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having happened, and the time in between the events under the great Moses and those that happened under King Hezekiah was long, he reasonably said: Behold, my name comes after a long time. He called the glory and the renown from the miracle a name. And he showed this through the following words: His burning anger with glory. For he will punish the Assyrian, and all will praise him for this. The oracle of his lips is an oracle full of wrath, the oracle of his tongue. Then he shows the strength of the divine command: It will devour like fire; 28and his breath, like a rushing water in a ravine, will come up to the neck. Here he signifies the danger of the city; for it was like a man who had received the assault of the water up to his neck and expected to be covered over, then was delivered contrary to all hope. For thus Jerusalem, after despairing of salvation, obtained salvation. And it will be divided to confuse the nations upon a vain wandering, and wandering will pursue them and will seize them to their faces. He says this water that rushed against you will be divided and will be confused against itself. And he calls the army of the Assyrians water; for he says that these have wandered in expecting to overcome the God of all things. 29Must you always rejoice and enter into my holy things continually as if celebrating a feast and as if rejoicing to enter with flutes to the mountain of the Lord, to the God of Israel? Since you prevailed over the ten tribes, with me permitting it on account of their impiety, you also expected to sack the city dedicated to me, and you have attributed such weakness to me, but such power to yourselves, as to conduct the siege with flutes and dances. But the vanity of your hope is exposed; 30For the Lord will make the glory of his voice heard and will show the wrath of his arm, with anger and indignation and a consuming flame he will strike with a mighty thunderbolt and as stones and as hail borne down violently. He showed the ease of the punishment. For it is easy for me, he says, both to hand over to the flame and to bring on thunderbolts and whirlwinds and to release hailstones, but showing the excess of my power, I bring about the destruction by word alone; 31For by the voice of the Lord the Assyrians will be defeated by the blow with which he will strike them. The word is sufficient for me for punishment, and the deed will bear witness to the word. 32And it will be for him round about, from whence was his hope of help, in which he himself trusted; these with timbrels and harps and in wars of separation will also fight him out of a change. For the subject cities, having learned of the complete destruction of the Assyrians, held public festivals and, meeting the fugitives, destroyed