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barren souls, that they will be in a cultivated land, having fled what is harsh and untamed, breaking new ground, according to the prophet's voice. Some say that the hail is the divine wrath, because of which they were captured by the Romans, while those who believed in him were sheltered. Then next he blesses those who will cultivate this desert, remaining with the metaphor of farming. And it signifies the apostles who preached to Jews and Greeks. For the ox, being clean and offered for sacrifice, signifies Israel. But the donkey, the gentiles. For which reason the law wills that the firstborn of donkeys be exchanged for sheep. Thus, therefore, he calls both, because of the fathers. And he called the divine Scripture water, which is trodden upon by Jews and gentiles. But those whom I call blessed, he says, the persecutors will call wretched, even though they suffer together, that they may also reign together. But in your place, he says, they themselves will become such. For they do not reject you, but the one who sent you. Therefore they will be handed over to the one who takes those who have become rejects of God, and who corrupts like a moth does a garment. Some say that water signifies the living word of God, being compared to the most life-giving of the elements. For he is the one who broke down the middle wall of partition, and created the two into one new man, making peace. But the phrase, 'Woe to those who make you wretched,' and what follows it, Symmachus translated thus: Woe to the one who makes wretched, but is not himself made wretched. And the one who rejects, but is not himself rejected. When you finish making wretched, you shall be made wretched; and when you are weary of rejecting, they will reject you; showing that it is blessed to be in the order of those who suffer, and not of those who persecute. For these are miserable, and he added the reason. Some have explained the saying thus: Due to a lack of men who would obey, he calls the women and especially the rich ones, who while adorning the body, as he said above, had an unadorned soul. Whom he awakens as if from sleep, and calls rich, not mocking their wealth (for it was given by God), but the manner of its use. Lend your ears, therefore, to the hope that brings salvation, bearing in mind the captivity after a year 2289. And famine will succeed those who acted insolently out of satiety, thus God healing. Wherefore, anticipate the judgment with lamentation, so that looking up to heaven, you may reap from there a saving spirit. And through Chermel, he signified the future desolation of the land. And he says that judgment will rest in the wilderness, so calling the city; and righteousness in Carmel, that is, in the land, obviously with the unjust inhabitants having been cast out, just as the foreigners were previously because of impiety. For all are his creations. But he pursues those who transgress with justice, healing