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and of the evil demons, from whom he snatched the captive souls that had come under them, and made them spoils for himself, which spoils he distributed to his disciples, establishing from them various churches. For this reason it was said above: “and they will rejoice before you as those who rejoice at the harvest and in the way that those who divide the spoils rejoice.” And all these things he is able to do and will do, because his soul was delivered up to death, as if receiving this as a certain reward from the Father, I mean the forgiving of sins to those who had sinned before and bringing them under his own inheritance. For since his soul was delivered up to death, and he was reckoned among the lawless, and since he himself took up the sins of many and was delivered up for their iniquities, for this reason he will inherit many and will divide the spoils of the strong. And how he was reckoned among the lawless, the Gospel teaches, at the time when “the robbers were crucified with him” on either side, saying that the prophecy was fulfilled; for it is said in Mark: “and with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. And the scripture was fulfilled which says: and he was numbered with the transgressors.” 2.43 Following the prophecy of our Savior, in which was described his coming among men and his life thereafter, both his death and the cause of his death, through the preceding texts the Word proclaims the church founded by him throughout the whole world, which was formerly desolate and barren and fruitless, for which reason he also calls her barren, since such were formerly the souls of the unbelieving nations. But now, proclaiming to them a change for the better, the Word exhorts the formerly barren one to rejoice, and now, as one who has received the seed and is henceforth conceiving and about to bring forth the saving and good offspring, he adds: Break forth and cry aloud, you who formerly did not give birth, or according to Aquila, instead of: break forth and cry aloud, sing praise and neigh, you who were not in labor; and Symmachus says: be joyous in exultation and neigh, you who do not give birth; and Theodotion says: break forth with gladness and rejoice, you who were not in labor. And he adds: for the children of the desolate are many more than of her who has a husband, and according to Symmachus: for the children of the one who was made to disappear are many more than the children of the married woman. For formerly the church from the Gentiles was made to disappear and desolate, since she did not yet possess the heavenly bridegroom. Nevertheless, he promises her great fruitfulness and many children, more than she who has a husband. And who was this but the nation of the Jews and the city among them formerly honored as the city of God, Jerusalem? She who, having the husband, the heavenly Word, was convicted of having given him a “bill of divorce” and of having committed fornication away from him in the past, through which it was said: “How the faithful city Zion has become a harlot, she that was full of judgment, in whom righteousness lodged, but now murderers.” In comparison, therefore, with her who formerly possessed the husband, the soul among the Gentiles, previously desolate of God, is deemed worthy of a good promise, the Word proclaiming to her many children and fruitfulness, so that in comparison with the people of the circumcision, her children are multiplied. For this reason it has been said: for the children of the desolate are many more than of her who has a husband. Then he addresses her, saying: Enlarge the place of your tent and of your curtains, fix them, do not spare; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. And these things have been said as if also concerning “the tent” constructed by Moses; for using that as an image, the Word addresses the church from the Gentiles not to make her own building small like that one, but to enlarge her tabernacle, extending it to an ineffable “length” and “breadth”; for the one constructed by Moses was “a hundred cubits in length, and fifty in breadth.” But here not

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τε πονηρῶν δαιμόνων, ὧν ἐξαρπάσας τὰς αἰχμαλώτους ὑπ' αὐτοῖς γενομένας ψυχάς, σκῦλα ἑαυτῷ ἐποιήσατο, ἅπερ σκῦλα τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς διένειμε διαφόρους ἐξ αὐτῶν συστησάμενος ἐκκλησίας. διὸ ἀνωτέρω ἐλέγετο· «καὶ εὐφρανθήσονται ἐνώπιόν σου ὡς οἱ εὐφραινόμενοι ἐν ἀμήτῳ καὶ ὃν τρόπον οἱ διαιρούμενοι σκῦλα». ταῦτα δὲ πάντα δυνατός ἐστι ποιῆσαι καὶ ποιήσει, ἀνθ' ὧν παρεδόθη εἰς θάνατον ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ, ὥσπερ τινὰ μισθὸν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦτ' εἰληφώς, λέγω δὲ τὸ ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας τοῖς προημαρτηκόσι καὶ ὑπὸ τὸν αὐτοῦ κλῆρον ὑπάγειν αὐτούς. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ παρεδόθη εἰς θάνατον ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνόμοις ἐλογίσθη, καὶ ἐπειδὴ αὐτὸς ἁμαρτίας πολλῶν ἀνέλαβε καὶ διὰ τὰς ἀνομίας αὐτῶν παρεδόθη, τούτου χάριν κληρονομήσει πολλοὺς καὶ τῶν ἰσχυρῶν μεριεῖ σκῦλα. πῶς δὲ ἐν ἀνόμοις ἐλογίσθη, διδάσκει τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον, καθ' ὃν καιρὸν «συνεσταυροῦντο» αὐτῷ παρ' ἑκάτερα «οἱ λῃσταί», πεπληρῶσθαι λέγον τὴν προφητείαν· εἴρηται δ' οὖν παρὰ τῷ Μάρκῳ· «καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ ἐσταύρωσαν δύο λῃστάς, ἕνα ἐκ δεξιῶν καὶ ἕνα ἐξ εὐωνύμων. καὶ ἐπληρώθη ἡ γραφὴ ἡ λέγουσα· καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἀνόμων ἐλογίσθη». 2.43 Ἀκολούθως μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν προφητείαν, ἐν ᾗ διεγράφετο ἡ εἰς ἀνθρώπους αὐτοῦ γένεσις καὶ ὁ μετὰ ταῦτα βίος, ὅ τε θάνατος καὶ ἡ τοῦ θανάτου αἰτία διὰ τῶν προκειμένων ὁ λόγος εὐαγγελίζεται τὴν δι' αὐτοῦ καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἱδρυνθεῖσαν ἐκκλησίαν πάλαι οὖσαν ἔρημον καὶ ἄγονον καὶ ἄκαρπον, διὸ καὶ στείραν αὐτὴν ὀνομάζει, ἐπειδὴ τοιαῦταί τινες ἦσαν πάλαι πρότερον αἱ τῶν ἀπίστων ἐθνῶν ψυχαί. ἀλλὰ νῦν μεταβολὴν τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον ὁ λόγος αὐταῖς εὐαγγελιζόμενος τῇ πάλαι στείρᾳ παρακελεύεται εὐφραίνεσθαι, ἤδη δὲ ὡς ἂν ὑποδεξαμένῃ σπόρον καὶ λοιπὸν κυούσῃ καὶ μελλούσῃ τίκτειν τὸ σωτήριον καὶ ἀγαθὸν γέννημα ἐπιλέγει· ῥῆξον καὶ βόησον, ἡ πάλαι οὐ τίκτουσα, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν ἀντὶ τοῦ· ῥῆξον καὶ βόησον, κελάδει αἴνεσιν καὶ χρεμέτισον, οὐκ ὠδίνουσα, ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχός φησιν· ἱλάρυνον ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει καὶ χρεμέτισον, μὴ τίκτουσα, ὁ δὲ Θεοδοτίων ῥῆξόν φησιν εὐφροσύνην καὶ τέρπου, οὐκ ὠδίνουσα. καὶ ἐπιλέγει· ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐρήμου μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· πολλὰ γὰρ τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἠφανισμένης ὑπὲρ τὰ τέκνα τῆς ὑπάνδρου· καὶ γὰρ ἦν πάλαι πρότερον ἡ ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησία ἠφανισμένη καὶ ἔρημος, ἅτε μηδέπω τὸν ἐπουράνιον κεκτημένη νυμφίον. πλὴν πολυκαρπίαν αὐτῇ καὶ πολυτεκνίαν ἐπαγγέλλεται πλείονα τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα. τίς δὲ ἦν αὕτη ἢ τὸ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος καὶ ἡ παρ' αὐτοῖς πάλαι τετιμημένη ὡς θεοῦ πόλις Ἰερουσαλήμ; ἥτις ἔχουσα τὸν ἄνδρα τὸν ἐπουράνιον λόγον ἠλέγχετο «ἀποστασίου βιβλίον» αὐτῷ δεδωκυῖα καὶ ἐκπορνεύσασα ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν, δι' ὧν ἐλέγετο· «Πῶς ἐγένετο πόρνη πόλις πιστὴ Σιών, πλήρης κρίσεως, ἐν ᾗ δικαιοσύνη ἐκοιμήθη ἐν αὐτῇ, νῦν δὲ φονευταί». ἐν παραθέσει τοιγαροῦν τῆς πάλαι τὸν ἄνδρα κτησαμένης ἡ ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἔρημος οὖσα θεοῦ τὸ πρὶν ψυχὴ ἐπαγγελίας ἀξιοῦται χρηστῆς πολυπαιδίαν καὶ πολυτεκνίαν αὐτῇ εὐαγγελιζομένου τοῦ λόγου ὡς ἐν παραθέσει τοῦ ἐκ περιτομῆς λαοῦ τὰ ταύτης τέκνα πολυπλασιάζεσθαι. διὸ λέλεκται· ὅτι πολλὰ τὰ τῆς ἐρήμου τέκνα μᾶλλον ἢ τῆς ἐχούσης τὸν ἄνδρα. Εἶτα τῇ αὐτῇ προσφωνεῖ λέγων· πλάτυνον τὸν τόπον τῆς σκηνῆς σου καὶ τῶν αὐλαιῶν σου, πῆξον, μὴ φείσῃ· μάκρυνον τὰ σχοινίσματά σου καὶ τοὺς πασσάλους σου κατίσχυσον. λέλεκται δὲ ταῦτα ὡς ἂν καὶ ἐπὶ «τῆς σκηνῆς» τῆς ὑπὸ Μωϋσέως κατασκευασθείσης· ἐκείνῃ γὰρ χρησάμενος ὁ λόγος εἰκόνι τῇ ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησίᾳ προσφωνεῖ μὴ κατ' ἐκείνην σμικρύναι τὴν ἑαυτῆς οἰκοδομήν, ἀλλὰ πλατύναι τὴν σκηνοπηγίαν ἑαυτῆς ἐκτείνασαν εἰς ἄφατον «μῆκός» τε καὶ «πλάτος»· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ Μωϋσέως κατασκευασθεῖσα πηχῶν ἦν «ἑκατὸν μήκους, πλάτος δὲ πεντήκοντα». ἐνταῦθα δὲ μὴ