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his in prayers was concerning him. And after the seven times were changed, he was restored to himself, and he spent six and a half years falling down and confessing to the Lord, neither eating bread nor drinking wine, but living on soaked legumes and vegetables according to the address of the great Daniel, and propitiating the Lord all the time of his life. After 1.205 these things he himself says again concerning his own restoration: "In that time my wits returned to me, and I came to the honor of my kingdom, and my form returned to me, and my governors and my great men were seeking me, and I was strengthened in my kingdom, and more excellent majesty was added to me. Now therefore I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the king of heaven, for all his works are true and his ways are judgments, and all those who walk in pride he is able to humble." Therefore the divine word, intimating the great prosperity, strength, and renown given by God, says through Jeremiah: "Thus says the Lord: Behold, I have given all the land to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to serve him, and the beasts of the field to work for him. And the nation and the kingdom, whichever will not put their neck under his yoke, I will visit them with the sword and with famine, until they are consumed by his hand." And "He is rash, and he will not pity. His voice is like a surging sea. on many horses and chariots he will be arrayed like fire, for war against you, O daughter of Zion." And "from the sound of his charge and from the hooves of his feet and from the shaking of the chariots and the sound of his wheels, fathers will not turn back to their sons, from the feebleness of their hands." And "From Dan will be heard the sound of the swiftness of his horses." And through Ezekiel he says thus: "Behold I am bringing against Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who is king of 1.206 kings, with horses and chariots and a very great assembly of nations, and he will cast a trench about you, and he will build a rampart around you and a placement of arms, and he will set his lances against you. Your walls and your towers he will tear down with his weapons; and from the multitude of his horses their dust will cover you." And again: "Thus says the Lord Adonai. Behold, I am giving to Nebuchadnezzar the land of Egypt, and he shall take her multitude, and he shall spoil her spoils, and he shall plunder her plunder. In return for the service which he served against Tyre I have given to him the land of Egypt, and I will destroy the multitude of Egyptians through him." Therefore with good reason Daniel said to him: "You, king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given a strong and mighty kingdom, an honorable one in every place where the sons of men dwell. And the beasts of the field and the birds of the air he has given into your hand, and he has made you lord of all. And you are the golden head of the image, and the tree which you saw that was magnified, whose height reached to the heaven and its breadth to all the earth, and under it the beasts dwelt, for you have been magnified and have become very strong, and your majesty has reached to the heaven and your dominion to the ends of the earth." And after Nebuchadnezzar his son Ulemarodach reigned for 5 years, who, having freed Jeconiah from his bonds, made him his table companion. Concerning whom both the history of the kingdoms and the divine Jeremiah said: "And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity 1.207 of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the tenth month, on the twenty-fourth of the month, Euelad Ulemarodach, king of Babylon, in the year in which he became king, lifted up the head of the king of Judah, Jehoiachin, and brought him out from the house where he was guarded, and spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon, and changed his prison garments,

