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Meaning #1: Christ (the root and vine) produces wise people (the branches) that write laws (their fruit). In this interpretation, the adjective ἐγκύµονα takes the genitive ϲοφίηϲ. This interpretation is supported by Dioscorus’s other use of the phrase in Poem 5.10 (Heitsch 6.10): τῆς πολυκαλλίστης σοφίης ἐγκύµονι πάσης. Here there is no other genitive noun, so σοφίης must be dependent on ἐγκύµονι. In Meaning #1, the word “wisdom” (σοφίης) is a metonymy for “wise people”. And the noun θεϲµῶν is an objective genitive, meaning that wise people create laws. Meaning #2: Christ (the root and vine) is filled with the Holy Spirit (Sophia), which inspired the Old Testament, New Testament, and Apostolic Law. This interpretation is supported by biblical imagery and Christian literature. Sophia was sometimes equated in Christian literature with the third person of the Trinity (see Lampe, s.v. σοφία C 2). And Christ was very clear that his Spirit was the Holy Spirit, which he would distribute to his disciples only after he had ascended into heaven. In a biblical passage that shows parallels to the imagery of verses 17-18, Christ tells his apostles a parable about vines, branches, and bearing fruit (Jo. 15:1-26; cf. Act. 1:1-2 and 2:33). He then encourages them to keep his commandments, which he had spoken through the Spirit, and promises that he will send the Spirit from heaven to help them. According to Christian doctrine, it was this same Spirit that had spoken through the prophets, including Moses; see οὗτος οὖν, ὢν πνεῦµα θεοῦ καὶ ἀρχὴ καὶ σοφία καὶ δύναµις ὑψίστου, κατήρχετο εἰς τοὺς προφήτας καὶ δι’ αὐτῶν ἐλάλει τὰ περὶ τῆς ποιήσεως τοῦ κόσµου καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἁπάντων (Theophilus, Ad Autolycum, Book 2, section 10, line 12). According to biblical tradition, the prophet Moses wrote the first five books of the Clement A. Kuehn