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having armed the lawless and impious, but they did not do what they did as ministers to the God of all, but trusting in their own strength and power, they strove to have dominion over all. For this reason he also threatens them with final destruction and signifies this through the word ‘woe.’ 6I will send my wrath against a lawless nation. He means these very ones to whom I have entrusted the punishing rod. And against my people I will command him to take spoils and plunder |114 b| and to trample down his cities and turn them into the dust of the roads. Through these words he has indicated the great desolation. Then he lays bare the thoughts of the king of the Assyrians: 7But he did not think so, nor did his soul reason so. He does not know, he says, that he is my minister and that he received from me the authority for punishment. But his mind will depart to destroy and to exterminate not a few nations. He has resolved, he says, trusting in his own power, to abolish the memory of many nations. 8And if they should say to him: You are not the only ruler, 9he will say: Have I not taken the country above Babylon and Chalane, where the tower was built? And have I not taken Arabia and Damascus and Samaria? 10In the same way I took these, so also will I take all the countries. Sennacherib used these words to Hezekiah: "Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying: Jerusalem shall not be given into the hands of the king of the Assyrians. Behold, have you not heard what the kings of the Assyrians have done to all the earth, how they destroyed it, and will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed deliver them, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who are in the land of Telassar? Where are the kings of Hamath and Arphad? And where is the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?" So he wrote these things to King Hezekiah; but here to those who say: You are not the only ruler, he has said similar things. Wail, you carved images in Jerusalem and in Samaria; 11for in the way I have dealt with Samaria and her handmade gods, so I will deal with Jerusalem and her idols. And the Other Interpreters have harmonized these things with the same person. For that arrogant and impious man, thinking that the God of Jerusalem was like the other gods, used these frenzied words, and he wrote to Hezekiah: Let not your God deceive you that he will deliver Jerusalem from my hand. 12And it shall be that when the Lord has finished doing all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will visit upon the great mind of the ruler of the Assyrians and upon the height of the glory of his eyes. By ‘great mind’ he means the arrogant mind that dares to think things beyond nature. The height of the glory of his eyes he calls excessive arrogance, with which he threatens destruction around the walls of Jerusalem. Then he recounts his arrogance, both of his words and of his thoughts. 