Commentary on Isaiah 1.4.15–1.4.22
Greek text: PG 70.English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
part 1, chapter 4
1.4.15PG 70
Διερωτῶντος δὲ τοῦ προφήτου, καὶ ἀναμαθεῖν τος εἰς τίνα καὶ πόσον ἐχταθήσεται καιρὸν ἡ πώρωσις, ἀποχρίνεται Θεός" « Ἕως ἂν ἐρημωθῶσιν αἱ πόλεις, παρὰ τὸ μὴ κατοικεῖσθαι, καὶ οἶκοι, παρὰ τὸ μὴ εἶναι ἀνθρώπους, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα μακρυνεῖ ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους" ν ἵνα διὰ τούτου νοῶμεν τὸν τῆς συντελείας καιρόν. Δεῖ γὰρ πρότερον πολέμους ἡμᾶς ἀκοῦσαι, καὶ ἀκοὰς πολέμων, ἀναστῆναί τε ἔθνος ἐπ᾽ ἔθνος, καὶ βασιλείας ἐπὶ βασιλείας, ἐρημωθῆναί δ: τε πόλεις, καὶ οἴκους, εἶθ᾽ οὕτω τὸ τέλος" μεθ᾽ ὃν μαχρύνονται λοιπὸν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, μετὰ τὸν τῆς ἀναστάπεως δηλονότι καιρὸν, τὸν εὐαγῆ καὶ μακραίωνα διαζῶντες βίον, ἀνηοημένης εἰς ἅπαν τῆς φθορᾶς, καὶ χατηργημένου τοῦ θανάτου, χὰ ἁπάσης ἁμαρτίας ἐξῃρημένης. Ὅτι δὲ πεπώρωται ὁ Ἰσραὴλ, κεκλήσεταί γε μὴν ἐν ἐσχάτοις ποῦ αἰῶνος καιροῖς, τῆς θεοπνεύστου Γραφῆς λεγούσης σαφῶς τε καὶ ἐναργῶς, εἰχαῖον οἶμαι τὸ διατείνεσθαι, καὶ ζητεῖν τὰ τελοῦντα πρὸς πληροφορίαν. Καὶ ἔτι ἐπ᾿ αὐτῆς ἔστι τὸ ἐπιδέκατον, καὶ αάϊιν ἔσονται εἰς προνομὴν ὡς τερέθιγθος καὶ ὡς βάζλανος ὅταν ἐκπέσῃ ἀπὸ τῆς θήκης αὑτοῦ. Διαμέμνηται καὶ νῦν ἱστορίας ὁ προφητικὸς ἡμῖν λόγος, ἣν ἀναγκαῖον, ὡς ἔοικεν, εἰπεῖν’ ἔσται γὰρ οὕτω σαφὲς τὸ δηλούμενον. Καταστρατευόντων τοιγαροῦν τῆς Ἰουδαίων χώρας, ὡς ἤδη προεῖπον, Οὐεσπασιανοῦ τε καὶ Τίτου, δεδαπάνηται μὲν ἡ τῶν Ἰουδαίων χώρα, πόλεσί τε ὁμοῦ καὶ αὐτοῖς οἴκοις ἐμπεπρησμένη, θέαμα δεινὸν, καὶ παντὸς οἴκτου μεστὸν τοῖς ὁρῶσιν ἦν, ὀλιγανδρίας ἥκειν εἰς τοῦτο λοιπὸν τὸ ἔθνος αὐτοῖς, ὡς τῆς ἀληθείας οὐκ ἀφαμαρ- «εἷῖν τὸν λέγοντα, περιλελεῖφθαι μόλις ἐν αὐτῇ τοῦ παντὸς δήμου τὸ ἐπιδέκατον. Εἶτα διατετελέχασι χρόνους τινὰς τρεφόμενοι μὲν ἐν εἰρήνῃ, πλὴν οὐκ ἔξω δειμάτων, τοῦ καὶ εἰσαῦθις παθεῖν τὴν δήωσιν, ὃ δὴ καὶ γέγονεν. ᾿Αδριανὸς γὰρ κατὰ καιροὺς τῶν Ῥωμαίων βασιλείας διέπων τοὺς θάχους, καὶ μὴν ᾿Αντίοχος ἐπίκλην Ἐπιφανὴς, κατέδραμον τῆς Ἶου- αὶ δαίων χώρας, καὶ οὐδὲν ἣν ἐν μείοσι τῶν πάλαι κακῶν προσερημουμένων λειψάνων, πεμπομένων εἰς αἰχμαλωσίαν τῶν κατειλημμένων, ὅτε καὶ τὰ τῶν Μακαδαίων συνέδη γενέσθαι πάθη. Τῶν τοιούτων διηγημάτων ἡμῖν ποιεῖται τὴν μνήμην ἐν προηγορεύσει πάλιν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς καί φησιν" « Ἔτι ἐπ᾽ αὐτῆς ἔστι τὸ ἐπιδέκατον, καὶ πάλιν ἔσται εἰς προνομήν.» Οὐ γὰρ ἕξω φροντίδος κείσεται, φησὶ, κἂν εἰ ἐν λειψάνοις γένοιτο, καὶ τοῦτο μικροῖς, τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὁ δῆμος" ἀλλ᾽ ἔσται πάλιν εἰς προνομήν. Γενήσεται δὲ ἡ χώρα καὶ τότε πάλιν αὐτοῖς ὡς τερέδινθος, καὶ αὐτοὶ δὲ ὡς βάλανος, ὅτε ἐκπέσῃ ἀπὸ τῆς θήκης αὐτοῦ. Φυτὸν μὲν γὰρ ἡ τερέδινθος, ἀλλ᾽ εἰ γένοιτο τῶν φύλλων ἀποδολὴ, πολὺ δὴ λίαν ἔχει τὸ ἁτερπὲς, … ἔχων τοὺς κλῶνας. Κατὰ τοῦτον οἶμαι τὸν τρό- Ὁ πον, καὶ χώρα παθοῦσα τῶν ἐνοικούντων αὐτὴν ἐρήμωσιν, ἐν ἴσῳ που πάντως ξηροῖς ἔσται φυτοῖς, τοῖς κατ᾽ αὐτὴν οὐκ ἔχουσι τὴν ἄνθην, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῆς παθούσης τῆς φυλλίδος τὴν ἁἀποθολήν. Ὃμοίως ἡ βάλανος καρπὸς μέν ἔστι δρυός" ὅταν δὲ τῆς θῆκης ἐχμεσθαι τῶν ζώων. Οὐκοῦν ἡ μὲν τῶν Ἰουδαίων χώρα μεμίμηται τὴν τερέδινθον ἀποδαλοῦσαν τὰ φῦλλα. Οἱ δὲ ταύτης ἀποπεπτωχότες διὰ τοῦ δραμεῖν εἰς αἱ- «ἀμαλωσίαν, ὡς βάλανοι κείσονται, μονονουχὶ θήκης ἰδίας ἐκπεπτωκότες τῆς ἐνεγκούσης αὐτούς. Τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ὁ Σολομῶν φησιν" ε« "Ὥσπερ ὄρνεον ὅταν ἐχτοι … ἀποτπασθῇ ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων τόπων. » Τί γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο ΠΣ τῶν ἐν αἰχμαλωσίᾳ τὸ οἰχτρότερον; Τί δὲ οὕτως ἐλεεινὸν καὶ πεπατημένον, ὡς ἀνθρώπους ὑπὸ χεῖρα πεσεῖν τῶν χεχρατηχότων.
Dierōtōntos de tou prophētou, kai anamathein tos eis tina kai poson echtathēsetai kairon hē pōrōsis, apochrinetai Theos" « Heōs an erēmōthōsin hai poleis, para to mē katoikeisthai, kai oikoi, para to mē einai anthrōpous, kai meta tauta makrynei ho Theos tous anthrōpous" n hina dia toutou noōmen ton tēs synteleias kairon. Dei gar proteron polemous hēmas akousai, kai akoas polemōn, anastēnai te ethnos ep᾽ ethnos, kai basileias epi basileias, erēmōthēnai d: te poleis, kai oikous, eith᾽ houtō to telos" meth᾽ hon machrynontai loipon hoi anthrōpoi, meta ton tēs anastapeōs dēlonoti kairon, ton euagē kai makraiōna diazōntes bion, anēoēmenēs eis hapan tēs phthoras, kai chatērgēmenou tou thanatou, cha hapasēs hamartias exę̄rēmenēs. Hoti de pepōrōtai ho Israēl, keklēsetai ge mēn en eschatois pou aiōnos kairois, tēs theopneustou Graphēs legousēs saphōs te kai enargōs, eichaion oimai to diateinesthai, kai zētein ta telounta pros plērophorian. Kai eti ep᾿ autēs esti to epidekaton, kai aaïin esontai eis pronomēn hōs terethigthos kai hōs bazlanos hotan ekpesę̄ apo tēs thēkēs hautou. Diamemnētai kai nyn historias ho prophētikos hēmin logos, hēn anankaion, hōs eoiken, eipein’ estai gar houtō saphes to dēloumenon. Katastrateuontōn toigaroun tēs Ioudaiōn chōras, hōs ēdē proeipon, Ouespasianou te kai Titou, dedapanētai men hē tōn Ioudaiōn chōra, polesi te homou kai autois oikois empeprēsmenē, theama deinon, kai pantos oiktou meston tois horōsin ēn, oligandrias hēkein eis touto loipon to ethnos autois, hōs tēs alētheias ouk aphamar- «heiin ton legonta, perileleiphthai molis en autę̄ tou pantos dēmou to epidekaton. Eita diatetelechasi chronous tinas trephomenoi men en eirēnę̄, plēn ouk exō deimatōn, tou kai eisauthis pathein tēn dēōsin, ho dē kai gegonen. ᾿Adrianos gar kata kairous tōn Rhōmaiōn basileias diepōn tous thachous, kai mēn ᾿Antiochos epiklēn Epiphanēs, katedramon tēs Iou- ai daiōn chōras, kai ouden hēn en meiosi tōn palai kakōn proserēmoumenōn leipsanōn, pempomenōn eis aichmalōsian tōn kateilēmmenōn, hote kai ta tōn Makadaiōn synedē genesthai pathē. Tōn toioutōn diēgēmatōn hēmin poieitai tēn mnēmēn en proēgoreusei palin ho tōn holōn Theos kai phēsin" « Eti ep᾽ autēs esti to epidekaton, kai palin estai eis pronomēn.» Ou gar hexō phrontidos keisetai, phēsi, kan ei en leipsanois genoito, kai touto mikrois, tōn Ioudaiōn ho dēmos" all᾽ estai palin eis pronomēn. Genēsetai de hē chōra kai tote palin autois hōs teredinthos, kai autoi de hōs balanos, hote ekpesę̄ apo tēs thēkēs autou. Phyton men gar hē teredinthos, all᾽ ei genoito tōn phyllōn apodolē, poly dē lian echei to haterpes, … echōn tous klōnas. Kata touton oimai ton tro- Ho pon, kai chōra pathousa tōn enoikountōn autēn erēmōsin, en isǭ pou pantōs xērois estai phytois, tois kat᾽ autēn ouk echousi tēn anthēn, alla kai autēs pathousēs tēs phyllidos tēn haapotholēn. Homoiōs hē balanos karpos men esti dryos" hotan de tēs thēkēs echmesthai tōn zōōn. Oukoun hē men tōn Ioudaiōn chōra memimētai tēn teredinthon apodalousan ta phylla. Hoi de tautēs apopeptōchotes dia tou dramein eis hai- «amalōsian, hōs balanoi keisontai, mononouchi thēkēs idias ekpeptōkotes tēs enenkousēs autous. Toiouton ti kai ho Solomōn phēsin" e« "Hōsper orneon hotan echtoi … apotpasthę̄ ek tōn idiōn topōn. » Ti gar an genoito PS tōn en aichmalōsią to oichtroteron? Ti de houtōs eleeinon kai pepatēmenon, hōs anthrōpous hypo cheira pesein tōn chechratēchotōn.
When the prophet asked and [wished] to learn to what and how long a time the hardening would extend, God answers: “Until the cities are made desolate for lack of inhabitants, and houses for lack of men; and after this God will remove men far away,” so that by this we may understand the time of the consummation. For we must first hear of wars and rumours of wars, and nation must rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and cities and houses be made desolate, and then the end; after which men are at last removed far, that is, after the time of the resurrection, living the holy and age-long life, corruption having been wholly done away, death abolished, and all sin taken away. That Israel has been hardened, yet will be called in the last times of the age, since the God-breathed Scripture says it clearly and plainly, it is idle, I think, to labour the point and to seek what would serve to convince.
“And still the tenth is upon it, and again it will be for plunder, like a terebinth and like an acorn when it falls from its husk.”
The prophetic word now recalls for us a history which, it seems, must be told; for so what is meant will be clear. When, then, as I said before, Vespasian and Titus campaigned against the country of the Jews, the country of the Jews was consumed, burned, cities and houses together. It was a terrible sight, full of all pity for those who saw it, that the nation came to such a dearth of men that one who said that scarcely a tenth of the whole people was left in it would not miss the truth. Then for some time they went on living in peace, yet not free of fears of suffering ravage once again; which indeed happened. For Hadrian, who in his time held the throne of the Roman kingdom, and also Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes overran the country of the Jews, and things were in no way less than the evils of old, the remnants being made desolate in their turn and those who were caught sent into captivity; this was when the sufferings of the Maccabees also took place. The God of all again records such narratives for us in prediction and says: “And still the tenth is upon it, and again it will be for plunder.” For the people of the Jews will not lie outside his care, he says, even if it comes down to a remnant, and a small one; but it will again be for plunder. And then the country will again become to them like a terebinth, and they themselves like an acorn when it falls from its husk. For the terebinth is a plant, but if its leaves are shed it is very unlovely … having its branches [bare]. In this way, I think, the country too, having suffered desolation of those who dwell in it, will surely be like dry plants that have no flower on them, but have also suffered the shedding of their very foliage. Likewise the acorn is the fruit of the oak; but when [it falls] from its husk, [it becomes food] for the animals. So the country of the Jews has imitated the terebinth that has shed its leaves; and those who have fallen away from it by being dragged into captivity will lie like acorns, as though fallen from their own husk that bore them. Solomon too says something of this kind: “As a bird when it [flies down] … removed from his own places.” For what could be more pitiable than those in captivity? What is so wretched and trampled on as for men to fall under the hand of their conquerors?
Isa 6:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 6:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 24:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 24:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 24:14 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rom 11:25 (allusion, medium confidence) · Rom 11:26 (allusion, medium confidence) · Isa 6:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Prov 27:8 (quotation, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Cyril reads Isa 6:11–12 also of the end and the resurrection, and Isa 6:13 of later devastations of the surviving tenth of the Jews, likened to a leafless terebinth and an acorn fallen from its husk.
- Lemma: Isa 6:13 (LXX). Quotations: Matt 24:6–7, 14; Rom 11:25–26 recalled; Prov 27:8 (only partly preserved). Cyril names Hadrian and Antiochus Epiphanes together and places the Maccabean sufferings after the Roman war; the text is translated as printed. Three runs of Migne's Latin read as Greek letters have been removed; lost words are marked “…”. Cyril's statements on Israel are translated as written.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne's Latin version read as Greek letters by the OCR; removed): ἐχοϊ τὶ! θα {ἐόοα Ἰπο αι οιΐαπι απο ἴῃ πηθπιΐοθθιν [ἰδίου ὕγο- 88 Β0ρ6Γ[ι556 εἰ χοτὶ!. [δἰ παῖδ Αἰ ἐ4ινδηλι πὴ ἰθι ρΟΥΙ 8 τὺυς → … ; ἐρή--- ἀΐ5, αι ΠοΓΘπὶ βύθη ποι ΠΔθΘηϊ, 86} οἱ [0158 → ἐρή; μι δὲ 1, χνθιν Ἰομν 68 ἰ ἀνϑηιι Υἱοίογί5 ἰο- → … .
Topics: Eschatology
Cite (SBL): Cyril of Alexandria, Comm. Isa. 1.4.15 (PG 70; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-15). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-15
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 70 (archive.org OCR); no public-domain or FOTC English exists, so each batch was re-read against the Greek.
1.4.16PG 70
οἱ οἱ βασιλείας συμδεδηχότα τοῖς ἐξ Ἰούδα καὶ Βενιαμεὶν, καὶ ταῖς ἐν τῇ Σαμαρείᾳ δέκα φυλαῖς, αἴ καὶ Ἐφραῖμ … τίθησιν ὁ προφήτης, καὶ ἀναγκαίως ἐπισημαίνεται, ἀρίστην ἐπιτιθείς, Τεθνεῶτος τοιγαροῦν ᾿Αζαρίου καὶ τοῦ Ὀζίου, διαδέχεται τὴν βασιλείαν Ἰωαθὰν, … λούθησέ τε τῷ σκοπῷ, καὶ τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασι τοῦ … οὕτως. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπεθίω, διαδέχεται τὴν βασιλείαν ὁ “Αχαζ, βασιλεύοντος ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, … εἴκοσι χιλιάδας. Παρωτρύνετο γὰρ ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς … διὰ πυρὸς καταθυμιῶν τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις δαίμοσιν. Ἐν … κατά τε τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων καὶ Ἰούδα, αὐτός τε … ρητὸν οὖσαν ὁ Αχαζ, ἄθροισιν μὲν ποιεῖται χρημά- Γελευτέσαυτος δὲ καὶ τοῦ Φαχεὲ τοῦ 'Ῥομελίου τοῦ βασιλεύσαντος κατὰ τὴν Σαμαρείαν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, διαδέχεται τὸ σκῆπτρον Ὠσηὲ υἱὸς Ἤλα, οὗ βασιλεύσαντος, ἔρχεται κατὰ τὴν Σαμαρείαν Σαλμανασὰρ ὁ ᾿Ασσύριος, καὶ εἷλε μὲν πᾶσαν, ἀπεχόμισε δὲ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ αἰχμάλωτον, καὶ ἀπῴχησεν ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι Περσῶν καὶ Μήδων" εἶτα τινὰς τῶν ὑφ᾽ ἑαυτῷ κατοικεῖν ἐκέλευσε τὴν Σαμαρείαν, τόν τε ἐκ Χουνθὰ, καὶ τὸν Σαπφαρουῖαν. Γέγραπται γὰρ οὕτως ἐν ταῖς Βασιλείαις, καὶ μαχρὺς μὲν ὁ ἐφ᾽ ἑκάστῳ τῶν εἰρημένων λόγος παρά γε τῇ θεοπνεύστῳ Γραφῇ, πλὴν πεποίημαι τὴν ἀφήγησιν βραχυλογήσας ὡς ἔνι. Ἐροῦμεν δὲ καὶ ἀνὰ μέρος ἕκαστα, ταῖ; τῶν προκειμένων ἐννοίαις ἑπόμενοι. Ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τοίνυν, φησὶν, Αχαξ τοῦ Ἰωαθὰν τοῦ υἱοῦ Ὀζίου βασιλέως βασιλεὺς Ἰσραῆχ, κατὰ τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων, ἀφίχοντο δὲ χαταδῃώσοντες, πλὴν οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν πολιορχῇσαι αὐτήν. Εἴρηται δὲ ταῦτα τέως ἐν προγραφῆς δυνάμει, καὶ ὡς ἐν ἀφηγήσει τοῦ συμδεδηχότος. Δηλοῖ γὰρ. τὴν σκέψιν καὶ αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ ἐγχείρημα, προσεπάγει δὲ “παραχρῆμα, καὶ τὸ τοῦ πράγματος πέρα" Οὐ γὰρ ἠδυνήθησαν, φησὶ, πολιορχῆσαι αὐτήν. Καὶ ἀνηγγέιη εἰς τὸν οἶκον Δαδὶδ “Συνεφρώνησεν ᾿Αρὰμ πρὸς τὸν Ἐξραῖμ, καὶ ἐξέστη ἡ γυχὴ αὑτοῦ, καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ «.ἰαοῦ αὑτοῦ, ὃν τρόπον ὅταν ἐν δρυμῷ ξύνϊιον ὑπὸ πγεύματος σαλευθῇ. Ὃρισάμενος, ὡς ἔφην, τῶν διηγημάτων τὴν πρόφασιν, καὶ ὡς ἐν βραχεῖ κεφαλαίῳ συλλήδδην εἰπὼν τὸ ἐγχείρημα τῶν δύο βασιλέων, καὶ ὅτι πρὸς πέρας αὑτοῖς οὐκ ἐχΟέδηχεν ὁ σκοπὸς, ἄρχεται λοιπὸν ἀνὰ ἃ μέρος ἕκαστα χατισχνοῦν τῷ λόγῳ. ᾿Ανηγγέλη γὰρ, φησὶν, εἰς τὸν οἶκον Δαδὶδ, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι, τὸν βασιλεύοντα, χοὶ ἀπήγγελλον ὅτι συνεφώνησεν ᾿Αρὰμ πρὸς τὴν ἙἘφραῖμ. ᾿Αρὰμ δέ φησι τὸν Σύρον, καὶ "δτραῖμ ὁμοίως τὰς ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ δέκα φυλάς. Ἐπειδὴ Σ ταῦτα τουτὸν ἔχει τὸν τρόπον, ἐπύθετο καὶ πεπίστευκεν ὁ οἶκος Δαθὶδ, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν, ὁ Αχαζ. Ἐξέστη ἡ Ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ λαοῦ αὑτοῦ, ὃν τρόπον ὅταν ἐν δρωμῳ ξύλον ὑπὸ πνεύματος σαλευθῇ. Τὸ δὲ, ἐξέστη, τίθησι κοινῶς, ἀντὶ τοῦ, κατεπλάγη, καὶ μικρὸν καὶ αὐτῆς ἐκπέπτωκε φρενός. Τὰ γάρ τοι δεινὰ τῶν δειμάτων, ἑκανά πώς ἐστι εἰς τὸ κατασεΐσαι δύνασθαι τὸν νοῦν, καὶ καταδονῆσας τὴν ψυχὴν, καί τι τοιοῦτον ὑπομεῖναι δοκεῖν, ὁποῖον ἂν πάθοι καὶ τὸ ἐν δρυμοῖς ξύλον, πνευμάτων ἀγρίων προσθολαῖς τῇδέ τε κἀκεῖσε διαῤῥιπτούμενον. Γέγονε δὲ μάλιστα τῆς δειλίας ἡ πρόφασις, ἤτοι τῆς ἐκστάσεως αὐτῷ τὸ συμδεδηχός. Ἤδη γὰρ ἔφην ὅτι βασιλεύοντος αὐτοῦ, πεπολεμήχει πρὸς τὸν Ἰούδαν ὁ Φαχεὲ, καὶ ἀνεξλεν ἐκ τοῦ λαοῦ ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι χιλιάδας. Ὅτε τοίνυν καὶ μόνος ὁ Φαχεὲ τοσοῦτος γέγονεν, ὡς κατισχῦσαι ῥχδίως τῶν ἐν τοῖς λύμοις " πῶς οὐκ ἔξει τὸν ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις ἐνδείξασθαι φόδον, αὐτόν τε τὸν “Αχαζ, καὶ τὸν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ λαὸν, συμπεφωνηχότος τοῦ Σύρου, καὶ συνεξοπλίζον-:
hoi hoi basileias symdedēchota tois ex Iouda kai Beniamein, kai tais en tę̄ Samareią deka phylais, ai kai Ephraim … tithēsin ho prophētēs, kai anankaiōs episēmainetai, aristēn epititheis, Tethneōtos toigaroun ᾿Azariou kai tou Oziou, diadechetai tēn basileian Iōathan, … louthēse te tǭ skopǭ, kai tois epitēdeumasi tou … houtōs. Epeidē de kai autos apethiō, diadechetai tēn basileian ho “Achaz, basileuontos epi ton Israēl, … eikosi chiliadas. Parōtryneto gar ho tōn holōn Theos … dia pyros katathymiōn tois akathartois daimosin. En … kata te tōn Hierosolymōn kai Iouda, autos te … rēton ousan ho Achaz, athroisin men poieitai chrēma- Geleutesautos de kai tou Phachee tou 'Rhomeliou tou basileusantos kata tēn Samareian epi ton Israēl, diadechetai to skēptron Ōsēe huios Ēla, hou basileusantos, erchetai kata tēn Samareian Salmanasar ho ᾿Assyrios, kai heile men pasan, apechomise de ton Israēl aichmalōton, kai apǭchēsen en tois oresi Persōn kai Mēdōn" eita tinas tōn hyph᾽ heautǭ katoikein ekeleuse tēn Samareian, ton te ek Chountha, kai ton Sappharouian. Gegraptai gar houtōs en tais Basileiais, kai machrys men ho eph᾽ hekastǭ tōn eirēmenōn logos para ge tę̄ theopneustǭ Graphę̄, plēn pepoiēmai tēn aphēgēsin brachylogēsas hōs eni. Eroumen de kai ana meros hekasta, tai? tōn prokeimenōn ennoiais hepomenoi. En tais hēmerais toinyn, phēsin, Achax tou Iōathan tou huiou Oziou basileōs basileus Israēch, kata tōn Hierosolymōn, aphichonto de chatadę̄ōsontes, plēn ouk ēdynēthēsan poliorchę̄sai autēn. Eirētai de tauta teōs en prographēs dynamei, kai hōs en aphēgēsei tou symdedēchotos. Dēloi gar. tēn skepsin kai auto de to encheirēma, prosepagei de “parachrēma, kai to tou pragmatos pera" Ou gar ēdynēthēsan, phēsi, poliorchēsai autēn. Kai anēngeiē eis ton oikon Dadid “Synephrōnēsen ᾿Aram pros ton Exraim, kai exestē hē gychē hautou, kai hē psychē tou «.iaou hautou, hon tropon hotan en drymǭ xynïion hypo pgeumatos saleuthę̄. Horisamenos, hōs ephēn, tōn diēgēmatōn tēn prophasin, kai hōs en brachei kephalaiǭ syllēddēn eipōn to encheirēma tōn dyo basileōn, kai hoti pros peras hautois ouk echOedēchen ho skopos, archetai loipon ana ha meros hekasta chatischnoun tǭ logǭ. ᾿Anēngelē gar, phēsin, eis ton oikon Dadid, tout᾽ esti, ton basileuonta, choi apēngellon hoti synephōnēsen ᾿Aram pros tēn HeEphraim. ᾿Aram de phēsi ton Syron, kai "dtraim homoiōs tas en Samareią deka phylas. Epeidē S tauta touton echei ton tropon, epytheto kai pepisteuken ho oikos Dathid, tout᾽ estin, ho Achaz. Exestē hē Psychē autou kai hē psychē tou laou hautou, hon tropon hotan en drōmǭ xylon hypo pneumatos saleuthę̄. To de, exestē, tithēsi koinōs, anti tou, kateplagē, kai mikron kai autēs ekpeptōke phrenos. Ta gar toi deina tōn deimatōn, hekana pōs esti eis to kataseïsai dynasthai ton noun, kai katadonēsas tēn psychēn, kai ti toiouton hypomeinai dokein, hopoion an pathoi kai to en drymois xylon, pneumatōn agriōn prostholais tę̄de te kakeise diarrhiptoumenon. Gegone de malista tēs deilias hē prophasis, ētoi tēs ekstaseōs autǭ to symdedēchos. Ēdē gar ephēn hoti basileuontos autou, pepolemēchei pros ton Ioudan ho Phachee, kai anexlen ek tou laou en mią hēmerą hekaton eikosi chiliadas. Hote toinyn kai monos ho Phachee tosoutos gegonen, hōs katischysai rhchdiōs tōn en tois lymois " pōs ouk exei ton en tois eschatois endeixasthai phodon, auton te ton “Achaz, kai ton ep᾽ autǭ laon, sympephōnēchotos tou Syrou, kai synexoplizon-:
… the things that befell, in the days of the kingdom, those of Judah and Benjamin, and the ten tribes in Samaria, which [are also called] Ephraim … the prophet sets out, and of necessity he notes them … When, then, Azariah, also called Uzziah, died, Jotham succeeded to the kingdom, who followed the aim and the practices of … thus. And when he too died, Ahaz succeeded to the kingdom, while [Pekah] reigned over Israel … twenty thousand. For the God of all was provoked … burning [his son] through fire to the unclean demons. In … against Jerusalem and Judah, and Ahaz himself … makes a collection of money … And when Pekah son of Remaliah, who reigned in Samaria over Israel, had died, Hoshea son of Elah succeeded to the sceptre; and in his reign Shalmaneser the Assyrian came against Samaria, took it all, carried Israel away captive and settled them in the mountains of the Persians and Medes; then he ordered some of those under him to dwell in Samaria, both the man from Cuthah and the one from Sepharvaim. For so it is written in the Kingdoms; and the account of each of these things in the God-breathed Scripture is long, but I have made the narrative as brief as possible. We shall speak of each point in turn, following the sense of the passage before us.
