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he said, not simply slandering power, but power for evil. And here he speaks not of the strength of the body, but the dominion that comes from the possession of things. And I will execute judgment on my enemies. I will punish my enemies, calling his enemies the enemies of the poor because they are insolent; and he said this, that you might learn the magnitude of the injustice. And I will bring my hand upon you and I will refine you to purity. So that you may learn that whatever the wrath of God and the punishment may be, it does not happen for evil and only to exact a penalty, but for the betterment of those who are being punished. And I will refine you, he says, to purity. Therefore, it is not when we are being punished, but when we are sinning, that it is right to grieve; for the one produces filth, the other purification. What is it then? To purity? So that there is not even a trace of a stain in you. For what fire is to gold, this is what punishment is to the indolent. But the disobedient I will destroy and I will remove all the lawless from you and I will humble all the arrogant. For those who are incurably sick, he says, and do not yield even to punishments, will be destroyed. For what is the benefit of their life, when in living they plot against both themselves and others? But those who are able to become better from their punishment will remain. And it seems to me that here he is also alluding to the captivity.

1.9 And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Here he speaks of the return. For with the incurably sick having been done away with, and those able to receive care having been corrected, opportunely the remaining form of therapy is also added, by the supervision of proven rulers and a supply of good counselors, so that with the body yielding to the medicines and the physicians being the best, the parts of the city might return to health from all sides. For it is no small form of beneficence to obtain good rulers. And after this you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful metropolis, Zion. And yet we nowhere find this name given to the city of Jerusalem. What then should we say? That here he means the name from the facts. And this will contribute not a little to us, when the Jews demand from us the interpretation of Emmanuel. For since Isaiah said that the Christ would be so named, but he was nowhere named thus, we might say to them that he said the meaning from the facts was a name; just as here. For her captivity will be saved with judgment and with mercy. With judgment, that is, with justice and punishment and vengeance on the enemies. With mercy, that is, much philanthropy. Here he promises them two very great gifts, both that those who led them away should pay the penalty and that they themselves should enjoy much prosperity, each of which is able on its own to provide the greatest pleasure; but when both concur, the gladness would be unspeakable. And in another way, wishing to show that even after the long captivity it is not because of having paid a worthy penalty and having shorn off their sins, but through his own philanthropy that they are brought back to their own land, and that their salvation is a matter of mercy rather than of recompense and reward, he added: And with mercy. And the lawless and the sinners will be shattered together. This too is a third form of beneficence, that there is no one leading astray and drawing to deceit, but that the teachers of wickedness are out of the way. And those who forsake the Lord will be consumed. But the impious, he says, will perish. Because now they will be ashamed of their idols, in which they themselves delighted. Some indeed attempt to apply what was said to the present time; but we will neither blame them nor will we follow the sequence. For these are the things which he says will happen at the assault of the enemies. For when the barbarian is overrunning the country and besieging the city and holding everyone in the middle as in nets, and there is no one to defend and beat back that cloud because of the abandonment of God, reasonably and from this very

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ἔλεγεν, οὐχ ἁπλῶς τὴν δύναμιν διαβάλλων, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐπὶ κακῷ δύναμιν. Ἰσχὺν δὲ ἐνταῦθα οὐ τὴν τοῦ σώματός φησιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων περιβολῆς δυναστείαν. Καὶ κρίσιν ποιήσω ἐκ τῶν ἐχθρῶν μου. Κολάσω τοὺς ἐχθρούς μου, ἐχθροὺς αὐτοῦ λέγων τοὺς τῶν πενήτων ἐχθροὺς διὰ τὸ ἐπηρεάζειν ὄντας· τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν, ἵνα μάθῃς τῆς ἀδικίας τὸ μέγεθος. Καὶ ἐπάξω τὴν χεῖρά μου ἐπὶ σὲ καὶ πυρώσω σε εἰς καθαρόν. Ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι οἵα ἂν ᾖ ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἡ τιμωρία, οὐκ ἐπὶ κακῷ καὶ τῷ δοῦναι δίκην γίνεται μόνον, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῷ βελτίους γενέσθαι καὶ αὐτοὺς τοὺς κολαζομένους. Καὶ πυρώσω σε, φησίν, εἰς καθαρόν. Οὐ τοίνυν ὅταν κολαζώμεθα, ἀλλ' ὅταν ἁμαρτάνωμεν, τότε ἀλγεῖν δίκαιον· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ῥύπον, τὸ δὲ καθαρμὸν ἐργάζεται. Τί δέ ἐστιν; Εἰς καθαρόν; Ὡς μηδὲ ἴχνος εἶναι παρὰ σοὶ κηλῖδος. Ὅπερ γάρ ἐστι τῷ χρυσίῳ τὸ πῦρ, τοῦτο τοῖς ῥᾳθύμοις ἡ τιμωρία. Τοὺς δὲ ἀπειθοῦντας ἀπολέσω καὶ ἀφελῶ πάντας ἀνόμους ἀπὸ σοῦ καὶ πάντας ὑπερηφάνους ταπεινώσω. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀνίατα νοσοῦντες, φησί, καὶ οὐδὲ τιμωρίαις εἴκοντες ἀπολοῦνται. Τί γὰρ ὄφελος τῆς τούτων ζωῆς, ὅταν καὶ ἑαυτοῖς καὶ ἑτέροις ἐπιβουλεύωσιν ἐν τῷ ζῇν; Οἱ δὲ ἐκ τῆς ἐκείνων τιμωρίας δυνάμενοι βελτίους γενέσθαι μενοῦσιν. ∆οκεῖ δέ μοι ἐνταῦθα καὶ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν αἰνίττεσθαι.

