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for this reason even the few sheep met the need. Therefore, the prophetic word foretold desolation. And it is clear from what follows; for again it reveals the barrenness of the land: 23And it shall be in that day, every place where there were a thousand vines of a thousand shekels shall become wasteland and thorn. For even the land that is fertile and deemed worthy of much labor will receive complete desolation. 24With arrow and bow they will enter there, because all the land will be wasteland and thorn. The attack of the enemies brings about the desolation. 25And every mountain that is plowed will be plowed; fear will not come there, for from the wasteland and thorn it will be for the grazing of sheep and the treading of oxen. He says the same things in different ways, that even the well-plowed mountains deemed worthy of much care, where formerly there was no fear, these too, because of the great desolation, will become pasture for herds and flocks. But if one wishes to understand the passage tropologically, he will find the truth of the prophecy in this way as well; for the people of the Jews were a mountain being plowed, cultivated by the law and the prophets, living securely when they enjoyed the divine alliance. But this mountain has been deprived of its cultivators because of its barrenness and has become a pasture for irrational thoughts. Having thus foretold these things to the Jews, he takes up again the discourse concerning Emmanuel: 81And the Lord said to me, ‘Take for yourself a new, large scroll and write on it with a man's stylus: To make a swift spoil of the plunder, for it is at hand.’ 2And make for me faithful men as witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Barachiah. The fourth book of Kings mentions Uriah the priest, and the second book of Chronicles mentions Zechariah the prophet. They flourished together during the times of Uzziah and Jotham and Ahaz. Through these, however, he calls each order to witness the paradoxical birth. And since he had already foretold the birth from the virgin, and what was said was beyond nature, he teaches the manner of the conception. And just as the holy virgin, having received the paradoxical message of the Gospels and having asked, 'How will this be for me, since I know not a man?,' the holy Gabriel taught the manner of the conception, saying, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; |110 a| therefore also the holy thing which is born will be called the Son of God,' so here the prophetic word teaches those who disbelieve the prediction to believe, by showing the divine manner and introducing the all-holy Spirit, saying expressly: 3And I went in to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the prophet is also commanded to give a name to the one who was born: For the Lord said to me, he says: Call his name Spoil-swiftly-plunder-quickly. And the deed becomes his name; for it is the voice of the Lord himself: 'Unless one enters the house of the strong man and binds the strong man, how will he plunder his goods?' And as soon as he was born, he drew the first goods of the devil, the magi, to worship him. And indeed, even before the birth, at the time of this prophecy, he destroyed the strength of both Damascus and Syria through the Assyrian. For he shows this through what follows: 4Because before the child knows how to call father or mother, he will take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians. For just as Levi, before being brought forth into this life, one hundred and sixty years beforehand, is said to have been tithed through Abraham, being hidden in the loins of the patriarch, so also before his birth according to the flesh, Emmanuel, through the Assyrian, exacted punishments from both Damascus and Samaria for what had been done against Jerusalem. In this way, the Master, having commanded the prophet to write on the new scroll in the presence of the most faithful witnesses—for it was necessary for the things concerning the new and paradoxical birth to be written on a new scroll, threatens, then, those who inhabit Jerusalem and Judea for despising the Davidic kingdom

