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We always respond to the reproaches of envy, because it does not calm down, and the introductions to our books refute the slanderous attacks of [our] rivals, who publicly spread that I write something obscene in empty and dry language, and when I don’t know what to say, I cannot maintain silence. Therefore, I adjure you, O Paul and Eustochius, so that you close your ears to barking of this kind and, aiding [my] childishness with [your] prayers, ask me to open my lips, like [the lips] of the Apostle, so that also to [me] speaking about St. The word [Scripture] could be applied to the Scriptures: “The Lord will give the word to those who bring good news with much power” (Ps. 67:12). And I exhort the fat bulls who surrounded me (Ps. 21:13) to calm down and stop their slander, so as not to feel their evil behavior, which [by me] will later be discovered if they continue [or: continue] to insult [me]. For when they say that I make extracts from the scrolls of Origen, and that the writings of the ancients should not be desecrated, I consider it the greatest praise [for myself] that in which they see the strongest censure: for I want to imitate the one who undoubtedly pleases all wise people, as well as you. If the transmission of what was beautifully expressed by the Greeks is a crime, then let Ennius and Maro, Plautus, Caecilius and Terence, and even Tullius and other eloquent men who translated not only many chapters, but also very large books, as well as stories in their entirety, be subject to accusation. Even our Hilary is responsible for theft, because he translated almost forty thousand verses into psalms [from the works of] the above-mentioned Origen. I prefer to imitate the negligence of these rather than the incomprehensible diligence of those (the envious). But it’s time to begin the second book [of interpretation] on Micah and crush the head of the resurgent Hydra with the prophetic club (᾿ροπάλο). Micah 4:8,9. And you are the tower of the flock, the gloomy daughter of Zion, the former power will come and reach you, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. Why are you now oppressed by sadness? Have you no king, or has your advisor perished? that you were seized by the pangs of a woman in labor? LXX. And you are the tower of the flock, the gloomy daughter of Zion, it is to you that the first power will come and enter, the kingdom - the daughter of Jerusalem from Babylon. And now why have you experienced disaster? Didn't you have a king? or did your council perish because you were seized by illnesses like those in childbirth? Under the dark or unclean tower of the flock, which the Jews translated Orhel, we cannot understand anything else than the tower about which the prophet Isaiah speaks: “And he built a tower in the midst of it, that is, the vineyard. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel” (Is. 5:2,7). As long as this tower has a winepress, that is, an altar, and a fence around it, it is the help of Angels, and the wild boar - the devil - does not enter the vineyard, it is not polluted and not covered in darkness, but having received a name from the Lord, the True Light, it is called a city that cannot hide, standing at the top of the mountain. This tower, which was once the tower of the flock and people of God, is now (since evil mercenaries killed the son of the father of the family (Luke 20:15)) polluted and abandoned and under the name Ariel cries out from the earth in the person of Isaiah. “And this tower is the daughters of Zion,” or, as Symmachus translates into Greek: “She herself is the daughter of Zion” (Is. 62:11 ), and before her will come God, or the original power, which is the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. And the first power, or the original dominion, that will come to this tower is the One who said: “I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Rev. 22:13), and who, on behalf of the assumed human nature, said in Proverbs: “The Lord created Me in the beginning of His ways for His works” (Prov. 8:22), or as it is written in Hebrew. “The Lord owned me,” for kanani does not mean “created me,” but owned me, and has me. And the first power and kingdom came to the daughter of Jerusalem, so that later after the first the second power would come, for just as He Himself says with firmness: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), so He gives His disciples [the right] to be called the light of the world and says to them: You are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14). But calling himself in the Gospel the true vine, He speaks of the believers through Jeremiah: “I have made you into a fruitful vine, completely true” (Jer. 2:21); and since He is the living bread that comes down from heaven, I gave to the disciples [the right] to be called bread; That’s why the Apostle says boldly: “For we are all one bread” (1 Cor. 10:17). So, the first power and kingdom in Jerusalem will come in such a way that He will make those who believe in it lords and kings. The words: “And the first dominion will come” [or: “let there come”] “the first dominion, the kingdom of the daughter of Zion, and from” [or: from] “Babylon”, which are read in some books, were added - we will know this - after, for neither the Hebrew nor other translators have them. It seems to me that they conclude that the [Seventy] are referring to the Babylonian captivity, because the people, leaving there, will come to Jerusalem. The words follow: “And now why are you oppressed with sorrow?” or as it is written in the Seventy: “And now why have you known evil?” Why are you oppressed by sorrows, or why have you known disasters, he says, - you, to whom the Lord has the first power and the kingdom to come? But [the question] is immediately answered and said: “Because you have no king; because your advisor died; because you were overcome with grief, like a woman in labor.” The words: “Why have you known calamities” should be taken in the sense that everyone who deserves and suffers calamities is called one who has known calamities and does not know good things, which is also in accordance with the usage of the first book of Kings: “But the sons of Eli, the sons of destruction, did not know God” (1 Samuel 2:12) and in another place: “Whoever keeps the commandment does not know the word of evil” ( Eccl.8:5). And the Lord says to sinners: “Depart from Me, all you who do injustice, for I do not know you” (Ps. 6:9; Matt. 7:21). On the contrary, about the Lord [it is said]: “He who knew no sin, for our sake He made Him to be sin” (2 Cor. 5:21), meaning God the Father. By the King and Angel of the Great Council we mean the Savior, Who was destroyed for an unbelieving people, and Who was overcome with sorrows like a woman in labor. Now Israel, which thought it held power, was suddenly devastated; and just as a woman who is about to give birth cannot avoid illness, so he could not avoid and eliminate the captivity and army stationed around the city that threatened him. If we read the Scriptures, we will not find anywhere that holy women gave birth in illness, with the exception of Rachel, who was on the road and at the hippodrome, that is, the place of horse racing, [horses] sold in Egypt, and gave birth to a “son of sorrow,” whom his father later called “the son of the right hand” (Gen. 35:16–18). Eve, expelled from paradise and hearing the words: “You will give birth in pain” (Gen. 3:16) is described as giving birth in pain. The wife of Phinehas, bound [in the pain of childbirth] and unable to rise like the one whom, according to the Gospel, Satan bound (Luke 13:16), gave birth [suddenly] after she learned that the ark of God had been taken by the enemy and the people had been defeated (1 Samuel 4:19). Upon the birth of Isaac, Sarah exclaimed: “The Lord has made me laugh, for whoever hears will rejoice with me” (Gen. 21:6); this is because she was a saint and had already lost her femininity. So, the sorrows that engulfed the tower of the flock are the sorrows and pangs of death that even engulfed the Savior and, as it were, overcame [Him]; but, of course, they could not overcome Him completely, as He himself says in the seventeenth Psalm: “Mortal diseases have seized Me, and the streams of iniquity have frightened Me, and the sorrows of hell have surrounded Me” (Ps. 17:5). Some think that by the defiled and dark tower and daughter of Jerusalem, one must understand the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of saints, about which the Apostle says: “They have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22), which until that time will be polluted until its sons are brought to it, and until there is a counselor in it and their sorrows are taken away, as if in labor; because seeing such a great number of [his own] sons killed, he will grieve that he gave birth to them in vain. Micah 4:10. Suffer and endure, daughter of Zion, as one who gives birth, because today you will leave the city and live in a country [not inhabited or foreign] and you will even reach Babylon: there you will be freed, there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. LXX: Suffer and endure courageously, daughter of Zion, as if giving birth, because today you will leave the city and live in the field and reach Babylon; from there He will set you free; and from there the Lord your God will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. It is not without a deliberate purpose that [this] is commanded to the one whom [He] commands to grieve or suffer the torments of a woman in childbirth, and to whom is then added: “endure courageously”; namely: let her, patiently enduring adversity, leave the city and live in a country [uninhabited, foreign], or in a field, let her even go as far as Babylon. When she, enduring captivity for [her own] sin, courageously endures what is appointed [for her], then the Lord will free her, and God will deliver her from the hand of her enemies; so that later, upon her release, she will say to her offenders: “Do not attack me, you who are hostile to me, because I have fallen: I will rise; and though I walk in darkness, yet the Lord is my light. I will endure the wrath of the Lord, even though I have sinned against Him, until He judges my case and executes judgment on me, and brings me to the light, and I see His righteousness. And she who was at enmity against me will see" [this] and be covered with disgrace" (Mic. 7:9,10). Therefore, according to [this], the psalm says: “The Lord will not be angry until the last times, and the Lord will not be indignant forever” (Ps. 103:9). And that the words: “Suffer and endure courageously” refer to the salvation of the one who suffers and courageously endures, this is also witnessed by Joshua, to whom the Lord says: “Be strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:6,18). The daughter of Zion suffers and endures courageously because she came out of her city barefoot and naked and had to be taken captive to the land of Shinar and be in Babylon until Zerubbabel and Ezra, which means “helper,” came and freed her from the hands of the Chaldeans. - Since, according to the literal meaning, all this is completely clear, it seems to me that [in a figurative sense] this should be understood as a soul expelled from the church for sins, given over to the enemy and avenger for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit would be saved - this soul comes from the city - which rejoices over the overflow of the river [flooding] - and lives not on a hill where it was before, but on the field along which the troops of the Assyrians rush, and is in confusion from one’s vices; and after he bears heavy chains, works, setting the millstone in motion, and grinds flour for the Babylonians, having come to his senses, he will say: “How many hired servants of my Father are filled with bread, but here I perish from hunger” (Luke 15:17), and returning to his parents’ house, he is accepted by the most merciful Father, and freed from the hand of [his] evil master. [Now] let us prove by example that the commandment of the daughter of Zion and the words [to her]: “Grieve and endure courageously, as if she were giving birth,” we should relate not to her punishment, but to her benefit. The Apostle Paul speaks to the Galatians. “My children, whose birth I am again tormented until Christ is reflected in you.” (Gal.4:19). And until that time he grieved, until that time [or: until] he suffered through birth, until finally he again, through repentance, revived those who had perished through crime or sin. Think [also] what a doctor says to a feverish or wounded person: “Suffer, but endure courageously,” hold back your thirst, endure cauterization with a hellish stone, so that recovery comes all the more surely. Micah 4:11–13. And now many nations are gathered against you, who say: “Let her be stoned, and let our eyes look upon Zion.” But they themselves did not recognize the thoughts of the Lord and did not understand His counsel, because He gathered them up like straw in an empty place” [threshing floor]. “Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hooves copper, and you will destroy many nations and destroy” [or: “I will destroy”] “To the Lord their spoils and their strength to the Lord of all the earth.” LXX: And now many nations are gathered against you, saying: “Let us attack” [her] and let our eyes see Zion.” But they themselves did not know the thoughts of the Lord and did not understand His counsel, because He gathered them like sheaves in a threshing floor. Arise and thresh them, daughter of Zion, for I will make your horns of iron, and I will make your hooves of copper, and you will humiliate many nations, and you will dedicate their multitude to the Lord and their strength to the Lord of all the earth. O Jerusalem! O daughter of Zion! passing even to Babylon, but having freedom there! And the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies; meanwhile [or: again] now many nations are gathered against you, who say [about you] as if about an adulteress: “Let her be stoned, and let our eyes look on her.” Or, as it is written in LXX: “Let us attack and rejoice, and let our eyes look with contempt upon Zion”; but they did not recognize the will and counsel of the Lord, for these nations are gathered against you so that you will crush them like straw or stalks of grain on a threshing floor. So, arise, daughter of Zion! and with the horns of iron, which I solemnly promise to give you, and with the hooves of brass, which you are about to receive, crush and scatter the nations to the wind and slay them before the Lord of all the earth. For with such a sacrifice and such a sacred act He will be satisfied. The Jews, not yet recognizing all this as fulfilled, expect its fulfillment for themselves in the future coming of Christ, and they say that it is then that all nations will be in servile service to the Jewish people, and that the Roman Empire itself, which they call in their interpretations Edom, should be crushed by their hooves and scattered by their horns. How unreasonable this interpretation is is demonstrated by all Scripture. But more about that at another time. We, who follow not the letter that kills, but the life-giving spirit, say that against the daughter of Zion, by which is meant the church, many hordes (nations) of demons have gathered and attack [her] in the present age, which is set in evil, and triumph, killing her children, but not knowing the thoughts of the Lord and not understanding His counsels; because if they had known [them], they would never have crucified the Lord of Majesty (1 Cor. 2:8). So, He will gather them like sheaves on a threshing floor, and whatever is thorny and defiled in them, but is useless and light, He will crush with His hooves and scatter with His horns, and, leaving behind the clean grain, He will offer it as a sacrificial gift to the Lord. But what does this mean in this place when it is said: “And you will humiliate many nations and dedicate to the Lord their multitude and their strength to the Lord of all the earth?” Let us read the books of Numbers, Joshua and 1 Kings, and then we will see how, after