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The prophet 81.716 foretold to those who had gone down to Egypt, when he also hid the stones in the entrance of the palace 25. Behold, I will take vengeance on Amon her son. The Egyptians call Zeus Amon; from whom also the Ammonian land was named; for him they built a very great temple. But he names Amon "her son," as having been deified by her; for the statue is man-made. He threatens, therefore, to hand over Amon the idol to the Babylonians, and indeed their other gods; for this is what he says: "And upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt, and upon her gods, and upon her kings; and upon Pharaoh and upon those who trust in him." The enemies, he says, will overcome all at the same time, both the king, and the rulers, and the idols, and the auxiliaries; but having been handed over to the king of the Babylonians, she will recover her former dynasty. 26. For after these things, he says, she will be at peace as in the days of old, says the Lord. After this he also foretells pleasing things for Israel, and prophesies the return from Babylon. And he also foretells the destruction of the Babylonians. 28. For you, he says, fear not, my child Jacob, says the Lord, for I am with you; for I will make a full end of every nation, where I will lead you. "But I will not make you fail, and I will discipline you for judgment, and I will not acquit you as innocent." I will bring a healing discipline upon you; for this is what he says, "I will discipline you for judgment, and I will not leave you unjudged." For this is what "And I will not acquit you as innocent" means. CHAPTER 47. From here he transfers the prophecy to the Philistines; and he calls Philistines those who inhabit Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ashdod, and Gath, and Ekron. And he says that the prediction was made before Pharaoh struck Gaza, and he likens the army of the Babylonians to an overflowing torrent; and by this the cities being flooded, and the inhabitants being destroyed, and using wailing, and not enduring to bear the clash of weapons and of chariots; and he teaches that because of fear fathers even forgot nature, and neglected their sons. "For fathers did not turn back, he says, to their own sons, from the slackening of their own hands." 4. In the day that is coming, to destroy all the Philistines. And he foretells destruction also to the Tyrians and Sidonians, as having come to the aid of these. 81.717 "For I will destroy, he says, Tyre and Sidon, and the remnants of their help; because the Lord will destroy the Philistines, the remnants of the islands, and of Cappadocia." And in interpreting the other prophets, we have shown that colonists of Cyprians and Cappadocians long ago inhabited Palestine. 5. Baldness has come upon Gaza. Instead of, you will be stripped of your former renown; but it often also signifies mourning. For shear, he says, your head, and take up a lament on your lips. "Ashkelon has been cast away, and the rest of the Anakim." And his descendants inhabited the land of Ashkelon. How long will you gather yourselves together? (6.) How long will the sword of the Lord strike? He called Nebuchadnezzar the "Sword of the Lord"; for with His permission, he accomplished those things, and through one another the impious paid the penalties for their impiety. "Return to your sheath; rest, and be lifted up." And showing who it was that commanded it to act, he added: 7. And the Lord has given it a command against Ashkelon, and against the seacoasts, and to go against the remnants. He uses, however, personification, teaching more clearly that creation is not ungoverned, but its Maker presides over all things, and at one time He supplies them with an abundance of good things, and at another He allows them to fall into calamities.

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Αἴγυπτον κατελθοῦσι προεθέσπισεν ὁ προ 81.716 φήτης, ὅτε καὶ τοὺς λίθους κατέκρυψεν ἐν τοῖς προ πυλαίοις τῶν βασιλείων κεʹ. Ἰδοὺ ἐκδικῶ ἐγὼ τὸν Ἀμμῶνα υἱὸν αὐτῆς. Ἀμμῶνα καλοῦσι τὸν ∆ία οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι· ἀφ' οὗ καὶ χώρα Ἀμμωνιακὴ προσηγορεύθη· τούτῳ μέ γιστον κατεσκεύασαν τέμενος. Υἱὸν δὲ αὐτῆς τὸν Ἀμμῶνα ὀνομάζει, ὡς παρ' αὐτῆς θεοποιηθέντα· χειροποίητον γὰρ τὸ ἄγαλμα. Ἀπειλεῖ τοίνυν καὶ τὸν Ἀμμὼν τὸ εἴδωλον παραδώσειν Βαβυλωνίοις, καὶ μέντοι καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους αὐτῶν θεούς· τοῦτο γὰρ λέγει· "Καὶ ἐπὶ Φαραὼ, καὶ ἐπ' Αἴγυπτον, καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς θεοὺς αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς βασιλεῖς αὐτῆς· καὶ ἐπὶ Φαραὼ καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς πεποιθότας ἐπ' αὐτόν." Πάντων, φησὶ, κατὰ ταυτὸν περιγενήσονται οἱ πολέμιοι, καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων, καὶ τῶν εἰδώλων, καὶ τῶν ἐπι κούρων· παραδοθεῖσα μέντοι τῷ Βαβυλωνίων βασι λεῖ, τὴν προτέραν ἀνακτήσεται δυναστείαν. κϛʹ. Μετὰ ταῦτα γὰρ, φησὶν, ἠρεμήσει κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας τὰς ἔμπροσθεν, λέγει Κύριος. Μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ τὰ θυμήρη προλέγει, καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ Βαβυλῶνος ἐπάνοδον προθεσπίζει. Προαγορεύει δὲ καὶ τῶν Βαβυλωνίων τὸν ὄλεθρον. κηʹ. Καὶ σὺ γὰρ, φησὶ, μὴ φοβοῦ, παῖς μου Ἰα κὼβ, λέγει Κύριος, ὅτι μετὰ σοῦ εἰμὶ ἐγώ· ὅτι ποιήσω συντέλειαν ἐν παντὶ ἔθνει, εἰς ὃ εἰσ άξω σε ἐκεῖ. Σὲ δὲ οὐ μὴ ποιήσω ἐκλιπεῖν, καὶ παιδεύσω σε εἰς κρῖμα, καὶ ἀθῶον οὐκ ἀθωώσω σε. Ἰατρικήν σοι παιδείαν ἀνάξω· τοῦτο γὰρ λέ γει, "παιδεύσω σε εἰς κρῖμα, καὶ ἀδέκαστον οὐκ ἐάσω." Τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ, "Καὶ ἀθῶον οὐκ ἀθωώσω σε." ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΜΖʹ. Ἐντεῦθεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀλλοφύλους μεταφέρει τὴν προ φητείαν· ἀλλοφύλους δὲ καλεῖ τοὺς τὴν Ἀσκάλωνα, καὶ τὴν Γάζαν, καὶ τὴν Ἄζωτον, καὶ τὴν Γὲθ, καὶ τὴν Ἄκκαρον οἰκοῦντας. Λέγει δὲ γεγενῆσθαι τὴν πρόῤῥησιν πρὸ τοῦ πατάξαι Φαραὼ τὴν Γάζαν, καὶ ἀπεικάζει χειμάῤῥῳ πλημμυροῦντι τῶν Βαβυλω νίων τὴν στρατιάν· ὑπὸ δὲ τούτου κατακλυζομένας τὰς πόλεις, καὶ διαφθειρομένους τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας, καὶ ὀλολυγῇ χρωμένους, καὶ οὐδὲ τῶν ὅπλων καὶ τῶν ἁρμάτων τὸν κτύπον φέρειν ἀνεχομένους· διδάσκει δὲ, ὅτι καὶ τῆς φύσεως διὰ τὸ δέος ἐπελάθοντο πατέ ρες, καὶ τῶν υἱῶν ἠμέλησαν. "Οὐκ ἐπέστρεψαν γὰρ, φησὶ, πατέρες ἐπὶ υἱοὺς αὑτῶν, ἀπὸ ἐκλύσεως χειρῶν αὑτῶν." δʹ. Ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἐρχομένῃ, τοῦ ἀπολέσαι πάντας ἀλλοφύλους. Προλέγει δὲ καὶ Τυρίοις καὶ Σιδωνίοις, ὡς εἰς ἐπικουρίαν τούτων ἐληλυθόσι, 81.717 τὸν ὄλεθρον. "Ἀφανιῶ γὰρ, φησὶ, Τύρον, καὶ Σι δῶνα, καὶ τοὺς καταλοίπους τῆς βοηθείας αὐτῶν· ὅτι ἐξολοθρεύσει Κύριος τοὺς ἀλλοφύλους τοὺς κατα λοίπους τῶν νήσων, καὶ Καππαδοκίας." Καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους προφήτας ἑρμηνεύσαντες, ἐδείξαμεν ὡς ἄπ οικοι Κυπρίων καὶ Καππαδοκῶν ᾤκησαν πάλαι τὴν Παλαιστίνην. εʹ. Ἥκει φαλάκρωμα ἐπὶ Γάζαν. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, τῆς πάλαι περιφανείας ἀφαιρεθήσῃ· δηλοῖ δὲ πολλάκις καὶ τὸ πένθος. Ἀπόκειραι γὰρ, φησὶ, τὴν κεφα λήν σου, καὶ ἀνάλαβε ἐπὶ χειλέων θρῆνον. "Ἀπεῤ ῥίφη Ἀσκάλων, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν Ἐνακίμ." Ἀπόγονοι δὲ ἐκείνου τὴν Ἀσκαλωνίαν ᾤκησαν. Ἕως πότε συστραφήσεσθε; (ϛʹ.) Ἕως τίνος κόψει ἡ μάχαιρα τοῦ Κυρίου; "Μάχαιραν Κυ ρίου" τὸν Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἐκάλεσεν· αὐτοῦ γὰρ συγ χωροῦντος, ἐκεῖνα εἰργάζετο, καὶ δι' ἀλλήλων οἱ δυσ σεβεῖς δίκας τῆς ἀσεβείας ἐτίννυον. "Ἀποκατάστηθι εἰς τὸν κολεόν σου· ἀνάπαυσαι, καὶ ἐπάρθητι." Καὶ δεικνὺς τίς ὁ ἐνεργεῖν κελεύσας, ἐπήγαγε· ζʹ. Καὶ Κύριος ἐνετείλατο αὐτῇ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀσκά λωνα, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς παραθαλασσίους, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς καταλοίπους πορευθῆναι. Τῇ μέντοι προσωποποιΐᾳ κέχρηται, σαφέστερον διδάσκων, ὡς οὐκ ἀκυβέρνη τος ἡ κτίσις, ἀλλ' ὁ ταύτης ποιητὴς τοῖς πᾶσιν ἐφ έστηκε, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν αὐτοῖς χορηγεῖ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὴν ἀφθονίαν, ποτὲ δὲ συγχωρεῖ συμφοραῖς περιπίπτειν.