spiritual riches, but they turned away from what was being said and did not present themselves receptive so that they might be indebted; for this reason, not even one was indebted to me. For who accepted what was said, so that from accepting he might become a debtor of what he heard and be required, as a debtor of what was said, to pay the interest? Therefore, it is better in this respect for the hearer to receive from the speaker rational silver and to be in debt, than by not accepting nor receiving, not even to be in debt. For the phrase "not even one was indebted to me" is set down as among the accusations. 14.5 But "Woe is me, mother, that you bore me a man of strife and a man of contention in all the earth," I do not think it fits the other prophets to say this in the way it fits Jeremiah; for most of the prophets began to prophesy after some time, after wickedness, after their sins, having changed, but Jeremiah prophesies from childhood. And it is possible to give an example from the scriptures. Isaiah did not hear, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb, I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations"; nor did he say, "I do not know how to speak, for I am a youth," but when he saw the vision that is recorded in his prophecy, [he saw] and said, "Woe is me, wretched one that I am, because having unclean lips I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, and I have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, with my eyes," "and one of the Seraphim," he says, "was sent to me, and he touched my lips and said, 'Behold, I have taken away your iniquities, and this will cleanse your sins.'" <after> his sins, therefore, which he had committed previously, Isaiah later became worthy of the Holy Spirit and prophesied. And you might find the same in another case. But not so Jeremiah; for still from swaddling clothes, having been adorned with the prophetic spirit, he prophesied from childhood, which is why he said (for I am first recounting the common view): "Woe is me, mother, that you bore me a man of strife and a man of contention in all the earth"? But one of those before me addressed this passage, saying that he said these things not to his physical mother, but to the mother who bears prophets. And who bears prophets <but> the wisdom of God? He said, therefore, "Woe is me, mother," "that you bore me," O Wisdom? And the children of wisdom are also recorded in the gospel: "and wisdom sends forth her children." Therefore it is said: "Woe is me, mother," my wisdom, "that you bore me a man of strife," who am I, that I have been born to such an extent that I should be judged, that I should be in contention on account of the reproofs, on account of the rebukes, on account of the teaching, with all those on the earth? If Jeremiah says these things: "that you bore me a man of strife and a man of contention in all the earth," I am unable to explain the phrase "in all the earth"; for Jeremiah was not in