the subjugation of the pagans, after everything had perished by the sword, gold and silver were dedicated to the Lord, as well as a certain amount of spoils, both from people and from livestock. Finally, Achor, who stole something from the reserved Jericho (anathemate Jericho), outraged the people, and for his crime the name was given to that valley emec achor (עםך עביר), that is: “valley of noise” or “unrest” (Joshua 7:24–26). But so that you know that according to the [text] of the LXX interpreters who said: “You will dedicate their multitude to the Lord and their strength to the Lord of the whole earth,” dedication should be understood in a good sense, Theodotion instead of “many” translated: gifts, Fifth Edition - “profit”, i.e. ὠφέλειαν, Symmachus - “their benefit”, i.e. τό χέρδος αὐτῶν. Micah 5:1. Now you will be devastated, O daughter of the robber: they have laid an ambush against us; The judge of Israel will be struck on the cheek with a rod. LXX: Now the daughter will be protected by a fence; He has built gorges against us; the tribe of Israel will be struck on the cheek with a rod. It is not that one tribe will strike another in the face, but that others will strike the tribe of Israel in the face. True, I promised you, daughter of Zion, that the time will come when I will make your horn iron and your hooves copper, and that you, having destroyed the multitude of demons, will consecrate to the Lord of the whole earth what they formerly possessed (Rom. 11:7); but this will happen when the fullness of the pagans enters [the church] and all Israel is saved; meanwhile, at the present time, according to your deserts, you will be “wasted,” or, as it is in the Hebrew text, “destroyed.” And you are not called, as the Apostle says (Phil. 3:3), “circumcision,” but “extermination”; and I do not call you my daughter, but the daughter of a robber, which in Hebrew is expressed by the words bath gedud (בת גדוד), i.e. [daughter] of the devil, always striving to steal prey. And indeed, you have made My house a den of thieves, you have rebelled against Me; your sons have set an ambush against Me, My Son and My Spirit; Isn't it a reproach for St. The Trinity is that, at your initiative, the Romans beat the Judge of Israel on the head with a cane with the words: “Christ, show us who hit you?” (Matthew 26:67–68), or when one of your servants hit Him in the face saying: “Is this how you answer the high priest?” (John 18:22). This is [to be understood] according to the Hebrew text, with which Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion and the Fifth Edition are quite similar. But according to the text of LXX, the meaning is completely different. It represents, so to speak, a special beginning for [new] thought. Now the synagogue will be surrounded by a fence, and those who are imprisoned in it will say: “He has built gorges against us,” and the tribes of Israel, subject to Roman rule, will be beaten on the cheeks, for the Lord will take away from Judah and Jerusalem both the strong and the strong and the wise artist and skilled in speech [or: helper], and his paths to this day remain closed and barred: he cannot escape from captivity, but is oppressed by the most grievous power (Is. 3:1,2). If, according to the above meaning, we wish to understand what has been said in relation to the Church, then we will cite as proof of this a place from the prophet Hosea, where the adulteress says: “I will go after my lovers, who gave me my bread, and my water, and my clothing, and my linen, and my oil, and everything that is useful to me” (Hos. 2:5). And after this, God, wanting to prevent [her] most wicked thoughts, did not allow her to do what she wanted, for He blocked her path so that she would not follow in the footsteps of her lovers and would not commit further adultery. Indeed, He says: “Therefore, behold, I will block her paths with pricks and force her with a fence, and she will not find her path, and she will go after her lovers” [others add: hers] “but will not reach them, and will seek them, but will not find them, and will say: “I will go and return to my former husband, because I had a good time with him” (Hos. 2:6,7 acc. LXX). Pay attention to the fact that God’s work is completed: for the adulteress, not finding her way and not being able to continue what she wanted, forced by necessity, returns to her former husband and confesses that she is better off in the house of her first husband than she once was with her lovers, [so] Israel is brought up with sorrows and misfortunes. Therefore, to David [or: about David] under the image of Christ it is mysteriously said: “If his sons had forsaken My law and had not walked in My judgments and had profaned My justifications and had not kept My commandments, then I would visit them with the rod of iniquity and with the blows of their unrighteousness; but I will not take My mercy from him” (Ps. 89:31–34). So, the Lord laid punishment on the daughter of Zion, and those Angels in the face who are assigned to the misfortunes will strike her. And so that you are not somehow left in the dark about who this daughter of Israel is, who is protected by a fence and placed in oppression, this is directly shown in the words: “tribe of Israel.” But we are that Israel who mentally contemplates God, and to whom the Apostle’s instructions apply. “You see Israel in the flesh” (1 Cor. 10:18). He would never have called Israel carnal if he had not known that there is also a spiritual one. Micah 5:2. And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah! you are very small among the thousands of Judah: from you will come to me one who will be the Ruler of Israel, and whose origin is from the beginning from the days of eternity. LXX: And you Bethlehem, the house of Ephrath, you are very small to beat among the thousands of Judah: from you will come [the Head] for Me to be the Head of Israel and His origin from the beginning from the days of the world. The Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 2:6) tells that when the wise men came from the east and Herod asked the scribes where Christ the Lord was born, [the scribes] answered: “In Bethlehem, the land of Judah,” adding the testimony of the prophet: “And you are Bethlehem, the land of Judah, you are not the least among the leaders of Judah, from you will come to me a Leader who will govern the people My Israel." This testimony does not coincide with either the Hebrew text or the translation of the Seventy, which is clearly visible even without my words, and I think that Matthew stated exactly as they said, wanting to expose the negligence of the scribes and priests in relation to the reading of divine Scripture. But there are those who [falsely] assert that in almost all the evidence borrowed from the Old Testament there is an error of this kind; so sometimes the order [of words], or even the words, changes, and sometimes even the very meaning is different, because both the apostles and the evangelists drew evidence without referring to the book, but completely trusting memory, which [however] is sometimes deceived. So, let us present the meaning of the Hebrew [text]. “And you are Bethlehem,” that is, the “house of bread,” called Ephrathah! It is true that you are the smallest among the cities of Judah; and in comparison with so many thousands, you are only a small settlement. But from this small village will come Christ, who is [or: will be] Ruler in Israel. At the same time, do not at all think that only from the line of David comes He to whom I promised in the words [of the psalm]: “Of the fruit of your womb I will seat on My throne” (Ps. 131:11). (The taking on of flesh does not hinder divine greatness: He was born of Me before all ages and, [as] the Creator of times, He is not restrained by the boundaries of time. It is He to Whom in another psalm I said: “Before Lucifer I begat you” (Ps. 109:3). For in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1). It was in the beginning with God. And therefore His origin is from the beginning, from days eternity. And that this very Bethlehem is Ephrath, this is shown by the book of Genesis, in which Scripture mentions: “Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, this is Bethlehem” (Gen. 35:19). In both names there is an indication of the sacrament: in fact, it is called both the “house of bread” from that Living Bread that comes down from heaven (John 6:51) and Ephratha, which means “sees fury”, due to the madness of Herod, because he, deceived by the wise men, became very angry and, through specially sent [servants], beat him in Bethlehem and in all the surroundings of his children from two years old and above [or: less], consistent with the time that he withered away from the Magi; and due to the amount of blood shed, the voice, groans and sobs of Rachel weeping for her children were heard even in heaven (Jer. 31:15). Only according to the text of LXX we read in the book of Joshua - where the tribes, fortresses and cities of Judah are copied - by the way, the following entry: “Peko and Ephrathah, these are Bethlehem and Tagor, and Etam, and Kulon, and Tatami” [or: Tami], “and Soris, and Karem, and Gallim, and Bethir and Manocho: eleven cities with their villages” ( Joshua 15:59 ). We do not find this either in the Hebrew text or in other translators. Whether this place in the ancient scrolls was destroyed by the malice of the Jews, so that it would not seem that Christ was born from the tribe of Judah, or whether it was added by the Seventy - regarding this we have not learned anything certain, which we confess frankly. However, from the book of Judges we can prove precisely that Bethlehem was in the tribe of Judah; because it is written there: “And there was a man Levite who lived near the house” [or: mountain] “of Ephraim, and he took a woman for his concubine from Bethlehem Judah. And his concubine was angry with him, and left him to her father’s house in Bethlehem of Judah” (Judges 19:1,2). [Here] it is beautifully said: “to Bethlehem of Judah” to distinguish that Bethlehem, which was in Galilee, as is learned from the same book of Joshua. In our language, Ephratha can be taken to mean Καρποφόρον, “abundant” or “fruitful,” which, like the name “house of bread,” indicates a sacrament. Micah 5:3. Therefore He will give them until the woman in labor gives birth, and the remnant of his brothers turn to the children of Israel. LXX: Therefore, he will give them until the time of birth: she will give birth [or: she will give birth] and the remnant of the brothers will turn to the children of Israel. Since from Bethlehem, which is also from Ephrath, Christ came forth, the Ruler in Israel, and His procession was not only at the time when He was visible in the flesh, but from the beginning of eternity, or from the beginning of time; since He always spoke through the prophets, and the word of God was in their hands [or: the saints], then He will leave the Jews and allow them to reign until the time of the one who gives birth, [that is] when it is fulfilled: “Rejoice, you barren woman who did not give birth, shout and cry, you who did not suffer in childbirth, because she who is abandoned has many sons, more than she who has a husband” (Is. 54:1 according to LXX). For when the barren woman gives birth to seven, and the one who had many sons becomes weak, and when the fullness of the tribes is joined for the crime of the Jewish people; then [and] all Israel will be saved, and the remnant of his brothers will turn to the children of Israel; and the coming prophet Elijah - which means “Lord God” - will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the sons to their fathers (Luke 1:17); then a new one will join the ancient people, so that they will truly be called children of Abraham, since they will believe in Him whom Abraham saw and rejoiced (John 8:56). But what is this time when a barren woman gives birth? In my opinion, this is the time about which the prophet Isaiah speaks: “In an acceptable time I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you” (Is. 49:8), which prediction the Apostle Paul attributes to the time of Jesus Christ and says: “Now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. VI, 21). In my opinion, the mysterious saying found in Ecclesiastes is explained in the same sense: “There is a time to be born and a time to die” (Eccl. 3:2), i.e., while the pagan people were born from the barren, the synagogue lost its children. But this can be understood differently. The Lord will leave the temple and Jerusalem and the Jews until the time when the Virgin gives birth; and after She gives birth and the born Child takes the spoils of Samaria and the power of Damascus after killing the Jews, the remnant of Israel will be saved. And the brothers of Christ, that is, the apostles, will turn to the faith of the prophets and patriarchs who proclaimed the coming Christ, and the prophecy of the psalm will be fulfilled: “In place of your fathers, children were born to you” (Ps. 44:17) and the following. behind that words. Micah 5:4. And He will stand and shepherd in the power of the Lord and in the majesty of the Lord his God; and they will be converted, because now He will be magnified to the ends of the earth. LXX: And he will stand and see and feed his flock in the power of the Lord and in the glory of the name of the Lord his God, for now he will be magnified to the ends of the earth. After the Sun of righteousness has risen from the heights of heaven and reached their borders and the woman in labor has given birth, and the remnant of his brothers has been turned to the children of Israel, the Lord, who walked before and did not stop His walk with those who were put in the way, will stop and feed them in the power of the Lord, so that they will be able to say: “The Lord feeds me, and I will not lack anything; in a place of abundant pasture He settled me, and over the waters of abundance He raised me: He converted my soul.” (Ps.23:1,2). And he shepherds them not only in the power of the Lord and in the glory of the name of the Lord his God, when he says to the Father: “Holy Father, keep them in the name. Yours, whom You gave to Me, so that they might be one, just as We are. While I was with them, I kept those whom You gave Me in Your name, and none of them perished” (John 17:11). And “they will be converted,” or as Symmachus better translated, and “they will dwell,” for the Hebrew word jasubu (ישבו) means both. They will dwell in the Church of the Lord, because Christ has been exalted to the ends of the earth, or, according to the text of LXX, because they will be exalted [or: exalted] themselves with their Shepherd to the utmost, so that their sound [or preaching] will be heard throughout the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the universe (Ps. 18:5). Micah 5:5. He will be peace when the Assyrian comes to our land, and when he walks in our dwellings. LXX: And this will be peace when the Assyrian rises to your land and enters your country. When the devil - which is understood in the sense of εὐθύνων, i.e. “reproaching”, or “seizing” - comes to the earth and to the country of believers and those whom the Lord shepherds in strength and in the greatness of the name of the Lord His God, and will strike them with various misfortunes, and will occupy the dwellings of our souls, that is, bodies and will proudly oppress and [when], however, nothing will separate us from the love of Christ; then the peace of Christ or Christ himself will be in us, and about the saint it will be said [then]: “The enemy in him will not have any success.” Let us take an example so that what we have said can be more understandable: The Assyrian once came to the land of [the Apostle] Paul, and entered his country when he was suffering excessive labor, [when he was] immensely wounded, too much in prison, many times dying; when he received from the Jews five times forty blows without one, was shipwrecked three times, spent a night and a day in the depths of the sea, [was] in danger from robbers, in danger from false brothers, from fellow tribesmen and pagans; in all of them he overcame through Him who loved him. And therefore it was filled with peace, since