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and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died; and I fall upon my face, and cried out with a loud voice, and said: Woe, woe, Adonai Lord, are you making an end of the remnant of Israel? The prophet sees the work of those who were commanded to strike the city unsparingly, and fearing lest it undergo utter destruction, with everyone being slain; for out of despondency he forgot that many had received the signs of salvation; he beseeches the philanthropic Master to mix justice with mercy; but he is taught that these indeed will be handed over to the enemies on account of their great wickedness; but those already led away captive, will enjoy comfort even in the foreign land, and will attain a return. ιεʹ. For Son of man, he says, your brothers, and the men of your captivity, and all the house of Israel is completed. He says that some who have become captives of the spear, and have paid the penalty for what they dared, I will keep for myself as a people. "To whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem said to them, Keep far from the Lord; the land has been given to us for an inheritance." Mocking them, those who now inhabit Jerusalem dared to say, The Master has put you far from himself, but to us he has allotted the land of the promise; for this reason, he says, the very opposite will happen, and I will deliver you to the slaughter, but I will take thought for them. ι ϛʹ. Therefore he said: Thus says Adonai Lord, Because I will thrust them among the nations, and I will scatter them into every land, and I will be to them for a little sanctuary in the lands where they may enter. For for a time I have made them captives, and sojourners, and scattered; but nevertheless in their sojourning, by the expectation of a change from their calamities, and by the hope of good things, I will provide them comfort; and this he revealed by saying: "I will be to them for a little sanctuary." And not for long, but again I will restore them, and I will bring them back to their ancestral land. ιζʹ, ιηʹ. For I will gather them, he says, from the nations, and I will receive them from the lands where I scattered them among them; and I will give them the land of Israel, and they shall enter there, and they shall take out all its abominations, and all its iniquities from it. The history of Ezra teaches this, and the writing of the Maccabees. For after the return from Babylon, having departed from the worship of idols, they continued to serve the God of all things diligently. ιθʹ. And I will give them, he says, another heart, and a new spirit I will give them. But by these things he did not indicate the abolition of free will, but 81.901 the coming help from him, and alliance for the working of good things; and he called the soul's impulse toward good things a new spirit; for since they were inclined to the opposite, he named the change toward the better a new spirit; for just as by saying another heart, he did not signify a change of nature, but the inclination of the will toward the better; so also through the new spirit he indicated this same thing; and what follows also bears witness: "For I will take out, he says, the heart of stone from their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh." And no one of sound mind would suppose the heart of stone to be of a stone's nature, but rather disobedient, and unyielding, and unwilling to submit to God; and again, a heart of flesh, that which is obedient and attentive. κʹ. That they may walk in my ordinances, and keep my judgments, and do them, and they shall be to me a people, and I will be to them a God. For their way of life being henceforth accomplished according to my laws, I will be called their God, and they will be named my people. Having said these things concerning those who had already become captives of the spear, he again brings back the discourse to those then inhabiting Jerusalem. καʹ. But as for them, he says, whose heart went after the heart of their abominations and their iniquities, I have given their ways upon their heads, says Adonai Lord. But to these, he says, since they were not chastened by the evils of those others, but continue to be devoted to impiety, I will bring upon them the penalties worthy of their deeds. κβʹ,

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καὶ Φαλτίας ὁ τοῦ Βαναίου ἀπέθανεν· καὶ πίπτω ἐπὶ πρόσωπόν μου, καὶ ἀνεβόησα φωνῇ μεγάλῃ, καὶ εἶπα· Οἴμοι, οἴμοι, Ἀδωναῒ Κύριε, εἰς συντέ λειαν ποιεῖς σὺ τοὺς καταλοίπους τοῦ Ἰσραήλ; Ὁρᾷ τὴν ἐνέργειαν ὁ προφήτης ἐκείνων, οἳ κόπτειν ἀφειδῶς προσετάχθησαν τὴν πόλιν, καὶ δείσας μὴ τὴν πανωλεθρίαν ὑπομείνῃ, πάντων ἀναιρουμένων· ἐπελάθετο γὰρ ἐκ τῆς ἀθυμίας ὡς πολλοὶ τὰ τῆς σωτηρίας ἐδέξαντο σημεῖα· τὸν φιλάνθρωπον ἱκε τεύει ∆εσπότην ἐλέῳ κεράσαι τὸ δίκαιον· διδάσκεται δὲ, ὡς οὗτοι μὲν τοῖς πολεμίοις παραδοθήσονται διὰ τὴν πολλὴν πονηρίαν· οἱ δὲ ἤδη αἰχμάλωτοι ἀπ αχθέντες, κἀν τῇ ξένῃ παραψυχῆς ἀπολαύσουσι, καὶ ἐπανόδου τεύξονται. ιεʹ. Υἱὲ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀνθρώπου, οἱ ἀδελφοί σου, καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας σου, καὶ πᾶς ὁ οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ συντετέλεσται. Ἐνίους φησὶ δορυαλώτους γεγενημένους, καὶ δίκας ὧν ἐτόλμησαν δεδωκότας, φυλάξω μοι εἰς λαόν. "Οἷς εἶπον αὐτοῖς οἱ κατοικοῦντες Ἱερουσαλὴμ, Μακρὰν ἀπέχετε ἀπὸ Κυρίου, ἡμῖν δέδοται ἡ γῆ εἰς κληρονομίαν." Ἐπιτωθάζοντες ἐκείνοις οἱ νῦν τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ οἰκοῦντες λέγειν ἐτόλμων, ὡς Ὑμᾶς μὲν πόῤῥω ἑαυτοῦ πε ποίηκεν ὁ ∆εσπότης, ἡμῖν δὲ τὴν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἀπεκλήρωσε γῆν· διὰ τοῦτο, φησὶ, πᾶν τοὐναντίον γενήσεται, καὶ ὑμᾶς μὲν παραδώσω σφαγῇ, ἐκείνων δὲ ποιήσομαι πρόνοιαν. ι ϛʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο εἶπε· Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύ ριος, ὅτι Ἀπώσομαι αὐτοὺς εἰς τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ διασκορπιῶ αὐτοὺς εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἔσο μαι αὐτοῖς εἰς ἁγίασμα μικρὸν ἐν ταῖς χώραις, οὗ ἂν εἰσέλθωσιν ἐκεῖ. Τέως μὲν γὰρ αὐτοὺς αἰ χμαλώτους, καὶ μετοίκους, καὶ σποράδας πεποίηκα· ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐν τῇ μετοικίᾳ, τῇ προσδοκίᾳ τῆς τῶν συμφορῶν μεταβολῆς, καὶ τῇ ἐλπίδι τῶν ἀγαθῶν, παραψυχὴν αὐτοῖς παρέξομαι· καὶ τοῦτο παρ εδήλωσεν εἰπών· "Ἔσομαι αὐτοῖς εἰς ἁγίασμα μι κρόν." Οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν δὲ πάλιν αὐτοὺς ἀποκατα στήσω, καὶ εἰς τὴν πατρῴαν ἐπανάξω γῆν. ιζʹ, ιηʹ. Συνάξω γὰρ, φησὶν, αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν ἐθνῶν, καὶ εἰσδέξομαι αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν χωρῶν, οὗ διέσπειρα αὐτοὺς ἐν αὐταῖς· καὶ δώσω αὐ τοῖς τὴν γῆν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ εἰσελεύσονται ἐκεῖ, καὶ ἐξάξουσι πάντα τὰ βδελύγματα αὐτῆς, καὶ πάσας τὰς ἀνομίας αὐτῆς ἐξ αὐτῆς. Τοῦτο δὲ ἡ τοῦ Ἔσδρα ἱστορία διδάσκει, καὶ τῶν Μακκα βαίων ἡ συγγραφή. Μετὰ γὰρ τὴν ἀπὸ Βαβυλῶνος ἐπάνοδον, τῆς τῶν εἰδώλων ἀποστάντες λατρείας, ἐπιμελῶς τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν θεραπεύοντες διετέλουν. ιθʹ. Καὶ δώσω αὐτοῖς, φησὶ, καρδίαν ἑτέραν, καὶ πνεῦμα καινὸν δώσω αὐτοῖς. ∆ιὰ τούτων δὲ οὐ τοῦ αὐτεξουσίου τὴν ἀναίρεσιν παρεδήλωσεν, ἀλλὰ 81.901 τὴν ἐσομένην ἀντίληψιν παρ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ συμμαχίαν ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐργασίᾳ· πνεῦμα δὲ καινὸν ἐκάλεσε τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ καλὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ὁρμήν· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἰς τἀναντία ἔῤῥεπον, τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μετα βολὴν καινὸν προσηγόρευσε πνεῦμα· ὥσπερ γὰρ εἰρηκὼς ἑτέραν καρδίαν, οὐ φύσεως μεταβολὴν ἐσήμανεν, ἀλλὰ τῆς γνώμης τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον ῥοπήν· οὕτω καὶ διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ καινοῦ ταυτὸ τοῦτο ἐδήλωσε· μαρτυρεῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐπαγόμενα· "Καὶ ἐκσπάσω γὰρ, φησὶ, τὴν καρδίαν τὴν λιθίνην ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτῶν, καὶ δώσω αὐτοῖς καρδίαν σαρκίνην." Καὶ οὐδεὶς ἂν τῶν ἐχεφρόνων φύσιν λίθου τὴν λιθίνην ὑπολάβοι καρδίαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀπειθῆ, καὶ ἀτεράμονα, καὶ εἴκειν Θεῷ μὴ βουλομένην· σαρκίνην δὲ πάλιν, τὴν εὐπειθῆ καὶ εὐήκοον. κʹ. Ὅπως ἐν τοῖς προστάγμασί μου πορεύων ται, καὶ τὰ δικαιώματά μου φυλάσσωνται, καὶ ποιήσωσιν αὐτὰ, καὶ ἔσονταί μοι εἰς λαὸν, καὶ ἐγὼ ἔσομαι αὐτοῖς εἰς Θεόν. Τῆς γὰρ πολιτείας αὐτῶν λοιπὸν κατὰ τοὺς ἐμοὺς ἐπιτελουμένης νόμους, ἐγὼ μὲν αὐτῶν κληθήσομαι Θεὸς, αὐτοὶ δὲ λαὸς ἐμὸς χρηματίσουσι. Ταῦτα εἰρηκὼς περὶ τῶν ἤδη δορυ αλώτων γενομένων, πάλιν ἐπανάγει τὸν λόγον περὶ τῶν τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ τηνικαῦτα οἰκούντων. καʹ. Αὐτῶν δὲ, φησὶν, εἰς τὴν καρδίαν τῶν βδελυγμάτων αὐτῶν, καὶ τῶν ἀνομιῶν αὐτῶν ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν ἐπορεύετο, τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτῶν εἰς κεφαλὰς αὐτῶν δέδωκα, λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος. Τούτοις δὲ, φησὶν, ἐπειδὴ τοῖς ἐκείνων οὐκ ἐσωφρο νίσθησαν κακοῖς, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἀσεβείᾳ προστετηκότες διατελοῦσι, τὰς ἀξίας τῶν τολμημάτων ἐπάξω δίκας. κβʹ,