being ashamed at the stripping, yet having been stripped he was ashamed, having within himself the name and the concept of shame, so he had within himself also the concept of death, even if he had not yet seen the reality in another. Wherefore he reasonably feared death, knowing it from its concept to be the opposite of life. Question 2. Since scripture speaks of judgments and ordinances, and testimonies and law, commandments and precepts, teach whether these are all the same as one another, or if each has its own particular meaning. Answer. It calls judgments the words that distinguish what is to be done from what is not to be done, and which have defined honor for obedience and dishonor for disobedience; and it calls ordinances the rectitude of the judgments, which allots to each according to their worth. It calls law the written summary of all Jewish worship and polity; and it calls testimony the retribution by blessing and curse for the deeds done by those who received the law, which Moses, calling heaven and earth to witness, said would happen to the Jews if they obeyed or disobeyed. It speaks of commandments and precepts, naming the words spoken in a commanding or ordering manner, according to * words, according to the emphasis of the divine authority of the one who commanded or ordered these things. Question 3. If the back of heaven is laden with waters, as scripture says, which some have said happened because of the fiery substance of the luminaries, so that heaven, being fattened by the waters placed upon it, might remain unconquered by the underlying flame of the luminaries, how do those who say these things speak truly, since the luminaries move not in heaven but under heaven? And if we say that these are in heaven, how do they have kinetic energy, when the heavenly body possesses immobility? And if the stars receive their motion together with heaven, how is the myth that calls heaven a sphere not true? And if this is unseemly, but it is consistent to think what was previously said about the luminaries, how is the existence of the upper waters not useless? And what will become of it at the consummation, when the righteous above and the sinners below are then about to receive the rewards for their deeds? Answer. Even if the luminaries are under heaven, yet the force of the energy of their fiery substances naturally moves upward; wherefore those who have said it have given a reasonable cause, that the back of heaven is laden with waters for the preservation of the firmament. But this is not the only reason for the waters to be on the back of heaven, that it be unconquered by the underlying flame of the luminaries, but also that it be weighed downward by the multitude of waters on its back, and not be shaken by the violent force of the winds,

μνώσει αἰσχυνόμενον, ὅμως δὲ γυμνωθεὶς ᾐσχύνθη, ἐσχηκὼς ἐν ἑαυτῷ τῆς αἰσχύνης τὸ ὄνομα καὶ τὴν ἔννοιαν, οὕτως εἶχεν ἐν ἑαυτῷ καὶ τοῦ θανάτου τὴν ἔννοιαν, κἂν τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐν ἄλλῳ μήπω ἦν θεασάμενος. ∆ιὸ εὐλόγως ἐδειλίασε τὸν θάνατον, εἰδὼς αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐννοίας αὐτοῦ ἀντικείμενον ὄντα τῆς ζωῆς. Ἐρώτησις %β. Ἐπειδὴ ἡ γραφὴ λέγει κρίματα καὶ δικαιώματα, καὶ μαρτύρια καὶ νόμον, ἐντολὰς καὶ προστάγματα, εἰ ταὐτά εἰσιν ἀμφότερα ἀλλήλοις ἢ ἑκάτερον ἔχει λόγον ἰδιάζοντα, δίδαξον. Ἀπόκρισις. Κρίματα μὲν λέγει τοὺς λόγους τοὺς διαστείλαντας τῶν οὐ πρακτέων τὰ πρακτέα, καὶ τιμὴν μὲν τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ ὑπακοῇ, ἀτιμίαν δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ παρακοῇ ὡρισμένας· δικαιώματα δὲ λέγει τῶν κριμάτων τὴν ὀρθότητα ἀπονεμητικὴν τῶν κατ' ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ. Νόμον δὲ λέγει τὴν ἔγγραφον περίληψιν πάσης τῆς ἰουδαϊκῆς λατρείας τε καὶ πολιτείας· μαρτυρίαν δὲ καλεῖ τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς πεπραγμένοις ὑπὸ τῶν δεξαμένων τὸν νόμον δι' εὐλογίας καὶ κατάρας ἀμοιβήν, ἣν οὐρανὸν καὶ γῆν ὁ Μωϋσῆς διαμαρτυρόμενος ἔλεγε τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις συμβήσεσθαι αὐτοῖς πει θομένοις ἢ ἀπειθοῦσιν. Ἐντολὰς δὲ καὶ προστάγματα λέγει τὸν κατὰ * λόγων ὀνομάζων τοὺς λόγους ἐνταλτικῶς ἢ προσ τακτικῶς λεχθέντας, κατὰ τὴν ἔμφασιν τῆς θείας αὐθεντίας τοῦ ταῦτα ἐντειλαμένου ἢ προστάξαντος. Ἐρώτησις %γ. Eἰ τὰ νῶτα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πεφόρτωται ὕδασι, καθώς φησιν ἡ γραφή, ὅπερ τινὲς ἔφασαν γεγονέναι διὰ τὴν πυρώδη τῶν φωστήρων οὐσίαν, ὥστε τοῖς ἐπικειμένοις τὸν οὐρανὸν πιαι νόμενον ὕδασι τῇ ὑποκειμένῃ τῶν φωστήρων φλογὶ μένειν ἀχείρωτον, πῶς οἱ ταῦτα λέγοντες ἀληθεύουσι, τῶν φωστήρων οὐκ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἀλλ' ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν κινουμένων; Eἰ δὲ τούτους ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ λέγομεν εἶναι, πῶς τὴν κινητικὴν ἐνέρ γειαν ἔχουσι, τοῦ οὐρανίου σώματος τὸ ἀκίνητον ἔχοντος; Eἰ δὲ σὺν τῷ οὐρανῷ τὰ ἄστρα λαμβάνει τὴν κίνησιν, πῶς οὐκ ἀληθεύει ὁ σφαῖραν τὸν οὐρανὸν προσαγορεύων μῦθος; Eἰ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν ἀπρεπές, τὸ δὲ προλεχθὲν περὶ τῶν φωστήρων νοῆσαι ἀκόλουθον, πῶς οὐκ ἄχρηστος τῶν ἄνω ὑδάτων ἡ σύ στασις; Τίς δὲ καὶ αὐτὴ ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ γενήσεται, ἄνω μὲν τῶν δικαίων, κάτω δὲ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν τὰς τῶν πρακτέων ἀμοιβὰς τότε μελλόντων κομίζεσθαι; Ἀπόκρισις. Κἂν ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανόν εἰσιν οἱ φωστῆρες, ἀλλ' ἡ φορὰ τῆς τῶν πυρωδῶν οὐσιῶν ἐνεργείας κατὰ φύσιν ἐπὶ τὰ ἄνω γί νεται· διὸ εὔλογον αἰτίαν ἐπιδεδώκασιν οἱ εἰρηκότες πρὸς διαμονὴν τοῦ στερεώματος πεφορτῶσθαι τὰ νῶτα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τοῖς ὕδασιν. Oὐ τοῦτο δὲ μόνον ἐστὶν αἴτιον τοῦ εἶναι τὰ ὕδατα ἐν τοῖς νώτοις τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τὸ ἀχείρωτον αὐτὸν εἶναι τῇ ὑποκειμένῃ φλογὶ τῶν φωστήρων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ βαρεῖσθαι αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ κάτω ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἐν νώτοις αὐτοῦ ὑδάτων, καὶ μὴ δονεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς βιαίας τῶν ἀνέμων φορᾶς,