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he received. Therefore, the prophet himself says that God had commanded them to remain in this land. For I will deem you worthy, he says, of all care. "And I will build you up, and I will not tear you down, and I will plant you, and I will not pluck you up. For I have relented from the evils which I said I would do to you." And he casts out their fear, and exhorts them to be of good courage. 11. For do not be afraid, he says, before the face of the king of Babylon, whom you fear before his face; for I am with you, to deliver you and to save you from his hand. And he also promises the recall of those who have become captives. But if, he says, you oppose my words, and you go down to Egypt, trying by this to escape the enemy, there I will send the enemies whom you dread. 16. For it shall be, he says, the sword, which you fear before its face, there it will find you in the land of Egypt; and the famine also again 81.700 which you have dreaded, will descend upon you in that land; And having said the same things more broadly, he adds these things also: 18. As my anger and my wrath dripped upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my anger drip upon you when you enter Egypt; and you shall be for an inaccessible place, and subject, and a curse, and a reproach, and you shall no longer see this place. He showed, as it was possible for men to see, the greatness of his power. For the evils brought upon the Jews he called drops of wrath, that is, of his punitive action. Then the prophet also reminds them of the oaths. 20. For you sent me to the Lord your God, saying: Pray for us, and all that the Lord our God shall say, report to us, and we will do it; and I reported to you today, and you have not listened to the voice of the Lord your God, according to all that he sent to you. And now you are to know that you will perish by the sword, and by famine, and by death in this place, where you wish to enter and dwell there. For these things, which you are trying to escape, you will find in Egypt. CHAPTER 43. Having heard these things, the leaders of the people lived with insolence and arrogance, and forgot the exhortations and the oaths, and dared to say to the prophet, 2, 3. You are speaking falsely; the Lord our God has not sent you to us saying, Do not go into Egypt. But Baruch, the son of Nerias, is setting you against us, that you may give us into the hands of the Chaldeans, to put us to death and to carry us away to Babylon. Having said these things to the prophet, and openly transgressing the oaths that had been made, they set out for Egypt with all the assembled people; and they took with them both the prophet and Baruch. Therefore in Tahpanhes (this is a city of Egypt) the prophet is commanded to take stones, and to hide them before the gates of the palace, while the Jews were watching, and to prophesy these things. 10, 11. Behold, I send and bring Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and he will set his throne upon these stones, and he will raise his weapons against them. And some of the Egyptians he will deliver to death, and others he will enslave and carry away; 81.701 and he will burn the temples of the idols, and he will take them as spoils of war. And teaching that he will not make the campaign against Egypt a secondary matter, but will carefully destroy it, he compares him to a shepherd gathering lice from his garment. Shepherds do this carefully, enjoying much leisure. And he will delouse, he says, Egypt, as a shepherd delouses his garment, and he will go out from there in peace. (13.) And he will break the pillars of Heliopolis, and those in On. And

