A little later. And Ishmael, it says, was settled in the desert, and he became an archer, 594 and dwelt in the desert. And his mother took for him an Egyptian wife. For what reason are all these things being recounted to me? I seek the circumcised throughout Egypt, and I seek the circumcised who are in the desert, all those whom the word records. They seem, therefore, to be from the race of Ishmael, who dwelt in the desert and took an Egyptian wife; and I no longer doubt that these are somewhere, either those circumcised in Egypt, and those who cut the corners of their hair, and who dwell in the desert. For it is likely that Ishmael, having received the ancestral law of Abraham, as from a God-loving father, and having departed from his home, did those things which he considered safest for him, being passed down from his father, and also upon his own descendants. And so it is possible to find Egyptians circumcised, or those dwelling in the desert. But how also Edom? This Edom also descends from the seed of Abraham; for to Abraham was born the child Ishmael from Hagar, and Isaac was also born from Sarah. And to Isaac in turn were two children, both Esau and Jacob.

And Jacob did not take wives of foreign blood, nor of the Canaanites, his father having seen to these things. Esau, however, took to wife the daughter of Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth, taking indeed his own cousin on his father's side, but a foreigner on his mother's side, and he became the father of many children. And his firstborn was Edom, and the sacred scripture will testify to me, saying: These are the generations of Esau, the father of Edom. Therefore, what was said a little before about Ishmael, that having received the law of circumcision from his father, he handed it down to his own descendants, it is permitted for us 595 to say these things about Esau, that being the child of Isaac the son of Abraham, the law which he received coming to him from both his grandfather and his father, he also handed down to his children, and he himself also somewhere circumcised Edom; Is it therefore no longer unclear? But how also the sons of Ammon and the sons of Moab? The more diligent know these to be the sons of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. And a little later. Therefore, both Ammon and Moab were born from Lot, each from his daughters, when, supposing the earth to be desolate, Lot's daughters wished thus to preserve the human race; for to the elder was born Moab, interpreted as "from a father," and to the second Ammon, interpreted as "the son of the race." All these things that have been said persuade us to agree, no longer with difficulty, that all the circumcised are so called by the sacred word, with Jeremiah himself testifying both concerning the sons of Moab and concerning the sons of Ammon, that he numbered these also among the circumcised. And a little later. But if some benefit must also come to us from these things that have been said, one might rightly say so, that the many races of men have a pretense of righteousness, and bear some traces of the law of God, and are somehow formed, and superficially cultivate virtue; but the matters of their choice stop at the appearance, at pretense and at hypocrisy; we have not, however, completely striven to cut out wickedness from ourselves and the reproaches upon Egypt and upon Idumea.

Chap. 10, 2. According to the ways of the nations, do not learn. But what do you learn? Learn the Law of God, which says: You shall have no other gods but me, gods, who did not make heaven and the earth, let them perish from the face of the earth and from under heaven.

μετ' ὀλίγα. Καὶ κατῳκίσθη, φησὶν, ὁ Ἰσμαὴλ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, καὶ ἐγένετο τοξότης, 594 καὶ ᾤκησε τὴν ἔρημον. Ἠγάγετο δὲ αὐτῷ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ τὴν αἰγυπτίαν γυναῖκα. Τίνος ἕνεκέν μοι ταῦτα πάντα μεμυθολογεῖσ-θαι; ζητῶ τοὺς περιτετμημένους κατὰ Αἴ-γυπτον, καὶ ζητῶ τοὺς περιτετμημένους τοὺς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, πάντας οὓς ἀναγράφει ὁ λόγος. Ἐοίκασιν οὖν ἐκ τοῦ γένους εἶναι τοῦ Ἰσμαὴλ, ὃς ᾤκησε μὲν τὴν ἔρημον, ἠ- γάγετο δὲ τὴν αἰγυπτίαν γυναῖκα· καὶ οὐ-κέτι ἀμφιβάλλω τούτους που εἶναι, ἢ τοὺς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ περιτετμημένους, καὶ τοὺς πε-ρικειρομένους κατὰ πρόσωπον, καὶ κατοι- κοῦντας ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. Εἶκος γὰρ τὸν Ἰσμαὴλ παραλαβόντα τὸν νόμον τὸν πατρῷον τοῦ Ἁβραὰμ, ὡς θεοφιλοῦς πατρὸς ὄντα, καὶ ἀναχωρήσαντα τῆς οἰκείας, ἅπερ ἐνόμι- ζεν αὐτῷ εἶναι ἀσφαλέστατα, πατροπαρά-δοτα ὄντα, ταῦτα ποιεῖν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐγγό- νοις τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ. Οὕτως δὲ μέντοι περιτετμημένους ἔστιν εὑρεῖν Αἰγυπτίους ἢ τοὺς τὴν ἔρημον οἰκοῦντας. Πῶς δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἐδώμ; ὁ Ἐδὼμ οὖτος κα-ταβαίνει καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος τοῦ Ἁβραάμ· τῷ γὰρ Ἁβραὰμ ἐγένετο μὲν παῖς Ἰσμαὴλ ἐκ τῆς Ἄγαρ, ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ ὁ Ἰσαὰκ ἐκ τῆς Σάῤῥας· τῷ δὲ Ἰσαὰκ πάλιν παῖδες δύο, ὅ τε Ἡσαῦ καὶ ὁ Ἰακώβ.

