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of the covenant. For these are the two walls of the city of God, that is, of the commonwealth according to God, between which the accused have devised for themselves a foreign and strange water, “the traditions of the elders,” in which those among them called deuterotai take great pride. And those who are being pointed out have dared something else much worse; for having torn down the houses of the city, they used their stones to build a wall of their own. And you might see them even now doing this, when, taking the words of the divine scripture, they wall up their own mythologies, as if placing a kind of fence and security and wall around their own myths. For just as they devised a strange drink for themselves, so too they built their own wall, using the words of the divine scriptures as stones. And he says, you did these things without looking up to the God who made it from the beginning and who formed it, I mean the ancient pool of the divinely inspired scriptures that flows forth from the springs of the divine Spirit. And Symmachus also interpreted the things in this place in this way: and you drew the water of the lower pool and you numbered the houses of Jerusalem and tore down the houses to fortify the wall. And you made a reservoir between the walls and the ancient pool and you did not look to the one who made it and the one who formed it; from afar you did not see. And Theodotion also interpreted it thus: And you collected the water of the lower pool and you numbered the houses of Jerusalem and you tore down the houses for the fortifications of the wall. And you made an aqueduct between the two walls with the water of the ancient pool and you did not look at the one who made it and the one who formed it; from afar you did not look. After these things it is said: And the Lord Sabaoth called in that day for weeping and mourning and shaving and girding with sackcloth, but they made for themselves gladness and rejoicing, slaughtering calves and sacrificing sheep so as to eat meat and drink wine, saying, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Therefore God, on account of their great audacities, “not willing” “the death of the sinner as his repentance,” urged them to lament and weep for their own destruction, but they, being tested in such evils, as if having despaired of their own salvation, ran aground into desperation, giving themselves over to drunkenness and luxury as if the judgment of God would not succeed them after the end of mortal life. From here the divine Apostle, using their very own voice, writes saying: “if the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” But, he says, all these things did not escape the ears of the Lord Sabaoth. Therefore, as if their sin were bound by a chain of God, a sentence was pronounced against them, saying: and this sin will not be forgiven you, until you die. See then the magnitude of the threat in the sentence, and understand how he nowhere slandered the people in these things for idolatry, but “that they went up to vain housetops” and that they filled the city with cries and devised for themselves a foreign water, “having turned away from the ancient pool,” and in addition to this, that they constructed a “wall” for themselves, “having torn down the houses of the city,” and doing these things they were insensible of their own destruction; but was not the prophet also disposed thus, and lamenting them he said: “Leave me, I will weep bitterly”; and the cause of the bitter weeping was this, namely the thing decreed against them at the end and the sentence brought forth from God which said: And this sin will not be forgiven you, until you die. 1.82 Since Somnas and Eliakim, who are indicated by the text at hand, were contemporaries of Hezekiah the king, as the writing of the history testifies, but also the prophet at hand himself

