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Both Moses and the present text have interpreted this same history differently; the one saying a destroyer ministered the death of the firstborn; but the present text says these things happened by evil angels. And there Moses [says] that the doorposts were anointed with blood, and that this had become a protection for those who escaped the destroyer; but here it is said that God had made a path in order to escape his wrath. And these things, he says, were accomplished in the tents of Ham; or, in the tabernacles of Ham, according to Symmachus; or, in the coverings of Ham, according to Aquila. Through which we are taught that Egypt had become the tents of Ham. For when Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, Japheth, Ham became the father of Canaan, and Canaan the father of Mizraim, who was Egyptus, from whom are all the Egyptians; so that the land of the Egyptians is reasonably said to be the tents of the forefather of Mizraim. This Ham was the first to inhabit Egypt. And he brought forth his people as sheep, and what follows. After the tenth plague against the Egyptians, he teaches how they made the journey from Egypt, saying: And he brought forth his people as sheep, and he led them forth and as a flock in the desert. And he guided them in hope, and they did not fear. But according to Aquila: And he led them to confidence, and they were not terrified; but according to Symmachus, He guid 23.932 ed them fearless and unterrified; and the sea covered their enemies. And these things were before the sojourn in the desert; but the text does not use the order of events; but as in a hymn and a song it places the second things first and the first things second. Therefore, having first narrated the events in the desert, and all the sins they committed in the desert, and how many times they provoked him, after these things he makes mention of the first things, so that he might conclude the account not with sad things, but with the benefactions of God. Wherefore he next attaches to the things done by God in Egypt, and to the passage of the Red Sea, the phrase, And he brought them into the mountain of his sanctuary, this mountain which his right hand had acquired; being silent here about the things in the desert, because he had already given the narrative of them. And what mountain but Sion, on which Jerusalem was later built, after the times of Asaph and David? Then he takes up the narrative again, saying through what follows: And he cast out nations from before them, and gave them an inheritance by a measuring line. And he made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. Having mentioned the entry into the land of promise, and how they received Mount Sion, which long ages later David acquired by the sword, driving out the Jebusite, he takes up the history again, summarizing it, how after the death of Moses, with Jesus son of Nun leading them, they passed into the land of promise, and how they cast out the foreigners, taking possession of the land by war, and how they divided it by lot, measuring the land with a line. Then again he accuses them, teaching that to the sins in the desert they made additions of evils; and after acquiring the land, they tempted again here and provoked God the most high, and his testimonies delivered to them through Moses they did not keep; but they turned aside and broke faith, just as their fathers, and were turned into a crooked bow. For whereas they ought to shoot and strike the enemies of God and their hostile opposing powers, they, having committed idolatry, struck God with blasphemous and impious words. Therefore they have become a crooked bow; which indeed the oracle declared at the beginning, saying: The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting with bows, turned back in the day of battle. And how they were turned into a crooked bow he clarifies, saying next: And they provoked him to anger on the hills and in the

