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they went after vain things, and became vain? Who is able to praise worthily the Master's love for humanity? For he does not judge as a judge, but as one who is accountable he offers a defense, and wishes to be refuted if he has not done something that he ought to have done; and being the all-holy God, he says to lawless men: 'What have I sinned? What wrong have I done? Speak, refute me.' What accusation did your fathers have that they abandoned me, their benefactor, and served man-made idols? And yet I delivered them from the slavery of the Egyptians; and I led them through an impassable land, and in a waterless desert I gave them a stream of abundant waters, and I brought them into the promised land, which is a mother of all kinds of fruits. For through Carmel he signified the whole land of the promise; but not even having enjoyed these things did you recognize your benefactor; but you imitated the abomination of your fathers. Then he brings the accusation against each division in turn. 8. The priests did not say: Where is the Lord? This is the most unholy of all: that the guides became leaders of error. "And those who handle the law did not know me." Here he accuses the scribes and teachers, as interpreting the law, but being the first to transgress it. "And the shepherds acted impiously against me." He called the kings thus. "And the prophets prophesied by Baal." He calls the false prophets, prophets, just as he also calls those who are not gods, gods. "And they went after that which does not profit. "He showed the excess of their madness; for having left the provider of all kinds of good things, they served harmful idols. 9. For this reason I will yet plead with them, says the Lord; and with the sons of your sons I will plead. He persists in moderation; for he did not say: I will judge you and your descendants; but, I will plead both with you, and with them; instead of, I will contend, and I will convict those who transgress the law. But showing the excess of their lawlessness, he urges them to examine the way of life of the nations, both of the western and of the eastern peoples, and to learn if any of them have changed their ancestral gods; and he calls Chittim Cyprus, and the islands around it, and through them the western parts; and Kedar, those who inhabit the desert towards the rising sun; and through these 81.508 he alludes to the eastern parts; and he teaches that those people followed their ancestral customs, and the gods they were taught to worship; but these denied the true God. For this reason he said that the heaven was astonished, and the earth shuddered; not because the elements are rational; but because blessed Moses called these, as containing the creation, to witness. "For attend, he said, O heaven, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words from my mouth." 3. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, a spring of living water, and hewed out for themselves broken cisterns, which will not be able to hold water. He called the idols broken cisterns. For the cistern is indeed man-made, and does not have gushing water; but it receives that which is produced from the clouds, and gathered from here and there; and if it is also cracked and broken, it immediately loses what has been collected from heaven; Such is the nature of idols. For their substance is collected from matter and art; but the beauty which is received from these, time takes away; but the true God is a spring of ever-flowing life. Then by way of a question: 14, 15. Is Jacob a slave, or is Israel a home-born servant? Why has he become a spoil? Lions roared against him. That, he says, he was freed from the slavery of the Egyptians, all knew; and that he lived by himself enjoying my providence, was clear to all. For he was conspicuous and admired. What then is the cause of the captivity? Why ever did he become an easy prey to the kings who came against him? For he called the kings lions. He says these also divided his land, and the

