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to fall. Then showing that this is not so, but he will certainly be destroyed because of the oath, he speaks about the punishment itself, and gives the cause: For its tender roots, he says, and its fruit will rot, and all that springs up with it will be dried up. And wishing to show that it will not be torn down by human power, but because she made 49.193 God her enemy through those oaths, he added: Not by a great arm, nor by a great people, to tear it out from its roots. And this is the parable, and again he clarifies it, saying thus: Behold, the king of Babylon comes upon Jerusalem. Then, after saying some other things in between, he speaks of the oaths and the alliances: For he will make, he says, a covenant with him. Then, also indicating the apostasy, And he will rebel, he says, from him by sending messengers to Egypt to give him horses and many people. And after this he adds, showing that because of the oath all these things of destruction happen: Surely in the place of the king who made him king, whose curse he despised and whose covenant he broke, in the midst of Babylon he will die, and not with a great force, nor with a great crowd, because he despised the oath, to break my covenant, truly my oath, which he despised, and my covenant, which he broke, I will bring it upon his own head, and I will spread my net over him. Do you see how not once, nor twice, but many times he said that because of the oath that man suffered all these things? for God is inexorable when oaths are dishonored. It is possible to see this not only from the punishment brought upon the city because of this oath, but also from the delay and postponement, how much diligence God exercises so that oaths may not be trampled upon. For it happened, he says, in the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah, in the second month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem; and he besieged it, and built a wall around it; and the city was in distress until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the month, and the famine was severe in the city, and there was no bread for the people to eat, and the city was broken into. For He could have immediately handed them over on the first day and made them subject to their enemies, but for this reason He allowed a period of three years to pass, and made them feel a most grievous siege, so that being chastened both by the fear of the soldiers from without and by the famine that gripped the city from within, they might force the unwilling king to submit to the barbarian, and there might be some comfort for the sin. And that this is true and not my own conjecture, hear what he says to him through the prophet: If you go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, your soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. But if you do not go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it, and you will not be saved from their hand. And the king said: I am afraid of the Jews who have fled to the Chaldeans, lest they hand me over into their hands, and they mock me. And Jeremiah said: They will not hand you over; listen to the word of the Lord, which I speak to you; and it will be better for you, and your soul shall live; and if you are not willing to go out, this is the word that the Lord has shown me: All the women who are left in the house of the king of Judah are being led out to the princes of the king of Babylon, and these women say: Your peaceful men have deceived you and prevailed against you; they will overpower your feet in slippery places; they have turned away from you, and they will lead out all your wives 49.194 to the Chaldeans, and you will not be saved from their hand, because you will be captured by the hand of the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned with fire. But since he did not persuade by saying these things, but remained in his sin and lawlessness,

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διαπεσεῖν. Εἶτα δεικνὺς, ὡς οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτο, ἀλλ' ἀπολεῖται πάντως διὰ τὸν ὅρκον, περὶ τῆς κολάσεως αὐτῆς διαλέγεται, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τίθησιν· Αἱ ῥίζαι γὰρ αὐτῆς, φησὶ, τῆς ἁπαλότητος, καὶ ὁ καρπὸς σαπήσεται, καὶ ξηρανθήσονται πάντα τὰ προσανατέλλοντα αὐτῇ. Καὶ δεῖξαι βουλόμενος, ὅτι οὐκ ἀνθρωπίνῃ δυνάμει καθαιρεθήσεται, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τὸν 49.193 Θεὸν ἐξεπολέμωσεν ἑαυτῇ διὰ τοὺς ὅρκους ἐκείνους, ἐπήγαγεν· Οὐκ ἐν βραχίονι μεγάλῳ, οὐδὲ ἐν λαῷ πολλῷ τοῦ ἐκσπάσαι αὐτὴν ἐκ ῥιζῶν αὐτῆς. Καὶ ἡ μὲν παραβολὴ αὕτη, πάλιν δὲ αὐτὴν σαφηνίζει οὕτως εἰπών· Ἰδοὺ ἔρχεται βασιλεὺς Βαβυλῶνος ἐπὶ Ἱερουσαλήμ. Εἶτα εἰπὼν ἕτερά τινα μεταξὺ, λέγει τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τὰς συμμαχίας· ∆ιαθήσεται γὰρ, φησὶ, πρὸς αὐτὸν διαθήκην. Εἶτα καὶ τὴν ἀποστασίαν δηλῶν, Καὶ ἀποστήσεται, φησὶν, ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἐξαποστέλλειν ἀγγέλους εἰς Αἴγυπτον τοῦ δοῦναι αὐτῷ ἵππους καὶ λαὸν πολύν. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπάγει, δεικνὺς ὅτι διὰ τὸν ὅρκον ταῦτα πάντα γίνεται τὰ τῆς ἀπωλείας· Εἰ μὴ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τοῦ βασιλέως τοῦ βασιλεύσαντος αὐτὸν, ὃς ἠτίμωσε τὴν ἀράν μου, καὶ παρέβη τὴν διαθήκην μου, ἐν μέσῳ Βαβυλῶνος τελευτήσει, καὶ οὐκ ἐν δυνάμει μεγάλῃ, οὐδὲ ἐν ὄχλῳ πολλῷ, ὅτι ἠτίμωσε τὴν ὁρκωμοσίαν, τοῦ παραβῆναι τὴν διαθήκην μου, ἦ μὴν τὴν ὁρκωμοσίαν μου, ἣν ἠτίμωσε, καὶ τὴν διαθήκην μου, ἣν παρέβη, δώσω αὐτὴν εἰς κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐκπετάσω ἐπ' αὐτὸν τὸ δίκτυόν μου. Ὁρᾷς πῶς οὐχ ἅπαξ, οὐδὲ δὶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ πλεονάκις εἶπεν, ὅτι διὰ τὸν ὅρκον ταῦτα πάντα ἔπασχεν ἐκεῖνος; καὶ γὰρ ἀπαραίτητός ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς, ὑβριζομένων ὅρκων. Οὐκ ἐκ τῆς κολάσεως δὲ μόνης τῆς ἐπαχθείσης τῇ πόλει διὰ τὸν ὅρκον τοῦτον, τοῦτο ἔστιν ἰδεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῆς μελλήσεως καὶ τῆς ἀναβολῆς, ὅσην ποιεῖται ὁ Θεὸς τὴν σπουδὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ καταπατεῖσθαι τοὺς ὅρκους. Ἐγένετο γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐν τῷ ἐννάτῳ ἔτει τῆς βασιλείας Σεδεκίου, ἐν τῷ μηνὶ τῷ δευτέρῳ, ἐν τῇ δεκάτῃ τοῦ μηνὸς, ἦλθεν Ναβουχοδονόσορ ὁ βασιλεὺς Βαβυλῶνος καὶ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ Ἱερουσαλήμ· καὶ περιεκάθισεν αὐτὴν, καὶ περιῳκοδόμησεν αὐτῇ τεῖχος κυκλόθεν· καὶ ἦλθεν ἡ πόλις εἰς συνοχὴν ἕως τοῦ ἑνδεκάτου ἔτους Σεδεκίου τοῦ βασιλέως, ἐννάτῃ τοῦ μηνὸς, καὶ ἐνίσχυσεν ὁ λιμὸς ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ πόλει, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἄρτος τοῦ φαγεῖν τῷ λαῷ, καὶ ἐῤῥάγη ἡ πόλις. Ἠδύνατο μὲν γὰρ ἐκ πρώτης εὐθέως αὐτοὺς παραδοῦναι τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ ποιῆσαι τοῖς πολεμίοις ὑποχειρίους, ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦτο χρόνον ἐν μέσῳ τριῶν ἐτῶν τριβῆναι συνεχώρησε, καὶ πολιορκίας αὐτοὺς αἰσθέσθαι χαλεπωτάτης ἐποίησεν, ἵνα καὶ τῷ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἔξωθεν φόβῳ καὶ τῷ συνέχοντι τὴν πόλιν ἔνδον λιμῷ σωφρονιζόμενοι, καὶ ἄκοντα τὸν βασιλέα καταναγκάσωσιν ὑποταγῆναι τῷ βαρβάρῳ, καὶ γενέσθαι τινὰ τῷ ἁμαρτήματι παραμυθίαν. Καὶ ὅτι τοῦτό ἐστιν ἀληθὲς καὶ οὐκ ἐμὸς ὁ στοχασμὸς, ἄκουσον τί διὰ τοῦ προφήτου φησὶ πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἐὰν ἐξέλθῃς πρὸς ἡγεμόνας βασιλέως Βαβυλῶνος, ζήσεται ἡ ψυχή σου, καὶ ἡ πόλις αὕτη οὐ μὴ κατακαυθῇ ἐν πυρὶ, καὶ ζήσῃ σὺ καὶ ἡ οἰκία σου. Ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἐξέλθῃς σὺ πρὸς τοὺς ἄρχοντας βασιλέως Βαβυλῶνος, παραδοθήσεται ἡ πόλις αὕτη εἰς χεῖρας τῶν Χαλδαίων, καὶ κατακαύσουσιν αὐτὴν, καὶ σὺ οὐ μὴ σωθήσῃ ἐκ χειρὸς αὐτῶν. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεύς· Λόγον ἔχω τῶν Ἰουδαίων τῶν πεφευγότων πρὸς τοὺς Χαλδαίους, μὴ παραδῶσί με εἰς χεῖρας αὐτῶν, καὶ καταμωκήσωνταί μου. Καὶ εἶπεν Ἱερεμίας· Οὐ μὴ παραδώσουσί σε· ἄκουσον τὸν λόγον Κυρίου, ὃν ἐγὼ λαλῶ πρὸς σέ· καὶ βέλτιον ἔσται σοι, καὶ ζήσεται ἡ ψυχή σου· καὶ εἰ μὴ θελήσεις ἐξελθεῖν, οὗτος ὁ λόγος, ὃν ἔδειξέ μοι ὁ Κύριος· Πᾶσαι αἱ γυναῖκες αἱ καταλειφθεῖσαι ἐν οἴκῳ βασιλέως Ἰούδα ἐξάγονται πρὸς τοὺς ἄρχοντας βασιλέως Βαβυλῶνος, καὶ αὗται λέγουσιν· Ἠπάτησάν σε, καὶ ἠδυνήθησάν σοι ἄνδρες εἰρηνικοί σου· κατισχύσουσιν ἐν ὀλισθήμασι πόδας σου· ἀπέστρεψαν ἀπὸ σοῦ, καὶ πάσας τὰς γυναῖκάς σου ἐξάξουσι 49.194 πρὸς τοὺς Χαλδαίους, καὶ οὐ μὴ σωθήσῃ ἐκ χειρὸς αὐτῶν, ὅτι ἐν χειρὶ βασιλέως Βαβυλῶνος συλληφθήσῃ, καὶ ἡ πόλις αὕτη κατακαήσεται πυρί. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἔπεισε ταῦτα λέγων, ἀλλ' ἔμεινεν ἐπὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τῆς παρανομίας,