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you have forsaken the Lord and have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel. And who was it whom they forsook other than the Christ, because of provoking and forsaking whom they have suffered the things that are spoken of next? It must be observed that the preceding words accuse the entire nation of the Jews, rulers and ruled alike, of nothing else than having forsaken the Lord; for it does not blame them for idolatry, but because they have forsaken the Lord, whom ox and ass recognized, but Israel did not understand. Therefore it rightly pronounces him wretched, as having been shown to be much worse than even the brute animals by nature. 1.11 It blames them for a certain incurable and untreatable disease; for it says, "every head into pain, and every heart into grief, from feet to head there is no soundness in him." Then also the word despairs of their healing, saying: "it is not possible to apply a plaster, nor oil, nor bandages," which things, if they should be understood after the times concerning the saving advent, have a place, since then "wrath has come upon them to the uttermost." But if [understood] of earlier times, it would not be true, because from time to time and in each generation there have been some God-loving men among them, even during the Babylonian captivity itself, so that we might reasonably take the preceding words to refer to their final fall, during which, because of not understanding the Christ of God who visited them, having been besieged by the Romans, they no longer raised their head. At any rate, they were alienated backwards, and their every head, that is, ruling authority, having been humbled, has come into pain, and every heart into grief, so that from feet to head, that is, from the least to the greatest, there is no soundness in them, nor can you devise any saving remedy for them. For how was it possible for them to find another remedy productive of health and salvation, having denied the Lord, and not having recognized him nor understood the physician of souls who visited them, the only one able to heal every disease and every infirmity of both souls and bodies. But instead of: "there is no soundness in him, neither wound nor bruise" and what follows, Symmachus has rendered it in this way: "There is nothing healthy in him, but a wound and a bruise and a striking blow not pressed, nor bound up, nor softened with oil." 1.12 The verse: "Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire," and the things said with these, were in no way being enacted at that time when it was spoken, but were foreseen by the prophet as about to happen sometime in later times. And instead of: "as a tent in a vineyard," Symmachus says "as a hut in a vineyard and as a night-shelter in a cucumber field and as a city besieged." And the vineyard named here, the same prophet clarifies in the things that follow, is the entire nation, saying: "For the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah his beloved new plant." Then he brings forward the cause of their desolation, saying: "I waited for him to do righteousness, but he did iniquity; and not righteousness, but a cry." 1.13 Since they themselves first "forsook the Lord and provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel," they are rightly said to be about to be forsaken. But the phrase: "to be left as a tent in a vineyard," signifies their complete fruitlessness; for as long as it is filled with good fruits, a vineyard possesses a guard, who, having pitched a tent, watches from above, from a high place, and guards the vineyard. But if its fruit should vanish, then the guard, so that he might not labor in vain, leaving the tent deserted, withdraws from his watch. This very thing, therefore, the divine spirit prophesies will happen concerning the temple; for since the entire nation was constituted like a vineyard, the temple in Jerusalem was established like a tent in the middle of it all, and from there as from a watchtower the guard watched over the vineyard, but since "instead of grapes, it produced thorns," it follows also that

