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10. Ἥξει δὲ ἡμέρα Κυρίου ὡς κλέπτης. This must have been a commonplace of Apocalyptic prophecy. We have the image in the eschatological discourse of our Lord, Mat 24:43 “If the goodman of the house had known in what watch (of the night) the thief would come” and again in Luk 12:39. In 1Th 5:2, Ye know clearly ὅτι ἡμέρα Κυρίου ὡς κλέπτης ἐν νυκτὶ οὕτως ἔρχεται (whence the MSS. CKL add ἐν νυκτί here). Rev 3:3 ἥξω ὡς κλέπτης, Rev 16:15 ἰδοὺ ἔρχομαι ὡς κλέπτης.
οἱ οὐραναὶ … παρελεύσονται. Mar 13:31 ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσονται. The destruction of the heavens, which were thought of as a solid firmament arched over the earth, is spoken of in Isa 34:4 καὶ ἑλιγήσεται ὁ οὐρανὸς ὡς βιβλίον. This whole verse of Isaiah seems to have been introduced into the Apocalypse of Peter. It is quoted in Rev 6:13-14 καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς ἀπεχωρίσθη ὡς βιβλίον ἑλισσόμενον and in the Sibylline oracles III. 81 ὁπόταν θεὸς αἰθέρι ναίων | οὐρανὸν εἱλίξῃ καθʼ ἅπερ βιβλίον εἱλεῖται.
ῥοιζηδόν, with a rushing or whizzing round: κλαγγηδόν, κοναβηδόν are words of similar formation also descriptive of sound.
στοιχεῖα. The heavenly bodies are very probably intended. στοιχεῖα was used in the sense of “luminaries”: in a letter of Polycrates the bishop of Ephesus (about 190 A.D.) he says “among us also (in Asia, that is, as well as in Rome) μέγαλα στοιχεῖα κεκοίμηνται great luminaries rest”: and he goes on to specify John the Evangelist and others.
St Paul’s use of στοιχεῖα Gal 4:3, Col 2:8; Col 2:20 is interpreted as meaning the spiritual beings who have charge of the stars and of other provinces of creation.
καυσούμενα must be from καυσόομαι, a medical word applied to fever-heats.
εὑρεθήσεται. See Introd. p. xlix.
A passage in the Sibylline oracles II. 252 sqq. shows what is meant by ἔργα and favours the reading οὐχ εὑρεθήσεται.
κοὐκέτι πωτήσονται ἐν ἠέρι ἄπλετοι ὄρνεις,
οὐ ζῷα νηκτὰ θάλασσαν ὅλως ἔτι νηχήσονται,
οὐ ναῦς ἔμφορτος ἐπὶ κύμασι ποντοπορήσει,
οὐ βόες ἰθυντῆρες ἀροτρεύσουσιν ἄρουραν,
οὐκ ἦχος δένδρων ἀνέμεν ὕπο· ἀλλʼ ἅμα πάντα
εἰς ἓν χωνεύσει καὶ εἰς καθαρὸν διαλέξει.