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has been heavily laden. 1.15 And the ox knew its owner, but Israel did not know Me, the Creator; and the donkey recognized the manger of its master, but Israel did not understand Me. And there are many mangers, but yet the donkey is not mistaken about the manger of the one who owns it. But God is one, and the ungrateful people are led astray to gods that are not. He did not understand Me, the one made known through heaven; the one shown through earth and sea, the one through sun, and moon, the one through the stars, the one revealed through all creation. Fittingly, Israel is likened to the image of the ox, and the people simply to that of the donkey. For as great as the difference is of an ox to a donkey, so great is the difference of Israel, which is interpreted as "he who sees God," to the one who is simply called people. 1.16 Woe to the sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless sons. Nation and people are often said conjoined; as in In a great nation is the glory of a king, but in the want of people is the ruin of a prince. And Why did the nations rage and the peoples imagine vain things? But now, beginning from being a sinful nation, according to their increase in evil they become a people full of iniquities, and from being an evil seed, they go on to become lawless sons. For as progress in virtue has its growth from lesser things to greater things, so the outpouring of wickedness is carried from the inferior beginnings to what is incurable. And from seed to sons has great consistency even in nature itself; for one progresses from seed to become sons, not only in bodily births, but also in the growth of the soul, from the seeds of teaching, with those who receive the teachings progressing to a likeness to their teachers, and because of this being called sons, either sons of the kingdom, when having received saving seeds, they are perfected in them; or sons of Gehenna, if through wicked teachings they are made akin to destruction. And it is a great accusation, for a whole nation to be called sinful, as if no one in it acts rightly; and a people full of sins, as if every form of lawlessness is practiced by them, but also that the contradictions of wickedness against itself are found, as it is said: Being filled with all unrighteousness; and For the iniquities of the Amorites are not yet full; and from the Savior: Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 1.17 An evil seed. The tares sown upon the pure wheat by the enemy, which, having come to maturity, became a lawless son, being a son of destruction and a son of Gehenna. For this reason they are also deemed worthy of lamentation, who, instead of being sons of the Most High, became lawless sons; and instead of remaining in the more divine birth, became an evil seed. Except that their habitual wickedness is destructive first of all to those who possess it; for what is extreme in wickedness is also discordant with itself. They have forsaken the Lord and provoked the Holy One of Israel. What greater proof of wickedness is there than the forsaking of the good? and what excess of evil, than to provoke the good and meek One? And they are accused of the same thing in Jeremiah: For they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water. And according to the quantity of the forsaking, each one treasures up for himself the measure of wrath in the retribution. They are estranged backward. This was added from Theodotion, as if an interpretation of 'to forsake,' meaning to be estranged from God through the falling away to what is worse. For just as he who is being perfected strains toward what is ahead, so he who sins turns back, distancing himself from the Lord and for this reason perishing. For behold (he says), those who distance themselves from you, shall perish. Let us live, therefore, so that the past things are never better than the future, or than the present. For Ecclesiastes also forbids this: Do not say that the former days were better than these; for you have not inquired in wisdom concerning this. For if the preceding days are better than those after

