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release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of recompense to our God, to comfort all who mourn, that glory be given to those who mourn for Zion.” You see how in these words also 'a year of the Lord' is mentioned and 'a day of recompense,' to which is similar the phrase: for it is the day of the Lord’s judgment, and a year of recompense for the judgment of Zion. Therefore, it is one and the same year and one and the same day, in which “the poor have the good news preached to them,” and “those who mourn for Zion are comforted” at the coming of Christ, and the “women who have become rich” are called to lamentation, and the things spoken through those who lie near Zion were about to come to pass. And all these things were fulfilled at the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ, at which time those who believed in him and received the grace through him enjoyed the better gospels; but those who made themselves strangers to his grace, having fallen away from all good hope, have fallen under the more somber threats. And their august and royal city itself has suffered such things as the present prophecy decrees, saying: and its valleys will be turned into burning pitch day and night, and it will not be quenched for eternal time, and its smoke will go up; for its generations it will be desolate and for a long time, according to Symmachus: he says its land into flaming pitch night and day will not be quenched forever, its smoke will go up from its generation; it will be laid waste for generations, to a strife of strifes, through which the word clearly shows that utter desolation will overtake both the place and the nation, but also: there will not be, it says, one who passes through it, and: there will not be one who journeys in it. And in these words he prophesies that a Jew will no longer pass through that place, which indeed was fulfilled by Roman laws and decrees forbidding Jews to set foot on the place. But while none of them passes through, he says that others will inhabit it, certain ones: birds and hedgehogs and ibises and ravens, by which he alludes to unclean souls, such as were those of the idolaters from foreign and alien nations who afterwards inhabited the place. And he says that not only these will inhabit the place instead of its former inhabitants, but also onocentaurs and sirens and sparrows, alluding to certain demons who have taken up their dens in the images of their idolatry. Wherefore he adds next: and demons will meet with onocentaurs and they will cry one to another, but also there will be cast upon the place, he says, a measuring line of a desolate geometry, for which Symmachus interpreted: and a measure of annihilation will be stretched out over it. But all these things will happen after the former inhabitants have been driven out and given over to destruction. Wherefore he adds: her rulers will not be; for her kings and her great ones will be for destruction. And when you see their synagogues outside of Jerusalem, hear what he proclaims about them, saying: and thorny wood will spring up in their cities, signifying their fruitless teachings. Wherefore he also indicated previously that their “vineyard” brought forth “thorns,” saying: “I waited for it to produce grapes, but it produced thorns.” Indeed, since the utmost desolation has occurred in their souls and their land has been filled with thorns, he reasonably foretells that the unclean spirits will rest in them, saying: there onocentaurs will rest, for they found rest for themselves. There the hedgehog nested, and preserved its young, or according to Symmachus: it preserved and hatched and gathered. On account of all these things, therefore, he says their valleys, that is, their souls, being somewhere below in hollows and in valleys, will be turned into pitch and into brimstone, and their land into pitch burning day and night,

