And, these and all such marvellous and wonderful things having happened to you and been seen by you in their seasons, you are convicted, even through the prophets, of having gone so far as to sacrifice your own children to the demons, and, in addition to all these, of having dared such things against Christ, and of still daring them—for all of which may it be granted you, having obtained mercy from God and from His Christ, to be saved.
For through the prophet Isaiah, God, foreknowing that you were about to do these things, thus cursed: 'Woe to their soul; they have taken evil counsel against themselves, saying: Let us bind the righteous, for he is troublesome to us. Therefore they shall eat the fruits of their works. Woe to the lawless one; evil shall befall him according to the works of his hands. O my people, your exactors glean you, and those who demand shall lord it over you.'
'O my people, those who pronounce you blessed lead you astray, and trouble the path of your ways. But now the Lord will set Himself for judgement, and will bring His people to judgement, and the Lord Himself will come to judgement with the elders of the people and its rulers. But you—why have you burned up my vineyard, and the spoil of the poor is in your houses? Why do you wrong my people, and put to shame the face of the lowly?'
And again, in other words, the same prophet spoke to the same effect: 'Woe to those who draw their sins along as with a long cord, and their iniquities as with a heifer's yoke-strap, who say: Let His speed draw near, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight.'
'Woe to your mighty ones, who drink wine, and to the men of power, and to those who mix strong drink, who justify the ungodly for the sake of gifts, and take away the righteousness of the righteous. Therefore, as stubble shall be burned by a coal of fire and consumed by a blazing flame, their root shall be as chaff and their flower shall go up as dust; for they would not have the Law of the Lord of hosts, but provoked the oracle of the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. And the Lord of hosts was kindled with anger, and laid His hands upon them and smote them, and was provoked against the mountains, and their corpses were in the midst as dung of the road; and in all these things they have not turned back, but their hand is still uplifted.'
For truly your hand is still uplifted to do evil, since, even after killing Christ, you do not even so repent, but you also hate and murder us, who through Him have believed in God and Father of all, as often as you obtain the power, and you ceaselessly curse both Him and those who are His—while all of us pray for you and for all men absolutely, as we have been taught to do by Christ our Lord, who charged us to pray even for our enemies, and to love those who hate us, and to bless those who curse us.