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commands absolutely, and there is no alteration. Since, therefore, Israel from of old became ungrateful and very unthankful, and forsook the truly existing and pre-existing God, who made and benefited him in many parts and in many ways, and completely apostatized from God his savior, he sacrificed his sons and his daughters to demons, and having served and worshipped creation over the creator, saying to the wood and to the stone, "You are my god, you have begotten me," the wretched and stupefied one did not shudder to deny the living and true God who begot him and to forget the God who nourished him. Wherefore, then, God was vexed with him as useless, and turned away completely, saying through David, "And my people did not hear my voice, and Israel did not attend to me, and I sent them away to go according to the practices of their hearts." Likewise also through Zechariah he says, "And I said, I will not shepherd them, but let the dying die and the perishing perish," and the rest. Let each one devour 1.392 the flesh of his neighbor. And so, having shown himself hateful and corrupt and utterly abominable through the most shameful and God-hated practices, he was reasonably and very justly cast down and forsaken in the end, as again the divine Malachi says, "Israel has fallen, and he shall not rise again." Thus also Isaiah says, "Who will have pity on you, Israel, or who will restore you to peace? says the Lord. You will go backward, and I will stretch out my hand, and I will destroy you, and I will scatter you, and I will no longer let you go. And behold, I take and dash you and the city which I gave to you, and I will give you an everlasting reproach and an everlasting dishonor, which will not be forgotten." Therefore, both the great and God-speaking Moses again, and after him the divinely-inspired Ezekiel and Jeremiah, foretelling the terrible and fearful things of this final and last capture, made them very clear and exceedingly plain to all, even to the very unlearned. For Moses in Deuteronomy says, "And the Lord will bring nations against you from afar, from the end of the earth, like the swooping of an eagle, and a nation shameless in countenance, and it will wear you down in all your cities, until your high and strong walls are pulled down, in which you have trusted. And you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, because nothing is left for you in the distress and affliction with which your enemy will afflict you in all your cities. And the delicate and tender woman among you will secretly eat the afterbirth that comes out from between her thighs and the child she bears 1.393 because of the want of all things in that distress and affliction. And you shall be a riddle and a parable and a story to all the nations to which the Lord will lead you away, until he has utterly destroyed you; and you will be left few in number, whereas you were like the stars of heaven for multitude, and you did not listen to the voice of the Lord your God. And it will be, just as the Lord rejoiced over you, to destroy you, and you will be plucked from that good land, and the Lord your God will scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. But even in those nations he will not give you rest, nor shall there be a standing place for the sole of your feet. And the Lord your God will give you there a despairing heart and failing eyes and a wasting soul, and you will be afraid day and night. And in the morning you will say, from the fear of your heart, 'Would that it were evening!' and in the evening you will say, 'Would that it were morning!'" And Ezekiel said, "Thus says the Lord Adonai: Behold, I am against you, Jerusalem, and I will execute judgment in your midst in the sight of the nations, and I will do in you things that I have not done, and I will not do the like of them again. Furthermore, because of all your abominations, for this reason fathers will eat their children in your midst, and children will eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments in you, and I will scatter all the remnant to every wind, because you have defiled my holy things

