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of him casting his vote against them. And he connects the work to the divine vote, and says: 54, 55. A voice of a cry in Babylon, and a great destruction in the land of the Chaldeans. Because the Lord destroyed Babylon, and destroyed from it a voice sounding like many waters. Through these things he has shown the multitude of the inhabitants; and nothing, he says, did it gain from the bows, nor from the spears, when God executed judgment upon it. For in addition to the generals, and the champions, "And its greatest wall will be torn down, and its high gates will become fuel for the fire." Having thus foretold these things, he teaches that he wrote this prophecy in the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah, God having commanded this; and he gave the book to. 81.757 Seraiah, who was sent to Babylon by Zedekiah; and that he instructed him to read the book in Babylon, and to say: 62. Lord, you have spoken concerning this place, to destroy it, and that there be no one dwelling in it, from man to beast, for it will be a desolation forever. And having prayed these things, he said, and having tied the book to a stone, throw it into the Euphrates, and you will say: 64. Thus Babylon will sink, and will not rise again from the face of the evils which I bring upon it. And the Lord commanded this to be for the comfort of the captives; so that learning of its capture, and their own freedom, they might have as a comfort the hope of good things. So the prophecy ended here. CHAP. 52. And he recounts what follows more historically; and teaching how Zedekiah became king, and that he continued to transgress the law; and how in the ninth year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar marched, and continued to besiege Jerusalem until the eleventh year, having raised another outer wall from the largest stones; and how the famine worked more grievously on those inside than the enemies. And he recounts how, when the wall fell, the mighty men fled by night with the king, and how the Chaldeans pursued and captured them, and brought them to Deblatha, and presented them to Nebuchadnezzar; and he, having reproached Zedekiah for breaking his oaths, first killed his sons, then the rulers; and that after that bitter sight, having gouged out the king's eyes, and having put him in fetters, he led him away to Babylon, and handed him over to the mill. And he teaches also how Nebuzaradan, having been sent by Nebuchadnezzar, both burned the divine temple, and in addition to this the palace, and the splendid houses of the city, and tore up the walls of the city from their foundations; and he led away all the rest to Deblatha, leaving a few of the poor, so that they might farm the land. And the bronze pillars of immense size, which Solomon had made, and having melted down the bronze sea, he carried away to Babylon, and the stands, and the basins; and the Syrian interpreted the stands as foot-basins. And he carried away the other vessels with these. And he calls the skewers Sapphoth; and he teaches how the king of the Babylonians killed the first priest, and the second, and those led away with them; he tells 81.760 the number of the captives who were led away; and in addition to these things he explains how after thirty-seven years of the captivity of Jeconiah; for he names him Jehoiachin; Evil-Merodach the king freed this same Jeconiah from prison, and showing him favor, deemed him worthy of a royal throne, and commanded him to be seated as king before the others, and had him at his table, generously supplying him with the enjoyment of necessities. And this also

