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God's transition from the worse to the better, it moves on to another group, the one remaining in the former error of idolatry. Therefore he directs his speech to them, saying: Your judgment draws near, says God; “for you are without excuse,” he says, who after such great grace that accomplished such great things remained in the polytheistic error, not understanding that it was truly the hand of the Lord that accomplished such great things and testified “before it happened,” that these things would be, so that they might see and know and understand and be convinced that the hand of the Lord has done these things. Therefore, to those who were not convinced and did not know nor understand, the word consequently threatens, saying: Your judgment draws near, says the Lord God; for their condemnation is brought upon them from that very fact, “being without excuse.” Therefore he adds: your counsels have drawn near, instead of which Symmachus says: Bring forth your strong reasons, he says, and Theodotion: Bring forth your strongholds, and Aquila: Bring near your bones; for bring into the midst, he says, what are considered by you to be strong and your strongholds, as if he were saying more clearly: Your gods, bring them into the midst, let them draw near and announce to you, and according to Symmachus: Let them come forward and declare to you, what will happen, or what were the former things, say, and we will set our mind and we will know the last things, and tell us the things to come. Announce to us the things to come at the last, and we will know that you are gods. For truly from this one can condemn the inactivity of the demons who of old pretended to prophesy and made use of foretelling the future, from the fact that none of them ever prophesied and foretold that the Christ of God would one day come and visit men, to abolish their deification, so that the temples erected to them in the cities would be desolated, and their divinations and oracles be refuted. For these things in the last of days were accomplished through the presence of our Savior. which the evil demons who pretend to practice divination and to know the future ought not to have been ignorant of; at least they should have foreknown and prophesied these things, if there was any divine power in them. Therefore the word says, as to them: what are the last things and what are the things to come, tell us. Announce to us the things to come at the last, and we will know that you are gods. The prophets of God, on the one hand, having partaken of the divine spirit, foretold the last things, expressly prophesying the change for the better of the waterless and barren and fruitless land of the nations, both the coming of Christ and the preaching of his apostles and whatever else is contained in their prophecies; whence he who prophesied these things in them and through them is known to be truly God. But the evil demons, how could they know the counsel and thought of the God over all or the things decreed by him concerning the coming of Christ, and concerning their own destruction and perdition? Therefore, not knowing the things to come nor the things that were to happen in the last times concerning the calling of the nations, and their own desolation. they reasonably did not know the former things either, whence none of them has been able to suggest these things to their own prophets, which those deemed worthy of the spirit of God have delivered in writing. such was Moses writing the former things and saying: “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. But the earth was invisible and unformed.” For these and similar things were the former things, and the last things were about the conversion of the nations, the refutation of the demonic error, and the things concerning “the end of the age” and “the righteous judgment of God” that will come after these things. Those therefore who are able neither to know nor to say the last things, how could they be gods. Then he moves on to another refutation, saying: Do good and do evil, and we will see and marvel at the same time; for even if you are most able to do evil, being wicked demons, but not

