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of me, nor were you willing to take memory of the laws, such terrible things, he says, I will bring upon you, so that your hands will be paralyzed, and your heart, filled with all turmoil, will despair of salvation. Then the truth of what was said: "I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it." The authority of the one who spoke, he says, confirms what was said; for it is enough for you, having learned who it is that has spoken, to believe what was said. 15. And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will disperse you among the countries. Then the benefit from this. And your uncleanness shall cease from you; (10.) And I will be inherited in you in the sight of the nations, because I am the Lord. For when, he says, you become captives and sojourners, then you will be taught by experience to be prudent, and having ceased from your former transgression, you will learn that I am your God and Lord, and you will be called my inheritance, and through you the nations, among whom you sojourn, will learn my worth and power. 17, 18. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, behold the house of Israel has become to me all mixed with bronze, and tin, and iron and lead, in the midst of a furnace they are mixed with silver. This people, he says, O prophet, is like debased silver, and having a great admixture of bronze, and iron, and tin, and lead. And God says this also through Jeremiah the prophet: "Call them rejected silver, because the Lord God has rejected 81.1028 them;" and through the aforementioned materials he indicated the various kinds of wickedness; and this it is possible to learn again through Jeremiah the prophet; for making this accusation against the Jews, he himself said: "The bellows failed from the fire, the lead has failed, in vain the silversmith refines; their wickednesses have not been melted down." Whence he added: "Call them rejected silver, because the Lord God has rejected them." And he called the divine energy "bellows"; and "fire" now the instructive and purifying word, and now the punishment through deeds. And through both the divine power works. And again, he named the prophetic teaching "silversmith," and the punishment "lead"; for as lead is thrown into the silver being smelted, so that it might consume the dross in it, so also punishment is brought upon the deserving, so that they might be shown to be pure from sin. This he threatens to do here also. 19-22. Therefore say: Thus says the Lord Adonai: Because you have all become one alloy, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As silver and bronze, and iron, and lead, and tin are gathered into the midst of a furnace, to blow fire upon it to be melted, so I will gather you in my anger, and in my wrath, and I will bring you in, and I will leave you; And I will melt you, and I will blow on you in the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it. As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so you will be melted in the midst of it, and you will know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath upon you. Since, he says, you received the admixture of wickedness, and resembling unrefined silver, through every kind of evil you were shown to be debased, I will make Jerusalem a smelting furnace for you, and I will cast in the enemies like coals; and I will move my energy and will like a bellows, and I will smelt you at the same time, so that those who are incurably sick, I might consume in a way similar to the other materials, but those who are receptive to healing, I might show to be like some purified silver. 23, 24. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, say to her: You are a land not rained upon, nor has rain fallen on you in the day of wrath. And lying fallow from war, and having received neither rain nor plow; and yet he offered to her the rain of teaching through the holy prophets; but since they did not receive it, but pushed it away, just like a rock that does not allow penetration to the fall of rain, he fittingly called her a land not rained upon. Then again he accuses the rulers. 81.1029 25. Whose leaders

