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was revealed to you, but according to Symmachus: he says, “The former things, behold, have come to pass, and new things I declare; before I announce them, I will make them heard by you.” For just as he says the former things were fulfilled through deeds, for as I promised Abraham concerning his “seed,” so also I did. And the things foretold through Moses and the other prophets were also fulfilled; so now I too, he says, proclaim the good news to all, and before announcing it and bringing it to light, I made it heard by you through this prophecy. And what these things are, he explains next, saying. 2.23 Having foretold through the aforementioned words that he would do new things, he teaches what the new things would be through the present words. He commands, then, to sing a new hymn to the Lord, or to sing a new song according to the other translators. And that all people must do this, since, he says, his dominion and royal authority are glorified in all the earth and his name has reached to the ends of the earth, so that the entire world has been filled with Christians from the name of Christ. But according to Symmachus: His praise is from the ends of the earth. And having urged them to sing the new song and the new hymn to the Lord, he teaches to whom he addresses the proclamation, saying next: You who go down to the sea and sail it, clearly signifying the apostles of the Savior, whom “passing by the sea he saw casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen,” and likewise the others. To them, therefore, the prophetic spirit cried out, saying: Sing to the Lord a new hymn, you who go down to the sea and sail it. And these same men, sailing around our sea, sometimes preached the gospel in the islands, and sometimes they crossed beyond Spain and Italy, so as in a short time to fill even the ruling city itself with the teaching of Christ. And in another sense, those who sail the sea of human life and preach the gospel to all the nations in the midst of the islands are indicated through the preceding words; since these too proclaimed the new hymn to all people, preaching and teaching in the midst of the churches. Therefore, he next commands the islands to sing this new hymn, clearly meaning the churches of God which are surrounded by the aforementioned sea and blown upon from all sides by external winds. Therefore, he adds: the islands and those who dwell in them, indicating in this manner those who are gathered in the churches. Then again he proclaims good news to the desert, about which countless things were said before, saying: “Rejoice, desert and its villages,” or according to the other translators: “and its cities.” For many cities according to various polities are conceived in the church of God, as was shown “in the vision of Egypt,” in which it was said that there “will be” “five cities in Egypt speaking the Canaanite language and swearing by the name of the Lord of Sabaoth.” But he also promises that the settlements and the inhabitants of Kedar, and in addition to these the inhabitants of Petra, will rejoice. Kedar is beyond Arabia in the farthest desert, which they say the race of the Saracens occupies, by which the Word wished to indicate all those who inhabit the deserts and the ends of the earth, as the rational gladness of God was about to reach even to us through the grace of Christ. And Petra is a city of Palestine of superstitious men and baptized in much demonic error, and he says that its inhabitants too will partake of grace, saying: “The inhabitants of Petra will rejoice.” The outcome through events has confirmed the truth of these words, of the churches of Christ even in the city of the Petraeans itself, established both in its land and in the deserts of the Saracens in our own time. And in another sense

