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of the Savior or from him the transgressions grow old, and sins are brought to an end through remission, and iniquities are blotted out by expiation along with injustices, and everlasting righteousness is proclaimed, contrary to that of the law; and visions and prophecies until John; a Holy of Holies is anointed; for before the coming of the Savior these things, not yet being, were only expected. To begin then with the numbers, that is, of the 70 weeks, which is 490 years, the angel sets the starting point from the going forth of the word to give answer and to build Jerusalem; and these things happened in the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians. For Nehemiah, his cupbearer, having made a request, both received the response to build Jerusalem, and a word went out commanding these things; for until that time the city had been laid waste. For when Cyrus, after the seventy years of captivity, sent down each of those who wished to go voluntarily, those who went down with Jesus the 152 high priest and Zerubbabel, and those after them with Ezra, were at first hindered from building the temple and from putting a wall around the city, as this had not been commanded. So it remained until Nehemiah and the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, which was the one hundred and fifteenth year of the Persian dominion, and 185 years from the capture of Jerusalem; and then King Artaxerxes commanded the city to be built, and Nehemiah, being sent down, was put in charge of the work, and the building was a broad street and a surrounding wall, as was prophesied; and from that point, counting for us, 70 weeks are completed up to the time of Christ. For if we should begin to count from any other point and not from here, neither will the time coincide, and very many absurdities will result; for if we should make the beginning of the numbering of the 70 weeks from Cyrus and the first return, 100 years and more would be in excess, and a longer time, if from the day the angel prophesied to Daniel, and much longer, if from the beginning of the captivity; for we find the Persian kingdom described as lasting 230 years, and that of the Macedonians having extended for 300 years, and from there to the sixteenth year of Tiberius Caesar is 60 years; but from Artaxerxes 70 weeks are completed at the time of Christ according to the calculations of the Jews. For from Nehemiah, who was sent by Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem, in the one hundred and fifteenth year of the Persian kingdom, and in the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes himself and in the fourth year of the eighty-third Olympiad, up to this time, which was the second year of the two hundred and second Olympiad, and the sixteenth year of the rule of Tiberius Caesar, 475 years are gathered, which becomes four hundred and ninety Hebrew years when their 153 years are reckoned according to the lunar month, which is, so to speak, twenty-nine and a half days; thus the cycle being 365 and a quarter days, the twelve-month period according to the moon differs by eleven and a quarter days. For this reason both Greeks and Jews insert three intercalary months in eight years; for eight times eleven and a quarter makes a three-month period. The 475 years therefore become 59 eight-year periods and 3 months, and as there is a three-month intercalary period in the eight-year cycle, this amounts to fifteen years less a few days; and with these added to the 475 years, the 70 weeks are completed. These things, then, the aforementioned man has applied to the passages; come then, let us too, after the interpretation that has been given, see if it is possible also to approach the passages in another way, so that we might not seem, by illicitly taking the times from Cyrus up to Artaxerxes, to be making the explanation more forced, and otherwise seem not to be presenting the reason for the division of the seven weeks and the sixty-two, which the divine word has certainly made somewhere with some reasonable thought and very deep understanding, saying, and you shall know and understand that from the going forth of the word to give answer and to build Jerusalem until Christ the Prince shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks, and it shall return and be built

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Σωτῆρος ἢ ἀπὸ τούτου τὰ παραπτώματα παλαιοῦται, καὶ αἱ ἁμαρτίαι συντελοῦνται διὰ τὴν ἄφεσιν, αἵ τε ἀνομίαι ἐξιλασμῷ μετὰ τῶν ἀδικιῶν ἀπαλείφονται, δικαιοσύνη τε αἰώνιος καταγγέλλεται παρὰ τὴν ἐκ νόμου· ὁράσεις τε καὶ προφητεῖαι μέχρις Ἰωάννου· χρίεται ἅγιος ἁγίων· πρὸ γὰρ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος παρουσίας οὐκ ὄντα ταῦτα προσεδοκᾶτο μόνον. Ἄρξασθαι δὴ τῶν ἀριθμῶν, τοῦτ' ἔστιν τῶν οʹ ἑβδομάδων, ἅ ἐστιν ἕτη υʹ, ὁ ἄγγελος ὑποτίθεται ἀπὸ ἐξόδου λόγου τοῦ ἀποκριθῆναι καὶ τοῦ οἰκοδομῆσαι Ἱερουσαλήμ· συνέβη δὲ ταῦτα ἐπὶ Ἀρταξέρξου Περσῶν βασιλεύοντος εἰκοστῷ ἔτει. Νεεμίας γὰρ ὁ τούτου οἰνοχόος δεηθεὶς ἀποκρίσεώς τε ἔτυχεν οἰκοδομηθῆναι Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ λόγος ἐξῆλθεν κελεύων ταῦτα· μέχρι γὰρ ἐκείνου τοῦ χρόνου ἡ πόλις ἠρήμωτο. Κύρου γὰρ μετὰ τὴν ἑβδομηκονταετίαν τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας τῶν βουλομένων ἕκαστον ἑκουσιαστὶ καταπέμψαντος, οἱ μετὰ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ 152 μεγάλου ἱερέως καὶ Ζοροβάβελ κατελθόντες, καὶ οἱ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἅμα Ἔζρᾳ, τὸν νεὼν οἰκοδομεῖν ἐκωλύοντο τὰ πρῶτα, καὶ τεῖχος τῇ πόλει περιβαλεῖν, ὡς οὐ κεκελευσμένου τούτου. Ἔμεινεν οὖν ἕως Νεεμίου καὶ βασιλείας Ἀρταξέρξου εἰκοσαετοῦς, Περσῶν δὲ ἡγεμονίας πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ καὶ ἑκατοστῷ, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ἁλώσεως Ἱερουσαλὴμ ρπεʹ ἔτη· καὶ τότε βασιλεὺς Ἀρταξέρξης ἐκέλευσεν οἰκοδομηθῆναι τὴν πόλιν, Νεεμίας τε καταπεμφθεὶς τοῦ ἔργου προέστη, ἡ δὲ οἰκοδομὴ πλατεία καὶ περὶ τεῖχος, ὡς προεφητεύθη· κἀκεῖθεν ἀριθμοῦσιν ἡμῖν οʹ ἑβδομάδες εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν συντελοῦνται. Εἰ γὰρ ἄλλοθέν ποθεν ἀριθμεῖν ἀρξαίμεθα καὶ οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν, οὔτε ὁ χρόνος συνδραμεῖται, καὶ πλεῖστα ἄτοπα ἀπαντήσει· ἐάν τε γὰρ ἀπὸ Κύρου καὶ τῆς πρώτης καταπομπῆς τὴν ἀρχὴν ποιησώμεθα τῆς ἀριθμήσεως τῶν οʹ ἑβδομάδων, ἔτη ρʹ καὶ προσέτι περισσεύει, πλείων δὲ χρόνος, εἰ ἀφ' ἧς ἡμέρας τῷ ∆ανιὴλ ὁ ἄγγελος προεφήτευσεν, πολλῷ δὲ πλείων, εἰ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας· εὑρίσκομεν γὰρ τὴν Περσῶν βασιλείαν ἔτεσιν σλʹ περιγραφομένην, τήν τε Μακεδόνων εἰς ἔτη τʹ παρατείνασαν, κἀκεῖθεν ἐπὶ τὸ Τιβερίου Καίσαρος ἔτος ἑκκαιδέκατον εἰς ἔτη ξʹ· ἀπὸ δὲ Ἀρταξέρξου οʹ ἑβδομάδες εἰς τὸν ἐπὶ Χριστοῦ συντελοῦνται χρόνον κατὰ τοὺς Ἰουδαίων ἀριθμούς. Ἀπὸ γὰρ Νεεμίου, ὃς ὑπὸ Ἀρταξέρξου τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀνοικίσων ἐπέμφθη, ἔτει πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ καὶ ἑκαστοστῷ τῆς Περσῶν βασιλείας, αὐτοῦ τε Ἀρταξέρξου βασιλείας εἰκοστῷ ἔτει καὶ Ὀλυμπιάδος ὀγδοηκοστῆς τρίτης ἔτει τετάρτῳ, ἐπὶ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον, ὃς ἦν Ὀλυμπιάδος διακοσιοστῆς δευτέρας ἔτος δεύτερον, Τιβερίου δὲ Καίσαρος ἡγεμονίας ἔτος ἑκκαιδέκατον, ἔτη συνάγεται υοεʹ, ἅπερ Ἑβραϊκὰ τετρακόσια ἐνενήκοντα ἔτη γίνεται κατὰ τὸν σεληναῖον μῆνα τοὺς ἐνιαυτοὺς ἐκείνων 153 ἐξαριθμουμένων, ὅς ἐστιν, ὡς πρόχειρον εἰπεῖν, ἡμερῶν εἰκόσι ἐννέα ἥμισυ· οὕτως τοῦ κύκλου ὑπάρχοντος ἡμερῶν τξεʹ τετάρτου τὴν κατὰ σελήνην δωδεκάμηνον παραλλάσσειν ἡμέραις ἕνδεκα καὶ τετάρτῳ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ Ἕλληνες καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι τρεῖς μῆνας ἐμβολίμους ἔτεσιν ὀκτὼ παρεμβάλλουσιν· ὀκτάκι γὰρ τὰ ἕνδεκα καὶ τέταρτον ποιεῖ τρίμηνον. Τὰ τοίνυν υοεʹ ἔτη ὀκταετηρίδες γίνονται νθʹ, καὶ μῆνες γʹ, ὡς τριμήνου δὲ ἐμβολίμου τῇ ὀκταετίᾳ, γίνονται ἔτη πεντεκαίδεκα ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν ἀποδέοντα γίνεται· ταῦτα δὲ πρὸς τοῖς υοεʹ ἔτεσιν αἱ οʹ ἑβδομάδες συντελοῦνται. Ταῦτα μὲν ὁ προδηλωθεὶς ἀνὴρ εἰς τοὺς τόπους ἐπιβέβληκεν· φέρε δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς μετὰ τὴν ἀποδοθεῖσαν ἑρμηνείαν ἴδωμεν, εἰ οἷόν τε καὶ ἑτέρως τοῖς τόποις ἐπιβαλεῖν, ὡς ἂν μὴ δοκοῖμεν τοὺς ἀπὸ Κύρου καὶ ἐπὶ Ἀρταξέρξην ὑποκλέπτοντες χρόνους βιαιοτέραν ποιεῖσθαι τὴν ἀπόδοσιν, καὶ ἄλλως μὴ δὲ τὴν αἰτίαν παριστάναι δοκεῖν τῆς τῶν ἑπτὰ ἑβδομάδων καὶ τῶν ξβʹ διαιρέσεως, ἣν ὁ θεῖος λόγος πάντως ποῦ μετά τινος εὐλόγου διανοίας καὶ βαθυτάτης συνέσεως πεποίηται φήσας, καὶ γνώσῃ καὶ συνήσεις ἀπὸ ἐξόδου λόγου τοῦ ἀποκριθῆναι καὶ τοῦ οἰκοδομῆσαι Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἕως χριστοῦ ἡγουμένου ἐβδομάδες ζʹ, καὶ ἑβδομάδες ξβʹ καὶ ἐπιστρέψει καὶ οἰκοδομηθήσεται