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it will be our aim to clarify each word of the prophecy; how it is said, upon the throne of David and his kingdom, to establish it; at which it would be likely for those of the circumcision to stumble, because our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ did not sit bodily upon the throne and kingdom of David; for which reason, having referred the studious to the commentaries on these passages, we shall accomplish what has been set forth. VIII. Behold, the Lord, the Lord of Sabaoth, shall confound the glorious with might, and the haughty in their insolence shall be crushed, and they shall be brought low, and the lofty shall fall by the sword, and Lebanon with the lofty shall fall. And a rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall spring up from the root, and the Spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and godliness shall fill him; the spirit of the fear of God, he shall not judge according to appearance, nor reprove according to report, but he shall judge the cause of the lowly, and reprove the humble of the earth, and he shall strike the earth with the word of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked; and he shall be girded with righteousness about his loins, and with truth wrapped around his sides. And the wolf shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf 185 and the bull and the lion shall feed together, and their young shall be together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and a nursing child shall lay its hand on the hole of asps and on the lair of the offspring of asps, and they shall not do evil, nor shall they be able to destroy anyone on my holy mountain, for the whole earth was filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers the seas; and in that day there shall be the root of Jesse, and he that rises up to rule the nations, in him the nations shall hope, and his rest shall be honor. Not even those of the circumcision themselves have supposed the one prophesied here to be anyone other than the Christ, except that, imagining the things in this passage would be more physical according to a literal interpretation of the prophecy, they do not confess faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. But we, being persuaded that all things in the prophecy are worthy of God, have believed that these things are said about the changes in human character, of those who through the appearance of our Savior have been transformed from the depth of wickedness to gentleness; seeing even now how and in what manner in the churches throughout the world, after the coming of Jesus Christ who sprouted from the root of Jesse, many men have been reshaped, and have changed their very nature from a beastly way of life, being formerly wolves and leopards, in this manner, and lions and as many other beasts and creeping things as the prophecy enumerates, in proportion to the varied evil and wickedness in each one; who, having been changed 186 and as it were re-formed, have advanced to such a degree of gentleness, as to feed together, eating the same food of the sacred words of God with the most gentle-mannered righteous men of God, whom the divine word has likened, on account of such guilelessness of soul, to tame and most gentle animals, and to the children written of here. But if anyone is disinclined to believe these things, let him say if it is possible otherwise to preserve the text according to its plain meaning; for why or how shall Lebanon fall with the lofty? Let him not speak figuratively of either the rod, or the flower from it, but let him show how a physical rod is said to come forth from the root of Jesse, and what sort of flower will spring up from it; but if these things compel even the very hard-hearted to resort to a spiritual interpretation, see if the rest is not also well represented by us as being fulfilled spiritually at the coming of our Savior; which also happened in accordance with the prophecy after the Lord of Sabaoth confounded the formerly glorious ones of the former people; who, having also been exalted in their insolence against our Savior

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ἡμᾶς τυγχάνει σκοποῦ, ἑκάστην λέξιν διασαφῆσαι τῆς προφητείας παραστήσεται· ̣σιξ̣ ὅπως εἴρηται τὸ, ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον ∆αυὶδ καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ κατορθῶσαι αὐτήν· ᾧ καὶ εἰκὸς ἂν εἴη προσκόψαι τοὺς ἐκ περιτομῆς, διὰ τὸ μὴ σωματικῶς ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ ∆αυὶδ κεκαθικέναι τὸν Σωτῆρα καὶ Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν· δι' ὅπερ ἀναπέμψαντες τοὺς φιλομαθεῖς ἐπὶ τὰ εἰς τοὺς τόπους ὑπομνήματα, ἡμεῖς τὸ προτεθὲν διαπερανούμεθα. Ηʹ. Ἰδοὺ δὴ ὁ δεσπότης Κύριος σαβαὼθ συνταράξει τοὺς ἐνδόξους μετὰ ἰσχύος, καὶ ὑψηλοὶ τῇ ὕβρει συντριβήσονται, καὶ ταπεινωθήσονται, καὶ πεσοῦνται οἱ ὑψηλοὶ μαχαίρᾳ, ὁ δὲ Λίβανος σὺν τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς πεσεῖται. Καὶ ἐξελεύσεται ῥάβδος ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἱεσσαὶ, καὶ ἄνθος ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης ἀναβήσεται, καὶ ἐπαναπαύσεται ἐπ' αὐτὸν πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ, πνεῦμα σοφίας καὶ συνέσεως, πνεῦμα βουλῆς καὶ ἰσχύος, πνεῦμα γνώσεως καὶ εὐσεβείας ἐμπλήσει αὐτόν· πνεῦμα φόβου Θεοῦ, οὐ κατὰ τὴν δόξαν κρινεῖ, οὐδὲ κατὰ τὴν λαλιὰν ἐλέγξει, ἀλλὰ κρινεῖ ταπεινῷ κρίσιν, καὶ ἐλέγξει τοὺς ταπεινοὺς τῆς γῆς, καὶ πατάξει γῆν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν πνεύματι διὰ χειλέων ἀνελεῖ ἀσεβῆ· καὶ ἔσται δικαιοσύνῃ ἐζωσμένος τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀληθείᾳ εἱλημμένος τὰς πλευρὰς αὐτοῦ. Καὶ συμβοσκηθήσεται λύκος μετὰ ἀρνὸς, καὶ πάρδαλις συναναπαύσεται ἐρίφῳ, καὶ μοσχάριον 185 καὶ ταῦρος καὶ λέων ἅμα βοσκηθήσονται, καὶ ἅμα τὰ παιδία αὐτῶν ἔσονται, καὶ λέων ὡς βοῦς φάγεται ἄχυρα, καὶ παιδίον νήπιον ἐπὶ τρώγλην ἀσπίδων καὶ ἐπὶ κοίτην ἐγγόνων ἀσπίδων τὴν χεῖρα ἐπιβαλεῖ, καὶ οὐ μὴ κακοποιήσωσιν οὐδὲ μὴ δύνωνται ἀπολέσαι οὐδένα ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τὸ ἅγιον μου, ὅτι ἐνεπλήσθη ἡ σύμπασα γῆ τοῦ γνῶναι τὸν Κύριον ὡς ὕδωρ πολὺ κατακαλῦψαι θαλάσσας· καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἡ ῥίζα τοῦ Ἰεσσαὶ, καὶ ὁ ἀνιστάμενος ἄρχειν ἐθνῶν, ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσιν, καὶ ἔσται ἡ ἀνάπαυσις αὐτοῦ τιμή. Οὐδ' αὐτοὶ οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς ἄλλον τινὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸν ἐνταῦθα προφητευόμενον ὑπειλήφασι, πλὴν ὅσον ἐπὶ ψιλῇ τῇ τῆς προφητείας ἐκδοχῇ σωματικώτερον ἔσεσθαι φανταζόμενοι τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον τὴν εἰς τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν οὐκ ὁμολογοῦσι πίστιν· ἡμεῖς δ' ὅλα τὰ κατὰ τὴν προφητείαν ἄξια εἶναι Θεοῦ πειθόμενοι, περὶ τροπῶν ἀνθρωπείων τῶν διὰ τῆς ἐπιφανείας τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ βάθους τῆς κακίας εἰς ἡμερότητα μεταβεβληκότων ταῦτα λέγεσθαι πεπιστεύκαμεν· ἔτι καὶ νῦν ὁρῶντες πῶς καὶ τίνα τρόπον ἐν ταῖς κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις μετὰ τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἰεσσαὶ βεβλαστηκότος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων μετεπλάσθησαν, καὶ τὴν φύσιν αὐτὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ θηριώδους μετέβαλον βίου, λύκοι τινὲς ὄντες τὸ πρότερον καὶ πορδάλεις τὸν τοιονδὶ τρόπον λέοντές τε καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα θηρία τε καὶ ἑρπετὰ κατ' ἀναλογίαν τῆς ἐν ἑκάστῳ ποικίλης κακίας τε καὶ πονηρίας ἡ προφητεία καταλέγει· οἱ καὶ μεταθέμενοι 186 καὶ ὡσπερεὶ μεταπλασθέντες εἰς τοσοῦτον ἡμερότητος ἤλασαν, ὡς συμβόσκεσθαι αὐτοὺς τὴν αὐτὴν ἔσθοντας τῶν ἱερῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγων τροφὴν τοῖς ἡμερωτάτοις τὰ ἤθη δικαίοις ἀνδράσι τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὓς διὰ τὴν τοιανδὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀκακίαν τιθάσοις καὶ ἡμερωτάτοις ζῴοις, τοῖς τε ἀναγεγραμμένοις ἐνταῦθα παιδίοις ὁ θεῖος ἀπείκασε λόγος. Εἰ δὲ πρὸς ταῦτα τίς δυσπειθῶς ἔχοι, λεγέτω εἰ οἷόν τε ἄλλως κατὰ τὴν πρόχειρον διάνοιαν σώζειν τὴν λέξιν· διὰ τί γὰρ ἢ καὶ πῶς ὁ Λίβανος σὺν τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς πεσεῖται; μὴ τροπολογείτω δὲ μήτε τὴν ῥάβδον, μὴ δὲ τὸ ἐκ ταύτης ἄνθος, ἀλλὰ δεικνύτω πῶς σωματικὴ ῥάβδος ἐξελεύσεσθαι ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἰεσσαὶ λέγεται, καὶ ποταπὸν ἄνθος ἀναβήσεσθαι ἐξ αὐτῆς· εἰ δὲ καὶ τὸν πάνυ σκληρὸν ταῦτα ἐπὶ διάνοιαν ἀνιέναι βιάζεται, ὅρα εἰ μὴ καλῶς ἡμῖν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν παρουσίᾳ κατὰ διάνοιαν παρίσταται πεπληρωμένα· ἃ καὶ ἀκολούθως τῇ προφητείᾳ γέγονε μετὰ τὸ συνταράξαι Κύριον Σαβαὼθ τοὺς πάλαι ἐνδόξους τοῦ προτέρου λαοῦ· οὓς καὶ ὑψωθέντας τῇ κατὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ὕβρει