and the actions as daughters. 49 For when Jerusalem was being troubled as the Babylonian was pressing upon it, as is likely, they resorted to prognostication, wishing to know the future. But the false prophets insisted that they foretold from the holy spirit; while of the others, some brought forward divinations, and others again dreams. For this reason it is necessary not to tolerate any impious prognostication at all; for if stars, perchance, have an effect, we pray in vain. Wherefore he says: “Let the astrologers of heaven say, what the Lord counsels concerning you,” and “There shall be no divination in Jacob, nor soothsaying in Israel.” Become, therefore, worthy of divine prognostication. For he adds after “there shall be no soothsaying in Israel”: “in due time it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God will accomplish.” 50 Every elder doing such things will suffer such things from the king of Babylon. For if the one partaking unworthily of the eucharist will receive for judgment, how much more the one sitting in the presbytery, defiled in conscience and polluting the council of Christ? For what devout person sitting with him will dare to say “I have not sat with the council of vanity” and what follows? 51 And you might say that he also shows his own goodness, on account of which he also brings severity to those who happen to be in need of it. Wherefore, after being painfully healed, he says the city will be built upon its height. What height? “A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden”; such is she who thinks nothing lowly or human, pleasures, he says, and wealth on earth and trifles of glory. “for she was raised with Christ and seeks the things that are above.” When you do these things, “your city will be built upon its height.” 52 He speaks as of a rare thing. But it is the custom of Scripture to say kind things after bitter things for consolation, and after good things, again more bitter things, so that, despising “the riches of the goodness” of God, they may not treasure up for themselves “wrath on the day of wrath.” Wherefore he says: “If wrath should come, it will not depart, unless it does what God wills.” But God wills, and wrath comes to be, so that what God wills may come to be. For if someone does not will to be in the will of God the Word, wrath is released upon him. Let us not then ask for chastising wrath or anger. 53 For not through a desert, as before, but through the customary and inhabited land. and tropologically in consolation, that “blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” 54 Islands far off are those tossed by the waves of life, who are far from the truth before coming to salvation. And God redeemed Jacob; for “the yoke lying upon them has been taken away, and the rod upon their neck,” as Isaiah says. And it also shows that he himself rescued us from the diabolical power. For what could we do against the one who said, among other things, “I will take the whole world in my hand as a nest”? against whom we say through Christ: “O death, where is your victory? O Hades, where is your sting?” 