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of a prophet or to say that these things happened during the siege of the Babylonians, will be convicted of thinking falsely; for at that time many prophets were with them in Jerusalem itself before the siege and during the siege, and in Babylon itself and after the return from there. And there were also judges among them who judged the people. In Babylon itself, at any rate, Daniel judged “the elders,” and after the return, Jesus the son of Jozadak and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel both led the people, and still later in time, Ezra and Nehemiah, and elders honored for their understanding and wisdom, adorned their nation. At that time you will find that there were also distinguished warriors among them during the times of the Maccabees, among whom there were certainly also commanders of fifty in the military order. And it is likely that there were also marvelous counselors among them, wise in words and master builders. And there were also intelligent hearers among them, who approved the words of the prophets, rejecting those of the false prophets, and doing this with a discerning spirit. In ancient times, therefore, all these things flourished among the nation of the Jews, but they suddenly ceased and “were taken away” according to the prophecy “from Jerusalem and from Judea,” all things together at no other time than that of their plot against our Savior. And having fallen away from all the aforementioned things, those accused by the prophecy were handed over to mocking masters and youthful rulers. And the reason for all these things the word will teach again, not their idolatry as accusers, but that they devised a wicked plan against themselves, saying, Let us bind the just man, because he is useless to us, and that their tongues with lawlessness were disobedient to the Lord, for which Symmachus says: their tongues and their practices are against the Lord to provoke him, and Aquila: because their tongue and their practices are against the Lord, contending, you see the reason why the aforementioned things were taken away from them. For they sharpened their own tongues against the Lord, when they uttered their impious voices saying: “away, away with him,” “his blood be on us and on our children;” for then truly their tongue and their practices were against the Lord to provoke him. Wherefore, clarifying the meaning, he adds next: And they declared their lawlessness as that of Sodom and made it manifest. Woe to their soul, because they have devised a wicked plan against themselves, saying, Let us bind the just man, because he is useless to us. And this, then, was the reason for the removal of the long-shining gifts of God. But who, seeing those among the Jews called patriarchs, truly youths, not only in the age of their body, but also imperfect in their souls and wanting in sense, and their other teachers, would not say that they are mockers, even those whom the prophecy indicated? But the people too have collapsed, man against man and man against his neighbor; and the child will stumble against the elder, and the dishonored against the honored. Since there is no order nor word of God governing among them, he says that it will drive them to such poverty and lack of sense, that they will have a supply of neither a garment nor bread; a garment, that is, of a decent and orderly word that covers the shame of their soul, and bread, of the word that nourishes the mind. Wherefore he says: a man shall take hold of his brother or of his father's kinsman, saying, You have a garment, be our ruler, and let my food be under you. And answering in that day he will say, I will not be your ruler; for there is neither bread nor a garment in my house. Then he signifies the desolation of the country and the complete fall of Jerusalem, adding next: Jerusalem is forsaken, and Judea has collapsed. And the cause has been stated before: for because of their tongues, by which

