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has imitated the manner. For just as they introduced a barren union, not ending in childbearing, so also did God bring a punishment which made the womb of the earth completely barren and destitute of all fruit. For this reason He also threatened to tear down the houses of those who swear, so that by their punishments He might make others more prudent.

3. But today I show you not one or two or three houses torn down because of oaths, but an entire city, and a people beloved of God, and a nation that has always enjoyed much providence, and a tribe that has escaped many dangers. For Jerusalem, the city of God, which had the holy ark and all that worship, where there were prophets and the grace of the Spirit, and the ark, and the tablets of the covenant, and the golden pot, where angels often visited, this city, though ten thousand 49.192 wars occurred and many barbarians invaded it, as if girded with a wall of adamant, thus always laughed at all of them, and when the whole country was destroyed, it suffered nothing terrible. And not only is this wonderful, but that it also often dealt a severe blow to its enemies, and thus sent them away, and it enjoyed so much providence from God, that God Himself said: “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness, and I saw their fathers as the first-ripe fruit on the fig tree.” And again concerning the city itself, “As olive berries on the top of the highest branch,” and they will say, “Do not destroy them.” But nevertheless, the city beloved of God, which had escaped so many dangers, and received forgiveness for many sins, and had been able, when all others were carried away, to escape captivity alone, not just once, but twice, and many times, was brought down by an oath alone; and how, I shall tell you. There was a certain king among them, Zedekiah; this Zedekiah gave an oath to the king of the barbarians, Nebuchadnezzar, to remain in his alliance; after this he rebelled and deserted to the Egyptian king, despising his oaths, and he suffered such things as you will presently hear. But first it is necessary to tell the parable of the prophet, by which he alluded to all these things. “The word of the Lord,” he says, “came to me, saying: ‘Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable,’ and you shall say: ‘Thus says the Lord Adonai: A great eagle with great wings, long in its expanse, full of claws.’” Here he called the king of the Babylonians an eagle, and he said he was great and had great wings, and he named him long in expanse and full of claws, because of the multitude of his army and the greatness of his power and the swiftness of his attack; for just as wings and claws are weapons for an eagle, so are soldiers and horses for kings. “This eagle, therefore,” he says, “had the design to enter into Lebanon.” What is “the design”? A plan, a purpose. And he called Judea “Lebanon” because it lay near that mountain. Then, wishing to speak of the oaths and the treaties, he says, “He took of the seed of the land, and placed it in a fruitful field to take root by much water; he set it as a watched-over thing. And it sprouted, and became a weak vine and small in stature, and it stretched out its branches toward him, and its roots were under him.” And here he called the city of Jerusalem a vine; and to say that it cast its branches toward him, the eagle, and its roots were under him, signified the treaties and the alliance with him, and that it had thrown itself upon him. Then, wishing to show the transgression, he says: “And there was another eagle,” speaking of the Egyptian king, “great and with great wings and many claws, and this vine intertwined itself toward him, and its tendril was toward him, and it sent out its branches that he might water it.” For this reason I said: “Thus says the Lord Adonai: Shall it prosper?”—that is, having broken the oath and the treaties, “shall it be able to remain and be saved, and not

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τὸν τρόπον μεμίμηται. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι μίξιν ἐπεισήγαγον ἄγονον, οὐκ εἰς παιδοποιΐαν τελευτῶσαν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁ Θεὸς τιμωρίαν ἐπήγαγεν, ἣ τὴν γαστέρα τῆς γῆς ἐποίησεν ἄγονον καθάπαξ, καὶ καρπῶν ἔρημον ἁπάντων. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ τῶν ὀμνυόντων τὰς οἰκίας καθαιρεῖν ἠπείλησεν, ἵνα ἑτέρους ταῖς ἐκείνων τιμωρίαις σωφρονεστέρους ποιήσῃ.

γʹ. Ἐγὼ δὲ δείκνυμι σήμερον οὐχὶ μίαν καὶ δύο καὶ τρεῖς καθαιρεθείσας οἰκίας ἀπὸ τῶν ὅρκων, ἀλλὰ πόλιν ὁλόκληρον, καὶ δῆμον θεοφιλῆ, καὶ ἔθνος πολλῆς ἀπολαῦσαν προνοίας ἀεὶ, καὶ φυλὴν πολλοὺς διαφυγοῦσαν κινδύνους. Καὶ γὰρ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἡ πόλις τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἡ τὴν κιβωτὸν τὴν ἁγίαν ἔχουσα καὶ τὴν λατρείαν ἅπασαν ἐκείνην, ἔνθα προφῆται ἦσαν καὶ Πνεύματος χάρις, καὶ κιβωτὸς, καὶ πλάκες διαθήκης, καὶ στάμνος ἡ χρυσῆ, ἔνθα ἄγγελοι πολλάκις ἐφοίτων, αὕτη ἡ πόλις, μυρίων 49.192 γενομένων πολέμων καὶ πολλῶν αὐτὴν ἐπιδραμόντων βαρβάρων, καθάπερ τεῖχος ἐξ ἀδάμαντος περιβεβλημένη, οὕτω πάντων ἀεὶ κατεγέλασεν ἐκείνων, καὶ τῆς χώρας ἀφανισθείσης ἁπάσης οὐδὲν ἔπασχε δεινόν. Καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον ἐστὶ τὸ θαυμαστὸν, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ χαλεπὴν πολλάκις δοῦσα πληγὴν τοῖς πολεμίοις, οὕτως αὐτοὺς ἐξέπεμψε, καὶ τοσαύτης ἀπήλαυσε παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς προνοίας, ὡς αὐτὸν τὸν Θεὸν λέγειν· Ὡς σταφυλὴν ἐν ἐρήμῳ εὗρον τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ὡς σκοπὸν ἐν τῇ συκῇ πρώϊμον εἶδον πατέρας αὐτῶν. Καὶ περὶ τῆς πόλεως αὐτῆς πάλιν, Ὡς ῥῶγες ἐλαίας ἐπ' ἄκρῳ τοῦ μετεώρου, καὶ ἐροῦσι, Μὴ λυμήνῃ αὐτούς. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ φίλη πόλις, καὶ τοσούτους διαφυγοῦσα κινδύνους, καὶ ἐν πολλαῖς ἁμαρτίαις συγγνώμης τυχοῦσα, καὶ δυνηθεῖσα ἁπάντων ἀπαχθέντων τῶν ἄλλων μόνη τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν διαφυγεῖν, καὶ ἅπαξ, καὶ δὶς, καὶ πολλάκις, ἀπὸ ὅρκου μόνου κατηνέχθη· καὶ πῶς, ἐγὼ λέγω. Ἐγένετό τις Σεδεκίας παρ' αὐτοῖς βασιλεύς· οὗτος ὁ Σεδεκίας τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν βαρβάρων τῷ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ὅρκον ἔδωκεν, ὥστε μένειν ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκείνου συμμαχίας· μετὰ ταῦτα ἀπέστη καὶ πρὸς τὸν Αἰγύπτιον ηὐτομόλησε βασιλέα, τῶν ὅρκων καταπτύσας, καὶ τοσαῦτα ἔπαθεν, ὅσα αὐτίκα ἀκούσεσθε. Πρότερον δὲ ἀναγκαῖον εἰπεῖν τὴν παραβολὴν τοῦ προφήτου, δι' ἧς ἅπαντα ταῦτα ᾐνίξατο. Ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου, φησὶ, πρός με λέγων· Υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, διήγησαι διήγημα, καὶ εἰπὲ παραβολὴν, καὶ ἐρεῖς· Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῖ Κύριος· Ὁ ἀετὸς ὁ μέγας, ὁ μεγαλοπτέρυγος, ὁ μακρὸς τῇ ἐκτάσει, ὁ πλήρης ὀνύχων. Ἀετὸν ἐνταῦθα τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Βαβυλωνίων ἐκάλεσε, μέγαν δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ μεγαλοπτέρυγον εἶπε, καὶ μακρὸν τῇ ἐκτάσει καὶ πλήρη ὀνύχων ὠνόμασε, διὰ τὸ τῆς στρατιᾶς πλῆθος καὶ τὸ τῆς δυνάμεως μέγεθος καὶ τὸ τάχος τῆς ἐφόδου· καθάπερ γὰρ τῷ ἀετῷ πτέρυγες καὶ ὄνυχες ὅπλα, οὕτω τοῖς βασιλεῦσι στρατιῶται καὶ ἵπποι. Οὗτος τοίνυν ὁ ἀετὸς, φησὶν, Ἔχει τὸ ἥγημα εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὸν Λίβανον. Τί ἐστι τὸ ἥγημα; Βουλὴν, γνώμην. Λίβανον δὲ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν ἐκάλεσε, διὰ τὸ πλησίον ἐκείνου κεῖσθαι τοῦ ὄρους. Εἶτα βουλόμενος εἰπεῖν τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τὰς συνθήκας, Ἔλαβε, φησὶν, ἀπὸ τοῦ σπέρματος τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἔδωκεν εἰς τὸ πεδίον τὸ σπόριμον λαβεῖν ῥίζωσιν ἐν ὕδατι πολλῷ· ἐπιβλεπόμενον ἔταξεν αὐτό· καὶ ἀνέτειλε, καὶ ἐγένετο εἰς ἄμπελον ἀσθενοῦσαν καὶ μικρὰν τῷ μεγέθει, καὶ ἐξέτεινε τὰ κλήματα αὐτῆς ἐπ' αὐτὸν, καὶ αἱ ῥίζαι αὐτῆς ὑποκάτω αὐτοῦ ἦσαν. Ἄμπελον δὲ ἐνταῦθα τὴν πόλιν ἐκάλεσε τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ· τὸ δὲ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι τὰ κλήματα αὐτῆς ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔβαλε τὸν ἀετὸν, καὶ αἱ ῥίζαι αὐτῆς ὑποκάτω αὐτοῦ ἦσαν, τὰς συνθήκας ἐδήλωσε καὶ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν συμμαχίαν, καὶ ὅτι ἐπέῤῥιψεν ἑαυτὴν ἐπ' ἐκεῖνον. Εἶτα βουλόμενος δεῖξαι τὴν παρανομίαν, φησί· Καὶ ἐγένετο ἀετὸς ἕτερος, περὶ τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου βασιλέως λέγων, μέγας καὶ μεγαλοπτέρυγος καὶ πολὺς τοῖς ὄνυξι, καὶ ἡ ἄμπελος αὕτη περιπλεκομένη ἐπ' αὐτὸν, καὶ ὁ ἕλιξ αὐτῆς ἐπ' αὐτὸν, καὶ τὰ κλήματα αὐτῆς ἐξαπέστειλε τοῦ ποτίσαι αὐτήν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο εἶπον· Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος· Εἰ κατευθυνεῖ, τουτέστι παραβᾶσα τὸν ὅρκον καὶ τὰς συνθήκας, εἰ δυνήσεται μεῖναι καὶ σωθῆναι, καὶ μὴ