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and is sent forth; for it does not prick the upright, it does not strike the innocent, it does not bite the pure.

7 What was the nature of the slander? "This man does not cease speaking words against this holy place and the law." "This man." Which one? "The one working signs and wonders beyond human capacity; the one who has drawn up the whole spring of wisdom; the one who has emptied into himself the treasuries of grace; the one who performs mighty works, which we are not able to endure; whose zeal and envy have consumed us; whom the deaf obey when called; and the blind see toward him, having received eyes from him; and the lame ask for feet, borrowing hands also from his tongue; through whom the little beds of the sick were emptied, through whom there is no difference between the healthy and the sick, through whom the lepers have forgotten their suffering, through whom there is no need of physicians, through whom the ground-up medicines are superfluous."

8 "This man does not cease speaking words against this holy place and the law." What were these? "For we have heard him say that this Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us." Rightly are you called false witnesses and slanderers, because you utter the truth as if it were not truth, because you call the prophecies from him and about him blasphemies of God, and you think that the things he himself threatened would come to pass are an annulment of the law.

9 For whose voice, whose prophecy, whose proclamation is it? Who commanded Isaiah thus to speak, who Micah: "Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a lodge in a garden"; "The daughter of Zion shall be left as a tent in a vineyard and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers"? Who also inspired David to say such things: "Remember, Lord, the sons of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, those who say: Raze it, raze it, even to its foundation"?

10 And what of Moses? Does he not himself agree with the things said by Stephen? Did he not write down these curses of yours, which by actual experience have now come to pass, and show to all the causes from which they have been brought forth? Let the wounds that have happened to the people of the Jews be set beside the words of Moses. Seeking them word for word, you will find that nothing, small or great, has turned out to be false. "And if after these things you walk crookedly"; for they never had an upright heart towards God; but much more in the later times, in which they perverted the calling of Christ. Therefore he also added: "And if you are not willing to obey me" -therefore they did not obey Christ when he called-, "I will add to you seven plagues according to your iniquities." For since they denied the seven gifts of the Spirit, the seven spirits of wickedness become for them seven plagues, which, entering, dwelt in them; and their last state has become worse than the first.

11 "And I will send upon you the beasts of the earth." He means the nations; for they were formerly beasts on account of their ignorance, because they worshipped the divine in the image of beasts and four-footed creatures and reptiles. Against whom David, praying, said: "May those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them." These nations God has now sent against them, doing the things that were next spoken by the lawgiver: "And it shall devour you, and consume your cattle, and make you few in number; and your roads shall be desolate." For each of these things has happened to them, both in the perceptible and in the intelligible sense, having been conquered by the nations.

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καὶ πέμπεται· οὐ κεντεῖ γὰρ τὸν εὐθῆ, οὐ πλήττει τὸν ἄκα κον, οὐ δάκνει τὸν ἀκέραιον.

7 Τί δαὶ καὶ τῆς συκοφαντίας τὸ εἶδος ἐτύγχανεν; «Ὁ ἄν θρωπος οὗτος οὐ παύεται λαλῶν ῥήματα κατὰ τοῦ τόπου τοῦ ἁγίου τούτου καὶ τοῦ νόμου.» «Ὁ ἄνθρωπος οὗτος.» Ποῖος; «Ὁ τὰ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον σημεῖα θαυματουργῶν καὶ τέρατα· ὁ τῆς σοφίας τὴν πηγὴν ἀντλήσας ὅλην· ὁ κενώσας εἰς ἑαυτὸν τὰ ταμεῖα τῆς χάριτος· ὁ δυνάμεις ποιῶν, ἃς ἡμεῖς καρτερεῖν οὐ δυ νάμεθα· οὗ πρὸς τὸν ζῆλον καὶ πρὸς τὸν φθόνον τετήκαμεν· ᾧ κωφὸς ὑπακούει καλούμενος· καὶ τυφλὸς βλέπει πρὸς αὐ τόν, παρ' αὐτοῦ λαβὼν ὄμματα· καὶ χωλὸς αἰτεῖ πόδας, ἀπὸ τῆς τούτου γλώττης καὶ χεῖρας δανεισάμενος· δι' ὃν ἐκενώθη τὰ τῶν ἀρρώστων κλινίδια, δι' ὃν ὑγιαινόντων καὶ νοσούντων οὐκ ἔστιν διαφορά, δι' ὃν οἱ λεπροὶ τοῦ πάθους ἐπελήσθησαν, δι' ὃν οὐκ ἔστιν τῶν ἰατρῶν χρεία, δι' ὃν περιττὰ τὰ τριβόμενα φάρμακα.»

8 «Οὗτος οὐ παύεται λαλῶν ῥήματα κατὰ τοῦ τόπου τοῦ ἁγίου τούτου καὶ τοῦ νόμου.» Ποῖα δὴ ταῦτα; «Ἀκηκόαμεν γὰρ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος οὗτος καταλύσει τὸν τόπον τοῦτον, καὶ ἀλλάξει τὰ ἔθη ἃ παρέδωκεν ἡμῖν Μωυ σῆς.» Εἰκότως ψευδεῖς μάρτυρες καὶ συκοφάνται λέγεσθε, ὅτι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὡς οὐκ ἀλήθειαν φθέγγεσθε, ὅτι βλασφημίας τοῦ θεοῦ τὰς παρ' αὐτοῦ καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ προφητείας ὀνομάζετε, καὶ ἀθέτησιν εἶναι τοῦ νόμου νομίζετε ἅπερ αὐτὸς ἠπεί λησεν ἐκβησόμενα.