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διαθήκης. δύο γὰρ ταῦτα τείχη τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ πόλεως, δηλαδὴ τῆς κατὰ θεὸν πολιτείας τυγχάνει, ὧν μέσον ἀλλότριον καὶ ξένον ὕδωρ ἑαυτοῖς οἱ κατηγορούμενοι ἐπενόησαν «τὰς τῶν πρεσβυτέρων παραδόσεις», ἐφ' αἷς καὶ μέγα φρονοῦσιν οἱ παρ' αὐτοῖς καλούμενοι δευτερωταί. καὶ ἄλλο δέ τι χείριστον τετολμήκασιν οἱ δηλούμενοι· τοὺς γὰρ οἴκους τοὺς τῆς πόλεως καθελόντες τοῖς τούτων λίθοις συνεχρήσαντο εἰς οἰκοδομὴν ἰδίου ἑαυτῶν τείχους. ἴδοις δ' ἂν αὐτοὺς εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν τοῦτο πράττοντας, ἐπειδὰν τὰ ῥήματα τῆς θείας γραφῆς ἀπολαμβάνοντες τὰς οἰκείας περιτειχίζουσι μυθολογίας, ὥσπερ τινὰ φραγμὸν καὶ ἀσφάλειαν καὶ τεῖχος τοῖς ἰδίοις περιβάλλοντες μύθοις. ὥσπερ γὰρ ξένον ποτὸν ἑαυτοῖς ἐπενόησαν, οὕτως καὶ τεῖχος ἴδιον περιέβαλον, λίθοις χρησάμενοι ταῖς τῶν θείων γραφῶν λέξεσι. καὶ ταῦτά φησιν ἐπράξατε μὴ ἀναβλέψαντες πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τὸν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ποιήσαντα αὐτὴν καὶ τὸν πλάσαντα αὐτήν, λέγω δὲ τὴν παλαιὰν τῶν θεοπνεύστων γραφῶν κολυμβήθραν τὴν ἀπὸ πηγῶν τοῦ θείου πνεύματος προχεομένην. καὶ ὁ Σύμμαχος δὲ τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον ἡρμήνευσε τὸν τρόπον· καὶ ὑδρεύσασθε τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς κολυμβήθρας τῆς κατωτέρας καὶ τοὺς οἴκους Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἠριθμήσατε καὶ καθείλετε τοὺς οἴκους ὀχυρῶσαι τὸ τεῖχος. καὶ σύστημα ἐποιήσατε ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν τειχῶν καὶ τῆς κολυμβήθρας τῆς ἀρχαίας καὶ οὐκ ἀπεβλέψατε εἰς τὸν ποιήσαντα αὐτὴν καὶ τὸν πλάσαντα αὐτὴν ἐκ μακροῦ οὐκ εἴδετε. καὶ ὁ Θεοδοτίων δὲ οὕτως ἡρμήνευσε· καὶ συνηγάγετε τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς κολυμβήθρας τῆς κάτω καὶ τοὺς οἴκους Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἠριθμήσατε καὶ κατεσπάσατε τοὺς οἴκους εἰς ὀχυρώματα τοῦ τείχους. καὶ ὕδρευμα ἐποιήσατε ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν δύο τειχῶν τῷ ὕδατι τῆς κολυμβήθρας τῆς ἀρχαίας καὶ οὐκ ἐνεβλέψατε εἰς τὸν ποιήσαντα αὐτὴν καὶ τὸν πλάσαντα αὐτὴν πόρρωθεν οὐκ ἐνεβλέψατε. Τούτοις ἑξῆς εἴρηται· καὶ ἐκάλεσε κύριος σαβαὼθ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ κλαυθμὸν καὶ κοπετὸν καὶ ξύρησιν καὶ ζῶσιν σάκκων, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἐποιήσαντο εὐφροσύνην καὶ ἀγαλλίαμα σφάζοντες μόσχους καὶ θύοντες πρόβατα ὥστε φαγεῖν κρέα καὶ πιεῖν οἶνον λέγοντες Φάγωμεν καὶ πίωμεν, αὔριον γὰρ ἀποθνῄσκομεν. ὁ μὲν οὖν θεὸς ὡς ἐπὶ μεγάλοις τολμήμασι «μὴ βουλόμενος» «τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ ὡς τὴν μετάνοιαν αὐτοῦ», θρηνεῖν αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀποκλάεσθαι τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀπώλειαν παρεκελεύετο, οἱ δ' ἐν τοιούτοις κακοῖς ἐξεταζόμενοι, ὡς ἂν ἀπεγνωκότες ἑαυτῶν τὴν σωτηρίαν εἰς ἀπόνοιαν ἐξώκειλαν, μέθῃ καὶ τρυφῇ ἑαυτοὺς ἐκδόντες ὡς οὐ διαδεξομένης αὐτοὺς θεοῦ κρίσεως μετὰ τὴν τοῦ θνητοῦ βίου τελευτήν. ἐντεῦθεν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος τῇ τούτων αὐτῶν συγχρησάμενος φωνῇ γράφει λέγων· «εἰ νεκροὶ οὐκ ἐγείρονται, φάγωμεν καὶ πίωμεν, αὔριον γὰρ ἀποθνῄσκομεν». Ἀλλὰ ταῦτά φησι πάντα οὐκ ἔλαθε τὰ ὦτα κυρίου σαβαώθ. διὸ ὥσπερ δεσμῷ θεοῦ καταδεθείσης αὐτῶν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀπόφασις ἐξενήνεκται κατ' αὐτῶν φήσασα· καὶ οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται αὕτη ἡ ἁμαρτία ὑμῖν, ἕως ἂν ἀποθάνητε. ὅρα δὴ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀπόφασιν ἀπειλῆς καὶ ἐπίστησον ὡς οὐδαμοῦ διέβαλεν ἐν τούτοις τὸν λαὸν ἐπὶ εἰδωλολατρίᾳ, ἀλλ' «ὅτι εἰς δώματα ἀνέβησαν μάταια» καὶ ὅτι βοῶν ἐπλήρωσαν τὴν πόλιν καὶ ὕδωρ ἑαυτοῖς ξένον ἐπενόησαν «τὴν παλαιὰν κολυμβήθραν ἀποστραφέντες» καὶ πρὸς τούτοις, ὅτι «τεῖχος» ἑαυτοῖς συνεστήσαντο «τοὺς οἴκους τῆς πόλεως καθελόντες» καὶ ταῦτα πράττοντες ἀναισθήτως εἶχον τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀπωλείας· ἀλλ' οὐχὶ καὶ ὁ προφήτης οὕτω διέκειτο ἀποθρηνῶν δὲ αὐτοὺς ἔλεγεν· «Ἄφετέ με πικρῶς κλαύσομαι»· τὸ δ' αἴτιον τοῦ πικροῦ κλαυθμοῦ τοῦτ' ἦν ἄρα τὸ ἐπὶ τέλει κατ' αὐτῶν ὁρισθὲν καὶ ἡ ἐκ θεοῦ ἐξενεχθεῖσα ἀπόφασις ἡ φήσασα· καὶ οὐκ ἀφεθήσεται ἡ ἁμαρτία αὕτη ὑμῖν, ἕως ἂν ἀποθάνητε. 1.82 Ἐπειδὴ Σομνᾶς καὶ Ἐλιακεὶμ οἱ διὰ τῆς μετὰ χεῖρας λέξεως δηλούμενοι σύγχρονοι γεγόνασιν Ἑζεκίᾳ τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὡς μαρτυρεῖ ἡ τῆς ἱστορίας γραφή, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ μετὰ χεῖρας προφήτης