54

which the lawless one has done;" since some of the pious also stumble, but rising up again they travel that same road, and by using repentance, they obtain salvation; but those who completely abandon it reap the fruits of the opposite road. 25. And you said, he says, The way of the Lord is not right; hear now, O house of Israel, Is not my way right? Is it not your way that is not right? Seeing, he says, this just verdict of mine, do you dare to accuse it of injustice? And yet you ought to have made the accusation against yourselves, that seeing such righteousness in the judge, you choose injustice. Then he will briefly relate the same things again: both the righteous man who turns to the opposite will be delivered to the death of sin, and the 81.980 sinner who uses repentance again and chooses to walk in all virtue will reap life from his repentance. 29. And seeing these things, he says, the house of Israel says: The way of the Lord is not straight; is not the way of the Lord straight, O house of Israel? Is it not your way that is not straight? The facts themselves, he says, cry out, that my judgments are right and just, but your choice is full of lawlessness. 30. Therefore I will judge each of you according to his way, O house of Israel, says the Lord Adonai. Having thus threatened, and delivered the just verdict, he turns his discourse to exhortation. 31. Be converted and turn from all your impieties, and they shall not be a punishment of iniquity for you. Cast away from yourselves all your impieties, which you have committed against me, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit, and why will you die, O house of Israel. Leave, he says, the way of impiety, and take up another mind, and incline to my laws, that you may not reap death from wickedness. For he called a new heart and a new spirit, the turning of the soul to better things; then he also lays bare his own goodness. 32. For I do not desire the death of the one who is dying, says the Lord Adonai, as much as that he turn from his way, and that his soul live, says the Lord Adonai; turn and you shall live. Knowing, he says, that I do not desire the punishment, but the repentance of the sinner, make use of repentance and receive the fruits of life. This remedy is also fitting for you. "For he is not the God of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, and he is Lord of all, rich to all who call upon him." Let us therefore abandon the way of wickedness, whose end is ruin and destruction, and let us learn the divine journey, which leads up to heaven, and which gives us confidence before God; which may we obtain in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom glory is fitting to the Father, with the holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

VOLUME 7. CHAPTER 19. 1, 2. And you, take up a lamentation for the ruler of Israel. And you shall say: What is your mother a lioness?

81.981 Foretell, he says, the things that will happen to the king of Israel, for which you lament him. But by king of Israel he does not mean the one sitting in Samaria; for that kingdom was long ago destroyed; but the one in Jerusalem. For the king of Judah ruled over all who were left at that time; and the fourth book of Kings and the second book of Chronicles teach us this. He called Jerusalem the mother of the king; for from there the kings originated; and he calls her a lioness, not only because of the royal nature of the city, but also because of the boldness of its character. "She fed in the midst of lions." She emulated, he says, the manner of the surrounding kings. "Of those in the midst of lions he multiplied his cubs." But it signifies the events after Josiah; for four kings in a short time of Jerusalem

