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forever; and my eyes and my heart will be there all the days. and you, if you walk before me as David your father walked in holiness and uprightness of heart, 1.164 to do according to all that I commanded him, and you keep my statutes and my commandments, I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I spoke to your father, saying, "a man shall not be cut off from ruling in Israel." but if you and your children turn away from me, and do not keep my commandments, and you go and serve other gods and worship them, I will cut off Israel from the land which I gave them, and this house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight; and Israel will become a ruin and a byword among all the nations. and this house, which is high and great, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss. and they will say, "because they forsook the lord their god and took hold of a foreign god, for this reason the lord has brought this evil upon them." And having built the city to be very great and beautiful, and having made its perimeter forty stades, which is six and a half miles, he made it difficult to capture from all sides. for having enclosed it with three walls and precipitous ravines, he made the whole of it well-watered, so that their gardens were irrigated from the runoff. in addition to these things, he made eight hundred large shields of hammered gold and three hundred spears and many other golden weapons. and indeed also his vessels and basins were all of gold, and silver was not counted in his days. for his ship went to Tarshish and every 1.165 three years it would come, bringing much gold and silver and carved stones and elephants' teeth and apes. and Solomon made gold and silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as sycamore trees in abundance. and his meal for each day was 30 cors of fine flour (and the cor made 30 modii) and 60 cors of ground meal, ten choice calves, eight pasture-fed oxen and one hundred sheep, besides harts and choice and fatted fowl. and concerning his great prudence and wisdom, which he received from God who appeared to him twice, hear what God says to him again: "behold, I have given you a prudent and wise heart; like you, there has been none before you, and after you none like you will arise. and riches and glory and possessions I will give you." and signifying this, the scripture adds, saying, "the lord gave prudence to Solomon, and very great wisdom, and breadth of heart like the sand that is by the sea." therefore it was fitting that he mentioned in comparison also the best wise men of old, and he added the Egyptians as seeming to all to be wise and prudent. for as the Greeks record, Pherecydes the Syrian and Pythagoras the Samian and Anaxagoras the Clazomenian and Plato the Athenian journeyed to them, hoping to learn from them a more accurate theology and natural philosophy. and indeed, speaking about Moses, the divine word said that he was educated in all the wisdom 1.166 of the Egyptians. all these, he says, Solomon surpassed, since he had received the gift of wisdom from God. wherefore he added, "and he was wiser than all men, and he spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were five thousand, and he spoke of the trees from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall, and he spoke of cattle and of creeping things and of birds and of fishes." from which the physician-sophists of the Greeks, having appropriated them and taken their starting points, established their own arts. these King Hezekiah made disappear, since the people, getting the cures for their diseases from them, neglected to ask for healings from God. and he was magnified

