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your sister Sodom, and her daughters will be restored, as they were from the beginning; and you, and your daughters will be restored, as you were from the beginning. — Here He called restoration not to the better, but to the worse; for the customary idiom of Scripture is again applied to Sodom. And what He says is this: Just as Sodom, being splendid and inhabited by very many, I have changed to its ancient state, and made it completely uninhabited, as it was before it was settled; so also, having taken away all your comeliness, I will prepare you to return to your former state. 56, 57. And was not Sodom your sister a report in your mouth, in the days of your pride. Before your wickednesses were revealed, in the way you are now a reproach to the daughters of Syria, and of all those around you, and of the daughters of the Philistines who encompass you round about. If you had not learned of the punishment of Sodom, He says, and their utter destruction was carried about in your mouth, in the same way your siege is now in the cities of Syria and Palestine, what more evil could you have done? For not even their example profited you, but knowing both what was dared by them and the evils brought upon them, you nonetheless persisted in transgressing. Therefore 58, 59. You bear your impieties, and your iniquities, says the Lord. Thus says Adonai the Lord: And I will do to you as you have done, as you have despised the curse, so as to transgress my covenant. The law had a curse following those who transgressed it; and it commanded the six tribes standing on Mount Ebal to go through this, and all the people to add Amen, as if signing and agreeing to the curse of the law. Since therefore, He says, you did not even fear the curse, but fearlessly transgressed my covenant, receive the sheaves of the seeds. Then He also promises the good things after the punishment. 60. And I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth; and I will establish for you my everlasting covenant. For you, He says, have trampled upon the agreements with me, but not even this will persuade me to abandon you completely, but having disciplined you with chastisement, and taught you good sense, I will remember those agreements which I made with you long ago when you were still a child; and thus He calls the time of the sojourn in the desert. "And I will establish my covenant, an everlasting covenant." Not that of the law, but that of grace; not that through 81.956 Moses, but that through the apostles; for the one is temporary, but the other is eternal. And this He also promised to do through Jeremiah the prophet. For I will make, He says, a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah, not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, and I rejected them; but I will make a new covenant with them, putting my laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will write them." This is the covenant He also promises here. 61. And you will remember, He says, your ways, and you will be disgraced when you receive your sisters, your elder sisters, with your younger sisters. For by the punishment coming to a perception of your own ways, and seeing the dishonor that surrounds you, you will recognize your own Master; and you will see these your sisters, with you enjoying this covenant, or rather yourself with them obtaining it. "For I will give, He says, them to you for building up, and not from your covenant." For not they through you, but you from them will reap the benefit, not of this covenant, according to which you are now governed, this fellowship being worked, but of the eternal one to be given later; He alludes through Sodom, and Samaria, to the piety of all the nations and of the Jews that will be at the same time, and the faith in one God administered by the New Covenant. 62. And I will raise up, He says, my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. For first to the Jews

