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And in Isaiah it has been said, that A Child is born to us, a son is also given to us. Whose government is upon his shoulder, and his name is called Angel of great counsel. But according to the other interpreters: Mighty God, ruler, prince of peace, father of the age. Therefore the people left desolate are taught by the prophetic Spirit to offer up a prayer, and to say to him: Lord, the God of hosts, how long will you be angry at the prayer of your servant? Instead of which all the other interpreters have translated, of your people. And they are also taught to eat the bread of tears for what they have dared; so that, having lamented their own evils and mourned, they might receive consolation according to the beatitude that says: Blessed are they that weep, for they shall laugh; blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. But according to Symmachus: You have fed us, he says, the bread of tears, and have given us tears to drink in measure. For even if we have become most worthy of weeping and tears, so as to be fed with weeping and groaning instead of bread, and to be given tears and wailing to drink; still let these very things be measured out to us, so that they might not be extended to us indefinitely; but might at some point cease, and change to something more cheerful 23.960. For you have set us as a contradiction to our neighbors, and our enemies have mocked us, they who long ago dared none of these things against us, when we had you as our protector. Therefore we pray, and we call upon the God of hosts, beseeching him to restore us. And this will be if you should appear, and show us your face. For when this has happened, we shall be saved, and we too would say: The light of your countenance has been signed upon us, O Lord. You have brought a vine out of Egypt: you have cast out nations, and planted it. You made a way before it, and you planted its roots, and it filled the land. Beginning the supplication the Prophet was calling upon the one shepherding Israel. But Israel was different from the vine spoken of here. For the one is always shepherded by the Lord; but the present vine has undergone a great inclination toward the worse. And through the God-loving man of old, Israel, he implores God to look upon his descendants who are faring ill. And Israel could also be every discerning soul, being shepherded always by the good shepherd. And the vine of God could also be said to be the one that preserves the image of the one who said in the Gospels: I am the true vine. But the vine brought over from Egypt is the soul that has suffered perversion; such as the people of the Jews became, having practiced idolatry in Egypt for long periods, and having brought forth small fruits, as Moses testifies in the great song, writing these things about them: For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their branch is of Gomorrah. Their grape is a grape of gall, their cluster is of bitterness. Their wine is the fury of dragons, and the incurable fury of asps; but indeed, though they were in this state, God visited and transplanted them, uprooting them from their connection with Egypt, and transplanting them in another country and a fertile place, as Isaiah teaches, saying: My beloved had a vineyard on a horn in a fertile place. And I put a hedge about it, and dug a trench, and I planted a Sorek vine. And I built a tower in its midst, and dug a winepress in it. And so, having moved the aforementioned vine into a fertile place and a country much better than Egypt, he planted it. Then, like an excellent husbandman, after the first transplanting, he made a way before it, clearing away every impediment to growth, and cutting out all foreign matter, so that no hindrance might stand in its way toward the sprouting of fruits. And instead of: You made a way before it, Symmachus translated: You prepared before it. Then he added, and you made its roots strike deep. And of such care