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ἐγκατελείπατε τὸν κύριον καὶ παρωργίσατε τὸν ἅγιον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. τίς δὲ ἦν ὃν ἐγκατέλιπον ἢ ὁ Χριστός, ὃν διὰ τὸ παρωργικέναι καὶ ἐγκαταλελοιπέναι τὰ ἑξῆς ἐπιλεγόμενα πεπόνθασιν; τηρητέον ὡς τὰ προκείμενα τοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους Ἰουδαίων ἀρχόντων τε καὶ ἀρχομένων κατηγορεῖ, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ ὡς τὸν κύριον καταλιπόντων· οὐ γὰρ εἰδωλολατρίαν αὐτοῖς ἐπιμέμφεται, ἀλλ' ὅτι τὸν κύριον καταλελοίπασιν, ὃν βοῦς καὶ ὄνος ἐπέγνω, ὁ δὲ Ἰσραὴλ οὐ συνῆκεν. διόπερ εἰκότως αὐτὸν ταλανίζει ὡς καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν τῇ φύσει ἀλόγων ἀποδειχθέντα πολὺ χείρονα. 1.11 Ἀνίατόν τινα καὶ ἀθεράπευτον ἐπιμέμφεται αὐτοῖς νόσον· πᾶσαν γὰρ κεφαλήν φησιν εἰς πόνον καὶ πᾶσαν καρδίαν εἰς λύπην, ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ ὁλοκληρία. εἶτα καὶ ἀπογινώσκει αὐτῶν ὁ λόγος τὴν θεραπείαν λέγων· οὐκ ἔστιν μάλαγμα ἐπιθεῖναι οὔτε ἔλαιον οὔτε καταδέσμους, ἅπερ εἰ μετὰ τοὺς χρόνους τοὺς περὶ τὴν σωτήριον παρουσίαν ἐκλαμβάνοιτο χώραν ἔχει, ἐπειδὴ τότε «ἔφθασεν εἰς αὐτοὺς ἡ ὀργὴ εἰς τέλος». εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀνωτέρω χρόνους οὐκ ἂν ἀληθεύοιτο, διὰ τὸ κατὰ χρόνους καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην γενεὰν ἐπ' αὐτῆς τε τῆς ἐν Βαβυλῶνι αἰχμαλωσίας γεγονέναι τινὰς παρ' αὐτοῖς θεοφιλεῖς ἄνδρας, ὥστε εὐλόγως ἡμᾶς τὰ προκείμενα ἐπὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην αὐτῶν ἀπόπτωσιν ἐκλαβεῖν, καθ' ἣν διὰ τὸ μὴ συνιέναι ἐπιδημήσαντα αὐτοῖς τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, πολιορκηθέντες ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων οὐκέτι ἦραν κεφαλήν. ἀπηλλοτριώθησαν γοῦν εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω καὶ πᾶσα αὐτῶν κεφαλή, ἀρχοντικὴ δηλαδὴ ἐξουσία, ταπεινωθεῖσα γέγονεν εἰς πόνον, πᾶσά τε καρδία εἰς λύπην, ὡς ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς, ἀπὸ μικροῦ δηλαδὴ καὶ ἕως μείζονος, μὴ εἶναι ἐν αὐτοῖς ὁλοκληρίαν, μηδέ τι φάρμακον αὐτοῖς ἐπινοεῖς σωτήριον. πῶς γὰρ καὶ οἷόν τε ἦν ἕτερον αὐτοὺς ὑγείας καὶ σωτηρίας ποιητικὸν εὑρᾶσθαι φάρμακον ἀρνησαμένους τὸν κύριον, μηδὲ ἐπεγνωκότας αὐτὸν μηδὲ συνιέντας ἐπιδημήσαντα αὐτοῖς τὸν τῶν ψυχῶν ἰατρὸν τὸν μόνον πᾶσαν νόσον καὶ πᾶσαν μαλακίαν ψυχῶν ὁμοῦ καὶ σωμάτων ἰάσασθαι δυνάμενον. ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ ὁλοκληρία οὔτε τραῦμα οὔτε μώλωψ καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς ὁ Σύμμαχος τοῦτον ἐξέδωκεν τὸν τρόπον· οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ ὑγιές, ἀλλὰ τραῦμα καὶ μώλωψ καὶ πληγὴ κρούματος οὐ σφιγγομένη οὐδ' ἐπιδεσμουμένη οὐδ' ἁπαλυνομένη ἐλαίῳ. 1.12 Τό· ἡ γῆ ὑμῶν ἔρημος, αἱ πόλεις ὑμῶν πυρίκαυστοι, καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἐπιλεγόμενα καὶ τότε μὲν οὐδαμῶς ἐνηργεῖτο ὁπηνίκα ἐλέγετο, μέλλοντα δὲ συμβήσεσθαί ποτε μακροῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις τῷ προφήτῃ προεθεωρεῖτο. ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· ὡς σκηνὴ ἐν ἀμπελῶνι, ὁ Σύμμαχος ὡς καλύβη φησὶν ἐν ἀμπελῶνι καὶ ὡς νυκτοφυλάκιον ἐν σικυηράτῳ καὶ ὡς πόλις πεπορθημένη. τὸν δ' ἐνταῦθα ἀμπελῶνα ὠνομασμένον ἐν τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα τὸ πᾶν ἔθνος εἶναι διασαφεῖ ὁ αὐτὸς προφήτης λέγων· «ὁ γὰρ ἀμπελὼν κυρίου σαβαὼθ οἶκος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ ἐστιν καὶ ἄνθρωπος τοῦ Ἰούδα νεόφυτον ἠγαπημένον». εἶθ' ἐπάγει τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ἐρημίας αὐτῶν λέγων· «ἔμεινα ἵνα ποιήσῃ δικαιοσύνην, ἐποίησεν δὲ ἀνομίαν καὶ οὐ δικαιοσύνην ἀλλὰ κραυγήν». 1.13 Ἐπεὶ αὐτοὶ πρότεροι «ἐγκατέλιπον τὸν κύριον καὶ παρώργισαν τὸν ἅγιον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ», εἰκότως ἐγκαταλειφθήσεσθαι λέγονται. τὸ δέ· ὡς σκηνὴ ἐν ἀμπελῶνι καταλείπεσθαι, σημαίνει τὴν παντελῆ αὐτῶν ἀκαρπίαν· ἕως μὲν γὰρ καρπῶν ἀγαθῶν πεπλήρωται, ἀμπελὼν τὸν φρουροῦντα κέκτηται, ὃς σκηνὴν πηξάμενος ἄνωθεν ἀφ' ὑψηλοῦ ἀφορᾷ καὶ φυλάττει τὸν ἀμπελῶνα. εἰ δ' ὁ τούτου καρπὸς ἀφανισθῇ, τηνικαῦτα ὁ φύλαξ ὡς ἂν μὴ εἰς μάταιον κάμνοι, τὴν σκηνὴν ἔρημον καταλιπὼν ἀναχωρεῖ τῆς φυλακῆς. τοῦτο δὴ οὖν αὐτὸ γενήσεσθαι περὶ τὸν νεὼν τὸ θεῖον πνεῦμα θεσπίζει· τοῦ γάρ τοι παντὸς ἔθνους δίκην ἀμπελῶνος συνεστῶτος, ὥσπερ τις σκηνὴν μέση τοῦ παντὸς ὁ ἐν τῇ Ἰερουσαλὴμ νεὼς ἵδρυτο, ἔνθεν τε ὡς ἀπὸ σκοπῆς ὁ φρουρὸς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα ἐπεσκόπει, ἐπεὶ δὲ «ἀντὶ σταφυλῆς ἐποίησεν ἀκάνθας», ἀκόλουθον καὶ