, and known to me." Yet in all these, nowhere is Israel, or Jacob, or Judah named, since the matter concerns Christ the Word, and the leaders in the Church, in which the seed of the formerly blessed men, having blossomed, bore fruit, and filled the whole inhabited world with its own blessing. Therefore he called those who have seed in Zion blessed, clearly the prophets who say: "Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us a seed, we would have become as Sodom, and been made like Gomorrah," who obtained the seed and the kindred of the Church. But some say that he blesses the city and its inhabitants, whom God, caring for them, pursued the Assyrian with an invisible blow. Its righteous king, according to history, he calls Hezekiah. But properly it indicates the Savior. For truly blessed is the lot of those who dwell in the upper Zion and are inscribed under Christ as king, to whom we refer the highest righteousness, not finding among men the unfallen; just as, then, in the case of men we define the partial aspect of evil, but all evil itself we assign to the devil. And a man shall be as one hiding his words, and so on. For he who meditates on the words of God within himself in righteousness is covered from the wrath that is brought on. Therefore David says: "Your law is in the midst of my belly." And of such a one, the Savior says, "Rivers shall flow from his belly of living water." And they shall no longer trust in men, he says.

For when the Assyrian came against them for war, it was fitting that those who had hoped in God should disregard the help of the Egyptians; for then it would have been possible to see those who did not articulate the doctrine of piety confessing with a clear tongue the arbiter of peace, and not setting the Egyptian over themselves to rule. Him the word calls "fool," since he stood as impious. And they would not have endured the confusion of such rulers. For it was fitting that the one who played the fool in matters pertaining to God should commit lawlessness and go astray. Those who hoped in him were emptying their hopes of one another through deception, thinking to escape the danger through him, while the pious held the opposite counsel to these, profitable to the soul, existing throughout their whole life. 29. Rich women, arise and hear my voice. Daughters, hear my words in hope. Make remembrance of the days of a year in pain with hope. The vintage has been consumed. The sowing has ceased, and it shall come no more, etc. Having spoken concerning the theophany, and the calling of the apostles and of the nations, he now addresses the people from the circumcision, exhorting them to lament, as having fallen from grace through unbelief. Those whom, because of the slackness of their soul, he calls women. Or, they say, their synagogues are thus indicated. But the rest of the interpreters say "women thriving" instead of "rich." For formerly they were rich, thriving according to God. But perhaps they also luxuriated in bodily wealth. Some say that it is the custom of Scripture to call cities or villages women. And since there is one metropolis, it calls the others her daughters. Thus the divine David:

Zion heard,” he says, “and was glad; and the daughters of Judea rejoiced.” But the Savior’s face now counsels the cities of Judea, saying, “Hear my voice,” calling them back to the gospel proclamation. And, as still populous and wealthy, he calls them, [warning that they] will become desolate if they do not obey him who speaks. But the rest, they say, “trusted in hope.” And he calls “women” the assemblies among the Jews in ancient times, which he urges to rise up and hear. And “daughters,” the synagogues of the same that were established after these things, which he wishes to give ear. And he moves both to listen with attentive hearing to the words in bright hope. And he exhorts them to remember the year in which the Savior made the saving proclamation among men, saying in the prophet: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for which cause he has anointed me.” And proceeding, he says, “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” He wishes those previously mentioned, who are pricked with grief over what they have dared, to remember this, and also to have the hope promised to those who repent of what they have done. When, therefore, the house of Israel was the vineyard of the Lord, there was a great vintage among them, since the whole nation was bearing fruit for the temple of God. But now, he says, “It has been consumed,” not so as to be taken up again, which happened after the return from the Assyrians. For now, he says, it is no longer [so], but has been cut off once for all. And some say he shows that for disobedient Israel the matter will not be without penalty. For their cities were about to be, as it were, harvested, handed over to the hands of the Romans, and to become a dwelling place for wild beasts from the desert.

He wishes, then, to touch the grief according to God of those who are departing from their former unbelief. For grief according to God works repentance unto salvation not to be regretted. Its fruit is to strip off the cloak of wealth, and, girding their loins with a manly bearing, to beat the breast for the desolation of their former vineyard. And in soul the Jews have fallen away from the spiritual fruitfulness, producing thorns instead of grapes, according to the voice of the prophet. And another says, "They sowed things blown upon by the wind. And their destruction shall await them. A thing having no strength to make flour." Therefore, he says, you who formerly trusted in God, and have changed your mind, lament; for he has let loose his vineyard. And he commanded the clouds not to rain upon it. And it has become the joy of wild asses, and the pasture of evil shepherds, that is, of unclean spirits. And David also speaks of Israel as of a vineyard: "A boar from the thicket ravaged it, and a solitary wild beast devoured it." For just as a plot of land laid waste is overlooked [the owner is missing, or something of the sort], so God does not deem a fruitless soul worthy of his own providence. But instead of "from the offspring of a vineyard," Aquila says, "for a vineyard that makes increase"; and Symmachus, "concerning a vineyard full of fruit," to which he says elsewhere: "I planted you a fruitful vineyard, wholly true; how have you turned into bitterness, the alien vineyard?" And instead of "the land of my people," Symmachus says, "upon the land of my people." And these things are in agreement with what went before, in which he said: "I waited that it should produce a grape cluster, but it produced thorns." And interpreting these things he added:

I waited for it to make judgment, but it made lawlessness, and not righteousness, but a cry." Therefore it has become a dwelling place of wild donkeys, and pastures of shepherds, or of herds according to Aquila. These things have come to pass. For idolaters from various nations have become its inhabitants. Therefore, he says, you must persist in lamentation to such an extent, until a spirit from on high comes upon you. Or according to Symmachus, a refreshing from on high. For there are different kinds of spirits. Nevertheless, nothing can restore you and give you rest from lamentation, except that which is sent down from on high, which the Savior promised to send to his disciples. This he also promises now, if they weep in repentance. "For blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted; and those who weep, for they shall laugh." But some say that he clearly sets forth the time of the desolation of the unbelieving people, when those who have believed will receive the divine Spirit, when it descended from on high and was likened to tongues of fire being divided. For then, he says, Chermel shall be desolate. And previously he said: that Lebanon shall be moved, as the mountain Chermel. And Chermel shall be reckoned as a thicket. He was indicating that Chermel—which is also called Carmel, a mountain in Samaria, and is interpreted as "knowledge of circumcision"—refers to those of the circumcision. And Lebanon referred to the nations, which belonged to Phoenicia. For they were going to become unfruitful and fuel for fire, certain mountainous and unplowed places in their soul (for such are thickets);

But that the nations should turn to their own worship of God, Lebanon and the desert giving oracles, becoming instead of the people that was formerly devout a portion of the Lord and a measured allotment of his inheritance, though previously they were a thicket and a desert—or rather, as having been deemed worthy of great goods, it promises the things that follow thereafter, calling her Carmel, into which it said that Lebanon had been transferred. But some understand Carmel as the people from the circumcision, and they ask how it will be reckoned as a thicket, again in it; and they say that this is spoken because of the remnant that was saved and gathers together with it. In the desert, then, he says that righteousness will rest. For above, immediately at the transfer concerning Carmel and Lebanon, declaring the calling of the nations, he said that the deaf would hear the words of the book, and that the eyes of the blind would see; so also now he says that there will be works of righteousness, the sum of which is the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, who is our peace, both righteousness and judgment. For we have been justified in him, sin having been condemned by righteous and upright judgment. Who also, according to Paul, proclaimed good news of peace to those far off, and peace to those near—to the Jew, clearly, first, and to the Greek. Therefore, having dissolved the enmity toward God, we are cities of rest, and having the ecclesiastical wealth of virtues for eternal luxury, concerning which the Apostle says: "I thank my God through Jesus Christ, that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge." And elsewhere the prophet says: "The thirsty desert rejoiced.

Let the desert rejoice and blossom like a lily. He calls the desert the Church from the nations, because it was unfruitful and stripped bare of every plant that stood above it. But when Christ has dwelt in it, Isaiah says again: And I will make water in the desert, and rivers in the dry land; I will set in the dry land the cedar and the box tree, and the myrtle, and the cypress, and the white poplar, signifying the various virtues of those who have believed, raised on high. And now he says that his people will dwell in a city of peace. For instead of that great and exulting city, according to Symmachus, he established a city, the catholic Church from the ends of the earth to the ends of the earth. And again he says, people indefinitely, and not Jacob or Israel, will dwell in the new city. Then, since in the passages above he said that the wrath of God would come upon the impious at the time of judgment, and with fury and wrath and a devouring flame of fire, he will thunder violently and like water and hail borne down together with violence; reasonably now he has added concerning those being blessed: But if the hail comes down, it will not come upon you. And he foretells also the things in the thickets

...unfruitful souls, that they will be in a land that is cultivated, having fled the rough and untamed, and having broken up new ground, according to the prophet's voice. But some say the hail is the divine wrath, on account of which they were captured by the Romans, while those who believed in him were sheltered. Then next he blesses those who will cultivate this desert, having stayed with the metaphor of cultivation. He indicates the apostles who preached to Jews and Greeks. For the ox indicates Israel, being clean and brought to sacrifice. And the donkey indicates the nations. For this reason the law wishes the firstborn of donkeys to be exchanged for sheep. Thus, then, he calls both, on account of the fathers. And he called the divine Scripture water, trodden down by Jews and Gentiles. Those whom I call, he says, blessed, their persecutors will call wretched, although they suffer with him, so that they may also reign with him. But instead of you, he says, they themselves will become such. For they do not reject you, but the one who sent you. Therefore they will be handed over to the one who takes those who have become outcasts of God, and who destroys them like a moth a garment. But some say that water signifies the living word of God, likened to the most life-giving of the elements. For he himself is the one who broke down the middle wall of the fence, and created the two into one new man, making peace. But the passage, Woe to those who make you wretched, and what follows upon it, Symmachus rendered thus: Woe to the one who makes wretched, but is not himself made wretched. And the one who rejects, but is not himself rejected. When you have finished making wretched, you will be made wretched; and when you have grown weary rejecting, they will reject you.

...making clear that it is blessed to be in the ranks of those who suffer, and not of those who persecute. For these are wretched, and he has stated the reason. But some have interpreted the passage thus: because of a scarcity of men among those who were obedient, he calls the women, and especially the wealthy women, who adorned the body, as he said above, while they kept the soul unadorned. These he awakens as from sleep, and he calls them wealthy, not mocking the wealth (for it had been given by God), but the manner of its use. Therefore lend your ears in hope that brings salvation, taking to heart the captivity that will come after a year. And famine will succeed those who have insolently abused their satiety, since God heals in this way. Therefore forestall the judgment with lamentation, so that, looking up to heaven, you may reap a saving spirit from there. And through Chermel he indicated the coming desolation of the land. And he says that judgment will rest in the wilderness, calling the city thus; and righteousness in Carmel, that is, in the country, evidently because the unjust inhabitants have fallen away, just as the foreigners did before on account of their impiety. For all things are his handiwork. But he visits those who do wrong, healing them by judgment through his goodness. And again he says that those who repent will dwell in prosperity. But everyone who boasts of righteousness will be of good courage, even if all things are thrown into confusion. And those in the thickets will dwell as comfortably as those in the plain; and everywhere he mingles good hopes with threats, frightening by the former and consoling by the latter, and by both guarding against despair and against negligence. Then, to those who look toward the earth, he takes his comparison from the earth.

For he says, do not call those blessed who dwell in a well-watered land, workable by oxen and passable by donkeys for travel. But you call them blessed falsely, he says. For though you dwelt in such a land, you did not obtain the blessing, having become ungrateful toward the giver. For the Assyrian did not afflict you as much as you made yourselves wretched. For nothing terrible came upon those who were well-disposed toward God. For it would have been shaken off from you like a moth from a garment. CHAPTER 33, 12. Woe to those who make you wretched. But no one makes you wretched, etc. Having called the apostles blessed, and having pronounced woe upon those who rejected them, he makes, as it were, a prayer from the apostles themselves, that those who are disobedient and war against us have perished, but you are our salvation. For having learned that no one would make them wretched, they say these things out of great joy, that at the sound of your fear peoples were dismayed, and nations were scattered. But according to Aquila and Theodotion, at the sound of the crowd, that is, of the multitude, peoples withdrew. And it signifies the capture by many enemies, and the fall of the city. Instead of "at the sound of your fear," Symmachus has said "from being lifted up they were scattered." For they departed from their own land. And some have called the ecstasy the amazement that comes from dread. But salvation comes to the saints in the time of tribulation, according to the saying: "When I am weak, then I am strong." And: "My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is perfected in weakness." And both Moses and the prophets proclaim the things that will befall the disobedient. And the Savior also says: "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will say to the mountains: Cover us.

And to the hills: "Fall upon us." Then, as if addressing those scattered among the nations, the person of God is introduced, as some say: "But now your spoils will be gathered"—that is, you will not be long in being captured; and indicating the ease with which the people of the Jews would be taken, as if in play, he says they will seize you in the manner of locusts, and so also their souls have become a plaything for Satan; at which the righteous again cry out. That is, the prophet, passing over to the order of the Church, glorifies God on their account—the one who dwells in the heights, either in the heavens or in those who have exalted their mind, who are also called Zion, being the Church of God. And it is clear, from being said to be full of judgment and righteousness, in agreement with what he said, "And judgment and righteousness shall rest in the wilderness." For what he called a wilderness, he now names Zion. For she has received Christ, the righteousness, whom the earthly Jerusalem did not receive. And the judgment signifies that nothing is done by the saints without judgment. Therefore he says, they will be handed over in the law. For they were handed over to the new law of the Gospel; and their salvation is in treasures laid up in heaven. Instead of "they will be handed over in the law," Symmachus says: "The faith of your time is the wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is itself your treasure." The Seventy say: "Wisdom and knowledge and piety have come." These things are brought up to God as a kind of rational sacrifice from men, which are also treasures of righteousness. But as for "they will be handed over in the law," some say thus: they marvel at those from Israel as having perished through the law, which it received for salvation.

For, according to the divine Apostle, "Rejecting the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." For it was necessary that the shadow, which lasted until the time of correction, be idle once Christ, the light, had shone forth. Fighting against the shadow, then, regarding the law, they were handed over to their enemies. But for us who are from the nations, the law through Moses has also been found to be a treasure of salvation. For in it are wisdom and knowledge and piety toward the Lord; for it contains the mystery of Christ as in a type. "For concerning me," he says, "that one wrote." After these things he says to the apostles, as it were, that your fear will fall upon the unbelievers; and those who formerly terrified you, having been defeated, will cry out. Instead of "Behold, in your fear they themselves will be afraid," Symmachus says: "Behold, I will be seen by them. They cried out earnestly." And he adds who those who cried out were: angels of peace wept bitterly. But Aquila says, "Behold, I will be seen by them. I will cry out earnestly." And the rest similarly; but Theodotion: "Behold, I will be seen by them, they cried out earnestly. Angels of peace will weep bitterly." All, then, make clear that God will be seen by those who have stored up for themselves the treasures of righteousness and of wisdom. And they were the Savior's disciples, to whom I was seen. And they cried out earnestly, being angels of peace. They also cried out bitterly in prayers for the destruction of the former people. And the Savior also wept over Jerusalem: "If you too had known the things for your peace." Therefore he says, The roads will be laid waste by them.

And the phrase, "The fear of the nations has ceased," is marked with an obelus as not being found in the text. He says that the ways of the people from the circumcision have ceased, and that the covenant given through Moses has been taken away, and that they are no longer reckoned as men. But some take the phrase "in your fear they themselves shall fear" and say thus: He encourages the holy initiates by revealing beforehand the abundance of the good things that will be theirs. For from the beginning those of the circumcision were maltreating them, saying, "We strictly commanded you not to speak in this name." Fearing them, the apostles also said, "And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with boldness." But now they themselves are afraid, loving peace toward the faithful and piteously submitting to them. For they shall not prosper, he says, who have chosen to fight against God. And the fear of the Jewish nations has ceased, and since the covenant with them has been taken away, they have become estranged from God and strangers to the promises. For not all those of Israel are Israel. Therefore, he says, you shall reckon them worthy of nothing. Then he adds, "the land has mourned," in sequence because of what has been said concerning it—of Judea, whose parts he also mentions, and among them he places Lebanon, calling Jerusalem by this name for the present, because of the sacrifice in it, and Lebanon as offered according to the law. And indeed he says that Lebanon has been put to shame, as if he were saying more plainly "the sacrifice," since the worship according to the law has been abolished. And in Zechariah it is said, "Open, O Lebanon, your doors, and let fire devour your cedars." And Ezekiel also says:

The great eagle, the broad-winged, which has the leadership to enter into Lebanon, and he cropped the tender shoots of the cedar." Interpreting these things, he says: when Nebuchadnezzar comes to Jerusalem. But also the region called Saronne—Sharon, he says, became marshes, or a uselessness filled with thorns of boldness. By this he signifies that the richest districts of the nation of the Jews, namely those in their souls, will be destroyed. These things are for those there. But Galilee will be manifest because of the things said about it, according to the text, "Galilee of the nations, the people who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, a great light has risen upon them." And Carmel will be manifest, concerning which he said: "And the desert shall be as Carmel." And he indicates the thick and lofty things of the Church. For the mighty ones of the earth have been greatly lifted up by God. The philanthropic God, then, sent angels of peace to Israel, bitterly [weeping and] entreating them to receive the proclamation. But when they did not receive it, he says: "Now I will arise," and the rest. He promises his second and glorious coming, according to which they will see, receiving perception of his divinity, when he is glorified and exalted. But they will know that they had a vain strength of spirit, when fire devours them. And in place of "nations shall be burned up," all peoples have given forth—clearly those to whom the word was addressed, who also shall be as a thorn cast into a field.

Some say that "I will arise" refers to the judgments they paid for their outrage against him, when their city was captured by force, at which time they also learned the glory of the one who suffered, not obtaining it as one among the prophets. Since, then, the divine wrath was about to overtake them, he says, "Now I will arise," having borne with them until the cross. He was exalted, therefore, both by punishing them and by calling the nations. "And you shall know now," he says, "that I was stronger than you. And you shall be food for fire, like a thorn burned up in a field. For our God is a consuming fire." But some interpreted the whole passage as follows: When the people disobeyed both the threats and the promises, so that nothing remained except to suffer, the prophet, carried down into compassion, sends up a prayer on their behalf to the God of all, showing that the evils on their part have been completed, and the judgment is owed to them. But there is need of your mercies for us who hope in you and are afflicted. Grant, then, salvation to those who for fear of you have endured ecstasy. He said these things, not

As teaching a God who is ignorant, but becoming a type for the people of asking for the things that lead to salvation. For the things they ought to have said, the prophet speaks into their ears, so that they might imitate them. For that those who were called to alliance by the Assyrian will die without a sound, and that the rest will turn to flight from fear, is clear, since the Israelite spoils are saved by the power of God, which those who worship God obtain. But those who do not repent will be deprived, since the enemies themselves prevail like locusts. Holy is God, who dwells in the heights. He indicates progress of mind, and a good elation of soul. For the "holy" is not said of God with respect to sanctification, but as of the one praying who is making progress, exalting God for the things in which the just judgment against those who have sinned has come upon them, both generally and against Jerusalem. For he was disciplining the city not for destruction, but for the conversion of its inhabitants; at which time also righteousness was able to flourish among them, and the law to blossom, and the people to draw from this as from a good treasure. From which they also advanced into wisdom and knowledge, which gives birth to piety toward God and treasures of righteousness. And when they are so disposed, fear shall not seize the onset of your enemies, but theirs shall come from you, and they will sue for peace, while I ordain desolation against them, and put an end to the decree against you. For they did not come against you of their own accord, but because I, as it were, ordained a certain covenant for them. But having me as an ally, you will despise them.

Then he says, The earth mourned, using the places instead of the inhabitants, and instead of rational beings he has taken up senseless things to their shame, those who ought to have lamented their own blow. But he brought forward the places as it were groaning together and travailing together, according to the apostolic word, in those things for which the power of God will become manifest through its working. For those who trusted in the Egyptians will be ashamed at the change, because having abandoned God who thus routs the adversaries, they sent envoys to the Egyptians, when God had laid low one hundred eighty-five thousand, whose bodies were handed over to fire as dead. But these, as it were being subdued by fire, will confess the folly of what they did. 13. Those far off will hear what I have done, and those near will know my strength. The lawless in Zion have revolted. Trembling will seize the impious. Who will announce to you that fire is kindled? Who will announce to you the eternal place? etc. Israel is near to God, insofar as it pertained to being trained by the law and by wonders. But the nations are far off, having served the creation. And yet the former heard; but the latter did not endure it. Nevertheless, he says, those who are near also will hear. For not even Israel has perished entirely. For from it has come the firstfruits of the faithful. But some have taken the second [statement] also as concerning the nations. For how will those far off hear? Clearly by having become near. And learning his strength, which he displayed working wonders on behalf of Israel, they will also know how those in Zion revolted. But according to the other interpretation, he divides those from Israel. Of whom some heard, but others thrust it away, being lawless, whom trembling also will seize.

For the experience of the evils brought upon them is sufficient for fear, and for knowing something of the one who is being outraged by them. To whom he also says, Who will declare to you that fire is kindled? — concerning which he had said, that Fire will devour you. And he calls the eternal place the place prepared for Satan and his angels. For according to the voice of the Savior, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life. But he who disobeys the Son will not see life; but the wrath of God remains on him." Concerning which the prophet says elsewhere: "Their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched." Who, then, is the one who knows and forewarns you of the eternal place? Or is it everyone whom he immediately describes, indicating the choir of prophets and apostles? For they proclaimed concerning judgment, so that we might guard against the coming penalty. And such a one, having come far from the fire, will dwell in a high cave and upon a strong rock. According to Symmachus, He himself will dwell in the heights. As the rocky cliffs are his height. And he shows the security and the height of the philosophical life, which one pursuing, having completed the present life with bread and water together with faith, will have as the end of such discipline the vision of the king. Concerning whom he prophesied, beginning from, "Behold, a righteous king will reign, and rulers will rule with judgment." And it is likely, they say, that Christ was also spoken of in this way, in whom, as in a cave or a sheepfold, the Church is understood to have her firmness, according to the

And on this rock I will build my Church, to whose inhabitants Christ is given as the bread of life from the Father, and the faithful water of divine baptism, from which comes all security to those who receive them. And they shall behold the King, the Lord—those who have not yet received the land of the meek—they shall see it from afar with the eyes of the mind, from the present life, making the fear of God their study. But some understood the "from afar" as concerning the lawless, that they shall see the land of promise without coming to be in it, but having fire that burns, who also in fear shall be condemned by their own judgment, cast far away from that land. Reproaching them, because they obeyed evil teachers, he says: Where are those who know only the letter of the law? To whom the Savior said: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites." For where, he says, shall these appear in the day of judgment, who instead of good counsel flattered their disciples? But Symmachus rendered it: He who numbers those who are turned away, the shameless people. You shall not see a people heavy of lip, so as not to hear the dialect of a tongue. Calling them shameless who have been brought up in their own teachings, who shall not see the people heavy of lip, nor shall they hear, being without understanding of the dialect of a tongue, concerning which he said: And the stammering tongues shall quickly learn to speak peace. For if they had seen the deep-voiced one, a depraved people would not have heard.

But some say that they gathered together because by the judgment of their teachers they had been gathered to Christ, crying out against Pilate and preferring Barabbas, having heard no good counsel, nor having learned from them that he is the deep-voiced one. For he spoke in parables, according to the saying: "I will open my mouth in parables." But being unintelligent, they did not discern the envy of their teachers. For they would not have listened, being utterly corrupted. And some have interpreted the whole passage thus: that the coming plague upon the Assyrians will be learned not only by those near them but also by those far off, and the impious of Jerusalem will be put to shame. And the prophet, they say, fleeing from the evil deeds of the disobedient Jews, which are fuel for fire, seeks another who will speak, one living righteously, so that he might say to them that they are treasuring up wrath for themselves. And "making the ears heavy, lest he hear the judgment of blood," that is, not cooperating toward murder. For the one who has the things said, he says, will have a firm standing, enjoying the divine goods. But those enlightened by the Word, and seeing the King of glory, it follows that they have been released from worldly attachment and gaze upon the good things hoped for. For this is what seeing the land from afar signifies, those who in no way draw near to earthly things. And it also indicates historically Hezekiah, who ruled Jerusalem after these things, who, having dedicated himself to God, became renowned, in whose time worldwide signs occurred, the turning back of the sun and the addition of the day.

Seeing these things, you will fear God, having repented of the things for which you were persuaded by the scribes who advised concerning Egyptian help, and by the ventriloquists, whom he calls deep-voiced, as uttering things without meaning. For all these are a people of vanity, and have been made worthless, not leading the hearer to the understanding of what is needful. Behold Zion, the city, our salvation; your eyes will see, Jerusalem, a wealthy city, tents which shall not be shaken, nor shall the pegs of its tent be moved for all time, nor shall its cords ever be broken, because the name of the Lord is great for you, a place shall be for you, rivers and broad channels, and spacious, etc. Instead of “Behold Zion, the city,” Aquila says: “Look, be filled with wonder, Zion, city of feasts.” But Symmachus and Theodotion: “Behold Zion, the city of our holy ones,” and again following, “your eyes will see Jerusalem,” as about to see our salvation, that is, Christ, and another city of the feasts, the Church, exceedingly wealthy. So then the tents of the old Jerusalem have fallen, since it was captured in various sieges. But the new city, as standing upon a rock, even in times of persecutions remains unshaken. “For the gates of Hades,” he says, “shall not prevail against it,” and it has not fallen under rains and rivers and winds. For it has been founded upon a rock. And the reason is that the name of the Lord shall be a place for the new city, and as in such a place it has been established, not falling. But according to Symmachus, there the Lord is mighty for us.

A place of rivers, broad channels, where no oared ship may pass, nor shall the command of a mighty one cross through it. But as for "where it shall not pass," Aquila says: "A ship of oars shall surely not pass through it, and a trireme of exceeding size shall not cross over it." By these things they make clear that the Lord of the city spoken of will be a place of rivers, so that one may say: "The rushings of the river gladden the city of God." And, "The river of God was filled with waters." And the rivers, he says, are in such security as to be impassable to enemies, encircling the city like a wall against both small and larger ships coming against it, since it has as judge and leader the Savior and Lord himself, whose rushings, being a first and perfect river, gladden the city of God, while the many rivers are angels who always behold the face of the Father in the heavens, who guard the Church. From here thereafter he hints at the sufferings of the old city. For as of a ship in a storm, its mast has fallen, the ropes of those holding it having been broken. And Symmachus says, "Your ropes have been cast out, so as not to hold." Thus their mast, so as not to spread a sail. Then he divided as far as many spoils, depicting that now, as in a sea battle, they have sunk, and are being plundered by the enemies. For even as far as the sacred vessels the Lord handed them over for plunder to impious men, and to those lame in the feet of the soul, who, when God was handing them over, did not grow weary, and have become free from sin, having subdued Jerusalem by the judgment of God. But some have interpreted it thus:

While God has in the meantime addressed the senseless grammarians, the person of the saints is again introduced, showing, as it were, to one another either the Church on earth or the Church in heaven, into which the inhabitants are led by the one on earth who has Christ as Savior, to whom the Word, answering them, says: "Your eyes shall see Jerusalem," speaking of the things concerning it by comparison with the tabernacle in the wilderness. And the cause of the city's security he states to those who believe, that the name of the Lord is great among you, contrasting them with those who do not believe in Christ. And how there shall be a place for you—the city that always exists—in which he mentions broad rivers and channels, indicating evangelists and apostles, and those who from time to time lead the Churches, watering the flock of God with divine streams from one source, who also says through the voice of the prophet: "Behold, I will turn toward them like a river of peace, and like a torrent overflowing the glory of the nations." Persisting in the metaphor of the rivers, and as it were making a discourse about wealth, he introduces the person of the faithful after the coming of Christ, exulting over the devil and forbidding him to pass through them, just as before. For we are no longer passable to you. Nor shall you be able, like some ship, to drive through these rivers. And the cause, they say, is: For my God is great. And for this reason he shall not pass through me. For I have escaped his judgment and his yoke, having come under God. This the prophet also says, present in other places: "There shall be there a pure way, and it shall be called a holy way. And there shall not be there an unclean way.

And there shall be no lion, nor any of the evil beasts, none at all shall go up there. But they shall walk in it, having been redeemed through the Lord. Upon these things, he turns his discourse to the synagogue of the Jews, having stayed with the metaphor of the ship. For just as when a wind blows more violently, they are unable to pull down the sails, but the mast, being tilted by them, brings about the shipwreck; so, he says, you will suffer similar things. But the city will not raise up even a trophy-sign in victory; rather it will be handed over for plunder, being unable to escape the assaults of Satan, whether as at sea or as in war when he attacks, although it has the law compelling it to walk uprightly. But the Gentiles, who formerly limped with idolatry, will be made a plunder, gaining the things from God, by which they conquer Satan, having first laid aside the burden, and the toil from it, having obtained the forgiveness of sins through the grace that is in faith, which Israel did not receive; who would also reasonably say, My sins have risen above my head. Like a heavy burden they have weighed heavily upon me. For whom the law also was most burdensome. But the new people rightly hears, Blessed are they whose iniquities have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. And thus again some others have interpreted it. The prophet points out Jerusalem, and reminds of the tokens given in it by God. For having given the law and the temple and the Holy of Holies, he pitched it like a kind of tabernacle, holding it together with the cords of his care, having supplied all things richly.

And there was no being hemmed in, as far as it depended on God, since his name was flourishing upon them, from which, as from certain rivers and channels, you drew the abundance of good things. For so great is God that he fills all things; for his finding you would not need a longer road or a great voyage. For he is present everywhere to the one who lifts up holy hands, and he is not like one who passes by, so that one might fail to attain the knowledge of him. And being judge of all, he makes visitation of evils, checking them not because he wishes to destroy. For as a ruler and a good king he does all things for salvation. And the word is also referred to Christ, who has become a perfect help, having shown us himself, who was invisible, and through himself the Father. And he says that God has given all things to you because he cares, and by rich gifts, as it were stirring up your thoughts like a loom, these things would never have fallen apart, had you not cut the cords of goodwill and turned aside your own mind. But not even so did God leave you, chastising you only up to healing, raising you up and preventing you from falling. For by his permission those who came against you came, so that even the lame man might be strong, receiving no perception of toil, so that there might be for you a cleansing from sins. CHAPTER 34. 37. Draw near, nations, and hear, rulers. Let the earth hear and those in it; the inhabited world and the people in it, because the wrath of the Lord is upon all the nations, and his anger upon the number of them, to destroy them, and to deliver them to slaughter, etc.

And in the earlier passages the word was prophesying the siege of Jerusalem, and it brought next the judgment against all the nations, just as also now; for being God of all, he drives back all who transgress with threats. And first those from Israel, according to the text: "I will be sanctified among those who draw near to me." But some say that, having spoken of the shipwreck of the synagogue of the Jews, and of the calling of the nations (for many lame, he says, shall make spoil), he necessarily now makes the instruction to these who were lame long ago, having spoken the judgment against all. And as those who stood far off because of idolatry, he calls them, saying, "Bring the nations near." But some say these things are spoken to the Assyrians who captured Jerusalem, not understanding that these things happened by God's permission, and that the word was transferred from these to the universal judgment. Thus also the Savior in the Gospel, they say, foretelling to Jerusalem the things that were to happen, leads on to the matters concerning the universal [judgment]. CHAPTER 35. 11. Rejoice, thirsty desert. Let the desert exult, and let it bloom

as a lily. And the desert of the Jordan shall blossom and rejoice. The glory of Lebanon was given to it, and the honor of Carmel, and my people shall see the glory of the Lord, and the height of God, etc. For the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. But he shall not devour those who walk the blessed road. For neither is it possible to find roads upon a rock, as Solomon says. And these are those whom he redeemed with his own blood, gathering them to his own flock. For he himself gathered them—not a prophet, not a man—and their road is that by which they shall come to the thrice-blessed end of the heavenly Zion, concerning which Paul says: You have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. For now it is not possible to call that Zion, concerning which he said: A year of the recompense of judgment is Zion. For that one's portion is pitch and fire. But of this one, gladness, with which the victors of this great contest shall be crowned, saying according to the Apostle: Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness. And having been called with bright hopes, they become without taste of groaning and grief, having the gladness of eternal life as their crown. CHAPTER 31. And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians came up against the fortified cities of Judea, and took them. And the king of the Assyrians sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah the king with a great force, etc.

The fourth book of Kingdoms contains the present history, and the second of Paralipomena, and it also takes up the present prophet, containing toward the end a great prophecy and a wondrous deed that took place in the time of Hezekiah. In the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, it was the eighth year of the captivity of the ten tribes. Hezekiah is admired for his piety, and this though he was born a child of the impious Ahaz, who, having departed from God, when Pekah son of Remaliah, who held Samaria, and Rezin king of Syria, came against him, called Tiglath-Pileser the Assyrian to his aid, having persuaded him with many gifts; and he, having taken Damascus and Syria, made them tributary, and did not endure that Ahaz, whose son Hezekiah was, should be subject to tribute, and for this reason Sennacherib marched against him. And having laid waste Samaria, and taken many cities of Judea, and arrived at Lachish, he sent his general Rabshakeh to Jerusalem. It is said that this man was from the captivity of the ten tribes. The proof of this is that he knew how to speak in the Jewish tongue. When he came against him, Hezekiah, though he had trusted in the Lord and placed all his hope in him, did not neglect strategic care and understanding, blocking up the springs outside the city, making a scarcity of water for those who came against him, and fencing in the walls, and again throwing up an outer wall before them. After all these things, he stood as a teacher of piety to those under his hand. For more, he says, are with us than with the enemies. For with the Assyrian are arms of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God.

In what follows the Scripture of Paralipomena says: "And the people took courage at the words of Hezekiah king of Judah." For in addition to his other successes, God provided Hezekiah with a training-ground of virtue and a demonstration of greater piety through his battle-array against the enemy. Therefore He also allowed the Assyrian to come near the city. And of those now named Eliakim and Somnas, he made mention also in the word of the valley, and what is now said about them will fit what has gone before; but that Somnas deserted, the children of the Hebrews say, giving his right hand to the Assyrian along with others out of fear; whence the things said earlier about him were spoken. And as an opposing power, Rapsakes, exceedingly boastful, uttered a voice contrary to the prophet. Instead of "Thus says the Lord," he said, "the great king." And as though not ignorant that Hezekiah prevails through prayers and words of piety, he speaks as to one present: "Is not battle made in counsel and words of the lips?" And he calls him by a bare title, saying that he is both Assyrian and king and great. But some say that, since the Hebrews seemed wiser than others, having the law of Moses, and indeed they used to say, "Blessed are we, Israel, because the things pleasing to the Lord are known to us," Rapsakes, purging this away, says that it is useless in war. And he challenges him to the judgment by arms. To whom Hezekiah would have said: "These in chariots, and these in horses," and the rest. But he slanders him, as though he trusted in Pharaoh. He says that he is more bitter to those who trust in him than an enemy, not knowing how to keep agreements with them, besides also being exceedingly rotten.

Perhaps, they say, because some of the kings before him had summoned the Egyptian, he thinks that Hezekiah too trusts in him. And this he threw in, as it were, in passing. Then he attacks the alliance of God, not knowing that the God over all is himself. Therefore he says, Why do you trust in God, whose high places and altars you have torn down? For he thought that Hezekiah had torn down the high places not of the idols but of God. But if you trust in this, join battle with my lord, that is, stand for the fight. And he runs them down, as though they had not even two thousand who could ride horses, not knowing that the pious Hezekiah kept the law, which speaks concerning a pious king: He shall not multiply horses for himself. But being inexperienced in horsemanship, how can you, he says, turn back the face of our governors? In place of which Symmachus says, And how will he withstand the face of one ruler, one of the least of the servants of my lord? But if you trust for this in the Egyptians, they, he says, are our servants. Much more, then, do those who trust in them already almost serve them. And he reasons perversely that he does not come against the city without God, saying: If he is great and fights for Judea, either we came up against it against his will, and how is he strong? Or we came because he willed it, and as we mastered the others, so shall we master this too. Therefore we have also subdued Israel, who are your brothers, besides your not saying that God handed over the others as not being his. Not knowing that Israel too, having fallen into idolatry, went forth estranged from God.

It is clear, they say, that he spoke these things from plausible reasoning, from the fact that he had conquered Israel, who was supposedly God's people, or else he perceived that God, by his own reckonings, was prompting him to attack the Jews because of their transgressions. Then he urges the people to surrender the city, and he tears down the celebrated piety of Hezekiah, which was renowned even among them. And above he clashed with him, as one who had torn down the high places, which he supposed to be the people of God's delight, thinking them so, in accordance with what he knew during the reign of Ahaz. Then he reasons that if the gods did not save the others, neither did the Lord save Judah, supposing him to differ in nothing from the others. To these things spoken, they are silent according to the king's command. For he does not answer piously to the blasphemy, so as not to provoke him more greatly against this. According to, "Do not kindle coals of a sinner." And it is unprofitable to converse with those incurably sick in soul, toward whom one must be fenced off by silence, hiding the true words within themselves, and awaiting the timely movement from God against them. For it is no longer against us, but against God that they have the war, which must be done in the time of persecutions in the blasphemous disputations of the impious, obeying David who says: "I set a guard on my mouth. When the sinner stood before me, I was deaf and humbled, and I was silent from good things." CHAPTER 37. And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his garments, and put on sackcloth, and went up to the house of the Lord, etc. It was a custom among the Hebrews, at the blasphemies against God, to tear their garments.

Therefore, when the Savior said, "From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power, and coming on the clouds of heaven," the high priest tore his garments, saying, "He has blasphemed." And through one of the prophets he says, "Tear your hearts, and not your garments." For they thought they were curing their own transgressions if they rent their clothing at blasphemies against God. This they were doing even now, as though they had shared in impious words through hearing, or as though God were being blasphemed through him. For he was not permitted to go up as far as the gates, so that they might hear him blaspheming such things, unless they had become the cause of this. Moreover, they were also anxious lest they suffer the very things that Samaria suffered because of their own impiety. And the king, wearing sackcloth, the garb of mourning, went through the middle of the marketplace into the temple, showing himself humble and afflicted before God, as though deeming himself worthy to obtain mercy. And again in like manner he sent the priests to the prophet, wearing sackcloth instead of priestly robes, and instructed them to say, "Thus says Hezekiah"—the king not adding "your God." And he calls it a day of rebuke and wrath, on which God, being angry, rebuked their sins. And we are like a woman who wishes to give birth but cannot endure the travail, he says, unable to say: "From fear of you, Lord, we conceived in the womb, and we travailed, and we gave birth to a spirit of salvation." Therefore, he says, we did not dare to call your God our own God. But let him pay attention to the words of Rabshakeh, and let him do what seems best, either prosecuting the matter against the one who sent him, or else being dismissed.

Nor, O prophet, knowing that our whole multitude has already been taken by the enemies, entreat on behalf of us who are left behind. But before they had said anything, the prophet anticipated them as they came, since God had listened to Hezekiah, according to the saying, "While you are still speaking, I will say, Behold, I am present," and had revealed beforehand to the prophet the things from Rabshakeh, and the things from the king, and the things that were about to be spoken to Hezekiah. And at the beginning he removed the human fear, saying, "Do not be afraid," and he foretells the things that are about to overtake the Assyrian. For when the one hundred eighty-five thousand had fallen, he fled to his own gods and offered thanksgivings for his safety. But when he was slain, he knew their weakness, through whom he thought he had accomplished even his first deeds—but not unless God permitted it; according to what was said to the prophet: "Shall the saw exalt itself without the one who draws it, or shall the axe be glorified without the one who cuts with it?" And God says, I will put a spirit in him, by which, having been deceived, he will return. And the word makes this the first prophecy in the present history. 98. And Rabshakeh turned back and found the Assyrian besieging Libnah. And the king of the Assyrians heard that Tharaka king of the Ethiopians had come out to besiege him, and when he heard, he turned back. And he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying: Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judea: Let not your God deceive you, etc. Suddenly the bold Rabshakeh departed without effect, having been driven out of his mind by God.

But the king of that land, after Lachish, while besieging Libnah, a city of Judea, was hastening against Ethiopia, as God had foretold, when no good tidings were reported to him, [a message] full of threats and every blasphemy, having sent a letter to Hezekiah, [saying] that he had taken all things subject by his own power, as the prophet, having anticipated before the deeds, declared: "Woe, he says, to the Assyrians, the rod of my wrath and anger is in their hands," and what follows. But he himself did not think so. And the present threats of Sennacherib he brought upon these things, which, having been foretold, have now been fulfilled. But he again, having fled to the temple of God, shows him the letter, not as though he were ignorant, but making him a witness of so great blasphemy, and confessing his dominion over all things, and that the so-called gods of the nations are false. But because of his exceeding reverence at first, he did not pray when he put on the sackcloth, as not daring even to open his mouth before God, but using the prophet alone as an ambassador, now having been deemed worthy of an answer through him, he takes courage to send up the petition that lies before him. 29. And Isaiah the son of Amos was sent to Hezekiah, and he said to him: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I have heard what you prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of the Assyrians. This is the word which

God spoke concerning him. She has despised you and mocked you, the virgin daughter of Zion, etc. Those who heard the prophets recognized them as prophets, not from the things that would come to pass after long times (for they did not know these), but from the small predictions later confirmed by deeds, from which they also believed concerning the others. Whence Samuel foretells concerning donkeys; and another, concerning a king's son who was sick; and another proclaims the death of the king of Israel. God permitted this, so that they might not, through a craving for foreknowledge, turn to idolatry and oracles and, in general, to the deceits of divination. Whence also now Hezekiah goes up to the temple. And God answers what is to come, having spoken through the prophet. And a second oracle is given, God showing that he has heard his prayer. And he says to the Assyrian: You have indeed boasted great things against me and against the city that is dedicated to me, hoping to terrify the city of God that is incorruptible and therefore compared to a virgin, and the people in it that is called daughter of Zion and Jerusalem. And he himself, being pure from idolatry, has been called a virgin. Therefore, having taken courage in his own God, he laughed at your threats; and instead of "at you he shook his head," Symmachus gave "behind you he shook his head." For not having given you an answer to the blasphemies, he says to you when you turned away, "at you he has shaken his head," and he was saying, no longer keeping silent, "Whom have you reproached and provoked?" in place of which the rest gave "you have blasphemed.

Not considering that he is the Most High and the God of Israel, but supposing that he differed in no way from the gods that have come to be under you, and that he had gone up by his own cavalry force to the height of the mountains and had cut down cypresses at the farthest end of Lebanon, and cedars, signifying the kingdoms of the other nations that were exalted above the rest. But the cypresses Aquila rendered as firs, and Symmachus as junipers. And instead of "to the height of the part of the forest," "to the height of its summit, to the forest," "his Carmel, the fruitless places," and nations that did not know God, calling it a forest. But he was also acting insolently in adding that: "and I made a bridge, and I dried up waters, and every gathering of waters." Or according to Symmachus: "I dug and drank water, and I dried up with the track of my foot all the rivers that were held together," hinting at the multitudes of the nations and their discourses about their gods, and boasting for no good end, but for the destruction of the places he had trodden. But some say that the land of the Jews was called Lebanon, and that in which the ten tribes dwelt; for they were lofty, having God as their helper. And dense, having so many inhabitants, of whom he took one wholly, and the other except for a few, which, he says, you supposed you had subdued by your own power, and had gained control of the kingdom of Israel, which he called the height of the cedar, and a part of the forest, the ruined part of Judea. Then he speaks about a bridge and rivers being made to disappear, things which the rulers of Asia did, trusting in their multitude of hands. For they bridged some of the rivers. And Xerxes even the Hellespont. And others were left behind by them, not enduring the multitude of those who drank. But these things, he says, are of this sort.

For I have pronounced the limit of suffering against them. But you have been ignorant of the judgment that has long prevailed with me concerning the destruction of the nations that act impiously. And those around Samaria and Judea said that these things had been spoken. It was possible for you, they say, to meet with my prophets and to know the things foretold concerning them, which I have now brought to fulfillment, using you as an instrument. For while I was holding these back, as it were with my hand, by my forbearance, since they did not turn back to their own Savior, I released them to you, and then you became their master. For being unfruitful, they were likened to grass and hay of the housetops, and no longer being sheltered they withered, which they would not have suffered had they been a vine or an olive tree. But you, not thinking these things, are unaccustomed also to rule over my city in the same way. For I do not ignore your thoughts, nor the entrance and exit of your reasonings. But some say that his death is signified by the rest. And entrance and exit, the path in every matter of what is to be done. And saying that your bitterness went up to me, or according to Symmachus, your arrogance into my ears, he signifies that he will now undergo the penalty for these things. For the rest, as concerning a beast, he says. I will put a muzzle on your mouth so great as to choke even your very breath. But Symmachus says, I will put a ring in your nose and a bridle on your lips, so that he may not have where he wishes to go, but may be dragged backward, going to Babylon unwillingly, or otherwise he threatens that he will restrain him with blows as with a bridle for his blasphemy.

Let these things, then, he says, be said to that one, even though he is not present in body. But to you, Hezekiah, I speak. As a sign of what has been said, for assurance, know that you will be fed this present year by what grows of itself from the earth. For you have been prevented from farming because of the enemies. For instead of what you sowed, all the rest brought forth of themselves. And with the remnants of these you will be fed the second year. But instead of "the remnant," Aquila and Theodotion rendered "self-grown things," and Symmachus "from trees." Having been constrained these two years, because the land lies idle, in the third year you will reap the enjoyments from the earth, living in peace—you who remain in Judea after the capture of Samaria, having planted a root of piety in your soul, and you will yield fruit of my farming that looks upward, being saved for this reason. But some say, "You will be fed the two years from the stores laid up, as in a siege of fruits, which they happened to have sown." For after remaining two years at Samaria, when in the third the army fell by a divinely sent blow, he withdrew in flight. But the firmness of good cheer is shown by the root, as in the case of plants, and the long duration by producing seed upward as well. The Lord says that He is jealous, both as for His own city, and at the same time because of the blasphemies against Him. And I will save you, He says, because it is fitting for me. But if one must also honor a man, and, as it were, in relation to what is due to him, to grant the salvation of the city, it is through David my servant (for thus the rest rendered it), who became the founder of the city and its first king.

so that all might know how great is the power of piety, which grants salvation even to those unworthy ones after the time. And the words were followed by the deeds, when so many had perished, whose king did not perish with them, so that, having seen what was done, he might stop up his godless tongue, and be punished more greatly by the calamity of his subjects, just as Pharaoh also was. And it was also a bitterer punishment to suffer at the hands of his children. But lead your discourse up to contemplation. For the heretics besiege the city of God, the Church, as though arrayed under the devil as their general. Since these blaspheme many things, one must practice silence, obeying Paul who says, not to strive about words to no useful end. And again, reject a heretical man after a first and second admonition. For one must not take in hand those who have been overcome, as though they were incurable. For it is written, Speak in the ears of those who hear. And so, even if they promise rest, after the manner of Rabshakeh, and even if they threaten, one must come to God alone, for the help from above against their fury. For He will drive them away invisibly, guarding Zion unconquerable. For the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. CHAPTER 38. 32. And it came to pass in that time, that Hezekiah was made weak unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him: Thus says the Lord, Set your house in order. For you are dying, and you shall not live. etc. God, who said, "I kill, and I make alive. I strike, and I will heal," having struck the enemies with the blow of an angel, gives life to the king who is beloved of God. For the phrase, in that time, presents this: by the blow of those men.

But God makes the outcome clear to him in advance, urging him to entreat for salvation. By this it is made clear that the time of life is not enclosed for us by the constraints of fate, but that God defines it, according to the reasons he himself knows, either bringing one into life, or giving the measures of time, or bringing on the end in whatever manner seems good to him.

He alone is able both to raise those who are about to die, adding measures of life, as now Hezekiah, and to make the dead live, as many as the Scripture has indicated. And from every side the arguments of fate are dissolved for us. Hezekiah, knowing this, when he was in health, ran to the temple, asking concerning the Assyrians; but fettered by illness, he brought his prayer up from his very bed, knowing that the Divine is present everywhere. And concerning his own well-being he speaks freely only, not having asked for an addition of life, knowing him to be the discerner of things in the mind, and having entrusted the prayer... they were overtaken neither perhaps glorifying God, nor adding to virtues, nor indeed sinning, but awaiting the time of judgment. Some say that he does not destroy the hopes of the resurrection; but he shows rather that I had gone away into the hell of destruction, not having obtained help from you, since you overlooked my sins. Therefore, having ceased from that dangerous thought, I will hasten to come to marriage and the begetting of children, and to prove those from me to be heralds of your righteousness. And I too, going to your house, to the sensible consolation given to us, which draws us together into your fear, will render up thankful voices.

Some, however, said that the phrase "I will make children, who will report," means that he promises to establish in the temple a choir of singing children hymning sweetly. And by the same means through which God made the end known to him, through this He also brought the remedy, lest the prophet seem to do something insulting, having shown him to be a minister of evils only. But God, who works wonders, gave the figs for healing—that very thing which seems to aggravate the harm by wounds—which Hezekiah, struck with amazement, calls a great sign that he would be able to go up to the temple on foot. And in the fourth book of Kings it is written that, having learned long before from the prophet that the sun was going to make its course forward more swiftly and descend the ten steps in one movement, he himself requested the sun's retrogression as a more fitting sign of his return to life, where the Scripture also says that the sore was a grievous pretext for his illness. CHAPTER 39. 1. In that time Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and ambassadors and gifts to Hezekiah. For he heard that he had been sick unto death and had risen, etc. The teacher of the Jews said that Hezekiah had fallen ill because he did not sing a song of thanksgiving for the fall of the Assyrians, as Moses did over the Egyptians, as Deborah did over Sisera, as Hannah did over the birth of Samuel. Then the king of the Babylonians, having learned that he had recovered, sent an embassy to him, not without purpose, having seen that the day on which the sun went back had become double. For the Chaldeans, being skilled in these matters, could not have failed to notice it.

Those who made the sun a god thought this had come about by a superior power. And inquiring busily into the cause, they learned that the God of the Hebrews had done these things on account of Hezekiah. At this the king was struck with amazement, and he welcomed their agreements with him as befitting a friend of God. One might say that he himself, having learned that all the wondrous things had happened within a single year—the Assyrian's assault, the blow delivered through the angel, the revolt of the children against Sennacherib after his flight, the unspoken destruction of Achordas, the child who ruled after him—having learned all these things, Marodach Baladan, being the son not of Sennacherib but of Baladan, reigning over the Babylonians from another lineage, welcomed friendship with the pious king as an advantage. For that all these things came about in one year you may learn by attending to the fact that the Assyrian's assault took place in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign. When fifteen years had been added to him, he died in the twenty-ninth year, so that his illness occurred in the fourteenth year. And all the remaining events had happened before this at the same time, and having heard of all of them he hastened to the embassy. And when the men had come, Hezekiah ought to have recounted the great works of God from above, and the

Now he does not do this—namely, attach what had happened, so that he might seem fair-minded and make those men more pious, and through them others, as they recounted what they had learned. But, puffed up by vainglory, he uncovers to them his treasures, and the house of Nechotha—which Aquila called a house of spices, and Symmachus a treasury, which among the Persians signifies abundance. And this had not only a novel ostentation, but also, for those who saw it, it disposed the enemies to envy. Hence the prophet, coming as if of his own accord, and not, ostensibly, sent by God, asks what these men might wish, employing great tact, and showing that they had come to learn the marvels of God, but that he had handed himself over to them for admiration in place of God, not teaching the divine pre-eminence, nor that creation yields to his nod. But to the question, "What do they say?" he answers nothing, fearing the reproof. But to "Where have they come from?" he says arrogantly, "From a far country," as though the report of his fame had carried them even from afar—at which point he also brought forth the sentence from God against him thereafter, saying that all things would be taken by the Babylonians, and those descended from him would be eunuchs to their king. And this came about, as we have learned in the Books of Kings, in the days of Jechonias, when those around Daniel were in the king's house, having become eunuchs, as some say. Hearing these things, Hezekiah piously and devoutly said that every word of God is good, even if the hearing of them would grieve men.

But he declined only the time that was his own, giving thanks to God that he was not disciplined by the actual experience of evils, but was brought to his senses by mere report of the sorrows that were to come, knowing that those born from him would not receive the experience of these things without judgment, but would be punished for the sins they themselves would commit, while the righteous born from him were not harmed by his sin. But the Hebrew said that God did not accept Hezekiah's choice, since he cared for himself alone and overlooked the people and the city. Therefore he added next, "Comfort, comfort my people," says God. For if that man appeared self-loving, yet you who are able, comfort my people. For I care for my creation. CHAPTER 40. "Comfort, comfort my people," says God; "priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem. Comfort her, because her humiliation has been fulfilled, her sin has been loosed, because she has received from the hand of the Lord double for her sins. A voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord," etc. The narrative, having concluded the subject of the prophecy concerning Hezekiah, begins from another starting point the evangelical word, crying out to those who have received the Spirit of Christ, the Paraclete: "Comfort my people." For he commands the apostles to comfort all the people who are worthy to be called his—the people chosen out of all the nations—which they did, as Paul made clear when he said:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those in all affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God," and what follows, through which he gave an account of all things concerning comfort. And elsewhere too, as if obeying the prophetic exhortation, he cries out: "We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." And again: "I exhort you, I the prisoner in Christ Jesus." But the word "priests," as not being found in the others, has been marked with an obelus by the Seventy. At any rate Symmachus says: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Comfort the heart of Jerusalem. And the rest agreed with him. But what is the heart, as it were, of Jerusalem, the living city? It was possible to say that the city was spoken of in place of its inhabitants, were he not also mindful of the people when he said, "my people." But who is the people? And who are those who comfort? It is clear that they are those who have the Spirit, the Comforter, as we were saying, to whom he said

The Savior says, "And I will ask my Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, that he may be with you forever, the Spirit of truth." And again: "When the Paraclete comes," the Holy Spirit, and the divine, thus often he calls it Spirit. Those, then, who have received the Paraclete are commanded to comfort the people of God. But not Israel, nor Jacob, nor Judah, but another besides this, as Zechariah makes clear, saying: "Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Zion, for behold, I am coming, and I will dwell in your midst, says the Lord. And many nations will flee for refuge to the Lord in that day, and they will be to him for a people, and they will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you." By these words it is clearly foretold that many nations will become the people of God. And these things says the Lord who was sent by another Lord. As, then, this is the people of God, so the heart of Jerusalem is the better order of the people, and the most authoritative part of the Church, as the heart of the body, by which is signified the rational and more intellectual order. Therefore he commanded these to speak, and to comfort the others, as those in need of consolation. One might say also that the more rational among the sensible Jerusalem are signified, while the rest of the multitude is, as it were, fleshly and most gross; and so he wishes those who have received the Spirit of consolation to speak to them also, proclaiming the forgiveness of sins through the prophecy which he adds concerning the coming of Christ, when the humiliation ceases and sin is dissolved.

To the aforementioned heart of Jerusalem, then, he says that a double punishment was brought upon it, since both historically those indicated enjoyed along with the evils of the multitude, being humbled under foreign nations, and in mind they punished themselves, mourning the loss of the people. But the city was also captured a second time, so that even the temple in it was brought down to the ground. And so the consolation of the Savior's manifestation he brought forward next, saying, "The voice of one crying"; then next adding: "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God," the gospel proclamation, through which the Savior was made known. But now another wilderness has been mentioned besides that through which Moses led the people. And whose voice is it that cries in this? According to Aquila, "of one calling." And it is clear also to whom he was speaking: "Prepare the way of the Lord." All these things it was likely that the hearers of these men would seek, and pray to see the salvation of God, as the prophecy advanced into fulfillment. Since, then, those who understood the prophetic writings expected these things, to those who had come from the chief priests and teachers, and who asked John whether he was the Christ, or Elijah, or the prophet, he denies these things, but insists that he is "the voice of one crying." For as to those who knew the prophecy, he was satisfied with saying only this, both showing the wilderness to be that in which he lived, and that the salvation of God was at the doors, which would be made known to all flesh. For he was preaching in the wilderness of the Jordan, of which the prophecy speaks, but not in Jerusalem.

