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I seek a defense against your judgments. Or also thus: I must first defend myself to you, Lord, that you are just, then seek the cause of the things that are perplexing. "Why does the way of the wicked prosper?" You know that I speak not out of envy, but asking. "You have planted them." Instead of, you created them, as the maker of all, and they were not cut off when they sinned. "You are near to their mouth, and far from their reins." You know, he says, that they honor you with their lips, and you do not bring temptations upon them, so that you may test the depths of their mind. "Consecrate them for the day of slaughter." He does not say this as a curse against them, but being fully assured, that even if it is slow, yet punishment will come upon them. And "consecrate" instead of, Prepare, make ready, as for those about to be sacrificed. "Beasts and birds have vanished." Because of the barrenness of the land. But in a spiritual sense, you might understand beasts and birds as vanishing people, desiring the heavenly things, but not departing from the earthly. "Your feet run, and they weary you." The word is to the sinners: For running, he says, to wicked things, you relax the sinews of virtue. 93.653 "How will you prepare yourself against horses." How, when you stumble against God, do you believe you will be saved by the help of cavalry? But in a spiritual sense, horses, having the divine Word riding upon them, are apostles and prophets. How then are you able, he says, to prepare for their benefit, while pursuing the works of wickedness? "And in a land of peace you are confident?" Do not be confident, he says, in the present peace of the land; for war will certainly come, since you are transgressing. But in a spiritual sense: How are you able, he says, to be confident in the knowledge of piety while sinning? For piety is a land of peace, through which we are at peace with God. "How will you do in the swelling of the Jordan?" The boast of the Jordan, the divine baptism. How then are you able to boast in baptism while sinning? "They have gathered behind you, do not trust in them." If the word is to the prophet, it speaks about his fellow citizens in Anathoth, who wished to kill him. But if to the sinner: Those who formerly, he says, were familiar with you on account of piety, now abhor you, and have become your enemies, and persecute you. "Is it a hyena's cave?" The hyena's cave is full of impurity, and bones of the dead from various bodies. Such were the leaders of the Jews, whitewashed tombs, but inside full of dead men's bones, that is, filled with all impurity. "Let them come to eat her." All things that make war on man because of sin; but historically, he means the Romans. "Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard" The pastoral care according to God is one. But the many shepherds, whether Jews, or Greeks, or heretics, introduce different teachings, and each wants to establish his own; hence the ways of those being taught are also different. "Because of me all the land was made desolate with desolation." Spoken from the person of the Lord, it declares that because of the slaughter against him the land of the Jews was made desolate; but spoken from the commonality of humanity, it signifies that because of man who has given himself over to every doctrine, the land was made desolate. There is not, he says, a man who understands that God is the lord of men, and they ought not, through their own teaching, to make an inheritance for themselves of those who are taught, so that they may rule over them. "Upon every high place in the wilderness." The captives of the Jews. But in a spiritual sense, those who accept the fruitless teaching of the many shepherds. "For the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land." Historically, the hand of the Romans laying waste to the land of the Jews; but in a spiritual sense, the permission of the Lord, because of the 93.656 free will of both the shepherds and the shepherded, you will understand as a sword of the Lord corrupting those in all the earth who are persuaded by various teachings, who are not even at peace with one another. "You have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns." To the many shepherds

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ἀπολογίας ἐπὶ τῶν σῶν κριμάτων ἐπιζητῶ. Ἢ καὶ οὕτως· Χρή με πρότερον ἀπολογήσασθαί σοι, Κύριε, ὅτι δίκαιος εἶ, εἶτα ζητῆσαι τῶν ἀπορουμένων τὴν αἰτίαν. "Τί ὅτι ὁδὸς ἀσεβῶν εὐοδοῦται;" Οἶδας ὅτι οὐ φθονῶν λαλῶ, ἀλλ' ἐρωτῶν. "Ἐφύτευσας αὐτούς." Ἀντὶ τοῦ, ἐδημιούργησας αὐτοὺς, ὡς πάντων ποιητὴς, καὶ οὐκ ἐξεκόπησαν ἁμαρτάνοντες. "Ἐγγὺς εἶ σὺ τοῦ στόματος αὐτῶν, καὶ πόῤῥω ἀπὸ τῶν νεφρῶν αὐτῶν." Οἶδας, φησὶν, ὅτι μέχρι χειλέων τιμῶσί σε, καὶ οὐκ ἐπάγεις αὐτοῖς πειρασμοὺς, ἵνα δοκιμάσῃς αὐτῶν τὰ βάθη τῆς διανοίας. "Ἅγνισον αὐτοὺς εἰς ἡμέραν σφαγῆς." Οὐ κατευχόμενος αὐτῶν τοῦτό φησιν, ἀλλὰ πληροφορούμενος, ὅτι εἰ καὶ βραδὺ, πλὴν ἥξει ἡ τιμωρία αὐτοῖς. Τὸ δὲ, ἅγνισον, ἀντὶ τοῦ, Ἑτοίμασον, εὐτρέπισον, ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν μελλόντων θύεσθαι. "Ἠφανίσθησαν κτήνη καὶ πετεινά." ∆ιὰ τὴν ἀφορίαν τῆς γῆς. Πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν, κτήνη ἂν καὶ πετεινὰ νοήσῃς ἀφανιζομένους ἀνθρώπους, τῶν μὲν οὐρανίων ἐπιθυμοῦντας, τῶν δὲ ἐπιγείων μὴ ἀφισταμένους. "Σοῦ οἱ πόδες τρέχουσι, καὶ ἐκλύουσί σε." Πρὸς τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας ὁ λόγος· Τρέχοντες γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐπὶ τὰ πονηρὰ, ἐκλύετε τοὺς τόνους τῆς ἀρετῆς. 