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will give ear to these things, and who will hearken to the things to come? For even if the outcome of events has not yet occurred, yet it will be accomplished in the times to come. And who then will be the one to understand these things among you? Who will seek the cause of the plunder of the people so as to say: ‘Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the plunderers?’ But if one should seek who did these things, he would find that no other gave them for a spoil than he himself, against whom they sinned and were not willing to walk in his ways; for when called to the evangelical ways they did not obey, nor were they willing to hear the law of the new covenant. Therefore he brought upon them the wrath of his anger, and war prevailed against them. For in the past, when warred upon for a certain time, they would recover themselves, so that Jerusalem and their kingdom in it were established; but now the war has prevailed against them, not only the one from without, but also that of those who besiege their souls. Therefore it is said: and those who burn them round about, and suffering these things they did not understand nor take it to heart, so as to consider the cause of the evils that had befallen them. 2.24 If we remember the things just said about the people of the circumcision, whom the word called “blind” and “deaf,” saying: “And who is blind, but my servants? and deaf, but they that rule over them? And the servants of God were blinded,” and again: “And the people became plundered and spoiled” and the things following these, through which he threatened to “bring upon them wrath and anger and war,” we would never suppose that the present things are said about the same people. Therefore the word passes over to the better order of those from the people who have accepted the word of salvation, and addresses them, saying: And now thus says the Lord God who made you, Jacob, and who formed you, Israel. For even if especially the faithless among you, having become “blind” and “deaf” and having done such things, were delivered over to the wrath of God, yet you, still even now, listen. And I mean you, “who did not ignore their own maker and former,” but also preserved the work within you and the formation whole and unharmed. Therefore, to you who are truly Jacob and worthy of the name of Israel, he who made you sets forth the things that lie ahead and says these things to you: many are they who are jealous of your salvation and who will set themselves to hinder the evangelical word proclaimed by you, but I command you to fear none of these. For I myself am the Lord God who made you and who formed you, having made you according to the soul “which was made in the image of God,” and having formed you according to the body which was taken “from the earth” and formed by me; as a “ransom” for your salvation, having given my own blood, I redeemed you and I called you; but I also made you my own possession, so that “you might be my people, and I your God.” Be of good courage, therefore, having been deemed worthy of so many things by me, and walk the way you were commanded, and with courage “preach the evangelical word to all the nations everywhere on earth”; for even if burning fire comes upon you, or if waters and rivers overwhelm you, these things will not harm you at all because I am with you everywhere. For I have truthfully promised: “Behold, I am with you all the days, until the end of the age.” And know this too, just as I “redeemed” you, my people, by giving “my precious blood” for your salvation, so also you will be an exchange for them, I mean for the nations who will be saved through you, among whom will be Egyptians and Ethiopians and those who inhabit Syene, for which the other interpreters have also rendered Seba. But Symmachus says: I gave Egypt and Ethiopia and Seba as your atonement, in your place. For thus you have become precious in my sight, and thus you have been glorified before me, and thus I have loved you, that the salvation according to God, which is procured for all men through you, has reached even to the ends of the earth; and as for the very ones themselves