most of them. 33For you will be deceived before your days; was a deep ravine also prepared for you to rule? Because her Topheth was prepared before her days, and she herself was prepared for the king. Symmachus interpreted these things thus: "For her Topheth has been prepared from yesterday, and she herself has been prepared for the king"; and so also Theodotion, But I found Topheth or Thophthe interpreted by the Syrian thus: "because from yesterday her food was prepared," that is, of the Assyrian army; and in the Interpretation of Hebrew Names I found this interpreted as "enclosure." But the meaning is the same; for the prophetic word says to the Assyrian: Since you despised Jerusalem as a ravine and hoped to overcome it, know that there the destruction against you has been prepared in advance; for there you will be enclosed and devoured. Whence he added: He deepened, he widened her pyre. That is, the punishment prepared for you; for what follows shows this: Wood lying, fire and much wood, the wrath of the Lord like a ravine burning with brimstone. For this reason indeed the Syrian, interpreting Topheth as "food," called the punishment so; for wood is the food of fire. Thus concluding these things, he again laments those who had fled down to Egypt: 311Woe to those who go down to Egypt

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γενόμενοι, πολὺς δὲ ἦν ὁ ἐν μέσῳ χρόνος τῶν τε ἐπὶ τοῦ μεγάλου Μωυσέως καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῦ βασιλέως Ἐζεκίου γεγενημένων, εἰκότως ἔφη· Ἰδοὺ τὸ ὄνομά μου ἔρχεται διὰ χρόνου πολλοῦ. Ὄνομα δὲ ἐκάλεσε τὴν δόξαν καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ θαύματος περιφάνειαν. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἐπαγομένων ἐδήλωσεν· Καιόμενος ὁ θυμὸς αὐτοῦ μετὰ δόξης. Τὸν μὲν γὰρ Ἀσσύριον κολάσει, αὐτὸν δὲ πάντες ὑμνήσουσιν ἐπὶ τούτῳ. Τὸ λόγιον τῶν χειλέων αὐτοῦ λόγιον ὀργῆς πλήρης, τὸ λόγιον τῆς γλώσσης αὐτοῦ. Εἶτα δείκνυσι τοῦ θείου προστάγματος τὴν ἰσχύν· Ὡς πῦρ ἔδεται· 28καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ ὡς ὕδωρ ἐν φάραγγι σῦρον ἥξει ἕως τοῦ τραχήλου. Ἐνταῦθα σημαίνει τὸν τῆς πόλεως κίνδυνον· ἐῴκει γὰρ ἀνθρώπῳ μέχρι τοῦ τραχήλου δεξαμένῳ τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος προσβολὴν καὶ προσδοκήσαντι συγκαλύπτεσθαι, εἶτα παρ' ἐλπίδα πᾶσαν ἀπαλλαγέντι. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ἡ Ἱερουσαλὴμ μετὰ τὴν ἀπόγνωσιν τῆς σωτηρίας τετύχηκε τῆς σωτηρίας. Καὶ διαιρεθήσεται τοῦ ταράξαι ἔθνη ἐπὶ πλανήσει ματαίᾳ καὶ διώξεται αὐτοὺς πλάνησις καὶ λήψεται αὐτοὺς κατὰ πρόσωπον αὐτῶν. Τοῦτό φησι τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ κατὰ σοῦ ὁρμῆσαν διαιρεθήσεται καὶ καθ' ἑαυτοῦ ταραχθήσεται. Ὕδωρ δὲ καλεῖ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων τὴν στρατιάν· τούτους γὰρ καὶ πεπλανῆσθαι λέγει προσδοκήσαντας περιέ σεσθαι τοῦ τῶν ὅλων θεοῦ. 29Μὴ διὰ παντὸς δεῖ ὑμᾶς εὐφραίνεσθαι καὶ εἰσπορεύεσθαι εἰς τὰ ἅγιά μου διὰ παντὸς ὡσεὶ ἑορτάζοντας καὶ ὡσεὶ εὐφραινομένους εἰσελθεῖν μετὰ αὐλῶν εἰς τὸ ὄρος κυρίου πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τοῦ Ἰσραήλ; Ἐπειδὴ τῶν δέκα περιεγένεσθε φυλῶν ἐμοῦ διὰ τὴν ἐκείνων ἀσέβειαν συγχωρήσαντος, καὶ τὴν ἀφιερωμένην μοι πόλιν πορθήσειν προσεδοκήσατε καὶ τοσαύτην ἐμοὶ μὲν ἀσθένειαν, ὑμῖν δὲ αὐτοῖς προσμε μαρτυρήκατε δύναμιν ὡς μετὰ αὐλῶν καὶ χορῶν τὴν πολιορκίαν ποιήσασθαι. Ἀλλ' ἐλέγχεται τῆς ἐλπίδος ὑμῶν τὸ μάταιον· 30Ἀκουστὴν γὰρ κύριος ποιήσει τὴν δόξαν τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν θυμὸν τοῦ βραχίονος αὐτοῦ δείξει, μετὰ θυμοῦ καὶ ὀργῆς καὶ φλογὸς κατεσθιούσης κεραυνώσει βιαίῳ καὶ ὡς λίθοι καὶ ὡς χάλαζα συγκαταφερομένη βίᾳ. Ἔδειξε τῆς τιμωρίας τὸ εὔκολον. Ῥᾴδιον γάρ μοί φησι καὶ φλογὶ παραδοῦναι καὶ κεραυνοὺς καὶ πρηστῆρας ἐπαγαγεῖν καὶ λίθους ἀφεῖναι χαλάζης, ἀλλὰ τῆς δυνάμεως δεικνὺς τὴν ὑπερβολὴν λόγῳ μόνῳ ποιοῦμαι τὸν ὄλεθρον· 31∆ιὰ γὰρ τῆς φωνῆς κυρίου ἡττηθήσονται οἱ Ἀσσύριοι τῇ πληγῇ ᾖ ἂν πατάξῃ αὐτούς. Ἀρκεῖ μοι καὶ ὁ λόγος εἰς τιμωρίαν καὶ μαρτυρήσει τῷ λόγῳ τὸ ἔργον. 32Καὶ ἔσται αὐτῷ κυκλόθεν, ὅθεν ἦν αὐτῷ ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς βοηθείας, ἐφ' ᾗ αὐτὸς ἐπεποίθει· οὗτοι μετὰ τυμπάνων καὶ κιθάρας καὶ ἐν πολέμοις ἀφορισμοῦ καὶ πολεμήσουσιν αὐτὸν ἐκ μεταβολῆς. Τὴν γὰρ τῶν Ἀσσυ ρίων πανωλεθρίαν αἱ ὑπήκοοι πόλεις μεμαθηκυῖαι δημοτελεῖς ἐπετέλουν πανηγύρεις καὶ τοῖς φεύγουσιν ἀπαντῶσαι τοὺς πλείστους διέφθειραν. 33Σὺ γὰρ πρὸ ἡμερῶν ἀπατηθήσῃ· μὴ καὶ σοὶ ἡτοιμάσθη βασιλεύειν φάραγγος βαθείας; Ὅτι ἡτοιμάσθη πρὸ ἡμερῶν ὁ θαφὲθ αὐτῆς καί γε αὐτὴ τῷ βασιλεῖ ἡτοιμάσθη. Ταῦτα ὁ Σύμμαχος οὕτως ἡρμήνευσεν· «Προητοίμασται γὰρ ἀπ' ἐχθὲς ὁ θαφὲθ αὐτῆς καί γε αὐτὴ τῷ βασιλεῖ ἡτοιμά σθη»· οὕτω δὲ καὶ ὁ Θεοδοτίων, Τὸ δὲ θαφὲθ ἢ θόφθη εὗρον παρὰ τῷ Σύρῳ ἡρμηνευμένον οὕ τως· «ὅτι ἀπ' ἐχθὲς ἡτοιμάσθη ἡ βρῶσις αὐτῆς», τουτέστι τῆς τοῦ Ἀσσυρίου στρατιᾶς· ἐν δέ γε τῇ Ἑρμηνείᾳ τῶν Ἑβρ αϊκῶν Ὀνομάτωνεὗρον τοῦτο «συγκλεισμὸν» ἡρμηνευμένον. Ἡ αὐτὴ δέ ἐστι διάνοια· λέγει γὰρ ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος τῷ Ἀσσυρίῳ· Ἐπειδὴ ὡς φάραγγος κατεφρόνησας τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ταύτης κρατήσειν ἤλπισας, ἴσθι ὅτι ἐκεῖ ὁ κατὰ σοῦ ὄλεθρος προευτρέπισται· ἐνταῦθα γὰρ συγκλεισθήσῃ καὶ καταβρωθήσῃ. Ὅθεν ἐπήγαγεν· Ἐβάθυνεν ἐπλάτυνε τὴν πυρὰν αὐτῆς. Τουτέστιν ἡ ἑτοιμασθεῖσά σοι τιμωρία· τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ τὰ ἑξῆς· Ξύλα κείμενα, πῦρ καὶ ξύλα πολλά, ὁ θυμὸς κυρίου ὡς φάρα<γ>ξ ὑπὸ θείου καιομένη. Οὗ δὴ χάριν ὁ Σύρος τὸ θαφὲθ ἑρμηνεύων «βρῶσιν» τὴν τιμωρ ίαν ἐκάλεσε· τροφὴ γὰρ πυρὸς τὰ ξύλα. Οὕτω καὶ ταῦτα συμπεράνας τοὺς εἰς Αἴγυπτον κατα πεφευγότας πάλι ν θρηνεῖ· 311Οὐαὶ οἱ καταβαίνοντες εἰς Αἴγυπτον