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having released them from the prison he commanded them to speak the words of life with boldness. And he calls the mountain the height of the knowledge of God. Say to the cities of Judah: Behold your God, 10behold the Lord comes with strength, and his arm with dominion; behold his reward is with him, and the work of each one is before him. These things announce the second coming of our Savior; for then he will both provide the reward to the workers and "he will render to each according to his works"; for then "the work of each one will become manifest" according to the voice of the apostle; "For the day," he says, "will declare it, because it is revealed in fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one's is." This the Lord also commanded the holy apostles to do; for he said, "Go to the lost sheep of the house of Jacob. And as you go, say that the kingdom of heaven has drawn near." It is possible, therefore, to see the oracles according to the prophet thus agreeing with the words of the Gospel. 11As a shepherd he will pasture his flock and with his arm he will gather the lambs and will carry them in his bosom and will comfort those that are with young. And let us learn the fulfillment of these things accurately and truly in the holy gospels. For first the Lord himself said: "I am the good shepherd and I know my own and am known by my own and I lay down my life for the sheep." And he also gathered |148 b| the lambs with his arm; by the power of his teaching. For now he was saying to the fishermen: "Come after me and I will make you fishers of men," now he was calling the tax collectors and was eating with them; and at another time indeed he endured a sinful woman lamenting at his feet; and he also comforted the women with child as if they were giving birth to salvation; for learning the abolition of death and the hope of the resurrection, they had sufficient comfort for their birth pangs in the expectation of the things that were preached. And furthermore, while being carried in the womb by the holy virgin he filled the pregnant Elizabeth with joy. Then he teaches the wisdom, the knowledge, the power of the incarnate God the Word and he refutes the futility of idols; 12Who has measured the water in his hand and the heaven with a span and all the earth in a handful? The divine nature is both bodiless and formless and simple and uncompounded; but since it is not possible for us, being humans, to comprehend divine things otherwise than from human things, the prophetic word teaches us that the God of all himself is both incomprehensible and uncircumscribable, but he holds all of creation in his hand—the hand, clearly, being understood as some kind of activity—, so that the whole nature of the waters has the measure of a cup, and the vaults of the heavens are contained by a span, and the whole earth differs in nothing from some very small matter held by the five fingers of the hand. Who has set the boundaries by weight and the wooded valleys by a balance? That is to say: all things are possible for him, all things are measurable by him, and each form of creation has come into being for some useful purpose, for nothing idle nor superfluous was brought into being. 13Who has known the mind of the Lord, and who has become his counselor who will instruct him? 14Or who has shown him judgment? Or who has shown him the way of understanding? All we men need teaching. For even if someone is exceedingly wise, he entrusts what is to be done to another; but the God of all is an abyss of wisdom and a sea of understanding. 15If all the nations are reckoned as a drop from a bucket and as the turn of a balance, they will also be reckoned as spittle; 16and Lebanon is not sufficient for burning, and all the four-footed beasts are not sufficient for a whole burnt offering, 17and all the nations are as nothing and were reckoned to him as nothing. 18To whom have you likened the Lord or to what likeness have you likened him? And when legislating the God of all commanded saying: "You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor a likeness of anything that is in the heaven above and that is in the earth beneath and that is in the waters under the earth, for I am the Lord your God," that is: whose form you have not seen. And here the prophetic word, refuting the folly of those who both fashion and worship idols, strives indeed for the

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αὐτοὺς τῆς εἱρκτῆς ἀπαλλάξας παρ ηγγύησε μετὰ παρρησίας λαλεῖν τὰ ῥήματα τῆς ζωῆς. Ὅρος δὲ καλεῖ τῆς θεογνωσίας τὸ ὕψος. Εἶπον ταῖς πόλεσιν Ἰούδα· Ἰδοὺ ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν, 10ἰδοὺ κύριος μετὰ ἰσχύος ἔρχεται, καὶ ὁ βραχίων αὐτοῦ μετὰ κυρείας· ἰδοὺ ὁ μισθὸς αὐτοῦ μετ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ ἔργον ἑκάστου ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ. Ταῦτα τὴν δευτέραν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν παρουσίαν μηνύει· τότε γὰρ καὶ τὸν μισθὸν τοῖς ἐργά ταις παρέξει καὶ «ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ»· τότε γὰρ «τὸ ἔργον ἑκάστου φανερὸν γενήσεται» κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀποστόλου φωνήν· «Ἡμέρα γάρ» φησι «δηλώσει, ὅτι ἐν πυρὶ ἀποκαλύπτεται, καὶ ἑκάστου τὸ ἔργον ὁποῖόν ἐστι τὸ πῦρ δοκιμάσει.» Τοῦτο καὶ τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀποστόλοις ὁ κύριος ποιεῖν παρηγγύησεν· «Πορεύεσθε» γὰρ ἔφη «πρὸς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰακώβ. Πορευόμενοι δὲ λέγετε ὅτι ἤγγικεν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν.» Ἔστι τοίνυν ἰδεῖν οὕτω συ μβαίνοντα τοῖς εὐαγγελικοῖς λόγοις τὰ κατὰ τὸν προφήτην θεσπίσματα. 11Ὡς ποιμὴν ποιμανεῖ τὸ ποίμνιον αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ βραχίονι αὐτοῦ συνάξει ἄρνας καὶ ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ αὐτοῦ βαστάσει καὶ τὰς ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσας παρακαλεῖ. Καὶ τούτων τὸ πέρας ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς εὐαγγελίοις ἀκ ριβῶς ἀληθῶς τε μάθωμεν. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος ἔφη· «Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς καὶ γινώσκω τὰ ἐμὰ καὶ γινώσκομαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐμῶν καὶ τὴν ψυχήν μου τίθημι ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων.» Συνήγαγε |148 b| δὲ καὶ τῷ βραχίονι ἄρνας· τῇ τῆς διδασκαλίας δυνάμει. Νῦν γὰρ τοῖς ἁλιεῦσιν ἔλεγεν· «∆εῦτε ὀπίσω μου καὶ ποιήσω ὑμᾶς ἁλιέας ἀνθρώπων», νῦν δὲ τοὺς τελώνας ἐκάλει καὶ τούτοις συνειστιᾶτο· ἄλλοτε δὴ καὶ πόρνης γυναικὸς παρὰ τοὺς πόδας ὀλοφυρομένης ἠνέσχετο· παρεκάλεσε δὲ καὶ τὰς κυούσας ὥσπερ σωτηρίᾳ τικτούσας· μανθάνουσαι γὰρ τὴν τοῦ θανάτου κατάλυσιν καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τὴν ἐλπίδα, ἱκανὴν εἶχον τῶν ὠδίνων παραμυθίαν τῶν κηρυττομένων τὴν προσδοκίαν. Καὶ ἔτι δὲ κυοφορούμενος ὑπὸ τῆς ἁγίας παρθένου κυοφοροῦσαν τὴν Ἐλισάβετ εὐφροσύνης ἐνέπλησεν. Εἶτα διδάσκει τοῦ ἐνανθρωπήσαντος θεοῦ λόγου τὴν σοφίαν, τὴν ἐπιστήμην, τὴν δύναμιν καὶ διελέγχει τῶν εἰδώλων τὸ μάταιον· 12Τίς ἐμέτρησε τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν σπιθαμῇ καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν δρακί; Τὸ μὲν θεῖον ἀσώματόν τε καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον καὶ ἁπλοῦν καὶ ἀσύνθετον· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀνθρώπους ὄντας οὐ δυνατὸν ἄλλως ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνθρωπείων τὰ θεῖα καταμαθεῖν, διδάσκει ἡμᾶς ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος ὡς αὐτὸς μὲν ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς ἀπερίληπτός τε καὶ ἀπερίγραφος, πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν κτίσιν ἐν χειρὶ περιέχει-τῆς χειρὸς δηλονότι ἐνεργείας τινὸς νοουμένης-, ὡς πᾶσαν μὲν τῶν ὑδάτων τὴν φύσιν μέτρον ἔχειν κοτύλης, τὰ δὲ τῶν οὐρανῶν κύτη τῇ σπιθαμῇ περιέχε σθαι, τὴν δὲ γῆν ἅπασαν μηδὲν διαφέρειν σμικροτάτης τινὸς ὕλης ὑπὸ τῶν πέντε τῆς χειρὸς συνεχομένης δακτύλων. Τί ἔστησε τὰ ὅρια σταθμῷ καὶ τὰς νάπας ζυγῷ; Ἀντὶ τοῦ· πάντα αὐτῷ δυνατά, πάντα αὐτῷ μετρητά, καὶ ἕκαστον τῆς δημιουργίας εἶδος πρός τι γεγένηται χρήσιμον, οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀργὸν οὐδὲ περιττὸν εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρήχθη. 13Τίς ἔγνω νοῦν κυρίου, καὶ τίς αὐτοῦ σύμβουλος ἐγένετο ὃς συμβιβάσει αὐτόν; 14Ἢ τίς ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ κρίσιν; Ἢ ὁδὸν συνέσεως τίς ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ; Ἅπαντες ἄνθρωποι διδασκαλίας δεόμεθα. Κἂν γὰρ ἄγαν τις ᾖ σοφός, ἀνατίθεται τὸ πρακτέον ἑτέρῳ· ὁ δὲ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς σοφίας ἐστὶν ἄβυσσος καὶ συνέσεως πέλαγος. 15Εἰ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ὡς σταγὼν ἀπὸ κάδου καὶ ὡς ῥοπὴ ζυγοῦ ἐλογίσθησαν, καὶ ὡς <σ>ίαλος λογισθήσονται· 16ὁ δὲ Λίβανος οὐχ ἱκανὸς εἰς καῦσιν, καὶ πάντα τὰ τετράποδα οὐχ ἱκανὰ εἰς ὁλοκάρπωσιν, 17καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη εἰς οὐθέν εἰσι καὶ εἰς οὐθὲν ἐλογίσθησαν αὐτῷ. 18Τίνι ὡμοιώσατε κύριον ἢ τίνι ὁμοιώματι ὡμοιώσατε αὐτόν; Καὶ νομο θετῶν ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς παρεκελεύσατο λέγων· «Οὐ ποιήσεις σεαυτῷ εἴδωλον οὐδὲ παντὸς ὁμοίωμα ὅσα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῇ γῇ κάτω καὶ ὅσα ἐν τοῖς ὕδασιν ὑποκάτω τῆς γῆς, ὅτι ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεός σου», τουτέστιν· οὗ εἶδος οὐκ ἐθεάσω. Καὶ ἐν ταῦθα ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος τῶν τὰ εἴδωλα τεκταινομένων τε καὶ προσκυνούντων τὴν ἄνοιαν διε λέγχ ων φιλονεικεῖ μὲν τῆς