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thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies,” are plantings that have not been planted by the heavenly Father; and if you wish to see whose plantings such reasonings are, hear that “an enemy has done this,” the one who sowed the “tares <among> the wheat.” Therefore God stands by having the seeds, and the devil; if we give “place to the devil,” “the enemy” sows “a plant which the heavenly Father has not planted,” which will certainly “be uprooted”; if we do not give “place to the devil,” but give place to God, God rejoices and sows his seeds upon our governing faculty. Therefore, do not think that Jeremiah received some gloomy gift from God, because he is set “over nations and over kingdoms, to root out”; God is good, through his words rooting out the evil things, the kingdoms hostile to the kingdom of heaven, the warlike nations to the nation of God. 1.15 “To root out and to pull down.” There is a building <of> the devil, there is a building of God; the building “on the sand” is of the devil, for it is established on nothing firm and sure and unified; but the building “on the rock” is of God. See what is said to those of God: “You are God's field, God's building.” The words of God, therefore, are “over nations and kingdoms,” “to root out and to pull down and to destroy.” If it is rooted out, but what has been rooted out is not destroyed, <what was rooted out still exists>; if it is pulled down, but the stones of the demolished building are not destroyed, what was pulled down still exists; it is a work, therefore, of the goodness of God after rooting out to destroy what has been uprooted, after tearing down to destroy what has been torn down. Read carefully concerning the things being destroyed and rooted out, how such things are destroyed: “but the chaff burn with unquenchable fire” and “bind the tares in bundles and hand them over to the fire”; thus after being rooted out it is destroyed; if you wish to see also after demolition the things destroyed of the building of evil material: that house torn down on account of leprosy becomes “dust” and having become dust is cast “outside the city,” so that not even a stone remains, similarly to “I will grind them as the mud of the streets.” For the worse things must in no way stand together; and when it is pulled down, <let not> the stones be useful for the other building, which the evil one is able to build; it was uprooted, lest again from the uprooted things he find seeds, to sow the tares again; for having the seeds of the tares, he sowed them; for this reason “bind the tares and burn them with fire,” so that after being rooted out it may be destroyed, and after being pulled down the building of the devil may be destroyed. 1.16 But the words of God do not stop with these things, at “rooting out and pulling down and destroying.” For let the evil things be uprooted from me, the worse things pulled down, what profit is it to me, if in place of the things uprooted the better things are not planted? what profit is it to me, if in place of these things the excellent things are not built up? For this reason the words of God necessarily do first the “rooting out and pulling down and destroying,” after which <comes the “building up> and planting,” and we have always observed in the scripture that the seemingly gloomy things, if I may so name them, are named first, then the things that seem to be cheerful are said second; “I will kill and I will make alive”; <he did not say, “I will make alive,” and after this, “I will kill”>; for it is impossible for what God has made alive to be done away with by him or by any other; but “I will kill and I will make alive.” Whom “will I kill”? Paul the traitor, Paul the persecutor; “and I will make alive,” so that he may become “Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ.” If the wretched ones from the heresies had understood these things, they would not have continually brought them forth to us, saying: Do you see <the> God of the law, how he is fierce and inhuman and says, “I will kill, and I will make alive”? Do you not see in the scriptures the promise of the resurrection of the dead? or do you not see the resurrection of the dead already being prefaced in each one? “we were buried together” with Christ “through baptism” and we were raised together with him. Therefore

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κλοπαί, ψευδομαρτυρίαι, βλα σφημίαι», φυτεῖαί εἰσι πεφυτευμέναι οὐχ ὑπὸ τοῦ οὐρανίου πατρός· εἰ θέλεις δὲ ἰδεῖν, τίνος εἰσὶ φυτεῖαι οἱ τοιοῦτοι διαλογισμοί, ἄκουε ὅτι ὁ «ἐχθρὸς ἄνθρωπος τοῦτο ἐποίη σεν», ὁ ἐπισπείρας τὰ «ζιζάνια <ἀνὰ> μέσον τοῦ σίτου». Ἐφέστηκεν οὖν ὁ θεὸς ἔχων τὰ σπέρματα, καὶ ὁ διάβο λος· ἐὰν διδῶμεν «τόπον τῷ διαβόλῳ», «ὁ ἐχθρὸς» ἐπισπείρει «φυτείαν, ἣν οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ πατὴρ ὁ οὐρά νιος», πάντως «ἐκριζωθησομένην»· ἐὰν μὴ διδῶμεν «τόπον τῷ διαβόλῳ», ἀλλὰ διδῶμεν τόπον τῷ θεῷ, χαίρων ὁ θεὸς σπείρει τὰ σπέρματα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν ἡμῶν. Μὴ νόμιζε τοίνυν τὸν Ἱερεμίαν σκυθρωπόν τι εἰληφέναι δῶρον ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅτι καθίσταται «ἐπὶ ἔθνη καὶ ἐπὶ βασιλείας, ἐκριζοῦν»· ἀγαθὸς ὁ θεός ἐστι διὰ τῶν λόγων ἐκριζῶν τὰ φαῦλα, τὰς ἐχθρὰς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν τῇ βα σιλείᾳ, τὰ πολεμικὰ ἔθνη τῷ ἔθνει τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ. 1.15 «Ἐκριζοῦν καὶ κατασκάπτειν.» Ἔστι τις οἰκοδομὴ <τοῦ> διαβόλου, ἔστι τις οἰκοδομὴ τοῦ θεοῦ· ἡ «ἐπὶ τὴν ἄμμον» οἰκοδομὴ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστίν, ἐπ' οὐδενὶ γὰρ ἐστήρικται ἑδραίῳ καὶ βεβαίῳ καὶ ἡνωμένῳ· ἡ δὲ οἰκοδομὴ ἡ «ἐπὶ τὴν πέτραν» τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν. Ὅρα τί λέγεται τοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ· «Θεοῦ γεώργιον, θεοῦ οἰκοδομή ἐστε.» Οἱ λόγοι τοίνυν τοῦ θεοῦ «ἐπὶ ἔθνη καὶ βασιλείας» εἰσίν, «ἐκριζοῦν καὶ κατασκάπτειν καὶ ἀπολλύειν». Ἐὰν ἐκριζωθῇ μέν, μὴ ἀπόληται δὲ τὸ ἐκριζωθέν, <ἔστι τὸ ἐκρι ζωθέν>· ἐὰν κατασκαφῇ μέν, οἱ λίθοι δὲ τῆς κατασκαφῆς μὴ ἀπόλωνται, ἔστι τὸ κατασκαφέν· ἔργον οὖν ἐστι τῆς