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μου, οὐδὲ τῶν νόμων λαβεῖν ἠθέλησας μνήμην, τοιαῦτά σοι, φησὶν, ἐπάξω δεινὰ, ὥστε τὰς μὲν χεῖρας διαλυθῆναι, τὴν δὲ καρδίαν θορύβου παντὸς ἀναπλησθεῖσαν ἀπογνῶναι τὴν σωτηρίαν. Εἶτα τῶν εἰρημένων τὸ ἀψευδές· "Ἐγὼ Κύριος λελάληκα, καὶ ποιήσω." Βεβαιοῖ, φησὶ, τὰ εἰρημένα τὸ τοῦ εἰρηκότος ἀξίωμα· ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ὑμᾶς, μαθόντας τίς ὁ φθεγξάμενος, πιστεῦσαι τοῖς εἰρημένοις. ιεʹ. Καὶ διασκορπιῶ σε ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι, καὶ δια σπερῶ σε ἐν ταῖς χώραις. Εἶτα ἡ ἐντεῦθεν ὠφέ λεια. Καὶ ἐκλείψει ἡ ἀκαθαρσία σου ἐκ σοῦ· (ιʹ.) Καὶ κατακληρονομήσω ἐν σοὶ κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς τῶν ἐθνῶν, διότι ἐγὼ Κύριος. Ὅταν γὰρ, φησὶν, αἰχμάλωτοι γένησθε, καὶ μέτοικοι, τηνικαῦτα τῇ πείρᾳ διδαχθήσεσθε σωφρονεῖν, καὶ τῆς προτέρας παυσάμενοι παρανομίας, μαθήσεσθέ με Θεὸν ὑμῶν ὄντα καὶ Κύριον, καὶ κληρονομία ἐμὴ χρηματίσετε, καὶ μαθήσεται δι' ὑμῶν τὰ ἔθνη, ἐν οἷς παροικεῖτε, τὴν ἐμὴν ἀξίαν καὶ δύναμιν. ιζʹ, ιηʹ. Καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρὸς μὲ, λέγων· Υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, ἰδοὺ γεγόνασί μοι ὁ οἶκος Ἰσραὴλ ἀναμεμιγμένοι πάντες χαλκῷ, καὶ κασσιτέρῳ, καὶ σιδήρῳ καὶ μολύβδῳ, ἐν μέσῳ καμίνου ἀργυρίου ἀναμεμιγμένοι εἰσίν. Ἔοικε, φησὶν, ὁ λαὸς οὗτος, ὦ προφῆτα, ἀργύρῳ κιβδήλῳ, καὶ πολλὴν ἐπιμιξίαν ἔχοντι χαλκοῦ, καὶ σιδήρου, καὶ κασσιτέρου, καὶ μολύβδου. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ διὰ Ἱερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου φησὶν ὁ Θεός· "Ἀργύριον ἀποδεδοκιμασμένον καλέσατε αὐτοὺς, ὅτι ἀπεδοκίμα 81.1028 σεν αὐτοὺς Κύριος ὁ Θεός·" διὰ δὲ τῶν εἰρημένων ὑλῶν τὰ παντοδαπὰ τῆς κακίας παρεδήλωσεν εἴδη· καὶ τοῦτο πάλιν διὰ Ἱερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου μαθεῖν δυνατόν· ταύτην γὰρ τῶν Ἰουδαίων τὴν κατηγορίαν ποιούμενος ἔφη καὶ αὐτός· "Ἐξέλιπεν φυσητὴρ ἀπὸ πυρὸς, ἐξέλιπε μόλυβδος, εἰς κενὸν ἀργυροκόπος ἀργυροκοπεῖ· αἱ πονηρίαι αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐτάκησαν." Ὅθεν ἐπήγαγεν· "Ἀργύριον ἀποδεδοκιμασμένον καλέσατε αὐτοὺς, ὅτι ἀπεδοκίμασεν αὐτοὺς Κύριος ὁ Θεός." Φυσητῆρα δὲ τὴν θείαν ἐνέργειαν ἀπεκά λεσε· πῦρ δὲ νῦν μὲν τὸν παιδευτικὸν καὶ καθαρτή ριον λόγον, νῦν δὲ τὴν δι' ἔργων τιμωρίαν. ∆ι' ἀμ φοτέρων δὲ ἡ θεία δύναμις ἐνεργεῖ. Ἀργυροκόπον δὲ πάλιν τὴν προφητικὴν διδασκαλίαν ὠνόμασε, μό λυβδον δὲ τὴν τιμωρίαν· ὅτι γὰρ μόλυβδος ἐμβάλλε ται τῷ ἀργύρῳ χωνευομένῳ, ὡς ἂν τὸ ἐν τούτῳ κί βδηλον δαπανήσειεν, καὶ ἡ τιμωρία τοῖς ἀξίοις ἐπιφέ ρεται, ἵνα καθαροὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀναφανῶσι. Τοῦτο καὶ ἐνταῦθα ποιήσειν ἀπειλεῖ. ιθʹ-κβʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο εἰπέ· Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύ ριος· Ἀνθ' ὧν ἐγένεσθε πάντες εἰς σύγκρασιν μίαν, διὰ τοῦτο ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ εἰσδέξομαι ὑμᾶς ἐν μέσῳ Ἱερουσαλήμ. Καθὼς εἰσδέχεται ἄργυρος καὶ χαλκὸς, καὶ σίδηρος, καὶ μόλυβδος, καὶ κασ σίτερος ἐν μέσῳ καμίνου, τοῦ ἐμφυσῆσαι εἰς αὐτὴν πῦρ εἰς τὸ χωνευθῆναι, οὕτως εἰσδέξομαι ὑμᾶς ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ μου, καὶ ἐν τῷ θυμῷ μου, καὶ εἰσάξω, καὶ ἐπαφήσω· Καὶ χωνεύσω ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἐμφυσήσω ὑμᾶς ἐν πυρὶ ὀργῆς μου, καὶ χω νευθήσεσθε ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς. Ὃν τρόπον χωνεύε ται ἀργύριον ἐν μέσῳ καμίνου, οὕτως χωνευθή σεσθε ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐπιγνώσεσθε ὅτι ἐγὼ Κύριος ἐξέχεα τὸν θυμόν μου ἐφ' ὑμᾶς. Ἐπειδὴ, φησὶ, τὴν τῆς κακίας ἐπιμιξίαν ἐδέξασθε, καὶ ἀρ γύρῳ ἀδοκίμῳ ἐοικότες, διὰ τῆς παντοδαπῆς πονη ρίας ἀνεφάνητε κίβδηλοι, χωνευτήριον μὲν ὑμῖν καταστήσω τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἀνθράκων δὲ δίκην ἐμβαλῶ τοὺς πολεμίους· τὴν δὲ ἐμὴν ἐνέργειαν καὶ βούλησιν, οἷόν τινα φυσητῆρα κινήσω, καὶ κατὰ ταυτὸν ὑμᾶς χωνεύσω, ἵνα τοὺς μὲν ἀνήκεστα νενο σηκότας, ταῖς ἄλλαις ὕλαις παραπλησίως δαπανήσω, τοὺς δὲ ἴασιν ἐπιδεχομένους, οἷόν τινα κεκαθαρμένον ἄργυρον ἀποφήνω. κγʹ, κδʹ. Καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρὸς μὲ, λέ γων· Υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, εἰπὲ αὐτῇ· Σὺ εἶ γῆ οὐ βρεχομένη οὐδὲ ὑετὸς ἐγένετο ἐπὶ σὲ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς. Καὶ ἐκ πολέμου χερσεύουσα, καὶ μήτε ὑετὸν, μήτε ἄροτρον δεξαμένη· καὶ μὴν τὸν τῆς διδασκα λίας ὑετὸν διὰ τῶν ἁγίων αὐτῇ προσέφερε προφητῶν· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τοῦτον οὐκ ἐδέχοντο, ἀλλ' ἀπωθοῦντο, καθάπερ τις πέτρα παρείσδυσιν οὐ παρέχουσα τῇ τοῦ ὑετοῦ φορᾷ, εἰκότως αὐτὴν οὐ βρεχομένην ὠνόμασε γῆν. Εἶτα πάλιν τῶν ἀρχόντων κατηγορεῖ. 81.1029 κεʹ. Ἧς οἱ ἀφηγούμενοι