In that very wilderness the saving Christ appeared, and his glory was made known to all, when the heavens were opened as he was baptized, and the divine Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, and the Father declared that he was his beloved Son. For these things, happening in the wilderness of the Jordan, were signs of the saving glory. Therefore, anticipating this, he was proclaiming the good news, saying: "Rejoice, thirsty wilderness; let the wilderness exult and blossom like a lily. And the desolate places of the Jordan shall bloom and exult." This was fulfilled historically in that way, but in its deeper meaning it is understood of the Church from among the Gentiles, which was formerly a wilderness without God, in which even to this day the same voice cries out and proclaims the salvation of God to those who come near, preparing their ears for the reception of the Word of God. In contrast to him, the Word calls John a voice. And instead of "Make straight his paths," Symmachus said, "Make level in the impassable place a road for our God." As though God were about to

to tread upon, which no one had trodden before—not he himself, not a prophet, not a righteous man—namely, the Church from the Gentiles. And he added what is ours to God, as though speaking to others. For there were ten thousand from alien nations who came to the baptism of John. And in the Church these things are proclaimed to all the nations. Then he shows that the souls humbled by the depth of wickedness are exalted, but that those lifted up against the knowledge of God shall be humbled. And the crooked and rough soul shall become smooth and straight, so that it may become acceptable for the treading of God. For the glory of the Lord shall be seen, he says. And saying this to someone, he adds: And all flesh shall see the salvation of God, meaning those who are fleshly and have not the Spirit of God. According to, "My Spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh," whom indeed the salvation of God they shall see. But another prophet also says that these shall see the Spirit of God: "I will pour out," he says, "of my Spirit upon all flesh." For it was necessary that those who have known the salvation of God should also partake of the Spirit of God. And such was the exhortation he brought forward concerning the people—the new people, I mean. For knowing the disobedience of the old, he employs a second proclamation: All flesh is grass. For this is the nature of flesh, and of him who bears the image of the earthly one. For the things on earth that bloom only for a brief time wither. But having received the salvation of God, he will also possess the Holy Spirit, and the man is not dried up like grass, nor shall he fall from his bloom, but he shall remain spiritual, being renewed unto knowledge according to the image of him who created him.

According to the Hebrew, he calls the people of the Jews grass. For Symmachus and Theodotion say by way of addition: Truly the people is grass. The grass is dried up. The flower has fallen. But Aquila says: Toward what has the people dried up? Toward what has the flower fallen away? Instead of "But the word of our God remains forever," Symmachus says: But the word of our God shall stand forever. For the voice in the wilderness says that Christ is eternal, and that those who have received his salvation remain with him, having passed over from the earthly substance to the spiritual. But those of the circumcision who remained flesh shall fall like grass, according to the addition of "Truly the people is grass." Some, having raised a difficulty from the outset as to how the prophet applied the coming of Christ to the words of Hezekiah, say that enemies often devastated Jerusalem; but the last capture, by Nebuchadnezzar, took place before the coming of Christ. After it, those who returned dwelt in the land without division until the coming of Christ. Having therefore mentioned this capture to Hezekiah, he mentions the consolation that follows it. For the saving proclamation came to them first of all, according to the text: "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But some say that he deemed their absurd notions worthy of consolation. For when Hezekiah had been disciplined for his absurd presumption, by which he thought that the one who was expected happened to be present, so as even to think that the words "A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand" had been spoken concerning him, when he saw so many fallen.

But when this hope had fallen away because of the illness, so that the psalm no longer fit him—the one saying, "And a scourge shall not come near your dwelling" (for this fit Christ alone)—the people thought that the promises had ceased, and that all the things hoped for had come to nothing, and that no savior of the race would appear. Therefore the God of all things, through the prophet and the priests, exhorts those who had despaired, saying, "Speak to the heart of Jerusalem," that is, make the word of consolation readily acceptable to those who hear it—something the law did not have, since it was excessively burdensome, wallowing in shadow and types, and training the mind in things not necessary. For it produced a certain superficial knowledge through the letter. But the saving proclamation fills the soul with contemplations, the depth of the divine Spirit opening it up. Thus David also says: "In my heart I hid your oracle, that I might not sin against you." Such is also the saying through one of the prophets: "And this is the covenant that I will make with them in those days, says the Lord, giving my laws into their mind, and I will inscribe them on their hearts." And Paul also says: "You are our letter, known and read by all men, making it clear that you are a letter of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart." But some understood the priests to be the angels, to whom it also belongs to be able to speak in hearts.

But the consolation lies in the fact that the penalty, when it has been dissolved, became twofold: both in being devoted to the desires of the flesh (for this is the greatest punishment for those who have perception) and in being punished because of those desires; that is, both in departing from God, the true fountain of life, and in turning aside to the demons, broken cisterns, according to the voice of Jeremiah, which cannot hold water. But some say that just as affectionate fathers regard a small sin against a child as much greater than it deserves, so God, out of love for humanity, defines as double what is less than deserved. For otherwise it would not be worthy of his goodness to punish in double measure, since he has said: "The Lord will not avenge twice for the same thing in affliction. For the Lord is compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and abundant in mercy and true." And, "He has not dealt with us according to our lawless deeds, nor repaid us according to our sins." And in agreement with "Prepare the way of the Lord," Zechariah, the father of the Baptist, also says: "And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High. For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways." Concerning whom the Savior says: "He was the lamp that was burning and shining. But you were willing to rejoice for a season in his light." For Christ is the sun of righteousness and the true light. And the difference between the two is incomparable, even if the human element should become most full of wisdom and light. But to those who have despaired he gives a sign of consolation. For when you hear from the wilderness a voice concerning repentance, then understand that the expected one is present.

He has taken his discourse as if from a highway that has some parts uphill and some parts hollow, and for this reason is hard to travel; such a road would become smooth when the heights are leveled down and the hollows are filled up—which is the kind of road of piety that has come about through Christ, formerly impassable because the rulers of darkness had bound us fast to earthly pleasures. He calls the Son the glory of the Lord, as being above all creation and of the same divinity as the Father. This he showed also when he became man, always working wonders and reshaping creation by his word, becoming salvation for all, since the sacrifices under the law were unable to remove sins. But we who are being perfected in Christ have all been honored with the Spirit of adoption, as far as concerns the gift of grace, God having spread it out for all; even if some did not receive it because of the darkness of unbelief. And showing that the prophet says nothing of his own or fabricated, he called the word God's. And in what manner the salvation of God may be seen, he teaches that one must despise things that appear, saying they are unstable and wither more quickly, and take into mind only the word of God as always living and abiding and the procurer of eternal life. And you might call the word of the Lord also the commandment of the Savior himself when he says:

Amen, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” But some say that the prophet, when commanded to proclaim aloud the grace that was to come to all, out of compassion for his own nation, since nothing of the future remained exceptional to it—as when the inheritance was God’s—and since it was to be cast off, having been struck in mind from such honor, said, “What need is there to cry out?” To these things God says to him who did not grasp so great a grace, “All flesh is grass.” And you too, he says, who minister to my words, your mind overshadowed by the flesh, will not be able to grasp it. Nevertheless, he says, every human supposition will quickly cease, but my words concerning the grace that comes to all will be confirmed. Paul also, understanding this, said, “O the depth of riches and wisdom!” Therefore, having resolved his doubt, he urges him to proclaim from the height of understanding in what follows. 29. Go up on a high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion. Lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good news to Jerusalem. Lift it up; do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah: Behold your God, behold the Lord. The Lord comes with strength, and his arm with dominion. Behold, his reward is with him, etc. Consequently, after the voice crying in the wilderness, he added the things concerning the evangelists and the coming of Christ. But Aquila says: Go up on a high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion for herself. And lifting up your voice strongly, you who have brought good news to Jerusalem. And the rest likewise address Jerusalem and Zion as to something animate. To what mountain, then, does Zion go up, she who herself was also called a mountain?

According to the passage, "This is Mount Zion which you have made your dwelling in it." It seems, then, to indicate the choir of the apostles, whom he also called above the heart of Jerusalem, as being from the people chosen out of the circumcision, who also received the salvation of God, being certain exalted ones, and likened to the only-begotten mountain and bearing that name; to which they are commanded to ascend, to proclaim the coming of Christ, and even if some rise up against them, to fear nothing; that is, he commands them not to teach in secret, but to make the proclamation public and to make it heard by all. According to the passage, "What you hear in the ear, proclaim on the housetops." Which they also said when praying: "And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with boldness." And by saying "behold," they say, he indicates that he will come not after a long time, showing him to be all but near. That is, he commands the cities of Judah to cry out, clearly their synagogues, that this is the one long expected of old, foretold by the voices of the holy prophets. At the same time he also made clear his coming, saying that he will come with great power and lordly authority, when he will render to each according to his works and his reward. As he said: "For the Son of Man is about to come in the glory of his Father, and he will repay each one according to his works." But some received these things also of the former coming, showing that he would not come as one of the prophets, who also prayed while working wonders. But Christ by his own authority drove out passions and demons. That he did not endure the cross for us without fruit he makes clear, saying:

Behold, his reward is with him. For he said: "Unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit." And again: "If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to myself." And Paul also says: "He endured the cross, despising the shame. Therefore God also highly exalted him, and granted him the name that is above every name, so that in the name of him," and so on. And David also foretold: "All the nations, as many as you have made, shall come and worship before you." But the phrase, "As a shepherd he will shepherd his flock," is admittedly of the former coming. For as God he will judge, but as one who took the form of a servant it is said that he shepherds the flock—the one who says, "I am the good shepherd." And his arm, they say, he calls his divinity, by which he is said to gather the lambs and to comfort those with young in the womb. The lambs, the word indicating those newly born in Christ. Therefore Aquila says "little lambs." And it would be the new people. For he did not say rams, or goats, or perfect sheep, concerning which another prophet teaches such things, saying: "But the Lord says these things: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, and between rams and goats." And: "Is it not enough for you that you graze the good pasture, and trample the remainder with your feet? And you drink the settled water, and the rest you trouble with your feet?" And again: "Behold, I judge between a sheep and a strong sheep. You thrust with your sides and your feet, and with your horns

You were butting with your horns and thrusting aside the weak. Therefore their shepherds are also denounced by him, in the words, "Thus says the Lord," saying: "O shepherds of Israel, do the shepherds feed themselves? Do the shepherds not feed the sheep? Behold, you eat the milk and clothe yourselves with the wool." And you slaughter the fat, and my sheep you do not feed. Since, then, the sheep were disorderly and the shepherds were maltreating them, he threatens the shepherds with removal, saying: "And I will turn you away from shepherding my sheep." And he adds: "Behold, I myself will seek out my sheep." The prophet. From great glory and in might of strength nothing escaped you. For it is said elsewhere: "The drops of rain are numbered to him." [Chapter] 29. For do not say, Jacob, and why have you spoken, Israel? My way has been hidden from God, and my God has taken away my judgment, and has departed, and now you did not know? Have you not heard, the eternal God, the God who established the ends of the earth, will not hunger, nor will he grow weary, nor is there any searching out of his understanding, etc. Symmachus: Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel? And the rest agree. After the theology that has been set forth, he rebukes those who do not think that God oversees their deeds, from the former people. You think, he says, that by escaping notice you are not subject to God's judgment, although just now you heard it said to God, "In might of strength nothing escaped you." Nevertheless, even if you neither knew nor heard before, learn now—that is, but if you claim not to know, unless you should hear; concurring with your pretense, I will speak. That is, you will say that you did not know.

If then you have not heard, know that the eternal God not only holds together heaven but also the whole earth. And how will you be able to escape his notice? Instead of "he will not grow weary, he will not be exhausted," the others say. Besides not being weak, and having nothing human, he also has knowledge that cannot be grasped, through which his providence extends even to individual things, sometimes making the poor strong, and punishing the luxury of those in wealth with grief and worldly cares. He also inflicts weakness from sicknesses upon those in their prime; and conversely, those who endured for God in testimonies or persecutions, being weak in the present life, are deemed worthy of so great a change as to fly up freely to heaven. For the eagle is high-flying and gazes at the gleams of the sun, and sloughs off its natural old age according to the saying: "Your youth will be renewed like the eagle's." "For endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope, and hope does not put to shame." Therefore they will also exchange their strength, changing their mortal life and passing over to an angelic life. For through the eagles he likens them to the heavenly powers, which he compared to winged creatures. For this reason, then, even those in the waters have clean feathers. So then, even in the present life there is a partial judgment, and a universal one in the age to come, even if you, Israel, have not considered this so. Therefore I address these things to you, and fitting words to the remaining nations. CHAPTER 41, 17. Be renewed toward me, you islands. For the rulers will exchange strength. Let them draw near and speak together, then let them proclaim judgment.

Who has raised up righteousness from the east, called it to follow at his feet, and it goes? He will give before the nations, and he will astonish kings. And he will give their swords to the earth, and their bows as stubble driven out, and he will pursue them, etc. Be renewed before me, you islands—in place of which Symmachus says, Serve me, you islands, and Aquila and Theodotion, Be silent before me. For he commanded them to be silent, so that they might become attentive to divine converse and the saving proclamation, calling the Churches from the nations "islands," encompassed by the bitter evil of this life and by the waves of those who rise up against them. But they are safe, as walking upon a rock, Christ. Therefore they are not shaken. Above, having said that those who wait upon the Lord will exchange their strength, here he says, Rulers, that is, nations, let them exchange strength, according to Symmachus (commanding this to the islands and nations that wait upon the Lord), so that they might change their strength from worse to better. But some say that sometimes cities and villages are called islands, having broad land around them untilled and fallow, such as they say belong to the Idumeans and Moabites, as lying in the desert, to which he addresses himself, taking them as an example of the madness of the other idolaters, partially indicating the reception of the nations, which he wishes to pass over to newness of life, leaving behind the ancient error that had made them old, so that they may become a pure virgin, having no spot or wrinkle. Their rulers exchange their strength, as having become better than those under the law, and altogether excelling in spiritual power.

