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He wishes to say this to all, that I have fulfilled all things on my part, I have shown every care. I did not wear them out with toils, I did not crush them with labors, I did not command them to build, nor to dig, nor to plant, but I handed over the work completed. And I did not stop my acts of loving-kindness only at this point, but also: And I waited for it to make grapes, and I awaited the proper season for bearing fruit, exercising great long-suffering. For the phrase, "I waited," indicates this. But it produced thorns. It shows their unfruitful life, the rough, the hard. Of what pardon then would they be worthy, after so much care, for returning these fruits to the husbandman? And now, man of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, judge between me and my vineyard. Great, then, is the abundance of his rights, when he makes the very ones who are responsible judges of the things done by him and by them. And now. I do not speak of old things, he says, but even today I am ready to be judged. Thus I never cease to fulfill my part, just as you never fulfill yours. What more shall I do for my vineyard, that I have not done for it? What I have done, he says, are these things, yet I am not content with what has been done, nor do I say that I have done many good deeds, but if I have not done all good deeds, if I have not done everything, after which there was nothing left to do, this I demand you to say, you who have enjoyed it and are witnesses of what has been done and have learned these things by experience, not some others and strangers; because I waited for it to make grapes, but it produced thorns. The construction seems to be rather obscure, wherefore it is necessary to make it clearer. For what he says is this: What ought I to have done that I did not do? that they sinned in such ways, what reason have they to accuse me, or as if certain things were omitted, they transgressed in such a way? Now therefore I will announce to you what I will do to my vineyard. Since he has won the victory and shown their ingratitude, then finally he brings on the sentence and says these things which he is about to do, not in order to condemn, but in order to make them more reasonable by the fear of the threat. I will take away its hedge and it shall be for plunder; and I will break down its wall and it shall be for trampling.

5.3 I will remove, he says, my alliance, I will strip them of my help, I will make them desolate of so much providence and they will know through the opposites of what they enjoyed before, when they are set forth for plunder to all. And I will let my vineyard go, and it shall not be pruned, nor shall it be dug. Again I say that he has used a metaphor. But if one wished to examine it more warmly, he speaks of the care from teaching, from the commandments. For they will not enjoy the same things as before, they will not have teachers, nor rulers, nor prophets likewise to correct them, to care for them. For just as those who tend the vine dig, they prune, so those who correct souls threaten, frighten, teach, accuse; but they will be in desolation of these things, he says, having been carried away to a foreign land. And thorns shall come up on it as on fallow land; and I will command the clouds not to rain upon it. He means either the desolation of the city, or their own desolation and that of each soul; some say that clouds here means the prophets, since they receive the rain from above and transmit the sayings to the people. But not even these, he says, will do their usual things. For even if one or a second went along with them, yet the multitude of the prophets was then silent. For the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah is a beloved new plant. I waited, that it might produce judgment, but it produced iniquity; and not righteousness, but a cry. Since he used much metaphor through the names, speaking of a vineyard and a tower and a winepress and a hedge and digging and pruning of the vine, so that no one of those then might foolishly think that the things said were about a vineyard, quickly

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πάντων τοῦτο βούλεται εἰπεῖν, ὅτι τὰ παρ' ἐμαυτοῦ πάντα ἐπλήρωσα, πᾶσαν ἐπιμέλειαν ἐπεδειξάμην. Οὐ κατέτεινα καμάτοις, οὐ συνέτριψα πόνοις, οὐκ αὐτοὺς οἰκοδομῆσαι ἐκέλευσα, οὐκ αὐτοὺς σκάψαι, οὐκ αὐτοὺς φυτεῦσαι, ἀλλ' ἀπηρτισμένον τὸ ἔργον παρέδωκα. Καὶ οὐδὲ μέχρι τούτου τὰ τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ἔστησα μόνον, ἀλλά· Καὶ ἔμεινα τοῦ ποιῆσαι σταφυλήν, καὶ ἀνέμεινα τὸν προσήκοντα καιρὸν τῆς καρποφορίας, μακροθυμίᾳ πολλῇ χρησάμενος. Τὸ γάρ· Ἔμεινα, τοῦτο δηλοῖ. Ἐποίησε δὲ ἀκάνθας. Τὸν ἄκαρπον αὐτῶν βίον ἐνδείκνυται, τὸν τραχύν, τὸν σκληρόν. Τίνος οὖν ἂν εἶεν συγγνώμης ἄξιοι μετὰ τοσαύτην ἐπιμέλειαν τούτους ἀποδόντες τῷ γεωργῷ τοὺς καρπούς; Καὶ νῦν, ἄνθρωπος τοῦ Ἰούδα καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ κρίνατε ἐν ἐμοὶ καὶ ἀνάμεσον τοῦ ἀμπελῶνός μου. Πολλὴ ἄρα τῶν δικαιωμάτων ἡ περιουσία, ὅταν αὐτοὺς τοὺς ὑπευθύνους δικαστὰς καθίζῃ τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γεγενημένοις, καὶ τοῖς ὑπ' ἐκείνων. Καὶ νῦν. Οὐ λέγω τὰ παλαιά, φησίν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σήμερον ἕτοιμός εἰμι δικάζεσθαι. Οὕτως οὐδέποτε διαλείπω τὰ ἐμαυτοῦ πληρῶν, ὡς οὐδὲ ὑμεῖς τὰ ἑαυτῶν πληροῦτε. Τί ποιήσω ἔτι τῷ ἀμπελῶνί μου, καὶ οὐκ ἐποίησα αὐτῷ; Ἃ μὲν ἐποίησα, ταῦτά ἐστι, φησί, πλὴν οὐκ ἀρκοῦμαι τοῖς γεγενημένοις, οὐδὲ λέγω ὅτι πολλὰ εὐηργέτησα, ἀλλ' εἰ μὴ πάντα εὐηργέτησα, εἰ μὴ πάντα ἐποίησα, μεθ' ἃ ποιῆσαι λοιπὸν οὐδὲν ἦν, τοῦτο ὑμᾶς εἰπεῖν ἀπαιτῶ, ὑμᾶς τοὺς ἀπολελαυκότας καὶ μάρτυρας τῶν γεγενημένων ὄντας καὶ τῇ πείρᾳ ταῦτα μαθόντας, οὐκ ἀλλοτρίους τινὰς καὶ ξένους· διότι ἔμεινα ἵνα ποιήσῃ σταφυλήν, ἐποίησε δὲ ἀκάνθας. Ἡ συνθήκη δοκεῖ ἀσαφεστέρα εἶναι, διόπερ αὐτὴν σαφεστέραν ἀνάγκη ποιῆσαι. Ὃ γὰρ λέγει, τοῦτό ἐστι· Τί ἔδει με ποιῆσαι καὶ οὐκ ἐποίησα; ὅτι τοιαῦτα ἥμαρτον, τί ἔχοντες αἰτιᾶσθαι ἢ ὥς τινων παραλελειμμένων τοιαῦτα ἐπλημμέλησαν; Νῦν οὖν ἀναγγελῶ ὑμῖν, τί ἐγὼ ποιήσω τῷ ἀμπελῶνί μου. Ἐπειδὴ τὴν νίκην ᾔρατο καὶ τὴν ἀγνωμοσύνην ἔδειξε τὴν ἐκείνων, τότε λοιπὸν ἐπάγει καὶ τὴν ψῆφον καὶ λέγει ταῦτα ἃ μέλλει ποιεῖν οὐχ ἵνα καταδικάσῃ, ἀλλ' ἵνα τῷ φόβῳ τῆς ἀπειλῆς ἐπιεικεστέρους ποιήσῃ. Ἀφελῶ τὸν φραγμὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔσται εἰς διαρπαγήν· καὶ καθελῶ τὸν τοῖχον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔσται εἰς καταπάτημα.

