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are the judgments of God. Therefore, on the first day God made the heaven, and the earth, and the light; and illuminated all things in the swift turning of a moment; but this is the corruptible. For before this, a dark shadow encompassed it, with the heaven stretched around, and all that it contained, and having made the remaining place without light. But outside the heaven there is a light without shadow, and incorruptible, and eternal, in which angels dwell, concerning which Solomon says: Light for the righteous forever, in which also those who have lived well rest. You will understand the economy of this from a clear example, that an unquenchable light shines around the space outside of heaven. But a mist encompassed the space within before the light came to be. For just as if someone at steadfast noonday, having pitched a tent of thick material, makes an improvised darkness, and the place contained within cannot be illuminated at all, unless a gleam of light should shine forth; so such an unsubstantial darkness encompassed the world, being covered by the heaven, which God separated by creating the light, and naming it day, and the darkness night. For when the light is poured out, it becomes day, but when it is drawn together, night follows. Whence also in the measurement of times we count days, and not nights. 712 On the second day God made the firmament. This is different from the heaven made in the beginning. And it has been said by some that it is the same; for it is, he says, an elaboration of the second, because there the creation of earth and heaven was delivered as in a summary; but here Scripture delivers more elaborately how it came to be. But we say it is one thing, and another; since both a different name and a particular need for the second heaven have been delivered. Therefore this is different from the one made in the beginning, being of a more solid nature. And God separated in the midst of the water, which was under the firmament. For he divided the nature of the waters, which was boundless, so that it was both above the firmament, and below. But the aether is fiery and burning, and would have consumed the whole continent, if it were not restrained by the decree of the one who made it. For this reason there is also aerial water, carried by clouds from the rising of the vapors, which vapors the rivers, and the springs, and the lakes, and all the seas send forth, so that the aether might not burn up and consume all things. Thus is the r... made: the exhalations are gathered together about the height, and the air is condensed by the compression of the winds, and the moistures sown in the cloud, coming together with one another, become drops, and by the weight of the things combined are sent downwards. And snow is formed from the waters thus: the moisture, being checked by the violence of the winds, foams up; and being checked through and through, it is cooled and congeals, and when the cloud is broken, the snow is brought down. And thunder according to this account .... a collision occurs, which being driven in the hollows of the clouds, and violently breaking out, produces the sound of thunder. On the third day by the command of God the water was gathered into their gatherings, and the dry land appeared; And he called the dry land Earth, and the systems of the waters he called Seas. It was gathered for this reason into one gathering, so that it might not from the places where it is ........ and overflowing, cover the continent. For this reason the sea, often raging from the winds, and rising to the greatest height with its waves, whenever it only touches the shores, dissolving its force into foam, it has returned, bridled by the weakest of all things, the sand. For what prevented the Red Sea from flooding all of Egypt, which is lower than it, and from joining with the adjacent