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αὐτοῦ κατ' αὐτῶν τὴν ψῆφον ἐκφέροντος. Συνάπτει δὲ τῇ θείᾳ ψήφῳ τὸ ἔργον, καί φησι· νδʹ, νεʹ. Φωνὴ κραυγῆς ἐν Βαβυλῶνι, καὶ συν τριβὴ μεγάλη ἐν γῇ Χαλδαίων. Ὅτι ἐξωλόθρευσε Κύριος τὴν Βαβυλῶνα, καὶ ἀπώλεσεν ἐξ αὐτῆς φωνὴν ἠχοῦσαν ὡς ὕδατα πολλά. Τὸ πλῆθος τῶν οἰκητόρων διὰ τούτων δεδήλωκεν· καὶ οὐδὲν, φησὶν, ἀπώνατο τῶν τόξων, οὔτε τῶν δοράτων, τοῦ Θεοῦ δίκας αὐτὴν πραττομένου. Πρὸς γὰρ τοῖς στρατ ηγοῖς, καὶ τοῖς ἀριστεῦσι, "Καὶ τὸ μέγιστον τεῖχος αὐτῆς κατασκαφήσεται, καὶ αἱ ὑψηλαὶ πύλαι πυρὸς γενήσονται παρανάλωμα." Οὕτω ταῦτα προειρηκὼς, διδάσκει, ὡς τήνδε τὴν πρόῤῥησιν ἔγρα ψεν ἐν τῷ τετάρτῳ τῆς Σεδεκίου βασιλείας, τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦτο προστάξαντος· καὶ τὸ βιβλίον ἔδωκε τῷ. 81.757 Σαραίᾳ, ὃς εἰς τὴν Βαβυλῶνα παρὰ Σεδεκίου ἐπέμφθη· καὶ ὡς τοῦτο παρηγγύησεν ἀναγνῶναι τὸ βιβλίον ἐν Βαβυλῶνι, καὶ εἰπεῖν· ξβʹ. Κύριε, σὺ ἐλάλησας ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον, τοῦ ἐξολοθρεῦσαι αὐτὸν, καὶ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικοῦντα, ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπου ἕως κτήνους, ὅτι ἀφανισμὸς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἔσται. Ταῦτα δὲ, ἔφη, προσευξάμενος, καὶ λίθῳ τὸ βιβλίον προσδήσας, ῥίψον εἰς τὸν Εὐφράτην, καὶ ἐρεῖς· ξδʹ. Οὕτως καταδύσεται Βαβυλὼν, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀναστῇ ἀπὸ προσώπου τῶν κακῶν, ὧν ἐγὼ ἐπάγω ἐπ' αὐτήν. Τοῦτο δὲ εἰς ψυχαγωγίαν τῶν αἰχμαλώ των γενέσθαι προσέταξεν ὁ ∆εσπότης· ἵνα μαθόντες καὶ ταύτης τὴν ἅλωσιν, καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν ἐλευθερίαν, παραψυχὴν ἔχωσι τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὴν ἐλπίδα. Ἡ μὲν οὖν προφητεία ἐντεῦθεν ἔσχε τὸ τέλος. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΝΒʹ. Ἱστορικώτερον δὲ διέξεισι τὰ ἑξῆς· καὶ διδάσκων, ὅπως τε ἐβασίλευσεν ὁ Σεδεκίας, καὶ ὅτι παρανο μῶν διετέλεσε· καὶ ὡς ἐν τῷ ἐννάτῳ ἔτει τῆς βα σιλείας αὐτοῦ ἐπεστράτευσε Ναβουχοδονόσορ, καὶ τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ πολιορκῶν διετέλεσε μέχρις ἑν δεκάτου ἔτους, ἕτερον ἔξωθεν ἐγείρας περίβολον ἀπὸ λίθων μεγίστων· καὶ ὅπως ὁ λιμὸς τοὺς ἔνδον τῶν πολεμίων χαλεπώτερον κατειργάζετο. ∆ιηγεῖται δὲ, ὡς τοῦ τείχους πεσόντος νύκτωρ ἀπέδρασαν οἱ δυ νατοὶ σὺν τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ ὡς οἱ Χαλδαῖοι διώξαντες συνέλαβόν τε αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἀπήγαγον εἰς ∆εβλαθὰ, καὶ παρέστησαν τῷ Ναβουχοδονόσορ· ὁ δὲ διελέγξας ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν ὅρκων παραβάσει τὸν Σεδεκίαν, πρῶτον μὲν ἀνεῖλε τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ, εἶτα τοὺς ἄρχοντας· καὶ ὅτι μετὰ τὴν πικρὰν ἐκείνην θεωρίαν, τοῦ βασι λέως τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐξορύξας, καὶ πέδας αὐτῷ παραθεὶς, ἀπήγαγέ τε εἰς Βαβυλῶνα, καὶ μύλωνι παρέδωκε. ∆ιδάσκει τε καὶ ὅπως Ναβουζαρδὰν ὑπὸ τοῦ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἀποσταλεὶς, καὶ τὸν θεῖον νεὼν ἐνέπρησε, καὶ πρὸς τούτῳ τὰ βασίλεια, καὶ τὰς λαμ πρὰς τῆς πόλεως οἰκίας, καὶ τοὺς περιβόλους τοῦ ἄστεως ἐκ βάθρων ἀνέσπασεν· ἀπήγαγε δὲ καὶ ἅπαντας τοὺς λοιποὺς εἰς ∆εβλαθὰ, ὀλίγους τινὰς τῶν πενήτων καταλιπὼν, ὥστε τὴν γῆν γεωργεῖν. Καὶ τοὺς στύλους τοὺς χαλκοῦς τοὺς παμμεγέθεις, οὓς Σολομὼν κατεσκευάκει, καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν τὴν χαλ κῆν χωνεύσας, ἀπεκόμισεν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα, καὶ τοὺς ποδιστῆρας, καὶ τοὺς ἀναληπτῆρας· τοὺς δὲ ποδιστῆ ρας ὁ Σύρος νιπτῆρας ποδῶν ἡρμήνευσε. Καὶ τὰ ἄλλα δὲ σκεύη μετὰ τούτων ἀπήνεγκε. Σαπφὼθ δὲ τοὺς ὀβελίσκους καλεῖ· διδάσκει δὲ, ὅπως καὶ τὸν πρῶτον ἱερέα, καὶ τὸν δεύτερον, καὶ τοὺς μετὰ τούτων ἀπ αχθέντας ἀνεῖλε τῶν Βαβυλωνίων ὁ βασιλεύς· λέγει 81.760 τε καὶ τῶν ἀπαχθέντων αἰχμαλώτων τὸν ἀριθμόν· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἐξηγεῖται, ὅπως μετὰ τὰ ἑπτὰ καὶ τριάκοντα ἔτη τῆς Ἰεχονίου αἰχμαλωσίας· αὐτὸν γὰρ Ἰωακεὶμ ὀνομάζει· Ἀϊλὰδ Μαροδὰκ βασιλεὺς τοῦτον αὐτὸν τὸν Ἰεχονίαν τῆς εἱρκτῆς ἠλευθέ ρωσε, καὶ μεταδοὺς εὐμενείας, ἠξίωσε θρόνων βασι λικῶν, καὶ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων αὐτὸν βασιλέα καθῆσθαι προσέταξε, καὶ ὁμοδίαιτον εἶχεν, ἀφθόνως αὐτῷ χορηγῶν τὴν τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἀπόλαυσιν. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