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us; but let us not see that he says these things. For the words are of pain; for even if he was a prophet, he was a man. For what reason have you deceived me? saying. I will make you as a strong bronze wall, and they will fight against you, and they will not be able to prevail against you. Since therefore they so shut him up, he says these things; And yet they did not prevail; for if they had killed him, they would have extinguished his boldness. See for me the apostolic things being prefigured here, but none of them ever said this, nor did they lament. But he says the opposite, Now I rejoice in my sufferings. For did God promise this, that you should suffer nothing terrible, by not knowing? or that not suffering, you should be taken? *You have deceived me, O Lord, and I was deceived; you have overpowered me, and you have prevailed. The prophet is indignant at the reproaches from the people; for they ran him down as a liar since God did not bring the punishment immediately. He adds, therefore: I have become a laughingstock all the day. I was continually mocked. Then for what reasons, he adds, You have overpowered. You were strong enough as a mighty one to appoint me even against my will. Not only dangers, nor plots and deaths, but also jests, and reproaches, and laughter, and these grieve him no less. Because with my little word I will be laughed at. That is, I am laughed at for the calamities which I foretell, as one who lies. And he had the cause of his grief especially from the things done to him by Pashhur. For it is clear that this man, as one who spoke ill and lied, cast him into prison, demanding satisfaction for the slander. I will cry out lawlessness and misery. Great is the boldness of the just one before God. For he wants to say this, that I cry out to you, as one forced by you; for you told me to proclaim captivity, and you have set me aside by not bringing the punishment and the calamity which I proclaimed to the city. But some have interpreted it thus, that Having promised me to make me as a bronze wall and as an iron pillar to all the kings, you urged me on, and hoping in these words to preach to them, and having been in a way deceived, I would not have been able 64.929 I would have shrunk from prophesying and I continue enduring all terrible things. That is, I shall be laughed at. The bitterness was not enough for me, he says, but also laughter; the pain of the soul was not enough, but also mockery. Because it happened. Why, when not all of the things foretold came to pass, did they mock and laugh? And I said: I will not name. See the wisdom, how he did not hide such a great fault; how he did not cover up his own weakness; but he paraded, as if on some monument, the sickness of his thoughts. And it became as fire. He