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CHAPTER 31. 1, 2. And it came to pass in the tenth year, in the third month, on the first of the month,

the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude: To whom have you likened yourself in your height? Since he was unwilling to make proper use of long-suffering, but persisted in his pride and arrogance, he brings the words to him in the form of a question. Say, he says, O king of Egypt, to whom do you compare yourself? and to which of the kings do you think you are like, that you have used such great pride? Then he adds: 3. Behold, Assyria is a cypress in Lebanon, and beautiful in its shoots, and lofty in its size, and dense in its shade, and its top was in the midst of the clouds. He again uses a figurative manner, and says that the king of the Assyrians was like the cypress growing in Lebanon, both in the greatness of his height, and the dense and abundant number of his subjects, and the comeliness of his governors and generals; for he called these shoots. And the phrase, "its top was in the midst of the clouds," he has not only set down hyperbolically according to human idiom (for many are accustomed to say that So-and-so was exalted to the clouds), but also 81.1120 has revealed the arrogance of his thoughts; for his is the voice: "I will ascend above the clouds, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven;" and this can be learned from every part of the divine Scripture. For Sennacherib cried out that "The Lord will not deliver Jerusalem from my hand;" and Nebuchadnezzar, having made a golden image, commanded all his subjects, both rulers and ruled, to worship it. Here, therefore, he has indicated his arrogant mind through riddles. To these he adds: 4. Water nourished it, the deep made it high, it brought its rivers round about its plants, and sent forth its channels to all the trees of the field. And he called water and the deep the countless nations enslaved by him, which, by bringing tribute and tax, like some kind of irrigation to his army, nourished it like a plant, and prepared its systems, that is, the military regiments, to be sent to all the trees of the field, that is, those not yet subdued, nor enslaved, so that these too might become subjects. 5. For this reason its size was exalted above all the trees of the field, and from thence its boughs were widened, and its shoots were lifted high from much water when it spread forth. This, he says, became for him the cause both of his arrogance and of his pride; for receiving irrigation from countless nations, he grew along with his shoots. 6. In its shoots, he says, all the birds of the air nested. By this he indicated the more rational of men, and as it were the winged. "And under its boughs all the beasts of the field brought forth their young." And by these he signified the barbarian nations, being beastly and groveling in soul; and this he himself interpreted, saying: "In its shadow dwelt a multitude of nations." And what he said above distinctly and figuratively, this he has added here in common and clear terms. And he called its shadow, and shoots, and boughs, not only governors and generals, but also the satraps ruling the nations, whom the subjects continually served. These things Nebuchadnezzar himself also saw in a dream, and the blessed Daniel interpreted the dream of the tree. 7. And it became, he says, beauty in its height because of the multitude of its boughs, And the blessed Daniel also teaches us about the multitude, 81.1121 having said that Darius, who succeeded to the kingdom of Belshazzar, had one hundred and twenty satraps. Then he also teaches the cause of the multitude: "Because its roots were by much water." For everywhere, he says,

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ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΛΑʹ. α, βʹ. Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ δεκάτῳ ἔτει, ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ μηνὶ, μιᾷ τοῦ μηνὸς,

ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρός με, λέγων· Υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, εἰπὲ πρὸς Φαραὼ βασιλέα Αἰγύπτου, καὶ πρὸς τὸ πλῆθος αὐτοῦ· Τίνι ὡμοίωσας σεαυτὸν ἐν τῷ ὕψει σου; Ἐπειδὴ τῇ μακροθυμίᾳ εἰς δέον οὐκ ἠθέλησε χρήσασθαι, ἀλλὰ τὸν τῦφον καὶ τὴν ἀλαζονείαν ἔχων ἐπέμενε, κατ' ἐρώτησιν αὐτῷ προσφέρει τοὺς λόγους. Εἰπὲ, φησὶν, ὦ τῆς Αἰγύπτου βασιλεῦ, τίσι σαυτὸν ἀπει κάζεις; καὶ τίνι νομίζεις ἐοικέναι τῶν βασιλέων, ὅτι τοσούτῳ φρονήματι κέχρησαι; Εἶτα ἐπάγει· γʹ. Ἰδοὺ Ἀσσοὺρ κυπάρισσος ἐν τῷ Λιβάνῳ, καὶ καλὸς ταῖς παραφυάσι, καὶ ὑψηλὸς τῷ με γέθει, καὶ πυκνὸς τῇ σκέπῃ, καὶ εἰς μέσον νεφελῶν ἐγένετο ἡ ἀρχὴ αὐτοῦ. Τῷ τροπικῷ πά λιν κέχρηται χαρακτῆρι, καί φησι τῶν Ἀσσυρίων τὸν βασιλέα τῇ ἐν τῷ Λιβάνῳ φυομένῃ κυπαρίσσῳ ἐοικέναι, κατά τε τὸ μέγεθος τοῦ ὕψους, καὶ τὸ πυ κνὸν καὶ ἀμφιλαφὲς τῶν ὑπηκόων, καὶ τὸ εὐπρεπὲς τῶν ὑπάρχων καὶ στρατηγῶν· παραφυάδας γὰρ τούτους ἐκάλεσε. Τὸ δὲ, "Εἰς μέσον νεφελῶν ἐγένετο ἡ ἀρχὴ αὐτοῦ," οὐ μόνον ὑπερβολικῶς κατὰ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἰδίωμα τέθεικεν (εἰώθασι γὰρ πολλοὶ λέ γειν, ὅτι Ὁ δεῖνα ἕως τῶν νεφελῶν ὑψώθη), ἀλλὰ καὶ 81.1120 τῶν λογισμῶν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀλαζονείαν ἐξέφηνεν· αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐστι φωνή· "Ἀναβήσομαι ἐπάνω τῶν νεφελῶν, ἐπάνω τῶν ἄστρων τοῦ οὐρανοῦ θήσω τὸν θρόνον μου·" καὶ τοῦτο πανταχόθεν ἔστιν ἐκ τῆς θείας διδαχθῆναι Γραφῆς. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Σενναχηρεὶμ ἐβόα, ὅτι "Οὐ μὴ ῥύσεται Κύριος τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐκ χειρός μου·" ὁ δὲ Ναβουχοδονόσορ, εἰκόνα ποιήσας χρυσῆν, ταύτην ἅπαν τας τοὺς ὑπηκόους, καὶ ἄρχοντας καὶ ἀρχομένους, προσέταξε προσκυνεῖν. Κἀνταῦθα τοίνυν τὴν ὑπερ ήφανον αὐτοῦ γνώμην δι' αἰνιγμάτων ἐδήλωσε. Τού τοις ἐπάγει· δʹ. Ὕδωρ ἐξέθρεψεν αὐτὸν, ἡ ἄβυσσος ὕψω σεν αὐτὸν, τοὺς ποταμοὺς αὑτῆς ἤγαγε κύ κλῳ τῶν φυτῶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ συστήματα αὑ τῆς ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς πάντα τὰ ξύλα τοῦ πεδίου. Ὕδωρ δὲ καὶ ἄβυσσον τὰ ἄπειρα ἔθνη τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ δουλωθέντα προσηγόρευσεν, ἃ τὸν δασμὸν καὶ τὸν φόρον, καθάπερ τινὰ ἀρδείαν τῇ στρατείᾳ προσφέροντα, οἷόν τινα φυτὰ ἐξέθρεψε, καὶ παρ εσκεύασε τὰ ταύτης συστήματα, τουτέστι, τὰ στρα τιωτικὰ συντάγματα, ἀποσταλῆναι εἰς πάντα ξύλα τοῦ πεδίου, ἀντὶ τοῦ, τοὺς μηδέπω χειρωθέντας, μηδὲ δουλωθέντας, ὡς καὶ τούτους ὑπηκόους γενέ σθαι. εʹ. Ἕνεκεν τούτου ὑψώθη τὸ μέγεθος αὐτοῦ παρὰ πάντα τὰ ξύλα τοῦ πεδίου, καὶ ἐκεῖθεν ἐπλατύνθησαν οἱ κλάδοι αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὑψώθησαν αἱ παραφυάδες αὐτοῦ ἀφ' ὕδατος πολλοῦ ἐν τῷ ἐκτεῖναι αὐτόν. Τοῦτο, φησὶν, αἴτιον αὐτῷ καὶ τῆς ἀλαζονείας, καὶ τῆς ὑπερηφανίας ἐγένετο· παρὰ γὰρ μυρίων ἐθνῶν τὴν ἀρδείαν δεχόμενος, σὺν ταῖς παραφυάσιν ηὐξήθη. ʹ. Ἐν ταῖς παραφυάσιν αὐτοῦ, φησὶν, ἐνόσ σευσε πάντα τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. ∆ιὰ τού του τοὺς λογικωτέρους τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ οἱονεὶ πτηνοὺς παρεδήλωσε. "Καὶ ὑποκάτω τῶν κλάδων αὐτοῦ ἐγέννα πάντα τὰ θηρία τοῦ πεδίου." Τὰ βάρβαρα δὲ τῶν ἐθνῶν διὰ τούτων ἐσήμανε θη ριώδη ὄντα, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν χαμαίζηλα· τοῦτο δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ἡρμήνευσεν, εἰρηκώς· "Ἐν τῇ σκιᾷ αὐ τοῦ κατῴκησε πλῆθος ἐθνῶν." Καὶ ὅπερ ἄνω διῃρη μένως εἶπε καὶ τροπικῶς, τοῦτο ἐνταῦθα κοινῶς καὶ σαφῶς προστέθεικε. Σκιὰν δὲ αὐτοῦ, καὶ παρα φυάδας, καὶ κλάδους, οὐ μόνον ὑπάρχους καὶ στρατ ηγοὺς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς τῶν ἐθνῶν ἡγεμονεύοντας σατράπας ἐκάλεσεν, οἷς διετέλουν δουλεύοντες οἱ ὑπ ήκοοι. Ταῦτα καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ὄναρ εἶδε, καὶ ὁ μακάριος ἡρμήνευσε ∆ανιὴλ τὸ τοῦ δένδρου ἐνύπνιον. ζʹ. Καὶ ἐγένετο, φησὶ, κάλλος ἐν τῷ ὕψει αὐτοῦ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν κλάδων αὐτοῦ, ∆ιδά σκει δὲ ἡμᾶς τὸ τοῦ πλήθους καὶ ὁ μακάριος ∆ανιὴλ, 81.1121 ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι σατράπας εἰρηκὼς ἐσχηκέναι τὸν ∆α ρεῖον, τὴν τοῦ Βαλτάσαρ διαδεξάμενον βασιλείαν. Εἶτα καὶ τοῦ πλήθους τὴν αἰτίαν διδάσκει· "Ὅτι ἐγενήθησαν αἱ ῥίζαι αὐτοῦ ὕδωρ πολύ." Παντα χοῦ γὰρ, φησὶν,