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of fire, and like water poured down a slope. All these things are because of the impiety of Jacob and because of the sin of the house of Israel.” 8.3.2 Then, after very many other things in between, he adds, saying: “Hear these things, you leaders of the house of Jacob and you remnant of the house of Israel, who abhor judgment and pervert all that is right, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquities; 8.3.3 its leaders judged for gifts, and its priests answered for a price, and its prophets divined for silver, and they rested upon the Lord, saying, ‘Is not the Lord among us? No evil shall come upon us.’ Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become as a watchtower for fruit, and the mountain of the house as a grove of the forest. 8.3.4 And it shall be in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, prepared upon the tops of the mountains, and it will be raised above the hills; and peoples will hasten to it, and many nations will go and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob; and they will show us his way, and we will walk in his paths.’ For from Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he shall judge among many nations, and he will rebuke strong nations even to a distant land. 8.3.5 And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into sickles, and nation shall not lift up sword against nation anymore, and they shall not learn to war anymore; and each one will rest under his vine and under his fig tree, and there shall be no one to make them afraid, because the mouth of the Lord Almighty has spoken these things.” 8.3.6 These things have already been considered by us before in these passages. And it has been shown how at no other time than from the times of the appearance of our savior Jesus Christ to men the formerly revered places of the Jews, called Mount Zion and Jerusalem, and the buildings on them, that is, the temple and the holy of holies and the altar and whatever else was dedicated there in honor of God, having been removed from the midst, have been shaken, in accordance with the word that said: “Behold, the Lord, the Lord, goes forth from his place, and he will come down upon the high places of the earth, and the mountains shall be shaken from beneath him.” 8.3.7 When these were shaken, the souls of the circumcision called “valleys” because of their lowliness in comparison with the old high places, bewailing the disappearance of the aforementioned things, “shall be melted like wax before the face of fire, and like water poured down a slope,” because of the multitude of those among them who fall daily from better things to worse. 8.3.8 And he says all these things will be “because of the impiety of the house of Jacob and because of the sin of the house of Israel.” And what was the impiety and the sin, he goes on next to say: “who abhor judgment and pervert all that is right, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquities,” among which blood was also that which became for them the cause of the ultimate evils, on account of which they drew upon themselves the impious cry, saying: “His blood be on us and on our children.” 8.3.9 Therefore, he says, for these very reasons, “Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become as a watchtower for fruit,” which at no other time whatever than after the things dared against our savior has received a true fulfillment. 8.3.10 For from that time indeed and until now, since extreme desolation has seized the places, their formerly famous Mount Zion, instead of the former study and practice in it of the prophetic and divine words, which the children of the Hebrews and God-loving prophets, priests, and teachers of the whole nation formerly practiced in it with zeal, is farmed by Roman men, differing in nothing from the rest of the country, so that we ourselves have seen with our own eyes the place being plowed by oxen and sown; and Jerusalem itself has become “as a watchtower for fruit,” its old fruit having been destroyed, or rather, into a stone-quarry, according to the

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πυρός, καὶ ὡς ὕδωρ καταφερόμενον ἐν καταβάσει. δι' ἀσέβειαν Ἰακὼβ πάντα ταῦτα καὶ δι' ἁμαρτίαν οἴκου Ἰσραήλ.» 8.3.2 εἶτα, μεθ' ἕτερα πλεῖστα μεταξύ, ἐπισυνάπτει λέγων· «ἀκούσατε δὴ ταῦτα, οἱ ἡγούμενοι οἴκου Ἰακὼβ καὶ οἱ κατάλοιποι οἴκου Ἰσραήλ, οἱ βδελυσσόμενοι κρίμα καὶ πάντα τὰ ὀρθὰ διαστρέφοντες, οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες Σιὼν ἐν αἵμασιν καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐν ἀδικίαις· 8.3.3 οἱ ἡγούμενοι αὐτῆς μετὰ δώρων ἔκρινον, καὶ οἱ ἱερεῖς αὐ τῆς μετὰ μισθοῦ ἀπεκρίνοντο, καὶ οἱ προφῆται αὐτῆς μετὰ ἀργυρίου ἐμαντεύοντο, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον ἐπανεπαύοντο λέγοντες, οὐχὶ κύριος ἐν ἡμῖν ἐστίν; οὐ μὴ ἐπέλθῃ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς κακά. διὰ τοῦτο δι' ὑμᾶς Σιὼν ὡς ἀγρὸς ἀροτριαθήσεται, καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὡς ὀπωροφυλάκιον ἔσται, καὶ τὸ ὄρος τοῦ οἴκου εἰς ἄλσος δρυμοῦ. 8.3.4 καὶ ἔσται ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐμφανὲς τὸ ὄρος κυρίου, ἕτοιμον ἐπὶ τὰς κορυφὰς τῶν ὀρέων, καὶ μετεωρισθήσεται ὑπεράνω τῶν βουνῶν· καὶ σπεύσουσιν ἐπ' αὐτὸ λαοί, καὶ πορεύσονται ἔθνη πολλὰ καὶ ἐροῦσιν, δεῦτε καὶ ἀναβῶμεν εἰς τὸ ὄρος κυρίου καὶ εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ Ἰακώβ· καὶ δείξουσιν ἡμῖν τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ πορευσόμεθα ἐν ταῖς τρίβοις αὐτοῦ. ἐκ γὰρ Σιὼν ἐξελεύσεται νόμος, καὶ λόγος κυρίου ἐξ Ἱερουσαλήμ, καὶ κρινεῖ ἀνὰ μέσον πολλῶν ἐθνῶν, καὶ ἐλέγξει ἔθνη ἰσχυρὰ ἕως εἰς γῆν μακράν. 8.3.5 καὶ συγκόψουσι τὰς μαχαίρας αὐτῶν εἰς ἄροτρα καὶ τὰ δόρατα αὐτῶν εἰς δρέπανα, καὶ οὐ λήψεται ἔτι ἔθνος ἐπ' ἔθνος μάχαιραν, καὶ οὐ μὴ μάθωσιν ἔτι πολεμεῖν· καὶ ἀναπαύσεται ἕκαστος ὑποκάτω τῆς ἀμπέλου αὐτοῦ καὶ ὑποκάτω συκῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ ἐκφοβῶν αὐτούς, ὅτι τὸ στόμα κυρίου παντοκράτορος ἐλάλησεν ταῦτα». 8.3.6 Ἤδη καὶ πρότερον ταῦτα ἡμῖν εἰς τοὺς τόπους τεθεώρηται. δέδεικται δὲ ὅπως οὐδ' ἄλλοτέ ποτε ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν χρόνων τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἐπιφανείας τὰ πάλαι σεμνὰ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ὄρη Σιὼν ἐπικαλούμενα καὶ Ἱερουσαλήμ, τά τε ἐπὶ τούτων οἰκοδομήματα, ὁ νεὼς δηλαδὴ καὶ τὸ ἅγιον τῶν ἁγίων καὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα αὐτόθι εἰς τιμὴν ἀνέκειτο τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐκ μέσου ἀρθέντα σεσάλευται, ἀκολούθως τῷ λόγῳ φήσαντι· «ἰδοὺ κύριος κύριος ἐκπορεύεται ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτοῦ, καὶ καταβήσεται ἐπὶ τὰ ὕψη τῆς γῆς, καὶ σαλευθήσονται τὰ ὄρη ὑποκάτωθεν αὐτοῦ». 8.3.7 ὧν σαλευθέντων τῶν ἐκ περιτομῆς αἱ ψυχαί «κοιλάδες» ὀνομαζόμεναι διὰ τὸ ταπεινὸν αὐτῶν παραθέσει τῶν παλαιῶν ὑψωμάτων τὸν τῶν προειρημένων ἀφανισμὸν ἀπολοφυρόμεναι, «ὡς κηρὸς ἀπὸ προσώπου πυρὸς ἐκτακήσονται, καὶ ὡς ὕδωρ καταφερόμενον ἐν καταβάσει», διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς ἀπὸ τῶν κρειττόνων ἐπὶ τὰ χείρω καταπιπτόντων ὁσημέραι. 8.3.8 πάντα δὲ ταῦτά φησιν ἔσεσθαι «διὰ ἀσέβειαν οἴκου Ἰακὼβ καὶ διὰ ἁμαρτίαν οἴκου Ἰσραήλ». τίς δ' ἦν ἡ ἀσέβεια καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία, προϊὼν ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγει· «οἱ βδελυσσόμενοι κρίμα καὶ πάντα τὰ ὀρθὰ διαστρέφοντες, οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες Σιὼν ἐν αἵμασι καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐν ἀδικίαις», ἐν οἷς αἵμασι κἀκεῖνο ἦν τὸ τῶν ὑστάτων κακῶν παραίτιον αὐτοῖς γενόμενον, ἐφ' ᾧ τὴν ἀσεβῆ φωνὴν εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ἐπεσπάσαντο, φήσαντες· «τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν». 8.3.9 διὰ γοῦν, φησίν, αὐτὰ ταῦτα «ὡς ἀγρὸς Σιὼν ἀροτριαθήσεται, καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὡς ὀπωροφυλάκιον ἔσται», ἅπερ οὐδ' ἄλλοτε πώποτε ἢ μετὰ τὰ κατὰ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τετολμημένα ἀληθῆ τὴν ἔκβασιν εἴληφεν. 8.3.10 ἐξ ἐκείνου γάρ τοι καὶ εἰς δεῦρο ἐσχάτης ἐρημίας καταλαβούσης τοὺς τόπους, τὸ μὲν πρὶν διαβόητον αὐτῶν Σιὼν ὄρος, ἀντὶ τῆς πάλαι ἐν αὐτῷ μελέτης καὶ ἀσκήσεως τῶν προφητικῶν καὶ θείων λόγων, ὧν παῖδες τὸ πρὶν Ἑβραίων καὶ θεοφιλεῖς προφῆται ἱερεῖς τε καὶ διδάσκαλοι τοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους ἐν αὐτῇ διὰ σπουδῆς ἐποιοῦντο, διὰ Ῥωμαίων ἀνδρῶν κατ' οὐδὲν τῆς λοιπῆς διαφέρουσα χώρας γεωργεῖται, ὡς καὶ ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ὀφθαλμοῖς παραλαβεῖν βουσὶν ἀρούμενον καὶ κατασπειρόμενον τὸν τόπον· ἡ δὲ Ἱερουσαλὴμ αὐτὴ «ὡς ὀπωροφυλάκιον» τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ παλαιᾶς ὀπώρας διαφθαρείσης γέγονεν, μᾶλλον δὲ εἰς λιθολογίαν, κατὰ τὴν