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the epistle has explained more clearly. 6.14.5 For the text of the prophecy says, "Coming, he will come and will not delay," and it adds, "If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him," which, being connected, might seem to refer to him who is coming and not delaying, which is absurd. For how would it be fitting for him to be spoken of as one in whom God is not well pleased? But the citation of the epistle, by changing the syntax of the passage, has preserved the meaning. 6.14.6 For after "Yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and will not delay," it next connected "But the just shall live by faith," then it placed second what stood first in the prophecy, in the phrase "and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." For once the oracle has prophesied that the light promised to all the nations through the coming of Christ would at length "arise in the evening, and will not lie" — 6.14.7 for so Aquila interpreted instead of "and not in vain" — then, because the coming of the one prophesied was to be late and in the evening, after exhorting to patience through "If it tarries, wait for it" or "If it delays, expect it," because "coming, he will come and will not delay," he urges the hearer to faith in the prediction, saying. He who believes these things, being shown to be just from his very faith, will live the life that is according to God, while on the contrary the unbeliever, in that he "shrinks back," not daring nor trusting what has been said, "my soul has no pleasure in him." 6.14.8 Therefore, we also, following these things, by changing the first to last, and moving the last to first, shall preserve the sense of the text, connecting by hyperbaton after "that he who is coming will come and will not delay," the phrase "but my just one shall live by faith," 6.14.9 and adding to this, "if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." And Aquila agrees with this meaning, saying: "If it delays, expect it, for coming it will come and will not be slow. Behold the sluggard, my soul is not upright in him, and a just man shall live in his faith." 6.15.1 From the same. "O Lord, I have heard your report, and was afraid; I considered your works, and was astonished. In the midst of two living beings you will be known, as the years draw near you will be recognized; when the time has come you will be revealed; when my soul is troubled in wrath, you will remember mercy. God will come from Teman, and the Holy One from a thickly wooded, shady mountain. His excellence covered the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise. And his brightness will be as the light; horns are in his hands, and he has established the mighty love of his strength. A word will go before his face and will go out into the plains." 6.15.2 Having heard himself, or rather the divine Spirit inspiring and speaking oracles in him, the holy prophet, after saying of the one prophesied that "coming he will come and will not delay," and "the just shall live by my faith," and believing the oracle as a just man, says through the following words: "Lord, I have heard your report, and was afraid," and what follows, through which he clearly announces that God will come to men. And who might this be, who was known of old, but would later be recognized "as the years draw near," and "be revealed" at the prophesied time, if not that same one previously indicated, the second Lord of all, who also according to the prediction "at the end of the ages" was proclaimed to be heard by all people? Therefore his works written in the holy gospels, namely the birth from a virgin of the tabernacle he assumed, and "who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant," and the miracles performed by him for men, and the things dared against him by the nation of the Jews, having foreseen with the eyes of the soul, and the things that were about to happen with purified minds from the one who teaches

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σαφέστερον ἡ ἐπιστολὴ διείληφεν. 6.14.5 ἡ μὲν γὰρ τῆς προφητείας λέξις «ἐρχόμενος», φησίν, «ἥξει καὶ οὐ χρονίσει», καὶ ἐπιφέρει· «ἐὰν ὑποστείληται, οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν αὐτῷ», ὅπερ συναπτόμενον ἀνάγεσθαι δόξειεν ἂν ἐπὶ τὸν ἐρχόμενον καὶ οὐ χρονίζοντα, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἄτοπον. πῶς γὰρ ἐπ' ἐκεῖνον ἁρμόσει τὸ λέγεσθαι μὴ εὐδοκεῖν ἐν αὐτῷ τὸν θεόν; ἀλλ' ἡ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς παράθεσις, ἐναλλάξασα τὴν τοῦ λόγου σύνταξιν, τὴν διάνοιαν ἐσώσατο. 6.14.6 μετὰ γὰρ τὸ «ἔτι μικρὸν ὅσον ὅσον ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἥξει καὶ οὐ χρονίσει» ἑξῆς συνῆψε τὸ «ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται», εἶτα τὸ ἐν τῇ προφητείᾳ πρῶτον κείμενον ὑπέταξε δεύτερον ἐν τῷ «καὶ ἐὰν ὑποστείληται, οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν αὐτῷ». ἅπαξ γὰρ θεσπίσας ὁ λόγος διὰ τῆς προφητείας, ὅτι δὴ τὸ φῶς τὸ πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐπηγγελμένον διὰ τῆς Χριστοῦ παρουσίας ὀψέ ποτε καὶ «ἑσπέρας ἀνατελεῖ, καὶ οὐ διαψεύσεται» 6.14.7 οὕτω γὰρ ἀντὶ τοῦ «καὶ οὐκ εἰς κενόν» ὁ Ἀκύλας ἡρμήνευσεν, ἔπειτα, διὰ τὸ μέλλειν ὀψὲ καὶ ἑσπέρας ἔσεσθαι τὴν τοῦ προφητευομένου παρουσίαν, εἰς ὑπομονὴν παρακαλέσας διὰ τοῦ «ἐὰν ὑστερήσῃ, ὑπόμεινον αὐτόν» ἢ «ἐὰν μελλήσῃ, προσδέχου αὐτόν», «ὅτι ἐρχόμενος ἥξει καὶ οὐ μὴ χρονίσῃ», ἐπὶ τὴν πίστιν τῆς προρρήσεως τὸν ἀκροατὴν παρορμᾷ, λέγων. ὁ δὴ τούτοις πιστεύων ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς πίστεως αὐτοῦ δίκαιος ἀναδειχθεὶς τὴν κατὰ θεὸν ζήσεται ζωήν, ὡς ἔμπαλιν ὁ ἀπιστῶν, ἐν οἷς ἂν «ὑποστείλληται», μὴ θαρσήσας μηδ' ἐμπιστεύσας τοῖς εἰρημένοις, «οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν αὐτῷ». 6.14.8 οὐκοῦν καὶ αὐτοὶ τούτοις ἀκολούθως ἐναλλάξαντες τὸ πρῶτον ὕστερον, καὶ μεταθέντες τὸ ὕστερον ἐπὶ τὸ πρῶτον, σώσομεν τὸν νοῦν τῆς λέξεως, μετὰ τὸ «ὅτι ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἥξει καὶ οὐ χρονίσει» καθ' ὑπερβατὸν συνάπτοντες τὸ «ὁ δὲ δίκαιός μου ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται», 6.14.9 καὶ τούτῳ ἐπιλέγοντες τὸ «ἐὰν ὑποστείληται, οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν αὐτῷ». ταύτῃ δὲ καὶ ὁ Ἀκύλας τῇ διανοίᾳ συντρέχει λέγων· «ἐὰν μελλήσῃ, προσδέχου αὐτόν, ὅτι ἐρχόμενος ἐλεύσεται καὶ οὐ βραδυνεῖ. ἰδοὺ νωχελευομένου οὐκ εὐθεῖα ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ δίκαιος ἐν πίστει αὐτοῦ ζήσεται». 6.15.1 Ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ. «Κύριε, εἰσακήκοα τὴν ἀκοήν σου, καὶ ἐφοβήθην· κατενόησα τὰ ἔργα σου, καὶ ἐξέστην. ἐν μέσῳ δύο ζωῶν γνωσθήσῃ, ἐν τῷ ἐγγίζειν τὰ ἔτη ἐπιγνωσθήσῃ· ἐν τῷ παρεῖναι τὸν καιρὸν ἀναδειχθήσῃ· ἐν τῷ ταραχθῆναι τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐν ὀργῇ ἐλέους μνησθήσῃ. ὁ θεὸς ἐκ Θαιμὰν ἥξει, καὶ ὁ ἅγιος ἐξ ὄρους κατασκίου δασέος. ἐκάλυψεν οὐρανοὺς ἡ ἀρετὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῆς αἰνέσεως αὐτοῦ πλήρης ἡ γῆ. καὶ φέγγος αὐτοῦ ὡς φῶς ἔσται· κέρατα ἐν χερσὶν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔθετο ἀγάπησιν κραταιὰν ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ. πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ προπορεύσεται λόγος καὶ ἐξελεύσεται εἰς πεδία.» 6.15.2 Ἐπακούσας δὴ αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦ ἐμπνέοντος καὶ ἐνθεσπίζοντος ἐν αὐτῷ θείου πνεύματος, ὁ ἱερὸς προφήτης περὶ τοῦ προφητευομένου φήσαντος ὅτι «ἐρχόμενος ἥξει καὶ οὐ μὴ χρονίσῃ», «ὁ δὲ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεώς μου ζήσεται», πιστεύσας τε ὡς δίκαιος τῷ χρησμῷ, διὰ τῶν μετὰ χεῖράς φησιν· «κύριε, εἰσακήκοα τὴν ἀκοήν σου, καὶ ἐφοβήθην», καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, δι' ὧν σαφῶς θεὸν εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἥξειν καταγγέλλει. τίς δ' ἂν οὗτος εἴη ὁ πάλαι γνωριζόμενος, ὕστερον δέ ποτε «ἐν τῷ ἐγγίζειν τὰ ἔτη» γνωσθησόμενος καὶ κατὰ τὸν προφητευόμενον χρόνον «ἀναδειχθησόμενος», ἢ ὁ αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος ὁ προδηλωθεὶς δεύτερος τῶν ὅλων κύριος, ὁ καὶ τῇ προρρήσει ἀκολούθως «ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων» εἰς ἐξάκουστον πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις κηρυχθείς; τούτου δὴ οὖν τὰ ἀνάγραπτα ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς εὐαγγελίοις ἔργα, τὴν ἐκ παρθένου δηλονότι οὗ ἀνείληφεν σκήνους γένεσιν, καὶ «ὃς ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ, ἀλλ' ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν μορφὴν δούλου λαβών», τάς τε ἐπιτελεσθείσας αὐτῷ εἰς ἀνθρώπους παραδοξοποιίας, καὶ τὰ κατ' αὐτοῦ γε τετολμημένα τῷ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνει, τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμοῖς προλαβών, τά τε μέλλοντα συμβήσεσθαι κεκαθαρμέναις ταῖς διανοίαις παρὰ τοῦ διδάσκοντος