55 To those weeping who are worthy of blessing, let it be said, let your voice cease from weeping, to those who say in the holy spirit: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, and wept when we remembered Zion.” 56 It is also written in Baruch: “Why is it that you are in the land of enemies? You have been defiled with the dead.” For when the just dwell, it is a land of saints; but when there are many sinners, a land of enemies. Thus, he says, they will return, so that the return from the land of enemies will be lasting for your children, for those who have been helped by you and are your fruits. and in Exodus it is written that “God heard the people, their groaning from the works”; similar to what is set down here, but not about all, but about Ephraim lamenting. But Ephraim is interpreted as Fruitfulness. 57 God hears the voice of weeping of those who repent. But why did he mention Ephraim lamenting over his sins? The third book of Kings, then, shows that when Rehoboam ruled them bitterly, though it was necessary for them to endure and not to fall away, they cried out, “we have no portion in David,” when Jeroboam, being of the tribe of Ephraim, led those who had fallen away,

θυγατέρας δὲ τὰς πράξεις. 49 Ταραττομένης γὰρ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπικειμένου τοῦ Βαβυλωνίου, οἷον εἰκὸς ἐπὶ προγνώσει κατέφευγον τὸ μέλλον εἰδέναι βουλόμενοι. ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν ψευδοπροφῆται ἐξ ἁγίου πνεύματος προλέγειν διϊσχυ ρίζοντο· τῶν δὲ ἄλλων οἱ μὲν μαντείας, οἱ δὲ πάλιν ἐνύπνια προὔφερον. διὰ τοῦτο δεῖ καθόλου πάσης ἀσεβοῦς προγνώσεως μὴ ἀνέχεσθαι· εἰ γὰρ ἀστέρες τυχὸν ἐνεργοῦσι, μάτην εὐχόμεθα. διό φησιν· «εἴπωσιν οἱ ἀστρολόγοι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τί βουλεύεται κύριος περὶ σοῦ», καὶ «οὐκ ἔσται οἰωνισμὸς ἐν Ἰακώβ, οὐδὲ μαντεία ἐν Ἰσραήλ». γενοῦ τοίνυν ἄξιος θείας προγνώσεως. ἐπάγει γὰρ μετὰ τὸ «οὐκ ἔσται μαντεία ἐν Ἰσραήλ»· «κατὰ καιρὸν ῥηθήσεται τῷ Ἰακὼβ καὶ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ τί ἐπιτελέσει ὁ θεός». 50 Τοιαῦτα πείσεται πᾶς τοιαῦτα πράσσων πρεσβύτερος ὑπὸ βασιλέως Βαβυλῶνος. εἰ γὰρ ὁ ἀναξίως [τις] μεταλαμβάνων εὐ χαριστίας εἰς κρίμα λήψεται, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὁ καθεζόμενος ἐν πρεσβυ τερίῳ συνειδότι μεμιασμένος καὶ τὸ Χριστοῦ μολύνων συνέδριον; τίς γὰρ αὐτῷ συγκαθήμενος εὐλαβὴς λέγειν τολμήσει τὸ «οὐκ ἐκά θισα μετὰ συνεδρίου ματαιότητος» καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τούτοις; 51 Εἴποις δ' ἂν ὅτι καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπιδείκνυσιν ἀγαθότητα, δι' ἣν καὶ τὴν ἀποτομίαν ἐπάγει τοῖς αὐτῆς ἐν χρείᾳ τυγχάνουσιν. διὸ μετὰ τὸ εἰς ἀλγεινὸν θεραπευθῆναι, οἰκοδομηθήσεταί φησιν ἡ πόλις ἐπὶ τὸ ὕψος αὐτῆς. ποῖον ὕψος; «οὐ δύναται πόλις κρυβῆναι ἐπάνω ὄρους κειμένη»· ὁποία ἐστὶν ἡ μηδὲν φρονοῦσα ταπεινὸν ἢ ἀνθρώπινον, ἡδονάς φησι καὶ πλοῦτον ἐν γῇ καὶ δοξά ρια. «συνηγέρθη γὰρ τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖ». ταῦτά σου ποιοῦντος «οἰκοδομηθήσεται ἡ πόλις σου ἐπὶ τὸ ὕψος αὐτῆς». 