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their eyes,” instead of, “will be darkened;” and what follows is similar to these. For it is not reasonable that the one who commands us not to return evil for evil, but to pray for those who abuse us, and to bless and not to curse, and to love even our enemies, should himself utter such curses against others. Therefore, these things have been said not optatively, nor imperatively, but prophetically, in the manner that has been explained. For in return for what they dared and did against me, such things will befall them: their table will be for them not for the setting out of food, but a snare, and a retribution, and a stumbling block, in return for their giving me gall for my food. And what would you say is the table of the Jewish nation other than the God-inspired Scriptures, which they are accustomed to study and recite? The contemplation and understanding of which contains nourishment for rational souls, while the letter takes the place of a table. Therefore, this table of theirs, the ready reading of the divine Scriptures, he foretells will become for them a snare, and a retribution, and a stumbling block; and that it will become such for them, not being such by nature, but that it will be such for them. For this is what the saying signifies when it says: “Let their table before them become a snare, and a retribution, and a stumbling block.” And this is fulfilled in them in fact. For in encountering the divine Scriptures, they are ensnared by them, taking the words in a different way than their true meaning, and distorting the right reason in them, and from them being driven into disbelief of the Savior. But their table also becomes for them a retribution. For in this very thing of not understanding the readings, they receive the punishment for what they did against him. Wherefore Symmachus, instead of, “and for retributions,” translated it, “and for punishment.” But their table also becomes a stumbling block before them. For they are scandalized when they encounter the bare words, and do not understand the spiritual meaning in them; for example, when they hear that, at the coming of Christ, the wolf will feed with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the lion and the ox will eat straw; not understanding these and similar things, they are scandalized at the Christ who has come, because these things did not happen in a physical sense at his coming. Thus then their aforementioned table has become before them a snare, and a retribution, and a stumbling block. And they have suffered these things because their eyes were darkened so that they could not see, because they rejected the light that enlightens every man, and because, though they had eyes, they did not see, and though they had ears, they did not hear. For their heart grew dull, according to Isaiah, and their eyes they have closed, and their ears they have made heavy. Therefore the word foretells, saying: “Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see.” And he prophesies another thing that clearly happened to them, saying: “And their back always bow 23.753 down,” instead of, “you will bow down;” and, “Pour out your wrath upon them,” instead of, “you will pour out;” and, “Let the fury of your wrath overtake them,” instead of, “it will overtake.” And how these things also, after their audacity against our Savior, happened to the Jewish nation, is not difficult to understand. For of old, on account of their idolatries, they were enslaved to enemies and foes for a short time; then again they received their own freedom; they remained autonomous and self-ruling, maintaining the temple and the worship in it according to the law of Moses; but after the plot against our Savior, they were deprived of everything at once; having endured both a siege and slavery under the Romans, they have remained thus humbled, and no longer able to lift their heads; which indeed the prophecy at hand signifies in saying: “And bow down their back alway.” For pay attention to how “alway” is said; not

