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in her midst, as roaring lions, seizing plunder, devouring souls in power, taking wealth and honors, they multiplied her widows in her midst. For with the men being slain. it is clear that widowhood took place; from there he transfers the accusatory word to the priests. 20. And her priests have violated my law. And this is the greatest transgression; for those who ought to have guided the others, they continued to be blind. "And they have profaned my holy things." Unlawfully, he says, they performed the liturgies; then the kinds of transgression. "They did not distinguish between the holy and the profane, and they did not distinguish between the clean and the unclean." They did not distinguish, he says, and teach, what is holy and divine, and what is profane and human; for here he calls profane not what is accursed, but what is common and separate from the divine things. Clean and unclean, the things separated according to the law, and again the things forbidden according to the law, not only concerning foods and sacrifices, but also concerning garments, and the other things that happen both intentionally and unintentionally, both of a man with a discharge and of a woman in her impurity, and of the touch of leprosy, and the touch of a dead body, and of a carcass, and of what is torn by beasts, and all the other things that the law specifies. To these things he adds, "And from my sabbaths they hid their eyes, and I was profaned in their midst." For seeing the day of the sabbaths being openly dishonored, and unlawful work being done on the idle day, they were not willing to reprove those who dared to transgress, but as if shutting their eyes, they pretended not to see what they continually saw. Again returning to the rulers, he says: 27. Her rulers in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, that they might get dishonest gain. An occasion for gain, he says, those who were allotted to rule made of unjust slaughters, and those who ought to have been champions of the wronged, these became part of the faction of the wrongdoers. From there he passes to the prophets, saying: 28. And her prophets daubing for them. This he also said above, that the wall badly built by the people was worse daubed by the false prophets; having taught: they confirmed, he says, the so-called prophets, the evil things being done by the rulers, using flattering words, and having been taught to serve the authorities. Then he teaches their punishment: "They shall fall who see vanity, who divine lies, saying, Thus says Adonai the Lord, and 81.1032 the Lord has not spoken." For imitating the true prophets, they clothed their own false oracles with the person of God, and attached falsehood to the source of truth. And these things, he says, they said: 29. Oppressing the people of the land with injustice, and seizing plunder, oppressing the poor and needy, and not dealing with the sojourner with justice. They used false speech, he says, and divined to please the rulers, wishing to receive impunity against the poor, and making falsehood an occasion for gain. 30. And I sought for a man among them who would conduct himself rightly, and stand in the breach of the hedge before me in time for the land, so as not to utterly destroy it, and I found none. These things he also teaches through Jeremiah, saying: "Go through the streets of Jerusalem, and see, and seek in her squares, if you can find one who does justice, and seeks faith, and I will be merciful to her." And here therefore he says, that from the rulers and from the priests, and from all the others he sought at least one man, able to stand in the breach of the hedge, that is, able to hold back the punishments brought on through the strength of righteousness, and able to block up and wall off the breach made by the transgression, and the passage for punishment, and he found none. Therefore he says: 31. I have poured out my wrath upon her in the fire of my anger, to consume them. And showing the justice of the punishment, he added: Their ways upon

