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he seized those who had become spoils of the devil and deemed them worthy of salvation. Therefore, he says, all will know that I, the Mighty One of Jacob, have done these things, who led the descendants of Jacob out of Egypt, who parted the Red Sea, who worked countless wonders. “For I,” he says, “am God, the first, and I am in the things to come.” Let us praise him; for he deemed us worthy of salvation, he freed us from our former error, he also promised us the kingdom of heaven, which may we enjoy by his grace who saved us, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 16 TOME 18 501Thus says the Lord: What is the bill of your mother's divorce, with which I sent her away? He foretells the final siege and the last desolation of the temple which they endured when the Romans campaigned against them. And they were completely stripped of divine providence, having crucified the master. He again uses personification, calling himself a man, the city a woman, and them no longer his sons but hers; and he names a bill of divorce, which many are accustomed to call a *repudium*. Search, he says, and learn the cause of the separation. Or to whom was I in debt that I sold you? Did I sell you because I owed a debt, which some are accustomed to do when they cannot pay from other sources? Having said these things in the form of a question, he himself teaches the causes: Behold, for your sins you were sold, and for your iniquities I sent your mother away. Because of your impiety and lawlessness your mother, that is, the city and the temple, endured desolation, and you, stripped of my care, are slaves to the Romans. And he teaches the type of lawlessness: 2Because I came and there was no man, I called and there was no one who would listen. I endured you many times when you believed in idols, having committed countless other lawless acts; but what has now been dared by you has no pardon, and is irreparable and incurable. For no longer did I work through the prophets, but taking the form of a servant, I lived among you as a man, and though I often called and exhorted you, I did not persuade you. The history of the divine gospels also bears witness to these things; for Jesus, it says, cried out and said: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink,” and again: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” and the divine evangelists teach us many other such things. Thus, therefore, the prophetic word has taught us that the madness against the master brought upon them the final, utter destruction. Then again as a question: Does my hand not have power to rescue? Or do I not have power to deliver? Do you suppose, he says, that I was defeated by the enemies through weakness? Is it not for anyone to see how easy and simple it was for me to show you to be stronger than all? Then he reminds them of the things that have been done by him: Behold, at my rebuke I will make the sea desolate and I will make rivers a desert, and their fish will be dried up from there being no water and they will perish in thirst. But Symmachus has set these things down as having already happened: “Behold, at my rebuke I dried up the sea, I made rivers a desert, and their fish rotted from there being no water.” The God of all did these things when he freed them from Egyptian bondage; for then he both parted the Red Sea and cut off the Jordan river and showed the fish found along the passage to be dead, as having been stripped of their nourishing waters. |164 a| But if these things should be understood as referring to a future time, according to the Seventy, it will in no way harm the meaning; for he teaches from the greater things that he will also be able to do the lesser things; for it is easy for me, he says, both to dry up the sea and to make the streams of the rivers disappear, and it was much easier than these things to destroy the army that came against you. 3I will clothe the heaven with darkness and make its covering like sackcloth. This he has both done and will do. He did it when he was crucified; “For from the sixth hour until