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ἀδελφή σου Σόδομα, καὶ αἱ θυγατέ ρες αὐτῆς ἀποκατασταθήσονται, καθὼς ἦσαν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς· καὶ σὺ, καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες σου ἀποκατασταθήσεσθε, καθὼς ἦτε ἀπ' ἀρχῆς. - Ἀποκατάστασιν ἐνταῦθα οὐ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ὠνόμασε· τὸ γὰρ μελετητι κὸν ἐπὶ Σοδόμων πάλιν τὸ ἰδίωμα τῆς Γραφῆς πρόσ κειται. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Ὥσπερ τὰ Σόδομα, λαμπρὰ ὄντα καὶ ὑπὸ πλείστων οἰκούμενα, εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον μετέθηκα σχῆμα, καὶ πεποίηκα παν τελῶς ἀοίκητα, ὁποῖα ἦν πρὶν οἰκισθῆναι· οὕτω καὶ σοῦ πᾶσαν ἀφελόμενος τὴν εὐπρέπειαν, εἰς τὸ πρότερον εἶδος ἐπανελθεῖν παρασκευάσω. νʹ, νζʹ. Καὶ εἰ μὴ ἦν Σόδομα ἡ ἀδελφή σου εἰς ἀκοὴν ἐν τῷ στόματί σου, ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ὑπερηφανείας σου. Πρὸ τοῦ ἀποκαλυφθῆναι τὰς κακίας σου, ὃν τρόπον νῦν ὄνειδος εἶ σὺ θυγα τέρων Συρίας, καὶ πάντων τῶν κύκλῳ σου, καὶ θυγατέρων ἀλλοφύλων τῶν περιεχουσῶν σε κύ κλῳ. Εἰ μὴ ἐμεμαθήκεις τῶν Σοδόμων, φησὶ, τὴν τιμωρίαν, καὶ περιεφέρετο ἐν τῷ στόματί σου ἡ ἐκείνων πανωλεθρία, ὃν τρόπον νῦν ἡ σὴ πολιορ κία ἐν ταῖς τῆς Συρίας καὶ Παλαιστίνης πόλεσι, τί πλέον ἂν εἰργάσω κακόν; Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ ἐκείνων ὤνησέ σε παράδειγμα, ἀλλ' εἰδυῖα τά τε ὑπ' αὐτῶν τολμηθέντα, τά τε ἐπενεχθέντα αὐτοῖς κακὰ, οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐπέμεινας παρανομοῦσα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο νηʹ, νθʹ. Τὰς ἀσεβείας σου, καὶ τὰς ἀνομίας σου σὺ κόμισαι αὐτὰς, λέγει Κύριος. Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῖ Κύριος· Καὶ ποιήσω ἐν σοὶ, καθὼς ἐποίησας, ὡς ἠτίμωσας τὴν ἀρὰν, τοῦ παρα βῆναι τὴν διαθήκην μου. Εἶχεν ὁ νόμος ἀρὰν τοῖς παραβαίνουσιν αὐτὸν ἑπομένην· ἐκέλευσε δὲ ταύτην τὰς ἓξ φυλὰς ἐν τῷ ὄρει τῷ Γηβὰλ ἑστῶσας διεξιέναι, καὶ πάντα τὸν λαὸν ἐπάγειν Ἀμὴν, οἷον ὑπογράφοντας, καὶ συντιθεμένους τῇ τοῦ νόμου ἀρᾷ. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν, φησὶν, οὐδὲ τὴν ἀρὰν ἐφοβήθης, ἀλλ' ἀδεῶς τὴν ἐμὴν παρέβης διαθήκην, δέξαι τῶν σπερμάτων τὰ δράγματα. Εἶτα ὑπισχνεῖται καὶ τὰ μετὰ τὴν τιμωρίαν ἀγαθά. ξʹ. Καὶ μνησθήσομαι ἐγὼ τῆς διαθήκης μου τῆς μετὰ σοῦ ἐν ἡμέραις νηπιότητός σου· καὶ στήσω σοι τὴν διαθήκην μου αἰώνιον. Σὺ μὲν γὰρ, φησὶ, τὰς πρὸς ἐμὲ συνθήκας ἐπάτησας, ἐμὲ δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦτο πείσει παντελῶς σε καταλιπεῖν, ἀλλὰ τῇ παιδείᾳ σε σωφρονίσας, καὶ διδάξας εὐγνωμοσύ νην, τῶν συνθηκῶν ἐκείνων ἀναμνησθήσομαι, ἃς πρὸς σὲ πάλαι ἐποιησάμην ἔτι νηπίαν οὖσαν· οὕτω δὲ καλεῖ τὸν χρόνον τῆς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ διαγωγῆς. "Καὶ στήσω τὴν διαθήκην μου, διαθήκην αἰώνιον." Οὐ τὴν τοῦ νόμου, ἀλλὰ τὴν τῆς χάριτος· οὐ τὴν διὰ 81.956 τοῦ Μωσέως, ἀλλὰ τὴν διὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἔχει τὸ πρόσκαιρον, ἡ δὲ τὸ αἰώνιον. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ διὰ Ἱερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου ποιήσειν ὑπέσχετο. ∆ιαθήσομαι γὰρ, φησὶ, τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ Ἰούδα διαθήκην καινὴν, οὐ κατὰ τὴν διαθήκην, ἣν διεθέμην τοῖς πατράσιν αὐτῶν, ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἐπιλα βομένου μου τῆς χειρὸς αὐτῶν ἐξαγαγεῖν αὐτοὺς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου, ὅτι αὐτοὶ οὐκ ἐνέμειναν ἐν τῇ δια θήκῃ μου, καὶ ἐγὼ ἀπωσάμην αὐτούς· ἀλλὰ δια θήσομαι αὐτοῖς διαθήκην καινὴν, διδοὺς νόμους μου εἰς διάνοιαν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς καρδίας αὐτῶν γράψω αὐτούς." Ταύτην κἀνταῦθα ὑπισχνεῖται τὴν διαθήκην. ξαʹ. Καὶ μνησθήσῃ, φησὶ, τῶν ὁδῶν σου, καὶ ἐξατιμωθήσῃ ἐν τῷ ἀναλαμβάνειν σε τὰς ἀδελφάς σου, τὰς πρεσβυτέρας σου, σὺν ταῖς νεωτέραις σου. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τῆς τιμωρίας εἰς αἴσθη σιν ἐρχομένη τῶν οἰκείων ὁδῶν, καὶ τὴν περικειμέ νην σοι ἀτιμίαν ὁρῶσα, τὸν οἰκεῖον ἐπιγνώσῃ ∆ε σπότην· ὄψῃ δὲ καὶ ταύτας τὰς ἀδελφάς σου, σὺν σοὶ ταύτης ἀπολαυούσας τῆς διαθήκης, μᾶλλον δὲ σαυτὴν μετ' ἐκείνων τυγχάνουσαν. "∆ώσω γὰρ, φη σὶν, αὐτάς σοι εἰς οἰκοδομὴν, καὶ οὐκ ἐκ διαθή κης σου." Οὐ γὰρ ἐκεῖναι διὰ σοῦ, ἀλλὰ σὺ ἐξ αὐτῶν καρπώσῃ τὴν ὠφέλειαν, οὐ ταύτης τῆς δια θήκης, καθ' ἣν νῦν πολιτεύῃ, τὴν κοινωνίαν ταύ την ἐργαζομένης, ἀλλὰ τῆς αἰωνίου τῆς ὕστερον δο θησομένης· αἰνίττεται διὰ τῶν Σοδόμων, καὶ τῆς Σαμαρείας, τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν ἁπάντων καὶ τῶν Ἰουδαίων κατὰ ταυτὸν ἐσομένην εὐσέβειαν, καὶ τὴν εἰς ἕνα Θεὸν πίστιν ἐκ τῆς Νέας πρυτανευομένην ∆ιαθήκης. ξβʹ. Καὶ ἀναστήσω, φησὶν, ἐγὼ τὴν διαθήκην μου μετὰ σοῦ, καὶ ἐπιγνώσῃ, ὅτι ἐγὼ Κύριος. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ Ἰουδαίοις