it was filled with reproach (2 Cor. 11:23-26). The Jews deceive themselves with the false hope that all this prophecy will be literally fulfilled during the coming of Christ, which they expect. Micah 5:6. And we will stir up seven shepherds and eight noble men against him, and they will graze the land of Asur with the sword and the land of Nimrod with her spears, and He will deliver from Asur when he comes to our land and passes through our borders. LXX: And seven shepherds and eight plagues of men will rise up against him and they will graze Asur with the sword and the land of Nimrod with His pit, and He will free from Asur when [he] comes to your land and when he ascends into your country. Where we used “noble men”, and in Hebrew it is written: nesiche adam, Symmachus translated from “Anointed people”, Theodotion and the Fifth Edition translated: “chiefs of people”, Akila – important, or “high-ranking people”, i.e. χαφεσταμένους. On the other hand, in the place where I and Aquila translate: “with her spears,” which means the lands of Nimrod, Theodotion translates: “in their gates,” Fifth Edition: ἐν παραξίφησιν αὐτῶν, which we can translate: “in their daggers”; and in Hebrew it is: baphethee. So, peace will come when the remnants of the brothers of Christ will be turned to the children of Israel, and [when] the Assyrian comes to our land and with help from the Lord we will quickly crush under our feet the one who wanted to trample our home. For the Lord himself says: “We will raise up against him seven shepherds and eight noble men, or the plagues of men.” And We, I, My Son and the Holy Spirit, will stir up, which is in accordance with what was said in the book of Genesis: “Let Us make man in Our image and likeness” (Gen. 1:26), and at the beginning of the [book] of Obadiah the prophet: “Arise and let us rise up against him in battle” (Ob.1:1). The seven shepherds, in my opinion, are all the patriarchs and prophets and holy men who worked the week, that is, the Old Testament (Instrumento). And the eight plagues of men, or the eight noble men, or, as Symmachus translated, “the eight anointed ones,” are all the saints of the New Testament who, from the apostles to the present time, wounded the Assyrian and tormented him with their teeth. Therefore, Ecclesiastes gives the instruction: “Let us give part to seven, and part to eight” (Eccl. 11:2). And in the church of Ezekiel’s vision, which signifies the Church, and the heavenly Jerusalem, seven and eight steps rise (Ezek. 40:22,26,31,34). And in the Psalter there are fifteen steps along which we ascend in singing praises to God in sevens and eights. On the eighth day, the celebration of spiritual circumcision takes place, and in the Jewish church the Sabbath is broken and even psalms are composed for the eighth day (pro ostava). So these seven shepherds and the eight plagues of men will rule the Assyrian with the sword. “For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword” (Heb. 4:12); it was given by the One who came to bring a sword to earth, so that two would be divided into three (Matthew 10:34,35). And the land of Nimrod (which means “descending trial”) will be grazed in his pit, for the country of the giant, the hunter and the proud before the Lord is not in elevated places, but in caves. He, like lightning, fell from the sky and always revolves among animals, and since he is a hunter, he wanders among barren trees and forests. As far as I can collect [examples] in my memory, the word hunter, catcher is never understood in a good sense. Ishmael and Esau were hunters (Gen. 21:20 and Gen. 27:1-4) and were types of the people of Judah: one of them was the son of an Egyptian woman, walking after the flesh and living according to the flesh; another sold his birthright for lentil stew and, jealous of the blessing his brother received, drove him to Mesopotamia. So, the land of Nimrod was brought down into her caves: “For whoever digs a ditch will fall into it” (Prov. 26:27); and whoever opened the lake and dug it out will fall into the pit that he made, and sorrow will return to his head, and his iniquity will come down on the top of his head. (Ps.7:16,17). After the overthrow of the Assyrian by seven shepherds and eight plagues, Christ freed us from the hand of that Asura who came against our land and wanted to trample under foot the borders of Israel. And the words of Symmachus: “And they will feed the land of Asura with the sword and the land of Nimrod at its gates” should be understood to mean that the enemy will be imprisoned and defeated in his own home. At the same time, according to the text of Avila and the Fifth Edition, the enemy will be thrown into the ditch by the daggers and spears of the seven shepherds and the eight anointed ones. Micah 5:7–15. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many nations, as dew from the Lord, and as drops of rain on the grass, which dependeth not on man, and hath no hope in the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob will be among the tribes, among many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, and like a lion cub among the flocks of sheep, which, when it goes out [to prey], it will trample and seize, and no one will snatch it from it. Your hand will be exalted above your enemies, and all your enemies will perish. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will take away your horses from you, and destroy your chariots of war, and destroy the cities of your land, and destroy all your fortifications, and will put away evil deeds from your hand, and you shall have no prophecy. I will finally destroy your graven images and remove your idols from among you, and you will not bow down to the work of your hands. And I will destroy your groves from among you and destroy your cities, and will take vengeance with anger and indignation on all the nations who will not listen. LXX: And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the tribes and among many peoples, like the dew that falls from the Lord, and like lambs on the grass; so that not one will be gathered together and be among the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the tribes and among many peoples, like a lion among the cattle of the forests, and like a lion's cub among the flocks of sheep; because when he passes by and scatters [the herd] and steals it, there will be no one to take it from him. Your hand will be exalted above those who torment you, and all your enemies will be destroyed. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will destroy thy horses from among thy midst, and destroy thy chariots. And I will destroy the cities of your land and destroy all your fortresses. And I will remove your evil deeds from your hands, and those who make predictions will not be with you. And I will scatter your images and your idols from among you, and you will no longer worship the work of your hands, and I will cut down the oak groves in your midst, and I will destroy your cities, and in anger and rage I will take vengeance against the tribes, because they did not listen. After we are liberated from Asur, when he comes against our land and enters the borders of our country, after we are liberated by the Lord, who raised up against him seven shepherds and eight plagues of men, the remnants of Jacob - by which we mean the Apostles and the original church of the Jews - will be among many nations, like dew dripping from the Lord. For the hearts of the nations were on fire with the burning arrows of the devil, and all the nations that walked unjustly before the Lord had hearts like a fiery furnace (Hos. 7:6,7). Therefore, the dew that fell from the Lord became the salvation of the weak. And what we read in the book of Daniel about Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael (Dan. 3) - [namely], that the spirit of the roaring moisture quenched the power of the fire, we will also apply to all nations in general, because the teaching of the apostles among all nations was like dew from the Lord. And the following words: “And like lambs on the grass, so that not one will be gathered, and not live among the sons of men” - we accept in relation to those of the pagans who did not want to believe, and precisely in the sense that the Apostles and the remnants of James were above them, like lambs walking through the pasture and tearing off the grass with their teeth. And they will make sure that those who did not want to be angels, receiving the spiritual dew [coming from God], do not gather among people and are not included in the prudent part; but it will be said about them: “They are not in the labor of men and will not be subjected to blows along with people” (Ps. 73:5). And the remnant of Jacob will be like a lion among the cattle in the forests, and like a lion's cub among the flocks of sheep. For the Lord Jesus, about whom it is prophesied in the book of Genesis: “Young lion Judah! from the offspring, My Son, you have risen. As you lay down, you fell asleep like a lion and like a lion’s cub” (Gen. 49:9); and in another place: “As you reclined, you rested like a lion and like a lion’s cub, and who will wake him?” (Numbers 24:9) and gave the command to the apostles: “Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). So just as among the animals nothing can withstand the lion and among the sheep nothing can withstand the lion cub, so they, freed from the hand of the Assyrian, [i.e. e.] from the hand of the devil, they will steal cattle and sheep, because the Lord will save both people and cattle (Ps. 35:7). And they will kidnap them not in order to kill them, but to divide them, that is, to separate them from the unbelievers, and so that there are no those who will oppose them. But while the lion and the lion's cub thus prowl among the flocks and sheep, the hand of the Lord will be exalted over those who formerly tormented both the Lord and the remnant of Israel. And all his enemies will be scattered, but not in such a way that they will ultimately perish and cease to exist, but they will perish in the sense in which they are enemies. This is similar to how it is written to the Thessalonians: “Whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth” (2 Thess. 2:8); this killing does not mean destruction, but the cessation of the most wicked life, which they previously lived in evil, For then he adds: “And He will destroy by the appearance of His coming”; Indeed, He would no longer destroy him if his previous killing meant destruction, as if he had already ceased to exist; so here, too, the extermination of enemies is understood in accordance with the words of the Proverbs of Solomov, where it is written: “Death will be a refuge for the wicked” (Proverbs). It will not be eternal, it will not lead them to insignificance, but will remain with them until the wickedness in them is destroyed; for God did not create man so that he would perish, nor did He create death. After this follow the words: “And it will come to pass on that day,” when your hand is exalted above your enemies, O Israel, and all your enemies perish, I will destroy your horses from among you, that is: from your powerful heart (ἡγεμοvιχῶ) I will destroy all your frivolous movements, striving like horses, - when they break the fetters, - just as your chariots, on which you rejoiced in your vices and, adding sins to sins, were carried away like a conqueror on the throne. And I will destroy the cities of your land, for you did not build the city that the overflowing streams of God delight (Ps. 46:5) and which is located on the mountains and is the heavenly Jerusalem (Matt. 7:25), but built the city that Cain built (Gen. 4:17). Therefore they are called cities of the earth, built by earthly actions. And “I will destroy,” He says, “all your fortresses,” that is, wealth and worldly luxury, the eloquence of orators, the intricacies of dialectics, on which you relied, as if on a stronghold. “And I will remove the evil deeds from your hands,” by which you either were deceived by others or the deceived one himself deceived others; and there will be no more prophecies among their people. Nowadays the world is filled with those who utter and give prophecies: those who know [nothing] pronounce, and those who teach [nothing] teach, and those who were not previously students are teachers. When the Lord teaches people knowledge, false prejudices will cease and false teachings will be rejected. And I will scatter your idols and the objects of your praise. Our idols are the inventions of soothsayers, or what we invent ourselves. Therefore, the law gives the commandment not to make idols for yourself (Ex. 20:4) and not to set up graven images for yourself (Lev. 26:1) and never to bow down to the work of your own hands (Deut. 5:9). Unhappy human race, full of madness and delusion; he knows that the teachings are invented by him from his own mind, he is also not unaware that the idol is also invented by himself, but he honors the works of his own hands instead of God and contrives to deceive others after he himself has been deceived. In the promises that are addressed to the remnants of Jacob, i.e. ὑπόλειμμα, it is added: “And I will cut down the groves in the midst of you, and destroy your cities,” that is, God will destroy all the forest trees and groves that were forbidden to plant in His church; and the cities which were built wickedly, which he formerly called cities of the earth, he will destroy. And then, after completing all this with the remnants of Jacob, He will turn to the pagans, whom the Apostles ate like lambs eating grass [or: fields vm. lambs] And since the latter did not want to receive the dew of the Word of God, I will, He says, take vengeance on the Gentiles in anger and fury, because they did not want to hear. Therefore, the prophet says: “Lord, let it not be in your wrath that you rebuke me, and let it not be in your anger that you punish me” (Ps. 6:2). All these words are explained according to the text of the Seventy, because their meaning is spiritual, and we had to connect it with the meaning of the previous passages. And, by the way, these are the inconsistencies that the Jews dream about: After the seven shepherds - whom they invent according to their desires - and the eight princes defeat the people of Assyria and begin to shepherd the land of Nimrod with their swords - and this will be after the invasion of the Assyrians into the land of Judah - then, they say, at the time of the coming of Christ, all the remnants of Jacob who will still remain alive among [or: from] the pagans, they will live in blessing, like dew coming from God and like rain falling on the grass, and they will not at all rely on people and on the sons of men, but only on God, and in relation to the people they will be cruel and bloodthirsty and, having gained the upper hand over their former rulers, they will be like a lion among the cattle of the forest and like a lion cub among a flock of sheep, and no one will be able to resist them. Then, O God, or: O Israel! Your hand will be exalted over the Assyrians, and all your enemies and enemies who now rule over you will perish. On that very day when you are delivered from the heathen, I will destroy your horses and chariots that are among your cities. This does not mean that Israel will have horses and chariots at that time, but that the chariots and horses of the Assyrians that are in the cities of Israel will be destroyed; and I will destroy all your cities and fortifications which you have dedicated to idols; And I will destroy your soothsayers and soothsayers from your land, and I will turn to dust all your graven images and idols, and you will no longer worship the works of your hands. I will uproot and destroy all your sacred groves and destroy all your cities which you have dedicated to idols. And when I do all this for you and will thus be satisfied through the destruction of everything from you; what is bad in you; then in My anger and indignation, I will take revenge for you on all the pagans who did not want to listen to [My] word. But let carnal Israel answer: Has all this been accomplished, or is it only about to be accomplished? If He proves that all this has already passed, then let