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before, and at the end of times, and he shall make entrances in great power and with much substance." For again, he says, having gathered a greater 81.1512 army than the former, he will set out against Egypt, and he will do this around the end of his own reign; for this is what it means: "At the end of times, and he shall make entrances in great power." Here there is a Hebraic duplication; for he wished to say that he will use a great entrance. It is an idiom of both the Hebrews and the Syrians; for both the one and the other are accustomed to say: Entering he has entered, and Going out he has gone out, and Eating he eats, and all other such things similarly. Therefore, the translators, using greater accuracy, followed the Hebrew idioms. 14. "And in those times, he says, many shall rise up against the king of the South." For thus, with Antiochus having defeated Ptolemy, the neighbors will henceforth despise him as weak. "And the sons of the pests of your people shall be lifted up, to establish a vision, and they shall be lifted up, and they shall be weak." Again here, he called the pests 'sons of pests'; for those living with wickedness, he says, and depravity of manners, and preferring to live impiously over piously, will attempt through these kings to destroy the worship of the law, and they will not be strong enough; for being less impious, these continued to court the Jewish nation. 15. "And the king of the North, he says, shall enter, and shall cast up a mound, and shall take fortified cities." That is, he will use siege, and mounds, and siege-engines. "And the arms of the king of the South shall not stand;" that is, he will be bereft of all power. "And his chosen men will rise up, and there will be no strength to stand." And gathering his best men will profit him nothing. 16. "And he that comes against him shall do according to his own will, and there is none that stands before his face." For it is easy, he says, for each one henceforth to despise him, because he is not able to contend against and overcome his enemies. "And he shall stand in the land of Sabir." Some of the copies have, "in the land of Sabaeim"; but some of those who translated the Hebrew tongue into Greek have called the land of Sabir the land of desire; and it signifies the land of promise, being of desire; and Mount Sion, which God loved and was pleased to dwell in. And Sabaeim is interpreted as of power. Whether, therefore, Judea is called the land of good pleasure or the land of power (for indeed above he called it power, and here Sabaeim or Sabir), the king of the North, he says, will enter also into this land. "And it shall be accomplished 81.1513 in his hand." That is, he will prosper; for so Josephus also taught us through his history, that the Jews, having received Antiochus of their own accord, were greatly honored by him. 17. "And he shall set his face, he says, to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom." For he will attempt to usurp the entire kingdom of the king of the South. "And he shall make all things right with him," he says. For he will give back to him all that he seized. "And he will give him the daughter of women to corrupt her, and she shall not stand, and shall not be for him." What he said obscurely above, this he says clearly here; for he will give him, he says, his own daughter as a wife, but not for long will she be returned to the one who gave her, and the marriage will be dissolved. Thus, he says, having arranged matters in Egypt, 18. "He will turn his face to the islands, and shall take many, and shall cause the princes of his reproach to cease; but his reproach shall return to him." For having brought many of the islands under his power, and having stopped their ethnarchs from ruling, he made them ridiculous. But of this reproach, he says, he himself also will partake. For the Romans, having defeated him at Thermopylae, and having stopped his great audacity, imposed on him a tribute of a thousand talents, and they forced him to bring this each year, and also his son

