Book 3
Seek good and not evil, that you may live, and so it will be the Lord God the Almighty with you; in the manner that you said, We have hated evil and loved good, and establish judgment in the gates, so that the Lord God the Almighty may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph. I have already said many times that there was not one captivity, but different ones at different times, and in parts. For Pul the Assyrian first came to Samaria, and having laid waste the two tribes beyond the Jordan and the cities there, departed; and after him, Shalmaneser did not take all of Samaria, but took some part of it back to his own land with the captives. And God did this providentially, disciplining the wayward Israel "with toil and scourge," and moving them to the necessity of thinking and doing better and more seemly things. It happened, therefore, that those who were able to escape from the wars we have just mentioned, now somehow fighting against their own knowledge, repented of the things in which they had been deceived, and knew and confessed that many and intolerable things from the divine wrath had consequently been brought upon them for their sins, and then they, as it were, promised God the correction of their own habits, saying, We have hated evil and loved good. Therefore, in the manner you have spoken, he says, seek good and not evil, so that you may gain well-being by living and being saved, and the Lord God, who has authority over all, may be with you. And establish judgment in the gates, that is, become upright judges; not recording an unjust vote against the weaker; not misrepresenting the power of the just; nor indeed striking the heads of the poor; nor turning aside the way of the humble, so that God may henceforth have mercy on those left from Joseph from the captivities that have already occurred. And again it signifies Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes. For as I have already said before, since Ephraim came from Joseph, for this reason he is also signified by his father's name. Therefore, it is necessary to think rightly, and to correct our own minds, so that we must think the things pleasing to God, and achieve virtue, and cling to the ways of justice, and be wise guardians of uprightness; for thus we will have the God of all with us and defending us. Therefore thus says the Lord God the Almighty: In all the broad places there will be wailing, and in all the streets it will be said, Woe, woe! the farmer will be called to mourning and wailing, and to those who know lamentation; and in all the ways there will be wailing, because I will pass through the midst of you, said the Lord. Having tasted, he says, the evils of war, and having been not moderately grieved by what had already happened, you promised to hate what is evil and to love what is good; but having been freed from those terrors for only a short and difficult time, you inclined toward indolence, and you appeared no less attached to your former evils. Therefore, for this reason, the cities will be full of lamentation and wailing, and dirges and tears everywhere, and there will be a search for those who know how to mourn. And since the city dwellers are not sufficient for this, the farmer will also be taken, so that he might sing a rustic song for you, and in local rhythms mourn the misfortunes of the fallen. For I will pass through the midst of you, he says, now somehow observing your sins, and no longer standing far off from those who have committed intolerable impieties. For as long as God does not yet discipline, he seems somehow not even to be present; but when he brings on things from his wrath, he is, so to speak, present and inflicts punishments. Thus also angels visited Sodom to burn the impious, as though they had been absent when not punishing. Therefore, "I will pass through the midst of you" signifies the visitation, and that the time for being punished is at hand. Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have this day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light. As if a man should flee from a lion, and a bear should meet him; or go into his house and lean his hand against the wall, and a serpent bite him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? Even deep darkness with no brightness in it? When the holy prophets foretold to them the things that would be, and that they would fall into bitter and incurable misfortunes, they turned recklessly to the works of error, laughing and being arrogant, at one time saying that the prophecies would run on into postponements and long periods of time; at another time, being completely desperate, they dared to say, according to the voice of Jeremiah, "Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come." For they thought that the prophets were speaking falsely and filling them with empty terrors; or, if indeed some war should come against them, they would be stronger than their hand, setting up against them a hard and irresistible defense and zeal. For it is true that, "When a wicked man comes into a depth of evils, he becomes contemptuous," according to what is written. But those of such a disposition, like those with desperate wounds, have all but cried out that they need fire and cutting, and are in desire of such things. For in a way they thirst for the need to be punished, even if they no longer use such a voice. Woe, therefore, he says, to those who desire and await nothing other than the day of punishment, which he also calls the Lord's; for it is brought on by God. Why then, he says, is this day for you, being darkness and not light, because it is filled with so very much misfortune? For it would not be possible, he says, for any to escape, nor could anyone go outside of the evil; but he who flees this will be seized by that, and the second will meet those who have escaped the first. For this is to escape from the mouth of a lion, but to fall into a bear. But even if someone should think, he says, that he might happen to be in safety and enter into his house, there he will fall into death, unexpectedly subjected to the bites of a serpent. For when God drives someone into destruction and troubles, who is the one who will save? Who is the one who will help and deliver from judgment? Or what way will there be, by which if one passed through, he might be outside of the evils? None at all. "For who will turn back the high hand?" And, "If he shuts a man in, who can open it?" according to what is written. I have hated, I have rejected your feasts, and I will not smell the offerings in your solemn assemblies. For if you bring me your whole burnt offerings and sacrifices, I will not accept them, and I will not look upon your salvation offerings of manifestation. The word would be especially fitting for those from Judah and Benjamin. For the tribes in Samaria to the worship of idols being wholly attached, they were found to be very slothful and greatly negligent of the laws given through Moses; but those in Jerusalem sacrificed on the high places to Baal and offered libations to the host of heaven, yet in addition to this they pretended to take care to show reverence for the law, and to be eager to fulfill both sacrifices and feasts. But that the Creator of all things has hated these things, he also made clear through the voice of Isaiah, saying, "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; attend to the law of God, you people of Gomorrah. What is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats I do not desire, not even should you come to appear before me. For who has sought these things from your hands? You shall not continue to tread my court. If you bring fine flour, it is in vain; incense is an abomination to me. Your new moons and your Sabbaths and the great day I do not tolerate; fasting and idleness and your feasts my soul hates; you have become to me a surfeit." We say that the preceding words depend on this thought. For he says, I have hated and cast off your feasts, and I would not praise your sacrifices, nor would I ever reckon as a fragrant aroma the whole burnt offerings and the offerings for salvation. These are kinds of sacrifices, distinguished according to seasons, and as in their own ways. For the whole burnt offering is one thing, and the sacrifice another, and the appearance for salvation, that is, to come into the sight of God, and to offer sacrifices for salvation. But what we just said would fittingly apply to the Jews who practice the greatest impiety; but God accepts, and very gladly, and receives the sacrifices of those in faith, the spiritual whole burnt offering, the