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Theodotion translated it "Lord of hosts," but Aquila "Lord of armies." But the meaning is consistent; for we are accustomed to call the military rolls a 'host'. And the king of the heavens has an invincible army, the invisible powers. He also calls him the potentate of Israel as the one who showed his own power through the extraordinary wonders which he performed on behalf of Israel. He calls them adversaries as always resisting, and enemies as being hostile. 25And I will bring my hand upon you, and I will purge you to purity, and I will destroy the disobedient, and I will take away all the lawless from you, and I will humble all the arrogant 26and I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as from the beginning. Again he mentioned judgment and promised to purge the worthy, but not for consumption, but to make them excellent and tested. For such is the grace of baptism; for which reason also the most divine John the Baptist cried out, saying: "I indeed baptized you with water unto repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." And when the all-holy Spirit came upon them on the day of Pentecost, there appeared among the apostles "divided tongues as of fire". For this reason, through fire he promises purification to believers, but threatens humiliation to those who contradict out of arrogance. ........... those who received the preaching, whom he compares to the holy prophets. And after these things you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful metropolis, 27Zion. He does not promise her size and beauty of buildings and a multitude of inhabitants, but righteousness and faith; for she is the mother of those who have believed. For which reason also all run together to her, longing to see not the size of walls nor the height of towers nor the gleam of columns and stones, but the Lord's tomb |99 a| and the type of the Lord's cross and that small and much-celebrated manger. For her captivity will be saved with judgment, and with mercy; 28and the lawless and the sinners shall be crushed together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. For having mixed justice with mercy, he forgave those who had dared the cross and then repented, and having accepted their repentance, he granted salvation; and he did not destroy along with them those who had suffered those terrible things and had become captives, but he handed over the others to utter destruction. 29Therefore now they shall be ashamed of their carved images which they themselves made, and they shall be ashamed of their idols which they themselves devised, and they shall be ashamed of their gardens which they desired. Reasonably, he also made mention of these things at the present time. For since, as if zealous for the law, they did not receive the Savior Christ when he came, he reminds them of their great impiety, that they both filled the city with idols and planted groves for the idols, and in marketplaces and in houses and on the rooftops they offered sacrifices to demons, and doing these things they did not consider it a transgression of the law; but when the lawgiver himself arrived, they considered faith in him to be lawlessness. Then again he adds the prophecy of desolation: 30For they shall be as a terebinth that has cast off its leaves, and as a garden that has no water. Leaving aside all fruit-bearing trees, he compared the desolation of the city to a terebinth, and to a terebinth stripped of its leaves; for it is a plant that grows in dry places, having hardened branches. He also compared them to a waterless garden; for they no longer enjoy the prophetic streams nor do they receive the dew brought from above. 31And their strength shall be as a stalk of tow, and their works as sparks of fire. The stalk of tow is easily flammable. Reasonably, therefore, he compared their strength to this stalk, and their wicked works to fire; for wickedness strips us of divine providence and consumes the

