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let us say that the saying describes a universal judgment, according to which he will reject every evil man, but will accept only the good man as worthy of his grace, and he will do this from that very infant state and from his very birth. For this reason you yourself, Ahaz, ought to expect, or you, O house of David, and all you of the royal family, that a time will come in which God will bring upon you and upon the people subject to you and upon the house of your father, that is, of David, certain days, the likes of which you have never experienced. And especially since the inhabitants of Samaria drew upon themselves the assault of the Assyrians, having taken it away and diverted it from its rush against you, drawing it instead upon themselves; for, surpassing the inhabitants of Jerusalem in impiety, they were the first to experience the enemies, having diverted them from their rush against the house of David, but in the signified time and in the days that will be brought upon you. What will ever be, it teaches consequently, saying: And it will be on that day, he will whistle, and so forth. 1.45 By these things the word signifies an assault of Egyptian men, whom it compares to flies because they rejoice in the gore and blood of unclean idolatry, who it says will come upon the land of the Jews not without God, but by a nod of the Lord himself stirring them up and, as if by a whistle, urging them to come from Egypt; and not from all of it, but from a part of it. And it is said that the Lord will whistle not only for these assigned Egyptian flies, but also for the bee that inhabits the land of the Assyrians, that is, for a military power, which the word has likened to a bee because it uses a military sting and at that time prevailed over the other nations. And so it says that these bees, having been rather permitted and urged on by the whistle of the Lord, will come from the land of the Assyrians, and then, having come, will rest in the ravines of the Jewish nation and in the holes of the rocks and in the caves and every cleft and in every tree, and thus they will take all their cities. And so it is fitting for you to be anxious for these your lands, O you to whom my present discourse is addressed, and you must expect and fear the arrival of the aforementioned Egyptians and Assyrians, but not these two kings, I mean the one of Samaria and the one of Damascus; for "these are smoking firebrands" and not holding a fire, because their power has been extinguished. This prophecy, then, was fulfilled literally and historically in the times of the first siege of Jerusalem which was done by the Babylonians, during which the Egyptians, who are called flies, when their king Pharaoh Necho attacked the land of the Jews, he kills Josiah, the king of Jerusalem, a man beloved of God. Then, not long after, the king of the Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar, attacked with a great military force, and he both took their city from its foundations and burned the temple, and enslaving the entire nation and ravaging the remaining cities, he established Assyrian inhabitants in the land of the Jews. At that time, then, the oracles at hand were fulfilled, when the warrior bees, having migrated from the land of the Assyrians to the utmost desolation, inhabited the land of the Jews, which was laid waste, occupying glens and ravines and caves, because the cities had been ravaged, which is said next. 1.46 Since the word foretold the things that would happen to the land of the Jews, and how their whole nation in the prophesied days, which it is said he will bring upon them, would at one time be handed over to the Egyptian flies, so that the most pious Josiah would come under the hand of the king of the Egyptians, and at another time to the Assyrian bees, which, having taken control of the whole Judean land, their desolate places and their ravines and caves and

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καθ' ὅλου κρίσιν τὸ ῥητὸν εἴπωμεν διαγράφειν, καθ' ἣν πάντα μὲν πονηρὸν ἄνδρα ἀποδοκιμάσει, μόνον δὲ τὸν ἀγαθὸν ὡς ἄξιον τῆς αὐτοῦ χάριτος ἀποδέξεται καὶ τοῦτο πράξει ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐκείνης τῆς νηπιώδους καταστάσεως καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς γενέσεως. διὰ τοῦτο προσδοκᾶν ὀφείλεις σὺ αὐτός, ὁ Ἄχαζ, ἢ σύ, ὁ οἶκος ∆αυίδ, καὶ πάντες ὑμεῖς οἱ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ γένους, ὡς ἥξει καιρός, καθ' ὃν ἐπάξει ὁ θεὸς ἐφ' ὑμᾶς καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν λαὸν τὸν ὑμῖν ὑποχείριον καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ὑμετέρου πατρός, δηλαδὴ τοῦ ∆αυίδ, ἡμέρας τινάς, ὁποίων οὐδεπώποτε πεῖραν εἰλήφατε. καὶ μάλιστα ἐξ οὗπερ οἱ τὴν Σαμάρειαν οἰκοῦντες εἰς ἑαυτοὺς περιέσπασαν τὴν Ἀσσυρίων ἔφοδον, ἀφελόντες μὲν αὐτὴν καὶ ἀποστήσαντες τῆς καθ' ὑμῶν ὁρμῆς, εἰς ἑαυτοὺς δὲ αὐτὴν ἐπισπασάμενοι· ὑπερβάλλοντες γὰρ δυσσεβείᾳ τοὺς τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ οἰκοῦντας πρῶτοι τῶν πολεμίων ἐπειράθησαν ἀποστήσαντες αὐτοὺς τῆς κατὰ τοῦ οἴκου ∆αυὶδ ὁρμῆς, ἐν δὲ τῷ σημανθέντι καιρῷ καὶ ταῖς ἐπαχθησομέναις ὑμῖν ἡμέραις. τίνα ποτὲ ἔσται, ἀκολούθως διδάσκει λέγων· καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ συριεῖ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. 1.45 Σημαίνει δὲ διὰ τούτων ὁ λόγος Αἰγυπτίων ἀνδρῶν ἔφοδον, οὓς διὰ τὸ λύθροις καὶ αἵμασιν τοῖς κατὰ τὴν ἀκάθαρτον εἰδωλολατρίαν χαίρειν παραβάλλει μυίαις, οὕς φησιν ἥξειν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰουδαίων χώραν οὐκ ἄνευ θεοῦ, νεύματι δὲ αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυρίου διεγείροντος καὶ ὥσπερ συρίγματι παρορμῶντος αὐτοὺς ἥκειν ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγύπτου· καὶ οὐκ ἀπὸ πάσης ταύτης, ἀλλὰ ἐκ μέρους αὐτῆς. οὐ μόνον δὲ ταύταις ταῖς ἀποδοθείσαις Αἰγυπτιακαῖς μυίαις συριεῖν ὁ κύριος εἴρηται, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ μελίσσῃ τῇ κατοικούσῃ τὴν Ἀσσυρίων χώραν, δυνάμει δηλαδὴ πολεμικῇ, ἣν διὰ τὸ πολεμικῷ κέντρῳ κεχρῆσθαι καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐθνῶν τότε κρατεῖν μελίσσῃ ὁ λόγος ἀπείκασεν. καὶ ταύτας γοῦν φησι τὰς μελίσσας ἐπιτραπείσας μᾶλλον καὶ παρορμηθείσας ὑπὸ τοῦ συρίγματος τοῦ κυρίου ἐλεύσεσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀσσυρίων χώρας, εἶτ' ἐλθούσας ἀναπαύσασθαι ἐν ταῖς φάραγξιν τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους καὶ ἐν ταῖς τρώγλαις τῶν πετρῶν καὶ εἰς τὰ σπήλαια καὶ πᾶσαν ῥαγάδα καὶ ἐν παντὶ ξύλῳ καὶ οὕτως λήψεσθαι πάσας τὰς πόλεις αὐτῶν. καὶ τὰς χώρας ταύτας οὖν τὰς ὑμετέρας προσήκει ὑμᾶς ἀγωνιᾶν, ὦ οὗτοι, πρὸς οὓς ὁ παρών μοι λόγος ἐστίν, καὶ τὴν τῶν εἰρημένων Αἰγυπτίων τε καὶ Ἀσσυρίων ἄφιξιν χρὴ προσδοκᾶν καὶ δεδιέναι, ἀλλὰ μὴ τοὺς δύο τούτους βασιλεῖς, λέγω δὲ τὸν τῆς Σαμαρείας καὶ τὸν τῆς ∆αμασκοῦ· «δαλοὶ» γὰρ «οὗτοι καπνιζόμενοι» καὶ μὴ κατέχοντες πῦρ διὰ τὸ ἐσβέσθαι αὐτῶν τὴν δύναμιν. ἡ μὲν οὖν προφητεία αὕτη πρὸς λέξιν δὲ καὶ πρὸς ἱστορίαν ἐπληροῦτο κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους τῆς πρώτης πολιορκίας τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ τῆς ὑπὸ Βαβυλωνίων γενομένης, καθ' οὓς Αἰγύπτιοι μὲν οἱ καλούμενοι μυῖαι, ὅτε τούτων βασιλεὺς Φαραὼ Νεχαὼ ἐπελθὼν τῇ Ἰουδαίων χώρᾳ τὸν Ἰωσίαν βασιλέα τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴθεοφιλῆ ἄνδρα ἀναιρεῖ. εἶτα οὐκ εἰς μακρὸν ὁ τῶν Βαβυλωνίων βασιλεὺς Ναβουχοδονόσορ σὺν μεγάλῃ στρατιᾶς δυνάμει ἐπελθών, τήν τε πόλιν αὐτῶν ἐκ βάθρων εἷλεν καὶ τὸν νεὼν ἐπυρπόλησεν, τὸ δὲ πᾶν ἔθνος ἐξανδραποδισάμενος καὶ τὰς λοιπὰς δῃώσας πόλεις, Ἀσσυρίους οἰκήτορας τῆς Ἰουδαίων χώρας κατέστησεν. τηνικαῦτα γοῦν ἐπληροῦτο τὰ μετὰ χεῖρας θεσπίσματα, ὁπηνίκα αἱ πολεμικαὶ μέλισσαι ἐκ τῆς Ἀσσυρίων χώρας μετοικισθεῖσαι εἰς ἔσχατα ἐρημίας τὴν Ἰουδαίων χώραν περιελθοῦσαν κατῴκησαν νάπας καὶ φάραγγας καὶ σπήλαια καταλαβοῦσαι τῷ τὰς πόλεις δεδῃῶσθαι τούτοις ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγεται. 1.46 Ἐπειδὴ τὰ συμβησόμενα τῇ Ἰουδαίων χώρᾳ προεφώνησεν ὁ λόγος καὶ ὡς τὸ πᾶν ἔθνος αὐτῶν κατὰ τὰς θεσπισθείσας ἡμέρας, ἃς ἐπάξειν αὐτοῖς εἴρηται, ὥς ποτε μὲν ταῖς Αἰγυπτιακαῖς μυίαις παραδοθήσεσθαι, ὡς ὑπὸ χειρὶ γενέσθαι τῷ Αἰγυπτίων βασιλεῖ τὸν εὐσεβέστατον Ἰωσίαν, ποτὲ δὲ ταῖς Ἀσσυρίων μελίσσαις αἱ πάσης τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς χώρας κατακρατήσασαι τὰς ἐρήμους αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς φάραγγας καὶ τὰ σπήλαια καὶ