appearances at the feasts. For we offer a sweet smell not of ourselves, but of the one in us through the Spirit, I mean, Christ. And the unacceptability for sacrifice would very fittingly apply also to the unholy heretics and those of whom it is not possible to say, at least according to the genuine in faith, "That we are the aroma of Christ to God." for their smell is in Beelzebul, if it is true that "No one says, Jesus is anathema," except in Beelzebul. But the wretched ones, blaspheming unguardedly and speaking falsely against the glory of the Only-begotten, bear a mind not filled with a spiritual sweet smell, but rather drunk with filth. Take away from me the sound of your songs, and the psalm of your instruments I will not hear. And judgment shall roll down as water, and righteousness as an impassable torrent. He sends away along with the feasts and the useless sacrifices the praises with instruments, God not assigning the duty of giving glory to soulless materials, but rather transferring the participation of such splendid renown to those who send forth a voice from a pure mind; for such a doxology is beautiful and pleasing to the Lord of all. And very well indeed he calls the doxologies of the Jews, devised I know not from where, namely the instrumental ones, as I just said, a 'sound of songs,' meaning a sort of superfluous and vain echo, producing an indistinct and weak melody. And that these things have also become inventions of Jewish thoughtlessness, he has shown by saying, 'the psalm of your instruments;' for he all but says, 'Not mine;' for the practice is outside the law, and about these things Moses has said nothing. Therefore, he says, I will not be persuaded, nor will he ward off the accusations with the sweet sounds of instruments; but my judgment will roll down like water, and the righteousness from me, that is, the just sentence hereafter against you, will be like an impassable torrent, sweeping away, of course, what falls in its path, and sparing nothing. For torrents burst down violently from the mountains. Thus also the divine decree, if it should indeed be against some, will be an irresistible water and an unopposable torrent, and nothing else. Everywhere, therefore, to repent appears useful and necessary, and by returning to what is better to ward off wrath, not sending up a completely useless and indistinct voice to God, but from a good mind a wise truly and rhythmically resounding melody. "For sacrifice, he says, a sacrifice "of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High; and call "upon me in the day of your affliction, and I will deliver you, and "you will glorify me." Did you offer slain victims and sacrifices to me for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? says the Lord. And you took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god Raiphan, the images of them which you made for yourselves; and I will carry you away beyond Damascus, says the Lord, God Almighty is his name. Through the things just interpreted, it was God who was saying to those of the blood of Israel, "I have hated, I have rejected your feasts, "and I will not smell the offerings in your solemn assemblies. "For even if you bring me your whole burnt offerings and sacrifices, "I will not accept them, and upon your splendid peace-offerings "I will not look." For in order that He might be seen to have saved Israel himself out of his own gentleness, and in memory of the fathers granting mercy to their children, and not making the matter a requital for sacrifices and, as it were, a payment in return, He says of necessity, that they had spent no few years in the wilderness. And their food was manna, and they walked with a cloud overshadowing them by day, and a pillar of fire by night. And the ark went before them as a type of God, going ahead and spying out a place and a rest for them; and they were in want of none of the necessities, with unexpected waters breaking forth for them, and enemies falling. And while all these things were happening, they received the laws concerning sacrifices, and they heard everywhere and in each one, perhaps, of the ordinances, "But when the Lord your God brings you into "the land which he swore to your fathers to give you," you will do this and that, and you will also offer sacrifices. Therefore in the forty-year period during which they were in the wilderness, they offered sacrifices willingly, but no one demanded them out of necessity. But the matter was for them postponed, until they should enter the land promised to their fathers. For this reason he says, Did you offer slain victims and sacrifices to me in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? says the Lord. But they were saved then even without sacrifices, and as he says through another prophet again, "You did not acquire for me incense with money, nor for me the sheep of your "whole burnt offering, nor did I make you weary with frankincense." But they, on the other hand, having their apostasy without excuse, were fickle at that time, and dishonoring the God who is by nature and in truth, took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Raiphan. And what this is, it is necessary to examine. Therefore, the divine Moses had gone up to the mountain to receive the law; but those of the blood of Israel rose up against Aaron, saying, "Make for us gods "who will go before us; for this Moses, the "man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know "what has become of him." They therefore made a calf in the wilderness. And the visible, and as it were, the idol of all, was the calf; but many other things were also done by each one. For having turned once to their ancient error, and having leaped away from piety towards God, each one made a worship that seemed good to him, and fashioned it for himself, according to the custom from of old and still in Egypt; and they were more devoted to the worship of the stars. And from where might this also become manifest? someone might say. It is no great trouble for those willing to prove it; for we shall know from the sacred writings themselves. For the divine Moses was displeased, and cried out against Aaron, then he fell down before God, saying, "I pray, O Lord; this people has sinned a great sin, "for they have made for themselves gods of gold," although what had been fashioned was a calf. But he was not ignorant that others also had made carved images. And indeed the blessed Stephen, being once accused before the rulers of the Jews of blasphemies against God and Moses, and warding off the slanders with the appropriate defenses, then showing that they had acted with savage impiety, and had behaved insolently towards the they imitate for Christ the depravity and hardness of heart of their own fathers, he clearly recalls the calf-making in the wilderness, and says concerning the all-wise Moses, "This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, 'Make for us gods who will go before us; for as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' And they made a calf in the wilderness in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: 'Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? says the Lord. And you took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Raiphan, the figures that you made to worship; and I will remove you beyond Babylon.'" See, then, that the divine Stephen, a man full of the Holy Spirit, testified that they had indeed made a calf, and had also turned to worship the host of heaven; and he also recalls the voice of the Prophet. From this it is possible to understand that, in addition to the calf, they also took up the tent of Moloch. For having made a tent, they set up an idol, and have called it Moloch or Molchom; this is an idol of the Moabites, having a translucent and exceptional stone on its highest brow, in the form of the morning star. And Moloch is interpreted as their king; for Aquila and Theodotion have translated it thus; but the artifact was an image of the morning star. "You took up, therefore," he says, "the tent of Moloch," that is, of your king. And who was this king? "The star of your god Raiphan." And Raiphan is interpreted as darkness or blindness. For they worshiped the morning star as rising before the gleam of the sun, and bringing the beginning of day to those on the earth; but for those who worshiped, it became Raiphan, that is, darkness or blindness. And not at all as if the star had effected blindness in them, but because this worship became for them a cause of darkness. "Since, therefore," he says, "you emulated the madness of the Moabites and of neighboring