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of this day the whole choir of saints, both of men and of angels, sings melodiously, saying: “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it,” being sons of this [day] to whom the Savior said: “You are the light of the world.” “The day has drawn near, that we may walk becomingly as in the day.” 4.111 When these divine heroic deeds have been accomplished, the Canaanites, who are sheep being kept, will know “that it is the word of the Lord” concerning the aforementioned staff and covenant to all the peoples, which it is fitting to understand as being indicative of great and supernatural mysteries. 4.112 By Canaanites must be understood those prepared from the nations to become the inheritance of the Son of God on account of the lack of pride they had towards the one who said: “Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” 4.113 Zach. XΙ, 12-13: And I will say to them: if it is good in your sight, give me my wages, having set them, or refuse; and they set my wages at thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me: cast them into the foundry, and see if it is proven genuine, in the way I was tested for them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them into the house of the Lord, into the foundry. 4.114 The prophetic words, being uttered enigmatically, suddenly change the persons of those who are speaking and of those about whom they speak; and from many sayings, indeed, it is possible to confirm and demonstrate the principle. But in order not to prolong the argument, one must take from Jeremiah what is said from the person of God, as follows: “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see if there is anyone there who practices faith and mercy,” or “judgment” as some of the copies have, “and I said: ‘The Lord lives,’ they say; therefore they do not swear falsely.” 4.115 For when God said to the holy men: “Run to and fro through the broad ways of Jerusalem and see if there are in it those who do certain things,” those who received the command answer: “‘The Lord lives,’ they say”; to whom God says: “Therefore they do not swear falsely.” See how many changes of person are brought forth in these few passages, distinguished not in the wording but in the thought. 4.116 As it is, then, in the testimony that has been cited, so it is also in the utterance of Zechariah that has been set forth. For when the Savior had spoken—for it is he who is reporting the preceding things concerning the rejection of those of the circumcision—and had reported in order the things concerning the calling of the nations that were once idolaters, from another starting point he says: I answered and said to them, that is, the Jews: If it is good and just in your sight, give me my wages, having set them, that is, having determined them; but if not, refuse, rejecting my words. And they agreed that my wages were thirty pieces of silver. 4.117 But it is fitting to take "wages" and "silver" in a higher sense. For in many places of the divine instruction the oracles and the word are signified by this name: “For the oracles of the Lord are pure oracles, silver refined in a furnace on the earth, purified seven times.” And again it is said proverbially: “The tongue of the just is refined silver.” For the word is signified by the name of the tongue. 4.118 And since not all that is allegorically silver is praiseworthy, but also blameworthy, God therefore says to the false teachers of Israel: “Your silver is dross,” he does not blame a tangible coin, but a deceitful word. And concerning those who use it, God says to the discerning: “Call them rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected” the generation that does these things, that is, clearly, the deceitful and forbidden things. 4.119 Of this understanding is the proverbial oracle uttered thus: “Silver given with deceit must be considered like a potsherd.” For the deceptive and contentious word uttered with deceit by sophists, even if

