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was dried up by thirst. But they had suffered these things long ago, but now he says: I am the Lord God, I the God of Israel will hearken to them, and I will not forsake them, but I will open rivers on the mountains and springs in the midst of the plains, I will make the wilderness into marshes of water and the thirsty land into aqueducts. And having applied your mind you will know how these things came to pass and are still even now at work in the churches of God founded in every place by the apostles of our Savior. For the souls among the nations who were formerly destitute and lacking the knowledge of God and possessing not even a drop of a life-giving drink, so that their tongue and the word uttered by it were dried up, because they shared in no moisture of a saving word, have obtained a wondrous benefit through the heavenly grace, being filled with springs and rivers and all sorts of life-giving waters, so as to enjoy water, concerning which it was said above: “And they will drink water from the springs of the Savior.” And they drink “from the springs of Israel,” which the saying that speaks mentioned: “In the churches bless God, the Lord from the springs of Israel.” And this would be the Holy Spirit that springs forth in the church of God and rains down living waters, sometimes from the Old Testament, and sometimes from the new and evangelical teaching. But also ever-flowing rivers flow, flooding the old wilderness, those that have taken their beginnings from the great river, about which it is said: “The streams of the river make glad the city of God,” and: “The river of God was filled with waters.” And it is possible to see in the formerly waterless land, the church of God, from so many waters flourishing souls lifted up on high, corresponding to plants that do not otherwise exist than in an abundance of water, such as might be the cedar and the box tree and the myrtle, and cypress and poplar according to the Seventy, but according to Symmachus: cedar and smokeless wood of oil, cypress and elm and box tree all together. All these things, being nourished and growing in no other way than in an abundance of water, are included in the image of the flourishing souls in the church of God, lifted up on high by a great quantity of divine and rational waters. And so when the word wishes to represent the fruits of the church, it uses the image of an “olive” or a “palm” or a “vine”; but now, when it indicates the flourishing and aroused, the youthful and vigorous state of those progressing in the church, it has used the image of the aforementioned plants; which are by nature constituted in no other way than from an abundance of water and firm and fertile ground. And this indeed he has taken as a paradox, if in the waterless and parched and thirsty land so great a supply of water is promised as for such plants to sprout as have been listed. And that it will be in the same way also for the formerly desert and waterless land of the formerly alien and godless nations; for it prophesies that so great a change will happen also for them as a demonstration of the saving benefit. Therefore he adds: that they might see and know and consider and understand at the same time that the hand of the Lord has done these things and the Holy One of Israel has shown them; for if it were not God and the hand of the Lord which through his apostles wrought so great a change among the nations, how would churches of God have been established in so great a wilderness of the nations, and the rational waters in it abounding everywhere on earth, so that the souls of the formerly desolate and barren nations are cultivated by the word of piety, and grow tall and lofty shoots, rooted below on the earth, I mean in mortal and human life, but raised up on high so as to extend even to the kingdom of heaven and there to hang their hopes? Therefore they are compared to fragrant plants raised up on high. 2.21 The word having fulfilled the change of the formerly desert and fruitless and waterless land to a fertile one, by which it alluded to that of the church of

