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The eternal wastes have become our possession; for this reason, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord Adonai: Because you have become a desolation to all the nations, and because you have been dishonored by all those around you, of becoming a possession for all the remaining nations, and you became the talk of the tongue on the lips, and a reproach to the nations. Having foretold gloomy and sorrowful things for the Idumeans, he transfers the word to the mountains of Israel, and offers them the promise of good things, and encourages them to be of good cheer, as the words spoken by the enemies are false and vain. For the desolation, he says, will not remain for long, but I will expose the reproaches of the nations neighboring you, and I will put an end to their insolence against you, and they will no longer recount your misfortunes, nor spread rumors of your evils. To these things he adds: 81.1177 δʹ. Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord Adonai to the mountains, and to the hills, and to the torrents, and to the ravines, and to the valleys, and to the desolate and waste places, and to the abandoned cities, which have become a prey and a scorn to the remaining nations that are round about them. It was easy and very simple to promise good things to all the land of Israel concisely, but he mentions specifically the mountains, and ravines, and hills, and cities, and all the other things, comforting those who were disheartened because of the desolation. εʹ. Therefore, thus says the Lord Adonai: Truly in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all of Idumea, because they have given my possession to themselves for an inheritance with gladness, with all their heart dishonoring souls, to destroy them in plunder. Greatly, he says, have I been provoked by the insolence of Idumea and of the other nations, which they employed against my land, rejoicing in its desolation, and expecting to take possession of it, and to capture the souls dwelling in it. For this reason, I have brought forth judgments against them. ʹ. Prophesy therefore, O prophet, again concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, and to the hills, and to the valleys, and to the ravines: Thus says the Lord Adonai: Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because you have received the reproaches of the nations. ζʹ. Therefore, thus says the Lord Adonai: Behold, I lift up my hand against the nations that are round about you; they shall receive their own dishonor. The reproach made against you, he says, has prepared for the sentence to be brought forth against those who reproached, and they will reap the fruits of their impiety against me, and of their malice and insolence against you. ηʹ. But you, O mountains of Israel, my people Israel shall eat your grape and your fruit, because they hope to come. I will confirm, he says, the hope of the people, and I will establish their good expectation, and they will return, and enjoy the fruits growing among you. But it is clear that he does not speak to the mountains as though they were animate; for they are irrational and inanimate; but by this address to inanimate things he comforts their inhabitants, promising good things to them. θʹ-ιαʹ. Behold, I am for you, and I will look upon you, and you shall be tilled and you shall be sown. 81.1180 And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel completely, and the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. And I will multiply men upon you, and cattle, and they shall increase and be multiplied, and I will cause you to be inhabited as in your beginning, and I will do well for you as in your former years; and they shall know that I am the Lord. Not the mountains will know, but those who dwell in the mountains. These things reached their fulfillment after the return from Babylon; and the facts testify; for the cities of Palestine are full of inhabitants, and all have been rebuilt, and they shine with splendor; but that one alone has remained desolate, in which the Jews, having raged against the Master and Savior, committed the audacity of the cross, salvation for all men, but for themselves

