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to grant righteousness to those who inhabit the earth. And let the earth, he says (meaning those who inhabit the earth), which was formerly desolate, be renewed, bearing fruits of piety, mercy and righteousness. And these things will be at your creator's command. For it is easy for the one who brought you into being from non-being with creative power to renew the creation. But some say that, as is usual, Scripture has elevated the discourse from the particular to the universal. For having spoken about Cyrus, and Babylon, and the return, it transfers the meaning of what has been said to Christ, who was sent by the Father to proclaim release to the captives, and sight to the dead, and to deliver those bound by the chains of sin from the tyranny of Satan, and to prepare them to return to himself, who raised up his own temple, the Church, presenting to himself a pure virgin, without spot or wrinkle. Through what Cyrus did, therefore, as through a certain image, the things gifted to all are signified, at which the heavenly spirits also rejoice, if indeed they rejoice even over one single sinner who repents, which he also calls clouds, through which the consolations of the Holy Spirit descend like rain into the souls of the believers. Or the clouds also signify the mystagogues who are on the earth, who, traveling about the earth, scattered the sacred word to all, watering the souls of the thirsty for spiritual fruitfulness, having been freed from the seeds of the devil, of which there was no fruit, there was none that did good, not even one. But the fruits of the Spirit are mercy, that is, love, which is the fulfillment of the law, having evangelical righteousness joined with it. Unless one should say that righteousness sprung up from the earth is the Lord himself, through whom we have both received mercy and 2421 been justified. Concerning whom David also says: "He has wrought righteousness in the midst of the earth." For he had his flesh from the earth, not having come down from heaven. θιζʹ. 9I am the Lord who created you, making you better, I have fashioned you as a potter's clay. Will the one who plows, plow the earth the whole day? Will the clay say to the potter, What are you doing, that you are not working, nor do you have a hand? Woe to him who says to his father, What will you beget? etc. The word seems to rebuke those who, after so great a promise concerning the restoration, do not run to God, and as being the God of all, who disciplines the people in due season, and takes them back again, and constructs the temple and the city better, like a potter renewing again the shattered things, and showing the second things to be better than the first. God, taking the same image also in regard to Jeremiah, added: "As this potter does, shall I not be able to do with you, O house of Israel?" and now he says through the present prophet, that I have fashioned better, now