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ἐνωτιεῖται ταῦτα, καὶ τίς εἰσακούσεται εἰς τὰ ἐπερχόμενα; εἰ γὰρ καὶ μήπω ἐνέστηκεν ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων ἔκβασις, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς ἐπιοῦσι χρόνοις ἐπιτελεσθήσεται. καὶ τίς ἄρα ἔσται ὁ ταῦτα νοήσων ἐν ὑμῖν; τίς ἐπιζητήσει τὸν αἴτιον τῆς ἁρπαγῆς τοῦ λαοῦ ὥστε εἰπεῖν· Τίς ἔδωκεν εἰς διαρπαγὴν Ἰακὼβ καὶ Ἰσραὴλ τοῖς προνομεύουσιν αὐτόν; εἰ δέ τις ζητήσειε τίς ὁ ταῦτα πράξας, εὕροι δ' ἂν ὅτι οὐδ' ἄλλος ἔδωκεν αὐτοὺς εἰς διαρπαγὴν ἢ αὐτός, ᾧ ἡμάρτοσαν αὐτῷ καὶ οὐκ ἐβούλοντο ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ πορεύεσθαι· καλούμενοι γὰρ εἰς τὰς εὐαγγελικὰς ὁδοὺς οὐχ ὑπήκουσαν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἀκούειν ἤθελον τοῦ νόμου τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης. διὸ ἐπήγαγεν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ὀργὴν θυμοῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ κατίσχυσεν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς πόλεμος. πάλαι μὲν γὰρ πρὸς καιρόν τινα πολεμούμενοι αὖθις ἀνελάμβανον ἑαυτούς, ὡς καὶ τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ βασίλειον αὐτῶν συνεστάναι· νῦν δὲ κατίσχυσεν αὐτῶν ὁ πόλεμος, οὐχ ὁ ἔξωθεν μόνος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ τῶν τὰς ψυχὰς αὐτῶν πολιορκούντων. διὸ εἴρηται· καὶ οἱ συμφλέγοντες αὐτοὺς κύκλῳ, καὶ ταῦτα πάσχοντες οὐκ ἐνόησαν οὐδὲ ἔθεντο ἐπὶ ψυχήν, ὡς λογίσασθαι τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν κατειληφότων αὐτοὺς κακῶν. 2.24 Εἰ μεμνήμεθα τῶν ἀρτίως περὶ τοῦ ἐκ περιτομῆς λαοῦ εἰρημένων, οὓς «τυφλοὺς» καὶ «κωφοὺς» ἀπεκάλει ὁ λόγος λέγων· «καὶ τίς τυφλὸς ἀλλ' ἢ οἱ παῖδές μου καὶ κωφοὶ ἀλλ' ἢ οἱ κυριεύοντες αὐτῶν; καὶ ἐτυφλώθησαν οἱ δοῦλοι τοῦ θεοῦ», καὶ πάλιν· «καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ λαὸς προνενομευμένος καὶ διηρπασμένος» καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἀκόλουθα, δι' ὧν «ὀργὴν καὶ θυμὸν καὶ πόλεμον ἐπάξειν αὐτοῖς» ἠπείλει, τὰ παρόντα περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν οὔποτ' ἂν λέγεσθαι ἡγησόμεθα. μεταβαίνει τοιγαροῦν ὁ λόγος ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον τάγμα τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ τὸν σωτήριον λόγον παραδεδεγμένων καὶ τούτοις προσφωνεῖ φάσκων· Καὶ νῦν οὕτως λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας σε, Ἰακώβ, καὶ ὁ πλάσας σε, Ἰσραήλ. εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα οἱ ἐξ ὑμῶν ἄπιστοι «τυφλοὶ» καὶ «κωφοὶ» γενόμενοι καὶ τοιαῦτα πράξαντες τῇ ὀργῇ τοῦ θεοῦ παρεδόθησαν, ἀλλ' ὑμεῖς ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἀκούσατε. ὑμᾶς δὲ λέγω «τοὺς τὸν ἑαυτῶν ποιητὴν καὶ πλάστην μὴ ἀγνοήσαντας», ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ποίημα τὸ ἐν ὑμῖν καὶ τὸ πλάσμα σῶον καὶ ἀλώβητον διατηρήσαντας. πρὸς σὲ τοιγαροῦν τὸν ἀληθῶς Ἰακὼβ καὶ τὸν ἄξιον τῆς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ προσηγορίας ὁ ποιήσας σε τὰ προκείμενα διεξέρχεται καὶ πρὸς σὲ ταῦτά φησι· πολλοὶ μὲν οἱ διαφθονούμενοι τῇ σῇ σωτηρίᾳ καὶ τὸν ὑπὸ σοῦ κηρυττόμενον εὐαγγελικὸν λόγον κωλῦσαι παραθησόμενοι, ἀλλὰ τούτων μηδένα φοβεῖσθαι παρακελεύομαί σοι. αὐτὸς γὰρ ἐγὼ κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας σε καὶ ὁ πλάσας σε, ποιήσας μὲν κατὰ ψυχὴν «τὴν κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ πεποιημένην», πλάσας δὲ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα τὸ «ἀπὸ γῆς» ληφθὲν καὶ ὑπ' ἐμοῦ πεπλασμένον· «λύτρον» ὑπὲρ τῆς σῆς σωτηρίας τὸ ἐμαυτοῦ παραδοὺς αἷμα ἐλυτρωσάμην σε καὶ ἐκάλεσά σε· ἀλλὰ καὶ κτῆμα ἐμαυτοῦ ἐποιησάμην σε, ὥστε «εἶναί σε μὲν ἐμὸν λαόν, κἀμὲ δὲ σοῦ αὐτοῦ θεόν». θάρσει τοιγαροῦν τοσούτων παρ' ἐμοῦ κατηξιωμένος καὶ βάδιζε τὴν ὁδὸν ἣν ἐκελεύσθης, θαρρῶν τε «κήρυττε πᾶσι τοῖς ἁπανταχοῦ γῆς ἔθνεσι τὸν εὐαγγελικὸν λόγον»· κἂν γὰρ πῦρ φλέγον ἐπίῃ κἂν ὕδατα καὶ ποταμοὶ ἐπικλύζωσιν, οὐδέν σε ταῦτα λυπήσει διὰ τὸ ἐμὲ σοὶ πανταχοῦ εἶναι. ἀψευδῶς γὰρ ἐπηγγειλάμην τό· «Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος». Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἴσθι, ὥσπερ ἐγώ σε τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ λαὸν «ἐλυτρωσάμην» «τὸ τίμιόν μου αἷμα» ὑπὲρ τῆς σῆς σωτηρίας παραδούς, οὕτω καὶ σὺ ἐκείνων ἔσῃ ἄλλαγμα, λέγω δὲ τῶν διὰ σοῦ σωθησομένων ἐθνῶν, ἐν οἷς ἔσονται Αἰγύπτιοι καὶ Αἰθίοπες καὶ οἱ τὴν Συήνην οἰκοῦντες, ἀνθ' οὗ καὶ Σαβὰ οἱ λοιποὶ ἑρμηνευταὶ ἐκδεδώκασιν. ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος· ἔδωκά φησιν ἐξιλασμόν σου Αἴγυπτον καὶ Αἰθιοπίαν καὶ Σαβὰ ἀντὶ σοῦ. οὕτω γὰρ παρ' ἐμοὶ γέγονας τίμιος καὶ οὕτως ἐναντίον μου ἐδοξάσθης, καὶ οὕτως ἠγάπησά σε, ὡς καὶ μέχρι τῶν ἐσχατιῶν γῆς φθάσαι τὴν διὰ σοῦ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις προξενουμένην κατὰ θεὸν σωτηρίαν· καὶ ὡς αὐτοὺς τοὺς