74

but immediately learning of your apostasy, they will arrive with all kinds of armor, using horses and chariots, and bringing all their subjects, and they will wall up your entrances with palisades. For he signified this by saying: "They will cast a guard around you." Then he adds: And I will give judgment before their face, and they will execute vengeance on you with their own judgments. (25) And I will set my jealousy against you, and they shall deal with you in the anger of my wrath. For since you preferred them to my providence, through them I will exact penalties from you for your transgression against me, and I will hand you over to their punishments. And he describes the kinds of punishment. They will take away your nose and your ears, and they will cast down your remnant with the sword; they will take your sons and your daughters, and fire will consume your remnant. (20) And they will strip you of your clothing, and they will take the articles of your boasting. For some, he says, they will carry away captive, others they will strike down in battle, and others they will mutilate, using harshness and cruelty; and they will plunder all that belongs to you, and they will give most of your things over to fire. And he also shows the benefit that will come from the punishment. 27. And I will turn away your wicked deeds from you, and your whoredom from the land of Egypt you shall no longer remember. For when you are in those evils, you will come to a sense of your own transgression, and you will utterly abhor those things that were the cause of this disaster for you. 28, 29. Therefore thus says the Lord Adonai: Behold, I am delivering you into the hands of those whom you hate, from whom your soul turned away. 29. And they shall deal with you in hatred, and shall take away all your labors and your toils 81.1044 you, and you shall be naked and disgraced; and the shame of your whoredom and your wickedness shall be uncovered. Having loved the Chaldeans, he says, you hated them again, but I will deliver you to them, and through them I will exact from you the penalties of punishment, and through the punishment I will show all your wickedness naked; for those who behold your calamities will learn that your transgression was the cause of them. Therefore he fittingly added: 30. Your whoredom has done these things to you, in that you went after the nations, and were defiled with their thoughts. You have followed, he says, the practices of the nations, which, using their own reasonings, devised wickedness; not only, he says, did you imitate the wickedness of the other nations, but also: 31. You have walked in the way of your sister, and I will give her cup into your hands. What Samaria has suffered, he says, you also will suffer; for he called the punishment a cup, as causing stupor and drunkenness to those who drink it. 32-34. Thus says the Lord Adonai, You shall drink your sister’s cup, the deep and wide one, and it shall be for laughter and for derision that which abounds. To complete drunkenness, and you shall be filled with prostration, a cup of ruin and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria. And you will drink it, and drain it, and you will gnaw its sherds, and you will tear your breasts. He called the cup deep, because of the magnitude of the calamity; and wide, because of the period of seventy years; and he named it a cup of desolation, because of the devastation that came upon the city; and he added "you will drain it," because it endured the final siege, and he said it would gnaw the sherds, because it would fall into the worst evils; and to tear the breasts, because of the repentance that came from the evils. "And your feasts, he says, and your new moons I will turn away, because I have spoken, says the Lord Adonai." I will extinguish all your festivals, and all your gladness, and I will put an end to these words; for I am a true and faithful Master. 35. Therefore thus says the Lord Adonai, Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, you also must bear your wickedness and your whoredom. Since you preferred the pleasures of the body to my service, receive, he says, the wages of licentiousness. He hints at

