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the table of shewbread, and the libation bowls, and the cups, and the golden censers, and the 23.944 veil, and the crowns, and the ornament that was on the face of the temple. And he stripped everything; and he took the hidden treasures which he found. And taking everything, he returned and went away into his own land. And he committed a great slaughter; and there was great mourning upon Israel. And the king wrote to all his kingdom that all should be one people, and that each one should forsake his laws. And all the nations accepted the word of the king; and indeed many from the sons of Israel were pleased with his worship, and sacrificed to idols, and profaned the Sabbath. And after these things it is said: And he built an abomination of desolation upon the altar. And indeed in the cities of Judah round about they built altars; and through the doors of their houses, and in the squares they burned incense upon them. And the books of the psalm which they found, they tore up and burned in fire. And it is added: And many in Israel were fortified in themselves not to eat unclean things. And they chose to die, that they might not be defiled with foods, and they died. And great wrath was upon Israel exceedingly. But these things were fulfilled long afterwards, after the Assyrian and Median affairs, and after the Persian, and after the death of Alexander the Macedonian. Indeed, the divine Spirit through the prophet at hand proclaims these very things, saying: O God, nations have come into your inheritance, they have defiled your holy temple, they have made Jerusalem a fruit-watcher's hut. They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the sky, the flesh of your holy ones to the beasts of the earth. They have poured out their blood like water around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to those around us. But instead of "a fruit-watcher's hut," Aquila has rendered it "a pile of stones," and Symmachus, "thickets." How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? Will your zeal burn like fire? It seems to me that the prophet Asaph, after the accusation of the Jewish nation which he made in the preceding, adds the present words consequently, as if propitiating and healing the things that were rebuked before. For he recounts the deaths for piety of those who had borne witness among them, the Jews; whose dead bodies the enemies of God gave as food to the birds of the sky, and the flesh of the holy ones of God to the beasts of the earth. Opportunely, therefore, for these things he beseeches God, as if the death of his holy ones had been offered to him as a sacrifice. Therefore he says: How long, O Lord, will you be angry forever? Referring the word to the memory of the preceding, through which it was said: Why, O God, have you cast us off forever? For he wishes the final falling away and rejection of the people to be restrained, and the things of wrath to cease through the memory of the blood of his holy ones. But you may hear "How long, O Lord, 23.945 will you be angry forever?" in two ways; and according to what is said next, "Will your zeal burn like fire?" For how long will this also be? Now, "zeal" is spoken by way of a comparison to those who, out of an excess of disposition, are jealous of their own wives, if they should pay attention to other men; thus, indeed, also in the case of God, the Word is accustomed to call the vengeance upon those who transgress their covenants with him "zeal." The Prophet therefore supplicates, either in his own person, or as from those who were saved in the times of Antiochus, after the prediction of the things that were to be against Antiochus the king of Syria, under whom the holy ones of God endured death for piety, that the things of wrath against the people might cease, and that he might pursue their enemies. Therefore he says: Pour out your wrath upon the nations that do not know you, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon your name. Because they have devoured Jacob, and his

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τὴν τράπεζαν τῆς προθέσεως, καὶ τὰ σπονδία, καὶ τὰς φιάλας, καὶ τὰς θυΐσκας τὰς χρυσᾶς, καὶ τὸ 23.944 καταπέτασμα, καὶ τοὺς στεφάνους, καὶ τὸν κόσμον τὸν κατὰ πρόσωπον τοῦ ναοῦ. Καὶ ἐλέπισε πάντα· καὶ ἔλαβε τοὺς θησαυροὺς τοὺς ἀποκρύφους, οὓς εὗρε. Καὶ λαβὼν σύμπαντα, ἐπιστρέψας ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὴν γῆν αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἐποίησε φονοκτονίαν μεγάλην· καὶ ἐγένετο πένθος μέγα ἐπὶ Ἰσραήλ. Καὶ ἔγραψεν ὁ βασιλεὺς πάσῃ τῇ βασιλείᾳ αὐτοῦ εἶναι πάντας λαὸν ἕνα, καὶ ἐγκαταλιπεῖν ἕκαστος τὰ νόμιμα αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἀπεδέξαντο πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τὸν λόγον τοῦ βασιλέως· καί γε πολλοὶ ἀπὸ υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ εὐδόκησαν τῇ λατρείᾳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔθυσαν τοῖς εἰδώλοις, καὶ ἐβεβήλωσαν τὸ Σάββατον. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα εἴρηται· Καὶ ᾠκοδόμησε βδέλυγμα ἐρημώσεως ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον. Καί γε ἐν πόλεσι Ἰούδα κύκλῳ ᾠκοδόμησαν βωμούς· καὶ διὰ τῶν θυρῶν τῶν οἰκείων, καὶ ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις ἐθυμίων ἐπ' αὐτούς. Καὶ τὰ βιβλία τοῦ ψαλμοῦ ἃ εὗρον κατασχίσαντες, ἐνεπύρισαν ἐν πυρί. Καὶ ἐπιλέγεται· Καὶ πολλοὶ ἐν Ἰσραὴλ ὠχυρώθησαν ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῦ μὴ φαγεῖν κοινά. Καὶ ἀπεδέξαντο ἀποθανεῖν, ἵνα μὴ μιανθῶσι τοῖς βρώμασι, καὶ ἀπέθανον. Καὶ ἐγένετο ὀργὴ μεγάλη ἐπὶ Ἰσραὴλ σφόδρα. Ταῦτα δὲ μακροῖς ὕστερον ἐπληροῦτο χρόνοις μετὰ τὰ Ἀσσύρια καὶ Μηδικὰ, καὶ μετὰ τὰ Περσικὰ καὶ μετὰ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ Μακέδονος τελευτήν. Τό γε μὴν Πνεῦμα τὸ θεῖον διὰ τοῦ μετὰ χεῖρας προφήτου αὐτὰ δὴ ταῦτα θεσπίζει λέγον· Ὁ Θεὸς, εἰσήλθοσαν ἔθνη εἰς τὴν κληρονομίαν σου, ἐμίαναν τὸν ναὸν τὸν ἅγιόν σου, ἔθεντο Ἱερουσαλὴμ εἰς ὀπωροφυλάκιον. Ἔθεντο τὰ θνησιμαῖα τῶν δούλων σου βρῶμα τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τὰς σάρκας τῶν ὁσίων σου τοῖς θηρίοις τῆς γῆς. Ἐξέχεαν τὸ αἷμα αὐτῶν ὡς ὕδωρ κύκλῳ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ θάπτων. Ἐγενήθημεν ὄνειδος τοῖς γείτοσιν ἡμῶν, μυκτηρισμὸς καὶ χλευασμὸς τοῖς κύκλῳ ἡμῶν. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, εἰς ὀπωροφυλάκιον, ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας, εἰς λιθολογίαν, ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος, εἰς δρυμοὺς ἐκδεδώκασι. Ἕως πότε, Κύριε, ὀργισθήσῃ εἰς τέλος, ἐκκαυθήσεται ὡς πῦρ ὁ ζῆλός σου; ∆οκεῖ μοι ὁ προφήτης Ἀσὰφ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους κατηγορίαν, ἣν πεποίηται ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου, τὰ προκείμενα καὶ ἀκολούθως ἐπάγειν, ἐξιλεούμενα ὥσπερ καὶ θεραπεύοντα τὰ διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ἐληλεγμένα. Καταλέγει γοῦν τοὺς ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας θανάτους τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς Ἰουδαίοις μεμαρτυρηκότων· ὧν τὰ θνησιμαῖα οἱ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔθεντο βρώματα τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ τὰς σάρκας τῶν ὁσίων τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῖς θηρίοις τῆς γῆς. Εὐκαίρως τοίνυν ἐπὶ τούτοις ἱλάσκεται τὸν Θεὸν, ὡσανεὶ θυσίας αὐτῷ προσενηνεγμένης τοῦ θανάτου τῶν ὁσίων αὐτοῦ. ∆ιό φησιν· Ἕως πότε, Κύριε, ὀργισθήσῃ εἰς τέλος; Ἀναπέμπων τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τὴν μνήμην τῶν ἔμπροσθεν, δι' ὧν εἴρητο· Ἱνατί, ὁ Θεὸς, ἀπώσω εἰς τέλος; Βούλεται γὰρ τὴν εἰς τέλος ἀπόπτωσιν καὶ ἀποβολὴν τοῦ λαοῦ ἐπισχεθῆναι, καὶ τὰ τῆς ὀργῆς παύσασθαι διὰ τῆς μνήμης τοῦ αἵματος τῶν ὁσίων αὐτοῦ. Κατ' ἀμφότερον δὲ ἀκούσῃ τὸ, Ἕως πότε, Κύριε, 23.945 ὀργισθήσῃ εἰς τέλος· καὶ κατὰ τοὺς ἑξῆς ἐπιλεγομένους, Ἐκκαυθήσεται ὡς πῦρ ὁ ζῆλός σου; Ἕως πότε γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο ἔσται; Λέλεκται δὲ ὁ ζῆλος κατὰ παραβολὴν τῶν δι' ὑπερβολὴν διαθέσεως ζηλούντων τὰς ἑαυτῶν γαμετὰς, εἰ προσέχοιεν ἑτέροις ἀνδράσιν· οὕτω γοῦν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἐκδίκησιν τῶν τὰς πρὸς αὐτὸν συνθήκας παραβαινόντων ζῆλον εἴωθε καλεῖν ὁ λόγος. Ἱκετεύει τοίνυν ὁ Προφήτης ἤτοι ἐξ ἰδίου προσώπου, ἢ καὶ ὡς ἐκ τῶν κατὰ τοὺς Ἀντιόχου χρόνους διασωθέντων, μετὰ τὴν πρόῤῥησιν τῶν μελλόντων ἔσεσθαι κατὰ Ἀντίοχον τὸν τῆς Συρίας βασιλέα, καθ' ὃν οἱ ὅσιοι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας θάνατον ὑπομεμενήκασι, παύσασθαι μὲν τὰ τῆς ὀργῆς τῆς κατὰ τοῦ λαοῦ, μετελθεῖν δὲ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτοῦ. ∆ιό φησιν· Ἔκχεον τὴν ὀργήν σου ἐπὶ τὰ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ γινώσκοντά σε, καὶ ἐπὶ βασιλείας αἳ τὸ ὄνομά σου οὐκ ἐπεκαλέσαντο. Ὅτι κατέφαγον τὸν Ἰακὼβ, καὶ τὸν