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or rather the Holy Spirit in him, makes God his own in the present history, saying, my God; for he does not say, our God, but my God, as if one rare person, worthy of God, had been left behind at the indicated time of the Assyrian siege. For since all the people had fallen away and been delivered to the besiegers on account of their sins, he does not make the invocation common; but brings it forth from his own person alone, saying: My God, make them like a wheel. The nature of a wheel is to turn and not to stand in the same place. Such is the entire life of the godless, at one time lifted up to a height, then making a turn to the opposite, just like a wheel. First, therefore, he says, Make them like a wheel; then, as stubble before the face of the wind; and, as a fire that will burn up a forest; and in addition to these, as a flame that will burn up mountains. For by these words he prophesies that they will rise up against themselves, and through themselves suffer the punishments for what they have dared, saying: Make them. You will compare to, as stubble before the face of the wind, what is said elsewhere: Not so the wicked, not so; but as the chaff, which the wind driveth away from the face of the earth. And the phrase, as a fire that will burn up a forest, shows them to be the fire, and them to be the forest; so that they will be burned by themselves according to the oracle that says: Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame which you have kindled. And the phrase, as a flame that will burn up mountains, shows the magnitude of their wickedness, and how their own flame will burn up their high places and their elevations, as if they were mountains. And he adds to these things: So shall you pursue them. And it is said elsewhere: Fire and brimstone and a storm of wind, the portion of their cup. But through these things the word has taught that the storm and the wrath of God are not passions of God, but a certain visitation, by which it came about that they, rising up against themselves, received from themselves the punishment for what they had done. And he beseeches, or rather prophesies, that all these things will happen to the enemies of God; so that even in this way they might at some time be helped. If indeed the greatest benefit is to know God, and to come to the seeking of his name, which he teaches will happen to them after the things foretold, saying: And they will seek your name, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever, and let them be confounded and perish. And let them know that your name is Lord; you alone are most high over all the earth. He prophesies that there will be two manners of the end of God's enemies; 23.1001 one, according to which he inscribes good hopes for them; if indeed the knowledge of God is a good thing, and the comprehension of his name, and for those who formerly did not know God to be taught, that he alone is most high over all the earth; for it is likely that those who confess these things have forgotten their former polytheistic error, and have cast aside their vain and deceptive falsehood concerning gods; and the other manner, according to which he foretells shame and trouble and confusion, and on top of all these things, destruction for those worthy of them. For he teaches that divine knowledge will be granted to those who change for the better out of divine conversion; but for those who grow old in their own wickedness he threatens ruin and destruction. Therefore, concerning the worse ones it has been said: Let them be ashamed and troubled for ever and ever, and let them be confounded and perish; But concerning those who will be changed for the better, the phrase, And let them know that your name is Lord, you alone are most high over all the earth. But it is also possible for all these things to be said about the same people, as the enemies of God, at the time when they will suffer the things foretold, will be confounded and ashamed, and delivered to destruction, and then by that very experience will know and confess that there is one and only God, the most high and over all the earth, who has also pursued with just judgment

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μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, ἰδιοποιεῖται τὸν Θεὸν ἐν τῇ προκειμένῃ ἱστορίᾳ φάσκον, ὁ Θεός μου· οὐ γὰρ, ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, φησὶν, ἀλλ' ὁ Θεός μου, ὡς ἂν ἑνός που καὶ σπανίου περιλελειμμένου κατὰ τὸν δηλωθέντα καιρὸν τῆς τῶν Ἀσσυρίων πολιορκίας, ἀξίου τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὡς γὰρ τοῦ λαοῦ παντὸς ἐκπεσόντος, καὶ διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας τοῖς πολιορκηταῖς παραδοθέντος, οὐ κοινοποιεῖ τὴν ἐπίκλησιν· ἐξ οἰκείου δὲ μόνου προσώπου ἐπάγει λέγον· Ὁ Θεός μου, θοῦ αὐτοὺς ὡς τροχόν. Τροχοῦ δὲ φύσις στρεπτὴ καὶ οὐχ ἑστῶσα ἐν ταὐτῷ. Τοιοῦτος δὲ πᾶς ὁ τῶν ἀθέων βίος, καιρῷ μὲν εἰς ὕψος ἐπαιρόμενος, εἶτα στροφὴν ποιούμενος τὴν ἐπὶ τοὐναντίον, τροχῷ παραπλησίως. Πρῶτον τοίνυν, Θοῦ αὐτοὺς ὡς τροχὸν, φησίν· εἶτα, ὡς καλάμην κατὰ πρόσωπον ἀνέμου· καὶ, ὡσεὶ πῦρ, ὃ διαφλέξει δρυμόν· καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις, ὡσεὶ φλὸξ, ἣ κατακαύσει ὄρη. Αὐτοὺς γὰρ κατ' αὐτῶν ἐπαναστῆναι, καὶ δι' ἑαυτῶν τὰς τιμωρίας ὧν τετολμήκασιν ὑποσχεῖν διὰ τούτων θεσπίζει εἰπών· Θοῦ αὐτούς. Παραθήσεις δὲ τῷ, ὡς καλάμην κατὰ πρόσωπον ἀνέμου, τὸ ἐν ἑτέροις λελεγμένον· Οὐχ οὕτως οἱ ἀσεβεῖς, οὐχ οὕτως· ἀλλ' ὡς χνοῦς, ὃν ἐκρίπτει ὁ ἄνεμος ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς γῆς. Τὸ δὲ, ὡσεὶ πῦρ, ὃ διαφλέξει δρυμὸν, παρίστησιν αὐτοὺς εἶναι τὸ πῦρ, καὶ αὐτοὺς εἶναι τὸν δρυμόν· ὥστε αὐτοὺς ὑφ' ἑαυτῶν φλεχθήσεσθαι κατὰ τὸ φάσκον λόγιον· Πορεύεσθε τῷ φωτὶ τοῦ πυρὸς ὑμῶν, καὶ τῇ φλογὶ ᾖ ἐξεκαύσατε. Τὸ δὲ, ὡσεὶ φλὸξ ἣ κατακαύσει ὄρη, δείκνυσι τῆς αὐτῶν κακίας τὸ μέγεθος, καὶ ὡς ἡ αὐτῶν φλὸξ τὰ ἐπάρματα αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ὑψώματα, ὥσπερ τινὰ ὄρη, κατακαύσει. Ἐπιλέγει δὲ τούτοις· Οὕτω καταδιώξεις αὐτούς. Καὶ ἐν ἑτέροις δὲ λέλεκται· Πῦρ καὶ θεῖον καὶ πνεῦμα καταιγίδος, ἡ μερὶς τοῦ ποτηρίου αὐτῶν. Ἐδίδαξε δὲ διὰ τούτων ὁ λόγος, ὅτι ἡ καταιγὶς καὶ ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐ πάθη τυγχάνει τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλ' ἡ τοιάδε τις ἐπίσκηψις, δι' ἧς αὐτοὺς καθ' ἑαυτῶν ἐπαναστάντας ἐξ ἑαυτῶν λαβεῖν ὧν ἔδρασαν τὴν τιμωρίαν συνέβαινε. Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα ἱκετεύει, ἢ καὶ μᾶλλον θεσπίζει κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔσεσθαι· ἵνα κἂν οὕτω ποτὲ ὠφεληθεῖεν. Εἰ δὴ ὠφέλεια μεγίστη τυγχάνει τὸ γνῶναι τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ἐπὶ ζήτησιν τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ ἐλθεῖν, ὅπερ ἔσεσθαι περὶ αὐτῶν μετὰ τὰ προλεχθέντα διδάσκει λέγων· Καὶ ζητήσουσι τὸ ὄνομά σου, Κύριε. Αἰσχυνθήτωσαν καὶ ταραχθήτωσαν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, καὶ ἐντραπήτωσαν καὶ ἀπολέσθωσαν. Καὶ γνώτωσαν, ὅτι ὄνομά σοι Κύριος· σὺ μόνος ὕψιστος ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. Τῆς τῶν ἐχθρῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ τελευτῆς δύο τρόπους ἔσεσθαι 23.1001 θεσπίζει· ἕνα μὲν καθ' ὃν χρηστὰς αὐτοῖς ἐλπίδας ἐπιγράφει· εἰ δὴ ἀγαθὸν ἡ γνῶσις τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἡ τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ κατάληψις, καὶ τὸ παιδευθῆναι τοὺς πρότερον μὴ εἰδότας τὸν Θεὸν, ὡς ἄρα αὐτὸς εἴη μόνος ὕψιστος ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν· τοὺς γὰρ ταῦτα ὁμολογοῦντας, λήθην μὲν πεποιῆσθαι τῆς προτέρας ἑαυτῶν πολυθέου πλάνης, εἰκὸς ἀποθέσθαι τε τὴν ματαίαν καὶ ἀπατηλὴν περὶ θεῶν ψευδολογίαν· τὸν δὲ ἕτερον τρόπον, καθ' ὃν αἰσχύνην καὶ ταραχὴν καὶ ἐντροπὴν, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις ἀπώλειαν προαγορεύει τοῖς τούτων ἀξίοις. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τῆς θείας ἐπιστροφῆς μεταβάλλουσιν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον τὴν θείαν γνῶσιν παρέσεσθαι διδάσκει· τοῖς δὲ τῇ ἑαυτῶν ἐγκαταγηρῶσι κακίᾳ τὸν ὄλεθρον καὶ τὴν ἀπώλειαν ἀπειλεῖ. ∆ιὸ περὶ μὲν τῶν χειρόνων λέλεκται· Αἰσχυνθήτωσαν καὶ ταραχθήτωσαν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, καὶ ἐντραπήτωσαν καὶ ἀπολέσθωσαν· Περὶ δὲ τῶν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβληθησομένων τὸ, Καὶ γνώτωσαν, ὅτι τὸ ὄνομά σοι Κύριος, σὺ μόνος ὕψιστος ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. ∆ύναται δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν τὰ πάντα λέγεσθαι, ὡς τῶν ἐχθρῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καθ' ὃν πείσονται καιρὸν τὰ προκαταλεχθέντα, ἐντραπησομένων καὶ αἰσχυνθησομένων, καὶ ἀπωλείᾳ παραδοθησομένων, καὶ τότε αὐτῇ πείρᾳ γνωσομένων καὶ ὁμολογησόντων ἕνα εἶναι καὶ μόνον Θεὸν τὸν ὕψιστον καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν, τὸν καὶ δικαίᾳ κρίσει μετελθόντα