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they were supported by angelic and divine powers; and branches or foliage or leaves, the whole multitude of the Jews extending to the sea, because of the unstable and fluctuating life of men; and finally offshoots, the apostles of our Savior who were with the river, about which it is said: The rushings of the river make glad the city of God. But since the aforementioned vine was deemed worthy of such things by the God Logos who formerly watched over it, the word consequently next, as if to him who had bestowed such great things, raises a difficulty, saying: Why have you broken down its hedge? And he answers saying: Because I waited for it to produce grapes, but it produced thorns; and again: I waited for it to produce judgment, but it produced iniquity, and not righteousness, but a cry. And in Jeremiah he also reproves the vine, for it was rational, saying: But I planted you a fruitful vine, wholly true. How have you turned to bitterness, a strange vine? And he adds also through Isaiah, saying: I will take away its hedge, and it will be for plunder; and I will break down its wall, and it will be for trampling. And I will let my vineyard go, and it shall not be dug, nor shall it be pruned. And thorns shall come up into it as into a waste land, and I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it. And when the hedge was broken down, that is, the power that guarded and fenced them in, it is likely that all their enemies, both invisible and unseen, being fiercer than wild beasts, ravaged them, that is, those who were accused by the word. And a certain first unclean boar, the Assyrian, having entered forcefully, destroyed the aforementioned vine, so as to lead the multitude away captive to the Assyrians. Then a second enemy, having entered, devoured what was left by the first, Nebuchadnezzar, who also burned the temple and brought it to the ground. Therefore it is said also according to Symmachus: A boar from the thicket has devoured it, and a wild solitary beast has fed upon it. But instead of 'and a wild solitary beast,' Aquila translated, 'and every kind of country.' According to another interpretation, the Babylonian first ravaged it, that is, the vine spoken of, who also was the first to lay waste Jerusalem by siege; then after him the Roman army, coming after the presence of our Savior, devoured it. And Asaph prophesies all these things, having lived in the times of David, before the building of Jeru 23.965 salem, proclaiming what would happen to it in the indicated times. Therefore, through the present psalm, he seems to prophesy at the same time both the first siege, which happened under the Babylonians, and the second, under the Romans; but through the one before this, the things that happened under Antiochus Epiphanes; and through the 70th and 3rd, only the things of the last siege, which happened under the Romans, as has been shown in the things said concerning the 73rd. O God of hosts, return, we pray, look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vine, and perfect it, which your right hand has planted, and upon the son of man, whom you have made strong for yourself. It is burned with fire and dug up, at the rebuke of your face they will perish. Having reminded the good husbandman of his great care for the vine, and of the desolation that subsequently befell it, he next and consequently beseeches him to return, as one who has turned away, and by turning away has given the vine over to all its enemies. And he beseeches him to visit, and to look down from heaven above; and to remember that the aforesaid vine is his planting, and the cultivation of his right hand, and having remembered, to visit it, as one that was formerly planted by his right hand, but is now burned with fire and dug up, and has perished from the rebuke of his face. And he asks that he restore it, having taken it up and