93.653 "Πῶς παρασκευάσῃ ἐφ' ἵππους." Πῶς προσκρούων Θεῷ, δι' ἱππικῆς βοηθείας πιστεύεις σώζεσθαι; Πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν, ἵπποι τὸν θεῖον ἔχοντες ἐποχούμενον λόγον, ἀπόστολοι καὶ προφῆται. Πῶς οὖν δύνασαι, φησὶ, παρασκευάζεσθαι εἰς τὴν τούτων ὠφέλειαν, τὰ τῆς κακίας ἔργα μεταδιώκων; "Καὶ ἐν γῇ εἰρήνης σου πέποιθας;" Μὴ θάῤῥει, φησὶν, ἐπὶ τῇ νῦν εἰρήνῃ τῆς γῆς· ἥξει γὰρ πάντως ὁ πόλεμος, σοῦ πλημμελοῦντος. Πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν· Πῶς δύνῃ, φησὶν, ἐπὶ τῇ γνώσει τῆς εὐσεβείας θαῤῥεῖν ἁμαρτάνων; Γῆ γὰρ εἰρήνης ἐστὶν ἡ εὐσέβεια, δι' ἧς πρὸς Θεὸν εἰρηνεύομεν. "Πῶς ποιήσεις ἐν φρυάγματι τοῦ Ἰορδάνου;" Καύχημα τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, τὸ θεῖον βάπτισμα. Πῶς οὖν δύνῃ καυχᾶσθαι ἐπὶ τῷ βαπτίσματι ἁμαρτάνων; "Ἐκ τῶν ὀπίσω σου ἐπισυνήχθησαν, μὴ πιστεύσῃς ἐν αὐτοῖς." Εἰ μὲν πρὸς τὸν προφήτην ὁ λόγος, περὶ τῶν ἐν Ἀναθὼθ πολιτῶν αὐτοῦ φησιν, οἵ τινες ἐβούλοντο αὐτὸν ἀνελεῖν. Εἰ δὲ πρὸς τὸν ἁμαρτωλόν· Οἱ πάλαι, φησὶ, διὰ τὴν εὐσέβειαν προσῳκειωμένοι σοι, νῦν βδελύσσονταί σε, καὶ πολέμιοί σοι γεγόνασι, καὶ ἐκδιώκουσί σε. "Μὴ σπήλαιον ὑαίνης." Τὸ τῆς ὑαίνης σπήλαιον μεστόν ἐστιν ἀκαθαρσίας, καὶ ὀστέων νεκρῶν ἐκ διαφόρων σωμάτων. Τοιοῦτοι δὲ ἦσαν οἱ τῶν Ἰουδαίων καθηγηταὶ, τάφοι κεκονιαμένοι, ἔσωθεν δὲ γέμοντες ὀστέων νεκρῶν, τουτέστι πάσης ἀκαθαρσίας πεπληρωμένοι. "Ἐλθέτωσαν τοῦ φαγεῖν αὐτήν." Πάντα δι' ἁμαρτίαν πολεμοῦντα τὸν ἄνθρωπον· πρὸς δὲ ἱστορίαν τοὺς Ῥωμαίους φησίν. "Ποιμένες πολλοὶ διέφθειραν τὸν ἀμπελῶνά μου" Ἡ κατὰ Θεὸν ποιμαντικὴ μία ἐστίν. Οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ ποιμένες, εἴτε Ἰουδαῖοι, εἴτε Ἕλληνες, εἴτε αἱρετικοὶ, διαφόρους εἰσηγοῦνται διδασκαλίας, καὶ ἔκαστος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κρατῦναι βούλεται· ὅθεν καὶ διάφοροι τῶν διδασκομένων οἱ τρόποι. "∆ι' ἐμὲ ἀφανισμῷ ἠφανίσθη πᾶσα ἡ γῆ." Ἐκ μὲν τοῦ προσώπου τοῦ Κυρίου λεγόμενον δηλοῖ, ὅτι διὰ τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν σφαγὴν ἠφανίσθη τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἡ χώρα· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ κοινοῦ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος λεγόμενον σημαίνει, ὅτι διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν ἐνδεδωκότα ἑαυτὸν πάσῃ διδασκαλίᾳ ἠφανίσθη ἡ γῆ. Οὐκ ἔστι, φησὶν, ἄνθρωπος ἐννοῶν, ὅτι ὁ Θεός ἐστιν ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων κύριος, καὶ οὐκ ὀφείλουσιν αὐτοὶ διὰ τῆς οἰκείας διδασκαλίας κλῆρον ἑαυτῶν ποιεῖσθαι τοὺς διδασκομένους, ἵνα κυριεύσωσιν αὐτῶν. "Ἐπὶ πᾶσαν διεκβολὴν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ." Οἱ τῶν Ἰουδαίων αἰχμάλωτοι. Πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν, οἱ τὴν ἄκαρπον τῶν πολλῶν ποιμένων παραδεχόμενοι διδασκαλίαν. "Ὅτι μάχαιρα τοῦ Κυρίου καταφάγεται ἀπ' ἄκρου τῆς γῆς." Πρὸς μὲν ἱστορίαν, ἡ τῶν Ῥωμαίων χεὶρ πορθοῦσα τὴν Ἰουδαίων γῆν· πρὸς δὲ διάνοιαν, τὴν συγχώρησιν τοῦ Κυρίου, διὰ τὸ 93.656 αὐτεξούσιον τῶν τε ποιμένων, καὶ ποιμαινομένων, μάχαιραν Κυρίου νοήσεις διαφθείρουσαν τοὺς ἐν πάσῃ γῇ ταῖς ποικίλαις διδασκαλίαις πειθομένους, οἵτινες οὐδὲ εἰρηνεύουσι πρὸς ἀλλήλους. "Ἐσπείρετε πυροὺς, καὶ ἀκάνθας ἐθερίσατε." Πρὸς τοὺς πολλοὺς ποιμένας