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a people not chastened by the prophetic words; wherefore I raised up the Assyrians against it as with my rod, delivering it into the hands of the Assyrians, so that through them the wrath and anger, which they drew upon themselves, might come upon them. I, therefore, sent my wrath through the Assyrians against the lawless nation, which was indeed considered to be my people, and I permitted them to make war and to despoil and to plunder it and to tear down all its cities as ground and for them to turn to dust. But the Assyrian, having received authority from me, did not think so, but was exalted in his reasoning as if he had overcome my people by his own power. Then, not being content with the siege of these, he threatens to pursue countless other nations, as if he had prevailed over the stronger and the one dedicated to God. Wherefore, when those who had become subject to him were admiring him and saying, "You alone are ruler," he answers them, saying, "Do not yet call me ruler or lord, since I have not yet taken all the lands everywhere, for neither the region above Babylon nor Calneh, where the tower was built at the time of the confusion of tongues, have I made subject to me. But these are small and very insignificant, which I have for the time overcome, for for the time being I have prevailed over Arabia and Damascus and Samaria, but just as I took these, so also will I take all the dominions." When the Assyrians had boasted in such a way, the prophetic word rightly directs the present things to them and to their ruler, saying, "Woe to the Assyrians," because they did not understand that my wrath against the transgressors gave them the authority for so great a dominion. But they, not considering this, supposed that they had conquered the nations by their own power. And these things are concerning them, but what follows God himself threatens against Jerusalem, saying, Wail, carved images in Jerusalem; for in the way that I acted toward Samaria and its man-made things, so will I act toward Jerusalem and its idols. And how, during the reign of Ahaz and in the times after these, the people of Judah, so-called, practiced idolatry in Jerusalem itself, the writing of the Books of Kings teaches. The word, therefore, threatens that Jerusalem will suffer the same things as Samaria, and it foretells these things, summoning those who hear to conversion and repentance, and chastening them with the fear of the example; for not the Assyrian, it says, did these things against Samaria, but I, God, because of the impiety of its inhabitants. Therefore, according to the principle of justice, it is likely that those in Jerusalem will also be delivered over to the same siege, as they are engaged in kindred things to those who suffered the aforementioned. It should be known that up to this point came Origen's eleventh book of commentaries on the prophet. 1.59 The word, having first taught of the capture of Samaria which happened at the hands of the Assyrians and the threats against the Assyrians, and having prophesied that Jerusalem would also suffer the same things on account of similar idolatries, consequently through the present words teaches that for a time the Assyrians and their ruler, even if they have uttered such insolent things as have been previously shown, having made Samaria and Damascus subject, nevertheless will have their allowance of time until a certain season, after which their dominion will no longer hold together, their long and many-yeared kingdom being completely overthrown. And what this season might be, it clarifies, saying, And it shall be when the Lord has finished doing all things on mount Zion and on Jerusalem; for when the Lord has finished and brought to completion doing all the things which he has determined. And he has determined the things borne in the prophecies and the things written in the holy scriptures concerning the events in those places, at that time, he says, he will bring it upon the great mind, or according to Symmachus, I will visit, he says, upon the fruit of the gladness of the heart of the king of the Assyrians and upon the boastfulness of the

