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he marched against Greece. Through these, however, all were paying the penalty for impiety and lawlessness. 6Wail; for the day of the Lord Sabaoth is near, and destruction will come from God. Again he calls the time of punishment the day of the Lord. 7Therefore every hand will be paralyzed, and every soul of man will be faint-hearted. For even the rumor of the enemies is sufficient to produce cowardice. 8And the ambassadors will be troubled, and pangs will seize them as of a woman in labor. It is the custom for those sent on an embassy to do this fearlessly and very boldly. But at that time not even this was done without fear; so did the might of the enemies terrify everyone. And they will be dismayed at one another and they will be astonished and their faces they will change like a flame. The phrase: *the ambassadors will be troubled*, Theodotion has interpreted thus: “the surrounding regions will be troubled” —meaning the cities—, and the phrase: *they will be dismayed one to another*, “a man will be in travail toward his neighbor.” The word indicates that they will reveal their fear to one another and will extinguish the bloom of their faces; for just as fire when it is extinguished becomes ash, so also the blooming color of faces is changed by fear. 9For behold, the day of the Lord comes, incurable with wrath and anger, to make the whole world desolate and to destroy the sinners from it. He now calls the inhabited world Babylon and the cities and villages under it. 10For the stars of heaven and Orion and all the host of heaven will not give their light, and it will be dark when the sun rises, and the moon will not give its light. For just as when the sun rises the light of the moon is dimmed, and the stars are completely hidden. So when my power appears and punishes the impious, |119 b| the prominence of those ruling among men vanishes. 11And I will command evils for the whole world and their sins for the ungodly. For not only from these but also from other men will I exact penalties for impiety. And I will destroy the insolence of the lawless and I will humble the insolence of the proud. Those who receive the passion of arrogance fearlessly behave outrageously and insult everyone. But I will also take away their success and having stripped them of their prosperity, I will teach their mind to be measured by nature. 12And those who are left will be more precious than unrefined gold, and a man more precious than the stone from Souphir. Unrefined gold is that which appears pure even without fire, that is, unsmelted, which now many call pure gold; and by stone from Souphir he means the precious one, and has given the designation from the place. He says that the men who are left after the punishment will appear more precious than these. Such was Zerubbabel and Jesus the son of Jozadak and those with them who obtained the return. And the prophecy applies especially to the men who have believed everywhere after the saving proclamation. 13For the heaven will be shaken and the earth will be shaken from its foundations because of the wrath of the anger of the Lord Sabaoth in the day when his wrath shall come. Even the inanimate creation seems to be indignant along with the maker; for not only is the earth shaken, but also fiery whirlwinds are brought from heaven, and thunderbolts and hailstones are hurled, and ten thousand other strange things happen, terrifying men and signifying the anger of God. 14And those who are left will be as a fleeing gazelle and as a wandering sheep, and there will be none to gather them, so that a man might turn back to his people and a man might flee to his country. When the Assyrians were defeated, those who had come as reinforcements turned to flight, and some wandered like sheep along the roads, while others, fleeing, imitated the swiftness of gazelles because of their fear of the enemy, with neither king nor general urging them to stand and fight or to take possession of their homeland together. 15For whoever is caught will be pierced through, and whoever are gathered together will fall by the sword.

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τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐστράτευσεν. ∆ιὰ τούτων δὲ ἅπαντες δυσσε βείας καὶ παρανομίας ποινὴν εἰσεπράττοντο. 6Ὀλολύζετε· ἐγγὺς γὰρ ἡ ἡμέρα κυρίου Σαβαώθ, καὶ συντριβὴ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ἥξει. Πάλιν ἡμέραν κυρίου καλεῖ τὸν τῆς τιμωρίας καιρόν. 7∆ιὰ τοῦτο πᾶσα χεὶρ ἐκλυθήσεται, καὶ πᾶσα ψυχὴ ἀνθρώπου δειλιάσει. Ἀπόχρη γὰρ καὶ ἡ φήμη τῶν πολεμίων τὴν δειλίαν ἐργάσασθαι. 8Καὶ ταραχθήσονται οἱ πρέσβεις, καὶ ὠδῖνες ἕξουσιν αὐτοὺς ὡς γυναικὸς τικ τούσης. Νόμος ἐστὶ τοὺς εἰς πρεσβείαν πεμπομένους ἀδεῶς καὶ λίαν θαρσαλέως τοῦτο ποιεῖν. Ἀλλὰ τηνικαῦτα οὐδὲ τοῦτο δίχα δέους ἐγίγνετο· οὕτως ἅπαντας ἐξεδειμάτωσε τῶν πολεμίων τὸ κράτος. Καὶ συμφοράσουσιν ἕτερος πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον καὶ ἐκστήσονται καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτῶν ὡς φλὸξ μεταβαλοῦσιν. Τό· ταραχθήσονται οἱ πρέσβεις, ὁ Θεοδοτίων οὕτως ἡρμήνευσεν· «ταραχθήσονται περιοχαί» -σημαίνει δὲ τὰς πόλεις-, τὸ δέ· συμφοράσουσιν ἕτερος πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον, «ὠδινήσουσιν ἀνὴρ πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ.» ∆ηλοῖ δὲ ὁ λόγος ὅτι ἀλλήλοις ἐκκαλύ ψουσι τὸ δέος καὶ τὸ τῶν προσώπων κατασβέσουσιν ἄνθος· ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ πῦρ σβεννύμενον γίνεται κόνις, οὕτω καὶ τὸ εὐανθὲς τῶν προσώπων ἐκ τοῦ δέους μεταβάλλεται χρῶμα. 9Ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἡμέρα κυρίου ἔρχεται ἀνίατος θυμοῦ καὶ ὀργῆς θεῖναι τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην ἔρημον καὶ τοὺς ἁμαρ τωλοὺς ἀπολέσαι ἐξ αὐτῆς. Οἰκουμένην νῦν τὴν Βαβυλῶνα λέγει καὶ τὰς ὑπ' ἐκείνην τελούσας πόλεις καὶ κώμας. 10Οἱ γὰρ ἀστέρες τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ὁ Ὠρίων καὶ πᾶς ὁ κόσμος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὸ φῶς αὐτῶν οὐ δώσουσι, καὶ σκοτι σθήσεται τοῦ ἡλίου ἀνατέλλοντος, καὶ ἡ σελήνη οὐ δώσει τὸ φῶς αὐτῆς. Ὥςπερ γὰρ ἡλίου ἀνίσχοντος ἀμβλύνεται μὲν τῆς σελήνης τὸ φῶς, οἱ δὲ ἀστέρες παντελῶς ἀπο κρύπτονται. Οὕτως τῆς ἐμῆς ἐπιφαινομένης δυνάμεως καὶ τοὺς δυσσεβεῖς τιμωρουμένης |119 b| φροῦδος γίνεται τῶν παρὰ ἀνθρώποις βασιλευόντων ἡ περιφάνεια. 11Καὶ ἐντελοῦμαι ὅλῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ κακὰ καὶ τοῖς ἀσεβέσι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον τούτους ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους δίκας εἰσπράξομαι τῆς δυσσεβείας. Καὶ ἀπολῶ ὕβριν ἀνόμων καὶ ὕβριν ὑπερηφάνων ταπεινώσω. Οἱ τὸ τῆς ἀλαζονείας εἰσδεχόμενοι πάθος ἀδεῶς παροινοῦσι καὶ προπηλακίζουσιν ἅπαντας. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν εὐπραξίαν αὐτῶν ἀφελῶ καὶ τῆς εὐημερίας γυμνώσας διδάξω τὸ φρόνημα τῇ φύσει μετρεῖν. 12Καὶ ἔσονται οἱ ἐγκαταλελειμμένοι ἔντιμοι μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ χρυσίον τὸ ἄπυρον, καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἔντιμος μᾶλλον ἢ ὁ λίθος ὁ ἐκ Σουφίρ. Ἄπυρον χρυσίον τὸ καὶ δίχα πυρὸς φαινό μενον δόκιμον, τουτέστιν ἄπεφθον, ὃ νῦν οἱ πολλοὶ ὄβρυζον ὀνομάζουσιν· λίθον δὲ ἐκ Σουφὶρ λέγει τὸν τίμιον, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ τόπου τὴν προσηγορίαν τέθεικεν. Τούτων τιμιω τέρους φανήσεσθαι λέγει τοὺς μετὰ τὴν τιμωρίαν ὑπολει πομένους ἀνθρώπους. Τοιοῦτος ἦν καὶ Ζοροβάβελ καὶ Ἰησοῦς ὁ τοῦ Ἰωσεδὲκ καὶ οἱ σὺν αὐτοῖς τῆς ἐπανόδου τετυχηκότες. Ἁρμόττει δὲ ἡ προφητεία διαφερόντως τοῖς μετὰ τὸ σωτήριον κήρυγμα πανταχοῦ πεπιστευκόσιν ἀνθρώ ποις. 13Ὁ γὰρ οὐρανὸς σαλευθήσεται καὶ ἡ γῆ σεισθήσεται ἐκ τῶν θεμελίων αὐτῆς διὰ θυμὸν ὀργῆς κυρίου Σαβαὼθ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ᾖ ἐὰν ἐπέλθῃ ὁ θυμὸς αὐτοῦ. Συναγανακτεῖν δοκεῖ καὶ ἡ κτίσις ἡ ἄψυχος τῷ ποιητῇ· οὐ γὰρ μόνον ἡ γῆ κλονεῖται, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐρανόθεν πρηστῆρες φέρονται, καὶ σκηπτοὶ καὶ λίθοι χαλάζης σφενδονῶνται, καὶ ἕτερα μυρία παράδοξα γίγνεται δεδιττόμενα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ σημαίνοντα τὴν ὀργήν. 14Καὶ ἔσονται οἱ ἐγκαταλελειμμένοι ὡς δορκάδιον φεῦγον καὶ ὡς πρόβατον πλανώμενον, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ συνάγων, ὥστε ἄνθρωπον εἰς τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἀποστραφῆναι καὶ ἄνθρωπον εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτοῦ διῶξαι. Τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἡττηθέντων οἱ εἰς ἐπικουρίαν ἐληλυθότες ἐτρέποντο εἰς φυγήν, καὶ οἱ μὲν ὡς πρόβατα κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς ἐπλανῶντο, οἱ δὲ τῶν δορκάδων τὴν ὀξύτητα φεύγοντες ἐμιμοῦντο διὰ τὸ δέος τῶν πολεμίων, οὔτε βασιλέως οὔτε στρατηγοῦ στῆναι παρακελευομένου καὶ μάχεσθαι ἢ κοινῇ τὴν ἐνεγκοῦσαν καταλαμβάνειν. 15Ὃς γὰρ ἂν ἁλῷ ἐκκεντηθήσεται, καὶ οἵτινες συνηγμένοι εἰσὶ μαχαίρᾳ πεσοῦνται.