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he will be appointed; for fear will scatter those who are arrayed. 32And what will the kings of the nations answer? That the Lord founded Zion, and through him the humble of his people will be saved. |122 a| But while all of you are being captured, Zion will effortlessly survive her enemies, and through these events you will learn that her Lord of all provides for her and delivers her from the evils that come upon her, on account of the piety of her inhabitants. Thus concluding the prophecy of the Philistines also, he foretells to the Moabites the things that will be: 151In the night Moab will perish, for in the night the wall of Moab will perish. He calls night, I think, the ignorance of the things that will happen, or the gloom of impiety. It is likely also that the capture of the city happened at night. The Moabites trace their lineage from Lot; they had as their metropolis the city now called Charachmoba. 2Grieve for yourselves. And Dibon will also perish, where your altar was built. Dibon was also a city subject to it; and Chemosh was the idol of the Moabites, to whom they built the altar. There you will go up to weep, upon Nebo and Medeba of Moab. These were also cities; and Medeba is now a very large village of Arabia. And he says that they weep by the altar, mocking their foolish sacrifices. Then he exhorts them to wail and to bloody their arms in lamentation and to show their grief by wearing sackcloth and to lament in their houses and in the streets, as Heshbon and Elealeh have been overthrown and the wailing has spread as far as Jahaz. 4Therefore the loins of Moab cry out, her soul will know, 5the heart of Moab cries out within herself as far as Zoar. Through the loins he indicated cowardice, and through the soul and the heart, grief. For since the loins receive the belt, its loosening indicates cowardice, since again through it he signifies courage. For he says, "Gird up your loins like a man," and again, "Let your loins be girded," and elsewhere, "Having girded your loins with truth." And he said the cry of lamentation went as far as Zoar. For she is a three-year-old heifer. Through these things he hinted at her unruliness; for such a heifer is bold and unruly. And at the ascent of Luhith they will go up weeping to you on the way of Horonaim. These are also names of places through which he says those who announce the sorrowful things arrive. Then he exhorts her to cry out and bewail the destruction of the cities and the change of circumstances, and that 6The water of Nemerex will be dried up and all the grass will fail. It is possible also to understand these things figuratively and to call green grass and gushing water prosperity; but it is likely that these things also happened in this way. Then he also threatens the encampment of the Arabs; and here too he calls the Ishmaelites Arabs. 8For the cry from the border of Moab has joined with that of Agallim, and her wailing as far as the well of Elim. Every city, he says, will lament its own evils and there will be a kind of concert of lamentations. Then he foretells the multitude of those who will be slain; for he says it will be so great that the water of Remmon will be mixed with the blood of the attacking Arabs who are working the slaughter. 9And I will take away the seed of Moab, and Ariel and the remnant of Adamah. 161 I will send them as creeping things upon the earth. Ariel is the city now called Areopolis, and Adamah was another city of the same name as the one that formerly received destruction with the Sodomites. He fittingly compared the captives from these, who were forced to stoop to the ground, to those that creep upon the earth. Is the mountain of the daughter of Zion a desolate rock? Did you not mock Jerusalem, he says, calling her a dry mountain? Learn, therefore, from the events that she escaped the hands of the Assyrian, or rather, she consumed his army, but you 2will be like a fledgling taken from a flying bird. For just as fledglings bereft of their parents are very easy to capture, so also will you be easy to capture, not enjoying my providence. Then, Arnon, take more counsel; for you also

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τάξεται· τοὺς γὰρ συντεταγμένους διαλύσει τὸ δέος. 32Καὶ τί ἀποκριθήσονται βασιλεῖς ἐθνῶν; Ὅτι κύριος ἐθεμελίωσε τὴν Σιών, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ σωθήσονται οἱ ταπεινοὶ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ. |122 a| Ἀλλὰ πάντων ὑμῶν ἁλισκομένων ἡ Σιὼν ἀπονητὶ περιέσται τῶν πολεμούντων, καὶ δι' αὐτῶν μαθήσεσθε τῶν πραγμάτων ὡς ὁ τῶν ὅλων αὐτῆς κύριος προμηθεῖται καὶ τῶν ἐπιόντων αὐτὴν ἀπαλλάττει κακῶν διὰ τὴν τῶν οἰκητόρων εὐσέβειαν. Οὕτω συμπ εράνας καὶ τῶν Ἀλλοφύλων τὴν πρόρρησιν Μωαβίταις προλέγει τὰ ἐσόμενα· 151Νυκτὸς ἀπολεῖται ἡ Μωαβῖτις, νυκτὸς γὰρ ἀπολεῖται τὸ τεῖχος τῆς Μωαβίτιδος. Νύκτα καλεῖ ὡς οἶμαι τῶν συμβησομένων τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἢ τῆς ἀσεβείας τὸν ζόφον. Εἰκὸς δὲ καὶ ἐν νυκτὶ γενέσθαι τὴν τῆς πόλεως ἅλωσιν. Μωαβῖται δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Λὼτ τὸ γένος κατάγουσιν· μητρόπολιν δὲ εἶχον τὴν νῦν καλουμένην Χαραχμωβάν. 2Λυπεῖσθε ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς. Ἀπολεῖται δὲ καὶ ∆εβών, οὗ ὁ βωμὸς ὑμῶν ᾠκοδομήθη. ∆εβὼν πόλις ἦν καὶ αὐτὴ ὑπ' ἐκείνην τελοῦσα· Χαμὼς δὲ τῶν Μωαβιτῶν τὸ εἴδωλον ᾧ τὸν βωμὸν ᾠκοδόμησαν. Ἐκεῖ ἀναβήσεσθε κλαίειν, ἐπὶ Ναβαῦ καὶ Μηδαβὰ τῆς Μωαβίτιδος. Πόλεις ἦσαν καὶ αὗται· ἡ δὲ Μηδαβὰ κώμη νῦν ἐστι τῆς Ἀραβίας μεγίστη. Λέγει δὲ αὐτοὺς παρὰ τὸν βωμὸν κλαίειν κωμῳδῶν αὐτῶν τὰς ἀνοήτους θυσίας. Εἶτα ὀλολύζειν παρακελεύεται καὶ τῷ κομμῷ τοὺς βραχίονας αἱμάττειν καὶ τῇ τοῦ σάκκου περιβολῇ δεικνύναι τὸ πένθος καὶ ἐν οἰκίαις καὶ ἐν ἀγυιαῖς ὀλοφύρεσθαι ὡς τῆς Ἐσεβὼν καὶ τῆς Ἐλεηλὰ ἀναστάτων γεγενημένων καὶ μέχρι τῆς Ἰασὰ διαδραμόντος τοῦ θρήνου. 4∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἡ ὀσφῦς τῆς Μωαβίτιδος βοᾷ, ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτῆς γνώσεται, 5ἡ καρδία τῆς Μωαβίτιδος βοᾷ ἐν ἑαυτῇ ἕως Σηγώρ. ∆ιὰ τῆς ὀσφύος τὴν δειλίαν ἐδήλωσε, διὰ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τῆς καρδίας τὸ πένθος. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ ὀσφῦς δέχεται τὴν ζώνην, ἡ ἐκείνης λύσις τὴν δειλίαν δηλοῖ, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὴν ἀνδρείαν πάλιν δι' ἐκείνης σημαίνει. «Ζῶσαι» γάρ φησιν «ὡς ἀνὴρ τὴν ὀσφῦν σου», καὶ πάλιν· «Ἔστωσαν ὑμῶν αἱ ὀσφύες περιεζωσμέναι», καὶ ἑτέρωθι· «Ζωσάμενοι τὰς ὀσφύας ὑμῶν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ». Ἕως δὲ τῆς Σηγὼρ ἔφη διελθεῖν τὴν τοῦ θρήνου βοήν. ∆άμαλις γάρ ἐστι τριετής. Τὸ ἄτακτον αὐτῆς διὰ τούτων ᾐνίξατο· θρασεῖα γὰρ καὶ ἄτακτος ἡ τοιαύτη δάμαλις. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ἀναβάσεως τῆς Λουὶθ κλαίοντες ἀναβήσονται πρὸς σὲ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ Ἀρωνιείμ. Τόπων καὶ ταῦτα ὀνόματα δι' ὧν λέγει παραγίνεσθαι τοὺς τὰ λυπηρὰ προση μαίνοντας. Εἶτα παρακελεύεται αὐτῇ βοᾶν καὶ ὀδύρεσθαι τὸν τῶν πόλεων ὄλεθρον καὶ τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων μεταβολήν, καὶ ὅτι 6Τῆς Νεμερὴξ τὸ ὕδωρ ξηρανθήσεται καὶ ὁ χόρτος πᾶς ἐκλείψει. ∆υνατὸν δὲ καὶ τροπικῶς ταῦτα νοῆσαι καὶ χόρτον χλωρὸν καὶ ὕδωρ ἀναβλύζον τὴν εὐημερίαν καλέσαι· εἰκὸς δὲ καὶ ταῦτα οὕτω συμβῆναι. Εἶτα ἀπειλεῖ καὶ τῶν Ἀράβων τὴν παρεμβολήν· Ἄραβαςδὲ κἀνταῦθα τοὺς Ἰσμαηλίτας καλεῖ. 8Συνῆψε γὰρ ἡ βοὴ τοῦ ὁρίου τῆς Μωαβίτιδος τῇ Ἀγαλιίμ, καὶ ὀλολυγμὸς αὐτῆς ἕως τοῦ φρέατος τοῦ Ἐλίμ. Πᾶσά φησι πόλις τὰ οἰκεῖα θρηνήσει κακὰ καὶ οἷά τις συναυλία θρήνων γενήσεται. Ἔπειτα προλέγει τῶν ἀναιρουμένων τὸ πλῆθος· τοσοῦτον γάρ φησιν ἔσται ὡς καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ Ῥεμμὼν κραθήσεσθαι τῷ αἵματι τῶν Ἀράβων ἐπιόντων καὶ τὸν φόνον ἐργαζο μένων. 9Καὶ ἀρῶ τὸ σπέρμα Μωάβ, καὶ Ἀριὴλ καὶ τὸ κατά λοιπον Ἀδαμά. 161 Ἀποστελῶ ὡς ἑρπετὰ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν. Ἀριὴλ ἡ νῦν καλουμένη Ἀρεόπολις, Ἀδαμὰ δὲ ἄλλη τιςἦν ὁμώνυμος τῇ πάλαι μετὰ τῶν Σοδομιτῶν δεξαμένῃ τὸν ὄλεθρον. Τοὺς ἐκ τούτων αἰχμαλώτους εἰς γῆν κύπτειν ἠναγκασμένους τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς ἕρπουσιν εἰκότως ἀπείκασεν. Μὴ πέτρα ἔρημός ἐστι τὸ ὄρος τῆς θυγατρὸς Σιών; Οὐκ ἐπετώθαζές φησι τῇ Ἱερουσαλήμ, ὄρος αὐτὴν ἀποκαλοῦσα ξηρόν; Μάθε τοίνυν διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων ὡς ἐκείνη μὲν τοῦ Ἀσσυρίου τὰς χεῖρας διέφυγε, μᾶλλον δὲ τὴν ἐκείνου κατηνάλωσε στρατιάν, σὺ δὲ 2ἔσῃ ὡς πετεινοῦ ἀνιπταμένου νεοσσὸς ἀφῃρημένος. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ τῶν γεγεννηκότων ἔρημοι νεοττοὶ εὐχείρωτοι λίαν εἰσίν, οὕτω καὶ σὺ εὐάλωτος ἔσῃ, τῆς ἐμῆς προνοίας οὐκ ἀπολαύουσα. Ἔπειτα δὲ Ἀρνὼν πλείονα 3βουλεύου· μείζοσι γὰρ καὶ σὺ