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prophecy, he uses a royal letter found in Esdras, and saying: "Thus says Cyrus, the king of the Persians: The Lord Most High of Israel has appointed me king of the inhabited world," and what follows. But some say that the phrase, "The Lord has sent me, and his Spirit," is spoken from the person of the prophet, that "Formerly I did not speak to you in a corner, and now I have come, sent by God no less for your benefit, speaking often about the same things, with God sending and the Holy Spirit echoing." Hear then, O Israel, what the Lord who redeemed you teaches you. Remember your God, for I say these things to you so that you may find a way of salvation, for if you had been persuaded from the beginning, you would have been inexperienced in evils. You would have abounded in peace and righteousness, with the good things from here flowing to you like a river, and one after another, like the waves of the sea. That is, you would have had an irresistible power, like rivers and seas. And your seed, he says, would have been innumerable, not consumed by the assaults of enemies. But for "dust of the earth," the others rendered it "grains of the earth." But physical things are said to physical people. And worthily of God would be understood the seed of Israel, concerning which it was said: "If the Lord of Sabaoth had not left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom," referring to those from the Jews who believed. For they became fathers of the others, regenerating those who came, "who were born not of bloods, but of God." It is reasonable, therefore, to allegorize. For physically the Jews, even transgressing the commandments, multiplied, so that the saying fits the spiritual meaning better, speaking with reservation, if they had kept the commandments to obtain these things. For it is no great thing to multiply physically like worms. But some say that "I have shown you that you might find the way" was said as if those of Israel were saying: "How, being under you, have we suffered such things, we who were long ago delivered from Pharaoh by your invincible might?" "For I showed you," he says, "a way of salvation, the law; 2460 which if you wished to do well, you would have kept." But now having transgressed, and having turned to idolatry, you were handed over to enemies; and not even so were you utterly destroyed as a whole race, on account of my love for mankind. For everywhere the remnant has been preserved for Israel. Therefore I say to you now also to go out from Babylon, not with fear and supinely, but using great haste, and crying out with a voice of gladness. For just as the exodus from Egypt became manifest to all the nations (with Pharaoh resisting, and the Egyptians being struck, to whom he says: "For this purpose I raised you up, that I might show in you my power"), so also it was necessary that the redemption from Babylon not happen in silence, but that they should glorify the redeemer. "For the voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous." For it was necessary to give glory in the manner of a narrative according to the great David: "Lord, you have been favorable to your land; you have brought back the captivity of Jacob. You have forgiven the iniquities of your people; you have covered all their sins." And showing that he himself is the one who long ago led Israel through the desert, he says, as if: "If you again needed a rock to be split for a supply of water, this too would have been for you as you walked to Judea." But since it did not happen historically, some have allegorized it thus. To those freed from the spiritual captivity, concerning whom Christ said, "He has sent me to preach the gospel to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives," the rational stream is given from the true rock. "And the rock was Christ," according to the Apostle, who also says: "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give, rivers of living water will flow from his belly." And lest the impious among them should think that the promise of release and the joy from it happened for their sake as well, he declared them to be strangers to these things. But some say that the Babylonians are called "impious," who, having been given over to punishment, had no cause to rejoice, while the redeemed were rejoicing. But some say that, lest through the pleasure of the things said they should become supine and grow careless, as if they would obtain them in any case, even if they were impious, since God had spoken once, he attached fear to them for the sake of security. For how could anyone rejoice, being deprived of joy

