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This does not escape my foreknowledge, that you will not be benefited even by these words. Nevertheless, persisting in my own love for mankind, even now I testify and declare to you the things that will happen to Babylon and to the Chaldeans who are about to make war on you. For behold, I have declared from here so that you might know the destruction that will seize them, in order that when the enemies from Babylon arrive and stand over you, you might recognize the God who prophesied these things to you and call upon him as helper, as one who has already declared the end that will take them. And I have provided for you to know these things from my words, having received not a single piece of knowledge of them from any other source. For do not deceive yourself nor say that before my prophecy you knew these things; for from where was it possible for you to know these things? But I am persuaded that you will not be benefited by these words at all. For I have known even before this, knowing that you will utterly reject; wherefore, with me, as with God the foreknower of all things, even before you were born you were called lawless and a transgressor. Wherefore according to Symmachus it is said: and a covenant-breaker you were called from the womb; yet at least not for your sake, but for the sake of my own love for mankind, I both foretold from here and now and showed you the destruction that is to come upon your enemies, being zealous through every pretext to save you. Therefore, in handing you over to your enemies, I did not sell you for the sake of silver; but for your own benefit I did this as well, so that you might be disciplined in this way, because you did not accept the instruction that comes through words and exhortations. And I did not sell you to your enemies for the sake of silver, but on account of your sins and impieties; "for you were sold for your sins." And yet not even so did I permit you to serve your enemies forever, but I will redeem you again, and as from a furnace of poverty, from the affliction under the Babylonians, I will set you free again. And all these things I will do for my name's sake, since the enemies, taking it to excess, blasphemed my divinity. They did not think that I had handed you over to them, but being insolent and high-minded in themselves, they supposed that I was nothing, and they glorified their own gods as being the cause of their victory over you. Therefore I do not relinquish my own glory, nor would I yield my divinity to another, which consists of justice that is extended to all people. 2.34 Further, the discourse is directed to the same people and about the same things, and it says: Hear me, Jacob and Israel whom I call, or according to Symmachus: my called one, and according to Aquila: my called one. In these words he calls upon those who are upright, having previously named others among them who were reproached, but here he addresses the better ones, whom he names his called; for from that time "many are called, but few are chosen," except those indicated were not chosen, but called. And he reminds them of his own theology, saying that he himself is the first and the last. Wherefore according to the others it is said: I am the first and I am the last. And it is said somewhere "concerning the only-begotten of God," that he is "the first and the last," and: "the Alpha and the Omega." And how he is first and how he is last, he clarifies next, saying: "the living one, and I became dead." For he is the beginning of life, because "he was the life," and again he is the last, since "he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and becoming obedient to the Father, he humbled himself unto death, even death on a cross." Then, next, he presents his exceedingly great power, saying: my hand founded the earth. Wherefore it is said in Proverbs: "God by wisdom founded the earth." But also my right hand, he says, established the heaven, or the heavens according to the others, that is, the divine and heavenly powers. And he adds: I will call them, and they will stand together; for as

