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For he called him the fount of wisdom, and in the preface of this prophecy he named him the fount of life. And in what follows, he shows the omnipotence of God's creation. "He who prepared the earth for eternal time, filled it with four-footed beasts." The present life of men is also called an age; but the one to come, an age of an age. 33-35. He who sends forth the light, and it goes; he called it, and it obeyed him, with trembling. And the stars shone in their watches, and were glad. He called them, and they said, Here we are; they shone with gladness for him who made them. All things, he says, yield to the maker; each of the things that have come into being keeps its own 81.773 boundaries; and he calls the seasons the watches of the stars; for each rises at its appointed time. 36. This is our God. The creator of all, their governor and ruler. "No other shall be accounted of in comparison to him." He does not make a comparison of Son and Father, but the word casts out the so-called gods. 37. He has found out all the way of knowledge. Again, he has set down 'he has found out' in human terms. For he is the fount of good things. "And he gave it to Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved." The teaching of the knowledge of God, the law given through Moses. 38. Afterward he was seen upon earth, and conversed with men. Clearly the word has shown us the incarnation of the Only-Begotten, and how he himself is the creator of all things, and the fount of wisdom. He therefore is both her maker and Lord; and concerning her he says in Proverbs: "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works." For it is not God the Word who says those things, but the wisdom fashioned by him, of God the Word. CHAPTER. 4. 1. This is the book of the commandments of God. That is, the one given through the incarnation of the only-begotten Son of God. "And the law that endures for ever." For the Old Testament has received its end. "All they that hold it fast are appointed to life, but such as leave it shall die." He has shown the end of both; then he exhorts the people called Jacob. 2. Turn, O Jacob, and take hold of it: walk towards its brightness, in the presence of its light. Follow the gleam of the ray; for it leads you to light, and guides your feet to life. 3. Give not your glory to another, nor the things that are profitable to you to a strange nation. But Israel did not listen; for which reason they themselves stand far from good things, but the nations enjoy the God-given good things. 4. O Israel, happy are we: for things that are pleasing to God are known to us. We have no excuse of ignorance, he says, for he has made known to us the things that are pleasing. Then he encourages and teaches that they were delivered into slavery at that time, not because the God of all had completely turned away from them, but because he tried to benefit them through discipline; for having abandoned the benefactor, he says, you have preferred the worship of demons; and you became the cause of desolation for the one who nourished you. And he also uses personification, and shows the city lamenting, and saying 81.776 to her subject cities, that "The Lord has brought upon me a bitter mourning." For I saw some of the inhabitants slain, and others delivered into harsh slavery. 12. Let no one rejoice over me, the widow left behind by the peoples. She calls herself a widow, as having been made desolate of divine care. "I was made desolate because of the sins of my children." And she enumerates these, and recounts the cruelty of the enemies. They were not ashamed, she says, of an old man, nor did they pity a child. (16.) And they led away the beloved of the widow, and from her daughters they made the only one desolate. She calls herself the only one, as I suppose, because the temple of God was in her alone, or perhaps because she alone was left, when the Assyrians had sacked the other cities. Then she says that she herself cannot help, but she promises the help of God.