like a potter's clay the people who were formerly shattered. Instead of "making better, I have fashioned," Symmachus said: Woe to him who contradicts the one who formed him. And instead of: "Will the one who plows, plow the earth?" Theodotion has, "plowing those who plow the earth." For I, he says, who cultivate those who inhabit the earth, have remolded the people. Therefore do not oppose my dispensations, just as clay does not oppose the potter. For having been formed from the earth, we have the relation of clay to the potter, the Creator of all. Everyone, therefore, who opposes is deemed wretched, but especially he who has God for his Father and is a people dedicated to him. For woe to him who says to his father, What will you beget? or according to Symmachus, What have you begotten? For some do not cease to accuse God: For what need was there of this life? What is its governance? And what is the use of those things? It should have happened this way. Then he says: Ask me about my sons, and about the works of my hands. By "sons" signifying the intelligent and rational substance. And by "works," the parts of the cosmos. For if you have something, he says, to say for their correction, speak. But if someone wishes to learn about them, let him ask me through my prophets, and he will know in what way I manage all things with care. For what blame does the creation of man have? And what beauty or magnitude does the heaven not surpass? what not

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δικαιοσύνην χορηγῆσαι τοῖς οἰκοῦσι τὴν γῆν. Καὶ ἡ γῆ δὲ, φησὶ (λέγων τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν γῆν), ἡ πρὶν ἔρημος, ἀνανεούσθω φέρουσα θεοσεβείας καρποὺς ἔλεος καὶ δικαιοσύνην. Ταῦτα δὲ ἔσται τοῦ σοῦ κτίστου προστάξαντος. Τῷ γὰρ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων παραγαγόντι σε δυνάμει ποιητικῇ ῥᾷστον ἀνανεῶσαι τὸ δημιούργημα. Τινὲς δέ φασιν ὡς δὴ συνήθως ἡ Γραφὴ ἐκ τῶν κατὰ μέρος εἰς τὸ καθόλου τὸν λόγον ἀνήγαγεν. Εἰπὼν γὰρ τὰ κατὰ Κῦρον, καὶ Βαβυλῶνα, καὶ τὴν ἐπάνοδον, ἐπὶ Χριστὸν μετάγει τῶν εἰρημένων τὴν ἔννοιαν, ὃς ἀπεστάλη παρὰ τοῦ Πατέρος κηρύξαι αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν, καὶ νεκροῖς ἀνάβλεψιν, καὶ τοὺς σειραῖς ἁμαρτημάτων κατεσφιγμένους ἐξελέσθαι τῆς τοῦ Σατανᾶ τυραννίδος, παλινδρομεῖν τε παρασκευάσαι πρὸς ἑαυτὸν, ὃς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ναὸν, τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ἀνήγειρεν, παραστήσας ἑαυτῷ παρθένον ἁγνὴν, μὴ ἔχουσαν σπίλον ἢ ῥυτίδα. ∆ι' ὧν οὖν ἔπραξεν Κῦρος, ὡς διά τινος εἰκόνος τὰ πᾶσι δεδωρημένα σημαίνεται, ἐφ' οἷς εὐφραίνεται καὶ τὰ οὐράνια πνεύματα, εἴ γε χαίρουσι καὶ ἐφ' ἑνὶ μόνῳ μετανοοῦντι ἁμαρτωλῷ, ἃ καὶ νεφέλας καλεῖ, δι' ὧν αἱ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος παρακλήσεις ὑετοῦ καθίενται δίκην εἰς τὰς τῶν πιστευόντων ψυχάς. Ἢ καὶ τοὺς μυσταγωγοὺς τοὺς ὄντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς αἱ νεφέλαι σημαίνουσιν, οἳ περιφοιτῶντες