Damascus, for this reason you shall also depart beyond Damascus and even the places lying farther away, I mean, of the Babylonians." For the Septuagint version says, "beyond Damascus," but the divine Stephen said, "Beyond Babylon." What then shall we say to this? The blessed Stephen spoke according to the Hebrew version. For it seems that to them, "beyond Damascus" was the name for the land of the Babylonians. For perhaps the kingdom of the Damascenes, that is, of the Syrians, extended as far as the borders of the cities toward the east and the sun's rays, and the country and land of the Babylonians was immediately adjacent. Woe to those who despise Zion and to those who trust in the mountain of Samaria. Again the word pronounces woe not only on those from Ephraim, that is, the tribes in Samaria, but also on those from Judah and Benjamin. And having first shown that those who came before them also always had a rotten and shaken mind; for they made a calf and took up the tent of Moloch; he then convicts them of acting like their fathers, and, following in the footsteps of their ancestors' impiety, they provoke against themselves the Master of all. He says that those from Judah and Benjamin despise Zion. For having remained in Jerusalem, and having the divine temple, they have made of no account their reverence and love for God, but as the holy scripture says, "They burned incense in the high places under oak and poplar and a shady tree." And they also worshiped the host of heaven. And so, not moderately grieved, the God of all said to Jeremiah, "And you, do not pray for of this people, and not worthy for them to be pitied, "and do not approach me concerning them in supplication and "prayer, for I will not listen to you." Then he adds the reason for turning away, saying, "Or do you not see what these are "doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jeru- "salem? Their sons gather wood, and their fathers kin- "dle a fire, and their women knead dough to "make cakes for the host of heaven; and they have poured out "libations to other gods that they might provoke me to anger." Therefore, those in Jerusalem have despised Zion. Therefore, he has fittingly brought upon them the "woe." And such a voice would also befit those who trust in the mountain of Samaria, that is, those who have dwelt in Samaria, and trust in themselves. For they thought that even without God they would overcome their enemies, and would be in a good state of prosperity, and that whatever was most pleasant to them would have an unshaken foundation. Therefore it is truly a bitter and dreadful thing to slip into such ill counsel, as to dare to hold love for God as nothing, but to be attached to what is absurd and to do what is not right, and to grieve him, and to think that, without his giving, any good thing will be upon us; "For every good "gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down "from the Father of lights;" so then it is good to be attached to him, and to make him our hope and helper. And they despise Zion, that is, the Church, who are leaders of impious doctrines, and who have taken courage in their own eloquence, and are accustomed to be arrogant over the discoveries of their impious reasonings and worldly wisdom. And to them, even before the others, the "woe" would befit. They have harvested the firstfruits of the nations, and they themselves entered. O house of Is- rael, pass over, all of you, and see, and go from there to Hamath Rabbah, and go down to Gath of the Philistines, the best of all these kingdoms, see if their borders are greater than your borders. He shows them to be ungrateful, and to have chosen to be unmindful of his great gift, although it was necessary always to confess the greatest possible grace, and to offer up songs of thanksgiving, because not only did he marvelously deliver them when they were burdened by a hard and unbearable slavery, but indeed he also brought them into the land which he swore to their fathers. And he brought them in, after cutting off many nations that were hard to conquer and not unpracticed in winning in battles. For thus also the blessed David said somewhere to God concerning those of the blood of Israel, "You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations "and planted it." Therefore they are reproached, and very rightly so, as being utterly ungrateful and grieving the Benefactor with their excursions into every kind of transgression. For they have harvested the firstfruits, he says, of nations, and made their country their own inheritance, with God shaking down those who resisted, and with ineffable power paralyzing the strength of those who rose up against them. But that they have inherited a land that is fertile and good for grazing and rich with every good thing, and better and wider than other lands, he commands them to learn, by investigating the principalities, that is, the kingdoms, of their neighbors or even of those beyond. For go, he says, to Hamath Rabbah and to Gath of the Philistines; for these are the kingdoms that have a more conspicuous glory than the others; and there inquire, he says, if their borders are greater than your borders. Now there were many individual kingdoms of the nations, that of the Moabites, that of the Idumeans, that of the sons of Ammon. But there was nothing great in them. But more splendid than the others was that of the Damascenes and the Palestinians. And there were two cities under the kingdom of Damascus, situated toward the east, whose name was Hamath; of which one was wider and greater, and the other having the smaller part. And Rabbah is interpreted as "greater" or "wider." Go therefore to Hamath Rabbah, that is, to the greater and wider Hamath; for, as I said, it was homonymous with another, having the greater part. And they say that this wide Hamath is the present-day Antioch, and the lesser one also narrower, the neighboring and bordering Epiphaneia; Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, having named one Antioch, and the other Epiphaneia for his own glory. The city of Gath was at that time more splendid than the Palestine of today. In it had remained the Anakim and those called Philistines, the sons of Israel not having destroyed them at that time. For this reason he says of it, “To Gath of the foreigners;” “Go then,” he says, “to Hamath Rabbah and to Gath of the foreigners; and examine carefully, if you do not inhabit a broader land, better and more excellent than all the others.” It is necessary to know that the Hebrew scripture has Calneh placed first. For it says, “Go to Calneh and to Hamath and to Gath;” Calneh is under the Persian kingdom, which is now called Lysippon. And since the Hebrew version also mentioned the Persian kingdom, for this reason we say that the blessed Stephen, instead of “I will remove you beyond Damascus,” said, “Beyond Babylon.” Therefore, the charge of ingratitude is against those of Israel, because having inherited a land so fertile, easy to plow, and spacious, they did not rather offer thanksgivings to God, but some scorned Zion, while others, trusting in the mountain of Samaria, took no account of reverence for him. Useful, as it seems, also to those who after the faith have admired the wisdom of the Greeks, so as to consider their opinions better than ours, and to those who incline to seek adherence to those who counterfeit the truth and subvert the orthodoxy of ecclesiastical dogmas is the saying, “Go to Hamath Rabbah and to Gath of the foreigners and see if their borders are greater than your borders.” For the divinely-inspired scripture is broader than the narrow talk of the Greeks, proclaiming the light of truth and introducing a knowledge of beneficial dogmas, and raising the mind of believers to everything praiseworthy. Again, the discourse concerning truth is broader than the narrowness of the heretics. For those who fight against it are all but suffocated, swimming in cold and unclear reasonings; but those who agree with the dogmas of piety, and contemplate the brilliant beauty of the truth, run out into a broad sea of contemplations, “bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,” darting hither and thither, and gathering very well from the divinely-inspired scripture things pertaining to true knowledge. And so to the Corinthians, who chose to depart “from the holy commandment delivered to them,” and ignorantly adhered to those accustomed to teach other doctrines, the divine Paul writes, saying: “Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. Now in return for the same; I speak as to children; you also be enlarged. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” Woe to those who pray for an evil day, who approach and hold to false sabbaths. He was saying, “Woe to those who scorn Zion, and to those who trust in the mountain of Samaria.” And since he made mention of two groups, I mean those who scorn Zion and those who trust in the mountain of Samaria, we, having necessarily investigated the meaning of the thoughts, applied the charge of scorning Zion to those of Judah and Benjamin, and that of trusting in the mountain of Samaria to those of Ephraim. So the discourse goes back, as it were, and enumerates again the charges against both, bringing upon them the “Woe.” It is a custom in the divine scripture to bring the word “Woe” against the nominative case; as I say, “Woe, those who desire the day of the Lord;” and again, “Woe, those who rise early in the morning and pursue strong drink.” Woe then, he says, to those who pray for an evil day, that is, those in Jerusalem. For not to endure to repent, nor indeed to accept the fear of what was foretold would happen, is almost to desire destruction a day to fall. For instance, as if someone might say about one of the lovers of sin, "He desires to die," even though that person does not wish to suffer this, whence? but insofar as he has come to the point of wanting to do, and this unceasingly, things that are contrary to the laws, he all but loves the punishment and justice that is always in some way owed to the lovers of sin. Therefore, being unwilling to repent, they all but desire to fall into an evil day, and to be caught in the already foretold calamities, those who draw near to and touch false sabbaths. For the temple and the altars in it were still standing. And they offered to God the sacrifices according to the law, and they also observed the rests on the sabbaths, yet not at all accurately, but very carelessly and lazily indeed. And so he accused them through the voice of prophets, as not having kept the sabbaths. Woe, therefore, he says, to those who pretend to draw near to God by pretending to still honor the things of Moses, and to touch false sabbaths. Do you see how he has slandered them as not keeping the rest proper to the sabbath correctly or carefully? And besides; for I think it is necessary to say something more essential on these points; false sabbaths, those among the Jews; since the law is a shadow, and the things through Moses are truly a type. But the type is not the truth, but rather brings in a form of the truth. Therefore the divine Paul also writes to the Hebrews, and says concerning the more ancient things, "Therefore a sabbath rest remains for the people of God." For Joshua did not give them rest, nor indeed have they entered into the rest of God; but we keep sabbath spiritually in Christ, putting an end to and departing from sins, and ceasing from every corruptible and earthly matter. For as the blessed Paul writes, "For he who has entered into His rest has himself also ceased from all his works, as God did from His own." Those who sleep on ivory beds and live luxuriously upon their couches, and eat kids from the flocks and milk-fed calves from the midst of the herd; who applaud at the sound of instruments, they reckoned it as something stationary and not as fleeting; who drink strained wine and anoint themselves with the finest ointments, and felt nothing for the affliction of Joseph. Woe again generally to those who sleep on ivory beds, accustomed to doing this and that. He strongly blames those in Samaria who were more conspicuous in glory, and who were exalted above others by the abundance of their wealth, as being all but drunk from too much prosperity, and carried away by the breadth of their luxury to the point of not seeing any of the terrible things at all, nor indeed to think that the God of all would ever be provoked against those so disposed, and bring penalties upon the lovers of sin. He describes accurately their unrestrained and unbridled indulgence in luxuries. For their beds were of ivory, he says, their couches both costly and soft, and the choicest of the lambs, and suckling calves were their foods, and odes and songs, and all things that with instruments run together with luxuries, and revels and applause, and what is even more burdensome, that they considered such evils as stationary and not as fleeting. For in general, such things fly by, and worldly deceit does not have permanence. For it is dissolved like shadows, and "the form of this world is passing away," according to what is written; and luxury by all means ceases with the dead. But in the case of those in Samaria, the meaning of what has been said might be understood in another way. For since they were about to be captured, and not long after, he speaks of the things devised for their luxury as fleeting and not stationary, as things that would pass away almost immediately. So they applaud instruments, drinking perhaps fragrant wine, very finely strained; and they anoint themselves with myrrh, compounding the choicest ones, and have taken no account at all of the fact that Joseph was about to be crushed. For as I just said, although they knew beforehand the a calamity was all but present, and the capture of Samaria, and the crushing that would befall the descendants of Joseph, they did not neglect their accustomed luxury. Therefore it is truly terrible for those chosen to lead countries or cities or peoples to be overcome by bodily luxury. For when it was necessary for them rather to make very good use of appropriate vigilance, to look out for what is advantageous, and to lead those under them straight toward what is fitting, and in every way to appease a saddened God, how is it not utterly senseless to slip into luxuries and to consider nothing better than profane love of the flesh? Concerning such men, perhaps, he says through the voice of the saints, "O shepherds who scatter and destroy the sheep of the pasture." For that the flock is endangered by the indolence of the shepherds would become clear from God saying again clearly, "Because the shepherds have become senseless, and have not sought the Lord; therefore the whole pasture did not understand, and they were scattered." Therefore now they shall be captives from the beginning of the powerful, and the neighing of horses shall be taken away from Ephraim. For since, he says, they have lived in luxury, having abandoned love for God, and they have trusted in the mountain of Samaria, that is, in those in Samaria, the leaders being very haughty, as rulers of an unmeasured multitude and having a fighting force beyond number, for this very reason, he says, the time of captivity will indeed come, and very swiftly, against all, and it will make the most powerful its first spoils. For enemies, when sacking a city, always run to the houses of the more notable people, to plunder the things in them. And since it was the custom for the splendid men in Samaria to love to be carried by choice horses, and these, as was likely, went through the middle of the public squares, neighing with a certain intelligence and wisdom and as if from knowledge; for the animal is always somehow ready for notions of good order and for the reception of the knowledge befitting it; and this will cease, he says. for the neighing will be taken away from the horses of Ephraim. It is as if he were saying: The elite of those in Samaria will cease from their arrogance, and they will unwillingly stop making their processions conspicuous, with their horses neighing for them, which, adorned with shining ornaments, perhaps even recognize their rider, and all but puff themselves up with pride, bearing their august and admirable charioteer. But that it is safe for leaders to be vigilant, while to love to be indolent is harmful, you might learn even from this. For the things that come from wrath will be upon them, and indeed before the others. And they will be cast out from all good repute, and they themselves will lie with the others, having a bitter and grievous judgment, and they will have to account for the fact that not only have they destroyed themselves, but they have also added others to their own transgressions. Because the Lord has sworn by himself, because I detest all the arrogance of Jacob, and I have hated his lands. He declares the unchangeable nature of the wrath, showing that God has sworn that he has hated the arrogance of Jacob. And we certainly do not say that the divine word makes a denunciation of our forefather Jacob; for it is utterly foolish to think this, since God both loved Jacob from the womb, and made him chosen even while