says this about the Spirit, he says. You have overpowered, and against my will you have cast me in, but perhaps someone might say, And what profit, tell me, is there in prophesying by necessity? And what virtue? And after a little: You see that when something useful must be done, God also imposes necessity. For it is not right that on account of his weakness, those who are about to perish should profit [read: not profit]. As a burning fire, blazing, and shut up in my bones, and I am weary on all sides, and I cannot bear it, because I heard the slander of many gathering together against me, and so forth. The phrase: Because I heard the slander of many gathering together against me, and so forth, refers to: And I said: I will not name the name of the Lord and I will not name in his name. For he has stated the cause of his silence. But the phrase, My heart became as a burning fire, and so forth, is placed in the middle; and this is the meaning, that I for my part only resolved to be silent, but immediately it ran through my mind like a fire, and I became as one paralyzed, that is, as if half-withered, condemned in a way to speechlessness, and unable to move my limbs. But the cause of my silence came not from despising God, but from seeing the great wickedness of my kinsmen. *Stand against him, let us all stand against him, men who are his friends. That is, They made a council against me, not just anyone, but those who seemed to be

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ἡμᾶς· ἀλλὰ μὴ ἴδωμεν ὅτι ταῦτά φησι. Τῆς γὰρ ὀδύνης ἐστὶ τὰ ῥήματα· εἰ γὰρ καὶ προφήτης ἦν, ἄνθρωπος ἦν. Τίνος ἕνεκεν ἠπάτησάς με; εἰπών. Ὡς τεῖχος χαλκοῦν ὀχυρὸν θήσω σε, καὶ πολεμήσουσι πρὸς σὲ, καὶ οὐ μὴ δύνωνταί σοι. Ἐπεὶ οὖν αὐτὸν οὕτω συνέκλεισε αὐτὸν οὕτω συνέκλεισαν, ταῦτά φησι· Καὶ μὴν οὐ περιεγένοντο· εἰ γὰρ ἀνεῖλον, ἔσβεσαν ἂν τὴν παῤῥησίαν. Ὅρα μοι τὰ ἀποστολικὰ ἐνταῦθα διατυπούμενα, ἀλλ' ἐκείνων οὐδεὶς οὐδέποτε τοῦτο εἶπεν, οὐδὲ ἀπωδύρατο. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὐναντίον φησὶ, Νῦν χαίρω ἐν τοῖς παθήμασί μου. Μὴ γὰρ τοῦτο ὁ Θεὸς ἐπηγγείλατο, μηδέν σε παθεῖν δεινὸν, τῷ μὴ ἴσ. ἢ τὸ μὴ πάσχοντα ἁλῶναι; *Ἠπάτησάς με, Κύριε, καὶ ἠπατήθην· ἐκράτησάς με, καὶ ἐδυνήθης. ∆υσφορεῖ ἐπὶ τοῖς παρὰ τοῦ λαοῦ ὀνείδεσιν ὁ προφήτης· ὡς γὰρ ψευδομένου κατέδραμον ἐπεὶ μὴ παραχρῆμα τὴν τιμωρίαν ἐπήγαγεν ὁ Θεός. Ἐπάγει γοῦν· Ἐγενόμην εἰς γέλωτα πᾶσαν ἡμέραν. ∆ιετέλεσα μυκτηριζόμενος. Εἶτα ἐπὶ τίσιν, ἐπάγει, Ἐκράτησας. Ἴσχυσας ὡς δυνατὸς καὶ ἄκοντά με χειροτονῆσαι. Οὐ κίνδυνοι μόνον, οὐδὲ ἐπιβουλαὶ καὶ θάνατοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ σκώμματα, καὶ ὀνείδη, καὶ γέλως, καὶ ταῦτα οὐχ ἧττον ἐκεῖνον λυπεῖ. Ὅτι μικρῷ λόγῳ μου γελάσομαι. Τουτέστιν, ἐφ' αἷς προλέγω συμφοραῖς γελῶμαι, ὡς ψευδόμενος. Τὴν δὲ αἰτίαν μάλιστα τῆς λύπης, ἀπὸ τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Πασχὼρ εἰς αὐτὸν γενομένων ἔσχηκε. ∆ῆλος γάρ ἐστιν οὗτος, ὅτι ὡς δύσφημον καὶ ψευδόμενον ἐνέβαλεν εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον, δίκας ἀπαιτῶν τῆς λοιδορίας. Ἀθεσίαν, καὶ ταλαιπωρίαν ἐπικαλέσομαι. Πολλὴ τοῦ δικαίου πρὸ τὸν Θεὸν παῤῥησία. Τοῦτο γὰρ βούλεται εἰπεῖν, ὅτι Ἐπιβοῶμαί σε, ὡς βιαζόμενος παρὰ σοῦ· εἶπες γὰρ κηρύξαι αἰχμαλωσίαν, καὶ ἠθέτησάς με οὐκ ἐπάγων τὴν τιμωρίαν, καὶ τὴν συμφορὰν, ἣν ἐκήρυξα τῇ πόλει. Τινὲς δὲ οὕτως ἡρμήνευσαν, ὅτι Ἐπαγγειλάμενός μοι, ὡς τεῖχος ποιεῖν χαλκοῦν, καὶ ὡς στῦλον σιδηροῦν ἅπασι τοῖς βασιλεῦσι προέτρεψας, καὶ τούτοις κηρύξαι ἐλπίσας τοῖς λόγοις, καὶ τρόπον τινὰ ἀπατηθεὶς, οὐκ ἂν ἐδυ 64.929 σάμην ἀνεδυσάμην τὸ προφητεῦσαι καὶ τὰ πάνδεινα ὑπομένων διατελῶ. Τουτέστι, γελασθήσομαι. Οὐκ ἤρκεσέ μοι, φησὶν, ἡ πικρία, ἀλλὰ καὶ γέλως· οὐκ ἤρκεσεν ἡ ὀδύνη τῆς ψυχῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ χλευασία. Ὅτι ἐγενήθη. ∆ιατί οὐκ ἐκβαινόντων τῶν προλεγομένων ἁπάντων, ἐχλεύαζον καὶ ἐγέλων; Καὶ εἶπα· Οὐ μὴ ὀνομάσω. Ὅρα φιλοσοφίαν, πῶς ἐλάττωμα τηλικοῦτον οὐκ ἀπέκρυψε· πῶς τὴν ἀσθένειαν οὐ συνεκάλυψε τὴν ἑαυτοῦ· ἀλλ' ἐξεπόμπευσε καθάπερ ἔν τινι στήλῃ τὴν τῶν λογισμῶν ἀῤῥωστίαν. Καὶ ἐγένετο ὡς πῦρ. Περὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος, φησὶ, τοῦτο λέγει. Ἐκράτησας, καὶ ἄκοντά με ἐνέβαλες, ἀλλ' ἴσως εἴποι τις ἂν, ὅτι Καὶ ποῖον κέρδος, εἰπέ μοι, κατὰ ἀνάγκην προφητεύειν; Ποία δὲ ἀρετή; Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· Ὁρᾷς ὅταν δέῃ τι γίνεσθαι τῶν χρησίμων, καὶ ἀνάγκην ἐπιτίθησιν ὁ Θεός. Οὐ γὰρ δεῖ δι' ἀτονίαν τὴν τούτου, τοὺς μέλλοντας ἀπόλλυσθαι κερδαίνειν leg. μὴ κερδαίνειν. Ὡς πῦρ καιόμενον φλογιζόμενον, καὶ συνεχόμενον ἐν τοῖς ὀστέοις μου, καὶ πάρειμι πανταχόθεν, καὶ οὐ δύναμαι φέρειν, ὅτι ἤκουσα ψόγον πολλῶν συναθροιζομένων ἐπ' ἐμὲ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Τό· Ὅτι ἤκουσα ψόγον πολλῶν συναθροιζομένων ἐπ' ἐμὲ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, ἀποδίδοται τῷ· Καὶ εἶπον· Οὐ μὴ ὀνομάσω τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου καὶ οὐ μὴ ὀνομάσω ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ. Τὴν γὰρ αἰτίαν τῆς σιωπῆς τέθεικε. Τὸ δὲ, Ἐγένετο ἡ καρδία μου, ὡς πῦρ καιόμενον, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, ἐν μέσῳ κεῖται· ἡ δὲ ἔννοιά ἐστιν αὕτη, ὅτι Ἐγὼ μὲν μόνον ἐβουλευσάμην σιωπῆσαι, εὐθὺς δὲ ὡς πῦρ μου διέδραμε τὴν διάνοιαν, καὶ ὡς παρειμένος γέγονα, τουτέστιν, ὥσπερ ἡμίξηρος, ἀφωνίαν καταδικασθεὶς τρόπον τινὰ, καὶ κινεῖν τὰ μέλη οὐ δυνάμενος. Ἡ δὲ τῆς σιωπῆς αἰτία μοι γέγονεν οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ καταφρονεῖν, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τοῦ πολλὴν τὴν πονηρίαν τῶν ὁμοφύλων ὁρᾷν. *Ἐπισύστητε, ἐπισυστῶμεν αὐτῷ πάντες ἄνδρες φίλοι αὐτοῦ. Τουτέστι, Συμβούλιον ἐποιήσαντο κατ' ἐμοῦ, οὐχ οἱ τυχόντες, ἀλλ' οἱ δοκοῦντες εἶναι