5.3 Ἀποστήσω, φησί, τὴν ἐμὴν συμμαχίαν, γυμνώσω μου τῆς βοηθείας, ἐρήμους καταστήσω τῆς τοσαύτης προνοίας καὶ εἴσονται διὰ τῶν ἐναντίων ὧν ἀπήλαυον ἔμπροσθεν, ὅταν ὦσι πᾶσιν εἰς ἁρπαγὴν προκείμενοι. Καὶ ἀνήσω τὸν ἀμπελῶνά μου καὶ οὐ μὴ τμηθῇ, οὐδὲ μὴ σκαφῇ. Πάλιν λέγω ὅτι τῇ μεταφορᾷ κέχρηται. Εἰ δέ τις καὶ θερμότερον ἐξετάζειν βούλοιτο, τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς διδασκαλίας, τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐπιμέλειάν φησιν. Οὐ γὰρ ἀπολαύσονται τῶν αὐτῶν, ὧν καὶ ἔμπροσθεν, οὐ διδασκάλους ἕξουσιν, οὐκ ἄρχοντας, οὐ προφήτας ὁμοίως τοὺς διορθουμένους αὐτούς, τοὺς ἐπιμελουμένους αὐτῶν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ τὴν ἄμπελον θεραπεύοντες σκάπτουσιν, τέμνουσιν, οὕτως οἱ ψυχὰς διορθούμενοι ἀπειλοῦσιν, φοβοῦσιν, διδάσκουσιν, ἐγκαλοῦσιν· ἀλλ' ἐν ἐρημίᾳ τούτων ἔσονται, φησίν, εἰς τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν ἀπενεχθέντες. Καὶ ἀναβήσεται εἰς αὐτὸν ὡς εἰς χέρσον ἄκανθα· καὶ ταῖς νεφέλαις ἐντελοῦμαι, τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι εἰς αὐτὸν ὑετόν. Ἢ τὴν ἐρημίαν τῆς πόλεώς φησιν, ἢ τὴν ἐρημίαν τὴν αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς ἑκάστου ψυχῆς· νεφέλας δὲ ἐνταῦθα τοὺς προφήτας τινὲς λέγουσιν, ἅτε ἄνωθεν τὸν ὑετὸν δεχομένους καὶ παραπέμποντας τῷ δήμῳ τὰ λεγόμενα. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ οὗτοι, φησί, τὰ συνήθη ποιήσουσιν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ εἷς που καὶ δεύτερος συναπῆλθεν, ἀλλ' ὁ δῆμος τῶν προφητῶν τότε ἐσίγα. Ὁ γὰρ ἀμπελὼν Κυρίου Σαβαὼθ οἶκος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ ἐστι καὶ ἄνθρωπος τοῦ Ἰούδα νεόφυτον ἠγαπημένον. Ἔμεινα, ἵνα ποιήσῃ κρίσιν, ἐποίησε δὲ ἀνομίαν καὶ οὐ δικαιοσύνην, ἀλλὰ κραυγήν. Ἐπειδὴ πολλῇ τῇ μεταφορᾷ διὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐχρήσατο, ἀμπελῶνα καὶ πύργον καὶ προλήνιον καὶ φραγμὸν καὶ σκαφητὸν καὶ τμῆσιν ἀμπέλου λέγων, ἵνα μὴ περὶ ἀμπελῶνός τις τῶν τότε ἀνοήτως νομίσῃ εἶναι τὰ λεγόμενα, ταχέως