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The evil-minded woman is arrogant, compared to an earring in a swine's snout. And in general the name Dibon will apply to all who are in error, so that one might aptly say that those in error either in life or in speech have their altar at Dibon. Therefore let those who once were arrogant because of it go up weeping. 15.296 Over Nebo of Moab wail. On every head is baldness, all arms are cut off. In its streets gird yourselves with sackcloth and lament on its housetops, and in its alleys all of you wail with weeping. For Heshbon has cried out, and Elealeh, their voice was heard as far as Jahaz. For this reason the loins of Moab cry out, her soul will know it; the heart of Moab cries out within herself, as far as Zoar. For she is a three-year-old heifer on the ascent of Luhith. Weeping they will go up to you on the way of Horonaim; it cries out destruction and shaking. The water of Nimrim will be desolate, for there will be no green grass. Will she be saved even so? For I will bring Arabs upon the valley and they will take it. For the cry reached the border of Moab of Gallim and its wailing. And the water of Dibon will be filled with blood. For I will bring Arabs upon Dibon and I will take away the seed of Moab and Ariel, and I will send the remnant of Adamah, as reptiles upon the earth. He urges to godly sorrow those who have been led into error by the designs of the human mind and have not given themselves over to the benefit of the Spirit, that they may wail over the land of the pestilent teachers. For Nebo, it seems to me, the word figuratively signifies these, because Nebo is interpreted as "a setting in place." For there are some who lie in wait with deceitful sophistries and at times corrupt good morals with their evil company. Therefore, those who have been discipled in their wicked doctrines must repent, and wail over the teaching in which they took great pride. For this is "On every head is baldness," to cast off the teachers, and make themselves bare of the adornment from them, and through a good manner of life to despise their precepts of practical teachings, and, as it were, to cut them down with sound reason, so that there may be "all arms cut off," that is, the practical precepts brought to refutation by sound reason through the division and gradual examination of the evil teachings. But since they were led by the wicked through the broad way, it commands those who have chosen the tested life to lament in the streets, repenting for the entertainment of those who are carried toward pleasure, lamenting on the broad way, but seeking the narrow and afflicted one, so that, rightly repenting, they may gird themselves with sackcloth and take on a mournful appearance, and as it were, through the things that are seen, make their loins cry out, in the places where they went astray, leaving behind the tracks of their repentance. And they were commanded to wail with weeping on every housetop and in all the alleys. For it called the high and empty things of learning "housetops," and the, as it were, divisions of thoughts "alleys of Moab." 15.297 Therefore, whether anyone was on the high places raised up against the knowledge of God, or in some dialectical division of arguments and problems, which seem to distinguish clearly concerning each of the subjects at hand, let him wail in repentance, that he may fulfill what is written, the word commanding him to cry out in the streets and on the housetops and in all the alleys. And for this reason these things must happen, because Heshbon has cried out. For Heshbon is interpreted as "reasoning;" and Elealeh, "ascent of God;" and Jahaz, "a commandment that has come to be." Heshbon therefore has cried out, that is, it openly testifies, that the teachings of the Moabites are human reasonings, and not revelations of divine mysteries. And Elealeh. This also has cried out through the facts, that those who are shameless and rise up against God
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μέγα φρονεῖ ἡ κακόφρων γυνὴ, παραβαλλομένη ἐνωτίῳ ἐν ῥινὶ ὑός. Καὶ ὅλως πᾶσι τοῖς ἐσφαλμένοις ἐφαρμόσει τὸ ∆εηβὼν ὄνομα, ὡς τοὺς ἐσφαλμένους ἢ βίῳ ἢ λόγῳ εἴποι τις ἂν εὐστόχως ἐπὶ τοῦ ∆εηβὼν ἔχειν τὸ θυσιαστήριον. Κλαίοντες οὖν ἀναβαινέτωσαν οἱ ἐπ' αὐτῷ ποτε μέγα φρονοῦντες. 15.296 Ἐπὶ Ναβαῦ τῆς Μωαβίτιδος ὀλολύζετε. Ἐπὶ πάσης κεφαλῆς φαλάκρωμα, πάντες βραχίονες κατατετμημένοι. Ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις αὐτῆς περιζώσασθε σάκκους καὶ κό πτεσθε ἐπὶ τῶν δωμάτων αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐν ταῖς ῥυμαῖς αὐτῆς πάντες ὀλολύζετε μετὰ κλαυθμοῦ. Ὅτι κέκραγεν Ἐσεβὼν, καὶ Ἐλεαλή, ἕως Ἰασσὰ ἠκούσθη ἡ φωνὴ αὐτῆς. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἡ ὀσφὺς τῆς Μωαβίτιδος βοᾷ, ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτῆς γνώσεται· ἡ καρδία τῆς Μωαβίτιδος βοᾷ ἐν ἑαυτῇ, ἕως Σηγώρ. ∆άμαλις γὰρ τριετής ἐστιν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀναβάσεως τῆς Λουίθ. Πρὸς σὲ κλαίοντες ἀναβήσονται τῇ ὁδῷ Ἀρουνιείμ· βοᾷ σύντριμμα καὶ συσσεισμός. Τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς Νεβρὶμ ἔρημον ἔσται, χόρτος γὰρ χλωρὸς οὐκ ἔσται. Μὴ καὶ οὕτω μέλλει σωθῆναι; Ἐπάξω γὰρ ἐπὶ τὴν φάραγγα Ἄραβας καὶ καταλήψονται αὐτήν. Συνῆψε γὰρ ἡ βοὴ τὸ ὅριον τῆς Μωαβίτιδος τῆς Γαλλὶμ καὶ ὀλολυγμὸς αὐτῆς. Τὸ δὲ ὕδωρ τὸ ∆εηβὼν πλησθήσεται αἵματος. Ἐπάξω γὰρ ἐπὶ ∆εηβὼν Ἄραβας καὶ ἀρῶ τὸ σπέρμα Μωὰβ καὶ Ἀραὴλ, καὶ τὸ κατάλειμμα Ἀδαμᾶ ἀποστελῶ, ὡς ἑρπετὰ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν. Ἐπὶ τὴν κατὰ Θεὸν λύπην προτρέπει τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπι νοιῶν τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου νοῦ ἐσφαλμένους καὶ μὴ ἐπιδεδωκότας ἑαυτοὺς τῇ ὠφελείᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἵνα ὀλολύξωσιν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν τῶν λοιμῶν διδασκάλων. Τὴν γὰρ Ναβαῦ τούτους μοι δοκεῖ ὁ λόγος αἰνίσσεσθαι, διὰ τὸ ἑρμηνεύεσθαι τὴν Ναβαῦ ἐγκαθισμόν. Εἰσὶ γάρ τινες, οἱ μετὰ δολίων σοφισμάτων ἐγκαθεζόμενοι καὶ ταῖς κακαῖς ὁμιλίαις αὐτῶν ἔσθ' ὅτε φθεί ροντες ἤθη χρηστά. ∆εῖ οὖν μεταμελεῖσθαι τοὺς τοῖς πονη ροῖς ἐκείνων μαθητευθέντας δόγμασι, καὶ ὀλολύζειν ἐπὶ τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ, ἐφ' ἧ μέγα ἐφρόνουν. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ Ἐπὶ πάσης κεφαλῆς φαλάκρωμα, τὸ τοὺς διδασκάλους ἀποῤῥίπτειν, καὶ γυμνοὺς τοῦ ἀπ' αὐτῶν κόσμου ἑαυτοὺς ποιεῖν, καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀγαθῆς πολιτείας ἐξευτε λίζειν τὰς ἐκείνων ὑποθήκας τῶν πρακτικῶν διδαγμάτων, καὶ οἱονεὶ κατατέμνειν τῷ ὑγιεῖ λόγῳ, ἵνα ὦσι πάντες βραχίονες κατατετμημένοι, τουτέστιν αἱ πρακτικαὶ ὑποθῆκαι τῷ ὑγιαί νοντι λόγῳ εἰς ἔλεγχον ἀγόμεναι διὰ τῆς διαιρέσεως καὶ τῆς κατὰ μικρὸν ἐξετάσεως τῶν κακῶν διδαγμάτων. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ διὰ τῆς πλατείας ὁδοῦ ἤγοντο παρὰ τῶν πονηρῶν, τούτους τὸν βεβασανισμένον βίον προῃρημένους κελεύει κόπτεσθαι ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις, ἐπὶ τῇ ψυχαγωγίᾳ τῶν πρὸς ἡδονὴν φερόν των μεταμελομένους, καὶ κοπτομένους μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ πλατείᾳ, ἐκζητοῦντας δὲ τὴν στενὴν καὶ τεθλιμμένην, ἵνα ὀρθῶς με τανοοῦντες περιζώσωνται σάκκους καὶ πενθικὸν ἀναλαβόντες σχῆμα, οἱονεὶ διὰ αὐτῶν τῶν ὁρωμένων βοᾷν ποιήσωσι τὴν ὀσφῦν, ἐν οἷς ἐπλανήθησαν τόποις, τῆς μετανοίας ἑαυτῶν τὰ ἴχνη καταλιμπάνοντες. Καὶ ἐπὶ παντὸς δώματος ἐκελεύ σθησαν καὶ ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ῥύμαις ὀλολύζειν μετὰ κλαυθ μοῦ. Τὰ γὰρ ὑψηλὰ καὶ διάκενα τῶν μαθημάτων δώματα ὠνόμασε, τὰς δὲ οἱονεὶ διαιρέσεις τῶν νοημάτων ῥύμας τῆς Μωαβίτιδος. 15.297 Εἴτε οὖν τις ἐπὶ ὑψωμάτων ἐγένετο ἐπαιρομένων κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἴτε ἐν διαλεκτικῇ τινι λόγων διαι ρέσει καὶ προβλημάτων, εὐκρινῶς δοκούντων διαλαμβάνειν περὶ ἑκάστου τῶν προκειμένων, ἐκ μετανοίας ὀλολυζέτω, ἵνα πληρώσῃ τὸ γεγραμμένον, ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν δωμάτων καὶ ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ῥύμαις τοῦ λόγου προσ τάσσοντος κεκραγέναι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο δὲ δεῖ ταῦτα γίνεσθαι, ἐπειδὴ κέκραγεν Ἐσεβών. Ἐσεβὼν μὲν γὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται λογισμός· Ἐλεαλὴ δὲ, Θεοῦ ἀνάβασις· Ἰασσὰ δὲ, γεγονυῖα ἐντολή. Κέκραγεν οὖν Ἐσεβὼν, τουτέστι φανερῶς διαμαρτύρεται, ὅτι ἀνθρώπινοί εἰσι λογισμοὶ, καὶ οὐ θείων μυστηρίων ἀποκαλύψεις τὰ διδάγματα τῶν Μωαβιτῶν. Καὶ Ἐλεαλή. Καὶ αὕτη διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων κέκραγεν, ὅτι Θεοῦ καταναισχυντοῦσι καὶ κατεπαίρονται οἱ