ἀγαθότητος τοῦ θεοῦ μετὰ τὸ ἐκριζῶσαι ἀπολέσαι τὸ ἐξερριζωμένον, μετὰ τὸ καθελεῖν ἀπολέσαι τὸ καθῃρημένον. Ἀνάγνωθι ἐπιμελῶς ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ἀπολλυμένων καὶ ἐκριζου μένων, πῶς ἀπόλλυνται τὰ τοιαῦτα· «τὸ δὲ ἄχυρον κατα καύσατε πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ» καὶ «δήσατε δέσμας δέσμας τὰ ζιζάνια καὶ παράδοτε αὐτὰ πυρί»· οὕτως μετὰ τὸ ἐκρι ζοῦσθαι ἀπόλλυται· εἰ θέλεις ἰδεῖν καὶ μετὰ καθαίρεσιν τὰ ἀπολλύμενα τῆς οἰκοδομῆς τῆς ὕλης τῆς φαύλης· «χοῦς» γίνεται ἡ οἰκία ἐκείνη ἡ διὰ τὴν λέπραν καθῃρη μένη καὶ ἐκβάλλεται χοῦς γενομένη «ἔξω τῆς πόλεως», ἵνα μηδὲ λίθος ᾖ μένων, ὁμοίως τῷ «ὡς πηλὸν πλατειῶν λεανῶ αὐτούς». ∆εῖ γὰρ μηδαμῶς συνεστάναι τὰ χείρονα· κατεσκάφη δέ, <μὴ> οἱ λίθοι ἔστωσαν χρήσιμοι πρὸς τὴν ἄλλην οἰκοδομήν, ἣν δύναται οἰκοδομεῖν ὁ πονηρός· ἐξερ ριζώθη, μὴ πάλιν ἐκ τῶν ἐξερριζωμένων εὕρῃ σπέρματα, ἵνα ἐπισπείρῃ πάλιν τὰ ζιζάνια· πάντως γὰρ ἔχων τὰ σπέρματα τῶν ζιζανίων, ἐπέσπειρεν αὐτά· διὰ τοῦτο «δή σατε τὰ ζιζάνια καὶ κατακαύσατε αὐτὰ πυρί», ἵνα μετὰ τὸ ἐκριζωθῆναι ἀπόληται, καὶ μετὰ τὸ κατασκαφῆναι ἡ τοῦ διαβόλου οἰκοδομὴ ἀπόληται. 1.16 Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐν τούτοις ἵστανται οἱ λόγοι τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐπὶ τῷ «ἐκριζοῦν καὶ κατασκάπτειν καὶ ἀπολλύειν». Ἔστω γὰρ ἐκρεριζωμένα ἀπ' ἐμοῦ τὰ φαῦλα, κατασκαφέντα τὰ χείρονα, τί μοι ὄφελος, ἐὰν μὴ ἀντὶ τῶν ἐκριζωθέντων καταφυτευθῇ τὰ κρείττονα; τί μοι ὄφελος, ἐὰν μὴ ἀντὶ τούτων ἀνοικοδομηθῇ τὰ διαφέροντα; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οἱ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγοι ποιοῦσι πρῶτον ἀναγκαίως τὸ «ἐκριζοῦν καὶ κατασκάπτειν καὶ ἀπολλύειν», μεθ' ἃ <τὸ «οἰκοδομεῖν> καὶ καταφυτεύειν», καὶ ἀεὶ ἐν τῇ γραφῇ τετηρήκαμεν τὰ σκυθρωποφανῆ, ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω, πρῶτα ὀνομαζόμενα, εἶτα τὰ δοκοῦντα εἶναι ἱλαρὰ δεύτερα λεγόμενα· «Ἐγὼ ἀποκτενῶ καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω»· <οὐκ εἶπεν· «ἐγὼ ζῆν ποιήσω», καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο· «ἀποκτενῶ»>· ἀμήχανον γάρ, ὃ πεποίηκε ζῆν ὁ θεός, ἀναιρεθῆναι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἢ ὑπ' ἄλλου τινός· ἀλλ' «ἐγὼ ἀποκτενῶ καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω». Τίνα «ἀπο κτενῶ»; Παῦλον τὸν προδότην, Παῦλον τὸν διώκτην· «καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω», ἵνα γένηται «Παῦλος ἀπόστολος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ». Ταῦτα εἰ νενοήκεισαν οἱ ταλαίπωροι οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν αἱρέσεων, οὐκ ἂν αὐτὰ συνεχῶς προέφερον ἡμῖν λέγοντες· ὁρᾷς <τὸν> θεὸν τὸν τοῦ νόμου πῶς ἐστιν ἄγριος καὶ ἀπάν θρωπος καὶ λέγει· «Ἐγὼ ἀποκτενῶ, καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω»; Οὐ βλέπεις ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς ἐπαγγελίαν ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν; ἢ οὐχ ὁρᾷς τὴν ἀνάστασιν τῶν νεκρῶν ἤδη προοι μιαζομένην καθ' ἕκαστον; «συνετάφημεν» τῷ Χριστῷ «διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος» καὶ συνανέστημεν αὐτῷ. Οὐκοῦν