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αὐτὴν ἱστορίαν διαφόρως Μωσῆς τε καὶ ὁ παρὼν λόγος ἡρμήνευσεν· ὁ μὲν ὀλοθρευτὴν εἰπὼν διακονῆσαι τὸν θάνατον τῶν πρωτοτόκων· ὁ δὲ παρὼν λόγος δι' ἀγγέλων πονηρῶν ταῦτα γεγονέναι. Κἀκεῖ μὲν ὁ Μωσῆς τῷ αἵματι κεχρῖσθαι τὰς φλιὰς, καὶ τοῦτο φυλακτήριον γεγονέναι τῶν διαφυγόντων τὸν ὀλοθρευτήν· ἐνταῦθα δὲ ὡδοποιηκέναι τρίβον εἴρηται ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς τὸ ἀποφυγεῖν τὴν ὀργὴν αὐτοῦ. Ταῦτα δὲ, φησὶ, συνετελεῖτο ἐν τοῖς σκηνώμασι Χάμ· ἢ, ἐν ταῖς σκηνώσεσι Χὰμ, κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· ἢ, ἐν ταῖς σκέπαις Χὰμ, κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν. ∆ι' ὧν διδασκόμεθα τὴν Αἴγυπτον γεγονέναι σκηνώματα τοῦ Χάμ. Τριῶν γὰρ παίδων τοῦ Νῶε γενομένων, Σὴμ, Χὰμ, Ἰάφεθ, ὁ Χὰμ γέγονε πατὴρ τοῦ Χαναὰν, Χαναὰν δὲ πατὴρ τοῦ Μεσραῒμ, ὃς ἦν Αἴγυπτος, ἀφ' οὗ Αἰγύπτιοι πάντες· ὥστ' εἰκότως τὴν τῶν Αἰγυπτίων χώραν σκηνώματα τοῦ προπάτορος τοῦ Μεσραῒμ εἰρῆσθαι. Οὗτος δὲ ἦν ὁ Χὰμ τὴν Αἴγυπτον πρῶτος οἰκήσας. Καὶ ἀπῆρεν ὡς πρόβατα τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Μετὰ τὴν κατὰ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων δεκάτην πληγὴν, ὅπως τὴν ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου πορείαν πεποίηνται διδάσκει φάσκων· Καὶ ἀπῆρεν ὡς πρόβατα τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνήγαγεν αὐτοὺς καὶ ὡσεὶ ποίμνιον ἐν ἐρήμῳ. Καὶ ὡδήγησεν αὐτοὺς ἐν ἐλπίδι, καὶ οὐκ ἐδειλίασαν. Κατὰ δὲ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· Καὶ καθωδήγησεν αὐτοὺς εἰς πεποίθησιν, καὶ οὐκ ἐπτοήθησαν· κατὰ δὲ τὸν Σύμμαχον, Ὡδή 23.932 γησεν αὐτοὺς ἀφόβους καὶ ἀπτοήτους· καὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτῶν ἐκάλυψεν ἡ θάλασσα. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν πρότερα ἦν τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον διατριβῆς· οὐ μὴν καὶ ὁ λόγος τῇ τάξει κέχρηται τῶν πεπραγμένων· ὡς ἐν ὕμνῳ δὲ καὶ ᾠδῇ τὰ δεύτερα πρῶτα τίθησι καὶ τὰ πρῶτα δεύτερα. ∆ιὸ τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον συμβάντα, καὶ ὅσα ἥμαρτον ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, καὶ ὁσάκις παρεπίκραινον προδιηγησάμενος, μετὰ ταῦτα τὴν τῶν πρώτων μνήμην ποιεῖται, ὡς ἂν τὸν λόγον περιγράψειε μὴ εἰς λυπηρὰ, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ ταῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ εὐεργεσίαις. ∆ιόπερ ἑξῆς ἐπισυνάπτει τοῖς κατὰ τὴν Αἴγυπτον ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ πεπραγμένοις, καὶ τῇ διόδῳ τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης, τὸ, Καὶ εἰσήγαγεν αὐτοὺς εἰς ὄρος ἁγιάσματος αὐτοῦ, ὄρος τοῦτο ὃ ἐκτήσατο ἡ δεξιὰ αὐτοῦ· τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον ἐνταῦθα ἀποσιωπήσας, διὰ τὸ προειληφέναι αὐτῶν τὴν διήγησιν. Ὄρος δὲ ποῖον ἢ τὸ Σιὼν, ἐφ' ᾧ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὕστερον μετὰ τοὺς χρόνους τοῦ Ἀσὰφ καὶ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ ᾠκοδομήθη; εἶτ' ἐπαναλαμβάνει τὴν διήγησιν διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς λέγων· Καὶ ἐξέβαλεν ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτῶν ἔθνη, καὶ ἐκληροδότησεν αὐτοὺς ἐν σχοινίῳ κληροδοσίας. Καὶ κατεσκήνωσεν ἐν τοῖς σκηνώμασιν αὐτῶν τὰς φυλὰς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Μνημονεύσας τῆς εἰσόδου τῆς εἰς τὴν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας. καὶ ὡς ἀπειλήφασι τὸ ὄρος τὸ Σιὼν, ὅπερ μακροῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις ἐκτήσατο ∆αυῒδ ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ τὸν Ἰεβουσαῖον ἐλάσας, ἐπαναλαμβάνει τὴν ἱστορίαν ἐπιτεμνόμενος, ὡς μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν Μωσέως, ἡγουμένου αὐτῶν Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Ναυῆ, παρῆλθον εἰς τὴν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, καὶ ὡς ἐξέβαλον τοὺς ἀλλοφύλους πολέμῳ κρατήσαντες τῆς χώρας, καὶ ὡς κλήρῳ διείλαντο σχοίνῳ μετρήσαντες τὴν γῆν. Εἶτ' αὖθις αὐτῶν κατηγορεῖ, διδάσκων, ὡς πρὸς τοῖς ἡμαρτημένοις κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον προσθήκας κακῶν ἐποιήσαντο· καὶ μετὰ τὸ κτήσασθαι τὴν γῆν, ἐπείρασαν πάλιν ἐνταῦθα καὶ παρεπίκραναν τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ὕψιστον, καὶ τὰ μαρτύρια αὐτοῦ τὰ διὰ Μωσέως αὐτοῖς παραδεδομένα οὐκ ἐφύλαξαν· ἀλλ' ἀπέστρεψαν καὶ ἠθέτησαν, καθὼς οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν, καὶ μετετέθησαν εἰς τόξον στρεβλόν. ∆έον γὰρ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τὰς πολεμίους αὐτῶν δυνάμεις τὰς ἀντικειμένας τοξεύειν καὶ βάλλειν, οἱ δὲ εἰδωλολατρήσαντες τὸν Θεὸν ἔβαλλον βλασφήμοις καὶ ἀθεμίτοις λόγοις. ∆ιὸ γεγόνασιν εἰς τόξον στρεβλόν· ὃ δὴ κατ' ἀρχὰς ἐδήλου τὸ λόγιον φῆσαν· Υἱοὶ Ἐφραῒμ ἐντείνοντες καὶ βάλλοντες τόξοις, ἐστράφησαν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ πολέμου. Πῶς δὲ ἐστράφησαν εἰς τόξον στρεβλὸν διασαφεῖ λέγων ἑξῆς· Καὶ παρώργισαν αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς βουνοῖς καὶ ἐν τοῖς