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ἔρημα αἰώνια εἰς κατά σχεσιν ἐγενήθη ἡμῖν· διὰ τοῦτο προφήτευσον, καὶ εἰπέ· Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος· Ἀντὶ τοῦ γενέσθαι ὑμᾶς εἰς ἀφανισμὸν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι, καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀτιμασθῆναι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν κύκλῳ ὑμῶν, τοῦ γενέσθαι ὑμᾶς εἰς κατάσχεσιν πᾶσι τοῖς καταλοίποις ἔθνεσι, καὶ ἀνέβητε λάλημα γλώττης ἐπὶ χειλέων, καὶ εἰς ὀνειδι σμὸν ἔθνεσι. Τὰ σκυθρωπὰ καὶ κατηφῆ τοῖς Ἰδου μαίοις προαγορεύσας, μεταφέρει τὸν λόγον πρὸς τὰ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ὄρη, καὶ ἀγαθῶν αὐτοῖς ἐπαγγελίαν προσφέρει, καὶ θαῤῥεῖν παρακελεύεται, ὡς τῶν ὑπὸ τῶν δυσμενῶν εἰρημένων λόγων ψευδῶν ὄντων καὶ ματαίων. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον, φησὶν, ἡ ἐρημία μενεῖ, ἀλλ' ἐλέγξω τῶν γειτνιαζόντων ὑμῖν ἐθνῶν τὰ ὀνείδη, καὶ τὴν καθ' ὑμῶν αὐτῶν καταπαύσω θρασύτητα, καὶ οὐκέτι τὰς ὑμετέρας διηγήσονται συμφορὰς, τὰ ὑμέτερα θρυλλοῦντες κακά. Τούτοις ἐπάγει· 81.1177 δʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὄρη Ἰσραὴλ, ἀκούσατε λόγον Κυρίου. Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος τοῖς ὄρεσι, καὶ τοῖς βουνοῖς, καὶ τοῖς χειμάῤῥοις, καὶ ταῖς φάραγξι, καὶ ταῖς νάπαις, καὶ ταῖς ἐξηρημω μέναις καὶ ἐξηφανισμέναις, καὶ ταῖς πόλεσι ταῖς ἐγκαταλελειμμέναις, αἳ ἐγένοντο εἰς προνο μὴν, καὶ εἰς καταπάτημα τοῖς καταλειφθεῖσιν ἔθνεσι τοῖς περικύκλῳ αὐτῶν. Ῥᾴδιον ἦν καὶ λίαν εὐπετὲς, πάσῃ τῇ γῇ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ συντόμως ἐπαγγείλασθαι τὰ ἀγαθὰ, ἀλλὰ κατ' εἶδος καὶ ὀρῶν, καὶ φαράγγων, καὶ βουνῶν, καὶ πόλεων, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων μέμνηται, τοὺς διὰ τὴν ἐρημίαν ἀθυμοῦντας ψυχαγωγῶν. εʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος· Ἦ μὴν ἐν πυρὶ ζήλου μου ἐλάλησα ἐπὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἔθνη, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰδουμαίαν ἅπασαν, ὅτι ἔδωκαν τὴν κατάσχεσίν μου ἑαυτοῖς εἰς κλη ρονομίαν μετ' εὐφροσύνης, ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας ἀτιμάσαντες ψυχὰς, τοῦ ἀφανίσαι ἐν προνομῇ. Λίαν με, φησὶ, παρώξυνεν ἥ τε τῆς Ἰδουμαίας, καὶ ἡ τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν θρασύτης, ᾗ κατὰ τῆς ἐμῆς ἐχρήσαντο γῆς, τῇ ταύτης εὐφραινόμενοι ἐρημίᾳ, καὶ προσδοκήσαντες ταύτης κρατήσειν, καὶ τὰς ἐν αὐτῇ κατοικούσας αἰχμαλωτεύσειν ψυχάς. Τούτου χάριν τὰς κατ' αὐτῶν ἐξήνεγκα ψήφους. ʹ. Προφήτευσον τοίνυν, ὦ προφῆτα, πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ εἰπὲ τοῖς ὄρεσι, καὶ τοῖς βουνοῖς, καὶ ταῖς νάπαις, καὶ ταῖς φάραγξι· Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ ζήλῳ μου καὶ ἐν τῷ θυμῷ μου ἐλάλησα, ἀντὶ τοῦ ὀνειδισμοὺς ἐθνῶν λαβεῖν ὑμᾶς. ζʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ αἴρω τὴν χεῖρά μου ἐπὶ τὰ ἔθνη τὰ περικύκλῳ ὑμῶν· οὗτοι τὴν ἀτιμίαν αὑτῶν λή ψονται. Ὁ καθ' ὑμῶν, φησὶ, γενόμενος ὀνειδισμὸς παρεσκεύασε τὴν κατὰ τῶν ὀνειδισάντων ἐξενεχθῆναι ψῆφον, καὶ ἐκεῖνοι μὲν τῆς κατ' ἐμοῦ ἀσεβείας, καὶ τῆς καθ' ὑμῶν μνησικακίας τε καὶ θρασύτητος δρέψονται τοὺς καρπούς. ηʹ. Ὑμῶν δὲ, ὄρη Ἰσραὴλ, τὴν σταφυλὴν, καὶ τὸν καρπὸν ὑμῶν καταφάγεται ὁ λαός μου Ἰσραὴλ, ὅτι ἐλπίζουσι τοῦ ἐλθεῖν. Βε βαιώσω, φησὶ, τοῦ λαοῦ τὴν ἐλπίδα, καὶ ἐμπεδώσω αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀγαθὴν προσδοκίαν, καὶ ἐπανήξει, καὶ τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν φυομένων ἀπολαύσεται καρπῶν. Τοῖς δὲ ὄρεσι δῆλον ὅτι οὐχ ὡς ἐμψύχοις διαλέγεται· ἄλογα γὰρ καὶ ἄψυχα· τῇ δὲ πρὸς τὰ ἄψυχα δια λέξει παραμυθεῖται τοὺς τούτων οἰκήτορας, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τούτοις ἐπαγγελλόμενος. θʹ-ιαʹ. Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐφ' ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἐπιβλέψω ἐφ' ὑμᾶς, καὶ κατεργασθήσεσθε, καὶ σπαρήσεσθε. 81.1180 Καὶ πληθυνῶ ἐφ' ὑμᾶς ἀνθρώπους, πάντα οἶκον Ἰσραὴλ εἰς τέλος, καὶ κατοικηθήσονται αἱ πόλεις, καὶ αἱ ἔρημοι οἰκοδομηθήσονται. Καὶ πληθυνῶ ἀνθρώπους ἐφ' ὑμᾶς, καὶ κτήνη, καὶ αὐξηθήσονται, καὶ πληθυνθήσονται, καὶ κατοικιῶ ἐφ' ὑμᾶς, ὡς τὸ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὑμῶν, καὶ εὖ ποιήσω ὑμᾶς ὥσπερ τὰ ἔτη τὰ ἔμπροσθεν ὑμῶν· καὶ γνώσονται, ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι Κύριος. Οὐ τὰ ὄρη γνώσονται, ἀλλ' οἱ ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν οἰκοῦν τες. Ταῦτα δὲ πέρας ἔλαβε μετὰ τὴν ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος ἐπάνοδον· καὶ μαρτυρεῖ τὰ πράγματα· πλήρεις γὰρ τῆς Παλαιστίνης αἱ πόλεις τῶν ἐνοικούντων, ἀνῳκο δόμηνταί τε πᾶσαι, καὶ λαμπρότητι διαπρέπουσιν· ἐκείνη δὲ μόνη μεμένηκεν ἔρημος, ἐν ᾗ κατὰ τοῦ ∆εσπότου καὶ Σωτῆρος λυττήσαντες Ἰουδαῖοι, τὸ κατὰ τὸν σταυρὸν δεδράκασι τόλμημα, πᾶσι μὲν ἀνθρώποις σωτηρίαν, σφίσι δὲ αὐτοῖς