13For he said: By the strength of my hand I will do it, and by the wisdom of my understanding, I will remove the boundaries of nations, and I will plunder their strength, and I will shake inhabited cities, 14and I will take the whole world in my hand as a nest, and as abandoned eggs I will take them up, and there is no one |115 a| who will escape me or contradict me by opening his mouth and chirping. These things he had made known to Hezekiah both through his ambassadors and through his letters. But he who hoped to seize the whole world as a nest of young birds and to take it without effort like eggs left behind by fleeing birds, he was stripped of his army without human hand. However, the phrase "opening his mouth and chirping" is spoken in Scripture according to the prevailing custom among men. For we are accustomed to say of those who are greatly distressed: "he did not dare to grumble." But the Others say: "he did not dare to coo." Therefore, "opening his mouth and chirping" is instead of: not only will no one dare to set himself in battle against me, but no one will even attempt to grumble like sparrows. To this arrogance of his the God of all answers: 15Shall the axe be glorified without him who cuts with it, so as to cut by itself? Or shall be exalted

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παρανομούντων καὶ δυσσεβούντων ὁπλίσας, οὗτοι δὲ οὐχ ὡς τῷ θεῷ τῶν ὅλων ὑπουργοῦντες ἔδρων ἃ ἔδρων ἀλλὰ τῇ οἰκείᾳ ῥώμῃ καὶ δυναστείᾳ θαρ ροῦντες κατὰ πάντων ἔχειν ἐφιλονείκουν τὸ κράτος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ αὐτοῖς ἔσχατον ὄλεθρον ἀπειλεῖ καὶ τοῦτον διὰ τοῦ οὐαὶ προσημαίνει. Τὴν ὀργήν μου 6εἰς ἔθνος ἄνομον ἀποστελῶ. Τούτους αὐτούς φησιν οἷς τὴν τιμωρητικὴν ἐνεχείρισα ῥάβδον. Καὶ ἐν τῷ ἐμῷ λαῷ συντάξω αὐτῷ τοῦ ποιῆσαι σκῦλα καὶ προνομὴν |114 b| καὶ καταπατεῖν τὰς πόλεις αὐτοῦ καὶ θεῖναι αὐτὰς εἰς κονιορτὸν ὁδῶν. Τὴν πολλὴν ἐρημίαν διὰ τούτων δεδήλωκεν. Εἶτα γυμνοῖ τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Ἀσσυρίων τοὺς λογισμούς· 7Αὐτὸς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἐνεθυμήθη καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ οὐχ οὕτως λελόγισται. Οὐκ οἶδέ φησιν ὡς ἐμός ἐστιν ὑπουργὸς καὶ παρ' ἐμοῦ ἔλαβε τῆς τιμωρίας τὴν ἐξουσίαν. Ἀλλ' ἀπαλλάξει ὁ νοῦς αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἀφανίσαι καὶ τοῦ ἐξολοθρεῦσαι ἔθνη οὐκ ὀλίγα. Βεβούλευταί φησι τῇ οἰκείᾳ δυνάμει θαρρῶν πολλῶν ἐθνῶν καταλῦσαι τὴν μνήμην. 8Καὶ ἐὰν εἴπωσιν αὐτῷ· Οὐ σὺ μόνος εἶ ἄρχων, 9καὶ ἐρεῖ· Οὐκ ἔλαβον τὴν χώραν τὴν ἐπάνω Βαβυλῶνος καὶ Χαλάνης, οὗ ὁ πύργος ᾠκοδομήθη; Καὶ ἔλαβον Ἀραβίαν καὶ ∆αμασκὸν καὶ Σαμάρειαν; 10Ὃντρόπον ταύτας ἔλαβον, οὕτω καὶ πάσας τὰς χώρας λήψομαι. Τούτοις πρὸς τὸν Ἐζεκίαν ὁ Σεναχηρὶμ τοῖς λόγοις ἐχρήσατο· «Μή σε ἀπατάτω ὁ θεός σου ἐφ' ᾧ σὺ πέποιθας ἐπ' αὐτῷ λέγων· Οὐ μὴ παραδοθῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ εἰς χεῖρας βασιλέως Ἀσσυρίων. Ἰδοὺ σὺ οὐκ ἤκουσας ἃ πεποιήκασι βασιλεῖς Ἀσσυρίων πάσῃ τῇ γῇ, ὡς ἀπώλεσαν αὐτήν, καὶ σὺ ῥυσθήσῃ; Μὴ ἐρρύσαντο αὐτοὺς οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν οὓς ἀπώλεσαν οἱ πατέρες μου, τήν τε Γοζὰν καὶ Ἄρραν καὶ Ῥαφὲς καὶ υἱοὺς Ἀδὰν οἵ εἰσιν ἐν χώρᾳ Θεσμάθ; Ποῦ εἰσιν οἱ βασιλεῖς Αἰμὰθ καὶ Ἀρφάδ; Καὶ ποῦ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς πόλεως Σεφαρίμ, Αἰνὰ καὶ Γαυά;» Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐκεῖνος τῷ βασιλεῖ γεγράφηκεν Ἐζεκίᾳ· ἐνταῦθα δὲ τοῖς λέγουσιν· Οὐ σὺ μόνος εἶ ἄρχων, τὰ ὅμοια εἴρηκεν. Ὀλολύξατε τὰ γλυπτὰ ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ· 11ὃν τρόπον γὰρ ἐποίησα Σαμαρείᾳ καὶ τοῖς χειροποιήτοις αὐτῆς, οὕτω ποιήσω καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτῆς. Καὶ ταῦτα τῷ αὐτῷ προσώπῳ συνήρμοσαν οἱ Λοιποὶ Ἑρμηνευταί. Νομίσας γὰρ ὁ ἀλαζὼν ἐκεῖνος καὶ δυσσεβὴς τοῖς ἄλλοις θεοῖς ἐοικέναι τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὸν θεόν, τοῖς μανικοῖς τούτοις κέχρηται λόγοις, καὶ τῷ Ἐζεκίᾳ δὲ γέγραφεν· Μή σε ἀπατάτω ὁ θεός σου ὅτι ῥύσεται τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐκ χειρός μου. 12Καὶ ἔσται ὅταν συντελέσῃ κύριος πάντα ποιῶν ἐν τῷ ὄρει Σιὼν καὶ ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἐπισκέψεται ἐπὶ τὸν νοῦν τὸν μέγαν τὸν ἄρχοντα τῶν Ἀσσυρίων καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ὕψος τῆς δόξης τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ. Νοῦν μέγαν τὸν ἀλαζονικὸν λέγει τὸν τὰ ὑπὲρ φύσιν τολμῶντα λογίζεσθαι. Ὕψος δόξης ὀφθαλμῶν τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν ὑπερηφανίαν καλεῖ, ᾗ τὸν περὶ τὰ τείχη Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὄλεθρον ἀπειλεῖ. Εἶτα τὸν τῦφον αὐτοῦ διέξεισι καὶ τῶν λόγων καὶ τῶν λογισμῶν. 13Εἶπε γάρ· Τῇ ἰσχύι τῆς χειρός μου ποιήσω καὶ τῇ σοφίᾳ τῆς συνέσεώς μου, ἀφελῶ ὅρια ἐθνῶν καὶ τὴν ἰσχὺν αὐτῶν προνομεύσω καὶ σείσω πόλεις κατοικου μένας 14καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην τῇ χειρί μου καταλήψομαι ὡς νοσσιὰν καὶ ὡσεὶ καταλελειμμένα ᾠὰ ἀρῶ, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν |115 a| ὃς διαφεύξεταί με ἢ ἀντείπῃ μοι ἀνοίγων στόμα καὶ στρουθίζων. Ταῦτα καὶ διὰ τῶν πρέσβεων καὶ διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων δεδηλώκει τῷ Ἐζεκίᾳ. Ἀλλ' ὁ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ὡς καλιὰν νεοττῶν ἁρπάσειν ἐλπίσας καὶ ὡς ᾠὰ ὑπὸ πτηνῶν πεφευγότων καταλελειμμένα ἀπονητὶ λήψεσθαι, οὗτος δίχα χειρὸς ἀνθρωπείας ἐγυμνώθη τῆς στρατιᾶς. Τὸ μέντοι· ἀνοίγων στόμα καὶ στρουθίζων, ἀπὸ τῆς κρατούσης συνηθείας παρὰ ἀνθρώποις εἴρηται τῇ γραφῇ. Εἰώθαμεν γὰρ λέγειν περὶ τῶν λίαν ἀγωνιώντων· οὐκ ἐτόλμησε γρύξαι. Οἱ δὲ Λοιποί φασιν· «οὐκ ἐτόλμησε τρύσαι.» Τὸ γοῦν· ἀνοίγων στόμα καὶ στρουθίζων, ἀντὶ τοῦ· οὐ μόνον οὐδεὶς ἀντιπαρατάξασθαί μοι τολμήσει ἀλλ' οὐδὲ γρύξαι στρουθοῖς παραπλησίως ἐπιχειρήσει. Πρὸς ταύτην αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀλαζονείαν ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς ἀποκρίνεται· 15Μὴ δοξασθήσεται ἀξίνη ἄνευ τοῦ κόπτοντος ὥστε κόπτειν ἑαυτήν; Ἢ ὑψωθήσεται