70

having slapped him moderately, say, do not doubt in your heart, nor disbelieve the one who says through the scripture, "he who has mercy on the poor lends to God." For behold, in the present age I have fulfilled for you many times more than what you lent to me. And if you believe, you will receive also in the future an unsurpassed wealth." And so the high priest did all the things commanded to the man and spoke; but he, having heard and become terrified, leaving everything in the temple, went out, giving thanks and believing in the Lord and all the things declared in the divine scripture. After Hezekiah, Manasseh his son reigned, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he died after reigning for 55 years; who, being the most lawless of all the kings before him in both idolatry and bloodshed, and having sawn the great Isaiah with a wooden saw and having filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, he practiced idolatry no less than the Amorites. And having defiled the house of the Lord, and having set up in it a four-faced idol of Zeus, he did not cease practicing divination and witchcraft and shameful deeds. Wherefore also by divine wrath he was led captive in chains to Nineveh by king Merodach; and being put in bronze fetters, having prayed to God through sincere repentance, he made the king good, and he sent him forth to Jerusalem. who, having returned, destroyed every 1.195 idolatrous tent, and he purified the temple of God and kept the law and lived piously, giving thanks to God until his last breath. And after Manasseh, Amon his son reigned for two years. During these times Midas the king of Phrygia died, who they said had the ears of a donkey. Josiah, succeeding his father Amon at the age of eight, takes up the rule, reigning for thirty-one years. And he died, having been shot by an arrow in battle. For Necho, having become king of Egypt, marched against the Assyrians, and he was eager to aid the Assyrians. Whence Esdras says "and the king of Egypt said to Josiah: What have I to do with you, king of Judea? I have not been sent out against you by the Lord God to make war, but upon the Euphrates. And now the Lord is with me. Stand aside, and do not oppose the Lord." And Josiah did not turn away from him, but engaged in war against him in the plain against the will of God. And having been shot by the enemies, he said to his servants, "Take me away, because I am in great pain." And when he immediately returned to Jerusalem and departed this life, there was great mourning throughout all Judea, and Jeremiah especially lamented for Josiah. In his 18th year, the priest Hilkiah, having found a book in the temple (who was the father of Jeremiah the prophet), brings it to the king. But he, being devout and more righteous than the kings before him, did not wish 1.196 to read it. The priest, therefore, read it, and all the people wept. But the priest, upon reading this, cried out. But the king, being greatly disheartened, knowing that the law of the Lord had been trampled upon for so many years, having torn his garments and become fearful, sent to Huldah the prophetess, asking what the Lord wills concerning him and all the people. And she says, "Thus says the Lord: Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before me, when you heard that I spoke against this place and its inhabitants, that it should become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your garments and wept before me, behold, I will gather you to your fathers in peace, and you will not see all the evils which I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants, that it should become a desolation." Wherefore, moved by divine zeal, he not only destroyed from their foundations the idols and objects of worship everywhere. But also he destroyed the idolaters, those still living, and those already dead he burned in their tombs. And raising his eyes to the tomb of the man of God he said, "What is that monument which I see?" And the men of the city say, "The

