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to the Egyptians who had received the preaching: Praise the Lord, cry out His name, declare among the nations his glorious deeds, remember that His name has been exalted. For you, the apostolic chorus, teaching those who are «being made disciples» under you, will say these things, instructing them not to be silent, but to declare to all and to cry out loud for all to hear the grace of the saving benefaction. Then again he addresses the same ones to teach and to say: praise the name of the Lord, for he has done lofty things; declare all these things in all the earth. After everything he adds: Rejoice and be glad, you inhabitants of Zion, for the Holy One of Israel has been exalted in her midst. And already through many things Zion has been rendered the evangelical word, upon which the church of God has been built. Since, therefore, the Holy One of Israel was exalted in the midst of his church, he reasonably says rejoice and be glad, you who dwell in her, since you have the Holy One of Israel himself in your midst according to the promise, which he himself also made, saying: «where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.» Nevertheless, again the prophetic spirit uses the name and Zion and exhorts those in her to rejoice and be glad with these words, leading those of the circumcision to cheerfulness because they think these things are said about them and with this opinion they treat the book with respect as if it were prophesying the best things about them. 1.65 Having completed the prophecy concerning him who would come «from the root of Jesse» and having prophesied all the things that would happen at the coming of Christ, the discourse begins another subject, that against Babylon, then next it places a second, «concerning the Philistines,» for so the scripture is accustomed to name the Palestinians, after which the third is «the word against Moabitis,» then also «the word against Damascus» and after these «a vision of Egypt,» then sixth «the vision of the desert» and then «the vision of Idumea,» next «an oracle in Arabia,» which is followed by «the vision of the valley of Zion» and after all, «the word of Tyre.» These are ten connected prophecies concerning the foreign nations, in which he has also included «the valley of Zion» with the foreigners and has counted the people of the Jews together with them. And he proclaims to them the knowledge through Christ and the promise of good things, and he preaches universally to all the word concerning the judgment of God, exhorting all men to live piously, mindful of the tribunal of God. And of necessity he delivered the prophecies concerning these very things to the Jews, so that from the foretelling of future events and from the outcome according to the predictions, they might be persuaded that truly it was «God who was speaking to them through the prophets,» both exercising providence for them and advising what is expedient. He therefore places first the vision against Babylon, having said before at the beginning of the whole book «a vision against Judea and against Jerusalem.» For since «there is no partiality with God,» he began from his own people and to them again he will conclude the discourse. And of the foreign nations he places Babylon first, and this was the royal city of the Assyrians, the greatest and most powerful. And the Assyrians are said to have been the first to rule the inhabited world for a whole one thousand three hundred years until those who besieged Jerusalem and led the people of the Jews captive to their own land. For upon this deed of the Assyrians, immediately and not long after their power was destroyed. He had previously shown how the Assyrians captured Israel and Samaria, and as Jerusalem was also about to endure a siege similar to Samaria's, he also prophesied its end, but he also went through what the Assyrians themselves and their rulers would suffer. But now he teaches the things concerning the royal city that had been among them from of old, not so that the Babylonians themselves might learn the things

