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The vision of the four-footed beasts in the wilderness. These things also have the same meaning; for he accuses those who fled to Egypt and who despised the divine help. He calls Jerusalem a wilderness; for it was a wilderness at that time, having been laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar. He calls those "four-footed beasts" who were sick with irrationality and had not acknowledged their benefactor and maker. For "man, being in honor, did not understand; he was compared to the senseless beasts and was made like them." In affliction and in distress, a lion and a lion’s whelp, thence also asps and the offspring of flying asps, who carried their treasures on donkeys and their wealth on camels to a nation which will not profit them. And teaching which nation it was, he added: 7Egyptians shall help you in vain and to no purpose. The prophetic word, alluding to their great wickedness, compares them not to cattle but to venomous beasts; for through the lion and the whelp he has shown their boldness, and through the asps their wickedness and bitterness. And he teaches that by means of beasts of burden they were transporting to Egypt whatever had escaped the hands of the Babylonians. And he foretells that no help will come to them from there. Declare to them that this their comfort is in vain. The prophet is commanded to testify that what is happening is useless and offers them neither comfort nor help. 8Now therefore, sit down and write these things on tablets, and inscribe them in a book, that these things will be for days to come for a testimony in time and clearly for ever. Some have thought that those now accused of fleeing to Egypt had fled to the Assyrians, but neither history teaches this, nor the present prophecy. For history clearly states the things concerning Jeremiah the prophet, and the prophecy teaches that the God of all commanded the prediction to be written down; that, he says, these things will be for days to come for a testimony, that is, after a time these things will be done; therefore, let the testimony be written. And the prediction came to pass after one hundred and forty years; for so many will be found from the first year of the reign of Hezekiah until the flight to Egypt which happened after the capture of Jerusalem. 9Because it is a disobedient people, false children who were unwilling to hear the law of God. The divine Jeremiah clearly and expressly forbade them the flight, and God through the prophet urged them to remain, promising salvation to those who obeyed, but punishment to those who disobeyed; and they continued contradicting. 10Who say to the prophets: Do not |137 b| report to us, and to those who see visions: Do not speak to us rightly, but speak to us a speech and report to us another deception 11and turn us away from this way and take this path from us and take away from us the oracle of the Holy One of Israel. Symmachus, instead of: speak to us a speech, has put "speak to us smooth things," while Aquila has "slippery things," and Theodotion has "stumbling blocks." But the word intimates that they wanted to travel the broad way that leads to <destruction and not the narrow way that leads to> life. And the interpretation of the Seventy means this very thing; for greed is called lalia, when the penultimate syllable has the accent. Such was Ahab, speaking about Micaiah: "I have hated him, because he does not speak good things concerning me, but only evil." And these of whom the word speaks also said such things to Jeremiah the prophet: "The word which you answered and spoke to us in the name of the Lord, we will not hear from you, because we will surely do every word that shall proceed out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings, as we have done, we and our fathers and our kings and our

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9 ΤΟΜΟΣ Θʹ

Ἡ ὅρασις τῶν τετραπόδων τῶν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. Τῆς αὐτῆς ἔχεται διανοίας καὶ

