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the ten tribes will receive freedom, and the two; and for this they will return, and will flee to the Lord. "For the eternal covenant will not be forgotten." That is, the promise made to the fathers. Then he compares them to lost sheep; he assigns the cause of the sheep's destruction to the shepherds; and he calls shepherds not only the kings, but also the priests; and he says also where they caused them to wander. "They drove them out to the mountains; they made them wander, they went from mountain to hill, they forgot their own resting place." He calls the precincts of the idols hills and mountains; for in those they worshiped the idols; and their resting place, the divine temple; for from there they had the enjoyment of good things. This error, he says, has delivered them to their enemies, for which they sinned against the Lord. ζʹ. A pasture of righteousness for the Lord who gathered their fathers. Thus also the blessed David says: "But we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." This he also says here: that they were a pasture of righteousness for the Lord, who chose their fathers. ηʹ. Depart from the midst of Babylon, and go forth from the land of the Chaldeans; and become like he-goats before the face of the sheep. The Syrian interpreted the young goats as he-goats. He exhorts them, therefore, to overcome the Babylonians, and to take possession of the land that bore 81.741 them; for for this reason he also compared them to he-goats; for he-goats are stronger than sheep; thus also the divine Daniel saw Alexander compared to a he-goat, and Darius to a ram. He also tells of the multitude of those coming against Babylon and that they will prevail, and will be filled with the goods gathered there. And he also teaches the reason for the evils she endures. ιαʹ, ιβʹ. Because you rejoiced, and boasted while plundering my inheritance. And because you leaped, like heifers on the grass, and you butted with your horns like bulls. And their mother was greatly ashamed. That is, Babylon. The mother who bore you has been buried for good. That is, she has vanished; and this declares the excess of the destruction; for the following will also teach this. Behold, the last of the nations, a desert, and waterless. (ιγʹ.) And because of the Lord's wrath it will not be inhabited, and it will all be for destruction. And he says that those passing by are gloomy because of the excess of the suffering, but by hissing they show their astonishment. And he commands the archers to release their arrows unsparingly, and to exact punishment for her impiety. For against the Lord, he says, she sinned. And he foretells the cowardice of the Babylonians, and the destruction of their walls; and he adds the cause of the disaster. Because it is vengeance from God, take vengeance on her; as she has done, so do to her; (ιϛʹ.) Destroy the seed from Babylon, those holding a sickle in the time of harvest. That is, deliver to death not only the soldiers, but also the farmers. For they themselves also did this while warring against Israel. "From the face of the Greek sword each will return to his own people, and each will flee to his own land." Before Babylon, Cyrus destroyed the Lydians; and he subjugated the Ionians, and the Aeolians; and these were colonized from Greece, and inhabited Asia; therefore Cyrus, leading these also, marched against Babylon. The prophetic word, however, did not mention the Greeks in vain; but to teach that the divine decree gathered even nations dwelling somewhere far off against the Babylonians. ιζʹ. Israel is a wandering sheep. The error concerning idols has become for him the cause of evils. "Lions drove him out." He thus named the kings of the Assyrians. "The first, the king of Assyria, devoured them." Tiglath-pileser, and Shalmaneser, 81.744 and Sennacherib; and so later the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, devoured "his bones." That is, the remains of the forefathers. For this reason, he says, punishment for them

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ἀπολήψονται ἐλευθερίαν αἵ τε δέκα φυλαὶ, καὶ αἱ δύο· καὶ κατ' αὐτὸ ἐπανήξουσι, καὶ φεύ ξονται πρὸς Κύριον. "∆ιαθήκη γὰρ αἰώνιος οὐκ ἐπιλησθήσεται." Τουτέστιν, ἡ πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ἐπαγγελία γεγενημένη. Εἶτα ἀπεικάζει αὐτοὺς προ βάτοις ἀπολωλόσι· τοῖς ποιμέσι τῆς ἀπωλείας τῶν προβάτων ἀνατίθησι τὴν αἰτίαν· ποιμένας δὲ καλεῖ οὐ μόνον τοὺς βασιλέας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἱερέας· λέγει δὲ καὶ ποῦ παρεσκεύασαν αὐτὰ πλανηθῆναι. "Ἔξωσαν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη· ἐπλάνησαν αὐτοὺς, ἐξ ὄρους ἐπὶ βουνὸν ᾤχοντο, ἐπελάθοντο κοίτης αὑτῶν." Βου νοὺς καὶ ὄρη τὰ τῶν εἰδώλων τεμένη καλεῖ· ἐν ἐκείνοις γὰρ προσεκύνουν τὰ εἴδωλα· κοίτην δὲ αὐ τῶν τὸν θεῖον νεών· ἐκεῖθεν γὰρ εἶχον τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν τῶν ἀγαθῶν. Αὕτη, φησὶν, ἡ πλάνη τοῖς πολεμίοις αὐτοὺς παραδέδωκεν, ἀνθ' ὧν ἥμαρτον Κυρίῳ. ζʹ. Νομὴ δικαιοσύνης τῷ συναγαγόντι τοὺς πατέρας αὐτῶν τῷ Κυρίῳ. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ μακάριος λέγει ∆αβίδ· "Ἡμεῖς δὲ λαὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ πρόβατα νομῆς αὐτοῦ." Τοῦτο καὶ ἐνταῦθα λέγει· ὅτι νομὴ δικαιοσύνης ἦσαν τῷ Κυρίῳ, ὃς τοὺς πατέρας αὐτῶν ἐξελέξατο. ηʹ. Ἀπαλλοτριώθητε ἐκ μέσου Βαβυλῶνος, καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς Χαλδαίων ἐξέλθατε· καὶ γένεσθε ὥσπερ ἔριφοι κατὰ πρόσωπον προβάτων. Τοὺς ἐρίφους, τράγους ὁ Σύρος ἡρμήνευσε. Παρακελεύεται τοίνυν αὐτοῖς περιγενέσθαι τῶν Βαβυλωνίων, καὶ τὴν ἐνεγ 81.741 κοῦσαν καταλαβεῖν· διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτοὺς καὶ τρά γοις ἀπείκασεν· ἰσχυρότεροι γὰρ τῶν προβάτων οἱ τράγοι· οὕτω καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος ∆ανιὴλ τὸν μὲν Ἀλέ ξανδρον εἶδε τράγῳ ἀπεικασθέντα, τὸν δὲ ∆αρεῖον κριῷ. Λέγει δὲ καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐπιόντων τῇ Βα βυλῶνι καὶ ὅτι περιέσονται, καὶ τῶν ἠθροισμένων ἐκεῖ ἀγαθῶν ἐμπλησθήσονται. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν, ὧν ὑπομένει κακῶν. ιαʹ, ιβʹ. Ὅτι ηὐφραίνεσθε, καὶ κατεκαυχᾶσθε διαρπάζοντες τὴν κληρονομίαν μου. Καὶ διότι ἐσκιρτᾶτε, ὡς βοΐδια ἐν βοτάνῃ, καὶ ἐκερατίζετε ὡς ταῦροι. Καὶ κατῃσχύνθη ἡ μήτηρ αὐτῶν σφόδρα. Τουτέστι, ἡ Βαβυλών. Κατωρύγη ἡ τεκοῦσα ὑμᾶς μήτηρ εἰς ἀγαθά. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, φροῦδος γεγένηται· τὴν ὑπερβολὴν δὲ τῆς κατα λύσεως τοῦτο δηλοῖ· τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς διδάξει. Ἰδοὺ ἐσχάτη ἐθνῶν ἔρημος, καὶ ἄνυδρος. (ιγʹ.) Καὶ ἀπὸ ὀργῆς Κυρίου οὐ κατοικηθήσεται, καὶ ἔσται εἰς ἀφανισμὸν πᾶσα. Λέγει δὲ καὶ τοὺς διοδεύοντας σκυθρωπάζειν μὲν διὰ τὴν τοῦ πάθους ὑπερβολὴν, τῷ δὲ συρίγματι μηνύειν τὴν ἔκπληξιν. Κελεύει δὲ καὶ τοῖς τοξόταις ἀφειδῶς ἀφεῖναι τὰ βέλη, καὶ τῆς ἀσεβείας αὐτῆς ἀπαιτῆσαι δίκας. Τῷ Κυ ρίῳ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἥμαρτε. Προλέγει δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν Βαβυλωνίων δειλίαν, καὶ τὴν τῶν περιβόλων κατά λυσιν· καὶ ἐπιλέγει τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς συμφορᾶς. Ὅτι ἐκδίκησις παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστιν, ἐκδική σατε αὐτήν· καθὼς ἐποίησεν, οὕτως ποιήσατε αὐτῇ· (ιϛʹ.) Ἐξολοθρεύσατε σπέρματα ἐκ Βα βυλῶνος, κατέχοντα δρέπανον ἐν καιρῷ θερισμοῦ. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, Μὴ μόνους τοὺς στρατευομένους, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς γεωργοῦντας θανάτῳ παράδοτε. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ αὐτοὶ δεδράκασι τῷ Ἰσραὴλ πολεμοῦντες. "Ἀπὸ προσώπου μαχαίρας Ἑλληνικῆς ἕκαστος εἰς τὸν λαὸν αὑτοῦ ἀναστρέψουσι, καὶ ἕκαστος εἰς τὴν γῆν αὑ τοῦ φεύξονται." Πρὸ τῆς Βαβυλῶνος, Λυδοὺς ὁ Κῦρος κατεστρέψατο· ὑπέταξε δὲ καὶ Ἴωνας, καὶ Αἰολέας· ἐκ δὲ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀπῳκίσθησαν οὗτοι, καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν ᾤκησαν· ἄγων τοίνυν καὶ τούτους ὁ Κῦρος ἐπεστράτευσε τῇ Βαβυλῶνι. Ὁ μέντοι προφητικὸς λόγος οὐ μάτην τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐμνήσθη· ἀλλὰ διδάσκων, ὡς καὶ τὰ πόῤῥω που κατῳκισμένα ἔθνη θεία ψῆφος κατὰ τῶν Βαβυλωνίων συνήγαγε. ιζʹ. Πρόβατον πλανώμενον Ἰσραήλ. Ἡ περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα πλάνη τῶν κακῶν αὐτῷ γεγένηται πρόξενος. "Λέοντες ἔξωσαν αὐτόν." Τοὺς Ἀσσυρίων βασιλέας οὕτως ὠνόμασεν. "Ὁ πρῶτος κατέφαγεν αὐτοὺς βασιλεὺς Ἀσσούρ." Θεγλαθφαλασὰρ, καὶ Σαλμανα 81.744 σὰρ, καὶ Σεναχηρείμ· καὶ οὕτως ὕστερος βασιλεὺς Βαβυλῶνος Ναβουχοδονόσορ "τὰ ὀστᾶ αὐτοῦ" κατ έφαγεν. Ἀντὶ τοῦ, τῶν προπατόρων τὰ λείψανα. Οὗ δὴ χάριν, φησὶ, ποινὴν αὐτοὺς