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ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτῶν,» ἀντὶ τοῦ, «σκοτισθήσονται·» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς τούτοις παραπλησίως. Οὐ γὰρ ἔχει λόγον τὸν ἡμῖν προστάττοντα μὴ ἀνταποδιδόναι κακὸν ἀντὶ κακοῦ, ἀλλὰ προσεύχεσθαι ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐπηρεαζόντων, καὶ εὐλογεῖν καὶ μὴ καταρᾶσθαι, ἀγαπᾷν δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς, αὐτὸν τοιαῦτα κατεύχεσθαι ἑτέροις. Οὐκ εὐκτικῶς τοίνυν, οὐδὲ προστακτικῶς, κατὰ δὲ τὸν ἀποδοθέντα τρόπον προφητικῶς καὶ ταῦτα λέλεκται. Ἀνθ' ὧν γὰρ τετολμήκασι καὶ διεπράξαντο κατ' ἐμοῦ, τοιαῦτα αὐτοὺς διαδέξεται· ἡ τράπεζα αὐτῶν ἔσται αὐτοῖς οὐκ εἰς παράθεσιν τροφῆς, ἀλλ' εἰς παγίδα καὶ εἰς ἀνταποδόσεις καὶ εἰς σκάνδαλον, ἀνθ' ὧν ἔδωκαν εἰς τὸ βρῶμά μου χολήν. Τράπεζαν δὲ τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους τίνα ἂν εἴποις ἢ τὰς θεοπνεύστους Γραφὰς, ἃς μελετᾷν καὶ ἀποστοματίζειν εἰώθασιν; ὧν ἡ μὲν θεωρία καὶ ἡ νόησις, ψυχῶν τροφὴν λογικῶν περιέχει, ἡ δὲ λέξις τραπέζης χώραν περιέχει. Ταύτην τοίνυν τὴν τράπεζαν αὐτῶν, τὴν πρόχειρον τῶν θείων Γραφῶν ἀνάγνωσιν προαγορεύει ἔσεσθαι αὐτοῖς εἰς παγίδα καὶ εἰς ἀνταποδόσεις καὶ εἰς σκάνδαλον· καὶ ἔσεσθαι αὐτὴν τοιαύτην αὐτοῖς, οὐ φύσει οὖσαν τοιαύτην, ἀλλ' αὐτοῖς ἔσεσθαι τοιαύτην. Τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνει ὁ λόγος εἰπών· «Ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν γενηθήτω ἡ τράπεζα αὐτῶν εἰς παγίδα, καὶ εἰς ἀνταποδόσεις καὶ εἰς σκάνδαλον.» Ἔργῳ δὲ τοῦτο εἰς αὐτοὺς πληροῦται. Ταῖς γοῦν θείαις Γραφαῖς ἐντυγχάνοντες ἐξ αὐτῶν παγίσι περιπείρονται, ἑτέρως ἢ κατὰ τὸν ἀληθῆ νοῦν ἐκλαμβάνοντες τὰς λέξεις, καὶ διαστρέφοντες τὸν ἐν αὐταῖς ὀρθὸν λόγον, ἐξ αὐτῶν τε εἰς ἀπιστίαν τοῦ Σωτῆρος περιπειρόμενοι. Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς ἀνταποδόσεις γίνεται αὐτοῖς ἡ τράπεζα αὐτῶν. Ἐν γὰρ αὐτῷ τούτῳ τῷ μὴ συνιέναι τὰ ἀναγνώσματα, ἀπολαμβάνουσιν ὧν ἔδρασαν κατ' αὐτοῦ τὴν τιμωρίαν. ∆ιόπερ ὁ Σύμμαχος ἀντὶ τοῦ, «καὶ εἰς ἀνταποδόσεις, καὶ εἰς τιμωρίαν, ἡρμήνευσεν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς σκάνδαλον γίνεται ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν ἡ τράπεζα αὐτῶν. Σκανδαλίζονται γὰρ ἐντυγχάνοντες ψιλαῖς ταῖς λέξεσι, καὶ μὴ συνιέντες τὴν ἐν αὐταῖς θεωρίαν· οἷον ἀκούοντες, ὡς, ἐπιστάντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ, συμβοσκήσεται λύκος μετὰ ἀρνὸς, καὶ πάρδαλις συναναπαύσεται ἐρίφῳ, καὶ λέων καὶ βοῦς φάγεται ἄχυρα· ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα μὴ συνιέντες, σκανδαλίζονται ἐπὶ τῷ ἐληλυθότι Χριστῷ, ὅτι μὴ αἰσθητῶς ἐγένετο ταῦτα ἐν τῇ αὐτοῦ παρουσίᾳ. Οὕτως οὖν ἡ ἀποδοθεῖσα αὐτῶν τράπεζα γέγονεν ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν εἰς παγίδα, καὶ εἰς ἀνταποδόσεις καὶ εἰς σκάνδαλον. Καὶ ταῦτα πεπόνθασιν, ἐπειδήπερ ἐσκοτίσθησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτῶν τοῦ μὴ βλέπειν, διὰ τὸ παρῃτῆσθαι τὸ φῶς τὸ φωτίζον πάντα ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἐπεὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔχοντες οὐκ ἔβλεπον, καὶ ὦτα ἔχοντες οὐκ ἤκουον. Ἐπαχύνθη γὰρ ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν, κατὰ τὸν Ἡσαΐαν, καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐκάμμυσαν, καὶ τὰ ὦτα ἐβάρυναν. ∆ιὸ προαγορεύει φάσκων ὁ λόγος· «Σκοτισθήτωσαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτῶν τοῦ μὴ βλέπειν.» Καὶ ἄλλο δὲ ἐναργῶς συμβὰν αὐτοῖς θεσπίζει λέγων· «Καὶ τὸν νῶτον αὐτῶν διαπαντὸς σύγκαμ 23.753 ψον,» ἀντὶ τοῦ, «συγκάμψεις·» καὶ, «Ἔκχεον ἐπ' αὐτοὺς τὴν ὀργήν σου,» ἀντὶ τοῦ, «ἐκχεεῖς·» καὶ, «ὁ θυμὸς τῆς ὀργῆς σου καταλάβοι αὐτοὺς,» ἀντὶ τοῦ, «καταλήψεται.» Ὅπως δὲ καὶ ταῦτα μετὰ τὴν κατὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τόλμαν τῷ Ἰουδαίων συμβέβηκεν ἔθνει, οὐ δυσχερὲς καταμαθεῖν. Πάλαι μὲν γὰρ διὰ τὰς εἰδωλολατρείας αὐτῶν ἐχθροῖς καὶ πολεμίοις πρὸς ὀλίγον καιρὸν ἐδουλοῦντο· εἶτ' αὖθις τὴν οἰκείαν ἐλευθερίαν ἐλάμβανον· αὐτόνομοί τε καὶ αὐτοβασίλευτοι διετέλουν, τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ κατὰ τὸν Μωϋσέως νόμον λατρείαν διατρέχοντες· μετὰ δὲ τὴν κατὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιβουλὴν, πάντων ἀθρόως ἐστερήθησαν· πολιορκίαν τε καὶ δουλείαν τὴν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίοις ὑπομείναντες, διέμειναν οὕτω ταπεινοὶ, καὶ μηκέτ' ἀνανεῦσαι δεδυνημένοι· ὃ δὴ σημαίνει ἡ μετὰ χεῖρας προφητεία ἐν τῷ λέγειν· «Καὶ τὸν νῶτον αὐτῶν διαπαντὸς σύγκαμψον.» Πρόσχες γὰρ ὅπως εἴρηται τὸ, «διαπαντός·» οὐ