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of him," clearly speaking about the firmament itself. 2.21 But often Scripture, including them both, speaks in the singular as of one, saying through Isaiah: "Who has established the heaven as a vault and stretched it out as a tent to dwell in," saying "as a vault" concerning the first heaven, and "stretched it out as a tent" concerning the firmament, having spoken in the singular of both as being bound together and similar in appearance. But David says thus: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands," beginning in the plural, but ending in the singular. For since according to the idiom of the Hebrew language "heavens" and "heaven" are pronounced similarly, and both are bound together as one and are similar in their very form and appearance, holy Scripture indifferently calls it both plural and singular in the case of heaven. 2.22 For using this idiom, the blessed David exclaims: "Praise him, you heavens of heavens," in order to say more singularly "the heaven of the heaven," for he adds: "And the water that is above the heavens," clearly here also saying "heavens" in the plural, but indicating the firmament which has the waters above it. For following the idiom, instead of saying "the heaven of the heaven," he said "the heavens of the heavens." For he himself again says elsewhere: "The heaven of heaven is for the Lord, but the earth he gave to the sons of men," calling the first, vault-like one "heaven of heaven," which is the heaven of the firmament, as it is above and higher than it. 2.23 And the hierophant Moses in Deuteronomy says thus: "Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heaven are the Lord's your God, the earth also, with all that is in it." But the great Apostle also uses this idiom, exclaiming: "But our commonwealth is in heaven, from which we also await a Savior," beginning in the plural, but ending in the singular, saying "from which" in the singular. And often David also makes use of such an idiom, exclaiming: "Praise the Lord from the heavens," and after saying also "From the earth praise him," he concludes by saying: "His praise is on earth and heaven," but also: "To him who made the heavens with understanding," and as much as he relates in this part. 2.24 But we have said the shape of the earth is oblong from east to west, and wide from north to south; and that this is divided into two, with the sea, which is called Ocean by those outside, situated in the middle all around, and encircling this land which we humans now inhabit, and that other land, whose extremities are bound to the extremities of heaven, which also encircles the Ocean, which we humans once inhabited in the east, before the flood occurred in the time of Noah, where paradise also is. 2.25 Having crossed during the flood into this land through the ark, miraculously across the Ocean to the parts of Persia, where also the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, having saved both Noah and his three sons with their wives, so that there were four couples, and all the irrational animals, the clean ones from three pairs, and the wild beasts from a single pair, since Noah appears to have offered the one extra from all the clean animals as a sacrifice to God; so that the humans were four couples, and the clean irrational animals from three pairs and the wild ones from a single pair. 2.26 And having crossed into this land, in which we now dwell since then, the three sons of Noah having divided the land, both Shem and those from him from Asia as far as the inner east of the Ocean, and Ham and those from him from the west of the so-called Gades as far as the Ocean of Ethiopia, which is called Barbaria, somewhat beyond the Arabian Gulf, extending as far as our sea, I mean Palestine and Phoenicia, all the southern parts, and all of Arabia, that near us and that called Felix, and Japheth and those from him from the more northern parts, I mean of the Medes and Scythians, up to the Ocean in the west, as far as outside Gades, as also it is written in Genesis by

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αὐτοῦ", σαφῶς περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ στερεώματος ἐξειπών. 2.21 Πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τοὺς δύο συμπεριλαμβάνουσα ἡ Γραφὴ ὡς ἐφ' ἑνὸς ἑνικῶς ἐκφωνεῖ λέγουσα διὰ Ἠσαΐου· "Ὁ στήσας τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡσεὶ καμάραν καὶ διατείνας αὐτὸν ὡς σκηνὴν κατοικεῖν", τὸ μὲν "ὡς καμάραν" ἐπὶ τοῦ πρώτου οὐρανοῦ, τὸ δὲ "διατείνας ὡς σκηνὴν" περὶ τοῦ στερεώματος εἰποῦσα, ὡς συνδεδεμένους καὶ ὁμοίους τῷ εἴδει ἀμφοτέρους ἑνικῶς ἐκφωνήσασα. Ὁ δὲ ∆αυΐδ οὕτως λέγει· "Οἱ οὐρανοὶ διηγοῦνται δόξαν Θεοῦ, ποίησιν δὲ χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ἀναγγέλλει τὸ στερέωμα", δυϊκῶς μὲν ἀρξάμενος, ἑνικῶς δὲ καταλήξας. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ κατὰ τὸ τῆς ἑβραΐδος γλώττης ἰδίωμα οὐρανοὶ καὶ οὐρανὸς ὁμοίως ἐκφωνεῖται, συνδέδενται δὲ καὶ ἀμφότεροι ὡς εἷς καὶ ὅμοιοί εἰσι κατ' αὐτὸ τὸ εἶδος καὶ τὴν πρόσοψιν, ἀδιαφόρως ἡ θεία Γραφὴ καὶ πληθυντικῶς καὶ ἑνικῶς καλεῖ ἐπὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. 2.22 Τούτῳ γὰρ τῷ ἰδιώματι κεχρημένος ὁ μακάριος ∆αυῒδ βοᾷ· "Αἰνεῖτε αὐτόν, οἱ οὐρανοὶ τῶν οὐρανῶν", ἵνα εἴπῃ ἑνικώτερον "ὁ οὐρανὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ", ἐπιφέρει γάρ· "Καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν", σαφῶς καὶ ἐνταῦθα πληθυντικῶς μὲν εἰπὼν "οὐρανῶν", περὶ δὲ τοῦ στερεώματος δηλώσας τοῦ ἔχοντος ἐπάνω τὰ ὕδατα. Ἑπόμενος γὰρ τῷ ἰδιώματι, ἀντὶ τοῦ εἰπεῖν "ὁ οὐρανὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ", εἶπεν "οἱ οὐρανοὶ τῶν οὐρανῶν." Αὐτὸς γὰρ πάλιν καὶ ἑτέρωθί φησιν· "Ὁ οὐρανὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ, τὴν δὲ γῆν ἔδωκε τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων", "οὐρανὸν οὐρανοῦ" καλέσας τὸν πρῶτον τὸν καμαροειδῆ, ὃς οὐρανός ἐστι τοῦ στερεώματος, ὡς ἀνώτερος καὶ ὑψηλότερος αὐτοῦ ὑπάρχων. 2.23 Καὶ ὁ ἱεροφάντης δὲ Μωϋσῆς ἐν τῷ ∆ευτερονομίῳ φησὶν οὕτως· "Ἰδοὺ Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ σου ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἡ γῆ καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἐστὶν ἐν αὐτῇ." Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος κέχρηται τούτῳ τῷ ἰδιώματι βοῶν· "Ἡμῶν δὲ τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει, ἐξ οὗ καὶ Σωτῆρα ἀπεκδεχόμεθα", ἀρξάμενος μὲν πληθυντικῶς, ἐπὶ τὸ ἑνικὸν δὲ λήξας "ἐξ οὗ" ἑνικῶς εἰπών. Πολλάκις δὲ καὶ ὁ ∆αυῒδ κατακέχρηται τῷ τοιούτῳ ἰδιώματι βοῶν· "Αἰνεῖτε τὸν Κύριον ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν", καὶ μετὰ τὸ εἰπεῖν ὅτι καὶ "Ἐκ τῆς γῆς αἰνεῖτε αὐτόν", συντελῶν λέγει· "Ἡ ἐξομολόγησις αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ γῆς καὶ οὐρανοῦ", ἀλλὰ καί· "Τῷ ποιήσαντι τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἐν συνέσει", καὶ ὅσα κατὰ τὸ μέρος τοῦτο διηγεῖται. 2.24 Τὸ δὲ σχῆμα τῆς γῆς εἴπαμεν ἐπίμηκες ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἐπὶ δυσμάς, καὶ εὖρος ἀπὸ ἄρκτου ἐπὶ μεσημβρίαν· διαιρεῖσθαι δὲ ταύτην εἰς δύο, μεσαζούσης κυκλόθεν τῆς θαλάσσης, τοῦ λεγομένου παρὰ τοῖς ἔξω Ὠκεανοῦ, καὶ κυκλούσης ταύτην τὴν γῆν, ἣν νῦν οἰκοῦμεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι, κἀκείνην, ἧς τὰ ἄκρα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τοῖς ἄκροις αὐτῆς συνδέδενται, ἣ καὶ κυκλοῖ τὸν Ὠκεανόν, ἥν ποτε ᾠκοῦμεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι κατὰ ἀνατολάς, πρὶν γενέσθαι ἐπὶ Νῶε τὸν κατακλυσμόν, ἔνθα καὶ ὁ παράδεισός ἐστι. 2.25 Περάσαντες ἐπὶ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ εἰς ταύτην τὴν γῆν διὰ τῆς κιβωτοῦ παραδόξως τὸν Ὠκεανὸν ἐπὶ τὰ μέρη τῆς Περσίδος, ἔνθα καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἡ κιβωτὸς εἰς τὰ ὄρη Ἀραρὰτ διασώσασα τόν τε Νῶε καὶ τοὺς τρεῖς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ σὺν ταῖς γυναιξὶν αὐτῶν, ὡς εἶναι ζυγὰς τέσσαρας, καὶ τὰ ἄλογα πάντα, τὰ μὲν καθαρὰ ἀπὸ ζυγῶν τριῶν, τὰ δὲ θηριώδη ἀπὸ ἑνὸς ζευγαρίου, ἐπειδὴ τὸ περισσὸν ἓν ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν καθαρῶν θυσίαν τῷ Θεῷ ἀνενέγκας φαίνεται ὁ Νῶε· ὥστε οἱ μὲν ἄνθρωποι ζυγαὶ τέσσαρες ἦσαν, τὰ δὲ καθαρὰ ἄλογα ἀπὸ ζυγῶν τριῶν καὶ τὰ ἄγρια ἀπὸ ἑνὸς ζευγαρίου. 2.26 Καὶ περάσασα εἰς τὴν γῆν ταύτην, εἰς ἣν νῦν ἐκ τότε οἰκοῦμεν, διαμεμερισμένοι τὴν γῆν υἱοὶ τοῦ Νῶε οἱ τρεῖς, ὅ τε Σὴμ καὶ οἱ ἐκ τούτου ἀπὸ Ἀσίας ἕως ἔσω ἀνατολῶν τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ, καὶ ὁ Χὰμ καὶ οἱ ἐκ τούτου ἀπὸ τῆς δύσεως τῶν λεγομένων Γαδείρων ἕως τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ τῆς Αἰθιοπίας τῆς καλουμένης Βαρβαρίας, πέραν τι πέρα τοῦ Ἀραβίου κόλπου, παρατεί νοντες ἕως τῆς ἡμετέρας θαλάσσης, Παλαιστίνης λέγω καὶ Φοινίκης, πάντα τὰ νότια μέρη, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν Ἀραβίαν, τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς καὶ τὴν καλουμένην Εὐδαίμονα, καὶ ὁ Ἰάφετ καὶ οἱ ἐκ τούτου ἀπὸ τῶν βορειοτέρων μερῶν, τῶν Μηδικῶν λέγω καὶ Σκυθῶν, μέχρι τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ κατὰ τὴν δύσιν, ἕως ἔξω Γαδείρων, καθὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ Γενέσει γέγραπται παρὰ