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Ἐν δὲ τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ λέλεκται, ὅτι Παιδίον ἐγενήθη ἡμῖν, υἱὸς καὶ ἐδόθη ἡμῖν. Οὗ ἡ ἀρχὴ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὤμου αὐτοῦ, καὶ καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ μεγάλης βουλῆς Ἄγγελος. Κατὰ δὲ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἑρμηνευτάς· Θεὸς δυνατὸς, ἐξουσιαστὴς, ἄρχων εἰρήνης, πατὴρ αἰῶνος. Τοῦτο τοίνυν διδάσκεται ὑπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ προφητικοῦ εὐχὴν ἀναπέμπειν ὁ καταλειφθεὶς ἔρημος λαὸς, καὶ αὐτῷ λέγειν· Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς τῶν δυνάμεων, ἕως πότε ὀργίζῃ ἐπὶ τὴν προσευχὴν τοῦ δούλου σου; Ἀνθ' οὗ οἱ λοιποὶ πάντες ἑρμηνευταὶ, τοῦ λαοῦ σου, ἡρμήνευσαν. ∆ιδάσκονται δὲ καὶ ἄρτον δακρύων ἐσθίειν ἐφ' οἷς τετολμήκασιν· ἵν', ἀποκλαυσάμενοι τὰ ἑαυτῶν κακὰ καὶ πενθήσαντες, τύχοιεν παρακλήσεως κατὰ τὸν φήσαντα μακαρισμόν· Μακάριοι οἱ κλαίοντες, ὅτι γελάσονται· μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι παρακληθήσονται. Κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Ἐψώμισας ἡμᾶς, φησὶν, ἄρτον δακρύων, καὶ ἐπότισας ἡμᾶς μετὰ δακρύων μέτρῳ. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα κλαυθμοῦ καὶ δακρύων ἄξιοι γεγόναμεν, ὥστε ἀντὶ ἄρτου τρέφεσθαι κλαυθμοῖς καὶ στεναγμοῖς, καὶ ποτίζεσθαι δάκρυσι καὶ γόοις· ἀλλ' αὐτὰ ταῦτα μεμετρημένα ἡμῖν γινέσθω, ὥστε μὴ εἰς ἄπειρον ἡμῖν παραταθῆναι· λῆξαι δέ ποτε, καὶ μεταβαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὸ φαιδρότε 23.960 ρον. Σὺ γὰρ ἔθου ἡμᾶς εἰς ἀντιλογίαν τοῖς γείτοσιν ἡμῶν, καὶ οἱ ἐχθροὶ ἡμῶν ἐμυκτήρισαν ἡμᾶς, μηδὲν τούτων πάλαι καθ' ἡμῶν τολμῶντες, ὅτε σε προστάτην εἴχομεν. ∆ιὸ δεόμεθα, καὶ τὸν Θεὸν τῶν δυνάμεων ἀνακαλούμεθα, ἐπιστρέψαι ἡμᾶς καθικετεύοντες. Τοῦτο δὲ ἔσται εἰ ἐπιφανὴς γένοιο, καὶ τὸ σαυτοῦ πρόσωπον ἐπιδείξειας ἡμῖν. Τούτου γὰρ γενομένου, σωθησόμεθα λέξοντες ἂν καὶ ἡμεῖς· Ἐσημειώθη ἐφ' ἡμᾶς τὸ φῶς τοῦ προσώπου σου, Κύριε. Ἄμπελον ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετῆρας· ἐξέβαλες ἔθνη, καὶ κατεφύτευσας αὐτήν. Ὡδοποίησας ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῆς, καὶ κατεφύτευσας τὰς ῥίζας αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐπλήρωσε τὴν γῆν. Ἀρχόμενος τῆς ἱκετηρίας ὁ Προφήτης, τὸν ποιμαίνοντα τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἀνεκαλεῖτο. Ἦν δὲ ὁ Ἰσραὴλἕτερος τῆς ἐνταῦθα λεγομένης ἀμπέλου. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀεὶ ποιμαίνεται ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου· ἡ δὲ παροῦσα ἄμπελος πολλὴν ὑπέμεινε τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ χείρῳ ῥοπήν. ∆υσωπεῖ δὲ διὰ τοῦ θεοφιλοῦς ἀνδρὸς τοῦ πάλαι Ἰσραὴλ τὸν Θεὸν εἰς τὸ ἐπιβλέψαι κακῶς πράττουσι τοῖς ἐκείνου ἀπογόνοις. Εἴη δ' ἂν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ πᾶσα διορατικὴ ψυχὴ ὑπὸ τοῦ καλοῦ ποιμένος διὰ παντὸς ποιμαινομένη. Λεχθείη δ' ἂν καὶ ἄμπελος Θεοῦ ἡ τὴν εἰκόνα σώζουσα τοῦ φήσαντος ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις· Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή. Ἡ δ' ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετενηνεγμένη ἄμπελος ἡ παθοῦσα διαστροφὴν τυγχάνει ψυχή· ὁποῖος γέγονεν ὁ Ἰουδαίων λαὸς εἰδωλολατρήσας ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ μακροῖς χρόνοις, μικρούς τε προενεγκάμενος καρποὺς ὡς μαρτυρεῖ Μωϋσῆς ἐν μεγάλῃ ᾠδῇ γράφων ταῦτα περὶ αὐτῶν· Ἐκ γὰρ ἀμπέλου Σοδόμων ἡ ἄμπελος αὐτῶν, καὶ ἡ κληματὶς αὐτῶν ἐκ Γομόῤῥας. Ἡ σταφυλὴ αὐτῶν σταφυλὴ χολῆς, βότρυς πικρίας αὐτῶν. Θυμὸς δρακόντων ὁ οἶνος αὐτῶν, καὶ θυμὸς ἀσπίδων ἀνίατος· ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ οὕτως ἔχοντας αὐτοὺς ἐπισκεψάμενος ὁ Θεὸς μετεφύτευσεν, ἐκριζώσας μὲν τῆς Αἰγυπτιακῆς συμφυΐας, μεταφυτεύσας δὲ ἐν ἑτέρᾳ χώρᾳ καὶ τόπῳ πίονι, ὡς διδάσκει λέγων Ἡσαΐας· Ἀμπελὼν ἐγενήθη τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ ἐν κέρατι ἐν τόπῳ πίονι. Καὶ φραγμὸν περιέθηκα, καὶ ἐχαράκωσα, καὶ ἐφύτευσα ἄμπελον Σωρήχ. Καὶ ᾠκοδόμησα πύργον ἐν μέσῳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ προλήνιον ὤρυξα ἐν αὐτῷ. Καὶ δὴ ἐν τόπῳ πίονι καὶ πολὺ κρείττονι τῆς Αἰγύπτου χώρας μεταγαγὼν τὴν προλεχθεῖσαν ἄμπελον κατεφύτευσεν. Εἶθ', οἷα γεωργὸς ἄριστος, μετὰ τὴν πρώτην μεταμόσχευσιν, ὡδοποίησε ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῆς, πᾶν τὸ βλαστικὸν ἀποσκευάσας, καὶ πᾶσαν ἀλλοτρίαν ὕλην ἐκτεμὼν, ὡς μή τι κώλυμα ἐμποδὼν αὐτῇ γένοιτο πρὸς τὴν τῶν καρπῶν ἐκφυήν. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· Ὡδοποίησας ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῆς, ὁ Σύμμαχος· Ἀπεσκεύασας ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῆς, ἡρμήνευσεν. Εἶτ' ἐπήγαγε, καὶ ἐριζοβόλησας τὰς ῥίζας αὐτῆς. Τοιαύτης δ' ἐπιμελείας