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I have taken these, and I will take all the principalities.” Because of the multitude of the iniquities of the people, the Assyrians are brought against them; not because of their own righteousness, but because of the surpassing injustice of the people. But yet even these (not understanding that they have been given as an instructive scourge against the people transgressing the divine laws, but glorifying themselves, as if possessing some power) are declared wretched by the Word; Woe to you, Assyrians, who are the rod of my anger, you are an instrument of punishment; you do not act by your own power, but by the energy of the One who moves you, you are brought against those worthy to be crushed. And anger (he says) is in their hands. Here he clearly calls chastisement anger, as also the psalmist: Neither in thy anger, chastise me. The chastisement of Israel is therefore in the hands of the Assyrians. I will send my anger against a lawless nation. I will bring punishment upon the people who do not endure living according to the law ordained for them. And against my people I will give a command to take spoil. Because of his love for mankind, the good God still calls the transgressing people his own. For because he transgressed, He sends his anger; but since He once chose him because of the election of the fathers, He does not deny his relationship with him. Therefore I command (he says) to take spoil and plunder and to trample the cities and turn them to dust; so that we may know that all the grim things we suffer, we endure from the divine command. For he does not allow us to be given over to the wicked and punishing powers, but he himself sets the measures of the punishments, considering the strength of those being healed. Spoil, then, is what is on the dead, those who have fallen in war, whether weapons, or clothing, or any other adornment; and plunder is the distribution of the spoils, being distributed according to the merit of the victors. The Assyrians therefore were commanded to despoil Israel and to plunder and to trample its cities and turn them to dust. 10.236 But he did not so conceive it, nor did he so reckon in his soul; but his mind was exalted, not as if the people were delivered to him on account of their sins, but being lifted up in his mind and having removed the true account from his own thought, he thinks he is able to destroy not a few nations. And, since his subjects, flattering and fawning upon him, say: You alone are ruler, as if speaking ironically to them, he says: I have not taken the country above Babylon and Calneh. I have not yet (he says) become lord of all; the country above Babylon and Calneh, Where the tower was built, escapes my rule. He means, then, that ancient tower, which they built in the plain of Shinar, saying: Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower, before we are scattered from one another, whose top will be to heaven. The name of Calneh is not common in the usage of Scripture; but we conjecture it to be situated somewhere around Babylonia, since Babylon is eponymous with the confusion of tongues, which the Lord confused, breaking their accord toward evil. For Scripture says, that the name of that place was called Confusion, but in Hebrew, Babel. But I have taken (he says) Arabia and Damascus and Samaria. In the way I have taken these, I will also take all the principalities. Since, therefore, he took it upon himself to be able to make all cities subject, and did not understand that he prevailed over men not through his own power, but prevailed through the economy of God who chastises sinners, for this reason the prophetic word deems him worthy of lamentation. 10.237 Wail, O carved images in Jerusalem and in Samaria. For as I have done to Samaria and its man-made things, so will I do to Jerusalem and its idols. How shall carved images wail, which are of wood and stone, or some other material, which art shapes into images of men, or of irrational four-footed animals, or of birds, or even of reptiles, such as those of the Egyptians are

