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And another thing: Just as when you called the Assyrians for an alliance, you gained nothing from their assistance, so now also, having fled to the Egyptians, you will enjoy no benefit from there. For this he makes clear through the following words. And you will be put to shame by Egypt, just as 81.517 you were put to shame by Assur. (37) Because from there also you will go forth, and your hands will be upon your head; It is characteristic of mourning women to place their clasped hands upon their head. And the cause of the evils, "Because the Lord has rejected your hope, and you will not prosper in it." For if you had hoped in God, you would have harvested the ripe fruit of hope; but since you trusted in men, you have missed your hope. CHAPTER 3. After these things, he knows that any woman who leaves her husband and is joined to another will not be able to return to her former husband, since the law forbids this; but you, having left me who was joined to you according to law, were joined to unholy demons; then, having again received a sense of the harm, you returned to me, and I did not push you away. But if you think I say these things simply, 2. Lift up your eyes to the straight path, and see where you were not utterly defiled. Instead of, You were polluted. For this he also says to her through Ezekiel, "And I found you covered in your own blood;" and so also the Syrian interpreted it. And in the following he says that not only did you receive those who came by, but you also went out seeking them; and like crows you lay in wait on the roads, awaiting their arrival, and you filled the land with pollutions, using many shepherds instead of one. For he called the idols "many shepherds"; for just as the fathers of falsehood were called "gods," having plundered the divine name, so also were they named "shepherds," having stolen the name of the true shepherd. "The face of a harlot has become yours; you have been shameless toward all." For just as those who sell their bodies scrape the shame from their foreheads and offer themselves to all alike, so you preserved your goodwill toward no one, but while harvesting the abundance of good things from me, you served idols. But falling into misfortunes and perceiving their weakness, you would ask for my help. 4. Did you not call me as a house, and a father, and the guide of your virginity, Did you not long ago give me these names of intimacy, sometimes calling me father, sometimes a virginal husband, sometimes an inviolable house? For so also the blessed 81.520 David says: "Be to me a protecting God, and a house of refuge to save me. 5. Will it remain forever? Instead of, Your falsehood, and the mockery of your words. "Or will it be kept for victory?" Or do you think to overcome and conquer through these things? Then ironically: "Behold, you have spoken and done these evil things, and you have prevailed." Instead of, Consider that you have mocked and escaped, having dared to transgress in such ways. And after these things he says that God had spoken to him in the days of Josiah the king: 6. Have you seen what the house of Israel has done to me? Since they were absent (for they were serving in Babylon), he teaches the prophet the justice of the punishment. "She went upon every high mountain and under every shady tree, and there she committed fornication." Then he shows his own goodness and long-suffering. 7. And I said after she had committed these fornications, Return to me, and she did not return. Willingly, therefore, she brought destruction upon herself, neither embracing the way of life according to the law from the beginning, nor wishing to turn back after her impiety. From this point he increases the accusation against the tribe of Judah. 8. And