52 Ὡς ἐπὶ σπανίου φησίν. Ἔθος δὲ τῇ γραφῇ μετὰ τὰ πικρὰ λέγειν φιλάνθρωπα πρὸς παραμυθίαν καὶ μετὰ τὰ χρηστὰ πάλιν πικρότερα, ἵνα μὴ «τοῦ πλού του τῆς χρηστότητος» τοῦ θεοῦ καταφρονήσαντες θησαυρίσωσιν ἑαυ τοῖς «ὀργὴν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς». διό φησιν· «ἐὰν ἔλθῃ ἡ ὀργή, οὐκ ἀποστήσεται, ἐὰν μὴ δράσειεν ἃ θέλῃ θεός». θέλει δὲ ὁ θεός, καὶ ὀργὴ γίνεται, ἵνα γένηται ἃ θέλει θεός. ἐὰν γάρ τις μὴ θέλῃ γενέ σθαι ἐν τῷ θελήματι τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου, ἀπολύεται ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἡ ὀργή. μὴ δεηθῶμεν οὖν παιδευούσης ὀργῆς ἢ θυμοῦ. 53 Οὐ γὰρ δι' ἐρήμου, καθάπερ πρόσθεν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς νομί μου καὶ οἰκουμένης. καὶ τροπικῶς δὲ ἐν παρακλήσει, ὅτι «μα κάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται». 54 Νῆσοι μακρὰν αἱ κλυδωνιζόμεναι πρὸς τῶν τοῦ βίου κυ μάτων, αἳ μακράν εἰσιν ἀληθείας πρὶν ἐπὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐλθεῖν. ἐλυτρώσατο δὲ τὸν Ἰακὼβ ὁ θεός· «ἀφῄρηται» γὰρ «ὁ ζυγὸς ὁ ἐπ' αὐτῶν κείμενος, καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος ἡ ἐπὶ τοῦ τραχήλου αὐτῶν», καθά φησιν Ἡσαΐας. δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ ὅτι αὐτὸς τῆς διαβολικῆς ἡμᾶς ἐξουσίας ἐρρύσατο. τί γὰρ ἂν ἐδυνάμεθα πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα τά τε ἄλλα καὶ τὸ «τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην λήψομαι τῇ χειρὶ ὡς νοσσιάν»; πρὸς ὃν διὰ Χριστοῦ φαμεν· «ποῦ σου θάνατε τὸ νῖκος; ποῦ σου ᾅδη τὸ κέντρον»; 55 Τοῖς ἀξίοις μακαρισμοῦ κλαίουσι λεγέσθω τὸ διαλειπέτω ἡ φωνή σου ἀπὸ κλαυθμοῦ, τοῖς λέγουσιν ἐν ἁγίῳ πνεύματι· «ἐπὶ τῶν ποταμῶν Βαβυλῶνος ἐκεῖ ἐκαθίσαμεν, καὶ ἐκλαύσαμεν ἐν τῷ μνησθῆναι ἡμᾶς τῆς Σιών». 56 Γέγραπται καὶ ἐν τῷ Βαρούχ· «τί ὅτι ἐν γῇ τῶν ἐχθρῶν εἶ; συνεμιάνθης τοῖς νεκροῖς». ὅταν μὲν γὰρ δίκαιοι ἐπιβαίνωσι, γῆ ἁγίων ἐστίν· ὅταν δὲ πολλοὶ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ὦσι, γῆ τῶν ἐχθρῶν. οὕτω δέ, φησίν, ἐπιστρέψουσιν ὡς εἶναι μόνιμον τοῖς σοῖς τέκνοις τὸ ἐπιστρέψαι ἀπὸ γῆς ἐχθρῶν, τοῖς ὑπὸ σοῦ ὠφεληθεῖσι καὶ σοῖς καρποῖς. καὶ ἐν Ἐξόδῳ δὲ γέγραπται ὅτι «εἰσήκουσεν ὁ θεὸς τοῦ λαοῦ, τοῦ στεναγμοῦ αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων»· ὅμοιον τῷ ἐνταῦθα κειμένῳ, ἀλλ' οὐ περὶ πάντων, ἀλλὰ περὶ Ἐφραῒμ ὀδυρο μένου. Ἐφραῒμ δὲ ἑρμηνεύεται Καρποφορία. 57 Φωνῆς κλαυθμοῦ μετανοούντων ἀκούει ὁ θεός. διὰ τί δὲ τὸν Ἐφραῒμ ὀδυρόμενον ἐφ' ἁμαρτήμασιν εἶπεν; τῶν Βασιλειῶν τοίνυν ἡ τρίτη δηλοῖ, ὡς πικρῶς αὐτῶν ἄρχοντος τοῦ Ῥοβοάμ, δέον αὐτοὺς καρτεροῦντας μὴ ἀποστῆναι, «οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν μερὶς ἐν ∆αβὶδ» ἀνεβόησαν, ὅτε Ἱεροβοὰμ τῶν ἀποστάντων ἡγήσατο, τῆς φυλῆς ὑπάρ χων Ἐφραΐμ,