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δὴ χάριν καὶ τὰ ὀλίγα πρόβατα τὴν χρείαν ἐπλήρου. Ἐρημίαν τοίνυν ὁ προφητικὸς προεθέσπισε λόγος. Καὶ δῆλον ἐκ τῶν ἐπαγομένων· πάλιν γὰρ προδηλοῖ τὴν ἀκαρπίαν τῆς γῆς· 23Καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἔσται πᾶς τόπος οὗ ἐὰν ὦσι χίλιαι ἄμπελοι χιλίων σίκλων εἰς χέρσον ἔσονται καὶ εἰς ἄκανθαν. Καὶ αὐτὴ γὰρ ἡ εὔγεως καὶ πολλῆς ἠξιωμένη φιλοπονίας ἐρημίαν δέξεται παντελῆ. 24Μετὰ βέλους καὶ τοξεύματος εἰσελεύσονται ἐκεῖ, ὅτι χέρσος καὶ ἄκανθα ἔσται πᾶσα ἡ γῆ. Ποιεῖ δὲ τὴν ἐρημίαν τῶν πολεμίων ἡ προσβολή. 25Καὶ πᾶν ὄρος ἀροτριώμενον ἀροτριωθήσεται· οὐ μὴ ἐπέλθῃ ἐκεῖ φόβος, ἔσται γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς χέρσου καὶ ἀκάνθης εἰς βόσκημα προβάτου καὶ καταπά τημα βοός. Τὰ αὐτὰ διαφόρως λέγει ὅτι καὶ τὰ ἄγαν ἠροτριωμένα καὶ πολλῆς ἐπιμελείας ἀξιούμενα ὄρη, ἔνθα πάλαι φόβος οὐκ ἦν, καὶ αὐτὰ διὰ τὴν πολλὴν ἐρημίαν νομὴ βουκολίων καὶ ποιμνίων γενήσεται. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τροπικῶς ἐθέλοι τις τὸ χωρίον νοῆσαι, εὑρήσει καὶ οὕτω τῆς προφητείας τὸ ἀληθές· ὄρος γὰρ ἦν ἀροτριούμενον ὁ Ἰουδαίων λαὸς ὑπὸ νόμου καὶ προφητῶν γεωργούμενος, ἀδεῶς πολι τευόμενος, ἡνίκα τῆς θείας συμμαχίας ἀπέλαυεν. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο τὸ ὄρος ἐστέρηται τῶν γεωργούντων διὰ τὴν ἀκαρπίαν καὶ νομὴ τῶν ἀλόγων ἐγένετο λογισμῶν. Οὕτω ταῦτα τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις προαγορεύσας ἀναλαμβάνει πάλιν τὸν περὶ τοῦ Ἐμμανουὴλ λόγον· 81Καὶ εἶπε κύριος πρός με· Λάβε σεαυτῷ τόμον καινὸν μέγαν καὶ γράψον εἰς αὐτὸν γραφίδι ἀνθρώπου· τοῦ ὀξέως προνομὴν ποιῆσαι σκύλων· πάρεστι γάρ. 2Καὶ μάρτυράς μοι ποίησον πιστοὺς ἀνθρώπους, τὸν Οὐρίαν τὸν ἱερέα καὶ Ζαχαρίαν υἱὸν Βαρα χίου. Οὐρίου τοῦ ἱερέως ἡ τετάρτη μέμνηται τῶν Βασιλειῶν, Ζαχαρίου δὲ τοῦ προφήτου ἡ δευτέρα τῶν Παραλειπομένων. Συνήκμασαν δὲ ἀλλήλοις κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους Ὀζίου καὶ Ἰωάθαμ καὶ Ἄχαζ γενόμενοι. ∆ιὰ μέντοι τούτων ἑκάτερον τάγμα εἰς μαρτυρίαν τοῦ παραδόξου τόκου καλεῖ. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ προηγόρευσεν ἤδη τῆς παρθένου τὴν γέννησιν, ὑπὲρ φύσιν δὲ ἦν τὸ εἰρημένον, διδάσκει τῆς συλλήψεως τὸν τρόπον. Καὶ καθάπερ τὴν ἁγίαν παρθένον τὸ τῶν εὐαγγελίων δεξαμένην παράδοξον καὶ πυθομένην· «Πῶς ἔσται μοι τοῦτο, ἐπεὶ ἄνδρα οὐ γινώσκω», ὁ ἅγιος ἐδίδαξε Γαβριὴλ τὸν τῆς συλλήψεως τρόπον εἰρηκώς· «Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σέ, καὶ δύναμις ὑψίστου ἐπισκιάσει σοι, |110 a| διὸ καὶ τὸ γεννώμενον ἅγιον κληθήσεται, υἱὸς θεοῦ», οὕτως ἐνταῦθα τοὺς τῇ προρρήσει διαπιστοῦντας ὁ προφητικὸς πιστεύειν διδάσκει λόγος τὸν θεῖον τρόπον ἐπιδεικνὺς καὶ τὸ πανάγιον εἰσάγων πνεῦμα διαρρήδην λέγον· 3Καὶ προσῆλθον πρὸς τὴν προφῆτιν, καὶ ἐν γαστρὶ ἔλαβε καὶ ἔτεκεν υἱόν. Εἶτα καὶ θεῖναι προσηγορίαν ὁ προφήτης τῷ τεχθέντι κελεύεται· Εἶπε γάρ μοί φησι κύριος· Κάλεσον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ταχέως-σκύλευσον-ὀξέως-προνόμευσον. Καὶ γίνεται αὐτῷ ὄνομα τὸ πρᾶγμα· αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐστι τοῦ κυρίου φωνή· «Ἐὰν μή τις εἰσέλθῃ εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ ἰσχυροῦ καὶ δήσῃ τὸν ἰσχυρόν, πῶς τὰ σκεύη αὐτοῦ διαρπάσει;» Καὶ εὐθὺς δὲ τεχθεὶς τὰ πρῶτα σκεύη τοῦ διαβόλου, τοὺς μάγους, εἰς προσκύνησιν εἵλκυσεν. Καὶ μέντοι καὶ πρὸ τοῦ τόκου κατὰ τὸν τῆσδε τῆς προφητείας καιρὸν καὶ τῆς ∆αμασκοῦ καὶ τῆς Συρίας διὰ τοῦ Ἀσσυρίου κατέλυσε τὴν ἰσχύν. Τοῦτο γὰρ διὰ τῶν ἐπαγομένων δηλοῖ· 4∆ιότι πρὶν ἢ γνῶναι τὸ παιδίον καλεῖν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα λήψεται δύναμιν ∆αμασκοῦ καὶ τὰ σκῦλα Σαμαρείας ἔναντι βασιλέως Ἀσσυρίων. Καθάπερ γὰρ ὁ Λευὶ πρὶν εἰς τόνδε παραχθῆναι τὸν βίον πρὸ ἑξήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ἐτῶν διὰ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἀποδεκατωθῆναι λέγεται ἐν τῇ ὀσφύι τοῦ πατριάρχου κρυπτόμενος, οὕτω καὶ πρὸ τῆς κατὰ σάρκα γεννήσεως ὁ Ἐμμανουὴλ διὰ τοῦ Ἀσσυρίου καὶ τὴν ∆αμασκὸν καὶ τὴν Σαμάρειαν δίκας ὑπὲρ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ γεγενημένων εἰσέπραξεν. Ταύτῃ κελεύσας ὁ δεσπότης ἐπὶ τῶν πιστοτάτων μαρ τύρων τὸν προφήτην συγγράψαι ἐν τῷ καινῷ τόμῳἔδει γὰρ ἐν τόμῳ καινῷ τὰ περὶ τοῦ καινοῦ καὶ παραδόξου τόκου γραφῆναι, ἀπειλεῖ λοιπὸν τοῖς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν οἰκοῦσιν ὡς τῆς ∆αυιτικῆς βασιλείας καταφρονοῦσι