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was prophesied of old in words, but was fulfilled in deeds at the advent of our savior to men, whom the children of the Jews saw with their eyes, and having heard his voice, they neither understood nor gave ear to him when he called, so that the prophecy spoken before was fulfilled in them, which said: "With hearing you will hear, and you will not understand; and seeing you will see, and you will not perceive." But they neither saw nor understood, but according to the voice of the savior himself, through which it is said: "blessed are those who have not seen and have believed," those from all the nations who had never learned anything about him nor known the scriptures about him, nevertheless both saw and understood him and have received the knowledge of his divinity. Which indeed provided wonder and amazement to those of old who contemplated these things by the prophetic spirit. Therefore it is said next: Lord, who has believed our report? For the prophets of God, seeing the unbelief of the Jewish nation, and contemplating the conversion and obedience of the nations, said these things in amazement. But it also says, to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? And the prophecy before this one taught to whom the arm of God was revealed, in what was said: "and the Lord God will reveal his holy arm in the sight of all the nations"; and we have often shown that his "only-begotten Son" is called the arm of God, who was made known to all the nations who believed in him, in accordance with the prophetic voices, but indeed the prophets of God, having marveled at these things, henceforth prophesy in a narrative manner the advent to men of the aforementioned "child" or "servant" of God, saying: We have announced him as a child before him, as a root in thirsty ground, but according to Aquila: and he will come up, it says, as one being nursed in his presence and as a root from untilled ground; for in his presence, it says, I mean of the aforementioned arm, he will come up as one being nursed. And this was he who was born of the virgin, about whom it was said before: "Behold, the virgin will conceive in her womb and will bear a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel," this was the one being nursed who came up in the presence of the arm of God; the word clarifies next, saying: as a root from untilled ground, alluding to the virgin as the untilled ground, on which no one had trodden, and as that very root, about which it was said: "A rod will come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower will spring up from the root"; for there too it was indicated that he would spring up, but there "from the root of Jesse," and here from the untilled ground that was indicated. And according to Symmachus, it is said, and he went up as a branch before him, and as a root from a thirsty land, the word here also calling the untilled ground thirsty, and according to Theodotion: and he will come up, it says, as one suckling before him, that is, of the arm of God, and as a root in a thirsty land. And this child mentioned here, according to the Seventy who said: we announced him as a child before him, was that very one, about whom it was also said in the preceding passages: "because before the child knows good or evil, he rejects wickedness," and again: "because before the child knows how to call father or mother, he will take the power of Damascus," and again: "For a child is born to us, a son is also given to us, whose government is upon his shoulder," which we have shown in their proper places to refer to the Christ of God, but indeed, after prophesying the prophesied one's birth among men, which occurred from the untilled or from the thirsty land, and his sojourn with men, he proceeds next saying: he has no form nor glory, instead of: he did not have a glorious form, and we saw him, it says, and he had no form nor beauty; but his form was dishonored and lacking beyond the sons of men. Yet we, but the prophet makes it common, counting himself also through philanthropy with those who did not reckon the savior, not

