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he will grant all things. And neither the king of the Assyrians nor anyone else will set foot in the city, nor will anyone be permitted to wage war against it; for I myself, as if for my own city, will defend and save both it and its inhabitants; for this is fitting for me, being God. Therefore I will do these things for my own sake, but not because those being helped are worthy. But if it is necessary also to honor a man, so to speak, to set him over the city, for the sake of David my child, or according to the other interpreters: my servant, the founder of the city and the first king of those who were there, I will guard the city, so that others also, learning how much honor the God-loving man has been deemed worthy of by me, might become emulators of him and imitators of his piety. So then, the words of God through Isaiah the prophet were reported in this manner to king Hezekiah. And not long after, a certain fearsome and divine deed followed the words, immediately after these utterances, not by human method myriads of men at once were found dead, cast down by the hand of one angel; for he was so great as to minister to the judgment of God and to destroy such great multitudes of the enemy, so that their king might learn by deed what sort of God he blasphemes. For this reason, at any rate, while so many were perishing, he did not perish with them, so that having become a spectator of this deed, he might muzzle his godless tongue. Therefore indeed it was said in the words of God: 'And I will put a muzzle in your nose and a bridle on your lips' so that you may not dare to utter such things. However, even if he did not share the fate of the multitude for the aforementioned reason, for which Pharaoh also was kept as a spectator while the rest of the Egyptians were being punished, nevertheless he found his own children to be his murderers when he was in his own land. 2.14 The God who said: 'I will kill and I will make alive, I will strike 2.14 and I will heal,' having struck the enemies with a just judgment through one angel, healed the God-loving king and made him live, 'delivering him from death' through himself. Well then did he note, saying: at that time Hezekiah was sick unto death, or according to Aquila: to the point of dying, or according to the others: to death; for at that time, in which the Assyrians suffered the aforementioned things, the time of death came upon Hezekiah. But God, wishing to save him, did not leave in obscurity the end that was to follow his sickness. Therefore, providing him with occasions for salvation, he made the end of the sickness plain to him through the prophet, so that upon learning he might pray, and having prayed he might obtain an extension of life even after the death decreed for him, the word teaching us that there is no necessity of fate for human life, nor is an unalterable time of death appointed for men. But God himself, ruling over all things, is the cause of both life and death, for reasons he himself knows, bringing each of those who come into life at these or those times, and for so many or so many years, and gathering them to this or that kind of end; and it is possible for him alone to recall even those who have come, so to speak, 'to the gates of death'; as now to save Hezekiah from a fatal illness and to grant him an extension of life of a whole fifteen years; and to make others live again even after dying, as many as the divine scripture presents. So that the arguments concerning fate are completely refuted, because the God over all rules over necessity itself and all substance and nature. Hezekiah, knowing these things, when he was healthy in body, hurried to the temple of God and there called upon God to be the savior of himself and of the people and of the city; but since his illness at present prevented him from doing this, from his bed he sent up his prayer to God, convinced that he is present everywhere and hears every pious person. Then, having mentioned only this with great confidence, that he had lived in a manner pleasing to him, he no longer added the

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πάντα δωρήσεται. Καὶ οὔτε ὁ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλεὺς οὐθ' ἕτερός τις ἐπιβήσεται τῆς πόλεως οὔτε ἐπιτραπήσεταί τις πόλεμον ἄρασθαι κατ' αὐτῆς· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐγὼ ὡς ἂν ὑπὲρ ἐμῆς πόλεως ὑπερασπιῶ καὶ σώσω αὐτήν τε καὶ τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας· τοῦτο γὰρ ἐμοὶ θεῷ ὄντι πρέπει. διὸ ταῦτα πράξω δι' ἐμέ, ἀλλ' οὐ διὰ τὸ ἀξίους εἶναι τοὺς βοηθουμένους. εἰ δὲ χρὴ καὶ ἄνδρα τιμῆσαι ὡς φάναι προστήσασθαι τῆς πόλεως, διὰ ∆αυὶδ τὸν ἐμὸν παῖδα, ἢ κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἑρμηνευτάς· τὸν ἐμὸν δοῦλον, κτίστην τῆς πόλεως καὶ πρῶτον βασιλέα τῶν αὐτόθι γενομένων φυλάξω τὴν πόλιν, ὡς ἂν καὶ ἕτεροι μαθόντες, ὅσης ἠξίωται παρ' ἐμοὶ τιμῆς ὁ θεοφιλὴς ἀνήρ, ζηλωταὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ μιμηταὶ τῆς θεοσεβείας γένοιντο. Οἱ μὲν οὖν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγοι διὰ Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου τοῦτον ἀπηγγέλλοντο τὸν τρόπον τῷ βασιλεῖ Ἑζεκίᾳ. οὐκ εἰς μακρὸν δὲ τοῖς λόγοις φοβερά τις καὶ θεϊκὴ πρᾶξις εἵπετο αὐτίκα μετὰ ταύτας τὰς φωνάς, οὐ δι' ἀνθρωπίνης μεθόδου μυριάδες ἀθρόων ἀνδρῶν εὕρηντο νεκρῶν βεβλημέναι ὑπὸ χειρὸς ἑνὸς ἀγγέλου· τοσοῦτος γὰρ ἦν οὗτος ὡς θεοῦ κρίσει διακονήσασθαι καὶ τοσαῦτα πλήθη τῶν πολεμίων ἀνελεῖν, ὅπως ἔργῳ πεῖραν λάβοι ὁ τούτων βασιλεύς, οἵου καταβλασφημεῖ θεοῦ. τούτου γοῦν ἕνεκεν τοσούτων ἀπολλυμένων οὐ συναπώλλυτο, ὡς ἂν θεωρὸς γενόμενος τούτου πραχθέντος τὴν ἄθεον αὐτοῦ γλῶτταν ἐπιστομίσειε. διὸ δὴ εἴρητο ἐν τοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ λόγοις· «καὶ ἐμβαλῶ φιμὸν εἰς τὴν ῥῖνά σου καὶ χαλινὸν εἰς τὰ χείλη σου» πρὸς τὸ μὴ τοιαῦτα φθέγγεσθαι τολμᾶν. πλὴν εἰ καὶ μὴ συναπήλαυσεν τῷ πλήθει διὰ τὴν εἰρημένην αἰτίαν, δι' ἣν καὶ Φαραὼ τῶν λοιπῶν Αἰγυπτίων κολαζομένων θεωρὸς ἐφυλάττετο, ὅμως γοῦν τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ παῖδας εὗρεν ἑαυτοῦ φονέας ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκείας γενόμενος γῆς. 2.14 Ὁ εἰπὼν θεός· «ἐγὼ ἀποκτενῶ καὶ ζῆν ποιήσω, πατάξω 2.14 κἀγὼ ἰάσομαι», τοὺς πολεμίους πατάξας κρίσει δικαίᾳ δι' ἑνὸς ἀγγέλου τὸν θεοφιλῆ βασιλέα ἰάσατο καὶ ἐζωοποίει «ῥυόμενος αὐτὸν ἐκ θανάτου» δι' ἑαυτοῦ. καλῶς οὖν ἐπεσημήνατο φήσας· ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ ἐμαλακίσθη Ἑζεκίας ἕως θανάτου, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· τοῦ ἀποθανεῖν, ἢ κατὰ τοὺς λοιπούς· εἰς θάνατον· ἐν γὰρ ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ, καθ' ὃν τὰ προλεχθέντα πεπόνθασιν οἱ Ἀσσύριοι, ὁ τοῦ θανάτου καιρὸς ἐπέστη τῷ Ἑζεκίᾳ. βουλόμενος δὲ σῶσαι αὐτὸν ὁ θεὸς οὐκ ἐν ἀδήλῳ κατέλιπε τὸ μέλλον τὴν μαλακίαν αὐτοῦ διαδέξασθαι τέλος. διὸ προφάσεις αὐτῷ σωτηρίας παρέχων τὸ τῆς ἀρρωστίας τέλος φανερὸν αὐτῷ καθίστη διὰ τοῦ προφήτου, ὡς ἂν μαθὼν προσεύξοιτο καὶ προσευξάμενος τύχοι προσθήκης ζωῆς καὶ μετὰ τὸν ὡρισμένον κατ' αὐτοῦ θάνατον, διδάσκοντος ἡμᾶς τοῦ λόγου, ὡς οὐκ ἀνάγκη τις εἱμαρμένης τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ζωῆς οὐδ' ἀπαράτρεπτος ἀνθρώποις καιρὸς ὥρισται θανάτου. θεὸς δὲ αὐτὸς κρατῶν ἁπάντων καὶ ζωῆς αἴτιος καὶ θανάτου τυγχάνει, δι' οὓς οἶδεν αὐτὸς λόγους ἕκαστον τῶν εἰς τὸν βίον παριόντων κατὰ τούσδε ἢ τούσδε τοὺς χρόνους παράγων καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῖσδε ἢ τοσοῖσδε ἔτεσι καὶ διὰ τοιᾶσδε ἢ τοιᾶσδε συνάγων τελευτῆς, μόνῳ τε αὐτῷ καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐταῖς ὡς εἰπεῖν «ταῖς τοῦ θανάτου πύλαις» γενομένους δυνατόν ἐστιν ἀνακαλέσασθαι· ὡς νῦν μὲν τὸν Ἑζεκίαν ἐξ ἀρρωστίας θανατικῆς διασώσασθαι καὶ προσθήκην αὐτῷ ζωῆς χαρίσασθαι ὅλων ἐτῶν πέντε καὶ δέκα· ἑτέρους δὲ καὶ μετὰ τὸ τεθνάναι ἀναβιῶναι ποιῆσαι, ὅσους ἡ θεία παρίστησι γραφή. ὡς ἐξ ἅπαντος λελύσθαι τοὺς περὶ εἱμαρμένης λόγους διὰ τὸ καὶ αὐτῆς ἀνάγκης καὶ πάσης οὐσίας τε καὶ φύσεως τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν κρατεῖν. ταῦτ' εἰδὼς ὁ Ἑζεκίας, ὅτε μὲν ὑγιὴς τὸ σῶμα ἦν, ἐπὶ τὸν νεὼν ἔσπευδε τοῦ θεοῦ κἀκεῖ τὸν θεὸν αὐτοῦ τε καὶ τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ τῆς πόλεως σωτῆρα γενέσθαι ἀνεκαλεῖτο· ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦτο πράττειν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἀπεῖργεν ἡ νόσος, ἐξ αὐτῆς στρωμνῆς τὴν εὐχὴν ἀνέπεμπε τῷ θεῷ πανταχοῦ παρεῖναι καὶ παντὸς εἶναι θεοσεβοῦς ἐπήκοον πεπεισμένος. εἶτ' αὐτὸ μόνον μνημονεύσας σὺν πολλῇ παρρησίᾳ ὡς εὐαρέστως αὐτῷ βεβιωκὼς εἴη, οὐκέτι προσετίθη τὴν