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I passed by you, and I saw you defiled in your blood; and I said to you, In your blood, live, and I said to you; With your blood, life; Multiply innocently, as I have given you the growth of the field. For seeing you defiled with the blood of idolatry, and embracing the blood of sacrifices, I permitted you to sacrifice, not to idols, but to me. For he indicated this by saying: "With your blood, life; multiply innocently;" that is, Not unlawfully, but lawfully; sacrificing not to demons, but to God; for by doing this you will sprout like a flourishing field, and you will be adorned with all kinds of fruits. "And you were multiplied and grew great, and you entered into cities of cities." The deed, he says, followed my blessing; for I said: As the growth of the field I have given you; but you, having received the blessing, both acquired a multitude and greatness; you were rendered distinguished and conspicuous, and you held the greatest of cities in subjection. Having thus briefly shown her origin and progress, he again explains the growth in detail. "Your breasts, he says, were formed, and your hair grew." He says all things tropically, from the metaphor of children, showing through these a greater disposition. And he calls the breasts the discernment of the rational faculty (for the breasts cover the heart), and the hair the adornment that comes from perfection. "But you were, he says, naked and unadorned." For you had not yet received the covering of the law 81.936 8. And I passed by you, and I saw you; and behold, your time, and the time of those who lodge; and I spread my wings over you, and I covered your nakedness, and I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Adonai. For seeing you now fit to receive communion with me through the law, I stretched out, as it were, certain wings of the saving commandments, the teaching, and I covered the nakedness of lawlessness; and a marriage contract and dowry followed the cohabitation. "For I entered, he says, into a covenant with you." And since it was necessary for an oath to be put in the contract, I did not refuse to do this either; but being trustworthy and promising by word alone, I also added an oath to my word. And it is easy for one who wishes to study the writings of the law to understand this; for he will find also in the ode of the blessed Moses the God of all saying: "I will lift my hand to heaven, and I will swear by my right hand, and I will say: I live forever." "And you became mine," he says. That is, You were joined to me, and the marriage was consummated. 9, 10. And I washed you in water, and I washed away your blood, and I anointed you with oil. And I clothed you with embroidered work, and I shod you with hyacinth, and I girded you with fine linen, and I covered you with a hair-net. He went through his own good deeds in detail; for first, he says, I washed you with the water of teaching, and I brought purifications and sprinklings. Then, "I anointed you with oil." Here he now goes through the forms of the priesthood. For the priests were anointed with the holy oil; and they themselves were clothed with fine linen and hyacinthine garments. And he also alludes to the wealth that came to the people themselves, both physical and spiritual, through his care. "And I covered you with a hair-net." This is a plait made of hair, placed around the heads of women. Tropically, then, he indicated the comeliness bestowed upon them through his manifold care. And he alludes, I think, also to the tabernacle made of skins of hair, in which both the sacrifices for sin and for perfection were offered, and divine revelations came from the mercy seat, when God conversed with the high priest. 11, 12. And I adorned you with an ornament, and I put bracelets on your hands, and a necklace on your neck. And I gave a jewel for your nose, and earrings for your ears, and a crown of boasting on your head. And it is fitting to understand each of these tropically. "Bracelets put upon the hands," practical virtue; 81.937 a necklace

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διῆλθον ἐπὶ σὲ, καὶ εἶδόν σε πε φυρμένην ἐν τῷ αἵματι· καὶ εἶπόν σοι, Ἐν τῷ αἵματι ζώσῃ, καὶ εἶπόν σοι· Σὺν τῷ αἵματί σου ζωή· Πληθύνου ἀθώως, καθὼς τὴν ἀνατολὴν τοῦ ἀγροῦ δέδωκά σε. Θεασάμενος γάρ σε τῷ τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας αἵματι πεφυρμένην, καὶ τὰ αἵματα τῶν θυσιῶν ἀσπαζομένην, συνεχώρησά σοι θύειν, οὐκ εἰδώλοις, ἀλλ' ἐμοί. Τοῦτο γὰρ παρ εδήλωσεν εἰρηκώς· "Σὺν τῷ αἵματί σου ζωή· πληθύνου ἀθώως·" τουτέστι, Μὴ παρανόμως, ἀλλ' ἐννόμως· μὴ δαίμοσιν, ἀλλὰ Θεῷ θύουσα· τοῦτο γὰρ ποιοῦσα δίκην ἀρούρας εὐθαλοῦς βλαστήσεις, καὶ παντοδαποῖς κοσμηθήσῃ καρποῖς. "Καὶ ἐπλη θύνθης καὶ ἐμεγαλύνθης, καὶ εἰσῆλθες εἰς πόλεις πόλεων." Ἠκολούθησε, φησὶ, τῇ ἐμῇ εὐλογίᾳ τὸ ἔρ γον· ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ εἶπον· Ὡς τὴν ἀνατολὴν τοῦ ἀγροῦ δέδωκά σε· σὺ δὲ δεξαμένη τὴν εὐλογίαν, καὶ πλῆθος ἐκτήσω, καὶ μέγεθος· ἐπίσημός τε καὶ περιφανὴς ἀπεφάνθης, καὶ τὰς μεγίστας τῶν πόλεων ἔσχες ὑποχειρίους. Οὕτω συντόμως δείξας αὐτὴν τὴν γένεσιν καὶ τὴν ἐπίδοσιν, πάλιν ἐξηγεῖται τὴν κατὰ μέρος αὔξησιν. "Οἱ μαστοί σου, φησὶν, ἀν ωρθώθησαν, καὶ ἡ θρίξ σου ἀνέτειλε." Τροπικῶς ἅπαντα ἐκ μεταφορᾶς τῶν παιδίων λέγει, τὴν πλείονα διάθεσιν διὰ τούτων ἐπιδεικνύς. Μαστοὺς δὲ καλεῖ τοῦ λογικοῦ τὴν διάκρισιν (τὴν γὰρ καρδίαν οἱ μαστοὶ συγκαλύπτουσι), τρίχας δὲ τὸν ἀπὸ τελειότητος γινό μενον κόσμον. "Σὺ δὲ ἦσθα, φησὶ, γυμνὴ, καὶ ἀσχημονοῦσα." Οὐδέπω γὰρ ἐδέξω τοῦ νόμου τὸ κάλυμμα 81.936 ηʹ. Καὶ διῆλθον διὰ σοῦ, καὶ εἶδόν σε· καὶ ἰδοὺ ὁ καιρός σου, καὶ καιρὸς καταλυόντων· καὶ διεπέτασα τὰς πτέρυγάς μου ἐπὶ σὲ, καὶ ἐκά λυψα τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην σου, καὶ ὤμοσά σοι, καὶ εἰσῆλθον ἐν διαθήκῃ μετὰ σοῦ, λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύ ριος. Θεασάμενος γάρ σε ἐπιτηδείαν λοιπὸν εἰς τὸ δέξασθαι τὴν διὰ τοῦ νόμου πρὸς ἐμὲ κοινωνίαν, ἐξ έτεινα μὲν οἷόν τινας πτέρυγας τῶν σωτηρίων ἐντο λῶν τὴν διδασκαλίαν, καὶ συνεκάλυψα τὴν τῆς ἀνο μίας γυμνότητα· τῷ δὲ συνοικεσίῳ καὶ προικῷον παρηκολούθησε γραμματεῖον. "Εἰσῆλθον γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐν διαθήκῃ μετὰ σοῦ." Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἔδει καὶ ὅρκον ἐντε θῆναι τῷ γραμματείῳ, οὐδὲ τοῦτο ποιῆσαι παρῃτη σάμην· ἀλλ' ἀξιόχρεως ὢν καὶ λόγῳ μόνον ὑπισχνού μενος, καὶ ὅρκον τῷ λόγῳ προστέθεικα. Ῥᾴδιον δὲ τοῦτο καταμαθεῖν τῷ βουλομένῳ τοῖς τοῦ νόμου γράμ μασιν ἐντυχεῖν· εὑρήσει γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῇ τοῦ μακαρίου Μωσέως ᾠδῇ αὐτὸν τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν λέγοντα· "Ἀρῶ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν τὴν χεῖρά μου, καὶ ὀμοῦμαι τῇ δεξιᾷ μου, καὶ ἐρῶ· Ζῶ ἐγὼ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα." "Καὶ ἐγένου μοι," φησί. Τουτέστι, Συνήφθης μοι, καὶ ὁ γάμος ἀπετελέσθη. θʹ, ιʹ. Καὶ ἔλουσά σε ἐν ὕδατι, καὶ ἔπλυνα τὸ αἷμά σου, καὶ ἔχρισά σε ἐν ἐλαίῳ. Καὶ ἐν έδυσά σε ποικίλα, καὶ ὑπέδυσά σε ὑάκινθον, καὶ ἔζωσά σε βύσσῳ, καὶ περιέβαλόν σε τριχ άπτῳ. Κατὰ μέρος τὰς οἰκείας διῆλθεν εὐεργε σίας· πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ, φησὶ, τῷ τῆς διδασκαλίας ἀπέπλυνα ὕδατι καὶ ἁγνισμοὺς δὲ καὶ περιῤῥαν τήρια προσενήνοχα. Ἔπειτα "ἔχρισά σε ἐλαίῳ." Τὰ τῆς ἱερωσύνης λοιπὸν ἐνταῦθα διεξέρχεται εἴδη. Οἱ ἱε ρεῖς γὰρ τῷ ἐλαίῳ τῷ ἁγίῳ ἐχρίοντο· αὐτοὶ δὲ καὶ τὴν βυσσίνην καὶ τὴν ὑακινθίνην ἐσθῆτα περιεβάλοντο. Αἰ νίττεται δὲ καὶ τὸν αὐτῷ τῷ λαῷ γενόμενον πλοῦτον, καὶ σωματικὸν, καὶ πνευματικὸν, διὰ τῆς αὑτοῦ κηδεμο νίας. "Καὶ περιέβαλόν σε τριχάπτῳ." Πλέγμα ἐστὶ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τριχῶν κατεσκευασμένον, ταῖς τῶν γυναι κῶν περιτιθέμενον κεφαλαῖς. Τροπικῶς τοίνυν τὴν ἐπιτεθεῖσαν αὐτοῖς εὐπρέπειαν διὰ τῆς παντοδαπῆς παρεδήλωσεν ἐπιμελείας. Αἰνίττεται δὲ, ὡς οἶμαι, καὶ τὴν σκηνὴν ἀπὸ δέῤῥεων τριχίνων κατεσκευασμέ νην, ἐν ᾗ καὶ αἱ περὶ ἁμαρτίας προσεφέροντο θυσίαι, καὶ αἱ περὶ τελειώσεως, ἀποκαλύψεις τε θεῖαι ἐγίνοντο ἐκ τοῦ ἱλαστηρίου, τῷ ἀρχιερεῖ τοῦ Θεοῦ προσ διαλεγομένου. ιαʹ, ιβʹ. Καὶ ἐκόσμησά σε κόσμῳ, καὶ περιέθηκα ψέλλια περὶ τὰς χεῖράς σου, καὶ κάθεμα ἐπὶ τρά χηλόν σου. Καὶ ἔδωκα ἐνώτιον ἐπὶ τὸν μυκτῆρά σου, καὶ τροχίσκους ἐπὶ τὰ ὠτία σου, καὶ στέ φανον καυχήσεως ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς σου. Ἕκα στον δὲ τούτων τροπικῶς προσήκει νοεῖν. "Ψέλλια μὲν ταῖς χερσὶ περιτιθέμενα," τὴν πρακτικὴν ἀρετήν· 81.937 περιδέῤῥαιον