him bring evidence from history, and references from ancient writings: let him prove that all the pagans, like the Assyrian, were once subject to Israel. If, enjoying a vain hope, he thinks that all these words will only be fulfilled when their Christ comes, then [the question is]: what kind of idols will be destroyed from among Israel, when he now does not honor them? what groves will be cut down when he now has none? what cities will be destroyed now, when they have already been destroyed a long time ago? What kind of fortunetellers will He destroy when [Israel] does not have them and no longer boasts of them? In fact, the daughter of Zion has been abandoned for so long and lives without an altar and priests! And they, while others eat their fruits, promise themselves with their withered lips in the future what they [completely] do not know. Micah 6:1–2. Hear what the Lord says: Arise, stand in judgment before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear [or: “let them hear”] the mountains of the judgment of the Lord, and you are the strong foundations of the earth! For the judgment of the Lord will take place on His people and on Israel. LXX: Listen to what the Lord said: Arise, judge before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, O mountains, the judgment of the Lord, and the valleys of the foundations of the earth; for the judgment of the Lord will come upon His people and Israel. Instead of: “the strong foundations of the earth,” which LXX translated with the words: “the valleys of the foundations of the earth,” Symmachus and Theodotion translated: “and the ancient foundations of the earth.” The fifth edition left the present, Hebrew meaning of Ethanim (אתנים), i.e. “foundations of the earth.” So, the first word belongs to the prophet: “Hear what the Lord says.” Then the Lord says to the prophet: “Arise, stand in judgment before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.” Then again the prophet speaks to the mountains as he was commanded, and not only to the mountains, but also to the strong foundations of the earth. He says: “Listen to the mountains, the judgment of the Lord, and the strong foundations of the earth.” He also gives the reason why he calls them to listen, namely: because the judgment of the Lord will take place on His people and on Israel. Instead of the word: mountains, to which the prophet speaks, and the words: “strong foundations of the earth,” LXX translated “hills and valleys,” meaning, as it seems to me, that the people did not do anything that would be worthy of the attention of the mountains, but only worthy of the attention of the hills, which are lower than the mountains in height, or [the attention of] valleys that disappear in the depths. Arise, he says, stand in judgment before the mountains and let the hills hear your voice. One who is either sitting or lying [or: silent], or sleeping, or who is dead, is commanded to rise, just as the Apostle says: “Arise, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you” (Eph. 5:14): Arise from the dead to walk in new life, so that, leaving the earth, you may strive on high. And appear for judgment before the mountains, by which, in my opinion, he means nothing more than the Angels, who are entrusted with the care of human affairs, as both the Song of Songs and Deuteronomy say in agreement: “When the Most High divided the nations and scattered the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the earth according to the number of the Angels of God” (Deut. 32:8). They are ministering spirits, sent for the sake of those who want to receive salvation. “And stand before the judgment,” so that if it is revealed that the mountains, hills [or: valleys] have unworthily cared for the nations, on the one hand the blame will fall on My responsibility for the fact that I have appointed such over them, on the other hand it will be transferred from the people and transferred to their princes. We will read the Apocalypse of the Apostle John, in which the Angels of the churches are either praised or accused for the virtues and vices of those who were, as they say, subordinate to them. Just as in one case the bishop is guilty, and in another the people, or as the teacher often sins, and often the student, but neither the father nor the son is ever guilty of the fact that they are brought up well or badly; so at the judgment of God, the guilt will be recovered either from the Angels, if they did not do everything that relates to their duty, or from the people, if these, on their part, did absolutely everything, and they did not care about obeying them. There are interpreters who, by mountains, hills and strong foundations of the earth, mean Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and other patriarchs, before whom, as if before listeners [or figures] convened for judgment, the case of the people of Israel should be explained. Others, by mountains, hills and valleys, mean, as we said above, Angels, who on the one hand listen to God in heaven, on the other hand stand before people on this earth, and finally, placed in the underworld, are called the foundations of those who, due to their vices, lived on earth; about these foundations of the earth we read in another place the following words: “Fire has kindled because of my wrath, it will burn to the depths of hell, it will devour the earth and its foundations” (Deut. 32:22). The strong and ancient foundations of the earth, for the sake of which it has not yet perished until now, and hanging over the abyss is in balance, these are the deeds of the righteous, about which the apostle says: “Created on the foundation of the apostles and prophets” (Eph. 2:20). So, when the apostles, prophets and the whole face of the martyrs are the solid foundations of the earth, valleys and cliffs - according to the text of LXX, which in Greek is more expressively called φάραγγες - are, on the contrary, the foundations of those who took on the image of the earthly (Κοιχοῦ). So, the judgment of the Lord takes place with His people and with Israel. As God, He could account for the crimes of the people of the "Settim trees" which bear a resemblance to the tree known colloquially as the "white thorn" (Spina Alba). Therefore, I think that LXX also translated σκίνον, that is, mastic tree; but little by little, due to an error by the copyists of the text, σκοῖνοι, i.e., ropes, were formed instead of σκίνοις, i.e., mastic trees. – So, God speaks to the people of Israel and calls this people to judgment, allowing them to argue against themselves. My people, what have I done to you that I should not have done, “or how have I made you sad”? [although the last words are not in the Greek text]. The father grieves the son who is being punished, and the shepherd (or: shepherd) visits the unjust sheep with the rod. How have I burdened you? or, as it is more expressively said in Hebrew: “with what labor I have burdened you.” Will you not consider My good deeds as dishonor, and, desiring to eat Egyptian melons and meat, will you not grieve because I brought you out of Egypt and freed you from the house of slavery by My power, and I gave you My beloved Moses as a leader, and Aaron My priest, and Miriam My prophetess. If this seems small to you, then remember the time when Balak, king of Moab, bribed the soothsayer Balaam against you and see how this soothsayer, wanting to say curses on you, contrary to his desire, pronounced a blessing (Num. 23); and when from Settim to Gilgal he looked with his eyes over the army of Israel and changed places [three times], as if I could not go with him when he went and move from one place to another; and I did this so that My mercy and My justifications might be known to you - I love you so much that, although I am daily subjected to the slander of the mouth of a curser, I did not allow your enemy to curse you. The Jews explain the passage that says: “From Settim to Gilgal, that you may know the justifications of the Lord” (Num. 25): From the time when you committed fornication in Midian until the time when Saul was chosen king in Gilgal (1 Sam. 10), bring to mind all your evil deeds and My good deeds, and you will know My mercy towards you. This is what God says to carnal Israel, according to the actual events that took place in the past. We, who wish to contemplate the glory of the Lord with an open face and truly have Abraham as our father, will [humbly] listen to God who rises up against us and convicts us, since we have sinned. For we once worked for Pharaoh and made clay and brick for the people of Egypt; but He redeemed us, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all, so that we, redeemed from the Lord, Who freed us from the hand of our enemies and gathered us from many countries, might say: “For His mercy endures forever” (Ps. 107:1). He also sent Moses before us, i.e. spiritual law, and Aaron, the Great High Priest, is not a transformative ephod, - an image of the truth, - wearing, but having on his forehead the sign of holiness placed on Him by God the Father. He also sent Mary, predicted by the prophets, and not only did this for us, but also freed us from the hands of our enemies. In fact, let us remember what the devil, the true Balak, planned against us, who wanted to devour and kill our congregation with slander, for Balak means ἐχλείκων, that is, the one who blots out [erases from the face], the king of the native domestic water, and Moab means the native water, according to another etymological interpretation. So, when Balak plotted against us with the help of “his vain people,” as the word Balaam should be understood, God did not allow us to be subject to his curses; but, on the contrary, he blessed us, it was precisely the vain pagan people, born of him who was in skin, who blessed us, prompted by the truth of the matter itself, for “Beor” means dressed in skin, always devoted to the flesh and the works of death. This vain people answered for us - a people descended from one who is all covered with skin, always changing places, or standing over thorns, or over ropes, if we take into account the incorrect expression of the Vulgate. The thorns, in the words of the Savior, are the cares of this world and the riches and lusts in which a vain people live (Matthew 13:22; Mark 4:19). And the one who stands in the ropes remains precisely in the bonds of his sins [for everyone is entangled in the bonds of his sins] (Proverbs 5:22), as evidenced by Isaiah, saying: “Woe to those who drag along their sins like a long rope, and their iniquities like the thong of an oxen’s yoke” (Isaiah 5:18). So, when he stands, he stands only entangled in bonds and surrounded by thorns; and if he wants to move, he does not have a firm step; with an unsteady, weak foot he reaches Gilgal, which means χυλισμός, i.e. “impermanence”, or “mud of the swamp”. If we ever see some rebelling against us and seeking our blood with a greedy throat, and if, by the inscrutable providence of God, those who came against us are for us, then we will say: Balaam came from the bonds to Gilgal, so that the righteous judgment of God might be known. Micah 6:6,7. What worthy sacrifice will I offer to the Lord? Will I bow my knees before God Most High? Shall we not bring him burnt offerings and first-year-old calves? But is it possible for God to be appeased by thousands of sheep or many thousands of fat goats? Shall I not give me my firstborn for my crime and the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul? LXX: How will I attract the Lord, or how will I win my Most High God? Shall I attract Him with burnt offerings or yearling calves? Does the Lord bow before thousands of sheep or ten thousand fat goats? Shall I not give Him my firstborn for my wickedness, and the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul? The Lord called His people to judgment: they, realizing their sin, do not want to enter into competition, but only ask; and yet has no confidence in his prayers. For there is nothing worthy that he could offer as a sacrifice to God, and no amount of humility can wash away the filthiness of his sins, since it is impossible for the blood of oxen and bulls, fat burnt offerings, the blood of sheep and fat goats to wash away the filthiness of the soul (Heb. 10:4). Shouldn't he give me, he says, my firstborn for my transgression, as the king of Moab did (2 Kings 3:27), or the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul, as Jephthah did, when he sacrificed his daughter as a result of a foolishly made vow (Judges 11:34-40). But we form part of the people of God, and knowing that in His presence no one living will be justified ( Ps.142:2) and saying: “I have turned into a beast before you” (Ps.72:22) and repenting of our sins, we doubt and say: “How will I attract the Lord or gain the Lord of my Most High?” Will I attract Him with burnt offerings? for example, by sacrificing all of myself as a burnt offering, or one-year-old calves, that is, leaving to feed on milk and moving on to solid food, will I become worthy of the time of the Lord’s mercy? But if I brought a thousand sheep and ten thousand goats, or combined in myself all the sacrifices of the book of Leviticus, understanding them in a spiritual sense, and if a thousand fell from my side and ten thousand from my left hand (Ps. 90:7), then even then I could not give anything worthy, by which I would attract or gain God. If I give my firstborn for my wickedness or the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul, that is, I give as a sacrifice something first in me, then even then I will not bring anything worthy to God for my sin and for my wickedness. Therefore, David humbly prays this prayer: “Wash me more and more from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my iniquities, and my sin is always present before me” (Ps. 50:3). For the sin of the soul, only one truly worthy sacrifice is offered, and this is in the proper sense the sacrifice of blood, but not the blood of bulls, sheep or goats, as can be seen from the words of the questioning and answering prophet: “What will I render to the Lord for all that he has given to me? I will accept the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Ps. 115:2-6). And we do not give this very blood, we only reward. But what is the similarity in this? Since the righteous died for sinners, that is, the Son of God for people, then we are sinners and people will die for confessing His name? Micah 6:8. O man, I will show you what is good and what God seeks from you, this is precisely: to do righteousness, to love mercy and to walk diligently with your God. LXX: Oh man! you have been told what is good, or what God requires of you: nothing except that you do righteousness, love mercy, and walk willingly with your God. O people of Israel and also the entire human race! (For I speak not only to the people of Judah, but my word concerns every person.) Why are you perplexed about how you can appease God for your sins, even if you do not have sacrifices with which you could repay God for your wickedness: I will answer you what God requires of you - I have already indicated this in the law. For in Deuteronomy it is written: “And now, O Israel! What does the Lord your God require of you? Nothing except this: that you should fear the Lord your God, and walk in all His ways, and love Him, and serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and keep the commandments of the Lord your God and His righteousnesses, which I command you today, that it may go well with you” (Deut. 10:12). The Lord demands from us - and desires, in view of the necessity of our salvation for us, that we accept what is useful to the giver - that we do justice, i.e. they did not do anything without thorough discussion, so that our mind would first reason about what it intended to do, and then carry it out; so that we love mercy, and would not be merciful under compulsion or necessity, for “God loves a willing giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). And let us not say: “Leave today and come back tomorrow, and then I will give it to you.” But when we do righteousness and love mercy, what reward will we receive? We will walk with the Lord God, as