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προφήτου ἢ κατὰ τοὺς τῆς Βαβυλωνίων πολιορκίας ταῦτα φάναι γεγονέναι, ψευδῆ δοξάζων ἐλεγχθήσεται· συνῆσαν γὰρ αὐτοῖς τότε πλεῖστοι προφῆται ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ Ἰερουσαλὴμ πρὸ τῆς πολιορκίας καὶ κατὰ τὴν πολιορκίαν, ἐπ' αὐτῆς τε τῆς Βαβυλωνίας καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐνθένδε ἐπάνοδον ἦσαν δὲ καὶ δικασταὶ παρ' αὐτοῖς οἱ κρίνοντες τὸν λαόν. ἐν αὐτῇ γοῦν τῇ Βαβυλῶνι ∆ανιὴλ ἔκρινεν «τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους», καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐπάνοδον Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ἰωσεδὲκ καὶ Ζοροβάβελ ὁ τοῦ Σαλαθιὴλ καὶ καθηγήσαντο τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ ἔτι τοῖς χρόνοις μεταγενέστεροι Ἔσδρας καὶ Νεεμίας καὶ πρεσβύτεροι δὲ συνέσει καὶ σοφίᾳ τετιμημένοι ἐκόσμουν τὸ ἔθνος αὐτῶν. τότε εὑρήσεις καὶ πολεμιστὰς διαφανεῖς παρ' αὐτοῖς γενομένους κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους τῶν Μακκαβαίων, ἐν οἷς πάντως ἦσαν καὶ πεντηκόνταρχοι ἐν τῇ στρατιωτικῇ τάξει. εἰκός τε δὲ καὶ θαυμαστοὺς συμβούλους παρ' αὐτοῖς γεγονέναι σοφούς τε λόγων καὶ ἀρχιτέκτονας. ἦσαν δὲ καὶ συνετοὶ ἀκροαταὶ παρ' αὐτοῖς, οἳ τοὺς τῶν προφητῶν λόγους ἐνέκρινον, τοὺς τῶν ψευδοπροφητῶν ἀποδοκιμάζοντες καὶ τοῦτο πράττοντες πνεύματι κριτικῷ. τὸ μὲν οὖν παλαιὸν ταῦτα πάντα παρὰ τῷ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνει ἤκμαζεν, ἀθρόως δὲ ἐξέλιπε καὶ «ἀφῃρέθη» κατὰ τὴν προφητείαν «ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰουδαίας», ὁμοῦ τὰ πάντα οὐκ ἄλλοτε ἢ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιβουλὴν αὐτῶν. Ἐκπεσόντες δὲ τῶν προλεχθέντων πάντων οἱ ὑπὸ τῆς προφητείας κατηγορούμενοι ἐμπαίκταις κυρίοις καὶ νεανίσκοις ἄρχουσι παρεδόθησαν. τὸ δ' αἴτιον τούτων ἁπάντων ὁ λόγος διδάξει αὖθις οὐκ εἰδωλολατρίαν αὐτῶν κατηγόρων, ἀλλὰ ὅτι ἐβουλεύσαντο βουλὴν πονηρὰν καθ' ἑαυτῶν εἰπόντες ∆ήσομεν τὸν δίκαιον, ὅτι δύσχρηστος ἡμῖν ἐστιν, καὶ ὅτι αἱ γλῶσσαι αὐτῶν μετὰ ἀνομίας τὰ πρὸς κύριον ἠπείθουν, ἀνθ' οὗ ὁ Σύμμαχος· αἱ γλῶσσαι αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα αὐτῶν πρὸς κύριον πρὸς τὸ παραπικραίνειν, ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας· ὅτι γλῶσσα αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπιτηδεύματα αὐτῶν πρὸς κύριον προσερίζοντες, ὁρᾷς τὸ αἴτιον διὸ ἀφῃρέθη αὐτῶν τὰ προλεχθέντα. καὶ γὰρ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἠκόνησαν γλώττας κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου, ὁπηνίκα τὰς ἀσεβεῖς ἠφίεσαν φωνὰς λέγοντες· «αἶρε αἶρε αὐτόν», «τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν»· τότε γὰρ ἀληθῶς ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου γέγονεν εἰς τὸ παραπικράναι αὐτόν. διὸ ἑξῆς διασαφῶν τὴν διάνοιαν ἐπιλέγει· τὴν δὲ ἀνομίαν αὐτῶν ὡς Σοδόμων ἀνήγγειλαν καὶ ἐνεφάνισαν. οὐαὶ τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτῶν, ὅτι βεβούλευνται βουλὴν πονηρὰν καθ' ἑαυτῶν εἰπόντες ∆ήσομεν τὸν δίκαιον, ὅτι δύσχρηστος ἡμῖν ἐστι. καὶ τοῦτ' ἦν ἄρα τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ περιαιρεῖσθαι τὰ πάλαι διαλάμποντα τοῦ θεοῦ χαρίσματα. τίς δὲ ὁρῶν τοὺς παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις ὀνομαζομένους πατριάρχας, νεανίσκους ἀληθῶς, οὐ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἡλικίαν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς ἀτελεῖς καὶ ἐνδεεῖς φρενῶν, τούς τε λοιποὺς αὐτῶν διδασκάλους οὐκ ἂν εἴποι ἐμπαίκτας εἶναι, καὶ οὓς ἡ προφητεία ἐδήλου; ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ λαὸς συμπέπτωκεν, ἄνθρωπος πρὸς ἄνθρωπον καὶ ἄνθρωπος πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ· προσκόψει δὲ τὸ παιδίον πρὸς τὸν πρεσβύτερον καὶ ὁ ἄτιμος πρὸς τὸν ἔντιμον. μηδεμιᾶς τάξεως οὔσης μηδὲ λόγου θεοῦ ἐν αὐτοῖς πολιτευομένου εἰς τοσαύτην δὲ πενίαν καὶ φρενῶν ἔνδειαν ἐλάσειν αὐτούς φησιν, ὡς μηδὲ ἱματίου μηδὲ ἄρτου εὐπορεῖν· ἱματίου μὲν εὐσχήμονος καὶ κοσμίου λόγου τοῦ καλύπτοντος αὐτῶν τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην, ἄρτου δὲ τοῦ τῆς διανοίας θρεπτικοῦ λόγου. διό φησιν· ἐπιλήψεται ἄνθρωπος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ ἢ τοῦ οἰκείου τοῦ πατρὸς λέγων Ἱμάτιον ἔχεις, ἀρχηγὸς ἡμῶν γενοῦ, καὶ τὸ βρῶμα τὸ ἐμὸν ὑπὸ σὲ ἔστω. καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ἐρεῖ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ Οὐκ ἔσομαί σου ἀρχηγός· οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ μου ἄρτος οὐδὲ ἱμάτιον. εἶτα τὴν ἐρημίαν τῆς χώρας καὶ τὴν παντελῆ τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἀπόπτωσιν σημαίνει ἐπιφέρων ἑξῆς· ἀνεῖται Ἰερουσαλήμ, καὶ ἡ Ἰουδαία συμπέπτωκεν. ἡ δ' αἰτία προλέλεκται· διὰ γὰρ τὰς γλώσσας αὐτῶν, δι' ὧν