“In the days, then,” he says, “of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king [of Judah, Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah,] king of Israel, [went up] against Jerusalem,” and they came to ravage it, “but they could not besiege it.” This is said meanwhile by way of a preface, as in a narrative of what happened. For he shows the plan and the attempt itself, and immediately adds the outcome of the matter: “For they could not,” he says, “besiege it.”
“And it was told to the house of David: Aram has agreed with Ephraim; and his soul was amazed, and the soul of his people, as when a tree in a thicket is shaken by the wind.”
Having defined, as I said, the occasion of the narratives, and having stated briefly, as in a short summary, the attempt of the two kings and that their aim did not come to its end, he now begins to work out each point in detail. For it was told, he says, to the house of David, that is, to the one who reigned, and they reported that Aram had agreed with Ephraim. By Aram he means the Syrian, and likewise by Ephraim the ten tribes in Samaria. Since this was so, the house of David, that is, Ahaz, learned it and believed it. His soul was amazed, and the soul of his people, as when a tree in a thicket is shaken by the wind. He uses “was amazed” in the common sense, instead of “was struck with terror,” and all but lost his very wits. For the dreadful kinds of fear are somehow able to shake the mind and set the soul quaking, and to make one seem to undergo something like what a tree in the thickets suffers, tossed this way and that by the onsets of wild winds. The chief occasion of his cowardice, that is, of his amazement, was what had happened to him. For I have already said that in his reign Pekah made war on Judah and destroyed out of the people in one day a hundred and twenty thousand. When, then, Pekah alone had been so strong as easily to overpower those in Jerusalem, how would Ahaz himself and the people under him not show the utmost fear when the Syrian had agreed and was arming together
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Isa 7:1 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:2 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 15:7 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Kgs 16:3 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Kgs 16:8 (allusion, low confidence) · 2 Kgs 17:6 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 17:24 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Chr 28:3 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Chr 28:6 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Cyril summarizes the history of the kings from Uzziah to the fall of Samaria and explains Isa 7:1–2: Ahaz and his people tremble at the alliance of Aram and Ephraim after Pekah's earlier slaughter of Judah.
- The first part of the section is badly interleaved with Migne's Latin read as Greek letters; thirteen runs of it have been removed, and the surviving Greek is translated with the gaps marked “…”. Lemmas: Isa 7:1 (damaged; missing words supplied in brackets from the verse) and 7:2. References: 2 Kgs 15:7, 32–38; 16:1–4, 8; 17:1–6, 24; 2 Chr 28:3, 6 (the hundred and twenty thousand slain in one day).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne's Latin version read as Greek letters by the OCR; removed): ᾿δοη)πηῖῃ, ἀοοοπίαα (τ ϑυας ἐπι ϑϑιημδτία, 4 → ; ᾿πρινγαη ποπηϊμαθδιίιν δὲ [5γϑ6], δον ΐκαγαι!. ὅν. → ; Υἱκῖβ δίῃ βαγιμοιΐθι8 5018. οριΐπινην δα!ΐνοι58. → … ; τοριααι δου ]διη, Βοορυπί 8 ἃς ἰμδιϊα!α ραιγίβ δ! → ; μέγβθουΐυ8 651. Ὠι ει φυΐρρο οἱ ᾽ρ88 ἴῃ οου 5 Ὀ0- → ; ἧχοΐη] (ωοἶε86 Γαοίυμ), 4 δι δ πού) οἱ Οἱίαβ: νὸ- → … ; Ἰπγο!ἴ5, 14 68ι, ἀδααπν {τ 8, ΡΙΔο 66 {Π|᾿Ὸ ο- → … ; Μ16 188. ΠΠ| Ὸ 6! αν, ἔθη! Γὰ Αοἰνϑζαπι οἱ Ζυύδη πιονίι, → ; σηοῦ ἴῃ να γαρὶβ [8γδδὶ πη) γι. ταὶ δι νίν → … ; ΠΠ γοβοίγιπα οἱ δι σοπβϑρίγαγαπὶ, γοηϑγυπίηυς “ → … ; ἀμ Έ6}., πη ρΓοδδίοηθην ἰῃ γα Ὁ] Π6 πὶ πδίυ θη 5, ἀόογτο → … ; ῷαεὐρίαι, Ουοι φείμν δ ὀχίμμ ρογάποίμμν δὲ; 11. 5 → … ; ἰογδαίειν οδΔρίἑ νι δϑάυχίι, δἱ ἴῃ ἥμιν Ῥεγβδωιι → .
Cite (SBL): Cyril of Alexandria, Comm. Isa. 1.4.16 (PG 70; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-16). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-16
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 70 (archive.org OCR); no public-domain or FOTC English exists, so each batch was re-read against the Greek.
1.4.17PG 70
τὸς τῷ Ἐφραῖμ μετὰ τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων; ῃ Καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς Ἡσαΐαν, "Εξε.10ε εἰς᾿ συνάντησιν Αχαζ, σὺ καὶ ὁ καταμειφθεὶς α-᾿ σοῦν ὁ υἱός σου, πρὸς τὴν κοιυμδήθραν τῆς ἄνω ὁδοῦ τοῦ ἀγροῦ τοῦ κγαφέως. Καὶ ἐρεῖς αὑτῷ, Φύιαξαι τοῦ ἡσυχάσαι, καὶ μὴ φοδοῦ, μηδὲ ἡ ψυχή σου ἀσθεγείτω ἀπὸ τῶν δύο ξύλων τῶν δαιϊῶν τῶν καπνιζομέγων τούτων. Ὅταν γὰρ ὀῤγὴ τοῦ θυμοῦ μου γένηται, πάλιν ἰάσομαι. Οἰχτείρμων ὄντως καὶ ἐλεήμων ὁ Κύριος, καὶ πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἐθέλει σωθῆναι, καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν" οἰκονομεῖ δὲ πάντα σαφῶς, καὶ χαταλειαίνων ἑκάστῳ τῆς σωτηρίας τὴν ὁδόν. Καὶ τοῦτα ἡμῖν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἕνεστι τῶν πραγμάτων οὕτως ἔχον ἰδεῖν. ᾿Ανὴρ μὲν γὰρ γέγονεν εἰδωλολάτρης ὁ "Αχαζ, βδελυρὸς καὶ βέδηλος. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἦν ἐν ἀςύχτοις ἤδη κακοῖς, καὶ μονονουχὶ μεθύοντα ταῖ; συμφοραῖς ὁ φιλοιχτείρμων τεθέαται, προστίθησιν εὐθὺς τὸ ἐξεῖναι μεταλαχεῖν τῆς παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ σωτηρίας, ὑπ- Β ισχνεῖται δὲ τὴν ἐπικουρία", ἵνα παύσῃ μανίας εἰδωλομανοῦς, καὶ ἀποσχέσθαι παρασκευάζῃ τῶν ἤδη προσεπταισμένων, καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀληθοῦς θεογνωσίας ἐκδέξασθαι φῶς. Προστάττει τοίνυν ὁ προφήτης ὑπο αντῇσαί τε αὐτῷ συνόντος Ἰασοῦμ, ὃς ὑπόλειμμα καὶ ὑπο.1δ.λειμμένος ἑρμηνεύεται" μονονουχὶ τοῦ τύπου σημαίνοντος ὡς ἐν συμδόλῳ τῷ “Αχαζ, ὅτι σωθήσεται τὸ ὑπόλειμμα τοῦ Ἰούδα μετὰ Θεοῦ μεμενηχός. Θεοῦ γὰρ εἰς τύπον ὁ προφήτης λαμδάνεκαι, εὖ δὲ δὴ σφόδρα τῆς ἐπικουρίας ποιεῖται τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν ἐπὶ τῇ χολυμδήθρᾳ τῆς ἄνω ὁδοῦ τοῦ ἀγροῦ τοῦ χναφέως. Τύπο; δὲ πάλιν ἡ χολυμδήθρα τῆ; σωτηρίου πηγῆς τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος, ἣ καὶ εἰς ὁδὸν ἡμᾶς ἀποφέρει τὴν ἄνω, καὶ τοῦ νοητοῦ … ἡ ὑπόσχεσις, καὶ ὡς ἐν τύπῳ τῆς μεριχῇς τῆς καθόλου καὶ διὰ Χριστοῦ, σοφὸν δέδοται τῷ προφήτῃ τὸ αἴνιγμα. Φησὶ δὲ τὸ, « Φυλάσσου τοῦ ἡπυχάσαι, καὶ μὴ φοδοῦ, μηδὲ ἡ ψυχή σου ἀσθενείτω ἀπὸ τῶν δύο ξύλων τῶν δαλῶν φῶν χαπνιζομένων τούτων.» Καὶ τὸ μὲν ἐπιτάττειν ἠρεμεῖν καὶ φροντίδων δίχα διατελεῖν, καὶ μὴν καὶ δειμάτων ἀπαλλάττεσθαι χαλεπῶν " καλοῦντος ἣν ἄρα καὶ μάλα ἐμφρόνως εἰς εὐπείθειαν, καὶ οἱονεὶ εἰς ἀρχὰς ἀναφέροντος τοῦ χρῆναι τιμᾷν τοὺς περὶ Θεοῦ λόγους, καὶ οἷς ἂν λέγοι τὸ ἀληθὲς ἑτοίμως ἐπιψηφίζεσθαι. Δαλοὺς δὲ καὶ ξύλα χαπνιζόμενα καλεῖ, τοὺς κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ συμπεφωνηχότας, ὡς ὅσον οὐδέπω πεπαυσομένους καὶ αὐτοῦ …
tos tǭ Ephraim meta tōn Hierosolymōn? ę̄ Kai eipe Kyrios pros Hēsaïan, "Exe.10e eis᾿ synantēsin Achaz, sy kai ho katameiphtheis a-᾿ soun ho huios sou, pros tēn koiymdēthran tēs anō hodou tou agrou tou kgapheōs. Kai ereis hautǭ, Phuiaxai tou hēsychasai, kai mē phodou, mēde hē psychē sou asthegeitō apo tōn dyo xylōn tōn daiïōn tōn kapnizomegōn toutōn. Hotan gar orgē tou thymou mou genētai, palin iasomai. Oichteirmōn ontōs kai eleēmōn ho Kyrios, kai pantas anthrōpous ethelei sōthēnai, kai eis epignōsin alētheias elthein" oikonomei de panta saphōs, kai chataleiainōn hekastǭ tēs sōtērias tēn hodon. Kai touta hēmin ex autōn henesti tōn pragmatōn houtōs echon idein. ᾿Anēr men gar gegonen eidōlolatrēs ho "Achaz, bdelyros kai bedēlos. Epeidē de ēn en asychtois ēdē kakois, kai mononouchi methyonta tai? symphorais ho philoichteirmōn tetheatai, prostithēsin euthys to exeinai metalachein tēs par᾽ autou sōtērias, hyp- B ischneitai de tēn epikouria", hina pausę̄ manias eidōlomanous, kai aposchesthai paraskeuazę̄ tōn ēdē proseptaismenōn, kai to tēs alēthous theognōsias ekdexasthai phōs. Prostattei toinyn ho prophētēs hypo antę̄sai te autǭ synontos Iasoum, hos hypoleimma kai hypo.1d.leimmenos hermēneuetai" mononouchi tou typou sēmainontos hōs en symdolǭ tǭ “Achaz, hoti sōthēsetai to hypoleimma tou Iouda meta Theou memenēchos. Theou gar eis typon ho prophētēs lamdanekai, eu de dē sphodra tēs epikourias poieitai tēn hyposchesin epi tę̄ cholymdēthrą tēs anō hodou tou agrou tou chnapheōs. Typo? de palin hē cholymdēthra tē? sōtēriou pēgēs tou hagiou baptismatos, hē kai eis hodon hēmas apopherei tēn anō, kai tou noētou … hē hyposchesis, kai hōs en typǭ tēs merichę̄s tēs katholou kai dia Christou, sophon dedotai tǭ prophētę̄ to ainigma. Phēsi de to, « Phylassou tou hēpychasai, kai mē phodou, mēde hē psychē sou astheneitō apo tōn dyo xylōn tōn dalōn phōn chapnizomenōn toutōn.» Kai to men epitattein ēremein kai phrontidōn dicha diatelein, kai mēn kai deimatōn apallattesthai chalepōn " kalountos hēn ara kai mala emphronōs eis eupeitheian, kai hoionei eis archas anapherontos tou chrēnai timąn tous peri Theou logous, kai hois an legoi to alēthes hetoimōs epipsēphizesthai. Dalous de kai xyla chapnizomena kalei, tous kat᾽ autou sympephōnēchotas, hōs hoson oudepō pepausomenous kai autou …
with Ephraim against Jerusalem?
“And the Lord said to Isaiah: Go out to meet Ahaz, you and the one who is left, Jashub your son, at the pool of the upper road of the fuller's field. And you will say to him: Take care to be quiet, and do not fear, nor let your soul be faint because of these two smoking firebrands. For when the anger of my wrath has come, I will heal again.”
