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being shown to the prophet, the same might be said to exist in the time of the Savior, not by the persistence of each individual, but by the common name of the nation. The prophet, therefore, hearing these things, asks. How long, Lord? For what will be the end of their so great blindness? But God, through what he adds, reveals the evils that befell the Jews in the time of Vespasian, after the cross of the Savior, when also very many cities disappeared, so that not even a name of them was left, as Josephus related. And how very many houses were emptied of their inhabitants, who were destroyed by sword, and famine, and by flights and captivity. And instead of, "And after these things God will remove the men far away," Symmachus rendered it more clearly, saying: The Lord will make men far away. And this represents the captivity, and the scattering of the flight. But some say this signifies the alienation of the Jews from God, for whom a hardening came in part, that the fullness of the Gentiles might come in. And they were removed far away, having killed the saints, and adding also the author of life himself; but also those who are left, he says, will be multiplied, although being so few as to seem to be a tenth part of those who were destroyed. And what will be the end of these things, he added. And again it will be for plunder, and what follows; for which Symmachus rendered, "And again it will be for grazing like an oak, and like an acorn, which having been cast off stands alone," the word foretelling the complete desolation that happened under Hadrian the emperor, when by decrees and imperial laws it was not permitted for them even from afar to see the desolation of their own metropolis; when also certain foreign strangers occupied the Hellenized place, and the city changed its name, becoming named after the one who last besieged it. 1949 And the examples are very fitting, like a terebinth, or like an oak, or like an acorn, when it falls out of its cup. For he says they will no longer be a vineyard of the Lord Sabaoth, nor like a paradise of God, nor like a beautiful olive tree, nor like a palm tree according to the just one, or any other of the cultivated and necessary plants, but as an acorn. Nor it intact, but having fallen from its cup. And like a terebinth, or according to the other interpreters, like an oak and an acorn. and an oak forest, and of the other trees, whichever are fruitless and wild, as Scripture is accustomed to call the foreign nations. You think the nation of the Jews will be similar, he says, differing in no way of life, except for the worse, so that the ones hold their own lands, and bring forth their natural fruits, but the others have fallen from their own, and do not even operate similarly to them, so that for this reason it seems to be compared to a wild plant, and to the fruit of the acorn which nourishes irrational animals. Upon these things, with the addition of asterisks, he adds concerning the holy seed from them, about which the saying, "Unless the Lord Sabaoth had left us a seed," was foretold. For Theodotion indeed said, "The holy seed is its monument." But Aquila said "a setting up." But Symmachus, "its standing." For a standing of the fallen people is the holy seed from them which did not suffer the same fall as the rest. Those who received the saving grace, and understood what they heard, and seeing, they beheld. Whom the Savior, blessing, said: "Blessed are the eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear." But some took the phrase, "And those who are left will be multiplied," to refer to those who have believed in Christ. But if he says, "And they will be for plunder," and what follows, it signifies, they say, the gradual change from the Jewish customs to the way of life according to the Gospel. For again these will be gathered for plunder, as the fruit of the terebinth is gathered, and as the acorn is already ripe for gathering. For then the one that has already fallen and been perfected by time is released from the bond to its cup. And perhaps, they say, also because having fallen away they came to be in the diaspora, they were compared to an acorn having fallen from its cup. And these are gathered, like both a terebinth and an acorn, in becoming a holy seed in its standing and stability