Enoch, according to the stories of the Hebrew books (Gen. 5:22,24, Sir. 44:15), walked with God and pleased Him and then was not found, for the Lord took him and lifted him up. “You said: “In what way will I follow the Lord or how will I attract Him?” but I promise you something more: do righteousness, love mercy, and you will walk with your God. However, there is no doubt that walking before God is not a reward for us, but a commandment to fulfill. Indeed, just as we are commanded to do justice and love mercy, so you are commanded to be always ready to walk with the Lord our God: we must not rest for one hour, nor be idle at any time; but we must always wait at home for the coming Father, imagine in our minds the day of judgment, and in the night of this present age say: “I sleep, but my heart is awake” (Song. 5:2). The word esne (הצנע), which LXX translated “to be ready”, and we expressed with the words “to walk with diligence”, Theodotion more accurately expressed with the words: χαι ἀσφαλίζου τοῦ πορεύεσφαι μετὰ ᾿Ελωαίκ, i.e., “take careful care to walk with your God,” or, as translated in the fifth edition, χαί φροντιζειν, i.e., “do with care” and have diligence to walk with your God. Indeed, the one who says that he believes in Christ must walk as He walked (1 John 2:6), and the Apostle Paul says: “Be like me, just as I am Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). Micah 6:9. The voice of the Lord calls to the city and will be salvation to those who fear Your name [or His]. LXX: The voice of the Lord will call to the city and save those who fear His name. In the Hebrew text these words form the beginning of another passage; and among the Seventy Interpreters they are the end of the previous section; and their meaning is this: O man! Your God wants nothing else from you except that you do righteousness, love mercy and be ready to walk with your God. For the voice of the Lord is heard in His city, [i.e. e.] in the church: and in the Holy Scriptures it is daily proclaimed that by His teaching and mercy not only those who love mercy will be saved, but also those who are of the lowest quality, that is, they only fear the name of the Lord. - And if these words constitute an introduction to the next section, then we will relate them to history, [precisely, in the sense] that it is said here about Samaria, the capital of the ten tribes, which at the time of Micah’s prophecy had already been taken, and we will say: The Lord has already destroyed Samaria, but is still threatening it with future disasters, so that the people of Judah or those who fear the name of the Lord, hearing that others are suffering punishment, themselves receive salvation, being overwhelmed by fear [of the coming disasters]; in fact, when a pernicious person is punished, not only the wise, but even the foolish become more prudent (Proverbs 19:25). You can apply the same thing in general to both the righteous and sinners: so that the one punished generally serves as a [useful] example for all others. The Lord explained the same thing in the Gospel regarding those on whom the tower of Siloam collapsed, i.e., that of all the people they were not the only sinners, but their destruction should have called others to repentance. Micah 6:10. Listen, tribes, who will take heed of this? Even now there is fire in the house of the wicked." e.] “treasures of unrighteousness and wrong measure, full of wrath. Shall I not condemn the wrong weight and the deceitful weight of the sack with which the rich thereof" [the city] "are filled with wickedness, and those who dwell therein spoke lies, and lying tongues are in their mouth. Therefore, behold, I began to strike you with destruction for your sins. You will eat and not be satisfied, and your humiliation will be in your midst; You will take it for yourself, but you will not keep it, and those whom you keep I will put to the sword. You will sow, but you will not reap; you will press the olive, but you will not anoint yourself with oil; and” [squeeze] “grape juice, but you will not drink wine. And you kept the commandments of Amri and all the work of the house of Ahab, and you walked in their lusts, so that I would give you over to destruction and make its inhabitants a laughing stock, and you would bear the reproach of My people. LXX: Hear [or: "listen"], people, and who will adorn the city? Is it not fire and the house of the wicked, heaping up heaps of treasures of the unrighteous, and is it not iniquity [or: "iniquity"] with unrighteousness? Will the wicked be justified to a [false] degree or the wrong weight in the sack with which they filled the riches of their wickedness [or: “yours”], and those who inhabited [or: “those who inhabited"] it spoke wickedness, and their tongue was exalted in their mouth. And I have punished you with destruction for your sins: you will eat and not be satisfied, and I will cast you on yourself, and you will take, but will not keep, and those who are saved will be put to the sword: you will sow, but you will not reap; You will press the olive, but you will not anoint yourself with oil, and you will press the grapes, but you will not drink the wine, and the laws of My people and all the works of the house of Ahab will be scattered. And you have walked in their counsels, so that I will give you over to destruction, and its inhabitants to ridicule, and you will receive the reproach of the nations. Much in this passage in LXX differs from Jewish truth, and mainly in the beginning: “Hear the tribe and who will adorn the city? And the laws of my people will be scattered." Instead, for the sake of consistency of speech, we used the words: “And you kept the commandments of Amri,” although the Hebrew text says: “And the commandments of Amri and all the works of the house of Ahab were kept.” Indeed, if the Hebrew text had written ammi (עםּּי), then LXX would have been correctly translated: “my people;” and since in the present case amri (עםרי) is written and the letter res (ר) is added, so that this does not denote the people, but the name of the father of Ahab, about whom the story is contained in the book of Kings (1 Kings 16), then there is no doubt that an error has crept in here. Moreover, it is clear here that after the name of the father the name of the son is indicated in the words: “and all the works of the house of Ahab.” But let's go back to the beginning of the passage. And first of all, having explained the literal meaning, we will try, with the help of your prayers, to reach the spiritual meaning. Hear, ten tribes of Samaria, what the Lord declares to you: even now there is fire, that is, unrighteousness, in the house of the wicked Amri, and the treasures of iniquity continue to remain in the royal house. Do you want to hear in order what wickedness your city is filled with? Take heed: a reduced measure that provokes the wrath of God; deceitful scales and incorrectly weighted weights, [finally, and merchants] selling goods with one weight, and those buying them with another (Prov. 11:1, Deut. 25:13-15). But if the poor were still doing this, then their crime could be defended by poverty; in the present case, his rich people are filled not so much with wealth as with lawlessness, because all their wealth is born from lawlessness, when they rob others. The accumulation of wealth is followed by lies, and the hand accustomed to the creation of treasures has a lying tongue. Justice produces poverty, and lies produce wealth. I did not want to punish you immediately, although your princes did this; but little by little I began to strike [you] and make suggestions with various plagues. I sent hunger to you, I sent thirst, I sent disease and devastation from the surrounding enemies: your harvest did not bear fruit, the squeezed olive did not yield oil, and the dry bunches of grapes refused to yield wine. All these punishments I brought [on you] for wickedness, deceitful measures and incorrect scales. And since you observed all the rites of idolatry established by the wicked king Amri (1 Kings 16 ff.) and instead of My law you kept all the deeds of the house of Ahab and Jezebel, I was moved to deliver you and your inhabitants to ridicule, so that you would bear the shame of My people, [i.e. e.] those captives of the Assyrians were defeated as the people of God, and for your sake my name was reproached among the pagans (Rom. 2:24, Is. 52:5, Eze. 36:20). At this point it is necessary to note that in the words: “you will bear the reproach of My people,” or, as LXX translated, “you will bear the reproach of the nations” in the Hebrew text it is written ammi (עםּּי). So, if ammi means: “My people”, then there is no doubt that the above is incorrectly translated: “My people” instead of: “Amri”. – Up to this point, we have expressed everything that seemed necessary to us, according to the Hebrew text. And now we will argue as separately as possible, turning to the translation of LXX. – The tribe of Samaria, which separated from the people of God, is called to listen, and the following is said to them. In vain do you build idols and raise up golden calves with a skillful hand, and you want Jerusalem, the second capital, to also be destroyed: for who can adorn the city? Is it a fire ignited by the burning arrows of the devil, or the house of the wicked, who, through his stubbornness and unrepentant heart, stores up wrath for himself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Rom. 2:5)? He multiplies wickedness through unrighteousness and not only devastates the house of God, that is, the church, but also plunders the goods of others with pride and severity. Can he not be condemned who, without measure and without weight, fraudulently accumulates his wealth from the testimonies of St. Scriptures - riches that are treasures of unrighteousness? For although the Lord commands: “Let there not be a greater or a lesser weight in your bag” (Deut. 25:13-15), yet for the sake of unrighteous gain they often show partiality in court, and in the same case they judge the rich and the poor, now one way or another, consistent not with the essence of the matter, but with the difference in their states. And the inhabitants of his city, when they think to adorn themselves with wrong teaching and perverted dogmas, speak lies and proudly raise their heads and despise the simplicity [of faith] of the people belonging to the church. Therefore, the Most Merciful Lord does not strike them suddenly, but seeks to enlighten them little by little with disasters, which is what is said: “And I will begin to strike you with disasters for your sins”; and the meaning of this is this: O city, which the heretics are about to build, I will strike you so that you will perish, but not with final destruction, but only in the sense in which you are a sinner. Then follow the words: “You will eat and not be satisfied.” In fact, they read, but do not understand, and, feeding on the words of Holy Scripture, they experience a lack [or: hunger] of truth. “And I will throw you out,” he says, “and you will seize, but you will not save, and those who are saved” [by you] “will be put to the sword.” I leave you to your own judgment, and after you have found nothing in searching for much, you will understand your error and see that you cannot be saved by all your dogmas. And those who think that they were satisfied and were not thrown out from you, and did not understand the truth, they will be put to the sword and brought up with punishments. So, O most wicked nation and city, which the heretics are building with fire, unrighteousness, dishonor, wrong weights and deceitful measures, you will sow, but you will not reap; you will squeeze an olive, but you will not anoint yourself with oil; you will trample grapes, but you will not drink wine. For it will be to your advantage, after you have realized your error, that you should not have disciples, that you should not anoint your head with the oil of sinners, and that you should not intoxicate those who drink with the wine of Sodom. And the laws of My people, or Amri, and all the doings of the house of Ahab, will be scattered. e.], those who remain ancestors and princes in relation to heresies. By them we can mean either enemy forces or the main heretics, such as Marcion and Basilides, and at a later time Arius and Eunomius. And you walked in their thoughts, even Amriah and Ahab. He said perfectly “according to their thoughts,” for the teaching of [their] mentors is worthless; it is not the teaching of God, but an invention of their hearts. And I will give you over to destruction, so that you perish in the respect in which you are a heretic. And I will whistle your inhabitants, so that you will follow the calling whistle of the Good Shepherd, who, according to the prophet Zechariah, says: I will whistle for them and gather them, because I have redeemed them.” (Zech. 10:8) or the whistle of the dragon to destroy the flesh, so that their spirit will be saved (1 Cor. 5:5) and they, when corrected, will learn not to blaspheme (1 Tim. 1:20). And they will endure all this so that they can understand their error, because they bore [within themselves] the sins and shameful deeds of all tribes and many nations. I know that some have attributed to the church what we interpreted in relation to heretics. But I do not understand how the names of Amri and Ahab, kings of Samaria, can be attributed to Jerusalem and Judah, by which we mean the church. Micah 7:1–4. Woe to me, because I find myself in the position of a man who gathers bunches of grapes in the fall: there is not a single berry to eat; My soul longed for the wine berries of the first ripeness. The saint has perished from the earth, and there is no righteous man among the people. Everyone is plotting in blood; a husband betrays his brother to death; they call the evil work of their hands good. The prince demands” [a bribe] “and the judge imitates” [him]; “A noble man expresses the desire of his soul, and they trouble her. The best among them is like a thorny thorn, and the righteous is like a briar in a hedge." LXX: Woe is me, for I was like one who gathers stubble in the harvest and grape clusters at the time of gathering grapes; for there is not a single berry of the first ripening to eat, as my soul greatly desired. Woe to me, O soul, because the venerable one has perished on earth, and there is no one among the people to correct them: everyone is judged in blood, and everyone torments his neighbor with torment; They prepare their hands for evil. The prince earnestly asks, and the judge speaks peaceful speeches, this is the desire of his soul. And I will destroy their prosperity like a devouring moth, and walk according to the rules on the day of your trial. Having predicted the captivity of both ten tribes and two (for the word of God came to Micah the Morasthite about Samaria and Jerusalem), the prophet sadly cries out that among the people on earth there is not a single righteous person who could firmly stand before the wrath of God and oppose himself to Him like a wall. “In vain,” he says, “I prophesied; In vain I wanted to look for, as it were, the last brushes of an already devastated and lost city; and since there are no berries for food, then collect for food at least those unripe fig berries, which the Jews call bechchora [or: bechura] (בכורה), that is, thick figs: he seems to say: “Not finding bread according to the magnitude of the hunger, I looked for rubbish and bran.” The holy man has disappeared from the earth and there is no righteous man among the people. There are intrigues everywhere, deceptions everywhere; Innocent blood is shed. Because of stinginess and lust, no attention is paid even to blood relationships. And not only do they do this, but they even defend evil, and replacing one name with another, they call evil good. The princes themselves accept gifts not only from those who bring them, but also force and persistently demand that other subjects also give. And the judge imitates them, judging another as if they themselves had been judged by another, in order to thus mutually receive a lenient sentence for their crimes and find justification [for their crime] in the crime of another. The one who occupies