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of this one, a general with a chosen force, he himself, with his hands stretched out in the form of a cross, was attending to God. As long as Moses formed them thus, raising them up high, Israel prevailed over its enemies, but whenever he lowered them because of their weight, they were defeated. Then, having sat upon a stone, supported by Aaron and Hur, he stretched out his hands until sunset; and Joshua routed all of Amalek with the slaughter of the sword, using as a trophy the cause of victory, the cross-shaped extension of the lawgiver's hands. Then Jethro son of Reuel, Moses' father-in-law, came to him with his wife Zipporah and the two sons born to Moses by her in the desert of Midian of Arabia Felix, which is near Mount Sinai, about which the divine apostle also said. “Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, which is a covenant that gives birth to slavery.” And the names of the sons were Gershom and Eliezer; by them nothing worthy of memory was done. And Jethro, having heard the wonders concerning Egypt and the Red Sea, was amazed and blessed God, sacrificing whole burnt offerings to him. And having feasted with Moses and Aaron and all the elders of Israel, and after giving good counsel concerning courts of justice, he departed to Midian, being sent on his way by Moses. And in the third month of the exodus of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, on this day they came into the desert of Sinai, and Israel encamped there opposite the mountain, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. Then Moses, having been initiated into the mysteries, came down to the people and reported to the elders, and when they had agreed to obey God in all things, he brought their words up to God. And having come down again, he testified to the people that they should be cleansed of all defilements and purify themselves with sprinklings for three days, abstaining even from marriage. And on the third day toward dawn there were voices and flashes of lightning and a dark cloud upon the mountain, so that the area around the mountain was hidden, being enveloped in the darkness, and making the sight terrifying 152 to those watching it, smoking all around with fire and echoing with the startling voice of a trumpet. At which all the people were amazed, as the voice of the trumpet grew exceedingly loud upon the descent of God on the mountain, while Moses was speaking and God was answering. Then the Lord spoke to Moses the ten commandments of the law. 1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 2. You shall have no other gods besides me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything. 3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. For the Lord will not hold guiltless the one who takes his name in vain. 4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 5. Honor your father and your mother, that it may be well with you and that you may be long-lived upon the earth. 6. You shall not commit adultery. 7. You shall not murder. 8. You shall not steal. 9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 10. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not covet your neighbor's house nor his field nor his male servant nor his female servant nor his ox nor his donkey nor any of his cattle nor anything that is your neighbor's. This decalogue is an ordinance of general commandments. These divine teachings were ordained with a certain terrifying, articulate voice, while the people were seeing and hearing, and since they could not bear its startling and unbearable sound, they asked through Moses that the rest of the subsequent laws, legislated for them specifically in fifty chapters, be spoken. And they were about household slaves and voluntary and involuntary murders, dishonoring of parents and slander, theft, striking in fights to the point of life and to the point of death, of free men against free men and of a master against a slave and of men 153 against a pregnant woman, and the knocking out of the eye of a male slave and a female slave, the goring of a bull to death and of its master, and the digging of a pit and the falling of cattle into it, the goring of a bull by a bull, the theft of a calf and the death of the thief during the break-in according to

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τούτου, μετὰ δυνάμεως ἐκ λεκτῆς στρατηγόν, αὐτὸς τῇ τῶν χειρῶν ἐκτάσει σταυροειδῶς τυπούμενος προσανεῖχε τῷ θεῷ. μέχρι μὲν οὕτω ταύτας ἐτύπου Μωυσῆς ἐπαίρων εἰς ὕψος, ἐκράτει τῶν ἐναντίων ὁ Ἰσραήλ, ἡνίκα δ' ἂν καθῆκε ταύτας διὰ βάρος, ἡττῶντο. τότε ἐπικαθίσας λίθῳ ὑπὸ Ἀαρὼν καὶ Ὢρ ἕως ἡλίου δυσμῶν τὰς χεῖρας ἐξέτεινε στηριζόμενος· καὶ Ἰησοῦς ἅπαντα τὸν Ἀμαλὴκ ἐν φόνῳ μαχαίρας ἐτροπώσατο, τῇ τῆς νίκης αἰτίᾳ σταυροειδεῖ τῶν χει ρῶν ἐκτάσει τοῦ νομοθέτου τροπαίῳ χρησάμενος. Τότε Ἰοθὼρ ὁ τοῦ Ῥαγουὴλ γαμβρὸς Μωυσέως παρεγένετο πρὸς αὐτὸν σὺν γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ Σεπφώρᾳ καὶ δυσὶ παισὶν ἐξ αὐτῆς τεχθεῖσι τῷ Μωυσῇ κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον Μαδιὰμ τῆς εὐδαίμονος Ἀραβίας πλησιάζουσαν τῷ ὄρει Σινᾷ, περὶ οὗ καὶ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος ἔφη. «τὸ δὲ Ἄγαρ Σινᾶ ὄρος ἐστὶν ἐν Ἀραβίᾳ, ἥτις ἐστὶ διαθήκη εἰς δουλείαν γεννῶσα.» ὀνόματα δὲ τοῖς παισὶν ἦν Γηρσὰμ καὶ Ἐλίεζερ· τούτοις οὐδὲν ἄξιον μνήμης πέπρακται. Ἀκούσας δὲ Ἰοθὼρ τὰ κατ' Αἴγυπτον καὶ τὴν ἐρυθρὰν θαύματα ἐξέστη καὶ εὐλόγησε τὸν θεόν, θύσας αὐτῷ ὁλοκαυτώματα. καὶ συνεστιαθεὶς Μωυσῇ καὶ Ἀαρὼν καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις Ἰσραήλ, περί τε δικαστηρίων χρηστὰ συμβουλεύσας ἀνέζευξεν εἰς Μαδιὰμ προπεμφθεὶς ὑπὸ Μωυ σέως. Τοῦ δὲ μηνὸς τοῦ τρίτου τῆς ἐξόδου τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου τῇ ἡμέρα ταύτῃ ἦλθον εἰς τὴν ἔρημον τὴν Σινά, καὶ παρέβαλλεν ἐκεῖ Ἰσραὴλ κατέναντι τοῦ ὄρους, καὶ Μωυσῆς ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος τοῦ θεοῦ. τότε μυσταγωγηθεὶς Μωυσῆς τὰ πρὸς τὸν λαὸν καταβὰς ἀπήγγειλε τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις, τῶν δὲ συνθεμένων ὑπείκειν θεῷ κατὰ πάντα, ἀνήγαγε πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τοὺς λόγους αὐτῶν. καὶ καταβὰς πάλιν διεμαρτύρατο τῷ λαῷ πάντων μολυσμῶν καθαρθῆναι καὶ περιρραντισμοῖς ἀφαγνίσασθαι τρισὶν ἡμέραις ἀπεχομένους καὶ τοῦ γάμου. τῇ δὲ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ πρὸς ὄρθρον φωναὶ καὶ ἀστραπαὶ γεγόνασι καὶ νεφέλη γνοφώδης ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους, ὡς ἀφανὲς ἐν κύκλῳ τοῦ ὄρους εἶναι τῷ γνόφῳ συνειλημμένον φοβεράν τε 152 τὴν θέαν ἐμποιεῖν τοῖς ὁρῶσι καπνιζόμενον κύκλῳ πυρὶ καὶ σάλπιγγος καταπλήκτῳ φωνῇ περιηχούμενον. ἐφ' οἷς ἅπας ἐξέστη ὁ λαὸς αὐξανο μένης σφόδρα τῆς φωνῆς τῆς σάλπιγγος ἐπὶ τῇ καταβάσει τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους, Μωυσέως τε διαλεγομένου καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀποκρινομένου. τότε ἐλάλησε κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν τὴν νομικὴν δεκάλογον. αʹ Ἐγώ εἰμι κύριος ὁ θεός σου, ὁ ἐξαγαγών σε ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου. βʹ Οὐκ ἔσονταί σοι θεοὶ ἕτεροι πλὴν ἐμοῦ. οὐ ποιήσεις ἑαυτῷ εἴδωλον οὐδὲ παντὸς ὁμοίωμα. γʹ Οὐ λήψῃ τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου ἐπὶ κενῷ. οὐ γὰρ μὴ καθαρίσῃ κύριος τὸν λαμβάνοντα τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ ματαίῳ. δʹ Μνήσθητι τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῶν σαββάτων ἁγιάζειν αὐτήν. εʹ Τίμα τὸν πατέρα σου καὶ τὴν μητέρα σου, ἵνα εὖ σοι γένηται καὶ ἵνα μακροχρόνιος γένῃ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. ςʹ Οὐ μοιχεύσεις. ζʹ Οὐ φονεύσεις. ηʹ Οὐ κλέψεις. θʹ Οὐ ψευδομαρτυρήσεις κατὰ τοῦ πλησίον σου. ιʹ Οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον σου. οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ πλησίον σου οὔτε τὸν ἀγρὸν αὐτοῦ οὔτε τὸν παῖδα αὐτοῦ οὔτε τὴν παιδίσκην αὐτοῦ οὔτε τοῦ βοὸς αὐτοῦ οὔτε τοῦ ὑποζυγίου αὐτοῦ οὔτε παντὸς κτήνους αὐτοῦ οὔτε ὅσα τῷ πλησίον σού ἐστιν. Αὕτη ἡ δεκάλογος γενικῶν ἐντολῶν ἐστι διάταξις. Ταῦτα τὰ θεῖα διδάγματα φοβερᾷ τινι ἐνάρθρῳ φωνῇ διατέτακται, ὁρῶν τος τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ ἀκούοντος, ἧς τὸ κατάπληκτον καὶ ἀκοαῖς δυσάντητον μὴ φέροντες ᾔτησαν διὰ Μωυσέως τὰ λοιπὰ τῶν ἐφεξῆς ἰδικῶς αὐτοῖς ἐν πεντήκοντα κεφαλαίοις νομοθετηθέντα λαληθῆναι. Ἦσαν δὲ περί τε οἰκετῶν καὶ φόνων ἑκουσίων καὶ ἀκουσίων, ἀτιμίας γονέων καὶ κακολογίας, κλοπῆς, πατάξεως ἐν μάχαις πρὸς ζωὴν καὶ πρὸς θάνατον, ἐλευθέρων πρὸς ἐλευθέρους καὶ δεσπότου πρὸς δοῦλον καὶ ἀν 153 δρῶν πρὸς ἔγκυον γυναῖκα, καὶ ἐκβολῆς ὀφθαλμοῦ δούλου καὶ δούλης, κε ρατισμοῦ ταύρου πρὸς θάνατον καὶ τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὀρυγῆς λάκκου καὶ κτηνῶν ἐμπτώσεως ἐν τούτῳ, κερατισμοῦ ταύρου πρὸς ταῦρον, κλο πῆς μόσχου καὶ θανῆς τοῦ κλέπτου ἐν τῷ διορύγματι κατὰ