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ἐδέξατο. Λέγει τοίνυν αὐτὸς ὁ προφήτης, προστεταχέναι τὸν Θεὸν τῇδε γῇ προσμεῖναι. Πάσης γὰρ ὑμᾶς, φησὶν, ἀξιώσω κηδεμονίας. "Καὶ οἰκοδομήσω ὑμᾶς, καὶ οὐ μὴ καθελῶ, καὶ φυτεύσω ὑμᾶς, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐκτίλω. Ὅτι ἀναπέπαυμαι ἐπὶ τοῖς κακοῖς, οἷς εἶπόν με ποιῆσαι ὑμῖν." Ἐκβάλλει δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ δέος, καὶ θαῤῥεῖν παρεγγυᾷ. ιαʹ. Μὴ φοβηθῆτε γὰρ, φησὶ, ἀπὸ προσώπου βασιλέως Βαβυλῶνος, οὗ ὑμεῖς φοβεῖσθε ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ· ὅτι μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰμι ἐγὼ, τοῦ ἐξαιρεῖσθαι ὑμᾶς, καὶ σώζειν ὑμᾶς ἐκ χειρὸς αὐ τοῦ. Ἐπαγγέλλεται δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν γεγενημένων αἰχμαλώτων ἀνάκλησιν. Εἰ δὲ τοῖς ἐμοῖς, φησὶν, ἀντιτείνητε λόγοις, καὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον καταλάβοιτε, ταύτῃ διαφυγεῖν τοὺς πολεμίους πειρώμενοι, ἐκεῖ τοὺς πολεμίους οὓς δεδίττετε, πέμψω. ιϛʹ. Ἔσται γὰρ, φησὶν, ἡ ῥομφαία, ἣν ὑμεῖς φοβεῖσθε ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτῆς, ἐκεῖ εὑρήσει ὑμᾶς ἐν γῇ Αἰγύπτου· καὶ ὁ λιμὸς δὲ πάλιν 81.700 ὃν πεφρίκατε, ἐν ἐκείνῃ ὑμῖν ἐπισκήψει τῇ γῇ· Καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ πλατύτερον εἰρηκὼς ἐπάγει καὶ ταῦτα· ιηʹ. Καθὼς ἔσταξεν ὁ θυμός μου, καὶ ἡ ὀργή μου ἐπὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας Ἱερουσαλήμ· οὕτω στάξει ὁ θυμός μου ἐφ' ὑμᾶς εἰσελθόντων ὑμῶν εἰς Αἴγυπτον· καὶ ἔσεσθε εἰς ἄβατον, καὶ ὑπο χείριοι, καὶ εἰς ἀρὰν, καὶ εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε ἔτι τὸν τόπον τοῦτον. Ἔδειξεν, ὡς ἐνῆν ἀνθρώποις ἰδεῖν τὸ τῆς δυνάμεως μέγεθος. Τὰ γὰρ ἐπενεχθέντα Ἰουδαίοις κακὰ σταγόνας ἐκάλεσε τοῦ θυμοῦ, τουτέστι τῆς τιμωρητικῆς ἐνεργείας. Εἶτα ὁ προφήτης, καὶ τῶν ὅρκων ἀναμιμνήσκει. κʹ. Ὑμεῖς γὰρ, ἀπεστείλατέ με πρὸς Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν ὑμῶν, λέγοντες· Πρόσευξαι περὶ ἡμῶν, καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἂν λαλήσῃ Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, ἀνάγγειλον ἡμῖν, καὶ ποιήσομεν· καὶ ἀπ ήγγειλα ὑμῖν σήμερον, καὶ οὐκ ἠκούσατε τῆς φω νῆς Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑμῶν, κατὰ πάντα ὅσα ἀπέστειλε πρὸς ὑμᾶς. Καὶ νῦν ἐστε γινώσκον τες, ὅτι ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ, καὶ ἐν λιμῷ, καὶ ἐν θανάτῳ ἐκλείψετε ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ, ἐν ᾧ ὑμεῖς βού λεσθε εἰσελθόντες κατοικεῖν ἐκεῖ. Ταῦτα γὰρ, ἃ διαφυγεῖν πειρᾶσθε, εὑρήσετε ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΜΓʹ. Τούτων ἀκούσαντες οἱ τοῦ λαοῦ προστατεύοντες, θρασύτητι καὶ ἀλαζονείᾳ συνέζων, καὶ τῶν παρα κλήσεων ἐπελάθοντο, καὶ τῶν ὅρκων, καὶ τῷ προ φήτῃ εἰπεῖν ἐτόλμησαν, βʹ, γʹ. Ψευδῆ σὺ λαλεῖς· οὐκ ἀπέστειλέ σε Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν πρὸς ἡμᾶς λέγων, Μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς Αἴγυπτον. Ἀλλὰ Βαροὺχ, υἱὸς Νηρίου, συμβάλλει σε πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἵνα δῷς ἡμᾶς εἰς χεῖρας Χαλδαίων, τοῦ θανατῶσαι ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀποικίσαι ἡμᾶς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα. Ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν προφήτην εἰρηκότες, καὶ ἄντικρυς παραβεβηκότες τοὺς γεγενημένους ὅρκους, ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ὥρμη σαν σὺν παντὶ τῷ ἀθροισθέντι λαῷ· συναπήγαγον δὲ καὶ τὸν προφήτην, καὶ τὸν Βαρούχ. Ἐν τοίνυν τῇ Τάφνας (πόλις δὲ αὕτη τῆς Αἰγύπτου) προστάτ τεται ὁ προφήτης λίθους λαβεῖν, καὶ τούτους πρὸ τῶν πυλῶν κατακρύψαι τῶν βασιλείων, τῶν Ἰου δαίων ὁρώντων, καὶ ταῦτα προαγορεῦσαι. ιʹ, ιαʹ. Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω καὶ ἄγω Ναβου χοδονόσορ βασιλέα Βαβυλῶνος, τὸν δοῦλόν μου, καὶ ἐπιθήσει τὸν θρόνον αὑτοῦ ἐπάνω τῶν λίθων τούτων, καὶ ἀρεῖ τὰ ὅπλα αὑτοῦ ἐπ' αὐ τούς. Καὶ τοὺς μὲν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων παραδώσει θανάτῳ, τοὺς δὲ ἐξανδραποδίσας μεταναστήσει· 81.701 ἐμπρήσει δὲ καὶ τοὺς τῶν εἰδώλων ναοὺς, καὶ αὐτὰ δέ γε λήψεται δορυάλωτα. Καὶ διδάσκων, ὡς οὐ πάρεργον ποιήσεται τὴν κατὰ τῆς Αἰγύπτου στρατείαν, ἀλλ' ἐπιμελῶς αὐτὴν καταλύσει, ἀπεικά ζει αὐτὸν ποιμένι τοῦ ἱματίου τοὺς φθεῖρας συλ λέγοντι. Ἐπιμελῶς δὲ τοῦτο ποιοῦσιν οἱ ποιμένες πλείστης σχολῆς ἀπολαύοντες. Καὶ φθειριεῖ, φησὶ, τὴν Αἴγυπτον, ὡς φθειρίζει ποιμὴν τὸ ἱμάτιον αὑτοῦ καὶ ἐξελεύσεται ἐκεῖ θεν ἐν εἰρήνῃ. (ιγʹ.) Καὶ συντρίψει τοὺς στύλους Ἡλιουπόλεως, καὶ τοὺς ἐν Ὤν. Καὶ