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δίψης ἐξηράνθη. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν πάλαι ἦσαν πεπονθότες, νῦν δέ φησι· ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεός, ἐπακούσομαι αὐτῶν ὁ θεὸς Ἰσραήλ, καὶ οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψω αὐτούς, ἀλλὰ ἀνοίξω ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων ποταμοὺς καὶ ἐν μέσῳ πεδίων πηγάς, ποιήσω τὴν ἔρημον εἰς ἕλη ὑδάτων καὶ τὴν διψῶσαν γῆν ἐν ὑδραγωγοῖς. ὅπως δὲ ταῦτα τέλους ἔτυχε καὶ εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν ἐνεργεῖται ἐν ταῖς διὰ τῶν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀποστόλων κατὰ πάντα τόπον ἱδρυνθείσαις ἐκκλησίαις τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν διάνοιαν ἐπιστήσας εἴσῃ. αἱ γοῦν τὸ παλαιὸν διαπτωχεύουσαι ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι ψυχαὶ καὶ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ γνώσεως ἐνδεεῖς οὖσαι καὶ μηδὲ ῥανίδα ζωτικοῦ πόματος κεκτημέναι ὡς τὴν γλῶσσαν αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν δι' αὐτῆς προφερόμενον λόγον ἐξηράνθαι, διὰ τὸ μηδεμιᾶς νοτίδος λόγου σωτηρίου μετέχειν αὐτοὺς παραδόξου τετυχήκασιν εὐεργεσίας διὰ τῆς οὐρανίου χάριτος πληρωθεῖσαι πηγῶν καὶ ποταμῶν καὶ παντοίων ζωτικῶν ὑδάτων ὡς ἀπολαύουσαι ὕδατος, περὶ οὗ ἀνωτέρω ἐλέγετο· «καὶ πίονται ὕδωρ ἐκ τῶν πηγῶν τοῦ σωτηρίου». πίνουσί τε «ἀπὸ πηγῶν τοῦ Ἰσραήλ», ὧν ἐμνημόνευσεν ὁ φήσας λόγος· «ἐν ἐκκλησίαις εὐλογεῖτε τὸν θεόν, κύριον ἐκ πηγῶν Ἰσραήλ». τοῦτο δὲ ἂν εἴη τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τὸ πηγάζον ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἀνομβροῦν ὕδατα ζῶντα, τοτὲ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς παλαιᾶς διαθήκης, τοτὲ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς καινῆς καὶ εὐαγγελικῆς διδασκαλίας. ἀλλὰ καὶ ποταμοὶ ῥέουσιν ἀένναοι κατακλύζοντες τὴν παλαιὰν ἔρημον οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ μεγάλου ποταμοῦ τὰς ἀρχὰς εἰληφότες, περὶ οὗ εἴρηται· «τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὰ ὁρμήματα εὐφραίνουσι τὴν πόλιν τοῦ θεοῦ», καί· «ὁ ποταμὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπληρώθη ὑδάτων». Καὶ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν εἰς τὴν πάλαι ἄνυδρον γῆν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐκ τῶν τοσούτων ὑδάτων ψυχὰς εὐθαλεῖς καὶ εἰς ὕψος ἀνεπαιρομένας ἀναλογούσας φυτοῖς οὐκ ἄλλως ὑφισταμένοις ἢ ἐν ὑδάτων πλήθει, ὁποῖα ἂν γένοιτο κέδρος καὶ πύξος καὶ μυρσίνη, κυπάριττός τε καὶ λεύκη κατὰ τοὺς Ἑβδομήκοντα, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· κέδρος καὶ ἄκαπνον ξύλον ἐλαίου κυπάρισσος καὶ πτελέα καὶ πύξος ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό. ταῦτα πάντα οὐδ' ἄλλως ἢ ἐν ὑδάτων πλήθει τρεφόμενα καὶ αὐξανόμενα εἰς τὴν εἰκόνα περιείληπται τῶν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ εὐθαλῶν ψυχῶν ἀπὸ πολυπληθείας θείων καὶ λογικῶν ὑδάτων εἰς ὕψος ἐπηρμένων. καὶ ὅτε μὲν οὖν τοὺς καρποὺς τῆς ἐκκλησίας βούλεται παραστῆσαι ὁ λόγος, εἰκόνι χρῆται «ἐλαίας» ἢ «φοίνικος» ἢ «ἀμπέλου»· νῦν δὲ ὅτε τὸ εὐθαλὲς καὶ διεγηγερμένον, νεαρόν τε καὶ ἀκμαῖον τῶν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ προκοπτόντων δηλοῖ τῇ τῶν προλεχθέντων φυτῶν συνεχρήσατο εἰκόνι· ἃ οὐδ' ἄλλως ἢ ἐξ ὑδάτων πλήθους καὶ γῆς ἑδραίας καὶ γονίμου συνίστασθαι πέφυκεν. ὃ δὴ καὶ ἀντὶ παραδόξου παρείληφεν, εἰ ἐν τῇ ἀνύδρῳ καὶ καταξήρῳ καὶ διψαλέᾳ γῇ τοσαύτην ὑδάτων χορηγίαν ἔσεσθαι ἐπήγγελται ὡς τοιαῦτα βλαστῆσαι φυτά, ὁποῖα κατείλεκται. τὸν αὐτὸν δὴ τρόπον ἔσεσθαι καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς πάλαι ἐρήμου καὶ ἀνύδρου γῆς τῶν πάλαι ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ἀθέων ἐθνῶν· τοσαύτην γὰρ γενήσεσθαι καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῶν μεταβολὴν προφητεύει εἰς ἔνδειξιν τῆς σωτηρίου εὐεργεσίας. ∆ιὸ ἐπιλέγει· ἵνα εἰδῶσι καὶ γνῶσι καὶ ἐννοηθῶσι καὶ ἐπιστῶνται ἅμα ὅτι χεὶρ κυρίου ἐποίησε ταῦτα καὶ ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ κατέδειξεν· εἰ γὰρ μὴ θεὸς ἦν καὶ χεὶρ κυρίου ἡ διὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων αὐτοῦ τὴν τοσαύτην μεταβολὴν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν εἰργασμένη, πῶς ἂν συνέστησαν ἐν τῇ τοσαύτῃ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐρημίᾳ ἐκκλησίαι θεοῦ καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ λογικὰ ὕδατα πληθύνοντα πανταχοῦ γῆς ὡς γεωργεῖσθαι τῶν ἐρήμων πρότερον καὶ ἀνίκμων ἐθνῶν τὰς ψυχὰς τῷ τῆς θεοσεβείας λόγῳ, φύειν τε ὑψηλὰ καὶ μετέωρα βλαστήματα, κάτω μὲν ἐπὶ γῆς ἐρριζωμένα, λέγω δὲ ἐν τῷ θνητῷ καὶ ἀνθρωπίνῳ βίῳ, ἄνω δὲ εἰς ὕψος ἐπαιρόμενα ὡς καὶ μέχρι τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐκτείνεσθαι κἀκεῖ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἀναρτᾶν ἐλπίδας; διὸ φυτοῖς εὐώδεσι καὶ εἰς ὕψος ἐπηρμένοις παραβέβληνται. 2.21 Πληρώσας ὁ λόγος τῆς πάλαι ἐρήμου καὶ ἀκάρπου καὶ ἀνύδρου χώρας τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ γόνιμον μεταβολήν, δι' ἧς ᾐνίττετο τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