The Lord is truly compassionate and merciful, and wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth; and he manifestly orders all things, smoothing for each the way of salvation. And we can see from the facts themselves that this is so. For Ahaz was an idolater, an abominable and profane man. But when the lover of compassion saw him already in inescapable evils, and all but drunk with calamities, he at once offers him the opportunity to share in his salvation, and promises help, so as to stop his idol-madness, to prepare him to abstain from his former offences, and to receive the light of the true knowledge of God. He orders the prophet, then, to meet him, with Jashub, which is interpreted “remnant” and “one who is left”; the type as it were signifying to Ahaz in a symbol that the remnant of Judah which remains with God will be saved. For the prophet is taken as a type of God, and very fittingly he makes the promise of help at the pool of the upper road of the fuller's field. The pool, again, is a type of the saving spring of holy baptism, which also carries us to the upper road, and of the spiritual … the promise; and as a type of the universal [salvation] through Christ by means of the partial one, the wise riddle is given to the prophet. He says: “Take care to be quiet, and do not fear, nor let your soul be faint because of these two smoking firebrands.” And to command him to be at rest and to continue free of cares, and moreover to be rid of grievous fears, was the act of one calling him very wisely to obedience, and bringing him back, as it were, to the first principle that one must honour the words about God and readily assent to whatever truth they speak. He calls those who had agreed against him firebrands and smoking logs, as people who are on the very point of ceasing …
Isa 7:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:4 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 2:4 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Cyril reads God's offer of help to the idolater Ahaz (Isa 7:3–4) as divine mercy, the son Jashub as the saved remnant, and the pool of the upper road as a type of baptism.
- Lemma: Isa 7:3–4 (LXX). Quotations: 1 Tim 2:4. Shear-jashub is interpreted as “remnant”; the pool as a type of baptism is Cyril's own reading. Four runs of Migne's Latin read as Greek letters have been removed; lost words are marked “…”; the section breaks off mid-sentence.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne's Latin version read as Greek letters by the OCR; removed; Migne's Latin version read as Greek letters by the OCR; removed (and the OCR slip ἄγω for ἄνω corrected)): δι] ἐκί τω πὶ δογιμη σου 8 18 ποῦ ρογνοπογίωι, αυδπιδάἀπιυάυμν οὐ μι δῖ νὰ Πα αν ἃ. ΝΘ 10 ἀΐοες εἰ, Οὐδέγυα μὶ γιϊΐδδοας, (ἱ πὲ πιείμαδ, ΠΕ Α ἄγω → ἄνω; νεδιΐξίο, 86 ρο! εις δυχί νην, οι δῦ ἰἀοϊοιναηΐα → ; 46 ρτιάοη! 88} 1η6, υυδάϊειιΐδηι, οἱ νοι γα δ ιοὖν → … ; δκ ϑυία, υἱ ἀϊχὶ, ὑπὸ ἀΐᾷ ουγγυΐπϑδιι: οἰΐδιν [8 δι ΐων ἴγὰ (τοῦδ πιϑὶ [Π 611}. ἰ σα! βᾶπα 0,» ἰὰ 46 1, Τί, ὦ. → … .
Topics: Baptism
Cite (SBL): Cyril of Alexandria, Comm. Isa. 1.4.17 (PG 70; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-17). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-17
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 70 (archive.org OCR); no public-domain or FOTC English exists, so each batch was re-read against the Greek.
1.4.18PG 70
ὁ δαλὸς, ὅταν ἐξέληται τοῦ πυρὸς, καπνίξζεται μὲν, πλὴν ἐν χαταλήξει γίνεται, τοῦ καὶ ἔτι τὸ πῦρ ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ" κατὰ τὸν ἴσον, οἶμαι, τουτονὶ τρόπον, καὶ ἄνθρωπος μέλλων ἣ ζωῆς ἢ πράγματος ἐν χαταλή ξει γίνεσθαι, λέγοιτ᾽ ἂν εἰκότως δαλὸς ἢ ξύλον καπνιζόμενον ἔτι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἠπίστοιτο περιδεεῖς μάλιστα γεγονότας, καὶ ἐν κατηφείᾳ πολλῇ, διά τε τὸ ἡττᾶσθαι μεμαχημένους πρὸς Φαχεὲ, ὅτε καὶ πεπτώκασιν, ὡς ἔφην, ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι χιλιάδες ἐκ τοῦ Ἰούδα ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιζ καὶ τούτων ἐξίστησι τῶν δειμάτων αὖποὺς, καί φησιν’ εἴταν γὰρ ὀργὴ τοῦ θυμοῦ μου γένηται, πάλιν ἰάσομαι" ν» τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν, οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἐκεῖνοι πεπτώχατιν, εἰ μὴ δέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὑπὸ χεῖρα τῶν ἐχθρῶν θυμὸς ἐμάς. ᾿Άλλ᾽ εἰ γένοιτο, φησὶ, τὰ ἐξ ὀργῆς κατά τινων, ἰάσομαι πάλιν τοὺς πεπονθότας. Ὃ γὰρ παραδοὺς ἐξ ὀργῆς, ἐξελεῖται ῥᾳδίως δι᾽ ἔμφυτον ἡμερότητα καὶ φιλανθρωπίαν. Καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ᾿Αρὰμ, καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Ῥομελίου, ὅτι ἐδουλεύσαντο βου.λὴν πονηρὰν περὶ σοῦ.16- Ἴογτες " ᾿Αγαθδησόμεθα εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς, καὶ βασιλεύσομεν αὐτοῖς τὸν υἱὸν Ταδεή.1." τάδε «“έγει Κύριος Σαδαώθ' Οὐ μὴ ἐμμείνῃ ἡ βουλὴ αὕτη, οὐδὲ ἔσται. Οὔτε τῶν κατ᾽ αὑτοῦ σχευωρημάτων τὴν ἀπαγγελίαν ἀπιστεῖσθαι συγχωρεζξ, οὐτε μὴν ἐφίησι περισσῶς συνθραύεσθαι δείματι. Βεδαιώσας δὲ μᾶλλον, καὶ ἀληθεῖς ἀποφήνας τὰς κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ συναινέσεις ἤγουν συμφωνίας τῶν δύο βασιλέων, ὑπισχνεῖται τὴν ἐπικουρίαν μεπατάττων ἐπὶ τὸ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν μᾶλλον ἐρηρεῖσθαι δεῖν, καὶ μὴ ταῖς τῶν εἰδώλων προσκεῖσθαι λατρείαις, καὶ «τοῖς τῶν ψευδομαντέων λόγοις, οἵ μυρία μὲν ὅσα κατὰ γνώμην φασὶ τοῖς τὰς πεύσεις προσάγουσι, λαλοῦσέ γε μὴν τῶν ἀληθῶν οὐδέν. Ὅτι τοίνυν ἐδουλεύσαντο, φησὶν, ἀνελθεῖν μὲν εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, καὶ συλλαλῇσαι τοῖς ὑπὸ χεῖρα σὴν, ἀναπεῖσαί τε ταῖς αὑτῶν ἕπεσθαι γνώμαις, ἀληθὲς καὶ ὡμολογημένον. Βούλονται γὰρ ἐπιστῆσαι τὸν τοῦ Ταδεὴλ υἱόν. ᾿Αλλ᾽ οὖκ ἔσται τοῦτο, φησίν. Καὶ τίς ὁ ὑπισχνούμενος; Κύριος Σαδαὼθ, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι, Κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων, ἧτοι ἐκ στρατιῶν " οὗ δὴ συννεύοντος τὸ χρῆναι νιπᾷν, οἷς ἂν ἕλοιτο τυχὸν, τίς ὁ ἀναστρέψων τὰ ἐψηφίσμένα; Καὶ τοῖς θείοις; αὐτου κρίμασιν, τίς ὁ ἀντἐξάγειν δυνάμενος; Βεδαιοῖ τοιγαροῦν εἰς πίστιν τοὺς ἀπίστους ἕτι. Οὐ γὰρ χρείαν ἔχουσιν οἱ ὑγιαίνόντες ἰατροῦ, ἀλλ᾽ οἱ κακῶς ἔχοντες, καθὰ καὶ αὐτὸς εἴρηκεν ὁ Σωτήρ. Ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι υἱὸν μὲν τοῦ ᾿Αρὰμ αὶ πὃν Σύρον ἀποκαλεῖ, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι, τὸν Ραασσὼν, τοῦ ὙΞ μὴν Ῥομελίου τὸν Φαχεὲ, ὃς βεδασίλευχεν ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴδλ. τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι, τῶν δέκα φυλῶν ἐν τῇ Σαμαρείᾳ. 1κ.1.1} ἡ κεφαλὴ ᾿Αρὰμ Δαμασχὸς, καὶ ἡ κεφαιὴ Δαμασκοῦ Ῥαασσών" ἀλλ. ἔτι ἑξήκοντα καὶ πέντε ἐτῶν, ἐχιλείψει ἡ βασιιεία ᾿Εφραῖμ ἀπὸ «ἰαοῦ, καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ ᾿Εφραῖμ Σομόρων, καὶ ἡ κεφα.1ὴ Σομόρων, υἱὸς τοῦ 'Ῥομελίου. Καὶ ἐὰν μὴ πιστεύσητε, οὐδ᾽ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε.
ho dalos, hotan exelētai tou pyros, kapnixzetai men, plēn en chatalēxei ginetai, tou kai eti to pyr echein en heautǭ" kata ton ison, oimai, toutoni tropon, kai anthrōpos mellōn hē zōēs ē pragmatos en chatalē xei ginesthai, legoit᾽ an eikotōs dalos ē xylon kapnizomenon eti. Epeidē de ēpistoito perideeis malista gegonotas, kai en katēpheią pollę̄, dia te to hēttasthai memachēmenous pros Phachee, hote kai peptōkasin, hōs ephēn, hekaton eikosi chiliades ek tou Iouda en hēmerą miz kai toutōn existēsi tōn deimatōn aupous, kai phēsin’ eitan gar orgē tou thymou mou genētai, palin iasomai" n» tout᾽ estin, oud᾽ an ekeinoi peptōchatin, ei mē dedōken autous hypo cheira tōn echthrōn thymos emas. ᾿All᾽ ei genoito, phēsi, ta ex orgēs kata tinōn, iasomai palin tous peponthotas. Ho gar paradous ex orgēs, exeleitai rhądiōs di᾽ emphyton hēmerotēta kai philanthrōpian. Kai ho huios tou ᾿Aram, kai ho huios tou Rhomeliou, hoti edouleusanto bou.lēn ponēran peri sou.16- Iogtes " ᾿Agathdēsometha eis tēn Ioudaian, kai pros hēmas, kai basileusomen autois ton huion Tadeē.1." tade «“egei Kyrios Sadaōth' Ou mē emmeinę̄ hē boulē hautē, oude estai. Oute tōn kat᾽ hautou scheuōrēmatōn tēn apangelian apisteisthai synchōrezx, oute mēn ephiēsi perissōs synthrauesthai deimati. Bedaiōsas de mallon, kai alētheis apophēnas tas kat᾽ autou synaineseis ēgoun symphōnias tōn dyo basileōn, hypischneitai tēn epikourian mepatattōn epi to ep᾽ autōn mallon erēreisthai dein, kai mē tais tōn eidōlōn proskeisthai latreiais, kai «tois tōn pseudomanteōn logois, hoi myria men hosa kata gnōmēn phasi tois tas peuseis prosagousi, lalouse ge mēn tōn alēthōn ouden. Hoti toinyn edouleusanto, phēsin, anelthein men eis tēn Ioudaian, kai syllalę̄sai tois hypo cheira sēn, anapeisai te tais hautōn hepesthai gnōmais, alēthes kai hōmologēmenon. Boulontai gar epistēsai ton tou Tadeēl huion. ᾿All᾽ ouk estai touto, phēsin. Kai tis ho hypischnoumenos? Kyrios Sadaōth, tout᾽ esti, Kyrios tōn dynameōn, hētoi ek stratiōn " hou dē synneuontos to chrēnai nipąn, hois an heloito tychon, tis ho anastrepsōn ta epsēphismena? Kai tois theiois? autou krimasin, tis ho antexagein dynamenos? Bedaioi toigaroun eis pistin tous apistous heti. Ou gar chreian echousin hoi hygiainontes iatrou, all᾽ hoi kakōs echontes, katha kai autos eirēken ho Sōtēr. Isteon de hoti huion men tou ᾿Aram ai pon Syron apokalei, tout᾽ esti, ton Raassōn, tou HyX mēn Rhomeliou ton Phachee, hos bedasileuchen epi ton Israēdl. tout᾽ esti, tōn deka phylōn en tę̄ Samareią. 1k.1.1} hē kephalē ᾿Aram Damaschos, kai hē kephaiē Damaskou Rhaassōn" all. eti hexēkonta kai pente etōn, echileipsei hē basiieia ᾿Ephraim apo «iaou, kai hē kephalē ᾿Ephraim Somorōn, kai hē kepha.1ē Somorōn, huios tou 'Rhomeliou. Kai ean mē pisteusēte, oud᾽ ou mē synēte.
… a firebrand, when it is taken out of the fire, smokes, but is about to cease from still having the fire in itself; in the same way, I think, a man too who is about to come to the end either of life or of an undertaking might fittingly be called a firebrand or a log still smoking. And since he knew that they had become very fearful and deeply dejected, because they had been defeated when they fought against Pekah, when, as I said, a hundred and twenty thousand of Judah fell in one day, he frees them from these fears too and says: “For when the anger of my wrath has come, I will heal again”; that is, not even those would have fallen, had not my wrath given them into the hands of their enemies. But if, he says, the effects of anger come against some, I will heal again those who have suffered. For the one who handed them over in anger will easily deliver them because of his innate gentleness and love for mankind.
“And the son of Aram and the son of Remaliah, because they have planned an evil plan concerning you, saying: Let us go up into Judea and, having conferred with them, turn them to us, and we will make the son of Tabeel king over them; thus says the Lord Sabaoth: This plan will not stand, nor will it be.”
He neither allows the report of the schemes against him to be disbelieved, nor lets him be crushed overmuch by fear. Rather, having confirmed and shown to be true the agreements, that is, the compacts, of the two kings against him, he promises help, ordering him rather to rest on it and not to cling to the worship of idols and the words of false diviners, who say countless things to suit the wishes of those who bring them their questions, but speak nothing true. That they planned, he says, to go up into Judea, confer with those under your hand, and persuade them to follow their designs, is true and admitted. For they wish to set up the son of Tabeel. But this will not be, he says. And who is the one who promises? The Lord Sabaoth, that is, the Lord of powers, or of hosts; when he nods his assent that whoever he chooses must conquer, who will overturn what he has decreed? And who can set himself against his divine judgements? He confirms in faith, then, those who are still unbelieving. For those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, as the Saviour himself said. It should be known that by the son of Aram he means the Syrian, that is, Rezin, and by the son of Remaliah Pekah, who reigned over Israel, that is, over the ten tribes in Samaria.
“But the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus Rezin; but yet within sixty-five years the kingdom of Ephraim will fail from being a people; and the head of Ephraim is Somoron, and the head of Somoron the son of Remaliah. And if you do not believe, neither will you understand.”
Isa 7:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:5 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:9 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Chr 28:6 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 9:12 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Cyril explains the 'smoking firebrands' as kings near their end, God's promise to heal after his anger, and the oracle that the plot of Rezin and Pekah (Isa 7:5–7) will fail, then gives the lemma of Isa 7:8–9.
- The section begins mid-sentence. Lemmas: Isa 7:4b, 7:5–7, 7:8–9 (LXX; “Somoron” for Samaria). Quotations: 2 Chr 28:6 recalled; Matt 9:12. A run of Migne's Latin read as Greek letters has been removed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne's Latin version read as Greek letters by the OCR; removed): [ἐτεηλι8 608 αα πος, δἰ τέγεπι γτοῇβεῖθηιι8 {16 ἢ! ἔνι ηὰ → .
Cite (SBL): Cyril of Alexandria, Comm. Isa. 1.4.18 (PG 70; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-18). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-18
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 70 (archive.org OCR); no public-domain or FOTC English exists, so each batch was re-read against the Greek.
1.4.19PG 70
Τοῖς διατρανοῦν ἐθέλουσι τὰ ἕν τῇ θεοπνεύστῳ Γραφῇ, χρεία δὴ πάντως καὶ ἀφηγήσεως ἱστοριῶν, ἵνα πανταχόθεν τὸ ἀληθὲς τοῖς θείοις ἕπηται λόγοις. Ἐξηγεῖται τοίνυν ὁ προφήτης τὰ ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς Γράμμασι, δι᾽ ὧν ἔστι μάλιστα ταῖς τῶν προκειμένων ἐννοίαις ἄριστα προσδαλεῖν. Οὐκοῦν ἐν χαιροῖς βασιλείας τοῦ Αχαζ συμπεφωνήχασι μὲν μετὰ τοῦ Ἰούδα καὶ τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων ὅ τε ' Ραασσὼν βασιλεὺς Συρίας καὶ Δαμασκοῦ, καὶ Φαχεὲ υἱὸς Ῥοομελίου βασιλεύων ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐν τῇ Σαμαρείᾳ. Δεδιὼς «οἶνυν τὴν ἔφοδον ὁ “Αχαξ πείθει χρήμασι τὸν Θεγλαφαλλασὰρ τῶν ᾿Ασσυρίων βασιλέα ἐπαμῦναί τε ἑαυτῷ, καὶ τῶν συμπεφωνηχότων ἀνατρέψαι τὴν ἔφοδον. Ὃς καὶ ἐλθὼν ἀνεῖλε μὲν τὴν Δαμασχὸν, μητρόπολιν οὖσαν τῶν Σύρων, ἀπέκτεινε δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν Ῥα- αασσών. ᾿Αποθανόντος δὲ καὶ τοῦ Φακεὲ, ἐν τῇ Σαμαρείᾳ, ὃς ἣν τοῦ Ῥομελίον, διαδέχεται τὴν βασιλείαν Ὡσηὲ υἱὸς Ἠλᾶ, πονηρὸς ἀνὴρ, καὶ ταῖς τῶν δαιμονίων ἀπάταις ἐγκείμενος. Οὗ διέποντος τὴν βασιλείαν ἀνέδη Σαλμανασὰρ ὁ ᾿Ασσύριος; κατὰ πάσης τῆς Σαμαρείας, καὶ παραχρῆμα μὲν εἷλεν τὸν Ὡσηὶ, καὶ ἐν οἰκέτου τάξει πεποίηται" χαταδῃώσας δὲ τὴν χώραν ἅπασαν, καὶ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἀποφήνας ἐρήμὴν, καθίστησιν ἀντ' αὐτῶν τῶν ἰδίων τινὰς ἐνοίχους, ἦτοι τῶν ὑπὸ μεῖρα, τόν τε Ἐχχουθὰ καὶ τὸν Σαπφαρουῖαν " ἔθνη δὲ οἶμαι ταυτὶ Περσιχά. "ἐγραᾶπται γὰρ οὕτως ἐν βίδλοις Βασιλειῶν. Ταύτης ἡμῖν ἱστορίας τὴν ἀφήγησιν ὁ προφήτης, λέγων " « Τάδε λέγει Κύριος" Οὐ μὴ ἐμμείνῃ ἡ βουλὴ αὕτη, οὐδὲ ἔσται, ἀλλ᾽ ἢ κεφαλὴ Ἐφραῖμ Δαμασχὸς, καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ Δαμασκοῦ Ῥαασσίμ᾽ ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι ἐξέχοντα καὶ πέντε ἐτῶν ἐκλείψει ἡ βασιλεία ἙἘφραῖμ ἀπὸὴ λαοῦ.» Καὶ ἀσαφὴς μὲν ἡ τῶν λέξεων συνθήκη" προσθαλεῖν δὲ χρὴ τοιῶσδε" Ἡ κεφαλὴ, φησὶν, ᾿Αρχμ, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι τὴς Συρίας, Δαμασχός. καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ Δαγὰρ τῆς τε χώρας καὶ τῆς πόλεως ὁ βασιλεύων αὐτῶν. Καὶ ἡ βασιλεία δὲ Ἐφραῖμ ἐκλείψει ἀπὸ λαοῦ - ἕτι ἑξήκοντα καὶ πέντε ἑτῶν ἐκλείψει ἡ βασιλεία Ἐφραῖμ, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι, τοῦ Ἰσραήλ’ ἐκλείψει καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ ᾿Αρὰμ, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν ἡ Δαμασχὸς, καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ Δαμασκοῦ, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν ὁ Ῥαασσών. Εἶἷλεν γὰρ. ὡς ἔφην, ὁ μὲν Θεγλαφαλλασὰρ τὴν τε Δαμασχὺν καὶ τὸν Ραασσὼν, ὁ δὲ Σαλμανασὰρ τὸν Ὡσηὲ βασιλέα ( Ἐφραῖμ, ἤτοι τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ τὴν Σομόρων, ἤτοι Σαμαρείαν, ἀπὸ κοινοῦ τρέχοντος τὸ ἐχιλδίψρει " καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ ὃὲ Ἐφραῖμ Σομόρων ἐκλείψει πάλιν. Κεφαλὴν δὲ Ἐφραῖμ τὰ Σόμορα καλεῖ, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι τὴν Σαμαρείαν: μητρόπολις γὰρ Σαμαρείας Σόμορα.
Tois diatranoun ethelousi ta hen tę̄ theopneustǭ Graphę̄, chreia dē pantōs kai aphēgēseōs historiōn, hina pantachothen to alēthes tois theiois hepētai logois. Exēgeitai toinyn ho prophētēs ta en tois hierois Grammasi, di᾽ hōn esti malista tais tōn prokeimenōn ennoiais arista prosdalein. Oukoun en chairois basileias tou Achaz sympephōnēchasi men meta tou Iouda kai tōn Hierosolymōn ho te ' Raassōn basileus Syrias kai Damaskou, kai Phachee huios Rhoomeliou basileuōn epi ton Israēl en tę̄ Samareią. Dediōs «oinyn tēn ephodon ho “Achax peithei chrēmasi ton Theglaphallasar tōn ᾿Assyriōn basilea epamynai te heautǭ, kai tōn sympephōnēchotōn anatrepsai tēn ephodon. Hos kai elthōn aneile men tēn Damaschon, mētropolin ousan tōn Syrōn, apekteine de kai auton ton Rha- aassōn. ᾿Apothanontos de kai tou Phakee, en tę̄ Samareią, hos hēn tou Rhomelion, diadechetai tēn basileian Hōsēe huios Ēla, ponēros anēr, kai tais tōn daimoniōn apatais enkeimenos. Hou diepontos tēn basileian anedē Salmanasar ho ᾿Assyrios? kata pasēs tēs Samareias, kai parachrēma men heilen ton Hōsēi, kai en oiketou taxei pepoiētai" chatadę̄ōsas de tēn chōran hapasan, kai tōn huiōn Israēl apophēnas erēmēn, kathistēsin ant' autōn tōn idiōn tinas enoichous, ētoi tōn hypo meira, ton te Echchoutha kai ton Sappharouian " ethnē de oimai tauti Persicha. "egraaptai gar houtōs en bidlois Basileiōn. Tautēs hēmin historias tēn aphēgēsin ho prophētēs, legōn " « Tade legei Kyrios" Ou mē emmeinę̄ hē boulē hautē, oude estai, all᾽ ē kephalē Ephraim Damaschos, kai hē kephalē Damaskou Rhaassim᾽ all᾽ eti exechonta kai pente etōn ekleipsei hē basileia HeEphraim apoē laou.» Kai asaphēs men hē tōn lexeōn synthēkē" prosthalein de chrē toiōsde" Hē kephalē, phēsin, ᾿Archm, tout᾽ esti tēs Syrias, Damaschos. kai hē kephalē Dagar tēs te chōras kai tēs poleōs ho basileuōn autōn. Kai hē basileia de Ephraim ekleipsei apo laou - heti hexēkonta kai pente hetōn ekleipsei hē basileia Ephraim, tout᾽ esti, tou Israēl’ ekleipsei kai hē kephalē ᾿Aram, tout᾽ estin hē Damaschos, kai hē kephalē Damaskou, tout᾽ estin ho Rhaassōn. Eiilen gar. hōs ephēn, ho men Theglaphallasar tēn te Damaschyn kai ton Raassōn, ho de Salmanasar ton Hōsēe basilea ( Ephraim, ētoi tou Israēl, kai tēn Somorōn, ētoi Samareian, apo koinou trechontos to echildipsrei " kai hē kephalē hoe Ephraim Somorōn ekleipsei palin. Kephalēn de Ephraim ta Somora kalei, tout᾽ esti tēn Samareian: mētropolis gar Samareias Somora.
For those who wish to make plain what is in the God-breathed Scripture there is surely need also of narrating histories, so that truth may follow the divine words on every side. The prophet, then, explains what is in the sacred Writings, through which one can best approach the meaning of what lies before us. In the times of Ahaz's reign, then, Rezin king of Syria and Damascus and Pekah son of Remaliah, who reigned over Israel in Samaria, made an agreement together against Judah and Jerusalem. Ahaz, fearing the attack, persuades Tiglath-pileser king of the Assyrians with money to help him and to overturn the attack of the allies. He came and destroyed Damascus, the metropolis of the Syrians, and killed Rezin himself. And when Pekah too, who was the son of Remaliah, had died in Samaria, Hoshea son of Elah succeeded to the kingdom, a wicked man, given over to the deceits of the demons. While he administered the kingdom, Shalmaneser the Assyrian came up against all Samaria, at once took Hoshea and made him a servant; and having ravaged the whole country and emptied it of the sons of Israel, he settled in their place some of his own people, that is, of those under his hand, the man from Cuthah and the one from Sepharvaim; these, I think, are Persian nations. For so it is written in the books of the Kingdoms. The prophet [gives] us the narrative of this history, saying: “Thus says the Lord: This plan will not stand, nor will it be; but the head of Ephraim is Damascus, and the head of Damascus Rezin; but yet within sixty-five years the kingdom of Ephraim will fail from being a people.” The arrangement of the words is obscure, but one should approach it thus. The head of Aram, he says, that is, of Syria, is Damascus, and the head of Da[mascus is Rezin; for the head] of both the country and the city is the one who reigns over them. And the kingdom of Ephraim will fail from being a people: within sixty-five years the kingdom of Ephraim, that is, of Israel, will fail; the head of Aram, that is, Damascus, will also fail, and the head of Damascus, that is, Rezin. For, as I said, Tiglath-pileser took Damascus and Rezin, and Shalmaneser Hoshea king of Ephraim, that is, of Israel, and Somoron, that is, Samaria, “will fail” being understood in common with all of them; and again the head of Ephraim, Somoron, will fail. He calls Somora the head of Ephraim, that is, Samaria; for Somora is the metropolis of Samaria.
2 Kgs 16:5 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 16:9 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 17:3 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 17:6 (allusion, high confidence) · 2 Kgs 17:24 (allusion, high confidence) · Isa 7:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:8 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Cyril tells from Kings how Tiglath-pileser destroyed Damascus and Rezin and Shalmaneser took Samaria, and explains the obscure wording of Isa 7:7–8 accordingly.
- Quotations and references: 2 Kgs 16:5–9; 17:1–6, 24; Isa 7:7–8 (in this quotation the scan reads “the head of Ephraim is Damascus,” evidently a slip for “of Aram”; translated as printed). A run of Migne's Latin read as Greek letters has been removed; a few lost words are supplied in brackets from the lemma.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Migne's Latin version read as Greek letters by the OCR; removed): Ὀ ὁδὶ υἱγίυϊ 5. δοὺ Ἔχϑγοϊ (τη : 400 δι δηῖ6 Υἱοῦ πὶ δκ βυ νυ εἶθ. 8118, δου απ δὲ Βοιμΐιυ5, ἱπαιΐί : Νου πιδηουΐ! σοι δἰ {πὶ ἰος. "6 αυΐϊάδαι 651 υϑυυογιπὶ δίγυοίιγδ, δι αῃς ἷμ ᾿ποι αι λΐδεο : « Εἰ β' ποῦ ογεθϊ δε εἶ8, ἤθη ἱπιο ἢ φε 15.» π δ ἢ18, οἱ οοροϊ τοι δ᾽ 05 ργαβε| 6556 ἤθη ροδδιμῖ, → .
Cite (SBL): Cyril of Alexandria, Comm. Isa. 1.4.19 (PG 70; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-19). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-19
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam-1-4-19) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 70 (archive.org OCR); no public-domain or FOTC English exists, so each batch was re-read against the Greek.
1.4.20PG 70
Ἐφροῖμ, δὲ ὅταν λέγει, τὸν Ἰσραὴλ δηλοῖ" καὶ ἡ κεφαλὴ Σομόρων υἱὸς τοῦ Ῥομελίου, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν ὁ Φαχεέ" τρέχει δὲ πάλιν τὸ ἐχιλείψει κατὰ πάντων. Προσεπάγει δὲ τούτοις" « Καὶ ἐὰν μὴ πιστεύσητε, ο; δ᾽ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε. »"ἜΕχει δὲ καὶ σφόδρα τὸ εἰκὸς ὁ λόγες. Τοῖς γὰρ ταῖς ἀπιστίαις περιυδρίζουσι τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγον, οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἐγγένοιτο σύνεσις ἡ παρὰ αὐτοῦ. Δεῖ τοιγαροῦν ἀμελλητὶ δέχεσθαι τὰ παρὰ Θεοῦ, καὶ οἷς ἂν ὑπισχνεῖται καὶ λαλεῖ συννεύειν ἑτοίμως. Ἔσται γὰρ ἐν ἡμῖν οὕτως ἡ σύνεσις ἀγαθὴ, καὶ περιαστρά ψει τὸν νοῦν τῆς παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ σοφίας ὁ φωτισμός. Καὶ προσέθετο Κύριος.1α1ῆσαι τῷ "Αχαζ γων" Αἴτησαι σδαυτῷ σημεῖον παρὰ Κυρίου Θεοῦ σόυ εἰς βάθος, ἣ εἰς ὕψος. Καὶ εἶπον Αχαζ' Οὗ μὴ αἰτήσω, οὐδ᾽ οὐ μὴ πειράσω Κύριον. Τοὺς τῆς βασιλείας διέποντα θάχους ἐν τοῖς σολύμοις τὸν Αχαζ, καὶ πολὺ λίαν ἀπονενευχότα πρὸς τὸ ἐξήνιον, καὶ εἰς τὸ προτχεῖσθαι φιλεῖν ταῖς τῶν δαιμονίων ψευδολατρείαις, διὰ παντὸς πειρᾶται τρόπος μεταχομίζειν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄμεινον, καὶ εἴς γε τὸ [ δεῖν τῶν τῆς! ἀληθείας ἐφικέσθαι δογμάτων, καὶ ὀρθὰ ι φρονεῖν ἔλέτθαι περὶ Θεοῦ. Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδήπερ τοῖς τῶν εἰδώλων θεραπευταῖς περὶ πολλοῦ ἐτέθειτο, καὶ ἦν ἐν σπουδῇ τὸ χρῆναι περιεργάζεσθαι τὰς τῶν πραγμάτων ἐχθάσεις, καὶ χρησμοὺς αἰτεῖν ἐξ ἱερῶν, καὶ τοῖς τῶν ψευδομάντεων φενακίζεσθαι λόγοις, οἱ … τινὰ τοῦτο μέλλοντα ποιεῖν Αχαζ, καὶ πρὸς τὸ τεταχέναι τι σημεῖον, οὐκ ἐκ τῶν συνηθῶν αὐτῶν τεμενῶν, οὐδ᾽ ἐκ τῶν ψευδομάντεων ἔτι, μᾶλλον δὲ παρὰ Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ τὸν τῆς αἰτήσεως τρόπον ταῖς αὐτοῦ ψήφοις ἀπονενέμηχεν εἰπών" «ε Εἰς βάθος ἣ εἰς ὕψος, » τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν, ἣ εἰς οὐρανὸν, ἣ εἰς γῆν, καὶ τὰ ἔτι κατωτέρω. Καὶ πεπληροφόρηχεν διὰ τούτον, καὶ δίδωσι νοεῖν, ὅτι Θεὸς ὑπάρχων τῶν ὅλων καὶ Κύριος, ἐπ᾽ ἐξουσίας ἐργάζεται τὸ δοκοῦν, κἂν εἴτε τι τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ βλέπειν βούλοιτο, κἂν εἴτε τι τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Παραιτεῖταί γε μὴν ὁ"Αχαζ, οὐκ ὡς Θεὸν αἰδούμενος, περιυδρίζων δὲ μᾶλλον ὁ δείλαιος, κἂν εἰ τοῖς ἐξ εὐλαδείας ἑπισεμμνύνοιτο λόγοις. Οὐ γὰρ μὴ αἰτήσω, φησὶν, οὐδ᾽ οὐ μὴ πειράσω τὸν Κύριον. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ Θεοῦ προστάττοντος αἱτεζν, τὸ μὴ αἰτεῖσθαι θέλειν ἐναργὲς ἔχει τὸ δυσσεδὲς, τὸ μὴ πειρᾶσθαι θέλειν αὐτὸν, καὶ νομικὸν ὥσπερ “ροΐσχεται λόγον" « Οὐ γὰρ ἐχπειράσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου. » Καίτοι πῶς οὐκ ἀπαστισοῦν τῆς τοῦ “Αχαζ σκαιότητος χαταδοήσει λόγος; Αὐτοῦ γὰρ ἐφιέντος αἰτεῖν τοῦ Θεοῦ, πῶς οὐκ ἄμεινον τὸ ἐλέσθαι μᾶλλον ἐκεῖνο δρᾷν, ὃ προστέταχεν, ἣ δυστρόπω; εὑρεσιλογεῖν, καὶ πρόφασιν εὐπειθείας ποιεῖσθαι σαθρὰν τὸ, Οὐ μὴ πειράσω Κύριον; ᾿Αλλ' ἦν ὁ σκοπὸς αὐτῷ τοὺς μὲν ἄνωθεν καὶ παρὰ Θεοῦ μὴ προσίεσθαι λόγους, ψήφῳ δὲ μᾶλλον τῇ κρεΐττονι στεφανοῦντας τὸν χρησμολόγον, ψευδοεπείας καὶ ταῖς οἰωνῶν τάχα που περιεργάζεσθαι πτηδεσι, καὶ τὰς ἐκ τῶν δαιμονίων ἐπικουρίας αἰτεῖν.
Ephroim, de hotan legei, ton Israēl dēloi" kai hē kephalē Somorōn huios tou Rhomeliou, tout᾽ estin ho Phachee" trechei de palin to echileipsei kata pantōn. Prosepagei de toutois" « Kai ean mē pisteusēte, o? d᾽ ou mē synēte. »"EEchei de kai sphodra to eikos ho loges. Tois gar tais apistiais periydrizousi ton tou Theou logon, oud᾽ an engenoito synesis hē para autou. Dei toigaroun amellēti dechesthai ta para Theou, kai hois an hypischneitai kai lalei synneuein hetoimōs. Estai gar en hēmin houtōs hē synesis agathē, kai periastra psei ton noun tēs par᾽ autou sophias ho phōtismos. Kai prosetheto Kyrios.1a1ēsai tǭ "Achaz gōn" Aitēsai sdautǭ sēmeion para Kyriou Theou sou eis bathos, hē eis hypsos. Kai eipon Achaz' Hou mē aitēsō, oud᾽ ou mē peirasō Kyrion. Tous tēs basileias dieponta thachous en tois solymois ton Achaz, kai poly lian aponeneuchota pros to exēnion, kai eis to protcheisthai philein tais tōn daimoniōn pseudolatreiais, dia pantos peiratai tropos metachomizein epi to ameinon, kai eis ge to [ dein tōn tēs! alētheias ephikesthai dogmatōn, kai ortha i phronein eletthai peri Theou. Oukoun epeidēper tois tōn eidōlōn therapeutais peri pollou etetheito, kai ēn en spoudę̄ to chrēnai periergazesthai tas tōn pragmatōn echthaseis, kai chrēsmous aitein ex hierōn, kai tois tōn pseudomanteōn phenakizesthai logois, hoi … tina touto mellonta poiein Achaz, kai pros to tetachenai ti sēmeion, ouk ek tōn synēthōn autōn temenōn, oud᾽ ek tōn pseudomanteōn eti, mallon de para Kyriou tou Theou. Kai ton tēs aitēseōs tropon tais autou psēphois aponenemēchen eipōn" «e Eis bathos hē eis hypsos, » tout᾽ estin, hē eis ouranon, hē eis gēn, kai ta eti katōterō. Kai peplērophorēchen dia touton, kai didōsi noein, hoti Theos hyparchōn tōn holōn kai Kyrios, ep᾽ exousias ergazetai to dokoun, kan eite ti tōn en ouranǭ blepein bouloito, kan eite ti tōn epi tēs gēs. Paraiteitai ge mēn ho"Achaz, ouk hōs Theon aidoumenos, periydrizōn de mallon ho deilaios, kan ei tois ex euladeias hepisemmnynoito logois. Ou gar mē aitēsō, phēsin, oud᾽ ou mē peirasō ton Kyrion. Epeidē gar Theou prostattontos haitezn, to mē aiteisthai thelein enarges echei to dyssedes, to mē peirasthai thelein auton, kai nomikon hōsper “roïschetai logon" « Ou gar echpeiraseis Kyrion ton Theon sou. » Kaitoi pōs ouk apastisoun tēs tou “Achaz skaiotētos chatadoēsei logos? Autou gar ephientos aitein tou Theou, pōs ouk ameinon to elesthai mallon ekeino drąn, ho prostetachen, hē dystropō? heuresilogein, kai prophasin eupeitheias poieisthai sathran to, Ou mē peirasō Kyrion? ᾿All' ēn ho skopos autǭ tous men anōthen kai para Theou mē prosiesthai logous, psēphǭ de mallon tę̄ kreïttoni stephanountas ton chrēsmologon, pseudoepeias kai tais oiōnōn tacha pou periergazesthai ptēdesi, kai tas ek tōn daimoniōn epikourias aitein.
When he says Ephraim, he means Israel; “and the head of Somoron is the son of Remaliah,” that is, Pekah; and again “will fail” runs over all of them. To these he adds: “And if you do not believe, neither will you understand.” The saying is very reasonable. For those who outrage the word of God by unbelief, the understanding that comes from him would not arise. We must, then, receive without delay what comes from God, and readily assent to whatever he promises and speaks. For so good understanding will be in us, and the illumination of his wisdom will shine around our mind.
“And the Lord spoke further to Ahaz, saying: Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord your God, in the depth or in the height. And Ahaz said: I will not ask, nor will I tempt the Lord.”
Ahaz, who held the throne of the kingdom in Jerusalem and had turned very far toward unruliness and toward a love of devoting himself to the false worship of demons, he tries in every way to bring over to what is better, and to reach the doctrines of truth and choose to think rightly about God. Since, then, he set great store by the servants of idols, and was eager to inquire curiously into the outcome of affairs, to ask oracles from shrines, and to be deceived by the words of false diviners, who … Ahaz being about to do this, and [he urges him] to ask for a sign, no longer from their customary shrines or from false diviners, but from the Lord God. And he left the manner of asking to his own choice, saying: “In the depth or in the height,” that is, either toward heaven or toward earth and what is still lower. And by this he assured him and gave him to understand that, being God and Lord of all, he does what seems good to him with authority, whether he wishes to see something in heaven or something on earth. But Ahaz declines, not out of reverence for God; rather the wretch is insulting him, even if he puts on a solemn air with words of piety. For “I will not ask,” he says, “nor will I tempt the Lord.” For since, when God commands him to ask, being unwilling to ask is plainly impious, he pretends that he is unwilling to tempt him, and puts forward, as it were, a word of the law: “For you shall not tempt the Lord your God.” Yet how will not every word cry out against the perversity of Ahaz? For when God himself allowed him to ask, how was it not better to choose to do what he commanded rather than to quibble perversely and make “I will not tempt the Lord” a rotten pretext of obedience? But his aim was not to accept the words from above and from God, but rather, crowning the oracle-monger with his better vote, [to give himself to] lying speech, and perhaps to busy himself with the flights of birds, and to ask help from the demons.
Isa 7:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:11 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Deut 6:16 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Cyril explains Isa 7:9 (no understanding without faith) and reads Ahaz's refusal to ask a sign (Isa 7:10–12) as impiety disguised as obedience, since he preferred diviners and demons.
- Lemmas: Isa 7:8b–9, 7:10–12. Quotation: Deut 6:16. Runs of Migne's Latin and a marginal number read as Greek letters have been removed; lost words are marked “…” and a few needed for the sense are supplied in brackets.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Marginal number read by the OCR; removed; Migne's Latin version read as Greek letters by the OCR; removed; OCR debris (Migne Latin column or marginal reference) removed): [πιραοΐ!, ρταορί 46 ὧς πο ἦδαι ἐσ δοπεαοιὶς → … ; Ἢ 3902 → ; 5 πηυΐδι 86 → .
Cite (SBL): Cyril of Alexandria, Comm. Isa. 1.4.20 (PG 70; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-20). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-20
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 70 (archive.org OCR); no public-domain or FOTC English exists, so each batch was re-read against the Greek.
1.4.21PG 70
μικρὸν ὑμῖν ἀγῶγα παρέχειν ἀνθρώποις; καὶ πῶς Κυρίῳ παρέχετε ἀγῶνα; Διὰ τοῦτο δώσει Κύριος αὐτὸς ὑμῖν σημεῖον. ᾿Απειρηχότος τοῦ “Αχαζ τοῦ σημείου τὴν αὔτησιν, οὐκ ἀνεχομένου τε τιμᾶν ἣ εἰδέναι τὸν φύσει τὰ καὶ ἀληθῶς ὄντα Θεὸν, καὶ τῶν ὅλων Κύριον, ὅτι μὴ εἰς ἅπαν ἀγνοηθήσεται παρὰ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, μήτε μὴν τς ροὺς, αὐτὸν πειρᾶται διδάσκειν. Πλὴν οὐκέτι λόγου μὲν ἀξωῖ τὸν "Αχαζ, ὑδριστὴν ὄντα καὶ θεομισῇ, “πρ»ππεφώνηχε δὲ μᾶλλον τῷ οἴκῳ Δαβὶδ, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστι, τοῖς ἐκ φυλῆς Ἰούδα, ἐξ ἧς καὶ αὐτὸς γέγονς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα Χριστός. ᾿Ανεξιχάκῳ[5] δὲ λίαν ὡς Θεὸς ποιεῖται τὴν προαγόρευσιν. Προαιτιασάμενος γὰρ ὅτι πεποίηται παρ᾽ οὐδὲν τὸ καὶ αὐτῷ προσκροῦσαιτῷ πάν- Ὁ τα ἰσχύοντι θεῷ, καὶ οἷον ἀγῶνας αὐτῷ καὶ καμάτους, τόγε ἧκον εἰς αὐτοὺς, σαλεύειν ἐπιχειρεῖν διά γε τοῦ μὴ θέλειν ὀρθοποδεῖν " τότε δὴ τότε τῆς καθόλου τε καὶ ὯΩ, τοίνυν, φησὶν, οἶκος Δαδὶδ, εἰ τὸ ἀνθρώποις προσκρούειν οὐκ ἀζήμιον, τί τῷ Κυρίῳ παρέχετε ἁγῶνα, τῷ κολάζειν μὲν οὐκ ἐθέλοντι, ἰσχύοντι δὲ τοῦτο δρᾷν καὶ λέαν εὐκόλως; Ἐπειδὴ δὲ παραιτεῖσθε τοῦ σημείου τὴν αἴτησιν, αὐτόμολός ἐϊμι πρὸς τοῦτο, φησίν" κἂν εἰ βούλοισθε νοσεῖν, ἐπάγω. τὴν θεραπείαν, ἐπείπερ εἰμὶ χρηστὸς καὶ φιλάνθρωπος. Αὐτὸς ὑμῖν Κύριος καιροὺς ὁ πεπλανημένος Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ οὐκ ἀγνοήσει' τὸν Δεσπότην, ἀλλ᾽ ἔσται προσκυνητὴς τοῦ σεσωχότος Θεοῦ. Κατώρθωται δὲ τοῦτο διὰ Χριστοῦ κεκληχότο; εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἀπάσης αὐτὸν ἀπαλλάξαντος ἁμαρτίας, καὶ τοῦ προσκυνεῖν ἐθέλειν ξύλοις καὶ λίθοις. Ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει, καὶ τέξεται υἱὸν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Βούτυρον καὶ μέλι φάγεται" πρὶν ἣ γνῶναι αὖτὸν ἣ προελέσθαι πονηρὰ, ἐκλέξασθαι τὸ ἀγαθόν". Διότι πριγὴ γνῶναι τὸ παιδίον ἀγαθὸν καὶ κακὸν, ἀπειθεῖ πονηρίᾳ, ἐκλέξασθαι τὸ ἀγαθόν. Καὶ καταλει;θήσεται ἡ γῆ, ἣν σὺ φοδῇ, ἔρημος ἀπὸ προσώπου τῶν δύο βασιλέων. Ἐκδεδώκασι μέν τινες τῶν τὰς θείας ἑρμηνευσάντων Γραφὰς, τὸ, Ἰδοὺ ἡ νεᾶνις ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει. Δοκεῖ γε μὴν Ἰουδαίοις τῷ τῆς νεάνιδος ὀνόματι κατασημαίνεσθαι δεῖν τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου Μητέρα, καὶ οὐκὶ δὴ μᾶλλον καλεῖσθαι παρθένον. Οἴονται γὰρ ὅτι τὴν τοῦ μυστηρίου δύναμιν ἀπρακτῆσαι θέμις, εἰ νεᾶνις λέγοιτο, καὶ οὐκὶ δὴ μᾶλλον παρθένος. ᾿Αμαθαίνοντας δὲ κατὰ πολλοὺς τρόπους χατίδυι τις ἂν αὐτούς. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ, κἂν εἰ λέγοιτο νεᾶνις ἡ παρθένος, οὖκ ἕξω κείσεται τοῦ εἶναι παρθένος. Εἶτά φασι περὶ τῆς τοῦ "Αχαζ γυναικὸς τὸν προφήτην εἰπεῖν τὸ, Ἰδοὺ ἡ νεᾶνις ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει, καὶ τέξεται υἱὸν, ἵνα νοῶ- τῆς προφητείας οὐ βασανίξοντες λόγους, τὸ ἀπερισκέπτως δοκοῦν ἁρπάζουσιν, εἶτα τὸν ἑαυτῶν οἴονται: σκοπὸν ἐμπεδοῦν διὰ τούτου καὶ μόνου. ᾿Αλλ᾽, ὦ βέλτιστοι, φαίη τις ἂν πρὸς αὐτοὺς, τίς τὸν Ἐζεχίαν ἐκάλεσεν Ἐμμανουήλ; Ἢ πόθεν ἂν ἐπιδείξειαν ὅτι πρὶν ἣ γνῶναι αὐτὸν ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακὸν ἠπείθησε πονηρίᾳ τοῦ ἐκλέξασθαι τὸ ἀγαθόν; Οὐκοῦν ἐῤῥῶσθαι φράσαντες ταῖς ἐχείνων τερθρείαις, τὸ ὀρθῶς τε καὶ ἀληθῶς ἔχον παραδεξόμεθα, τὴν ἀγίαν Παρθένον διὰ τῆς προκειμένης ἡμῖν προφητείας κατασημαΐνεσθαι παρὰ Θεοῦ πιστεύοντες. Οὕτω γὰρ ἔσται παράδοξον ἀληθῶς καὶ ὑπερμέγεθες τὸ σημεῖον, εἰς βάθος τε ὁμοῦ καὶ ὕψος κατά γε τὴν θείαν ὑπόσχεσιν γεγονός. Ὁ γὰρ ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐκ Θεοῦ Πατρὸς κατὰ φύσιν γεγενημένος Υἱὸς μονογενὴς, χεχένωχεν ἑαυτὸν, καὶ λαγόνων ἐξεδόθη τῶν παρθενιχῶν τὸ «ατὰ σάρκα, οὐκ ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνης χαταδολῆῇς λαδούσης τὴν γένεσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ δυνάμεώς τε καὶ ἐνεργείας τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Οὕτω γὰρ εἴρηται πρὸς τὴν ἁγίαν Παρθένον διὰ φωνῆς τοῦ μακαρίου Γαδριήλ' ε Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἐπελεύσεται ἐπὶ σὲ, καὶ δύναμις ἐπισκιάσει σε. » Τέξεται τοίνυν, φησὶν, υἱόν. Καὶ σὺ, ὦ οἶκος Δαδὶδ, ὁ νῦν, φησὶ, παραιτούμενος τὸ ἐπὶ Θεῷ πεποιθέναι, καὶ παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ σημεῖον αἰτεῖν, εἰς βεθαίωσιν ὧν ἐπήγγελται, διὰ τὸ προσκεῖσθαι μᾶλλον εἰδώλοις, καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουὴλ, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν, ὁμολογήσεις τὸν Θεὸν ἐν ἀνθρωπείᾳ μορφῇ πεφηνότα. Ὅτε γὰρ πέφηνε καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ὃ μονογενὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, τότε καὶ γέγονε καὶ νεΓο, υἱ μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν. Ὁ γὰρ ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν, γέγονε καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς. ΓΑθρε! δὲ ὅπως, ἵνα δείξῃ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀληθῶς Θεὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ ἄνθρωπον, τίθησιν ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ τὰ
mikron hymin agōga parechein anthrōpois? kai pōs Kyriǭ parechete agōna? Dia touto dōsei Kyrios autos hymin sēmeion. ᾿Apeirēchotos tou “Achaz tou sēmeiou tēn autēsin, ouk anechomenou te timan hē eidenai ton physei ta kai alēthōs onta Theon, kai tōn holōn Kyrion, hoti mē eis hapan agnoēthēsetai para tou Israēl, mēte mēn ts rous, auton peiratai didaskein. Plēn ouketi logou men axōi ton "Achaz, hydristēn onta kai theomisę̄, “pr»ppephōnēche de mallon tǭ oikǭ Dabid, tout᾽ esti, tois ek phylēs Iouda, ex hēs kai autos gegons to kata sarka Christos. ᾿Anexichakǭ[5] de lian hōs Theos poieitai tēn proagoreusin. Proaitiasamenos gar hoti pepoiētai par᾽ ouden to kai autǭ proskrousaitǭ pan- Ho ta ischyonti theǭ, kai hoion agōnas autǭ kai kamatous, toge hēkon eis autous, saleuein epicheirein dia ge tou mē thelein orthopodein " tote dē tote tēs katholou te kai HōŌ, toinyn, phēsin, oikos Dadid, ei to anthrōpois proskrouein ouk azēmion, ti tǭ Kyriǭ parechete hagōna, tǭ kolazein men ouk ethelonti, ischyonti de touto drąn kai lean eukolōs? Epeidē de paraiteisthe tou sēmeiou tēn aitēsin, automolos eïmi pros touto, phēsin" kan ei bouloisthe nosein, epagō. tēn therapeian, epeiper eimi chrēstos kai philanthrōpos. Autos hymin Kyrios kairous ho peplanēmenos Israēl, kai ouk agnoēsei' ton Despotēn, all᾽ estai proskynētēs tou sesōchotos Theou. Katōrthōtai de touto dia Christou keklēchoto? eis epignōsin ton Israēl, kai apasēs auton apallaxantos hamartias, kai tou proskynein ethelein xylois kai lithois. Idou hē parthenos en gastri hexei, kai texetai huion, kai kaleseis to onoma autou Boutyron kai meli phagetai" prin hē gnōnai auton hē proelesthai ponēra, eklexasthai to agathon". Dioti prigē gnōnai to paidion agathon kai kakon, apeithei ponērią, eklexasthai to agathon. Kai katalei?thēsetai hē gē, hēn sy phodę̄, erēmos apo prosōpou tōn dyo basileōn. Ekdedōkasi men tines tōn tas theias hermēneusantōn Graphas, to, Idou hē neanis en gastri hexei. Dokei ge mēn Ioudaiois tǭ tēs neanidos onomati katasēmainesthai dein tēn tou Kyriou Mētera, kai ouki dē mallon kaleisthai parthenon. Oiontai gar hoti tēn tou mystēriou dynamin apraktēsai themis, ei neanis legoito, kai ouki dē mallon parthenos. ᾿Amathainontas de kata pollous tropous chatidui tis an autous. Prōton men gar, kan ei legoito neanis hē parthenos, ouk hexō keisetai tou einai parthenos. Eita phasi peri tēs tou "Achaz gynaikos ton prophētēn eipein to, Idou hē neanis en gastri hexei, kai texetai huion, hina noō- tēs prophēteias ou basanixontes logous, to aperiskeptōs dokoun harpazousin, eita ton heautōn oiontai: skopon empedoun dia toutou kai monou. ᾿All᾽, ō beltistoi, phaiē tis an pros autous, tis ton Ezechian ekalesen Emmanouēl? Ē pothen an epideixeian hoti prin hē gnōnai auton agathon ē kakon ēpeithēse ponērią tou eklexasthai to agathon? Oukoun errhōsthai phrasantes tais echeinōn terthreiais, to orthōs te kai alēthōs echon paradexometha, tēn agian Parthenon dia tēs prokeimenēs hēmin prophēteias katasēmaïnesthai para Theou pisteuontes. Houtō gar estai paradoxon alēthōs kai hypermegethes to sēmeion, eis bathos te homou kai hypsos kata ge tēn theian hyposchesin gegonos. Ho gar anōthen kai ek Theou Patros kata physin gegenēmenos Huios monogenēs, chechenōchen heauton, kai lagonōn exedothē tōn parthenichōn to «ata sarka, ouk ex anthrōpinēs chatadolēę̄s ladousēs tēn genesin, all᾽ ek dynameōs te kai energeias tou hagiou Pneumatos. Houtō gar eirētai pros tēn hagian Parthenon dia phōnēs tou makariou Gadriēl' e Pneuma hagion epeleusetai epi se, kai dynamis episkiasei se. » Texetai toinyn, phēsin, huion. Kai sy, ō oikos Dadid, ho nyn, phēsi, paraitoumenos to epi Theǭ pepoithenai, kai par᾽ autou sēmeion aitein, eis bethaiōsin hōn epēngeltai, dia to proskeisthai mallon eidōlois, kaleseis to onoma autou Emmanouēl, tout᾽ estin, homologēseis ton Theon en anthrōpeią morphę̄ pephēnota. Hote gar pephēne kath᾽ hēmas ho monogenēs tou Theou Logos, tote kai gegone kai neGo, hui meth᾽ hēmōn. Ho gar hyper pasan tēn ktisin, gegone kath᾽ hēmas. GAthre! de hopōs, hina deixę̄ ton auton alēthōs Theon homou kai anthrōpon, tithēsin ep᾽ autou ta
“… is it a small thing for you to provide a contest for men? And how do you provide a contest for the Lord? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.”
