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had been created, but that she also much more than that creeping kind would have changed for the better, casting off the venom of wickedness, if she had offered herself to the benefit of the divine teachings, and to the truly God-inspired incantations? Wherefore indeed the Word accurately compared such a one not simply to an asp, but to a deaf asp, not being so by nature, but deafening herself by choice. Therefore it is said, "Like a deaf asp that stops its ears." For so also a man who is disobedient to the divine words is deprived of hearing, not because his soul has been deafened, but by his own will; for he willingly deafens himself, doing violence to his own nature. For God did not create a deaf soul, nor a blind one, nor a crippled one, nor one maimed at all; but one strong in all its powers; since He established man in His own image and likeness. But each one deafens and blinds himself, and maims the substance of his own soul. And the people of the circumcision are convicted of doing this through Isaiah the prophet. Wherefore it was said to them: "The heart of this people has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, and their ears they have made heavy; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I should heal them." Thus, therefore, he who is disobedient to the divine words is likened to a deaf asp that deafens itself. Wherefore it is said according to Symmachus: "Like a deaf asp, stopping its ear, that it may not hear the voice of whisperers, of each one having devised incantations." But the man who now exists, and has made himself such, when he does these things, is known to the many; but to God, even before his birth, and long before his conception in the womb, he was known as one who would be such. In vain, then, does he deceive himself who professes to speak righteousness, but with his own hands weaves injustice; then hiding iniquity in his heart, as if he would escape the notice of God in the divine judgment hall. "God will break their teeth in their mouth," and what follows. Having learned the aforementioned ma 23.524 things concerning sinners, O sons of men, and how, being foreknown by God, and even before they came into being as men, they were known to him as going to be such, hear what kind of end will overtake them. For since, having become of a free and self-determining nature, and discerning both of the good and of its opposite, and possessing in themselves the inclination toward either, they did not use their judgment rightly, nor did they love the straight path, although knowing it, nor did they pursue with deeds the righteousness which they professed with word and lips alone, but having been made like the ancient serpent, they became worse than a deaf asp; for this reason, hear what awaits them also, learning that God, the judge of all, will break their teeth as they differ in no way from lions, and that after all this they will be dissolved like flowing water. For instead of, "They will be set at nought like passing water," Symmachus translated, "Let them be dissolved like water that passes by itself." For since they feign righteousness with their mouth, it is fitting that God will break their teeth in their mouth. And since it did not suffice them to be likened to the serpent and to the aforementioned deaf asp, but now, also harming others, they were compared to lions and cubs, from which David prays that his soul be delivered, saying in the one before this: "And he has delivered my soul from the midst of cubs," or, "from the midst of lions," God is said to crush their molars, that is, the powers of their wickedness, which they used for the destruction of many. And when God has broken their teeth and their molars, then at last they will be set at nought as if they had died, and they will be dissolved like water that passes by itself. And such will be the end of all the impious. Which indeed