74

δὲ παραυτίκα τὴν σὴν ἀπόστασιν μαθόντες, μετὰ παντοδαπῆς ἀφί ξονται πανοπλίας, ἵπποις καὶ ἅρμασι κεχρημένοι, καὶ τοὺς ὑπηκόους ἅπαντας ἐπαγόμενοι, καὶ χαρα κώμασι τὰς σὰς ἀποτειχίσουσιν εἰσόδους. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἐσήμηνεν εἰρηκώς· "Βαλοῦσιν ἐπὶ σὲ φυλακὴν κύκλῳ." Εἶτα ἐπιφέρει· Καὶ δώσω πρὸ προσώπου αὐτῶν κρῖμα, καὶ ἐκδικήσουσί σε ἐν τοῖς κρίμασιν αὑτῶν. (κεʹ.) Καὶ δώσω τὸν ζῆλόν μου ἐν σοὶ, καὶ ποιήσουσι μετὰ σοῦ ἐν ὀργῇ θυμοῦ μου. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐκείνους τῆς ἐμῆς προετίμησας προμηθείας, δι' αὐτῶν ἐκεί νων πράξομαί σε δίκας τῆς εἰς ἐμὲ παρανομίας, καὶ τοῖς ἐκείνων σε παραδώσω κολαστηρίοις. ∆ιηγεῖται δὲ καὶ τῆς τιμωρίας τὰ εἴδη. Τοὺς μυκτῆράς σου, καὶ τὰ ὦτά σου ἀφελοῦσι, καὶ τοὺς καταλοίπους σου ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ κατα βαλοῦσιν· αὐτοὶ τοὺς υἱούς σου καὶ τὰς θυγα τέρας σου λήψονται, καὶ τοὺς καταλοίπους σου καταφάγεται πῦρ. (κʹ.) Καὶ ἐκδύσουσί σε τὸν ἱματισμόν σου, καὶ λήψονται τὰ σκεύη τῆς καυ χήσεώς σου. Τοὺς μὲν γὰρ, φησὶ, δορυαλώτους ἀποίσουσι, τοὺς δὲ ἐν τῇ παρατάξει κατακοντίσουσι, τοὺς δὲ ἀκροτηριάσουσιν ἀπηνίᾳ καὶ ὠμότητι χρώ μενοι· τὰ δὲ προσήκοντά σοι πάντα ληΐσονται, καὶ πυρὶ τὰ πλεῖστά σου παραδώσουσι. ∆είκνυσι δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῆς τιμωρίας ἐσομένην ὠφέλειαν. κζʹ. Καὶ ἀποστρέψω τὰς ἀσεβείας σου ἐκ σοῦ, καὶ τὴν πορνείαν σου τὴν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου οὐ μὴ μνησθῇς ἔτι. Ἐν γὰρ ἐκείνοις γενομένη τοῖς κακοῖς, ἐν αἰσθήσει γενήσῃ τῆς οἰκείας παρανομίας, καὶ βδελύξῃ λίαν ἐκεῖνα τὰ τῆς συμφορᾶς σοι ταύτης γενόμενα πρόξενα. κηʹ, κθʹ. ∆ιότι τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ παραδίδωμί σε εἰς χεῖρας ὧν μι σεῖς, ἀφ' ὧν ἀπέστη ἡ ψυχή σου ἀπ' αὐτῶν. κθʹ. Καὶ ποιήσουσιν ἐν σοὶ ἐν μίσει, καὶ λή ψονται πάντας τοὺς πόνους σου καὶ τοὺς μόχθους 81.1044 σου, καὶ ἔσῃ γυμνὴ καὶ ἀσχημονοῦσα· καὶ ἀποκα λυφθήσεται ἡ ἀσχημοσύνη τῆς πορνείας σου καὶ τῆς ἀσεβείας σου. Ἐρασθεῖσα, φησὶ, τῶν Χαλ δαίων, πάλιν αὐτοὺς ἐμίσησας, ἀλλ' ἐγὼ τούτοις σε παραδώσω, καὶ διὰ τούτων σὲ δίκας τῆς τιμωρίας εἰσπράξομαι, καὶ διὰ τῆς τιμωρίας γυμνὴν ἅπα σαν ὑποδείξω σου τὴν ἀσέβειαν· μαθήσονται γὰρ οἱ τὰς σὰς θεώμενοι συμφορὰς, αἰτίαν τούτων τὴν σὴν γενομένην παρανομίαν. ∆ιὸ εἰκότως ἐπήγαγεν· λʹ. Ἡ πορνεία σου· ἐποίησέ σοι ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ἐκπορεύεσθαί σε ὀπίσω τῶν ἐθνῶν, καὶ ἐμιαίνου ἐν τοῖς ἐνθυμήμασιν αὐτῶν. Ἠκολούθη σας, φησὶ, τοῖς τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐπιτηδεύμασιν, ἃ τοῖς οἰκείοις χρώμενα λογισμοῖς ἐπενόησε τὴν ἀσέβειαν· οὐ μόνον δὲ, φησὶ, τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν ἐμιμήσω τὴν ἀσέβειαν, ἀλλὰ καί· λαʹ. Ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τῆς ἀδελφῆς σου ἐπορεύθης, καὶ δώσω ἐγὼ τὸ ποτήριον αὐτῆς εἰς τὰς χεῖ ράς σου. Ἃ πέπονθε, φησὶν, ἡ Σαμάρεια, ταῦτα καὶ σὺ πείσῃ· ποτήριον γὰρ τὴν τιμωρίαν ἐκάλε σεν, ὡς κάρον καὶ μέθην τοῖς πίνουσιν ἐμποιοῦ σαν. λβʹ-λδʹ. Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος, Τὸ ποτήριον τῆς ἀδελφῆς σου πίεσαι τὸ βαθὺ, καὶ τὸ πλατὺ, καὶ ἔσται εἰς γέλωτα καὶ εἰς μυκτηρισμὸν τὸ πλεονάζον. Τοῦ συντελέσαι μέθην, καὶ ἐκλύ σεως πλησθήσῃ, ποτήριον ἀφανείας καὶ ἀφα νισμοῦ, ποτήριον ἀδελφῆς σου Σαμαρείας. Καὶ πιῇ αὐτὸ, καὶ ἐκστραγγιεῖς, καὶ τὰ ὄστρακα αὐ τοῦ κατατρώξεις, καὶ τοὺς μαστούς σου κατατι λεῖς. Βαθὺ τὸ ποτήριον ἐκάλεσε, διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς συμφορᾶς· πλατὺ δὲ, διὰ τὸν τῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ἐτῶν χρόνον· ἀφανισμοῦ δὲ ποτήριον ὠνόμασε, διὰ τὴν γενομένην ἐρημίαν τῇ πόλει· τὸ δὲ "ἐκστραγ γιεῖς" προστέθεικεν, ἐπειδὴ τελευταίαν τὴν πο λιορκίαν ὑπέμεινε, καὶ τὰ ὄστρακα δὲ αὐτὴν ἔφη κατατρώξειν, διὰ τὸ ἐσχάτοις περιπεσεῖσθαι κακοῖς· τοὺς δὲ μαστοὺς κατατιλεῖν, διὰ τὴν ἐκ τῶν κακῶν γενομένην μεταμέλειαν. "Καὶ τὰς ἑορτάς σου, φησὶ, καὶ νουμηνίας σου ἀποστρέψω, διότι ἐγὼ λελάληκα, λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος." Πᾶσάν σου πα νήγυριν, καὶ πᾶσαν θυμηδίαν κατασβέσω, καὶ ἐπι θήσω τοῖς λόγοις τὸ τέλος· ἀληθὴς γάρ εἰμι, καὶ ἀψευδὴς ∆εσπότης. λεʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος, Ἀνθ' ὧν ἐπελάθου μου, καὶ ἀπέῤῥιψάς με ὀπίσω τοῦ σώματός σου, καὶ σὺ λάβε τὴν ἀσέβειάν σου, καὶ τὴν πορνείαν σου. Ἐπειδὴ προετίμη σας τῆς ἐμῆς θεραπείας τὰς τοῦ σώματος ἡδονὰς, δέξαι, φησὶ, τῆς ἀκολασίας τὰ ἐπίχειρα. Αἰνίττε