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καταπεφόρτισται. 1.15 Καὶ βοῦς μὲν τὸν κτησάμενον ἔγνω, Ἰσραὴλ δέ με οὐκ ἔγνω, τὸν Κτίσαντα· καὶ ὄνος τὴν φάτνην τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ ἐπέγνω, Ἰσραὴλ δέ με οὐ συνῆκε. Καὶ φάτναι μὲν πολ λαὶ, ἀλλ' ὅμως ὁ ὄνος τῆς τοῦ κεκτημένου αὐτὸν φάτνης οὐκ ἀποσφάλλεται. Θεὸς δὲ εἷς, καὶ ὁ ἀγνώμων λαὸς ἐπὶ τοὺς μὴ ὄντας θεοὺς ἀποπλανᾶται. Ἐμὲ οὐ συνῆκε, τὸν δι' οὐ ρανοῦ γνωριζόμενον· τὸν διὰ γῆς καὶ θαλάσσης δεικνύ μενον, τὸν διὰ ἡλίου, καὶ σελήνης, τὸν διὰ τῶν ἀστέρων, τὸν διὰ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως καταμηνυόμενον. Οἰκείως δὲ τῇ μὲν τοῦ βοὸς εἰκόνι ὁ Ἰσραὴλ ἀποδέδοται, τῇ δὲ τοῦ ὄνου ὁ ἁπλῶς λαός. Ὅσῃ γὰρ βοῒ πρὸς ὄνον ἡ διαφορὰ, τοσοῦ τον τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, ὃς ἑρμηνεύεται ὁ ὁρῶν Θεὸν, πρὸς τὸν ἁπλῶς λαὸν χρηματίζοντα τὸ διάφορον. 1.16 Οὐαὶ ἔθνος ἁμαρτωλὸν, λαὸς πλήρης ἁμαρτιῶν, σπέρμα πονηρὸν, υἱοὶ ἄνομοι. Ἔθνος καὶ λαὸς πολλαχοῦ συνεζευγμένως λέγεται· ὡς τὸ Ἐν πολλῷ ἔθνει δόξα βασιλέως, ἐν δὲ ἐκλείψει λαοῦ συντριβὴ δυ νάστου. Καὶ τὸ Ἵνα τὶ ἐφρύαξαν ἔθνη καὶ λαοὶ ἐμελέτησαν κενά; Νυνὶ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἔθνος εἶναι ἁμαρτωλὸν ἀρξάμενοι, κατὰ τὴν ἐν πονηρίᾳ αὔξησιν γίνονται λαὸς πλήρης ἀνομιῶν, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ σπέρμα πονηρὸν εἶναι, ἐπὶ τὸ γενέσθαι υἱοὶ ἄνομοι. Ὡς γὰρ ἡ κατ' ἀρετὴν προκοπὴ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐλαττόνων ἐπὶ τὰ μείζω τὴν αὔξησιν ἔχει, οὕτως ἡ τῆς κακίας χύσις ἀπὸ τῶν ὑποδεεστέρων τῶν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπὶ τὸ ἀνήκεστον φέρεται. Σπέρμα δὲ πρὸς υἱοὺς πολὺ τὸ ἀκόλουθον καὶ κατ' αὐτὴν τὴν φύσιν ἔχει· ἀπὸ τοῦ σπέρματος γὰρ εἰς τὸ υἱοὺς γε νέσθαι προκόπτει, οὐ μόνον κατὰ τὰς σωματικὰς γενέσεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐν ψυχῇ αὔξησιν, ἐκ τῶν τῆς διδασκαλίας σπερμάτων, εἰς τὴν πρὸς τοὺς διδάξαντας ἐξομοίωσιν τῶν ὑποδεξαμένων τὰ διδάγματα προκοπτόντων, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο υἱῶν χρηματιζόντων, ἤτοι υἱῶν τῆς βασιλείας, ὅταν τὰ σωτήρια δεξάμενοι σπέρματα, κατ' αὐτὰ τελειοῦνται· ἢ τῆς γεέννης υἱῶν, ἐὰν ἐκ πονηρῶν διδαγμάτων τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ προσοικειῶνται. Μεγάλη δὲ κατηγορία, ὅλον ἔθνος ἁμαρ τωλὸν χρηματίζειν, ὡς μηδένα ἐν αὐτῷ κατορθοῦν· καὶ λαὸν πλήρη ἁμαρτιῶν, ὡς πᾶν εἶδος ἀνομίας ἐπιτηδεύεσθαι παρ' αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ τῆς κακίας πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἐναντιώ ματα εὑρίσκεσθαι, καθὼς εἴρηται· Πεπληρωμένους πάσης ἀδικίας· καὶ τὸ Οὔπω γὰρ ἀναπεπλήρωνται αἱ ἁμαρτίαι τῶν Ἀμοῤῥαίων· καὶ παρὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος δέ· Πληρώσατε καὶ ὑμεῖς τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν. 1.17 Σπέρμα πονηρόν. Τὸ παρὰ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ ἀνθρώπου τῷ καθαρῷ σίτῳ ἐπισπα ρὲν ζιζάνιον, ὃ, εἰς τελείωσιν ἐλθὸν, υἱὸς ἐγένετο ἄνομος, υἱὸς ὢν ἀπωλείας καὶ υἱὸς γεέννης. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ θρήνου ἀξιοῦνται οἱ, ἀντὶ τοῦ υἱοὶ Ὑψίστου εἶναι, υἱοὶ γενόμενοι ἄνομοι· καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ μεῖναι ἐν τῇ θειοτέρᾳ γεννήσει, σπέρμα γενόμενοι πο νηρόν. Πλὴν ὅτι ἡ ἐν ἔθει πονηρία αὐτῶν πρῶτον τῶν ἐχόντων ἐστὶ φθαρτική· τὸ γὰρ ἔσχατον ἐν πονηρίᾳ καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτό ἐστιν ἀσύμφωνον. Ἐγκαταλίπατε τὸν Κύριον καὶ παρωξύ νατε τὸν Ἅγιον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Τίς μείζων κακίας ἀπόδειξις, ἣ ἡ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἐγκατάλειψις; καὶ πονηρίας ὑπερβολὴ, τὸ παροξῦναι τὸν ἀγαθὸν καὶ πρᾶον; Τὸ αὐτὸ δὲ καὶ παρὰ τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ κατηγοροῦνται· Ἐμὲ γὰρ ἐγκατέλιπον, πηγὴν ὕδατος ζῶντος. Κατὰ δὲ τὴν ποσότητα τῆς ἐγκαταλείψεως τὸ μέτρον ἕκαστος ἑαυτῷ θησαυρίζει τῆς ἐν τῇ ἀνταποδόσει ὀργῆς. Ἀπηλλοτριώθησαν εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω. Τοῦτο ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεο δοτίωνος προσετέθη, οἱονεὶ ἑρμηνεία τοῦ ἐγκαταλιπεῖν, τὸ ἀπαλλοτριοῦσθαι τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ἀποπτώ σεως. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ τελειούμενος τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεκτεί νεται, οὕτως ὁ ἁμαρτάνων εἰς τὸ κατόπιν ἀναποδίζει, μακρύνων ἑαυτὸν τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπολλύμενος. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ (φησὶν) οἱ μακρύνοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ σοῦ, ἀπο λοῦνται. Οὕτως οὖν βιώσωμεν, ὡς μηδέποτε τὰ παρελ θόντα κρείττονα εἶναι τῶν μελλόντων, ἢ τῶν ἐνεστηκότων. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὁ Ἐκκλησιαστὴς ἀπαγορεύει· Μὴ εἴπῃς, ὅτι ἡμέραι αἱ πρότεραι ἀγαθαὶ ἦσαν ὑπὲρ ταύτας· ὅτι οὐκ ἐν σοφίᾳ ἐπηρώτησας περὶ τούτου. Ἐὰν γὰρ αἱ προάγουσαι ἡμέραι βελτίους ὦσι τῶν μετὰ