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ἀγγελικὰς καὶ θείας δυνάμεις ἐπεστηρίζοντο· κλήματα δὲ ἢ κόμας, ἢ χαίτας τὸ πᾶν Ἰουδαίων πλῆθος ἕως θαλάσσης ἐκτεινόμενον διὰ τὸν ἄστατον καὶ κυμαινόμενον τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίον· καὶ τέλος παραφυάδας, τοὺς ἀποστόλους τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τῷ ποταμῷ συνόντας, περὶ οὗ εἴρηται· Τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὰ ὁρμήματα εὐφραίνουσι τὴν πόλιν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τοσούτων ἠξιώθη ἡ δεδηλωμένη ἄμπελος ὑπὸ τοῦ πρότερον ἐπισκοποῦντος αὐτὴν Θεοῦ Λόγου, ἀκολούθως ὁ λόγος ἑξῆς ὡς πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν τὰ τοσαῦτα δεδωρημένον ἐπαπορεῖ λέγων· Ἱνατί καθεῖλες τὸν φραγμὸν αὐτῆς; Ὁ δὲ ἀποκρίνεται λέγων· ∆ιότι ἔμεινα ἵνα ποιήσῃ σταφυλὴν, ἐποίησε δὲ ἀκάνθας· καὶ πάλιν· Ἔμεινα ἵνα ποιήσῃ κρίσιν, ἐποίησε δὲ ἀνομίαν, καὶ οὐ δικαιοσύνην, ἀλλὰ κραυγήν. Καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς ἐλέγχει τὴν ἄμπελον, λογικὴ γὰρ ἦν, φάσκων· Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐφύτευσα ἄμπελον καρποφόρον πᾶσαν ἀληθινήν. Πῶς ἐστράφη εἰς πικρίαν ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀλλοτρία; Προστίθησι δὲ καὶ διὰ Ἡσαΐου λέγων· Καθελῶ τὸν φραγμὸν αὐτῆς, καὶ ἔσται εἰς διαρπαγήν· καὶ καθελῶ τὸν τοῖχον αὐτῆς, καὶ ἔσται εἰς καταπάτησιν. Καὶ ἀνήσω τὸν ἀμπελῶνά μου, καὶ οὐ μὴ σκαφῇ, οὐδὲ μὴ τμηθῇ. Καὶ ἀναβήσεται εἰς αὐτὸν ὡσεὶ χέρσον ἄκανθα, καὶ ταῖς νεφέλαις ἐντελοῦμαι τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι εἰς αὐτὸν ὑετόν. Καθαιρεθέντος δὲ τοῦ φραγμοῦ, τουτέστι τῆς φυλαττούσης αὐτοὺς καὶ περιφραττούσης δυνάμεως, εἰκότως πάντες λοιπὸν πολέμιοι ἀόρατοί τε καὶ ἀφανεῖς, θηρῶν ἀγρίων ὄντες ἀνημερώτεροι, ἐλυμήναντο αὐτοὺς, δηλαδὴ τοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου κατηγορουμένους. Καί τις πρῶτος ἀκάθαρτος ὗς, ὁ Ἀσσύριος, εἰσελθὼν ἰσχυρῶς, τὴν δηλωθεῖσαν ἄμπελον διέφθειρεν, ὡς καὶ ἀπαγαγεῖν αἰχμάλωτον τὸ πλῆθος εἰς τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους. Εἶτα δεύτερος πολέμιος, εἰσελθὼν, τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ πρώτου καταλειφθέντα κατενεμήσατο, ὁ Ναβουχοδονόσορ, ὁ καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν πυρπολήσας καὶ εἰς ἔδαφος ἀγαγών. ∆ιὸ λέλεκται καὶ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Κατενεμήσατο αὐτὴν ὗς ἐκ δρυμοῦ, καὶ μονιὸς ἄγριος κατεβοσκήσατο αὐτήν. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, καὶ μονιὸς ἄγριος, ὁ Ἀκύλας, καὶ παντοδαπὴν χώραν, ἡρμήνευσε. Καθ' ἑτέραν δὲ ἑρμηνείαν, ἐλυμήνατο αὐτὴν, δηλαδὴ τὴν ἀποδοθεῖσαν ἄμπελον, πρῶτος ὁ Βαβυλώνιος, ὁ καὶ πρῶτος τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ πολιορκίᾳ δῃώσας· ἔπειτα μετ' ἐκεῖνον ὁ Ῥωμαϊκὸς στρατὸς, μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν παρουσίαν ἐπελθὼν, κατενεμήσατο αὐτήν. Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα προφητεύει Ἀσὰφ κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους γεγονὼς τοῦ ∆αυῒδ, πρὸ τῆς οἰκοδομῆς τῆς Ἱερου 23.965 σαλὴμ, θεσπίζων αὐτῇ τὰ συμβησόμενα κατὰ τοὺς δηλωθέντας χρόνους. ∆ιὰ μὲν οὖν τῶν μετὰ χεῖρας ἔοικεν ὁμοῦ καὶ τὴν πρώτην πολιορκίαν τὴν ὑπὸ Βαβυλωνίων γενομένην, καὶ τὴν δευτέραν τὴν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων προφητεύειν· διὰ δὲ τοῦ πρὸ τούτου τὰ κατὰ Ἀντίοχον τὸν Ἐπιφανῆ συμβάντα· διὰ δὲ τοῦ οʹ καὶ γʹ μόνα τὰ τῆς ὑστάτης πολιορκίας τῆς ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων γενομένης, ὡς ἀποδέδεικται ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν ογʹ εἰρημένοις. Ὁ Θεὸς τῶν δυνάμεων, ἐπίστρεψον δὴ, ἐπίβλεψον ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ἴδε, καὶ ἐπίσκεψαι τὴν ἄμπελον ταύτην, καὶ κατάρτισαι αὐτὴν, ἣν ἐφύτευσεν ἡ δεξιά σου, καὶ ἐπὶ υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου, ὃν ἐκραταίωσας σεαυτῷ. Ἐμπεπυρισμένη πυρὶ καὶ ἀνεσκαμμένη, ἀπὸ ἐπιτιμήσεως τοῦ προσώπου σου ἀπολοῦνται. Ὡς ἀγαθὸν γεωργὸν ὑπομνήσας τῆς πολλῆς αὐτοῦ περὶ τὴν ἄμπελον ἐπιμελείας, καὶ τῆς μετὰ ταῦτα συμβάσης αὐτῇ ἐρημίας, ἑξῆς καὶ ἀκολούθως ἱκετεύει ἐπιστρέψαι ὡς ἀποστραφέντα, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀποστροφῆς τοῖς ἐναντίοις πᾶσιν ἐκδεδωκότα τὴν ἄμπελον. Ἐπισκέψαι δὲ αὐτὸν ἱκετεύει, καὶ ἐπιβλέψαι ἄνωθεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ· μνησθῆναί τε, ὡς ἄρα εἴη αὐτοῦ φυτεία, καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ δεξιᾶς γεωργία ἡ προλεχθεῖσα ἄμπελος, καὶ μνησθέντα ἐπισκέψασθαι αὐτὴν, ὡς ἂν πάλαι μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς αὐτοῦ δεξιᾶς φυτευθεῖσαν, νυνὶ δὲ ἐμπεπυρισμένην πυρὶ καὶ ἀνεσκαμμένην, καὶ ἀπὸ ἐπιτιμήσεως τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ ἀπολωλυῖαν. Ἀξιοῖ τε καταρτίσασθαι αὐτὴν ἀναλαβόντα καὶ