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τοῖς τὸ κήρυγμα παραδεξαμένοις Αἰγυπτίοις· Ὑμνεῖτε κύριον, βοᾶτε τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, ἀναγγείλατε ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν τὰ ἔνδοξα αὐτοῦ, μιμνῄσκεσθε, ὅτι ὑψώθη τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. ταῦτα γὰρ σύ, ὁ χορὸς ὁ ἀποστολικός, διδάσκων τοὺς ὑπὸ σοὶ «μαθητευομένους» ἐρεῖς, παραγγέλλων αὐτοῖς μὴ σιωπᾶν, ἐξαγγέλλειν δὲ τοῖς πᾶσι καὶ εἰς ἐξάκουστον βοᾶν τῆς σωτηρίου εὐεργεσίας τὴν χάριν. εἶτα πάλιν τοῖς αὐτοῖς προσφωνεῖ διδάσκειν καὶ λέγειν· ὑμνήσατε τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου, ὅτι ὑψηλὰ ἐποίησεν· ἀναγγείλατε ταῦτα πάντα ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ. μεθ' ἅπαντα ἐπιλέγει· ἀγαλλιᾶσθε καὶ εὐφραίνεσθε, οἱ κατοικοῦντες Σιών, ὅτι ὑψώθη ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς. ἤδη δὲ διὰ πλειόνων Σιὼν ἀπεδόθη ὁ εὐαγγελικὸς λόγος, ἐφ' ὃν ἡ ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ ᾠκοδόμηται. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ὁ ἅγιος Ἰσραὴλ ὑψώθη ἐν μέσῳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ, εἰκότως ἀγαλλιᾶσθέ φησι καὶ εὐφραίνεσθε, οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐν αὐτῇ, ἅτε μέσον αὐτὸν ἔχοντες τὸν ἅγιον Ἰσραὴλ κατὰ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν, ἣν καὶ αὐτὸς πεποίητο φήσας· «ὅπου δύο ἢ τρεῖς συνηγμένοι εἰσὶν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐκεῖ εἰμι ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν». πλὴν ἀλλὰ πάλιν τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα τῷ ὀνόματι κέχρηται καὶ τὴν Σιὼν ἀγαλλιᾶν τε καὶ εὐφραίνεσθαι τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ παρακελεύεται τούτοις τοῖς ῥήμασιν εἰς εὐθυμίαν ἄγον τοὺς ἐκ περιτομῆς διὰ τὸ νομίζειν ταῦτα περὶ αὐτῶν λέγεσθαι καὶ ταύτῃ τῇ δόξῃ περιέπειν τὴν βίβλον ὡς ἂν τὰ κάλλιστα περὶ αὐτῶν θεσπίζουσαν. 1.65 Συντελέσας ὁ λόγος τὴν περὶ τοῦ «ἐκ ῥίζης Ἰεσσαὶ» προελευσομένου προφητείαν καὶ πάντα θεσπίσας τὰ ἐπὶ τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ γενησόμενα ἑτέρας ἄρχεται ὑποθέσεως τῆς κατὰ Βαβυλῶνος, εἶθ' ἑξῆς δευτέραν τίθησι τὴν «περὶ τῶν Φυλιστιέων», οὕτως δὲ εἴωθεν ἡ γραφὴ τοὺς Παλαιστίνους ὀνομάζειν, μεθ' οὓς τρίτον ἐστὶ «τὸ ῥῆμα τὸ κατὰ τῆς Μωαβίτιδος», εἶτα καὶ «τὸ ῥῆμα τὸ κατὰ ∆αμασκοῦ» καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα «ὅρασις Αἰγύπτου», εἶθ' ἕκτον «τὸ ὅραμα τῆς ἐρήμου» καὶ εἶτα «τὸ ὅραμα τῆς Ἰδουμαίας», ἔπειτα «λῆμμα ἐν τῇ Ἀραβίᾳ», ᾧ ἕπεται «τὸ ὅραμα τῆς φάραγγος Σιὼν» καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι «τὸ ῥῆμα Τύρου». δέκα δὴ αὗται συνημμέναι τυγχάνουσι προφητεῖαι περὶ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ἐθνῶν, αἷς καὶ «τὴν φάραγγα Σιὼν» περιείληφε τοῖς ἀλλοφύλοις καὶ τὸν Ἰουδαίων λαὸν συγκαταλέξας. γνῶσιν δὲ αὐτοῖς τὴν διὰ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἀγαθῶν ἐπαγγελίας εὐαγγελίζεται, κηρύττει τε καθολικῶς τοῖς πᾶσι τὸν περὶ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ κρίσεως λόγον προτρέπων ἅπαντας ἀνθρώπους θεοσεβῶς ζῆν τοῦ δικαιωτηρίου τοῦ θεοῦ μεμνημένους. ἀναγκαίως δὲ τὰς περὶ τούτων αὐτῶν προφητείας Ἰουδαίοις παρεδίδου, ἵν' ἐκ τῆς προαγορεύσεως τῶν μελλόντων τῆς τε κατὰ τὰς προρρήσεις ἐκβάσεως πεισθεῖεν ἀληθῶς «θεὸν εἶναι τὸν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν αὐτοῖς λαλοῦντα», πρόνοιάν τε αὐτῶν ποιούμενον καὶ τὰ λυσιτελῆ παραινοῦντα. πρώτην οὖν τίθησι τὴν κατὰ Βαβυλῶνος ὅρασιν, προειπὼν ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς ὅλης βίβλου «ὅρασιν τὴν κατὰ τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ κατὰ τῆς Ἰερουσαλήμ». ἐπειδὴ «γὰρ μή ἐστι προσωποληψία παρὰ τῷ θεῷ», ἀπ' αὐτῶν ἤρξατο τῶν οἰκείων καὶ εἰς αὐτοὺς πάλιν καταστρέψει τὸν λόγον. τῶν δὲ ἀλλοφύλων ἐθνῶν τὴν Βαβυλῶνα προστάσσει, βασιλικὴ δὲ αὕτη τῶν Ἀσσυρίων πόλις μεγίστη καὶ δυνατωτάτη. λέγονται δὲ Ἀσσύριοι πρῶτοι τῆς οἰκουμένης κρατῆσαι ἐφ' ὅλοις χιλίοις καὶ τριακοσίοις ἔτεσι μέχρι τῶν πολιορκησάντων τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὸν Ἰουδαίων λαὸν αἰχμάλωτον ἀγαγόντων εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν χώραν. ἐπὶ ταύτῃ γὰρ τῇ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων πράξει αὐτίκα καὶ οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν τὸ κράτος αὐτῶν κατελύθη. διαμενούντων ἔμπροσθεν ὅπως εἷλον οἱ Ἀσσύριοι τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τὴν Σαμάρειαν προεδήλου, μελλούσης δὲ ὅσον οὔπω καὶ τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ τὴν ὁμοίαν τῇ Σαμαρείᾳ πολιορκίαν ὑπομένειν καὶ τὸ ταύτης ἐθέσπισε τέλος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἅπερ αὐτοὶ πείσονται οἱ Ἀσσύριοι καὶ οἱ τούτων ἄρχοντες διεξῆλθε. νυνὶ δὲ τὰ περὶ τῆς ἐξ αἰῶνος παρ' αὐτοῖς βασιλικῆς πόλεως διδάσκει, οὐχ ὅπως αὐτοὶ μάθοιεν οἱ Βαβυλώνιοι τὰ