35

a potter forming a vessel; then, this having fallen and been shattered, remaking it from the start. δʹ. For the vessel fell, it says, which he himself was making from the clay, in his hands, and again he made it another vessel, as it pleased him to make it. Having thus shown that the potter has authority over the clay, and shapes it as he wishes, he says to the prophet: Say to them: ϛʹ. Am I not able to do to you as the potter does, O house of Israel? says the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hands, O house of Israel. For just as he is able both to knead the clay, and to shape it as he wishes; so it is easy for me, both to deliver to punishment, and to grant salvation, and to deliver those in prosperity to misfortunes, and again in turn to grant good fortune to those in hardship. For what follows makes this clear. ζʹ, ηʹ. At last I will speak against nations and a kingdom, to pluck them up, and to pull them down, and to destroy them. And if that nation should turn from their evils; I will also repent of the evils which I thought to do to them. Do not despair, he says, of salvation; for even if I should condemn a nation, and threaten the ultimate punishment, but I see their repentance, I do not bring on the punishment, but I extend mercy. And if again I should promise an abundance of good things, but they, despising it, embrace wickedness, I will not fulfill the promise of good things. Knowing this, therefore, he says, do not despair of better things, but offer up repentance, and you will reap salvation. ιαʹ. For behold, he says, I am forming evils against you, and I am devising a plan against you; let each one turn from his evil way, and kal 81.609 make your practices and your ways better. But he, being benevolent, offered such remedies; but they did not accept the physician's prescriptions. ιβʹ. But they said, it says, We will be stubborn, because we will walk after our own apostasies, and each of us will do the things that are pleasing to his own heart. He calls the way of worse things "apostasies." ιγʹ. Therefore thus says the Lord: Ask among the nations, Who has heard such very horrible things, which the virgin daughter of Jerusalem has done? He calls her a virgin, not as being not licentious, but as one who beautifies herself and takes pride in her beauty. ιδʹ. Shall breasts fail from the rock, or snow from Lebanon? Or does water carried violently by the wind turn aside? The springs, he says, gush forth unceasingly, Lebanon has its snow perpetually, the water carried by its current travels a well-worn path; but these people have left the way of the law, and there is no memory of my commandments among them; for this is what the following indicates. ιεʹ. Because my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk on a path not having a way for passage. They devised, he says, tracks not worn from the beginning, and these they declared to be eternal ways; that is to say, they continually make use of them. For this reason I will deliver their land to desolation; for he added this. ιϛʹ. To make their land a desolation, and an everlasting hissing. The hissing indicates the desolation of the city; for those who have seen the city prospering, and then see it laid waste, are accustomed to hiss, and in this way to point out the calamity. ιζʹ. Like a scorching wind I will scatter them before the face of their enemies. They will not even enjoy any sparing from their foes, he says; but they will hate them, just as one turns away from the scorching wind. "I will show them the back of the neck and not the face in the day of their destruction." For it is characteristic of prisoners of war, and of slaves, to bow to the ground, so that their neck rather than their face is visible. And it is possible to understand it otherwise; for of those who have turned away, we see not the face, but the neck; the word of God therefore indicates turning away.

35

κεραμέα σκεῦός τι διαπλάττοντα· εἶτα τοῦτο διαπεσὸν καὶ συντριβὲν ἄνωθεν νεουργοῦντα. δʹ. Καὶ ἔπεσε γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸ ἀγγεῖον, ὃ αὐτὸς ἐποίει ἐκ τοῦ πηλοῦ, ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ πάλιν ἐποίησεν αὐτὸ ἀγγεῖον ἕτερον, καθὼς ἤρεσεν ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ τοῦ ποιῆσαι. Οὕτω δείξας τὸν κεραμέα τοῦ πηλοῦ τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἔχοντα, καὶ ὡς ἂν ἐθέλῃ, κατασχηματίζοντα τοῦτον, πρὸς τὸν προφήτην φησίν· Εἰπὲ αὐτοῖς· ϛʹ. Εἰ καθὼς ὁ κεραμεὺς, οὕτως οὐ δύναμαι τοῦ ποιῆσαι ὑμῖν, οἶκος Ἰσραήλ; φησὶ Κύριος. Ἰδοὺ ὡς πηλὸς ἐν χειρὶ τοῦ κεραμέως, οὕ τως ὑμεῖς ἐν ταῖς χερσί μου ἐστὲ, οἶκος Ἰσραήλ. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος καὶ φῦραι δύναται τὸν πηλὸν, καὶ σχηματίσαι τοῦτον, ὡς ἂν ἐθέλῃ· οὕτως ἐμοὶ ῥᾴδιον, καὶ τιμωρίᾳ παραδοῦναι, καὶ σωτηρίαν χαρί σασθαι, καὶ τοὺς ἐν εὐπραξίᾳ συμφοραῖς παραδοῦναι, καὶ αὖ πάλιν τοῖς ἐν δυσκληρίᾳ εὐημερίαν χαρίσα σθαι. Τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ τὰ ἑξῆς. ζʹ, ηʹ. Πέρας λαλήσω ἐπὶ ἔθνη καὶ βασι λείαν, τοῦ ἐξᾶραι αὐτοὺς, καὶ καθελεῖν, καὶ τοῦ ἀπολλύειν. Καὶ ἂν ἐπιστραφῇ τὸ ἔθνος ἐκεῖνο ἀπὸ κακῶν αὑτῶν· καὶ μετανοήσω ἀπὸ τῶν κακῶν, ὧν ἐλογισάμην ποιῆσαι αὐτοῖς. Μὴ ἀπαγορεύσητε, φησὶ, τὴν σωτηρίαν· καὶ γὰρ εἰ καταψηφίσομαι ἔθνους, καὶ ἀπειλήσω τιμωρίαν ἐσχά την, ἴδω δὲ αὐτῶν τὴν μεταμέλειαν, οὐκ ἐπάγω τὴν τιμωρίαν, ἀλλ' ὀρέγω τὸν ἔλεον. Κἂν πάλιν ὑπόσχωμαι ἀγαθῶν ἀφθονίαν, καταφρονήσαντες δὲ ἐκεῖνοι πονηρίαν ἀσπάσωνται, οὐ περανῶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν. Τοῦτο τοίνυν εἰδότες, φησὶ, μὴ ἀπαγορεύσητε τὰ χρηστότερα, ἀλλὰ προσενέγ κατε τὴν μετάνοιαν, καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν καρπώσα σθε. ιαʹ. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἐγὼ, φησὶ, πλάσσω ἐφ' ὑμᾶς κακὰ, καὶ λογίζομαι ἐφ' ὑμᾶς λογισμόν· ἀποστραφήτω ἕκαστος ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ τῆς πονηρᾶς, καὶ καλ 81.609 λίω ποιήσατε τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα ὑμῶν, καὶ τὰς ὁδοὺς ὑμῶν. Ἀλλ' αὐτὸς μὲν φιλάνθρωπος ὢν, τοι αῦτα προσενήνοχε φάρμακα· ἐκεῖνοι δὲ τοῦ ἰατροῦ τὰς ὑποθήκας οὐκ ἐδέξαντο. ιβʹ. Ἀλλ' εἶπον, φησὶν, Ἀνδριούμεθα, ὅτι ὀπίσω τῶν ἀποστροφῶν ἡμῶν πορευσόμεθα, καὶ ἕκαστος τὰ ἀρεστὰ τῆς καρδίας αὑτοῦ ποιή σομεν. "Ἀποστροφὰς" καλεῖ τὴν τῶν χειρόνων ὁδόν. ιγʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει Κύριος· Ἐρωτήσατε ἔθνεσι, Τίς ἤκουσε τοιαῦτα φρικτὰ σφόδρα, ἃ ἐποίησε παρθένος θυγάτηρ Ἱερουσαλήμ; Παρ θένον αὐτὴν καλεῖ, οὐχ ὡς οὐκ ἀκόλαστον, ἀλλ' ὡς ὡραϊζομένην, καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ κάλλει σεμνυνομένην. ιδʹ. Μὴ ἐκλείψουσιν ἀπὸ πέτρας μαστοὶ, ἢ χιὼν ἀπὸ τοῦ Λιβάνου; ἢ ἐκκλίνει ὕδωρ βι αίως ἀνέμῳ φερόμενον; Αἱ πηγαὶ, φησὶν, ἀπαύ στως ἀναβλύζουσιν, ὁ Λίβανος ἔχει τὴν χιόνα διηνε κῶς, τὸ ῥύμῃ φερόμενον ὕδωρ τετριμμένην τρίβον ὁδεύει· οὗτοι δὲ τοῦ νόμου κατέλιπον τὴν ὁδὸν, καὶ τῶν ἐμῶν ἐντολῶν οὐδεμία παρ' αὐτοῖς μνήμη· τοῦ το γὰρ δηλοῖ τὰ ἑξῆς. ιεʹ. Ὅτι ἐπελάθοντό μου ὁ λαός μου, εἰς κενὸν ἐθυμίασαν, καὶ ἀσθενοῦσιν ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὑ τῶν σχοινίοις αἰωνίοις, τοῦ ἐπιβῆναι τρίβον οὐκ. ἔχουσαν ὁδὸν εἰς πορείαν. Ἐπενόησαν, φη σὶν, ἀτραποὺς οὐκ ἐξ ἀρχῆς τετριμμένας, καὶ ταύ τας αἰωνίους ἀπέφηναν ὁδούς· ἀντὶ τοῦ, ταύταις ἀεὶ κεχρημένοι διατελοῦσιν. Οὗ χάριν αὐτῶν ἐρη μίᾳ παραδώσω τὴν γῆν· τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπήγαγεν. ιϛʹ. Τοῦ τάξαι τὴν γῆν αὐτῶν εἰς ἀφανισμὸν, καὶ εἰς συρισμὸν αἰώνιον. Ὁ συρισμὸς τὴν ἐρη μίαν τῆς πόλεως δηλοῖ· οἱ γὰρ εὐπραγοῦσαν τὴν πόλιν ἰδόντες, εἶτα ἐρημωθεῖσαν θεώμενοι, συρί ζειν εἰώθασι, καὶ ταύτῃ δεικνύειν τὴν συμφο ράν. ιζʹ. Ὡς ἄνεμον καύσωνα διασπερῶ αὐτοὺς κατὰ πρόσωπον τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτῶν. Οὐδὲ φειδοῦς, φησὶ, παρὰ τῶν δυσμενῶν ἀπολαύσουσιν· ἀλλὰ μισήσουσιν αὐτοὺς, καθάπερ τις τὸν καύσωνα ἀπο στρέφεται. "Αὐχένα καὶ οὐ πρόσωπον δείξω αὐ τοῖς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἀπωλείας αὐτῶν." Ἴδιον γὰρ τῶν δορυαλώτων, καὶ τῶν δούλων, τὸ κύπτειν εἰς γῆν, ὡς μᾶλλον αὐτῶν τὸν αὐχένα ἢ τὸ πρόσωπον φαίνε σθαι. Καὶ ἄλλως δὲ δυνατὸν νοῆσαι· τῶν γὰρ ἀπ εστραμμένων οὐ τὸ πρόσωπον, ἀλλὰ τὸν αὐχένα ὁρῶ μεν· δηλοῖ τοίνυν ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἀποστρο φήν.