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of those everywhere who were sick with the error of idols, he recognized the true God and proclaimed him creator of all things. And first he encircled the altar with branches of palm 1.48 and olive trees, and upon it an angel is first named in the divine scripture. And from him the Egyptians learned the position and making of the stars and the science of arithmetic. That in the 24th year of his life, Abraham, having recognized the God of all things, worshipped him. But an angel of the Lord taught him the Hebrew language, as the angel himself told Moses, as it is stated in the book of Jubilees. And Haran, taking a wife, begot Lot, and a daughter, Milcah. Nahor takes her as his wife. But when Abraham was already sixty years old, since he did not seem to be persuading his father and the other relatives to abstain from the superstition concerning idols, he secretly set fire to the house of the idols by night. And as they were being consumed, his brothers, noticing, leap up, wanting to rescue the idols from the midst of the fire. But Haran, approaching the matter more eagerly, is destroyed in the midst of the fire. And his father, the idol-maker, after burying him in Ur of the Chaldees, moves away and comes to Haran of Mesopotamia. There Abraham, having lived with his father for fifteen years, thinks one night to consider the quality of the coming season from the movement of the stars; for he had been trained not moderately by his father in all such science. And indeed after the diagnosis of each of the things sought, he understands that all such curiosity is superfluous; for 1.49 God is able, if he should wish, to refashion 1.49 the foreknown things according to his own will. Therefore, renouncing all these and such things with his whole soul and zeal, and having given perfect proof of his piety concerning the divine, he hears from God, "Go forth from your country and from your kindred and from your father's house." And having gone forth with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot, he moves to the portion of his father Arphaxad, which the Canaanites, having seized, called the land of the Canaanites, being 75 years old; and it was the three thousand three hundred eighty-seventh year of the world. And Abraham, having come to Shechem according to a divine oracle, built an altar between Bethel and Ai. And having crossed the Euphrates, he received the appellation; for Hebrews are called "crossers". But others say they are called Hebrews from Eber. And in his 81st year, that is, in the 7th year of his sojourning, he went down to Egypt with Sarai. In these times Melchizedek flourished, a virgin priest without genealogy, prefiguring in bread and wine the bloodless sacrifice of Christ our God. And Melchizedek was the son of Sidus the king, son of Aegyptus, who also founded the city of Sidon. And he is called without father and without mother and without genealogy because he was not descended from the Jewish race and because his parents, being wicked, are not numbered among the holy. And because being a ruler of the Canaanites he reigned in Jerusalem; for *melchi* is interpreted king, and *sedek* is righteousness. And the city was also named Jerusalem, formerly 1.50 called Jebus because the Jebusites dwelt in it. For Jebus, by a change of the b to an r, becomes Ierou; and Salem being added makes the name Jerusalem. For Salem means peace. And it was named this either because Melchizedek ministered as a priest to God in it, or because it was a sanctuary of God according to the place. And this also happened in the case of the Jordan; for two rivers, the Jor and the Dan, mingling and forming one river, also united their names. And since Melchizedek is descended from a foreign nation and not from Abraham, and it was not written when he was born or from what father and mother or when he died, it might justly be said that he had neither beginning of days nor end of life; for he could not be genealogized, being descended from the nations that were passed over. In the 86th year of Abraham, Hagar bore Ishmael; and of the

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τῶν ἁπανταχοῦ τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ εἴδωλα πλάνην νοσούντων, τὸν ἀληθῆ θεὸν ἐπέγνω καὶ δημιουργὸν τῶν ὅλων ἀνεκήρυξε. καὶ πρῶτος τὸ θυσιαστήριον κλάδοις φοινίκων 1.48 καὶ ἐλαιῶν ἐκύκλου, καὶ ἐπὶ αὐτοῦ πρώτως ὠνόμασται ἄγγελος ἐν τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ. καὶ παρ' αὐτοῦ Αἰγύπτιοι τὴν τῶν ἀστέρων θέσιν καὶ ποίησιν καὶ τὴν ἀριθμητικὴν ἐπιστήμην ἔμαθον. Ὅτι τῷ κδʹ ἔτει τῆς ἡλικίας αὐτοῦ ὁ Ἀβραὰμ ἐπιγνοὺς τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν προσεκύνει. ἄγγελος δὲ κυρίου ἐδίδαξεν αὐτὸν τὴν Ἑβραΐδα γλῶσσαν, καθὼς αὐτὸς ὁ ἄγγελος τῷ Μωϋσῇ εἶπεν, ὡς ἐπὶ τῇ λεπτῇ κεῖται Γενέσει. καὶ ὁ Ἀρὰμ δὲ ἀγόμενος γυναῖκα ἐγέννησε τὸν Λώτ, θυγατέρα δὲ Μελχάν. ταύτην ὁ Ναχὼρ λαμ βάνει γυναῖκα. Ἤδη δὲ ἑξηκοστὸν ἔτος ἄγων ὁ Ἀβραάμ, ὡς οὐκ ἐδόκει τὸν πατέρα πείθειν καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους οἰκείους τῆς περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα ἀπο σχέσθαι δεισιδαιμονίας, λανθάνει νυκτὸς τῶν εἰδώλων ἐμπρήσας τὸν οἶκον. αὐτῶν δὲ ἐξαναλουμένων οἱ ἀδελφοὶ νοήσαντες ἀνα πηδῶσι, βουλόμενοι ἐκ μέσου τοῦ πυρὸς ἐξελέσθαι τὰ εἴδωλα. φιλοτιμότερον δὲ ὁ Ἀρὰμ τῷ πράγματι προσφερόμενος ἐν μέσῳ διαφθείρεται τοῦ πυρός. καὶ θάψας αὐτὸν ὁ ἀγαλματοποιὸς πατὴρ ἐν Ὢρ τῇ πόλει Χαλδαίων μετανίσταται καὶ εἰς Χάρραν τῆς Μεσοποταμίας ἔρχεται. ἔνθα ὁ Ἀβραὰμ δεκαπέντε ἔτη τῷ πατρὶ συνοικήσας ἐννοεῖ ποτὲ νυκτὸς ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἄστρων κινήσεως τοῦ ἐπιόντος καιροῦ κατασκέψασθαι τὴν ποιότητα· ἦν γὰρ οὐ μετρίως ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς ἅπασαν τὴν τοιαύτην ἐξασκηθεὶς ἐπιστή μην. καὶ δὴ μετὰ τὴν ἑκάστου τῶν ζητουμένων διάγνωσιν, συνίησι περιττὴν ἅπασαν εἶναι τὴν τοιαύτην περιεργίαν· δύνασθαι γὰρ 1.49 αὖθις τὸν θεόν, εἰ βούλοιτο, μετασκευάσαι πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον βούλημα 1.49 τὰ προεγνωσμένα. πᾶσιν οὖν τούτοις καὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις ἐξ ὅλης ἀπο ταξάμενος ψυχῆς καὶ σπουδῆς, καὶ τελείαν τῆς περὶ τὸ θεῖον εὐσεβείας δοὺς τὴν ἀπόδειξιν, ἀκούει παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ "ἔξελθε ἐκ τῆς γῆς σου καὶ ἐκ τῆς συγγενείας σου καὶ ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου." καὶ ἐξελ θὼν ἅμα τῇ γυναικὶ Σάρρᾳ καὶ Λὼτ τῷ ἀδελφιδῷ μετοικίζεται εἰς τὴν Ἀρφαξὰδ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ μερίδα, ἣν οἱ Χαναναῖοι κατασχόν τες γῆν Χαναναίων προσηγόρευσαν, ὢν ἐτῶν οεʹ· τοῦ δὲ κόσμου ἦν ἔτος τρισχιλιοστὸν τριακοσιοστὸν ὀγδοηκοστὸν ἕβδομον. ἐλθὼν δὲ Ἀβραὰμ εἰς Συχὲμ κατὰ θεῖον χρησμὸν ᾠκοδόμησε θυσιαστήριον ἀνὰ μέσον Βαιθὴλ καὶ Ἀγγαί. διαπεράσας δὲ τὸν Εὐφράτην τὴν προσωνυμίαν ἔλαβεν· Ἑβραῖοι γὰρ περᾶται λέγονται. οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ Ἕβερ λέγουσιν αὐτοὺς καλεῖσθαι Ἑβραίους. καὶ τῷ παʹ ἔτει αὐτοῦ, ἤτοι τῷ ζʹ ἔτει τῆς αὐτοῦ παροικίας, κατῆλθεν εἰς Αἴγυ πτον μετὰ Σάρρας. Τούτοις τοῖς χρόνοις ἤκμασε Μελχισεδέκ, παρθένος ἱερεὺς ἀγενεαλόγητος, ἐν ἄρτῳ καὶ οἴνῳ προτυπῶν τὴν ἀναίμακτον θυ σίαν Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν. υἱὸς δὲ ἦν ὁ Μελχισεδὲκ Σίδου βασιλέως, υἱοῦ Αἰγύπτου, ὃς καὶ κτίζει Σιδῶνα πόλιν. ἀπάτωρ δὲ καὶ ἀμήτωρ καὶ ἀγενεαλόγητος λέγεται διὰ τὸ μὴ ἐξ Ἰουδαϊκῆς γενεᾶς κατάγεσθαι καὶ διὰ τὸ τοὺς γονεῖς αὐτοῦ πονηροὺς ὄντας μὴ ἀριθμεῖσθαι μετὰ ὁσίων. καὶ ὅτι τῶν Χαναναίων ἄρχων τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐβασίλευε· μελχὶ γὰρ βασιλεὺς ἑρμηνεύεται, σεδὲκ δὲ δικαιοσύνη. Ἱερουσαλὴμ δὲ καὶ ἡ πόλις ὠνομάσθη, πρῴην 1.50 Ἰεβοῦς λεγομένη διὰ τὸ Ἰεβουσαίους οἰκεῖν ἐν αὐτῇ. τὸ γὰρ Ἰεβοῦς κατὰ τροπὴν τοῦ β εἰς ρ γίνεται Ἱεροῦ· τὸ δὲ σαλὴμ προστι θέμενον Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὄνομα ἀποτελεῖ. σαλὴμ γὰρ εἰρήνην ση μαίνει. τοῦτο δὲ ὠνομάσθη ἢ διὰ τὸ τὸν Μελχισεδὲκ ἱερατεύειν θεῷ ἐν αὐτῇ, ἢ διὰ τὸ ἱερὸν εἶναι τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ τόπον. τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου γέγονε· δύο γὰρ ποταμοὶ ὅ τε Ἰὸρ καὶ ὁ ∆ὰν μιγνύμενοι καὶ ἕνα ποταμὸν ἀποτελοῦντες καὶ τὰς ἐπωνυμίας ἥνωσαν. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀπὸ ἀλλοτρίου ἔθνους καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ὁ Μελχισεδὲκ κατάγεται, οὐκ ἐγράφη δὲ πότε ἐγεννήθη καὶ ἀπὸ ποίου πατρὸς καὶ μητρὸς ἢ πότε ἀπέθανε, δικαίως ἂν λέγοιτο μήτε ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν μήτε ζωῆς τέλος ἔχειν αὐτόν· οὐ γὰρ ἠδύνατο γενεαλογηθῆναι, ἐκ τῶν παραλειφθέντων ἐθνῶν καταγόμενος. Τῷ δὲ π ϛʹ ἔτει τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ἔτεκεν Ἄγαρ τὸν Ἰσμαήλ·τοῦ δὲ