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the Lord God left behind an excess of long-suffering; |144 b| for this one, being unable to strike, was attacking, but the almighty one endured. And again he adds to what has been said that, if you desire to fare well, open the gates, come out to us without fear and you will obtain peace, you will also enjoy the fruits of the land, 17until I come, he says, and take you to a land like your land, likewise both fertile and rich and bearing all kinds of fruits for those who farm it. And it was clear that this one wished to campaign against others, for which reason he said: until I come. In addition to these things he enumerates the nations and the cities, which he had forced to obey; along with the others he also mentions Samaria, boasting and saying that none of them appeared better, not king, not general, not the god protecting them; for, he says, we have prevailed over all of them together, both men and gods, therefore your god will not overcome me either. Having heard this unspeakable blasphemy, those with Eliakim gave no word to the impious one, but having torn their garments they ran to the pious king and made known both by their words and their appearance the excess of the blasphemy. And the king, best in all things, also did this same thing; for having torn his royal robe and having put on sackcloth instead of it, he ran to the one warred against with him, the creator of all things. And knowing how to distinguish the measures of virtue, he does not beseech the God of all alone, but he calls the prophet Isaiah to his aid and urges him to become an intercessor, having sent to him both the aforementioned men and the more venerable of the priests, wearing the mournful attire. And when they arrived they said these things: 373 Thus says Hezekiah. And from this it is possible to perceive the difference in mindset. For the Rabshakeh said: “Thus says the great king of the Assyrians,” but these men, showing the modesty of the one who sent them, do not even call him king but mention only his name. A day of tribulation and reproach and rebuke and wrath is this day today, because the birth-pang has come to the one giving birth, but she does not have the strength to give birth. He calls that man’s blasphemy a reproach, and the people’s lawlessness a rebuke. For we are the cause of the blasphemy, living lawlessly and showing ourselves worthy of punishment; but nevertheless we are angered on account of the excess of the blasphemy and we desire to punish the sinner, but we are no longer able to bring our zeal to completion and we are like a woman who is pregnant and has received the onset of labor pains, but is unable to give birth on account of weakness. 4Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh whom the king of the Assyrians, his lord, sent to reproach the living God and to reproach with words which the Lord your God has heard? These things also show the king’s virtue; for he beseeches God to defend him not on account of his piety, of which he took great care, but on account of that accursed one’s mad blasphemy. For, he says, he reproached the one who exists in the same way as the gods who do not. And you shall pray to the Lord your God concerning this remnant. For since they had enslaved the ten tribes and had besieged most of the cities of Judea, he reasonably calls those who had fled for refuge into Jerusalem a remnant. These things Hezekiah made known, and those who were sent informed the prophet. But the God of the prophet anticipates the prophet’s supplication and says through the prophet: 6Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the envoys of the king of the Assyrians reproached me. I shared in the insult with you, I will share in the battle with you; I received the blasphemy, I will inflict the punishment. 7Behold, I will put a spirit into him, and having heard a report he will turn back to his own country and he will fall by the sword in his own land. He called cowardice a spirit; for so also the divine apostle says: “For God has not given us a spirit of cowardice.” And what follows also makes this clear; for having received some evil report he will indeed return to the