he was in the embryo. But by Jacob he means again those descended from Jacob, whose accursed arrogance; for it is the custom in the divine scripture to call arrogance 'hubris'; he says he has hated it. For is it not indeed arrogance, I mean, to push aside reverence for God, and to assign to idols the glory that is most fitting for him, and in addition to these things, not deigning to listen to what he might choose to declare through the holy prophets, but to make the threat a sort of plaything, and taking courage in a multitude of allies, to utterly disregard his forbearance and help? Then, how is this doubtful? Therefore, the Lord of all has sworn by himself, he says. And by himself, because "he had no one greater by whom to swear." And what is it that was sworn? "I detest all the arrogance of Jacob," that is, the haughtiness of Jacob, and I have hated all his lands. for there was not in them the one who fulfills the divine will; there was not one who kindled reverence for him, and was pre-eminent in the boasts of righteousness. For God would not have turned away, if there had been any, even if few in number, among them, for whom pleasing him was of account. And so he said through the voice of Jeremiah, "Run ye to and fro through the streets of "Jerusalem, and see now, and seek in the broad places "thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh "the truth; and I will be merciful to it, saith the Lord." But since the lands of Jacob have come to be in want of every good and God-loving man, for this reason they are given over to desolation, and the cities have perished together with their inhabitants. Great, therefore, is the need for the saints; for they save cities, and deliver lands from impending disaster, by the brightness of their life cutting short the wrath that is indeed boiling against the indolent, and as it were, restraining the movements from divine anger running upon some. And I will destroy a city with all that dwell therein. And it shall be, if there be ten men left in one house, they shall die, and the rest shall be left behind, and their kinsmen shall take them, and shall make an effort to bring out their bones from the house, and he shall say to them that are over the house, Is there yet any with thee? And he shall say, No more; and he shall say, Be silent, that thou mayest not name the name of the Lord. For since He has hated their lands, and abhors all the insolence of Jacob, that is, their pride, for this reason he says that the cities among them have been utterly destroyed, men and all. But how each of these things will happen to those who have transgressed, he explains in detail. For I will destroy, he says, whatever city I wish, and as it were, I will make it vanish along with its inhabitants. And if it should happen that ten persons from one house escape the sword of the enemy, and enter into the innermost recesses of the house, they will die, fearing perhaps even to peek out a little from the recesses in which they are. Famine, therefore, he says, will succeed the hand of the smiter, and will kill those who are hidden. And when the enemies have departed, some of their kinsmen by blood and disposition will come, and will make an effort to bring out their bones. But whom will they compel, gathering the remains of the dead? Themselves, clearly. For it is truly burdensome and unbearable to touch bodies already decaying and putrefying, and I think there is need of a nose that is not pierced for those who dare such things; for nothing could be worse than such a terrible stench. They will therefore compel themselves, showing compassion to those who have departed and perished by famine, by deeming them worthy of both burial and care. And those who do this, he says, will then inquire of the one who knows the house, whether there might be another after them, either perhaps still alive and hiding in the recesses, or already dead and stinking. And he answers, saying, No more. And this is nothing other than a clear proof of complete desolation. But if the masters of the house should say this, they will hear in reply, he says, from the one making the inquiry, Be silent, that you may not name the name of the Lord. And what this is, it is necessary to see. Some, therefore, think and say that when the masters of the house are about to swear, those who ask silence them, so that they may not swear by the name of the Lord. And they add that to this point the mind of those from Ephraim had slipped into the utmost godlessness, so as not even to tolerate some, if they should choose in any way to name the God of all. But I think such an argument is utterly unsound and unseemly. For that those from Ephraim had completely leaped away from the love of God, no one would doubt. But having been in plague and scourge, it is likely that they would rather fear a little and henceforth change towards wanting something of the more necessary things, not on the contrary so savagely become insolent towards piety to God. Besides; for I would add this to what has been said; for what need was there for the masters of the house when asked if anyone perhaps among them, either still living by chance, or already dead is hidden, to add also an oath, that no one is still among them? What then is the meaning of "He will say, Silence, for the sake of not naming the name of the Lord"? We say that it was the custom for those of the blood of Israel, who have their origin from the legal commandments, to call abuse and blasphemy against God thus. For it is written in Leviticus, that two men struggled with each other in the congregation, then one of those who fought, the son of the Egyptian woman, blasphemed, and he died by stoning. And God immediately set a law for this, saying thus: "A man, if he should curse his God, will bear his sin; and he who names the name of the Lord shall be put to death." Therefore, to name the name of the Lord is to blaspheme, expressed in euphemistic words through the sacred letters. Since it is a habit for many, if they should somehow be in grief, to sometimes hurl reviling words against God, he says that the one presiding over the house, announcing that no one is still with him, and having suffered something of an incurable disaster, will silence him, he says, so that he may not name the name of the Lord, that is, so that he may not say anything reviling against God. This is a sign that the scourge was not brought upon them in vain, and that He does not punish them for no reason, but for a useful and necessary purpose. For it is, it is indeed, and very easily seen from what has happened, that the plague of those who suffered has converted to piety those still living and remaining, and has prepared them to fear offending God anymore, even if only to grieve him with mere words, although long ago they were accustomed to do this unguardedly, adding to their words also insults in their very deeds. Therefore it is much better for those who are truly good and prudent to go in pursuit of what is profitable before plague and scourge, and to anticipate the experience of the movements of wrath by departing from wickedness, and having chosen to do what would truly please the all-holy God. For behold, the Lord commands, and he will strike the great house with fragments, and the small house with fissures. He clearly threatened that cities would be captured, or rather, destroyed along with their inhabitants. And that the matter is from God, and will not happen by chance, is made very clear by His commanding those who have the power to ravage, and their easily doing whatever the divine wrath should decree. He calls Ephraim and perhaps also Judah the great and the small house. For Ephraim was populous, as counted in ten tribes; for this reason also a great house. But Judah was smaller, being of two; for he was in Jerusalem, and the tribe of Benjamin. It follows to understand that what is shattered somehow has a complete fall; but what is fissured might reasonably be thought of as suffering in part. And it happened that the house of Ephraim, that is Israel, endured a complete capture, and an incurable disaster from the war, but Judah in part, and suffered this as in a small fissure. Therefore the Judge is just and impartial. For He weighs, as He sees, the crimes of cities or regions, and brings upon each a blow that has the power to benefit them accordingly. Let us not then despise God, knowing the all-powerful nature of the supreme hand; for understanding of this is a most excellent thing. Will horses run on rocks? Or will they be silent among the mares? For you have turned judgment into wrath, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness. That indeed He himself again commanded that He will strike "the great house with fragments and the small house with fissures," even if it were done by the hand of the Assyrians, he will again persuade us by saying, Will horses run on rocks? For it is as if he were saying clearly: A horse is a proud animal, and among the swiftest of runners, but the place suitable for it to run is not one that is rocky and full of banks, but that which is clear and smooth. Then how have the Assyrians overrun you, although long ago of a rough being a people exceedingly and as it were rocky, and never yet trodden by any of the enemies? But it was God who had been dishonored, who makes the hard and impassable things for the warring ones easy to walk on and for horses to traverse. Just as, he says, lustful horses would not stop, and being aroused and mounting the females present by the goads of nature, so the enemies would not rest, making their assault against the impious ones most ardent and irresistible. And what is the cause of this? You, and no others. For my just judgment concerning you, he says, you have turned aside into wrath, and instead of having the fruits of righteousness, you forced the author of all your cheerfulness to anger, having committed impieties worthy of bitterness. For the God of all pitied Israel for having suffered in Egypt, but they did not cease from provoking. And this, I think, is 'you turned judgment into wrath.' The crime of ingratitude is therefore terrible indeed; and it is punished, and very justly so. For he whom we ought rather still to appease with praises and to gladden with voices of thanksgiving, to provoke him ignorantly, how will this not be for us the cause of every evil? You who rejoice in a thing of no good account, who say, Is it not by our own strength that we have taken horns for ourselves? For behold, I will raise up against you, O house of Israel, a nation, and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the west. Therefore you have turned, he says, "judgment into wrath, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness, you," who are proud of yourselves, and who raise a high brow against God, who rejoice in a rotten and foolish word. For you have said that I have not been the provider of the strength that is in you, and of the ability to oppress the enemies, but attributing the boasts to your own powers, you have dared even to say, Is it not by our own strength that we have taken horns for ourselves? And that was similar, then, to be caught thinking proudly and saying foolishly, We ourselves rule and will overcome the enemies, even if God should not choose, he says, to defend us, we have prevailed, and we must take pride in such brilliant achievements, attributing absolutely nothing to God. So it is disdain and insolence against God, this frenzied thought and word. But the divine David was exceedingly wise, attributing glory to the God who has authority over all things, and saying, "For you are the boast of their strength." and again, "In you we will gore our enemies, and in your name we will despise those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, and my sword will not save me." For all strength is from him, and nothing noteworthy would be done by us, unless he were with us and presiding. "For the Lord crushes wars," according to what is written. But since, he says, you are now caught having fallen into such arrogance and loose talk, behold, I bring a nation against you; and it is clear that it is the nation of the Assyrians; and they will afflict you, from the entrance of Hamath even to the brook of the west. Now, Hamath is one of the cities toward the east, lying at that time under the kingdom of Damascus; but it has now been renamed, as I said, Antioch, or rather Epiphania. And by 'brook of the west' he means the river of the Egyptians, since Egypt lies to the west of the land of the Jews. And since it was the custom for those of Israel, when war was about to leap upon them, at one time to ask for aid from Damascus and the Syrians, and at another time to run to the land of the Egyptians, for this reason he says that he raises up a nation against them, and they will come strong, inflicting so much affliction on them, that they would no longer be strong enough either to enter Hamath or to reach the brook of the west, that is, to call upon the power of either Damascus or the Egyptians for aid. "For when God shuts, who will open?" according to what is written. What way of salvation will there be, when the Almighty drives them to destruction? Thus the Lord showed me, and behold, a brood of locusts coming early in the morning, and behold, a locust one; Gog the king. and it shall be when he finishes to eat up the grass of the land, and I said, O Lord, Lord, be merciful; who shall raise up Jacob? for he is small; repent, O Lord, for this. And this shall not be, saith the Lord. What nation would be brought upon those of Israel, or what harm would come upon them, God reveals to the Prophet; and it is suited to his character, and through what he knows accurately, through these things He teaches him the things that will be done. For to the shepherds the locust and the cankerworm always seem to be, and truly are, a terrible thing; for when the grass is shorn as if by them, the flocks must then be destroyed. Therefore, God indicates the calamities from war to the Prophet as to a shepherd. For as in the form of a locust He signifies the Assyrian, as one in an immeasurable multitude almost eating up and consuming the land. And he calls it the morning locust, almost falling like dew, and poured upon the earth in the manner of snowflakes. But there was, he says, also one cankerworm; and this was indeed Gog the king. Then, when God said, And it shall be when he finishes to eat up the grass of the land; that is, when he consumes by eating the common multitude that is in Samaria, clearly, and in the cities of Judea; then, as He was about to add something else, the Prophet, interrupting, begs Him to cease from His anger, saying, O Lord, be merciful; who shall raise up Israel? for he is small. For if you should wish, he says, to deliver Israel to the enemies for consumption in the manner I have seen, he will be completely diminished. To this God [says], And this shall not be, says the Lord. I will not grow weary, He says, nor will I relent; for I would by no means cease from chastising the impious. But investigating of necessity who Gog is, we say this, that the blessed prophet Ezekiel also writes a lamentation for him, as God commands. And we think it is Sennacherib, when also Rabshakeh was reviling God, "the angel of the Lord went forth and slew in one night from the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand." And I will of necessity recall the things written about him through the voice of Ezekiel. And it is as follows, "Thus saith the Lord God to Gog: Art thou he of whom I have spoken before days past by the hand of my servants the prophets of Israel, in those days and years, that I would bring thee upon them?" Do you hear how he says it is he, and not another, whom He threatened through holy prophets to bring upon those of Israel? And that he paid the penalty for his unbridled speech, and having supposed he would conquer was unexpectedly destroyed, and has fallen in the land of Israel, He immediately indicates again, saying, "And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; and I will turn thee back, and lead thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel; and I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and thy arrows out of thy right hand, and I will cast thee down upon the mountains of Israel, and thou shalt fall, thou, and all that are about thee, and the nations that are about thee shall be given to a multitude of birds; and to every winged bird, and to all the beasts of the field have I given thee to be devoured; thou shalt fall upon the face of the field, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God;" and after other things again, "And it shall be in that day, I will give to Gog a place of renown, a monument in Israel, the burial-place of them that come to the sea; and they shall build round about the mouth of the valley, and there they shall bury Gog and all his multitude; and it shall then be called the burial-place of Gog. and the house of Israel shall bury them, that it may be cleansed in seven months, and all the people of the land shall bury them, and it shall be to them a renown in the day that I was glorified, saith the Lord God." For when the Assyrians had fallen, who are signified by Gog, perhaps the multitude of those of Israel buried the dead, so that for the cities and the lands the intolerable [stench] of the so would a thing of such a terrible stench be ruined. Thus the Lord showed me, and behold, the Lord called for judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and devoured the portion. And I said, 'O Lord, Lord, cease, I pray! Who will raise up Jacob? For he is small.' Repent, O Lord, concerning this. 'And this shall not be,' says the Lord. He has seen Gog, that is, the Assyrian, as a locust and a young locust; this he calls the judgment through fire. For it was not enough for the Babylonians to destroy Ephraim with the sword, but they also burned down very many of the cities in Samaria. The judgment, therefore, he says, that is, the vengeance through fire, has devoured the great deep, that is, Ephraim, so named an 'abyss' on account of its great and immeasurable multitude. And it devoured no less the small portion, that is, Judah and Benjamin. For after burning not a few cities of Judea, after this the arrogant Rabshakeh finally besieged Jerusalem itself. But when the Prophet again appeased him, and persuaded the God of all to repent, that is, to change his mind, 'This shall not be,' says the Master of all. What then shall we learn from this again? That transgressions beyond description, although God is known to be very long-suffering, provoke him terribly, and render the prayers of the saints almost ineffective. And so he said to the prophet Jeremiah concerning those of Israel, "And you, do not pray for this people, and do not ask that they be pitied, and do not approach me concerning them, for I will not listen to you." Thus the Lord showed me, and behold, a man standing upon a wall of adamant, and in his hand was adamant. And the Lord said to me, 'What do you see, Amos?' And I said, 'Adamant.' And the Lord said to me, 'Behold, I am setting adamant in the midst of my people Israel; I will no longer pass by him. And the altars of laughter shall be destroyed, and the rites of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with a sword.' Having shown the Assyrian, that is, Gog, to the Prophet as a locust and as a young locust and as a judgment by fire, God, then shows himself somehow standing upon a wall of adamant, so that through this he might be understood as standing, so to speak, upon an unbreakable power, and having unshakable security in his own good things. For the divine is all-powerful, and has a firm foundation, because it does not know how to change, but is superior to change, and, as I said, it loves to be always and forever established in its own good things. He is seen, therefore, standing upon a wall of adamant. Adamant among stones is both unbreakable and unconquerable, neither enduring to yield to things that are hard and accustomed to resist, nor indeed giving to other materials the ability to crush its inherent strength, and perhaps also accustomed to disregard the force of fire. And since the one standing on the wall was holding adamant in his hand, he inquired of the Prophet, saying, 'What do you see, Amos?' And when he understood and said what it was—for he said, 'Adamant'—he clearly affirmed that he would set this in the midst of Israel. But you will understand adamant as either the Assyrian, as both harsh and unbreakable, and appointed by God for this purpose; for the Lord of hosts strengthens whomever he might choose; or, the unbreakable and all-powerful Word of God, whom it is not possible to turn back empty, that is, to render ineffective; for whatever God utters will surely run to its completion, with no one acting against it. Thus also our Lord Jesus Christ says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." And he said that he would not pass by Israel, that is, he will demand justice for the unholy things transgressed against him; and he will no longer be long-suffering, but will finally hand it over to those called against it, along with its sacred precincts and altars and idols. For the altars of laughter, he says, will be destroyed. The making of any idol is truly, then, a laughingstock; but it would be fitting, I think, for the laughter to be understood properly and specifically as the Beelphegor, on account of the very ugliness of its form. And it disparages all idol-making, as being from this one thing, the most shameful of all. Therefore, the altars will be torn down, he says, and the feasts of Israel will be removed along with them, that is, the playthings of idolatry, profane and abominable mysteries. That Jeroboam, distinguished by the boasts of his kingdom, will go away to destruction with his own gods, he has clearly indicated. But it is necessary to remember that the one of whom the discourse is now is different from the first one; for the one was the son of Nebat, and the other the son of Joash. And these things for the time being might apply to the words of the history. But it will show the true adamant to be Christ the Lord of hosts, having invincible and irresistible strength, shattering enemies, and conquering opponents, and being broken by no one. He, as a chosen stone, has been placed in the midst of the people. "For 'He was seen on earth and dwelt among men.'" Therefore He is also called by the voice of the angel "Emmanuel, which "is interpreted, God with us." For He became with us, when He became like us. Therefore, having been placed among us by God the Father as a stone of adamant, He shook the tyranny of the devil, He truly made the altars of laughter to disappear. For as soon as Emmanuel shone forth, and spread the light of true knowledge to those throughout the whole world under heaven, He showed Himself to us as the image and likeness of the Father. Then indeed, then the darkness of the ancient deceit was driven away, and profane and God-hated idolatry was removed from the midst, and he himself who presided over the deceit, that is, Satan, has also fallen. And Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has formed a conspiracy against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. because thus says Amos: 'Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be led away captive from his land.' Falsehood is always unassisted by itself, and the feet of deceit have a rotten support. Therefore it is laughed at, being held up to stand only with difficulty by external aids. Such is this thing, the idolatry of Israel. For their things were playthings of drunkards: golden heifers, "the works of a craftsman and molten images," according to what is written, and the art of a human hand, and the inventions of unholy enterprises. But the blessed prophets call to sobriety those who are held by deceits; but the worshippers of idols, as if their whole stage were being dismantled, are not moderately vexed, they terrify with fears, they bewail the return to sobriety of those who were led astray. For they know that with a keen and watchful mind it is easy to see the profanation of their worship. The profane Amaziah therefore was greatly afraid, lest those persuaded to worship the golden heifers should be brought by the Prophet's words to a good understanding, and he himself should be deprived of his priestly function, and the statues in the precincts should be destroyed along with them. For this reason he tries to incite Jeroboam, saying that Amos was all but rising up against his kingdom, and was daring to utter some heavy and now somehow unbearable word, that he himself would die by the sword, and Israel would go away captive. The wretched Jews also did something like this, composing slanders against Christ. For since, striking Judea with astonishment by His miracles, He was calling everyone to Himself, they brought Him to Pilate, the miserable ones having taken the flames of envy into their mind, and indeed they said, "If you do not kill this "man, you are not a friend of Caesar." Therefore, the outrages against the saints by all who always fight against piety come through similar enterprises, with falsehood everywhere suffering from weakness. And Amaziah said to Amos, O seer, go, depart into the land of Judah, and there live your life, and there prophesy; but in Bethel you shall no longer prophesy, because it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house. He is then clearly shameless, and opposes the divine words with the proof of his own malice. For they used to call the prophets seers, but not deigning even to honor him with the name of prophecy, but rather as it were slandering him as one of the false soothsayers, he commanded him to depart