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ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ κρίματα. Τῇ πρώτῃ οὖν ἡμέρᾳ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ τὸ φῶς· καὶ πάντα ὀξείᾳ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ κατεφώτισε· τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τὸ φθαρτόν. Πρὸ γὰρ τούτου σκιάσματι περιεῖχε σκοτεινὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ περιταθέντος, καὶ πάντα ὅσα συνεῖχε, καὶ τὸν ἀπολειφθέντα τόπον ἀφεγγῆ καταστήσαντος. Ἔξωθεν δὲ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ φῶς εἶναι ἀσκίαστον, καὶ ἄφθαρτον, καὶ αἰώνιον, ἐν ᾧ ἄγγελοι διαιτῶνται, περὶ οὗ φησι Σολομῶν· Φῶς δικαίοις διὰ παντὸς, εἰς ὃ καὶ οἱ καλῶς βιώσαντες ἀναπαύονται. Νοήσεις δὲ τούτου τὴν οἰκονομίαν ἐξ ἐναργοῦς παραδείγματος, ὅτι φῶς ἄσβεστον τὸν ἔξω χῶρον περιλάμπει τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. Τὸν δὲ ἔσω ἀχλὺς περιεῖχε πρὸ τοῦ γενηθῆναι τὸ φῶς. Ὥσπερ γὰρ εἴ τις ἐν σταθερᾷ μεσημβρίᾳ πήξας ἐκ πυκνῆς ὕλης σκηνὴν σκότος αὐτοσχέδιον ποιεῖ, καὶ οὐδαμῶς φωτισθῆναι δύναται ὁ περιεχόμενος τόπος, εἰ μὴ φωτὸς ἐκλάμψῃ μαρμαρυγή· οὕτω τοιοῦτον ἀνυπόστατον σκότος περιεῖχε τὸν κόσμον ὑπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καλυπτόμενον, ὅπερ ὁ Θεὸς διεχώρησε δημιουργήσας τὸ φῶς, καὶ ἡμέραν αὐτὸ προσονομάσας, καὶ τὸ σκότος νύκτα. Ἀναχεομένου γὰρ τοῦ φωτὸς, ἡμέρα γίγνεται, συστελλομένου δὲ, νὺξ ἀντέπεισιν. Ὅθεν καὶ ἐν τῇ συμμετρήσει τῶν χρόνων ἡμέρας, καὶ οὐχὶ νύκτας ἀριθμοῦμεν. 712 Τῇ δὲ δευτέρᾳ ἡμέρᾳ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸ στερέωμα. Τοῦτο δὲ ἕτερόν ἐστι παρὰ τὸν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ποιηθέντα οὐρανόν. Καὶ εἵρηται τοῖς, ὅτι καὶ ταυτόν ἐστιν· ἐπεξέργασις γάρ ἐστί φησι τοῦ δευτέρου, διὰ τὸ ἐκεῖ μὲν παραδεδόσθαι ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίῳ γῆς καὶ οὐρανοῦ ποίησιν· ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἐπεξεργαστικώτερον τὸ πῶς γέγονεν ἡ Γραφὴ παραδίδωσιν. Ἡμεῖς δέ φαμεν ἄλλο, καὶ ἄλλο· ἐπειδὴ καὶ ὄνομα ἔτερον καὶ χρεία ἰδιάζουσα τοῦ δευτέρου οὐρανοῦ παραδέδοται. Ἕτερος οὖν ἐστι παρὰ τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ ποιηθέντα οὗτος, στερεωτέρας ὑπάρχων φύσεως. Καὶ διεχώρησεν ὁ Θεὸς ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ ὕδατος, ὃ ἦν ὑποκάτω τοῦ στερεώματος. Ἄπειρον γὰρ οὖσαν τῶν ὑδάτων τὴν φύσιν διεμέρισεν, ὥστε καὶ ἐπάνω εἶναι τοῦ στερεώματος, καὶ ὑποκάτω. Ὁ δὲ αἰθὴρ πυρώδης ἐστὶ καὶ διακαὴς, καὶ πᾶσαν ἂν τὴν ἤπειρον ἐξανάλωσεν, εἰ μὴ τῷ ὅρῳ τοῦ ποιήσαντος αὐτὸν κατείχετο. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ ὕδωρ ἐστὶν ἀέριον ἐκ τῆς ἀναφορᾶς τῶν ἀτμῶν διὰ νεφῶν φερόμενον, οὒς ἀτμοὺς οἱ ποταμοὶ, καὶ αἱ κρῆναι, καὶ αἱ λίμναι, καὶ τὰ πελάγη πάντα προΐενται, ὡς ἂν μὴ πάντα ὁ αἰθὴρ πυρακτώσας ἐξαναλώσειε. Γίνεται δὲ οὕτως ὁ ὑ... συνάγονται περὶ τὸ ὕψος αἱ ἀναθυμιάσεις, καὶ πυκνοῦται ὁ ἀὴρ ταῖς τῶν πνευμάτων πιλήσεσι, καὶ αἱ νοτίδες αἱ τῷ νέφει ἐνεσπαρμέναι, ἀλλήλαις προσχωρήσασαι, σταγόνες γίνονται, καὶ τῷ βάρει τῶν συγκριθέντων πρὸς τὸ κάτω ἐφίενται. Ἡ δὲ χιὼν ἐκ τῶν ὑδάτων οὔτω συνίσταται· ἐκ τῆς βίας τῶν ἀνέμων ἀνακοπὲν τὸ ὑγρὸν ἐξαφρίζεται· καὶ ὅλον δι' ὅλου ἀνακοπὲν, καταψυχθὲν πήγνυται, καὶ θραυσθέντος τοῦ νέφους, ἡ χιὼν καταφέρεται. Ἡ δὲ βροντὴ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον .... ἀντιτυπία γίγνεται, ὅπερ ἐλαυνόμενον ἐν ταῖς κοιλότησι τῶν νεφῶν, καὶ βιαίως ἐκρηγνύμενον τὸν τῆς βροντῆς ἦχον ἀποτελεῖ. Τῇ δὲ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ προστάγματι τοῦ Θεοῦ συνήχθη τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς τὰς συναγωγὰς αὐτῶν, καὶ ὤφθη ἡ ξηρά· Καὶ ἐκάλεσε τὴν ξηρὰν γῆν, καὶ τὰ συστήματα τῶν ὑδάτων ἐκάλεσε θαλάσσας. Συνήχθη διὰ τοῦτο εἰς συναγωγὴν μίαν, ἵνα μὴ ἐκ τῶν χωρίων ἔνθα ἐστὶν ........ καὶ ὑπεκβαῖνον ἐπικαλύπτῃ τὴν ἤπειρον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο μαινομένη πολλάκις ἐξ ἀνέμων ἡ θάλασσα, καὶ εἰς ὕψος μέγιστον διανισταμένη τοῖς κύμασιν, ἐπειδὰν μόνον τῶν αἰγιαλῶν ἅψηται, εἰς ἀφρὸν διαλύσασα τὴν ὁρμὴν, ἐπανῆλθε, τῇ πάντων ἀσθενεστάτῃ ψάμμῳ χαλινωθεῖσα. Ἐπεὶ τί ἐκώλυσε τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν ἐπικλύσαι πᾶσαν τὴν Αἴγυπτον κοιλοτέραν αὐτῆς ὑπάρχουσαν, καὶ συναφθῆναι τῷ παρακειμένῳ