τὴν γῆν, τὸν ἱερὸν ἅπασι κατεσκέδασαν λόγον κατάρδοντες τὰς τῶν διψώντων ψυχὰς πρὸς εὐκαρπίαν πνευματικὴν ἀπηλλαγμένας τῶν τοῦ διαβόλου σπερμάτων, ὧν ὁ καρπὸς οὐδεὶς ἦν, ὁ ποιῶν χρηστότητα οὐκ ἦν ἕως ἑνός. Καρποὶ δὲ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἔλεος, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἀγάπη, πλήρωμα νόμου τυγχάνουσα, τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν ἔχον συνεζευγμένην δικαιοσύνην. Εἰ μήτις λέγοι δικαιοσύνην ἐκ γῆς ἀνατείλασαν αὐτὸν εἶναι Κύριον, δι' οὗ ἠλεήθημέν τε καὶ 2421 δεδικαιώμεθα. Περὶ οὖ φησι καὶ ∆αβίδ· "Εἰργάσατο δικαιοσύνην ἐν μέσῳ τῆς γῆς." Ἐκ γῆς γὰρ εἶχε τὴν σάρκα μὴ κατελθοῦσαν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ. θιζʹ. 9Ἐγώ εἰμι Κύριος ὁ κτίσας σε, ποιῶν βελτίω, κατεσκεύασα ὡς πηλὸν κεραμέως. Μὴ ὁ ἀροτριῶν ἀροτριάσει τὴν γῆν ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν; Μὴ ἐρεῖ ὁ πηλὸς τῷ κεραμεῖ, Τί ποιεῖς, ὅτι οὐκ ἐργάζῃ, οὐδὲ ἔχεις χεῖρα; Οὐαὶ ὁ λέγων τῷ πατρὶ, Τί γεννήσεισ9; κ.τ.λ. Ἐπιτιμᾷν ὁ λόγος δοκεῖ τοῖς μετὰ τοσαύτην ἐπαγγελίαν τὴν περὶ τῆς ἀνακλήσεως μὴ προστρέχουσι τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ὡς πάντων ὄντι Θεῷ κατὰ καιρὸν παιδεύοντι τὸν λαὸν, καὶ πάλιν ἀναλαμβάνοντι, βελτίω τε τὸν ναὸν καὶ τὴν πόλιν κατασκευάζοντι δίκην κεραμέως τὰ συντριβέντα πάλιν ἀνανεουμένῳ, καὶ τῶν πρώτων κρείττω δεικνύντι τὰ δεύτερα. Τὴν αὐτὴν λαβὼν Θεὸς καὶ πρὸς Ἱερεμίαν εἰκόνα προσέθηκεν· "Εἰ καθὼς ὁ κεραμεὺς οὗτος οὐ δυνήσομαι τοῦ ποιῆσαι ὑμᾶς οἶκος Ἰσραήλ;" καὶ νῦν δέ φησι διὰ τοῦ παρόντος προφήτου, ὅτι βέλτιον κατεσκεύασα, νῦν ὡς πηλὸν κεραμέως τὸν πάλαι συντριβέντα λαόν. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ ποιῶν βέλτιον κατεσκεύασα, Σύμμαχος ἔφησεν· Οὐαὶ ὁ ἀντιλέγων τῷ πλάσαντι αὐτόν. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· μὴ ὁ ἀροτριῶν ἀροτριάσει τὴν γῆν; ὁ Θεοδοτίων, ἀροτριῶν τοὺς ἀροτριῶντας τὴν γῆν. Ἐγὼ γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁ τοὺς οἰκοῦντας τὴν γῆν γεωργῶν μετέπλασα τὸν λαόν. Μὴ οὖν ἐναντιοῦσθε ταῖς ἐμαῖς οἰκονομίαις, ὡς οὐδὲ πηλὸς κεραμεῖ. Πηλοῦ γὰρ λόγον ἐκ γῆς πλασθέντες ἔχομεν ὡς πρὸς κεραμέα τὸν πάντων ∆ημιουργόν. Πᾶς μὲν οὖν ἐναντιούμενος ταλανίζεται, ἐξαιρέτως δὲ ὁ Πατέρα λαχὼν τὸν Θεὸν αὐτῷ τε λαὸς ἀνακείμενος. Οὐαὶ γὰρ ὁ λέγων τῷ πατέρι αὐτοῦ, Τί γεννήσεις; ἢ κατὰ Σύμμαχον, Τί ἐγέννησας; Οὐ παύονται γάρ τινες ἐγκαλοῦντες Θεῷ· Τί γὰρ ἔδει τούτου τοῦ βίου; Τίς ἡ τούτου διοίκησις; καὶ τίς ἐκείνων ἡ χρεία; ἐχρῆν δὲ οὕτω γεγενῆσθαι. Εἶτά φησιν· Ἐρωτήσατέ με περὶ τῶν υἱῶν μου, καὶ περὶ τῶν ἔργων τῶν χειρῶν μου. ∆ιὰ μὲν τῶν υἱῶν σημαίνων τὴν νοερὰν οὐσίαν καὶ λογικήν. ∆ιὰ δὲ τῶν ἔργων, τὰ μέρη τοῦ κόσμου. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἔχεις τι, φησὶν, εἰπεῖν, εἰς τούτων διόρθωσιν, λέγε. Εἰ δὲ μαθεῖν τις ἐθέλει περὶ αὐτῶν, διὰ τῶν ἐμῶν ἐρωτάτω με προφητῶν, καὶ γνώσεται τίνα τρόπον πάντα διέπω κηδόμενος. Τίνα γὰρ ἔχει μέμψιν ἀνθρώπου δημιουργία; ποῖον δὲ κάλλος ἢ μέγεθος οὐρανὸς οὐ παρέρχεται; τί δὲ μὴ