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now also Israel; thus simply with bare names, calling him neither "servant" nor "chosen," which he did in the case of the better order. But then, having refuted the accused, he urges and exhorts them to return, and that he will forgive their sins if they return. wherefore he says: I am he who blots out your sins and I will not remember. But you, remember in what state you have been; for the memory of former sins is good when declared through confession. wherefore he adds: You tell your sins first; for by doing this you will be justified, since "the just man is his own accuser in the first instance." Know, however, that you are by nature a sinner from your fathers, and your rulers who arose from time to time have acted impiously against me. But instead of: and your rulers transgressed against me, Aquila and Symmachus and "your interpreters" have rendered it. Then he says: And your rulers have defiled my holy things. And he posits three orders in these: fathers and interpreters and rulers, by rulers meaning the leaders of the nation, by interpreters the exegetes of the divine scriptures, and by fathers those among them older in age and time, all of whom, he says, having acted impiously, he shows to have been the cause of Jacob's destruction. For because of them, he says: I have given Jacob to destruction and Israel to reproach, or to blasphemies according to the other interpreters. And again here he named the accused Jacob and Israel without any addition, but those mentioned next not in the same way, but with the usual addition. wherefore he adds: But now hear, Jacob my servant and Israel, whom I have chosen, by which he again calls to mind the apostolic choir. To whom he also addresses, saying: Thus says the Lord God who made you and formed you from the womb, You will yet be helped, but according to Symmachus: from the womb still helping you. What then does he say to them: Fear not, my servant Jacob and beloved Israel, whom I have chosen; for I will give water in thirst to those who walk in a waterless place, and how does he make it clear, saying: I will put my spirit upon your seed and my blessings upon your children. For through the Holy Spirit he was about to supply the rational and fruitful and spiritual water to the waterless and desert land. And the seed of the apostles are the churches of God and their children are those everywhere on earth and in all the nations "who have been regenerated through the Holy Spirit," who also, he says, will spring up as grass amidst water, but according to Symmachus: and they will spring up amidst green grass as willows by flowing water, and according to Theodotion: amidst green grass by flowing water. And here too he used the willow because of the evergreen and fresh nature of the plant to represent the multitude of the spiritual waters that will flow in his church. And so great will be the progress and success in godliness of those who formerly inhabited the waterless and desert land that all will run to God, and then as if in a race seize for themselves the grace of God, and one will say I am of God, and another will inscribe for himself the name of Jacob, and although not from him, but coming from the desert and waterless land, he will nevertheless cry out the name of the people of God formerly so called. wherefore it is said: This one will say, I am of God, and this one will cry out upon the name of Jacob, or according to Symmachus: he will be called by the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, saying, I am of God, and again another will cry out upon the name of Israel, magnifying himself by saying he is Israel. And it is truly possible to marvel and be astonished at the power of the prophetic words, how we have received the outcomes in the deeds themselves. At any rate, in the persecutions that happened in our own time, we have seen many from foreign nations seizing for themselves the names of the holy men, one of whom called himself Jacob and another Israel, another Jeremiah and another Isaiah and yet another Daniel;

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νῦν καὶ Ἰσραήλ· οὕτως ἁπλῶς ξηροῖς ὀνόμασιν οὔτε «δοῦλον» αὐτοῦ οὔτε «ἐκλεκτὸν» εἰπών, ὅπερ ἐποίει ἐπὶ τοῦ κρείττονος τάγματος. Πλὴν οὖν ἀπελέγξας τοὺς διαβεβλημένους παρορμᾷ καὶ προτρέπει αὐτοὺς ἐπιστρέφειν, συγχωρήσειν τε αὐτοῖς τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ἐπιστρέψασι. διό φησιν· ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἐξαλείφων τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου καὶ οὐ μὴ μνησθήσομαι. σὺ δὲ μνήσθητι, ἐν οἷς γέγονας· καλὴ γὰρ ἡ μνήμη τῶν προτέρων ἁμαρτημάτων δι' ἐξομολογήσεως ἐξαγορευομένη. διὸ ἐπιφέρει· λέγε σὺ πρῶτος τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου· τοῦτο γὰρ ποιῶν δικαιωθήσῃ, ἐπειδὴ «δίκαιος ἑαυτοῦ κατήγορος ἐν πρωτολογίᾳ». ἴσθι γε μήν, ὡς ἐκ πατέρων ἁμαρτωλὸς πέφυκας, καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντές σου οἱ κατὰ καιροὺς γενόμενοι ἠσέβησαν εἰς ἐμέ. ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες ὑμῶν ἠνόμησαν εἰς ἐμέ, ὁ Ἀκύλας καὶ ὁ Σύμμαχος καὶ οἱ ἑρμηνεῖς σου ἐκδεδώκασιν. εἶτά φησι· καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντές σου ἐμίαναν τὰ ἅγιά μου. τρία δὲ τάγματα ἐν τούτοις τίθησι· πατέρας καὶ ἑρμηνεῖς καὶ ἄρχοντας, ἄρχοντας μὲν τοὺς καθηγουμένους τοῦ ἔθνους δηλῶν, ἑρμηνεῖς δὲ τοὺς ἐξηγητὰς τῶν θείων γραφῶν, πατέρας δὲ τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς ἡλικίᾳ καὶ χρόνῳ παλαιοτέρους, οὓς δὴ πάντας ἠσεβηκέναι εἰπὼν αἰτίους γεγονέναι παρίστησι τῆς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ἀπωλείας. δι' αὐτοὺς γάρ φησιν· ἔδωκα τοῦ ἀπολέσαι τὸν Ἰακὼβ καὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ εἰς ὀνειδισμόν, ἢ εἰς βλασφημίας κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἑρμηνευτάς. Πάλιν δὲ κἀνταῦθα Ἰακὼβ καὶ Ἰσραὴλ δίχα τινὸς προσθήκης τοὺς διαβεβλημένους ὠνόμασε, τοὺς δὲ ἑξῆς ἐπιφερομένους οὐκέτ' ὁμοίως, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τῆς συνήθους προσθήκης. διὸ ἐπιλέγει· νῦν δὲ ἄκουσον, Ἰακὼβ παῖς μου καὶ Ἰσραήλ, ὃν ἐξελεξάμην, δι' ὧν τὸν χορὸν αὖθις τὸν ἀποστολικὸν ἀνακαλεῖται. οἷς καὶ προσφωνεῖ λέγων· οὕτως λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας σε καὶ πλάσας σε ἐκ κοιλίας Ἔτι βοηθηθήσῃ, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· ἐκ κοιλίας ἔτι βοηθῶν σοι. τί οὖν φησι πρὸς αὐτούς· Μὴ φοβοῦ, παῖς μου Ἰακὼβ καὶ ὁ ἠγαπημένος Ἰσραήλ, ὃν ἐξελεξάμην· ὅτι ἐγὼ δώσω ὕδωρ ἐν δίψει τοῖς πορευομένοις ἐν ἀνύδρῳ, καὶ πῶς διασαφεῖ λέγων· ἐπιθήσω τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπὶ τὸ σπέρμα σου καὶ τὰς εὐλογίας μου ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα σου. διὰ γὰρ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου τὸ λογικὸν καὶ γόνιμον καὶ πνευματικὸν ὕδωρ τῇ ἀνύδρῳ καὶ ἐρήμῳ χορηγήσειν ἔμελλε. σπέρμα δὲ τῶν ἀποστόλων αἱ ἐκκλησίαι τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τέκνα αὐτῶν οἱ πανταχοῦ γῆς καὶ ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι «διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου ἀναγεννηθέντες», οἳ καὶ ἀνατελοῦσί φησιν ὡς ἀνὰ μέσον ὕδατος χόρτος, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· καὶ ἀνατελοῦσιν ἀνὰ μέσον χλόης ὡς ἰτέαι ἐπὶ ῥέον ὕδωρ, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Θεοδοτίωνα· ἀνὰ μέσον χλόης ἐπὶ ῥέον ὕδωρ. καὶ ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὴν ἰτέαν παρέλαβε διὰ τὸ ἀειθαλὲς καὶ νεαρὸν τοῦ φυτοῦ εἰς παράστασιν τοῦ πλήθους τῶν λογικῶν ὑδάτων τῶν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ αὐτοῦ ῥευσόντων. Τοσαύτη δέ τις ἔσται τότε προκοπὴ καὶ κατόρθωσις θεοσεβείας τῶν πάλαι τὴν ἄνυδρον καὶ τὴν ἔρημον οἰκούντων ὡς προστρέχειν τῷ θεῷ τοὺς πάντας, εἶθ' ὥσπερ ἐν δρόμῳ προαρπάζειν τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ χάριν καὶ τὸν μὲν λέγειν Τοῦ θεοῦ εἰμι, ἕτερον δὲ ἐπιγράφεσθαι τὸ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ὄνομα, καίτοι μὴ ὄντα ἐξ αὐτοῦ, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ἐρήμου καὶ ἀνύδρου ὁρμώμενον ὅμως ἐπιβοήσεται τὴν προσηγορίαν τοῦ πάλαι χρηματίσαντος λαοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ. διὸ εἴρηται· οὗτος ἐρεῖ Τοῦ θεοῦ εἰμι, καὶ οὗτος βοήσεται ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰακώβ, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· κληθήσεται τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰακώβ, καὶ ἄλλος ἐπιγράψει τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ λέγων Τοῦ θεοῦ εἰμι, καὶ πάλιν ἕτερος ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ βοήσεται, σεμνύνει ἑαυτὸν λέγων εἶναι Ἰσραήλ. θαυμάσαι δὲ ἔστι καὶ καταπλαγῆναι ἀληθῶς τὴν τῶν προφητικῶν λόγων δύναμιν, ὡς αὐτοῖς ἔργοις τὰ ἀποτελέσματα παρειλήφαμεν. ἐν γοῦν τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς γενομένοις διωγμοῖς πολλοὺς τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἐθνῶν ἐθεασάμεθα προαρπάζοντας ἑαυτοῖς τὰς τῶν ἁγίων ἀνδρῶν προσηγορίας, ὧν ὁ μὲν ἑαυτὸν Ἰακὼβ ἐκάλει καὶ ἕτερος Ἰσραήλ, ἄλλος δὲ Ἰερεμίαν καὶ Ἠσαΐαν ἕτερος καὶ ∆ανιὴλ πάλιν ἄλλος·