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ταύτης τῆς ἡμέρας ὁ πᾶς τῶν ἁγίων χορὸς ἀνθρώπων τε καὶ ἀγγέλων μελῳδεῖ φάσκων· «Αὕτη ἡ ἡμέρα, ἣν ἐποίησεν Κύριος· ἀγαλλιασώμεθα καὶ εὐφρανθῶμεν ἐν αὐτῇ», ταύτης υἱοὶ τυγχάνοντες οἷς εἶπεν ὁ Σωτήρ· «Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου.» «Ἡ ἡμέρα ἤγγισεν, ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ εὐσχημόνως περιπατήσωμεν.» 4.111 Τούτων τῶν θείων ἀνδραγαθημάτων ἀνυσθέντων, γνώσονται οἱ Χαναναῖοι ὄντες πρόβατα φυλασσόμενα «ὅτι λόγος Κυρίου ἐστὶν» ὁ περὶ τῶν ἐκκειμένων ῥάβδου τε καὶ διαθήκης πρὸς τοὺς λαοὺς ἅπαντας, ὅνπερ νοῆσαι προσῆκόν ἐστιν μεγάλων καὶ ὑπερφυῶν μυστηρίων δηλωτικὸν ὄντα. 4.112 Χαναναίους ἐκλημπτέον τοὺς ἡτοιμασμένους ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι κληρονομία τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ δι' ἣν ἔσχον ἀτυφίαν πρὸς τοῦ εἰρηκότος· «Μάθετε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ὅτι πραΰς εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ εὑρήσετε ἀνάπαυσιν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν.» 4.113 Zach. XΙ, 12-13: Καὶ ἐρῶ πρὸς αὐτούς· εἰ καλὸν ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν ἐστιν, δότε στήσαντες τὸν μισθόν μου ἢ ἀπείπασθε· καὶ ἔστησαν τὸν μισθόν μου τριάκοντα ἀργυροῦς. Καὶ εἶπεν Κύριος πρός με· κάθες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ χωνευτήριον, καὶ σκέψαι εἰ δοκιμεῖόν ἐστιν, ὃν τρόπον ἐδοκιμάσθην ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν. Καὶ ἔλαβον τοὺς τριάκοντα ἀργυροῦς, καὶ ἐνέβαλον αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν οἶκον Κυρίου εἰς τὸ χωνευτήριον. 4.114 Οἱ προφητικοὶ λόγοι αἰνιγματωδῶς προφερόμενοι ἀθρόως μεταβάλλουσι τὰ πρόσωπα τῶν λεγόντων καὶ περὶ ὧν λέγουσιν· καὶ ἐκ πολλῶν γε ῥητῶν ἔστι πιστώσασθαι καὶ ἀποδεῖξαι τὸ θεώρημα. Ὑπὲρ δὲ τοῦ μὴ μηκῦναι τὸν λόγον, παραληπτέον ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰερεμίου ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ λεγόμενον οὕτως· «Περιδράμετε ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ εἴδετε εἰ ἔστιν ἐκεῖ ποιῶν πίστιν καὶ ἔλεος», ἢ «κρίσιν» ὡς ἔνια τῶν ἀντιγράφων ἔχει, «καὶ εἶπα· ζῇ Κύριος, λέγουσιν· διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐπὶ ψεύδεσιν ὀμνύουσιν.» 4.115 Φήσαντος γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀνδράσιν· «Περιδράμετε ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ εἴδετε εἰ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῇ οἱ τάδε τινὰ ποιοῦντες», ἀποκρίνονται οἱ τὴν πρόσταξιν λαβόντες· «Ζῇ Κύριος, λέγουσιν»· πρὸς οὓς ὁ Θεός φησιν· «∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐπὶ ψεύδεσιν ὀμνύουσιν.» Ὅρα ποσαὶ μεταβολαὶ προσώπων ἐν ταῖς ὀλίγαις ταύταις συμβολαῖς φέρονται, οὐ διασταλεῖσαι κατὰ τὴν λέξιν ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ νοήσει. 4.116 Ὡς οὖν ἔχει ἐπὶ τῆς παραληφθείσης μαρτυρίας, οὕτως ἔχει καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐκτεθείσῃ τοῦ Ζαχαρίου φωνῇ. Εἰπὼν γὰρ ὁ Σωτήρ-αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἀπαγγέλλων τὰ προκείμενα περὶ τῆς ἀποβολῆς τῶν ἐκ περιτομῆς-καὶ ἑξῆς ἀπαγγείλας περὶ τῆς κλήσεως τῆς τῶν ποτ' εἰδωλολατρούντων ἐθνῶν, ἀπὸ ἑτέρας ἀρχῆς φησιν· Ἀπεκρίθην καὶ εἶπα πρὸς αὐτούς, δηλαδὴ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους· Εἰ καλὸν καὶ δίκαιον ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν ὑπάρχει, δότε στήσαντες, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ὁρίσαντες, τὸν μισθόν μου· εἰ δὲ μὴ, ἀπείπασθε παραιτούμενοί μου τοὺς λόγους. Οἳ δὲ ὡμολόγησαν τὸν μισθόν μου τριάκοντα ἀργυροῦς εἶναι. 4.117 Μισθὸν δὲ καὶ ἀργύριον ἀνηγμένως προσήκει ἐκλαβεῖν. Πολλαχοῦ γὰρ τῆς θείας παιδεύσεως τὰ λόγια καὶ ὁ λόγος τῷδε τῷ ὀνόματι δηλοῦνται· «Τὰ λόγια γὰρ Κυρίου, λόγια ἁγνά, ἀργύριον πεπυρωμένον δοκιμεῖον τῇ γῇ κεκαθαρισμένον ἑπταπλασίως.» Καὶ πάλιν παροιμιωδῶς λέγεται· «Ἄργυρος πεπυρωμένος γλῶσσα δικαίου.» ∆ηλοῦται γὰρ ὁ λόγος τῷ ὀνόματι τῆς γλώττης. 4.118 Καὶ ἐπεὶ οὐ πᾶν τὸ ἀλληγορικῶς ἀργύριον ἐπαινετόν ἐστιν ἀλλὰ καὶ ψεγόμενον, λέγων οὖν ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς ψευδοδιδασκάλοις τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· «Τὸ ἀργύριον ὑμῶν ἀδόκιμον», οὐκ αἰσθητὸν νόμισμα αἰτιᾶται, ἀλλὰ δολερὸν λόγον. Καὶ περὶ τῶν χρωμένων αὐτῷ τοῖς διορατικοῖς τὸν Θεὸν εἰπεῖν· «Ἀργύριον ἀποδεδοκιμασμένον καλέσατε αὐτούς, ὅτι ἀπεδοκίμασεν Κύριος» τὴν γενεὰν τὴν ποιοῦσαν ταῦτα, φανερὸν ὅτι τὰ δολερὰ καὶ ἀπηγορευμένα. 4.119 Ταύτης τῆς νοήσεώς ἐστιν τὸ παροιμιῶδες θέσπισμα προφερόμενον οὕτως· «Ἀργύριον διδόμενον μετὰ δόλου ὥσπερ ὄστρακον ἡγητέον.» Τὸν γὰρ ἀπατηλὸν καὶ ἐριστικὸν σὺν δόλῳ προφερόμενον λόγον ὑπὸ σοφιστῶν, κἂν