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to burn cities. And you have suffered these things not only from the Assyrians, but also from the Egyptians. For he also says: 16. The sons of Memphis and Tahpanhes have known you, and have mocked you. Those who for your sake endured those much-talked-of things; whom I finally gave over to the depth of the sea. Then he teaches the cause of the weakness: 81.509 17. Has not your forsaking me done these things to you? says the Lord your God. Then he also indicates the beginning of the apostasy. "At the time when he was leading you in the wilderness." For immediately after being delivered from the Egyptians, you abandoned me, and made the calf a god. 18. And now what have you to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the water of Gihon? And what have you to do with the way of the Assyrians, to drink the water of the rivers? When they were being warred upon by the Syrians, they called the Assyrians for an alliance; but when the Assyrians campaigned against them, they fled to the Egyptians; for he calls the Nile "Gihon". 19. Your apostasy shall discipline you, and your wickedness shall convict you; and know, and see, that it is a bitter and evil thing for you to have forsaken me, says the Lord your God. And I was not well pleased with you, says the Lord your God. Me, he says, you did not call for an alliance, but them. For this reason I handed you over to them. Something like this was also suffered by those who crucified the Savior; for having denied him, they said they had no king but Caesar, and for this reason he handed them over to Caesar. 20. For from of old you have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds, and you said: I will not serve you. But your practices are of an ancient kind; for from the beginning you broke the yoke of the law, and you followed the customs of the lawless nations. And you preferred the altars and the groves to the way of life according to the law. 21. But I planted you a fruitful vine, wholly true. And he has not simply added the "wholly"; but because there were among them pious men, both the divine prophets and those who followed them; meaning, I wished you all to be such, for I took care of all equally. "How have you turned to bitterness for me, O foreign vine?" If it had remained true, it would not have been foreign; but since it was changed into bitterness, it is no longer called true, but foreign. Thus also the great Moses said: "For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their branch is of Gomorrah; their grape is a grape of gall, a cluster of bitterness is theirs." From whence also they offered gall to the Master. But since they insulted the divine planting, and turned to bitterness, and instead of grapes brought forth thorns, Christ, who is from them 81.512 according to the flesh, calls himself the true vine, saying: "I am the true vine;" and he called those who have believed in him "branches." 22. Though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap for yourself, you are stained by your iniquities before me, says the Lord. He calls "soap" the detergents that grow from the earth; and through these he teaches tropically, that the sprinklings according to the law do not work a release from sins; but sincere repentance, and a release from wickedness. After these things he convicts her of shamelessness. 23. How will you say: I am not defiled, and after Baal I have not gone? Then he shows the manifestness of the impiety: "See your ways in the cemetery, and know what you have done." He calls the place of tombs a "polyandrion". And in that place they burned their sons and daughters to the idols. "Late with her voice she wailed." He has put "late" instead of "slowly"; after the experience, he says, of painful things, she perceived her lawlessness. This also the prophet says after these things, showing the ten tribes lamenting, and saying: "After captivity I repented." 24. She has widened her ways to the waters of the desert. Through "widened," he taught the insatiability of impiety. And he called the idols "waters of the desert," as things that make desolate, and cause of utter destruction. "In the desires of her soul she was carried by the wind." For what they wished to hear, these things the

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πόλεις ἐμπρῆσαι. Ταῦτα δὲ οὐ μόνον ὑπὸ Ἀσσυρίων πεπόνθατε· ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὸ Αἰγυπτίων. Ἔτι γάρ φησιν· ιϛʹ. Υἱοὶ Μέμφεως καὶ Τάφνας ἔγνωσάν σε, καὶ κατέπαιξάν σου. Οἱ τὰ πολυθρύλλητα ἐκεῖνα σοῦ χάριν ὑπομείναντες· οὓς τὸ τελευταῖον τῷ θαλατ τίῳ βυθῷ παραδέδωκα. Εἶτα τῆς ἀσθενείας τὴν αἰτίαν διδάσκει· 81.509 ιζʹ. Οὐχὶ ταῦτα ἐποίησέ σοι τὸ καταλιπεῖν σε ἐμέ; λέγει Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου. Ἔπειτα καὶ σημαίνει τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ἀποστασίας. "Ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἄγοντός σε ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ." Εὐθὺς γὰρ Αἰγυπτίων ἀπαλλα γεὶς, ἐμὲ μὲν ἐγκατέλιπες, τὸν δὲ μόσχον ἐθεο ποίησας. ιηʹ. Καὶ νῦν τί σοι καὶ τῇ ὁδῷ Αἰγύπτου, τοῦ πιεῖν ὕδωρ Γηῶν; Καὶ τί σοι καὶ τῇ ὁδῷ Ἀσ συρίων, τοῦ πιεῖν ὕδωρ ποταμῶν; Ἡνίκα ὑπὸ Σύρων ἐπολεμοῦντο, τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους εἰς συμμαχίαν ἐκάλεσαν· ὅτε δὲ Ἀσσύριοι αὐτοῖς ἐπεστράτευσαν, πρὸς Αἰγυπτίους κατέφυγον· Γηῶν γὰρ τὸν Νεῖλον καλεῖ. ιθʹ. Παιδεύσει σε ἡ ἀποστασία σου, καὶ ἡ κα κία σου ἐλέγξει σε· καὶ γνῶθι, καὶ ἴδε, ὅτι πι κρὸν καὶ πονηρόν σοι τὸ καταλιπεῖν σὲ ἐμὲ, λέ γει Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου. Καὶ οὐκ εὐδόκησα ἐπὶ σοὶ, λέγει Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου. Ἐμὲ, φησὶν, εἰς συμμαχίαν οὐκ ἐκάλεσας, ἀλλ' ἐκείνους. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐκείνοις σε παρέδωκα. Τοιοῦτό τι πεπόνθασι καὶ οἱ τὸν Σω τῆρα σταυρώσαντες· ἀρνηθέντες γὰρ αὐτὸν, ἔλεγον μὴ ἔχειν βασιλέα εἰ μὴ Καίσαρα, οὗ δὴ χάριν αὐτοὺς Καίσαρι παραδέδωκεν. κʹ. Ὅτι ἀπ' αἰῶνος συνέτριψας τὸν ζυγόν σου, καὶ διέῤῥηξας τοὺς δεσμούς σου, καὶ εἶπας· Οὐ δουλεύσω σοι. Ἀρχαιότροπα δέ σου τὰ ἐπιτηδεύ ματα· ἄνωθεν γὰρ συνέτριψας τὸν τοῦ νόμου ζυγὸν, καὶ τοῖς τῶν παρανόμων ἐθνῶν ἠκολούθησας ἔθεσι. Καὶ τοὺς βωμοὺς καὶ τὰ ἄλση τῆς κατὰ νόμον πολι τείας προὐτίμησας. καʹ. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐφύτευσά σε ἄμπελον καρπο φόρον, πᾶσαν ἀληθινήν. Οὐχ ἁπλῶς δὲ τὸ "πᾶ σαν" προστέθεικεν· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἦσαν ἐν αὐτοῖς εὐσεβεῖς ἄνδρες, οἵ τε θεῖοι προφῆται, καὶ οἱ τούτοις ἑπόμενοι· ἀντὶ τοῦ, Πάντας ὑμᾶς ἐβουλόμην εἶναι τοιούτους, πάντων γὰρ ἴσως ἐπεμελήθην. "Πῶς ἐστράφης μοι εἰς πικρίαν ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀλλο τρία;" Εἰ διέμεινεν ἀληθινὴ, οὐκ ἂν ἦν ἀλλο τρία· ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἰς πικρίαν μετεβλήθη, οὐκέτι ἀληθινὴ, ἀλλ' ἀλλοτρία καλεῖται. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ μέγας ἔφη Μωσῆς· "Ἐκ γὰρ ἀμπέλου Σοδόμων ἡ ἄμπελος αὐτῶν, καὶ ἡ κληματὶς αὐτῶν ἐκ Γομόῤῥας· ἡ σταφυλὴ αὐτῶν, σταφυλὴ χολῆς, βότρυς πικρίας αὐτῶν." Ὅθεν καὶ χολὴν τῷ ∆εσπότῃ προσήνεγκαν. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τὴν θείαν ἐξύβρισαν φυτουργίαν, καὶ εἰς πικρίαν ἐστρά φησαν, καὶ ἀντὶ σταφυλῆς ἀκάνθας ἐβλάστησαν, ὁ ἐξ 81.512 αὐτῶν κατὰ σάρκα Χριστὸς ἄμπελον αὐτὸν ἀληθι νὴν ὀνομάζει, λέγων· "Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀλη θινή·" τοὺς δὲ εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκότας "κλήματα" προσηγόρευσεν. κβʹ. Ἐὰν ἀποπλύνῃ ἐν νίτρῳ, καὶ πληθύνῃς σεαυτῇ πόαν, κεκηλίδωσαι ἐν ταῖς ἀδικίαις σου ἐναντίον μου, λέγει Κύριος. Πόαν τὰ ἀπὸ γῆς φυόμενα ῥύμματα ὀνομάζει· καὶ διδάσκει τρο πικῶς διὰ τούτων, ὡς τὰ κατὰ νόμον περιῤῥαντήρια ἀπαλλαγὴν ἁμαρτημάτων οὐ πραγματεύεται· ἀλλ' εἰλικρινὴς μεταμέλεια, καὶ πονηρίας ἀπαλλαγή. Μετὰ ταῦτα τὴν ἀναίδειαν αὐτῆς ἐξελέγχει. κγʹ. Πῶς ἐρεῖς· Οὐκ ἐμιάνθην, καὶ ὀπίσω τῆς Βάαλ οὐκ ἐπορεύθην; Εἶτα τὸ προφανὲς τῆς ἀσε βείας δείκνυσιν· "Ἴδε τὰς ὁδούς σου ἐν τῷ πολυ ανδρίῳ, καὶ γνῶθι τί ἐποίησας." Πολυάνδριον καλεῖ τὸ τῶν μνημάτων χωρίον. Ἐν ἐκείνῳ δὲ τοὺς υἱοὺς καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας τοῖς εἰδώλοις κατέκαιον. "Ὀψὲ φωνῇ αὐτῆς ὠλόλυζε." Τὸ ὀψὲ ἀντὶ τοῦ βρα δέως τέθεικε· μετὰ τὴν πεῖραν, φησὶ, τῶν ἀλγεινῶν, τῆς παρανομίας αἴσθησιν ἔλαβε. Τοῦτο καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ὁ προφήτης φησὶ, τὰς δέκα φυλὰς ὀδυρομένας ὑποδεικνὺς, καὶ λεγούσας· "Ὕστερον αἰχμαλωσίας μετενόησα." κδʹ. Τὰς ὁδοὺς αὑτῆς ἐπλάτυνεν ἐφ' ὕδατα ἐρήμου. ∆ιὰ τοῦ ἐπλάτυνε, τὴν ἀπληστίαν τῆς ἀσε βείας ἐδίδαξεν. Ὕδατα δὲ ἐρήμου τὰ εἴδωλα προσ ηγόρευσεν, ὡς ἐρημοποιὰ, καὶ πανωλεθρίας πρόξενα. "Ἐν ἐπιθυμίαις ψυχῆς αὑτῆς ἐπνευματοφορεῖτο." Ἃ γὰρ ἀκούειν ἠβούλοντο, ταῦτα οἱ