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τῷ προφήτῃ δεικνύμενος λέγοιτ' ἂν ὁ αὐτὸς τῷ ἐπὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ὑπάρχειν, οὐ διαμονῇ τῶν καθ' ἕκαστον, τῇ κοινῇ δὲ τοῦ ἔθνους ὀνομασίᾳ. Τούτων οὖν ὁ προφήτης ἀκούσας πυνθάνεται. Ἕως πότε, Κύριε; Τί γὰρ ἔσται τέλος τῆς τοσαύτης αὐτῶν ἀβλεψίας; Ὁ δὲ Θεὸς, δι' ὧν ἐπιφέρει, δηλοῖ τὰ ἐπὶ Οὐεσπασιανοῦ γενόμενα τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις κακὰ, μετὰ τὸν τοῦ Σωτῆρος σταυρὸν, ὅτε καὶ πλεῖσται πόλεις γεγόνασιν ἀφανεῖς, ὡς ὄνομα τούτων μὴ λείπεσθαι, καθάπερ ἱστόρησεν ὁ Ἰώσηπος. Καὶ ὡς οἶκοι πλεῖστοι τῶν οἰκητόρων κεκένωνται μαχαίρᾳ, καὶ λιμῷ, φυγαῖς τε καὶ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ διεφθαρμένων. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα μακρυνεῖ ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, σαφέστερον ἐξέδωκε Σύμμαχος εἰπών· Μακρὰν ποιήσει Κύριος τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. Τοῦτο δὲ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν παρίστησι, καὶ τὸν τῆς φυγῆς σκεδασμόν. Τινὲς δὲ τοῦτό φασι δηλοῦν τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀλλοτρίωσιν, οἷς ἡ ἀπὸ μέρους ἐγένετο πήρωσις, ἵνα τὸ πλήρωμα τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰσέλθῃ. Ἐμακρύνθησαν δὲ ἁγίους ἀπεκτονότες, προσθέντες δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς ζωῆς· ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ καταλειφθέντες, φησὶ, πληθυνθήσονται, καίπερ οὕτως ὄντες ὀλίγοι, ὡς δοκεῖν αὐτοὺς μέρος εἶναι τῶν ἐφθαρμένων τὸ δέκατον. Τί δὲ καὶ τούτων ἔσται τέλος, ἐπήνεγκε. Καὶ πάλιν ἔσται εἰς προνομὴν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· ἀνθ' ὧν ἐξέδωκε Σύμμαχος, Καὶ πάλιν ἔσται εἰς καταβόσκησιν ὡς δρῦς, καὶ ὡς βάλανος, ἥτις ἀποβαλοῦσα ἵσταται μόνη, ἐρημίαν παντελῆ τοῦ λόγου προαγορεύοντος ὑπ' Ἀδριανοῦ γεγονυῖαν τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος, ὅτε διατάγμασι καὶ νόμοις βασιλικοῖς οὐδὲ πόῤῥωθεν αὐτοῖς ἐξῆν τῆς ἑαυτῶν μητροπόλεως τὴν ἐρημίαν ἰδεῖν· ὅτε καὶ ξένοι τινὲς ἀλλογενεῖς κατέσχον ἐξελληνισθέντα τὸν τόπον, καὶ τὴν προσηγορίαν ἡ πόλις μετέλαβεν, ἐπώνυμος γενομένη τοῦ ταύτην ὑστάτου πολιορκήσαντος. 1949 Οἰκεῖα δὲ λίαν τὰ παραδείγματα, ὡς τερέβινθος, ἢ ὡς δρῦς, ἢ ὡς βάλανος, ὅταν ἐκπέσῃ ἐκ τῆς θήκης αὐτῆς. Οὐκέτι γὰρ ἀμπελὼν Κυρίου Σαβαὼθ, οὐδ' ὡς παράδεισος Θεοῦ, οὐδ' ὡς ἐλαία ὡραία, οὐδ' ὡς φοῖνιξ κατὰ τὸν δίκαιον, ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἡμέρων καὶ ἀναγκαίων φυτῶν ἔσεσθαι τούτους φησὶν, ὡς βάλανον. Οὐδὲ αὐτὴν συνεστῶσαν, ἀλλὰ πεσοῦσαν τῆς θήκης. Καὶ ὡς τερέβινθον, ἢ κατὰ τοὺς ἄλλους ἑρμηνευτὰς, ὡς δρῦν δὲ καὶ βάλανον. καὶ δρυμὸν, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων δένδρων, ὅσαπερ ἄκαρπα καὶ ἀνήμερα τὰ ἔθνη καλεῖν τὰ ἀλλόφυλα σύνηθες τῇ Γραφῇ. Οἴει ὅμοιον ἔσεσθαι τὸ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος φησὶ, μηδενὶ διαφέροντα τρόπῳ καὶ βίῳ, πλὴν ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον, ὡς τοὺς μὲν τὰς οἰκείας ἐπέχειν χώρας, καὶ τοὺς κατὰ φύσιν τὴν αὐτῶν προφέρειν καρποὺς, τοὺς δὲ τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἐκπεπτωκέναι, καὶ μηδὲ ὁμοίως ἐκείνοις ἐνεργεῖν, ὡς διὰ τοῦτο παραβάλλεσθαι δοκεῖ ἀγρίῳ φυτῷ, καὶ βαλάνου καρπῷ ζώων ἀλόγων θρεπτικῷ. Ἐπὶ τούτοις, μετὰ προσθήκης ἀστερίσκων, ἐπιλέγει περὶ τοῦ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἁγίου σπέρματος, περὶ οὗ τό· "Εἰ μὴ Κύριος Σαβαὼθ ἐγκατέλιπεν ἡμῖν σπέρμα," προὐλέγετο. Θεοδοτίων μὲν γὰρ ἔφη, Τὸ σπέρμα ἅγιον τὸ στήλωμα αὐτῆς. Ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας στήλωσις ἔφησεν. Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος, ἡ στάσις αὐτῆς. Στάσις γὰρ τοῦ ἐκπεσόντος λαοῦ, τὸ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἅγιον σπέρμα τὸ μὴ τὴν ὁμοίαν τοῖς λοιποῖς ὑπομεῖναν πτῶσιν. Οἱ τὴν σωτήριον χάριν δεξάμενοι, καὶ συνέντες τὴν ἀκοὴν, καὶ ἰδόντες ἐθεάσαντο. Οὓς μακαρίζων ὁ Σωτὴρ ἔλεγεν· "Μακάριοι οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ, ὅτι βλέπουσιν, καὶ τὰ ὦτα ὑμῶν, ὅτι ἀκούουσι." Τινὲς δὲ τὸ, Καὶ οἱ καταλειφθέντες πληθυνθήσονται, ἐπὶ τῶν εἰς Χριστὸν πεπιστευκότων ἐδέξαντο. Εἰ δέ φησι, Καὶ ἔσονται εἰς προνομὴν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, δηλοῖ, φασὶ, τὴν κατὰ μικρὸν ἀπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν ἐθῶν, ἐπὶ τὴν κατὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον πολιτείαν μεταβολήν. Πάλιν γὰρ εἰς προνομὴν οὗτοι γενήσονται συνηγμένοι, ὡς συνάγεται ὁ τῆς τερεβίνθου καρπὸς, καὶ ὡς ἡ βάλανος ἡ ὥριμος ἤδη πρὸς συλλογήν. Τότε γὰρ ἀπολύεται ἀπὸ τοῦ πρὸς τῇ θήκῃ δεσμοῦ ἡ πεφθεῖσα ἤδη καὶ τελειωθεῖσα τῷ χρόνῳ. Τάχα δὲ, φασὶ, καὶ διὰ τὸ ἐκπεπτωκέναι γενομένους ἐν τῇ διασπορᾷ, βαλάνῳ τῆς θήκης ἐκπεσούσῃ παρεβλήθησαν. Συνάγονται δὲ οὗτοι, ὡς τερέβινθός τε καὶ βάλανος, ἐν τῷ γενέσθαι σπέρμα ἅγιον ἐν τῇ στάσει καὶ βεβαιότητι