Some say that he advises souls grown old in pleasures to take up their own spiritual powers, having washed away the saltiness of the passions—that is, the old man—and having put on the new, according to what Paul holds. Then he says next: Let them draw near and let them speak together, God calling the nations to himself, and teaching them both to say and to think these things in the Church, and to proclaim the mystery of Christ in a judged manner. For since those from Jerusalem call the law "judgment," he, setting against it the saving proclamation, called it "judgment." For it has not the shadow of righteousness, but the true righteous judgment of God, which the new rulers, having learned from Christ, teach, being the will of God and the Father. Some say that he wishes the nations, having learned the word concerning judgment, to announce it to others also, and to know who has raised up righteousness from the east. For it is the work of righteousness that not only Jews but also the rest of the nations come to know the Lord. And the divine Apostle also calls Christ righteousness, saying: "Who became for us wisdom from God, both righteousness and sanctification, and redemption." And so he also calls the evangelical word, saying: "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel," and having called it the power of God he adds: "For the righteousness of God is revealed in it." Who also raised it up from the east of the light to follow him, giving it before the nations, so that their kings were first thrown into confusion, having stirred up persecutions against those who have it, and were defeated by it, with God fighting in its defense.

For he himself destroyed their weapons of war like dry sticks, leveling the way so that his feet might pass through in peace, having called righteousness from ancient generations, through which in the last times he rescued us from corruption and from the greed of the devil, and justified us through faith, enlightening those who were in darkness, saying through the prophet: "And for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise." He himself, then, called her to be made manifest to those on earth—that is, he prepared her to come—so as also to walk in the footsteps of the one who called. For he walked in the track of God the Father, fulfilling his works, and showing him in his own nature. For he was equal to him. Therefore he says: "If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me," and the rest. And following his will—or rather, being the will of the Father—he said to the Jews: "You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one." And: "If I judge, my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me," which is to proceed in the footsteps of the Father; whence he said: "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me." And: "He who has seen me has seen the Father." Through all these things he released from that tyranny those who from the beginning had been oppressed by the rulers of this darkness of the world—those whom one might call kings dethroned at so great a change of life, seeing their own fall, and how they have become like dry sticks, and every manner of their wickedness has been weakened, since Christ has plundered their vessels.

For an enemy will not profit him," he says, "and a son of lawlessness shall not add to harm him." Since the enemies have been driven off, the way of his feet has come to be in peace. For nothing stood in the way of him who orders our affairs. "I, therefore," he says, "who in the last time have shown forth righteousness, and have called it from ancient generations." For he foreknew the mystery of Christ from the foundation of the world, and how the correction of Adam was to come about. And it is no wonder, since he also foreknew the calling of those who are saved through faith. "For those whom he foreknew," he says, "he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, and these he also called." Therefore much more was he who was to save foreknown. But some have said thus: For he is the one who also strengthened Cyrus against all the nations, whom he here also calls righteousness—the one who freed Israel, and from the prophecy concerning him grasped the power of God. And as by the will [of God] he bound upon himself the dominion over the nations, like dry sticks of those taken captive, and of those compelled to bring peace to him. Cyrus, then, has been called righteousness for these reasons, and because he justly roused him against Babylon. But since the calling of this conclusion of righteousness does not rest in Cyrus, the account is led up to Christ, the righteousness himself, just as in Scripture the wicked kings are also led up to the demon who is the author of evil, since unmitigated wickedness is not contained in a man. And concerning things to come, he speaks as of things that have happened: "Who has wrought and done these things?" showing that whatever God has ordained to come to be, so it shall be, as though already having come to be; for none of them will fall through without being brought to accomplishment.

But showing that he is before all things, both without beginning and without end, he says, "I am God, the first, and after these things." For he is the same one who was known to those who loved God from the beginning, and who was entrusted after the former people to the Church from the Gentiles. Hence he added: "The nations saw, and were afraid." Either because I so disposed the Assyrian, having raised up Cyrus against him, that those wishing to help him came to nothing, and they cried out against the weakness of idols, marveling at the power of God; or because, having ceased from their former blindness, they came to know the one who said, "I am God, the first, and for the things to come." And having seen, they were afraid at the things that came to be in the beginning of wisdom. "For the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord." And to the ends of the earth, and to the most barbarous, the proclamation went forth, and the fear of the knowledge of God, according to the saying: "Let them draw near, and let them speak together." But there they were commanded to meet and speak, that is, to glorify God; here, however, "They drew near, and they came together," each one judging to help his neighbor. For those who love God hasten to save with themselves also their neighbors, drawing them out from unbelief by the law of love, saying that "We too were once children of wrath, devoted to idolatry, but now, having come to know the true God, we have been saved," having condemned the weakness of idols, which need someone to establish them for stability, which they do not have of themselves; but not even when established will it be able to be moved. And how are these still gods? And these things were what he said above: "Let them speak together," after drawing near, no longer being far off because of sin, but having received spiritual kinship.

For having tasted, they understood that the Lord is Christ, and having seen the beauty of the truth, they did not keep it for themselves alone but taught others, as a carpenter and a smith were able. And how were they able? The one who composed and carved an idol by the carpenter's craft, and the one who made a statue hammered from bronze, led the deceived astray into a reprobate mind, making worshippers of their own works out of those who had been made in the image of God, praising the work and calling it a beautiful emblem, as though it had been beautifully fitted together from its own parts. But some have interpreted the first words of the whole passage in this way: having spoken sufficiently about the calling from the Gentiles, he turned to those from Israel. For when they stumbled at the stone of stumbling and had become far from salvation, along with the shadow according to the law, the grace through faith was introduced in their place. But they murmured, saying, "My way has been hidden from God"—that is, he no longer attends to the worship according to the law. "He has taken away my judgment, and has departed"—that is, he has brought the law to an end. For David also says, "You have executed judgment and righteousness in Jacob," clearly meaning, you have ordained the law through Moses. And Moses also says, "And he gave him the ordinances of the law." But formerly their goal was the shadows they possessed, in which

Christ was prefigured, as he himself says: "If you believed Moses, you would believe in me." And the words of the prophets also foretold the future mystery of Christ, to which the economy of the law of Moses was destined to arrive. Except, as I will speak to those who have not heard, as God will not hunger. For to me, who have no need, you brought the services according to the law, in agreement with: "Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?" For how am I in need of these things, being eternal and incorruptible? Or will I suffer a human passion? But you reckon, he says, that if the new things are better than the old, why at all was the first legislation necessary? And why were the present things not proclaimed then? For you are ignorant of the economy of the wisdom of God, which Paul, having learned, says: that the Law entered in order that the transgression might abound. And again: For the Scripture shut up all things under sin, in order that it might have mercy on all. The law, then, is a reproof of human weakness, not justifying but condemning those whom Christ justified by grace. For he himself, who is also beyond hungering, gives spiritual strength to those who hunger for righteousness, who also leads the insensible to painful awareness, for the things in which, having sinned, they will pay the penalties. For godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation not to be regretted; that is, giving the sorrow from the capture to those who said: His blood be upon us and upon our children.

Those who have been deprived of spiritual food are weak, although they were previously strong, when the nations had fallen through weakness under the feet of the devil and were fed on the commandments according to the law; but when grace came to the nations, they themselves passed over into a famine which they brought upon themselves—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. No longer fed by him, they grew weak—by him who says: "I am the bread that came down from heaven," and the rest. Having eaten of him, the nations hunger no more. For Solomon also says: The Lord will not starve the soul of the righteous, but he will overthrow the life of the ungodly. For he endured them, when they had exchanged the weakness that comes from error for spiritual strength, and had become superior to fleshly pleasures, with Christ prevailing, so that they would say in song: "The Lord is my strength and my hymn." 98. But you, Israel, my servant Jacob, and the offspring of Abraham whom I chose, whom I loved, whom I took hold of from the ends of the earth, and from its watchtowers I called you, and I said to you: You are my servant, etc. Above, God was finding fault with Jacob and with Israel, who say, "My way is hidden from God"; but now in praise he calls Israel his servant and Jacob his chosen, the word clearly presenting two portions of the people from the circumcision: the one that fell away through unbelief, and the one that was saved through faith—of the apostles and of those with them who were deemed worthy of election, according to the divine Apostle who says: "So too at the present time there has come to be a remnant according to the election of grace." And the Gospel also says:

These twelve Jesus chose." But though many were called, even from the former people, few were chosen. To these the word makes the promises set before us, after the previously indicated calling of the nations in the passage: "Who raised up righteousness from the east," which he said he would give before the nations? And again: "The nations saw and feared, but the rest gave forth; but you, Israel, my servant." He called him servant first, then chosen—as though in the beginning he had been trained by fear of servitude under the law, and then through progress had been chosen through the calling. And there is another order besides these, the so-called seed of Abraham, indicating the multitude of the Jews, to whom the Savior said: "I know that you are the seed of Abraham," being others besides the children of Abraham, concerning whom he said: "If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham." Abraham, then, was beloved of God. But he says that the seed was not loved in the same way. Nevertheless he also called these through the chosen ones, saying, "Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And since they had been scattered to all the earth, he added: "From where I took hold of you from the end of the earth, and from its watchtowers," or, according to Symmachus, "from its corners," "I called you.

For he called them first, as Paul was saying to them: "It was necessary that the word be proclaimed to you first. But since you turn away, we go to the nations." So he says that those from among them who believed were received. But some say that, having initiated those from the nations into the mysteries, he encourages the apostles, through whom he was about to make the word of catechesis; and he reminded them of the virtue of their fathers, from which they were loved by God. And calling the fathers beloved and chosen, he exhorts those who are from them, as being from a noble root, to emulate their fathers and their piety; saying that he took hold of Abraham, calling him from the end of the earth, saying: "Go out from your land, and from your kindred." And he says "from the watchtowers," since Chaldea is recorded to be mountainous, by which he indicated that Abraham was at the summit of idolatry. Then he says, as concerning all Israel, that "I said to you: You are my servant." For he has been named firstborn. And God did not abandon him when he had become chosen. To whom he says: "Do not fear, nor wander; for I am your God, who strengthened you." Having taught him through the law that there is one God and one Lord, and that one must serve him alone, through the right hand of the Only-Begotten he made him heir of the nations that were subdued. But according to the first interpretation, having mentioned the seed of Abraham, he ran back again to the election of the apostolic choir, saying "my servant," but according to the others, "servant," in which Paul also took great pride, calling himself a servant, as from some dignity. And proceeding, the prophet will say:

Great is it for you to be called my child." And here again he set servitude before election. But encouraging the election to proclaim the Gospel to all the nations, he says: "Do not fear, for I am with you." As it is written: "Behold, I am with you all the days, until the consummation of the age." But do not be deceived, he says, thinking that by your own power you suffice for so great a proclamation. For what would you have done, had I not been present, and casting you into endurance of hardships? For I was guarding you, so that nothing should stand in your way as you proclaim. Therefore make no account of those who resist. For they shall come to nothing, those who for a little while seemed to be something in persecuting, whose end is destruction. As it is written: "I saw the impious one exalted exceedingly, and I passed by, and behold, he was not." "For those who think lofty things," he says, "undergo a terrible and unexpected crushing." And again: "He who makes his own house lofty seeks crushing." But the phrase, "I helped you, do not fear, worm of Jacob," does not appear in the Seventy. And he called him a worm whom he previously called elect, because, like a worm, entering into the cities of the unbelievers, he destroys the superstitious error from the very depth of the souls of men, and because the proclamation of the apostles is lowly and common. Thus indeed the Savior himself also says in a psalm: "But I am a worm, and not a man." And he calls Israel "little" because of the small number of the disciples. "For there were twelve, and after them, seventy." But Symmachus rendered it, "the number of Israel." And Aquila, "the dead of Israel.

But Theodotion says, "dead," in agreement with the apostolic word: "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." And: "I die daily, by your boasting." But even though you are a worm, dead and of little account, do not fear, because of the alliance that comes from me, through which you will thresh the impiety of the unbelieving nations—calling mountains and hills the opposing powers, as those lifted up against the knowledge of God, while the spirits that have been subjected are called hills; when these have perished, you will rejoice in the Lord. For he has given us authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy. And you might call mountains and hills also those in worldly positions of power who rose up against the apostles. But even when these have been brought down, you will rejoice among the saints of Israel, delighting when you see many having become saints and ranked among the sons of Israel. "For not all those who are from Israel are Israel." Such is the apostle's phrase, "My joy and crown." Having said these things about the apostles, the prophetic word, beginning from another point, speaks about the conversion of the nations: The poor and the needy will rejoice. But "they will rejoice" has been marked with an obelus; for in the other copies it is written: "The poor and the needy will seek water, and there will be none." But these things they suffered long ago. Now, however, "I will not forsake them, but I will bring forth rivers upon the mountains," and the rest. For the souls of old, being needy of the knowledge of God—so that their tongue and the word uttered through it were dried up, having not a drop of life-giving drink—these, beyond hope, drink saving streams through grace, according to what was foretold.

And they will drink water from the springs of salvation." And indeed, also from the springs of Israel, according to what is in the Psalms: "In the congregations bless God the Lord from the springs of Israel." And this is the Holy Spirit, who causes living waters to spring up in the congregations, from the Scripture of both the Old and the New; where also rivers—holy men—flood the formerly desert place, flowing from the great river, whose streams gladden the city of God, on account of which it is said: "The river of God was filled with waters." For it is possible to see the Church, formerly waterless, the desert of God and of every good thing, now having souls flourishing and lifted high above the earth from so many waters, like plants that consist only in the abundance of waters. For he mentions these things. Concerning this water the Savior also said: "Whoever drinks from my water," and the rest. And again: "The one who drinks from the water that I will give him, rivers of living water will flow from his belly." And this he said concerning the Spirit, which those who believe in him were about to receive, granting to those who have believed the flourishing and the height, the incorruptible and the fragrant. Now the olive, and the palm, and the vine in Scripture signify the fruits of the Church. But the things now spoken—the flourishing, and the well-divided, the fresh and the ripe of those who stumble in her—this is paradoxical to happen in a desert. Therefore he says, The hand of the Lord has done these things, so that those rooted on the earth, in this mortal and human life, might run up to the heavenly height, suspending their hopes of the kingdom of the heavens.

