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water to those journeying i<n> a waterless place, he showed through whom he will give it: For I will put, he says, my spirit upon your seed, and my blessings upon your children. <then> he foretells the flowers of those who are watered: 4And they will spring up as grass amidst the water, and as a willow by the flowing water. And he also foretells the fervor of their faith: 5This one will say: I am of God, and this one will call upon the name of Jacob, and another will write with his hand, I-am-of-God, and will call upon the name of Israel. And the facts bear witness to the prophecy; for each of the faithful with boldness calls himself a Christian and is proud of this title. 6Thus says the Lord, the king of Israel, God Sabaoth who redeemed him: I am the first, and I am after these things, and besides me there is no god. If besides him there is none, but the Son is not consubstantial according to the blasphemy of Arius and Eunomius, how is he called God by them? But if he is God, and the prophetic word is also true, plainly saying that there is no other god, the godhead of the Holy Trinity is one, even if they do not wish it. 7Who is like me? Let him stand and call and announce and prepare for me from when I made man for eternity, and let them report to you the things to come before they arrive. Let those called gods by you, he says, tell you the things that have happened or foretell the things that will be. 8Do not be veiled, nor be deceived. Have you not hearkened from the beginning, and I have reported to you? Do not plead ignorance, he says; for this he said: Do not be veiled. From the beginning I taught you the truth, right from the start of the lawgiving I said: ‘You shall have no other gods besides me.’ You are my witnesses, if there is a god besides me. Examine the nature of things and you too confess that there is no other god. And there were not then 9those who fashion vain things and those who carve useless things, that is, when I was giving the law; for after the lawgiving they made the calf. All are vain who make their own desired things, which will not profit them. And they are their own witnesses. Instead of: that they are not gods; for they themselves are their creators. They will not see and will not know, so that they may be ashamed. That is: they suffer from insensibility. 10Who fashions a strong thing and will cast a graven image for no use? Behold, all who partake with it will be ashamed. He showed in the same way both the error of those who craft and of those who worship; for he called the impious 'partakers'. And all will be ashamed, all those who fashion a god and carve useless things. 11And all from whence they came are withered, and are deaf, from men. And through these things he teaches their great lack of sensation, that seeing the unprofitable thing they worship it as a benefactor. Let them all be gathered together and let them stand together, let them be put to shame and be confounded together; for they are craftsmen from among men. The creators of the so-called gods are men, having the same nature as those who worship them, and the one who constructed this worships it as a god, being a man. 12For a craftsman sharpened iron with an axe, he worked it with coals and with a drill he shaped it and set it up and worked <it> with the arm of his strength, and he will hunger and be weak and will thirst and shall not drink water. He showed that the so-called gods are composed from a collection; for their creator needs a blacksmith for the |155 a| construction of the tools, and a whetstone so as to sharpen them; and the coppersmith needs coals and the cooperation of fire; and the one who crafts these things also requires food and drink; and from all these things is constructed the god who is worshiped by the foolish. These things he also mocks through what follows: for, he says, a craftsman, having chosen a piece of wood, first subjects the so-called god to measurement—but the true God is not circumscribed by measurement—, then with a tool of his art he gives it form—but what is proper to God is to be without form and without shape. 13And he made it as the form of a man and as the beauty of a man, to set it in a house. He imitates not divine, he says, but human features, and impressing a human image, he worships his own image as a god.