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σκῦλα τοῦ διαβόλου γεγενημένους ἥρπασε καὶ τῆς σωτηρίας ἠξίωσεν. Γνώσονται τοίνυν φησὶν ἅπαντες ὅτι ἐγὼ ταῦτα εἰργασάμην ὁ δυνάστης τοῦ Ἰακώβ, ὁ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου τοῦ Ἰακὼβ τοὺς ἀπογόνους ἐξ αγαγών, ὁ τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν Θάλατταν διελών, ὁ τὰ μυρία θαύματα ἐργασάμενος. «Ἐγὼ» γάρ εἰμί φησι «θεὸς πρῶτος καὶ εἰς τὰ ἐπερχόμενα ἐγώ εἰμι.» Τοῦτον ἡμεῖς ὑμνήσωμεν· οὗτος γὰρ ἡμᾶς τῆς σωτηρίας ἠξίωσεν, οὗτος ἡμᾶς τῆς προτέρας ἠλευθέρωσε πλάνης, οὗτος ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν τῶν οὐραν ῶν ὑπέσχετο βασιλείαν, ἧς ἡμᾶς ἀπολαῦσαι γένοιτο αὐτοῦ χάριτι τοῦ σεσωκότος, ᾧ πρέπει δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων· Ἀμήν. 16 ΤΟΜΟΣ Ιῃʹ 501Οὕτως λέγει κύριος· Ποῖον τὸ βιβλίον τοῦ ἀποστασίου τῆς μητρὸς ὑμῶν, ἐν ᾧ ἐξαπέστειλα αὐτήν; Τὴν τελευταίαν πολιορκίαν προλέγει καὶ τὴν ἐσχάτην τοῦ ναοῦ ἐρημίαν ἣν Ῥωμαίων αὐτοῖς ἐπιστρατευσάντων ὑπέμειναν. Καὶ παντελῶς τῆς θείας ἐγυμνώθησαν προμηθείας τὸν δεσπότην ἐσταυρω κότες. Κέχρηται δὲ πάλιν προσωποποιίᾳ καὶ ἑαυτὸν μὲν ἄνδρα καλεῖ, τὴν δὲ πόλιν γυναῖκα, αὐτοὺς δὲ υἱοὺς οὐκέτι αὐτοῦ ἀλλ' ἐκείνης· βιβλίον δὲ ἀποστασίου, ὃ καλεῖν εἰώθασιν οἱ πολλοὶ ῥεπούδιον, ὀνομάζει. Ἐρευνή σα τέ φησι καὶ μάθετε τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ χωρισμοῦ. Ἢ τίνι ὑπόχρεως ὢν πέπρακα ὑμᾶς; Ἆρα χρέ ος ὀφείλων ἀπεδόμην ὑμᾶς, ὅπερ τινὲς ποιεῖν εἰώθασιν ἑτέρωθεν ἐκτῖσαι οὐ δ υνάμενοι; Ταῦτα κατ' ἐρώτησιν εἰρηκὼς διδάσκει αὐτὸς τὰς αἰτίας· Ἰδοὺ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν ἐπράθητε καὶ ταῖς ἀνομίαις ὑμῶν ἐξαπέστειλα τὴν μητέρα ὑμῶν. ∆ιὰ τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀσέβειαν καὶ παρανομίαν καὶ ἡ ὑμετέρα μήτηρ, τουτέστιν ἡ πόλις καὶ ὁ νεώς, τὴν ἐρημίαν ὑπέμειναν, καὶ ὑμεῖς τῆς ἐμῆς γυμνωθέντες κηδεμονίας Ῥωμαίοις δουλεύετε. ∆ι δάσκει δὲ τῆς παρανομίας τὸ εἶδος· 2∆ιότι ἦλθον καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἄνθρωπος, ἐκάλεσα καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ ὑπακουσόμενος. Ἤνεγκα πολλάκις ὑμᾶς εἰδώλοις πεπιστευκότας, μυρία ἕτερα παράνομα δεδρακότας· ἀλλὰ τὸ νῦν ὑφ' ὑμῶν τολμηθὲν οὐδεμίαν ἔχει συγγνώμην, ἀνήκεστον δέ ἐστι καὶ ἀνίατον. Οὐκέτι γὰρ διὰ τῶν προφητῶν εἰργασάμην ἀλλὰ καὶ δούλου μορφὴν ἀναλαβὼν συνεπολιτευσάμην ὑμῖν ὡς ἄνθρωπος καὶ πολλάκις ὑμᾶς καλέσας καὶ παρακαλέσας οὐκ ἔπεισα. Μαρτυρεῖ τούτοις καὶ τῶν θείων εὐαγγελίων ἡ ἱστορία· Ἰησοῦς γάρ φησιν ἔκραξε καὶ ἔλεγεν· «Εἴ τις διψᾷ, ἐρχέςθω πρός με καὶ πινέτω», καὶ πάλιν· «∆εῦτε πρός με πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς», καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἕτερα οἱ θεῖοι διδά σκουσιν ἡμᾶς εὐαγγελισταί. Οὕτω τοι γαροῦν ἡμᾶς ὁ προφητικὸς ἐδίδαξε λόγος ὡς τὴν ἐσχάτην αὐτοῖς πανω λεθρίαν ἡ κατὰ τοῦ δεσ πότου μανία προὐξένησεν. Εἶτα πάλιν κατ' ἐρώτησιν· Μὴ οὐκ ἰσχύει ἡ χείρ μου τοῦ ῥύσασθαι; ἢ οὐκ ἰσχύω τοῦ ἐξελέσθαι; Ὑπολαμβά νετέ μέ φησι δι' ἀσθένειαν ἡττηθῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν πολεμίων; Οὐκ ἔστιν οὐ δενὶ συνιδεῖν ὡς ῥᾴδιον ἦν μοι καὶ εὐπετὲς πάντων ὑμᾶς ἀποφῆναι κρείττους; Ἔπειτα αὐτοὺς τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γεγενημένων ἀναμιμ νῄσκει· Ἰδοὺ τῷ ἐλεγμῷ μου ἐξερημώσω τὴν θάλατταν καὶ θήσω ποταμοὺς ἐρήμους, καὶ ξηρανθήσονται οἱ ἰχθύες αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι ὕδωρ καὶ ἀπολοῦνται ἐν δίψει. Ταῦτα δὲ ὁ Σύμμαχος ὡς ἤδη γεγενημένα τέθεικεν· «Ἰδοὺ ἐν τῇ ἐπιτιμήσει μου ἐξήρανα θάλατταν ἐποίησα ποταμοὺς ἔρημον, καὶ ἐσάπησαν οἱ ἰχθύες αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ μὴ εἶναι ὕδωρ.» Ταῦτα δὲ πεποίηκεν ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς τῆς Αἰγυπτίων αὐτοὺς ἀπαλλάξας δουλείας· τότε γὰρ καὶ τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν διεῖλε Θάλατταν καὶ τὸν Ἰορδάνην διέκοψε ποταμὸν καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὸν πόρον εὑρεθέντας ἰχθύας νεκροὺς ἔδειξεν ὡς τῶν τροφίμων γυμνωθέντας ὑδάτων. |164 a| Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ μέλλοντος χρόνου ταῦτα κατὰ τοὺς Ἑβδομήκοντα νοηθείη, οὐδὲν λυμανεῖται τῇ διανοίᾳ· διδάσκει γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν μειζόνων ὅτι καὶ τὰ ἐλάττω ποιῆσαι δυνήσεται· ῥᾴδιον γάρ μοί φησι καὶ τὴν θάλατταν ξηρᾶναι καὶ τῶν ποταμῶν ἀφανίσαι τὰ ῥεύματα, πολλῷ δὲ τούτων ῥᾴδιον ἦν τὴν ἐπελ θοῦσαν ὑμῖν στρατιὰν καταλῦσαι. 3Ἐνδύσω τὸν οὐρανὸν σκότος καὶ ὡς σάκκον θήσω τὸ περιβόλαιον αὐτοῦ. Τοῦτο καὶ πεποίηκε καὶ ποιήσει. Πεποίηκε μὲν ἡνίκα ἐσταυρώθη· «Ἀπὸ γὰρ ἕκτης ὥρας ἕως