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τοῦτο τὴν ἐμὴν οὐ λανθάνει πρόγνωσιν τὸ μηδ' ἐκ τούτων ὠφεληθήσεσθαί σε τῶν λόγων. ὅμως δ' οὖν ἐπιμένων τῇ ἐμαυτοῦ φιλανθρωπίᾳ ἔτι καὶ νῦν μαρτύρομαι καὶ διαστέλλομαί σοι τὰ συμβησόμενα τῇ Βαβυλῶνι καὶ τοῖς Χαλδαίοις τοῖς μέλλουσί σε καταπολεμεῖν. ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἐντεῦθεν προαπεφηνάμην ὡς ἂν εἰδείης τὸν καταληψόμενον αὐτοὺς ὄλεθρον, ἵν' ἐπειδὰν οἱ πολέμιοι παραγένωνται ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος ἐπιστάντες γνωρίσῃς τὸν θεὸν τὸν προφήσαντά σοι ταῦτα καὶ βοηθὸν αὐτὸν ἀνακαλέσῃ ὡς ἂν ἤδη προαποφηνάμενον τὸ διαληψόμενον αὐτοὺς τέλος. ταῦτα δέ σοι ἐκ τῶν ἐμῶν γιγνώσκειν παρέσχον λόγων, ἄλλοθέν ποθεν οὐδὲ μίαν αὐτῶν εἰληφότι γνῶσιν. μὴ γὰρ σαυτὸν ἀπάτα μηδὲ λέγε, ὅτι πρὸ τῆς ἐμῆς προφητείας ἐγίνωσκες αὐτά· πόθεν γάρ σοι παρῆν ταῦτα γινώσκειν; πλὴν οὐδέν σε ἐκ τούτων ὠφεληθήσεσθαι τῶν λόγων πέπεισμαι. Οἶδα γὰρ καὶ πρὸ τούτου γινώσκων, ὡς ἀθετῶν ἀθετήσεις· διὸ παρ' ἐμοὶ ὡς παρὰ θεῷ προγνώστῃ πάντων καὶ πρὶν γεννηθῆναί σε ἄνομος καὶ παράνομος ἐκέκλησο. διὸ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον εἴρηται· καὶ ἀσύνθηκος ἐκ κοιλίας ἐκλήθης· ὅμως γοῦν οὐ διὰ σέ, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη καὶ προεῖπον καὶ ἐπέδειξά σοι τὸν μέλλοντα κατὰ τῶν σῶν πολεμίων ἐπιέναι ὄλεθρον σπουδάζων διὰ πάσης προφάσεως σωθῆναί σε. Ὅθεν ἐν τῷ παραδιδόναι σε τοῖς ἐχθροῖς σου οὐχ ἕνεκεν ἀργυρίου ἐπίπρασκόν σε· ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ δὲ τῇ σῇ καὶ τοῦτ' ἔπραττον ὡς ἂν τοῦτον σωφρονισθείης τὸν τρόπον, ὅτι μὴ τὴν διὰ λόγων καὶ παραινέσεων ὑπεδέξω παιδείαν. τοῖς δὲ πολεμίοις οὐχ ἕνεκεν ἀργυρίου ἐπίπρασκόν σε, ἀλλὰ τῶν σῶν ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ ἀσεβημάτων χάριν· «ταῖς γὰρ ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν ἐπράθητε». καὶ ὅμως οὐδ' οὕτως εἴασα ὑμᾶς διὰ παντὸς τοῖς ἐχθροῖς δουλεύειν, ἀλλὰ πάλιν λυτρώσομαι καὶ ὥσπερ ἀπὸ καμίνου πτωχείας ἐκ τῆς ὑπὸ τοῖς Βαβυλωνίοις κακώσεως αὖθις ὑμᾶς ἐλευθερώσω. Καὶ ταῦτα πάντα διὰ τὸ ἐμὸν ποιήσω ὄνομα, ἐπειδὴ λαβόντες εἰς τὸ περιττὸν οἱ πολέμιοι τὴν ἐμὴν κατεβλασφήμουν θεότητα. οὐκ ἐνόμιζον δὲ παραδεδωκέναι ὑμᾶς αὐτοῖς, θρασυνόμενοι δὲ καὶ μέγα φρονοῦντες ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς τὸ μηθὲν εἶναί με ὑπελάμβανον, τοὺς δὲ αὐτῶν ἐδόξαζον θεοὺς ὡς αἰτίους αὐτοῖς γενομένους τῆς καθ' ὑμῶν νίκης. διὸ τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ δόξαν οὐ καθυφίημι οὐδὲ ἑτέρῳ παραχωρήσαιμι τὴν ἐμὴν θεότητα, ἥτις δικαιοσύνης τῆς εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἐκτεινομένης συνίσταται. 2.34 Ἔτι καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς τοὺς αὐτοὺς καὶ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν ὁ λόγος ἀποτείνεται καί φησιν· Ἄκουέ μου, Ἰακὼβ καὶ Ἰσραὴλ ὃν ἐγὼ καλῶ,ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· ὁ κλητός μου, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· κλητέ μου. ἐν τούτοις τοὺς κατορθοῦντας ἀνακαλεῖται διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἑτέρους τοὺς παρ' αὐτοῖς διαβεβλημένους ὀνομάσας, ἀλλ' ἐνταῦθα τοῖς κρείττοσι διαλέγεται, οὓς κλητοὺς αὐτοῦ ὀνομάζει· ἦσαν γὰρ ἐξ ἐκείνου «πολλοὶ κλητοί, ὀλίγοι δὲ ἐκλεκτοί», πλὴν οἱ δηλούμενοι οὐκ ἦσαν ἐκλεκτοί, ἀλλὰ κλητοί. ὑπομιμνῄσκει δὲ αὐτοὺς τῆς ἑαυτοῦ θεολογίας πρῶτον καὶ ἔσχατον εἶναι ἑαυτὸν λέγων. διὸ κατὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς εἴρηται· ἐγὼ πρῶτος καὶ ἐγὼ ἔσχατος. εἴρηται δέ που «περὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς τοῦ θεοῦ», ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν «ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ἔσχατος», καί· «τὸ Ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ὦ». πῶς δὲ πρῶτος καὶ πῶς ἔσχατος, ἑξῆς διασαφεῖ φάσκων· «ὁ ζῶν, καὶ ἐγενόμην νεκρός». ἀρχὴ μὲν γὰρ ζωῆς αὐτός, ὅτι «αὐτὸς ἦν ἡ ζωή», καὶ ἔσχατος δὲ πάλιν αὐτός, ἐπεὶ «ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτὸν μορφὴν δούλου λαβὼν καὶ γενόμενος ὑπήκοος τῷ πατρὶ ἐταπείνωσεν ἑαυτὸν μέχρι θανάτου, θανάτου δὲ σταυροῦ». Εἶθ' ἑξῆς τὴν ὑπερμεγέθη δύναμιν αὐτοῦ παρίστησι φάσκων· ἡ χείρ μου ἐθεμελίωσε τὴν γῆν. διὸ λέγεται ἐν Παροιμίαις· «ὁ θεὸς τῇ σοφίᾳ ἐθεμελίωσε τὴν γῆν». ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ δεξιά μου ἐστερέωσέ φησι τὸν οὐρανόν, ἢ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς κατὰ τοὺς λοιπούς, δηλαδὴ τὰς θείας καὶ οὐρανίας δυνάμεις. καὶ ἐπιφέρει· καλέσω αὐτούς, καὶ στήσονται ἅμα· ὡς γὰρ