68

they were mingled together in you, so that they might shed blood. But he began the accusation from the rulers, as the subjects follow their rulers; for when the head is in a bad state, the body must necessarily partake of the weakness; he says, therefore, that they refrained from none of their kindred, but also confounded the rights of kinship, working unjust slaughters. But also, 81.1024 7. Father, he says, and mother they reviled in you. And this too is one of the things forbidden by the law. "And toward the sojourner," he says, "they behaved with injustice, in you." And the law had forbidden this, saying thus: "And you shall not mistreat a sojourner, because you were sojourners in the land of Egypt." From what you have suffered, he says, learn love for humanity; but they also transgressed this law without fear. Then also another: "Orphan and widow they oppressed in you." But the good God legislates the very opposite: "Judge for the orphan," he says, "and do justice for the widow." And in the law: "You shall not glean your vineyard," he says, "and it shall be for the orphan, and for the widow, and for the sojourner." But these not only shared nothing good with them, but also treated them badly. And things worse than this: 8. And my holy things they despised, and my Sabbaths they profaned in you. For "my laws," he says, "they trampled, and the day honored with rest they outraged with unlawful work." And things more impious than these. 9. Robber-men were in you, so that they might shed blood; on the mountains they ate in you. "For you had living within you both those cohabiting in lawlessness, being man-slayers and blood-shedders, and those honoring the demons on the mountains, and those revelling in the idolatrous precincts." "And unholy things," he says, "they did in your midst." Then he recounts each of these things. 10. And a father's shame they uncovered in you, and one sitting apart in uncleanness they humbled in you. With stepmothers, he says, they had intercourse; for this he named the uncovering of a father's shame; for so he also called it in the law. "For the nakedness," he says, "of your father's wife you shall not uncover, for it is your father's nakedness." "For being most lustful," he says, "and exceedingly licentious, they did not even refrain from women enduring the affliction of their issue; which is not only unlawful, but also exceedingly unclean." Then he persists in accusing them of lust. 11. Each one committed lawlessness with his neighbor's wife, and each one defiled his daughter-in-law in impiety. And this is an intensification of lawlessness; for it is not equal to have intercourse with another's wife, and to plot against the marriage of one's own son; but by as much as adultery is worse than fornication, by so much is intercourse with a daughter-in-law more impious than adultery. "And each one humbled his own sister, his own father's daughter, in you." And here too he clearly showed the excess of the abomination, by indicating the offspring of one father, the man and the woman; from there he proceeds to the accusation of greed. 12. They took gifts in you, so that they might shed 81.1025 blood. "They continually," he says, "sold out justice, and for money they delivered up innocent slaughters;" then last he adds a kind of crowning touch to the evils. "Usury and increase they took in you." And if it were not placed last as being worse, but was nevertheless arranged with the things mentioned, it would have been sufficient to frighten those who practice it, and to persuade them to flee this form of insatiability, as being yoked together with the exceedingly impious and unlawful; for it was numbered with man-slayers and idolaters, and with the most lustful, and most licentious. Having thus recounted the forms of wickedness, he teaches then also the coming punishment. And I will make a full end of your wickedness, for those in oppression; but of me you were forgetful, says the Lord Adonai. (13, 14.) Behold, therefore, I will strike my hand against my hand for what you have accomplished, and for what you have done, and for your blood that has been shed in your midst. Will your heart endure, or will your hands be strong, in the days in which I will act against you? Imperiously and judicially he speaks of striking the hands, showing his wrath; for since, he says, you have forgotten me, and not even of the good deeds

68

συνεφύροντο ἐν σοὶ, ὅπως ἐκχέωσιν αἷμα. Ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν ἀρχόν των ἥψατο τῆς κατηγορίας, ὡς τῶν ὑπηκόων ἑπομέ νων τοῖς ἄρχουσι· κεφαλῆς γὰρ κακῶς διακειμένης, μεταλαγχάνειν ἀνάγκη τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἀσθενείας· λέγει τοίνυν, ὡς οὐδὲν τῶν συγγενῶν ἀπείχοντο, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ τῆς συγγενείας συνέχεον δίκαια, ἀδίκους σφαγὰς ἐργαζόμενοι. Ἀλλὰ καὶ, 81.1024 ζʹ. Πατέρα, φησὶ, καὶ μητέρα ἐκακολόγουν ἐν σοί. Ἓν δὲ καὶ τοῦτο τῶν ἀπηγορευμένων τῷ νόμῳ. "Καὶ πρὸς τὸν προσήλυτον, φησὶν, ἀνεστρέφοντο ἐν ἀδικίᾳ, ἐν σοί." Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἀπηγορεύκει ὁ νόμος οὑτωσὶ λέγων· "Καὶ προσήλυτον οὐ κακώσετε, ὅτι προσήλυτοι ἦτε ἐν γῇ Αἰγύπτῳ." Ἀφ' ὧν ἐπάθετε, φησὶ, μάθετε φιλανθρωπίαν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτον ἀδεῶς τὸν νόμον παρέβαινον. Εἶτα καὶ ἕτερον· "Ὀρφανὸν καὶ χήραν κατεδυνάστευον ἐν σοί." Πᾶν δὲ τοὐναν τίον ὁ ἀγαθὸς νομοθετεῖ Θεός· "Κρίνατε γὰρ, φησὶν, ὀρφανὸν, καὶ δικαιώσατε χήραν." Καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ· "Οὐκ ἐπανατρυγήσεις, φησὶ, τὴν ἄμπελόν σου, καὶ ἔσται τῷ ὀρφανῷ, καὶ τῇ χήρᾳ, καὶ τῷ προσηλύτῳ." Οὗτοι δὲ οὐ μόνον ἀγαθοῦ τινος οὐ μετεδίδοσαν αὐ τοῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ κακῶς διετίθεσαν. Καὶ τὰ τούτου χαλε πώτερα· ηʹ. Καὶ τὰ ἅγιά μου ἐξουθένουν, καὶ τὰ Σάβ βατά μου ἐβεβήλουν ἐν σοί. Τοὺς γὰρ ἐμοὺς, φησὶν, ἐπάτουν νόμους, καὶ τὴν ἀργίᾳ τετιμημένην ἡμέραν ἐργασίᾳ παρανόμῳ καθύβριζον. Καὶ τὰ τούτων δυσ σεβέστερα. θʹ. Ἄνδρες λῃσταὶ ἦσαν ἐν σοὶ, ὅπως ἐκχέω σιν αἷμα· ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων ἤσθιον ἐν σοί. Τούς τε γὰρ παρανομίᾳ συζῶντας, ἀνδροφόνους καὶ μιαι φόνους ὄντας, καὶ τοὺς ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι τοὺς δαίμονας τιμῶντας, καὶ τοῖς εἰδωλικοῖς τεμένεσιν ἐντρυφῶν τας, εἶχες ἐνδιαιτωμένους." Καὶ ἀνόσια, φησὶν, ἐποίουν ἐν μέσῳ σου." Ἔπειτα τούτων ἕκαστον δι ηγεῖται. ιʹ. Καὶ αἰσχύνην πατρὸς ἀπεκάλυψαν ἐν σοὶ, καὶ ἐν ἀκαθαρσίαις ἀποκαθημένην ἐταπείνουν ἐν σοί. Μητρυιαῖς, φησὶ, συνεγίνοντο· τοῦτο γὰρ ἀπο κάλυψιν αἰσχύνης πατρὸς ὠνόμασεν· οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὸ καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ προσηγόρευσεν. "Ἀσχημοσύνην γὰρ, φησὶ, γυναικὸς πατρός σου οὐκ ἀποκαλύψεις, ἀσχημοσύνη γὰρ πατρός σού ἐστιν." Λαγνίστατοι, γὰρ, φησὶν, ὄντες, καὶ λίαν ἀκόλαστοι, οὐδὲ τῶν τὸ τῆς ῥύσεως πάθος ὑπομενουσῶν γυναικῶν ἀπείχοντο· ὃ οὐ μόνον παράνομόν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν ἀκάθαρτον. Εἶτα ἐπιμένει τῆς λαγνείας κατηγορῶν. ιαʹ. Ἕκαστος τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον αὑτοῦ ἠνόμουν, καὶ ἕκαστος τὴν νύμφην αὑτοῦ ἐμίαινον ἐν ἀσεβεία. Ἐπίτασις δὲ τοῦτο παρανομίας· οὔτε γὰρ ἴσον ἀλλοτρίᾳ γυναικὶ μίγνυσθαι, καὶ τῷ τοῦ ἰδίου παιδὸς ἐπιβουλεῦσαι γάμῳ· ἀλλ' ὅσῳ πορνείας ἡ μοιχεία χαλεπωτέρα, τοσούτῳ τῆς μοιχείας ἡ πρὸς τὴν νύμφην κοινωνία δυσσεβεστέρα. "Καὶ ἕκαστος τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὑτοῦ θυγατέρα τοῦ πατρὸς αὑτοῦ ἐταπεί νουν ἐν σοί." Καὶ ἐνταῦθα δὲ σαφῶς ἔδειξε τὴν τοῦ μύσους ὑπερβολὴν, ἑνὸς πατρὸς ὑποδείξας φυτὰ, τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα· ἐντεῦθεν ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς πλεον εξίας κατηγορίαν χωρεῖ. ιβʹ. ∆ῶρα ἐλάμβανον ἐν σοὶ, ὅπως ἐκχέωσιν 81.1025 αἷμα. Ἀπεμπωλοῦντες, φησὶ, διετέλουν τὸ δίκαιον, καὶ χρημάτων ἀπεδίδοντο τὰς ἀθώας σφαγάς· εἶτα τελευταῖον οἷόν τινα κολοφῶνα ἐπιτίθησι τῶν κακῶν. "Τόκον καὶ πλεονασμὸν ἐλάμβανον ἐν σοί." Εἰ δὲ μὴ τελευταῖον ὡς χαλεπώτερον ἔκειτο, συνετέτακτο δὲ ὅμως τοῖς εἰρημένοις, ἱκανὸν ἦν δεδίξασθαι τοὺς χρωμένους, καὶ πεῖσαι φυγεῖν τῆς ἀπληστίας ταύτης τὸ εἶδος, ὡς τοῖς ἄγαν δυσσεβέσι καὶ παρανόμοις συνεζευγμένον· ἀνδροφόνοις γὰρ καὶ εἰδωλολάτραις, καὶ τοῖς λαγνιστάτοις, καὶ ἀκολαστοτάτοις συνηρι θμήθη. Οὕτω διηγησάμενος τῆς κακίας τὰ εἴδη, δι δάσκει λοιπὸν καὶ τὴν ἐσομένην τιμωρίαν Καὶ συντελέσω συντέλειαν κακίας σου, τοῖς ἐν καταδυναστείᾳ· ἐμοῦ δὲ ἐπελάθου, λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος. (ιγʹ, ιδʹ.) Ἰδοὺ οὖν πατάξω χεῖρά μου πρὸς χεῖρα ἐφ' οἷς συντετέλεσαι, καὶ οἷς ἐποίησας, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς αἵμασί σου τοῖς γεγενη μένοις ἐν μέσῳ σου. Εἰ ὑποστήσεται ἡ καρδία σου, ἢ κρατήσουσιν αἱ χεῖρές σου, ἐν ταῖς ἡμέ ραις αἷς ἐγὼ ποιῶ ἐν σοί; ∆εσποτικῶς καὶ δικαστι κῶς λέγει πατάσσειν τὰς χεῖρας, ὑποδεικνὺς τὴν ὀργήν· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐπελάθου μου, καὶ οὐδὲ τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν