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for he has made it clear through the following words: Whose land the rivers |124 b| of the earth 3have all plundered. He calls the kings “rivers of the earth,” who at different times overcame them. For Nebuchadnezzar destroyed them, and after this Cambyses and other kings of the Persians, and indeed also the Macedonians, forced them to serve. Their land shall be inhabited as an inhabited land, as if a sign should be lifted up from a mountain, as the sound of a trumpet it will be heard. He says they will no longer be ruled by a king but they will be enslaved similarly to the other nations. And their servitude will be conspicuous like a sign raised on a high mountain and as if proclaimed everywhere by a trumpet. These things, then, will happen to Damascus and to her allies, but Jerusalem will obtain providence from me. 4For there will be security, he says, in my city as a light from the midday heat and as a cloud of dew on a day of harvest. He compares the calamities of the others to heat and harvest, but the providence to light and dew, which Jerusalem has obtained. For before its walls the many myriads of the Assyrians fell. Then he foretells the various calamities of Damascus and of the ten tribes: 5When the blossom is finished and the sour grape blossoms, the blossom turning into a sour grape, and he will cut off the little clusters with sickles and the vine-shoots he will take away and cut off 6and he will leave them together for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth. He indicated a harvesting by enemies; for no one harvesting his own vine when the grapes are still blossoming or are sour but harvests them when ripe, nor indeed does he cut out the branches along with the clusters. Therefore he foretells figuratively the things that will be done by the enemies and he calls the parents branches, and their infants little clusters, and the sickles, the instruments of war, and the things left for birds of prey and beasts, the fallen corpses. For he has made this clear through the following words: And all the birds of the sky will be gathered against them and the beasts of the earth will come against them. Thus, having shown the destruction of Damascus and of the ten tribes, he transferred the prophecy to Jerusalem: 7In that time gifts will be brought to the Lord Sabaoth from a people afflicted and plucked and from a great people from now and for all time. He speaks of the people of Jerusalem as a people afflicted and plucked; for this city was in struggle and fear, while the cities under it were captured, whence "plucked" also fits it. But he calls the Christian people a great people, with whom the whole world is filled; for this people for all time offers gifts to the Lord and hearing in the churches of the paradoxical destruction of Sennacherib, repays the powerful and man-loving master with hymns. A nation hoping and trampled down, which is in a part of the river of its country, to the place where the name of the Lord Sabaoth has been invoked, Mount Zion. Symmachus has interpreted this more clearly: “A nation hoping and plundered, whose land the rivers have plundered.” And he calls the enemy kings of the Assyrians rivers, and the people in Jerusalem a plundered and hoping nation. For their king, being adorned with piety, the wonderful Hezekiah, led them on the straight path. These people, he says, having seen what happened to the Assyrians, will celebrate a very great feast, offering sacrifices and gifts to the savior. Thus having concluded the things foretold concerning Damascus and the ten tribes and having shown the paradoxical salvation of Jerusalem, he transfers the prophecy to Egypt. Since the king of Damascus sent to them, quite fittingly he also foretells things concerning them, both foretelling the destruction of their kingdom and their release from impiety: 191Behold the Lord sits upon a light cloud and will come to Egypt. The history of the holy gospels bears witness to the prophecy; for an angel instructed Joseph to go down to Egypt with the child and his mother. Therefore, the light cloud, the