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γεγενημένης, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ αὐτὴ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ ἑρπυστικὸν ἐκεῖνο γένος μετέβαλεν ἂν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον, τῆς κακίας ἰὸν ἀποθεμένη, εἰ παρεῖχεν ἑαυτὴν τῇ ἐκ τῶν θείων μαθημάτων ὠφελείᾳ, καὶ ταῖς ἀληθῶς θεοπνεύστοις ἐπῳδαῖς; ∆ιὸ δὴ ἀκριβῶς ὁ λόγος οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἀσπίδι τὴν τοιαύτην παρέβαλεν, ἀλλ' ἀσπίδι κωφῇ, οὐκ ἐκ φύσεως οὔσῃ τοιαύτῃ, ἀλλ' ἐκ προαιρέσεως ἑαυτὴν ἀποκωφούσῃ. ∆ιὸ εἴρηται, Ὡς ἀσπίδος κωφῆς καὶ βυούσης τὰ ὦτα αὐτῆς. Οὕτω γάρ ποτε καὶ ἄνθρωπος τῶν θείων ἀνήκοος λόγων, οὐ παρὰ τὸ κεκωφῶσθαι τὴν ψυχὴν, ἐστέρηται τῆς ἀκοῆς, παρὰ δὲ τὴν οἰκείαν βούλησιν· ἑκὼν γὰρ ἑαυτὸν ἀποκωφοῖ βιαζόμενος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φύσιν. Θεὸς γὰρ κωφὴν ψυχὴν οὐκ εἰργάσατο, ὡς οὐδὲ τυφλὴν, οὐδὲ ἀνάπηρον, οὐδὲ ὅλως λελωβημένην· ἐῤῥωμένην δὲ κατὰ πάσας αὐτῆς τὰς δυνάμεις· ἐπεὶ κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν τὴν αὐτοῦ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὑπεστήσατο. Ἕκαστος δὲ ἑαυτὸν ἀποκωφοῖ καὶ τυφλοῖ, καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς λωβᾶται. Τοῦτο δὲ διὰ Ἠσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου ὁ ἐκ περιτομῆς ἀπελέγχεται πράττων λαός. ∆ιὸ λέλεκται πρὸς αὐτούς· Ἐπαχύνθη ἡ καρδία τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου, καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶ βαρέως ἤκουσαν, καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐκάμμυσαν, καὶ τὰ ὦτα ἐβάρυναν· μήποτε ἴδωσι τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, καὶ τοῖς ὠσὶν ἀκούσωσι, καὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ συνῶσι, καὶ ἐπιστρέψωσι, καὶ ἰάσωμαι αὐτούς. Οὕτως οὖν ἀσπίδι κωφῇ ἑαυτὴν ἀποκωφούσῃ ὁ τῶν θείων ἀνήκοος λόγων παρωμοίωται. ∆ιὸ λέλεκται κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· Ὡς ἀσπίδι κωφῇ, βυούσῃ ὠτίον αὐτῆς, ἵνα μὴ ἀκούσῃ φωνὴν ψιθυριζόντων, ἑκάστου ἐπῳδὰς σεσοφισμένου. Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν νῦν ὑφεστὼς ἅνθρωπος, καὶ τοιοῦτον ἑαυτὸν κατασκευάσας, ὅτε ταῦτα πράττει, τοῖς πολλοῖς γινώσκεται· τῷ δὲ Θεῷ καὶ πρὸ γενέσεως, καὶ πολὺ πρότερον πρὸ τῆς κατὰ γαστρὸς συλλήψεως, τοιοῦτος ἐσόμενος ἐγνωρίζετο. Μάτην ἄρα ἑαυτὸν ἀπατᾷ ὁ λαλεῖν μὲν δικαιοσύνην ἐπαγγελλόμενος, ταῖς δὲ χερσὶν αὑτοῦ συμπλέκων ἀδικίαν· ἔπειτα κρύπτων ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ἑαυτοῦ τὴν ἀνομίαν, ὡς καὶ τὸν Θεὸν λησόμενος ἐν τῷ θείῳ δικαιωτηρίῳ. Ὁ Θεὸς συντρίψει τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Τὰ προλεχθέντα μα 23.524 θόντες περὶ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ὡς, προγνωσθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ πρὶν εἰς ἀνθρώπους παρελθεῖν, ἐγνωρίζοντο αὐτῷ ἐσόμενοι τοιοῦτοι, ἀκούετε ὁποῖον τέλος αὐτοὺς διαλήψεται. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ, φύσεως ἐλευθέρας καὶ αὐτεξουσίου γενόμενοι, διακριτικοί τε τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἐναντίου, τήν τε εἰς ἑκάτερα ῥοπὴν τὴν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς κεκτημένοι, οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἐχρήσαντο τῷ κριτηρίῳ, οὐδὲ ἠγάπησαν τὴν εὐθεῖαν, καίπερ εἰδότης αὐτὴν, οὐδ' ἔργοις μετῆλθον τὴν δικαιοσύνην, ἣν λόγῳ μόνῳ καὶ χείλεσιν ἐπηγγέλλοντο, τῷ παλαιῷ δὲ ὄφει ὁμοιωθέντες, ἀσπίδος κωφῆς χείρους ἐγένοντο· τούτου χάριν ἐπακούσατε τίνα καὶ αὐτοὺς περιμένει, μαθόντες, ὡς ὁ τῶν ὅλων κριτὴς Θεὸς συντρίψει τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτῶν κατ' οὐδὲν διαφερόντων λεόντων, καὶ ὡς μετὰ πάντα διαλυθήσονται δίκην ὕδατος ἐκρέοντος. Ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ, Ἐξουδενωθήσονται ὡς ὕδωρ παραπορευόμενον, ὁ Σύμμαχος ἡρμήνευσε, ∆ιαλυθήτωσαν ὡς ὕδωρ παρερχόμενον ἑαυτῷ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τῷ στόματι καθυποκρίνονται τὴν δικαιοσύνην, εἰκότως τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτῶν ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν συντρίψει. Καὶ ἐπεὶ μὴ ἀπήρκεσεν αὐτοῖς ὁμοιωθῆναι τῷ ὄφει καὶ τῇ προλεχθείσῃ ἀσπίδι κωφῇ, ἤδη δὲ καὶ ἑτέρους λυμαινόμενοι, λέουσι παρεβλήθησαν καὶ σκύμνοις, ἀφ' ὧν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ἐῤῥῦσθαι εὔχεται ὁ ∆αυῒδ λέγων ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου· Καὶ ἐῤῥύσατο τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκ μέσου σκύμνων, ἢ, ἐκ μέσου λεόντων τὰς μύλας αὐτῶν συνθλάσειν λέγεται ὁ Θεὸς, δηλαδὴ τὰς τῆς κακίας αὐτῶν δυνάμεις, αἷς ἐπ' ὀλέθρῳ πολλῶν ἐχρήσαντο. Ἐπειδὰν δὲ τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς μύλας συντρίψῃ ὁ Θεὸς, τότε λοιπὸν ἐξουδενωθήσονται ὡς ἂν νεκρωθέντες, καὶ διαλυθήσονται ὡς ὕδωρ παρερχόμενον ἑαυτῷ. Καὶ τοιοῦτον μὲν ἔσται τῶν ἀσεβῶν πάντων τὸ τέλος. Ὃ δὴ