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it bears reason, so that it is said to her in praise: "Milk and honey are under your tongue." 2.217 So Paul, being as a bride espoused in soul to the divine bridegroom, having under his tongue, that is, his word, gave milk to drink to those about whom it is said: "You have become in need of milk, not of solid food." But to those who were perfect he offered honey, handing down wisdom to them, saying: "Yet we speak wisdom among the perfect." 2.218 The one who has fallen from being the chosen land has that honey about which it is proverbially written: "Honey drips from the lips of a prostitute, who for a little while sweetens your throat, but afterward you will find it more bitter than gall." 2.219 With this honey from the lips of the prostitute, suitable milk flows from the breasts of dragons; and these are wicked powers, as the prophet Jeremiah speaks of them thus: "Even dragons have drawn out their breasts, they have nursed their young. The daughter of my people is like a sparrow in the desert." Those who have taken care to study the nature of reptiles say, concerning those called horned vipers, that in the sandy desert, hiding their whole body, they leave their horns above the surface, and by moving them they lure the sparrows. 2.220 For flying down, having received the impression of worms, they are struck by the venom injected into their mouths by the horned vipers. Therefore, the word says that those who receive the venom from the dragons they suckle, even if they are of the people of God, they wither "like the sparrow in the desert," which was lured by the aforementioned reptiles.

2.221Zach. VIII, 1-3: And the word of the Lord Almighty came, saying: Thus

says the Lord Almighty: I was jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy, and with a great wrath I was jealous for her. Thus says the Lord: I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth and the mountain of the Lord Almighty a holy mountain. 2.222 The passage might be clarified as follows in regard to the literal text: The word of the Lord Almighty came, saying the things indicated next; Thus, he says, says the Lord Almighty: I was jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion, calling her back to myself after she was cast out and rejected, so that she was insulted by strangers. And I was not just jealous for her in any ordinary way, but with a great wrath. 2.223 But the example was taken from women living with men. The woman who has broken the laws of marriage, and has left the bridal chamber out of love for strangers, being no longer under the care of her former husband, is then overlooked, so that it is said to her by the rejected husband: I will no longer spare you, nor will I be jealous. For how could one be jealous or care when the marriage has been dissolved? Therefore, even if she who despised the bridal chamber becomes an outcast, having a place for repentance, and having returned to him whom she left, she becomes an object of jealousy again, as her former husband receives her with great goodness. 2.224 From the matter concerning women, we must move on to the contemplation of Zion and Jerusalem. By Jerusalem and Zion I do not mean the places, but those who dwell in them. 2.225 God led her to live with him, having brought her up out of Egypt, providing laws and ordinances as a dowry, so that he would henceforth care for and spare her whom he had taken, and she would be cherished in the bridal chamber as befits a lawfully wedded wife. 2.226 After the harmony thus established according to the laws, she, having broken the marriage laws, rejected her protector and helper husband, so that it is said: "As a woman is unfaithful to her partner, so the house of Israel has been unfaithful to me," so as to then go away to wicked demons and unclean spirits, and to be wantonly insulted. And those who consort with her are Babylonians and Assyrians, allegorically speaking. 2.227 When these things had been happening for a long time,

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φέρει λόγον, ὡς ἐν ἐπαίνῳ πρὸς αὐτὴν λέγεσθαι· «Γάλα καὶ μέλι ὑπὸ τὴν γλῶσσάν σου.» 2.217 Τυγχάνων γοῦν Παῦλος οἷα σύζυγος νύμφη κατὰ τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ θείου νυμφίου, ἔχων ὑπὸ τὴν γλῶσσαν ἑαυτοῦ, τοῦτ' ἔστιν τὸν λόγον, ἐπότιζε γάλα τοὺς περὶ ὧν εἴρηται· «Γεγόνατε χρείαν ἔχοντες γάλακτος, οὐ στερεᾶς τροφῆς.» Τοῖς δὲ τὸ μέλι παρεῖχεν οὖσιν τελείοις, σοφίαν παραδιδοὺς αὐτοῖς φάσκων· «Σοφίαν δὲ λαλοῦμεν ἐν τοῖς τελείοις.» 2.218 Ὁ ἐκπεσὼν τοῦ ἐκλεκτὴ γῆ ὑπάρχειν μέλι ἔχει ἐκεῖνο περὶ οὗ γέγραπται παροιμιωδῶς· «Μέλι ἀποστάζει ἀπὸ χειλέων γυναικὸς πόρνης, ἣ πρὸς ὀλίγον γλυκαίνει σὸν φάρυγγα, ὕστερον μέντοι πικρότερον χολῆς εὑρήσεις.» 2.219 Τούτῳ τῷ ἐκ τῶν χειλέων τῆς πόρνης μέλιτι, κατάλληλον ῥεῖ γάλα ἐκ τῶν μασθῶν τῶν δρακόντων· πονηραὶ δέ εἰσιν οὗτοι δυνάμεις, ὡς περὶ αὐτῶν ὁ προφήτης Ἰερεμίας οὕτω λέγει· «Καί γε δράκοντες ἐξέδυσαν μασθούς, ἐθήλασαν σκύμνους αὐτῶν. Θυγάτηρ λαοῦ μου ὡς στρουθίον ἐν ἐρήμῳ.» Φασὶν οἷς ἐμέλησεν ἐπιστῆσαι τῇ φύσει τῶν ἑρπετῶν, περὶ τῶν καλουμένων κεραστῶν, ὅτι ἐν τῇ ψαμμώδει ἐρήμῳ κρύψαντες ἑαυτῶν ὅλον τὸ σῶμα, τὰ κέρατα ἄνω τῆς ἐπιφανείας ἐῶσιν, ἅπερ κινοῦντες δελεάζουσι τὰ στρουθία. 2.220 Καταπτάντα γὰρ σκωλήκων φαντασίαν λαβόντα, πλήττονται ὑπὸ τοῦ ἰοῦ ἐνιεμένου εἰς τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν ὑπὸ τῶν κεραστῶν. ∆ιό φησιν ὁ λόγος τοὺς λαμβάνοντας τὸν ἰὸν ἀφ' ὧν θηλάζουσιν δρακόντων· κἂν ὦσιν τοῦ λαοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ξηραίνονται «κατὰ τὸ στρουθίον ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ», τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν εἰρημένων ἑρπετῶν δελεασθέν.

2.221Zach. VIII, 1-3: Καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου παντοκράτορος λέγων· Τάδε

λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ· Ἐζήλωσα τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὴν Σιὼν ζῆλον μέγαν, καὶ θυμῷ μεγάλῳ ἐζήλωσα αὐτήν. Τάδε λέγει Κύριος· Καὶ ἐπιστρέψω ἐπὶ Σιὼν καὶ κατασκηνώσω ἐν μέσῳ Ἰερουσαλήμ, καὶ κληθήσεται Ἰερουσαλὴμ πόλις ἀληθινὴ καὶ τὸ ὄρος Κυρίου παντοκράτορος ὄρος ἅγιον. 2.222 Ὡς πρὸς ῥητὸν σαφηνισθείη τὸ προκείμενον οὕτως· Ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου παντοκράτορος λέγων τὰ ἑξῆς δηλούμενα· Τάδε, φησίν, λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ· Ἐζήλωσα τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὴν Σιών, ἀνακαλεσάμενος αὐτὴν πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν μετὰ τὸ ἐκβληθῆναι καὶ ἀπωσθῆναι, ὡς περιυβρισθῆναι αὐτὴν ὑπὸ ἀλλοτρίων. Οὐχ ὡς ἔτυχεν δὲ ἐζήλωσα αὐτήν, ἀλλ' ἐν θυμῷ μεγάλῳ. 2.223 Ἀπὸ συμβιουσῶν δὲ γυναικῶν ἀνδράσιν ἐλήφθη τὸ παράδειγμα. Ἡ ἀθετήσασα γυνὴ τὰ γαμικὰ δίκαια, ἀποφοιτήσασά τε τοῦ θαλάμου ἔρωτι τῷ πρὸς ἀλλοτρίους, οὐκέτι ὑπὸ τὴν κηδεμονίαν τυγχάνουσα τοῦ πρότερον συμβιοῦντος, παρορᾶται λοιπόν, ὡς λέγεσθαι αὐτῇ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀθετηθέντος ἀνδρός· Οὐ φείσομαι ἐπὶ σοὶ ἔτι, οὐδὲ ζηλώσω. Πῶς γὰρ ἂν ζηλώσειέν τις ἢ φροντίσειεν διαλυθέντος τοῦ γάμου; Κἂν τοίνυν ἐξώβλητος γένηται ἡ καταφρονήσασα τοῦ γαμικοῦ θαλάμου, ἔχουσα μετανοίας τόπον, ἀνακάμψασα πρὸς ὃν καταλέλοιπεν, ζηλωτὴ γίνεται πάλιν, πολλῇ ἀγαθότητι προσηκαμένου αὐτὴν τοῦ πάλαι συνοικήσαντος. 2.224 Ἐκ δὲ τοῦ κατὰ τὰς γυναῖκας μεταβητέον ἐπὶ τὴν περὶ τῆς Σιὼν καὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ θεωρίαν. Τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὴν Σιὼν οὐ τοὺς τόπους λέγω, ἀλλὰ τοὺς οἰκοῦντας ἐν αὐτοῖς. 2.225 Ἠγάγετο ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς συμβίωσιν ἀναγαγὼν ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, νόμους καὶ δικαιώματα δίκην ἕδνων παρασχών, ὡς λοιπὸν κήδεσθαι καὶ φείδεσθαι τῆς ἠγμένης, καὶ θαλαμεύεσθαι ὡς πρέπει συνοικοῦσαν κουρίδιον. 2.226 Μετὰ τὴν οὕτω γεναμένην κατὰ νόμους ἁρμονίαν, ἀθετήσασα τοὺς γαμηλίους νόμους, ἠθέτησεν τὸν προστάτην καὶ ἐπίκουρον ἄνδρα, ὡς λέγειν· «Ὡς ἀθετεῖ γυνὴ εἰς τὸν συνόντα, ἠθέτησεν εἰς ἐμὲ ὁ οἶκος Ἰσραήλ», ὡς ἀπελθεῖν λοιπὸν πρὸς δαίμονας ἀλιτηρίους καὶ πνεύματα ἀκάθαρτα, καὶ περιυβρίζεσθαι πορνικῶς. Εἰσὶν δὲ οἱ συνερχόμενοι αὐτῇ Βαβυλώνιοι καὶ Ἀσσύριοι κατ' ἀλληγορίαν. 2.227 Τούτων ἐπὶ πολὺ γινομένων,