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ἐδηλώθη ὑμῖν, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· τὰ πρῶτά φησιν ἰδοὺ ἦλθε, καινὰ δὲ ἀναγγέλλω, πρὸ τοῦ ἀναγγεῖλαι αὐτὰ ἀκουστὰ ποιήσω ὑμῖν· ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ πρῶτά φησιν ἐπληρώθη δι' ἔργων, καθὼς γὰρ ἐπηγγειλάμην τῷ Ἀβραὰμ περὶ τοῦ «σπέρματος» αὐτοῦ, οὕτως καὶ ἐποίησα. ἐπληρώθη δὲ καὶ τὰ διὰ Μωσέως καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν προφητῶν προηγορευμένα, οὕτω νῦν κἀγὼ εὐαγγελίζομαι τοῖς πᾶσί φησι καὶ πρὶν ἀναγγεῖλαι καὶ εἰς φανερὸν ἐλθεῖν διὰ ταύτης τῆς προφητείας ἀκουστὰ ὑμῖν ἐποίησα. τίνα δὲ ταῦτα, ἑξῆς διεξέρχεται λέγων. 2.23 Προειπὼν καινὰ ποιήσειν διὰ τῶν προρρηθέντων, τίνα ἂν εἴη τὰ καινά, διὰ τῶν προκειμένων διδάσκει, προστάττει δὴ καινὸν ὕμνον τῷ κυρίῳ ὑμνεῖν, ἢ καινὸν ᾄδειν ᾆσμα κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἑρμηνευτάς. τοῦτο δὲ χρῆναι ποιεῖν πάντας ἀνθρώπους, ἐπειδὴ ἡ ἀρχὴ αὐτοῦ φησι καὶ ἡ βασιλικὴ ἐξουσία δοξάζεται ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ μέχρι τῶν ἄκρων τῆς γῆς ἔφθασεν ὡς ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ προσηγορίας Χριστιανῶν τὴν σύμπασαν πεπληρῶσθαι. κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· ἡ αἴνεσις αὐτοῦ ἀπ' ἄκρων τῆς γῆς. τὸ δὲ καινὸν ᾆσμα καὶ τὸν ὕμνον τὸν καινὸν τῷ κυρίῳ παρακελευσάμενος ὑμνεῖν, τίσι τὸ κήρυγμα προσφωνεῖ, διδάσκει ἑξῆς λέγων· οἱ καταβαίνοντες εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ πλέοντες αὐτήν, ἄντικρυς τοὺς ἀποστόλους τοῦ σωτῆρος σημαίνων, οὓς «παράγων παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν εἶδε βάλλοντας ἀμφίβληστρον εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν· ἦσαν γὰρ ἁλιεῖς», ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς λοιπούς. τούτοις οὖν τὸ προφητικὸν ἀνεφώνει πνεῦμα λέγον· Ὑμνήσατε τῷ κυρίῳ ὕμνον καινόν, οἱ καταβαίνοντες εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ πλέοντες αὐτήν. οἱ αὐτοὶ δὲ οὗτοι καὶ τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς περιπλέοντες θάλασσαν, ποτὲ μὲν ἐν ταῖς νήσοις ἐκήρυττον τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, ποτὲ δὲ διέβαινον ἐπέκεινα Σπανίας τε καὶ Ἰταλίας, ὡς ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν βασιλεύουσαν πόλιν πληρῶσαι τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ διδασκαλίας. καὶ ἄλλως δὲ οἱ τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου βίου θάλασσαν ἐμπλέοντες καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐν μέσαις ταῖς νήσοις κηρύττοντες τὸ εὐαγγέλιον διὰ τῶν προκειμένων δηλοῦνται· ἐπεὶ καὶ οὗτοι τὸν καινὸν ὕμνον πᾶσι κατήγγελλον ἀνθρώποις ἐν μέσαις ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις κηρύττοντες καὶ διδάσκοντες. διὸ ἑξῆς τούτοις τὸν καινὸν ὕμνον προστάττει ὑμνεῖν ταῖς νήσοις, δῆλον δ' ὅτι ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τοῦ θεοῦ ταῖς ὑπὸ τῆς προλεχθείσης θαλάσσης περιρρεομέναις καὶ πανταχόθεν ὑπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἀνέμων καταπνεομέναις. διὸ ἐπιλέγει· αἱ νῆσοι καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες αὐτάς, τοὺς ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις συναγομένους τοῦτον ἐμφαίνων τὸν τρόπον. Εἶτα πάλιν τὴν ἔρημον, περὶ ἧς μυρία ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐλέγετο, εὐαγγελίζεται λέγων· εὐφράνθητι, ἔρημος καὶ αἱ κῶμαι αὐτῆς, ἢ κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἑρμηνευτάς· καὶ αἱ πόλεις αὐτῆς· πολλαὶ γὰρ πόλεις κατὰ τὰς διαφόρους πολιτείας ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπινοοῦνται, ὡς ἐδείκνυτο «ἐν τῇ ὁράσει Αἰγύπτου», ἐν ᾗ ἐλέγοντο «ἔσεσθαι» «πέντε πόλεις ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ λαλοῦσαι τῇ γλώσσῃ τῇ Χανανίτιδι καὶ ὀμνύουσαι τῷ ὀνόματι κυρίου σαβαώθ». ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἐπαύλεις καὶ τοὺς οἰκοῦντας Κηδὰρ καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις τοὺς κατοικοῦντας Πέτραν εὐφρανθήσεσθαι ἐπαγγέλλεται. ἡ Κηδὰρ δὲ ἐπέκεινα τῆς Ἀραβίας τυγχάνει ἐπὶ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἐρήμου, ἣν κατέχειν φασὶ τὸ Σαρακηνῶν γένος, δι' ὧν ὁ λόγος ἐβουλήθη πάντας τοὺς τὰς ἐρήμους καὶ τὰ ἔσχατα τῆς γῆς οἰκοῦντας δηλῶσαι, ὡς τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ λογικῆς εὐφροσύνης διὰ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ χάριτος καὶ μέχρις ἡμῶν φθάνειν μελλούσης. καὶ Πέτρα δέ τίς ἐστι πόλις τῆς Παλαιστίνης δεισιδαιμόνων ἀνδρῶν καὶ πολλῇ τῇ πλάνῃ τῇ δαιμονικῇ βεβαπτισμένων, ἧς καὶ αὐτῆς τοὺς ἐνοίκους τῆς χάριτος μεταλήψεσθαί φησι λέγων· εὐφρανθήσονται οἱ κατοικοῦντες Πέτραν. τούτων δὲ τῶν λόγων τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἡ διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων ἔκβασις ἐπιστώσατο ἐκκλησιῶν Χριστοῦ καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῆς τῆς Πετραίων πόλεως, κατά τε τὴν χώραν αὐτῆς καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἐρήμοις τῶν Σαρακηνῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἱδρυμένων. καὶ ἄλλως δὲ