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πηγὴν γὰρ αὐτὸν τῆς σοφίας ἐκάλεσε, καὶ ἐν τῷ προοιμίῳ τῆσδε τῆς προφητείας πηγὴν αὐτὸν ζωῆς ὠνόμασε. ∆είκνυσι δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς τῆς δημιουργίας Θεοῦ τὸ παντοδύναμον. "Ὁ κατασκευάσας τὴν γῆν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα χρόνον, ἐνέπλη σεν αὐτὴν κτηνῶν τετραπόδων." Αἰὼν καλεῖται καὶ ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων παρὼν βίος· ὁ δὲ μέλλων, αἰὼν αἰῶνος. λγʹ-λεʹ. Ὁ ἀποστέλλων τὸ φῶς, καὶ πορεύεται· ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὸ, καὶ ὑπήκουσεν αὐτῷ, τρόμῳ. Οἱ δὲ ἀστέρες ἔλαμψαν ἐν ταῖς φυλακαῖς αὑτῶν, καὶ εὐφράνθησαν. Ἐκάλεσεν αὐτοὺς, καὶ εἶπον, Πάρεσμεν· ἔλαμψαν μετ' εὐφροσύνης τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτούς. Πάντα, φησὶν, εἴκει τῷ ποιητῇ· ἕκαστον τῶν γεγενημένων τοὺς οἰκείους 81.773 ὅρους φυλάττει· φυλακὰς δὲ ἀστέρων τοὺς καιροὺς καλεῖ· κατὰ γὰρ τὸν ὡρισμένον ἕκαστος ἀνίσχει καιρόν. λϛʹ. Οὗτος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν. Ἁπάντων δημι ουργὸς, ὁ τούτων κυβερνήτης καὶ πρύτανις. "Οὐ λογισθήσεται ἕτερος πρὸς αὐτόν." Οὐχ Υἱοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ποιεῖται σύγκρισιν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς καλουμένους ὁ λόγος ἐκβάλλει θεούς. λζʹ. Ἐξεῦρε πᾶσαν ὁδὸν ἐπιστήμης. Πάλιν τὸ ἐξεῦρεν ἀνθρωπίνως τέθεικε. Πηγὴ γάρ ἐστι τῶν ἀγαθῶν. "Καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὴν Ἰακὼβ τῷ παιδὶ αὑτοῦ, καὶ Ἰσραὴλ τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ." Τὴν τῆς θεογνωσίας διδασκαλίαν, τὸν διὰ Μωσέως δοθέντα νόμον. ληʹ. Μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὤφθη, καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη. Σαφῶς ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ὑπέδειξε τὴν τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἐνανθρώπησιν, καὶ ὡς αὐτός ἐστι τῶν ἁπάντων δημιουργὸς, καὶ τῆς σοφίας πηγή. Αὐτὸς τοίνυν αὐτῆς ὑπάρχει καὶ ποιητὴς, καὶ ∆εσπότης· καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ φησιν ἐν Παροιμίαις· "Κύριος ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν εἰς ἔργα αὑτοῦ." Οὐ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς Λόγος ἐκεῖνα λέγει, ἀλλὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου ἡ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ κατασκευασθεῖσα σοφία. ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ. ∆ʹ. αʹ. Αὕτη ἡ βίβλος τῶν προσταγμάτων τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τουτέστιν, ἡ διὰ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ μονογενοῦς Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ δεδομένη. "Καὶ νόμος ὁ ὑπάρχων εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα." Ἡ γὰρ παλαιὰ ∆ιαθήκη τὸ τέλος ἐδέξατο. "Πάντες οἱ κρατοῦντες αὐτὴν εἰς ζωὴν, οἱ δὲ καταλιπόντες αὐτὴν ἀποθανοῦνται." Ἔδειξεν ἀμφοτέρων τὸ τέλος· εἶτα παραινεῖ τῷ λαῷ τῷ χρη ματίζοντι Ἰακώβ. βʹ. Ἐπιστρέφου, Ἰακὼβ, καὶ ἐπιλαβοῦ αὐτῆς· διόδευσον πρὸς τὴν λάμψιν κατέναντι τοῦ φωτὸς αὐτῆς. Ἀκολούθησον τῇ αὐγῇ τῆς ἀκτῖνος· φωτ αγωγεῖ γάρ σε, καὶ ποδηγεῖ πρὸς ζωήν. γʹ. Μὴ δῷς ἑτέρῳ τὴν δόξαν σου, καὶ τὰ συμ φέροντά σοι ἔθνει ἀλλοτρίῳ. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἤκουσεν Ἰσραήλ· οὗ δὴ χάριν αὐτοὶ μὲν πόῤῥω τῶν ἀγαθῶν καθεστήκασι, τῶν δὲ θεοσδότων ἀγαθῶν ἀπολαύει τὰ ἔθνη. δʹ. Μακάριοί ἐσμεν, Ἰσραὴλ, ὅτι τὰ ἀρεστὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῖν γνωστά ἐστι. Οὐκ ἔχομεν, φησὶ, πρόφασιν ἀγνοίας, δεδήλωκε γὰρ ἡμῖν τὰ ἀρέσκοντα. Εἶτα παραθαῤῥύνει, καὶ διδάσκει, ὡς παρεδόθησαν εἰς δουλείαν τηνικαῦτα, οὐ παντελῶς αὐτοὺς ἀποστρα φέντος τοῦ τῶν ὅλων Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς παιδείας αὐ τοὺς εὐεργετῆσαι πειραθέντος· τὸν γὰρ εὐεργέτην, φη σὶ, καταλιπόντες, τὴν τῶν δαιμόνων προτετιμήκατε λατρείαν· πρόξενοι δὲ καὶ τῇ θρεψαμένῃ τῆς ἐρη μίας ἐγένεσθε. Κέχρηται δὲ καὶ προσωποποιίᾳ, καὶ δείκνυσι τὴν πόλιν θρηνοῦσαν, καὶ ταῖς ὑπηκόοις λέ 81.776 γουσαν πόλεσιν, ὅτι "Πένθος μοι πικρὸν ὁ ∆ε σπότης ἐπήγαγεν." Εἶδον γὰρ τῶν οἰκητόρων τοὺς μὲν ἀναιρεθέντας, τοὺς δὲ χαλεπῇ δουλείᾳ παραδο θέντας. ιβʹ. Μηδεὶς ἐπιχαιρέτω μοι τῇ χήρᾳ καταλει φθείσῃ ὑπὸ λαῶν. Χήραν ἑαυτὴν καλεῖ, ὡς ἔρημον τῆς θείας γεγενημένην κηδεμονίας. "Ἠρη μώθην διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας τῶν τέκνων μου." Ἀπαρι θμεῖται δὲ καὶ ταύτας, καὶ διηγεῖται τὴν τῶν πολε μίων ὠμότητα. Οὐκ ᾐσχύνθησαν, φησὶ, πρεσβύτην, οὐδὲ παιδίου ἠλέησαν. (ιϛʹ.) Καὶ ἀπήγαγον τοὺς ἀγα πητοὺς τῆς χήρας, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν θυγατέρων τὴν μόνην ἠρήμωσαν. Μόνην ἑαυτὴν, ὡς ἡγοῦμαι, καλεῖ, διὰ τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ μόνῃ εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν νεὼν, ἢ τάχα ἐπειδὴ μόνῃ κατελείφθη, τῶν Ἀσσυρίων τὰς ἄλλας πόλεις πορθησάντων. Εἶτα λέγει, ὡς αὐτὴ μὲν ἐπαμῦναι οὐ δύναται, ὑπισχνεῖται δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν βοήθειαν.