Chapter XXXV.—Refutation of Basilides, and of the opinion that the prophets uttered their predictions under the inspiration of different gods. 1. Moreover, in addition to what has been said, Basilides himself will, according to his own principles, find it necessary to maintain not only that there are three hundred and sixty- five heavens made in succession by one another, but that an immense and innumerable multitude of heavens have always been in the process of being made, and are being made, and will continue to be made, so that the formation of heavens of this kind can never cease. For if from the efflux649 of the first heaven the second was made after its likeness, and the third after the likeness of the second, and so on with all the remaining subsequent ones, then it follows, as a matter of necessity, that from the efflux of our heaven, which he indeed terms the last, another be formed like to it, and from that again a third; and thus there can never cease, either the process of efflux from those heavens which have been already made, or the manufacture of [new] heavens, but the operation must go on ad infinitum, and give rise to a number of heavens which will be altogether indefinite. 2. The remainder of those who are falsely termed Gnostics, and who maintain that the prophets uttered their prophecies under the inspiration of different gods, will be easily overthrown by this fact, that all the prophets proclaimed one God and Lord, and that the very Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things which are therein; while they moreover announced the advent of His Son, as I shall demonstrate from the Scriptures themselves, in the books which follow. 3. If, however, any object that, in the Hebrew language, diverse expressions [to represent God] occur in the Scriptures, such as Sabaoth, Eloë, Adonai, and all other such terms, striving to prove from these that there are different powers and gods, let them learn that all expressions of this kind are but announcements and appellations of one and the same Being. For the term Eloë in the Jewish language denotes God, while Elōeim650 and Eleōuth in the Hebrew language signify “that which contains all.” As to the appellation Adonai, sometimes it denotes what is nameable651 and admirable; but at other times, when the letter Daleth in it is doubled, and the word receives an initial652 guttural sound—thus Addonai—[it signifies], 649 Ex defluxu, corresponding to ἐξ ἀποῤῥοίας in the Greek. 650 Eloæ here occurs in the Latin text, but Harvey supposes that the Greek had been ᾽Ελωείμ. He also remarks that Eloeuth (אֱלָהוּת )is the rabbinical abstract term, Godhead. 651 All that can be remarked on this is, that the Jews substituted the term Adonai (אֲדֹנַי )for the name Jehovah, as often as the latter occurred in the sacred text. The former might therefore be styled nameable. 652 The Latin text is, “aliquando autem duplicata litera delta cum aspiratione,” and Harvey supposes that the doubling of the Daleth would give “to the scarcely articulate א a more decidedly guttural character;” but the sense is extremely doubtful. Chapter XXXV.—Refutation of Basilides, and of the opinion that the prophets uttered their predictions under the inspiration of different gods. 1054 Chapter XXXV.—Refutation of Basilides, and of the opinion that the prophets…