through kindness. Again he says that those who repent will dwell in abundance. And everyone who boasts of righteousness will have courage, even if all things are in turmoil. And those in the forests will dwell as tolerably as those in the plain; and everywhere he mixes good hopes in with the threats, frightening with those, and with these consoling against despair, and guarding against indolence by means of both. Then for those who look to the earth, he takes a parable from the earth. For do you not, he says, bless those who inhabit irrigated land, workable for oxen, and passable for donkeys for travel. But you bless them falsely, he says. For inhabiting such a land, you did not acquire blessedness, having become ungrateful toward the giver. For the Assyrian is not so much the one, as you yourselves make yourselves wretched. For to those who are well-disposed toward God nothing terrible would come. For he would have been shaken off from you, as a moth from a garment. CHAP. 33. 12. 9Woe to those who make you wretched. But no one makes you wretched9, etc. Having blessed the apostles, and declared wretched those who rejected them, he makes a prayer as if from the apostles themselves, that those who are disobedient and war against us, have perished; but you are our salvation. For having learned that no one would make them wretched, they say these things out of great joy, that because of the voice of your fear the peoples were astonished, and the nations were scattered. And according to Aquila and

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ἀκάρπους ψυχὰς, ἐν γεωργουμένῃ γενήσεσθαι χώρᾳ, φυγούσας τὸ τραχὺ καὶ ἀνήμερον, νεούσας δὲ νεώματα, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ προφήτου φωνήν. Τινὲς δὲ χάλαζαν φασὶ τὴν θείαν ὀργὴν, δι' ἣν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἑάλωσαν, σκεπασθέντων τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν πιστευσάντων. Εἶθ' ἑξῆς μακαρίζει τοὺς τὴν ἔρημον ταύτην γεωργήσοντας, τῇ τῆς γεωργίας ἐπιμείνας μεταφορᾷ. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ τοὺς ἀποστόλους τοὺς κηρύξαντας Ἰουδαίοις καὶ Ἕλλησι. ∆ηλοῖ γὰρ ὁ μὲν βοῦς τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καθαρὸς ὣν, καὶ εἰς θυσίαν ἀναφερόμενος. Ὁ δὲ ὄνος τὰ ἔθνη. ∆ι' ὅπερ ὁ νόμος τὰ πρωτότοκα τῶν ὄνων εἰς πρόβατα καταλλάττεσθαι βούλεται. Οὕτως οὖν ἑκατέρους, διὰ τοὺς πατέρας καλεῖ. Τὴν δὲ θείαν Γραφὴν ὕδωρ ἐκάλεσε πατουμένην ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων καὶ ἐθνικῶν. Οὓς δὲ καλῶ, φησὶ, μακαρίους, οἱ διῶκται ταλαιπώρους καλέσουσιν, καίπερ συμπάσχοντας, ἵνα καὶ συμβασιλεύσωσιν. Ἀλλ' ἀνθ' ὑμῶν αὐτοί φησι τοιοῦτοι γενήσονται. Οὐ γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἀθετοῦσιν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἀποστείλαντα. ∆ιὸ παραδοθήσονται τῷ παραλαμβάνοντι τοὺς ἀποβλήτους γεγονότας Θεοῦ, καὶ ὡς σὴς ἱμάτιον διαφθείροντι. Τινὲς δὲ ὕδωρ τὸν ζῶντα τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγον σημαίνειν φασὶ, τῷ ζωτικωτάτῳ τῶν στοιχείων ἀπεικαζόμενον. Αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ λύσας, καὶ κτίσας τοὺς δύο εἰς ἕνα καινὸν ἄνθρωπον ποιῶν εἰρήνην. Τὸ δὲ, Οὐαὶ τοῖς ταλαιπωροῦσιν ὑμᾶς, καὶ τὰ ἐπ' αὐτῷ, Σύμμαχος οὕτως ἐξέδωκεν· Οὐαὶ ὁ ταλαιπωρίζων, αὐτὸς δὲ μὴ ταλαιπωρηθείς. Καὶ ὁ ἀθετῶν, αὐτὸς δὲ οὐκ ἀθετηθείς. Ὄταν συντελέσῃς ταλαιπωρίζων, ταλαιπωρηθήσῃ· καὶ ὅταν κοπιάσῃ ἀθετῶν, ἀθετήσουσί σε· δηλῶν ὡς μακάριον ἐν τῷ τῶν πασχόντων εἶναι τάγματι, καὶ μὴ τῶν διωκόντων. Ἄθλιοι γὰρ οὗτοι, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐπήνεγκεν. Τινὲς δὲ τὴν ῥῆσιν οὕτως ἐξηγήσαντο· Ἀνδρῶν ἀπορία τῶν πειθομένων, τὰς γυναῖκας καλεῖ καὶ μάλιστα τὰς πλουσίας, αἳ τὸ σῶμα κοσμοῦσαι, καθάπερ ἔλεγεν ἄνω, τὴν ψυχὴν εἶχον ἀκόσμητον. Ἃς ὡς ἐξ ὕπνου διεγείρει, καὶ καλεῖ πλουσίας, οὐ τὸν πλοῦτον σκώπτων (παρὰ Θεοῦ γὰρ ἐδέδοτο), τὸν δὲ τρόπον τῆς χρήσεως. Τὰς ἀκοὰς τοίνυν ἐπ' ἐλπίδι προξενούσῃ σωτηρίαν ὑπέχετε, τὴν μετ' ἐνιαυ 2289 τὸν αἰχμαλωσίαν εἰς νοῦν ἐμβαλλόμεναι. Καὶ λιμὸς δὲ διαδέξεται τοὺς διὰ κόρον ὑβρίσαντας, οὕτω τοῦ Θεοῦ θεραπεύοντος. Ὅθεν τὴν δίκην φθάσατε θρήνῳ, ἵνα πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἀναβλέψασαι, πνεῦμα σωτήριον ἐκεῖθεν καρπώσησθε. ∆ιὰ δὲ τοῦ Χέρμελ, τὴν ἐσομένην ἐρημίαν τῆς χώρας ἐδήλωσεν. Κρῖμα δέ φησιν ἀναπαύσασθαι ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, τὴν πόλιν οὕτω καλῶν· καὶ δικαιοσύνην ἐν τῷ Καρμήλῳ, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ, δηλονότι τῶν ἀδίκων οἰκητόρων ἐκπεπτωκότων, ὥσπερ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων πρότερον δι' ἀσέβειαν. Πάντες γὰρ αὐτοῦ δημιουργήματα. Τοὺς δὲ πλημμελοῦντας μετέρχεται τῇ δίκῃ θεραπεύων διὰ χρηστότητα. Πάλιν δὲ μετανοοῦντας οἰκήσειν ἐν εὐθηνίᾳ φησίν. Θαῤῥήσει δὲ πᾶς δικαιοσύνην αὐχῶν, κἂν πάντα ταράσσηται. Καὶ οἱ ἐν τοῖς δρυμοῖς οὕτως ἀνεκτῶς οἰκήσουσιν, ὡς οἱ ἐν τῇ πεδιάδι· πανταχοῦ δὲ ταῖς ἀπειλαῖς χρηστὰς ἐλπίδας ἐγκαταμίγνυσιν, ἐκείναις φοβῶν, καὶ ταύταις παραμυθούμενος ἀπόγνωσιν, καὶ ῥᾳθυμίαν δι' ἀμφοῖν φυλαττόμενος. Εἶτα τοῖς πρὸς γῆν ὁρῶσι τὴν ἐκ γῆς λαμβάνει παραβολήν. Οὐ γὰρ ἐκείνους φησὶ μακαρίζετε τοὺς ἀρδευομένην οἰκοῦντας, καὶ βουσὶ μὲν ἐργάσιμον, ὄνοις δὲ πρὸς ὁδοιπορίαν βατήν. Ἀλλὰ ψευδῶς αὐτοὺς μακαρίζετέ φησι. Τοιαύτην γὰρ ὑμεῖς οἰκοῦντες, τὸ μακάριον οὐκ ἐκτίσασθε, περὶ τὸν δόντα γεγονότες ἀγνώμονες. Οὐ γὰρ τοσοῦτον ὑμᾶς ὁ Ἀσσύριος, ὂν αὐτοὶ ἑαυτοὺς ταλαιπώρους ἐργάζεσθε. Θεῷ γὰρ εὐνοοῦσιν οὐδὲν ἐπῄει δεινόν. Ἀπεσείσθη γὰρ ἂν ὑμῶν, ὡς ἀφ' ἱματίου σής. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΛΓʹ. αιβʹ. 9Οὐαὶ τοῖς ταλαιπωροῦσιν ὑμᾶς. Ὑμᾶς δὲ οὐδεὶς ποιεῖ ταλαιπώρουσ9, κ.τ.λ. Μακαρίσας τοὺς ἀποστόλους, καὶ ταλανίσας τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀθετήσαντας, ὡς ἐξ αὐτῶν εὐχὴν ποιεῖται τῶν ἀποστόλων, ὡς οἱ μὲν ἀπειθεῖς καὶ πολεμοῦντες ἡμᾶς, ἀπολώλασιν· ἡμῶν δὲ σὺ σωτηρία. Μαθόντες γὰρ ὡς οὐδεὶς αὐτοὺς ταλαιπωρήσειεν, ἐκ πολλῆς ταῦτα περιχαρείας φασὶν, ὅτι διὰ φωνὴν τοῦ φόβου σου ἐξέστησαν λαοὶ, καὶ διεσκορπίσθησαν ἔθνη. Κατὰ δὲ Ἀκύλαν καὶ