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of the choice ones of the high cedar from the top," that is, from the royal root itself; and again signifying the same thing, "And I will give from the head of its branches, from the heart of the top I will crop off." The Babylonian then cropped off the captives, but the flesh which he took, the Master himself cropped off, as we have said before; for he built the human temple for himself. "And I will plant it on a high mountain," not the Babylonian; and he calls the high mountain the manifest nature of the Church; for thus both Isaiah and Micah prophesied; "And it shall be," he says, "in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of God on the top of the mountains," and so on. Thus having shown his distinction through miracles, and through proclamations, he also foretells his passion; "And I will hang him on a mountain of Israel." For with his permission, the passion was also accomplished. The Lord himself made this clear when conversing with Pilate; for when that man boasted that he had authority both to punish and to release, the Lord said; "You would have no authority, unless it had been given to you from above." He therefore addressed permission as an act. "And I will hang him on a lofty mountain of Israel." And high is Golgotha, where the saving cross was fixed. Then the resurrection after the passion, and the sprouting of the proclamation. "And I will plant him, and he shall bring forth a shoot, and shall bear fruit," which the inhabited world, harvesting and feeding upon, hopes for eternal life. "And under it every bird shall rest." Then more clearly, "And every winged creature under its shadow shall rest." Nothing beast-like, nor crawling and ground-dwelling, but whatever is winged, and travels the air, and has its impulse towards the things above. For such are the nurslings of the faith, sending their minds upward, and imagining heavenly things, and sitting under the shadow of the greatest cedar. And he called him a cedar according to his human nature, since he also named the Davidic kingdom a cedar; and the cedar also has an incorruptible quality, just as the Master, even according to his human nature, possessed sinlessness. "And his branches," he says, "shall be restored." He added this because of the desolation of Jerusalem at that time; instead of saying, Do not look to the coming desolation of the city after the captivity; for this eternal king, setting out from there, will reign, and from it he will take branches; and he signifies the apostolic choir; therefore the kingdom will be restored, he says, to the Davidic tribe, according to the covenants made by God to David. Then he adds; 24. And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord, who humbles the high tree, and exalts the humble tree, and dries up the green 81.972 tree, and makes the dry tree to flourish. I the Lord have spoken and I will do it. All people will know, he says, that it is easy for me both to humble the high things, and to exalt the humble, and to dry up the moist, and to show the dry things flourishing. For when they see after the desolation of the city a shoot sprouting from it according to the prophecy of Isaiah; "For there shall come forth," he says, "a rod from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall grow up from the root;" and him being revealed as king of the whole inhabited world, all will know that I am the Lord, foretelling, and bringing the deed to pass with the word.

CHAPTER 18. 1-4. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, what is this to you, the

proverb that is in the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge? As I live, says the Lord Adonai, this proverb shall no longer be in Israel. Because all souls are mine; as is the soul of the father, so also is the soul of the son; all souls are mine, and the soul that sins, it shall die. To some it seems that the prophecy has moved to another chapter; but it is possible to see that what has been said accords with what was said before. For since

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ἐπιλέκτων τῆς κέδρου τῆς ὑψηλῆς ἐκ κορυφῆς," τουτέστιν ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς βασιλικῆς ῥίζης· καὶ πάλιν τὸ αὐτὸ σημαίνων, "Καὶ δώσω ἀπὸ κεφαλῆς παραφυάδων αὐτῆς, ἐκ καρδίας κορυφῆς ἀποκνιῶ." Τοὺς μὲν οὖν αἰχμ αλώτους ὁ Βαβυλώνιος ἀπέκνισεν, ἣν δὲ ἀνέλαβε σάρκα αὐτὸς ἀπέκνισεν ὁ ∆εσπότης, ὡς προειρήκαμεν· ἑαυτῷ γὰρ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον ᾠκοδόμησε ναόν. "Καὶ καταφυτεύσω ἐπ' ὄρους ὑψηλοῦ ἐγὼ," οὐχ ὁ Βαβυ λώνιος· ὅρος δὲ ὑψηλὸν τὸ περιφανὲς τῆς Ἐκκλη σίας καλεῖ· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ Ἡσαΐας καὶ Μιχαίας προεφήτευσαν· "Καὶ ἔσται, φησὶν, ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις ἐμφανὲς τὸ ὄρος Κυρίου, καὶ ὁ οἶκος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπ' ἄκρων τῶν ὀρέων," καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Οὕτω δείξας τὸ ἐπίσημον αὐτοῦ διὰ τῶν θαυμάτων, καὶ διὰ τῶν κηρυγμάτων, προλέγει καὶ τὸ πάθος· "Καὶ κρεμάσω αὐτὸν ἐν ὄρει Ἰσραήλ." Αὐτοῦ γὰρ συγ χωρήσαντος, καὶ τὸ πάθος ἀπετελέσθη. Τοῦτο δὲ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος δῆλον πεποίηκε τῷ Πιλάτῳ διαλεγό μενος· σεμνυνομένου γὰρ ἐκείνου, ὡς ἐξουσίαν ἔχον τος καὶ κολάσαι καὶ ἀπολῦσαι, ἔφησεν ὁ Κύριος· "Οὐκ εἶχες ἐξουσίαν, εἰ μὴ ἦν σοι δεδομένον ἄνω θεν." Ὡς ἐνέργειαν τοίνυν τὴν συγχώρησιν προσ ηγόρευσε. "Καὶ κρεμάσω αὐτὸν ἐν ὄρει μετεώρῳ Ἰσραήλ." Ὑψηλὸς δὲ ὁ Γολγοθᾶ, ἔνθα ὁ σωτήριος ἐπάγη σταυρός. Εἶτα τὴν μετὰ τὸ πάθος ἀνάστασιν, καὶ τὴν τοῦ κηρύγματος βλάστησιν. "Καὶ καταφυ τεύσω αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐξοίσει βλαστὸν, καὶ ποιήσει καρ πὸν," ὃν ἡ οἰκουμένη τρυγῶσα καὶ σιτουμένη τὴν αἰώνιον ἐλπίζει ζωήν. "Καὶ ἀναπαύσεται ὑποκάτω αὐτοῦ πᾶν ὄρνεον." Εἶτα σαφέστερον, "Καὶ πᾶν πετεινὸν ὑπὸ τὴν σκιὰν αὐτοῦ ἀναπαύσεται." Οὐδὲν κτηνῶδες, οὐδὲ ἑρπετὸν καὶ χαμαίζηλον, ἀλλ' εἴ τι ὑπόπτερον, καὶ ἀεροπόρον, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ ἄνω τὴν ὁρ μὴν ἔχον. Τοιοῦτοι γὰρ οἱ τῆς πίστεως τρόφιμοι, ἄνω τὴν διάνοιαν πέμποντες, καὶ τὰ οὐράνια φαντα ζόμενοι, καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν σκιὰν τῆς μεγίστης καθήμενοι κέδρου. Κέδρον δὲ αὐτὸν προσηγόρευσε κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ἐπειδὴ καὶ τὴν ∆αβιτικὴν βασιλείαν κέδρον ὠνόμασεν· ἔχει δὲ καὶ ἄσηπτον ἡ κέδρος, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ ∆εσπότης, καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπειον, τὸ ἀναμάρτητον ἔσχηκε. "Καὶ τὰ κλήματα αὐτοῦ, φησὶν, ἀποκατασταθήσεται." Τοῦτο διὰ τὴν τηνι καῦτα τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐρημίαν ἐπήγαγεν· ἀντὶ τοῦ, Μὴ ἀποβλέψητε εἰς τὴν ἐσομένην μετὰ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν τῆς πόλεως ἐρημίαν· οὗτος γὰρ ὁ αἰώνιος βασιλεὺς ἐκεῖθεν ὁρμώμενος βασιλεύσει, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς λήψεται κλήματα· σημαίνει δὲ τὸν ἀποστολικὸν χορόν· ἀποκατασταθήσεται τοίνυν, φησὶ, τῇ ∆αβιτικῇ φυλῇ ἡ βασιλεία, κατὰ τὰς πρὸς τὸν ∆αβὶδ ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ γενομένας συνθήκας. Εἶτα ἐπάγει· κδʹ. Καὶ γνώσονται πάντα τὰ ξύλα τοῦ πεδίου, ὅτι ἐγὼ Κύριος, ὁ ταπεινῶν ξύλον ὑψηλὸν, καὶ ὑψῶν ξύλον ταπεινὸν, καὶ ξηραίνων ξύλον 81.972 χλωρὸν, καὶ ἀναθάλλων ξύλον ξηρόν. Ἐγὼ Κύ ριος λελάληκα καὶ ποιήσω. Γνώσονται, φησὶ, πάν τες ἄνθρωποι, ὅτι ῥᾴδιόν μοι καὶ τὰ ὑψηλὰ ταπει νοῦν, καὶ ἀνυψοῦν τὰ ταπεινὰ, καὶ τὰ ὑγρὰ ξηραί νειν, καὶ τὰ ξηρὰ τεθηλότα δεικνύναι. Ὅταν γὰρ ἴδωσι μετὰ τὴν τῆς πόλεως ἐρημίαν βλαστὸν ἐξ αὐτῆς φύσαντα κατὰ τὴν Ἡσαΐου προφητείαν· "Ἐξελεύ- σεται γὰρ, φησὶ, ῥάβδος ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἰεσσαὶ, καὶ ἄνθος ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης ἀναβήσεται·" καὶ τοῦτον πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀναδεικνύμενον βασιλέα, γνώσονται πάντες, ὅτι ἐγὼ Κύριος προλέγων, καὶ τῷ λόγῳ τὸ ἔργον ἐπάγων.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΙΗʹ. αʹ-δʹ. Καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρός με, λέγων· Υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, τίς ὑμῖν ἡ

παραβολὴ αὕτη ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ λεγόντων, Οἱ πατέρες ἔφαγον ὄμφακα, καὶ οἱ ὀδόντες τῶν τέ κνων ᾑμωδίασαν; Ζῶ ἐγὼ, λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύ ριος, ἐὰν γένηται ἔτι ἡ παραβολὴ αὕτη ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ. Ὅτι πᾶσαι αἱ ψυχαὶ ἐμαί εἰσιν· ὃν τρόπον ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ πατρὸς, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ υἱοῦ· πᾶσαι αἱ ψυχαὶ ἐμαί εἰσι, καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ ἡ ἁμαρτάνουσα, αὕτη ἀποθανεῖται. Τισὶ δο κεῖ ἐπ' ἄλλο κεφάλαιον μεταβῆναι τὴν προφητείαν· ἔστι δὲ ἰδεῖν τοῖς προλεχθεῖσι τὰ εἰρημένα συμβαί νοντα. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