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προστάγματα πάντως, καὶ ἀλλοίωσις οὐκ ἔστιν. ἐπεὶ οὖν ἀγνώμων καὶ λίαν ἀχάριστος ὁ Ἰσραὴλ ἔκπαλαι γενόμενος, καὶ καταλείψας τὸν ὄντως ὄντα καὶ προόντα θεόν, τὸν ποιήσαντα καὶ εὐεργετήσαντα αὐτὸν πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως, καὶ τέλεον ἀποστὰς ἀπὸ θεοῦ σωτῆρος αὐτοῦ ἔθυσε τοὺς υἱοὺς καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας αὐτοῦ τοῖς δαιμονίοις, καὶ λατρεύσας καὶ προσκυνήσας τῇ κτίσει περὶ τὸν κτίσαντα, λέγων τῷ ξύλῳ καὶ τῷ λίθῳ "θεός μου εἶ, σὺ μὲ γεγέννηκας," οὐκ ἔφριξεν ὁ τάλας καὶ ἀπόπληκτος ἀπαρνήσασθαι τὸν γεννήσαντα αὐτὸν θεὸν ζῶντα καὶ ἀληθινὸν καὶ ἐπιλαθέσθαι τοῦ τρέφοντος αὐτὸν θεοῦ. διὸ δὴ λοιπὸν ὡς ἄχρηστον προσώχθισεν αὐτῷ ὁ θεός, καὶ ἀπεστράφη παντελῶς, διὰ τοῦ μὲν ∆αβὶδ φάσκων "καὶ οὐκ ἤκουσεν ὁ λαός μου τῆς φωνῆς μου, καὶ Ἰσραὴλ οὐ προσέσχε μοι, καὶ ἐξαπέστειλα αὐτοὺς κατὰ τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα τῶν καρδιῶν αὐτῶν πορεύεσθαι." ὡσαύτως καὶ διὰ Ζαχαρίου φησί "καὶ εἶπον, οὐ ποιμανῶ αὐτούς, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀποθνῆσκον ἀποθνησκέτω καὶ τὸ ἀπολλύμενον ἀπολλυέσθω" καὶ τὰ λοιπά. κατεσθιέτω ἕκαστος 1.392 τὰς σάρκας τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ. καὶ οὕτω μισητὸν καὶ διεφθαρ μένον καὶ εἰς ἅπαν ἐβδελυγμένον διὰ τῶν αἰσχίστων καὶ θεοστυ γῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἑαυτὸν ἀποφήνας εἰκότως εὖ μάλα δικαίως εἰς τέλος κατεβλήθη καὶ ἀπελείφθη, καθὼς πάλιν ὁ θεῖος Μαλαχίας φησίν "ἔπεσεν Ἰσραήλ, καὶ οὐ μὴ προσθήσει τοῦ ἀναστῆναι." οὕτω καὶ ὁ Ἠσαΐας φάσκει "τίς φείσεται ἐπὶ σοὶ Ἰσραήλ, ἢ τίς ἀνακάμψει σε εἰς εἰρήνην; λέγει κύριος. ὀπίσω πορεύσῃ, καὶ ἐκτενῶ τὴν χεῖρά μου, καὶ διαφθερῶ σε, καὶ διασπερῶ σε, καὶ οὐκέτι ἀνήσω σε. καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ λαμβάνω καὶ ῥάσσω ὑμᾶς καὶ τὴν πόλιν ἣν ἔδωκα ὑμῖν, καὶ δώσω ὑμῖν ὀνειδισμὸν αἰώνιον καὶ ἀτιμίαν αἰώνιον, ἥτις οὐκ ἐπιλησθήσεται." τῆς τοίνυν ἐσχάτης ἁλώσεως ταύτης καὶ τελευταίας τὰ δεινὰ καὶ φοβερὰ προδιαγο ρεύοντες ὅ τε μέγας καὶ θεορρήμων πάλιν Μωϋσῆς καὶ οἱ μετ' αὐ τὸν θεηγόροι Ἰεζεκιὴλ καὶ Ἱερεμίας, εὐκρινῆ λίαν καὶ σφόδρα δῆλα τοῖς πᾶσι καὶ τοῖς ἄγαν ἰδιώταις αὐτὰ πεποίηται. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Μωϋσῆς ἐν τῷ ∆ευτερονομίῳ φησί "καὶ ἐπάξει κύριος ἔθνη ἐπί σε μακρόθεν, ἀπ' ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς, ὡσεὶ ὅρμημα ἀετοῦ, καὶ ἔθνος ἀναιδὲς προσώπῳ, καὶ ἐκτρίψει σε ἐν πάσαις ταῖς πόλεσί σου, ἕως ἂν καθαιρεθῶσι τὰ τείχη σου τὰ ὑψηλὰ καὶ ὀχυρά, ἐν οἷς σὺ πέποιθας ἐπ' αὐτοῖς. καὶ φάγῃ τὰ ἔγγονα τῆς κοιλίας σου, κρέα υἱῶν καὶ θυγατέρων σου, διὰ τὸ μὴ καταλελεῖφθαι ὑμῖν μηδὲν ἐν τῇ στενοχωρίᾳ καὶ θλίψει, ᾗ ἂν θλίψῃ σε ὁ ἐχθρός σου ἐν πάσαις ταῖς πόλεσί σου. καὶ ἡ ἁπαλὴ ἐν ὑμῖν καὶ ἡ τρυφερὰ γυνὴ τὸ ἐξελθὸν διὰ τῶν μηρῶν αὐτῆς καὶ τὸ τέκνον ὃ ἂν τέκῃ 1.393 καταφάγεται κρυφῇ διὰ τὴν ἔνδειαν πάντων ἐν τῇ στενοχωρίᾳ ἐκείνῃ καὶ θλίψει. καὶ ἔσῃ ἐν αἰνίγματι καὶ παραβολῇ καὶ ἐν διηγήματι πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, εἰς οὓς ἂν ἀπαγάγῃ σε κύριος, ἕως ἂν ἐξολοθρεύσῃ σε· καὶ καταλειφθήσεσθε ἐν ἀριθμῷ βραχεῖς, ἀνθ' ὧν ὅτι ἦτε ὡς τὰ ἄστρα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τῷ πλήθει, καὶ οὐκ εἰσηκούσατε τῆς φωνῆς κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν. καὶ ἔσται ὃν τρόπον εὐφράνθη κύριος ἐφ' ὑμῖν, ἐξολοθρεῦσαι ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἐξαρθήσεσθε ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγαθῆς γῆς ἐκείνης, καὶ διασπερεῖ σε κύ ριος ὁ θεός σου εἰς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἀπ' ἄκρου τῆς γῆς καὶ ἕως ἄκρου τῆς γῆς. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐκείνοις οὐκ ἀναπαύσει σε, οὐδὲ μὴ γένηται στάσις τῷ ἴχνει τῶν ποδῶν σου. καὶ δώσει σοι κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἐκεῖ καρδίαν ἀθυμοῦσαν καὶ ἐκλείποντας ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ τηκομένην ψυχήν, καὶ φοβηθήσῃ ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός. καὶ ἐρεῖς τὸ πρωῒ ἀπὸ τοῦ φόβου τῆς καρδίας σου, πῶς ἂν γένοιτο ἑσπέρα; καὶ τὸ ἑσπέρας ἐρεῖς, πῶς ἂν γένοιτο τὸ πρωΐ;" ὁ δέ γε Ἰεζεχιὴλ ἔφη "τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ κύριος. ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἐπὶ σέ, Ἱερουσαλήμ, καὶ ποιήσω ἐν μέσῳ σου κρῖμα ἐνώπιον τῶν ἐθνῶν, καὶ ποιήσω ἐν σοὶ ἃ οὐ πεποίηκα, καὶ οὐ μὴ ποιήσω ὅμοια αὐτῶν. ἔτι διὰ τὰ βδελύγματά σου πάντα, διὰ τοῦτο πα τέρες φάγωνται τέκνα αὐτῶν ἐν μέσῳ σου, καὶ πατέρας φάγωνται τέκνα αὐτῶν. καὶ ποιήσω ἐν σοὶ κρίματα, καὶ διασπερῶ πάντας τοὺς καταλοίπους εἰς πάντα ἄνεμον, ἀνθ' ὧν τὰ ἅγιά μου ἐμίανας