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θεοῦ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν χειρόνων ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω μετάθεσιν, ἐφ' ἕτερον μεταβαίνει τάγμα τὸ ἀπομεῖναν ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ πλάνῃ τῆς εἰδωλολατρίας. διὸ ὡς πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀποτείνεται λέγων· Ἐγγίζει ἡ κρίσις ὑμῶν, λέγει ὁ θεός· «ἀναπολόγητοι γάρ ἐστέ» φησιν οἱ μετὰ τὴν τοσαύτην χάριν τὴν τὰ τοσαῦτα κατεργασαμένην τῇ πολυθέῳ ἐναπομείναντες πλάνῃ μὴ ἐννοήσαντες, ὡς χεὶρ κυρίου ἦν ἀληθῶς ἡ τὰ τοσαῦτα κατεργασαμένη καὶ «πρὶν γενέσθαι» μαρτυραμένη, ὅτι ταῦτα ἔσται, ἵνα εἰδῶσι καὶ γνῶσι καὶ ἐννοηθῶσι καὶ ἐπιστῶνται ὅτι χεὶρ κυρίου ἐποίησε ταῦτα. τοῖς οὖν μὴ ἐπιστήσασι καὶ μὴ ἐπεγνωκόσι μηδὲ ἐννοήσασιν ἀκολούθως ὁ λόγος ἀπειλεῖ φάσκων· Ἐγγίζει ἡ κρίσις ὑμῶν, λέγει κύριος ὁ θεός· ἡ γὰρ κατάκρισις αὐτῶν αὐτόθεν αὐτοῖς ἐπάγεται «ἀναπολογήτοις οὖσι». διὸ ἐπιλέγει· ἤγγισαν αἱ βουλαὶ ὑμῶν, ἀνθ' οὗ ὁ Σύμμαχος· ἐγγίσατέ φησι τὰ ἰσχυρὰ ὑμῶν, ὁ δὲ Θεοδοτίων· ἐγγίσατε κραταιώματα ὑμῶν, ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας· προσεγγίσατε ὀστεώσεις ὑμῶν· εἰς μέσον γάρ φησιν ἀγάγετε τὰ νομιζόμενα ὑμῖν εἶναι ἰσχυρὰ καὶ τὰ κραταιώματα ὑμῶν, ὡσεὶ σαφέστερον ἔλεγε τοὺς θεοὺς ὑμῶν, φέρετε εἰς μέσον, ἐγγισάτωσαν καὶ ἀναγγειλάτωσαν ὑμῖν, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον· προσελθέτωσαν καὶ ἀπαγγειλάτωσαν ὑμῖν, ἃ συμβήσεται, ἢ τὰ πρότερα τίνα ἦν εἴπατε, καὶ ἐπιστήσομεν τὸν νοῦν καὶ γνωσόμεθα τὰ ἔσχατα, καὶ τὰ ἐπερχόμενα εἴπατε ἡμῖν. ἀναγγείλατε ἡμῖν τὰ ἐπερχόμενα ἐπ' ἐσχάτου, καὶ γνωσόμεθα ὅτι θεοί ἐστε. καὶ γὰρ ἀληθῶς ἐντεῦθεν τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων ἀδρανείας καταγνῶναί ἐστι τῶν πάλαι μαντεύεσθαι προσποιουμένων καὶ προλέγειν διαχρησαμένων τὰ μέλλοντα ἐκ τοῦ μηδένα πώποτε αὐτῶν μαντεύεσθαι καὶ προειπεῖν, ὡς ἄρα ἥξει καὶ ἐπιδημήσει ποτὲ ἀνθρώποις ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ καταλύσων αὐτῶν τὴν θεοποιΐαν ὡς ἐρημωθῆναι τοὺς κατὰ πόλεις αὐτοῖς ἀνεγηγερμένους ναούς, ἐλεγχθῆναι δὲ αὐτῶν τὰς μαντείας καὶ τὰ χρηστήρια· ταῦτα γὰρ ἐπ' ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν διὰ τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπετελέσθη. ἅπερ ἐχρῆν μὴ ἀγνοῆσαι τοὺς καταμαντεύεσθαι καὶ εἰδέναι τὰ μέλλοντα προσποιουμένους πονηροὺς δαίμονας· ἔδει γοῦν ταῦτα προγνῶναι καὶ προφητεῦσαι, εἴπερ τις ἦν ἐν αὐτοῖς θεία δύναμις. διό φησιν ὡς πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ λόγος· τί τὰ ἔσχατα καὶ τί τὰ ἐπερχόμενα, εἴπατε ἡμῖν. ἀναγγείλατε ἡμῖν τὰ ἐπερχόμενα ἐπ' ἐσχάτου, καὶ γνωσόμεθα ὅτι θεοί ἐστε. οἱ μὲν τοῦ θεοῦ προφῆται ἐνθέου πνεύματος μετασχόντες προεῖπον τὰ ἔσχατα διαρρήδην θεσπίσαντες τῆς ἀνύδρου καὶ ἀγόνου καὶ ἀκάρπου χώρας τῶν ἐθνῶν τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω μεταβολήν, τήν τε τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίαν καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων αὐτοῦ τὸ κήρυγμα καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ταῖς αὐτῶν ἐμφέρεται προφητείαις· ὅθεν γνωρίζεται θεὸς ὢν ἀληθῶς ὁ ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ δι' αὐτῶν ταῦτα θεσπίσας. οἱ δὲ πονηροὶ δαίμονες πόθεν ἐδύναντο γινώσκειν βουλὴν καὶ ἐνθύμησιν τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων θεοῦ ἢ τὰ ὁρισθέντα ὑπ' αὐτοῦ περὶ τῆς Χριστοῦ παρουσίας, περί τε τῆς αὐτῶν καθαιρέσεως καὶ ἀπωλείας; διὸ μὴ εἰδότες τὰ ἐπερχόμενα μηδὲ τὰ ἐν ἐσχάτοις καιροῖς μέλλοντα συμβήσεσθαι περὶ τῆς κλήσεως τῶν ἐθνῶν, τῆς τε αὐτῶν ἐρημίας. εἰκότως οὐδὲ τὰ πρότερα ἐγνώριζον, ὅθεν οὐδεὶς αὐτῶν δεδύνηται τοῖς αὐτοῖς προφήταις ὑποβάλλειν ταῦτα, ἅπερ οἱ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ θεοῦ καταξιωθέντες γραφῇ παραδεδώκασιν. οἷος ἦν Μωϋσῆς γράφων τὰ πρότερα καὶ λέγων· «Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος». ταῦτα γὰρ καὶ τὰ τούτοις παραπλήσια τὰ πρότερα ἦν, τὰ δὲ ἔσχατα περὶ τῆς ἐθνῶν ἐπιστροφῆς, τοῦ τε ἐλέγχου τῆς δαιμονικῆς πλάνης, τά τε περὶ «τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος» καὶ τῆς μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπιστησομένης «τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιοκρισίας»· οἱ δὴ οὖν μήτε τὰ ἔσχατα δυνάμενοι εἰδέναι μήτε λέγειν, πῶς ἂν εἶεν θεοί. εἶτα μεταβαίνει ἐπὶ ἕτερον ἔλεγχον φάσκων· εὖ ποιήσατε καὶ κακώσατε, καὶ ὀψόμεθα καὶ θαυμασόμεθα ἅμα· εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα κακοποιεῖν οἷοί τέ ἐστε δαίμονες ὄντες πονηροί, ἀλλ' οὐκ