ταῦτα· κατηγορεῖ γὰρ τῶν εἰς Αἴγυπτον καταπεφευγότων καὶ τῆς θείας βοηθείας κατα πεφρονηκότων. Ἔρημον δὲ καλεῖ τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ· ἔρημος γὰρ ἦν τηνικαῦτα, ἀνάστατος ὑπὸ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ γεγενημένη. Τετράποδα δὲ προσαγορεύει τοὺς τὴν ἀλογίαν νενοσηκότας καὶ τὸν εὐεργέτην καὶ ποιητὴν οὐκ ἐπεγνωκό τας. «Ἄνθρωπος» γὰρ «ἐν τιμῇ ὢν οὐ συνῆκε, παρα συνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις καὶ ὡμοιώθη αὐτοῖς.» Ἐν τῇ θλίψει καὶ ἐν τῇ στενοχωρίᾳ λέων καὶ σκύμνος λέοντος, ἐκεῖθεν καὶ ἀσπίδες καὶ ἔκγονα ἀσπίδων πετομένων, οἳ ἔφερον ἐπὶ ὄνων θησαυροὺς αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπὶ καμήλων τὸν πλοῦτον αὐτῶν πρὸς ἔθνος ὃ οὐκ ὠφελήσει αὐτούς. Καὶ διδάσκων ποῖον τὸ ἔθνος, ἐπήγαγεν· 7Αἰγύπτιοι μάταια καὶ κενὰ ὠφελήσουσιν ὑμᾶς. Τὴν πολλὴν αὐτῶν πονηρίαν ὁ προφητικὸς αἰνιττόμενος λόγος οὐ κτήνεσιν ἀλλ' ἰοβόλοις ἀπεικάζει θηρίοις· διὰ γὰρ τοῦ λέοντος καὶ τοῦ σκύμνου δεδήλωκε τὸ θρασύ, διὰ δὲ τῶν ἀσπίδων τὸ πονηρὸν καὶ τὸ πικρόν. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ ὡς διὰ τῶν ἀχθοφόρων ζῴων μετεκόμιζον εἰς τὴν Αἴγυπτον ὅσα τῶν Βαβυλωνίων τὰς χεῖρας διέφυγεν. Καὶ προλέγει μηδεμίαν αὐτοῖς ὠφέλειαν ἐκεῖθεν γενήσεσθαι. Ἀπάγγειλον αὐτοῖς ὅτι ματαία ἡ παράκλησις αὐτῷ αὕτη. Κελεύεται ὁ προφήτης διαμαρτύ ρασθαι ὡς ἀνόνητον τὸ γινόμενον καὶ οὐδεμίαν αὐτοῖς ἢ παραψυχὴν ἢ ὠφέλειαν παρέχον. 8Νῦν οὖν καθίσας γράψον ἐπὶ πυξίων ταῦτα καὶ εἰς βιβλίον ἐγχάραξον αὐτά, ὅτι ἔσται εἰς ἡμέρας ταῦτα εἰς μαρτύριον ἐν καιρῷ καὶ ἐμφανῆ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Τινὲς ᾠήθησαν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους καταπεφευγέναι τοὺς νῦν κατηγορουμένους εἰς Αἴγυπτον, ἀλλ' οὔτε ἡ ἱστορία τοῦτο διδάσκει οὔτε ἡ προκειμένη προφητεία. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἱστορία τὰ ἐπὶ Ἱερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου σαφῶς λέγει, ἡ δὲ προφητεία διδάσκει ὡς ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς ἐκέλευσεν ἀνάγραπτον γενέσθαι τὴν πρόρρησιν· ὅτι ἔσται φησὶν εἰς ἡμέρας ταῦτα εἰς μαρτύριον, τουτέστι μετὰ χρόνον ταῦτα πραχθήσεται· γενέσθω τοίνυν ἔγγραφος ἡ μαρτυρία. Ἐδέξατο δὲ τέλος ἡ πρόρρησις μετὰ τεσσαράκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ἔτη· τοσαῦτα γὰρ εὑρεθή σεται ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου ἔτους τῆς βασιλείας Ἐζεκίου μέχρι τῆς εἰς Αἴγυπτον φυγῆς ἣ μετὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐγεγόνει. 9Ὅτι λαός ἐστιν ἀπειθής, υἱοὶ ψευδεῖς οἳ οὐκ ἐβούλοντο ἀκούειν τὸν νόμον τοῦ θεοῦ. Σαφῶς αὐτοῖς διαρρήδην ὁ θεῖος Ἱερεμίας ἀπηγόρευσε τὴν φυγήν, καὶ ὁ θεὸς διὰ τοῦ προφήτου παρηγγύησε μεῖναι, ὑπισχνούμ ενος πειθομένοις μὲν σωτηρίαν, ἀπειθοῦσι δὲ τιμωρίαν· καὶ διέμειναν ἀντιλέγοντες. 10Οἱ λέγοντες τοῖς προφήταις· Μὴ |137 b| ἀν αγγέλλετε ἡμῖν, καὶ τοῖς τὰ ὁράματα ὁρῶσιν· Μὴ λαλεῖτε ἡμῖν ὀρθῶς ἀλλὰ λαλεῖτε ἡμῖν λαλίαν καὶ ἀναγγέλλετε ἡμῖν ἑτέραν πλάνησιν 11καὶ ἀποστρέψατε ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ ταύτης καὶ ἀφέλετε ἡμᾶς τὴν τρίβον ταύτην καὶ ἀφέλετε ἡμῶν τὸ λόγιον τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰσραήλ. Ὁ Σύμμαχος ἀντὶ τοῦ· λαλεῖτε ἡμῖν λαλίαν, «λαλεῖτε ἡμῖν λεῖα» τέθεικεν, ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας «ὀλισθηρά», ὁ δὲ Θεοδοτίων «ὀλισθήματα». Αἰνίττεται δὲ ὁ λόγος, ὡς τὴν πλατεῖαν ὁδεύειν ἐβούλοντο τὴν ἀπάγουσαν εἰς τὴν <ἀπώλειαν καὶ οὐ τὴν τεθλιμμένην τὴν ἀπάγουσαν εἰς τὴν> ζωήν. Ταὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο σημαίνει καὶ τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα ἡ ἑρμηνεία· λαλία γὰρ ἡ φιλαργυρία καλεῖται, ὅταν ἡ παρατέλευτος ἔχῃ τὸν τόνον. Τοιοῦτος ἦν Ἀχαὰβ περὶ τοῦ Μιχαίου λέγων· «Μεμίσηκα αὐτόν, ὅτι οὐ λαλεῖ περὶ ἐμοῦ ἀγαθὰ ἀλλ' ἢ κακά.» Τοιαῦτα δὲ καὶ οὗτοι περὶ ὧν ὁ λόγος πρὸς Ἱερεμίαν ἔλεγον τὸν προφήτην· «Τὸν λόγον, ὃν ἀπεκρίθης καὶ ἐλάλησας πρὸς ἡμᾶς τῷ ὀνόματι κυρίου, οὐκ ἀκούσομέν σου, ὅτι ποιοῦντες ποιήσομεν πάντα τὸν λόγον, ὃς ἐξελεύσεται ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ἡμῶν θυμιᾶν τῇ βασιλίσσῃ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ σπένδειν σπονδάς, καθὰ ἐποιήσαμεν ἡμεῖς καὶ οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς ἡμῶν καὶ οἱ