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he offered to those who approached. But perhaps he was alluding to the age to come after the consummation of the present one when he said: to proclaim an acceptable year of the Lord and a day of recompense for our God, or according to the other translators: a year of goodwill; for that time and age which is pleasing to the Lord would be the same age and day of recompense; for then he will give rewards to those who have labored in the present life. Wherefore it has been said: to proclaim an acceptable year of the Lord and a day of recompense for our God, but also to comfort all who mourn. For he who said: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,” now promised them comfort, but on the day of recompense he will claim them with his words and comfort them, but also to those who mourn for Zion he will give glory and instead of ashes an ointment of gladness. Paul and those like him "mourned" for Zion, weeping over the fall of the Jewish nation and of the godly polity among them. To these, therefore, instead of mourning he will give glory and instead of the ashes, with which they covered themselves while afflicting themselves in their supplications to God on behalf of the people, he will give an ointment of gladness and instead of a spirit of despondency, in which through exceeding love for humanity they wore themselves out, a garment of glory, the Savior promises to give these same things, having promised during his first coming to do so on the day of recompense. Rightly, after reading the part of the prophecy, he added: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." After this it is said: And they will be called Generations of righteousness, a Planting of the Lord for glory; but when will they be called and who are they, if not those who will be deemed worthy of the acceptable year and the day of recompense? But according to Symmachus: And they will be called Strong ones of righteousness, a Plant of the Lord to be glorified. And they will build the eternal ruins, that is, the souls of the formerly desolate nations. Wherefore it adds: they will raise up the former desolations; and they will renew the desolate cities, desolations of many generations; but indeed through all these things the word prophesies the change from worse things to better. Then it adds next: And foreigners will come, shepherding your flocks, and the prophecy promises the pastoral oversight to foreigners; and aliens, it says, will be your plowmen and vinedressers. Indeed, strangers and foreigners shepherd the flocks of God, and certain foreign plowmen and aliens cultivate the vineyard or the church, who were formerly idolaters and “alienated from the covenant of God and strangers to the promises, having no hope and without God in the world.” Then he addresses these same people, saying: But you shall be called priests of the Lord, ministers of your God; but who are you, if not the plowmen and vinedressers and shepherds of the church? These same men will also consume the strength of the nations, or according to Aquila: you will eat the abundance of the nations; for no such food is so suitable for the priests of God and for the shepherds and vinedressers and plowmen of the church as the strength of the nations who are saved through them. You will understand the strength of the nations by considering the martyrs of God throughout the whole world and the strong and invincible endurance of those in all nations who “strive for the truth,” but also, it says, in their wealth you will be admired. And you will understand the wealth of the nations from the testimony of Paul, through which he said when writing to the Corinthians: “I thank my God through Jesus Christ, that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony of God was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift.” These same men inherited the land a second time, for they inherited the whole world, concerning which it is said in the Psalms: “the Lord said to me, Son

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προσιοῦσι παρεῖχε. μήποτε δὲ τὸν μέλλοντα αἰῶνα τῶν μετὰ τὴν συντέλειαν τοῦ παρόντος ᾐνίξατο εἰπών· καλέσαι ἐνιαυτὸν κυρίου δεκτὸν καὶ ἡμέραν ἀνταποδόσεως τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν, ἢ κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἑρμηνευτάς· ἐνιαυτὸς εὐδοκίας· ὁ γὰρ καταθύμιος τῷ κυρίῳ χρόνος καὶ αἰὼν ἐκεῖνος ἂν εἴη ὁ αὐτὸς αἰὼν καὶ ἡμέρα ἀνταποδόσεως· τὰς γὰρ ἀμοιβὰς τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἀποδώσει τοῖς ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ κεκμηκόσι. διὸ λέλεκται· καλέσαι ἐνιαυτὸν κυρίου δεκτὸν καὶ ἡμέραν ἀνταποδόσεως τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρακαλέσαι πάντας τοὺς πενθοῦντας. ὁ γὰρ εἰπών· «μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται», νῦν μὲν αὐτοῖς παράκλησιν ἐπηγγέλλετο, κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ λόγοις ἀνακτήσεται αὐτοὺς καὶ παρακαλέσει, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς τὴν Σιὼν πενθοῦσι δώσει δόξαν καὶ ἀντὶ σποδοῦ ἄλειμμα εὐφροσύνης. «ἐπένθει» δὲ τὴν Σιὼν Παῦλος καὶ οἱ αὐτῷ παραπλήσιοι ἀποκλαιόμενοι τὴν πτῶσιν τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους καὶ τοῦ ἐν αὐτοῖς θεοσεβοῦς πολιτεύματος. καὶ τούτοις οὖν ἀντὶ τοῦ πένθους δώσει δόξαν καὶ ἀντὶ τῆς σποδοῦ, ἣν κατεπάσαντο ἑαυτοὺς κακοῦντες ἐν ταῖς πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἱκετηρίαις ταῖς ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ εὐφροσύνης ἄλειμμα δώσει καὶ ἀντὶ πνεύματος τῆς ἀκηδίας, ἐν ᾧ δι' ὑπερβάλλουσαν φιλανθρωπίαν ἑαυτοὺς κατέτρυχον καταστολὴν δόξης, τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπαγγέλλεται δώσειν ταῦτα κατὰ τὴν προτέραν αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν ὁ σωτὴρ ἐπαγγειλάμενος ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως ποιήσειν. εἰκότως ἀναγνοὺς τὸ μέρος τῆς προφητείας ἐπήγαγε τό· «σήμερον πεπλήρωται ἡ γραφὴ αὕτη ἐν τοῖς ὠσὶν ὑμῶν». ἑξῆς τούτοις εἴρηται· καὶ κληθήσονται Γενεαὶ δικαιοσύνης, Φύτευμα κυρίου εἰς δόξαν· πότε δὲ καὶ κληθήσονται καὶ τίνες, ἀλλ' ἢ οἱ καταξιωθησόμενοι τοῦ δεκτοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἡμέρας τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως; κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· καὶ κληθήσονται Ἰσχυροὶ τῆς δικαιοσύνης, Φυτὸν κυρίου εἰς τὸ δοξασθῆναι. Καὶ οἰκοδομήσουσιν ἐρήμους αἰωνίας, τὰς ψυχὰς δηλαδὴ τῶν πάλαι ἐρήμων ἐθνῶν. διὸ ἐπιλέγει· ἐξηρημωμένας πρότερον ἐξαναστήσουσι· καὶ καινιοῦσι πόλεις ἐρήμους ἐξηρημωμένας εἰς γενεάς· ἀλλὰ γὰρ διὰ τούτων ἁπάντων τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν χειρόνων ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω μεταβολὴν ὁ λόγος θεσπίζει. Εἶθ' ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγει· καὶ ἥξουσιν ἀλλογενεῖς ποιμαίνοντες τὰ πρόβατά σου, καὶ τὴν ποιμαντικὴν ἐπιστασίαν ἀλλογενέσιν ὑπισχνεῖται ἡ προφητεία· καὶ ἀλλόφυλοι ἀροτῆρες καὶ ἀμπελουργοί φησιν ἔσονταί σοι· ἀλλότριοι γοῦν καὶ ἀλλογενεῖς ποιμαίνουσι τὰ πρόβατα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὸν ἀμπελῶνα ἢ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἀροτῆρες ξένοι τινὲς καὶ ἀλλόφυλοι γεωργοῦσι πάλαι ὄντες εἰδωλολάτραι καὶ «ἀπηλλοτριωμένοι τῆς διαθήκης τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ξένοι τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν, ἐλπίδα μὴ ἔχοντες καὶ ἄθεοι ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ». εἶτα τούτοις αὐτοῖς προσφωνεῖ λέγων· ὑμεῖς δὲ ἱερεῖς κυρίου κληθήσεσθε, λειτουργοὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν· τίνες δὲ ὑμεῖς, ἀλλ' ἢ οἱ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀροτῆρες καὶ ἀμπελουργοὶ καὶ ποιμένες; οἱ δ' αὐτοὶ καὶ τὴν ἰσχὺν τῶν ἐθνῶν κατέδονται, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· εὐπορίαν ἐθνῶν φάγεσθε· οὐδὲν γὰρ τοιοῦτο βρῶμα τοῖς ἱερεῦσι τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῖς τῆς ἐκκλησίας ποιμέσι καὶ ἀμπελουργοῖς καὶ ἀροτῆρσι κατάλληλον ὡς ἡ ἰσχὺς τῶν δι' αὐτῶν σῳζομένων ἐθνῶν. νοήσεις δὲ τῶν ἐθνῶν τὴν ἰσχὺν τοὺς καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης τοῦ θεοῦ μάρτυρας θεωρῶν καὶ τὴν ἰσχυρὰν καὶ ἀκαταμάχητον ὑπομονὴν τῶν ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν «ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας ἀγωνιζομένων», ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ πλούτῳ φησὶ θαυμασθήσεσθε. τὸν δὲ πλοῦτον τῶν ἐθνῶν νοήσεις ἀπὸ τῆς Παύλου μαρτυρίας, δι' ἧς Κορινθίοις γράφων ἔλεγεν· «Εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ μου διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅτι ἐν παντὶ ἐπλουτίσθητε ἐν αὐτῷ, ἐν παντὶ λόγῳ καὶ πάσῃ γνώσει, καθὼς τὸ μαρτύριον τοῦ θεοῦ ἐβεβαιώθη ἐν ὑμῖν, ὥστε μὴ ὑστερεῖσθαι ὑμᾶς ἐν μηδενὶ χαρίσματι». Οἱ αὐτοὶ δὲ οὗτοι ἐκ δευτέρας τὴν γῆν ἐκληρονόμουν καὶ τὴν σύμπασαν γὰρ οἰκουμένην ἐκληρονόμησαν, περὶ ἧς εἴρηται ἐν Ψαλμοῖς· «κύριος εἶπε πρός με Υἱός