speaking to the child in a childish way, or that I may speak more emphatically, in an infantile way, that you have borne with the manners of your son and put on the manner of the infant and have taken on his state. Thus, therefore, understand for me also the scripture saying: "The Lord your God has borne with your manners, as if a man should bear with the manners of his son." And it seems that those who translated from Hebrew, not finding the word used among the Greeks, have fabricated this one as in many other cases, and have made the phrase "the Lord your God has borne with your manners (that is, he has put on your manners), as if a man should bear with the manners of (according to this example which I have given) his son." Since, therefore, we repent, when God converses with us as we are repenting, he says: I repent, and threatening us he does not pretend to be a foreknower, but speaks threateningly as to infants. He does not pretend that he foreknew "all things before their generation," but, so to speak, playing the part of the infant, he pretends not to even know future things. And so he threatens a nation on account of its sins and says: "If the nation repents, I too will repent." O God; when you threatened, did you not know whether the nation would repent or not repent? And what of this? When you promised, did you not know whether the man would remain worthy of the promises, or the nation, to which the word was spoken, or would not remain? But he does not pretend. And you would find many such anthropomorphic expressions in scripture, as also this: "Speak to the sons of Israel; perhaps they will listen and repent." God has not said this, "perhaps they will listen," as if doubting ; for God does not doubt, that he should say "perhaps they will listen and will repent," but in order that he might greatly show your free will and you might not say: if he foreknew me to be perishing, I must perish, if he foreknew me to be saved, I must certainly be saved. He does not, therefore, pretend to know the future that is in your power, in order that he may preserve your free will by not having anticipated or foreknown whether you will repent or not. and he says to the prophet: "Speak, perhaps they will repent." For you will find countless other such things said about God bearing with the manners of man. If you hear of the wrath of God and his anger, do not think that anger and wrath are passions of God. They are economies of the use of words for the purpose of turning the infant back and improving it; since we too make a fearful face at children, not from disposition but as a management. If we keep the graciousness of our soul towards the infant in our face, and show the affection which we have for it, not distorting ourselves nor, as it were, changing for its conversion, we destroy it and make it worse. Thus therefore God is said both to be angry and says he is wroth, so that you may turn back and be improved. And truly he is not angry nor is he wroth; but you will suffer the effects of anger and of wrath, finding yourself in unbearable pains because of wickedness, whenever he disciplines with the so-called anger of God. 18.7 Next, after the discourse about the two nations, the first to which the threat is given, and the second to which the promise is given, he says (he said, clearly, to the first ones): "And now say to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am fashioning evils against you." Because these things which I am fashioning against you are in my hand, they can fall through. Make these things fall through from my hand, so that the evils I am fashioning against you I may change and make into good things. You would not find: "Behold, I am fashioning good things against you" and the analogous things said next, in order that after this he might show that the good things he is fashioning he releases from his hands, so that he may make them evil. But he fashions evils according to the aforementioned example, and in fashioning evils he manages things (apart from the interpretation given for "it fell from my hands"), so that if it should fall, I do not know what kind of end the fashioned evils will have. 18.8 "Let each one therefore turn from his evil way, and make your practices better." Sometimes the more simple people say: blessed are the ancient people, because they heard
λαλοῦντι πρὸς τὸ παιδίον παιδικῶς, ἢ ἵνα ἐμφατικώτερον εἴπω βρεφωδῶς, ὅτι ἐτροποφόρησας τὸν υἱόν σου καὶ <τὸν> τρόπον ἐφόρεσας τοῦ βρέφους καὶ τὴν κατάστασιν αὐτοῦ ἀνείληφας. οὕτως οὖν νόει μοι καὶ τὴν γραφὴν λέγουσαν· «ἐτροποφόρησέν σε κύριος ὁ θεός σου, ὡς εἴ τις τροποφορήσει ἄνθρωπος τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ». καὶ ἐοίκασιν οἱ ἀπὸ ἑβραϊσμοῦ ἑρμηνεύσαντες, μὴ εὑρόντες τὴν λέξιν κειμένην παρ' Ἕλλησιν, ἀναπεπλακέναι ὡς ἐπ' ἄλλων πολλῶν καὶ ταύτην καὶ πεποιηκέναι τὴν «ἐτροποφόρησέν σε κύριος ὁ θεός σου (τουτέστι τοὺς τρόπους σου ἐφόρεσεν), ὡς εἴ τις τροποφορήσει ἄνθρωπος (κατὰ τὸ παράδειγμα τοῦτο ὃ εἴρηκα) τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ». ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ἡμεῖς μετανοοῦμεν, ὅταν ἡμῖν διαλέγηται μετανοοῦσιν ὁ θεὸς λέγει· μετανοῶ, καὶ ἀπειλῶν ἡμῖν οὐ προσποιεῖται προγνώστης εἶναι, ἀλλ' ὡς βρέφεσι λαλῶν ἀπειλεῖ. οὐ προσποιεῖται ὅτι προέγνω «τὰ πάντα πρὶν γενέσεως αὐ τῶν», ἀλλ' ὡς, ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω, ὑποκρινόμενος τὸ βρέφος προσ ποιεῖται μηδὲ εἰδέναι τὰ μέλλοντα. καὶ ἀπειλεῖ γοῦν ἔθνει διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτοῦ καὶ λέγει· «ἐὰν μετανοήσῃ τὸ ἔθνος, κἀγὼ μετα νοήσω». ὦ θεέ· ἆρα ὅτε ἠπείλεις, οὐκ ᾔδεις πότερον μετανοήσει τὸ ἔθνος ἢ οὐ μετανοήσει; τί δέ; ὅτε ἐπηγγείλω, οὐκ ᾔδεις πότερον μενεῖ ἄξιος τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἢ τὸ ἔθνος, πρὸς ὃν ὁ λόγος, ἢ οὐ μενεῖ; ἀλλ' οὐ προσποιεῖται. Καὶ τοιαῦτα πολλὰ εὕροις <ἂν> ἀνθρωπικὰ ἐν τῇ γραφῇ, ὡς καὶ τὸ «λάλησον τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ· ἴσως ἀκούσονται καὶ μετανοήσουσι». τοῦτο οὐχ <ὡς διστάζων> ὁ θεὸς εἴρηκε τὸ «ἴσως ἀκούσονται»· οὐ γὰρ διστάζει ὁ θεός, ἵνα λέγῃ τὸ «ἴσως ἀκούσονται καὶ μετανοήσουσιν», ἀλλ' ἵνα ἐπὶ πολὺ ἐμφήνῃ σου τὸ αὐτεξούσιον καὶ μὴ εἴπῃς· εἰ προέγνω με ἀπολλύμενον ἀπολέσθαι με δεῖ, εἰ προέγνω με σωθησόμενον σωθή σεσθαι πάντως με χρή. οὐ προσποιεῖται οὖν τὸ περὶ τοῦ ἐπὶ σοὶ μέλλοντος εἰδέναι, ἵνα τηρήσῃ σου τὸ αὐτεξούσιον τῷ μὴ προειληφέναι μηδὲ προεγνωκέναι, πότερον μετανοήσεις ἢ μή. καὶ λέγει πρὸς τὸν προφήτην· «λάλησον, ἴσως μετανοήσουσι». τοιαῦτα γὰρ ἄλλα μυρία εὑρήσεις λεγόμενα περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τροποφοροῦντος τὸν ἄνθρωπον. ἐὰν ἀκούσῃς θυμὸν θεοῦ καὶ ὀργὴν αὐτοῦ, μὴ νόμιζε τὴν ὀργὴν καὶ τὸν θυμὸν πάθη εἶναι θεοῦ. οἰκονομίαι χρήσεως λέξεών εἰσι πρὸς τὸ <τὸ> βρέφος ἐπιστρέψαι καὶ βελτιωθῆναι· ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡμεῖς τοῖς παιδίοις πρόσωπον ποιοῦμεν οὐκ ἀπὸ διαθέσεως ἀλλὰ κατ' οἰκονομίαν φοβερόν. ἐὰν τηρήσωμεν τὸ ἵλεων τῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς τὸ βρέφος ἐν τῷ προσώπῳ ἡμῶν, καὶ τὴν φιλοστοργίαν ἣν ἔχομεν πρὸς αὐτὸ ἐμφή νωμεν, μὴ διαστρέψαντες ἑαυτοὺς μηδὲ οἱονεὶ μεταβαλόντες πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνου ἐπιστροφήν, ἀπόλλυμεν αὐτὸ καὶ χεῖρον ποιοῦμεν. οὕτως οὖν ὁ θεὸς καὶ ὀργίζεσθαι λέγεται καὶ θυμοῦσθαί φησιν, ἵνα ἐπιστρέψῃς καὶ βελτιωθῇς. καὶ ἀληθῶς οὐκ ὀργίζεται μὲν οὐδὲ θυμοῦται· σὺ δὲ πείσῃ τὰ τῆς ὀργῆς καὶ τὰ τοῦ θυμοῦ, γενόμενος ἐν δυσυπομονήτοις διὰ τὴν κακίαν πόνοις, ἐπὰν παιδεύῃ τῇ λεγομένῃ ὀργῇ τοῦ θεοῦ. 18.7 Ἑξῆς μετὰ τὸν περὶ τῶν δύο ἐθνῶν λόγον, τοῦ προτέρου ᾧ <ἡ> ἀπειλὴ δίδοται, καὶ τοῦ δευτέρου ᾧ ἡ ἐπαγγελία δίδοται, φησίν (εἶπε δηλονότι τοῖς προτέροις)· «καὶ νῦν εἶπον πρὸς ἄνδρας Ἰούδα καὶ πρὸς τοὺς κατοικοῦντας Ἱερουσαλήμ· οὕτως λέγει κύριος· ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ πλάσσω ἐφ' ὑμᾶς κακά». ὅτι ἐν τῇ χειρί μου ταῦτά ἐστιν ἃ πλάσσω ἐφ' ὑμᾶς, δύναται διαπεσεῖν. ποιήσατε ταῦτα διαπεσεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς χειρός μου, ἵνα ἃ πλάσσω ἐφ' ὑμᾶς κακὰ μεταβάλω καὶ ποιήσω ἀγαθά. οὐκ ἂν εὕροις· «ἰδοὺ πλάσσω ἐφ' ὑμᾶς ἀγαθά» καὶ τὰ ἀνὰ λόγον αὐτῶν λεγόμενα ἑξῆς, ἵνα μετὰ τοῦτο ἐμφήνῃ ὅτι ἃ πλάσσει ἀγαθὰ ἀπολύει ἀπὸ τῶν χειρῶν, ἵνα ποιήσῃ αὐτὰ κακά. ἀλλὰ πλάσσει κακὰ κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον παράδειγμα, καὶ πλάσσων κακὰ οἰκονομεῖ (χωρὶς τῆς ἑρμηνείας τῆς ἀποδεδομένης εἰς τὸ «ἔπεσεν ἀπὸ τῶν χειρῶν μου»), ἵνα ἐὰν πέσῃ, καὶ τὸ τέλος τῶν πλασσομένων κακῶν οὐκ οἶδα ποτα πὸν γένηται. 18.8 «Ἀποστραφήτω δὴ ἕκαστος ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ τῆς πονηρᾶς, καὶ καλλίονα ποιήσατε τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα ὑμῶν». ἔσθ' ὅτε οἱ ἀκεραιότεροι λέγουσι· μακάριοι οἱ παλαιότεροι ἄνθρωποι, ὅτι ἤκουσαν