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they will be slaughtered, and in the groves honored by them. "And under a leafy oak, he says, they offered a sweet savor to all their idols." He also shows the boundaries of the wilderness. 14. For I will make, he says, the land a desolation and a ruin from the wilderness of Deblatha in all their dwellings, and they shall know that I am the Lord. CHAPTER 7. And knowing the continuation of the grievous prophecies, and being sufficient to soften even the very stubborn, he again foretells sorrowful things in another way. 1, 3. For the word of the Lord, he says, came to me, saying: And you, son of man: Thus says Adonai the Lord to the land of Israel: An end has come, the end has come upon the four corners of the land. The end has come now, and the end will come upon you who inhabit the land. But by four corners of the land he does not mean the whole world, but 81.873 that of Israel; meaning, Your affairs have come to an end; for do not think you will escape the threatened evils, not using repentance; for destruction will come upon all of you. "And I will send my wrath upon you, and I will judge you according to your ways." Now is the time to say with the blessed Paul: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God;" for he will render to each one according to his works. For this he also said here: "And I will judge you according to your ways. And I will bring upon you all your abominations," meaning, You will reap what you have sown, and you will receive retributions worthy of your deeds. 4. My eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity. For when we fall into an immoderation of lawlessness, and drive ourselves into an incurable disease, we shut out the mercy of God. "Because I will bring your way upon you, and your abominations shall be upon you, and you shall know that I am the Lord." The greatest consolation for those being punished is the knowledge of the punishing God. 5-7. Thus says Adonai the Lord: One evil, behold, an evil is coming. The end has come, the end has come; it is roused against you, behold, the end has come. The entanglement has come upon you who inhabit the land. The ineffable loving-kindness of God threatens punishments, that he may not inflict punishments; but when we do not fear the threats, we receive them by experience; which is what these also suffered, having heard that the end has come, but not fearing the end; and he calls the inflicted utter destruction "one evil", and the bonds of sin "entanglement"; "For with the cords," he says, "of his own sins each one is bound fast." And Isaiah says: "Woe to those who draw their sins upon themselves, as with a long rope, and their iniquities as with the strap of a heifer's yoke. The time is at hand, he says, the day has drawn near, not with tumults nor with birth pangs. (8.) Now I will soon pour out my wrath upon you. There will be no delay of the punishment, he says, but its time is present and at hand. Then again he relates how they will pay the penalties for their own injustices. And after a little he adds: "The rod has blossomed, and insolence has sprung up, and will break the support of the lawless." And he called the punishment a rod, watered and blossomed by lawlessness; and he called the impiety against God insolence, which they continually practiced for a very long time, despising the divine long-suffering; But this, he says, for the present "has sprung up, and will break the support of the lawless." Therefore he adds: 12-13. Let him who buys not rejoice, and him who sells not mourn; because wrath is upon all its 81.876 multitude. And he who buys will no longer return to him who sells. Meaning, wishing to annul the contract; for all will fall into equal evils, similarly wailing and groaning; but nevertheless he says: "Yet in life is their living, for a vision for all its multitude will not turn back." For with so many evils impending over them, they do not, he says, give up on life, nor does the prophetic vision seem faithful to all of them; but it was necessary, he says, for them to know that "A man will not prevail in the eyes of his life." That is, things do not always follow human hopes, but someone often having hoped to live, found the opposite end. 14. Blow a trumpet, and judge all things, and there is no one going to war, because the

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σφαγήσονται, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλσεσι τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτῶν τιμηθεῖσι. "Καὶ ὑποκάτω δρυὸς δασείας ἔδωκαν, φησὶν, ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας πᾶσι τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὑτῶν." Ὑποδείκνυσι καὶ τῆς ἐρημίας τοὺς ὅρους. ιδʹ. Θήσομαι γὰρ, φησὶ, τὴν γῆν εἰς ἀφανι σμὸν καὶ ὄλεθρον ἀπὸ τῆς ἐρήμου τῆς ∆εβλαθὰ ἐν πάσαις ταῖς κατοικίαις αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπιγνώσον ται ὅτι ἐγὼ Κύριος. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ζʹ. Καὶ εἰδὼς τὴν συνέχειαν τῶν ἀνιαρῶν προῤῥήσεων, καὶ τοὺς λίαν ἀντιτύπους ἀποχρῶσαν μαλάξαι, πά λιν ἑτέρως προλέγει τὰ λυπηρά. αʹ, γʹ. Ἐγένετο γὰρ, φησὶ, λόγος Κυρίου πρός με λέγων· Καὶ σὺ, υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου· Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος τῇ γῇ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· Πέρας ἥκει, τὸ πέρας ἥκει ἐπὶ τὰς τέσσαρας πτέρυγας τῆς γῆς. Ἥκει τὸ πέρας νῦν, καὶ ἥξει τὸ πέρας ἐπὶ σὲ τὸν κατοικοῦντα τὴν γῆν. Τέσσαρας δὲ πτέρυγας τῆς γῆς οὐ τῆς οἰκουμένης λέγει, ἀλλὰ 81.873 τῆς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· ἀντὶ τοῦ, Τέλος τὰ καθ' ὑμᾶς ἔλαβε· μὴ γὰρ δὴ νομίσητε διαφεύξεσθαι τὰ ἠπειλη μένα κακὰ, μετανοίᾳ μὴ χρώμενοι· κατὰ πάντων γὰρ ὑμῶν ὄλεθρος χωρήσει. "Καὶ ἐπαποστελῶ ἐγὼ τὸν θυμόν μου ἐπὶ σὲ, καὶ κρινῶ σε κατὰ τὰς ὁδούς σου." Νῦν καιρὸς εἰπεῖν μετὰ τοῦ μακαρίου Παύ λου· "Φοβερὸν τὸ ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς χεῖρας Θεοῦ ζῶν τος·" ἀποδώσει γὰρ ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἔφη· "Καὶ κρινῶ σε κατὰ τὰς ὁδούς σου. Καὶ δώσω ἐπὶ σὲ πάντα τὰ βδελύ γματά σου," ἀντὶ τοῦ, Θερίσεις ἃ ἔσπαρκας, καὶ ἀξίας τῶν ἔργων λήψῃ τὰς ἀντιδόσεις. δʹ. Οὐ φείσεται ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου ἐπὶ σὲ, οὐδὲ μὴ ἐλεήσω. Ὅταν γὰρ ἀμετρίᾳ περιπέσωμεν πα ρανομίας, καὶ εἰς ἀνήκεστον ἐλάσωμεν νόσον, ἀπο κλείομεν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν ἔλεον. "∆ιότι τὴν ὁδόν σου ἐπὶ σὲ δώσω, καὶ τὰ βδελύγματά σου ἐπὶ σὲ ἔσται, καὶ γνώσῃ ὅτι ἐγὼ Κύριος." Μεγίστη τοῖς κολαζο μένοις παραψυχὴ τοῦ κολάζοντος Θεοῦ ἡ ἐπίγνωσις. εʹ-ζʹ. Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος· Κακία μία, κακία ἰδοὺ ἔρχεται. Τὸ πέρας ἥκει, ἥκει τὸ πέ ρας· ἐξηγέρθη πρὸς σὲ, ἰδοὺ ἥκει τὸ πέρας. Ἥκει ἡ πλοκὴ ἐπὶ σὲ τὸν κατοικοῦντα τὴν γῆν. Ἄῤῥητος ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπία ἀπειλεῖ τὰς τιμωρίας, ἵνα μὴ ἐπαγάγῃ τὰς τιμωρίας· ὅταν δὲ μὴ φοβηθῶμεν τὰς ἀπειλὰς, τῇ πείρᾳ δεχόμεθα ταύ τας· ὅπερ καὶ οὗτοι πεπόνθασιν, ἀκούσαντες μὲν, ὅτι ἥκει τὸ πέρας, οὐ φοβηθέντες δὲ τὸ πέρας· κα λεῖ δὲ κακίαν μίαν τὴν ἐπενεχθεῖσαν πανωλεθρίαν, πλοκὴν δὲ τὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας δεσμά· "Ταῖς γὰρ σειραῖς, φησὶ, τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτημάτων ἕκαστος σφίγγεται." Καὶ ὁ Ἡσαΐας λέγει· "Οὐαὶ οἱ ἐπι σπώμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὑτῶν, ὡς σχοινίῳ μακρῷ, καὶ ὡς ζυγοῦ ἱμάντι δαμάλεως τὰς ἀνομίας αὑτῶν. Ἐνέστηκε, φησὶν, ὁ καιρὸς, ἤγγικεν ἡ ἡμέρα, οὐ μετὰ θορύβων οὐδὲ μετὰ ὠδίνων. (ηʹ.) Νῦν ἐγγύθεν ἐκχεῶ τὴν ὀργήν μου ἐπὶ σέ. Οὐκ ἔσται, φησὶν, ἀναβολὴ τῆς τιμωρίας, ἀλλὰ πάρεστι καὶ ἐφέστηκεν ὁ ταύτης καιρός. Εἶτα πάλιν διηγεῖ ται, ὅπως τῶν οἰκείων ἀδικημάτων τίσουσι τὰς δί κας. Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα ἐπιλέγει· "Ἡ ῥάβδος ἤνθησε, καὶ ἡ ὕβρις ἐξανέστη, καὶ συντρίψει στήριγμα ἀνόμου." Ῥάβδον δὲ τὴν τιμωρίαν ἐκάλεσεν ὑπὸ τῆς παρανομίας ἀρδευθεῖσάν τε καὶ ἀνθήσασαν· ὕβριν δὲ τὴν κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀσέβειαν προσηγόρευ σεν, ᾗ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον χρώμενοι διετέλεσαν τῆς θείας καταφρονοῦντες μακροθυμίας· Ἀλλ' αὕτη, φησὶν, ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος "ἐξανέστη, καὶ συντρίψει στήριγμα ἀνόμου." ∆ιὸ ἐπάγει· ιβʹ-ιγʹ. Ὁ κτώμενος μὴ χαιρέτω, καὶ ὁ πωλῶν μὴ θρηνείτω· διότι ὀργὴ εἰς πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος αὐ 81.876 τῆς. Καὶ ὁ κτώμενος πρὸς πωλοῦντα οὐκέτι μὴ ἐπιστρέψει. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, ἀνατρέψαι βουλόμενος τὸ συμβόλαιον· ἴσοις γὰρ ἅπαντες περιπεσοῦνται κακοῖς, ὁμοίως ὀλοφυρόμενοι καὶ στένοντες· ἀλλ' ὅμως φησίν· "Ἔτι ἐν ζωῇ τὸ ζῇν αὐτῶν, ὅτι ὅρασις εἰς πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος αὐτῆς οὐκ ἀνακάμψει." Τοσούτων γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἐπικειμένων κακῶν οὐκ ἀπ αγορεύουσι, φησὶ, τὴν ζωὴν, οὐδὲ ἡ προφητικὴ ὅρα σις πιστὴ πᾶσιν αὐτοῖς εἶναι δοκεῖ· ἔδει δὲ, φησὶν, αὐτοὺς γνῶναι, ὅτι "Ἄνθρωπος ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ οὐ κρατήσει." Τουτέστιν, οὐ πάντως ταῖς ἀν θρωπίναις ἐλπίσιν ἀκολουθεῖ τὰ πράγματα, ἀλλ' ἐλ πίσας τις πολλάκις ζήσεσθαι, ἐναντίον εὕρατο τὸ τέλος. ιδʹ. Σαλπίσατε σάλπιγγι, καὶ κρίνατε τὰ σύμπαντα, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι πορευόμενος εἰς πόλε μον, ὅτι ἡ