70

ῥαπίσας μετρίως εἰπέ, μὴ δίσταζε ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου, μηδὲ ἀπίστει τῷ διὰ τῆς γραφῆς λέγοντι «ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχὸν δανείζει θεῷ.» ἰδοὺ γάρ, ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι ἐξεπλήρωσά σοι πολλαπλασίονα ὑπὲρ ὧν ἐδάνεισάς μοι. καὶ εἰ πιστεύεις, λήψῃ καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι πλοῦτον ἀνυπέρβλητον." καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀρχιερεὺς τὰ διατεταγμένα πάντα πεποίηκε πρὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ λελάλη κεν· ὁ δὲ ἀκούσας καὶ ἔντρομος γενόμενος, πάντα ἐάσας ἐν τῷ ναῷ ἐξῆλθεν, εὐχαριστῶν καὶ πιστεύων κυρίῳ καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ διηγορευμένα. Μετὰ Ἐζεκίαν ἐβασίλευσε Μανασσῆς υἱὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐποίησε τὸ πονηρὸν ἐνώπιον κυρίου, καὶ ἀπέθανε βασιλεύσας ἔτη νεʹ· ὃς παρανομώτατος ὑπὲρ πάντας τοὺς ἔμπροσθεν βασιλεῖς ὑπάρχων ἐπὶ εἰδωλομανίᾳ τε καὶ αἱματεκχυσίᾳ, καὶ τὸν μέγαν Ἠσαΐαν πρί σας ξυλίνῳ πριόνι καὶ τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ αἱμάτων ἀδίκων πληρώσας, οὐχ ἧττον εἰδωλολάτρησε τῶν Ἀμορραίων. καὶ τὸν οἶκον κυρίου καταμολύνας, καὶ τετραπρόσωπον εἴδωλον τοῦ ∆ιὸς ἐν αὐτῷ στή σας, οὐ διέλιπεν οἰωνιζόμενος καὶ φαρμακεύων καὶ αἰσχρουργῶν. διὸ καὶ κατὰ θείαν ὀργὴν δέσμιος εἰς Νινευὶ ἀπήχθη ὑπὸ Μαρο δὲχ βασιλέως· καὶ χαλκοῖς δεσμοῖς ὑποβληθείς, δι' εἰλικρινοῦς μετανοίας δεηθεὶς τοῦ θεοῦ, τὸν βασιλέα ἠγάθυνε, καὶ εἰς Ἱερου σαλὴμ αὐτὸν ἐξέπεμψεν. ὃς ἐπανελθὼν πᾶσαν μὲν κατέστρεψεν 1.195 εἰδωλικὴν σκηνήν, τὸ δὲ ἱερὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἥγνισε καὶ τὸν νόμον ἐφύ λαξε καὶ εὐσεβῶς ἐβίωσεν εὐχαριστῶν τῷ θεῷ ἄχρι τελευταίας ἀναπνοῆς αὐτοῦ. Μετὰ δὲ Μανασσῆν ἐβασίλευσεν Ἀμὼς υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἔτη δύο. κατὰ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Μίδας ὁ Φρυγίας βασιλεὺς ἐτελεύτη σεν, ὅντινα ἔλεγον ὦτα ἔχειν ὄνου. Ἰωσίας τὸν πατέρα Ἀμὼς διαδεξάμενος ὀκταετὴς ἀντιλαμ βάνεται τῆς ἀρχῆς, βασιλεύσας ἔτη τριάκοντα ἕν. καὶ ἐτελεύτησε τοξευθεὶς ἐν πολέμῳ. ὁ γὰρ Νεχευὼ βασιλεύσας Αἰγύπτου κατὰ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἐστράτευσεν, ἐπικουρῆσαι δὲ τοῖς Ἀσσυρίοις οὗτος ἐσπούδαζεν. ὅθεν φησὶν Ἔσδρας "καὶ εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Αἰ γύπτου πρὸς Ἰωσίαν· τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί, βασιλεῦ τῆς Ἰουδαίας; οὐχὶ πρὸς σὲ ἐξαπέσταλμαι παρὰ κυρίου θεοῦ ποιῆσαι πόλεμον, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τοῦ Εὐφράτου. καὶ νῦν κύριος μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐστίν. ἀπό στηθι, καὶ μὴ ἐναντιούτω τῷ κυρίῳ." καὶ οὐκ ἀπέστρεψεν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ Ἰωσίας, ἀλλὰ συνεστήσατο πρὸς αὐτὸν πόλεμον ἐν τῷ πε δίῳ παρὰ γνώμην θεοῦ. καὶ τοξευθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων εἶπε τοῖς παισὶν αὐτοῦ "ἐξαγάγετέ με, ὅτι σφόδρα ὀδυνῶμαι." καὶ εὐθέως ἀποστρέψαντος αὐτοῦ εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὸν βίον μεταλ λάξαντος ἐγένετο πένθος μέγα κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, καὶ μᾶλλον Ἱερεμίας ἐθρήνησε ὑπὲρ Ἰωσίου. ἐν τῷ ιηʹ τούτου ἔτει εὑρὼν ὁ ἱερεὺς Χελκίας ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ βιβλίον (ὃς ἦν πατὴρ Ἱερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου) προσκομίζει τῷ βασιλεῖ. ὁ δὲ εὐλαβὴς ὢν καὶ δικαιότατος ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ βασιλεῖς οὐκ ἠθέλησεν 1.196 ἀναγνῶναι αὐτό. ἀνέγνω τοίνυν αὐτὸ ὁ ἱερεύς, καὶ ἔκλαυσε πᾶς ὁ λαός. ὁ δὲ ἱερεὺς ἅμα τῷ τοῦτο ἀναγνῶναι διαπεφώνηκεν. ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς λίαν ἀθυμήσας, εἰδὼς ἐν τοσούτοις ἔτεσι καταπατού μενον τὸν νόμον κυρίου, τὰ ἱμάτια διαρρήξας καὶ ἔμφοβος γενό μενος ἀπέστειλε πρὸς Ὀλδὰν τὴν προφῆτιν, πυνθανόμενος τί βού λεται κύριος περὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ. ἡ δὲ φησί "τάδε λέγει κύριος· ἀνθ' ὧν ἡπαλύνθη σου ἡ καρδία καὶ ἐνετράπης ἀπὸ προσώπου μου, ὡς ἤκουσας ὅτι ἐλάλησα ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον καὶ τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας αὐτόν, τοῦ εἶναι εἰς ἀφανισμὸν καὶ εἰς κατάραν, καὶ διέρρηξας τὰ ἱμάτιά σου καὶ ἔκλαυσας ἐνώπιόν μου, ἰδοὺ προσ τίθημί σε πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας σου ἐν εἰρήνῃ, καὶ οὐκ ὄψει πᾶσι τοῖς κακοῖς οἷς ἐπάξω ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον καὶ τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας αὐτόν, τοῦ εἶναι εἰς ἀφανισμόν." ὅθεν ζήλῳ θείῳ κινούμενος οὐ μόνον τὰ πανταχοῦ εἴδωλά τε καὶ σεβάσματα κατέστρεψεν ἐκ βάθρων. ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς εἰδωλολάτρας τοὺς μὲν ἔτι ζῶντας ὠλό θρευσε, τοὺς δὲ ἤδη τεθνηκότας ἐν τοῖς τάφοις κατέκαυσε. καὶ ἐπάρας τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐπὶ τὸν τάφον τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ θεοῦ εἶπε «τί τὸ σκόπελον ἐκεῖνο, ὃ ἐγὼ βλέπω;" καὶ φασὶν οἱ ἄνδρες τῆς πόλεως "ὁ