contention with all the earth. Or shall we, forcing it, say "in all the earth" instead of "in all of Judea"? For his prophecy, when he was prophesying then, did not reach all the earth. But perhaps as in countless other cases we have shown Jeremiah to be spoken of instead of our Lord Jesus Christ, so also will we say here. At the beginning I noted the phrase, "Behold, I have set you over nations and kingdoms, to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to build and to plant." Jeremiah did not do this. But Jesus Christ rooted out the kingdoms of the [earth's] sin and tore down the structures of wickedness and, in place of those kingdoms, made righteousness and truth reign [in us] in our souls. Therefore, just as it was more fitting for those things to be referred to Christ than to Jeremiah, so I believe are many other things, including these. 14.6 First it must be said concerning "Woe," <whether> on account of its ill-omened character the Savior, who also declares others wretched with "Woe," is able to say it. But we will show from acknowledged sayings, which fit no other than the Savior, in what manner he also wept over Jerusalem; and "Woe" is the cry of one weeping. And it is written in the gospel that when he saw Jerusalem, he wept over it and said: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you,
πνευματικὰ χρήματα, οἱ δὲ ἀπεστρέφοντο ἀπὸ τῶν λεγο μένων καὶ οὐ παρεῖχον αὑτοὺς δεκτικοὺς ἵνα ὀφείλωσι· διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ὠφείλησέ μοι οὐδὲ εἷς. τίς γὰρ παρεδέξατο τὰ λεγόμενα, ἵνα ἐκ τοῦ παραδέχεσθαι ὀφειλέτης γένηται ὧν ἤκουσε καὶ ἀπαιτηθῇ ὡς ὀφειλέτης τῶν λεγομένων τοὺς τόκους; βέλτιον οὖν κατὰ τοῦτο λαβεῖν τὸν ἀκροατὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ λέγοντος λογικὰ ἀργύρια καὶ ὀφείλειν, ἢ μὴ παραδεχόμενον μηδὲ λαμβάνοντα μηδὲ ὀφείλειν. ὡς ἐν ἐγκλή μασι γὰρ κεῖται καὶ τὸ «οὐκ ὠφείλησέ μοι οὐδὲ εἷς». 14.5 Τὸ δὲ «οἴμοι μῆτερ, ὡς τίνα με ἐγέννησας ἄνδρα δικαζόμενον καὶ διακρινόμενον ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ» οὐκ οἶμαι τοῖς ἄλλοις οὕτως ἁρμόζειν προφήταις λέγειν ὡς τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ· οἱ μὲν γὰρ πολλοὶ τῶν προφητῶν μετά τινας χρόνους, μετὰ τὴν κακίαν, μετὰ τὰ ἁμαρτή ματα μεταβαλόντες προφητεύειν ἤρξαντο, Ἱερεμίας δὲ ἐκ παίδων προφητεύει. καὶ ἔστι παράδειγμα διδόναι ἀπὸ τῶν γεγραμμένων. Ἡσαΐας οὐκ ἤκουσε· «πρὸ τοῦ με πλάσαι σε ἐν κοιλίᾳ ἐπίσταμαί σε, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ σε ἐξελθεῖν ἐκ μήτρας ἡγίακά σε, προφήτην εἰς ἔθνη τέθεικά σε»· οὐδὲ εἶπεν· «οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι λαλεῖν, ὅτι νεώτερος ἐγώ εἰμι», ἀλλ' ὅτε εἶδε τὴν ὅρασιν τὴν ἀναγεγραμμένην ἐν τῇ προ φητείᾳ αὐτοῦ, [εἶδε] καὶ εἶπεν· «οἴμοι τάλας ἐγώ, ὅτι ἀκάθαρτα χείλη ἔχων ἐν μέσῳ λαοῦ ἀκάθαρτα χείλη ἔχοντος ἐγὼ οἰκῶ, καὶ τὸν βασιλέα κύριον σαβαὼθ εἶδον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου», «καὶ ἀπεστάλη» φησί «πρός με ἓν τῶν Σεραφίμ, καὶ ἥψατο τῶν χειλέων μου καὶ εἶπεν· ἰδοὺ ἀφῄρηκα τὰς ἀνομίας σου, καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου τοῦτο καθαριεῖ». <μετὰ> τὰς ἁμαρτίας οὖν, ἃς πρότερον ἐποίησεν, ὕστερον γέγονεν ἄξιος τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος Ἡσαΐας· καὶ ἐπροφήτευσε. καὶ ἐπ' ἄλλῳ τὸ παραπλήσιον εὕροις ἄν. ἄλλ' οὐχ οὕτως ὁ Ἱερεμίας· ἔτι γὰρ ἐκ σπαργάνων τῷ πνεύματι τῷ προφητικῷ κοσμηθεὶς ἐκ παίδων προεφήτευσε, διὸ ἔλεγε (τὸ κοινὸν γὰρ πρῶτον διηγοῦμαι)· «οἴμοι ἐγώ, μῆτερ, ὡς τίνα με ἐγέννησας ἄνδρα δικαζόμενον καὶ διακρινό μενον πάσῃ τῇ γῇ»; Τῶν πρὸ ἐμοῦ δέ τις ἐπέβαλε τῷ τόπῳ λέγων ὅτι ταῦτα ἔλεγεν οὐ πρὸς τὴν μητέρα τὴν σωματικήν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν μητέρα τὴν γεννῶσαν προφήτας. τίς δὲ γεννᾷ προφήτας <ἢ> ἡ σοφία τοῦ θεοῦ; ἔλεγεν οὖν τὸ «οἴμοι ἐγώ, μῆτερ», «ὡς τίνα με ἔτεκες», ὦ σοφία; τὰ δὲ τέκνα τῆς σοφίας καὶ ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ἀναγέγραπται· «καὶ ἀπο στέλλει ἡ σοφία τὰ τέκνα αὐτῆς». εἴρηται οὖν· «οἴμοι ἐγώ, μῆτερ» ἐμὴ σοφία «ὡς τίνα με ἔτεκες ἄνδρα δικαζόμενον», τίς εἰμι ἐγώ, ὅτι εἰς τοσοῦτον γεγέννημαι, ἵνα δικάζωμαι, ἵνα διακρίνωμαι διὰ τοὺς ἐλέγχους, διὰ τὰς ἐπιπλήξεις, διὰ τὴν διδασκαλίαν πρὸς πάντας τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς; ἐὰν ὁ Ἱερεμίας ταῦτα λέγῃ· «ὡς τίνα με ἔτεκες ἄνδρα δικαζόμενον καὶ διακρινόμενον πάσῃ τῇ γῇ», οὐκ ἔχω διηγήσασθαι τὸ «πάσῃ τῇ γῇ»· οὐ γὰρ πάσῃ τῇ γῇ διεκρίνετο Ἱερεμίας. ἢ βιασά μενοι ἐροῦμεν τὸ «πάσῃ τῇ γῇ» ἀντὶ τοῦ πάσῃ τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ; οὐ γὰρ ἔφθανεν ἡ προφητεία αὐτοῦ προφητεύοντος τότε εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. μήποτε δὲ ὡς ἐπὶ ἄλλων μυρίων ἐδείξαμεν τὸν Ἱερεμίαν ἀντὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰρῆσθαι, οὕτως καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἐροῦμεν. ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ ἐπεσημειωσάμην τὸ «ἰδοὺ τέθεικά σε εἰς ἔθνη καὶ βασιλείας, ἐκριζοῦν καὶ κατασκάπτειν καὶ ἀπολλύειν καὶ οἰκοδομεῖν καὶ καταφυτεύειν». τοῦτο οὐκ ἐποίησεν ὁ Ἱερεμίας. Ἰησοῦς δὲ Χριστὸς τὰς τῆς [γῆς] ἁμαρτίας βασιλείας ἐξερρίζωσεν καὶ τὰς οἰκοδομὰς τῆς κακίας κατέσκαψε καὶ ἐποίησεν ἀντὶ ἐκείνων τῶν βασιλειῶν βασιλεῦσαι [ἡμῶν] τὴν δικαιοσύνην καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν. ὥσπερ οὖν ἐκεῖνα ἐπὶ τὸν Χριστὸν μᾶλλον ἥρμοζεν ἀναφέρεσθαι ἢ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἱερεμίαν, οὕτως ἡγοῦμαι καὶ ἄλλα πολλὰ καὶ ταῦτα. 14.6 Πρῶτον λεκτέον περὶ τοῦ «οἴμοι», <εἰ> διὰ τὸ δυσφημοειδὲς δύναται ὁ σωτὴρ λέγειν ὁ καὶ ταλανίζων ἑτέρους τὸ «οἴμοι». παρα στήσομεν δὲ ἀπὸ ὁμολογουμένων λέξεων, αἵτινες οὐχ ἁρμόζουσιν ἄλλῳ ἢ τῷ σωτῆρι, τίνα τρόπον καὶ ἔκλαυσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ· κλαίοντος δὲ φωνή ἐστι τὸ «οἴμοι». καὶ κεῖται ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ὅτι ἰδὼν τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἔκλαυσεν ἐπ' αὐτὴν καὶ εἶπεν· «Ἱερουσαλὴμ Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλ μένους πρὸς αὐτήν,