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having noted this much, that indeed this very one who is called “father of the age” and “prince” of endless “peace” and “angel of great counsel” is prophesied to be born and to be a child, and that at his birth among men those who are jealous of the salvation of the nations that came through him would wish to be burned with fire, whether evil demons or also impious men, concerning whom he says that “they shall pay for every garment gathered by deceit and cloak with reconciliation.” 7.1.141 Who then were these, if not those concerning whom it is said elsewhere from the person of our savior himself: “They divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots,” and those who partook of their impiety, who “will also wish,” when they see their own judgment at some later time, that they had been “burned with fire” before their impiety, before the angel of great counsel was treated impiously by them? 7.1.142 And consider for yourself, whether it does not transcend all human nature that his peace is said to have no end, and that he is named father of the age, and that he is called not simply an angel, but the angel of great counsel and mighty God, and all that is reckoned with these. Furthermore he says that through him the kingdom of David will be set aright, which you will understand in this way. 7.1.143 Very many promises were made to David, in which it is said: “And I will set his hand in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall call upon me, You are my father, my God and the helper of my salvation. And I will make him my firstborn, high above the kings of the earth. For ever I will keep my mercy for him, and my covenant shall be faithful to him. And I will make his seed to endure for ever and ever, and his throne as the days of heaven,” 7.1.144 and again: “Once have I sworn by my Holy One, I will not lie to David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me, and as the moon established for ever.” Though God promised so many things to David in the psalms, the opposite of the promises came to pass because of the impieties of his successors. 7.1.145 For the kingdom from the seed of David, which lasted until Jechoniah and the siege of the temple by the Babylonians, was dissolved, so that from that time no longer the throne of David nor anyone from his seed ruled the nation of the Jews. 7.1.146 And indeed this failure of the promise to David, according to the aforementioned citation of the psalm, the divine spirit prophesies thus: “But you have cast off and rejected, you have deferred your anointed one. You have overturned the covenant of your servant, you have profaned his sanctuary to the ground, you have broken down all his hedges,” 7.1.147 and after a little: “you have cast his throne down to the ground; you have shortened the days of his time, you have poured shame upon him,” which things, clearly beginning to be fulfilled from the captivity of the people into Babylon, were extended until the reign of the Romans and Tiberius. For no one from the succession of David appears in the intervening times to have been seated on the royal throne of the Hebrew nation until the advent of the Christ. 7.1.148 But of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who was “of the seed of David”, having been proclaimed king over the whole world, as if renewed from the ground and from a fall, that very throne of David has been set up again through the divine kingdom of our Savior, and will remain “for ever,” and still “as the sun before” God, illuminating the whole world with the rays of the light of his teaching, according to both the testimony from the psalm and of the prophet at hand, speaking about the child to be born: “upon the throne of David,” that is, the eternal and lasting one that was indeed promised to David, that he will be seated also upon “his kingdom, to set it aright and

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τοσοῦτον ἐπισημηνάμενος, ὡς ἄρα αὐτὸς οὗτος ὁ λεγόμενος «πατὴρ αἰῶνος» καὶ ἀπείρου «εἰρήνης ἄρχων» «μεγάλης» τε «βουλῆς ἄγγελος» γεννηθήσεσθαι καὶ παιδίον ἔσεσθαι προφητεύεται, ἐπί τε τῇ εἰς ἀνθρώπους αὐτοῦ γενέσει πυρικαύστους ἐθελήσειν ἔσεσθαι τοὺς ἐπὶ τῇ δι' αὐτοῦ γενομένῃ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν ἐθνῶν διαφθονουμένους, εἴτε δαίμονας πονηροὺς εἴτε καὶ ἀσεβεῖς ἄνδρας, περὶ ὧν φησιν ὅτι «πᾶσαν στολὴν ἐπισυνηγμένην δόλῳ καὶ ἱμάτιον μετὰ καταλλαγῆς ἀποτίσουσιν». 7.1.141 τίνες δὲ ἄρα ἦσαν οὗτοι, ἢ περὶ ὧν ἀλλαχοῦ ἐξ αὐτοῦ προσώπου τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν εἴρηται· «διεμερίσαντο τὰ ἱμάτιά μου ἑαυτοῖς, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν ἱματισμόν μου ἔβαλον κλῆρον», οἵ τε τῆς τούτων μέτοχοι δυσσεβείας, οἳ «καὶ θελήσουσιν», τὴν σφῶν αὐτῶν κρίσιν ὕστερόν ποτε ὀψόμενοι, εἰ πρὸ τῆς ἀσεβείας αὐτῶν ἐγεγόνεισαν «πυρίκαυστοι», πρὶν ἢ τὸν τῆς μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελον πρὸς αὐτῶν ἀσεβηθῆναι; 7.1.142 καὶ σὺ δὲ παρὰ σαυτῷ σκέψαι, εἰ μὴ ὑπερβαίνει πᾶσαν φύσιν ἀνθρώπων τὸ μὴ τέλος ἔχειν τὴν εἰρήνην αὐτοῦ λέγεσθαι καὶ τὸ πατέρα ὀνομάζεσθαι αἰῶνος, καὶ αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ καλεῖσθαι αὐτὸν οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἄγγελον, ἀλλὰ τῆς μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελον καὶ θεὸν ἰσχυρόν, καὶ ὅσα τούτοις συγκατείλεκται. Ἔτι δέ φησιν δι' αὐτοῦ κατορθωθήσεσθαι τὴν τοῦ ∆αβὶδ βασιλείαν, ὃ καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτον νοήσεις τὸν τρόπον. 7.1.143 πλεῖσται ὅσαι τῷ ∆αβὶδ γεγόνασιν ἐπαγγελίαι, ἐν αἷς εἴρηται· «καὶ θήσομαι ἐν θαλάσσῃ χεῖρα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν ποταμοῖς δεξιὰν αὐτοῦ. αὐτὸς ἐπικαλέσεταί με, πατήρ μου εἶ σύ, θεός μου καὶ ἀντιλήπτωρ τῆς σωτηρίας μου· κἀγὼ πρωτότοκον θήσομαι αὐτόν, ὑψηλὸν παρὰ τοῖς βασιλεῦσι τῆς γῆς. εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα φυλάξω αὐτῷ τὸ ἔλεός μου, καὶ ἡ διαθήκη μου πιστὴ αὐτῷ· καὶ θήσομαι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸν θρόνον αὐτοῦ ὡς τὰς ἡμέρας τοῦ οὐρανοῦ», 7.1.144 καὶ αὖθις· «ἅπαξ ὤμοσα ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ μου, εἰ τῷ ∆αβὶδ ψεύσομαι· τὸ σπέρμα αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα μενεῖ, καὶ ὁ θρόνος αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος ἐναντίον μου, καὶ ὡς ἡ σελήνη κατηρτισμένη εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα». τοσαῦτα ἐν τοῖς ψαλμοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ τῷ ∆αβὶδ ἐπηγγελμένου, τἀναντία συνέβη ταῖς ἐπαγγελίαις ἐπελθεῖν διὰ τὰς τῶν διαδόχων αὐτοῦ δυσσεβείας. 7.1.145 ἡ γοῦν ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αβὶδ βασιλεία, διαρκέσασα μέχρις Ἰεχονίου καὶ τῆς ὑπὸ Βαβυλωνίοις τοῦ ἱεροῦ πολιορκίας, λέλυτο, ὡς ἐξ ἐκείνου μηκέτι τὸν θρόνον ∆αβὶδ μηδέ τινα ἐκ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ βασιλεῦσαι τοῦ Ἰου δαίων ἔθνους. 7.1.146 καὶ ταύτην γε τὴν γενομένην διάπτωσιν τῆς πρὸς τὸν ∆αβὶδ ἐπαγγελίας κατὰ τὴν προειρημένην τοῦ ψαλμοῦ παράθεσιν τὸ θεῖον ὧδέ πως πνεῦμα θεσπίζει· «σὺ δὲ ἀπώσω καὶ ἐξουδένωσας, ἀνεβάλου τὸν χριστόν σου· κατέστρεψας τὴν διαθήκην τοῦ δούλου σου, ἐβεβήλωσας εἰς τὴν γῆν τὸ ἁγίασμα αὐτοῦ, καθεῖλες πάντας τοὺς φραγμοὺς αὐτοῦ», 7.1.147 καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· «τὸν θρόνον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν γῆν κατέρραξας· ἐσμίκρυνας τὰς ἡμέρας τοῦ χρόνου αὐτοῦ, κατέχεας αὐτοῦ αἰσχύνην», ἃ καὶ ἐναργῶς ἀρξάμενα συντελεῖσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα αἰχμαλωσίας τοῦ λαοῦ, μέχρι τῆς Ῥωμαίων καὶ Τιβερίου παρεξετάθη βασιλείας. οὐδεὶς γοῦν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ∆αβὶδ διαδοχῆς ἐν τοῖς μεταξὺ χρόνοις φαίνεται ἐπὶ τὸν βασιλικὸν τοῦ Ἑβραίων ἔθνους καθεσθεὶς θρόνον μέχρι τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας. 7.1.148 τοῦ δὲ «ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αβὶδ» γενομένου κυρίου καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν 7.1.148 Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ βασιλέως ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀνακηρυχθέντος, ὥσπερ ἀπὸ γῆς καὶ πτώματος ἀνανεωθεὶς αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος ὁ θρόνος ∆αβὶδ διὰ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐνθέου βασιλείας ἀνώρθωται, καὶ διαμενεῖ «εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα», καὶ εἰσέτι γε «ὡς ὁ ἥλιος ἐναντίον» τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν πᾶσαν καταλάμπων οἰκουμένην ταῖς ἀκτῖσι τοῦ φωτὸς τῆς διδασκαλίας αὐτοῦ, ἀκολούθως τῇ τε ἀπὸ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ μαρτυρίᾳ καὶ τοῦ μετὰ χεῖρας προφήτου περὶ τοῦ γεννηθησομένου παιδίου λέγοντος· «ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον ∆αβίδ», δηλαδὴ τὸν αἰώνιον καὶ διαρκῆ τὸν δὴ καὶ ἐπηγγελμένον τῷ ∆αβίδ, καθεσθήσεσθαι αὐτὸν καὶ ἐπὶ «τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ, κατορθῶσαι αὐτὴν καὶ