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τὸν αἰῶνα· καὶ ἔσονται οἱ ὀφθαλμοί μου ἐκεῖ καὶ ἡ καρδία μου πά σας τὰς ἡμέρας. καὶ σὺ ἐὰν πορευθῇς ἐνώπιόν μου καθὼς ἐπο ρεύθη ∆αβὶδ ὁ πατήρ σου ἐν ὁσιότητι καὶ εὐθύτητι καρδίας, τοῦ 1.164 ποιεῖν κατὰ πάντα ἃ ἐνετειλάμην αὐτῷ, καὶ τὰ προστάγματά μου καὶ τὰς ἐντολάς μου φυλάξεις, ἀναστήσω τὸν θρόνον τῆς βασι λείας σου ἐπὶ Ἰσραὴλ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καθὼς ἐλάλησα τῷ πατρί σου λέγων «οὐκ ἐξαρθήσεται ἀνὴρ ἡγούμενος ἐν Ἰσραήλ.» ἐὰν δὲ ἀποστραφέντες ἀποστραφῆτε ὑμεῖς καὶ τὰ τέκνα ὑμῶν ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ μὴ φυλάξητε τὰς ἐντολάς μου, καὶ πορευθῆτε καὶ δουλεύ σητε θεοῖς ἑτέροις καὶ προσκυνήσητε αὐτοῖς, ἐξαρῶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἧς ἔδωκα αὐτῷ, καὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦτον ὃν ἡγίασα τῷ ὀνόματί μου ἀπορρίψω ἐκ προσώπου μου· καὶ ἔσται Ἰσραὴλ εἰς ἀφανισμὸν καὶ εἰς λάλημα εἰς τὰ ἔθνη πάντα. καὶ ὁ οἶκος οὗτος ὁ ὑψηλὸς καὶ μέγας, ἔσται πᾶς ὁ διαπορευόμενος δι' αὐτοῦ καὶ συριεῖ. καὶ ἐροῦσιν, ἀνθ' ὧν ἐγκατέλιπον κύριον τὸν θεὸν αὐ τῶν καὶ ἀντελάβοντο θεὸν ἀλλότριον, διὰ τοῦτο ἐπήγαγε κύριος τὴν κακίαν ταύτην." Τὴν δὲ πόλιν μεγίστην καὶ περικαλλῆ καταρτίσας, καὶ τὸ περίμετρον αὐτῆς ποιήσας στάδια τεσσαράκοντα, γινόμενα μίλια ἓξ ἥμισυ, δυσάλωτον πάντοθεν ταύτην κατεσκεύασε. περικλεί σας γὰρ αὐτὴν τρισὶ τείχεσι καὶ φάραγξιν ἀπερρωγυίαις, κατάρ ρυτον ὕδασιν ὅλην ἐποίησεν, ὥστε ἐκ τῆς ἀπορροίας τοὺς κήπους αὐτῶν ἀρδεύεσθαι. σὺν τούτοις ἐποίησε θυρεοὺς χρυσοῦς ἐλατοὺς ὀκτακοσίους μεγάλους καὶ δόρατα τριακόσια καὶ ἕτερα ὅπλα χρυσᾶ πλεῖστα. καὶ μέντοι καὶ τὰ σκεύη αὐτοῦ καὶ οἱ λουτῆρες χρυσᾶ πάντα ὑπῆρχον, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἀργύριον λογιζόμενον ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις αὐτοῦ. ὅτι ναῦς αὐτοῦ ἐπορεύετο εἰς Θαρσεῖς καὶ διὰ χρόνων 1.165 τριῶν ἤρχετο, φέρουσα χρυσίον πολὺ καὶ ἀργύριον καὶ λίθους τορευτοὺς καὶ ὀδόντας ἐλεφάντων καὶ πιθήκους. καὶ ἔδωκε Σο λομῶν τὸ χρυσίον καὶ τὸ ἀργύριον ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὡς λίθους, καὶ τὰς κέδρους ὡς συκαμίνους εἰς πλῆθος. τὸ δέ γε ἄριστον αὐτοῦ ἦν καθ' ἡμέραν κόροι σεμιδάλεως λʹ (ὁ δὲ κόρος ἐποίει μόδια λʹ) καὶ κόροι ἀλεύρου κεκοπανισμένου ξʹ, μόσχοι ἐκλεκτοὶ δέκα, βόες νομάδες ὀκτὼ καὶ πρόβατα ἑκατόν, ἐκτὸς ἐλάφων καὶ ὀρνίθων ἐκλεκτῶν καὶ σιτευτῶν. περὶ δέ γε τῆς πολλῆς φρονή σεως αὐτοῦ καὶ σοφίας, ἧς εἴληφε παρὰ θεοῦ τοῦ ὀφθέντος αὐτῷ δίς, ἄκουσον τί πάλιν ὁ θεός φησι πρὸς αὐτόν "ἰδού, δέδωκά σοι καρδίαν φρονίμην καὶ σοφήν· ὡς σύ, οὐ γέγονεν ἔμπροσθέν σου, καὶ μετά σε οὐκ ἀναστήσεται ὅμοιός σοι. καὶ πλοῦτον καὶ δόξαν καὶ χρήματα δώσω σοι." καὶ τοῦτο δηλοῦσα ἡ γραφὴ ἐπάγει λέγουσα "ἔδωκε κύριος φρόνησιν τῷ Σολομῶντι, καὶ σοφίαν πολ λὴν σφόδρα, καὶ χύμα καρδίας ὡς ἡ ἄμμος ἡ παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν." εἰκότως οὖν ἐκ παραλλήλου καὶ τῶν πάλαι γεγενημένων ἀρίστων σοφῶν ἐμνήσθη, καὶ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους προστέθεικεν ὡς δοκοῦντας παρὰ πᾶσιν εἶναι σοφούς τε καὶ φρονίμους. καὶ γὰρ ὡς Ἕλληνες ἱστοροῦσι, καὶ Φερεκύδης ὁ Σύριος καὶ Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας ὁ Κλαζομένιος καὶ Πλάτων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος πρὸς τούτους ἐξεδήμησαν, θεολογίαν καὶ φυσιολογίαν ἀκριβεστέ ραν μαθήσεσθαι παρ' αὐτῶν ἐλπίσαντες. καὶ δὴ καὶ περὶ τοῦ Μωϋσέως διεξιὼν ὁ θεῖος λόγος ἔφη ὅτι ἐπαιδεύθη ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ 1.166 Αἰγυπτίων. τούτους, φησίν, ἅπαντας ὁ Σολομῶν ἀπέκρυψεν ἅτε θεόθεν τῆς σοφίας τὸ δῶρον δεξάμενος. ὅθεν ἐπήγαγε "καὶ ἐσοφίσατο ὑπὲρ πάντας ἀνθρώπους, καὶ ἐλάλησε τρισχιλίας παρα βολάς, καὶ ἦσαν αἱ ᾠδαὶ αὐτοῦ πεντακισχίλιαι, καὶ ἐλάλησε περὶ τῶν ξύλων τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς κέδρου τῆς ἐν τῷ Λιβάνῳ καὶ ἕως τῆς ὑσώπου τῆς ἐκπορευομένης διὰ τοῦ τοίχου, καὶ ἐλάλησε περὶ τῶν κτηνῶν καὶ τῶν ἑρπετῶν καὶ τῶν πετεινῶν καὶ περὶ τῶν ἰχθύων." ἀφ' ὧν οἱ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἰατροσοφισταὶ σφετερισάμενοι καὶ τὰς ἀφορμὰς εἰληφότες τὰς οἰκείας συνεστήσαντο τέχνας. ταύτας ἀφανεῖς ἐποίησεν Ἐζεκίας ὁ βασιλεύς, ἐπειδὴ τὰς θεραπείας τῶν νοσημάτων ἔνθεν κομιζόμενος ὁ λαὸς περιώρα τὰς ἰάσεις αἰτεῖν παρὰ θεοῦ. καὶ ἐμεγαλύνθη