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he was exhorting, and especially on account of the impending threat, through which it is said: from every house gladness will be taken away. And this once rich city, deserted houses will be left behind, when the wealth of the city and the venerable and desirable things of the holy house will be left behind by God. And it will become, he says, the city that once exulted and was called God's, a dwelling place for wild asses and pastures for shepherds, or according to Aquila: pastures of herds. But who, seeing foreign men dwelling in Jerusalem, and idolaters gathered from various nations, would not reasonably say that wild asses and various herds are grazing upon it? For which reason it has been said: the joy of wild asses, the pastures of shepherds. For these reasons, therefore, the Word commanded you to make a strong lamentation and to persist in mourning for so long, until a spirit from on high comes upon you, or according to Symmachus: refreshment from on high. For there is a diversity of spirits, but nothing can restore you and give you rest from the mourning and the lamentation except the spirit sent down from on high, if indeed it should come upon you. This was that about which the Savior said: “Behold, I am going away and I will send you the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth,” and again: “until you receive power from on high.” Since, therefore: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,” and: “Blessed are those who weep, for they shall laugh,” reasonably to those mentioned before, if through mourning and weeping and lamentation they showed repentance, he gives the good promise through the Holy Spirit. Then again he interprets what was said above in different ways, saying: and Chermel will be a desert, and Chermel will be reckoned as a forest, but according to Symmachus: and Carmel, he says, will be a desert, and Carmel will be reckoned as a forest. And it was also said through the things before: “Yet a little while and Lebanon will be changed like Mount Chermel, and Chermel will be reckoned as a forest. And in that day the deaf will hear the words of a book, and in the darkness and in the mist the eyes of the blind will see. And the poor will rejoice because of the Lord in gladness, and the despairing of men will be filled with gladness,” but according to Symmachus: “Yet a little while,” he says, “and Lebanon will become Carmel, and Carmel will be reckoned as a forest.” through which Lebanon, the mountain in Phoenicia, signified the nations, while Carmel, the mountain formerly under the Jews, the people of the circumcision, from which Chermel, that is Carmel, is also interpreted, knowledge of circumcision. Therefore Lebanon, the foreign and alien people from the nations, having been changed, he says will be, such as the people of the circumcision once honored by God was, while the people of the circumcision itself, called Chermel or Carmel, will be reckoned as a forest. This, therefore, the Word also signifies in the present passage, saying. according to Symmachus: and the desert will become Carmel. For just as there Lebanon was said to be changed into Carmel, so here the desert, so that the desert and Lebanon may be these, thus signifying the church from the nations, which has been changed into Carmel. For just as it formerly was of old, “The Lord's portion is his people Jacob, and Israel is the line of his inheritance,” and Carmel had knowledge concerning this, so Lebanon and the former desert, having changed for the better, has become “God's portion.” As on the other hand again, Carmel was reckoned as a forest, and a forest is a place full of wild and fruitless plants. Therefore it is customary in the divine scripture to call “the nations that do not know God” a forest, as we have often shown. Then next, as if to the desert now deemed worthy of great goods, he promises the following, saying: and judgment will rest in the desert, and righteousness will dwell in Carmel. And in what Carmel but in the desert itself, about which it was said: and the desert will become Carmel. Judgment therefore and righteousness

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παρεκελεύετο καὶ μάλιστα διὰ τὴν ἐπιφερομένην ἀπειλήν, δι' ἧς εἴρηται· ἐκ πάσης οἰκίας εὐφροσύνη ἀρθήσεται. καὶ ἡ πάλαι πλουσία πόλις αὕτη, οἶκοι ἔρημοι καταλειφθήσονται, ὅτε πλοῦτος τῆς πόλεως καὶ τὰ σεμνὰ καὶ τὰ ἐπιθυμητὰ τοῦ ἱεροῦ οἴκου καταλειφθήσονται ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. καὶ γενήσεται δέ φησιν ἡ πάλαι γαυριῶσα καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ χρηματίζουσα πόλις οἰκητήριον ὄνων ἀγρίων καὶ βοσκήματα ποιμένων, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· βοσκήματα ἀγελῶν. τίς δὲ ὁρῶν μετοίκους ἄνδρας οἰκοῦντας τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ εἰδωλολάτρας τε ἐκ διαφόρων ἐθνῶν συνειλεγμένους, οὐκ ἂν εὐλόγως εἴποι ὄνους ἀγρίους καὶ διαφόρους ἀγέλας καταβόσκεσθαι αὐτήν; διὸ λέλεκται· εὐφροσύνη ὄνων ἀγρίων, βοσκήματα ποιμένων. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα τοιγαροῦν προσέταξεν ὑμῖν ὁ λόγος ἰσχυρὸν ποιεῖσθαι κοπετὸν καὶ τῷ θρήνῳ παραμένειν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον, ἕως ἂν ἐπέλθῃ ἐφ' ὑμᾶς πνεῦμα ἀφ' ὑψηλοῦ, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· ἀνάψυξις ἐξ ὕψους· ἔστι μὲν γὰρ διαφορὰ πνευμάτων, πλὴν οὐδὲν ὑμᾶς ἀνακτήσασθαι δύναται καὶ ἀναπαῦσαι τοῦ θρήνου καὶ τοῦ κοπετοῦ ἢ τὸ ἐξ ὕψους καταπεμπόμενον πνεῦμα εἴγε ἐπέλθοι ἐφ' ὑμᾶς. τοῦτο δὲ ἦν περὶ οὗ ἔφασκεν ὁ σωτήρ· «ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀπέρχομαι καὶ ἀποστέλλω ὑμῖν τὸν παράκλητον, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας», καὶ πάλιν· «ἕως ἂν λάβητε ἐξ ὕψους δύναμιν». ἐπεὶ τοίνυν· «μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται», καί· «μακάριοι οἱ κλαίοντες, ὅτι γελάσονται», εἰκότως ταῖς προλεχθείσαις, εἰ διὰ θρήνου καὶ κλαυθμοῦ καὶ κοπετοῦ τὴν μετάνοιαν ἐνεδείξαντο, ἐπαγγελίαν δίδωσιν ἀγαθὴν τὴν διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος. εἶτα πάλιν τὰ ἀνωτέρω λελεγμένα διαφόρως ἑρμηνεύει λέγων· καὶ ἔσται ἔρημος ὁ Χερμέλ, καὶ ὁ Χερμὲλ εἰς δρυμὸν λογισθήσεται, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· καὶ ἔσται φησὶν ἔρημος ὁ Κάρμηλος, ὁ δὲ Κάρμηλος εἰς δρυμὸν λογισθήσεται. ἐλέγετο δὲ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν· «οὐκέτι μικρὸν καὶ μετατεθήσεται ὁ Λίβανος ὡς τὸ ὄρος τὸ Χερμέλ, καὶ τὸ Χερμὲλ εἰς δρυμὸν λογισθήσεται. καὶ ἀκούσονται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ κωφοὶ λόγους βιβλίου, καὶ οἱ ἐν τῷ σκότει καὶ οἱ ἐν τῇ ὁμίχλῃ ὀφθαλμοὶ τυφλῶν ὄψονται· καὶ ἀγαλλιάσονται πτωχοὶ διὰ κυρίου ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ, καὶ οἱ ἀπηλπισμένοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐμπλησθήσονται εὐφροσύνης», κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· «ἔτι βραχύ» φησι «καὶ ἔσται Λίβανος εἰς Κάρμηλον, ὁ δὲ Κάρμηλος εἰς δρυμὸν λογισθήσεται». δι' ὧν Λίβανος μὲν τὸ ὄρος τὸ ἐπὶ τῆς Φοινίκης ἐδήλου τὰ ἔθνη, Κάρμηλος δὲ τὸ ὄρος τὸ ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίοις ὂν πρότερον τὸν ἐκ περιτομῆς λαόν, ὅθεν καὶ ἑρμηνεύεται ὁ Χερμέλ, δηλαδὴ ὁ Κάρμηλος, ἐπίγνωσις περιτομῆς. τὸν Λίβανον τοίνυν, τὸν ἀλλόφυλον καὶ τὸν ἀλλογενῆ λαὸν τὸν ἐξ ἐθνῶν μεταβληθέντα ἔσεσθαί φησιν, ὁποῖος ἦν ὁ πάλαι παρὰ τῷ θεῷ τετιμημένος λαὸς ὁ ἐκ περιτομῆς, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν ἐκ περιτομῆς λαὸν Χερμὲλ ἢ Κάρμηλον ὀνομαζόμενον εἰς δρυμὸν λογισθήσεσθαι. τοῦτο τοίνυν καὶ ἐν τοῖς μετὰ χεῖρας σημαίνει φάσκων ὁ λόγος. κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· καὶ ἔσται ἡ ἔρημος εἰς Κάρμηλον· ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖ ὁ Λίβανος εἰς Κάρμηλον ἐλέγετο μεταβαλεῖσθαι, οὕτως ἐνταῦθα ἡ ἔρημος, ἵν' ᾖ ταῦτα ἡ ἔρημος καὶ ὁ Λίβανος οὕτω δηλουμένης τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησίας, ἥτις μεταβέβληται εἰς Κάρμηλον. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἦν πάλαι πρότερον «μερὶς κυρίου λαὸς αὐτοῦ Ἰακώβ, καὶ σχοίνισμα κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ Ἰσραήλ», ὅ τε Κάρμηλος ἦν ἐπίγνωσιν ἔχων περὶ ταύτης, οὕτως ὁ Λίβανος καὶ ἡ πάλαι ἔρημος ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβαλοῦσα γέγονε «μερὶς τοῦ θεοῦ». ὡς αὖ πάλιν ὁ Κάρμηλος εἰς δρυμὸν ἐλογίσθη, δρυμὸς δέ ἐστι χωρίον φυτῶν ἀγρίων καὶ ἀκάρπων πλήρης. διὸ σύνηθές ἐστι τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ «τὰ ἔθνη τὰ τὸν θεὸν οὐκ εἰδότα» δρυμὸν ὀνομάζειν ὡς πολλάκις ἀπεδείξαμεν. Εἶθ' ἑξῆς ὡς ἂν ἤδη μεγάλων ἀγαθῶν ἠξιωμένη τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἐπαγγέλλεται τὰ ἐπιφερόμενα λέγων· καὶ ἀναπαύσεται ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ κρίμα, καὶ δικαιοσύνη ἐν τῷ Καρμήλῳ κατοικήσει· ποίῳ δὲ Καρμήλῳ ἢ αὐτῇ τῇ ἐρήμῳ, περὶ ἧς ἐλέγετο· καὶ ἔσται ἡ ἔρημος εἰς Κάρμηλον. κρίμα τοίνυν καὶ δικαιοσύνην