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and be offered to demons; for which, he says, you will not tread wine. If this refers to the vines, it is clear; but if it is to be understood of men, that along with the parents their children will perish, sparing not even any pregnant woman. Similar to which is, "Woe to those who are giving birth, and to those who are with child in those days." For this reason my belly will sound like a harp for Moab. For all your gladness, he says, having been taken away, I will make your calamities a song and a melody, proclaiming them to all, as the land has been turned into a wasteland. Therefore he also foretold them to weep. Then, as one grieving excessively for the loss and error of souls 2113 (since, having called them through weeping to repentance, he did not find them obedient), he takes up the lamentation for them, having already said, For this I will weep. And now, he says, my tears and my lament are for no other reason than that you should be ashamed, that is, you will be ashamed for often calling in vain upon gods who cannot save. As a wall which you have dedicated. For the wall fell in an earthquake, as we said; they rebuilt it, toiling in vain. Therefore, he says, I will weep, along with your other calamities, and for the wall which I will build in vain, which was torn down by the enemies. Then he says: This is the word which the Lord spoke concerning Moab, when he also spoke it. But the others have rendered it, from that time and now he has spoken. But the Scripture shows that what was long ago prophesied in words, is now also being fulfilled in deeds. For even before the present prophet, it was said through Moses: An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord, even to the tenth generation; therefore, He who spoke of her long ago, now also does this through me. And now I say, In three years of a hireling. But Symmachus, instead of "of a hireling," says, "as of a hireling." But the three distinguished what follows, saying: The glory of Moab will be dishonored. For the connection of what follows also showed a different meaning from what preceded, indicating that in three years the things concerning Moab were spoken by the Lord through the prophet, taking the man as a kind of hireling for the meaning of the words. For not as we go through the whole reading, connecting it all at once, so too the prophet; but he fulfilled it part by part at different times, up to the third year. Some say that "when he spoke" indicates the rarity of God's voice being directed to the Moabites. For with Israel He speaks continually, but to the nations, as to foreigners, He is silent. Except that he gives even these a taste of his own love for mankind, so that through the experience of a few things, they may press on to the desire of perfect things. But some say that he brings the account back to history, when the ten tribes, having been torn away from the kingdom of David, followed the impiety of Jeroboam who led them away. At which God, being indignant, as it were, hired Shalmaneser the Assyrian, who laid waste their land, settling in it for three whole years, at which time he also subjugated Moab. If, therefore, God has spoken also long ago, yet I also say now, that in the three years of the years of the hireling Shalmaneser, the glory of Moab will be dishonored; that is, the kingdom, or the greatness of the cities, and the multitude of the inhabitants, which also indicates the fighting age. 2116 From above, by the laws of allegory, let us understand arrogant Moab as the arch-evil and apostate demon, for he has insulted both the creator and men, and he makes those who are caught arrogant, heretics speaking injustice on high, and insulting those who rebuke them out of perplexity. Whom also the Lord, healing, says, as of a terrible disease, I have removed pride. But also his insolence and his wrath, he says, are his peculiar passions. He wails, he says, being in pain, and perceiving his own weakness. And he called the dialectic of those who are puffed up with wisdom a wall of earthenware, in which they delight. And to speak this wall to them he added "of earthenware," clearly because they practice these things that are rather rotten, when they ought to be meditating on the law of the Lord. And yet they will not be ashamed. Therefore they are punished in the plains of Heshbon

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καὶ τελεῖσθαι τοῖς δαίμοσιν· ἀνθ' ὧν, φησὶν, οὐ μὴ πατήσετε οἶνον. Εἰ μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀμπέλων, δῆλον· εἰ δὲ ἐπ' ἀνθρώπων νοητέον, ὡς ἄμα γονεῦσι τὰ τούτων οἰχήσεται τέκνα, μὴ φειδομένου μηδὲ γυναικὸς κυοφορούσης τινός. Ὧπερ ὅμοιον τὸ, "Οὐαὶ ταῖς τικτούσαις, καὶ ταῖς ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσαις, ἐν ἐκείναις ταῖς ἡμέραις." ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἡ κοιλία μου ἐπὶ Μωὰβ, ὡς κιθάρα ἠχήσει. Πάσης γάρ σου φησὶν, εὐφροσύνης ἀφηρημένης, ᾠδὴν καὶ μέλος τὰς σὰς ποιήσομαι συμφορὰς, πᾶσι κηρύττων αὐτὰς, ὡς εἰς χέρσον μεταβληθείσης τῆς χώρας. ∆ιὸ καὶ προὔλεγεν αὐτοῖς ἀποκλαύσασθαι. Εἶθ' ὡς ὑπεραλγῶν ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν ψυ 2113 χῶν ἀπωλείᾳ καὶ πλάνῃ (ἐπεὶ καλέσας αὐτοὺς διὰ τοῦ ἀποκλαύσασθαι πρὸς μετάνοιαν, πειθομένους οὐκ ἔσχεν), τὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀναλαμβάνει κλαυθμὸν, εἰπὼν μὲν ἤδη, ∆ιὰ τοῦτο κλαύσομαι. Καὶ νῦν δὲ, φησὶ, τὰ ἐμὰ δάκρυα, καὶ ὁ κλαυθμὸς δι' οὐδὲν ἕτερον, ἢ εἰς τὸ ἐντραπῆναί σε, ἤγουν, ἐντραπήσῃ μάτην καλοῦσα πολλάκις τοὺς μὴ σῶσαι δυναμένους θεούς. Ὡς τεῖχος ᾧ ἐνεκαίνισας. Ἐπὶ γὰρ σεισμῷ τὸ τεῖχος κατέπεσεν, ὡς ἐλέγομεν, ἀνεκαίνισαν αὐτὸ μοχθοῦντες ἀνόνητα. Κλαύσομαι οὖν φησὶ, μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων σου συμφορῶν, καὶ ὃ μάτην ᾠκοδομήσω τεῖχος ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων κατενεχθέν. Εἶτά φησι· Τοῦτο τὸ ῥῆμα ὃ ἐλάλησεν Κύριος ἐπὶ Μωὰβ, ὁπότε καὶ ἐλάλησεν. Οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ ἐξέδωκαν, ἐκ τότε καὶ νῦν ἐλάλησεν. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ ἡ Γραφὴ, ὅτι πάλαι μὲν λόγοις ἐθεσπίζετο, νυνὶ δὲ καὶ ἔργοις ἐπιτελεῖται. Καὶ πρὸ τοῦ παρόντος γὰρ προφήτου, διὰ Μωσέως ἐῤῥέθη· Οὐκ εἰσελεύσεται Ἀμμανίτης καὶ Μωαβίτης εἰς Ἐκκλησίαν Κυρίου ἕως δεκάτης γενεᾶς· ὁ τοίνυν πάλαι λαλήσας περὶ αὐτῆς, καὶ νῦν τοῦτο ποιεῖ δι' ἐμοῦ. Καὶ νῦν λέγω, Ἐν τρισὶν ἐτῶν μισθωτοῦ. Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος ἀντὶ τοῦ μισθωτοῦ, ὡς ἐπὶ μισθωτοῦ, φησίν. Οἱ δὲ τρεῖς τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα διέστειλαν εἰπόντες· Ἀτιμασθήσεται ἡ δόξα Μωάβ. Ὁ γὰρ καὶ σύνδεσμος τῶν ἑξῆς ἑτέραν ἔδειξε τὴν διάνοιαν τῶν πρόσθε, δηλούντων ὡς ἐν τρισὶν ἔτεσιν τὰ περὶ τῆς Μωὰβ ἐλάλησε Κύριος διὰ τοῦ προφήτου, ὡς μισθωτόν τινα τὸν ἄνδρα πρὸς τὴν τῶν ῥημάτων διάνοιαν λαβών. Οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς ἀθρόως συνάπτοντες τὸ πᾶν ἀνάγνωσμα διερχόμεθα, οὕτω καὶ ὁ προφήτης· ἀλλὰ κατὰ μέρος ἐν διαφόρῳ τῷ χρόνῳ μέχρι τρίτον ἔτος ἐπλήρωσεν. Τινὲς δὲ τὸ, ὁπότε ἐλάλησε, δηλοῦν φασι τὸ σπάνιον τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς τοὺς Μωαβίτας γενομένης φωνῆς. Τῷ μὲν γὰρ Ἰσραὴλ συνεχῶς διαλέγεται· τοῖς δὲ ἔθνεσιν ὡς ἀλλοτρίοις σιγᾷ. Πλὴν ὅτι γεύει καὶ τούτους τῆς ἰδίας φιλανθρωπίας, ἵνα διὰ τῆς ἐν ὀλίγοις πείρας, πρὸς τὴν τῶν τελείων ἐπιθυμίαν ὁρμῶσι. Τινὲς δέ φασιν, ὡς ἀνακομίζει πρὸς ἱστορίαν τὸν λόγον, ὅτεπερ αἱ δέκα φυλαὶ τῆς ∆αβὶδ βασιλείας ἀποσπασθεῖσαι τῇ τοῦ ἀποστήσαντος Ἱεροβοὰμ δυσσεβείᾳ παρηκολούθησαν. Ἐφ' οἷς ἀγανακτήσας Θεὸς οἱονεὶ Σαλμανασσὰρ ἐμισθώσατο τὸν Ἀσσύριον, ὃς ἀνάστατον τὴν τούτων ἀπέδειξε χώραν τρισὶν ὅλοις ἔτεσιν ἐνιζήσας αὐτῇ, ὅτε δὴ καὶ τὴν Μωὰβ ἐχειρώσατο. Εἰ τοίνυν λελάληκε καὶ πάλαι Θεὸς, ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν λέγω, ὅτι ἐν τοῖς τρισὶν ἔτεσιν τῶν ἐτῶν τοῦ μισθωτοῦ Σαλμανασσὰρ ἀτιμασθήσεται ἡ δόξα Μωάβ· τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἡ βασιλεία, ἢ τὰ μεγέθη τῶν πόλεων, καὶ τῶν ἐνοικούντων τὸ πλῆθος, ἣ καὶ δηλοῖ τὴν ἡλικίαν τὴν μάχιμον. 2116 Ἄνωθεν δὲ, νόμοις ἀλληγορίας, ὑβριστὴν Μωὰβ τὸν ἀρχέκακον καὶ ἀποστάτην νοήσωμεν δαίμονα, τῷ τε γὰρ κτίστῃ, καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐνύβρισε, καὶ τοὺς ἀλόντας ὑβριστὰς ἀπεργάζεται, τοὺς λαλοῦντας ἀδικίαν εἰς τὸ ὕψος αἱρετικοὺς, καὶ τοὺς ἐλέγχοντας ἐξ ἀπορίας ὑβρίζοντας. Ὃν καὶ θεραπεύων ὁ Κύριός φησιν, ὡς ἐπὶ νόσου δεινῆς, Τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν ἐξῆρα. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ ὕβρις καὶ ἡ μῆνις αὐτοῦ, φησὶν, ἐστὶ ἰδιόκτητα πάθη. Ὀλολύζει δὲ φησὶν, ἀλγῶν, καὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἀσθενείας ἐπαισθανόμενος. Τεῖχος δὲ ὀστράκινον, τὴν τῶν ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ φυσώντων ἐκάλεσε διαλεκτικὴν, ἑφ' ᾗπερ εὐφραίνονται. Τὸ φθέγξασθαι δὲ αὐτοῖς τοῦτο τεῖχος προσέθηκεν ὀστράκου, δηλονότι σαθρότερα μελέτησιν ταῦτα ποιουμένοις, δέον μελετᾷν ἐν τῷ νόμῳ Κυρίου. Καὶ ὅμως οὐκ ἐντραπήσονται. ∆ιὸ τιμωροῦνται τῇ τῶν πεδίων Ἐσεβὼν