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was, in whose own writing it is also thus: “Listen, O house of David, is it not enough for you to weary men, that you weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the young woman conceives and bears a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel.” 7.1.34 For since the hardness of character of the Jewish nation and its reluctance toward piety provided no ordinary sweat and labor and toil and struggle for the ancient prophets beloved of God, for this reason: “Is it not enough for you,” he says, “that the prophets of God labor and ‘provide a struggle for men? But now’ you also weary my God, and ‘provide a struggle even for my God?’” For Theodotion also rendered it thus. 7.1.35 The prophet, then, addressed the one who is wearied and who enters the contest as his own God, and not also the God of those to whom the word was spoken, for he would not have said “my God” of the God over all among the Jews, among whom the worship of the God who is creator of all things was preserved from their fathers. 7.1.36 And what would be the struggle and toil or the labor of the prophesied God, other than to come into human generation? according to us and the interpretation of the Seventy, being born of a “virgin,” but according to the one now current among the Jews, of a “young woman.” And you would find in Moses that even the one who is admittedly a virgin is called a “young woman”; for indeed he called by this appellation the one betrothed to another but forced by another. 7.1.37 But Emmanuel, who was to be born from the one indicated, also brings a power greater than that of a common man, choosing the good before knowing evil things, and “disobeying wickedness in order to choose the good,” and this not at the age of a man but at that of a child. 7.1.38 For which reason it is said: “Before the child knows good or evil, he disobeys wickedness in order to choose the good,” through which the complete inexperience of wickedness on the part of the one indicated is shown. But also he who is “with us” as “God” bears an appellation greater than that of a man. 7.1.39 For this reason also the “sign” concerning him was said to contain “depth,” and at the same time “height”; depth, on the one hand, through the descent to men or also the presence even unto death, height, on the other, through the divine restoration from the depth or through the theology of his divine pre-existence. 7.1.40 And who would be the “God with us” other than the God and Lord demonstrated through the foregoing, who was also seen by Abraham in no other way than through the form of a man? But if those of the circumcision refer these things to Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, asserting that this is the one signified to the father, yet Hezekiah was neither “God with us” nor was any sign befitting God worked concerning him; nor indeed was there a “struggle” or “toil” for God concerning his generation. And besides these things, Hezekiah is otherwise shown to be excluded from the times of the prophecy; 7.1.41 for these things were prophesied about future events when his father, Ahaz, was reigning, but Hezekiah is established as having been born before Ahaz became king. But if the things of the present prophecy might not be referred to him, much less to any other of those among the Jews who came after the times of the prophecy, but indeed it came to pass upon the generation of the true Emmanuel, that is, of the one who became “God with us,” and only upon the sojourn among men of our Savior, the Word of God. 7.1.42 For when the two kings had been deposed, the land of the Jews was left desolate, just as the oracle says it would be, stating: “The land shall be left desolate on account of the two kings.” which itself might also be rendered expressly and literally thus: for in the time of king Ahaz and Isaiah, son of Amoz, and the times of the prophecy, the king of Syria in Damascus and the king of Israel in Samaria, not the one in Jerusalem but the one of the multitude of the Jews who had apostatized from the divine law, having made a treaty with one another, were besieging those who were ruled by the successors of David. 7.1.43 The prophecy, therefore, declaring the deposition of both of these,

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ἦν, παρ' ᾧ καὶ αὐτῷ ταῦτα οὕτως ἔχει· «ἀκούσατε οἶκος ∆αβίδ, μὴ οὐκ αὔταρκες ὑμῖν κοποῦν ἀνθρώπους, ὅτι κοποῦτε τὸν θεόν μου; διὰ τοῦτο δώσει κύριος αὐτὸς ὑμῖν σημεῖον. ἰδοὺ ἡ νεᾶνις συλλαμβάνει καὶ τίκτει υἱόν, καὶ καλέσεις ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ». 7.1.34 ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους τὸ σκληρὸν τοῦ τρόπου καὶ πρὸς εὐσέβειαν δυσένδοτον ἱδρῶτα καὶ κόπον μόχθον τε οὐ τὸν τυχόντα καὶ ἀγῶνα παρεῖχεν τοῖς πάλαι θεοφιλέσι προφήταις, τούτου χάριν· «οὐκ αὔταρκες ὑμῖν», φησί, τοὺς προφήτας τοῦ θεοῦ μοχθοῦν καὶ «ἀγῶνα παρέχειν ἀνθρώποις; ἀλλ' ἤδη» καὶ τὸν θεόν μου κοποῦτε, καὶ «ἀγῶνα παρέχετε καί γε τῷ θεῷ μου;» οὕτω γὰρ καὶ Θεοδοτίων ἐξέδωκεν. 7.1.35 ὁ γοῦν προφήτης ἰδίως ἑαυτοῦ θεόν, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ καὶ τῶν πρὸς οὓς ὁ λόγος, τὸν κοπούμενον καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα ἀποδυόμενον προσεῖπεν, οὐκ ἂν φήσας «θεόν μου» τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν ἐν Ἰουδαίοις, παρ' οἷς ἐκ πατέρων τὸ περὶ τὸν τῶν πάντων δημιουργὸν θεὸν σέβας ἐφυλάττετο. 7.1.36 τίς δ' ἂν εἴη ὁ ἀγὼν καὶ μόχθος ἢ ὁ κόπος τοῦ προφητευομένου θεοῦ, ἢ τὸ εἰς ἀνθρώπων γένεσιν ἐλθεῖν; κατὰ μὲν ἡμᾶς καὶ τὴν τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ἑρμηνείαν ἐκ «παρθένου» γεννώμενον, κατὰ δὲ τὴν νῦν παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις φερομένην ἐκ «νεάνιδος». εὕροις δ' ἂν παρὰ Μωσεῖ καὶ τὴν ὁμολογου μένως παρθένον «νεᾶνιν» προσηγορευμένην· τὴν γοῦν ἑτέρῳ μεμνηστευμένην ὑφ' ἑτέρου δὲ ἐκβεβιασμένην τούτῳ κέκληκε τῷ προσρήματι. 7.1.37 Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ ἐκ τῆς δηλουμένης τεχθησόμενος Ἐμμανουὴλ μείζονα ἢ κατὰ τὸν κοινὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπιφέρεται δύναμιν, ἐκλεγόμενος τὸ ἀγαθὸν πρὶν γνῶναι πονηρά, καὶ «ἀπειθῶν πονηρίᾳ τοῦ ἐκλέξασθαι τὸ ἀγαθόν», καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἡλικίᾳ ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ τοῦ παιδίου. 7.1.38 διὸ εἴρηται· «πρὶν ἢ γνῶναι τὸ παιδίον ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακόν, ἀπειθεῖ πονηρίᾳ τοῦ ἐκλέξασθαι τὸ ἀγαθόν», δι' ὧν παντελῶς τὸ τῆς κακίας ἄπειρον τοῦ δηλουμένου παρίσταται. ἀλλὰ καὶ κρείττονα ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ἐπάγεται τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ὁ «μεθ' ἡμῶν» ὑπάρχων «θεός». 7.1.39 διὸ καὶ τὸ περὶ αὐτοῦ «σημεῖον» «βάθος» ἐλέγετο περιέχειν, ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ «ὕψος»· βάθος μὲν διὰ τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους κάθοδον ἢ καὶ τὴν μέχρι θανάτου παρουσίαν, ὕψος δὲ διὰ τὴν ἔνθεον ἐκ τοῦ βάθους ἀποκατάστασιν ἢ διὰ τὴν τῆς ἐνθέου προϋπάρξεως αὐτοῦ θεολογίαν. 7.1.40 τίς δ' ἂν εἴη ὁ «μεθ' ἡμῶν θεὸς» ἢ ὁ διὰ τῶν πρόσθεν ἀποδεδειγμένος θεὸς κύριος, ὁ καὶ τῷ Ἀβραὰμ οὐκ ἄλλως ἢ δι' ἀνθρώπου μορφῆς τεθεαμένος; εἰ δ' ἀναφέροιεν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἐζεκίαν οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς ταῦτα, τὸν τοῦ Ἄχαζ παῖδα, τοῦτον εἶναι φάσκοντες τὸν τῷ πατρὶ προσημαινόμενον, ἀλλ' οὔτε ὁ «μεθ' ἡμῶν θεὸς» Ἐζεκίας ἦν οὔτε σημεῖον θεοπρεπὲς πέπρακταί τι ἐπ' αὐτῷ· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ «ἀγὼν» ἢ «μόχθος» τῷ θεῷ ἦν περὶ τὴν ἐκείνου γένεσιν. καὶ ἄλλως παρὰ ταῦτα δείκνυται ὁ Ἐζεκίας ἀποκλειόμενος τῶν χρόνων τῆς προφητείας· 7.1.41 ταῦτα μὲν γὰρ βασιλεύοντος αὐτοῦ δὴ τοῦ πατρὸς Ἄχαζ περὶ μελλόντων ἐθεσπίζετο, ὁ δὲ Ἐζεκίας πρὸ τοῦ βασιλεῦσαι τὸν Ἄχαζ συνίσταται γεγεννημένος. εἰ δὲ μὴ ἐπὶ τοῦτον ἀναχθείη τὰ τῆς προκειμένης προρρήσεως, πολλοῦ δεῖ ἐφ' ἕτερον τῶν παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις μετὰ τοὺς τῆς προφητείας χρόνους γενομένων, ἐπί γε μὴν τῆς τοῦ ἀληθοῦς Ἐμμανουήλ, τοῦτ' ἔστιν τοῦ γεγονότος «μεθ' ἡμῶν θεοῦ», ἐγένετο γενέσεως καὶ ἐπὶ μόνης τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου, εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἐπιδημίας. 7.1.42 τῶν γὰρ δυεῖν βασιλέων καθῃρημένων κατελείφθη ἔρημος ἡ τῶν Ἰουδαίων γῆ, ὥσπερ ἔσεσθαί φησιν ὁ χρησμὸς εἰπών· «καταλειφθήσεται ἡ γῆ ἀπὸ προσώπου τῶν δύο βασιλέων». ὃ καὶ αὐτὸ ῥητῶς ἂν καὶ κατὰ λέξιν οὕτως ἀποδοθείη· κατὰ γὰρ βασιλέα Ἄχαζ καὶ Ἡσαΐαν, υἱὸν Ἀμώς, καὶ τοὺς τῆς προφητείας χρόνους βασιλεὺς Συρίας ὁ ἐν ∆αμασκῷ καὶ βασιλεὺς Ἰσραὴλ ὁ ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ οὐχ ὁ ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀλλ' ὁ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν Ἰουδαίων τῶν ἀποστάντων τοῦ θείου νόμου, συνθήκας πρὸς ἀλλήλους θέμενοι, τοὺς ὑπὸ τοῖς διαδόχοις ∆αβὶδ βασιλευομένους ἐπολιόρκουν. 7.1.43 τούτων οὖν ἀμφοῖν τὴν καθαίρεσιν ἡ προφητεία θεσπίζουσα,