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God spoke concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion9 has despised you and mocked you, etc. Those who heard the prophets knew them to be prophets not from the things that would be in distant times (for they did not know them), but from the small prophecies later confirmed by deeds, from which they also believed concerning the other things. Whence Samuel foretells about the donkeys; and another, about the king's sick son; and another foretells the death of the king of Israel. God permitted this, so that they might not, through a gluttony for foreknowledge, turn to idolatry and oracles and the mantic deceptions in general. Whence now Hezekiah goes up to the temple. And God reveals the future, speaking through the prophet. And a second oracle is given, God showing that he has heard his prayer. And he says to the Assyrian: You boasted against me and the city dedicated to me, hoping to frighten the incorruptible city of God, which for this reason is compared to a virgin, and the people in it, called the daughter of Zion and Jerusalem. And he himself, being pure from idolatry, has been named a virgin. Therefore, trusting in his own God, he laughed at your threats; and instead of, “he shook his head at you,” Symmachus rendered it, “he shook his head behind you.” For not giving you an answer to the blasphemies, he says that as you turned away, she shook her head at you, and no longer being silent said, “Whom have you reproached and provoked?” instead of which, the others rendered it, “you have blasphemed”; not considering that 2320 he is the most high and God of Israel, thinking that he is no different from the gods that have come under you, and that with his own cavalry power he has gone up to the height of the mountains and to the furthest part of Lebanon to cut down cypresses and cedars, signifying the exalted kingdoms of the other nations. Aquila rendered the cypresses as firs, but Symmachus as junipers. And instead of, "to the height of a part of the forest," "to the height of its summit in the forest, the unfruitful parts of its Carmel," calling the nations that did not know God a forest. And he was insolent, adding that, "and I have set a bridge, and I have desolated waters, and every gathering of waters." Or according to Symmachus, "I dug and drank water, and I desolated with the sole of my foot all confined rivers," alluding to the multitudes of the nations and their discourses concerning the gods, and boasting not of any good thing, but of the destruction of the places he had invaded. Some say that the land of the Jews is called Lebanon, and that in which the 10 tribes dwelt; for they were lofty, having God as their helper. And dense, having so many inhabitants, of whom he took one completely, and the other except for a few, which, he says, you thought you subdued by your own power, and to have conquered the kingdom of Israel, which he called the height of a cedar, and the part of the forest, that of Judea which was lost. Then he speaks about bridges, and rivers being destroyed, which the rulers of Asia did, trusting in their many hands. For some of the rivers they bridged. And Xerxes, even the Hellespont. And others failed, being unable to withstand the multitude of those who drank from them. "But these things are vain," he says. For I brought forth against them the sentence of suffering. But you were ignorant of the opinion which has long prevailed with me concerning the destruction of the impious nations. But those who said this was spoken concerning Samaria and Judea. "It was possible for you," they say, "to encounter my prophets, and to know the things foretold concerning them, which I have now brought to pass using you as an instrument." For as with my hand I held them fast in long-suffering, since they did not turn to their Savior, I delivered them to you, and then you became master. For being unfruitful, they were compared to couch-grass and the grass of the housetops, and no longer being protected, they withered away, which they would not have suffered had they been a vine or an olive tree. But you, not thinking these things, unaccustomed and to conquer my city in like manner. For I am not ignorant of your thoughts, nor the going in and going out of your reasonings. Some say that his death is signified by the rest. And the going in and going out,

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ἐλάλησε περὶ αὐτοῦ ὁ Θεός. Ἐφαύλισέ σε, καὶ ἐμυκτήρισέ σε, παρθένος θυγάτηρ Σιών9, κ.τ.λ. Τοὺς προφήτας οἱ ἀκούοντες ἐγνώριζον εἶναι προφήτας οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν χρόνοις ἐσομένων μακροῖς (ἠγνόουν γὰρ), ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῶν μικρῶν ὕστερον βεβαιουμένων ἔργοις προῤῥήσεων, ἀφ' ὧν καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπίστευον. Ὅθεν προλέγει περὶ ὄνων ὁ Σαμουήλ· καὶ ἄλλος, περὶ νοσοῦντος βασιλέως υἱοῦ· ὁ δὲ, βασιλέως Ἰσραὴλ προαγορεύει τὸν θάνατον. Συνεχώρει δὲ τοῦτο Θεὸς, ὡς ἂν μὴ λιχνείᾳ προγνώσεως, ἐπ' εἰδωλολατρείαν τρέποιντο καὶ χρηστήρια καὶ τὰς πλάνας καθόλου τὰς μαντικάς. Ὅθεν καὶ νῦν Ἐζεκίας ἄνεισι μὲν ἐπὶ τὸν νεών. Ἀποκρίνεται δὲ τὸ μέλλον Θεὸς, διὰ τοῦ προφήτου φθεγξάμενος. Καὶ χρησμὸς δίδοται δεύτερος, Θεοῦ δεικνύντος ὡς ἀκήκοεν αὐτοῦ τῆς εὐχῆς. Καὶ πρὸς τὸν Ἀσσύριόν φησι· Σὺ μὲν κατηλαζονεύσω κατ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ τῆς ἀνακειμένης μοι πόλεως, φοβεῖν ἐλπίσας τὴν ἀδιάφθορον καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παρθένῳ παραβαλλομένην τοῦ Θεοῦ πόλιν, καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ λαὸν θυγατέρα Σιών τε καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ χρηματίζοντα. Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ καθαρεύων εἰδωλολατρείας παρθένος ὠνόμασται. ∆ιὸ καὶ τῷ ἰδίῳ θαῤῥήσας Θεῷ τὰς σὰς ἐγέλασεν ἀπειλὰς, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, ἐπὶ σοὶ κεφαλὴν ἐκίνησεν, ἐξέδωκε Σύμμαχος, ὄπισθέν σου κεφαλὴν ἐκίνησε. Μὴ δοῦσα γάρ σοι πρὸς τὰς βλασφημίας ἀπόκρισιν, ἀποστρέψαντί φησιν, ἐπὶ σοὶ κεκίνηκε κεφαλὴν, ἔλεγέν τε μηκέτι σιγῶσα, τίνα ὠνείδισας καὶ παρώξυνας; ἀνθ' οὗ, ἐβλασφήμησας ἐξέδωκαν οἱ λοιποί· οὐ λογισάμενος ὡς 2320 ὕψιστός ἐστι καὶ Θεὸς Ἰσραὴλ, οἰηθεὶς μηδὲν διαφέρειν τῶν ὑπὸ σοὶ γεγονότων θεῶν, καὶ ἱππικῇ δυνάμει τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἀναβεβηκέναι πρὸς ὕψος ὀρῶν καὶ ἐπ' ἐσχάτου Λιβάνου κυπαρίττους ἀποκεκοφέναι, καὶ κέδρους, δηλῶν τὰς ἐπηρμένας τῶν λοιπῶν ἐθνῶν βασιλείας. Τὰς δὲ κυπαρίττους ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας ἐλάτας, ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος ἀρκεύθους ἐξέδωκεν. Καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ, εἰς ὕψος μέρους τοῦ δρυμοῦ, εἰς ὕψος τοῦ ἄκρου αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν δρυμὸν, τοῦ Καρμήλου αὐτοῦ τὰ ἄκαρπα, καὶ Θεὸν οὐκ εἰδότα ἔθνη, καλέσας δρυμόν. Ἀπηυθαδίζετο δὲ κακεῖνο προσθεὶς, καὶ ἔθηκα γέφυραν, καὶ ἠρήμωσα ὕδατα, καὶ πᾶσαν συναγωγὴν ὑδάτων. Ἢ κατὰ Σύμμαχον, ἐγὼ ὤρυξα καὶ ἔπιον ὕδωρ, καὶ ἠρήμωσα ἐν ἴχνει ποδός μου πάντας ποταμοὺς συνεχομένους, τὰ τῶν ἐθνῶν πλήθη, καὶ τοὺς περὶ θεῶν λόγους αὐτῶν αἰνιττόμενος, καὶ ἐπ' οὐδενὶ μὲν ἀγαθῷ, ἐπ' ἀφανισμῷ δὲ ὧν ἐπέβη χωρίων καυχώμενος. Τινὲς δὲ τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων χώραν Λίβανον εἰρῆσθαί φασι, καὶ τὴν ἐν ᾗ κατῴκουν αἱ ιʹ φυλαί· ὑψηλαὶ μὲν γὰρ αὐταὶ, Θεὸν ἔχουσαι βοηθόν. ∆ασεῖαι δὲ τοσούτους ἔχουσαι τοὺς οἰκήτορας, ὧν τὴν μὲν εἷλε παντελῶς, τὴν δὲ πλὴν ὀλίγων, ἃς ἐνόμισας, φησὶν, ἰδίᾳ δυνάμει χειρώσασθαι, καὶ κρατῆσαι τῆς Ἰσραὴλ βασιλείας, ἣν ἐκάλεσεν ὕψος κέδρου, μέρος δὲ δρυμοῦ, τὸ τῆς Ἰουδαίας ἀπολωλός. Εἶτα περὶ γεφύρας φησὶ, καὶ ποταμῶν ἀφανιζομένων, ἅπερ ἐποίουν οἱ τῆς Ἀσίας κρατοῦντες, πολυχειρίᾳ θαῤῥοῦντες. Τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἐγεφύρουν τῶν ποταμῶν. Ὁ δὲ Ξέρξης καὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον. Οἱ δὲ ἀπέλειπον ὑπ' ἐκείνων γενόμενοι τῷ τῶν πινόντων οὐκ ἀντέχοντες πλήθει. Ἀλλ' ουστον ἐστὶ ταῦτα, φησίν. Ἐγὼ γὰρ κατ' ἐκείνων, τοῦ παθεῖν τὸν ὅρον ἐξήνεγκα. Σὺ δὲ τὴν παρ' ἐμοὶ πρόπαλαι κρατοῦσαν γνώμην ἠγνόηκας περὶ τῆς τῶν ἀσεβούντων ἀπωλείας ἐθνῶν. Οἱ δὲ περὶ Σαμαρείας καὶ τῆς Ἰουδαίας εἰπόντες εἰρῆσθαι. Ἐξῆν σοι, φασὶ, τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἐντυχεῖν προφήταις, καὶ γνῶναι τὰ προθεσπισθέντα περὶ αὐτῶν, ἃ νῦν εἰς ἕργον ὀργάνῳ σοι χρησάμενος ἤγαγον. Ἐμῇ γὰρ ὥσπερ χειρὶ τούτους τῇ ἀνεξικακίᾳ διακρατῶν, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἐπέστρεφον πρὸς τὸν Σωτῆρα τὸν ἑαυτῶν, ἀνῆκά σοι τούτους, καὶ τότε γέγονας ἐγκρατής. Ἄκαρποι γὰρ ὄντες, ἀγρώστει καὶ χόρτῳ εἰκάζοντο δωμάτων, καὶ μηκέτι σκεπασθέντες ἀπεξηράνθησαν, ὅπερ οὐκ ἂν ἔπαθον ἄμπελος ἢ ἔλαια τυγχάνοντες. Σὺ δὲ μὴ ταῦτα φρονῶν ἀήθης καὶ τῆς ἐμῆς πόλεως ἐν ὁμοίῳ κρατεῖν. Οὐ γὰρ ἀγνοῶ σου τὰς ἐνθυμήσεις, οὐδὲ τὴν εἴσοδόν τε καὶ ἔξοδον τῶν σῶν λογισμῶν. Τινὲς δὲ τὸν μὲν θάνατον αὐτοῦ διὰ τῆς ἀναπαύσεως δηλοῦσθαί φασιν. Εἴσοδον δὲ καὶ ἔξοδον,