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"I will put 80.789 a spirit in him," I think signifies cowardice. For the divine Apostle also said this: "For he did not give us a spirit of cowardice." And the prophecy of God immediately received its fulfillment. For when a rumor was spread that the king of the Ethiopians had marched against him, Sennacherib, being afraid, withdrew, having sent a letter full of all impiety. But the most wise king, unfolding this in the temple, offered up that wondrous voice: "O Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, who sits upon the Cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth." They, he says, consider you one of the many who are not; but I know you alone as God, the maker of all things. "Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib king of the Assyrians, which he has sent to reproach the living God." And the phrase, "Incline and hear," he has put in human terms, entreating that his supplication be received with favor. "For in truth, O Lord, the kings of the Assyrians have laid waste the nations and their land, and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were not gods, but the works of men's hands, wood and stone, and they destroyed them." This, he says, moved this unholy one to impiety. For he thought you to be like the gods that are not; but let him learn by experience, Master, how great is the difference between the true God and a false one. But 80.792 I think it superfluous to repeat myself. For I explained these things when interpreting the prophet Isaiah. Therefore, I will say briefly that the Master, having received the supplication, in a moment during the night delivered to death one hundred eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians. But Sennacherib escaped death, so that he might announce to all how great is the power of the God of the Jews. And immediately he received the just blow from his children. For since he had raged against his maker, he endured being slain by his own offspring. And he called Ararat Armenia. For the prophecy of Isaiah has this interpretation. And having also made clear the matters concerning the illness in the prophecy of the divine Isaiah, I think it superfluous to make the same interpretation twice. The wonder concerning the sun, however, spread throughout the whole inhabited world. For the sun, having turned back, became known to all. For this reason, the king of the Babylonians, having learned of the destruction and of the wondrous things that had happened concerning the sun, sent both envoys and gifts to the king of the Jews; and those whom they were accustomed to enslave, they honored as their superiors. Thus God, who was worshiped by them, made them renowned. QUES. 53. Why did King Hezekiah endure blame for showing the treasures to the Babylonian ambassadors? Because, when it was necessary to teach of the power of God, and the care he had received, he showed off his wealth, which has nothing lasting. And that not nature, but will, prevails in matters of the soul, Manasseh bears witness, having abandoned the pious conduct of his father, and having walked the opposite path. "For he built, it says, the high places, which Hezekiah his father had torn down and destroyed, and he raised an altar to Baal; and he made groves, as Ahab king of Israel had done; and he worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them." And by the host of heaven, he means the sun, and the moon, and the stars; and what is most impious of all, "he built an altar in the house of the Lord, of which he said, In Jerusalem 80.793 I will put my name." And not just one, but very many. For he built for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord; and he practiced divination by signs, and augury, and he employed ventriloquists and multiplied seers. Divination by signs is observation by words; augury is by birds. And seers I think are what those who divine by the liver were called. But what is most unholy of all is to have set up in the divine temple the statue of the licentious demon. "For he placed, it says, the graven image of the grove in the house of the Lord." And it teaches what follows

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ἐγὼ δίδωμι 80.789 πνεῦμα ἐν αὐτῷ," τὴν δειλίαν οἶμαι δηλοῦν. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος οὕτως ἔφη· "Οὐ γὰρ ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν πνεῦμα δειλίας. Ἡ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρόῤῥη σις εὐθὺς τὸ τέλος ἐδέξατο. Φήμης γὰρ θρυλληθείσης ὡς τῶν Αἰθιόπων ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπεστράτευσε, δείσας ὁ Σεναχηρεὶμ ὑπεχώρησε τῆς πάσης δυσσεβείας με στὴν ἀποστείλας ἐπιστολήν. Ἀλλὰ ταύτην ὁ σοφώ τατος βασιλεὺς ἀναπτύξας ἐν τῷ ναῷ, τὴν θαυμασίαν ἐκείνην προσενήνοχε φωνήν· "Κύριε παντοκρά τωρ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσραὴλ, ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τῶν Χερουβὶμ, σὺ εἶ ὁ Θεὸς μόνος ἐπὶ πάσαις ταῖς βασιλείαις τῆς γῆς· σὺ ἐποίησας τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν." Ἐκεῖνοί σε, φησὶν, ἕνα νομίζουσι τῶν πολλῶν τῶν οὐκ ὄν των· ἐγὼ δέ σε μόνον οἶδα Θεὸν, ποιητὴν τῶν ἁπάν των· "Κλῖνον, Κύριε, τὸ οὖς σου, καὶ ἄκουσον· ἄνοιξον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς σου, καὶ ἴδε· καὶ ἄκου σον τῶν λόγων Σεναχηρεὶμ βασιλέως Ἀσσυρίων, οὓς ἀπέστειλεν ὀνειδίζειν Θεὸν ζῶντα." Τὸ δὲ, "Κλῖ νον καὶ ἄκουσον," ἀνθρωπίνως τέθεικε, μετ' εὐμε νείας δεχθῆναι τὴν ἱκετείαν ἀντιβολῶν. "Ἐπ' ἀλη θείας γὰρ, Κύριε, ἠρήμωσαν βασιλεῖς Ἀσσυρίων καὶ τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ τὴν γῆν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἔδωκαν τοὺς θεοὺς αὐτῶν εἰς τὸ πῦρ. Οὐ γὰρ ἦσαν θεοὶ, ἀλλ' ἔργα χειρῶν ἀνθρώπων, ξύλα καὶ λίθοι, καὶ ἀπώλεσαν αὐτούς." Τοῦτο, φησὶ, τὸν ἀνόσιον τοῦτον ἐκίνησεν εἰς ἀσέβειαν. Ὠήθη γὰρ ὅμοιόν σε εἶναι τῶν οὐκ ὄντων θεῶν· ἀλλὰ τῇ πείρᾳ μαθέτω, ∆έσποτα, ὅσον τὸ διάφορον ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ψευδοῦς. Ἀλλὰ 80.792 γὰρ περιττὸν οἶμαι ταυτολογεῖν. Ταῦτα γὰρ τὸν προ φήτην Ἡσαΐαν ἑρμηνεύων ἀνέπτυξα. Συντόμως τοί νυν ἐρῶ, ὡς τὴν ἱκετείαν ὁ ∆εσπότης δεξάμενος, νύ κτωρ ἐν ἀκαρεῖ ὀκτὼ καὶ δέκα μυριάδας τῶν Ἀσ συρίων, καὶ πεντακισχιλίους, τῷ θανάτῳ παρέπεμ ψεν. Ὁ δὲ Σεναχηρεὶμ τὸν θάνατον διέφυγεν· ἵνα πᾶσι μηνύσῃ ὅση τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἡ δύνα μις. Εὐθὺς δὲ παρὰ τῶν παίδων ἐδέξατο τὴν δικαίαν πληγήν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ κατὰ τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἐλύτ τησεν, ὑπὸ τῶν φύντων ὑπέμεινε τὴν ἀναίρεσιν. Ἀρα ρὰτ δὲ τὴν Ἀρμενίαν ἐκάλεσεν. Ἡ γὰρ προφητεία τοῦ Ἡσαΐου ταύτην ἔχει τὴν ἑρμηνείαν. Καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας δὲ ἐν τῇ τοῦ θεσπεσίου Ἡσαΐου προφητείᾳ δῆλα πεποιηκὼς, παρέλκον οἶμαι δὶς τὴν αὐτὴν ἑρμηνείαν ποιήσασθαι. Τὸ μέντοι κατὰ τὸν ἥλιον θαῦμα εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην δι έδραμε. Πᾶσι γὰρ ἐγένετο γνώριμος ἀναστρέψας ὁ ἥλιος. Οὗ δὴ χάριν τῶν Βαβυλωνίων ὁ βασιλεὺς, καὶ τὸν ὄλεθρον ἐγνωκὼς, καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὸν ἥλιον παραδόξως γεγενημένα μεμαθηκὼς, καὶ πρέσβεις καὶ δῶρα τῷ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀπέστειλε βασιλεῖ· καὶ οὓς ἐξανδραποδίζειν εἰώθεσαν, τούτους ὡς κρείττους ἐτίμησαν. Οὕτως αὐτοὺς ἐπισήμους ὁ παρ' αὐτῶν θεραπευθεὶς Θεὸς ἀπέφηνεν. ΕΡΩΤ. ΝΓʹ. Τί δήποτε μέμψιν ὑπέμεινεν Ἐζεκίας ὁ βασιλεὺς, τοὺς θησαυροὺς τοῖς τῶν Βαβυλωνίων πρε σβευταῖς ὑποδείξας; Ὅτι δέον τοῦ Θεοῦ διδάξαι τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ τὴν κηδεμονίαν ἧς ἔτυχε, τὸν πλοῦτον ὑπέδειξε, τὸν οὐδὲν ἔχοντα μόνιμον. Ὅτι δὲ οὐ φύσις, ἀλλὰ γνώμη ἐν τοῖς ψυχικοῖς κρατεῖ, μαρτυρεῖ Μανασσῆς, τὴν εὐσεβῆ τοῦ πατρὸς πολιτείαν καταλιπὼν, καὶ τὴν ἐναντίαν ὁδεύσας. "Ὠκοδόμησε γὰρ, φησὶ, τὰ ὑψη λὰ, ἃ κατέσκαψε καὶ κατέσπασεν Ἐζεκίας ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνέστησε θυσιαστήριον τῷ Βάαλ· καὶ ἐποίησεν ἄλση, καθὼς ἐποίησεν Ἀχαὰβ βασιλεὺς Ἰσραήλ· καὶ προσεκύνησε πάσῃ τῇ στρατιᾷ τοῦ οὐ ρανοῦ· καὶ ἐδούλευσεν αὐτοῖς." Στρατιὰν δὲ λέγει τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ τὴν σελήνην, καὶ τοὺς ἀστέ ρας· καὶ τὸ πάντων δυσσεβέστατον, "ᾠκοδόμησε θυσια στήριον ἐν οἴκῳ Κυρίου, ἐν ᾧ εἶπεν, Ἐν Ἱερουσα 80.793 λὴμ θήσω τὸ ὄνομά μου." Καὶ οὐχ ἓν μόνον, ἀλλὰ πλεῖ στα. Πάσῃ γὰρ τῇ στρατιᾷ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐν ταῖς δύο αὐ λαῖς οἴκου Κυρίου ᾠκοδόμησε· καὶ ἐκληδονίζετο, καὶ οἰωνίζετο, καὶ ἐποίησεν ἐγγαστριμύθους καὶ γνώστας ἐπλήθυνε. Κληδὼν δέ ἐστιν ἡ διὰ λόγων παρατήρη σις· οἰώνισμα δὲ ἡ διὰ πτηνῶν. Γνώστας δὲ οἶμαι τοὺς δι' ἥπατος μαντευομένους κληθῆναι. Τὸ δὲ πάντων ἀνοσιώτατον, τὸ ἐν τῷ θείῳ στῆσαι ναῷ τὸ τῆς ἀκολάστου δαίμονος ἄγαλμα. "Ἔθηκε γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸ γλυπτὸν τοῦ ἄλσους ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ Κυ ρίου." Καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς διδάσκει