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μὲν λόγοις ἐθεσπίζετο πάλαι, ἔργοις δὲ ἐπληροῦτο ἐπὶ τῆς εἰς ἀνθρώπους τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν παρόδου, ὃν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἰδόντες Ἰουδαίων παῖδες, φωνῆς τε αὐτοῦ ὑπακούσαντες οὔτε συνῆκαν οὔτε καλοῦντι παρέσχον τὴν ἀκοήν, ὡς καὶ τὴν ἔμπροσθεν προφητείαν εἰς αὐτοὺς πεπληρῶσθαι τὴν φήσασαν· «Ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε». ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὔτε εἶδον οὔτε συνῆκαν, κατὰ δὲ τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος φωνήν, δι' ἧς εἴρηται· «μακάριοι οἱ μὴ ἰδόντες καὶ πιστεύσαντες», οἱ ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν μηδὲν πώποτε περὶ αὐτοῦ μεμαθηκότες μηδὲ τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ γραφὰς ἐγνωκότες, ὅμως καὶ εἶδον καὶ συνῆκαν αὐτὸν καὶ τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ τὴν γνῶσιν εἰλήφασιν. Ὃ δὴ καὶ θαῦμα καὶ ἔκπληξιν τοῖς πάλαι ταῦτα προφητικῷ πνεύματι θεωμένοις παρεῖχε. διὸ ἑξῆς εἴρηται· κύριε, τίς ἐπίστευσε τῇ ἀκοῇ ἡμῶν; ἀποθαυμαστικῶς γὰρ οἱ τοῦ θεοῦ προφῆται τὴν ἀπιστίαν ὁρῶντες τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους, τήν τε τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐπιστροφὴν καὶ ὑπακοὴν θεώμενοι ταῦτ' ἔλεγον. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ βραχίων φησὶ κυρίου τίνι ἀπεκαλύφθη; ἐδίδασκε δὲ ἡ πρὸ ταύτης προφητεία, τίνι ἀπεκαλύφθη ὁ βραχίων τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐν οἷς εἴρητο· «καὶ ἀποκαλύψει κύριος ὁ θεὸς τὸν βραχίονα τὸν ἅγιον αὐτοῦ ἐνώπιον πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν»· βραχίονα δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ λέγεσθαι τὸν «μονογενῆ υἱὸν» αὐτοῦ πολλάκις ἀπεδείξαμεν, ὃς πᾶσι τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκόσιν ἔθνεσιν ἐγνώσθη ταῖς προφητικαῖς ἀκολούθως φωναῖς, ἀλλὰ γὰρ ταῦτα ἀποθαυμάσαντες οἱ τοῦ θεοῦ προφῆται διηγηματικῶς λοιπὸν τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους πάροδον τοῦ προλεχθέντος «παιδὸς» ἢ τοῦ «δούλου» τοῦ θεοῦ θεσπίζουσι λέγοντες· ἀνηγγείλαμεν ὡς παιδίον ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ, ὡς ῥίζα ἐν γῇ διψώσῃ, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· καὶ ἀναβήσεταί φησιν ὡς τιθιζόμενον εἰς πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ καὶ ὡς ῥίζα ἀπὸ γῆς ἀβάτου· εἰς πρόσωπον γὰρ αὐτοῦ φησι, λέγω δὲ τοῦ προλεχθέντος βραχίονος, ἀναβήσεται ὡς τιθιζόμενον. τοῦτο δὲ ἦν τὸ ἐκ τῆς παρθένου γεγεννημένον, περὶ οὗ λέλεκται διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν· «ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ λήψεται καὶ τέξεται υἱόν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ», τοῦτ' ἦν τὸ τιθιζόμενον τὸ εἰς πρόσωπον τοῦ βραχίονος τοῦ θεοῦ ἀναβὰν ἑξῆς ὁ λόγος διασαφεῖ λέγων· ὡς ῥίζα ἀπὸ γῆς ἀβάτου, γῆν μὲν ἄβατον αἰνιττόμενος τὴν παρθένον, ἧς οὐδεὶς ἐπιβεβήκει, ῥίζαν δὲ αὐτὴν ἐκείνην, περὶ ἧς ἐλέγετο· «ἐξελεύσεται ῥάβδος ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἰεσσαί, καὶ ἄνθος ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης ἀναβήσεται»· κἀκεῖ γὰρ ἀναβήσεσθαι ἐδηλοῦτο, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖ μὲν «ἀπὸ τῆς ῥίζης Ἰεσσαί», ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀβάτου γῆς τῆς δηλωθείσης. κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον καὶ ἀνέβη ὡς κλάδος ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ εἴρηται, καὶ ὡς ῥίζα ἀπὸ γῆς διψώσης, τὴν ἄβατον γῆν τὴν διψῶσαν κἀνταῦθα ὀνομάσαντος τοῦ λόγου, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Θεοδοτίωνα· καὶ ἀναβήσεταί φησιν ὡς θηλάζον ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, δηλαδὴ τοῦ βραχίονος τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ὡς ῥίζα ἐν γῇ διψώσῃ. τοῦτο δὲ τὸ ἐνταῦθα λεγόμενον παιδίον κατὰ τοὺς Ἑβδομήκοντα φήσαντας· ἀνηγγείλαμεν ὡς παιδίον ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ, αὐτὸ ἦν ἐκεῖνο, περὶ οὗ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν εἴρητο· «διότι πρὶν ἢ γνῶναι τὸ παιδίον ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακὸν ἀπειθεῖ πονηρίᾳ», καὶ πάλιν· «διότι πρὶν ἢ γνῶναι τὸ παιδίον καλεῖν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα, λήψεται δύναμιν ∆αμασκοῦ», καὶ αὖθις· «ὅτι παιδίον ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν, υἱὸς καὶ ἐδόθη ἡμῖν, οὗ ἡ ἀρχὴ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὤμου αὐτοῦ», ἅπερ εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀναφέρεσθαι κατὰ τοὺς οἰκείους ἀπεδείκνυμεν τόπους, ἀλλὰ γὰρ μετὰ τὸ θεσπίσαι τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους τοῦ προφητευομένου γένεσιν τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀβάτου ἢ ἀπὸ τῆς διψάδος γῆς γενομένην τὴν σὺν ἀνθρώποις αὐτοῦ διατριβήν, ἑξῆς διέρχεται λέγων· οὐκ ἔστιν εἶδος αὐτοῦ οὐδὲ δόξα, ἀντὶ τοῦ· οὐκ ἦν αὐτῷ ἔνδοξον εἶδος, καὶ εἴδομεν δέ φησιν αὐτόν, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος οὐδὲ κάλλος· ἀλλὰ τὸ εἶδος αὐτοῦ ἄτιμον καὶ ἐκλεῖπον παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων. πλὴν ἡμεῖς μέν, κοινοποιεῖ δὲ ὁ προφήτης συγκαταλέγων καὶ ἑαυτὸν διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν τοῖς μὴ λογισαμένοις τὸν σωτῆρα, οὐκ