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to the nations.” However, one must know that the removal of sin properly belongs to the epiphany of our savior, but it also happened then as in a type. Thus also what follows has a double prophecy: When they make all the stones of the altars broken down like fine dust; and their idols will not remain, and their trees cut down like a forest. The marvelous Hezekiah also did these things; and the second book of Chronicles and the fourth of Kings teaches this. But he did this in Jerusalem alone, whereas the Lord Christ freed the whole world from the error of idols. Thus, having foretold the salvation that happened to Jerusalem at the time of Sennacherib, he also foretells the coming captivity at the time of Nebuchadnezzar: Far away 10the inhabited flock will be left loose like an abandoned flock; and for a long time it will be for pasture, and there they will rest. And after a time there will be nothing green 11in it because it has been dried up. He says they will be led away captive, and their land will be desolate, but they will return again and dwell in it; after a time, however, it will be fruitless, and will not even sprout anything green because it has been dried up. The word signifies the present fruitlessness of the Jews; for nothing has blossomed among them, since they do not receive the rain of grace. Women coming from a spectacle, come hither; for it is not a people that has understanding. Therefore he who made them will not pity them, nor will he who formed them have mercy on them. He calls “women” the cities of the nations or the churches in them that behold the desolation of Jerusalem, and he exhorts them to flee their unbelief; for they do not wish to understand what is profitable, for which reason they have been deprived of pardon. 12And it shall be in that day, the Lord shall block from the channel of the river to Rinocorura. The Other Interpreters said this: “from the mountain of the river to the torrent of Egypt he will stop the streams.” For impiety is neither a river nor a channel but a torrent formed from a collection and having a temporary existence. But you, gather the sons of Israel one by one. The word commands the holy apostles; for they, traveling around the synagogues throughout the world, preached the word first to the Jews and offered to the Lord those who were persuaded by the divine proclamation. 13And it shall be in that day, they will sound the great trumpet, and those who were perishing in the land of the Assyrians and those who were perishing in Egypt will come and will worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem. He called the saving proclamation a great trumpet; for of the heralds of truth, “their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” These, having gathered the wandering “lost sheep of the house of Israel,” and also having gathered the “other sheep, which are not of this fold,” they made one flock for the Lord and they pasture it on Mount Zion, showing them the height of theology. And of the Jerusalem above <...> if one should name, he would not err from the |134 a| truth. And he agrees with the divine David saying: “The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.” Let us, then, love these gates and constantly attend to them, that through them we may enter into that much-desired city by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father with the Holy Spirit now and forever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

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τοῖς ἔθνεσιν.» Εἰδέναι μέντοι χρὴ ὅτι κυρίως ἡ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀφαί ρεσι ς ἁρμόττει τῇ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιφανείᾳ, ὡς ἐν τύπῳ δὲ καὶ τότε ἐγένετο. Οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐπαγόμενα δι πλῆν ἔχει τὴν προφητείαν· Ὅταν θῶσι πάντας τοὺς λίθους τῶν βωμῶν κατακεκομμένους ὡς κονίαν λεπτήν· καὶ οὐ μὴ μείνῃ τὰ εἴδωλα αὐτῶ<ν>, καὶ τὰ δένδρα αὐτῶ<ν> ἐκκεκομμένα ὥσπερ δρυμός. Ταῦτα καὶ ὁ θαυμάσιος Ἐζεκίας πεποίηκεν· καὶ διδάσκει τῶν Παραλειπομένων ἡ δευτέρα καὶ τῶν Βασιλειῶν ἡ τετάρτη. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνος ἐν τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ τοῦτο δέδρακε μόνῃ, ὁ δέ γε δεσπότης Χριστὸς τὴν οἰκουμένην τῆς τῶν εἰδώλων ἠλευθέρωσε πλάνης. Οὕ τω προαγορεύσας τὴν γεγενημένην ἐπὶ τοῦ Σενναχηρὶμ τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ σωτηρίαν προλέγει καὶ τὴν ἐσομένην ἐπὶ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ αἰχμαλωσίαν· Μακρὰν 10τὸ κατοι κούμενον ποίμνιον ἀνειμένον ἔσται ὡς ποίμνιον ἐγκαταλε λειμμένον· καὶ ἔσται πολὺν χρόνον εἰς βόσκημα, καὶ ἐκεῖ ἀναπαύσονται. Καὶ μετὰ χρόνον οὐκ ἔσται ἐν αὐτῇ οὐθὲν χλωρὸν 11διὰ τὸ ξηρανθῆναι. Αἰχμάλωτοί φησιν ἀπαχ θή σονται, καὶ ἔρημος αὐτῶν ἡ χώρα ἔσται, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάλιν ἐπανήξουσι καὶ οἰκήσουσιν ἐν αὐτῇ· μετὰ μέ ντοι χρόνον ἄκαρπος ἔσται, καὶ οὐδὲ βλαστήσει χλωρὸν διὰ τὸ ξηραν θῆναι. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ ὁ λόγος τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρ όντος τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀκαρπίαν· οὐδὲν γὰρ τέθηλε παρ' ἐκείνοις, ἐπειδὴ τὸν τῆς χάριτος ὑετὸν οὐκ εἰσδέχεται. Γυναῖκες ἐρχόμεναι ἀπὸ θέας, δεῦτε· οὐ γὰρ λαός ἐστιν ἔχων σύνεσιν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐ μὴ οἰκτείρῃ αὐτοὺς ὁ ποιήςας αὐτούς, οὐδὲ ὁ πλάσας αὐτοὺς οὐ μὴ ἐλεήσῃ αὐτούς. Γυναῖκας καλεῖ τὰς τῶν ἐθνῶν πόλεις ἢ τὰς ἐν αὐταῖς ἐκκλησίας τὰς τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ θεωμένας τὴν ἐρημίαν, καὶ παρακελεύεται τὴν ἐκείνων ἀπιστίαν φυγεῖν· συνιέναι γὰρ οὐκ ἐθέλουσι τὸ συμφέρον, οὗ δὴ χάριν καὶ συγγνώμης ἐστέρηνται. 12Καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ συμφράξει κύριος ἀπὸ τῆς διώρυγος τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἕως Ῥινοκορούρων. Τοῦτο οἱ Ἄλλοι Ἑρμη νευταὶ ἔφ ασαν «ἀπὸ ὄρους τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἕως τοῦ χειμάρρου Αἰγύπτου καταπαύσει τὰ ῥεῖθρα.» Οὔτε γὰρ ποταμὸς οὔτε διῶρυξ ἡ ἀσέβεια ἀλλὰ χειμάρρους ἐξ ἐράνου συνιστάμενος καὶ πρόσκαιρον ἔχων τὴν σύστασιν. Ὑμεῖς δὲ συναγάγετε τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ κατὰ ἕνα ἕνα. Τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀποστόλοις ὁ λόγος παρακελεύεται· αὐτοὶ γὰρ τὰς κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην περινοστοῦντες συναγωγὰς πρώτοις Ἰουδαίοις τὸν λόγον ἐκήρυττον καὶ τοὺς τῷ θείω κηρύγματι πειθομένους τῷ δεσπότῃ προσέφερον. 13Καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ σαλπίσουσι τῇ σάλπιγγι τῇ μεγάλῃ, καὶ ἥξουσιν οἱ ἀπολόμενοι ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων καὶ οἱ ἀπολόμενοι ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ προσκυνή σουσι τῷ κυρίῳ ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος τὸ ἅγιον ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ. Σάλπιγγα μεγάλην ἐκάλεσε τὸ σωτήριον κήρυγμα· τῶν γὰρ τῆς ἀληθείας κηρύκων «εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα». Οὗτοι τὰ πλανώμενα συναγαγόντες «πρόβατα ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ», συναγαγόντες δὲ καὶ τὰ «ἄλλα πρόβατα, ἃ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τῆς αὐλῆς ταύτης», μίαν ποίμνην κατεσ κεύασαν τῷ δεσπότῃ καὶ ταύτην νέμουσιν ἐν τῷ ὄρει Σιών , τῆς θεολογίας αὐτοῖς ὑποδεικνύντες τὸ ὕψος. Καὶ τῆς ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ <...> εἰ ὀνομάζοι, οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι τῆς |134 a| ἀληθείας. Συνομολογεῖ δὲ τῷ θείῳ ∆αυὶδ λέγοντι· «Ἀγαπᾷ κύριος τὰς πύλας Σιὼν ὑπὲρ πάντα τὰ σκηνώματα Ἰακώβ.» Ταύτας δὲ ἡμεῖς ἀγαπήσωμεν τὰς πύλας καὶ ταύταις διηνεκῶς προσεδρεύσωμεν, ἵνα δι' ἐκείνων εἰς τὴν τριπόθητον ἐκείνην εἰσέλθωμεν πόλιν χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ πατρὶ ἡ δόξα σὺν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

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