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25from the Lord. Those who preferred unbelief to faith have this shame, whether Jews or Greeks. In the Lord shall all the seed of the sons of Israel be justified and glorified in God. He did not say: All the seed of Israel—for the Jews would have seized the saying—but: All the seed of the sons of Israel. The sons of Israel are those from Israel, and their seed are those among the nations who have been deemed worthy of salvation; for having received the seed of the teaching through those from the Jews who believed, they reaped salvation. Thus the prophetic word, having spoken of God and having shown the believers and refuted the unbelievers, also foretells the destruction of the idols: 461 Bel has fallen, Nebo is crushed. Some of the copies have "Dagon." This was an idol of the Philistines. Some said that Bel was Kronos. Then, universally: Their carved images have become beasts and cattle. For they not only fashioned anthropomorphic idols but also ones resembling beasts and cattle; and the Egyptians especially worshiped images of apes and dogs and lions and sheep and crocodiles, while the Ekronites had an image of a fly, and others worshiped likenesses of bats; and the prophetic word accused these in the introductions. He foretells the destruction of all these: Take them up bound as a burden for one who is weary 2and not strong, who is hungry and faint at the same time, who will not be able to be saved from war, but they themselves were led away captive. Just as he says other burdens cannot walk but are carried, so also these, being immovable, compel those who carry them to labor. And so great is their weakness that they cannot even flee like men in time of war. 3Listen to me, O house of Jacob and all the remnant of Israel, who are carried from the womb and instructed from a child 4unto old age. Here he accuses the foolish teaching of the Jews; for though instructed in divine things from childhood, they became far from the truth. I am, and until you grow old, I am. You, he says, have many changes, but I have an unchangeable nature; you receive both old age and death, but I am incorruptible and immortal. I bear with you, I have made and I will carry, and I will take up and I will save you. I bear your ingratitude, I endure your lawlessness, I await your repentance; for I also brought you into being. 5To whom have you likened me? See, devise, you who are led astray. 6And those who contribute gold from a pouch and weigh silver in a balance will set it on a scale, and having hired a goldsmith, they have made a man-made thing, and bowing down, they worship it. 7They lift it on the shoulder, and it goes; but if they set it down, it remains in its place, it will not move; and whoever cries out to it, it will not hear, it will not save him from evils. He clearly ridiculed the weakness of the idols. And since he mentioned the creation from wood in the preceding passages, but the material of gold and silver is more valuable than wood, and many, paying attention to the material, offered greater honor to the golden and silver gods, he necessarily teaches also about these, how by collecting gold and silver from contributions and hiring a goldsmith and delivering it to him by weight, they deify the statue fashioned by him, which uses others’ feet, but if it should lack these, it remains motionless, and it brings no help to those who worship it. After this refutation, he introduces an exhortation: 8Remember |158 b| these things and groan; repent, you who have gone astray; return with your heart 9and remember the former things from of old, that I am God, and there is no other besides me, 10declaring beforehand the last things before they happen, and at the same time they were accomplished. Through the things that have already been done by me, learn that I alone am God; for I foretell things to come many generations beforehand and I fulfill what I foretell. And I said: All my counsel shall stand, and I will do all that I have purposed; 11calling a bird from the east, and from a land far off concerning what