Thus God brought about a wondrous change among the nations. And he called the teachers of the Church "conduits," who, just as from springs and rivers, having taken into their mind the word of God-inspired Scripture and having made it their dwelling, pass it on to others as well, so that through their manner of life they might have the fragrant savor; through abstinence from worldly pleasures, incorruption; through a steadfast and firm disposition in all things, being rooted and able to bear the assaults of the spirits. For the Lord supports the righteous. And one must regard him as the cause, and not think these things happen automatically. But some said concerning the whole passage that God reminds Israel, which is advancing in progress, what sort of relation it always maintained toward him, having kindled this one for the whole world like a torch of the knowledge of God: calling Abraham from the end of the earth, and from Egypt delivering these out of another end, and reckoning them in all things. Having therefore had experience of so many wonders, take courage; and even if many nations surround you, do not be led astray. For I, who have pursued your enemies, even if others should appear, they will be reckoned as nothing. But perhaps you are afraid, seeing your own small number and the multitude of those surrounding you. But look to my help, through which you will cut down those who have risen up against you, so that they are likened to mountains and hills. This is what happened with the one hundred eighty-five thousand Assyrians, without Israel even fighting. And the afflictions that will seize their enemies are indicated by: "They will seek water, and they will not find it." And they say that the things concerning the rivers also happened in history, so that even jagged rocks burst forth into waters.

And again rivers dried up, as the Jordan did when the people crossed over. The sea also suffered this, and it flowed back again for the destruction of the Egyptians; and they were dashed out, not into both parts of the sea, but where Israel was, so that seeing they might take courage and say: "This is my God, who was formerly disbelieved." 29. "Your judgment draws near, says the Lord God. Your counsels have drawn near, says the King of Jacob. Let them draw near and announce to you what will happen, or tell what the former things were, and we will apply our mind and know what the last things are, and the things that are coming," etc. Having spoken of the change of the former wilderness for the better, he passes to another order, which remained in the error of idols, not understanding that the hand of the Lord did these things. Therefore nothing remains for you but condemnation, since you were insensible to such great grace. Therefore he adds: "Your counsels have drawn near." Instead of which Symmachus says: "Draw near, he says, your strong things." And Theodotion: "Your strongholds." And Aquila: "Your bones"—that is, bring your gods into the midst. Thus they interpreted. Chapter 42. 1. "Jacob my servant, I will uphold him. Israel my chosen, my soul has accepted him. I have given my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations; he shall not cry out, nor shall he lift up his voice, nor shall his voice be heard outside," etc. ... He has been foretold, saying: "I will give a beginning to Zion." And what sort this is, he has clearly added. For it is said that to the Church a beginning has been given, inasmuch as he became man, having obtained dominion over all. Therefore also he calls him Jacob, as having become of the blood of Israel according to the flesh.

I will take hold of him," he says. For the Father was working together with him, accomplishing great things as through his own power. And he is "chosen," because he is also "beautiful in beauty beyond the sons of men." And "accepted," as one beloved. For the Father was well pleased in him, saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Having been anointed, in accordance with his human nature, he is said to have partaken of the Holy Spirit, although he himself gives the Spirit and sanctifies creation. For when he was baptized, he says, the Spirit came upon him. And he was anointed "to bring forth judgment to the nations," that is, righteous judgment. For he has judged them, having condemned the one who took advantage, Satan, saying: "Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." Then, since he passed through human life quietly and gently, in great calm, not permitting himself to be made known even to those being healed, "He will not cry out," he says, "nor will his voice be heard outside." For he spent time nowhere outside Judea and Galilee. He came even as far as the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and of Caesarea Philippi. But he did not set foot in the cities of the foreigners themselves. And so, he says, he will pass through without noise, so as not even to grieve the weakest, and for this reason compared to a reed, and that a bruised one. But neither will he quench a smoldering flax. For this is the smoldering thing, which the rest produced dimly. And they say that the flax signifies the smoldering thing, the one vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh. For he did not grieve the humble, nor did he pursue the proud, being gentle toward all, and humble in heart.

But some said that the smoldering flax is the earthly man, who preserves a small spark of virtue or piety. For encouraging him, he does not allow him to proceed to despair, legislating the seventy-times-seven acts of repentance; and with boldness he set forth to all alike the things concerning God's judgment. And he did not stop before he shone forth like light through the resurrection from the dead, hinting at which he says: "He will shine forth, and he will not be broken." For those who contrived death for him have tried to break and extinguish him. For by death men are broken. But Christ alone became stronger than death. And having shone forth, he did not cease until he should establish judgment on the earth—that is, before he should ordain on earth the administration and judgment concerning the Church, which he handed over to his own disciples. For in these words he seems to call the law "judgment," as it was said concerning Israel, that there he gave him statutes and judgment. And again: "You have made judgment and righteousness in Jacob." And some say that the law, being in shadows and types, [was brought] into truth

He will bring it forth through the gospel ordinances. But the word "until" does not indicate a limit of time after which it will be broken, but that it will prevail to such an extent as even to establish judgment in all the earth. According to the text: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." And: "Behold, I am with you, until the consummation of the age." So also now he declares the unbreakable and immovable character of his ordinances. For it is written: "Your righteousness is righteousness forever, and your law is truth." Surely the nations hoped in his name, having learned that he is God, even if he appeared in the flesh. And according to David: "In his name they will exult all the day long." For we have been called Christians, and on him we have all our hope. But the Hebrew text, and the others, says "islands" instead of "nations." And instead of "name," "law." And we call the churches "islands," since they are surrounded by the unbelievers as by a sea. And the law of the one foretold is some other law besides the Mosaic one—namely, the new covenant, concerning which Jeremiah says: "And I will make with them a new covenant, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers." And the present prophet also said: "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." But since in the preceding utterance he suddenly interposed, saying, "Jacob my servant," without having distinguished the person, now he has added, "Thus says the Lord God," making clear that the oracles concerning Christ were spoken by him. And since the speaker is invisible, he sets forth his essence and his power from the greatness of created things, according to the voice of Paul.

He says that the heaven was fixed firm. For it was established from water, according to the writing of Moses, not from fire, according to the outside wise men. And that the earth was made solid, because being in the middle it is immovable; and instead of "and the things in it," Symmachus said "and the things that move upon it." But what are these things that he speaks of, who gives breath to the people upon it? For to all men through the first-formed man he breathed into the soul living, but the spirit he did not impart to all, but to those who tread the earth, who are better than the earthly mind. One might also say that every kind of living thing is indicated, both rational and irrational. Since many false prophets had arisen in Israel, it followed thereafter that the true prophets also were disbelieved, just as Christ himself was disbelieved even though he worked wonders. For they said he cast out demons in Beelzebub, and they said: "If this man were from God, he would not break the Sabbath." Therefore the Savior said to them: "The thief does not come except to steal, and to sacrifice, and to destroy. I came that they may have life." And again: "I came in the name of my Father." Hence the prophecy makes the Father testify to him, that he came when called, but not self-sent, like those who speak from their own heart, but in righteousness, having received the calling according to worthiness. And being Lord of the powers, he promises to work together, through the measures of humanity, showing him also to be God, and light from light; he says that he has been given as a light to the nations, as it were a gift, for a New Covenant, having godly abolished the shadow of the former.

And, since he himself was the Covenant, being mediator between God and men, he did not likewise deliver to Moses a writing or a book; but in him the eyes of the souls of those formerly blind are opened to the knowledge of God, from ignorance of idols and demons, to which they gave the divine reverence that is mine. The same also preached to the spirits confined in Hades, in the house of prison, releasing all from the bonds of necessity. At the same time, also, those foretold blind men, bound fast by the cords of their own sins and fettered by the darkness of wickedness, he deemed worthy through grace of the forgiveness of sins, having freed them from the prison of the devil—not the Jews specifically, not Israel, not Jacob, but every race of men. Therefore he said, of the nations. Then, having said that he is the Lord God: My glory, he says, I will not give to another. He did not say, to no one, they say, but to another, indicating that forgiveness has come about in one alone, of whom he was speaking:

I called you in righteousness, and the rest. And the glory of the one speaking was: I am the Lord God. For by this name he is glorified. But it is better to say: Since the Lord God is the Trinity, and the Son is not other in essence than the Father, he shows that he has presented great achievements; so that if he were a creature, he would not have become a partaker of the highest glory. For according to the divine Apostle, "Even if there be many so-called gods and lords, both in heaven and on earth; yet for us there is one God the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him." For he is not other than him, even if he is distinguished into his own hypostasis.

Saying, "I will not give my virtues to the graven images"—or "my hymn," according to Aquila; or "my praise," according to Symmachus—he teaches the nations to consider none of the former objects of worship as God, nor to offer impious praise. For he alone has the virtues of the Father, confessedly according to the divinity, and now also according to the economy. For in him all the fullness of the divinity was pleased to dwell bodily. To these things he adds: "Behold, they have come from the beginning." And in place of "Before I announced, it was made known to you," Symmachus said: "Before I announce them, I will make them heard by you." For just as the first things, he says, were fulfilled through works (for as I promised Abraham concerning his seed, I have done it; and the things foretold through Moses and the prophets were also fulfilled), so also now I proclaim new things to all. And before announcing and coming to the open, I have made them heard by you through the present prophecy, which he has set forth in what follows. But the account concerning the Savior being disbelieved, some say, he does not permit. And what, they say, are the new things? Those which our Lord Jesus Christ promised: the life into the age to come, and whatever is laid up worthily for the saints. 25. "Sing to the Lord a new hymn; his beginning: glorify his name, from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, who sail it, and the islands, and those who dwell in them. Rejoice, O wilderness, and its villages, its dwellings, and those who dwell in Kedar," etc. Through these things he has set forth what he called new, commanding all men to sing a hymn—or, according to the others, a song.

Since his rule and universal authority have been glorified over the whole earth. For it has been filled with those called Christians from the name of Christ. And the prophet, having feasted his soul in the pure contemplation of things to come, exhorts others to celebrate together with him, hymning the cause of good things. For the prophets followed what was said by them, sometimes objecting, sometimes rejoicing at what was said by God. This is also what he now experiences, seeing the coming of the Savior, teaching at the same time that the Lord who will appear will not then begin to rule for the first time, but holding all things as God, and being such over those on earth, he will be made manifest, while the apostles who worked the sea, which they sailed as fishermen, first began his knowledge. And a new hymn is fitting for the newness of things. For if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, and the old things have passed away; and all things have become new. For we have been redeemed from spiritual slavery, not fleshly slavery as was Israel's; and instead of brickmaking, we have come out from the defilements that come from love of the flesh, having fled not Egyptian taskmasters, nor a human tyrant, but the demons who drive us together into sin, and the devil who presides over them, so as to cross the turmoil of life as if it were a sea, and to eat instead of manna the bread from heaven that gives life to the world; and they luxuriated in the streams from the rock that is Christ, and having obtained the divine baptism we crossed the Jordan, entering into the land promised to the saints, which the blessed meek inherit.

For it was necessary that the hymn be offered to God from his dominion, by those ruled by him—as some say—not throughout Judea only, but throughout the whole earth. For not as of old was the Lord known in Judea, and his name in Israel alone. But now heaven and earth are full of his glory. And David also says: "All the earth shall be filled with his glory." And who are those who set up the singers of the new hymn and call them together into a spiritual choir? The apostles, who sail the sea for their craft. And because, sailing around the sea that is ours, they preached sometimes in the islands, and sometimes beyond Italy and Spain. They sailed also the sea of this life, preaching in the islands—the Churches of the Gentiles—which bear the assaults and winds of this life like waves, concerning which David says: "This is the great and wide sea," and what follows. Since the affairs of this life, possessing instability, are stirred up and down with great confusion, which those who are not baptized by it sail across, holding themselves above its waves—clearly, among other things, above worldly distractions. And you might call "islands" also the souls that, before the coming of Christ, were flooded by bitter passions. Concerning which he says: "Rejoice, O wilderness, and her villages," or, according to others, "her cities." For many cities are conceived in the Church of God, according to the various ways of life. Therefore also in the vision of Egypt he said that five cities would come to be in Egypt speaking the Canaanite tongue. But some say the cities of the wilderness are those that are brought forward, Kedar and Petra.

Of which Kedar is a city of the Saracens beyond Arabia in the furthest desert. And Petra is a most superstitious city of Palestine; through these, which are well known to the Jews, he shows that the rational gladness will reach even those who dwell at the ends of the earth, and those who have sickened with the utmost idolatry. For through certain particular things, and things known to the hearers, Scripture sets forth the knowledge of God for the whole earth. And it is possible now to see that, among those mentioned, there are Churches of Christ according to the prophecy. One might also say that the souls that were formerly deprived of the knowledge of God are called a desert, whose ignorance Kedar sets forth, being interpreted as darkness. These he proclaims as about to be enlightened, at the same time also teaching that the souls that strive against the coming of the Savior will confess the reverence due to him. For Kedar is a place of the race of Esau, who persisted in war against Jerusalem, and the law that is in it. And in another sense, those who dwell in Petra will be glad. And the rock was Christ. And concerning all the things said, he says that, having stood on the mountains of God—that is, of the oracles—they will offer a hymn to him on high, according to the text: "Go up on a high mountain, you who bring good news to Zion." And he says that they will proclaim his virtues in the islands that have been indicated; which the disciples did, sometimes declaring his supercosmic divinity, and sometimes announcing the things of piety.

