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calling the ungodly righteous, and condemning the righteous for unrighteousness. For a reasoning preoccupied by love of money is a balance scale that brings its inclination down toward the heavy side of the standard. Let us pay more careful attention to ourselves, lest we ever justify some ungodly person or word, being led to agree with them because of favor toward us, lest we fall under the impending woe. For this reason, in the way that stubble will be burned by a coal of fire and will be consumed by a kindled flame, their root shall be as chaff, and their blossom shall go up as dust. For they did not desire the law of the Lord Sabaoth, but they provoked the oracle of the Holy One of Israel. The word threatens that the roots of the sinners will be burned up and ground into chaff, and that their blossom will go up as dust. Let us understand what follows in accordance with what has been previously stated. For having discoursed in what follows about those who use wine immoderately and denouncing those who take bribes in judgments, he now says that their roots will be burned up, like stubble by a coal of fire. Now, a reed is a plant standing on a weak root, smooth on its outer surface, but hollow inside, uneven in its growth, marked by frequent joints, because the power by which it grows, being weak, is not able to grow the plant evenly, but needs some rest in between. For this reason the joint is formed by the resting of the power; for when it has grown a little, then it stops, and thus by persisting further it forms the joint. Then again, using the joint as a kind of base and foundation, the power grows forth again, and so by always resting it completes the plant. Such are those who are prominent in the affairs of this world, standing on an unsound foundation, hollow in their inner man, living with the unevenness of the affairs of this world. For this reason, in the way that stubble will be burned by a coal of fire, so he says their roots will be consumed by a kindled flame. 5.180 A coal is an earthy fire, remaining in the thicker matter after the passage of the flame. Since, therefore, those who live in passion have their own fire of passions (as the rich man had within him the cause that parched him with thirst), for this reason he threatens those who drink wine as drunkards with destruction from burning. And since for the sake of bribes they pervert justice, he says also that their root will be burned up by a kindled flame (speaking of the love of money as the root, of course, concerning which the Apostle also declared that *The love of money is the root of all evils*). And from such a root, what kind of blossom is likely to go up, but one similar to dust, of an unstable nature and scattered into the air? Or is it that, just as dust, by obstructing our breathing, threatens our life, so also the blossoms of the love of money—the greeds, the injustices, the falsehood, the slanders, all the other things that are sprouts of the wicked root—are destructive of our life, by obstructing the purity of the spirit. And very observantly he did not say, "and their fruit," but, *And their blossom*. For the sprouts of wickedness are incomplete, perishing in their very sprouting and first blossoming; *For I saw the ungodly highly exalted; and I passed by, and lo, he was not*. The righteous man, then, is like the tree that is planted by the streams of waters, being watered by a continual inflow of life; but the root of the sinner will be burned up; *And the blossom will go up as dust*. Because they did not desire the law of the Lord Sabaoth, but they provoked the oracle of the Holy One of Israel. He calls law and oracle different appellations of the Lord; for this reason the Prophet speaks of the oracle as though it were animate: *They provoked the oracle of the Lord*. For the living Law and Word of God is the Only-begotten Son, through whom are all things. 5.181 And the Lord Sabaoth was roused to anger against his people, and he laid his hand upon them and struck them. And

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ἀσεβῆ δίκαιον ὀνομάζοντας, τὸν δὲ δίκαιον ἐπ' ἀδικίᾳ καταδικάζον τας. Λογισμὸς γὰρ φιλαργυρίᾳ προειλημμένος τρυτάνη ἐστὶν ἐπὶ τὸ βαρὺ τοῦ κανόνος τὴν ῥοπὴν καταφέρουσα. Ἐπι μελέστερον δὲ ἑαυτοῖς προσέχωμεν, μήποτε ἀσεβῆ τινα ἢ ἄνθρωπον ἢ λόγον δικαιώσωμεν, κατὰ τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς χάριν προσαχθέντες αὐτῶν τῇ συγκαταθέσει, μήποτε ὑποπέσωμεν τῷ ἐγκειμένῳ ταλανισμῷ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὃν τρόπον καυθήσεται καλάμη ὑπὸ ἄνθρακος πυρὸς καὶ συγκαυθήσεται ὑπὸ φλογὸς ἀνημμένης, ἡ ῥίζα αὐ τῶν ὡς χνοῦς ἔσται, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος αὐτῶν ὡς κονιορτὸς ἀνα βήσεται. Οὐ γὰρ ἠθέλησαν τὸν νόμον Κυρίου Σαβαὼθ, ἀλλὰ τὸ λόγιον τοῦ Ἁγίου Ἰσραὴλ παρώξυναν. Ἀπειλεῖ ὁ λόγοςσυγκαυθήσεσθαι τὰς ῥίζας τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν καὶ εἰς χνοῦν λεπτοποιηθήσεσθαι, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος αὐτῶν ὡς κονιορτὸν ἀνα βήσεσθαι. Ἀκολούθως τοῖς προαποδεδομένοις νοήσωμεν τὰ ἐπαγόμενα. Περὶ γὰρ τῶν οἴνῳ κεχρημένων ἀμέτρως ἐν τοῖς κατόπιν διαλεχθεὶς καὶ τοὺς τὰ δῶρα λαμβάνοντας ἐν ταῖς κρίσεσι διαβάλλων, νῦν συγκαυθήσεσθαι τὰς ῥίζας αὐτῶν λέγει, ὡς καλάμην ὑπὸ ἄνθρακος πυρός. Ἔστι δὲ κάλαμος φυτὸν, ἐπὶ ἀσθενοῦς τῆς ῥίζης βεβηκὸς, λεῖον μὲν τὴν ἔξωθεν ἐπιφάνειαν, διάκενον δὲ τὰ ἔνδον, ἀνώ μαλον δὲ τὴν αὔξησιν, γόνασι πυκνοῖς διειλημμένον, διὰ τὸ ἀσθενῆ οὖσαν τὴν δύναμιν, ὑφ' ἧς αὔξεται, μὴ δύνασθαι ὁμαλῶς αὐξῆσαι τὸ φυτὸν, ἀλλὰ δεῖσθαί τινος ἀναπαύσεως ἐν τῷ μεταξύ. ∆ιὸ καὶ τὸ γόνυ ἀποτελεῖται τῇ ἐνηρεμήσει τῆς δυνάμεως· ὅταν γὰρ μικρὸν προκύψῃ, εἶτα ἵσταται, καὶ οὕτω τῇ ἐπιπλεῖον ἐπιμονῇ τὸ γόνυ ἀποτελεῖ. Εἶτα πάλιν οἷον βάθρῳ τινὶ καὶ θεμελίῳ τῷ γόνατι κεχρημένη, ἡ δύναμις πάλιν προκύπτει, καὶ οὕτως ἀεὶ ἀναπαυομένη ἀποτελεῖ τὸ φυτόν. Τοιοῦτοι δὲ οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου πραγμάτων γνώριμοι, ἐπὶ σαθρᾶς βεβηκότες τῆς βάσεως, διάκενοι τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον, τῇ ἀνωμαλίᾳ τῶν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου πραγμάτων συζῶντες. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὃν τρόπον καυθήσεται καλάμη ὑπὸ ἄνθρακος πυρὸς, οὕτω φησὶ καταφλεγήσεσθαι τὰς ῥίζας αὐτῶν ὑπὸ φλογὸς ἀνημμένης. 5.180 Ἄνθραξ δέ ἐστι πῦρ γεῶδες, μετὰ τὴν τῆς φλογὸς πάροδον τῇ παχυτέρᾳ ὕλῃ ἐναπομεῖναν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν οἱ ἐμπα θῶς ζῶντες οἰκεῖον ἔχουσι τὸ τῶν παθῶν πῦρ (ὡς ὁ πλούσιος ἔνδον εἶχε τὴν αἰτίαν τὴν καταφρύσσουσαν αὐτὸν τῷ δίψει) διὰ τοῦτο τοῖς πίνουσι τὸν οἶνον ἀπειλεῖ ὡς οἰνόφλυξι τὸν ἐκ τῆς καύσεως ἀφανισμόν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ἕνεκεν δώρων τὸ δίκαιον διαστρέφουσι, καὶ τὴν ῥίζαν αὐτῶν συγκαυθήσεσθαί φησιν ὑπὸ φλογὸς ἀνημμένης (ῥίζαν λέγων τὴν φιλαργυρίαν δηλονότι, περὶ ἧς καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος ἀπεφήνατο, ὅτι Ῥίζα πάντων τῶν κακῶν ἐστιν ἡ φιλαργυρία). Ἀπὸ δὲ τοιαύτης ῥίζης ὁποῖον τὸ ἄνθος εἰκὸς ἀναβαίνειν, ἢ κονιορτῷ παρα πλήσιον, ἀστάτῳ φύσει καὶ σκεδαννυμένῃ εἰς ἀέρα; Ἢ μήποτε, ὥσπερ ὁ κονιορτὸς ἐμποδίζων ταῖς ἀναπνοαῖς, ἐπιβουλεύει ἡμῶν τῇ ζωῇ, οὕτω καὶ τὰ τῆς φιλαργυρίας ἄνθη, αἱ πλεονεξίαι, αἱ ἀδικίαι, τὸ ψεῦδος, αἱ συκοφαντίαι, τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα τῆς πονηρᾶς ῥίζης ἐστὶ βλαστήματα, ἀναιρετικὰ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν ἐστι, τῇ καθαρότητι τοῦ πνεύματος ἐμποδί ζοντα. Σφόδρα δὲ παρατετηρημένως οὐκ εἶπε καὶ ὁ καρπὸς αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ Τὸ ἄνθος αὐτῶν. Ἀτελῆ γὰρ τὰ τῆς κα κίας βλαστήματα, ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ βλαστήσει καὶ τῷ πρώτῳ ἄνθει ἀφανιζόμενα· Εἶδον γὰρ τὸν ἀσεβῆ ὑπερυψούμενον· καὶ παρῆλθον, καὶ ἰδοὺ οὐκ ἦν. Ὁ μὲν οὖν δίκαιος, ὡς τὸ ξύλον ἐστὶ τὸ πεφυτευμένον παρὰ τὰς διεξόδους τῶν ὑδάτων, διηνεκεῖ τῇ ἐπιῤῥοῇ τῆς ζωῆς καταρδόμενος· τοῦ δὲ ἁμαρ τωλοῦ ἡ ῥίζα συγκαυθήσεται· Καὶ τὸ ἄνθος ὡς κονιορτὸς ἀναβήσεται. ∆ιότι οὐκ ἠθέλησαν τὸν νόμον Κυρίου Σαβαὼθ, ἀλλὰ τὸ λόγιον τοῦ Ἁγίου Ἰσραὴλ παρώξυναν. Νόμον καὶ λόγιον διαφόρους λέγει προσηγορίας Κυρίου· διὰ τοῦτο ὡς περὶ ἐμψύχου τοῦ λογίου ὁ Προφήτης φησί· Τὸ λόγιον Κυρίου παρώξυναν. Νόμος γὰρ ζῶν καὶ Λόγος Θεοῦ ὁ Μονογενὴς Υἱὸς, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα. 5.181 Καὶ ἐθυμώθη ὀργῇ Κύριος Σαβαὼθ ἐπὶ τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπέβαλε τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐπ' αὐτοὺς καὶ ἐπά ταξεν αὐτούς. Καὶ