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defending, the Assyrian will flee disgracefully through your land and through your cities, escaping from place to place. But instead of: "For he brings a blow upon you to see the way of Egypt," Symmachus says: "with a rod he will strike you, and his staff he will raise against you because of the way of Egypt." For the Assyrian will do these things to you because of the way of Egypt, which you have traveled, but God, he says, will raise up against him a scourge like the plague of Madian in a place of affliction. Instead of which, Symmachus interpreted it in this way: "And the Lord of hosts will raise up against him a scourge like the plague of Madian that was in Sur of Oreb." The story is found in Moses in Numbers, when "the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Avenge the vengeance of the sons of Israel on the Madianites'," and next Moses said to the people: "'Arm men from among you and set them in array before the Lord against Madian to render vengeance, a thousand from each tribe'," when "he also killed every male and the kings of Madian," among whom was "also Balaam son of Beor." And these things happened in Sur of Oreb; for the desert was called Sur, as the scripture teaches, saying: "Moses led the sons of Israel away from the Red Sea and brought them into the desert of Sur," but the mountain was called Horeb; for it is written: "and the Lord said to Moses, 'Go before the people, take in your hand the rod with which you struck the river, and go. And behold, I stand before you there on the rock in Horeb'." Just as then, therefore, they brought the plague upon Madian, so, he says, will I also do to the Assyrians, and those who are struck by my scourge will return by the way of the sea. And the yoke of the Assyrian will be taken from your shoulder and his fear from you. And you will be free and released from all fear, but the one fleeing will first come to the city of Aggai, then from there he will pass to another place and, having grown weary, he will lay down his gear there. Then he will cross from there to another place, and from there to the city called Saul, then to another place, and so he will disgracefully disappear. But you will be comforted and will find consolation, no longer subject to the Assyrian yoke; wherefore those who are able to comfort are commanded to comfort you from this point on and to do this now. For comfort, he says, today on the way to remain, comfort with the hand, the mountain, the daughter of Zion, and the hills that are in Jerusalem. For so that they not flee but remain and endure the discipline that will come for a short time, comfort, he says, the daughter of Zion, that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem. But observe how "today" is added; for the things said before this about the ruler of the Assyrians were referred to the long times of Nebuchadnezzar, but the present things were said to those who are today, in the time of the prophet Isaiah himself. Wherefore he says: "Comfort today on the way to remain"; for you are to comfort the people not to flee the attack of the Assyrian happening now and today in the time of king Hezekiah, so that he may remain and not flee, having learned what the present Assyrian will suffer. And whom he commands to comfort, he adds next: "the hills that are in Jerusalem"; for he commands those who have ascended and are exalted in soul and in mind according to God to comfort the people; for it is likely that when the plague from God touched the Assyrians, so that "one hundred and eighty-five thousand" of them fell in one night, those who were left with the king himself took to flight through the cities and villages and places named in the prophecy. And how the Assyrian went fleeing by the way of the sea to the way of Egypt, the history has presented, teaching that the Ethiopians rose up against him. Up to this point the prophecy spoken about the Assyrian is described, but what follows is prophesied about God from another beginning. 1.62 Of the Assyrians often

