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they will look upon the Holy One of Israel. For having learned by experience the weakness of idols, they call upon the God of all for an alliance. 8And they will not be trusting in their altars nor |124 a| in the works of their own hands, which their fingers made, and they will no longer look upon the trees nor their abominations. They will learn precisely that some are lifeless plants, and others are man-made idols, having gleaned their substance from matter and their form from art. Then he foretells the desolation of the cities and compares it to the ancient one which they themselves brought upon the Amorites and Hivites when they were freed from the slavery of the Egyptians. For just as, he says, you, having destroyed those nations, divided their cities among yourselves, so now that you have become captives of the spear, others will inhabit these cities; and those called Samaritans inhabited them. And he teaches the reason for this: 10Because you forsook the God your savior and were not mindful of the Lord your God. The ungrateful mind will beget misfortunes for you. For this reason you will plant a faithless plant and a faithless seed. He has changed the tense and instead of the past he has put the future. Since, he says, you were ungrateful to your benefactor, you planted faithlessness and sowed impiety. But you will reap fruits corresponding to the plants and the seeds. For he added this: 11But on the day you plant, you will go astray; and in the morning, if you sow, it will blossom for a harvest; and on whatever day you reap, you will inherit, and as a father of a man he will give an inheritance to his sons. For delusion is the cause of such sowing, and the sowing brings forth the harvest; and such a harvest is the fruit of the wicked husbandmen, reserved not only for them but also for their sons. 12Woe to the multitude of many nations. He necessarily shows the fruits of the wicked husbandry and places a lament before the prophecy and—so that I do not lengthen my discourse by expanding on what has been clearly stated—he compares the multitude of the enemies to a surging sea and their companies to the waves, but those who are warred against to the finest dust, which the wheel of a chariot has pulverized and a strong wind has scattered; and he says that the dust of the chaff suffers this same thing from the wind. To these things are similar the words spoken by the blessed David: “Not so the wicked, not so, but rather like the chaff which the wind casts from the face of the earth.” Having foretold these things to the ten tribes and to their helpers, the Damascenes, he transfers the discourse to Judea and says: 14This is the portion of those who plundered you and the inheritance of those who inherited you. And we have already said that these, having come against them, both shot down many myriads of them and led them away captive. 181Woe to the land of the wings of ships, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. The king of Damascus, fearing the attack of the enemies, called upon the Egyptians and Ethiopians for an alliance; and desiring to obtain this quickly, he sent the ambassadors by sea. However, he called the ships "wings," since the people dwelling in the land, wishing to accomplish their present needs quickly, using the ships as if they were wings, traverse a long journey very swiftly. 2The one sending hostages by sea to all the nations, and papyrus letters upon the water. Symmachus and Theodotion translated "byblinas" as "papyrinas." The name signifies paper; for this is manufactured from papyrus. And he called the ambassadors sent to the Egyptians and Ethiopians "hostages"; for thus Aquila has it: “the one sending ambassadors by sea.” For swift messengers will go to a lofty and foreign nation, a harsh people, beyond which is a nation without hope and trampled down. Through these things he hinted at the weakness of the Egyptians. He called this nation harsh and lofty, signifying its severity against its subjects, but without hope as being unable to provide any hope of salvation to those who flee to it for refuge; and trampled down signifies that which is easily subdued and easily captured. This

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ἅγιον τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐμβλέψονται. Τῇ πείρᾳ γὰρ μεμαθηκότες τὴν τῶν εἰδώλων ἀσθένειαν τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεὸν εἰς συμμαχίαν καλοῦσιν. 8Καὶ οὐ μὴ πεποι θότες ὦσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς βωμοῖς οὐδὲ |124 a| ἐπὶ τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν χειρῶν αὐτῶν, ἃ ἐποίησαν οἱ δάκτυλοι αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐκέτι ὄψονται τὰ δένδρα οὐδὲ τὰ βδελύγματα αὐτῶν. Ἀκριβῶς μαθήσονται ὡς τὰ μέν ἐστιν ἄψυχα φυτά, τὰ δὲ χειροποίητα εἴδωλα ἐκ μὲν τῆς ὕλης τὴν οὐσίαν ἐκ δὲ τῆς τέχνης τὸ εἶδος ἠρανισμένα. Εἶτα προλέγει τὴν τῶν πόλεων ἐρημίαν καὶ παραβάλλει ταύτην τῇ παλαιᾷ ἣν ἐπήγαγον αὐτοὶ τοῖς Ἀμορραίοις καὶ Εὐαίοις τῆς Αἰγυπτίων ἀπαλλαγέντες δουλείας. Καθάπερ γάρ φησιν ὑμεῖς ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἔθνη καταλύσαντες τὰς ἐκείνων διενείμασθε πόλεις, οὕτω νῦν δορυαλώτων ὑμῶν γενομένων ἄλλοι ταύτας οἰκήσουσιν· ᾤκησαν δὲ αὐτὰς οἱ καλούμενοι Σαμαρῖται. Καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τούτου διδάσκει· 10∆ιότι κατέλιπας τὸν θεὸν τὸν σωτῆρά σου καὶ κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου οὐκ ἐμνήσθης. Ἡ ἀχάριστος γνώμη τὰς συμφοράς σοι γεννήσει. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο φυτεύσεις φύτευμα ἄπιστον καὶ σπέρμα ἄπιστον. Τὸν χρόνον ἐνήλλαξε καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ παρεληλυθότος τὸν μέλλοντα τέθεικεν. Ἐπειδὴ ἀγνώμων φησὶ περὶ τὸν εὐεργέτην ἐγένου, τὴν ἀπιστίαν ἐφύτευσας καὶ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἔσπειρας. Ἀλλὰ συμβαίνοντας τοῖς φυτοῖς καὶ τοῖς σπέρμασι δρέψῃ καρπούς. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπήγαγεν· 11Τῇ δὲ ἡμέρᾳ ᾗ ἐὰν φυτεύσῃς πλανηθήσῃ· τὸ δὲ πρωὶ ἐὰν σπείρῃς, ἀνθήσει εἰς ἀμητόν· καὶ ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ θερίσῃς, κληρώσῃ, καὶ ὡς πατὴρ ἀνθρώπου κληρώσει τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ πλάνη τῆς τοιαύτης αἰτία σπορᾶς, ἡ δὲ σπορὰ τὸν ἀμητὸν προξενεῖ· ὁ δὲ τοιοῦτος ἀμητὸς καρπός ἐστι τῶν πονηρῶν γεωργῶν, οὐ μόνον αὐτοῖς ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς φυλαττόμενος. 12Οὐαὶ πλῆθος ἐθνῶν πολλῶν. Ἀναγκαίως δείκνυσι τοὺς τῆς κακῆς γεωργίας καρποὺς καὶ προτίθησι τῆς προρρήσεως θρῆνον καὶ-ἵνα μὴ καὶ τὰ σαφῶς εἰρημένα πλατύνων μηκύνω- ἀπεικάζει θαλάττῃ κυμαινούσῃ τῶν πολεμίων τὸ πλῆθος καὶ τοὺς ἐκείνων λόχους τοῖς κύμασιν, αὐτοὺς δὲ τοὺς πολεμουμένους κόνει λεπτοτάτῃ, ἣν τροχὸς ἁμάξης ἐλέπτυνε καὶ σφοδρὸς ἐσκέδασεν ἄνεμος· ταὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ τοῦ ἀχύρου τὸν χοῦν πάσχειν ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος λέγει. Τούτοις ἔοικε τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ μακαρίου ∆αυὶδ εἰρημένα· «Οὐχ οὕτως οἱ ἀσεβεῖς, οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἢ ὡσεὶ χνοῦς, ὃν ἐκρίπτει ὁ ἄνεμος ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς γῆς.» Ταῦτα ταῖς δέκα φυλαῖς καὶ τοῖς τούτων ἐπικούροις προαγορεύσας ∆αμασκηνοῖς, πρὸς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν μεταφέρει τὸν λόγον καί φησιν· 14Αὕτη ἡ μερὶς τῶν ὑμᾶς προνομευσάντων καὶ κληρονομία τῶν ὑμᾶς κληρονομησάντων. Προειρήκαμεν δὲ ἤδη ὡς πολλὰς αὐτῶν μυριάδας οὗτοι κατὰ ταὐτὸν γενόμενοι καὶ κατηκόντισαν καὶ αἰχμαλώτους ἀπήγαγον. 181Οὐαὶ γῆς πλοίων πτέρυγες ἐπέκεινα ποταμῶν Αἰθιοπίας. Ὁ τῆς ∆αμασκοῦ βασιλ εὺς δείσας τῶν πολεμίων τὴν προσβολὴν Αἰγυπτίους καὶ Αἰθίοπας εἰς συμμαχίαν ἐκά λεσεν· ὀξέως δὲ ταύτης τυχεῖν ἐφιέμενος διὰ θαλάττης τοὺς πρέσβεις ἀπέστειλεν. Πτέρυγας μέντοι τὰ πλοῖα ἐκάλεσεν, ἐπειδήπερ οἱ ἐν τῇ γῇ κατοικοῦντες ἄνθρωποι, ταχέως κατορθῶσαι τὰς προ κει μένας βουλόμενοι χρείας, καθάπερ τισὶ πτεροῖς κεχρημένοι τοῖς πλοίοις τάχιστα καὶ μακρὰν ὁδὸν ἐξανύουσιν. 2Ὁ ἀποστέλλων πρὸς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐν θαλάσσῃ ὅμηρα καὶ ἐπιστολὰς βυβλίνας ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος. Τὰς βυβλίνας «παπυρίνας» ὁ Σύμμαχος καὶ ὁ Θεοδοτίων ἡρμήνευσαν. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ τοὔνομα τὸν χάρτην· ἀπὸ παπύρου γὰρ οὗτος κατα σ κευά ζεται. Ὅ μηρα δὲ τοὺς πρέσβεις ἐκάλεσε τοὺς ἀποσταλέντας πρὸς Αἰγυπτ ίους καὶ Αἰθίο πας· οὕτω γὰρ ὁ Ἀκύλας· «ὁ ἀποστέλλων ἐν θαλάσσῃ πρεσβευτάς». Πορεύσονται γὰρ ἄγγελοι κοῦφοι πρὸς ἔθνος μετέωρον καὶ ξένον, λαὸν χαλεπόν, οὗ ἐπέκεινα ἔθνος ἀνέλπιστον καὶ καταπεπατημένον. Τὸ ἀσθενὲς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων διὰ τούτων ᾐνίξατο. Χαλεπὸν μὲν καὶ μετέωρον τοῦτο τὸ ἔθνος ἐκάλεσε τὴν κατὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων σημαίνων βαρύτητα, ἀνέλπιστον δὲ ὡ ς μηδεμίαν ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας τοῖς κατα φεύγουσι παρέχειν δυνάμενον· τὸ δὲ καταπεπατημένον σημαίνει τὸ εὐχεί ρωτον καὶ εὐάλωτον. Τοῦτο