54

ἃς ἐποίησεν ὁ ἄνομος·" ἐπεὶ προσπταίουσι καὶ τῶν εὐσεβῶν τινες, ἀλλ' ἀνιστάμενοι πάλιν αὐτὴν ὁδεύουσι τὴν ὁδὸν, καὶ τῇ μετανοίᾳ χρώμενοι, τῆς σωτηρίας τυγχάνουσιν· οἱ δὲ παντελῶς ταύτης ἀφιστάμενοι, τοὺς τῆς ἐναν τίας ὁδοῦ τρυγῶσι καρπούς. κεʹ. Καὶ εἴπατε, φησὶν, Οὐ κατευθύνει ἡ ὁδὸς Κυρίου· ἀκούσατε δὴ οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ, Μὴ ἡ ὁδός μου οὐ κατευθύνει; οὐχὶ ἡ ὁδὸς ὑμῶν οὐ κατευ θύνει; Ταύτην μου, φησὶ, τὴν δικαίαν ψῆφον ὁρῶν τες ἀδικίαν τολμᾶτε κατηγορεῖν; καὶ μὴν ἔδει ὑμᾶς καθ' ὑμῶν αὐτῶν τὴν κατηγορίαν ποιεῖσθαι, ὅτι τοιαύτην ὁρῶντες παρὰ τῷ κριτῇ δικαιοσύνην προαι ρεῖσθε τὴν ἀδικίαν. εἶτα τὰ αὐτὰ πάλιν συντόμως διέξεισι καὶ ὁ δίκαιος εἰς τὴν ἐναντίαν τρεπόμενος τῷ τῆς ἁμαρτίας θανάτῳ παραδοθήσεται, καὶ ὁ 81.980 ἁμαρτωλὸς πάλιν μετανοίᾳ χρώμενος, καὶ διὰ πάσης ὁδεύειν τῆς ἀρετῆς προαιρούμενος ζωὴν ἐκ τῆς με ταμελείας καρπώσεται. κθʹ. Ταῦτα δὲ, φησὶν, ὁρῶν ὁ οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ λέγει· Οὐ κατορθοῖ, ἡ ὁδὸς Κυρίου· μὴ ἡ ὁδὸς Κυρίου οὐ κατορθοῖ, οἶκος Ἰσραήλ; οὐχὶ ἡ ὁδὸς ὑμῶν οὐ κατορθοῖ; Αὐτὰ, φησὶ, βοᾷ τὰ πράγματα, ὅτι αἱ μὲν ἐμαὶ κρίσεις ὀρθαὶ καὶ δίκαιαι, ἡ δὲ ὑμετέρα προαίρεσις παρανομίας μεστή. λʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἕκαστον κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ κρινῶ ὑμᾶς, οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ, λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος. Οὕτως ἀπειλήσας, καὶ τὴν δικαίαν ψῆφον ἐξενεγκὼν ἐπὶ παραίνεσιν τρέπει τὸν λόγον. λαʹ. Ἐπιστράφητε καὶ ἀποστρέψατε ἐκ πασῶν τῶν ἀσεβειῶν ὑμῶν, καὶ οὐκ ἔσονται ὑμῖν εἰς κόλασιν ἀδικίας. Ἀποῤῥίψατε ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν πάσας τὰς ἀσεβείας ὑμῶν, ἃς ἠσεβήσατε εἰς ἐμὲ, καὶ ποιήσατε ἑαυτοῖς καρδίαν καινὴν, καὶ πνεῦμα καινὸν, καὶ ἱνατί ἀποθνήσκετε, οἶκος Ἰσραήλ. Καταλείψατε, φησὶ, τὴν τῆς ἀσεβείας ὁδὸν, καὶ ἑτέραν ἀναδέξασθε γνώμην, καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἐμοὺς ῥέ ψατε νόμους, ἵνα μὴ θάνατον ἐκ τῆς πονηρίας καρ πώσησθε. Καρδίαν γὰρ καινὴν καὶ πνεῦμα και νὸν, τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ ἀμείνω τῆς ψυχῆς τροπὴν προσ ηγόρευσεν· εἶτα καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ἀγαθότητα γυμνοῖ. λβʹ. ∆ιότι οὐ βούλομαι τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἀπο θνήσκοντος, λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος, ὡς τὸ ἐπι στρέψαι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ αὑτοῦ, καὶ ζῇν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ, λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος· ἐπιστρέ ψασθε καὶ ζήσεσθε. Εἰδότες, φησὶν, ὡς οὐ τὴν κόλασιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν μεταμέλειαν τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ ποθῶ, χρήσασθε τῇ μετανοίᾳ καὶ δέξασθε τῆς ζωῆς τοὺς καρπούς. Τοῦτο καὶ ὑμῖν ἁρμόττει τὸ φάρμακον. "Οὐ γὰρ Ἰουδαίων μόνον ὁ Θεὸς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐθνῶν καὶ αὐτὸς Κύριος πάντων, πλουτῶν εἰς πάντας τοὺς ἐπικαλουμένους αὐτόν." Καταλίπωμεν τοίνυν τὴν τῆς κακίας ὁδὸν, ἧς τὸ τέλος ὄλεθρος καὶ ἀπώλεια, καὶ μεταμάθωμεν τὴν θείαν πορείαν, τὴν εἰς οὐ ρανοὺς ἀνάγουσαν, καὶ τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν ἡμῖν παῤῥη σίαν παρέχουσαν· ἧς τύχοιμεν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἡ δόξα πρέπει, σὺν τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΤΟΜΟΣ Ζʹ. ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΙΘʹ. αʹ, βʹ. Καὶ σὺ λάβε θρῆνον ἐπὶ τὸν ἄρχοντα τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Καὶ ἐρεῖς· Τί ἡ μήτηρ

σου λέαινα; 81.981 Τὰ συμβησόμενα, φησὶ, τῷ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ βασιλεῖ, δι' ὧν αὐτὸν θρηνεῖς, προαγόρευσον. Βασιλέα δὲ Ἰσραὴλ οὐ τὸν ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ καθήμενον λέγει· πάλαι γὰρ ἐκείνη κατελύθη ἡ βασιλεία· ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐν τῇ Ἱερου σαλήμ. Πάντων γὰρ τῶν τηνικαῦτα ὑπολειφθέντων ὁ τοῦ Ἰούδα βασιλεὺς ἐβασίλευε· καὶ τοῦτο ἡμᾶς ἡ τετάρτη διδάσκει τῶν Βασιλειῶν, καὶ τῶν Παραλει πομένων ἡ δευτέρα. Μητέρα δὲ τοῦ βασιλέως τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ προσηγόρευσεν· ἐκεῖθεν γὰρ οἱ βασιλεῖς ὡρμῶντο· λέαιναν δὲ αὐτὴν καλεῖ, οὐ διὰ τὸ βασι λικὸν μόνον τῆς πόλεως, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἤθους θρασύτητα. "Ἐν μέσῳ λεόντων ἐνεμήθη." Τῶν κύκλῳ, φησὶ, βασιλέων ἐζήλωσε τὸν τρόπον. "Τῶν μέσῳ λεόντων ἐπλήθυνε σκύμνους αὑτοῦ." Ση μαίνει δὲ τὰ μετὰ τὸν Ἰωσίαν συμβάντα· τέτταρες γὰρ βασιλεῖς ἐν ὀλίγῳ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