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τούτου καὶ ἕτερον, ὅτι Ὥσπερ Ἀσσυρίους εἰς συμμαχίαν καλέσαντες, οὐδὲν ἐκ τῆς ἐπικουρίας ἀπώνασθε, οὕτω καὶ νῦν Αἰ γυπτίοις προσπεφευγότες, οὐδεμιᾶς ἐκεῖθεν ὠφε λείας ἀπολαύσεσθε. Τοῦτο γὰρ διὰ τῶν ἐπιφερομέ νων δηλοῖ. Καὶ ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου καταισχυνθήσῃ, καθὼς κατ 81.517 ῃσχύνθης ἀπὸ Ἀσσούρ. (λζʹ) Ὅτι καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ἐξ- ελεύσῃ, καὶ αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς σου· Ἴδιον τῶν θρηνουσῶν τὸ τὰς χεῖρας συμπεπλεγμένας ἐπιτιθέναι τῇ κεφαλῇ. Τὸ δὲ αἴτιον τῶν κακῶν, "Ὅτι ἀπώσατο Κύριος τὴν ἐλπίδα σου, καὶ οὐκ εὐο δωθήσῃ ἐπ' αὐτῇ." Εἰ γὰρ εἰς τὸν Θεὸν ἤλπισας, ἐτρύγησας ἂν ὥριμον τὸν τῆς ἐλπίδος καρπόν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀνθρώποις ἐθάῤῥησας, διήμαρτες τῆς ἐλπίδος. ΚΕΦΑΛ. Γʹ. Μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ γινώσκει, ὡς πᾶσα μὲν γυνὴ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἀφισταμένη, καὶ ἑτέρῳ συναπτομένη, πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα τὸν πρότερον ἐπανελθεῖν οὐ δυνήσεται, τοῦ νό μου τοῦτο κωλύοντος· ἐμὲ δὲ σὺ τὸν κατὰ νόμον σοι συν αφθέντα καταλιποῦσα, συνήφθης δαίμοσιν ἀνοσίοις· εἶτα, πάλιν αἴσθησιν δεξαμένη τῆς βλάβης πρὸς ἐμὲ ἐπανῄεις, ἐγὼ δὲ οὐκ ἀπωθούμην. Εἰ δὲ νομίζεις ἁπλῶς με ταῦτα λέγειν, βʹ. Ἆρον εἰς εὐθεῖαν τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς σου, καὶ ἴδε ποῦ οὐχὶ ἐξεφύρθης. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, Ἐμιάνθης. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ διὰ τοῦ Ἐζεκιήλ φησι πρὸς αὐτὴν, "Καὶ εὗρόν σε πεφυρμένην ἐν τῷ αἵματί σου·" οὕτω δὲ καὶ ὁ Σύρος ἡρμήνευσε. Λέγει δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς, ὅτι Οὐ μόνον παραγινομένους ἐδέχου, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξῄεις ἐπιζητοῦσα· καὶ ταῖς κορώναις πα ραπλησίως προσήδρευες ταῖς ὁδοῖς, τὴν ἐκείνων προσ μένουσα παρουσίαν, καὶ τὴν γῆν μιασμάτων ἐνέπλη σας, πολλοῖς ποιμέσιν ἀνθ' ἑνὸς χρησαμένη. Ποιμένας γὰρ πολλοὺς τὰ εἴδωλα προσηγόρευσεν ὥσπερ γὰρ θεοὶ ἐκαλοῦντο τὴν θείαν προσηγορίαν συλήσαντες οἱ τοῦ ψεύδους πατέρες οὕτω καὶ ποιμένες ὠνομά σθησαν τὸ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ ποιμένος λῃστεύσαντες ὄνομα. "Ὄψις πόρνης ἐγένετό σοι, ἀπηναισχύντησας πρὸς πάντας." Καθάπερ γὰρ αἱ τὴν ὥραν ἀπεμπολοῦσαι τῶν μετώπων ἀποξύουσι τὴν αἰδῶ, καὶ πᾶσιν ὁμοίως προσφέρονται· οὕτω σὺ πρὸς οὐδένα τὴν εὔνοιαν δι εφύλαξας, ἀλλὰ τρυγῶσα μὲν παρ' ἐμοῦ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὴν φορὰν, τοῖς εἰδώλοις ἐδούλευες. Περιπίπτουσα δὲ συμφοραῖς, καὶ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀσθενείας αἰσθανομένη, τὴν ἐμὴν ἐξῄτεις βοήθειαν. δʹ. Οὐχ ὡς οἶκόν με ἐκάλεσας, καὶ πατέρα, καὶ ἀρχηγὸν τῆς παρθενίας σου, Οὐ ταύτας μοι τῆς οἰκειώσεως προσηγορίας ἐτίθεις πάλαι, ποτὲ μὲν πατέρα καλοῦσα, ποτὲ δὲ ἄνδρα παρθενικὸν, ποτὲ δὲ οἶκον ἄσυλον; Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ὁ μακάριος 81.520 λέγει ∆αβίδ· "Γενοῦ μοι εἰς Θεὸν ὑπερασπιστὴν, καὶ εἰς οἶκον καταφυγῆς τοῦ σῶσαί με. εʹ. Μὴ διαμενεῖ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα; Ἀντὶ τοῦ, Τὸ ψεῦδός σου, καὶ τῶν ῥημάτων ἡ χλευασία. "Ἦ δια φυλαχθήσεται εἰς νῖκος;" Ἦ νομίζεις διὰ τούτων περιγενέσθαι καὶ νικᾷν; Εἶτα εἰρωνικῶς· "Ἰδοὺ ἐλάλησας καὶ ἐποίησας τὰ πονηρὰ ταῦτα, καὶ ἠδυνή θης." Ἀντὶ τοῦ, Νόμισον κεχλευακέναι, καὶ δια πεφευγέναι τοιαῦτα παρανομῆσαι τολμήσασα. Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτά φησι τὸν Θεὸν πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰρηκέναι ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἰωσίου τοῦ βασιλέως· ϛʹ. Εἶδες ἃ ἐποίησέ μοι ἡ κατοικία τοῦ Ἰσραήλ; Ἐπειδὴ ἀπῆσαν ἐκεῖνοι (ἐδούλευον γὰρ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι), τὸν προφήτην διδάσκει τῆς τιμωρίας τὸ δίκαιον. "Ἐπορεύθη ἐπὶ πᾶν ὄρος ὑψηλὸν, καὶ ὑποκάτω παντὸς ξύλου ἀλσώδους, καὶ ἐπόρνευσεν ἐκεῖ." Ἔπειτα τὴν οἰκείαν ἀγαθότητα καὶ μακροθυμίαν δείκνυσιν. ζʹ. Καὶ εἶπον μετὰ τὸ πορνεῦσαι αὐτὴν ταῦτα, Πρός με ἀνάστρεψον, καὶ οὐκ ἀνέστρεψεν. Ἑκοῦσα τοίνυν τὸν ὄλεθρον ἐπεσπάσατο, μήτε ἀρχῆθεν τὴν κατὰ νόμον πολιτείαν ἀσπασαμένη, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἐπιστρέψαι μὴ βουληθεῖσα. Ἐντεῦθεν αὔξει τῆς Ἰούδα φυλῆς τὴν κατηγορίαν. ηʹ. Καὶ