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being Lord of all, he was made known to them then. They were estranged backwards. Why will you be struck still, adding lawlessness? The greatest condemnation is when they do not become better even by punishments. And this too is a form of beneficence, to punish. For they could not say that he only honored and benefited them, but let them go when they sinned; but he also drew them by honors and disciplined them by fear of punishments, and in both they remained incurably sick. He showed every form of healing, cutting, cauterizing; but the sickness did not yield even so, which is especially a sign of being incurably sick, not even being able to receive therapy. Every head into pain, and every heart into sorrow. From feet to head there is no soundness in him, neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering sore. Then he speaks of the punishments and chastisements; for this is no lesser a form of beneficence and of the honor shown to them. For ‘I afflicted them all,’ he says, ‘and cast them into sorrow.’ If every head is into pain, how is there neither wound, nor bruise? A wound, when the rest of the body is healthy, then appears to be a wound; but if the whole should happen to be ulcerated, the sore would no longer be apparent. This, then, he wants to show, that the whole body was ulcerated, and it was not that one part was healthy and another swollen, but all was inflammation, all one single bruise. It is not possible to apply a soothing ointment. This is heavier than the former. For it is not so difficult to be sick, as for one who is sick not even to be able to be healed, and especially when the physician is such a one. Neither oil, nor bandages. So that, to make the saying emphatic, he persisted in the metaphor; for this is its excellence. Your land is desolate. These things he does not report as having happened, but proclaims beforehand as things that will be. The prophets use this custom, both frightening the hearer and showing the power of their own truth. For just as it is not possible for past things not to have happened, so it is not possible for future things spoken by the prophets not to occur, unless, perhaps, those who are about to be punished should repent. Your cities are burned with fire. For he did not destroy them completely, but let the remnants of the barbarian conflagration stand, being more able to touch the sight of those who see them. Strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is desolate, overthrown by foreign peoples. An intensification of disaster, when they become spectators of their own disasters and do not learn of them by hearing only.

1.4 The daughter of Zion shall be left, like a tent in a vineyard, and like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. The images also have something great, and especially those in Scripture, for the extension of what is said. And he calls Jerusalem the daughter of Zion also because it is situated below the mountain. Like a tent in a vineyard and like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. For with the fruit having been taken and the farmers carried away, the building of the city is henceforth superfluous. Like a city besieged. This is an enigma of their weakness and abandonment. For when there is no one to help, then it is necessary to be shut in, awaiting safety from the walls alone. And unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become as Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah. It is always a custom for the prophets not only to foretell those terrible things which the offenders are about to suffer, but also what they were worthy to suffer, so that even in the very time of punishment they might know many graces to God, paying a penalty not worthy of their offenses, but much less. This at any rate he also says here, that their sins demanded not these things that were mentioned, but utter destruction and the complete annihilation of the entire race; which indeed also happened in the case of Sodom. But the love of God for mankind did not allow this to happen, bringing a punishment much less than the sin. And since the kinship of the Old to the New is great, Paul reasonably made use of this; and he spoke it more suitably than the prophet. For just as at that time, if not the great

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ὢν ἁπάντων ∆εσπότης, αὐτοῖς ἐγνωρίζετο τότε. Ἀπηλλοτριώθησαν εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω. Τί ἔτι πληγῆτε προστιθέντες ἀνομίας; Μεγίστη κατάγνωσις, ὅταν μηδὲ ταῖς τιμωρίαις γίνωνται βελτίους. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ εἶδος εὐεργεσίας, τὸ κολάζειν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν ἔχοιεν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ἐτίμησε καὶ εὐηργέτησε μόνον, ἁμαρτάνοντας δὲ ἠφίει· ἀλλὰ καὶ τιμαῖς ἐφείλκετο καὶ φόβῳ τῶν κολάσεων ἐσωφρόνιζε, καὶ ἐν ἑκατέροις ἔμειναν ἀνίατα νοσοῦντες. Πᾶν εἶδος ἰατρείας ἐπεδείξατο, τέμνων, καίων· τὰ δὲ τῆς νόσου οὐδὲ οὕτως εἶξε, ὃ μάλιστα τοῦ νοσεῖν ἀνίατα σημεῖόν ἐστι, τὸ μηδὲ δύνασθαι δέξασθαι θεραπείαν. Πᾶσα κεφαλὴ εἰς πόνον καὶ πᾶσα καρδία εἰς λύπην. Ἀπὸ ποδῶν ἕως κεφαλῆς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ ὁλοκληρία, οὔτε τραῦμα, οὔτε μώλωψ, οὔτε πληγὴ φλεγμαίνουσα. Εἶτα λέγει τὰς κολάσεις καὶ τὰς τιμωρίας· οὐκ ἔλαττον γὰρ τοῦτο εἶδος εὐεργεσίας ἐστὶ καὶ τῆς τιμῆς τῆς εἰς αὐτοὺς γεγενημένης. Πάντας γάρ, φησίν, ἐκάκωσα καὶ εἰς λύπην αὐτοὺς ἐνέβαλον. Εἰ πᾶσα κεφαλὴ εἰς πόνον, πῶς οὐκ ἔστιν οὔτε τραῦμα, οὔτε μώλωψ; Τὸ τραῦμα, τοῦ λοιποῦ σώματος ὑγιαίνοντος, τότε φαίνεται τραῦμα ὄν· εἰ δὲ ὅλον ἡλκωμένον τύχοι, οὐκέτι ἂν φανείη τὸ ἕλκος. Τοῦτο οὖν ἐνδείξασθαι βούλεται, ὅτι ὅλον τὸ σῶμα ἥλκωτο, καὶ οὐχὶ τὸ μὲν ὑγίαινε, τὸ δὲ ἐξῳδηκὸς ἦν, ἀλλ' ἅπαν φλεγμονή, ἅπαν μώλωψ εἷς. Οὐκ ἔστι μάλαγμα ἐπιθεῖναι. Τοῦτο τοῦ προτέρου βαρύτερον. Οὐ γὰρ τὸ νοσεῖν οὕτω χαλεπόν, ὡς τὸ νοσοῦντα μηδὲ θεραπεύεσθαι δύνασθαι, καὶ μάλιστα ὅταν ὁ ἰατρὸς τοιοῦτος ᾖ. Οὔτε ἔλαιον, οὔτε καταδεσμούς. Ὥστε ποιῆσαι τὸν λόγον ἐμφατικόν, ἐπέμεινε τῇ μεταφορᾷ· τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτῆς τὸ ἐξαίρετον. Ἡ γῆ ὑμῶν ἔρημος. Ταῦτα οὐχ ὡς γεγενημένα ἀπαγγέλλει, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐσόμενα προαναφωνεῖ. Κέχρηνται δὲ τῷ ἔθει οἱ προφῆται τούτῳ, ὁμοῦ τε φοβοῦντες τὸν ἀκροατὴν καὶ τῆς οἰκείας ἀληθείας τὴν δύναμιν ἐνδεικνύμενοι. Ὡς γὰρ τὰ παρελθόντα οὐκ ἔνι μὴ γεγενῆσθαι, οὕτω τὰ μέλλοντα ὑπὸ τῶν προφητῶν λέγεσθαι, οὐκ ἔνι μὴ συμβῆναι, πλὴν εἰ μήποτε μετανοήσαιεν οἱ κολάζεσθαι μέλλοντες. Αἱ πόλεις ὑμῶν πυρίκαυστοι. Οὐ γὰρ ἠφάνισεν αὐτὰς παντελῶς, ἀλλ' ἀφῆκεν ἑστάναι τὰ λείψανα τοῦ ἐμπρησμοῦ τοῦ βαρβαρικοῦ, μᾶλλον δυνάμενα καθικέσθαι τῆς τῶν ὁρώντων ὄψεως. Τὴν χώραν ὑμῶν ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν ἀλλότριοι κατεσθίουσιν αὐτὴν καὶ ἠρήμωται κατεστραμμένη ὑπὸ λαῶν ἀλλοτρίων. Ἐπίτασις συμφορᾶς, ὅταν καὶ θεαταὶ τῶν οἰκείων γίνωνται συμφορῶν καὶ μηδὲ ἐξ ἀκοῆς αὐτὰ μανθάνωσι μόνον.

1.4 Ἐγκαταλειφθήσεται ἡ θυγάτηρ Σιών, ὡς σκηνὴ ἐν ἀμπελῶνι καὶ ὡς ὀπωροφυλάκιον ἐν σικυηλάτῳ. Μέγα τι ἔχουσι καὶ αἱ εἰκόνες, καὶ μάλιστα αἱ ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ, εἰς παράτασιν τῶν λεγομένων. Τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ δὲ καλεῖ θυγατέρα Σιὼν καὶ διὰ τὸ ὑποκεῖσθαι τῷ ὄρει. Ὡς σκηνὴ ἐν ἀμπελῶνι καὶ ὡς ὀπωροφυλάκιον ἐν σικυηλάτῳ. Τοῦ καρποῦ γὰρ ἀνῃρημένου καὶ τῶν γεωργῶν ἀπενεχθέντων, περιττὴ λοιπὸν ἡ τῆς πόλεως οἰκοδομή. Ὡς πόλις πολιορκουμένη. Τοῦτο τῆς ἀσθενείας αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς ἐγκαταλείψεως αἴνιγμα. Ὅταν γὰρ μηδεὶς ὁ βοηθῶν ᾖ, τότε ἀνάγκη συγκεκλεῖσθαι, τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν τειχῶν ἀσφάλειαν μόνην ἐκδεχομένους. Καὶ εἰ μὴ Κύριος Σαβαὼθ ἐγκατέλιπεν ἡμῖν σπέρμα, ὡς Σόδομα ἂν ἐγενήθημεν, καὶ ὡς Γόμορρα ἂν ὡμοιώθημεν. Ἔθος ἀεὶ τοῖς προφήταις μὴ μόνον ἐκεῖνα προλέγειν, ἃ μέλλουσι πάσχειν οἱ πλημμελοῦντες δεινά, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἃ παθεῖν ἦσαν ἄξιοι, ἵνα καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ καιρῷ τῆς τιμωρίας πολλὰς εἰδῶσι τῷ Θεῷ χάριτας, οὐ τὴν ἀξίαν τῶν πλημμελημάτων, ἀλλὰ ἐλάττονα πολλῷ τὴν δίκην τίνοντες. Τοῦτο γοῦν καὶ ἐνταῦθά φησιν, ὅτι τὰ μὲν ἁμαρτήματα αὐτῶν οὐ ταῦτα τὰ εἰρημένα, ἀλλὰ πανωλεθρίαν ἀπῄτει καὶ ὁλοκλήρου τοῦ γένους ἀφανισμὸν παντελῆ· ἃ δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ Σοδόμων συνέβη. Ἡ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπία οὐκ ἀφῆκε τοῦτο γενέσθαι, πολλῷ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐλάττονα τὴν τιμωρίαν ἐπάγουσα. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ πολλὴ τῆς Παλαιᾶς πρὸς τὴν Καινήν ἐστιν ἡ συγγένεια, εἰκότως τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ἀπεχρήσατο· καὶ ἐπιτηδειό τερον εἶπεν ἢ ὁ προφήτης. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ, εἰ μὴ πολὺς ὁ