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consumes strength in a short time, so also the athletes of the truth, by hiding and being unnoticed, destroyed the deception of the idols. And it also teaches the manner of the victory: 15Behold, I have made you like the new, sharp-toothed wheels of a threshing-sledge, and you shall thresh mountains and grind hills small, and make them like chaff. 16and you will winnow them, and the wind shall take them up, and a tempest shall scatter them; but you shall be glad in the Lord, in the holy ones of Israel. Since he called them a worm because of their visible lowliness, he now showed by contrast the hidden strength; for just as the saw-toothed sledge grinds the sheaf thin, |150 b| so also you will grind and winnow all the prevailing error that imitates the height of the mountains and the hills, and having scattered it like a tempest, you will consign it to oblivion, rejoicing and being glad because of the multitude of those who are saved. And the poor and needy will rejoice. 17He means those from the nations who have believed; for they were poor, not having received the prophetic wealth. They shall seek water, and there shall be none; their tongue is parched with thirst. These things they suffered before the call, living in want and oppressed by great thirst. I am the Lord your God, I, the God of Israel, will hearken to them and will <not> forsake them. For even if I am called the God of Israel, yet I am God of all; for which reason indeed 18I will open rivers on the mountains and springs in the midst of the plains. Thus he calls those who have been entrusted with the gift of teaching; for also in the holy gospels he said: “He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.’” I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the thirsty land into aqueducts. He calls the nations a wilderness; and to them he promised these things also in the preceding passages. 19I will put in the waterless land the cedar and box-tree and myrtle and cypress and poplar; I will put in the Arabah the savin, pine, and ash together. These uninterpreted names Symmachus translated thus: “I will put in the impassable land the cypress, the elm, and the box-tree.” And the word signifies that the wilderness will be filled with plants that are accustomed to flourishing in waters, and the waterless land will be adorned with water-loving trees—trees, that is, understood as souls being watered by divine grace. 20That they may see and know and understand and be informed together that the hand of the Lord has done these things, and the Holy One of Israel has showed them. The paradoxical nature of the events will show their cause. Having thus shown the transformation of the wilderness, he again refutes the weakness of the idols: 21Your judgment draws near, says the Lord God; your counsels have drawn near, says the king of Jacob; 22let them draw near and announce to you what will happen, or tell what the former things were, and we will apply our mind and we will know what the last things are; and tell us the things to come, 23announce to us the things to come at the last, and we will know that you are gods. The phrase, “Your judgment draws near,” Symmachus translated thus: “Present your case, said the Lord; bring forward your strong ones, said the king of Jacob.” Become judges, he says, of me and of the idols, bring forth the strong things or according to Theodotion “your strongholds,” that is, the idols; let them foretell the things to come, let them teach the things that have happened from the beginning; for I have continually done both; for through Moses my servant I both taught the things that happened before the creation of men, and I declared the things to come both through him and through the other prophets. Do good and do evil, and we will marvel and see it together, 24for from where are you, and from where is your work? If you do not wish, he says, to show your own strength from knowledge, at least do it from power. Show your beneficent or your punitive power; “But I will kill, and I will make alive; I will strike, and I will heal; and there is none who can deliver out of my hands.” But since you are deprived of both knowledge and power, I will refute your vanity. They chose you, an abomination, from the earth. For whether they are of wood or

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ἰσχὺν ἐν βραχεῖ καταναλίσκει χρόνῳ, οὕτω καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας οἱ ἀθληταὶ κρυπτόμενοι καὶ λανθάνοντες τὴν τῶν εἰδώλων κατέλυσαν πλά νην . ∆ιδάσκει δὲ καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς νίκης· 15Ἰδοὺ ἐποίησά σε ὡς τροχοὺς ἁμάξης ἀλοῶντας καινοὺς πριστηροειδεῖς, καὶ ἀλοήσεις ὄρη καὶ λεπτυνεῖς βουνοὺς καὶ ὡς χοῦν θήσεις 16καὶ λικμήσεις, καὶ ἄνεμος λήψεται αὐτούς, καὶ καταιγὶς αὐτοὺς διασπερεῖ· σὺ δὲ εὐφρανθήσῃ ἐν κυρίῳ ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις Ἰσραήλ. Ἐπειδὴ σκώληκα αὐτοὺς προσηγόρευσε διὰ τὴν ὁρωμένην εὐτέλειαν, ἐκ διαμέτρου νῦν ἔδειξε τὴν κεκρυμμένην ἰσχύν· καθάπερ γὰρ ἡ πριονοειδὴς ἅμαξα λεπτύνει τὸ δράγμα, |150 b| οὕτω καὶ ὑμεῖς ἅπασαν τὴν κατέχουσαν πλάνην τὴν καὶ τὸ ὕψος τῶν ὀρῶν καὶ τῶν βουνῶν μιμουμένην καὶ λεπτυνεῖτε καὶ λικμήσετε καὶ οἷόν τινι καταιγίδι διασκεδάσαντες παραδώσετε λήθῃ εὐφραινό μενοι καὶ γανύμενοι διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν σῳζομένων. Καὶ ἀγαλλιάσονται 17οἱ πτωχοὶ καὶ ἐνδεεῖς. Τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν λέγει πεπιστευκότας· οὗτοι γὰρ ἦσαν πτωχοὶ τὸν προφητικὸν οὐ δεξάμενοι πλοῦτον. Ζητήσουσιν ὕδωρ καὶ οὐκ ἔσται· ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τῆς δίψης ἐξήρανται. Ταῦτα πρὸ τῆς κλήσεως ἐπεπόνθεισαν ἐν ἐνδείᾳ διάγοντες καὶ δίψει πολλῷ πιεζόμενοι. Ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεός σου, ἐγὼ ἐπ ακούσομαι αὐτῶν ὁ θεὸς Ἰσραὴλ καὶ <οὐκ> ἐγκαταλείψω αὐτούς. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ χρηματίζω θεός, ἀλλὰ πάντων εἰμὶ θεός· οὗ δὴ χάριν 18ἀνοίξω ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων ποταμοὺς καὶ ἐν μέσῳ πεδίων πηγάς. Τοὺς τὸ τῆς διδασκαλίας χάρισμα πεπιστευμένους οὕτω καλεῖ· καὶ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς εὐαγγελίοις ἔφη· «Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμέ, καθὼς εἶπεν ἡ γραφή, ποταμοὶ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας αὐτοῦ ῥεύσουσιν ὕδατος ζῶντος.» Ποιήσω τὴν ἔρημον εἰς ἕλη ὑδάτων καὶ τὴν διψῶσαν γῆν ἐν ὑδραγωγοῖς. Ἔρημον προσαγορεύει τὰ ἔθνη· τούτοις δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ταῦτα ἐπηγγείλατο. 19Θήσω εἰς τὴν ἄνυδρον γῆν κέδρον καὶ πύξον καὶ μυρσίνην καὶ κυπά ρισσον καὶ λεύκην, θήσω ἐν τῇ Ἄραβα βράθυ, δαὰρ καὶ θαασοὺρ ἅμα. Ταῦτα τὰ ἀνερμήνευτα ὀνόματα οὕτως ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσεν· «Θήσω ἐν τῇ ἀβάτῳ κυπάρισσον, πτελέαν, πύξον.» ∆ηλοῖ δὲ ὁ λόγος, ὡς τῶν ἐν ὕδασι τεθηλέναι πεφυκότων φυτῶν ἡ ἔρημος πληρωθήσεται καὶ ἡ ἄνυδρος τοῖς φιλύδροις κοσμηθήσεται δένδροις-δένδρων δηλαδὴ τῶν ψυχῶν νοουμένων ὑπὸ τῆς θείας χάριτος ἀρδομένων. 20Ἵνα ἴδωσι καὶ γνῶσι καὶ ἐννοηθῶσι καὶ ἐπί στωνται ἅμα ὅτι χεὶρ κυρίου ἐποίησε ταῦτα καὶ ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ κατέδειξεν αὐτά. Τὸ δὲ παράδοξον τῶν γιγνο μένων τὸν τούτων αἴτιον ἐπιδείξει. Οὕτω δείξας τὴν τῆς ἐρήμου μεταβολὴν πάλιν ἐλέγχει τὴν τῶν εἰδώλων ἀσθένειαν· 21Ἐγγίζει ἡ κρίσις ὑμῶν, λέγει κύριος ὁ θεός· ἠγγίκασιν αἱ βουλαὶ ὑμῶν, λέγει ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰακώβ· 22ἐγγισάτωσαν καὶ ἀναγγειλάτωσαν ὑμῖν ἃ συμβήσεται, ἢ τὰ πρότερα τίνα ἦν εἴπατε, καὶ ἐπιστήσομεν τὸν νοῦν καὶ γνωσόμεθα τί τὰ ἔσχατα· καὶ τὰ ἐπερχόμενα εἴπατε ἡμῖν, 23ἀναγγείλατε ἡμῖν τὰ ἐπερχόμενα ἐπ' ἐσχάτου, καὶ γνωσόμεθα ὅτι θεοί ἐστε. Τό· ἐγγίζει ἡ κρίσις ὑμῶν, οὕτως ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσεν· «Προσα γάγετε τὴν κρίσιν ὑμῶν, εἶπε κύριος· ἐγγίσατε ἰσχυρὰ ὑμῶν, εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰακώβ.» Γίνεσθέ φησιν ἐμοῦ καὶ τῶν εἰδώλων κριταί, φέρετε εἰς μέσον τὰ ἰσχυρὰ ἢ κατὰ τὸν Θεοδοτίωνα «τὰ κραταιώματα ὑμῶν», τουτέστι τὰ εἴδωλα· προμηνυσάτωσαν τὰ ἐσόμενα, διδαξάτωσαν τὰ ἐξ ἀρχῆς γεγενημένα· ἐγὼ γὰρ ἀμφότερα ποιῶν διετέλεσα· διὰ γὰ ρ Μωυσέως τοῦ θεράποντός μου καὶ τὰ πρὸ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων δημιουργίας γεγενημένα ἐδίδαξα, τὰ δὲ ἐ σόμενα καὶ δι' ἐκείνου καὶ διὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἐδήλωσα προφητῶν. Εὖ ποιήσατε καὶ κακώσατε, καὶ θαυμάσομεν καὶ ὀψόμεθα ἅμα, 24ὅτι πόθεν ἐστὲ ὑμεῖς καὶ πόθεν ἡ ἐργασία ὑμῶν; Εἰ μὴ βούλεσθέ φησιν ἀπὸ τῆς γνώσεως δεῖξαι τὴν ἰδίαν ἰσχύν, ἀπὸ γοῦν τῆς δυνάμεως τοῦτο ποιή σατε. ∆είξατε τὴν εὐεργητικὴν ἢ τὴν τιμωρητικὴν ὑμῶν δύναμιν· «Ἐγὼ δὲ ἀποκτενῶ καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω, πατάξω κἀγὼ ἰάσομαι καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὃς ἐξελεῖται ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν μου.» Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὑμεῖς καὶ γνώσεως ἐστέρησθε καὶ δυνάμεως, ἐγὼ ὑμῶν διελέγξω τὸ μάταιον. Ἐκ γῆς βδέλυγμα ἐξελέξαντο ὑμᾶς. Εἴτε γὰρ ξύλινοί εἰσιν εἴτε