into the land of Judah. And adding the words, "There earn your living," he as much as says, "If you desire shameful gains, and seek to collect things useful for your livelihood by chanting little phrases to people, leave Samaria and speak to those from the tribe of Judah, and you shall not prophesy in Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary." He says sanctuary, instead of offering, that is, a place of offering. For there the first Jeroboam set up the golden calf. And referring the Prophet's crime, as it were, also to the honor of the ruler, he says, "it is a royal house." "But you are confounding the royal affairs, you are stirring up disturbances, recklessly opposing the wishes of the rulers." See clearly, then, how true is what was said by God to Israel: "And you gave the consecrated ones wine to drink, and you commanded the prophets, saying, 'You shall not prophesy.'" And Amos answered and said to Amaziah, "I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman, scraping sycamore fruits. And the Lord took me from the sheep, and the Lord said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' And now hear the word of the Lord: You say, 'Do not prophesy against my people Israel, and do not stir up a mob against the house of Jacob.' Therefore thus says the Lord: 'Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be measured by a line, and you shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall be led captive from his land.'" When the practitioners of wickedness bring insults upon the virtuous, they accuse them of their own ways, and bringing forward the ugliness of their own accusations, they think they are mocking them, but they have forgotten that they are as good as writing themselves on a tablet and showing others what sort of people they are. We will now find that the stupefied Amaziah has suffered something of this sort. For being a false prophet, and attending the altars of idols, collecting limbs and the remains of the slaughtered victims, and being uncontrollably overcome by shameful gains, he reproached Amos, and said that he ought to depart from Samaria, and withdraw, if he wished, into the land of Judah, and there earn his living. For there, he says, you will easily utter falsehoods, and carrying many away, you will collect things for your livelihood, and you will more readily find the means of life. For "There earn your living," implies some such meaning, as I have already said before. But that the Prophet has no such purpose, nor is he looking for love of gain, but rather submits to the Master's will, for this reason he fulfills the service befitting a prophet, he tries to teach, and very gently, saying that he was neither a prophet, nor indeed had become a prophet's son—that is certainly by discipleship, or rather by spirit, I mean, just as of course Elisha was of Elijah—but he was a goatherd, living a rustic and simple and harmless life, having very few things for food, and being content with things from the fields, which one would not even buy; and these were sycamore fruits. For the overseers of the flocks, being at leisure, run under the shades of the trees, and, as if making sport of the charges of idleness, they pinch off fruits and attend to the needs of the stomach, as best they can. But he says that while I was engaged in these things, God, according to His good pleasure, made me a prophet, and commanded me to declare clearly to those of the blood of Israel the things that were coming upon them and would very soon be at hand. But you, opposing your own things to the commands from above, command silence. For this reason, then, "Thus says the Lord: Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city," it is clear that this means falling victim to the insults of the enemies, and the unchaste into the licentiousness of those having her, as if she endured it out of necessity; and the children will also be destroyed, having become the work of the sword. And in addition to this, your land will be measured with a line, that is, it will be under tribute, and will pay taxes to the one who has conquered it. But you, in addition to these things, who now think, he says, that you inhabit the holy land of Bethel, and have a king's sanctuary, you will go away a captive, and you will die in evils, not returning again; for how, or from where? having remained a corpse in a foreign and unclean land of the enemies; and Israel itself will also go away captive, the one who chose you as prophet and overseer of the holy things. It is a grievous thing, then, to act against the divine commands, and to proceed inconsiderately to the point of sometimes even rebuking holy men who interpret the things that seem good to God, of whom it was also said by Him, "And it shall be that he who touches you is as he who "touches the apple of his eye." But observe how the one and admirable purpose for the saints, I mean the duty to serve the words of God without shrinking, and to consider human things as nothing, even if some bring wars and afflictions upon them. For the blessed Amos, completely disregarding the rudeness of Amaziah, not only did not keep silent, but indeed even made the denunciation against him vigorously; and the divine disciples, when the scribes and Pharisees once commanded them to be silent, said plainly, "Whether it is right in the sight "of God to listen to you rather than to God, you judge; for we "cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." Thus the Lord showed me, and behold, a fowler's basket. And He said, What do you see, Amos? And I said, A fowler's basket. And the Lord said to me, The end has come upon my people Israel; I will not pass by them any more. And the panels of the temple will wail in that day, says the Lord; the fallen one is great in every place; I will cast down silence. The word then proceeds again for the Prophet as if in a stream, and with those things once introduced having received sufficient narration for themselves, the order of the visions runs on to its proper purpose. Therefore he has seen the multitude of the Assyrians, like a morning brood of locusts, and with them Gog, that is, Sennacherib, depicted as in the form of a locust-larva, because the creature leaps strongly over much of the land. Such in a way is the boaster, always leaping up high, and refusing to dwell with the humble. And he has seen justice being called as in fire, and indeed also the adamant Israel placed in the midst by the one standing on the wall of adamant. Then what else? It was the fowler's basket. And what I said in the beginning, I will now say again, that to the Prophet who was raised in a more rustic manner, God reveals mysteries through things that are especially done in the fields. For fowlers, and the things hunted by them, clearly birds, would not be more fitting for city men, but for those whose pursuit and purpose of life would be the fields and the things in them. But that in every way and entirely they will be caught for slaughter, just as by the hand of those accustomed to fowling, the common herd together with the select race in Samaria, I mean that of the boasters and those who have practiced being carried on high like birds, the power of the visions has shown enigmatically. For what was seen was a fowler's basket. Therefore the God of all says that the end has come upon my people Israel, and that their crimes would no longer be passed over; and that the temple itself, which had the golden calf in Bethel, will also be burned, he has revealed, saying that the panels of the temple will wail in that day. And he is accustomed to call the roof, or the things about it, "panels," skillfully and very well variegated by the arts of the carpenters, according to that in the Song of Songs, "Our beams are cedars, our panels are cypresses." And he says the panels will wail; and not by emitting an articulate voice, but rather as in crashes and the creaks in being broken. And since there will be many, he says, the one who has fallen in every place, I will cast silence. For since every place has henceforth been brought to desolation, and has no inhabitants, there will be a great silence, that is to say, stillness, just as in the deserts and impassable lands. Therefore the God of all will in no way be at a loss, if he should choose to chastise those who have sinned, but his manner of punishment will be manifold and various, and no one will withstand him as he inflicts punishments on the one who provokes him, yet he who shakes off the wrath by repentance will escape, turning for himself toward gentleness the Master who is good and compassionate.