Selecta in Ezechielem

 of Jesus the Savior God having gone forth. If then they might hear, or be terrified. Similar to this doubtful expression is the one in Jeremiah: Perha

 of Israel. But neither are they slow of speech for their tongue, that is, their speech, does not have weight and a certain elegance but they are lig

 He sat in their midst. But when he is about to see the glory of the Lord, he rises up and goes out into the plain, with only the breadth of the plain

 the iniquities of the house of Israel. And who took up the iniquities of the sons of Israel, being two in number, both that against God and that again

 But it is not proper for God to effect these things. For thus also the teacher of the Hebrews explained the passage: I will honor those who honor me,

 those who have emulated the mere practical are said to be glens but those who are humbler in soul than all are called ravines. And your precincts sha

 someone might say, the temple-keepers under 13.789 the priests and the house of Israel those from the 12 tribes and those who fear the Lord are fore

 to him, so that he became worthy even of being laid up in the Holy of Holies in the tent of testimony. That there is a vision for all the multitude. F

 his observance. And when they are not capable of giving counsel, nor do they preside to consider what is necessary for the common good, it must be sai

 written for the evil ones, and to have transferred the sacred weekly cycle from the holy things to the idols, so that they might receive a kind of sta

 Theodotion have placed alongside, preserving, as I think, the Hebrew word for I do not think that among the Greeks the word 'kasto' means to have a w

 the houses are built. The meaning of the present text is this: These men, he says, say, seeing the city newly built after the previous captivity, that

 he answers them through the prophet, as they are in need of repentance, saying: Repent and turn away, and so forth. Land, which if it sins. It is the

 they will enter, it is said. These bring out sons and daughters. This must be read as a question: If Noah and Daniel and Job will not suffice for thos

 Incense. Incense and oil is the prayer sent up to God from the mind with knowledge, in which God delights. And you spread your legs to everyone passin

 is of the vine, so also we, if we follow as the natural impulses draw us in our earliest years, are eating unripe grapes. Of the same. The unripe grap

 by his most wicked doctrines laying waste the land and those who dwell in it. These lions, therefore, are a symbol of the kings of Jerusalem in a tang

 to those before us I mean those outside the flesh. For besides having its own historical account, such as that which occurred among us men, it also h

 The Egyptians must be punished from the first to the last. All who inhabit Egypt, or rather, who are, will be punished in it.

he answers them through the prophet, as they are in need of repentance, saying: Repent and turn away, and so forth. Land, which if it sins. It is the custom of divine Scripture often to name the dwelling or the state in the person of the inhabitants; and again the inhabitants in the person of the dwelling. If therefore the land sins, through the land he named the earthly ones; for which reason man and beast will be destroyed from it. And otherwise, if the earthly state sins (for it is its nature to sin), man and beast will be destroyed from it; the beastly man and the more rational man. For it is not possible to say that this earth which we tread is rational, and that it sins, as some have imagined. For if we grant 13.808 this, it is time to say all things are ensouled, and to agree with those who introduce reincarnation. And I will break its staff of bread. Instead of: They will be punished according to their iniquity. Of the same. Our sinning land, the outer man is punished with a sensible famine; and the inner man is punished with an intelligible famine, by the deprivation of spiritual bread. Both the outer and the inner endure agony; and as much as the outer endures according to the sensible, so much also the inner endures according to the intelligible. Of the same. The soul of each of us is also called land; one having the land of paradise, another, thorns; one is called good, another wicked. And the parable of the Lord shows these things. And if these three men are in its midst, Noah, Job, Daniel. These are figures of these saints being taken: every man who does not corrupt his own life on earth, not being wholly of the flesh by making for himself the mind of the flesh, so that he should be called entirely flesh, but appearing as a light in the world, holding forth the word of life in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, so that God should declare to him, that, You alone have I seen righteous in this generation. Therefore every such man is Noah, and the things recorded of that one are applied also to this one; for in their state they have both become equal, so that they are called Noah. Of the same. Everyone who sets in his heart not to be defiled by the foods and drinks of the intelligible Nebuchadnezzar, but to afflict his soul with fastings in this Babylon for the sake of the knowledge of the truth, such a one is Daniel, and the things recorded of that one will be fitting to be said of this one also; for their state is one, and both are of the same condition, so as to be called Daniel. Of the same. Everyone who is blameless in life, true in piety, so that he abstains from every evil, so that the devil is provoked to jealousy against him, and to bring every kind of trial upon him in temptations, and he does not falter even with a word of the lips; such a one is Job, and the things recorded of that one will be fitting for this one also. For both are equal in one state in the Lord, and both will be called Job. If sons and daughters will be saved. Daniel has sons according to the same spiritual generation, whom his prophecy begot; for he did not have carnal sons; for he was a eunuch, as they say. And it is clear; for by these he was handed over to the chief eunuch. If therefore these three men, Noah, and Job, and Daniel, are found in the sinning land, they will be saved by their own righteousness; as if it said: And if they are found like Noah, and Job, and Daniel. If sons and daughters are left behind. Instead of, they will not be left behind. They alone, Noah, and Daniel, and Job, by their righteousness will deliver their own souls, their own, that is; for there is also 13.809 elsewhere in the divinely-inspired Scripture such a form of expression, having a clear negation, as what was said by Elijah to Ahab: As the Lord the God of hosts lives, the God of Israel, before whom we stand, if in these years there will be dew and rain upon all the earth. So also the Lord in the Gospel according to Mark, that, This generation seeks a sign. Amen, amen, I say to you, if a sign will be given to this generation; that is, it will not be given. And that which is said in the Psalms is similar to these: As I swore in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest. For instead of, not