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ταύτας ἔλαβον, καὶ πάσας τὰς ἀρχὰς λήψομαι». ∆ιὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀνομιῶν τοῦ λαοῦ, Ἀσσύριοι αὐτοῖς ἐπάγονται· οὐ διὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν δικαιοσύνην, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ὑπερ βάλλουσαν τοῦ λαοῦ ἀδικίαν. Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ οὗτοι (μὴ νοοῦν τες ὅτι ἀντὶ μάστιγος παιδευτικῆς κατὰ τοῦ τὰ θεῖα νόμιμα παραβαίνοντος λαοῦ δέδονται, ἀλλ' ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς, ὡς δή τινα δύναμιν κεκτημένοις, μεγαλυνόμενοι) ταλανίζονται παρὰ τοῦ λόγου· Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, Ἀσσύριοι, οἵτινες ῥάβδος ἐστὲ τοῦ θυμοῦ μου, ὄργανον κολαστικόν ἐστε· οὐκ οἰκείᾳ δυνάμει ποιεῖτε, ἀλλὰ τῇ τοῦ Κινοῦντος ἐνεργείᾳ τοῖς ἀξίοις τοῦ συντριβῆναι ἐπάγεσθε. Καὶ ὀργὴ (φησὶν) ἐστὶν ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτῶν. Τὴν παίδευσιν ἐνταῦθα φανερῶς ὀργὴν ὀνομάζει, ὡς καὶ ὁ ψαλ μῳδός· Μηδὲ τῇ ὀργῇ σου, παιδεύσῃς με. Παίδευσις οὖν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐν ταῖς χερσίν ἐστι τῶν Ἀσσυρίων. Τὴν ὀργήν μου εἰς ἔθνος ἄνομον ἀποστελῶ. Τὴν κόλασιν τῷ μὴ κατὰ τὸν νόμον, τὸν διατεταγμένον αὐτῷ βιοῦν ἀνεχομένῳ λαῷ, ἐπάξω. Καὶ τῷ ἐμῷ λαῷ συντάξω ποιῆσαι σκῦλα. ∆ιὰ τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν ἔτι ἴδιον ὀνομάζει λαὸν τὸν ἀνομήσαντα ὁ ἀγαθὸς Θεός. Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ἠνόμησε, τὴν ὀργὴν ἀποστέλλει· ἐπεὶ δὲ αὐτὸν ἅπαξ εἵλετο διὰ τὴν ἐκλογὴν τῶν πατέρων, οὐκ ἀπαρνεῖται αὐτοῦ τὴν οἰκείωσιν. Συντάσσω οὖν (φησὶ) ποιῆσαι σκῦλα καὶ προνομὴν καὶ καταπατεῖν τὰς πό λεις καὶ θεῖναι αὐτὰς εἰς κονιορτόν· ἵνα εἰδῶμεν, ὅτι πάντα ὅσα πάσχομεν σκυθρωπὰ, ἐκ τῆς θείας διαταγῆς ὑπομένομεν. Οὐκ ἐᾷ γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἐκδότους ταῖς πονηραῖς καὶ κολαστι καῖς δυνάμεσιν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς τὰ μέτρα ὁρίζει τῶν κολάσεων, στοχαζόμενος τῆς δυνάμεως τῶν θεραπευομένων. Σκῦλα μὲν οὖν ἐστι τὰ τοῖς νεκροῖς, τοῖς πεσοῦσιν ἐν πολέμῳ περικείμενα, εἴτε ὅπλα, εἴτε ἐσθὴς, εἴτε τις ἕτερος κόσμος· προνομὴ δὲ, ἡ διανομὴ τῶν λαφύρων, κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν τῶν κεκρατηκότων διανεμομένη. Ἐκελεύσθησαν οὖν οἱ Ἀσσύριοι σκυλεῦσαι τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ προνομεῦσαι καὶ καταπατῆσαι αὐτοῦ τὰς πόλεις καὶ θεῖναι εἰς κονιορτόν. 10.236 Αὐτὸς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἐνεθυμήθη, καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ οὐχ οὕτω λελόγισται· ἀλλ' ὑπερήρθη τῇ διανοίᾳ, οὐχ ὡς διὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα τοῦ λαοῦ παραδοθέντος αὐτῷ, ἀλλ' ἐπαρθεὶς τῇ διανοίᾳ καὶ ἀπαλλάξας ἀπὸ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἐννοίας τὸν ἀληθῆ λόγον, οἴεται δυνατὸς εἶναι τοῦ ἔθνη ἐξολοθρεύειν οὐκ ὀλίγα. Καὶ, ἐπειδὴ κολακεύοντες αὐτὸν καὶ θωπεύοντες, οἱ ὑποχείριοι λέγουσι· Σὺ μόνος εἶ ἄρχων, ὥσπερ εἰρωνευόμενος πρὸς αὐτοὺς λέγει· Οὐκ ἔλαβον τὴν χώραν τὴν ἐπάνω Βαβυλῶ νος καὶ Χαλάνην. Οὔπω (φησὶ) γέγονα πάντων κύριος· ἐκφεύγει μου τὴν βασιλείαν ἡ χώρα ἡ ἐπάνω Βαβυλῶνος καὶ ἡ Χαλάνη, Οὗ ὁ πύργος ᾠκοδομήθη. Πύργον μὲν οὖν ἐκεῖνον λέγει τὸν ἀρχαῖον, ὃν ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ τῷ Σεναὰρ ᾠκο δόμησαν, εἰπόντες· ∆εῦτε, οἰκοδομήσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς πόλιν καὶ πύργον, πρὸ τοῦ διαχωρισθῆναι ἡμᾶς ἀπ' ἀλλήλων, οὗ ἡ κεφαλὴ ἔσται ἕως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ. Τὸ δὲ τῆς Χαλάνης ὄνομα οὐκ ἐντέτριπται τῇ χρήσει τῆς Γραφῆς· εἰκάζομεν δὲ περὶ τὴν Βαβυλωνίαν που κεῖσθαι, ἐπειδὴ ἡ Βαβυλῶν ἐστιν ἐπώ νυμος τῇ συγχύσει τῶν γλωσσῶν, ἃς συνέχεεν ὁ Κύριος, τὴν πρὸς τὸ κακὸν συμφωνίαν διασπῶν. Φησὶ γὰρ ἡ Γραφὴ, ὅτι ἐκλήθη τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ τόπου ἐκείνου σύγχυσις, Ἑβραϊστὶ δὲ Βαβέλ. Ἔλαβον δὲ (φησὶν) Ἀραβίαν καὶ ∆αμασκὸν καὶ Σαμά ρειαν. Ὃν τρόπον ταύτας ἔλαβον, καὶ πάσας τὰς ἀρχὰς λήψομαι. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἑαυτῷ ἔλαβε τὸ πάσας δύνασθαι ὑπο χειρίους ποιεῖν τὰς πόλεις, καὶ οὐ συνῆκεν ὅτι ἀνθρώπων ἐκράτησεν οὐ δι' οἰκείαν δύναμιν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ παιδεύοντος τοὺς ἡμαρτηκότας Θεοῦ περιεγένετο, τούτου ἕνεκεν θρήνου αὐτὸν ἄξιον ὁ προφητικὸς τίθεται λόγος. 10.237 Ὀλολύξατε, τὰ γλυπτὰ ἐν Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ἐν Σαμαρείᾳ. Ὃν τρόπον γὰρ ἐποίησα Σαμαρείᾳ καὶ τοῖς χειρο ποιήτοις αὐτῆς, οὕτω ποιήσω τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τοῖς εἰ δώλοις αὐτῆς. Πῶς ὀλολύξει γλυπτὰ, ἃ ἐκ ξύλου καὶ λίθου, ἤ τινος ἄλλης ὕλης ἐστὶ, μορφούσης αὐτὰ τῆς τέχνης εἰς ἀνθρώ πων εἰκόνας, ἢ ζώων ἀλόγων τετραπόδων, ἢ πτηνῶν, ἢ καὶ ἑρπετῶν, οἷα τὰ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἐστὶν