Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
The Lord says, at the beginning of the passage read concerning Israel, that a "wilderness" did not become to him, nor "a land made desolate." Who then, coming to this place and examining it, would not seek the intention of what is written? Granted, God did not become a wilderness to Israel, there was no land made desolate for Israel; is the Lord then a wilderness
to Israel today, or is it now a land made desolate for him? What then? When he was not a wilderness to Israel, nor a land made desolate, was he a wilderness and a land made desolate to the nations? For if he is never a wilderness to anyone, and never a land made desolate to anyone, what need was there for it to be said specifically and exceptionally to Israel: "Have I become a wilderness to the
house of Israel, or a land made desolate?" But one may proceed to the general benefactions of God, and then, after his general benefactions, to the particular ones. God is a wilderness to no one, making his sun rise on the wicked and the good; he is a land made desolate to no one, sending rain on the just and the unjust. How is he a wilderness, who makes day and night rise for rest? How is he a wilderness, making the
earth bear fruit? How is he a wilderness, ordering each person according to the soul, so that each may be rational, so that each may take up understanding, so that his intelligence may be exercised, so that in respect to the body he may have his "senses" sound? He is, then, a wilderness to no one, as regards the universal principle. But as regards the particular, I come to the affairs of Israel and say: he was neither a wilderness
nor a land made desolate when he was working the signs and wonders for the people in Egypt. But if there was ever a time when they were abandoned, he became, as it were, a wilderness to them, though he himself was not a wilderness. Yet when he was not a wilderness to Israel, nor a land made desolate, he was, by the particular reckoning, a wilderness and a land made desolate to the nations. But when he turned away from
Israel, and became to that Israel a wilderness and a land made desolate, then grace was poured out upon the nations, and now for us Christ Jesus has become not a wilderness but full, and not a land made desolate but fruitful; for "the children of the desolate woman are many, far more than those of her who possesses a husband." And he threatens those to whom he has not become a wilderness nor a land made desolate,
saying: I have not become to you a "wilderness" nor "a land made desolate," but you have said: "We shall not be ruled, we shall no longer come to you." Have the sons of Israel spoken so recklessly, according to the letter: "We shall not be ruled" . . . [lacuna in the source text]