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CHAPTER 32. 1, 2. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the

month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him: You were likened to a lion of the nations, and as a dragon in the sea, and you gored with your rivers, and you troubled the water with your feet, and you trampled your rivers. And again he accuses his arrogance and pride, and says that he emulated the pride of the dragon in the sea. And we were taught that this is the devil, who once long ago dwelt among the nations with a bitter 81.1132 and salty disposition. And Isaiah says that God will bring the holy sword upon the dragon that is in the sea; and he says that he attempted also to be likened to a lion; and we have learned that the Lord is the lion ruling the nations; "For having stooped down, he says, he rested, as a lion and as a cub, who will rouse him? He says, therefore: Because you attempted to be likened to the lion of the nations, similarly to the dragon in the sea, and you took up an arrogant disposition against the God of all, trusting in the river and its canals, as if not needing clouds, nor rain, nor providence and care from above, but using your feet, and troubling the water, and channeling it for irrigation; for this reason, he says: 3. I will cast my nets over you in an assembly of many peoples, and I will draw you up with my hook. Fittingly and very appropriately for the river, he mentioned a hook and nets; and he interpreted these things by saying: "In an assembly of many peoples." For as with a kind of net, the army of the enemy, and as with a kind of hook, by my will I will catch you and hunt you, like a fish. 4. And I will stretch you out, he says, upon the land, and the plains will be filled with you, and I will cause all the birds of the heaven to settle upon you, and I will fill from your midst all the beasts of the earth. And I will give your flesh upon the mountains, and I will fill the plains with your blood. And the land will be watered from your discharges upon the mountains, and I will fill the valleys with you. When, he says, you are caught and killed by the enemy, you will remain unburied, and you will fill the stomachs of the beasts and the birds; and the streams of blood, and the ichors of decay, for these he called discharges, will fill both the plains and the mountains. 7, 8. And I will cover the heaven when you are extinguished, and I will darken its stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not show her light. I will darken all the lights of heaven over you, and I will set darkness upon your land, says the Lord Adonai. He does not say these things happened by nature, but by the disposition of those who were grieved; for those who are in calamities consider the day to be darker than night; and teaching this he said: "And I will set darkness upon your land;" not upon all the earth. But if anyone says that darkness really occurred in Egypt during the time of war, with God showing how he himself used the Babylonians for the punishment of the Egyptians, he will not err from pious thought. 81.1133 9, 10. And I will provoke the heart of many peoples, when I lead your captivity into the nations, into a land which you did not know. And many nations shall be amazed at you, and their kings shall be utterly astonished, when I draw my sword before their face, expecting their own fall from the day of your fall. When your captivity occurs, he says, those who remember your former audacity will appear merciless toward you; but others will mourn, and will be grieved, inferring from the things that have happened to you the evils that will befall them. Then he teaches that the army of the Babylonians will come, having certain champions as its foremost fighters; for these he called giants. And since they are more savage than all the nations, they will exact penalties from you, he says, O Egypt, for your arrogance; for this he called hubris; for the arrogant man is insolent. And he says, that on the one hand

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ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΛΒʹ. αʹ, βʹ. Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ δωδεκάτῳ ἔτει, ἐν τῷ δωδεκάτῳ μηνὶ, μιᾷ τοῦ

μηνὸς, ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρός με, λέγων· Υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, λάβε θρῆνον ἐπὶ τὸν βασιλέα Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ἐρεῖς αὐτῷ· Λέοντι ἐθνῶν ὡμοιώθης σὺ, καὶ ὡς δρά κων ὁ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ, καὶ ἐκεράτιζες αὐτοῖς ποταμοῖς σου, καὶ ἐτάρασσες ὕδωρ τοῖς ποσί σου, καὶ κατεπάτεις τοὺς ποταμούς σου. Καὶ τούτου πάλιν τὴν ἀλαζονείαν κατηγορεῖ καὶ τύφον, καὶ λέγει αὐτὸν ἐζηλωκέναι τοῦ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ δρά κοντος τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν. Ἐδιδάχθημεν δὲ τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν διάβολον, τὸν πάλαι ποτὲ τῶν ἐθνῶν πικρῷ 81.1132 καὶ ἁλμυρῷ ἐνδιαιτηθέντα φρονήματι. Φησὶ δὲ καὶ ὁ Ἡσαΐας ἐπάξειν τὸν Θεὸν τὴν μάχαιραν τὴν ἁγίαν ἐπὶ τὸν δράκοντα τὸν ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ· λέγει δὲ αὐτὸν ἐπιχειρῆσαι καὶ λέοντι ὁμοιωθῆναι· λέοντα δὲ τῶν ἐθνῶν βασιλεύοντα τὸν Κύριον μεμαθήκαμεν· "Ἀνα κλιθεὶς γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀνεπαύσατο, ὡς λέων καὶ ὡς σκύμνος, τίς ἐγερεῖ αὐτόν; Λέγει τοίνυν· Ὅτι ἐπει ράθης ὁμοιωθῆναι τῷ τῶν ἐθνῶν λέοντι, παραπλη σίως τῷ δράκοντι τῷ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ, καὶ ἀλαζονικὸν κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἀνεδέξω φρόνημα, θαῤῥῶν τῷ ποταμῷ καὶ ταῖς τούτου διώρυξιν, ὡς μὴ δεόμε νος μὴ νέφων, μηδὲ ὑετοῦ, μηδὲ τῆς ἄνωθεν προ νοίας καὶ κηδεμονίας, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ποσὶ χρώμενος, καὶ ταράσσων τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ ὀχετηγῶν εἰς ἀρδείαν· τούτου χάριν, φησί· γʹ. Περιβαλῶ ἐπὶ σὲ δίκτυά μου ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ λαῶν πολλῶν, καὶ ἀνάξω σε ἐν τῷ ἀγκίστρῳ μου. Ἁρμοδίως καὶ μάλα προσφόρως τῷ ποταμῷ ἀγκίστρου καὶ δικτύων ἐμνημόνευσεν· ἡρμήνευσε δὲ καὶ ταῦτα εἰρηκώς· "Ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ λαῶν πολλῶν." Οἷον γάρ τινι δικτύῳ, τῇ στρατείᾳ τῶν πολεμίων, καὶ καθάπερ τινὶ ἀγκίστρῳ, τῷ ἐμῷ βουλήματι ἀγρεύσω σε καὶ θηρεύσω σε, δίκην ἰχθύος. δʹ-ʹ. Καὶ ἐκτενῶ σε, φησὶν, ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ πεδία πλησθήσεταί σου, καὶ ἐπικαθιῶ ἐπὶ σὲ πάντα τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ ἐμπλήσω ἐκ μέσου σου πάντα τὰ θηρία τῆς γῆς. Καὶ δώσω τὰς σάρκας σου ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη, καὶ ἐμπλήσω ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματός σου τὰ πεδία. Καὶ ποτισθή σεται ἡ γῆ ἀπὸ τῶν προχωρημάτων σου ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων, καὶ φάραγγας ἐμπλήσω ἀπὸ σοῦ. Ὅταν, φησὶν, ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων ἀγρευθῇς καὶ ἀναιρεθῇς, ἄταφος μενεῖς, καὶ ἐμπλήσεις τὰς τῶν θηρίων καὶ τὰς τῶν ὀρνέων γαστέρας· οἱ δὲ τοῦ αἵματος ὀχετοὶ, καὶ τῆς σηπεδόνος οἱ ἰχῶρες, τούτους γὰρ ἐκάλεσε προχωρήματα, καὶ τὰ πεδία, καὶ τὰ ὄρη πληρώσει. ζʹ, ηʹ. Καὶ κατακαλύψω τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐν τῷ σβεσθῆναί σε, καὶ συσκοτάσω τὰ ἄστρα αὐτοῦ· ἥλιον ἐν νεφέλῃ καλύψω, καὶ σελήνη οὐ μὴ φανῇ τὸ φῶς αὑτῆς. Πάντας τοὺς φωστῆρας τοῦ οὐρανοῦ συσκοτάσω ἐπὶ σοὶ, καὶ δώσω σκό τος ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν σου, λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος. Οὐ φύσει ταῦτα λέγει γεγενῆσθαι, ἀλλὰ τῇ τῶν ἀνιωμένων διαθέσει· οἱ γὰρ ἐν συμφοραῖς ὄντες νυκτὸς ἀφεγγεστέραν τὴν ἡμέραν ὑπολαμβάνουσι· καὶ τοῦτο διδάσκων ἔφη· "Καὶ δώσω σκότος ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν σου·" οὐκ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. Εἰ δέ τις λέγει, καὶ σκότος τῷ ὄντι ἐν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ γεγε νῆσθαι κατὰ τὸν πολέμου καιρὸν, τοῦ Θεοῦ δεικνύν τος, ὡς αὐτὸς τοῖς Βαβυλωνίοις εἰς τιμωρίαν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐχρήσατο, τῆς εὐσεβοῦς διανοίας οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεται. 81.1133 θʹ, ιʹ. Καὶ παροργιῶ καρδίαν λαῶν πολλῶν, ἡνίκα ἂν ἀνάγω αἰχμαλωσίαν σου εἰς τὰ ἔθνη, εἰς γῆν ἣν οὐκ ἔγνως. Καὶ στυγνάσει ἐπὶ σὲ ἔθνη πολλὰ, καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς αὐτῶν ἐκστάσει ἐκ στήσονται, ἐν τῷ ἐκσπάσαι με ῥομφαίαν μου κατὰ πρόσωπον αὐτῶν, προσδεχόμενοι τὴν πτῶσιν αὑτῶν ἀφ' ἡμέρας πτώσεώς σου. Τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας σου, φησὶ, γινομένης, οἱ μὲν τῆς προ τέρας σου μεμνημένοι θρασύτητος ἀνηλεεῖς περὶ σὲ φανήσονται· οἱ δὲ θρηνήσουσι, καὶ ἀνιαθήσονται, ἐκ τῶν συμβεβηκότων σοὶ τὰ καταληψόμενα αὐτοὺς κακὰ τεκμαιρόμενοι. Εἶτα διδάσκει, ὡς ἥξει μὲν τῶν Βαβυλωνίων ἡ στρατεία ἔχουσα προμάχους ἀριστέας τινάς· τούτους γὰρ ἐκάλεσε γίγαντας. Καὶ ἅτε δὴ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἁπάντων ὄντες ὠμότεροι, δίκας σε, φησὶν, ὦ Αἴγυπτε, τῆς ὑπερηφανίας εἰσ πράξονται· ταύτην γὰρ ἐκάλεσεν ὕβριν· ὑβριστὴς γὰρ ὁ ἀλαζών. Λέγει δὲ, ὅτι τὴν μὲν