Καὶ ὁ μὲν Ἰακὼβ οὐκ ἠγάγετο γυναῖκαν αἵμα-τος ξένου, οὐδὲ τῶν Χαναναίων, ταῦτα ἐπι-σκέψαντος τοῦ πατρός. Ὁ μέντοι Ἡσαῦ ἠ-γάγετο γυναῖκα τὴν θυγατέρα Ἰσμαὴλ, ἀ-δελφὴν τοῦ Νεβεώθ, ἀνεψιὰν δήπουθεν ἀγόμενος ἑαυτοῦ γυναίκα πρὸς πατρὸς, ξέ-νην δὲ πρὸς μητρὸς, καὶ γίνεται παίδων πολλῶν πατήρ. Πρωτότοκος δὲ αὐτοῦ ὁ Ἐ-δὼμ, καὶ μαρτυρήσει μοι τὸ ἱερὸν λόγιον λέ-γον· Αὖται δὲ αἱ γενέσεις Ἡσαῦ πατρὸς Ἐδώμ. Οὐκοῦν ἄπερ ἐλέγετο μικροῦ πρόσ-θεν περὶ τοῦ Ἰσμαὴλ, ὅτι δὴ παραλαβὼν νόμον πατρόθεν, τὸν τῆς περιτομῆς, παρεδί-δου ἐγγόνοις τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ, ταῦτα λέγειν ἡμῖν 595 ἔξεστι περὶ τοῦ Ἡσαῦ, ὅτι ὢν παῖς Ἰσαὰκ τοῦ υἱοῦ Ἁβραὰμ, ὃν παρέλαβε νόμον παρά τε τοῦ πάππου, παρά τε τοῦ πατρὸς ἥκον-τα εἰς αὐτὸν, παρεδίδου καὶ τοῖς παισὶ, καὶ περιέτεμέν που καὶ αὐτὸς τὸν Ἐδώμ· οὐκέτι οὖν ἀσαφές; Πῶς δὲ καὶ υἱοὶ Ἀμμὼν καὶ υἱοὶ Μωάβ; τούτους γινώσκουσί που οἱ φιλοπονώτεροι εἶναι τοὺς υἱοὺς Λὼτ, τοῦ ἀδελφιδοῦ Ἁ-βραάμ. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα. Ἐτέχθῃ οὖν ἐκ τοῦ Λὼτ, ὅ τε Ἀμμὼν καὶ ὁ Μωὰβ, ἐκάτερος ἐκ τῶν θυγατέρων αὐτοῦ, ὁπηνίκα ὑπονοήσασαι ἔ-ρημον εἶναι τὴν γῆν, οὕτω διασώσασθαι τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐβουλήθησαν αἱ θυγα-τέρες Λώτ· ἐτέχθη γὰρ τῇ μὲν πρεσβυτέρᾳ ὁ Μωὰβ, ἑρμηνευόμενος ἐκ πατρὸς, καὶ τῇ δευτέρᾳ Ἀμμὼν, ἑρμηνευόμενος ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ γένους. Ταῦτα πάντα εἰρημένα οὐκέτι δυσ-κόλως ἡμᾶς συγκατατίθεσθαι παραπείθει, πάντας τοὺς περιτετμημένους οὕτω καλεῖσ-θαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ἱεροῦ λόγου, μαρτυροῦντος αὐτοῦ Ἱερεμίου καὶ περὶ υἱῶν Μωάβ, καὶ περὶ τῶν υἱῶν Ἀμμὼν, ὅτι ἐν τοῖς περιτετμημέ- νοις κατέλεξε καὶ τούτους. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ὠφελείας τινος ἡμῖν προσγίνεσθαι δεῖ ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων τούτων, οὕτως ἄν τις ὀρθῶς εἴποι, ὡς τὰ πολλὰ γένη τῶν ἀνθρώπων προσποίησιν μὲν ἔχει δικαιοσύνης, καί τινα μὲν ἴχνη φέρειν νόμου Θεοῦ, καὶ σχηματίζεσθαι πως, καὶ ἐπιπλάστως ἐπιμελεῖσθαι ἀρετῆς, μέχρι μέντοι σχήματος αὐτοῖς ἵσταται τὰ τῆς προαιρέσεως, μέχρι προσποιήσεως καὶ τοῦ καθυποκρίνεσθαι, οὐ μέντοι καὶ τέλεον ἐσ-πουδάσαμεν τὴν κακίαν ἐκκόπτειν ἐξ ἡμῶν καὶ τὰ ὀνείδη ἐπ' Αἴγυπτον καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰ-δουμαίαν.

Cap. x, 2. Κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς τῶν ἐθνῶν, μὴ μανθάνετε. Τί δὲ μανθάνετε; Νόμον μανθάνετε Θεοῦ, τὸν λέγοντα· Οὐκ ἔσονταί σοι θεοὶ ἕτεροι πλὴν ἐμοῦ, θεοὶ, οἱ οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν οὐκ ἐποίησαν, ἀπολέσθωσαν ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς γῆς καὶ ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.