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ἐπορεύ θησαν ὀπίσω τῶν ματαίων, καὶ ἐματαιώθησαν; Τίς ὑμνῆσαι πρὸς ἀξίαν ἱκανὸς τὴν τοῦ ∆εσπότου φιλανθρωπίαν; Οὐ γὰρ ὡς κριτὴς κρίνει, ἀλλ' ὡς ὑπεύθυνος ἀπολογίαν προσφέρει, καὶ ἐλεγχθῆναι βούλεται εἴ τι πράξαι δέον οὐκ ἔπραξε· καὶ Θεὸς ὢν πανάγιος, ἀνθρώποις παρανόμοις λέγει· Τί ἐξ ήμαρτον; Τί ἠδίκησα; Εἴπατε, ἐλέγξατε. Τί ἔχοντες ἐγκαλεῖν οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν ἐμὲ μὲν τὸν εὐεργέτην ἐγκατέλιπον, τοῖς δὲ χειροποιήτοις εἰδώλοις ἐδού λευσαν; Καὶ μὴν ἐγὼ τῆς Αἰγυπτίων δουλείας ἀπήλ λαξα· καὶ δι' ἀβάτου μὲν ὡδήγησα γῆς, ἐν ἐρήμῳ δὲ ἀνύδρῳ ἀφθόνων ὑδάτων ῥεῖθρον ἐδωρησάμην, εἰς δὲ τὴν ἐπηγγελμένην εἰσήγαγον γῆν, παντοδαπῶν οὖσαν μητέρα καρπῶν. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦ Καρμήλου πᾶσαν τὴν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας παρεδήλωσε γῆν· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τούτων ἀπολαύσαντες τὸν εὐεργέτην ἐπέγνωτε· ἀλλὰ τὴν τῶν πατέρων ἐμιμήσασθε βδελυρίαν. Εἶτα κατὰ διαίρεσιν ἑκάστου τάγματος τὴν κατηγορίαν εἰσφέρει. ηʹ. Οἱ ἱερεῖς οὐκ εἶπον· Ποῦ ἐστι Κύριος; Τοῦτο πάντων ἀνοσιώτατον· τὸ τοὺς ποδηγοὺς ἀρχηγοὺς γενέσθαι τῆς πλάνης. "Καὶ οἱ ἀντεχόμενοι τοῦ νόμου οὐκ ἠπίσταντό με." Τῶν γραμματέων καὶ διδασκάλων ἐνταῦθα κατηγορεῖ, ὡς ἑρμηνευόντων μὲν τὸν νόμον, πρώτων δὲ τοῦτον παραβαινόντων. "Καὶ οἱ ποιμένες ἠσέβουν εἰς ἐμέ." Τοὺς βασιλέας οὕτως ὠνόμασε. "Καὶ οἱ προφῆται προεφήτευον ἐν τῷ Βάαλ." Προφήτας τοὺς ψευδοπροφήτας καλεῖ, ὥσπερ αὖ καὶ θεοὺς τοὺς οὐκ ὄντας θεούς. "Καὶ ὀπίσω τοῦ ἀνωφελοῦς ἐπορεύθησαν. "Ἔδειξε τὴν τῆς παραπληξίας ὑπερβολήν· καταλιπόντες γὰρ τὸν τῶν παντοδαπῶν ἀγαθῶν χορηγὸν, τοῖς ἐπιζημίοις εἰδώλοις ἐλάτρευον. θʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἔτι κριθήσομαι πρὸς αὐτοὺς, λέγει Κύριος· καὶ πρὸς τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν υἱῶν κριθήσομαι. Ἐπιμένει τῇ μετριότητι· οὐ γὰρ εἶπε· Κρινῶ ὑμᾶς καὶ τοὺς ὑμετέρους ἀπογόνους· ἀλλὰ, Κριθήσομαι καὶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς, καὶ πρὸς ἐκείνους· ἀντὶ τοῦ, ∆ικάσομαι, καὶ ἐλέγξω παρανομοῦντας. ∆εικνὺς δὲ τὴν τῆς παρανομίας ὑπερβολὴν, τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐξετάσαι πολιτείαν παρακελεύεται, τῶν τε ἑσπερίων καὶ τῶν ἑῴων, καὶ γνῶναι εἴ τινες ἐκείνων ἤμειψαν τοὺς πατρῴους θεούς· καλεῖ δὲ Χεττιεὶμ μὲν τὴν Κύπρον, καὶ τὰς περὶ αὐτὴν νήσους, καὶ δι' αὐτῶν τὰ ἑσπέρια μέρη· Κηδὰρ δὲ, τοὺς τὴν πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνίσχοντα ἔρημον οἰκοῦντας· διὰ δὲ τού 81.508 των, τὰ ἑῷα μέρη αἰνίττεται· καὶ διδάσκει ὡς ἐκεῖ νοι μὲν τοῖς πατρῴοις ἠκολούθησαν ἔθεσι, καὶ οὒς ἐδιδάχθησαν σέβειν θεούς· οὗτοι δὲ τὸν ὄντως Θεὸν ἠρνήθησαν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐκστῆναι ἔφη, καὶ φρίξαι τὴν γῆν· οὐκ ἐπειδὴ λογικὰ τὰ στοιχεῖα· ἀλλ' ὅτι ταῦτα, ὡς περιεκτικὰ τῆς κτίσεως, εἰς μαρτυρίαν μακάριος ἐκάλεσε Μωσῆς. "Πρόσεχε γὰρ, ἔφη, οὐρανὲ, καὶ λαλήσω· καὶ ἀκουέτω γῆ ῥήματα ἐκ στόματός μου." γʹ. Ὅτι δύο καὶ πονηρὰ ἐποίησεν ὁ λαός μου· ἐμὲ μὲν ἐγκατέλιπον πηγὴν ὕδατος ζωῆς, καὶ ὤρυξαν ἑαυτοῖς λάκκους συντετριμμένους, οἳ οὐ δυνήσονται ὕδωρ συσχεῖν. Λάκκους συν τετριμμένους τὰ εἴδωλα προσηγόρευσεν. Ὁ γὰρ λάκ κος χειροποίητος μέν ἐστιν, ἀναβλύζον δὲ ὕδωρ οὐκ ἔχει· τὸ δὲ ἐκ νεφῶν τικτόμενον, καὶ ἔνθεν κἀκεῖθεν συναθροι ζόμενον δέχεται· εἰ δὲ καὶ διεῤῥωγὼς ᾖ καὶ συντετριμ μένος, παραυτίκα τὸ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ συνειλεγμένον ἀπόλ λυσι· Τοιαύτη τῶν εἰδώλων ἡ φύσις. Ἐρανίζεται μὲν γὰρ τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἐξ ὕλης καὶ τέχνης· ὃ δὲ παρὰ τού των κομίζεται κάλλος, ἀφαιρεῖται ὁ χρόνος· ὁ δὲ ἀλη θῶς Θεὸς, ζωῆς ἀεννάου πηγή. Εἶτα κατ' ἐρώτησιν· ιδʹ, ιεʹ. Μὴ δοῦλός ἐστιν Ἰακὼβ, ἢ οἰκογενής ἐστιν Ἰσραήλ; ∆ιατί εἰς προνομὴν ἐγένετο; Ἐπ' αὐτὸν ὠρύοντο λέοντες. Ὅτι, φησὶ, τῆς Αἰγυπτίων ἠλευθερώθη δουλείας, ἅπαντες ἔγνωσαν· ὅτι δὲ καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἐπολιτεύετο τῆς ἐμῆς ἀπο λαύων προνοίας, δῆλον ἦν ἅπασι. Περιφανὴς γὰρ ἦν καὶ περίβλεπτος. Τί τοίνυν τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τὸ αἴ τιον; Τί δή ποτε τοῖς ἐπιοῦσιν αὐτῷ βασιλεῦσιν ἐγένετο πρόχειρος; Λέοντας γὰρ τοὺς βασιλέας ὠνό μασε. Τούτους λέγει καὶ τὴν γῆν αὐτοῦ διχάσαι, καὶ τὰς