ἀποκρίνεται αὐ τοῖς διὰ τοῦ προφήτου, ὡς χρῄζουσιν ἐπιστροφῆς, λέγων· Ἐπιστρέψατε καὶ ἀποστρέψατε, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Γῆ, ἣ ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ. Ἔθος τῇ θείᾳ Γραφῇ πολλά κις ὀνομάζειν τὸ οἴκημα ἤτοι τὴν κατάστασιν εἰς πρόσωπον τῶν οἰκούντων· καὶ πάλιν τοὺς οἰκοῦντας εἰς πρόσωπον τοῦ οἰκήματος. Ἐὰν οὖν γῆ ἁμάρτῃ, τοὺς γηΐνους διὰ τῆς γῆς ὠνόμασε· δι' ἣν αἰτίαν ἐξολοθρευθήσεται ἐξ αὐτῆς ἄνθρωπος καὶ κτῆνος. Καὶ ἄλλως ἡ γηΐνη ἕξις ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ (πέφυκε γὰρ αὕτη ἁμαρτεῖν), ἐξολοθρευθήσεται ἐξ αὐτῆς ἄνθρω πος καὶ κτῆνος· ὁ κτηνώδης ἄνθρωπος καὶ ὁ λογι κώτερος ἄνθρωπος. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν τὴν γῆν ταύτην ἣν πατοῦμεν εἶναι λογικὴν, καὶ αὐτὴν ἁμαρ τάνειν, ὥς τινες ἐφαντάσθησαν. Εἰ γὰρ τοῦτο δώσο 13.808 μεν, ὥρα τὰ πάντα λέγειν ἔμψυχα, καὶ συνηγορεῖν τοῖς τὰς μετεμψυχώσεις εἰσάγουσι. Καὶ συντρίψω αὐτῆς στήριγμα ἄρτου. Ἀντὶ τοῦ· Κατὰ τὴν ἀδικίαν τιμωρηθήσονται. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Ἡ γῆ ἡμῶν ἡ ἁμαρτάνουσα, ὁ ἔξω ἄνθρωπος κολάζεται τῷ αἰσθητῷ λιμῷ· καὶ ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος κολάζεται τῷ νοητῷ λιμῷ, τῇ στερήσει τοῦ πνευματικοῦ ἄρτου. Ἀγωνίαν ὑπομένει καὶ ὁ ἔξω, καὶ ὁ ἔσω· καὶ ὅσα ὑπομένει ὁ ἔξω κατὰ τὸ αἰσθητὸν, τοσαῦτα ὑπομένει καὶ ὁ ἔσω κατὰ τὸ νοητόν. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Λέγεται καὶ ἡ ἑκάστου ἡμῶν ψυχὴ γῆ· ἡ μὲν παράδεισον γῆ ἔχουσα, ἡ δὲ ἀκάνθας· ἡ δὲ καλὴ λέγεται, ἡ δὲ πονηρά. Καὶ ταῦτα δηλοῖ ἡ πα ραβολὴ τοῦ Κυρίου. Καὶ ἐὰν ὦσιν οἱ τρεῖς ἄνδρες οὗτοι ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς, Νῶε, Ἰὼβ, ∆ανιήλ. Πρόσωπά ἐστι τῶν ἁγίων τούτων λαμβανόμενα, πᾶς ὃς ἐὰν μὴ φθείρῃ τὸν βίον ἑαυτοῦ ἐπὶ γῆς, οὐ ποιούμενος ὅλος τῇ σαρκὶ διὰ τοῦ ποιεῖν αὐτὸν τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκὸς, ὥστε χρηματίσαι αὐτὸν ὅλον σάρκα, ἀλλὰ φαινόμενος ὡς φωστὴρ ἐν κόσμῳ, ἐπέχων λόγον ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ γε νεᾶς σκολιᾶς καὶ διεστραμμένης, ὥστε χρηματίσαι πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν Θεὸν, ὅτι, Σὲ εἶδον δίκαιον μόνον ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ. Πᾶς οὖν ὁ τοιοῦτος Νῶέ ἐστι, καὶ τὰ ἱστορούμενα ἐπ' ἐκείνου ἀνάγεται καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦτον· τῇ γὰρ καταστάσει γεγόνασιν ἴσοι ἀμφότε ροι, ὥστε χρηματίσαι αὐτοὺς Νῶε. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Πᾶς ὃς ἐὰν θῇ ἐπὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ μὴ μιανθῆναι ἐν τοῖς βρώμασι καὶ τοῖς πόμασι τοῦ νοητοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ, ἀλλὰ κακῶσαι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ νηστείαις ἐν τῇ Βαβυλῶνι ταύτῃ διὰ τὴν γνῶ σιν τῆς ἀληθείας, ὁ τοιοῦτος ∆ανιήλ ἐστι, καὶ τὰ ἱστο ρούμενα ἐπ' ἐκείνου ἁρμόσει καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ λέγεσθαι· μία γὰρ κατάστασις, καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἕξεως οἱ ἀμφό τεροι, ὡς καλεῖσθαι αὐτοὺς ∆ανιήλ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Πᾶς ὃς ἐὰν ᾖ ἄμεμπτος ἐν βίῳ, ἀλη θινὸς ἐν θεοσεβείᾳ, ὥστε ἀπέχεσθαι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ κακοῦ παντὸς, ὥστε παραζηλοῦσθαι ἐπ' αὐτῷ τὸν διάβολον, καὶ πάντα γενικὸν πειρασμὸν ἐπαγαγεῖν αὐτῷ ἐν πειρασμοῖς, καὶ οὐκ ὀκλάσῃ ἕως λόγου χειλέων· ὁ τοιοῦτος Ἰώβ ἐστι, καὶ τὰ ἱστορούμενα ἐπ' ἐκείνῳ ἁρμόσει καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ. Ἀμφότεροι γὰρ ἴσοι ἐν μιᾷ ἕξει ἐν Κυρίῳ, καὶ Ἰὼβ κληθήσονται ἀμφότεροι. Εἰ υἱοὶ καὶ θυγατέρες σωθήσονται. Υἱοὺς ἔχει ὁ ∆ανιὴλ κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν πνευματικὴν γενεὰν, οὓς ἐγέννησεν ἡ προφητεία αὐτοῦ· υἱοὺς γὰρ σαρκικοὺς οὐκ ἔσχεν· εὐνοῦχος γὰρ ἦν, ὥς φασι. Καὶ δῆλον· ὑπὸ τούτων γὰρ παρεδόθη τῷ ἀρχιευνούχῳ. Ἐὰν οὖν οἱ τρεῖς οὗτοι ἄνδρες, Νῶε, καὶ Ἰὼβ, καὶ ∆ανιὴλ, εὑρεθῶσιν ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτούσῃ γῇ, οὗτοι ἐν τῇ δικαιο σύνῃ αὐτῶν σωθήσονται· ὡσεὶ ἔλεγε· Καὶ ἐὰν εὑ ρεθῶσιν ὡς Νῶε, καὶ Ἰὼβ, καὶ ∆ανιήλ. Ἐὰν υἱοὶ καὶ θυγατέρες ὑπολειφθῶσιν. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, οὐχ ὑπολειφθήσονται. Αὐτοὶ μόνοι Νῶε, καὶ ∆ανιὴλ, καὶ Ἰὼβ ἐν τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ αὐτῶν ῥύσονται τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν, τὰς ἰδίας δηλονότι· ἔστι γὰρ καὶ 13.809 ἀλλαχοῦ τῆς θεοπνεύστου Γραφῆς τοιοῦτον εἶδος φρά σεως, ἄρνησιν ἔχον πρόδηλον, ὡς τὸ εἰρημένον τῷ Ἠλίᾳ πρὸς τὸν Ἀχαάβ· Ζῇ Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς τῶν δυ- νάμεων, ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσραὴλ, ᾧπέρ ἐσμεν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, εἰ ἐπὶ τὰ ἔτη ταῦτα δρόσος καὶ ὑετὸς ἀνὰ πᾶσαν γῆν ἔσται. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐν τῷ κατὰ Μάρκον Εὐαγγελίῳ, ὅτι, Ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη σημεῖον ἐπιζητεῖ. Ἀμὴν, ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, εἰ δοθήσεται τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ σημεῖον· τουτέστιν οὐ δοθήσεται. Καὶ τὸ ἐν Ψαλμοῖς εἰρημένον τούτοις ὅμοιον· Ὡς ὤμοσα ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ μου, εἰ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσιν. Ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ, οὐκ