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nor will he quench a dim flax, but according to Aquila: and a dim flax he will not quench, and according to Theodotion: and a dim tow he will not quench. You might say that a smoking flax is someone puffed up and conceited, inflated by his carnal mind, whom the one prophesied was said neither to hinder nor to stop from his arrogance. And this, Christ, the Son of God, fulfilled in deed when he came to mortal life; for he neither grieved anyone humble and weak among men, nor did he attack any of the arrogant and proud; but towards all men he was “meek” and “humble in heart.” With truth and boldness he declared to all the things concerning the judgment of God and he did not cease before shining forth like a light through the resurrection from the dead, which the prophetic word alluded to, saying: He will shine forth and will not be broken; for those who contrived his death attempted to break him and extinguish him; since indeed the whole mortal race is destined to be broken by death. But they did not break him; for he alone of all from eternity was shown to be stronger than death, and is rightly testified to by the prophecy which says: He will shine forth and will not be broken. Then it adds: until he establishes judgment on the earth; and in his name the nations will hope. Therefore, after the resurrection from the dead, shining like a light into all the world, he did not cease until he had established on the earth the administration and judgment concerning his church, which he handed over to his disciples. After these things have been said, it adds next: Thus says the Lord God, who made the heaven and fixed it, who established the earth and the things in it, and gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it. See how he has said that the heaven has been fixed, since according to the cosmogony of Moses it is said to have been formed from the solidification of waters; and not according to the Greek natural philosophers who supposed that the aether and the heaven itself are made of fire, but he says the earth has been established fittingly, because, being in the middle of the universe, it is immovable, which it was not fitting to say of the heaven. But instead of: and the things in it, Symmachus says: You established the earth and the things that move upon it. And what these things are, he clarifies, saying next: who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk on it. For we must learn from whose person the things concerning Christ were spoken. For since the prophetic word abruptly interjected at the beginning, saying: “Jacob my servant, I will uphold him; Israel my chosen one, my soul has accepted him; I have put my spirit upon him”; but it did not teach beforehand who it was that said these things, it necessarily clarifies at present the one who has prophesied these things. Therefore it adds this: Thus said the Lord God; for he was the one who spoke the first things and who adds the things that follow. For even if, he says, you men are not at all able to behold the unseen and bodiless substance of God; yet, looking up to the magnitude of so great a heaven, consider what sort of being he is who fixed so great a magnitude; and also looking at the earth itself, how great it is and how it has been immovably established, rooted and founded for all time, so as to be moved in no way at all, consider of how much ineffable power is he who established it, and made it fertile and fruit-bearing, so that it puts forth so many animals and plants. The one, therefore, who constructed such beauties and magnitudes, the Lord and God of all, this one prophesied the aforementioned things concerning his Christ. Very consistently and carefully it is said that he has given breath to the people on the whole earth, that is, to all men who have been allotted to inhabit the earth, since also according to the first creation of man “God breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul,” so that from that all men partake of life,