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πρότερον, καὶ εἰς τὸ τέλος τῶν καιρῶν, καὶ ἐπελεύσεται εἰσόδια ἐν δυνάμει με γάλῃ καὶ ἐν ὑπάρξει πολλῇ." Αὖθις γὰρ, φησὶ, μείζω 81.1512 τῆς προτέρας συναγαγὼν στρατείαν ὁρμήσει κατὰ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, ποιήσει δὲ τοῦτο περὶ τὸ τέλος τῆς ἑαυτοῦ βασιλείας· τοῦτο γὰρ σημαίνει· "Εἰς τὸ τέλος τῶν καιρῶν, καὶ ἐπελεύσεται εἰσόδια ἐν δυνάμει με γάλῃ." Ἐνταῦθα διπλασιασμός ἐστιν Ἑβραϊκός· ἠβουλήθη γὰρ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι εἰσόδῳ μεγάλῃ χρήσεται. Ἰδίωμα δέ ἐστι καὶ Ἑβραίων, καὶ Σύρων· καὶ οὗτοι γὰρ κἀκεῖνοι λέγειν εἰώθασιν· Εἰσερχόμενος εἰσ ελήλυθε, καὶ Ἐξερχόμενος ἐξελήλυθε, καὶ Ἐσθίων ἐσθίει, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα ὁμοίως. Πλείονι τοίνυν οἱ ἑρμηνευταὶ ἀκριβείᾳ χρώμενοι, καὶ τοῖς Ἑβραίοις ἰδιώμασιν ἠκολούθησαν. ιδʹ. "Καὶ ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς ἐκείνοις, φησὶ, πολλοὶ ἐπαναστήσονται ἐπὶ βασιλέα τοῦ Νότου." Οὕτω γὰρ Ἀντιόχου καταγωνισαμένου τὸν Πτολεμαῖον, ὡς ἀσθενοῦς λοιπὸν καὶ οἱ πλησιόχωροι καταφρονήσουσι. "Καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν λοιμῶν τοῦ λαοῦ σου ἐπαρθήσον ται, τοῦ στῆσαι ὅρασιν, καὶ ἐπαρθήσονται, καὶ ἀσθενήσουσι." Πάλιν ἐνταῦθα υἱοὺς λοιμῶν τοὺς λοι μοὺς προσηγόρευσεν· οἱ γὰρ πονηρίᾳ, φησὶ, καὶ μο χθηρίᾳ τρόπων συζῶντες, καὶ τὸ δυσσεβῶς ζῇν τῆς εὐσεβείας προαιρούμενοι, πειραθήσονται διὰ τού των τῶν βασιλέων τὴν νομικὴν καταλῦσαι λατρείαν, καὶ οὐκ ἰσχύσουσιν· ἧττον γὰρ ὄντες ἀσεβεῖς οὗτοι θεραπεύοντες τὸ Ἰουδαῖον διετέλεσαν ἔθνος. ιεʹ. "Καὶ εἰσελεύσεται, φησὶν, ὁ βασιλεὺς Βοῤ ῥᾶ, καὶ ἐκχεεῖ πρόσχωμα, καὶ συλλήψεται πόλεις ὀχυράς." Ἀντὶ τοῦ, πολιορκίᾳ, καὶ χώμασι, καὶ μηχανήμασι χρήσεται. "Καὶ βραχίονες τοῦ βα σιλέως τοῦ Νότου οὐ στήσονται·" τουτέστι, πάσης δυνάμεως ἔρημος γενήσεται. "Καὶ ἀναστήσονται οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ἰσχὺς τοῦ στῆναι." Καὶ τοὺς ἀριστέας δὲ αὑτοῦ συλλέγων ὀνήσει οὐ δέν. ιʹ. "Καὶ ποιήσει ὁ εἰσπορευόμενος πρὸς αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἑστὼς κατὰ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ." Ῥᾴδιον γὰρ, φησὶ, λοιπὸν ἑκάστῳ καταφρονεῖν αὐτοῦ, τῷ μὴ δύνασθαι ἀνταγωνίζε σθαι, καὶ τῶν ἐναντίων περιγενέσθαι. "Καὶ στήσεται ἐν τῇ γῇ τοῦ Σαβείρ." Ἔνια τῶν ἀντι γράφων, "ἐν τῇ γῇ τοῦ Σαβαεὶμ" ἔχει· τινὲς δὲ τῶν τὴν Ἑβραίων φωνὴν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα μεταβεβληκότων, γῆν θελήσεως τὴν γῆν τοῦ Σαβεὶρ κε κλήκασι· σημαίνει δὲ τὴν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας γῆν, θελή σεως οὖσαν· καὶ τὸ ὄρος τὸ Σιὼν, ὃ ἠγάπησε καὶ εὐδόκησεν ὁ Θεὸς κατοικεῖν ἐν αὐτῷ. Καὶ τὸ Σαβαεὶμ δὲ δυνάμεως ἑρμηνεύεται. Εἴτε γοῦν γῆ εὐδοκίας, εἴτε γῆ δυνάμεως ἡ Ἰουδαία κέκληται (καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἄνω δύναμιν αὐτὴν προσηγόρευσε, καὶ ἐνταῦθα Σα βαεὶμ εἴτ' οὖν Σαβεὶρ), εἰσελεύσεται, φησὶν, ὁ βασι λεὺς τοῦ Βοῤῥᾶ καὶ εἰς ταύτην τὴν γῆν. "Καὶ συντε 81.1513 λεσθήσεται ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ." Τουτέστιν, εὐοδωθή σεται· οὕτω γὰρ ἡμᾶς καὶ ὁ Ἰώσηππος διὰ τῆς ἱστορίας ἐδίδαξεν, ὅτι αὐτόματοι τὸν Ἀντίοχον οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι δεξάμενοι σφόδρα ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐτιμήθησαν. ιζʹ. "Καὶ τάξει τὸ πρόσωπον αὑτοῦ, φησὶν, εἰσ ελθεῖν ἐν ἰσχύϊ πάσης τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ." Ἐπιχει ρήσει γὰρ ἅπασαν τοῦ βασιλέως τοῦ Νότου σφετερί σασθαι τὴν βασιλείαν. "Καὶ εὐθεῖα, φησὶν, ἅπαντα μετ' αὐτοῦ ποιήσει." Ἀποδώσει γὰρ αὐτῷ πάντα ὅσα ἥρπασεν. "Καὶ θυγατέρα τῶν γυναικῶν δώσει αὐτῷ τοῦ διαφθεῖραι αὐτὴν, καὶ οὐ μὴ παραμείνῃ, καὶ οὐκ αὐτῷ ἔσται." Ὅπερ ἄνω ἀσαφῶς εἴρηκεν, τοῦτο ἐνταῦθα σαφῶς· δώσει μὲν γὰρ αὐτῷ, φησὶ, γυναῖκα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ θυγατέρα, οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν δὲ αὕτη ἀποδοθήσεται τῷ δεδωκότι, καὶ τὸ συνοικέσιον διαλυθήσεται. Οὕτω δὲ, φησὶ, διαθεὶς τὴν Αἴγυπτον, ιηʹ. "Ἐπιστρέψει τὸ πρόσωπον αὑτοῦ εἰς τὰς νή σους, καὶ συλλήψεται πολλὰς, καὶ καταπαύσει ἄρ χοντας ὀνειδισμοῦ αὑτοῦ· πλὴν ὁ ὀνειδισμὸς αὐτοῦ ἐπιστρέψει αὐτῷ." Πολλὰς γὰρ τῶν νήσων ὑφ' ἑαυτὸν ποιησάμενος, καὶ τοὺς ἐκείνων ἐθνάρχας τοῦ ἄρχειν παύσας, καταγελάστους ἐποίησεν. Ἀλλὰ τούτου, φησὶ, τοῦ ὀνειδισμοῦ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀπολαύσει. Ῥωμαῖοι γὰρ ἐν Θερμοπύλαις αὐτὸν καταγωνισάμενοι, καὶ τῆς πολλῆς αὐτὸν θρασύτητος παύσαντες, δασμὸν αὐτῷ χιλίων ταλάντων ἐπέθεσαν, καὶ τοῦτον φέρειν καθ' ἕκαστον ἐνιαυτὸν κατηνάγκασαν, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν δὲ αὐτοῦ