Since Ahaz refused to ask for the sign, and would not honour or know the one who is by nature and truly God and Lord of all, [God] tries to teach that he will not be wholly unknown to Israel, nor … But he no longer deems Ahaz worth a word, insolent and hateful to God as he was, but addresses rather the house of David, that is, those of the tribe of Judah, from which Christ too came according to the flesh. And he makes the prediction with great forbearance, as God. For having first charged that they made nothing of offending even the all-powerful God, and, as far as it lay with them, attempted to cause him contests, as it were, and toils, by being unwilling to walk straight, then indeed [he foretells the salvation] of all … O house of David, then, he says, if offending men is not without penalty, why do you provide a contest for the Lord, who does not wish to punish but is very easily able to do so? But since you decline to ask for the sign, I come to it of my own accord, he says; even if you wish to be sick, I bring the healing, since I am kind and a lover of mankind. The Lord himself [will give] you [a sign; in the last] times erring Israel [will know him], and will not be ignorant of the Master, but will be a worshipper of the God who saved him. This was accomplished through Christ, who called Israel to knowledge, freed it from all sin and from wishing to worship wood and stones.
“Behold, the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and you will call his name [Emmanuel]. Butter and honey he will eat; before he knows or prefers evil things, he will choose the good. For before the child knows good or evil, he refuses wickedness, so as to choose the good. And the land which you fear will be left desolate from the face of the two kings.”
Some of those who have translated the divine Scriptures have rendered: “Behold, the young woman will conceive.” The Jews indeed hold that by the word “young woman” the Lord’s Mother ought to be indicated, and not rather that she is called a virgin. For they think that the force of the mystery becomes of no effect if she is called a young woman and not rather a virgin. But one could see that they are ignorant in many ways. First, even if the virgin is called a young woman, she will not on that account fall outside being a virgin. Then they say that the prophet said of the wife of Ahaz, “Behold, the young woman will conceive and bear a son,” so that we should understand … not testing the words of the prophecy, they snatch at what seems so without consideration, and then think they establish their own aim by this alone. But, my good sirs, one might say to them, who called Hezekiah Emmanuel? Or how could they show that before he knew good or evil he refused wickedness, so as to choose the good? So, bidding farewell to their trickeries, we shall accept what is right and true, believing that the holy Virgin is indicated by God through the prophecy before us. For so the sign will be truly beyond expectation and surpassingly great, having come about in depth and height together, according to the divine promise. For the only-begotten Son, begotten from above and from God the Father by nature, emptied himself and was brought forth from virginal loins according to the flesh, not taking his birth from human seed, but from the power and operation of the Holy Spirit. For so it was said to the holy Virgin through the voice of the blessed Gabriel: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power [of the Most High] will overshadow you.” She will bear, then, he says, a son. And you, O house of David, who now, he says, decline to trust in God and to ask a sign from him to confirm what he has promised, because you are devoted rather to idols, will call his name Emmanuel, that is, you will confess God who has appeared in human form. For when the only-begotten Word of God appeared as we are, then he also became [God] with us. For he who is above all creation became as we are. And see how, to show that the same one is truly God and man together, he attributes to him the
Isa 7:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:15 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 1:35 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 2:7 (allusion, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Cyril reads the sign of Isa 7:13–16 as the virgin birth of the only-begotten Son by the Holy Spirit, rejecting the Jewish reading 'young woman' and its reference to Hezekiah, and explains Emmanuel as God appearing in human form.
- The section begins inside the lemma Isa 7:13–14a; the lemma Isa 7:14–16 is damaged in the scan (the name Emmanuel is lost) and is completed from the verse. Quotations: Luke 1:35; Phil 2:7 recalled. “Young woman” (νεᾶνις) is the rendering of the later Greek translators (Aquila, Theodotion, Symmachus); Cyril's polemic against the Jewish interpretation and his Christology are translated as written. At “he refuses wickedness” the LXX's ἀπειθεῖ πονηρίᾳ is rendered as Cyril takes it. Lost words are marked “…”; a few supplied in brackets for the sense.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Marginal reference read by the OCR; removed): 61, δ. → .
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Cyril of Alexandria, Comm. Isa. 1.4.21 (PG 70; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-21). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-21
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam-1-4-21) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 70 (archive.org OCR); no public-domain or FOTC English exists, so each batch was re-read against the Greek.
1.4.22PG 70
θεῖά τε καὶ ἀνθρώπινα. “Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ἐν σαρκὶ γέ- Ἴονε κατ᾽ ἀλήθειαν, πειρᾶται πληροφορεῖν, τροφὴν αὐτῷ γεγενῆσθαι λέγων τὴν νηπίοις πρέπουσαν, βούτυρόν τε καὶ μέλι. Ὅτι δὲ, καίτοι σὰρξ γεγονὼς, οὐὖδὲν ἧττον ἔσται κρείττων ἁμαρτίας ὡς Θεὸς, διδάσκει πάλιν ἐπιφέρων εὐθύς" « Διότι πρὶν ἣ γνῶναι τὸ παιδῖον ἀγαθὸν ἣ κακὸν, ἀπειθεῖ πονηρίᾳ, τοῦ ἐκλέξασθαι τὸ ἀγαθόν. “Ανθρωποι μὲν γὰρ οὕπω πρὸς ἥδην ἐλά- «αντες, οὔτε μὴν εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας ἀφιγμένοι, τῆς ὡς; ἀπὸ τε χρόνου φρονήσει τετιμημένης, οὐδ᾽ ἄν εἶεν ὅλεος ἐπιτήδειοι διακρίνειν δύνασθαι, τί μὲν ἂν οἴη τὸ φαῦλον, τί δὲ τὸ ἀγαθόν" καλοῦντος δὲ ἤδη πρὸς τοῦτο καιροῦ, τότε τῶν πρακτέων ἐλευθέραν “οιοῦνται τὴν αἴρεσιν. Ἧ δέ γε θεία καὶ ἀνωτάτω φύσις, οὐκ ἕν Ὑε τοῖς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ἰδίσις καὶ Γ΄ ἐστέν - καὶ τοὺς τῆς φαυλότητος ἀποσείεται τρόπους, σιχῶς δὲ μᾶλλον καὶ οὐσιωδῶς ἀπειθοῦσα τῇ πονηρίᾳ. Καὶ οὐ καθ᾽ ἕτερον, οἶμαι, τρόπον, ἣ ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις λέγοι περὶ τοῦ φωτὸς, ὅτι ἀπειθεῖ που εἶναι σκότος. Θὺ γὰρ ἀνέχεται παθεῖν τὸ μὴ εἶναι φῶς. Φύσεως οὖν ἄρα τῆς θείας τὸ ἀεὶ πεπηγὸς εἰς τὸ ἀγαθὸν χαπαστ μαΐνει λέγων, ὅτε «ε ᾿Απειθεῖ πονηρίᾳ τοῦ ἐκλέξασθαι τὸ ἀγαθόν. ν» ᾿Αληθὲς δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ «"ὖ Χριστοῦ. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ γεγένηται κατὰ σάρκα διὰ τῆς ἁγίας Παρθένου, Θεὸς ὧν φύσει καὶ ἐκ Θεοῦ πεφηνὼς ὁ Λόγος, ἀλλ᾽ ἦν ἐκ μήτρας καὶ πρὸ αὐτῆς, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πρὸ παντὸς αἰῶνος ἅγιος ὡς θεὸς, τῶν ἰδίων πλεονεχτημάτων οὐκ ἀπολισθήσας διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον᾽ ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἀμελήσας διὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν " ἵνα πιστεύσηται κατ᾽ ἀλήθειαν γετονὼς καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς, καὶ αὐτὴν ἡμῶν ἁγιάσῃ τὴν γένεειν. Καταλειφθῆναι δέ φησι τὴν γῆν, περὶ ἧς ὑφορᾶται καὶ ἐδεδίει ἐκ προσώπου τῶν δύο βασιλέων. Ὃμοιον δὲ ὡσεὶ καὶ λέγοι σαφῶς " Ὅταν ἡ Παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ λαδοῦσα τέκοι, σὺ, ὦ οἶκος Δαδὶδ, καλέσεις τὸ. ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἐμμανουήλ᾽ τότε πάντες οἱ παρενοχλοῦντες τῇ ἁγίᾳ γῇ καταλείψουσιν αὑτήν. “Ἔσται γὰρ οὐκέτι βατὴ τοῖς ἐθέλουσ: σ κανουΐλ, ἡ ἀληθῶς ἁγία γῆ καὶ πόλις, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν ἡ Ἐκκλησία, γέγονεν ἐν καλῷ τῆς ἐλπίδος, καὶ πάντα πεπάτηκεν ἐχθρὸν, οἵ καὶ ἄμαχον εἰδότες αὐτὴν ἀναχεχωρήκασι, καταλελοιπότες ὡς παρὰ Θεοῦ σωζομένην. Ἐγὼ γὰρ ἔσομαι αὐτῇ, λέγει Κύριος, τεῖχος πυρὸς κυκλόθεν, καὶ εἰς δόξαν ἔσομαι ἐν μέσῳ
theia te kai anthrōpina. “Hoti men gar en sarki ge- Ione kat᾽ alētheian, peiratai plērophorein, trophēn autǭ gegenēsthai legōn tēn nēpiois prepousan, boutyron te kai meli. Hoti de, kaitoi sarx gegonōs, ouyden hētton estai kreittōn hamartias hōs Theos, didaskei palin epipherōn euthys" « Dioti prin hē gnōnai to paidion agathon hē kakon, apeithei ponērią, tou eklexasthai to agathon. “Anthrōpoi men gar houpō pros hēdēn ela- «antes, oute mēn eis metron hēlikias aphigmenoi, tēs hōs? apo te chronou phronēsei tetimēmenēs, oud᾽ an eien holeos epitēdeioi diakrinein dynasthai, ti men an oiē to phaulon, ti de to agathon" kalountos de ēdē pros touto kairou, tote tōn prakteōn eleutheran “oiountai tēn airesin. Hē de ge theia kai anōtatō physis, ouk hen Hye tois kath᾽ hēmas, all᾽ en idisis kai G΄ esten - kai tous tēs phaulotētos aposeietai tropous, sichōs de mallon kai ousiōdōs apeithousa tę̄ ponērią. Kai ou kath᾽ heteron, oimai, tropon, hē hōsper an ei tis legoi peri tou phōtos, hoti apeithei pou einai skotos. Thy gar anechetai pathein to mē einai phōs. Physeōs oun ara tēs theias to aei pepēgos eis to agathon chapast maïnei legōn, hote «e ᾿Apeithei ponērią tou eklexasthai to agathon. n» ᾿Alēthes de touto kai ep᾽ autou «"y Christou. Ei gar kai gegenētai kata sarka dia tēs hagias Parthenou, Theos hōn physei kai ek Theou pephēnōs ho Logos, all᾽ ēn ek mētras kai pro autēs, mallon de kai pro pantos aiōnos hagios hōs theos, tōn idiōn pleonechtēmatōn ouk apolisthēsas dia to anthrōpinon᾽ all᾽ oude tōn anthrōpinōn amelēsas dia tēn oikonomian " hina pisteusētai kat᾽ alētheian getonōs kath᾽ hēmas, kai autēn hēmōn hagiasę̄ tēn geneein. Kataleiphthēnai de phēsi tēn gēn, peri hēs hyphoratai kai edediei ek prosōpou tōn dyo basileōn. Homoion de hōsei kai legoi saphōs " Hotan hē Parthenos en gastri ladousa tekoi, sy, ō oikos Dadid, kaleseis to. onoma autou Emmanouēl᾽ tote pantes hoi parenochlountes tę̄ hagią gę̄ kataleipsousin hautēn. “Estai gar ouketi batē tois ethelous: s kanouïl, hē alēthōs hagia gē kai polis, tout᾽ estin hē Ekklēsia, gegonen en kalǭ tēs elpidos, kai panta pepatēken echthron, hoi kai amachon eidotes autēn anachechōrēkasi, kataleloipotes hōs para Theou sōzomenēn. Egō gar esomai autę̄, legei Kyrios, teichos pyros kyklothen, kai eis doxan esomai en mesǭ
divine things and the human. That he truly came to be in flesh he tries to assure us by saying that food fit for infants was his, butter and honey. And that, although he had become flesh, he will be no less superior to sin as God, he teaches again by adding at once: “For before the child knows good or evil, he refuses wickedness, so as to choose the good.” For men who have not yet reached youth, nor come to the measure of age honoured with the understanding that comes with time, would not be at all fit to be able to discern what is bad and what is good; but when the time calls them to it, then they make a free choice of what is to be done. But the divine and highest nature, not among things such as ours but in its own … and shakes off the ways of wickedness, refusing wickedness rather [naturally] and essentially. And not in any other way, I think, than if one should say of light that it refuses to be darkness. For it cannot suffer not to be light. He indicates, then, the divine nature's being always fixed in the good when he says: “He refuses wickedness, so as to choose the good.” And this is true of Christ himself. For even though the Word, being God by nature and having appeared from God, was born according to the flesh through the holy Virgin, yet from the womb and before it, or rather before every age, he was holy as God, not slipping from his own prerogatives because of the human; but neither neglecting the things of man because of the dispensation, so that he might be believed to have truly become as we are and might sanctify our very birth. He says that the land about which [the house of David] was anxious and afraid will be left desolate from the face of the two kings. It is as if he were saying plainly: When the Virgin has conceived and borne, you, O house of David, will call his name Emmanuel; then all who trouble the holy land will leave it. For it will no longer be passable for those who wish … [When Em]manuel [was born], the truly holy land and city, that is, the Church, came into good hope and trampled every enemy, who, knowing it invincible, withdrew and left it, as saved by God. “For I will be to it,” says the Lord, “a wall of fire round about, and I will be for glory in the midst”
Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.
Isa 7:15 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 7:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Zech 2:5 (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Cyril explains that the butter and honey show Christ's true humanity and his 'refusing wickedness' his divine holiness, and reads the land left free of the two kings as the Church, safe through Emmanuel.
- Quotations: Isa 7:15–16; Zech 2:5 (the quotation runs on into the next section). Cyril's statements on the two natures in Christ are translated as written. Several words are lost in the scan and marked “…”.
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Cyril of Alexandria, Comm. Isa. 1.4.22 (PG 70; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-22). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/cyril-alexandria-commentarius-isaiam/1-4-22
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 70 (archive.org OCR); no public-domain or FOTC English exists, so each batch was re-read against the Greek.