9 Τίνος γὰρ φωνή, τίνος προφητεία, τίνος τυγχάνει κήρυγμα; Τίς εἰπεῖν οὕτω τὸν Ἠσαΐαν, τίς Μιχαίαν προσέταξεν· «∆ιὰ τοῦτο δι' ὑμᾶς Σιὼν ὡς ἀγρὸς ἀροτριαθήσεται, καὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ ὡς ὀπωροφυλάκιον ἔσται»· «Ἐγκαταλειφθήσεται ἡ θυγάτηρ Σιὼν ὡς σκηνὴ ἐν ἀμπελῶνι καὶ ὡς ὀπωροφυλάκιον ἐν σικυηρά τῳ»; Τίς καὶ τὸν ∆αυὶδ τοιαῦτα εἰπεῖν ἐνέπνευσεν· «Μνή σθητι, κύριε, τῶν υἱῶν Ἐδὼμ τὴν ἡμέραν Ἰερουσαλήμ, τῶν λεγόντων· Ἐκκενοῦτε, ἐκκενοῦτε, ἕως οὗ ὁ θεμέλιος ἐν αὐτῇ»;

10 Τί δαὶ καὶ Μωυσῆς; Οὐχὶ τοῖς εἰρημένοις παρὰ Στεφά νου καὶ αὐτὸς συμψηφίζεται; Οὐ ταύτας ὑμῶν κατέγραψεν τὰς ἀράς, αἵπερ αὐτῇ πείρᾳ νῦν εἰς ἔργον ἐξέβησαν, καὶ πᾶσι τὰς αἰ τίας ὁρᾶν ὅθεν εἰσὶν ἐξενεχθεῖσαι παρέχουσι; Παρατιθέσθω τοῖς Μωυσέως ῥήμασιν τὰ συμβάντα τῷ λαῷ τῶν Ἰουδαίων τραύματα. Πρὸς λέξιν αὐτὰ ζητῶν, εὑρήσεις ὡς ἐκβέβηκεν οὐ δὲν οὐδαμοῦ μικρὸν ἢ μέγα ψευσάμενα. «Καὶ ἐὰν μετὰ ταῦτα πορεύεσθε πλάγιοι»· οὐδέποτε γὰρ εὐθῆ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τὴν καρδίαν ἐκτήσαντο· πολὺ δὲ μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις τοῖς ὕστερον, ἐν οἷς τὴν κλῆσιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπλαγίαζον. ∆ιόπερ καὶ ἐπήγαγεν· «Καὶ ἐὰν μὴ βούλεσθε ὑπακούειν μου» -οὐ τοίνυν τοῦ Χριστοῦ καλοῦντος ὑπήκουσαν-, «προσθήσω ὑμᾶς πληγὰς ἑπτὰ κατὰ τὰς ἀνομίας ὑμῶν.» Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἠρνήσαντο τὰς ἑπτὰ χορη γίας τοῦ πνεύματος, εἰς ἑπτὰ πληγὰς αὐτοῖς τὰ ἑπτὰ γίνεται τῆς πονηρίας πνεύματα, ἅπερ εἰσελθόντα κατῴκησεν ἐν αὐτοῖς· καὶ γέγονεν αὐτῶν τὰ ἔσχατα χείρονα τῶν πρώτων.

11 «Καὶ ἀποστέλλω ἐφ' ὑμᾶς τὰ θηρία τῆς γῆς.» Τὰ ἔθνη λέγει· θηρία γὰρ πρότερον διὰ τὴν ἀγνωσίαν ἐτύγχανον, ὅτι ἐν εἰκόνι θηρίων καὶ τετραπόδων καὶ ἑρπετῶν τὸ θεῖον ἐθρή σκευον. Οἷς ἐπαρώμενος ὁ ∆αυὶδ ἔλεγεν· «Ὅμοιοι αὐτοῖς γέ νοιντο οἱ ποιοῦντες αὐτὰ καὶ πάντες οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπ' αὐτοῖς.» Ταῦτα νῦν αὐτοῖς ὁ θεὸς τὰ ἔθνη ἐπαπέστειλεν, τὰ ἑξῆς εἰρη μένα τῷ νομοθέτῃ πράσσοντα· «Καὶ κατέδεται ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἀνα λώσει τὰ κτήνη ὑμῶν, καὶ ὀλιγοστοὺς ποιήσει ὑμᾶς· καὶ ἔρημοι ἔσονται αἱ ὁδοὶ ὑμῶν.» Τούτων γὰρ ἕκαστα αὐτοῖς, κατὰ τὸ αἰ σθητὸν καὶ κατὰ τὸ νοητόν, ὑπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν κυριευθεῖσιν, γε γένηται.