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This judgment, therefore, which was given to the nations, departed from them, and the righteousness which was gifted to all the nations through saving grace, this also, having left them, withdrew. Then, since they were expecting the Christ of God proclaimed to them through the prophetic words, 'but when he came, they did not receive him,' it is consequently said: While they were waiting for light, it became darkness for them; waiting for brightness, they walked in gloom. And since, while groping at the divine scriptures, they did not understand the meaning hidden in the depth of the words, but being occupied only with the letter, they are like those groping for a wall. For this reason he adds next: They will grope for a wall like the blind, and they will grope as if having no eyes, and to this he connects, saying: They will fall at midday as at midnight and as those who are dying; for at the time of the midday light of the nations, when the church of God was illuminated by the saving and evangelical rays, they alone, as having 'sinned unto death,' have fallen and live as if in midnight. And they will groan, he says, like a bear and they will go along together like a dove; for their groans, if they had been uttered rationally on account of what they had dared against the savior, would have been beneficial. for they ought to mourn and groan and lament and weep, on account of the blood they shed. But since they do not pretend to this, but they bewail the perceptible city, I mean Jerusalem, and irrationally groan for its fall, they were rightly compared to a wild beast. Therefore it has been said: and they will groan like a bear, and in other places it is said: 'like a bear robbed of its cubs.' They were called a bear, then, because of the man-eating nature of the beast, since they also devoured men, committing murder and 'killing the prophets,' and they were likened to a 'bear robbed of its cubs' because of the loss of their children. But instead of: and they will go along together like a dove, Symmachus and Theodotion have said, we will moan continually like a dove, and Aquila: and we will utter a sound like doves. For after so many things, even now they try to study the divine scriptures, and this alone is left for them, to learn them and study them by mouth, chanting them aloud, so as to differ in no way from an unreasoning dove which seems to be doing something by the sound it utters, but does not render any articulate speech. Whence Aquila, correctly translating the Hebrew word literally, says, and we will utter a sound like doves, and all the connecting passages the others have set forth as from the person of the accused people. Therefore, according to Symmachus it is said: For this reason judgment has become far from us, and it will not overtake us. For we will expect righteousness for light, and behold, darkness; for brightness, we will walk in gloom. We will grope for a wall like the blind and we will grope as if having no eyes. And in the Septuagint also what follows has been spoken from the person of the people, for it says: We waited for judgment, and there is none; salvation has stood far from us; for our iniquity is great before you. But the prophet says these things from the person of the people, teaching them to confess their sins to God and to accuse themselves, so that, having been struck in the soul in this way, they might recover and return, having been taught to repent. But how did they wait for judgment, and there is none? But because they did not find the judgment announced to the nations, as has been said before; for it stood far from them. And why do they themselves teach by saying: For our iniquity is great before you, and our sins have stood against us; for our iniquities are in us, and we have known our wrongdoings. And what are all these things of which they have accused themselves? They will teach again, saying: We have acted impiously and we have lied, and according to Symmachus: We have known, he says, to do wrong and to lie against the Lord, and according to Aquila: and

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αὕτη τοίνυν ἡ τοῖς ἔθνεσι δοθεῖσα κρίσις ἀπέστη ἐξ αὐτῶν καὶ ἡ δικαιοσύνη δὲ ἡ πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν διὰ τῆς σωτηρίου χάριτος δεδωρημένη καὶ αὕτη καταλιποῦσα αὐτοὺς ἀνεχώρησεν. εἶτ' ἐπεὶ προσεδόκων τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ κηρυττόμενον αὐτοῖς διὰ τῶν προφητικῶν λόγων, «ἐλθόντα δὲ αὐτὸν οὐ παρεδέξαντο», ἀκολούθως εἴρηται· ὑπομεινάντων αὐτῶν φῶς ἐγένετο αὐτοῖς σκότος, μείναντες αὐγὴν ἐν ἀωρίᾳ περιεπάτησαν. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ ψηλαφῶντες τὰς θείας γραφὰς οὐ συνίεσαν τὸν ἐν βάθει τῶν λέξεων ἐναποκεκρυμμένον νοῦν, περὶ δὲ μόνην τὴν λέξιν ἀσχολούμενοι ὥσπερ τινὰ τοῖχον ἐοίκασι ψηλαφᾶν. τούτου χάριν ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγει· ψηλαφήσουσιν ὡς τυφλοὶ τοῖχον καὶ ὡς οὐχ ὑπαρχόντων ὀφθαλμῶν ψηλαφήσουσι, καὶ τούτοις συνάπτει λέγων· πεσοῦνται ἐν μεσημβρίᾳ ὡς ἐν μεσονυκτίῳ καὶ ὡς ἀποθνῄσκοντες· κατὰ γὰρ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ τῶν ἐθνῶν μεσημβρινοῦ φωτὸς ταῖς σωτηρίοις καὶ εὐαγγελικαῖς αὐγαῖς τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ θεοῦ καταλαμπομένης μόνοι αὐτοὶ ὡς ἂν τὰ «πρὸς θάνατον ἡμαρτηκότες» πεπτώκασι καὶ ὥσπερ ἐν μεσονυκτίῳ διάγουσι. Καὶ στενάξουσι δέ φησιν ὡς ἄρκος καὶ ὡς περιστερὰ ἅμα πορεύσονται· οἱ γὰρ στεναγμοὶ αὐτῶν, εἰ μὲν κατὰ λόγον ἐγίνοντο ὑπὲρ ὧν τετολμήκασι κατὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος, ἐπωφελεῖς ἐγένοντο ἄν. χρὴ γὰρ αὐτοὺς καὶ πενθεῖν καὶ στενάζειν καὶ ἀποδύρεσθαι καὶ δακρύειν, ὧν ἐξέχεον αἱμάτων ἕνεκα. ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν οὐ προσποιοῦνται, τὴν δὲ πόλιν τὴν αἰσθητήν, λέγω δὲ τὴν Ἰερουσαλήμ, ἀποκλαίονται καὶ τὴν πτῶσιν αὐτῆς στενάζουσιν ἀλόγως, εἰκότως θηρίῳ ἀγρίῳ παρεβλήθησαν. διὸ λέλεκται· καὶ στενάξουσιν ὡς ἄρκος, καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις δὲ εἴρηται· «ὡς ἄρκος ἀτεκνουμένη». ἄρκος μὲν οὖν διὰ τὸ ἀνθρωποβόρον τοῦ θηρὸς ὠνομάσθησαν, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἀνθρώπους ἔφαγον μιαιφονοῦντες καὶ «τοὺς προφήτας ἀναιροῦντες», «ἠτεκνωμένῃ» δὲ «ἄρκῳ» παρωμοιώθησαν διὰ τὴν ἀπώλειαν τῶν τέκνων. ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· καὶ ὡς περιστερὰ ἅμα πορεύσονται, ὁ Σύμμαχος καὶ ὁ Θεοδοτίων ὡς περιστερὰ μελέτῃ μελετήσομεν εἰρήκασιν, ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας· καὶ ὡς περιστεραὶ φθογγῇ φθεγξόμεθα. μετὰ γὰρ τὰ τοσαῦτα εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν τὰς θείας πειρῶνται καταμελετᾶν γραφὰς καὶ τοῦτ' αὐτοῖς μόνον λείπεται τὸ ἐκμανθάνειν καὶ διὰ στόματος μελετᾶν αὐτὰς περιᾴδοντας τῇ φωνῇ ὡς μηδὲν διαφέρειν ἀλογίστου περιστερᾶς δοκούσης μέν τι πράττειν, δι' ἧς ἀφίησι φθογγῆς οὐ μὴν ἔναρθρόν τινα λόγον ἀποδιδούσης. ὅθεν καλῶς κυριολεκτῶν τὴν Ἑβραϊκὴν λέξιν ὁ Ἀκύλας καὶ ὡς περιστεραί φησι φθογγῇ φθεγξόμεθα, καὶ τὰ συνημμένα δὲ πάντα ὡς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ κατηγορουμένου λαοῦ ἐξέθεντο οἱ λοιποί· διὸ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον εἴρηται· διὰ τοῦτο μακρὰν ἐγένετο κρίσις ἀφ' ἡμῶν, καὶ οὐ καταλήψεται ἡμᾶς. δικαιοσύνην γὰρ προσδοκήσομεν εἰς φῶς, καὶ ἰδοὺ σκότος, εἰς φέγγος, ἐν ζόφῳ περιπατήσομεν. ψηλαφήσομεν ὡς τυφλοὶ τοῖχον καὶ ὡς οὐκ ὄντων ὀφθαλμῶν ψηλαφήσομεν. καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἑβδομήκοντα δὲ τὰ ἑξῆς ἐπιφερόμενα ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ λαοῦ λέλεκται, φησὶ γοῦν· ἀνεμείναμεν κρίσιν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι· σωτηρία μακρὰν ἀφέστηκεν ἀφ' ἡμῶν· πολλὴ γὰρ ἡ ἀνομία ἡμῶν ἐναντίον σου. λέγει δὲ ταῦτα ὁ προφήτης ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ λαοῦ διδάσκων αὐτοὺς ἑαυτῶν ἐξομολογεῖσθαι τῷ θεῷ τὰς ἁμαρτίας καὶ κατηγορεῖν αὐτοὺς ἑαυτῶν, ἵνα κἂν οὕτως πληγέντες τὴν ψυχὴν ἀνανεύσωσι καὶ ἐπιστρέψωσι μετανοεῖν διδαχθέντες. πῶς δὲ ἀνέμειναν κρίσιν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ μὴ εὗρον τὴν κρίσιν τὴν τοῖς ἔθνεσι κατηγγελμένην, ὡς προείρηται· μακρὰν γὰρ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀπέστη καὶ διὰ τί διδάσκουσιν αὐτοὶ λέγοντες· πολλὴ γὰρ ἡ ἀνομία ἡμῶν ἐναντίον σου, καὶ αἱ ἁμαρτίαι ἡμῶν ἀντέστησαν ἡμῖν· αἱ γὰρ ἀνομίαι ἡμῶν ἐν ἡμῖν, καὶ τὰ ἀδικήματα ἡμῶν ἔγνωμεν. Τίνα δὲ πάντα ταῦτα, ἃ κατηγόρησαν ἑαυτῶν πάλιν διδάξουσι λέγοντες· ἠσεβήσαμεν καὶ ἐψευσάμεθα, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· ἔγνωμέν φησιν ἀδικεῖν καὶ ψεύδεσθαι κατὰ κυρίου, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· καὶ