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is the living one, that the one who lives according to Christ and abides with him, if we wish that God be ours, let us renounce the works of deadness, so that he might fulfill his promise which says: “And I will be your God, so that I may establish my oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.” For observe that he says: “I will establish my oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,” as not yet having given them the “land flowing with milk and honey”; for this is not the land which God promised “flowing with milk and honey,” but it is that one, concerning which the Savior taught, saying: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” 9.4 Then the prophet responds to the things previously said by the Lord, to the “Cursed is the man who will not hear the words of this covenant,” and says: “And I answered and said: So be it, Lord.” What does “So be it, Lord” mean? Cursed is he who does not abide by “the words of this covenant.” “And the Lord said to me: Read these words in the cities of Judah and outside Jerusalem”—and we read the words of God to those outside, calling them to salvation— “saying: Hear the words of this covenant and do them. And they did not do them. And the Lord said to me: A conspiracy was found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Were we about to repent for the sins spoken of concerning the men of Judah, knowing that we are the men of Judah on account of Christ, who was prophesied and spoken of as Judah? For perhaps since there are some sinners among us and those acting contrary to right reason, for this reason the prophet says: “A conspiracy was found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem”; for whenever there is found among some who are called from the church a “bond of iniquity” and a bond of sins, so that one might apply to the sinner the verse “each one is held fast with the cords of his own sins,” God would say: “A conspiracy was found among the men of Judah.” But may no conspiracy be found among us. But how is a conspiracy not found among us, if even until now there is a conspiracy among some? “Loose every bond of iniquity, undo the knots of forced contracts, tear up every unjust document. Break your bread for the hungry.” “A conspiracy” therefore “was found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem; they have turned back to the iniquities of their former fathers.” “They have turned back to the iniquities” of whom? He does not say simply: of the fathers; what is the addition? “They have turned back to the iniquities of their former fathers.” We were saying that these things are said to us and to those sinning among us; how then have those sinning among us turned back not “to the iniquities of the fathers,” but “of the former fathers”? Perhaps then our fathers are twofold, and there is among us a worse kind of fathers; for before we believed, we were, so to speak, sons of the devil, as the word of the Gospel shows, saying: “You are of your father the devil,” but when we believed, we became “sons of God.” Whenever, therefore, we sin, we turn back to the iniquities not simply of the fathers, but of the former fathers. And to demonstrate that our fathers are twofold, I will use sayings from the forty-fourth Psalm that go thus: “Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear; forget also your own people, and your father's house.” A father says: “forget your father's house”; for as a father he says: “hearken, O daughter.” Therefore our fathers are twofold. But “forget the house of your father,” the former one. If, having forgotten the house of your former one, you turn back again to sins, you have committed the sins spoken of here. “They have turned back to the iniquities of their former fathers.” I was saying that the devil also was formerly our father, before God became our father, if indeed even now the devil is not our father; which

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ἐστιν ὁ ζῶν, ὅτι ὁ πολιτευόμενος κατὰ Χριστὸν καὶ μένων μετ' αὐτοῦ, εἰ βουλόμεθα ἵνα ἡμῶν ᾖ ὁ θεός, ἀποταξώμεθα τοῖς ἔργοις τῆς νεκρότητος, ἵνα τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν αὐτοῦ πληρώσῃ τὴν λέγουσαν· «Καὶ ἐγὼ ἔσομαι ὑμῖν εἰς θεόν, ὅπως στήσω τὸν ὅρκον μου ὃν ὤμοσα τοῖς πατράσιν ὑμῶν, τοῦ δοῦναι αὐτοῖς γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι.» Τήρει γὰρ ὅτι λέγει· «Στήσω τὸν ὅρκον μου ὃν ὤμοσα τοῖς πατράσιν ὑμῶν, τοῦ δοῦναι αὐτοῖς γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι», ὡς μηδέπω δεδωκὼς αὐτοῖς τὴν «γῆν ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι»· αὕτη γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ γῆ, ἣν ἐπηγγείλατο ὁ θεὸς «ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι», ἀλλ' ἔστιν ἐκείνη, περὶ ἧς ἐδίδασκεν ὁ σωτὴρ λέγων· «Μακά ριοι οἱ πραεῖς, ὅτι αὐτοὶ κληρονομήσουσι τὴν γῆν.» 9.4 Εἶτα πρὸς τὰ προειρημένα ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου ἀποκρίνεται ὁ προφήτης, πρὸς τὸ «ἐπικατάρατος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὃς οὐκ ἀκούσεται τῶν λόγων τῆς διαθήκης ταύτης», καί φησι· «Καὶ ἀπεκρίθην καὶ εἶπα· γένοιτο, κύριε.» Τί «γένοιτο, κύριε»; Ἐπικατάρατος ὃς οὐκ ἐμμενεῖ «τοῖς λόγοις τῆς διαθήκης ταύτης». «Καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρός με· ἀνάγνωθι τοὺς λόγους τούτους ἐν πόλεσιν Ἰούδα καὶ ἔξωθεν Ἱερουσαλήμ»-καὶ τοῖς ἔξω ἀναγινώσκομεν τοὺς λόγους τοῦ θεοῦ προσκαλούμενοι αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ σωτηρίαν- <«λέγων· ἀκούσατε> τοὺς λόγους τῆς διαθήκης ταύτης καὶ ποιήσατε αὐτούς. Καὶ οὐκ ἐποίη σαν. Καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρός με· εὑρέθη σύνδεσμος ἐν ἀνδρά σιν Ἰούδα καὶ ἐν τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν Ἱερουσαλήμ.» Ἢμέλλομεν μετανοεῖν ἐπὶ τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἁμαρτήμασι περὶ ἀνδρῶν Ἰούδα, εἰδότες ὅτι ἐσμὲν οἱ ἄνδρες Ἰούδα διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν Ἰούδα προφητευθέντα καὶ λεχθέντα; Μήποτε γὰρ ἐπεὶ ἐν ἡμῖν εἰσιν ἁμαρτωλοί τινες καὶ παρὰ τὸν ὀρθὸν λόγον πράττοντες, διὰ τοῦτο λέγει ὁ προφήτης· «Εὑρέθη σύνδεσμος ἐν ἀνδράσιν Ἰούδα καὶ ἐν τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν Ἱερουσαλήμ»· ὅταν γὰρ εὑρεθῇ ἔν τισι χρηματίζουσιν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας «σύνδεσμος ἀδικίας» καὶ σύνδεσμος τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, ὥστ' ἂν ἐφαρμόσαι ἐπὶ τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ τὸ «σειραῖς δὲ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτιῶν ἕκαστος σφίγγε ται», λέγοι ἂν ὁ θεός· «Εὑρέθη σύνδεσμος ἐν ἀνδρά σιν Ἰούδα.» Ἀλλὰ μὴ εὑρεθείη σύνδεσμος ἐν ἡμῖν. Πῶς δὲ οὐχ εὑρίσκεται σύνδεσμος ἐν ἡμῖν, εἰ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρό ἐστιν σύνδεσμος ἔν τισιν; «Λῦε πάντα σύνδεσμον ἀδικίας, διάλυε στραγγαλιὰς βιαίων συναλλαγμάτων, πᾶ σαν συγγραφὴν ἄδικον διάσπα. ∆ιάθρυπτε πεινῶντι τὸν ἄρτον σου.» «Εὑρέθη» οὖν «σύνδεσμος ἐν ἀνδράσιν Ἰούδα καὶ ἐν τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν Ἱερουσαλήμ· ἐπεστράφησαν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀδικίας τῶν πατέρων αὐτῶν τῶν πρότερον.» «Ἐπεστρά φησαν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀδικίας» τίνων; <Οὐ> λέγει ἁπλῶς· τῶν πατέρων· τίς ἡ προσθήκη; «Ἐπεστράφησαν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀδικίας τῶν πατέρων αὐτῶν τῶν πρότερον.» Ἐλέγομεν ταῦτα λέγεσθαι πρὸς ἡμᾶς καὶ τοὺς ἐν ἡμῖν ἁμαρτάνοντας· πῶς οὖν οἱ ἐν ἡμῖν ἁμαρτάνοντες ἐπεστράφησαν οὐκ «ἐπὶ τὰς ἀδικίας τῶν πατέρων», ἀλλὰ «τῶν πατέρων τῶν πρότερον»; Μήποτε οὖν διττοί εἰσιν οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν, καὶ ἔστιν μὲν ἐν ἡμῖν εἶδος πατέρων τὸ χεῖρον· πρὶν πιστεῦ σαι γὰρ υἱοὶ ἦμεν φέρ' εἰπεῖν τοῦ διαβόλου, ὡς δείκνυσιν ὁ λόγος ὁ εὐαγγελικὸς λέγων· «Ὑμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστέ», ὅτε δὲ πεπιστεύκαμεν, γεγόναμεν «υἱοὶ θεοῦ». Ἐπὰν οὖν ἁμαρτάνωμεν, ἐπιστρέφομεν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀδικίας οὐχ ἁπαξαπλῶς τῶν πατέρων, ἀλλὰ τῶν πρότερον πατέρων. Εἰς δὲ τὸ παραστῆσαι ὅτι διττοὶ ἡμῶν εἰσιν οἱ πατέρες, χρήσομαι ῥητοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ τεσσαρακοστοῦ τετάρτου Ψαλμοῦ οὕτως ἔχουσιν· «Ἄκουσον, θύγατερ, καὶ ἴδε καὶ κλῖνον τὸ οὖς σου, καὶ ἐπιλάθου τοῦ λαοῦ σου καὶ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου.» Πατὴρ λέγει· «ἐπιλάθου τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου»· ὡς γὰρ πατὴρ λέγει· «ἄκουσον, θύγα τερ». Οὐκοῦν διττοὶ οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν εἰσιν. Ἀλλὰ «ἐπιλά θου τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου» τοῦ προτέρου. Ἐὰν ἐπιλα θόμενός σου τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ προτέρου πάλιν ἐπιστρέψῃς ἐπὶ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, σὺ πεποίηκας τὰ λεγόμενα ἐνθάδε ἁμαρτή ματα. «Ἐπεστράφησαν ἐπὶ τὰς ἀδικίας τῶν πατέρων αὐτῶν τῶν πρότερον.» Ἔλεγον ὅτι καὶ ὁ διάβολος πρότερον ἦν ἡμῶν πατήρ, πρὶν γένηται ἡμῶν ὁ θεὸς πατήρ, εἴγε καὶ νῦν οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῶν ὁ διάβολος πατήρ· ὅπερ