And since many were going to rise up against those who used great boldness concerning this, and the demons who worked through them, as though their rule were being shaken, he foretells that they will become indestructible, with God fighting in their defense beforehand. And he will go forth, he says, as when a king goes out to war. And he will stir up zeal, either that which is from himself against enemies—for such is the saying in Zechariah: "I have been zealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion with a great zeal"—or those who will be zealous for him, such as the Apostle was, who said: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" And again: "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." And the divine martyrs also have been zealous. And zeal is not a passion of God, but vengeance upon those who have sinned. And as at a war-cry, he has added that he will cry out against the enemies; which they do either when engaging in battle, or when triumphing over the defeated. Then, declaring the great long-suffering toward the nations that worship idols, he has added: I have been silent; shall I be silent forever? For he wished even long ago to rescue these from Satan. But he was waiting for the fitting time, until through Christ he had campaigned against those who had conquered us. And this "I have been silent" will also fit the legion that wished to kill the man among the tombs; and it will fit the general judgment,

whenever he renders to each according to worth. And he sets before us God's forbearance toward us, in that he takes as his own, as it were, our salvation, travailing with the natures of those subject to him, as one in travail with offspring—and this when no one was practicing goodness, according to David: Therefore I will not refrain, then, for love's sake, being long-suffering, as that woman suffering in hope of children, commanding the passions to be still, and drying up the pleasures that gush forth, bringing upon them such a removal from unnatural things through repentance. For how could anyone repent without condemning himself and ceasing from his former deeds? According to the saying: "When you turn away and groan, then you will be saved." And this Christ accomplished for all, as far as lay in him, by his coming; even if some, though blind, when the light was present, hastened to remain, willfully deaf to the divine words, and persisted in their idols, according to the saying: "Let those who make them become like them." And the phrase, I will remove, some say means, concerning the land held by them, I will make them to be outside, and outside the rule bounded for them over all things, according to the saying: "Now the ruler of this world will be cast outside," or rather, I will make those who see the things set right to marvel. At which even Habakkuk, struck with amazement, said: "Lord, I have heard your report, and I feared. Lord, I considered your works, and I was amazed." And in saying, he wedges the dry, he means: For I will make rivers into islands, and I will dry up marshes, thus calling the wise among the Greeks, and all the things they fashioned concerning the gods.

By which they watered those who obeyed with a turbid overturning, as the Scripture says, whom it also calls marshes, having both the flourishing and the fruitless, whom Christ, appearing, as it were dried up, showed to be useless, just as Paul also says: "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" From these, churches that bear the name of islands have come to be, receiving those who sail in Christ, having fled the wintry squall, from which those who go down to the sea in ships are storm-tossed by the circumstances of life, carried here and there. But when the things mentioned had been dried up, those formerly blind were saved, led to the evangelical ways, which they did not know before; to whom Paul also spoke: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord." To whom, as John the Baptist also said, "The crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways smooth." For he foretold: "That every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low." And elsewhere Isaiah says: "The way of the godly has become straight," indicating the evangelical way, being smooth for those who tread it, in agreement with: "For my yoke is good, and my burden is light." To whom he promises to be present always, according to: "Behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age." But from the phrase, "But they turned back," all the interpreters say it was spoken to the Jews, some also saying that it was spoken to them from above, from "The Lord God of hosts will come forth.

They say that, having promised these things to the desert, and to the islands, and to Kedar (which were alien to the people of the Jews, of the prophecy), the word declared the rejection of Israel through those who were brought in, saying: The Lord God of hosts will come forth, and will shatter war. And according to Symmachus: The Lord will come forth as a mighty one, as a man of war. And as against enemies he describes the war against the Hebrews, and he calls the zeal against them, concerning which Moses said: And I will provoke them to jealousy by a nation that is not a nation. This zeal, he says, he will stir up, appropriating to himself the desert, and Kedar, and the islands, but rejecting the people of the Jews. And he will do this by reasoning, bringing forward the defense in return for what he did, such as this: And he will cry out against his enemies with strength. And what is the defense? I have been silent. Shall I also be silent always? For I have been long-suffering, bearing them sufficiently while they sinned. And at the time of the passion, I was silent while being slandered, when I also endured, as she who gives birth. But now is the time

of repayment. Therefore I will astonish and dry up at the same time. But according to the Hebrew and the other interpreters he has added: I will lay waste the mountains, and the hills, and all their grass I will dry up. By mountains and hills, hinting at the rulers of the people, and by grass their sins, as Paul says: "But if anyone builds upon this foundation wood, grass, stubble, each one's work will become manifest." And above he was saying: "As grass the people was dried up;" and having called the legal teachings among them rivers, he says, I will make them into an island. And the places among them that stagnate with rational waters, so as to be compared to marshes, I will dry up. Having threatened these things, he passes again to the grace given to the nations, saying: I will bring the blind in the way. And previously indeed he said concerning Christ: "I have given you as a covenant of a race, as a light of nations to open the eyes of the blind." But the word "in the way" has been set forth by all in the singular, which the Savior indicated when he said: "I am the way," which we did not know before. And paths, clearly the prophetic Scriptures, and the ways of life that are set forth by divine teachings. And he says that the ignorance of God will be changed for us into light, and the oracles of God that were long ago crooked and unclear will become smooth. Upon which he added, These words I will do to them. And precisely he said, not, I will speak, but, I will do. For long ago it had been spoken through prophets; but now he promises to accomplish it through works. From here he turns the word to those who long ago remained near to God, but turned away backward, I mean the Jews.

He shows, as it were, to them the conversion of the nations, and what kind of change they underwent, passing from darkness into light, speaking reproachfully to the idolaters: Be ashamed with shame, and so on. Symmachus interpreted this accurately, saying: They shall be ashamed with shame, those who trust in carved images. Aquila says: Let them be ashamed. Theodotion says: Let them be put to shame. For truly, when the nations that formerly worshipped idols turned to the fear of God, the nation of the Jews was put to shame; and now, having been put to shame, they ceased when they saw those formerly blind enlightened. He spoke about them very emphatically: But they themselves turned away, those who were guided by the divine law and had known the God of all things; for they heard, "The Lord your God, the Lord is one." And, "You shall have no gods besides me." Having said these things, as if uttering a shout into the ears of the deaf, he cries out: You deaf, hear. And so that the word might not be thought to have been spoken about the nations (for these things belonged to them long ago), he distinguishes: And who is blind but my servants? In place of which Symmachus says: And who is blind, if not my servant? and deaf as my messenger? who is blind, as the perfect one? and deaf as my servant? He calls the people from the circumcision a servant, and a messenger, and perfect, condemning them because he wished them to be such. But that they blinded themselves and made themselves deaf, he establishes, saying: See many times and you did not guard. Their ears are opened, and you did not hear. He also foretold, "Hearing you shall hear, and you shall certainly not understand," and so on. Symmachus brought out the passage thus: You saw many things, and you shall not guard. His ears are opened, and you shall certainly not hear.

The Lord willed to magnify the law and make it wonderful, clearly indicating that the discourse concerns the Jews. But they, he says, have the snare within in their thoughts, which they hid while plotting against Christ. Or rather, they did not consider how he brought them out of the house of bondage and instructed them by the law. For otherwise they would have magnified praise, bringing me thank-offerings. But now they have revolted to idolatry and every injustice. Therefore he said: "I waited for it to produce a grape, but it produced thorns." Hence he brings them to remembrance of the things that happened to their fathers. For I saw their impieties. But they have been plundered and become a prey to their enemies. For the snare, he says, is in the treasuries everywhere; and in houses they hid them—clearly the molten images. For the leaders of the people pretended openly to live according to the law, but in their mind they concealed impiety. And having idols in their houses, they offered worship in secret. Therefore God says to Ezekiel: "Son of man, dig. And I dug in the wall and saw. And behold, every likeness of reptile and beast, and all the idols of the house of Israel, drawn upon it round about. And he said to me: Have you seen, son of man? Is it a small thing for the house of Israel what each one does in his secret chamber?" Therefore, he says, I delivered them into captivity. But when God has betrayed them, who would stand by and manage the plundered things, when none of those thought to be gods is able to do this? But in a manner of economy, after the calling of the nations, he stated the reason for Israel's rejection, which Moses indicated when he said:

They provoked me to jealousy with what is not God, and I will provoke them to jealousy with what is not a nation." And David also says: "They provoked him to anger with their carved images," and the rest. Therefore we must flee the snares in the mind, lest we become a prey to demons through the passions stirred up within us, according to the saying: "If a spirit of one in authority comes up against you, do not leave your place." Then, since he was speaking to them as to the deaf, at a loss for hearers he says among them: Who among you will give ear to these things? For even if the outcome of events is not yet at hand, it will be accomplished in the times to come. Who, then, will seek the cause of the people's plundering, so as to say, Who gave Jacob up for plundering? And no one has done this except he against whom they sinned, and they were unwilling to walk in his ways. For when called to the gospel ways, they did not obey; nor were they willing to hear the law of the New Covenant. Therefore war prevailed against them. For formerly, when warred against for a time, they recovered themselves again, as also Jerusalem, and the kingdom established in it. But now, when outside, the war against their souls also has prevailed over them, and they did not reckon the cause of these evils. Some, however, took these things again as referring to the capture under the Assyrians, who also say that "to hear" means merely to listen, while "to give ear" means to send the word through the mind, listening intelligently—such hearers as the prophet now seeks, who know, according to Paul, that these things happened to them typically, but were written for our admonition, so that they may guard against being caught by the same things.

He says this with emphasis: that Jacob, whom he saved from Egypt, for whose sake so many wonders were wrought against his enemies, was handed over. Who then made the one accustomed to conquer fall before his enemies, and for what cause? The question "who" contains a clear confession, namely that it was God who did it, because they had abandoned him. Yet they ought not to have sinned, nor were they admonished even after suffering. On their account Jeremiah says: "Lord, your eyes are for faithfulness. You scourged them, and they did not wish to receive discipline." Therefore, when he told those left from the capture not to go down into Egypt, their women, senseless to the wrath, cried out: "The Lord did not send you." And they added: "Since we ceased sacrificing to the queen of heaven, evils have overtaken us." So senseless were they, when war prevailed over them and those around them set them on fire. As the present prophet also says elsewhere: "Your cities are burned with fire." These things, he says, they have now suffered, not because God was weak to save them. He makes clear the wonders that came before. But neither did they suffer while acting justly, but because they transgressed the law given to them. Not understanding this, he says, you remained, held fast by calamities. CHAPTER 43. 111. And now thus says the Lord God who made you, Jacob, and who formed you, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name. You are mine. And if you pass through water, I am with you, and rivers shall not close you in. And if you pass through fire, you shall certainly not be burned, etc.

These things are foreign to what was just said about the people from the circumcision, whom he called blind and deaf and plundered. Therefore now the discourse concerns the better order of those from the circumcision who believed. For if even those, he says, having become such as they were, suffered such things, yet you who have recognized your own Maker and Fashioner, hear, having kept the workmanship and the formed thing in you unharmed, so as to be rightly called Jacob and Israel. For I, who made you according to the soul made in the image, and formed your body too, taken from the earth, who also gave my own blood for you, redeemed you, making you my own possession. Having been deemed worthy of these things, walk the road you were commanded, proclaiming the good news. And even if some oppose, take courage, not fearing. "For behold, I am with you all the days, until the consummation of the age." Imitating me, then, who made my blood your exchange, become yourself also an exchange for the most impious of those called through you, even those dwelling to the ends of the earth. Of these, the Egyptians are an example of the one group, and the Ethiopians and those who dwell in Syene of the other. But the rest gave Saba instead of Syene; for thus you were glorified through my love, so that through you all might be called. Saba is a nation of Ethiopians, whose queen came to Solomon. These, then, for your sake, or in your stead, I acquired all. But I will destroy those who will make war against you because of the proclamation, both peoples and rulers. Take courage, therefore.

For your children also, whom you sowed according to God and begot throughout the whole inhabited world, I will gather into my heavenly city, lifting them up through the air, as if lightened by winged winds—that is, by the angelic powers. For I determine that those born through you are my children, having obtained regeneration in the Church, who will all be called by my name, being addressed as Christians. For Christ is the one who declared these things through the prophet. But in place of "for in my glory I hastened him"—"I created him for my glory"—the rest have rendered it. So that the people called through you may glorify me. For I formed him who was unformed in his ways, and I enlightened him who was blinded in the darkness of ignorance. Such are the nations which he says were gathered to his own Church, from whom also rulers were appointed over the people of God. Then the prophet, filled with wonder at the things he had declared, says: Who then will there be who will ever see with his eyes the outcomes of these events, and be a witness of their fulfillments? Let them be justified, having borne witness, since I too will be their witness, and the servant whom I chose. Concerning whom he said: "Behold my servant whom I have chosen." And the Savior also says: "Whoever confesses me before men, I also will confess him before my Father who is in heaven." To whom again he said:

You shall be my witnesses in Galilee, in Judea, in Jerusalem, and to the ends of the earth." These things, he says, I will do, and I will send my witnesses and my servant, whom I have chosen, to all people, so that you may know, and believe, and understand, that I am without beginning and the only God. For both Christ and the apostles proclaimed the knowledge of God, faith, and the understanding concerning him. But there is one God, the Father, his own power not being other than he—which is the Son. Therefore, just as the Father is a witness and God who saves, so also is the servant whom he chose. Wherefore in other passages the present prophet says: "And the Lord will send them a savior, who will save them. In judging he will save them." But instead of "I reproached," the rest say "I made heard." For I made these things heard, having come beforehand, being alone God among you, and no stranger was present with me when I declared these things through my prophets, as you yourselves have become witnesses. And I too am a witness, and my servant. For he was with me when I declared them, having his existence before the flesh. But what I ordained from the beginning, no one will be able to shake. These things have been said with reference to the person of Jacob and Israel, but they are referred to the apostolic choir, and the word extends to all the faithful from among the Jews. But some say that God, being good, calls back through mercy those whom he cast off in disciplining them, passing over the former things in forgetfulness, and setting forth the beginning of another season, according to the words, "Today, if you hear my voice," and what follows. As

For there the word is "today," and here it is "now," having as its basis an amnesty, and [it is] the beginning of other things that will come to be from God, who does not permit us to be too disheartened, as though we would have a change from present circumstances, since all people are redeemed by the blood of Christ. For God was well pleased to sum up all things in him, according to Paul's voice, giving us also the new name of Christ, which has been called upon us. But what is the name? "You are mine." For we are all said to be Christ's, having come to be outside the former alienation that we had when we sinned, although by nature we were God's. But again he made us his own through the Spirit, making us immune to every temptation. For rivers and water and flames signify the manifold assaults of temptations. For it is written: "For all who wish to live piously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." And Christ said to those who believe: "You have tribulation in the world." And in the parable of the house founded on the rock: "And the rain came down, he says, and the rivers came, and the winds blew," indicating temptations through these. But the phrase, "I have made Egypt your ransom," indicates that in exchange for the casting out I preserved the nations, of which, though formerly impious, Israel alone was the portion of God. But now the order of things has been reversed, since the Jews killed the Redeemer. I will glorify you, he says, having honored you after this. For he too will be called after the entrance of the nations, when, doing for your sake, I will give you many teachers and rulers speaking on your behalf. And the head of the faithful is Christ, which will come to be for your sake and for your benefit.