exalting himself against all that is called God or that is an object of worship.” 29 Israel cannot be restored to its pasture, unless the two kings suffer what they must suffer for the avenging of those who have suffered wrongly. But do not understand the saying as referring entirely to the devil or the antichrist; for in me let him be destroyed, “Satan being crushed under my feet quickly.” But when he has destroyed these two and those in between, he will restore Israel to its pasture; when it will also feed in Carmel and in Bashan and in Mount Ephraim and in Gilead. Although there are so many places of Judea and of the inherited land, he named these alone. 30 He calls Babylon a hammer, which by its own greed wore down those on earth. But when Solomon was building the divine temple, the third book of Kingdoms says in praise that “hammer and axe were not heard in the house of God.” And the house of God is the church, in which a hammer ought not to be heard. And the hammer of the whole earth is the devil, and one who pays no mind to it is like some material struck by it and not suffering. For it says, “behold, a man standing on a wall of adamant, and in his hand an adamant”; which adamant is shattered by no hammer. Even if the devil, the hammer, should stand over him, and a dragon be set beneath him “like a hammered anvil,” the adamant in the hand of the Lord and under his protection will suffer nothing. For the holy one is a wall of adamant, and remaining in the hands of the Lord is impassible, even if he be caught between the hammer and the dragon. But the more he is struck, the more resplendent he shows his virtue to be; for the devil, as one ignorant of the nature of stones, tests the adamant, as it were, through many blows, with God alone knowing well the nature of these things. If there were no hammer, there would be no “beaten trumpet” according to the law, rousing the hearers to the feasts of God or stirring them up for war. The hammer, through various temptations, made Paul such a one, who suffered nothing from it, but with a great voice stirred up war against wickedness. The hammer, then, works temptation, and the “hammerer, the forger of bronze and iron” from Cain serves the hammer. Such was Judas at the time of the Savior and those who cried out, “crucify, crucify him,” serving the hammer through such things. 31 The apostle also knows of vessels of wrath “prepared for destruction, that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy.” For he divided all people into these two vessels, those of wrath, and those of mercy; the former like Pharaoh and the Egyptians, the latter like Paul and those who believed. But what is the treasury of the Lord, in which are the vessels of wrath? Perhaps the church, in which such people are often hidden. But there will be a time when he opens the church. For now it is closed, and the vessels of wrath dwell with the vessels of mercy, and the chaff is with the wheat, and in one dragnet are both the rejected and the elect fish. But the Lord opens his treasury at the time of judgment, when, the vessels of wrath being cast out, he who is a vessel of mercy might reasonably say: “They went out from us, for they were not of us.” But the sinning vessels outside the treasury are not yet vessels of wrath, but lesser; for they are “servants not knowing the will of their Lord and not doing it.” They are, therefore, simply vessels being kept for other things. 32 Some of the captives of Judea, he says, will come, announcing the good news of the vengeance against Babylon. And he might also be speaking about those turning from idolatry, which he calls Babylon; who, having come to Sion, the Watchtower, the church, announce the vengeance from our Lord God. 33 Those in Babylon are many, but those in Jerusalem are very few. For it is said: “It was not because you were many that the Lord your God loved you; for you are few compared to all the nations.” For “few” indeed “are those who are saved and who enter through the narrow gate.” And everyone is commanded, stretching his bow against “broad and spacious” Babylon, sparing none of her

ἐπαιρόμενος ἐπὶ πάντα λεγόμενον θεὸν ἢ σέβασμα». 29 Οὐ δύναται ὁ Ἰσραὴλ ἀποκαταστῆναι εἰς τὴν νομὴν αὐτοῦ, ἐὰν μὴ πάθωσιν οἱ δύο βασιλεῖς ἃ δεῖ παθεῖν ὑπὲρ τῆς τῶν πεπονθότων κακῶς ἐκδικήσεως. μὴ πάντως δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν διά βολον ἢ τὸν ἀντίχριστον ἐκλάβῃς τὸν λόγον· ἐν ἐμοὶ γὰρ ἀναιρε θήτω «συντριβόμενος ὁ σατανᾶς ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας μου ἐν τάχει». ὅταν δὲ ἀνέλῃ τοὺς δύο τούτους καὶ τοὺς μεταξύ, ἀποκαταστήσει τὸν Ἰσραὴλ εἰς τὴν νομὴν αὐτοῦ· ὅτε καὶ νεμήσεται ἐν τῷ Καρ μήλῳ καὶ τῇ Βασὰν καὶ ἐν ὄρει Ἐφραῒμ καὶ ἐν Γαλαάδ. το σούτων τόπων ὄντων τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ τῆς γῆς τῆς κληρονομου μένης, ταῦτα μόνον ὠνόμασεν. 30 Σφύραν τὴν Βαβυλῶνα καλεῖ, ταῖς ἰδίαις πλεονεξίαις τοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς κατατρίψασαν. ὅτε δὲ τὸν θεῖον νεὼν ὁ Σολομὼν κατεσκεύαζεν, ἐν ἐπαίνῳ τῶν Βασιλειῶν ἡ τρίτη φησὶν ὅτι «σφύρα καὶ πέλεκυς οὐκ ἠκούσθη ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ θεοῦ». οἶκος δὲ ἡ ἐκ κλησία θεοῦ, ἐν ᾗ μὴ δεῖ ἀκούεσθαι σφύρα. ἔστι δὲ σφύρα πάσης τῆς γῆς ὁ διάβολος, καὶ ἔστιν ὁ μὴ φροντίζων αὐτῆς οἱονεί τις ὕλη τυπτομένη παρ' αὐτῆς καὶ μὴ πάσχουσα. «ἰδοὺ» γάρ φησιν «ἀνὴρ ἑστηκὼς ἐπὶ τείχους ἀδαμαντίνου, καὶ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ ἀδάμας»· ὅστις ἀδάμας ὑπ' οὐδεμιᾶς συντρίβεται σφύρας. κἂν ἐφεστήκῃ γοῦν ὁ διάβολος ἡ σφύρα, καὶ ὑποκείμενος ᾖ δράκων «ὥσπερ ἄκμων ἀνή λατος», οὐδὲν ὁ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ κυρίου καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν σκέπην αὐτοῦ ἀδάμας πείσεται. τεῖχος γὰρ ὁ ἅγιος ἀδαμάντινον, καὶ ἐν χερσὶ κυρίου μένων ἀπαθής, κἂν