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προφητείαν, γράμματι χρῆται βασιλικῷ ἐν Ἔσδρᾳ κειμένω, καὶ λέγοντι· "Τάδε λέγει ὁ βασιλεὺς Περσῶν Κῦρος· Ἐμὲ ἀνέδειξε βασιλέα τῆς οἰκουμένης ὁ Κύριος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ὕψιστος," καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Τινὲς δὲ τὸ, Κύριος ἀπέσταλκέ με, καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ, ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ προφήτου λελέχθαι φασιν, Ὅτι καὶ πρώην ὑμῖν οὐκ ἐν γωνίᾳ λελάληκα, καὶ νῦν οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐκ Θεοῦ πεμφθεὶς ἥκω πρὸς ὑμετέραν ὠφέλειαν, περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν πολλάκις λαλῶν, Θεοῦ μὲν πέμποντος, ὑπηχοῦντος δὲ τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου. Ἄκουε τοίνυν, ὦ Ἰσραὴλ, ἅ σε διδάσκει ὁ ῥυσάμενός σε Κύριος. Μέμνητο τοῦ Θεοῦ σου, Ταῦτα γάρ σοί φημι ὑπὲρ τοῦ εὑρεῖν ὁδὸν σωτηρίας, ὃς εἰ καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐπείσθης, ἀπείρατος ἦσθα κακῶν. Ἐπλήθυες δ' ἂν ἐν εἰρήνῃ καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ τῶν ἐντεῦθεν καλῶν ποταμηδόν σοι ῥεόντων καὶ ἄλλων ἐπ' ἄλλοις, ὡς κυμάτων θαλάττης. Ἤγουν, ἀνανταγώνιστον εἶχες δύναμιν, ὡς ποταμοί τε καὶ θάλατται. Ἦν δ' ἄν σου καὶ τὸ σπέρμα, φησὶν, ἀναρίθμητον, πολεμίων ἐφόδοις οὐ δαπανώμενον. Τὸ δὲ χοῦς τῆς γῆς, κέγχροι γῆς ἐξέδωκαν οἱ λοιποί. Σωματικὰ δὲ λέγεται πρὸς σωματικούς. Ἀξίως δὲ Θεοῦ νοοῖτο σπέρμα Ἰσραὴλ, περὶ οὗ τὸ ῥηθέν· "Εἰ μὴ Κύριος Σαβαὼθ ἐγκατέλιπεν ἡμῖν σπέρμα, ὡς Σόδομα ἂν ἐγενήθημεν," δηλοῦντος τοὺς ἐξ Ἰουδαίων πιστεύσαντας. Πατέρες γὰρ τῶν ἄλλων ἐγένοντο τοὺς προσιόντας ἀναγεννήσαντες οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων, ἀλλ' ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν. Εὔλογον οὖν ἀλληγορεῖν. Σωματικῶς γὰρ Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ παραβαίνοντες τὰς ἐντολὰς ἐπληθύνθησαν, ὡς τὸ ῥητὸν μᾶλλον ἁρμόσαι τῷ νοητῷ μεθ' ὑποστολῆς λέγων, εἰ τὰς ἐντολὰς ἐτήρησαν τῶνδε τυχεῖν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ μέγα τὸ σωματικῶς σκωλήκων δίκην πληθύειν. Τινὲς δὲ τὸ, ∆έδειχά σοι τοῦ εὑρεῖν σε τὴν ὁδὸν εἰρῆσθαί φασιν, ὡς τῶν ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ λεγόντων· Πῶς ὑπὸ σὲ τελοῦντες τοιαῦτα πεπόνθαμεν οἱ πάλαι ῥυσθέντες ἐκ Φαραὼ διὰ τῆς σῆς ἀμάχου ῥοπῆς; Ἔδειξά σοι γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁδὸν σωτηρίας, τὸν νόμον· 2460 ὃν εἴπερ ἤθελες εὖ πράττειν, ἐφύλαττες. Νῦν δὲ παραβὰς, καὶ πρὸς εἰδωλολατρείαν τραπεὶς, παρεδόθης ἐχθροῖς· καὶ οὐδὲ οὕτω παγγενεὶ δι' ἐμὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ἐξωλοθρεύθητε. Τετήρηται γὰρ πανταχοῦ τὸ κατάλειμμα τῷ Ἰσραήλ. ∆ιό σοι καὶ νῦν ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος ἐξιέναι φημὶ, μὴ σὺν φόβῳ καὶ ὑπτίως, σπουδῇ δὲ κεχρημένῳ πολλῇ, καὶ φωνὴν εὐφροσύνης βοῶντι. Ὡς γὰρ ἡ ἐξ αἰγύπτου γέγονεν ἔξοδος πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐμφανὴς (Φαραὼ μὲν ἀνθισταμένου, πληττομένων δὲ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, πρὸς ὅν φησιν· Εἰς τοῦτο ἐξήγειρά σε, ὅπως ἐνδείξωμαι ἐν σοὶ τὴν δύναμίν μου), οὕτως ἐχρῆν μηδὲ τὴν ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος λύτρωσιν γενέσθαι σιγῇ, δοξολογεῖν δὲ τὸν λυτρωτήν. "Φωνὴ γὰρ ἀγαλλιάσεως καὶ σωτηρίας ἐν σκηναῖς δικαίων." Ἐχρῆν γὰρ ἐν διηγήσεως τρόπῳ δοξολογεῖν κατὰ τὸν μέγαν ∆αβίδ· "Εὐδόκησας, Κύριε, τὴν γῆν σου, ἐπέστρεψας τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν Ἰακώβ. Ἀφῆκας τὰς ἀνομίας τῷ λαῷ σου, ἐκάλυψας πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν." Ἑαυτὸν δὲ δεικνὺς ἐκεῖνον ὄντα τὸν ∆ι' ἐρήμου πάλαι διαγαγόντα τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, φησὶν, ὡς Εἰ πάλιν ἐδεήθης σχιζομένης πέτρας πρὸς ὕδατος χορηγίαν, ἦν ἄν σοι καὶ τοῦτο εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν βαδίζοντι. Μὴ γενόμενον δὲ καθ' ἱστορίαν, οὕτω τινὲς ἠλληγόρησαν. Τοῖς αἰχμαλωσίας ἠλευθερωμένοις τῆς νοητῆς περὶ ὧν ἔλεγεν ὁ Χριστὸς, Εὐαγγελίσασθαι πτωχοῖς ἀπέσταλκέ με, κηρύξαι αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν, τὸ λογικὸν νάμα τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἐκδίδοται πέτρας. Ἡ δὲ πέτρα ἦν ὁ Χριστὸς, κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον, ὃς καί φησιν· "Ὃςἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω, ποταμοὶ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος." Ὡς ἂν δὲ μὴ νομίσωσιν οἱ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀσεβεῖς καὶ δι' αὐτοὺς γεγονέναι τῆς ἀφέσεως τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν, καὶ τὴν ἐξ αὐτῆς εὐφροσύνην, τούτων αὐτοὺς ἀλλοτρίους ἀπέφηνεν. Τινὲς δὲ ἀσεβεῖς τοὺς Βαβυλωνίους εἰρῆσθαί φα̣σ̣ιν, οἳ παραδοθέντες κολάσει χαίρειν οὐκ εἶχον, τῶν λελυτρωμένων χαιρόντων. Τινὲς δέ φασιν, ἵνα μὴ διὰ τὴν τῶν ῥηθέντων ἡδονὴν ὑπτιάσαντες ῥᾳθυμήσωσιν, ὡς πάντως αὐτῶν τευξόμενοι, κἂν ἀσεβεῖς ὦσιν, ἅπαξ εἰρηκότος Θεοῦ, φόβον αὐτοῖς ὑπὲρ ἀσφαλείας ἐπήρτησεν. Καὶ πῶς γὰρ ἄν τις εὐφραίνοιτο τοῦ τῆς χαρᾶς στερηθεὶς