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Kedar is interpreted as darkness, because of those who turned from darkness to the proclaimed “light to the nations.” The word says that the inhabitants of Petra will likewise rejoice; “and the rock was Christ.” But together, concerning all these whom the prophecy enumerated as being on high and standing as if on mountains in the sublime words of God, from on high, it prophesies that they will sing hymns to God and will give him glory, saying: from the top of the mountains they will cry out and will give glory to God. And thus it was also said above: “Go up on a high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Zion; lift up your voice with strength, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem.” But indeed, after promising these things to the wilderness and to the islands and to Kedar, which were confessedly foreign to the nation of the Jews, the word adds next, signifying the rejection of Israel, in saying: the Lord the God of hosts will go forth and will crush war, but according to Symmachus: the Lord will go forth as a mighty one, as a man of war. You see how he says that the Lord himself will come in the form of a man and will fight his enemies in the manner of a man of war. Then it adds: he will stir up zeal, about which Moses also taught when he said concerning the nation of the Jews: “They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation”; therefore he says that he stirs up that zeal, by adopting and making his own Kedar and the islands and the foreign nations, but shaking off and pushing away the people of the Jews, and doing this with reason and a reasonable defense. Therefore it adds: and he will cry out against his enemies with strength. For he will not fight them without reason, but after stating the cause and with a great cry he will make it manifest, which he also teaches, saying: I have been silent, shall I also be silent forever? For while they transgressed the law and acted impiously, being forbearing and enduring them with his long-suffering, not bringing his wrath upon them immediately, I was silent. And otherwise, at the time of his passion, being falsely accused “he was silent” and being testified against falsely “he answered nothing.” But then, he says, I was silent, but I will not be silent forever; and then I held back like a woman in labor, but now is the “time of recompense,” wherefore I will amaze and dry up at the same time, or according to Symmachus: I will breathe in and breathe out together. Then it adds according to the Hebrew reading and the other interpreters: I will lay waste mountains and hills and dry up all their grass, alluding to the rulers of the people by mountains and hills, and to their sins by grass. Therefore he threatens to take down their high things and the heights of their rulers, and to dry up their grass. And that these things are said concerning them, the word will prove before long as it proceeds. Moreover, also the rivers among them, the teachings formerly supplied to them like rivers, he says, I will turn into an island; moreover, also the places among them abounding in rational waters, so as to be compared to marshes, these too, he says, I will dry up. And indeed, having threatened these things concerning them, he turns again to the grace that will be given to the nations. Therefore he adds: and I will lead the blind in a way that they did not know; and who these were, he taught through the preceding words, speaking in the person of Christ: “I have given you as a covenant to my race, as a light to the nations, to open the eyes of the blind”? These very ones, therefore, who were formerly blind among the nations, he promises to make walk in a way they did not know. For how was it possible for us to know the way according to God, except through his divine grace? But since it is said in the singular according to all the interpreters: and I will lead the blind in a way that they did not know, and the Savior presents these things saying: “I am the way.” See how he promises to us who are blind Christ whom we did not know before, and his saving word, but also paths, which