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ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς, ὡς λέοντες ὠρυόμενοι, ἁρπάζοντες ἁρπάγματα, ψυ χὰς κατεσθίοντες ἐν δυναστείᾳ, πλοῦτον καὶ τι μὰς λαμβάνοντες, τὰς χήρας αὐτῆς ἐπλήθυ ναν ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς. Τῶν γὰρ ἀνδρῶν ἀναιρουμένων. δῆλον ὅτι ἡ χηρεία χώραν ἐλάμβανεν· ἐντεῦθεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἱερέας τὸν κατηγορικὸν μεταφέρει λόγον. κʹ. Καὶ οἱ ἱερεῖς αὐτῆς ἠθέτησαν τὸν νόμον μου. Μεγίστη δὲ αὕτη παρανομία· οὓς γὰρ ποδηγεῖν τοὺς ἄλλους ἐχρῆν, οὗτοι διετέλουν τυφλώττοντες. "Καὶ ἐβεβήλουν τὰ ἅγιά μου." Παρανόμως, φησὶν, ἐπετέλουν τὰς λειτουργίας· εἶτα τῆς παρανομίας τὰ εἴδη. "Ἀναμέσον ἁγίου καὶ βεβήλου οὐ διέστελλον, καὶ ἀναμέσον καθαροῦ καὶ ἀκαθάρτου οὐ διέστελλον." Οὐ διέκρινον, φησὶ, καὶ ἐδίδασκον, τί μὲν ἅγιον καὶ θεῖον, τί δὲ βέβηλον καὶ ἀνθρώπειον· βέβηλον γὰρ ἐνταῦθα οὐ τὸ ἐναγὲς καλεῖ, ἀλλὰ τὸ κοινὸν καὶ τῶν θείων κεχωρισμένον. Καθαρὸν καὶ ἀκάθαρτον, τὰ κατὰ τὸν νόμον κεχωρισμένα, καὶ τὰ κατὰ νό μον αὖ πάλιν ἀπηγορευμένα, οὐ περὶ βρωμάτων μόνον καὶ θυμάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ ἐνδυμάτων, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τε κατὰ γνώμην, καὶ παρὰ γνώμην συμβαινόντων, γονοῤῥοίας τε καὶ ἀποκαθημένης, καὶ ἁφῆς λέπρας, καὶ ἁφῆς νεκροῦ, καὶ θνησιμαίου, καὶ θηριαλώτου, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα ὁ νόμος διαγορεύει. Τούτοις προστίθησι, "Καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν σαββάτων μου παρεκάλυπτον τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὑτῶν, καὶ ἐβεβή λουν με ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν." Ὁρῶντες γὰρ ὑβρι ζομένην προφανῶς τὴν τῶν σαββάτων ἡμέραν, καὶ ἐργασίαν παράνομον ἐπιτελουμένην ἐν τῇ ἀργῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ἐλέγχειν οὐκ ἤθελον τοὺς παρανομεῖν τολμῶν τας, ἀλλ' οἱονεὶ μύοντες τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς, οὐκ ἐδό κουν ὁρᾷν, ἃ διετέλουν ὁρῶντες. Πάλιν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας ἐπανελθὼν, φησίν· κζʹ. Οἱ ἄρχοντες αὐτῆς ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς, ὡς λύκοι ἁρπάζοντες ἁρπάγματα, τοῦ ἐκχέαι αἷμα, τοῦ ἀπολέσαι ψυχὰς, ὅπως πλεονεξίᾳ πλεον εκτῶσιν. Ἀφορμὴν, φησὶ, κέρδους ἐποιοῦντο οἱ ἄρ χειν λαχόντες τὰς ἀδίκους σφαγὰς, καὶ οὓς ἔδει τῶν ἀδικουμένων εἶναι προμάχους, οὗτοι τῆς τῶν ἀδι κούντων ἐγένοντο μοίρας. Ἐντεῦθεν ἐπὶ τοὺς προφή τας μεταβαίνει, λέγων· κηʹ. Καὶ οἱ προφῆται αὐτῆς ἀλείφοντες αὐτούς. Τοῦτο καὶ ἄνω ἔφη, τὸν κακῶς οἰκοδομηθέντα τοῖ χον ὑπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ κάκιον ὑπὸ τῶν ψευδοπροφητῶν ἀλει φθέντα· διδάξας· ἐβεβαίουν, φησὶν, οἱ καλούμενοι προφῆται, τὰ κακῶς ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχόντων γινόμενα, κο λακευτικοῖς κεχρημένοι λόγοις, καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς θερα πεύειν δεδιδαγμένοι. Εἶτα τὴν τούτων τιμωρίαν δι δάσκει· "Πεσοῦνται ὁρῶντες μάταια, μαντευόμενοι ψευδῆ, λέγοντες, Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος, καὶ 81.1032 Κύριος οὐ λελάληκε." Μιμούμενοι γὰρ τοὺς ἀληθεῖς προφήτας, τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ προσώπῳ τὰς ψευδεῖς αὑτῶν χρησμολογίας περιετίθεσαν, καὶ τῇ πηγῇ τῆς ἀλη θείας περιῆπτον τὸ ψεῦδος. Ταῦτα δὲ, φησὶν, ἔλε γον· κθʹ. Τὸν λαὸν τῆς γῆς ἐκπιέζοντες ἀδικίᾳ, καὶ διαρπάζοντες ἁρπάγματα, πτωχὸν καὶ πένητα καταδυναστεύοντες, καὶ πρὸς τὸν προσήλυτον οὐκ ἀναστρεφόμενοι μετὰ κρίματος. Τῇ ψευδολο γίᾳ, φησὶν, ἐχρῶντο, καὶ πρὸς χάριν τοῖς ἄρχουσιν ἐμαντεύοντο, ἄδειαν λαμβάνειν κατὰ τῶν πενήτων ἐθέλοντες, καὶ ἀφορμὴν κέρδους τὸ ψεῦδος ποιού μενοι. λʹ. Καὶ ἐζήτουν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἄνδρα ἀναστρεφόμε νον ὀρθῶς, καὶ ἑστῶτα ἐν διακοπῇ φραγμοῦ πρὸ προσώπου μου ἐν καιρῷ τῆς γῆς, τοῦ μὴ εἰς τέλος ἐξαλεῖψαι αὐτὴν, καὶ οὐχ εὗρον. Ταῦτα καὶ διὰ Ἱερεμίου διδάσκει, λέγων· "διέλθετε εἰς τὰς διόδους Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ ἴδετε, καὶ ζητήσετε ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις αὐτῆς, ἐὰν εὑρήσητε ἕνα ποιοῦντα κρῖμα, καὶ ζητοῦντα πίστιν, καὶ ἵλεως ἔσομαι αὐτῇ." Καὶ ἐνταῦθα τοίνυν φησὶν, ὅτι ἔκ τε τῶν ἀρχόντων ἔκ τε τῶν ἱερέων, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἐπεζή τουν ἕνα γοῦν ἄνδρα, στῆναι ἐν διακοπῇ φραγμοῦ δυνάμενον, τουτέστιν, ἐπισχεῖν τὰς ἐπιφερομένας τιμωρίας διὰ δικαιοσύνης ἰσχύοντα, καὶ τὴν γεγενη μένην ἐκ τῆς παρανομίας διακοπὴν, καὶ πάροδον τῆς τιμωρίας ἀποφράξαι καὶ ἀποτειχίσαι δυνάμενον, καὶ οὐχ εὗρον. ∆ιό φησιν· λαʹ. Ἐξέχεα τὸν θυμόν μου ἐπ' αὐτὴν ἐν πυρὶ ὀργῆς μου, τοῦ συντελέσαι αὐτούς. Καὶ δεικνὺς τῆς τιμωρίας τὸ δίκαιον, ἐπήγαγε· Τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐ τῶν εἰς