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the deprivation of the kingdom, and childlessness, the alienation of her subjects; and she endured both at the same time. Stand now in your abundant sorcery, in the great power of your incantations, 10in the great hope of your fornication. For you said: I am, and there is no other. Some of the copies have not "fornication" but "wickedness," and so also those around Aquila have interpreted. And "fornication" accuses their great intemperance. And the divine Daniel also makes mention of these incantations and sorceries. But know that the understanding of these things and your wickedness will be to your shame. And you said in your heart: I am and there is no other. 11And destruction will come upon you, and you will not know it. Suddenly, he says, you will receive ruin and be ensnared by unexpected evils. A pit, and you will fall into it, and hardship will come upon you, and you will not be able to become clean. But Symmachus and Aquila interpreted this thus: "And a calamity will befall you which you will not be able to atone for," that is: I will surround you with inescapable evils, and you will not obtain pardon, for you have sinned beyond pardon. And destruction will suddenly come upon you and you will not know it. For she did not hope for a change nor did she expect the alteration of affairs. 12Stand now in your incantations and in your abundant sorcery which you learned from your youth, if you will be able to be helped and if somehow you will be able to be strong. The prophetic word says these things to her ironically: Use your usual witchcraft, use your customary incantations, it is likely you will escape the evils that have surrounded you. Then he rebukes the vanity of these things: 13You have grown weary in your counsels. Let them stand now and save you, the astrologers of heaven who gaze at the stars, let them announce to you what is about to come upon you. After the enchanters and the sorcerers, he rebukes the folly of the horoscope-casters. 14Behold, they all will be burned up like brushwood by fire, both the deceivers and the deceived. And they will not deliver their soul from the flame. Those who boastfully foretell the future for others will not free themselves from the flame of the enemies. Because you have coals of fire to sit upon them. Instead of: You yourself kindled the flame through your impiety and your great lawlessness. Then by way of a question: 15Will these be a help to you? Will those, he says, who are unable to help themselves, the enchanters and horoscope-casters and sorcerers, deliver you from the coming calamities? You have grown weary in your merchandise from your youth. He calls merchandise `metabolē`; and so also the Three interpreted: "Your merchants have grown weary from youth." And he addressed the same men as merchants. From the beginning, he says, and from the start until the final destruction itself |159 b| you continued using these men as counselors and helpers. A man has gone astray on his own, but for you there will be no salvation. There are, he says, even in other nations those who choose a lawless law, but not all embrace this way of life; but you pursued lawlessness as law and you practiced the utmost impiety as the highest piety; for which reason you will not enjoy salvation. But may we reap salvation from their punishment, and may their destruction become for us a source of benefit. For seeing what the rewards of wickedness are and walking the opposite way of life and having our hope in the God of all as a sacred anchor, we will both attain his care in the present life and in the future we will enjoy eternal good things by the grace of our savior Christ, with whom to the Father be glory with the all-holy Spirit now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. 15 TOME 15 481 Hear these things, O house of Jacob, and you who are called by the name of Israel and have come forth from the water of Judah. He testified to them their kinship according to the flesh with Jacob and Israel and Judah through the things said; for he said they are called by the name of Israel, not that they have his faith; and the house of Jacob, not the heir of piety; and from the water, but not from the mind of Judah

