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how they wear you out. Much obscurity. Aquila, another interpreter says: He will run with, you ran and he wearied you. What he says is this: He saw him pressing on and being hurried, and not enduring even the delay. See, then, how he rebukes him. You have suffered nothing yet, and you say such things? are you so troubled? what then will you do in great matters? if you were not able to run with a footman, how with horsemen, he says? How will you bear greater things? Or again: If you did not bear your own household, how will you bear your enemies? are you afflicted here? what then will you do when you see terrible things? Or again, in another way: Are you dizzy at this dispensation of mine? what if you learn the more secret ones. Because even your brothers ... And these have dealt treacherously with you. How then did your brothers cry out after you? Without your knowledge, he says, they will speak great things against you; and the terrible thing is they will speak evils to you. Do you see how the prophet is disciplined, how he learns philosophy, being led to manliness through deeds, through words? How will you prepare yourself on horses and in a land of peace? Some have taken these things as spoken to the people, that is: if when fighting against your neighbors, you were not able to stand against them being on foot, what will you do when pursued by horsemen? But I do not think this meaning is preserved. But since the prophet, knowing their malice against him, cursed them, hastening the punishment against them, he says, hastening for them to be destroyed. Knowing the plot against him, and this while being in peace, not pursued by enemies. What will these do when the enemies 64.877 attack, when they do not even have time for flight as the horses quickly overtake them? You are confident, how will you fare in the swelling of the Jordan? That is, you know that you will suffer nothing from him. What will these do seeing the enemy borne against them like a river? How then, as if having suffered irreparable things from them, did you curse them with evils? That is, you also pray for these things for them, instead of, the evils, having heard of a plot against you. For he calls his kinsmen brothers and members of his father's house, that is, the Israelites. They have gathered against you, do not trust them, because they speak good things to you. He says these things: I am not unconcerned for your safety; for I want you to trust them in nothing; but wishing to change them for the better through forbearance. They have gathered from behind you; do not trust in them. Many, as was likely, from the twelve tribes that were already captured, were campaigning with the enemies. Therefore do not trust them, when they speak good things to you. Such was Rabshakeh, using the Hebrew tongue, and blaspheming against God, and advising them as if sparing them. I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance. Know, however, that I have decreed their complete capture because of their wicked character. I have given my beloved soul into the hands. What do you say? And is love nothing? is friendship nothing? and yet he has not given, but says he has given, so that I might not give, if anyone has understanding, if anyone pays attention; the fear of punishment was not so sufficient to perhaps. reclaim them, as were the words of the wisdom of God as symbols. My house, my inheritance, my beloved soul, and at the time of punishments, he reminds them of their former state, wishing to bend these very ones. He says the former things, that it might sting them more; great is the violence of those who drove him out. And he did not say: Why do you drive me out? But what was worse and more difficult, they do such things that I myself should forsake them. I have left my inheritance. Just as a man, if he is about to approach an inheritance that has many troubles, chooses to leave it, so also God. Perhaps here he means desire. My inheritance has become to me like a lion in a thicket. Thus she has roared against me, he says; Who would wish to inherit such things? as in a thicket, he speaks of great savagery. She has uttered her voice against me, therefore I have hated

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ἐκλύουσί σε πῶς. Πολλὴ ἀσάφεια. Ἀκύλας, ἕτερός φησιν ἑρμηνευτής· Συνδραμεῖται, ἔδραμες καὶ ἐμόχθησέ σε. Ὃ λέγει τοιοῦτον ἐστιν· Εἶδε κατεπείγοντα αὐτὸν καὶ ἐπειγόμενον, καὶ οὐκ ἀνεχόμενον οὐδὲ τῆς προθεσμίας. Ὅρα τοίνυν πῶς ἐπιπλήττει αὐτῷ. Οὐδὲν οὔπω πέπονθας, καὶ τοιαῦτα λαλεῖς; οὕτω θορυβῇ; τί οὖν ποιήσεις ἐν τοῖς μεγάλοις; εἰ μετὰ πεζοῦ δραμεῖν οὐκ ἠδυνήθης, πῶς μετὰ ἱππέων, φησί; Πῶς τοὺς μείζους οἴσεις; Ἢ πάλιν· Εἰ τοὺς οἰκείους οὐκ ἤνεγκας, πῶς τοὺς πολεμίους οἴσεις; ἐνταῦθα θλίβῃ; τί οὖν ποιήσεις ὅταν ἴδῃς τὰ δεινά; Ἢ πάλιν ἑτέρως· Πρὸς ταύτην μου τὴν οἰκονομίαν ἰλιγγιᾷς; τί ἂν τὰς ἀποῤῥητοτέρας μάθῃς. Ὅτι καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί σου ... Καὶ οὗτοι ἠθέτησάν σε. Πῶς οὖν οἱ ἀδελφοί σου ἐβόησαν ὀπίσω σου; Οὐκ εἰδότος σου, φησὶ, μεγάλα κατὰ σοῦ φθέγξονται· καὶ τὸ δεινὸν λαλήσουσι πρὸς σὲ κακά. Ὁρᾷς πῶς ῥυθμίζεται ὁ προφήτης, πῶς μανθάνει φιλοσοφίαν, δι' ἔργων, διὰ λόγων εἰς ἀνδρίαν ἐναγόμενος; Πῶς παρασκευάσῃ ἐφ' ἵπποις καὶ ἐν γῇ εἰρήνης; Τινὲς ὡς πρὸς τὸν λαὸν εἰρημένα ταῦτα ἐξέλαβον, τουτέστιν· εἰ πρὸς τοὺς περιοίκους μαχόμενοι, οὐ μὴ ἐδυνήθητε πεζοῖς οὖσιν ἀντιστῆναι, τί ποιήσετε διωκόμενοι ὑπὸ ἱππέων; Οὐ ταύτην δὲ σώζεσθαι τὴν διάνοιαν νομίζω. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ κακίαν ἐγνωκὼς ὁ προφήτης ἐπηράσατο αὐτοῖς, ἐπισπεύδων τὴν κατ' αὐτῶν τιμωρίαν, φησὶ, σπεύδων αὐτοὺς ἀναιρεθῆναι. Γνοὺς τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ συσκευὴν, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν εἰρήνῃ ὢν, οὐχ ὑπὸ πολεμίων ἐλαυνόμενος. Τί ποιήσουσιν οὗτοι τῶν πολεμίων 64.877 ἐπιστάντων, ἡνίκα οὐδὲ φυγῆς ἔχουσι καιρὸν τάχιστα τῶν ἵππων αὐτοὺς ἐπιφθανόντων; Σὺ πέποιθας, πῶς ποιήσεις ἐν φρυάγματι τοῦ Ἰορδάνου; Τουτέστι σὺ οἶδας, ὅτι οὐδὲν πείσῃ παρ' αὐτοῦ. Τί ποιήσουσιν οὗτοι καθάπερ ποταμὸν κατ' αὐτῶν ὁρῶντες φερόμενον τὸν πολέμιον; Πῶς οὖν ὡς ἀνήκεστα παρ' αὐτῶν πεπονθὼς ἐπηράσω αὐτοῖς κακά; Τουτέστι καὶ ταῦτα αὐτοῖς, ἀντὶ τοῦ, τὰ κακὰ, ἐπεύχῃ, συσκευὴν ἀκούσας κατὰ σοῦ. Ἀδελφοὺς γὰρ καὶ οἰκείους τοῦ πατρὸς τοὺς ὁμογενεῖς λέγει, τουτέστι τοὺς Ἰσραηλίτας. Ἐπισυνήχθησάν σοι, μὴ πιστεύσῃς αὐτοῖς, ὅτι λαλοῦσι πρὸς σὲ καλά. Ταῦτά φησιν· Οὐ τῆς σῆς ἀσφαλείας μὴ προνοῶ· βούλομαι γάρ σε μηδὲν πιστεῦσαι αὐτοῖς· ἀλλὰ θέλων ἐκείνους δι' ἀνεξικακίας μεταβαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον. Ἐκ τῶν ὀπίσω σου ἐπισυνήχθησαν· μὴ πιστεύσῃς ἐν αὐτοῖς. Πολλοὶ ὡς εἰκὸς ἐκ τῶν δώδεκα φυλῶν ἁλουσῶν ἤδη συνεστρατεύοντο τοῖς πολεμίοις. Μὴ οὖν πιστεύσῃς αὐτοῖς, ὅταν λαλήσωσι πρὸς σὲ καλά. Οἷος ἦν ὁ Ῥαμψάκης, τῇ Ἑβραΐδι κεχρημένος φωνῇ, καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ βλασφημῶν, καὶ συμβουλεύων αὐτοῖς ὡς φειδόμενος. Ἐγκαταλέλοιπα τὸν οἶκόν μου, ἀφῆκα τὴν κληρονομίαν μου. Ἴσθι μέν τοι, ὡς ἅλωσιν αὐτῶν παντελῆ κατεψηφισάμην διὰ τὸ τοῦ τρόπου μοχθηρόν. Ἔδωκα τὴν ἠγαπημένην ψυχήν μου εἰς χεῖρας. Τί λέγεις; Καὶ οὐδὲν ἡ ἀγάπη; οὐδὲν ἡ φιλία; καὶ μὴν οὐκ ἔδωκεν, ἀλλὰ λέγει δεδωκέναι, ἵνα μὴ δῶ, εἴ τις ἔχει νοῦν, εἴ τις προσέχει· οὐχ οὕτω τῆς τιμωρίας ὁ φόβος ἱκανὸς ἦν αὐτοῖς ἴσ. αὐτοὺς ἀνακτήσασθαι, ὡς τὰ ῥήματα τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίας σύμβολα. Τὸν οἶκόν μου, τὴν κληρονομίαν μου, τὴν ἠγαπημένην ψυχήν μου, καὶ παρὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῶν τιμωριῶν, ἀναμιμνήσκει τῶν προτέρων αὐτοὺς τούτους βουλόμενος ἐπικάμψαι. Λέγει τὰ πρότερα, ἵνα μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς δάκῃ· πολλὴ βία τῶν ἀπελασάντων αὐτόν. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπε· Τί ἀπελαύνετε; Ἀλλ' ὃ χεῖρον ἦν καὶ χαλεπώτερον, τοιαῦτα πράττουσιν, ὡς ἐμὲ αὐτὸν ἐγκαταλιπεῖν. Ἀφῆκα τὴν κληρονομίαν μου. Ὥσπερ ἄνθρωπος, εἰ μέλλει προσιέναι κληρονομίᾳ πολλὰ πράγματα ἐχούσῃ αἱρεῖται καταλιπεῖν, οὕτω καὶ ὁ Θεός. Ἴσως ἐνταῦθα τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν φησίν. Ἐγενήθη ἡ κληρονομία μου ἐμοὶ ὡς λέων ἐν δρυμῷ. Οὕτως ἐβόησε κατ' ἐμοῦ, φησί· Τίς ἂν ἐθελήσειε τοιαῦτα κληρονομεῖν; ὡς ἐν δρυμῷ, πολλὴν λέγει τὴν θηριωδίαν. Ἔδωκεν ἐπ' ἐμὲ τὴν φωνὴν αὐτῆς, διὰ τοῦτο ἐμίσησα