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αὐτοῦ ἐν προσευχαῖς ἦν περὶ αὐτοῦ. καὶ μετὰ τὸ ἀλλα γῆναι τοὺς ἑπτὰ καιροὺς ἀποκατέστη εἰς ἑαυτόν, καὶ ἐποίησε ἓξ ἥμισυ χρόνους ὑποπίπτων καὶ ἐξομολογούμενος τῷ κυρίῳ, μήτε ἄρτον φαγὼν μήτε οἶνον πιών, ἀλλ' ἐν ὀσπρίοις βρεκτοῖς καὶ λα χάνοις διαζῶν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ μεγάλου ∆ανιὴλ προσλάλησιν, καὶ τὸν κύριον ἐξιλεούμενος πάντα τὸν χρόνον τῆς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ. μετὰ 1.205 δὲ ταῦτα πάλιν φησὶν ὁ αὐτὸς περὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἀποκαταστάσεως "ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ αἱ φρένες μου ἐπεστράφησαν ἐπ' ἐμέ, καὶ εἰς τιμὴν τῆς βασιλείας μου ἦλθον, καὶ ἡ μορφή μου ἐπέστρεψεν ἐπ' ἐμέ, καὶ οἱ τύραννοί μου καὶ οἱ μεγιστᾶνές μου ἐζήτουν με, καὶ περὶ τὴν βασιλείαν μου ἐκραταιώθην, καὶ μεγαλωσύνη περισσο τέρα ἐτέθη μοι. νῦν οὖν ἐγὼ Ναβουχοδονόσορ αἰνῶ καὶ ὑπερυψῶ καὶ δοξάζω τὸν βασιλέα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὅτι πάντα τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ ἀληθινὰ καὶ αἱ τρίβοι αὐτοῦ κρίσεις, καὶ πάντας τοὺς πορευομέ νους ἐν ὑπερηφανίᾳ δύναται ταπεινῶσαι." τὴν τοίνυν ἐκ θεοῦ δοθεῖσαν πολυολβίαν ῥώμην τε καὶ περιφάνειαν ὁ θεῖος λόγος ὑπ εμφαίνων διὰ Ἱερεμίου φάσκει "τάδε λέγει κύριος· ἰδοὺ δέδωκα πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν τῷ Ναβουχοδονόσορ βασιλεῖ Βαβυλῶνος δουλεύειν αὐτῷ, καὶ τὰ θηρία τοῦ ἀγροῦ ἐργάζεσθαι αὐτῷ. καὶ τὸ ἔθνος καὶ ἡ βασιλεία, ὅσοι ἂν μὴ ἐμβάλωσι τὸν τράχηλον αὐτῶν ὑπὸ τὸν ζυγὸν αὐτοῦ, ἐν μαχαίρᾳ καὶ ἐν λιμῷ σκέψομαι αὐτούς, ἕως ἂν ἐκλείπωσιν ἐν χειρὶ αὐτοῦ." καὶ "ἰταμόν ἐστι, καὶ οὐκ ἐλεή σει. φωνὴ αὐτοῦ ὡς θάλασσα κυμαίνουσα. ἐφ' ἵπποις πολλοῖς καὶ ἅρμασι παρατάξεται ὡς πῦρ, εἰς πόλεμον ἐπὶ σέ, θύγατερ Σιών." καὶ "ἀπὸ φωνῆς ὁρμῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ὅπλων τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ σεισμοῦ τῶν ἁρμάτων καὶ ἤχου τροχῶν αὐ τοῦ οὐκ ἐπιστραφήσονται πατέρες ἐπὶ υἱοὺς αὐτῶν, ἀπὸ ἐκλήσεως χειρῶν αὐτῶν." καὶ "ἐκ ∆ὰν ἀκουσθήσεται φωνὴ ὀξύτητος ἵπ πων αὐτοῦ." καὶ διὰ Ἰεζεκιὴλ οὕτως λέγει "ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐπάγω ἐπὶ Σὸρ Ναβουχοδονόσορ βασιλέα Βαβυλῶνος, ὅς ἐστι βασιλεὺς βα 1.206 σιλέων, μεθ' ἵππων καὶ ἁρμάτων καὶ συναγωγῆς ἐθνῶν πολλῶν σφόδρα καὶ περιβαλεῖ σοι τάφρον, καὶ οἰκοδομήσει σε κύκλῳ χά ρακα καὶ περίστασιν ὅπλων, καὶ τὰς λόγχας αὐτοῦ ἀπέναντί σου δώσει. τὰ τείχη σου καὶ τοὺς πύργους σου καθελεῖ ἐν τοῖς ὅπλοις αὐτοῦ· ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἵππων αὐτοῦ καλύψει σε κονιορ τὸς αὐτῶν." καὶ πάλιν "τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ κύριος. ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ δίδωμι τῷ Ναβουχοδονόσορ τὴν γῆν Αἰγύπτου, καὶ λήψεται τὸ πλῆθος αὐτῆς, καὶ σκυλεύσει τὰ σκῦλα αὐτῆς, καὶ προνομεύσει τὴν προνομὴν αὐτῆς. ἀντὶ τῆς λειτουργίας ἧς ἐδούλευσεν ἐπὶ Τύ ρον δέδωκα αὐτῷ τὴν γῆν Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ἀπολῶ τὸ πλῆθος Αἰ γυπτίων δι' αὐτοῦ." εἰκότως οὖν ἔλεγε πρὸς αὐτὸν ∆ανιήλ "σὺ βασιλεὺς βασιλέων, ᾧ ὁ θεὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ βασιλείαν ἰσχυράν τε καὶ κραταιὰν ἔδωκεν, ἔντιμον ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ὅπου κατοικοῦσιν υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. θηρία τε τοῦ ἀγροῦ καὶ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἔδωκεν ἐν τῇ χειρί σου, καὶ κατέστησέ σε κύριον πάντων. καὶ σὺ εἶ ἡ χρυσῆ κεφαλὴ τῆς εἰκόνος, καὶ τὸ δένδρον ὃ εἶδες τὸ μεγα λυνθέν, οὗ τὸ ὕψος ἔφθασεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὸ κύτος αὐτοῦ εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν, καὶ ὑποκάτω αὐτοῦ κατῴκουν τὰ θηρία, ὅτι ἐμεγαλύνθης καὶ ὑπερίσχυσας, καὶ ἡ μεγαλωσύνη σου ἔφθασεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ ἡ κυρεία σου εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς." Μετὰ δὲ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἐβασίλευσεν Οὐλεμαροδὰχ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἔτη εʹ, ὃς τὸν Ἰεχονίαν λύσας τῶν δεσμῶν ἐποίησε συνεστιά τορα αὐτοῦ. περὶ οὗ καὶ ἡ τῶν βασιλειῶν ἱστορία καὶ ὁ θεῖος Ἱερεμίας ἔφη "καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ τριακοστῷ ἑβδόμῳ ἔτει ἀποικι 1.207 σθέντος τοῦ Ἰωακεὶμ βασιλέως Ἰούδα, ἐν τῷ δεκάτῳ μηνί, ἐν τῇ τετάρτῃ καὶ εἰκάδι τοῦ μηνός, ἔλαβεν Εὐελὰδ Οὐλεμαροδὰχ βα σιλεὺς Βαβυλῶνος, ἐν τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ ᾧ ἐβασίλευσε, τὴν κεφαλὴν βασιλέως Ἰούδα Ἰωακείμ, καὶ ἐξήγαγεν αὐτὸν ἐξ οἴκου οὗ ἐφυλάττετο, καὶ ἐλάλησεν αὐτῷ χρηστά, καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ τὸν δίφρον ἐπάνω τῶν θρόνων τῶν βασιλέων τῶν μετ' αὐτοῦ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι, καὶ ἤλλαξε τὴν στολὴν τῆς φυλακῆς αὐτοῦ,