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From this you will have a sign of the divine energy. Therefore, you must first show what is proper to a god, I mean, to do good, and then, if indeed you will use righteous judgment, you might punish those worthy of evil. But now, since you indiscriminately receive those who approach your error, promising good promises to all, up to the level of voice and composition of ambiguous words in order to hide ignorance with the veil of ambiguity, and already you indifferently provide your oracles to shameful men and licentious women, how could you be gods? Therefore he adds next: ‘from whence are you and from whence is your work?’ And he adds, refuting the substance of the matter by saying: 'from earth; they chose you as an abomination.' For even if it is gold and silver, or iron and bronze or stone, all these are the wastes of the earth; which, when taken for deification, have become an abomination, not being such by nature, since every work of God is good, but the evil craftsmanships of wicked men, taken over for impiety, are polluted and abominable and worthy of hatred, which, being also lifeless, can neither do good nor do evil, so that from this it is established that the supposed energies or the oracles are the deceptions of sorcerers who exploit the foolishness of the many. Having said these things, the word, and as if having proved to those who remained in idolatry their own error, adds: ‘I have raised up the one from the north,’ or according to Symmachus: 'I will raise up from the north, and the one from the rising of the sun, who,’ he says, 'will be called by my name.' And by these things he signifies, on the one hand, Christ and his 'righteousness' from the risings of the sun; for this he also made clear through the preceding words, saying: 'Who has raised up righteousness from the east?' which he showed was also given to the nations; and on the other hand, the one from the north, the people from the nations, long being in the north according to this: 'from the face of the north will evils be kindled upon all who inhabit the earth.' Therefore, he says, 'I have raised up this people from the nations from the north, so that it may no longer be in it, and I will call the one from the rising of the sun,' that is, the Christ of God. And in addition to these things he adds: 'they will be called by my name;' and who these might be, he teaches next, saying: 'let rulers come,' either naming in this way the angels who attend his kingdom as a bodyguard, through whom he says the destruction of the godless error has occurred, or the rulers and leaders of his church. Therefore, when the people from the north are gathered and the one from the rising of the sun, and the declared rulers come to the same place, what will happen next he adds, saying: 'and as the potter's clay and as a potter treading the clay, so will you be trodden down,' that is, you to whom it was said: 'from whence are you and from whence is your work? From earth; they chose you as an abomination.' Therefore he turns to them again and says: 'Who will announce the things from the beginning, that we may know, and the things before, and we will say that he is true?' Having said these things as to those who were declared and having brought the same refutation against them, he adds: 'There is no one who foretells nor who hears your words.' Again through these things, the word signifies two things: the disappearance of the oracles and the recovery of the men who were formerly deceived by them. And the saying, 'there is no one who hears your words,' has a double meaning, as neither do they have a word, because they can do nothing nor know anything, nor do those formerly deceived by them persist in their error; but having been benefited by the word of truth, so that they no longer give ear to those things, because they have condemned the old deceit. Next to these things he adds, saying: 'I will give a beginning to Zion, and I will summon Jerusalem to the way.' What he says is of this sort: know, O men, that to my church, which was also named Zion and Jerusalem through the preceding things, I myself will give dominion over all, and I will summon my church and I will set it on the way. For among the nations that remained in the

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ἐκ τούτου γνώρισμα τῆς θεϊκῆς ἐνεργείας ἕξετε. διόπερ τὸ ἰδιάζον ἐπὶ θεοῦ πρῶτον ὑμᾶς ἐπιδείξασθαι χρή, λέγω δὲ τὸ εὖ ποιῆσαι, ἔπειτα εἰ ἄρα κρίσει δικαίᾳ χρήσεσθε καὶ τοὺς ἀξίους κακώσεως τιμωρήσασθε. νῦν δὲ ὅτε τοὺς τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ πλάνῃ προσιόντας ἀδιακρίτως ὑποδέχεσθε ἐπαγγελλόμενοι τοῖς πᾶσι χρηστὰς ἐπαγγελίας μέχρι φωνῆς καὶ συνθέσεως ῥημάτων λοξῶν διὰ τὸ κρύπτειν τὴν ἄγνοιαν τῷ τῆς ἀμφιβολίας παρακαλύμματι, ἤδη δὲ καὶ αἰσχροῖς ἀνδράσι καὶ γυναιξὶν ἀκολάστοις ἀδιαφόρως τοὺς ἐξ ὑμῶν παρέχετε χρησμούς, πῶς ἂν εἴητε θεοί. ∆ιὸ ἐπιλέγει ἑξῆς· ὅτι πόθεν ἐστὲ ὑμεῖς καὶ πόθεν ἡ ἐργασία ὑμῶν; καὶ ἐπάγει τὴν ὑπόστασιν τῆς ὕλης ἐλέγχων διὰ τοῦ φάσκειν· ἐκ γῆς· βδέλυγμα ἐξελέξαντο ὑμᾶς· κἂν γὰρ χρυσὸς καὶ ἄργυρος ᾖ, κἂν σίδηρος καὶ χαλκὸς ἢ λίθος, πάντα ταῦτα γῆς ἐστι περιττώματα· ἃ δὴ ληφθέντα εἰς θεοποιΐαν βδέλυγμα γέγονεν οὐκ ὄντα τῇ φύσει τοιαῦτα, ἐπειδὴ πᾶν ἔργον θεοῦ καλόν, τὰ δ' ἀνθρώπων κακοτεχνία φαύλων ἐπ' ἀθεότητι παραληφθέντα μιαρὰ καὶ βδελυκτὰ καὶ μίσους ἄξια, ἃ καὶ ἄψυχα ὄντα οὔτε εὖ ποιεῖν οὔτε κακοποιεῖν δύνανται, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν παρίστασθαι τὰς νομιζομένας ἐνεργείας ἢ τοὺς χρησμοὺς ἀνδρῶν εἶναι γοήτων ἀπάτας τῇ τῶν πολλῶν ἠλιθιότητι καταχρωμένων. ταῦτ' εἰπὼν ὁ λόγος καὶ ὥσπερ ἀποδείξας τοῖς ἐναπομείνασι τῇ εἰδωλολατρίᾳ τὴν σφῶν αὐτῶν πλάνην ἐπιφέρει· ἐγὼ δὲ ἤγειρα τὸν ἀπὸ βορρᾶ, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· ἐξεγερῶ ἀπὸ βορρᾶ, καὶ τὸν ἀφ' ἡλίου δὲ ἀνατολῶν, οἳ καὶ κληθήσονταί φησι τῷ ὀνόματί μου. σημαίνει δὲ διὰ τούτων τὸν μὲν ἀπ' ἀνατολῶν ἡλίου τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ «δικαιοσύνην»· τοῦτο γὰρ ἐδήλου καὶ διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθε φήσας· «τίς ἐξήγειρεν ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν δικαιοσύνην»; ἣν καὶ τοῖς ἔθνεσι δεδωρῆσθαι ἐδήλου· τὸν δὲ ἀπὸ βορρᾶ τὸν ἐξ ἐθνῶν λαὸν πάλαι ὄντα ἐν τῷ βορρᾷ κατὰ τό· «ἀπὸ προσώπου βορρᾶ ἐκκαυθήσεται τὰ κακὰ ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν γῆν». τοῦτον οὖν τὸν ἐξ ἐθνῶν λαὸν ἐξήγειρά φησιν ἀπὸ βορρᾶ, ἵνα μηκέτι ᾖ ἐν αὐτῷ, καλέσω δὲ καὶ τὸν ἀφ' ἡλίου ἀνατολῶν, δηλαδὴ τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ. καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἐπιλέγει· κληθήσονται τῷ ὀνόματί μου· τίνες δ' ἂν εἶεν καὶ οὗτοι, ἑξῆς διδάσκει λέγων· ἐρχέσθωσαν ἄρχοντες, ἤτοι τοὺς τὴν αὐτοῦ βασιλείαν δορυφοροῦντας ἀγγέλους οὕτως ὀνομάζων, δι' ὧν τὴν καθαίρεσιν τῆς ἀθέου πλάνης γεγενῆσθαί φησιν, ἢ τοὺς ἄρχοντας καὶ προεστῶτας τῆς ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ. ἐπειδὰν οὖν ὁ ἀπὸ βορρᾶ λαὸς συναχθῇ καὶ ὁ ἀπὸ ἡλίου ἀνατολῶν, οἵ τε δηλωθέντες ἄρχοντες ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ γένωνται, τί ἔσται ἑξῆς ἐπιφέρει λέγων· καὶ ὡς πηλὸς κεραμέως καὶ ὡς κεραμεὺς καταπατῶν τὸν πηλόν, οὕτως καταπατηθήσεσθε, ὑμεῖς δηλαδή, οἷς ἐλέγετο· ὅτι πόθεν ἐστὲ ὑμεῖς καὶ πόθεν ἡ ἐργασία ὑμῶν; ἐκ γῆς· βδέλυγμα ἐξελέξαντο ὑμᾶς. διὸ ὡς πρὸς αὐτοὺς πάλιν ἀποτείνεται καί φησι· τίς ἀναγγελεῖ τὰ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ἵνα γνῶμεν, καὶ τὰ ἔμπροσθεν, καὶ ἐροῦμεν ὅτι ἀληθής ἐστι; ταῦτ' εἰπὼν ὡς πρὸς τοὺς δηλωθέντας καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἔλεγχον αὐτοῖς ἐπαγαγὼν προστίθησιν· οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ προλέγων οὐδὲ ἀκούων ὑμῶν τοὺς λόγους. δύο δὴ πάλιν καὶ διὰ τούτων ὁ λόγος σημαίνει· ἀφανισμὸν τῶν χρηστηρίων καὶ τῶν πάλαι παρ' αὐτῶν πλανωμένων ἀνδρῶν ἀνάνηψιν. καὶ τὸ λέγειν δέ· οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἀκούων τοὺς λόγους ὑμῶν, διπλῆν ἔχει διάνοιαν ὡς μήτε αὐτῶν ἐχόντων λόγον διὰ τὸ μηδὲν δύνασθαι μήτε εἰδέναι μήτε τῶν πάλαι περὶ αὐτὰ πλανωμένων ἐπιμενόντων τῇ πλάνῃ· ὠφελημένων δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ τῆς ἀληθείας λόγου, ὡς μηκέτ' ἐκείνοις παρέχειν τὰς ἀκοὰς διὰ τὸ κατεγνωκέναι τῆς παλαιᾶς ἀπάτης. Τούτοις ἑξῆς ἐπιφέρει λέγων· ἀρχὴν Σιὼν δώσω καὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ παρακαλέσω εἰς ὁδόν. ὃ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· γινώσκετε, ὦ ἄνθρωποι, ὡς τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τῇ ἐμῇ τῇ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ὠνομασμένῃ Σιὼν καὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ αὐτὸς ἐγὼ δώσω τὴν κατὰ πάντων ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν μου παρακαλέσω καὶ θήσω αὐτὴν εἰς ὁδόν. ἐν γὰρ τοῖς ἔθνεσι τοῖς ἐναπομείνασι τῇ