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Κηδὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται σκοτασμὸς διὰ τοὺς μεταβαλόντας ἀπὸ τοῦ σκοτασμοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ κατηγγελμένον «φῶς τοῖς ἔθνεσιν». εὐφρανθήσεσθαι ὁ λόγος φησὶ καὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας δὲ Πέτραν ὁμοίως· «ἡ δὲ πέτρα ἦν ὁ Χριστός». ὁμοῦ δὲ πάντας τούτους οὓς ἡ προφητεία κατέλεξεν ἐν ὕψει γενομένους καὶ ἐν τοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ μετεώροις λόγοις ὥσπερ ἐν ὄρεσι στάντας ἄνωθεν, πόθεν τῷ θεῷ ὑμνεῖν καὶ δώσειν αὐτῷ δόξαν, θεσπίζει λέγων· ἀπ' ἄκρου τῶν ὀρέων φωνήσουσι καὶ δώσουσι τῷ θεῷ δόξαν. οὕτω δὲ καὶ ἀνωτέρω ἐλέγετο τό· «ἐπ' ὄρος ὑψηλὸν ἀνάβηθι ὁ εὐαγγελιζόμενος Σιών· ὕψωσον τῇ ἰσχύι τὴν φωνήν σου ὁ εὐαγγελιζόμενος Ἰερουσαλήμ». Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ταῦτα τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ταῖς νήσοις καὶ τῇ Κηδάρ, ἃ δὴ ὁμολογουμένως ἀλλότρια ἦν τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους, ὁ λόγος ἐπαγγειλάμενος ἐπιφέρει ἑξῆς τὴν ἀποβολὴν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ σημαίνων ἐν τῷ λέγειν· κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῶν δυνάμεων ἐξελεύσεται καὶ συντρίψει πόλεμον, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· κύριος ὡς δυνατὸς ἐξελεύσεται ὡς ἀνὴρ πολεμιστής. ὁρᾷς ὅπως αὐτὸν τὸν κύριον ἐν σχήματι ἀνδρὸς προσελεύσεσθαί φησι καὶ δίκην ἀνδρὸς πολεμιστοῦ πολεμήσειν τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτοῦ. εἶτ' ἐπιλέγει· ἐπεγείρει ζῆλον, περὶ οὗ καὶ Μωϋσῆς ἐδίδαξεν εἰπὼν περὶ τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους· «αὐτοὶ παρεζήλωσάν με ἐπ' οὐ θεῷ, παρώργισάν με ἐν τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτῶν· κἀγὼ παραζηλώσω αὐτοὺς ἐπ' οὐκ ἔθνει, ἐπὶ ἔθνει ἀσυνέτῳ παροργιῶ αὐτούς»· τοῦτον οὖν ἐκεῖνον τὸν ζῆλον ἐπεγείρει φησὶν εἰσποιούμενος μὲν καὶ ἐξοικειούμενος τὴν Κηδὰρ καὶ τὰς νήσους καὶ τὰ ἀλλόφυλα ἔθνη, ἀποσειόμενος δὲ καὶ ἀπωθούμενος τὸν Ἰουδαίων λαὸν καὶ τοῦτο πράττων μετὰ λογισμοῦ καὶ εὐλόγου ἀπολογίας. διὸ ἐπιλέγει· καὶ βοήσεται πρὸς τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτοῦ μετὰ ἰσχύος. Οὐ γὰρ ἀλόγως αὐτοὺς πολεμήσει, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τοῦ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐξειπεῖν καὶ μετὰ μεγάλης βοῆς φανερὸν ποιήσει, ἣν καὶ διδάσκει λέγων· ἐσιώπησα, μὴ καὶ ἀεὶ σιωπήσομαι; ἐν γὰρ τῷ παρανομεῖν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀσεβεῖν ἀνεξικακῶν καὶ φέρων αὐτοὺς τῇ αὐτοῦ μακροθυμίᾳ μηδὲ παραχρῆμα τὴν ὀργὴν αὐτοῖς ἐπάγων ἐσιώπησα. καὶ ἄλλως δὲ κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ πάθους αὐτοῦ συκοφαντούμενος «ἐσιώπησε» καὶ ψευδομαρτυρούμενος «οὐδὲν ἀπεκρίνατο». ἀλλὰ τότε μέν φησιν ἐσιώπησα, οὐ μὴν καὶ ἀεὶ σιωπήσομαι· τότε δὲ καὶ ἐκαρτέρησα ὡς ἡ τίκτουσα, νυνὶ δὲ «καιρὸς ἀνταποδόσεως», διὸ ἐκστήσω καὶ ξηρανῶ ἅμα, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· ἀναπνεύσω καὶ ἐκφυσήσω ὁμοῦ. Εἶτ' ἐπιλέγει κατὰ τὴν Ἑβραϊκὴν ἀνάγνωσιν καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἑρμηνευτάς· ἐρημώσω ὄρη καὶ βουνοὺς καὶ πάντα τὸν χόρτον αὐτῶν ξηρανῶ, ὄρη καὶ βουνοὺς τοὺς ἄρχοντας τοῦ λαοῦ αἰνιττόμενος, χόρτον δὲ τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν. τὰ μὲν οὖν ἐπάρματα αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ὕψη τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀρχόντων καθελεῖν ἀπειλεῖ, τὸν δὲ χόρτον αὐτῶν ξηρανεῖν. καὶ ὅτι ταῦτα περὶ αὐτῶν λέγεται, οὐκ εἰς μακρὸν ὁ λόγος προϊὼν ἀποδείξει. ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς ποταμούς, τὰς πάλαι ποταμῶν δίκην χορηγουμένας αὐτοῖς διδασκαλίας, θήσω φησὶν εἰς νῆσον· ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὰ παρ' αὐτοῖς λιμνάζοντα ὑδάτων λογικῶν χωρία ὡς παραβάλλεσθαι ἕλεσι, καὶ ταῦτά φησι ξηρανῶ. Καὶ δὴ ταῦτα περὶ αὐτῶν ἀπειλήσας μεταβαίνει πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν χάριν τὴν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν δοθησομένην. διὸ ἐπιλέγει· καὶ ἄξω τυφλοὺς ἐν ὁδῷ, ᾗ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν· τίνες δὲ ἦσαν οὗτοι ἐδίδαξε διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν εἰπὼν εἰς πρόσωπον τοῦ Χριστοῦ· «ἔδωκά σε εἰς διαθήκην γένους μου, εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν, ἀνοῖξαι ὀφθαλμοὺς τυφλῶν»; τούτους δὴ οὖν αὐτοὺς τοὺς πάλαι τυφλοὺς ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ἣν μὴ ἐγίνωσκον ὁδὸν βαδίσαι ποιήσειν ἐπαγγέλλεται. πόθεν γὰρ ἡμῖν γινώσκειν παρῆν τὴν κατὰ θεὸν ὁδὸν ἢ διὰ τῆς θείας αὐτοῦ χάριτος; ἐπεὶ δὲ ἑνικῶς εἴρηται κατὰ πάντας τοὺς ἑρμηνευτὰς τό· καὶ ἄξω τυφλοὺς ἐν ὁδῷ, ᾗ οὐκ ᾔδεισαν, παρίστησι δὲ ὁ σωτὴρ ταῦτα λέγων· «ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδός». θέα ὅπως ὃν μὴ πρότερον ἠπιστάμεθα Χριστὸν καὶ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ τὸν σωτήριον ἡμῖν τοῖς τυφλοῖς ἐπαγγέλλεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ τρίβους, ἃς