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he called because of the impiety which they had, when they were besieging it; but to these he says that the sin was also forgiven for those who burned the divine temple, since it was stripped of divine grace. From here the prophetic word has passed on to another subject and foretells the grievous things that will befall Judea, but the prophecy also fits those things that will be at the time of the consummation. 341Draw near, nations, and hear, attend, rulers; let the earth and those in it hear, the inhabited world and the people in it. 2Because the wrath of the Lord is upon all the nations and his anger is upon all their number to destroy them and to give them over to slaughter. These things the Lord also foretold concerning the consummation in the holy gospels: "Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be earthquakes and plagues." These things the prophetic word also taught. And it added that the earth will be filled with the wounded and the dead, and their stench will mingle with the air, and the blood will drench the earth. And he added that 4the powers of the heavens will melt, and the heaven will be rolled up like a scroll, and all the stars of heaven will fall as leaves fall from a vine and as leaves drop from a fig tree. And the Lord says in the holy gospels that "the powers of the heavens will be shaken," and the blessed David concerning heaven and earth: "They will perish, but you will remain; and all will grow old like a garment, and like a cloak you will roll them up and they will be changed; but you are the same, and your years will not fail." And concerning the sun and the moon he said: "Then the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light." 5My sword has been made drunk in heaven; behold, it will come down upon Idumea and upon the people of destruction with judgment. I think that here Jerusalem is figuratively called heaven. For just as heaven is understood to be the dwelling-place of God, so also is the temple in Jerusalem. Therefore, since the Idumeans rejoiced at the plague of the Jews and at the victory of the Babylonians, he foretells the painful things that will befall them. That they reveled in the misfortunes of the Jews, the blessed David also teaches us: "Remember, O Lord, the sons of Edom on the day of Jerusalem, those who say, 'Raze it, raze it, to its foundations'"; that is: demolish and pull down and uproot completely. For this reason God says that brandishing his sword with judgment he will proceed against Idumea as a just... punishment for them. 6The sword of the Lord was filled with blood, it was fattened with fat, with the blood of bulls and lambs and with the fat of goats and rams. He calls the rulers bulls and goats and rams, and the subjects lambs; and the enemies, the sword of God. But the phrase: it was filled with blood and was fattened with fat, indicates the multitude of the slain. Then he calls their slaughter a sacrifice of the Lord, as being just and having happened according to a divine decree. And again he calls the wealthy fat ones, and says that the land will be filled from the blood and from |142 b| the fat of these; for with no one burying the bodies, the whole surface of that land was filled with foul-smelling gore. 8For it is a day of the Lord's judgment and a year of recompense for the judgment of Zion. For because of the injustice against Zion the Idumeans endured these things. 9And its ravines will be turned into pitch and its land into brimstone, and its land will be like burning pitch 10night and day and it will not be quenched for eternal time. Again he called the punishment brimstone and fire and the desolation resulting from it; for "upon Sodom," it says, "the Lord rained fire and brimstone." But the phrase: it will not be quenched for eternal time, indicates desolation; for even to this day most of Idumea has remained desolate. Idumea is the land of Esau; and they say that Petra is its metropolis. And its smoke will go up, and from generation to generation it will be laid waste and for a long time, and there will be no one passing through it.

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ἐκάλεσε διὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἣν εἶχον, ἡνίκα ταύτην ἐπολιόρκουν· τούτοις δὲ λέγει καὶ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀφεθῆναι τὸν θεῖον ἐμπρήσασι νεών, ἐπειδὴ τῆς θείας οὗτος ἐγυμνοῦτο χάριτος. Ἐντεῦθεν εἰς ἑτέραν ὑπόθεσιν ὁ προφητικὸς με ταβέβηκε λόγος καὶ προλέγει τά τε τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ ἐσόμενα λυπηρά, ἁρμόττει δὲ ἡ προφητεία καὶ τοῖς κατὰ τὸν τῆς συντελείας ἐσομένοις καιρόν. 341Προσαγάγετε ἔθνη καὶ ἀκούσατε, ἄρ χοντες προσέχετε· ἀκουσάτω ἡ γῆ καὶ οἱ ἐν αὐτῇ, ἡ οἰκουμένη καὶ ὁ λαὸς ὁ ἐν αὐτῇ. 2∆ιότι ὁ θυμὸς κυρίου ἐπὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη καὶ ἡ ὀργὴ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ πάντα τὸν ἀριθμὸν αὐτῶν τοῦ ἀπολέσαι αὐτοὺς καὶ παραδοῦναι αὐτοὺς εἰς σφαγήν. Ταῦτα καὶ περὶ τῆς συντελείας ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς εὐα γγελίοις ὁ δεσπότης προείρηκεν· «Ἐγερθήσεται ἔθνος ἐπὶ ἔθνος καὶ βασιλεία ἐπὶ βασιλείαν καὶ ἔσονται σεισμοὶ καὶ λοιμοί.» Ταῦτα καὶ ὁ προφητικὸς ἐδίδαξε λόγος. Καὶ προστέθεικεν ὅτι καὶ τραυματιῶν ἡ γῆ καὶ νεκρῶν πληρωθή σεται καὶ ἡ δυσοσμία αὐτῶν τὸν ἀέρα κεράσει καὶ τὸ αἷμα τὴν γῆν καταβρέξει. Ἐπήγαγε δὲ ὅτι 4καὶ τακήσονται αἱ δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ εἰλιχθήσεται ὡς βιβλίον ὁ οὐρανός, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἄστρα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πεσεῖται ὡς πίπτει φύλλα ἀπὸ ἀμπέλου καὶ ὡς ἐκρεῖ φύλλα ἀπὸ συκῆς. Καὶ ὁ κύριος ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς εὐαγγελίοις φησὶν ὅτι «αἱ δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν σαλευθή σονται», καὶ ὁ μακάριος ∆αυὶδ περὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς· «Αὐτοὶ ἀπολοῦνται, σὺ δὲ διαμενεῖς· καὶ πάντες ὡς ἱμάτιον παλαιωθήσονται καὶ ὡσεὶ περιβόλαιον ἑλίξεις αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται· σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ, καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσιν.» Καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τῆς σελήνης ἔφη· «Τότε σκοτισθήςεται ὁ ἥλιος, καὶ ἡ σελήνη οὐ δώσει τὸ φέγγος αὐτῆς.» 5Ἐμεθύσθη ἡ μάχαιρά μου ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ· ἰδοὺ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰδουμαίαν καταβήσεται καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν λαὸν τῆς ἀπωλείας μετὰ κρίσεως. Οὐρανὸν οἶμαι τροπικῶς ἐνταῦθα τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὀνομάζεσθαι. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ οὐρανὸς οἰκητήριον ὑπείληπται τοῦ θεοῦ, οὕτω καὶ ὁ ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις νεώς. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν Ἰδουμαῖοι ἐφήσθησαν τῇ τῶν Ἰουδαίωνπληγῇ καὶ τῇ τῶν Βαβυλωνίων νίκῃ, προλέγει τὰ ἐσόμενα αὐτοῖς ἀλγεινά. Ὅτι δὲ ταῖς Ἰουδαίων ἐνετρύφων συμφοραῖς, καὶ ὁ μακάριος ἡμᾶς δι δάσκει ∆αυίδ · «Μνήσθητι κύριε τῶν υἱῶν Ἐδὼμ τὴν ἡμέραν Ἱερουσαλὴμ τῶν λεγόντων· Ἐκκενοῦτε ἐκκενοῦτε ἕως τῶν θεμελίων αὐτῆς»· ἀντὶ τοῦ· καταλύσατε καὶ κατασπάσατε καὶ πρόρριζον ἀνασπά σατε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν ὁ θεὸς ὅτι σείων μετὰ κρίσεως τὴν μάχαιραν αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς Ἰδουμαίας χωρήσει ὡς δικαίαν αὐτοὺς κα........ ποινήν. 6Ἡ μάχαιρα κυρίου ἐνεπλήσθη αἵματος, ἐπαχύνθη ἀπὸ στέατος, ἀπὸ αἵματος ταύρων καὶ ἀμνῶν καὶ ἀπὸ στέατος τράγων καὶ κριῶν. Ταύρους καὶ τράγους καὶ κριοὺς τοὺς ἄρχοντας καλεῖ, ἀμνοὺς δὲ τοὺς ὑπηκόους· μάχαιραν δὲ θεοῦ τοὺς πολεμίους. Τὸ δέ· ἐνεπλήσθη ἀπὸ αἵματος καὶ ἐπαχύνθη ἀπὸ στέατος, τῶν ἀνῃρημένων τὸ πλῆθος δηλοῖ. Εἶτα θυσίαν κυρίου καλεῖ τὴν ἐκείνων σφαγὴν ὡς δικαίαν οὖσαν καὶ κατὰ θείαν ψῆφον γεγενημένην. Ἁδροὺς δὲ πάλιν τοὺς εὐπόρους προσαγορεύει, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος καὶ ἐκ τοῦ |142 b| στέα τος τούτων λέγει τὴν γῆν ἐμπλησθή σεσθαι· οὐδενὸς γὰρ τὰ σώματα κατακρύπτοντος τοῦ δυσώδους ἰχῶρος ἐνεπίπλατο πᾶσα τῆς γῆς ἐκείνη<ς> ἡ ἐπιφάνεια. 8Ἡμέρα γὰρ κρίσεως κυρίου καὶ ἐνιαυτὸς ἀντα ποδόσεως τῇ κρίσει Σιών. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τὴν εἰς τὴν Σιὼν ἀδικίαν ταῦτα ὑπέμειναν Ἰδουμαῖοι. 9Καὶ στραφήσονται αἱ φάραγγες αὐτῆς εἰς πίσσαν καὶ ἡ γῆ αὐτῆς εἰς θεῖον, καὶ ἔσται ἡ γῆ αὐτῆς ὡς πίσσα καιομένη 10νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας καὶ οὐ σβεσθήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα χρόνον. Θεῖον πάλιν καὶ πῦρ τὴν τιμωρίαν ἐκάλεσε καὶ τὴν ἐκ ταύτης ἐσομένην ἐρημίαν· καὶ γὰρ «ἐπὶ τὰ Σόδομα ἔβρεξέ» φησι «κύριος πῦρ καὶ θεῖον.» Τὸ δέ· οὐ σβεσθή σεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα χρόνον, τὴν ἐρημίαν δηλοῖ· καὶ γὰρ μέχρι καὶ τήμερον τὰ πλεῖστα τῆς Ἰδουμαίας μεμένηκεν ἔρημα. Ἰδουμαία δέ ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ <Ἠ>σαῦ χώρα· φασὶ δὲ τὴν Πέτραν ταύτης εἶναι μητρόπολιν. Καὶ ἀναβήσεται ὁ καπνὸς αὐτῆς ἄνω, καὶ ἀπὸ γενεᾶς εἰς γενεὰν ἐρημωθήσεται καὶ εἰς χρόνον πολύν, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ παραπορευόμενος δι' αὐτῆς.