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ὑπερασπίζοντος, φεύξεται ὁ Ἀσσύριος ἀσχημόνως διὰ τῆς ὑμετέρας χώρας καὶ διὰ τῶν ὑμετέρων πόλεων τόπον ἐκ τόπου διαδιδράσκων. ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· πληγὴν γὰρ ἐπάγει ἐπὶ σὲ τοῦ ἰδεῖν ὁδὸν Αἰγύπτου, ὁ Σύμμαχος· ἐν ῥάβδῳ φησὶ πλήξει σε καὶ τὴν βακτηρίαν αὐτοῦ ἐπαρεῖ ἐπὶ σὲ διὰ τὴν ὁδὸν Αἰγύπτου. ταῦτα γὰρ σοὶ ποιήσει ὁ Ἀσσύριος διὰ τὴν ὁδὸν Αἰγύπτου, ἣν ὥδευσας, πλὴν ἐπεγερεῖ αὐτῷ ὁ θεός φησι μάστιγα κατὰ τὴν πληγὴν Μαδιὰμ ἐν τόπῳ θλίψεως. ἀνθ' οὗ ὁ Σύμμαχος τοῦτον ἡρμήνευσε τὸν τρόπον· καὶ ἐξεγερεῖ ἐπ' αὐτὸν κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων μάστιγα κατὰ τὴν πληγὴν Μαδιὰμ τὴν ἐν Σοὺρ Ὠρήβ. κεῖται δὲ ἡ ἱστορία παρὰ Μωσεῖ ἐν τοῖς Ἀριθμοῖς, ὁπηνίκα «ἐλάλησε κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν λέγων Ἐκδίκει τὴν ἐκδίκησιν τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἐκ τῶν Μαδιανιτῶν», καὶ ἑξῆς εἶπε Μωσῆς τῷ λαῷ· «Ἐξοπλίσατε ἐξ ὑμῶν ἄνδρας καὶ παρατάξασθε ἔναντι κυρίου ἐπὶ Μαδιὰμ ἀποδοῦναι ἐκδίκησιν χιλίους ἐκ φυλῆς», ὅτε «καὶ ἀπέκτεινε πᾶν ἀρσενικὸν καὶ τοὺς βασιλεῖς Μαδιάμ», ἐν οἷς ἦν «καὶ Βαλαὰμ υἱὸς Βεώρ». ταῦτα δὲ ἐγίνετο ἐν Σοὺρ Ὠρήβ· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἔρημος ἐκαλεῖτο Σούρ, ὡς ἡ γραφὴ διδάσκει λέγουσα· «ἐξῆρε Μωσῆς τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ θαλάσσης ἐρυθρᾶς καὶ ἦγεν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν ἔρημον Σούρ», τὸ δὲ ὄρος ἐκαλεῖτο Χωρήβ· γέγραπται γάρ· «καὶ εἶπε κύριος πρὸς Μωσῆν Προπορεύου τοῦ λαοῦ, λάβε ἐν τῇ χειρί σου τὴν ῥάβδον, ἐν ᾗ ἐπάταξας τὸν ποταμὸν καὶ πορεύσῃ. καὶ ἰδοὺ ἕστηκα πρὸ τοῦ σὲ ἐκεῖ ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας ἐν Χωρήβ». ὥσπερ οὖν τότε τῇ Μαδιὰμ ἐπήγαγον τὴν πληγήν, οὕτως φησὶ καὶ τοῖς Ἀσσυρίοις ποιήσω, οἱ δὲ πληγέντες ἐν τῇ ἐμῇ μάστιγι ἀποστρέψουσιν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τῇ κατὰ θάλασσαν. καὶ ἀφαιρεθήσεται ὁ ζυγὸς τοῦ Ἀσσυρίου ἀπὸ τοῦ ὤμου σου καὶ ὁ φόβος αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ σοῦ. Καὶ σὺ μὲν ἔσῃ ἐλεύθερος καὶ παντὸς ἀπηλλαγμένος φόβου, ὁ δὲ φεύγων πρότερον μὲν ἥξει εἰς τὴν πόλιν Ἀγγαί, εἶθ' ἐκεῖθεν παρελεύσεται εἰς ἕτερον τόπον καὶ ἀποκαμὼν ἐνταῦθα τὰ σκεύη αὐτοῦ ἀποθήσεται. ἔπειτα διαβήσεται ἐντεῦθεν ἀλλαχοῦ, κἀκεῖθεν εἰς τὴν καλουμένην πόλιν Σαούλ, εἶτα εἰς ἕτερον τόπον, καὶ οὕτως ἀσχημόνως ἀφανὴς ἔσται. Ὑμεῖς δὲ παρακληθήσεσθε καὶ παραμυθίας τεύξεσθε μηκέτι ὑποκείμενοι τῷ ζυγῷ Ἀσσυρίῳ· διὸ προστάττονται οἱ δυνάμενοι παρακαλεῖν καὶ παρακαλεῖσθαι ὑμᾶς ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη τοῦτο ποιεῖν. παρακαλεῖτε γάρ φησι σήμερον ἐν ὁδῷ τοῦ μεῖναι, παρακαλεῖτε τῇ χειρί, τὸ ὄρος, τὴν θυγατέρα Σιών, καὶ οἱ βουνοὶ οἱ ἐν Ἰερουσαλήμ. ὑπὲρ γὰρ τοῦ μὴ φεύγειν ἀλλὰ μένειν καὶ καρτερεῖν τὴν πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐπελευσομένην παιδείαν παρακαλεῖτέ φησι τὴν θυγατέρα Σιών, δηλαδὴ τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας τὴν Ἰερουσαλήμ. ἐπιτήρει δέ, ὅπως πρόσκειται τὸ σήμερον· τὰ μὲν γὰρ πρὸ τούτων λεχθέντα περὶ τοῦ ἄρχοντος τῶν Ἀσσυρίων εἰς μακροὺς ἀνεπέμπετο χρόνους τοὺς ἐπὶ Ναβουχοδονόσορ, τὰ δὲ παρόντα πρὸς τοὺς σήμερον ὄντας κατ' αὐτὸν τὸν προφήτην Ἠσαΐαν ἐλέγετο. διό φησι· παρακαλεῖτε σήμερον ἐν ὁδῷ τοῦ μεῖναι· πρὸς γὰρ τὸ μὴ φεύγειν τὸν λαὸν τὴν νῦν καὶ σήμερον ἐπὶ Ἑζεκίου τοῦ βασιλέως γιγνομένην ἔφοδον τοῦ Ἀσσυρίου παρακαλεῖτε, ὥστε μένειν αὐτὸν καὶ μὴ φεύγειν μαθόντα, ὁποῖα πείσεται ὁ νῦν ἐφεστὼς Ἀσσύριος. τίνας δὲ παρακαλεῖν προστάττει, ἐπιλέγει ἑξῆς· οἱ βουνοὶ οἱ ἐν Ἰερουσαλήμ· τοῖς γὰρ ἐπαναβεβηκόσι καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ τῷ φρονήματι κατὰ θεὸν ἐπηρμένοις τὸν λαὸν παρακαλεῖν ἐγκελεύεται· εἰκὸς γὰρ τῆς ἐκ θεοῦ πληγῆς ἁψαμένης τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ὡς πεσεῖν αὐτῶν «ἑκατὸν ὀγδοήκοντα πέντε χιλιάδας» ἐν μιᾷ νυκτί, τοὺς περιλειφθέντας σὺν αὐτῷ βασιλεῖ φυγῇ κεχρῆσθαι διὰ τῶν κατωνομασμένων ἐν τῇ προφητείᾳ πόλεών τε καὶ κωμῶν καὶ τόπων. ὅπως δὲ τῇ ὁδῷ τῇ κατὰ θάλασσαν εἰς τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν κατ' Αἴγυπτον ὁ Ἀσσύριος διῄει φεύγων, ἡ ἱστορία παρέστησε τοὺς Αἰθίοπας ἐπαναστῆναι αὐτῷ διδάξασα. μέχρι τούτου περιγράφεται ἡ προφητεία ἡ περὶ τοῦ Ἀσσυρίου λεχθεῖσα, τὰ δ' ἑξῆς ἀπὸ ἑτέρας ἀρχῆς περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ θεσπίζεται. 1.62 Τῶν Ἀσσυρίων πολλάκις