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γὰρ διὰ τῶν ἐπαγομένων δεδήλωκεν· Οὗ διήρπασαν οἱ ποταμοὶ |124 b| τῆς γῆς 3πάντες. Ποταμοὺς τῆς γῆς τοὺς βασιλέας καλεῖ τοὺς διαφόρως ἐκείνων περιγενομένους. Καὶ γὰρ Ναβουχο δονόσορ αὐτοὺς κατέλυσε, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Καμβύσης καὶ ἕτεροι Περσῶν βασιλεῖς καὶ μέντοι καὶ Μακεδόνες αὐτοὺς δουλεύειν ἠνάγκασαν. Ὡς χώρα κατοικουμένη κατοικη θήσεται ἡ χώρα αὐτῶν, ὡσεὶ σημεῖον ἀπὸ ὄρους ἀρθῇ, ὡς σάλπιγγος φωνὴ ἀκουστὸν ἔσται. Οὐκέτι φησὶ βασιλευθή σονται ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔθνεσι παραπλησίως δουλεύσουσιν. Καὶ ἔσται αὐτῶν ἐπίσημος ἡ δουλεία ὡς σημεῖον ἐφ' ὑψηλοῦ ὄρους αἰρόμενον καὶ ὡς διὰ σάλπιγγος πάντοσε ἐκκηρυτ τομένη. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν τῇ ∆αμασκῷ καὶ τοῖς ἐκείνης ἐπικούροις γενήσεται, ἡ δὲ Ἱερουσαλὴμ τῆς παρ' ἐμοῦ τεύξεται προμη θείας. 4Ἀσφάλεια γάρ φησιν ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἐμῇ πόλει ὡς φῶς καύματος μεσημβρίας καὶ ὡς νεφέλη δρόσου ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἀμή του. Ἀπεικάζει καύματι μὲν καὶ ἀμήτῳ τῶν ἄλλων τὰς συμφοράς, φωτὶ δὲ καὶ δρόσῳ τὴν πρόνοιαν, ἧς ἡ Ἱερουσαλὴμ τετύχηκεν. Πρὸ γὰρ τῶν ταύτης περιβόλων αἱ πολλαὶ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἔπεσον μυριάδες. Εἶτα προλέγει τῆς ∆αμασκοῦ καὶ τῶν δέκα φυλῶν τὰς παντοδαπὰς συμφοράς· 5Ὅταν συντελεσθῇ ἄνθος καὶ ὄμφαξ ἀνθήσῃ τὸ ἄνθος ὀμφακίζον, καὶ ἀφελεῖ τὰ βοτρύδια τὰ μικρὰ τοῖς δρεπάνοις καὶ τὰς κληματίδας ἀφελεῖ καὶ ἀποκόψει 6καὶ καταλείψει ἅμα τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τοῖς θηρίοις τῆς γῆς. ∆υσμενῶν ὑπέδειξε τρύγητον· οὐδεὶς <γὰρ> οἰκείαν τρυγῶν ἄμπελον ἀνθοῦντας ἔτι τοὺς βότρυας ἢ ὀμφακίζοντας ἀλλὰ πεπείρους τρυγᾷ οὔτε μὴν σὺν τοῖς βότρυσι καὶ τὰ κλήματα ἐκτέμνει. Τροπικῶς τοίνυν τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων ἐσόμενα προλέγει καὶ καλεῖ κλήματα μὲν τοὺς γεγεννηκότας, βοτρύδια δὲ μικρὰ τὰ ἐκείνων βρέφη, δρέπανα δὲ τὰ πολεμικὰ ὄργανα, τὰ δὲ καταλιμπανόμενα οἰωνοῖς καὶ θηρίοις τοὺς πίπτοντας νεκρούς. Τοῦτο γὰρ διὰ τῶν ἐπαγομένων δεδήλωκεν· Καὶ συναχθήσεται ἐπ' αὐτοὺς πάντα τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τὰ θηρία τῆς γῆς ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἥξει. Οὕτω τῆς ∆αμασκοῦ καὶ τῶν δέκα φυλῶν τὸν ὄλεθρον ἐπιδείξας εἰς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὴν προφητείαν μετέθηκεν· 7Ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ ἀνενεχθήσεται δῶρα κυρίῳ Σαβαὼθ ἐκ λαοῦ τεθλιμμένου καὶ τετιλμένου καὶ ἀπὸ λαοῦ μεγάλου ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα χρόνον. Λαὸν τεθλιμμένον καὶ τετιλμένον τὸν τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ λέγει· αὕτη μὲν γὰρ ἐν ἀγῶνι διῆγε καὶ δέει, αἱ δὲ ὑπ' αὐτὴν ἑάλωσαν πόλεις, ὅθεν αὐτῇ καὶ τὸ τετιλμένον ἁρμόζει. Λαὸν δὲ μέγαν τὸν Χριστιανικὸν καλεῖ, οὗ πᾶσα πλήρης ἡ οἰκουμένη· οὗτος γὰρ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα χρόνον δῶρα κυρίῳ προσφέρει καὶ τὴν τοῦ Σεναχηρὶμ παράδοξον κατάλυσιν ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἀκούων ὕμνοις τὸν δυνατὸν καὶ φιλάνθρωπον δεσπότην ἀμείβεται. Ἔθνος ἐλπίζον καὶ καταπεπατημένον, ὅ ἐστιν ἐν μέρει ποταμοῦ τῆς χώρας αὐτοῦ, εἰς <τὸν> τόπον, οὗ τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου Σαβαὼθ ἐπικέκληται, ὄρους Σιών. Τοῦτο σαφέστερον ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσεν «Ἔθνος ἐλ πίζον καὶ διηρπασ μένον, οὗ διήρπασαν οἱ ποταμοὶ τὴν γῆν.» Καλεῖ δὲ ποταμοὺς τῶν Ἀσσυρίων τοὺς βασιλέας τοὺς π ολεμίους, διηρπα σμένον δὲ ἔθνος καὶ ἐλπίζον τὸν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις λαόν. Εὐσεβείᾳ γὰρ κοσμούμενος τούτων ὁ βασιλεύς, ὁ θαυμάσιος Ἐζεκίας, εἰς τὴν εὐθεῖαν αὐτοὺς ὁδὸν ἐποδήγησεν. Οὗτοί φησι τὰ κατὰ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων γεγενημένα θεασάμενοι ἑορτὴν μεγίστην ἐπιτελέσουσι, θυσίας καὶ δῶρα τῷ σωτῆρι προςφέροντες. Οὕτω συμπεράνας τὰ κατὰ τῆς ∆αμασκοῦ καὶ τῶν δέκα φυλῶν προηγορευμένα καὶ δείξας τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὴν πα ρά δοξον σωτηρίαν, ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον μεταφέρει τὴν προφητείαν. Ἐπειδὴ πρὸς τούτους κατέ πεμψεν ὁ τῆς ∆αμασκοῦ βασιλεύς, μάλα εἰκότως καὶ τὰ περὶ τούτων προλέγει καὶ τὴν τῆς βα σιλεί ας αὐτῶν προαγορεύων κατάλυσιν καὶ τὴν τῆς ἀσεβείας ἀπαλλαγήν· 191Ἰδοὺ κύριος κάθηται ἐπὶ νεφέλης κούφης καὶ ἥξει εἰς Αἴγυπτον. Μαρτυρεῖ τῇ προφητείᾳ τῶν ἱερῶν εὐαγγελίων ἡ ἱστορία· τῷ γὰρ Ἰωσὴφ ἄγγελος παρηγγύησε τὴν Αἴγυπτον κατα λαβεῖν σὺν τῷ παιδίῳ καὶ τῇ τούτου μητρί. Νεφέλην τοίνυν κούφην τὴν