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αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν, καλέσαι ἐνιαυτὸν κυρίου δεκτὸν καὶ ἡμέραν ἀνταποδόσεως τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν, παρακαλέσαι πάντας τοὺς πενθοῦντας, δοθῆναι τοῖς πενθοῦσι Σιὼν δόξαν». ὁρᾷς ὅπως καὶ ἐν τούτοις ἐνιαυτὸς κυρίου εἴρηται καὶ ἡμέρα ἀνταποδόσεως, οἷς ὅμοιον τυγχάνει τό· ἡμέρα γὰρ κρίσεως κυρίου καὶ ἐνιαυτὸς ἀνταποδόσεως κρίσεως Σιών· οὐκοῦν εἷς καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς ἐνιαυτὸς τυγχάνει καὶ μία καὶ ἡ αὐτὴ ἡμέρα, καθ' ἣν «οἱ πτωχοὶ εὐαγγελίζονται», οἵ τε «πενθοῦντες τὴν Σιὼν παρακαλοῦνται» ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίᾳ καὶ αἱ γενόμεναι «πλούσιαι γυναῖκες» ἐπὶ τὸν κοπετὸν καλοῦνται καὶ τὰ λεγόμενα διὰ τῶν προσκειμένων τῇ Σιὼν ἀποβαίνειν ἤμελλε. ταῦτα δὲ πάντα ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας ἐπληροῦτο, καθ' ἣν οἱ μὲν εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκότες καὶ τὴν χάριν τὴν δι' αὐτοῦ παραδεδεγμένοι τῶν χρηστοτέρων εὐαγγελιῶν ἀπέλαυον· οἱ δὲ ἀλλοτρίους ἑαυτοὺς καταστήσαντες τῆς αὐτοῦ χάριτος πάσης ἀγαθῆς ἐλπίδος ἀποπεσόντες ταῖς τῶν σκυθρωποτέρων ἀπειλαῖς ὑποπεπτώκασι. Καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ αὐτῶν ἡ σεμνὴ καὶ βασιλικὴ πόλις τοιαῦτα πέπονθεν, ὁποῖα θεσπίζει ἡ παροῦσα προφητεία λέγουσα· καὶ στραφήσονται αἱ φάραγγες αὐτῆς εἰς πίσσαν καιομένην ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός, καὶ οὐ σβεσθήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα χρόνον, καὶ ἀναβήσεται ὁ καπνὸς αὐτῆς ἄνω· εἰς γενεὰς αὐτῆς ἐρημωθήσεται καὶ εἰς χρόνον πολύν, κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· γῆ αὐτῆς φησιν εἰς πίσσαν φλεγομένην νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας οὐ σβεσθήσεται εἰς αἰῶνα, ἀναβήσεται ὁ κάπνος αὐτῆς ἀπὸ γενεᾶς αὐτῆς εἰς γενεὰς ἐρημωθήσεται εἰς νεῖκος νεικέων, δι' ὧν σαφῶς ὁ λόγος παρίστησιν ἐσχάτην ἐρημίαν καταλήψεσθαι τόν τε τόπον καὶ τὸ ἔθνος, ἀλλὰ καί· οὐκ ἔσται φησὶν ὁ διοδεύων αὐτήν, καί· οὐκ ἔσται ὁ παραπορευόμενος ἐν αὐτῇ. προφητεύει δὲ ἐν τούτοις ὅτι οὐκέτι Ἰουδαῖος τὸν τόπον διελεύσεται ἐκεῖνον, ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐπληροῦτο νόμοις καὶ διατάγμασι Ῥωμαϊκοῖς κεκωλυμένων Ἰουδαίων ἐπιβαίνειν τῷ τόπῳ. Ἀλλ' ἐκείνων μὲν οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ διοδεύων, ἑτέρους δὲ οἰκήσειν φησί τινας δὲ τούτους ὄρνεα καὶ ἐχίνους καὶ ἴβεις καὶ κόρακας, δι' ὧν αἰνίττεται ψυχὰς ἀκαθάρτους, ὁποῖαι ἦσαν αἱ τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα ἐξ ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ἀλλογενῶν ἐθνῶν τὸν τόπον οἰκησάντων εἰδωλολατρῶν. οὐ μόνον δὲ τούτους κατοικήσειν τὸν τόπον ἀντὶ τῶν πάλαι οἰκητόρων φησίν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὀνοκενταύρους καὶ σειρῆνας καὶ στρουθούς, δαίμονάς τινας αἰνιττόμενος τοὺς ἐν τοῖς ἀγάλμασι τῆς εἰδωλολατρίας αὐτῶν ἐμφωλεύσαντας. διὸ ἐπιλέγει ἑξῆς· καὶ συναντήσουσι δαιμόνια ὀνοκενταύροις καὶ βοήσουσιν ἕτερος πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπιβληθήσεται τῷ τόπῳ σπαρτίον φησὶ γεωμετρίας ἐρήμου, ἀνθ' οὗ ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσε· καὶ ἐκταθήσεται ἐπ' αὐτὴν μέτρον ἀφανισμοῦ. πλὴν ταῦτα πάντα ἔσται ἐπὶ τῶν προτέρων οἰκητόρων ἐξελασθέντων καὶ ἀπωλείᾳ παραδοθέντων. διὸ ἐπιλέγει· οἱ ἄρχοντες αὐτῆς οὐκ ἔσονται· οἱ γὰρ βασιλεῖς καὶ οἱ μεγιστᾶνες αὐτῆς ἔσονται εἰς ἀπώλειαν. ἐπειδὰν δὲ τὰς ἔξωθεν τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ συναγωγὰς αὐτῶν θεωρῇς, ἄκουε ὁποῖα καὶ περὶ αὐτῶν ἀναφωνεῖ λέγων· καὶ ἀναφύσει εἰς τὰς πόλεις αὐτῶν ἀκάνθινα ξύλα, δηλῶν τὰς ἀκάρπους αὐτῶν διδασκαλίας. διὸ καὶ τὸν «ἀμπελῶνα» αὐτῶν διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἐδήλου «ἀκάνθας» ἠγηοχέναι λέγων· «ἔμεινα ἵνα ποιήσῃ σταφυλήν, ἐποίησε δὲ ἀκάνθας». ἐρημίας δὴ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς αὐτῶν γενομένης καὶ ἀκανθῶν πληρωθείσης αὐτῶν τῆς χώρας εἰκότως ἀναπαύσεσθαι ἐν αὐτοῖς τὰ πνεύματα τὰ ἀκάθαρτα προλέγει φάσκων· ἐκεῖ ἀναπαύσονται ὀνοκένταυροι, εὗρον γὰρ αὑτοῖς ἀνάπαυσιν. ἐκεῖ ἐνόσσευσεν ἐχῖνος, καὶ διέσωσε τὰ γεννήματα αὐτοῦ, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· διέσωσε καὶ ἐξεκόλαψε καὶ συνήγαγε. τούτων οὖν ἕνεκα πάντων τὰς φάραγγας αὐτῶν, δηλαδὴ τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν, κάτω που ἐν κοιλώμασι καὶ ἐν φάραγξι τυγχανούσας στραφήσεσθαί φησιν εἰς πίσσαν καὶ εἰς θεῖον καὶ τὴν γῆν αὐτῶν εἰς πίσσαν καιομένην ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός,