46

those in Damascus allied with Israel according to what was stated before. And he promises to scatter all those from the other nations rising up against mount Zion and against the God honored there, of whom some were eastern, others from the setting of the sun, and in the midst of them the Greeks; for all these, devouring the aforementioned Israel with the whole mouth and casting them down to the error of their idolatry, promised to help and ally with those rising up against mount Zion. And you would not be wrong in saying that those who through "the wisdom of this age," of Greek deceit, were turning to apostasy, were being devoured by the whole mouth of the Greeks and the foreigners, such was the Israel accused in the following passages, wherefore the wrath of God was stirred up against them and the high hand was prepared for wrath against them. But even so they did not turn back nor did they seek the Lord of hosts, but "according to their hardness and their impenitent heart they treasured up for themselves wrath in the day of wrath" not of God being angry in a passionate way, but of the ... punishment ... against them being called so according to the custom of scripture. 1.56 Instead of: and the Lord took away from Israel, Aquila has *and the Lord will destroy*, and Symmachus *and the Lord will utterly destroy*, and Theodotion *and he will take away*, speaking in the future tense, as if God was about to do these things, which "before they came to be" he foretold, turning the hearers to repentance, so that they might not suffer the things threatened. And he says he will do all the aforementioned things, which are clear, in one day; that is, at one and the same time. And by saying head and tail, he alluded to an irrational animal; for it is not proper to man, but to irrational animals, to have a tail, to which he likened the people, or head and tail, the rational and the irrational, or the ruler and the last of the ruled, which indeed he clarified by saying: great and small. And instead of: and those who respect persons, Symmachus translated it as *and the venerable*. And so this venerable one and the elder can be the head, and the tail the prophet teaching lawless things, who is like the last member of an irrational animal. The word threatens that these will be taken away and utterly destroyed at one time. And he says that those who say otherwise than these things and call the people blessed, being false prophets, are deceivers deceiving, that they may swallow them up, reaping profits for themselves from them. For which reason he lays upon them the threats that are as follows: for this reason the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, and will not have mercy on their orphans and their widows, and so on. These things God, as a good husbandman of souls, threatens to do, so that the lawlessness in them might be destroyed like a wild herb consumed by fire, which indeed he signifies by saying: and lawlessness will be burned as fire, and will be devoured by fire as dry couch-grass; and it will be burned as in the thickets of the forest, and it will devour all the things round about the hills. For he says that according to these examples the wrath of God will pursue the aforementioned people and work a great confusion among them, so that brother rises up against brother and no one spares his neighbor, but all treat one another as enemies, as adversaries, and it will drive them to such a point that the strife against one another and the civil war will be kindled among them, so that even the two tribes, that of Ephraim and that of Manasseh, who came from one father, Joseph, and were under the same kingdom, inhabiting one and the same city, Samaria, will rise up against each other and devour each other's arms, no longer having leisure for the war against Judah nor for the siege of Jerusalem, but having sharpened their own swords against themselves, they will slay themselves. And these things will happen to them from the wrath of God, which will not stop even at this point,

46

τοὺς ἐν ∆αμασκῷ συμμαχοῦντας τῷ Ἰσραὴλ κατὰ τὰ ἔμπροσθεν ἀποδεδομένα. καὶ πάντας δὲ τοὺς ἐκ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐθνῶν ἐπανισταμένους τῷ ὄρει Σιὼν καὶ τῷ θεῷ τῷ ἐνταῦθα τιμωμένῳ διασκεδάσειν ἐπαγγέλλεται, ὧν οἱ μὲν ἦσαν ἀνατολικοί τινες, οἱ δὲ ἀφ' ἡλίου δυσμῶν, μέσοι δὲ τούτων οἱ Ἕλληνες· πάντες γὰρ οὗτοι τὸν προλεχθέντα Ἰσραὴλ ὅλῳ τῷ στόματι κατεσθίοντες καὶ καταβάλλοντες ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς εἰδωλολατρίας αὐτῶν πλάνην, βοηθεῖν καὶ συμμαχεῖν ἐπηγγέλλοντο τοῖς ἐπανισταμένοις κατὰ τοῦ ὄρους Σιών. οὐκ ἂν δὲ ἁμάρτοις ὅλῳ τῷ στόματι τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων κατεσθίεσθαι λέγων τοὺς διὰ «τῆς σοφίας τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου» τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς ἀπάτης εἰς ἀποστασίαν χωροῦντας, οἷος ἦν ὁ διὰ τῶν μετὰ χεῖρας κατηγορούμενος Ἰσραήλ, διόπερ ὁ θυμὸς τοῦ θεοῦ κατ' αὐτῶν ἠγείρετο καὶ ἡ χεὶρ ἡ ὑψηλὴ παρεσκευάζετο πρὸς τὴν κατ' αὐτῶν ὀργήν. οἱ δὲ οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐπέστρεφον οὐδὲ τὸν κύριον τῶν δυνάμεων ἐπεζήτουν, «κατὰ δὲ τὴν σκληρότητα αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ἀμετανόητον καρδίαν ἐθησαύριζον ἑαυτοῖς ὀργὴν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς» οὐ τοῦ θεοῦ παθητικῶς ὀργιζομένου, τοῦ δὲ κατ' αὐτῶν ἐξ ... τιμωρίας ... κατὰ τὴν τῆς γραφῆς συνήθειαν ὀνομαζομένης. 1.56 Ἀντὶ τοῦ· καὶ ἀφεῖλε κύριος ἀπὸ Ἰσραήλ, ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας καὶ ὀλοθρεύσει κύριος, ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος καὶ ἐξολοθρεύσει κύριος, ὁ δὲ Θεοδοτίων καὶ ἀφελεῖ μελλητικῶς εἰρήκασιν, ὡς μέλλοντος ταῦτα ποιήσειν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἃ «πρὶν γενέσθαι» προέλεγεν, ἐπιστρέφων εἰς μετάνοιαν τοὺς ἀκροωμένους, ὡς ἂν μὴ πάθοιεν τὰ ἀπειλούμενα. ἐν ἡμέρᾳ δὲ μιᾷ φησι πάντα ποιήσειν τὰ προλεχθέντα σαφῆ τυγχάνοντα· τοῦτ' ἔστιν ὑφ' ἕνα καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν καιρόν. κεφαλὴν δὲ καὶ οὐρὰν εἰπὼν ᾐνίξατο ζῷον ἄλογον· οὐ γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἴδιον, ἀλλὰ ζῴων ἀλόγων τὸ οὐρὰν ἔχειν, οἷς τὸν λαὸν ἀφωμοίωσεν, ἢ κεφαλὴν καὶ οὐρὰν τὸν λογικὸν καὶ τὸν ἄλογον ἢ τὸν ἄρχοντα καὶ τὸν τῶν ἀρχομένων ἔσχατον, ὃ δὴ καὶ διεσάφησεν εἰπών· μέγαν καὶ μικρόν. ἀντὶ δέ· καὶ τοὺς τὰ πρόσωπα θαυμάζοντας, ὁ Σύμμαχος καὶ αἰδέσιμον ἡρμήνευσεν. καὶ οὗτος οὖν ὁ αἰδέσιμος καὶ ὁ πρεσβύτης δύναται εἶναι ἡ κεφαλή, ἡ δὲ οὐρὰ ὁ διδάσκων ἄνομα προφήτης, ὃς ὡσανεὶ ἀλόγου ζῴου ἔσχατον ὑπάρχων μέλος. ἀφαιρεθήσεσθαι τούτους καὶ ἐξολοθρευθήσεσθαι ὑφ' ἕνα καιρὸν ὁ λόγος ἀπειλεῖ. τοὺς δὲ ἄλλως λέγοντας παρὰ ταῦτα καὶ μακαρίζοντας τὸν λαὸν ψευδοπροφήτας ὑπάρχοντας πλάνους εἶναί φησι πλανῶντας, ὅπως καταπίωσιν αὐτούς, ἐξ αὐτῶν κέρδη εἰς αὐτοὺς ἀποφερόμενοι. Οὗ χάριν ἐπιτίθησιν αὐτοῖς τὰς οὕτως ἐχούσας ἀπειλάς· διὰ τοῦτο ἐπὶ τοὺς νεανίσκους αὐτῶν οὐκ εὐφρανθήσεται κύριος καὶ τοὺς ὀρφανοὺς αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς χήρας αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐλεήσει καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ταῦτα ὡς ἀγαθὸς ψυχῶν γεωργὸς ὁ θεὸς ποιήσειν ἀπειλεῖ, ἵνα ἡ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀνομία ἀφανισθῇ δίκην ὑλομανοῦς βοτάνης ὑπὸ πυρὸς ἀναλισκομένης, ὃ δὴ σημαίνει λέγων· καὶ καυθήσεται ὡς πῦρ ἡ ἀνομία καὶ ὡς ἄγρωστις ξηρὰ βρωθήσεται ὑπὸ πυρός· καὶ καυθήσεται ὡς ἐν τοῖς δάσεσι τοῦ δρυμοῦ, καὶ συγκαταφάγεται τὰ κύκλῳ τῶν βουνῶν πάντα. κατὰ ταῦτα γάρ φησι τὰ παραδείγματα μετελθοῦσα τοὺς προλεχθέντας ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ μεγάλην ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀπεργάσεται σύγχυσιν, ὡς ἐπαναστῆναι ἀδελφὸν ἀδελφῷ καὶ μηδένα τοῦ πέλας φείσασθαι, πάντας δὲ ἀλλήλοις χρήσασθαι ὡς ἐχθροῖς ὡς πολεμίοις, εἰς τοσοῦτον δὲ ἐλάσειν ἀναφλεγομένην ἐν αὐτοῖς τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους στάσιν, καὶ τὸν ἐμφύλιον πόλεμον, ὡς καὶ τὰς δύο φυλάς, τὴν τοῦ Ἐφραὶμ καὶ τοῦ Μανασσῆ, ἐξ ἑνὸς πατρὸς γενομένας τοῦ Ἰωσήφ, καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτὴν ὄντας βασιλείαν, μίαν τε καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν πόλιν τὴν Σαμάρειαν οἰκοῦντας ἀλλήλοις ἐπαναστῆναι καὶ τοὺς ἀλλήλων βραχίονας καταφαγεῖν, μηκέτι σχολάζοντας τῷ κατὰ τοῦ Ἰούδα πολέμῳ μηδὲ τῇ πολιορκίᾳ τῆς Ἰερουσαλήμ, καθ' ἑαυτῶν δὲ ἀκονήσαντας τὰ ἑαυτῶν ξίφη ἑαυτοὺς διαχειρίσασθαι. καὶ ταῦτα δὲ ἔσται αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ θεοῦ μηδὲ μέχρι τούτων στησομένης,