1.9 Καὶ ἐπιστήσω τοὺς κριτάς σου ὡς τὸ πρότερον καὶ τοὺς συμβούλους σου ὡς τὸ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς. Ἐνταῦθα τὴν ἐπάνοδόν φησι. Τῶν τε γὰρ ἀνίατα νοσούντων ἀναιρεθέντων, τῶν τε ἐπιμέλειαν δέξασθαι δυναμένων διορθω θέντων, εὐκαίρως καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς θεραπείας εἶδος προστίθεται, δοκίμων ἀρχόντων ἐπιστασίᾳ καὶ συμβούλων ἀγαθῶν φορᾷ, ἵνα καὶ τοῦ σώματος εἴκοντος τοῖς φαρμάκοις καὶ τῶν ἰατρῶν ἀρίστων ὄντων, πανταχόθεν πρὸς ὑγίειαν ἐπανίῃ τὰ τῆς πόλεως μέρη. Οὐ γὰρ μικρὸν εὐεργεσίας εἶδος ἀρχόντων ἐπιτυγχάνειν ἀγαθῶν. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα κληθήσῃ πόλις δικαιοσύνης, μητρόπολις πιστὴ Σιών. Καίτοι γε οὐδαμοῦ τοῦτο εὑρίσκομεν τὸ ὄνομα τῇ πόλει τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων ἐπιτεθέν. Τί οὖν ἂν εἴποιμεν; Ὅτι τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων προσηγορίαν ἐνταῦθά φησι. Τοῦτο δὲ ἡμῖν οὐ μικρὸν συμβαλεῖται, ὅταν ἀπαιτῶσιν ἡμᾶς Ἰουδαῖοι τοῦ Ἐμμανουὴλ τὴν ἑρμηνείαν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ Ἡσαΐας ἔφησε τὸν Χριστὸν οὕτως ὀνομασθήσεσθαι, οὐδαμοῦ δὲ ὠνόμασται, εἴποιμεν ἂν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὅτι τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων σημασίαν ἔφησεν ὄνομα εἶναι· ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἐνταῦθα. Μετὰ γὰρ κρίματος σωθήσεται ἡ αἰχμαλωσία αὐτῆς καὶ μετὰ ἐλεημοσύνης. Μετὰ κρίματος, τουτέστι, μετὰ δίκης καὶ κολάσεως καὶ τιμωρίας τῶν πολεμίων. Μετὰ ἐλεημοσύνης, τουτέστι, πολλῆς τῆς φιλανθρωπίας. ∆ύο ἐνταῦθα ἐπαγγέλλεται μέγιστα αὐτοῖς δῶρα, τό τε δίκην δοῦναι τοὺς ἀπαγαγόντας τό τε αὐτοὺς πολλῆς ἀπολαῦσαι τῆς εὐημερίας, ὧν ἕκαστον καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸ μεγίστην ἱκανὸν παρασχεῖν ἡδονήν· ὅταν δὲ καὶ ἀμφότερα συνδράμῃ, ἄφατος γένοιτ' ἂν ἡ εὐφροσύνη. Ἄλλως τε καὶ δεῖξαι βουλόμενος, ὅτι καὶ μετὰ τὴν μακρὰν αἰχμαλωσίαν οὐ διὰ τὸ δοῦναι δίκην ἀξίαν καὶ τὸ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ἀποκείρασθαι, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν τὴν αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπανάγονται καὶ ἐλέου μᾶλλόν ἐστιν ἡ σωτηρία ἢ ἀντιδόσεως καὶ ἀμοιβῆς, ἐπήγαγε· Καὶ μετ' ἐλεημοσύνης. Καὶ συντριβήσονται οἱ ἄνομοι καὶ οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἅμα. Τρίτον καὶ τοῦτο εὐεργεσίας εἶδος, τὸ μηδένα εἶναι τὸν παρασύροντα καὶ πρὸς ἀπάτην ἕλκοντα, ἀλλ' ἐκποδὼν γίνεσθαι τοὺς τῆς πονηρίας διδασκάλους. Καὶ οἱ ἐγκαταλείποντες τὸν Κύριον συντελεσθήσονται. Οἱ δὲ ἀσεβεῖς, φησίν, ἀπολοῦνται. ∆ιότι νῦν αἰσχυνθήσονται ἐν τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτῶν, ἐφ' οἷς αὐτοὶ ἐβούλοντο. Τινὲς μὲν καὶ κατὰ τὸν παρόντα καιρὸν τὰ εἰρημένα ἁρμόζειν ἐπιχειροῦσιν· ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς οὔτε ἐκείνους αἰτιασόμεθα καὶ τῇ ἀκολουθίᾳ ἑψόμεθα. Ταῦτα γάρ ἐστιν, ἃ συμβήσεσθαί φησιν ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν πολεμίων ἐφόδου. Ὅταν γὰρ τοῦ βαρβάρου τὴν χώραν κατατρέχοντος καὶ τὴν πόλιν περικαθημένου καὶ πάντας ὡς ἐν δικτύοις μέσους ἔχοντος, μηδεὶς ὁ ἀμύνων ᾖ καὶ τὸ νέφος ἐκεῖνο διακρουόμενος διὰ τὴν ἐγκατάλειψιν τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰκότως καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς