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I will break kings, I will open doors before him, and cities will not be shut; 2I will go before him and will level mountains, I will shatter gates of bronze and I will break in pieces bars of iron. Through all that has been said, he taught that he both appointed Cyrus king and has given him momentum for the success of his dynasty and has made things that appear difficult easy, for: I will level mountains and I will shatter gates of bronze, signifies this. 3And I will give to you dark treasures, hidden unseen ones I will open to you. That is, those of the Babylonians, which Nebuchadnezzar and the other kings, having gathered them together, hid. So that you might know that I am the Lord God who calls you by your name. From the beginning and before many generations I have set your name for you. And teaching who it was that did these things, he added: The God of Israel. For since those who are deceived supposed that there are many gods, he reveals himself through those who worship him. Then he teaches the cause of his great providence: 4For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen one, I have called you by my name and I will accept you. My name, he says, will be placed on you and, the name which I am about to receive when I assume human nature, by this I first named you. But the prophetic word teaches us clearly that it is the <ἔστιν ὁ> only-begotten Word of God who is saying these things; for he himself was exceptionally named Christ. But you did not know me 5that I am the Lord God and there is no God besides me. I strengthened you, and you did not know me. For he himself also was a slave to the error of idols; and having received the kingdom from the God of all and having obtained such great assistance, he did not know the provider of good things, but nevertheless he deemed him worthy of all these things even while he was in error, having appointed him a minister of the punishment of the Babylonians and of the freedom of Israel. However, I found some of the manuscripts having it thus: "But you, Israel, did not know me." But I found "Israel" written neither in the Hebrew, nor among the Other Interpreters, nor among the Seventy in the Hexapla. And very reasonably so; for here he is accusing not Israel of ignorance but Cyrus. Then he also teaches the cause of the freedom of the Jews: 6So that those from the rising of the sun and those from its setting may know that there is none besides me. For those who heard of that new and extraordinary release and the honorable return and the building of Jerusalem and the laws of Cyrus concerning it learned that the God of the Jews alone is truly God. I am the Lord God and there is no other. For he alone is master. 7I am the one who made light and prepared darkness. Here he calls the pleasant things "light": the release from slavery and the freedom and the return, but the gloomy things "darkness": the siege, the enslavement, the servitude. Both, he says, I have made, these and those; I both used Nebuchadnezzar for punishment and appointed Cyrus as a minister of freedom. And as I am the creator of both light and darkness and I produced each of these for the need of men, so |156 b| also I brought the servitude of Israel for their benefit and I granted their freedom out of love for mankind. He who makes peace and creates evils, I am the Lord God who does all these things. He taught clearly what he called darkness and light; for he named peace "light," and what seems evil "darkness." And he has called them "evils," not as being evil by nature but as being so considered by men. For we are accustomed to say: "I have seen an evil day today," not because the day was changed into some other nature, but because grievous things happened on it. Then, showing the truth of what has been foretold, he again calls creation to a fellowship of gladness: 8Let heaven rejoice from above, the heavenly powers who rejoice with the salvation of men. And let the clouds rain down righteousness. Threatening previously he said: "I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it," and we have shown in interpreting that the prophets were so named

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βασιλέων διαρρήξω, ἀνοίξω ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ θύρας, καὶ πόλεις οὐ συγκλεισθήσονται· 2ἐγὼ ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ πορεύσομαι καὶ ὄρη ὁμαλιῶ, πύλας χαλκᾶς συντρίψω καὶ μοχλοὺς σιδηροῦς συνθλάσω. ∆ιὰ πάντων τῶν εἰρημένων ἐδίδαξεν ὡς καὶ προὐβάλετο βασιλέα τὸν Κῦρον καὶ ῥοπὴν αὐτῷ δέδωκεν εἰς τὴν τῆς δυναστείας κατόρθωσιν καὶ πεποίηκεν εὐμαρῆ τὰ φαινόμενα δύσπορα, τὸ γάρ· Ὄρη ὁμαλιῶ καὶ πύλας χαλκᾶς συντρίψω, τοῦτο σημαίν ει . 3Καὶ δώσω σοι θησαυροὺς σκοτεινούς, ἀποκρύφους ἀοράτους ἀνοίξω σοι. Τουτέστι τοὺς τῶν Βαβυλωνίων, οὓς ὁ Ναβου χοδονόσορ καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ συναθροίσαντες ἔκρυψαν βασιλεῖς. Ἵνα γνῷς ὅτι ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ καλῶν τὸ ὄνομά σου. Ἄνωθεν καὶ πρὸ πολλῶν γενεῶν ἐγώ σοι τέθεικα τὴν προσηγορίαν. Καὶ διδάσκων, τίς ὁ ταῦτα ποιήσας , ἐπή γαγεν· Θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πολλοὺς εἶναι θεοὺς ὑπελάμβανον οἱ πλανώμενοι, δείκνυσιν ἑαυτὸν δ ιὰ τῶν προσκυνούντων. Εἶτα διδάσκει τὴν τῆς πολλῆς προμηθείας αἰτίαν· 4Ἕνεκεν τοῦ παιδός μου Ἰακὼβ καὶ Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ ἐκλεκτοῦμου ἐγὼ ἐκάλεσά σε τῷ ὀνόματί μου καὶ προσδέξομαί σε. Τὸ ἐμόν σοί φησιν ἐπι τεθήσεται ὄ νομα καί, ὃ μέλλω λαμβάνειν τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν ἀναλαμβάνων, τούτῳ σὲ πρῶτον ὠνόμασα. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ ἡμᾶς ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος σαφῶς ὡς <ἔστιν ὁ> μονογενὴς τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος ὁ ταῦτα διαλεγόμενος· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐ ξαιρέτως ὠνομάσθη χριστός. Σὺ δὲ οὐκ ἔγνως με 5ὅτι ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς καὶ οὐκ ἔστι πλὴν ἐμοῦ θεός. Ἐνίσχυσά σε, καὶ οὐκ ᾔδεις με. Τῇ γὰρ τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ αὐτὸς ἐδούλευε πλάνῃ· καὶ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων τὴν βασιλείαν δεξ άμενος καὶ τοσαύτης ἐπικουρίας τυχὼν οὐκ ἔγνω τὸν τῶν ἀγαθῶν χορηγόν, ἀλλ' ὅμως αὐτὸν καὶ πλανώμενον τούτ ων ἁπ άντων ἠξίωσεν, ὑπουργὸν αὐτὸν τῆς τῶν Βαβυλωνίων τιμωρίας καὶ τῆς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐλευθερίας χει ροτ ονήσας . Ἔνια μέντοι τῶν ἀντιγράφων οὕτως εὗρον ἔχοντα· «Σὺ δὲ Ἰσραὴλ οὐκ ἔγνως με.» Ἀλλ' οὔτε παρὰ τ ῷ Ἑ βραίῳ τὸ Ἰσραὴλ κείμενονεὗρον οὔτε παρὰ τοῖς Ἄλλοις Ἑρμηνευταῖς οὔτε παρὰ τοῖς Ἑβδομήκοντα ἐν τῷ Ἑξαπλῷ. Καὶ μάλα εἰκότως· οὐ γὰρ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐνταῦθα τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἀλλὰ τοῦ Κύρου κατηγορεῖ. Εἶτα καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐλευθερίας διδάσκει· 6Ἵνα γνῶσιν οἱ ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἡλίου καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ δυσμῶν αὐτοῦ ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι πλὴν ἐμοῦ. Οἱ γὰρ ἀκούσαντες τὴν καινὴν ἐκείνην καὶ παράδοξον ἄφεσιν καὶ τὴν ἔντιμον ἐπά νοδον καὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὴν οἰκοδομίαν καὶ τοὺς περὶ ταύτης τοῦ Κύρου νόμους ἐμάνθανον μόνον ἀληθῶς ὄντα θεὸν τὸν τῶν Ἰουδαίων θεόν. Ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι. Μόνος γὰρ αὐτὸς δεσπότης. 7Ἐγὼ ὁ ποιήσας φῶς καὶ κατασκευάσας σκότος. Φῶς ἐνταῦθα τὰ θυμήρη καλεῖ· τὴν τῆς δουλείας ἀπαλλαγὴν καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ τὴν ἐπάνοδον, σκότος δὲ τὰ σκυθρωπά· τὴν πολιορκίαν, τὸν ἀνδραποδισμόν, τὴν δουλείαν. Ἀμφότερά φησιν ἐγὼ πεποίηκα, καὶ ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα· ἐγὼ καὶ τῷ Ναβουχοδονόςορ εἰς τιμωρίαν ἐχρησάμην καὶ τὸν Κῦρον τῆς ἐλευθερίας ὑπουργὸν προεβα λόμην. Καὶ ὡς καὶ φωτός εἰμι καὶ σκότους δημιουργὸς καὶ τούτων ἑκάτερον διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων παρήγαγον χρείαν, οὕτω |156 b| καὶ τὴν δουλείαν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ εἰς ὠφέλειαν ἐπήγαγον καὶ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν ἐδωρησάμην. Ὁ ποιῶν εἰρήνην καὶ κτίζων κακά, ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιῶν πάντα ταῦτα. Σαφῶς ἐδίδαξε τί προσηγόρευσε σκότος καὶ φῶς· τὴν γὰρ εἰρήνην φῶς ὠνόμασε, τὰ δὲ δοκοῦντα κακὰ σκότος. Κακὰ δὲ αὐτὰ κέκληκεν οὐχ ὡς φύσει κακὰ ἀλλ' ὡς οὕτως ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων νομιζόμενα. Εἰώθαμεν γὰρ λέγειν· Κακὴν εἶδον σήμερον ἡμέραν, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ ἡ ἡμέρα εἰς ἑτέραν τινὰ μετεβλήθη φύσιν, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἐν αὐτῇ συνέβη τὰ λυπηρά. Εἶτα δεικνὺς τὴν τῶν προηγορευμένων ἀλήθειαν πάλιν τὴν κτίσιν εἰς κοινωνίαν τῆς εὐ φρο σύνης καλεῖ· 8Εὐφραν θήτω ὁ οὐρανὸς ἄνωθεν, αἱ ἐπουράνιαι δυνάμεις αἱ τῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων συνηδόμεναι σωτηρίᾳ. Καὶ αἱ νεφέλαι ῥανάτωσαν δικαιοσύνην. Ἀπειλῶν πρόσθεν ἔφη· «Ταῖς νεφέλαις ἐντελοῦμαι τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι ἐπ' αὐτὸν ὑετόν», καὶ ἐδείξαμεν ἑρμηνεύοντες τοὺς προφήτας οὕτως ὠνο