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rius to Abraham, that he might know if he would endure. and the writing: «Hav- ing gone down, let us see if they are doing according to the cry of them that comes to me; but if not, that I may know«—and that I may not prolong the discourse, all the voices that allege His ignorance or anything else trouble- some, being refuted by other voices that say the opposite, are proved to be false. But that He really has foreknowledge, He says to Abraham: «Knowing you shall know that your seed shall be a sojourner in a land not their own, and they shall enslave them, and afflict them, and humble them four hundred years. But the nation which they shall serve, I will judge. And after these things they shall come out hither with much property. But you shall go to your fathers in peace, nourished in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return hither; for the sins of the Amorites are not yet filled up to this day.» And what then? Does not Moses also presignify the sins of the people and foretell the dispersion into the nations? But if He Himself gave Moses to foreknow, how did He Himself not have it? But He does have it. And if He has it, as we have also shown, the writing is superfluous: «He was angry» and «He repented» and «having gone down I will see» and all such things; which things, being foreknown before they came to pass as they were about to turn out, by a wise economy receive their outcome without repentance. But that He did not desire sacrifices is apparent from the fact that those who lusted for meats were slain as soon as they tasted, and being buried, the tomb was called «the hill of lusts.» But He who at the first was angry at the sacrificing of living things, not wishing them to be sacrificed, did not command sacrifices as though desiring them, nor did he demand first-fruits; for without the sacrifice of living things, neither are sacrifices performed nor can first-fruits be giv- en. How could darkness and gloom and storm be with Him (for this also is written) who established the clear heaven and created the sun to give light, and to all the innumerable stars decreed the unchangeable order of their courses? Thus, O Simon, the handwrit- ing of God (I mean the heaven) shows the pure and firm mind of the one who made it. Thus the slanderous voices of the God who created the heaven are both nullified by the contrary voices with them, and are refuted by the creation; for they were not written by a prophetic hand, for which reason they also appear contrary to the hand of the God who created all things. And Simon said: How can you prove this? And Peter: The law of God through Moses was given unwritten to seventy wise men to be handed down, so that it might be administered by succession, but after the assumption of Moses it was written by someone, but not by Moses; for in the law itself it is written: «And Moses died, and they buried him near the house of Phogor, and no one knows his burial place to this day.» Was it possible for Moses, being dead, to write: «Moses died»? since in the time after Moses (about five hundred years or more) it is found lying in the temple that was built, and after another five hundred years or so, it is brought for- ward, and in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, having been burned in this way, it is destroyed. And yet having been written after Moses and having been lost many times, the of Moses

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ριος τὸν Ἀβραάμή, ἵνα γνῷ εἰ ὑπομενεῖ. καὶ τὸ γεγραμμένον· «Κατα- βάντες ἴδωμεν εἰ κατὰ τὴν κραυγὴν αὐτῶν τὴν ἐρχομένην πρὸς μὲ συντελοῦνται· εἰ δὲ μή, ἵνα γνῶ«-καὶ ἵνα μὴ εἰς πολὺ μηκύνω τὸν λόγον, ὅσαι ποτὲ φωναὶ ἀγνοίας αὐτοῦ καταλέγουσιν ἢ ἄλλο τι χαλε- πόν, ὑφ' ἑτέρων φωνῶν τὰ ἐναντία λεγουσῶν ἀνασκευαζόμεναι ψευδεῖς εἶναι ἐλέγχονται. ὅτι δὲ ὄντως προγινώσκει, λέγει τῷ Ἀβραάμ· «Γινώ- σκων γνώσῃ ὅτι πάροικον ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου ἐν γῇ οὐκ ἰδίᾳ, καὶ δου- λώσουσιν αὐτὸ καὶ κακώσουσιν καὶ ταπεινώσουσιν αὐτοὺς τετρακόσια ἔτη. τὸ δὲ ἔθνος ᾧ ἂν δουλεύσωσιν κρινῶ ἐγώ. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐξελεύ- σονται ὧδε μετὰ ἀποσκευῆς πολλῆς. σὺ δὲ ἀπελεύσῃ πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας σου μετ' εἰρήνης, τραφεὶς ἐν γήρει καλῷ. τετάρτῃ δὲ γενεᾷ ἀποστρα- φήσονται ὧδε· οὔπω γὰρ ἀναπεπλήρωνται αἱ ἁμαρτίαι τῶν Ἀμορραίων ἕως τοῦ νῦν.» τί δέ; οὐχὶ καὶ Μωυσῆς τὰ ἁμαρτήματα τοῦ λαοῦ προ- σημαίνει καὶ τὴν διασπορὰν τὴν εἰς τὰ ἔθνη προδηλοῖ; εἰ δὲ Μωυσῇ αὐτὸς δέδωκεν προγινώσκειν, πῶς αὐτὸς οὐκ εἶχεν; ἔχει δέ. εἰ δὲ ἔχει, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐδείξαμεν, περισσόν ἐστιν τὸ γεγραμμένον· «ἐνεθυμήθη» καὶ «μετεμελήθη» καὶ τὸ «καταβὰς ὄψομαι» καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα· ἅτινα πρὸ τοῦ γενέσθαι ὡς ἀποβαίνειν ἤμελλεν προγνωσθέντα, οἰκονομίᾳ σοφῇ ἀμεταμέλητον λαμβάνει τὴν ἔκβασιν. τὸ δὲ θυσιῶν αὐτὸν μὴ ὀρεχθῆ- ναι φαίνεται ἐκ τοῦ τοὺς ἐπιθυμήσαντας κρεῶν ἅμα τῷ γεύσασθαι ἀναι- ρεθῆναι καὶ χωσθέντας ἐπὶ τῷ. τάφῳ «βουνὸν ἐπιθυμιῶν» προσαγορευ- θῆναι. ὁ δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐπὶ θύσει ζσων χαλεπαίνων, θύεσθαι αὐτὰ μὴ θέλων, θυσίας ὡς ἐπιθυμῶν οὐ προσέτασσεν καὶ ἀπαρχὰς οὐκ ἀπῄτει· ἄνευ γὰρ θύσεως ζσων οὔτε θυσίαι τελοῦνται οὔτε ἀπαρχαὶ δοθῆναι δύ- νανται. πῶς δὲ σκότος καὶ γνόφος καὶ θύελλα συνεῖναι ἐδύνατο (καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο γέγραπται) τῷ καθαρὸν συστήσαντι οὐρανὸν καὶ φῶς φαίνειν δη- μιουργήσαντι τὸν ἥλιον καὶ πᾶσιν τοῖς ἀναριθμήτοις ἄστροις ἀμεταμέλητον ὁρίσαντι τῶν δρόμων τὴν τάξιν; οὕτως, ὦ Σίμων, τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ χειρό- γραφον (λέγω δὲ τὸν οὐρανόν) καθαρὰν καὶ βεβαίαν τὴν τοῦ πεποιηκότος δείκνυσιν γνώμην. οὕτως αἱ τοῦ τὸν οὐρανὸν κτίσαντος θεοῦ διάβο- λοι φωναὶ καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν σὺν αὐταῖς ἐναντίων φωνῶν ἀκυροῦνται καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς κτίσεως ἐλέγχονται· οὐ γὰρ ὑπὸ χειρὸς προφητικῆς ἐγράφησαν, διὸ καὶ τῇ τοῦ τὰ πάντα κτίσαντος θεοῦ χειρὶ ἐναντίαι φαίνονται. καὶ ὁ Σίμων ἔφη· Πῶς τοῦτο ἀποδεῖξαι δύνῃ; καὶ ὁ Πέτρος· Ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ νόμος διὰ Μωυσέως ἑβδομήκοντα σοφοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἀγράφως ἐδόθη πα- ραδίδοσθαι, ἵνα τῇ διαδοχῇ πολιτεύεσθαι δύνηται, μετὰ δὲ τὴν Μωυσέως ἀνάληψιν ἐγράφη ὑπό τινος, οὐ μὴν ὑπὸ Μωυσέως· ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ τῷ νό- μῳ γέγραπται· «Καὶ ἀπέθανεν Μωυσῆς καὶ ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν ἐγγὺς οἴκου Φογόρ, καὶ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν τὴν ταφὴν αὐτοῦ ἕως τῆς σήμερον». οἷόν τε ἦν ἀποθανόντα Μωυσῆν γράφειν· «Ἀπέθανεν Μωυσῆς»; ἐπεὶ ἐν τῷ μετὰ Μωυσέα χρόνῳ (ὥς γε ἔτη που πεντακόσια ἢ καὶ πρός) ἐν τῷ κτισθέντι ναῷ κείμενος εὑρίσκεται, καὶ μεθ' ἕτερά που πεντακόσια ἔτη φέρε- ται καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ οὕτως ἐνπρησθεὶς ἀπόλλυται. καὶ ὅμως μετὰ Μωυσῆν γραφεὶς καὶ πολλάκις ἀπολωλὼς τὴν τοῦ Μωυσέως