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For poor men and captives were not wealthy; and it is likely that the neighboring peoples, envying the prosperity of the Jews, hired these nations against them; for that they hindered the building, sometimes deceiving the governors, and sometimes the kings of the Persians, the writing of Ezra is a witness. To these he adds: "And they have come out from the nations, and they all dwell in peace." And from this it is clear that the attack of these nations happened immediately after the return; for it says, that: And they have come out from the nations, and dwell in peace. (9) And you shall come up like a rain 81.1204, and you shall come like a storm and like a cloud, to cover the land; and you shall fall, you, and all those around you, and many nations with you. Expecting one thing, he says, you will suffer another, and hoping for victory, you will be delivered over to destruction. Then it also describes his reasonings. (10-12) Thoughts, it says, will come up into your heart, and you will devise evil schemes, and you will say: I will go up against an unprotected land. I will come against peoples who are at rest, dwelling in a land in peace, in which there is no wall nor doors. Nor bars, to take spoil, and to plunder their plunder, to turn my hand against a desolate land. which has been resettled, against a nation gathered from many peoples, who have made property and substance, dwelling on the navel of the earth. And all these things teach us that it happened after the captivity, when the cities of Judea had neither walls, nor gates, nor bars, according to the prophecy, for which reason the aforementioned nations dared to attack; but the Israelite people had become renowned after the return, having obtained the return by divine action; and just as the exodus from Egypt gave it much renown, so the return from Babylon made them brilliant and conspicuous; for which reason these nations dared to attack them. And let no one think the prophecy improbable, considering the distance between the Scythian nations and Judea. But let him consider that even in our times this nation overran the entire East, and departed after enslaving a great multitude. But as for Phrygians and Galatians, Iberians and Persians, and Ethiopians, it does not say that they march with him as subjects, but as having been variously mixed with him, some having deserted and campaigned willingly, and others having become prisoners of war, and forced to fight with him. To these the divine word also adds a characterization from the perspective of the other nations. (13) For Sheba, it says, and Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their villages will say to you: Are you coming to seize plunder, and to take spoil? You have assembled your people, to take silver and gold, to carry away property and substance, to take great spoil. But Sheba, as I have already said, is an Ethiopian and Indian nation; and Dedan is near Idumea; there is also another, an Ethiopian one; and Tarshish is Carthage. All these nations, it 81.1205 says, seeing your uprising, will know that you have undertaken this campaign out of love for money. (14-10) Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: Thus says Adonai the Lord: Will you not, in that day, when my people Israel are settled in peace, know and be aroused? And you will come from your place from the end of the north, you and many nations with you; all riders of horses, a great assembly, and a mighty force. And will you come up against my people Israel, like a cloud, to cover the land? It shall be in the last days; that is, after the return of Israel; for it also said this above: "When my people Israel are settled in peace, you will know and be aroused." Such also is what was said by the blessed Moses: "I will show them what will be at the end of the days, because it is a perverse generation." And he calls the end of days not the consummation, but the time in which their dispersion occurred. "And I will bring you against my land, that all the nations may know me when I am sanctified in you before