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25ἀπὸ κυρίου. Ταύτην ἔχουσι τὴν αἰσχύνην οἱ τὴν ἀπιστίαν τῆς πίστεως προτιμήσαντες εἴτε Ἰουδαῖοι εἴτε Ἕλληνες. Ἐνκυρίῳ δικαιωθήσονται καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ θεῷ ἐνδοξασθήσονται πᾶν τὸ σπέρμα τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ. Οὐκ εἶπεν· Πᾶν τὸ σπέρμα Ἰσραήλ-ἦ γὰρ ἂν ἥρπασαν Ἰουδαῖοι τὸν λόγον-ἀλλά· Πᾶν τὸ σπέρμα τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ. Υἱοὶ δὲ Ἰσραὴλ οἱ ἐξἸσραήλ, σπέρμα δὲ τούτων οἱ ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι τῆς σωτηρίας ἠξιωμένοι· διὰ γὰρ τῶν ἐξ Ἰουδαίων πεπιστευκότων δεξάμενοι τῆς διδασκαλίας τὸ σπέρμα τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐδρέ ψαντο. Οὕτως ὁ προφητικὸς θεολογήσας λόγος καὶ τοὺς πεπι στευκότας ἐπιδείξας καὶ τοὺς ἀπιστήσαντας διελέγξας, καὶ τῶν εἰδώλων προλέγει τὸν ὄλεθρον· 461 Ἔπεσε Βήλ, συνετρίβη Νεβώ. Ἔνια τῶν ἀντιγράφων «∆αγὼν» ἔχει. Εἴδωλον δὲ ἦν τοῦτο τῶν Ἀλλοφύλων. Τὸν δὲ Βὴλ Κρόνον ἔφασάν τινες εἶναι. Εἶτα καθολικῶς· Ἐγένετο τὰ γλυπτὰ αὐτῶν εἰς θηρία καὶ κτήνη. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον ἀνθρωπόμορφα κατεσκεύαζον εἴδωλα ἀλλὰ καὶ θηρίοις καὶ κτήνεσιν ἐοικότα· καὶ διαφερόντως Αἰγύπτιοι πιθήκων καὶ κυνῶν καὶ λεόντων καὶ προβάτων καὶ κροκοδίλων προσεκύνουν ἰνδάλματα, Ἀκαρωνῖται δὲ καὶ μυίας εἶχον εἰκόνα, ἄλλοι δὲ νυκτερίδων προσεκύνουν εἰκάσματα· καὶ τούτων ἐν τοῖς προοιμίοις ὁ προφητικὸς κατηγόρησε λόγος. Τούτων ἁπάντων προλέγει τὸν ὄλεθρον· Αἴρετε αὐτὰ καταδεδεμένα ὡς φορτίον κοπιῶντι 2καὶ οὐκ ἰσχύοντι, πεινῶντι καὶ ἐκλελυμένῳ ἅμα, οἳ οὐ δυνήσονται σωθῆναι ἀπὸ πολέμου, αὐτοὶ δὲ αἰχμάλωτοι ἤχθησαν. Ὥσπερ φησὶ τἆλλα φορτία βαδίζειν οὐ δύναται ἀλλὰ φέρεται, οὕτω καὶ ταῦτα ἀκίνητα ὄντα πονεῖν ἀναγκάζει τοὺς φέροντας. Τοσαύτη δὲ αὐτῶν ἡ ἀσθ ένεια ὡς μηδὲ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις παραπλησίως δύνασθαι φεύγειν ἐν πολέμου καιρῷ. 3Ἀκούσατέ μου οἶκος Ἰακὼβ καὶ πᾶν τὸ κατάλοιπον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, οἱ αἰρόμενοι ἐκ κοιλίας καὶ παιδευόμενοι ἐκ παιδίου 4ἕως γήρους. Τῆς ἀνοήτου διδασκαλίας ἐνταῦθα τῶν Ἰουδαίων κατηγορεῖ· παιδόθεν γὰρ τὰ θεῖα παιδευόμενοι πόρρω τῆς ἀληθείας ἐγένοντο. Ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ ἕως ἂν καταγηράσητε ἐγώ εἰμι. Ὑμεῖς φησι πολλὰς ἔχετε μετα βολάς, ἐγὼ δὲ ἀναλλοίωτον ἔχω τὴν φύσιν· ὑμεῖς καὶ γῆρας καὶ θάνατον δέχεσθε, ἐγὼ δὲ ἄφθαρτός εἰμι καὶ ἀθάνατος. Ἐγὼ ἀνέχομαι ὑμῶν, ἐγὼ ἐποίησα καὶ ἐγὼ ἀνήσω καὶ ἐγὼ ἀναλήψομαι καὶ σώσω ὑμᾶς. Φέρω ὑμῶν τὴν ἀχαριστίαν, ἀνέχομαι τῆς παρανομίας, ἀναμένω τὴν μεταμέλειαν· ἐγὼ γὰρ ὑμᾶς καὶ εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρήγαγον. 5Τίνι με ὡμοιώσατε; Ἴδετε τεχνάσασθε οἱ πλανώμενοι. 6Καὶ οἱ συμβαλλόμενοι χρυσίον ἐκ μαρσίππου καὶ ἀργύριον ἐν ζυγῷ στήσουσιν ἐν σταθμῷ καὶ μισθωσάμενοι χρυσοχόον ἐποίησαν χειροποίητον καὶ κύψαντες προσκυνοῦσιν αὐτό. 7Αἴρουσιν αὐτὸ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὤμου, καὶ πορεύεται· ἐὰν δὲ θῶσιν αὐτό, ἐπὶ τοῦ τόπου μένει, οὐ μὴ κινηθῇ· καὶ ὃς ἐὰν βοήσῃ πρὸς αὐτόν, οὐ μὴ εἰσακούσῃ, ἀπὸ κακῶν οὐ μὴ σώσῃ αὐτόν. Σαφῶς τῶν εἰδώλων ἐκωμῴδησε τὴν ἀσθέ ν ειαν. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ τῆς ἐκ ξύλων δημιουργίας ἐν τοῖς πρόσθεν ἐμνήσθη, ἡ δὲ τοῦ χρυσοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἀ ργύρου ὕλη τιμιωτέρα τῶν ξύλων, πολλοὶ δὲ τῇ ὕλῃ προσέχοντες πλείονα τιμὴν προσέφερον τοῖς χρυσ οῖς καὶ ἀργυροῖς θεοῖς, ἀναγκαίως καὶ περὶ τούτων διδάσκει ὡς χρυσὸν καὶ ἄργυρον ἐξ ἐράνου συ νά γοντες καὶ χρυσοχόον μισθούμενοι καὶ σταθμῷ τοῦτον παραδιδόντες τὸν ὑπὸ τούτου τεκταινόμ ενον ἀνδριάντα θεοποιοῦσιν, ὃς ἀλλοτρίοις μὲν χρῆται ποσίν, εἰ δὲ τούτων ἀπορήσοι, ἀκίνητος μένει, φέρει δὲ τοῖς προσκυνοῦσιν οὐδεμίαν βοήθειαν. Μετὰ τοῦτον τὸν ἔλεγχον εἰσφέρει παραίνεσιν· 8Μνή σθητε |158 b| ταῦτα καὶ στενάξατε, μετανοήσατε οἱ πεπλανημένοι, ἐπιστρέψατε τῇ καρδίᾳ 9καὶ μνήσθητε τὰ πρότερα ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος, ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεὸς καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν ἐμοῦ, 10ἀναγγέλλων πρότερον τὰ ἔσχατα πρὶν αὐτὰ γενέσθαι, καὶ ἅμα συνετελέσθη. ∆ιὰ τῶν ἤδη παρ' ἐμοῦ γεγενημένων μάθετε ὡς μόνος εἰμὶ θεός· ἐγὼ γὰρ καὶ πρὸ πολλῶν γενεῶν τὰ ἐσόμενα προλέγω καὶ πληρῶ ἃ προλέγω. Καὶ εἶπον· Πᾶσά μου ἡ βουλὴ στήσεται, καὶ πάντα ὅσα βεβούλευμαι ποιήσω· 11καλῶ<ν> ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν πετεινὸν καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς πόρρωθεν περὶ ὧν