an important position and, as it were, the most knowledgeable in the law, proclaims not God’s will, but his own will. “And they troubled her,” or the truth, or the city, or the land, about which it was said above: “The holy man perished from the earth.” In fact, the one who is the best among them turns out to be like a thorny thorn, tenacious and wounding those who approach him and seizes with a crooked branch, and the one who is found righteous among him turns out to be, in fact, like a spoke in a fence, so that where help was expected, there turns out to be danger. So according to the Hebrew text. - Then, according to the Seventy, which differ in some respects, and at the end of the section even translated completely differently, it seems to me this meaning: The prophetic or apostolic speech mourns the human race in general, because the seed of the doctrine was thrown in vain, and because the belated reaper, instead of the harvest and fruits, will hardly find only empty straw and dry stems and will not be able to find even small berries in the vineyard - and so on until the end of the passage. And in fact, if blessed is the one who spoke, having before him the ears of the listener, and if the ears of the listener are an object of desire for the wise, and the listener who understands is joy for the speaker, then, on the contrary, woe for the teacher is a bad student; The words of the prophet Jeremiah also agree with this lamentation: “I have not been useful to anyone and no one has been useful to me” (Jer. 15:10). There are those who think that this is said on behalf of the Savior, indicating that in such a large number of believers in the whole world and the human race He barely finds deeds worthy of His blood, which is what He says in the twenty-ninth psalm: “What profit is My blood when I go down” [or: I will descend] “into corruption” ( Ps. 29:10 )? Although others argue that the words: “Woe is me, for I have become like one who gathers stubble from the harvest field,” least of all befits the Face of the One who in the Gospel said: “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already completely white for the harvest” (John 4:35), and in another place: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Matthew 9:35). Those who want to understand that this is said on behalf of the Savior say: “it is not surprising that He said: “Woe is me,” when He wept over Jerusalem and shed tears over the death of Lazarus” (Luke 19:41; John 11:34). And the above words: “I have become like one who gathers dry ears of corn in the harvest field,” they refer to the end of the world, which is much more specifically called the harvest; they say that this prophecy can be fulfilled when, with the increase of unrighteousness, the faith of many grows cold and the son of man, coming to earth, finds faith rare on earth (Matthew 14:24). For then, as if after the harvest it is difficult to find straw, or after the harvest of grapes - dry berries, in those who retained faith during the defeat of everyone; and that these words were spoken from the Person of the One Who accepted humanity, they think to prove this with the words: “Woe is me, O soul,” about which it is said: “My soul is sorrowful unto death” (Matthew 26:38). The pious has disappeared [or: will disappear] from the earth, either because the Antichrist kills the saints, or because everyone has fallen into many temptations. “And among people there is no one who corrects: everyone is judged in blood,” not in light and insignificant sins, but in very large and bloody ones. Neither neighborhood, nor friendship, nor kinship will restrain crime: everyone will raise their hands to an evil deed, so that although someone could not even do evil, however, by preparing his hands [for evil], he already commits a crime in his will. The prince himself begs, and the judge speaks flattering words, for he receives gifts according to the desire of his soul. Since all this is clear, and since I am wary of the hatred of princes and judges, I leave this to the understanding of the reader, I will only add the words: “Gifts blind the eyes of even the wise” (Deut. 16:19): judges leave alive that soul that they should not have left: and they kill the one who lives according to her merit and virtues; and they do this thanks to gifts, which they demand shamelessly and which they accept dishonestly. The Lord threatens such people in the words: “And I will destroy their prosperity,” which they consider good for themselves, which seems good to them, although in the true essence of the matter, that which ruins the giver and kills the recipient cannot be called good; and although to remove evil from them and for the Lord and the divine word to enter into their conscience, so that, like a moth, destroy everything corrupted towards it, and make devastation in their prey and evil thoughts and walk in the order and rule of truth, and draw them themselves, guided by evil thoughts, to the right path - all this is not a threat [of disasters], but rather a benefit. He does all this in the light of truth, and on that day when the saints and elect in the church will ascend on high and will reason about heavenly things in the unattainable height of their teaching and their deeds. Micah 7:5–7. The day of Your testing, Your visitation is drawing near; now will be their ruin: do not trust a friend and do not rely on a leader. Guard the door of your mouth from her who rests in your bosom, for a son dishonors his father, and a daughter rebels against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: a man’s enemies are his own household. But I will look to the Lord, I will trust in God my Savior: my God will hear me. LXX: Woe! Woe! Your vengeance has come, now will be their lamentation: do not trust your friends and do not rely on leaders; Beware of trusting her who rests with you, because a son brings dishonor to his father, and a daughter rebels against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: a man’s enemies are the people of his own household. But I will look to my Lord and trust in God my Savior: and my God will hear me. With the exception of the beginning of the passage, both texts agree with each other in all other parts. The day of testing Samaria or Jerusalem, and His visit, the onset of which the prophet often expected and feared, in the historical sense he calls the captivity, precisely in the following words: “Your visitation has come: now will be the destruction of them,” - that is, the inhabitants, - or siege: for in the Hebrew marucha ( םרוכה ) rather means πολιοπχίαν and φπούπησιν i.e. siege and “vigilant guard” than “devastation”. So, do not trust any words of the prophets and do not incline your ears to any flattering promises of the soothsayers, because if trust is rare even in relation to the most dear people and in love of the same blood, then how much more rare should be trust in those who flatteringly lie to you because of profit and, like the sick, advise you not what can be useful, but what is sweet to the taste and pleasant! Do not trust your friend, because Ahithophel rebelled [once] against David (2 Samuel 15), and the true Ahithophel Judas rebelled against Christ (Matthew 26). And do not rely on the leader, as the men of Shechem did on Abimelech (Judges 9); for they themselves made him king and were oppressed by him. “Keep the door of your mouth from her who rests in your bosom,” so as not to suffer what Samson suffered from Delilah (Judges 16). “For the son will dishonor his father,” exactly [like] Absalom to David: he not only dishonored the kingdom, but also his father’s concubines by incestuous cohabitation (2 Sam. 16). “The daughter will rebel against her mother”; although in St. There are no examples of such an act in the Scriptures, but in everyday life there are so many examples that we should grieve more that there are so many of them than look for them. “A daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” [eg.] just as Esau’s wife rebelled against Rebekah (Gen. 26). “A man’s enemies are his own household.” I am not looking for examples of this, since there are more of them than we need evidence. So, if things are in this position, then you, Samaria [or: Samaria] and Jerusalem! do not trust false prophets. But I,” says the prophet, “will look to the Lord” and will rejoice in God, my Savior, or my Jesus, “and my God will hear me.” – Then we will follow the translation of the Seventy, who say: “Woe! Woe! Your vengeance has come,” that is, punishment for crimes that has to be imposed. He says, “Vengeance is Mine, and I will repay,” says the Lord (Rom. 12:19; Deut. 32, and in another place: “The days of Your vengeance have come” (Hos. 9:7). For the Lord avenges those who cry to Him day and night and say: “Until, O Lord, holy and true, do You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth" ( Rev.6:10). So, vengeance has come, and now there will be weeping from them, that is, vengeance, so that those who laughed before will weep and immediately, after their departure from this life, will suffer the torment that this rich man, who was always covered in purple and constantly rejoiced, bears in hell, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Luke 16; Matt. 8:12; Matt. 13:42) And then the following words: “Today they will be,” you understand either in relation to the end of everyone’s life, or in relation to the destruction of all things and the day of judgment, when common vengeance will come on everyone without exception. So, do not believe your friends, since every friend cunningly trips his foot; and he who for any reason is a friend is not so much a friend of the one whom he seems to love (for from amore he is called amicus) as a friend of the object he loves. Someone asked what a friend is, answered: “The second me.” Therefore, if we are presented with the example of the Pythogoreans, who mutually gave themselves up as guarantors for each other before the tyrant, then we will say that the judgment was pronounced from God not against all friends and not against all manifestations of love, and not in relation to every time, but only to that about which the Apostle said: “In the last days the times of destruction will come: for people will be self-loving, greedy, arrogant, proud, slanderous, and not to their parents. obedient, ungrateful, criminal, without love, not keeping covenants, slanderers, without self-control, without meek, unmerciful, traitors, insolent, pompous, lovers of pleasure more than of God” (2 Tim. 3:1-2) and so on. For then brother betrays brother, father betrays son, mother betrays daughter, and a man’s enemies [will be] his own household (Matthew 10:35,36). But even now faith is something rare; for one thing is expressed with the lips, and the other is hidden in the heart; Honey on the tongue hides spiritual poison. Rich people have many friends, but even the ones they seem to have keep away from the poor. That is why it is said: “If you have a friend, gain possession of him through testing” (Sir.6:7). In a collection of contradictions by a certain writer, I read the following: “You have to look for a friend for a long time, find him with great difficulty, and keep him with great difficulty.” Theophrastus wrote three books about friendship; but, preferring it to any manifestation of love, he nevertheless admits that it is very rare in human affairs. There is also a book by Cicero on friendship, which he dedicated to Laelius, and in which he advises in almost the same words and the same thing as in our writings, [namely]: that a friend should be for us like old wine, so that we drink it little by little, enjoying [him]. Friendship is either found between different people, or makes them so: where there is no equality, but there is the exaltation of one and the subordination of the other, there is not so much friendship as affection. Therefore, in another place we read: “Let a friend be of the same [us] soul.” And the lyric poet, asking heaven for a friend, says: “Save half of my soul” (Horace). So, do not rely on people who expect their own benefits from friendship. If you want to be comforted by true friendship, then be a friend of God, like Moses, who talked with God as if with each other (Ex. 33:11). Be a friend like the Apostles, to whom the Savior says: “I will no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his master wants; but I will call you friends, because you continued with Me in all My temptations” (John 15:15). The kind of friendship that persists despite happiness and wealth is too weak. This kind of people, in my opinion, are not friends, but only love themselves. Let us think more carefully about the words of the Lord: “But I will call you,” He says, “friends,” and adds the reason why He will call them friends, “for you were with Me in temptation;” but He did not stop only at this, but said: “in all My temptations.” In fact, sometimes it happens that the one who remained with us in the same temptation, defeated, retreats before others. Secondly, it is commanded: “Do not place your hope in leaders,” for “cursed is the man who has hope in a man” (Jer. 17:5). The hope placed on man is vain, but the hope placed on God is true. That is why the Apostle Paul says: “And from yourselves there will arise men who will speak false things” (Acts 20:30); also the Lord himself says through the prophet: “The leaders of my people did not know me: they are foolish sons and do not understand; They are smart to do evil, but they were not able to do good” (Jer. 4:22). True, he says, they were called My leaders and the leaders of My people, but since they did not know Me, and by their deeds they deprived themselves of this name, then they are sons of fools and not understanding; They have enough prudence only to subjugate a simple herd and trample it underfoot, but they have not learned how to do good and govern the people. Do not trust leaders or judges, that is, neither a bishop, nor a presbyter, nor a deacon, nor any [other] human authority. It’s not that I’m saying that you should not obey these church degrees: “For whoever speaks evil against father or mother must be put to death” (Lev.20:9), and the Apostle teaches that one must obey the leaders of the church (1 Peter 2, Heb.13:17); but [I want to say] that it is another thing to honor leaders, and another to place hope in them. Let us honor the bishop, give preference to the presbyter and stand respectfully before the deacon, but let us not place our hopes in them, because hope in people is vain and hope only in God is firm. Third commandment; “Keep yourself from the one who rests with you,” do not trust her. Therefore, the Apostle calls women weak vessels, and commands that they be given honor by their husbands. For “man was not created for the wife, but the woman for the sake of the husband” (1 Cor. 11:9) and “the wife should fear the husband” (Eph. 5:33), he says. It is the wife's duty to fear and love her husband with fear; The husband’s duty is only to love, because love is the property of the perfect. Husbands,” he says, “love your wives” (Eph. 5:25) and do not grieve them, even if they provoke you to anger and do something for which they deserve to suffer grief, for this is what the word παραπιχπαίνεσθαι means, but you, in turn, do not want to cause them grief. Solomon also says in the book of Ecclesiastes: “And I found one man out of a thousand, but I did not find a woman among them all” (Eccl. 7:28). It may be that he was taught by his own example that women should not be trusted, since through them he offended God (1 Kings 11:2-9). But also a great poet - not the second Homer, as Lucillus (or: Lucilius) said about Ennius, but the first Homer among the Latins [said]: a woman is something always changeable and different... Greek and Latin stories are filled with stories about how many husbands were deceived by their wives and how their lives were betrayed. And from the Holy Scriptures there are examples of Delilah, whom we mentioned above, and another woman before Delilah, who with seven days of weeping and feigned love, she tried out Samson’s secret and revealed what he was hiding. Therefore, Samson says after that: “If you had not enslaved my heifer, you