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Punishment, he says, has followed your wickedness, and you have received a painful blow; then, from the person of the city he composes a lament, teaching it what words it must use when mourning its transgressions; and he says: "Truly this is a wound, and it has come upon me." Instead of, The blow of sin has become for me the cause of evils. 20. Your tent has been ravaged; it is destroyed, and all your curtains have been torn apart. He calls a tent not only the divine temple, but also the houses, and the towers, and the enclosures. "My sons and my sheep have gone forth from me, and they are no more; there is no place for my tent, no place for my curtains. I have become desolate of all things at once. He also speaks of the teachers of wickedness. 21. For the shepherds have become foolish, and have not sought the Lord. He calls the kings and the priests shepherds; for both these and those were the cause of the error. The history of the Kings and of the Chronicles teaches these things more clearly. "Therefore all their pasture did not understand, but they were scattered." Here he calls pasture not the grass, but the flocks; and says that the foolishness of the shepherds became the cause of the sheep's error. 22. The voice of a report, behold, it comes, and a great earthquake from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, and a lair of sparrows. He means the large Libyan sparrows, which many call ostriches; for this animal also loves the desert. Then the prophet teaches who is leading Nebuchadnezzar. 23. I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not his own; nor shall a man walk and make straight his way, and direct his course. He would not, he says, have rushed against us unless you had willed it, O Master; and if he had rushed, he would not have accomplished what he wished, if your right hand had provided for us; for I know what Sennacherib suffered; but we beseech you, not to have him exact from us 81.572 the penalties of our impiety; but that you yourself would discipline us, and inflict a fatherly discipline; for he says this in what follows. 24, 25. Discipline us, O Lord, but with judgment, and not in anger; lest you make us few. Pour out your anger upon the nations that do not know you, and upon kingdoms that have not called upon your name. Because they have devoured Jacob, and consumed him, and have laid waste his pasture. It is clear therefore both from what has been said, and from what follows, that the phrase, "I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not his own," neither subjects our freedom of will to a natural servitude, nor places our affairs under the necessity of fate; but it expressly teaches us how the Lord God holds the rudders of the whole world, and wisely governs, and provides good things, and justly disciplines, whenever, after having been longsuffering for a long time, he sees them persisting in wickedness. CHAPTER 11. After these things he commands to speak to all the people: 3, 4. Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Cursed is the man who will not hear the words of this covenant; which I commanded your fathers, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace. This also he added to the law when he legislated; for he said: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them;" and he promises both there, and again here, that he will deem worthy of all care those who keep the divine commandments. And he reminds them also of the things spoken to their fathers, and of their disobedience. "For they turned away," he says, "their ear, and each man walked in the uprightness of his own wicked heart." And here by 'uprightness' he means not correctness, but the wickedness that has come in succession

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Ἠκολούθησε, φησὶ, τῇ πονη ρίᾳ σου ἡ τιμωρία, καὶ ἀλγηρὰν ἐδέξω πληγήν· εἶτα ἐκ προσώπου τῆς πόλεως συντίθησι θρῆνον, διδάσκων αὐτὴν ποίοις δεῖ χρήσασθαι λόγοις ὀδυρο μένην πλημμελείας· καί φησιν· "Ὄντως τοῦτο τὸ τραῦμά ἐστι, καὶ κατέλαβέ με." Ἀντὶ τοῦ, Ἡ πληγὴ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αἰτία μοι γέγονε τῶν κακῶν. κʹ. Ἡ σκηνή σου ἐταλαιπώρησεν· ὤλετο, καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ δέῤῥεις σου διεσπάρησαν. Σκηνὴν καλεῖ, οὐ μόνον τὸν θεῖον νεὼν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς οἰκίας, καὶ τοὺς πύργους, καὶ τοὺς περιβόλους. "Οἱ υἱοί μου καὶ πρόβατά μου ἐξῆλθον ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ οὐκ εἰσίν· οὐκ ἔστι τόπος τῆς σκηνῆς μου, οὐ τόπος δέῤῥεών μου. Πάντων κατὰ ταυτὸν ἔρημος ἐγενόμην. Λέγει δὲ καὶ τῆς πονηρίας τοὺς διδασκάλους. καʹ. Ὅτι οἱ ποιμένες ἠφρονεύσαντο, καὶ τὸν Θεὸν οὐκ ἐξεζήτησαν. Ποιμένας καλεῖ τοὺς βασιλέας καὶ τοὺς ἱερέας· καὶ οὗτοι γὰρ κἀκεῖνοι τῆς πλάνης ἐγένοντο πρόξενοι. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ ταῦτα σαφέστερον τῶν Βασιλειῶν καὶ τῶν Παραλειπομένων ἡ ἱστορία. "∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐνόησε πᾶσα ἡ νομὴ αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ διεσκορπίσθησαν." Νομὴν ἐνταῦθα καλεῖ, οὐ τὴν πόαν, ἀλλὰ τὰ ποίμνια· καὶ λέγει, τὴν τῶν ποιμένων ἀφροσύνην αἰτίαν γενέσθαι τῆς τῶν προ βάτων πλάνης. κβʹ. Φωνὴ ἀκοῆς ἰδοὺ ἔρχεται, καὶ σεισμὸς μέ γας ἐκ γῆς βοῤῥᾶ, τοῦ τάξαι τὰς πόλεις Ἰούδα εἰς ἀφανισμὸν, καὶ κοίτην στρουθῶν. Στρουθοὺς τὰς μεγάλας λέγει τὰς Λιβύσσας, ἃς οἱ πολλοὶ στρουθοκαμήλους καλοῦσι· φιλέρημον γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ζῶον. Εἶτα διδάσκει ὁ προφήτης, τίς ἄγει τὸν Ναβουχοδονόσορ. κγʹ. Οἶδα, Κύριε, ὅτι οὐχὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἡ ὁδὸς αὐτοῦ· οὐδὲ ἀνὴρ πορεύσεται, καὶ κατ ορθώσει ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ κατευθυνεῖ πορείαν αὐτοῦ. Οὐκ ἂν ἐκεῖνος, φησὶν, ὥρμησε καθ' ἡμῶν μὴ βουλομένου σου, ∆έσποτα· εἰ δὲ καὶ ὥρμησεν, οὐκ ἂν κατώρθωσεν ἅπερ ἠθέλησε, τῆς σῆς δεξιᾶς ἡμῶν προ μηθουμένης· οἶδα γὰρ οἷα Σεναχηρεὶμ πέπονθεν· ἀλλ' ἱκετεύομέν σε, μηδὲ ἐκεῖνον ἡμᾶς εἰσπράξαι 81.572 δίκας τῆς ἀσεβείας· ἀλλ' αὐτόν σε παιδεῦσαι, καὶ πατρικὴν παιδείαν ἐπαγαγεῖν· τοῦτο γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς λέγει. κδʹ, κεʹ. Παίδευσον ἡμᾶς, Κύριε, πλὴν ἐν κρί σει, καὶ μὴ ἐν θυμῷ· ἵνα μὴ ὀλίγους ποιή σῃς ἡμᾶς. Ἔκχεον τὸν θυμόν σου ἐπὶ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ εἰδότα σε, καὶ ἐπὶ βασιλείας, αἳ τὸ ὄνομά σου οὐκ ἐπεκαλέσαντο. Ὅτι κατέφαγον τὸν Ἰακὼβ, καὶ συνετέλεσαν αὐτὸν, καὶ τὴν νομὴν αὐτοῦ ἠρήμωσαν. ∆ῆλον τοίνυν καὶ ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐπαγομένων, ὡς τὸ, "Οἶδα, Κύριε, ὅτι οὐχὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἡ ὁδὸς αὐτοῦ," οὔτε φυσικῇ δουλείᾳ τὸ ἐλεύθερον ἡμῶν ὑποβάλλει τῆς γνώμης, οὔτε τῆς εἱμαρμένης ἀνάγκῃ τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὑποτίθησιν· ἀλλὰ διαῤῥήδην ἡμᾶς διδάσκει, πῶς ὁ ∆εσπότης Θεὸς κατέχει τοὺς οἴακας τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου, καὶ σοφῶς κυβερνᾷ, καὶ χορηγεῖ τὰ ἀγαθὰ, καὶ παιδεύει δικαίως, ὅταν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον μακροθυμήσας ἐπιμείναντας τῇ πονηρίᾳ θεάσηται. ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΙΑʹ. Μετὰ ταῦτα παρακελεύεται πρὸς πάντα εἰπεῖν τὸν λαόν· γʹ, δʹ. Τάδε λέγει Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσραὴλ, Ἐπικατάρατος ἄνθρωπος, ὃς οὐκ ἀκούσεται τῶν λό γων τῆς διαθήκης ταύτης· ἧς ἐνετειλάμην τοῖς πατράσιν ὑμῶν, ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ ἀνήγαγον αὐτοὺς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, ἐκ τῆς καμίνου τῆς σιδηρᾶς. Τοῦτο καὶ νομοθετῶν τῷ νόμῳ προστέθεικεν· ἔφη γάρ· "Ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς, ὃς οὐκ ἐμμένει πᾶσι τοῖς γεγραμμένοις ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τοῦ νόμου, τοῦ ποιῆ σαι αὐτά·" ὑπισχνεῖται δὲ κἀκεῖ, καὶ πάλιν ἐνταῦθα, ὡς πάσης ἀξιώσει κηδεμονίας τοὺς τὰς θείας φυλάσ σοντας ἐντολάς. Ἀναμιμνήσκει δὲ καὶ τῶν πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας αὐτῶν εἰρημένων, καὶ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀπει θείας. "Ἐξέκλιναν γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸ οὖς αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπορεύθησαν ἀνὴρ ἐν τῇ εὐθύτητι τῆς καρδίας αὑτοῦ τῆς πονηρᾶς." Εὐθύτητα δὲ ἐνταῦθα οὐ τὴν ὀρθότητα λέγει, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐφεξῆς γεγενημένην πονηρίαν