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τῆς βασιλείας τὴν στέρησιν, ἀτεκνίαν δὲ τῶν ὑπηκόων τὴν ἀλλοτρίωσιν· ἀμφότερα δὲ κατὰ ταὐτὸν ὑπέμεινεν. Στῆθι νῦν ἐν τῇ πολλῇ σου φαρμακείᾳ, ἐν τῇ ἰσχύι τῶν ἐπαοιδῶν σου σφόδρα, 10ἐν τῇ ἐλπίδι τῆς πορνείας σου σφόδρα. Σὺ γὰρ εἶπας· Ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἑτέρα. Ἔνια τῶν ἀντιγράφων οὐ πορνείαν ἀλλὰ «πονηρίαν» ἔχει, οὕτω δὲ καὶ οἱ περὶ τὸν Ἀκύλαν ἡρμήνευσαν. Καὶ ἡ πορνεία δὲ τῆς πολλῆς αὐτῶν ἀκολασίας κατηγορεῖ. Τούτων δὲ τῶν ἐπαοιδῶν καὶ φαρμακῶν καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος μέμνηται ∆ανιήλ. Γνῶθι δὲ ὅτι ἡ σύνεσις τούτων καὶ ἡ πονηρία σου ἔσται σοι εἰς αἰσχύνην. Καὶ εἶπας ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου· Ἐγώ εἰμι καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἑτέρα. 11Καὶ ἥξει ἐπὶ σὲ ἀπώλεια, καὶ οὐ μὴ γνῷς. Ἐξαίφνης φησὶ τὸν ὄλεθρον δέξῃ καὶ ἀπροσδοκ ήτοις περιπαρήσῃ κακοῖς. Βόθυνος καὶ ἐμπεσῇ εἰς αὐτόν, καὶ ἥξει ἐπὶ σὲ ταλαιπωρία, καὶ οὐ δυνήσῃ καθαρὰ γενέσθαι. Ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος καὶ ὁ Ἀκύλας τοῦτο οὕτως ἡρμήνευσαν· «Καὶ ἐπιπεσεῖται σοὶ συμφορὰ ἣ<ν> οὐ δυνήσῃ ἐξιλάσασθαι», τουτέστιν· Ἀφύκτοις σε περιβαλῶ κακοῖς, καὶ οὐ τεύξῃ συγγνώμης, πέρα γὰρ συγγνώμης ἐξήμαρτες. Καὶ ἥξει ἐπὶ σὲ ἐξάπινα ἀπώλεια καὶ οὐ γνώσῃ. Οὐ γὰρ ἤλπισε μετα βολὴν οὐδὲ προσεδέχετο τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων ἐναλλαγήν. 12Στῆθι νῦν ἐν ταῖς ἐπαοιδαῖς σου καὶ ἐν τῇ πολλῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἃ ἐμάνθανες ἐκ νεότητός σου, εἰ δυνήσῃ ὠφεληθῆναι καὶ εἴ πως δυνήσῃ ἰσχῦσαι. Εἰρωνικῶς ταῦτα ὁ προφητικὸς αὐτῇ λέγει λόγος· Χρῆσαι τῇ συνήθει γοητείᾳ, χρῆσαι ταῖς ἐξ ἔθους ἐπῳδαῖς, εἰκός σε διαφυγεῖν τὰ περιστοιχίσαντά σε κακά. Εἶτα τὸ τούτων μάται ον ἐλέγχει · 13Κεκοπίακας ἐν ταῖς βουλαῖς σου. Στήτωσαν δὴ καὶ σωσάτωσάν σε οἱ ἀστρολόγοι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οἱ ὁρῶντες τοὺς ἀστέρας, ἀναγγειλάτωσάν σοι τί μέλλει ἐπὶ σὲ ἔρχεσθαι. Μετὰ τοὺς ἐπαοιδοὺς καὶ τοὺς γόητας τὴν τῶν γενεθλιαλόγων ἄνοιαν ἐξελέγχει. 14Ἰδοὺ πάντες ὡς φρύγανα ὑπὸ πυρὸς οὕτως κατακαυθήσονται, καὶ οἱ ἐξαπατῶντες καὶ οἱ ἐξαπατώμενοι. Καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐξέλωνται τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῶν ἐκ φλογός. Οἱ τοῖς ἄλλοις προλέγειν τὰ ἐσόμενα νεανιευόμενοι σφᾶς αὐτοὺς τῆς τῶν πολεμίων οὐκ ἐλευθερώσουσι φλογός. Ὅτι ἔχεις ἄνθρακας πυρὸς καθίςαι ἐπ' αὐτούς. Ἀντὶ τοῦ· Σὺ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἐξῆψας τὴν φλόγα διὰ τῆς ἀσεβείας καὶ τῆς πολλῆς παρα νομίας σου . Εἶτα κατ' ἐρώτησιν· 15Οὗτοι ἔσονταί σοι βοήθεια; Οἵ φησιν ἑαυτοῖς ἐπικουρεῖν μὴ δυν άμενοι ἐ πῳδοὶ καὶ γενεθλια λόγοι καὶ γόητες σὲ τῶν ἐπερχομένων ἀπαλλάξουσι συμ φο ρῶν ; Ἐκοπίασας ἐν τῇ μεταβολῇ σου ἐκ νεότητος. Μεταβολὴν τὴν ἐμπορίαν καλεῖ· οὕτω δὲ καὶ οἱ Τρεῖς ἡρμήνευσαν· «Ἐκοπίασαν οἱ ἔμποροί σου ἀπὸ νεότητος.» Ἐμπόρ ους δὲ το ὺς αὐτοὺς προσηγόρευσεν. Ἄνωθέν φησι καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἕως αὐτῆς τῆς πανωλεθρίας το ύτοις |159 b| διε τέλεσας κεχρημένη συμβούλοις καὶ ἐπικούροις. Ἄνθρωπος καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἐπλανήθη, σοὶ δὲ οὐκ ἔσται σωτηρία. Εἰσὶ μέν φησι καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔθνεσι παράνομον αἱρούμενοι νόμον, ἀλλ' οὐ ταύτην ἅπαντες τὴν πολιτείαν ἀσπάζονται· σὺ δὲ νόμῳ τὴν παρανομίαν μετῄεις καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην ἀσέβειαν ἐπετήδευες ὡς ἄκραν εὐσέβειαν· οὗ δὴ χάριν σωτηρίας οὐκ ἀπολαύσῃ. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐκ τῆς τούτων τιμωρίας καρπωσώμεθα σωτη ρίαν, καὶ γένοιτο ἡμῖν ὁ τούτων ὄλεθρος πρόξενος ὠφελείας. Ὁρῶντες γὰρ οἷ<α> τῆς κακίας τἀπίχειρα καὶ τὴν ἐναντίαν ὁδεύοντες πολιτείαν καὶ καθάπερ ἄγκυραν ἱερὰν τὴν εἰς τὸν <τῶν> ὅλων θεὸν ἐλπίδα ἔχοντες, καὶ κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον τῆς αὐτοῦ κηδεμονίας τευξόμεθα καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι τῶν αἰωνίων ἀπολαύσομεν ἀγαθῶν χάριτι τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ πατρὶ ἡ δόξα σὺν τῷ παναγίῳ πνεύματι νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. 15 ΤΟΜΟΣ ΙΕʹ 481 Ἀκούσατε ταῦτα οἶκος Ἰακὼβ καὶ οἱ κεκλημένοι ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐξ ὕδατος Ἰούδα ἐξελθόντες. Τὴν κατὰ σάρκα συγγένειαν αὐτοῖς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ καὶ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων προσεμαρτύρησεν· κεκλῆσθαι γὰρ αὐ τοὺς εἶπεν ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰσραήλ, οὐ τὴν ἐκείνου πίστιν ἔχειν· καὶ οἶκον Ἰακώβ, οὐκ εὐσεβείας κλη ρονόμον· καὶ ἐξ ὕδατος, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐκ φρονήματος Ἰούδα