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Θεοδοτίων «κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων» ἡρμήνευσαν, ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας «κύριος στρατιῶν». Συνᾴδει δὲ ἡ διάνοια· καὶ γὰρ τοὺς στρατιωτικοὺς κατα λόγους δύναμιν ὀνομάζειν εἰώθαμεν. Ὁ δὲ τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλεὺς στρατιὰν ἀκαταγώνιστον ἔχει τὰς ἀοράτους δυνά μεις. Τὸν δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ δυνάστην τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ὀνομάζει ὡς διὰ τῶν παραδόξων θαυμάτων, ἃ ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ πεποίηκε, τὴν οἰκείαν δείξαντα δύναμιν. Ὑπεναντίους δὲ αὐτοὺς καλεῖ ὡς ἀντιτείνοντας ἀεί, ἐχθροὺς δὲ ὡς δυσμενεῖς ὄντας. 25Καὶ ἐπάξω τὴν χεῖρά μου ἐπὶ σὲ καὶ πυρώσω σε εἰς καθαρόν, τοὺς δὲ ἀπειθοῦντας ἀπολέσω καὶ ἀφελῶ πάντας ἀνόμους ἀπὸ σοῦ καὶ πάντας ὑπερηφάνους ταπεινώσω 26καὶ ἐπιστήσω τοὺς κριτάς σου ὡς τὸ πρότερον καὶ τοὺς συμβούλους σου ὡς τὸ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς. Πάλιν τῆς κρίσεως ἐμνημόνευσε καὶ ὑπέσχετο τοὺς μὲν ἀξίους πυρώσειν μέν, ἀλλ' οὐκ εἰς κατάκαυσιν, ἀρίστους δὲ καὶ δοκίμους ποιήσειν. Τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ τοῦ βαπτίσματος χάρις· οὗ δὴ ἕνεκα καὶ ὁ θειότατος Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτιστὴς ἐβόα λέγων· «Ἐγὼ μὲν ὑμᾶς ἐβάπτισα ὕδατι εἰς μετάνοιαν· ὁ δὲ ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος ἰσχυρότερός μού ἐστιν, οὗ οὔκ εἰμι ἱκανὸς τὸν ἱμάντα τῶν ὑποδημάτων λῦσαι· αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς βαπτίσει ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ πυρί.» Καὶ τοῦ παναγίου πνεύματος κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς πεντηκοστῆς ἐπιφοιτήσαντος ἐγένοντο ἐν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις «διαμεριζόμεναι γλῶσσαι ὡσεὶ πυρός». Τούτου δὴ χάριν διὰ τοῦ πυρὸς τοῖς πιστεύουσιν ὑπισ χνεῖται τὴν κάθαρσιν, τοῖς δὲ δι' ἀλαζονείαν ἀντιλέγουσι ταπείνωσιν ἀπειλεῖ. ........... τ οὺς ἐκδεξαμένους τὸ κήρυγμα, οὓς τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀπεικάζει προφήταις. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα κληθήσῃ πόλις δικαιοσύνης, μητρόπολις πιστὴ 27Σιών. Οὐ μέγεθος αὐτῇ καὶ οἰκοδομημάτων κάλλος καὶ οἰκητόρων ἐπαγγέλλεται πλῆθος ἀλλὰ δικαιο σύνην καὶ πίστιν· μήτηρ γάρ ἐστι τῶν πεπιστευκότων. Οὗ δὴ χάριν καὶ πρὸς αὐτὴν συντρέχουσιν ἅπαντες ἰδεῖν ποθοῦντες οὐ περιβόλων μέγεθος οὐδὲ πύργων ὕψος οὐδὲ κιόνων καὶ λίθων μαρμαρυγὰς ἀλλὰ τάφον δεσποτικὸν |99 a| καὶ σταυροῦ τύπον δεσποτικοῦ καὶ τὴν σμικρὰν ἐκείνην καὶ πολυθρύλητον φάτνην. Μετὰ γὰρ κρίματος σωθήσεται ἡ αἰχμαλωσία αὐτῆς καὶ μετὰ ἐλεημοσύνης· 28καὶ συντριβήσονται οἱ ἄνομοι καὶ οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί, καὶ οἱ ἐγκαταλιπόντες τὸν κύριον συντελεσθήσονται. Ἐλέῳ γὰρ κεράσας τὸ δίκαιον τοῖς μὲν τὸν σταυρὸν τετολμηκόσιν εἶτα μεταμεληθεῖσι συνέγνω καὶ τὴν μεταμέλειαν δεξάμενος παρέσχε τὴν σωτηρίαν καὶ τοῖς τὰ δεινὰ ἐκεῖνα πεπονθόσι καὶ αἰχμαλώτοις γεγενημένοις οὐ συναπώλεσεν, ἐκείνους δὲ πανωλεθρίᾳ παρέδωκεν. 29∆ιότι νῦν αἰσχυνθήσονται ἐπὶ τοῖς γλυπτοῖς αὐτῶν ἐφ' οἷς αὐτοὶ ἐποίησαν καὶ αἰσχυνθήσονται ἐπὶ τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτῶν ἐφ' οἷς αὐτοὶ ἐβουλεύσαντο καὶ αἰσχυνθήσονται ἐπὶ τοῖς κήποις αὐτῶν ἐφ' οἷς ἐπεθύμησαν. Εἰκότως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος καὶ τούτων ἐποιήσατο μνήμην. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὡς ὑπὲρ τοῦ νόμου ζηλοῦντες οὐκ ἐδέξαντο παραγενόμενον τὸν σωτῆρα Χριστόν, τῆς πολλῆς δυσσεβείας ἀναμιμνῄσκει ὅτι καὶ εἰδώλων τὴν πόλιν ἐνέπλησαν καὶ ἄλση τοῖς εἰδώλοις ἐφύτευσαν καὶ ἐν ἀγοραῖς καὶ ἐν οἰκίαις καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν δωμάτων τοῖς δαίμοσι θυσίας προσέφερον καὶ ταῦτα δρῶντες οὐκ ἐλογίζοντο τὴν τοῦ νόμου παράβασιν· ὅτε δὲ αὐτὸς ὁ νομοθέτης ἀφίκετο, τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν πίστιν παρανομίαν ὑπέ λαβον. Εἶτα πάλιν ἐπιφέρει τῆς ἐρημίας τὴν πρόρρησιν· 30Ἔσονται γὰρ ὡς τερέβινθος ἀποβεβληκυῖα τὰ φύλλα αὐτῆς καὶ ὡς παράδεισος ὕδωρ μὴ ἔχων. Πάντα τὰ καρποφόρα δένδρα καταλιπὼν τερεβίνθῳ ἀπείκασε τὴν τῆς πόλεως ἐρημίαν καὶ τερεβίνθῳ τῶν φύλλων γεγυμνωμένῃ· φυτὸν δέ ἐστιν ἐν ξηροῖς τόποις φυόμενον, κλάδους ἔχον κατεσκληκότας. Ἀπείκασε δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ παραδείσῳ ἀνύδρῳ· οὐκέτι γὰρ τῶν προφητικῶν ναμάτων ἀπολαύουσιν οὐδὲ τὴν ἄνωθεν φερομένην δέχονται δρόσον. 31Καὶ ἔσται ἡ ἰσχὺς αὐτῶν ὡς καλάμη στυππείου, καὶ αἱ ἐργασίαι αὐτῶν ὡς σπινθῆρες πυρός. Εὔπρηστος ἡ τοῦ στυππείου καλάμη. Εἰκότως τοίνυν τῇ μὲν καλάμῃ ταύτῃ παρέβαλεν αὐτῶν τὴν ἰσχύν, πυρὶ δὲ τὰ πονηρὰ αὐτῶν ἔργα· ἡ πονηρία γὰρ ἡμᾶς τῆς θείας προμηθείας γυμνοῖ καὶ καταναλίσκει τὴν