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prophecy. 127 Item. Of the same Zechariah. 25. And I will strengthen them in the Lord their God, and in the name ........ they will boast, says the Lord. Again the Lord, the Word of God, promises to strengthen the worthy in the Lord their God, revealing his own God and Father. Therefore, among the things concerning the Father and the Son, let this saying also be noted. Item. Of the same. 20. And the Canaanites shall know the sheep that are kept for me, because it is the word of the Lord. And I will say to them, If it is good in your sight, give my wage, or refuse; and they weighed out my wage, thirty pieces of silver; and cast them into the house of the Lord into the foundry, And I broke the second staff .......... to break the covenant between Judah, and between Israel. For what of the things concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was not ... both foreknown and foretold to the holy prophets of God ........ for his birth from a virgin and the of the birth ............ .... and the root from which he was born according to the flesh; and the ........... miracles for him when he came, through the prophets of old .... was deemed worthy of writing by the divine Spirit; and in addition to all this they also foretold his death and its manner, not omitting ...... nor the scourgings he endured and the spittings and slaps and insults; but revealing that the 128 one who betrayed him to those who plotted against him was one of their own disciples; for the divine Spirit denounced him by name through Jeremiah, saying, The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, with a diamond point. And these things you would find in the Hebrew itself and in the others besides the 70 translators; and in various Psalms you would learn the things revealed concerning him; and now no less through the present text the divine scripture clearly prophesies also the number of the silver pieces, which Judas received and betrayed the teacher to those who plotted against him. And the preceding words might be said from the person of Christ, just as those who plotted against him, whom the word of prophecy elsewhere calls rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, but in the present passage names them Canaanites because of their likeness to the Canaanites. So then the prophecy, having said, and the Canaanites shall know, adds, teaching us whom it wishes to signify, and says: the sheep that are kept for me. And who were these sheep, formerly kept for the Lord, if not the people of the circumcision? whom the word, now calling them Canaanites, as from the person of Christ, adds, saying, and I will say to them the things that have been written, which he might also say to those who plotted against him, as if asking them for the wages for which he benefited them, that is, faith in him and a life suitable to it; for thus I understand, give my wage; but they, according to what was said about them by him elsewhere, 129 Instead of loving me, they slandered me, but I prayed; and they returned me evil for good, and hatred for my love; weighing out thirty pieces of silver they gave them to the betrayer, as if valuing him at so much in their most impious judgment. But since fire will test what sort each one's work is, for this reason the Lord commands to cast them into the foundry, that is, into the fire of judgment and of punishment; and who are they if not those who plotted against him? And consider, it says, if it is acceptable, and it is clear that it means what was done against him by them; and it says they will be tested in the fire, in the same way that the Lord himself through his coming in the flesh and his passion was tested for them; for indeed he was first incarnate, and suffered for the salvation of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Following these things and signifying their rejection after the passion of our Savior the word says, and I broke the second staff. And teaching who this is, it adds the portion, about which it is said, Israel is the portion of his inheritance. Therefore it presents this more clearly

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προφητείαν. 127 Ψ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ Ζαχαρία. ΚΕʹ. Καὶ κατισχύσω αὐτοὺς ἐν Κυρίῳ Θεῷ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι ........ καυχήσονται, λέγει Κύριος. Πάλιν Κύριος ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος κατισχύσειν ὑπισχνεῖται τοὺς ἀξίους ἐν Κυρίῳ Θεῷ αὐτῶν, τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα ἑαυτοῦ δηλῶν. ∆ιὸ ἐν τοῖς περὶ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦτο σεσημειώσθω τὸ ῥητόν. Ψ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Κʹ. Καὶ γνώσονται οἱ Χαναναῖοι τὰ πρόβατα τὰ φυλασσόμενά μοι, διότι λόγος Κυρίου ἐστίν. Καὶ ἐρῶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς, Εἰ καλὸν ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν ἐστὶν, δότε τὸν μισθόν μου, ἢ ἀπείπασθε· καὶ ἔστησαν τὸν μισθόν μου τριάκοντα ἀργυρίους· καὶ ἐνέβαλον αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν οἶκον Κυρίου εἰς τὸ χωνευτήριον, Καὶ ἀπέρριψα τὴν ῥάβδον τὴν δευτέραν .......... τοῦ διασκεδάσαι τὴν διαθήκην ἀναμέσον Ἰούδα, καὶ ἀναμέσον Ἰσραήλ. Καὶ τί γὰρ οὐχὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ συν ... των προέγνωστό τε καὶ προείρητο τοῖς ἱεροῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ προφηταῖς ........ γὰρ ἐκ παρθένου γένεσις αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ τῆς γενέσεως ............ .... λῆ καὶ ἡ ῥίζα ἐξ ἧς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα γεγέννηται· τά τε ........... αὐτῷ ἐπιδημήσαντι παράδοξα διὰ τῶν ἀνέκαθεν προφητῶν .... τῆς ὑπὸ τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ἠξιώθη γραφῆς· ἐπὶ πᾶσι δὲ καὶ τὸν θάνατον καὶ τὸ τούτου εἶδος προεδήλωσαν, οὐ παραλιπόντε ...... οὐδ' ἃς ὑπέμεινε μάστιγας καὶ ἐμπτυσμοὺς ῥαπίσματά τε καὶ ὕβρεις· ἀλλὰ τὸν 128 προδώσαντα αὐτὸν τοῖς ἐπιβουλεύουσιν ἐν αὐτῶν ἕνα τῶν μαθητῶν μηνύσαντες· ὀνομαστὶ γοῦν αὐτὸν ἐστηλίτευσε διὰ Ἱερεμίου τὸ θεῖον Πνεῦμα φῆσαν, ἁμαρτία Ἰούδα γέγραπται ἐν γραφείῳ σιδηρῷ, ἐν ὄνυχι ἀδαμαντίνῳ. Ταῦτα δ' ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ Ἑβραικῷ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς εὕροις ἂν παρὰ τοὺς οʹ ἑρμηνευτάς· καὶ ἐν Ψαλμοῖς δὲ διαφόροις μάθοις ἂν τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν δηλούμενα· καὶ νῦν δ' οὐδὲν ἧττον διὰ τῆς προκειμένης λέξεως σαφῶς καὶ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ ἀργυρίου, ὅπερ λαβὼν ὁ Ἰούδας προύδωκε τοῖς ἐπιβουλεύουσι τὸν διδάσκαλον, ἡ θεία προθεσπίζει γραφή. Λέγοιτο δ' ἂν τὰ προκείμενα ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὥσπερ τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύσαντας αὐτῷ, οὓς ἑτέρωθι μὲν ἄρχοντας Σοδόμων καὶ λαὸν Γομόρρας ὁ τῆς προφητείας ἀποκαλεῖ λόγος, ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος δὲ Χαναναίους διὰ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς Χαναναίους ἐξομοίωσιν αὐτοὺς ὀνομάζει. Φήσασα γ' οὖν ἡ προφητεία τὸ, καὶ γνώσονται οἱ Χαναναῖοι, ἐπιφέρει, διδάσκουσα ἡμᾶς τίνας βούλεται σημαίνειν, καὶ φησίν· τὰ πρόβατα τὰ φυλασσόμενά μοι. Τίνα δὲ ἦν ταῦτα τὰ πρόβατα, τὰ πρότερον τῷ κυρίῳ φυλασσόμενα, ἢ ὁ ἐκ περιτομῆς λαός; οὓς νῦν Χαναναίους ὀνομάσας ὁ λόγος, ὡς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπάγει λέγων, καὶ ἐρῶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα, ἃ καὶ λέγοι ἂν πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύσαντας αὐτῷ, ὑπὲρ ὧν αὐτοὺς εὐεργέτησε τοὺς μισθοὺς ὥσπερ αἰτῶν αὐτοὺς, τοῦτ' ἔστι τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν πίστιν καὶ τὸν ταύτῃ κατάλληλον βίον· οὕτως γὰρ ἀκούω τοῦ, δότε τὸν μισθόν μου· οἱ δὲ, κατὰ τὸ ἑτέρωθι περὶ αὐτῶν εἰρημένον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, 129 Ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀγαπᾶν με, ἐνδιέβαλλόν με, ἐγὼ δὲ προσηυχόμην· καὶ ἔθεντο κατ' ἐμοῦ κακὰ ἀντὶ ἀγαθῶν, καὶ μῖσος ἀντὶ τῆς ἀγαπήσεώς μου· τριάκοντα ἀργυρίους στήσαντες παρέσχον τῷ προδότῃ, ὡσπερεὶ τοσούτου αὐτὸν τῇ ἀσεβεστάτῃ αὐτῶν κρίσει τιμώμενοι. Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ τὸ ἑκάστου ἔργον ὁποῖόν ἐστι τὸ πῦρ δοκιμάσει, τούτου χάριν καθεῖναι αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ χωνευτήριον, τοῦτ' ἔστιν εἰς τὸ τῆς κρίσεως καὶ τὸ τῆς κολάσεως πῦρ, ὁ Κύριος προστάσσει· τίνας δὲ αὐτοὺς ἢ τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύσαντας αὐτῷ; Καὶ σκέψαι δὲ, φησὶν, εἰ δόκιμόν ἐστιν, δῆλον δ' ὅτι τὸ κατ' αὐτοῦ δρασθὲν αὐτοῖς· λέγει δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ πυρὶ δοκιμασθήσεσθαι, ὃν τρόπον καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος διὰ τῆς εἰς σάρκα ἐπιδημίας καὶ τοῦ πάθους ἐδοκιμάσθη ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν· καὶ γὰρ δὴ προηγουμένως ἐνηνθρώπησε, καὶ πέπονθεν ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας τῶν ἀπολωλότων προβάτων οἴκου Ἰσραήλ. Τούτοις ἑξῆς καὶ τὴν μετὰ τὸ πάθος τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀποβολὴν αὐτῶν σημαίνων ὁ λόγος φησὶν, καὶ ἀπέρριψα τὴν ῥάβδον τὴν δευτέραν. Τὶς δὲ ἐστὶν αὕτη διδάσκων ἐπιφέρει τὸ σχοίνισμα, περὶ οὗ εἴρηται, σχοίνισμα κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Σαφέστερον γ' οὖν τοῦτο παρίστησιν