μέσος ληφθῇ τῆς τε σφύρας καὶ τοῦ δράκοντος. ὅσον δὲ τύπτεται, λαμπροτέραν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐπι δείκνυσιν· ὁ γὰρ διάβολος οἷά τις λίθων ἀγνοῶν φύσιν διὰ πολλῶν δοκιμάζει πληγῶν τὸν οἷον ἀδάμαντα, θεοῦ μόνου καλῶς τὴν τού των φύσιν εἰδότος. εἰ σφύρα μὴ ἦν, «σάλπιγξ ἐλατὴ» ἡ κατὰ τὸν νόμον οὐκ ἦν, διεγείρουσα ἐπὶ τὰς ἑορτὰς τοῦ θεοῦ ἢ παροξύνουσα εἰς πόλεμον τοὺς ἀκούοντας. τοιοῦτον ἐποίησε τὸν Παῦλον διὰ πειρασμῶν ποικίλων ἡ σφύρα, μηδὲν μὲν ἐξ αὐτῆς παθόντα, μεγάλῃ δὲ φωνῇ πρὸς τὸν τῆς κακίας διεγείροντα πόλεμον. ἐργάζεται μὲν οὖν ἡ σφύρα τὸν πειρασμόν, ὑπηρετεῖ δὲ τῇ σφύρᾳ ὁ ἀπὸ τοῦ Κάϊν «σφυροκόπος, ὁ χαλκεὺς χαλκοῦ καὶ σιδήρου». τοιοῦτος ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος Ἰούδας καὶ οἱ «σταύρου, σταύρου αὐτόν» κεκραγότες, διὰ τῶν τοιούτων ὑπηρετοῦντες τῇ σφύρᾳ. 31 Σκεύη ὀργῆς καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος οἶδε «κατηρτισμένα εἰς ἀπώλειαν, ἵνα γνωρίσῃ τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ σκεύη ἐλέους». πάντας γὰρ ἀνθρώπους εἰς δύο ταῦτα διεῖλε σκεύη, τὰ μὲν ὀργῆς, τὰ δὲ ἐλέους· τὰ μὲν οἷος ὁ Φαραὼ καὶ οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι, τὰ δὲ οἷος ὁ Παῦλος καὶ οἱ πιστεύσαντες. ἀλλὰ τίς ὁ θησαυρὸς κυρίου, ἐν ᾧ τὰ σκεύη τῆς ὀργῆς; ἴσως ἡ ἐκκλησία, ἐν ᾗ τοιοῦτοι πολλάκις λανθάνουσιν. ἔσται δὲ καιρός, ὅτε ἀνοίγει τὴν ἐκκλησίαν. νῦν γὰρ κέκλεισται, καὶ τὰ σκεύη τῆς ὀργῆς μετὰ τῶν σκευῶν τοῦ ἐλέους νέμεται, καὶ τὰ ἄχυρα μετὰ τοῦ σίτου εἰσί, καὶ ἐν μιᾷ σαγήνῃ οἵ τε ἀπόβλητοι καὶ οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ ἰχθύες. ἀνοίγει δὲ τὸν θησαυρὸν αὐ τοῦ ὁ κύριος κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς κρίσεως, ὅτε τῶν σκευῶν τῆς ὀργῆς ἐκβαλλομένων, ὁ ἐλέους σκεῦος ὑπάρχων εἴποι ἂν εἰκότως· «ἐξῆλθον ἀφ' ἡμῶν, οὐ γὰρ ἦσαν ἐξ ἡμῶν». τὰ δὲ ἔξω τοῦ θησαυ ροῦ ἁμαρτάνοντα σκεύη οὔπω σκεύη ὀργῆς ἐστιν, ἀλλ' ἐλάττονα· «δοῦλοι» γάρ εἰσι «μὴ εἰδότες τὸ θέλημα τοῦ κυρίου αὐτῶν καὶ μὴ ποιοῦντες αὐτό». σκεύη τοίνυν εἰσὶν ἁπλῶς εἰς ἄλλα τηρούμενα. 32 Ἥξουσι, φησί, τῶν αἰχμαλώτων τινὲς τῆς Ἰουδαίας, εὐαγγελιζόμενοι τὴν κατὰ Βαβυλῶνος ἐκδίκησιν. λέγοι δ' ἂν καὶ περὶ τῶν ἐξ εἰδωλολατρείας ἐπιστρεφόντων, ἣν καλεῖ Βαβυλῶνα· οἵ τινες ἐλθόντες εἰς Σιών, τὸ Σκοπευτήριον, τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, τὴν παρὰ κυρίου θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἐκδίκησιν ἀναγγέλλουσιν. 33 Οἱ μὲν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι πολλοί, οἱ δὲ ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐλά χιστοι. εἴρηται γάρ· «οὐ παρὰ τοῦτο ἠγάπησεν ὑμᾶς κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν, παρὰ τὸ εἶναι πολλοστούς· ὑμεῖς γάρ ἐστε ὀλιγοστοὶ παρὰ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη». «ὀλίγοι» γὰρ ὄντως «οἱ σῳζόμενοι καὶ διὰ τῆς στενῆς εἰσερχόμενοι θύρας». παραγγέλλεται δὲ πᾶς ἐπὶ τὴν «πλατεῖαν καὶ εὐρύχωρον» Βαβυλῶνα τόξον ἐντείνων, μηδένα ταύτης περι