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ὕδωρ τοῖς πορευομένοις ἐ<ν> ἀνύδρῳ, ἔδειξε διὰ τίνων δώσει· Ἐπιθήσω γάρ φησι τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπὶ τὸ σπέρμα σου καὶ τὰς εὐλογίας μου ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα σου. <εἶτα> τῶν ἀρδομένων προλέγει τὰ ἄνθη· 4Καὶ ἀνατε λοῦσιν ὡς ἀνὰ μέσον ὕδατος χόρτος καὶ ὡς ἰτέα ἐπὶ παραρρέον ὕδωρ. Προλέγει δὲ καὶ τῆς πίστεως αὐτῶν τὴν θερμότητα· 5Οὗτος ἐρεῖ· Τοῦ θεοῦ εἰμι, καὶ οὗτος βοήσεται ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰακώβ, καὶ ἕτερος ἐπιγράψει τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ Τοῦ- θεοῦ-εἰμι, καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰσραὴλ βοήσεται. Μαρτυρεῖ δὲ τῇ προφητείᾳ τὰ πράγματα· μετὰ παρρησίας γὰρ τῶν πιστῶν ἕκαστος Χριστιανὸν ἑαυτὸν ὀνομάζει καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ προσηγορίᾳ σεμνύνεται. 6Οὕτως λέγει κύριος ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰσραήλ, ὁ ῥυσάμενος αὐτὸν θεὸς Σαβαώθ· Ἐγὼ πρῶτος καὶ ἐγὼ μετὰ ταῦτα, καὶ πλὴν ἐμοῦ οὐκ ἔστι θεός. Εἰ πλὴν αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐχ ὁμοούσιος δὲ ὁ υἱὸς κατὰ τὴν Ἀρείου καὶ Εὐνομίου βλασφη μίαν, πῶς ἀπ' αὐτῶν καλεῖται θεός; Εἰ δὲ θεός ἐστιν, ἀληθὴς δὲ καὶ ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος ἄντικρυς λέγων ἕτερον μὴ εἶναι θεόν, μία τῆς ἁγίας τριάδος ἡ θεότης ἐστί, κἂν μὴ θέλωσιν. 7Τίς ὥσπερ ἐγώ; Στήτω καὶ καλεσάτω καὶ ἀναγγειλάτω καὶ ἑτοιμασάτω μοι ἀφ' οὗ ἐποίησα ἄνθρωπον εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ τὰ ἐπερχόμενα πρὸ τοῦ ἐλθεῖν ἀπαγγει λάτωσαν ὑμῖν. Οἱ καλούμενοί φησι παρ' ὑμῶν θεοὶ εἰπά τωσαν ὑμῖν τὰ προγε γενημένα ἢ προειπάτωσαν τὰ ἐσόμενα. 8Μὴ παρακαλύπτεσθε μηδὲ πλανᾶσθε. Οὐκ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἠνωτίσασθε, καὶ ἀπήγγειλα ὑμῖν; Μὴ σκήπτεσθέ φησιν ἄγνοιαν· τοῦτο γὰρ εἶπε· Μὴ παρακαλύπτεσθε. Ἄνωθεν ἐγὼ ὑ μᾶς ἐδίδαξα τὴν ἀλήθειαν, εὐθὺς τῆς νομοθεσίας ἀρξά μενος εἶπον· «Οὐκ ἔσονταί σοι θεοὶ ἕτεροι πλὴν ἐμοῦ.» Μάρτυρες ὑμεῖς ἐστε, εἰ ἔστι θεὸς πλὴν ἐμοῦ. Ἐξετάσατε τῶν πραγμάτων τὴν φύσιν καὶ ὁ μολογήσατε καὶ ὑμεῖς ἕτερον μὴ εἶναι θεόν. Καὶ οὐκ ἦσαν τότε 9οἱ πλάσσοντες μάταια καὶ οἱ γλύφοντες ἀνωφελῆ, τουτέστιν ἡνίκα ἐνομοθέτουν· μετὰ γὰρ τὴν νομοθεσίαν ἐμοσχοποίησαν. Πάντες μάταιοι οἱ ποιοῦντες τὰ καταθύμια αὐτῶν ἃ οὐκ ὠφελήσει αὐτούς. Καὶ μάρτυρες αὐτῶν εἰσιν. Ἀντὶ τοῦ· ὅτι οὔκ εἰσι θεοί· αὐτοὶ γὰρ αὐτῶν εἰσι δημιουργοί. Οὐκ ὄψονται καὶ οὐ γνώσονται, ἵνα αἰσχυνθῶσιν. Τουτέστιν· ἀναλγησίαν νοσοῦσιν. 10Τίς πλάσσει ἰσχυρὸν καὶ γλυπτὸν χωνεύσει εἰς ἀνωφελῆ; Ἰδοὺ πάντες οἱ κοινωνοῦντες αὐτῷ αἰσχυνθήσονται. Ἔδειξε κατὰ ταὐτὸν καὶ τῶν τεκται νο μένων καὶ τῶν σεβομένων τὴν πλάνην· κοινωνοῦντας γὰρ τοὺς ἀσεβοῦντας ἐκάλεσεν. Καὶ αἰσχυνθήσονται πάντες οἱ πλάσσοντες θεὸν καὶ γλύφοντες ἀνωφελῆ πάντες. 11Καὶ πάντες ὅθεν ἐγένοντο ἐξηράνθησαν καὶ κωφοί εἰσιν ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπων. Καὶ διὰ τούτων τὴν πολλὴν αὐτῶν ἀναισθησίαν διδάσκει, ὅτι ὁρῶντες τὸ ἀκερδὲς προσκυνοῦσιν ὡς εὐεργέτας. Συναχθήτωσαν πάντες καὶ στησάτωσαν ἅμα, ἐντραπή τωσαν καὶ αἰσχυνθήτωσαν ἅμα· τέκτονες γάρ εἰσιν ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπων. Οἱ τῶν καλουμένων θεῶν δημιουργοὶ ἄνθρωποί εἰσι τὴν αὐτὴν φύσιν τοῖς προσκυνοῦσιν ἔχοντες, καὶ ὁ κατασκευά σα ς τοῦτο ὡς θεῷ προσκυνεῖ ἄνθρωπος. 12Ὅτι ὤξυνε τέκτων σίδηρον σκεπάρνῳ, εἰργάσατο αὐτὸ ἐν ἄν θραξι καὶ ἐν τερέτρῳ ἐρρύθμισεν αὐτὸ καὶ ἔστησεν αὐτὸ καὶ εἰργάσατο <αὐτὸ> ἐν τῷ βραχίονι τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ καὶ πεινάσει καὶ ἀσθενήσει καὶ διψήσει καὶ οὐ μὴ πίῃ ὕδωρ. Ἔδειξεν ἐξ ἐράνου συνισταμένους τοὺς καλουμένους θεούς· δεῖται γὰρ ὁ τούτων δημιουργὸς χαλκέως μὲν εἰς τὴν τῶν |155 a| ὀργάνων κατασκευήν, θηγάνης δὲ ὥστε ταῦτα ὀξύνειν· δεῖται δὲ καὶ ἀνθράκων ὁ χαλκοτύπος καὶ τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς συνεργίας· χρῄζει δὲ καὶ τροφῆς καὶ πόσεως ὁ ταῦτα τεκταινόμενος· ἐκ δὲ τούτων ἁπάντων κατασκευάζεται ὁ προσκυνούμενος ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνοήτων θεός. Ταῦτα καὶ διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς κωμῳδεῖ· ξύλον γάρ φησιν ἐκλεξάμενος τέκτων πρῶτον μὲν ὑποβάλλει μέτρῳ τὸν καλούμενον θεόν-ὁ δὲ ὄντως θεὸς οὐ περιγράφεται μέτρῳ-, εἶτα τῆς τέχνης ὀργάνῳ διαμορφοῖ-ἴδιον δὲ θεοῦ τὸ ἀνείδεόν τε καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον. 13Καὶ ἐποίησεν αὐτὸ ὡς μορφὴν ἀνδρὸς καὶ ὡς ὡραιότητα ἀνθρώπου στῆσαι αὐτὸ ἐν οἴκῳ. Μιμεῖται δὲ οὐ θείους φησὶν ἀλλ' ἀνθρωπείους χαρακτῆρας καὶ ἀνθρωπείαν ἐκτυπῶν εἰκόνα ὡς θεὸν προσκυνεῖ τὴν ἰδίαν εἰκόνα.