would not have guessed the riddle that I proposed” (Judges 14:18). Until this point, it is commanded that we should not easily trust our friends, leaders, or wives. But the reason given is not sufficiently consistent with the given situation. he says: “For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rebels against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man’s enemies are his own household.” In fact, what attitude can one have towards a friend, towards a leader, towards a wife if a son, daughter and daughter-in-law rebel against their father, mother and mother-in-law? However, it seems to me that these words can be combined with the above in this way: Do not trust friends and leaders and wives who can change and act according to circumstances, since even a son and daughter, forgetting about upbringing and childhood, rebel against the culprits of their lives and their bodies and bring dishonor to those whom it is already a crime to insult even with a glance. But such an explanation is not suitable either for a daughter-in-law who rebels against her mother-in-law, or for a person whose enemies are his family. Terence in the comedy “Gekira” says: “What is this? All the mothers-in-law hated their daughters-in-law.” This passage, although it has a different meaning, nevertheless it indicates something natural: the daughter-in-law hates the mother-in-law, and the mother-in-law hates the daughter-in-law. – In these words, the prophetic speech described to us, in relation to the destruction and end of the world, what the generation [of people] will be like before the coming of the Antichrist. And now we need to consider [this passage] in accordance with the previous interpretation, in which we said regarding heretics: Hear the tribe and who adorned the city? Is it fire and the house of the wicked? And then in relation to the Church: Woe is me, because I was like one who gathers ears of corn during the harvest! And then again: Woe is me, O soul! The pious [or: converter] perished on earth, and there is no one to correct among people! And then, the Prince persistently demands and the judge speaks peaceful speeches according to the desire of his soul. That is why the double threat is pronounced further: Woe, woe! Thy vengeance has come: now shall they mourn. – And we must say that it is precisely in relation to heretics that it is written: “Do not trust your friends,” you simple people, and corrupt leaders who promise to be friends and leaders of heresies, for they do not seek your salvation, but their own profit and trample under their feet the flock they have deceived; Beware also, lest you somehow trust the one who sleeps with you and by whom I cannot understand anything other than flesh; so that we should not easily trust the seductions of the flesh, lest firmness of spirit and courageous constancy soften, defeated by its lures. In fact, even a son born of God, forgetting about his Creator, curses Him - his Creator, as the Scripture says: “Did not God alone create you? Is there not one father of us all” (Mal.2:10); [also] the soul neglects the heavenly Jerusalem and despises that church, which [should not be despised]: if anyone despises her, he will die. And the daughter-in-law rebels against her mother-in-law. In a figurative sense, this seems to be very difficult to understand. But the one who will read the Song of Songs and will understand by the bridegroom of the soul the word of God, and who will believe in the Gospel - which we recently translated from the Hebrew edition [and in which on behalf of the Savior it is said: “My mother. The Holy Spirit has just carried Me on one of My hairs” (Matthew 10), he will not hesitate to say that the word of God came from the Spirit, and therefore the soul, which is the bride of the Word, has the Holy Spirit as its mother-in-law - He is called in Hebrew by the feminine name rua (רנה). So, although heretics previously believed St. Scripture, which was written and published by the Holy Spirit, but were transferred to the side of new teachings, the leaven of the Pharisees and the commandments of men, and therefore they insult their mother-in-law when they despise the Word of God. But lest you accidentally doubt that the Word and Son of God is born of the Holy Spirit, pay attention to the words of Gabriel to Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will cover you, therefore the Holy One who is born of you will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Then follow the words: “A man’s enemies are his household people.” It seems to us that in a figurative sense it should be stated as follows: The head of every man is Christ, but Christ is the head of the church (1 Cor. 2:3). His enemies are often those who are considered to be in His house, that is, in the church, and although they do not deviate from the Head, they have thoughts contrary to their Head, arrogantly boasting that they, without a teacher and grace, have the knowledge of the Holy Spirit. Scriptures according to your own understanding; but they don’t know anything; they revolve for a long time around questions, controversial reasoning and contradictions in words; Although they are at home, in any case they are enemies of the truth. But we must know that the words that we now read from the prophet are in almost the same form in the Gospel; but there they have a different meaning, thanks to the connection of speech in which they are found; whether they are taken from the prophet, or introduced into the text by [the Evangelist’s] own authority, the Lord knows about this, who spoke both through the Prophets and through the Evangelists. And so He says there: “I have come to divide a man with his father, and a son with his mother, and a daughter-in-law with her mother-in-law, and a man’s enemies are his own household” (Matthew 10:35,36). So, having accepted this interpretation, if only we managed to comprehend the meaning of St. Scripture, a holy person will place his faith only in the Lord and turn all his thoughts only to his God, realizing that love [on earth] has cooled; that people at the end of the world will not love God, but only themselves, while others will trust their friends, leaders and wives, and while a son, daughter and daughter-in-law rebel against father, mother and mother-in-law and a person’s enemies are his household; and although he is oppressed by the burdens and torments of the world, he has no hope in anyone except Him who says: “Do not be afraid, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He waits for God his Savior, and full of faith in Him and with his eyes always turned to Him, he hopes to always be heard whenever he turns to Him [with a call]. Micah 7:8–13. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy! Although I have fallen, I will rise again. Although I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light: I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He judges my case, executes judgment on me, and brings me into the light, and until I see His justification. And then my enemy will look at me and she who said to me will be overcome with confusion: “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will look at her” [Vulg: “they will see her.” ] “Now she will be trampled underfoot like dirt in the squares.” [Now is] “the day to build up your walls. On that day the law will be far away: on that day it will come to you” [Vulg.: “and to you”] “will come from Ashur, and to fortified cities, and from fortified cities to the river, and to the sea from the sea, and to the mountain from the mountain. And the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants and because of the fruits of their thoughts. LXX. Do not rejoice over me, you who are hostile to me. Though I have fallen, I will rise again: although I walk in darkness, the Lord will give me light. I will endure the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He vindicates my cause and executes judgment on me, and brings me into the light, and I see His righteousness. And my enemy will see me, and shame will cover her who says to me: “Where is the Lord your God”? My eyes will see her; now it will be trampled underfoot like mud on the roads. The day of the cutting of brick is your defeat, and that day will remove your laws, and your cities will come to an end and to division among the Assyrians, and your fortified cities to division, from Tire even to the river and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain, and the land will be destined for destruction with its inhabitants from the fruits of their devices. In a literal sense, it seems to me that here Jerusalem speaks against Babylon and other nations who triumphed over her: “Rejoice not over my ruin,” because by the mercy of the Lord I will rise again; after I have been in captivity, He will bring me out of darkness and be my light. I will endure the wrath of the Lord, because I recognize myself as deserving what I have endured - until I am avenged from the nations, and until judgment occurs on me. I know that He intends to bring me into the light, and I will see His vindication. And my enemy Babylon and other nations around will see, and the one who maliciously said: “Where is your God?” will be covered in confusion. My eyes will see Him, and not even after, much time later, but now they will see Him, trampled like dirt on the streets, even those of our own day. “Up to this point, this is what Jerusalem, or the prophet, said on behalf of the people. And then God appears to be speaking to Jerusalem in response: O Jerusalem! The days have come for your fortifications to be built up, which were once destroyed by the desolator Babylon. On that day the law will be far away, i.e. commandment or command, as interpreted by Symmachus and Theodotion, using the words επιταγή xat πρόςταγμα. And then there will be this meaning: You will no longer be subject to the dominion of the Babylonians. On the day when your walls are built, he will come to you from Ashur and from the fortified cities; from the cities, I say, fortified even to the Jordan, through which the people had crossed before, and from the Red Sea, and from all nations even to the Dead Sea, neighboring your land, and to Mount Zion from the mountains of Persia and Media, where they were previously transferred; and the rest of the land will belong to the Chaldeans and those who completely devastated you because of its inhabitants and because of their evil deeds. – Even now the Jews expect the fulfillment of this [prophecy] in the future; and in the passage that we interpreted according to what seemed [possible] to us and as the more prudent among them explain - [precisely] in the words: “On that day the law will be far off” - some of them frivolously invent and say [thus]: “On the day when the fortifications of Jerusalem are erected by Christ, the Holy Scriptures of the Law and the Prophets, which are now in our [Christian] hands, will be taken away from us and handed over to the people of Judah; but we attribute what was said by the Seventy: “the day of hewing the brick is your defeat” not to Jerusalem, but also to Babylon, as we set it out according to the Hebrew text; for he too must be destroyed and trampled down like dirt. And that day will remove the laws, but these are not the laws of God, but those laws that you, O Babylon! commanded to keep it contrary to the law of God. And your cities will come to an end, that is, to division during the Assyrian attack on you (after all, Babylon was the city of the Chaldeans, not the Assyrians). And your fortified cities will be the property of the enemy army from Tire to the Tigris River, by which you are surrounded, and from the Great Sea to the Black Sea, which touches your countries on the side of the road to India; “and from mountain to mountain,” that is, from the mountains of Judea to the mountains of Persia and Media: all of Mesopotamia and absolutely the entire country that is now among your possessions will be subject to the dominion of the enemies. And the country will be ruined due to the most wicked fruits of your deeds. Where the Seventy is translated: from Tire, we know that the Hebrew text reads masor (םעיר). If this word is divided into a preposition: ma and a name: sor, then it means “from Tyre.” But if this is one word, then it means: “strengthening”. Finally, all [other interpreters] translated περιοκὴv χαι περίφραγμα, χαὶ πολιοπχίαν, i.e. “fortification” or: “investment of a walled city”, and not: from Tyre, as translated Seventy. This is the meaning according to the Hebrew text and it will prevent, as if in excess, the secret desires of carnal Israel and the people [destined] for reduction. Now let’s move on to spiritual interpretation and work on the most difficult passages with the help of the Holy Spirit’s interpretation of what [He] has written. Jerusalem, it seems to me, signifies every soul in which the church of God and the vision of the world and the knowledge of the Holy One were built. Scriptures; but defeated after that by sins, taken into captivity, given over to torment, she speaks against Babylon, that is, against the disturbances or seductions of this world and against the hostile force that dominates in this world: “Do not triumph over me, my enemy, because I have fallen, but I will rise: for the Lord raises up the brokenhearted (Ps. 144:14), and says through the prophet: “Is it he who falls will not rise?” (Jer.8:4), and “I do not want the sinner to die, but that he should turn and live” (Ezek.33:11). And if you look at me with contempt [or despair for me] because I endure suffering, then know through the prophet Ezekiel that punishments are initially assigned to the saints, and it is said from the Lord: “Begin with my saints” (Ezek. 9:6), for although I walk in darkness, yet the Lord is my light. Even if the rulers of this darkness seized me, and I sat in darkness and the shadow of death, and even if my feet entered the dark rocks, yet to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, light was born and shines in the darkness (Is. 9:2) and “The Lord is my enlightenment and my salvation, whom will I fear” (Ps. 26:1); and I will turn to Him with the words: “Your word, O Lord, is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105). For He Himself commanded me, imprisoned in the darkness of this age: “Let your loins be girded, and let there be burning lamps in your hands” (Luke 12:35). [Further] it follows: “I will endure the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until He judges my case and executes my judgment and brings me to the light, and I will see His justification.” Any correction in his present does not seem sweet, but bitter; and only afterwards does it give the peaceful fruit of justification to those who have been educated through it. So, a soul that feels that it has sinned and has the sores of sins, and lives in a dead body, and needs preventative treatment, such a soul constantly says to the doctor: “Burn my flesh, circumcise my wounds, and cleanse all fluids and harmful watery tumors (ρεύμα) with a spicy drink of hellebore. My wounds are a consequence of my vices, [and therefore] my such severe torment should be the cause of suffering for me, so that later I will receive health.” And a true doctor, for the sake of recovery, just as he shows the reason for the [used] remedy, also gives an explanation that he acted quite correctly in what he did. Finally, after torment and punishment, the soul, brought out of outer darkness after paying the last quadrant (Matthew 5:26), says: “I will see His righteousness” and say: “Thy judgments, O God, are completed.” But if Jesus Christ became for us from God wisdom, righteousness, holiness and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30), then the person who says that after the wrath of God he sees justification prepares for himself the contemplation of Jesus Christ. But this [is said] only about the repentant. However, it is much better not to have wounds and not need a doctor. Healing is not bliss for those who have recovered, but only relief after illness. So, whoever has been healed, let him be careful lest he sin again and lest anything worse happen to him again. In the book of Leviticus we read (Lev. 13:24,25) - if we only read with open eyes, and the veil placed on the Law does not close the perceptions of the inner eye - [precisely] that leprosy usually originates on a scar or wound from a burn and changes the color of the skin, and a new uncleanness is added to the former ugliness of the ulcer. This [I say] so that anyone, without caring about repentance - for after sin he can say: “I will endure the wrath of God, because I have sinned before God, until He judges my case” - does not sin again and does not need to be healed, and thus, having recovered, does not receive wounds again. When God brings us to the light and we see His righteousness, then our enemy Babylon will see, and the one who previously told us: “Where is your God” will be covered with confusion, since he imagined that Jerusalem could not be healed after the wounds it received. And since the end of all punishments is the beginning of good, then suffering precedes recovery, and bricks will be made from their dirt, and the formation of bricks will be trampling on it. On that day he will throw away the old errors, and his cities, which were poorly fortified, will come to an end or to division and will be divided by the Assyrians. Also from Tire, whose name means συνοκή, that is, oppression, new forces will rise and there will be a siege [extending] even to those who enjoy the abundance of this world and give rise to lusts in people. And from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain internecine wars will begin, so that one sorrow will fight against another, and pride, which should be humbled, will rise up to be at enmity against another, so that then the words will truly be fulfilled: “Come, let us go down and confuse their languages, so that no one hears the voice of his neighbor” (Gen. 11:7), because it is useful that the most ungodly powers [or: the most ungodly powers] should not have agreement among themselves. And when Satan is raised up against Satan, then his entire kingdom will be destroyed (Matthew 12:26), and what often happens in large armies - namely, that after the slaying of the tyrant, his employees divide the kingdom among themselves, rebel against each other and wage constant war among themselves - will also happen at the end of the world, when the fences of Jerusalem are erected, when Babylon falls, and The Assyrians and Tyrians from the river, from the sea and from the mountains, i.e. all the hordes of demons will fight among themselves; and after their kingdom is scattered, the kingdom of the Lord Jesus will come, and every knee will bow to him, both in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every people will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10,11). But so that you know that the end of this siege will be to the benefit of the virtues, the land of Babylon will be in complete defeat with all its inhabitants, and will no longer produce the fruits of Babylon. Micah 7:14–17. Feed your people with your rod, the flock of your inheritance - those who live alone in the mountainous oak forest among Carmel. Let Bashan and Gilead feed as in the days of old; as in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt; I will show [or: showed] him wonderful things. The nations will see and, despite all their strength” (Vulg: “their own”), “they will be confused. They will put their hands on their mouths: their ears will be deaf. They will lick the dust like snakes; like reptiles of the earth, they will crawl out” (Vulg.: “they will be driven out”) from their homes. They will fear the Lord our God and fear You." LXX: Shepherd your people with your rod, the sheep of your inheritance, who dwell solitary in the mountain grove: in the midst of Carmel they will feed the Bashanite and the Gileadite, just as in the days of old, and just as in the days of your departure from the land of Egypt, I will show them wonderful signs, the nations will see and be confused with all their strength: they will put their hands on their mouths; their ears will be deaf. They will lick the ground like snakes that crawl on the ground; They will be greatly embarrassed in the places where they are: they will fear the Lord our God and will be in awe of You. God the Father says to the Son, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ, that He, since He is the Good Shepherd and lays down His life for His sheep (John 10:11), makes us His people with His rod and the sheep of His inheritance. And lest we think that the people mean the same thing as the sheep, we can see this in another place [St. Scripture]: “We are Your people and the sheep of Your pasture” (Ps. 94:7). The people belong to some intelligent ones, and the sheep belong to those who, not yet possessing intelligence, are content only with the simplicity [of faith] and are called the inheritance of God. But both the people and the sheep need a shepherd's rod, about which the Apostle says: “What do you want: will I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of meekness” (1 Cor. 4:21). I think that due to the extreme stubbornness of the people of Israel and with their constant remembrance of the Egyptian meat, Moses not only against the Egyptians, whom he struck with ten plagues, but also against the people [wandering] in the desert, used the lawful rod - a rod that struck and broke earthenware vessels, which were easily broken. On the contrary, the rod was taken from the hands of the Apostles of the Lord Savior, since they preached wisdom to the perfect (1 Cor. 2:6), and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). If someone objects to us: “How is it that Christ, that is, the Good Shepherd, - who, of course, is more than the apostles and better than them, - is told to use the rod, when greater success occurs if they do not use the rod than when they correct both the people and the sheep with the rod: then we will answer such a person in accordance with what the Lord promised to his Apostles - [namely], that they are among the nations will do greater signs than He did Himself (John 14:12). Moreover, the Lord spoke to carnal Israel, and not to those who could fully understand the mysteries, and therefore it is said about him that He should shepherd his people and flock with a rod; The rod was taken from the hands of the Apostles, [for] the severity of the Law was softened by the mercy of the Gospel. Then, the above-mentioned people and those sheep will be smitten and shepherded with the rod because they lived alone in a mountainous grove. We can attribute this both to those who enter into cohabitation and friendship with pagans, and to those who seek a solitary life due to hatred of the human race, which was, as we read, Timon the Athenian, however, not that this condemns the hermit and prophetic life that Elijah (1 Kings 17 and 1 Kings 19) and John [the Baptist] led (Matthew 3). and Matthew 11), but that if a person, despising others, is proud and lives in a dark oak forest of vices, then [his life] must be corrected with a rod. He who lives alone, but not in a mountainous oak forest, is praised for his virtues; and whoever is alone does not do works of justification, but only enjoys the pleasure of rest, and does not labor in the sweat of his brow at the work and labor of Christ, and does not earn bread with his own hands, which the Apostle commands (1 Cor. 4:12) and exalts himself proudly; he lives in a mountainous oak forest and rotates among barren trees. But since [He] is the Good Shepherd and His rod strikes to correct, the prophetic speech promises the best and says: “Among Carmel they will feed the Basanite and the Gileadite,” just as in the days of old and in the days of your exodus from Egypt. Carmel means “knowledge of circumcision,” Basanite means “confusion,” and Gilead means “bearing testimony.” So, the people of God and the sheep of His pasture, formerly feeding without the flock of the Lord, and outside His Church, turning in the dark oak forest of errors, [will now] be brought to the understanding of true circumcision and will serve God in the spirit and will place their glory in the Lord, and not trust in their flesh: they will be true circumcision, and not the cutting off of life. When they are fed by spiritual circumcision, conscious of their sins, they will be embarrassed by their vices and will blush, and will be in that confusion that leads to life (Eccl. 4), for there is another confusion that leads to death, in which Og the king of Bashan once lived, if Bashan means “confusion.” The Lord promises to free his people from this worst confusion: “The Lord said: I will bring you back from Bashan; I will bring you back from the depths of the sea" (Ps. 67:22). When we know the true circumcision and are ashamed of our sins, then we will be in Gilead, which means “bearing testimony” [i.e. e.] in the church of Christ, in which the testimonies of the Law and the sayings of the Prophets have passed on, and this will be with us as in the days of old, just as during our exodus from the land of Egypt, about which Moses says: “Remember the days of eternity” (“ancient”, Deut. 32:7), not the days of this age, which are called evil, but the days that endure without ceasing. And the days of eternity are remembered by the one who does not look at the present, but has risen with Christ and sits with Him in the heavenly abodes, already imagining in his mind that he is freed from the days of this age. But the divine speech also promises that [He] will show His people and the sheep of His inheritance wonderful deeds. Then, he says, “the nations will see and be in confusion with all their power,” because they once attacked and overcame the people of God, and the confusion will have the advantage that they will recognize their atrocities. For they will put their hands on their mouths, and their evil deeds will take away from them all ability to speak. But just as the hands of the wicked nations close their mouths, so, on the contrary, the hands of the righteous people will open their mouths, receiving as a result of a good deed the ability to converse with God. Their ears will also become deaf, because their malice will not only blind the sight of their eyes, but will also make their ears deaf, for they did not want to listen to the voices of the heralds and [especially] the enchanting herald, but as Isaiah says: “With their ears they heard hard” (Is. 6:10), although it is much less difficult to listen than to hardly listen and to be so deaf that not even to hear the word of truth. As a result of such atrocities, it is said about them that they will lick the earth, like snakes that drag the earth, crawling through it on their bellies and eating the earth all the days of their lives (Gen. 3:14), and doing the works of the flesh, i.e. earthly, and dragging behind them until the day of vengeance and the visitation of the Lord, not the dust, and not the small remnants of the earth, but the whole earth. And when they do this and come to the judgment of God, and are imprisoned and thrown into confusion, then their imprisonment and confusion will continue until the time that the earth that they attracted like snakes remains in them. When she is gone, they will be petrified and will be surprised, but not about the Lord their God: for they did not deserve that He should be called the Lord their God, but about the Lord our God. But suddenly a deviation is made (ἀποστροφή) towards Christ and it is said in it: “And they will fear from You.” Indeed, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10). [All] this will happen so that the nations will see and be dismayed, in spite of all their wicked power, and so that they will put their hands on their mouths, become deaf and begin to lick the earth, like snakes that drag the earth, and so that they will first be imprisoned, then become dismayed, and after that, the frightened ones will be terrified before the Lord God of saints, and finally, so that they themselves will also fear Him. So according to LXX. And since in this place our edition only differs slightly from them (LXX), we think that what we have related to them is also said about him. Micah 7:18–20. What God is like You, forgiving iniquity and leaving unpunished the sin of the remnants of Your inheritance? He will not endure His anger further, because He wants mercy. He will turn and have mercy on us: He will remove our iniquities and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and Abraham, mercy, as" [or: to whom] "You swore to our fathers from the days of old. LXX. Who is God like you, who destroys iniquity and does not impute iniquity to those who are left of Your inheritance? He did not withhold His anger as a testimony, for He wants mercy. He will turn and have mercy on us and drown our iniquities, and all our sins will be cast into the depths of the sea. He will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, as You swore in the days of old" [or: "the ancients"]. The Prophet, realizing that many nations will be confused in their imprisonment in order to be horrified and fear God and then stop raging so that He will destroy sins and give salvation, praises the Lord, marvels at [Him] and says: “Who is God like You, who destroys iniquities and does not impute iniquities.” Just as the destroyer in Egypt passed over the people of Israel (which is why it received the name phase, i.e. pasha, from “passing by”), so You will spare the nations, not imputing their iniquities to them at all; then the meaning of the following words: “To those who remained from His inheritance did not withhold wrath as a testimony,” is this. If He spared the pagans who did not want to believe His law, and those who remained from His people, did not want to impute their iniquities and did not show His wrath as evidence of their righteous punishment, then what will He do to His flock, which feeds among Mount Carmel, in Basanitis and Gilead? Indeed, desiring mercy and turning, He will have mercy on us and Himself will bear our grave sins and iniquities that outweigh the talent of lead, and will plunge them into the depths and will not force them to bear their weight (Zech. 5). He will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, so that He will give truth in Christ [or: Christ] to a people who offer their feet to those who are new, and who are always disposed to fight, and to a multitude of nations (for Abraham is called the father of many nations) He will give mercy, as He swore to those who were the fathers of our faith, as in the days of old; [this means] that He will save some nations in truth, and others in mercy. Then in the words: “He will not extend his fury further,” where we translated: further, Symmachus translated: “for eternal time,” Theodotion: “to the end,” and LXX and the Fifth Edition “for testimony”; in Hebrew there is instead laed (לעד), which can be understood both as further, as “eternal”, and as “testimony”. - At the end of the book, I, for my part, leaving work on my work, will seal it with the invocation of God and the words: “God, who is like You?” , - forgive the iniquity of Your servant, do not impute sin to the remnants of my soul, do not lead me into Your wrath and do not overwhelm me with Your anger, for You are merciful, and Great is Your mercy. Turn and have mercy on me: cast away my sins and drown them in the depths of the sea, so that the salt and bitterness of my vices disappear into the abyss of error. Give the truth that You promised to your servant Jacob and the mercy that You promised to your friend Abraham, and free my soul from the persecutors of Your prophets Ahab and Jezebel, as you swore to my fathers in the days of old, saying: “As I live, says the Lord. I do not want the sinner to die, but only that he should turn and live” (Ezek. 33:11) and elsewhere. “After you are converted and breathe from the depths of your soul, you will be saved” (Ex. 30:15). Then my enemy will see, and she who now says to me, “Where is the Lord your God,” will be overcome with confusion (Ps. 41:4,11). I will see Your vengeance on her, and she will be like mud in the street: she will be trampled underfoot, so that she can no longer build Egyptian cities of clay and straw. You might be interested in: