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"a holy root" and "firstfruit" and "a good olive tree" to call them. These few berries of the olive tree, then, were the only ones saved, having been found among them. And the ear of grain that was yielded was also a rare one. Therefore the prophetic word says: and it will be as when one gathers an ear of grain in a barren valley, or as two or three berries of an olive tree on the highest bough. After the mention of the apostles, very consistently it prophesies the conversion of the ancient polytheistic nations to the God of all. Therefore what follows is said: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: In that day a man will trust in the one who made him, and his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel, and they will no longer trust in the altars nor in the works of their hands, which their fingers made, and they will not see the trees nor their abominations. For they will no longer pay attention to the groves or to the high trees as they did before, but only the Holy One of Israel will they recognize, those who were once "alienated" from the knowledge of God "and strangers to the covenants of promise," in that day, that is, in the appointed time. Since the calling of the nations has been revealed through these things, what follows is said next: in that day, that is, at the same time, your cities will be abandoned in the way that the Amorites and the Hivites left them before the face of the sons of Israel, and they will be desolate, because you abandoned God your savior and did not remember the Lord your God. But he prophesied very strikingly that their cities would be abandoned, not simply so, but in the manner of the Amorites and Hivites; for as he says, when they were destroyed, others came and took possession of their cities and their lands, so also your cities will have other inhabitants, you having been cast out and driven away. which indeed it is possible to perceive with one's eyes; for Greeks inhabit Jerusalem itself, with no Jew daring to set foot in the place, and foreigners possess many other cities of Israel. And very many, having been besieged by the Romans, were razed from their foundations, having been turned into utter desolation in accordance with the oracle. And he says that they will suffer these things, because they abandoned their savior. There indeed the Hebrew word also makes mention of Jesus himself, our savior; for the name "Jesus" signifies "savior" when translated into the Greek language. And this was the reason it is said that all the aforementioned things would happen to them, because they abandoned God their savior and did not remember the Lord their ever-present helper. But how he has always been their helper, he teaches in the Gospels, saying: "how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing." And he teaches that they would suffer the aforementioned things for another reason as well, because they planted an unfaithful plant and an unfaithful seed, which also itself consists in their not believing in the Christ of God who first shone upon them. When, therefore, he says, you sow this unfaithful seed and this unfaithful plant in your own soul, then you will go astray, but if, having turned to the morning of the evangelical light that has risen for the world, you should place another seed in your own mind, about which it has been said in the Gospels: "the sower went out to sow" and: "the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his own field." And when you are in the light of the morning rising of "the sun of righteousness," it will blossom in you into a harvest, so as to give a good inheritance also to your children "who are to be born according to God" through the saving teaching. The prophecy has included so many things in the oracle concerning Damascus, referring the fulfillment of what was said concerning Israel to the time mentioned concerning Damascus. 1.73 Concerning the conversion of the nations to God and of the

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«ῥίζαν ἁγίαν» καὶ «ἀπαρχὴν» καὶ «καλλιέλαιον» αὐτοὺς καλεῖν. οὗτοι δὴ οὖν οἱ βραχεῖς ῥῶγες τῆς ἐλαίας μόνοι διεσώθησαν εὑρεθέντες ἐν αὐτοῖς. καὶ ὁ ἀποδοθεὶς στάχυς σπάνιός τις καὶ αὐτός. διό φησιν ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος· καὶ ἔσται ὃν τρόπον ἐάν τις συναγάγῃ στάχυν ἐν φάραγγι στερεᾷ ἢ ὡς ῥῶγες ἐλαίας δύο ἢ τρεῖς ἐπ' ἄκρου μετεώρου. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν ἀποστόλων μνήμην σφόδρα ἀκολούθως τῶν πάλαι πολυθέων ἐθνῶν τὴν εἰς τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν ἐπιστροφὴν θεσπίζει. διὸ ἑξῆς εἴρηται· τάδε λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς Ἰσραήλ Τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ πεποιθὼς ἔσται ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ τὸν ποιήσαντα αὐτόν, οἱ δὲ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν ἅγιον τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐμβλέψονται, καὶ οὐκέτι ἔσονται πεποιθότες ἐπὶ τοῖς βωμοῖς οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν χειρῶν αὐτῶν, ἃ ἐποίησαν οἱ δάκτυλοι αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐκ ὄψονται τὰ δένδρα οὐδὲ τὰ βδελύγματα αὐτῶν. οὐκέτι γὰρ τοῖς ἄλσεσιν οὐδὲ τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς τῶν δένδρων προσέξουσιν ὡς τὸ πρὶν ἐποίουν, μόνον δὲ τὸν ἅγιον τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπιγνώσονται οἱ ποτὲ «ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι» τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ θεοῦ «καὶ ξένοι τῶν διαθηκῶν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας» τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ δηλαδὴ ἐν τῷ ἀποδοθέντι χρόνῳ. Τῆς δὲ τῶν ἐθνῶν κλήσεως διὰ τούτων δηλωθείσης ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγεται· τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ χρόνῳ, ἔσονται αἱ πόλεις σου ἐγκαταλελειμμέναι ὃν τρόπον κατέλιπον οἱ Ἀμορραῖοι καὶ οἱ Εὐαῖοι ἀπὸ προσώπου τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ, καὶ ἔσονται ἔρημοι, ὅτι ἐγκατέλιπες τὸν θεὸν τὸν σωτῆρά σου καὶ κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου οὐκ ἐμνήσθης. σφόδρα δὲ ἐκπληκτικῶς καταλειφθήσεσθαι αὐτῶν τὰς πόλεις οὐχ ἁπλῶς οὕτως ἐθέσπισεν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν τρόπον τῶν Ἀμορραίων καὶ Εὐαίων· ὥσπερ γάρ φησιν ἐκείνων ἀπολωλότων, ἕτεροι παρελθόντες κατέσχον αὐτῶν τὰς πόλεις καὶ τὰς χώρας, οὕτως καὶ αἱ σαὶ πόλεις ἑτέρους ἕξουσιν οἰκήτορας, ὑμῶν ἀποβληθέντων καὶ ἐξωσθέντων. ὃ δὴ καὶ ἔστιν ὀφθαλμοῖς παραλαβεῖν· αὐτὴν γοῦν τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ Ἕλληνες οἰκοῦσι μηδενὸς τολμῶντος ἐπιβαίνειν Ἰουδαίου τῷ τόπῳ, καὶ ἄλλας δὲ πλείους τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ πόλεις ἀλλογενεῖς κατέχουσι. πλεῖσται δὲ ὅσαι ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων πολιορκηθεῖσαι ἐκ βάθρων ἤρθησαν εἰς ἐσχάτην ἐρημίαν περιτραπεῖσαι ἀκολούθως τῷ θεσπίσματι. ταῦτα δὲ πείσεσθαι αὐτούς φησιν, ἐπειδήπερ τὸν σωτῆρα ἑαυτῶν κατέλιπον. ἔνθα δὴ καὶ αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν μέμνηται ἡ Ἑβραϊκὴ φωνή· σωτῆρα γὰρ δηλοῖ τὸ «Ἰησοῦ» ὄνομα εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα γλῶτταν ἑρμηνευόμενον. καὶ τοῦτ' ἦν τὸ αἴτιον, διὸ συμβήσεσθαι αὐτοῖς τὰ προλεχθέντα πάντα εἴρηται, διότι κατέλιπον τὸν θεὸν τὸν σωτῆρα αὐτῶν καὶ κυρίου τοῦ πάντοτε βοηθοῦ αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐμνήσθησαν. ὅπως δὲ αὐτῶν οὗτος πάντοτε γέγονε βοηθός, διδάσκει ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις λέγων· «ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου, ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις συνάγει τὰ νοσσία ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε». καὶ δι' ἑτέραν δὲ αἰτίαν πείσεσθαι αὐτοὺς τὰ προλεχθέντα διδάσκει, διότι ἐφύτευσαν φυτείαν ἄπιστον καὶ σπέρμα ἄπιστον, ὃ καὶ αὐτὸ συνίσταται ἐκ τοῦ μὴ πιστεῦσαι αὐτοὺς τῷ Χριστῷ τοῦ θεοῦ αὐτοῖς πρώτοις ἐπιλάμψαντι. ἐπὰν οὖν φησι τὸ σπέρμα τοῦτο τὸ ἄπιστον καὶ τὴν φυτείαν τὴν ἄπιστον σπείρῃς ἐν τῇ σαυτοῦ ψυχῇ, τότε πλανηθήσῃ, εἰ δὲ μεταβαλὼν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀνατείλασαν τῷ κόσμῳ πρωΐαν τοῦ φωτὸς τοῦ εὐαγγελικοῦ, ἕτερον σπέρμα κατάθοιο τῇ σαυτοῦ διανοίᾳ, περὶ οὗ λέλεκται ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις· «ἐξῆλθεν ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπεῖραι» καί· «ὡμοιώθη ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ σπείραντι καλὸν σπέρμα ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ ἀγρῷ». καὶ ἐπειδὰν ἐν φωτὶ γένοιο τῆς πρωϊνῆς ἀνατολῆς «τοῦ ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης», ἀνθήσει ἐν σοὶ εἰς ἀμητόν, ὡς μεταδοῦναι κλῆρον ἀγαθὸν καὶ τοῖς σεαυτοῦ παισὶ «τοῖς κατὰ θεὸν γενησομένοις» διὰ τῆς σωτηρίου διδασκαλίας. τοσαῦτα τῷ περὶ τῆς ∆αμασκοῦ λόγῳ συμπαρείληφεν ἡ προφητεία εἰς τὸν χρόνον ἀναπέμπουσα τὸν εἰρημένον περὶ τῆς ∆αμασκοῦ τὴν ἔκβασιν τῶν περὶ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ λελεγμένων. 1.73 Περὶ τῆς τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐπὶ τὸν θεὸν ἐπιστροφῆς καὶ τῆς