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ὁ δεσπότης θεὸς μακροθυμίας ὑπερβολὴν κατέλιπεν· |144 b| οὗτος μὲν γὰρ πλήττειν οὐ δυνάμενος ἔβαλλεν, ὁ δὲ παντοδύναμος ἔφερεν. Προστίθησι δὲ πάλιν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ὅτι, εἰ τοῦ εὐπαθεῖν ἐφίεσθε, τὰς πύλας ἀναπετάσατε, ἀδεῶς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐξέλθετε καὶ τ εύ ξεσθε εἰρήνης, ἀπολαύσεσθε καὶ τῶν τῆς χώρας καρπῶν, 17ἕως ἂν ἔλθω φησὶ καὶ λάβω ὑμᾶς εἰς γῆν ὡς τὴν γῆν ὑμῶν, ὁμοίως γόνιμόν τε καὶ πίονα καὶ παντοδαποὺς φέρουσαν τοῖς γεωργοῦσι καρπούς. ∆ῆλος δὲ ἦν οὗτος ἄλλοις ἐπι στρατεῦσαι βουλόμενος, διὸ δὴ ἔφη· ἕως ἂν ἔλθω. Πρὸς τούτοις ἀπ αριθμεῖται τὰ ἔθνη καὶ τὰς πόλεις, ἃς ὑπακούειν ἠνάγκασεν· πρὸς ταῖς ἄλλαις καὶ τῆς Σαμαρείας φέρει τὴν μνήμην βρενθυόμενος καὶ λέγων ὡς οὐδεὶς αὐτῶν ἀμείνων ἐφάνη, οὐ βασιλεύς, οὐ στρατηγός, οὐχ ὁ τούτων προστατεύων θεός· πάντων γάρ φησιν ὁμοῦ καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῶν θεῶν ἐκρατήσαμεν, οὐ τοίνυν οὐδὲ ὁ ὑμέτερος περιέσται μου θεός. Ταύτην ἀκούσαντες τὴν ἄρρητον βλασφημίαν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἐλιακὶμ λόγου μὲν οὐδενὸς μετέδοσαν τῷ δυσσεβεῖ, τὴν ἐσθῆτα δὲ διαρρήξαντες ἔδραμον πρὸς τὸν εὐσεβῆ βασιλέα καὶ ἐδίδαξαν τοῖς τε λόγοις τῷ τε σχήματι τὴν τῆς βλασφη μίας ὑπερβολήν. Ταὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ πάντα ἄριστος δέδρακε βασιλεύς· τὴν γὰρ βασιλικὴν διαρρήξας στολὴν καὶ σάκκον ἀντὶ ταύ της περιβαλόμενος ἔδραμε πρὸς τὸν σὺν αὐτῷ πολεμούμενον, τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων δημιουργόν. Μέτρα δὲ τῆς ἀρετῆς διακρίνειν εἰδὼς οὐ μόνος ἱκετεύει τὸν τῶν ὅλων θεόν, ἀλλὰ τὸν προφήτην Ἡσαΐαν εἰς ἐπι κουρίαν καλεῖ καὶ πρεσβευτὴν γενέσθαι παρακαλεῖ, τούς τε προειρημένους καὶ τῶν ἱερέων τοὺς αἰδοῦς ἀ ξιωτέρους τὸ πένθιμον σχῆμα περικειμένους πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀποστείλας. Οἱ δὲ παραγενόμενοι ἔφασαν ταῦτα· 373 Τάδε λέγει Ἐζεκίας. Καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ἔστι καταμαθεῖν τὴν διαφορὰν τοῦ φρονήματος. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ῥαψάκης ἔλεγεν· «Τάδε λέγει ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁ μέγας Ἀσσυρίων», οὗτοι δὲ τὸ μέτριον τοῦ πεπομφότος δεικνύντες οὐδὲ βασιλέα αὐτὸν ὀνομάζουσιν ἀλλὰ μόνου τοῦ ὀνόματος μέμνηνται. Ἡμέρα θλίψεως καὶ ὀνειδισμοῦ καὶ ἐλεγμοῦ καὶ ὀργῆς ἡ σήμερον ἡμέρα, ὅτι ἥκει ἡ ὠδὶν τῇ τικτούσῃ, ἰσχὺν δὲ οὐκ ἔχει τοῦ τεκεῖν. Ὀνειδισμὸν καλεῖ τὴν ἐκείνου βλαςφημίαν, ἐλεγμὸν δὲ τὴν τοῦ λαοῦ παρανομίαν. Ἡμεῖς γὰρ αἴτιοι τῆς βλασφημίας παρανόμως βιοῦντες καὶ ἀξίους ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἀποφαίνοντες τῆς τιμωρίας· ἀλλ' ὅμως ὀργιζόμεθα μὲν διὰ τὴν τῆς βλαςφημίας ὑπερβολὴν καὶ κολάσαι τὸν ἀλιτήριον ἐφιέμεθα, ἐπιθεῖναι δὲ τῇ προθυμίᾳ τὸ πέρας οὐκέτι δυνάμεθα καὶ ἐοίκαμεν γυναικὶ κυούσῃ μὲν καὶ δεδεγμένῃ τῶν ὠδίνων τὴν προσβολήν, τεκεῖν δὲ δι' ἀτονίαν οὐ δυναμένῃ. 4Εἴ πως εἰσακούσεται κύριος ὁ θεός σου τοὺς λόγους Ῥαψάκου ὃν ἀπέστειλε βασιλεὺς Ἀσσυρίων ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ ὀνειδίζειν θεὸν ζῶντα καὶ ὀνειδίζειν λόγους οὓς ἤκουσε κύριος ὁ θεός σου; ∆ηλοῖ καὶ ταῦτα τοῦ βασιλέως τὴν ἀρετήν· ἐπαμῦναι γὰρ αὐτῷ τὸν θεὸν ἱκετεύει οὐ διὰ τὴν εὐσέβειαν, ἧς πολλὴν ἐποιεῖτο φροντίδα, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀλάστορος ἐκείνου μανικὴν βλασφημίαν. Τοῖς γὰρ οὐκ οὖσί φησι θεοῖς παραπλησίως ὠνείδισε τὸν ὄντα. Καὶ δεηθήσῃ πρὸς κύριον τὸν θεόν σου περὶ τῶν καταλελειμ μένων τούτων. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰς δέκα φυλὰς ἠνδραπόδισαν καὶ πλείστας τῆς Ἰουδαίας ἐπολιόρκησαν πόλεις, εἰκότως τοὺς εἰς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ καταπεφευγότας λείψανον ὀνομάζει. Ταῦτα ὁ μὲν Ἐζεκίας ἐδήλωσεν, οἱ δέ γε ἀποσταλέντες τὸν προφήτην ἐδίδαξαν. Ὁ δὲ τοῦ προφήτου θεὸς προλαμβάνει τοῦ προφήτου τὴν ἱκετείαν καὶ διὰ τοῦ προφήτου φησίν· 6Μὴ φοβηθῇς ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων ὧν ἤκουσας δι' ὧν ὠνείδισάν με οἱ πρές βεις βασιλέως Ἀσσυρίων. Ἐγώ σοι ἐκοινώνησα τῆς λοιδορίας, ἐγώ σοι κοινωνήσω τῆς μάχης· ἐγὼ τὴν βλασφημίαν ἐδεξάμην, ἐγὼ τὴν τιμωρίαν ἐποίσω. 7Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐμβαλῶ εἰς αὐτὸν πνεῦμα, καὶ ἀκούσας ἀγγελίαν ἀποστραφήσεται εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτοῦ καὶ πεσεῖται μαχαίρᾳ ἐν τῇ γῇ αὐτοῦ. Πνεῦμα τὴν δειλίαν ἐκάλεσεν· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος λέγει· «Οὐ γὰρ ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν ὁ θεὸς πνεῦμα δειλίας.» ∆ηλοῖ δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐπαγόμενα· φήμην γάρ τινα δεξάμενος πονηρὰν ἀναστρέψει μὲν εἰς τὴν