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The places accessible to the priests became desolate and were trampled underfoot by the impious enemies. For the impious were not only the Babylonians but also the Macedonians and the Romans, when they sacked Jerusalem. 19We have become as from the beginning when you did not rule over us, nor was your name called upon us. We were stripped of that manifold providence and have become like our forefathers who, while enslaved in Egypt, were not yet called your people. If you open the heaven, trembling will seize the mountains from you, and they will melt 641 as wax melts by fire, and fire will burn up your adversaries, and your name will be manifest to your adversaries. But we have suffered these things not because of your weakness but because of our own lawlessness. For when you make your own manifestation from heaven, the mountains are shaken and will be dissolved like wax approaching fire. And fire will consume our enemies and your power will be made manifest to all. From your face the nations will be troubled; 2when you do glorious things, trembling will seize the mountains from you. All things are easy for you, all things are effortless for you: to shake the earth, to trouble the nations. 3From of old we have not heard, nor have our eyes seen a god besides you. Through these very facts we have learned that you alone are God; for we have neither seen nor heard of any other whose works are fitting for a god. And your works are true. For you are not like the contrivances of idols and their manifold deceptions. And you will show mercy to those who wait for you; 4for mercy will meet those who do what is right, and they will remember your ways. He showed the justice of mercy; for neither is the mercy of God without judgment nor is his judgment without mercy. For this very reason he joined the provision of mercy to those who wait and to those who do what is right. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned. But you are indignant with us not unjustly; for our own lawlessness provokes your wrath. Thus also Symmachus interpreted: "Behold, you were angry when we sinned." For they did not sin because he was angry, but he was angry because they sinned. Because of this we have gone astray 5and we have become as unclean all <ἡμεῖς>. Because we sinned, you were angry; and being angry, you stripped us of your providence. And we, having been stripped of this, wander here and there and are deprived of your holiness, having become loathsome and unclean. And all our righteousness is as a filthy rag. The prophet's understanding is worthy of admiration; for he compared not their sin but their righteousness to the unclean rag. But if righteousness is compared to that, sin has no image to be compared to. And we all have faded as leaves because of our iniquities; thus the wind will carry us away. Through these things also he showed the justice of the punishment. We are paying the penalty, he says, for our great lawlessness and are like leaves carried by a storm. 6And there is no one who calls upon your name, who remembers to take hold of you, for you have turned your face from us and have delivered us over to our sins. We have fallen into insensibility and are not aware of the calamities that lie upon us |181 b| nor do we ask for deliverance from them; for having been stripped of your care because of our great lawlessness, we were given over to bondage. 7And now, O Lord, you are our father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hands. He recalls the ancient creation and calls him father and master and potter, and names human nature clay, in order that through these things also he might open the springs of mercy. 8Be not exceedingly angry with us, O Lord, and do not in time remember our sins. The phrase 'not in time,' Symmachus has said is "not forever" instead of "to the end." Thus also the blessed David said: "Why, O God, have you cast us off forever?", and again: "Will you be angry with us forever?", and elsewhere: "And their time will be forever." According to the Septuagint, however, let us understand it thus: do not, at the time of the enemies' attack, remember our sins. and now look, O Lord, for we are all your people

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τοῖς ἱερεῦσι βατὰ ἔρημα ἐγένετο καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν δυσσεβῶν πολεμίων κατεπατήθη. ∆υσσεβεῖς γὰρ ἦσαν οὐ μόνον Βαβυλώνιοι ἀλλὰ καὶ Μακεδόνες καὶ Ῥωμαῖοι, ἡνίκα τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐξεπόρθησαν. 19Ἐγενόμεθα ὡς τὸ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ὅτε οὐκ ἦρξας ἡμῶν, οὐδὲ ἐπεκλήθη τὸ ὄνομά σου ἐφ' ἡμᾶς. Τῆς παντοδαπῆς ἐκείνης ἐγυμνώθημεν προμηθείας καὶ τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἐοίκα μεν προγόνοις, οἳ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ δουλεύοντες οὐδέπω σὸς λαὸς ἐχρημάτιζον. Ἐὰν ἀνοίξῃς τὸν οὐρανόν, τρόμος λήψεται ἀπὸ σοῦ ὄρη, καὶ τακήσονται 641ὡς κηρὸς τήκεται ὑπὸ πυρός, καὶ κατακαύσει πῦρ τοὺς ὑπεναντίους σου, καὶ φανερὸν ἔσται τὸ ὄνομά σου τοῖς ὑπεναντίοις σου. Ταῦτα δὲ πεπόνθαμεν οὐ διὰ τὴν σὴν ἀσθένειαν ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν παρανομίαν. Σοῦ γὰρ οὐρανόθεν τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπιφάνειαν ποιουμένου κλονεῖται τὰ ὄρη καὶ κηροῦ δίκην πυρὶ πελάζοντος διαλυθή σεται. Πῦρ δὲ τοὺς ἡμετέρους δυσμενεῖς δαπανήσει καὶ φανερὰ πᾶσιν ἡ σὴ γενήσεται δύναμις. Ἀπὸ προσώπου σου ἔθνη ταραχθήσονται· 2ὅταν ποιῇς τὰ ἔνδοξα, τρόμος λήψεται ἀπὸ σοῦ ὄρη. Πάντα σοι ῥᾴδια, πάντα σοι εὐπετῆ· σεῖσαι τὴν γῆν, ταράξαι τὰ ἔθνη. 3Ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος οὐκ ἠκούςαμεν, οὐδὲ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ ἡμῶν εἶδον θεὸν πλὴν σοῦ. ∆ι' αὐτῶν μεμαθήκαμεν τῶν πραγμάτων ὡς σὺ μόνος ὑπάρχεις θεός· ἑτέρου γὰρ οὐδενὸς οὔτε ἐθεασάμεθα οὔτε ἠκούσαμεν ἔργα θεῷ πρέποντα. Καὶ τὰ ἔργα σου ἀληθινά. Οὐ γὰρ ἔοικας τοῖς τῶν εἰδώλων τεχνάσμασι καὶ ταῖς παντοδαπαῖς ἐξαπάταις. Καὶ ποιήσεις τοῖς ὑπομένουσί σε ἔλεον· 4συναντήσεται γὰρ ἔλεος τοῖς ποιοῦσι τὸ δίκαιον, καὶ τῶν ὁδῶν σου μνησθήσονται. Ἔδειξε τοῦ ἐλέου τὸ δίκαιον· οὔτε γὰρ ὁ ἔλεος τοῦ θεοῦ ἄκριτος οὔτε ἡ κρίσις ἀνέλεος. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο τοῖς ὑπομένουσι καὶ τοῖς ποιοῦσι τὸ δίκαιον τὴν τοῦ ἐλέου χορηγίαν συνέ ζευξεν. Ἰδοὺ σὺ ὠργίσθης, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἡμάρτομεν. Ἀγανακτεῖς δὲ καθ' ἡμῶν οὐκ ἀδίκως· ἡ γὰρ ἡμετέρα παρανομία τὴν ὀργὴν παραθήγει. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσεν· «Ἰδοὺ σὺ ὠργίσθης ἁμαρτανόντων ἡμῶν.» Οὐ γὰρ αὐτοῦ ὀργισθέντος ἥμαρτον, ἀλλ' ἐκείνων ἁμαρτόντων ὠργίσθη. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐπλανήθημεν 5καὶ ἐγενήθημεν ὡς ἀκάθαρτοι πάντες <ἡμεῖς>. Ἡμαρτηκότων ἡμῶν ὠργίσθης· ὀργισθεὶς δὲ τῆς σῆς ἡμᾶς προνοίας ἐγύμνωσας. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ταύτης γυ μνωθέν τες τῇδε κἀκεῖσε περιπλανώμεθα καὶ τῆς σῆς ἐστερήμεθα ἁγιωσύνης μυσαροί τινες καὶ ἀκάθαρτοι γεγε νημένοι. Καὶ ὡς ῥάκος ἀποκαθημένης πᾶσα ἡ δικαιοσύνη ἡμῶν. Ἄξιον θαυμάσαι τοῦ προφήτου τὴν σύνεσιν· τῷ γὰρ ἀκαθάρτῳ ῥάκει οὐ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀλλὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτῶν ἀπείκασεν. Εἰ δὲ ἡ δικαιοσύνη ἐκείνῳ ἀπείκασται, οὐκ ἔχει εἰκόνα παραβαλλομένη ἡ ἁμαρτία. Καὶ ἐξερρύημεν ὡς φύλλα πάντες ἡμεῖς διὰ τὰς ἀνομίας ἡμῶν, οὕτως ἄνεμος οἴσει ἡμᾶς. Ἔδειξε καὶ διὰ τούτων τῆς τιμωρίας τὸ δίκαιον. Τῆς πολλῆς φησι παρανομίας τίνομεν δίκας καὶ ἐοίκαμεν φύλλοις ὑπὸ λαίλαπος φερομένοις. 6Καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἐπικαλούμενος τὸ ὄνομά σου καὶ ὁ μνησθεὶς ἀντιλαβέσθαι σου, ὅτι ἀπέστρεψας τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἀφ' ἡμῶν καὶ παρέδωκας ἡμᾶς ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἡμῶν. Εἰς ἀναλγησίαν ἐξεπέσαμεν καὶ τῶν ἐπικειμένων οὐκ |181 b| αἰσθανόμεθα συμφορῶν οὐδὲ τὴν τούτων αἰτοῦμεν ἀπαλλαγήν· τῆς γὰρ σῆς γυμνωθέντες ἐπιμελείας διὰ τὴν πολλὴν παρανομίαν ἐξεδόθημεν τῇ δουλείᾳ. 7Καὶ νῦν κύριε πατὴρ ἡμῶν σὺ εἶ, ἡμεῖς δὲ πηλός· καὶ σὺ ὁ πλάστης ἡμῶν, ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν σου πάντες ἡμεῖς. Τῆς ἀρχαίας ἀναμιμνῄσκει δημιουργίας καὶ πατέρα καλεῖ καὶ δεσπότην καὶ πλάστην καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν ὀνομάζει πηλόν, ἵνα καὶ διὰ τούτων ἀνοίξῃ τὰς τοῦ ἐλέου πηγάς. 8Μὴ ὀργίζου ἡμῖν κύριε ἕως σφόδρα καὶ μὴ ἐν καιρῷ μνησθῇς ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν. Τό· μὴ ἐν καιρῷ, «μὴ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα» ὁ Σύμμαχος εἴρηκεν ἀντὶ τοῦ· εἰς τέλος. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ μακάριος ἔφη ∆αυίδ· «Ἵνα τί ὁ θεὸς ἀπώσω εἰς τέλος;», καὶ πάλιν· «Μὴ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ὀργισθῇς ἡμῖν», καὶ ἑτέρωθι· «Καὶ ἔσται ὁ καιρὸς αὐτῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.» Κατὰ μέντοι τοὺς Ἑβδομήκοντα οὕτως νοή σω μεν· μὴ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς τῶν πολεμίων προσβολῆς τῶν ἡμετέρων ἁμαρτημάτων μνησθῇς. καὶ νῦν ἐπίβλεψον κύριε ὅτι λαός σου πάντες