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μὴ διὰ τῶν προφητικῶν λόγων σωφρονισθέντα λαόν· διόπερ ἤγειρα κατ' αὐτοῦ τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους ὥσπερ ἐμῇ ῥάβδῳ, παραδιδοὺς αὐτὸν ταῖς τῶν Ἀσσυρίων χερσίν, ὅπως δι' αὐτῶν ἡ ὀργὴ καὶ ὁ θυμός, ὃν ἐπεσπάσαντο ἑαυτοῖς, μετέλθοι αὐτούς. ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ ὀργὴν διὰ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων εἰς τὸ ἄνομον ἔθνος ἀπέστελλον, ὃ δὴ ἐνομίζετο εἶναι ἐμὸς λαός, συνεχώρησά τε καὶ πολεμῆσαι καὶ σκυλεῦσαι καὶ διαρπάσαι αὐτὸν καὶ τὰς πόλεις αὐτοῦ πάσας καθελεῖν ὡς ἔδαφος αὐτὰς καὶ εἰς κονιορτὸν χωρῆσαι. Ὁ δὲ Ἀσσύριος τὴν παρ' ἐμοῦ λαβὼν ἐξουσίαν οὐχ οὕτως ἐνεθυμήθη, ἀλλ' ὑπερήρθη τῷ λογισμῷ ὡς οἰκείᾳ δυνάμει τοῦ ἐμοῦ περιγενόμενος λαοῦ. εἶτα μὴ ἀρκεσθεὶς τῇ τούτων πολιορκίᾳ μυρία ἄλλα ἔθνη μετέρχεσθαι ἀπειλεῖ, ὡς ἂν τοῦ κρείττονος καὶ θεῷ ἀνακειμένου κρατήσας. διὸ δὴ τῶν ὑποχειρίων αὐτῷ γενομένων θαυμαζόντων αὐτὸν καὶ λεγόντων· Σὺ μόνος εἶ ἄρχων, ἀποκρίνεται πρὸς αὐτοὺς λέγων· μήπω με καλεῖτε ἄρχοντα μηδὲ κύριον, ἐπεὶ μηδέπω πάσας εἴληφα τὰς ἁπανταχοῦ χώρας, οὔτε γὰρ τὴν ἐπάνω Βαβυλῶνος οὔτε τὴν Χαλάνην, οὗ ὁ πύργος ᾠκοδομήθη κατὰ τὸν χρόνον τῆς διασπορᾶς τῶν γλωσσῶν, ὑποχειρίους πεποίημαι. μικραὶ δὲ αὗται καὶ βραχεῖαι σφόδρα τυγχάνουσιν, ὧν τέως περιγέγονα, Ἀραβίας γὰρ καὶ ∆αμασκοῦ καὶ Σαμαρείας τέως κεκράτηκα, πλὴν ἀλλ' ὃν τρόπον ταύτας ἔλαβον, οὕτω καὶ πάσας τὰς ἀρχὰς λήψομαι. τοιαῦτα καταλαζονευσαμένων τῶν Ἀσσυρίων εἰκότως ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος τὰ παρόντα πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀποτείνεται καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἄρχοντα αὐτῶν λέγων· «Οὐαὶ Ἀσσυρίοις», ὅτι οὐ συνῆκαν ὡς ἄρα ἡ ἐμὴ ὀργὴ ἡ κατὰ τῶν πλημμελούντων τὴν ἐξουσίαν αὐτοῖς τῆς τοσαύτης ἀρχῆς δέδωκεν. οἱ δὲ μὴ λογισάμενοι τοῦτο τῇ ἑαυτῶν δυνάμει τῶν ἐθνῶν κεκρατηκέναι ὑπέλαβον. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ τούτων, τὰ δ' ἑξῆς ἐπιφερόμενα αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς κατὰ τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἀπειλεῖ λέγων· ὀλολύξατε, γλυπτὰ ἐν Ἰερουσαλήμ· ὃν τρόπον γὰρ ἐποίησα τῇ Σαμαρείᾳ καὶ τοῖς χειροποιήτοις αὐτῆς, οὕτως ποιήσω τῇ Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτῆς. ὅπως δὲ κατὰ τὴν βασιλείαν Ἄχαζ καὶ ἐν τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα χρόνοις ἐπ' αὐτῆς τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ εἰδωλολάτρουν οἱ τοῦ καλουμένου λαοῦ Ἰούδα ἡ γραφὴ τῶν Βασιλειῶν διδάσκει. τὰ ἴσα τοίνυν τῇ Σαμαρείᾳ καὶ τῇ Ἰερουσαλὴμ πείσεσθαι ὁ λόγος ἀπειλεῖ, προλέγει τε ταῦτα προκαλούμενος εἰς ἐπιστροφὴν καὶ μετάνοιαν τοὺς ἀκούοντας, φόβῳ τε τοῦ παραδείγματος σωφρονίζων αὐτούς· οὐ γὰρ ὁ Ἀσσύριός φησιν ἐποίησεν τὰ κατὰ τῆς Σαμαρείας, ἀλλ' ἐγὼ ὁ θεὸς διὰ τὰς τῶν οἰκητόρων ἀσεβείας. οὐκοῦν κατὰ τὸν τοῦ δικαίου λόγον καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῇ Ἰερουσαλὴμ εἰκὸς παραδοθήσεσθαι τῇ ἴσῃ πολιορκίᾳ, ὡς ἂν τὰ ἀδελφὰ μεταχειριζομένους τοῖς τὰ προλεχθέντα πεπονθόσιν. ἰστέον δ' ὡς μέχρι τούτων Ὠριγένει προῆλθεν ὁ ἑνδέκατος τῶν εἰς τὸν προφήτην ἐξηγητικῶν τόμος. 1.59 Προδιδάξας ὁ λόγος τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς Σαμαρείας τὴν ὑπὸ Ἀσσυρίων γενομένην καὶ τὰς κατὰ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἀπειλάς, τὰ ἴσα τε πείσεσθαι καὶ τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ διὰ τὰς ὁμοίας εἰδωλολατρίας θεσπίσας, ἀκολούθως διὰ τῶν προκειμένων διδάσκει, ὅτι τέως μὲν οἱ Ἀσσύριοι καὶ ὁ τούτων ἄρχων, εἰ καὶ τοιαῦτα ὁποῖα προδεδήλωται ἀπηυθαδίσαντο τὴν Σαμάρειαν ὑποχείριον πεποιημένοι καὶ τὴν ∆αμασκόν, ὅμως ἕξουσι τὸ ἐνδόσιμον τοῦ χρόνου μέχρι τινὸς καιροῦ, μεθ' ὃν οὐκέτι συστήσεται αὐτῶν ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς μακρᾶς καὶ πολυετοῦς αὐτῶν βασιλείας εἰς τὸ παντελὲς καταλυθησομένης. τίς δ' ἂν γένοιτο οὗτος ὁ καιρός, διασαφεῖ λέγων· καὶ ἔσται ὅταν συντελέσῃ κύριος πάντα ποιῶν ἐν τῷ ὄρει Σιὼν καὶ ἐπὶ Ἰερουσαλήμ· ὅταν γὰρ συντελέσῃ καὶ ἐπὶ πέρας ἀγάγῃ πάντα ποιῶν ὁ κύριος ὅσα ὥρισεν. ὥρισε δὲ τὰ ἐν ταῖς προφητείαις φερόμενα καὶ τὰ ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς γραφαῖς γεγραμμένα περὶ τῶν συμβεβηκότων τοῖς τόποις, τὸ τηνικαῦτά φησιν ἐπάξειν ἐπὶ τὸν νοῦν τὸν μέγαν, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· ἐπισκέψομαί φησιν ἐπὶ τὸν καρπὸν τῆς εὐφροσύνης τῆς καρδίας βασιλέως Ἀσσυρίων καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ καύχημα τοῦ