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wide canals, and spacious9, etc. Instead of, Behold Zion the city, Aquila indeed says: Look, be initiated, Zion city of feasts. But Symmachus and Theodotion, Behold Zion the city of our saints, and again in sequence, your eyes will see Jerusalem, as she is about to see our salvation, that is Christ, and another city of feasts, the exceedingly rich Church. Therefore, the tents of the old Jerusalem have fallen, captured by various sieges. But the new city, as standing upon a rock, remains unshaken even in the 2304 times of persecutions. "For the gates of Hades," he says, "will not prevail against it," it has not fallen under rains and rivers and winds. For it has been founded on a rock. And the reason is that the name of the Lord will be a place for the new city, and as in such a place it has become unfallen. But according to Symmachus, there the Lord is mighty for us. A place of rivers, spacious canals, where no oared ship may go, nor will the command of the mighty one cross it. And as for *where it may not go*, Aquila says: A ship of oar shall not go in it, and an exceedingly large trireme shall not cross it. By which they show that the Lord of the said city will be a place of rivers, so that it is said: "The streams of the river make glad the city of God." And, "The river of God is full of water." And the rivers, he says, are in such safety as to be inaccessible to enemies approaching with small and large ships, circling the city instead of a wall, since it has as judge and leader the Savior and Lord Himself, whose streams, being of the first and perfect river, make glad the city of God, the many rivers being angels who always see the face of the Father in heaven, who guard the Church. From this point on, he hints at the sufferings of the old city. For its mast has fallen like a ship in a storm, the ropes holding it having been broken. But Symmachus says, Your ropes were cast off, so as not to hold. Thus their mast, so as not to spread a sail. Then he distributed unto much spoil; describing how they now sank as in a sea-battle, and were plundered by the enemies. For even the sacred vessels the Lord delivered up for plunder to impious men and to those who are lame in the foundations of the soul, who did not toil when God delivered them over, and they have become free from sin, having subdued Jerusalem by the judgment of God. But some have interpreted it thus: While God was addressing the unintelligent scribes, the person of the saints is again introduced, showing as it were to each other either the Church on earth, or the one in heaven, to which the Church on earth, having Christ as savior, leads up its inhabitants, to whom the word says in reply. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, saying these things about her from the likeness of the tent in the wilderness; and he states the reason for the city's security to those who have believed, that the name of the Lord is great for you, contrasting with those who have not believed in Christ. And how the city that indeed always is will be a place for you, in which he says there are spacious rivers and canals, indicating both evangelists and apostles, and those who lead the Churches from time to time, watering the flock of God with divine streams 2305 from the one, who also says through the voice of a prophet: "Behold, I am turning toward them like a river of peace, and like a torrent flooding the glory of the nations." And insisting on the metaphor of the rivers, and as if speaking about wealth, he introduces the person of the faithful after the coming of Christ, triumphing over the devil, and forbidding him to pass through them, just as before. For we are no longer passable for you. Nor will you be able, like some ship, to row through these rivers. And they say the reason is, For my God is great. And for this reason he will not pass through me. For I have escaped his judgment and his yoke, having come under God. And this the prophet says also in other places: "There shall be there a clean way, and it shall be called a holy way. And there shall not be there an unclean way.

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διώρυγες πλατεῖς, καὶ εὐρύχωροι9, κ.τ.λ. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, Ἰδοὺ Σιὼν ἡ πόλις, ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας φησίν· Ὅρα ματίσθητι, Σιὼν πόλις ἑορτῶν. Σύμμαχος δὲ καὶ Θεοδοτίων, Ἴδε Σιὼν τὴν πόλιν τῶν ἁγίων ἡμῶν, καὶ πάλιν ἑξῆς, οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου ὄψονται Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ὡς μέλλουσαν ἰδεῖν τὸ σωτήριον ἡμῶν, τοῦτ' ἔστι Χριστὸν, ἑτέραν τε πόλιν τὴν τῶν ἑορτῶν τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τὴν ἄγαν πλουσίαν. Τῆς μὲν οὖν παλαιᾶς Ἱερουσαλὴμ πεπτώκασιν αἱ σκηναὶ διαφόροις ἁλούσης πολιορκίαις. Ἡ δὲ καινὴ πόλις, ὡς ἐπὶ πέτρας ἑστῶσα, κἀν τοῖς 2304 τῶν διωγμῶν ἄσειστος ἐπιμένει καιροῖς. "Πύλαι γὰρ ᾅδου, φησὶν, οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς," ὑπό τε ὄμβρων καὶ ποταμῶν καὶ πνευμάτων οὐ πέπτωκε. Τεθεμελίωται γὰρ ἐπὶ πέτραν. Τὸ δὲ αἴτιον, ὅτι τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου τόπος ἔσται τῇ καινῇ πόλεις, καὶ ὡς ἐν τόπῳ τοιούτῳ καθέστηκεν ἄπτωτος. Κατὰ δὲ Σύμμαχον, ἐκεῖ κραταιὸς ἡμῖν Κύριος. Τόπος ποταμῶν διώρυγες εὐρύχωροι, ὅπου μὴ πορευθῇ πλοῖον κωπηλάτου, οὐδὲ ἐντολὴ κραταιοῦ διαπεράσει αὐτόν. Τὸ δὲ ὅπου μὴ πορευθῇ, Ἀκύλας φησίν· Οὐ μὴ πορευθῇ ἐν αὐτῇ ναῦς κώπης, καὶ τριήρης ὑπερμεγέθης οὐ διαβήσεται αὐτό. ∆ι' ὧν δηλοῦσι τῆς εἰρημένης πόλεως τὸν Κύριον ἔσεσθαι τόπον ποταμῶν, ὥστε λέγειν· "Τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὰ ὁρμήματα εὐφραίνουσι τὴν πόλιν τοῦ Θεοῦ." Καὶ, "Ὁ ποταμὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπληρώθη ὑδάτων." Οἱ δὲ ποταμοὶ, φησὶν, οὕτως ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ τυγχάνουσιν, ὡς εἶναι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἀνεπίβατοι, μικροῖς τε καὶ μείζοσι πλοίοις ἐπερχομένοις ἀντὶ τείχους κυκλοῦντες τὴν πόλιν, ἐπεὶ κριτὴν καὶ ἡγούμενον αὐτὸν ἔχει τὸν Σωτῆρα καὶ Κύριον, οὗ τὰ ὁρμήματα πρώτου καὶ τελείου τυγχάνοντος ποταμοῦ, εὐφραίνουσι τὴν πόλιν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀγγέλων ὄντων τῶν πολλῶν ποταμῶν τῶν διὰ παντὸς βλεπόντων τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ Πατέρος τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς, οἳ φρουροῦσι τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν. Ἐντεῦθεν λοιπὸν τῆς παλαιᾶς ὑποφαίνει πόλεως τὰ παθήματα. Ταύτης γὰρ ὡς νηὸς ἐν χειμῶνι πέπτωκεν ὁ ἱστὸς τῶν αὐτὸν κρατούντων διαῤῥαγέντων σχοινίων. Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχός φησιν, Ἐξεῤῥίφη τὰ σχοινία σου, ὥστε μὴ κρατεῖν. Οὕτως ὁ ἱστὸς αὐτῶν, ὥστε μὴ ἁπλῶσαι ἱστίον. Τότε διένειμεν ἕως σκύλων πολλῶν· ὑπογράφων ὡς ἐν ναυμαχίᾳ νῦν κατέδυσαν, καὶ πρὸς τῶν πολεμίων ἁρπαζομένην. Καὶ μέχρι γὰρ τῶν ἱερῶν σκευῶν εἰς διαρπαγὴν παρέδωκε Κύριος ἀσεβέσιν ἀνδράσι καὶ τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς χωλεύουσι βάσεις, οἳ Θεοῦ παραδιδόντος οὐκ ἐκοπίασαν, καὶ γεγόνασιν ἁμαρτίας ἐλεύθεροι, Θεοῦ κρίσει τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ χειρωσάμενοι. Τινὲς δὲ οὕτως ἑρμήνευσαν· Μεταξὺ τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ τῶν ἀσυνέτων γραμματικῶν προσφωνήσαντος, τὸ τῶν ἁγίων αὖθις εἰσάγεται πρόσωπον, δεικνύντων ὥσπερ ἀλλήλοις ἢ τὴν ἐπὶ γῆς Ἐκκλησίαν, ἢ τὴν ἐν οὐρανοῖς, εἰς ἢν ἀνάγει τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας ἡ ἐπὶ γῆς σωτήριον ἔχουσα τὸν Χριστὸν, οὓς ἀμειβόμενός φησιν ὁ λόγος. Οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου ὄψονται Ἱερουσαλὴμ, τὰς περὶ αὐτῆς λέγων ἐξ ὁμοιότητος τῆς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ σκηνῆς· τοῦ δὲ τῆς πόλεως ἀσφαλοῦς τὴν αἰτίαν φησὶ τοῖς πιστεύσασιν, ὅτι τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου μέγα ὑμῖν, ἀντιδιαστέλλων τοῖς τῷ Χριστῷ μὴ πιστεύσασιν. Καὶ ὡς ἔσται τόπος ὑμῖν, ἡ ἀεὶ μὲν οὖσα πόλις, ἐν ᾗ ποταμοὺς εὐρυχώρους φησὶ καὶ διώρυχας εὐαγγελιστάς τε καὶ ἀποστόλους δηλῶν, καὶ τοὺς τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν κατὰ καιρὸν ἡγουμένους, τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ ποίμνην τοῖς θείοις ἄρδοντας νάμασιν 2305 ἐξ ἑνὸς, ὃς καὶ διὰ φωνῆς προφήτου φησίν· "Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐκκλίνω ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ὡς ποταμὸς εἰρήνης, καὶ ὡς χειμάῤῥους ἐπικλύζων δόξαν ἐθνῶν." Τῇ δὲ τῶν ποταμῶν ἐπιμένων μεταφορᾷ, καὶ ὡς περὶ πλοῦτον λόγον ποιούμενος, τὸ τῶν πιστῶν εἰσάγει πρόσωπον μετὰ τὴν Χριστοῦ παρουσίαν τοῦ διαβόλου κατεπαιρόμενον, ἀπαγορεῦόν τε αὐτῷ μὴ δι' αὐτῶν διαβαίνειν, καθάπερ καὶ πρότερον. Οὐ γὰρ ἔτι σοι τυγχάνομεν βάσιμοι. Οὐδὲ δυνήσῃ καθάπερ τι πλοῖον διὰ τούτων ἐλᾶσαι τῶν ποταμῶν. Τὸ δὲ αἴτιόν φασιν, Ὁ γὰρ Θεός μου μέγας ἐστί. Καὶ τούτου χάριν οὐ διελεύσεται δι' ἐμοῦ. Ἀπέφυγον γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὴν κρίσιν καὶ τὸν ζυγὸν, ὑπὸ Θεὸν γεγονώς. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις παρὼν προφήτης φησίν· "Ἔσται ἐκεῖ ὁδὸς καθαρὰ, καὶ ὁδὸς ἁγία κληθήσεται. Καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ἐκεῖ ὁδὸς ἀκάθαρτος.