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οὐδὲ λίνον ἀμαυρὸν σβέσει, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· καὶ λίνον ἀμαυρὸν οὐ σβέσει, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Θεοδοτίωνα· καὶ στίππυον ἀμαυρὸν οὐ σβέσει. λίνον δὲ τυφόμενον εἴποις ἂν εἶναι τὸν ἐκφυσιούμενον ὑπὸ τῆς σαρκὸς τοῦ νοὸς αὐτοῦ ἐπηρμένον τινὰ καὶ τετυφωμένον, ὃν οὐ κωλύσειν οὐδὲ παύσειν ἐλέγετο τοῦ ἐπάρματος ὁ προφητευόμενος. ὃ δὴ καὶ ἔργῳ ἐπλήρου ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπιδημῶν τῷ θνητῷ βίῳ· οὔτε οὖν ταπεινόν τινα καὶ ἀσθενῆ ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἐλύπησεν οὔτε τινὰ τῶν ἐπηρμένων καὶ ὑπερηφάνων μετῆλθε· πρὸς ἅπαντας δὲ ἀνθρώπους «πρᾶος» ἦν «καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ». Σὺν ἀληθείᾳ δὲ καὶ παρρησίᾳ τοῖς πᾶσι διεστέλλετο τὰ περὶ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ κρίσεως καὶ οὐ πρότερόν γε ἐπαύσατο ἢ φωτὸς δίκην ἐκλάμψαι διὰ τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως, ἣν ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος ᾐνίξατο εἰπών· ἀναλάμψει καὶ οὐ θραυσθήσεται· θραῦσαι μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν καὶ ἀποσβέσαι πεπείρανται οἱ τὸν θάνατον αὐτῷ κατασκευάσαντες· ἐπεὶ καὶ πᾶν τὸ θνητὸν γένος θανάτῳ θραύεσθαι πέφυκεν. ἀλλ' οὐ καὶ αὐτὸν ἔθραυσαν· μόνος δὲ τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος εἷς οὗτος θανάτου κρείττων ἀποφανθείς, εἰκότως ἀπὸ τῆς προφητείας μεμαρτύρηται φησάσης· ἀναλάμψει καὶ οὐ θραυσθήσεται. εἶτ' ἐπιφέρει· ἕως ἂν θῇ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κρίσιν· καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσι. διὸ καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν φωτὸς δίκην εἰς πάντα τὸν κόσμον ἐκλάμψας οὐ πρότερον ἐπαύσατο ἢ διατάξασθαι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τὴν περὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ διοίκησίν τε καὶ κρίσιν, ἣν τοῖς αὐτοῦ παρέδωκε μαθηταῖς. Ὧν οὕτως εἰρημένων ἐπιφέρεται ἑξῆς· οὕτως λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ πήξας αὐτόν, ὁ στερεώσας τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ διδοὺς πνοὴν τῷ λαῷ τῷ ἐπ' αὐτῆς καὶ πνεῦμα τοῖς πατοῦσιν αὐτήν. ὅρα δὲ ὅπως τὸν μὲν οὐρανὸν πεπῆχθαι εἴρηκεν, ἐπειδὴ κατὰ τὴν Μωσέως κοσμοποιΐαν ἐξ ὑδάτων πήξεως συνεστάναι λέγεται· οὐχὶ δὲ κατὰ τοὺς Ἕλληνας φυσιολόγους οἱ ἐκ πυρὸς εἶναι τὸν αἰθέρα καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν αὐτὸν ὑπειλήφασι, τὴν δὲ γῆν φησιν ἐστερεῶσθαι καταλλήλως διὰ τὸ μέσην οὖσαν τοῦ παντὸς ἀκίνητον εἶναι, ὅπερ οὐχ ἥρμοζεν ἐπὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ λέγεσθαι. ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ ὁ Σύμμαχος· ἐστερέωσάς φησι τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰ πορευόμενα ἐπ' αὐτῆς. τίνα δὲ ταῦτα τυγχάνει, διασαφεῖ λέγων ἑξῆς· ὁ διδοὺς πνοὴν τῷ λαῷ τῷ ἐπ' αὐτῆς καὶ πνεῦμα τοῖς πατοῦσιν αὐτήν. χρὴ γὰρ ἡμᾶς μαθεῖν ἐκ τίνος προσώπου ἦν τὰ περὶ Χριστοῦ λεχθέντα. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀθρόως ἐπέβαλλεν ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος ἐν ἀρχῇ εἰπών· «Ἰακὼβ ὁ παῖς μου, ἀντιλήψομαι αὐτοῦ· Ἰσραὴλ ὁ ἐκλεκτός μου, προσεδέξατο αὐτὸν ἡ ψυχή μου· ἔδωκα τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπ' αὐτόν»· τίς δὲ ἦν ὁ ταῦτα εἰρηκὼς οὐ προεδίδαξεν, ἀναγκαίως ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος διασαφεῖ τὸν ταῦτα τεθεσπικότα. διὸ ἐπιφέρει τό· οὕτως εἶπεν κύριος ὁ θεός· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἦν ὁ τὰ πρῶτα εἰρηκὼς καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς ἐπιλεγόμενα. εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα μὴ οἷοί τέ ἐστέ φησιν ὑμεῖς οἱ ἄνθρωποι, τὴν ἀφανῆ καὶ ἀσώματον οὐσίαν ἐποπτεῦσαι θεοῦ· ἀλλ' ἀναβλέψαντες εἰς τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ τοσούτου οὐρανοῦ, λογίσασθε ὁποῖός τις τυγχάνει ὁ τοσοῦτο μέγεθος διαπηξάμενος· ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τὴν γῆν αὐτὴν ἀποβλέψαντες, ὁπόση τίς ἐστι καὶ ὡς ἀκινήτως τὸν σύμπαντα αἰῶνα ἥδρασται ἐρριζωμένη καὶ τεθεμελιωμένη, ὡς μηδαμῆ μηδαμῶς κινεῖσθαι, ἐννοήσατε ὅσης ἀρρήτου ὑπάρχει δυνάμεως ὁ στερεώσας αὐτήν, γόνιμόν τε καὶ καρπῶν οἰστικὴν αὐτὴν ἀπεργασάμενος, ὡς τοσαῦτα ζῷα καὶ φυτὰ προβάλλεσθαι. ὁ δὴ οὖν τὰ τοσαῦτα κάλλη καὶ μεγέθη κατασκευάσας κύριος καὶ θεὸς τῶν ὅλων, οὗτος τὰ προλεχθέντα περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐθέσπισεν. σφόδρα δὲ ἀκολούθως καὶ ἐπιτετηρημένως καθ' ὅλου μὲν τῷ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς λαῷ, τοῦτ' ἔστι πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις τοῖς τὴν γῆν λαχοῦσιν οἰκεῖν, πνοὴν δεδωκέναι εἴρηται, ἐπειδὴ καὶ κατὰ τὴν πρώτην τοῦ ἀνθρώπου δημιουργίαν «ἐνεφύσησεν ὁ θεὸς εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν ζωῆς, καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν», ὡς ἐξ ἐκείνου πάντας ἀνθρώπους μετέχειν τῆς ζωῆς,