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Οὐδὲ γὰρ ηὐπόρουν χρη μάτων ἄνδρες πένητες καὶ αἰχμάλωτοι· εἰκὸς δὲ καὶ τοὺς πλησιοχώρους, τῇ τῶν Ἰουδαίων εὐπραξίᾳ φθο νοῦντας, ταῦτα κατ' αὐτῶν μισθώσασθαι τὰ ἔθνη· ὅτι γὰρ διεκώλυσαν τὴν οἰκοδομίαν, ποτὲ μὲν τοὺς ὑπάρχους, ποτὲ δὲ τοὺς Περσῶν βασιλέας ἐξαπα τῶντες, μάρτυς ἡ τοῦ Ἔσδρα συγγραφή. Τούτοις ἐπάγει· "Καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐξεληλύθασι, καὶ κατοικοῦσιν ἐπ' εἰρήνης πάντες αὐτοί." Καὶ ἐκ τούτων δῆλον, ὡς εὐθὺς μετὰ τὴν ἐπάνοδον ἡ τῶν ἐθνῶν τούτων ἐγένετο ἔφοδος· λέγει γὰρ, ὅτι· Καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐξεληλύθασι, καὶ κατοι κοῦσιν ἐπ' εἰρήνης. (θʹ.) Καὶ ἀναβήσῃ ὡς ὑε 81.1204 τὸς, καὶ ἥξεις ὡς καταιγὶς καὶ ὡς νεφέλη, καλύψαι τὴν γῆν· καὶ πεσῇ σὺ, καὶ πάντες οἱ περὶ σὲ, καὶ ἔθνη πολλὰ μετὰ σοῦ. Ἕτερα, φησὶ προσδοκῶν, ἕτερα πείσῃ, καὶ ἐλπίζων νίκην ὀλέθρῳ παραδοθείσῃ. Εἶτα αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς διαλογισμοὺς δια γράφει. ιʹ-ιβʹ. Ἀναβήσονται, φησὶ, λογισμοὶ ἐπὶ τὴν καρδίαν σου, καὶ συλλογιῇ πονηροὺς λογι σμοὺς, καὶ ἐρεῖς· Ἀναβήσομαι ἐπὶ γῆν ἀπεῤ ῥιμμένην. Ἥξω ἐπὶ ἡσυχάζοντας λαοὺς ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ κατοικοῦντας γῆν, ἐν ᾗ οὐχ ὑπάρχει τεῖχος οὐδὲ θύραι. Οὐδὲ μοχλοὶ τοῦ σκυλεῦσαι σκῦλα, καὶ προνομεῦσαι προνομὴν αὐτῶν τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι χεῖρά μου ἐπὶ γῆν ἠρημωμένην. ἣ κατῳκίσθη, ἐπὶ ἔθνος συνηγμένον ἀπὸ λαῶν πολλῶν, πεποιηκότες κτῆσιν καὶ ὕπαρξιν κατ οικούντων ἐπὶ τὸν ὀμφαλὸν τῆς γῆς. Καὶ ταῦτα δὲ πάντα διδάσκει ἡμᾶς, ὡς μετὰ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν ἐγένετο, ἡνίκα οὔτε τείχη εἶχον αἱ πόλεις τῆς Ἰου δαίας, οὔτε πύλας, οὔτε μοχλοὺς, κατὰ τὴν προφη τείαν, διὸ καὶ κατεθάῤῥησεν ἐπιστρατεῦσαι τὰ προ ειρημένα ἔθνη· ἐπίσημος δὲ ἐγεγόνει μετὰ τὴν ἐπ άνοδον ὁ Ἰσραηλίτης λαὸς, ἐκ θείας ἐνεργείας τῆς ἐπανόδου τυχών· καὶ καθάπερ ἡ ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἔξοδος πολλὴν αὐτῷ παρέσχε τὴν περιφάνειαν, οὕτως ἡ ἀπὸ Βαβυλῶνος ἐπάνοδος λαμπροὺς αὐτοὺς καὶ περιβλέπτους ἐποίησεν· οὗ χάριν καὶ ἐπιστρατεῦσαι αὐτοῖς ταῦτα τετόλμηκε τὰ ἔθνη. Καὶ μηδεὶς οἰέσθω ἀπίθανον τὴν προφητείαν, λογιζόμενος τὸ μεταξὺ διάστημα τῶν Σκυθικῶν ἐθνῶν, καὶ τῆς Ἰουδαίας. Ἐνθυμείσθω δὲ ὡς καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις χρόνοις πᾶσαν τὴν Ἕω τοῦτο τὸ ἔθνος κατέλαβε, καὶ πλεῖστον πλῆθος ἐξανδραποδίσαν ἀπῆλθε. Φρύγας δὲ καὶ Γα λάτας, Ἴβηράς τε καὶ Πέρσας, καὶ Αἰθίοπας, οὐχ ὡς ὑπακούοντας αὐτῷ λέγει συστρατεύεσθαι, ἀλλ' ὡς διαφόρως ἀναμιγέντας αὐτῷ, καὶ τοὺς μὲν αὐ τομολήσαντας καὶ ἑκοντὶ στρατευσαμένους, τοὺς δὲ δορυαλώτους γενομένους, καὶ συμπολεμεῖν ἀναγκα ζομένους. Τούτοις ὁ θεῖος λόγος καὶ ἠθοποιίαν προσ τίθησιν ἐκ προσώπου τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν. ιγʹ. Σαβὰ γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ ∆αιδὰν, οἱ ἔμποροι Θαρσεῖς, καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ κῶμαι αὐτῶν ἐροῦσι σοι· Ἆρα εἰς προνομὴν τοῦ προνομεῦσαι σὺ ἔρχῃ, καὶ σκυλεῦσαι σκῦλα; Ἐξεκκλησίασας τὸν λαόν σου, τοῦ λαβεῖν ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον, ἀπενέγκασθαι κτῆσιν καὶ ὕπαρξιν, τοῦ σκυ λεῦσαι σκῦλα μεγάλα. Σαβὰ δὲ, ὡς ἤδη ἔφην, ἔθνος ἐστὶν Αἰθιοπικὸν καὶ Ἰνδικόν· ἡ δὲ ∆αιδὰν πλησιόχωρος τῆς Ἰδουμαίας· ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλη Αἰ θιοπική· Θαρσεῖς δὲ ἡ Καρχηδών. Ταῦτα, φη 81.1205 σὶν, ἅπαντα τὰ ἔθνη, ὁρῶντά σου τὴν ἐπανάστασιν, γνώσονται ὅτι χρημάτων ἐρῶν τὴν στρατείαν ἐποιήσω ταύτην. ιδʹ-ιʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο προφήτευσον, υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ εἰπὲ τῷ Γώγ· Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος· Οὐχὶ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ, ἐν τῷ κατοικισθῆναι τὸν λαόν μου τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐπ' εἰρήνης, γνώσῃ καὶ ἐγερθήσῃ; Καὶ ἥξεις ἀπὸ τοῦ τόπου σου ἀπ' ἐσχάτου βοῤῥᾶ, σὺ καὶ πολλὰ ἔθνη μετὰ σοῦ· ἀναβάται ἵππων πάντες, συναγωγὴ μεγάλη, καὶ δύναμις πολλή. Καὶ ἀναβήσῃ ἐπὶ τὸν λαόν μου Ἰσραὴλ, ὡς νεφέλη, καλύψαι γῆν; Ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν ἔσται· τουτέστι, μετὰ τὴν ἐπάνοδον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ἄνω ἔφη· "Ἐν τῷ κατοικισθῆναι τὸν λαόν μου Ἰσραὴλ ἐπ' εἰρήνης, γνώσῃ καὶ ἐγερθήσῃ." Τοιοῦτόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ μακαρίου Μωσέως εἰρημένον· "∆είξω αὐτοῖς, τί ἔσται ἐπ' ἐσχάτῳ τῶν ἡμερῶν, ὅτι γενεὰ ἐξεστραμμένη ἐστίν." Καὶ καλεῖ τὸ ἔσχατον τῶν ἡμερῶν, οὐ τὴν συντέλειαν, ἀλλὰ τὸν καιρὸν, ἐν ᾧ γέγονεν αὐτῶν ἡ διασπορά. "Καὶ ἀνάξω σε ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν μου, ἵνα γνῷ με πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐν τῷ ἁγιασθῆναί με ἐν σοὶ ἐνώπιον